He felt something on his hand, it were Tessa's soft fingers he kept his eyes closed not wanting to face the horrifying fate these people had suffered. Tessa softly squeezed his hands and he willed himself to open his eyes. "I know they are dead... it's not what's bugging me..." Conrad admitted, after all he had seen death before. "It's just... the way they died.... I'm afraid of the same thing happening to us all... To be helplessly trapped, death looming, unable to do anything at all..." He couldn't keep the emotion out his voice and was close to losing it. It was one of his fears, those around you being hurt but unable to do anything to help or prevent it. Tessa then lead the way warning them about bone slivers getting stuck in feet. He didn't say too much and only nodded as he tried not to think of the fate these people had succumbed to but unable to effectively do so when he was faced with it time and time again as he placed his feet for the next step, following Tessa's lead, despite his earlier annoyance with her, he was glad she was there. A familiar face to comfort him in this dark place.
"Who needs Precision when things start dying when you hit them, as for the top heavy balance that's just something you'll get used to." Alastar said, he doubted Derrick had known how to use a sword from day 1 or felt the balance was accurate, it was always a case of getting used to. "You got a bloody brand now? By Melitele, what happened to keeping it simple and just being a witcher?" Alastar asked "It's not about what women think is cool, sure the company is nice sometimes, I'll give ya that but if me using Axes keeps most of them away, fine by me. I like my nice and quiet however hard to believe that is." Alastar explained. Treasa was on her way out firing some shots at him and he knew this was going south quickly after. Derrick had lost his **** as Treasa escalated even further and Alastar merely sighed. Derrick had asked him if he knew what her issue was and well he knew, it hadn't been the first time this had happened, he figured it was some left-over trauma from the incident that lead her to find her way to him. "There's been an incident in the past, ever since she isn't the best in dealing with men who have a reputation of sleeping around." Alastar said simply. He didn't know why she accused the Crow though, he hadn't heard of him sleeping around a lot like which was the case with Derrick, but still he was being accused. "Now if you'll excuse me, I got something to take care off. And you do too." He refered to having to calm the **** day. Alastar stood up, he had seen Veera was awake again, the Crow was still out cold damn the old man was real tired then. He went after Treasa, not asfast as the girl bolted, but he did go after her, just to make sure she wasn't gonna break someone's leg again. He deliberately didn't go after her at full speed just to give her some time to sit down and cool down. When he did finally catch up to her he found her firing arrows into a tree, he merely sat down in the grass and watched her fire them into the innocent tree. He hadn't been silent, she knew he was there, he was physicly incapable of being silent, just because his footfalls were heavy. He'd just let her go at it for now. He knew she had been unreasonable.
Wilkin ignored Lexander's request of him removing his feet from the furniture and merely narrowed his eyes at Koldo's remarks "Even if they have weather magic in their watered down form there is no way they can keep up against a sustained assault furthermore, you are once again not listening Koldo, instead of doing it directly I implied we could simply blend in, if they're using magic we won't stand out if we don't unleash hell. Pretend to be like them, I mean if even your sweet little sister can fit in. We should be able to pass ourselves off as outcasts as well. We just blend in, see what potential individuals have and if they have too much potential we'll remove them from the equation before burning it all to ashes, which reminds me will we get your dear little sister out before torching it or not? It'd be a shame if she died with that bunch of weaklings, she has so much more potential than that." Wilkin said, why was he the only one actually offering up any freaking ideas, sure Lexander was just being useless and didn't at all posses the ability to formulate a plan and Damion just seemed to be barely awake, which left Koldo and himself as potential formulators of plans and he knew Koldo felt himself way too high up the tree to actually think of something. Then he had a devious little idea "Now that I think of it, getting in will be very easy. We'll abuse their hospitality, we'll just injure one of us." Wilkin started his eyes stopping on Lexander for a moment before he continued on explaining. "We'll go to their city, with a wounded among us begging for help. We'll just to have to make it a little convincing but they'll let us in. It'll be a walk in the park as for back up plans for quick extermination why not poison the water supply, no matter what they are, unless they're human-cactus hybrids they'll need water. They take the water, they'll get sick making for easier prey or they die outright, all depends what we feel like doing." Wilkin was quite pleased with himself with the plans he had come up with. He had met Koldo's sister a few times and he had to admit that he hadn't expect her to take this long on her mission, she should have been back for a long time now. Something must have happened to her.
Roxanne went completely nuts and Hendrick just sighed, seriously..... seriously. Brianne on the other hand was more closely following his favoured style, quick and cleaning no ****ing around. Roxanne was playing around way too much and as all wolves had been put down, Brianne immediatly ripped into her for it. Good, then again he hadn't forgotten what Brianne herself had done. He casually went to retrieve his arrows as the head of the Institute told Roxanne to keep it cleaner. His own actions were going to get critisized as well he was sure of it, but he knew what he was doing and regret would come probably tonight when the wounds would ache like hell from his added stress to them. He joined Brianne and Roxanne when he had gotten all his arrows back. "That was pretty reckless, you should know better, both of you." Hendrick said "Where the **** did that treacherous son of a ***** go?" Refering to Paragon, who claimed he had been helping them, but had seemingly disappeared when things got dicey. "First of all next time we go out, you're going to bring your own Seraphim blade, grab one from the armoury, fighting things with your stele is highly ineffective you should know that. You blindly went in, had it not been for us, you'd be worse off than me. We should have discussed our tactical options before going in. Had Paragon dropped me on the roof I could have provided support without risking being torn to shreds. By the Angel these are basics concepts." Hendrick was clearly angry with his student, well she had only been her student for a little while but still. He then turned Roxanne "She's right, I know you like to play around, but try and cut the crap, it'll get you killed one day if you keep it up. And you wouldn't do anyone good when you're dead." He was a bit lighter on Roxanne simply because she hadn't made as grave errors and well the simple fact that she wasn't as accountable as Brianne, because of her mental problems. He held out his hand to Brianne, asking his blade back. After all it had only been for borrowing. "We should go, nothing left here for us to do..." Grayson had probably gotten away by the looks of things, had that not happened they might atleast have a corpse on their hands which still meant a mission complete.
Conrad placed his handon what he though was Tessa's shoulder, she'd probably feel uneasy because of the gauntlet and he hoped she'd do the same and hold onto Rayyad's shoulder. She hadn't said too much until after he had gotten a bit pissy and he considered whether or not he had been too hard on her. The sound of Rayyad's voice definitely made him feel even more uneasy. When Rayyad fell he tightened his grip to make sure Tessa didn't follow suit. When the light came on from the key gem, Conrad looked in horror, there were dozens of them. All dead, not a pleasant way to go. "Looks like it happened a while ago, anyway it doesn't matter we should just keep on going..." Conrad's voice remained steady, he had seen some things himself but nothing like this and it scared him immensely that this might be their own fate if they lingered. He really didn't like the look of this and he closed his eyes as he wouldn't have to face it.
Hendrick smiled when Roxanne berated him for his actions "I ain't one for sitting still and looking pretty, then again I couldn't look pretty with a face like mine." Sure it hurt to strain himself like that, but hey the wolf never had seen it coming as he had marked himself with an invisibility rune. He could stand in front of them and they wouldn't know. Roxanne asked him if he had noticed it too, good so it wasn't just him that had done so. She had realised this on her own too, it would appear his mentioning of environmental factors to them did strike home somewhere. As they had found Brianne it was as he had feared, she was pushing a corpse off herself. Roxanne took up position with the head of the Institute leaving, Hendrick by himself. Good, it was showtime. As the wolves pounced and one tried to rip into Brianne only to release her after it wa punched in the face, Roxanne was faring a bit better but she was playing around too much. Hendrick sighed, he knew this was going to happen as soon as Brianne had been lifted off by Paragon, which was nowhere to be found. Just as expected, not trustworthy. He had thought he had taught these two better but he was proven wrong. Well time to get to work... An arrow flew towards the wolf that had bitten Brianne, and another one, aimed to kill. The Nephilim began to slowly pace forward as he kept on firing another set of arrows, one for each of the wolves Roxanne had injured, his face contorting a little and a soft grunt escaping every time he drew the bow. Brianne was trying to fight these things with her Stele which was an even more horrible idea than trying to capture one. Between two shot he took the hilt of his Seraphim blade and threw it towards her. Shouting "Brianne! Catch!" she had seen him use it more than enough to know it's name for activation, however this betrayed his position in more than one way and he stopped firing to find a new firing position, no matter how well this hammer and anvil was working, he had to stay out of melee especially now that he had lost his main melee weapon.
Hendrick followed after Roxanne and they ran into a wolf as soon as they entered. The girl decided to go and annoy the werewolf, taunting it. Risky tactic sure it became more predicatable as the anger made it focus more on the offense, but if they landed hits it would be a lot worse. Roxanne however told him to stay back, she probably didn't realize that he could strike from afar or she just wanted to keep him safe. Eitherway he stayed back with the bow still drawn, waiting for an opportunity to fire, but Roxanne's dancing around unpredictably made him consider every opening he got. Which was a good thing or he'd have shot her several times, some of which lethal. When the wolf was dead, he motioned for her to lead the way. They had to be quickly this few wolves out here, meant more out there where Brianne was so they had to hurry, going through the building he kept his bow drawn near corners and junctions. His caution however didn't remain unrewarded as he followed Roxanne closely through the building. A werewolf rounded the corner, he fired an arrow just past Roxanne's face, it not hitting her, but the wolf was struck in the shoulder, Hendrick quickly redrew his bow, adrenaline surpressing the pain and pushed Roxanne aside and fired again, and again. His bow not having as much stopping power as it normally would have the wolf began to charge him as he released the bow one final time, the arrow striking it straight through the heart as it stumbled and fell skidding to a halt just in front of him. He took out the arrows and stabbed one final time with his Nephilim blade just to be sure. "Come on, we gotta find Brianne, I don't like this at all, there should have been more guards." Hendrick said as he grabbed his stele and drew a speed rune, something he didn't think he needed but now clearly was the time for it. Again his saying had been true no plan survives contact with the enemy... He just prayed to the Angel they wouldn't be too late.
The Andaran Prince had lead his two traveling companions to the shards, where they wished to be. The construct and the succubus were supposedly sent towards the common rank and file and he had caught what Kala had said about her true nature. He doubted these people grasped the full extent of what it mean that she was a Succubus or fully grasped the concept, then again while he understood more about this, he didn't know the entire truth either. He figured fear would spread like wildfire among the soldiers, fear of something they didn't understand. So apparantly he was to wait on the leader of the Shards and he had the option of being escorted to some place alledgedly worthy of his stature, he didn't care too much for grandeur. So he politely declined the offer, saying a normal quarters was more than enough for him to wait in. Then a rather mysterious figure approached, clad in elegant robes, a hood obscuring his face and magnificent sword. The figure looked him and his companions over then turned to the officer. "Are these some of the new recruits?" Zahariel inquired, his voice one of power and seemingly coming from all around. Varraki did everything he could not to fall to his knees and pray to the gods to have mercy upon him. Zahariel had returned from his meeting with the Inheritor, the Avenger program sounded rather interesting and the so-called problem of how to get the artifacts when he told them not to touch them and without having to move him about had a rather simple solution, he would get them if the situation allowed for it. He was on his way back to his quarters when he spotted some new faces with one of the officers. He went over and inquired if these were newcomers. He could see the fear in the eyes of the man. "Fear not, I mean you no harm. I am lord Zahariel" He introduced himself, the man introduced himself as Prince Varraki Andar, if this prince turned out to be as briliant as the other one they had on board this wasn't going to work out for Zahariel personally. "What is it that brings you here?" Zahariel inquired and the Prince explained that his companions were looking to enlist with the Shards of Hope. "And what about yourself, what do you want?" The Andaran prince remained quiet for a moment and then said "I do not know, I do not wish to draw my people into this war, it isn't ours, I may leave again to my homeland. I may join, I will make the decision after I spoke with the Inheritor. The Hammers have tried to persuade us to join their side, but the Andaran Highlands wish to remain neutral unless safety can be guaranteed for my people." The God had quickly figured out that he wasn't dealing with someone similar to the other Prince, atleast not on the first impression but hey that was still a good thing. The Ancient God then turned to Kala and Timothy. "Who are you and why is it you wish to join us?" He had sensed there was something abnormal about the girl but wouldn't pursue it, after all she seemed rather afraid and shy. The machine seemed more talkative, but it still seemed like an odd recruit to have on board.
Conrad was happy with his new sword, sure it was bad to take a burial gift, but as he said a sword was a tool, tools were meant to be used. And more so in this way the mastersmith that made it would be honoured as would the previous bearer of the blade. The puzzle had been solved relatively quickly with some quick thinking and mental mapping of the pathways and some trial and error to figure out how it worked. The moment between the closed doors terrified him though, being trapped in there wasn't too pleasant but it didn't matter right now, since they had overcome that trial. However Rayyad's tone was rather unsettling unable to hide fear but he couldn't see anything. "I don't think the looking part is gonna be a problem Rayyad, I can't see anything.... If I may make a suggestion, if we put hand on each other's shoulder it'll be easier to stay together with you leading the way." He would let the remark about feeling something with his feet slide since he was wearing boots, but it didn't sound too comforting. Baldomar had done his part in the fight, but because the AP system existed and the wolves were being a bunch of pansies and stayed away from him he couldn't have beaten them to pulp as he had done to oh so many creatures before, like Egbert, then again he hadn't beaten him to pulp just knocked him out cold immediatly with his trusty hammer. "Well that bloke may not want any compensation but hey if you got like ten quid to spare I'd happily take it." Baldomar said "And hey you could always come along with us, if that's fine with our glorious good looking leader, Kellan" The sarcasm just dripped off his words, but he and Kellan were mates even if they hadn't seen each other for a while, which was probably for the better since he'd drive Kellan nuts.
Alastar snorted at Derrick's remark, he had it coming though with all the stories and rumours. And while rumours and gossip weren't the most trustworthy of sources there always was a bit of truth in there somewhere. Then again he had a few run-ins with women who claimed he had slept with them, some from the time before Treasa went along with him. Some when she was there, which gave him an alibi that he conveniently called upon. Then again that last woman he wouldn't have minded it too much if the rumour had been truth. When Treasa told him to go to the river and wash his face because she didn't want people to think he had eaten a bear. "I only had an argument with a bear, she didn't like the way I adressed her cubs and that's how I got these scars." He said, bursting out into laughter. He then went to a small stream that he ran into before he reached the river and thoroughly rinsed his face and washed out his beard. He then trotted back to where the others were and sat down near the Crow who was currently off in dreamland, not a place many witchers could say they had been to. He himself couldn't recall the last time he had slept. Had he been a more alchemy oriented Witcher now would be the time he'd brew his potions but he wasn't so he inspected his weaponry, which needed to be in top condition. "Say Derrick, ever considered trading those little toothpicks of yours in for some real steel?" The Bear School witcher asked refering to the Witcher's swords. I mean seriously how were you supposed to fight Arachasae with those things? Axes were a helluva lot better for cleaving those ugly bastards apart. He glanced over to Treasa who seemed to be doing alright for now and if anything did pop up he knew she'd come to him to talk about it. Sigmund spent some more time in his library working on some research when there was a knock on the door. It had been one of his servants telling him that Matilda had come and not just that but that little Gregory was there with her. He went downstairs to meet them "Good day, Matilda, Gregory, good to see you and thank you for coming so fast, please come on in, the guests are upstairs, I am suspecting they are asleep. They have made a long journey." The old mage explained. "How have you been?" He looked at young Gregory, he hadn't seen the young boy often and it had been a while, since he had seen him. "You have grown up, young man, you'll grow up to be as big as your brother one day." He shut the door behind them and lead them towards the living room. "As I said, they're probably asleep, is there anything I can get you in the mean time?" He asked the Riveras if there wasn't he would go check upstairs and see if they were awake or not.
Koldo had completely ignored what he had said that he wanted for a reward, it wasn't exactly easy to find a cliffside near the ocean for those folks and then they'd had to build a cottage there for him. Damion's powers were terrifying true, but they were useless in enclosed spaces and in a city, even a treetop city would still have enclosed spaces and such a flaw would easily be lethal. His powers weren't as flashy or obvious but it held the greatest terrors of mankind. He could break into what people held most dear, desecrating the sanctity of one's mind. Where their deepest and darkest fears lay and where their secrets lay. "I already said what I wanted. And no none of you are welcome." He said simply refering to his requested reward. "As for taking that city out however, they're up in the trees right? We'll smoke them out, once on the ground they're at either out mercy or that of the titans. The problem will solve itself shortly, then again no time to use our powers then I seriously don't know how those humans overlooked this idea... But hey we can always play around a bit and then torch the place." Wilkin coined, was he seriously the only one in the room trying to use his brain here. Damion hadn't said a damn thing or offered up any explanation and Koldo was just stuck with his head up his own arse so far he only heard half of what was being said. Lexander was being Lexander. He took a pair of scones and kicked his feet onto the table. "So if that's all, I'd like to get going...." Wilkin said.
Roxanne called him old man and sure he was older than her but not that old. He didn't remark on it though "It's alright, you wanted to help that's what counts." He said in response to her apology. He smiled when she asked him if she had forgotten that she'd protect him. It just wouldn't be as easy as Roxanne would think, no plan survived contact with the enemy. He followed her towards the door and stood a few paces backwards from the door and pulled the bowstring back. A pained grimace flashed across his face as his muscles worked, but it wasn't anything he couldn't handle. With the arrow drawn he nodded towards Roxanne and said "Alright, open up the door I got you covered." They were on their own as Paragon had taken Brianne to the courtyard, they had to move quickly, if they didn't want to be bringing back Brianne's corpse, if they even brought anything back at all. He'd follow Roxanne through the building as quickly as the pack would allow them to. Grayson was trivial in his eyes as long as they all survived the ordeal then he didn't care if the wolf got away or not. After all he didn't want to go to Mr Perfect to tell him his little sister had gotten killed on his watch. He already didn't like him to much, but if that happened he doubted if he would still be a Nephilim following that.
Alastar turned his head and glanced over to Derrick who was complaining about his shoulder. "Well it is what it is, as for your shoulder, if that's the worst, be glad you ain't part of the untold number of dead folk." Alastar said, turning his eyes back to the blue sky above. What had even happened in that city he didn't know but clearly lots of death judging by the amount of necrophages they had to carve through. He didn't look when he heard Veera scream, she had a nasty wound that needed to be taken care off. Treasa already answered the question as to who they were and he let her have the word. "Indeed, Alastar Farrell, Bear School Witcher." He chimed in as his neice introduced him. He plucked a blade of grass and put it in the corner of his mouth as he lay his head back down on his two hands. "Not really a remarkable witcher, just walking the path." Alastar added. Well there was the curious fact that as a witcher he had a girl following him about everywhere backing him up. And not just any girl, but blood related as well. He wasn't that remarkable a witcher, except maybe his lack of tact and if Derrick hadn't run into any others like himself his different set of weapons than the fancy swords. He pushed himself up and looked at the sleeping form of the Crow, must have been one helluva fight with the old man sleeping already. He had never thought that if he'd run into the legend the man would be sleeping. Treasa was taking care of her wound and he didn't say a word about it. His own face was hurting still and while he couldn't see it there were several streaks of blood on it. He figured he should get that sorted out. Treasa looked at him to make sure he hadn't disappeared on her. He hadn't done so before and didn't intend to make today the exception to the rule. He took a piece of cloth, made it wet with some water and cleaned away the blood as well as he could without being able to look at his own reflection. "Treas, do I look presentable like this?" He asked with a smirk on his face, trusting his neice's judgement. Over in Novigrad, completely unaware of the chaos, death and despair of Oxenfurt, sat Sigmund, having finished his meal he had gone back inside and went to his library, rather quietly, because he didn't hear a thing from the guestroom. No talking or anything. Within his library he took out a piece of parchment and wrote a letter to the Rivera's requesting them to come over, that there were guests with injuries that needed to be looked at and while he could do it himself he wasn't exactly an expert and rather left it to them. When he was done he immediatly sent one of his servants to deliver the letter. Sigmund had a moment of peace as he sat in his chair thinking, the lad had done wrong, hurt someone for a twisted reason. And well perhaps he had been too hasty about it all, but there would be punishment, this action could not go unpunished. He had to realise that and Sigmund guessed he did, but the girl on the other hand seemed to not fully understand, which would cause issues, but no matter this had to happen.
Hendrick hurried along as fast as his wounds allowed him, still making a decent speed, but accordng to Roxanne who was already coming to help him along, slinging an arm around his shoulder. It was actually impairing his movement and slowing him down more than it was actually helping him, but she seemed to be determined to help him. "Roxi, you're not exactly helping, I know you mean well, but I need to be able to freely move." He said, Paragon thought it necessary to remind them of their mission. Capturing Grayson that's a good one. This bloke clearly never tried to wrestle a werewolf into submission. This was going to be a hit no attempts at capture, atleast not if it was on him. Paragon then did a reconnaisance run and well he guessed that was kind of convenient. Normally they'd run into a situation and only then asses it and act. If they could asess it before it might give them an edge, then again this was the way things worked and he didn't mind it. When Paragon said he could take one of them to the Courtyard directly, he wanted to bring up the fact that he carried a bow as the only person having a ranged weapon, drop him on the roof and he could rain hell on the Wolf, but Brianne already took the lead and followed up on the offer. This was going to be a lot more difficult for him than he imagined, but there wasn't any going back now. He snorted at what Brianne had told Paragon. A tad of an awkward phrasing. And she told them to keep their backs to each other when inside. Well he didn't actually intend to get in close, nice and cozy with the furballs, hence why he brought his bow, but it seemed that any form of tactical insight had gone out the window by now, overruled by impulsive emotional reactions. He looked at Roxanne as he unslung his bow and put an arrow to the string. "Alright let's get going, I am sorry I got to ask you this but if you go up front I'll cover you. Brianne in her impulsiveness forgot I am not in the best fighting condition and intended to fight from range, but alas. I'll back you up and join the melee if necessary, I just don't feel like dancing with a wolf tonight, if you don't mind." Hendrick said not really being enthousiastic.
Veceslav kept the side clear keeping the Ghouls off of Veera, he took a few additional wounds as he protected the flank of his younger scion. His legs in particular were getting a beating as the claws sunk into them. Along the way he stumbled a few times, almost falling over but getting up and going cutting down the necrophages. He was glad it was just ghouls and the odd alghoul for now. Rotfiends would be a pain to deal with, not to mention the smell. He noticed Veera wasn't doing too well, but there wasn't much he could do for her, right now except keep the Ghouls off her. The route Veera had chosen for them as he had instructed her to do, kept the fighting to only one opponent, necrophages and not dopplers and townsfolk still fighting amongst themselves as the monsters joined into the fray. Veceslav thought he could hear the sound of a fiddle carried on the wind, but he thought that the exhaustion was getting to him. As they exited the city however they came in the way he had and through some miracle Hawk was still there. He told the others he'd catch up to them as he stroked the animals neck, even hugging the animal. "I'm sorry for leaving you so long, buddy..." He whispered, he wouldn't ride the horse after he had caught up with the others again. He dismounted and walked with them towards the grassy knols where they decided to make camp. Atleast they were out of the city which was good. He let Hawk roam free, the animal generally stuck around the area when he let him asit began to nibble on some blades of the impossibly green grass. Veceslav however lay down and for once in a long time actually drifted off to sleep.... Alastar carved a bloody path for the others as they left the city. Ghouls and a few Alghouls all fell to his mighty axe and fists. Together with some back up of the other witchers of course that struck ghouls around him with crossbow bolts. His blood was coursing through his veins as he continued on his rampage. And he did get a few good hits in on himself but he ignored them as there were still more enemies to defeat. As they got out of the city, he eventually calmed down a bit and the wounds were starting to hurt as well. The Crow was supposedly good with Alchemy something he had been taught only a little about, he could get a basic Thunderbolt together and maybe a swallow but that was it, well and that special decoction for a boosted battle rage. They had left the city, the water they had crossed was cold and as he didn't need to be up front anymore to carve a path he lagged behind and walked with Treasa who had been injured, that wound needed to be cleaned and bandaged, particularly because it had been necrophages that caused it. He himself couldn't get sick because of his witcher immunity, but she wasn't so lucky. "That was some good fighting you did, Treas, you should clean that wound though, preferably with some alcohol, necrophages and all." He said giving his neice a pat on the shoulder. "I'll leave you to it, done it plenty of times after all." When she asked if they should make camp there he looked around, grassy knol, forest close by, city, necrophages and all that all the way over there. It was perfect, a home away from places that weren't his home. "Yeah, this is a nice spot, let's make camp here and let our new friends rest a bit, they seemed to have had a long day. And it's only just been noon." Alastar said as he let himself fall backwards on the soft green grass looking up at the friendly blue sky. "That was some nice fighting..." He said to no one in particular, had it been later on the day or perhaps colder he would have made a fire but that wouldn't be necessary. Then again he looked at the other witchers' armour. Not as nicely padded and warm as his own, but the sun was out and despite it being winter had some intensity. If they were cold he'd probably hear about it and he would make a proper fire, worthy of Mordor the heroes that had been gathered.
Hendrick still didn't trust Paragon farther than he could throw him. Especially given the similarities in speech and even saying he had been watching. Hendrick realised he had the little prick that had been saying everyone would be judged. Who the **** did he think he was going to judge everyone, what jurisdiction did he think he had? Oh well, he wouldn't say a thing about it. His job to care, good one. "The day that the fairies decided it was funny to dick over downworlder and Nephilim alike, so practicly since their emergence. So yes it is hard to think you're just here to help, even if you can't tell a lie." Hendrick remarked, fairies couldn't lie, but they were notorious for twisting this truth so it wasn't a lie, but it wasn't the full truth either. That's why they were his least favourite race to deal with, always scheming and ready to dick someone over. Demons were simple, even Greater Demons, they were meant to be destroyed without a question. After all it's all they did. Werewolves and Vampires weren't too bad to deal with either. A werewolf was being attacked by Grayson? He silently prayed it wasn't Rhett, eventhough he had only just met the wolf the night before their search had left an impression on him, lad had potential. Roxanne wanted to follow and Hendrick agreed wholeheartedly following his more energetic collegue, going after Brianne.
Veceslav let Derrick's remark about his sense of humour slide, now really wasn't the time for that sort of thing. He brought up the rear, guarding against the ghouls. They were crawling out of the woodwork and if they didn't get out soon then they might all die. Ghouls dropped around him Veera in particular fired at those around him and he really appreciated it. The young girl that had accompanied the other witcher told him to hold next to Veera saying it wouldn't do them any good if he died from exhaustion. "I may be old, but I'm tough, yet I am not stupid. If you need help give a shout." The Crow said as he moved over cutting down the Ghoul that Veera had hit in it's shoulder with his silver sword. He walked next to Veera, they were making too slow of a progress. "Veera, lead the way out of here, we need to speed things up a little." The Crow said as he fired a crossbow bolt into a Ghoul's eye. He watched as the Bearschool witcher kept the front clean single handedly. The Ghouls tried to swarm him but he stood tall. Alastar took up the front with his silver axe, his fighting style wasn't as graceful as the normal witcher swordwork, but it wasn't exactly the utter savagery of Skellige Warriors a bit more refined than that, but the difference was marginal. He cleaved Ghouls apart with his axe and he kept the path clear towards the city gates. He heard Treasa shout she was going to the rear and in his battle rage he did acknowledge it, but was too busy to reply to it fully. He fought the ghouls with axe and fist as they clawed at him. Their claws were sharp, but his armour helped a lot. That and his trancelike state. The adrenaline coarsing through his veins. He stood tall and roared at the Ghouls as if he were an animal. When he did this 3 Ghouls piled in on him. Trying to bring him down grabbing hold and trying to drag him down. His free hand reached and threw the one clinging to his back away as his silver axe found another. The ghouls didn't stand a chance as another one was struck by a crossbow bolt. His face had some fresh scars on them from Ghoul claws, but it hardly mattered for Alastar, in this aggresive mindset he would keep on going until he expired. Something Treasa didn't like too much and he understood why, but he couldn't help it. It was how he had been trained and that was how he fought. "SHOW ME WHAT COUNTS AS FURY AMONGST YOUR MISBEGOTTEN KIND" Alastar roared at the Ghouls as his push started to gain momentum.
Tessa freaked out when after looking if there were any dangers in taking the crystal from the statue even asking Rayyad to stop him. He sighed, he didn't seem to be able to do anything right now could he? Oh well, the gemstone glowed brighter within his hands, illuminating the cavern. He looked at it, the first time he had seen such a thing and he would keep it with him if that was alright. There were four doors and two of them were closed. Rayyad seemed rather relaxed about it all. Tessa on the other hand felt the need to berate him for his course of action. "I inspected it, before I took it, saw nothing fishy. Took the gem. Is that so wrong? I understand there's a cultural divide between us, believe me I noticed and that where we're from dictates our ideas, yours focusing on taking care, mine, when nothing seems wrong, just go with it. But is it really so wrong of me to take the crystal?" He asked her with a hint of annoyance. He sighed when Tessa made it seem like she didn't matter to either of them. This was going to be a long day. "Well seeing you want every single decision to be discussed of course we willtake it into consideration." Conrad told Tessa "I'd say left too and no not just to avoid a discussion where I'll end up being the big bad wolf." Forward seemed too obvious, right well it would be a funny coincidence if it was the right way so all they had left was left. And hey he was left handed so left seemed like a decent choice.
Hendrick laughed when Roxanne threatened the newcomer, wanting to make sure they hadn't looked through anything in their phone. He had nothing to hide on his little brick and it was convenient. "Calm down, Roxanne, don't think your electronic friend, looked through your stuff, not much to see anyways." The Older Nephilim said with a small grin on his face. Brianne was more guarded like himself. Asking questions that mattered, names, intentions. He suspected just like Brianne it might be a trap. He kept his hand hovering near the hilt of his blade. Azrael, the Angel of Death it had served him well for years on end. It had been his first blade and he still used it to this day. Brianne stood protectively over them. He was several years her senior and well while he was wounded he could still fight, relatively decently. The newcomer introduced himself as Paragon, oh just what the city needed a bloody vigilante. Who was glad that they didn't know him, funnily enough his information wasn't entirely correct either atleast when it came to him, but nothing that needed to be mentioned. So this bloke used Roxanne's phone as a means of transport, well then glad that his phone wasn't useful for that. Didn't need this clown appearing mid mission and blow his cover. And when he mentioned he wasn't stupid enough to take on three experienced Nephilim he wanted to snort, but kept his remarks to himself. "This is all fine and dandy, but how do you know all this. After all you appeared out of nowhere wanting to go after the biggest wolf in the city, just because he's a disruption in the society. What is it to you? Why do you care about this?" Hendrick asked Paragon, he would remain guarded around this man.
There was shouting outside, Derrick joined them pointing out the obvious, but he appreciated the thought though. Veera struggled to her feet and told him she'd make it, the hand she left onhis shoulder for a moment told him more than enough. She knew he worried about her and she wanted to assure him she was alright. He followed his two fellow witchers outside and saw the two people. A Witcher and a girl, that the witcher was a Bear School Witcher didn't surprise him in the slightest, it did explain the shouting. The girl walked over to Veera and mentioned that the Witcher was named Alastar. He had heard of the man's exploits, never met him before though or had he? He was too tired to remember. When the girl had taken Veera, he had noted the annoyance of her and went over to take over. His Medallion wasn't reacting so they weren't dopplers, but that didn't make them trustworthy. He looked up at what the girl had been shooting. Ghouls. they were here already? Well that dropped the city as a safe place, they needed to get out before more came in. "I agree. Let's get going. Derrick, you heard the lady. Help Veera up. We'll cover you both." Veceslav yelled as he was the oldest and most experienced Witcher it left him in charge for now atleast. He drew his silver sword and took up a defensive position, near Veera taking on a Ghoul that thought it a nice idea to pounce on the injured witcher. He made short work of it even while wounded. But where there was one Ghoul there were more and he doubted he could take on several simultaneously in his state. His calls were answered as a trio of Witchers appeared and he couldn't help but laugh roaringly as the Witcher said two brothers and a sister. "Splendid!" He looked each of the Witchers over. There was Derrick of Kaedwen, the witcher he would keep his neice away from because of his reputation. "The Path is long, wide and like the roads, dotted with horse shite." Alastar responded to his collegue's question. He let the remark about him being a doppler slide as the man looked like he had already lost an argument with a bear, didn't exactly need another one. Treasa had gone over to help another witcher. Veera of Velen, the one and only, there was no doubt about it. He had told Treasa stories about her hunts and accomplishments. And while the stories had made her want to become a witcher as well, something he would keep on denying her, they also made her feel better and gave her something to aspire to when she was feeling a little bit down, a hero to look up to. The last one of the company took him a moment of thought, but then he realised, the Crow, judging by the state of the city his reputation did precede him. All were skilled witchers in their own right an he was glad that he ran into such experienced hands. While a bit lost in thought, he heard his neice screaming at him. He had done nothing wrong had he? Said nothing wrong? Then he heard the retching behind him and he turned around as he lifted the silver axe and cleaved it's skull apart, he kicked it off the axehead and as he turned around another Ghoul tried to jump at him, but was met with an armoured fist to the head, followed up with a boot crashing down on it's ribcage. His neice and the Crow were advocating for leaving, just when it started to become fun. Then again there were more and he didn't want to be buried here and leave Treasa alone. "We get out the way we came in, it would seem to be the fastest route. Follow me. Treasa, stick close." Alastar said as he began to lead the way towards the gates to get out of the city, keeping his silver axe and fists ready to kill some more Ghouls that dared to attack his brothers, sister and neice, particularly those for the latter would have it coming.
