Ryleth was far from bothered when the flames came. They simply washed over his wards. Even the attack from the canopy did not mind him. He simply took a step back to dodge the strike. Then he heard the screams. Those infernal screams behind him. He turned around to see the Seeker burned by the flames. “Fools.” He whispered as he wove his enchantment. Seconds later a wave of chill passed over the flames. Extinguishing them. Still, the Seeker looked like she was mortally harmed.

At the same time two phantasms struck the ground next to Ryleth. Ryleth himself turned to the Keeper, the Slave and where he assumed the Leader was as well. “You’re all fools for attacking a necromancer here. This forest is not a serene sanctuary. This is nature’s battlefield. You walk on thousands of corpses.” As he finished, the ground around him broke. From the depths of the earth a figure crawled. It looked humanoid but it was far from human.

The first to stand up was also the greatest. A massive creature with a cave bear skull. Its limbs and chest were made from fused bone. Blue candle flames burned in its eye sockets. Rotten hide covered its back and it held two axes made from bone and with femurs as handles.

Then the other figure appeared from the shadows. She looked the most human-like. With makeshift skin of leaves, bark and barely rotten flesh. At the seams of her supposed skin you could still see a faint blue glow. Her weapon was a bow made from two arms, each holding the end of the string. Even though she looked almost human, there was an ethereal aura surrounding her.

“This is your final chance to accept my offer.” He said as he already pulled out another phylactery. Ready to take the pixie-witch her soul.

_{Location(s): Witches' Paradise
Interaction(s) with: Aromull @TheDoctor}

---

The remainder of the evening and especially the night after had not been particularly benign to Andvari's mood to say the least. After his return to the tavern the hunter had been confronted with the issue of properly treating his wound. A thick layer of bandages could stop a bleeding, but with the projectile still buried inside the flesh infections and other problems were bound to come up. Luckily he had not been forced to try the procedure himself, but someone else fumbling around with a crude pair of pliers and a lot of pure alcohol poured along their path was no nice experience either.

The rings around Andvari's eyes were telling a story about how well the man had slept last night. Somewhat lethargically and with his shoulder wrapped in a new layer of bandages the hunter sat on a chair and leaned back against the wall. He had been doing so since early in the morning, grabbing one of the first plates of food that had been available. Along with the empty plate lay his crossbow on the table as he had been trying to find out how to handle it properly with the constraint of his left arm being limited. The results had turned out to be somewhat mixed, another reason why he did not look very happy.

The third and probably most grave reason for Andvari's current discomfort however raised its ugly head again once Aromull asked if there were any lost hunters. "Has anybody seen Emiliah ? If not then she's missing!" It stung deep inside him that there was the very possibility of him being the ultimate cause for her demise. After all he had injured her, even though only accidentally, but still. What if it really had been because of this wound that she had not been able to make it back ? On the other hand she had run into that madman who could be an important part in the equation as well. "Also I haven't seen another man with a large gun again. He was the last one I've seen together with Emiliah."

Alexina nodded “We shall see, for now you can stay... she said to Celousa as she motioned towards the path next to the seemingly bottomless moat. “There is a cavern just down that path you can feel free to make your home there.” She suddenly felt a pain in her heart, that made her wince slightly but it was hardly noticeable.

Rebecca came up suddenly and asked if there ways any way she could help out with the issues caused by the witches. Introducing Andre once again, who was apparently dead. She did not know this. She felt a sudden dread in her heart and she closed her eyes.

”excuse me I must...retire... she suddenly said, not allowing anyone to react to her as she left for her room.

---

Once she entered her room, she closed her door behind her…. Feeling even more pain course through her than before. She knew she had to go, she had to leave. She went to her desk quickly and started writing on a blank sheet of paper. It was only a few sentences.

She sighed once she placed the quill down...her body trembling with pain she felt. She quickly folded the letter and and addressed it to Taran, then placed it standing up on her desk. She wish she had more time to explain...but she couldn’t wait any longer. She went to her window and she leapt from the balcony without a hesitation. Quickly turning into a hawk and flying towards the woods.

(letter)

I’m sorry for not saying goodbye, or explaining my reasonings but I had to go… For now Hellina is in charge, help her as much as you have done for me my dear Taran. I shall be back soon...I hope.

-Alexina

A shadow in the corner of the room waited as Alexina wrote her letter and left out the window. A small smile formed and the shadow stepped into the dim light, revealing the witch who had been waiting. Alexina was at last out of the picture, and at last Fevra could enter.



This witch hid her face underneath the mask of a plague doctor, wishing to cover the effects the plague had had on her over the years.

A rat escaped from underneath the witch’s dress, scampering over to Alexina’s letter and retrieving it for the witch. Fevra held up the letter, reading the short note the leader gave before she could depart. “Just leaving a note and escaping Alexina? Quite foolish of you,” Fevra remarked, handing the letter back to the rat who scampered back into the dark with it.

Alexina’s wishes of her temporary replacement would unfortunately not be seen by any others, Fevra would ensure that. No, it was time she finally stepped in to reveal herself to the coven, to no longer be sent on little ‘quests’ from the leader to hide Fevra from the others.

--------------------

Morning

The next morning Fevra stood in the courtyard as Alexina had done when sentencing the three witches. There a small group of bony rats gathered in front of her, ready to serve their master’s wishes. She gave each a small note to carry and each went off to the room of every witch. The rat would wait at the front of each room, and ensure the note would be delivered before scampering off. The note would read:

The coven is at risk. Alexina is no more and has left the coven for me to watch over. Come to the courtyard, we must no longer be divided as we once were.

-Fevra

SCREECH

The loud cry of a hawk became Hellena’s alarm clock that jolted her eyes to open up. As the ray of the morning sun entered through her open window and filled up the chamber with warmth along with the mix of the strong alluring scent of roses still circling around the room, for some reason, a deafening kind of chill still remained. Hellena had woken up to a bright morning indeed, but a part inside of her seemed to feel overshadowed by a gut feeling.

Something isn’t right.

“M-Mistress.” Lucy whispered in shock.
Hellena turned towards her door to see her trusty pet frowning over a small note that lay open in front of her. Glancing at the little note alone was enough for it to emit an unexplainable vibe. The closer the red headed witch got to it, the more she could feel it. Once she picked up the note from the floor, light but loud squeaking of a rat could be heard just outside her door right before it scampered away.
“I... found it delivered outside our door. Oh, dear…”

Hellena gave Lucy a look of confusion before trailing her eyes across the letter to read its statements. The next thing Hellena realized, she found herself hastily pacing towards Alexina’s room with Lucy right behind her tracks. Her heart just simply refused to accept it unless her eyes sees it for themselves.

But once the red headed witch barged into the coven leader’s room, there lied her answers; an empty room with nothing but a wide open window.
Hellena allowed a minute or so to pass to let the new scenery kick in. Alexina’s departure was so sudden while the rest of her coven brothers and sisters were left with no explanation.

“She was just tired, mistress.” Lucy hissed in low spirit, lifelessly slithering up to her owner’s shoulders. “Perhaps she just needed to recollect and… take her time.”

Hellena didn’t have the heart to answer back – her thoughts were all blank. But despite being in the state of utter confusion mixed with tints of anger, she chose to silently agree. Hellena entered the room to take one last look as the final step of accepting her sudden departure… but could she have really left without any sort of a 'proper' explanation?
And at that moment, Hellena opened up the palm of her hand to show the piece of crumpled up note that she had obtained earlier.



The coven courtyard was quite empty – perhaps everybody was still asleep. Suddenly coming into mind was the new lava witch who had been welcomed into the coven by Alexina just last night. And perhaps the last of Alexina that Hellena had seen then.
Standing in the middle was a human figure but had a sort of a shadowy appearance. There was no mistaking; that’s the person.

Hellena had no time to be frightened as she urged for any possible answers. With Lucy hanging tightly on her shoulders, she ambled to the unknown witch as she hid beneath her deep green cloak a small glass bottle with smoke in it that would put any individual, mortal or immortal, to a stance of deep sleep which would last a couple of days until they wake up.

“I believe you must be the one responsible.” Hellena remarked as to gain her attention, her other hand raised to show the folded note pinched in between her fingers.
When the mysterious figure faced her enough for Hellena to get a better look, the word “better” didn’t seem to fit the puzzle. Her face was covered by a plague doctor mask and that was all she could make out of her. But the red headed witch allowed a few seconds to pass as she deeply scanned the unknown witch from head to toe.

“May I know exactly who are you and what is it that you need from us?” Hellena questioned her coldly. “With the sudden departure of our coven leader, a complete stranger would just might be the last thing we’d want to tend to at the moment, you see.”
Lucy hissed and raised her body up to face the witch, eyes turning blood red as she gave the witch a sharp glance. “But, I’m sure you’re aware?" Hellena continued. "More than any of us, I can presume.”

Kalisel kept up the pressure on the goblins from the rear as the others attracted their attention. Her movements were more swift and fluid now, partially from getting into the flow of the battle and partially from the effects of the alcohol leaving her system. Forgiveness flashed like steel death in her hands, eviscerating one goblin and decapitating another in rapid succession. The commotion started to die down, and soon Kalisel was left to wipe goblin blood off of her sword, noting with dismay that it was already tarnishing the edge- she’d have to oil it again later that night.

As she returned to the tavern, she took stock of the situation. The giant man seemed to have taken a crossbow bolt, which was strange, considering the fact that none of the goblins had carried such a weapon. The only other alternative was friendly fire, which merely raised another set of disturbing questions. Kalisel’s head whipped around when she heard that another of the hunters was missing. Could she have been taken by the goblins? It seemed possible, but unlikely- though there were a lot of goblins, she doubted that they would take a prisoner rather than simply killing her. The man with the gun was a possible lead, if they knew more about him. Still, this had the potential to be very ugly. “If nobody’s seen her, then we’ll need to set up an organized search party. Each hunter takes a section of woods, and turns over every rock in their assigned area. I’ll take the western part myself.”