The Village of Estolad, a usually bustling and noisy place, had such a quiet night atmosphere. Unless you happened to stay up past midnight, that is, and Drake happened to be one of those people. His cloak wrapped around him, feebly attempting to offer protection from the crisp air, Drake sat on a large, ornate fountain in the middle of the town. Something had called him outside, out from the cheap tavern with its disgusting ale, out into the pure, clean night. Night that was soon to be soiled with corruption and hatred. Strange denizens of darkness moved about the rooftops, avoiding any and every ray of light, whether it come from a lantern or an open house's door. Seemingly made of shadows, they positioned themselves for a massive slaughter. Unarmed, the denizens of the shadows resembled a hunched, beastly human. Sharp claws, white eyes, and a constant stream of darkness emanating from them, they would tear the poor town to shreds.
"Unless the heroes wake the Hell up," Drake said out loud to himself. He pulled off his hood, revealing his bright golden eyes and jet black hair. He also revealed a rather sharp, rather sturdy Akaviri katana, about four feet in length, 38'' of pure, metal, pointy death attached to the 10 inch handle. He and one of the denizens caught each other's eyes, just as another being made itself clear.


(Ooc: That being would be you, reader, whether you are good or evil. However, you may not control these beasts, no matter what spells or skills you own. That is the only written rule here.)

Looking ahead he could see the outline of a village ahead even through the darkness of the night. He had been told that this was the village of Estolad. He had also been told that it was attacked often. It didn't bother him, what ever he ran into he would be able to take care of it. The important thing was that a person of interest happened to be living there. A person who might have information that he was looking for.

As he began his decent from a top the hill he had been standing on he had thought he caught sight of movement on the rooftops of some of the houses. But as another moment passed they were gone. He wasn't sure what he had seen but he doubted it was any threat to him.

Reaching the outskirts of the small village he noticed that though there were some lights on no one was outside. And on top the rooftops he could now see what he had seen before. They seemed to be made of shadows, but in a human from. With white eyes they seemed to ignore him at the moment. He wasn't sure how long that would last, but as long as these creatures left him be he would as well. After all he wasn't here to fight a battle for the pathetic people of this village, he was after one person and then he would leave them to their fate.

As he neared the center of the village however an odd fog. As he cleared it he noticed a lone figure standing before him. The man standing before him with bright golden eyes and jet black hair also happened to be holding a katana. He seemed to be looking at something else however. But there was no mistaking it, this was the man he had been hoping to speak to. Since Nicko was never the one to make the first move he would stand there and wait to see how the man would react.

A large white falcon circled the Village of Estolad, looking down upon the scene blow him. His keen eyes revealed to him a view of the entire town. As he flew round and round in the air, shapes below began to move and twist around. Beings that seemed to be made out of shadow flitted in and around buildings. Darius had no idea what they could possibly be. He thought that they could be some sort of demon or some such shadow creature, but he could not be certain. He also saw the figure of a man standing in the middle of the town. It was curious. There were lights on, but nobody seemed to be awake for this spooky spectacle. It seemed as if everybody was completely oblivious to the iminent doom of the town, for Darius had no doubt that these creatures didn't have boxes of cookies that they wanted to sell to the people of the town.

Slowly, the falcon decended until he was at roof level. He landed on top of a small building, and morphed back into a human. He jumped from the roof and landed in the shadows. As he looked around, his eye caught that of a man who was standing in the middle of the town. He froze, thinking that it was a shadow creature. When he realized that it was a man, he relaxed. He had no fear of men. He had no fear of shadow creatures either, but if one saw him and sounded an alarm, it would all be over.

Slowly, he stepped out of the shadows, looking the man up and down. His eyes roamed along the man, taking in every detail and storing it away for later use if necessary.

"So, it seems that I am not the first one here. Do you know what those things are?" Darius indicated the shadows. "I'm assuming that a fight is about to break out. I would like to make sure that we are on the same page, at least for the duration of the fight." Darius noticed another man walking up to them. "All three of us."

((OOC: are we all allies? I mean, me and Nicko are evil aligned, and Drake isn't, so are we allies just for this short time? Because I have no desire in siding with shadow creature thingys))

As Nicko stood before the man he had come here to see he kept an eye one the shadows as well. He wasn't sure if they would attack but if they did they would be sorry. Before the man was given a change to react however a third man appeared. As he looked to the man he had seen him before, in the shrine of shadows. He wasn't sure why this man had appeared before him yet again but it did not matter as long as he did not get in the way of his goal. It was soon after that the man had came into view when he spoke, he always seemed to be the one to speak first,

"So, it seems that I am not the first one here. Do you know what those things are?" he began as he indicated the shadows that were running about them, "I'm assuming that a fight is about to break out. I would like to make sure that we are on the same page, at least for the duration of the fight," there was a long pause and then he finished, "All three of us."

Like before he showed no signs that he would answer the mans statement, but this time he would not wait hours to do so. A few minutes later he replied, "You and I shall never be upon the same page, for I move towards the end of this little book, and I'm taking this man along with me, weather he wants to or not, then I'll leave this village to the shadows!"

He made no movement at the moment, as of yet neither had attacked or tried anything hostile so he would wait to see what would happen, and react appropriately.

(nope not allies... :shifty: )

[OOC: Is a fourth over doing it? Green = Speech, Red = Thoughts]

A dark figure chuckled slightly to himself as he left a back alley, two golden coins jingling together between his talon like hand. "Hmmmm....Another night another lost eh?"he said more to himself than anyone around him. Bamboo thin and cloaked in the colors of the earth, wood, and trees, Darien's countenance slowly came into view as shadows of the buildings about him gave way to the sliver of the moon revealed through cloud and fog. He tossed both coins into the air, caught them and pocketed both in one deft movement. Looking upwards towards the waning moon, he gave a wry smile. It was still early and he had quite a bit to do. He had only meant to resupply at the village, grab a drink or two, then move on towards who knows where. Here there, it didn't matter really to him much, just somwhere. Instead he got caught up in a game of cards which led into a game of dice and ultimately led to him only having two gold piece to his name. If only he could rub two to make three. He was an Alchemist after all.

A prickling at the back of his neck wrenched him from his earlier thoughts all of a sudden. He sighed with annoyance, "I suppose that I'll be seeing another detour or two before the end of the night". Large Elvish eyes lit up golden as he used his ability of Infravision to pierce the darkness and gain a better insight into what gave him such a bad feeling in his gut.

Frowning ever so slightly, his sword hand wandered to the hilt of his sword as the creatures began to show themselves upon the rooftops against the Sky and Moon. At a glance, they appeared to be human, but seemed to turn all to shadow and somewhat beast like before the eye. Darien wasn't sure exactly what they were. He did know that they were trouble. "Abominations....

Darien's thoughts were so focused on the creatures that he hadn't even noticed the others just a few streets over.

(OOC: I am so freakin' sorry that it took this long to post, but my internet went out. I will update as much as possible, okay? As for allies...)
Drake finally spoke, interrupting the awkward silence.
"I don't really care where you take me, but let me help these poor villagers first. Then, I will go without struggle." He drew up his blade, a shine of moonlight cutting across the smooth metal as he set it near his head, pointing at the only approaching shadow in the classic samurai stance. Another silence set in, but the look in Drake's eyes told the two men near him, as well as the unseen ally, that he was pleading for their help.
(OOC: Sorry for the short post, but I can't elaborate too much yet.)