The Dark (Deborah/Tiffania)

The morning that particular day was like any other had been. The village folk were doing their daily duties, and it was turning out to be just like the many days before, with the only the small details of mostly superficial nature being there to bother them. But, it looked like the little fact that she knew magic well enough was going to bring a change to one woman's life as there was a knock on Deborah's door just after lunchtime had gone by.

The person behind the door turned out to be a recruiter, a petty officer from the king's army. He explained that the army had come to see if she was willing to help out as a support magician in the camp, as they were running short on options and needed capable people to maintain the battle-readiness of the troops. Something strange was happening in the capital city, and the army was making offensive into their own city to find out the cause of the ongoing chaos and see if the royal family was still alive to maintain their rule. "It would really be of use to have you along, miss. Of course, you will receive payment for your efforts. Wartime duty is not something we can drag civilians into without compensating for their possible losses." the man told her after explaining the situation. There was a was a plain wagon a little distance away on the street, probably the one she would be taking if she agreed to go with the military. "Any personal belongings you need, you can take, but try to keep it light as there might be need to travel on foot. And do not worry about the house, it will remain under the crown's protection until you return. "

Re: The Dark (Deborah/Tiffania)

The day had progress much like it always did, at least on days when Deborah didn’t wander out to study something or other. She had spent much of her early morning keeping her house neat and clean, though it didn’t take much effort when it was just her living there. It was a nice day, though, a windows-open sort of day, and she appreciated that as she went about her work. At about midday she sat down to a light lunch and then spent some time at her table lazing about with a cup of tea, gazing out the window at the birds that flitted by… until a knock came at her door. "Just a moment" she called out, setting down her tea and walking over to her front entrance. The visitor… intrigued her. She hadn’t seen an army recruiter in many a year, at least not one who had come to her home.

He told her of the strangeness that was going on in the land’s capital, of the need for a magician to support the army from their camp as it investigated… or rather seemingly invaded. "I’ve heard plenty of rumors" she said with a cheerful sort of tone, "I even heard everyone in the capital was turned into a fish! But that’s nonsense of course. Probably." The man indicated that she would be paid for her services, and also that her home and belongings would be looked after by the crown. It seemed a decent enough offer, and Deborah didn’t mind doing her part to help out. "I’ll do it, of course. Give me a moment to get my things in order please. And do send someone to take care of my home while I’m gone" she said at last, going back into her home to fetch some simple things. A spell book, components for basic rituals, a few changes of clothes, some basic food supplies, and she felt ready to go. She would walk out to plain little wagon the recruiter had come in, bags in hand, ready to get going. It had been a fair few years since she had gone on an adventure, and she was actually pretty excited by it.

Re: The Dark (Deborah/Tiffania)

"Certainly not true. The person who told you that honestly needs to get themselves checked up by a doctor." the officer told Deborah as he gave her a funny look for the fishes comment. Even so, the fact that she had agreed to join and help out returned him back to normal, even a little friendlier. "Certainly. Come down to the wagon when you are ready." he told her, giving all the time needed to gather the things that needed to be taken along. By the time she got out, Deborah could find the man gone, but the wagon was still there and a small sign bearing the emblem of the royal family had appeared on her door as well, signifying the protection offer she had just agreed to in all likelihood. Having little options besides entering the wagon, that is where Deborah went. Entering from the back, she found another person there, a young man who was fit to be a soldier. And he was certainly well-mannered, helping her get on board by offering his hand. Other than him, there was the driver, a soldier judging from his light footman armor suit. After some waiting, the recruiter too came back to them, climbing on board to claim the position of the fourth person before the wagon started to move, starting their move towards the capital.

The distance to the capital city was somewhat long, so the journey to reach the place took several hours of time to make. Thankfully it proved to be peaceful as the group made their way across the countryside. Somewhere along the way, the recruiter dug up a pack of rations and water to share with the two recruits, unless they wanted to eat their own foods.

Re: The Dark (Deborah/Tiffania)

"Well, you know ordinary folk and magic" Deborah replied, still smiling. The recruiter seemed to think she was a bit strange, which really just meant that he was perceptive. He seemed to get a little more accepting once she announced that she would help though. She went back to gather her things, taking her time, and by the time she had assembled everything and walked out again they had already hung a sign round her doorknob with the royal crest on it. It was likely proof of the protection the recruiter had talked about, which was at least a little reassuring. Once to the wagon she tossed her bags up into the back, finding that one other person had bitten the recruiter’s hook; a strong young man who had probably signed on as a soldier. He was polite too, because he offered her his hand to help her up into it, an offer she quickly took. "Mmm, thank you" she said, again flashing that happy smile at the lad before taking her seat.

There were two others, the driver and another soldier, and while they waited on the recruiter to return from making his rounds the mage decided to introduce herself to them, trying to start up a conversation. She knew it would be a long ride, so it would be good to get to know them at least a little. Once the recruiter came back they were underway, with Deborah still trying to get especially her fellow recruit to open up and talk, asking them questions about their lives up to this point, their tastes and interests, things of that nature. Eventually the recruiter offered her some rations, which she gladly took; her own foodstuffs could wait until she got to camp and settled into whatever her accommodations were.

Re: The Dark (Deborah/Tiffania)

With some verbal poking, it was possible for Deborah to find out some more facts about her traveling companion and possible war buddy sitting across her in the wagon. His name was Jean and he was a member of the guard from another village near the one where she had come from. While he was young, the art of leadership was strong in him and the army was interested in using his skills as a squad leader, as there was lack of capable leaders that were required to form smaller squads and keep them organized. "It is an honor to serve the royal army if they think so highly of my meager skill. I could not refuse this call to aid." he finished his little info time. The recruiter introduced himself as Georg, briefly explaining that he had been a career soldier in the city since young age, somehow ending up selected as minor commanding officer and recruiter for the royal army after some years in service. From there, it went quieter again as they started to eat the food that Georg had provided.

Unfortunately, they would not get to finish in peace. Near the completion of the meal, a sudden speed increase bumped the wagon, and they could hear the driver starting to push the horses into faster movement not a second before a nasty-looking arrow with black fletching hit the seat near Jean's current position. "HOSTILES! WE'RE BEING AMBUSHED!" they could hear the driver yell at them, not long before catching a glimpse of a black-armored knight passing by the rear of the wagon and towards the side. Another soon came into view as well, trying to gain up to them from the rear. What could be made up of this person was not much as he had a lot of armor on, only small pinpoints of yellow light showing from beneath the obscuring visor of his helmet. It was unclear as to how many of them there were, but Georg did not look happy as he too came into realization what was happening. "I've heard reports of some hellish-looking figures clad in dark armor being encountered in the city, but this is the first time I've actually seen one..." he told what little he knew, going for the front of the wagon to fetch a crossbow that was there.

Re: The Dark (Deborah/Tiffania)

It didn’t take too much for Deborah to get the men talking, especially the youngster across from her. He was apparently from a nearby village, which explained why she didn’t know him already. He was a simple guard named Jean, though apparently he was in line to be a squad leader in the army, the recruiter having noticed his skill at leadership. He seemed like a good young lad, with a strong character in addition to the strength of his body. The recruiter was a man named Georg, a long-time careerist in a city guard who had graduated on to the royal army after a time. That was where the meal began, and things quieted down as they munched on the rations. It wasn’t exactly the best meal the mage had ever had, but for what they were they weren’t too bad.

Unfortunately the eating was sadly interrupted towards the end by a most unpleasant turn of events. The wagon sped up, jostling the party as the driver spurred the horses on to move faster. That was a little bit strange… but more strange was the arrow that slammed into the seat right next to Jean. That they were being ambushed was pretty obvious by that point, and Deborah’s heart quickly began to race. She had studied combat-applicable magic before, though not a whole lot, and she had certainly never fought a battle before. Could she even stay calm enough to remember the magic she needed? The sight of an enemy behind the wagon made her shiver; it didn’t look quite human to her. Most all of his body was covered in a suit of armor, but there were little tiny bits of yellow light where the eyes ought to have been, and that surely wasn’t normal. At the very least Georg didn’t seem to be panicking, though he was unhappy, and that sort of steadied the mage. She got off her seat, bracing herself on one knee as she took a deep breath and began to summon up the necessary energy. "I can fight, but not very well… I’m not really that kind of mage. Are we going to wait for them to come to us?" she asked, waiting for the knight, whatever it might be, to come into view again so that she could perhaps fire off a small bolt of electricity at it.

Re: The Dark (Deborah/Tiffania)

"Anything you have, please make do of it. We do not know what they want, but they are not looking to chat with us, that much is certain." Georg told Deborah as he readied the crossbow, placing a foot on the handle in the front and pulling the string up with both hands before throwing a small bolt quiver to the back of the wagon. Going onto a knee, he grabbed one of the projectiles and set it on the bow, now being ready to fire as he steadied the bow with his elbow on his knee. "Shoot over me, and wait until they are close if you are not confident of your aim!" he gave instruction to the two before firing his bow at one of the knights that passed by, dismounting him with one shot to the chest. Quickly loading up, he stayed low to enable Deborah some freedom to fire her magic. Jean did not have a ranged weapon, but he found some purpose for himself too as a knight was about to reach the rider, which the young man prevented from going any further with a stab from his guard-issue sword.

Another knight came into view, the combined shot from both Deborah and Georg taking him out from the chase too as he rolled down from his mount and onto the side of the road. But it was not going to be that easy as more of them came into view, three being visible at that moment but certainly there were more as the driver started to get a little more panicked than was needed. Fortunately, Jean could keep him from doing any hasty or panicked moves, and it did appear that the wagon was closing the distance to the city and the main army camp.

Re: The Dark (Deborah/Tiffania)

"I’ll do my best" Deborah replied, getting behind Georg as he had said. It looked like such a chore for him to load that crossbow of his, she probably couldn’t have physically done it if asked. He fired away well before she attempted to use her magic, hitting one of the dark knights in the chest with an arrow and knocking him from his horse. Jean also managed to get into the action towards the front of the wagon, knocking one of them charging the driver down with his sword. There was one more in their sights, and this time the mage resolved to be of use as Georg reloaded. She muttered under her breath the words she used to focus, hardly words at all really, more a series of somewhat guttural noises. A little ball of electricity formed in her open hand as she muttered, crackling softly, though it was clearly not the most powerful bit of magic, and with a quiet grunt she tossed it into the oncoming knight. It staggered him just enough that the recruiter could shoot it off its horse with another bolt from his crossbow.

It was the first time Deborah had ever attacked another person. Had it even been another person? Even though she wasn’t sure, it still wasn’t a good feeling for her. There were more coming even though they’d taken down three already, and the driver seemed to be getting a little bit panicky… Still, they weren’t struggling yet. The mage began her chant again, waiting for one of the knights to come close enough that she could easily hit it, not wanting to miss given how much effort it took to launch one of these spells. Of course she also couldn’t just keep doing so, there was a limit to how much magical energy she could fling around. They needed to get to the camp sooner rather than later.

Re: The Dark (Deborah/Tiffania)

Deborah and Georg worked in tandem to keep themselves from being overrun as more of the dark riders approached them after each dismounted one, ten of them being visible after a few of them had dropped off from their mounts. At that point the recruiter started to get distressed at well, since he had a limited number of bolts for his crossbow and the number had dropped almost to half already while the enemies just seemed to multiply after each hit, plus he had missed two shots. The driver yelled back at them that the camp was in sight, telling them that they had almost reached their destination, but he was cut off suddenly as something happened in the front. Not a second later, they could see the driver rolling on the ground behind them with an arrow in his chest, which alerted Georg rather fast as they were now without a driver. Jean took over the reins with one hand, still holding onto his sword as they advanced to try and defend himself at least somehow, but the blade was hardly any protection against the archers that had rolled over to the side of the wagon. It took a barely no time for them to get the young guardsman too, who stumbled down onto the passenger compartment and hit the floor after getting an arrow to his shoulder. At that point, it all started to go wrong.

With no driver there to guide them, the horses started to go wild. They made their way towards the camp at top speed, Georg failing to get back as the ride started to get a little too rough for neither of them to try and maintain any footing inside the wagon. The pair could hear some alarmed cries as the wagon ran through the camp, sending soldiers running for safety as they fled to avoid being overrun by the rampaging horses. A tent collapsed, personal items were sent flying and a few people got hit as the wagon ran through the place, leaving a trail of destruction as it went. The visit was brief though as the wagon went through to the city, right under the opened main gate of the walled city. After some time of running down the main street, one of the horses tripped over something on the ground, the whole wagon going onto an uncontrollable spin and eventually toppling over.

After what appeared to have been an eternity, Deborah woke up inside the wrecked wagon, now lying sideways on the street of the city. She had a bumping headache, most likely from the hit to the head she got as a result from the wagon going down. With a quick inspection, she could find Jean lying near her in the wrackage, now dead from the arrow and the impact of the toppling wagon. His sword was still there, lodged onto the corner of the bench that they had spent some time on. The streets were mostly empty at that particular area, though the woman could see a burning pile of dead soldiers some distance away. Georg was nearby as well, dead in a pile of firewood that was arrayed against a nearby inn's wall. It looked like he had been flung out during the sudden stop, leaving Debby as the sole survivor. If the pile of corpses was of any indication, she was in hostile grounds at the moment. Thankfully, her equipment had made it, as none of the items she had taken along had been destroyed. There were places she could go into in every direction, with the inn on the right side of the road. The streets went back and forward on the main one, but there were side streets as well, going west and east respectively.

Re: The Dark (Deborah/Tiffania)

Deborah continued to help as best as she could, preparing her spells and launching them at the approaching knights whenever Georg was reloading or had missed one that was close. Thus far she had managed not to miss, each of her electrical bolts knocking one of the riders off his horse, though they just seemed to keep appearing. How many of them could there be? The driver claimed they were getting close to the camp, not far at all… apparently he was tempting fate just a little bit too much. The mage heard a grunt, and a moment later saw the driver on the ground, still rolling back with an arrow in his chest. She gasped, putting a hand to her mouth; she had seen dead people before, of course, people who had succumbed to illness and old age mostly, but she had never witnessed someone die in violence before, and this was a whole new experience for her. She certainly didn’t like it, that was for damn sure.

Jean took the reins with the driver gone, but it wasn’t long at all before an arrow punched into his chest and he fell back into the passenger’s compartment with the other two. Deborah let out a louder gasp, though she didn’t get much time to do anything before the horses began to go mad, barreling towards the camp at break-neck speed and jostling the wagon all around. She was swept off her feet by one of the more powerful bumps, and she had to grab on to the bench and hold on tight to keep from falling out of the back of the thing. Jean, the driver… they’d been shot! People were actually trying to kill them and now no one was driving this wagon! The mage was starting to panic more than just a little, her eyes going wide as she heard people screaming… they were going through the camp, and there was no way for anyone to rein in the horses or slow them down. They were going to run until they got tired or were killed… Or just smashed into something they couldn’t bound over. She closed her eyes, not wanting to see anymore, just holding on for dear life until the whole thing gave a great shudder and tipped over, and as Deborah’s head hit the side of the wagon everything went dark…

She woke up later, how much later she couldn’t say, with a splitting headache. She groaned out quietly, holding her head as she slowly got to a sitting position. The first thing she laid eyes on, unfortunately, was Jean’s corpse. She covered her mouth again, whimpering a little bit. This was not what she had signed up for. She had just gotten to know him probably not hours before, and there he was, dead on the ground in front of her. Slowly she got up, looking around… and a short distance away was a pile of burning corpses, soldiers from the look of it. Georg was there among them, probably killed by the wagon’s crash. It was purely luck that Deborah hadn’t been killed too.

She didn’t feel lucky, somehow… She prayed silently, prayed for the three men who had just died, and then another for herself. She felt like she would need guidance and strength to get through this alive, and it likely wouldn’t come wholly from herself. She made her way into the ruined wagon, still a bit wobbly on her feet, and retrieved her bag. It might be a bit much for her to carry if she needed to rush, though for the moment she didn’t think much about it. All she did was get her spell book out and keep it in hand, as it was the least easily replaceable object she had brought. The main street seemed like the quickest way to get out, though also the most likely to run into something that would cause her problems too… With tears coming to the corner of her eyes she made her way back in the direction of the gates, desperate to get back to the camp. If she could only do that, things would get better, easier. She couldn’t be out here on her own for long and hope to make it.

Re: The Dark (Deborah/Tiffania)

After picking up whatever belongings she wanted to take along, Deborah was free to move wherever, and she picked the most rational way to go for the average person. This was towards the main gate, of course, a path that would allow her to reach the soldier's camp and safety after the setback of losing her escorts and fellow recruit. With that idea in mind, she took off from the remains of the wagon.

The streets were none the more hospitable on the way back, most of the houses that lined the place being destroyed or barricaded up to make them inaccessible, from the busiest inns to the more private houses. Dead people could be seen quite frequently, though there were no further corpse-burning bonfires around, thankfully. Those things were grotesque enough, and Deborah certainly needed no further shocking sights to rattle her mind. But, there was something else around to cause some wonder as she came across something that looked like the textbook imp lying on the ground. It was quite dead, missing it's head and all, but it was still food for thought and perhaps a part of the complete picture which explained what had happened in the city. Some of dead people looked more dried-up than others, suggesting that they too might not be the normal soldiers one expected.

After spending a little time to make her way towards the gate, Deborah had the target within her sights. Unfortunately, there were some complications that would make it hard for her to use it and escape. The gate itself had been closed, and she would need to find the mechanism to open the massive thing if she wanted to get the path open. Besides that, there was a sentry of a supernatural nature lingering nearby. It was a rather large, hairy creature, which reminded the wizard of the legendary minotaur. But this thing was far bigger than the described minotaur, most likely standing at least 20 feet tall and sporting a skeletal goat head instead of the usual bull head. Worse than that was the fact that it had an equally huge stone axe with it, a monstrous weapon that already had the blood of who knows how many humans staining it's blunt blade. Thankfully, the creature appeared to be lost in it's thoughts, and had not picked up on the fact that there was a human nearby. Somehow, Deborah got the idea from seeing the creature that trying to fight it would certainly have some horrible results for her.

Re: The Dark (Deborah/Tiffania)

Deborah had never felt anything close to the emotions she felt as she walked down one of the main streets at the capital; it was surreal and terrible, the buildings to either side were mostly burned to the ground or smashed and crumbling, though some were merely boarded up. The dead laid to either side and even in the middle of the street, not burned, but not exactly the freshest either… the smell of death hung heavy in the air, assaulting her nostrils and making her eyes water. She felt more than a little bit ill… Even moreso when she noticed that among the dead were things that were clearly not human. They looked like… demons. Like the sorts of things a little kid would draw if you asked him what demons looked like. Just what had happened here? What had the people of the capital done to bring the wrath of such creatures upon them?

The situation only got worse when the mage got back to the main gate. It had been closed since the wagon had come through, and would likely be quite difficult for her alone to open even if she weren’t challenged. And challenged was not quite the right word for what would happen if she were to try the gate now… Standing there in front of the gate was the stuff of utter nightmares, a horror the likes of which Deborah had never really allowed herself to conceive of. It looked like a minotaur of legend, except so enormous as to tower more than three bodylengths over her head, and with the skull of a goat in place of its head… The sight almost froze her in place, her eyes wandering up its massive body and over to the axe it held in its hands, probably made of stone but coated completely in blood and gore. Slowly she began to make her way back the way she had come, knowing that this way was barred to her. She would have to get out of this mad Hell, but she would have to do it by another route, and it was imperative that that creature not see her. She wasn’t ready to die yet. Gods, she had made such a terrible mistake in coming here. She didn’t even know her way around the capital, so all she could think to do would be to wander the area around the walls, hoping to stay less visible in side-streets and such as she searched for a way over the walls and out of the ruined city.

Re: The Dark (Deborah/Tiffania)

Picking the probably wiser option of not approaching the gate and the massive guardian monster near it, Deborah quickly made her way back and out from the creature's imminent vicinity to avoid drawing it's attention. She made good of her escape, managing to avoid any danger as her retreat was fast enough to make sure the two of them would not have to meet at this particular time.

With the threat of the monster now gone, the wizard woman was free to look about, already having a plan as she sought to go around the side streets and follow near the face of the city wall to look for alternative ways for leaving the city. Thankfully, there appeared to be very little around the backstreets that would bother her, save for a few bags of trash and rats scurrying around here and there. Like all the buildings along the main streets, the backstreets ones had their doors and windows boarded up if they had not outright collapsed. Despite the apparent safety, the place was still somewhat eerie as there was far less light around in the shadowy areas. A beggar came across her path as well, but he too appeared to have passed away, a withered husk under a few disheveled cloth robes.

After a few streets spent walking, Deborah came across an open area amidst the buildings, which was taken up by a small graveyard of about 20 graves. And in here, of all the places, she found someone who appeared to be alive and not a monster. Near one of the graves, there was a person silently kneeling and paying her respects to a now departed. If her garb was of any indication, this person appeared to be a nun of some sort.

Re: The Dark (Deborah/Tiffania)

Deborah made her way through the various side streets near the wall, finding nothing to cause her any trouble thankfully enough. There was trash more or less everywhere, and broken pieces of all sorts of things, even some dead and mangled bodies. All the houses were burned up or boarded up, just like on the other streets she had been on, and she just tried not to think about it, tried not to look at the corpses, only focusing on spotting anything that might lie in wait for her. It was darker here than on the main streets, the buildings blocking out some of the light, casting long shadows over everything.

After a few minutes of tense walking, finding nothing and no one of any note, the mage finally came across a little opening. It was pretty small and circular, filled up by a small little graveyard. Maybe twenty, twenty-five graves in all. It was almost quaint… But it was here that she found the first little glimmer of hope. There was another person here, a living, flesh and blood person… probably. Hopefully. She was kneeling at a grave, seemingly praying, giving off the appearance of a nun. "Oh thank Gods" Deborah said, quietly but not so much that she couldn’t be heard, "someone living, thank Gods." She approached the woman, her eyes tearing up a bit. "What are you doing just out in the open here? There’s… things!"

Re: The Dark (Deborah/Tiffania)

The nun had little to say even when Deborah approached, her silent vigil at the grave taking a little moment longer. "Calm yourself, please. Even the dead have ears, and we should respect their final rest..." she spoke up in a soft voice, taking up on her own advice as best as she could. She still took a little while to pay her respects, brushing the unmarked gravestone in front of her with her hand a little before getting up in a slow and kinda creepy manner and turned to the wizard. Now that the two were face-to-face, there was less nun in this person than the look from behind suggested. The habit she wore was wide and appeared to defy gravity somewhat, opening wide on the lower parts. The rest of the robe was just as unusual, the large ribbon on the back having been flat against it before but now it spread out as well to add further flair. A striped section of white went down the entire length of the otherwise black dress, ending up in a fancy collar on the neck area. The sleeves were long and large, not revealing her hands while standing and keeping the arms down. Physically it was hard to say yet how she was as the dress had a fair share of volume to hide it, though she probably was not quite up to Debbie's own build. The woman's face was one of ethereal beauty, almost ghost-like in itself, though the light pink hair and matching eyes gave it a slightly girly touch. Somewhat odd was her habit of standing as well, since it looked like she was standing on her tippytoes.

The two looked at each other for a while, before the "nun" spoke up again. "Yes, there are things happening around here. Demons. Undead. What about it?" she still spoke in her soft voice to keep to noise level down, looking unnaturally calm for the given situation.

( )

Re: The Dark (Deborah/Tiffania)

Deborah gave the nun a look as if she were mad when she was chastised for speaking up, the other woman remaining in place and continuing to pray. There was something weird about this one, though the mage couldn’t put her finger on what. Was it the voice, the tone she had taken? Was it the out of place calm in the face of the madness that surrounded them? It was probably a little bit of those things and something else besides, something that couldn’t properly be put in words. A hunch from somewhere deep in her gut. When the woman turned to face her that hunch was only confirmed, because this was surely no nun. Certainly not of any order Deborah had ever laid eyes on, anyway… The robe that had looked so like a habit from behind looked very different from the front, almost magical in itself even, as if it were behaving contrary to the laws that governed normal objects in order to adorn her in just the way she wished…

She was beautiful though, that much was certain. At least, she had a beautiful face. Deborah caught herself staring for just a second, wondering at her pink hair and eyes… Strange, strange indeed. Even weirder, she was standing on her tip-toes. It felt almost like she was looking at some sort of performance art rather than a normal person. There was a long moment of uncomfortable silence before the other woman spoke again, asking her perhaps the strangest of questions. "What of it?" the mage parroted, her eyes going a little bit wide, "what of it?" She realized that she was trying to be quieter, even though she wasn’t sure she bought the woman’s reasoning. "This is all madness… We have to get out of this cursed place, before we join these people here. I’ve never before seen such evil and death in all my life…"

Re: The Dark (Deborah/Tiffania)

Somehow, the nun-like lady did not appear to be sharing the idea of leaving the city. "No, there is something I must do. Leaving is out of the question. Now that you are here, you might as well come with me." she was quick to suggest the plan of the two going forward together. There was purpose in her gaze, steely determination in the face of the devastation that had come to the city. It looked like she was not afraid of anything currently going on, but there was no other emotion around either. "I need to investigate the castle. Mere undead and minor demons will not shake my will. Yet, I could suffer badly, even die in the pursuit of this. Someone else to go with me could aid in this cause."

Barely after the woman finished, Deborah could see something else coming into her view from behind a corner near the border of the graveyard. It turned out to be a trio of ragged foot soldiers in padded armor suits. They were far too unnatural-looking to be human at this point, all of them having withered skin wherever it was present. The men had clubs and a hand axe on them, weapons that were in remarkably shabby condition, and their armor and helmets mirrored the same unkempt state. One of them noticed the pair shortly, his eyes lighting up with red pinpoints as soon as it happened. The others woke up to the revelation soon enough, and the entire group started to shamble towards the pair of girls in a slow yet determined gait.

Re: The Dark (Deborah/Tiffania)

Deborah couldn't believe it. This woman wanted to stay? "What could possibly be so important to make you want to stay in a place like this?" she asked, looking into the "nun's" pink eyes and trying to gauge her responses. It was... quite strange. She seemed bound and determined to do whatever it was she was thinking of, and despite the situation around them she didn't seem to be afraid in the least, that sense of calm that she spoke with pervading. But then, it felt like something more than mere calmness... It was almost like there was something wrong with her, something missing. It was almost creepy in and of itself.

Apparently it was her intention to investigate the castle, though what she expected to find Deborah couldn't say. "I... I'm not a fighter" she replied, looking rather nervous herself. "I'm a mage, and I can cast a little bit of offensive magic, but I'm no great combat mage. But if there's..." She trailed off, something catching her eye from the edge of the little cemetery. It was three men, dressed in beaten up armor made of leather, though even to call them men at this point was somewhat misleading. Their flesh was withered and stretched tightly over almost visible bones, and it was abundantly clear to the mage that they weren't alive anymore, not really. They saw the two women, their eyes showing a red light when they did, and began to approach. "Over there" Deborah said, pointing at the shambling corpses, "do we fight or do we run?" She didn't know if this pink-haired lady had any combat ability herself or not, but she was surely about to find out. "They're moving slow enough that we could probably get away."

Re: The Dark (Deborah/Tiffania)

Once the oncoming trio of undead soldiers had been pointed out to her, the woman too turned to face them as they advanced towards the cemetary. "Not a combat mage... Now might be a good time to learn something new then." she told Deborah as she locked eyes onto the hostile group. With a little shake on her huge sleeves, the stranger revealed that she was indeed armed and ready as a length of chain dropped out from both of them, each topped by a miniature pendulum blade about the size of the average person's hand. "Listen. These creatures are slow, but they are tireless, and will follow us for hours. Even though most of their intelligence is gone, they still possess base cunning that enables them to perform basic strategy and things like tracking and searching. We will be in less danger if their unnatural existence ends here and now." she told few facts before taking a step forward, her arm extending out a little as she raised them to prepare her weapons. The things started to sway, and with each step forward, they gained a little more momentum. Even if Debbie was not about to fight, it looked like this one would.

Re: The Dark (Deborah/Tiffania)

Deborah's gaze turned to the woman curiously when she heard the sound of a chain, quirking an eyebrow at what had caused the noise. What sort of a bizarre weapon was that? A pair of chains at both of her arms, with blades on the end of them. Did she intend to swing them around and attack? Was that even a viable thing? It must be if she were still here and so aggressive... What she said made sense enough, though. "I... suppose I'll try" the mage replied as the pink-haired woman began to move towards the undead, starting to prepare her weapons for use... Deborah closed her eyes and began to chant quietly under her breath; with the enemy so far away and unlikely to charge them she could afford to take some time, to put some extra energy into each spell, to ensure that her aim was true before just firing away with one of her electric bolts. And especially to make certain she didn't accidentally hit the other woman.