Forums » Fantasy Roleplay » Deadly Tension (Closed)

Arkden was a welcomed sight for the Paladins once they returned. After a four day trip taking longer due to their injuries despite the wagon and horses. They were greeted by the other council members who were still there and each were instructed to have a full debriefing. The Paladin council members were shocked to hear about the battle and the injuries suffered by both Wilhelm and Heinrich. The fact the same Necromancer was involved and seems to have been betrayed by someone who then fled brought them some concern. They began to discuss them while the brave heroes would rest. It was about a week before Heinrich was back to being strong enough to resume his duties. Maybe not military duties but certainly tactical and political. Wilhelm and Jackie were allowed to rest and Wilhelm went off to do some research into Chimera and necromancy. He was starting to seem a little obsessed. It was another week by now having it been almost three weeks since they left the outpost.

Wilhelm's wounds were fully restored bar some odd shoulder cramps which were minor in comparison to what he had. He was in the great library of the Paladins. A massive room with several stories of bookshelves stacked high on knowledge about most of the known world .He was looking over all notes on Chimera. Most of what he found were alchemical records. Some told legends of Chimera being strong enough to rival and kill great dragons. He took note of all these. Numerous other books spoke of the process and ingredients needed. But one thing which was prominent to make a proper chimera was a philosopher stone. Wilhelm had heard of these things but the Chimera he read on were different from what he encountered. This led into his work of necromancy. Legends of how it came about, powerful necromancers and all the horrors which could be created from it. It was a magic lore outlawed in the Empires provinces however studying the art of it for academic reasons was allowed for those in the orders of the Paladins of Mage circles. Wilhelm spent days and nights researching only stopping to take a break for a short time when he physically couldn't stay up.

They'd been in Arkden for several weeks by now. Jackie had recovered, for the most part, from her injuries by now. She was more than eager to continue training. She waited a few days before bothering Wilhelm about it, assuming he needed more time to recover. She'd asked him about her training, but he'd turned her down, being consumed in his research. Jackie waited a few days before asking him again. Once more being turned down. This process repeated a few times before Jackie gave up. Jackie was beginning to grow restless. She'd also picked up on how obsessed Wilhelm had become over the Chimera.

"Wilhelm, how much lon-" Jackie began barging into Wilhelm's quarters. They were empty. Jackie groaned as she turned and let, making her way to the library. Sure enough, she found Wilhelm in the Library, reading out of a book. "Wilhelm!" Jackie called, marching up to the Paladin. "How much longer are you going to be reading these books?" Jackie asked. "We've both had plenty of time to heal up, we're both ready to get back to work and for me to pick up my training, but all I've done is sit on my butt! And I've finished all the training I can get without going on missions." Jackie ranted, before pausing, noticing heavy bags under Wilhelm's eyes. She sighed. "Not only am I going stir crazy but you're REALLY getting me worried, when was the last time you slept?" Jackie asked.

As Jackie called out Wilhelm was rather surprised. His head perked up from the book and he looked over to his apprentice. She was being rather forceful and assertive. He was prepared to yell at her to go away but her look of concern when asking about his sleep froze him. He thought about this. He looked to his notes and rubbed under his eyes feeling the sunken bags.
"About two days at the moment." He puts his face in his palms. "Fine. You do need to keep up your training. Especially after the last few missions." He looks over to her. "But as you saw that you should know why I'm doing this? There's something going on." He says his look going from weary to determined. I'll tell you what. I'll look into getting you into some patrols of the boarder. Likely bandits or something to deal with. I'll also get some sleep. But you need to let me keep going." He says not speaking to her like a lower apprentice but rather an equal. Something he did without noticing.

"Well, yeah I get why you're looking into this, but I don't get why you're doing it so obsessively." Jackie said. "This is the third time I've found you in here having gone several days without sleep." Jackie said. "Some of hte Paladins and apprentices have told me they'd seen you in here reading these books for several days straight!" Jackie said. "This isn't normal." Jackie said.

Wilhelm slams his fist into the table. It shakes under the impact.
"Damn it Jackie!" He snaps. "You've seen the scale difference in these attacks. What if next time they attack with stronger Chimera? Attack us with multiple of those big ones? The whole reason it didn't kill me was because it started to decay and rot. Incomplete or rushed together." He falls into his chair. Several others around looked at him shocked by the outburst. He looks to Jackie and then to the books. He closes them. "You're right. I need to rest." He gathers up his notes and seeming ashamed for his actions starts making his way out of the library.

Jackie jumped at the sudden outburst. "I-I know.... but..." She stammered, not sure what to say. "I'm sorry....." She whimpered, before Wilhelm got up and left. She sighed, not quite sure what to do. She glanced down at the books and gathered them up. She went over to the librarian and handed them to her. "Could you hold onto these? He'll probably be kinda mad if he came back later and they were gone." Jackie said in a dejected tone. "You shouldn't be encouraging that kind of behavior." Came a voice. A paladin, who wore rather fancy looking clothes, by the name of Marcus MacNeil approached Jackie. Marcus was well known for his skill, despite his young age.

"Not only is his obsession unhealthy, but he also shouldn't speak to his apprentice like that." Marcus said. "Are you alright?" He asked. Jackie nodded. "I'm fine." She said, as the librarian took the books. "And he's not normally like that." Jackie said, before she left.

She left the temple and wandered Arkden for a while. Eventually she came to her family's home. Being a Paladin they made a lot of money, and their house was rather large, and had more than a bit of land surrounding it. Jackie was almost instantly met with a large horde of dogs. "Why do they all have to be out at once?!" Jackie asked, before she was practically tackled by the large pack of dogs, licking her and bouncing around happily. Eventually Jackie managed to get a stick, grabbing it with her tail and throwing it. The dogs charged after it. Jackie got to her feet and made her way up to the door, knocking on it.

The door was opened and there stood a woman in her mid forties. She had brown hair down to her shoulders and brown eyes. He skin was not bad for her age some light wrinkles around her eyes and mouth but that was hard to avoid when aging. She had a brown dress on and a white blouse over the top. It had some brown thread around the back tightened to fit well. It was nothing special. Not the type of dress of a noblewoman but the kind worn by most of those rather well off. She had a soft smile.
"You talked him into coming back didn't you Jackie?" She says letting Wilhelm's young apprentice in. "He looked dreadfully tired. Went upstairs and collapsed onto the bed. Thankfully he was merely in his regular clothing not his armor. He has been out of it for about half an hour." She wanders with Jackie to the kitchen as she pours some tea handing a cup to Jackie.

Jackie hugged onto the woman once the door opened. "Hey Mom." Jackie said. She was about to start talking about Wilhelm, before the Woman, her mother Adrianna, began to speak. She followed Adrianna through the house to the kitchen. "What are you talking about?" Jackie asked, confused as she took her cup.

"Wilhelm. He's upstairs sleeping. Don't think I haven't noticed how much he's been into looking into something. Something seems to have shaken him." She says taking a sip. "He wasn't sleeping much and he came wandering here not long ago. He apologized and went upstairs to sleep." She smiled over to Jackie. "You and me are some of few people who can get under his skin and make him see through an obsession. It's why he's here not resting." She laughs. "Can take on trolls and giants but you yell at him and he can head back with head lowered." She smiles trying to joke and lighten the mood. "I hope you're feeling better?"

"A little." She said. "He yelled at me earlier." Jackie said after a few minutes. "He's been mad at me before, but I don't think he's ever yelled at me before." Jackie said, looking at the floor. "Did he ever get like that before you guys found me?" Jackie asked, not remembering if Wilhelm ever got this obsessed with anything when she was little.

Adrianna looked down looking a little ashamed for Wilhelm's actions.
"Well when he was younger he could bring himself to be a little obsessed. But never to this degree. He doesn't want to tell me though. I feel like it's better not to tell me though. You know why he's like this don't you?" She asks looking at Jackie and smirking softly. "He just needs some time. Is a bit of a stubborn old fool." She laughs.

Jackie nodded. "Yeah. We ran into a really tough monster on our last few missions." Jackie said. "How did you get him to stop being so obsessed about that stuff?" Jackie asked.

She shook her head.
"He usually just completes what he's after. But to go for days without sleep. I have no idea. Maybe he needs a distraction." He says not entirely sure how to help her husband. "What about the council? Have they said anything about this? If he is legitimately concerned about something perhaps the council should look into it." She sighs. "But I shouldn't be involving myself in their affairs."

"I don't know if they'd listen to me if I asked them about it." Jackie said. "And if Wil-Dad is too busy reading in those old books to sleep, then I think he'd be too busy to talk to the council unless they order him to." Jackie said, looking at the floor. "And what am I gonna do to distract him?" Jackie asked. "This whole thing is so important to him that he yelled at me for being worried about him earlier." Jackie said.

"I think that may have been enough. You confronting him probably made him put it all in perspective. I'm sure when he has time to think about it he will come to terms with things and move on. We can only give him time now." She puts down her cup. "But you should keep up with your training. Wilhelm will hardly want his apprentice to get slack." She winks.

"Well he's the one in charge of my training." Jackie said. "He said I could go with some paladin's to the borders, but nothing ever happens on a majority of them, and the borders that have thins going on are too dangerous for me." Jackie said. She and Adrianna continued to talk for a while longer, before eating dinner. Jackie went up to her old room and went to bed there a short while after dinner.

The next morning Jackie woke up, yawning. She blinked groggily, before noticing weight on her. She glanced over, finding half the pack of dogs her family had, nuzzled up to her asleep on the bed. The other half probably in Wilhelm and Adrianna's room snuggled up to Wilhelm.

Wilhelm had slept for around eighteen hours and was now down stairs. He was siting in a chair readying a letter. One from the Paladin council. It was a mission briefing. He read through it. At the bottom was the seal of the council and he memorized the time and place to go. Folding up the note he put it into an inner pocket in his clothes. He took a deep breath and gazed up to the roof. What he had done the last few days was catching up to him. He felt bad for how he treated and probably scared people.

It took Jackie a while to get all the dogs off of her bed so she could could get up and get dressed. She put on a simple tunic and a pair of pants before going down stairs, her hoof-like feet clacking on the wooden stair well. She paused when she saw Wilhelm. "Um... morning Dad." Jackie said, walking over and sitting down on one of the several chairs they had in the living area of the house. "Did Mom make breakfast already?" Jackie asked, looking at the floor.

"She has gone out." He takes a deep breath. "I'm sorry for how I've treated you lately. You must have been a bit annoyed and scared. I shouldn't have gotten like that." He takes out the note and toys with it. "But we have a mission. Well we've been requested to join Councilman Alrick on his mission." He put the note away taking another deep breath seemingly contemplating it.

"It's ok." Jackie said, before glancing at Wilhelm. "What's the mission?" She asked. Part of her hoped it would take them away from Arkden, to give Wilhelm some time to think over his obsession, and hopefully get over it.