Lord of Azure Flame Chapter 3: A peaceful respite?

[Snowy_One]

"Most likely, it was her." said Esphyr, pointing to Morgan as she entered in. Katie straightened herself up to her full hight, coming up just a inch or two taller than Morgan, before she walked over to Morgan.

"I think she's mad." commented Esphyr before taking stance behind Katie. She was still mad at Morgan about earlier when she had expressed her poor image of mages, and this was the perfect way to get back at her. Katie was almost certainly stronger than Morgan and could likely show the arrogent druid up; but she wasn't sure if Katie was even capable of casting without her voice.

Suddenly, Katie shook her head before turning her back to Morgan. She bowed to Tessa and Esphyr. I'm sorry for taking up your time. You two need to hurry back and babysit your companions it seems.

[Ansem]

"Aww" Helios said sarcastically. "Why did you have to come and kill the moment". Then he remembered. "Esphyr remember when your blade touched the mesh's weapon". "Can you explain it to Katie". "Maybe she knows the cause".

[Inactive Account]

"Are we on fire yet?" Kelas asked sarcastically as the group began to file out of the smithy. With them was an unfamiliar mage; while people talked, she said nothing. She was writing things down... mute maybe?

"That's an academy uniform," Arrin observed. "I think I've seen her before... my teacher taught at that academy for a while. Don't know who she is, though."

"What's going on?" Kelas asked Esphyr.

[-Cynthia-]

"I question why we are sharing all of our business with a complete and total stranger. Are we all so carefree that we will simply walk around and tell everyone exactly what we are up to? It is extremely naive to trust everyone we come across, trusting the wrogn person could easily get us all killed. Unless this mage has relevant information, I see no further reason to socialize."

[Ansem]

"You never stop nagging do you" Helios responded to the shaman. "Anyways she seems to know about those mesh things that attacked us".

[Snowy_One]

You're right. I wil start by not socializing with you. Katie quickly scrawled down the note, then ripped it off her book and stuck it to Morgan's forehead. Esphyr gave a suppressed snicker behind Morgan's back as Katie did so before she managed to swallow her joy. Despite Morgan's rough edges, she DID enjoy the shaman's company a fair deal. Reaching over, she took off the note and crumpled it up before tossing it into the smiths fire.

"Hey! You guys mind getting out of my shop anyways?"

"Sure. We're just going, and we're taking the anima mage with us." replied Esphyr, grabbing Katie's hand and pulling her out of the shop. Once outside, she turned to ensure everyone else who was inside was now out. Once that happened, she finally spoke up. "Morgan is right though. We need to be careful who we talk to. At the least, going around and announcing that we fought a huge tentacle beast is going to get more than one of us sent into a asylum if nothing else. Though, as I recall, Tessa was simply checking out a disturbance which lead to this whole confrontation and not announcing our goal to everyone. However, this has worked in our favor. It seems Katie recognizes what we fought, and I'm sure that, as a teacher, she has access to library materials that we do not. If she can identify them, we may have a lead. At the least, she can help us figure out what happened to my sword back there and prevent it from happening again. Agreed?"

[-Cynthia-]

"Fine. I will accept your presence...for now, provided you prove useful."

She turned to Katie "You would be well advised to keep your attitude in check. A mage who cannot speak is even more useless than one who cannot, and as such you should refrain from insulting your betters, lest it get you into trouble."

[Ansem]

"You really are one to talk are you" Helios replied to the shaman. "The things you say can get you killed". Helios turned to Katie. "Where is the library". "I have some business there too".

[-Cynthia-]

"I do not provoke others while defenseless. I can handle myself, she cannot unless she is some sort of Mage Fighter, which is a ridiculous concept."

[Ansem]

"Must i remind you that you use magic as well" Helios said. "We all have the same weakness".

[-Cynthia-]

"Are your observational skills really that poor? This woman obviously cannot speak, which is essential to casting spells. I thought that even you could have figured that out, especially since you cast spells yourself, but I appear to have overestimated your intelligence. I think I would have a more intellectual conversation with your manservant."

[Ansem]

Helios was dumbfounded. "Oh yeah i knew that". "But she is a teacher at the Mage academy so there must be a way she can use magic". Helios was really hoping that Katie could cast a spell.

[-Cynthia-]

"I don't care if she's the Archsage, one cannot simply overturn the rules of magic merely becuase one wishes to. Magic requires gestures and speech, without one or the other using magic is impossible."

She gave Helios a disapproving look. "Where in the world did you learn magic anyway? I thought that even anima mages would have been taught the very basics. It is a miracle how you even manage to cast any spells."

[Ansem]

"That is a rather long and pointless story". Helios caught a glimpse of a large building. "That is the library" he said. He would recognize it any way. "There is some business i must attend" Helios said as he mounted on Luna. "I would rather not waste anymore time here" Helios said as he rode away toward the library.

Edited May 2, 2010 by Kai-Sama

[Balcerzak]

Tessa didn't know quite what to do. Morgan had burst in, chastised her, and then started bullying the mute woman. On the one hand she was partially right. Tessa had just meant to investigate the disturbance, but then one thing led to another, and she got caught up with a mixture of pity and interest for the magic instructor. And it's not like she'd given away all of the details of anything. For one thing, she barely knew any of the details! She didn't see how talking about the creepy things would have gotten them in trouble, though when she thought back a bit further, she did recall Helios suddenly mentioning Crimson Weapons.

Tessa was about to ask Morgan this to make sure that she wasn't upset with her, but then Esphyr took charge of the situation. She someone smoothed things enough between Katie and the shaman that things seemed to be going well, but then Helios and Morgan started at each other's throats. She really must have been angry at him after all, Tessa thought. However this wouldn't do at all. Helios rode off in a huff, and Tessa decided it would be wise to keep things from escalating further, plus she had more than a few questions, so she went up to Morgan and tugged on her sleeve.

"Hey~, Sis? After I noticed nobody was hurt, I sort of left the plaza, but you guys took care of the arsonist right? What was that all about? And who are all the new faces?" Then in a softer voice, she continued, "You're not really terribly angry with me, are you?"

[-Cynthia-]

"The disturbance was the wielder of the Crimson Fire tome, Isotov, the one with the long red hair over there. The boy with the dark hair is Arrin, I believe he knows Kelas from somewhere. He'll also be accompanying us, since he has the thunder tome. Ah, the joy of more anima mages." Morgan rolled her eyes.

"The large imposing man over there is Ivanko, Irina and Isotov's uncle. I believe he will be returning home momentarily."

Morgan gave a stern, yet slightly sympathetic look towards Tessa. "I suppose I am not terribly angry...this time, since it appears to have worked out for the best. You should be more cautious in the future however, this world is full of very dangerous people and the nature of our mission should remain confidential whenever possible. You are not really a warrior, and I cannot guarantee that there will always be someone around to protect you "

[Ansem]

Helios pulled Luna's reins. Luna stopped in her tracks. He looked up. The building was rather big. He dismounted from Luna and went inside. It was just like he remembered it. Quiet and dull. He carefully examined a shelf. "Ah" said as he pulled out a dusty book. He blew the dust of the book and opened it. He looked in and examined a map. "Many kingdoms were conquered by the lord of Azure flame" he read "The most mightiest of them was Tora". "Along with that kingdom others fell as well". Helios looked up from reading the book. He took out another book. This one had a map of the conquered kingdoms. He compared them. Then something else caught the corner of his eye. He took out the book. It had the crest of Tora on it. He opened it hoping there was any news of his mother and father. He turned the page looking for any mention of his parents name. And then he found it. King Richard and Queen Alia were hanged after the invasion. He closed his eyes as a teardrop fell. "Mother.......Father.......". "Tragic isnt it" said a girl with green hair. Kalyn!. Helios wanted to tell her that it was him but he couldnt. "Lord Richard was my uncle" the girl said. "I am assuming you knew them". "Yes i did" Helios said. "They were the closest thing i could call a family" he lied. Helios turned the page. A boy with green hair was playing with his mother and father. "They still havent found Prince Eluress". "He was my cousin" she said. Helios held back his tears. To think that he still had a relative left in this world. Helios got up. "Prince Eluress is still alive" he said. "How can you be sure" said Kalyn. "I know it" said Helios. If only you could know that he is in front of you. "Dont give up hope, Kalyn" Helios said as he picked up the book and left. "Wait how do you know my name" Kalyn yelled. But it was to late. He was already gone.Could he have been...... Eluress? Helios, with a heavy heart mounted onto Luna and left as fast as he could

Edited May 2, 2010 by Kai-Sama

[Inactive Account]

"Look, can we quit arguing and find an inn? We're all too tired and hungry for this," Kelas said, beginning to get annoyed. "We've cleaned up our messes, most of us are here, why don't we work out where the others are and get some rest?" She looked around for a quick head count: "Let's see... Arrin, Damian, Aiya, Esphyr, oh there's Chase--" she said, spotting him behind the others, still holding the packhorse's lead-- "Tessa, shaman, Irina, fire-mage-who-I-don't-know, wyverns... don't know where that damn fool wind mage got to, but no doubt we'll find him later when we're inevitably run out of town. Other than that, we've got everyone. Whatever discussions we have can be continued over some food. Anyone know any good inns around here?"

"I'm already checked into one," Arrin noted. "Shall I show you all where it is?"

OOC: It's getting towards a dinner-ish sort of a time, I'm guessing? We spent the morning fighting the meshes and the rest of the day on the road, IIRC...

^Also what was all that about? More to the point, does it fit with the actual backstory as given by Snowy?

Edited May 3, 2010 by _____

[Snowy_One]

The best library for any research is within the capitol. Once there, I can easily find anything we need. And Morgan I can take care of myself more then well enough. I would be willing to duel you if you doubt me, but now is not the time. We need to get going.

"Yes." said Esphyr nodding in agreement. "Morgan. Tonight, we need to have a talk as well. Namely, I want to know what your problem with anima magic is, but now is a foolish time to discuss such things."

OOC: Not at the moment. I wouldn't have any problem working it into the story, but I would need to sit down, go over it, and read it before I decided anything.

[-Cynthia-]

At least most of the group followed Arrin to the inn.

"I suppose we'll need to pay for rooms, unless for some reason you arranged for all of us. It would be economically efficient to room together to some extent, but I think certain people rooming together may be unwise."

[Inactive Account]

"Ah... I forgot about that," Arrin replied awkwardly. Right, people generally cared who they roomed with... "There are a couple of extra beds in the room I'm renting. Since I don't really know any of you, I don't really mind who I room with," he said. "If we're missing anyone we should probably reserve a space for them as well."

"I don't care who I room with save two exceptions," Kelas announced, not bothering to name the exceptions. Morgan won't want to room with a "superstitious idiot" anyway and the wind mage will be a non-issue if they split up by gender, she reasoned. "I'm going to tend the horses. Somebody tell me what you all come up with when I get back."

She'd left Amari and the packhorse in the corral outside the inn, along with Tessa's stallion. After calling a hostler over to arrange for stalls and feed, she groomed Amari, checking for injuries: the mare was just fine. Now she had a proper chance to inspect the packhorse: for all its skinniness, it was not bad stock, just neglected. She'd have to get a proper packsaddle for it tomorrow, and some extra feed. As she was checking its hooves, she saw Helios riding by. "Oi," she called, "everyone's staying the night here. You might want to see who they've decided you're rooming with." He's always acting all high-and-mighty like a rich man or a noble, maybe he'll pay for a good deal of the rooms, she mused.

OOC: I figure Helios would end up finding us eventually anyway...

[Phoenix]

After Ivanko interrogated Ivan, Lev, and Isotov, he decided to take over the situation himself. Ivan was clearly trying to stay for the wrong reasons, and Lev was more interested in his training. Ivanko didn't have many wyvern riders as talented... or as snarky as Lev was. With that, he decided to just take the riders back with him, and focus on hunting down any more demons to keep the region safe. It was going to be a long mission, but before he was going to leave, he dragged all three of them around with him.

He first dragged all of them over to Esphyr, Morgan, and Katie. As they approached, the women were shocked to see all three men completely restrained by their heads. Ivanko wasn't putting out much effort, and Ivan had a minor nose bleed.

Ivanko: Ladies ... these three have something to tell you.

Ivan: *cough**cough* Ugh ... Lady Morgan ... I fear I must return with Ivanko, but know this, you will always be in my thoughts ;_;

Ivanko: That's ... not what I meant.

Ivan: It's what I meant, sir.

He quickly squeezed down on Lev's neck forcing him to speak next. Lev looked over at Katie and swallowed his pride.

Lev: Err ... I'm truly sorry for poking fun at you. I'm sure you don't complain that much <_<

Ivanko: Good enough. And Iso?

Iso: Actually ... I wasn't really involved. I only grabbed Ivan so that we could see what the anima hating shaman would do to him. Apparently ... he's going to be alright.

Lev: Not ... bloody ... likely -_-

Ivanko: Whatever. Look, I need to get back to work soon, but I had to make sure Iso settled in fine first. I'm sure he and Irina will be just fine, but I can't be too careful. After all, you kids are on one hell of a mission. This may be hard to understand now, but don't become divided. There's nothing worse that could happen to you kids than that. You need each other, prejudices can wait until after the crisis passes.

[Snowy_One]

Katie looked down at Lev, a thin smile on her face. She nodded, accepting his apology, before she lightly flicked him across the nose in a playful manner.

"I think she accepts the apology. I don't intend for us to separate though. I want to be free of my weapon very badly, and having us split up is something counter-productive to that goal. However, in the end, the ball lies in Daiman's court. I shall do my best though to succeed."

[Ansem]

Helios dismounted. "Hmm" he said as he dug into his pocket. 850 gold. Not something someone like me would have. Guess i should see whats going on. "So how many of us are there" he said as he went over toward the group. "I'll pay".

[Phoenix]

Ivanko: Damian knows how important this is.

He then let go of all three of them. Ivan collapsed, Lev stood up and held his neck, and Isotov brushed himself off. He turned back to face Ivanko.

Iso: Remember our deal.

Ivanko: Yeah. You can call your own shots from now on, Iso. You can also take responsibility for the consequences.

Iso: I'm serious, Ivanko. Don't ever try to manipulate me again.

Ivanko: Or you'll do what?

Iso: Whatever we do to the Lord of Azure Flame, I'll do far worse to you when this is over ... that's all you need to know, "Uncle".

Isotov turned away from all of them and walked away. Ivanko watched as he left, and smiled. He felt he should give them just a little more advice.

Ivanko: He'd be useless to you if he's not on fire, but the fire I started in him today isn't limited to just protecting Irina. He's acting like his father. His father was apart of the army that helped put a stop to the demon king the first time, and he was a zealous, stern, determined man, not nice like I am. Iso doesn't see any of you people as allies. That won't be a problem, but keep that in mind when you're trying to make'em work.

Lev: I ... think I'm going to go get my wyvern. As fun as this little group is, I'd rather be training.

Ivan: I've long dreaded this moment.

Lev: I've long awaited it! Just wait til I tell Stephanie that you were trying to replace her with a bloody shaman!

Ivan: Lev! You wouldn't!

Lev: Morgan didn't hurt you, but sweet little Stephanie sure will >:)

Ivan: I am ... dead man ....

Ivanko: I have no idea what these two are talking about. I've never seen Stephanie do anything aggressive. The girl's a priestess, not a mercenary.

Lev: Ask Ivan where the bruises and teeth marks came from after our next visit to the church

Ivan: I'd rather risk my life going to fight the demon king than go home

Ivanko: :/