Tiral took a deep breath as the supposed mastermind of this whole incident boasted about arranging the entire incident, ignoring most of what was being said as the ravings of a megalomaniac who thought the power that they held was more than anyone else could handle. Though he had to admit that the plan had almost succeeded, the plan was so half-baked compared to the ones of the past that it was almost laughable. Bait the Knights out, then assassinate their leader? While there was enough support from the rearguard to protect an entire militia?

There was no way that any of them would leave their Captain without support as a whole, even if more than a few members were more inclined towards unabashed offense over anything else.

"...You. Stay in place, unless you want your head lopped off on the crossfire," he stated simply towards the drider, who it seemed was still trying to process everything. "You'll still be punished for your misdeeds, but that can be settled later."

With a flick of his wrist and a quiet incantation, the mage-knight formed an array of icicles behind him before aiming them at the witch. There was no way that she wouldn't have countermeasures planned, but it was better to exhaust what she held now and let the others clean up the rest with brute force.

"I'll provide cover and support. Captain, she'll likely aim for your head if she cannot take us all; do be cautious," he said as he began to fire each icicle in rapid succession.

Indrau grabbed the Drider girl with his free hand, pulling her back as he drew his blade. He followed on Tyeathe’s heels at a more sedate pace, sword leading the way. He sidestepped, deliberately to clear Tiral’s line of fire.

With any luck his presence would any of her castings difficult or impossible.

Fleuri Jodeau

Fleuri followed behind Klaus, content with the child's answer and desiring to take care of this quest, as trivial as it may be compared to their usual duties. Trival to a knight, perhaps, he mused, but not to a little girl that had lost her best friend. If anything, it was a bit of a humbling experience, not only because of how low the task seemed, but in the realization that he lacked the skills to make himself more useful. A trial from Reon, no doubt, and a necessary reminder to keep him from becoming prideful again.

As they proceeded to the tavern, Fleuri took note of Klaus' agitated state. She seemed worried, her suspicions of those girls having grown since they had scurried away, and now she seemed to think the tavern was a trap. He himself wasn't sure what to think- he thought she was acting paranoid, yet Fleuri didn't want to dismiss another knight's instincts. Best case scenario, she'll need a minder. Worst case scenario, she'll needed someone backing her up. Either way there could be trouble.

"Don't worry Klaus. Whatever happens, I've got your back," he reassured her. He was probably being melodramatic, but whether they were stepping into a trap or the much, much more likely case of simply stepping into a potentially embarrassing situation, the Iron Rose Knights stood together.

@Noodles

The drider simply sat there. Any inclination she might have had to intervene was destroyed by the stunning revelation that the woman who had cared for her was truly a villain seeking massive amounts of death and destruction.

"I'll put my faith in you, Sir Tiral!"

Fanilly, meanwhile, was not given much of a chance to dispense orders. Thankfully, the actions of her knights fell in line with what she would have ordered. Tyaethe, with her heavy armor and undead nature, could lead the way. Followed by Indrau, whose sword would at least weaken any offensive spells hurled their way. Fanilly herself would take the rear. As the fastest of the three, once they got into range she would be able to dart out from behind the other two knights and assault the mage at close range. This seemed like the best possible formation they could have taken, and it had happened without Fanilly's orders... there was a little voice in the back of her head, claiming that it was because they didn't need her.

But she couldn't allow doubts like that to choke her focus. This mage was incredibly dangerous, and one small mistake could lead to something terrible happening.

But the mage wasn't moving. When Tyaethe brought her sword down...!

Sparks flew as it struck an elaborately-patterned purple barrier, scattering magical energy immediately! There was a distinct crack in the shield, but it hadn't fully given way!

But that was the far less concerning then Beatrice's response. The Witch of Wild Thorns raised her hand, and immediately circles began to open in the air. Dozens and dozens, no, hundreds of magic circles filled the air in a wall!

"Let there be no doubt," began the mage, "This is the magical artifice of one who was taught by the Witch-Queen herself!"

"I wouldn't care if you were the Witch-Queen!" Tyaethe snapped, taking a split-second to analyse the situation--and then throwing herself back into the fray. Literally. There was nothing that she could reasonably do against so many magic circles aside from try to weather the storm or take out the one responsible, and if it was a magical defence against blessed armament...

Well, her sword hadn't worked, so she'd just have to put her entire body into it.

He hadn’t managed to entirely block her from channeling any spells but Tyeathe’s blow had managed to crack the shield. If he could weaken it a little bit more she might be able to get through to the witch. Indrau lunged as far as he could, driving the point of the blade into the center of the cracked portion of the shield.

The joint offensive front from the two senior knights in front of him gave the mage-knight some breathing room, but the sudden barrage cause Tiral's face to pale ever so slightly. While it was unlikely that a single one of those projectiles had the force of the magic that was aimed at the Captain's head earlier, being able to deflect all of them entirely was a different matter.

With another swing of his dagger, Tiral quickly shifted the focus of his magic from offense to defense. In an instant, the icicles that had been lined up to fire at the witch became shields of ice instead, and one after another they began to form a shell-like barrier in front of those who stood in the rearguard.

Words of encouragement were needless platitudes right now; all that needed to be done was break through that defense, and the fight was done.

The barrier cracked again, first at the impact of Tyaethe's armor, then from the tip of Indrau's sword. Cracks ran through its shimmering surface, and with a sound like a ringing bell it exploded into fragments, shattering like glass that scattered through the air before dissipating into motes of purple light.

Almost immediately they were met with another barrier, but this one cracked immediately under the pressure of the next assault. Indeed, it was likely another blow would shatter it entirely, opening their way to the witch entirely.

Ducking low, even as the hail of lasers fell, Fanilly darted forward! She had to help break through it, if this went on any longer there was no guarantee that the barrier of ice Tiral had created to shield them would hold! The tip of her sword struck the circular barrier, and in that instant...!

It shattered, opening the way once more! This time, there was a clear bath right to the witch, even as she summoned another set of circles closer to her person. What kind of magical power did she posses, when she could so effortlessly cast offensive magic without using incantations!? Even as she steadily kept up her bombardment(which notably didn't seem particularly focused, more like it was generally raining mana down on the area rather than being targeted, at least for the moment), light built in the six circles she summoned around her head. The loss of her barriers didn't seem to dampen her mood, mouth still twisted into a wild grin as the lights grew and grew...!

@Raineh Daze@TheFake@PKMNB0Y

The path was open... and Tyaethe once again rushed forwards with more speed than was normal for someone so armoured, blade gripped tight. It still probably wouldn't be enough to cut her down before this spell completed, not if she pulled out one last barrier, but she had one thing to hope for: this witch didn't want to die.

Because if she wanted to live, it wouldn't be an option to target the captain, or those further back. That would just have her cut in half. She would have to either abandon her spell--or do the sane thing and target the paladin.

Tyaethe didn't mind, she'd be fine.

Indrau followed along with Tyeathe’s renewed assault. He strode forward, battering away at the shield to get through to the target behind it. At this point he didn’t care about leaving her alive to question, this all had to end now.

The beams fired. They ripped through the air, streaking past the knights in some cases. One likely pierced right through Tyaethe, but the undead knight wouldn't likely care even if it was successful. Indeed, regardless of anything else, the witch seemed as if she was completely unable to stop the paladin's approach. But for some reason, even as that sword fell, even as it cleaved clear through her body, that grin never ceased.

Perhaps the reason why would be obvious. There was almost no blood. In fact, the moment that the witch fell apart in two halves, any blood simply ceased to flow. The circles faded, and before her body hit the ground both pieces simply broke apart into a flurry of what looked like butterflies.

One did not need to be an expert when it came to magic to know something was most definitely wrong.

@TheFake@Raineh Daze@PKMNB0Y

Klaus at the Tavern
Her grasp on her blade relaxed from the easing words of Jodeal. It seemed like the tavern is safe for now. None of those unceasing little girls that appeared at every corner since Brennan, "Right..." Klaus let out a long, deep breath. The ever familiar sight of any of those tavern that she visited in the times of her days as a mercenary. Better than today's job of a knight of searching for one damned puppy!!

Her forehead twitched a bit before remembering that Sir Jodeal is still there. "Maybe we shall have our lunch here, I haven't been eating well since the morning."

Klaus straightened her brown cloak before moving in in her more-hasty-than-usual steps. Half of it was just the eagerness of visiting the tavern. While the other half is of her wanting to get away from the ever reaching grasp of the two little witches.

Taking a seat along the creaky wooden table, Klaus ordered the bartender,"A plate of steak, and a jug of ale, if you’d excuse me..."

"Also, any interesting news you’d gotten by lately, mister? Other than that small skirmish with the orcs, everyone knows that by now~" Klaus asked the bartender with a sweet chuckle. Without much regard of the location, her tone of the words like 'Orcs' and 'Skirmish' sounded as natural as one would say that they are drinking water.

Once the barrage of magical missiles had finished firing and the vanguard had cleaved their target in two, Tiral, though still wary, allowed his barriers to drop. Despite the distance from where he was relative to the witch, the apparent lack of blood from Tyaethe's swing was quite apparent. It was a given, then, that once that body double had dissipated into a swarm of butterflies that he would move to examine the leftovers. At the very least, the mage-knight assumed that it might be possible to trace the source. Puppetting a copy would likely leave something behind, which would make finding a trail far simpler.

"Pardon me," he said, running up the stairs and setting up a magic circle to attempt something, with a singular needle of ice floating above it to act as a compass. The results were made apparent in a few minutes: the needle spun around a few times before pointing in a direction that caused Tiral to balk.

"...The town? We need to move."

Back at the Town

From outside the tavern, the boisterous voice of a male reverberated, filtered through metallic grating and muffled through the door, but nonetheless easy to hear due to sheer volume "What hoh! Kaatl, behold! An establishment of drink and food! A gathering-place for the curious and questing meddlers, no doubt!" The voice was followed by another, replying with a bright and childish laughter of delight as heavy footsteps brought the two closer to the entrance.

The door swung open, revealing a massive, ironclad figure, easily more than six feet tall, face hidden behind a metal-visor. Upon his shoulder sat a fairy, one dainty hand thrust forward with glee, encouraging the knight to march onwards as her wings gave excited flaps, both to denote her emotional state but also to keep her balanced on the precarious seat.

"Hail, patrons and house-owners! Fairy Kaatl and Sir Pryonn we are!" the knight's voice bellowed with a good-natured greeting as he entered, raising a plated fist into the air "Perpetrators of goodness! Questers for the needy and the weak!" Tapping the knight's helmeted head, the fairy gave another excited coo as she pointed to the tavern-counter. Confidently, the armored giant strode towards the wooden patron-seats. Seating himself, disregarding the stool's precarious creaks of protest beneath his metal-weight, Pryonn called "Good owners of this establishment! This knight would ask for your grandest milk and finest apple, that thus my faithful companion might gorge herself on your house's goods!"

Even with other seats in reach, the fairy did not budge from her perch atop the armored shoulder, her wide eyes sweeping the inn's interior with a curious glint.

Though Tyaethe still seemed to be standing without difficulty, there was definite stiffness to her movements as she spun around, grip on the sword not faltering despite the other hole punched clean through her arm. No traces anywhere, people didn't just disappear like that--dying left things behind.

She waited impatiently whilst Tiral did his work, wishing that the magician was faster or had landed some sort of tracking spell on the witch before she ran off--then breaking off towards the town as soon as he gave the word. Even if the town was protected now, with knights there too, and even if the captain was with them and likely to not be targeted again--

They had all the antimagic specialists up here.

She'd leave the drider's fate to Fanilly.

Klaus

A knight and a fairy? That was the first thought that crossed her mind at the arrival of the Tavern. Was they one of the Iron Roses? She hasn’t seen the most of the Knights yet, but this one is really a goofy one.

"I'll have some of your best meat and ale, if you'd excuse me~" Klaus pair of blue eyes glinted towards the two knights. And now to talk about Fairies, this one doesn't seem to be the part of the group that she have met early that morning.

She'd almost forget that she had that group as a lookout for the lady of the Black Dress. The strange thing is that she’s sure the witch was the young girl in Brennan, how did she have her presence at the ruins, appearing at two place at once...? Klaus ways of thinking become 'slightly' more rational upon getting back her cool. She'll have to find the puppy once all this is over, that’s the only lead that they have for now.

But she wouldn’t want to find them along with the kids, but now she's at the tavern, a supposedly closer location to the Sir Puppy Ennifer.

"Also, do you happen to see a puppy nearby? I hear the owner named her Ennifer." Klaus asked he two knights, also shifting her glance at the owners and patrons of the establishment to see if there is anything.

Pryonn and Kaatl

As the tender set to the task of providing the requested meals, with just the slightest arched eye-brow directed towards the pompous knight and diminutive fairy, Pryonn let his helmeted gaze wander over the rest of the inn's patrons. Catching sight of two particular figures, the errant's voice reverberated "Ah! My fairy-friend, behold!" Kaatl, having just started nibbling away at an apple, followed the knight's gaze towards Klaus and Fleuri "Compeer-errants, the talks of town, fellow do-gooders no doubt!" The young errant's tone was resplendent with puerile giddiness.

Striding over to the duo, the knight raised a mailed hand in greetings as he addressed them with jubilant utterance "Good people! A knight of the Silver Repiners addresses you!" As usual, the fairy on his shoulder mimicked his gesture, one hand waving happily towards Fleuri and Klaus as she continued to munch away at the fruit held in the other "Would I be wrong to assume that the two of you are colleague-peers; fellow chivalric vagabonds questing in the name of goodness?"

Coming to a halt at the table, the overly-enthusiastic knight continued his excited uttering "May I join your merry round? And who is that puppy that you seek? Another damsel that needs saving?!"

Fleuri Jodeau

Fleuri averted his gaze from the arriving knight, having been taken off-guard by his boisterous enthusiasm. While he had seen plenty of knights and fairies today, he did not recognize these two. Was this fellow an independent knight-errant? He certainly didn't lack for enthusiasm.

"We're not exactly vagabonds," he responded as he sat down at a stool at the bar. We are both of the Iron Rose Knights, having come to break the Orcish siege," the knight explained. "And...erm...yes, we're currently looking for a child's lost puppy." There was no proper way to properly explain that part, that they had gone from slaying orcs and trolls to looking for a little girl's pet. If it weren't for the fact that they had recently saved the town from a besieging army, Fleuri and Klaus would no doubt be the laughingstock of the tavern. And they still might be, depending how deep in their cups the patrons were.

"And who might you be, good sir? Are you of our order, or a wandering knight-errant who was caught in the siege?" Halfway through asking his question, Fleuri realized that he was going to get an earful.

@Foolish Errant

Klaus at the tavern
One of the other knights, it seemed and not one of Fanily’s order. That knight seemed cheerful enough to buy this Sir Jodeau's story. He might be those people who are attracted by the mere footsteps of goblin. Talking about her old profession.

War seems to attract these kind of people. As unlikely as it is to say, it is the truth. All she needed is to have a few good words for him to get to their side. But she doubted that is needed, since he seemed to be at the same boat as the two Knights.

“Hundred of goblins appeared out of nowhere near the capital.” Klaus spoke, her chin resting on her two fists. “And that witch managed to put a spell on the duke, and get to the ruins faraway. All that within the span of time for us to reach the Brennan keep.”

“Yet I do not recall seeing anybody flying on a broomstick, but I’ll assume that she can appear at two places at once. There is a word for that in the book of magic. Transverse? Transport? I’m not sure of that. But I would be happy if there aren’t any inhabitants under that witch’s spell,” Klaus ended her last line with a tone of her sarcasm, before turning to the patrons of the tavern, “I’d almost forgot to ask, do any of your happen to stumble a lady of black dress?”

“Otherwise, we’ll continue finding the puppy,” She replied, not before adding, “then return to the main Keep.”

Indeed, the tavern was full of people, a few of them soldiers who had been allowed to leave their posts to be replaced with a fresher guard. They were mostly in awe of the knights, while some of the other patrons seemed quite confused with the conversation. The bartender, a tall, rather broad man with a friendly, warm expression on his face, nodded as he took Klaus's order, and first delivered some of their finest ale. The meat, naturally, took somewhat longer to be prepared properly. There was a distinct scent of various foods cooking, and just how appetizing it smelled... well, it was clear the tavern wasn't popular only for its alcohol.

Soon enough, a piece of fine steak was delivered. There were no real frills about it, but it was cooked perfectly, and seasoned well with salt and pepper.

"Ah, there's also this. A little lady wanted me to deliver it to you."

He produced a note from his pocket and placed it on the counter.

Don't forget about Ennifer!

It wasn't signed, but there was a small smiley face after the words. However, something seemed to almost write itself on the opposite side...

@Foolish Errant@Crimson Paladin@Noodles