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[Ryudo]

Ryudo lost his balance as the floor suddenly moved upwards and suddenly in a matter of seconds they appeared in Brecca's mansion. Ryudo was pretty speechless and after a few moments realised he was sat on his backside staring at the book lined walls in amazment. Standing up he noticed the dragon had not moved very far from where they had left it, Tanith still laying unconcious on its back. He decided that he should examine her injuries and do what the green beast would allow him to. He reached into his bac pack and opened a small compartment that contained Almwaters book and a length of linen. Rummaging around he pulled out a short stiff oak branch, the last time he used this was when the old bull...

The werewolf paused and sighed a little before approached the prone Tanith first of all letting the Drake know that he wasnt a threat and within a matter of moments fixed Taniths broken arm into a sling and splint. He watched as Brecca re-entered the room with a rather potent looking alchaholic beverage and slumped down into a chair next to the fireplace and dissapeared behind it.
Ryudo stepped away from the dragon and thought about saying somthing comforting to the Alchemist but thought against it, it probably wouldnt make much difference anyway. He made his way into Brecca's large garden and closed the doors behind him. It was dark out and the moon was still a small sliver in a sky full of stars. After a few moments he spotted Almwaters body laying aginst a tall tree. His once stoic and grim face dropped into somthing a lot more vunerable.
He walked over and knelt down infront of the body.
Ryudo pulled the urn out of his bag and looked at it then back to Almwater's corpse with a sad smile. Wondering how much wood he would need for the Pyre.

The Werewolf let his legs slide out from under him and sat in a childlike way on the soft grass in the moonlight and put the urn down infront of his and sighed again, allowing the events of the day sink in a little further. Outside the high walls of brecca's estate he could hear the sound of the homeless left in the wake of the Beasts seige. Weeping and anguished cries pierced the blanket of complaints and murmers. It struck a powerful chord with Ryudo, part of him feeling fully responsable for bringing such terrible things to the city, each wail of dispair, every time a fatherless baby cried into the night it felt to Ryudo as if part him died. He whimpered silently and covered his ears as guilt crept into his mind, holding his head in his hands he looked up at Almwater. Whose eyes stared at Ryudo as if looking rifght past him into the horizon, there were no comforting words this time, no warm smiles or old jokes cracked for the hundereth time. Just a dead stare that filled Ryudo with nothing but fear.

The Warewolf reached out and placed two fingers on Almwaters eyelids shakily, as if the old Bull would spring back into life at any moment and embrace Ryudo one last time. Nothing happened exept the corpses massive horned head lean back slightly then lurch to the side under its own weight. Such a movement caused his eyes to fill with tears and they rolled down over Ryudo's furry cheeks as he closed the Shamans eyes.
For the first time in what seemed a lifetime the werewolf wept. All of his rage and bitterness erupted from him in a stream of salty tears. He clutched his head in his clawed hands, each and every moment he had known the minotaur playing out in his mind. The very day he had awoken as a child being carried in his arms to the final moment that his fathers blade tore into the minotaurs body. He raised his head up and glared angrily at the moon before shutting he eyes and releasing a long chilling howl that caused every residend and every soldier to fall silent.

After a moment Ryudo stopped and breathed in once more reaching out and pulling the minotaurs cowl further over the old bulls face. Tears still falling from his face he reached into his small rucksack still rank and sticky with sewange and dog hair, pulling out the old bundle of parchments bound together with ragged string that Almwater had told him about in his dying breaths. Brushng his furry arm across his face to wipe away the tears and blood he turned over the first page and began to read.

What was written there in those old pages disturbed the werewolf greatly, angering him to the point of bearing his canine fangs. But it also filled him with a semblance of hope.

"Elements?" He whispered to himself. Tanith had mentioned them earlier but in all the commotion Ryudo had forgotten. He looked at his glaive that lay in the grass and his brow furrowed. The once red gemstone now seemed to throb a strange orange color after Tanith had used some strange magics on it.
Almwater mentioned them now in his journal only as a'plan B' idea. The bull described them dangerous things and their whereabouts were virtually unknown even to him. Only to be searched for if his sealing spells had failed.
Ryudo looked over his shoulder towards the house. The Elementalist would know more but he didnt want to disturb her. The girl had pushed herself to her very limits as had Jospeh, the thought of the mind reader made him feel a twinge of guilt again. Ryudo had failed to kill the Beast and now Almwater lay dead as did near half the city. Pat of him felt the urge to pick up Almwaters body and make off before sunrise and not have to face the boy he had made such a promise to. But he forced theis thought from his mind and remained in place, If Ryudo was anything, he was not a coward he would face the Mind Reader in the morning and be held accountable for his and the Shamans mistakes.

[Infamous D]

The dog creature was happy to get out of the underground place. However, it didn't expect to leave the way they did. She watched curiously as the human drew something on the ceiling. There was a jolt or movement and the three of them were suddenly in a house of sorts. The human immediately grabbed a bottle of liquor from the kitchen and the were wolf moved on to check on some poor looking green haired female that was laying against a dragon.

The dog just sort of sat there, trying to drink in the new surroundings and figure out what the hell was going on. She followed Brecca for a bit, watching him for a few moments, then did the same to Ryudo. It then went over to Tanith and the dragon and game them a sniff. the dragon gave her the evil eye, so the dog left them and began to explore though house.

Each open room was inspected to the fullest, though the doors were that easy to open with paws, but she managed. To her surprise, one of the rooms had another individual in it. When the door was opened, she blinked at all the bits, bobs, and trinkets laying around. She trotted into the room and sniffed around, pausing only to scratch at some of the caked on filth.

<Ahh....so stinky and itchy. If only I could wash myself!> she complained to herself. <I think those nasty creatures gave me fleas!>

When she was finished scratching and successfully dirtying Joseph's carpet, she went over and sat in front of him to watch him for a while. This one, just like Brecca, smelled a little off. Was this house full of weirdos? Even the green haired girl was weird. Who the hell has green hair?! Not to mention having a dragon....

Well, the werewolf was a little weird, but seemed the more normal of the four. Though, she did sense that he had a screw loose somewhere, or that he was about to have a screw loose.

As she studied Joseph, she began to cover her assessment.

The human male with the golems and potions seemed old, but his body said otherwise. He had two different smells as well. His body smelled one way, while he smelled differently. He was hard to piece together, so she labeled him as a weirdo.

Then you had Ryudo, who was apparently a werewolf. However, he was an emo werewolf. The dog creature had never met any werewolves before, but she figured having such an emotionally torn werewolf was strange. Therefore, he received a weirdo label too.

The you had that bloody mess in the living room with the dragon. She smelled like dirt and foliage, basically, and had green hair to boot. She also seemed to have a dragon as a pet, so she must have had some strange exotic pet fetish. Thus, she received a weirdo label. The dog also made a note to stay away from such a exotic pet fetish weirdo.

Then you had this guy...in a room filled with weirdo things. To top that off he just LOOKED weird. His smell was pretty normal, actually. Judging by the state of his room, he was a pack rat. The dog had met a smelly old lady that was a pack rat and she was DEFIANTLY weird. However, as the memories flooded into her brain, she sneezed. She did not want to remember those days at all. The torture of being treated like a human baby was too much. The dog groaned aloud just thinking about it.

Yes, the house was filled with weirdos. Not to mention the house itself was a bit strange. What was with all the weird writing everywhere?

Finaly thought: Eat until you explode and GET THE HELL OUT!

With a nod of satisfaction on her decision, she got up and trotted to the door. It had swung closed slightly, she suck her paw in the crack and pushed, letting the door swing open. She traced her steps back to the kitchen and sat down on the floor and grinned. Time to get to chewing!

One by one, she managed to get the cabinets open by hooking her claws onto the site and pulling. She seemed to know exactly how to open them too, as though she had done it many times before.

Before long, she was chomping away on a honeyed ham that was supposed to be that nights dinner. <Yummy! Finally, some real food!>

Deadra

[marcus033090]

Brecca slid slowly into sleep as he drank away any comprehensive thoughts he may have. This day would be remembered in this city, so often struck by disaster, as yet another test of their will to persevere. Surviving a debilitating plague, raids from marauders, and now the attacks of a murderous demon, it would seem these people were bound to triumph... Of course, this city has never lost so much in so little time, the swift attack catching them all off guard devastating the militia, and killing the innocent; this kind of turmoil was new.

'So much gone, so much to replace.'

Ultimately what happened to the people here was the least of Brecca's worries. The property he owned within the city walls was of greater consequence; with every building that fell a chunk of his coffers emptied. His wealth is what preserved his name in this world, it was the influence that came with his money that has preserved the control, the trepidation; the corruption of the Flamel name.

The city would be rebuilt, this time with even more precautions; perhaps towers along the wall?. The militia would need to recruit, which would be difficult, but where the militia fell short Brecca would hire others from outside. The people may become wry about his grip on the puppets that were supposed to be their leaders; after all his golems had been depleted and his means of retaining order with it. He would need to hire a "police force", something to quietly monitor any counter productive activity from the more rebellious citizens. Tomorrow morning he would have to speak to the assassins guild representative that took up residence here as well as assess the cost of the damage. So much to do, so little time; even still Brecca's overactive mind was slowly drowned in liquor and it drifted away into sleep; so far gone that the protests of one of his servants over a dog eating the food in the kitchen went unnoticed.

[Ryudo]

Ryudo returned to the house after properly covering Almwaters body, fatigue had nearly claimed his conciousness once already and now with the added bonus of subterainian battles it threatened to do so again. As he waled through the back doors he looked himself down and examined his wounds, the ones from earlier were naerly gone and the fresh gouges on his forearm had finally stopped bleeding. In the candlight of brecca's home he was a much more terrible sight, his fur was so matted with blood that it almost appeared that his natural color was red. Brecca's arms had now revealed themselves and hung over the sides of his large comfy looking chairs with his fingers still clinging to the large bottle of vile looking liquid in one of them.
Tanith still lay motionless on the back of her green dragon, witch looked at him as he walked past towards the stairs to the second floor.
He poked his head around the side of the door to the kitchen after overhearing the slightly rabid sound of a feeding animal. He smirked at the strange looking dog that seemed to be in an equally terrible state and it still carried the stench of the sewer in its fur.
Brecca's servants didnt seem all too impressed that the dog was chowing down on the food that had been left out especially. A few maids on their late shift milled about, washing and cleaning, some carrying clean sheets up to the rooms all giving Ryudo a look as if he was going to rip out their throats if they stood anywhere near him.
He managed to get one of the servants attension and tried his ardest not scare her off. He asked the woman to draw a pair of baths for him and the dog, knowing it would probably be a waste to sleep on the fresh sheets in his condition. The maid nodded and hurried off to quickly do as the werewolf asked running as if she thought he was going to chase her down.
In all the years Ryudo had been this way he had never really gottten used to being treated like some ferocious beast by other mortals.
"Hey dog." He said to the small animal.
"Bath." He finished and motioned for it to follow the maid upstairs before He scratched his head and walked upstairs to his own bath.

After scrubbing his fur into a more clean state he returned to his room and slumped onto the bed uncaring that he left a trail of soaking wet footprints over the floorboards he didnt even care that he left his door open or the window or the even that he left his belongings in plain sight next to his bed. Nothing seemed to matter anymore.

He laid there half awake, staring at a small crack in the plaster cailingbefore finally drifting off into a long sleep with very uncomfortable dreams.

[Infamous D]

After the dog had eaten the ham, or most of it, one of the house maids led it down the hall and into a room with a tub. The tub had already been filled with hot water and there was soap and other things set out. The dog thought it was a little annoying how the maid kept talking to her in a baby voice, but to the maid the dog creature was nothing but a dog.

Until she started to was the filth from its coat. As the dark filth began to wash off a gleaming golden orange coat began to show through. Not only was the coat of the animal a very unusual, almost unnatural color, but there were tribal-like markings in the fur too. On closer inspection, the dogs ears had three pure gold stud earrings near the tip.

At first, when the maid saw the earrings, she was going to take them. However, after a deep growl from the dog when she attempted to do so, stopped her.

Once the dog thought it was clean enough, it hopped out of the tub and gave a shake, purposefully spraying the maid with water. The dog was given a quick rub down with a towel and then the dog let itself out of the room and shook again.

<Ahhh! Much better! I even smell nice and my fur isn't all matted!> the dog thought. After sniffing around the house one more time and finding that everyone has passed out, she found herself a room as well and hopped onto the bed.

<Well, I suppose I better sleep in a bed while I have one!> With that said, the dog burrowed under the covers and closed its eyes.


That morning, Tanith was the first one up. She had showered and now she was in the bathroom tending to her wounds. She wasn't sure who fixed her arm up, but at least they did it while she was out. It still hurt, but not as much.

The wounds that weren't healed by Brecca's potion was wrapped up with a healing herb in some gauze she managed to find. When Tanith was done, she looked like a poorly wrapped mummy, but it was the best she could do with one hand.

"I hurt all over...." she mumbled to no one in particular coming out of the bathroom in a robe. "But I feel better now that I am clean."

She found a chair in the living room and sat down with a sigh. The dragon crawled up into her lap and Ra perched on the back of her seat near her head. "At least everything seams quiet now. I wonder if every one is okay?"

Tanith has spotted Brecca asleep on a chair, but she wasn't sure about Ryudo and Joseph.

Deadra

[Ryudo]

Ryudo's eyes eyelids burst open and he sat bold upright, awaking from a nightmare where he stood alone in the middle of a grassy field, yet wherever he chose to step the ground beneath him began to decay and crack and all life he touched crumbled into dust. When he went to Almwater to help the minotaur simply rotted away in a matter of moments as had Brecca, Tanith and Joseph and to his dimay the enire land began to rot and die around him as he had awoken.

At times like these Ryudo would go to the Shaman for guidance but as the memories of the day before rushed back to him he knew that the minotaur would yeid no answers to him. He swung his legs around to sit on the beds edge. The sun shon weakly through scattered grey clouds and the werewolf rubbed his eyes and made sure his belongings were in order. It wasnt early, he rockoned as the house was abuzz with activity from housemaids and other servants.

He stood after a moment and opened the window for a few seconds before shutting it again. The city reeked with death as bodies were piled up and burned and a smokey black haze had fallen over the city causing many of those homless to cough and splutter. The soldiers of the millita patrolled the ruined streets as a deterrant to the crime that would eventually spring up. Such damage to the city would take years to fully repair and eventually the towns elected officials would have a rebellion on their hands if the empire or Brecca couldnt stump up the cash for such man-power.

Ryudo picked up his glaivve and headed out of his room and shut the door, glancing down the hallway to josephs door, wondering wether now would be the time to seek forgiveness. Deciding against the idea he turned and walked slowly downstairs into the room he had left Brecca the night before. Tanith, to Ryudos surprise, was up already.
He looked at her bandages and rolled his eyes. Without saying a word he approached her, kneeling down and securing the bandages properly.
"Hows your arm?" he finally asked after a moment.
Standing back up and stepping towards the doors to Brecca's garden. Looking through the window he saw Almwaters body still laying there. He couldnt wait to get today over with, if he had to look at the old bulls corpse once more he thought he would go insane. Trying to find enough burnable wood for the pyre would be impossible. He would have to wait till Brecca wakes up from his alchahol induced slumber to get his furry hands on some kind of liquid flame if the alchemist had some to spare.

[marcus033090]

To Brecca's fortune the night had been uneventful, his dreams hazy at best, which was better than nightmares any day. He awoke to the clamor of servants running about the house, as well as the familiar smell of boiled cabbage and the unfamiliar smell of eggs and ham. With his eyes held stubbornly shut his face contorted at the smell of cooking ham.

"Disgusting..."

Brecca shifted in his seat as he stubbornly fought the urge to awaken, with the events of the day before moving to the forefront of his mind he knew there was a great deal of work to be done. After a few moments of desperate clinging to sleep the waking world won out and Brecca arose from his seat. The servants had already prepared a bath and he took his precious time cleaning the blood from himself as well as treating the scabbing claw marks on his face. The process wouldn't need to be so meticulous and time consuming if Brecca were not so vain, but his looks were almost as important to him as his money. With his ailments treated and his self cleaned he strode from his bath to his bedroom where he changed into his formal attire; white silk shirt, and black silk pants, with a thin black cloak draped over his shoulders as well as freshly shined black leather shoes all hemmed in gold as well as discreetly pinned so as to fit properly. As he stepped out of his room an elderly elven woman stood at the door holding a cane and black hat in her arms.

"Hello Astella, lovely day isn't it."

The old woman frowned at the alchemist and handed him the items in her arms.

"If by lovely you mean filled with sorrow, regret, and loss then yes, it's quite a lovely day."

Brecca smiled broadly as he placed the hat atop his head, and swung the cane under his arm, and began walking with the grey haired woman dressed in a white dress to the kitchen.

"Your wit gets dryer with age doesn't it?"

Astella smiled faintly as she shuffled next to Brecca.

"Yes I suppose so. Dear boy, I believe we have some more official business to deal with other than idle chit chat?"

Brecca nodded still smiling in his eerie manor.

"Of course, but surely our more discreet business can wait till after breakfast?"

The two of them walked into the great room and Brecca smiled at his guests as he arrived.

"Good morning Tanith, Ryudo, lovely day isn't it?"

Brecca gestured to the elderly woman that stood beside him.

"Tanith and Ryudo, Astella. Astella, Ryudo and Tanith.

[Infamous D]

Tanith, who was about to fall asleep, snapped her eyes open when she felt someone messing with her bandages. She stiffened instinctively, thinking it might be a demon, which was sneaking up on her in her half-sleep dream. She relaxed though when Ryudo's voice accompanies the touch. "Oh, it's only you. You scared me there, heh." Tanith mumbled, sitting up from her slouch. "As for my arm, it hurts, but it will heal."

She watched Ryudo moved over to the window to look out at the garden and frowned slightly. "How are you doing? Not sure what happened last night after I passed out." Tanith said, scratching her head lightly.


When Brecca entered the room all fancied up, Tanith raised an eyebrow. Her eyes moved from him to the lady standing next to him. Tanith gave a nod to her when Brecca introduced her, but didn't say anything to her. "Ugh, speak for yourself, Brecca. Your not the one with a broken arm. Not to mention I ache all over."



After a long sleep, the lump under the covers of one of the rooms began to move. The dog creature stood and stretched with a yawn, then flipped the covers off and scratched it's ear. It's ears perked up as it heard a lot of noise in the house. <Eh....people must be up and about. Damn, I was hoping to sneak out before anyone woke up.>

Jumped off the bed and landing gracefully on the floor, the dog trotted over to the door and opened it and peeked out. She didn't see anyone in the hall, so she trotted out and slinked along the walls. She finally reached the opening to the great room and sighed. It was filled with people, so she would have to find another way out.

However, even though she did not want to be spotted, then sun shining in through the windows bounced off her golden orange hair, not to mention the pure golden studs in her ears. She was quite the unusual site to see, too. Her face, ears, neck, and shoulders were traced in lighter colors, giving the appearance of tribal tattoos. The top of her head and back of her neck was longer than the rest of her fur, giving her a mane. Her large, golden, almost pupil-less eyes also stared out with a strange intelligence to them.

Deadra

[Ryudo]

Ryudo looked over his shoulder at Tanith and smiled sadly. In his mind he tried to figure out the right kind of words to summise what had happened the day before. He just sighed and leaned against the window pane.
"Im fine."
Ryudo said flatly. Physically Ryudo was unharmed, the gouges on his forearm had all but gone and his fur was still fluffy and clean from his bath the night before. But emotionally he was drained and exhausted the previous days events had taken a terrible toll on his frame of mind.
"Brecca and myself finished things off after you passed out the city will be safe for now i think."
He answered and as if summoned by the mention of his name the Alchemist appeared with a strange looking old lady. The werewolf nodded at both of them in greeting as well as fighting down the urge to beat Brecca over the head with a chair at his poor choice of words he used to descibe the day.
"Brecca, i have an important errend to run. I need a liquid that burns and burns quickly."
He asked as he took out the horned urn from his pack. Ryudo looked at it carefully and wondered why the minotaur carried around the thing he would keep his own remains in. Maybe it was a minotaur custom he wasnt taught while in the Shamans care or perhaps the old bull knew that his next encounter with the Beast would be his last.

An odd glittering caught the werewolfs attension and he looked up to see the small dog he had found the day before sat at the doorway, its stunning coat almosty seemed to glitter in the sunlight that shon weakly through the window. Ryudo smiled faintly and beckoned the canine over with a simple gesture and hoped the dog would understand.
"Well you scrub up niceley without all that sewer crap all over you."
He squatted down to the small dogs level and studied its unique features wondering were such a creature would come from.
He looked up at Tanith and his smile faded into a more serious look.
"I have somthing to ask Tanith." Ryudo said, for once not refering to the girl as 'Princess'.
"But now is not the time, you need to rest here for a while."

[marcus033090]

'What kind of errand makes use of a flammable potion?'

"Of course Ryudo, I do hope you can find time for breakfast this morning before you go, considering that my home now smells like ham to satiate the tastes of my guests."

Brecca strolled off towards his study, breaking out into a cheerful whistle along his way; and this happy attitude of his began to disturb the company with him, Astella raised her eyebrow at the alchemist.

"You're very chipper this morning considering how much of your city is in ruin."

As the two of them rounded the corner on the other side of the great hall Brecca began to beam, his more heartless intentions leaking out in his twisted smile.

"Well yes, this all is going to be rather expensive to repair; but I have a feeling that what is left of this city that I don't already own will suddenly become available for purchase."

The old woman stared at Brecca for a long moment as the two of them walked into the study where the alchemist spent a few moments digging through his cabinets for a faint red potion that would ignite in a manor acceptable for whatever purpose Ryudo may have. Astella spoke up after the two of them walked out back into the hall.

"How do you intend to buy up property considering that damages are going to cut deep into your pocket as it is."

Brecca's smile had never left his face, silver linings like these seldom came about and he was quite enjoying it.

"Well, I imagine the landowners will part with their deeds at a... reasonable price."

Astella frowned at the alchemist as she thought for a moment of how much money he may have. She had a good idea of what he had acquired, but she had sincere doubts that he had enough money to repair this city and buy up property, considering that the only people who still laid claims to this city are the wealthy nobles who 'survived' Brecca's first buyout of the city.

"Well, if you really think you can afford it..."

The two of them rounded the corner and approached Tanith and Ryudo once again, and Brecca carefully handed the vial to the werewolf.

"Take care not to shake it up to much, and of course; don't get any on you."

Brecca clapped his hands together as the servants began to line the long dining table with food as they did the first night they arrived.

"Wonderful, I'm starving! Tanith, I do hope you can eat like you did the night before; my servants cooked far to much again."

[Infamous D]

Tanith looked over at Ryudo with a raised eyebrow when he mentioned he needed to ask her something. However, she simply nodded and stood, looking over at Brecca as he mentioned food. "I must say I am rather hungry, master Brecca." Tanith said, feigning politeness as though she were some English noble.

She held up her arm slightly to draw attention to it, "However, my eating habits will be a bit more modest, as I only have one hand to work with. However, I assure you that quite a bit of food will be put away none-the-less!"

Tanith also turned when she spotted something glinting in the corner of her eye. When she spotted the dog creature her eyes grew wide. "EHHHHH?!" She exclaimed, turning full to look at it as Ryudo tried to coax it out. "I think I know what that is! Ooooh! Were so lucky! This is a once in a lifetime occurrence, sometimes never in a lifetime actually!" Tanith exclaimed excitedly.


The dog looked at Ryudo suspiciously, then swiveled its head at Tanith when she began to get excited. <Oh wonderful....this is probably going to get annoying,> the dog thought. <However, since food was mentioned I will stay and eat with these weirdos. But first....>

The dog ignored Tanith at that point and went over to the door leading out into the garden and stared at it. Luckily, it had a sort of lever handle instead of a nob, so she was able to let herself outside by simple pawing at the handle.

However, after sniffing the ground for a bit she smelled something dead and followed her nose to see a large dead minotaur. <WHAT THE?! What kind of wierdo's keep a body on display?!>

Deadra

[Ryudo]

"I'll be back later. Save me some of the ham." Ryudo said as he followed the dog outside into the brisk morning breeze. He breathed the smokey air into his lungs and sighed out. So much death, he thought as he made his way through the undergrowth to find Almwaters body. The strange dog sat infront of it looking more than a little surprised.

Ryudo steped past the creature and squatted down and began to move the shamans massive bulk. It wasnt hard for him to lift Almwater's dead weight he had done so on quite a few occasions luckily none of them had been while the werewolf was in human form. He placed one hand under the bodys shoulders and the other under the knees and straightened up. Somehow managing to easily carry the corpse without a single shake of the knees.

Ryudo looked sideways at the strange dog next to him and smiled.
"You want to come to a funeral dog?"
He said and turned around, heading towards the rear exit of Brecca's mansion.
"Maybe if your as lucky as Tanith seems to think maybe no more of the people i love will die on me anymore."

Ryudo let the gate guard open the door way and he stepped out into the lush green fields behing the house there was a small hill further up surrounded by a meadow of trees. The gound was ripped and torn where Almwater and Tanith had their battle royale. He walked reloutley through the tall grass towards the clearing in the medow without stopping. He placed the shamans massive body down on a large rock that had been conveiniantly thrown up out of the earth during the fight and placed the minotaurs arms over the chest.

"Wood." Ryudo said to himself and looked about for anything he could use. Over the course of the next half an hour he began to gather ripped up parts of trees and the remains of Almwaters ring of wooden totems he had used to test Taniths aura. and began to pile them around the minotaur. It made Ryudo a lot sadder knowing he couldnt give the olf bull the send off he deserved. Oddly enough as he placed the cracked totems next to the body their runic surface ebbed and glowed slightly.

The werewolf reached into he pockets of his ripped leather pants and pulled out the vial of dangerous looking liquid he rolled it about in his hand for a moment before unplugging the lid, the vapours shot up into his sensitive nose in an instant making him look visibly disgusted. Each waft of the fumes caused images of the seperate ingrediants to flash up in his minds eye.
"Brecca." He said to himself once again. "Your so crazy."

He thust the hilt of his duelling glaive into the earth causing the glaive to stick there. He glave Almwater one last look and smiled at the Minotaurs peaceful looking face, it was as if all the weight of the world had been lifted from his shoulders.
"Good bye master." The werewolf whispered.
'The world will be a colder place without you.'

With a sigh Ryudo tossed the vial into the pile of wood. The instant the glass broke the pile of wood ignited in a furious blast of flame. In a matter of moments Almwater too was engulfed in fire. His clothing over the years had become saturated with his immence magical power and as the flames licked around the corpse the magic caused the flames to flicker in hues of purple, green and blue.
Ryudo knelt down close to the pyre and clasped his clawed hands togther.
"You will be avenged Kantar Almwater." He said as he watched the fire engulf his oldest friend. Part of Ryudo secretly feeling that such a feat would be nigh on impossible.

[marcus033090]

Brecca grinned at the sight of the golden dog; when clean the creature shone with brilliance and looked even more perplexing. The connotations the dog had to some obscure legend that the reality obsessed alchemist couldn't be bothered to recollect was all fine and good, but with his mental fingers crossed Brecca hoped that Tanith didn't get too attached... such a rare breed of animal was sure to come in handy in some kind of spell, or if nothing else for an easy bag of gold.

"Yes, I'm sure we're very lucky..."

Brecca paid the dog little attention as it strutted out the door soon followed by Ryudo and instead took his seat at the dining table, his guest taking a seat to his side.

"Dear boy, where is Joseph?" asked the eleven woman as she waited for the servers to bring her a plate of dull flavored cabbage that had become a signature meal at Brecca's home.

"I imagine he's still asleep, he took in quite a bit last ni-" The sound of thuds could be heard from the room Joseph was staying in. Grumbling followed by a loud bang that sounded almost as if the mind reader were throwing himself against the wall. Some of the servants would stop as they past his room looking on nervously before continuing on their way.

----

If the annoyance of having Taniths and Ryudo's thoughts lodged within his mind were bothersome, this was a living nightmare. Every item in his room seemed to bring forth the memories of someone else who died that night. A soldier who enjoyed reading emerged when he stared at his bookshelf, a lovely young mother and her son appeared screaming out in fear at the sight of the blood stained on his coat. The trinkets, each and every one seemed to drag forward more and more agonizing images, and with each one Joseph banged his head against the nearest blunt object, the wall, the bookshelf, his table. The images were stubborn, they had to be for them to survive the original clean up, but after slowly clamoring over to his charms he clutched a handful of the silver rune covered instruments; they glowed in resistance to the false images and fought to restrain them.

"For the love of..."

His head was pounding, the room was spinning and the voices were heart wrenching with some calling out for mercy, others simply whimpering in fear.

"Stop."

----

The elven woman stared at Brecca who was already eating, effortlessly ignoring the sounds coming from Josephs room.

"He'll be fine old friend, please, eat.

[Infamous D]

The dog creature watch Ryudo with it's golden orbs, then decided to follow him as he moved the body and set it aflame. It sat back on its haunches watching the body burn. The dog only guessed that this minotaur had died in the city when those creatures showed up.


Tanith moved over to the table, watching Ryudo step out the door. She had a feeling what he was about to do, but she wasn't sure if she should follow or not. After all, she did not know the customs of minotaur funerals and they might be a private affair.

Thus, Tanith sat down to eat and began to gobble down food. Albiet more slowly than before, due to having only one arm. When sounds began to fill the place, Tanith looked in the direction of Joseph's room. "Is...he alright? Shouldn't you check on him or something?"


Deadra

(OOC: WOW....super short. Sorry.)

[Ryudo]

Ryudo sat down on his backside next to the strange dog and watched the pyre blaze away. He crossed his legs and rested his elbows on his thighs and watched the fire blaze away. It was a calming experiance, finally being able to put almwaters body to rest. He felt that now things would be a lot easier knowing that the Beast couldnt use the body like it had thousands of others and now Ryudo himself didnt have to stare at the corpse anymore. His mind began to wander as the pyre burst in delicate hues of purple and green.

Thinking back to the days of his childhood when almwater took him under his wing, teaching him to survive and fight acting as sparring partner as well as tutor in things like nature and all things in life were subtly connected regardless of wether they be good or evil, godlike or simply mortal. When Ryudo was older they would sit up late into the night and discuss eachothers thoughts and dreams.

But in all those years he had noticed that the shaman always kept his most secret thoughts hidden as if they were too dangerous for others to know and soon enough Ryudo's training felt as if the minotaur was prepairing the werewolf for somthing much more strange than simply being able to survive. He had parted ways with the minotaur around his twentieth summer and began his search for the beast and Almwater had pressing matters to attend to in his homeland. Every now and then over the next few decades they would run into eachother and it would be as if they had never been apart.

Ryudo glanced sideways at the creature and tilted his wolk-like head to the side as the light of the fire glinted in its large eyes. He was surprised the thing had stuck around and could have at any point made its getaway, Not that Ryudo was keeping it here. Its eyes shimmered with a strange intelligence that puzzled the Werewolf. Ryudo looked back at the fire and sighed, yesterdays battle was still taking its toll on his body. All kinds of aches and pains niggled at his back and sides. The wound Tanith had healed, caused by his fathers demon weapon, tingled as if the blade had some kind of strange poison on it.

Almwaters pyre died down a little after a while, all that remained of the once massive shaman was now little more than a burning pile of embers with a pair of large blackened horns sticking from it. Ryudo plucked the horns from the ashes and hooked them onto his belt before gingerly scooping almwaters charred remains into the crude pottery urn and sealing the lid tightly. The urn suddenly sprang into life its cracked and worn surface began to glow an odd green and flickered slightly. The werewolf grinned as he returned the pot to his back pack. At somepoint he would need to return the ashes to Shamans homeland for a more appropriate ceremony. He dusted off his paws and straightened up looking back at the dog who seemed unmoved by his grim actions then he plucked his glaive out of the earth. He walked out of the embers and decided it had been long enough.

"Lets get back to the house."
He said to the small dog with a smile.
"How do you feel about ham? I prefer steaks."
He continued and stepped past the dog, secretly he was pleased the apparently lucky canine had followed him. Somehow it felt as if he wasnt on his own during the cremation. He leaned down and patted the dogs head between the ears as he walked past it leaving a grey-ash handprint on its golden fur. Before the creature could react he quickened into a run through the long grass.
"Quickly! The green haired girl will eat the whole table if we dont hurry."

Once back at the house Ryudo entered the dining room and pulled up a chair next to the greenhaired elementailst casting a glance over her bandages just in case they hant loosened or come away. He then proceeded to take the majority of the delicious looking food away from her part of the table. Using a single outstretched arm like some kind of furry snowplough.
"Hands off prin..er Dees." He said with a grin.
With that he crudely stuffed a handfull of bacon rashers into his mouth.