Aedan heard something happen behind him and he saw Bryce fall on the floor. Aedan dropped his staff and dropped to one knee, shaking Bryce. "Bryce? Bryce? Bryce!" Aedan spoke panicked. He hadn't realised that Bryce was so tired. He looked at him sadly and his eyes drifted to Sanderson. "He really needs help, doesn't he?" He then saw something moving on the table. His eyes opened wide in shock as the drake that should have been dead stated to get up. He reached for his staff and whacked Bryce with it. "Come on, get up Bryce!" He insisted, getting to his feet and backing away, grabbing Bryce's arm and tugging it. This was very, very bad indeed. Aedan looked at Sanderson, terror written on the Druid's face. He had never in his life seen something so... Unnatural. "Bryce, wake up!"
Aedan turned slowly as he heard footsteps moving towards him. He wanted a little bit of warning before Bryce jumped him. The opposite happened. There was the loud noise of a body collapsing on to the floor and he turned sharply, concerned about what it was. He saw Bryce on the ground, pressing his face intently into the floor and rubbing his face weirdly. What holy words...? "Get up Bryce! Goodness, you'll hurt yourself throwing yourself at the floor like that!" He exclaimed worriedly, knowing that the other man's mental health was nowhere near where it should be. He offered him a hand to stand with, although he was getting the impression that part of Bryce's behaviour was triggered by physical contact. He almost took his hand away after that occurred to him, but kept it there just in case he actually needed help. "You need to be careful with yourself. You already got hurt badly by that terrible Night Knight and you didn't get any sleep! You're going to cause yourself some serious harm if you keep this up!" He wasn't shouting, but his voice was loud as he explained his concern for him. Bryce had issues, but he wasn't a bad person and he was quite amiable compared to some of the other characters around (Mostly that Ulrich person). "Come help me look at these books. See if there's anything interesting." He returned to the bookshelf, flipping through the assorted tomes. Now, hopefully, Bryce wouldn't be able to find a way to hurt himself. He was only looking at books on a shelf and he doubted that though his sanity was questionable, his ability to not harm anyone while doing a basic task was not.
Derrick watched her slash open one of his bags and sighed. That was probably her revenge for the smart commentary that he was making. "Hey!" Maybe it was best to shut up before more of his stuff got wrecked by her. At least she was actually trying to help him. He took the bottle of Swallow and downed it in one, grimacing as he did so. Just because he could drink it, didn't mean that it was pleasant. Veceslav knew how to make the good stuff, but he had used up all of Veceslav's much superior Swallow potions on his shoulder. That was foolish but equally, he didn't exactly expect to be accosted by a giant angry cow beast on the road to Novigrad. His own fairly average mixture did its work, although he certainly feel very good after imbibing it. "Ahhhh, ow! Okay, okay I'll stop making comments! You could... At least give me a break..." Looking at her, he could see that she wasn't doing so well at the moment. He wasn't surprised, but he was impressed. "You know... I'm impressed. You handled yourself well... For a simple human." They reappeared in a side street in the city of Novigrad. As soon as they emerged from the portal, Alanna stumbled forwards and held her arm out to catch herself on something. The Doppler rushed forwards and caught her around the stomach as she tipped forwards, exhaustion seeming to overtake her. He pulled her towards him and scooped her into his arms. Stepping out of the side street, they were pretty much outside the inn that they were staying in. He carried the sorceress inside and up the stairs into her own room. He put her down and pulled the sheets open, then placed her into the bed and covered her. She could rest easy now. She had earned it. For now, he was going to relax a little himself. He shut the door to her room and let the lock catch. Then, he walked outside into the street. He took a walk around the city, keeping to crows to hide away from the guards. Then, he noticed everyone converging towards somewhere and simply followed them. When he reached the castle battlements, he could plainly see the King standing there, starting to make an address. He stopped and listened. He had lived in this country his whole life - It would be worth seeing what the king had to say.
Corvo led her through the streets of New York towards his hotel room. He was silent for the remainder of the trip, becoming increasingly paranoid about the Seelie Queen's powers of observation. He knew that she was watching. She had to be watching. The same way that she had watched Brianne. He had to move quickly to get this off his head. He had made a mistake going to her, and now he was paying for it. Although, it wasn't exactly his choice. After all, the Seelie Knights found him. This place... This place was far, far more dangerous than he had realised. This city was more treacherous than any that he had yet visited. He resisted the urge to clasp and unclasp his hands rapidly. There was another Nephilim here and he had to show absolute confidence and authority. When they made it to the hotel, he nodded to the receptionist to exist they existed and then went to the elevator. He hit the button for his floor, then waited impatiently for the elevator to rise. It dinged, and he stormed out of the lift towards his room. He swiped it with his key and opened it, allowed Roxanne inside and as soon as he was inside, slammed the door behind him. He crossed the room swiftly and picked up the magic mirror that he used to contract Yorick. "I'm updating the Clave on our situation. I'm going to let them know you're working with me. Whatever it is you've done, that'll keep them off your back for at least a while." He explained. "Feel free to take a seat." There were a couple of chairs at a table on one side of the room. His bed was scattered with his various personal effects, mostly clothes, though the neat boxes for his Contender and the Magic Mirror lay there as well. He activated the communication device. "Yorick, this is Corvo. Things have taken a turn for the worse here in New York. I require more of my equipment back at Alicante. This operation is going to be a lot more complicated than I initially anticipated to be." He spoke officially in a crisp tone of voice. "I'll need my crossbow. Send all the bolts. I get the impression that I'll either make use of some of them, or die before I get back. It's one of those jobs. Make sure you send the silver, and the iron bolts. I think that I have a case of Rowanwood stakes for my crossbow somewhere. And... Depending on how this goes, I might need reinforcements. This isn't going to be easy." Once he finished listing off what he wanted, he remembered that Roxanne was here. "Also, Roxanne of the New York Institute is working with me."
He saw Treasa come over to him and then kneel down next to him. She told him to call back his horse. He nodded and made a slightly off key whistle. Nevertheless, although he couldn't hear it due to the pounding in his ears, the horse galloped back. He faintly heard what she was saying and forced a smirk on to his face to play it off. She probably wouldn't notice, would she? "Heh... You think this is bad? You should see the other guy." He chuckled a little and he swallowed back the blood that was trying to come up. He wasn't going to make this any worse. He already looked terrible, he didn't need to look any worse. He didn't resist when she started removing his chestplate and laughed at what she said. "That would mean you're there at the time and hell, I'm not going to complain about that." She probably wouldn't particularly appreciate the comment, but he wasn't doing great and he didn't feel like letting her know just how beat up he felt not only physically, but mentally as well. It was probably silly, but a man had his pride and well... Of all the people he could show weakness in front of, it wasn't going to be Treasa. Veera maybe, because she was a sister, even if she did try to kill him in a vengeance fuelled rage. There were years of trust there, and both of them had been through the same gruelling trials. Veera may well have watched him going through it all, even seen him experience the Trials of the Grasses. That would have been him at his worst. Not to admit weakness to her would be foolhardy. but Treasa was still a stranger. He had pride to uphold.
Aston placed his hands on his hips and watched as everyone milled about, doing their own thing. Baldomar didn't seem to have a shred of mercy to him, although he wasn't much inclined to spare the man himself. He was sure that the pyromancer was the one who knocked out Anthea, which was hardly pleasant. He saw Anthea talking to Roric and she offered him a place in the Adventurer's Society. "We're glad to have you on board Roric. You seem like a man who can handle himself, and I'd wager that Sanderson will be happy to have another face around." He patted the Ranger on the shoulder and walked towards the steps up to Fogwarden Keep itself. "Alright, good work patching everyone up. We'd best get inside after Kellan before the damn fool gets himself killed." OoC: I don't like the idea of having to rush people but at the moment, I think we're probably a little behind so we need to get a move on XD Aedan nodded in agreement with the Wizard Iceroth's conclusion on Frost Magic being involved, but he could have figured that out himself. What did intrigue him was that she mention devices for measuring magical resonances. He wasn't aware that such technology existed, and he struggled to think of what she was going to get out of it. He watched her leave and by the time that she had gone, Bryce was already poking the dead drake and Aedan rolled his eyes and put his hand on Bryce's shoulder. "Relax Bryce, it's definitely dead." He said reassuringly. He couldn't feel anything coming from the Drake like he had the last one. If it was alive, then he would be able to talk to it. That, and he could see that it wasn't actually breathing like living things should. "Trust me, I'm a doctor. It's not breathing. Leave it alone now, don't touch it's body." He squeezed his shoulder paternally and walked over to look at the books. Perhaps there would be something interesting here, although he wasn't entirely sure what he was looking for. Just... Something. He wanted to look busy. Maybe then Bryce wouldn't try to touch him weirdly or whatever it was he did.
He saw Treasa whistle at it and looked around at her. What the devil is she doing? In the time that it took for him to look around, it struck. He felt himself lifting off the ground and landing hard on the ground. His back seemed to scream and his wounded shoulder began pulsating uncomfortably. He looked, and he could see red coming through the bandage. Oh f*ck. He was going to need help. Once they were done with this damn thing, he was going to ask Treasa to give him some medical attention because by the Gods he needed it. He got to his feet and saw it pulling itself towards her, but then she made a familiar hand motion. Axii? Her technique was a little off, he could see that much, but it seemed to work, at least for a moment. It stopped in its tracks, dazed. That was the opportunity that the Witcher took. Bellowing out a primal warcry, Derrick of Kaedwen charged at the creature as it stood there, leaning on its front paws. The distance was closing again and he could feel the blood leaking out of him. He just had to finish this. Once that was done, it'd be over. And then he could rest for a while. Suddenly, as he was about to reach it, it shrugged itself off and heard his shout. It looked around, its single unblinded eye glaring balefully at him. He gritted his teeth and once the gap was closed enough, Derrick jumped and drove his silver blade up towards its eye, aimed straight for where he thought the brain would be on it. The result, he didn't quite realise, as he was lying on his front with his head in the dirt. He looked at Treasa and struggled to one knee and tried to get up. He fell on to both knees and tried to crawl towards her. His head was pounding with the sound of his own heartbeat. His body gave up and he fell prone again. "You better have died you b*stard... Killing me like this just isn't fair..." He mumbled. His head felt light. He probably was losing a lot of blood. Where was the horse? That had some healing stuff in it. Yeah... He needed his horse. Wherever it was... Damn thing... Never was where you needed it to be... He refocused himself on reality and tried to drag himself along the ground, inch by bloody inch towards the only person who could really help right now.
He turned around on his heel and began to walk out. He paused momentarily and looked back at the Seelie Queen. "May the odds be in your favour, Titania." He quoted her own benediction at her and departed, leaving with Roxanne following him. Immediately, he pulled out his phone. "Roxanne, your number? We'll need to communicate." Once she had given it over, the Inquisitor started to type out a text. He knew what she was capable of. If she could find Roxanne, she could certainly find him. That meant that he was going to have to keep any plans secret, or at least in a way that she couldn't see them. He was willing to wager that she wasn't able to read his texts. Human technology was a boon in this age, as most magic couldn't do anything about it. So far, magic and technology had remained distinct forces as far as he was aware, meaning that it was easy enough to bypass one using the other. Neither interacted, and that meant that the phone was the best way of getting around her surveillance. He finished a text and sent it off. Seelie Queen is probably watching us both. We'll need to be careful until the Brianne situation is resolved. "There, it should have sent." Corvo said to the other Shadow Hunter. "Here's the plan, we're going back to my apartment. I need to get in touch with Yorick and let him know that you and I are working together. Then, I'm going to need some equipment. All I say is this - I ask you to trust me." His mind whirled as he tried to come up with a reasonable plan of action. There was only one real option to this situation, and that was to fake Brianne's death. He knew a little about human medicine. Drugs existed which caused clinical death, and they could be revived from that state if they acted quick enough. That meant that he was going to have to make sure the plan went off flawlessly. He had three days. One of those he knew he would have to wait for his equipment to come through most likely, but during that time he should be able to acquire the other part of the plan. That drug. He knew that he didn't have any at Alicante, because it was a very specific requirement for a very specific type of mission. There was a nearby hospital. As most Nephilim were, he was able to Glamour himself. He could feasibly sneak inside and retrieve what he needed, then sneak out again. Then, he'd need some of his other equipment to administer it. It was going to have to be done from range, that must was clear. Now that Roxanne was available, she would be the perfect bait and so long as he didn't let her in on the plan, then she could pull off a convincing act and he severely doubted that she would go anywhere alone now that she knew he was here. One thing bugged him about this situation though, and that was the comment of the Seelie Queen. I can't imagine that should be a hindrance for you in this task. She didn't seem the type to say things meaninglessly, so what did that mean?
Derrick felt the oversized fist slam into his chest, shattering the Quen shield and staggering him back. Such a blow would have knocked most people to the floor, even with the Quen, but Derrick was a Witcher and managed to preserve his balance and stay standing. He saw Treasa moving ahead of the creature, reaching for a vial of something. He presumed that it was something useful. He feigned a dash left and dashed around the right side of the creature. As the phial of oil flew towards him, he rolled beneath an angry swipe and caught it as he stood up again. He was standing between it and Treasa out of its reach, but it placed its hands on the ground and started to drag itself forwards. He glanced at what was inside, recognising it as Relict Oil. Well thought of. He splashed the remainder of the bottle over his sword and grasped it in both hands, daring it to come forwards. The beast glared at him furiously, just outside of its reach, and then an arrow struck, It pierced the skin of the creature, but not quite hitting the eye. Her wounds must have knocked off her aim. It swung for Derrick as it was unable to get to Treasa, he dodged aside and struck its arm. The oil burned against its flesh as the blade bit deep. It swept its arm round and Derrick rolled beneath the claw. He cried out when a couple of sharp edges raked across his back, but he sliced the sword into its stomach and rolled out again, his armour now becoming soaked in not only his, but its blood. This post was made with Magick's permission (and her estimations of the effect). In Kaer Morhen, in one of the basements of the castle, a glowing orange portal opened, unknown to Veceslav in Tatiana. Out of the portal stepped a Doppler in a blue coat, an array of swords and knives strapped across his front and with him, a sorceress. A short conversation was spoken between the two, a nod was shared and that was that. Both of them had a determined look on their faces as they set about their task. The sorceress reached into a bag strapped along her front and handed a pouch to the Doppler who nodded and moved out. Adolin Bonhart, the soon to be avenger of his family, ran to the basement door and opened it quietly. He moved slowly and as quietly as he could up the stairs. There was nobody here in the main hall he was glad to see. He set the pouch up against the back wall. Alanna Tanette, Sorceress and the 'hostage' of the Doppler, placed one of the pouches in the basement where they had landed and met with Adolin upstairs. The pouches were open and the reactions would complete soon, but there was a faster way. When she was upstairs, Adolin met her there and they placed the last pouch. She opened a portal outside and they stepped through, waiting to watch what came next. There was a loud roar shortly after they stepped out of the other side of the portal to a hill not far from the castle where they had a view of it. A roar was not justice to the sound. A thunderclap of titanic proportions rolled through the valley as the pouches they had planted detonated, scattering hot rubble through the air. The two of them looked on, watching the courtyard of Kaer Morhen erupt with a spray of dirt and stone. Inside the castle, the reactions that were already well on their way to completion were suddenly accelerated by the sheer force, prompting a subsequent pair of explosions. Their ears rang even from this distance from the sound, the sound of the apocalypse as the majestic ruins of Kaer Morhen split open from the inside. A gout of flame erupted from the carnage, countless alchemical materials set alight at once and scalding piles of rock were scattered across the surrounding valley, cast into the air by the force of two immensely powerful weapons. The two of them looked on in amazement in what they had been given by the alchemist. The once proud home of the Witchers lay in ruins. "We did it..." The Doppler uttered after a momentary silence. All seemed still and quiet after the eruption of sound that was the destruction of Kaer Morhen. He slammed his fist into the ground in satisfaction. "We did it!" He scrambled to his feet and raised his arms into the air at the crest of the hill. "There! You destroyed my home! You took my family! Well I took yours!" He exulted, grinning. He was breathing fast, his heart pounding. "Our debt is paid!" He turned to the Sorceress who had since got on to her feet. His triumphal expression faded as he saw hers. "Adolin, did you see, that was-" "I saw Alanna, but it's equivalent exchange. What will come now, will come." He gave her a serious expression to match her own. "We know that we have sinned. Now we work to redeem our sins." She shook her head solemnly, looking at the Kaer. The main castle had collapsed, but the furthest elements of the front seemed to have survived, though were covered in huge amounts of rubble. "No Adolin... What was there... That cannot be allowed to be given to anyone." Alanna said, her nails digging hard enough into her palms to draw blood. Adolin looked back at the destruction, then back at her. "We could do so much with that. We could earn-" She shook her head vehemently. "NO!" Her voice was louder and sharper than it had ever been before. She could see her companion physically reel. "This cannot be allowed to happen again. Something of this power... This will ruin lives Adolin. I thought that this could be put to good use but no... All this can do is destroy." He spoke as if to object to what she was saying, but she held a finger up and he stopped. "No, remember what you said. You listen to me now Adolin. And I say that this will never happen again so long as I live. And if I mean anything to you, and I mean anything, then you'll swear that same oath." Her words clearly gave him pause. Adolin clenched his own fists and paced around, glaring at the ground. "You're right... If a single person can control this power..." She nodded. "Come on Adolin, we're leaving. We're going back to Novigrad, and you're going into another room. I need to be by myself for a while. After this, I need a long rest." She opened her pouch and counted him enough to pay for a couple more nights, one of which would be in his own room. The portal opened and they stepped through, any sense of victory that either of them could have felt now crushed.
Derrick growled as the creature scored a nasty hit on Treasa who was sent flying, much the same as he was. The sight only propelled him further, his heart racing and adrenaline pumping through his veins. It looked like it was going to be him fighting this one out mostly. His prediction was correct and the huge claw flew past him, not even glancing the Quen shield. He saw Treasa stumbling to her feet and loosing an arrow. While it was looming over him to strike again, it was all of a sudden back to her. He presumed that it didn't particularly feel like taking another arrow to the eye. As it whirled around, Derrick saw his chance. He rushed right and gripped the blade in two hands, then delivered a resounding blow to its right leg, slicing it at the knee. He needed to do more. This thing could not afford to move again. He knew the risk of it, and he took it. "Oh you're not going anywhere, b*tch." Derrick's sword cut even deeper into its hind leg, making use of the cut that he already made. However, he knew that it was going to turn around and hit him again. This time, he was ready. His Quen was active, and he could take it. He watched the attack coming. Unless Treasa did something magical, there was no way he was going to avoid the claw that was going to sweep around and slam into him. At least it probably wasn't going to be moving anywhere any time soon, unless it dragged itself around. That meant it would be slow and unbalanced. Just the sort of enemy that he liked to face, because they usually died quicker that way.
He made a further mental note: Don't piss off the Seelie Queen too much. The Inquisitor was not scared by her display, but he was concerned about the future after what he had said. He watched the sudden and violent death by plant that was faced by the Seelie Knight, and it became clear to him that he was by no means, safe. And she had put him very much in an awkward position. He was bound by these plants, and he didn't even try to resist. He knew that they would be too strong for him to break through. Her grip was painful and her nails dug into his flesh, but he showed no sign of fear or pain on his face. He had seen things in his line of work. What happened when Nephilim became involved with those who toyed with Demons and what happened when it backfired. He had seen bloody scenes. He had seen Nephilim horrifically tortured and Nephilim horrifically torturing Downworlders in the hope of a confession. The kiss would probably have been pleasant too, if the situation had not been so serious and not meant as a method of taunting him. "Fine, I'll play your game, Seelie Queen." He replied. There was no other way of doing it. He was already coming up with plans though. It was clear that there was going to be a war on two fronts. He was going to have to fight the traitors, and the Seelie Queen. That meant that he was going to have to call Yorick and get the old man to have supplies delivered. He was going to need a lot of iron. He wondered to himself whether it was appropriate for an Inquisitor to kill the Seelie Queen. He wouldn't hesitate if he got the chance. If he could bait her out of her homeland, then he had a chance. Right here was the seat of her power though. "I'm going to need to resupply first." Once he was released, he brushed himself off and looked back at Roxanne. "Calm down Roxanne, everything will be alright. As Inquisitor, guardian of the Nephilim, I promise that it will be alright." He offered some words of reassurance. "Just listen to your messages and it will be okay." He looked over at Titania again. "Care to inform me of what happened? It might be useful intelligence for the hunt." He reasoned. "If you want me to kill a traitor, then information is the best way to arm me. You do want her dead, don't you?"
Derrick was getting ready to accept his fate as the beast got closer. He saw it's shadow looming over him, and he accepted his fate. However, the Gods decided that they were not finished with Derrick of Kaedwen yet. He saw it turn around and bound after Treasa who had managed to distract it with her arrows. A grim smile crossed his face and the Witcher forced himself to move. He slowly managed to roll himself on to his front and with great exertion, forced his body off the ground and to one knee. He welled up the liquid in his mouth and spat it out, leaving a bloody globule of saliva on the ground in front of him and wiped the blood from his face. He moved ponderously, going for his sword which he spotted not far away. He had to get going, he had to move faster. He saw Treasa still evading it and lining up a shot. He pushed himself forwards with all his might, reaching out and gripping the hilt of his blade. Almost instantly, he felt a surge of adrenaline and life returned to the Witcher, now rearmed and as angry as the beast was. "Come on then, you son of a b*tch." Growled Derrick racing towards it with a warcry. It turned at the sound, making the perfect distraction for his companion. The arrow flew true, hitting it squarely in the eye, but it was far from over. Derrick drew the Sign of Quen and twirled his blade as it bellowed, the force of its roar shaking the trees around. It lunged for Treasa, much to the irritation of the Witcher. Apparently it wanted her guts over the shot to the eye. He couldn't waste this chance. Now it had a blind spot, something he could use. He raced around its back to the left side where it was blind and spun forwards, slicing across its hind leg at the knee in an effort to cripple it. He knew that it was going to react, surmising from its patterns of attack that it would try to punch him again. He dived backwards, anticipating its move. When they got back to the room, Alanna shut the door and locked it, then gave Adolin a severe look. She placed the bag down carefully on the bed and gestured for him to take a seat at the table in the room. He did so, and she sat opposite. It was an awkward silence for a moment while they figured out what to say, but against the norm he took the initiative. "Don't get me wrong Alanna, I appreciate this. I appreciate everything you've been doing so far, but I need to understand this." He began. "Why have you gone out of your way to help me? You owe me nothing. A few months ago, I kidnapped you and took you hostage to be my helper, my partner in crime willingly or not. Why are you spending money on helping me? Why are you trying so hard to achieve what I want to achieve?" She snorted. "You call that spending money? You should have seen what Marla was like when she got into a dress shop. That was nothing." He shook his head and gave her a hard look. That wasn't a real answer, and she knew it. She paused for a moment, and then sighed. "Listen Adolin... I... I like you. You might have done that, but you've not exactly been a very good captor. You don't have the heart to really hurt me, and despite what you say and how you act when we're in public, I've always had my freedoms. You and I both understand that at any point, I could have made a portal and disappeared. But I didn't." She paused, and the Doppler started to laugh. He looked down at the table and put his head in his hands. "You're right... I'm not very good at this am I?" He looked up at her with an amused expression. She smiled warmly. "Well, not at handling me anyway. The rest of it you do alright I suppose." He nodded in agreement. "I'm helping you because you're a friend. I think that for all the acts you put on, you're a good person at heart. You've gone on a path of blood, and I know that you will never stop trying until it's done or until you realise of your own accord that you don't want to do this any more. I'm helping you because I don't want you to die, so I'll help you achieve this basic goal. But, Adolin, you need to listen to me when I say this." "Say what?" He narrowed his eyes, mystified. "This is the end of the line. Just as they took away your home, you're going to take theirs. There will be no more Witchers. Your quest ends here." "But what if-" "They won't know who did this. You can walk away. You don't need to do any more damage. After this, you're turning yourself around, and doing something else with your life. I know what you want to do. You want to blow up their home and hunt them until they're all dead, in the hope that one of them kills you to rid you of the guilt that you'll feel. You just want to run away from the responsibility." He saw her fists clench. He wanted to raise his voice in protest, but he couldn't. Her glare intensified. "After this is done, things are going to be different. You owe me for taking me out of my previous life, and you need to redeem what you're going to do. That's why you're going to be serving me from then on." The Doppler put his hand down on the table sharply. "What? No that's ridiculous. Alanna, you have no right to say that in your position! I give you-" She got to her feet angrily. "No you don't! You know full well that you couldn't stop me doing anything if you tried! Maybe before you knew who I was, but try it now! Go on Adolin, I dare you! Hit me!" Adolin stood up and brought his hand around to strike her, a furious look in his eyes. How dare she make a mockery of him like this? He whipped his hand towards her and - Stopped. His hand froze a few inches away from her face, and he couldn't move it any further. He knew that it wasn't her magic, and the way she was standing, she wasn't recoiling in fear. She was standing there defiantly, as if she knew - As if she knew that he couldn't. He clenched his fist and dropped his arm to his side. She was right of course. She always was. She knew that he couldn't hurt her, no more than he could simply walk away. As much as she frustrated him, he never had been able to. There was a mutual understanding. She went along with his threats and what he said because she wanted to. He never had any real power over her at all. "Fine." Adolin spoke, defeated. "So where do we go after this is over? How do I redeem what I'll have done?" Her body language eased and she sat down again. He did so as well, slumping down in his chair with one hand on the table. She took his hand in both of hers as she spoke. "We're going to do some good for the world. You're going to kill their old protectors. How are people going to be able to save themselves without a Witcher to drive the monsters away? They'll live on for a while, the current ones, but when the monsters kill them all, who will be left to protect the common people? Who will save the families, and make sure that no child has to lose their parents?" She asked. He pondered the question for a while, leaning forwards and putting his head in his hands again. "It'll be humans, or Dopplers like me that want to protect people. There are already monster hunting guilds and mercenaries in the world, they'll be all that stands in the way." He answered. She nodded. "And Sorcerers, but one day the Sorcerers and Sorceresses may disappear too. And they're only human. They aren't as strong or fast as the legendary Witchers are." Alanna added. "When we were talking to that alchemist, he had hope. Hope that we were going to save people from the horrors of war to come. I was thinking about our lie - What if we made it a truth?" She could feel a surge of emotion mounting inside her. A determination to do something. A passion for it. A desire to protect. Adolin looked stunned, as if he realised something. "You have the alchemical knowledge of the Witchers, correct? Carrak of Cintra's school used poisons and bombs of various types. What if we built on that? What if we used what we have, and keep some of it?" She gestured to the pouches of explosives. "Would that work?" The Doppler asked, wonderingly. "I don't see why not..." Those words only enhanced the feeling inside her. Her grip on his hand tightened. "Adolin, let's do it. Let's do what you need to do, and then let's redeem ourselves. I'm complicit in this. We both need to make up for our sins." To her delight, Adolin wearing the face of Carrak of Cintra nodded. She stood up and began to create the portal. As she started, she felt something wrap itself around her stomach and press against her back. She looked down and saw the arms of Adolin, now wearing his true face. "Thank you Alanna." He said softly, putting his head on her shoulder. "You've given me something new to live for." She smiled and touched his cheek. "Come on. Justice for your family awaits." He released her and she drew the portal, calling back the co-ordinates of that basement that she had memorised while they were there. The pulsating orange gateway opened, and the two of them stepped forwards into the future.
Corvo stopped and reached for his Contender as soon as the Knight came in. A quick appraisal told him everything. Five Seelie Knights and the Queen herself versus two Shadow Hunters, one tired, tortured and unarmed. Their odds weren't great. He knew what he was getting into before this, but before this the situation was different. He made a mental note for himself in the future - Don't mess with the Fae or the Seelie Queen. Not until he was ready to depose her. Part of him wanted her dead. He placed himself protectively in front of Roxanne, knowing that she was wounded and far, far beyond helping at the moment. "I see. Well, I have no choice but to accept your grace." His tone of voice would make his exact opinions on the present situation obvious. "Sadly, I haven't the immortality required to learn not to deal with your kind. It seems that my job has denied me a little practical experience. No matter, this will be a valuable learning opportunity. So, what do you have in mind, o' Seelie Queen?" He released his grip on his pistol, as it was clear that he wasn't going to be able to get out of this alive if he tried anything. They had no choice but to go along with things. At least for now. Once he was out of her clutches, he could deal with the situation. He had to make sure that Roxanne came with him. She was now a piece on his side of the board - A rare luxury at the moment. "Something wrong Titania?" He said casually, with his arms folded across his chest as he leaned against a table. "Your plants seem angry. Maybe you should give them some sunlight or water?" She was going to realise that though she had outmanoeuvred him this time, she certainly had not tamed Corvo Eismauer.
Derrick was watching the treeline and finding the lack of backup odd. The Witcher tightened his grip on the blade. Nothing else was coming, though he heard Treasa drawing her bow back behind her. He looked around to see what it was, and then he heard it before he saw it. Something loud, with heavy footfalls. He didn't need to wait long before it revealed itself. The monstrosity stormed out of the forest and crushed the Endrega that was gunning for Treasa beneath its foot. Derrick gulped, and his eyes opened wide. "What the f*ck is that?" Derrick yelled. It swung a massive claw towards him and he threw himself backwards. He rolled away, getting up from the floor, but it was on him again already. He stepped aside once again, but it was all that he could do to evade the rampaging monster, let alone attack it. It wasn't a fiend or bullvore, nothing he recognised at all. It was several hundred pounds of solid muscle and pissed off. He eventually managed to put a little distance between himself and the beast and prepared himself to make an attack. He drew Quen and prepared to move. The beast swung its claw and now, having dodged enough to get an idea of its reach, he jumped back just enough and swung his blade at it. It caught the creature's immense 'hand', but seemed to do nothing. He saw it bringing round its other claw and he repeated the move. He stabbed the blade into it. It was a deeper wound, but not as effective as he wanted. The sword caught in its hand and the Witcher was pulled along with the backswing. Derrick found himself airborne, thrown by the creature. At some point he lost his silver blade in mid air and landed hard on his back. The air was forced out of his lungs and Derrick raised his hand to his throat, feeling as if he was choking. His body felt numb, and he could only gasp for breath on the floor, a bit of blood leaking out of the corner of his mouth. He saw the sky above him. It was a nice day. It was clear. And sunny. Not a cloud in sight. Pleasant weather to die under. He tried to move, remembering his conversation with Treasa. Witchers never died peacefully in their beds. They died out in the wild, killing some monster that they were paid far too little to kill. Some part of him was amused. He wasn't even getting paid for this one.
Aedan followed them off to the library. He wasn't surprised to find out that Sanderson didn't actually know what the Runes meant. To be able to understand that, one had to learn an awful lot of the Runes and to specifically shut out Drakes as their leader had guessed would require a lot of specifics that he didn't have the first clue about. When they got to the library, the wizard they were looking for turned out to be as batty as the rest of the people that they had run into today. Internally, Aedan groaned. Is there nobody in this world other than Sanderson that has some actual semblance of sanity? Part of him debated going home as soon as they were done here because apparently the rest of the world was entirely weird, but he knew that was silly. He just had to get used to the strangeness of outside. Bryce soon pushed him in front of the woman awkwardly and it took the young Druid a couple of moments to find his words. "Yes, yes, the Winter Man. You see, I spoke to one of the Drakes while I was with Old Man Greenbeard. I found out that they're here because they can't return to their natural habitat. Something, or someone that they call the Winter Man is stopping them." He explained. "According to the Drake, he is making winter last longer than it should over there. They've had to come down from the mountains where they usually live because there aren't enough wild animals returning there to sustain them." Aston saw Arthur moving up on the right and took his chance. He struck out with his primary weapon, his arming sword and went for the throat. The Thug on his left had a weakness in his armour where he had taken a hit earlier. He could use that. His blade darted for the opening with the agility of a snake. Aston was Disrupted for 2 AP (9/11 AP) Arming Sword Strike on Burning Blade Thug vertical (4/11) Exploit Weakness Triggered! Consecutive Shortsword Strike on Burning Blade Thug to the left for 2 AP less (3/11) Consecutive Shortsword Strike on Burning Blade Thug to the left (0/11) Roric loosed an arrow at the Burning Blade Pyromancer! Distracted by the spell he launched at Anthea, the mercenary didn't see the arrow coming and it struck the man in the chest! He falls to one knee, critically wounded! Burning Blade Pyromancer takes 31 damage. Baldomar brought the hammer down on the Thug in front of him and the Thug fails to get his shield in the way! The Thug's skull cracks open through the helmet and meaty chunks go everywhere! Burning Blade Thug is dead. Arthur strikes the Burning Blade Thug with his dagger, but the Thug brings his shield round and blocks the attack! Aston strikes the Thug directly above him with his arming sword, stabbing the thug through the throat with a well placed thrust. The Thug staggers back, gurgles and falls to the floor, dead. Aston deals 57 damage to the Burning Blade Thug! The Thug is down! Exploit Weakness triggers, reducing the AP of his next attack by 2! Aston strikes the Thug with his Shortsword, but the Thug blocks the strike with his shield! He strikes again with his Shortsword, stabbing him through a weakened section of the armour and slaying the final Thug! Aston deals 32 damage to the Burning Blade Thug, it dies. (Exploit Weakness also triggered again, but that was irrelevant.) The Crossbowman, seeing his allies get cut to pieces by the team and his last surviving friend on one knee with an arrow in his chest, sees no reason to stick around. He runs, throwing his crossbow down behind him. The Pyromancer drops his staff to the floor and starts to crawl away, clutching his chest and coughing up blood. Victory for the team (except Badun, damn slacker)! Elsewhere in the forest... The crossbowman threw off his helmet, his crossbow long since abandoned in his haste to flee the scene. He leaned against a tree, panting. Whoever those guys were, they put up a bloody good fight. He knew that the ones they took down were still breathing. That girl didn't look much more than a damn kid, but that ragtag group had kicked their arse. How the hell did this even happen? He started to move again, making his way from tree to tree. He heard a rustle in the tree above him and thought nothing of it. Probably just a damn bird. This place was full of them. Damn birds and their stupid songs. Couldn't get any peace. He reached for his weapon to shoot it, but found none. He looked up out of curiosity, seeing what he missed the opportunity to shoot. A shadow passed over his head as a mass of human fell from the tree above him, sword pointing straight at him. "Sneak attack biiitch!" Cried Russell, the conveniently helpful scout as he executed one of those fancy drop kills that he read about in some book. He picked himself up off the floor and yanked his sword out of the crossbowman's skull. He kicked the body. "How do you like that, eh Crowe? Who's getting kicked around now?" He kicked the body again for good measure and searched it. Having taken all of Crowe's gold, the gold that Crowe stole from him, and all of his items of value, he got back to the whole 'getting out of the place' thing. Aston wiped his swords off and sheathed them. He looked at Arthur. "Thanks for the assistance. If you hadn't distracted him, I might not have got him. You should go tend to the wounded with those healing skills of yours. We're not quite done here." He looked to the others who remained standing, particularly at Roric. "Have any medical skills? If you do, do you mind helping? And someone deal with him over there." Aston gestured to the Pyromancer who was doing his best to crawl away.
"Thank you Roxanne. We're going to stop them from making a mistake and acting against the Clave, before it's too late to save them." He smiled and took one of her hands, placing her precious phone into it. He then set about erasing the Rune of Binding from her body. "By all means. We are a team now, and hopefully with your help we'll be able to convince the other Nephilim to stand down." He put his Stele away and straightened his coat. He did not however, give Roxanne her knife back quite yet. He needed to be sure that she wasn't just saying that. If there was trouble, he'd hand it back in a heartbeat. Right now though, the Inquisitor knew he was on icy ground. None quite so icy as where he was standing at the moment, in the lair of the Seelie Queen. Now that Roxanne had decided to co-operate with him, he couldn't let her keep the Shadow Hunter. He evaluated his chances of getting out of here alive. If it came to a breakout, there was a fringe possibility that he could run for it and blast his way through Seelie Knights until he reached the exit. Assuming of course, that it wasn't closed which was possible. He could kill her, but it would be a near impossible feat considering he didn't have any iron on him. He reminded himself to get ahold of some. He was going to need some new equipment, and a glamour if he were to walk around unnoticed by humans when he was fully equipped. "When you're ready Roxanne, we shall make our exit." He spoke. He looked to the Seelie Queen. "Thank you for your help. Rest assured, the Lightwoods will remain unharmed from this point onwards. Now I should be able to reach out to them without them immediately trying to kill me." As soon as I get ahold of them, your plans are over Titania. They'll know you're coming, as do I.
A Demi-God? I need to find them, quickly. Carissa fired off a pair of shots and called out to Reitan. "You can handle her can't you?" She knew what he was going to say anyway, so she wasted no time in rushing away, loading her crossbow as she ran. She didn't want to use another Immuno-Collapse quite yet - She had to get to grips with her enemy first. Corruption Rating: 33% Kalak grunted as he felt the robot grasp his arm. It seemed that he was going to protect the woman, who was now coming for him. The situation was bad, but it wasn't impossible. Regrettable as it was, it was time to let Vasher out to play again, though it was probably best not to hand himself over to the darkness again. The quieter light side of the spirit inside him swelled, exulting in its release again and the Demi-God allowed himself to be overtaken by the spirit. He saw the punch coming in, appraising the situation with a quick, cool glance and twisted, the metal fist sailing past his head. The Demi-God grabbed two of the large fingers that enclosed his hand and pushed as hard as he could, just about managing to prise them away. He jumped, planting his feet against Timothy and pushing off as hard as he could. With its grip reduced, the construct had no choice but to release him and he flew backwards a couple of meters on to the floor. He got to his feet quickly and hefted Duskfall, considering his tactical situation. He could see that the woman who wanted to consume him was coming, the robot would be following suit and he'd wager that he would be flanked. He took a quick glance behind him and saw someone lining up a shot and jumped aside. "Damn it!" Carissa exclaimed, seeing her prey move aside. It was the one she saw at the tower, who had gone berserk on the soldier outside. Luckily the monster never made it inside, otherwise escaping might have been even harder than she originally anticipated. She reloaded and the Demi God adopted a defensive stance, watching the three of them intently. What's he waiting for? "Yes, I believe we have something for you. And secondly, yes we do. His name is Zahariel, he's one of our irregulars." The Captain explained. "He has been deployed on a mission but he should return soon." He looked at the thief. "You have already got into and out of the Valiant. If possible, could you get back in? This time, we need data from their database." He slid over what looked like a portable digital storage device with a jack to connect into some sort of larger system attached. "Simple; Get inside and gather what we need. And since you seem to want money, feel free to grab whatever you want from it. In fact, we encourage it." The shuttle bearing Zahariel and his men, David and Varraki soon arrived, touching down on the landing circle that they had made space for in the camp. A lieutenant, flanked by two corporals who were seemingly his bodyguard, met them as they landed. "Welcome sirs. My name is Lieutenant Corenna. We were given word of your arrival." He gave them a collective salute. "We have received intelligence that an attack is coming within the next two days. We have orders to allow you to attend to the defence of this camp. We are at your command."
Derrick saw Treasa turning to face the next two Endregas. He turned as well, because she was probably going to need the help. He drew the Sign of Axii and flashed it at the incoming Warrior, leaving it standing perfectly still where he wanted it to. The worker, now crippled by Treasa's sniping would have little defence against the Witcher's blade. It scuttled forwards, trying to close the gap between the thing that had caused it pain only to find another source of pain waiting with a smile. He drew Aard, staggering it back with the force of the wave of energy. He stepped forwards swiftly, bringing the point of his sword down through the Worker's head while it attempted to rearrange its limbs. It sunk to the ground, dead. He pulled his Steel Sword out from its sheath and handed it to Treasa. "Not quite as effective, but a sword is a sword." He stated. "If you stick it in the right place, you'll be able to kill it. I'd keep back though. They have venom, and you're not quite as fast as me. If they nick you with any of those protrusions then you could be in trouble. Even if they get me, my immune system will neutralise it quickly. You don't have the same luck." Although she said that she had faced these before, he wasn't sure how much she actually knew. It was time to give her a quick lesson. He kept his eyes glancing around the forest edge and making sure the Warrior was staying put. There was no reason for it to break free yet, but still. Sometimes they surprised him.
Derrick saw her ride ahead, and made no effort to catch up. She probably wanted to be alone with her thoughts, and possibly away from him. The Witcher continued at his steady pace, but sped up quickly as he saw the danger heading towards her. From his position behind her, he could see the Warrior lunging for her and the horse. His silver sword flashed out of his sheath as he rode his horse in a hard gallop towards the quickly ensuing battle. Luckily, his horse was a good beast and complied with his demands. The horse closed the gap quickly and Derrick leaned down from the horse and swung his blade in a wide arc as the Insectoid raised its tail to strike. Startled by the sudden noise of the galloping horse, it paused and twisted its carapaced body to look at him before the blade struck. There was an angry scuttling noise as a spurt of inhuman blood sprayed out from the dismembered stinger tail, a feat only possible because it hadn't been expecting him. Next time, he wouldn't be so lucky and he knew that more were coming. Derrick jumped down and twirled his blade in front of him, meeting the Endrega's fierce gaze with his own. "Come on then, show me what you've got." He taunted it. It seemed to get the message, despite it not being able to understand his words, and an angry mass of Endrega threw itself towards the Witcher. He pirouetted with another wide sweep of his blade and he felt the blade connect with something. When he faced it, one of its hind legs had been cut by his strike and it was moving awkwardly. Still, Derrick placed himself between it and Treasa, just in case it made a sudden move, but it was finished now anyway. He drew the sign of Axii in the air and it was over. Obeying his commands, the Endrega settled on to its front legs and Derrick walked over, flourishing his blade and stabbing the creature through its mouth, into its brain and killing it. "Watch out, there'll be more. That was only so easy because it was focusing on you, the easy prey." The Witcher cast his gaze around the sides of the road, watching and listening for more of the abominable things.
Corvo sighed and shook his head. She was being irrational. "You're not turning on them. You're helping me save their lives. Right now, I am the one thing standing between them and the Clave. With your help, we can bring them back in line and deal with things peacefully." He explained in his most reasonable voice. He still had one element of power over her, and he supposed that he needed to use it. If she wasn't going to listen to this, considering her earlier display, then she wasn't going to listen to anything else. "If you want your phone back, agree to help me. Otherwise, I will take it and I will use it. You can scream all you want, but you will never get it back." He had to prepare himself for the possibility that she didn't listen to him. He wasn't left with an awful lot of choices. He couldn't leave her in the Seelie Queen's hands and he couldn't let her go free. Distasteful as it was, there was only one option. "You're going to leave me in a very awkward position at this rate Roxanne. I want everything to turn out as best as possible. Everyone will be alright, especially if you're there to help. No, only if you're there to help. They won't listen to me. They'll just attack like a pack of cornered rats. And they'll doom themselves. You see Roxanne, if they kill me, hurt me, or attack me then their fates are sealed. There will be no choice but to bring the full might of the Clave down on them." Corvo continued. "Redeem yourself. Save your friends. Get your phone back. This is the path that I offer to you. All others are dark. There is no future any other way." He had made up his mind. He looked at the Seelie Queen and back at Roxanne. He reached his hand into his coat where the Contender was holstered. Her final choice was coming.
