Zuria Kingdom

[Apollymi]

A Kingdom in name only, Zuria is part of the lower world. Tucked away into the mountains of the North it is a snow capped paradise on the outside. Ice and snow coat all of the surfaces and give shine to a great many aspects. Even so, the land is plagued, the people suffer and the true Royalty have been deposed. All that is left is a hollow Usurper and his 'concubine'. The land stands frozen in the fall of its rulers, waiting for the coming of the next great phase, the hopes of the land, waiting on its cold and icy breath.

[Bloodedge]

A clear comment about taking the crystal was all the lass needed to fully devote herself to that portion of the activity. At least his critical thinking skills seemed to be pretty good as well, he had no problem rationalizing accepting this little thing from her, and likely learning something he hadn't known before. If he'd really only been level 32 when he'd ended up here, he likely was exactly that useless little farm boy he'd appeared to be when he showed up. One hardly had any skills at that level and with out some heavy planning the builds of people around that time were typically a bit lackluster. But apparently this didn't matter. It also seemed he grasped all aspects of the details she'd given him so far, including things she hadn't recently said. "Hm... those are accurate ways to think about it. You are two separate people using the same or similar names to live different aspects of the same lore," she said. This gave away quite a few details including those about herself, not that she knew that to be completely factual yet, as she'd not yet encountered another Merlin only the idea that they might have existed based on a few things which happened to her since coming to this world. As for his mental workings and comparisons to a very specific move, Merlyn could only laugh. She was previously quite the cinephile so she had a bit to say. "Oi oi, that movie wasn't that bad. The progression was cute and gave that little Arthur something to do with his spare time. I've definitely seen worse, like all of the movies where King Arthur is just a nonchalant idiot who doesn't see the emotions of those around him and blindly trusts people until he dies~" she challenged with quite a bit of heat. Only to let it go soon after. "Regardless that jump in level will at least make it easier for you to progress from here. A few more monster kills and we should be near your next major goal. Come now the road to Zuria is clear... no need to stay in this place~" she mentioned with a fleeting mention.

Adventure Continues Here.

A long journey was behind the newcomer to this world, Arthur Pendragon. His escapades primarily consisted of slaying giant beasts over the course of a few weeks, and there were many left to conquer. For now, there were no monsters to speak of on his 'to-do' list. With a decent amount of money from bounties in his pouch, he was to investigate humans, who themselves were in search of magical beings that meant no ill-will to the kingdom. How strange; this would be his first task that involved helping beasts. He'd killed so many thus far, he even developed a skill which kept him keen and capable in combat against large creatures.

Of course, this new leg of the journey would begin just as the overall adventure had: in freezing temperature. There was a thing that could almost be called irony here, but that was alright with the blonde. "You know, Merlyn," he spoke after a long period of silence during their trek. "I'm not sure if this is a refreshing change, or some terrible omen. The entire time I've been here, I haven't faced a single person. Is that the fault of you hiding something I should be concerned about?"

[Apollymi]

Arthur had been doing more than his fair share over the last few weeks. Merlyn had watched his progress as he became more and more acclimated to the nature of this new world. She'd done her own job as his guide, making sure he took the necessary path and each step he needed to work towards his goal. At this point, she'd be lying if she said she wasn't steering him in any particular direction, but maybe... she just wanted to preserve his innocence for a little while longer. In the frigid air she thought this over, her own breath coming out as a small cloud of smoke though she showed no outward signs of being cold. Funnily enough, though this leg of their journey had been mostly undertaken in silence, Arthur thought to speak on it now. A smirk spread across Merlyn's face as a tuff of her white hair was tucked back inside her hood by her own hand. She didn't quite give Arthur enough credit for being as clever as he was. She'd given the lad a fair bit of time and now the darkness of the world was closing in on them, she didn't have any more time to potentially coddle him, not that she'd ever admit she'd been doing that in the first place.

"Arthur, you might be giving me a bit too much credit~" she teased, though she didn't actually discount his words. "A King's Journey is long and the road is often tumultuous at best. Forgive me for enjoying the scenic route for as long as I can~" she stated with a fair bit of honesty. "I also haven't been hiding anything... this world is good enough at hiding the unpleasant from those who don't wish to see it. I see many things when I use my magic to do so, but some things are only clear in a moment and fleeting beyond that. Perhaps I wasn't ready to bet on something unclear, but this..." she said with a wide open gesture. "Is something I can say is clearly wrong. But figuring out how and why its wrong is up to you. And the responsibility of it, is yours to take on. The glory of it... is yours as well," she said. Her voice trailing off as her eyes were drawn into the distance. Words so soft they could be missed, but just as ominous as any which could be heard. "And all that comes with it..."

But just as easily as she'd said such ominous and scary things, she quickly reverted to her more cheerful demeanor. "So, how do you feel about that bounty? Anything you'd like to share?~" she questioned wondering if the young man had noted the oddity of such a request in this Kingdom. Sure the enchanted forest needed protecting, but why wouldn't the knights of the Kingdom be charged with such a task. Why did it only list the potential for innocent creatures to be harmed but not what species or anything of merit. All of it seemed kind of sketchy to Merlyn and when she laid eyes on the flyer posted to the Tavern wall, she'd had a vision of something strange... it needed confirmation and thus she'd guided Arthur towards it. Though upon doing so, she saw his actions expanding from that point forward in a manner which was... trying at best.

[Bloodedge]

Too much credit, she said. In these short weeks, she had certainly proved herself worthy of the amount of credit he truly gave her, even though he remained ever skeptical of her existence. Even now, she spoke in a cryptic way that gave every implication of trying times ahead. She spoke of enjoying the 'scenic route' even while saying she wasn't hiding a thing. Even if nothing was 'hidden' per se, something was clearly being left out. Perhaps there was nothing certain, simply a looming darkness in the future of this adventure. Time would tell, but that seemed to be the case, based on Merlyn's words.

He had a responsibility of discovering the wrongs going on in this kingdom─ that much he understood. He didn't care for the honor and glory of it all, and it seemed the softer words spoken by Merlyn did not hit his ear. Either way, Arthur was here to make a difference and work successfully, and that... was what he would always do by the standards of his family. At least, he'd do so to the best of his ability. He could only imagine his siblings completing a task like this within minutes of arriving, and with a level of success unimaginable within the confines of the task. He, however, had never been as capable. Maybe that would change as he took on this journey alongside Merlyn.

"The bounty? It's weird. It definitely isn't something I would expect to hear about several villages away─ especially when those villages aren't in league with the kingdom," he explained. He likened this quest to dealing with poachers in their home world, so it wasn't at all strange to him that the specific creature being hunted was never mentioned; those sorts of ne'er-do-wells could have multiple targets of different species. As well-constructed as this kingdom was, though, he imagined it would have a decent set of knights or guards in place. "I never heard anything about this kingdom being at war on the way here. Are they lacking in polic─err... knight presence?"

[Apollymi]

A few moments of consideration would lead Arthur to telling Merlyn what he thought of this particular bounty. His ability to understand this potential problem was one which deserved quite a bit of praise. "Hai hai, seems a little off... I'm glad you understood. It's a bit less bothersome if I don't have to explain why things are... sketchy~" Merlyn mentioned. It was quite true, getting a bounty in one of the unrelated places was a bit strange. The fact that something as simple as poaching wasn't being handled within the Kingdom was also strange. There were many variables to consider, but all things led back to a problem at the top. Merlyn thought through many ways to get an audience with the King and Queen of this area, and the easiest would be to complete their bounty. Rewards for such things were always given out in person and as such it would be an easy path towards their ability to find answers.

There was also the pressing problem which Arthur questioned more directly. "The Kingdom of Zuria is said to house at least a couple of knights of repute. One of which is supposedly the Spirit Knight. But if he's not currently being put on this task, one has to wonder why~" Merlyn mentioned. Her plan was becoming more and more apparent by the moment. Never one to leave the lad with unanswered questions she kept talking about her own sneaking suspicions. "I find it odd that something as simple as poachers is being outsourced. I find it odder yet that the King and Queen stopped making regular public appearances within the Kingdom..." she said with a gentle sigh. "It's all too many small things for me to be alright with it. Thus the change in your routine. Gambare~" she encouraged the lad, but seemed not to have more to say. "Now then, how will you be proceeding?" she asked of the lad, they were obviously on the look out, and she had no problem knowing about the area they were scouting. Pretty soon the image of this place would come together.

Deeper within the forest a young girl was being held within a cage. Her face covered in dirt her pointed ears peeking out from beneath white locks. She looked disinterested as her purple eyes with their blue pupils enlarged quite a bit. This was a normal routine for her now. It had been for quite a while, once she'd been training with the Spirit Knight, but now... she was being used for whatever random task the Queen wanted. Right now... she was being used as part of a 'Virgin Ploy' as it was called. Bait for a creature which only trusted those who were sexually innocent. Unicorns and their pieces were used for various magical rituals, but the small voices told her, nothing good would come from that sort of ritual. Even so, her participation wasn't her own choice. She wouldn't trouble her mentor at all if she could help it, the man was practically alone holding up what was left of this godforsaken kingdom. "Alright missy. Just remember. You're here to lure out a Unicorn we'll take care of the rest. And don't go getting any ideas funny ideas..." the portly but lightly armored man said reminding the lass not to try and run away. He was normally along for these sorts of things, and given the way he handled a knife she was inclined not to fight him directly. As if she needed more reason to behave another spoke as well. "Right right, it'd be a shame if the Queen couldn't use you to lure in anymore Unicorns~" one particularly long faced man said as his tongue slithered out of his mouth and over his grossly chapped lips. The girl with all the poise of her face managed not to show fear at such a display, such threats were pretty normal at this point. 'I really wish someone would notice how wrong all of this has gone...' she thought to herself, only to begin singing a gentle tune. The gross men began to vanish and the gentle light of small spirits began to gather around. And eventually the creature she was looking for began a rather timid walk towards its doom. 'I'm sorry.'

[Bloodedge]

"Less bothersome, huh? But still bothersome either way," Arthur said as he watched Merlyn through the corner of his eye. Suspicious behavior was nothing new to him, even though this was an oddity beyond the norm. The kingdom called Zuria had some knights of high caliber. That notion left Arthur to wonder the exact number of knights in the kingdom, but more importantly than that was the matter of these... poachers. The rulers of this kingdom no longer appeared publicly while there was a crisis of this magnitude occurring. One had to wonder what the connection was, considering these things happening in unison. "Unseen monarchs, mythical creatures being hunted... What sort of beasts are in this area? There's usually some sort of connection between weird situations like these, but I can't imagine what. That is, unless there's also some sort of threat on the monarchs themselves─"

If only he knew a few more details, he could have some semblance of an idea about the poachers' motives. The king and queen would have to be set aside for the moment, unless there was some way to meet with them beforehand. What sort of people were they, even? That would come to light eventually, he imagined. "Proceeding... hmm. We should inspect the forest nearby. Maybe we'll even get lucky and find our bad guys while we're out, eh Merlyn?"

[Apollymi]

Merlyn heard what Arthur had to say, it seemed his brain was moving quite well. "Yes, less... work is always bothersome. Some of us acknowledge this fully~" mentioned the white haired lass. Still, it was quite comforting to know she didn't have to do too much work to make sure that he understood her suspicions. Still, her own suspicions couldn't be properly worked out until they had an audience with the local royalty. Ah, but that was too far in the future at present, doing this job would get them the audience. There was still the matter of the Knights of this area and the poachers to deal with. Ah, the questions... "The forests have several different kinds of spirits, Unicorns, yeti, ice foxes... etc," she said. "A few of those are completely innocent. Unicorns in particular do no harm to anyone and the spirits are normally pretty quiet as well," she mentioned happily. "Actually, Ice Foxes are herbivores so they don't kill anything either," she mentioned pretty offhandedly. There were so many creatures in this area who were kind of light hearted in actuality.

It was soon mentioned by this lad, that it would be interesting if this sort of adventure led to them finding the sort of people they were looking for. "That's why we're here, I am a navigator after all!~" she said, as if it was her intention for them to end up in this place at this time. As they moved forward the sound of singing could be heard and the crunching of snow as a unicorn who approached a cage was being cornered by two rather gross looking men. "Looks like you're up now~" mentioned Merlyn as she went about her usual way, this time she found herself sitting rather casually in the upper branch of a tree.

"That's it, keep singing little bird... we've almost got it..." the skinny faced man mentioned as he aimed a bow at the center of the creature's neck. Avoiding too many injuries to the creature was important for its meat. And making sure its horn was intact was also important. Meanwhile the portly man was still crunching lightly in the snow as he prepared to deeply stab the creature from the outside.

[Bloodedge]

"If it's always bothersome, maybe it's not the thing you should be doing," was Arthur's retort. Frankly, he rather enjoyed his job, even if his 'boss' occasionally made things far more annoying than they needed to be. Moving on, he now had an example of the beasts which called this forest their home. It was nigh time to find out what creature was being targeted, though... there wasn't actually any figuring out to be done. There was a singing in the distance, and Merlyn's answer to approaching it was... to make herself scarce. Again.

Arthur could only sigh. "Good of you to help out, Merlyn. I'll be sure to look your way when I'm up to my neck in enemy arrows," he said. After refraining to accept her offering against his very first opponent, this Caster hadn't offered anything tangibly useful even once. Either way, there was work to be done. His gradual approach allowed him to see a caged girl, a small group of these poachers, and... a unicorn. The usefulness of the girl in this situation wasn't specifically known, though she was obviously bait of some sort. Meanwhile, the men stalked the approaching unicorn with obvious intentions of slaying it. What was Arthur to do? Well... perhaps the unicorn was attracted to the girl's singing, and could be scared off like any horse.

He cleared his throat. There was only a little time to deal with matters here, so the king-to-be had to be quick on his feet to save the unicorn. Alternatively... he could just get rid of the target. A deep inhale was followed by a sudden outcry. "AAAAAAAAAA~" he shouted, even cupping both hands around his open mouth to project his voice toward the unicorn. He could deal with the poachers in time. Before anything else, he had to ensure the beast's safety.

[Apollymi]

Arthur had some surprising words of advice for the Caster known as Merlyn. She couldn't help but laugh off such advice, "Hm, well not all jobs can be liked all the time. Perhaps, I enjoy this one a bit more than I let on~" she mused just a tad. After all, being the guide to a future King was far more likeable than most things. Even so, like a responsible older sister, she could only offer the lad so much. She could have done several things for him, but if he wouldn't accept it, then it wasn't worth the extra effort. She'd taken to directing most of her 'work ethic' elsewhere during their adventures. He had no idea the amount of proper planning it took to get him to the right place at the right time. Actually, if they'd been any earlier arriving to this spot the situation could have turned out quite bad... alas, it would be quite a while yet until Arthur understood the full usefulness of Merlyn.

"Be sure to do it. I am a navigator... not a fighter," she said with a chuckle at the end. And then she got to watch something interesting happen. Arthur very interestingly thought to save the Unicorn first and foremost. How strange. Merlyn might have thought him mad for this, but the lad's shouting in the moment caught the attention of the creature. It bucked up at the moment the arrow was loosed and it missed his body narrowly. It ran off immediately and the girl within the cage had her eyes widen as her attention was drawn towards the man who'd scared off their quarry. 'A Knight?!' she mentally questioned. All the while the short man with the blades began to move as the bow wielding slim faced man aimed at Arthur directly. "You're going to regret that. You should have just stayed at your post..." the man mentioned figuring this one should have been busy if he was truly from the area. All the while the speech was mostly a distraction so the portly knife wielder could get behind the knight. The girl within the cage watched this happening and felt it her duty to help. She knew this man wasn't from this area, she couldn't let him die to such filth. "LOOK OUT!" she shouted as an ice crystal fell onto the skinny man's arm knocking another arrow up and into the air as it would have flown directly at the man. This left Arthur to deal with the knife wielder aiming to stab him in his lower back on the right side, while the forest became deathly still.

[Bloodedge]

"You're not wrong, but you make it sound way worse than it should be." He could only agree that jobs couldn't, and likely shouldn't be enjoyable at all times. Still, the way Merlyn spoke implied that any form of work was some sort of atrocity. No matter; there was work to be done now, and Arthur himself would find satisfaction in seeing the job completed. Apparently, Merlyn was content to call herself a navigator, not at all a fighter. Surely she had some ability, but that was yet another thing of little importance.

Arthur's outcry did its job. The unicorn was safe from a loosed arrow, and the poacher who would have otherwise stabbed it had his attention on Arthur instead of the chase. Of these two, it was the former who initiated a discussion. He was going to regret that, was he? He doubted that much. Earlier in his journey, Arthur questioned his ability to deal with monsters and the like. When humans were the issue, however, he hadn't a second thought about his success. An arrow was knocked, and Arthur's blade was held at the ready. Alas, that very arrow would not prove to be a threat for the Future King, thanks to the effort of that caged girl. 'Here against her own will then. Got it,' he thought. While aiding him, however, the girl also shouted a warning. "Look out," she said.

There wasn't an issue. In the stillness of the forest, the gentlest breeze was met by the sharp clank of metal. Arthur had turned to face his assailant, and in that same movement, Excalibur was swung at the blade of the enemy's knife. He'd been quite adept at disarming others in his original life, even while unarmed himself. With something like Excalibur in his possession, he worried for nothing against opponents wielding simple daggers.

[Apollymi]

Merlyn was at heart, a lazy young lass. Even so, she took her job on with an amount of emotional maturity which she thought was proper. "It's just a difference in personality. I don't like things that make me feel like I should be serious... " she mentioned in passing. Of course, it seemed that Arthur was even less helpless than she had imagined. His work in the previous world as a body guard likely prepared him to better deal with human targets than his initial bouts with monsters. This of course, was at least partly the reason she'd held off on putting him in contact with humans, but there were other more important reasons for that as well. She'd been trying to temper him for the questing ahead, and people in this world were much less likely to have anything resembling 'decent' motives for their behaviors. No matter. Many more interesting things were taking place here.

"You little brat! Just wait, you're all mine when this is over..." the skinny man said as his arrow flew off into the distance. The white haired girl within the cage seemed less than fearful of the obvious threat that this man was making towards her. "You are pretty dumb if you think that. Disposable. You're obviously disposable. Just like me~" the young girl said. She'd put together that this Knight wasn't from the Kingdom, that meant that he had to have information about this little outing. She couldn't be sure of the source of that, but it was more than obvious that it wasn't intended for this pair to return to their mistress. At the same time, the portly fellow had his dagger knocked from his hand by a swinging blade. His eyes widened at this incident as he looked at his empty hand as if dumbfounded. "Oi oi... At least shoot him or something!" exclaimed the man to the smaller one. He to his credit moved as if he planned to draw another blade while the bow wielding man sucked in an annoyed breath. "If you can't take care of one Knight alone you're not worth keeping around..." A smaller dagger in the hands of the portly man he dived forward as if he intended to take out the Knights knees and give the sniper a free shot. Strangely that arrow wouldn't be coming... as a chilling cold spread throughout the skinny man's arm, he'd find himself incapable of moving it much at all. And there was no one to blame for this, but the young half-elf within the cage, though she managed to look innocent when he finally turned back towards her. Luckily for her, she was locked within this cage, it wasn't like he could open it quickly enough for her to be in danger. So all that was left was for Arthur to take care of these two criminals.

[Bloodedge]

Merlyn was a strange one indeed. At times, he couldn't tell if she was far more tactful than she let on, or... if she was secretly entirely useless. It was an odd thing to consider, but alas, he would have the true answer one day. For now, he sought a different answer. What brought these men to hunt a unicorn? Additionally, what resulted in them acquiring a girl who seemed fairly wealthy if judged by her state of dress, to lure said unicorn out? At least one of these men would have to be left alive and conscious for a bit of questioning.

One of the males thought to verbally threaten the young girl, successfully earning the detest of Arthur in doing so. Just the same, it seemed the girl had a bit of 'bite' to her when responding to the man. If there was one thing Arthur thought it imperative to do, it was to correct the lass on her assertion. "Don't say that," he said. His eyes never left the larger male for longer than a moment; he remained alert enough to swing his sword against the second incoming dagger as well. Of course, that wasn't going to be all he did. Swords were fun and effective, but he had been through so many situations which required the use of his body... that the movement of the Excalibur in his right hand, was followed by a swift, left-handed chop aimed directly for the vagus nerve at the right side of his neck. Luckily, it seemed he didn't need to be too concerned about the archer of the pair; the caged girl had him quite occupied via magical means. "Lovely girl like you? You are anything but disposable. What's your name?"

[Apollymi]

The world would continue to wonder about Merlyn's usefulness, but while this occurred, it seemed that Arthur had words to share with the young purple eyed girl. She looked towards him strangely after hearing these words. And watched with great interest as he easily dispatched the dagger wielding one of the goons she was trapped with. The man whose arm she'd practically frozen was soon searching his own person with his useful arm, looking for the key to the cage she was in. He'd practically given up on helping his partner so long as he could harm this girl. But the process was slow going considering the placement of the key and the frozen position of his arm. What he hadn't noticed yet, was the spreading of that frozen nature, through more and more of his body, until he was practically petrified where he stood. The lass looked towards Arthur as the fumbling of that particular man came to an end.

"What I said was true, obviously we three were disposable to the one who sent us here. There is no way we should have been found by anyone else... in this situation," she mentioned. Whether she thought her own self worth was tied to this situation or not, wasn't really important at the time. "I'm Emilia, nice to meet you..." the lass gave a little curtsy within the cage as was normal when meeting someone of higher standing than herself. She seemed to be very well-trained and exceedingly adept at interacting with those of higher status than herself. At the bow of her head, came the showing of her pointed ears. Her use of magic was quite good as well, with everything about this situation stopped the only thing left was for her to get out of the cage. "Oh, and thank you. For saving me." It would be in this moment which caused Merlyn to look up and speak. She had the slightest twinkle in her eye in the moment and she said something which would have sounded kind of cryptic. "She's like us by the way."

[Bloodedge]

And so, down went Arthur's opponent of choice. He'd been expecting more of all humans after felling so many great beasts, but it seemed they were capable of being just as miniscule as the humans he'd encountered before. On the positive side though, there was always a beacon of hope to be found. One such example was the lass who introduced herself by the name Emilia, while curtsying to the king-to-be. She seemed to feel quite comfortable doing this, in spite of the fact that the other assailant had been trying to unlock her cage and do harm to her.

... Ah. There was a reason for that, which Arthur was just realizing. The archer of the ne'er-do-wells appeared frozen, certainly by Emilia's doing, considering how she'd been behaving in prior moments. Thankful for that, Arthur offered his own greeting... as well as his own respectful bow. "The pleasure is all mine, Emilia. Arthur Pendragon. Don't fret over being found; I had a useful... well, maybe useful... well... I was guided here by a witch," he said, finally settling on how he'd be addressing Merlyn. Speaking of Merlyn, the woman herself noted Emilia being 'like them' in a way. Arthur could only assume she meant this was someone from their world, which was sensible enough. Ah, but Arthur had an assumption of his own after seeing what the girl was capable of. "You're an elf? Oh, and don't thank me. From what you did to this guy, I'm guessing you can get yourself out of that cage pretty easily? I figure even Merlyn could do that, and you've been way more useful than her."

[Apollymi]

"Arthur Pendragon?" she said looking up at the man in surprise. "You're King Arthur?!" she seemed to be shocked by this information. To her knowledge King Arthur had ascended a long time before now, along with the Kingdom of Camelot. Surely, such a person wouldn't simply be in such a lowly place for no reason. She figured the worries of this lower world had been long since forgotten by such people. A wide eyed look escaped this lass, as something became obvious to her, this lad was unfamiliar with something about the way this world worked. She simply shook her head. "Merlin is a Kingmaker and definitely not a witch. You would know a witch if you saw one or rather if you smelled one," Emilia stated. Her words made Merlyn smile a bit, and caused the lass to share some information. "Future King... not the once King you are thinking of... but he'll still help~" she said with a bit of surety. Whether Arthur had faith in her abilities or trusted her motivations didn't really matter, she had a great deal of faith in his. Emilia also would have known if a witch was present, as she would have smelled such a thing on the air. Ah, maybe such a thing was why they were here anyways. When asked if she could get herself out of the cage she simply stepped forward.

She'd soon enough reach out of the cage and take from the side of the man the key which he'd been trying to use to get back into her cage. She'd use this to unlock the box from where she was, and gently push open the door. She had no problem freeing herself. "That really wasn't much of anything. And though I could have done it at anytime. Doing so of my own volition would have put me and someone else in danger. So, the thanks remains..." she said softly. She landed on the snow without even leaving footprints and stared up at Merlyn for a few seconds before averting her gaze. Her words about this lad were strange, if he wasn't the King Arthur she'd heard of, but instead the next one, then she'd misunderstood something. Whatever the case she had something to offer, "If it is your future to be king, be wary of the woman who is 'Queen' in this Kingdom. She'll ruin you," she said frankly.