Open Chronicles Mornings are Rough

[Nathanael McCallister]

Nate sighs, “Yes I can smell deer among other things, like the squirrels in the trees or hear the mice jn the brush.” How else was he able to hunt monsters so effectively? He was bred for it!

The lycan was about to stalk, “I don’t get drunk either no matter how much I drink.” He grumbles and jumps at Emery starts screaming and a deer ran across the trail a few paces down it.

“Well there goes our food for the next few days...”He grumbles and turns to Emery then tilts his head a takes a few steps back with his hand on the hilt of his silver sword.

Demons were everywhere and he was not about to take a risk.

“Kid you okay?” He yells approaching Emery a putting his hand in his shoulder looking at Jane with a confused look.

Run, no kill, Run! No kill! Was all his instincts were telling him.

 

[Jane]

Hold her liquor? Jane could hold her liquor--beer, ale, whatever in this case, but it probably wasn't liquor. Didn't matter, she wasn't one of the softies that vomited back in the barn. And Lilya's dress was returned with pride, nary a stain of bile or last night's dinner upon it.

Nate though. What the fuck.

"That sounds awful, Nate," Jane said, stopping in the road and watching as he undoubtedly readied himself to go prowling after that deer. "Hell, now I wish I had a Blessing that'd help you get drunk. That's all the fun in drinking. The drunk part. You know."

Emry though. What the fuck.

"What the fuck, what?" Jane said, her shoulders flinching somewhat as his outburst caught her off guard too. Brow furrowed and eyes putting in diminishing effort to glance around for whatever the problem might be and finding nothing, she eventually settled for looking back on Emry.

Out of the corner of her eye, Nate with a hand on the hilt of his sword. Well shit, if only she hadn't lost hers in some wandering, drunken party last night. Also, her flagellation tally was ticking up more and more with each new profanity...so that was going to hurt later.

Nate--surprisingly--approached and put a hand on Emry's shoulder. Asked him if he was okay. Looked to her with evident confusion. And she could only perk her eyebrows and shrug.

Nathanael McCallister Emery Thatcher

 

[Emery Thatcher]

"Woods.
Woods.
Woods."
This time the whisper was not shared amidst them. It was in just Emery's head. A whisper was a terrible description. It was as a screech directly in the ears. That even allowed his ears to trickle blood from them. It was a banshee letting its wail pierce through his skull.

His eyes were widened, and bloodshot. He couldn't let go off his head. The pain was torment. The feeling of glass in his brain. "STOP IT. MAKE IT GO THE FUCK AWAY." He screamed, and screamed, and screamed. Tears fell from his swollen eyes. It was unmistakably utter agony. Eventually though, the voice stopped. Emery collapsed to his knees and hyperventilated, both hands still gripping his own hair.

"Th-the woods..." He mustered. His glance turned towards the endless hallway of trees beside them and it was as if he could see the scene himself. "Someone. Dead."

 

[Nathanael McCallister]

Nate sighs, “Im used to it, kind of what you get when your family bred desirable traits of a monster hunter through the generations.” He takes Emery by the chin and looks over his head.

Blood from the ear. “We can’t go into the woods with you like this...” Nate growls and looks at Jane and then takes the hilt if the sword and leaves Emery where he was to investigate the woods, smelling the air for a dead corpse. Its stench should not be too hard to find and to follow.

Defend, kill, defend...

The pain was too much for Emery, Nate would rub his eyes, “The kid needs help... something isn’t right. And I guess that’s your domain Jane. I don’t have any of that blessing holy stuff you do.”

Nate feels the fallen twigs and sticks under his feet as he stepped towards the sweet smell of decaying food.... damn he was hungry. The smell of rotting leaves hit his nose, damp, cool, sweet. But not blood sweet.

“I have a feeling we can temporarily alleviate his pain by finding.... a body.” Nate smiles as he walks.

 

[Jane]

Alright. So he was mad, Emry. Not everyone who was mad seemed that way from the start, and Jane ought to know. There were a number of those types around Cerak, and at least two within the Sisters of the Citadel. They could talk and act just like anyone else, all up until something happened. What that something was was either very specific (a certain set of words, say), or anybody's guess.

And this, to Jane, seemed to be anybody's guess. Ooo...was that blood coming out of Emry's ears? That was nice. Everything else wasn't so enamoring--the bulging, bloodshot eyes, the near ceaseless screaming, the tears. Eh, too many of the sacrifices the Sisters offered up to the Dark One Alarak cried when it was their turn, so tears weren't so affecting to Jane; just something people did, like shivering when it was cold or sweating when it was hot. Nothing special.

The man was down on his knees, breathing hard and grabbing his hair like a sailor gripping the ropes and sides of a ship in rough seas.

"Someone dead?" Jane remarked, flat but a little curious. "How do you know? Heh, can you smell the corpse? Maybe the deer beat the shit out of some hunter and shot him with his own bow and arrow, who knows."

Nate was going with it. Stepping off of the dirt road and going to investigate the claim of a dead body out there. Yeah, and Emry needed help, alright. Maybe Jane could heal whatever internal wounds he had or maybe not. She certainly couldn't heal whatever madness plagued his mind--that was up to Astra.

"I'll do what I can," Jane said to Nate as he started out. She went to Emry then, crouched down, looking at him with the mild curiosity that a child might regard a particularly interesting insect.

She reached out, touched Emry's shoulder, and said, "Hey. Emry. Can you hear me?"

A Blessing of Metisa could possibly help. Possibly. So far as she knew, it aided only with physical wounds and injuries, and even that was limited. For being a paladin, a warrior that--insofar as Jane understood it, as relayed by the Redeemer himself--was meant not only to fight but to help people, she really didn't have many tools available to her for that latter part.

Not her fault. Astra's fault.

Nathanael McCallister Emery Thatcher

 

[Emery Thatcher]

Emery started to slowly calm after he spoke. Something about mentioning the feeling of him having a hunch of someone dead nearby was alleviating the agony? It didn't make sense to him. He was far from an intellectual. These things were not easily deciphered in his head. Especially while it was throbbing.

Jane and Nates words helped coax him out of it too. His breathing leveled out and his tears stopped. "I'm- I'm fine..." He spoke without making eye contact. His pride wouldn't let him admit that he was weak in this moment. He didn't even really acknowledge all that had been said. He hadn't known what had even happened. The pain was gone though. He stood up and pointed to the woods.

"I dunno why I know... But... Somethin' or someone's dead over there." He still had a look of fear in his eyes from not knowing why all this occurred. "I know it. I know it's true."

 

[Nathanael McCallister]

Nate looks back at Emery with a cautious look, he knew? The scent was even stronger on the kid, it was a pretty strong being he could gather.

The hunter heads deeper into the woods, until he eventually came upon a dead body, a pretty old one. Its face shriveled up, and its eyes white. “Found it!” Nate yells back and kneels down. Using his hand he moves the head of the corpse back trying to identify the cause of death.

What else he could tell of the corpse is the person once had medium-long hair, its coloring darkened from age or whatever killed it. The further down he examined the body he could tell it was a young woman. From where? He had no clue.

She was wearing a worn down simple dress a peasant might wear, and her feet were worn down from walking without shoes. No jewelry and nothing in the pockets. Odd.

“Please tell me neither of you know who this young woman might’ve been?!”

 

[Jane]

Heh. "Fine." Now that was a word, alright. Jane remembered a particularly defiant sacrifice she and her Sisters captured up by the Cortosi Coast. A sailor, presumably, and if he wasn't then he ought to have been. Tough son of a bitch, and Jane respected that. Jane gave him the usual once they returned to the Citadel, the piece by piece offerings to the Dark Ones. He wouldn't scream and shout like many of the other sacrifices, and when Jane cheekily asked him how he was doing, all he would reply with--every time--was "Fine."

Yet somehow Emry knew that there was a dead something or another just over the crest of the lazy hill. Knew it to be true, as a matter of fact.

"Is that so," Jane said. Indulging, somewhat, but not really buying it. All up until Nate called back Found it!

Jane took on a look of confusion. Stood and turned toward Nate's voice. Skipped to a brisk start in her walk off of the dirt road. Her boots crunched through brittle twigs and stamped down fallen leaves and grasses of the forest floor.

And she approached Nate. Nate and the corpse. She put her hands on her hips, cocked her head (a little hangover sloshing following), and whistled sharply.

"You know, I'd like to be able to say that I would remember if I killed somebody last night. But..." she grinned and shrugged, glancing at her fingernails and the dried blood stuck underneath them, "to my credit, I don't think I have the capacity to scratch someone to death. Even if that'd be fun."

Her grin took on a moderately sheepish character, and she half-heartedly looked left and right. Nykios probably would be none too keen on her saying that, but, BUT, how about this, she could try scratching a bad guy to death. See. For righteousness.

Even though Emry had firmly stated that he didn't know how he'd come to the awareness of the dead body, Jane would ask anyway, "You got a talent for this you don't know about, Emry? Finding dead things."

Nathanael McCallister Emery Thatcher

 

[Emery Thatcher]

When Emery heard that the two had found the corpse he was suddenly told about in his head, he went pale. He couldn't fathom how this was possible. He'd never been telepathic or have any ability even fringing on magic. He was terrified. The headache followed by the premonition left nothing but a plethora of mysterious questions in himself.

Emery forced his feet to move forward and look at the corpse he'd predicted the location of. Thankfully, he didn't recognize her either. She was another in a long line of strangers killed off the beaten path. Jane's compliment earned a short lived smirk from Emery. He wasn't exactly fond of the fact that this had happened. His bravado had also seemed to die down. As he peered around he wasn't looking for her cause of death particulary; more who was responsible. And lo and behold...

"Look." He pointed to some stamped bushes amidst the trees. It was clear to anyone that it wasn't one set of footprints that made this path. "Who th'fuck would just kill a woman and leave er' and all her possessions..?" Even Emery looked disgusted.

 

[Nathanael McCallister]

“Of you can do that with your nails one day, I sould by you ten ales from my dad.” He whistles he would turn to watch Jane skip over in her dress, they might be able to get back here later on but he was curious more about Emery. But he would probably be the only one more effective in fighting. As he wasn’t the ones with hangovers and Jane was still missing her stuff, though she did have her holy magic. Whatever it was.

And for Emery he was growing more an more suspicious. How did he know there was a body?

“You’d be surprised by how many messed up people there are in this world.” Nate responds to Emery’s comment. “Emery, how did you know there was a body here? You’re human after all... from what I can see visually. But your scent is of something else.”

The lycan starts to follow the trail that Emery pointed out, “Please be honest with us, if you have the slightest of clue. Otherwise it won’t be good if we do find something else, like was it an otherworldly being or are you a medium of sorts?”

“Though for the woman, I think it was the vampires mentioned by Lilya. Or maybe something like a wraith.”

The hunter draws his blade, “I suggest that both of you continue on heading back to the town. Emery, you have these painful attacks out of nowhere, and Jane you and him are hung over in only a dress and with no armor for either of you.”

 

[Jane]

Yeah. Who would just kill a woman and leave all her possessions? If you just had to kill someone, it was almost downright insulting to leave their body unsacrificed (or unburied, praise Astra) and their possessions just sitting there going to waste. How about that, something the Dark Ones and the Celestialism Pantheon could agree on, so far as the body was concerned.

"His scent?" Jane said, mildly puzzled. An unavoidable and exaggerated sniff in Emry's general direction followed. Which, naturally, didn't accomplish anything. That was a Nate thing alright, being able to sniff out certain things; he had "the nose."

Scent or no scent, Jane didn't think it too odd that Emry could somehow know about a random woman's corpse in the woods. The real oddity was that sudden fit of ear-bleeding madness that had overcome the man. She'd seen some of her Sisters get wild, of that there was no doubt, but nothing quite like that.

Regardless, Nate was right: Jane still didn't have her armor or her weapons, couldn't Bless Nate, so why go along down that trail in search of the supposed vampire or whatever else. Astra knew Jane couldn't mete out justice as she was right now. Sure, it was directly Jane's own fault that she was in such a state, but mistakes were made. Best to go get armed and armored before traipsing off to fight a murderer or monster.

Jane nodded to Nate. Said, "Have fun for the both of us."

Then turned to Emry and said, "Well. Town Number One. You in?" She shrugged, grinned a little, and added, "Somebody's got to clean up that blood along the way. Might as well be me."

Emery Thatcher Nathanael McCallister

 

[Emery Thatcher]

Emery looked on at Nate with confused anger. "I haven't a fuckin' clue! It just kinda happened! And whatchu mean my scent? Do I reek or somethin'?" Which he did, regardless. But the thief seemed to genuinely not understand why it took place. His words were as honest as they could be. The force that Xiahael unleashed upon Emery was still shrouded in secrecy, even to its victim.

Emery had never had an attack like this prior to this moment but felt like he would make no headway arguing with Nate. He shrugged with a sigh, "Yer gonna do whatever yer heart tells ya, big guy." He turned back to Jane.

"Ya sure this is what you should be worryin' about? Don't we have gear o' yours to find?"

 

[Nathanael McCallister]

Nate smiles, “Just go get Jane’s gear and hole up for a bit. Until her hang over is gone, i dont know what you guys do with hangovers. Drink water? Eat bacon? And when you have a few hours of no headaches Emery, you two can come along and hunt me down if you wish. If I don’t hunt you two down first.” And with that the hunter disappears into the brush to go and hunt down some vampires.

 

[Jane]

"You're right," Jane said to Emry. "I'm not worried about that." A gesture of her head back to the woman's corpse. "I want my armor and weapons back. So. That's what I'm going to go get."

Astra knew everything hinged on that armor and her weapons. Maybe someone with a more adept grasp on magic could handle themselves without such equipment, but not her. There were some of her fellow Sisters who had been blessed with the favor of the Dark Ones, and they had command over some different kinds of dark magic through it. Jane had never been one of them. (Or so she thought, now).

Besides, Nate had a great plan. He'd go hunt the thing that had coincidentally killed a woman out along the road between the two towns, and Jane--possibly Emry--could just lounge around and try all of the homebrew remedies to relieve their hangovers. So long as finding Jane's equipment was as easy as returning Lilya's dress.

Jane started off toward the road again, called to Emry, "Come on. I know you love bacon and you've got enough coin for the both of us."

She made it back to the road, taking a few mildly tipsy steps after she came down the lazy hill beside the hardpacked dirt. Nate was going to be Nate, there was no question about it, and that's what Jane loved about him. You always knew what he was going to do, no bullshit. Honesty in action.

Whether Emry came along was up to him.

Nathanael McCallister Emery Thatcher

 

[Emery Thatcher]

Emery felt a little bit of ease at the professionalism of both of them. They knew what they wanted and what they were doing. Strong enough to hold their own and to lead. Something he was incapable of. The feelings that had overtaken his mind were powerful. There was a darkness lingering. Answers weren't far. If they were near where Nate headed or the town he and Jane would find themselves in, he didn't know. He just knew they were close. Without knowing why.

He forced a smile at the mention of bacon. Food may actually do him some good. He followed close behind Jane as he wiped the blood from his head and ears with his jacket. Wasn't getting washed any time soon anyways.

He was terrible at small talk. Especially with people he'd just spent the better half of a day trying to make a pass at.

"So, uh." He began. "How the hell did you two meet?"

 

[Jane]

Jane walked down the road, her hands interlaced and placed against the back of her head as she went. Heh, Emry. Understandable that he lost some of that Cerak swagger after having Arethil's worst migraine. Yeah, what the hell do you do after something that intrusive and embarrassing? Well, here was a situation in which Jane's usual smiling indifference went to good use. For Astra, and what have you. Didn't need to make the man feel even more like a chewed up copper coin.

"Fighting demons," she said, walking and talking without looking back just yet. "In the town of Guillotine, not so far from here. I think. Hell, I say that, but for as much as I know I'm not even on Epressa anymore. Anyway. Guillotine. I was with another party of adventurers and they had a bad time when the demons came. Fuck 'em."

She caught herself. Laughed a little. Said, "Sorry Astra. But I fell in with Nate and another man named Titus. We helped out the townsfolk--bunch of tough bastards too, I'll say--and we beat the demons back. It was like a little Pandemonium Crisis. Except nobody gives a shit about Guillotine save for the Guillotiners."

Jane continued along. Kept her head level. Worked wonders for the lingering vestiges of her hangover, despite not sitting or lying down.

"Nate and I just stayed together after it was all done. I enjoy his company and he tolerates mine. I really want to accidentally cut his jugular though. Heal it up. Lick it clean. He's too damn alert though."

Speaking of which, Jane turned her head and glanced back to Emry. Smirked as if he'd pulled some kind of prank on her. Said, "Hey. Emry. Why'd you go and do that? Clean up your own blood. I offered."

It was actually kind of nice to be going around without her Amulet of Astra hanging around her neck. She could act more natural. Always felt like she was being watched when she had it on.

Emery Thatcher Nathanael McCallister

 

[Emery Thatcher]

Of course he'd gone and got himself caught up with demon hunters. Adventuring, hunting, none of it seemed to make much sense to him. Seemed like a thankless job and an easy way to get yourself killed. Even the most skilled adventurers live half the length of a normal person day to day. Least that's what he had always known.

"Seems a bit tedious, huntin' demons n' such. Ain't ya worried fer yer well being?" As he spoke, another rumble ran through his head. Not painful, but he couldn't figure out why it happened. And it was directed to Jane.

"Catch me if you can, huntress." A voice would cackle in her ear. Projected from behind her. If she looked back, she would only see Emery rubbing his temples.

He shrugged at her question. "Just wanted it gone, no need fer you to worry about it. I don't anything to remind me of that fuckin' headache I just got. Vision, or whatever the fuck."

 

[Jane]

Her own well-being. Of course she didn't want to die--what maniac did--but she didn't really spare much thought about the possibility. Neither now nor back with the Sisters, raiding coastlines and pirating ships. She always had the implicit assumption in whatever she was doing that she was...just going to live. No question. Worked out so far.

So Jane shrugged. Said, "I don't worry about it. Just go day by day. Ha! Huntress. That's flattering."

She glanced over her shoulder. Grinning, initially. And slight confusion followed. That actually didn't sound like Emry at all. Was he that good at impressions? She wouldn't believe it if she hadn't seen it (literally watched and heard him do it), but there was this dwarf pirate around Cerak who could do a high-pitched elven female voice that was incredible. Maybe Emry was like him.

Guess he did have a headache too. Hangover headaches were awful; wasn't like hers had been magically cured by finding her dress either. Made even worse by that sudden migraine. Strange, how it just came and went though.

She slowed down. Walked beside him. Said, "That happen often? The..." Jane made some motions with her pointer finger up by her ear, "...ear thing? Or did you drink something that had a magical spike to it."

Emery Thatcher Nathanael McCallister

 

[Emery Thatcher]

Emery rose his eyebrows to her upon her mentioning the word huntress. When she looked at him he kind of turned his head to indicate his own confusion. He couldn't fathom what she was talking about.

"You need some water, love?" He asked, genuine concern in his voice as to whatever it was she was bringing up. Her and Nathanael McCallister both seemed to have some strange things to say around him. Due to all that had happened it was a bit difficult not to be concerned about everything brought to his attention.

"Nah," Emery spoke, shaking his head. "Sometimes I get black outs, though... I've lost huge amounts of time over the past few years. I typically chock it up t'drinkin' but there's days that that don't make sense. I'll pass out and wake up other places... I hardly remember my childhood, too."

 

[Nathanael McCallister]

Nate sighs grumbling as he walks through the woods holding a body of a torn-up vampire over his shoulder. The man had his throat ripped out and a stab to the heart. Blood covered Nate's chest and neck as the branches cracked under his feet and he walked up to the two.

"Well, the vampire was nothing much... just got to find a better spot to burn its body then the threat of these fuckers will be reduced." He tells them looking at Jane and Emery, "I could hear you guys all the way back there... Emery, I think we should investigate your condition another time but right now it's behind us. Let's go and find your armor Jane." He walks briskly down the path into the next town still carrying the dead vampire.

He did not want to chance the people catching it from a water source, so he needed to burn the body outside of the woods. Less chance for a wildfire to start up then. Well at least his belly was full now also.

 

[Jane]

Some water?

"Some water?" Jane said, immediately giving voice to the slightly puzzled thought in her head. Well...sure, she could use a drink of something that wasn't going to set back the progress on her hangover. She just found it odd that he'd pivot into saying that.

But Emry got back on track. Explained a little about that headache thing. Well fuck maybe he did drink too damn much. Jane hadn't heard of anyone's ears exploding like that because their belly was a bit too distended with ale, but what the hell did she know.

"How about that," she said. "I drank too much myself and passed out and woke up in another place...oh just today." She grinned and made a fist and lightly bumped Emry on the shoulder. "That's the sort of dangerous life we live."

Right at the mention of living dangerous lives, Nate appeared through the trees along the side of the dirt path. Carrying a body--oh wow, good for him. Found and dished out some pain on a vampire all in the time it had taken Jane and Emry to have a leisurely stroll down the road between the two towns. She hated vampires. Not because they were vampires, but because their blood was nasty. Diseased. No good. What a waste.

Jane watched him approach. Said, "Nice work, Nate. Let's hope I didn't do anything too stupid with my armor here."

The forest gave way with enough walking and the dirt road led into Town Number One, right where last night's celebrations began. Presumably the tavern would be a good place to check. The local inn as well--couldn't hurt to see if Jane was smart enough to get a room before ditching her equipment for a wild wandering night.

Nathanael McCallister Emery Thatcher

 

[Emery Thatcher]

Emery wanted to give up on trying to explain something he himself didn't understand. It added to his headache tremendously and was now beginning to cause him fear. Whatever was happening with him was not normal, and he was growing increasingly aware of that. He and Jane's conversation was causing more confusion than anything. While her display of camaraderie was appreciated, it brought the boy no comfort.

As if right on cue, Nathanael reappeared covered in the remnants of a battle won. He looked much more intimidating with a corpse on his shoulder and blood on his throat. Perhaps it would be best if he tried to avoid further pissing this man off. Emery attempted to rekindle the lightheartedness of this encounter as the topics had grown quite heavy, and he didn't want to discuss his condition any further.

"Yeesh, made mince meat outta that one, didn'cha?" Emery half heartedly chuckled. They made their way quickly into town. Another place Emery didn't recognize. Now it was just a matter of following the two. The eyes that were already locking onto them might make the search easier, even.

 

[Nathanael McCallister]

Nate chuckles, “Yeah, it wasn’t too bad. He bit me a few times,” The hunter tosses him in the air some to adjust the corpse’s position on his shoulder. “Bit me, scratched me but that’s all healed up now. He wasn’t able to get a decent meal in a while!” Nate explains messing with the corpse’s limp hand as they walked into the town.

A child pointed at the corpse and its parents told it to go inside. While some others looked at them as they passed by, some more at Jane and others at the body on Nate’s shoulder. “Haven’t they ever seen a vampire corpse before?” He grumbles as they entered the tavern to be greeted by the same bar tender as the previous town.

But this one seemed a lot more welcoming?! Nate blinked in confusion not hearing the man’s greeting, there was more than one of them!?

 

[Jane]

All healed up. Nate could just do that, huh. Like the Seal of Nykios for her back, except across everything on his body. And presumably without the everpresent threat of instantaneous death. Well that was nice, no wonder he didn't want any Blessings--he didn't really need them.

Fuck, that was better than Emry's "gift," wasn't it? Body heals itself, or have skull-cracking migraines. Now if only Jane could figure out a way for Emry to impart said migraines on other people. At her command. Ahhh, that'd be sweet as honey.

The people around the town were--to no surprise--wary of them. Maybe because they recognized Jane and possibly Emry, but moreover because Nate was carrying a body around. That was another stark difference between Cerak and the Mainland that Jane had noticed quite early on: you couldn't just do that like you could in Cerak, go hauling around some corpse and have no one around give a damn. People on the Mainland happened to be picky about that.

Town Number One's tavern. Originally it had been named simply enough Drink Up, but some wise-ass took a knife to the sign and carved out a new name: Drink Up 'Til ya Drop! Nate got the door, even while carrying that (heh, heh) dead weight. And while the afternoon brought a fair number of patrons and travelers having lunch and a little beer, there was something else that caught Jane's attention.

The same fucking barkeep. From the other town. Like a twin brother or something.

She glanced to Emry. To Nate. Trying to make sure she wasn't seeing things. By Astra, she was hungover, not drunk, her eyes were working well enough, weren't they?

She approached the bar. Said to the barkeep, "Haven't I seen you? From earlier this morning? In that other town down the road?"

Nathanael McCallister Emery Thatcher