Cool Beginings

[Dani]

What was this guys problem? Was he paniced by the events or was there something else going on she did not know about.

"We will get the Sentinels. But we must also be sure that everyone is safe. And that whoever is responsible does not get away."

She turned away from the wall and faced the hallway with her torch held before her. She kept her sword low in her other hand to not appear threatening as she looked within what tiny bit her torch illuminated before stepping forward, slowly and carefully.

"What is your name?"

[Ely]

(Dani, the young man ran into the hallway to escape the torchlight and out of the room. I'll give you a chance to edit the post as that might not have been clear.)

[Dani]

[edited. Sorry, I must have read your post too fast.}

[Ely]

(No problem. Sometimes I write so fast I forget other people can't read what I am thinking. I proofread, but, well I don't always catch them all.)

The young man who had seen Miss Iona fall was terribly shaken. He did not recognize Dani's voice which only convinced him that she was part of the attack and searching for witnesses. What she might do with said witnesses had him absolutely terrified. But, as she had yet to attack him, he ventured a timorous and stuttered reply.

"I... I-I... I'm D-d-davide."

His voice became stronger as if the act of speaking had given him a bit more courage.

"W-wwho are y-yyou?"

Shen and Iona were studying the coin. It had, in fact, no listed denomination on it at all, instead there were a pair of stylized birds facing each other in the center and the outer edge was etched with strange symbols.

Iona turned it over and over in her hand but it was obvious she was in pain. She set the coin aside and took a couple of harsh breaths.

"I don't imagine my would be assassin stuck around. We should give those to the Sentinels."

Iona waved her hand at the coins.

As for Tauer and Celaena the huge spider with the multi-faceted eyes skittered down the side of the wall. It twisted around, gathered itself in tightly bunched up stance and spit a glob of sticky webbing directly at Celaena's outstretched hand.

[Celaena]

Celaena let out a small shriek that sounded more like a gasp, and dropped to the ground, hitting the floor with a thud. Her hand shot out away from her, pointing towards the spider and she used her light magic like the very blonde guy had said, creating a large ball and shooting it towards the creature, hoping it would be blinded. Other then her magic, she didnt think there was much she could do, as she would need to get close to it to stab it, both of which she didnt really want to do. "We need to go back!" she gasped to Tauer.

[Dani]

Dani sheathed her sword at the frightened words of the man, hoping that might help him feel more safe. She continued to walk slowly forward with her torch held to one side and her other hand out away from her to show it was empty.

"My name is Dani. I came here with Ely and another man. She was going to show us the House of Galena, but instead we found Shen and another wounded woman. Shen is trying to save her now. And Ely is just back down the hallway with another woman we found who seems to be ok.

Do you know Ely and Shen?

If you want we can go back to them together... You can tell them what happened here and perhaps we can find who did this and why."

She tried to keep her words soft and soothing, but the more time she spent trying to comfort him, the more time the assassin had to get away or accomplish whatever task he had if it wasn't the murder of the Healers.

[Tauer]

Tauer tried not to freak out any further as the spidery creature moved down the wall, but then it spat a gooey substance at them and the demon prince knew he had to do something fast. Tauer reached out both of his clammy hands and plucked at the darkness with pale fingertips, pulling ribbons of shadow from the walls and guiding them quickly towards the multi-legged critter. Focusing as best he could with a gasping Celaena beside him, the demonkin attempted to wrap the darkness about the creature's head like black bandages. If it could not see them then it could not attack them. But Tauer wanted to go a step further. Tightening his fists and his control over the shadows the silver-haired prince wanted to constrict it's head completely, to close the spider's mouth shut and cut off it's ability to breath.

[Ely]

The spider gave a shrieking cry as soon as Tauer's shadow tendrils tried to wrap around it's monstrous head. The thousands of little bristles and hairs on its eight legs detected the change in the air as it skittered backward to avoid being entangled in them.

Tauer's shadows certainly unnerved the creature, though. It was bunching up in a defensive crouch and the new spray of webbing was headed directly at Tauer and ignored Celaena completely. What did he know of spiders anyway? Could he strangle them? How did they breathe?

Where was everybody? Was the whole building asleep? By now the noise, especially the ear piercing shriek of the spider, should have woken those downstairs. Celaena's light magic was starting to flicker back and forth. Her ability to stay calm in the midst of danger had fallen the minute the spider targeted her hand. Could she stay focused enough to blind the thing?

Upstairs Davide had calmed down. He had no idea who Dani was but she had given him names of people he did know and that went a long way. He had even garnered enough courage to speak to her instead of at her.

"Miss Ely is here? And Shen? Yes. I would like to go back to the main hall. You are sure that awful thing that attacked Miss Iona is gone? I was standing right next to her. This...this...t-thing came slithering down from the ceiling and dropped right between us. Before anyone could move it had slashed Miss Iona's throat and took off down the west wing toward the bedrooms."

Davide took a long, extended breath and looked shamefully around.

"I... I couldn't d-do anything to save her. I just ran... it was dreadful. I was sure it would kill me, too."

[Dani]

"The WEST wing?! Oh goddess, please let him be ok. Another man went to search there. Come quickly! I will lead you to Ely, but then I must go find Tauer!"

She spun on her heels and raced towards the fallen woman she had found in the hall, hoping Ely was still there with her. She took no time to see if Davide followed, trusting in the torchlight to guide him should he not be so quick. Any comforting words she may have given the frightened man vanished at the thoughts of the white haired man stuck alone with the assassin...thing...it sure didn't sound like a man from Davide's description...

Along the way she called out, hoping again that the empty halls would carry her cries to Ely and Shen.

"It's in the West Wing! The bedrooms!"

[Celaena]

Celaena's eyes were wide with fear, and she was breathing in short gasps. She was, however, managing to keep herself from sinking to the floor or turning and running. Fumbling around in her head, she found a thought and latched on, repeating it over in her head. -I need to blind it so it wont hurt anyone. I cant let it hurt anyone!- She clenched her eyes shut and kept her hand pointing towards the spider, as well as she could with her shaking. With effort, she pictured light pouring from her hand towards the spider to blind it, and prayed it would work.

[Shen]

(I apologize for the delay. I haven't had much time to check the site of late and for a time, it was not my turn to post.)

Shen looked over the coins with Iona and didn't entirely recognized them, but seemed to recall some mention of such strange currency about Wistvale. He was well traveled and quite learned, but all he could manage were tidbits and mentions of such coins. He did, however; know enough to wonder.

"Perhaps. They'll have a great deal of questions for you, which I will ask of you now, Iona. Do you know why someone might want you dead? Did you see your attacker and more to the point... why would they discard these coins here? Did you attack them, or perhaps cause their purse to tear? It seems quite strange that a killer should leave such evidence."

(Assuming I hear Dani within the temple now.)

Shen's questioning was interrupted by the yelling from the woman with the bow. Apparently she'd identified where the attacker had gone, though Shen was quite confident that the killer would have long ago fled the scene. Regardless, did they really want to encounter this person? He was undecided about that and with Iona's life saved, was somewhat disinterested. At any rate, he didn't suffer from a hero complex.

So, he didn't panic or burst into action, but instead looked to the hallway where the noise came from and waited on the somewhat panicked sounding woman to appear.

[Ely]

I will be on hiatus for at least a week due to a recent illness.

(Dani, if you wish to write joining up with Ely and Lydia before making it into the main hall that would be fine. Celaena and Tauer I have no problem letting you two write a few more posts with the spider. Shen you may continue to speak with Iona or converse with the group returning to the main hall.)

These are all suggestions, of course, to keep this thread and people occupied until I return. Do not worry, whatever you decide I will pick up when I return.

[Dani]

Dani arrived where Ely was seeing to Lydia and paused only long enough for Davide to catch up.

"I found him further down the hall. He says he saw the assassin attack the woman in the entryway and then head for the bedrooms in the west wing.

I'm going to help."

She raced off then, looking not panicked, but determined. Her hands rested on her weapons as she ran. Both to keep the bouncing from hindering her movement, and to have them close to hand, should she need them. As she rounded the corner into the entryway where Shen watched over Iona she glanced over just long enough to register that the woman seemed to be doing better. Whatever the healers had done seemed to have worked and she thanked Galena even as she envied their abilities as she continued past them to the west wing, looking for the way to the bedrooms.

[Shen]

Shen watched as Dani entered the room and then left once more. His expression showed little interest as quite frankly, he wasn't overly concerned with helping chase down whomever had likely already gotten away. If the assassin was sticking about, then they were more than confident in their abilities to deal with more trouble. Better the fools who'd run off learn a lesson about being all too hasty. He turned to Iona and strangely enough, managed half a smile.

"Well. I'm sure they can handle themselves. Presently, your well being is of greater concern; Iona."

[Ely]

(I am stymied a bit here guys. Tauer is still out of action from what I can see so I will ask a few questions. I can continue this thread. I am enjoying it, even with the bumps in the road from current events taking up my time and us losing Elijah. We can go forward without Tauer if you like or we can try a few rounds without him and see if he returns. Please PM your choices to me so I can decide.)