• PM To Join • Almund's Missing Children

[Oram Mednix]

You can trust me, kid. I’m a stranger.

As Vaid’ner released the children from their shackles with the keys he had managed to find, Oram wasn’t sure which Immortal he should thank. He usually looked to Cassion or Karem to watch over his endeavors, but this? Rescuing children from necromancers? They hadn’t managed to catch their man yet, so it probably didn’t count as a successful hunt. Presumably, it could count as an adventure, or a great story, but that was pretty vague. Maybe Xiur? Hope? Guiding the children home like lodestars? Perhaps. With a shrug, the traveler pushed aside thoughts of Immortals. They had mortals to deal with. Mortals who, this trial at least, had not died.

Once he and Vaid’ner had half-carried, half-escorted the children out of the cellar, Oram got a better look at them. Tilly and Eddie seemed uninjured, but they were clearly in shock, and possibly dehydrated, not unlike somebody just found after being lost in the wilderness for several trials. Telling them repeatedly that they were going to be all right now, and that they would see their parents soon, the hunter gave them water and then looked about to see if the De Greys had any blankets or cloaks to spare. The children were shivering, and not just from fear.

Once they were ready to go back out into the street, Oram hesitated and looked at his partner, gesturing for a conference apart from the kids so as not to worry them. ”I don’t know Almund,” he whispered to Vaid’ner. ”Do you know where the Element Hall is?” This was fortunately all resolved when Balthazar showed up. ”Never mind,” he muttered upon seeing his third companion.

In answer to Balthazar’s question he glanced at Vaid’ner and then announced quietly but grimly: ”No, no one else is here. At least, no one alive.”

When Oram realized that Balthazar intended to perform his own inspection of the house, he tried to warn the man that what was in the cellar was quite upsetting. That did not deter him, however, and so he got to have his own experience of the abominations down there while Oram waited anxiously on the landing with Vaid’ner and the children. By the time Balthazar reappeared, clearly shaken, to confirm that there was nobody else, Oram was impatient to go. Together, the five of them, in addition to whatever creature/spirits the furrymancer had in tow, headed back to the Element Hall, to reunite Tilly with her parents. Eddie, Oram realized, did not have parents waiting for him at the station. The best thing, he decided, was to tell the boy this, while still trying to be reassuring.

”We’re taking you to the Element Hall with your friend Tilly here,” he told him. Were he and Tilly friends? Had they bonded over this experience? He could only hope so, now that he’d said it. ”Your parents won’t be there yet, as they don't know that we found you, but the Elements will take care of you, and they’ll let your parents know right away. You two just be brave, okay? We’re almost there.” Oram Mednix was no father. In fact, he wasn’t even much of a baby-sitter. But he was doing his best.

[Nir'wei]

Oram was taking everything surprisingly well, he realised upon seeing Balthazar's reaction to the mess down below. As a matter of fact, so was he. Stitched-together corpses of human children. Tortured, kept together in the same room... had they watched their friends cut up before their eyes, and then watched their bodies mutilated and pulled back together again? Their eyes seemed to suggest so, but he no longer trusted his own judgement on these things. The only thing that mattered was getting them all as far away from the murder-house as possible and back to the relative safety and comfort of the Elements, and their family members as well.

He said nothing. Not to the children, nor to Balthazar when he arrived, and later emerged from the blood-soaked basement-turned-laboratory. His animals were silent, but they didn't bother hiding themselves anymore as they flanked the children and raced ahead every few steps to sniff out the path. Was he supposed to say something to them? He wasn't their parents, nor any figure they would know or come to learn about. Hell, he wasn't even wearing his real face at that moment, and as much as he would have liked to shed the inhuman skin and show something more than a gradually-shifting mess of facial features, there was a pretty high chance of ambush still waiting around any corner they turned. Safety above comfort. It was a mantra he had to keep repeating to himself, to remind him not to make any more stupid mistakes. Safety over comfort.

Eddie said nothing either. He didn't know whether to feel reassured that he wouldn't have to answer any uncomfortable questions, or concerned for the boy's mental well-being that he'd apparently taken all of this in stride and simply accepted their rescue without as much as a cheer or mumble of thanks. It reminded him of Cold, during the early days. A living corpse; warm to the touch but cold in his eyes. Only time had worn down that featureless mask and opened up something new underneath. Had Cold always been the way he was today, though? "No." The wolf's voice was small in the back of his head, like a whisper. "There are wounds that don't heal, Nir. Not even Faith could reach that deep into you. Not a needle in the world is long enough."

He opened his mouth to say something. Something about not letting this experience define either of them, or perhaps to promise retribution, if not justice for what had happened to them. To perhaps offer empty platitudes as Oram had, simply to placate their child-like minds... or to simply tell them the truth he already knew, one broken soul to another. In the end, he did none, and his mouth fell closed once more as the glimpses of the familiar flags of the Element Hall flickered into view between the gaps of nearby buildings.

[Balthazar Black]

43 Zi'Da 719

Balthazar let Oram try to keep the children comfortable as the made the journey back to the Element Hall. He couldn't forget what he'd seen down in little dungeon so he doubted that the kids would be able to forget watching it happen. Some scars never healed. The mage walked in silence most of the way back to the Element Hall. He didn't know what to say to anyone. He wanted to help the children feel safe, but he didn't know how. He didn't even know how to process what he'd seen... all he knew is that he was beginning to hate necromancers.

Eventually Balthazar spoke but he spoke softly and mostly to Nir'wei so the children who had admittedly moved a little closer to Oram wouldn't hear. For as little comfort as his words seemed to bring the children, they seemed aware that Oram was at least trying. It helped in the way the running water over a burn helped. The burn was still there, the flesh was still lost, but the pain was soothed just a little. The kids seemed more receptive to that then the silence radiating from the other two investigators but Balthazar had chosen silence. He only spoke when he saw the flags of the Element Hall and a crowd awaiting them as they arrived. He'd told the Element's they'd be coming back and apparently the Land Troopers were assembling to help receive the children in case of an attack.

When the trio arrived at the Element Hall with the children, they were swarmed by Land Troops and medical personnel rattling off dozens of questions. Balthazar heard a few questions among the myriad of voices flung their way as the Land Troops moved in to secure the children and bring them inside. "Did you catch the Necromancer?" "Are these all the children?" "What happened?" But Balthazar didn't have the will to answer a single one of the questions. He just watched blankly as the children they'd managed to save were taken into the Element hall. Goodbye Eddie. Goodbye Tilly. Good luck.

The children were taken inside where Tilly's parents were waiting for her and Eddie's parents would soon meet him. A trooper in a red cloak came around to Balthazar, Oram, and Nir'wei. He was an official looking sort and flashed a badge quickly so the three would know he was a member of the Flame Troop. They were the ones who were supposed to be doing the crime solving around here. "Thank you for your service, volunteers, but the Elements will be handling matters from here. I'll need to take statements from each of you about what happened but after that you can be on your way." Balthazar nodded to the man and looked to the others. He didn't like that the investigation was being pulled from the only people who'd put in the work to solve it, but he also didn't want to keep looking. He'd seen enough for totrial.

[Oram Mednix]

These big, scary men with weapons are going to take care of you now

Things seemed to be running down. Oram certainly felt like *he* was running down; nervous energy ebbed from him and left him with heavy limbs and a numb brain as the Elements took Tilly and Eddie away. Almost too late he called after them: ”You’re safe now, just keep being brave, okay?” The hunter believed that to be true, sort of, but he couldn’t put a lot conviction, or much of anything else, into his voice. The hunter puffed out his cheeks and exhaled loudly as he leaned wearily against the wall of the Elements’ office. It didn’t help that it was well past his habitual bedtime.

He met the Flame Troop’s entrance and announcement with a bleary gaze and a blank expression. They’d be handling matters from here, would they? There were any number of things Oram might have said to that, or at least thought of saying, had he been fresher and less frazzled by recent events. ”I hope so,” he said, around a noise that was part sigh, part yawn. The Flame Troop looked at him, and it took Oram a couple trills to register that the man was waiting for him to elaborate.

The traveler closed his eyes a moment to gather his thoughts. The facts were all there in his head, but it was as if they were as tired and sullen as he was, slow to respond to his will, and reluctant to arrange themselves into some sort of order that he could recount. Starting at the beginning, he told the Troop who he was, how he’d come to Almund from Scalvoris and heard about the missing children, and Balthazar’s notice. He told them that Balthazar had told him and Vaid’ner when they met that one of the kids’ parents had agreed to talk to him, and it was he, Marston, who told them about Gaston de Grey. What he told them had made them suspicious of de Grey, so they had gone to his house, found it empty and unlocked, as if abandoned, and upon entering they had found the children and…other things. The Elements would have no doubts that de Grey was a necromancer once they had seen those things for themselves.

Oram didn’t volunteer details about the meeting at Witchwood Cemetery nor the attacks that took place there. He would answer any questions the Troop had about those fully and honestly, but otherwise he wouldn't say anything about them, partly because he wasn’t sure what Vaid’ner or Balthazar would want to say, but mostly because he simply didn’t feel like talking any more than absolutely necessary. The sooner he could find a cot to crash on, the happier he would be.

[Nir'wei]

The moment they crossed onto Element territory, the wolves and Vabina disappeared once more. By the ease of the Land Troops as they moved around with eager hands to snatch the dull-eyed children from his and Oram's grasp, it seemed his secret would remain safe from them at least... though as frantic questions doused him like a storm, and the dirty boy he'd carried for what felt like the length of the entire city disappeared, hopefully to be reunited with his parents at least, Nir'wei kept his silence. The others seemed to be of a similar mind. What they'd seen and what they'd done on that night wasn't something easily spoken of.

In a way, it made the Flame Troop's arrival comforting. The dirty work of handling the blood-stained basement would be out of his hands, now. The necromancers and whatever horrid experiments they'd been performing, he could wash it all from his head and be done with it from now. Someone else would have to pick through the mutilated corpses and inform their parents what had become of their little boys and girls. Someone else would have to find some way to bring justice to the world, in the face of such atrocious acts.

Except his work wasn't done, was it?

The Fire Soldier flashed a badge of rank, and Nir'wei steeled his expression and flashed his own in return; a ring emblazoned with the seal of the Office of Natural Affairs. "My office will provide a full statement at your next earliest convenience, however I now have urgent matters to attend to. It would seem the Elements have allowed themselves to be infiltrated, has failed to maintain the peace, and now has multiple mass murderers, presumed to be impersonating Land Troops, running free in the city and performing unsanctioned Necromancy." The weight of this failure would be high, and he did nothing to soften the blow each word rung. "This has now become a very personal matter. I'm afraid I must withdraw." His voice, if it was to be believed, dropped even lower. "But I cannot wait to hear the explanation you give for this. Which, of course, will be provided along with the full report of the developments of this case, either privately to my office, or publicly during the next Council meeting... which one is entirely up to the head of this case." A spark of flame entered his tone as he spat, "After all, if the Elements continue to prove inadequate in apprehending the criminals, I'm sure the rest of the Council, the Albarech in particular, will begin wondering what use they have at all."

He spun on the spot and left. If they wished for his statement of events, he'd happily recall it all, down to the very last detail, and they'd know where to come and ask it from him too. For now, however, he needed to return to his Office and find out how in all of the wolves in Idalos the necromancers had known about his animals.

Then, he needed to kill something. Several somethings. A real hunt, to make up for this farce.

[Oberan]

Review Rewards

Rhombohedronzar Red

Points awarded: 15

Knowledge:

- Tactics x 4
- Investigation x 8
- Leadership x 4
- Detection x 4

Magic: These xp points can be spent on DEFIANCE

Other: +15 renown! You've been seen escorting the missing children to safety!



The Big Bad Wolf (Awoooo)

Points awarded: 15

Knowledge:

Tactics x3
Leadership x3
Investigation x2
Stealth x4
Detection x4
Acrobatics x4

Magic: No magic exp

Other: +15 renown! You've been seen escorting the missing children to safety!


Just a humble trapper coming through

Points awarded: 15

Knowledge:

[Caregiving] Dealing with children in shock.
[Detection] Detecting the out-of-place is easier if you know the setting already.
[Detection] Sensing movement even when you can’t see clearly.
[Detection] Sounds can provide an early warning of as-yet unseen dangers.
[Discipline] Seeing a task through, even when you’re tired and disgusted.
[Discipline] Acting brave for somebody else, even when you’re scared yourself.
[Endurance] Don’t lose your lunch at the sight of gore.
[Endurance] Recovering one’s breath after a sprint. Do more intervals!
[Investigation] Culprits will sometimes insert themselves into an investigation to misdirect suspicion.
[Investigation] Don’t agitate your informants unnecessarily if you want good answers.
[Investigation] Certain authorities may try to take over your investigation; beware of vultures.
[Investigation] Insist on getting as much background information as possible before even starting an investigation.
[Running] Sprinting through dark streets is tricky.
[Stealth] Escaping through a window. Preferably quietly.
[Storytelling] Inventing a cover story on the fly.
[Storytelling] Organizing a summary of recent events.
[Tactics] Alacritous retrograde maneuvers!
[Tactics] Don’t always do the obvious thing; your enemy may be anticipating it.
[Tactics] Whenever possible, don’t enter a combat situation before assessing it.

Magic: No magic exp

Other: +15 renown! You've been seen escorting the missing children to safety!


Notes:

Action! Suspense! And lack of teamwork! Oh my! Well, at least during the first half the teamwork was fairly non-existent. But you guys somehow managed to start working together near the end.

You all had a part to play, and your own abilities and specialties to bring to the table. It's really fun to read about your interactions with each other, and the reactions (internal and external) to the exotic abilities (or lack thereof) of your companions. I am especially impressed by Balth's expert running of this plotline, providing opportunities for the others to shine just as much as Balth himself.

Out of all of you --and don't get me wrong, you were all amazing-- I think I enjoyed Oram the most. He's more or less an ordinary bloke wanting to help out, with reactions a normal guy would have. He doesn't conjure up fireballs or have a pack of beasts at his disposal. And it's just the best hahaha.

There were some minor discrepancies in setting and time between the three of you though. One would say it's nighttime, and then someone else would claim it to be afternoon, for example. Considering the length of this thread it's not an issue, and it only happened maybe once or twice, so it's no big deal. And it was nothing really jarring, but consistency is always appreciated.

In conclusion; this was a joy to read. The chase of the Mystery Necromancer has only just begun, and I'm excited to see where this goes.


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