The Calm After the Siege

-==New Scene: After the Siege==- The dust and sounds settle on the field as everything seems to calm. Alexa looks around at the damage and Carnage taken by the battle, people they couldn't save. She takes a deep breath, but then panic strikes: Syn. She looks around and sees Captios standing outside of the plant weapon. "Get to Clemens. Make sure he's ok." She yells at him quickly and in a panic turns into Nuru and flies to Syn. As she flies overhead she sees the last stragglers bodies laying over the town, slain wiothe help of Astroix. She flies faster hoping what she knew was wrong, that maybe the future she knew would happen didn't come to be. As she reaches the Eastern side she sees Ford as still as a statue with Syn in between him and Solus. She lands on his shoulder and a tear runs down her bird cheek. 'I will hold to my side Ford, but we will save you' she thinks to herself. She presses her cheek to his for a moment just to feel that familial that she never really knew.
Hopping down she turns back into her human form and goes to Syn. She sits down next to Syn and puts her hand on her back. "You did it. I'm so proud of you."

Silence is all that fills the air as the fight ends. It leaves a battered tiefling sitting in her own dried blood. An empty shell of a warforged sits unmoving on one side and on the other, sits the reconstructed Solus. Syn unhooks her bag, laying Solus’ head softly down on it to let her rest. Her red eyes glance between the two, letting out a heavy sigh and turning her palms into fists. The bracers catch her eye, and the fall back on the moment she herself decided to place them on her own wrists. “Ironic.” She mumbles to herself until the sound of little claws tinging off the shoulder of Ford makes her head quickly glance upwards. A white raven. Alexa. She watches her shift back into her human form and sit next to her. “You look like shit.” A weak grin forms, looking towards Alexa then down to the ground in front of her. “Who all survived?” She asks in an attempt to say it casually, but a faint concern shakes her voice as she waits for the answer.

"We almost all didn't make it, but the dragons turned just in time." Alexa pauses as she thinks over the battle. "We lost 6 soldiers, and Clemens weapon fell. Captios is going to check on him. I think he survived."

There is another silence that fills the air until Syn boops Alexa softly on the head with the back of her hand. “Thank you for not dying." A pause before speaking again. " I am glad you all were able to survive this siege.” A glance up to the warforged. “Ford did not make it. Clearly.” She says, following a quick breath. “But Paulo said Clemens and Captios would be the ones to help him come back, whatever that means...”

Alexa looks outwardly uncomfortable as Syn talks about Ford. She looks at the ground and shifts her feet around a little. Avoiding Syn's eyes she states, "I'm so sorry Syn, he was never going to make it through this battle."

Her hand falls to her side, shifting to look at Alexa as she stares off and shuffles her feet beside her. “You knew?” There is this brewing anger that starts to surface. “And you didn’t tell me?” Syn staggers to her feet. “Why?” She says staring down at Alexa. “Really, I want to hear why.”

Alexa looks up to Syn, feeling her anger bear down on her. "Ford and I talked before we first met Nova. We both saw the path that returning Solus would take and that we both wouldn't survive." Tears start to form in her eyes as she reflects on the conversation they had, how he called her family. She turns away from Syn again. "We promised each other that if something happened to the other that we would be twice the person that you needed to help you through this. After talking with the Doctor I asked Paulo what would happen if I didn't make the deal. He said you and Solus would survive but said nothing of Ford. He also said that because he said it out loud that the future could change." Tears are streaming down her face, she's trying to hold it back with no success. "I was praying that he would survive. I couldn't say it out loud to you. If I did, then I would have to face the reality and I just... I couldn't."

“Praying?” She stares down at Alexa. “Praying to who? The Raven Queen? As if she cares to the outcome of what surely is in her eyes, insignificant. No, what gets us through this world is strength. That is what’s needed.” She stands watching the tears roll down Alexa’s face. “You’re just. Like. Paulo.” Syn scoffs. “Or turning into.” She says matter-of-factly. “You keep going around picking and choosing who gets to know what, when, and why. The more you do it the more insane you become.” She crouches down in front of Alexa. Tapping the middle of her forehead with her pointer finger. “Case in point.”

Alexa just feels raw. She wants to scream and tell at Syn for berating her the one time she made not a logical decision, but an emotional one, but she's tired. This is not the last time she's going to have a conversation like this. It's not the last time she's going to have others in the party yell at her and blame her for witholding information. There's a feeling of resignation that washes over her. She's tired of fighting the same fight over and over again. It never changes. Alexa finds out information and Syn gets mad. She stands up and takes a deep breath, her face emotionless as stone. "And if I told you he would die? Would that have stopped it? Are you upset at me because you could have processed the information during the whole battle, constantly keeping an eye on him and being distracted? Just long enough for Nova to pounce and kill you? Please, tell me how that knowledge would have helped you or changed the battle, if you think you know better."

“You just throw in your own fucking assumptions! Stop thinking for other people!” She shouts, turning and hurling wraeth towards the tree, it makes contact and splinters the trunk. “I am just tired of events playing out and me just mindlessly being ushered through them.” She grabs the handle and pulls wraeth from the tree, a heavy sigh follows. “We solve one thing, another issue surfaces. At this point, I don’t even know if having normalcy would even feel right. Maybe we are just destined to deal with shattered souls, dragons, and shitty people till we lay our heads in a grave somewhere. Even if we wanted to walk away from it all, escape to some cottage far, far away…” Eyes fall onto Solus, sleeping. “It’s not like we could. Some of us are bound for eternity to this mess by deals…”

Alexa just looks to Syn plainly, letting her shout at her. She told Syn why she didn't tell her, about how she was afraid to say it out loud, and it didn't matter. Here they are again yelling. "Stop Syn, just stop. Who are you yelling at? Me? Do you believe I have some control over these issues? Instead of yelling at me just stop. Look at what you've accomplished. Look at Solus, you saved her. It's so easy to yell at me and get your frustrations out, but I have fucking feelings too. Before attacking me and yelling at the world try to just focus on the positives. You now have Solus. Of course we're never going to have a normal state, or escape. No matter what deal I make if I slow down or stop for just a minute I'll get retired. You think you're in a shit situation? Well get on board because we're all in it with you. Stop being so selfish."

“I never said you didn’t! I am simply telling you that the more you dig into the fates of other people the more it will drive you insane trying to SOLVE them. It’s not just your burden to bear. I refuse to accept that there is just one outcome. I know we are all in this shit situation, I am not saying it’s just me. I am glad Solus is here, I am glad that you are alive, and the others too, but I still feel like we lost because I have a shell of a warforged sitting here that gave his life for us.” She walks over to Alexa. “I am not trying to hurt you. I am trying to make you understand my view of it. I am sorry.”

Alexa looks at her, the anger seeming to finally subside, "And I'm trying to make you understand my view. I don't know if they'll ever be the same. I would just like for once after a big fight for us not to fight. To understand each other. Maybe I'm asking for too much."


Syn blinks slowly, letting out a heavy sigh and taking a seat once more next to Solus. “It’s fine.” She says, poking at her own abdomen from where Nova’s hand went through but healed over. “We did what we had to do. The question is now what?” Red eyes flicker up to meet Alexa’s. “Where do we go from here? We can’t just leave Ford.”


A loud groan echoes through the trees. From the west, Captios staggers into the clearing where the others are. "Help. water.", he says weakly as he collapses on the ground. He carries nothing with him other than the clothes on his back. Clemens is not with him. "He tried to kill me. Clemens is alive. He tried to kill me."


Alexa hears Captios struggle and immediately brings out her water skin for him. Handing it over she hears him speak of Clemens trying to kill him. "Captios, did you maybe have a heat stroke? What happened?"

"Glug glug glug". Captios downs pretty much the entire waterskin before speaking again. "I went to check on him. The tower fell and I thought he died. As I got to the turret a dire wolf, and I swear I might sound crazy, a dire wolf approached me and asked me what I was doing there. I told it that I was there to find Clemens, and it attacked me. Called me a threat. I avoided it, got away, told it I was a friend. Then black. When I came to all my stuff was gone except my potion. He stole my fucking spellbook!" There is a fury in Captios' eyes now. "How did I know that he's alive? Because the wolf spoke of "von Wolfengeist" who was Albert's father. Spoke in the present tense. Even if he didn't try to kill me he fucking assaulted the shit of of me."

Syn turns her head to catch Captios staggering into the clearing. A cry for water leaves Alexa handing him her waterskin as he goes into an explanation as to what happened. "..Well..you certainly look like shit that's for sure." She says watching him chug the water. "But a wolf? You got attacked by a wolf? Im so...confused..." She shakes her head , briefly glancing down at her slumbering friend before returning to look back up to Captios. "Why are you saying Clemens did it then? And where the hell is he now?"


"I don't know why the wolves were there. But they were definitely on his side, in the present, attacking me. It would make sense given his last name. von Wolfengeist." Captios looks over the Belania as he says that, remembering how he outed his friend's family. "I don't think I did anything to deserve this much vitriol. I was trying to save him and he had his wolves attack me." He looks to Syn and Alexa. "I know you think I'm insane but I literally don't have any of my stuff nor my spellbook. I wouldn't just throw these things away. It's gonna take me almost a week to rewrite all my spells. And those staves and wands I had? Gone." Captios stomps his foot on the ground. "I'm so fucking pissed. Maybe I deserve this for being so naive as to think a von Wolfengeist could actually be good. Aaaaaaaaagh" Captios lets out an angry scream before slumping to the ground, back against a tree.
“Clemens. The same Clemens that was puking his brains out in that weird plant chamber because he couldn’t handle a few dead bodies? The same Clemens that aided us this far with his ability to make potions, and helped you, Alexa, and Astroix in the fight? This Clemens? Just…showed up with two wolves and attacked you, took your things and left?” She stares at him as he slumps down to the ground leaning back at the base of a tree. Syn tosses her hand in the air. “Yeah, you’re fucking insane.” Red eyes shift to Alexa. “Any idea what he's going on about?”

Alexa studies Captios as he rants about Clemens sending wolves after him to steal his stuff. "I don't want to diminish your experience, I'm sure something attacked you, wolf or otherwise." She pauses really trying to wrap her head around the story. "Did you actually see Clemens? Or hear him order the wolves to attack you? Could you be forcing connections because you're upset and just need an outlet to funnel it to?"

"I didn't see Clemens, but the wolves spoke and referred to him as von Wolfengeist." Captios swings his arms in exasperation. "Highly magical world, wolves speak. Unless you guys think that I just lost all my gear then it's not tooo crazy right?" Captios shakes his head. "He'll face justice. So will those wolves. You guys don't have to believe me but it happened." He looks over to Ford, standing silently in one place. "What happened to Ford? Did his crystal finally give out?"


“No, totally not crazy.” Syn says sarcastically. Her mockery of the young wizard is snuffed out followed by his comment about Ford. A long uncomfortable silence shifts and settles like a dense morning fog between everyone in the clearing. Deep red iris’ glance slowly up to the warforged for a moment. There is no sly joke from him to follow up Syn’s gaze and Captios’ comment. No awkward robotic chuckle, just silence.
Those red eyes move to gaze back towards Captios and in the most empty of ways, she replies, “He’s dead.”(edited)

Dead. The word rings in Captios' ear as he takes into account the gravity of the situation. Clemens turned bad, Ford dead, his deal with Gig. "How did that happen? Are you sure he didn't just power off again?" Captios walks up to Ford, careful not to touch the mech. "The eyes are different. Not just off. Hollow. What happened here?"
He looks over to where Solus rests quietly. "Is that a complete Solus? She looks similar to, well, the kind Solus we met during sunset. How is she doing?" Lots of questions from a guy dropping in on the situation.

“Well you see, Paulo ripped his soul out and is now just carrying it around. Outside of that? I don’t know. I figured something would happen given the problems we’ve already seen with his crystal, just wasn’t expecting him to take his soul.” She pauses. “He said you and Clemens would be able to help. That the ability to bring Ford back resided with you and him…but seeing how Clemens is now…missing? Gone rogue? Something with wolves? I don’t know…..what to do….” Syn trails off, looking up to the warforged once more. It’s an odd feeling. She recalls wanting nothing to do with the bucket of metal, but now? This feeling of emptiness resides in her heart and makes her uncomfortable, but why?
The name of Solus brings her back to the here and now. “She’s been put together…Nova and Solus… now one….its weird to say it out loud really. I have so much to ask her when she wakes, but seeing her here now? Its surreal. I didn’t think it would be possible and yet here we are….” She closes her eyes momentarily before they slowly open to peer back towards Captios. “It’s not over though.” She says with a deep-rooted pain behind the words. “Jacob Whyte still breathes and until I see that man dead for good, it will not be over.” Another pause follows before she speaks again, to push away the lingering fears in her mind. “I don’t know what exactly happened to you, but you succeeded in keeping those plant fuckers away. I know that was a concern for a few in this party, I’m relieved to see you both alive. So I guess, thank you… for not running away like some baby. Helping Alexa and all that while I dealt with this….It’s…uh… appreciated or whatever.” She looks away, uncomfortable.


"Uh, no problem", Captios responds, unsure of how to take the apology. Upon hearing Clemens' name, Captios eyes narrow. "We don't need Clemens." Fuck Clemens. "We'll figure out how to bring him back. I'm not great with building magical things, but there are so many people in this world that have that skill, and now they've got my brain to tell them how." First we need to figure out what was wrong with him. Why would Paulo take his soul? Also, Paulo intervened in the fight? Very interesting." He could have intervened in my fight too and not let the wolves kill me. "I can't runaway by the way. Like I said before, we're involved now in something bigger than our individual selves."

Alexa looks to Captios, hearing his deep seeded words of angst. "You make it seem as if running away for us was an option to begin with, I never thought I would hear that from a Candle. Regardless, Paulo's help here seems to have been what was needed for Syn to succeed." Her eyes drift over to the bracers on Syn's arm.

Syn glances between the two Candles. “…Who the hell knows why Paulo does what he does.” She scoffs at the thought, looking down to the bracers that rest around her forearms. “Those shackles from when we first met Paulo showed up during this fight, I was given the option to place them on myself or not. I didn’t know what it meant if I did so, but It felt like the right thing at the time. Ironic really, someone enslaved putting on their own shackles… I kept going back to my previous words to Solus, whatever it takes. Anyway, I saw what I saw. He has Ford’s soul.” She lets out a frustrated sigh, looking back up to the two Candles. “I will be honest, I don’t know what to do. I know we have a mission here, but our dragon hunt has grown to be something more. Even if we wanted to fix Ford somehow, we still need the crystals from….” She sneers. “Jacob Whyte.” Another sigh of frustration follows.
“Solus will take sometime to recover I’m sure, we still need to address you’re lack of spells now because like hell am I sending you out there without the ability to protect yourself, and correct me if I’m wrong but that thing with the doctor isn’t finished either? Ah…for fucks sake.” She presses the palms of her hands against her forehead.


Alexa looks around at her commerades, each of them tired from their own battles they're fighting; some physical, some mental. 'We definitely will need some recovery time, and we aren't even positive that Jacob will supply the crystals we need. I'm not putting much stock in it. There is the shadow market option but" her mind raves through the traveling and research that would take "as much as I want Ford here and now, that journey will take far longer, and we'd allow the world to fall to chaos."

Syn’s hands fall from her forehead and land on the tops of her thighs with a huff of frustration to follow. “Yeah….I know. Not the answer I want, but I know.” A breeze pulls in through the clearing. It sends a calming sound of shifting leaves through the ears of the party and for that moment, Syn takes a depth breath of air. “Well, you’re the smart one, where do we go next?” She sneers at Alexa. “Don’t you need to speak with that Doctor again? I feel as though…that is something….of concern? The dudes fucking ugly Alexa. I mean, REALLY ugly.”


"Before we get the crystal from Jacob, we need to get Ford's soul back right? Paulo has it and I imagine that's because the core became unstable during the..." Captios pulls his hands together and interlocks his fingers. "...merge. We need to figure what made it trigger and how to turn that off. I can help with that, just need to find the right literature and pull all the facts together." Captios furls his brow. "In terms of the doctor, do you think it would be worth meeting with him again? There might be more information we could get from him, or that he might let slip. It seems he's in cahoots with the green dragons, and is trying to bring Vyne back. Didn't he at one point do experiments on Vyne? Why would the green dragons trust him? Were they always allies or only opportunistic. And if the latter, what does the doctor get out of this?"


The mention of Ford’s soul leaves Syn’s facial expression somber. Here we are again, she thinks to herself as Captios goes through question after question that the party seeks to discover and understand. A heavy sigh escapes her as she rolls her head up to look up to the sky. “Whatever the solution is, its not going to be happening any time soon.” She says matter of fact. “And its not like we can just haul his metal body around with us. There are things we still need to do.” With her head still tilted upwards to watch the Aurora dance across the sky, “We saw the doctor in the shadow market. He’s is an absolute nightmare to look at. Like a walking experiment gone wrong. Bad aura about him that gives me bad, bad vibes. And honestly? Killing him would be doing my eyeballs a justice. You both know more about this than I do, dragons, the doctor, negotiations…” Her eyes glance to Alexa. “So if we need to talk to him again, then so be it. All I am saying is to tread carefully.” A brief chuckle. “I know I am not the smartest but there is no way all of these people are not connected in some way. Jacob, the Doctor, Shirley, the dragons. What bothers me, like what you asked, is why? What the hell is the end game here?” She looks to Captios. "You read books and what not, what do you know about the dragons that hasn't already been said? Vyne...and that black dragon?"