Chronicles of Croaria: Calamity's Finest Hour

Keladry spent time eating and thinking about what she wanted to do for the day, ending up on spending her time outside and possibly hunting. When she finished eating she cleaned up a bit, wanting to leave the kitchen clean for Loria since she was nice enough to take her in and feed her. After that was done she went and got her sword, attaching it to her hip again carefully and went outside as she hummed happily. Her tail wagging slightly, her ears twitching as she listened to anything around maybe to catch or people since she was close to the wall.

It took her a bit longer before deciding to walk along the wall curiously, hunting as she did but also wondering what was around the wall to where so many people lived.

Loria smirked at Haseo briefly before jumping backwards a little bit, landing before giving a swing of her Greataxe. Suddenly a huge gust of wind smacks Haseo in the chest with just enough force to knock him flat onto his back. She gives a satisfied smirk as she smacks her weapon's bladed end onto the floor of the arena and leans onto it, Karn giving a sigh nearby.

"Pick a number then Loria."

She appears to think for a moment, over exaggerating the notion before smirking at the prince again.

"Twenty."

Karn nods and looks to Haseo.

"You heard her prince. I want that in push-ups right now. Then we'll try this again until you finally manage to do something to her."

He orders him, watching him with crossed arms patiently.


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Keladry hears what sounds like some kind of conversation going on in the forest nearby. She can hear odd, magical sounds coming from that direction and what sounds like wing beats as they were talking. She can't tell what they're saying without getting any closer however.

Keladry's ears went up when she heard some talking in the forest, some sort of conversation and even other sounds along with it. She took a second of trying to think about if she should pry or not, and decided to check it out after a little bit. Crouching down she made her way through the bushes and past trees to where she heard the conversation, her ears twitching as she did. She moved slower as she was sure she was getting closer, maybe enough to see the people but for sure closer enough to hear.

The blade makes Loria stumble backwards a little bit, making her ability to use her Greataxe to block the prince's next attack minimal so long as she was using it to do so. But Loria knew better than to allow such a thing. In one fluid motion, she uses her gauntlet to guide the prince's sword to her side and miss hitting anything that would allow him to win the exchange. Soon after that she drops her Greataxe uses her now freed hand to hit Haseo square in the chest, a point-blank blast of wind sending him flying back a few feet and onto his back once again. Loria gave a huff as the sound of her Greataxe clambering onto the arena floor was heard, picking it up as she frowned at the prince.

"You scratched my gauntlet's. Not bad but you need to remember that the fight isn't over so long as an opponent can defend themselves."

Karn nods at Loria's words before looking to the prince to add his own input.

"Loria is correct. Ordinarily you would have won that exchange just now, but an experienced knight knows that their armor is just as good at blocking blows as any weapon can be. Unarmed combat might be less deadly than any blade, but it's still useful as well. Pick a number again Loria."

Loria scowls at the prince as she picked up her weapon from the arena floor.

"Fifty."

Karn smirks at her before looking at the prince again.

"Sit ups. Go."

He orders him, looking to be enjoying Loria's rather childish way of punishing the prince for scratching her armor.


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Keladry spots several people cloaked in black with a strange symbol on their cloaks that she doesn't recognize. One person isn't wearing one and is in a tree high up in the air while yet another has his hood down on his. Both of them look to be in the mid to late twenties, the girl having spiked back black hair and a sleeveless shirt, two black angel wings coming from her back. The male has a similar hairstyle in a dark brown with a scar going across his right eye and a tattoo of some kind of slash just beneath his left eye. He seems to be carrying a huge metal sword with multiple serrated blades set on its blunt edges, the blade itself being segmented into multiple pieces for some reason. He's giving the woman a small grin, the woman looking calm without a single readable expression on her face.

Spoiler:

The woman is speaking as Keladry gets within hearing distance.

"Zweihander, don't forget that you're on a mission while you're participating in that tournament here. And when you find who we're looking for, grab her and go. I'll do the rest."

He gives an even bigger, sharp-toothed grin, a satisfied growl in his tone.

"I'm aware Krow. Once we see Catia I'll grab 'er and take her back to base. Doesn't mean I can't enjoy myself while I'm fighting does it?"

He asks her, making her sigh in exasperation.

"Just make sure you get things done. I don't want anymore screw ups this ti-"

She stops mid-sentence, her gleaming red, demonic-like eyes immediately looking in Keladry's direction. She narrows her eyes as if she's staring directly at her, making the others grow completely silent.

Keladry's ears slowly went back as she looked at the two people she had found, her tail starting to puff up as well as she listened since she knew this wasn't at all a good situation. She had stumbled into something bad, that she knew she shouldn't have heard or seen at all. When the woman stopped in the middle of what she was saying though and looked over at her, then her heart beat quickly as she started to panic. What was going to happen, what where they going to do to her now.

She moved to start backing away quietly, trying to stay calm enough to not just jump up and run away. Though if they made any movement to her she would probably start running as quickly as she could, maybe she could get to the city and find someone to help. That would be the best, she would run for the city when she got the chance.

Loria gave Haseo's antics a giggle before her smirk was wiped directly off of her face upon seeing Karn actually getting up and drawing his sword.  She immediately stepped away and off of the arena, not wanting to be in his way.  He wreathed his equipment in sheer flames, his armor shining every so often as the sparks of the flames gleamed off of his armor.

"Fine.  If fire magic is what you want to practice, then I'll become your opponent.  If you can't do even a little damage to me, you get double the number's that Loria picks in excercises and we keep going until you do."

He told the prince, his eyes narrowed and a warning tone in his voice as he spoke to him.  Haseo could tell that by wreathing his equipment in flames that he wouldn't be pulling any punches this time, making a worried expression cross Loria's face.

"Karn....don't you think that's a little bit too much?"

She argued gently, Karn's only response a sidelong glare at her which quickly silenced her attempts at consoling him.  Karn got into a ready stance and waited patiently for Haseo to attack him.

"Well?  Are you going to attack or stand there like a frightened little rabbit all day?"

He growled at him, his flames obviously intensifying with his disappearing patience with the prince's whining.


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The woman, named Krow by the others nearby, simply let her wings lie flat before returning her attention back to the others.

"Must be a trick of my eyes.  Get going before I decide to do this all myself."

She warned them, all of them responding with a quick 'yes ma'am' before running off towards the city.  Krow however, did not move.  She glanced back in Keladry's direction and appeared to stare calmly at her location, her wings going up and into the air in an act of intimidation.

"Well?  Are you going to sit there and eavesdrop on me all day or come out?  I could just as easily torch you where you stand.  The very fact that I didn't give you away just now should be an indication that you can come out without fear of me hurting you as soon as you do.  Now hurry up before I lose what little patience I have left."

She warned her, making it quite obvious that she knew exactly where Keladry was and that she'd heard everything that was just said.

Keladry squeaked quietly when she could tell she was being spoken to after everyone else but Krow had left, shivering before she moved out of the bushes as she shook. Though she was standing up now and standing in the open she was keeping her hand next to her sword, shaking a lot since she was scared of this new person.

"I-If... you knew I was there... w-why didn't you give me away. Y-You know I heard that..."she said quietly with her ears pressed against her head. It took a lot to be able to get her voice out at all.

Krow's demonic red eyes narrowed, her black pupils turning to slits as she stared at Keladry in suspicion.

"And why should I care that a Catien like you heard about such a thing? Even if you did have the proper ability to warn those that I'm targeting, you wouldn't be able to stop us. No....better I didn't waste my magic or energy doing anything to you. Besides...."

She gives Keladry a devilish smile as she lets her wings lie flat and shifts to let her legs dangle over the edge of the tree branch in relaxation.

"It wouldn't be quite right if I just up and killed everyone I met now would it? You're such a cute little one anyway. It would be a shame to kill you."

She told her, her posture and gaze relaxing considerably once she'd doled out her fair share of intimidation to Keladry.

Keladry saw that Krow was relaxing as she spoke, shaking still and staying on edge no matter what she was saying though. She didn't trust this new person, especially since she was after Catia. Though she did have a faint blush against her cheeks from the compliment of sorts about how she was cute.

"I-I can't let you take C-Catia though... she and I-I may have only met but she is a friend of mine."she said quietly in reply.

That said, she wanted to go run to find Catia or someone and warn them but she doubted it would be that easy to just run in and find those she wanted.

Krow heard Keladry's response and her smile disappeared, replaced with a neutral expression.

"Are you trying to tell me to give you a tracking mark?  I don't mind scorching you a little bit, long as it's not your pretty face I'm hurting."

She asked, watching Keladry carefully.

Keladry looked at Krow with her ears back still before she glanced around quietly, wondering if she jumped for it she could make it back to the city before anything happened to her. She sighed quietly though after a second and looked down at the ground some as she responded.

"Do you just want me to sit on what I have heard then and let my friend get taken? Even more of my friends get hurt trying to defend her, maybe even die?"

she asked as she looked back up at Krow calmly.

Krow only stares back at Keladry as she presents her point, her look now turning to one of sheer boredom.

"Well the way I see this you've only got two options little Catien. You could either let me put my tracking mark on you before I just go on my way. Or you could try to run and hope that I'm not obviously fast enough to catch you and possibly kill you trying to put my tracking mark onto your body. Do try to be smart about this. I don't have the patience to deal with stupidity today."

She explained, her tone showing a tiny bit of irritation.

Keladry listened and watched Krow, her tail twitching a bit as she got irritated too from how she was being talked to. It took her a second of trying to think before she actually decided what she was going to try and do.

"If I am so cute, then why do you need a tracking mark?"

She asked and tilted her head slightly before jumping off into the bushes near by. She knew she barely had a chance to get away and get anywhere before getting caught, though she didn't want to be seen as weak enough to surrender without even trying. So she ran through the bushes in the trees, trying to stick to a path that looked like the trees where close enough together it would be hard to keep up.

It takes a few minutes before Keladry makes it to a small clearing of trees, the roots too thick to give her any other way to escape Krow besides going back and trying a different path. But before she can even consider doing so she's grabbed by the back of her head by Krow. She feels her feet leave the ground as she's lifted into the air and dark tendrils of energy wrap around her body, holding her in midair as Krow hovers in front of her. The tendrils turn Keladry around so they can get a full view of Krow, her face full of disappointment.

"Honestly....you can't just make this easy can you?"

She says, her tone full of exasperation as the tendrils tighten around Keladry's body and quickly make it hard for her to move.

Keladry started to panic when she had noticed she ran right into a dead end, and was about to go back when she was grabbed all of the sudden. She started to tear up from being grabbed and it hurting as well as being wrapped up tightly, making her gasp for air some. Even when facing Krow though she started to growl with her ears against her head, she was scared and couldn't do anything but didn't mean she was fully giving in.

"L-Let me go! I-I am not going to give in so easily! I'm going t-to help Catia!"she said as she panted and growled a bit more.

Krow narrowed her eyes at the frightened little Catien girl in front of her, not quite understanding why she couldn't just simply hold still and let her put her mark on her. It couldn't be that painful. It was just blue fire after all. Nevertheless, the tendrils of darkness kept squeezing Keladry's body tighter and tighter the more she struggled. Her breath stolen away, Krow sighed and forced them to loosen up a little bit without fully letting her go. She crossed her arms and gave Keladry an impatient look.

"I don't want to hurt you y'know. Just hold still will you? That's all I'm asking you to do. Then I'll leave you alone to do whatever you want. Sheesh...."

She told her, getting quite tired of Keladry's struggling and panicking.

Keladry flinched with the tendrils getting tighter and forcing the breath out of her, gasping some when they got loose again as she just started to shake some. She tried to start growling at Krow again after but was too scared to do it this time, her ears still pinned against her head though.

"F-Fine! J-Just do what ever and let me go! I-I am still not going to l-leave them to die though." she growled after a minute of trying to get her courage back.

Krow gave a sigh of relief when Keladry finally agreed to hold still, her right hand lighting itself ablaze with a strange blue flame while she used her left to gently lower her to the ground. The tendrils then slipped off of her body and disappeared, leaving her totally exposed as Krow easily touched down and walked over to her. Blue flames in hand, she moved to Keladry's left side and lifted up her sleeve to her shoulder before carefully tracing a blue fire marking onto her shoulder. The mark actually didn't hurt upon being put onto her bare skin, the fire feeling very cool to the touch as Krow dispelled it and let go of Keladry's sleeve. She sighed before stepping back and putting her hands on her hips, frowning in irritation.

"There. Really now was that so hard? All I did was make it easier to find you when I need to watch you or if I need you for something."

She explained, her black angel wings disappearing in a small flash of magic into a tatoo on her arm and up her shoulders. She reached into her side pouch and took out a couple of small biscuits, offering one to Keladry.

"Here. You might as well eat something before that sets in completely. You'll lose your appetite for a day or two but beyond that I did almost nothing to you."

She said, a much calmer expression on her face now. The biscuit smelled very aromatic and looked to be dusted with a few different kinds of herbs.

Keladry was almost surprised at how suddenly Krow's attitude changed and she was set down onto the ground, though she did almost pull away when she came over to touch her with the fire. She did flinch slightly before hand, but was confused that it didn't hurt at all and watched as Krow pulled away and offered her the biscuits after speaking a bit.

"W-Why.... why do you want to know where I am? I-I can't be that important to you."she muttered quietly, not relaxing very much despite how much more calming Krow seemed to be and she didn't touch what was being offered. "I-I just want to go find my friends... I don't need food."she said and looked at the ground quietly. She hated the way this felt already, feeling like later on it would cause trouble some how.

Krow shrugged and put the other biscuit back into her side pouch before munching on her own.

"You could cause me trouble later. Doing that just lets me keep an eye on you when things happen. Nothing more, nothing less."

She told her, nodding to her before hopping up into a tree to finish her biscuit.

"Well I did what I wanted to. Go on and find your friends. If you don't feel it necessary to eat later tonight or tomorrow then touch that mark and tell me with your thoughts. I have a remedy for it but I left it back at the base so I can't just give it to you now."

She explained, finishing her snack before leaning up against the trunk of the tree and closing her eyes. Her breathing audibly slows down and it doesn't take her too long to doze off.

Keladry watched Krow and twitched her ears slightly, both of them having finally come up from being pinned to her head. She listened for a bit longer when hearing Krow doze off, hesitant because she was still worried. Though she took the chance and ran off for the way into the city, running the whole way since she wanted to get inside and see if Loria was inside some how. Maybe she could find someone she recognized at all, though she did start to doubt she was going to be able to as she got close to getting inside the city.