Three's A Crowd

#REDIRECT Three's a Crowd"Three's a Crowd" is a BOTGD 2 thread written on [IRL DATE].
== Summary ==
Liam, Verdandi and the Warden explore the lake, looking for clues as to what Rhenco was up to, only to find that his body disappeared. Liam tells Verdandi of his involvement with the Rebellion. Rhenco attacks them on the way to search a nearby river and nearly kills Liam. Verdandi fells Rhenco with an arrow and heals Liam with a mysterious healing power.
== Full Text ==
Liam Arnason: “Guhh! Oh, gods, that’s a stench.”
Liam gagged and pulled his scarf up over his nose, squinting his eyes as though that would help curb the rank smell drifting through the dark forest. He lifted his lantern higher and it spilled its light across the dark gravel mixed with snow, and glittered on the black waters of the lake, making it look as ominous as its reputation. There was a light fog over everything, which didn’t assist in the foreboding atmosphere, or for searching for corpses.
He glanced over the beach, swinging his light back and forth, but saw no sign of the body yet. He looked back at Verdandi. “What’d you say his name was, again?” he said in a muffled voice.
Verdandi Østergård: “Rhenco, he said,” Verdandi replies, tucking her nose into her collar. “It didn’t smell like this before; what happened?” Looking around, her gaze lands on a bloodstain on the ground. “Um… Liam… I think the body’s gone,” she says quietly.
Liam Arnason: “What?” He paced over and held his lamp higher. “No, that’s…that doesn’t happen.”
But sure enough, they had arrived at the site of the short fight between the demon and the old man, and there were several long skid marks in the ground, and a large pool of blood staining the shore, but no body.
“Son of a bitch,” Liam said under his breath, kicking aside a few swaths of gravel as though he would find him buried just under the site of the murder, but there was nothing. He kicked the rocks in frustration and they went flying through the air, and they heard a cascade of droplets as they landed in the lake.
Verdandi Østergård: “What now?” Verdandi asks, watching Liam with a wary eye. Things are quiet near the lake, and it seems to her that the ripples in the water settled unnaturally quickly. This place is unnerving, moreso than it was when Rhenco was still alive, even when he started facing off with the demon.
Frankly, she’d take the presence of the demon right about now.
The Warden: Ah, you have seen it at last.
Nala was hovering behind the both of them, looking very put out, but less furious than before. I have scoured the lake, she said shortly, but that…filth is nowhere to be found. May the gods leave him dead wherever his body lays now.
“That doesn’t make any sense, Nala, bodies don’t just vanish by themselves. There’s got to be a way to track whoever did it.” He began searching the ground around the scene, forgetting to introduce Verdandi in his focus. “And if it did get up by itself, wouldn’t you have found it? How far could a zombie hobo get around here?”
I do not know what I would have found any more. He was more than he appeared.
Verdandi Østergård: Verdandi flinches when Nala speaks, spinning to look at her. “Do you–know what could’ve done this?” she asks hesitantly. “Or… any idea of where else we could look?” Already she’s wishing to go back to her normal life, where bodies don’t just up and disappear, and where demons don’t float in midair.
Liam Arnason: The demon grumbled, landing one foot at a time on the ground and pacing while Liam bent over on one knee, studying the bloodstain again. However it left, it left quickly. I did not sense anyone leaving or arriving before the both of you.
“How closely were you paying attention, though?” Liam spoke without looking up.
Well enough! she snapped.
“Mhm. Well. Something escaped your notice, and we need to figure out what it is.” Liam jerked a thumb over his shoulder as he stood back up, the lower half of his pants soaked once more. “There’s a trade river like a mile that way. We can ask if somebody saw something traveling downstream. Something like a stabbed body walking itself away from a spooky lake.”
Verdandi Østergård: “Let’s hope not,” she mutters. “Who knows what he could do if he can come back from the…from the dead.” She casts her mind back to Rhenco’s ritual. “He… touched the lake. Doesn’t that open a portal?” she asks. “I… I heard stories.”
Liam Arnason: Liam actually chuckled aloud, turning and walking along the shore of the lake. He’d talked to the locals a few times. They all managed to say something similar if he stuck around long enough to bring up the lake. It made him laugh. Every time. Who do they think I am? “Those are just stories. I know what actually happened here.” He picked up a rock in his free hand and hefted it, skipping it across the lake’s surface. It was a meager skip, and he made a displeased noise and picked up another. Behind him, the Warden was sighing and putting her face in her hand. Not again.
Verdandi Østergård: Glancing between the Warden and Liam, Verdandi’s brow furrows in confusion. She walks up next to him, trying to get a look at his expression. “What did happen?” Who is he, if he knows?
Liam Arnason: “Well…” He leaned over the water, lifting his weight off of one leg onto the other, reaching out a hand towards it. “There was the half-breed girl and her dead lover, all right, but there was another guy…a mysterious stranger, and all he had to do was touch the water, and–”
The pile of rocks beneath his boot suddenly crumbled from his weight, and with a yelp, Liam went tumbling down into the lake below, limbs flailing, and the black water sloshed around him as he completely disappeared below the surface. The lantern he was holding went spinning through the air and landed in the lake; with a hiss, the light instantly went out. Everything went quiet and pitch black.
Liam!?
Verdandi Østergård: “LIAM!” Verdandi yells, throwing herself to her hands and knees to peer more closely into the water. In the darkness, she can’t see beneath the surface, and she begins to panic. “Liam?!” She swallows, starting to reach a hand out to break the surface.
Liam Arnason: The lake sloshed a few times, and then a pair of paws shot up out of the water and desperately grasped for a hold outside of the water, finding Verdandi’s arm and grasping it tightly. Liam pulled himself back above the surface, choking and gasping, eyes wide, and he looked up at her in a panic.
“Get me out!” he demanded, coughing and sloppily trying to tread water.
Verdandi Østergård: Verdandi grasps Liam’s hand throws her weight backwards, hauling him out of the water as quickly as she can. “Oh Gods, are you okay?!” she exclaims. “I thought–” She breaks off, shaking her head. I thought you disappeared and left me alone out here.
Liam Arnason: Liam hauled himself out of the water and coughed up a few mouthfuls, sinking to his knees to catch his breath. Water poured off of him and splashed over the rocks below, and he began to shiver violently. “N-Nala–”
The demon curled her lip and walked past him, shaking her head, her tail swishing back and forth. Play foolish games, receive foolish rewards, Liam. You learned nothing from your parents.
Spitting out water, Liam felt his cheeks burn hot with embarrassment while the rest of his body temperature dropped. He pushed himself to his feet and walked away from the lake’s shore into the trees, still trembling from the cold, and he started angrily shrugging his scarf off from around his neck. “Great, this is just great,” he snarled to himself, furious that he’d looked like an utter idiot in front of what was supposed to be his new partner in crime.
Verdandi Østergård: Verdandi rushes after him, pulling her cloak off as she goes. “Liam!” she calls. “Wait!” She holds her cloak out to him. “Take this. It’s warm.”
Liam Arnason: Liam stopped stomping away, hanging his head for a second, and then reached back without looking and gestured for the cloak, still burning with embarrassment. When she handed it over, he walked further back into the woods and hung the hood up on a lower branch, starting to try and wriggle out of his soaking-wet tunic.
“Okay–well–after this,” he said aloud, trying to distract everyone from his current situation, “then we go look at the river.”
I do not sense many of those there at the moment. I can easily search their memories to see if they saw something odd.
“Sure, whatever,” he grouched, pulling his shirt over his head and wadding it up, quite upset that he’d have to wait for it to dry.
And whose fault is that?
“Will you just look through someone else’s head instead of my own?” he snapped, throwing his shirt at her. It passed through her image and she sniffed, folding her arms.
Very well. Her form rippled and vanished.
Verdandi Østergård: Verdandi makes a valiant effort not to stare at Liam’s exposed back, but she can’t help but notice the line of fur trailing down towards his tail, or the lean muscles of his back. “Er, um, I’ll just be, um, over there,” she stammers, waving vaguely and walking away. She’s grateful for the cover of night, as it hides the burning of her cheeks.
Liam Arnason: Liam looked around suspiciously from around the hanging cloak, but Verdandi had already distanced herself from him, and he frowned and continued to undress, shivering the whole time, pulling his only extra pair of trousers out of his bag and yanking them on, huffing and pulling the cloak down and using it to halfway dry his hair and fur before gathering up his wet clothes and stuffing them in his bag.
Though he would rather do anything else, he stalked back to Verdandi and nudged her shoulder with the hand that held her cloak, staring at the ground and muttering, “Here.” A few goosebumps still prickled his shoulders and chest, but he was dry, at least.
Verdandi Østergård: “Keep it for now,” she says, fixing her gaze on a point over his shoulder. You just met him, don’t stare at him, what is wrong with you?
 “Er, so, where did your… friend go?” Verdandi asks, doing her best to change the subject.
Liam Arnason: “Steal people’s memories? I don’t know.” He shook out the cloak and swung it over his shoulders. “But she’s not my friend, she’s like…my babysitter.” He said the word with disgust. “At least, she acts like it.”
Verdandi Østergård: Verdandi snorts a laugh. “It means she cares,” she says, amusement coloring her tone. Her lips are curved into a teasing smile as she looks over at Liam. A little bit of levity is just the thing they need right now.
Liam Arnason: “She’s got more important things to do than drag me around.” Liam was in full sulking mode as he started to hike off towards the river. “Mom and Dad made her protect me when we were little and she just never stopped doing it, I guess.”
Verdandi Østergård: The sight of Liam sulking is oddly… adorable, in Verdandi’s mind, and her smile becomes softer as she watches him. She gives herself a shake and sets off after him. “Your parents got a demon to protect you?” she asks, even more curious about his history than she previously had been.
Liam Arnason: “Eeeeuuuuhhh…” He shrugged and looked at the black sky, shoving his hands in his pockets. He looked over at her, studying her face, which was barely visible in the dim moonlight, and his nose twisted slightly. How much can I trust her with?
He sidestepped a broad tree that was in front of them and jerked his chin over his shoulder, at the lake. “Those two were my parents,” he mumbled. “That whole story, and uh…the rebels? Yeah, they were there. Tree, an’ Vox, and…King Haddock and all those guys. I grew up around them.”
Verdandi Østergård: “Really?” she breathes. “That’s amazing! You–you actually… you were there? During… Ragnarok?” Verdandi is floored. She’d gotten the impression fairly quickly that Liam is someone important but… Gods, she didn’t expect that. “My life feels rather boring in comparison,” she adds.
Liam Arnason: “I mean, me too, I kind of missed all that. We were underground for a few years, waiting for it to end. That’s when I was born.” He smirked and shook his head. “But I heard plenty of stories about all of it, straight from the horse’s mouth.”
Verdandi Østergård: “I grew up on a farm,” she laughs. “We only got the occasional rumor, nothing really solid.” Verdandi sighs. “Then I came to the Wilderwest, and started hearing about things from the people who actually saw it, or had at least met the people who saw it. That’s how I heard about the lake.” She gives Liam a critical look. “Are you sure you’re alright?”
Liam Arnason: His smirk turned more puzzled and he looked at her oddly. “Y-yeah, why wouldn’t I be?”
Verdandi Østergård: Verdandi looks away sharply as her cheeks heat up in embarrassment. “It’s just–the things I’ve heard about the lake… they’re probably not true, but I’m just… worried. And you were shivering a lot.” Her tone is almost defensive by the end, and she stares ahead of them, rather than making eye contact with Liam.
Liam Arnason: He shrugged and wiped a paw under his nose, where he was still a little damp. “Naw. It’s warmer tonight anyway. Besides, there’s nothing actually bad about the lake itself. It just happens to be the perfect condition for nixes to create portals to the Grey. The line separating us from the afterlife is…kinda spotty here.” He got lost in his thoughts again, not realizing he was beginning to spew all the demon jargon he’d learned from Nala. “The only nixes I know are kind of like family to me, they wouldn’t force us to Hel or anything. I think.”
Verdandi Østergård: “You think,” Verdandi says flatly. “That’s… not terribly reassuring.” Admittedly, much of what Liam said flew straight over her head, but she can follow the rest well enough. “But if you think it’s safe… I’ll follow your lead.” She glances back at Liam, offering him a small smile.
Liam Arnason: He laughed aloud again. “Safe!? Aren’t you a messenger, out on the open road all the time? Nixes are the last thing we have to worry about. Haven’t you seen the Helhounds around at night?”
Verdandi Østergård: “Not often,” she says defensively. “And only from a distance. I mostly have to worry about bandits, not–” Verdandi waves a hand, at a loss for words. “Of course it’s dangerous, but I normally don’t have to worry about dark magic rituals done by people who claim to be ‘alchemists’!”
Liam Arnason: “Yeah, okay, sure. Where were you from, again? You live under a rock?”
The terrain grew less damp and more earthy as they moved further away from the lake, and Liam’s shivers slowly died away as he instead panted from the heated effort of fighting through the undergrowth. He pulled off the cloak and swung it over his shoulder with one hand.
Verdandi Østergård: “I’m from a farm,” Verdandi says shortly. Normally she would elaborate further, but Liam’s conversation went from engaging to practically insulting, and it doesn’t add to her desire to open up. She shoves past a branch, not feeling much sympathy when it springs back and smacks Liam on the arm.
Rhenco: The branch wasn’t the only thing that caught his arm though…
Just before the branch made contact, and huddled form darted through the underbrush, and a second later, the glint of a long knife caught in the dim light. Long fingers reached out to secure Liam’s shoulder, as the blade was plunged towards his arm.
Rhenco’s dead eyes blinked almost distractedly behind him. “Hello…” He breathed. 
Liam Arnason: The scare was bad and so was the reaction; with a sharp scream, Liam dropped the cloak and yanked out one of his hunting knives as the blade buried itself in his bicep. Liam slashed at the man’s face as he lurched away from him, pulling his arm off the blade and stumbling against a tree, gasping as blood poured in sheets down his arm. What the Hel!?
“Verdandi, run!”
Verdandi Østergård: Verdandi does run, but only far enough to be able to use her shortbow. She pulls it out and nocks an arrow. Her arms are trembling, and her breath comes faster with fear, but the arrow still flies true, heading straight for Rhenco’s eye.
Rhenco: Rhenco touched the gash on his cheek but other than that he didn’t seem to give it much attention despite how bad it was. He began to walk after them. “Tell the demon I’ll-”
His head then jerked back as the arrow found its mark, and pushed out the back of his head. He dropped his knife, and collapsed backwards onto the ground.
Liam Arnason: Darkness swirled across his vision as Liam slowly slid down the tree trunk, holding his arm and breathing heavily as blood pumped from underneath his paw and poured down his side. His heart was still thundering with adrenaline, and it wasn’t helping his wound. Never in a million years could he have guessed that’s what was going to attack them.
Grunting, he fumbled for the bag on his back and managed to jerkily pull out his wet scarf, throwing it on the ground towards Verdandi. “T-tourniquet,” he rasped.
Verdandi Østergård: Verdandi throws her bow to the ground, launching herself towards Liam. She scoops up the scarf, but her hands are shaking too badly to be of much use. “NALA!” she screams. “LIAM NEEDS YOUR HELP!”
Still trembling, she starts wrapping the scarf around Liam’s arm, above his paw. She pulls it as tightly as she can, but with her shaking hands, that’s not as much as it probably needs to be.
Liam Arnason: Liam grit his teeth and tried not to make any alarming noises as she cinched his arm tight, but he could barely hold back a strangled groan of pain. He squeezed his own arm tighter, reaching out with his mind for his guardian. Nala, get…your ass…over here.
Liam, I don’t have…wait, what is going on over there!?
Come find out!
It was less than a minute before she materialized in front of them, and her eyes widened at Liam’s condition. She was even more shocked to see the old man’s body, laid out before them once more. Looking between the two rapidly, she bent over Liam and fixed Verdandi with a wild look. What happened? she said urgently.
Verdandi Østergård: Verdandi makes an agitated noise. “He… he came out of nowhere,” she says, jerking her head towards Rhenco’s body. “He attacked Liam, I-I don’t know how deep the wound is,” she whispers, pulling the scarf tighter around Liam’s arm. Even in the darkness, she can see his blood staining the fabric, and she whimpers. Don’t die on me, don’t die on me.
Liam Arnason: Liam laughed a little bit; it seemed to be his go-to reaction for extremely uncomfortable situations, which was unfortunate, because he was scared out of his wits and in immense pain. And all he could do was chuckle. “Oh it’s…it’s real bad.”
Nala closed her eyes as she inspected him from inside his mind, frowning. Liam shook his head. “Don’t bother worrying, Nala. Let’s just get back to the village…or, uh, better yet…” He kicked his foot out to knock Rhenco’s limp leg aside. “Burn this bastard before he gets up and walks off again.”
That is not the worst idea you’ve had. Nala gave it a cold snarl as she outstretched her hand towards the corpse.
Verdandi Østergård: “Shit, shit shit,” Verdandi hisses, waving her hands about anxiously. Something seems to snap inside her, and she goes still.
A breeze seems to stir the air around her, lifting her hair about her face as her eyes take on an otherworldly glow. She hovers her hand over the wound, and her palm starts to glow with golden light. Verdandi’s brows knit together as she bites her lip, concentrating. The scarf blocks her view, but she can sense the wound knitting itself closed beneath the fabric.
Liam Arnason: “Aah!” Liam hissed through his teeth as the wound burned, pulling itself back together again, and at the same time, the Warden flourished her hand, and the crazy old man’s body caught fire and began to smoke on the ground behind them.
He pinned his head back against the tree, baring his fangs until Verdandi was finished. He was surprised, but healing magic was common among village folk; they would teach each other and pass down the skill from generation to generation.
Verdandi Østergård: The glow fades from Verdandi’s eyes and hands abruptly, and she slumps forward, her chin nearly touching her chest. “Nnn,” she mumbles, reaching out a hand towards Liam before dropping it again.
Liam Arnason: The Warden turned around sharply as Liam pulled himself further upright, sighing and looking curiously at Verdandi. “Hey…uh…anyone home?” he said, reaching out to grab her shoulder.
Verdandi Østergård: Verdandi groans, lifting her head just enough to meet Liam’s gaze. She looks eerily like a puppet that has had its strings cut in the way she slumps over again, landing heavily on her side. “I’ve never done that before,” she says, her words slurring together slightly.
Liam Arnason: “Oh, jeez.” Liam was too slow to catch her, and he winced as he tried to pull her upright again. The beginnings of dread started to seep in upon seeing how weak she was. “I don’t think you were supposed to…”
The demon knelt down beside them and put a hand on Verdandi’s forehead, and it glowed strongly as she closed her eyes. Liam could sense her feeding a small, slow stream of energy to the girl. That was rather unusual. There was…too much of herself that she used in assisting you.
Verdandi Østergård: She lets their voices wash over her as she clings to the energy that the demon provides. Slowly, Verdandi’s eyes flutter open, and she looks between Liam and Nalaguura. She opens her mouth to speak, but words fail her, so she closes it again with a small frown. Her gaze trails down to Liam’s arm, where the scarf is still wrapped around it.
Liam Arnason: Liam bent forward and helped Verdandi back to her knees. “Okay, that sounds like enough adventuring for one night, then.” He made a face and covered his nose and mouth with a paw, glancing over at the burning body. “Gods. That’s worse than before.”
Let us remove ourselves from this cursed place. We can pursue this tomorrow when we have rested. The Helhounds are on the move.
“Right. C’mon.” Liam tugged Verdandi to her feet. “We’re not gonna be dog meat tonight.”
Verdandi Østergård: Verdandi sways where she stands, blinking away the cobwebs that spring up in her vision. “Where are we going?” she asks in a faint voice. Even with the Warden’s help, there is a haze over everything, and she has a hard time concentrating on what’s right in front of her.
Liam Arnason: “I’ve got a friend or two that can let us crash for the night.” He paused as he involuntarily gagged, pulling them away from the body. “Nala, you should make sure he doesn’t get up again.”
The Warden didn’t answer; she hovered above the corpse, glaring down at it, her feet hanging loose below her and her tail swaying in a slow figure eight as she didn’t break her gaze. Liam continued to hike back through the trees until her demon form was no longer visible and the only thing left of the terrible scene that they could sense was the stench of burning flesh.