Brock finds that after a few yards, the tracks are joined by a second set: booted feet of modest size. The two sets of tracks run besides each other, following the path to the south-west.
Eventually, the path leads to the remains of the structure that obviously burned down quite some years ago. Its charred and crumbled outer walls still stand, framing the bare, scorched earth and collapsed tiled roof within. The ruin overlooks the sea from atop a steep granite cliff, but a natural break in the cliff face provides access from the structure to a small, private beach. The two sets of tracks go down to the beach.
At the ruined building, you find that the tracks change. There seems to have been a short struggle, and you can see tracks going down to the beach: It seems like a body had been dragged.
Following the track, you come upon a strange scene. Michellia standing in the sand, barefoot and her hair all disheveled. With her are four Ulfen men, their leader a broad-shoulder fellow, with curly blonde hair and a wolf's pelt for a cloak. There is a longboat nearby, pulled onto the beach. Three of the Ulfen are working to get the boat ready for departure, while the fourth looks at you, silently. Michellia calls out to you when you get near. "Oh, am I glad to see you. My misguided sister came here, and attacked me at our former summer home. If it hadn't been for the timely arrival of these men here, she might have succeeded as well! Please, take me back to the wedding, so the guests won't realize what happened."
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Witnessing the marks turning to drags, Lysaer starts to regret leaving his sword behind, or bidding Isabella to keep hers sheathed. Facing the Ulfen and Michellia Lysaer rises an eyebrow as she spins her web of lies.
"Yes? Then where is your sister pray tell, unless these Ulfen Men are not what they appear?" he says with scorn, relishing the chance to let some malice out of his system. "Where are you headed my lady? Your wedding is hardly over? The time for gilting your lover at the altar went this morning."
Ulfen, oh how I despise the unwashed pea brained dolts. The Hellknight thinks darkly thinking of an old 'comrade'.
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Brock is good at this sort of tracking, and is rather bothered by what they suggest. Since Lysaer is unarmed he'll undo the peace knot of his own great sword and offer to the hilt to him. "Here, there might be a different sort of party ahead. It's a good blade... me?" He'll tighten on his right glove, flashing the more then decorative spikes on it and then patting the tree following in his wake with his knuckles. "I can help my little Misha hit very hard and still be of use.
Brock doesn't seem to sense anything amiss when the first approach the group, but after Lysaer catches onto something he takes things more seriously. The Hellknight seemed a good sort, and he'd helped Brock out a few times during the festivities.
Lysaer is given a long look, then he turns a set of hard eyes on the gathered group of Ulfen. "As my companion said, I'd like to know what happened to my sister before a few heads need to be smashed together. He seems to think you're lying, and his sort is good at seeing that such things."
He cracks his knuckles theatrically, the treant rearing up behind him.
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Lysaer stands looking at the burnt out house, and his hands reflexively reach for a blade that is no longer there. Going for his dagger he spies Brock holding out his own unbound blade to him.
Genuinely surprised at a show of selflessness from an Elf, Lysaer is taken off-guard and his Hellknight mask slips slightly.
"Thankyou Brock..."
"She's in the boat," Michellia says. "They knocked her unconscious, and will take her away from here so she can't disturb the further festivities." Indeed, there seems to be a person under the tarp, judging by the shape.
As Michellia is trying to explain, the Ulfen leader start muttering. "Nej nej nej," you hear him under his breath. "Detta kan inte hända. Jag måste stoppa det! Män. Ge sig på!"
Even for those who don't speak Skald, the intent of his last words is clear. You're under attack!
1st - Brock, Isabella, Lysaer
2nd - Ulfen
3rd - Auriea, Cernan, Galandaro
--
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"Finally, a chance to make a northman bleed!" Lysaer curses as he calls upon his pantheon to bring judgement upon these barbarians. Righteous destruction fills the Hellknight Aspirant as he approaches the Ulfen leader, drawing his borrowed Greatsword as he does so.
With a swift strike he attacks the Ulfen.
for
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When the Ulfen makes his unsubtle declaration of battle Brock lets out a whoop. "I do not know entirely what is happening, Evil! But you shall not be taking a Blakros sister from here in your villainous boat!"
He lets out another clipped shout when Lysaer strikes true and then hustles up to the same Ulfen man, readying to swing a fist at the man's face. The move doesn't come instantly, but as soon as the treant gets into range to begin harrying the Ulfen Leader.
"Misha, bash his brains in!" As he speaks he huffs out a short breath and lowers his head in a very animalistic way, even stomping the ground with a foot like an angry bull.
The Ulfen leader is struck heavily before he can even react, but the three massive blows do not disable him. Rather, they only fuel his will. The man draws a greataxe and roars. His eyes seem to have trouble focusing and the Ulfen starts speaking in tongues, something guttural that is definately not Skald. "Moun fou. Nan fen mond la se nan mennen. Mwen pral fè tou sa li pran yo sispann sa a!"
The raging Ulfen leader then strikes out at Lysaer, twice. Both attacks hit the Hellknight armiger, who dearly misses his armour. Lysaer can shrug off the first blow, but the second knocks him unconscious.
Swiftly, the other Ulfen join the fray, drawing handaxes on the approach. One of them circles around to close in on Galandaro. Another steps up to Brock and swings his axe in rage, while the third steps around Lysaer's body to engage his tree companion. However, both of them fail to connect with their attacks.
--
1st - Brock, Isabella, Lysaer
2nd - Ulfen: Leader , Blue, Green, Red
3rd - Auriea, Cernan, Galandaro
--
"You don't understand," the blonde Ulfen fumes in Aklo. "The world will end, if she stays here. I can't let that happen. We can't let that happen." The intensity of his words is near-frightening, but whether it's madness or true insight that fuels his rage is unclear.
Isabella manages a perfectly aimed strike, but the raging Ulfen shrugs off the attack with barely a grunt, spurred on by his leader's presence. Cernan then casts his spell, casting doubt in all of the Ulfen despite their rage, and setting two of them on fire.
--
1st - Brock, Isabella, Lysaer
2nd - Ulfen: Leader , Blue , Green , Red .
3rd - Auriea, Cernan, Galandaro
--
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Misha winds up her two mighty branches and sends them for the Ulfen leader without a sound beyond the movement, an oddly quiet mass in the foray of shouts and Aklo being bandied back and forth.
If the man drops on the first hit, she'll send the second branch into the green armored ulfen that swung for her roots! The cad!
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Brock lets out several choice curses in Elven when Lysaer goes down before shouting. "Fear not, my bloody friend, I am here! But I would appreciate it if you would stop leaking your blood all over. That's going to make it hard to fix you!"
He will have shifted closer to the green armored Ulfen while pulling a wand from his side, he'll the activate it and reach down to touch Lysaer with the magic in it. "You get up, Misha will teach them not to smack us around."
"I've seen it," the blonde Ulfen rants back at Auriea in Aklo. "In my dreams! All will perish, unless -" His words are stopped short by the quiet swing of Misha's branches, connecting with the raging man's head with a sickening crunch. He crumples in the sand, neck sticking out at an odd angle, but with his axe still clenched tightly.
The tree also connect with one of the other Ulfen, but seeing their leader fall quickly ends their will to fight. They lay down their weapons and concerns themselves mostly with dousing the fire that's taken them. "Please, don't hurt us," he call for surrender. "Tell the tree-thing to stop."
The young Blakros woman had not partaken in the fight and surveys the carnage, visibly unsure of what to do next. "Desna weeps," she curses. "No one was supposed to get hurt..." She sounds at least a bit remorseful, although you get the impression that she wasn't really close with the Ulfen. "He really did have visions, Olaf, although they came at odd times and I could never be sure if they were genuine, or simple madness. But he was convinced that disaster would strike the world, if Michellia were to get married to Damien today. Taking her place seemed the best option to prevent that from happening."
--
Lysaer: -42
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Lysaer slowly picks himself up and brushes the sand off his ruined outfit, sighing at the blood encrusted in the expensive fabric.
"Well I am billing the Society for that." he mutters darkly, handing his borrowed blade back to Brock and taking the fallen Ulfen's axe for now. He turns to the woman, burningg disdain evident in his eyes adding a terrifying aspect when coupled with the flowing blood and bruises already forming.
"Your plan was mad, you do not involve brutes and expect 'no-one' to get hurt you simple child! Now, free tour sister and we need to rectify this mess. Quietly and politically."
With a deep breath, Lysaer calls on his own magic to heal himself.
"Now hold on," she replies, showing some backbone in the face of the rather intimidating Chelaxian. "I did not 'involve' anyone. He came to me. He might have been a prophet, or a madman, but he would have found a way to prevent this marriage one way or the other. This way, I could at least look out for my sister when we came here, and I could make sure no one else would notice anything by taking her place."
The Blakros woman walks over to the boat and pulls back the tarp to reveal an identically looking young woman, undressed except for bridal underwear. She seems to be fine, except that she's unconscious and has a lump on the back of her head. There's also a set of woman's adventuring clothes in the boat, lying beside her. "So, that leaves us in a bit of a bind, I think. What... are you going to do?"
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"Or perhaps you could have not lured your sister away with lies, warned your mother and the guards, and let this man be taken care of. I think you are a bad woman."
Brock operates on his assumptions alone while calling off Misha from turning anyone into paste. Once the treant is settled he'll march over to Michellia's unconscious form with the wand still out and use it to cast CLW wounds on the injured Blakros. He makes certain to keep his eyes averted politely, staring at the twin instead. "You should change back to your clothes and return her dress. You've ruined enough.
"I'm of a mind to knock you upside the head and drag -you- back to the wedding for your mother to deal with. But we could always just tie you up.
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Lysaer rolls his eyes and hands brock his long coat to keep the unconscious woman's dignity somewhat intact. I shall have to change back to my armour before returning, else people will talk he thinks as he rounds on the perpetrator of this scheme.
"Ah yes, completely altruistic, you have no desire to pretend to be your twin and be married to a powerful man?" he retorts with a sharp snap " Speak plainly for I grow tired of your pathetic games and currently hold an Axe."
He lets the crude threat hang in the air, not his best work but it would do in the circumstances. He turns to the others, wishing to hear their ideas on how to proceed.
Michellia wakes up from Brock's healing, thoroughly disoriented. "Wh- Where am I? What happened?"
Her sister looks at the group of Pathfinders, too stunned (or scared) for the moment to speak.
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Isabella cleans her blade and sheathes it. She helps Mechellia out of the ship "It seems your sister wanted to take your place. The dead ulfen there believed your wedding Damian would end the world somehow."
She looks at Eleanir "It would be best if you come clean with us. We have some clout here, if you are honest I will do my best to protect you.
The Pathfinder's combined attempt to intimidate Eleanir into tellling the truth has an unexpected result. Apparently, she does not just have a backbone, but a temper as well. "What, are you daft?! She's my sister, you know? My twin sister! I would never do anything to harm her. And yes, that includes taking over her marriage with Damian. She's a sweet sis', and I wish her all the best - I really do, Shelly," she adds to her sister in a much kinder voice, now that Michellia has been brought back to consciousness, "but I have a really hard time seeing how she'll live with a man like Damian. When Olaf came to me with his visions, I saw a solution, and yes: I would sort of have enjoyed the challenge of being married to a man like that. I'm sure you'd understand. Or maybe not," she adds to Lysear with a peevish look. Having vented some of her frustration, she lends Michellia a hand to help her up, and they hug.
"Oh, El'," Michellia murmers lovingly, her voice quite a contrast to her sister's earlier outburst. "You have gone and made a mess of things, but I'm sure we'll manage. Yes, I had been having second thoughts about Damien, but it's the choice I made and I'll have to live with that. I'll make it work, I do."
Michellia then turns to you, grabbing the tarp for some cover. "I'm sorry that you got dragged into this mess. I love my sister dearly, but she does have a tendency to leap before she looks. I think I owe you thanks - we both do - for putting a stop to this, and letting me live the life I chose, however it may turn out. Now, if you would round up those Ulfen. I suppose we strip them of valuables and let them leave with the body of their comrade. They won't bother us any more, I hope, Eleanir?" At Eleanir's confirmation, she nods. "Good, if you would do that, Aleanir and myself will get ourselves presentable. I should be getting back to my wedding. In my wedding dress," she concludes with a teasing poke at her sister.
--
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Galandaro is completely stunned by what occurred and was caught off guard and unprepared by the activities which slowed his actions which is not surprising since he is a thinker and not used to combat.
After collecting his thoughts he looks over the greataxe, the potions, the oil and the armor...
he informs the others what he finds out about the magical goods.
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Lysaer sighs at the Twin's petulant temper tantrum and turns his back on her, hardly caring to keep a discussion with a spoilt brat such as her. Turning to Galandaro he helps take the belongings from the Ulfen and pockets a Potion of Fly and a cure potion as well as the Axe he carries.
"Well I best get changed as well, I am sure the guests will understand a Hellknight wishing to be back in his Armour and it will not arouse much suspiscion. Though I wonder why none at the wedding mentioned the fact that the Bride's own Twin had failed to make an appearance?"
Waiting for the others to be done, Lysaer starts making his way back to their chateau.
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"Either case, I have a question for you two. Maybe switch places so that your family keeps the rights to the site, and Michellia can elope with the poor heartbroken man that tried to disrupt the wedding? Not saying that hellknights aren't the smartest of the bunch, but you two seem to look quite alike," Auriea suggests as he puts his kukri away.
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"Well, it sounds like Michellia wants to be married, and chose Damien. Her sister tried to kidnap her and take her place, she's just being nice and forgiving the act. And it wouldn't be fair to him to do something like that to the groom. I wouldn't encourage this kind of deception.
It's cruel, and rather one sided by our new guest."
He then nudges a boot against the corpse of the Ulfen man Misha walloped over the head. "You're also assuming Michellia wants to elope with a crazy, raving madman from the north... who is also rather dead."
Brock will take one of the cure moderate wounds potions and one of the fly potions in case of further surprises before gathering up his other equipment and his sword. "Well, as fun as the side party was... as soon as everyone is ready I suggest we escort them back. Just in case sister Eleanir is a good liar and has another plan to beat her sister unconscious." He'll shoulder his blade, but one put it away for now.
Michellia, who had earlier spoken for sticking by her own decision, for better or for worse, now looks confused after Auriea's words. Bedard? Oh no, I could never be with him. He'd always for a poor substitute for Colson. But... Would I really be happy with Damian? Would it be fair of me, to stay with him if I doubt our future together?
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Lysaer waves at Isabella apologetically, "Ah yes the Gloriana snoop mentioned it, though something like that you would have thought to be a huge scandal." he mutters, his tone not matching his gesture at all. "Both parties in a marriage will have second thoughts, it is inevitable. Whilst Damien may be marrying politically as well as for whatever feelings he has, but to reveal such a duplicity now threatens to hurt his pride. Your family would be a laughing stock."
As the others escort the sisters to ensure their safety, Lysaer will dash to their assigned Villa to change into his armour and to peacebond his acquired axe and slings it over his shoulder.
Michellia eventually nods. "You're right. I'll make this work." As a means to lighten the situation, she cheerfully adds "What's the worst that could happen?" which earns her a frown from her sister with a quick glance at Olaf's body and the pendant around his neck. That said, there is nothing left but to return to the pavilion, Michellia back in her wedding dress with her hair mostly back in its complex bun and her sister in her (decidedly unfestive) adventuring clothes. The three remaining Ulfen haul their dead leader into the boat and cast off.
--
Back at the pavilion, Michellia discreetly motions for Hamaria to join them, as she bids you to return to the festive crowd and assure Damian that she'll be along shortly. "If anyone asks, I received word that my sister could be here after all, and I went to the beach to greet her." You leave the two sister to inform their mother of what happened. A few minutes later the three Blakros women as if nothing had ever happened, determined not to let on to their guests that anything ha been amiss. In this manner, everything seems to end well...
Unfortunately, a quiet night of partying is not in store for the assembled guests. A shout is heard from outside, coming from one of the guards. A rugged-looking man that you recognize as one of Rubaani's mercenaries, wearing full plate and wielding a guisarme, hurriedly takes the stage. "I am Arastrax of the Onyx Alliance" he proclaims with a booming voice in the silence that follows on the shout outside. "We have you surrounded and will soon feast on your souls! None shall live to escape this island." The single shout from outside is then followed by sound of yelling, screaming, and combat outside the pavilion, corroborating the man's words. A host of demons then swarm the pavilion from all entrances, small wretched creatures and red-skinned emaciated horrors among them. Chair are knocked over as many of the guests find that they are trapped, while many others take it upon them to fight back and protect those who can't fight. By happenstance, the group of Pathfinders was seated off to one end of the stage, and has a clear route to Arastrax.
--
The man on stage is first to react. He turns to his left, directly to the table with the Pathfinders. Summoning arcane power, he launches a wave of ear-splitting sound at you.
--
1st - Arastrax
2nd - Brock, Lysaer, Isabella, Cernan, Galandaro
3rd - Demons
4th - Auriea
--