Kaer Morhen

[Apollymi]

"Okay okay, nice to meet you," said Jaskier, he withdrew the money he had. He too understood the problems that Kou had with the blatant acceptance of random prophecy. Even so, in a magical world, such things were in general expected. "Come along then, when we reach the contact. He is pretty... unreasonable. But he'll pay for good work," said the lad who approached after a long walking journey a small farm which bordered the foot hills of the mountains on one side and an descended towards the seaside cliffs on the other. It was a remote place, seemingly out here all on its own and within it dwell a single farmer and his family. The stout man came to the front of the dwelling with a stern facial expression. His children had seen the bard approaching and as such he'd meet this being outside. No way he was going to be let inside the farm house. "Jaskier did you bring me someone to take care of the problem. I told you, I will not return a single thing you left here until you do!" he exclaimed. A creeping smile appeared on Jaskier's face. "Yes, yes. This is Kou. He's a Witcher, I'm sure he can help you... he will still require payment." he said without looking directly at the man.

"Oh? Brought a Witcher, they always tell me missing farm animals isn't their line of work! Whatever!" he exclaimed seemingly frowning. "Something keeps stealing my goats. The others keep claiming its just some buggering idiot. But I haven't seen anything like that. It doesn't leave tracks and it only comes at night when no one else is around. It even breaks into the barn and out without being noticed. If that's not magic I don't know what is..." claimed the man. "Find out what's been taking my goats, and I'll make it worth your while... I got a gold coin I don't have much use fer. It's yours if you do the work proper." he said without further ado. Everyone in this place really sounded like an NPC from a video game, which was the only thought on Hikari's mind.

[Bloodedge]

Following along behind the bard, Kou found himself mulling over what sort of quest this would be. Surely it was likely to involve monsters, but there were too many options to count. Monster species were more plentiful than any other in this world. He only hoped it was one he could deal with in his current form. His sword was not made of any sort of silver, so it had no bonuses against monsters. If he wanted to be effective against a stronger variety, he had no choice but to either rely on his magical abilities, or create some sort of concoction to coat his current blade in. It was quite a bit to consider.

When they reached the farmer, the portly male seemed to consider it strange that a Witcher agreed to help him. It made sense; Witchers in lore were about their coin, and cared not for the jobs which weren't confirmed monster cases. The farmer even offered him an entire gold coin for the work of discovering what robbed him of livestock. "Gold?" he questioned aloud. "That's a lot to pay for something like this, but I think you're right. That does sound like a monster, and no regular one at that. Being honest, I'm just glad it doesn't sound like Drowners, given how close we are to the sea here. Maybe a Griffin? Who knows; I'll find out. Take a silver out of that payment, get an inn for the night and stay away from here. Use whatever else from it you need for food, and to recover whatever you can from what's gone missing. Your problem will be fixed by morning. Got me?"

[Apollymi]

Apparently, Kou thought the offer of a gold was a bit too much. The Farmer could disagree, but why argue something in his favor. "Alright kids, wife... pack it up, we're going into town for the night!" he exclaimed. A group of small children clambered out from the house seemingly excited and barefoot while being half dressed. None were taller than knee height and all seemed to be pretty excited. The man's wife also came out and gave a nod. She was a youngish looking young woman with brown hair and thick eye brows, but soft eyes, though they were beset by bags. "A night where I don't have to cook, it sounds like a vacation," within a few moments that woman was back in the house with all the children with her. And when they exited again, each was dressed, with shoes. The woman wore a bonnet and each child marched behind her like it was a grand adventure.

"Alright, you have free roam of the property then. Fix our problem and I'll give you what's left from the purchases," said the man. And with that he left with his family following suit. Hikari stood with her hands behind her head seemingly amused by the whole situation. "So, we stalk some random thing that's been stealing farm animals?" she asked of her brother. If this was all there was to his plan, there was hardly any reason to have involved anyone else, aside from perhaps fixing up his reputation, this didn't seem to need any extra bodies.

[Bloodedge]

The farmer had an entire family to protect - a wife, multiple children. That was enough motivation to get the job done, but upon seeing the children themselves, Kou quirked a brow. The second time they left the house, they were all fully dressed, but... why would they be barefoot otherwise? "Hmm..." This was going to be a worthwhile quest to take, one way or another. He only hoped for something a bit challenging, but not ridiculous in any way. He wanted to test his abilities, but he didn't want to waste too much time before returning. It had already been a week, and Kou doubted Miki's task would take so long.

Once the farmer and his family were gone, only three remained. Kou wasn't sure how Jaskier would hold up, but he understood that the lad needed to be nearby for the sake of whatever song he'd be writing. "Should probably get some distance. If it doesn't show when anyone else is around, we'll want to keep lookout from off the farm. It should work out; I'm pretty sure I've got low-tier Archer eyes right now. Let's go," he said, moving toward a small cove not far from the farm itself. He'd be waiting there, until whatever manner of creature showed itself come nightfall...

[Apollymi]

Hikari followed along with her brother, only to have Jaskier trailing along behind. The blue haired lad looked a bit like a tourist, gawking as they made their way up to the cave, only instead of going there, he'd take a stroll down near the beach hiding among the lighthouse where he'd have a clear view. The Demi-Human girl for her part in this seemed unbothered but she still had something to say. "Well, that is fine, I can also hear everything within a pretty good distance. I'm sure between us we'll have no problem taking out anything that approaches too quickly~" she mentioned her own skills having been honed through practice. With that in mind she continued walking but strangely she had a little more to say. "So, is this just sketchy to me? Or do you get a weird feeling about it too?" she asked of her brother while they walked.

Eventually she'd find herself nestled into a small cove. She took to the side of the cave, out of sight from the front of it, but in just the right place to pick up all sorts of sounds from the area immediately surrounding them. Because of the depths of the cave, she could even pick up voices from quite some distance, though not to clearly given the sound of the tide rising and falling.

[Bloodedge]

"I do," he said, believing there were multiple oddities about this particular endeavor. The most serious amount of strangeness came from the problem itself, which didn't add up at all. "Never heard of a monster acting like that. Monsters are like animals; they ravage places to feed themselves. Why would a monster come to one place over and over, picking up morsels one by one, night by night? If they wanted to save food, animals would just take as much as possible back to their den, nest, or wherever. They especially wouldn't act this way if they were skeptical in nature enough to avoid leaving tracks. This is the kind of thing people do."

From within their hiding place, Kou kept an open eye. Night fell, and his vision did not seem hindered at all. No, if he were being honest, he felt he could see even better once it was dark. He didn't have Hikari's hearing, but he was beginning to pick up a few shadows moving in directions considered impossible when viewing how the wind shifted everything else. There were bodies, numerous bodies conspiring something. He whispered to the lass in his company. "What can you hear?"

[Apollymi]

It seemed that Hikari wasn't the only person having misgivings about this particular quest line. It was true, animal habits were a bit more predicatable than what the farmer indicated. She understood at face value why the other Witchers might not have been okay with dealing with this problem. Based on information alone it seemed like a hoax, or a case of buggery, which she assumed had something to do with indecent acts with a goat based on context. "I was thinking the same things. Animals wild ones don't have shame. They wouldn't hide what they were doing. That is a higher order intelligence skill..." she said with a firm nod. As day turned to night she was left to ponder a bit more. And eventually though she had some higher order night vision, it wasn't nearly as extreme as her brothers. Instead she heard the voices of those shadowy moving figures.

"They are saying the targets should be in the farm or at the farm house..." said the girl whose ears were still twitching. "They are looking for people... and for someone to take a goat so it doesn't look suspicious..." said the lass, whose eyes widened immediately. Where they looking for the family? No, that didn't make sense, they could have taken them out at any point, if they'd been doing this all along. And that man didn't seem like the type to sell out his own kin but maybe... "Shit."

[Bloodedge]

"It might be a bit more than that..." he said. There was something more about this situation, something very discomforting. Whatever it was, it earned its place as a puzzle that he'd be working on solving in the near future. That future would come the moment night fell, when Kou saw numerous shadows, and Hikari heard numerous conspiring voices. "Targets... people..." He mumbled a few words in succession while his mind assembled the pieces of this mystery.

There was something innately repulsive about the ideas to be pulled from this occurrence. Mentioning targets, looking for people that couldn't have possibly been the farmer and his family... and yet... "Fuck. Where's Jaskier?" he questioned the moment he realized what had to be happening here. This was a trap, and a clever one at that. The sad part was, they had taken the bait simply by agreeing to help.

[Apollymi]

Her brother thought initially something sinister might be a play here, and certainly there was by the end of their conversation. After night fell the coming of something akin to a raid party wasn't at all what the lass expected. What was more they seemed to be targeting people but not the ones that lived there. Shame of it was they were inadvertently leading others into a trap without knowing fully what that trap entailed because all they thought is they were missing livestock. When asked by her brother about the whereabouts of Jaskier the girl seemed to think about it for a second or two. "The Light House. I heard him practicing earlier..." she mentioned. "He's actually not that bad... also he abruptly stopped a few minutes ago..." she said with a deep frown. Knowing that they'd need to head there she readied herself to take off. "But should we try to rescue him directly? It might be better to track them backwards and find out where they are taking him first..." she said thinking about it from as logical a perspective as she could. Of course, their friend the bard had likely been kidnapped without even knowing what happened.

[Bloodedge]

Someone reputable had to be behind this setup; he was sure of it. What to do, though? Jaskier had gone to the lighthouse, but had ceased playing his lute in an abrupt manner. He was gone; of this Kou was sure. There was no way they had gotten rid of him yet, though. No, criminals of this sort wanted something from their prey. Hikari was right; their best option was to track this group back to whatever hideout they crawled from. In addition to being able to discover whatever their plan was and stage a proper attack, they could ensure that any who may have been left behind, were swiftly dealt with as well. "Not much choice. They got to him already, but if we can lay low, we can follow them back where they came from. May as well at least figure out what they need people for, and we don't want to get caught up in something that has too many enemies involved. Yeah; let's scope 'em out," he said, crouching low and shifting farther back into the shadows of the cave. "Hide us."

[Apollymi]

It seemed that Kou at least wasn't against the idea that Hikari put forward. She knew he wouldn't be since it was the most logical of places to go with their current line of thought. His final words on the matter though gained him a huff and puffy face from the young Demi-Human. "Oh, I like how we are just assuming I know how to hide us..." she said in a crotchety manner. All that aside, she had created a magic that would allow her to do just that, "First Hiding..." she mentioned as a mystical form of invisible light bent around them hiding them. It wasn't a skill that was truly that simple though, it provided presence concealment to her party when cast in this way so they could even move around without being detected and because of the magical component it also came with muffled voices so they couldn't be overheard. "Oh, just don't touch anyone, until you are really ready to touch someone," she mentioned softly. "This magic loses its quality if people become aware of you physically..." with this little warning taken care of, they were more than ready to start avoiding the raiders and searching for Jaskier.

[Bloodedge]

"I'm a Holy Knight. You're my Apprentice Holy Knight. I can see your full skill list. Just like old times, right?" he said in jest, referencing a time in which he always knew the rambunctious antics of his young sister before she even had a chance to enact them. Once she made use of her illusion skill, the pair become invisible via the bending of light around them. Hikari mentioned that they shouldn't touch anyone, lest they lose the illusion. That note was very akin to a video game tutorial, prompting a laugh from Kou. "Loli Bait and an NPC now? Nice upgrade~" he teased. Figuring the type of spell used would function in other ways he could easily assume to be natural, he chose to move slowly as well. The white-haired Witcher slipped out of the cave, remaining low to the ground as he crept his way toward, and around the intruders. He wanted to at least know what they were dealing with from the start, whatever race or sect this group belonged to. With that information, he could likely piece together a few more important bits of information.

[Apollymi]

"What?! That's just unfair..." she said knowing her brother now had access to all of her skills set. "What if I wanted to I dunno... murder you and try to take over the world? It's an unfair advantage," she complained about this all knowing mechanic. It seemed a bit counter productive to want to overthrow her brother, and she wasn't even saying that she thought of such a thing seriously, she'd just like the option to slip one past him as it were. Moving right along, apparently her brother found her advice a bit too much like an in-game companion and it made her made. "Nii-san!" she would have yelled but it came out more of an angry whisper. "I'm not Loli Bait, I was just trying to warn you. See if I tell ya' anything else ever!" she exclaimed, still in that hushed whisper. "Fuckin' Nerd, has the nerve to be so into video games he doesn't realize what normal conversation is like..." she muttered in a cross tone as she too slipped out of the cave slowly trailing along behind her brother and scouting for anything suspicious.

[Bloodedge]

"Easy solution: If you might ever want to murder a person, don't swear fealty to them before you have a plan together." Honest advice, he gave, even in the face of rhetoric. Of course, Kou may have actually been lying about his ability to see Hikari's full skill set; it would not have been the first time he did so. Did he intend to let the girl know whether his words were truth or lies? Of course he didn't; he simply continued moving toward the targets. A single bail of hay was all he needed to peek over for the sake of visually finding a couple of the culprits. What were they? All he needed was the specifics. If he could see just one of them, he would be able to figure something out. Perhaps, from this distance, he could hear a bit more as well...

"First, you're thinking about it backwards. Second, shh. Keep an ear open, see if anybody's saying anything else."

[Apollymi]

"I don't like that solution. It's easier to find out someone's weaknesses if you work for them first..." the lass said practically. While she was not actively plotting against her brother, she'd learned a bit as a child stuck in this world. One of those was that working for someone who wasn't necessarily nice to you, as a good way to betray them eventually. Why did she know this? Perhaps she'd share eventually, but for now, there were more important battles. The lass was also hidden behind a hay bale, and she was still huffy about the current conversation. That being said, she was always listening to what was being said around her. In truth she couldn't really help it. "I hear them, I can say what I want and still hear them..." she said with a triumphant smile which when she was smaller would have come with some sort of dominating pose. For now, she simply went about her apparent next task as his apprentice and told him the things being whispered by this group, knowing her brother would be able to put together the tiny pieces of information she couldn't be bothered to sort through.

"I hate slumming it down here."

"Humans are only good for becoming the creatures of burden they were always meant to be."

"There aren't enough a decent number of specimen."

"This could have waited for something more than a foppish beast who dares call himself a bard."

"Maybe he'll be useful, like a bird singing of our arrival... yes I quite like that."

Hikari had a mind for separating and noting voices. In addition she could very easily recall all the information and maybe later even match those voices when she heard them again. Strange it seemed to her, these conversations only pointed out a few obvious things. The raiders weren't just killing people. They were obviously not human to any great capacity and they may or may not have come from somewhere much more frightening than the lower world should be at this point in the journey. That being said, her brother had undertaken a late game upgrade pretty early, maybe this was the cost for doing such a thing. Whatever the case, she'd be along for the ride.