Glayp'neir (Arc 1)

Hitomi dissaprovingly growls at the servant who walks into Sharpes room and jumps off the bed she had previously climbed on. She walks up to the strange woman and takes her by the wrist and leads her back out of the room, making her stand besides the door. Hitomi then nods and returns back into the room, climbing onto the bed and lying flat on her stomach, not caring for the happenings outside.

The woman in sharpe's room relaxes and sits down on the bed, crossing her legs as she frowns. She's not fond of this environment and her body language is making so much clear. She accepts the bundle given to her by doc and begins to equip herself once more. Her dagger goes behind her back and she rests the sheathed sword on the bed. Taking several of her other weapons and putting them in their appropriate place. She then takes her protraction weave and twirls it around her fingers a few times rapidly and then flinging it in a way that it suddenly dissapears. Doc having searched her before knows that it's hidden in a rather curiously placed compartment both for safety reasons and quick accessability.
She plays around with the charm for a moment, adjusting it back and forth and writing a few lines of gibberish to confirm it still works. It's now neatly concealed and allows her to write on the paper without making her look like a fool.

Sharpe's device gives a short rumbling vibration. He looks at it again and notices that there are now six red dots standing either inside or before the rooms of the occupants.

Sharpe begins to walk back into his room but stops, and turns back, walking to Air. He puts a hand on her shoulder and rubs it.

"He's harmless, at least to us. Trust me. Sheath the blade, Air." He turns his head to Mai.

"You don't need to take your mask off if you don't wish to. Thank you for keeping her safe, if I might add."

He leans in close to her ear and whispers.

"We've got a lot to discuss, and we've been needing another party member. We got two now, I'd rather this not get fethed up, ok?"

Dr. Atrium watches as everyone starts to walk into the room. He watched Hitomi growl at the servant and that makes him wounder why. He then chuckles a little when she leads it to the corner and tells it to stay. He waits for everyone to get into the room before he starts speaking.

Hello everyone. For those who do not know, my name is Dr. Atrium. I know magic and I heal. Now for the pressing matters."

He walks over to the lady and puts his hand on her shoulder.

"This here is one of the few sisters left from my guild. She has been cursed and can't speak. I gave her a charm and quill that will write what she is thinking and draws what she wants us to see."

He walks over to the bed where Hitomi is playing.

"This little one I have named Hitomi. She is a fairy and because of that, she doesn't understand our speech and from what I can tell, she can't talk herself. She seems to be getting better at reading our body language. Do be careful around her though, she doesn't like sudden movements and she does bite."

He looks at his palm, he then looks to the ground as his face saddens, then looks back at the group.

"I feel as though I should tell you. This place has drained most of my charms and the sun is now out. Because of these things, I no long can cast magic. My powers will return once the moon rises again but for the time being, try your best not to get hurt for I will not be able to heal you very quickly. I am still a doctor so I can help you if you do get hurt, but it will be by common means. Look at Jian over there for proof."

His sadden face changes to anger.

"I am not useless without my magic though. we are going to have breakfast with the people of this castle. I tend to talk to Marcus for a very brief moment to find out my he has murdered my family and dragged the good name of the guild into the ground. When I am done talking to him..."

With very quick and swift movement, he pulls out one scalpels in one hand and one of the daggers in the other. He is in his fighting holding the dagger in his right hand to fight and the scalpel in his left to throw.

"I am going to kill him."

"Sharpe said that there were only two people with him and now this lady shows up? Guess he didn't trust me then, but what was she up to all this time. and the doctor. damn, I hope that fairies don't have venom for his sake"

"I fully understand your rage doctor, but you must try to stay calm. Right now you have the element of surprise. If he's anything like I've been lead to believe, he'll kill you instantly if you make a rash move."

Jian limps into the room after guiding the rest in. It turns out that there's a lot of people present now, thinking of it. The room is now quite cramped up with all of them in here. He is listening to the little speech the doc then is holding. The last words fall and Jian just flashed back to what happened yesterday. He just hopes that it won't turn out similar to that. He is rather indifferent about how the doc will handle it, as he can see his reasons. Jack trying to calm him down doesn't seem like something that would help in the eyes of Jian either, he sticks with not trying to calm him for now.
For some reason something urks him about them servants being set up in the rooms, except of the one that was sent out by Hitomi, weirdly enough. That brings him back to Janette, he doesn't know how to judge her, she clearly looks quite cute, but the fact that she might be posessed kind of kills of that nice feeling instantly. He flips around his leg-support he got from doc thinking about things, just hearing out the others and watching his surroundings.

She breathes in deeply and closes her eyes.

"Alright." She says. "Just be careful, ok?" she whispers.

She walks into the room and slides the knife into her leg sheath.

She puts her hand out to the one called "Jack".

"I'm sorry about that. I don't trust everyone right away, especially not the ones who shoot at my friends." She notices the confused look on his face.

"I'm guessing Sharpie never told you about me? He and I go way back, and he sent me on an alternate route to scout the castle and find the girl, but I found her possessed, and she walked off without a good opportunity for me to snatch her. I'll disclose more as the meeting goes on."

She looks forward at Doc. Looks like they're out of magic support. She is thankful he still is useful as an assassin, but it is hampering when they don't have access to rapid healing. So this woman is kin? Or part of his clan? That's likely what he meant, and she tries not to appear too out-of-place. She notices Jian is limping, and he looks like he's gone to hell and back. She shifts and sits by him, and whispers in his ear.

"What happened while I was gone?"

Maigoyume tenses as another man approaches Airgetlam, but relaxes once he realizes that there are no hostile intentions to be found in his demeanor. The speech from the man who calls himself Dr. Atrium is particularly interesting, if long winded. There are a few things that sound... fun, and he decides that he likes this "Dr. Atrium". Tensing up as the doctor suddenly draws a small blade and a dagger in either hand, he relaxes once more, watching the weapons warily. While the blades don't seem like they would do much damage in a fight, it's possibly that they could be poisoned, or have other effects applied to them. Aside from that, the stance seems to be proficient, and a scalpel or dagger can do a surprising amount of damage, particularly if the victim isn't ready to be stabbed. Perhaps this man that the doctor has vowed to kill is also the man who imprisoned him?

As "Jack" speaks up once more, Maigoyume eyes him sharply and thinks to himself. 'This doctor might have a vendetta against "Marcus", but if he has anything to do with me being here, I'm going to get to Marcus first.'

"Who is Marcus? Is he in charge of this castle?"

'I just need to get out and find out who put me in this place. That comes first. After that, then I can help these people with their goal.'

Sharpe leans against a wall in the corner and views the gathering of compatriots. Doc, Air, Jian, Jack, the woman, Mai, and himself. Quite a little squad they got going here, maybe they'll have a fighting chance after all. He still worries if Jian is going to go haywire again, he doesn't want friendly fire becoming an issue.

"Alright, so Marcus is definitely Doc's target. Sorry to whoever else wants the kill." he chuckles a bit.

"Now, we have someone very valuable to us, someone who has been on the inside for a while. Knows the game of Illusion too. So let's go through what we know. Now you're going to get the super-fast-info-in-under-a-minute version. Or so, just something of a recap.

Ahem, so, Doc was in a guild, as we know, which was comprised of assassins. One of them was this woman, it seems, and this man by the name of Marcus, who apparently joined, and seemed like the rank-and-file, but began having doubts, and wanted to reform the guild, but when he was denied, decided to seek out assistance and returned to kill off those who wouldn't follow him. Thus far, he has been abducting people around the area for some reason. As to how he came into contact with "Lady Dahaka", who is either Clarent or looks extremely similar to her, and Clarent being the girl we were trying to find in the first place. So, this woman was sent originally to masquerade as the general you were talking about, Jian, and her real goal was also to find out about Marcus. Thus far, he seems extremely powerful, and likely has this whole castle at his fingertips. As far as what they are planning on using the abductees for... all that was said was that they were building something. Something big. We don't know what it is, or what it's for. For all I know, they could be mass-producing firearms and protraction weaves, or powering something singularly powerful. It's possible that Jack was invited to provide instruction on how to build it.

As far as Clarent goes, I think Airgetlam can tell us more, hopefully, but so far we've seen her use Shadow magic, if in tiny bits in pieces. That's about what I know, based on what this lovely miss has told me, and in a concise form."

He walks over outside the room and motions to the servant standing at attention, or rather contemplating it's navel.

"Might you fetch us breakfast now? I think we're all quite hungry." he says, looking back into the room, about the group.

Dr. Atrium takes a breath and puts the dagger and scalpel away. He watches the servant leaves and he looks over at the newest member of there rag tag team.

"Just as Sharpe said, Marcus has killed most of the people of the guild that I grew up with. As I look around I can see some confusion, this lady isn't my sister by blood. Our guild was so strong because we were taught to treat each other as family. Each guild house would have a Grandmother and a Grandfather who was in charge. The communicated with the other guild Grandparents and they would give orders to the Mothers and Fathers. Mothers and Fathers gave jobs for the Brothers and Sisters rather it be clean the guild hows, make this man win an election or silence a person. The Aunts and Uncles were the trainers and teachers. Our guild had five very simple rules.
1. Never dishonor the Grandparents. To do so is death.
2. Never betray the Hikari Juken or its secrets. To do so is death.
3. Never disobey or refuse to carry out an order from a Hikari Juken. To do so is death.
4. Never steal the possessions of a Brother or Sister. To do so is death.
5: Never kill a Brother or Sister. To do so is death.
The fact that Marcus was able to do what he did and is still breathing, makes my blood boil. I am going to reinforce the rule to him."

He looks over at Jian.

"I promise that I will be careful."

"Is that why they might've wanted me here. Bloody hell, making a protraction weave is near impossible for most folk. They'll probably have to end up killing me instead. Even with the visions, the most complex machinery I can manipulate is electronics and those run on stuff other than magi... "

Jack's mind became flooded with memories of dismantling and reassembling his brother's gun in supposed failed attempts

"the gun is a ceremonial piece. it makes sense to be decorated in precious metal on the outside, but why was there gold and silver on the inside unless what if... wait...no...yes, yes, yes"

The doctor's bloodlust and the ultimate fact that uncovering the secrets of the weaves would lead to his possible enslavement under Marcus were all concepts that Jack became blind to under the excitement of his sudden realization. His pupils widened as his eye became entirely fixated on Air's

Spoiler:

"Her arm! It's silver"

He moves towards her as swift as a shadow

"Well...uh... it seems as though it would be a while before the doctor carries out his assassination, heh. In the meantime, would you mind if I asked you a few questions about your arm?"

He nods as a response when the doc turned around, telling him that he'll be careful. He carefully follows the conversation and then silently nods when Sharpe asks about breakfast aswell.

Air then approaches him, whispering into his ear asking what happened. His eyes shift to her.

"I... rather not wanna go into detail with this. Let's just say... it's my fault for the doc and me having wounds. I st-", his words interrupted by Jack's realisation, as he suddenly approaches air. Jian's eyes look in down into the opposite direction, rather depressed, then silently limping away from the two, moving up to the doc.

"Hey. Now that I am back to myself, I really just wanna say that I am really sorry. Still not too sure how it turned out to be such an outrage from my end. If you want me to take any charge for it later, let me know, I'll try to comply to your request then."

He taps his shoulder thereafter, just nodding with confidence. "If you are alive by then", he adds.
His view then shifts over to the woman that he thought was the right hand of the emperor. He slowly limps towards her in a careful manner.

"Hello, ma'am. My name's Jian Manchu. May I hear what made you disguise as the right hand of the emperor of my country? I was extremely pressured hearing this at first, also kind of losing myself yesterday. You... can thank the doc and Sharpe here that I didn't end up storming this room, trying to kill you in my blind rage. No worries, I calmed and I know that you are not her, so I won't do anything. I barely can walk myself, so I would be in an disadvantage here aswell."

He streches out his arm, hoping that she'll shake his hand in confirmation of trusting him enough to know that he won't be out to kill anything. He wouldn't be surprised if she rejected, but his hopes are up for it not to be the case. He tries to reassure her with a calm smile, then interrupted by a sharp pain in his leg, making him tumble a bit. Shortly after though, he streches out his hand again, waiting for a repsonse.

Airgetlam gives Jian a puzzled look as he shuffles away from her, and she feels the presence of the new guy lording over her, making her uncomfortable. She looks back at him and raises an eyebrow. It seems he has taken an interest in her arm.

"Uh... what about my arm intrigues you? You better not think of poking it with anything, that would be a bad way to start off a friendship. However if you Must know, it's solid and attached to me. I've always had it and it has grown with me since birth. And yes, I can feel pain in it." she gets up and steps forward.

"Thus far, it seems this Marcus person is indeed abducting people, and while I don't know about some big machine, but I do know that they are usually taking women and using them to feed their energy to a Necromancer. This Necromancer is very likely possessing Clarent. She can create shadow magic doppelgangers to serve as guards, and the seem to be weak to light and fire. I had my incendiary bolts ready just in case. well, she seems to keep some interesting curios in the dungeon, Mai being one of them. Also, along the outer wall in those towers there are sets of libraries and alchemy labs. We entered through the attic and came across a journal of sorts about the castle and a piece of golden jewelry with two yellow stones in it, one with a crystal that seem to have active magical energy. I don't know if any of you have found similar." she explains, fixing her hair during the whole dialogue to keep herself focused.

Maigoyume keeps a keen eye on Jack as he steps close once more. Moving away a little, he snarls at the mention of the awful dungeon once more. Moving out, he resolves to go for this Marcus fellow and kill him slowly. Perhaps he can re-enact the death by a thousand cuts from the stories he had heard as a child.

"I can take care of the dopplegangers. They only took me by surprise the last time."

Shifting impatiently, he looks back at the door and growls softly to himself. Shaking his head slightly, he decides to wait and see what the plan is before he moves on to search for whoever needs to die.

"What's the plan?"

Sharpe rubs his stubble.

"A Necromancer you say... and as well, we've been theorizing that the servants are all either kidnapped people, or people who sought out the castle on their own. Besides that, we did actually find some things. About two blue jewels and a green one, one of the blue ones was cracked, as well as a sort of armature or ring for the jewels to mount. We also found what appears to be a radar, or motion tracker of sorts."

He thinks for a moment and returns his eyes to meet Air's.

"May we see the journal?" He asks simply.

Dr. Atrium growls a bit when he hears her say Necromancer.

"Necromancers...people who use the dead as slaves, tools, experiments and god knows what else. They sicken me. No wounder that servant turned to dust when I told her that I was her master. When I did that, the servant lost all ties to its real master and became dead again. There is no saving them for they have already died."

He sees that Jack is getting all googly eyed over Airgetlam's arm and how uncomfortable it is making her.

"Hey Jack, leave the girl alone will yeah? Why don't you come over here and help think up a plan. And besides..."

He smile big.

"She already told me I could look at it when this is all through."

He gives her a wink to let her know that he is joking around and just trying to get him out of her hair. Once Jack walks over starts thinking again. He looks over at the hooded fellow.

"So I heard you helped Air out, mind if I as what you can do? Like can you use magic, if you were trained, if you know any fighting styles or cool tricks. The more I know about you, the better of a plan I can make."

He starts thinking about the servants when he gets an idea and grins wildly.

"I have an idea. We all have around own undead servant that was told to do exactly what we told them. When the time comes, tell them this "You were ordered to do as I say. I am your new master and because of the order you were given, you must obey." The moment you do that the spell they are on will make them turn to dust again. We can use the mass amount of dust and horrible doer as a distraction while we make our first move."

"I feel so embarrassed. This necromancer is the more urgent issue. The secrets of the weaves will be useless if I'm too dead to solve it"

"Well I can't say that I have an extensive knowledge on necromancers, but if basic logic serve me right, if we take out the necromancer, all the doppelganger would die with it. So our best option would be to quietly assassinate her. With all the minions dead and any surviving people freed, Marcus would be completely defensless as we greatly outnumber him"

"I was going to question her on why she brought me here, but I guess that will be something I need to sacrifice for the group"

Jian's hand just rests on the woman's leg shortly after he hears the others starting the conversation about a necromancer being present in this place. He heard a few stories of these kind of people back then from his parents. These people are very terrifying from what he got to hear, he just doesn't know thier capabilities too well, so he can't really judge how bad this situation turns out to be. He slowly then limps back to the doc.

"So... A necromancer? May you tell me more about what thier capabilities a bit more? I heard a bit about those kind of people back then from my parents. They mentioned encountering one before, seeing it in action. They didn't tell me what that necromancer did, so I have no idea what they can do, other than the short bits you just mentioned. I am intrigued enough to find out more."

He looks into the rest of the group.

"This is something I want to hear from the doc only, no talking all over the place drowning me in information, I am certain that he can handle telling me himself."

He looks back to the doc, just nodding. Maybe this insight will help him about how to handle this situation and what to expect.

Airgetlam shoots her hand up, one arm folded across her chest.

"If I may say something before Doc goes ahead, I would like to point out I didn't know they were all undead, just maybe entranced. Secondly, we can't assassinate her because she is possessing Clarent's body. I know that stopping evil is important and all, but we came out to bring someone back and save them from death. Killing her is out of the question. If we could find a way to dispel her or force her into a non-important body, that would be fantastic."

She raises her hand to Doc.

"That's all I wanted to say, go ahead."

Maigoyume steps forward. "Weaves don't affect me very much. It's why I can't use protraction myself. That'll level the playing field between this necromancer and I. I can keep her busy while the rest of you take care of whatever it is you need to do to keep this Clarent alive. Airgetlam can attest to my effectiveness in combat."

Moving back away from the group, he crosses his arms and leans back again.

"However, don't expect me to stay for long. I require answers of my own. Someone sold me out in Nebag and I intend to make them regret it."

The imposter woman, having been lost in her thoughts snaps out of it and gives a quick nod to Jian. She looks at doc while taking out a piece of paper, writing down the following.

"You must see them. In the hidden section."

She tears the paper off a notebook and shows it to Sharpe, then hands it to Atrium. After that she straightens her attire a little and gives Jian a friendly smirk, extending her hand towards him for a shake. A knock then interrupts the session.

Sharpe's device makes a short vibrating sound but he choses to ignore it. Having grown used to the device by now he figures another red dot has appeared in its close vacinity.
Hitomi sniffs the air and leaps to her feat. Rushing to the door and trying to fiddle with the door handle. Jack, who is closest to the door opens it for her and she bends around the door to confirm what she had been smelling. As the door opens a tray is slowly revealed, and with it the smells of freshly cooked breakfast wafting in. Ayame is standing infront of the room with three moving trays, another rather lively looking maid and a servant.

"Hello~" Ayame says with a polite smile and bows. "Your breakfast has arrived." She says and presents one of the carts. "May we?"

Before anyone can answer Hitomi grabs the cart, nearly toppling it and pulls it inside the room.
On it are various closed silver platters that smell like deliciously cooked fresh food. She takes a plate, crudely knocking off the top and grabing a handfull, retreating into a corner of the room and beginning to eat. The other maid smiles shyly while the servant simply stares. They bring in the rest of the trays and all three of them bow before the two others leave the room, leaving Ayame by herself. "Please enjoy your meal. It's safe." she says and turns to leave the room. As she does, she throws Airgetlam a worried stare. As if she felt the group was somehow to fail. She's just worried of course...

The door closes and things continue where they left off. Just with food this time.

Sharpe simply stands against the wall and ponders why Ayame mentioned that the food was safe. Even though it could be true, it just rubs him the wrong way.

"Well, looks like we keep getting interrupted. I'll say, get your food one at a time. Just so we have no rush. I will take last."

He resumes his internal analysis of Ayame's words and body language, and looks toward Air, who was given a certain look. Have they met before?

Dr. Atrium looks at Jian with a stern face.

"Necromancer is a mage that uses their gift to bring the dead back. They force a resting soul to be woken up and forced to do what the Necromancer says. Necromancy is illegal now. It used to be researched by people but a lot of really unethical work came from that and people abused it to do many evils so it was banned by the King and has started to die out as a common practice...But cults and other 'evils' still practice it from time to time aswell as some under the table scientists or magicians.
There is however a handfull of people who are legally allowed to perform necromancy. A lot of them are usually priests of sorts or other holy men. The way it works because necromancy is a form of protraction. It captures the life essence of someone who is passing on and keeps it alive using the necromancer's own life essence to stabilize it...at least that's how basic necromancy works. If the necromancer dies then the souls are freed and they can go to rest they can also be freed by magic. But if a risen undead dies to a blade or its body is destroyed in a way then its soul will still be kept alive by the necromancers power but will be cut off from the supply so it will wander about as a ghost of sorts trying to find peace. So thats why some places specially train people in necromancy so they can lay the dead to rest. Its also to build a ward on like graves and tombs so they cant be resurrected.
But this necromancer that is in this castle is no holy person. That should answer your question Jian."

He turns and looks at the hooded fellow.

"I am going to eat some food, you should as well. When we are done, I want to see what is hidden behind the banner in the dinning room. We were told it was just a storage room but I don't buy it."

He walks over to Jian and puts his hand on his shoulder.

"I forgive you, you weren't yourself. It has happened to me once before, you can ask Jack. If you want to help, I want you to protect Hitomi. She seems to like you more then the others so I am sure she will stay with you."

He pulls out one of the three daggers in his pocket and hands it to him.

"This should be better then the knife you are using. trust me, it is a tad dull. These daggers aren't."

He gets up and walks to the cart and fills a plate with food, then walks over to where Hitomi is eating and sits next to her and eats.

"Hmph, I'm not afraid of any evil necromancer. Takes a bunch of bones, dresses it up in flesh, and uses em as puppets"

"Please Jian, do try not to stab someone in front of little Hitomi again. Such violence could cause great damage to the developing mind of a child"

He looks towards the doctor as he clearly remembers their argument on whether to serve as Hitomi's care takers or not. He chews his food and swallows before speaking.

"Now even if this necromancer is controlling this Clarent girl everyone is talking about, we must find a way to get rid of her. Would you by any chance know how to break her control of the girl?"

He grabs the hand of the woman, shaking it lightly, returning a smile. The knock doesn't interrupt that, but he then turns around towards the doc, hearing him out.

Jian appreciates the dagger, nodding thankfully. He's glad that the doc accepts his apology aswell, leaving him with a big relief. The words of Jack strike him like being chopped into his neck, and he quickly turns around with an angered look on him.

"You're the one, from what I've noticed, that has a grudge against her... And you're telling me to be careful? You were yelling around, arguring about it several times. Yes, Jack, I understood that much. Once I heard her name and saw your gestures, I knew you were cleary not agreeing with her being here with us. But yet, you try to play it out innocent, telling me to be careful. I know what I am doing, my mind's not under pressure or anything after this being resolved, okay?"

He slides the dagger into the pouch his own one was in, putting the other one into an empty pouch, slitting a hole into it.

"It's not like I have any herbs on me anymore, considering I didn't gather much."

He only has a mere amount in one pouch which regards spices. Not being able to gather is surely something that he misses. Walking through the landscapes looking for them always was quite an adventure itself. He goes to grab something to eat from what was brought in, sitting down close to the doc and Hitomi to eat, considering there's not much else to set on.

"I can take care of Hitomi, don't worry.", he simply adds thereafter, reassuring it'll be alright.

Airgetlam smiles at Jian, and knows he's right. He can definitely care for her. She still doesn't know too much about this Jack guy, though. Honestly, he seems a bit too arrogant, full of himself. Not good for the group, could get them all killed.

She gives him a rather distrusting look and gets up, taking an omelet with broccoli, chicken, and mozzarella cheese from the cart with some fruit.

"I'm going to get dressed, I'm currently in what amounts to a sleeping gown with a knife tied to my thigh." She says and walks out, then into her room, where she gets dressed.
She pulls on her tights, boots, and pulls over her cloak, and primes her crossbow, but leaves the knife in it's place, if now over the thigh-high. She walks back into the main room and sits down, eating bits of her food. It actually does seem safe for consumption. Knowing Ayame, she owed her one, so she definitely wouldn't poison the food.

"As far as killing a necromancer.. I honestly have no idea. I think though, we should figure out what those gems are for, and maybe find an alchemist. We passed a few labs on the way here. Maybe we could ask Ayame where we can find one. As well, maybe Doc should research more into those necromancers in his spare time, find a way to kill one without harming a body they're possessing. Also, maybe that door you're referring to goes to the dungeon? As well, you should expect that creepy maid to show up and ruin your fun, whatever her name was. Maybe it's that Janette one I heard about."