Of Monsters and Men

Derrick chuckled at her responses. She used his own comment against him. Oh, he did love verbally sparring with people. Veera was good at it when she wanted to be. He gave her a smile and raised an eyebrow.
"Yes, yes perhaps you're right there. But then again, I should be alright. After all, I'm not a practice dummy." He smirked and stood up straight, allowing a serious look to return his face when she began to explain what it was. His eyes opened up wider in surprise as the explanation of what irritated her was revealed. It was an... Interesting use of Witcher logic. Dopplers were a result of the conjunction as were other monsters. Therefore, why should we live with them? He could see where she was coming from, but equally it wasn't his thing. Nor was it likely everybody else's. Veceslav would never have gone for it and Aaron seemed too nice for genocide. Same went for Olivia. "Well I'll bid you good luck with that. You're in for a rough time. After all, there's a bloody lot of them and they are excellent at hide and seek. You never know, I could be a doppler." His voice was teasing and he gave her a cheery wink. Given what she had just said though, it wasn't a terribly good idea. He held his hands up in front of him.
"That was a joke." He said, placatingly. Derrick did smile at the suggestion of a bath though. "Yes, probably. Wouldn't want people to think you headbutt dummies for fun now would you?" He began to towards the main keep as well.
"I'm bored so I'm heading inside too. You can come walk with me if you want." He offered.​

 

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"Thank you for the permission to walk back inside my own home." she muttered after she started walking after Derrick. Truth to be told, it was all of their home. A place they could come back to when the horrors of the world they lived in became too much. And in some cases, to get blind drunk without having to be glared at for using up three casks of mead.

Whenever she had been away for more then a few months, she would start to forget how big Kaer Morhen actually was. The stone structure towered well above her head, and would have caused a crick in her neck if she had dared to try and see the top. Most undignified. Instead she quickened her pace so she was walking alongside Derrick. "I'm not sure it would be in a doppler's best interest to assume the persona of a witcher and then come to infiltrate where they live." Not only might they run into the actual witcher, but it was quite easy to get lost here.

"Why were you outside?" She asked suddenly, just realizing that he had come from the direction of the training grounds. "Everyone else managed to make it to the library when we appeared." Ah damn, she had forgotten to mention she had teleported with two strange mages and a sick human who turned out to be the sibling of one of their own. Ah well. He could find out on his own. It was unlikely Derrick was out here unless Veceslav made him be out here. Which would mean he did something wrong. She felt a smile cross her face for the first time since she had arrived. He did have the funniest pranks, even if she never partook.

 

"Hey, I can hear that. We Witchers have excellent hearing, remember?" Derrick teased. "I was offering you my company more so than anything you know. The practice dummies don't talk to you, so I may as well. Besides, you're good banter." She decided to start picking holes in his Doppler story joke. Well, she was right. He'd almost have accused her of missing the point, but she was being pedantic about it for fun he was sure.
"You're right. It would be a colossally stupid thing to do. But then again, people are stupid. Well, some of them." He thought about the times when people had gone out trying to get rid of Noonwraiths with salt and torches, or sacrificing sheep to get rid of Ghouls only to attract them closer with the smell. It was at times like that when he remembered why Witchers existed - Because someone needed to be there for the stupid people and the ones that couldn't fight back. Otherwise, humanity would be dying out as a species rather than holding on like they were now, making some kind of life in this world. She quickly changed the conversation topic and a smile crept on to his face again.
"Well you see, I was in the library. You must have arrived afterwards. I heard some stuff going on downstairs and I wanted to see if something I set up yesterday worked. You see, I noticed Olivia came back and decided to Axii Veceslav into forgetting she was a fully qualified Witcher. Then, I was planning on joking about him going senile and forgetting all about her." Derrick explained. "Well, it worked perfectly. In fact, the whole affair even got poor Aaron confused. The guy got a bollocking for letting a stranger into Kaer Morhen. Not that it seems to be uncommon at the moment. Anyway, I got down there and suddenly it all clicked for the old man. He told me to go run the Gauntlet twenty times. So, I ran it once, decided that I couldn't be bothered to do any more and since he never said when to do them, I figured I'd do some more tomorrow. And the rest is as they say, history."
"I think he'll probably try and break something if I do that one again though. It's not my fault that he's not very good at spotting Axii. You'd think that he'd be better at resisting it given that he's the eldest here. I figure that I could probably Axii all of Kaer Morhen if even the Crow can't stop me." A self satisfied smirk appeared on his face. "Not that I would do that of course. Veceslav being pissed at me is one thing. You, him and the rest of the Kaer... That's a whole other story and I am not crazy enough to deal with all of that."​

 

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Veera grinned, amused by the story. "You would think." She echoed. "But try to Axii me and you'll be missing some important parts in the morning. Parts I know you'll dearly miss." It was well known, perhaps a little too well known, that the male witchers were very carefree with their love life. Veera wasn't celibate, but she didn't seek out the opportunity as often as some of her male counterparts. "I can't see either Olivia or Aaron being too amused with your joke either. They don't seem to have the same sense of humor." Or any sense of humor.

"You should be careful, or you won't have anyone to help you take down those scary Ghouls again. Gods know that we couldn't have you facing them all by yourself." She teased, the joke reflected in her eyes. Derrick had always been the easiest to get along with. His laid back manner made the most tense of situations less complex to deal with.

"It's strange, isn't it? To think that I've known you and Veceslav for nearly as long as some people's entire lives. I wonder what it's like to live for centuries, watching everyone you know pass on. Unless you're friends with a mage of course." she added hastily. "Then I suppose they're likely to outlive you." Would her friends outlive her? At this point, it was likely.

 

Derrick visibly grimaced at the threat. She was apparently well aware of his attitude towards his love life (not that he made a terribly big secret of it. In fact, he was outright unapologetic about it).
"Ouch. I'll make sure not to." He nodded when she mentioned Olivia and Aaron. The implicit words at the end were wholly agreed with. "Yeah. Sometimes one might think my jokes weren't welcome. I guess Aaaron is new so, we can't blame him too much, but he does seem... Uncommonly moody for his age. He's what, nineteen?" She then reminded him of the oh so scary ghouls. He smiled back at her, remembering when ghouls were new and a little scary and how he had now turned them into somewhat of a joke. They weren't all that dangerous now that he had the experience. To him, they were almost a joke threat. They weren't dangerous like Leshen or the draconids, certainly nowhere near as bad as any of the Cursed.
"Yes indeed, how will I defeat the scary ghouls?" Then Veera began to engage in some mild philosophy. The long lifespan of Witchers and mages.
"Yeah. You'd think the three of us would be dead by now wouldn't you?" He agreed. "Honestly, it's probably terrible for the first couple hundred years and then you kinda... Get used to it, you know? Not that the whole thing bothers me much. I'll either live forever or go out in some suitably climactic way. Maybe I'll do a George of Kagen and die fighting a dragon or something. Hopefully less of having my body looted by opportunistic locals though." ​

 

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"I'd rather take down a Leshen. Something frightening, but legendary. Dragons are majestic, at least. Though there's nothing majestic about the mess they leave behind." She wrinkled her nose at the memory. "I've never even seen one." She recalled suddenly as they walked into the stone building. "And honestly, from the sounds of it I don't think I would want to." There was something creepy about the skull of a deer, and even creepier when it was wandering around in a dark forest.

"I suppose you better go hide from Veceslav. I have to go talk to......" she paused, unsure. "Well, someone who came with me." She was unsure if Tatiana would want to go along with her, but it was only fair to ask, after claiming responsibility. She absolved herself of the guilt she felt by arguing that she had taken the girl under her wing in different circumstances. Her plan had changed, and so too would her actions.

"You wouldn't want him to make you do more laps." She added with an easy smile.

 

Other than Aaron getting agitated at what the other girl had said, things had gotten pretty silent following Veera storming out of the library. Nobody had moved an inch after she had left, probably a sign that they were going to let her be for the time being. It wasn't long before Kruez had placed himself back into his seat. Hopefully someone here would have some idea for something for them to other and hopefully it was Veceslav. Kruez still wan't all to convince that Evander could be of much help to solve his boredom problem. If he was drunk to the point where he was slurring his words and other such things, then there would be a problem of him being bored. Kruez could probably get some cheap entertainment out of watching the old drunk if that were the case.

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Zephyr gave a quick nod before following behind Terra into the Orpahnage. The first job that he was to be given was cleaning up after dinner, that was fine, He's done much worse/odder jobs that just simply cleaning up. When they had arrived at the dinning room Zephyr gave a quick, nonchalant wave as he was introduced to those who were present. The introduction of himself ended and Zephyr went to go find himself a place to sit. While space was made for him, he didn't say much. Just sat there and waited for the time being.

 

Evan pov:

He wander around until he thought he saw a glow. Was he imaging things? He quickly turned to a strange area. It was amazing. A lake in the middle of no where. That was strange it was drawing him to it. He wanted to jump in it. It looked so nice. He jumped in. It was burning. Why was the water so hot hot. He got out angry and all wet. Desiding no one should experienced the horible hot water. He made trees fall over with strong wind. He made it rain just were the lake used to be when he was done the land looked totally destroyed. He stayed on his knees at he was still wet from the water from the lake, burning still on him. Why he didn't know...

 

Olivia's pov:



With Veera not saying much to her there was nothing to say back. She watched Veera leave without saying anything. When Aaron said 'I was still days away from reaching her. I would have never gotten there in time. Do not blame yourself for this. If it wasn't for you I wouldn't be here to see here. I would probably be in some random little town, doing jobs for money and impossible to reach. So do not for any reason blame yourself.' "I guess that is true, but I want to take my actions into account." With Tiana not saying anything to her she did not know what to do. She had wanted to meet her because of everything that Aaron had said to her, but now she was hurt. That brought up a question that she was sure Evander could answer. She tuned to him and asked, "Where all the other mages at? I get the sense that something happened to them." Perhaps this Evander person did not want the dopplers to face the same fate that had happened to the mages, if something did happen to them. Every person had something to give and killing them off just because did not seem right. If they were ding something wrong then sure. She then looked around. All the years ago when her village was attacked by monsters. Did they have something to give? No she could not think like that. Monster could not be reasoned with like humans. There mind was gone, but yet it seemed so odd for so many monsters to be in one place.


Ethan's pov:



The dog kept on coming. He threw another rock as another dog came sending it flying. He was getting quite tired. The village that was close by maybe he could somehow get there. That was when another dog jumped from the trees. The orb on the ground it was he only chance. He took a hold of it, the moment he did he felt odd. He somehow knew what to do. He sent the dog flying this time with air. That was when he fell to his knees. He felt sick......

 

Veceslav Furst, Kaer Morhen Library

Evander hadn't said a word since Veceslavs told him exactly how he thought about this maniac, it was then that he heard Veera say she understood, her expression however was while she understood she wasn't pleased with it. She probably had the notion that he didn't understand, but he did. He wasn't going to protect someone who harmed innocents just for fun or because they thought they could get away with it. He'd punish this monster, himself, but there was no way they could justify murdering all of them. He let her brush past him, shooting only a quick glance at her face as she passed him. It wasn't the first time she stormed off when people didn't agree, it was something that she never really had grown out off. He decided it was best to leave her alone, let her vent the anger out of her system and he would check up on her later. It was then that Aaron spoke up, the lad had his heart in the right place, but he still had a lot to learn. "I understand that you want to seek vengeance for your sister, I get that, I also know there's no way I can convince you otherwise, every witcher is free to do as they see fit. All I am going to say is to not let your judgement be clouded by your anger and end up doing things you're going to regret later. Don't let innocent people become the subject of your rage when they had nothing to do with it in the first place. And I know all emotions are coursing right through you that someone must pay, but there are more solutions to people who protect the target than just grabbing for your sword, just don't forget that." Veceslav said, the lad would probably hate him for it. Veceslav didn't care they all hated him when they were at that stage, eventually they'd learn that he did care, in his own way and that'd be the end of that. He then kneeled down next to Tatiana. "I heard you were administered a Witcher potion, how are you feeling?" Veceslav asked, these things could have some nasty side effects and there'd be nothing he could do about it, he wanted to make sure she was still alright.

 

"Yeah, I'll leave you to deal with your business. I'm still headed to the library, I'm morbidly curious about what's going on in there." Derrick replied. He waved a hand nonchalantly. "Besides, I can handle Veceslav. He's not that much trouble really." With that, he walked ahead and headed straight for the library. When he entered the library, he found the room in a somewhat awkward standoff. Veceslav and an older looking man were facing each other and well, there was a discussion going on there of sorts. Once again, Veceslav was talking to Aaron and lecturing him on... Something. Then the man appeared to be moving on to some lady who was most definitely not a Witcher and he had to admit, not looking entirely healthy.
"So... Anyone going to tell a Witcher what's going on here?" He asked. This place was getting awfully crowded with people. "And Veceslav, isn't there a better place for all of these people? I'm just saying that, maybe we don't want to have to deal with all the visitors in the library of Kaer Morhen. Like you always say, silence in the library." He whispered the last part of the sentence. Then, he placed his hands firmly on his hips and waited for someone to explain what the hell was going on in this room because it wasn't awfully. ​

 

Evander's impatience grew listening to Veceslav's accusations, and decided he had to say something at the very least. “You seem to be extremely confused about the order of events, Witcher. I know of the events that you're accusing me of being a part of, but I can assure you, sixty-seven years ago I was probably dead drunk and in a brothel. The time when I did break into this place occured quite a few years beforehand.”
Having dealt with this annoyance, he now turned to face Aaron, who was declaring his intention to kill the doppler who had hurt his sister. Completely understandable, and Evander didn't blame him for this reaction. The young man did seem to have misunderstood Evander's stance on the matter, however.
“Young Witcher, I too want this particular doppler dead. I know better than you do the full extent of the wounds he inflicted, and believe me, I wish him a particularly horrible death.” He paused, and coughed slightly. “However, I want him dead because of his actions, not his race. If he was a human I would have exactly the same attitude towards him. I've kill those I consider evil. Humans, dopplers, mages, and,” here he looked Aaron hard in the eyes, “Witchers.”
Evander could have gone on, but he was interrupted both by the Witcher girl over to the side suddenly changing the topic and asking about the Mages Council, as well as the arrival of Derrick.
Evander sighed, and went to lean against the wall. He was starting to get slightly anxious. He really needed to leave here, and get a drink.

 

Olivia's pov:



She stood by waiting for Evander to answer her. That was when Derrick came back she was getting tired of getting ignored first it was Derrick, now it was Evander. What did she have to do to get noticed? Blow up the Kser Morhen library. Why not at this point? Apparently they could somehow be as loud as they wanted. It was only a library. It was not like they were met to be silence in the library or anything. That was unheard of. Derrick wanted to know what was going on. She was not to happy right now, but she would tell the man. "Veera asked that man, Evander and that man, Kruez to bring that girl, Tatiana, Aarons sister here for some sort of help, because she was assaulted by a monster or doppler, and given in haste to save her life she had to drink Swallow potion. I think that about it." She rubbed her head trying to think if she missed something, but could not think of anything. That was when it hit her. "Oh yea umm, Veera said she wanted to make a plan to eradicate the dopplers. Apparently she had seen the damage just a single one of the creatures can do, and if they all turn to that then humanity would be doomed or something like that. I think she wants everyone's help to do this. Evander said something about it being wrong to kill every doppler. Veceslav said that all dopplers are not like the one Tatiana came across and something about not letting our emotions get to us. So that is why we all here."

Ethan's pov:



He was on his knees when another dog cam onto him. He lunched a rock at the thing and set it flying. He had to get to the village. He was not sure he could make it. He gabbed his backpack and crawled to a near by river. His feet hurt. Everything was killing him. What did that orb do? He took of his shoes. He reached into his bag and pulled out a black coat that was his family, that he was living with. It was far to big for him, but would make a good blanket. He begin to undress, perhaps the cold water would help. That was when he herd a howl...

 

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Veera paused, as Derrick left. She wasn't sure what she should do first. Well she was sure, but she was hesitant. Then Aaron walked by. His words were those of revenge. She could work with this. "Aaron, wait." She turned and fell into step beside him, despite having just come from this direction. It didn't matter; allies were more important then laziness. "You want to help me find the doppler that hurt your sister? Come with me. I was hunting one before I came across him. I believe he is somewhat important to their race, a leader of sorts. If we find him, we might find Seth."

She stopped, lowering her voice. "I'm leaving as soon as I can. I was going to ask Tatiana if she wanted to stay with me or you, but under the circumstances, you're right. She's your sister. And if you want her to come with, she is welcome. But I'm going to go saddle up, and I need to know how many horses I should prepare. I need to leave before Veceslav catches wind of my plans and tries to stop me." He might be the only one who be able to. "I don't want to pressure you, but you need to decide and soon. I leave with or without you."

She hesitated, then patted him on the shoulder and hurried off towards the stables. If she had been angry about Tatiana's condition, how could her own brother feel? Veera chose a horse for herself and began to carry the necessary equipment to the gelding. She would wash on the road. Right now she just wanted to get away.

 

All credit for this banner goes to Aelin Fireheart.

Veceslav Furst, Kaer Morhen Library

Veceslav at first ignored what Evander said, he'd get to that in a bit. He listened attentively to what Tatiana described. Well what Evander had told her about curing side effects was pure bullocks. Once these effects occured they were permanent, nothing to be done about them. "I'm sorry to hear that... the effects are permanent I'm afraid... nothing to be done... I'm very sorry, it could have been prevented and though I do not know entirely what transpired so it is easy for me to say..." Veceslav got back to his feet, seeing Derrick had returned as well, he quickly went over everything in his head to see if the ******* was trying to prank him again, not that he could notice, everything made sense... "You make a very good observation there Derrick and because of that you may see our guests to the evening hall, I'll help this young lady on her way there." He knelt back down next to her as she asked where Aaron went. "Said he needed some time to think, went to find himself a quiet spot, don't think he's too far off. He ought to be back shortly. We're moving to the evening hall as Derrick over there correctly pointed out it'd be a better place for our guests to stay." He said in a friendly tone, despite his appearance and the way he had just acted it didn't take effort for him to be friendly contrary to popular believe. He then held out both his hands, palms up. "Allow me to help you to the Evening hall. Unless you want somone else to help that is." He stood up to provide better support for the young woman.

 

Yup, he needed to get out of here. Veceslav was making a move to get them out of the library and into a hall, but Evander had no interest in finding a more comfortable place to 'chat', so he began to make that clear.
“If you'll excuse me, I think I may just leave now,” he told the Witchers. “I've told you and Veera what I think of her idiotic plan, and that's all I have to talk to you about. It was a waste coming here anyway,” he sighed. “If I'd known what that girl was planning I would never have opened a portal here for her. Probably would have aimed it at a lake actually. Or the middle of the ocean, that would have taken care of her.”
“Anyway, like I said, enough of this,” he declared, straightening up. “I'll be off and out of your hair.” Evander turned to face the wall and began concentrating. Just as he had gathered sufficient power and focus, he remembered something else he wanted to make clear.
“By the way, if I hear wind of Veera or any other Witchers going off to commit mass murder, I'll kill them, okay? Just a heads up.”
He prepared to open the portal.

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It was about three hours before sunset when Ellyn wandered into the small village of Pontarsfork, the long shadows of Oak and herself stretching out before them. Oak seemed to pick up his step as they entered, probably sensing that food and rest was near. Ellyn also perked up a little; she was tired, her armor was beginning to chafe her skin after almost two days of not removing it, and she was yearning for something to eat other than dry bread and overly-salted meat.
Spotting a tavern among the houses, not very hard to do in such a small village, Ellyn made a line for it immediately, tying the reigns of her horse to a pole as well as leaving her lance leaning against the wall. She then stepped inside, ignoring Oak's whinny of objection to being left outside tied up and without food.
The inside of the tavern was pleasant enough, mostly occupied by locals with the odd Nilfgaardian soldier among them. Ellyn hoped that for their own sake the soldiers didn't try to start anything, as was their habit when confronted by a long warrior, especially when it was a woman.
Taking care not to stare anyone too long in the eyes, she made her way to the bar where a woman was working. “Good evening, ma'am,” Ellyn said to her in a friendly manner, at first not entirely sure how to address her. “I'm looking for a hot meal, which I'm sure you can provide, as well as a meal and bedding for my horse. He's just outside,” she asked, pointing somewhat superfluously to the door. “Also, would you know of where I can get a place to sleep? Just for one night, I'll probably be on the road again soon.”

 

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Veera offered a small smile towards Aaron as she mounted her horse, patting the creature's neck. "I am glad at least, I'm not going alone on this journey." She waited until Aaron was astride his mount as well before clicking her tongue and setting off at a quick, but not too quick to be loud, pace. "The information I had told me that this doppler was in one of the bigger cities. I thought immediately of Novigrad, but I believe now that it is Oxenfurt." She waited until they were across the bridge and onto the path before glancing back at Aaron. "I expect we'll have at least a few days before the others figure out which way we've gone. To that extent, we'll follow the road until we hit the first path marker, and then we'll go through the forest. Tracks are much harder to find amidst those of monsters, poachers and animals."

Turning to face the front, she didn't look back at her home once as she kicked her horse into a gallop and rode away.