Sons of Bern (closed please PM)

[Aidan Lowell]

Now now now, this was a familiar scene. Cloaked and hiding in a town, hopefully this time wouldn't end in incarceration. His hood was pulled up high, and right now he wasn't Aidan Lowell but rather Daniel Wellington, a meager and humble man, Saturos and Lyar didn't need to be AS cautious, but a certain deal of restraint would probably be a wise idea. It was almost an incredibly foolish notion, what going into a town so shortly after his escape, but it was necessary. They had nothing, barely the clothes on their back, if they were to go to a fortress they'd need... well things. Supplies, medicine, food, all of that. One might think it would be a good idea for Aidan to have stayed behind, and allowed the others to take care of this, and that one would be a wise man. A wise man who knew nothing about how stubborn this Bernese soldier could be, he'd not accept others risking themselves on his behalf while he sat idly by fiddling his thumbs.

Besides, as comfortable as sleeping in the wilderness was, it wouldn't kill him to have a real bed for a change. Call him soft if you will, but he missed the world that didn't lay in that cage. Luckily this town was middling in size, big enough for travelers but small enough to easily slip out of sight. He noticed several posters, flyers, announcing his execution. It seems the news hasn't quite hit this town yet. That's good, but it meant they needed to leave before it did.

Saturos was in charge of getting food, Lyar the medicine, that Archer came along too, he was looking into the situation in town to give them a warning for when to get the hell out. Aidan's job was to stay out of trouble, mostly, but he was also on the lookout. Or ear out, as it may be, for any information that might help.

[Vince Altus]

Vince was frustrated. He had been traveling through Bern for about a week now, seeking to gain Bern's support for Lycia. In the last town he had been in, he had managed to speak with a fort commander, who adamantly denied him. At this point, Vince had basically given up hope of finding aid, but he didn't want to return to Araphen. Without Ostia, Lycia was floundering nationally, Araphen had never truly been ready to take the reins, which resulted in a lot of inactivity. Vince had gotten lucky in getting out when they decided to send out a diplomatic mission, but his squad mates and the ambassador were killed, and now the mission had failed.

Vince sighed and his frustration mounted as he seated himself on a shallow step between two buildings, at that moment, two soldiers of Bern approached him. They stood side by and side in front of Vince, and the one on the right spoke in an officious voice, "knight! You are under arrest!" Vince stared at the soldiers, he wasn't sure how to react. "Why?" Vince kept his voice calm and friendly, he asked the question like he was simply curious. "For espionage and theft of national secrets!" What is this nonsense?! Mentally fatigued from his hopeless situation, Vince snapped back uncharacteristically, "Under whose orders?" The soldier on the left replied this time, "The Lord Arder."

Arder...the commander that Vince had spoken to...but Vince hadn't said anything! Unless..."As you know, Bern has it's own struggles, and our military is currently tied in its own affairs..."...Arder had said that, speaking of the tension between Ilia and Bern. He must have come under pressure for his honesty, and was now trying to cover himself. Typical. Vince bit his lip as he considered his options. One of the soldiers reached for Vince's lance while the other soldier motioned for Vince to stand. He needed a plan, and quickly.

[Saturos Prox]

Saturos walked up to a market stand, holding a small bag of gold. The messenger that had met them outside of the castle, Leana, had given their little group a big bag of gold, courtesy of the Bern rebels, in order to aid Aidan on his journey. When they had arrived at the town to stock up, Sir Lowell had split the money up between the three of them so they could split up and go shopping. The myrmidon himself was in charge of procuring vittles, so he had come straight to the local market place. A logical step.

"Nice day isn't it?" said Saturos, glancing up at the blue sky.
"Yes it is, lad," replied the merchant kindly, but with his eyebrow raised at the dark-skinned, face painted, tribal looking man that had just walked up to his stand. "Will you be buying anything today?" The myrmidon placed a hand on his chin, thinking, before replying.
"I'll get a sack of apples," he responded, "a bushel and a half, if you don't mind." The apple monger shook his head.
"Not at all, just give me-"

"Knight! You are under arrest!"

Saturos flinched, slowly turning around. No, not again. Not aga-
Oh, never mind. He'd thought the knight in question to be Aidan, which would have been exceedingly obnoxious, but was especially relieved to revealed that the person the soldiers were yelling at was someone he had never seen before. Big man, silver armor, black hair, sweet goatee. Seems like they were running into a lot of big men lately.

Saturos's better judgement told him to stay inconspicuous. After all, if the law was looking for this man, it probably meant he was a criminal. Espionage and theft of national secrets? That was bad. But then again...Bern's current military was not its own, which meant that these white armored men were Ilian soldiers, which in turn meant that these national secrets were Ilian, which probably meant that the knight was only guilty of being nosy or something like that. Still, they REALLY couldn't afford getting caught up in another fight right now, so Saturos stood by, waiting for the situation to develop a bit more.

[Aidan Lowell]

"knight! You are under arrest!"

Huh what no, but he was being so care-

"For espionage and theft of national secrets!"

What? Oh, oh it wasn't him being arrested this time. Phew. In retrospect, it would be odd to be being arrested by people over several feet from him, but still he was a bit on edge after everything. One could hardly blame him being cautious. He turned his gaze over the the disruption, a giant of a man was being accosted. What was it with Elibe and giant men, was there something in the water? He felt short compared to half these men. It wasn't hard to spot his friend Saturos, he was watching too. A few thoughts ran through the knight mind, if he should intervene (protip: he shouldn't) what this whole thing was about, and just who this man was. He had the look of a knight, a Lycian one at that, he recognized the armor. He was trained to be a knight in Lycia, he only knew how to fight on wyvern back before then.

He looked around, for a sight of other soldiers. It would be a fool notion to send only two men after a man who could easily fight back, unless they were well trained. From the looks of it, they weren't. The standard of training has fallen hard since he was a soldier. Or maybe they were simply the city guard? It was hard to tell the two apart at times.

[Vince Altus]

Vince resigned himself to the haplessness of the situation and allowed the soldiers to tie up his hands. The soldiers led him a short distance through the market square, attracting plenty of stares. Before they had gone more than 20 feet, however, one of the soldiers said something to the other, and they took a sharp turn down an alleyway. Vince's expression was incredulous as they stopped in front of a seedy looking bar, and one of the soldiers entered. After an awkward minute or so of silence, the soldier reappeared out of the tavern, carrying a sizable flask. Vince could contain himself no longer, "what in blazes are you doing?"

The soldiers looked at him snidely, "we were given a bounty for gaining information about your whereabouts," one soldier replied, he paused to take a swig from the flask. "Luckily for us, you are not a hard man to follow, my too-tall friend," Vince had enough of this crap. The soldier started to bring the flask up for another drink, and Vince made his move. Vince's forehead crashed through the tip of the flask and into the soldier's head. The soldier cried out and stumbled, his head embedded with glass and beginning to drip blood. Vince went for another headbutt, he saw stars as the soldier sank to the ground, unconscious.

A fist connected with Vince's cheek, the punch was clumsy, whatever the soldiers were drinking, it was heavy stuff. Vince moved to the direction of the punch and charged. His heavy shoulder armor caught the soldier under the chin and pinned him to the wall. The soldier's eyes were already bleary from alcohol, Vince's eyes narrowed and he said sternly, "never drink on the job." He backed up a step, and the soldier landed clumsily on the ground again. He made to attack, but Vince's fist connected cleanly with the corner of the soldier's jaw, he slumped into unconsiousness along with his companion. Vince took a last look at the soldiers as he retrieved his lance and broke his bonds. To the casual eye, the two had just gotten into a drunken fight. The truth would come out when they awoke, however.

Vince stepped out of the alley, looking around conspicuously, few people had taken notice of him, and he jumped as he realized his forehead was bleeding. He quickly picked the shards of glass out of his forehead and wiped away as much blood as possible with his glove. It appeared his plans would no longer be able to take a diplomatic route.

[Saturos Prox]

As the grey knight was herded off into an alley, Saturos traded his gold for the merchant's produce, exchanging smiles as well, and bid the merchant adieu, now interested in this new development. The myrmidon slunk over towards the alley, weaving in and out of the crowd, but had only managed to make it half way across the market before the black haired knight cautiously emerged from the alleyway. And he was alone. Oh, and his forehead was bleeding. He was picking something out of it. The Etrurian moved closer. Was it...glass? A bit of a scuffle then. Meant the kid was a fighter, and clearly at odds with the authorities. Interesting.

Quickly and silently, the myrmidon moved up behind the knight, who seemed awfully preoccupied with his forehead, getting close enough to get his attention. Saturos understood. Glass in the forehead wasn't fun. He'd taken enough bottles to the face in his time to understand that.
"Hello, my good sir," greeted the myrmidon in a way not usually associated with his appearance. "It would appear you dispatched those two men quite handily. Might I ask why?"

[Aidan Lowell]

Call it foolish, if you will, what with a fugitive shadowing figures of authority, but his curiosity was piqued. He quietly followed the group, blending with the crowd, luckily for him he was giant just a bit above average. Several other people his height wandered around just as well, so it wasn't like trying to hide Lyar in a crowd of people. Just thought of that made him want to laugh. And then, suddenly, the guards went to... to get a drink. For the oddest reason. These men, they weren't men really. They were children, who don't even know the first thing about honor or duty. Bastard children, probably with rich fathers who thought having their son be a soldier was a nice easy way to get their kid a job while keeping a hand in things to make sure they never do anything dangerous, just think of the scandal!

He held no pity for these men, when they were smashed across the head by that man's headbutt, he didn't bat a lash. Well outside of the lashes he batted in surprise since he didn't quite expect that, but none of them were for those soldier. Also the men seemed to be drunk after just one or two swigs, couldn't even hold their ale, a disgrace. Though Aidan had stopped drinking... a while ago. Back when he did he'd drink these kids under the table though! Then again he drowned his sorrows so hard after the bandit war they still smelled of liquor, so that's not really a good idea.

Along came Saturos, as if on cue, asking the knight why he just beat two soldiers down. Good question, one that Aidan was wondering his self.

[Vince Altus]

"Hello, my good sir,"

Vince was startled out of his reverie by the voice over his shoulder. He turned quickly, ready for action, but slowed as he realized he was public. He was also a little on edge now.

He completed the turn, finally looking the man in the eyes. His jaw dropped a tad as he regarded the man's appearance, painted face?...no shirt?...a performer?... Vince's eyes caught the man's sword on his back, and his confusion simply compounded. He took a moment to collect his mind as he thought up a response.

"Well they..." Vince paused for a moment, unsure of how to proceed, "they were breaking the law." That much was true, they were using taxpayer money to buy themselves drinks. Vince's voice was formal, but not unfriendly. He wasn't sure who this man was, he didn't seem like a part of the Bernese military...Carelessness invites a soldier's death. Vince's mentor had said that when he first graduated as a knight of Ostia, it was good advice, and Vince intended to follow it for the moment. "It's just politics," he couldn't help but resent the "noble" commanders of Bern as he said this.

[Saturos Prox]

"Politics, eh?"

Not taking his eyes of this large knight, Saturos let an apple drop from his burlap sack. He then proceeded to catch it on top of his foot, cradling it for a moment between his shin and his dorsal, before kicking it in the air and catching it in his right hand. He gave the black haired man a small grin before offering him the apple.

"I know a fair bit about politics, myself," he said casually, tilting his head slight to the side. "For example, I know that when two soldiers take a man into a back alley, and only the man returns, somebody is in a wee bit o' trouble." The myrmidon paused for a moment, analyzing the grey armored knight. If he was knocking out Ilian soldiers in back alleys, they shouldn't have much to fear from him. Well, at least not politically.

"I'm currently in league with a politician of sorts," Saturos continued, a bit of whimsy in his eye. "What would you say about discussing these politics of yours? Perhaps in a more...relaxed setting?"

[Syana Flamberge]

Syana stood on the roof of a building, one hand over her eyes to block out the sun. She scanned the area, looking for a certain group of people. No Syana, we won't leave without you. Sure, Syana, we'll wait for you. she thought as she looked around. Ooooooh would Saturos be getting a solid bop off the head for this one. Luckily for her, she was decent at tracking and gathering information. Sometimes it pays to be a merc. Literally.

That's when she heard it. Someone shouting something about arrest. Yup, I'll bet that's them... She sighed and shook her head, before traveling from roof to roof towards the source of the sound. Somewhat surprisingly, it wasn't them. Huh. Just some knight. Oh, wait, nope. There was Saturos. And there was the big guy. Which meant Mr. Tall-and-in-a-cloak was Aidan. Sometimes she just knew they were fortunate the majority of people were stupid.

Syana slipped down from the roof and landed neatly next to Saturos. She produced a set of keys for a room at a nearby inn. "Seriously, what would you do without me? Relaxed setting... Let me guess, a bar?" She shook her head and bopped him off his. "I 'found' the keys to one of the bigger rooms at the inn. Why not make use of it?" Smirking slightly, she moved beyond the myrmidon to allow him to finish his conversation. She tapped Aidan lightly. "Nice to see you again, Father," she said somewhat sarcastically. Seriously, did people really buy him being a priest? "When we get inside, I have info."

[Aidan Lowell]

Well when you say it like that, it sounds silly. He frowned, but was delighted Syana decided to stick around a bit longer. He passed a look at the knight and the Saturos and wondered for a second what he meant by he worked with a politician.

Oh. Ohhhh. Damnit. It wouldn't of been so bad if it wasn't quite simply so true. He was kind of a politician now, wasn't he? He looked at Syana, wondering what possessed her to stick around when it was so clearly a bad idea. Saturos too, and Lyar. Why was he travelling with a group of crazy people? He slump his shoulders under his robe, his armorless body feeling kind of naked. He'd never really get used to it it seems. He looked at Saturos for a moment, but decided to leave it. He trusted Saturos, as odd as it may have sounds, it's hard to find people you trust these days, but he would trust Saturos with his life. He pretty much had to, at any moment they could turn him in for an.... attractive sum of money.

He nodded, but didn't say a word. Unfortunately his gruff sounding voice was almost as notorious as his scarred eye and large frame. He already had the latter of those working against him, he didn't need to start making things worse for his self. They were still safe, for now, at the least. Things could quickly go south at a moment's notice, maybe even less, it paid to play safe. Or rather as safe as he could muster without transforming into another person.

[Vince Altus]

A relaxed setting? Vince smirked as he pictured them putting down drinks with some lute music in the background. He shook his head to clear the thought and gave the "jester" another look over. At that moment, a young woman appeared, her hair was vibrantly red, and her face...it was painted just like the man he was conversing with. Curious, she suggested that they go to a room in a nearby inn to discuss, Vince glared at the ground as he made up his mind. Finally, he shrugged and looked into the eyes of the painted face. "Fine, I'll hear you out." It could be a trap, but Vince was tired of playing things safe, it was time to be a bit more direct. He was a warrior, after all, not some ambassador.

[Saturos Prox]

Saturos simply glanced at Syana as she, like a cat, jumped down from a nearby rooftop, before receiving a slight rap on the head from his red headed friend.

"I 'found' the keys to one of the bigger rooms at the inn. Why not make use of it?"

The myrmidon nodded, before turning his attention back to the knight. Clearly, if nothing else, the group had both their efficiency and theatrical presence down pat.

"Perfect!" he replied to both his newly arrived companion and his newly acquired acquaintance, taking a bite of the apple the knight had not accepted. "Then why don't we go kick back and tell a few stories? I know I could definitely use a drink."

The four made their way to the inn from which Syana had acquired keys, and were directed upstairs to a fairly large room. It was reasonably decorated, and notably contained two beds, a dining table, and a few couches. Saturos eyed Syana, wondering how she had gotten keys to what was probably the nicest suite in the inn, but remained silent. It wasn't important.

The myrmidon sat down on one of the couches, and, getting comfortable, looked up at the knight.
"So, what's your relationship with the Ilian military?" he asked bluntly. "They don't seem to like you very much."

[Aidan Lowell]

The large, silent, and somewhat imposing man sat in the corner of the room. Well he wasn't really that large, in fact he was shorter then both Saturos and the Knight they picked up off the street like a stray kitten. And all four of them were midgets compared to Lyar, who was probably still in town being Lyar and doing things in his own way. He didn't say anything, for several reasons, one of them being the simple fact there was nothing for him to say. So instead he just sat on the uncomfortably soft furniture that almost made him long for a nice rock or stump to sit on.

He watched, thinking the situation over a bit in his mind. Turning and turning the thoughts in his mind over and over, unable to find the side he hates less. Syana said she had info to give him, such words never sounded good, no one ever gives someone else good info. It was always something unpleasant. The sons of Bern, huh? What a condescending name, no doubt they held themselves above everyone else, probably fanatically. In fact he wouldn't be surprised he gets turned away because of the simple fact he left Bern for six year, six years that... well a lot happened in. Of course, far more has happened in this last few months then had happened in the last half a decade. Atleast things that showcased him as their center attraction, usually he was pushed into the background for whatever reason or another. Even back when he was in Bern, he was far from important. It seems almost funny that it was only when he left that this kicked up... then again the fact he left may be exactly WHY it happened.

"What is it you wanted to tell me." He turned his head to Syana, chances that knight was far too distracted with Saturos to even care about what Aidan said. Especially since there was the very real chance he didn't even know who Aidan was.

[Syana Flamberge]

Syana caught Saturos eyeing her as they settled down into the room and gave him a rougish wink. She knew what he was wondering and she didn't want to give him a definitive answer yet. Where was the fun in that? She turned away from him and the new random knight guy, and faced Aidan. She couldn't help but shake her head again at his disguise again. Smirking slightly, she sat on the arm of the chair next to him. Double checking to make sure the knight was being distracted by Saturos, she started her report. "As I'm sure you've probably guessed, they still don't know that you've escaped in this town. All the signs still saying you're to be killed and all that. However, they expect to hear the news confirming it soon. And if we've made it here in this time, you can bet news of your escape will be here soon. If I had to guess, I'd say within a day. To make things better, my sources tell me that they're sending riders out from every direction to make sure news of your escape reaches as many parts of the country as possible. Soon, Bern won't be safe anymore. Not that that's stopped us before, just a fun footnote."