Chapter CCCXIX: The Game’s Afoot ~Multehx

Scilas began to pace on the street. He thought aloud to himself, muttering things that would seem a bit too incoherent for anyone else to understand. D'Nel and Ray Noh simply watched him pace back and forth for a time, forgetting they had an objective as something interesting simply presented itself now. Jaded closed his eyes, folding his arms over his chest. He was familiar enough by now to leave the assassin to his methods when he got like this. In a short few moments, he would stop as he had finished formulating his plans.

Skritch...skritch....skritch...

Scilas scratched the blade of the throwing knife he held in his hand, the blade between his thumb and forefinger. He furrowed his brow as his pacing slowly dwindled to a few steps. Then he stopped. He deftly tossed the knife into the air, caught hold of its handle, and pointed it off in the direction that lead to the nearest exit to the moorlands.

He finally spoke up to the group. "Ok, I think I've got a plan."

He waited for someone to speak up, but, seeing as no one did, he simply muttered something too profane to reproduce here, and continued. "I have put the facts together; one, there are savage, randomly attacking wild beasts roaming outside, waiting to ambush travellers at any step, and two, this is not a video game, to conclude one thing- SOMETHING is making these animals berserk! If this had been constant, then this village would be more heavily armed to fight such creatures; there would be more smithies and whatnot about."

Kenzo tapped the toe of a boot on the ground, glancing over to Chrono and a very haggard looking Jeremy who snuck back into their midst, noticing they were back and a bit out of sorts, so it probably would be advisable for him to say something and keep attention off the kid so things wouldn't get awkward. So he cleared his throat and asked, "So, what do we do as a result of this?"

"Simple. We hit the moors and find what's causing this!" He struck a dramatic pose, pointing the knife-tip forward in bold fashion indeed. "Come! ONWARD, noble compadres! To the source!"

With that, Scilas strode in quite heroic fashion and exaggerated steps in the direction towards the exit. D'Nel glanced to Ray Noh and nodded slightly. "You see? That's why I keep you off the caffeinated battery cells. They may be costlier than what I buy for you, but this proves I'm not cheap. I'm smart too."

Ray Noh scratched the side of his head. "Hmm...now I guess seeing that makes it make sense."

* * *

The group stood vigilantly out on the moors. A harsh wind bit at their faces and the overall atmosphere of the place was chilly and pretty damp. The assassin stood at the group's head, the wind blowing his neckerchief wildly about. He studied the area for a moment, turned around, and talked quite loudly enough to be heard.

"Ok, people!" he started, "It's time to get on this! Now, let's search the area for any clues. Also note, there are savage beasts roaming about; I doubt it would be unfair to slay one if they assaulted you. Now, let's move out!"

The members of the party began to disperse, some remaining together as they felt in greater ease with one another; D'Nel with Ray Noh for one. But almost instantly Jaded made his way away from the group and stood on a rock overlooking a gully. He narrowed his eyes, glancing about cautiously. Shortly later he was joined by Jeremy, who obviously wondered what he was doing. Not even glancing over to the newcomer, he spoke. "Sense that?" he abruptly stated.

Jeremy looked at him in surprise, and then closed his eyes, trying to feel for whatever the man was talking about it. Almost instantly then it came to him. His eyes flew open and he shivered as the cold sensations that overwhelmed him.

"Y-yeah...I feel it now. Intensely wild and evil magic energy coming from the distance, somewhere high up."

Jaded nodded. "Almost right. Magik, not Magic."

"But what-"

"Trust me, you learn to hear the difference, and there is quite a one. I think we had better find whatever is causing this disturbance and remove it from this place as soon as possible."

The mercenary leapt to the opposite side of the gulley, calling back, "You tell the others. I'll look ahead!"

Jeremy agreed to do so and took off running back in the direction the others were. Though, he couldn't help but wonder, how did that strange scarf-wearer pick up on such a signature? You had to be schooled in such arts to do so. And what was different about this stuff anyway? It had the same name...didn't it? He shrugged this off for the time being, continually running in that specific direction.

* * *

Silently, Tehxno'tlucan watched from behind the rock where he was residing. He had sensed the power that lay nearby as well, and he was pretty sure he knew what it was. Grimael would reward his assistance quite diligently for this find! If only he could reach it first...

And besides, the feeling nagged on him that he knew this Bulaklak girl from somewhere...it was on the tip of his tongue, he just couldn't recall where.

Brushing it off for later thought, he bounded covertly from behind the rock, out of sight of the group and heading in hot pursuit of the Mercenary.

* * *

Jaded's face was protected from the harsh wind he stirred up running by his scarf. As he dashed on, he did a mental calculation. The others should reach the source within a day or so of travelling. He, on the other hand, could do it in three hours of going at this pace. And that didn't seem to be a problem. He had the stamina to.

However...complications just arose, he could tell. There was someone following him and gaining quite fast. He drew his broadsword from under his cloak, not skipping a beat. It looked like things would get a little "difficult", after all.