2017-04-18: New World Old Problems
- Log: New World Old Problems
- Cast: Sorey, Alisha Diphda, Rose
- Where: Adelhyde Castle
- Date: 4/18/2017
- Summary: The Scattered Bones show up to take another stab at Alisha.
<Pose Tracker> Sorey has posed.
Things had been more or less quiet lately - despite their best efforts, Sorey had been unable to track the Lord of Calamity down again, mainly due to the problem of Althena's Guard pursuing her extremely aggressively. He wasn't the sort who was going to aggressively chase someone, and they had been scaring off the Vile Fiends with their rather energetic pursuit.
That meant that he needed to figure out a way to get ahead of them, and he figured the best way to do that was possibly speak to the local leaders and see if they could assist in their pursuit. As Sorey had explained to the Guard, he didn't want the Lord of Calamity killed right away - or at all really. Purification was the goal here.
And so Sorey had managed to get ahold of a minor local noble who might be able to help out. They were due to meet the man soon, and he'd come with the intent of making their case for some local help. But he looks around, rather impressed as they wait in the gardens outside the castle. "This place is pretty impressive - I hadn't really seen any castles before I came to Hyland, but it seems that no matter where we go people manage to build some impressive structures. I wonder if there are any ruins hidden under Adelhyde as well?" the Shepherd muses. "I've not heard about any, but they might not want people poking around."
<Pose Tracker> Alisha Diphda has posed.
Alisha has been out of sorts since she came to Filgaia and it is, steadily, getting worse. Maybe the tipping point was Ragnell; maybe the implication that she chose to help the Shepherd over doing her duty did it. She isn't sleeping all that well, the past few nights, and she hasn't known what she can do -- after all, a way back to Lunar has not presented itself. She looks tired, as she walks after Sorey, and she follows after.
She nods, once, to what Sorey says. "There almost certainly are," she says, though she sounds distracted. "Ladylake was built on the cities that precede it. And the manors and castles here look very old. A couple of hundred years, at the least."
She stifles a yawn.
"But... we should not try to unearth them," she says. "As you said, they would not appreciate it. Ah--Princess Cecilia would not. I met her." She thinks of that conversation, and it prompts a soft sigh. "Do you think this noble will be of any help?"
<Pose Tracker> Sorey has posed.
"True, I'm not sure anyone likes some random folks poking around and possibly uncovering some of their buried secrets," Sorey admits - he remembered some of the things they had found under Ladylake. He hadn't really explained that to Alisha beyond 'We purified the malevolence down there', but given her own study of history he wouldn't be surprised if she had some idea what had happened.
Sorey had also met said princess, but her identity hadn't been made clear to him at the time. But he thinks for a moment. "Hard to say - he sounded interested when I mentioned that we were wanting to deal with a threat that had come from a faraway land, but I'm not sure if he was just humoring me or not. It's a little hard when so many people don't really believe we've come from Lunar." He takes on a pondering posture, walking ahead of Alisha for a bit as he considers. The gardens have a bit of a hedge maze in this area, and Sorey looks around with a smile. "This is something I've not seen before - have you ever seen these sorts of garden mazes?" He walks ahead, looking around a corner. "I wish Mikleo was here, he'd probably enjoy this as well. And then make fun of me for getting lost."
<Pose Tracker> Rose has posed.
Adapting to Filgaia wasn't easy, but Rose tackled it with her usual energy. Push ahead, don't worry. Go along with everything that happens like you planned it all along. It was weird, for sure, but luckily in this world the purpose of a merchant's guild is very much the same. The wares are a bit different, and the tales of massive machines and ancient technology are an abrupt thing to suddenly accept as fact, but other than that she's been fine!
What had bothered her wasn't the transfer to another world, not in the slightest. It was what she left behind, the state of things, and unfinished contracts. She can't help but think about those things. Before she could really dwell on it though, news that caught her of an adventuring party matching Sorey and Alisha's description. That would be the Scattered Bones' first outing in weeks. To finish a contract from before the shift!
A quiet breeze blows in the castle's courtyard and the shadows move, just out of sight. Sorey wanders towards the hedge maze, and that suits Rose just fine. She was after the princess after all, not the Shepherd, hero to the people. Or at least, that's what they say of him. For every victory cry there was certainly someone out there who wanted him eliminated and was happy when he went missing.
A hand signals one of the many shadows. Eguille nods, and leaps down into the maze from the ramparts alongside two others. There's some noise, intentional, as they land. Just enough to make Sorey curious and swear he just saw someone in there.
Rose and half a dozen other shadows, meanwhile, are closing in on Alisha in a circle. They'd come into view conveniently as Sorey runs off, all dressed the same as last time she encountered them.
"So, that's where you ran off to, princess of Hyland? How has it been, your time away from your people?"
<Pose Tracker> Alisha Diphda has posed.
"Mm... I would criticize them, but I can't. I see why. If the situation was reversed, I would find it hard to believe," Alisha says. "After all... if someone said they came from the Blue Star, I would have thought them mad."
And now they stand upon it.
She looks up, though, and smiles at the mention of the maze. She nods, quickly. "Oh, yes!" she exclaims. "My mother actually took me into them when I was little," she says. "We loved to explore them together--it was so much fun. Of course, she knew the way out, so if I truly got us lost, she could have led the way back."
The breeze doesn't make Alisha stop, but there is a moment's pause. She feels the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end, and she can't say why. She sees the shadows dance -- and then Sorey is off, and her eyes are suddenly darting and narrowing at once towards the figure in leathers, behind a mask.
She draws a sharp gasp. Her spear is nowhere to be found -- but her hand comes to the long dagger at her hip. She doesn't draw, immediately, as she looks up to meet the assassin's eyes. "You! From the Sacred Blade festival!"
And then, her jaw sets, and her eyes narrow. "You came to the Blue Star, too--and you mean to finish what you started?"
<Pose Tracker> Sorey has posed.
"Yeah, I can't really blame them either - but it does make our job a bit harder," the Shepherd muses. He isn't sure how it will work out in the end, but he's willing to do what he can in order to make things better for everyone. The Lord of Calamity being here and corrupting Filgaia isn't any more acceptable than him doing the same back on Lunar.
"I can imagine. I wouldn't think they'd install one that was too complex, and... huh, what was that?" Sorey hears the noise, and much like someone would expect, he quickens his pace in order to try and discover what it is.
That leaves him confused as he turns the corner and it turns out there isn't anything there at this point. That's strange. But he doesn't think that there is anything too strange going on yet, and the Shepherd continues forward for a moment. "I guess it was probably an animal or something, and-"
He pauses, and looks back. "Alisha?"
<Pose Tracker> Rose has posed.
The assassins all draw closer in. They surround Alisha, each standing a mere three or four meters away, forming a circle. Most have knives, a few rare ones have swords, but naturally the most telling thing is that there's not much in the way of distinguishing features. Some are a bit taller or shorter but that's really it. Rose, as the one talking, probably carries a bit more of an obvious target on her head, especially to Alisha's trained mind.
"Of course. The Scattered Bones always pursue their job to the end, whatever that may be. Even across worlds if we have to." That is completely untrue! It was an accident. Rose just wasn't going to miss the chance to ham it up a bit.
"They say you ran away. Ran with the Shepherd and abandoned your people. That you're a traitor. That your actions robbed the common folk of what loyalty they had left to the throne."
Rose lifts a hand. One of the assassins draws his knives and immediatly dashes for Alisha! There's no messing around, those are lethal jabs aimed for the neck if he has his way.
MEANWHILE IN HEDGE MAZE LAND, the noise continues. It keeps drawing Sorey further in! Steps, rocks, the crack of a branch left on the ground. From two different directions, no less. Is the noise as lost as he is?
To be totally honest, Eguille isn't thrilled to be the one pit up against the Shepherd. He's no slouch, but he's also not ignorant of the legends. He'd rather keep leading him deeper into the maze than confront him. Hopefully for him Sorey doesn't have any tricks up his sleeve.
<Pose Tracker> Alisha Diphda has posed.
At this point, Alisha can't even hear Sorey. The Scattered Bones are not something to trifle with, even for the Shepherd. She draws in a sharp gasp as she realizes she is surrounded -- and that this could easily be the end of her. The princess knight draws her blade, the dagger spinning up, and her eyes narrow -- and the twitch of her eyebrow is all that Rose needs to see that the remark hit home.
"I did not abandon the people of Hyland!" she cries out. "Our world--our world faces a terrible danger! One that I have only began to understand, and I am doing everything I can to oppose it! But I--"
The assassin comes at her. Alisha swings the long knife up, and it slams into the assassin's blade hard. Sparks fly where steel meets steel, and then Alisha cracks the hilt of her dagger towards the assassin's temple to try to knock him out.
She finishes talking. She is trained. "--I never expected to be whisked away here. I doubt that any of you planned for that!"
Please, she thinks, don't have planned for it. That would make her life more complicated.
<Pose Tracker> Sorey has posed.
Sorey looks around for a moment as the noise continues, the sources from several directions giving a confusing idea as to what is going on. In this sense Eguille may have outsmarted himself slightly - the fact that it seems confusing is suggesting to Sorey that the disparate pattern may be on purpose.
His hand drops to the laminated wooden sword at his side. He thinks back, recalling the words of his Master from long ago. But rather than unleashing some spectacular blast of power, Sorey instead draws his weapon for a moment and leaves a gash along the side of the hedge maze.
"Apologize," Sorey states, although he isn't sure that anyone can hear him. "But at least it will grow back!"
He immediately sets off at a run, and calls out, "Alisha! I'm not sure what's going on, but if you can hear me answer!" He's getting a little worried, and as he makes a turn his sword snaps out again, making another gash along the hedge wall.
Still no sign of whatever it is. He doesn't like how this is looking.
<Pose Tracker> Rose has posed.
Alisha and the assassin lock blades. She swiftly parries, then hits the assassin on the side of the head. Lucky for him, or her, that mask is in the way of the princess getting a perfect hit. Unlucky for him, he still tumbles forward from the impact, vision blurry, and ungracefully rolls towards another of the Bones, who catches him. His weapons remain on the ground, dropped during the brief clash.
Rose waves a hand in the air dismissively. "And what were you doing with the Shepherd, then? Placing your faith in legends and stories? So that you could go have adventures with the hero of prophecy while people starve and watch their kingdom edge ever closer to a war that'll kill thousands? Pursuing a terrible danger only you two can stop?"
She's not a non-believer, per se. Sorey did pull that blade and then shoot fire around as she recalls, so he's not a nobody. But she's a lot more grounded in what she thinks can change the world.
Alisha having proven she can more than handle the assassins, Rose unsheathes both knives and takes a few steps forward herself now. "Who should I believe, princess? The runaway princess who believes in old tales of heroes, or the entirety of Hyland's ruling council when they say you've abandoned your post?"
Amidst this intense discussion, Sorey shamelessly defaces the hedge maze that graces this castle's courtyard. His creative thinking does net him a shortcut, and now he's a step closer to his goal. He can catch a clear view of one of the Scattered Bones turning a corner, and unfortunately it's a dead end. Sorey's already figured out there's more than one intruder here, but what will he do once he turns that corner and stares down the assassin?
The assassin, for his own part, freezes like a deer in headlights. He doesn't even have his simple sword out of its sheath yet.
<Pose Tracker> Alisha Diphda has posed.
"I intend to stop the war! I was traveling to Marlind, with the Shepherd, to address the plague there!" Alisha answers. The princess puts a hand over her heart, though she keeps her long dagger at guard. Specifically, she points it in Rose's direction, to be ready for her if she rushes. "The council... they want to see the war happen. They won't divert resources to stop the plague. And--"
She takes a step backward, and brings her dagger up in front of her. She feels weak with it. It isn't a spear or even a sword. Alisha's green eyes widen, then she shakes her head.
"There is something direly wrong," she says. "The tornadoes that tear villages apart. The attacks of wild animals and monsters, in the countryside. Maybe these are from myths, but things from myths are stepping from the page to reality. I ask only that you consider it! I--"
Her voice catches. "--All I care for is the people of Hyland!"
<Pose Tracker> Sorey has posed.
Sometimes you need to prune a few hedges for the sake of your friends. Sorey feels a bit bad about it, but he's sure that he can apologize at a later time. Or he might get banned from the garden, which could prove problematic at this point. But as he turns the corner, he sees Eguille standing there. He doesn't know the man.
But he does recognize the outfit, and Sorey skids to a stop and stares for a moment. "You!" he declares. "You're the ones who were after Alisha back in Hyland!"
It's clear now what is going on. This is a trap, and they must be after Alisha after having separated the two of them. Sorey spins around and immediately takes off back the way he came. Unfortunately he doesn't have any of his Seraphs with him, as they're all off on other errands. And so all he can do is make his way back through the maze, following the marks he made in the wall.
"ALISHA!"
<Pose Tracker> Rose has posed.
"Would you swear it? Would you put your life on the line to back up those words with meaning, princess of Hyland?" Every word Alisha says, Rose weighs. Her piercing blue gaze meets Alisha's green eyes even as she backs away from the assassin, whose steps don't stop. She doesn't know much about what Alisha describes, she'd admit if asked. Supernatural phenomena tearing the land asunder, animals getting more dangerous. What she knows is that here, in Filgaia, those things actually seem very true. But back on Lunar? In Glenwood? The woes there seem so man-made compared to Filgaia.
Closer. Rose keeps edging closer. Word of play unintended, the edge of her blades does too. Until the two are at arm's reach of each other, just short of being able to run the other through. A knife rises to point towards Alisha's head.
"Would you die for your people?"
Sorey, surprisingly, leaves the assassin right there. Eguille lets out a sigh of relief now that he isn't in the spotlight, and quickly enough he's rejoined by the two others who dove into the maze with him. They silently communicate something, and then leap out of the maze, making artful and surprisingly tall leaps over the plantlife and back towards the ramparts of the castle.
How lucky, he thinks, that Sorey isn't making those same leaps across the garden. Rose should already be done by now, there's no harm pulling out. Likely there's no way to stop the Shepherd at this point either, anyway.
<Pose Tracker> Alisha Diphda has posed.
Alisha's eyes lock onto those blue eyes and she feels the weight of that gaze, even through the mask. She can't tell much about her opponent, aside from those eyes. She keeps looking at them, even as Rose steps closer. She doesn't dare back up. Beyond a determination to hold her ground and make a point, she has little trust in the kindness of the Scattered Bones, if she were to back up straight into one.
So the knife comes up, pointing right at her face, the tip of it not so far from her lips. When she exhales, she sees a little fog on the serrated knife.
"Of course," she answers, quietly and instantly. "My life is theirs. It has been since the day that I was born. I am here, with Sorey, because I believe that he must succeed. Because if he does not, then their world... will not look so different from this one, before things grow even worse."
She looks down the length of the blade. "What will peace mean, if malevolence rips their lives apart? How can I ignore such a threat?"
<Pose Tracker> Sorey has posed.
The big reason why Sorey was running along the ground was that he couldn't be sure of his bearings in this maze. His feet cover the ground at a fairly quick pace, and he finally makes the last turn... there!
It was the first mark he'd made, evident by being straight instead of set at an angle. That gave him the last real bit of direction he needed - this was close enough to the edge...!
"Cantering Flames!"
There is a flash of light, and then a burst of flame cuts through the last part of the hedge maze, leaving a person sized hole straight through several of the walls. The tongue of flame licks out into the area where the Scattered Bones have Alisha surrounded.
That's about all the warning they have before Sorey comes sliding into the clearing. His lacquered blade is held in one hand, and he calls out, "Alisha, are you okay!?!"
He can't see through the circle of assassins - a barrier that will find itself the recipient of the Shepherd's ire if he doesn't get an answer soon!
<Pose Tracker> Rose has posed.
Rose can tell Alisha means it. That's all she needs to hear, then. The knife drops, as the leader of the assassins sees no reason to keep it leveled against the princess. She's even about to reply, probably to explain that she believes her, when Sorey... well, Soreys back onto the scene.
The display of power is enough to make some of the Bones take a step back, and before long Sorey has the clear path he wants. This is a very dangerous position to stay in now! Rose and her posse strafe, leap or dash away from the princess now. If only she'd been guilty, Rose curses. They could have put the knife back to her neck and coerced Sorey into letting them go.
"Shepherd. Our business here is concluded. The princess won't be harmed, so put that weapon away. We'll be seeing ourselves out once you answer a question. Malevolence. Explain."
She's curious, after everything Alisha said. She said all of it like she meant it, so there must be at least some truth to it. It also means the council set this entire thing up. They're very lucky to be out of reach right now!
<Pose Tracker> Alisha Diphda has posed.
"I'm here, Sorey," Alisha says, without shouting it.
It is only with considerable self-control that Alisha does not sigh with relief when the knife drops away from her face. Her eyes drift down to the weapon, before she looks back up to wielder as she moves back -- and the other Bones, too. She lowers her dagger, though she doesn't drop it. After all, she remembers the wild assassin who went after her before she ever met Sorey.
It pays to be cautious. She looks back at Rose, unsure of what to make of this turn of events. She holds a hand up for Sorey to see, indicating for him to not attack.
"Something you cannot see," she says. "I've been travelling with the Shepherd, and all that I have been able to do is feel it -- or smell it. It comes from places of suffering, back on our world, and it warps people, animals, plants, nearly anything. It takes their anger, their hatred, their sorrow... and it makes them monstrous."
She swallows. "...I know it sounds absurd, but it is real. You heard the rumors from Meribus, in the north, right? That a Lord of Calamity appeared?" she asks. "She is on Filgaia. She... I could sense it. The Shepherd and Seraphim could see it."
A Squire, perhaps, could too. But Alisha is no Squire.
<Pose Tracker> Sorey has posed.
Sorey pauses for a moment, and while he relaxes his guard slightly it's clear that he has no interest in putting his weapon away while these assassins are here. After all, they've already tried to kill Alisha twice now - while he hopes that people will be good when possible, don't assassins want to take lives by the nature of their profession?
But that question is... interesting.
Alisha actually gives a very good answer - Sorey is rather proud to hear it, because he also wants these assassins to see that the princess is his partner, not just some tag along or someone interested in exploiting him for her own gain. But after Alisha finishes, Sorey chimes in.
"Most people can't feel malevolence - not like I can. For those that do, it feels like a cold icy wind out of nowhere. A feeling of sickness that strikes for no reason, like the world is no longer in balance. A cry from out of the darkness, a sound that no living thing can make. The glimpse of something wrong in the world, a person or animal twisted and warped into something else. When things occur we cannot explain, often times malevolence is at work."
The Shepherd lowers his sword, allowing it to point to the ground as his green eyes meet those of the lead assassin. "I believed that Alisha and I had been brought here by mistake - but I've seen the Lord of Calamity with my own eyes. I don't know if she is actually evil, or if she is possessed by an evil that she spreads without her knowledge. But I believe that my friends and I were brought here so we could purify the malevolence that consumes her, and put a stop to the spread of darkness on both Lunar and Filgaia."
<Pose Tracker> Rose has posed.
The assassins all listen closely as the Shepherd and the princess explain their "quest". Some believe it, some are skeptical. That much is obvious from their stance, since even years of training can't completely conceal a reaction to this kind of news. Rose herself is still and quiet, the most controlled in the pack of black-clothed assassins.
"Isn't that convenient? The Shepherd being the only one able to view and sense this great danger? I believe you've convinced the princess but I don't see any proof of what you're advancing."
Of course she wouldn't. Rose represses her resonance so much she's no better than a random farmer at doing Shepherdy things. She WANTS to believe Sorey and Alisha but there's that part of her that won't buy into something she can't see for herself.
"That's enough for now." Her daggers go back into their sheathes. With a raised hand, she commands her posse to back away towards the walls, where ropes are still hanging from their descent. "I would suggest, Shepherd, that you find a way to prove your claims to those without your perception skills. Otherwise you're just perpetrating a divide between people."
Powers. She can accept powers. "Magic", artes, supernatural fighting styles, she can accept that. Believing in a force that can do what Sorey and Alisha insist it can, all that does is send a chill up her spine. Kind of like the idea there's invisible Seraphim just... around. That's creepy.
<Pose Tracker> Alisha Diphda has posed.
"That--"
Alisha almost sounds defensive, when Rose makes her demand. But, when she sheathes her daggers, the princess mirrors the movement. She slides the blade into the sheath, before she looks back at her, meeting those blue eyes again. "--The Shepherd speaks the truth. I know it sounds hard to believe, but... it is the truth!"
But others have raised this point, and she knows that to be the truth: the inability to see Malevolence makes it hard to believe in. The same is true of the Seraphim, even with the Goddess's influence. She looks to the side, then, and she nods.
"But... I know it is much to ask, to act on something you cannot see," she says. And, somehow, she doubts that asking an assassin to hold Sorey's hand would the the wisest decision.
<Pose Tracker> Sorey has posed.
Sorey listens as the assassin asks for some sort of proof, of his ability to perceive that which cannot be seen. He listens intently, and he can't really blame her for her skepticism. After all, he wouldn't have believed in Seraphim if he couldn't see them that easily.
His gaze slips to the side slightly, although given the distance it's impossible to really tell that he was looking at something else for a moment. But Sorey then reverses his sword, spinning it around in hand and sliding it back into its sheath.
And then contrary to what Alisha was thinking to herself at that very moment... Sorey holds up his hand, fingers spread wide as if in welcome to the assassin. "Alright then!" he declares. "I can't say I am terribly good at this, but I can help you to see the things that you cannot right now. It may not be very clear, but... if you are willing to come down here and take my hand, then I may be able to help you to hear a Seraphim, at least. And perhaps even see them."
<Pose Tracker> Rose has posed.
It's a LOT to ask, Alisha is spot-on. At least the assassins seem relatively open-minded about the idea and aren't outright saying it's a bunch of lies?
Pleas from the princess are one thing, but for Sorey to just extend his hand like that? Rose almost wants to take him up on it but... no, this is not a good place. She'd rather remain blissfully unaware, in this case. Not to mention guards might come check out what all the noise is about at any moment. Plus angry gardeners. Thanks Sorey.
"Sorry, Shepherd, but we're out of time. I'd rather our paths didn't cross again. So please don't do anything to force my hand." That's emotional. Rose frowns under the mask, not having caught herself on that one. Sorey's a good kid, you know? If someone like him could stray and end up on their hit list, it'd really leave little hope for anyone else.
... and besides, judging him will be a lot easier done as Rose than as the Scattered Bones.
Rose yanks on a rope! It pulls her up, because her posse is already back up on the wall and withdrawing the ropes. She abstains from going "wheeee" but thinks it.
<Pose Tracker> Alisha Diphda has posed.
"Ah..." Alisha opens her mouth, to suggest Sorey not, but she has no reason for it. She doesn't quite distrust Rose -- after all, she lowered her weapon. That means something to her. She watches her carefully, and hears the little bit of emotion enter her voice too.
That makes her eyes narrow, with thought. But then, she tugs on the rope, and the assassin is off. She looks up and watches her shoot away. Alisha looks sideways at Sorey, then, and tilts her head. "...Well..." She trails off, but Rose is gone, by then. "...They came here, too. I wonder how we can convince others."
She frowns, looking down at the ground. "...We have our work cut out for us, Sorey."