Just as the soldier fell to the ground pleading for his life, Amaris' chain began to greedily absorb the first drops of blood that were spilled in that battle. Together with it, Amaris herself could feel a growing feeling of excitement and euphoria welling up from deep within her. More than just adrenaline of combat and the familiar ferrous smell of blood, it was also a physiological reaction to the old magic of iron and blood. As long as blood continued to flow on the battlefield, the feeling of excitement and euphoria invoked by the magic would only grow, sending the user into a bloody trance, which was the very reason for Amaris' infamy and nickname.
Much to the soldier's dismay, the only reply the poor soldier would receive from Amaris was the excited laughter as the chain that was spinning around her, now soaked in blood, began to rattle and grind against itself before it suddenly splitting into another chain. Turning her head towards the groveling soldier, with a wave of her hand, Amaris made the new chain shoot towards the soldier, coiling and grinding around his uninjured arm, making sure he wouldn't be able to attack them. Cruel as it might be, letting him leave with life was a small mercy and the price he paid for that was at least acceptable. If the soldier was smart enough, he would take the fact that Amaris immediately turned her face away from him after wounding his other arm as a cue and escape... before she changed her mind.
"Run boy, before I change my mind~!" Amaris said without looking at the soldier, her eyes focused on the remaining soldiers as she licked her lips, letting out a wicked grin.
In an almost instinctive reaction to the sound of gunfire, seeing how many of the soldiers were already dealt with, Amaris immediately dashed towards the commander. Not only she hoped to hide herself from the musketeers by using the commander's large frame as a shield, but as she dashed towards him, her chains, which were previously spinning around her in a defensive ring immediately stopped, before they began moving through the air with sharp, irregular movements, aiming to pierce any enemy nearby as she ran.
With the second chain of thorns joining the cacophony of iron and blood, the sound of chains grinding only became louder, as it did Amaris' excited and euphoric laughter. With an excited grin on her face, she took a small glance towards the soldier running in the back, calling for reinforcements before she turned to the commander. Approaching him with a frightening speed, she ran around the commander, hiding herself behind Carnatia's illusions just as his warhammer missed Mirielle, before she stopped a few meters away, behind the commander as she sent both of her chains towards his back, aiming to impale him.
Truth be told, Melnik's outright refusal to answer came in as a bit of a surprise for Amaris. Judging by how he negotiated with them until now, he was anything but an idiot. He would know well how suspicious refusing to answer their inquiries, especially with such a curt reply and reason like that, would look and yet, despite Carmen's pleas, Melnik wouldn't budge.
Amaris could understand Carmen's reaction. Having an old friend murdered, knowing he was dead and not even being able to know who did it, why and how was a lot to deal. Still, considering how uncooperative Melnik was being, Amaris herself had a feeling that no amount of negotiating would change his mind. Unsurprisingly, the moment eight soldiers approached the group with weapons drawn, it became obvious that they had no intention to help them from the beginning. Instead, they wanted just to get rid of them. Be it by fooling them and doing anything to send them back to Westernant or by outright detaining them under threat of violence.
"I thought of you as being a bit more reasonable than that..." she said with heavy sigh as she looked to Melnik and the soldiers surrounding them.
"I hate to say it, Carnatia... But it seems that the time for negotiations is long gone... No matter how reasonable we are, it seems it was never their intention to help us, they just want to get rid of us, for us to leave and go back to Westernant since the beginning." she said, hearing Carnatia still trying to salvage the situation.
"Now that they finally decided to attack us... There isn't any reason to show any of them mercy, is there?" Amaris said with a sinister grin as she looked at the soldiers and Melnik
The tense standoff only lasted for a moment as the garrison commander finally shattered the silence with his fists, breaking the table and taking a swing at Carmen as he ordered the soldiers to slay them as they surrounded the group.
A quick glance around was enough for Amaris to evaluate their position. Truth be told, while there weren't exactly many soldiers in the garrison, they were sill quite a few. Melnik himself seemed to be quite dangerous, but the watchtowers and the musketeers taking aim at them were putting them in an incredibly disadvantageous position. Mirielle's flash of light was quite helpful in delaying the musketeers, but sooner or later they would begin shooting. Before that happened, Amaris would have to buy them some breathing room for them to move.
With the soldiers already closing in on her, Amaris gave them no time, waving her hand as she spun around making a chain of thorns materialize and spin around herself, forcing whichever enemies might be around to give a step back or be struck by the chain, rapidly spinning around her.
While she could make the chain spin in a wider arc, being amidst enemy soldiers might be the only thing avoiding the enemy musketeers to begin shooting at them in the very moment Mirielle's light faded down and they recovered themselves. As such, Amaris intended to use the other soldiers as cover for musket fire while dealing with them. The smaller, more contained attack perfect for that situation. Enough to hit those too close to her or forcing them to focus on dodging her quick attack instead of attacking her, still keep them close enough from her so that the musketeers might have some trouble hitting her and also not forcing her own allies to have to dodge her own attacks.
"It's been some time since I was allowed to go all out like this! How fun~!" she said with an amused smirk and a blood-chilling chuckle as she spun around together with her chain.
As Carmen and Carnatia tried to 'negotiate' with the commander, Amaris took her time to take a good look around the fort. Interestingly enough, at least superficially, it seemed like the commander's words weren't lies at all. While it was a bit strange how they seemed to have a decent amount of equipment, the soldiers themselves didn't seem to be in the best condition. Their total contingent seemed to be no more than sixty soldiers, among whom only a few seemed to be ready for combat and decently trained. To make things worse, none of them seemed to be particularly well organized or ready to act in an emergency... Which was quite fortunate for them.
"No wonder they are furious for the... 'incident' with the sergeant and the other musketeers earlier... There are only a few people in the fort and even fewer 'soldiers'." Amaris whispered, glancing towards Mirielle and silently nodding her head towards the soldiers gathering near the logs where the lashing were taking place.
"It honestly wouldn't be hard to deal with them if we're quick and don't give them time to organize themselves." Amaris said with a smirk as Mirielle said for her to get behind her should things get ugly.
Strangely enough, despite the strange tension between Carnatia, Carmen and the garrison commander, it didn't take long until he ordered a table and some chairs to be brought to where they were, offering them somewhere to sit and some beer for them to drink, which Amaris politely declined by nodding her head and raising her hand. Not only she didn't really trust the red stripes, but she wasn't exactly a fan of beer. Plus, drinking alcohol in the middle of a mission sounded like a terrible idea for her.
Normally, Amaris would have chosen to stay up instead of sitting down, but since the negotiation seemed to at least be progressing enough for them to exchange information, she thought it was a good idea to show her good will by at least pretending to being a bit more comfortable. Especially since she had already declined the beer.
After Amaris sat down nearby Mirielle, Carmen and Carnatia, she listened as the commander accused the 'rebels' for the execution of the members of the order. In the end, it was just as the commander himself said. There was no way to prove the rebels were indeed guilty, since the only thing they had was the commander's words. Regardless, she was inclined to at least give him the benefit of the doubt, since he gave them much more information than what he got from his questions as he explained more about the witch, the rebels, their story and origins.
Amaris was about to suggest for Carmen and Carnatia to ask about the witch or the rebels' whereabouts. Since now that they decided to take the diplomatic approach, hearing the other side of the story seemed to be a good idea, even if it was dangerous. The moment the commander brought a shield with a familiar emblem, bringing the news that Paladin Thomas was likely already dead, Amaris felt the heavy silence in the air as their group took a moment to let the news sink in.
Gently putting her hand on Mirielle's shoulder, both to comfort and to try and calm her down, Amaris looked towards Carnatia and Carmen, trying to gauge their reaction to the terrible news and offer them a bit of solace, even if only with a kind glance. After a moment of respectful silence, Amaris looked to the commander with a serious expression.
"We are very grateful for the valuable information you have provided us, commander. I am sure you are aware that the death of a paladin, especially one that came to offer help and relief is a very grave matter. If you don't mind, we would like to know how exactly you came to possess such shield and how are you sure Paladin Thomas is already dead. Any information would be of great help. Where did you find it, in which state it was... Anything." Amaris asked. While her voice wasn't exactly hostile nor her eyes or tone were particularly accusatory, the commander would definitely be aware that she was closely watching his words and reaction as he replied to her.
Just as Amaris previously said, she stood a few steps behind Carnatia and Carmen. Looking down and making the best impression of a quiet, pious nun she could do, Amaris simply stood quiet, carefully hearing as Carmen hailed the guards. As she had feared, it didn't take long until the guards connected their names and appearances to the incident with the red stripe sergeant a while ago. Fortunately, they didn't seem to be immediately hostile, much to her own surprise. With that said, they still seemed quite reluctant to negotiate any further, demanding only him and Carnatia to come...
It didn't take much to see how Myrielle could be dangerous, but she was quite surprised that even with her whole act, the guard still saw right through her.
"Annoyingly perceptive this one, isn't he?" Amaris mumbled in a low tone towards Myrielle, clicking her tongue in annoyance as she lifted her head, letting go of the 'faithful nun' act, as it apparently had already been saw through.
Regardless of their initial reluctance, the soldiers ended up letting them inside, as long as they left their horses outside. Going inside and getting basically surrounded by possible enemies wasn't something Amaris was exactly eager to do, but they went too far to back down now and honestly... Turning back now would only make them look even more suspicious than they already did.
Inside the fort, the situation didn't seem to be all that organized, which was honestly some good news for them. After being escorted inside, they were taken to the commander, who was 'dealing' with an incident regarding a peasant and the 'payment' they were bringing to them, in form of supplies... Although half of it seemed to be rotten. Whether it was by fault of the peasant or not, it didn't matter as the commander seemed quite quick to resort to lashings as a punishment.
If that wasn't enough warning of how difficult of a person the commander would be to deal with, his following words certainly would. As soon as he began speaking, he immediately complained about the confusion they caused earlier that day and finished by denouncing the way the westernant border guards acted towards the refugees years ago. Something Amaris had no knowledge of, but knowing how the Westernant authorities acted, didn't doubt his words at least had a good deal of truth on them.
Carnatia was quick to follow the commander's accusations with accusations of her own, trying to level the playing field as she mentioned the spies that were sent together with the refugees on the last time Westernant accepted refugees into their territory. Regardless of who was right and who was wrong, to play that game of politics, one needed to know exactly how much they should give and how much they should stand their ground, in an endless game of pulling and pushing until an acceptable solution was reached, something Carnatia seemed to be extremely well versed in.
Knowing well Amaris could do little to help on that negotiation, she simply focused on gathering as much information as she could about their surroundings and the movements of the other soldiers. In case the negotiations failed, violence would be the only outcome and she wanted to be ready for that possibility.
Carmen's words caught Amaris by surprise. Out of everything, she wasn't expecting him not to order her either to go or to stay and instead, asking what she wanted to do, saying he wouldn't want her to take a risk she wasn't willing to. Truth be told, Amaris didn't know how to reply to those words at first.
"Thank you, Carmen." Amaris said with a gentle smile.
Soon after, as she heard Carnatia and Osric's reply, Amaris couldn't help but to chuckle. Especially how Osric seemed to be a bit awkward trying to explain his words.
"Oh, no need to worry, no offense was taken." she said with an amused chuckle.
"Still, it is as Carnatia and Osric said. I hadn't even considered how superstitious the Red stripes are... With that said... It is also true that should things go bad, I think I would be able to help quite a bit..." Amaris said, considering the options for a bit.
"I think that as long as I stay a bit back, lower my head and play the 'good, pious nun', it would be enough for them to not find me that threatening." Amaris said, nodding towards Carmen and the rest, indicating she was ready to go with them.
When Carmen turned towards Carnatia, thanking her for trusting him, Amaris simply smiled at him as she replied.
"I could say the same to you, Carmen. Thank you for trusting me." She said with a chuckle as she pulled her hood a bit more to further hide her face, getting ready to proceed with them.
Amaris heard Carmen's words in silence. Her expression still showed a clear concern for the plan of 'talking' with the redstripes but she didn't protested any more than she already had about it. Instead, when Carmen asked who was going to go with him, Amaris simply sighed. When Osric suggested she should go with Carmen and Mirielle, who had volunteered herself as well, Amaris looked to Osric in disbelief.
"Me? Go with them? I doubt that my presence would be soothing for negotiations, don't you think? Whether they know me or not... Besides, I'm not exactly the hardest to forget and if someone was reported with great detail by our old sergeant friend, it is very likely I would be among them." Amaris said, shrugging as she looked to Carmen and Mirielle.
"Still, If you really think it would be a good idea... I can still go." Amaris said, acquiescing as she sighed.
"I am sure Osric is more than confident enough on his aim to land a surprise shot in the guards should things start to get ugly. Some explosions to stop, or at least delay reinforcements would be interesting as well, should the situation calls for it. I am sure you will both take care of our backs, right?" Amaris finished, nodding towards Osric as she noticed him checking his gun and Linceleste.
After the fallen were buried, the group soon went back to the road to Katwiz. Understandably, it was an uneventful and most importantly, silent trip. After the grim execution they witnessed with the help of Carmen's lantern, some were still affected by it, be it with rage and the desire for revenge or sorrow. In the other hand, others like Amaris, simply kept quiet, offering her silent support in respect to those who were more closely affected by the execution of the Order's members. Besides, taking in consideration the last meeting the group had with the red stripes, moving quickly and in silence was definitely the best option.
Even as they stopped to eat, a simple but filling meal, the group did so in silence and quickly. Being careful to not let the smoke alert people of their presence and going as far as to getting into the forest, away from the road before they sat down to eat. Ludvig, the one who volunteered to stand guard as they ate, ended up disappearing as soon as he was left alone. Some people still tried to search for him, but Amaris was definitely relieved by his departure. In her opinion, his presence and his antics would only bring problems to their mission... That is, if she didn't kill him herself should he had continued to provoke her. The group didn't keep searching for him for too long though and as soon as they realized he wouldn't be coming back, Carmen decided it would be best to simply leave him and continue on their way.
As they continued on their way to Katwiz, the group passed by a small settlement named Kardag, relatively near to the last place they met the Redstripes. After the Redstripes were done with the place, the settlement was completely empty and devoid of life, with the very few exceptions on the few houses that had a dim light coming from inside. All of them, with their windows boarded and doors closed shut.
Just like Dromele had said after they rescued him, there was indeed a small Redstripes' fort, positioned as a checkpoint between the settlements of Kardag and Katwiz. Probably as a result from their last 'meeting' with the Redstripes and the sergeant, the fort seemed to be relatively on alert. Both watchtowers were being manned by a pair of soldiers and a well guarded roadblock made sure that whoever tried to go to Katwiz would need their approval first.
"I agree. If possible, I would like to avoid unnecessary conflicts. Unlike them, we are in foreign lands and do not have a 'base' to rest or resupply. Conserving both our resources and energy would be the best option." Amaris said after she heard Mirielle and Carnatia's suggestions after they quickly hid from sight, while watching the fort from a safe distance.
"Alternate paths would cost us time and probably would be harder to go through than the road, especially with our horses. But should still be a preferable outcome to announce our presence here by slaughtering the entire fort." Amaris said, considering Mirielle's suggestion and Carnatia's vote towards searching for another path, once again showing that the infamous moniker of 'Blackthorn Witch' might not be entirely well deserved. At least definitely the rumors about a bloodthirsty, homicidal witch weren't.
"A distraction would be helpful as well. Maybe a few of them would be enough to make a good part of their forces to divert their attention and go check, hopefully leaving the roadblock unguarded... Especially if the explosion happens nearby somewhere important to them?" Amaris said nodding towards Linceleste, approving of her suggestion.
"Speaking with them or approaching as if nothing happened might be a... dangerous idea..." Amaris said, after hearing Osric and Carmen.
"Unless someone else got to that Sergeant after we were done with him, he would definitely have made a report of our little 'meeting' to his superiors. Also, considering our... exotic appearance... Even if it's their first time seeing us, it would be hard to not know who we are..." Amaris said with a shrug, knowing well she was probably one of the main offenders regarding the group's 'exotic appearance'.
"Should we decide to talk to them, we should be ready to at least trying to run away... Maybe a well placed explosion could make it much easier... Regardless, an escape plan is definitely needed." Amaris finished as she looked to the rest of the group.
Amaris watched in silence as Carmen's lantern started to shine brightly with a strangely soft purple light. As soon as it began, shadows began forming around it, retelling what had happened on that very spot, when the execution happened. While there were certain similarities between some of the shadowy silhouettes and the soldiers they met early, those were too little to be a definite match.
As the shadows started moving, they revealed a truly horrifying and cruel scene. The ones responsible gave absolutely no value to the lives of the victims, going as far as being eager to see the results of the experiments with the strange products they were developing and shipping to somewhere. To say the cruel way the victims were treated was nauseating was an understatement. Whatever it was the stone that they were producing, it could only be described as something born of the mind of someone deeply twisted. Enough to even make Amaris' expression contort in a grimace of disgust.
As the shadows were finally dispersed, Amaris simply stood in silence, glancing towards Mirielle and Carmen. Both of them seemed to be suffering greatly with the recent events, each in their own way.
Despite the scene that was just shown to them, Carnatia was able to stay composed as she tried calming down Mirielle, who was already unsheathing her weapon and going towards her horse, trying to discuss with the group before they decided their next course of action.
While Carnatia's words as she replied to Amaris made complete sense, they still didn't change the fact that the redstripes had already tried to kill them and would likely already be hunting for them at the moment. Regardless, Carnatia was correct when she mentioned that their mission wasn't a punitive one, not should they focus on revenge.
"Regardless of the cruelty that was shown to us in the shadows, it is as you said, Carnatia. Our mission isn't to take revenge or to punish. Still, it is undeniable, now more than before, that whoever is behind this execution, behind these... 'experiments' has a considerable amount of influence, power and funds. Besides, even if the Redstripes show themselves as being innocents of this particular execution, it is still clear that they have already tried to kill us once and are probably on the hunt for us on this exact moment. We should not hesitate in retaliate upon being attacked." Amaris said, reflecting a bit on the situation they encountered themselves in.
"Indeed, it would be naive to assume there aren't multiple factions vying for power in this lawless, war-torn country. But in the end, our mission is also not related to the power struggles and politics on this land. As long as these factions do not hinder us, we shouldn't intrude on matters unrelated to our jurisdiction." Amaris said
"While I do share the opinion we must be as wary of the traitors and the 'witch' as we are of the Redstripes... And everyone in this country, to be fair, I do think it's a bit too early to throw the entire blame for these experiments on the witch, simply due to the moniker given to her, is it not?" Amaris asked, raising an eyebrow, clearly using herself as an example.
"All it takes is for one person to start calling you a 'witch' for you to be instantly deemed guilty of every crime and sin known to man. Of course... Should her and her forces employ lethal force against us, we should simply reply in kind. Just like everyone else on this land. Failing to do so would be dangerous not only for our mission, but for our safety as well..." Amaris said with a grim expression as she looked to Carnatia and Carmen.
"Such question should be simple to answer. It is true we are a neutral party regarding to the politics and power struggles in this land. We should not take sides nor even care about each faction's goal and their fight for power, but should any of them force our hand and use force against us despite our clear intention to not intrude on their matters, we should use appropriate force to subdue or eliminate the threat." Amaris said with a firm tone, stating her opinion to Carmen as he asked about which course of action they should take.
"And on this very note, it is safe to assume that whoever is the faction responsible for these experiments, we should deal with them with extreme prejudice, as they already seem to consider us as enemies." Amaris finished, looking to them.
Amaris heard Mirielle's outburst in silence. She knew the situation was delicate and thus, she didn't blame Mirielle for her reaction.
"It's okay, Mirielle. Don't worry about it. I could have put it a bit more delicately too... considering the situation." Amaris said, shaking her head with a gentle smile.
Once again interrupting them, Ludvig started speaking. As Amaris heard his words, at first there was rage in her expression but it soon it gave way to a frightening coldness, both in her tone and her expression.
"I see... I know your type far too well. Arrogant and egotistical, who think of themselves as better than anyone and have a constant need of showing off. Thinking they can do and say whatever they want, use whoever they want however they want, throwing a tantrum when things don't go their way. Let this be the last words you will hear from me. Let this be my final warning. Do not approach me, do not talk to me and more importantly, do not touch me. I will consider any attempt to physically approach me or touch me as hostile and will react accordingly." Amaris said, loud enough so anyone in the group could hear, especially Carmen. A clear warning to Ludvig and clearly showing she had enough of his antics and his attitude and more importantly, a clear warning of what she would do if he continued to approach and provoke her, hoping it would be enough to Carmen not activate her robe, should she decide to do something.
"As much as it annoys me to say so, there isn't much information to gather here other than what Dromele knows, or claims to know and the bodies themselves. According to what little we know about this region, this Ealdorman and his forces seem to hold the most influence around here. Enough to have his militia run around executing anyone they want to. They would definitely be the only ones capable of staging such an execution... Unless there is another group with similar influence... Maybe this witch and the traitors they speak about? Although It wouldn't make much sense for them to do this to members of the Order..." Amaris said, turning to Dromele almost as if it was a cue for him to say what he knew.
"Regardless, it is fair to say that we should treat anyone we meet from now one as potential enemies first instead of potential allies. After what we saw, there's no reason to hesitate to attack anymore." once again reinforcing that it would be outright dangerous for them to treat people from that region as allies, considering that they seemed to be eager to get rid of them in the cruelest ways possible.
Finally being free and outside the Faith manor worked wonders to make Faye feel like her usual, cheerful self, even with the amount of OMR agents running around, ignoring the shock and protest of the other members of the coven. Hearing Amanda speaking with Lhoris, she heard her mentioning the agents had already started working on Angelica's computers, which did make Faye quite a bit surprised.
"Wait... Computers? I definitely wasn't expecting them to use computers. I was thinking about something a bit more... magical? A bit boring if you think about it, isn't it?" Faye said with a chuckle and an amused expression.
It didn't take long until they were in the car, heading towards the OMR office. With that said, Faye did realize Amanda was a bit more quiet than usual. The reason for that would soon be revealed. When they arrived on the OMR office, Amanda broke the news to the team. Apparently, the very director of the OMR was going to meet with them. By itself, that was already huge news, but what came next was even more shocking. By the way Amanda spoke, it seemed like the director already knew exactly who was the infamous "Mr. X". To make things worse, it was most definitely a deity, a very old one.
"The Director... She is really important, isn't she? Is she going to assist us against the culprit? By the way you said, it seems she already knows exactly who it is." Faye asked, curious.
"If it's really a god... A very old one, we would need as much help as we can... It wouldn't be bad having one by our side to assist us as well... After all, can we even win against an old god by ourselves?" Faye asked. By now, Faye had already started noticing just how grave the matter was and how dangerous the fight would be and the idea of fighting an old god herself did make her quite nervous as well.
"Humanity takes great pride in three things. Their willpower, their greed and their mortality.
Their will and endless greed allows them to grow and accend past other creatures
But their mortality denies them divinity
It's a delightful purgatory between being Fallen and being Divine"
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<div style="white-space:pre-wrap;">"Humanity takes great pride in three things. Their willpower, their greed and their mortality.<br><br>Their will and endless greed allows them to grow and accend past other creatures<br>But their mortality denies them divinity<br><br>It's a delightful purgatory between being Fallen and being Divine"<br><br><div class="hider-panel"><div class="hider-heading"><button type="button" class="btn btn-default btn-xs hider-button" data-name="Character 'archive' (because graveyard doesn't really sound nice)">Character 'archive' (because graveyard doesn't really sound nice) [+]</button></div><div class="hider-body" style="display: none"><a href="http://www.roleplayerguild.com/topics/144877-13orgs-characters/ooc" title="http://www.roleplayerguild.com/topics/144877-13orgs-characters/ooc">roleplayerguild.com/topics/144877-13o…</a></div></div><br></div>
Silly
MurderVictim
Silent Showers
Majoraa
The Savant
blindwoofer
Kaithe Dame
Hillan
Qia
Augran
