Overture

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Rydia looked down upon Teran and Aben, then to Ezekul as she nudges him, "Come on, we'll get a better vantage point further in, let's not keep them waiting." She puts her bow back in its place and tightens her straps, moving to make her way back down the tree, allowing Ezekul to use the rope he had set up while she took her own way down. Feet meeting the ground, she goes to follow after waiting for Ezekul to get down, then goes off to follow the other two.
 
Ezekul nods, deciding there wasn't actually a point in him tying up that not because they really aren't in a hurry or anything as he unties it. He takes the time to coil it back up and tuck it away, before making his way down the tree, putting his foot on one of the branches tentatively as he makes his way down, one of the one's he hadn't before, slowly moving his full weight onto it, and regretting that as it snaps. He'd fall a few feet before wrapping himself around a different one, saying "I'm okay!... I'm okay..." He'd rest there for a bit, before finally lowering himself down the rest of the way.

Aben looks up at the tree, a moment of concern crossing his face as Ezekul falls, before it's replaced by a look of irritation, shouting out "You're going to kill yourself one day!" He shakes his head, before nodding as he turns around, before following Teran, assuming that Ezekul would follow, as he always has. Aben looks over the orphanage, grumbling "This is where you should have showed up Ezekul, would have been much better fo you in ever sense of the way."
 
Much to Freyja's distaste today was not her most lucky day. With all the traps hidden under moss and all that she had managed to catch an unlucky hare and squirrel which would subsequently become her meals for the rest of the day. It wasn't much but judging by her skinny teenager figure she's rather adjusted to shorter amounts of rations. Frey simply made her way from building rooftop to another quickly and silently. There wasn't any particular dangers around her side of town but still an occasional raider might find himself looting one of the run down shops. The teenage girl only had a knife as a weapon but her ingenuity was her strongest asset. She'd catch their attention, lead them into some house where an ankle biter would wait right in the middle of the doorframe. Freyja however has only had to do this twice though she's rather prepared to do it one more time.

But after she made her way around the whole perimeter of the east side she decided to go back home and begin cooking her fresh game. What - or rather who she found by her home however caught her off guard. She had hopped down to a rooftop near enough to the crater in the roof of the orphanage that she could simply jump through when the sounds of footsteps found her. There was a group, whether raider or not Freyja felt slightly unnerved. But she knew she had the higher ground and could catch them off guard.

The orphanage was large enough and intact enough to look like it held some promise within so Freyja quickly hopped over careful not to fall into the hole to her side. She unlatched a small round ball from her belt breathing nervously. It was more or less an edited version of a firework (the orphanage luckily had some within storage) that's purpose was to hurt instead of entertain. Freyja only had two left. When they were in eyesight she would simply pop the fuse and throw.
 
The Oddsman didn't like the town and the feeling it gave him. More and more eerie, and not at all safe, secure, or even remotely empty. He just felt something wrong. No real serious damage had moved consistently; at one spot, he found a perfectly-intact house, standing tall next to a house that appeared to explode from inside, and yet there wasn't a single mark on the tall house. It didn't seem quite... earthly. It was all sinister.

So the Oddsman dismounted, instead of riding, where he could defend himself better. Ink would have to take its own chances if danger came: a horse would be too large to protect by a single person against multiple enemies. He armed himself with his vicious, unique warhammer, and walked Ink instead of riding.
 

"Ah, this structure here looks quite interesting, maybe we should investigate in here, no?"

Teran's right hand moved to his sheathed blade, and grabbed for his scimitar. His left hand, balled in a fist, was raised into the air, signaling the members of the group behind him to stop moving forward. If there was trap or mechanism inside the building that would go off, he would rather have him be hit directly rather than the others behind himself. He gulped, before slowly creeping into the old building. A glance at his feet verified that there were no traps to catch him or trip him on anything. His balled hand released its tight grip, letting his fingers come free. Teran turned back to the group before giving them a reassuring smile.

"Aye, it is safe for us to continue, there was nothing at the door. That doesn't confirm everything in the whole building, but for this introductory area we should be OK."

Giddy with excitement, Teran moved with haste, deeper into the building. The old cartographer eventually came in on a small room, filled with children's toys. This was a shock to him, for this proved the fact that this building was used a a home or a place to hold children. He crept into the dark room, looking around, seeing nothing but the toys upon the ground and mold and grime upon the walls. This room had nothing else to offer. He came back out of the room, looking around once more for any other doors, and luckily there was. What was peculiar about this door was that he found many marks upon it. Teran walked closer to it to inspect the markings further, seeing that they were small, but did not look like they were made by any tools.

"Hmm?"

Gripping his scimitar tightly, he pushed the door open with his left hand, only to find a shocking site. Inside the room was the corpse of a young girl. And by her lay a dirty doll. He held his breath, the stench of death getting stronger. Maggots and insects eventually came out of their nests within the body as if they wanted to meet the great archaeologist himself, or at least that is what it seemed like. They came out for their new meal of the day.

"Everybody! Come here!"
 
Aben loosens his warhammer as he watches waiting for him to give his all clear, before stepping inside slowly, he gives a grunt as he looks around, not enjoying the atmosphere in the least. HE shifts as he steps inside, giving a gentle cough as he knocks up a bit of dust, waving around and causing a bit more, before hammering his chest once, and grumbling a little bit as he looks around. He takes a finger, running it along a shelf, before wiping it off on his chest, saying "Can't of had a bit of housecleaning?"

Ezekul waits outside for a bit, watching Aben and Teran go in, before looking to Rydia almost wanting to make the joke of 'Ladies first' before just entering himself. He looks around before shaking his head a little bit, rubbing his forearms a little bit nervously before saying "So... This is.... Creepy... Isn't it?" He looks around before walking over to a painting, before looking away, kind of just shifting about standing still, not saying anything really wanting to go any deeper into the orphanage as he sits near the entrance, hand sitting on his dagger.

Aben starts walking over towards where he heard Teran's voice, not enjoying his tone when he says that, looking around, only seeing him for now, before heading over to him a bit closer, loosing his warhammer as he sees the corpse, saying "What in the name of-..." Ezekul would be soon after him, only getting the faintest of glimpses before stepping away quite quickly, looking green, and feeling like he's about to lose his stomach as he stumbles down the hallway, clasping at his stomach and mouth a little bit, trying to keep it down.
 
"Death seems to be much more prevalent today than any other day in this land it seems.. Could it have been whatever's trailing us that had plagued this land?.. I'm less inclined to find out if it means we can get out with our lives intact." Rydia states, not taking a look towards what they found but around the rest of the orphanage, "With this place seeming the least beat up, you would hope if there were survivors, one might find them here possibly.... Teran, are you certain it's alright with Jonathan going on alone like that? He's already done it once and we stumbled upon all those mutilations back in the forest.. You'd think he'd have atleast someone accompany him, right?"​
 
Jonathan continued through Dulemar on his own. It was bleak and quiet, two things that should be together. The death and destruction that occurred here was devastating. Jonathan ran his fingers along some of the charred fences until he reached a small field. There were several graves scattered about there, based on the date they died, it was mostly children. These bastards were going to do this to Biltmore, and then to Stonegate. King Harlaw had already entered into war, so he had already signed his warrant for death, even if it means the warrant for everyone else in the kingdom. Jonathan did not know what was following them. It may have been Gehennian warriors, or maybe something else. This part of Arendanna used to be so rich in culture, but it has now faded into a darker oblivion.

He soon heard the voice of Teran from a building in between a couple of houses. He plodded toward him wondering what was happening. He stepped in behind everyone and stayed quiet until everyone remarked at the scene. "I'm fine, I can handle myself, but I need all of you behind me to be able to complete this mission. Then we can go back to our families, and maybe forget about all of this havoc." Jonathan folded his arms and began to investigate the area. "You should investigate this place, there is more too it then there is here."​
 
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There was certainly a lot of them - the teenage girl thought becoming more then just simply anxious, she was really leaning more towards unnerved at this point. She unlatched her other makeshift bomb, tossing it up and catching it with her unoccupied hand simply out of habit, she found that doing casual things in the face of danger helped her calm down and think rationally. They were in her home - yes, with all of her supplies and such and by the occasional words caught by the girl they were going to search more. It was definitely likely that they would eventually stumble down to the basement where her sleeping mat and general rations were stored and loot it so she had to stop them before that. There were other bombs down there as well perhaps she could run down midst the chaos and hide out there? It would be cornering her but some of these people looked like they were easily capable of climbing and chasing her through the rooftops so her choices were growing smaller with each rational thought.

"Shit..shit..shit." She muttered as the internal clock in her mind ticked away - it was now or never. So with quick fluid motions she popped the first one throwing it towards the man whom seemed like the leader of the group, then quickly popped the second only to throw it as who she assumed were his lackeys. Freyja doubted that the sudden multi colored explosions caught all of them in their flames but she had no choice. Using a vine that hung from the crater, the girl swung over perhaps a little to quickly, landing in the middle of the room; trying to ignore the sickening crack she felt from her heel as she systematically busted through the door to the room where the latch to the basement was. She flipped it open only realizing how damaged her ankle was when the pain caused her to flinch and consequently fall to the basement floor. Now it was her upper back and head aching.

"Fuck. I'm done." The girl muttered under her breath, just waiting for those uninjured by her explosions to slowly filter into the room above her. But still she quickly dragged herself to a pile of different supplies pulling out a leather bag which held only one more bomb; she could've sworn she had two left but really it didn't seem like it would matter soon.

Was she going to die? She gulped thinking about it, her body getting chills as she realized how it might just happen; death had never been at her doorstep but it certainly felt like he was knocking now.
 
Aben gives a surprised grunt at the thing that hits the floor in front of Teran, then the one that hits near him. He takes a few steps back, not even having the time to start saying "What the-". He gives a few stumbles and a jump as the explosions start, before falling rather ungraciously on his ass, barely rolling over and going face-down in a attempt to avoid the modified fireworks. His arms come up to his ears rather than to his weapon, completely caught off guard as the girl lands and takes off, cursing once loudly, and waiting until the explosions died down before finally rolling himself over, the movement awkward with his knee, starting to try to slide himself back to a wall, intending on helping himself up before saying "Where the hell did Ezekul go?"

Ezekul fares much better than his adoptive father, on some instinct, or maybe just out of a sudden fright from something moving like that in the extremely creepy orphanage, throwing himself away from the two bombs dropped down, scrambling up rather quickly as the girl runs past him, likely having pushed him a little bit even without her knowing. He stumbles to his feet after a moment, bolting off after her, not really sure why he does so himself actually, not even thinking to himself for one moment that this girl might be dangerous or anything like that, or that she might have just been trying to harm them even as his adoptive father takes cover from the embers of the explosion. He stops hardly a moment at the latch, throwing it open and almost diving down into the basement.

In probably either the show of the greatest stupidity, or in one of the most human moments of compassion, his first movement is right to her. A streak of concern is pretty evident on his face, and he might scare her with just how quickly he got there as he says "You're hurt!" He's kind of crouched in front of her, looking down at her ankle, before looking back up at her, a completely unsuspecting look on his face, either extremely disarming, or a easy hostage to take, depending on her first instinct. He's in no position to try and resist that, and he's only got the barest of muscle on him needed for hoisting himself up a building or tree quickly.
 
"Shit!" Freyja shouted as one of the younger lackeys decided to bashfully jump down to her in the dim musty basement. She hadn't expected for him to get so close in such a quick moment and her hand instinctively rested on the trigger of the bomb she held in her hand - if it wasn't for his quick comment they both would've been charred flesh right now. She didn't know really what to say, as his eyes looked at her ankle. It was a complete moment of awkward silence before she snapped back into her normal survivalistic senses. The hand holding the metal bomb flung itself into the young man's face, the shelling making contact with his flesh. "Back the fuck up!" She shouted, loudly - adrenaline ran through her veins and just maybe she was slightly hysterical. The girl threw herself over the young man, slipping her knife before placing it to his neck.

"Who-who are you..?!" She spoke exasperated and nearly breathless.
 
Ezekul's eyes close instinctively as the casing hits him in the face, falling back immediately, he's definitely going to be sporting a shiner from that one. He hardly has a moment to make a noise of surprise and pain before getting tackled, tumbling backwards quite quickly and ending up with a knife at his throat. He's too terrified to speak really for fear of accidentally cutting himself on the blade as the eye that's not swelling shut darts up and down from her to the knife several times, as if she had already cut his tongue out as he looks back and forth. His mind's still putting together the pieces that this is the person that just attacked them, mouth opening and closing a few times to no result.

"E-Ezekul! Wh-what's your name?" To his credit, he does manage to keep from cutting himself for the most part on the knife.
 
Serina jerked her head up as a flash of something streaked through the sky. It looked like...fireworks? She was pretty sure that no one in the group had been carrying fireworks when they set out, so there must be someone else in the town. She reached over and tugged on the Oddsman's arm to get his attention. "I think we should head over there," she said, pointing to the colorful bursts in the sky.
 
Rydia recoiled backwards and covered her face with her arms as the explosives went off with a surprised groan. Clothes charred but relatively unharmed majorly for being on the far end of the group, Rydia glances left and right as Aben mentions about wondering on Ezekul's whereabouts. Her eyes open up to the newly opened door and gruffly scoffs as she picks herself up. She wanders over to see inside, the latch downstairs wide open as two voices are heard. Rolling her shoulders and bending her arms to check they weren't hindered, they were moveable but a few burns were present. Bearing said burns and gritting her teeth, she draws her bow and nocks a serrated tip arrow with her red-tip, black feathered 'trademark' present. Positioning halfway down the stairs her eyes set upon the two below and she barks out, "Cut an inch of his skin and you'll find a nasty arrow in your back.."​
 
Teran looked back, hearing something hit the ground. He gasped for a moment, seeing a spherical device before seeing it explode. The cloud of smoke got within Teran's lungs, forcing him to fall to his knees before coughing. He placed his right hand on the ground to support himself. He looked around to see if the others were OK, but his vision was clouded by the smoke. Teran stood up on his shaky legs before bringing an arm up to his nostrils, trying to cover his face from the smoke. His left hand waved the smoke away before he finally regained vision. Teran heard Aben's words before looking around, not seeing anyone besides Aben since he was right in his line of sight.

"Hey, where did everyone go?"

Teran heard a loud thud as someone landed on the ground. He saw a few shadowy figures head to the door in front of him and he entered as well before seeing the cellar door. That is probably where his comrades went.

"I will be back Aben, I saw something move down here!"

Teran walked down the stairs before Rydia. Ezekul and another mysterious figure were in front of them. The girl was yelling when he came down, but she was yelling at Ezekul. Rydia was aiming her arrow at the girl, and he had no idea what was going on but it seemed as if Ezekul was about to be harm. Teran readied his scimitar before yelling over Rydia's shoulder.

"You there! What are you doing with Ezekul!"
 
Jonathan tumbled backwards and grasped the handle of his sword. He was slightly dazed so it took him a moment to actually understand what was going on. Everyone was going forward to chase the adversary while, Aben and Jonathan were left behind. "Get up your old ass up!" Jonathan grabbed Aben's hand and pulled hard to get the old man up. Once Aben was up, Jonathan pivoted around and pulled out his sword, swiftly he moved over to the rest of the group who had their attention on Ezekul and a mysterious redheaded girl. He stepped in front of the group and pointed his sword at the girl. "Listen, you will soon find your limbs missing quicker than you will be able to kill that boy." He looks over her then holds his position. Jonathan had no clue who this was, and it was somewhat frightening. This could have been one of the spies sent by Gehen to be able to take over this place while they were dealing with her.

Jonathan waved his sword at the girl so that she would relinquish her hold on Ezekul. He looked at her with an intimidating look, a look of a general going into battle without fear, just so his men would be able to rally around him.​
 
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