Chapter Seven - Awakening
"My suggestion" said Elanna "is that we set down outside of bow range and then walk in."
"We've certainly drawn their attention and they don't look happy about it." Said Emielice
"They think that we're grimm." Said Sapphire "We're close enough to be seen but not close enough to identify and nobody else has flying creatures that look like these."
Kashaahri looked at the walled town before them, watched as the people grabbed weapons and manned the walls "I think that's probably true and the best way to approach without becoming a pin cushion."
They flew down to the road, dismounted and began their walk in. In front of them the town's gate opened and a small group of armed men stepped out and came towards them.
"Looks like we get a greeting party." Said Fawn
"A well armed one." Said Daalorisa
—
The town had closed the gates and gone to arms as soon as grimm had been sighted flying in. By the time the sergeant had got to the top of the wall with binoculars the creatures that had been flying in were simply hovering. He couldn't recognise any of them but they didn't really look like grimm and they had riders. Then they'd landed, well outside of weapons range, and vanished leaving the riders casually walking in.
He figured that walking in was a sign that these people weren't hostile but, considering what had happened to Shione a while back, he wasn't taking chances. He'd grabbed four of his best fighters and headed out the gate making sure that it was closed behind them and that his second knew not to let them in without him being with them in good health.
Now he stood at the halfway mark with his men behind him and was wondering if he should have brought more. He was a big man himself but found that he had to look up at their leader who stood a pace in front of him. Her armour and the way she walked told him that she knew how to handle herself. A quick look around at the others and their weapons indicated that they too, despite the lack of armour, were capable of looking after themselves.
He looked back to the leader, into her unnaturally glowing eyes "Who, what, are you and what do you want?"
Kashaahri smiled at him and ignored his second question "We're a small group of adventurers tasked with escorting an emissary" she moved her hand to indicate Sapphire "from Shadowed Dawn to other towns regarding bandits that recently attacked them."
"They survived?"
"They did although it was close. The grimm attack that came after almost breached the walls."
"That's good to hear. Shione, a village just north of us, didn't survive a similar attack." He considered then quietly said "I'd like to do something about those bandits myself but my job is to protect this town. So no funny business while you here." He glared at her but she just stood calmly "If the town wants to do something about them that would be up to the councillors and so I suppose I'll have to pass you on."
"That would be much appreciated." Said Sapphire "Is there a place we can stay while we're here?"
—
The First Council looked up as the door opened to admit his secretary "The emissary from Shadowed Dawn is here, sir."
"Show them in please." Then stood and walked round his desk to greet his guests.
The secretary showed in Sapphire and Kashaahri then introduced them "This is Sapphire, the emissary from Shadowed Dawn" he reached out and shook her hand "and this is Kashaahri, her guard." He turned to the other, looked up and almost took a step back at the eyes. He recovered quickly but it was obvious that his hesitation had been noted although she seemed more amused than anything. He nodded to her and then turned back to Sapphire "Please, be seated" as he indicated the chair in front of his desk while he returned behind the desk "What can I do to help you?"
"We here for a number of reasons. In fact, we're really only passing through on our way to Vale. First is to open discussions between towns about dealing with the bandits that have been attacking them. The second is for information regarding what happened at the Vytal Tournament, what has happened at Vale since and why communications are down."
"Do you know what happened at Shione?"
"The guard mentioned it but didn't give us any details."
"Apparently, and we got this from four Hunters that passed through and talked to a survivor there, a whole bandit tribe had attacked. Killed a few people, destroyed some buildings, grabbed what they wanted and then left." He grimaced "Not long after the bandit attack the grimm moved in and finished off the whole town. Unfortunately, the survivor died from his wounds not long after the Hunters talked to him. Is that what happened to Shadowed Dawn?"
"Similar though we don't think it was the whole tribe. It was a smash and grab on the Dust store with minimal casualties and damage. The grimm moved in to attack in force afterwards though."
"How much force?"
"Several hundred. We were losing until Ahri and her group turned up and dragged them off of us."
He looked to the tall faunus suspicion clearly showing in his voice "And how did you do that?"
"We came in behind them and took out their leadership." Said Ahri "This caused the ones attacking the village to turn on us but, with the leaders gone they were simply a mob which was easy to kill and many simply turned and ran."
"I didn't even know that the grimm had leadership."
"It appears that older, stronger ones can control the younger ones to some degree. The younger ones are, of course, also a lot easier to kill."
He considered himself good at judging people and didn't detect any lies or even exaggeration from her "Will you be part of the force that goes after the bandits?"
"That hasn't been decided yet." Said Sapphire "After all, we still need to determine where the bandits are, the force level required to take them on and what other villages are going to provide to assist the effort. If there isn't enough support we aren't going to send off our people to simply die."
He looked at her and nodded "Yes, I do suppose I was getting ahead of myself there. I know the guard want to find them and take them down but, like you, we don't have enough strength to do so."
"That's the thinking. Individually none of the towns do but if we band together we can probably put together a force that can. Some from the guard of each town plus hiring a few Hunters should do it."
"What happened to Shione and now Shadowed Dawn indicates that we do need to do something else towns are going to keep disappearing." He grimaced again "Makes one question how many of the previous towns we thought were destroyed by grimm were actually destroyed by bandits. Still, even if we do make up a credible force we need to be able to find them. I doubt any of the towns would be able to support such a large force for an extended time period especially if we're hiring hunters."
"We… may have an ace in the hole there." He raised an eyebrow at her "We caught a couple of their agents after the attack."
He almost choked on his coffee "How did you manage that?"
"After we'd seen off the grimm we ended up with a murder charge levelled at the mayor. Apparently he thought he could use the confusion of the attack to eliminate a witness to his previous… dealings. During court he, with the assistance of some others, attacked the council. That attack was successfully subdued and the two survivors taken into custody along with the mayor. When we left the mayor was facing the death sentence while the two others were being kept for information."
"The mayor?" the councillor was having trouble keeping the shock off his face or out of his voice.
"Yes. It appears that he'd been working with the bandits for some time. The two taken into custody were actually the towns deputies that had been hired by him. Everyone has a price but in his case it seemed to be fairly low. According to them the bandits have a fairly significant intelligence network utilising both on the ground agents in some towns and agents disguised as travelling merchants."
The councillor shook his head "We're not talking about a raid here and there but an ongoing war. One that we just didn't realise that we were in. I'm going to have to take it to the rest of the council but I'm going to recommend that we join this force with as much support as we can. How long are you going to be here?"
"We're planning on heading to Vale in the morning but if you have anything you want us to pass on before we go we can take it to them without significant interruption to our journey north."
"How can you do that?"
"We can open a temporary portal between here and there that will allow us to make the journey back instantly." Said Ahri.
"Well, that reinforces the tale of the barmaid who said she saw someone disappear into a red mist as it proves that it's possible. That wasn't you I take it?"
"No, none of my team have been here before."
"Don't suppose you could make it permanent? It would make communicating a lot easier while the CCT is still down."
"The CCT is down?" asked Sapphire
"Ah, right. One of the questions you had was in regard to communications. Yes, the CCT tower at Beacon Academy was destroyed the night of the grimm attack on Vale. As I understand it that's stopped all wireless communication between the continents and outside the kingdoms themselves. The lack of communications is hurting us which is why I'd be interested in a way to improve communications, especially one that would be as hard to intercept as a portal."
"The council of Shadowed Dawn believes that grimm activity has been increasing of late hence why they insisted that I have such a heavy guard. If true that would make communications even more difficult."
"Yes, we can make it permanent but it's expensive in very exotic materials, would need to be in a secure location and we'd need permission from Shadowed Dawn as well." Said Ahri "Such a secure location was set up in Shadowed Dawn so we could return as needed and we're the only ones that know how at the moment. We could set up another locus for a temporary portal the same way here but it would still be only us that could use it."
"Something else to take to the council. Would you be able to do that before you leave?"
"We could do the temporary one this afternoon if you have a secure location for it but, as I say, we'd need to get Shadowed Dawn's permission for the permanent one."
"And could you teach someone from here to create the portal?"
"That would be more difficult as it's one of my team's Semblance."
"That does make it difficult." He sighed "Sometimes I really do wish that Semblances could be taught. If we can't have a permanent portal having others able to do the same trick would be great. It would be a security concern but probably a manageable one. I'll talk to them about it and get back to you… How expensive?"
"About two million lien and that doesn't count the work you'd have to do to set up the areas."
The councillor whistled "As you say, expensive but probably worth it. How many people can go through at a time?"
"One and they can only take what they can carry."
He nodded "As I say, probably manageable on the security. I'll talk to the council and push for it. There was something else you wanted to talk about?"
"Do you have any more information about what's happening in Vale?" asked Sapphire
"Little more than rumours really. The Hunters that came through from Vale seemed to think that the atrocities that we saw during the Vytal Tournament were engineered to provoke the grimm attack by the same people who took control of the transmission and made that… inciteful broadcast… after it. The Hunters also say that the headmaster of Beacon was killed as well." He shrugged "We've had no confirmation from the Vale council either way."
"And the people?"
"The Hunters have secured the city itself but I believe that they're still working on taking back control of Beacon from the grimm. Are you sure you still want to go there?"
"It… does sound like we may need to change our plans."
—
The team were in the bigger of the two rooms that they'd secured at the inn. Sitting or standing in the close confines as they listened to what Ahri and Sapphire had to say about what they'd learned with the First Council.
"So, this Ozpin is dead?" asked Elanna
"That's the rumour." Sapphire hesitantly said "But the news was brought by some Hunters that were part of the tournament itself and were Beacon students as well. They were there when it all went down and helped fight back the grimm attack so we can probably accept it as being accurate."
Allarae said "But you don't believe that he's dead?" It was a statement more than a question.
"No." She shrugged "When I did the vision quest with you and we determined that he was the wizard I got the distinct feeling that he was still alive. We did that weeks after his reported death."
Allarae was thoughtful for a moment "When I first learned that technique from the Lorewalker it was to find a missing person. To find his location and his wellbeing." She looked to Sapphire "There's only enough potion for one more try and you know him best." Sapphire nodded "You'll want to focus on his location, what he looks like…"
"What he looks like?"
"We're going to have to assume some sort of reincarnation so he will most likely look different." She waited until Sapphire nodded again "And you'll want to try to identify any companions with him. When we get to wherever he is we're going to have to search the old fashioned way and the more people to search for the easier it will be."
"Well, I suppose the sooner we start the…" she stopped as a knock came at the door.
Daalorisa opened the door "Yes?"
"I've come for…" the person looked around the room and, spotting Sapphire, bowed "Emissary, the First Council is willing to give the council's response to matters that you brought up."
"Of course, secretary." She returned a courteous nod to the secretary's bow "We'll be along in a few minutes." The secretary nodded and then backed out of the room and Daal closed the door again.
"More disrespect for the faunus." Said Daal
"There are some like that on Azeroth as well you know." Said Ahri
With her tail twitching she said "It is… irritating."
"True but it's not something we can change. That's going to have to happen between the faunus and the humans here."
Sapphire sighed loudly "As much as I appreciate your concern about relations between human and faunus, and I myself would like it to be better, I believe that we should get to the council offices."
"What do you think his reply is going to be?" asked Ahri
"I'm pretty sure that the council is going to agree with the hunting of the bandits." She grinned "I really don't think that the council had any real say. As the First Council said, this is a long, ongoing war that they just didn't realise they were part of and he's told them what his decision is in this matter." Ahri nodded "I'm also sure that they're going to ask for that teleportation locus which is why Allarae is going with us as well. After that, well, we'll be back to finding our wizard."
—
The seven of them sat at a large table at the inn. Most of them were yawning as if they hadn't got a good night's sleep. Some were picking desultorily at their food. Kashaahri finished her meal and put down her eating implements.
"It doesn't look like any of you got a good night's sleep. Are the beds too soft for you perhaps?"
"Huh." Said Allarae "Like you I don't use the beds as they're too short." She grinned "But at least they don't creak whenever I sit on them."
"Bad dreams." Said Fawn
"What dreams?" Asked Allarae
"Of a desolate plain upon which darks pools were scattered. There were dark crystals growing out of the ground and grimm emerging from the pools and all under a blood-red sky."
"That's the same dream I had." Said Sapphire "But I got a feeling of pain coming from the pools."
"Did you all have the same dream?" Asked Ahri
Most nodded yes but Elanna said "No. I dreamed of an awakening Titan child that needed protection and guidance." She looked meaningfully at Ahri "As I suspect that you did as well."
"What does it all mean?" Asked Fawn "All of us having the same dream?"
"It means" said Allarae as she looked at Ahri "that we probably need a Bronzebeard."
"I don't see what a beards got to do with it no matter its colour."
"The Bronzebeard's are the ruling clan of Ironforge." Said Elanna "The previous king set up the Explorer's League which is a main source of the information we have about the Titans. The information that they've uncovered over the years appears to indicate that Azeroth has a soul, the World Soul. The previous King, Magni, died using a ritual to try to commune with that soul. We went to his funeral."
"Why?"
"Why wouldn't we? He was a good man, a strong warrior and a fine King." Said Ahri "It was a moving ceremony."
"Oh, great. Become an Adventurer and hobnob with Kings, Queens and" as she glared at another customer that was indelicately eyeing her up "other lowlifes." She turned back to Ahri "No, why would we need a Bronzebeard?"
"Oh, there's their extensive knowledge of the earth and titan history. Also, they're dwarfs whom are descended from the Earthen and because of that have a much better rapport with the earth."
"And which, unless you've got one stuffed in your pack, we don't have." Said Emielice "Which means that we'll just have to make do with our own, humble, selves. Which, if we're right by the way, the World Soul is already communicating with."
"Aye, there is that. Perhaps a search for a better location at some point. The Explorers League always found the Titan and Keeper ruins to be places of power but Remnant doesn't appear to have such ruins. These pools that are causing the Child pain may be such a place though."
"Perhaps meditating will allow better communications but if it's really only a child then communication, no matter what we do, is going to be difficult. Probably limited to visions and vague feelings." Said Allarae
"What I want to know is why you two got a different dream than the rest of us." Said Sapphire
"Different source." Said Emielice. Sapphire raised her eyebrow in question "Paladin, priest? Ringing any bells here? Both are connected to the Light. We got our dreams from the World Soul. They got theirs from the Light and, considering Her temple that we found, probably from Elune Herself. Protecting the child is probably why we got sent here."
"Ah, that makes sense."
"Probably more sense than protecting the humans and faunus from the grimm as we first thought." Said Elanna "Cleansing those pools that are causing the Child pain are going to be a high priority and once we do there may not be any more grimm."
"Our first priority is to get to Shadowed Dawn and report what we've found out as our quest requires." Said Ahri "After that I believe that we'll be going to Mistral to find the wizard."
—
"Thank you doctor." Said Catalina "That was an excellent report and it's good to know that the clinic is in good hands. Now we'll move onto security, Janus?"
"Thank you, first Councillor. We've extended the number of deputies we have as we now have someone watching our guests at all times. This is an increase from before the raid when we almost never had any prisoners to watch full time. Having two prisoners who are accomplished bandits demanded better security."
The rest of the council nodded as Gorg asked "What is the condition of the walls?"
"The walls are almost completed. We've had to totally replace some sections due to damage and we've added some watch towers but even with those extras costs have still come in under budget." He smiled grimly "I suspect some of that is due to the decline in trade that we've seen as well our citizens desire as well to give extra so that we can have a good wall. The raid has made the citizens more aware that we do need good defences."
"Mention of the raid brings up the next question. Have we found where the bandits are located?"
"Not as yet. We hired a Hunter and gave him the directions that we got from our prisoners to where he should look but only found an abandoned camp. We know that the bandit tribe are nomads and move semi-regularly to prearranged locations and even to locations that they've used before. They don't appear to be in any of those known locations. We think that something spooked them and that they've gone to ground somewhere. Unfortunately, our guests are no longer as talkative as they were."
"And the militia?"
"Since the raid the militia has had an influx of volunteers. Enough in fact that I've had to hire an extra staff member to help with the training."
"You've increased the number of training hours?" asked Treeshaper
"Not as yet. So far, I've only had to increase class size but that necessitated an assistant to ensure that everyone got the best training. So far we haven't had to increase hours but if we keep getting militia volunteers then we may have to."
"The assistant that you hired?"
"He's ex-military who retired here and joined the militia…" He stopped at a knock on the door and the secretary entered.
"I'm sorry to disturb you councillors but the Azerothians have returned."
"Ah, good, can you show them in please?" asked the First Councillor
"Of course, ma'am." He waved in Kashaahri and Sapphire then closed the door as he left.
"Please, have a seat. We've just about finished up with this…" She looked questioningly at Janus
"Pretty much. In fact, the last piece has to do with some concerns that the Azerothians brought to my attention before they left. I'd like to address that now?"
"As you wish and then we shall hear from Kashaahri and Sapphire after which I believe it will be time to break for lunch."
Janus nodded "Before the Azerothians left on their task they brought my attention to some dark whispers concerning the Azerothians that were making the rounds." He paused "Considering the conditions that applied at the time I thought it wise to investigate these whispers to see if anything came from them and thus be able to act if we needed to. I'm glad to say that the whispers stopped within a couple of days. Very few people were willing to give any credence to them in the first place and that number dropped significantly after they left flying dragons.
"So that would be the end of that matter then?" Asked Gorg
"Mostly, yes." Janus paused "The rumours have stopped and the instigator seems to have stopped even trying to convince others of his beliefs of the Azerothians but he's also taken to visiting our guests and it was after the first visit that they clammed up."
"Are you saying that he was working with them?" asked Catalina
"I don't believe so. I believe the bandits were telling us the truth when they said that there was only them and the 'trade delegates'. No, I think this… person… is just looking for ways to make himself right when he's obviously wrong and nobody believes him. To do this he's reached out to the bandits and they've jumped on a possible escape route from death or life imprisonment."
"Understood." She paused in thought "Visits to the prisoners is now cancelled on security grounds and I'll have you remind them that their continued good health is dependent upon their continued cooperation. Is there anything else?"
"No. That's it. The militia is doing well and their training is coming along apace. We've been in contact with some of the local towns about the bandits and many have agreed that it's time to do something about them. From here on it's going to be finding the bandits camp and coordinating between towns so as to make a decisive strike at them."
"That's good to hear." Her gaze shifted back to Sapphire "Can you tell us how successful you've been in our requests?"
"Of course." She pulled a binder out of her bag and handed in to the First Council "This is everything that Higanbana is suggesting as far as dealing with the bandits and trade. Telecommunications are down because of…"
—
As they walked back to the inn from the council chambers Janus said, "I spoke to my dead wife." He glanced at Kashaahri "There wasn't a lot of time before she moved on but she asked one question and made observation."
"And they were?"
"She asked why the river was carrying Light and then said that the Light of Elune had freed her, allowing her to move on." He glanced again but those glowing eyes still told him nothing "And, then, last night I had a dream about a child that needed protecting, a child that had just awoken or had just been awoken. I'm not really sure which."
"Elune does seem to have taken interest in Remnant. In fact, some evidence we discovered shows that She took an interest several centuries ago. Unfortunately, the town and temple had fallen to wrack and ruin leaving little behind." She paused in her walking and turned to Janus "It was definitely a temple to Elune but we know nothing more than that. We're hoping that we can find out more once we get to one of the academies. With Beacon overrun we're going to Mistral and the Haven Academy instead."
"And the child?"
Kashaahri started walking again "The Child is your world, Remnant. She is a Titan and She has just awoken. As young as She is She is vulnerable to attack from malicious entities. She's going to need protection and that protection is going to have to come from the people of this world. The Azeroth World Soul was latched onto by the Old Gods sent by the Void Lords and so our job is to prevent that or anything similar from happening here."
"You want us to fight gods?"
"We defeated one of the Old Gods not that long ago." She looked meaningfully at him "As I told you before, you're strong enough to defeat demons and the two are not that dissimilar."
"You're stronger than I am."
"Experience and gear will see to that. Even now you're stronger than you were and you have only minimal gear." She glanced at him "It's probably time to start gearing you properly now that we have access to suitable materials."
They reached the inn and stepped into the common room. Finding the rest of the team seated at one of the larger, more secluded corner tables they walked towards them. As they sat at the table Sapphire asked "Where's Fawn?"
"Upstairs getting changed." Said Emielice "I made her and you some new gear." She tossed a wrapped bundle to Sapphire "I suggest you go get changed as well."
"You know" said Fawn as she came down the stairs "I don't think that I've worn a dress since the orphanage." The look on Fawn's face was torn between showing her distaste of dresses and the pleasure of knowing that she was now better dressed than at any other time in her life. "And I really don't know how it's going to go with the sword."
"Well, it's not as if you use the sword. It's what we call a 'stat stick' that adds power to your abilities but little to nothing to your actual combat capability."
"True. What I'd like is a staff like yours."
Sapphire looked at what the faunus was wearing. The dark, long flowing robes, shoulders and the deep cowl which seemed to give the young warlock glowing, blood red eyes "Am I going to look like that?"
"Similar but in colours more suited to a mage." Said Emielice as she looked at the faunus "Oh, the cowl can be turned off. There's a switch just at the lower left side of the hem." Fawn ran her fingers down the cowl until she felt a magical buzz and pressed, seeing the cowl disappear from her sight. "Most people seem to prefer it that way especially when they're talking to others. Saves the effort of taking it off as well as maintaining the protection that the cowl provides."
"It's only cloth." Said Janus
"Its armour is like your Aura. Although there is some physical strength in the cloth itself most of the armour is not truly physical. Same is true for plate mail but that's even stronger. With both the armour value remains the same until the piece is completely broken at which point it will need to be repaired."
"So, with this on I won't take damage?" Asked Fawn
"No, it doesn't stop all damage just some of it."
Kashaahri nodded "I'll be over at the smithy later making Janus some armour so I'll see if I can make you two a staff each at the same time." She looked at Allarae "How's the jewellery coming?"
"Actually, quite well. The Death Metal that Daal made has proven quite effective for rings of all types depending upon what Dust or combination of Dust that I use with it." She placed several upon the table and pointed at them in turn "These two would be suitable for Janus and other melee fighters." She pushed them to Janus "And these would be suitable for spell casters." She pushed two each to Sapphire and Fawn. "Still working on trinkets and neck."
"You're being wonderfully free with all this gear." Said Janus "It's not that I'm complaining you understand but…"
"As we told Sapphire and Fawn earlier. We try to keep our team well geared as it keeps us all stronger."
"But I'm not part of your team."
Kashaahri grinned at him "Well, we do have to practice. Especially now as we're using materials that we've never used before."
"You have no idea as to how many rings I have in my bags." Moaned Allarae "Most of which I'm hoping can be DE'd to get some materials back."
"You could sell them." Said Janus although he was looking confused with the reference to DE'd.
"I normally would and probably will for some but there's two problems with that. First is that quite a few are simply junk that nobody would want and second is that most people simply couldn't wear them as they're too strong."
Janus nodded "Well, up to you." He turned to Kashaahri "What's your plans for the rest of the day?"
"Mostly just what we've been discussing. Making more gear. If the council approves the permanent portal, we'll put that in and then go to Higanbana to put the portal in there. We'll probably stay there the night and head to Mistral in the morning."
Janus nodded "Well, I've got work to do before I head back to the council chambers. I'll come find you when the decisions been made."
—
