Job; Divert the Great Flood [Nikolai, Akeya - Team]

The Job:

As the village started to take shape in the distance, Nikolai could feel the relief wash over him already. While it wasn't anything he hadn't done before, the journey to get here had been long and tiring. He wasn't the type that enjoyed travelling, yet he often found himself doing it. Walking down towards the village, he took a deep breath of the fresh mountain air. Memories rushed back to him, memories of home, his family, friends. 'It really has been a while now, hasn't it? Nothing can replace that rustic, earthy feel of home, can it? However, now's not the time to get nostalgic.'

As the village got larger and larger, Nikolai recounted the request of the job. This village, built alongside the bottom of a drainage basin, was nestled between two rivers entering the basin. There was a natural levee that protected the town, or at least did before, from the rushing waters on the sides. However, even from this distance, Nikolai could tell that was no longer the case. The levees on both the east and west of the town, which protected it from the rivers entering the lake, had been blown open, causing both sides to flood. While it hadn't spread all throughout town; the center and a few select areas were not flooded yet, it was fairly likely the water would get there if not stopped. That's why they were here. Nikolai and Akeya, that is.

He had decided to bring her on this mission after reading it because it seemed like it would allow for both of them to shine. While Nikolai could help the townsfolk with the heavy work, Akeya could handle investigating into the saboteurs, who would likely strike again. This would require them to work independently of each other, but that didn't seem like a big problem to him. The problem came with dealing with the local animals. So far, their travels had been safe, as they hadn't encountered any, but dealing with the creatures could prove to be a problem. Hopefully they wouldn't encounter any before entering town. Hopefully. It'd be even worse if any got too close to the construction on the levee. Dealing with a wild animal while repairing it would be very difficult.

There was still a lot he intended to ask his employers when he reach the town. The area around the town was heavily forested, but he didn't know how often, if at all, wild creatures came near it. Secondly, while he could see the town was flooded, he couldn't see how bad it was. Was it only a few feet deep, or was it intensely deep. He couldn't properly make out the perspective from this distance. Many different thoughts ran through his head, but he shook them out for now, He'll find out soon enough. He called out to Akeya, who was travelling with him. "We should be there in a few minutes, any sign of anything in the forest?"

Akeya walked besides Nikolai, while he looked forward at their objective keeping a careful eye on their surroundings. So far she hadn't spotted any signs of nearby animals, but it was certain that they weren't happy at the moment, either because of the flood itself or what caused the flood. The most notable sign so far had been a tree which had been ripped in half, the other half thrown against another tree while a path of debris led away from the path, but it looked like it had been there for a while already.  Akeya had read the job description once Nikolai showed it to her, and it looked like one of those Tynaran Bulls had been here. Akeya sighed as she remembered the description of the beast. Some kind of strong creature which has a fascination with young females. Lovely.

Well, at least the job sounds somewhat interesting. Nikolai could show off his power while helping the villagers repair the levee, and Akeya could go around trying to find out who broke the damn in the first place. Looking at the damage it was clear that it wasn't just a case of the levee breaking: Something had purposefully destroyed parts of it to allow the water to flood in. With some luck it had been some kind of magic ability strong enough for Akeya to use it as a clue to figure out who to track down. Otherwise it might be a bit more difficult, since while Akeya is an assassin-type that didn't mean she could track down people who blow up levees without something to work with.

To Akeya's eyes the village wasn't in too bad of a position: Sure, there was water everywhere, but it didn't look it was going to drown everybody any moment. And while there were some alarming signs of wildlife gone feral they appeared to not be nearby, so they'd at least reach the village before having to worry about getting attacked by monkeys or the like. At Nikolai's question Akeya shook her head.

"Plenty of signs of the animals having been disturbed by the destruction of the levee, but for now it looks like we're safe. Although knowing about those bulls I'd prefer to not risk being wrong."

Since it was day Akeya was wearing her large cloak, which meant that for anybody who didn't know her she looked like some kind of mysterious figure, showing nothing but some strands of long black hair and dark green eyes. However those bulls likely didn't need visual confirmation to recognize her as a female.

While Nikolai didn't hate travelling, in fact he typically tended to enjoy it despite how tiring it can be, travelling with Akeya tended to be a different story. Since she insisted on wearing that large cloak, they were more than often the target of suspicion and doubt. After all, it did look like she was hiding something. He hoped that their employer wouldn't get that impression, at least. He honestly doubted that any of the bulls would even give her a second glance, but then again it didn't hurt to play it safe. "I'm sure we'll be fine. I doubt that we'll run into any of them anyways. They are quite rare, you know. Plus, I'll be here to protect you if that happens." Nikolai couldn't help but blush slightly at that last line. He just meant it to keep her safe; he was the front line of the team, after all. Still, it made him feel weird saying it out loud.

By this point, the two were standing just outside the village. From here, the could get a good grasp of it's situation. The water seemed to be about knee deep currently, mainly flooding the east and west parts of town where the levee's broke. Considering the time they took to travel here, it seemed good that the flooding wasn't that bad. Throughout the village, people ran wildly back and forth between the center of town and the levees. In the town square there was a series of tents, the main place everyone continued to run too. Several people could be seen there, all exchanging rushed words and various supplies. It was likely the center for organizing the repair efforts, and where their employer was. While Nikolai knew that the village wasn't in immediate danger, he could understand their worry. There was no telling when the levees could break, or another person could attempt to sabotage it. The better it was fixed, the faster.

Now, the two had to figure out their strategy. Nikolai turned to Akeya, blocking her from sight of the townsfolk with his body. "Alright, how do you want to handle this? Do you want to go in together and split up, or do you want to go in secretly? We already decided you'll handle finding the saboteurs while I work with the townsfolk, but are you going to look in secret or in plain sight?" While he knew Akeya preferred the stealth approach, he had to make sure he understood her intentions before he entered, or else he could accidentally give her away.

Akeya found travelling interesting, since it allowed her to see new places and get about, but she didn't really care for the reactions she got from all the humans she encountered on the way. Wear a cloak because you don't like being completely vulnerable to the sunlight and people suspected you of being about anything sinister and evil they could think of at the time. Akeya wouldn't deny that her usual attire at day wasn't one which would inspire trust, but they could at least prevent their suspicions from affecting their actions too much. For example Nikolai had quickly adapted to her, so while he still acted nervous it was the same as he did with everybody. At Nikolai's comment she looked at him, then nodded and looked back towards the forests surrounding them.

"Better safe than sorry."

Once they stood in front of the village Akeya inspected it, although she instinctively stepped behind Nikolai so she'd be less likely to be spotted by the villagers. Normally she wouldn't care, but since her part of the job was to figure out who blew up the levee and why she'd have to avoid the villagers knowing too much about her, or at all if that was possible. As she judged from a distance, the flooding wasn't that bad, and the villagers were properly organized, so their main concern at the moment must be either the feral animals or the saboteur causing more damage.

When Nikolai turned around and helped make sure that he was hiding Akeya from the sight of the villagers she nodded and pulled back her hood, allowing Nikolai to at least see the upper part of her face properly.

"I think the best course of action is that at first I will stay hidden, inspecting the locations where the levee broke when there's nobody else around to spot or hinder me. If I can find any clues I will follow those, but if I don't rejoining you would be easier than disappearing when they already know I'm here. In any case it would be useful if you tried to gather some information about the accident while helping them repair the levee. Since it's part of the job if you didn't show any inclination towards helping find the culprit it would be suspicious. If possible we can meet once night falls and we can share any information we found, and at that point we'll decide whether I'll continue my work in secret or whether it would be better if I stepped into the open."

Nikolai nodded, looking briefly back at the town center before turning back to Akeya. "Right, I think working separately sounds best. For the time being though, try to avoid going near the levee's alone. If anything attacks you while I'm not around, especially a bull, you'll be in trouble. Focus on eavesdropping would be my best advice, but I trust you to handle yourself. I'll meet you back here at nightfall. I'll do what I can to drum up conversation about what happened. If anything happens, come get me immediately." Nikolai didn't like leaving Akeya alone. While she was skilled, and he didn't think she was unable to handle herself, he was her senior, at least in rank, and felt responsible to make sure she was safe. However, he trusted her enough to take care of herself should anything happen. Moving away from Akeya, Nikolai moved towards the tents, plastering on a smile as he went to meet his employer.

After introductions and explanations were finished, Nikolai began his work. Moving over to the East levee, he wanted to personally inspect the damage. At closer inspection, he could see why the workers were so frantic. The water level had already grown slightly, now somewhat above his knee. The levee was a natural stone ridge that went around the town, and currently a large chunk of it was missing. There were several cracks inside the missing chunk, and they seemed to be expanding under the pressure. If it wasn't stopped soon, it would like break and cause the entire flood to town. Several men were hard at work, moving wood and stone towards the damage. There was one man not currently working, instead shouting orders at the rest. Nikolai moved over to the man, taking a deep breath and trying to hide his anxeity. "H-Hi. I'm Nikolai G-Granit, a wizard. I-I was h-hired to help you all with th-the repairs."

The man, a larger fellow, stopped mid sentence and turned to face Nikolai. After giving him a blank stare, he smiled wide and grabbed Nikolai's hands, shaking them vigorously. "It truly is a pleasure. We don't have many wizards around here. My name is Sean. Welcome, welcome!" Not expecting such a warm welcome, Nikolai was taken completely aback. He took his hands away from the man, clearly flustered by the attention. He had to change the topic away from himself. "S-S-So, t-tell me, wh-what are the p-plans to re-repair the damage?" Nikolai stared at the levee, while he already had a good idea of their plans, he had to be sure. Sean stared back at the levee, letting out a heavy sigh. "It's gonna be tough. First, we have to fill in the missing area and block the cracks, then board it up to keep it in place. It's not going to be a good fix, but it'll keep it in place long enough and prevent any more water from entering. After draining the water, we plan to start set up to completely reinforce all of levee. If we had listened earlier, maybe this wouldn't have happened..."

Nikolai looked at Sean curiously. What exactly did he mean by that? "Ex-Excuse me, what d-do you mean b-by "listened ear-earlier?" Sean turned back to Nikolai, his face seeming drained and saddened. "A while back, a construction company, Liefheld, had opened shop here. Ever since they got here, they've been badgering us about reinforcing the levee, saying that if we didn't soon it wouldn't be able to stand any accidents. We always just disregarded them; it had never failed us before, so why would it suddenly fail us now. They gave up after a few weeks, but now we have no choice to turn to em. Our job right now is just to stop the damage and help them get set up for construction." Nikolai couldn't help but notice a sour tone in Sean's voice as he spoke this, and that honestly did nothing more than help confirm some suspicions Nikolai had already made on his own. It seemed way too convenient already, but since he was called here, it was likely there was not enough proof to go on. Regardless, he had to deal with the matters at hand. Moving towards the levee, Nikolai decided to start doing what he could to help. Summoning his metal to himself, he started the long and tedious process of filling in the rubble.

Exhausted from the days work, Nikolai almost collapsed against the side of the house. Resting in the town center, he was covered in sweat and dirty, as well as soaked and cold to the bone. They had managed to stop the flooding on the east levee and seal it for the time being, but they still had to work on the west one. However, the sun was setting soon, and Nikolai was to meet Akeya soon. Standing up, he stretched out his body, trying to force some energy back into himself. A hand on his shoulder stopped him. Too tired to even get nervous about it, he turned to face the suspect, a young man about his age. The man looked around the area, seemingly checking for something, before focusing on him. "You said you came here to help fix the levee and catch who was responsible for it, right? Well, I haven't told anyone yet, but I found some evidence earlier. It's not safe to tell you about it here though, they could hear us. There's an old cabin out in the forests to the south. It's not hard to find, come meet me there in an hour." Before Nikolai could even reply, the man ran off into the town, constantly looking around for something.

While the man did nothing more than raise more questions than answers for Nikolai, he had no other choice but to wait for the time being. The first priority was to meet up with Akeya and find out what she had discovered. Moving to the outskirts of towns, he approached where their meeting place was, hoping to find her there.

Akeya listened to Nikolai's advice to leave the levee alone for now. That place was her best hope for finding clues about what exactly happened, and thus how to track the culprit down, but Nikolai had a point that if she was alone and some of the stronger animals which lived in the vicinity appeared she'd be in a tough spot. She nodded to show Nikolai that she would take his advice, then made sure her hood was properly hiding her head before diving into the shadows, watching Nikolai head towards the centre of the village. If she had to wait with inspecting the actual scene she didn't actually have any lead, so that left sneaking around the village spying on people. Sticking to the shadows Akeya followed Nikolai deeper into the village, taking as many back-alleys and hidden routes as she could find. Luckily even her passive abilities would be able to help her here: Besides being good at sneaking Akeya also has above average senses, so she would be able to eavesdrop on people and inspect them without having to get so close as to be on top of them.

While Nikolai spend his time getting acquainted with the villagers and helping them repair the levee Akeya made her way around the village, taking great care not to be seen as she silently observed and listened in on any person she came across. Luckily they were all frantic about the state of the levee, so they didn't put as much effort into looking out for strangers as they normally might have. Quite understandable, since the water had already risen a little in the short time Nikolai and Akeya had been here. Of course it also had the effect that the villagers didn't really offer any information Akeya could use, since all their conversations and focus were on repairing the levee and wondering about the safety of their village. Well, Akeya did pick up on something eventually: One or two people were making comments on the sheer amount of coincidence involved, that just when a company arrived and offered to reinforce the levee somebody would blow it up. Akeya frowned as she looked at the three men walking towards the levee with lots of materials they were likely planning to use to stuff the hole. A company came along and proposed to repair the levee, and the village had refused because they had deemed it unnecessary, and now the levee had been destroyed. Akeya knew that she was fairly quick to look towards the possibility of foul play, but this sounded really fishy.

But by that time it was already getting late, so Akeya quickly made her way back to the point where she was supposed to meet up with Nikolai. Another bonus of the flood: The villagers were mostly focused on the centre of the town and the levee itself, so most of the time was almost completely empty, meaning Akeya had to put less work into not being detected. Once she reached that location she crouched inside the shadow of a nearby building, carefully watching her surroundings as she waited for Nikolai to appear. Once he did Akeya first pushed back the hood of her cape so he would not detect her while she did something which could appear threatening, then she approached him.

"I've not been able to find a lot. Everybody was constantly busy with the levee, and there wasn't enough cover for me to risk going closer. Without any clues about what for or where to search the best I could do was see if the villagers got any clues, and while it did reveal a possible culprit with the motive and most likely the method, I'm not sure about the opportunity. A short while ago a company arrived here and proposed to help reinforce the levee to avoid any accidents. The villagers refused, and now suddenly the levee breaks and they would need the help of that company, which strikes me as suspicious. I would not be surprised if that company secretly blew up the levee to get their work, but we'd have a hard time proving it, and a harder time apprehending them. Did you find anything of use?"

Nikolai smiled at Akeya when she approached. Though he was tired, dirty, and all around feeling like garbage, at least seeing a friend made that seem a lot better. He leaned against the wall of a house they were hiding behind, listening to Akeya talk. He gave a small nod. "I have to agree with you. I don't think the opportunity was there. Everyone in the town seems to think that they did it, but I doubt it. Why would they do something that could so obviously be traced back to their intentions? Yeah, they got the job, and that's nice, but what about everything after that? No one's going to use them if they thought they did that. It would completely ruin their business plan. It seems fishy to me, at least."

Stretching out slightly, he pushed himself off the house, looking out into the forest. There was something going on here. It had been about twenty minutes since he'd met that man, so he should head out there soon, if he even wanted to. While scanning the forest for any signs of anything, he spoke to Akeya. "There was something else too. Just before I came here, after I had finished working, a man approached me. He seemed on edge, and was constantly looking around. He said he had some evidence to show me, but it wasn't safe in town. Told me to meet him in a cabin in the forest." He turned back to Akeya, placing a hand on his hip. "It seems like the worst trap I've ever seen personally, but I still think we should check it out. I feel that guy knows a lot more than we do. What do you think we should do?" While Nikolai wanted to go check out that house, he wasn't going to do anything stupid. Besides, Akeya was his partner on the missions, and he had to make sure she was ok with what he did as well. It wouldn't be  a bad idea to approach the man with just Nikolai, and having Akeya wait in the shadows, since no one knew about her yet. It made Nikolai feel much safter than going in solo.

Akeya stayed standing, folding her arms and facing Nikolai while he leaned against the wall of the house. While she had pushed her hood back the rest of her was still hidden, so Nikolai would only be able to notice her annoyance at not being able to find much of use if he was really good at reading people with little information to go with.

"Indeed. While it would be simple if it was just a case of a company being too eager to get themselves a job they are likely too smart to do it like this. For one thing whoever blew up the levee didn't even bother to try hiding the fact that it was done on purpose, or was terrible at it. So it's unlikely that the company is behind it, although I would not completely disregard them. Of course, that also means it's possible that the real culprit is trying to frame the company, although I have no idea who that would be or what motives they'd have, so that's probably a possibility better left alone until we find more evidence pointing in that direction."

She fell quiet as Nikolai looked into the distance, and when he explained to her that a rather shifty -or at least nervous looking- man had offered to tell him more about the incident in a location unlikely to contain other people Akeya frowned, quickly reaching the conclusion that whoever that man was, they would have to keep an eye on him.

"I have a hard time even imagining it to not be a trap. It would be safer to leave it alone, but while I don't trust it one bit it's still a better lead than we have found so far, since we've already figured out that the suspicion targeting the company is likely misplaced. So it'd be good if you went and see what he had to say, but I'll be trailing you to make sure that if it turns out to be a trap I can help you out. And maybe I can spot something you can't while he doesn't know that I'm here."

She then also stretched before looking towards the forest.

"Shall we go?"

Nikolai nodded. Staying separate would be the best idea. So far, the town all had their attention focused on him. Akeya had the perfect opportunity to move in the shadows. For the moment however, staying together would be best. They'd have to walk through the forest to get to the forest to get to the cabin, and it'd be unsafe for them to travel alone. The animals are agitated, and if he or Akeya ran into one alone, it wouldn't be easy, especially of Akeya ran into a bull. Plus, if they were ambushed on their way to the cabin, they'f probably be pushed into a horrible spot. "Yeah, let's go, but let's stick together until we reach the cabin. If we don't, we could easily get ambushed. Plus, my night vision is weak, so I'll need you to be my eyes in the forest."

He started heading towards the forest, heading towards the south as the man said. It was a rather generic direction, and he hoped that they could find it. If not, it'd be just a worthless risk. As eh started into the forest, he reached into his pocket and placed his glasses on. His night vision would be especially poor here, due to all of trees blocking out the moonlight. His glasses would increase it a bit, but from here on out he'd be depending on Akeya. He stopped, letting her walk past her. "You lead from this point, your vision is better."

As the pair walked, Nikolai picked up on some movement in the forest around them. It was too dark for him to place what it was though. "Something is out there." Nikolai summoned his metal to him, preparing for combat if it was anything hostile. All he could do right now was hope that it wasn't a bull. If it was, it would be a horrible spot for both of them. The trees around them would definitely be limiting to his movements.

The member 'Nikolai' has done the following action : Dice Rolls

'Monster Dice' :

Akeya pulled her hood forward so it once again covered her head and face, checking to make sure there was still nobody nearby before nodding and falling in besides Nikolai.

"Understood. Although we have to make sure we separate before we come into sight range of the cabin."

She depended on Nikolai to lead her to the location the man had told him to come, but looking at how he just roughly walked south she got the feeling he did not exactly know where the cabin would be. Not surprising, but it did mean that Akeya could not rely on Nikolai leading her to the correct location. Not that much of a problem though, since Akeya was the one with the superior vision here anyway. When Nikolai told her to go in front she nodded and started carefully scanning their surroundings, even this darkness still being bright enough to her eyes that she has no trouble making out details. Looked like Nikolai was once again using those glasses which made him calm and analytic. Akeya wondered where he got those.

It wasn't long before her sensitive hearing picked up on something, and soon after that she also started seeing signs of movement around them. When Nikolai told her he had heard something she only nodded, motioning for Nikolai to stand still as she focused. Whatever it was that was moving around them it wasn't very big, and there were multiple of them. It didn't take long before she got a clear view of one: It was a small monkey, looking rather agitated. Probably one of the creatures which had gone feral due to the levee being destroyed. Looking around Akeya spotted two more, and they were surrounding her and Nikolai.

"There's three monkeys coming at us from three different directions. They don't look too dangerous, but since they're likely feral the chances are high that they'll attack us. Think you can fight in this darkness?"

While saying all this Akeya prepared herself. The monkeys had most likely already realized that she could see them, but she hoped that if she acted suddenly enough she could catch at least one by surprise before they began the actual attack.

Nikolai hated fighting in the darkness. It put him in at an incredibly disadvantage. Since his spells were all about reacting to his opponents, he was barely able to do anything without seeing them. Worse, there were already several trees in the way, blocking his view. His ability to fight was almost completely ruined right now, and the chances of him being helpful were almost gone completely. He was more of a hindrance here. As much as he didn't want to leave Akeya, he knew that leaving her to handle the monkeys would be the best idea. "Possible, not likely. Best odds would be for me to go ahead, let you handle the monkeys. They shouldn't be too much trouble, you should be fine. I'll continue on to the cabin, head over to it when you finish up here." He took a moment to try and look for any signs of the cabin, but he had none. He didn't want to simply roam around looking for it alone, but it was the best option right now.

Deciding to simply continue straight forward south, he hoped that Akeya could keep the monkey's attention. If anyone of them decided to follow and attack him once he left her, it would be horrible for him. While he doubted the creatures could do much damage to him, he'd be unable to retaliate. Continuing forward, he made sure to watch for any signs or sounds of movement around him. If he was going to be ambushed, he'd probably be able to pick up on any signs before they could strike. His metal floated almost protectively around him. If anything was going to collide with him, it'd hit it first and give him warning. As he trekked forward, he saw signs of light in the distance. While it wasn't much, it was most likely the cabin mentioned before. He began to slow his pace, approaching with caution as the light slowly grew brighter in front of him.

Akeya frowned as Nikolai explained that in the current circumstances he wouldn't be able to properly fight, meaning she would have to take care of this on her own. She simply nodded in reaction to Nikolai's idea that be would go ahead whole she dealt with the monkeys. If he truly couldn't see he would only be a hindrance here. The tricky part would be ensuring that all tthree the monkeys focused on her. When Nikolai started moving Akeya quickly grabbed a couple of pebbles lying on the ground, throwing them at the monkeys at high speed and with uncanny precision. This should at least ensure that they would all pay attention to her.

Still, best not to take any chances. As soon as Akeya was out of pebbles she charged the monkey nearest to the retreating Nikolai, without evenue bothering to use magic making an attempt at smashing its face into the ground. A large part of Akeya's magic is actually not about giving her interesting spells, but enhancing her normal body. These monkeys would most likely be troublesome because of their agility, but Akeya is by nature fast enough that she has a better chance than most at managing to hit one properly simply by charging them and quickly lashing out.

Of course, just because Akeya is an above average physical fighter doesn't mean she'll win this just by running around punching the monkeys. Urion Monkeys are known for their agility, so Akeya was already trying to figure out what her next move would be after ensuring that she got the attention of the three monkeys. Her best bet would be to use tricks, since after the original attack the monkeys would without a doubt be prepared to dodge straightforward strikes.

Akeya just hoped Nikolai would at least wait with entering the cabin until she was finished here. He might be tough, but that doesn't mean he should step right into a trap without making sure he had enough support with him.

The monkey's already fairly agitated from everything that had gone on, didn't take too much to provoke. All three of them were hit with Akeya's pebbles, and all three howled wildly when she did. Beating their chests, they seemed to be trying to intimidate her rather than fight her. When she charged at the one, it clearly was not ready for her attack and took it face on, slamming into the ground. The other two seemed stunned for a moment, before charging at her, ready to attack. Provoked into battle, they were fairly quick, one leaping up to strike at her and the other running towards her. The one on the ground was clearly still alive, but seemed to be dazed for the time being. Akeya would notice that with their fairly fast speed, the chances of landing a successful counter attack on the two currently attacking would be low.

As Nikolai approached the dim light, the outline of the cabin started to clear for him. It was fairly simple, with a single window in the front next to the door. It was small as well, maybe a single room in all. It looked more like a shack than a cabin. The light was coming from the window, so it seemed like someone was already there. Stalking the outside from the tree's, Nikolai tried to look for any signs of people around the cabin. Part of him felt worried that he would be ambushed as soon as he entered the house, and that he would be attacked by everyone around it. However, so far he couldn't trace any movement. As much as he disliked the idea and wanted to wait for Akeya, Nikolai felt something inside him tell him to go knock on the door. stepping slowly out from the treeline he approached the door, tapping on it with a light knock. He was prepared to strike if anything around him moved or the door opened to an attack, but he hoped that he wouldn't have to.

Well, at least the beginning of the battle was a good one: She got all the monkeys to concentrate on herself, they were all agitated enough that the fight likely wouldn't last long, and she already had taken one of them down. Akeya quickly punched the one on the ground in the head to ensure it would stay down, then jumped away from the two monkeys now running towards her. As she suspected fighting them without any tricks would be too much of a hassle, not because she feared getting beaten but because of how long it would take to catch the monkeys. Only choice was to directly use all her abilities at the same time and overwhelm them. At least in these surroundings Akeya would never have to worry about the amount of shadows present.

Running towards the two monkeys Akeya's hands and feet turned into claws, her arms becoming covered in dark blue scales, while at the same time the shadows appeared to wrap themselves around her, hiding her from view. Shadow Dance isn't a perfect method of hiding oneself: Those who know that Akeya is in the vicinity can still spot her if they concentrate and look in the right direction, in which case they'd be greeted by the sight of the shadows appearing to move. However for these monkeys, driven mad by the explosion and now agitated by the assault of pebbles, it would likely work as a fully functional invisibility, since chances are low they'd realize that Akeya hid herself instead of just disappearing. Charging the monkey that jumped at her Akeya used the increased speed gained from Dark Dragon's Claws to try and kick it squarely in the torso, planning to launch it backwards and with some luck straight against one of the many trees surrounding them.

It was clear that when the man said that there would be nobody else here he wasn't lying. The entire area appeared to be completely abandoned, left alone to the plants and all the wild animals, although luckily the monkeys appeared to be the only feral ones around. However there was a shape to be seen through the window, and when Nikolai approached the door the shape also headed towards the door, opening it before Nikolai could even knock on it. In the doorway the man stood who had told Nikolai he had evidence on who had blown up the levee, like before looking around nervously and staring at Nikolai in a mix of suspicion and uncertainty.

"Ah, you're here. Good. Come on in, don't want anybody else to hear this. The culprits could be following you. Better make sure that you're alone. You are alone, aren't you?"

Without actually waiting for an answer the man already headed inside, expecting Nikolai to follow him. Once Nikolai stepped into the house he'd see the man rummaging around in a bag, quickly pulling something out and presenting it to Nikolai.

"After the explosion I went to the levee. I found this, and quickly took it because I thought that if I left it there it would either be destroyed or hidden. This should be enough proof, right? Liefheld destroyed the levee!"

In his hands the man was holding a piece of wood, looking like it came from a barrel. On it was a rough drawing of Liefheld's company logo: Two hands holding a saw and a hammer with two leafs crossing each other in the background. However it wasn't difficult to see that there was something off about the evidence: For one thing, the drawing was sloppy. Whoever did it tried to do a good job, but apparently they didn't have enough time to do it properly. The second thing was the wood itself: If it was from a barrel near the levee that would mean it was there when the explosion occurred. Yet this piece of wood showed remarkably little in terms of fire damage. There were a scorch marks here and there, but you'd think that almost the entire thing would be covered in soot and scorch marks. Besides of that, the wood was just too... neat. Besides not being burned it didn't look like the force of the explosion had done a lot of damage either. And it just looked like a new piece of wood, shaped not too long ago.

"They must have put barrels of explosives near the levee and then detonated them. If it wasn't for me checking it we would never have known."

Active Spells: Dark Dragon's Claws, Shadow Dance
Magic Power: 80%
TOE: 0

The first monkey was at this point completely helpless against Akeya's attacks. Already in a daze, it wasn't able to move in time to dodge her strike. Taking the hit head on, it convulsed slightly afterwards, howling wildly in pain, before collapsing. While it hadn't been enough to kill or seriously harm the creature, it was more than enough to knock it out with such a strong blow to the head. This seemed to enrage the two even more, screaming at Akeya s they flew at her. When she jumped back one of the monkeys continued to follow her, while the other briefly stopped to inspect the third before continuing at her. Activating shadow dance definitely seemed to confuse them both, looking around and howling as they tried to locate her.

As she prepared to attack them, the monkey's both started retreating into the trees, climbing up to try and expand their view to find her. For the time being, they focused their efforts on trying to spot her, seemingly unable to do so. If she wanted to hurt them, she'd either have to go up or force them down.

When the door was opened Nikolai walked in with little hesitation, looking around the cabin for any signs of a trap. Not seeing anything immediate, he turned to look at the man, keeping his metal floating around him just in case. There was clearly something wrong here; if he had such proof, he clearly would have shown it to the locals and not him, there was no reason for it. Also, the piece looked incredibly sketchy at best. It was more likely than not that it was a forgery. He'd seen some of their barrels when he was working with the town on the levees, and this looked nothing like one. He looked at the man, he was hiding something. "If they really blew it up with barrels and cleaned up the rest, why would they give you the chance to take anything? As well, this is fairly inconsistent with both their barrels, as well as any signs of actual fire damage. If you had such evidence, why would you need to show it to me? Could you not show it to your townsfolk so they would know the truth and would not even need me in the first place?" Nikolai walked towards the man, standing before him with his blank expression. "I would recommend you don't lie to me. I'm very busy and I won't tolerate my time being wasted."

Akeya frowned as the monkeys retreated, chasing after them even as they climbed up into the trees. Luckily she had an easy way of getting up there quickly. While running a tail quickly grew out of Akeya's lower back, at the same time wings unfolding themselves on her shoulder-blades. Running towards the nearest tree containing a monkey she placed one of her clawed feet against the trunk and pushed herself upwards, at the same time flapping her wings. Flying straight towards the monkey Akeya tried to punch it straight in the gut while it was still distracted trying to figure out where she was. She hadn't expected the monkeys to retreat to the trees so quickly, so she'd have to figure out how to deal with the other one after this monkey was out for the count.

The man blinked as he saw the floating metal, clearly not sure what to make out of it. Of course he knew Nikolai was a mage, but such a blatant display of magic worried him. Nevertheless he stepped closer to Nikolai and kept showing him the piece of barrel with the badly drawn logo. He frowned slightly as Nikolai took a second or so to respond, having hoped that Nikolai would just take the evidence so he could finish his job quickly. A mage should be happy to find the solution so quickly, right? As Nikolai started to explain how this was rather suspicious the man's nervousness increased, sweat rolling down his forehead.

"W-well, maybe they were in a hurry to get away. I mean, if they got caught at the place of the incident they'd certainly be discovered. Besides, who in their right mind would go around finding all the pieces of a barrel which just exploded? And I don't see how this would be different from their barrels. I was careful to- I mean, what else would it be but their barrels? Maybe they used a different barrel for the explosions than they use for other stuff. Don't want to mix explosives with construction materials."

The man stepped a bit backwards, his grip on the piece of wood tightening.

"If I showed it myself the company would just tell the villagers that I made it up. I've reacted somewhat badly to their insistence to help reinforce the levee before, because I didn't think it was any of their business. They'd just say I was trying to use the opportunity to drive them out. I-I'm not lying! Who else but Liefheld would do it? They just want to get everything their way!"

The man now looked defensive, still clutching the piece of wood as he glared at Nikolai, licking his lips and refusing to meet Nikolai's eyes.

Active Spells: Dark Dragon's Claws, Dark Dragon's Limbs, Shadow Dance
Magic Power: 80%
TOE: 0

As hard as the monkeys looked for her, with shadow dance they were completely unable to locate her. Taking the hit square in the gut, it wasn't prepared for the sudden blow and lost it's balance, losing it's grip on the tree. The monkey collapsed to the ground, falling off the tree and landing with a thud. The second, watching it's comrade fall, managed to notice Akeya at the close range and jumped at her, howling loudly. So far, both of the monkey's on the ground seemed unconscious, the one that had recently fallen landing on it's head.

Nikolai stared at the man. He was clearly desperate, and trying his hardest to convince Nikolai. Was that because it was the truth and he was the only one left to believe him, or was it because he was lying? Personally, he felt himself believing the latter, but he wasn't going to pin everything on the man just yet. He looked at the barrel again, speaking as he did. "Another question. If their plan was to blow up the levee and hide the evidence, why would they use barrels with their logo on them? It would make more sense to either remove or cover their logo first, would it not? As well, why blow it now? It was a while ago the company offered to fix it, so why would they suddenly up and blow it now when they were already operating just fine in the town. They have no reason to take the risk."

He moved closer to the man, standing right before him. with his expressionless appearance as well as voice, he would likely seem fairly intimidating to the man, and he couldn't say that wasn't part of the intention. The man seemed frantic, so pushing him farther would likely make him speak more. "Apparently you would also do it if the towns folk won't believe you. You can't use that argument when you very well just gave me proof against it. What evidence do you have that you didn't do it?" He planned that this final push would send him over the edge and make him slip up if not outright give up the truth.

Akeya felt relieved at how successful her last strike had been, her shadow dance disappearing as the duration ended. If the monkey had also managed to dodge that one she would likely spend the rest of the night trying to catch them. Now at least there was only one left, and by the look of it the sight of seeing both its comrades get beaten down was enough for it to stop trying to hide, instead jumping towards her in a rage. With its reckless assault taking it down should be easy. Placing her feet on the tree branch the monkey had previously used to stand on Akeya launched herself towards the third monkey while it was still in mid-flight, at the same time spinning horizontally so her tail would slam into the monkey and throw it away. As impressive as it might look to jump at your adversary you basically leave yourself in a position where you can't dodge, unless like Akeya you have the ability to fly.

The man's eyes widen as Nikolai still kept questioning him. What kind of mage was this that he wouldn't just take the opportunity to quickly finish the job? His expression now grew hostile, gritting his teeth as he answered Nikolai.

"How would I know why they used their own barrels without removing the logo? Maybe they couldn't find any other barrels. Maybe they were too stupid to consider enough of the barrels surviving for others to figure it out! And of course they wouldn't do it immediately after they offered to reinforce the levee. They're stupid, but nobody is quite that stupid."

When Nikolai stepped closer the man stepped back, his eyes narrowing as he saw just how serious Nikolai was. He had hoped it would be simple: Present the evidence, have the mage arrest the company, problem solved. But this person had to be so insistent about finding out whether what he said was true! The man was certainly affected by Nikolai's behaviour, but instead of breaking down his hesitation turned into anger.

"What, you now think I'm the one that did it? Why can't you just take the evidence and arrest those bastards! They've got no business coming here, pushing for us to accept their help! This is exactly the kind of thing big companies like them would do, just like they would put honest men like my father out of business just for their own advantage!"

His complexion suddenly turned completely white as he realized what he just said. He stared at Nikolai with wide eyes, mouth open.

"I-I-I mean, th-they're the o-only ones that would do that. B-b-big c-companies are a-always only th-thinking about money, a-aren't they?"

Active Spells: Dark Dragon's Claws, Dark Dragon's Limbs
Magic Power: 90%
TOE: 10

The third monkey, already mid air, was completely helpless against Akeya's attack. Unable to dodge it in time, it took the full impact of the blow, the tail sending it flying off course. Dazed from the hit and unable to stop itself, the monkey flew into a nearby tree, colliding face first into it. Falling to the ground, it landed with a loud thump, laying motionless where it fell. All three seemed to have been knocked out, and there was nothing else in the nearby forest that seemed hostile. Akeya should have a completely free run to the cabin from here, undeterred by any animals.

Inside the cabin, Nikolai was already getting a fairly solid grasp on what had happened. It seemed most logical that the culprit was this man. He had both the motive, and the "evidence," as well as tried to hide his identity from the sign. Starring the man down, he prepared to give his verdict. "You have motive. You have the evidence. You are the one pushing against them. Everything points to you right now. Your father was put out of work by them, according to you, creating hostility between you all and giving you reason to want them gone. As well, they are repairing the damage with the townsfolk, while you are hiding away and avoiding everyone, which displays an idea of guilt, as well as something to hide. You have the only evidence, which has several logical flaws in it's very existence. So far, you are the only person actively pushing me to looks towards them, while most others are silent and uncertain. Your steadfast pushing makes me question what motivates you to do this all. Do you have any proof against my claims?" Nikolai was clearly not believing the man at all, and was unwilling to listen to any more lies. The metal floating around him, he was ready to use force if necessary.

Akeya flew back down to the ground after she was sure that the monkey had been hit frontally. It looked like the fight was over, since none of the monkeys were moving any longer. Akeya was glad that she managed to do this without being forced to actually kill any of the monkeys. Just because she is capable of killing in cold blood doesn't mean she would kill when it isn't necessary. Looking around she made sure there wasn't anything else in the area that could pose a threat, then let her body return to normal before she ran in the direction that Nikolai left. She really hoped nothing happened while she was busy here.

The man looked at the floating metal, then back at Nikolai, his face still completely white as Nikolai explained how it all had happened according to him. He tried to speak, but he couldn't get anything out of his mouth. Why couldn't it have been some lazy mage who would just have accepted his story and moved on? Why did he have the bad luck of having to deal with a mage who actually cared for details?

"I....I....My father always worked had, and he was very good at his job. Everybody praised the quality, and everybody was proud to have somebody like him in the village. But that company could do everything faster, they could do it bigger, they asked less money. Everybody who praised my father now suddenly turned to Liefheld instead, not caring that they left my father in the dust with no work. What else could I have done but try to drive the company away? As long as they stayed here my father wouldn't be able to continue his business. It's not fair that we have to suffer because that company suddenly decided to set up shop here."

This all the man said in one rush, partly wanting to reveal the truth and partly not knowing why he was suddenly selling himself out. At the end he stared at Nikolai with wide eyes, panting. This mage had ruined everything. The man stepped towards Nikolai, then once again noticed the flying metal. He had no chance of winning. It was over. His own nervousness had allowed him to be exposed. Dropping the piece of wood he placed one hand against his face, shivering from frustration and anger, as well as sadness at not having succeeded at returning business to his father.

"You got me, you bastard. I was the one. No doubt you'll know bring me to the village and loudly proclaim that you found the culprit. I hope you rot in hell, helping big companies putting the smaller shops out of business."

Even with those words it was clear the man had given up, now just waiting for Nikolai to do his job. He and Akeya had found the culprit. They fulfilled the mission.