Arch opened his eyes, annoyed that his sleep was disturbed yet again. But in front of him stood a man holding a staff.

"Need some help?" he asked.

"I appreciate it," Arch responded. He got up and stood still.

"Alright, here goes." Martel said to the man. He took his staff and held it near a deep cut on his arm. Martel mumbled some random prayer to the Goddess, & the staff began to glow. The healing aura surrounded Arch and his health began to return to normal. After a few seconds, the holy aura died down.

"Mm, that was a pretty bad cut," Martel added. "You should be better soon. I'm Martel, nice to meet you." Martel put out his hand, & Arch promptly shook it.

"Arch," he responded, shaking the man with his healed hand. "Thanks for the help."

"No problem," Martel replied. "Though who were those men? They looked like soldiers from the North. I don't understand why they would attack us, considering we're basically Northerners ourselves."

OOC: I. Hate. My. Internet. Seriously, how long can something break for? Grr... Anyway, to try and post. Lesse...

IC: When Strythe returned back to the base camp, a little bloodied but otherwise none the worse for wear, there was a crowd of soldiers outside. They all moved to make way as Enesse backwinged to land, and Strythe jumped down.

"Sir!" One of the soldiers called, rushing up. He had a piece of paper that was notouriously report-shaped in his hand. "Word from the front, sir!"

"There's a front, now?" Strythe asked. "What's wrong?" The soldier looked uncertain.

"A massacre at a village close to... The North, sir," he replied. "Heavy casualties on both sides. We suspect involvment from those heathens up in the North." Strythe sighed, taking the report from him.

"Very well..." He murmured, glancing over it. "If we've no other orders, I shall go and ask the commander's permission to check this out." The soldier nodded, and Strythe went off to ask permission, giving Enesse a quick rub on the nose as he passed.

Within quarter of an hour, he was headed North.

"I don't understand either. People shouldn't blindly attack, especially in a case like this. We were luck to escape with our lives.

Speaking of which, my subordinate is also injured, if you don't mind healing him. I believe he's hiding around a homemade camp somewhat deeper in the woods."

When they were finished with the funeral, Lenore went off to be alone, while Rusvi and Tronur went to help the village and the wounded. Andarra went and found Arch, "How long do you plan on staying here? Sorry for sounding selfish, but I must leave as soon as possible. It is not wise for me to stay in one place long, let along in Alathr."

OOC: Warning. Mega post ahead.

"Certainly," Martel replied. Thus, Arch & Martel ventured into the woods to find the little homemade camp. Their walk was silent. Martel was in deep thought.

Why was the village attacked? Was it our own men? I pray that Bishop Wallace is alright. He's a strong soul, he'll carry on. Oh, it's getting rather chilly out. I hope Mithos is safe.

Martel glanced over at Arch, who was very strong & muscular.

Well, at least if we get ambushed here, this guy looks pretty tough. I want to help oust those raiders, I'm sure these guys would let me join them. But Mithos? I think he would need to stay to help out Wallace, or else the Church wouldn't function well. Oh, decisions decisions.

Through the trees a small tent was seen, next to a tiny fire. "That must be it!", Martel exclaimed, pointing straight ahead. He quickly sprinted close to the camp. Arch followed him promptly. In the little clearing, a man, who was supposedly Arch's comrade was asleep next to the fire in a warm blanket. Martel, taking note, quietly edged around him, as to not wake him up.

"Wake up the commander in case of an emergency, he won't mind. I'm really hungry, so I'll go grab some food to bring back here. You're welcome to stay and have some."

Arch walked deeper into the forest, on the lookout for potential food. He was capable of doing so, thanks to the treatment by Martel.

After a considerable walking distance, he spotted a deer eating some grass. Making as little noise as possible, he slowly eased his axe out of its sheath and raised it behind his head, aiming for the deer's body.

With a swift technique and not much of a sound, Arch hurled the axe towards the beast. It noticed immediately and started to take off, but not before its back was sliced by the flying blade, disarming it for a brief moment. Arch jumped out from his hiding spot and lunged at it with his other axe in his hand. He brought it down with strength, severely gashing its head open.

He gathered up his supplies to begin his walk back. He unfastened his cape and rolled up the carcass in it, putting all his might into heaving it over his back. Arch headed back to camp with a slow and steady pace.

Martel nudged the man Arch referred to as Commander. "Wake up.". His eyes opened slightly. He yawned. "I'm Martel, I'm here to heal you. That friend of yours told me to drop by.". Commander simply nodded whilst Martel held the staff near the cuts on his arms & upper torso. The light aura of healing slowly but surely repaired the damage done to him during the intense battle from earlier.

"Alright, you should just get some rest now. You'll be feeling better by the morning, no doubt." Martel said, standing up again.

After calming down from the sudden shock of the man who appeared before him Kushluk finally gave him a puzzled look "Okay .... Now would ya mind tellin me how the hell you did that?" The well dressed peacock chuckled for a moment before saying "Sorry but I can't really say, trick of the trade if you will." then the man went all business and grew a hard outlook "You said you required a moment of my time, so while I am willing to listen, please do not waste my time with idle chat." The pirate quickly tried to size up the man before he spoke.


While the older slim built man seemed to frail to survive even a small encounter he seemed to have some kind aura that commanded respect from those around him, a trait which was a very dangerous one. In his past experience the pirate knew such men, and cut them down without mercy to save much unnecessary bloodshed from the villages he raided. In fact Kushluk gripped his axe tighter at the instinct to do the same, but he quickly forced himself to relax the urge.


Times changed, and things are different now.


He finally after a few seconds rested the butt of his axe into the snow and rested his arms on the weapon with the jagged edge facing Julius. The pirate then started in a somewhat gruff voice "Fine, I'll not waste your time then. I'm new to these parts an I need some general info an seein that yer the one in charge I’d rather hear the details from ya.” He then stood awaiting Juluis's response.

Andarra was walking and and saw Kush, the newest edition to the team, but what interested her more was the man he was talking to. "Is that-?" she asked herself, "It is! Julius!" she called to him and ran over to great him, "How are you? It's been a long time."

Aron was walking around the village, looking for rations he could get. When he couldn't find anything, he started for home. Just in front of him, was a man in royal clothing talking to a big guy with an axe around the same size as his own.

Immediately Aron started off to the little homemade shelter.

Levin was lying down, looking at his father's sword when Aron rushed in, tired.

"Guys, I just saw Julius. The prince man of the North. And some other big guy who uses a big axe."

Rakche immediately stood up. "Are you serious? I heard he was a sorcerer of powerful magic. I really could learn a thing or two from him."

Levin sheathed his father's sword. "I heard his father's waging war on the empire. I wonder if this is true."

Keln answered. "Yeah Levin, that's right. But I wonder what Julius, the prince of the North is doing in a small town like he-"

Aron interrupted Keln. "Who cares? Let's go see him."

Everyone except Aron got on their coats and jackets, and walked out of the hut. Ahead of them, they saw the same two people Aron described, and another small group running towards them. It was the group with the dead archer.

"Come on, let's go meet him already." Jake told the group, "It's boring standing here in the cold doing nothing."

"Information?" Julius responded, raising his eyebrow. "Do you even know who I am?"
"Not really. But I don't really care that much, either."

Any other noble would have pointed out how impudent Kushluk was being, but Julius really was not the usual noble. Instead, he just shook his head and sighed. "I am prince Julius of North. The heir to the throne." He told Kushluk. Kushluk just looked at the royal prince, seemingly uncaring. Suddenly he responded.
"Right... I thought there was something like that with ya." Julius sighed at the man's response and shook his head again. He stayed silent for a moment.
"... But fine, if it's information that you want, I could give you some. But first, I'd want to know why you chose to come to North?"

Before Kushluk could answer, Julius heard someone calling him. "Hmm? I remember you... Andarra? Andarra, why did you come here? Don't you realize we're at war, now?"

This message was edited by Legatus on Jan 24 2008.