No Need For Phoebe

[Dreadicon]

As they passed, Fin said a few words in one of the older tongues known to scholars, the tip of his staff glowed, and he deftly drew a symbol in the air with it. "Rahk fin Fholihs" he spoke, and light enveloped the man's hand, mostly healing it, leaving only superficial wounds. "I advise you try to lead a more honest life, as we won't hold if we should meet you again on such poor circumstances." he said, looking somewhat unnerving with a mostly content expression, but a resolve in his eyes stronger than a stone wall.

With that, he continued following Phoebe.

[gummiarms]

It wasn't long after that they reached the designated meeting place, according to Phoebe's piece of paper, a narrow, run down house. Phoebe went up to the door and knocked, but there was no answer. She waited a while before knocking again. Still nothing. After a while of waiting she sighed. "How long does he plan on making us wait?" She stared at the doorknob, wondering if she should simply let herself in.

[Dreadicon]

Fin shrugged. "Your guess is as good as mine." he said. "I'm not in a great hurry." and leaned against a post, cautiously at fist to make sure it didn't give way. The architecture standards (or lack there of) were rather bad here.

[gummiarms]

After another ten minutes of waiting, Phoebe decided to let herself in. "He should be expecting us, so I don't know why he would keep us waiting this long."

When she opened the door, a horrible stench poured form the room inside. Phoebe gasped and backed away from the doorway, putting her hands over her mouth.

It was grisly scene inside the house. The place looked ransacked, and from the way various objects were strewn about and smashed it looked like there had been a fight as well. But what Phoebe had seen was worse even that that.

A young Ildemin with orange fur was tied to a table, and he had clearly been tortured. Most of his insides weren't inside of him anymore, but it looked like the cause of death was a crossbow bolt to the forehead. A kitchen knife, likely the implement of the poor man's torture, was still sticking out of his ribs.

Phoebe whirled away from the doorway, and sank down against the wall outside, fighting to keep the contents of her stomach inside.

[Let me know if that's a bit too graphic. I tried to avoid going into too much detail.]

[Dreadicon]

Fin sank to one knee at the entrance. "This....this is....." He couldn't find the words that would describe it. He finaly was able to break himself of the shock after a few moments, and stood turning his back to the scene, saying only a prayer under his breath for the man.

[gummiarms]

Phoebe finally managed to control her own reactions to the gory sight. "Poor Manx..."

She walked up next to Fin, and placed an arm on his shoulder. "I'm sorry you had to see that. This is... this is the work of my brother. He... he must have found out, and sent one of his men to... This is why I have to stop him. You saw how those guys reacted, he's such a monster even the other bandits don't like him."

She looked around, and then said, "Well, put it out of your mind for now. With Manx dead, I have no leads, so let us begin this pilgrimage of yours."

[Dreadicon]

Fin nodded, "Yes, while it pains me to just leave him like this, I am no true priest, so there's nothing I can do." he said, then looked at the sky. "If we leave now, we should be able to make it to the first town by just after nightfall. Shall we go?"

[gummiarms]

Phoebe hesitated, uncertain. "I don't know. As much as I would like to put this grisly scene behind me, I have a responsibility to report this incident to the Guards. But then again, if we get caught up in the investigation we could be stuck here for a very long time. Not to mention..."

She trailed off. It was probably better she didn't voice her worries about her own standing the Guards. After all, she had been on leave for half a year now, even if it was important family business. Her commander would likely be less than pleased with her.

Phoebe said, "I'll leave it to you to decide. I'm quite torn on the matter."

[Dreadicon]

Fin was thoughtful for a moment, then said "let us leave an anonymous tip, the guards won't care much about this, so we should be able to slip out of town long before they look for us for questioning. They wouldn't be so concerned with a murder in the slums to place a reward on our heads." he conjectured. "Now, we should be off, reporting this will take some extra time, so we haven't a moment to loose if we still plan on sleeping in a bed tonight."

He looked away from Phoebe for a moment, then back, with his pleasent smile returned. "Agreed?"

[gummiarms]

Phoebe nodded back, though her was still troubled. "Alright then." She immediately headed to the guard house.

[Dreadicon]

After notifying the guards of a 'possible murder,' they made their way to the east gates of Alacas. By now it was just past mid-day.

"We should be able to make it to Hadar just after nightfall, you are sure you wish to go with me on this pilgrimage? Supposedly no one has set foot in many of the temples for centuries." Fin said. "I know I've asked you several times already, but I just want you to know what you may be getting into."

[gummiarms]

Phoebe answered, "I told you before, I need to travel around to find my Brother. This pilgrimage is the perfect cover for that. And maybe it will help to take my mind off of my troubles. Anything is better than wandering aimlessly around Central for months on end. I absolutely refuse to slink home with my tail between my legs."

[Treijim]

[joining with Blake]

As they approached the tall open east gate of Alacas, a boy approached them from the thin crowd and stood before them, forcing them to stop in their tracks. He gave them both an innocent look from beneath his fringe and then looked at Phoebe rather shyly.

"Pardon me," he said. "I heard you talking about travelling around. I was wondering if uhmm... if it's not too much trouble... could I go with you? I want to go to Hadar which is just to the east. I guess you're going there, too. But then you're probably not. I'm sorry to bother you."

But he didn't move out of their path. He trailed off, mumbling something about merchants and money, and brought his arms out from behind his back, revealing the gold armour that almost encased them completely. Not only would the gold be quite heavy, but it would be worth an awful lot. He looked back at them both, first at Fin, and then at Phoebe, possibly waiting to be invited to join them. Though his words were timid and sensitive, his actions were headstrong.

[gummiarms]

Phoebe blinked several times as she looked the boy over, thoroughly confused. She opened her mouth several times, then closed it again, tongue-tied.

It made no sense. Why was this boy out here on his own, wearing armor that it looked like he shouldn't even be able to walk in?

Phoebe eventually managed to ask, with a hint of awe, "Who are you?"

[Dreadicon]

Fin was also rather surprised by the sudden appearance of the peculiar boy. The gold armor wasn't just heavy for such a small boy, but also extremely expensive, fit for a personal guard of a king or noble. Yet he seemed to be completely on his own.

Fin knelt slightly to be eye-level with the boy, showing his pleasant smile. "You have nothing to fear from us. Please, tell us who you are young sir."