Mourncrow 1
The next morning is sunny and bright. Our heroes are kicked out at the break of dawn, when the farmer and his daughters wake up. Left to fend for themselves, they are left to find their fortunes on his small island.
Felix leaned against the trunk of a tree, holding a reasonably sized solid black parasol he must have procured while everyone else was asleep over his head. Under the shadow of this umbrella he seemed to retain the dark hues and colors he would have at night. Over his eyes were small, round darkened spectacles that kept the light from blinding him.
Margaret hadn't fallen asleep, seeing that a dead person needed no sleep, and stood from the porch when the others were kicked out. "Ah hell-" she grumbled, accepting that she couldn't be alone much longer. She noticed Felix and walked over, "Vat is dis? You are tired durink ze day, are you not?"
"I am tired most of the time, Margaret,"
Felix said quietly, smiling. "Whether it is day or night does not make much difference."
Margaret leaned on one hip and rested a hand on it. Gesturing with a free hand, she said, "I'm zure dat zere is a pill for dat. Not zure how it vould effect someone like you zough."
"Ohh, even if there were, it wouldn't matter,"
Felix replied. "I don't trust Western medicine any farther than I can throw it."
Margaret smirked a little. Her attention then shifted to the group who had gotten kicked out of the farmhouse. "Do zese mortals annoy you az much az day annoy me?" she shrugged and cocked her head up a little. Her head was still at the group, but her yellowed, dead eyes went to Felix as he hid under the dark umbrella.
Felix couldn't help but grin. "Probably not," He replied, looking at the mortals in question, then back at Margaret. "They bother me less now that I've had something to eat."
Margaret relaxed her posture, "Hmph, guess zat does help ov course. Perhaps zat iz vhy I despise mortals- my taste budz don't vork." She looked back and examined Vincent as he walked and strutted coyly with a smirk. Margaret corrected herself, "Nah, I just hate zhem."
Felix looked at her, slightly amused. Taste buds? They were talking about different things. He finally settled on gazing at the mortals. "Hm."
Escrima took to bringing up the rear of he group. She was glad to be able to eat something last night, but the fact that she gave into the wolf made her feel a little uncomfortable around the normal people in the group. She knew she wouldn't eat Margaret, zombies never taste good; and she knew she wouldn't eat Felix, she would
never eat a vampire, only kill them. But as for Vincent and Vaughn? Mere mortals tend to be quite delicious...
Vincent looked at his pocket watch and adjusted his vest. Using his cane, he stepped forwards and looked up at the sky, scanning for any more rain clouds.
Vaughn was sitting atop a slightly annoyed Methos. Someone had packed their gear and it wasn't the snoozing Immortal sitting in the saddel. A horse of average itelegence would have been smart enough to leave him behind. However Methos was attatched to the adventerous old coot. Methos looked back at Vaughn was was nearly slipping from the saddel. he bounced his hindquarters and Vaughn woke with a start. "She's your sister!?" He exclaimed then quickly realized he wasn't among fiery tempered temptreses. Methos rolled his eyes. "Ahem... So... anyone have any idea where we're headed?"
"Northwest, to Locketown,"
Felix said, striding ahead and assuming whoever was interested would follow him. "It's a fair day's walk, if one is brisk and the weather holds." He seemed in a better mood today than last night.
"I'm just brimming vith anticipation."
Margaret rolled her dead eyes and started off in the direction pointed out. She limped a little due to her recent detach of her leg the previous night.
Escrima followed the vampire, as much as she hated being around the creature.
He at least had a direction and that was more than could be said about anyone else in the group. She really wanted to get back to her shop, but seeing as that wasn't exactly an option right now, she'd go along with him. He did afterall mention going on a minotaur hunt earlier.
Methos began following the vampire. "If it would please the present company perhaps we can procure a wagon in the next town? It pains me to see women put out."
Margaret grumbled, "I am dead." she motioned to herself and then to Escrima. "She iz clearly capable ov taking care ov herself. Ve are fine." She pressed on limping.
"Why walk when you doin't have to?"
Vaughn asked. "We could be traveling for days to get back to mourncrow. Will you be saying this on day three when your out of salt?" He decided to get snippy with her considering he'd been nice this entire time.
If her attitude didn't do it, her pride did. "Pass."
Margaret shouted, not bothering to look back at him.
"We will certainly have a wagon on the way back,"
Felix informed Vaughn, "For carrying goods and such. Whether or not the womenfolk will ride is entirely up to them."
"I can walk just fine, thank you very much."
Escrima snipped and brushed past Vaughn and Methos to walk closer to the vampire. Her skin crawled as she got closer to the man but he was better company than the man upon the horse was.
Zese mortals are killink me. Margaret thought, completely ignoring the 'already dead' fact. Her maid's skirt was dirty and torn in several places.
"It has become painfully obvious that being ladylike is not a very high priority for either of you,"
Felix observed from the shadow of his Walker Bumpershoot, "Which begs the question--what is?"
"Decay."
Margaret said quickly, without a second thought. "Zhen again, I need to find anozher job zoon. Frank Sinatra back zere izn't ov much help anymore. I obviously vill not be getting my paycheck for zhis week." She cocked back her head at Vincent. "I am not zure vhether I vill be active az a pile of dust, but I don't plan on vinding out soon. So-no money, no salt, no more me."
"And you have absolutely no source of regeneration?"
Felix asked. "Seems like a great waste of time if all you're preserving yourself for is so you can continue preserving yourself. Why not find some self-righteous cleric to get rid of that soul so you can just lie down and rot?"
Escrima grumbled in response to Felix's question. What was important to her was her shop and it really didn't look like they'd be going back to town any time soon. She still had a rather generous block of salt in her supply bag, so if the chunk she gave to the zombie actually ran out, she could give her another at least.
"Vind me one, vampire....zat iz all it vould take."
Margaret admitted. "Cusious az it iz, I vonder vhy ze hell I am a valking corpse."
"Excuse me, but haven't you cherished the time you have spent working with me?"
Vincent asked, walking a little faster to catch up.
Margaret looked at him plainly, "Nien."
Felix snorted, amused. "Oh, come on, who wouldn't cherish an afterlife working as room service in a Mourncrow inn? That sounds like a
delightful way to spend eternity," He said to Vincent.
"To be frank, I hadn't realized that she was dead at all. It was only after the first few months where I noticed."
Vincent said honestly.
Escrima rolled her eyes, how could someone not realize they were working with a zombie? The smell alone was horrendous to her senses.
Felix cocked an eyebrow. "You can't tell the difference between the dead and the living?"
Vaughn held his tongue. He was thinking very sereiouisly about just leaving them here. Trotting off with Methos to find the town on their own. It was his lack of provisions that kept him with the group. Sure he had apples and dried meat but after three months on a ship a man needed real food. He couldn;t help but think how his company was completely adverse to the prospect of getting to know one another. He'd never met such rude people.
Vincent laughed a little and adjusted his collar. "When the woman came to my mansion, she wasn't wearing the exposing outfit that she has on now. After a while I figured it out and everything still worked out well. The cook merely needed to give her salt and other preservatives to keep her going. I can't pay someone who cannot stay from decomposing, now can I?" he said with a grin.
Escrima did not like being treated as though she was a frail little woman, like all the ones that this Vaughn guy was undoubtablly used to being around, given his actions toward her and Margaret. She thought it was pretty obvious by her appearance that she anything but frail. This whole group was an awful strange lot. There was a werewolf, a vampire, a zombie, an immortal apparently, and a hotel owner; odd company indeed.
Vaughn was content to just ignore the group for a bit but Methos stopped dead in his tracks, he planted his feet in the dirt and Vaughn could tell he was sniffing the air. "What is it buddy?" He really wished at the moment that Methos could talk. He checked the landscape for anything that might alert the horse.
Felix stopped as well, although his senses were impaired by the sunlight. He suddenly flinched as a roar filled the air. "What was that?" He said warily, sprinting towards the direction it came from off the path.
In a field fairly far away, a huge bear menaced a young, apricot-haired woman, who flinched away from it and threw things from inside of her basked at it.
Vaughn topped the hill and saw the menacing disturbance. He thought for a moment about alerting the others but they would no doubt just feel inconvienience
d by the whole affair. "A damsel, nice work Methos." And with that Methos reared back and tossed his head dramaticaly. He boundad forward toward the beast while Vaughn searched his bag for some magical charm that might be of use.
Escrima looked in the direction that Felix sprinted off to and she took a deep breath through her nose, scenting the air. Her ears twitched and she heard the girl's scream. Without saying anything to the other two people in the group who haven't gone off toward the scene, she took off running. She'd be damned if the vampire got to feast on whatever was plagueing the poor girl, or if she'd let him feast on the girl for that matter.
Felix got the closest first. He pulled out his hunting knife since one hand was busy holding the umbrella and he needed two hands for his broadsword. He stopped a ways away, seeing something sort of peculiar going on.
The damsel didn't seem so much frightened as very angry, and was shouting at the bear and throwing apples at him from her handbasket. Her ears were pointed and elven, but short and stunted, certainly no tower-in-the-sky elf. The bear bristled and growled and roared and reared up on his hind legs once or twice, but his ears twitched when she shouted.
Vincent let his crow scout up and circle around the scene. He went with the group and shifted to the woman's side. "Have no fear, lovely temptress of beauty, we are here to help." he chanted to her direction.
"Ugh- again vith ze running!" Margaret shouted, throwing her hands in the air. She looked at the empty path that they were headed towards, then at the group in the field. She had no idea where she was going, not that it mattered. Though it pained her to admit, Margaret preferred the others around. Grumpily, she hobbled towards the bear and woman herself.
Vaughn and Methos where charging down on the bear. Methos cut infront of he and the girl and reared up quite heroicly. He set his hooves firlmy in the ground but ready to skirt off if the bear decided to get too agressive. Vaughn pulled a flute from his bag. It was very small, silver and imbedded with tiny precious stones. If he'd crafted it properly then music should indeed soothe the savage beast.
Vincent moved back and fixed his collar, allowing the better skilled in these situations take over. He held his hand on the cane top and held a confident pose.
"What?!" She yelled at Vincent over the roars of the bear. She backed up abruptly when Vaughn cut in front of her. "Guw'on! Git!" She spat at the bear around Vaughn. He roared again, rearing up, then twisted around, seeing himself surrounded, roaring once more before bounding off into the forest.
Escrima stayed back from the conflict, ready to step in if needed, but she had a feeling it wasn't necessary. Not to mentiont he fact that she really didn't want to get involved with the bear. The wolf inside of her wanted the pack to back her up if she was to fight a bear. However, she had always been the lone wolf, she's never sought out the comfort of the pack before, but there was no denying the inner wolf. If it didn't want to fight the bear, it wouldn't let her.
Margaret stayed the furthest away. She had just hoped that the bear didn't catch her dead scent. She merely kept mild interest.
Vaughn Dismounted Methos and stepped up to the girl. He bowed and removed his hat. "I am Wolfgang Vaughn Wholframstiene." He said and raised back up "Are you alright?"
"Yeh, I'm fine," The girl smiled. "Thanks fer'intercedin'," She said. "That coulda been much worse!"
"Do you need further assistance?" Vaughn asked taking the girl's hand in his. He gently kissed the top of her hand in that usual dashing manner he could never turn off. "Perhaps a ride fair maiden? Where is it you reside?" Methos rolled his eyes and bussied himself with a few clover tops.
Vincent brushed some dust off of his shoulder. He took his watch out of his pocket and looked at it quickly. His giant crow landed on his shoulder as usual
Margaret rolled her eyes as she stood away from the group. She then let out a long, heavy sigh at this entire scene.
Escrima settled down as the bear ran off. The wolf inside of her calmed down as well, perfectly happy to see the threat disappear. She took a deep breath and looked at the girl again. It was a pretty odd place to find a young woman out here in the middle of nowhere, but then again, they were an odd group afterall.
"Oh, well," She started, gasping bashfully, not really used to this sort of thing. "I s'pose I could stand a ride into town, I was on my way wi'these ta sell at market," She lifted the basket. Her eyes glanced around the group, for the first time, taking in the questionable crew. She grew suspicious, seeing a corpse beside a vampire and a werewolf. "Say, what is it y'all do, anyway?"
Margaret walked closer in to the group, not saying a word. Last thing this group needed was more people in it.
"Monster hunting, I suppose." Escrima told the woman in reply, standing to her full height in order to intimidate the girl. She grinned a somewhat saddistic smirk and cracked her neck. "We're on our way to take down a minotaur, I believe. Wasn't that correct, Felix?"
"As many as possible," Felix replied calmly from under the bumpershoot, his eyes obscured. Despite his feed the night before, the lines in his face were still clear as day, and his grip on the handle grew tighter, resisting how sweet her blood smelled.
"Ah see," The woman said slowly, eyebrow cocked. "Well! Best'a'luck to yer endeavors," She said with a smile.
"And ve are hoping to vind a vitch of somezing to just let my soul die aulready." Margaret added, crossing her arms and leaning to one side.
"Oh, okay," She said, her tone saying 'so you're not one of those zombies.' "Ah can't help ya there, I'm more on the ranger side of druid, but there's a big temple jus' north o'Locketown what's chock fulla the kind of magi you could use."
Margaret looked to Felix with a confused face, a brow raised, "Vat ze hell did she just say?"
"Lovely." Vaughn said he mounted Methos once more and held his arm out to the woman to help her up. "And don;t be firghtened of our group. We're merely lost travelers. Our hotel burned down. It's wonderful that you have joined us to show us the proper way into town."
"Well, certn'ly," She said amiably, mounting Methos behind Vaughn with a slight giggle. "It's th'least I could do."
Felix cocked an eyebrow, but said nothing. He adjusted his weapons in their sheaths and gave a sigh, ready to set out.
"So if y'all will go that way, further into the forest," She pointed at a path just off the road, "It'll get us to town quicker."
"By your word My lady." Vaughn said gently spuring Methos along. Methose knew this plan he gave a little jump as to startel the girl. Methos enjoyed observing the mating habits of humans.
Margaret didn't wait, she headed towards the pointed out direction.
Vincent bowed to the elven woman, "Thank you very much. We will take our leave now." He turned to leave with the group. His crow adjusted it's wings a little.
Escrima turned and followed the group in the direction that the elven woman had pointed. She hoped they weren't being lead astray by the woman. Elves had a certain way with trickery that seemed to make others seem foolish for falling for their traps in the first place. For all they knew, the bear could have been one in disguise, able to fool even her scenses.
The elf yelped a little at Methos's jump, giggling a bit and thoroughly enjoying herself.
SUDDENLY THEY WERE ALL ATTACKED BY WOMPAS.
Stumble!