Antagonist's Anarchy: Desolation in the Daylight - Chapter II (Open)

[Calaethis Dragonsbane]

"Pray tell, where is your Master now?"

"He comes! He is in the sky! He watches and waits! His coming is soon! He is overhead of you even now! He is the Master and shall return! He shall bring with him wrath, raining down fury! He shall come in fire! His chariot forged from the metal of the stars! He shall arrive in glory! The time is nigh!

The blood of the disbelievers shall be spilt! The skies shall run red at his passing! He shall descend in a hale of green fire!” he was almost frothing at the mouth by now, ignoring the fact he was spouting the wrong terminology and nonsensical wordings. He was also unaware of the knife at his throat – apparently.

"The crimson sunset shall strike! Spill my blood and return it to the earth! All shall perish in time! The darkest age of our rebirth is upon us, and our golden, glorious destiny shall arise! Afire to the sons of Adura! A bane to the disbelievers! The Lords of Vision shall guide the way! All woe to the Capital! Your Master shall come to reclaim you!”

At this, Isokla looked up sharply from Nivram, her eyes genuinely shocked and filled with concern and uncertainty “Keep him alive!” she snapped, for once, true urgency in her voice. “Ydalon will want to hear this!” She glanced over Nivram and sighed, “Sleep well,” she told him gently, averting her attention back to him briefly, “The rest is up to you; I can do nothing more. But at least… you’re injuries won’t be infected.”

“I need help over here,” she called, “He needs to be carried to a safer place to rest. The chill and damp are his enemies now.”

Zak's dead body may not even have existed for all her showing towards it.


[ 06-01-2006, 08:59 PM: Message edited by: Calaethis Dragonsbane ]

[Ivelliis]

Telryn

The bandit preached on about the Lords of Vision, sounding evermore like some type of cult rather than simple banditry.

"Return of the Master...bringing order?! I've never heard such nonsense in all my days!"

"Shall we make him talk now, or should we wait for Isokla?"

Turning to Detheriel, Telryn said "Leave her with the wounded, we'll have to do this ourselves."

Another speech from the bandit followed Detheriel's question of his masters whereabouts, claiming "he comes from the sky".

“Keep him alive! Ydalon will want to hear this!" Piped Isokla, quite randomly.

Telryn nodded, to no one in particular, staring daggers at the bandit. Holding his flail in his left hand, Telryn used a combination of holding the bandit down with his foot, and frisking with his right hand, to check for any weapon.

OOC: Not the best frisk he has ever done. A well-concealed weapon could still be there..

"Seems clean," Telryn grunted to Detheriel, who still held his blade at the bandits throat.
The bandit seemed to have one hundred percent faith in his master. Staring at the bandit for a short while in silence, Telryn spoke, his voice surprisingly calm.
“Who is this master you speak of? Surely if your master is as powerful as you say, then you won’t be afraid to share his name with some downtrodden travellers?”
He knew he probably wouldn’t get an answer first time; interrogation took a bit of effort, especially with fanatical fools such as this.

[Calaethis Dragonsbane]

"The master's name is not for the heathens!”
The bandit paused, taking a deep breath and a panicked expression entered his eyes at Isokla's words.

"Keep him alive"

"Never! I shall not be interrogated by you!” The bandit was clearly insane, but not so far gone he was stupid. So he tried to gut himself on Detheriel's knife... how Telryn and Detheriel reacted would determined what happened next...

[ 06-03-2006, 06:28 PM: Message edited by: Calaethis Dragonsbane ]

[shamrock_uk]

Detheriel

With a snort, Detheriel removed his knife from the vicinity of the bandit's neck. He had been keeping a close watch on the fanatic and certainly wasn't about to be caught napping by so obvious a ploy.

"We'll have none of that!" he said gruffly, giving the arrow shaft a good twist to make his point.

Nevertheless, despite his vigilance, he decided to stand up and moved to a position directly above the bandit's head where he could minimise the chances of something similar occurring again.

Scowling he looked at Telryn. "I don't trust him for one second" he remarked. "We need to truss him up so tight he can't even think of his damned Master! I have some rope in my pack, but it's back at the campsite. He saw Ydalon enter the clearing on the far side. "Hmmm, unless Ydalon has some, that would be easier."

[dplax]

Nivram

Nivram's unconsciousness did not last for long, but when his eyes opened he was still exhausted and had no idea of how long he had been blacked out. He had never attempted a spell as powerful as the one he had, and as such had not expected the draining effect it had had on his body. He was both physically and mentally exhausted.

He fought down the urge to immediately check on Zakaria, for that might have given away the fact that he had something to do with the spell. Nivram did not know whether anyone had detected him casting it, but he hoped that not. He had never revealed this side of himself to anyone except his sister and he was not ready to break that habit now.

Nivram saw Isokla standing next to him and leaning heavily on her stood up. He noticed that his wounds had been tended to, and guessing that she was to thankf for it, he did so.

Detheriel and Telryn were interrogating the bandit still, so Nivram guessed that he had not been unconscious for long. It was only after inspecting all this that he turned to glance at Zakaria. From the position of the body and the lack of movement in the chest it was obvious to his eyes that poor Zakaria had not survived even with the help of his spell.

Nivram could barely stand on his own feet, but did not want to show a weakness surpassing by several magnitudes the one which his wounds could explain. He took his hand from Isokla's shoulder and made a hesitant step forward. He managed to maintain his balance and set off to the tedious task of recovering his daggers on the battlefield, all the while thinking on how Zakaria could have died, when just before fainting he had clearly felt the draining of his lifeforce stop as a result of his spell.

[Ivelliis]

Telryn

Telryn, relieved Detheriel had stopped the bandit from killing himself, nodded to what he had to say.

"Well I ain't got any rope in my back, used it before I met all you."

Detheriel's eyes looked passed Telryn, at something behind him. Unable to look around, due to a slightly over-zealous bandit trying to gut kill himself at any and every possible chance, Telryn simply muttered.

"What is it?"

[ 06-05-2006, 11:31 AM: Message edited by: Ivelliis ]

[Legolas]

Ydalon

His eyes took in the scene of the skirmish, growing wide and uncertain. He hesitated there, under the shadow of straight-backed trees keeping a silence of their own. Ydalon suspected their reasons were not quite the same. The fertile soil of the forest would drink up the spilt blood eagerly. Wildlife would claim the flesh, and given enough time, roots would embrace, then crush the bones.
It gave him a shiver.

Bracing himself, immensely thankful that flies and rot were still a ways into the future, he approached the fallen assassin. He nodded once, in confirmation of his own thoughts. This was a setback. The time and place were wrong. He had fallen here... for what?
The answer lay on the ground not far off, a stranger carrying injury. The man looked to have been in decent shape before his last encounter.

"Attend him too, please," he said to Isokla. "He'll have some answers to give."

Turning back to Zak, he frowned a moment, then looked around.

"That man from the tower, Keal. He ran off in tears, didn't he?"

His tone made it clear he didn't think much of his resilience.

"If he comes back, he can take this body to some family graveyard if there is one. If he doesn't, we'll divide up the supplies. I'm sorry if it reminds you of your apprentice."

[lost prophet]

Eruwin

The arrival of the young boy caused Eruwin some discomfort, who was the child that seemed to be in charge. The leader of the circus he grew up in was a massive man of 7 foot and in Eruwins mind size and authority went hand in hand. However this boy couldn't be any older than him self and yet he seemed to be giving orders to the others, even the large one with the flail who would have been his first guess at leader.

He realized he could not just sit there so he tried once more to sit himself up. Shakily he put his good arm underneath him and heaved himself up into a sitting position, nausea washed over him but he fought it down and managed to stay the way he was. He glanced up at Nivram and not meeting his eyes said in a quite voice
"I...I thank you for takeing a stand against my persuers, had it not been for your timely...intervention I doubt I would have been able to go on much longer," He gave a small nervouse cough and continued " It appears your help didnt come freely and I mourn for your loss," He glanced at the man beside him who was yet to move " I truly am," He cleared his throat again and feel silent, after not speaking to another person for a long time he was not comfortable in the current situation. He sat there breathing heavily, waiting for a reply.

[shamrock_uk]

Detheriel

"Oh, nothing" he grunted.

After a pause he spoke again:

"It looks like the stranger is alive, at least - perhaps we'll get some answers out of him." He prodded the bandit with his foot. "Likely more than we will off this one, at any rate!"

Detheriel took a moment to poke around inside his mouth to remove a piece of food, perhaps a piece of oat, that was irritating him before continuing.

"Looks like our young guide has returned to us" he remarked. "Hmm, and is already cracking the whip too!" he added with an amused smile.

[ 06-08-2006, 02:39 PM: Message edited by: shamrock_uk ]

[Calaethis Dragonsbane]

"Attend him too, please," he said to Isokla. "He'll have some answers to give."

Isokla scowled slightly, but nodded, not in the least pleased with having to attend to a fanatic. When Ydalon mentioned his " I'm sorry if it reminds you of your apprentice." She shook her head, “It is a fact of life that those around us fall; the only question is when and how.” She sighed, “As a healer, I ought to be used to it by now.” Isokla nodded slowly, her bright blue eyes concerned, “I did not see the child, my lord. If he has run off… perhaps he shall return and blame us for his…” her lips twitched and she barely refrained from suggesting a somewhat lewd implication, “close companion’s fall.”

Without another word, she calmly and carefully picked her way across to the fanatic. Pausing, she instructed, “One of you bind and gag him while the other searches the corpses. You heard Lord Ydalon. Split the supplies.” She inclined her head towards the fallen bandits as her eyes clouded over briefly, “It is the victor’s right, after all.”

The bandit was not happy though.“Keep that filthy witch away from me! The whores of this world shall be enslaved and consumed in the burning fires of the Master’s wrath!”

At Isokla’s sharp intake of breath, the bandit preened, sneering “Filth like you shall be taken first! You shall be passed around like cattle and dogs for the faithfuls’ pleasure! We shall disfigure your pretty features an-“ he screamed as Isokla planted a foot between his legs.

“I think not.” she sniffed haughtily, offended by his words, “Scum like you shall be purged first and your master shall consume you in his fires. No one would accept refuse like you. You will be despised wherever you tread. Now be quiet.” she told the whimpering bandit, lifting her foot again to kick him if he refused. “I may be a healer, but cutting you off as a gelding would be a service to our common blood pool. You can survive without it.” Her tone was icily calm and her blue eyes were chilly. She spoke of what would send shivers down almost all mens’ backs without even blinking. “So I suggest you cease your prattle and conduct yourself in a more civil manner – elsewise, you shall be spending the rest of your shortened lifespan as only half a man, and when your friends find you – they shall know the cost of crossing us. Do I make myself perfectly clear?”

At this threat, coupled with the look in her eyes, the bandit nodded, swallowed and hushed, allowing Isokla to tend to his wounds without fuss. Clearly the threat chilled him more than his fanatical faith. Eager to be a martyr – but half a man? That stung.

---

Should the others search the corpses; they will find the following: the weapons in hand that the bandits possessed and fifteen copper pieces, five silver, four waterskins, a cryptic sealed note which made reference to some 'bridge forest gate' over the 'sapphire lake' and a 'stone fortress'. It would seem that might be their next base of operations, though it was unclear. Perhaps the bandit might elaborate under intense interrogation.