A Lowly Wretch

The Pale Hand

Travel left for little to say. The paper she slipped into his room did not slip his notice. He had known it was in her pocket before she had even produced it. Alas, it was a little note of little note.

Pretty much for the remainder of their trip he was no less silent. The two times Eine spoke with him he responded with a short nod. He caught the charm tossed to him, giving it a quick look over before placing it within one of his pockets. If he had to guess he'd figure the charm held some magic in it. As powerful a mage as Eine was it seemed that even without purposeful enchantments it was bound to have at least a mild level of magic simply due to it's proximity to her.

Once she left it was just him and the driver. He had little to say to the driver, his eyes forward and his mind active. Going in blind like this was a fairly risky endeavor. Were he to have the time he'd of looked further into the reason the magic over the forest concealed it from mapping. Time was not his friend it seemed however. His eyes followed the silhouettes of the passing trees not illuminated by the headlights. He kept aware all the while as they arrived at their destination.

It seemed stepping out from the vehicle they had somehow passed by the senior agent who was camouflaged quite nearby. Rick hadn't even flinched as Edmondo revealed himself. His stare was cold, unreadable and unbroken by this.

_
"We'll be speaking English. I'm not aware of your knowledge of Romanian but I am fairly certain our cultists aren't familiar with English. That works for you, I assume?"

"It does." He answered laconically. It was time to get to work. Without sparing another moment he began the gestures to his spell. It would be quite improper to fall prey to magical trickery or traps at this stage of the operation.

"Detect Magic." He completed the spell, the world shifting into a flat grey scale. What was real was washed out and devoid of color while what was magical would appear in a color appropriate to it's nature should it pass before his eyes, obstacles or not. He did a full sweep of the area with this spell active, even over Edmondo. He couldn't rule out the possibility that he was captured before their arrival and replaced with someone or perhaps something equipped with all his belongings such as his badge.

Rick wasn't going to pay paranoia too strong a mind since there was much at stake here. Sabotaging the effort out of such paranoia would be foolish but so would going in without expecting such possibilities. Enemies or not he was going to try to become aware of what was around. By this point he could only assume they were being watched somehow so it was only fair he try and look back at it.

With little to say on the subject currently Rick took a single step forward and listened to hear him begin forth as well. He was meant to supervise and see how he handled the situation so he wasn't here to hold Edmondo's hand. It sounded more like the other way around from what the higher ups had made it sound.

Nonetheless, they needed to proceed forward.

Sooner or later.

Gurr'Kha - The Dead World

CRACK!

Such was the sound of the cobbled stones shattering beneath the blow from her anchor as she hammered down with a singular strike. Bits of rock flew in every which direction, numerous pieces plinking harmless off her solid mass of armor. She stood there a moment before lifting her anchor only to see a firm anchor-shaped depression in the ground where she had struck.

"Owoh? Where did she go...?" She slowly wondered aloud as she hoisted her anchor back onto her shoulder effortlessly while turning her narrow eye slot about to find her target. She looked over to see the orc grappling the woman she was trying to hit. Given the fact she was unconscious it seemed fairly clear to her. Evidently this orc had grabbed her and beat her up before she could even hit her, knocking her out on his own.

"Nice hit!" She chimed, sticking out a metal thumb up to the orc. She turned to face her employer as he made an announcement.

"Okay, listen up! I've got this here job that needs doin', and I thin it's good if we do it fast, so don't do that again!" He proclaimed, trying to get their attention.

After he was finished she turned to the crowd of interesting folk, standing tall with her anchor braced across her back plate.

"Hey! Everybody who's apart of this better listen! We got a job to do!" She called out, her hollow voice echoing within the metal helm which served to muffle her shouting to a mild degree. It was almost enough to hide the wholly unnatural aspects to her voice. She waved her free hand to the group as she called for attention.

Gurr'Kha - The Dead World

@Gordoth - Gotcha. I'll keep that in mind.

Gurr'Kha - The Dead World

@Gordoth - If I might note there was never a roll for Gang's attack. It's not that I'm particularly invested in whether she hits or not but I felt I should mention it.

The Pale Hand

His scrying had ended in an odd fashion. While he got a fair overview of the forest but the page was wiped blank. It spoke of an obvious presence, one that definitely didn't wish to be found.

But is it aware of me? He wondered. Is it a spell that reactively erases evidence or is there something watching me, trying to keep me in the dark? He couldn't get the answers to these questions from his room. In truth he would of preferred to set forth in solving this mystery himself but unfortunately the order stood. He was to remain until his accompanying supervisor was ready for them. So he waited. He set no traps, the wards Eine had instructed he set would suffice. He cared little for layering his room with magic because he suspected his stay at this particular hotel would be fairly short, at least for him. Retrieving those taken by who or whatever laid in the woods was his primary concern and after that the best hope of securing their safety would be an immediate extraction. In and out, minimum risks taken and no casualties in his team. That was the most optimal outcome he looked forward to. He didn't have high hopes of meeting those conditions. This was looking messier and messier the more he learned
about it.

There was a knock at his door. Exiting the bathroom he approached it, peaking through the peephole to confirm who stood on the other side. It was Eine, at least it looked like her. He had no reason to believe that something would be impersonating her, at least not this early into the mission. He opened the door and stepped through, his satchel on his shoulder and his sword at his hip.

"Do lead the way." He stepped through before stopping, waiting for Eine to lead on. It was too late to prepare any more. There was nothing left but to dive straight in and hope to whatever deities that were taking the time to listen in that he would be able to make it at least partway into the woods undetected.

It was probably in vain but hope was a wonderful drug.

Gurr'Kha - The Dead World

Time to roll the die, Gang's coming down hard.

Gurr'Kha - The Dead World

"Make them stop fightin'"

That was all the confirmation she needed. Looking back out towards the group she approached the two fighting the orc, looming over them with naught but the two faint beams of pale yellow light softly glowing in the darkness of her helm. Her shadow was cast upon them as she spoke.

"Stop fighting." She ordered, her voice not exactly the most threatening despite it's bizarre hollow drone. Of course the woman paused not to heed her words and continued her attempt on the orc's life. Urdal had instructed her to make them stop fighting and, by her logic, the best way to keep something from fighting was to kill it. The dead didn't fight back much, especially after the second time.

Not at all bothered with any sort of ethical contradictions attacking someone to keep them from from fighting would bring she stepped forward, her armored boot hitting the ground with the resounding clang of metal plates upon each other mixing with the thud of her weight upon the stony floor. Gripping the shank of the anchor which served as her handle with both hands she raised the rust and blood crusted iron mass above her head and swung it down at the woman with tremendous force. Her aim was to strike the lady with either the bill or the arm of the anchor, swinging for her center of mass. Shields rarely helped her foes in the past since between the weight of the anchor standing at around a hundred pounds, at least thirty pounds heavier than the heaviest maul, and her unearthly strength most wooden shields would splinter apart in a single blow. Even metal shields found themselves pierced and dented into uselessness within a couple shots from her unconventional weapon. She didn't expect much different from this one either.

Razelia: The Kingdom Of Magic (FINISHED)

And now, ladies and gentlemen, the hardest possible match-up for Thessir!

@PaulHaynek - By the way, is the arena the same as last time? If so he's unlikely to leave this particular bout unscathed, if at all.

Gurr'Kha - The Dead World

Well as it turns out not everyone hates the orc.

Gurr'Kha - The Dead World

Her cold emotionless helmet turned to the orc as he raised his hand and proclaimed his allegiance to her employer. Under the armor she was smiling warmly of course, as warmly as a living corpse could be anyhow. She gave a friendly wave back to him.

"Nice to meet-" She was cut off when a lady started screaming at the top of her lungs before lunging to try and take the orcs head off with a shield. She failed of course since shields aren't quite like axes in terms of beheading ability but she certainly angered the orc enough to start a fight. Now these two people were trying to kill the orc who had claimed to be working under Urdal. The old man was yelling something but at this point who wasn't? She turned her new boss and gestured to the melee taking course with her thumb.

"Hey Mister Urdal, those guys are attacking the orc who's working for you. Want me to smash them?" She presented the offer with about as much care as someone offering to carry a heavy satchel for a friend. No real part of what happened gave her any cause for alarm. Quite frankly her priorities as to what was serious, however few those where, were themselves very laid back. That wasn't to say she wouldn't kill someone who bugged her but it didn't have to be about something she felt too strongly about.

Killing was just something she did. She did it well.