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The boat which the group of people were on to slay the Lich had stopped at a the single dock of the coastal village, but something is not right. There wasn't any noise coming from beyond the village walls whatsoever, and the gate of the dock that led into the town showed no guards. Another thing which they could notice, is... smoke? It's faint, but several thin smokestacks could be seen coming from beyond the village, it's probably just a few chimneys though... Better go meet the people.

Wiping the crust from her eyes from the long trip, Crystal observed the town before her. Chills went up her spine as she instinctively pulled her coat in closer. Something was definitely wrong here, but she was unsure what. As the boat finally docked she took slow and careful steps off and looked around. No one was here, and the only sign of life was the smoke stacks off in the distance. Well, this journey wasn't going to be an easy one, that much she knew. But she didn't expect the problems would start immediately. With a deep breath Crystal would straighten her back and walk directly towards the smoke stacks.

Upon traveling further into the village, it's shown that the smoke stacks were coming from burning buildings. The scene was horrid, many a person lay face down, with many gashes, wounds, and slashes on their bodies. Some even burnt to a blackened crisp. The building that was on the contracts was destroyed too, now just a crumbled mass of burned wood and stone.

Twirling the wooden staff as he walked, he briefly examined the bodies. The twirling soon came to a stop as he approached one of the many bloodied bodies without any caution. Acerbus prodded at the corpse with his hoof, having no respect for the deceased. He inhaled as a cold feeling crawled up his spine, causing him to shiver by reflex. From then on, he trod lightly in an attempt to avoid staining his fur and clothes.

The young sheep carefully join the inspection of what once was probably a lifefull town, moaning in despair as his feet were getting stained with ashes, troubling the literal 'dead silence' only by the jingling of his ankle bracelet.
Instinctivly he began shivers in fear at this horrible vew and held his arm together.
-"I ... I'm going to see if I can get a better understanding of this ... massacre .. from up there.."
He shyly announced before head towards the remains of what was possibly a church or a temple.
He hoped from stone to stone with a surprising ease to get higher and sat on top of the ruins, scanning the scene in the vain hope of seeing someone still alive down here.

Crystal covered her mouth to withhold a gasp upon seeing the massacre before her. Who could have done such a thing and for what possible reason? That's when she heard that one of her allies that rode the boat with her was ascending to a higher location to get a better view. Certainly not a bad idea. Plus it would also get Crystal further away from the bodies. With her eyes on the temple however she concluded that now of all times would be a fantastic time for a little experimentation. After seeing the carnage before her, she wants to be as prepared as possible.

Rolling up her sleeves Crystal would reveal a pair of metallic bracers she wore. While certainly not necessary they helped to serve as a reminder of what led to where she is now. Brushing a bit more dust from her eyes Crystal stared at the safest point she could towards the top of the temple and concentrated. While at first nothing seemed to happen, a dull glow of purple would emanate from her legs and eyes as she envisioned the path she must take. While to others it would look like a simple channel, to her a world of pure chaos opened before her as visions of pain, suffering, and torment were all that existed before stepping into the abyss. Crystal felt the space around her claw at her skin, burn her flesh, and cackle around her as it felt as if minutes had passed. To everyone else however she simply stepped forward between dimensions, appearing on top of the temple. If one were to look closer they may even notice the slight bruising after the trip. Convenient as it may be, she'd rather not do this all the time. After all that was said and done though she looked across the port to see if she could find the culprit.

"Yeah, you have fun." His voice was no higher than a murmur, not expecting anyone to actually hear him or even bother to respond. Acerbus hoped that no one would hear him, or even noticed that he was there with them. The staff's sharpened end was jabbed into the ground, slowly being dragged through the dirt. The satyr's staff formed a small trail behind him that lengthened with each step he took.

He had a grimace of disgust as the sudden stench of burnt bodies and blood finally found its way to him. It was then that a realization had hit him. Maybe it was possible to attempt necromancy on a corpse while he waited? Acerbus kneeled by a corpse, quietly and carefully reciting one of the many passages from his studies. The staff was planted firmly into the ground in front of him. His eyes closed and his breathing slowed down as he put all his focus on the lifeless body before him. All words that he spoke were in another language, not one that many would recognize. Positioning his hands just above the corpse, he whispered the final sentence to himself. Gently lifting his hands slightly, he glanced down and watched for the smallest movement from the body.

Other, than the bodies, and buildings looking freshly burnt and destroyed, there was no sign distinguishing sign of an attacker, no insignias or banners or banners to be seen, as well as almost no presence of arcane energies in the area, though, crystal would be able to see the city they were supposed to travel to, supposedly which the Lich inhabited, far to the north, from their point of view, it would look like a great stone carving, rising up out of the ground.

The body begins to move, but then a rune appears over it, just before it could get up, it's flesh and bone burns away into smoldering ash.

When Crystal appeared on the same bulding Yuki flinched, jumping back at the surprising capacity of the young female.
After realising it wasn't an ennemy, the white haired caprine sighed in relief, a bit too loud to be discret.
Looking closer at her he immediatly remark the bruises and inconsciously bite his lips.
The sheepboy then grabed his sheperd staff and approached Crystal.
"Raidho Jera, Wunjo Thurisaz..." he pronounced with a shivering voice.
A calm and radiating blue halo flowed over Crystal, slowly and warmly regenerating her mere injuries.
As if affraid Yuki took a step back before adressing the green-eyed woman with, once again, a very shy voice.
-"I didn't know that humans could use this kind of ... Transportation... It's rather uncommon... And it looks painfull."
While looking away from his comrade, the incubus pointed his blue eyes on the reanimated corpse before frowning with a compassionate expression of pain before the fate of the body.

Crystal would act surprised at the healing; looking to her ally in wonder,"And you my friend would be the first healer I've ever met. My name is Crystal, and I'm pleased to make your acquaintance."

Crystal would curtsy before giving a few gentle kneads on her skin. The bruises were actually gone. The reason this shocked Crystal is less the fact that others have magic, as that was a given these days, but because Crystal had never successfully healed before. This would be about when she noticed the body turning to ash upon being messed with by her other ally. Whoever did this didn't want people brought back to tell the tale... This made their mission more important than she realized.

Looking out over towards their destination she spoke out to her ally in the ground,"If you can discover any further information about what had happened here please don't hesitate to share, however I will make my way towards the edge of town towards our destination. If we're lucky there just might be survivors." Not wanting to make the same mistake twice Crystal started to carefully make her way off the rubble and back towards the ground.

With widened eyes, Acerbus looked down at the corpse. Staring down at his hands, he stretched out his dark fingers as his thoughts wandered. Did I accidentally do this? He snapped out of his daze and quickly pulled the booklet from the inside of his pastel cloak. As he mumbled to himself of the current situation, he flipped to an empty page and scribbled down the strange and unfamiliar symbol he saw.

"I guess reviving them is impossible. Not like it would help, I just wanted to test something." Acerbus spoke aloud to no one in particular. He ripped the staff from the ground and began to twirl it in his hand out of thought. Maybe he should follow her and ask whoever still happens to be alive if they know anything of the rune. A cloven hoof tapped against the ground impatiently, unable to recall seeing the rune in any of his studies or travels. "Hm, I don't get it."

The spinning came to a sudden stop as he dropped it to the ground. The landing wasn't entirely perfect, but it still pierced what little of his shadow that was seen. Within just a few seconds, the satyr's silhouette began to move on its own without following Acerbus. Saying a passage wasn't needed, as this was one of the very few abilities he mastered as a child. A command was passed to the shadow in pure silence, causing the shadow to swiftly move in any direction. Acerbus hummed a short tune to himself and watched as his shade disappeared from his view.

As crystal walked, she could see one of the only roads inside the town without any kind of rubble or burnt bodies. Heck, there was even a shop still standing on the left side, albeit, it's door is wide open and half unhinged. The road eventually led to a gate, but this one lay to the side of the road, unhinged from it's stone arch. The gate points toward the north, where the city with the Lich is, but before them lay a grand spruce and elderberry forest, filled with ferns, and flowering plants, the birds quietly chirp and sing beyond the ruined town's gate...

Yuki jumbed up and down the ruin sooting around, still terrified by this horror show. Catching up to that strange human while staying a good ten feet behind her he followed her as she seemed to know were to go : 'basic sheep instinct' he thought to himself.
As he passed by the shop, the incubus made a detour, to scavenge the shop in search of something particular, which he paid for even though there was no one to take his money.
He came back on the trail a pair a minute later, bleating a little seeing the the advance the two over had taken.
-
Once in the forest the caprine took a quicker pace as he jumped back and forth around the trail to peek some sort of blue/purple flower, putting them in a jar he had picked up from the abandonned store.
After he had enough of those he quickly came back behind the human female and silently followed, keeping his head down to the path, listening to noises of the forest, more in apprehension of what he could hear than in a will to admire the beautifull sound of nature.

As Crystal walked through the forest she couldn't help but notice her ally picking flowers. While at first she said nothing out of respect, she eventually succumbed to get curiosity.

"If I may ask, why are you collecting flowers in a jar?" Crystal would ask while also being sure to keep an eye out for any potential traps. After all, she was no longer protecting herself anymore. With a small smile she shook her clothes momentarily with bits of dirt and sand falling from her sleeves.

Acerbus walked past them, not exactly interested in flowers or nature. Besides, that was none of his business anyways. He snapped his neck to the side, glaring into the distance. Acerbus could've sworn he seen something in the distance, but he shrugged it off and assumed it was just another side effect from the dark magic usage. As he walked, he was slouched and keeping his eyes to the ground in an attempt to ignore any incoming hallucinations.

Being asked by the young lady caused the caprine to blush all of the sudden, almost triping over a root.
With a somehow cute expression of embarassement the young sheperd responded on a quiet tone :
"I ... it's .. aconitum ... Humans call it wolfsbane if I'm not mistaken. I , uh... I have the intuition that it will be usefull in a near future... " looking away he ask softly "Will it be .. a problem ?"
Inconsciously his tension can be seen by the pressure of his grip o his staff. He really stand far from being dull and passive for a mere sheep, that's the least to say.

"Oh, not at all. I was just trying to make conversation is all." Crystal would pause for a moment, not wanting to make her ally feel uncomfortable,"So, you know a lot about plants I take it?" Crystal herself only knew which ones were poisonous or not, otherwise she honestly didn't know too terribly much about the flora she trudged through everyday while adventuring. Strange bit of foresight that's for sure.

The sun begins to hover over the distant horizon. The ride on the boat earlier had took a few hours away from the day, it would be almost sunset soon... And their progress had turned up nothing particularly useful in their quest to slay the Lich...

The shade that was sent off earlier had been busy with scouting for anything interesting or worth the trouble. Actually, Acerbus had almost completely forgot about it. Gripping his wooden staff, he reached up and stretched his arms behind him. He was currently too caught up in his own thoughts about the strange rune he had seen earlier to even pay attention to the others.

The shy caprine blushed again as the young adventurer questionned him, his gaze wondering everywhere except to her.
-"I'm a sheperd, if I dpn't know what flower his what then I can't protect any herd... but it's mainly because I love to pick flowers, they're pretty and so usefull !
Suddenly he jumped to a blackberry bush, picking a hanfull of them, not caring of the deep stings and cuts he made on his hands that we, before coming back with yet another childish and joyfull smile on his young doll face.
-"And those one are so good !"
He offered the young woman the fruits he just gathered, his pretty little mouth already already stained with a blackish juice from the berries.