2nd adventure: Proxy War

The master swiftly turns towards Konrad.

"I believe what the young man just told me. If nothing else, my instinct is telling me that the people from the other group are the real problem. We should formulate a plan immediately."

There's a yell coming from the dinner area. "Master!"

"Oh no," says Fredrick. "I really don't like the sound of this."

There's a violent commotion happening over there.

OOC:

The Lorinthians and the pirates all converged on the dinner area with the plan to kill everyone that would stand in their way. The 113th adjunct and the Free squad allied themselves with the monks to repel the attack, and keep the man in rags out of their grasp. The battle started with the deaths of the two monks guarding the north wing, who were taken by surprise by the enhanced fortitude of the Lorinthian soldiers, and couldn't do much to resist the initial push.

What followed is a chaotic battle that lasted just over a minute. The adjunct and squad members all rushed alongside Conan and the Master to assist the monks who were fighting the enemy alone. Mihai, who led the charge, was immediately subjected to the effects of a yellow spell called Confuse, which unintentionally made him attack Conan. Fedler, who noticed that something was wrong with Mihai, warned everyone of what had happened. Conan was now spilling white blood, but the warning convinced him not to retaliate against his newfound ally, and he turned his attention back to the real enemy. This is when Snicker intervened, and canceled the magical effect cast on Mihai, with a simply explanation, "I've now protected Fedler, just as I promised I would."

Meanwhile, Konrad, Steve and Breeze were attacking the pirate flank. The little fairy could do nothing more than just cast minor spells at one of the pirates, but combined with Steve's Blizzard spells, the onslaught of the squad members, and Konrad's cunning usage of a thunderstone, they would soon manage to reduce their numbers to one. As for Kira Paddle, she turned her attention on the Master and the other monks who began to suffer a lot of damage at her hands, with the Lorinthians' help. This is when Konrad made good on Snicker's promise to assault Kira's mind with pain; she fell to her knees, screaming. During this time, the yellow mage cast Silence on Zelk Freeron, preventing for from using magic for a significant of time during this battle. The lieutenant didn't let that stop her from aiding her comrades, and she pulled out a dagger she fully intended to use on the agonizing pirate.

During all of this, they all heard a familiar laugh.

Now desperate, the Lorinthian mage shouted to Snicker that he wished to make a deal, which took the group by surprise. The bodies of those who had died by this point; one pirate, one soldier, and two monks; were suddenly animated like if they were puppets on strings, and they promptly attacked their enemies. One of the monks still alive was quickly beaten to death by what used to be her friends. The effects of the thunderstone were mysteriously removed, and the pirates renewed their attack. As for Kira Paddle, she wasn't in pain anymore, and quickly attacked Zelk with her short swords. The black mage slowly backed away, and she brought a hand to her stomach to stop the blood coming out of her gut.

Steve noticed that the magical technique used to animate the bodies was similar to what he had seen in Waterglass, but there was nevertheless a major difference. The style was too different to be the same person (or entity). But he had no time to analyze this phenomenon further, as one of Fedler's arrow flew by him to kill one other pirate. He asked Breeze if there was anything she could do against the puppets. While she pointed at one of the animated bodies, Breeze told Steve she didn't have the ability to stop this; but of course, the animated body immediately fell to the ground. Conan bought her enough time to deal with the other puppets, and punched one of them through a wall. It didn't take long for the fairy to regain her composure and banish these creatures out of existence.

Her survival instinct pushed Kira to shout at Snicker that she wished to make a deal. She gained unnatural speed, and attacked Konrad, Avalon, and Zelk at the same time, wounding all of them. The lieutenant was cut right across her face, and she fell down, unconscious. A small pool of blood started to spread around her.

The Master approached the yellow mage, and immobilized him so Mihai could finish him off with his magical sword. His death assured that his identity would be kept a secret. The last of Kira's minions, aware of how desperate the situation was, also made a deal with Snicker; he gained unnatural speed, but that wasn't enough to survive the combined attack of the three remaining squad members. Konrad, who after all this time was finally standing right in front of Kira Paddle, decided that enough was enough, and dual casted Fire on her. The last pirate burned alive, her screams echoing in the monastery, and her remains fell down to the ground.

Steve quickly spent the rest of his mana to cast Blizzard at the spreading fire, and stop the whole building from burning down. Once he had done so, no enemies remained, and Snicker remained silent.

___________________________

Fedler brought Zelk to one of the room in the south wing with Steve's help. The hunter, and improvised healer, reassured the rest of the squad that their lieutenant would make it, but that she had to stay with her to prevent any complication that might occur during the resting period. Zelk had lost a lot of blood, and her skin had turned pale. Fedler didn't stand on ceremony, and ordered Steve to go find a new change of clothes while she removed the ones that Zelk was wearing. Steve had to be told twice what to do, but he did comply to his companion's order, and the more he helped, the better he felt.

The hunter made sure she didn't miss any wound, and threw the bloodied mage robes away. Steve did find traditional monk clothes in the closet, which he and Fedler put on Zelk after they washed away the blood. Once this was done, they found themselves with nothing else to do.

"We can only wait," declared Fedler with a soothing voice. She was on her knees, checking Zelk's pulse with two of her fingers. "She'll be okay Steve. She just needs to rest."

The young redhead let out a big sigh, out of exhaustion.

___________________________

Once Fedler and Steve disappeared into one of the rooms of the south wing, Adam took command of the squad, and ordered Fredrick and Naomi to carry the bodies of the pirates and the Lorinthians out of the monastery.

"We'll burn them in the forest," he told them with a firm voice. "

The two younger squad members slowly nodded, and immediately got to work. The master and his disciples, heavily injured, nevertheless took a moment to pay respect to the bodies of their friends.

"Valor," said Avalon, "go check on the children. Make sure they don't see this."

"Yes master," replied one of the women, who then hurried through the back door.

"Leon, Suzy," continued the master, "help me carry their bodies to the clearing."

"Yes," answered the two other monks in unison.

"Let me help," added Conan.

Avalon looked down at the wound on the young man's chest, and the white blood slowly dripping out of it.

"Shouldn't you rest?" asked the master.

"Shouldn't you?" retorted the man in rags.

There was a small chuckle. "Yes, I should. But I don't want to right now. Thank you for your help."

OOC:

___________________________

Mihai has returned to the monastery in a sprint, just in time to see the squad members carry a pirate's body into the forest. None of the monks are around, nor is Conan.

"You back?" asks Adam. "You ready to help now?"

"You're injured!" suddenly realizes the fairy. "I'll take care of that, don't worry!"

"Oh, uh... thank you."

Breeze extends her small hands in front of a wound, and a warm multicolored light starts to emanated from them.

"I'm ready." - he replies, somber but resolute - "What can i do?"

"Help me carry one of those bodies," replies Adam. "There's still four of them in there. We're taking them out in the forest."

Mihai picks up one of the bodies and follows Adam.

Along the way, he asks - "How's Zelk?"

Steve looks down at Zelk. He's never seen her so bad. He tenderly moves a lock of hair from her face and rubs his hand gently on her cheek. To Fedler he says, "Thank you for saving her. And for giving me something to do."

Fedler watches Steve with gentle eyes, despite the arduous fight that ended not even fifteen minutes ago.

"No problem," she replies, tired. There's a short moment of silence, until she decides to add something. "I didn't think you would show that kind of affection for her. I remember those poems."

"Ugh, don't remind me. Those could have been the last things she ever got from me; what a disaster that would have been. We already wasted so much time."

Fedler hesitates, but she chooses to do it anyway; she grabs Zelk's bag, and opens it.

"The contents fell on the floor while you were looking for other clothes," she explains. "I'm not sure if I should do it, but just like you said, you've both wasted enough time."

She holds towards Steve a small stack of sheets of papers. He recognizes his own handwriting.

He slowly takes them and begins checking them one at a time. "They're all here. She kept all of them." He wipes away a tear. "That's just like her, you know. She was never one to waste her time on things she didn't care about."

"You both have strange ways to show how you care," comments Fedler, a smirk on her face. "I'm no expert when it comes down to... uh, relationships, but I think you should talk about it with her."

She stops herself from saying anything else.

"Sorry, I shouldn't meddle."

"Don't worry about it. You're not a meddler, your family. Hey, hand me that rag."

Fedler grabs one of the improvised towels she made out of bed sheets, and gives one to Steve.

"There you go."

Both of them hear a groan coming from Zelk. The lieutenant slowly opens her eyes, and tries to turn her head to look around.

"Stop," warns Fedler. "You've lost a lot of blood, but you need to rest. The members of your squad have not suffered any serious injury." There's a pause. "Three of the monks are dead."

Zelk closes her eyes for an instant when she hears these news. Her breath is slow, but steady. She opens her eyes again, and focuses her attention on the person on her left; it takes a few seconds, but she recognizes Steve. She licks her lips, and almost in a whisper, she says, "Hey, asshole... couldn't you have killed her before she gut me like a fish?"

A small smile crops up on her face.

"Probably could have if you'd trained your squad how to fight. You and me would have had them down in six seconds instead of eighteen," He summons a small storm into his hand and uses its rain to wet the towel. He moves next to her and gets the towel ready. "I'm going to dribble this water into your mouth. Ready?"

Fedler stands up.

"I'll tell the others that Zelk is conscious," she says. "Don't let her stand up Steve."

The hunter slides the door open, and closes it behind her.

"...There better be only water in that towel," warns Zelk with a weak voice. "or you're swimming back to Zest."

_____________________

Konrad and Fredrick have just come back from the forest, having carried another body there. The red mage notices that Mihai and Breeze have reappeared in front of the monastery, and the fairy is currently healing Adam. Right at this moment, Naomi and Fedler come out of the building, and the whole group reconvene in front of it.

"Zelk just woke up," announces the redheaded hunter. "She'll be fine. I left her with Steve, and I assume she's smart enough not to start a fight in her condition."

"I don't know," quips Fredrick. "Even with 3 litters of blood missing, I would still bet on her to win that fight."

"Let's not test it," replies Naomi. "I don't want to explain to the Coins that we may have intentionally hurt one of their mages."

"Hey!" protests Breeze. "If you still want me to heal you, you better watch your tongue!"

"Sorry, sorry. Won't do it again."

"Good," replies the fairy with a nod. She then proceeds to heal Naomi. "Steve would definitely win."

Adam almost appear amused by this whole exchange.

He smiles at her. "You caught me. It's full of hot sauce and vinegar. My diabolical plan has been foiled."

"I'll just trust that you're descent enough not to pull a prank on an weakened friend," she says under her breath. "Gimme that."

Once Steve has dribbled the water into her mouth, she coughs a little.

"I'm okay, I'm okay," she reassures him. She falls quiet for a moment, but then adds, "Thank you."

Mihai only:

He puts the towel aside. "Of course." He reaches for her hand, hesitates, and finally takes it. "Thought I lost you there for a minute."

Zelk peers at Steve in silence, an unreadable expression on her face. However, her facial features quickly soften, and Steve can feel her fingers interlace with his own. "Me too."

Despite her weariness, she smiles.

He smiles back. "Get some rest. We can talk more later. I'll be right here."

"I wouldn't encourage it on a good day," Konrad muses. "There is something wrong with those two..."

"Now we have the whole day to ourselves, until tomorrow at noon. I'm not sure what to expect from the merchant ship, but I'm not leaving Nomad Cove until we've found the Barracuda intact or in tatters, or until we've scoured all the shores of the Cove looking for her."

*Sigh* "It looks as though our 'silent partner' has been playing the field."

Mihai breathes a sight of relief about Zelk.

"Wrong or right, whatever they have is theirs." - he remarks about Steve and Zelk - "As for the ship, we can try and scout out the shore from up high and see if we get lucky. I..." - he pauses beat before saying the rest - "Me and Fredrick came across some driftwood this morning. I assumed it was from Paddle's ship, that got squidded, but we can go and check out the shore for more if need be."

He pauses

"As for him..." - his mood darkens - "I don't think he saw any contradiction between befriending us and what he did to us. Probably doesn't even see it as betrayal, just a matter of course on his way to have fun." - his tone becomes harsher as he says the next part - "I'm positive he still feels friendly toward us even now."

He then becomes even again, and finishes out his reasoning. - "Even if you can't trust him, i think you can count on him to be him. All he says will probably always be true to the letter. It's what he doesn't say that you need to watch out for. In the end, if this ever happens again and he offers his help to the other side... i guess we'll just have to deal with that as it comes." - he sighs - "For now, i just hope he's gone."

"Okay," replies Zelk. She closes her eyes again, and falls asleep after a few minutes. She doesn't let go of Steve's hand.

___________________

"He better be gone," almost spits Naomi. "I never want to have to deal with that thing again."

"What was it anyway..?" Fredrick wonders. "A spirit?"

"More like a demon. A real one."

"There you go," announces Breeze who just finished healing her second patient. She flies over to Fredrick. "Now you."

"Thank you, young lady," says the roguish soldier.

"It's my job after all!" replies the fairy, happy to be useful.

Where's my pipe? I want my pipe. "At least it doesn't care about you guys," Konrad salves, making a sweeping gesture toward Naomi, Frederick and Adam. That's actually both bad *and* good.

"Even so, that's a vain hope," he postulates. "And even if he did leave, that doesn't mean he just disappeared."