Return of The Emblem Chapter One: The Artifact

[Snowy_One]

"Well... I suppose I could wear a disguise." said Daloth, looking up idly. "Like a fake moustache or something."

[EchoingPewter]

"Right." Hans worked rather quickly patching up Jeanne. When he was sure he'd done a good job, he walked over to Magaera and looked her over. He spent another few minutes patching her up.

"Alright, there we go! You're both good to go!" Hans said with a goofy smile spread over his face.

[RPG]

Jeanne smirked at the sniper's attitude. He was more lighthearted than she pictured most mercenaries. "Alright thanks, I owe you one," she said to Hans, flexing her healed arm. "Much better. Well, your boss seems to be headed in." She walked over to Megaera, stretched, and grabbed her reigns. I don't think pegasi would be very mobile indoors...maybe the fort's huge on the inside. Jeanne very slowly began to follow into the fort, not wanting to be the second to enter. She thought it would make her look too optimistic.

---

"Alternately, I could burn your face. Then nobody would recognize you." Seliah added. "Kidding, kidding. We have a few options. You could hide underneath the seat of the coach, though with your height, it would be uncomfortable. We do have robes we could disguise you with, but then you could look suspicious. Alternately, I don't think the guards would object if they believe my knights here took you prisoner. We could tell them it is a private matter, and that they shouldn't interfere." If necessary, she was perfectly willing to throw her status around. "And there are...more extreme options, but I think those should be avoided for now. They involve a drastic amount of fire, and who knows what the property damage would be like." She folded one leg over the other. "You're a guest on our little entourage, you should have a say in this. Any other ideas Daloth?"

[EchoingPewter]

"Jeanne, wait." Hans walked after her and placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Don't worry about the chief. You guys have fought well out here, let him clean up. He can handle himself." Hans said with a smile. He didn't want these people to get their hands dirty again when their wounds might just reopen. It wouldn't be good for their complextion, especially this young woman.

~~~~

Wolfgang searched everywhere within the fortress that he could. He'd slaughtered the sole brigand that figured to remain within the fortress to possibly surprise the group if they entered. Clearly they were being underestimated, or the bandits were being used quite effectively. Finally he came to what he could only guess to be Jethro's holding room.

There was a chair in the middle of the room with a large pile of ashes near the door he entered through. There were many signs of overgrow in the fort's structure, this building was beginning to grow old. He figured that Jethro was a rather smart individual having been underestimated based off what Wallace had told him. His best friend said the man seemed to be a former soldier. He observed the entire room, searching every inch he could. When he came to one of the corners, left and to the back from the entrance, he noticed a difference.

There were glass shards and dirt piled together differently than the others. It was this way on purpose. He brushed it all aside and found a piece of paper. Wolfgang took it up and looked it over. There were many names, some he even recognized, most of them he guessed to be within Ursium. He rolled the paper up like a scroll and began his way back out.

Raquel needs to see this. We've got a deeper lead now.

[RPG]

"Alright," Jeanne responded, noticeably relieved. "I'll just take five, make sure the wounds are closed and such..." She found herself surprised at how much Hans trusted his boss. However renowned or skilled he was, should they just leave the leader of their company alone in an enemy base? People confused her at times, but she chose not to say anything. I'll just wait and tag along, probably better...I'm probably one of the weakest ones here, I could have easily died, and Hans wasted his healing stuff on me. I don't think I'd contribute much... Jeanne gently petted Megaera's mane as she wallowed in self-pity. She does that.

[-Cynthia-]

Veronika examined the group around her after the battle was over. She had not really taken much note of them earlier, but there were truly an odd group. If we are all going to be traveling together, that means I will be trusting my life to these people. Perhaps I should get to know them better.

She decided to walk over to the person she found most off-putting in the group, the young man with the dark skin who was injured in the last battle (though the pirate woman was a clear second).

"Who are you?" she asked him, looking down at him. "Did Raquel hire you as a mercenary? I thought your people did not mingle with the outside world much." Veronika said to him.

[EchoingPewter]

"Raquel." Wolfgang went passed everyone without consideration as he hastily made his way back to his employer.

"There's something you should see." Wolfgang said, handing the girl the note he found.

"It contains a list of names. I recognize a few here in Ursium, as for the others, I don't know exactly where they may be." He added in.

~~~~

Hans saw Wolfgang return to Raquel's side, so his orders were alleviated for now. He stretched for a good half minute before giving a big sigh.

"Ohhhh yeah, I needed that one." Hans proceeded to walk over to Jeanne, who he could tell seemed down with how things were going.

"You going to pitch a fit because you're not helping much?" Hans said with a goofy laugh following it.

"Relax Jeanne, soldiers aren't always going to contribute the exact same amount towards the war effort, the same goes for mercenaries. You've just gotta get better, and you'll be slaying targets and raking in cash like crazy!" Hans shouted in excitement as he tried to cheer the girl up. His goofy yet comforting smile was still spread wide over his face.

[Phoenix]

The wagon didn't seem to be going anywhere with the group scattered around the area, so Amon felt it would be safe enough to simply sit down leaning up against one of the wheels while he waited. He wasn't quite up to anymore activity at the moment. His arm was in a lot of pain and he would be vulnerable for little while at the very least.

While sitting there thinking to himself, he got a new visitor, someone he barely recognized from the previous day's fight. It also seemed like he had some questions to answer, not that he would bother with much detail. "I'm Amon Reev, and I'm not a mercenary." he began looking her right in the eyes. "I'm here for my own reasons. I also shouldn't speak for other Rexians. We aren't really 'one' people as it probably seems to some." he explained as his head aimed down at the ground.

Meanwhile Raquel sat in the seat trying politely not to listen while looking over at the fortress. I hope Wolfgang didn't get ambushed in there. Could my father be in there? Urgh, don't think about it. If he's not in there you're just going to be completely disappointed.

Within another minute or two Wolfgang had returned ... alone. I knew it. And of course I'm disappointed because I bothered thinking about it. I Just want him back here ... and to be okay. Is that too much to ask? As Wolfgang approached he revealed that his search hadn't been entirely fruitless, only Jethro-less. She wasn't thrilled about a simple note, but she took it anyway to have a look.

Raquel paused before reading it though. "This was all you found in there? Was it on someone's person?" As she went down the list, she winced a few times.

"Raul Arthur, Dustin Roche, Roux Vincent ..." she paused close to half way through the list. "T-this looks like a list of contacts. Locations next to the names ..." she went a bit further down the list. "Rodrigo Vasquez ... what? That guy?"

Looking up to him she quickly asked "These guys aren't actually contacts are they?"

Edited January 26, 2011 by Phoenix

[-Cynthia-]

Veronika raised an eyebrow at Amon's response. "Not one people? Care to elaborate on that? I wouldn't speak for all Neviskotians necessarily, but I would say we are one people. If you're not a mercenary, do you have some sort of connection to the Fire Emblem?" she asked him, looking at him intently. "I'm Veronika by the way," she added as more of an afterthought than anything else.

[Phoenix]

"Not everyone wishes to live under Lady Aisha's protection, even if it means trying to survive in the desert without her blessing or migrate back into the lands we came from." As soon as the fire emblem was mentioned, Amon's eyes squinted ever so slightly. I shouldn't be surprised. Not all of them seem solely interested in money. "I would rather not talk about that, Miss Veronika. I've already been threatened by supposed allies once today. That's more than enough for a good while I think."

[Mercakete]

Gytha barely took note of the mercenary leader's return, having decided to simply ignore him. Calling him out wasn't doing anything to improve his arrogant conduct so it was fairly useless. Well, not gonna say I'm a good speaker. Maybe if someone said it differently he'd think he can't trounce around like some land-based pirate captain.

Looking back to the corpse of the archer she'd practically chopped in half, she remembered the mental note she'd made of people to talk to: the lancer and the healer. Lets see... The lancer had red armor and the healer had black hair...I think. Yeah, I think that's right. In truth, the man who'd distracted the archer during the battle seemed not to be too occupied at the moment and was fairly close-by. So, he was going to be the first she'd thank.

"Ahoy!" she greeted cheerfully as she walked up to him and placed her hands on her hips, "Thank ye for distractn' that archer. Was in quite the bind before ye and that healn' lass showed up." Blinking, somethign that was sort of an obvious detail finally came to the mariner's attention. "Yer arm's bleedn' kinda bad."

The statement of fact that his arm was dripping blood was not only an afterthought, but obvious as a blue whale in a petting zoo. Gytha was never known for being the most observant person ever, though.

~~~

Whatever it was, it was different. Maw had gone off durring the batte and returned to the cart's roof with a squirrel. Well, a dead squirrel. She was eating it because it was apparently ediable, but it sure was hairrier than most rats.

[ReformBlade]

Nanahm dusted himself off and wiped his weapon clean on the grass and then proceeded to stretch himself. Damn. This is getting really hectic really damn fast. I should really prepare myself for next time... He thought as he relaxed his muscles a bit. He looked about at the carnage that had ensued. So many bodies littered the ground. All this for a goddamn stone or whatever the hell it is... I hope it can be justified. He mused further, not wanting to become all depressed about it and yet wanting to acknowledge that he may very well be on the 'wrong' side. "Heh..." he sighed to himself. A mercenary trying to be moral about his job choice. This world sure spawns some crazy shit!

He noted he was still aching, but that could be largely ignored for the time being. He also noted his partner seemed to have been beaten a bit, as such he made his way over to Jeanne, "How you holdin up, Jeanne? This guy giving you some guff?" He said with a smile, turning his attention towards Hans, "D'aah, I'm just jokin, just jokin. The name's Nanahm, by the way." He looked back over to Jeanne, noticing that she wasn't actually as hurt as he at first imagined. Well that's a relief. Girl's got some resolve in her, that's for sure.

[Snowy_One]

"We find the most retarded and stupid disguise possible that no one could possibly believe and that anyone with half a brain could see through. Like dressing me up as a woman despite my voice box and inevitable beard stubble. The more unlikely a disguise is to work, the better the chance of it actually working. A one in a billion chance is guaranteed, but a one in ten chance is suicide for example." he said, raising his finger as if giving a lecture.

"However, if we ignore that, the best choice would be the robes. I can't do much under the seat to help out, and the other guards would become suspicious if, instead of taking me some place private, you had me going around asking questions. We can probably add in a oversized turban on my head and a beard for added disguise."

[RPG]

What is this guy, a mind reader? Jeanne wondered, looking blankly at Hans. Or am I just that transparent? She felt that maybe she wasn't giving the man enough credit. With him being so openly friendly, she was beginning to feel like part of the group. She wondered what else real mercenaries did other than fight and talk idly.

Her thoughts were interrupted as Nanahm greeted them. Probably for the better, since staring blankly while deep in thought was sure to be odd. "Glad to see you're fine," she said to the fighter. She figured Hans could introduce himself. But Nanahm's presence reminded her, with all the worrying about fighting and the new people she'd been meeting, she completely forgotten about Veronika. Now, where is boss lady? She noticed her talking to a tanned thief, the one she recalled was badly injured. Another foreigner? Jeanne wondered.

---

"Very well," Seliah responded to Daolth. "Stop the carriage!" With the coach stopped, she performed a small hop to exit and get onto the ground, and she made her way to its rear end. Seliah pulled a key out of a hidden pocket within her sleeve; a master key to any of the locks used by her family. She used it to open a trunk in the back of the coach. Grabbing a bundle of robes and a bulky case, she returned to the side of the carriage, holding the clothes up to Daloth with both hands.

"The smaller one could make a suitable turban. Perhaps you would want to wear two robes over yourself, to make it seem you have a large build." Setting the robes down on the seat, she opened the case she held, needing to place it on the floor; there was too much in there for her to carry for too long. "For disguises, I have two fake beards in here, a fake mustache, a pink wig, glasses, and an eyepatch. There's also a dress and an undershirt which would make it appear that you have female chest anatomy, but I don't think we need that one right now." She offered the case to Daloth.

Up front, Raim leaned over to the other guard, and whispered, "It's convenient, but...why is Lady Seliah carrying that around with her? Especially that last one." Oude shook his head. "No idea. I can see why Lord and Lady Heizen were worried about her odd tendencies. I suppose she could just have been prepared for anything." he quietly responded.

[-Cynthia-]

"Hmm I suppose you have a point, there are outsiders of sorts in any societies that you cannot really speak for. As for your interest in the Fire Emblem, I suppose I can let you have your secrets for now. People must have thought you a thief earlier, Veronika replied to Amon. He doesn't seem dangerous, but I suppose he could be a spy. It would be best to keep an eye on him I think.

[Phoenix]

Amon hung his head a bit "It was my fault. Whatever these people think of me. I won't make that mistake again." As soon as I came to my senses and decide not to perform a foul deed, I'm caught at both axe and gunpoint under the assumption that I already had. I need to learn from this.

[Snike]

As the battle ended, Axel let everyone else tend to their own injuries, while gazing at the surroundings. That company of bandits could have been just a distraction, with the real force simply biding their time until the band was weakened, for all they knew. After a few minutes, the seafarer approached him with words of thanks, followed by informing the lancer that his arm was bleeding, a fact he was aware of.

"No need for thanks. I was just ensuring the merchants' safety level isn't reduced," he said, still scanning the perimeter. "And my injury's not serious. I'll have it and the arrow in my shoulder fixed once the healer patches everyone else up."

[Mercakete]

"Oh, hey! I can help with that!" Gytha replied, happy she could return the favor for his helping her fight the archer as she grabbed the arrow in his shoulder and rather uncerimoniously yanked it out. "There, it's out! I didn't even notice it before! Haharr!" she cheerfully commented as she twirled the arrow about between her fingers, blood splattering where the drops fell from the arrow.

The arrow wasn't all Gytha hadn't noticed, however. Her own injurries -- the large, purple streak across the side of her neck from the quarterstaff and what remained of the puncture-wound the arrow that had hit her above her collarbone caused -- were long-forgotten.

"Oy, healer! Put this one on yer to-heal list, aye?" she called out in her loud, booming voice in no particular direction since she wasn't sure where the healer was.

[Snike]

"... That was an intention behind leaving the arrow in, Miss," Axel said, now clutching the fast-bleeding arrow wound with his free arm. "Now I'll need the healer sooner rather than later. Thank you, anyways."

He really needed to get better armor, with injury geniuses like this lady around these days.

[Mercakete]

"Leaving it in wouldn't do much for ye. If ye moved about too much, then ye'd just be cut up more," Gytha informed, tossing the arrow asside, "But I guess it did help with blockn' the bloodflow. Well, the healer'll be on 'er way soon, I'm pretty sure." She smiled with her unfounded trust in the staff-wielder's timeliness.

"By the way, me name's Gytha! How 'bout ye?" asked Gytha, being rather casual about the whole, bloody ordeal.

[roymbrog]

"....."

Synthia arrived on the scene somewhat speechless and facepalmed. You weren't supposed to yank arrows out like that, it just made the wounds worse than they were... At this rate, the soldier could faint from the blood loss. This was ridiculous, she'd have to go over proper medical treatment with the group later, if it was going to be like this.

"Alright, Mariner, out of the way before you make this worse," she said as she stepped between them and brought out her heal staff. It was only a moment before the wounds were healed and Synthia turned on Gytha with a rather angry look. "You're lucky part of the arrow didn't break off in his arm when you did that. Arrow wounds are like knife wounds, if it's stuck in you, you don't yank it out. This better not happen again."

[-Cynthia-]

Veronika pondered over what Amon had said. He did seem sorry for causing a scene earlier, perhaps people were unfairly judging him, herself included. She made a mental note to try and keep an open mind about him in the future.

She walked over towards where Raquel and Wolfgang were talking, she figured it was probably important. She looked over the list of names and locations. "None of these names look familiar to me...must be Ursians. What does this list refer to anyway? Are they somehow affiliated with our enemies?" she asked Raquel.

[Snowy_One]

"Hmmm... I have three costume ideas already." said Daloth as his hand ran over the various disguises and pieces of clothes. Why would a young girl need such things? The knights were right. Did Seliah disguise herself as a full grown woman at times for some reason? Or was Seliah even a child herself but rather a full grown lady disguised as a child? Was she even a woman at all with all these disguises? He decided to push those questions from his mind for the time being, deciding that disguising himself was more important. Selecting one of the fake beards, the clothes designed to make him look like a woman, and the pink wig Daloth hopped out of the cart and moved to a more secluded area, somehow hiding from public eye.

"I can pull off the turban disguise well enough and on short notice. However having the option for several disguises would be highly beneficial. Plus, it's always nice to know ones options."

A moment later, he returned. The undershirt and dress he had picked out were very long and regal-looking clothes. Having carefully tucked and folded them, they seemed to be lined with golden thread and made of the finest silk. Puffing out his chest, the false-chest pushed tightly up against the fabric of the dress, as if seeming to escape from the garments. As if a single well-placed cut would make them vanish like a puff of smoke... revealing a heavily bearded man underneath. Daloth had taken the thickest and bushiest of the two beards he could find and pulled it on as tight as he could, fanning out the beard hairs to make it seem as wide and full as possible. The wig, worn at a hilariously wrong angle, bobbed and slid about as he moved, pretending to be a regal lady. Bowing low to the two knights and the lady, he then spoke in the deepest baratone he could manage.

"Oh my my dear sirs and madame! It is a mighty hot today!" he said before faux-fanning himself. "My name is the Dame Kelenelethelen! I come from the far of land of Uzbeakajiki! My father is a high-ranked nobel there and I am a high and mighty nobel lady by birth! Oh my mister knight!" 'she' said leaning in close to the nearest of the pair. "You are so strong mighty and buff! I can feel myself swooning under the gleem of your shining armor! Ohhhh!" 'she' leaned over to the other knight. "And you! So handsome and nobel! You are a poised fellow I can tell! I would gladly give myself unto you for just a kind word! Oh my is it ever so hot! I feel I must take off my clothes to appease the men here!"

[Phoenix]

From the looks of things, Veronika had hit the nail on the head. "Wolfgang found this in the enemy fortress ..." she began. "What's interesting is what I didn't find. That list and what was left of a chair were the only things not reduced to ash in that room. Someone left that there for us thinking we'd find it." Wolfgang interjected.

"Right, and they probably are contacts. People we may be able to get more information from at the very least." she continued. "Rodrigo Vasquez is on this list so they can't all be homicidal maniacs." she speculated hoping to allude to picking someone who wouldn't outright attack them on sight. "I don't know any of the others so I can't say."

[Mercakete]

"Well, he said 'I'll have it and the arrow in my shoulder fixed' so I thought he couldn't reach the arrow. This goes for knives too, does it? A'right. I'll be keepn' that in mind," Gytha replied to the healer. She allowed her broad smile back onto her face as she cheerfully added, "By the way, thank ye for healn' me in that fight. If it weren't for ye and him," she stuck her thumb at Axel, "then I might've died on land. What a shame that would be, aye? HAHAHARR! And aye, ye guessed it! I'm a mariner by trade and Gytha by name! Good to meet ye, healing lass!" Though she was definately an awkward person to behold, she was also obviously friendly (for the mostpart) and usually bubbling with morale.