Of Monsters and Men

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One... Two... Three. Go. Suddenly the piano music rose in volume as it echoed throughout the castle. The floor shook. Paving stones cracked and crumbled and were pushed away as the floor of the grand hall began to buckle and bend, becoming like the surface of a stormy sea. And from the ground, buried beneath, they came. Before they could react pale hands gripped the legs of Keenan and Kruez, bony fingers empowered by the dark magic that ran through their bodies. They were the ones lost in Oxenfurt and Pontarsfork. They were the risen dead. A wall to the side of the hall crumbled and from it out pounced more of the undead, flesh barely hanging onto bones, eyes glowing a pale blue. A pack pounced onto the male witcher, and held him down. No matter how hard he struggled, he wouldn't be able to free himself from the grips of this many undead. The mage boy recieved a similar treatment, grabbed and held down by various undead who came out of the floor in droves. But none of them touched Veera.
"Come one, come all, welcome to the grand ball" Solomon intoned deeply. He was sitting at the table suddenly, as if he'd been there the whole time, out of sight. One undead, in a black hooded cloak with silver and steel swords, approached and stood by his master protectively. Solomon gorged himself on the pork. "This is delicious, would you like to try some?" he asked Veera with false generosity. Keenan and Kruez were still held down by hordes of the dead, but now some of the undead were dancing to the rising piano music. Wraiths twirled and stepped elegantly across the ballroom floor, while it filled with more and more undead. Outside in the courtyard more undead were rising from where they'd been hidden in the ground. The empty castle was quickly becoming populated.

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Vyle led the group out of the fog until they were a fair distance from the city, outside the fog, then glared back at it "I want to come back here, when this thing with Solomon is all over" he said with certainty "Speaking of Solomon..." they crested a hill, to see a wide trail of footprints and churned mud leading south-east. Fortunately it wasn't a huge trail, Solomon didn't seem to have a great many soldiers "We should follow this path, it'll lead to wherever he is now. Stay close Ana"

Willow smiled and faked relief "Thank you so much, you have no idea how much this means to me" she graciously thanked him, and followed as he lead.

Violet did not respond and simply walked away, gesturing for the girl to follow. Eventually they arrived at the same courtyard they'd been in previously and Violet lead the girl to a small clearing where there in the middle stood a cairn, a few rocks piled on top of each other.
"You know how to create, that is good. But do you know how to destroy? Both skills are valuable for many different reasons. Destroy this cairn"

 

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Teliana let the fire dwindle from her hands as they reached the outskirts of the fog. She took a deep breath, and every tense muscle in her body began to relax; even the air felt less heavy outside of that fog. It still smelled of smoke, carrion and rot, but she wouldn't complain. Vyle noticed the trail of footprints, of which several seemed to be fresher then the rest. She hesitated, looking back at the city. He had said he wanted to come back here one day, but Ana would be happy if she never saw this place again. There had been too much suffering, and not just on her part. Hundreds had died here for the ambition of one person. How many more would have to for the city to be cleansed of whatever dark magic was there now?

Turning away, she felt the wind rustle her hair, brushing along her skin with gentle fingers. Vyle reminded her to stay close, and she snuck a glance in the vampire's direction, out of the corner of her eyes. He was such an odd contradiction, she began to wonder if even he knew what he wanted. Waiting for Vyle to take the lead, she made sure Zephyr stayed close before following, lost in her thoughts.

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They were not ready for the magnitude of the trap that Solomon had set. Veera could only watch as Kruez and Keenan were grabbed, held down by people no longer living, and no longer working under their own will. If she attacked now, trying to free them, it would do no good. Even if she could reach one, they would be overwhelmed before they could escape. Why did you have to follow me? She wondered, her eyes shifting from her comrades to Solomon, who was supping as though nothing was wrong.

Something itched in the back of her mind, but when she tried to follow the thought, the headache that appeared was swift retribution for such an action. It was severe enough she had to shut her eyes for a moment, pressing her hands to her temple to massage the pain away. Only when she completely gave up on trying to recover that past thought did her agony finally recede, allowing her to look once more upon Solomon, and the figure next to him. Her mouth went dry at the sight of the silver sword accompanying the steel, and she found that though she spoke to Solomon, her eyes could not leave the figure. We never found his body...

"I find I am not hungry." She replied to the mage. "But I would like to carry on a conversation somewhere....quieter." She turned for one moment to gaze upon the army of the undead, the unsettled feeling a dead (haha) weight in her stomach.

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Zack nodded before turning his back to the mage, and cutting across a grassy knoll. He hadn't stopped to think about the people that had been in his company so briefly. The witchers, though he didn't think he had the occasion to ever learn their names, had they made it back to the Kaer? And Ana, was she still with her friend? She had looked so terrible when he last laid eyes on her, just a shadow of the person she had been. He hoped she was healing, however slowly it might be. And Zephyr. He had gone with Ana, and the less then human looking fellow. Had he stayed? For the mage's sake he hoped so.

Eventually they arrived at the gutted remains of the campsite. With such a large group, it was hard to completely erase evidence of their existence, though Zack did his best as they walked through. "He stayed here, portaled by another mage who was severely wounded. The injuries were not those of battle, the healers told me, but of torture. It would be safe to say the witch hunters probably had her, although I never managed to get the story of how she escaped."

He walked on, past the campsite to the small hill where his scouts had reported the witchers resting. They hadn't bothered the dopplers, and the dopplers in return stayed away. Both sides too exhausted from simply surviving the ordeal they had both been put through. "Here is where they went. I believe they wanted to join forces with the witchers, though whether that was successful or not, I don't know. My scouts reported that Ana successfully conjured up a portal, but where it took them, I don't know." He pointed to the scuffle marks in the grass, the bent blades that had not yet repaired from being laid upon. "Does this help you?"

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The bear stumbled back as the shield broke, roaring in anger as Terra's magic washed over it. The lightning hurt. Shaking his furry head back and forth, he looked up, huffing heavily as he took a step towards the mage and roared once more, his jaws inches from her face. But then, movement caught his eye. The other one, darting away. A human mind could only do so much in the body of a bear's and though it knew the mage was the larger threat, the animal instinct to chase was so much greater then logic.

The bear shoved past Terra, knocking her to the ground as he ran after Sweallow, his charge gaining speed. The rocks the doppler threw did nothing to the bear as he ran him down, knocking him to the ground and fastening his teeth in the man's shoulder. His incisors made quick work of the clothing that stood in his way, eager to get to the flesh and bone that were tearing under his paws.

Things did not look good for Sweallow.

 

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Admittedly Zephyr felt at ease during the time Ana had the fog lit until they had reached the outskirts of the area. Normally Zephyr didn't mind the fog all that much, but to be honest right now he really didn't want to go anywhere near that place again. There weren't that many things that could make him be that tense in an area, least that he was aware of anyway. Vyle had noticed a trail for them to follow. At first Zephyr silently followed behind them, but as the silence went on he made his way towards Ana and asked. "So if we do end up finding Solomon, what's the plan?"

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In one short instance the silence was filled with the sounds of a piano and that was followed by a vast amount of the undead rising up from the ground beneath them. It wasn't long after that Keenan and himself were pinned down. The pungent smell of death was the primary thing that Kruez could smell for the time being. In their current situation there wasn't much that they could do. The figure holding the witcher swords had caught his attention as well, but he didn't say anything on it for Kennan had already asked the one thing that he could think of.

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"And who's the one who choose to intervene in the first place, shame playing the royal card didn't work like you thought it would. It's not my job to intervene in your flawed decisions." Xross retorted. There wasn't a single hint of instigation nor encouraging from Xross that lead to Talon's decision to intervene in what lead to him getting him shot and arrested. "I didn't think getting shot would affect you're memory." Xross sighed, now on to the girl who had just showed up. With the arrow of the girl was notched back and aimed at him Xross was about to say something, but it didn't appear that Xross needed to do much for Talon had tried to talk her into lowering it. Though seeing as how that has never stopped him before from saying something, he did so anyway.

"Are they really innocent, can you say that for certain knowing nothing about them." Xross of course knew nothing about them either and for all he knew, they actually could've been perfectly innocent. "Though I suppose that depends on how you look at things." And with Xross's view on the world, no one was truly innocent. "But I digress, running away won't solve anything. Unless you take out the root of the issues, running away only delays the inevitable."

The distract part of Sweallow's plan had worked to perfection. The bear had opted to ignore Terra and head straight for him. Now for the current issue at hand, dealing with the bear. It had already bit into shoulder. Pain surged through his arm as the feeling of blood sliding down his arm was felt. There wasn't much time to worry about that though for not only once the bear finished with her shoulder, it would likely move on to another limb of his and after being knocked to the group had left him in a brief daze and he barely had any strength to move.

 

Adolin smiled at the two of them after they said that they were going to join his cause. The girl was right - This time they were going to do it properly. No pointless moves, no half measures. This time, they were going to take it to the very top, and nothing was going to stop them. It was however, going to be a complicated process. He thought about the alchemist that supplied them. He was going to become very useful in the days to come.
"To start with, I need to go leave a note for a friend. She has something we're going to need in the future, but she can't come with us. She'll hate me for what we're about to do. Then, we need to use your friend. If you seem to think that she can help, then enlist her. We need everyone we can get if we're to pull this off. Ultimately, we're going to need to pull as many Dopplers out of Novigrad as we can. After that..." Adolin thought for a moment. "We're going to need to find anyone we can from Oxenfurt. If we can get more Dopplers, that'll be good. Once we have a sizeable force, we'll make our move." He explained. It was a little touch and go frankly, but he hadn't exactly planned the entire thing out. This was only sparked by his recent... Inspiration given by the king.




As soon as Derrick heard Skellige, his eyes narrowed. Talk of lost magics, and the marks on her back that resembled bear claws. He already knew what was coming. He had read about them, and heard the stories of Witchers who had faced them down. He even knew a raider from Skellige who claimed that he had seen one of them, and mentioned something about their Druids.
"I've not had the misfortune personally, but I know the tales of the Vildkarrls." He was beginning to put things together. The only person who would have bothered explaining that to her was someone who obviously gave a damn. He also couldn't help but note that she mentioned bandits, and he began to put together a story that would perhaps explain her. Her expression called back to darker days. He knew people. He wouldn't pry into the horrors that he sensed. "Was it Alastar? Pardon the assumption, but from the tales I've heard no ordinary Berserker would be so considerate as to stop when savaging someone. If you could ever call a Berserker ordinary." ​

 

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Solomon stood suddenly and merrily skipped around Veera, along the hordes of undead that encircled her "You are a smart woman" he said observantly as he skipped, black rags flowing behind him. He went full circle and arrived back at the table where he stood next to the cloaked figure, gripping its hood "Anyone else would have tried to strike me down in a rage, after discovering what I've done to their friend" he pulled back the hood to reveal the unmistakable face of Aaron, but sickly and pale, with glowing blue eyes. There were stitches around the neck, where it had been reattached by a careful hand "He's my friend now. You should hear what his soul says to me, you should hear how he talks of you. He hates you. If it weren't for you, he'd be alive, and his sister would be alive... oh didn't you know? Kaer Morhen's been destroyed, with your old master and this poor boy's sister inside. Oh I'm sorry, am I giving you too much to think about?" Solomon laughed shortly, before turning his attention to the other witcher "My my, you can see through masks? Or are you just making a stupid comment out of rage? I think the latter is true" he suddenly turned back to Veera, leaning forward, hands behind his back. "These idiots, followed you blindly and fell right into my trap. What did they think would happen? Ignorant wretches, I should kill them both. But... I think I will show a little mercy. I'll let one of them go. But ohhh... which one?" Solomon pretended the think for a moment and leaned against the still figure of Aaron, who didn't move a muscle. Suddenly he acted like a thought struck him and he turned to her with a sadistic smile "I think... I think I'll leave that up to you"

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As soon as everyone was ready, they set off again, following the path of Solomon's army. The boy asked what their plan was, and Vyle thought for a moment "Solomon is weak. He is a weary old mage, he has no prowess in combat and he dies just like anyone else. But he's smart. He's a trickster. And he's slippery. His undead are weak, their only strength is that they do not go down as easily as mortal men, but they're mostly made up of peasants and shambling corpses. On their own, they're no challenge. But together, they're nigh on unstoppable. An undying horde, Solomon could wreak so much havoc with that if he so wished, let's hope he hasn't already. But they are puppets to his will. Once he is dead, they will fall. Do not be drawn in by his tricks. He won't lie, he'll tell you the truths you don't want to hear, but you must stay strong. He'll act all whimsical and harmless, never let your guard down. We will kill him, even if we die doing so"

Willow listened impassively as Zack explained, apart from anger crossing her face at the mention of witch hunters. The anger wasn't entirely fake, she resented having to work for those zealots but a job was a job. "Thank you for leading me here, and everything you've told me. I hope Zephyr is safe, but I suppose there's no way now to track his movements. I will not stop the search though" She thanked the man gratefully, and rode away. A sly smile crossed her face as she rode. Perhaps she had not found Zephyr, but she had found something more important to Milosh. She had seen the tracks on their way, there was nothing else it could be. The walking dead that had plagued the city of Oxenfurt during the battle, and their sinister master. If there was one thing Willow believed in with a passion, it was that the dead should stay dead.

Violet rolled her eyes as Annabelle performed a round-about way of fulfilling the task "Do you think you're clever, girl?" she said sternly "If I wanted you to do that, I would have asked. You must develop, you must gain new skills. It is imperative to succeed as a mage, to fully understand your element. Watch" Violet suddenly turned to another cairn and raised her arm, fingers splayed, as she focused on the pile of stones. the pile shattered into thousands of tiny pieces, pebbles where once had been stones. "If you can crack rock, you can crack metal. Focus on the stones, focus your energy, concentrate, and you can break any barrier. Try again" Violet pointed at an old statue of some ancient king "We will not stop the lesson until you've got this sorted"

 

Olivia's pov:



'How do you know that huh? Got some ****ing magical proof that she is somehow out there' She could not believe Alastar. "We ended up somewhere else so there no reason to say the same did not happen to the others." 'Honestly why the **** would you ask to do something if it could potentially help in this thing instead of just ****ing doing it.' She wanted to give the man the option of choice. Now it did not matter. She wanted to help this man but there was really no helping him now. With that took a hold of her medallion and thought of what she wanted. She reached out to every Witcher that she could. "Hay, Derrick, other Witchers. I know that we are not to use the medallions, but we need to gather the remaining Witchers...."

 

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Teliana turned when she heard Zephyr's question, and pressed her her forefinger against his forehead, flicking him gently. "We're going to save the world, silly." She murmured before ruffling his hair, and turning back. Vyle's response displeased her, enough so that she stopped walking for a moment. Rather then question him outright, she started moving again, though she angled herself closer to the vampire. "Are you planning on dying on me?" She asked him outright, though her voice remained quiet. She didn't bother to hide the irritation in her tone, after all she hadn't survived being tortured by Milosh, the slaughter of Oxenfurt, and losing Vyle twice in the process, only to find him and then have him die. No, that was not in her plan at all.

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It took every ounce of strength Veera had to remain standing as Solomon revealed Aaron's body. But when the mage spoke of Aaron's feelings towards her, of the Kaer, of Tatiana and Veceslav's death, something irreparable shattered inside. She fell to her knees, slamming her fists against the ground as a low keening sound made its way out of her throat. Unable to cry, the pressure behind her eyes was enormous as she pressed her forehead to the cool stone of the ground, wishing for all the world that she could be struck down there and now. She had failed too many, and too much to consider even going on.

Everything faded to a buzz in her ears, the only sound the blood rushing in her head. I have to. I have to do this. She remained where she was a moment longer, before slowly climbing to her feet. Vec would have wanted this. Tatiana would have wanted this. Derrick will want this. I want this. She looked at the dead, their empty eyes haunting her, their injured bodies tormenting her. Finally, she looked at Aaron, refusing to turn her gaze away. It wasn't her amnesia, or her headaches that was the retribution of the gods. It was this. And she would make it right if it killed her.

"Let Kruez go. The mage. But I have a counter offer." She stepped forward, ignoring the movement of the dead around her. "Let them both go. Let Kruez portal them away. And I'll remain without a struggle. I imagine you need someone to regale with the tales of your success, who claps for you when you finally win, not because they're forced to. Because they want to. We all need someone alive to tell us what we're doing is worthwhile. They just do what you say. And if it gives me a chance to speak to Aaron...." She swallowed past the lump in her throat. "Then I'll do anything."

Veera was too preoccupied to notice her medallion thrumming.

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Treasa bowed her head, one hand reaching back to unconsciously brush her fingers across the tops of the scars once more before she let her hand rest on her shoulder. "He was.....sometimes it happens. When he gets upset. Sometimes he can't help it. Almost like a defense mechanism." She took a deep breath before leaning forward, grabbing the bandages that she slowly began to wrap around her chest, throwing a glare at the nurse who had come in to stop her.

"I finally told him what happened to me. After my parents were killed. And he didn't take it well. He murdered the bandits as a bear, but he was too full of rage to stop, and he turned on me. He didn't realize who it was." Each movement was slow and painful, but she had no desire to stay a moment longer. She liked to move when memories of her past came up, as though she could run from the pain. "Luckily there was a village close by. Elsewise I wouldn't be sitting here." Finished with covering her chest, she turned to glance at Derrick, a small smile on her lips.

"No wonder you're so popular." she quipped before grabbing her shirt and slipping it over her arms, grimacing before getting to her feet as she continued to pull on her clothing and equipment.

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Zack watched the woman ride off, a frown on his lips. Something about her was....off. Zack turned back in the direction of the dopplers that he had left, but hesitated. Truly, what would his leadership do? He wasn't meant for peace, he was meant for war. But he had no way of knowing where to start. Perhaps it would be best, if he served the Black Ones. Perhaps that was where he was meant to be. With a sigh, Zack turned and trudged back the way he had come, angling his position in order to catch up wtih the others before they crossed the border.

And perhaps I'll ask for the fastest horse they have and head to Novigrad. He had a newfound reason, and determination, to see the capital city.

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Tessa nodded, her eyes shifting from Seth to Adolin. Around them, the crowd had started to move, and she paused, trying to sense if the intention was still the same. She didn't want to get caught in a riot, after all. "Lead the way. But we should leave." She murmured as one man looked at her a little too long. Whether it was in admiration or suspicion, she couldn't tell. Honestly with some men, especially the drunker ones, it seemed that the two were interchangeable, and quick to reverse.

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The bear roared before grabbing Sweallow's shoulder and pulling. The sound of bones cracking and muscle tearing could be heard as it yanked, before Sweallow's left arm disappeared, tossed by the bear into the brush. It turned back to the doppler, claws bloodying his chest as it tried to reach for his throat, eager to have this done and attack the mage who was causing such pain to his head. Right now however, everything Terra did was only egging on his mauling of Sweallow, who did not have much longer to live. The wind shifted, and the bear's head jerked up as it snuffled the breeze. Roaring, it turned and ran as quickly as it's large beary legs could carry it, away from the two.

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"Gods damn it all." She raced towards the couple, dropping to her knees besides Sweallow's body, scraping her skin in the process as she shoved her hands onto his chest. "I kept telling them to hire a witcher, but no. Get over here!" She shouted at Terra as her hands began to glow with a green light, reminiscent of the color of trees. "Stay away from there, or he'll come back, regardless of my presence. You two are so stupid, don't you know?" Shaking her head, she turned her attention back to Sweallow. "This is going to hurt." She told him before pressing down on his chest, pushing his cracked ribs back into place before they healed wrong.

"Stay with him. I'm going to go get his arm." She disappeared for a moment before returning, bloody limb in one arm and hands smearing the same color all over her dress. Her fingers still glowed as she held onto the arm. "Please tell me you can carry him. Come on, we have to get you out of the wind before something else smells the blood." Her eyes belied her urgency as she moved back to Sweallow. "I'll only be able to stop the bleeding when we get him to my home, so come on."

 

"So? There's also the option of it having just been us who got thrown to the side!" Alastar yelled. The anger raged through him, clouding his mind or he would have recognised that in one of the instances he had gotten this mad he had nearly killed his dear neice. The horror he had felt after her cries had peirced the thick black fog that hung in his mind, the thunder clouds within that hid his reason and made him connect more with the beast that resided within him. As Olivia knelt down to do her praying to the ****ing Gods or whatever the hell it is she intended to do, send a bloody carrier pigeon with a letter maybe, he wasn't gonna wait the **** around for this stupid shite. He started to madly run around the ruins of the fortress trying to both vent his anger on something and see if he really hadn't missed anything, this time he came across another corpse... that of a girl, someone he didn't recognise, pretty face, shame really. Was she perhaps the perpetrator of this destruction and she had made a miscalculation and gotten herself killed too? Serves her damn right, may the ghouls feast on her accursed flesh Alastar thought as he moved on through the ruin trying to find scraps of information that would confirm his suspicions about his neice.​

 

"Well, at least you're alive. And the scars make you look kinda badass. I wouldn't mess with you, you've seen some ****." He said after she finished recounting the tale. He hoped that he never got into an altercation with Alastar when he was mentally unbalanced. He made a note to himself not to piss him off until after he had reunited with Treasa and caught up with things. If he managed to get the man to shift, then it was going to be a rather awkward chase while he ran away from the angry bear Witcher. He certainly didn't want to hurt him, because he was a Witcher even if he was in the process of Berserking. He'd ask Veceslav about ways of dealing with Berserkers when they got to the Kaer. Perhaps in the man's years, he had come across something about them that might help. He did his best not to watch Treasa while she was getting herself dressed again, but he couldn't help but steal a quick glance, though there wasn't much to see with her back to him. That also meant she probably wouldn't have noticed. Might be better that way. She looked at him again and commented. He laughed and winked at her. "Like what you see?" The Witcher began to dress himself, being gentle with his movements for now as he didn't want to undo his surgery quite yet. They probably needed to take it easy.
"Anything you want to do while you're here? I want to get a new set of armour at the very least." There was a chest by the bed with his immediate personal effects and he picked up the broken remnants of his armour. "It's kinda... Broke as hell. Should get you some as well." Something hit him.
"No, what you need to get is a Silver weapon in case we encounter more monsters on the road. I'll probably need a hand." He suggested. Only then did he put his medallion on, now that he was in a more proper state of dress. It was too late to get the message.




"Very well, let's be off then. Follow me." Adolin moved hurriedly away. He could see that the crowd were getting restless. From here, it wasn't far to get to the inn. He led them inside and bade them to wait downstairs a moment. He spoke quickly to the bartender, who remembered that he was staying in the same room as Alanna, who offered him a spare key. He ran upstairs and entered the room. She was fast asleep. He smiled, seeing her face in an expression of serenity. The Doppler felt a pang of guilt at this, but it was the path that he was taking and he could have no regrets. He rifled through her bag and found her writing equipment. He wrote her a note, blew on the ink softly to dry it and folded it neatly. Once he was done, he gave her a last look and closed the door. He could swore he heard her muttering his name as he left. He returned the key and rejoined the other two. He led them into a corner where nobody else was, and spoke in hushed tones. "I've done what I needed to. What are your names, and do you know any hideouts? Places people might gather. Oxenfurt had sanctuary, does any other such place exist?" ​

 

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While Vyle had pretty much given him a straight forward answer to his questions, Ana on the other hand had treated him as if he was her younger sibling by flicking his forehead and ruffling his hair. He didn't think it was going to be as simple as then finding him and 'saving the world', but he willing to believe. Besides, he actually liked the younger brother treatment that he had gotten from Ana. It helped to remind him of the better times that he'd spent with his sister opposed to the incident that frequently haunts his mind. The brief thought of said incident had cause it to attempt claw it's way into his mind, but Zephyr shook away the thoughts before they could settle.

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When the hooded figure was revealed to be Aaron, Kruez was surprised, but not to the same level that Keenan and Veera were. He'd only briefly seen him when he'd first arrived at Kaer Morhen and they didn't really say much besides introductions. Despite that he was still surprised that he had been killed at some point. Next up came the offer form Solomon and the counter offer from Veera. If it proved successful, then it would likely save both their lives at the cost of hers.

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"Well if you'd rather be publicly executed for that, then by all means go for it." Xross simply said. It wasn't much longer before the trio had gone in the quest to find a way out of the city, fortunately for them Xross had no interest in helping them beyond that point and simply headed the other way. Now the question was what was he going to do now. Seeing as his main source of entertainment for the time being had left on a quest of escape, he would have to find some other way of passing the time.

Sweallow is unconscious, just felt like making that known.

 

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Treasa smiled coyly, before the expression dropped from her face. What am I doing? She shook her head at herself before grabbing her bow, checking for the string that was coiled around the end. "Alastar never let me have a silver weapon. He didn't want me mistaken for a witcher. And he didn't want me getting ideas, I think." She glanced back. "But if you're willing to cover the tax, I believe I can pay for something serviceable." She slipped her fingers into her pouch, hunting for the small money bag that was in there, somewhere.

Of course, all the way at the bottom. If she had enough money left over it wouldn't be a bad idea to try and get more supplies. She was all out of the cleansing solution, should they come across more necrophages, and more healing supplies wouldn't be a bad idea. "I need more potions. More cleansing solutions. And we need some food to at least start us off." She voiced these thoughts, leaning against the wall for a moment. Weariness had been staved off, but it wasn't completely erased. She would make it, though. She could do this. "Ready?" She turned to Derrick, a small smile on her lips.

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Tessa followed Adolin, the determined expression never fading from her face, although her eyes watched the crowd around them warily. Adolin disappeared into the inn, leaving her and Seth outside for a few moments. "Thank you for doing this." She told him, gently squeezing his hand. "I know you didn't have to. But this needs to be done. We can't just sit here in fear. Bryce...he wouldn't have wanted this for me. Not the Bryce I knew." She turned her eyes back towards the door, awaiting Adolin's appearance. When he came back, she followed him once more to a more quiet corner to discuss further options. "My name is Tessa. That's Seth. As for places..." She glanced at Seth. "Could we go back to Sigmund's, temporarily? That, or seek refuge with Matilda and her brother."

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Alyse didn't miss the expression on Terra's face, and narrowed her eyes. "Hey, guess what? You told him to run. You basically told him to die. And as for me, does it look like I'm just walking here?" She gestured with Sweallow's dismembered arm, the fingers flopping about. "See my hand here? Not his, mine. It's glowing, yeah? Unless I'm in a dream, in which case this is a shit dream." She rolled her eyes before turning back to the village. "I'm keeping it alive. Maybe, if you're good, and he gives me a hug, I can reattach it. But you have to drag his sorry ass back, as penance and payment both. Because of your stupid mistake, lady, I have to spend my energy keeping him alive in hopes that maybe you aren't bad people and just maybe this will help more people. So no whining, no looks, no complaining. Take it like a champ, and get him back to my house."

She paused, golden hair falling over her shoulder as she half turned. "Or don't. Bleed in the street. It's not for me to decide his fate." With that, she turned and headed into a small home down the road.

 

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Ellyn nodded at the General's request for proof of who she was. She pulled out a leather thong that hung around her neck, a ring dangled from the end of it. The signet ring identifying a member of the command staff of the Impera Brigade. It wasn't a widely know symbol, but the General would know it in a heartbeat. "I'm here to discuss the army of undead that is massing to the southeast of your camp," she told him casually, leaning back in her chair. "Lead by a mage named Solomon. But perhaps I should start from the beginning."
She paused for a moment with a thoughtful look on her face, evidently deciding on where the 'beginning' was, and then continued. "I and your man here, Corporal Ardal aep Skellan, rode to Pontarsfork this evening, and found death. The people are gone; there were a few limbs and bodies scattered about, from the looks of things ripped apart, but it's important to note there there were very few such bodies."
"The corporal returned here for reinforcements, but while I was there I met two witchers and a third man. They'd been tracking this Solomon from Oxenfurt, where apparently he raised an army and ravaged the city. And then came on to Pontarsfork, for what I can only assume was to add to his army."

Ellyn stopped there, deep in her own thoughts and giving some time for the General to take it all in. "The force we're dealing with," she added quietly after a few moments, "includes almost the entire population of Pontarsfork, and a substantial amount of that of Oxenfurt. It has to be dealt with now before it grows even larger."

 

​

Solomon glared at the male witcher "How dare you accuse me of this act? I didn't kill him, I merely brought him back" Solomon explained indignantly "You should be thanking me really" he suddenly turned to Veera as she spoke, all traces of whimsy and humour gone, replaced with bitterness and anger "I didn't get to choose who lived and who died, why should you? You're staying. So is the mage. you, though, big-mouth..." he turned to Keenan "...go" the undead holding the witcher let go and retreated away slightly, leaving a path for him to leave the castle "Go on then, toodle off to wherever you wish to go, and bring back some friends" he spun away from the witcher and turned to Veera and the mage boy "There is no such thing as a happy ending, understand? I realised that a long time ago. Life is not fair, and neither is death. I hear them. I've always been able to hear them. At first, I couldn't tell whether voices were the dead or the living. And all they ever spoke of was torment, over and over, the dead are just echoes of the living. You can guess what that would do to a young susceptible mage, I lost all empathy for the living, I became cruel and sadistic to express my inner depression and frustration. But you don't want to hear about my past, I'm sure. It didn't get interesting until I met... nevermind"

​

Vyle turned to Ana with an abruptly soft expression "Of course that is not my plan... but if I have to lay down my life to save countless others... I'm honestly not sure what I would do. It used to be the case that I would not hesitate to do so but... I have recently found... purpose in life" he said, smiling affectionately at Ana "So let's hope it doesn't come to that" he stated, squeezing her hand momentarily.
Eventually the trio could see a village in the distance and they began to head towards it. It was only when they got closer that the vilage began to show little signs of life and Vyle's eagle vision could see decomposing bits of body everywhere "... behold... the village of Pontarsfork" he said bitterly with a scowl, gesturing at the empty village "Solomon's been here... we were too late"

Willow rode along on her horse dramatically.

Violet simply watched sternly "Try again"

 

The Witcher caught the smile that Treasa gave him but he didn't show any obvious signs of his surprise. Apparently he had caught her off guard. Perhaps it was the timing of it, she had just woken up, that had allowed a simple flirty joke to get through. Perhaps he had broke through some layer of ice, but it was hard to tell. Judging by the speed that the expression disappeared from her face, she wasn't happy that she had let herself slip.
"Yeah, I've got a bit. And I've got the head of that beastie which we can sell for some cash. Alastar may not approve, but you need a weapon to fight monsters." He looked at her seriously. He was honestly a little surprised that she wasn't at least given one. If he was the other Witcher, then he would have found her one but warned her only to use it only when necessary, and not to show it off either. "Just remember not to try to solo an Arachas or other big game with it. We don't come out of those alive, even with potions." Part of him felt silly for reminding her. She probably already knew, but at least this way he covered his bases. He nodded.
"Makes sense. I should restock. And get a new bag." He glared for a moment, remembering the demise of that unfortunate bag. "Let's be off. Lead the way." He gestured to the door.





"Tessa, Seth, good to meet you. I look forward to working with you." And the rest to come. We've got a long ways to go yet, and this is a hard road. He looked at Seth. "I wouldn't discount this Sigmund quite yet. He might not be happy with you, but he might be a useful ally. We've got to get as many of them in our pocket as we can. As you might have noticed, we're a little short." His points about this Matilda seemed quite valuable. He was intrigued by these contacts that he mentioned that she might have. He rubbed his chin.
"Those contacts of hers could come in handy. We should find her, if we can figure out where she might be. Above all right now, we have to move fast. Time is of the essence." As he spoke, he seemed to tense up and appeared restless. The hands of time ticked away in his head. How long did they have before the killings started? Half a day? Hours? An hour? It was hard to tell.





The general listened intently to what she was saying. It was hard to believe, but if an agent of the Impera Brigade mentioned it - one that General Caerme Ymaladda notified him of no less - Then there was something important to it. He was reluctant to act on it to a certain degree, these soldiers were useful. However, this could assist with the potential overall objective of subjugating the Northern territories as it may ingratiate them to the people by rescuing them from this horror. He nodded.
"This sounds like a significant threat. There is no other way. We will act on this information." He cleared his throat and called out to the surrounding officers and members of the general staff. "Muster the men! And some siege engines!" He looked around at Ellyn.
"If they have a castle, then we might have a siege on our hands." He extended a gauntleted hand towards Ellyn. "General Rhetz Godyvron. We'll be working together on this. Do you have anything else you would like to add?" ​

 

​

Teliana frowned, though her annoyance was stymied by Vyle's answer. "Don't mistake choosing your own lives over others to be selfishness." Was her only reply as she returned the hand squeeze before continuing on her way. Perhaps her answer was selfish, perhaps it would steer Vyle to do something he regretted, but if she had to let the entire world die just to remain by his side....well no. No, there would have to be more to the relationship then that. And she would have survivor's guilt to contend with, but overall? It would be worth it.

She could smell the village before they reached it, her heart sinking as they came to the edge. Apparently, her thoughts a ring of prophecy to them. By distracting Vyle, by getting captured and injured and needing rest, she had delayed the search for Solomon. And now it had cost civilians their lives. She stepped forward, breathing through her mouth as her eyes swept the empty village. It was time to search for clues.

​

"No one gets a happy ending." Veera watched with shuttered eyes as Keenan was set free. She wished she hadn't played into the mage's hands so easily, but her mind had been shaken and shattered by the revelation of what had happened to someone she had considered her little brother. She had led him to this. It was her fault. And by the gods, she would pay for it. She would take the price for all of it.

"My life held very little meaning. I was nothing, no one, dirt that had come from dirt and would go back to being dirt. And then someone found me, and changed me from dirt into something harder. I was turned to stone. She let that stone envelope her now, hardening her heart against everything, and everyone that she could. Except for the price of her mistakes, staring back at her. And the man who was standing in front of her.

​

Treasa looked at him as though to say, Really? Before shaking her head. "I do have something in my head besides fluff about romantic stories." She muttered, turning and walking out the door, completely ignoring surgeon and company as she did. He had been paid, to her knowledge, and she had already thanked him. There was nothing more to say. Outside, the crowded streets momentarily stunned her, before she gained her wits and joined with the crowd, looking back only once to make sure Derrick was following. She let the people around her lead for a while, sorting the thoughts in her head before turning and stepping into a black smith's shop. The hawk sigil on his wares was not familiar to her, but not much was in this land. The steel looked and sounded good as one of his apprentices worked in the ship, and his craftmanship seemed fine. She waited for Derrick to arrive, drumming her fingers on her arm as she glanced from one weapon to another.

"Got anything silver?" She asked, looking up as the man tensed. Her eyes flickered back down. "Don't touch it, just point." The doppler did as she said, though his eyes turned wary in the blink of an eye. She picked up a silver sword with a cat carved into the handle, admiring the work. "Is not mine. Came from a traveler who had no use for it." That was hard to believe. It looked like a true witcher sword.

She swung it experimentally before reaching into her purse. "All of this, and my silence." The man grabbed the coins before they were cold and shoved them in the belt purse, turning away. Satisfied, Treasa turned back to Derrick. "Now where?"

​

Zack walked along, too busy with his thoughts to admire the scenery.

​

Tessa nodded, before turning to Seth. "Would you be able to show us the way? Did she tell you where she was going to go?" She asked, not at all thrilled with having to go to her for help, but it was part of being in a cause. Sometimes you had to do bad things, things you didn't want to, but you did it for the good of the cause. For the people you were trying to help. Bryce had taught her that.

​

Alyse turned, raising an eyebrow before heaving a sigh and throwing Sweallow's arm on the bed, letting it flop with a small thunk next to his body as she dunked her hands in a small bowl of water, whispering a prayer underneath her breath. "I'm sure the floor is quite comfortable. Just make sure to get out of the way if when I collapse." She told the other mage before turning to Sweallow, a frown on her lips. "I hate this part." She muttered before grabbing his arm in one hand and ripping his sleeve with the other, baring the chewed flesh, torn muscle, and the nicely chomped through bone. Firs step. She pressed the bone pieces against each other, her hands glowing as she began the long process of putting an arm back onto the body.

If Sweallow decided to wake up, he was going to be in excruciating pain.

 

​

When they had arrived at the village, the strong smell death was extremely gut wrenching. Up until now everything that he heard about Solomon had not only been fairly recent, but pretty much saying that he was a threat and not someone to be taken lightly. He may not have doubted doubted any of what he was told, but seeing the actual aftermath of his work was something completely different. After standing there, basically frozen stiff, he took in a deep breath. He'd agree to follow along with them so this was no time for him to be getting cold feet. They needed to find a clue of sorts and standing here wouldn't help with that at all.

​

"I've understood that for quite some time now." Kruez muttered to himself. While Veera's plan to get the two of them to escape in exchange for herself had failed, Keenan's outburst had lead to Solomon choosing to him to be let go instead. What Kruez would've like would be the option to be removed from the un dead restraints, but that likely wouldn't happen anytime soon even if he asked. So he didn't. The mage had started talking about his backstory, to which he partially listened to. He wasn't all that interested his descent to madness.

​

Xross wandered around, searching for something to do.

Sweallow, fortunately, remained unconscious for the time being.