Roll Call Roll Call
Sky H Ainsworth
Bacca made a quick round of the keep, directing soldiers here and there and inquiring about things.
One thing he did was send a message to all the important people.
"Meet in the Dark Lord's Office. We need to discuss what we will do next. If you plan on continuing with us, then come forward. If not, then do not. We need to figure out who the next leader will be and what plan of action we will take. Until a leader is selected, I will act as a provisional one. Thank you."
Bacca then went to DLE's office and sat behind the chair. He waited for everyone to come forward.
Lady Paladin
As soon as she received the summons, Lady Paladin headed to DLE's office. As she opened the door and stepped inside, she was pleased to see Bacca was the only other person there yet.
"We didn't get to finish our talk a little while ago," she said, giving the warrior a soft smile.
Bacca managed a smile in return. "I know."
She continued, her face looking more serious. "I haven't heard of a condition such as yours before, but I have to resources to do extensive research on it. I'll do whatever I can to help, you know that."
He nodded and repeated, "I know."
Her new white skirt swaying with each step, Lady Paladin walked up to Bacca. He watched her quietly. She bent down and kissed him softly on the lips. He closed his eyes briefly, but as the images rushed at him again, he abruptly pulled back.
The healer stood and took a step back. Her brown eyes revealed she was slightly hurt. Out of nowhere, she gave a laugh and shook her head. "You know, all the way walking up here, I entertained the delusion that perhaps if I kissed you, the images may not bother you." She shook her head again. "So much for that theory. But maybe I was looking for an excuse to finally be brave enough to kiss you."
Bacca stood and held out his hands to Lady Paladin. She took his hands, and felt how they trembled slightly. The warrior smiled at her. "It was worth trying, my Lady." He pulled her up close. She wrapped her arms around him and closed her eyes. Bacca smiled at her and pressed a kiss against the top of her head.
Just then, the next person walked into the office.
Jaana
Jaana stood in the doorway for a moment, Kaitlin and Sephiroth by her side. She looked at Bacca, and immediately saw the pain he was suffering. She heard Sephiroth's voice in her head.
"We have to help him. He will not be able to live under this weight much longer....."
"No," Jaana thought, "Lady Paladin must heal him herself. This will be the test of her powers."
"What if she doesn't figure it out in time?" Kaitlin interjected.
"She will," Jaana replied, "She is capable of much more than she knows."
Bacca looked up and saw Jaana, Kaitlin, and Sephiroth standing silently in the door. He smiled.
"Well, I was wondering when you guys would get here. Glad to see you made it through the battle safely."
Jaana returned the smile.
"Did you really have any doubts?"
"No," Bacca laughed, "not after what I saw you and Sephiroth do to those orcs. I haven't seen anything like that in a long time..."
"I'm glad to know you were impressed." Jaana crossed the room and sat down on one of the stone slabs. Sephiroth followed.
Lady Paladin watched Jaana as she dug in her bag, looking for something she couldn't find. "There is something different about her......" she thought, "something different about all of them......."
"So where is everyone?" Kaitlin asked Bacca as she sat down at the table in the middle of the room. "You sent out the call quite some time ago, didn't you?"
"Yes, I did. I expect them here shortly."
"Bacca, you need to sit down." Lady Paladin interrupted. She pushed Bacca gently toward the table. He obliged, and sat opposite Kaitlin. Lady Paladin took a seat by his side and addressed Kaitlin, "Kaitlin, I heard you were the last to speak with the Dark Lord before.......before he died."
"Yes."
"He was a good warrior." Bacca said, smiling.
"Yes, he was."
"I guess the Lizars will have to continue their way of life without him." Lady Paladin said.
Jaana stood up. "Perhaps. Perhaps we shall do it for him."
"What?" Lady Paladin looked at Jaana, confused. "What do you mean?"
"What I mean, is that his way of life is our way of life."
"Jaana, you're not making any sense...." Bacca interjected.
Suddenly, a voice from the hall was heard.
"Fair warriors! We have arrived!!" Lorinan appeared in the doorway, by his side the dark moogle, Ku-sam. "Look what I drug in from the battlefield!" he smiled at the moogle beside him, "he was about to be trampled to death by an army of white moogles, but I saved him!"
Bacca leapt to his feet, "An army of moogles? What??"
Lorinan grinned, "Aw, don't worry....last thing I heard, the army of Lance Henricksens was tearing up some serious moogle butt. That orc....what's his name?"
"Drugga??" Jaana asked, not wanting to know the answer.
"Yeah, Drugga! He saw that the moogles were attacking, and took charge. He was mumbling something about 'nasty kupo'. I don't know what he meant, but he was sure in a frenzy!" Lorinan sat down at the table next to Lady Paladin, and winked at her. "Hello, there, m'lady!"
".....Hello, Lorinan...." she replied cautiously.
"So where is everyone?" Lorinan asked, "I thought we were having a war council...."
Chaos28
Ku-Sam limps into the office and pulls up a chair. "I'm here. So, what's the plan?"
Lady Paladin
Lady Paladin looks around the room at all of the gathered warriors. "Well, I guess we should start now. We were summoned here to select who should lead and what our next course of action should be. I vote that Bacca become official leader of our forces. He has proven himself to be an effective leader on and off the battlefield. The troops, both human and Lizar, respect him greatly."
"Quite true," nods Jaana. "And the soldiers admire him even more after the little speech he gave earlier." Sephiroth snickered.
"What speech?" broke in Lady Paladin. "I've been walking in circles around the keep healing the injured, I'm obviously not being kept informed here..."
Bacca coughed. "Lady, I'm sure you'll hear more about it soon enough." She arched an eyebrow and leaned back in her chair, almost afraid to find out.
"Excuse me, Lady, but if you could heal me, I would be appreciative..." Ku-Sam said, weakly waving an arm to attract her attention.
The healer blushed, embarrassed that she had lapsed in her duties. "I, I am sorry," she stammered, rushing to the black moogle. She pulled open the pouch at her waist and brought forth her various bottles of medicine and coils of bandages.
Kaitlin brought them back to the issues at hand. "I've been wondering about our next course of action. Our forces were gravely injured at Spiked Dwarf Pass, and even with the army of Lance Henriksens, we could use more soldiers."
"There are no outposts around for several hundred miles," said Sephiroth. "I looked at a map earlier, and the nearest city is Tavan'dirith. It is 300 miles to the east, and is ruled by Caliph Armisia. He is said to have a powerful army of gryphons and horsebowmen at his disposal."
Lady Paladin winced at the mention of the city. "Please, please don't call on Caliph Armisia for a few weeks," she begged, her face pale.
"Why, you know him?" asked Bacca.
She frowned. "Yes, I do. And true, he has a powerful army, but at this time the Dark Lord's fortress is not equipped to handle the amount of people he would bring. Armisia brings his harem whenever he travels, and he has over 100 wives that we would need to house." Lady Paladin's face still looks drawn and worried, and Bacca suspected she was not telling everything. He made a mental note to ask her about it at dinner later.
"One hundred wives?!" exclaimed Jaana. "All of the rooms here are filled already, and we're having some food shortages among the human troops. It seems most humans can't stomach the Lizar food."
The healer spoke up again. "I already made some arrangements about the food. I have some connections with food merchants, and they should be teleporting a few hundred crates late this afternoon."
"You seem to know many people, Lady," said Ku-Sam with a smile. The pain in is body was already fading away.
"Well, unfortunately, yes," she said with a sigh. "I've been forced to travel a lot."
"Any other options for what we can do next? And is Bacca the unanimous choice for our leader?" asked Kaitlin.
Chaos28
Ku-Sam: "As for leader, I am fine with whatever you guys choose. I have no wish to be the leader myself. As for options, I have a small proposition. We get this gryphon guy to join us, and we go to Crystal Peak and seek the guidance of Lorak the Mage. He may be able to help us with Mog, and the Dark Moogle."
"Oh, about the Dark Moogle. I saw a vision while I was on my death bed. He's heading for Earth, and he has all but one of the Materia. If he uses up all of his temporary power, he can whip this base out. If he can find it. And even if all of his power is used, I sense that his friend also has great power. But we have some time to worry about him. The Northern Paladin will handle him, I hope. At least distract him."