Return of the Emblem Chapter Six: Enemies Abound

[Rothene]

"Why I study magic is none of your business," said Mireille defensively, "Unless you are willing to help guide me in my learning, I would rather not discuss about it."

[Mercakete]

"Very good, then!" The juggler replied as he caught the six pieces of gold in his cap before placing it back onto his head and tossing Shadrak one ball while Chelsea recieved another. "Good luck, especially to you, sir," he added, though when referring to Shadrak, his tone lowered somewhat and for a moment, he seemed almost mischevous before he was his joyous self once more without a care in the world. "Though, miss, it is somewhat rude to go around calling people fools," he almost sang, laughing a little as he spoke.

[Acacia Sgt]

So after getting a pair of horses from an attendant, the two now made their way to the festival.

<Hm, so I did end up going after all.> John thought while on the road. <Well, I guess it's better than nothing. Not to mention, I'm not exactly doing this for myself, so yeah...>

I hope it didn't sounded like I was forcing him to come. Sophia was thinking instead. He didn't sounded happy about going to the festival. But there is so much to do at the festival. Maybe he didn't wanted to go today for some reason...?

[Zsword]

Shadrak grabbed his orb, and smiled, and started to channel energy into it, after a second or so he grinned. "Impressive... I accept this challenge..." he said, just putting his money pouch into the guys hand as he began channelling energy into the orb, repeatadly...

after about 10 minutes of channelling various patterns and amounts of energy (it took a total of 35 tries), the thing finally buzzed, and Shadrak fell to his knees, holding his head and gasping for air, almost as if he just ran 10 miles on one breath. "There... I... blugh... I did it... that is... some rune you have there..." He said, holding the ball out to the man. "Now, something tells me not even you could beat that one... huh..." he tacked on...

http://invisiblecast...r/view/3213473/

Krystal smiled. "Iunno, I might be willing to help you, if I knew you were doing it for a good cause." She said to Mireille.

Edited October 9, 2011 by Zsword

[GoD]

Chelsea grabbed her orb as well, but unlike Ucollas who was unable to sucessfully activate his orb for a few minutes, she was able to activate hers in one go.

http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3213341/

[Mercakete]

As soon as the juggler heard Chelsea's ball crow like a rooster, he congradulated her. "Haha!~ And so, miss, you are victorious! And wrapped around your dainty wrist, you will see a beautiful bracelet. Was that there before? I don't know, but I doubt it, for it is your prize! The small, round, white gems on the sides, you see, are opals enchanted to glow when in a dark place, drawing their light from the stars themselves! Enjoy!~"

After a while, the shaman finally prompted his rune to buzz and was quite exhausted for it. "Oh, do you? Hahahaa!~ Wouldn't you like to know? Well, now, I must say, it isn't oh so very often that someone completes my challenge on such a level. For such tireless vigilence, sir, recieve this reward!" the juggler made the grand proclamation before tossing Shadrak a golden, ellaborate brooch with a bright red, smooth, oval-shaped gem imbedded in it.

[ReformBlade]

Sammy

Boredom struck him pretty hard, but he followed the mage as well as he could. "Wait wait, where are we going now...? Ah screw it, it's probably better I don't know anyway." His mind made up for no good reason, he didn't question where he was headed, only hoping that his boredom would be eradicated with extreme prejudice. A small part of him wished it was something to do with violence, if only so he could prove himself, but another part told him that was completely stupid. Is... is this what a conscience is? This is so... boooooriiiiiing! But why is it so appeeeealiiiiiing, damn it!

Aneda

Wandering through the festival filled streets with Hannah, she got plenty of annoyed looks from people getting shoved about by the sheer girth, and Aneda only smiled. "Totally legal, and besides, she likes her walks as much as anyone else~!" The attention. She was getting it and loving it when suddenly a small game stand stood out to her. Oooo... what be this contraption thingy here? Do I like.. jump up and hit the bell or something? "Hello there sir! Well, to be honest, I'm just assuming you're running this... whatever this is... which is to say in a roundabout way, what is this friggin thing you've got here?"

[Zsword]

Shadrak caught the brooch, stood up, and put it on. "So... does it do anything magical like her bracelet?" He ask, still breathing rather heavily. Wow... that rune... ugh, I can't believe someone could make an item like that...

[Rothene]

"I'm not sure if you can be of any help to me," said Mireille, "As much as I would like help, I have read that magic comes to Avians innately almost like breathing, while humans have to perform certain actions and require immense concentration to perform magic. So what works for you would not apply to how humans cast spells I'm afraid. But thanks for the offer to help."

[Mercakete]

"Hmmm? Who knows? Hahahahahaa!" the juggler unhelpfully responded to Shadrak, continuing his dancing and juggling without a care in the world, "But if I were to wager a guess~ I'd say it has more power than the bracelet your friend won, wouldn't you? After all, you did complete the hardest mode I offered. In addition, you plaid one hundered five gold for it! It must be worth something, wouldn't you say? But since you did win it, perhaps you can discover what it does on your own! What need have you of I? I'm just a juggler with a rune game, after all!"

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

"Ah, hello. This, my friend, is a game called the Bell-Ring. You pay me 20 silver and I let you slam this mallot onto this board with one of 3 weights. A light weight, a medium weight and a hard weight. Choose your wright, ring the bell, win a prize! Simple, no? So, would you like to play?" Asked the man with the mallot by the bell game.

[Zsword]

Shadrak sighed. "Well, I could definatly use a hint so that I don't accidently break it in the process of trying to discern what it does." He stated, still massaging his temple from the immense strain it took to actually get the rune to repsond.

[Mercakete]

"Hmm," sighed the juggler, almost in disapointment before continuing on in a more upbeat manner, though more serious than his previous ramblings, "Well, if you really, truly, absolutely must know... I suppose I could give you a hint if we ever meet again, though will we, I wonder... Hehe~ Truth only knows! Let us see what he has to say, shall we?" It seemed the juggler knew more than he was letting on, but it would be unlikely anything more could be learned from him about the mysterious brooch.

[-Cynthia-]

Meetings

"Er...all right," Clara said hesitantly, going inside the house. She didn't really know what to expect from this 'Darksider' or Simon or whatever his name was and Cecily seemed just as unsure. Is she actually going to make us some tea or is that some kind of code? Clara wondered to herself.

[Zsword]

Shadrak sighed. "We shall... come on Chelsea... let's just go... I blew all of the money I had on me on that... and I got a headache... let's just head back to the estate..." He said to his comrade, stepping away from the juggling man's stall slowly...

[Phoenix]

Meeting The Darksider

Cecily went in as well and much to her surprise the inside of the house was actually quite normal. She almost let her guard down in relief. "Just take a seat right over there. I'll get the tea." she said to the two pegasus knights. She then leaned over to the side so her voice would travel better down the hallway as she yelled "Simooon! You've got company! Get out here!"

"I do not have a scheduled appointment with any outsiders! Who goes?!" a voice from the hall came back.

"Why don't you come out here and see for yourself?! I'm making tea."

"Tell them to come back when they're relevant!"

"... SIMON GET OUT HERE, RIGHT NOW!!!"

Cecily just sat there with her legs and hands held closely together feeling both awkward and uncertain what to do. The woman turned and headed for the kitchen before even seeing if Simon would show himself. That made Cecily wonder if this sort of thing was routine for them. Some footsteps got her eyes fixed on the hall again, and a tall figure stepped out from the shadows ...

"I am the Darksider ... who are y-... wait, you two are the ones?!" the man said sounding scared. "Ma! Why didn't you tell me they were military?! I will not be imprisoned again!"

"They said they weren't military, dear!" she shouted back from the kitchen.

"Hmm ... I see. No need for a dramatic escape, then." he said glancing over at a window that he wouldn't have been able to fit through regardless. So ... just a couple of lowly well dressed peasants, is it?"

Cecily raised an eyebrow. Are we being talked down to by this chubby homebody?

"Well? Why have you come to my lair? Whosentyou?!" he asked so quickly that Cecily barely caught it.

"That's none of your business. We're here to purchase some information." she answered sternly.

"Information is my business, lowly one. Tell me, what is it that you seek?"

"Grrrrr-we're looking for the last known location of a certain individual. He's a tall man with white hair and purple eyes. Carries a sword over his back and a gun." she explained withholding some anger.

"THE ASSASSIN!" the man exclaimed. "... I might ... know a little something about that ..." he said making incredibly exaggerated movements. "It will come at a price, however. What is it that you wish to learn ...?"

"I just told you. We want to know where he is ..."

"Oh, sorry ... I've rehearsed that at last a thousand times--anyway, this assassin that the military was after. My sources tell me that he left the city some time ago."

"When, and in what direction was he headed?" she asked, though it sounded more like an outright order.

"Wait a moment, hot tempered one. You are not the only ones who seeks this man. I too would like to locate him myself. Unfortunately, I, the Darksider have to move about in secret, so my legions of rivals and other enemies do not detect my presence. But who would suspect that my lair is HERE, in this house? Hahahahah!"

"... what?"

"To put it plainly, I wish to accompany you two on your journey to find this assassin." he explained with crossed arms and repeated head nods.

Oh, Wrath, no ... "That's out of the question. You'll only slow us down. Just tell us where he went."

"Ahem, I do not believe you understand the situation you two are in. I have the information you seek, you two can help me as well. If you insist on going about it by yourselves I will simply raise my fee to some ridiculous amount you peasants could not hope to pay. Five thousand! See? Now you must pay me five thousand for the information if you refuse to have me along or go find some pathetic lowly broker who couldn't so much as give you the right direction! Now will you reconsider?"

"... fine, we can afford five thousand. Fortunately I came prepared for this sort of thing." Cecily said with a sigh before reaching for her bag. The sound of the gold mixing around as she began opening the bag had the Darksider leaning back and breaking a sweat.

"W-what?! Err ... I mean twenty thousand!"

Cecily paused. Her lower eyelid twitched, and then she looked up from the bag and gave him a murderous glare, causing him to lean back even further.

[Acacia Sgt]

As expected, the festival was full of people, more so than Urden considering Europa was much bigger.

<If I remember correctly, most of the group also came here. Doubt I'll find them considering how big the place is, but who knows.> John thought.

''Well, we're here.'' John said. ''So, where to? The rocks?''

''No, I already made my wish days ago. I assume you already did as well?'' Sophia asked. John nodded. ''But there are still other things to do here.'' She continued.

''Alright, let's keep going.''

Soon they reached an area full of stalls hosting various games. John soon spotted Shadrak and Chelsea near one of them. <Well, that was quick.> He thought. He first waited until they got closer.

''Hey there.'' He called out.

[Snike]

A few hours was practice enough, for now. Blake sheathed his sword and relaxed, before wiping the sweat from his brow. It felt like a good effort, the man thought as he caught his breath, but there wasn't much improvement. He'd have to fight an actual person, in order to progress. Which is exactly why he took this job. To be honest, the sword novice couldn't wait.

Once the newcomer stepped out of the room, he went right, down the hall, past the apologetic wyvern rider, and into what appeared to be a dining room. No one seemed to be in the room, so Blake simply sat down on a chair, and waited for someone to walk by. It was better than getting lost, after all.

[-Cynthia-]

Does this guy really know anything? When I pictured getting information from someone, I thought it would be some guy in a dark alleyway. Maybe with a leather jacket and dark sunglasses, pistol and longsword at his side, sporting that dangerous bad boy look... Clara's mind drifted away as her sister discussed the assassin's location with the paranoid man. The clinking of gold coins snapped her out of her musings momentarily.

"Maybe we can pay him after we find out how good his information is. If he doesn't lead us anywhere it wasn't really worth the trouble," Clara interjected.

[Phoenix]

Talks

"That could work ... but we're not paying twenty thousand gold. It's bad enough we'll have to have you along directly. Also, there's still the issue of how to take you with us at all. You'll slow us down on anything but a pegasus and I doubt there's one on this whole continent that would be up to the challenge." Cecily said insultingly.

Simon's mother then returned and began setting tea down for everyone.

"Are you insinuating that I am overweight, Red Hot Tempered One?" Simon asked looking suspicious.

"I don't hint. Your weight will be an issue here."

"I keep telling the boy to go outside once in awhile and exercise, but he never listens." the woman said.

"Mother, I told you, already. My enemies would love to know where my lair is; that's why I picked the most unsuspecting location to set up, your house. I'm a genius, yes, but going outside without it being absolutely necessary posses great risk to us both."

Have to wonder who these enemies are. Do we really need to pay this jackass? If he wasn't one of the established contacts, I'd honestly try to convince Layla to kill him once we're done with the other guy. Oh right, the weight issue. Still need to figure that out. "I suppose if we absolutely have to, we could just stick you on a horse ... ... poor thing--but that still slows us down more than I'd like." Cecily explained. "Also no matter what you ride, we're not paying for it."

"Fortunately for the two of you, I can pay my own way; I AM a successfully--highly successful--information broker, after all."

"Charging as much as you do, you should really hope so. Now do you need time to pack?"

"Only a little. I have my essentials ready in case I must make a daring escape. I was not prepared to travel far, though, only to the next hideout. You two can help me, I think. Come back to my room and-" "No." she interrupted. "But I'll need your help for packing-" "Absolutely not. Take however much time you need, but we're not going back there, end of discussion." she interrupted again.

"It's NOT like that!" he exclaimed, to which Cecily replied with both hands shooing him from the table, her eyes not even on him anymore.

Orders

Before too long, a waitress came out from the kitchen and stopped by Blake. "Hello, sir. May I take your order?" That unearthly smile that had Bert paranoid was still there ...

Edited October 12, 2011 by Phoenix

[Snike]

That was quick. It seemed that this was a dining room after all. Something wasn't quite right about the waitress, though... It was that smile. People don't smile that widely normally. This made the waitress seem slightly unnerving...

"Uh... Chicken and bread, please," Blake said, as he snapped back to reality. "If that is not too much of a problem."

[Phoenix]

Waitress

"Oh it's not trouble at all, sir. I'll be back with your lunch, soon~" she replied before turning to head for the kitchen.

[Acacia Sgt]

No answer.

<Looks like they didn't heard me.> John thought. <Then again, with these many people and noise, no surprise there. Should've called out louder or something.>

''Who are they? Are they friends of yours?'' Sophia asked.

''Well, more or less. I don't exactly hang out with them much, but I get to see them often.'' John answered, still eying in their direction. Perhaps he could try again calling out to them again?

''I see.'' Sophia then turned her attention to the stall, and approached it. ''Hello, what kind of game is this?''

[-Cynthia-]

"Well I think Perseus might be able to handle him, but probably not with me riding as well," Clara said, puzzling over the situation. "If he's a decent rider we might not lose too much time."

He then suggested helping him pack. "Sorry, but I spend too long packing myself...I like to be well prepared I guess. You never know when you might want a frying pan, or an extra blanket or an extra pair of boots..." she said, her voice beginning to trail off.

[Phoenix]

Preparations

Simon sighed, then quickly stood up from the table and hurried to his room to begin packing. Cecily collapsed on the table, burring her face in her under her arms and sighing. "What did we do to deserve this ...?" she muttered.

A few minutes later, Simon emerged with a backpack about half as large as he was. Cecily looked up at it and said "The poor animal that has to carry you is going to be going through enough pain and suffering as it is; what on earth is all of that stuff?"

"Essentials for a possibly long journey, Hot Tempered One. Keep in mind that there's even a bedroll in there. Oh and I couldn't forget my chess set, spare clothes, and portrait of the Dark Goddess~"

"I hope you're just practicing because I don't think we'll be playing any games with you ..."

"... oh. Okay, I can just leave that here, then. My notebooks and portrait are nonnegotiable, however. I'll need the notebooks to take new notes and reference old ones." he explained. "The portrait is to keep me inspired and focused while on the road."

"... inspired? Never mind, I don't care."

"Oh, Simon here's one of those Dark Goddess fans. What's that she-devil's name again ... oh right, Nyx. What an odd name for a woman ..." the mother trailed off.

I said I don't CARE.

"MOOOtheeer, do not say such things! The Dark Goddess is the queen of dark magic, not a 'she-devil'." he shot back only to have his mother roll her eyes.

"See? Dark Goddess fan. Never stops talking about how powerful she must have been or how elegant the pose in the portrait is. 'Those beautiful crimson eyes, that rich black hair flowing like the very power she commands~', and other things like that."

I don't want to hear about this ... Cecily thought to herself.

"And it is all true! She's incredible, a role model for us, the magicians of darkness." Simon explained while holding some silly speech giving posture.

"... funny, I could have sworn I read something about her being responsible for the deaths of thousands upon thousands of people at some point." Cecily said quietly, trying to knock his image of her down a few notches. "Not the best role model, I'd say."

"Pff, like that argument has not crossed my ears before. Those 'people' as you call them likely deserved it. You see, history never gives the full story of how things happened. For all we know, the Dark Goddess may have just been defending herself-" "Or sadistically vaporizing people. Like you said, history never gives the full story, so it could really be either or." she interrupted. "I still believe that a Goddess would have legitimate reason for killing someone. Most likely they did something to warrant their destruction." he said with a stern nod and arms crossed.

Like the people back then were so much worse than the worthless pests running around nowadays. "Think what you want, 'Simon'. Are you ready to go? That's all I care about."

"Hmpf, of course I am, and I'll be sure to correct your misconceptions about the Dark Goddess on the road. Count on it"

"..." ... curses.

Waitress Returns

The waitress soon returned with Blake's requested dish, along with a glass of water to wash it down. "Here you are, sir~" she said perkily as she set the chicken and bread in front of him and bowed out.

Raquel Returns

Once they came in through the front entrance, Raquel began looking around trying to remember where the guest rooms were. She didn't find them; instead, she found Steinn walking through the halls in a slightly awkward fashion with Gabbie fastened to his back by his tail and walking backwards. She waved to Raquel and company.

"See, didn't I tell ya this'd be fun?~"

"We have vastly different conceptions of 'fun', but I suppose it's something to do ..." Steinn replied to Gabbie while keeping his pace. He then gave a small nod to Raquel's group before heading off down another hall. Then he looked over his shoulder at Gabbie. "Perhaps I can choose how we pass the time next?"

"As long as it involves fallen abilities, sure." she replied.

Raquel and Caterena just stared until they were out of sight. "Alright, let's go find Weyland and ask him about this Steinn fellow." she said to Raquel and Bert.

The Assault On Urcenter Draws Near

In the skies just north of the war torn city of Urcenter, an absolutely massive flock of reptiles, both dragon and wyvern approached. Each dragon was carrying ten or more shock troops, while each wyvern was carrying one or two people. At the head of the flock of winged warriors was a dragon with light layers of silver armor plating and green eyes. The dragon was clearly the one leading the entire attack, a wind dragon by the name of Boscov.

So here we are, Urcenter, a city that tends to change hands quite regularly over the centuries. I didn't want to be the one leading this attack, but who am I to deny a request from the Grand Marshall? Today we overwhelm the Ursians holding up there, and then establish a foothold in Central. This will all be for nothing if we don't manage to gain further ground in the future. We must not lose what we gain here. Boscov thought to himself. <"Listen up, the lot of you! The enemy is weakened, but they will be prepared to fight us! No needless heroics! Perform your assigned tasks, and wipe out as many of them as you can in the process! Winged brothers, get the shock troopers on the ground first, then focus on enemy strongholds! Look out for each other, and don't harm any civilians that may still be there!"> he instructed.

<"Don't kill any civilians?! That's like asking us to to shoot with our eyes closed and not hit certain things!"> a dragon behind him protested.

<"These are orders from the Grand Marshall. Do NOT kill any civilians, even if you have to fall back. If they start taking advantage of that, leave them to me. I'll take care of it ..."> he replied. <"There it is! Urcenter! Prepare for attack!">

Edited October 12, 2011 by Phoenix

[Mercakete]

"Why, hello, there!" the juggler greeted the lady who'd asked about his game, "Welcome to Rune Squawk! It tests your magical abilities. Select a difficulty -- easy, medium or hard -- and I will toss you a ball with a rune inside. The rune will make a sound when enough magical energy is put into it. Three gold per magical discharge! If it makes a sound, you win a prize! The harder the rune, the better the reward! Would you like to play?"

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

That was perhaps the oddest thing Norbert had ever seen. Infinantly perplexed about Gabbie's behavior with the Fallen Prince, all he could really do was follow Cat's quite logical suggestion. "Yeah, that should be done sooner rather than later, I think." I can't tell whose idea that was. The prince looked the most uncomfortable with it but...what even happened?