Of Monsters and Men

Kruez had resorted to rocking himself to and fro in the seat as Veceslav mentioned going to the Evening Hall. Having no objections to the suggestion, Kruez got up from his seat and stretched out his arms a bit. When that was out of the way, he had prepared to take a step forward when he had heard Evander speak about sending the portal to a lake. He does realize that Veera guided Tatiana through the portal, thus she would've fallen wherever Veera had fallen.

"See you later you old drunk." With a lift of his hand, Kruez walked towards the Evening Hall along with Veceslav, Tatiana and the other guy who's name he did not know. He really didn't care what Evander did. If he wanted to kill any Witchers committing mass murder, then that was his choice. If he died because of that then it sucks to be him. There wasn't anything that Kruez could do to change him mind nor convince him otherwise anyway. He too had already stated how he felt about the plan and since Dopplers were one of the races he held no ill will towards,he had 0 intentions on killing ones who didn't deserve it.

 

"Well damn, sounds like I missed all the excitement... Thanks for the quick appraisal Olivia. And I guess that about explains the Doppler debacle going on." Derrick commented as Aaron stormed out and the old chap that was here declared his intentions of killing anyone who tried to murder the Dopplers. Suddenly, Veera's bad mood made an awful lot of sense. Not only had she mentioned it to Veceslav, but it was in front of all these people and well, nobody looked like they were really going to go for it. Apart from Veera. Aaron seemed unusually frustrated which was a little concerning too. Everything said that tensions were high in the room, but there wasn't enough focus he felt on the real problem - Namely the crippled woman that Veceslav was helping. If there was one thing to be said for the old man, it was that he did try his best to help people that needed it. He knew that, even if he took the piss and didn't always acknowledge it. First, he wanted to deal with the scraggly intruder. "Open your portal and leave. We've got things to do." Then, he nodded to Veceslav's orders and walked briskly to the evening hall, opening the doors along the way and leaving them open as a path for people to follow. That way, it'd be quite clear where they were meant to be going. Then, Derrick positioned himself at the door to the evening hall and waited for everyone to arrive. When the Crow entered he spoke again.
"Olivia said that this woman has been admitted with Swallow, that right?" Derrick inquired. "Because if so, there ain't much that can be done to fix the damage it'll do. She's stuck with that. Well I figure since we're responsible for whatever horrible things it did to her, we probably owe her something from it? We're Witchers, we're meant to help people deal with issues, not cause more of them. The Gods know that there's more than enough of those in this life without our contributing." What people may not have been aware of was that aside from being a womanizer and a prankster, he was also a decent person at heart, even if it was somewhat hidden by some of his humour and attitude. Looking at the girl whose name he did not know, he felt a little sad. She didn't look like she'd had the best of times anyway and now it was worse. He sighed to himself. A waste of a perfectly good woman. Perhaps outside of the walls of Kaer Morhen, and were she not so injured, he'd have tried something. But not here, not if she was like this. That would be too cruel.





"Oi, Da', look at 'er." Gordon said, tapping Dave on the shoulder. "She defn'tely ain't from 'round 'ere." Dave twisted around, still holding his hoe and looked over in the direction he was pointing. Dave's eyes widened and he dropped the tool he was holding. Gawking was the only word he could describe it and his son's face was little different.
"Ploughin' 'hell Gordon. She's a beauty. An' look at all her gear... 'Tis a mercy for her that we're a village of honest folk." Dave spoke, watching her ride into the village. What a majestic horse! What armour! What wealth indeed! Who was this lady? She was, well, just incredible. He'd never seen anyone like her in his years. Not even the soldiers looked quite like her. She was on a completely different level to them. She was the fertile land to the Nilfgaardian soldiers' weed clogged fields. She was the wheat, and everyone else he'd ever seen was the ploughing chaff.
"D'ya think we should befriend her? She's plenty strong, I wager she'll 'elp us if we ask her" Gordon suggested. A wave of inspiration seemed to hit the boy. "She could 'elp us find Matilda! Dave shook his head.
"Nah, lady like her's gotta be way too busy. Besides, she'll come back." Of course she would. She was just... Busy.

Meanwhile, in the tavern.

"Corwyn we've got anoth- Oh my." Delaine Gilbert gasped. Their most expensive patron, probably ever, had just walked in the door. She hadn't seen anyone as well, rich as her since they'd come out of Novigrad. She was right out of the big city's wealthy families. She had no idea where the woman came from but she was just amazing. In full armour, and a woman? It was practically unheard of and she loved it. She looked around at Corwyn whose jaw dropped. "Bloody hell Corwyn would you stop staring at the good lady and come over here!" Her snapping brought the stunned man back to his senses and he shuffled over to the counter next to Delaine.
"Absolutely my lady. We have a stable that you can put your horse up in just outside. If you'd like, my husband can handle that before he starts cooking your meal." Delaine replied. "And we can give you a place to stay. Recently the men of Pontarsfork were kind enough to give us a building for lodgings. Mostly it's a big room full of beds but there's a proper room at the end if you don't mind walking past the occasional drunk Nilfgaardian." Delaine was quick with her answers. She couldn't afford to lose good business in stupid ways like making a bad impression. She was practised. Hopefully it counted here.
"The lodgings will be fifteen crowns if you want the room. You could take our room I suppose if you really wanted it but we'd have to charge extra. Of course, the meal would be a small sum as well, we'll say five which makes twenty overall if that's agreeable to you my lady." She offered.​

 

"I guess so" was all Callum said in response to the three names comment. He walked calmly over to the bathhouse and went inside before, well, bathing. While he did so, he thought of what he'd just done. He'd lost to that human, and given her his temporary loyalty, wasn't even getting paid for it either, and on top of that he'd told her he would try to end this damned conflict. How the hell was he going to do that? Great job Callum, you screwed up again, he thought to himself. He put on his clothing and his equipment once more before walking outside of the bathhouse and over to Tessa. "Three names, given at any point. If you have some now we can get to business, if not then I'll go off and do my own thing for a while" the male said, making his intentions clear.


Yana had found what she was after. It was a graveyard, one she had visited just after her aunt had passed away. She hadn't wanted to go, but she'd been forced to; it wasn't hard to force a four year old to go places, really. While there, she'd learned of a young girl, twelve years of age, who had died in a horrendous vampire attack. The girl hadn't stood a chance, they'd said, having vicious scratch marks all over her body and a deep puncture in her neck where the fangs had penetrated the skin. They had buried the girl inside a coffin and put it six feet under the ground. She had been a member of a noble family, one well known for having expensive clothing. Maybe the royalty was the reason the vampire had gone after her, to see if the blood was any different, but either way that didn't matter.

"Alright, screw doing this. I need that dress, but digging will take forever. At least, only if I do it myself" the witch said before shifting her stance to one that provided more stability. After what she did, she was going to be exhausted, probably barely able to stand; but on the other hand, if she completed it, she was going to have an ever-loyal minion, she was sure of it. Holding her hands out, she cracked her knuckles and then placed her hands on the ground. She could do it standing up, but it was way more awesome this way.

From her hands, black ghostly tendrils resembling dark, bony hands emerged and plunged straight into the earth. Through the earth the hands moved, ignoring the laws of physics as the spectral hands found what they were after. Each hand had gone in a separate direction, and to a different coffin, before they passed through the coffin's exterior surface and then finally plunged into the dead heart of the corpse inside. Seconds later, the corpse became reanimated and immediately began doing whatever it could to escape the clutches of the coffin, which happened to be simply digging. Though the corpse quickly became completely surrounded by the soil that entered the coffin and crushed by it, it was already dead, and thus continued digging as best as it could. After a good ten minutes, three corpses arose from the ground, absolutely covered in dirt and grime before making their way over to Yana. Yana hadn't done a complete resurrection; she had merely reanimated the corpses for her purposes, and thus it didn't take quite as much energy. However she was still panting from exhaustion and breathing heavily.

Without a word, the witch pointed at the tombstone that rested at the girl's grave and commanded the corpses to dig. They did so, and in a reasonable amount of time they had broken through and hurled the coffin out of the earth, placing it in front of their commander. As Yana now released the spell, the corpses simply fell to the ground, completely dead once again. Wandering over and still breathing heavily, Yana heaved the lid off of the coffin, a smile appearing on her face as she saw what she was after.


At Ana's words, Zach had stopped for just a moment. A small voice inside of him was demanding he kill her, eat her even, but that voice was pushed down by his regular thought patterns, allowed partially through due to the potion's effect. He stood there, not sure what to do, when he was cut with the blade from the vampire and threatened. He wasn't sure what the vampire was talking about. He hadn't hurt Teliana, and he didn't plan to. No, the one in danger wasn't her, but the vampire himself. There wasn't a single part of him that didn't want to tear the vampire apart, but he had a blade to his throat. Would he survive if the blade cut there? He wasn't sure. He forced himself to calm down and ignore the voice telling him to fight. He didn't want to get himself killed, after all. He was thankful he wasn't like his brother; he had no doubt whatsoever that Matthias would've attacked. The tension dropped and he allowed his shoulders to relax, waiting for the vampire to lower the blade.


Unlike Zach, Matthias wasn't scared of The Change. In fact, he looked forward to it. He had long since embraced his nature of being a werewolf, trained with it even, and the moment he felt that familiar tingling sensation and increase of temperature he hadn't fought it, but allowed it through. The people around him had had mixed reactions. Some had screamed, others had began cursing, and some had outright attacked him. The ones that had attacked him had been the first to go, their chests sliced open and their entrails left to spill out onto the ground. After that, the ones that had been yelling at him had gone, throats torn out and scratched all over their bodies. With those ones taken care of, he had turned to the screaming ones. He'd left them last on purpose; the longer they survived, the more fear they felt, and while Matthias wasn't sadistic, the werewolf nature of him very much enjoyed playing with his prey. They'd gone down quickly but certainly not quietly, killed in whatever way Matthias had seen fit.

He had allowed one person to escape though, the man that he had fought before. Nobody knew his name, so it wasn't so dangerous to let one escape. Besides, the more the stories of the werewolf that plagued Vizima, the more likely it was that others would come to try to stop him, or Witchers would be called in. If Witchers were called in he'd know that the town was desperate. He'd seen the hatred they had for Witchers, he shared some of it himself. If one of them came to stop him, things would get interesting. After all, he'd never killed a Witcher before, but he longed for it.​

 

Once again I say: Credit for the banner goes to Aelin Fireheart
Veceslav Furst, Kaer Morhen, Library

He helped Tatiana to her feet. Then before Evander decided to stop tainting the Kaer with his presence he told the man. "I commited mass murder once, 't was right here in these halls, then again it was merely defending from riled up *******s whom with the help of a mage in denial about his role in it, probably to ease his own conscience, got in here and tried to commit mass murder on us. Gonna kill every last one of those peasants as well? They were going for mass murder, oh yeah there's that one time I ran into a Nekker nest and commited mass murder there, gonna hunt me now as well? All I got to say to you is stay the hell out of the business of Witchers, if someone is going to punish them for it it'll be one of our own. Now get the hell out of here before I change my mind about letting you go." Veceslavs words were sharp, maybe the old mage would come to his senses and stay the **** out of their business, his words of how he'd open the portal in the middle of a lake or the ocean were pure hypocricy he didn't want innocent dopplers to die, but he wouldn't give a damn if an innocent person got killed as long as he got his way. He didn't think that Veera would go ahead with her plan, she'd see reason and listen to it, but deep deep inside, he feared she wouldn't stop and he had known her for a very long time and he would try to protect her if he could.

He helped Tatiana on her way to the evening hall, she was in really bad shape. Her hands were ice cold and she was trembling with every step moving only slowly, he tried his best to keep her on her feet and get her to the evening hall. He was there to be greeted by Derrick. "Aye I know the effects are permanent. We ain't just monsterslayers but problem solvers in a borader sense, bloody shame the generl populace doesn't see it that way. And yes that damage is ours, we cannot fix it. And you are right that the least we could do to repay her for it is let her rest and recover here. Take care of any problems that might arise around her coming here. And yes that means an exception to the rules, we cannot send her away not in this state." He then turned to Kruez "As for you, you can stay as well, maybe you can learn something from 'round here. If you got questions feel free to ask them." He then returned his attention to Tatiana, whom he was still supporting, she really needed to rest. He quickly looked to Derrick "Derrick, get some bedding and a few blankets, closest room should be Aaron's, bring it back here, it'd be greatly appreciated, no buts, just do it." Veceslav said to the younger witcher. He set Tatiana down on a chair, lowering himself so their eyes were at the same height. "It's going to be alright, you should rest now. Derrick is going to get something so you can lay down comfortably. We won't leave you unattended. If you need anything, just ask. None of us want to harm you. You're safe here." He said in an attempt to reassure Tatiana.

 

​

What was she even supposed to do here? She couldn't kill the woman in front of all these kids, it wasn't her style. She's have to try and get the woman when she was alone, but Willow was a master of tricks and deciet, she could surely manage it... but why? What had this kindhearted woman done to deserve death? The man known as "Zephyr" entered and sat down, she wondered if she could use him... for now though she just continued to eat the measly portion given to her.

"I'm glad that's settled" Vyle reluctantly let the werewolf go and stood formally, taking several purposeful steps away and gazing into the night. "I hope we meet again soon, farewell" he spoke, bowed, and disappeared into the night.

 

​

Zephyr sat in his seat for a bit, looking around in order to get a better grasps of his surroundings. There were a lot of kids here, as expected of an orphanage, of various different ages. His eyes looked towards the other side of the dinning hall where he spotted a girl who looked like she been out in the dirt, least that was the first thing that came to mind when Zephyr had spotted her. He wondered just how long she had been here and whether she could help him out if needed. Getting up from his seat, Zephyr made his way over to Sarah/Willow and spoke. "So what are you eating?" In the time taken to walk over to her, he decided that it might not be the best idea to ask an orphan how long they've been at an orphanage right off the bat, thus he has about what he would possibly be eating.

 

Olivia's pov:



She watched Aaron leave. He want to go angry at the Doppler that hurt his sister. Aaron was acting strange and it worried her. That was when Veceslav said that he wanted to go to Evening hall. That was when Evander expressed that he was going to go. Everyone soon left leaving her with the man. Aaron, the other mage and Derrick. Derrick thanked her for the information, but that was about it. Veceslav left taking Tatiana with him. She looked at the man known as Evander for a moment. "Where will you go? What will you do? You seem so ready to go, but yet you are still here. If you want to help then do it. If you question it you may change your mind. If you go with your heart you can not go wrong," She told the man. She did not know what to do. Lately she felt like she was invisible. Derrick said that he would come back and talk to her, but yet he had not come back. Perhaps it would be a good time to leave and head off. She did not know where she was going to go, but any place was better then staying here being invisible. She decide that she would wait for Evander to say something to her then she would go. She then walked over to the door waiting for the man's response. "Everyone needs help, sometimes they are afraid to ask." She really did not know what she was doing. Maybe she was hoping that she would get though the man some how.

Ethan's pov:

He was at the water edge. He then stood up the night and wind nipping at his skin. He looked at his reflection. His face looked different, but he could not be concerned about. The howls stopped. That could not be good. He took a hold of the coat and put it one, pulling the hood over his head. It seemed to fit which was odd it of its self.



He then headed for the forest hoping to cut though it to get to the village faster. He stood at the edge before going in. He walked and walked and continued to walk in the direction of the village. That was when he spotted a dead person gripping a black sword. Well that person was not going to be using it anytime soon and this was a forest anything could happen. He picked up the sword and continued in the direction of the village.

 

​

With a flick of of his fingers, a portal opened with a loud crash and various books fell from the nearby bookshelves. Whoops. Evander stepped through the swirly green vortex, hearing Veceslav behind him giving out to him once again about something. It sounded like an attempt at a threat. There was a flash of light, then darkness, and then light again as Evander stumbled out onto an alleyway somewhere in what he assumed was Novigrad.
He glanced back at the portal behind him curiously. To his surprise no grasping hand had grabbed at his shoulder; the Witchers had apparently allowed him to simply leave. Evander shut down the portal quickly though. There was no point in tempting them.
With a slight smirk and a confidant step, Evander sauntered out of the alleyway and into a busier main street, and then suddenly stopped. He wasn't entirely sure what to do with himself now. Not that he had ever had anything in particular planned, but the afternoons events, the sudden chance to use his abilities and magic for something more meaningful than a convenient way to get around... It reminded him of the good days.
He glared grimly at his shoes. The good days. He didn't want to think about them. With a renewed but destructive purpose, Evander turned towards the nearest tavern and entered in.

​

Ellyn smiled gratefully at the woman's prompt and helpful answers. She knew that her appearance indicated wealth, which as merchants the tavern keepers would certainly want to partake of, but she had a sense that these were honest folk who would have been just as helpful to her if she had been a lowly peasant girl struggling to find shelter, albeit not so awed by her.
“That would be perfect,” Ellyn told the woman, “and if you can provide an honest man to guard my horse and belongings while I'm here, then we'll leave the bill at thirty crowns. As for bedding, the lodgings will be sufficient. I don't want to turn you out of your own bed,” she added in a humorous tone.
She glanced over at an empty table nearby to the side, and waved a hand over to it. “Is that table free? I'll have that dinner as soon as you can cook it. I'm famished,” she confessed to them with a grin. “Whenever you're not busy of course, Miss...?”

 

Olivia's pov:



She stood at the door way watching Evander. He opened a portal without saying anything. She was clearly invisible today. She could think of why or how, but it must be the case considering the last four people or so flat out ignored her. She watched Evander step though the portal without much thought. The portal closed shortly after. There was no going after him even if she wanted to. It was time for her to go as well. She was not needed here anyways. She took one last look down the hall that the meeting was taking place. She spotted Derrick at the door of the Evening hall. She then turned and headed for the door of the library and headed out the castle. She looked at the sky it was dark and not safe to travel, but what did they care. She continued to walk to the stables were the houses were kept. She noticed that two houses were missing. She thought about going back in and telling the others. She did not though. Why should she when she would just get ignored again. Perhaps it would teach them a lesson to listen to her. She stood at the stables a moment longer deciding if she should go out not. She did not know where she was going. The Witchers probably would not even notice she was gone. She stood at the horse that was hers. She stood there and brushed it. "We will go soon," she told the horse.

Will's pov:



He stood at the water, in the mages council building. He had been searching for hours for mages. There was one he had found, but it disappeared hours ago and was not able to locate it again. He was beginning to wonder if he was going to find any mages. That when he found one. Perfect someone to ask if they knew anything about the magic council. He was not sure after Ana had said there was no mages code. He had to find this portal before they disappeared again. He opened a portal and step though. He found himself in some sort of alleyway spotting a man enter a tavern deciding he did not have anything to lose he followed the man in. The man was old and yet there was something about him. "Excuse me, I a looking for someone." He said to Evander. He could not shake the feeling that he should know this man.

 

​

As he was passing through the door to the tavern someone called out to Evander. He quickly glanced over his shoulder and took in the sight of the young kid with the stupid hair color. Then he promptly dismissed him from his mind. The kid was looking for someone apparently, and for some reason thought Evander would actually do him a favor and help.
“Fuck off.”
Evander pushed on into the dimly lit tavern, ignoring the stench of alcohol, smoke, and piss that suddenly hit his nostrils. He grabbed an almost empty tankard from a dozing patron seated near the door, and chugged back the contents rapidly. Tossing the now empty container to the side as he made his way to the bar, Evander slapped a coin onto the counter with a clacking sound.
“As many pints of the strongest you have that this can buy,” Evander growled at the bartender, who after ignoring Evander's request for a long enough moment to make it clear he didn't appreciate his tone of voice, then moved to deposit four empty tankards in front of the mage.
“I'll be back in a minute,” the bartender grunted.
Evander nodded and took a seat at the counter, keeping to himself as he stared grimly down at the smooth woodwork etched with the initials of former patrons here and there. He wondered how many of them were dead by now.

 

"On it Vec." Derrick acknowledged, then turned to leave. Before he did, he heard the injured woman mention her name and asking him to stop calling her 'this woman'. He looked back. "I am sorry, Tiana. I didn't know your name. I shall return shortly with your bedding." The Witcher made his way through Kaer Morhen swiftly to Aaron's room. He swung the door open and it slammed against the wall in his haste, rattling on its hinges. The Witcher gripped the duvet sheet and bundled into his arms and held the pillow over his back. He rushed down the stairs and into the evening hall where Veceslav and Tiana were waiting. He brought the pillow round to his front and raised the items in his arms.
"Got it all. Where do you want it?" He asked, looking at Veceslav and Tiana for suggestions. He wasn't entirely sure where they planned to rest the girl in this room but it would probably do well enough. That said, it didn't look like she was going to hold out much longer. Everything from her body language to her facial expression read extreme exhaustion. It wasn't likely to get better either.




Delaine beamed at the politeness of the knightly lady.
"I am Delaine Gilbert. And this is my husband Corwyn, the man responsible for this awful surname." She smiled at her husband who rolled his eyes. "He will be watching over your horse and will guide it into our stable outside now, before cooking your meal." She widened her smile, and her husband clearly rolled his eyes again and shuffled outside, grumbling about doing all the hard work around here. Delaine turned her smile to the green knight in front of her.
"That table is free and food will be along shortly. Out of curiosity, may I ask your name?" The tavern owner inquired. It wasn't often that someone like her stopped off in town. In fact, she was quite certain that they made a note to bypass this area because of its relative newness. That, and the presence of the Black Ones occasionally put people off. They weren't that bad she discovered, so long as they got their drink and you didn't irritate them too much. They were quite amiable and given her Novigrad descent, she had no particular patriotism for Temeria, Redania or any of the Northern Kingdoms and she wasn't overly bothered by her own city anyway. As far as she was concerned, Nilfgaard might even be good for the place given the current state of the realm could be best described as a shithole.​

 

​

Veera didn' want to slow down long enough to talk and for the sake of posting she rode along the road, making the semi long journey to Oxenfurt that her creator wished wasn't quite so long.

​

Teliana paused, uncertain what to do. Zach seemed to have regained his mind, but just as suddenly as he appeared, Vyle was gone again. She hesitantly approached the tawny wolf, fire warming her hands just in case. "Zach. Are you in there?" She asked, her stomach twisting in knots at the thought of having to attack her friend. All the same, she remained firm. She would not leave him in this state. "Are you okay?"

​

Tessa frowned. "I'm not like you." She snapped, irritated by Callum's carefree attitude. "I don't just have a list of people I want dead." She considered for a moment giving the witcher his own name, but what if he followed through? "Why don't you just fuck off then?" She retorted to his blank facial expression before turning and storming off, using very unladylike language. Were they all the same? Was killing just another thing to do before breakfast, like sweeping the floors? She brushed her hair over her shoulder, glancing back at Callum and flipping him off before turning down a side alley. "Well fuck all of you." She muttered to herself. She had to get out of this city.

​

It occured to Bryce at this point that he had yet to see Tessa. Counting down the seconds until the last information was passed to him, he pulled on a cloak to hide the weapons at his side and back, and started back up towards the top world. Her bar was up there, and so help the gods, she had better be there as well, or he was going to have words. The last thing he needed was her swearing at priests or getting locked up. Dopplers didn't last long in jails. Dopplers don't last long anywhere. He thought bitterly.

​

Zack managed to drag himself back to bed, where he lay, bemoaning his poor decision to get drunk in front of the nearest witcher and be put into the custody of a strange and leaderly doppler with better hair then he had. That last thought didn't make much sense to him, and he fell asleep, hoping his brain would be back in working order when he awoke.

 

Veceslav Furst, Kaer Morhen, Evening Hall.

Derrick rather soon returned with the requested things, asking where to put it. "Near the fireplace, far enough out so it won't catch fire." Veceslav said Tatiana felt cold, she could use the additional warmth from the fire. When Derrick had put down the bedding he then put an arm around Tatiana's back, just below the shoulder blades and the other beneath her upper legs, he lifted her off the seat and carried her to the bedding, gently laying her down and putting a blanket over her. He cleaned out the fireplace and put in a few blocks of firewood, igniting them with Igni, the fire caught on and in moments the fire was warming the evening hall. He himself didn't need much sleep, witchers in general didn't have an aweful lot of need for it. He knelt in front of the fire as if he were meditating, without looking back he said "Thank you, Derrick, it's greatly appreciated" He stared into the flames "As for you Kruez, what brings you here, where are you from? What is it you do?"

 

Will's pov:



He stood there a moment When Evander said some rather inappropriate language that should not be repeated or wrote on a role play form. But whatever. He was looking for a mage and his search lead him to here. To this man. He was beginning to wonder if the mages had any hope of coming back. So far every mage he had come across was useless or evil. He need answers and this man was the only of that might be able to help him. He needed to know what had happened to the mages. That was when person siting at the bar saw him. He had the most odd look, it was almost like the man knew him. He watched the man try to get up in his drunken state. The man got up nocking bear over onto anyone that so happen to be sitting at the bar. The man looked at him for some time. He trying to get to Will, but a old man was in his way. "You" said the man to him. "Me?" He was not sure what he could have done, but he was about to find out. He never been to Novigrad so he did not know how this random drunk knew him. "I know what you did. You burned down a village." "Sur I have no clue what you are going about, I have never been to Novigrad. let alone burn down some village." "Yea, and I am king of Novigrad. I know you did it." This man was clearly crazy. He did not want to cause a scene, but was starting to look like it might become one.

Ethan's pov:



He continued to walk though the forest with his new weapon in hand. He walked out the forest. It ended up being a short cut to the near by village. Why had the howls stopped was his question. The village was a small little place. It was so dark and late. He did not know what he was going to do. He looked around and did not see much. He should head to somewhere, but he did not really know where to go. The mystery of what had happened with the orb was on his mind. He continued to walk though the village trying to think on what to do. The howls from early could have been some sort of dogs in the forest.

 

"I don't think it's too terrible a surname," Ellyn chuckled. "And my name is Ellyn," she told her host as she sat down at the somewhat rough, but perfectly adequate table. Her stomached rumbled slightly as she did so, but she ignored it, reminding herself that food would come shortly. "So, how's business nowadays?" she asked politely to continue the conversation.

Evander vaguely heard some confrontation going on behind him, but he ignored it. He was busy working on his second pint.


So, this is rushed. Like, so rushed.

 

Ethan's pov:



He did not know what to do. Picking a direction at random he decided to head that way. He ended up heading north out of village he was in. The howls and the village was going to be a distant memory. He continued north to he reached another forest. For some reason this land was covered with forest. He just kept on going though. It was more dark in this forest then out of it, but he did not know where to go. The forest it self was rather wet. It was almost like it was raining in the forest its self. He continued to move through the forest his black coat now wet. He finally left the forest behind. He continued to walk to he came across a sign that said welcome to The Village of Pontarsfork. The village was not to far off. He looked at the sky the moon was still rather high. He walked to a door and knocked at it. While it was rude to wake someone up in the middle of the night he had no where to go. His eyes said he was tired and his black coat was wet from the forest. He just wanted a place to rest. He leaned up by the door almost falling asleep. Then woke himself up. He hoped that the person inside would not be to angry at him for waking them up. (at the Buttle house)


Will's pov:



The man took out a knife and leaped over the bar knocking over more people's drinks. "Youuu ar dead," the man said. The man the jumped at Will knife at the ready, jabbing it at Will. He moved out off the way, the man ended up knocking over a stool. "You are going to hurt yourself." "I don't carrree." The drunk man said at Will as he started jabbing at Will. "I do not have time for this." Will used a gust of wind on the man at he was jumping at him throwing him to a near by wall knocking the man out cold. That man was clearly crazy and he was not about to just let someone attack him. He stood there for a moment not sure what to do. he had come here to find a mage, but all he found old drunk. He pulled out some money and threw it on the counter. "That is for the trouble from the man." He then turned the Evander put some coins in front of him and said to the bar man "For his next drink." Then headed for the door ready to go. Would he ever find a mage? He did not know. What had brought him here was questions and maybe he would never find out.

 

Derrick nodded and laid out the bedding as instructed. He estimated a good distance and took off a glove to check the heat. As it happened, he had picked well and set up a place for Tatiana to stay. He put his gauntlet back on and stood up, moving out of the way so that Veceslav could lay the girl down.
"No problem Old Crow." Derrick said with a slight smile. Whether or not the man noticed was unknown, for he had already turned his attention to Kreuz. Satisfied with letting the older Witcher handle the situation, Derrick instead pulled over a seat and sat near the fire. He watched Tatiana tossing and turning in the makeshift bed by the fire. He felt a little sorry for her, being plagued by bad dreams. A part of him was curious as to what troubled this young lady's mind, but something told him that he would rather not know. Monsters were one matter, but there were greater horrors to be found in the minds of men than in a cave full of Nekkers or Ghouls. He reached down and put a hand on Tatiana's forehead, gently.
"Sleep peacefully, and dream of happy things." Derrick whispered, activating the familiar Axii sign. It did its work, calming the mind of Tatiana so that she would sleep a peaceful sleep. Afterwards, Derrick folded his arms and slung one leg over the other, staring into the fire while Tiana slept more peacefully.




"Hmph, I suppose that it could be worse. It's a pleasure to meet you Ellyn. I'll say this much for you, you're much politer than our usual clientele. Delaine smirked a little. "And cleaner too." Corwyn came through the door again after having guided Oak into the stable and hustled into the kitchen. The man threw some potatoes in the pot over the fire to boil and went into the pantry to recover a slab of meat. He looked around at the nicer game that Bowen had brought in and selected a good slab of venison. He carried it out into the kitchen behind the counter and he could be seen chopping the meat. Meanwhile, Delaine had taken a seat opposite Ellyn.
"Business goes well. Shame about the war but, I'm not going to complain about the Nilfgaardians' coin." Delaine replied. "What brings you out this way then? This isn't exactly Oxenfurt or Novigrad."

Meanwhile, at the Buttles'.

"Ugh, who's knocking at the ploughin' door at this time o' night. Good Gods." The farmer muttered. Dave groaned and pulled a shirt on over his head and picked up his trousers and tied it off with a belt. As insurance, he reached into the cupboard and grabbed Ol' Rustbucket from its sheath. Besides, it could well be trouble at this time of the night. He heard Gordon stirring as well and by the time Ol' Rustbucket was out and Dave was at the door, he was awake and holding a broken chair leg as a club. "Come 'ere Gordon." The two of them approached the door and Dave opened it, squinting. The chap outside looked rather suspicious, and he narrowed his eyes suspiciously, watching for weapons.
"Oi, what do you want this time o' the ploughin' night? You should go over to Delaine and Corwyn's, they've got beds and whatever ploughin' else you want." Dave grunted.
"Yeah. I'll guide you there if yer lost mate." Gordon supported. Dave rolled his eyes. His son was too helpful. He shouldn't be going out into the night with weird people from Gods knew where wearing very, very suspicious clothes. He didn't trust this fella as far as he could throw him and well, that was a good distance as far as tossing people went, if his guess of the guy's build was right. ​