Tread the Path at Dusk

Kikori · **Posted:** August 19th, 2010, 12:29 am

Raila, who had slid from the tree by the shock, sat up as quick as possible. Being slightly distant from the group, he soon managed to see what had caused Adam's angry outburst; Kyrina's bed was empty. It didn't take long for it to click that she'd been taken away. "Kyrina!" Raila reared back and shouted it as loud as his lungs would allow, hoping she were free from any bonds restricting her from shouting back. Without knowing she was drugged asleep, though, it was for nothing as he pushed from the earth with the same sprinting technique that took him to Rurm and caught a high tree branch to attempt to look around. His eyes were still blurry from the recent sleep and it was entirely dark, so he stood little chance of actually making out the blurred shapes in the distance between any potential people moving and simple effects of the breeze.

"Dammit! I can see nothing!" Raila dropped from his position, taking every possible branch on his way down to the ground. He stepped over to her bedding, looking at the feet. 'She never even had a chance to enjoy the apples... Even I don't tolerate kidnapping. If people are going to make attacks on others, then...' "It should've been someone that could damn well fight back, not some backstabbing move on the defenseless one..." Raila caught himself before the anger at such a foul action risked his magical tendencies getting the better of him.

Landerpurex · **Posted:** August 19th, 2010, 12:39 am

Raila quickly noticed what Caston had not at first. Kyrina was indeed missing from her bed. The old man was jumping to conclusions, she might have simply went out for a midnight walk. Of course, if that were the case, Adam would know where she was. If that were the case, she would have answered Railia's shout.

Caston thought quickly. Was it worth the trouble of going after her? This would deter them from the mission for an unforeseen amount of time. Was she that valuable? Caston barely knew her.

He severed himself from his logic for a moment and let his feelings think for him. He thought of his mother. He had to save Kyrina. There was no other answer.

"Wake up!" Caston said firmly as he systematically nudged those who were still sleeping. "Kyrina is missing, her kidnappers' tracks are fresh. We need to move if we want to catch them."

Tanksandguns · **Posted:** August 19th, 2010, 4:36 am

Grageon was shaken awake by Caston. (OOC: Probably not the best idea, Lander!

) He instinctively reached out and grabbed the person shaking him and held him firmly. Grageon's eyes were blood red, but not from lack of sleep. He then realized who it was, and remembered what he had said. "W-W-WHERE DID TH-THEY T-T-TAKE HER?"

Tahu 1000 · **Posted:** August 19th, 2010, 6:08 am

OOC: Well, couldn't a blue mage set up a system of small air abnormalities, and then tune their senses to them, so that the air currents caused by intruders would disrupt said air?

Kikori · **Posted:** August 19th, 2010, 10:40 am

OOC: If he wanted to exhaust himself the entire night and be unable to move due to fatigue come morning time due to the constant effort of keeping them in place, yes.

BIC...

"Whoa, friend, friend, relax!" Raila moved to try and pry a off Grageon's grip by his middle fingers, but the giant figured out he wasn't holding an enemy. "To have done such a low job and to have done it well enough to fool us, it would have to be the men from Rurm. I'd dare say they had to send some elite to be able to do this without causing enough of a stir to wake any of us up." His senses were starting to settle and his head was clearing from the adrenaline and fatigue mixing, though he was still dead tired. "We do need a plan, though. If she was taken, she's valuable to them. And she's obviously valuable to us. So they may let us barter in some way for her, meaning they'd know where she is... knowledge we want."

Raila thought over the fact for a brief moment before one idea struck him. He turned to Adam and started speaking, abnormally fast in excitement. "Boy, the gem I showed you when you explained the rough cut gems compared to the ones made pretty... Do you think you could track one if it were moved into a city?" It might reveal that he keeps a stash of spell-imbued gems within his belt, but odds are Delon would be the only one interested enough to cause him trouble over the knowledge.

Saten Ruiko · **Posted:** August 19th, 2010, 11:20 am

OOC: Duly noted, Lander. I was considering waiting for dawn, but going in parallel makes a lot more sense.

Back at camp Kyrina would just have her pack of stuff (including sleeping roll and blanket) and her staff would have been right there as well.

BIC:

Kyrina slowly starting regaining consciousness, rather disoriented and groggy, feelings that were commonly associated with when she woke up with a cold. It didn't help that there was a strange faint smell in her nose, which was making her throat rather scratchy. Ugggh, I better not be sick with a sore throat...not right now... She tried swallowing to see if that made her throat feel any better, and moved her hand to brush her nose to ward away the smell.

Or rather, she would have, if her hand had complied. She tried to move her hand again and finally started to notice that something was pushing back on her arms. It was about this point that Kyrina realized she was sitting in a chair instead of lying on the ground, which could explain why she felt so disoriented, but not why she was so groggy. It sort of hurt to open her eyes, but she tried to force them open a couple of times, and from the point of view of her downward-tilted head, saw a bundle of ropes wrapped around her torso. A quick attempt to move her feet rendered the same immobile result; those must have been tied up as well.

Where am...where is my stuff...did Caston's group kidnap...

Kyrina was finally starting to come to her senses and sense the urgency of her situation.

I...I can't move. I barely even remember falling asleep; how did I get here? Caston's group didn't do this, did they? They seemed like such nice people...I trusted them...ugh, my head feels so heavy. No, no, I still do. There's no way this is their doing. But then--

She raised her head and saw a person over by a door, watching her. It wasn't someone she recognized, nor had ever seen before.

Oh.

...oh god.

Znath · **Posted:** August 19th, 2010, 11:27 am

Adam looked at Raila. "Yes.. can sense some levels of energy like that. She had quite a large gemstone which may make it easier to track her. If it makes contact with the ground it would be easier..." He says dusting off his gauntlets. "Otherwise I would have to be close such as within about 30 yards to detect either it or her...."

"Easiest way in my opinion... is start at the gate and go spread from there burning each house until we find them. If the town is half as bad as I have heard, it would be little loss to the world." Adam mutters crushing a stone in his fist as he gets up.

Kikori · **Posted:** August 19th, 2010, 11:34 am

Raila nodded and picked up one of the apples that had been left for Kyrina, popping the stem out before taking out the same rounded off gem that he had shown Adam upon their meeting. "It may be a wild guess, but we can at least hopefully learn the general location of the lady if they allow her to have an apple out of sentiment. Hell, if they even throw it on the floor or anything, it puts it somewhere you can sense it. No matter what, if they agree to take this, we'll at least know the direction to start." Raila pushed the gem down into the small hole made by the stem, trying to get it closer to the middle where the seeds are before concentrating on re-setting the stem back in place on top. It wasn't a well-done job, but it at least kept the gem from being visible. "If I can get this to go to her, we've got at least something to start with. And akin as I am to murdering cutthroats, I'd rather not have to face a league of them due to arson."

Riptide · **Posted:** August 19th, 2010, 2:15 pm

It took Jarrett a few nudges to wake him up, but when Caston said that he was missing, he had immediately woken up. "Dammit! Where could they of taken her?!" He did the sensible thing. He freaked out.

Landerpurex · **Posted:** August 19th, 2010, 8:40 pm

OOC:

Riptide wrote:

He did the sensible thing. He freaked out.

Oh, Riptide. :laugh:

BIC: Caston should have known not to wake Grageon in such a way, but this was no time to be afraid of the giant's powers.

"Adam, we can't do that. Regardless of the fact that the city is full of brigands, that doesn't mean that there aren't any innocent people living there. Besides, they would use our crusade against us to scapegoat us right into the dungeon. Then, the gang would have us right where they want us, only gaining leverage by having us thrown in prison. We need to be low-key about this, mass violence should be a last resort." The Duke was awake as well now, he was stretching and smoothing his coat. He locked eyes with Caston, the look was one of anger and disgust.

"I can't help but think that this is entirely my fault. Had you not saved me, your friend wouldn't be in danger. If I know anything about the city of Rurm, it's that the gang will likely use her as a bargaining ship for me or for more money; likely sending a contact to meet with us. Then again, there is an awful human slave trade in the city, they might opt to simply sell her to the highest bidder. Let's hope this isn't the case. At any rate, I'm an old, foolish man. I've tried tirelessly to rid the city of some of the scum that lives there to no avail. I've thought about it, and I'm entirely prepared to offer all of the contents of my vault as well as myself to the kidnappers. The young girl doesn't deserve to suffer."

"Nonsense. I'll hear nothing of the sort. We'll figure something out, Raila's idea of giving her the apple isn't half bad. We'll meet with the contact, if there is one. If not, and there is no information to be had, Adam's idea will look all the sweeter to me." Caston packed his things quickly. "We haven't any time to waste."

***

The guard on duty noticed that the girl was slowly regaining her consciousness. He followed his duty to the letter and fetched the leader. Within minutes, the man who had drugged Kyrina was in the room with her.

"I'm going to remove your gag. Your screams won't be heard, and if they are, no one will care." He remove the rag with the poultice and the rope that bound it. "Now then. My name is Rage, that's all you need to know about me. Other than the fact that I kidnapped you, of course. Now I don't believe at all in leaving my prospects in the dark about their situation. You are either to be exchanged for the Duke of Rurm, ransomed, or sold as a slave. I believe those are your fates, from best to worst. If your friends find my home and try to rescue you, there are dozens of men living in these quarters who are ready to die for me if I say the word. If they somehow get past all of them, I will kill you. Cold blood. Now," he paused, "the reason these men will die for me is because I am a Seer. A real one. I have visions, lots of them. Some fuzzy, some not so much. Recently I have been having very vivid visions. Very disturbing ones. Everyone in the city has, and all of the hacks have followed suit. It's created quite a ruckus, everyone is on edge and constantly looking over their shoulders. This makes business bad for me, you see. What I'm saying is, you and your friends are often in these little premonitions of mine. Along with a middle aged, dark haired man with a very unique weapon...one with an aura of foreboding about him. A real sinister fellow, I imagine. So tell me, young lady. What do you know of the world's impending doom? Remember that the right answers may save several lives, or at the very least, save some people a whole lot of money."

Discrimin8 · **Posted:** August 19th, 2010, 8:49 pm

"...Low key you say?" Delon smiled slyly. He had been listening in to the group go back and forth from a few feet away as he inspected the area around them. "Thankfully you have me here... This might be a good opportunity for some training... And some loot..." he said as his smile widened, and he jingled the bags of coin on his waist.

He walked up to Caston and whispered in his ear "Here's two thirds of my loot. Go ahead with the group with this money. Try to buy some information. After you find some sort of lead, get some supplies. I'll stay behind and investigate the surrounding area, maybe they made a mistake and left a clue behind." he said as he thrust two bags of money into Caston's arm.

Riptide · **Posted:** August 19th, 2010, 9:39 pm

"Delon's right, this could be a good chance to test out our abilities." Jarrett said. He had calmed down earlier, maybe a few minutes ago. "Plus, I do have a few ideas to test out. I was wondering if Green Mages can bend metal to their will, as well. It may be hard for man-made ones, but easy for naturally made metals. Plus, this sword might be handy." He said, nodding his head at the weapon he had attached to his belt earlier.

OOC:Lander: Whaaat? I'm innocent. XD

Landerpurex · **Posted:** August 19th, 2010, 9:41 pm

Caston took the bags as discreetly as he could and nodded silently. Delon's intuition was right on, if anything could get the scum's gums flapping it would be coin. And the amount he handed Caston was no modest sum. He kicked himself for chiding Delon so many times, the ill-gotten money he procured could likely save Kyrina's life.

He wordlessly headed southward towards the bridge, trusting the others to follow suit. He smiled for a second at Jarrett. He was developing the right attitude.

Tanksandguns · **Posted:** August 19th, 2010, 11:13 pm

Grageon's anger had subsided a little, and he quickly packed his things. He also grabbed Kyrina's items, and carried them on this back. He followed Caston towards Rurm.

Znath · **Posted:** August 20th, 2010, 12:26 am

"Just a thought is all.. I am fine now. My village is too far to effectively get troops here in time to help her anyway.." Adam said still musing over the idea. Maybe some day.... "If we can get to a place I can get access to an anvil and furnace and maybe some food.. I think I can come up with something that will help.... If they do resort to selling her or something that barbaric, I will have to part from your group to find her myself. Even if I have to pummel every middleman and buyer down the chain to do so..... mmm I will cross that bridge when I get to it... Anyway let us get to town and form a plan. Caston, this is what I had in mind when I can get to a facility to work on it." He pulled out his journal and opened it to the pages with the beetle diagrams.

"I believe I can use a process similar to my armor and make this beetle. The problem is the soul, so to speak. I believe also... mmm that I could make it react to a stimulus rather than think, such as an energy signal like that of Kyrina's or her gemstone.... anyway if I could instruct it in a way to look for Kyrina, we could possibly track her down easier since I could follow the bug's signal easily.... It would be particularly easy if Raila has a similar gemstone to Kyrina in his bag of tricks. If not, I could try to see if any maginetric residue rubbed off onto her things."

Riptide · **Posted:** August 20th, 2010, 5:36 am

Jarrett had quickly packed his things up after seeing Caston was leaving. He looked at the campsite one last time, making sure they hadn't forgotten anything. Seeing they didn't, he quickly caught up with Caston.

Saten Ruiko · **Posted:** August 20th, 2010, 3:41 pm

The guard must have seen Kyrina look up at him, because he immediately left the room, presumably to go notify someone else. Kyrina's mind raced as she tried to use these precious minutes alone to think of all of her options. Okay, I'm...urgh...pretty well stuck to this chair and can't move. I wonder if I can get the whole thing to... She started shifting her weight left and right to see if the chair could wobble in any certain direction or at the very least fall over (though what that might accomplish, she wasn't sure.) Alas, it was as steadfast as everything else, and didn't even budge an inch. It must be glued down to the floor. Or maybe bolted I guess, since someone stronger than I could probably break glue. So moving is out of the question, and there's no wiggle room in these ropes at all. What else? She turned her thoughts to what few possessions she had and didn't have, and what they could do for her. I can feel the weight of my pendant around my neck; it's still inside my robe where I put it when we left Rodell. That won't do me any good tucked away, though, and it's rather small-scale anyway. The best I could probably do with it would be to try to temporarily blind someone by pinpointing light through it, but I would have to be holding it, and thaaaat-- (she pushed against her robes again for good measure) --isn't an option. The perfect way to escape...would require the use of my staff. But even so, it's also tiring...I don't know if I would be able to keep it up long enough to get out of wherever I am.

It was then that Rage entered the room and introduced himself, laying out all of his plans and prospects and possibilities. Kyrina was rather glad he removed the gag; her nose still kind of itched, but the faint smell was starting to dissipate. She decided not to scream out or make some sort of comment at him, condescending or otherwise. It was pretty obvious that he held all the cards, so as long as Kyrina's fate was entirely at his mercy, she was most likely better off not causing any extra trouble. She did slightly shudder when he mentioned murdering her in cold blood, though; it was a reminder that while he seemed "professional" about the situation, he was surely a heartless man, and Kyrina was not a "guest" of any kind. It also raised sudden concerns if Caston's group did attempt to rescue her.

Rage continued on: "What I'm saying is, you and your friends are often in these little premonitions of mine. Along with a middle aged, dark haired man with a very unique weapon...one with an aura of foreboding about him. A real sinister fellow, I imagine. So tell me, young lady. What do you know of the world's impending doom? Remember that the right answers may save several lives, or at the very least, save some people a whole lot of money."

Not like I'm interested in saving anyone money of all things at a time like this. But a sinister middle-aged man with dark hair and a unique weapon? "Along with us", in our group? Caston has dark hair, but he's younger. I don't know if his staff is "unique" or not, and he's far from foreboding or mean. Raila's closer, having even darker hair and being closer to middle-aged, but I don't think he has a weapon at all. And he's never been anything but nice to me, either. The only odd thing -he- does is call everyone by their own name except for Grageon, who he calls "friend" over and over, but maybe that's just because he's intimidated by the giant. No one else comes close. I really don't want to help this Rage guy...but if I don't know anything, then it's not like I'll be hindering anyone, right?

Kyrina answered in the way her train of thought had gone. "I've only been with my 'friends' a single day, so I don't know them especially well. But I can tell you that no one in our group meets your description. Cas--we're looking for a powerful, evil dark wizard named Dusk. I've never seen him myself so I don't know what he looks like, but I'm told he has a double-sided sword. I don't know anything else." She considered Rage's words again. "But you say both we and him are in your visions--are you saying we MEET Dusk in Rurm?" And speaking of Rurm, is that where this building is located...?

Kikori · **Posted:** August 20th, 2010, 4:16 pm

"I'm not entirely certain there will be a facility to work with, Adam. A city of thieves probably earns their keep by... well, theft. We can at least hope. As per a gemstone, her staff didn't have one, unfortunately. For now, though, our situation seems to be, she's gone and we have no way of finding her except by something that may not reach her, and something that she may no longer be near to. This apple, and her staff. Given White mages have powerful potential, she's either going to be sold off somewhere, or more likely and hopefully, a bargaining chip for our Duke here."

By now, the sun's light started to make its way over the sky, offering a little brightness to travel by as the bridge began to come into sight. It was a thankfully short walk to it, given how close the camp had been to the bridge, but one more surprise seemed to await the party. On the bridge stood one man, leaning against the side of a support beam as he watched the group's every single move. As the group first touched the bridge's edge, he stepped to the bridge's center. "And here is our welcoming committee..."

Tanksandguns · **Posted:** August 21st, 2010, 1:09 am

Grageon saw the man leaning on the beam. He lightly pushed Caston aside and walked right up to the man. He lifted him by his shirt and held him close to his face. Grageon's voice was eerily soft and cool. For the first time, he spoke without any impediment.

"Where is she?"

Landerpurex · **Posted:** August 21st, 2010, 2:56 pm

Rage listened to Kyrina. He studied her intently, after years of dealing with bandits he knew the telltale signs of lying. She was...being entirely truthful and open.

How intriguing.

He recalled what she had said about a double-sided sword. Its description matched the weapon in his dream. It seemed that her company had indeed run into the man before.

"I can't say that you meet him in Rurm...the figures in the visions are as crisp as any real people, but the location is gray and foggy. If you have told be everything you know, which I believe to be the case; it isn't much at all. But it does somewhat confirm my suspicions."

Wanting as much intel as possible, Rage stepped out of the room and sent another man to meet the one he sent at first. He gave him strict orders and told him that Rage, the leader of the gang and the kidnapping operation, would rendezvous with the group if, and only if, there was a promise of no violence. If the terms were violated, the girl would die. He had many questions, and would just as soon solve this mystery and remove the edge from the city as get a paltry sum or the Duke for the girl. After he had done so, he returned to the room with a bowl of broth.

"So, why exactly are you after this man?" He asked as he held the bowl gently to her lips, tilting it slowly so she could drink. She was of no use to him dead, and if the carnage from his vision was to be true, the group would surely need her alive and well.

***

Before Caston could gather his wits and approach the man on the bridge who was undoubtedly the contact from the gang, Grageon stormed past him and grabbed the man by the shirt, lifting clear of the ground. He asked the simplest, but most essential question.

The man laughed at Grageon. "What, do you think I've never been bullied before? Put me down, and I'll tell you the terms of her release. This is a business meeting of sorts, and if you violate that, she will be killed. It's just that simple."

Tread the Path at Dusk

Who is online