Lord of Azure Flame Chapter 5: That which is unplanned

[Snowy_One]

Though Elyisima was the most powerful nation within the world, it was not such a mighty power through it's standing military. Rather, it had the sheer luck of being the nation in which the mages academy had decided to make its headquarters. The result was that, throughout most of the land, only a skeleton guard could be found. Because of this, it was not considered outright important for news to spread at a rapid pace through the guard channels.

However, MAGES could be found with ease throughout the nation. Before long, news that a certain idiot had used magic to set a town on fire had reached the capitol and had been turned over to the Institute. Within the hour, using scrying and magical messengers, over thirty reports had been sent out requesting that anti-magic hunters track down and capture alive a rogue mage whom had, in a fit of drug-fueled insanity, blasted several innocent inn patrons and set fire to a inn as well as abducting a mute mage teacher and one of the inn waitresses; likely as hostages or slaves. He was reporting as traveling with several companions including a man claiming to be the son of one of the hero's, several wenches likely hired from the local inn or seduced with the prospect of drugs, and armed drug cartel warriors.

Within the hour, the message had found it's way to mercenary boards and into the hands of bounty hunters across the nation. When it became known that they had defeated one of the six, the reward suddenly jumped several fold! Additionally, any of the people captured alive would be considered the slaves of the captor, barring the insane mage himself! A tempting reward indeed!

A reward that still had not made it's way to the town of Istample. A tiny, tranquil town that had the misfortune of being the nearest town to the group. It only had seven buildings. A inn, tavern, and five houses all occupied by lumberjacks and likely to be burned down by the chapters end. The only reason the town existed was because it was the only place in the world where one could find someone creating wooden covers specifically designed for Blizzard tomes. That aside, it was a small town, completely unexpecting the hell the main party was bound to unleash upon them the arrival of the hero's.

[Inactive Account]

OOC: The telephone game: Now with mages! XD

"It's rather small... maybe they won't have heard of us yet?" Arrin pondered as the group neared the village. Everyone had finally quieted down and was walking in tired silence. "Say, should one of us go in before everyone else to see if they're looking for us here? I could go..." he volunteered.

OOCfootnote: If the group agrees on this, Arrin will be quick about it. (One-post quick.)

[-Cynthia-]

"I suppose you would be a fair choice, you're rather...non-threatening and it makes sense for a mage to pass through here. Do be cautious though, we really cannot afford more trouble."

[Balcerzak]

"If you're feeling up to it, you're probably the best choice we have," Tessa nodded in agreement. "Don't push yourself too hard though."

Looking at the village, she wondered if it were anything more than a cluster of houses of some extended family. She wasn't really familiar with towns, but compared to the last place they'd be there didn't seem to be much of anything to this one.

[Inactive Account]

Arrin nodded-- most of everyone seemed to be in agreement, and he might as well go before any dissenters started up another argument. He slid down off Tessa's horse, quietly thanking her, and set off at a jog for the village.

It was a short run to the inn. The inn had seen better days, but was still in use, as evidenced by the well-cleaned, oft-repainted signboard in front. Might as well get two birds with one stone, he thought, and headed in. A bored-looking woman at a counter looked up at his entrance. "You're a mite small to be traveling alone," she drawled.

Arrin nodded, reminding himself not to give too much away. "I've some friends on the way," he replied. "We've been on the plains for a while-- what's the news around these parts?"

"No news. Place's been quiet as the grave," the woman answered. "'Course, Istample usually is." She reached under the counter, bringing out a slate, then rummaging for chalk.

As the woman looked for her chalk, Arrin quickly surveyed the room. His eyes fell upon a wall with various parchments pinned up: there they were, the most recent edicts and wanted posters. Well, they were edicts and posters, anyway: all were dusty and aging, and he recognized some of the paintings as bandits who had been brought in and tried months ago. And with no other travelers around, news would not have reached the town yet. They'd be safe here, then.

"How many?" the woman asked, getting ready to figure pricing.

"Twelve or so," Arrin told her, doing a quick count in his head. "We'll need to use the stables too." As the woman tallied up prices, he said, "I'll be right back, I have to go meet them all."

As Arrin trotted back out to the group, he nodded and waved: They were in.

[Snike]

OOC: didn't see above post.

"Well, it seems that we're safe, for the moment," Eric said. "I guess I'll take my leave. Hope you people get cleared."

Edited May 15, 2010 by Snike

[Kanami]

Kamilla watched as Arrin scampered off towards the inn, and Eric bid the group farewell, she looked at the inn and frowned. "I suppose we'll be sharing rooms again" she said looking at the exterior of the inn, they'd be lucky to get six rooms, perhaps even 3 or 4 considering the size of the building, the town most likely didn't get many visitors, so there wasn't any need for a large number of rooms.

[Inactive Account]

OOC: Going to get everyone into the inn, so's we all don't stand outside it arguing for the next page or so. Hoping room politics won't take too much time either.

Arrin led the group back to the inn. The woman at the desk looked up as they entered, surprised: she hadn't thought the boy had really meant when he described the size of the group. It wasn't even the whole group; those with mounts were outside putting them away in the corral or stables. As prices were negotiated, Irina, Helios, Mark, and Tessa filed in, followed after a while by Kelas, who'd had to re-explain to Irina's wyvern that horses were not for eating (while Amari could have explained in her own way, the resultant damage was something she didn't want to deal with.) Now the inn's tiny common room was well and truly full, and the woman called her husband in to deal with the guests.

"We only got the three rooms," the innkeeper explained. "Ye'll have t' group up. There should be beds enough."

"I'll sleep in the barn," Kelas volunteered. Sharing a room with multiple people did not appeal to her.

"Ye'll do nought of the sort," the innkeeper retorted, mainly because he'd have to charge less that way. "Divvy up whichever way ye will. Will ye be wanting dinner, then?" At the group's mutters of assent, the innkeeper and his wife busied themselves in the kitchen.

As the pair left, Kelas grimaced. More arguing now, surely. "Are we going to go into the whole room-politics bit now, or shall we just pick at random to save time?" she asked the group at large.

[Phoenix]

OOC: Would the owner of this inn and his wife just happen to be Largo and Calil cross overs?

Irina put her hand over the back of her neck, trying to think to herself. Iso looked over to Kelas.

Iso: Outside? Really? Look, I know being in close proximity to these people isn't the best way to spend a night, but don't go acting like Esphyr.

Irina: ^_^

[-Cynthia-]

"Fine. I'll use a random number generator spell!"

Group 1

Esphyr

Isotov

Irina

Mark

Group 2

Chase

Tessa

Morgan

Damian

Helios

Group 3

Katie

Kelas

Arrin

Kamilla

Aiya

Edited May 16, 2010 by -Cynthia-

[Snike]

"...No, 'fraid I haven't seen a girl like that," the inn keeper said.

"I see. Sorry about bothering you," Eric said, before heading towards the exit. Guess I'll have to go to the capital, after all, he thought, in distaste. What had it been, one year, since he left Jerdon? Yeah, that was it. A few days after the massacre. If Danielle wasn't in the capital, he'd have to move on to Halton... As he exited, Eric passed the group he was with earlier, and nodded. They seemed to be decent, if not a bit argumentative. Too bad about the inevitable bounty, though. Maybe, if he found Dani, she could manage to offer asylum to those people, providing they live long enough. He continued to think about this, as he left the town, and began the journey to the capital.

[Snowy_One]

"I don't care which room I sleep in, but whichever room Iso sleeps in, someone capable of knocking him out before he casts another fire spell should sleep in as well. In fact, anyone capable of using magic should have someone like that sharing a room. That would be Morgan, Katie, Me, Iso, and.... ummm... Who else?"

[-Cynthia-]

"We have plenty of people capable of doing that in each room, almost everyone here is trained with weapons."

"Though I don't see why you need to bother with anyone other than the fire mage. The rest of us who know how to use magic actually have self-control."

[Phoenix]

Iso shot both Esphyr and Morgan an annoyed look and then stepped forward.

Iso: Listen you two- ... *sigh*

He stopped himself from getting into a scuffle, and then quickly took out Proxima and held it up for them to see.

Iso: Irina! Get over here.

His sister walked up next to him, and he forcefully put the fire tome in her arms!

Iso: You hold onto the cursed thing for now. Anything to shut them up.

Irina: Hey, wait a second! This is your tome! You should keep it.

Iso: No. I can summon it at will if anything happens. Now hold onto it.

Irina: But what if someone attacks us?

Iso: I get attacked every few months anyway. Nothing changes.

Irina: But ... but ... :(

Edited May 16, 2010 by Phoenix

[Inactive Account]

Note to self: Never ask for anything random again, Kelas thought to herself. "Well, let's sort our packs out, then," she said, shouldering hers and Arrin's packs and starting up the stairs.

[Kanami]

OoC: I really don't think RNG was upheld fairly in that arrangement, either that or this could be considered a miracle.

Kamilla watched as a dark cloud like object came together and formed the number 3 infront of her face.

"The mute, the nomad brothers and the soldier lady..." she thought to herself as she glanced around the room.

She frowned at being in the same room as Kelas, but decided it was the better then most other possible combinations.

"This is fine" she said bluntly, "we've got plenty of other things to worry and aruge about, room sharing shouldn't be such a big issue"

Watching Isotov hand Irina Proxima she rolled her eyes "Right, you'll just summon it when you feel like burning the inn down, we're all very much assured now."

She headed to the room assigned to her quickly, before anything else happened.

Edited May 16, 2010 by Nadesico

[Inactive Account]

Kelas had set down the packs and changed into a clean tunic, and was redoing her braid when Kamilla walked in and threw her pack on the furthest bed.

"Any idea if food's ready yet?" Kelas asked over her shoulder, without seeing who had come in.

--------------------------

Arrin headed towards the tables in the common room, eager to sit down. It had been a long day... he supposed he'd have to get used to all the walking, and the fighting. People were bickering again, though not in any sort of heated way (yet)... this was certainly a change. He waited quietly for the food to come.

[Kanami]

Kamilla paused, then sighed "I'm not the inn's waitress anymore you know" she answered a bit stiffly. Though judging from the womans reaction when she saw us, they'll probably need to go grab or buy a few ingredients, inn's clearly not used very often" Kamilla stated wrinkling her nose as she rubbed her finger against a ledge and stared at the dust. "Probably be awhile yet" she finished before diving head first into her bed.

A few seconds of silence passed before Kamilla opened her mouth again "Now I've got a question, who paid for the rooms, cause I didn't have a single coin on me, and I doubt anyone was nice enough to pay my share"

[Inactive Account]

"Me'n'Arrin're paying a good chunk of this room. I expect Aiya and Katie are putting in the rest. Damian and Helios have probably got the other rooms covered... though it's barely any coin for this place, anyway," Kelas replied, adding something unintelligible containing the words "Helios" and "damn noble." She paused, and said, "Don't worry about it, we're covering for the ones what haven't got gold of their own on them."

She headed for the door. "You all right? Apart from being stuck with us crazy lot, I mean."

[Snowy_One]

Wait. I'm not rich. I have 122 gold to my name, all of it locked safely away in a bank except for a small traveling purse. Why did you assume I would be helping to pay for the inn room?

[Inactive Account]

OOC: Katie's not in the same room, I thought... Kelas is just guessing. (Everyone's in the common room but Kelas and Kamilla.)

[Kanami]

OoC: Unless Katie stalked us! She's a phantom mute :/

"Haha, I'm fine, I have no idea what I did to the goddess to deserve this fate, but it must of been something awful" she said, more to herself. "Ah well guess I'll ask her once we're captured and they have our heads on the guillotine."

Kamilla smiled "You probably want to hurry over and keep an eye on your brother, no guessing what'll happen down there." She said before closing her eyes and resting in her bed.

[Inactive Account]

Kelas sighed: there was apparently no such thing as pleasant conversation for this one. She headed downstairs. It looked like Arrin was all right for now, and people were busy with their own conversations... she headed outside, sitting down on the rails of the inn's corral, and watched the horses.

[Balcerzak]

After she'd seen to it that Trevor was taken care of, Tessa had ventured into the inn just as Arrin and the innkeep had settled on a price. Judging from the rest of the group's lack of concern it seemed to be a typical one for the sort of services rendered, and easily covered. Somehow she had a nagging feeling that her ignorance in these matters was bound to catch up to her one day, but for now she pushed that to the back of her mind.

Morgan had devised a method for splitting the party into smaller rooming groups, and much to her pleasant surprise Tessa found that she would once again be staying with the shaman. She had some mixed feelings about the rest of the company. Damian had always seemed kind enough, and had been the one to welcome her to the group when their paths had first crossed, but she didn't really know that much about the wind mage. She'd never really sought out Helios, nor he her, so she didn't quite know what to expect on that front. The final member, however was the outlaw. While he'd at least started to show that he wasn't as bad a man as she'd initially expected, Tessa still couldn't bring herself to really trust him, and was quite sure things would be uneasy tonight. Still, it could have been worse, she thought.

While waiting for supper, Tessa had gone to the village well and drawn a bucket of water, and started to clean herself up a bit. She hadn't any soap, so a good scrubbing was all it really was, and it was just her face, arms, and hands, but it was refreshing to get the grime off. She paid special attention to her hands, which were much the worse for wear. A full day of holding the reins, as well as the brief swordfighting, and other activity had not been kind to them, and the blisters that had formed from the morning's fire had cracked and bled. After she'd cleaned them to her satisfaction, she cut off thin strips of cloth from each of her sleeves, and wrapped them. Satisfied with a job well done, she returned to the inn.

Tessa didn't really have a firm plan of anything she wanted to do to pass the time, though there were several candidates. She briefly toyed with asking Aiya for some sword lessons, the fight against the wyvern riders had really driven home her inexperience, but at the moment that would have to wait. No point in further aggravating a wound when it was unnecessary, she'd just have to remember to ask in a day or two. The other possibilities included either following up on the conversation with Morgan about her miraculous ability to survive near-death wounds, trying to talk to Katie about her father, or just crashing and relaxing, letting the stress drain away.

Unable to make up her mind, she just decided to park herself in the common room for now, and let whatever chance had in store for her happen.

[[OOC: Any unlisted possibilities are also, always welcome. If Kamilla wants to discuss theology, we could try to wing it. If any of the roommates want to try to make sure everything's settled for tonight. If random idea seems interesting...]]

Edit: certain grammar failures. They never seem to be as visible in preview as they do in posted, for some reason.

Edited May 16, 2010 by Balcerzak

[Snowy_One]

The long day had worn greatly upon Esphyr, as she suspected it had for the rest of the party. She could feel the various aches and pains that dotted her body like some sort of crude painting. Her shoulder hurt from the effort of swinging such a sheer mass as her blade, while she could feel a ache in her legs from carrying her armored weight all day. At least three ribs felt as if they had been bruised and over thirty various minor sores covered her flesh. Yet, it all paled in comparison to what had just happened. She and the rest of the group had just defied Percy, one of the six great hero's, AND WON!

As the mercenary woman entered into the inn, she felt a strange mix of elation and horror that she could not describe in words. One moment, she felt as if she should walk up to the tavern owner, demand a pint, then swagger over to the biggest, baddest lumberjack in the entire town and ask what his single greatest accomplishment was. Not that she cared. The moment he started to speak, she felt as if she could drop her pants and a set of kajonies far larger then any physically possible to have would magically have appeared there! She would no longer be just a girl mercenary, but she would be a he! A warrior so strong and powerful as to make the earth tremble in his wake! She had beaten one of the six! She might as well be the king of the world!

The very next moment, sheer terror at the realization of what she had managed to do set in. What on earth had she just done? She had openly defied one of the six hero's; one of the people whom had saved the world! She was a monster! A demon! She had committed a act far worse than anything even feasible to be committed short of outright shattering the emblem which spared the world from the demon kings wrath! Wait! She hadn't actually lifted her sword against him, right? She had only fought the wyverns, the common guardsfolk whom had accompanied them. Not the hero himself! It had been other people in her group, and she was just a innocent, a merc doing her job. A merc doing a very, very, poor job! Would they spare her head the chopping block? After all, she was no better then a common criminal now!

It was with such a conflicted, confused mind that Esphyr took her seat at the inn table, unsure of what on earth she should be feeling, pride or despair, when the healer girl, Tessa was it?, came in from cleaning her hands. Esphyr quickly looked up, paying the troubadour little mind as normal. What was she to do anyways? She needed to clear her head, that was what. Something calm, simple, preferably stupid as well. Suddenly, a idea popped into Esphyr's mind. The troubadour used a sword, right? She was sure she had seen it hidden away in the saddlebag, or was that Kelas's knife? Either way, the girl was likely a inexperienced swordfighter, easily beaten and battered... the perfect answer for someone seeking to get their mind off of something.

"Hey." she called out, nodding her head in Tessa's direction to signify whom she was talking too. "Hey you. Tassa, wasn't it? You use a sword, right? I need a dumm-Imean 'sparring partner' to train against. Maybe I can teach you a thing or too as well? Wanna give it a go?"