Chapter 5: Pleased to Meet You

Muttering something under his breath about the Curse of the Swong, Yelnar tries again.

Ember sees the fire and almost panics, but she knows that sort of power could only come from a spell.

She glowers at the Hunter.

WELL?

Swan continues to sing his heroic ballad.

"I ride a comet, my trail is long to see, silence, is a lonely road.
I fight the world, and take all they can give. There are times my heart sinks low."

Another arrow zooms at the abomination.

Several of the prisoners are completely dumbstruck by what's happened, barely even thinking to shield themselves from the heat. And make no mistake, it's hot: the entire warehouse is going to go up in flames before long, and it's started to spread to adjacent buildings. Wil and Vesina both move through the crowd, trying to push everyone out the door. One of the remaining guards spots the prisoners trying to leave, and starts to yell something out until Brick taps him on the shoulder. Confused, the guard turns toward him. Brick smiles patiently and then drives his fist into the man's face, laying him out cold on the ground.

"Go," Brick says to Wil over the roaring flames. "I gotta make sure no one knows I was involved."

He looks out over the ragged crowd of no-longer-prisoners with a critical eye. "Good luck. You're going to need it."

With that said, he yells to the other guards, "To the river! The warehouse is lost! Save yourselves!"

Wil smiles at Brick.

You are a good man. I am indebted to you.

Wil turns to Vesina and the prisoners. Former prisoners, he reminds himself.

Keep moving and keep helping your neighbours. Leave no one behind.

Vesina, my plan kind of ended here with my friends showing up. I am afraid they may be in trouble, which means we may be on our own.

He looks at the rag tag group.

Is there anywhere we can lay low for a few minutes? Just long enough to get supplies for those who want to leave town. And maybe I can find my friends.

One more thing occurs to him.

How many Crows do you think were in town in total? That fireball took out 6 or so. I have a feeling that Brick might be thinning that down by a couple more. Any chance we can drive them out?

Coreene continues to hack at the Hunter, while her elemental pummels it with its fists.

Blows rock the hunter’s body, causing it to ripple and fray from fists and blades. There’s a moment where it seems to lose focus, as if not expecting so much resistance from so many.

That’s when the flames burst into the sky.

The effect on the hunter is almost immediate: it jerks its head violently in the direction of the explosion, featureless face lifted as though looking to the sky. With a sudden action it flings Elora across the alley, and it melts. That’s the best your eyes can make out. The hunter’s body loses its shape and quickly flows along the ground in the direction of the flames.

The explosion claims Verrian's attention only fleetingly as the hunter's reaction to it drags her gaze back in time to see it fling poor Elora and begin... melting.

Wil, she thinks immediately. Wil must have triggered something. It's headed for the magical captives.

She takes two more swipes at it before it is completely gone.

Ember sprints to follow the Hunter. She knows it's going for magic users, and the highest concentration she knows of is with Wil.

Her usual illusory flames are burning violently over her scars. She doesn't even have words. She just screams.

While the hunter is too quick to react for Verrian's attack to be of much effect, Yelnar manages to slash it quite effectively: a small piece of its form is carved clean off, perhaps the size of a lump of coal. Still, the hunter manages to slip away, its substance flowing along the ground with frightening quickness.

The cold you all felt is nearly gone now, clearly a product of the hunter's presence, but the bit of its body that Yelnar has cut off still radiates that same chill. A closer look shows that part of it is beginning to disintegrate before your eyes -- the part that looked like normal flesh. Some remains, though -- a part of one of its black patches. It's not easy to glean much from observing it in the darkness of the nighttime alley, but anyone that puts a hand near it can certainly establish that it's the black part that emanates cold.

Swan will follow, to keep an eye on slash back up Ember, as well as to miss with more arrows.

Verrian crouches to look at the piece of the hunter sliced off by Yelnar.

Vesina shakes her head. She looks behind at the remnants of the warehouse. "Nowhere close by that isn't in danger of going up in flames," she says, worry and fear weighing her down, and with good reason: the fire has spread to at least two nearby buildings and is only getting worse. "I know of some places that a few could hide, but there isn't room for all these people!"

She holds her hands to her head, panic starting to set in. "I was counting on my friends too, Wil. I don't know what we're going to do."

His second question sinks in after a moment, and she looks at him in confusion. "Crows? I don't know what you're talking about. The guards? Except for the big fellow, they were all Hara city guards. There have to be hundreds of them. There's no way we could drive all of them off."

Elora slams against a wall with a resounding "OOF!" Taking a deep breath now that she is free from the hunter's clutches. Rising to her feet she witnesses Yelnar cut...a piece off of it.

Verrian realizes suddenly why the black patches on the hunter seemed so familiar: it looks and feels exactly like the material from which the Crows fashioned their magic-stealing restraints. It has the same feeling of cold, the same oily black luster.

What she doesn't know -- what she can't know -- is if it has the same effects in this form as it did in the hands of Ildemu and the Crows.

However, as Elora staggers over after her trip across the alley and into the wall, she mentions the strange sensation she felt when she was in the hunter's grasp: a numbing cold seeping into her skin, a strange rushing sound in her ears, and even in the darkness, the surroundings took on a grey pallor that felt drained of life and color.

Elora's information about what she experienced in the hunter's grasp starts a train of thought for Verrian. A sudden gutteral screaming claims her attention and she sees Ember starting to run off in the direction the hunter has gone, the direction of the explosion and the fire.

@Ember: Ember, stop! Wait. We have to fight this thing together, but we need to understand it better.

Stooping back to the ground, Verrian picks up the piece of the hunter. It's like holding a lump of coal in her hand.

It's at this time that a tiny chirping mass comes flitting down the alley. Pip flaps and flutters frantically, alighting on Elora's shoulder and jabbering endlessly. His normal drab coloring is darkened with soot, which puffs out in tiny clouds as he flicks his wings.

The bird takes off from Elora's shoulder again, flitters a little ways away and lands. Then he takes off again and lands a little bit farther away, chirping and chattering all the while.

Relief floods through Elora as Pip, and she just wants to hug him. Alas he is to jittery for her. "Oh Pip I'm so glad you're okay and- Pip? Pip come back!" She runs a few steps after him before looking back at everyone. "I-I think he knows where Wil is." She looks at the billowing smoke, realizing they probably all do now.

Yelnar keeps a wary eye towards where the Hunter left. Cowardly creature, he suspects they'll see it again. Next time they'd have to try and make the fight happen somewhere it can't get away. Hearing Elora's story makes him think of his Mother, and his grim determination becomes even grimmer. And determinier.

If they can get back together with Wil, Yelnar reckons they're half a chance to boot the Crows out of this place if the group can be convinced to trust their own abilities. Not necessarily in fighting, which they still don't realise how potent they are, but more in their ability to connect. The groups compassion and empathy continually seemed to win people over. He had no idea how they all did it, but he knew that was more important than any lesson they could have gotten at the school. That was what Yelnar fought to protect.