Return of The Emblem Chapter Two: The Trail

[Phoenix]

Raquel sighed in relief seeing Veronika's smile and hearing her reply. If her own job was made a bit easier, she could better focus on the desired outcome; rescuing the lost and taking down these people, whoever they were. "Thank you. Oh and don't worry. I'm not going to slack off in the slightest. All I want is some help managing the group so I can have an easier time with all my other responsibilities." she clarified.

[Mercakete]

Being the kind, gentle soul she was, Gytha had promptly knocked Damian upside the head to let him sleep a bit longer. He had spent the night on top of the wagon while she and Maw slept in the inn. Since she was paying for her own stay, Gytha treated herself to a warm bath, a fresh set of clothes from her dufflebag and a hearty -- if not eaten rather hurriedly -- breakfast.

"Not quite the same, is it, Maw?" she asked the silver tabby who was keeping pace beside the mariner. Gytha was in a relitively calm mood, though her thoughts occasionally returned to her presently stored tunic. Heaving a bit of a sigh, she muttered to herself, "Never was too good with a needle..."

She'd stitched it up to the best of her abilities...which was uneven and fumbled. That tunic has a scar now -- no question about it. I wonder if Synthia's staff can mend tunics... She'd already cleaned and dressed Maw's old wound as she had done every day since she found the stray. She doesn't usually stay in sight. She must be afraid of the new territory. Worry and sympathy crossed Gytha's face as she looked down at the tabby. Replacing it with a smile, she asked the feline, "Well, how about we get you a herring or someth'n? Youd like that. Maybe we could get someth'n fer that pirate before we turn'im in, too, aye, Maw?"

The cat had heard the name of a fish likely to be found at a fish market. Good. It would soon be time to eat. To indicate her agreement, Maw looked up to Gytha and licked along the edge of her mouth. The mariner laughed a little at the cat's enthusiasm then took off, briskly heading out of the inn and towards where she hoped to find some fish. Maw stayed near the human the whole way, for fear of the local cats.

[13th]

Damian was sitting up on top of the wagon, somehow managing to maneuver his tied arms in front of him. "Dang it, ye tied it tight enough to leave a mark... Bloody foolish mariner." He was waiting for the people to turn him in. Well, I guess this is it.

meanwhile, 300 miles west of Ursaea...

The Nomad known as Veil and the remains of the pirate crew were camped around a forest edge, taking a rest before setting off at top speed. They were taking shortcuts, shortcuts known by the nomads. "Let's move." Veil started his horse, and was riding 200 miles to the coast that led to Ursaea. A ship was waiting to take the crew across the small strait.

OOC: Compeltely unerealistic, but I want Veil and the Pirates to track them down after Damian is free.

Edited March 11, 2011 by 13thshadow

[Acacia Sgt]

''Ah, good morning.'' John replied, noticicing Amon.

[Zsword]

Shadrak shook his head and gently rubbed his face at all the questions. It's way too early for someone to be asking me all these questions. "I'm sorry miss, I haven't been in town for a good couple of years, the best I can tell you is that it's in the southern part of town, but I remember it being fairly large, so that should get you close enough... I'm sorry I can't be more useful but I too have people I need to meet." As he finished stating that he turned back the way he was facing and continued towards the carriage, reaching into one of his pouches and pulled out a small travell biscuit to munch on.

[Kanami]

Eriya frowned as the man turned away, not pleased with the mans reply at all. She was about to protest when someone nearby started complaining about being tied up. "Huh" she blurted out, looking around, failing to see the source of her confusion.

Several moments passed before something thumped against the wagon nearby pulling Eriya's attention towards a man who'd been tied up on top of the wagon.

Who or what were these people?.... Slave traders? in Ursaea? she shook her head in disbelief, only to find the shaman she'd just spoken to, head towards the cart. Eriya closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and then looked again. Okay, that man definitely wasn't there willingly. Her instincts told her to stay away from these people, that trying to help the man would do her no good. But if she could get these men locked up, maybe they'd be more cooperative in providing the information she wanted.

"Right, guards" she mumbled to herself, as she turned to call the local authorities.

Edited March 8, 2011 by Kanami

[roymbrog]

Somewhat glad that someone else had woken Raquel and she had elected to take care of the horses, and rather tired herself, Synthia had paid for a room and gone to sleep. The cost had been higher than she expected in this part of town and she briefly considered ditching the group and going home for the night. It was ridiculous to pay that much here when she had a perfectly good bed to return to, but it was late, she was tired, and she really didn't want to deal with her family right now. Hopefully she wouldn't run into anyone she knew the next day.

The next morning she was the first one up, as far as she could tell, and after getting cleaned up and giving her key back to the innkeeper, she left for the marketplace. About an hour later she returned with a full stomach and a basket full of her favorite fruits, some pastries, and cheese. She had decided to stock up on things, since it'd be a few days before they reached Europa and she could buy anything of quality again. She placed her basket in the back of the cart before climbing on herself. "Good morning," she said to Amon and John cheerfully, rather unusually so. She even hummed as she brought out and flipped through her wind tome. It was strange, but was more because she was anxious then anything else.

[Zsword]

Shadrak reached the cart, and was still munching on his biscuit, he was eating it slowly, cause it helped occupy his time as he walked, cause something to do was better than nothing. He swallowed his most recent bite before speaking. "Morning ladies and gents." He said calmly looking around at who was still up, and was kinda half suprised to see that Synthia was reading a tome. "Excuse me miss, but I didn't know you casted, I thought you were a healer in the group." He inquired, finish up the simple biscuit, it was starting to go stale, and he'd probably have to get more soon, but it was still good, and still provided sustanence.

[roymbrog]

Synthia looked up from her book to the man who had spoken. Who was he again? She stared blankly for a moment before she remembered and scowled. There went her semi-good mood. "I was trained as a healer, but that doesn't mean I'm not interested in or know nothing of magic." She carefully closed the tome and then crossed her arms, refusing to make eye contact with the shaman. "I am only a healer here, though. I can't actually cast anything."

[Zsword]

"I didn't say you were a know nothing, I simply asked, so I take it you're trying to learn then?" Shadrak continued to inquire, shaking his head lightly at her sudden hate for him. "Can you... actually read the texts? Or are you just trying to make sense of them in your own light?" He pulled out his own Flux, and began flipping through it ideally, trying to find aspects of certain spells that he might of forgotten over time. Such a shame she doesn't actually cast yet, I haven't been able to touch up on my defensive measures quite some time, and having some to cast at me would really be nice.

Edited March 8, 2011 by Zsword

[Phoenix]

When John greeted him back, Amon was about to try ... and probably fail to strike up a good conversation. Fortunately for him Synthia greeted the two, and he was able to repeat the same sentence again and perhaps think of something else to say, likely involving both of them. Of course this wasn't to be either. As soon as Amon said "Good morning, Synthia.", Shadrak appeared and repeated the same. It prompted a slight chuckle from Amon, since it had been awhile since he had been with enough people for this type of thing to happen. He kind of liked it, repetitive or not. "Good morning to you as well." he said to Shadrak.

[roymbrog]

"Yes, I'm trying to learn," she replied, actually glancing back at him. "I can read parts of it, most of it is gibberish though." She'd learnt the basics of the language Anima tomes were written in and it didn't make sense to not be capable of casting the lowest level spells. For a while she thought she'd received a faulty tome, but then the book she found in the wagon helped clear up some of her problem, that knowing what it said wasn't enough. A shame that book had been destroyed yesterday. She'd need to pay Raquel back for that she realized suddenly.

[Acacia Sgt]

Seeing Shadrak eating reminded John he should do the same. Walking over where Gil was, who was still asleep, and began searching throughout his stuff. He figured he may still have something though it also meant he may have to restock as well. This, however, also woke Gil up.

''Relax, it's me.'' John called out before Gil could mistook him for someone else trying to take the stuff. In respond, the wyvern merely grunted, and resumed his nap. 'Now where was it... ah, here.' He thought, holding out an almost empty bag. Looking over it's contents, he thought. 'Hmm, it could probably last a little longer. I can probably take the risk. though Gil probably won't.' He laughed. 'I probably should anyway, oh well.' Grabbing an apple from the bag he took a bite before heading back to the wagon.

[Zsword]

"So you CAN read it, but just can't cast it?" Shadrak asked, simply nodding towards Amon to acknowledge that he heard him, remembering back to his own days of learning magic... but after thinking about the process for a second it seemed kinda obvious that Anima tomes would function differantly... "I might be able to help a bit, I may not cast the anima magics, but tapping into the tome shouldn't be too differant." He offerred with a small smile from under his hood. Cause the number of casters in this group is rather sad, a decent number of Knights and mages would tear this party a new one.

[roymbrog]

“That’s the gist of it. Now, why, exactly, are you offering to help?” she said, narrowing her eyes. He had her full attention now, whether that was a good or bad thing was yet to be determined. “Quite frankly, I don’t trust you, not yet. Anyone who would betray their employer so easily isn’t someone I’m going to trust. I don’t want your help.” She didn't need his help, she told herself, especially when there was something he wasn’t telling her, or his choices really conflicted with his personality. Either was unsettling.

[Snowy_One]

Daloth shook his head in amusement. "No no. You haven't. I was much the same way when I was a child of your age as well. 'Why can't I just water the whole field at once master? Why can't I just raise all the water up at once? Why do I have to hit just one target instead of all of them at once?' It wasn't until I was older that I began to grasp what it was that he meant. Even today, I don't fully grasp it."

[ReformBlade]

"MORNIIIIIING!!!" the narrator shouted.

Nanahm had gotten plenty of sleep that night, even managing to get himself up quite early that day. "Ugh... Why does life need to be so demanding?" He muttered to himself as he wandered the streets looking for any place that would have a spare shirt for pocket change. As plot luck would have it, he found just what he was looking for! It was cheap, nondescript, and most importantly not almost completely smothered in dirt and blood. And hole free, what a bonus!

He decided to wander about the town, albeit near the caravan so as not to stray too far from the group, for a while longer. Maybe he'd run into someone and start a conversation? Who knows? Narrator does.

Edited March 9, 2011 by SlaveBlade

[Zsword]

Shadrak shook his head at her harsh words, and took a deep breath as to keep his composure. "I want to help because there is a lack of damage magic on this team, if this party met a well organized group of defensive units, like Knights and Wyvern Riders, there wouldn't be much that they could do to get around that other attempt to chip at their defences, the more casters that we bring in, the mor able we will be at getting around that." He explained. "They never properly hired me, and actively lied to others that they had employed, I don't trust people on promises, and despise those who bald-faced lie to someone just to get what they want. While I keep my reasons for joining to myself, that is a matter between me and my current employer, Raquel." He explained, looking up from his book with a rather plain, very business like expression on his face.

[Acacia Sgt]

John only stood there listening the mages talk about magic and stuff while he ate the apple. It wasn't soon before he thought: 'Boring...'. His mind crossed once more about his nearly-empty bag of provisions.

'Might as well takes my chances now. Who knows may happend once we leave Ursium.' With that, he began walking out towards the marketplace. When he passed near Gil, he said: ''I'll be back in a little while, going to restock on food. Be sure to behave, you understand?'' No reply came from the wyvern, but John hoped he understood either way. Least he wanted was unneeded problem for the group while he wasn't keeping eye on him. And with that, he kept walking away.

[-Cynthia-]

A new challenger approaches!

Janaff walked through Ursaea under a long grey cloak covering him. He had traveled in cities before and knew that wearing a cloak generally covered one's wings enough not to arouse suspicion...unless one was specifically looking for such things.

Eventually, the dark avian came across his target. "Hey Boss," Janaff said somewhat quietly. "You might want to get Hans and meet somewhere more private, I have some bad news," he said, his face grave.

Edited March 9, 2011 by -Cynthia-

[Phoenix]

For awhile Wolfgang had been letting Raquel do her job and lead the group, offering minimal input. He understood that as much as he could help, he would need to let her handle the management, otherwise, she wouldn't grow. He and Hans had spent the night in a separate hotel but on Wolfgang's way back to check on his newest recruit, a familiar voice caught his attention.

"Janaff? What's going on?" He asked, knowing full well the dark avian was about to relay something terrible.

[-Cynthia-]

Janaff

Janaff averted his eyes as he spoke to Wolfgang. "It's Avion. He's...dead. I found him in Yasnygrad after the attack, barely anything left of him. Just a shriveled husk. I guess to look on the bright side he was the only one we've found dead so far," he said with a very pathetic attempt at a smile.

[Phoenix]

Wolfgang's eyes opened wide in shock. Avion was no pushover so who could have possibly done something like that to him? One of his best put down. If someone was after his group, they all needed to be on guard. "This ... dammit!" he began, frustrated. As much as he wanted to stay to assist Raquel and the others, there was too great a risk to his own men. If he assumed the best, that this was just a random attack, his people could pay the price in the end. He couldn't take that chance. "We need to get back to HQ. We're calling everyone home. We need to fortify and start looking for some answers. Spread out we won't be able to protect ourselves." he replied.

He quickly let out a loud but unique whistle that summoned Hans like a genie. The sniper came running up out of nowhere and stopped near both of them. "Yeah boss?" he said, not knowing what was coming next.

"We're leaving. Go get Jack. Hurry. We've got to get back to HQ immediately. Urgh, where the hell is Ariost?" he said frustrated.

"No worries, I'll be right back." he said rushing off to the inn to get the knight."

"I'm sorry, Raquel ... but we'll help you out again in the future if it's possible." he said as he turned to follow Janaff.

When Hans caught up, he explained to Wolfgang and Janaff that he had informed Raquel of their departure and expressed apologies for him. He also noted that she understood and wished him luck. It was only a little comforting as they headed home.

[Mercakete]

Gytha and Maw were making good progress on their way to the markets. In fact they were rather nearby when they passed by a familliar man. Gytha thought she'd seen him travelling with them. "Ahoy," she greeted, "Yer with Raquel, right?" Maw was a little annoyed by the sudden delay, but waited with feline patience, sitting down by Gytha's feet where the mariner had stopped to chat.

[Acacia Sgt]

(OOC: Mistake on my part, disregard this.)

Edited March 9, 2011 by Acacia Sgt