Veceslav listened to her reasoning. "Yes monsters will always be present, but in the eyes of the common folk, we are among them... taking children to train as Witchers so they may protect them, they do not understand that for safety sacrifices must be made. There are knightly orders who do our work as well, a drowner is hardly a match for a human. It's only when things get a lot more tricky like with fiends that the call will only be answered by witchers or a bunch of foolish mercenaries..." The crow said "Our numbers are slowly dwindling, maybe one day we will restore the former glory of the Kaer and there will be dozens of new trainees." He tore his eyes away from the fire and looked at Veera "I know it can't go unpunished, I don't have the full picture either, but there will be punishment. It is the severest punishment I can hand out, without putting you to the sword, dear Veera... it's the penintent quest... that mage we saw in Oxenfurt, we cannot allow him to exist. Bring me his head. And you may return to us... I know that the odds don't look too great for you, but such are the decrees of the code. Until you bring me the head of that mage, you and I are enemies... this is the punishment for your actions." He said his tone firm and his face as unmoving as a mask, but she knew him well enough that inside he hated it. "You are still granted time to recover from your injuries and prepare for this quest, but when you leave those gates and we meet again, I will be forced to fight you." It had been done, he had executed his duty and was still fighting his personal feelings on the matter. "Before you leave for this quest, I'd request you come to see me..." The crow said, after all it might be the last time he'd see her... Within the City of Oxenfurt, the strange mists spilled through the streets, necrophages just minded their own business fighting over scraps, the young witcher, Olivia still hadn't said a thing to him and Tobias was starting to get a little bit impatient. He had sent out some of his crows, some trailing the Dopplers and observing the bear like witcher. Others flocking out of the city to keep watch over the surrounding area, one of them found something rather curious indeed. A witcher and a girl riding horses away from the city. The crow flew after them, keeping an eye on them. The Lord of Oxenfurt looked at Olivia in front of him and asked "Go ahead, don't be afraid, is there something you'd like to know, girl?"
"Exactly, don't expect me to pay you for these additional visits to friends of yours. And I won't harm them, unless they intend to harm me, I found it very detrimental to one's health to just let that happen, you know." Aethelrick stated "And that'd be a sloppy job, I'd expect someone of your particular talents to make me disappear completely, I'm almost disappointed..." The Nephilim said, she then questioned his loyalty to the clave. If she hadn't figured it all out by now, she probably never wouldn't. She mentioned she was hunted by the Clave for some reason. "It's the Clave, too much politics, talking, scheming, too little time for actually fighting the demons. Don't worry I ain't gonna hand you over to them, we're not on the best of terms." The Nephilim explained to her. He was going with her to find some acquaintence to meet Cyrus in the long run, well then as long as she didn't expect payment for all this, after all he needed to find Cyrus. "So who we seeing first?" The Nephilim asked. Hendrick was getting seriously annoyed with his phone that kept on buzzing. He sighed heavily and checked his phone. Three texts, two from Clarity and one from Alarick. What in the seven hells was going on? He texted Clarity back. Okay, what the hell is going on, is it very urgent? He took note of the expect company and then removed all the evidence of the texts and tried to drift off to sleep again. He knew there was gonna a reply and that sleeping was out of the question for a little while, but it didn't matter too much, keeping the eyes closed and laying in the dark was still helping, not much but still.
"Yes, I'm the one from the camp.... sorry about that..." Alastar said, damn it of course there had to be someone from back there to recognise him. "There are dozens of them in thise city, I got here by accident... portal ****ed up and landed me in the middle of this mess...." The witcher said "As you can see I am missing something too." He directed specificly at the person who had recognised him from the camp, of course refering to Treasa and sure these people lost a helluva lot more than he did, but to him it meant just as much, no more. He never had a home since he had become a witcher, he had family as an exception among witchers and he had just lost it. "Under normal circumstances, yes I would slaughter every last one of them, but the circumstances are hardly normal and their numbers are too great. On top of that, I must find my last living relative and make sure she is safe. I'm the last person she's got..." Alastar said "Look around you, there is no way, you or me or even us together can kill them all.... They don't attack you or me, because their Lord... Tobias... is holding them back, but as soon as a single drop of their blood is shed.... we will be massacred..." Alastar explained, knowing full well that he might sound delusional and deranged. He had no proof of his claims except the necrophages not attacking them and prayed for the benefit of doubt. "Their lord for lack of better term.... he only spared my life to send me to you with this offer of his... I had no choice but to accept, can you not see this?" He was desperate to make them understand the predicament he was in, damn it he should have never gone through that portal... had Treasa been here then.... no had she been here they wouldn't have been here in the first place. He had to make a decision, not just on the Tatiana matter, but also on the matter of Veera, her actions had started an all-out war, but she couldn't remember a thing...That was the one thing he needed to be able to convince others of his decision. He couldn't kill her, not even if the King himself ordered it, then again the King held no jurisdiction over him. He couldn't kill his own daughter, she may not be his biological daughter, nor might he be her father. But raising and training her from a young age, see her grow. He was the closest thing she had to a father. "I won't execute you, Veera, I can't set myself to do that, while the punishment will be severe and death is not just a possibility, I will not bloody my hands with your blood." The Crow said, yes he had found the punishment. "As for Tatiana, I'll have to make preparations, enlist the aide of an old friend. She'll require a lot of training... the odds aren't in her favour.... she lacks all the training we were given and have given in return... If she dies it'll be worse than the swallow potion she took....But if she wants to risk it then so be it." The Old crow said, staring at the flames. "And Veera, our numbers have been low for nearly as long as I can remember... the siege of the Kaer... that really did us in... we never recovered... the world is changing, and in this new world I fear there is no place for us witchers..." Milosh wasn't amused with the answer he got. "Wrong answer, little birdie" Milosh said as he walked over to the wall and took a torch from it's resting place mounted on the wall. "Last chance, little birdie. Sing for me and I promise it'll be quick."
Aethelrick just observed her reaction, she didn't move. It was a risky move to say that he was Cyrus' parabatai, in the wrong hands that information could wreak havoc on both him, his parabatai and everyone they knew, but he was a dead man walking anyways. He had slipped away from authority to get over here, then followed up with directly ignoring the order to fall back to Idris and was now trying to contact his parabatai that he had been seperated from. With the Cup gone and Downworlders and demons going rampant it was only a matter of time before they all slipped into the cold embrace of death."Somehow I find it hard to believe that Cyrus wants to be known as Hendrick..." Aethelric said. The sudden change of mind seemed suspicious to him and he decided to stay sharp. He took note of where the weapons were hidden. She then mentioned pack manners, just terrific werewolves, that wasn't at all what he was paying her for. "You do realise I am not paying you to go visit those puppies, right?" Aethelric said as he swapped out the magazine of his P90 for one filled with silver bullets, he knew exactly how to speak to werewolves and fully understood their language. The one language they knew: Force. "As for the cash, say how much I owe you and I'll make it appear." He had enough money, to afford the services of this ifrit, even if she were ripping him off. He followed her out of the appartment, his black cloak concealing the weaponry he carried. All the Ifrit knew was that he carried that P90 and she didn't need to know more. She then stared at her phone for a moment. "Anything I need to know?" Aethel asked the Ifrit Meanwhile in the Institute Hendrick was still laying in bed as his phone buzzed yet again. Seriously what was it with everyone needing him when he wanted to have his peace and quiet? He still wasn't gonna look at it though, that could all wait until he woke up again, if he could get to sleep with all these damn people texting him all the ****ing time.
The Andaran PRince merely listened to what was being said and watched the odd robed figure walk away, laughing at Kala's words. Zahariel couldn't care less about the words of lesser beings. Kala was right though, whatever he was he didn't know, but from that act he was clearly full of himself. Kala started laughing as she had discovered a new emotion, not that Varaki knew this, but she clearly seemed to be happy about something. She then started to label the others, including himself with rather unusual labels, clear evidence of her claim that she hadn't been around people for a long time. "I am quiet for there was nothing for me to say, Kala." The Lancer had been quiet as well, he had been offered quarters to stay in, but refused them as he didn't like to be elevated above the others simply because of his position, it wasn't the Andaran way, but he couldn't really expect them to know that. He had his suspicions as to what Kala was, but he couldn't be sure, nor was he sure if he should be dragging the Andaran Highlands into this war that wasn't theirs and figured he'd ask about the Shard's faction "Say, sir Lancer, who was that... man.. he didn't seem to be a very pleasant person... and what can you tell me about the Shard Ideology?" He asked Reitan in a respectful tone, Kala clung close to Timothy but that wasn't anything unusual so he didn't pay too much attention to it.
Aethelrick merely smiled. "With the current situation it's more likely that demons will kill us all, with the Clave as it is and chaos reigning in the aftermath of that event.... However I am prepared to take a gamble." He simply stated as he watched Clarity go to the kitchen, it wasn't a big appartment, but he didn't expect anything magnificent in such a large mundie city. Nor for it to be in the possesion of an Ifrit. "The reason I don't have street cred here is because I only arrived here recently." But hey even without street cred you could still get things done it was just more expensive. He sat down on the other chair by the kitchen table. "I could ask you how you got to know Cyrus under such a ridiculous name. But it's rude to answer a question with a question. For starters we grew up in Idris, we have been parabatai for years. Well up until an incident a year and a half ago that is, Clave wasn't too pleased with a decision Cyrus had made and took us apart. He got sent here, I got sent to Kazachstan for a mission. He was banned from Idris, I wasn't. I have known the man as Cyrus for as long as I have known him, it's his name. That's why, now why do you know him as Hendrick?" Aethelrick explained to the Ifrit, he'd let the remarks about him stealing her underwear when she wasn't around did she honestly think that little of him, sure he had been a bit creepy in tracking her down and contacting her, but he wasn't that bad now was he?
After a little bit he stopped digging, especially when Tessa came over as well and she had an odd look on her face, something he couldn't quite place, but as she ran her fingers over the soil to grow the grass he pulled his hands back as he watched the magic work, he couldn't understand or grasp how this worked. He himself lacked any and all magic power so he just watched the grass grow before his very eyes. Maybe she had been on to something. "Well, my guess would be that since there's an oddity here in the cavern floor, I'd say it has something to do with that." Conrad started "I mean the cavern floor, is made out of stone as far as we have seen for now. Yet here are patches of soil... the statues appear to be weeping so they lost something.... so maybe flowers or plants?" Conrad reasoned out loud. "Say those spirit weavers anything specific making them more dangerous than normal spiders?" Conrad inquired as after all if they were gonna have to fight again he wanted to know what he could expect and what he needed to watch out for.
Name: Ulrich Haltzenor Gender: Male Age: 25 Class: Half-golem Weapons:Flail and Tower shield Armour: Heavy Magic/incantations: -Fire - Magma Crafting: - Specialism: Health Appearance: Average height, short, well kept blonde hair and blue eyes. Relatively strong build and his left arm and lower left leg were replaced with stone prosthetics Personality: - Origination: Haven Backstory: Ulrich grew up in the city of Haven, nothing too ridiculous happenung, joined the townguard for the lower city when two years ago all went to hell and he lost his left arm and his left leg below the knee. A mage helped him out with this problem resulting in a stone arm and stone lower leg.
"Never asked you to like me." the Nephilim said "But thanks for helping." A small smile crept up on his face, he had been in the city for a few days and kept his ears open in the shadow world, he had heard of a few people with ties to the Nephilim and this was the first person approached, it was a gamble, but that was this entire thing to begin with. "And hey if you don't want to do it for me, then just do it for the cash I'm giving you." He was paying a hefty sum for this help, nothing he couldn't miss, but it was still quite the sum for how little he was asking. "I have been keeping my ears open, heard you had ties to the local Nephilim, figured I'd give it a shot, nothing else, no special reason to come to you. Unless there is something I don't know." The Nephilim said, he had to find Cyrus again, despite being seperated for only a year and a half it was time to find his parabatai again. "So now I take it that we wait?" Aethelrick asked the Ifrit in front of him. Within the Institute Hendrick's phone vibrated, but the Nephilim was trying to sleep and anything else could wait at this moment.
Alastar wandered the fallen city. He saw strange plants grow here and there, stuff he hadn't seen before and an eery mist started to flow through the streets from the townsquare envelloping the city quickly. The witcher approached the group of dopplers at the waterfront, the necrophages all pulled back, staying at a distance, as Tobias worked behind the curtains to give the Dopplers a break to talk and take their leave, the necrophages parted to let him pass. He looked at the small assortment of people he had run into and sighed 'let's get this over with..' He thought. "Greetings... people...." He opened up "I have been sent here with a message and an offer...." The witcher said, he saw the little girl and he tore up inside. It was a bloody miracle she had lived through all this. She'll grow up just to be like Treasa, except... without her family there.... not that he was with her right now, atleast not physicly. He really didn't want anything else than get back to her right now. And he realised he had been staring. "I'm sorry... like yourself, I have had a long day...the new ruler of this place has sent me to discuss matters with you on his behalf..." his tone had softened up. The crow that followed him sat down on the roof of one of the buildings observing the group of people. Veceslav listened to what Veera was telling him. "I see..." was all he said when she was done. Derrick and her had fought. He had knocked her out, which resulted in the amnesia. "You were angry when you left the Kaer... a doppler had tortured the girl, Tatiana in front of you.... you asked us to join, when I refused your rage only burned brighter.... I let you rage as I have before, figuring the anger would cool, but it didn't, the rage consumed you and left with Aaron, intent on killing all dopplers.... I came after you to stop you, but I was too late....." The old Crow said, he knew what it meant. What she had done... it couldn't be permitted to have happened, the code was clear on that matter. But she didn't remember, no he had to set aside his personal feelings and enforce the laws. The crow was torn between duty and feelings. Why did it have to be her? Why couldn't it be Olivia? Anger and sadness played across his face. Then she mentioned Tatiana becoming a witcher. "Why is that? She has no training in weaponry, not the best chances of survival if we go ahead with it... I don't really see the why's of your plan, but if she wants to I'll inform her of the risks and we'll proceed, but really why?"
Rhett remarked on his wounds, he nodded "Yeah, four of them, not too long after I left you...None of them walked though, I made sure of that." The older Nephilim said "And yes I did leave quite quickly, didn't I. There was nothing there for me to do. And if it's on me he'll be put in the ground." Hendrick said "But I am intruding on a personal moment, so I'll take my leave, take care of yourself, wolf." The shadowhunter left them, as the looming threat wasn't a threat at all, but rather a friend and entered the Institute again, walking down the hallway, his injuries still bugging him and he wanted to rest. He took the elevator to the garden, Brianne hadn't exactly forbidden his actions of having moved his quarters to the garden, so it now was his place. Arriving at the garden he flipped the switched turning the elevator off, preventing it's use and then went down the two fire escapes, barring one of them with a wooden beam and locking the other with a locking rune. Brianne had requested it to be that way which would still aloow him his privacy but if needed she could still easily reach him for advice as he was practicly the second in command. He went back up and went to find his bed, making a quick round through the garden, watering where necessary. He probably should have put his weapons in the weapons room, but he wasn't going back down now, instead putting his weapons down on a piece of cloth that lay on the edge of one of the planters. He then got himself into bed. And looked up at the skies overhead. He loved the view and there was something about sleeping among the plants that nothing could compare to. It must have been late in the afternoon or early evening as the skies were slowly darkening, he closed his eyes and peacefully drifted off to sleep amongst the fruits of his labour.
"It's nothing, we got plenty of room here, why not put it to use." The old witcher said to Vyle. He had told everyone that they were welcome to stay around and had been crystal clear about. Teliana and the vampire were missing, but that hardly mattered the Kaer was a large place and they were probably somewhere more private. Tatiana was with them as was Kruez. "Tatiana, Kruez, Veera and I need to talk privately, you two look tired, there are rooms down the hall, get some rest. Kruez I know you couldn't take me up on the offer but it still stands I can educate you in Alchemy." The older witcher said. When they had left the room the Crow closed the door behind them and turned to Veera. "I don't know everything that has happened in Oxenfurt, but it was a right mess that's for sure... I know you can't remember, when I saw you in Oxenfurt and pulled you close, I already knew something had happened to you...." The Old crow said, she had been angry when she had left the Kaer and seemed so... lost... when he found her again. "I can't verify everything what Derrick said, but I guess that's all we got with Aaron gone..." Sadness crept into his voice. "And what is this idea you had?" "I welcome you, Duskstrider." The witch hunter said "By all means I have a use for someone with your particular set of skills, but we may discuss this little job later. For now let's get this little birdie to sing." Milosh grinned, she had shouted out when he killed Bramwell. "Your mate got away easy, if you sing for me, you'll get out easily as well." Milosh said as he approached the mage who was now on her knees, he kept his sword in his hand. "I promise, you that. Just sing for me and I'll end it quickly and painlessly." The witch hunter said as he leveled his face with hers
The Ancient God was rather perceptive and noticed how Kala kept tearing her gaze away from him. She asked him if he were staring at her. "No, but you seem to be struggling with not staring at me, but don't worry it happens more often..." Zahariel said, and then smiled he hadn't been staring at her, then again how would she know even at this distance his hood concealed his face. However, as to not be accused of staring again, he did something he rarely did in public and pushed the hood back down, revealing his pale skin, red eyes and long, flowing, black hair, his appearance having a certain timelessnes to it. The Andaran Prince stared at him for a moment then turned to Reitan. "A lance carrier, when so many advancements have been made with weaponry? Unless there is a story behind in which case I offer you my sincerest apologies, for I do not wish to offend you." The prince stated, then again his own weapon wasn't exactly state of the art either, but that was more a problem of supply with newer weaponry, not to mention the war going on, but shipments still disappeared every now and then, but surrounding nations vied for these so they might protect themselves from this war. The Ancient God adressed the group as a whole "If there isn't anything else, you wish to ask of me or talk about, I shall be on my way again, if you make up your mind I am to be found in my quarters." He then turned to Reitan in particular "If you wish to train, Lancer, let me know. The last engagement left me a little... disappointed...and maybe a training session will take care of that." The god said as he put his hood back on and turned his back on the group as he walked towards his quarters.
Tessa grabbed his arm and spoke up explaining to him why exactly it was a bad idea. "Good point, I must admit I didn't actually know that...." He whispered in return, carefully putting the bone back down on the cavern floor, after she had let go off his arm. "Well real or not we'll have to get past it, somehow, not to mention the door behind it. If you two try to figure out whether or not that web is real, I'm gonna see if there's anything with those statues, they seem a bit out of place here... I'll be right over there, if the owner of the web comes back we'll have to try our chances in overpowering it." He whispered to them then walking over to the human looking statues to inspect them they seemed to be weeping over bare soil. That was rather odd, patches of soil where the remainder was all stone... He knelt down in front of one of the statues, looking warily for any traps before he began to dig through the patch of soil with his hands to see if he could find anything buried there. Maybe he should have stuck close to them, after all safety in numbers, but he wasn't too far away from them, now was he? Baldomar thought long and hard for a moment to remember who this Philius guy was and then remembered, yep that guy. Ah Haven that was some fun past-time for the barbarian. "Ah, that guy." Baldomar said "Well then, Kellan, what do you say we introduce your old pal to one of my great pals." Baldomar said, hefting his hammer. "After all you got a score to settle and old pal Baldy is ready for some hammering." The barbarian said, Aston inquired about the validity of this quest. What did it matter why they were here. Grudge, gold both of them started with the same letter. It didn't matter, but Russel said that there actually was something worthwhile in there. "Well what are we waiting for then? I'm really itching to hit something and I think Kellan's gonna oject if I use his face as target practice again, then again it could only improve." Baldomar said with a grin on his face, then remaining quite for a moment and started laughing. Baldomar started sniffing the air, he could sense him out there somewhere on the same page. He sniffed the air again, sucked his lungs full of air and roared angrilly: "GREENBEEEEAAAAARRRDD!!"
Brianne didn't know how to ask any questions and she told him she would have done the same. A good thing the Clave didn't have eyes and ears here. She was doubting everything. "I don't expect you to believe everything you just heard... Then please listen to my advice and be wary of who your friends are..." Hendrick said, his tone solemn. The gaze she met his with made it look like she felt the same way about this all. "I'm sorry... I shouldn't let my own experiences test your loyalty of the Clave.... After the incident however, I couldn't bring myself to trust them anymore. Look at the evidence for yourself, get your brother's side of the story and make your own decision. Let me know about it when you made your decision, hell leave a note in my room if I'm out at that point." He felt her fingers brush his at first and then she wrapped her hand around his and squeezed softly. "It's fine, it wasn't your fault.... While I have made my peace with it, it still stings... to be betrayed like that...but I guess I could have ended up in worse places than here." He said, she opened her mouth as if to say something, but then took off like a fighter jet. Leaving Hendrick wondering what she was gonna say. However he quickly dropped it and went after her after all there was no telling if that person was friendly, however unlike Brianne he did take the elevator as to not injure himself further. In the elevator he thought about what they had said just after the wolves, about needing someone to watch their backs, he was uncertain that after telling her all this she'd still trust him to watch her back, the uncertainty broken when the elevator dinged. After the elevator he went for the front door, going as fast as he could, with his Seraphim blade in his hand. He eventually caught up to Brianne, he remained standing in the doorway. Leaning against the doorway he put his blade away when he saw that it was Rhett who came for a visit. He gave Rhett the nod only to realise that the wolf probably hadn't seen him wounded after their hunt for Masque. Hendrick had arrived at such a point he hadn't heard anything that had been said between the two. "Good to see you in one piece, Rhett." He said, given what he saw he doubted he was welcome to stick around and given it had been a long day for him he would retreat towards his quarters, the promise of nice warm covers and a soft pillow sounded like a gift from the Angel himself right now.
Veera fell to the ground as he stood on his own feet again, the look she gave him told him everything he needed to know. "I know who Vyle is, met him in Oxenfurt just prior to everything falling apart... Pleased to meet you, Ana, Zephyr." The old Crow said as he pulled Veera back to her feet, supporting the side with the bad leg. "Last I remember is passing out in a field outside of Oxenfurt, fill in the gap to here and I'll be good." He heard the comment about the portal, so it had gone wrong then. Derrick, Olivia, Treasa and Alastar.... damn it he hoped they hadn't gotten splintered too much. "Alright everyone, eventhough it's a good view out here we should get inside." The old Crow ordered "If it had been agreed on to come here, then I'll wait for them here, anyone else can rest up and leave if they so desire." The witcher adressed the group of people as he started walking inside, supporting Veera as he went, his own wounds still hurt as well, but he would be fine. He lead the group to the evening hall again and got the fire in the big fireplace blazing again to warm up the hall. "For those wanting to rest, there are several empty quarters down the hallway. Unlocked doors are free for you to use. If you got any questions, ask away." He instructed anyone that had followed he got Veera seated and sat down himself by the fire. "So after passing out in that field, what happened?" The old Crow asked, he didn't think too much happened but what she said about Derrick explaining something rubbed him the wrong way. Portals weren't without their risk and he probably should have said something about that, but Sigmund still did as requested and made the portal hoping for the best. Seth then went on in a rather respectless way to get him out of the room yammering about sleep, Sigmund remained quiet about the lack of respect, giving him some leniency for the long journey and nearly infected hand. "Sleep, yes, yes, I'll leave you to it..." The old mage said as he walked out the room, stopping when he heard Tessa's words "Whether you are allowed to help or not isn't on me after all I am not his employer, as for the hand if he feels fine, I see no reason not to let him. And it's nothing but a favour for an old friend, nothing for you to worry about. Sleep well." With that the mage left the room and closed the door behind him.
Hendrick followed Brianne and nodded as they strode to the elevator "Yeah it isn't my favourite topic of discussion, at first I assumed you were told. After that, I guess I wanted to avoid it." She told him that they needed to discuss his lack of respect for her command. They rode the elevator in silence, he avoided her gaze as they walked through the garden. Towards the jasmine plants, his pride and joy to keep himself occupied when not on missions. "Noted, I was out of line. I am aware of it, but I was worried about your safety that's all. Won't happen again..." Hendrick said his voice trailing off near the end. "The situation is stressful with the Cup gone and all, I'm sorry..." Yielding to someone younger than him was difficult for him, he tried his best. She asked him to explain what had happened and he sighed "Well let's get this over with... As you might know the name isn't Hendrick but it's Cyrus, no ****ing clue why everyone uses my mundy name but oh well. I went on a mission with my parabatai, Aethelrick, it was Prague, beautiful city, anyways Aethelrick and I were sent in with orders to hold out. Demoninc invasion, we were told that reinforcements were on their way. We went in with full confidence that our back up would arrive. The sands of time started to slip away and well initially resistance was light. But the fighting got fiercer, Phalanx of Moloch demons showed up, Aethelrick and I got seperated and Aethelrick was dragged down by a drevak. But there was one complication, mundies.... I was supposed to choose save my parabatai or save mundies I never knew or didn't care about...." Hendrick swallowed hard "I chose Aethelrick... it was evidently clear reinforcements weren't gonna come so we fought our way out... both of us got out alive, heard later there were several dozen mundie casualties." Hendrick plucked one of the flowers and smellt it, then playing around with it in his fingers. "As you can understand, Bri, the Clave wasn't amused. I was arrested and got a Trial, that is where I first saw your brother Alarick... He was one of the judges. Since I was the one to make the decision I was the one judged. Initially there was talk of stripping my marks. However in the end I was banned from Idris and seperated from Aethelrick, so such a thing may never happen again. And within a week I was sent here..." Hendrick finished. "Now what the **** whas I supposed to do... let my damn parabatai die? For what? some ****ing mundies that didn't even know Aethelrick or that we are fighting to protect them.... the look on your brother's face, I'll never forget it..... if at all possible I would like to avoid him as much as possible...." Hendrick was being honest there, not wanting to face that man again. "I also learned that the promised reinforcements were never even dispatched.... we were sent in there, without back-up...." He closed his fingers around the small bloom. "Draw your own conclusions from this.... if you got any questions now's the time..." He met her gaze now. Sadness clear in his eyes, he wasn't at all proud of how he had gotten here and even after that year and a half it still hurt to have lost his parabatai.
Hendrick was rather surprised to see Roxanne bolt after she had delivered the message. "Roxane.. come back.... please.." He called after her, but she ran. He cursed under his breath. "New friend? Who's that?" Hendrick inquired he looked at Brianne carefully she seemed weary and tired or maybe that was just his own exhaustion projected on her. "Glad to see you're back safely too... And if I may be honest here, I don't think any of us are.... I've got a glimpse of the inner workings, but I don't know.... all I can say is pushing her away will make it even worse.... that violence hell I can't condone it, it's bad but it seems like her way to vent... Oh what the hell am I saying, I hardly know anything about people..." Hendrick rambled on, then caught himself "Sorry 'bout that..." Brianne then told him they had to talk right now "Wait you're not too busy? Well alright then, give me a moment, do you have Alarick's number? I don't have it." When he got the number he texted Alarick. "Alarick, when you get back to the Institute, have Nick help you in detaining Masque, I got something I need to take care off, Brianne." It took him a bit longer than Roxanne with her fancy phone, but he still made decent speed as he was quite practiced in the art of texting on an old cellphone. When he had hit sent he looked at Brianne "Alright, I take it this is gonna be under four eyes.... so lead the way." Hendrick said, he'd follow her to where ever she'd lead him.
Alastar didn't know what to say about the newly arrived 'witcher' he kept most of his his remarks to himself. He merely listened as Derrick defended himself from this clearly kind of crazy witcher. "Wow, three whole dopplers congratulations. While I was late to the party I must have killed atleast two dozen necrophages on my own." Alastar said simply about the moaning of Olivia and her three dopplers. The portaling was starting and Treasa and him were the last one to go. "Aye, Treas, whatever you do... don't let go of my hand." He told her in a calm voice. He had to duck his head a little as he walked into the portal, he felt Treasa's hand slip from his in the gale force winds he tried to reach for her, his finger tips brushing hers but it was too late. It felt like a cold hand snatched him away from her. The portal didn't go where it was supposed to and Alastar found himself in the middle of Oxenfurt again, he looked around, surrounded by Ghouls, growling and snarling at him, Olivia was with him. The ghouls started to crawl closer towards him, but then they suddenly stopped. Alastar saw 'the man' in front of him, holding up a hand and the Ghouls backed down. "No ****ing ****, Olivia, now by Melitele what other useful observations do you have and hell Dopplers are the least of our problems!" He was surrounded by two dozen graveirs as his personal guard. Alastar was uncertain what to do, instincts screamed at him to grab his axe and to start fighting but he knew damn well that there were way too many, his gut had been right there was more going on with all the phages. He fought down the urge to grab his axe and start fighting and instead asked who the man in front of him was. "I am Tobias, ruler of this city." The man said, his completely black eyes looked him over " If you wish to get out of here to alive, I have a request to make." Alastar was rather surprised at the reply of the man. The necrophages were listening to him? What the hell was going on here. Part of him Treasa wasn't with him in the middle of this mess on the other hand he had promised her he'd never abandon her and he had failed. And well he knew where he had to go to find her, if everything went right she'd be at Kaer Morhen, but he didn't know how the **** to get there. Damn it! Maybe the girl that was still with him knew "Why would I want to help you?" Tobias merely smiled "You wish to live, right? If you won't do it I'll find someone who will, look around you can't hope to fight them all. My Children will tear you apart. After all you wish to see the girl again, yes?" Alastar didn't know what to say to that, how did he know? Or maybe he was just reading into it too much and Tobias was merely refering to Olivia, but that hardly made any sense. After a moment of silence Alastar saw he had no choice "Alright, what do you want?" He didn't have a choice, because he couldn't die here and leave Treasa all alone, then again for all she knew he was dead. He swore to never use a portal again. "There are people in my city who are killing my children, take care of them for me and let it be known that Oxenfurt is not a place for man anymore and I shall let you go, my children won't harm you I promise you that. I will extend this offer to those of them who will lay down their arms and leave, however do not mistake my courtesy for foolishness, hurt one of my children and you will die. Do you understand?" Alastar contemplated the offer, well if he wanted to find Treasa again he had no choice. "I'll do it...Don't know about her though." Tobias turned to Olivia "So what about you? Do you have any questions?" Alastar wrapped things up with Tobias and went on his way, with or without Olivia to where the man told him these people were killing his children and he would extend them an offer for Tobias. He had no allegiance to Olivia nor owed her any loyalty whatsoever, she was free to do what she wanted, if she wanted to come with him, fine, if not then fine. It felt very strange to walk amongst all these monsters and not having to fight them. He still grabbed a hold of his silver axe though, just to make it feel a little less more familiar and calm himself down. Unbeknownst to Alastar a crow was following him overhead, what he did notice was a small pack of ghouls following him around at a distance. There also was a crow shadowing each of the groups sent by Zack. Alastar himself went for the location of group Delta near the riverside, striding past all the necrophages who looked at him, growled, snarled, but they didn't attack him. He needed to get out of this city, then find Treasa, everything else could wait... The sleeping witcher went through the portal and as other witchers hated portals with a passion. He woke up because of the transition. He was on his feet, leaning on Veera. He heard her call out for Derrick and Olivia. Wait they weren't near Oxenfurt anymore.... He then heard a pair of unfamiliar names. He was really out of it. He tried to stand on his own legs and nearly fell. He balanced himself on his own two feet and shook off the sleep and nasty feeling of the portal. "Veera.... what happened while I was out?" He asked her grogily "How did we get to the Kaer? Was I out for that long?" There were some people he didn't exactly recognise, Vyle was familiar, as was Tatiana which left two more unfamiliar faces, but first he needed to know what the hell had happened or was going on the rest could wait. He was quickly recovering from his short sleep, ready to lead them once more Milosh merely stood over Bramwell as he died, not even giving him the satisfaction of a reply only smiling as the mage realised what he had been hit with. As the mage lay on the floor he stabbed him just to make sure the mage was dead. Then he heard his name. "I'll take that as a compliment." The Witch hunter merely said. "And did your employer also told you to introduce yourself, since you clearly already know my name. What's yours? And what brings you here?" He cleaned his blade on the robes of Bramwell and sheathed it again, then giving a few orders to the people in the room who were gonna clear the room and clean up taking those who had fallen. He himself had lost several people, 6 corpses he counted in a quick count. But to get two of Archon's people was more than worth it. With that out of the way, keeping a handful of armed men around the room, he and this stranger could talk. Maybe she could make it worth his while. Sigmund merely listened to the conversation going on in the room "Well Seth, as I said, at the dock they're still looking for dockworkers, you might want to try there." Sigmund suggested, then the conversation shifted to Matilda going home and his guests were rentng out his house as if it were their own. Well he did say to make themselves at home so it was kind of his own fault, no matter. "Matilda, I can make you a portal home, you can choose to stay here as suggested or I'll bring you home myself or Seth and Tessa walk you home, which ever you prefer." The old mage said, Tessa and Seth were completely unaware of the fact he was a mage and he was uncertain if Matilda knew. He didn't exactly show that fact off, not that it mattered too much, it wasn't as if mages had an elevated status on one side or were hunted on the other, was it?
Hendrick walked down the long hallway of the Institute, following Roxanne around at his own slower pace, having told Roxanne to just go on ahead he'd catch up and was relieved to see Brianne in one piece. Roxanne was already with her and he had lagged behind but that was hardly a surprise to him since despite feeling better he still was slower when walking. He felt it would be better if he were there to back Roxanne up a little if things got out of hand. He got himself over to Brianne and Roxanne, standing behind and to the left of Roxanne, he gave Brianne a nod and said "Welcome back, I assume everything went well?" He had seen the vampire that was now held in one of the side rooms, but had been too far away to actually hear his name or get a good look at the person.
