To Reclaim the Past

Sand and dust, stretching on for what seemed to be infinity, or if not, for far too long. That was the sight that greeted Noah Garod as he approached the site of his long-dead town. He could scarcely remember anything about it; vague recollections of places, events, and people lingered in the back of his mind as he drew his cowl about him to shield himself from the harsh sun and winds.

He felt as though he were gazing through a translucent window; the memories were surely there, but they lay muddled and dormant, and they were excessively reluctant to reveal themselves with any amount of clarity.

The tactician could not accurately gauge his own emotions, nor did not even know exactly why he was here; just that he gravitated here, that some unknowable force pulled him along. Perhaps he wanted to pay his respects. Perhaps he wanted to see if there was yet anything he could salvage from the embers of his old home. But here he was, and the tattered walls rose to meet him as he drew ever closer. The distant ruins grew less and less distant.

"Almost there," he said simply. An obvious statement, but he felt he had to say something to ensure his voice did not shake as his heart seemed to. It mercifully did not. Now that he was here, looking at it with new eyes, this place made him a bit uneasy. Was this really the same place he had spent the first six years of his life?

"Ahh, I told them to wait for me while I did my business!" Ariel bounced across the desert, not caring about the sand that got caught between her toes. "Idiots!" She'd gotten separated from her troupe, and now she had to catch up in the only way she knew how- run like Grima was displeased with her. As she ran, she pulled out the Flux tome the cook had given her and started flipping through the pages.

Wasn't there a spell in here that made her run faster, or that slowed down time so the troupe would move less quickly, or to just WARP her onto the back of one of her friends? She skidded to a halt, put one hand on her forehead and put the hand with the tome on her hips. "Ariel," she said, "That's STAFF magic. Not DARK magic. You should know this by now." Putting the tome back onto its leather pouch on the back of her waist, she then started running again.

At least, until she was distracted by something. She skidded to a second halt not very far from where she had stopped to scold herself the first time, kicking up sand in the progress, and turned to the short, human-shaped figure that she saw walking in the direction of the ruined village that she'd used for cover as she'd done her business. It was covered in a heavy cloak, so Ariel couldn't tell if it was a traveller, a bandit, one of those undead folks she'd heard rumors about, or even male or female.

Covering her bases, she took her Flux to hand again and put her armed hand in her hip a second time as she cupped her other hand around her mouth. "Hey!" she called out to the figure, "What are you doing, travelling this far from civilisation alone?"

"Plegia...is truly terrible."

A lone lancer complained as he dragged his legs through another dune of sand, sand everywhere. His third leg, being a poled weapon, proved to be more useful than being used by him in a fight right now. He was glad he didn't pick to wear heavy armor, or that thing would already be wasted as soon as he entered this desert land.

The story began when Wolfe decided to join in the mercenary guild, after he quit the military job at the Longfort few years ago. Due to his less experience in the land of Grima and its dark magic, his first quest from Eric was to venture into this land in order to collect information regarding Plegia army. It had been only a short while that Ylisse's prince retreated from this country, and the employer seemed to care if the valiant army will pursue.

"I wonder who would be that one Eric took this job from, must be rich enough to invest for something as pointless as this." The one eye talked to himself before he stopped walking in order to sip some water. Suddenly, his left eye noticed something from afar at the horizontal line made of sand dunes.

"An illusion? ...no." It seemed to be an old construction As he stared at the ruin, the ex-sniper noticed that some people just walked into that place. It made hum curious of their activity. The lanceman changed his course and set the ruin as his destination.

Noah turned as the wind blew a little harder. He glanced impassively at the figures who had joined him, and at the one in the distance. A very quick risk assessment ran through his head. The middle of a desert was an odd place to be making friends, but they weren't assaulting him, and he himself was uncertain of why he had come, so sharing his non-existent motives wasn't going to hurt him. He took a moment to deliberate, and then...

"There. I am here for that," he replied, pointing towards the remains of the town. "It's my old home," he added, though he did not elaborate further.

"And what of you lot?" he asked. "This is not the most suitable place for a picnic."

Wolfe approached the group carefully after entering the ruin area. He hid behind a nearby debris that was big enough to cover himself, and tried to eavesdrop whatever this people were discussing. It seemed to be his habit from the time when he was a sharpshooter to scout any stranger. Desert wind should assist him in this hiding, however, it made his hearing more difficult. He managed to hear something about home coming, but not the rest.

There were three of them, one short man with two attractive women, reddish and purplish hair color. Wolfe noted that he leaned toward the more matured one right now, thought the younger still had more opportunity to develop. Hopefully, she got herself a good model.

That thinking aside, Wolfe tried keeping quiet until he was certain these people were safe to approach.

Other people had started showing up, too; one woman who had asked the robed figure a similar question to Ariel's own, and a more distant figure who had elected to not make contact at all. Ariel waved at the latter before running over to the shorty. Maybe, if she was lucky, she could travel with them to catch up to her troupe- it would be safer than traveling alone.

"I love picnics!" she said, laughing. "But not in the desert. You get sand stuck in your teeth if you picnic in the desert. The more fertile parts of Northern Plegia are MUCH better for it." She grinned, putting both hands on her hips. "I'm Ariel," she said. "I was traveling with a group, but leave it to us to get separated. I'm trying to catch up with them, but I'm curious. Why is everyone here alone? Haven't you heard the rumors?"

Noah glared. He did not appreciate it when people tried to strong-arm him, and he appreciated being called short even less. In response to this blatant threat, his tone dropped dangerously and icily low.

"Allow me to establish something."

He drew his own dagger, and put it at this red-headed spitfire's neck. As he did so his other hand curled into a fist. There was a tense silence for a few precious seconds, with each staring each other in the eyes before he began to speak.

"As I just said, I'm here to visit what remains of my home. I couldn't possibly care less about your... baubles. But I will not be threatened and since you're so eager to fight, I will tell you right now that this dagger is made of a special glass made to cut through flesh easily. It is also laced with poison, so one cut means you're dead. And this," he then sheathed the dagger and raised his left hand, sparking with savage electricity. "This... won't kill you. But I am not adept at controlling its power any further than 'do not kill' and it might make you wish you were dead."

He dropped it. No sense in hurting, or worse, murdering someone before he even ran into trouble. Instead he turned to the cheerier, and more importantly, less murderous girl. He slipped back into his usual style of speech.

"At any rate. If you are referring to the unrest near the borders, then yes, I am aware. But both nations are in a holding pattern as of yet, are they not?"

"Hmm, looks like there's nothing here."

After listening to the conversation for a while, Wolfe felt that these people barely knew each other, and it was just a simple conversation between strangers. Though he took a liking of what the redhead said about her treasures being hers. He didn't get why the short man had to tell people what his weapons do, he for one didn't think that was a wise thing to do.

Whatever.

"Ahem." The one-eyed lancer asked for attention as he showed himself, no matter he was already found out or not. "Not going to join your quarrel, but do anyone mind telling how can I get to the nearest town from here? This desert is killn' me."

Another wink was added to that for the hot ladies.

Whoa. Violence. "Whoa people, come off it," Ariel said, laughing nervously. "Between the Ylisseans and the dead-but-not-quite-dead, there's enough things trying to send our life force to Lord Grima without us giving them a hand." She guessed if nothing else, this explained why they traveled alone; no one was willing to put up with them.

Blushing at the man who'd winked at her, she turned to him and put one finger on her chin, looking into the distance and thinking. "I dunno about the nearest town," she said, "but my troupe is about ten minutes... thattaway?" Pulling her hand from her chin, she pointed away from the ruins the short person was headed for. "It's not a town but they have shade and water. If you wait a bit, we can go together."

Noah raised an eyebrow. It was hardly his intention to flirt. But at any rate, he felt it prudent to keep an eye on this one. Such abrupt changes in attitude were not natural. Of course, it felt particularly odd to have people making lewd passes at each other just seconds after a battle nearly broke out, as well.

He disregarded the aggressively gold-seeking comment--he saw no use in starting another argument--and responded to others. "That's very kind of you to offer. Still, even though there may not be anything here, this is still the site of my former home. If it's all the same I'd like to stop there before I do anything else."

He stopped as he spotted a group of figures emerging from one side of the village walls. They were close enough to see that at least some were hefting some sort of heavy tools, no... axes? That couldn't be a good omen. No one was supposed to be there. Let alone someone armed. They seemed to have spotted his group, too. They were fast approaching, with far too much... vigor for his liking.

"...I don't like the looks of that. If they're hostile, who exactly can fight, and how?"

It seemed the argument had died down, probably due to his interference, that was good. The purplish cheerful girl was the first to reply him as expected, and her option didn't sound bad at all. He hoped the girl and her troupe could be an oasis for a blind man for the time being.

"I'd say that is the best offer I've ever got one today, lady." Wolfe bowed a little to the performer. He then turned to the other two that could get along now, even though the redhead lady still made clear of her objective. However, by looking at the man, the lancer noticed that something was coming from the direction he was turning to. As the sound came arrived his ears as well, he turned to make certain of the situation.

Wolfe widened his one eye a bit once he saw a group of armed men heading toward his direction. There was no sign that they came to make friend, at all. What to do, he thought. If he were still a sniper, he'd make use of this ruin as a bunker and wipe those thugs out before they could reach. It was a shame he couldn't pull a stunt like that anymore.

"Those people..." The lancer, as he prepared his weapon, said to the red haired beauty. "I think they are here for your treasures, what did you say you would do with thugs like that again?"

Ariel grinned. "We make good offers," she said. "It's how you get by in times like these when you don't have a 'proper' job." As she said 'proper,' she used her fingers to make annotation signs in the air. She hated people who thought travelling performers didn't work hard for their money.

However, when the short man who everyone had been drawn to looked into the direction of the ruin and asked if anyone could fight, Ariel turned her gaze in the same direction and jumped. Those guys definitely didn't seem friendly, even from this distance. Honestly! Openly carrying weapons was one thing, but carrying them in such a way you could land them on haphazard travelers in a heartbeat was another thing altogether.

Sighing, she opened the Flux tome once more, flipping through the pages in search of the incantation and gestures she had to use to cast the base form of the spell- she hadn't been using it for long enough to have it all memorized. "I'd like to say my dances are special and will keep you all fresh, but that'd be a hard-faced lie," she said, tapping the page as she found what she had been looking for. "I'm still pretty green, but if you can keep me from being interrupted I can help out here and there."

With those words, she grabbed the spine of the book with one hand and stuck her dominant hand out front of her, using her index finger to start scribbling a magic symbol in the air. "Just, try not to stand in the way. I have no idea what this stuff does at close range."

"How many offers have you had today, period?" Noah asked vacantly, running the variables through his head. He had made notes of everyone's weapons, and rapidly set about mentally constructing a good formation. Ideally, it'd have the dancer girl in the back protected by the others, with the lancer guarding her from one side and he and the redhead spearheading the assault, to deal with the axe users. He said as much to the others briefly, though he did not expect immediate cooperation. Theirs was a rocky start indeed, and only Ariel had introduced herself. He made a note to share his name after they dealt with this somehow.

"And whadda we got here, boys?" called one of the more developed men. A few cried back, with inane answers such as "pincushions!" or "meal-tickets!"

Noah answered irrespective of its rhetorical status. "We're travelers. That's all that needs to be said, I believe."

"Oh, izzat so? You weren't thinking of going in this thing, were you?"

"And if we were?"

He sneered. "Well, then you'd have to learn what we do with these," he said, holding up the axe. Then he thought a moment. "Or maybe you will anyway. We can't exactly have anyone runnin' round knowin' we're here. 'Else someone might come knockin'."

Noah did not like where this was going. "I'm certain we could work something--"

"No, shortstack, I'm pretty sure we couldn't. You gotta go."

He held up a hand and fired a bolt at the man. It caught him off-guard and he bombarded their ears with abusive language as he gripped his arm, while two smaller strands of lightning curved away and struck one brigand in the side of the head, but missed another altogether. All those not stumbling from the initial assault rushed in.

Drawing his own katti, he muttered, "Ariel, pick a target. Everyone stay close so we can support each other."

OOC (open) OOC (close)

So I'm hoping we can work off each other's posts here, for example setting up an easy target for the next character. On that note if anyone wants to do a dual strike joint post with me please just contact me.

Enemies:
Lv 12 Raloph the Boss (Barbarian): Currently getting his bearings from the surprise attack. Will probably recover faster than his lackey.
Lv 9 Barbarian: Also recovering from lightning to the face.
Lv 3 Fighter x 2: Bum-rushing us.
Lv 2 Mercenary: Also bum-rushing.

"As much as I'd like to note to never loot your spoil, it's glad to hear." Wolfe replied to the charming treasure hunter, chuckling. It was good to know that there will be someone leading the assault. He also relieved that he didn't get to be that person, given that he still needed to be familiar with this polearm. The lancer then turned to the dancer, saying. "Then I guess I'll stay behind just to guard you, misty."

In fact, he still wondered how this girl's dancing will help them in battle. Of course, with her developing figure and probably her seducing movement, it's possible to make him excited. He only doubted if he had any time to peek her so. Hopefully, she didn't mean it and had something else up her sleeve.

The conversation between the shorty and desert bandits seemed to be a pattern to start a fight, and Wolfe already prepare his mind of it, only his mind. He still doubted in tilting techniques he learned from Eric that it would be practical in real situation, not to say that Eric was not even a spearman.

Turning his left to the foe, so that he could see the soon coming attack, Wolfe pointed his spear down a bit and waited for the eruption of battle. The lightning stuck as a signal before the foes dashing toward them.

His sniper eye quickly scanned the three attackers in order to find his first opponent. According to his instructor, his weapon would gain more advantage with sword user, given that it was ordinary sword and not a huge sized one. Therefore, his locked the desert swordsman and stepped into the way the would lure him in.

At this range, I'd already fire an arrow... The blind lancer thought as he waited, patiently. He made a count quietly until the swordsman entered his attack range, and that was when he stepped forward. Now.

Taking advantage by the longer reach of his weapon, Wolfe embedded the tip of his spear into the man's side. The bandit tried to dodge, but he couldn't due to the lancer's first step to get closer. He tried to land a strike with his sword but it hardly hit with that distance. Wolfe pressed forward to retrieve his spear, drawing our blood from the wound, and struck the man's head with the other blunt end.

"Oh, that worked." Wolfe turned to others, in a hope that they were doing better than himself, and said to no one. The swordsman would be down for a while so he can focus at other foes for now. "Moving on to next target."

Enemy (open) Enemy (close)

The merc didn't die from an attack from a level 1 just yet, somebody finish him~

Enemies:
Lv 12 Raloph the Boss: Currently getting his bearings from the surprise attack. Will probably recover faster than his lackey.
Lv 9 Barbarian: Also recovering from lightning to the face.
Lv 3 Fighter x 2: Bum-rushing us.
Lv 2 Mercenary: Down, but will get up soon at about 6/18 HP or something.

As short stuff tried and failed to negotiate with the desert bandits, the lancer promised that he would stay near Ariel to help her and to keep her from being interrupted. "It's actually Ariel, not Misty," she said, smiling, but she soon turned serious again.

The enemies attacked, and while Ariel had wanted to zone in on the slow and cumbersome axemen, her protector was attacked by a much faster swordsman instead. For both his protection and her own, Ariel hurriedly began her incantation, using index and middle finger to draw her magic symbol- except this time, the lines she drew actually remained in the air, in an eerie, deep purple color. "O great forces that sleep within the abyss that is the human mind," she spoke, "Become my strength! Flux!"

With those words, Ariel turned a quick pirouette on the spot and swiped her palm through the magic symbol. The lancer had managed to down, if not quite kill, his foe that Ariel had zoned in on, so the spell targeted the downed man just as he prepared to stand back up. A small, dark purple cloud formed around him, quickly imploding and forcing him back to the ground, his eyes rolled up in his head and his chest no longer heaving with breath.

As the magic symbol disappeared from the air, Ariel took another step back as she attempted to choose another target, deciding on the remaining axe-wielder. "Are you alright, sir?" She asked their lancer, even as she started to draw in the air again. She'd probably only half-hear the answer, but she still wanted to ask.

Enemy List (open) Enemy List (close)

Lv 12 Raloph the Boss: Currently getting his bearings from the surprise attack. (Has regained his bearings by now?)
Lv 9 Barbarian: Recovered, but took a hit, also poisoned.
Lv 3 Fighter: One down, the other still bum-rushing us.