"I will be fine. I still have food stores and soild walls, and the demons seem disinterested in this area."
Haruto waits silently, staring off vaguely into the distance with a slight frown.
Shayde is similarly disinterested in the situation. He never promised anything to Horgus, after all, and staying here alone seemed foolish. But that was not his choice to make.
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Anvina shuffles a bit. "to my home, then?"
Yes, Anvina. Can you show us the way?
Anvina nods, and looks at the dark sky.
The prisoners behind are quiet, and yet the man in plate never seems to stop smiling.
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Lina shoots a dirty look at the man, shakes her head, and comes up beside Haruto and taps him on the shoulder. "Is something wrong? You seem...out of it, quite a bit," she says matter-of-factly.
Haruto jumps slightly at Lina's touch, then grins slightly.
"I suppose you are not familiar with my habits," he says. "I am a dreamer... and I find as we go forward that I have dreamed often of this... though something is... different..."
He trails off, frowning. After a long moment he shakes himself slightly and adds, "It is... worse seeing it in waking hours."
Lina slows as she considers him. "Hold on--you foresaw these events? I'm, that is to say, that's unbelievable. What exactly did you See, if I may ask?"
"It is never that simple," Haruto replies, subconsciously fiddling with his amulet. "I saw great drops of silver rain falling on Kenabres, which shattered buildings throughout the city."
He waves vaguely at the destruction around them. "Other times I saw myself and others fighting darkness on ruined streets, though never clearly enough to recognize who was with me. Sometimes I feel as if I've... been here before."
Azlana keeps a weapon ready to strike down the creepy guy if he makes any wrong moves.
She smiles when Lina confronts Haruto. She was also wondering why he so intentionally would stare off into space as well, but figured he would come out with it eventually if it was important.
If Anvina is telling them where to go, Azlana moves in that direction, hoping to reunite her with her spouse.
Shayde notices Azlana watching him, but just shrugs and keeps moving. Paranoia would do more good than harm in demonic territory.
He mostly kept an eye on the oddly cheerful 'crusader'. Undoutably the foolish being thought he might be rescued... or would have a chance to escape. Shayde sharpened his blades.
the crusader stares right back at shayde. There is not an ounce of fear in his eyes, more a dare. He's waiting.
"do you have a problem, there? Sharpening your blades for an execution, maybe?"
the man smiles again.
"Been here before..." Lina adjusts her scarf. "I've had my own share of strange dreams, though it's only been recently. Perhaps it is the will of the goddess."
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Shayde stares right back. "We shall see."
"I have always been a dreamer," Haruto replies, pointing at the odd butterfly-shaped patch of fur on his forehead. "Perhaps She had some idea of where I would be, of what would happen..."
Lina's gaze passes over the ruined landscape that had once been a city. "Maybe." She claps Haruto on the back. "Come, there's still a lot of things to do before we can rest. Just try not to trip over anything in your dreaming, hm?" she says teasingly.
Haruto nods with a distant grin as he follows.
as the part resumes travel, a scream cuts the night from somewhere beyond the party's vision. It's not too far- one could detour toward it.
Haruto looks at the others. "We should see to that."
Shayde whispers something to Stalker, and then slips off in the direction of the scream.
Stalker lurks in the darkness behind, keeping a silent watch on the prisoners.
Lina takes off running in the direction of the scream, drawing her weapons as she goes. "Come on!"
as the party goes after the source of the sound, a group of six dretches come into view. They have a ragged looking woman pinned against a wall, and are laughing and taking occasional cuts at her.
Lina curses when she sees the dretches. She says quietly, "Too many to ambush, and I only have one more vial of holy water. If we do it wrong, they might just kill her. Could try to scare them off?"
Listening to Lina, Azlana nods and says softly Okay, well... here goes nothing.
She activates her halo, alerting anyone who didn't already know that there is a celestial being in their midst, and walks alone towards the scene, glowing brightly.
Unhand the woman and flee if you know what's good for you. I would rather use my holy power to heal her, but if I must use it to kill you, I would be happy to.
Azlana then casts light on her hand, and walks closer to them as though she will touch them and melt them to dust.
Haruto follows right behind, saying nothing, but ready to add his own power to her threat.
Shayde stalks around, trying to get to the other side of the demonic cluster while staying hidden.
the dretches glance about, shiver, and then run off into the darkness, leaving the woman to fall to her knees, breathing heavily.
"Allow me to see to your wounds," Haruto calls out to the woman soothingly, stepping calmly towards her. "The others will see that your tormentors do not return."
the woman is still nervous, but doesn't run or overly panic, staying still.
Haruto gently touches her with a healing spell.
Azlana addresses the woman.
Are you okay? Can we escort you somewhere?
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Lina slow claps. "Azlana, that was beautiful. The light from your hand was a great touch."
the woman relaxes a bit at the healing.
"I'm... I'm alright. I'm not sure there's anywhere to go."
Azlana bows to Lina and smiles.
It looked cool only because it worked. If it had failed, it would have been embarrassingly stupid.
____
When the woman says she doesn't know where to go she says
Join us then. We're also looking for some sanity. My name is Azlana. What's yours?
"I... I'm Carla. And yeah, I can follow you all."
she fidgets and nervously gets up, brushing herself off.
Azlana tries to get back on the path to Anvina's place.
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Shayde slips back out of the shadows into view, sheathing his blades, then wordlessly moves along with the group.
Stalker never lets its eye off of the prisoners.
Haruto smiles distantly at Carla. "I am Ueto Haruto, though here in the west you would call me Haruto Ueto. Come, we will see you to somewhere safe, if any such place is to be found now."