p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"Back on the nameless neutral territory, the twin assassins were up and going at the first sign of light in the morning sky. They had simple tents for sleeping and cooked and ate their meals in the central space of an area they had cleared. They had had to change campsites after the demon attack, since their location had been compromised. As she took down her tent and packed things up, Sara seethed and raged silently. With one selfish action, Squire Plisetsky had single-handedly created a huge mess for everyone. She couldn't really say that she was surprised. She knew the nature of the beast quite well. Sara had spent quite a few years growing up alongside the young Squire in the castle. He had arrived during the fifteenth year of her life and seventh year of her assassin training. He was a very angry and spoiled little 8-year-old boy when he came to live at the castle. Everyone had heard about what had happened to his parents and gave him a wide berth at first. Such losses were common during their turbulent times and sympathy for the young Squire was abundant. His whole life had been turned upside down in a very short time. His parents had been murdered in front of him and then he had been carted off to live with the King in a castle-full of strangers./p
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"It soon became apparent to everyone that the castle's newest resident was more feral rabid porcupine than human. He was prickly and stand-offish. His short temper was set off just about…everything. He was highly opinionated and rude…so very rude! He was purposely contrary and went out of his way to do the exact opposite of what he was expected or asked to do. When he had been informed that he would begin training with a sword, he had outright refused. The Plisetsky family had a long and fabled lineage of knights, guards, and warriors. The young Squire was expected to follow along the same lines. But nothing they said, did or tried could convince the obstinate boy. They tried offering other bladed weapons to him; spears, dual blades and even axes. All were turned down. Then they had tried clubs, weighted staffs and hammers with not much more success. He had shocked everyone when he asked for a bow and arrow one day. They had downright scoffed at him. Archers were considered cowardly, accused of staying back from the front lines because they were too scared to fight. No Plisetsky had emever/em been an archer, and none ever would be if they could help it./p
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"But then a new development had changed everything. Squire Plisetsky started demonstrating an aptitude for Lignum magic. Things suddenly made a lot of sense. Why he had had such an aversion to metallic weapons and why he felt more drawn to the wooden bow and its arrows. King Viktor had had a big laugh when the news was broken to him./p
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;""strongemHe is contrary down to his soul, that one. It figures, that in a long line of Metallum Magi fighters that he would be the odd one out as a Lignum Magi archer!"/em/strong/p
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"So they'd had no choice but to give in and train the young Squire in archery as well as hand-to-hand combat. He became surprisingly good at it and his skills as a Lignum Magi garnered him much praise. Sara snorted as she recalled what had happened after emthat/em. Unfortunately, all that praise ended up turning Squire Plisetsky into a cocky, overconfident little snot. He became absolutely possessed with the desire to exact revenge on the demons that had killed his parents. He bragged and boasted that he could take on any demon and became practically insufferable. When news had got out of the recon mission to the nameless neutral territory, he had driven the King nearly insane with grandiose overtures of readiness and had implored to be given a chance. And so, he had managed to worm his way into the mission, not so much because he actually belonged on it, but because no one at the castle could simply stomach him anymore./p
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"The King had been very apologetic when he had approached her about the decision. He reminded her that as mission leader, her authority was absolute. All decisions were final and the young Squire would be required to abide by them. She was to inform him, immediately upon their return, if the Squire had acted out of line in any way, shape or form. He would be admonished appropriately and barred from any future missions until his eighteenth year. Sara kicked angrily at a small stone. emWell, that worked out great, didn't it? We're stuck here now until further notice because he disobeyed a direct order and ran off on his own./em emI'm going to make sure that that brat never goes on another mission for as long as he lives!/em/p
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;""Stop dwelling on it, Sara."/p
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"A pair of dark purple eyes looked up in the direction of the voice. She spotted her twin brother Michele looking over his shoulder at her as he packed up his own tent. Even though he had been born first, Sara was the one who ended up rising through the ranks ahead of him to become the lead Royal Assassin at the castle. His birthright as 'older brother' didn't stop him from trying to boss her around every once in a while, though. /p
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;""I can't stop dwelling on it, Michele. Not until he's found. Until then, that's the only thing I'm going to think about."/p
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"She paused to pack her tent into a box with other supplies and then to conceal the box in some nearby bushes./p
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;""I'm sure you're aware of the Sword of Damocles we now have hanging over our heads? And how important it is to find Squire Plisetsky alive?"/p
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"The young man nodded solemnly as the color drained from his face./p
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;""His death could spark a war, Michele. If we somehow don't all end up killing each other off, the demons will come and finish us off once we're weakened."/p
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"Michele packed up his own tent and then also hid it in some bushes. He walked over to his sister and put a hand on her shoulder./p
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;""I know. I realize that you're under a lot of pressure now. I just can't stand to see my little sister looking so troubled."/p
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"The young woman sighed./p
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;""Capisco, Michele. Grazie."/p
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"It was decided that they would try and look around for some clues while they waited for word from the King. Sara realized that Ciocco would need to rest before being able to be fly again, so they had a few hours to kill before they got any news./p
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;""Let's get a move on. We should at least try doing something productive with our time. Let's start mapping out the region. Maybe we'll come across some clues."/p
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"The twin assassins left the camp and began their survey of the area./p
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" align="center"…/p
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"After a few hours, their map of the region had grown substantially, but there was still no sign of Squire Plisetsky./p
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;""Let's split up. We'll cover much more ground this way."/p
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"Michele was immediately uneasy./p
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;""Are you sure that that's wise? We don't know anything about this island, really. We know there are demons out there, but not much else."/p
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;""I know, Michele. But what if he's injured out there somewhere in need of assistance? If we don't at least make an effort to locate him…we could be unwittingly signing his death certificate."/p
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"Michele groaned as he crossed his arms and rolled his eyes./p
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;""I hate it when you're right."/p
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"They agreed to split up and meet up again back at their camp before sunset. Michele went to the east and Sara went to the west. Not far from where they had suffered the demon attack, Sara hit paydirt. emDammit, if only we'd searched in this direction yesterday and not the other. We would have found these tracks much earlier./em Sara followed the trail of broken twigs, disturbed foliage and footprints and came upon the corpses of four dead demons in a small clearing. emWell, at least he managed to kill some./em Her heart dropped down into her stomach though when she examined the footprints and disturbed grass. emHe was ambushed…three…no, four other demons came. He fled. Thank heavens he didn't stick around to try and fight those too. I imagine he probably ran out of arrows killing off the first four./em Sara continued following the young Squire's trail. Soon, a metallic scent hit her nose. She knelt down and examined some leaves closely. She cursed as her worst fears were realized…it was dried blood. emMerda! He HAS been injured. /emNot far from the dried blood, she found a demonic dagger. One quick sniff of it was enough to determine that it was laced with Maledire la mia sfortuna! /emSara picked up her pace as she tracked Squire Plisetksy's movements through the forest. She grew disheartened as she saw that the Squire's tracks grew closer together, indicating that he had slowed down. She could tell that he had started dragging a leg behind him as the poison had taken hold. She turned the corner and came up to a tree with chipped bark and flattened grass in front of it. emHe fell over here/em. Sara looked around but could find no other trace of the I don't see any more tracks. Where the hell did he go?/em/p
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"She got low down on the ground and looked around carefully. That's when she noticed the animal footprints. emA small mammal, perhaps a young fox? /emSara gasped when she then saw not one, but three sets of footprints converging at the tree. emHe was found by some people. At least it wasn't more demons! /emSara stood up and took off running in the direction the footprints led her. emIf someone found him, then there's a chance that he's still alive! /emShe pushed off harder and picked up speed. emWhoever found him left in a hurry. Their prints are very far apart. They probably realized he was in trouble and needed immediate help. /emSara ran for about fifteen minutes before she noticed what appeared to be a large and elaborate encampment just ahead. emWho are these people? My briefing did not include information about other humans on the island. Are they friendly? Are they in collusion with the demons? Do they have Squire Plisetsky? Is he in there right now? God, I hope he's alive in there! /emSara engaged her stealth stalking mode and tried finding a position from which to survey the camp. She considered going up into the trees, but their leaves were too sparse to fully conceal someone. emDammit, I just want to make sure he's alive!/em She was concentrating on her task when a sudden shiver ran down her spine and she felt the hairs on her arm stand on end. She moved to dodge to the left, but it was too late. She felt a prick of pain at the back of her neck and quickly reached for and pulled out the dart she'd been hit with. emShit, I let my guard down!/em She tried to run away and put some distance between herself and her attacker but found that her legs had grown impossibly heavy. Her vision blurred and she felt herself stumbling around blindly like some kind of drunk. Her knees buckled and she fell to the ground, curling up on her left side. Her last thoughts before her eyes closed were emwhat the hell have I gotten myself into?/em/p
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /p
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"_terminology_/p
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"Capisco (Italian) – I understand/p
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"Grazie (Italian) – thank you/p
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"Merda (Italian) – shit/p
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"Maledire la mia sfortuna (Italian) – curse my bad luck/p
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"It soon became apparent to everyone that the castle's newest resident was more feral rabid porcupine than human. He was prickly and stand-offish. His short temper was set off just about…everything. He was highly opinionated and rude…so very rude! He was purposely contrary and went out of his way to do the exact opposite of what he was expected or asked to do. When he had been informed that he would begin training with a sword, he had outright refused. The Plisetsky family had a long and fabled lineage of knights, guards, and warriors. The young Squire was expected to follow along the same lines. But nothing they said, did or tried could convince the obstinate boy. They tried offering other bladed weapons to him; spears, dual blades and even axes. All were turned down. Then they had tried clubs, weighted staffs and hammers with not much more success. He had shocked everyone when he asked for a bow and arrow one day. They had downright scoffed at him. Archers were considered cowardly, accused of staying back from the front lines because they were too scared to fight. No Plisetsky had emever/em been an archer, and none ever would be if they could help it./p
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"But then a new development had changed everything. Squire Plisetsky started demonstrating an aptitude for Lignum magic. Things suddenly made a lot of sense. Why he had had such an aversion to metallic weapons and why he felt more drawn to the wooden bow and its arrows. King Viktor had had a big laugh when the news was broken to him./p
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;""strongemHe is contrary down to his soul, that one. It figures, that in a long line of Metallum Magi fighters that he would be the odd one out as a Lignum Magi archer!"/em/strong/p
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"So they'd had no choice but to give in and train the young Squire in archery as well as hand-to-hand combat. He became surprisingly good at it and his skills as a Lignum Magi garnered him much praise. Sara snorted as she recalled what had happened after emthat/em. Unfortunately, all that praise ended up turning Squire Plisetsky into a cocky, overconfident little snot. He became absolutely possessed with the desire to exact revenge on the demons that had killed his parents. He bragged and boasted that he could take on any demon and became practically insufferable. When news had got out of the recon mission to the nameless neutral territory, he had driven the King nearly insane with grandiose overtures of readiness and had implored to be given a chance. And so, he had managed to worm his way into the mission, not so much because he actually belonged on it, but because no one at the castle could simply stomach him anymore./p
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"The King had been very apologetic when he had approached her about the decision. He reminded her that as mission leader, her authority was absolute. All decisions were final and the young Squire would be required to abide by them. She was to inform him, immediately upon their return, if the Squire had acted out of line in any way, shape or form. He would be admonished appropriately and barred from any future missions until his eighteenth year. Sara kicked angrily at a small stone. emWell, that worked out great, didn't it? We're stuck here now until further notice because he disobeyed a direct order and ran off on his own./em emI'm going to make sure that that brat never goes on another mission for as long as he lives!/em/p
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;""Stop dwelling on it, Sara."/p
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"A pair of dark purple eyes looked up in the direction of the voice. She spotted her twin brother Michele looking over his shoulder at her as he packed up his own tent. Even though he had been born first, Sara was the one who ended up rising through the ranks ahead of him to become the lead Royal Assassin at the castle. His birthright as 'older brother' didn't stop him from trying to boss her around every once in a while, though. /p
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;""I can't stop dwelling on it, Michele. Not until he's found. Until then, that's the only thing I'm going to think about."/p
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"She paused to pack her tent into a box with other supplies and then to conceal the box in some nearby bushes./p
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;""I'm sure you're aware of the Sword of Damocles we now have hanging over our heads? And how important it is to find Squire Plisetsky alive?"/p
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"The young man nodded solemnly as the color drained from his face./p
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;""His death could spark a war, Michele. If we somehow don't all end up killing each other off, the demons will come and finish us off once we're weakened."/p
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"Michele packed up his own tent and then also hid it in some bushes. He walked over to his sister and put a hand on her shoulder./p
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;""I know. I realize that you're under a lot of pressure now. I just can't stand to see my little sister looking so troubled."/p
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"The young woman sighed./p
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;""Capisco, Michele. Grazie."/p
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"It was decided that they would try and look around for some clues while they waited for word from the King. Sara realized that Ciocco would need to rest before being able to be fly again, so they had a few hours to kill before they got any news./p
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;""Let's get a move on. We should at least try doing something productive with our time. Let's start mapping out the region. Maybe we'll come across some clues."/p
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"The twin assassins left the camp and began their survey of the area./p
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" align="center"…/p
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"After a few hours, their map of the region had grown substantially, but there was still no sign of Squire Plisetsky./p
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;""Let's split up. We'll cover much more ground this way."/p
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"Michele was immediately uneasy./p
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;""Are you sure that that's wise? We don't know anything about this island, really. We know there are demons out there, but not much else."/p
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;""I know, Michele. But what if he's injured out there somewhere in need of assistance? If we don't at least make an effort to locate him…we could be unwittingly signing his death certificate."/p
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"Michele groaned as he crossed his arms and rolled his eyes./p
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;""I hate it when you're right."/p
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"They agreed to split up and meet up again back at their camp before sunset. Michele went to the east and Sara went to the west. Not far from where they had suffered the demon attack, Sara hit paydirt. emDammit, if only we'd searched in this direction yesterday and not the other. We would have found these tracks much earlier./em Sara followed the trail of broken twigs, disturbed foliage and footprints and came upon the corpses of four dead demons in a small clearing. emWell, at least he managed to kill some./em Her heart dropped down into her stomach though when she examined the footprints and disturbed grass. emHe was ambushed…three…no, four other demons came. He fled. Thank heavens he didn't stick around to try and fight those too. I imagine he probably ran out of arrows killing off the first four./em Sara continued following the young Squire's trail. Soon, a metallic scent hit her nose. She knelt down and examined some leaves closely. She cursed as her worst fears were realized…it was dried blood. emMerda! He HAS been injured. /emNot far from the dried blood, she found a demonic dagger. One quick sniff of it was enough to determine that it was laced with Maledire la mia sfortuna! /emSara picked up her pace as she tracked Squire Plisetksy's movements through the forest. She grew disheartened as she saw that the Squire's tracks grew closer together, indicating that he had slowed down. She could tell that he had started dragging a leg behind him as the poison had taken hold. She turned the corner and came up to a tree with chipped bark and flattened grass in front of it. emHe fell over here/em. Sara looked around but could find no other trace of the I don't see any more tracks. Where the hell did he go?/em/p
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"She got low down on the ground and looked around carefully. That's when she noticed the animal footprints. emA small mammal, perhaps a young fox? /emSara gasped when she then saw not one, but three sets of footprints converging at the tree. emHe was found by some people. At least it wasn't more demons! /emSara stood up and took off running in the direction the footprints led her. emIf someone found him, then there's a chance that he's still alive! /emShe pushed off harder and picked up speed. emWhoever found him left in a hurry. Their prints are very far apart. They probably realized he was in trouble and needed immediate help. /emSara ran for about fifteen minutes before she noticed what appeared to be a large and elaborate encampment just ahead. emWho are these people? My briefing did not include information about other humans on the island. Are they friendly? Are they in collusion with the demons? Do they have Squire Plisetsky? Is he in there right now? God, I hope he's alive in there! /emSara engaged her stealth stalking mode and tried finding a position from which to survey the camp. She considered going up into the trees, but their leaves were too sparse to fully conceal someone. emDammit, I just want to make sure he's alive!/em She was concentrating on her task when a sudden shiver ran down her spine and she felt the hairs on her arm stand on end. She moved to dodge to the left, but it was too late. She felt a prick of pain at the back of her neck and quickly reached for and pulled out the dart she'd been hit with. emShit, I let my guard down!/em She tried to run away and put some distance between herself and her attacker but found that her legs had grown impossibly heavy. Her vision blurred and she felt herself stumbling around blindly like some kind of drunk. Her knees buckled and she fell to the ground, curling up on her left side. Her last thoughts before her eyes closed were emwhat the hell have I gotten myself into?/em/p
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /p
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"_terminology_/p
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"Capisco (Italian) – I understand/p
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"Grazie (Italian) – thank you/p
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"Merda (Italian) – shit/p
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"Maledire la mia sfortuna (Italian) – curse my bad luck/p