Forum Thread

Irin stood up, although his eyes had been closed but a few moments earlier. "You want weapons? Then it's either secret compartment or steal them. What do you prefer?" Before anyone could answer, he said, "Something that might not be there, or snagging something nice from a smithy?" He twitched slightly, just his right hand, and turned. "Whoever is in that hallway," he hissed slowly, "You might want to show yourself." His right hand settled on his father's knife. His left hand reached back to grab his kanabō. He blinked, then took his hand off of the knife.

Barry looked surprised. How did Irin know he was there?! He starts quickly hobbling off in another direction, trying to hide. He goes into a room quietly and hides in a closet.

*Maddy looked down the hallway. Through the darkness she saw movement but recognized the silhouette. It was of a young man, no older than 15. She looked to Irin sternly* Stand down! *Irin begrudgingly lowered his weapon and Maddy looked into the hallway.* Barry? Its alright, you can come out

---

Barry went out of the closet. Was it really safe to come out? He went to the edge of the room and stuck his head out of the side to look at Mandy and Irin. What would they do if they saw him? He hoped they wouldn’t hurt him. It was really scary right now.

Star came in shortly after Maddy. "Are you looking for a specific weapon?"

---

Allowing his hands to fall from his sheathed kanabō, Irin growled something quietly at Maddy, loud enough to be barely heard, but quiet enough to not be understood. Reaching down, he plucked a small glass vial filled with grey powder from his trousers. Then, with his other hand, he drew out a few sheets of paper. Glancing up, he realized a strange look had been given to him. "What? Is it my fault I had to learn how to smuggle everything? It's not like I had much else to do." Sitting down on the ground with a huff, he peered at the paper, holding the vial up near his face so he could glance easily between the paper and the explosive powder.

*Maddy heard Irin's murmurs but shrugged them off before addressing Star* Swords, Axes, anything that isnt a farmers rake *Maddy heard light footsteps walking from the tunnel and saw Barry emerge from the darkness. She then saw his mouth move as he said something in a low whisper.* What is it Barry?

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He said in a small voice, “I. I know where some weapons are.” He came fully out of the room. He tried to hide that the leg with whatever was in it wasn’t bothering him, but it still hurt a bit. He didn’t really know what to do about it. The best he could do was to maybe try and talk to some people and show them where some stuff is.

Reappearing out of the darkness, Gwen quietly watches the group speak. Prideful... strong... cunning, all words once use to describe her. What was she now? Her long black hair, once well groomed was messy- obviously haven't been touched in days. Her brown eyes, once attentive, once filled with pride were now almost filled with defeat. Still, one thing still remained, she carried herself tall and proud, she always would, even in the face of death. While she may be looking at them, her eyes were very cloudy- very distant. She was exhausted- credited to her staying up all night. But it didn't help that her thoughts kept returning to one person.
-Dylan and the recent news of who he was- a traitor who worked with Benton. What else didn't she know about him...? How could she be so blind? To blatantly ignore the fact that he was against them?
Gwen's eyes go downcast, squinting slightly as she glares at the ground. When she first met him on the battlefield, he was nothing but a desperate boy begging for her attention and now, he was much more of a headache. I swear... I'll kill him the moment I see him! She would never let this happen again!
"I have weapons" Gwen replies, snapping her head up to look the group in the eyes. Her voice is weak, filled with hurt and exhaustion, but there was also a noticable sliver of determination. "It's not a lot... A dagger, a bow and a sword. It won't get us far, but it'll keep us safe while we follow Barry to this... Weapon chamber." She throws her weapons at them as she speaks- all expect one final sword. Maddy's sword. Her face crumbles slightly as she stares at it. I'm sorry, this is all my fault. Me and my foolishness. She faces Maddy, looking at her with a deviated look before throwing Maddy's sword back at her. Then she glances over her shoulder, as if expecting trouble. "We should move fast, if what Irin says is true- not that I don't believe him- there'll more than likely be an ambush at any moment. I'm surprised Dylan hasn't exposed us yet..." She sighs and places a hand on her head, wincing from a sudden headache. If only she wasn't so tired, she couldn't focus. What game was he playing?
She had to drop her feelings, drop everything and focus. For God's sake, she was a general, and a general for a reason. She had to think of a plan, and stay two steps ahead of the Cloaks. That's not only how they would survive, that's how they would take back the kingdom! A plan... Yes a plan. She could make the Cloaks underestimate them, but the odds were already stacked against them. That wouldn't be a problem. Fake their deaths? No, that would make public support difficult. Wait...
"While you guys go get weapons, I am going to get some rest. After that, we need to force their hands. We need to take a chance and split up. Maddy is too important to lose, she and a few others should find a new location for us to hide. While Tani, me, and another volunteer should try to appease the people. We are nothing without them, even the Cloaks are nothing without them!"

*Maddy was caught off guard by this. She caught the sword within its sheath and slowly took it out to examine it. Luckily it was still relatively clean and well kept. She put it back in and looked at Barry.* Lead us to the weapons

---

A small relieved sigh can be heard from Gwen. She had been worried that Maddy would have refused the weapon. That did leave Gwen mostly defenseless after all. She leaves before Maddy, or anyone else could change their minds or even try to stop her and return a weapon. The further she gets away from the group the less Gwen fights the thoughts that are poisoning her ability to reason. She may not be able to fight the self blame now, but she'll be stronger in a few hours... She just needs sleep... Right? She practically collapses onto her bed when she finally makes it to her room. She didn't know why, but it felt like three months since she had a proper amount of rest.
Everything would be fine. Sure, they were living on borrowed time. But they were armed and alert. What's the worse thing that can happen?
Gwen snorts at this thought. She could think of hundreds. But she doesn't have the strength to follow and protect them. She would be useless at the moment anyway. Instead of counting sheep, Gwen finds that she is mentally tallying off all the things that could go wrong.
She makes it to five things before she finally falls asleep.
(Wow, I have to say, I missed being unreasonably dramatic)

Barry said, “Um, follow me, I-I guess.” He was really nervous, and didn’t like violence. He had never even used a weapon before. He starts heading down a hallway. At the end of it he waited for the others to catch up. He limped a little bit, but thought this was more important. He wanted things to be back the way they were again.

Blossom looked at Emi. "I'll go with Gwen, she'll need help appeasing people."

Star re-examined her sword. "I'll stick with Maddy, she's going to need help and we can't lose her again, as Gwen stated."

---

Opening his mouth to speak, Irin seemed to debate the idea before shaking his head. "Nevermin-- Actually, no, we don't have time for nevermind. I know where we can get a force of militia men if we need them. It'd take me probably twenty minutes to get there, notify the Gathering, and be back, but I would run the risk of leading somebody here. I have weapons to defend myself, but the wrong person follows me back, and.." He shrugged. "I know that they'd gladly help us, but the only meet in Mead's Tavern. It's right near the center of town." He started to look around, then looked at Maddy. "Anywhere I can stash these notes so they don't get found if we get raided?"

*Maddy shook her head* I dont know, but we need all the help we can get. *Maddy looked at all of them and then began discussing the plan* Me, Barry, Star, and *Maddy pointed towards Irin and snapped her fingers* I dont know your name, but we will go retrieve the weapons and hopefully some reinforcements. The rest of you stay here with Tani until we return. Understood?

---

As usual, Sage listens in silence. She turns the options over in her head. Frankly, she wasn't a fan of any of these ideas, but they had to do something. "That would be helpful Irin. I think it's worth the risk" Sage replies calmly. She turns to Maddy, her gaze more intense than it usually was. "Be safe, all three if you, we can't risk losing you three again." She had kept her spear, it wasn't the most lethal weapon, but it was far better than nothing.

*Maddy put her hand on Sage's shoulder* You wont, I promise. *Maddy smiled alittle but deep down she knew that not all of them were going to make it. But she knew one thing, she would not let the one they lost be Tani. Maddy began to tear up slightly as she looked from Sage to Tani, and then back to Sage* Just, keep her safe. Ok?

---

Irin scratched his nose, then shrugged. "It's Irin. Irin Drakonov." He spoke that directly to Maddy. "When do we begin?" He'd not found a place to hide the notes, so he tucked them under his shirt behind his back. "I'm ready in about..." He looked thoughtful for a moment. "Now." He had hardly realized he'd used his last name introducing himself, but his mind wasn't fully on whatever legacy his father had left behind, the legacy that got him killed.

*Maddy looked at Irin. His last named sounded familiar, but she couldn't figure out where she had heard it before. She mentally shrugged it off and answered* We leave now

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"Great!" Standing up in a single fluid motion, he started towards the exit. "Who's going where? I know where Mead's Tavern is, but not where-" He broke off. "Wherever the weapons are." After a moment he continued speaking. "If we split up, I can get our militia ready and you can get the weapons at the same time. Then we'd either need to meet up here or meet up somewhere else, in case of prying eyes."