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[Ash]

"There's no way of telling how many there are," the barwoman said, "maybe it's better you go back to where you came from?"

"No...we'd lead them only to a place where there are people they hate. Our lands are untouched by this blight. If they were to come, it would end in bloodshed, and probably result in a war between Elves and Man...my father is a peaceful soul, but not a forgiving one. And we cannot allow others to suffer by the hands of this murderous church."

Suddenly muffled screams were heard upstairs, along with a couple of thuds, and finally a smash accompanied by some incomprehensible aggressive shouts. The princess was quick to unsheath her sword and make for the stairwell. For someone who was supposed to be protected, Anduriel was more than ready to leap into a situation where she may need that protection. She had full confidence in her own abilities, though, perhaps a little too much confidence.

[Athena]

Neelahn realised Anduriel was right, there was no way they could turn back now. A foolish action it'd be to endanger their people in that way. When she heard the noises and saw Anduriel running upstairs, she hurried after her, getting her bow and an arrow while running. She wondered what was going on up there.

[Ash]

When Anduriel reached the top of the stairs, it was carnage in the tavern. The window was smashed and a rather stockily-built dwarf was slumped in a crumpled heap, with shards of glass sticking out of the skin. He'd collapsed onto a table, which had literally snapped as he'd fallen onto it. Further screaming and scuffling could be heard outside, along with the faint whoosh of arrows and screaming.

Anduriel quickly rushed over to tend the injured dwarf, but her eye glanced outside to see fully armoured human warriors rushing through the street. On their cuirasses they bore the serpent emblem.

One or two dwarves were barring the tavern door with tables and chairs.

[Athena]

Neelahn ran to the injured dwarf and used her healing skills to tend his injuries somewhat. She said to Anduriel: "What's happening, what are you looking at?" Neelahn put an arrow on her bow and made it ready. Perhaps they were in greater danger than Neelahn thought at first.

[Ash]

Anduriel stood upright and put her hand on a safe part of the windowframe. "Can you cover me? I can't just leave these people to die, Neelahn," Anduriel looked afraid, but who wouldn't if they were the sole defenders of innocents about to be massacred?

[Athena]

"Of course, sure. You can count on me." Neelahn nodded. She herself was somewhat afraid as well, but they had to defend those people. She held her bow tightly, ready to fire when danger would approach.

[Ash]

Anduriel hopped over the windowledge, immediately plunging her sword into a serpent-knight who happened to be crossing the path. There were a lot of them, though. Far too many to take on. Worse, they were breaking into houses now. The screams seemed to surround her as fear filled the hearts of the villagefolk, who were trying to flee, but were being cut down mercilessly by these 'soldiers'.

Anduriel was quick to block the sword of another soldier attempting to put a helpless child to death, and brought her foot up with lightning speed to kick him in the gut.

"Go!" she yelled to the child, who scampered away as another four soldiers rushed to defend their comrade.

[Athena]

Neelahn saw what was happening and with her bow ready it didn't take her long to aim for someone. She aimed for a guy who was trying to break into a house just across the street. The arrow hit him in the back of his head and within less than a second his body had fallen on the ground, dead. She got another arrow out and tightened her bow.

She closed her left eye and aimed for another guy, this one trying to break the window open. He got hit in his back and gave a scream before he died. She made her bow ready again and noticed something to the right.

Quickly she turned and saw a guy running straight at her. In her haste she aimed and missed by an armlength. A drop of sweat fell down her face as she aimed a second time. He got hit in the chest just a bit left of his heart and just before he died he managed to yell a curse to Neelahn.

A man a bit more to the right heard the curse and turned around. "Hey!" he shouted and started running towards Neelahn, raising up his sword as a threat. Neelahn aimed for him and her arrow hit him in the shoulder. The man kept running despite the pain and Neelahn grabbed another arrow. This time he got hit in the neck and it didn't take long before he passed away.

Some more men were nearing Neelahn and Anduriel now.

[Ash]

They were surrounded. Eight men, all in full mail armour and brandishing big swords, were converging on the two young Elves neither of whom had armour and only one of whom had a sword. There wasn't an escape route except back through the window, and Anduriel doubted they'd make it before someone stabbed them.

"Alright," Anduriel said, "we yield..." She lowered her sword as one drew closer. "just don't kill us."

"Why not? You've killed enough of our boys," one sneered. Anduriel could see he was missing an eye and a couple of teeth. Cruelly scarred, Anduriel couldn't help but think this animal deserved it for his brutality.

"Because I can sing you a song," she said, which raised a pang of confusion from all around. She sucked in a lungful of air and rang out a soothing choir-like 'ahh', a soft trill that seemed to overwhelm the sounds of the fighting and chaos among the village. It did lull the men for a moment, but that wasn't its purpose.

Within a second, a loud sqawk could be heard and a green feathery blur started to beat at the faces of the men, all of whom turned to the strange new thing.

Anduriel siezed her chance, thrusting her blade forward into the one-eyed man, the blade piercing all the way up to the sword's hilt as she drove it so far in. She brought it out with a slashing motion, removing a good half of the man's head in a rather gory motion before grabbing Neelahn and pulling her back toward the inn.

Crow was still sqwawking and pecking and clawing at some of the knights when Anduriel shouted to him to stop before they cut him apart. He didn't need telling twice; within moments held beat his last wing into the face of one of the soldiers and was making his way for the safety of the Salty Seaman's rooftop.

[Athena]

Once inside Neelahn said to Anduriel: "What should we do? I suppose at the very least we could barricade the door.." She started to look around, trying not to panic. How would they get out of here? They were trapped as rats, surrounded by those idiots. Then she remembered the window upstairs. "Perhaps I could try to shoot them from upstairs?" she suggested.

[Ash]

"Good call," Anduriel responded, as Crow made his way into the window and landed on the desk.

"See? The dashing one with the gorgeous plumage saves the day!" he crooned.

"Yes, Crow, now if you'll kindly alert your brother the condor..."

"Oh, har-har."

Already, though, the men were making their way into the inn via the broken window.

Outnumbered, Anduriel's eyes darted, looking for an escape as she fell back to the bar, along with a number of Dwarves.

"Surrender, now!" one of the soldiers commanded, "or we'll burn this Goddess-forsaken town!"

Anduriel was about to lower her sabre and surrender when a bolt whooshed over her shoulder and hit the man square in the eye, sending blood and globules of eye around and sending the man's body down in a heap, dead.

"Better it burn than be run by you worms!" the barwoman said, holding the crossbow fiercely. "Get out of here you two. Down the stairwell. Speak to my husband - I've left him with instructions for you. Go!"

Anduriel gave a look of heartfelt gratitude...a grave smile as if she knew that she would never see this woman again, and made for the stairwell downward to where the Acolyte had been murdered.
"Neelahn! Come!"

[Athena]

Neelahn looked at the barwoman one last time, knowing their ways probably separated here. She hoped the barwoman would make it out allright, but she feared for her life. She ran downstairs after Anduriel, curious what it'd be there. She wondered what the husband would be like and hoped there was some underground road they could use to escape.

[Ash]

The two of them almost fell over from missing steps in their haste. Upstairs, they heard an awful scream from upstairs, along with numerous loud smashes over the sound of their own feet thudding on the stairway.

At the bottom, a rather broad-shouldered and grizzled old dwarf trotted over to them. It was clear he'd been expecting them, and his fists were clenched. Anduriel spotted a glimmering silver dagger in one hand, and also saw the hemline of some rather thick armour underneath his tunic.

Without even saying a word, he nodded his head over to a huge beer keg, and with an incredible strength he bowled it straight off the rack that held it. It shook the ground as it landed, and the unmistakable smell of stagnant water filled the air as the barrel leaked. It was obvious that they didn't use that one for the ale. Behind the keg was a door, which had previously been completely concealed. He nodded his head, and grunted in encouragement for them to get going. Although it was just a sound, nobody had to guess at that meaning.

"Thank you," Anduriel said, to which came a strange grunt, which seemed to be an attempt to speak, but which failed. However, his gestures pointing forcibly towards the door conveyed his meaning perfectly well.

The two Elves were off, making there way into a deep, dark sewer. A sharp contrast from the cold weather outside, the sewer was surprisingly warm and stuffy. The air smelt stagnant, and of death. Indeed, the coppery smell of blood emanated. The murderous soldiers had clearly wasted no time in dumping the corpses.

They heard the faint slam and click of the door. They would have a few minutes before they were followed. Better to make themselves scarce.

[Athena]

Neelahn watched the guy and while she didn't understand what the grunts ment, or what they were supposed to mean, she understood his gestures.

When arrived at the sewer she couldn't help noticing the different atmosphere here. "Ugh", she said, "smells like people died in here". She kept going, they should get as far away from the place as possible, before someone'd be after them. While running she briefly wondered what'd happen to the guy or moreso how much would be left of him.. he'd probably given his life for them. Not much time to think and mourn now. She wondered when this all will be over.. or if. With this escape, getting away from her family or what was left of it, she had never ment to get into a mess like this.. she could've get killed and that danger was still there. Granted it was better than having stayed around her sisters and being bossed around. She'd die an adventurous death.. if they wouldn't get out of this. She was hoping they would though, despite the fact she had little left worth living for. With all this danger around her though her mind hadn't been thinking about her dad for ages it seemed.. not even did she recall a dream about him.

She looked beside her, at Anduriel. "I can't believe those people give their lives for us. I'm never going to forgive myself if we don't get out of this mess.." she gasped. She looked forward again and kept running.

[Ash]

Anduriel's voice was soft as she replied, following closely after Neelahn, trying not to vomit in the stench of the sewer. "We did all we could, my friend, and rest assured they will pay for their crimes."

The odd rat or goblin tried to impede their progress, but a quick slash of the sword from Anduriel or arrow from Neelahn soon saw to that.

It was some time later that they saw daylight in the gloom. They seemed to have been walking for hours, and indeed they actually had. The faint silhouette of a stairway appeared in front of them. How they'd got this far without breaking a bone or tripping over something was miraculous; they'd managed to find a piece of dry driftwood, and Anduriel had happened to be carrying a couple of flints for emergencies (even princesses come prepared). They had a makeshift torch, and both prayed to every god they could name that it wouldn't go out.

Anduriel told Neelahn to wait at the base of the stairwell while she crept soundlessly up the stairs, putting her large pointed ear to the door whose cracks the little pinpricks of light were seeping through. She couldn't hear anything except the howl of the wind.

"Sounds safe," she said, "here's as good a chance as any."

[Athena]

After hearing Anduriels words Neelahn felt somewhat comforted. The princess had an atmosphere around her that comforted people, her at least. She couldn't quite put the finger on to what exactly it was, but felt comforted some anyhow.

"Let's go for it," Neelahn whispered when they had arrived at the door. "Not many other places to go anyway. We can use stealth for a second if needed." She was curious what'd be behind the door. Obviously not much people, but where would they end up? How far had they even walked, or better said: ran? With a heart pounding in her chest she nodded to Anduriel she could proceed.

[Ash]

Opening the door, both of them were near-blinded by the sudden inrush of sunlight. Or was it sunlight..?

Anduriel cautiously took the lead as she made her way forward, however what she'd thought was daylight turned out to be an exceedingly well-lit room. The room was cavernous, with the ceiling a full thirty feet above their heads, and a good three hundred metres between two opposite walls.

Gold was piled higher than the eye could see, and huge statues to old gods even Anduriel, with her extensive reading into the old ways, could not name. The walls were covered with hieroglyphs in a text she could not even begin to decipher or even guess as to their origin, and she was filled with a sense of awe by the incredible colours of the paintings, which all looked to be in metal leaf. Yellow was, of course, gold, white was silver, and a dozen other reds, greens and oranges were made using other precious metals which existed.

"Incredible..." Anduriel slipped into Memorian as she gasped openly as she walked into the massive room. Huge lanterns burned relentlessly and their glorious light reflected off just about everything in the room. "There must be enough wealth here to beggar all of Elvenkind!"

[Athena]

"Amazing..", Neelahn whispered, following Anduriel. Neelahn looked around the room, gazing in awe. Anduriel was right, millions could be living off this.. When she had refound her voice and was become of the shock, she said: "Wow.. who do you think this all belongs to? Where does it come from.." Her voice faded away again. Who in the world could have so much.. surely this couldn't be the doing of one person alone. She wondered what the hieroglyps on the wall ment, did they say something important, what did it mean? And the statues.. who did they represent.. Did these people have an ancient belief? Who were they anyway..

Suddenly she realised why they'd gone into this room. They had to find a way out. "Is there a way out.. are we trapped?" Her eyes expressed a certain fear. As nice as this room was to look at, no stare at for a time, the elves'd be no where if they were killed.

[Ash]

"These lanterns haven't been burning forever," Anduriel said softly, gripping the hilt of her sabre as she explored the centre of the huge chamber. "we are not alone down here...someone has been here recently."

She had absolutely no idea who this gold belonged to. She could tell rather quickly that it was a tomb, as she looked down a small corridor. A large sarcophagus sat snugly in the centre of the room, bearing characters of a runic alphabet she couldn't hope to comprehend.

She bent down and grabbed a handful of the gold coins from the mountain, and saw them adorned with a face as clearly carved as if the coin had been minted yesterday. The face was clearly Elven, with large pointy ears. However the face appeared to be tattooed in a custom completely unlike any Elven one of today.

She slipped them in her pocket, and picked up a small golden statuette of a female archer wearing incredibly ornate armour from the base of the sarcophagus. Probably whoever buried this person felt they might defend him in the afterlife.

Next to the archer, she saw another female statuette carrying a sword not unlike her own. The other statuettes were obviously male soldiers, organised in ranks and files that indicated a company-strength at least; five hundred golden statuettes in combat readiness. Knowing the quality of an army of Elves, five hundred soldiers would be a formidable defence for whatever king this must have been.

"Hmm," Anduriel mused, "I don't know if it's just me...but these two...they look very much like us."

Indeed, the key features of both their faces were recognisable upon the face of the figures. While both figures bore tattoos the same as the monarch's face on the coin, they nonetheless bore a striking resemblance.

[Athena]

"Yeah, someone must've lit them.." Neelahn said in reply to Anduriel's remark about the lanterns. She walked with her and looked at the statues. "I believe you're right.. they *do* look like us.." She moved around some, to look at the statues from different angles. "I wonder how, were there people who looked like us or do these people know us.. Chances of that are so small.."

(OOC: Sorry that it's not more.. after a few hours of staring at this post and chatting inbetween, I still didn't know what to add.)