Land of O'erwell

The story begins with Sabel, who is locked away inside of a barrel on a smuggling ship. As the ship docks, the sudden jar against the dock causes the barrel to flip over and smash on the deck. Sabel is released, but unfortunately the smuggling crew, pirates, all know she's snuck on board now. As they swarm to try and grab Sabel, she tries to escape -- She's stabbed in the leg in order to be stopped, and promptly, thrown overboard.

Caspin, not really caring to do so, jumps in after Sabel and rescues her. Only after he does so does he realize the trouble she caused, which he's now involved in, as the pirates swarm off the ship to try and finish her before she tells everyone what they plainly are. The towns people begin to gather into a crowd at the commotion, at which time Caspin tries to make his escape, by horse. Sabel, seeing a riot break out behind her, knows she'll be dead if she stays, so she pursues Caspin in an attempt to get a simple ride out of town.

-- Recap --

He would give a sigh, his fingers working on a leather strap to tighten his saddle bag before looking behind to see the woman limping across the rocky road. He gave a grim look as he watched her draw closer through the storm, as she would reach him he would have held his hand up stopping her from saying anything, or atleast that was the hope. "Here I was hoping that my deed would not be followed up." He mutters to himself before adressing her. "Why do you wish to come with me?"

"Because I have all of about five minutes before a riot breaks out here -- And if I'm still here and those three are alive to point me out, I'm going to be killed on the spot regardless of how many people are here, and I need to be gone by then." She panted quietly, expression momentarily grimacing as pain continued to spike through her left side--leg, really, "And also, I'll pay you..." She paused, then, expression falling into something like a pathetic begging nature, beneath a curtain of soaked, ebon bangs, "And... I need help." Of course, she hoped that would be reason enough, because she couldn't stay standing much longer, and the riot was just starting to break out behind her, as pirates filtered out of the lower deck of the ship.

Would have mounted his horse while she was pleading to him, his foots were in the stirrups and hands clenched around his reins tighting. He looked down at her for a moment not really wanting to be the 'kind natured' type of person but the thought of a few extra coin in his pockets was nice. "Fine but you are walking, I am not a texi service." He would say coldly before tugging on his reins lightly and it would tug on the horses head leading it down the road. He gives a look back at her arching a brow "Coming?" He would question once before keeping on his path through the storm.

"What?!" She barked, clearly having expected to be able to ride-- With a quick pant, she glances over her shoulder, spying the riot breaking out in full fervor right then and there. Turning her gaze back to him, she swallows thickly, before throwing a partially bloodied hand up to him, all fingers splayed out. "Five gold!" She noted, which was actually quite a lot for something as simple as a ride, "Five gold if you let me ride, because as you can see, hell is breaking loose behind us, and I've been stabbed." Being kind natured? Nothing to speak of. She limped after him as best she could, which really wasn't that well.

He would look back to her with a sly smirk before saying "Six," he kept on his way not stoping to talk. "I could raise it higher, I am not trying to be some hero here." He looks up slightly so that the water collect in his hat would pool to the back and slide off. "Make your mind quickly before I get bored, I wish to get out of this rain and change my cloths soon."

"Fucking ten, just get me out of here without it entailing me bleeding out, you--" She gave a sharp grunt after that, of course, to keep herself from calling him something nasty--though the list went on and on in her head--and to avoid losing her ride--and life--in doing so. Really, this guy was turning out to be some cheap bastard. But it wasn't as if she had much of a choice, given the pirates were plowing past the villagers and straight toward the pair, now. Sabel reached his horse once more, shooting him a poison-filled glare as she began hauling herself up, with or without his help. He would have to be a retard, or insane, to refuse a ten gold offer for a ride.

After passing him a wholly unreasonable offer for a simple ride, Caspin obliges and helps the injured woman out of town by horse.

A while down the road, they're suddenly attacked! Attacked by strange, tall, gaunt, almost Vampire-like creatures, as fast on their own two feet as a horse is at full gallop, and strong as one when given the chance to gather their energy. It was the middle of the night, and these beings, normally known as Fiends, charged Caspin's horse, throwing he and Sabel aside. The horse was too injured to move, and there were too many present for them to be able to have a chance of escaping on foot or by fighting.

So, using her quick wit, Sabel grabbed Caspin, and pulled a pendant from beneath her shirt. In a moment, they were whisked away through a color-swirled vortex of sorts, and spit out elsewhere, at an Inn some miles away. Caspin was deposited into some poor man's closet, and Sabel crashed through the overhanging out front and into the horse's hay pile.


Over the night and the next morning, Sabel was treated to free room and board because of the troubles she'd been in, after explaining she'd been attacked, with Caspin, by the fiends. Caspin was also treated to a little something, and soon enough, Sabel was changed, and gone, having left a little note and something with Caspin. Of course she had also taken his horse and fled, too.

The note read something along the lines of "This is gold. I'm sorry for stealing your horse, but I have a reason for it. If you want more gold, I can give you well up to ten solid pieces. Enough to buy you a horse, and a house if you wanted it, maybe a ship? Touch the gold, tell me it isn't real. Think about it."

Of course Caspin, being the uncaring ass he is, didn't bother to touch the gold until it brushed his hand in his pocket by the time he got all the way back to town. After which he was pulled through ANOTHER vortex. He is deposited in a camp, in the middle of the forest, where autumn leaves have fallen to the ground, leaving the tree branches bare -- Except for the numerous owls lining the branches, watching the camp eagerly. There are two horses -- One Arabian, and one Draft Horse, with a cart hitched to the draft horse.

Sabel explains that, first and foremost, she's a mage. She explains that her pendant is one of several highly powerful magical artifacts, and that she stole it from the Mage Academy and fled, after discovering their nefarious plot, which she shares with Caspin. The Fiends are not actually natural born monsters. Owl by day, Fiends by night, they used to be mages themselves. The elders of the mage academy had pumped their bodies so full of magic, they simply couldn't take it any more -- They did this in the belief they could discover new spells during this process. And when they sucked all of the magic out of their bodies, they became fiends. Tall, gaunt beings with tattered clothes -- old academy robes -- Humanity gone, with a thirst for life and human flesh, and magic where they can find it. The Fiends, which have been a growing terror all across the land, were placed there by the mages for the common populace to deal with, and to think they're some common, naturally-born monster.


Further, she explains of a being. Era -- A serpentine-like being who is the reason people are able to use magic at all. Era took it upon herself to create hundreds of magical items, which she dispensed to the human race ages ago. Over time, these items were lost, destroyed, or depleted, which she had gathered and brought back to her dwelling place to keep safely. She realized it would bring war, but also bring peace. And when the Mage Society was formed, the magical items were now called magical artifacts, as there were less than 15 still in existance.

Further, she explained that Era had suddenly stopped protecting the world from people mis-using magic, fiends being one example. She didn't know why until she discovered that the mage society had sealed Era away! Somehow, they had managed to keep Era in her dwelling place, none the wiser for the rest of the world.

And so it was Sabel's plan that she would capture a Fiend, alive, and bring it to Era to show her the horror of what the mage society has been doing, to hopefully right things once again. For this she'd need Caspin's help -- Of course she'd like better help for this task, he already knew too much, and she didn't want to have to kill him or wipe his memory to an infant's level.

So, taking a net out into the forest, they stood in a clearing where the owls gathered. And after a bit of a fight among them, a larger, taller-than-average owl soars down, talons open at Sabel, who plays the bait, while Caspin waits off to the side with the net.

This is where we pick up.

The larger-than-average owl, tall wise, releases a sharp screech as he locks his talons around her sleeve, tearing the fabric, but not catching her arm, thankfully, /just/ as the net comes down over the Avian. Sabel, wide-eyed, scrambles away from it as it flaps and flails, screeching madly. She goes to clamp her hands over the netting, barking in Caspin's direction, "Help me with it!" She knew they'd need to get it tied down as soon as they could. It needed to be binded, because come nightfall.. It wouldn't be an owl any longer. And judging by how large it was, it was going to be difficult to handle.

Caspin would quickly come to her side, though a little lost in what he could do to aid her he does the only thing he can and pulls out a coiled rope that was hanging from the bacl of his pants. Kneeling down next to the beast and Sabel he would join the wrestling of the creasture trying to tie it up the best he could. After using up the length of the rope he had and would bind it to itself in a rather strong slip knot allowing them to tighten it when wever they would like. Gettin up from his knees he brings his hands down to brush his pants off and gives a rather loud sigh. "So now what, we have this damned owl you wanted so much whats the next step in your master plan?"

"I /told/ you." Sabel huffed, rising to her feet, whilst keeping a boot lightly pinning the net to the bird, to the ground, "We're bringing it to Era, the guardian. Guardian and Seeker of magical artifacts?" She reminds him, quirking a slender brow at him. "I told you this ten minutes ago.. If Era can't tell us how to reverse this horrid thing, she can at least help us take down the society. I'm sure if she /knew/ what was going on, she wouldn't just let it stand like this..." She mentions, leaning down to grab the squirming bird by the net wrapped around it, beginning to drag it away with difficulty. "I read stories about Era, in the Induction Tower. They were stuffed at the very back, dust covered, and described how Era gave magical artifacts to human beings, and that's how mages came to be. They were meant to be shared to all, not.. Not /this/."

He would give her a frown before walking back to the camp site, the sun was starting to set now and he was starting to worry for his well being. On the way to the camp he did a personal self inventory check and would have by the time they got to the camp thrown a full blown fit like a child. 'I only have five! We arent going to live long with five!' he would speak loudly but only border yelling. 'I thought I had more, they must have fallen out some where...or' He would turn towards Sable almost giving a blaming stare. 'Say...Is that little magical thing you have there able to transport everything on a persons body?'

"It.." Sabel grunts with effort, having had to drag the squirming thing back to camp, by herself, the entire time, "..does!" He groans, heaving a drawn-out and un-lady-like grunt as she flops down beside the smouldering embers of what was once a fire. She shoots a pouting glare up to Caspin -- She would have appreciated his help.. Nevertheless, she exhales sharply, dragging herself to her feet after a few moments. "If you lost something, it's probably around where you fell. But don't worry about that now -- Help me get this into the cart." She nods to the simple, sturdy cart hitched to her draft horse, "We need to leave before the sun's completely gone, or else we're in trouble. So please, be a gentleman for once?" She mentions, snapping a glance back to the owl. Who, most disturbingly, no longer squirmed, but stared at them in a very human-like manner, watching them carefully. Sable shuddered softly -- The mind had already changed into one of those slaughtering beasts.. The body was what they had to worry about following.

Caspin would have given a nod though it was clear by the look in his eyes he was still going over his belogings and complaing to himself like a child would. He bends over weaving his fingers int othe net getting a good grasp on it and would heft upwards hauling the beast into the horse drawn cart. With a sharp exhale he would clap his hands togethre and give her a thumbs up. Lets get a move on shall we, he would say in a dull tone finally coming to terms with what he had lost.

"I'm not going to argue." Sabel mentions, snatching up her bags from the ground, slinging the bag straps over the horns on the side of the saddle. Hauling herself up into the saddle atop the powerful draft horse, she clicks her tongue sharply and swiftly ankles it in the sides to get him trudging forward. "Now we need to keep moving.. You remember what happened last time, I'm sure." She mentioned, snapping her hand outward briskly -- "Thilos!" She snaps, the shimmer of coins scattered in the leaves and debris flying up to her hand, where she catches them, and tosses them one by one to Caspin and the Arabian horse she'd managed to aquire for him. Not as powerful as a draft, but faster.

With give a slightly puzzled look at her as he looks at the coins in his hand that he caught out of instinct..."Don't you remember what I said?" He would question to her while walking over to the side of the free horse and putting a foot in the sturipd. He pockets the coins before reaching out to grab the horn of the saddle and lift himself up atop the animal. He only shook his head and thought to himself that he would give them back to her when they stop. "Lead on," he would say, not giving her time to answer his first question.

"Gladly." She mentions, the cart clanking quietly as her horse urges forward. She picks it up into a canter right off the bat, as the sun seems to be steadily setting, no more than a ribbon of orange on the horizon. Sabel seems to have it all planned out -- The moment she hears the sickly crackling behind her, the ruffling of shedding feathers, the quickened, wheezing breathing, she tosses her hand into the air, shouting a quick, complicated mass of arcanic language. A bright light sparks in her hand, which she keeps held out to her side, between she and Caspin, settling down what had begun to be thrashing in the cart behind her. Almost as if the changling was paralyzed, hissing softly as striking, light-reflecting eyes leer slanted at the pair. "Watch him." She states sharply, "If he tries to move, you say so.. He'll try to take my hand off if he can get out of those ropes. And then more."

He would pull on his reins slowing his horse to draw behind the cart watching over the beast turned creature that they had captured. It was at this point he wish he still have the items he was earlier complaing about losing to himself.

In the keen of the light, Caspin could see the creature bound by the rope, tangled in the mess of netting where it had tried to escape. Those light-reflecting eyes narrowed on Caspin, a human face visible underneath a mess of chunky black hair -- brown? It was hard to tell in this light.. Though as those lips pulled back, mottled, sharpened teeth could be seen, sneering at him. After a few moments, they finally came to the main road cutting through the forest, leaving a fair amount of road on either side of them. The creature hissed and snapped as the cart bounced onto the road, back arching as he tried, desperately, to snap the ropes.

Caspin would give a slight sigh at this, he looks away from the creature and now really lements the lose of his personal belongings. He mutters something to himself before looking up and speaking to the back of Sabels head. "You know, I told you to keep the coin....I am not in this for the money anymore"

"I know that." She replies back, peering over her shoulder, to spy the creature's back arching wildly as he tries to break the ropes -- With a widening of her eyes, she swears softly, turning her hand to intensify the conjured light over the creature -- Now seen are clothes, old, worn clothes that more than likely belonged to him when he was exhiled into the forest. His skin is pale as stone, grey, and strangely smoothe looking. "I told you to watch him!" Sabel snaps, worry evident in her eyes as she sees the ropes fraying at the edges from the strain. But by her focusing the light on him, he flops back into the cart, panting heavily. "Damnit.. Another surge like that, and he'll break right free and kill us both." She turns her gaze to Caspin, frowning softly.

There are Humans, which are the main population here -- Next to Elves. Elves are pretty much counted as the world's Nobles, doesn't matter if you were born in a ditch, or in a castle, as long as you're an Elf, you're well treated and respected. (Because Elves are considered birthed of magic, or originally humans who were changed by magic and thus became a new race.)

Magic controls the world -- Whoever has magic has the most power. There is a single society of mages who control all the magic, and keep it hidden from people. They allow other people to use magic, but only on a strict basis -- The person has to submit a request, and the Mages will craft an item to suit their needs. Because this society discovered early on how powerful magic was, and saw control in it.

There used to be a being called Era, a twisting serpentine like creature who dispensed magical artifacts to human beings, thus giving them this power. She then retired to a tower, to sleep, and hunt objects that were misused or dispensed.

Fiends are called.. Fiends, normally. But their titles are 'Voluca' among the mage society, as that was their rank inside the society before turning into these monsters known as fiends.

To be a magic user:
1. Born into a noble elf house, automatically taught a range of spells courtesy of the Mage Society.
2. Part of the Mage Society.
3. ^ But like Sable, learned the truth and ran away.
4. A rebel, who learn magic very hap-hazardly from spying on the Mage Society, so they see the spells performed but don't know to perform them as easily themselves. Rebel Magic would be very haphazard, dangerous, and prone to accidents to the caster.

*The wind cut against her skin like a thousand knives, her skin feeling burned by it's ferocity. The young half elf was all of five feet and two inches in height, her hair long and often tussled, thick enough that braiding it was an extreme hassle. Her skin was unusually pale but with just enough hint of peach that she still looked moderately human save for the delicate point of her ears, which were -mostly- normal in size for a human. Her eyes were a pale sea green, her bone structure was delicate and of course she had very pretty pert but well shaped lips. None of this of course mattered at the moment however as she found herself falling...to where she was quite unsure...until she ended up tumbling into the lap of some unknown human male.---Clothing consists of a very tussled black robe, no shoes/boots, no gloves and no hat.*

Caspin would blink as just a moment before his lap was empty and his thoughts were of his own, yet again stuck on how he didnt have his trap bolts anymore. Not being one to frighten easy he remains calm and gives a snap to his reins and squeeze to the horses side. He catches up with Sabel giving her a nod. "...Is this a friend of yours," he would question, as if people fell into his lap all the time, but it was clear his awkwardness in asking he was trying to not freak out.

*The lass on the other hand was not calm at all, she flailed a bit.*

Sabel, trying to focus on keeping her horse on the road as it was rather blind at this time of night, squinted over at Caspin promptly as he drew forward and spoke. "What?" She questioned, moving her hand toward his lap.. And upon spying the Halfling there, she blinked, brows perking high in surprise.. A brief glance down to her robes, however, and Sabel scowled sharply. "A Mage?" She spoke, now pointing her hand at the other woman, cautiously, her hand still bright and aglow with conjured light, "Hold onto her! She might be a mage hunter!" She snapped, though didn't slow her horse. She knew they wouldn't be safe from the fiends until they were out of the forest.. It was only about ten minutes ahead, if they kept this pace. They just /had/ to keep going.

Capsin just having enough happen to him in his most recent of life time would give yet another of his soon to be famous sighs. His arms would wrap around her in a rather tight fasion but nothing to be uncormfortable to his new passenger, after which he would slow his mount to follow behind the cart again. He glances down at the girl..."Boy do the gods have a sence of humor..." he mutters to himself.

*She squirmed in his hold, yelling a few obscenities.* "Let go! Demon spawned sonova hell fecking beast! Let. Me. Go! Do you know how hard I worked to get out?! Let me go!!!" *She clawed at his arms and whatever else she could reach, trying to bite him even...though her attempts were feeble at best, she was certainly not a working gal normally.*

"Silence!" Sable barked back at the woman, frowning -- She threw her arm back, again, to shine the light over the captured fiend, who had begun to squirm again. "You see that? If you keep making noise, there are going to be TWENTY of these on us before we leave the forest. Once we get out of here, THEN we'll find out who who are, and what you're doing here." Sable was clearly panicked -- But, finally, the end of the forest was in view. From here, it was uneven terrain, muddy roads and marshy hills. The road had already become quite muddy from the recent rainfall, alas -- In the distance, their goal was inside. A large, twisting tower in the distance, overgrown by vines and plants a plenty.

Capsin frowns at her attempts to get out of his grasp but he would not give up that easily, his grasp became tigher on her as they got to the clearing. He would then pull his mount up besides Sabels as they traveled down the still. "So what are we goint to do about this..." he pauses at she squirms, "Girl?"

*She got quieter of course at the threat of more monsters but she didn't stop trying to claw and bite Caspin, once they reached the clearing she told him rather sharply.* "I am Merrin and you will release me this very second you...you thieving son of a goat!" *Very creative with her insults...*

Capsin would give a grunt to her his grip not letting go of her one bit, infact if she payed attention to his facial expresions she could tell the man was thinking something perverted but seeing as she did not know the man she had no clue he would not act on these thoughts. He would only look down to her once making eye contact for the shortest of time. "Be quite" his tone commanding and firm.

Trudging down the murky roads, Sabel finally sought to draw her draft horse to a stop, once they were far enough away from the fields. She drew the horse and cart off of the road, and onto a patch of rocky gravel, where her horse stopped, and Sable slung her leg over the saddle, sliding down. She walked over to the cart, then, checking to see how the fiend was doing -- Still paralyzed, but he still watched Sable, and the others, closely. Sable looked over at the pair, moving her hand over to provide some light to them as well. "--Alright." She snapped defensively, "/Merrin/. Who /are/ you? A Mage hunter? Huh? Spit it out!"

"I'm Merrin...what is a mage hunter" *She peers curiously at the woman, stopping her struggles for a moment. She of course does not notice the perverted thoughts of the man holding her because reading minds is -not- a power she possesses!*

Squinting at Merrin, Sable motioned for Caspin to come down, or let Merrin down. "Someone who hunts mages. And kills them.. And you can all of guess what I am. Now /who/ are you, and /where/ did you come from?" Sable asked again, continuing to glance over her shoulder at the captured fiend, who'd growl and hiss every so often at the shining light.