Return of the Emblem Chapter Four: The Human Condition

[Snowy_One]

"Yes." called out Robin. She turned around and opened the door to look up at Bron. "Exhausted and a bit worn, but here."

[Phoenix]

"Hey there." he said, but before he could explain what he had come to, he noticed the sheep sleeping on the bed and looked over at Olga, who wasn't paying him much mind. "How did you get that thing in here? There's no animals allowed."

"Animals aren't leagues messier than some people." she said. "Offering triple for the room made my request more reasonable, I think. No way is my little Niko sleeping out in the cold." she explained hugging the sheep and also waking it with a start.

"It's spring, Olga." ... and that money's coming out of my ... of course. he thought hanging and shaking his head. "Anyway, Robin, once the twins get back, we're going to have a meeting and discuss the next phase of the plan, so don't go anywhere. They should be back soon."

[Snowy_One]

"I understand." she said, then leaned in close. <"Between you and me, I really hope this plan involves copious amounts of mutton. That sheep... well... I have to share a room with it.>" she whispered to him before pulling away. "The twins are not with you? I thought that they were and you three might be not wishing to be disturbed. I was mistaken it seems. I apologize."

[Phoenix]

Bron smirked at the mutton comment, but was left wondering what Robin meant about the twins. Either way he decided to clarify. "No, they went to find out as much about the area surrounding our target as possible, while I was actually inside getting a closer look at it."

"Oooo what's it like?" Olga asked putting down both sheep and book.

"The sword? It's ... large. If it fell on you from more than five feet up, it would probably shatter most of the bones in your body. There's no way on earth anyone could actually wield that thing. No humanoid anyway. I didn't see anything about it in my research but it's got this strange light coming from a hole in the center. I also found out that it's a light brand."

Before he could say anything else, he found himself getting shoved forward and into the room by Liza. "Your investigative skills suck." she said. Liliya was right behind her and as the thieves stepped into the room, the latter peeked out into the hall for a moment, and then closed the door. "You could find all that out just by asking around." she expanded on the thought.

"What can I say? There's only so much you can gleam from staring at the thing from five feet away through a glass case and listening to a history lesson about Lilith." Bron replied shrugging.

"Did you at least find out what kind of security we're looking at here?" she shot back crossing her arms.

"Day shift at least. There's not a whole lot of guards but boy are they well armed."

[Snowy_One]

"The day shift is probably light with heavier security around the essential exhibits." said Robin, chiming in. "At night, you probably have guards patrolling the windows and larger hallways with runes and tripwires in the narrower ones and guarding the exhibits. I doubt that they will have heavy security around the sword itself since it would take a brute to lift it and it would be a better placement of guards to put them around key exhibits? Is that the general idea of what security is like? That is how I would set it up at least."

[Acacia Sgt]

''Thanks.'' John said now that he had the shield. 'Now for the next step.' He thought, wondering where he could find Connor.

That is, until he saw him emerge from the wagon. John took this chance and approached him. ''Hi.'' He said. ''I finally have the shield.''

[Phoenix]

Troubles In Ursentius

"Hmm, maybe. We won't know what we're really up against until we do a stake out." Bron commented.

"Ahem ..." Liliya began to get the room's attention. "My sister and I started by just asking around about the museum. That didn't go so well, so we decided to get a closer look at the building itself. Sneaking around in restricted areas in broad daylight was a pain, and it was a miracle we weren't caught on the rooftops."

"A big damn miracle." Liza interjected sighing.

"Anyway, we did manage to find a way into the museum that's not on ground level. It's only viable for our entry though. I doubt we'll be able to get back out the same way. Everything else we found out about the place, we had to get from an information broker." Liliya explained.

"What'd he tell you?" Bron asked.

"We uh ... got off track somewhere. We only learned about its layout. We don't know what to expect as far as actual security goes."

"To clarify, we found out something rather interesting from that guy while we were there. Something that might help us in the long run. Right now, security in this place is turning out to be a nightmare. Our trying to steal this thing is more like a high stakes gamble than an actual plan, and right now, I'd say we've got a one in three chance of pulling it off." Liza explained.

"That bad?" Bron said casually but still grimacing.

"Yeah pretty much. Fortunately as I said, there might be a way to increase our chances. The one thing that gets guards moving around like nothing else is an emergency. Thing is, to pull this off, we'd normally have to use one of our own people. In a city like this, they'd probably be caught pretty quick, but if someone not involved with us started up the incident and did it close enough to the museum to cause them to focus their attention on that, we might get a big enough window to steal the sword and not have to fight our way out." she explained.

"The information broker's assistant said something that caught Liza's attention, and the broker shot him for it. He offered to share the information for a price and she accepted since she's nosy." Liliya commented.

"The city security forces are in a secret uproar right now because there's some bastard out there killing these random scientists. Nobody knows who the hell this guy is but he's impossible to catch and the people that were guarding his targets all got killed too. The guy is a ghost and since there's no witnesses left afterward, they've got no idea what he looks like. Might not even be a 'he'." Liza continued.

"What's that got to do with us?" Bron asked.

"Security knows about this guy. They've all been briefed. Anything resembling this guy's crimes is going to draw them like wolves. He uses swords and guns. Close enough to the museum and they'll probably make a mistake. Who wouldn't want to be involved in the biggest bust of the decade? Anyway, while they're focusing on the decoy, we swoop in and swipe that thing before they get back into their normal routine. Easier said than done, sure, but without a major distraction that will provoke all of the guards in some way, we're probably going to get caught." she ended arms akimbo. I'd love to find out who this guy is going to target next and get them near the museum but that's pretty much impossible so we'll have to find someone somewhere and trick them into doing this for us. We'd have to trick them. I mean what idiot would sacrifice themselves for a heist? she thought to herself while Bron took in the information.

[-Cynthia-]

"Haha good plan but I don't really know how to ride a wyvern...maybe you could teach me sometime?" Connor suggested to Gabbie before John showed up.

"Great, I'll get to work once we're on the road. Should be ready before we reach Ursentius," he said to John, taking the shield.

Wooden Shield Upgraded to Iron Shield -20 points

[Snowy_One]

"That is going to be tricky. I use bows and arrows, do any of us use swords?" asked Robin as she took in the information.

[Phoenix]

"Didn't you hear what I said? We need someone who's not with us to do this." Liza replied to Robin. "Anyone who tricks the guards into thinking they're that killer guy isn't getting out alive, so unless you really care about a successful heist that much, I'd suggest not volunteering. Besides, it's going to take most if not all of us to steal the sword anyway."

"Did the broker know anything else about this killer?" Bron asked.

"We ran out of spending money before we could gather that much, and Liza figured we had enough to go on for the time being." Liliya answered. "He seemed like he might have another fifty gold's worth of info just floating around in that noggin of his."

[Snowy_One]

"So we are stuck then? Waiting for someone with a sword to come along so that we can steal this sword for the homeland?"

[Phoenix]

"If it makes you feel any better, this guy's taken out someone every single night for the past week and a half. If this keeps up, tonight will be number eleven." Liliya said in response to Robin.

"That aside, I'd rather just find some loser to pretend to be him and get the heat off of us, that way we can do this on our own terms." Liza said to everyone.

"Nonononono! We should totally find out who this guy is after and get them right where we want them." Olga said getting out of bed.

"The police don't even know who he's after ... yet." Liza scoffed.

"Well ... dooooes the information broker ...?" she asked giving a sinister grin. "Come-ooooon let's go do a shake down! It'll be fun!"

Bron still wasn't convinced. "Liza, are you sure our chances are really that bad? This seems like even more work than we were going to have to put in initially, and we're not even sure if it's going to help. Hell, if security gets too riled up, we might end up cutting off all our escape routes."

"One in three chance, Bron. Assuming we're lucky. Keep in mind that this is probably the most reputable museum in the world, in the largest city in the world, with the most well armed security forces in the world. Emphasis on 'in the world'." Liza explained. "I don't mean to degrade us or anything but we're not exactly the best thieves to ever come along." She replied getting a slight wince from Bron. ... just saying.

[Snowy_One]

"Then maybe we are best off waiting for a bit?" offered Robin, dumbstruck by the seeming complexity of a plan she had formally thought to be simple. "Maybe tomorrow we can gather more information? Or possibly have a better chance of getting this man to inadvertently serve as a distraction. Either way, it sounds like we need something we do not have right now, and trying without it would be foolish. Maybe we do not need this distraction, but we will need to find another way inside if that is the case. I do not wish for the service I render unto my homeland to be a bargaining hostage after all."

[Phoenix]

"Nah, they'll just shoot you if you get caught." Olga commented.

"We weren't going to pull the job tonight, only try to get a look at the security set up outside. I reckon we'll be sticking to that." Bron added.

"Hey, can we still shake down the broker?"

"Err ... if you can afford it, sure, but my bags are off limits at this point. Hell, I've probably got just enough left for the get-away wagon." Bron said hanging his head. "Odd that you brought this up though, Olga. You don't seem like the kind of person who would enjoy prying information out of people."

"That's what happens when I run out of booze ... I get weird, sadistic, and manic." she replied sternly.

[GoD]

"Yeah I'm fine."- Chelsea said in response to Nanahm's question, although she was still shaken up by the whole affair. Noticing that the archer from before was talking to Rachel, she decided to tell Nanahm. "Hey it's that kid from before, you think he's gonna join us?"

[ReformBlade]

"With us? He... might be, Raquel just handed him a bow... Oh Raguni, I hope she knows what she's doing here." He said, hoping against hope that the kid would turn out to be a net benefit to the group as a whole. "Seems a bit young to be hanging with a merc group, don't you think? Eh, whatever, I shouldn't judge so quickly. Either way, we need to get going. Raquel seems to want to be on her way, and this 'detour' means we're down a few hours..."

As soon as Sammy was told to get moving, he looked to the wagon. "Can we all fit in that thing, or...?" A brilliant plan formed in his mind. I'll just sit on top! Of course! So he climbed up top rather quickly for a kid his size and waited for the rest.

Edited May 29, 2011 by SlaveBlade

[Phoenix]

Once everyone was in or on the wagon, or mounted up, Raquel started up Sandrock and Riley and the party was on their way ...

NIGHTFALL ...

A feint yellow glow was easily viewable in the vast distance. They weren't close, but the city was so illuminated that it's light reached them even from that distance on the plains. By morning the light would fade and only tiny structures sticking up into the sky in the distance would remain.

DAY 8 ...

They were on the road again in the morning. Having slept on the plains, there was little to eat save for rations, and so Raquel was starving by the time they reached the farmlands and saw the farmers out tending to their herds and preparing for the spring harvest. She couldn't help but wonder if she could ask them for just a little to eat, but decided to wait until they were in the city and just eat at a restaurant or something. It didn't occur to her however that it would be another three and a half hours of traveling before they ever reached the city, and once they had, the sky was overcome by towering buildings, pegasus knights on patrol, and pigeons roaming from building to building.

Amon was blown away by the sights. He had never seen anything like this before. Buildings this tall ... they looked like they were closing in on them and blocking out the sky. Men built these? Gabbie on the other hand was just yawning. She had been here before enough times to no longer be shocked by the ridiculous heights. She was actually a bit nervous since she had committed several murders here in the past. She had never been caught or had her face seen, and the city was massive, but her caution had served her well in the past, so she kept her hood over her face and kept Ringo on the ground walking on all fours.

Once they were rather deep in the city, Raquel stopped the wagon at an intersection and looked back to face everyone she could see. "Okay this we need to find a place to set up or something. We're here to find out about that artificial humans business, put a stop to it if that's what's really going on, and then we'll be on our way." she began before Gabbie interjected.

"My suggestion is to pick a hotel building and have us all stay there. Don't moind the expenses. We'll be paid as soon as we finish the mission so you'll be able to afford whatever bill we rack up by the time we have to check out." she explained.

"He has to get us the money to pay for the rooms first doesn't he? And what if we fail the mission?"

"Leave the money gettin' to me, Pinky. You just focus on completing the mission." she replied keeping her head down.

"Seems like an excuse to splurge on our funds if you ask me, but whatever. I do agree that we should stay in the same place though ... for convenience sake. ... and stop calling me Pinky."

"Ey, I don't work for you, I was forced into this. Unless I'm gettin' paid not to, I'll call ya whatever I feel loike." she replied.

"Fair enough, GABBIE." Raquel prodded back, which got her a murderous glare that she could barely spot from beneath the woman's hood. Okay she looked like she wanted to stab me just now ...

[MinunRobotnik4]

OOC: Please, I know I haven't been here, but don't make me go halfway to meet you and then have to go all back.

Night before:

Saken had the luck to find another man driving a horse pulling a cart full of hey, and payed him, and told him to wake him when they got there.

Thankfully I woke up the last time before we made it to Europa, that may have been disatrous, he thought as he drifted off to sleep.

Today:

"Hey buddy, wake up we are here.

Saken awoke to find he was on the outskirts of the city, he rolled slightly falling of the back of the cart.

"Um, thank you, I guess," he said as he got up still a bit drowsy.

"Here is the rest of your fare," he said handing him some money and the two parted ways.

He walked deeper into the city and began to notice that he had not been chased by a guard yet.

Well that officially ends my job with Williams. It always goes in a cycle, I steal, I get away, I get paid, I run, they erase my name. So now what work is there for me today. Shall I snoop around for another noble looking to claim one of his peers poessessions or should I perhaps have fun and go pickpocketing.

[-Cynthia-]

"Er, Luca and I are fine sleeping outside," Nadya interjected. I don't know how much this Weyland guy is paying, but it's probably not worth running up the bill in some pricey hotel for if he doesn't pull through. "If you just tell me where ya all are staying I can meet ya all in the morning."

Veronika was a bit awed by the size of the city. I thought Europa was the capital, but Ursentius is even bigger. Are most of the cities in Ursium like this? Perhaps this is what much of Neviskotia looked like when Ursium ruled all of Northern Sardius...

Connor had become aware that the wagon had stopped, but continued his tinkering on the iron shield transformation, which was just about done.

[Phoenix]

OOC:

@ Robotnik: http://serenesforest.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=24271&view=findpost&p=1570362

Might want to check that link.

Party

"Are you sure?" Raquel asked, wondering if Nadya was just trying to save them some money or just liked the outdoors.

"One less person, ey? I'll just get a luxury suite while we're here then. About the same price overall." Gabbie chimed in with a snicker. Raquel said nothing, and just tossed a glance.

Thieves

The previous night's stake out had been uneventful fortunately, and the twins learned everything they needed to know to get by the outer security elements. Still, it was what was waiting for them inside that would determine whether they could pull off the job or not, and whether or not they even survive. They wouldn't be able to find out until the actual heist, which left only enough room for half a plan. Liza and Bron had serious doubts but Olga and Liliya spurred them on, Liliya with some reassuring pep talks, and Olga with good ol' fashion blind confidence.

The next morning Bron planned to go with Olga and whoever else was coming to pay the information broker a visit and find out more about this killer person, as well as anything else they could learn about the museum. The man always seemed to be holding something back. Bron was up early, Olga was asleep and out of it. The twins were probably up but whether or not they were in their room was up anyone's guess.

"I really wish we didn't need to rely on a decoy to get this done but ... if that's what it takes ... so be it." he said before sighing. "The things I do to make a living."

Edited May 29, 2011 by Phoenix

[Mercakete]

Bert met up with Raquel and the others while they were travelling since it'd taken some time to fly over to the nearest stream to wash his tunic. As such, Raquel didn't have much time to mend it -- and the others' tattered clothing -- before they reached the city they'd been headed for. Norbert simply had his pegasus trot along beside the wagon, all the while silently cursing pink-haired merchants and and the vast majority of the panthenon. There were two reasons for his quiet anger. The first was that he was in the capital. This was something he'd decided he would never do. In an emergency he might've flown into a city, but the capital? Never. He liked staying in the wilds and frequenting small towns when he needed something done that he couldn't do himself. Yet here he was.

The second thing was that he was not only in the capital, but he stuck out like a sore thumb. Reason? He had yet to recollect his tunic from that cursed merchant lady with the pink hair because it had yet to be mended. The mostly-healed slashes on his sides would have been plain to see if he hadn't bothered to position his arms to obsure them while holding his pegasus' reigns. Even so, he felt somewhat indecent since the blasted capital was somewhat of a place of reverence and gave off that "No shirt, no shoes, no service" sort of feel. Having been raised by a gentleman didn't help Bert's abashedness either.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Gytha's only reaction to how big the city was was that she supposed a lot of people lived there. She was right.

[Snowy_One]

Robin was up early as well, having awoken when the first rays of dawnlight had peered over the horizon, but before the sun itself was up. Spending many nights out with only the sun to tell you when it was time to get up and needing every spare moment can do that to a person. The prior night had been a slow one, mainly devoted to the twins heading out and scouting the perimeter, leaving Robin with little to do. Looking down into her quiver, she could see many unshaped stones she wished to turn into arrowheads, but the loud noise would wake the entire inn for sure. So instead, she contented herself to simply waiting about until the others were awake.

"Morning Bron." she said, greeting him as she noticed his awakening. "How was your scouting last night?"

[Rothene]

Ranyin had spent the remaining time of the trip trying to get Synthia to feel the magic in the tome. He was not sure how much of it she had succeeded in achieving, but he was ,ure she might have tapped into the energy held within that wind tome of hers a few times. The learning was slow, either because she was really having a hard time relearning some basics on using magic, or he was a very poor teacher. He certainly hoped it was not the latter.

By the time they reached Ursentius, Ranyin had been completely taken in by the glorious scenery before him. The sheer size of the buildings and numbers of them took all his attention. He had difficulity paying attention to Synthia as all he wanted to do was gaze and marvel at the wonders of a big city. Wow, I never knew such simple colours could look so majestic, mused Ranyin comparing the imposing black and white Ursium architecture to the smaller, slightly brighter coloured tone of Kigen cities.

[Acacia Sgt]

Certainly, Ursentius was a sight to see. 'It had to be expected, though.' John thought. 'This is Ursium's capital city after all.' However, he also knew that it was more reason to be cautious. As he had been told several times back there regarding places like this: 'The more shiny they are on the outside, the more shady on the inside'. And certainly the very reason they were here, for that assassin and this artificial humans business, was proof of those words.

[Snowy_One]

Robin did not wait for a response from Bron as headed out of her room. Though she was indeed, curious, she could see that the man was seemingly distracted with fiscal worry. "That's odd." she thought to herself. "I would think giving your country the treasure of its enemy would be something worth more than any gold coin. Ah well, I guess it's difference when you are financing the mission instead of just following along to try and do your country well." "I will be outside if you need me Bron. My arrows do not make themselves." she said as she trotted downstairs and outside of the inn.

Taking a small seat outside, she pulled out one of the stones, a piece of chert she had found on the roadside. Then, picking up her cobble, she looked the stone over before-WHAP! With a single mighty, yet accurate, blow she brought the cobble down hard upon the chert. A single large flake of stone broke off and went flying off into the street as a concave edge was left behind on the main piece. WHAP! A second strike, soon followed by a third and a fourth as Robin started to slowly form and shape the stone from a smooth, flat rock into a arrowhead for her use.