Aeterna - IC

[bookdragon2000]

Regius North District

"AW HELL!"
what the heck is that woman doing here!? Matomo hesitated, not sure what to do about the books that he had 'liberated' and were now stacked in his arms. That hesitation, lost him the chance to escape and the guards surrounded him.
"the day just keeps getting better and better...."
Matomo set down his pack and the books, stuffing two of the 'light balls' into his pocket, and stood in a ready stance with the huthvirn in his hands, he once again infused his clothes with the magic again. After all, he had no other choice, his magic could not help him much here, he would have to depend on his nonexistent fighting skills.

He swallowed, and braced himself.

[Katrix]

Regius North District

Sidna took out a material and began burning it. The material produced a lot of smoke which she surrounded the boy in.
The smoke didn't limit his movement, but it did block out all the light. To stop him from escaping she created some vacuum around that again.

"I'm sorry, but you wont get away this time." She then found the sleeping gas again.
He may have seen it before, but now that the light didn't get in anymore.

[bookdragon2000]

Regius North District

Matomo gasped and started coughing immediately from the dense smoke obscuring his vision and entering his lungs. He could not see anything, except the dim glow of his huthvirn when he held it up to his face. He dropped to the ground where the smoke was less dense and crawled to the side, where he could see a faint glimmer of light. But as he stuck his hand out to pull himself forward again, he felt a terrible tugging sensation and immediately pulled back his hand. It seems there was a vacuum barrier around the area he was in, trapping him in with the smoke.

He frantically cast around for a plan, an out, any out will do. The only idea he could think of was one that had a terrible chance of working, but he had to try regardless. He crawled back to his pack, he took out the balls from the pack and his pocket, he stood up and started throwing them outside the barrier, spinning 90 degrees every time he threw one. Hopefully he would be able to hit Sidna and stun her stopping her vacuum which kept him trapped. But as he threw the last one, he unwisely took a deep breath and started choking once again on the smoke, as he tried to recover his breath, he unthinkingly breathed in the sleeping gas. Within moments, he was unconscious.

[Tewi_Inaba]

Rockhill District: Kalkun - Just outside the Inn

When given the opportunity, Seki dropped both the sac of food and the bag of coins in Jason’s hands. She took the red blade out of her mouth as she grabbed the handle, bringing the weapon to a calm rest on the top of her shoulder.

“His name is Chainsaw-Sama. “ Seki said as she looked around at the various shops around the Inn. “Maybe we can get something to make carrying the money and the food easier too.” She sighed heavily and continued. “Now I remember why I never travel anywhere. Maybe if we stay here the face cards will come after us and we can kill them all at once!

[S121]

Rockhill District: Kalkun - Just outside the Inn

Seki handed her food bag and coin bag over to Jason.
In order to give himself a free hand, Jason transferred the coin bag over to his left hand, along with the food bag.

He then listened as Seki began to speak up of a plan of action, not only for equipment, but for Tyruss's men as well.

"Well if that's the case, then we should go get a backpack. Now as for staying here, that might not be the best idea. The town isn't very big, which means that if it does get attacked, there will be nowhere to set up a defensible spot. If we do stay here, we should probably only do so for a couple of days.", Jason said.

He then turned his head over to the entrance to the inn, then to Seki.

"In the meantime, we should probably go eat breakfast.", Jason said as he began to walk over to the inn's entrance.

[Katrix]

Regius North District

After waiting for a while she removed the smoke to see if he still was conscious. He had thrown a few balls of light, but they had all missed.
Now she was hopping to continue what she was doing.

"This boy may know something about Seki. Find out what he know.
Be sure that he does not escape. If you excuse me, I have another target to chase."

She then went home to prepare. She already had a complete disguise ready as this was not the first time she had to disguise herself.
Wig, alternate staff, clothes. She already had it all. She packed her normal clothes in case she would need them.

When she was finished packing she wrote a letter to Vox, saying she had gone to a small village called Kalkun in the Rockhill district, and invited him to join the case.
In case she would already left the town before he arrived she wrote where she would hint at going next.

[WriggleRid3r]

Kalkun, Rockhill District

---

"Well, thanks for everything, Madame. It was a pleasure staying here." Nicole packed her belongings: well, to be exact, her only belonging was her Seraphim, and headed out to the innkeeper to pay.

"You sure you don't want to stay another day? It's the HIVE day! Everyone's busy preparing, but we need music." Rosmerta pleaded. HIVE day was literally the birthday of the HIVE. When HIVENet was created, the HIVE day was also selected as one of the first holidays to commemorate, the others being Christmas and Easter. During the HIVE day, every villagers cease their work and gather for a special social event that differs from village to village. But in the most common case, villagers gather to show off their talents, hold farmers' market, and/or play sports like soccer.

"I'm sure Poppa Presley will do just fine." Nicole laughed. Poppa Presley was a greasly-looking man who always wore extravagant, gawdy clothings and performed like the hit singer Elvis Presley that lived and sang almost 200 years ago. Some villagers calls his music "Tacky and old-fashioned", but most of them find it mildly interesting. Until Nicole visited Kalkun, Poppa Presley was the one man who was able to play some sort of music, but his style did not appeal for everyone.

"I still don't get why you have to leave so soon." Rosmerta shook her head as Gravel entered the bar, announcing that he finished carrying all the bleachers. "Oh, good job Gravel. Have a cup of mead for good work."

"I have a purpose, Madame, and that purpose isn't going to be dwindled by holiday spirit." Nicole proclaimed, her hands gripping on Seraphim tight, her mind trailing through the tragic memories.

"And what might that purpose be?" Rosmerta asked curiously. Nicole drew herself closer to Rosmerta and whispered so that no one buy Rosmerta can hear it.

"Assassination of Tyruss."

[Major Mario]

Kalkun, Rockhill District - Inn

Another day, another weary morning. Eric lifted himself out of his bed and tugged on his clothes, feeling the traces of whiskey pulling at his muscles. He wasn't hungover in the slightest, but he could still feel the effects on his body as he trudged around his purchased room. His cotton shirt and hosen were washed by the innkeeper, his pack was nice and tidy, and his day looked as bright as ever. Hell, even his tab was generous enough to make him smile. Apparently, this place didn't see too much business if they had rooms for only 10 gold.

After taking a sip of water from an old, banged up flask, the merchant took his pack and rolled up his covers and spare clothing before doubling back to the window to check on his partner. Sure enough, Bob was content on the ground with a blanket tossed over him. While the mule was the third that the merchant had, Eric always tried to take good care of his charges as he did with his wares. The mule was an investment, anyway. Eric chuckled and went downstairs, eager to get back on the road to the forest 'o plenty.

He paid no heed to the new faces in the inn at first. Places like that always had new faces, he knew. He was tempted to get better acquainted with that ranger or pursue that beaten man for a possible customer, but that would have to wait until he got his breakfast and paid off his tab. With a small sigh, he sat down at a table and waved one of the inn workers over. Small frame, blonde hair, pretty on the eyes. What a shame that she was working here, but then again, her presence calmed the patrons.

"Bacon and eggs, please," he said with a smile before sitting back to wait.

[wonderweiss]

Otori heard the comotion from outside.

"Excuse me a moment." He said to he bartender.

He went ourside to observe the source of the noise.

"Alright, what the hell's goin on here?"

He was obviously slightly cranky from the lack of sleep.

[Tewi_Inaba]

Rockhill District: Kalkun,

Seki wasn’t exactly happy that her plan to simply draw the enemy near and wipe them out at once was shot down but it did lead way to a new one, a better one that had been inspired by what Jason had said. While following him towards the Inn Seki jumped over and in front of Jason’s body. She waved her arms in excitement before blurting out.

“I GOT IT I GOT IT!! If the battlefield is going to get destroyed like it always dose then this time around we should fight somewhere important to Tyruss. Some place he won’t want destroyed. In fact we could pick off one location at a time and destroy all of them until we find where he’s hiding!”

In her excitement Seki didn’t realize how loudly she had spoken. Any nearby Rebels or any nearby followers of Tyruss could have heard her.

[S121]

Rockhill District: Kalkun

Jason's eyes widened and his face contorted in fear as Seki blurted out her plan.
He remembered what Kris had said, that Tyruss could have spies anywhere and everywhere. They could have heard Seki's plan.

(Oh sh*t!!! I really hope nobody heard...)

Jason quickly darted his head around, looking to see if anyone heard. He turned his head incredibly fast, but surprisingly, he wasn't aided by his magic. Jason saw a strange man burst out and shout.

"Alright, what the hell's goin on here?", the strange man yelled.

Reacting quickly, Jason grabbed Seki by the hand and pulled her into the bushes to hide from sight.
Jason and Seki were now crouched down in the bushes, away from peering eyes.

"Shhhh! Not so loud!", Jason loudly whispered to Seki.

He then quickly calmed down and began whispering his thoughts on her plan.

"Okay, we have to be very careful not to say this kind of stuff out loud. We might alert Tyruss's men. The ranger that saved me said that Tyruss could have spies could be lurking the streets. We need to be very careful. Now, your plan, I like it. I'm not sure if we could fight Tyruss head on, but taking out important supply veins is a good idea. We just need to grab some supplies and gather information. I already know of one place that Tyruss has under his control. I used to live near some Titanium mines. He most likely owns them now.", Jason explained to Seki.

[Katrix]

Regius North distrct

After finding all the things for the disguise she prepared it all. When she was done she looked like any other normal villager.
Blonde hair, wooden traveling staff, brown robe. Her story was that she was a water mage that loved wandering around.
She was not very proficient with her magic. She only knew enough to never run out of water.

While walking to her friends house she stopped by to hear if there had been any other things from Kalkun.
Apparently a girl had yelled out something about holding the battle somewhere precious to Tyruss.
She didn't really know who this girl might be.

Once she arrived at the house she was greeted by a surprised man. "It's me, Sidna. I'm going to visit a town to continue pursue on that boy. Hope you don't mind helping me a bit."
"Oh, I didn't recognize you. The disguise is really good. Now just point on the map where you want to go and I'll take you there."
Sidna then found Kalkun on the map. She made sure to be transported somewhat away from town to they wouldn't see anything suspicious.

[Tewi_Inaba]

Rockhill District: Kalkun

Seki didn’t have time to think before she was suddenly dragged into the bushes just barely avoiding the sight of Hell Master in the process. While in the bushes Jason whispered to her the warnings of spies and the name of their first target. As long as they were away from enemy eyes they had a chance to plan things out. While Seki wasn’t much of a planer and more of a head on fighter, she thought in a way that effectively played against the enemies normal thought pattern. On the rare occasions when she did plan something out her planes almost never failed. She whispered back to Jason, cupping her hand to his ear in the same way.

“You realize with only two of us we can’t actually “capture” enemy ground. We have to destroy the locations to the point they could no longer be used. So then, are you prepared to destroy your home?"

[S121]

Rockhill District: Kalkun

Jason was very conflicted.

Was he ready to destroy his home? Was he truly ready?

Jason was incredibly silent. He down to the ground and stared at the dirt at his feet.

His home was where he had lived with his father for years. It was all he had left. It was where he had played and worked as a child. It was where he learned to master his power. It was where some of his fondest memories of his father were. His father. His father was buried there. Virtually everything he had ever known was there, and he had a decision to make. Would he burn down everything he knew, would he destroy his old life, or would he let Tyruss use the mines to create weapons to subjugate the masses and harm more people?

After a long while, Jason finally broke his silence.

"Okay... Let's do it...", Jason quietly whispered in a saddened tone.

It was a very hard decision to make, but he knew that he couldn't let Tyruss use his home to kill innocent people.
He knew it was for the good of everyone in Aeterna to destroy it.

[Tewi_Inaba]

Rockhill District: Kalkun

Seki silently acknowledged that she heard and understood what Jason had said. She gave a light nod before giving her verbal response.

“I’m the devil and you’re my demon.” She would have paused for a short moment allowing him some sort of reaction before she would explain. “When humans try to escape hell, Demons wait at the overworld to drag the victim back down to the fiery pit where the devil can devour their soul. We need to take out big game. Not just locations but people as well. In the event t we attack a target or get attacked. I’ll face them while you cut off the escape route. I find the leaders in the empire to be cowardly and prone to fleeing. We can’t allow that to happen. Besides you might learn something if you pay attention.”

Seki had found a way to use the boy’s talent in a very effective way which would make it easier to take out large targets like Sidna. While it may feel like Seki was telling Jason to sit on the sidelines the plan was only for big game and would be a temporary arrangement, at least until Jason gained enough experience to go head to head with one of the Generals.