Return of The Emblem Chapter Two: The Trail

[ReformBlade]

Nanahm got up slowly and carefully, not wanting to make his injury worse through sudden strenuous movement. He saw Chelsea move over towards the wagon where he was, but she seemed to be slumped over on her trusty steed. She isn't... dead, right? He worried in is mind. He walked over to her, keeping as calm as he could as he checked to see if she was alright. Breathing. A good sign. It seems she had just fainted. She's a young one, maybe this was her first time in battle? He mused, relieved. He didn't want to move her from her horse for a number of reasons, but mainly because she looked comfortable there (to him). And the whole open wound bit was also a factor, but he could wait... or not.

"Can I get some help here? I'm bleedin something fierce over here..."

[Acacia Sgt]

John let out a sigh of relief, knowing that the battle was over. It wasn't a good sight, with too many corpses scattered, not to mention the unconscious ones of their own group. 'Hard to believe they nearly got us this time... and to think all this to just rescue one man...' He thought, as he ordered Gil to go back to where his fallen teammates were. As he approached, he saw that Veronika was already conscious again, but Shadrak was still out cold.

Dismounting from Gil, he approached the two. ''Oh hey, should I call a healer immediatly?'' He asked. He didn't knew just how much both were injured, and could already guess, but he asked anyway.

[-Cynthia-]

"There are probably more serious cases to deal with. Shadrak should live and I'll be fine, he patched me up I'll think. Send Synthia or that new guy with the staff over to Nanahm if you can," Veronika replied to John. "Sodding lances..." she muttered under her breath to herself.

Edited March 25, 2011 by -Cynthia-

[Mercakete]

"Nah, I'm just a bit tired," Gytha replied to the new staff-user that Synthia had apparently sent her way, only just noticing her own tire for herself, "Though there be pleanty o' people bleedn' out. All the seriously injurred ones are bein' stacked o'er by Raquel's wagon. That's the place where the healers should go while the rest o' us gather'em up."

Looking around for remotely-familliar faces after having given the new staff-wielder his instructions, Gytha saw that the wyvern guy -- Jim? -- was handling two of the injurred. Damian and Nanahm were already at the wagon and Synthia was taking care of Amon. Red-armor-guy was also walking around alright, so that seemed to be the end of gathering up the wounded.

With a shrug, the mariner walked over to her teammates. "Ahoy, Synthia. Amon. How are ye feeln'?" she asked as she stepped into a reasonable talking distance.

[ReformBlade]

(Permission granted to CC Synthia)

"I'm alright." Synthia replied to Gytha. How did this go so badly? She pondered as she quickly gathered her things and-

"Can I get some help here? I'm bleedin something fierce over here..."

Nanahm needed healing again. Seriously, how has he lived so long? She hurried over to him, pulling out her mend staff, "Hold still for a second" she said as the staff did its thing (Staves don't get enough credit). "You should try not being so reckless." she said matter-of-factly.

In no mood to try and make a quick quip at her, he simply nodded, his breathing coming more easily now. "Thanks again, Synthia."

Again with the thanking? Sigh... "You're welcome I guess."

After that, Synthia went about healing whoever was closest that needed healing (Just assume she's healed you if you need it, woot woot).

Feeling much better, Nanahm went to Raquel for some business. "Kind of late for me to ask this, but do ya got any of them Defending type Axes in your cargo back there?"

Edited March 25, 2011 by SlaveBlade

[Zsword]

Shadrak slowly got up as he fealt his internals mended from the shock. He spit up a small mouthful of bloody dirt and wiped it with a look of slight disgust as he looked around. "Ugh... So... uh yeah... guess my plan kinda back fired... huh..." he said to John as he scratched the back of his head with an 'oops' expression on his face.

He then turned to Veronika and gave her a weak smile... "So uh... glad to see you pulled through... I wonderred if what I managed to get out, before passing out was enough to save you, it definatly looks that way..." I still can't believe how much power that mage was able to force past my defences, his technique, his flow of mana, I must practice my technique and master things such as that...

[Acacia Sgt]

John nodded and was about to leave, when he noticed Shadrak getting up. ''Yeah...'' He started, but then shook his head. ''But it's not like it wouldn't have worked. We didn't expect the mage would send his spell like that. I guess for next time, then?''

[Zsword]

Shadrak looked down and rather gloomy at the thought. "I guess..." he said solemnly, rubbing his face ideally as he reflexly reached to flip up his hood, only to realise it was missing. "Umm... what happened to my cloak?" He asked, kinda half looking around as he did his best of ignorig the sensation of getting zapped like a common lightning rod.

[Acacia Sgt]

John went silent for a moment. 'His... cloak? Well, better than to ask for... well, I don't know.'

''Well... when that bolt struck you, it kinda got burnt out I'm afraid.''

[Dark Sage]

Quite a lot had happened in such a short amount of time.

First the group met with a female Kigen soldier. This was already unusual as from what Domovoi heard about Kigen, female soldiers were very rare there since Kigenese women had no rights. She was apparently looking for her father, which was a funny coincidence as Raquel was looking for her own father. Despite Raquel's request though, the woman- named Eriya- refused to join the group.

Which is quite a shame because we could use another soldier here to help establish order and discipline. Ah well. Looks like I'll have to do it on my own. But now...back to the attack.

The attack. They had been ambushed by that shady group again. Things were made trickier when they brought hostages this time. They were Rodrigo and some people he didn't know. Rodrigo managed to break free and help fight and the group was driven off again. All in all, everyone who ambushed them was dead except for the swordsman, who was now their prisoner.

Unfortunately for Domovoi, the amount of arrows and spells being thrown around proved too much for Miskavolv to handle and he flew up in the air as fast as possible and high enough for Domovoi to get a good view on the battle without orders. Domovoi tried desperately to get back to the battle but Miskavolv refused to come back down until the action was over.

When they landed back down, Domovoi gave Miskavolv a look of pure rage and walked off, resolving to calm down and noted to himself to find an appropriate punishment for the disobedient wyvern. People were getting healed up and Domovoi saw one of the hostages had a staff on him.

Hmmmm....he could prove most useful to us. He's certainly not any friend to the group that's been harrying us, that's for sure. With that, he approached the young man.

"Hey! You over there!" Domovoi called out. "It must've been scary to be held hostage by a group of individuals like that. You have a staff here and I'd like to know what you're planning on doing after you're done patching some of us up. Which is greatly appreciated by the way. I'd like you to join our group and help us out if you don't have any plans."

Meanwhile Miskavolv knew he went too far. He couldn't help it though. The previous fights had been so rough and there were so many spells and arrows coming close to him. Plus he was hungry and Domovoi hadn't been feeding him as well as he should have. Walking off sulkily, he couldn't see the cat nearby. Heading towards the wagon, Miskavolv parked himself right by it and began making odd moaning and growling sounds in hope someone would realize he was hungry.

"Grraow! Mmmrowww!"

Upon hearing the cries, Domovoi made a face like someone spat in it and shook in rage for a bit before he blinked rapidly and regained his composure.

"Excuse my wyvern over there. He's...an oddball. A disobedient oddball."

Odd that NOW he panics. Doesn't change anything. He's not getting any of his favorite foods for awhile.

Edited March 26, 2011 by Dark Sage

[Zsword]

Shadrak sighed. "Dang, oh well, guess I'll just need to get another then... I wonder if Raquel stocks clothing..." He said. "Well, shall we join the others at the wagon?" He asked, noticing that people seemed to be gathering there again.

[-Cynthia-]

"Indeed you did. You have my thanks," Veronika said, giving Shadrak a curt nod. "A shame about the cloak, but it can be replaced, your life cannot and you luckily we all still have ours," she said, limping over towards the wagon and sitting near the merchandise. Nanahm was talking to Raquel about axes or something which Veronika did not pay much attention to, choosing instead to try and rest some.

[Acacia Sgt]

''Ah, sure. Let's go then.'' He answered, then went back to Gil to order him to get back to the wagon as well.

[Zsword]

Shadrak nodded and turned back towards the wagon as he began to track back to it. He noticed that Veronika was limping. I guess Synthia must of missed her because she was awake... He calmly walked over to her as he got his heal staff out. "I guess I'd better finish what I started huh?" he asked, his tone very light, as he held the staff before her and began to channel his magic, making sure to focus on her bad leg.

[Psych]

Niles walked over to the wagon, as he noticed several people were congregating nearby. He noticed a man trying to heal a young woman's leg, and decided to step in to help. "Um, do you need my help with anything? My staff is a bit more effective in healing wounds, and a mage girl told me to look out for those that were injured."

[13th]

Damian opened his eyes. "Oh, damn. I hate losin'... Especially to a thief." He stood up and went over to the wagon. "Did we get 'em?" he asked Shadrak.

[roymbrog]

Synthia was able to heal most of the group before she was forced to take a break. Mend staves may be more powerful, but it turned out they didn't take less energy to use. She sat down against the wagon and massaged her temples, trying to rid herself of a headache that was forming, then took a moment to observe the area and nearly gagged at what she saw.

Almost everyone in the fight had been gravely injured and, even though she had been able to heal most of them, a few were still limping around painfully. It made her feel almost as sick as the bodies and blood covering the ground. Sooner or later someone was going to end up dead, there really was nothing she could do about it, and although there were a few she didn't care much about, losing a team member would weaken the group in combat and morale. At least she could console herself with the fact that two of the highest risks were directly under her supervision, but still, that wasn't much.

"Gytha, Amon," she called out to the two nearby. "Can you two come over here for a moment? I need to speak with you." She'd speak with those two first, then Raquel later if she didn't say something to the group about it herself. Things needed to shape up soon or the merchant's little band of mercenaries wouldn't remain intact much longer.

[Phoenix]

Amon

"I guess I'm feeling better ... I need to stop using my arm as a shield though." he tagged on to the end, looking his arm over. His coat would need mending. He wasn't keen on buying a new one even if he did eventually find the money to do so. It has more sentimental value then he was ever going to let on to anyone at present. With that he was beginning to wonder if there was any sewing supplies. Mending was a skill he couldn't live without having so few clothes of his own to wear. Unfortunately the last of his thread was used up on the last patch up job. He still had a needle and the small razor he would use to cut thread however, so he supposed all he needed was new thread. He was fine for now though and would just ask Raquel about it later.

Synthia soon called him and Gytha for some reason. He wasn't sure what it was about but he would comply, if only to not be difficult at a time like this. Once he reached her he waited. He couldn't decide whether or not to wait for Gytha before saying anything.

Raquel

"An axe? Well I figured we might end up in a bad situation like this at some point so I bought enough defensive weapons for anyone who might want some. Swords, lances, axes, etctera. If you want to try one on for size be my guest. I'm a bit distracted by all this disarray though." she said noting the pure carnage. Dead enemies strewn about, and injured allies gravitating toward the wagon. Victory never seemed to be easy on the eyes. She wasn't sure why she expected things to turn out any different, but just once, she wanted to see a relatively flawless victory, with injuries on their side minor enough or few enough for them to brush their shoulders off and get moving again.

Rodrigo

While Rodrigo waited for Boris to wake up, eight horsemen approached in the distance. Ursian patrols. Six cavaliers armed with swords and lances and two scouts armed with swords and bows. "Well they sure took awhile." Rodrigo noted. "Don't worry, I'll let them know what's going on, just none of you guys do anything stupid here. Until further notice, this guy's one of you." he said pointing to Boris. I can't get any information out of him if they drag him back to Ursaea and throw him in prison so this is going to have to do for now. he thought to himself, standing up. He began walking to the rear of the group and past the wagon so he would be the first to greet the patrol.

[ReformBlade]

"They're about 50 gold, right?" He said, digging through his pouch, pulling out said amount. He placed it next to her and began looking for an axe that he could get used to. Oh snap, there's a good one!

(Purchased a Defender Axe)

(I have 1 point left, bitches. Who wants it? No one can have it, haha!)

[Mercakete]

Gytha had the feeling that Synthia wanted to talk to Amon and her to talk about behaving recklessly again. It's as though she actually believes we were behaving recklessly... she thought as she followed Amon to their team's healer. She also noticed her shirt had a fresh, bloody hole in it. Blast. This meant she would have to attempt sewing it up again, in spite of the rugged scar with uneven stitches from her previous attempt. The mariner took note to ask Synthia if her mend staff could heal clothing.

~~~~~~

Maw managed to scamper away before the wyvern noticed her. That was good. Now, where were those fuzzy-tailed inland-rats?

[roymbrog]

Now that both Amon and Gytha were over here Synthia could begin. “You probably think I’m going to chastise you for your rash behavior. I’m not; It doesn’t seem to help. However, I’d like you to take a good long look around you at the rest of the group and their injuries.” She paused for a moment to allow that, and then continued. “We need to prevent so many casualties incurring on our side in future battles. Some sort of strategy would be nice, maybe specialize combat teams to take out certain enemy types or something, I don’t know.

“You two are of the few relatively uninjured right now, so I thought it was a good a time to discuss it as any. I’m going to talk to Raquel later as well, so if you have any comments about this you’d like to be passed on, I can do that too, unless you want to tell her yourself of course,” she said, and stood up, cracking her neck and back as she stretched a little. “Alright, I’m done talking. Amon, how’s your arm?”

[Zsword]

Shadrak finished his work and gave Veronika a small smile before he turned to the other two people who had decided to talk to him. Why are they talking to me? I'm trying to keep a relatively low profile...

He first turned towards the staff user that had approached him. "I think our mage got most everyone, if you see anyone who's still wounded, then go ahead and help them... but otherwise I think you should talk to Raquel, who's the young lady over there." He motioned his hand towards Raquel. Because I have no clue who you are and you should probably talk to the person in charge before you just submit yourself to the group. He then to the sword user that had also addressed him. "Well, if you couldn't tell by the piles of enemy injurred and the fact that you're still alive..." and your just stupid, Gytha atleast shows she can be intelligent, she's just brash, but you, not so much yet.

[Mercakete]

"Well, that is somewhat obvious," Gytha mentioned before calmly explaining, "See, I protect people for a livn'. Though there be lots o' strategies fer keepn' someone safe, sometimes the best one is t' charge ahead and keep ther attention on ye. Sometimes it's t' kill'em b'fore they can do any real damage. This time, what with how quick that'un was, th' former was what I decided to do. With a bit o' help from Amon, we were able t' kill that crazy bandit. If I'd just stood on guard instead o' bein' proactive, then I would've been overwhelmed evn' more than I was."

If I was bein' reckless, that would've meant I hadn't thought through me options. Well, I did and it was the best thing t' do. I can get up and keep fightn', but I can't say the same fer Synthia or Raquel. So I have t' fight fer them. Gytha thought to herself before her smile spread across her face and she asked the mage, "Ye have a mend staff, aye? Does it mend clothes?" An honest question.

[ReformBlade]

The axe was heavier than his old one, but he could wield it all the same. Giving it a few practice swings, he smiled and strapped it to his back while holding his old one. He noticed Veronika, "Hey, are you alright Lady?"

[Snike]

"Got it," Axel replied, as he moved towards the downed myrmidon. Bending down was painful, but the soldier endured it, to sling Boris over his shoulder. After standing up, he inched back to the wagon, before setting his load down against it.

No need for these, the lancer thought, taking the swords Boris was carrying and tossing them aside one of the late attackers, before looking back towards the approaching cavalry. They were cutting it close. "... Would someone mind patching up our unfortunate 'friend' here? He's still breathing, but that could change if we don't heal him soon."