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Namine merely chuckled silently to herself as they went on. This was a deathtrap as well as a prison to most people. As she blew a hole in an unsuspecting Mindflayer's skull that blocked their path, she was happy she was not 'most people'. Else wise, she might have ended up like good 'ol Chuck back there, feeding the rats and other such things. No, her only concern now was the Sage. When he saw her, he'd be angry. She needed to calm him before he did something that would force her to do something everyone would regret.

Kale dropped a mindflayer that had been trying to sneak up behind them with an arrow through it's skull. Just how many of these things are there? A chill ran down his neck and he looked up just in time to avoid a tentacle. He dropped the bow, ran up the opposite wall a short distance and jumped off to land a pair of blades in the freak's skull. He hung there with it's body for a second before they both fell to the stairs below. Kale was thankful for how squishy they seemed to be when it softened his landing. "Matthew, do you know how to shoot?" He asked as he picked up his dropped bow and the two arrows that had fallen out during his acrobatics.

Heartwright:What do you think? [He grabbed the bow and fixed in as many arrows as he could] Just watch[seconds later the arrows flew freely]

Kale tapped two fingers together. "Ooh, very good. One of those would actually have hit a barn." He took his bow back. "Accuracy should come first, always. If you're firing an arrow attached to a rope into a wall over the heads of guards you only get one chance. That's not to say trick shots don't have their uses, but if you can't hit your target then it doesn't matter." He put the bow away, he wanted to conserve his remaining arrows. "I'm retiring after this job." He stated after Namine had dealt with another one of the illithid.

"I have no pupils, no heirs. The only ones I have ever shared my secrets with are plants. Do you wish to learn what I have to teach?" He stared at Matthew awaiting his reply, his face held no expression. He had never wanted a student, he had picked things up as he had gone. If he could make it this far himself then others could too if they really wanted after all. But now that he wanted to retire he was feeling a small pang of regret at having not passed anything on.

Heartwright:It's not like i have a choice, i only made it thus far due to luck.[he smiled and let his hand grip the hilt of his dagger]*This is the way it is supposed to be?*

"Ok then, today's lesson. Survive." Kale returned his attention to continuing up the stairs and being wary of enemies. Kale, what are you doing? You've barely kept yourself alive and now you've gone and given yourself an entire other person to try and keep alive. Toby's going to kill you when you get back. For being so stupid.

Namine sighed as she laid waste to several more Mindflayers in front of the group. Dammit, they just keep coming! I definately don't remember there being this many Guards in here. Is this because of the Sage...? Namine thought to herself as the dark aura momentarily swathed her fist as she absorbed the unused souls nearby to continue fueling herself and her spells. They were close now, she could feel it. The Sage would feel them as well by now. Her would feel her IFF-less aura and question. But she was ready now. She knew what to say to keep this powder keg from exploding...Yet.

As they ascended the tower they heard noises coming from behind them "huh? What was that?" wondered Alexis, they turned around and saw something very unpleasant: it was chuck apparently soulless, before they could react Alexis immediately dismembered chucks limbs and head, after dismembering him they all fell silent, "where did you learn how to do that?!" asked Roy "a very odd knight named ser Isaac taught me that dismembering things alway's works" replied Alexis, Roy then said "well there was nothing we could do anyway, he was already a zombie" Alexis looked rather puzzled and asked "he was a zombie?".(Sorry for the dead space, dragon age and simpson's references, couldnt help myself) XD

(doesn't bother me, Kaori.)

Namine chuckled. "It seems that removal of the brain doesn't preclude one from becoming a Soulless after all," Namine said amusedly before turning to walk away. The Sage was here and she wanted to start talking to him before the others got there to make things complicated. Even as she reached his cell, he was standing already.

"Alexis? Is that you?"

"Not quite, Sage Freke. I'm glad to see your still alive," Namine replied to him as she stood in front of his cell door. His face twisted in rage.

"Namine, You treacherous cow! Have you finally come for revenge, now that I'm too weak to stop you?"

"Banish the thought, my dear Sage. Alexis and I have come to save you. Though you did cost me a great deal by giving me that fatal wound."

"You sold me out the those blasted Dragons! After such an act of treachery, did you not think I would give you due recompense for you deeds?!"

Namine struck the bars, anger washing off of her. "No, I didn't! For I did not think that the Greatest Sage to live would be dumb enough to have missed the subtle hints I had been giving to you all that time!!" she yelled back at him, her own fury startling the Sage from his own anger. "Remember all those times we were scried upon?! It was the Dragons themselves doing it! I knew we were being watched so I suggested, and hinted to you that you would understand what was going to happen! 'Sometimes a friend must become an enemy in order to remain a friend.' I said those words to you many times in the hopes you would understand! I was going to act as though I betrayed you in order to get close to Allant. Once he was dead, the control of the Demons and Soulless would fall to us and then I could have saved you and, together, ended all of this! But instead...!"

She paused as the memory returned forcibly to her. She turned away from the Sage to ready the next part of the plan when the Sage yelled her name. She paused, thinking to see what he had to say when the powerful Soul Ray hit her in the back, effortlessly blowing a hole through her and out her stomach. Blood erupted from her mouth as she fell to her knees, mortally wounded.

Namine shook off the memory. "Instead you destroyed our chances when you nearly Killed me, leaving me too weak to Finish off Allant!!" She paused as she noticed the other staring up at her and the trapped Freke. She hadn't realized she'd been screaming at him all this time. She flushed slightly at her lost of control before blowing open the lock with her own Soul Ray. "It doesn't matter anymore. Come, we need to leave here," she finished.

((I'm just going to give Kale something to do, since if Freke's as powerful as he seems he should probably have been able to blast open the lock himself, even in these conditions. Apologies in advance.))

Interesting. I may need to reappraise my opinion of her. He glanced down the stairwell and fired an arrow into an illithid's mouth and followed with another through it's squishy skull. He started to turn, but threw a dagger into it as well, just to be safe. He whistled as Namine's blast was shrugged off by the lock. "Hey, not everything can be solved by brute force alone." He smiled and held his hands wide as he bowed. "And that is why you have us. Matthew, hold this for me." He lit a smokeless candle and handed it to his new protege before crouching down in front of the lock and pulling out a set of tools. He peered into the mechanism and prodded it experimentally, pulling his hand back as a needle sprung out. "Nasty trick that. Namine, Alexis, kindly make sure we don't have any unwanted guests." He smiled winningly at them both until they turned their backs and went to guard the entry ways.

This was work for thieves and we guard our secrets jealously. "So, Freke, I certainly hope your accommodations have been sufficient." He started chatting as he worked the lock, based on what had happened to Namine's ray it was warded against magic and therefor shouldn't have any enchantments on it, but he was wary nonetheless. "We at hotel Rosa pride ourselves on our comfy chairs and quick responses to our customer's requests." With that he felt the lock disengage and the door swung open easily, albeit a bit noisily. "Remind me to oil those later. I am Kale Roseless proprietor of Fall's Rose herbs and flowers. Is there any further service I can do for you today my lord?"

"some spice would be lovely, and furthermore stop looking at me as if there was something worth stealing." the sage's voice sounded somewhat..... young, "Sage freke? What happened to you?!" the hood at first seemed to block his face but upon removing it they were surprised to see he wasnt old as they thought he was, "what? did you honestly forget I was 16 when you were ten alexis?" alexis' face blushed red "I must be the one getting older...." she thought.

Kale raised an eyebrow, but pulled out a container of some sort of spice and offered it to Freke. "And I thought I was paranoid. Why would anyone think an imprisoned man had anything worth taking? Alexis already fulfilled the payment for this work, you owe me nothing. And furthermore, I'm hurt, wounded even, that you would insinuate that I would want to take something from you. I am but a simple herbalist, my goal is simply to get a certain sword, take it back with me, and exchange it for the fee owed me by those who hired me. Whatever their intentions may be." He added with a glance to Alexis. He hadn't forgotten what she had said when they first met. If his employers intended to stab him in the back as she claimed, that was their business, he was still honor bound to see this through.

"you only have one piece the northern regalia, the most powerful but dangerous object in all the known realm's, but the other half is with the true king allant." said the sage, they all made it out of the tower of latria and were now camping inside an abandoned home, roy was on watch while the rest of them discussed plans,"if you all plan on going on this folly then I might as well join you" "are you sure its such a good idea? I mean namine said you were overpowered..." "Forget about that! For now lets get some rest" they all decided to get some sleep but unbeknown to them they were being surrounded, "take them" said the masked woman and with that the house was surrounded by black armored soldier's.

((My apologies, if you all were waiting on me. It's taken me a while to figure out how exactly I wanted to reply.))

Namine watched the moon rise in the sky as she mentally went over the events of these past nights. From her flashy entrance that rescued the others from the Major Demon, Tower Knight, to the journey and events of Latria. She'd done it. She found a party that was strong enough to get her to where she needed.... So why wasn't she happier...? The Sage, and that, Alexis as well in all likelihood, didn't fully trust her yet and probably wouldn't ever. And though her borderline nature would protect her from Banish, it would by no means even remotely prevent the miracle from seriously messing her up. Best case, it forcibly (and painfully) shreds the 'Black' portion of her nature away, horribly crippling her and leaving her exposed to IFF, a target waiting to be laid to rest. Worst case... She didn't want to even go there.

But then, her true problem wasn't really the Banish Miracle itself. More rather, it was simply Alexis herself, as the Sage, unlike herself, disapproved of Miracle. If someone were to have it here to use it on Namine, it would be Alexis. She simply needed to give her fellow sorceress more reason to want Namine around. And in that was the tricky part, as Alexis seemed on edge with her since Kale's insult and Namine's rebuke. She would need to tread carefully.

The phantom sorceress was so deep in thought that it took a while to notice something was off. But by then, she had bigger things to worry about as footsteps on the other side of the wall had her on her feet. The hoot of an owl, the sound awakening the Sage immediately as it was the same sound Namine used back then as a warning. He came to his feet in a crouch as Namine rounded the corner, to the startlement of the knight, and turned him into a living touch with a blast of flames from her fingertips. "Trapped us again, Namine?"

"Oh shut it. If I wanted you dead, I'd of killed you myself. But we do have problems. There's another Soul Art user out there... And they've brought friends," Namine replied as she checked the hallway. Just great... This is just what I needed to help my imagine... she thought sarcastically to herself as the Sage woke the others, very much unamused about the situation and the assumptions that were likely to be cast.

"I'm sure between you and the sage a lone soul art user won't even last as long as the amount of time I've spent asleep since I've been in this accursed place." Kale murmured without getting up. Although he had tried to get to sleep before the others he slept lightly and on top of that they had been yelling at one another. He hadn't gotten a good night's sleep since he got here either. The night before he hadn't slept well because he had tried to keep Chuck alive and he ultimately failed the following day, perhaps because he hadn't slept well. "Let me know if I somehow get in the way so that I can find another corner." He rolled onto his side and pulled his hood around his head a bit more. Despite his remarks he wrapped a hand around the demonbrandt, ready to jump into action if he was needed. He really hoped he wasn't needed.

"CHARGE"yelled a voice in the distance and soon battle cries were heard all around, "were under attack!" yelled roy the group picked up their equipment and prepared to fight, but the sage grabbed hold of a strange looking bracelet and raised it, "to the nexus!" he cried, a flashing light surrounded the group and next thing they knew they were inside what appeared to be a large temple, "shite" muttered alexis as she struggled to her feet, "where are we now master?" asked the knight, "the nexus my dear, it is what lies between life and the afterlife, but do not fear, we are safe in here along with all the rest of boletaria who made it here as well", alexis was surprised to see the place which she thought was a temple had others inside it, "this place has become a sanctuary for those who managed to escape the fog" said a voice behind them, the voice apparently came from a maiden in black, her eyes were obscured by what appeared to be wax, "well I'll be off" said the sage, "I have followers here you know" he somewhat gave namine an intimidating look and left the group, "oh well I gues-" alexis stopped talking and started acting odd, she was touching her face a lot and then looked at kale, and gave him a kiss.

Kale blinked repeatedly, pinched himself, and stood up to take everything in. Ok, I definitely didn't accidentally take anything. There'd be more plants here if that were the case. "I'm not still asleep, am I?" He wasn't blushing nor was he reeling back from her, but he had a bewildered look on his face. Mostly because out of the blue a dead girl that as far as he knew he couldn't touch had just kissed him. His typical response would be to kiss her back, but this wasn't a typical situation. For one, he hadn't even been trying to gain her affection. The only complement he recalled giving her was when they first met, it had been honest of course, but he had never had anything work near this fast, there were typically gifts involved too. Gifts from him. He glanced at Namine on the off chance she had some insight to offer and then returned his gaze to Alexis.

Namine chuckled as she watched the kiss and Kale's bewilderment. "No, Kale, You are completely and fully awake and alive, and you didn't imagine that just now," she replied to him as he glanced at her. Still smiling, she walked up to him and pat him on the shoulder, showing him she could also physically touch him. "I can understand, as you likely haven't seen a physical fighter Phantom, but Phantoms here, in Boletaria and especially this Nexus, are capable of both touching and being touched if they wish. With that, I think I'll return the spotlight to Alexis," Namine finished as she started off. "I have some things to do, so I'll be back a bit later." And she was gone. Like the Sage, she too, had 'allies' here. Just not the same kind of 'allies' the Sage did.

A cold feeling ran down his spine at Namine's touch. That woman was danger incarnate. But onto something a bit more pressing. "Um, Alexis, should we go find something to eat?" He offered her his hand.

"Huh?" Kale noticed that alexis wasnt there, "I believe you are looking for your friend?" said a grinning bald man "The name's Patches, I could tell you where she went off to for a price..." He kept grinning at them expecting them to pay up, meanwhile back in boletaria.... "Blast it! They got away! What if they know we're here? They could ruin everything!" Yelled the masked woman, her bodyguard just stood silently listening to her rant, he could tell that this was gonna be a long rant...