Manhunt (Orion, Sei, Ethan)

by **Radiant** on September 13th, 2013, 3:11 pm

"Ha! Back off, you filthy dogs!" The Chained One was confident of herself now, the squire and the Kelvic couldn't do anything. If she went out, knights would surely come to her, but no matter, even if she died, she would die for the glory of Uldr, taking as many knights with her as possible. Starting with... this young-looking small knight here. The sword on Sei's neck every threathening... until...

"HM?!" The hag hissed in anger, the squire was being foolish, he actually tried to attack her. The Nuit then made her threats come true, the sword on Sei's neck thrust forward, aiming for one fatal blow. But... "CURSES!!" She missed, the Kelvic jumped back and the sword grazed his shoulder instead, a slash wound began forming at Sei's shoulder, but it was definitely not a fatal blow. The leecher turned her attention to Orion a tad too late, the squire was already lunging at her with his longsword. "Grrrrrrrr!" She growled and put Alicia's body as her meat shield.

*STAB!!*

"Aaaaaaaah!" The Nuit screamed in pain as the Orion's sword stabbed Alicia's shoulder, went through it, and stabbed her right in the lungs. "DOGS!!" She didn't went down yet, she was a Nuit, she didn't need her organs unlike puny mortals. The mark from Uldr also made her rather stronger, somewhat negating the negative effect from the foul magic known as Leeching, but still, enough slashes and she would lost too much of her precious Ichor and die. "SHE SHALL DIEEEE!!!" The Nuit grabbed the unconcious knight's neck once and more drained what was left of her djed, Alicia's vantha eyes suddenly shot open, pure black in extreme fear, she screamed a wail full of agony as all of her usable djed drained from her body, Alicia went limp, this close to death.

"Huhehehehehehehehehe!" The hag cackled like a wicked sorceress straight out of horror stories. Even as the sword was lodged in her however... *STAB!!* "Aaaaaaah!!" A dagger caught her neck, Sei using her immobility to puncture her with his weapon. The hag screamed in pain and rage, Sei's sword turned around and suddenly launched itself to stab at Orion's back, the squire would have to abandon his stuck longsword immediately or risk being stabbed in return.

"BY SYLIR!!" A shout bellowed from the apartment's entrance. Ethan had arrived along with Ser Wade and two more knights, civilians were also clogging up at the entrance. Their face full of shock and fear at the spectacle. Wade equipped his heavy crossbow and aimed at the hag's head, but... his skill with the crossbow couldn't be compared to his swordmanship. He was wracking with dilemma, he could hit either the squire, the Kelvic, or Sera Alicia. He tried to keep his emotions under control, Sera Alicia looked like she was on the brink of death. "FOUL CREATURE!" He shouted and took a leap of faith, he fired. The bolt singing through the air then... *PIERCE!*

.........

.....

...

"........." Silence flooded to the Bittern District. All eyes opened wide in shock. The bolt, Wade's bolt, landed in... the skull of the Nuit. The hag dropped dead to the ground, bringing Alicia down with her, Orion's longsword still lodged deep within both of them, Sei's sword lay lifeless on the ground, the projected limb no longer existed.

Wade didn't waste anymore time, he told his two companions to handle the crowd. He nodded in gratefulness to Ethan, without the blacksmith, they wouldn't have gotten here fast enough and innocent lives would be lost. The senior knight barged in to the apartment "Squire Orion, was it? The former doctor? Hurry! Alicia needs help!" He tried to keep his calm, Orion was the most experienced person to handle the dying knight. Drained of djed with a sword on her shoulder, one wrong move could result in her demise.

Wade turned to the Kelvic "You! Go to the Soothing Waters and call healers here! Now!!" He then turned to the blacksmith "The crowd might need explanation, Sir Ethan... could you please help my companions in doing so?" The last thing they needed right now was mass panic at the sight of knights seeming "murdering" an old woman.

No time to waste, Orion needed to act fast "Squire, please remove that sword from her shoulder and check for her conditions..." Wade was really hoping Orion would say that she could live.

by **Orion Michaels** on September 14th, 2013, 8:04 pm

Orion twisted his body, trying to avoid the dangerous blade. It was perhaps foolish, but he couldn't yield, not with the leecher holding onto Alicia yet. The blade barely caught the side of his chest, bouncing off the side of his ribs. It was a very shallow wound, but it sent agonizing pain screaming throughout Orion's body. He'd been injured many times in the past, but this one took the victory, if there was really a winner in this situation. Blue eyes became watery, but Orion gritted his teeth grasped the blade, and drove it in deeper. I'm sorry, Alicia!

His mind battled against him, screaming at him for his stupidity. He'd risked everything, and the horrible woman was still alive. He didn't even know if Alicia would survive, or if she was even among them anymore. He'd gambled everything. Even with Sei's help, the woman was still alive, she was still fighting, trying to kill anyone and everyone she could. They were doomed, all because of him.

Orion's spirits lifted when he heard the loud proclamation of a knight. He couldn't turn and look at who it was. He didn't recognize the voice, but it didn't matter. He had to keep the seemingly unstoppable creature from doing anything else. "Just die!"

Suddenly there was no more struggling. The floating long sword floated no further. Orion released his grip on his own weapon, watching, shocked, as the woman and Alicia slumped to the ground. He stood there silently as Ser Wade began shouting instructions to those who were there, trying to take charge of the situation. His words washed over him, initially, the severity of the situation sinking in slowly. The command he gave last, however, did bring Orion back to focus.

"No, it would be most unwise for me to remove the blade at this time. I don't have any equipment, and opening the wound would only be more dangerous. We need to get things under control here, though." Orion motioned one of the knights over to Alicia. "First things first, keep her stable. Let's get the blade out of the monster. Keep her stable, I'll slide it off." Orion waited until the knight had a good grasp on her and then grabbed the rather messy deceased by its shoulders and pushed, helping slide her off the weapon, falling to the ground in a heap. "Alright, now we need to make sure she doesn't move at all until the healers get here." Orion knelt down beside her, wince as his own wound reminded him of it's presence. He'd have to see about those healers himself. "Phew, alright, I'm gonna keep ahold of her. But we need to make sure she can breath. Loosen up her dress a little bit and.." Orion paused while he tilted her head to her side. With his arms supporting her, carefully avoiding the sword, and her airway open, there was little more they could do. "Ser, please take a seat before her and put her feet up on your lap. All we can do now is wait. There's nothing I can do about the leeching..."

Orion looked down at Alicia; the poor woman was barely hanging on. Why had they sent them? A knight unfit to lead, a squire just as unfit to lead, and two civilians? No wonder this was such a mess. The torment in her expression was almost too much for him to handle. How had she made it this far..?

by **Sei Tendo** on September 15th, 2013, 1:06 pm

Orion had managed to stab the hag, and she in turn drained Sera Alicia's remaining djed. The little Vanthas' eyes shot open, pure black exposed, and yelped painfully. Sei winced, and tried his best to ignore. He had driven the dagger into the hag, and the scene that unfolded confused him even further. Orion had stabbed through Sera Alicia's shoulder, and drove through the hag. Unfortunately the nuit didn't need her organs, but when Sei had stabbed her with his dagger, she had realized she'd lose to much Ichor if they weren'y stopped. In an attempt to stop them, she leeched Seras' remaining djed, and had brought his sword around to Orions' back. Orion had shifted a bit, obtaining a slight cut, but continued his efforts. That's when Ethan arrived with the knights, and one had shot a crossbow at the hag.

There was silence as the bolt struck the hags skull.

She fell to her death, bring Sera Alicia with her. Immediately the knight known as Ser Wade began to give orders. It took Sei several moments to take off for the soothing waters, and he was still trying to swallow his piece of the puzzle. He was running, bursting through the crowds, and calling for anyone who might be a healer. He tried to calm himself, but was to worried and to shocked to focus. Sera Alicia could possibly be on the brink of death, and he couldn't even find his voice. He tore down the pathways, and began to call out once near the soothing waters. "Healers, healers it's an emergency! There's a wounded knight!" He called. He called until his voice was hoarse, and tried to slow his heart rate.

He

by **Ethan Ironhorse** on September 15th, 2013, 4:44 pm

Running… It felt like Ethan did that a lot of that in the past few weeks. As a blacksmith his job had consisted of picking up heavy things and beating them with a hammer. Now, since preparing to travel to a different city, Ethan seemed to run and train generally like he was in a barroom brawl every day. Still, the fear of coming to late with reinforcements had seemed to spike his body, and he ran faster and harder to the door. When he got there Ethan knew to stand out of the way for the knighthood. After all, early this day Orion and Ethan both shared concerns about clearing the doorway. As Ethan stepped back he was able to only see a small partial bit of the scene. White inchor poured and bubbled from the grandmother looking figure. Ethan knew enough to know that the Leecher had to have been undead or Nuit in order for her blood to look like that. What he didn’t expect was the dark red from Sera Alicia to stain and mix into the puddle on the floor. The scent from the room hit Ethan’s nose, it was a mixture of copper and a powerful embalming fluid. As the grandmother struggled, Ethan began hearing whispers in the corridor as the power tang from the crossbow silence the scene of death and magical rape in the room. For one perfect moment the image of the room was burned into Ethan’s memory.

The way Sera Alicia laid there, the reflection of steel from sword in a puddle of gore, seemed surreal. Ethan tore his eyes away from it, trying to look somewhere less than the white stain brain matter that had been spread by the crossbow bolt. The apartment was sparse and as Ethan’s eyes darted from stone brick to stone brick, the knight addressed them each, finally his attention was caught on the Knight as the man told Ethan to address the growing crowd outside.

Ethan was to talk to the Britten District people, people who likely saw and talked to the old grandmother recently. No, that was a wrong thought, if she was a leecher, it was likely that she didn’t have a lot of contact with her neighbors. Being one of the dead was hard enough, without everyone wondering if you were looking at their bodies as new apartments. No, these people were looking at the knights dispensing justice, hoping to see a free show of blood and death. Others were just wondering what had happened, Ethan needed to get these people away and quickly without making them aware of the true events. Then again this was the Britten District and the one thing that they didn’t like was people asking them questions. No, he needed to mix a little bit of the truth and then use the fear of the knighthood and suspicion to clear the crowd. “Excuse me, Ladies and Gentleman, the woman in the apartment was caught performing illicit activities. Please, come off to the side of the hallway, we will be asking questions of what your relation to the woman was as is your duty to Syliras.” Ethan hoped he sounded official enough, for he just had told the crowd that the woman was dead from something bad, and they would all be interviewed without the hope of being compensate for their time. Not to mention, being interviewed in the hallway in front of neighbors would make everyone scared. If the knights did find something that linked someone to other crimes, everyone would be pointing their fingers at others saying they gave the knighthood information. No, Ethan suspected most of the people would scatter quickly. Only those that wanted to report crimes would stay behind, and without the reward of compensation, Ethan expected the hallway to clear quickly.

“Come on, now, off to the side. Once, we interview everyone, you will be free to return to your rooms” Ethan made hand gestures like an inapt squire trying to herd cats. Ethan hoped the last statement made the crowd realizes that if they didn’t take off now they could end up staying here for bells.

by **Radiant** on September 17th, 2013, 11:02 am

It would be some time before the healers from the Soothing Waters get to the location even with Sei guiding them, Syliras was crowded after all. They needed to keep Alicia alive before that time, Wade profusely thanked Sylir that a - for mer - doctor was here. He watched Sei darted away from the location and Ethan handling the crowd together with his companions.

Wade helped Orion with whatever he told him to, at this moment, Orion was the doctor and he was just simply a layman in medical terms. Wade assisted Orion in removing the sword from the leecher and loosened Alicia's dress, he then looked around the apartment. It was sparse except for a makeshift foul altar to some sinister good, a table, a heart, and.. finally! A chair. Wade pulled the chair near Alicia's feet, sat on it, and put Alicia's feet on his lap.

He muttered a prayer to Sylir and Yahal, hoping Alicia could hang on. The female knight was gasping for breath, her eyes closed tight, all of her muscles were limp except for her face which was wincing horribly due to the pain. She felt like she would rather die than endure this.

Outside, the clamoring crowd slowly dispersed one by one, they didn't want to waste their time or risk their reputation for some random old woman. The knights were always right, that woman must be an evil sorceress or something. The residents of the Bittern District had their own problems to take care about. Only some stayed behind, those that truly suspected something about the woman. They told the knights that the old woman had a strange random schedule. She would sometimes stay holed up in her apartment for days or going out and never coming back for days as well.

..........

.....

...

*Thump thump thump!* Hurried footsteps approaching, Sei had come back with two healers behind him. After the Kelvic explained the situation to them, they immediately lent a hand. The two Favored of Rak'keli entered the apartment and saw the ghastly sight, they winced, but shook themselves out of it. They had more pressing matters at hand, Alicia obviously dying.

The male healer went to Orion, he recognized the former doctor, there was no time of rivalry or hostility, he professionally bowed and let Orion take the lead "Sir, please direct us, we will assist to the best of our abilities." The female healer opened a healer's kit at Alicia's side. She nodded to Wade, the male knight also nodded back and they switched positions, letting the expert took over.

The senior knight gestured for Ethan and Sei to gather "We appreciate for all your help. I am Ser Wade, Syliran Knight. The Order will handle things from now on, you both may go, I will tell Peython to deliver your rewards to your home. Once again, The Order offers you both our sincerest gratitude... truly. You both would make a fine knight." He continued "However, if there is any questions you would like to ask, please tell me."

by **Orion Michaels** on September 19th, 2013, 1:04 am

It was a relief when the marked healers finally showed at the apartment. Orion was sure that the female knight was about to give up and escape this body to move onto another life. If they'd showed up much later, then there's no doubt she would have. With their arrival, though, she had a chance. Even if Orion thought it absurd a power existed that trivialized the skills of real physicians.

Even with that going for them, he knew that they had a lot of work to do, and they weren't going to be able to do it here. "Alright. Glad you two are here, but before you get to unpacking, there's no way I can work here as it is. We need to clear this place out. I'm gonna have to do surgery here." He almost felt sick the more he thought about it. He could still feel the crunch as his thrust had pierced her bone. He'd acted without thinking, even though it seemed the best call at the time. Now Sera Alicia, if she survived, would need more healing than these two marked healers would be able to offer in order to have full range of motion.

He'd shattered her shoulder. He'd split her collarbone. On top of that, the wicked woman..thing..had used it's power on her. She was all but gone, and it was all his fault. Her blood had stained his shirt by this point, but he wasn't going to move. He'd let her down as it was.

He could almost hear Ethan saying 'I told you so', even though he doubted a question of whether one would be holding on to life or not would be there. He'd acted brashly, but perhaps there was still a chance at everyone surviving.

He had to get to work now.

"So let's go. I'll keep her stable, if we move her, she might bleed out. Get to clearing this stuff out so we can work somewhere relatively free of obstruction." Orion looked down at Alicia's face, guilt washing over him as he could see the pain in her every expression. He was supposed to defeat evil doers, not sweet knights...

"Get moving! We don't have the time to waste. Ser Wade, if you and your knights could help, it will help immensely. I just can't risk moving her to the Waters if we want her to live."

by **Sei Tendo** on September 19th, 2013, 12:28 pm

Sei had - hopefully - explained well enough that the healers had understood, and when he made it back, he was relieved to see that Sera Alicia was still hanging on. He felt a little better, and he was almost unresponsive when Ser Wade had addressed him. He stood for a moment, and watched as Orion and the healers went straight to work. He was amazed at Ethans crowd control, and when he finally spoke, it was more like a whisper. "Oh, um, Hello Ser. I'm Sei, Sei Tendo." He said softly. "Will Sera Alicia be alright?" He asked.

He was worried mainly because all the events that had taken place. The hag had drained her djed, she'd been stabbed, and she had been drained again. Sera Alicia had been through a lot today, and she was still soldiering through, brave as can be. She had been nervous from the beginning, but she had pressed on anyway, and now, here she was, braving the world once more.

He watched as everyone around him was doing something to help, and decided that he would take up Ser Wades' offer of information. "How was no one aware of the womans identity?" He asked quizzically. It was true they had said she had a very unusual schedule, but with something this strange, how was this never realized before was his only question.

by **Ethan Ironhorse** on September 19th, 2013, 7:10 pm

Ethan saw the crowd disperse and was grateful that if nothing else people didn’t want to stand around and be bothered, more than they wanted to look at someone hurting or dying. Yet it was the second part that bothered him more, would Sera Alicia been ok if they gone for an ambush instead? Possible, but Ethan might be laying there on the cold stone floor with a blade sticking out of him. There had to have been a better way, after talking with a few individuals Ethan had learned that the leecher had maintained an chaotic schedule and they might have spent days waiting for her to leave her apartment. Maybe it would have been better to try and question the neighbors instead of the address that they believed to be where the person lived.

They had gotten some information about her after they had dealt with the leecher, but Ethan thought back to the first person they had contacted, he had been rude and extremely unpleasant banging on doors would have been may have alerted the woman. I came down to they didn’t know what was going on in the room, and couldn’t have done anything besides breaking down the door and going in. Which in the end was going into the snake’s den and hoping that no one got hurt. Ethan thought about the whole thing and it was the lack of good information that caused them problems. They didn’t know who the cloaked stranger was, what to expect when they found her, and what she was capable of. What would have happened if she had an apprentice?

As the Knight, Ser Wade, told them they did a good job, Ethan didn’t feel like they had. One of their party was injuried and though the leecher was dead, she left a great deal of questions behind. As Sei Tendo asked after Ser Alicia’s health Ethan nodded and wondered as well, if she would pull through. Then Ethan waited politely for Ser Wade to answer Sei Tendo’s questions before asking his own. “Ser Wade, thank you for coming as fast as you did, I am Ethan Ironhorse and I have some questions as well. I know that Sera Alicia had five possible addresses to check and we only checked three, will the Order look at the other two?” Ethan’s brow furrowed as he thought of how to phrase the next questions.

“I have been having a tough time understanding all of this. The people said that she was coming and going for days at a time, yet when I look inside the apartment I see an alter and… the standard furnishings. What was she doing in there or what was she doing with all the energy she collected? It seems… insane, like she was randomly hurting people for no purpose, why? She had to have known that the Knighthood would catch on eventually, why take such a huge risk for seemingly nothing to gain?” To Ethan it made no sense, why? Why cause all this destruction for no gain? Ethan awaited for Ser Wade to perhaps provide an answer to a question that made little sense, for Ethan planning was part of the future, doing the smallest amount of magics without a plan made Ethan nervous. In fact that was why he liked having Devandil there to watch over him and guide him in a practiced state.

As Ethan waited for Ser Wade to answer his questions, he nodded and then ask one more thing, “When Sera Frostfawn awakes could some tell us, I would like to visit with her and talk about a few things?” Ethan had some questions about magic and other things that he wanted to talk to her about.

by **Radiant** on September 20th, 2013, 10:11 am

The healers nodded. The male one began clearing out the place, calling the knights for help. They would have to hurry, time was of the essence.

Wade nodded and politely ushered Sei and Ethan outside the apartment to prevent disturbance to the delicate situation inside, one wrong move and Alicia could die. He exhaled at Sei's question, he wanted to say 'Yes! Absolutely!" but the logic in him didn't allow it, he patted the Kelvic's shoulder and did his best to offer assurance "We will hope for the best, if Sylir and Yahal is willing, she would live."

He made a thinking expression at Sei's next question, he was no expert of magic, but he had an assumption "This is just my deduction, but she could be using hypnotism to subtly sway the minds of the people to forget her. I imagine combined with her frail appearance, it might just work, but take it with a grain of salt as this case requires further investigation." Wade didn't want to involve civilians further in The Order's business, but these two men had helped tremendously, they deserved it.

Then he addressed the Blacksmith "Don't mention it, we should be the one thanking you, Sir Ironhorse. Without you warning us, we would arrive too late... The foul mage would still die, but we might lost lives and yes, the Order would look at the other two apartments immediately."

At Ethan's second question, Wade slowly shook his head, he must admit he didn't know much and didn't want to assume baseless information. He was no expert in these things, magic, undeads, and the mind of an insane individual. "I'm afraid I do not know, Sir Ironhorse, but I can tell you that the mind of the deluded cannot be subjected to logic and common sense. Perhaps it was a form of worship whatever foul deity she was worshipping."

Finally, he nodded, yes, it would be best to procure information from the mage knight herself, she had been the one doing the investigation. "Yes you may, but please let her rest for a few days first... I will tell her than Sir Ironhorse is requesting to see you." With that the senior knight huffed and looked around "So, if there's nothing else, gentlemen. You may rest, the Order thank you for your courageous deeds today. As I said before, your reward will be sent to your home."

OOCAlright, this should be my last reply for the thread! I will make two follow-up threads (One for Orion and one open thread regarding Sera Alicia)

Ethan, you can ask your questions there.

Feel free to make your last reply or you can PM me instead and skip the last reply then I will give you your grades.

by **Radiant** on September 20th, 2013, 5:49 pm

Orion :

Sei :

Ethan :

Notes :

My radiance is not bright enough?

If you have any questions or concerns regarding your grade, beam me a PM and we can work it out.

Skill	XP Earned
Socialization	+2 XP
Investigation	+3 XP
Weapon: Longsword	+2 XP
Acrobatics	+1 XP
Leadership	+2 XP
Tactics	+2 XP
Planning	+1 XP
Medicine	+1 XP

Skill	XP Earned
Observation	+3 XP
Socialization	+3 XP
Investigation	+2 XP
Intimidation	+1 XP
Weapon: Dagger	+1 XP
Acrobatics	+1 XP
Planning	+2 XP
Running	+2 XP

Skill	XP Earned
Observation	+4 XP
Socialization	+3 XP
Intimidation	+1 XP
Rhetoric	+1 XP
Persuasion	+1 XP
Investigation	+3 XP
Planning	+2 XP
Running	+2 XP
Shielding	+2 XP

Completed Manhunt (Orion, Sei, Ethan)