The night sky was slightly overcast, so it wasn't like there was much light to begin with, so it wasn't like whatever had caused the incredibly loud noise, was able to be seen. Most who were awake at the ti and outside the tents clearly didn't even know where the sound had co from, but as Jonas dashed through the camp, he had a feelng he had an idea of what had caused it.
He couldn't be certain really, not at the mont, but he couldn't think of anything else that could have caused it at the ont. Which would be the wings of the dragon.
Now, while the dragon may not have actually intended on doing that, Jonas also couldn't think about why the dragon would have flown down this close to the camp. Especially since Aquis had remarked about not wanting to do sothing that took more effort than it considered worth the potential reward.
Jonas understood the risk vs. reward ntality, so of his decisions in his life had hinged on that. Yet, he also couldn't think what the dragon could have benefitted by coming down here at all. Not unless he wanted to get a closer look without really freaking out the people in the camp.
When Jonas reached the edge of the camp, he looked up towards the slope that he and the others of his group had spoke with Aquis earlier. He couldn't say if Aquis was up there or not, but he didn't know that he had stayed up there up to this point if he currently was there.
While Jonas was confident that hed be able to see Aquis if he entered the shadows, he didn't see what he'd gain at the mont if he did that. It wasn't like he had any reason to suspect the dragon was actively trying to harm them at the mont.
Still, he couldn't help but feel like there was sothing he was missing that he should have noticed sohow. Like it should be staring at him in the face or whatever that phrase is. Like an itch he just couldn't quite locate, no matter how much he scratched the area he felt it at.
As Jonas turned away to see if anyone else had noticed anything, one of the soldiers of Kim's army lunged at him, looking like it was trying to swing sothing at him.
Jonas quickly dodged away and put so distance between him and whoever had attacked him. All Jonas could tell about the person was that they were part of Kim's army. The man had on a breastplate that had been acquired from the dead orcs, though Jonas could tell that it wasn't securely put on and what the man had swung at him was a helt from the orcs as well and from the direction the helt had been positioned, the soldier had tried essentially forcefully putting it on Jonas.
What the reason for that was, Jonas couldn't say, but as he got a glimpse of the man in the firelight, Jonas' blood ran cold as he noticed the blank stare of the man. Either he was a zombie and going about trying to kill him in a bizarre way, he was being mind controlled, or had gotten incredibly high on sothing that Jonas couldn't help but wonder if it might actually be worth the risk of what might happen if he tried it.
The problem with the zombie theory was the fact that he'd have expected to hear more movent around him if that was the case, as he'd have expected more zombies than just one like this. Not that he could dismiss it completely, since it was entirely possible that they were in the beginning stages of a zombie apocalypse.
Still, it felt like a low possibility for so reason he couldn't quite put his finger on.
Then the possibility of this man being high was also rather low, since he didn't seem to have any other signs of being high. His movents were sharp and concise, his balance didn't seem off, and most importantly, he just seed to focused for Jonas to really accept that it was so kind of drug that instigated this ss.
Which left mind control. In a world where magic was real, mind control wasn't that far of a stretch to consider. The only problem Jonas could think of is figuring out how it had happened in the first place. As the only system he'd heard from the announcer that he could think of that might do this would have been the person with the enchantress system, but that person had died. At least if he rembered correctly. Which would have been Rachel Plum.
Outside of that, he couldn't dismiss that it was soone else entirely, given the fact that they'd found so magical items when they were in the dungeon they'd started in, though they hadn't really looked for any since then, nor had they really found any place Jonas had noticed that might hold a hidden cache of anything like that.
Still, as he thought about magic, he suddenly noticed sothing that he realized he'd been feeling before, but hadn't noticed. It was his Magic Sense skill. He could detect magic coming from both the breastplate the soldier was kind of wearing as well as the helt in his hands.
While he still didn't understand everything that was going on, he couldn't help but wonder if maybe this was related to the loud noise from earlier. A few pieces of what was happening clicked into place, but he couldn't be sure what other ones there were.
At the very least, he started to feel like he was starting to understand what the charging orcs had been about. He didn't know if it was really connected or if this was rely sothing else entirely, but he was pretty confident it was connected.
The only question was how.
Not that he had ti to figure it out at the mont, as he dodged another swing from the soldier trying to put the helt on him. Which didn't seem likely, unless the soldier wore Jonas out or just caught him completely off guard. Such as if Jonas encountered soone else trying to put a helt on him or sothing.
He wasn't sure exactly what was going on, but he was confident that he needed to neutralize this threat sooner rather than later. Preferably without killing the man either, since if it was mind control, then he was an innocent victim in this as well. As such, Jonas didn't feel comfortable with using deadly force to deal with this situation. Not at the mont, at least.
"Can't we just talk about this?" Jonas asked, though he doubted he'd get a response. He'd have expected the man to have said sothing already if he could.
As Jonas expected, the man didn't respond at all. He rely kept trying to put the helt on Jonas. Which he certainly wasn't going to cooperate with.
Especially since he suspected if the helt got put on him, that he'd likely be under the control of whoever was controlling the soldier in front of him. Which would an that whoever was pulling the strings right now would have their control extended by another person.
Jonas couldn't say if running would be any help, given the soldier's single-minded determination to put the helt on him. Yet at the sa ti, he wasn't sure what could be done to either get him to stop or to get his attentions placed elsewhere.
He wasn't an expert on mind control, and he was pretty sure that it wasn't like hypnosis. He couldn't say if the person was aware of what they were doing or not, since all material he had to reference on the matter was fictional stories. Which could just be purely made up, no matter how many similarities it might have to his current predicant.
Yet, as the soldier's primary focus was to put the helt on him, Jonas had to assu that it was a cursed item. Which from all he knew about things like that was typically to get it removed you had to kill the person wearing it. Despite that, he couldn't help but wonder if there was a way to get this soldier out from under the control of the unseen puppet master without killing him.
He didn't want to kill anyone, but at the sa ti, he wasn't sure what other options he had otherwise. As he dodged the soldier again as he lunged towards Jonas, apparently thinking to tackle him.
While that might make it easier to force the helt on him, Jonas didn't plan on letting that happen so easily. Even though he wasn't sure how long he'd be able to keep it up, given that was rather too close for his comfort, with the feel of the straps securing the breastplate on the soldier.
As Jonas' thoughts moved to that, he suddenly had an idea. Typically cursed items couldn't be removed once worn, however, he couldn't help but wonder what would happen if the item wasn't put on properly. Such as with the breastplate.
It was a bit of a gamble, but if it failed, it wasn't like he was going to be any worse off than he was now. Unless he really screwed up and the helt ended up on his head. Not that he planned on letting that happen, but...
Jonas quickly shook his head to get rid of that thought. He didn't want to go down that road, since it would only demoralize him, if it had any effect at all. Plus, it wasn't exactly a productive use of his ti.
Sliding out one of his knives, he waited for the next attack, ready to do his best to cut the breastplate off, if possible. If it didn't work, then he could try to figure sothing else out. Not that he had any ideas at the mont, but he was sure that he'd be able to co up with sothing.
As he dodged the next charge from the soldier, he was able to cut off two of the straps in one swing, which made the breastplate move in a way that Jonas would have found concerning if they were in a regular fight and this soldier was his ally rather than his enemy.
If the problem wasn't the breastplate, Jonas could only hope that the damage he was causing wouldn't be difficult to repair, but he doubted that thinking about things like that at a ti like this was very helpful.
Jonas braced himself for another charge when he heard a 'whooshing' sound from his side. He threw himself on the ground, more out of fear that whatever it was would hit him and make it easier to get that helt put on his head.
As he landed on the ground face first, he heard whatever made that sound strike sothing hard. While the soldier didn't make a sound in response, but rather dropped to the ground, Jonas could only imagine how much it would hurt, even though he didn't know what had happened exactly.
He turned to look in the direction he'd heard the sound co from, ready to lt into the shadows if he had to, only to freeze when he saw Elmo. While Elmo didn't have the sa blank look on his face, he suddenly felt a chill run down his back that Elmo might not really be there to help him. That Elmo might be more of a danger to him than that soldier had been.
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