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Post by Lord Hayati on Jun 30, 2010 12:03:55 GMT -5
"I think we're more worried about running out of supplies, to be honest."
Oh, no worries. I create most food with magic. all I request is a building. I can supply the rest.
she was slightly worried, though. Maybe the equipment would be different... or even more dangerous. netherless, she'll have to deal with it.
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Post by Tiger on Jul 2, 2010 7:31:32 GMT -5
Tiger made her way to Brassport with little difficulty. It was anticlimactic, she had to admit, but there wasn’t much that could go wrong when you were in the middle of a large forest, your horse was made of magic, and you had already seen where you were going. It also helped Tiger (but didn’t help the sense of adventure any) when two other mages passed overhead, just visible through gaps in the trees. Within a few hours, Tiger neared the city. She could hear the faint murmur of conversation, simply from so many people packed into one place, and could smell, just faintly, the smoke pouring from the chimneys. At this point, she was probably near a path- a real one, not the chain of deer trails and well-trod hunting and trapping paths she’d been following thus far, keeping her cover in the trees. She guided the horse through the foliage, until she came upon a more proper road, and just in time- the sun was beginning to set, and although the horse wouldn’t be injured stepping into a hole, it still hurt to fall from a magical horse. Eventually, a large gate appeared in her line of sight, and Tiger felt her stomach clench in an odd mix of anxiety and fear. It had been a long time since she’d been around people, much less a whole city of them. The mage had to slow her horse as she approached a group of people already crowded at the gate. Most of them wore olive cloaks, and so she figured they were all traveling together. Only two appeared to be speaking, a man and a woman Tiger couldn’t make out well from this distance and in this darkness. Before the mage was close enough to hear what was being said- though the guard shaking his head did not bode well- the lady dropped toward the ground, as if her knees had been kicked from behind. For a moment, Tiger didn’t understand what had happened; even when she realized the woman had simply fainted, she wasn’t much less confused. Sighing, Tiger dismounted her horse, and pulling her hood just a little further over her face to entrench it more completely in shadow, the mage approached the group, asking, “Is she…all right?” ((Here's hoping I'm not intruding on any plot plans  )) |
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Post by Scar on Jul 3, 2010 0:24:59 GMT -5
Oscar, Gentleman Adventurer, had learned many things during his travels and one of them was how to spot the signs of a Swooning Damsel. Mind, Lady Sarinon was no damsel but she was certainly in distress. He quickly caught the limp woman and placed the back of one hand onto her forehead. Not good, she has a fever, he thought, noting her increasingly ragged breathing.
“Is she…all right?”
"She's running a fever, I can't tell what else," Oscar replied, regarding the newcomer anxiously. "Let us in, pal! Can't you see she needs a physician?" This he aimed snappishly to the puggish watchman. Wait did I just snap at someone? I never snap at someone ...
The watchman shrugged. It wasn't the first time someone had tried this trick on him back in Brigaia. "Sorry sir, I can't be letting jus' anyone with a faintin' lass into the city, eh? It'd be bad for my reputation it would be, eh? Not the first time folk like ye have tried to sneak past me," he said, tapping a finger on the side of a grubby nose and giving the group a shrewd look.
Before Oscar could retort, Malinovka pushed past and grabbed the watchman by his collar. "You .... you sviney! How dare you leave a sick ewe out in the cold?" he growled, pulling the guard down to eye level.
"What's goin' on out there?"
Heads turned to regard the younger watchman emerging from the small, side door attached to the gate, this one bleary-eyed and carrying a crossbow. The younger guard blinked once or twice before comprehension dawned and he raised his crossbow with a cry of, "Hands up all of ye!"
That's when it all went wrong for the watchmen, for when the sheeple's hooves came up they bore crossbows with them. The watchmen gulped in unison; they could do the math and the numbers were definitely not on their side.
Oscar carefully hoisted Lady Sarinon into his arms and inched his way back towards the woman with the horse, keeping as much of himself between her and any stray bolts. This was not going well at all.
He also realized he hadn't used Gentleman Adventurer in his internal monologue in a while.
***
Meanwhile, high above the gateway, a shadow danced and weaved among the parapets, a dozen more following in its wake.
They were rats obviously but these were no ordinary rats.
These rats wore goggles, sure but it wasn't what made them extraordinary. Any person with a missing nut or so could strap a pair of goggles onto a rat, much to its distress, but it took a special rat to want to wear the goggles because it was cool.
The rat in the lead huffed and puffed as it tried to outrun the small mob shadowing it, looking desperately around for an escape route while the other rats squeaked and squealed and brandished pieces of human-sized cutlery.
And then the rat skidded to a halt, spun around to face his pursuers, flicked its paw before disappearing into a sudden cloud of smoke.
The mob shrieked in indignation and gave chase through the acrid cloud --
-- And fell tumbling and screaming over the edge of the broken section of wall. Just under the edge, clinging onto a stray piece of masonry by its tail, the lone rat grinned and tapped its goggles in mock salute before swinging back up to strike a gallant pose.
Whiskar, Gentleman Adventurat, had done it again.
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Post by Celestial on Jul 3, 2010 15:33:42 GMT -5
((Brassport))
"It's worth discussing, I agree."
Relief swept over Celestial as she heard those words. The Mayor was considering the idea. Perhaps the past can be forgotten if the future is prosperous. Despite her poor word choice.
She felt a scratching on her boot, steadily moving onto the trousers beneath her robe. Like little claws. The mage sent a small gust of wind to lift her robe up a little and sure enough, one of the goggled rats was crawling up her leg. Slightly annoyed at this turn of events, she swept it off with a more powerful, more concentrated gust. It hit the floor but was apparently unhurt as it ran away with a look like that of a guy who had just been rejected. If all the rats were like this, Celestial was going to be a bit scared of coming here.
"Anyway, question is, what are you offering us?" the Mayor asked. The Archmage snapped to attention and regained her composure.
"Lots. You mentioned lack of resources. We have trade routes with the Knights and with Tabloid Town which could provide you with anything you need. What we cannot aquire we can make. I notice you have a city built entirely on steam, which must require a lot of burning of whatever you have here, coal or other alchemically created resource. But it is finite. With magic, it can be mage infinite. We can show you how to create fire magic which can drive your furnances forever at virtually zero cost. The same magic can also benefit your alchemy since at heart they are one and the same and would both compliment each other. Plus, as I mentioned before, we can help you integrate into this world and help you make here your home. And that is just what I can think of on the spot. I'm sure there are many more things.
And all I ask if an exhange of technology and that we defend each other if one was attacked. Sounds fair?"
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Post by Omni on Jul 4, 2010 0:12:36 GMT -5
<<Mage Manor>>
Omni recognized gladness in the cat's eyes, and aura, as she picked up the chicken. Maybe it was her imagination, but Omni thought she even heard a hint of a purr. [Thank you,]
"Welcome," Omni replied casually, not unlike she had been doing earlier.
[And yes, I'm used to most foods you humans eat.]
"Ah, good. That'll make things easier," she said, lightly tossing a strand of string cheese at the cat. "I hope you don't mind the kind. Or shape."
She paused mentally. What was the cat's name again? Ugh, not again... Unless she could get away with talking without using the cat's name, which she might if she was careful, this was going to be awkward. At any rate, people forgetting the names of people she had only recently met was one thing. The names of others that lived in the same magical residence as her was another.
She decided to try switching to another matter for a little bit. Besides, forgetting a name and getting a major change in your aura were in two different realms of important. At least gaining new qualities in an aura was understandable. In fact, it wasn't too uncommon in a magical world. But losing something was usually worrisome, especially when it was the elemental affinity(s) that you were so accustomed to and that everybody knew you by.
"Anyway," she said, turning to Rikku again, "I might be able to help you with that. Well, at least partly. I've done imbuing before, and I figure partial-restoration is better than nothing."
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Post by Jina on Jul 7, 2010 18:00:40 GMT -5
Owen's office
"Lots. You mentioned lack of resources. We have trade routes with the Knights and with Tabloid Town which could provide you with anything you need. What we cannot aquire we can make. I notice you have a city built entirely on steam, which must require a lot of burning of whatever you have here, coal or other alchemically created resource. But it is finite. With magic, it can be mage infinite. We can show you how to create fire magic which can drive your furnances forever at virtually zero cost. The same magic can also benefit your alchemy since at heart they are one and the same and would both compliment each other. Plus, as I mentioned before, we can help you integrate into this world and help you make here your home. And that is just what I can think of on the spot. I'm sure there are many more things.
And all I ask if an exhange of technology and that we defend each other if one was attacked. Sounds fair?"
"...I don't know. I can see that there would be some advantages for both of us, but it requires a certain amount of trust that people in this city just don't have. There's no way I could make such a big deal without there being a riot.
Though that said, we do need to start trading, so I'm more than willing to make a smaller deal that people won't know too much about."
Barrett's house
((For this and my future posts, anything written in grey is a hallucination. =3))
Barrett quickly turned on the spot.
There's nothing there... I should have worked on this thing more, I'm going to end up like those rats...
Barrett started playing with the amulet. If he could just work out how to...
Sploosh... There was that noise again...
He sat down, curled into a ball, and covered his ears.
Sploosh...
"LEAVE ME ALONE!"
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Post by Deleted on Jul 8, 2010 23:31:13 GMT -5
The gate’s guards gulped audibly as a forest of crossbow bolts were pointed in their direction. The second guard dropped his crossbow right away and raised his hands. Comrade Molotov pulled a length of cord from somewhere within his cloak and quickly tied the man’s hands, turning him to face the wall and standing guard over him. In the process, Molotov’s hood caught in the breeze, revealing his woolly head.
The first guard, the one who had asked a kiss of Lady Sarinon, was just about to place his crossbow on the ground when he caught sight of the form under Molotov’s hood and cried out in a mixture of shock and anger. Before he could lift his weapon, four bolts thudded into his chest and he toppled to the ground.
Oscar made a noise like a cat being run over by a lawn mower, and clutched Lady Sarinon closer to him. He was used to using his tongue instead of weapons.
“What did you do that for‽” he almost shouted.
The sheeple were already moving. Two darted into the gatehouse and began to open the gate, but Oscar was already advancing on Comrade Malinovka.
“You must be insane!” he cried out, but Malinovka turned on him ferociously, like no sheep ever had.
“We do what we must to protect our kindred,” he growled, then put his hoof on Oscar’s shoulder and pushed him towards Brassport. “Go, brother! Save your beloved ewe!”
Lady Sarinon gave a soft whimper of pain that steeled his resolve. He took off towards Brassport, running as fast as he could while making sure to keep his balance, taking no heed of anyone or anything else. He knew the city well enough from his past exploits, and he was able to find his way through the backstreets and shortcuts, but the physician he knew had once resided in the glassmaker’s sector was no longer there.
The woman in his arms gasped and strained for air and Oscar truly did begin to panic.
Meanwhile, Malinovka strode over to the newcomer, a cloaked woman with a horse, speaking softly so as not to disturb his fellows who were interrogating the guard about the current oppressive government.
“Lady, my folk will close the gate soon, you had best be getting inside before we do. If you wish to follow Mr. Featherstone and the Lady Sarinon my comrades and I would be glad to know that they are safe.”
Behind him, two sheeple dragged the dead body into the shadowy gatehouse.
***
Her footsteps died down as Emily came to a halt in the street. Her eyes were wide and bulging, her dress ragged and torn. She had all the appearance of a rabid animal, and there was nothing that would stop her.
Nothing except knowledge. Where was the dragonbeast that had torn her life apart? There was no way she could find the fiend by herself, but she didn’t have to. Living in an abandoned wreckage, one makes the strangest of friends, and one such friend was just now approaching her cautiously. Emily bent down and the little rat climbed up her arm, rubbed his goggles with a paw and began tic hitter in her ear.
As the rat “talked”, Emily’s face became steadily more determined, more resolved, and when the rat was done, she let him back down onto the street.
“Good luck with finding your fugitive,” she called as a tail disappeared down a drain. Then she turned and headed straight fr the Mayor’s office. It was time for vengeance.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 9, 2010 1:37:55 GMT -5
<<Mage Manor>>
Aly caught the look Drakhé gave her--it was hard to miss. Thanks for underestimating me, she thought, annoyed.
"I'm a dragon-man. People around here call me Drakhé - means 'dragon' in some old language. No idea which one."
Not one I know. Not a bad name, though. And fitting.
The short version of the fight made her wince, though. Alright, maybe not underestimating. She was an offensive type, always wanting to attack someone first and drive them off. She was pretty fast, but she wasn't great with taking damage herself. Period.
Still, that wasn't enough to deter her. "So be careful," she said, looking at him determinedly. "I'm up for it. Where is he?"
<<Brassport>>
Asta jerked awake suddenly, glancing around in a quick moment of panic before settling down. She was lying against the wall of...someplace, still in everything she'd been wearing...It can't have been more than a few minutes, she thought as her heart started slowing to its regular rate. She must have fallen asleep from the warmth of her coat and the weather, and walking around, and...yeah, she needed to stop working in the lab--
She felt a sharp prick in her hair then, and frowned, reaching up for her goggles. They snapped off her head suddenly, and she saw them...running?
No, wait, that wasn't right. "Oi!" she called, jumping to her feet at the sight of tiny, scrabbling paws under the goggles. "Give it back!"
Half a minute and two dives onto the cobblestones later, she was panting, exhausted, with her hands resting on her knees and her goggles slightly scratched but otherwise okay. "Stupid rat," she muttered. "Stupid thief rat." And did that thing have clothes on--
Her thought was interrupted again by a loud thudding of steps. She looked over her shoulder, seeing a man running past...with a lady in his arms...
...Wait. That looked familiar. Both of them looked familiar. What the heck was his name...
"Hey, Gent Adventurer!" ...Close enough. Sarinon was more of a concern. "Five-second summary, what's she need?"
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Post by Celestial on Jul 10, 2010 9:38:43 GMT -5
((Brassport))
"...I don't know. I can see that there would be some advantages for both of us, but it requires a certain amount of trust that people in this city just don't have. There's no way I could make such a big deal without there being a riot.
Though that said, we do need to start trading, so I'm more than willing to make a smaller deal that people won't know too much about."
Celestial smiled, glad at least to have gotten this far. The Mayor was a smart man to do this but she'd just have to be smarter in expanding the alliance. But once she got her foot into the door, she could force it open.
"Thank you. Tell me what resources you need and I'm sure we can aquire them, either through Knight contacts or by manufacturing them ourselves. In turn, we'll make our request in time. Hopefully by the time the people find out about it, they would have gained some trust in us," the Archmage said, offering her hand to the Mayor to shake.
She was so focused on the Mayor that Celestial did not notice the rat in goggles listening to their conversation. It could not believe that the Mayor, the one who should know better was making a deal with the dragon-woman, the one who has destroyed Brassport with her companion a mere three months ago. She came offering alliances and gifts then too. This was simply a repeat performance, an attempt to succeed where she had failed before. The witch had cast her spell.
The rat scurried out of the Mayor's office. If there was one thing rats were good at, it was spreading gossip. This rat told the next one it met. That one told the next and so it continued. In a few hours, travelling above and below ground, every single rat knew about the alliance. And, being the citizens of Brassport, no matter how unwelcome, they felt the need to share it.
((Anybody can feel free to talk to one of the rats and hear the gossip. We're trying to get a riot here. :3))
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Post by Tiger on Jul 10, 2010 18:49:46 GMT -5
"She's running a fever, I can't tell what else.
Tiger frowned, though the expression was hidden in the shadows of her hood. One of her duties as a mage had been to heal the sick, so she knew well enough that fevers and fainting were not a good sign.
She opened her mouth to tell the man that she could help, but hesitated. Her magic wasn’t subtle, the guard would certainly see it. Once upon a time, that wouldn’t have bothered her; now, she wasn’t so sure if she ought to risk frightening or angering the already unfriendly watchman.
”You have to do something,” she told herself.
But before she had the chance, another guard had appeared, crossbows were drawn- not in hands, but in hooves- and a chance breeze revealed the olive-cloaked party as a herd of sheep-people. Tiger’s clawed hand automatically darted to the hilt of her sword; she had seen enough reactions to her twisted face to expect much understanding toward the sheeple.
She also hadn’t expected one of the sheeple to plunge several bolts from his crossbow into the remaining guard’s chest. The mage jerked in shock at the sound of the first impact, and stared as the watchman hit the ground.
Coming here had not been a good idea.
The sheeple were rushing into the city, carrying off the dead guard- only one remained a distance from the active group, urging the man carrying the injured woman to get into the city, giving him a push for good measure. Cursing her earlier hesitance to use her magic, Tiger almost shouted after him, “Wait!”
But there was blood and violence here; how smart would it be to attract attention with a careless shout?
Before she could decide whether to ride after them, or just escape this madness while she still could, the lead sheep-person (”Shershon?” she wondered) approached her. Tiger couldn’t deny that it was strange talking to someone coated in wool, who could operate a crossbow with hooves, she was able to keep her face expressionless. It wasn’t as if she were any easier to look at.
“Lady, my folk will close the gate soon, you had best be getting inside before we do. If you wish to follow Mr. Featherstone and the Lady Sarinon my comrades and I would be glad to know that they are safe.”
Lady. Tiger’s mouth quirked in a wry grin, thinking just how long it had been since she was last addressed so highly.
Returning her attention to the situation at hand, the mage said, “I’ll see to it they’re in good hands.” She mounted her horse, urging it through the gates. A patch of fur on the horse’s neck, she noticed, had lost its pinto coating; the enchantment would probably last another half hour before she had to either renew it, or else the horse would be too noticeable.
A half hour should be plenty of time to find this Mr. Featherstone and the ill Lady Sarinon. This city couldn’t have too many backstreets, could it?
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Post by Deleted on Jul 10, 2010 20:18:59 GMT -5
A little mouse was hiding near the door to the infirmary. The colour of its fur and skin blended with the wall, so he only needed to keep perfectly still. As he was doing so, he listened intently to the conversation inside.
So... angry dragon's up and about. And crazy psycho fire lady wants to... oooohh. Better pay attention.
The dragon's distinctively deep voice talked about the fight he had been in earlier, describing the one who he had attacked. Or rather, tried to attack. And the girl wanted to go after his opponent, even after such a horribly one-sided fight? In fact, she wanted to know where he was.
Oh, universe, this is SO tempting.
The mouse grinned as he started to grow bigger, as his fur changed into clothes and hair, and as his colours changed.
--
D-Man fought the urge to hit his face with his palm. Aly didn't seem as confident as before once he had described the fight, but it wasn't enough to deter her. Though he did admit, "be careful" was good advice...
"I should probably mention," he added, "he likes to turn his hands into large clawed things. So if you are serious about this... keep your distance, I suppose."
He rubbed his bandaged arm again and winced slightly.
"As for where he is--"
"I'm riiiiiiiight here," called a voice from the door.
D-Man looked up to see who it was, and promptly snarled. "You again."
"Yeah, me again," Locke said with a grin. "Ain't that the pits? I know you're tempted to rip my throat out with your teeth, dragon man, but y'know, I just ripped a hole in your torso. And I don't think the lovely nurses would appreciate blood getting spilled in the infirmary."
The black-scaled dragon growled again, though it was a different growl than before. He hated to admit it, but Locke was right.
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Post by Ikkin on Jul 11, 2010 17:53:30 GMT -5
Trailing Celestial by a few minutes, Ikkin decided, had not been quite as good of an idea as she'd thought it would be.
What she'd wanted was to wait long enough so Celestial would no longer be expecting anyone to have followed her.
What actually ended up happening was that she reached Celestial's position just as Celestial herself walked through the door and into what seemed to be Brassport's Town Hall.
Well, that made spying awfully difficult. A ninja might have been able to follow her inside without being spotted, but Ikkin wasn't known for subtlety. All Ikkin could hope for, at this point, was that there was an open window in the room Celestial had gone into.
Ikkin gently landed on the roof and crouched down low, reaching her senses out to find Celestial's magical signature and looking down at the sides of the building to see if there were any convenient windows.
A low growl escaped from her throat as she realized that simply was not going to work. There was no way she was going to hear what was going on inside from out here, or even to figure out what was going on. If she was familiar with the magical signatures of people from Brassport, she could tell who Celestial was talking to... but since she didn't, she couldn't even tell that much.
She wasn't about to give up just yet, though. Ikkin hadn't really seen who the Archmage was with when she went into the building, but she might still come out with him. And it's not like people tended to search the rooftops for intruders, so she figured she'd be safe keeping her position.
A few more minutes passed. Ikkin had just sat back, her tail twitching in boredom and annoyance, when she caught a movement out of the corner of her eye. She turned to look, and realized it was just a rat leaving Town Hall, which told her nothing except that Brassport seemed to have sanitation issues. She was just about to turn back to look at the doorway Celestial had used to enter the building, when she realized that the rat had, apparently, stopped to talk to someone.
Now, that was strange. Rats normally tended to stay away from people, since people tended to kill them. They also tended not to talk.
Ikkin floated up into the air, and flew over to near where the rat stood, still talking to what Ikkin figured was a Brassport citizen. She waited until it finished and started running off, then dove down from the sky, grabbed the rat, and rolled immediately upon hitting the ground to avoid injury to herself or her prey. In a flash, she leapt up to the nearest rooftop, hoping to avoid any interruptions.
"Rat," she said, making no attempt to keep the disdain out of her voice. "I have no love for your kind. But I saw you come out of the Town Hall, and I saw you talking. So, tell me - did you see a lady with dragon wings talking to anyone?"
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Post by Strife on Jul 11, 2010 18:55:31 GMT -5
"Tell me what you think of this blade," announced the Indigo Knight triumphantly, setting a large, ornate dagger on top of the oak counter.
The shopkeeper adjusted his spectacles and lifted the weapon with both hands, examining it with the precision and delicacy of a professional craftsman.
"Welllllll, it's a few grams heavy on the back end..." he muttered.
"It's a ceremonial blade," said Blacktail while removing his steel helmet and cradling it under his right arm. "It wasn't designed for combat. I'm more interested in the face value of the gemstones."
"Ah, yes, of course," muttered the shopkeeper with the same dull indifference. "Just give me a moment."
Blacktail, Indigo Knight of the Kingdom of Dunburrow, took a deep breath and released it slowly through his nostrils, staring up at the plain wooden ceiling of the shop. His curiosity led him to the city of Brassport, and he had been spending the entire day trying to barter some of his belongings away in exchange for the local currency.
Blacktail was quite fascinated with the technology of this place; It was much more sophisticated than what he was used to, but on the other hand, it wasn't exactly magic either, so it was something that he could potentially learn how to craft and use himself. Having absolutely no affinity with magic, he grew up with a profound suspicion of the arcane arts of magic, and time and time again, magic had proven to be his single greatest weakness. Of course, he made up for it by becoming an expert blacksmith, building weapons and blades that were, until recently, unmatched in their sophistication. And boy, did he know how to use them.
"Yes, excellent," began the shopkeeper, setting the dagger onto the counter once more. "Quite a fine specimen you have here."
The plump, flat-faced man then proceeded to dig into his pockets, dropping a small handful of bronze and silver coins on the counter beside the dagger.
"Here is my offer."
Blacktail looked at the coins, then the shopkeeper, with a single raised eyebrow. "Seriously? I don't even know the value of your currency, and I can already tell that you're ripping me off."
The shopkeeper huffed, dropping several more silver coins and a single golden coin onto the counter. "There," he spoke with a slightly more irritated tone. "I cannot afford to go any higher. I have repairs to undertake."
"I would imagine so..." Blacktail's eyes scanned the shop. He had noticed earlier that there were quite a lot of scorch marks on the walls. "What happened here, exactly?"
"Eh, it seems that the previous owner of this shop was murdered, some time before the Great Petrification. The neighboring jeweler said that she saw a large man in black robes leave the store, but the authorities never caught him."
"Aren't you a little... you know... afraid, of being here then?" Blacktail scratched the back of his neck with his free hand.
"Eh, everyone has to start somewhere." The shopkeeper set both of his hands on the counter and gave a shrug. "Suffice to say, I purchased this lot of land for a rather cheap price after the incident. Anyway, do we have a deal?"
Blacktail paused for a moment before letting out a simple "Aye."
The shopkeeper swiped the dagger, setting it underneath the counter. In the meantime, Blacktail put his helmet back on and carefully gathered the coins into a small cloth sack. He lifted the final, golden coin up to his face, examining it briefly.
In the surface of the coin, he could see a blurred reflection of what was happening outside the shop, as the door was wide open. Normally, this wouldn't interest him, but at that exact moment, he thought he saw someone fall from the sky, then fly straight back up into the air. Turning around quickly, he only caught a glimpse of the figure as they ascended upwards and out of view, but it was enough to perk his interest. Quickly, he turned back towards the shopkeeper.
"Here, keep the golden one," he said, tossing it back onto the counter as he made a fast dash out of the store. The coin landed with a loud plink, spinning in place briefly before falling flat on the oak surface. "Seems like you need it more than I do!" he shouted from the outside.
"Oh?" The shopkeeper gazed at the coin with surprise, pushing his spectacles back up to his nose. "W-well... Thank you, sir!"
Outside on the streets of Brassport, beside what seemed to be the Town Hall, Blacktail looked upwards to see if he could find the mysterious gravity-defying individual. As he circled around, his black ponytail, which was extremely thick and long enough to reach down to his waist, twirled softly through the air.
After about a minute of scanning the rooftops from ground level, he finally spotted something on a rooftop adjacent to the Town Hall. Squinting his eyes, he thought he could make out a familiar face from his days as a squire.
"Is that...?"
* * *
"CARNIVOOOORE!!" squealed the little rat as it was carried onto the rooftop.
"Rat," announced the scary predator in a booming voice, "I have no love for your kind. But I saw you come out of the Town Hall, and I saw you talking. So, tell me - did you see a lady with dragon wings talking to anyone?"
As if his fear of heights wasn't enough, the predator now bared a rather sharp, intimidating set of fangs. His beady eyes grew wide with panic, and he tried to restrain himself from hyperventilating.
"A-a-a-ae-e-e-y-y-y-yes! D-d-d-d-dragon lady w-w-was talking to the m-mayor! Ab-b-b-bout a t-trade or s-something! DON'T EAT ME, PLEASE! I HAVE A WIFE AND KIDS! EAT THEM!"
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Post by Deleted on Jul 12, 2010 0:22:29 GMT -5
<<Mage Manor>>
"I should probably mention, he likes to turn his hands into large clawed things. So if you are serious about this... keep your distance, I suppose."
"Heh...that's fine." She grinned. "Range is my preference anyway."
"As for where he is--"
"I'm riiiiiiiight here."
If there was one huge advantage Aly had over a lot of other people, it was combat experience. And that was mostly her instinct. She had a hand at her belt as soon as she'd heard the voice, glaring at the newcomer. She pieced it together quickly as he spoke. Him. This was the guy.
Where's my bow... Not here, obviously. She'd been letting off spare energy in an empty room, and that hadn't been suitable for archery practice. The quiver, when full, was pretty heavy, to boot. Of course she didn't have it with her. Figured.
"...And I don't think the lovely nurses would appreciate blood getting spilled in the infirmary."
A flick of white--no, three. The mage had thrown several small bone knives at what she guessed were vital spots, taking the moment to draw up a ring of intense crimson flame around the shapeshifter. "Good thing I don't mind," she said, hiding a grimace. No fuel for fire on the floor, and no Lika, meant she was supporting this fire on just her own energy. But I'll be fine.
Except for the quick lack of oxygen that was going to result...This is bad...we need more room.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 13, 2010 2:59:11 GMT -5
That lady had reacted quickly, he had to admit. Locke allowed himself a quick glance at her, and saw that the girl's hand was not too far away from some bladed weapons at her side. Well, that made sense.
A little too much sense - she threw something at him as he finished talking. He quickly threw his arm up and promptly felt a sharp pain in his forearm. Knives. And then he realised that there was a duller pain in his chest. One of them had struck.
And then he was surrounded by fire. Crazy psycho fire lady, all right. Locke turned and leapt sideways, moving out of the ring of flames and away from the infirmary.
He crouched on landing, and quickly checked for damage. The knife wasn't too deep in, thankfully. Guess making my skin thick and hard was a good idea. Shoulda done the same for my arms though.
Looking up, and beginning to change his hands, the shapeshifter waited for the girl to make her next move. Maybe then I'll make a move on her, he thought with a grin.
--
D-man instinctively stepped back as Aly began the attack.
Oh, for the love of... She was serious. She was actually serious about this. Serious to the point of attacking someone in an infirmary.
Where was the nurse?! He risked a look behind him, only to see that the healer wasn't there.
Oh, perfect.
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