Episode 1

Despite his loathing for the witchcraft he is witnessing, Ivor feels a stirring in his loins fueled by both the bloodletting and the vision of unbridled lust standing before him. With difficulty, tears his gaze away from the woman, and with only a glance in Kray's direction, hurriedly follows where Thorn went.

A flood of emotions clouds Talius' judgement for a second while he considers swimming back into the water, you can still save him, he thinks to himself. He pushes that thought out of his mind as he slips away from the Bear and Goat.

C'mon Talius, Move!

Kray steadies after the hit on the gator. A methodical reflex reloads his bow, string drawn back, eyes scanning the water for targets.

Line up and die bastards!

Ready attack for Overwatch again. What's the distance to shore for Talius? And yeah Ox, you're getting those 20's in good spots for sure. Fates seem to like you.

Ivor is hot on Thorn & Fingol's trail...

Suddenly it hit Kray light a bolt of lightning. Thoughts flitted through his mind in the space of a heartbeat. He couldn't save Talius, no more than Talius could save Qiu. He might, however, be able to help Ivor and Thorn. His mind reflexively called on his training and experience as a Decanus in House Mercon. They needed to regroup and form strength in force.

Perhaps Rutcrana could be of some help? She didn't shy away from Bird when she stabbed him on the deck, and although her current behavior seemed strange to Kray, it somehow reminded him of the medicine man he knew in the Mozamyah jungle, all those years ago. Was she truly a witch?

Without warning, the words of his Uncle Rison flashed through his mind, coming to surface from the dark depths of memory.

"Logic and reason must always rule, Kray. Without them, we are lost, as is the world in dire consequence. Never allow emotion to rule. In its stead, wet the cold steel of logic with the warm blood of your heart's weakness. Master this simple truth and master the world around you."

It had been almost ten years since he had heard those words, a late night conversation he'd had with Uncle Rison shortly after returning to House Mercon from two years in the Mozamyah Jungle, in the Gaerimundi Isles, living with the natives, a time that now seemed like a dream he'd had long ago.

Kray had been floundering still, lost and empty, eager for death but unable to take his own life, mourning the loss of his Gaerimundi wife and their newborn son by filling the void with whores, narcotics, the bottle, and an unyielding thirst for indiscriminately cruel violence. In those times his emotions ruled as king in the court of his mind, and it was Uncle Rison who had pulled him out of it, finding Kray one night in the most depraved of slums, wasting away in a sea of debauchery. Forcing Kray by Mercon armed escort, he confined him to guest quarters on Rison's estate, St. Antiphon House in Poyam.

Whether Rison had been directed by Habbiacus, done so with the one shred of compassion he might possess, or simply because he knew helping Kray would be helping himself, Kray couldn't be sure. Knowing Rison, Kray suspected the latter was, at the very least, part of it. Regardless, Kray's extended stay as a 'guest' at St. Antiphon brought him back to his senses, allowing him to clean up and find new direction under the watchful eye and iron guidance of Rison. It was during this time that Kray learned the ruthless art and power of cold and methodical calculation, allowing it to exist side by side with the emptiness that still lingered within, smaller now, but still there.

His mind snapped back into the present. Only the Fates can save Talius now.

Kray knew there was really only one course of action to take. Although he loathed the truth of it, only one option remained that made any tactical sense.

Wet the cold steel of logic with the warm blood of your heart's weakness.

His body resisted for a moment, then Kray forced the movement through steely resolve, crushing the wayward sentiment of emotion, unwelcome as it was. With one last look toward Talius, Kray turned and sprinted toward the deck and Rutcrana, where he had last seen Ivor.

Yeah, Talius really seems fucked.

Hoping Kray is in time to make a difference somewhere, he's going to run (Dashing action) for the deck where Rutcrana is, where Ivor was before he went inside, calling out to him along the way in an effort to find him.