[Mistral Village] Soul searching at the worst possible time.

[Vega]

7th Ymiden, 718

"Arlo?" Vega said, looking at him as they pulled the cart up to a stop, having arrived in Mistral Village. Vega had a number of the small boxes and larger pieces she carved from wood to sell and Arlo had told her that the people here appreciated someone who could work wood. She wanted to buy some lumber, too, she'd told him. She had a few projects in mind and she wanted to get the best wood she could for it. Just the way that she said his name, it was obvious that there was something significant to what she was saying, as far as she was concerned. "I think maybe Papa's right."

There was no doubting it, Vega had changed since their experiences on Scalvoris. She was more serious, more playful, more prone to public displays of affection and more thoughtful, reflective. She'd always lived life full on but there was more of a sense of her living it fully and less of her charging at it angrily. She was different, in a lot of ways. Yet, what she very much was not was any more likely to start at the beginning, it seemed. "I mean, I've never been good at book learnin' an' I've always been physical." There was no sting to it, no bad feeling about it. It simply was what it was and who she was. "An' I'm good with a sword. Real good, I know I am. With a bow too. But when I pick up th'fiddle, Arlo." Gesturing rather aimlessly, she admitted, "I can't describe it. It's like I light up, like all the bits of me finally jus' fall into place an' become one person." She grinned at him and shrugged. Nothing like a bit of over dramatising, she said with a grin.

"But that's what I want to do. I want to make musical instruments an' I want to learn them. All of them. The fiddle, an' the cello, the piano, flute an' harmonica. All of them, even the ones I've never 'eard of. It's like that's why I learned to work wood, you know?" If there was anyone here that might be able to help, to teach her, she said, she wanted to stay a few trials and learn. To make instruments. To play them.

"I wish I'd thought, I'd known. When we were on Scalvoris, they've got a ton of instruments they don't have nowhere else," shrugging she considered that, in fairness, there were a lot of instruments before she needed to worry about that. "I think th'fiddle, an' strings will always be my first love, but I want to play them all." She looked at him and shrugged slightly.

Anyhow, they both knew that the next step in what they did was to find somewhere to sleep for the night, set up camp maybe just outside the village, and then go and sell the boxes and planters and such she'd made. As they tethered Peg, Arlo's horse, Vega glanced to the side, thinking that she'd seen movement. But it was there and gone in an instant and instead, she got on with the usual tasks associated with arriving somewhere new. She was wearing a light summer dress, a pretty white thing with flowers on it. That too was a change, her clothing taste had shifted just slightly since she had learned a little about cosmetics. However, for all the delicate pattern of her dress, her sword was comfortably at her hip and her bow at her back. "Want to go into the village an' have a looksie, then find somewhere to camp, or do it th'other way around?" she asked, as Peg ate the sugar lump out of her hand.

[Arlo Creede]

Vega looked beautiful that trial. Arlo had told her that more than once. Of course she always did and always had, no matter what she did with her hair or what clothes she wore. Those things were just dressing. But she'd changed, Arlo thought, more quickly than if she hadn't experienced death and then come back from it again, and hadn't struggled to get back on her feet both literally and figuratively. Those sorts of experiences were bound to change anyone in some way or another. He'd loved her before and he loved her now.

He'd changed some too of course, and the changes to him had come in spurts, as if out of the blue. Most were physical changes. The rest though? So far as he was concerned, he saw himself as he always had. Even if he was often more hungry than he'd ever been before. Food, but not just food. What hadn't changed though was how much he loved and needed her. If anything, those things had grown right along with the rest of him. He was sensing lately that she might be wondering about that. Except that it was more like her to ruminate on such things than to bring them up. Until of course, she did. "About what?" he said when Vega brought up her father being right, and as he sat beside her on the bench of cart and guided Peg along the bumpy dirt road.

Ah. Her music. He grinned, and nodded. He could see when she played how she lit up. And it wasn't just because her fiddle was glowing. She certainly played better than anyone else he'd heard before, and she'd mastered it in eye popping time. A prodigy for sure. "You've found it," he said. "That thing that some people never find because they're trying to do what's expected, or what will make them money or earn them a little fame. You're one of the lucky ones. You've found it." Like him and storytelling. He'd never thought about making a living at it. But when he spun a story, he tended to lose himself in it, and often it wove itself. At least it felt that way.

She wanted to learn more instruments and make them too? 'Then why shouldn't you? There's no reason why not. And I figure at some point we'll find our way back to Scalvoris again." Of course now that he remembered what he'd forgotten before, there was a sense of unfinished business back where they'd been once before. But that business wasn't going anywhere and he needed more time to think about that. Still, even the fact that there was plenty they'd left unexplored, was reason to go back there some trial.

Once they'd stopped and staked Peg out, Arlo missed whatever it was Vega had noticed, by virtue of sorting out their belongings. They ought camp, he suggested, relatively in the open near a source of fresh water, somewhat near the treeline so that the shade from the tall trees to the west would block the late afternoon sun and provide a wind break as well. But not so close that they'd be vulnerable at night to something unwanted come creeping out of the shadows while they slept.

It was then that Lyova's chatter tickled at his mind with a "You see that Arlo?". But by the time he looked up and into the near distance, there was nothing to see. He frowned and shook his head, thinking that the diri's imagination was working overtime. "Camp first," he suggested as he dragged their tent out from the back of the cart, ready to set it up in the likeliest places. After all, if they went into town first, who knew what distractions would stop them returning to camp before nightfall? He'd rather set up their makeshift home in the full light of the early trial, rather than after nightfall.

[Vega]

7th Ymiden, 718

Vega had a sharp tongue, there was no doubting it. However, there was equally only certainty about how sharp her elbow was and she dug it in his ribs when he told her she looked beautiful. "Have you broken a rule an' not told me?" She grinned at him and added, in case he didn't fully comprehend, "shurrup. I must look a right state most of the time if a new frock makes you this excited. Behave yerself an' steer the horse." Yet, sitting next to him on the cart's bench seat, she rested her head on his shoulder and he knew her too well to think she was anything other than pleased. "You're lookin' moderately yummy yourself," she added, quietly. He looked at her and seemed thoughtful, Vega noticed. What was he thinking, she wondered. He seemed to be watching her carefully just lately and Vega knew why. Things had changed, for him, and significantly so when his memories had returned.

But she'd found it? That thing which made her happy and which she could and should do? Maybe, she said. "I mean. I always thought it was hittin' things, you know? That's a damn sight more useful than floatin' around with a fiddle in my hands an' the wind in my hair, innit?" She grinned, but useful was important. Yet she couldn't deny it. "But you're right. That's what it's like." Losing herself in it, that was. Even she had to recognise that she'd learned the instrument very quickly, her father was convinced she was some kind of prodigy. Vega glanced over at him when he asked why she shouldn't and she shrugged slightly. "I dunno. I'll make bad noises an' you'll have to live with them while I'm learnin' stuff, so I thought I should at least like, make a show of mentionin' it in passing, you know?" She grinned and bumped her shoulder against his, then asked with a more serious expression. "Do you want to go back? Tio's there, an' if you do. Well, I'm with you if you want."

When he told her what sort of place they should set their camp up in, Vega grinned and quirked an eyebrow at him. "Really? There are some well good ideas you've got there," she looked at him with amusement and some challenge in her gaze. "I have learnt a few things, you know. Here an' there." Why was he saying this to her now, she wondered but, typically, didn't ask because she thought she might not like the answer. "Yep. For sure." Camp first. They'd set it up enough times together that it was like a routine they had. But Vega was distracted, wondering what his words meant and why he said them. She was down on her haunches, getting the groundsheet laid out as she thought about it and decided that asking him was the only option. "Arlo?"

She raised her head to speak and in doing so she saw, for sure, what she'd thought she'd seen previously. "Where's the cat bowl, qau'ma?" Would he remember, she wondered - that was the code her father had for there's something wrong. As she looked at him her hands moved quickly. "Men, hooded, tracking through trees. Towards village. Lots." Vega frowned as Iris spoke to her. "Iris says more, we not see." With a glance at him, and sure that he'd want to, Vega motioned towards the trees, in a "shall we?" sort of gesture.

[Arlo Creede]

"A published rule or a yet to be known one?" Arlo had shot back, grinned and shook his head when Vega wondered if he'd broken one. He continue to maintain, in good humor if she was interested in going rounds about it, that he couldn't possibly run afoul of any rule that didn't exist yet. Wouldn't hold water in any court in the land, and the first transgression at the least, to be fair, ought be considered a free pass. Nonetheless, she looked beautiful that trial, as she always did, and Arlo would never tire of telling her so.

She was pretty good at hitting things too, he agreed when she talked about her musical pursuits. But hitting things wasn't a passion, was it? Music was, for her, just like storytelling was for him. Those things didn't at all lack usefulness. In fact they were probably more useful in most cases than wielding a bow or a sword. He could always wear earplugs while she was learning, he teased. But in truth he knew he wouldn't need to. It just came that naturally to her.

"If we decide to go back to Scalvoris, when or if we decide to, better Tio doesn't see me coming. Business to settle," he maintained. "I happen to know he'll still be there. He told me that once, before I remembered. There's no rush." And he knew she had, he added. Learned a few things that was. He wasn't telling her so much about the best place to camp, as simply speaking aloud to himself. He did it all the time, Arlo thought? Why would she think it strange now? But no matter, part of his distraction was Lyova's continued insistence that she'd seen something, and him having failed to see it just yet.

And then? He straightened up from emptying a crate when Vega asked about the cat bowl, and in honesty there was a confused look on his face. It took a trill to realize, to remember, but then for appearance sake he waved a hand in the general direction of the cart. "Over there," he said, but watched Vega's hands instead. So, hooded men headed towards the village and they must blend awfully well with the forest. Which probably meant they'd move well through it, and fight well in it too.

But if left to their own devices, they'd take the village by surprise. That wasn't good. Shall we, she asked? And as if he was only knocking on the lid of the crate, Arlo signed..."Yes." It was really all they needed to say, and they were both already armed. So calling silently out to Lyova, he asked her to keep an eye on the men, so that he and Vega could follow at a distance and not be detected. The diri, in effect, could lead the way in that instance.

"Bunches. That's what Lyova tells me. All armed with swords, and most of those armed with bows. All men too that she can see," he whispered as they set out. Of course bunches was a vague term, but it was the best he could hope for when it came to Lyova. Arlo was armed well too, dressed in leather armor, equipped with sword, dagger, short bow and pistol crossbow always at the ready. But for now? it was stealth that would be their best weapon.

[Vega]

7th Ymiden, 718

When he'd pointed out that no court in the land would convict him, Vega looked up at Arlo and grinned. "Welcome to biqaj justice, love." she nuzzled playfully against his neck and then kissed him softly along his jaw. "Guilty," she whispered in his ear. "an' your sentence is a long one." Chuckling, though she nudged him again. Earplugs? Cheeky. Fair enough, but still, cheeky. Her teasing turned serious, though, when he talked about Tio and the score he had to settle. "Whatever you want, qau'ma. So long's you know that." It took priority and that was undoubted. There was no need to go into long and detailed explanations, it was enough that they both knew.

Vega frowned slightly as she glanced at him, wondering why he was telling her what she knew and she came within an inch of asking him, but then things changed and her eyes turned serious and she nodded. Her hands, though, once they started to move, they signed to him. "Careful. Please?". It was what he had signed to her in Desnind, oh so long ago. They made their way and she nodded as he explained what Lyova was seeing. Iris, too, was saying much the same. What they got to see, though, was that the men in three of the groups seemed to be converging on one spot, one area. It was where one of the lumberyards were, according to their unseen companions, and Vega glanced at him. They could cut off one of the groups before they got there - if they were quick and quiet, they'd be able to do it without the other groups knowing.

But they had to move, and so they did. Judging by what Lyova and Iris told them was ahead, they could cut off one group of five at a river they were going to have to cross. There was an area where the men would be more out in the open and Vega and Arlo could shoot from the treeline. There was no doubting it in Vega's mind, these men were going to attack, but they hadn't yet. She wasn't the kind of person to kill someone for what they might do, but then just as the men got to the open area and Vega and Arlo were able to shoot, the screams from the outlying areas of the village started. "Come on, boys," one of the men snarled in a deep, furious tone. "Lets go kill us some villagers," he said, drawing his bow and notching an arrow.

Looking at Arlo, just a brief glance, Vega's crimson eyes undoubtedly left him in no doubt. Raising her own bow, she fired and the one who'd said it spoke no more as her arrow went through his throat and killed him before he realised he'd been shot. She wasn't as fast as Arlo, even now, but she'd grown into a damn fine shot. However, there were still four men and Arlo and Vega had a very brief amount of time to fire. Vega was already pulling back another arrow, as Arlo moved.

[Arlo Creede]

Biqaj justice? That was a new one on him, Arlo had told Vega dryly. But if it meant that the sentence handed down was a lifetime for him at her side, then he could live with that. Especially when the judgment was sealed with a kiss. Which he'd responded to with equal enthusiasm. More, even, considering everything for him these trials thanks to Cassion, seemed to be more. But Scalvoris, Tio, unfinished business. Arlo knew that his business was Vega's, and Vega's was his. Went without saying. It was simply understood.

Careful, she signed when he agree they should follow the men off in the trees? In spite of the seriousness of the moment, he couldn't help but grin as he signed back, "Aren't I always?" Just before he checked his weapons and they headed out, Lyova darting back to check on them, then darting off ahead again. So, according to the diri and Vega's familiar, there were three groups of men converging on one location. It made sense from an aggressor's standpoint. Come from everywhere at once, sow confusion, cut off escape routes for the victims.

They could choose to head towards the village to get ahead of them all, or choose to follow one group. Those seemed to be their options. Splitting up themselves wasn't an option in Arlo's mind. Too many of the bad sort, only two of them. No matter what they chose to do however, they'd have to be careful, stay out of sight, move quietly and not draw attention to themselves. Then ultimately near the river, the decision was made for them as the men began attacking on the outskirts.

Arlo's pistol crossbow was out in a flash, since it was the bow always loaded and ready to go with a single bolt. One man down, courtesy Vega, and four to go. Beside her, inside the line of trees, Arlo took aim at one of the men, but then heard a scream off to the right where a second man had grabbed a small child and was dragging her away. Swinging his aim accordingly, he fired, sending a bolt straight through the middle of the man's back. One who'd clearly left his armor at home that trial. The man collapsed, the child broke free and ran. Without a thought, Arlo dropped the weapon, reached back and grabbed his shortbow, loaded up an arrow and fired at another man who was busy scaling the thatched roof of a small dwelling.

[Oracle]

A single rider was uncloaked; he rode proudly at the front of the largest group of raiders with long red locks trailing behind him. At least ten men galloped behind him as fast as their beautiful steeds would carry them. Actually it was rather odd that the horses bearing the raiders toward the village were full-blooded Rharnian thoroughbreds. Their shiny amber coats and black manes rippled freely in the wind. On the bodies of the mounts was also a bit of well-made leather horse armor. Strange so see such things in the possession of simple bandits, but perhaps they had stolen them from somewhere. Even the weapons of the raiders were beautifully forged steel blades with a small amount of ornamentation on the hilts.

The leader appeared to be of Aukari origins or at least possessed the bright red hair that was typical to the race. He had fiery brown eyes seated on his lean youthful face. The leader carried a flaming torch in one hand and an exquisitely jeweled scimitar in the other. Rubies the size of silver nels were set within the hilt and pommel of the weapon, suggesting a prosperity that many bandits did not live to see.

The man raced ahead of his men, waving the torch wildly as he raced up to the nearest home and lit the corner of its thatched roof on fire. The flames dashed outwards within a few trills, consuming the roof of the home. Villagers screamed in terror and the occupants of the home came fleeing outside. The bandit leader lit the next home on fire before kicking his horse into a gallop and pushing further into Mistral Village.

The bandit leader seemed to meet Arlo and Vega’s eyes as he bolted past them toward the back of Mistral Village.

"Fear the Ring." He said icly before passing them by.

By this time his ten riders had entered the edge of town and a couple of the raiders were attempting to burn down another home. Many of the elderly and children of Mistral fled toward the nearby forest.

Mistral Wood had protected them in the past. There were stories that the trees sometimes moved within the Wood, often guiding travelers home or forcing invaders away. Though the Wood had acted abnormally in Ashan, the villagers seemed desperate enough to rely on its protection again.
At least fifteen able-bodied adults remained behind to back up Arlo and Vega. Hatchets and pitchforks were taken up by most of the villagers, while the rest worked to put out the flames.

Mounted bandits raced toward the group with blades out. The villagers had little experience with weapons, but their single guardsmen Walden Marr stood at the heart of the defense with his short sword unsheathed.

“Get ready!” He bellowed at the men and women to his right and left. Desperate faces looked between Vega and Arlo hoping for someone else to protect them before they were forced to protect themselves. Sadly the couple could not fight off every one of the raiders, but maybe together most of the group would be able to survive.

!

Message from: Oracle

This is a modbomb. Feel free to take things from here. You both now have the backup of 15 villagers who are armed with makeshift weapons. Several of them will probably die in this attack since they have very limited experience with combat. Two homes are on fire near the edge of town and you have both caught sight of the bandit leader. The leader will not appear again in this event. Feel free to pm me if you want more details on him that you might have noticed in passing. Raiders will be unable to go far into Mistral Wood. The trees there will appear to seal off any route allowing them to follow the fleeing elderly and children.

[Vega]

Oh this was all just too organised to be a raid. Or to be just a raid, that was. Vega had a great comeback for the guy in charge, but she really didn't have the time to deliver it, as she moved. There was a group of villagers and that was where Vega headed, with her usual complete lack of thought for herself or her own safety. As she ran, she fired, her bow. Her weapon and Arlo's both using the ability she had to help them with their aim, casting starlight in the beam. Where there were people running to the woods, every now and then Vega narrowed her eyes and utilised the "Fog Bank" ability granted to her by Xiur, allowing the innocent to be hidden and to escape harm. Children, especially, were her focus there, to get them safe to the woods. As safe as she could get them. It hid them from those chasing them, confusing the attackers- but it was one person at a time, and there were so many to save. So, she tried to stop the children from being harmed and anyone she could see who was elderly or struggling.

When she wasn't doing that, as she ran to where the villagers were making a stand, Vega would use her bow. She'd only shoot where she was sure that she wasn't going to hurt any of the villagers and where she was clear that she could take the shot. The last thing they needed was wildfire. But another couple of dead raiders was a positive as far as she could see.

"Alright, you lot!" Vega shouted when they got there. It wasn't because she wanted to be in charge ~ that was the last thing she wanted in fact ~ but she shouted to them, this rag tag group of folks with pitchforks, for the love of Xiur, because she needed a vehicle for what she was going to do. She drew her longsword which swam with burning lava and at the moment she did she utilised Flow of Morale, to bring hope and optimism to the people who had stayed behind to defend. Hopefully, the sight of her and Arlo doing what they did made things easier, people more likely to work together, to believe they could do this. "We're gonna defend this village together, an' we're gonna stay alive doin' it!"

But they wouldn't be able to, she knew. There were too many. "Come on you cowards! Get a gobful of this!" Was what she yelled at the bandits and as she did, in front of them grew a mist, formed of starlight and freezing. Of course, in the time it took to do all that, other people were doing things, Arlo especially. People were fighting and trying to save the village as best they could and, Vega was determined that she would be part of the solution, not part of the problem. The mist ability she used only when she was sure that there were no villagers going to be hurt by it and then, as the constellation of stars on her chest glowed in the shape of a dragon, the redhead lifted her sword.

Off Topic

The cold of the void between the stars infuses this ground-level cloud with a near paralyzing cold. Joints grow stiff, hands grow numb on weapons, movements and communications are hindered by shivering, weapons and armor may become brittle. This has essentially the same game impact as "Eyes of Dusk", but is an Area-of-Effect power that covers 100 sq.ft. Eyes of dusk does: In game terms, appropriate skills are reduced by a tier equivalent when used. For instance, if a PC in a fist fight has 10 points into Master Level Unarmed Combat, this will reduce his skill to being Expert instead. This lasts for as many bits as the Blessed's Psychology skill. The Blessed is unaffected by this cloud.

[Arlo Creede]

These weren't your average simple minded and opportunistic attackers they were dealing with here, Arlo realized. Or had already been coming to suspect, considering the way they'd moved through the woods while he and Vega were trailing them. They might, him and her, have bitten off more than most reasonable people could chew. Except that they were them, they tended to run towards this sort of thing. And this time was no different. But they'd gotten lucky at least and taken down a couple before the raiders caught on to their presence. Arlo took another quick shot before another of them looked in his direction. One more down at least and one more villager that was able to flee to safety.

He and Vega ran towards, instead of away, even as the apparent leader charged past them and into the woods. Fear the ring? In that instant it meant nothing. Arlo would like to have sent the man tumbling off his horse and to his death, but he'd seemed to have come from nowhere, and so swiftly that Arlo barely had time to register that he was there at all. The man, in fact all of them where very well equipped however, and if they hadn't been caught in the thick of it and thinking of other things, Arlo would have remarked that he wouldn't have minded having one of those horses and one of those swords. At least if they were of the quality they appeared to be.

Some villagers fled past them. Particularly women, the elderly and the children. And yet some brave souls remained and rallied behind them. No matter how poorly they were armed, and how questionable their fighting skills. If Vega could rally the bunch? He had no objections and more power to her if she could. Of course she had other tricks up her sleeve with which to do it. And maybe he'd a few of his own to call on. He fired his bow so long as he had the range to do a proper job of it, then when quarters became too close, he traded it for his sword.

Arlo's acrobatic skills tended to serve him well in this instance, and he was no slouch with a blade either. Dazzle them with footwork, a tumble here to roll under the arc of an attacking blade, only to come back up on his feet with his own blade planted deep in a man's belly. A block, hilt to hilt and an uppercut with his fist to the jaw...there. And in the thick of it, he turned in time to witness one of the raiders on horseback, barreling down upon an ill equipped villager.

Thrusting out his fist, leading with the ring on his finger, he focused and created an instant prison of earth round the horse's legs, which trapped the beast and sent his rider tumbling over his head, and into a heap on the ground. It was just enough time for the stunned villagers to snap out of their shocked inability to move, and charge in and dispatch the raider with their pitchforks and shovels.

[Vega]

They fought, side by side as they had agreed all that time ago. Vega resisted her natural urge to leap in front of Arlo and try to protect him from the bad people because even she had to admit that he was more than capable of taking care of himself. And her. And a half dozen villagers on his own. He was like a whirling dervish with his acrobatic moves and his skill with the sword. Vega knew that she could just leave him to it but equally she knew that they had one eye on each other. It was always their way.

As they battled for the village, Vega used her Immortals-granted abilities and also she fought. There was no hesitation in the young woman and whilst she didn't leap in front of him, she did jump in front of one of the villagers who had left himself open to attack and was about to get skewered. Vega moved forward, lunging with her sword to stop the blow of the attacker. It must be said that the fact that she had a sword apparently made from molten lava kind of drew the attention of those around her and they tended to either focus on her or avoid her very much. For her part, Vega moved with an almost slow-seeming grace, these trials there was no hurry or rush to her movements and yet, her sword flashed and she seemed to dance around like a flame, moving from place to place and person to person.

She was unable, though, to stop them all. There were too many of them and as much as Vega tried, and as much as she knew Arlo did, some of the villagers fell. Vega, in typical form, moved in a manner which was much more offensive than defensive and the defense she had was for the villagers. Lunging to the aid of the man with the pitchfork, the bandit saw an opportunity and sliced at her, with the aim of cutting her across the stomach, but Vega twisted and felt the blade slice her arm. That was fine, it wasn't too deep and her arm wouldn't kill her or cause her guts to spill out.

He cut across her arm and an immediate line of blood appeared on her frock, which evidently really irritated her (that or the fact that he was trying to kill innocent people....) and she swung her blade in an arc, slicing down from his shoulder more or less to the center of his chest in one blow. He looked down in surprise as blood sprayed and Vega turned to look around, but there were no more. The bandits were either dead or gone. Vega's immediate response to that was "Arlo!?" As soon as she found him, she ran over to him, "You a'right? You're not hurt? Let me see.. let me see." She was - they both were - covered in blood and as she realised that he had scrapes and cuts and nicks and bruises but nothing more, she grabbed him and kissed him. "It's fine, stop fussin'," she said, swatting him away from her arm. It did sting some, she had to admit but then, that wasn't really surprising.

But now? Now there were injured people. Vega turned, determined to help and then she saw it.

The burning building.

Without thought or even really being aware that she did it, she stepped back and her eyes flooded black. The smell of it suddenly hit her and she looked for a moment as though she was going to run. But she breathed in and she looked at the burning building. And then she looked at it some more and red flecks started to appear in the blackness of her eyes. "We need to help. Come on."

Then, determinedly, she stomped towards it where she would be completely part of the rescue efforts. She didn't flinch, didn't hesitate. But later, when they were on their own, she threw up.