IC - Village of Limm

It's hard to tear Quintus' attention away from the keening cloud, but if anything can do it, it's a face-off between two suspected murderers. Quail glances at Ognimir, then Damir. Then he fixes Podreg with a steely stare and raises his eyebrows, as if to say, Well? Pray continue, sir.

Quintus lets the crossbow ride casually at his hip, pointed towards the arguing pair. Just in case either should prove himself in need of some urging towards the vengeful spirit.

Danill throws his arms wide, a 'look at me' gesture.

"Oh ho! Ya got me! You got me Pod." He turns in a slow circle looking at each Guardian in turn. "Aye. I fancy Ciara. Who doesn't! But I'm a realistic fellow. I'm not," his voice oozes contempt, "niiiiice enough for her. Because I don't," his voice oozes mockery, "play a bloody instrument."

He watches the Guardians out of the corner of his eye, hoping he's impressing them. "But I don't care. I ain't jealous of no one. An' ya know what I am good at Pod? I'm good at punchin' folk. So speak up 'fore I throw you in that swirling cloud to settle this outright. What did you an' your bumpkin brother do?!"

Ognimir turns to both Danill and Podreg. He touches his throat, worried that they won't hear his raspy voice over the cacophony.
"You understand Limm will be destroyed or at least rendered uninhabitable. So if either of you is guilty, and you don't want to sacrifice yourself, your only other option is to run for it. Walking into it, however, would be complete proof of one's love for Ciara, though."

Ognimir turns to Quintus. "There's no telling how fast this thing will grow--we may only have days. We should get back to Limm and begin the evacuation."

"Who then?" Damir growls and takes a step towards the twin?
"Who can save your family's lives? - Do you ken?"

Leaves crunch under Danill's boots as he shifts his weight. He watches Podreg's knife point, gleaming in the moonlight.

Adrenaline surging, his chest fluttering. Danill turns to gravely voiced Ognimir: "An' if we didn't commit the murder...then the spirit won't hurt us?"

He looks at the obviously educated Quintus. He asks him: "Is it true?"

"Have you not been listening, boy?
T'is sparing Tiyem's murderer that will destroy -
all of Limm and what you hold dear.
For everybody the end might be near.
So if you know something and don't tell ....
t'is as if you yourself cast all of Limm to hell."

Damir enunciates the last bit. He wants Podreg to support them by telling what he knows, but Damir feels himself grow impatient. Ognimir, of course, speaks true. If they are at a dead end, all they can do is help the people flee this cursed place and make them pray to their Gods that the evil remains where the unfortunate fell.

Ognimir grimaces "The Veil feeds on the injustice and amplifies this spirit-thing's lament. The Veil is malice and suffering made real-- the spirit might ignore the innocent-- but the Veil....will take its toll."

Quintus feels some stirring of conscience that urges him to forestall, if he can, a bloody combat between the two denizens of Limm. To Danill's query-- "Is it true?"-- and Ognimir's brooding upon the evil properties of the Veil, Quintus offers a bemused, "It's a good question, actually."

The robed man would stroke his beard, if he had a free hand with which to stroke it. Instead, he turns to Damir.

"Have you heard tell of what might befall an innocent man in the midst of this..." Quintus' torch bobs as he fishes in the air for a proper term. What to call the angry and sorrowful thing? 'Keening cloud' seems scarcely to cover either its feral appearance or the sound that sets Quail's teeth on edge and rattles the bones in his skull.

At any rate, Damir will surely know what he means.

Damir shares his knowledge. He says that those innocent will not be harmed and that walking into the fiend is an effective way to prove one's innocence. Only Ognimir can read his fellow Guardian well enough to know that Damir might have exaggerated on how dependable this piece of information is.

The fair haired man asks Danill and Podreg if they are suspicious of anybody else in the village, aside from each other.

As the Guardian grows more impatient - lots of innocent lives are at stake here - he finds himself not too concerned about Podreg's and Danill's health. Either they bolt or they walk into the creature. Either they are redeemed beyond doubt - or ... not. Whether the creature stops afterwards is what interests Damir above all.

His moment of heroism arrived--yet, he doesn't feel as thrilled as he thought he would...

He answers Podreg with a fair amount of bravado. "Aye. I ain't guilty. I am gonna walk right in to that thing. An' you're damn well coming with me."

Cruel fate, he thinks. Why can't Ciara be here to see this! I suppose I can recount it later...

He moves toward the Podreg, unconcerned with the blade the archer holds. He ain't gonna use it anyway, he thinks. "Let's go Pod. Time to show our worth."