2018-10-16: The Shepherd, The Wolf and The Lion
- Log: The Sheperd, The Wolf and The Lion
- Cast: Pearl, Skylr Paer, White Knight Leo
- Where: Adlehyde Castle Town
- Date: 16/10/2018
- Summary: The last member of Althena's Guard to have gone missing in the aftermath of Sin's attack makes her way back.
<Pose Tracker> Pearl has posed.
Adlehyde, even after it's destruction at the hands of the Metal Demons, is still one of the major cities of Ignas. It is also where those members or Althena's Guard have established themselves. And now, they prepare for a war across the ocean.
In amongst the repairs of Adlehyde, a small crowd is gathered for the daily show. The show being a guardswoman martial artist and a few other selected guard put another group of rag tag drifters through their paces. Pearl is already in the thick of it, fighting two drifters at once, while her fellow guardsmen tackle one each. Either way, if you want to know where the attention of the guard is at in the city, the sectioned off area in the town square is where to run.
The guy running book at one of the pubs can probably point you in the right direction.
As the fight continues, Pearl drops one of the drifters, with probably slightly unnecessary ferocity. That said, she's trying to make sure they're ready for a fight with Metal Demons, so holding back would be a problem, right?
<Pose Tracker> Skylr Paer has posed.
Skylr stuck it out in Adelhyde even without knowing where Pearl and Leo was because it was the current 'home' for the Guards, and as such she figured they'd be back eventually. Besides, being next to the ranchlands meant that the priestess (and sheep friend) always had a a job to do of some sort, if the variety of missing ram posters that cropped up at one point didn't prove she was still hanging around.
Amongst the repairs, Skylr shifts her way around the sectioned off areas, hearing the fighting and the crowd in the distance. Frowning slightly, she slips into the pub, approaching the bookie. She doesn't approve - and it shows on her face - but she wrangles details out of him without frowning too hard. Drifting back towards the crowd, she nudges her way into the front, head tilted as she focuses on the group.
"What in the two wo-- Pearl?"
<Pose Tracker> White Knight Leo has posed.
White Knight Leo has not formally vetoed the impromptu tournament, but this might be because nothing dishonorable has come of it yet. He hasn't shown up to observe it in person, and when he finally runs across it, it's more of an accident than anything else.
Leo just got out of a meeting with Adlehyde's chancellor. He strides purposefully down the city's main thoroughfare, taking in the general tenor of the people around him. There's an air of tense hopefulness, but also a lingering pall of fear and uncertainty. The smattering of townspeople turns into a crowd as Leo approaches the square. The sounds of violence carry over the shouts of excited observers.
Leo clears his throat. Several people in the crowd look at him, and then step aside--slowly, the crowd parts before him, allowing him access to the edge of the arena. He stands there a moment, turns to one of the Guards observing, and says: "Ensure that man has treatment." He doesn't speak to either Pearl or Skylr, perhaps because he assumes they will eventually notice him. (Distracting Pearl would be unwise, anyway.)
<Pose Tracker> Pearl has posed.
Pearl's fight continues, but Leo does not go unnoticed. It would be remiss of her to not notice such a powerful combatant being anywhere near the battlefield. Still, the 'test' is what's important right now. The shout of her name from the crowd also catches her by surprise, but she doesn't show it. She is too busy delivering a quick knee to the solar plexus of her opponent. Still, probably best to wrap this up now.
With a quick raking claw style move, she takes her opponent out of the fight, and looks to her guards, who are have the edge with Pearl having taken out the stronger fighters of the group. "Enough." The words she speaks are... practiced? Recited? They seem more like rote learning than Pearl's actual feelings. "You didn't bother to work as a pack. The enemies we're fighting will easily overwhelm an unstructured force. If you try to accompany us, you'll simply die."
And in a manner well deserved. She thinks to herself, but that bit goes unspoken. "This match is over." With that, Pearl walks calmly to the edge of the arena, and, if unbothered, vaults over the fence with little effort, and bows to Leo. "Commander." Then a second look over her shoulder to Skylr. "Guardswoman Paer. You survived, I see."
The fight over, the majority of the drifters decide to back off and lick their wounds given the whole 'not getting paid for this' thing, while the guards drag the downed opponents to a medical tent.
<Pose Tracker> Skylr Paer has posed.
There's a throat clear, but Skylr doesn't pay too much attention, until Pearl glances his way, and Skylr turns, wondering what caught the martial artists attention. Her brown eyes widen when she spots Leo herself, but she restrains herself from commenting, at least until Pearl announces the match being over. She shakes her head, slightly.
"Guardswoman Pearl, Commander, I'm glad you both are back in town. It feelsl ike it's been awhile since I've seen you..." A pause. "Well... it kind of has been." Skylr murmurs to herself, mostly.
She looks slightly uncomfortable, but that's not too abnormal.
<Pose Tracker> White Knight Leo has posed.
The match is over. There's something off about the way Pearl announces it, but Leo doesn't pay it much mind--she lets the beaten Drifters limp off to the safety of the medical tent, where they will no doubt be patched up by the Guard's healers. He steps forward, onto the little square of plaza reserved for the fight. Then he notices another familiar face in the crowd, and grins. "Guardswoman Paer," he says. "Goddess be praised. I thought you'd ended up on the other end of the world--not that we wouldn't have found you if you had!"
Leo folds his arms, and turns to Pearl. "I'd heard talk of this," he says. "Are you training them for what lies ahead?"
<Pose Tracker> Pearl has posed.
Pearl nods at Skylr's comments. "It is reassuring that you are not dead." Pearl is good at this interpersonal relationships thing.
She doesn't balk at Leo's glance. "A pack is only as strong as the weakest wolf." She says, as if that explains everything. When it is clear that it doesn't, she continues. "The fee we are offering is attracting a number of drifters. Including those who are simply desperate, but not skilled. I am ensuring that they are not joining us only to die."
Her next words are well thought out. "We want to maximise the chances that those who follow us come back. I cannot imagine you would want the deaths of even mercenaries if it can be avoided."
<Pose Tracker> Skylr Paer has posed.
"I found my way back to this city with some ... issue, but I've been keeping myself occupied since then. Healing and such, and... helping with the rams and sheep out in the ranchlands, because food is important for everyone right now, since the cold seasons should be soon and while battle takes mouths away, those of us from Lunar bring even more." Skylr says, calmly. She rubs the back of her left hand with the palm of her right, consideringly.
"The Metal Demons are... strange." She offers, finally. "The two we were with in the water, I've ran into one of them before, and he hadn't changed a bit." A pause. "Not that that is very helpful, but..." A clearance of her throat.
"You are talented in hand to hand combat, how is the ranged opportunities for those that might not be?"
<Pose Tracker> White Knight Leo has posed.
Leo's brow furrows at Pearl's explanation, and he nods. He wouldn't be so... blunt about it (probably), but her idea is a sound one. "I agree," Leo says. "They must understand that this is war--and not something they can simply back away from when it goes poorly for them. I would hope none would take the fate of their very world with anything but the utmost devotion, but I have been surprised far too many times of late."
Skylr explains where she's been. Leo raises an eyebrow, but not at the part about the sheep. "...in the water?" Leo says. "Metal Demons?"
White Knight Leo: master of observation.
<Pose Tracker> Pearl has posed.
Pearl shakes her head. "I concede, I had rather assumed we would not have long to take advantage of ranged combat. You have a thought on the matter?" She doesn't have much longer to question further, because Pearl herself is caught flat footed by the lack of context Skylr seems to have.
"You mean to tell me that they were Metal Demons?" She pauses. Which side had she stated Zed was on during the attack on Lunn? She can't remember. Better to not comment. "Even the green haired imbecile?"
<Pose Tracker> White Knight Leo has posed.
"The green-haired one, yes," Leo says. "But... demons, plural."
<Pose Tracker> Skylr Paer has posed.
"Below Azado." Skylr says, grasping for words. "Well, actually, it's the green-haired one I'm sure of, not the other one." Yes, she's sure of Zed, not Kalve. "I've fought him before, when we first landed here on Filgaia. It was him and a whole bunch of others and... I don't know what else to call his powers. They were far above any Sorcery I've encountered..."
A shake of her head.
"Do we have any of the combatants talented in sorcery? Bow and arrow? What about longer options, like spear or glaive?"
She hesitates, visibly unsure of whether to say something.
<Pose Tracker> White Knight Leo has posed.
"The--" Leo pauses, fumbles for words. "Ferroargylemancer." That seems to satisfy him. "He claimed he was a comrade, a mercenary. What sort of band would hire a Metal Demon?" ...As though Lunar somehow knew what the Metal Demons were by virtue of Leo reporting on them to Althena.
With regard to the ranged combatants, Leo shakes his head. "We have several here, Guardswoman," Leo says. "But why?"
<Pose Tracker> Pearl has posed.
Pearl just seems somewhat dumbfounded that Zed could be a metal demon. After all, he was fighting against Boomerang and the horrible glob thing. She reorients to the thing she can handle, the combatants.
"We have had a few crest sorcerers express interest, but I am hesitant to take on those who overly rely on these... ARMs." There is a certain venom in her voice as she says the words. "We will hardly have options to resupply, and we'll be in enemy territory. If they cannot fight without them, they will become liabilities. And many guardsmen know how to wield spear or staff."
<Pose Tracker> Skylr Paer has posed.
"Just wondering. Healers are my concern, and their protection." Skylr, the white mage, remarks - in a tone that is the closest to dry she can muster. She rubs the back of her neck for a second, crossing her arms over her chest. "Plus basic ranged capability is good when moving into combat, so we can get actions in before the to melee range."
A pause, then painfully quiet, "I found Kourin yesterday."
<Pose Tracker> White Knight Leo has posed.
"I saw several ARMs-wielders plying their trade openly on the Silver Star," Leo says. "If nothing else, their resourcefulness matches their brazenness." And then Skylr finally says what she was dancing around. Leo's face doesn't fall, so much--it settles into a stern scowl, one he makes when an unfortunate issue has reintroduced itself to him. "Did you, now," he says. His tone is even, but there's no hiding the glimmer of pain in his eyes. "What excuses did she give you this time? Did she lie? Did you try to apprehend her?"
<Pose Tracker> Pearl has posed.
"Very well then." Pearl says, with a slight grimace. "I will adjust my recruiting policies accordingly." There's not really a lot more she can add.
She pauses at Skylr's words, and Leo's impassioned rant. "The deserter, I take it?" Pearl closes her left hand into a fist. "...Should we prepare to capture her?"
<Pose Tracker> Skylr Paer has posed.
"I can't help with the hand-to-hand, but for basic archery I can help lead the training if you'd like, Pearl." Leo asks questions. Leo asks questions Skylr would not prefer to answer, and that much is visible in the grimace she gives them both and the gesture she makes.
"She didn't give me any excuses because I didn't ask, as far as I can tell she didn't lie to me, and of course I didn't try to apprehend her, what do you take me for, sir? She was surrounded by a group of people who I am fairly sure she's allied with, and Althena bless, I'm not *that* stupid."
You kinda are, Sky.
<Pose Tracker> White Knight Leo has posed.
"What do I take you for?" Leo says, his frown deepening ever-so-slightly before returning to its former severity. He lets out a sigh, and shakes his head. "Nevermind. Was she traveling with this 'Caravan Kinship'?" There's a venom in Leo's voice that wasn't there before, but it doesn't seem directed at Skylr. It may just be that Jay Barber--a woman Leo respected and trusted despite sheltering Kourin--attacked his beloved little sister, along with several of her associates. Mauri was lucky to have survived. That's not the sort of thing Leo can overlook.
"At the very least, you returned with knowledge of her whereabouts. Maybe--maybe she was behind what they did, and behind her, the Lord of Calamity and her dupes."
<Pose Tracker> Pearl has posed.
It is rare to hear this sort of anger in the White Knight's voice, and some part of Pearl relishes it. Even the most pure light of Althena's justice has a darkness within it. But it is not her job to exploit it, but even the knowledge of it gives her an edge she can use later, should it come to it.
Pearl crosses her arms, and leans back against the railing of the makeshift arena. Still, she asks the question. "The Lord of Calamity is still our primary objective. I'm certain we could extract information from these people if we know where they are."
<Pose Tracker> Skylr Paer has posed.
"I... I meant that I'm not stupid enough to try to arrest someone on my own, sir." Skylr says. "All I've got are my bow and arrow skills, my magic is tuned pretty much to healing rather than harming, and she was... surrounded by a caravan, so... I'm to presume that indeed, that was the Caravan Kinship."
She looks away from both, glancing towards the city gates.
"They were out in the ranchlands, I ran into them while on a duty, earlier."
<Pose Tracker> White Knight Leo has posed.
"It was likely them," Leo says. "Their leader calls this city home, when she isn't elsewhere. I'd thought her trustworthy, but it appears I was mistaken." Leo looks down at Skylr, the anger fading. "I cannot expect you to do what I would've, if I were in your shoes. For now, we have greater problems--for no doubt the Lord of Calamity, if she has returned to this world, may choose to move while everyone is distracted by this 'Mother'. We face two grave threats, now, and we cannot falter. But I have faith in you--in both of you. I've no doubt that we will emerge from this dark time triumphant, and bear news of our victories back to Althena."
<Pose Tracker> Pearl has posed.
Pearl simply listens to Leo's fervour. It is probably of more benefit to the other guardsmen gathered around then her. But when there is a resounding show of applause from the few other guardsmen in the area, Pearl joins in. She at least has to look the part.
"As you say, Commander. We will repay your faith in us." Pearl gives a quick salute.
<Pose Tracker> Skylr Paer has posed.
Leo gives a stirring speech. Skylr does not clap, but she does smile, an act that is much more her standard style than outwardly participating in this event. She then clears her throat. "That's, um, all anything good and new I have, though..." She finally says.
"... I'm glad you two are safe."