Lord of Azure Flame Chapter 6: Standing against the Bolivian Army

[Phoenix]

Ixion: A priest? Heh ....

He took a look back at Iso. Stephanie was almost finished.

Ixion: That worthless wretch is injured because he didn't flee when I instructed him to. Now it's only a matter of time until even I have to get my hands dirty in his defense ... again ....

While Chase paced around waiting, Viveka came out of the shadows and approached his cell. She was cleaned up from the rain and felt a lot more perky now.

Viveka: So! How are you feeling? ^_^

[Inactive Account]

Kelas grimaced at Kamilla's remark, knowing it would get a torrent of questions from Arrin. She was lucky, though; Arrin was distracted almost instantly, as Tessa had forgotten her injured ankle. He ran to help her up. Kelas sighed. That was another issue they'd have to talk about later...

"He's my brother," Kelas explained to Kamilla in an undertone. Kelas had gotten close to hating the girl... now she almost pitied her.

Kelas hitched the packhorse to a nearby post and ordered Amari to wait as the group entered the small church. Three people immediately caught her attention: Isotov, currently unconscious, an unfamiliar cleric, and a man who looked to be a shaman. She caught up to Morgan, about to ask what had happened, but the man was already explaining. She held her tongue.

Arrin entered the church, staying close to Tessa in case she needed help. Something was bothering him; Daranau was muttering restlessly; was something dangerous abroad?... or maybe he was just tired... He looked around, worried, but decided it was nothing.

OOC: LOL KATIESUVIUS

[-Cynthia-]

Maximillian leaned forward towards the book, but his siblings pulled him back.

"Nice try" said Matthias as he and his sister grabbed the tome out of Katie's hands and threw it to the floor. "As I said before, we're mages, and therefore aware of any tricks you might pull."

Edited June 3, 2010 by -Cynthia-

[Kanami]

As everyone moved into the church Kamilla followed still not sure who or where she was. But it seemed like a good idea to stick with this group until she could organize her thoughts. She walked into the church getting a tingly feeling that felt nostalgic but it quickly passed. She noticed more people inside the church and watched as Morgan started talking to another trio.

These people just kept popping out of nowhere didn't they? Next they'd probably join up with some guy in a prison cell, despite the illogical nature of a prison being located anywhere near here. She also supposed this imaginary person would also be able to see what was going on. She scoffed at the idea. No one was that stupid. Shaking her head she stood their expecting something to happen. Not really comprehending what the others were talking about.

Edited June 3, 2010 by Kanami

[Snowy_One]

I prepared explosive runes this morning! Scrawled Katie, a malicious grin upon her face. Suddenly, she slammed her writing tome shut as hard as she possibly could; creating a loud CLAP! as a sudden brilliant light radiated forth from the tome, bathing the area in its radiance. Katie lunged forwards, hidden by the light as she swung her diary hard at the side of Matthias's head; seeking to send the mage sprawling before she rolled forth to pick up the glowing metal tome, trying to pick it up and smash upwards to crush Maximillian's groin with the mighty blow.

[-Cynthia-]

"Well, once you get him patched up, I believe he'll need to join up with us."said Morgan, satisfied.

"Now that the Isotov matter is settled, we should o to our original goal in the capital, recruiting General Jackson. Of course , I'm not quite sure where is, we likely won't have access to his facility, and he probably won't be happy to see us, so that's easier said than done and it is quite easy to say such things."

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The mages were disoriented temporarily by the flash of light, and Matthias was sent spwaling by a blow to the head.

Madison reacted quickly, incinerating Katie. (6+5+2= 13 dmg). The blue haired mage screamed and dropped her tome as Maximllian gave her a punishing shock to the head (4+6+2= 12 dmg). The barrgae of spells knocked Katie out cold.

"Should have done that in the first place." said Matthias, dusting himself off.

Edited June 3, 2010 by -Cynthia-

[Phoenix]

Once Stephanie finished mending Iso's wounds, he quickly stood up, intent on saving Katie, but his robes immediately began to split and tear, the rest of his armor plate fell at his feet as well.

Ixion: Hmpf. That look suits you ... but for the sake of not acquiring any more unwanted attention, I suggest you change into something else.

Stephanie: Allow me to handle that! Don't worry! We'll be back in a few minutes!

She quickly grabbed Iso by his torn collar and dragged him into the backrooms! Ixion stood there for a moment.

Ixion: Hurry up -_-

In the backrooms, some of the attendants were still around and trying to remain calm. Stephanie quickly assured them that everything was going to be alright, and then took Iso into a changing room.

Stephanie: Alright! Disrobe and I'll see if I can't find you something elegant to wear.

Iso: We don't have time for this! A simple cloak will suffice!

Stephanie: Nonsense! I wasn't just shopping for household decor you know, I was also shopping for new clothes. I have a few outfits for some of the students at the fortress. Perhaps something in red?

Iso: Stephanie! NO ... TIME ....

She became impatient, and quickly tore off the rest of Iso's robes!

Stephanie: ... ... ... ... huh ... :)

Iso:

Stephanie: How oh how did you manage to stay in shape, Iso? With all of your studying I wouldn't expect there'd be time for exercise.

Iso: When you spend ten years on the run ... exercise tends to take care of itself -_-

Stephanie: You know I'm quite surprised that you don't have any scars. Were you dating a healer by any chance? ^_^

Iso: I was fortunate enough to have a cleric or troubadour nearby. They were amazing healers, and even more amazing friends ... that's all .... -_-

Back by the alter ....

Ixion: What is taking them so long?

[Snowy_One]

"And just what in Lords Hell do you think you are doing with my daughter?"

The voice came from behind the trio of mages in a thick and very PO'ed tone, like that of a lion, or a bear, or a lion whom just had his meal stolen by a bear. The thin sound of a swordmasters blade being drawn from its scabbard sliced through the air behind the four magi. "I will give you one chance to make your payment and get out of this alive. Your instruction is simple. For the next three seconds, you will not move. You will not breath. And most of all, you will not touch daddy's girl! Understand?"

Faint footsteps fluttered through the air like butterflies as Harold suddenly appeared to the side of the three mages, Vox drawn and swinging right at neck level.

OOC: No. He will not kill them, even if they try to die. Least, not from this strike.

[-Cynthia-]

OOC: Hmm, hard to rescue Katie now...

The three mages stood in absolute silence, both fearing the swordmaster's wrath and desiring their payment.

Edited June 3, 2010 by -Cynthia-

[Snowy_One]

Like lightning, Harold dashed past the three mages, his sword slicing through the air less than a centimeter away from their voiceboxes, scratching the skin across their throats and making any speech near impossible. He came to a stop a scant inch past the last one.

"Good. Now, why is it you couldn't follow instructions a second ago? I thought I said I wanted my daughter UNHARMED! There's going to be hell to pay for this."

[-Cynthia-]

"Well, we didn't resort to force until she attacked us, milord. Otherwise she would have escaped and I made the assumption that you would prefer to have her unconscious than not at all." answered Matthias.

[Snowy_One]

"She is my daughter whom I wanted rescued from criminal miscreants! I would never want to harm her for any reason! You men are ignorant fools who assumed you knew better than I! How arrogent, how snobbish! You aren't worth your pay! The only reason you are even alive is because of your sister!"

[Inactive Account]

As the cleric dragged Isotov away, Kelas looked over the unfamiliar man, and decided to voice the question everyone was wondering: "So who are you lot, anyway?"

[-Cynthia-]

Madison stepped forward "Please excuse my brothers' behavior. However, look at the positive side. You now have your daughter. She can easily be patched up by a healer...after you give us our payment of course."

Edited June 3, 2010 by -Cynthia-

[Phoenix]

Hearing the question presented to him, Ixion turned to Kelas.

Ixion: My name is Ixion. I serve Ivanko, both as a scholar, and as Stephanie's temporary goon -_-

Stephanie rummaged through the bags she'd brought from the inn searching for another shirt for Iso to wear. Iso looked down at one of the shirts she'd tossed out of the way.

Iso: This one looks fine-

Stephanie: Nope! The color doesn't work ....

She took a quick peek at Iso's chest before quickly going back through the shirts! Iso eyeballed another shirt carelessly flung from the bag.

Iso: Well how about this one? It's-

Stephanie: You're a fire mage, not a thunder mage, Iso! Just keep quite, and stay right there ....

She took another peek while Iso wasn't paying attention.

Stephanie: Right there ... where I can ... see you *snickers* ^_^

[Snowy_One]

"Payment?" smirked Harold, sheathing his sword. "What for? You botched the job, plus now I have to pay for a healer. The only reason you three are even alive is my good graces! Technically, you should be paying me for sparing you. The only reason I'm not extracting payment in the form of your voices is because I have a soft spot for the fairer gender." he said, pointing to Madison before mumbling under his voice 'not to mention magical types'. "I dislike the idea of leaving a fair maiden alone without her kin and don't want to see her face marred with tears like that; and that alone is why you three can still speak. If I were you, I would count your blessings."

[-Cynthia-]

Maximillian opened his mouth to protest, but Matthias stopped him.

"Fine. Take your daughter and go then, our business is concluded."

[Snowy_One]

"No. It's not. I still haven't received compensation for the harm inflicted upon my family. Either you are going to have to pay 600 gold, or find some other method. You hurt my favorite child and daughter of my favorite fling after all. Did you really expect to be able to just walk away like that? Well, technically you can just turn and walk away, and I won't stop you, but your payment to me will be any work you could have ever possibly gotten. I will have it become known that you intentionally botched a job to save your hides, and before long, no one will ever want to hire you again. Have I made myself clear?"

[-Cynthia-]

Maximillian cried out in protest "600 gold! What the--".

Madison put her hand over his mouth "Shutting up would be a good idea right now brother."

Matthias answered "I think it is best if we just part ways. Your threats are rather empty, there will always be jobs for mages of our caliber.

With that, he and his siblings turned from Harold and grabbed their Warp Staff, leaving Katie and her belongings behind.

The trio arrived in the field where the battle had taken place earlier.

"Why didn't you just tell him we didn't have the money?" asked Maximillian.

"Pride." answered Matthias. "We may be poor, but I refuse to admit it to that man."

"This is entirely unfair." pointed out Madison. "His daughter attacks us, then we get stiffed for defending ourselves, and on top of that we're not going to be able to get work anywhere! We should pay him back."

"But he's a hero!" pointed out Maximillian "He'll slice us and dice us!"

"Then we need to obtain allies" said Matthias "Perhaps those who were traveling with her earlier would be interested in reacquiring her?"

[Snowy_One]

As the mage trio warped away, Harold snapped his fingers together. "Dang it! I was hoping for some alone-time with the girl! Ah well, I have a daughter to attend to." he said before kneeling beside Katie. He slid his arms under her to pick her up. "Come on, I have a secret place to hide you in until your name is cleared. Don't worry child, daddy will take care of you... Katie." he whispered before bending close and kissing her on the forehead. "I love you. Why can't you see that?"

[Inactive Account]

Ivanko... ah, the mercenary. Not to be trusted, then. "Right then. Mind telling us what he was fleeing from?" Kelas replied. "Seeing as how that means we'll probably be fleeing from it too soon, and all."

Now that the action was apparently winding down a bit, Arrin found himself stifling a yawn. He realized that most of the group had not slept at all... if they encountered trouble, things would likely go even worse than usual.

OOC: If we manage to not get ourselves killed, we probably do need to rest shortly after the most urgent threats are neutralized. Most everyone just pulled an all-nighter...

[Phoenix]

OOC: Umm ... I know this was only mentioned once, but there's like ten dead guys lying in the street outside .... (Wyvern attack)

Ixion: ... Shanice ... the shapeshifting seducer ....

Ixion's voice took on a dark eerie tone.

Ixion: That creature is after the crimson weapons you ... people possess.

After Stephanie finally had her fill of peek sneaking, she settled on would could pass as a fire mage initiate outfit. The cloak was missing, but she found the jacket to give him the looks of a sword master, her favorite type of warrior.

Stephanie: Perfect. You Iso, are my new masterpiece.

Iso: I like it :) ... umm can we go now?

Stephanie: Certainly. Let me just put these clothes away, and we'll be on our way.

After she grabbed all of her things, they came back into the main hall.

Stephanie: Hello everyone! I have finished refurbishing Iso ^_^

Ixion: What a waste of a decent suit.

Stephanie: Ixion!! You will not insult my masterpiece again!! Understood?!!

Iso: Uhh ... can we please go now? Those guards aren't going to let us off just because we didn't kill the men outside.

OOC: I finally finished! Iso has his third appearance canon-wise!

[Inactive Account]

"In Common, if you please? Some of us don't have the damned things, we're just along for the ride." Kelas was making a valiant effort at keeping the exhaustion out of her voice.

[Kanami]

Kamilla was growing bored of all the chatter, she didn't know what everyone was talking about, and all these names flying around wasn't helping her organize her thoughts, she felt like she had heard a few of them before, but other names didn't ring a bell at all. As the discussion switched to Crimson Weapons, Kamilla had had enough, slightly annoyed at the group she tugged on Morgans robe, "What's a crimson weapon?" she asked trying to sound polite, but irritation being clear in her tone.

[-Cynthia-]

"Necesary for killing the Lord of Azure Flame. Some of us have them."

"We'll obviously have to be on alert for this shapeshiting demon, but chasing after it would be a futile effort. We must get to General Jackson before we get into more trouble with any guards, though getting to him will be difficult." Morgan surpressed the urge to yawn.