[IC] The Hero has betrayed us

[Lord Zee]

The arrow was on course, till the last possible moment. Garen had been aiming for Tysetaz's head, but a sudden draft of wind changed the arrow's course and planted itself firmly in his side. Cursing under his breath about not adding poison to the arrow, Garen put the bow on his back. It was no use firing another arrow, the mage would be ready for him. He had more pressing matters to attend to now, as Valerica was coming after him with speed he had never seen before from her. His arrows probably wouldn't do much to her, even if he could hit her body. No, this was a task for his swords, and he was already regretting what he would have to do.

As she began to climb, Garen unsheathed his swords, ready for her to arrive. He had the high ground, and if he timed it right, all he had to do was aim for her neck. This hastily thought out plan proved pointless when the lizardm- Kythe jumped her, and they both fell to the ground.

"Well shit." Garen said aloud. He looked down, then began his descent. He had a running start and slid down the side of the house's roof on his side. Before the drop, he twisted himself so he'd face the side of the house, then plunged the swords in the wooden side. His momentum allowed the swords to cut through the flimsy wood for a time, and when his momentum stopped, he placed his feet on the wall and pushed off. This let him pull the swords out and he landed on the ground upon his feet after a back flip.

He was just in time to see Valerica assault Kythe, who was having trouble getting his footing. Without hesitation, he sprinted at her. When he was close, he then jumped with his blades in the air, aiming for her back.

With this sudden turn of events, Garen failed to notice anything in the town's center.

[Cuccoruler]

Feon was able to dodge out of the way of the large attack but she was slammed into a wall from shock wave. She got up shortly after though she was hurting. "We need to retreat. We'll come back for the spell later." Feon said shouting out to the others. There was too much chaos at the moment and someone was going to die if they stayed around too long.

Feon had noticed the failed kidnapping attempt and then turned her attention to the mechanical woman. Her fists stopped glowing with holy light and started to glow with that of fire instead now. She took a jump towards the mechanical creature and attempted to punch it from the side. Due to it being distracted by Kythe she had a pretty good chance of hitting it. Though as she was punching she had a look of glee on her face. She did love punching things after all.

---

Sven retracted his sword and put it in it's sheath. "I think we're done here. I've made my point, and the objective isn't here. If you choose to stay that's on you, don't blame me if your too weak and just get killed though." Sven said turning towards the portal and starting to leave. "Oh and Tysetza, if you get the chance, try to either kill or injure one of them before you leave." Sven added before walking back through the portal that had been opened by Masirith.

[Hammerman]

Leila quickly recovered her bearings as Tony stood in front of her with his shields up. The illithid was still there, watching at them. It seemed Leila's little attack hadn't done any significant damage towards him.

Leila quickly cast a protection from evil spell for her and her nearby allies (excepting Vreskrr, since she was a demon and demons weren't usually good aligned). It would help greatly in preventing the illithid from probing and manipulating their minds. It was the most dangerous aspect of facing off against an illithid, as it could dominate you and make you act against your own will.

Now, they just had to be careful with his telekinesis. Wanting to make sure that she wouldn't make the same mistake again, she created a tiny but strong holy string that bind her right hand with her sword. It would make sure that she wouldn't be disarmed again as she could just pull on the string and receive her sword back instantly.

She just stood there, watching the illithid. She had a thought of making the first move, but she was afraid she would fall for his trap. Besides, she wasn't sure that they should take him on now. With their current level of strength, she doubted their victory.

She then noticed Sven walking towards the portal. He then said how they were weak, and they would just die if they stayed here.

And she knew he was right. She almost called to him but she realized it would just bring doom to them all if she provoked him to fight seriously.

They had to retreat. Run away and build up their strength first.

And she hated that. She hated the fact that she couldn't just smite the evil right in front of her right away, so they wouldn't be able to cause more chaos and suffering in the world. She knew many more innocents will die by their actions, and she lacked the strength to stop them.

[Zetsuko]

Tysetaz could see the squid get overpowered when he tried to take the knight from before and the reinforcements she got the quickly outnumbered him. With Sven calling for them to leave he'd best help the damn thing, even if he hated it's arrogance, he'd definitely be a bit slower to rush to it's aid the next time he presumed to order him around as if he was there just to be his assistant. "Valerica, we're leaving" he called out before taking of toward the back of the group in front of Maserith

He rushed past the group before they could realize he was there. He swung out his staff, dragging the end along the ground a bit, and ignited a wall of blue flames between them and the portal to separate them from Maserith and keep them back.

---

Just before Kythe finally lost his balance he threw out his arm, a burst of light coming from it and staggering Valerica, who was then hit in the back by Garen's blades. While the blades didn't seem to do much to her armor, they did keep her staggered for Feon's hit to land, sending her slamming into the nearby wall. Still she rose, Tysetaz had done well to make her resilient, but by now she heard Tysetaz call out that they were leaving. Backed against a wall now she targeted the still recovering Kythe, charging him just as he rose and deflecting his sword into the ground before flipping over his back and taking off. she rushed around the other group before passing through Tysetaz's wall of flame and then the portal.
@Cuccoruler@Lord Zee

---

With Valerica through Tysetaz continued to back slowly toward the portal, waiting for Maserith to get through. Once he did Tys would collapse the wall outward to keep back any attempt to chase and go through as the portal closed.

[BKburke]

Jason was beginning to recover from being slammed into the wall of a house. He got up and ran outside to see the tide somewhat shifting, though because this is what the generals wanted could be case. He was sure not a single enemy revealed their true power. He began to rush to Tony'Stewart aid when a wave of blue flames interrupted his motion.

---

Masrith growled as he stood up. The bruise he sustained healed before their very eyes, though spotting a bruise on purple and blue skin may be difficult. He lifted his hand to summon his staff. The staff appeared. It was certainly of alien designed. Looking like something that hailed from the far realm. At the top of the staff peered a giant eye. The eye began to stare at Tony and Leila. Psionic enervy began to build around Masrith. He was ready to act when he heard Sven talk about leaving and then exited through the portal. If you insist. Tysetaz...do not view my request as an order, you can shield from my domination, but surface thoughts are all to easy to read. Masrith began to walk toward the portal. His muscle mass began to shrink down to its normal thin composure. He took one last glance at Tony and Leila. A voice would enter their heads follow by a horrific image. He then walked through the portal and would close it after the Tysetaz and his compatriot got through the portal.

[Lord of Evil]

Tony stared at the portal with a for a moment, waiting to see if they would come out of the portal, before turning and dodging out of the way of the flames that engulfed the area in front of the portal. He quickly came up ready, glancing back at the position of Leila, before flicking back to the new threat. The bearded wizard-looking man did nothing, however, and simply waited for his companion to pass through. Tony lowered his shield and rose to full height, watching as the part-metal... thing and the tentacled monster walked through the portal. The "fight" was over, and they made it very clear. Tony had half a mind to throw his axe at their backs but decided against losing a perfectly good axe.

He decided to ignore the tentacle'd being's message for now. While it did bother him somewhat, but that was more due to shock value than anything else, the brunt of the reason he didn't like it was how easily the thing had put it into his mind. He'd had plenty of death threats during his life, most direct, some less so, but none of which he payed mind to. The thing could try to kill him if it wanted to, as a confrontation would be inevitable. It would try to kill them all eventually - it didn't matter to him whether it would go after him specifically or not.

He sheathed his axe and clicked his tongue in disappointment. It had been a bad ordeal regardless. Tony didn't mind losing so badly as long as he was alive, but the others most likely would. And it was evident that they'd need to get stronger if they wanted to take the hero down.
"They're gone." He said, crossing his arms. "Now what?"

[Hammerman]

Before Leila could react, someone rushed past the group and summoned a wall of blue flames to separate them from the portal. It was one of Sven's other generals, the one with a skeleton-looking face. He seemed to be a sorcerer of some sort, judging from the staff he was carrying. They wanted to retreat, it seemed. This may be an advantageous thing to them. Even though Leila really wished she could end their threat right here and now, but she knew they were quite outclassed by them, especially with Sven helping. So it would be best for them if they didn't engage all out against them.

The wall seemed to be costumized so that it would allow their side to pass, as another one, this time a female judging by her obvious curves, passed through as it was just thin air.

They all slowly moved backwards as they looked at them. The illithid summoned a staff, with an eerie giant eye perched on top of it. He then reverted his muscle mass form before entering the portal, and as he did, horrible images and voices suddenly entered Leila's mind. He gave her a message, a message of threat on what would happen to her if she dared to interfere any further. Then, images of his horrific experiments appeared, showing all the victims he had caught. Leila flinched as she lost her balance due to the horrors that she was seeing, making her kneel on the ground. Her eyes widened as wide as they could get.

When the psionic attack ended, Leila was still kneeling, drenched with sweat.

She had to stop it. She had to. All those people... they didn't deserve what he did to them.

Instead of scaring her off to abandoning her quest, the attack instead strengthened her resolve. Her heart of justice now flared with determination, as she had gotten full realization on just how evil and vile the enemy she was fighting against.

"I-I believe we should regroup first," she answered Tony's question as she rose up, her knees still shaking lightly.

[Ryougu]

@Hammerman @Cuccoruler @Lord of evil @Lightning
Getting up after Leila had tackled her out of the way of Sven's attack, Vreskrr looked around and assessed the situation. The others were outnumbering the enemy generals, but the were still not doing too well. When she turned back, Vreskrr saw Leila being carried away by one of the generals. Picking up her spear, Vreskrr immediately prepared an attack, but Leila gave the general a swift knock to the back, freeing herself. With a chuckle, Vreskrr stopped charging energy, it seemed she wouldn't need it as soon after the generals left on their own, following after Sven.

As the portal vanished, Leila dropped to the floor for reasons unknown to Vreskrr. Heading over as Leila picked herself up, she asked "You alright? You seem kind of pale." Her question was quickly replaced by someone else's and to be honest, it was a fine question despite being rather simple. "Now what?" Vreskrr pondered the question for a moment. While Vreskrr was still considering options, Leila suggested to regroup. Vreskrr had another idea however and stated so this so everyone could hear "While we should certainly regroup, we came here for a reason. With the tyrant now gone, we can at least look around town to see if we can find one of those texts. There might still be some enemies remaining, so we will still have to be careful. If we manage to find a text however, even with the town is lost, our trip here would be worth the effort. We have witnessed the tyrant's power and could set our first step towards defeating him!"

Ending with what was almost a battle cry, Vreskrr sighed and approached Leila again. "Seriously, you don't look so good, maybe you should sit down for a while?" to reinforce her words, Vreskrr sat herself down against a wall and patted the ground next to her, gesturing for Leila to join her.

[Lightning]

Alionna jumped out of the way of he blue flame the mage had summoned, she had to admit the man had gotten stronger since the last time she had seen him. She bit her lip as Sven and his ally vanished through the portal, she wish she had the power to end this here and now but it wasn't time yet. She would have to put her trust in Sarenrae and the group that she led her to.

The priestess looks to the girl who was saved her from Sven's attack and that was almost kidnapped by the mindflayer. The girl looked much younger then the rest of the group, however, she was stronger then she let on. Alionna was about to speak with Leila but the demon approached her. The priestess was about to intervene, however, the demon seemed to be friendly with the paladin, she found it odd and she would keep an eye on the young girl and the demon. They might be in an alliance now but she knows what demons are capable of and their disdain for humans, especially for the ones who wield the light.

She wonder near the demon and Leila and leaned against a wall of an abandon house, she wanted to stay close to the others, she would think their would-be-leader will want to gather and go over what to do next. She crossed her arms and closed her eyes and listened, she took a moment to meditate. She had used a lot of energy aiding people on the way into town.

[Cuccoruler]

Feon looked around at what was left of the town. For the most part most of the buildings had broken doors and windows, a few broken walls only about three of the buildings were entirely collapsed. Although that was for everything that wasn't in the way of Sven's attack. There were empty husks left around as well. All of them formerly humans but looked majorly dehyrdated. "Darn, that looks bad." Feon said looking at the row of destroyed buildings.

As Feon walked towards the others who had asked for a regroup she felt something cold on her back. She put her hand on it to feel some of her blood. She had forgotten about that moment she had taken a slash to her back. It wasn't deep but it was bleeding. Feon started to walk towards Alionna hoping she was well enough to help her out. "Right... that could have gotten better. For now, all those who have injuries come get healed, everyone else. We are looking for a book with several eyes on it and a terrible drawn map of the world behind the eye." Feon said describing what she was looking for at the moment.

"Rem says he think he saw it in the court house over there." Feon said pointing to a building with several pillars in the front of it. Really it was anyone's guess if Feon was really in contact with Remus or not. For all they knew she was delusional and most of her knowledge was due to magic of others.

[Hammerman]

For once, Leila agreed with Vreskrr. THey indeed should look around seeing how their enemies had left them already. They were lucky they had no idea on the real reason why they came here. The demon then approached her again, saying how she didn't look so good, gesturing for her to sit down beside her.

She had to agree with her once again. She indeed felt quite exhausted after the whole ordeal, and the sensation of her clothes and armor clinging to her skin due to her sweat certainly wasn't helping. She figured she would change right away when they had a chance to rest.

Sitting down beside the demon, she let out a big sigh. She should be suspicious at her but due to how tired she was now, she simply didn't have the energy for that.

"I'm fine," Leila said to her, "Just... a little bit tired, that's all," She didn't say that she was also disheartened by her meeting with Sven and her revelation of his nature now.

@Ryougu

[Lord Zee]

Garen was angry. He found himself hating the outcome of the day's battle before it had even been over. His attack to Valerica had done nothing but stagger her and he would have went in for a second blow, but Feon had literally came out of nowhere and punched the metal women into a wall. Even that did nothing to her, how far gone she was Garen did not know but nothing about her was natural anymore. He tried to follow her as she escaped but the fire blocked his path and what he saw in the town center made him pause. Everyone seemed fine, Alionna seemed fine, but the town looked beyond repair.

They had failed. He had failed. Garen thought for a moment, had they even had a chance? This misfit group of heroes and demons, united to stop a force greater then themselves? Probably not, and this only proved his assertion but at the same time, it was only the second day they had been working together. Who knew what the next meeting would be like with a little more time and cooperation?

He walked past Leila and Vreskrr on his way towards Feon and some of the others. It was odd, seeing a human and a demon like that but they both looked awful. Well Leila that was, the demon women already looked awful so he couldn't really tell a difference. He continued on, having lost Alionna in the smoke, but he was sure she was fine.

When he reached Feon and her her speak, he wanted to say what good a book would do against Sven's forces but he kept his mouth shut. Any potential weapon was needed now so without further questions, Garen began to jog over to the Court House. As he got closer, he could make out that the building was of a grand design the likes of which you only really found in the big cities. It looked relevantly unscathed by the fire and battle that was waged outside but anything could happen once inside.

He got to the front doors and they were big. Not wanting to be unprepared, Garen took out his swords and opened the doors. He would try his best to find this book.

[Lord of Evil]

"A book, huh?" Tony said.
That was something of a sticking point for Tony. He could fight well enough, he could take hits and he could cook, but he'd never been taught how to read. Not like he couldn't, but the extent of his reading prowess was reading maps, and sometimes middle length letters. After all, what was a soldier going to do with books?

Nevertheless, he didn't have to be able to read to find what they were looking for. A book with eyes on it would be pretty hard to miss.

Tony spared a glance for Leila, whi looked shaken up about something. She had been rather close to him when the tentacle thing sent its message, maybe she'd caught the same message. That concerned him a little but he wouldn't bring it up unless she did. No sense to pry open the wound before you know that there's poison in it, if she still looked bad at dinner then he'd do something about it.

"Alright, I'll go get that book for you."
Tony followed the human archer who headed towards the building where Feon had said it probably was. Now that Tony thought about it, he hadn't gotten the man's name, despite cooking for the whole group. Actually, he didn't know a lot of the group at all. Something of an oversiggt on his part. But they had a job to do, introductions could be made later.

As they entered the ruined building, Tony drew his axe once again as his companion drew his swords.
"Hold up." Tony said to the man. "If you really think there's going to be trouble then stay behind the guy with the shield."
He pushed past the man and forged onwards into the library. He looked around the area, scouting for danger.
"Hey, any idea where we're going?" He said, calling back to the ranger.

[Zetsuko]

Kythe picked his head up and looked around. He missed most of what happened between falling of the roof and encountering the steelclad woman but from what he could tell things had ended. Sven and his men were gone and the group was split between some recovering or going off to search for what they had originally came her for. He intended to join the latter, starting to get up and call out only to trip and fall again. He hadn't sustained any serious injuries but between falling from the roof and getting hit by Valerica he'd been left rather winded.

After spending a few short moments catching his breath Kythe tried getting up again, supporting himself with his sword. Getting up successfully he started making his way to the large building Garen and another member of the group were going to search. He waved and called out that he'd like to help look.

[ArenaSnow]

The crashing impact of Sven's attack wasn't entirely unexpected to Kolonis, but it did put things into perspective. Including the fact that her liquid form was a scant couple feet from the impact. There was no point in deriding her own foolishness, she decided as she steered the undead orc's form well clear of the engagement. If they lived, it was something to think about. If they died... well. That was part of what the current body was for.

Ignoring the going-ons of the central engagement, she made her way through other undead orcs, sticking to entirely fallen segments of town as she wandered in search. She wasn't sure she would find either of the things that she seeked, but she would give it a go.

Before long, it seemed that the battle was over. In a rare occurrence of placing her caution aside, she moved the orc form to stare down the road at the location of the engagement. It appeared her party had made it. Very well.

She returned to her search. She would make no extra moves to prevent her detection; to an outsider, especially the party she had come with, the orc would be just another shambling dead thing lazily carrying an axe around. She supposed it could be given up without a cost.

[Lord Zee]

Garen wasn't alone it seemed. The muscular man had caught up to him and pointed out that it would probably be a good idea for him to go first. Garen obliged and moved out of the way. Having a meat shield in front of him was probably a good idea encase anything popped up unexpectedly. It probably wouldn't, but as this man covered his front, Garen would watch his back.

The elf archer coughed then spoke at the man's question, "I'm not really sure where to look. This is a courthouse so where would people put books? Perhaps if it was important enough it'd be in the judges office? My name is Garen by the way, what do they call you?"

They moved forward some more, then Kythe showed up. Garen was glad to see he was able to walk after being assaulted by Valerica, in the past she seldom left her victims to die slowly preferring the quick kill. He called Kythe over and then told him to watch his back as they moved through the building.

It was probably an odd sight for anyone to come across. A human with a shield in the front, a elf with swords in the middle, and a lizard man bringing up the rear. Garen could almost laugh if getting the book wasn't such a priority.

@Zetsuko@Lord of Evil

[Ryougu]

@Hammerman @Lightning
Not quite in line with Vreskrr's expectations, Leila did not reject her offer and sat down next to her. And, surprised at the girl's sudden lack of hostility -or guard, for that matter- Vreskrr spent a good moment closely looking at her. Once more using her melodious, non-demonic voice, Vreskrr softly spoke to Leila. "So, you seem rather hot...Maybe we should get you out of that armor? Because, well--"

Vreskrr interrupted herself as Alionna drew close. Gesturing for the priestess to sit down as well, Vreskrr sighed. She hoped Leila understood what she had meant, because she didn't feel like saying Leila looked like a mess right now, but with Alionna close, she'd have to keep her guard up again. On the bright side, Alionna still seemed to be better company than the clingy archer. 'Well, not like he'd be stupid enough to try getting close.' Vreskrr thought to herself with a chuckle.

[Lord of Evil]

"They call me Tony Sauf'cok." Tony said simply.
Well, his real name was Anthony, but that wasn't a name he used often. He tended to give the name people used for him rather than his actual name because he himself never really called himself Anthony, so why should others?

As the party's lizardman Tony scanned the building, noting that he had no idea where anything was. He was a soldier, not a scholar, so he was on unfamiliar ground. Perhaps his companions would know where to look, considering they likely had at least a little more knowledge about books than he did. But he supposed that they didn't need to know about courthouses in particular to find the book. Since they didn't exactly have a time constraint anymore they could safely sweep each room, to find the book and map and scavenge anything that looked like it might be useful.
"I don't know anything about judges but we're only burning daylight by standing around, so let's get moving." Tony said.

He picked a door to head through at random. It didn't matter where it went, he'd go through it all eventually.

[Hammerman]

Leila was surprised that Vreskrr thought up the same thing. She guessed her discomfort and fatigue must be quite obvious to anyone watching.

"Yeah, I suppose you're right. I should change," Leila said to her, "The enemy is gone after all so I should use this opportunity to rest."

Leila rose up, eyeing her surroundings for a good place to change her clothes. She settled on an abandoned house that still had its architecture mostly intact, so it could cover her while she took off her clothes.

Arriving there, she looked around once more, to see if anyone was nearby. Satisfied, she then started taking off her armor, starting with her cloak. The process only took her a short time since her armor was designed to be easily worn, allowing her to change between her casual clothes to her battle attire in a short period. A knight must be ready to head to combat at any time after all. That was also why she stored her armor inside her hyperspace storage, along with her sword.

After taking off her stockings and gloves, she was left with only her blue shirt. She wasn't really wearing pants underneath it as it would only get in the way of her armor, replacing it with stockings instead. She stripped out of it also as it was drenched with her sweat. She decided she wanted fresh clothes to wear.

She changed into a white shirt and brown trousers, brought from her dimensional storage. Seeing how there wasn't any baths around, some of her remaining sweat ended up dampening the white shirt. She disliked the feeling, but it was still better than wearing her heavier armor.

Hider

Her changing complete, she followed the others into the large building to go search for the book. They really could use a power boost, especially after she experienced with her own hands the difference in power between them and Sven and his generals.

Power... she needed power to stop him...

[Lightning]

Alionna remained leaning against her wall her eyes closed and her arms folded over her chest, she ignored the demons invitation, not out of spite but simply because she did not see. The priestess was meditating still when the would-be leader approached her, she opened an eye and saw blood on the monks shoulder. The elf stood up straight giving Feon her full attention, she looked at the wound and saw it wasn't as serious as it looked. She was tempted to tell the monk to just clean the wound and wrap it but she ignored her cruel thought and hovered her hand over the wound, golden light radiated from the woman's hand and Feon would feel the pain ease as the wound closed not with no trace of scarring.

The elf looked around and found the paladin had changed into common clothes, it must've been hot in all that metal, she did not envy the girl when it came to the heavy plate. Alionna looked at her own ropes, they had been enchanted to burn off detritus so they were fairly clean for now. She shrugged off the thought and but herself back in the situation. She looked around once more and notice there weren't as many dead as the other towns she came across. It seemed that the group was able to help many of the folk out before they met an unfortunate end and a mindless servitude to the betrayer. She would take the small victory to heart, she would have to hold on to any hope she could to keep on moving forward.