Not Welcome (open)

[Grein]

Grein had been wondering for close to 2 weeks, slowly making his way West to Lycia. His saddle bags were full of food and the last village he had stopped trough he was able to restock for quite a bit longer.

The scenery was amazing - green grass and large rolling hills as far as his eyes could see. A light wind was blowing pushing the grass back and forth. Grain saw no reason to hurry and his horse had taken up a leisurely pace. According to his limited navigating ability he should have reached Licya a few days ago. Still without too much worry he continued on, enjoying the bright early morning.

As he scaled the next small hill and looked over the horizon he saw a mid sized town off in the distance. He could make out the wooden buildings and the few farms surrounding it. Even from this far he could see the wide streets and small wall outside.

Taking up a faster pace he reached the town within the hour

--------------------------------------------------------

The stone and wood architecture he could reminded him of the small towns near his home. There were three guards outside the small gate, contrary to what he expected they were not dosing off. They stood up at attention making it clear they had seen him approach from a ways off.


“Hello!” The troubadour spoke up

“Welcome.” One of the soldiers responded in a silky mocking tone that instantly irritated Grein “Papers.” He demanded as he stepped up to Grein’s horse, outstretched arm waiting expectantly.

“Papers? What are you talking about” Grein held onto the reins of his skittish horse as it tried to back away. The soldier’s face instantly formed an ugly grimace as he grabbed the reins and pulled back “YOUR papers” the soldier clarified

Grein’s horse reared at that moment throwing the troubadour backwards into the dirt, Luckily his butt absorbed most of the impact, but nevertheless pain shot up his back and legs. As he tried to stand he was quickly grabbed by two soldiers and dragged towards the gate.

“He--hhey let me go! I’ll just leave” Grein stammered

“Without identification? This is Etrutria, the magistrate will figure out how to deal with you”

Etrutria.. what the... Grain thought to himself. He looked back to see a few other soldiers dragging his horse away

[Erica Winters]

Erica had been flying for God knows how long. She was willing to look anywhere for some work, after all that had happened she just wanted to start on her work. Last time she took a shot at doing that she met some woman involved with the current bickering of Illia and Bern. Erica was in no way going to involve herself in a huge fight such as that. After allowing the woman to heal up at her home she sent her away. Now it was really time to start her searching for work, she couldn’t keep herself waiting any long… She couldn’t keep her husband waiting.

Erica soared through the air, Kiki’s wings spanned gracefully outwards, occasionally raising for a powerful flap to keep themselves air born, then continuing on a glide. Erica’s long hair whipped behind her as she flew, tied up in an extremely long plat like usual to prevent the wind from butchering it.

“This is lovely scenery”

She thought as her delicate eyes glanced around the ground below, taking in the scenery. The green hills rolled past as she flew overhead. Travelling by air was easy, and once you learned to control it was quite relaxing. Erica peered onwards, noticing a nearby town quickly scaling towards her from beyond the horizon.

“Kiki!”

Without further instruction the Pegasus took a swift steep turn down towards the land. The Pegasus flapped her wings to slow her descent before eventually, its hooves reached the ground. Erica patted Kiki and leaped off the side, her hair flowing in a long arc behind her. She grabbed Kiki by the reins and brought her along behind her. Within a minute she was at the town gates.
Erica was greeted by a rather unusual sight, a man facing the soldiers as they dragged the horse away. Erica wasn’t exactly sure what was going on, perhaps it wasn’t best to get involved? Then again, she was going to have to get inside to look for work, that wouldn’t happen if the guards were busy with this man.

“Guards? Excuse me, perhaps I can help?”

[Grein]

One of the soldiers turned around, lowering his lance when he saw the lady. Motioning to the others he walked up to her Pegasus.

"This is official business... ma'am." his relatively friendly face taking up a scowl "That man does not carry proper identification. Nothing we cant handle" He ended the sentence with a bright confident smile.

"Now ma'am, if you would move along please. This isn't the nicest situation."

Oh but if only things were that easy (ooc: ETRURIA PWNS YOU) i

One of the other soldiers yelled after his comrade. "Hey... you are just gonna let her go? Check her papers, we are under orders!"

"Look, she is obviously...." He stopped at the glare the other soldier was giving him. Then, turning back to the woman "Im sorry, he is my superior... I have to. Can I see your legitimacy papers please? You'll be allowed to continue right away"

[Erica Winters]

Erica looked concerned, intently listening to the guards, If it was just official business then she could walk away and she was going to, but the next thing he said interested her. Why did they need identification? It was possible that they needed it to enter but the guard only said that this man didn’t have it, so maybe he was doing something suspicious and didn’t have the identification papers to defend himself or… something. This town was certainly, concerned about their security. Erica looked a little displeased with the response but, willing to accept it. With a humble nod she turned to walk away, he long plat twirling around behind her as she turned.

Then the other guard yelled, Erica looked back. Why did they have to check HER papers, she never even said she was trying to enter the town! This was a little weird, did she get herself involved in something she shouldn’t have? Darn it why did these thinks keep happening. She sighed and headed over to her Pegasus Kiki, with the bags tossed over the strong Pegasus’ back. Of course she had identification papers; she was trying to find work after all! People would need to know who she was for that to happen. She pulled out some folded papers from the front pocket of one of the bags and walked back over to the guards.

“Here, this should satisfy. Erica Winters, Pegasus Rider.”

Was riding a Pegasus really an occupation though? Should she have been more specific, she wasn’t exactly a mercenary, just a woman who rode on a Pegasus… Right now she wasn’t willing to accept mercenary work, but maybe in time, at this rate, she might have to.

[Valclaud]

Valclaud didn't know where is. Then again, Valclaud didn't care, so that solved that problem. As he walked down the road, there was a town and what looked like a scuffle at the town gate. Walking closer, he saw the scuffle is between Etrurian guards and a person. "Look mother," he said to himself "those people who burned you are trying to it again to some poor stranger; I'm going to kill them and listen to their screams. Bye!". As Valclaud swiftly walked faster an got closer to the point in which he could see two guards dragging the man, he whipped out his flux tome and hurled two black orbs of darkness at the guards; one embedding itself in a guard's chest, and the other clung to the other guard's leg. Most Shamans wield soild balls of darkness and hurl them at enemies, but Valclaud's flux works in a different way: it spreads across the victim's body, making them lose feeling before they are enveloped in shadow before being swallowed up and crushed as the flux compresses back to it's ball form before disappearing. As the screams started to ring out, a wide grin formed across Valclaud's face; Vengenace is being made.

[Grein]

"Ahh, from Illia." The soldier looked a bit taken aback then nodded "Illia has chosen to align itself with our Prophet, and for that you get your privileges" The moment he handed the pegasus rider her papers back a young man appeared and attacked the soldiers.

One of the men was struck and knocked to the ground, slowly he started to get up while the soldier talking to the pegasus rider ran straight for shaman. The two holding Grein quickly let go running towards him as well, the man would soon be overwhelmed.

(ooc: ok Val, i suggest you run)

[Valclaud]

(ooc: I targeted the two flux at the guards dragging you, not a guard standing by)

As the guards started to charge at him, Valclaud switched to a defensive kind of flux. The two guards he hit started to collapse from his previous attack, and focusing his magic Valclaud created a two-foot round sphere which he preceded to send into the ground. Unknown to the soldiers, Valclaud turned the ground in front of them thin, with a small ditch underneath. As the soldier closest to him fell in, Valclaud hurled his regular flux at the guard's head, engulfing the face in shadows, suffocating the man. As death and destruction went on around him, Valclaud held up another ball of darkness at the last guard and smiled as he said "Want to have a go?"

[Grein]

(ooc: i warned you foo! )

Grein took the opportunity to get to his horse - the havoc the man in black was causing gave him enough time to grab the reins and mount his stolen steed. Glancing and back at town he was instantly very disappointed to see more guards were pouring out of the gates. Grein turned and yelled at the two.

"We... we should bail! There are-" the rest was cut off as a javelin planted right in front of him making his horse rear.

Screw Etruria he cursed under his breath and took off. Hopefully the others would get the hint - it was unlikely the soldiers would be very amiable now. Probably anyone out here would be considered a target.

Looking behind he made at least one positive note. Most were footsoldiers, and he planned to soon be well out of their range. He spotted two cavaliers riding out of the gates and grimaced again.

[Valclaud]

Hearing someone yelling towards him broke his concentration, saving the two men he attacked earlier with the flux dissapearing, but the guard hit in the head was dead. Seeing more troops come, Valclaud started to have hallucinations; "Mother! They're back! They're back and now they're going to burn me alive as well!" as he started to run, Valclaud was pierced through the side by a javelin. When he fell to the ground, Valclaud saw the man get away on horse, and what looked like a Pegasus Rider was also running away. Feeling he'll be abandonded, Valclaud cried out "HELP ME! I DON'T WANT TO DIE!"

[Erica Winters]

Erica smiled confidently as the solider accepted her papers. Thank god, now she could just get inside and look for some work. Although she didn’t quite know who this “prophet” was. Was she supposed to know? She definitely felt she should. She knew nothing about Lycia though, she had only ever visited Bern Illia and, once with her husband, the plains of Sacae. For a woman of her age she had not seen much of the world, maybe now that could change; now that… well she didn’t like to think about it. She folded the papers neatly and put them back in the bags strapped over Kiki.

She turned her head, her mouth widening a little in shock as she saw one of the guards getting struck to the ground. Her glance shifted towards the young individual the guards ran at. What was he doing!? He was so young what could someone like him possibly be doing?! The guards charged at him but the young shaman confidently used his magic skills to fight off the pair. Erica watched somewhat mystified. She herself had never seen magic used, and had rarely even heard about it. She had no idea what it could do. Her glance shifted once again, the male from earlier hopped on his horse and yelled back at her and the shaman. What, why was he yelling at her?! She had the ID to get in, she didn’t do anything wrong! A javelin soared through the air in front of Erica landing near Grein. Oh dear…

The only two guards who knew Erica was innocent were pretty much dead, she must look just like she’s a part of this group, starting such a dangerous un-necessary fight. Darn it! How did she even get involved in this?! She turned to run and quickly hopped on Kiki. Kiki’s wings quickly brushed outwards and made a large swift taking ready to fly, when Erica heard the cries of that strange magic wielding kid. He lay on the floor pierced painfully by a javelin. What was this kid doing, Erica didn’t have much time to think. Within a second she pulled on the reins turning Kiki and galloping over to the kid. It was his fault he got injured and it was also his fault that now SHE was in trouble. Maybe it was good the other guards were gone, they knew who she was. Still, this was a kid; Erica didn’t have the heart to leave him, especially with a javelin in his side.

Even if this was entirely his fault, those guards would probably kill him… even if he killed them… whatever Erica didn’t really have time to think she just saw a kid with a javelin in his side. Erica’s plat whipped behind her as Kiki galloped while she bent over and scooped up Val. He’d have to live with any pain; Erica huffed as she struggled to lift Val onto Kiki. Fortunately she managed to lift him as Kiki took off into the air, turning and flying after Grein. She just got here, and now she was leaving. As she flew off multiple arrows safely missed Kiki but they certainly distracted her as she half panicked for a moment.

Kiki quickly caught up to the horseback male and flew over his head.

[Grein]

(ooc: im half asleep and almost no proofreading, so bare with me)

Grein saw the Pegasus rider fly overhead with the creepy mage in tow - he knew some basic healing magic but had never seen anything like what the man had done to the two soldiers. By circumstance however they were now allies, and as he galloped away from the pursuing soldiers Grein focused his magic on the wounded man. He wasn't sure if it would work at that distance, with them flying overhead and he himself trying to remain on his horse. But the pursuers were still behind them - they wouldnt just forget about the ones the shaman had killed.

Trying his options in his head Grein couldnt decide - splitting up now wouldn't really help him, as the pursuers would only chase the troubadour anyway. His horse wouldn't be able to keep up this wild pace for long either.

Seeing a grove of trees up ahead the troubadour lowered his head behind the horse and headed straight for it. Dodging trough the first few trees was ok, but quickly he had to slow down just to get trough the deep underbrush. Still managing a fairly fast pace he kept whatever distance he could between himself and the pursuers.

But he didnt think it would last. They would probably catch up eventually, or his horse would just trip. His trail wasn't exactly difficult to find as his horse plowed trough the woods. Cutting his losses early, Grein saw a few large moss covered trees ahead - turning his horse he stopped and jumped to the ground. He reached under the horse trying to loosen the saddle... Damn. taking too long giving up he slapped the horses rear and the beast took off ahead, already scared enough.

Grein ran to the trees from earlier and found a good hiding spot in between the trunks. It was only a few seconds later when his pursuers rode by. There were 4 or 5 of them, and Grein was glad he had given up on the chase. If they had caught up with him he'd be no match. Waiting into his spot for just a minute more he stepped out and headed away from the scene. The horse wouldnt keep running for long and they were bound to come back this way - the more distance he could put between them the better.

Seeing a small hillside ahead he walked up trough the trees wanting to get his bearings. There was nothing around - just a sea of forest. By now he was far enough away he worried about the soldiers anymore. There was little chance they would still be nearby. Suddenly a good distance away he saw a pegasus rider - loosing all cuation for a minute he waved his arms in the air. Suddenly it dawned on him that he didnt know if that was the woman from earlier, or it could be scout. sighing he stopped waving and ducked back near the trees, still keeping an eye on the pegasus.

[Valclaud]

Fighting through the pain, Valclaud pulled out the javelin and tossed to the ground. When a breeze went through the air, Valclaud freaked out and quickly clung to the closest thing he could; the Pegasus Rider who saved him. After the breeze died down, Valclaud loosened his grip and looked away as he said in a soft tone [White] "Sorry I acted suddenly like that, I'm just afraid of heights"[/White]

Feeling magic flood into him, Valclaud felt his wound being fixed and saw it be closed up by magic. Who could've done this? He thought when he looked down. That man, Valclaud grimly thought He's a practitioner of light magic. He's probably a follower of the Prophet. When the man vanished underneath the tree coverage, Valclaud made sure he had his flux tome on hand if they meet up with him again.

[Erica Winters]

Erica looked back down at the shaman boy, a humble smile of warmth planting itself across her delicate face.

“It’s alright.”

The shaman was just a boy. He changed so much within a number of seconds, was he dangerous? Why would he just suddenly attack like that. Her eyebrow perked as she suddenly felt a warm glow very near her. Curiously she glanced around, un-certain of what the glow was. This was, that mans doing? Was he a priest? The local church of Rosewell had a low level knowledge of staff, and used it to heal any injured villagers. Injured villagers were rare so the staves were rarely needed and therefore Erica didn’t know much about staffs, or magic either for that matter. This man, he used staff? Erica wondered. It was a valuable skill, it would benefit everyone if they were to stay together. She remained concentrated but inside she sunk a little. Stay together? She couldn’t. She wasn’t getting involved with such a potentially dangerous person and while she wasn’t sure about the man on horseback, she was just looking for work. With the man using staff it was convenient that Erica could make sure everyone was safe before leaving.

Her expression became serious once again. She could not lose focus, it was easy to get away in the air but she was also a flying duck, anyone below could get a good view of her. The boy dashed into the trees, but Kiki’s wing span would simply catch the trees, they had to go over for now. Kiki sharply swooped upwards gliding over the trees. She made sure to stay low, but not too low to hit the trees. If she was just high in the air she could be seen by everyone. She couldn’t lose that boy; Erica was going to make sure everyone was safe before she left. In the back of the mind she thought, why? Last time she helped Michelle, she put herself in risk of helping a traitor, and now she’s ensuring the safety of a potentially dangerous shaman. Erica was a kind woman but, she had much more to learn, she still had to adapt to a fighting world and she didn’t like it.

Just as she caught glance of the man from earlier. Kiki made a dive towards the hillside trying to get out of sight as soon as possible. She reached the ground and trotted around the man. Erica remained seated as Kiki’s wings folded, making her seem more like an average horse, now she could get through the forest. Erica turned backwards and helped the young shaman off the Pegasus.

“Thank you for your healing on this boy. The soldiers, they might have seen me landing, I will fly back up again. Once they see me they’ll surely follow, and I can escape the forest easily. I hope we meet again, for now this is the wisest choice. They have yet to identify us so we should be safe after this… Young shaman, I care not for your reasoning, you need to control yourself.”

Kiki extended her wings once again.

“Safe Travels.”

Kiki took a running start and once again launched into the air gliding across the forest once more.

((OoC: Topic left, sent a pm your way grein.))