Holding Storm's Edge: Their Mouth Look Like A Target

[Mathias Blackwood]

Mathias Blackwood
Holding Storm's Edge: Their Mouth Look Like A Target
1 Ashan 720

Mathias was out at the archery range working on his aim with his bow again. He'd become pretty good at using the chunk of wood to fling projectiles in the trials he'd been defending Storm's Edge but now he was working on speed. He's seen Vega put an arrow in the center of a target with such little effort in not even a trill... he wouldn't rest until he could put three arrows in the middle of the target in under a trill. It wasn't specifically about being better than Vega, he had little hope of ever being better than her, but it was about improving on the example he had seen. Vega had been fast but she'd have to reach all the way back for another arrow- he wanted to eliminate that trouble.

Mathias reached for the quiver on his hip and pulled three arrows from it. Vega would lose time reaching back to her quiver so Mathias thought to turn his hand into the quiver. He worked very slowly at first. Mathias nocked one arrow while holding the other two dangling between the other fingers in his right hand as he drew back on the bowstring. He immediately realized the problem. When he nocked the arrow on the left of the bow as he'd conventionally trained, the other arrows he was holding got caught in the bow and fuddled his whole attempt. It took three tries to realize he wouldn't have the problem if he nocked on the right side of the bow and when he came to that realization he spent an entire quiver of arrows trying to adjust his aim for nocking on the right of the bow. He discovered that alone was made him a little faster than he'd been when notching on the left but as expected his arrow had a habit of flying a little far to the right. That was why he spent the whole quiver- so he could figure out how to keep the arrow flying straight.

Mathias collected his arrows from the target and moved back to the mark he'd decayed into the ground. He pulled three arrows from his quiver again to prepare when he heard a Lightning Knight calling out in alarm. Mathias couldn't quite make out what the knight said before he saw what the knight was shouting about. Those damned little balls of fire were back again.

Human Male

Transmutation Mage
Glowing Silver Hand Veins

“The archer is the true weapon; the bow is just a long piece of wood.”
~ Sebastien de Castell

[Kasoria]

I thought this would be easier with sunlight.

That was what he thought, but not what he said. What burbled forth from his lips instead was a savage-sounding curse in Ith'ession that he had no desire to translate among polite company. Or impolite, given whom he was training alongside. The handful of volunteers lined up with him cast the little man a look but continued as they were. They didn't instinctively fear him as they did a season ago; oh, they still feared him to a degree, but it wasn't personal. He was on their side after all, and-

TWANG

THUNK

"Shite..."

-and if he could get as good with a bow as he was with his blades, he'd be fucking unstoppable. But that was not the case that day. The arrow wobbled off-center in the target, barely nicking a lung, by his studied estimations. He was going too quickly, and he knew it. Slow and accurate, that's where he needed to focus on. But he'd been so long studying by torch- and brazier-light that the sun illuminating all so nicely... well, he just wanted to go faster.

He blamed Mathias. Fucking kid was making it look easy.

Well. Easier. The redhead? Now, she makes it look "easy".

Mouthy bitch that she was - and would always be, most likely - Kasoria had to admit, he wished they'd seen more of her on the archery lanes. A single lesson had been enough to drum the basics into them; another meeting with her by himself had been fruitful, too. Plenty for him to build on, with the same patience and application that he'd used to master blade fists and blades and magic... but now she was gone. Not dead; there would have been outright mourning if that had been the case. But... busy.

So they'd all made do without Vega, the budding archers of Storm's Edge. Kasoria drew and nocked the last arrow... sighted... inhaled and held it... exhaled and-

Slow down.

TWANG

THUNK

"Better."

He didn't say anything else. He just waited foe everyone to finish and walked over to the distant targets, yanking each arrow out one by one. Another two breaks. That would do it. Then his shoulders and back would be good and sore, but not too drained and torn up for the training in the afternoon. Or whatever tasks and chores needed to be done. Kasoria smiled ruefully, for just a moment. It was becoming... familiar, this routine. Training, working, more training, relaxation and then sleep (apart from those nights he stood watch). He had to remind himself that this was not permanent; he had a son to go home to, and once he'd found his reward he-

Then he heard the clamor, and saw Mathias already sprinting up the wooden ramp to the wall. He frowned and before he could open his mouth-

The first hovering monstrosity appeared over the wall. Baleful red eyes over an open maw that seemed to be the entire front of its head. Vestigial arms poked from underneath it and no feet at all were visible. It swept a gaze across the stone fortifications and the humans, already rushing for weapons or for cover. Just as a couple of its kin rose up to join it Kasoria heard a whoosh of inhaled air and-

"DOWN!"

-he screamed the word just before hurling himself into the nearest doorway. A stream of flame flew past him and someone shrieked in agony in the sunlight where he;d been. Kasoria got to his feet, nocking an arrow even as he turned to the light. He licked his lips, not afraid, not trembling. Just angry. They'd killed these things before, and he'd thought they'd seen the last of them.

So they're back, he shrugged mentally, peering around the stone. So we kill them again, until they get the idea and stop fucking coming.

[Mathias Blackwood]

Mathias Blackwood
Holding Storm's Edge: Their Mouth Look Like A Target
1 Ashan 720

Mathias thought getting to the top of the ramparts would give him a better view but he ascended the steps he heard one word echo through the air. DOWN. Mathias dropped onto the stairs just as a stream of fire washed over the wall and five of the big round bastards floated over the wall. Mathias watched from under them as the moved to hover over the training area. He sat up on the steps and nocked an arrow- aiming at one of the five big bastards. They'd begun spewing flames at the volunteers and Lightning Knights scrambling to get bows but they hadn't noticed Mathias- either because he'd been beneath them when they went over the wall or because he was hidden pretty well behind the rail of the stairway. Mathias was aiming through that very same rail at one of the floating balls of death. His arrow flew straight into the beasts back and bounced off the stone.

Alright, hard shell. Full draw or you're wasting your time.

Hell with a shortbow he might still have been wasting his time there. Mathias fed the second of the three arrows in his hand up to his index finger and thumb with a little slow maneuvering of his fingers and he nocked it. The beast was looking for him so at the very least it wasn't still spewing flames. Mathias popped up from behind the railing on the steps and fired a second arrow, this one aiming for the beasts glowing eye. The arrow struck true- but not deep. The beast wailed with an ungodly noise and Mathias quickly fed the final arrow in his hand up to the bowstring. He drew back quickly and fired it into the opened, wailing maw of the firespitter. The beast exploded in the air and rained flaming shrapnel over the field.

Some volunteers cried out when the shrapnel hit them and Mathias winced. Sorry. So they still blew up when killed... good to know. Mathias ducked back into cover and looked at the palm of his right hand. He focused on his ether and summoned it to his palm, a small ball of blue glowing ether formed in his hand. "Get them together!" Mathias shouted to any volunteers who could hear him. He'd been so bound to his cover that he hadn't seen Kasoria... yet. Mathias popped out of his cover again, this time with what seemed like a stone of ether in his hand and he hurled it at one of the flying beasts... but he missed.

The ether missile crashed into the floor and the chunk of earth around it began to decay slightly. Shit. He began preparing another missile in his hand while watching through the railing to see if any of the beasts had found him. Most seemed occupied trying to burn the fleeing volunteers on the floor.

Human Male

Transmutation Mage
Glowing Silver Hand Veins

“The archer is the true weapon; the bow is just a long piece of wood.”
~ Sebastien de Castell

[Kasoria]

Some heard him. Some didn't. He did what he could with what he had available. That was small comfort to him as he took a deep, shuddering breath and the stench of roasting flesh nearly choked him. The screaming came after, but that was easy to tune out. He had a lot of experience, after all.

By the shadows of the stairway, Kasoria nocked an arrow into his bow... peeked out... and swore savagely.

Five of the fucking things?! How the fuck are we-

Mathias showed him, and quickly. Three arrows, one after the other, thudded into the nearest bloated monster floating over the wall. The first went straight into its back; the second caught it in the eye as it turned, and the last-

"Fuck me!"

-sent Kasoria ducking back to cover as the sack of flaming garbage exploded into... well, more flaming garbage. Only now what magic or evil held it together failed completely and the floater burst apart like a volcano in mid-air. Burning, scorching, smoking and sizzling chunks of flesh spewed everywhere. Some struck the defenders and sent them screaming and thrashing at themselves. But that which hit the other monsters... just seemed to annoy them.

Makes sense, Kasoria thought, though sullenly. Wouldn't be likely to hurt them, given what's in their guts.

"Get them together!"

He heard the young archer shout his order and soon found they weren't alone. Just like they had before, the volunteers and their Knightly leaders rallied quickly. They were old hands at this now: surprise and fear replaced by purpose, be it cold and determined or frightened and ragged. But they didn't flee. Not anymore. Spears and arrows started flying up at the monsters, as a whole hive of humans awoke and struck back at their invaders. Another of the beasts went crashing into a wall as a squall of missiles struck it, a screaming pikeman jamming his weapon into its maw and then being thrown clear off the wall as it exploded.

Kasoria watched the man fall and fall... straight into a horse trough. He shook his head as the soaking man resurfaced.

Ain't never gonna get that lucky again, boy.

Then he turned back to the three remaining. He drew back the nocked arrow. Until the feathers tickled his cheek and he couldn't pull any tighter. He sighted down the arrow... rested it on the face of one of the monsters. Dead center. No fancy aiming for mouth or eye. Pain would be enough of a victory, especially since he wasn't alone-

TWANG

-and Kasoria gave a feral grin as his arrow flew true. Hands already moving for the next, he watched the monster roar and shake, trying to claw at the arrow sticking out of its nose with hands far too small for the job. Kasoria kept moving, keeping to the side, the flanks, where the monsters couldn't quite focus on him. No point trying to face them head on, after all. A cold trickle went through his mind as the sense of it became clear.

Let the volunteers be the bait. They're what they want. That's why they're so focused on them. So be it. They can be the distraction, and we'll hit them from the sides.

Kasoria knew his comrades were unlikely to thank him for their place in the strategy. But as long as they lived, they could fucking lump it. He raised the bow again, aimed at the same monster-

CRACK

-something fast and glowing crashed onto the wall behind it, and the thing turned. Kasoria fired in the same moment. Fuck. Off-center. The arrow struck the creature in the side but didn't seem to pierce much beyond the skin. Again it roared, swinging back to him. Kasoria blinked and gaped for a second. That... was magic. And it had come from the hand of-

-light, glowing, heat, fire, in front-

"Fuck!"

Stupid old man!

Without thinking Kasoria dropped down from the stairs, straight down to the ground below, as the wounded monster belched a stream of flame into the spot where he'd been standing. Mathias would be alone for the moment.

[Mathias Blackwood]

Mathias Blackwood
Holding Storm's Edge: Their Mouth Look Like A Target
1 Ashan 720

Mathias could feel his ether surging like the burn in a muscle as you lifted a heavy weight as his ether poured forth from his hand like a thick blue mist. It stretched till roughly the size of a small throwing spear and the mist hardened- taking shape in Mathias's hand as it began to crackle and he imbued it with the same purpose as the last. The defenders of Storm's Edge rose up to fight at Mathias's call but he could hardly take credit. They'd been doing this for too long now not to know what to do. Those who would run knew where to run and hide. Those who would fight knew where to get weapons. All Mathias knew how to do was take cheap shots from the stairs and give people ideas... and he was all out of ideas.

He heard the loud POP as one of the beasts was felled and then a splashing noise. Some poor bastard must have caught on fire. Better them than him. Mathias turned out of his cover, looking around quickly for the closest of the Firespitters. Two down, three to go. Kasoria was taking shots at one of them and seemed to have drawn it's attention so Mathias looked for another but there weren't any close to the stairs anymore. They'd chased after the volunteers and that had drawn the two remaining Doom Balloons into the middle of the training area. With a bow he could have hit them for sure but he wasn't going to waste another ether missile. Mathias rushed down the steps "HEY!" He shouted as loud as he could hoping the round monsters could hear him.

The could. There was just a moment where Mathias realized they were turning to him and he thought he might not have made the right call... then he hurled the javelin of ether into the first Firespitter that began tumbling towards him. He didn't need to strike it anywhere special- when the electric blue ether missile smashed into the Firespitter it seemed to dissolve into the beast and a trill later the beast's stone side began to decay. Another two trills and it had exploded, the impact knocking it's companion over long enough for Mathias to grab another arrow from his quiver. He nocked it quickly and took aim just as the second Firespitter righted itself. He fired while it's mouth was closed but he'd drawn back on the bow all the way and the arrow stuck into the stone lip of the beast.

Then it opened its mouth, orange and glowing with an intense heat. Shit. Mathias dropped his bow and leapt aside as a stream of flames flew forth from the beast's maw. He crashed into the floor with no real grace and crawled away from the heat he could feel behind him. The beasts mouth seemed open so wide it could not tell it hadn't burned Mathias yet. The archer looked for his bow only to remember he'd dropped it before jumping and he'd not get it back without walking into the beast's flames. Fine. More ether. Mathias scrambled to his feet and urged his ether into his hand again. It slowly began to swirl into form in Mathias's grip when suddenly the Firespitter began to turn. Mathias panicked and stumbled forward, trying not to lose focus on the missile he was conjuring despite the encroaching fire.

He didn't have enough time to aim. He didn't have enough time to enlarge the missile. He focused only on what he needed and hurled it while dropping to the ground. His aim was non-existent but it wasn't hard to tell where the fire was coming from. He didn't need to hit it in some vital spot, he just needed to touch the big bastard with his missile and it seemed that he had. The beast wailed- if they even could wail, as one of it's arms began to decay. The stream of fire it had been spewing faded and Mathias crawled into cover behind some barrels full of training arrows. No boom. It's alive. Where the fuck is Karim?

Human Male

Transmutation Mage
Glowing Silver Hand Veins

“The archer is the true weapon; the bow is just a long piece of wood.”
~ Sebastien de Castell

[Kasoria]

That... fucking hurt.

Even his thoughts seemed to cough and sputter through his mind for a moment. He landed heavily, rolling at once, but that didn't seem to help much. The world span in a blur, like a wet painting smeared into streaks of muddled color. By the time he stopped, the bow had been flung from his hand and was gone. Arrows crunched under his back, wood splintered, and he was without his weapon-

No, that same cold, clear voice said, as his vision cleared. Without that weapon.

Kasoria got to his feet just in time to see another monster explode into flaming offal. A burst of blue light seemed to presage it, a ragged missile that crackled like Ashan lightning... only this thundercloud was much closer to the ground. The Etzori shook his head and tracked the blue afterimage back to the panting archer. Already running for cover as yet another Firespitter started towards him. Kasoria frowned. That was... five. Three were dead. The boy had killed two, a third was taken down by the defenders, a fourth was after him, and the fifth-

-with its arrows in its nose and side, casting a fat and bloated shadow over him as it followed over the wall, mouth pointing down-

"A'right, fuck this-"

WHOOOSH

Kasoria threw up his arm and within the time it took to snap a mental order, his ether flew from the witchmark in his palm and blossomed over his head like an umbrella. A gout of fire burst over it, pouring across the surface like molten lava, trying to peak around the edges. With a snarl and a pulse of yet more effort, Kasoria poured more of himself, his energy, his Spark and his ether, into the Shield. It shimmered and shook like a shield under assault by a storm of arrows. He could feel the heat, so close to him, scorching his palm even as he held the flames at bay.

But it did not break, because he did not. He just wished he'd thought to use this sooner.

Idiot. Wanting to stick with arrows and wits, when you have magic in your bones now.

Well, there would be time for beating himself up later. For the moment, he looked up and saw the flame dissipate, cut off at the source. He saw the plump, hideous, barely-humanoid face of the Firespitter for a split trill as it hovered over him. Looking down with piggy eyes, confusion and incomprehension warring in its tiny yet murderous brain.

Confusion. Hesitation. The two were never far apart. And Kasoria had long since learned never to waste that chance-

-which was why it was only a split trill, because right after that-

-his free hand was a blur, snapping under his cloak and then flicking back out again-

-two silver blurs flying through the air, through the Shield that he let fall apart the same moment he let fly with-

SH-SHUNK

The pair of throwing knives slammed into the confused Firespitter's open mouth and Kasoria's teeth rattled as it let out a damned, agonized howl. Just like the one Mathias had killed, it seemed like the monster was burning, immolated, incinerated from the guts outwards. Metal instruments of death severing or bursting something vital and vulnerable in the back of its throat. Without waiting to watch its thrashing, Kasoria was already jumping away, towards the last monster as it gave a great, ghastly inhalation-

There was a boom behind him. The Firespitter exploded. But the one in front of Mathias' hiding space wasn't dead yet, and wouldn't stop until it was. He knew where that pesky human had gone, the one that had dared to wound it. Hiding behind... wood? Not very smart. The monster growled and sucked in fresh fuel for its flames, and right before it launched-

Mathias would hear the queerest, loveliest sound. One of pain, and shock... from the Firespitter. Once he peeked over the top of the barrel, he'd see the Etzori standing behind the Firespitter with both hands raised. Both glowing. Sweat streaming from his face as he held the monster in place. Chain-like Shackles thick as Mathias' arms winked and fizzled in and out of sight as Mathias looked at the monster. Thrashing and whirling in mid-air but unable to move. Wrapped up and held in place, unable to so much as as spit, let alone launch swathes of flame.

"B... Boy?" Kasoria finally said, breaking the spell of disbelief. "Can't... hold this fuckin' thing... forever..."

[Mathias Blackwood]

Mathias Blackwood
Holding Storm's Edge: Their Mouth Look Like A Target
1 Ashan 720

Mathias rested his hand against the barrel, preparing to bolster it against the flames of the one-armed Firespitter hobbling. There was a sudden pain in his fingertips as he called on his ether. A sharp pain like he'd pricked his fingers on an arrowhead and Mathias pulled his hand away to examine it. Was that a splinter? He looked at the fingers where the prickling pain remained. There's no wood in my hand. He'd learned the warmth of Scalvoris sand from grains of it, so he knew his spark would have been flooding his mind with information about the wood lodged in his hand if there was any. But Mathias had no further time to think on the issue as a sudden increase in heat from behind the barrels reminded Mathias of the battle around him. Then there was a noise... an odd noise.

Mathias turned out of his cover to find etheric chains blinking in and out of existence and binding the wounded Firespitter. The fuck? Mathias's eyes trailed down in surprise to the struggling Kasoria. Good save, Karim. Mathias thought before Kasoria urged him to act. Right, fighting. Mathias held out his hand and conjured another ether missile. The silver veins shining through his palm beginning to glow brighter and brighter as the thick blue mist of ether poured forth from Mathias's hand and took crackling form trills before the mage hurled it into the suspended Firespitter.

The missile struck the immobile beast center-mass and dissolved into it's rocky flesh trills before dissolving it's rocky flesh. The beast groaned for a trill then it burst like all the rest. Mathias grinned victoriously for just a beat before a sudden pain rippled through his right arm. He dropped in agony clutching his hand but the pain wasn't just there. It spread further up his wrist into his forearm and stopped at about his elbow- not that he could tell. It felt as if all his muscles were seizing suddenly and he could do nothing to stop it. He pulled his arm close and squeezed it- thinking for some reason that it would make the pain stop but it obviously didn't. He didn't scream. His face had passed from joy to mild discomfort to shock and surprise. Now it sat in agony but he didn't scream.

Thirty trills later the pain slipped into a dull ache and Mathias stood up again. "Good work." Mathias said to Kasoria as Mathias shook his own burning right arm. He would need to get it looked at. Maybe he could see Gennadiya again.

Human Male

Transmutation Mage
Glowing Silver Hand Veins

“The archer is the true weapon; the bow is just a long piece of wood.”
~ Sebastien de Castell

[Kasoria]

Kasoria couldn't help but stare as the missile was not just drawn or fashioned, but grown out of Mathias very skin. He held out his hand and the blob of ether grew longer and thicker until it was a caveman's parody of a javelin. Only one crackling with bluish energy, and when he threw it the ether dart seemed to hiss through the air-

-strike through the Shackle chains and making the Raggedy Man grunt with inherited pain-

Still he stared. He let his own cast spell die, concentration and flow of either redirected and cut off respectively. The ether-javelin, it wasn't just impaling the creature, it was... sinking into it. Going from hard to soft to dissolving into the scales and smoking flesh. The Firespitter started to wail as the decay of seasons took place over a handful of seconds. Its skin sloughed away and the rot just kept going. Kept eating into organs and muscle and-

BOOM

-Kasoria was ready, that time. Hand thrown up and Barrier pulsed out with it, ragged fragments of blaming intestines and meat sizzling against it. He grunted again, this time louder. Fates... only three casts? Was it age? Some cumulative weakness? Probably that second one, and the fact he'd been holding back either fire hot enough to char stone or a monster that was bent on destruction. He rolled his tingling arm in its shoulder and made a note to rest it as best he could. Then he looked over to-

"Oh, shite."

Mathias had looked better. His arm was red and even as he approached Kasoria could see it throbbing, as if he'd been lifting full sacks on the dock for a double shift. The boy groaned and grunted and Kasoria knew why. He'd been flinging those... things, for half the fight. Boy his age, probably not long initiated into... wait-

"Y'overstepped," he said, rough Etzori accent adding fresh letters to the magical term. "Pushed yerself too far. Although, given the circumstances..." He looked around at the flaming organic wreckage all around them. How long had it taken? Two bits? Less? The volunteers were warily walking through the remains, stabbing anything bigger than a hand or an eyeball. Kasoria was oddly proud of them, reacting so quickly. But he'd not let his attention be diverted. He swung his gaze back to Mathias, noting the silvery tinge to the veins atop his hand. "What wuz dat, anyway? Some sorta' magic, aye?"

You're one to talk.

Maybe, he silently agreed, but I asked first.

[Mathias Blackwood]

Mathias Blackwood
Holding Storm's Edge: Their Mouth Look Like A Target
1 Ashan 720

No shit. Mathias cursed Kasoria in his mind but not out loud. He hadn't actually come to that conclusion without Kasoria but that just made it worse when Kas finally pointed out what should have been so obvious to Mathias. Of course he'd overstepped! He'd been flinging ether missiles left and right trying to kill the beasts without any regard for the strain he knew he had felt building in his spark. He should have seen it coming, but he didn't. He felt the tingling in his fingers rise into a burn again and began shaking his hand a little faster once more only to abandon the effort after a few shakes. The pain wasn't going away but with clenched teeth, Mathias could manage it. Kas had asked if what Mathias had done had been some sort of magic and Mathias nodded softly.

"Yeah, some sort of magic." He repeated in a bitter tone. The pain was really ruining his mood. He'd have asked about the chains if he didn't know Kasoria already had some form of magic. He'd used a shield when they were sparring made of ether but Mathias hadn't known what type of magic that was... not that he particularly cared for the specifics. Kasoria could make shields out of ether and apparently chains too. All that meant to Mathias was that he could drain ether from Kasoria to increase his own abilities until some other use for Kas's magic presented it self to Mathias. "I thought you knew I was a mage?" Maybe word hadn't reached Kasoria that the bags of warm sand filling and heating the keep had been manufactured by Mathias. Then again by that logic the whole of Storm's Edge would have known he was a mage and Mathias knew that to be untrue.

Human Male

Transmutation Mage
Glowing Silver Hand Veins

“The archer is the true weapon; the bow is just a long piece of wood.”
~ Sebastien de Castell

[Kasoria]

"Yeah, some sort of magic."

Yeah, what fucking kind, smartarse?

Kasoria didn't say that last part aloud, though he dearly wanted to. He'd been back-talked and hustled and plied with excuses and evasions by the sleaziest cunts in Etzos. Did this kid really think he was going to shine him on? But this wasn't one of those jobs from the murky past where he could just break bones until the half-truths stopped. This required a little more... subtlety. Kasoria swallowed back the growl of threat and studied the boy instead. Noted the silvery veins under his skin, tapering down to his hands. Remembered the way he'd crafted the "weapon" he'd used. How it had hurt him. How it had rotted away the Firespitter...

Don't rush things. Getting impatient in your old age.

"I thought you knew I was a mage?"

Kasoria looked up briefly from his cold-eyed study of the young mage, and shrugged. "Never seen it a'fore, 'ave I? Knew youse were good wiv' a bow, but nuffin' else." He frowned and cocked his head to one side. "Y'been hidin' it or summin'? Heard some Order a' Cunts this side a' the water go huntin' mages. Dun' think this lot-" he jerked a thumb over his shoulder, gesturing to the armored Knights checking on their charges and squires "-give much of a shite, long as yer throwin' yer ether the right way."

There was another groan from the younger man and Kasoria realized this was probably not the best time. "Right. Yeah. Healer." He stepped aside and let the kid shamble next to him, still clutching his arm. Not holding him, not even touching, because, well... why? He merely maintained the same speed as him, until Mathias groaned again. "Oh, enuf. Fuckin' thing ain't fallin off."

The ragged little crowd parted as the mercenary and the assassin moved through them, heroes again, whispering following them into the keep as they left the steaming organic refuse behind.