Private Tales Something Amiss

[Saul Talith]

"That would likely kill her." He commented dryly.

Saul wasn't annoyed at the request, he knew that it came from a place of ignorance. Kaska would know next to nothing about Anti-magic, just like everyone who were not in the Broken Sword.

"We're not healers." He explained. "We don't push away magic or make it go away. We...ript it out."

Saul continued quietly. "I could take the magic affecting her and seal it, but doing so would create incredibly strain on her body."

He frowned.

"Better to just wait it out. This will not kill her." Ana might have been able to do it without killing the girl, but Saul's touch was...less subtle.

 

[Kaska]

"You swear it?" Kaska asked, her tone short and heated.

 

[Saul Talith]

"She'll be fine." Saul said, glancing at Lia for a moment more before nodding to himself and deciding that he was right about that.

The girl seemed a tad weak, but the fact that she was up and walking already was a sign of just how well she was doing. Had it been worse she would have been on the floor in a cold sweat with her skin as pale as a corpse.

Given Kaska's reaction he was glad that wasn't the case.

"That black blade." Saul said with a frown. "No one touched it?"

Lia narrowed her eyes, but then slowly nodded. "Good."

 

[Kaska]

Kaska wasn't entirely appeased, but she trusted his word and relaxed enough at it, leaving Saul's side to take up Lia's other.

"What is wrong with it?" She asked bluntly, and facing Saul in full now, she noticed the wrench in his armor, the blood coming out. "Oh, fuck, Saul, something cut clean through you." It was evident he was fine, but the shock that his armor has been slashed through and he remained standing was justified, she felt.

Mayhem on this level was clearly new to her.

 

[Saul Talith]

He glanced down at his armor. Of course Saul had already been well aware of the injury, though the cut had already stopped bleeding some time ago. His armor, though sliced through, had been enough to stop the blade from digging in deep.

Good thing, really. "I suspect it's cursed."

The Templar Commander mused out loud, frowning for a brief moment as he clutched his helmet a bit tighter. Cursed weapons were a tricky thing, even for Templar. They had to be handled very carefully, and better yet destroyed quickly. He wasn't sure if the latter would be an option here though.

"I'll have to see." He frowned. "But it's a good thing no one with regular steel tried to fight the thing."

Saul paused for a moment. "Funny that."

The Commander said pointedly looking at Lia.

 

[Kaska]

Kaska bristled a little in Lia's defense.

"We knew that, that's why she had a holy sword." And why Kaska merely had holy arrows. Which speaking of which, she hadn't even gotten to use. Probably best though what with their tendency to... explode.

She grimaced, wondering now what went on in that tower. She hadn't thought twice about splitting off to fight in the court yard. It had to be done and it protected the others, but she realized now she had missed all the action.

 

[Saul Talith]

"Yes." He agreed quietly, glancing at Kaska and then at Lia.

The cursed sword was more on his mind than the holy weapon, but he couldn't help nag at this. Saul already knew that the Holy Blade likely came from sometime in the Templar war, after all, no one could forge them anymore and it was doubtful the Rangers would have the knowledge.

Especially since Templar didn't.

"Lucky you found one." He said with a smile. "They're exceedingly rare."

His voice was cool, calm, not accusatory. Yet the smile on his face said he knew something.

Before either of the girls could say anything though Saul walked passed them and headed towards the fortress.

 

[Kaska]

Kaska latched on in a heart beat, having a nose for mischief and not wanting to be left out of it. "Thaaaaat's not a convincing smile, oh come on." She turned, taking a step towards him before stopping at huffing at Thern(what the hell is his name again?). "Take her to the others. Make sure she drinks and lays down, it's too long a walk back," she insisted before Lia could quip.

She started jogging toward Saul, yelling over her shoulder. "We'll be back!"

She skidded next to Saul, not letting it go for a beat. "Whaaaaat do you know that you're not telling us?"

 

[Saul Talith]

He let out a whistle. "I suspect that list is too long to go into tonight."

Saul taunted with a slight cheeky smile, glancing over towards her for one brief moment before he began to make his way through the gates of the fortress.

For a brief moment he looked around at the fall ghouls, now just returned to their state as ordinary corpses. A slight frown appeared on his face, head shaking.

"We'll have to burn these." He would have his men see to it before they went back. After a moment more Saul immediately started back up again, climbing the steps to the tower where they had left the Lich and it's posessions. The creature had turned to ash, but that didn't mean there was no longer a danger.

Not when these things were concerned.

 

[Kaska]

Kaska frowned, at his back, resisting the urge to smack him. She gave him just a moment's reprieve before they hit the courtyard, and the sight of it struck her still for a moment too.

A minute more of that and they would have become overwhelmed. Their skill was no match for the bumbling insistence of 50 undead that didn't like to remain down. The gashes across her body twinged, a reminder at how close she had come to not being pulled back onto her feet again.

She briskly turned and followed him up.

"I put my life down in that courtyard so Lia could make it up there, and now she is knocked silly and barely able to function. So if you know something about what we got ourselves into, it would be a nondouchebaggy thing to me," she leveled, failing at her diplomatic attempt.

She grabbed at his arm, trying to stop him short. "What about that sword are you not saying?" She implored.

 

[Saul Talith]

"It's an effect of the magic that brought the Lich to life." He explained as she pulled him to a stop, frowning for a moment before he glanced back up at the broken wall where they would be able to re-enter the room. "Your captain will be fine after a few days rest. Dark Magic is not a pleasant thing to be effected by."

Wasn't that the truth. "Due to my abilities it doesn't effect me in the same way."

Mostly because he had been prepared for it.

"As for the sword." For a second Saul didn't say anything, simply musing as he pulled himself away from Kaska's grip and headed up the stairs. It wasn't like he'd been keeping it secret, he just hadn't had time to explain himself before now. The weapon was dangerous.

"It's cursed." He went on. "I'm not sure how, but I felt it attempting to infect me when it cut me."

Again, something that had only not worked because he'd been ready.

 

[Kaska]

She frowned, eyeing his side as he pushed by her and kicking up to not let him outpace her. They stepped back into the space, the room no different from how they had left it. The sword remained untouched and in its place.

"Is that what that was then? Back there, when we were fighting-- there was a blast of... something coming from here. I felt it. Didn't seem like his magic," she said pointedly, giving him a studious look.

 

[Saul Talith]

”Well.” Saul said as he glanced down at the sword laying on the floor. The Lich’s armor was there as well, broken and half fallen, along with the odd circlet crown. He scooped up the latter and glanced at it, frowning for a moment before offering it to Kaska.

The sword he did not touch, not yet.

”That’s because it wasn’t.” Saul had been able to tell that from the moment it happened, though in truth he could have done the same before the fight had even ended. ”The magic was what had been animating it.”

He glanced at the Ranger. ”Lich’s are not natural occurrences. They are brought into being in one of three ways. This one was brought back to life by a necromancer.”

A powerful one at that.

”When I wrenched your girl’s sword from it’s chest I essentially…” How did he put this. ”Untethered the magic keeping it together.”

 

[Kaska]

"Aaaah," came Kaska's reply, her voice turning smooth as silk. "So it was Lia that delivered the killing blow. Interesting." She taunted, kneeling at his side and taking the crowd. She peered at it curiously, holding it between two fingers.

It... wasn't... too... right? She wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of asking.

 

[Saul Talith]

The crown didn't matter, not that he could tell anyway. All the evil seemed to be coming from the sword.

Something the Lich had made?

For a moment Saul simply inspected the weapon, then reached down and scooped it up. There was a slight flare of something as rune forge armored touched the weapon, not a spark, but a small pulse as the weapon tried tolash out with whatever evil was contained inside of it. "Interesting."

The Commander mused as he turned and walked towards the edge of the room. There he tore astrip of cloth from the corpses of one of the ghouls, using it's former vestments to wrap the cursed sword tightly, then binding it with a strip of leather so that it would not come undone.

"I'll have my weapon masterlook at this." He told her. "He'll know more."

 

[Kaska]

"Hm," she mused. "Careful with it, yeah? Send note when you know."

She gingerly wrapped up the crown herself with the remnant of the scraps, attaching it to her waist. "What happens now then? All this, is it really done? The threat's gone?"

 

[Saul Talith]

"The Lich is gone." Saul said plainly, though clearly he was omitting the other part of her question. "But, whatever or whoever raised it is still out there."

He frowned for a brief moment.

It was a concern to be sure, the idea that something could have brought something this powerful back to life. The cost would have been...enormous to say the least. Dozens of lives perhaps. The thought made him sick to his stomach, though he didn't share the thought with Kaska. "We'll investigate."

The Commander began quietly.

"Though without knowing where it was raised finding out will be difficult, plus..." He sighed. "Things aren't exactly going...smoothly with us at the moment."

That was something he likely should not have told her, but she needed to know the danger that was still very much present in this situation.

 

[Kaska]

"What?" The concern slipped out of her before she could cap it, the question neither malicious nor probing. She half rounded on him, taking up his full attention inside the small tower as she pressed it further.

"What's going on?"

 

[Saul Talith]

"Nothing that concerns you." Saul said bluntly.

The issues within the Broken Sword were not something that he would be sharing with the Ranger. He'd come to like Kaska quite a bit, but this wasn't something that an outsider should know.

Especially not a Ranger.

"Suffice it to say..." He trailed off for a moment. "Keep a watchful eye. We'll do the same."

As much as they could anyway.

The Broken Sword were not as numerous as they once were, and with troubles on the horizon it would be more and more difficult as time went on. Still, that didn't meant they couldn't try.

 

[Kaska]

She straightened at once, her mouth snapping shut as his tone put her in her place. There was an uncomfortable silence, highlighting the loss of her friendly nature as she became professional. Well, Kaska's version of professional, which bordered on miffed

For a moment she struggled over telling him about their trouble in turn. It felt very relevant here, in a way that could greatly effect both sides moving forward. But his words had resonated deeply in her.

Nothing that concerns you.

So she kept it to herself.


"Very well." She stepped to the side. "Are we done here?"

 

[Saul Talith]

He nodded, glancing down at the sword for a brief moment.

Carrying the weapon would be dangerous, but there was no way in hell he was leaving it out here for anyone to find. That would end in absolute disaster. Better to carry the weapon and keep it out of sight. Just what he would do with it after though he didn't yet know.

"We are." He told her softly.

Glancing at her for a moment and frowning.

"When I have things better in hand." He frowned for a brief moment. "I will ensure some of the animosity between out orders begins to die."

There was no place for it anymore, not in the world.

 

[Kaska]

"Whatever floats your boat," she dismissed. With a disinterested shrug, she moved back for the stairs, departing with no gravitas or further words.

 

[Saul Talith]

For a moment Saul lingered within the small room, his lips thinning as he glanced back towards the Lich's armor. He could still feel the things presence, the evil that had brought it into existence and the stink of the wrongness that it brought into this world during its life.

Slowly his head shook.

He had no idea who had brought the Lich back to life, but as he followed Kaska back down out of the fortress he couldn't help but ponder who. They would have to be powerful, strong beyond all thought. A necromancer to be sure, not an amateur dabbling in things.

There was something behind all of this.

Something sinister.

 

[Kaska]

Kaska would be found stopped in the courtyard, frowning at the mass of bodies crumpled inside it.

"What about them?" She asked bluntly, her fingers tightening unconsciously on her sword hilt.

 

[Saul Talith]

"They need to be burned." He explained with a frown.

That was never pleasant work.

"None of them will come back, but if they're allowed to rot disease will fester." Not the sort that one would find ordinarily either. Magic had been bred into the corpses, and that magic could effect things in a way that could not be predicted. "All it takes is a single crow carrying it back."

He explained. "Then we'd have to deal with a plague in Alliria."