Return of the Emblem Chapter Four: The Human Condition

[ReformBlade]

(Grumble)

Edited May 24, 2011 by SlaveBlade

[Mercakete]

"Ha! Like dropping a wyvern would be that precise! even if it rolled over him, not all those bones would be broken. besides, can't you see how every bone besides the spine pelvus section has been struck only once? Well, besides the neck. That snapped when I kicked his skull in. Though, did I hear you right when you said this guy was the younger brother of the leader?" Bert asked, very interested in this information.

[Phoenix]

The patrolman just listened as Bert explained how he ruined the corpse and then threw in a comment based on some rumors he'd heard. "... that crusher guy, I presume. Anyway, yeah, this is the little brother. The big brother probably heads the gang while this mangled excuse for a bandit goes around leading small 'hunts'. Not a bad set up but we've been cracking down lately and they've been moving their operations further and further from the capital. That's all well and good with us but we want them gone altogether. These roadside attacks are forcing way too many of us to be out here." he ranted to the pegasus rider.

[Mercakete]

"Their attacks started near the capital?" Bert asked, "And yeah, I'm Bert." No wonder he wouldn't say where the base was. ... Nah. He already said he was just trying to annoy me. Mission accomplished. Lot of good that did him.

[Phoenix]

"Well they didn't start near the capital, they just came close enough for the higher ups to warrant all the extra security. We don't know where they operate from or we'd drop a battalion on them and call it a day." the patrolman replied.

[Mercakete]

This bit of information stemmed the lead Bert had hoped he'd gotten, which, in turn, was annoying. "Fine. Thanks for the help," was all he had left to say before leading his pegasus back to the wagon. He wanted to get cleaned up before getting into the saddle again. It was around that time that Gytha asked Raquel if she had a moment or if she was busy with the patrolmen. She thought the merchant should know about Bert's apparent tendencies.

[GoD]

Chelsea rolled her eyes in a playful manner then sighed. "What I want to know is what the kid was aiming at in the first place and why? And why in the gods' name did you decide to intervene."- The troubador asked as she got up from her kneeling position. "All done, now come along. We have people to heal, or I do. I just need the company, as it might help me face these corpses. Did I mention I hate corpses?"- She said as she made her way back to Nesha offering a seat for Nanahm to sit on Nesha's saddle. The horse whinied in response, but Chelsea quickly shut him up by petting the horse in the head. "You be quiet. If you do I'll give you 2 apples, instead of 1."

[roymbrog]

Oh, whoops, she must not have finished healing Gabbie before. Trying to ignore the other band of mercenaries strewn about she walked over to Gabbie and healed her arm again, poking it afterward to make sure it healed properly. Satisfied with the lack of painful reaction she stepped back again, farther away from Liz and the others. She did not want to be close to them if she could help it. Then there was someone poking her in the back.

She turned around, acting like she saw no one until she looked down. Realizing it was the archer kid again she sighed. “If I was able to break that bow it wasn’t fit for fighting anyway, pipsqueak. Bad quality.” She stared at him momentarily, processing the fact he called her a bitch, and, if he was asking for what she thought he was, that just added to her anger. She raised an eyebrow, and did the thing that would probably annoy him the most. She turned around and ignored him.

The patrol arrived, Raquel gave their fake story, which Synthia was still not happy about, and the captain accused Raquel of looting, which, again, she was not happy about. They were not looters, dammit. Regardless, she walked away from the scene and began searching in the wagon for a piece of cloth large enough to make a sling for her arm.

[Rothene]

Spoting the one he had learned was the other mage of the group, after a days worth of asking around, taking a piece of cloth, Ranyin recalled that she was struck in the shoulder by an arrow earlier. A newcomer had tended to her so he had not stepped into offer his vulnery, but seeing her with the cloth made him recall that not all wounds heal swiftly with magic.

Digging his memory of helping his mother deal with, again, travellers wounded in sudden brawls or just injured while travelling in general, Ranyin was able to call upon simple first aid skills. When he reached Synthia, he grimanced slightly when he noticed how much taller she was than him, but quickly banished the thought. He offered a helping hand and asked, "Mind if I help you out with the sling?"

[roymbrog]

“Aha!” Having found her piece of cloth, Synthia held it out to measure, then, satisfied with the size, began folding it. She turned around when the other mage approached, the one they picked up in Europa if she recalled correctly. There was something she had been meaning to ask him anyway.

However, first things first, he had offered to help. She had the cloth around her arm, but she needed to tie it behind her neck, something she couldn’t do with only one hand. “I’ve got it, but can you tie this for me?” she asked, pushing her hair to the side so it wouldn’t get bunched up in the knot.

[Rothene]

"Sure, I can tie it." said Ranyin. As well as knit simple pretty embroidery, arrange flowers, sew stitches, prepare table sets neatly, cut coloured paper into adorable shapes, but not prepare proper tea, thought Ranyin, which he graciously kept all to himself. Such abbilities, he learned the hard way, were unbecoming of Kigen man but he learned them all from his mother anyway. He was not truly interested but they seem to come to him easily. Some of his relatives blamed his feminine traits on his name, given to him on his day of birth by some wandering fortune teller who was freeloading in his parents then smaller and humble teahouse.

As soon as the cloth was in his hand, his smooth gentle fingers quickly got to work, slithering around like some snake attempting to avoid persuers in a fallen cracking log, inserting different ends of the cloth edges through holes he 'magically' made appear with the innate dexterity of his fingers. Despite the laborous task he under went helping his parents lifting furniture or moving around large ancient tomes for his mentors, his hand remained as smooth and soft as a newborn child...or as some of his bullies rudely remark, the bosoms of a noble lady. Within mere moments, he completed the task asked, " There all done, does it feel uncomfortable anywhere? Does it seem too tight anywhere?" Injured arms had to be well secure in order to recover fast, but if it was too tight, the arm will get injured further which was counterproductive.

[roymbrog]

The Kigenese’s elegant knot tying ability was completely lost on Synthia, as it was performed behind her neck, not exactly where she could see. As far as she could tell though, he had done a good job. “Thank you,” she said, letting her hair fall back into place. “Not too tight, not too loose, it’s perfect.”

“Now, you… you’re a mage, I know that. What element do you specialize in?”

[Rothene]

"Element I specialise in? Wind magic. Don't ask me anything about Fire magic...ever," said Ranyin slightly menacingly towards the end of his sentence. He then continued cheerfully, " What about you? I see you heal people with that staff of yours, but never see you casting any other magic before."

[ReformBlade]

"What he wants? Hell if I know, but I'd guess he needs a dead dragon for it, which he was clearly not gonna get done by angering that bull over there. I may have just spared the kid from tons of humiliation, well... more humiliation anyway, and possibly his own death. No thanks necessary." He ended sarcastically, but spoke up when she mentioned corpses, "Well, you'd be kinda hard pressed to find someone who likes corpses for corpses' sake." He wasn't used to horse-riding, or any kind of riding to begin with, but hey, not moving was sounding pretty good to him at this point, so he hopped on when she offered, trying his best to maintain a balanced position, a truly daunting task for the man.

Over with the kid, he was getting pretty fed up with this chick's attitude. His fist kept clenching, and he almost went through with punching Synthia in her apparently injured arm, but even as angry as he was he knew that'd just get him killed, or worse, killed again. He rubbed his face in an attempt to ease himself and think this through and followed her as she rudely walked away from him, "Alright. Fine. I can see that breaking something of sentimental value holds no sway over you..." Maybe a guilt trip will work? Doubt it, but hey.

Edited May 24, 2011 by SlaveBlade

[roymbrog]

“Seriously? You’re a wind mage?” She took note of his apparent dislike of fire magic, but was too excited about possibly learning to cast to ask about it. “I can only use a staff, unfortunately, but I have been studying wind magic for a while now which I was hoping you could help me with?” It wasn’t as if she hadn’t tried to find help before, but all the wind mages she had found either didn’t have time to help due to traveling, charged an arm and a leg for lessons, or were just plain shady.

She glared at the archer kid, as she realized he’d followed her. “I don’t know why you keep talking to me pipsqueak, but I’m not helping you. You shot my friend; you got your bow broken. Simple as that. Now leave me alone.”

[ReformBlade]

"He friggin asked for it! It didn't really hurt him anyway, look at the faggot!" He pointed to Nanahm riding a horse, something you don't see every day. "Why am I being punished because I complied with the wishes of another!? Augh, screw this!" Sammy walked away in a huff, instead going to Raquel. Unfortunately, she seemed to be a bit busy at the moment, so Sammy patiently waited until she was done to begin talking to her.

[roymbrog]

“I don’t care if he asked for it, you don’t just shoot people. Urgh. Children these days,” Synthia grumbled, holding her shoulder. She pulled a bag out of the back of the wagon and took her wind tome out of it, then placed it back and yelled over her shoulder. "Don't bother talking to Raquel, I'll just explain what you did!"

[Snowy_One]

As Robin left the church behind, thoughts of what she had learned filtered through her mind. Not what she had learned of the Gods, mind you, but rather of how Io had reacted to her. Though she had thought Robin of Ursium, if from a lowly, backwater location, she had not spoken harshly of Robin's homeland. Robin had fully expected just the opposite. In fact, as she walked down the streets, her eyes were keen for the signs of Neviskotian hatred, hoping to find something to justify her dislike of Ursium.

[Phoenix]

The captain and Raquel continued talking for a minute and he wrote down what she told him filling out the report himself. One of the patrolmen mounted his horse and road off toward Europa which was by far closer in order to get some help with relocating the bodies. Since they were keeping the bounty for themselves, there was nothing else that needed handling between them and the group. "One brother down, and one to go. This is turning out to be a good day after all. Boring as all hell; but good nonetheless." the captain said before stepping away from the merchant. "Oh, and for future notice, Miss Valcyn, if your mercs here defeat any bandits attacking you on our roads, you wait until a patrol comes by. Don't steal anything. It's illegal in our jurisdiction, period. Now I've got you on file so you'd better behave yourself and keep your employees in line. We should be fining you but you already had a bounty coming so we're keeping that instead. Serves as a warning. Next time you or your people pull something like this, you will be arrested. Understand?"

"Y-yeah ..." was all she could get out as she hung her head. Those ... why did they do that?! Now they'll think I'm one of THOSE merchants.

"Alright. You're free to go. Go sell your loot." he said rudely turning to put up the report and mark some things down in a large note book.

That's the book ... the ones patrolmen carry with them to keep tabs on people's crimes. As soon as my name goes in their and they refresh the archives and print the updated versions, I'll be on every road patrol's list. I ... can't believe this. One week and I'm already considered a looting greedy merchant. she anguished mentally. For her this was the first step down a rather grim path, and she wanted off of it as soon as possible.

When Gytha and Amon arrived, she was still so depressed it she could barely hear what Gytha was saying and replied "I'm sorry, what were you talking about?"

"Are you going to be okay?" Amon asked.

"Someday ... when I'm trustworthy again I guess ... heh ...." she replied hiding her face with her hair.

... it's not like we didn't lie to them about those mercenaries. Still though ... Amon thought to himself.

IDIOT!!! Turn those seven thugs in! We've got a whole patrol to back us up if they try anything ... urgh ... forget it ... anything they said in response at this point would be just as credible as anything we said. Talk about digging ourselves into a hole. Gabbie mused while checking her arm over.

Within a few minutes, the bodies had been gathered along the side of the road and covered. The horses took multiple men to move and took a little longer, but were also placed on the side of the road. With that finished, they only needed to wait for some men with a body wagon to arrive. By this time, they were also waiting for the group to be on their way, as they really didn't like the idea of having to guard the bodies more vigilantly from the nearby looters.

[Mercakete]

It looked like Raquel had some time now, so Gytha spoke up, "Ye know that the flyin' horseman was torturin' one o' the dyin' bandits, don't ye?" Her expression was concerned and her tone was uncertain and a tad unsettled.

~~~~~~~

At this point, Bert was just milling about with his pegasus. When they got to an inn or a stream or something, he could wash up and look for a seamstress. It was on;y his tunic that needed mending, after all, so it wasn't too bad.

[Phoenix]

"Torturing?" She grumbled a bit when she heard that and then sighed. "We're getting ready to go but there's still a minute to talk to him, I guess. Can you bring him here, please?" she asked Gytha. "Amon, can you let everyone else know it's time for us to go-" "EY!!! EVERYONE, WE'RE FREE TO GO NOW, SO GRAB YOUR GEAR AND COME ON!!!" Gabbie shouted interrupting Raquel and making her flinch and look in the woman's direction all at once. "Y-yeah ... what she said." she said, with some sadness still in her voice.

[Mercakete]

"Aye, aye," Gytha replied to Raquel, ignoring Gabbie for the moment. She did want to speak to her at some point, but now wasn't the most opportune time. "Oy," Gytha spoke out when she came across Bert. The pegasus knight merely looked up in responce. "Raquel want's t' talk t' ye." When she'd delivered the message, she returned to Raquel and Amon. Norbert followed, leading his pegasus.

"What'd you want?" he asked, "Have you decided that I've earned my maces or something?"

[Phoenix]

"Ahem." Raquel began. "It's come to my attention that you were 'torturing' one of the bandits. May I ask why you would do something like that to someone?" she asked crossing her arms. The disapproval was fairly obvious.

[Mercakete]

"I was trying to get information out of him and he wasn't talking. The pest took his secret to the gave, though," Bert replied, "And I told you already who I am. If you're a travelling merchant, you should have heard of me, even once. This shouldn't be a surprise. Sure I usually only crush bones when I'm fighting the swine, and yeah, it's normally onle one or two blows, but I needed information and I didn't have much time. He still died before he'd speak, though. Tch. What a stubborn nuisance..." By this point, the pegasus knight had his arms folded and was looking to where the bodies were being gathered, somewhat frusterated.

[MinunRobotnik4]

Saken walked about the city Ursentium for a while, taking care to avoid the guards lest one of them recognize him. He searched through the city for his client, another small Ursian noble by the name of Francisco Williams, who had desired the gem for himself. Saken walked around the back alleys until he found one of the guards loyal to him standing outside a door.

"Excuse me, is Francisco Williams in the building?"

"Who wants to know?" the man asked.

"I am here to deliver something to him, it is a gem, you can ask him if you want."

The man went inside and came out after a minute and told Saken "You may enter."

Saken walked inside and found the noble he called a contact sitting behind a desk.

"Do you have the gem?" he asked and then Saken produced it from his pocket.

"Give it here," he said.

"Not until I get paid," he said holding the gem in a closed fist.

Sighing the noble motioned to a man next to him to give Saken a sack. He checked inside the sack and found the amount agreed on in it.

"Thank you he said as he tossed the gem to the Williams who was afraid that it would fall and break, "and good bye," he said running out the door before he knew that the inevitable event of Williams backstabbing him would happen.