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[Swordstar]

Sharne glanced over at Kaldach and scoffed.

"Oh good. I don't even need to worry about you dying in battle. You're doing a great job at just letting yourself rot from the inside out all by yourself. You go ahead and talk with Martyn if you want. I already told you, I'm done. _{Idiot can't even change his own bandages... It was hopeless from the start.}"

[Lucus Casius]

  "...I suppose I'll pass on asking how you can even use a sword, with your arms like that."

He looked between Sharne and Kaldach, then shrugged. 

  "I'm listening."

[CrimsonEon]

Kaldach sighed quietly, allowing Sharne to finish before continuing on.
: "...I'm sorry that I had shouted at you earlier. It... a number of things piled up quickly. Vaster is hiding something. Whether specifically from us, or just from anyone, I don't know. But I didn't want to let him in on what I am, just in case he was related."
: "But ultimately it's my fault I didn't keep everyone up on all the risks of keeping me around. I should've expected my habit of keeping mum would catch up to me, but instead I took it out on you. So again, I'm sorry."

He paused to run his hand across the scarred arm.
: "And this, this isn't from fighting. It isn't something that can heal naturally, at least without advanced healing magic. It was opened and re-sealed several times, enough times that normal healing staves won't work on it anymore. If you can listen to what I have to say, we can at least part with no misunderstandings."

[Swordstar]

Sharne remained where she was. Within earshot of Kaldach, but very purposely not looking at him. His apology wasn't enough at this point, not for her. She'd been pushed away one too many times and his words weren't helping matters. It just seemed like another echo of "you can't help, you're useless here" and she was sick to death of that refrain.

[CrimsonEon]

Paused for a minute, Kaldach drew another light sigh. Looking into the fire in front of them, he closes his eyes and speaks at a terse pace.
: "I won't mince words. For at least the last ten years, Mordo's been trying to create a set of soldiers stronger, tougher and capable of more bloodshed than anything the world's seen before. And as you'd guess, the source for it all-"

Kaldach pauses, opening his eyes and briefly focusing on the Devil Sword in front of him.
: "-are these things.  The whole time, they've been kidnapping or imprisoning certain unlucky kids just barely of age to fight and trying to get them acclimated to these weapons."

[Lucus Casius]

  "...I see."

Martyn opened his eyes, staring at the Devil Sword.  Despite Sharne's protestations, with Kaldach's strength, he'd at least hoped it might be useful in the liberation of Izzarra.  Even if it was a strange thing, sharper than it seemed it should be, giving him an eerie feeling in the pit of his stomach whenever he could see it draw near enough to touch.  But now...

It--or things like it--apparently posed a greater risk than he thought.

  "So,  Mordo has been using these...  Cursed weapons, in order to build a force of hardened super soldiers.  I've seen you when you handle the blade; I don't like the idea of that being turned against our people.  Particularly not if you're right.  Because if you are..."

He paused.  If he was right, and if Mordo had perfected this process Kaldach described, then it might not matter what forces they brought against it.  An army of bloodthirsty berserkers hell bent on domination of his home, and possibly beyond...  One didn't do something like this, unless they were planning for an all-out war.

A piece fell into place.  How sudden was it all, after the unexplained attack of Izzarra's king? How many had been lost, in the brutality of the occupation?  Killed, or imprisoned, or driven away.  Who had been left in their wake?

Not for the first time, Martyn hoped what was left of his family had gotten away safe.

  "Kaldach.  This is important.  Do you have any evidence?  Any incontrovertible proof?"

[CrimsonEon]

Kaldach shook his head.
: "As I said, ten years. I was stuck in their prisons for over ten years. Their operation was strict. The only things I escaped with were one of the swords, my memories," The hand off the swordsman's crossed arm clutched his scarred arm tighter, "and the courtesies of their experiments. There's at least twenty three shards of whatever material they use to make the weapons in my arm, stuck either in the bone or under the healed muscle. I doubt it'd make for solid evidence, and they're probably the only reason it can move as well as it does. So I'd rather not have them taken out until those responsible are put in the ground, by my hand or otherwise."

[Lucus Casius]

Martyn rubbed at his temples.

  "The crimes of Mordo are worse than I thought.  But without evidence, I doubt we'll persuade anyone to act.  Even if they believe us, they might ignore it out of expedience, even as more suffer and the tyrants expand their forces.  We..."

Once again, he trailed off, staring back down at the fire.

  "Do you have any idea how widespread this operation is?  Where they might be staging it?"

[CrimsonEon]

The swordsman closed his eyes, shaking his head again.
: "Given that the Inquisitor was waving one around like Sharne said, it must've been widespread enough that they managed to get decent results, unlike with me. The one thing I could tell is that they have enough power to at least silence people who know too much about the Weapons. The few unlucky folk who worked with me while I tried to earn bread as a mercenary on Mordo's side of the border decided to talk their mouths off in public about the sword I was carrying. Ended up disappearing. That was my cue to get the hell across the border."
: "I can't tell you any consistent location where they were staging it, either. They moved us around several times, keeping us in the dark as they did. I guess it was a stroke of fate that the one I broke out of was by the Izzaran border."

[IamanElfCollaborator]

"So, after all this time, this is your motive; to stop those responsible for your condition and the blade that you wield. Even if it is for the sake of revenge, I cannot deny it would be for a noble cause."
Bertholt suddenly speaks up, having listened silently to the conversation behind Martyn. A lightly troubled expression is on his face.
"I would offer to help you heal your arm, but I know it would be futile. What information can you give us? Even the tiniest bit can be corroborated, through interrogation or investigation, and those responsible for this brought to justice. There can be no more who suffered like yourself.

As a servant of Rhea, ordinarily I would be opposed to violence, but.....if it must be done, for the sake of preventing more violence, then I will do what I can to help."

[CrimsonEon]

Kaldach paused for a moment to massage the back of his neck.
: "I know that there's multiple big shots in Morodan nobility involved, at least. There's only one I can name."
With a breath, he continued on.
: "Lord Adel Bereaton, one of the prior members of the Morodan council, before he was elected out. I don't know how involved he is in the day-to-day, but he was responsible for framing me and setting up my arrest. And if there's anyone I need to see dead, it's him."

[IamanElfCollaborator]

"I see. By tracking him down, we're likely to find the others through documents he might hold, for instance, a ledger of co-conspirators, or even some correspondence. Do you have any idea of where he might be now?

Of course, we'd have to balance pursuing him with our current situation. As it stands, we don't know what kind of force he might have protecting him, and we're not exactly aflush in resources or men to help besiege even a particularly well-stocked farmhouse. Still, stopping Mordo from doing this......it would help us and Izzarra immensely."

[CrimsonEon]

: "You're telling me..." Kaldach grunted in annoyance, "If I had full information on when he's vulnerable or where he is at any time, I wouldn't even be in this rebellion to begin with."
: "At the very least, I know where his estate is. Bad news is it's pretty far in Mordo territory and well defended."

[IamanElfCollaborator]

"That might be problematic. Back to square one, then."

[CrimsonEon]

: "...I also mentioned earlier that Vaster might be hiding something from us. One of the results of the experiments on me was that I could get a sense of any Devil weaponry around. My body tends to react whenever there's one nearby."
The swordsman paused to look in the direction of Fang, towards the billowing ash from the volcano.
: "The entire time I've been here, I've been sensing some sort of haze over the city. My arm's been cramping, as if it can't decide where anything is. Thing is, it got worse when we entered Vaster's palace. Given what Sharne said, I thought it might have been the Inquisitor, but the sensation was just as intense as ever even after he got kicked out. Given how Vaster kept dodging my questions, he has to know more than he's let on."