Shattered Innocence (IC) [M]

[Azlan]

The fox frowned at the irrational fear this being was displaying.  Well, perhaps it was well rationalized fear, after all Tyrian, Zanfib and Chiyo were things to be feared.  That seemed far too insightful for the likes of this person though.

Tyrian stepped forward, heedless to any blow he could be dealt, and raised his index finger as he summoned his angel magic to it.  A spell to render the being unconscious, someone else would have to heal the feline's injury.

The fox made an attempt to touch the being, preferably on the head, "let's be calm now and rest a bit, hmmm?"

[Sprocketsdance]

Chance stayed around Kassin and Raf, though on the side lines, feeling a bit awkward at the situation. So she went about poking her dagger at the snow and drawing little designs in it. I do hope they're ok.. She sighed, her thoughts went to the venturing group as she waited to see what happened to Raf.

[Noone]

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The being snapped as Tyrian approached, fear controlling all of his instincts. He at first started to edge away, but he remembered that he was surrounded, Zanfib and Chiyo could easily block a hasty retreat. With flight not possible, instinct turned to a futile fight. He balled his right hand into a fist, ignoring the pain on his left arm for a moment, and lunged to strike Tyrian's face, before Tyrian could touch him.

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Kassin continued looking over Raffiele, still unsure of what was hurting him, or how to fix it, or if it was simply an act. He heard Chance playing with her weapons, and could feel Ketet's depression outside. He briefly turned his attention towards her. "Hey... could check up on Ketet for me please? I don't think she's feeling very well either... I'm feeling a lot of guilt and depression from her." He paused, and resumed scanning Raffiele. Though... I'm not sure how comfortable I will be just being alone here with him...

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Mr. Darrins turned to Kedered with an enraged look. "Connivin bastard? Oh you sonofa...". Without another word, he grabbed his mug, and swung the base of it at Kedered's face.

The innkeeper and both bouncers seemed to notice. The innkeeper stood there stunned for a moment, and the bouncers started rushing off on each side, running around to reach Kedered and Darrins. "Oh, why does this always happen in my inn!?" The innkeeper mumbled.

Eilan looked perplexed at first, and then shocked. It took him a moment to register what was going on, after which, he headed outside.

[Azlan]

Anticipating such a desperate act, after all any cornered animal strike, even one without teeth like this one, Tyrian pulled the spell into himself and held the discharge for physical contact.

The poorly coordinated attack connected with his cheek and succeeded at discharging the spell with a higher potency due to the victim's voluntary willingness to to engage in physical contact.  The blow stung, but the flood of incapacitating light magic was more potent in effect.

[Tipod]

While the others held down the proverbial fort and went after the frightened being, Raffiele had just been lying on his side, speaking in a jabbering of tongues and muttering quietly in snatches of English; reciting some kind of snippet, like a psalm or verse. The words comforted him, though it all must have sounded like ramblings to Kassin.

"--I suffer not the Spawn of Sahmdi, the treacherous serpent that devours all in a spiral down to his gaping maw; I will kill his Spawn, the infidel, I will tear them to little pieces. My penance, the penance of all is to punish the decadent--" Yeah, not a word of it would mean much of anything to the others.

[Corgatha Taldorthar]

Kedered suppressed a smile, it would not do for his act. His bones were now the consistency of a soft clay, able to deform and bend, but not really break. Putty bones could be reshaped with a minimum of effort, but breaks were a pain to get healed. It also weakened the blows that he was firing at the blue wolf being, which was a plus. Kassin was not present, and reviving the man if Kedered beat him unconscious would be problematic.

Ouch! The base of the mug collided just under Kedered's nose, spilling the toxic fumes of its contents all over his face, making him want to retch. Snarling with a rage he only felt on some distant extremity of being, he reached out and grabbed the being's collar, pulling him in close and moving to bite at his face.

Come on you thuggish brutes, where under the light are you when you can actually be useful?

[Zuki]

Thinking about what she had said to Kassin she felt a bit guilty. After all, if it hadn't been for him, she'd be dead right now. Who was she to say who was worth saving and who wasn't? She would have to apologize to him later. She had been far to quick to judge.

As the being went to punch Tyrian she frowned. "Hey wait, just listen damn it!" She had no idea what the angel was trying to do to him...but she DID want to heal that left arm of his. She could tell it was hurting him bad and it needed tended to at once.

[murmer]

By now, Kit was under a surprising amount of snow. Still sulking a little bit, she wondered briefly if she should go back inside to apologise about her actions...

I should say sorry, shouldn't I?

With a bit of effort, she wriggled backwards to where the shelter was, parting the snow relatively easily as she dislodged herself from the snowy pile and into the midst of Kassin and the others. She took a bit of time to turn back to her wolf form, and gave Kassin a bit of a sheepish smile.

"Ahhh, Umm... sorry for making more trouble than was necessary, Kassin. I didn't mean to fully scare off the being. I guess I overdid it..."

[Lisky]

Garis calmly walked outside and leaned against the side of the building, he kept track as best he could by the thoughts of people surrounding Ked and Mr. Darrins, he debated blending into the facade of the building, but thought better, case someone spotted him.  He was in a position to track down the wolf if necessary, but would prefer to just grab him.  As Eilan approached Garis said in a whisper, "we didn't get enough, so it's time for a new strategy."

[Sprocketsdance]

"Oh! Right, sure!" Eager to help she sheathed her dagger and sprung up to go outside, but after only taking a few steps Kit already came in. Chance offered a sympathetic smile to her, given the look on Kit's face.  She felt bad for not feeling her mood sooner and having to rely on Kassin. She promised herself she'd get better at being a 'cubi, somehow.

With Kit apologising to Kassin, she felt it wouldn't be right to mingle too close - so to another wall she went and sat down, closing her eyes and wondering how everyone else was doing.

[Noone]

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The being, unfortunately, seemed beyond reconciliation. As soon as the blow collided, the being appeared to get sleepy. "N...no... don'... ki... me...ph..." he mumbled softly, trying to shake of the effects of Tyrian's spell, to no avail. After that, he fell to the ground, unconscious.

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Kassin listened at what Raffiele was saying, he briefly recoiled in shock, half expecting the demon to suddenly snap out of it and try to harm him. In a moment, he regained his composure. He momentarily turned his face to Ketet. He let out a brief sigh.

"Most of these people here... they live their entire lives in fear." He paused, taking a brief glance at Raffiele, then turning back. He felt a sharp pain on his cheek, but it passed as soon as it came. He took a deep breath, then resumed. "I hope they're able to calm him down, but sadly, I don't expect it. He'd already run afoul of a hostile group of travelers once, that, and, people here are generally paranoid, for good reason too." He breathed out a deep sigh. "I suppose it's a byproduct of living in a place with no strong social order, just barely above anarchy. They learn to be wary of everyone, from experience." He paused again. "Don't beat yourself up too badly over it, I'm sure he'll be alright."

Kassin crouched down to Raffiele, an idea went through his head. He must be delirious... He gently touched his right hand to Raffiele's forehead. He let loose a bit of healing magic, hoping that a short burst would get the demon to his senses. After that, he withdrew, and turned back to Ketet and Chance.

"I take it that in wherever you're from, things are different?" He asked.

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The mug broke as Mr. Darrins's grip on it faltered. The liquid that was still inside sizzled with it's contact with the floor, making an uncomfortable hissing sound. He didn't appear to notice however, his enraged consciousness was focused on Kedered. He struggled to keep his face away from Kedered's, gripping his shoulders to try and keep away. Instincts kicked in, as he attempted to knee Kedered in the privates.

Meanwhile, the two bouncers came around. One grabbed at Kedered, the other at Mr. Darrins, both aiming for the shoulders. They attempted to wrest the two apart from one another. "Out you go!" They abruptly said as each bouncer gripped their target. Darrins however, still attempted to struggle within the burly bouncer's grasp.

Eilan, outside at the time, nodded at Garis, then peeked back inside. After a brief examination, he turned back. "Hopefully, Mr. Darrins will be more helpful once he's outside." He stopped for a moment, then thought out loud. However, considering the amount he's been drinking, and depending on how badly he's beaten up by those bouncers, we may have to haul him back to Kassin before we can perform a proper interrogation. If so, I'll likely need help hauling him back...

[murmer]

"Well, I've been travelling in disguise around here, and so I haven't had much trouble until recently. I wasn't fully aware of the hostility beings hold for creatures in this area. Astarea welcomed me and my kind with open arms, and nobody gave me trouble when I ventured into Ithralia so long as I didn't drop my being form," Ketet looked a little more downtrodden.

"I didn't realise the relationship between being and creature has degraded to such a serious extent..."

[Lisky]

Garis nodded and whispered, "not a problem, just keep your eyes peeled."  Pausing, the feline (in appearance) hid his left hand under the sleeve of his cloak while preparing a stun spell.  If nothing else, dragging the man away while he's unconscious would be a hell of a lot easier than if he were to be literally kicking and screaming the whole way.

[Sprocketsdance]

Even though she tried, Chance could not help but listen to Kassin and Kit. She felt sad, something she really didn't like to do but yet couldn't help at the moment, especially after looking at Kit. Standing up and walking back over to them she added "Astarea was a wonderful place but once I left it was like a slap of reality to how things actually were."

She shuddered a moment, having dreadful memories come back but shook them away and turned to Kit. "I'm sure if there is a dragon to show beings how kind they can be, it would be you." Then she gave her a reassuring hug.

[Corgatha Taldorthar]

Powerful hands gripped around Kedered's shoulders, and for a moment he feared that they might separate the two.  He did not know of this establishment's rules, and it was possible that they might evict him without tossing Mr Darrins to the curb. With his frame weakened as it was, he was not certain they could prevent that from happening, not with brute force anyway.

Still, even if they had the sort of training or equipment to detect magic, he had yet to encounter something that could detect the finer details of shapeshifting, and he, maintaining his grip on the collar of Mr Darrin's shirt, wove his fingers together to be that much harder to tear away.

[Noone]

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The being still lay there, unconscious. His arm injury however, was still present, under his sleeve. Blood did not appear to be soaking through his clothes. A cold wind rushed by, blowing snow across the landscape.

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Kassin shook his head in a 'no' and sighed, then turned back to Ketet. "It's a lot more complicated than that." He briefly turned his attention back towards Raffiele. Nothing... I just don't get this...He stood up, and went over to Ketet and Chance.

"I suppose it's easy to chalk up all of Ithralia's problems to creature and being issues. However, that's easily, on absolute terms, one of the least of this place's issues. Things like poverty, starvation, disease, lack of education, things which exist in this place in abundance have nothing to do with creature and being relations, and are far more pressing matters." Kassin paused, collecting his thoughts on the matter. He continued. "I suppose that a lack of clear society is to blame for that, and that adventurers are this country's main source of legal enforcement are a testament to how disorganized things are." Kassin paused. "That, and they do need someone to pay them to work, that means that only those with any wealth can receive protection, most simply have to fend for themselves."

Things are quite different in Astarea. Education is free, as is medical assistance. There is also a strong social safety net to prevent people from starving. Their peacekeepers also keep their populace quite safe, especially in the places far from their borders to Ithralia and Narukh.

"If anything..." Kassin concluded. "Creature and being issues are more of a convenient scapegoat than an actual source of problems. While there certainly are problems, particularly near the Narukh border, they seem to be more of a convenient excuse not to address real issues, or purposefully ignore them." 

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Eilan peeked inside, however, he did not need to, what was going on was easily audible, even above the barkeep's ranting, and general noisiness of the place. Eilan took a deep breath, and shook his head.

The brawl took some time, Darrins struggling throughout the even. Even with the bouncer's attempts to separate Kedered and Mr. Darrins, you managed to maintain a hold throughout. The one on Mr. Darrins punched him several times in the face, making staggering blow after staggering blow, rendering him unconscious. Eventually, a few minutes later, the bouncers threw the both of them outside the Inn. With a gruff "And keep it out there!" They slammed the door shut and went back inside.

Eilan raised an eyebrow as he looked at them, but he examined Mr. Darrins far more closely, noting all the bruises across his face. Rough crowd... He thought, as he bent down to examine him more closely. He let out a soft "Good going." to Kedered.

"Excessive blunt force trauma and alcohol poisoning..." He stopped, considering what to do. "I doubt he's in any condition to answer anything as is, let's haul him back to the others. If nothing else, he should be more pliable in that locale." Eilan stood up, awaiting responses.

[Zuki]

Chi moved as he fell, she making sure he wasn't hurt by the fall. "What did you do to him?" She asked, not in an angry way, just so she knew what he had done to cause him to fall unconscious. "He didn't hit you too hard, did he?" She asked as she knelt down and gingerly took his arm, she rolling up his sleeve. "I can heal this..." She examined his arm and nodded. "Yes, I can heal this..." She murmured more to herself then the group surrounding her. She began to work immediately, she summoning her magic to set the arm right. A soft purple light appeared around his arm as she started the mending, she fully concentrating on that.

[Corgatha Taldorthar]

Kedered couldn't suppress groans as he disengaged his fingers from each other and the blue wolf's clothing. The bouncers tended towards large and rough, a poor combination from his point of view. Still, as he recalcified his bones, he took a bit of care to shuffle his bruises around, trying to shapeshift the damage away. It was somewhat successful, and after a few minutes he was no longer in serious pain, but the exertion left him exhausted.

He registered Eilan saying something, but was too tired to properly think what it was, so just gave the being a blank stare.

[Azlan]

Tyrian took a step back after being hit, his head turned slightly to the side.  He frowned slightly as he adjusted his position and looked down at the crumpled form of the being.  He was likely weak from the injury and travel through the forest, because his punch was pathetic.

"No, the being was weak and not even capable of a good blow at this point.  I merely put him to sleep, I can end it whenever I choose or it will wear off in an hour or two."  The fox sighed, now that they had him, he realized that he really didn't want him, "Whatever shall we do with him now?  Kassin was worried about him surviving because of the injury.  If we heal it, and Zan can... relieve him of his memory of us, without leaving traces of tampering, I would say we leave him."

[Lisky]

Garis just nodded and smirked, he replied, "if you can get our friend here, i can get Mr. Darrins home by myself."  He nodded slightly at the facetious comment and his smirk grew wider.  He dispelled the stun spell, as it seemed it was unnecessary.

Looking back at Eilan, he stood by the unconscious form and said, "lead the way good sir."  While bending down and oh so un-eloquently tossed the blue haired wolf over his shoulder.

[murmer]

"I doubt I did a good job showing that being out there how nice dragons can be," Ketet said a little skeptically to Chance. She still wasn't used to all the sudden hugs, but has stopped actually trying to look visibly calm about it. The contact made the dragoness mildly disconcerted and nervous, and her mood didn't lighten after Kassin enlightened them to Ithralia's plight.

"I suppose one would say so," Ketet mused after a small while, "most of the other draconic species I know of prefer to stay away from beings, or are hostile outright to the weaker races. The same could be said of any other creatures with any sort of strength or heightened prowess in a supernatural criteria. Putting the blame of the death of a being on a creature that wields magic would be much easier than trying to prove another being did it."

Ketet sat down on the cold ground, flashing a concerned look over at the muttering demon, asking Kassin, "Are you sure he's alright?" She tested the scent carefully around Raffiele, wondering if she could smell anything.

[Noone]

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Eilan nodded towards Garis. "Right, just a min...ute" he said, as he hoisted Kedered up. "Come on, up you go."

He looked up at the sky, the snowstorm was still going on, but it looked like it was lightening in it's ferocity, though the sky was growing dark. "Come on, I'd say we have an hour's travel to go through, maybe more with these two dragging us down." He got a good grip, and then strode back towards the others. The travel there was uneventful.

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The being's injury was mended, though there was still blood soaked onto his fur and clothing. The weather seemed to be lightening as the sky grew darker. Time passed by.

Eilan, after an hour and a half's worth of travel, spotted Zanfib, Chiyo, Tyrian, in an alternate appearance, and the unconscious being on the ground. He raised an eyebrow, still holding on to Kedered. He approached, looking things over. After a brief survey of the surroundings, and who was on the floor, he asked, in a perplexed tone "What is going on here?"

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Kassin sighed. "Indeed, we know from live evidence how easy it is to frame someone for crimes they did not commit." He paused. "It's really easy to frame creatures, that, and when those with wealth and power want to have someone innocent killed, they usually work through a secret contract killing instead of posting up a public bounty."
Kassin then turned to glance over at Raffiele. "I'm not sure what's wrong with him, I don't feel anything, but that he vomited would certainly indicate he is not well. I tried healing him but I've gotten no reaction. I've been scanning him too, and I can't see anything wrong. That, and I don't see a cause and effect here either..." And I'd already removed that negative energy curse he had... so it can't be that.

He looked towards the entrance of the shelter. "I also think Eilan and the others are back..." Kassin strode outside.

[Zuki]

She nodded when the angel suggested that. "Perhaps that is for the best..." She felt slightly cheated though. The being wouldn't remember them helping him if they changed his memory...and part of her wanted him to know that not all beings were bad ones.

She looked up though as Eilan called out. "Kassin sensed this being...he came towards the shelter and was frightened off by some of us...he was badly wounded and so the three of us came to tend to him. Tyrian put him to sleep and I mended his arm..." She said, that was about the jist of it at least.

"We were going to wipe his memory of us...but even then we can't leave him out here in the cold." She said gently as she looked back at sleeping being.

[Lisky]

Carrying the unconscious man through the snow, Garis continued the trek for what seemed the better part of an hour.  Arriving at the edge of the rough circle, he looked a little nervous, "uh... if he's healed, lets get him into some form of shelter and get back." 

Gesturing to the man on his shoulder, "we've got Mr. Darrins, and i'm sure we'll be able to get what we need once he's inside... for now, if one of you would be so kind to lead the way... He's not exactly the lightest of things to carry"  The wolf cubi smirked while retaking his proper appearance.

[Sprocketsdance]

Chance made her mouth go askew for a moment after she noticed Kit's mood not brightening any, but decided to leave her be for the moment. When Kassin drifted outside she made her own way towards the opening, but only poked her head out to see what was going on. She didn't want to leave the shelter quite yet; Raff seemed ok (or at least alive) but she was still worried, also she didn't want to have Kassin out of her sight.

Plus she was worried how everyone was doing, between the two groups.

[Corgatha Taldorthar]

The trip back was a scattered mass of sense impressions, a biting cold tang in the air, a rasp of abrasion with contact of Elan's pack as he was half carried, half dragged.

He pulled, hard, out for any sort of passing emotions, anything to recover a bit of strength, and in the half-dazed exhausted state, thought that maybe they should have gone back into the bar, so he could feed.

It was a weak, thin reede of context and passion, but it was all he had, and even if it made him sick, he needed the sustenance.

By the time they made it back to the camp, Kedered could walk, albiet unsteadily, and the thought that with more people, there would be more emotions percolated slowly through his almost frozen mind.

He stumbled for a wall to lean against, as he lowered all emotional floodgates to feed.

[Noone]

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Eilan took a brief look at the being on the ground. After a brief examination, he said. "Don't." He spent a few more seconds looking at him. "Just carry him back to our shelter, we can leave him inside so he won't freeze. If he's out for another hour or so, we'll be long gone, especially by the time he gets back to civilization. As long as he didn't see anyone on the bounty list, we shouldn't have too much to worry about." He briefly glanced at Tyrian. Wait... I thought we only had three shape-changers with us... never mind.

"On a more pressing matter..." He turned to Garis. "We're certain he knows where the missing child is. He's suffered a lot of alcohol poisoning and blunt force trauma though... so we're going to have to have Kassin fix that first. He was rather difficult while in the bar."

Eilan started moving towards the shelter, his sense of direction leading the way. He turned a look back. "Come on, lets get moving."

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Kassin kept staring at the horizon. Awaiting the arrival of Eilan and the others. He waved to them when he could see them. Eilan approached, he raised an eyebrow when he saw Kassin's altered appearance.
"Kassin, is that you?" He said, examining him thoroughly. You look like an idiot...
"Yes..." Kassin replied. "Chiyo was able to change my appearance."
Eilan's eyes seemed to bulge in surprise from this. He got his senses back together in a moment. "She can do that? Why didn't we do that before we..." He took a deep breath. "Never mind, we have a patient for you, one who can point us to Mr. Darrins's child."
"Speaking of patients..." Kassin replied, "We have one inside as well."
Eilan shook his head in frustration, and strode inside Ketet's hut. He took a brief glance at Raffiele. Just what is going *on* here? He thought. "What happened to him?"

[Lisky]

Once they arrived at the ice shack, Garis set down Mr. Darrins on the ground and made room for Kassin to do his healing.  He found Kit sitting contemplatively on the ground and he sat down next to her, a slim smile across his lips as inched a little closer.  "Miss anything exciting while i was away?"

[Azlan]

Tyrian picked up the being as Eilan wanted with one arm via the back of his clothes.  He wordlessly followed the rest of the group and deposited the being on the ground within the shelter.  He was lain in a spot that was within the center and in everyone's field of vision.

Indicating Raffiele, Tyrian responded to Eilan's inquiry, "This happened to him just after Chiyo tried to use her illusionary magic to alter his appearance.  Nothing appears to be physically wrong with him.  So it could be psychological."  

Using his small gem, the fox attempted to examine the patterns of soul energy flowing through Raffiele's form, "or it could be a disruption in his very soul..."

[murmer]

Ketet was still wondering if she should've gone up to follow Kassin out the shelter, but Garis wandered in and her train of thought was derailed again in a soft kind of fuzz.

"Uhmmm, that happened," she said as she pointed at the being in Tyrian's arms, "and... Kassin felt someone die in another direction, and Raffielle is sick," Ketet tried to indicate the vague direction where Kassin last said so. As Garis got close to her, she caught the whiff of stale tavern air and pungent alcohol and wrinkled her nose, blanching slightly.

"Looks like you had fun," she said after her reaction with a bit of a sly smile.