|
Post by Althea on Apr 30, 2017 0:40:55 GMT -6
One friend in her corner, hmm? She wasn't quite sure that would do a great deal to help her if the Inquisition came calling, but at the same time Althea could not deny the human aspect of what he said - it was... unwise to judge Aura based solely on his affiliation, for good or ill. It was his measure as a man that mattered; not his past, but his future; not who he worshiped, but what he did. By those standards it was ultimately irrelevant if he was a priest of Elimine or of Hargus. Er, preferably not the latter one though. That would - be weird. And very cult-ey. The shaman was quite thoroughly aware of the views most of Elibe held about dark magic users, but they did NOT all want to be part of death cults thank you very much, and they didn't all dance naked around forests at night.
Nonetheless she favored the erstwhile priest with a small smile but refrained from speaking on the subject for now; they had work to do. Well. Not work, exactly, she didn't intend to do an honest day's work for the rest of her life if she could help it. But investigations of life's greatest mysteries! Oh her curiosity was going to get her killed one of these days, she was sure of it.
When the mirror image shattered, Althea unpleasantly realized that this was probably going to be that day.
"Aura," she said, very carefully, without moving too much and DEFINITELY not following the mystery lady, "I don't mean to sound... alarmist... but it appears that someone is targeting us with either illusionary light magic, or mind altering dark magic. And every time I've run into someone using illusion magic, they've, er, tried to kill me. Sample size of one but-" the shaman paused for a moment, looking about as happy as a stuck pig and half as comfortable. What was she supposed to do, start lobbing dark magic at anyone who looked suspicious? That battle in the sands of the desert had almost killed her and Circe, and that one had only been toying with her. There would be little value in tipping her hand early, so the pale shaman did nothing in the wise of outright magic, but the tenseness holding her body, the way her arms hung ready rather than simply limp, and the flickering candle whose light was shadow that burned within her, all told her that she was... making an attempt to be ready for anything. Whether or not that worked out in practice, well, that would be the question of the day.
"...I suppose if you're feeling courageous, we could try springing the trap, but I am uncertain of the wisdom of charging in like a pair of fools when you are hardly able to walk."
Heh. Aura. It just now hit her that was the name of the illusion tome in light magic, too. Aura and... Aura. One or both would be the death of her.
|
|
Aura
Priest
Posts: 117
Profession: Hereticus Exterminatus
Affinity: Light
Profile: Aura
OoC Alias: Vincent
|
Post by Aura on May 1, 2017 21:22:33 GMT -6
'Aura.'
"Yeah?" He asked not taking his eyes off the other woman. Althea's explanation of things was, unneeded, but it was good to know they were of like minds in this scenario, even if it was a terrible thought. "You know, I like to avoid traps as best I can. It never strikes me as a good idea to instigate them."
Aura had little time to react, he had not noticed the woman's already quiet steps over the bustle of the town. "Oh! My King! How I have longed to see you once more!" The old lady's voice came directly into Aura's ear and thin bony arms with loose sagging skin wrapped around his waste.
"Uwah!" Aura jumped pulling away nearly tumbling over in surprise. The other girl shattered as the conjurer revealed herself to them. "Oh! This dark aura is so much stronger than I remember! You have grown so much my king!" The woman spoke with a zealous passion.
"Uh! I'm afraid I know not of which you speak." Aura looked downright terrified, terrified and confused.
"What!?" The woman sounded indignant. "Well, I suppose you can't remember all your loyal vassals. I am Hildebrand, you showed me the true strength of the light, when the passion and devotion is given so rigorously to your beliefs! Why, just earlier today I seared two infidels in your name!" Her eyes spoke of madness. Tears beginning to stream.
"And this one! Who is she!?" The old woman looked at Althea cautiously but with contempt. If her king enjoyed the company of this strumpet she had to accept it, but she had better watch her back! Only she was worthy of her King's glorious gaze!
"Um, uh, sh-she is..." He looked to Althea for help, and perhaps affirmation he was not crazy and this was happening.
|
|
|
Post by Althea on May 2, 2017 2:38:27 GMT -6
Ah.
Her 'king.'
....Maybe Eris had been right, she SHOULD have taken the day off.
Althea ended up standing there awkwardly as the crazy old lady started talking about a bunch of crap she didn't understand at all. Either Aura was actually a king, maybe, sort of, probably, or she was entirely crazy. And she was talking about dark auras... and the strength of the light... both as a good thing. Okay then. The slender shaman was self aware enough to recognize that her minor grudge against light magic users was a bit, ah, petty and childish, but that didn't mean that she was WRONG, and this chick definitely wasn't doing anything to break the stereotype. Hell, Aura was a f**k**g Eliminist and Althea was already feeling sorry for him, poor guy looked terrified, almost enough to awaken her motherly instincts. If she had any. She didn't.
'Searing infidels' sent enough alarm bells ringing in her head to cut all silliness and shenanigans, though. That uh, sounded a lot like she'd just killed two people. Now to be fair, maybe they were bandits and this chick was on the straight and narrow, and really, Althea was in no position to judge anyone else for being a bit trigger happy on nuking baddies. But that didn't mean she was particularly eager to find out first hand. Last time she got hit with light magic hurt like a BITCH. Then things got weird. Hildebrand turned to her and started asking who she was, but not so much in the 'hey nice to meet you' way so much as 'make one wrong move m*th*rf**k*r and see what happens' way. Which was a pretty specific way, but then it was a pretty specific gaze, and Althea kinda sorta got the feeling that she was NOT the guest of honor at this particular party.
...And Aura was looking at her too. Dammit. She much preferred NOT being the center of attention. Alright girl. Play it cool. No big thang. Don't blow it, don't piss her off, and definitely don't say you're a Nether magic practitioner who is probably crazy and has a voice in you head that may or may not be real and/or evil. No pressure. "I'm... mostly confused," wait crap no honesty WASN'T always the best policy. Be chill. "Althea, at your... service?" She couldn't help but quirk an eyebrow, not entirely sure if she was about to make a new friend or get shivved. "So are you and Aura friends or...?" Please don't say lovers PLEASE DON'T SAY LOVERS.
|
|
Aura
Priest
Posts: 117
Profession: Hereticus Exterminatus
Affinity: Light
Profile: Aura
OoC Alias: Vincent
|
Post by Aura on May 2, 2017 23:10:14 GMT -6
Althea's words echoed Aura's inner dialogue to a T. Mostly confused indeed, and a little bit terrified even. He could watch her go through the motions of being civil but it looked and sounded like a strain on her. Shoot, it was for him as well at this juncture.
"F-friends?" The old lady looked like someone p***ed in her food bowl. Her hunched form began to silently shiver up and down before the softest cackling could be heard. Barely audible it scared Aura. "There are no friends! Only servants. I am my king's humble vassal you see. As so too should you be... or so I thought?" Her gaze was steely and hateful.
Aura shifted in place self consciously but decided to speak up. "Look, mam, I am terribly sorry but I do not know who you are, and I can confirm that I do have friends. Perhaps it is presumptuous of me but I would like to say Althea counts among them." He smiled from the old woman to Althea in turn oblivious to just how damning his words would be.
"... ... ... Heh?" The woman's face contorted as though in pain and rage. "You... you do not remember me at all but you would call that one a friend? You deny your kingship? Am I....? Am I not worthy?" The woman cast her hood back from her face to reveal markings, ritual runes carved into her flesh. Tears streaked her face, as one abandoned by god. "But I have been loyal... most faithful... devoted... yes." She clutched at her face and began to claw at her flesh blood dribbling up as she scrapped it away.
"Woah!" Aura reacted reaching out a hand to the woman instinctively to try and stop her, or offer her healing. She stepped away sobbing.
"OH MY KING!!! I HAVE STEPPED AWAY FROM YOUR GRACE AND AM BEING PUNISHED!!! I SEE IT NOW!!! UWAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!" She turned on Althea with eyes like a wild beast. "YOU ARE IN THE WAY!!!" the woman completely devolving and unhinged began to conjure light to her hands. It was a bright and intense light, radiating heat even. Aura stepped between her and Althea.
"STOP!" He commanded. He did not want to be her king or, whatever she called him, but if he could end this before it started he should. "Stand down! I told you she is my friend! If you have half as much loyalty to me as you claim then you will listen!"
These words seemed to anger her further. "SHE HAS POISONED YOUR MIND!!! I WILL RELEASE YOU!!!" and waiting no further she loosed a bolt of Shine, waiting to explode on impact. Right at Aura? Wait, if he moved Althea would be next! He braced himself to get hit.
|
|
|
Post by Althea on May 4, 2017 0:19:13 GMT -6
Okay, so. Friends? NOT a magic word for everyone apparently. She was still getting used to the idea of her and Circe maybe being friends, she had no idea what the hell Drei was, but this lady apparently thought 'friends' was a funny way of spelling 'I'll kill everyone you love and desecrate the graves and curse their ancestors to the seventh generation.' Which sounded very much like something that Althea would NOT do, and she would have absolutely loved a chance to explain that calmly and civilly to an attentive audience so they could come to an understanding and everyone would be happy in the end. Maybe they could all be friends. Aura... seemed to think they were. Althea wasn't sure. Not that she didn't like him, she was just really bad at people and the big F word was still slightly a little bit terrifying. But it did sound nice when he said it, she was willing to give it a shot at least.
Hildebrand apparently disagreed.
Looking back, Althea would recognize that she was too flabbergasted to actually step in as the crazy lady and Aura had a very confusing conversation about kings and servants and self inflicted pain that in a more normal scenario would have led to Althea walking the f**k out of there and never looking back, but she had a feeling it wouldn't be that easy, and besides, Aura was still stuck there. She couldn't totally ditch him - well - she could, but in bird culture that was considered a dick move. So for the most part she just hung out, relaxing(?) and waiting for someone to stab her in the back so she could die a little bit quicker.
Aaaand then queen crazytits really went off the deep end. Althea's eyes flared open herself when she saw the light - she had only been hit by light magic once, a relatively weak shot from a sadist who had mostly been toying with her, and it had STILL hurt like hell. She uh, she didn't get the feeling that Hildebeast over here was playing around though, and if she was to be perfectly honest Althea was not particularly confident in her ability to beat out light magic in a contest of strength, much less one in which the foe had a head start and could cast faster anyways. Nonetheless, it seemed that she didn't have much choice. Aura, bless his dumb ass, stepped in front of the attack for her - if they survived this she was REALLY going to have to write him a thank you card - and seemed eager to take a blast of magic to the face. Which, well, far be it from her to judge anyone's masochistic tendencies, but Althea rather preferred the priest alive rather than extra toasty, so she was already beginning to channel the Nether by the time her myriad-split thought processes reached a unified conclusion, an orb that-
-Would not be in time. At all. Light magic cast too quickly and moved too fast. If she had had time to charge, perhaps she could have matched it. Instead, once again ripping Bryn off (dude was a lifesaver), Althea pushed out the bubbling mass of writhing shadow as she stepped around Aura, not having nearly enough time to create the seal-portal system for a delinked cast, and threw the not particularly impressive orb directly into the path of the attack. Predictably enough it did NOT win that particular clash, but it hadn't really been meant to, only dampen the blast a bit and more importantly hopefully deflect the primary attack to the side, away from her and HOPEFULLY away from Aura as well, though that remained to be seen.
In the meantime, Althea was already channeling far greater quantities of the profane energy she called ally, not eager to be caught off guard again and feeling just a little bit slightly sorta absolutely livid.
|
|
Aura
Priest
Posts: 117
Profession: Hereticus Exterminatus
Affinity: Light
Profile: Aura
OoC Alias: Vincent
|
Post by Aura on May 4, 2017 19:28:11 GMT -6
And so, his adventures would end here, not at the hands of the Etrurian inquisition, nor at the hands of his own inability. It would be at the hands of someone from his unknown history, someone who's words chilled him to his soul and worshiped him less like a king, as she called him, but rather a god. He had no time to repent of his sins nor to lament his corrupted history. Man, was not life a cruel joke like that? He shut his eyes tightly and prepared to be seared by the light, a perfect judgement for his unknown crimes.
The blob of nether conjured by Althea was by no means an equal match to the powerful shining of her enemy. She simply did not have the time to match it, but it was enough to disrupt it and redirect it. As the two opposite magics collided they met and mixed, each desiring to overpower the other and in turn rejecting the other in a gray form that burst in shots of gray volatile light. Bolts of energy shot out from the impact in random directions, striking objects and incinerating anything less sturdy than a building, or person. Anything not outright destroyed was scorched by it.
The old woman ducked beneath the spell with a hiss. How infuriating to see HER magic stopped in any form. Her heart raced, not in fear or excitement but pure rage. This woman did not deserve her king's affection. SHE DID! But she would have little time to reflect on all of this, having assaulted the two in a crowded place the clash drew attention. Screams erupted from the nearby witnesses and even one poor man was struck by the gray tendril strikes.
Fortuitously for the two however, town guards were nearby. "Halt!" They ordered drawing blades and lowering spears. The woman tossed her hood back up with a sneer. Not even in her madness did she wish to deal with this. "OH MY KING, MY HOLY SAVIOR!!! I WILL FREE YOU FROM THIS HARLOT!!!" She began to chant inaudibly and as the soldiers reached her she was gone, her visage shattering like magical glass shards.
"What in the!?" One of the guards uttered. "Fan out men! Find that witch!" The leader of the guards was very animated in his movements throwing his arm out as he said this before turning to the two. Noticing Aura's robes. "Are you alright there brother?"
Am I dead? I don't feel any pain. Aura cracked his eyes open and noticed he was still among the living! Althea saved his life! Oh! Thank you again Althea! Dark Savior indeed! ...He needed a new nickname desperately. "Yes, thank you, I am alright, thanks to you and my friend."
The soldier eyed Althea suspiciously a moment, a priest friends with a shaman? "Er, right." He nodded to Althea, "So long as you two are unhurt. We will apprehend this criminal in short order!" The guard left them and moved on to his search.
Aura held a smile for them until they were gone. "Oh gods! What have I done!?" His knees buckled, not from his own natural weakness but from an overwhelming despair. He held his head in his hand tears streaming down his face and openly wept. "What did I do? Who was she? Who was I?" He turned to Althea as though she would have the answers but he knew better and only stared blankly. "If I did that to her... what kind of monster am I?" He lowered his head in shame. "They won't catch her... I can already tell..."
|
|
|
Post by Althea on May 4, 2017 23:17:57 GMT -6
"Um, thank you." It wasn't much of a response to the guardsman, but for the time being Althea was quite happy to NOT immediately be executed for the crime of using dark magic. Yet another nice thing about never going anywhere near Etruria! And uh, apparently being friends with either a holy cleric or an evil god. She was starting to become uncertain as to which. Aura on the other hand was just having a breakdown, which... oh god, was this how Circe felt when she had her own meltdown a while back? At least Aura hadn't had to hear her repeating AM I I REALLY LIKE THIS without much real explanation. Yeesh. Not her best moment.
...And she had no idea how Circe knew what to say. f**k. Althea bit her lip, trying desperately to put together a model of 'how normal people act when their friend needs help and you CAN'T just kill whatever is bothering them,' which didn't go very well and she had a feeling Aura was allergic to being force-fed Mire anyways. So... improvising, the alabaster hued shaman carefully placed one slender hand on Aura's shoulder, trying desperately to smile encouragingly though it looked a little anemic because she didn't really smile, like, ever, and wasn't very good at that either. But an attempt was made. In truth there was little she could say about his past without knowing much of it; she only had what he'd mentioned earlier and the crazy lady had said, and neither of them were exactly reliable witnesses. Whatever the case though, it seemed that a number of people really did think that Aura had once been a mastermind rather than merely a victim - and likely related to the cult that had he had awakened to the destruction of.
-But he hadn't really done anything particular bad to her, no worse than making her waste a bit of magic over, and while Althea didn't for a second believe that Aura was truly innocent in the creation of all this mess, she also didn't believe that he had been lying to her. She wasn't a people person, but she was a bit cannier at reading people than they realized, usually, a little secret weapon to keep from getting gypped by merchants too often (it still happened), and he honestly did seem to be as confused and well intentioned as he had claimed to be. While it did not necessarily absolve him of the past, that was his burden to bear, not hers to judge him for, not without all the relevant information.
"What you were, and what you are, are two very different things Aura." Her line of reasoning completed, Althea spoke up with somewhat more certainty than she typically did, trying her best to come up with the right things to say and then word them correctly. "She made her choice to become what she was, and you have the opportunity to make a choice about who you are." The shaman's smile grew ever so slightly kinder as she reached the end of what she had thought to say and tried to improvise from there. "For now, what do you say we get back to making that stew?"
That wasn't to say that this was the end of their story, of course. Althea had the feeling that they had not seen the last of Hildebrand, nor of other assassins. But for now, Aura was in no shape to be worrying about that. And besides, if he was anything like her, focusing on something you liked was a good way to get stress off the mind.
|
|
Aura
Priest
Posts: 117
Profession: Hereticus Exterminatus
Affinity: Light
Profile: Aura
OoC Alias: Vincent
|
Post by Aura on May 4, 2017 23:46:26 GMT -6
Aura's breaths were ragged as he actively tried to stop his own sobbing. Hate; it was the only feeling that would do justice to how he felt. If you asked him who did he hate, or what? He could not give you an answer other than no one, or nothing. He would then proceed to list off all the redeeming features of any examples you can muster. In this moment however, if you asked him who he hated, he would not tell you the inquisition, or even Hildebrand, no, he would tell you, "I hate myself!"
He grabbed at his hair, not enough to rip it out but just enough to hurt his head, to tug on it with pain. "Who I was? Who I am now?!" He looked up at Althea in self loathing. "The two are one in the same! Does a man remember every ant he stepped on? Does every butcher every beast before the slaughter? Not remembering does not absolve the sin!"
He slowly rose from his place on the ground. "I just... I keep seeing these faces! I don't know them but they are all like hers. They were all wild and mad, but they... they had full faith in me." He breathed deeply as another fit of sobbing came over him. "I swear to you, I don't know what I did, but I know, I know whatever it was I destroyed countless people." He stepped closer to Althea.
Leaning in to whisper in her ear he spoke, an unnervingly even tone as he recalled old feelings of his past life, "I broke her mind. I twisted her into a puppet on strings; and it felt like I was god." He stepped away then and just looked at her brokenly. "I awoke only knowing the word Aura, so that is what I was called..." He rubbed his eyes. "I don't want to remember more. If I do... what if I return to being the other me?" He looked terrified and lost. "Can you just... end it here?" He did not want to die, he wanted to live so desperately, but he did not want to hurt others either. He did not care about himself so long as there were others so he knew he could throw down his life now.
His body was shaking barely holding himself up but he tried to show a face of resolve. "Okay? So... just... just make it quick..."
|
|
|
Post by Althea on May 5, 2017 0:15:10 GMT -6
Yeah that hadn't gone quite as planned, Aura was going full Hildebrand breakdown here. A very small and irreverent part of Althea's mind noted that the apple didn't fall far from the tree. As for which was which, uh, the jury was still out on that one.
"...Aura."
Her words were lined with steel sharper than any blade as the shaman regarded him directly. She... wasn't Circe, she could never be. She didn't know how to fix Aura and she didn't know if he did deserve death or not. But some aspects of that were sounding a little... familiar for her tastes. "I awoke in the smoldering crater of a Lycian town, in the wake of the monster attack that had nearly claimed me. I'm still not sure how I survived, only that I gave myself to the Nether entirely and came back." Talking about herself wasn't exactly something that Althea liked to do, and revealing anything of her past even less so, but in this one case she gauged it an acceptable loss. She wasn't telling him the full story anyways, nothing about Eris. "I don't know what happened, but I can only hope that the villagers were dead to the monsters before... whatever I did... could take them." She half laughed, though there was little humor in it. "It's hypocritical of me to even attempt to cope in that way - praying that they died to monsters rather than the darkness - and I am not afraid of taking the lives of those who deserve it."
"But you know what, Aura?" Her voice softened as the shaman continued, betraying more emotion than she had since they met perhaps and certainly much more than was normal for her. "It forced me to realize what inaction meant. Whether I am atoning for my crime or acting out of good will means little; if I can aid others, I... try to," and how well THAT typically worked out for her. She was no hero, but dammit she couldn't just stand there and watch as terrible things happened. Not... not anymore. Oh god, was she really having a life changing realization in the wake of a really confusing fight and bonding over a possible cult master over shady backstories? She REALLY needed to - focus. "I... met some of the families of the lost. I had to tell them that I didn't know what happened to their loved ones."
Crossing her arms, Althea continued, her attention redirected. "So if you want to run from your past, I won't stop you, but don't shirk the load to someone else. Do it with your own two hands, or do something to atone for what you did in the past. Take responsibility for your actions."
|
|
Aura
Priest
Posts: 117
Profession: Hereticus Exterminatus
Affinity: Light
Profile: Aura
OoC Alias: Vincent
|
Post by Aura on May 5, 2017 0:50:00 GMT -6
Aura just sort of stopped. And he listened. He listened to her every word as one might the gospel. He took it all in and knew that it was all true, he could see it in her face, and hear it in her voice. The uncertainty, the doubt, the hesitation. How? How could the two be so similar? Despite himself, despite the harrowing tale she revealed and despite the pain he began to laugh?
"Heheh! Ahah! HahahaHAHAAH!!!!" He wiped his face of tears finding a smile. "I'm sorry! I really am. I know this is wrong but I can't help it. I just... wow." His face turned soft and pensive. "You know, I kept telling myself I may not know what I did, but I am going to make amends..." He shook his head. "Then confronted with just how dark the reality is, I am so ready to quit, to give up and die." He looked at his fist and slowly clenched it. "I'm so pathetic."
He looked up at Althea, "You are completely right, and thank you for sharing your tale. I can not know how difficult it was for you to do so, but I can certainly hope I won't make you regret it." If he were more bold he would hug her right now. No matter how terribly inappropriate it would be, he just liked hugs. "So, uh... like you said, how about that lunch?" He laughed, a forced laugh, but he laughed. "I'm thinking something with chicken?"
|
|
|
Post by Althea on May 5, 2017 1:32:33 GMT -6
The shaman eyed him a little suspiciously when he started laughing, half waiting for him to snap and go full Hildebrand level crazy - she didn't get along well with laughing people, they were either too happy or too crazy and she couldn't tell which pissed her off more. Thankfully Aura was actually just sad-happy, whiiiich made her a terrible person she realized but at least she could deal with that. She didn't understand... exactly why he was laughing, even when he explained his thoughts, but at least it sounded like he had found some manner of meaning in her words, which made her feel a little better too. It might not have been a particularly fantastic pep talk but she had managed to offer some kind of positive effect, and hey, that was better than she had expected honestly. She could roll with that.
"Well, I'm not exactly an expert in the subject of confronting the past." Althea couldn't help but smile a little, lopsidedly, at the thought. She wasn't really running from any great and terrible misdeeds of her own in the past - Etruria hadn't been her fault and Eris swore up and down that everyone in the town had been dead before anything happened - but it was clear, even given her limited perspective, that she hadn't entirely handled them emotionally either. "But if it is within my power to aid you, I will." She, uh, hoped he took that as in 'I'll help you with bad guys' not so much 'I'll help you take over the world and burn all the infidels in holy fire,' but eh, it probably wouldn't hurt to try to have a little faith in him. After all when had THAT ever worked out badly for he- yea they weren't having this discussion today.
The female shaman wasn't really sure what normal people did in moments like these (was she supposed to hug him? Was he supposed to hug her? Did they do some kind of handshake to keep things relaxed?) and did NOT really do 'physical contact' so she just kinda stood there awkwardly for a moment while listening to Aura's own attempts to remedy the mood, something that was appreciated greatly by all sides she thought. "And yes, lunch does sound, er, quite good. Calling on the Nether is taxing... even if I haven't actually done much of anything with it today." Was she actually feeling blueballed? Oh god, why in the seven hells had THAT wording slipped into mind? Nonono it was just... restless energy, that was all it was. "You're the chef, Aura. I place my stomach in your hands."
|
|
Aura
Priest
Posts: 117
Profession: Hereticus Exterminatus
Affinity: Light
Profile: Aura
OoC Alias: Vincent
|
Post by Aura on May 6, 2017 13:55:30 GMT -6
Aura lightly rubbed his face as he thought of the oddity of this situation. Moments ago they were under attack with their lives on the line followed by him collapsing into a fit of tears and mental breakdown. Here and now on the other hand the two were right back to discussing what they would like to eat for lunch. He had to smile at the irony of such a large tonal difference, but perhaps that was just the way of things after all. Just because there as a tragedy or your life was crumbling did not mean the world knew it, or would take notice. The world would simply continue on without you.
"Well then, I will take good care of your stomach, and be sure to..." He noticed the basket of fruits he was carrying was tossed on the ground. An unconscious action. "CLEAN, these fruits and check for bruising and the like before serving it." He began to set about picking them back up, wiping them off and placing them back into the basket. Luckily enough there really were no damages.
As he finished with his chore he asked, "So, where is this unreachable inn you are staying at anyway?" Seriously, that was the first place the two had discussed going to and it has been one thing after another today. He had a good feeling that the excitement would be over for a while and slowly allowed his shoulders to relax. He was certainly stressed but he did his best not to show it.
|
|
|
Post by Althea on May 6, 2017 16:06:32 GMT -6
Althea subtly skimmed their surroundings for any further signs of that Hildebrand character, not quite entirely trusting the situation or her luck to ensure that she wasn't about to take a bolt of light in the back the second she relaxed, but she didn't see anything TOO obvious and had to hope that given the circumstances of the guard invasion, they would be safe for at least a short time. No point in dragging Aura into it for now, crazy cult leader or harmless priest aside, poor guy was stressed enough that reminding him everything was still terrible was unlikely to make matters better.
For the time being though, they would try to enjoy the brief reprieve before everything went to crap and get something to eat, assuming the fruit hadn't been too horribly damaged by their little venture. Aura didn't seem to think so, and Althea was about as good with food as a blind drunk man with no limbs, so she was just gonna have to trust him on that one as long as the stew(?) didn't taste too much like dirt... or light magic. She wasn't sure what that tasted like but the shaman definitely did NOT want to find out. Still, she helped out a bit with picking them up, if only to be neighborly. "Well, you're the expert here. If you think they're still good enough to eat..." Althea shrugged expressively, relinquishing all ownership of that particular subject to the man of the hour. Definitely couldn't magic her way through that one.
"As for the inn," Another quick glance around. At this point though, Althea knew it was pretty much useless, if Hildebrand WAS spying on them she'd know or at least find out anyways, and if not then looking for her certainly wasn't going to accomplish crap. "It's not too far away, I believe, perhaps another twenty minutes of walking. It is nothing particularly high class but a solid enough deal, and plenty of room to store my... assorted... belongings." The shaman trailed off, barely having the decency to accept that her loot probably bordered on a bit much and was rarely well organized at the best of times, especially when she got to work on one of her theories or researching something really juicy - but the room wasn't THAT messy today, and besides, one could not put a price on knowledge!
|
|
Aura
Priest
Posts: 117
Profession: Hereticus Exterminatus
Affinity: Light
Profile: Aura
OoC Alias: Vincent
|
Post by Aura on May 8, 2017 9:42:34 GMT -6
As Althea looked around she would see all that there was in this small portion of a very large city. There were no signs of the woman Hildebrand herself, but the impact of her actions could still be felt. The guards were now out in larger numbers and ever alert. Anyone foolhardy enough to attack someone in the middle of town in broad daylight may be foolhardy enough to do it again. It just seemed that she escaped capture handily though.
Aura could not tell if Althea had hang ups about fruits on the ground or just a lack of knowledge in the matter so he thought to ease her mind, or berate her with simple truths like she was a child, he certainly hoped that would NOT be how she took things. "Well, the great thing about fruits is they have skin on the outside to protect the more valuable inner portions. We can easily wash off the skin and eat it, or peel off the skins to eat just the innards as well." He smiled at her after saying all of this 'revelatory' information. His smile turned awkward as he was pretty sure she was aware of how fruit worked.
An inn that was a twenty minute walk? "Oh, wow. This city is much larger than I had anticipated. It would be easy to get lost in here." Come to think of it, did she have business out here that he was interrupting? Or was she herself just lost when she came across him? Question of the hour but a question best kept to himself.
What sort of things would a shaman keep? He wondered. The priests often carried holy symbols and the bishops tomes, but they would always go light... er, most of them would. Some of the more zealous of them were often joked about as strapping libraries on their back. But a shaman? Eyeballs and batwings if rumors were to be believed. But Althea did not SEEM like the type. This would be an exciting investigation!
|
|
|
Post by Althea on May 8, 2017 20:50:24 GMT -6
"It's nothing close in scale or population to the capitol of one of the larger territories, but by the standards of Khathelet..." Althea trailed off, smiling lightly. "This is one of the primary routes for ore and weaponry out of the territory, so it is quite active... and well guarded. Though there are few fool enough to attack an armed city that helps supply the rest of Lycia." Obviously not well guarded enough to stop Hildebrand, it seemed, but the insane light magic user had used some powerful magic to conceal and disguise herself - it wasn't entirely unreasonable to expect her to slip past guard who were trained for more... mortal foes.
Did sure raise the question of when queen crazy would be back, but Althea was willing to let bygones be bygones if it meant she didn't have to deal with this bullshit for a day or three. "As for getting lost, I... rigorously... scientifically tested that theory today. For... science." Oh yeah real smooth. "Anyways let's get moving." EVEN SMOOTHER!
By the time they were near the inn she was about ready to be done with the day and done with people; she was a shaman dammit not a pack mule, wasn't right to be walking all over tarnation like that if she had the choice. And she did! Though there was still more to take care of unfortunately, albeit thankfully not combat to the death against the forces of evil. "Aura. You don't have much gold on you, do you?" Unfortunately the shaman had apparently missed Tact School, a tact-ical mistake (heh), but it was a subject worth investigating nonetheless.
|
|