Return of the Emblem Chapter Six: Enemies Abound

[Mercakete]

"Aye, not a problem!" lightly laughed Gytha as she and Amon started towards the place where the meeting would be held, "What sort o' foods're ye used ta eatin'?"

[Snowy_One]

Robin gave a nod. "I owe you my freedom, checking rooms is insignificant in compare. Even if I did not, I am not a ass. Just give me a direction!"

[Phoenix]

Gabbie

Once Bert was up and about, seeming to be on his way as well, Gabbie made her way toward the dining room with Zel in tow.

Dining Hall

When they arrived, she wasn't surprised to see Weyland there. "Any 'side trips' you people take are at your sole discretion." he replied to Shadrak.

"I've lived two completely different lives, actually. Before I moved into the palace I was eating whatever I could work for. Before this mission I was eating 'rich people food', like Sfihah or Samosa ... err ... the former being kind of like an open meat pie, and the latter being like a ... stuffed pastry. They're really good but there's not a lot of variety in food or how it's made, even in the palace." Amon explained.

Raquel

"Okay ... well just check any rooms we haven't already. The maid's been moving up the hall, but now that I'm here she's only been checking the opposite side. We can both check this side, just skip every other door and I'll handle those."

Edited October 28, 2011 by Phoenix

[Mercakete]

"Aye, ye've mentioned somethin' like that b'fore. Had a hard life b'fore ye were taken inta th' palace by th' sounds o' it. I'd like t' try th' food ye like sometime too. Maybe I'll like it," Gytha cheerily comented before adding, "Have t' say, I never realla had t' live a hard life. Always had enough. I've me mother n' me father t' thank fer that. Y'see, me mother's an innkeeper an' that's pretty darn well off in.." The mariner grimaced for a moment, eyes flickering around to make sure no one else was listening. Then she lowered her voice a tad just to be safe. "Ye mind keepin' this private? I've kept this secret for years now and I'd lose all kinds of business if people knew and that's th' least o' me worries."

[Snowy_One]

Robin nodded, then got her stuff and headed out of the room, quiver and bow over her shoulders and bear in hands. She skipped the door right next to her own, leaving that one for Raquel, then approached the door beyond that one and knocked.

"Excuse me, if anyone is in there, we have been called for a meeting. Please come out and head to the conference hall." she said, trying to sound non-invasive.

[Snike]

Few reacted immediately to the professor's declaration, but once he repeated himself and mentioned the conference room, people began to stir. First off was the shaman, followed by John and his religiously inclined friend. Eventually, Amon and Gytha too went out of the hall through the same exit as the others. Clearly they knew their way around here. Blake waited a few minutes, then rose from the table and followed the departing mercenaries. As long as he kept them in sight, they could lead him right to the conference room, wherever that was.

Edited October 28, 2011 by Snike

[Saturnine]

Siritov eschewed the practice of jovial hobbies and festivals. She'd always put business ahead of pleasure. Or rather... there was nothing to put the business in front of, pleasure being a forgone and alien thing to the knight. Nontheless, she was prepared as she could be. Having arrived back at Weyland's estate, the black knight stalked grimly to the conference room, to wait until the night's event would begin.

[Phoenix]

Amon

"Private? Err-sure. What is it, exactly?" Amon asked as they walked along. He made sure to keep his voice down too, and even went a step further, checking over his shoulder to make sure no one was following behind close enough to catch whatever Gytha was going to say, next.

[Mercakete]

"Well, y'see... I come from a place in Neviskotia called 'Stubbsgrit.' Me mother owns a good place called The Salty Brine Inn. It's where I grew up. Always looked forward t' me father pullin' inta port. He's a captain, y'see," Gytha began to explain. She didn't know how much about Stbbsgrit Amon knew already, but she figured he didn't know much since he wasn't too ocean savvy as is.

[Phoenix]

Amon

"Stubbsgrit?" Amon repeated. He hadn't heard it before from what he could remember, but some things immediately came to mind. For one, it probably wasn't your typical town or city. Gytha certainly wasn't typical, after all. Another thing was it was being talked about as if it was a secret he was being trusted with. For Amon that implied that it was probably not only atypical, but probably disreputable as well. He didn't mind where she came from, though; she was his friend, and a good one, despite where he came from. "Iiii take it, it's not the most welcoming place?"

[Mercakete]

"Pirate port town," was Gytha's simple reply as she nodded, "I'm a mariner now, though, so ye could see why I wouldn't want any o' me potential employers t' be findin' that out."

[Phoenix]

Amon

"A foxhound raised by foxes"? Amon thought, quoting something he'd heard from someone else. "So where you're from might bother people ...? Yeah, I can understand that, actually. I won't tell anyone. You can trust me." Amon said with a smile. "Oh and um ... it doesn't bother me, either." he added, widening his smile a bit more.

[Mercakete]

"Ah, good," Gytha sighed, truly happy to hear Amon's thoughts on it, though she kept her voice down since she had more still to say, especially since he didn't mind, "That's not th' end o' it, though. Y'see, me full name's Gytha Thirdgem. Me father's Captain Reese Thirdgem o' th' pirate ship Saltstraumen. Yer a landlubber, so I don't expect ye t' understand what that means, but he's th' most feared n' most successful pirate o' this age." She seemed oddly proud of that, yet awkwardly spiteful at the same time, leading to some sort of confusion. "Gave me me pistol n' bandanna." She indicated the bandanna tied on her head. "He's a pirate n' fer a long time me dream was t' sail th' seas with'im..." The story obviously continued, but she shook off the deep, brooding look that came over her and smiled at her friend again, though somewhat sheepishly. "Not sure what I'll do if I e'r see'im again."

[Phoenix]

Amon

Her father was a pirate? That was ... certainly something. Gytha hated being called a pirate, and even 'took them out' for a living ... and here her father was one? He seemed to retain more respect from her than other pirates, though. The whole thing was still kind of shocking for Amon, at least coming all at once. "Well ... at least ... he cares about you, right?" Amon asked referencing the gifts. "I don't think a reunion with him ought to be a bad one, at least." he trailed off, not sure what to say.

[Mercakete]

"Aye, I hope so. If I'm on a job t' protect a ship and he attacks, though, I won't hold back," she replied as they entered the confrence hall.

[Rothene]

Satisfied with how she would be presenting herself, Mireille walked out of her room and reached the meeting place without so much as breaking a sweat. Despite how much she wanted to dedicate herself to be a proper knight, she had not build up any true bond with her armour. It was shiny and new, not the scratched and dented old one she trained with and had reforged as she grew bigger.

Getting a seat, Mireille sat down and looked around at the others that gathered, her eyes resting onger on those whom looked like they had a talent for spellcasting.

[Acacia Sgt]

After traversing the hallways once more, the two reached the conference hall.

<Well, here we are.> John thought. <So now to wait for the rest to arrive.>

So this is the place. But for what would the professor want me here? Sophia wondered.

Edited October 28, 2011 by Acacia Sgt

[Phoenix]

Gabbie

Gabbie quickly flagged down on of the waitresses saying "Glass'a water, please. Extremely cold, thanks."

Departure

Runa didn't travel very far in her retreat from the Weyland estate. She came back to the tree where Norn had left the rabbit. She checked to see if the little creature was still there. It was, just sitting securely inside. As she retrieved it, she thought back to earlier in the day when Norn had been carrying it along; it was one of the few times she was able to see anything cute from the princess. Now she had no idea what to do, with the rabbit, or with herself. She knew that returning to Corvus to inform them of what happened was something she should do, but that was exactly what Steinn wanted her to do, which made things complicated. She had plenty of faith in Valdimarr, but Steinn ... bested them. He'd defeated them long before they ever arrived. The way that fight ended was inevitable.

Runa placed the rabbit down and began folding up the blanket. Once she was finished, she retrieved her dress. She hadn't destroyed hers as Norn had, thankfully. Once she was back in her disguise, she took the rabbit and the blanket and began heading back into Europa. Her ears could make out quite a lot of cheering and ruckus in the distance. She wouldn't be able to travel with the blanket as large as it was when folded, and the rabbit ... she didn't fully trust herself with it, let alone any other fallen she might come across on her way back to Tartarus. Then there was that other feeling. A small part of her really didn't want to go back, just yet. All the food, abundance, and sights were hard to throw away in favor of getting back home ... back home to the lack of food, scarcity, and idiots. This sucks. She thought to herself.

Naddy's Daddy: Destroyers

As the enemies closed in on them, everyone in the squad took a defensive stance, converging toward a single spot, all back to back. "Ah hell, Lieutenant! This could be it!" Donnel shouted.

"No time for jokes! We fight or we die!" Brady shouted back, already in the middle of reloading his rifle.

"Jason! Gonna need your help, here!" Donnel called out. He and Jason charged forward to attack the two shock troopers. The first exchange of blows saw Jason kicked in the chest and sent to the ground; Donnel's arm was grabbed and twisted leaving him wide open for attack. The trooper that knocked Jason to the floor turned to stab Donnel but was shot by Brady first. He survived, but fell to the ground from the neck injury. Next Lupo leaped onto the downed trooper, removed his helmet, and buried a knife into his temple. The other trooper quickly stabbed Donnel through the back with his sword, and then ripped it out before shoving the man toward Lupo.

"Donnel!" shouted Brady. Jason got back on his feet and charged toward the shock trooper. Lupo caught Donnel's bleeding form and held him up. Brady finished reloading and fired a second shot that stunned the trooper long enough for Jason to get in close. With his killing edge in hand, Jason cut right through the trooper's chainmail, slashing his throat wide open. He and Lupo had to drop to the ground as the next hale of projectiles came flying at them from the approaching infiltrators. The squad now had an escape route, but the infiltrators had caught up to them, and turning their backs to run wouldn't see any survivors.

"There's no time to run, now! We've gotta fight back!" shouted Sampson. He fought through his own pain to lift up his lance and rushed toward the firewall carriers alongside Regis. Staggard remained back and waited for a clean shot with Brady. Sampson and Regis were met with a stonewall maneuver and both smacked back hard by the infiltrators. One of them then set aside his shield and revealed a blunderbuss. "... shit." Sampson uttered before being shot in the chest and sent to the ground in a smoking heap. Regis didn't let that slide and took advantage of the break in their defenses. He leaped into the gap and tackled the Skotian gunner before slamming his axe down into his neck. The entire defensive line backed up when this happened, and both Brady and Staggard shot into the gap, their shots passing over Regis and killing an infiltrator further back.

Lupo soon reappeared along with Jason, both charging into the wall of shields. The gap had yet to close, and Regis was just getting up to back off. Lupo tossed her last remaining grenade through the gap and into the midst of the soldiers before leaping to cover. Jason took a risk to help Regis get out as the Skotians scattered. When the grenade went off, the panicked screams finally ceased under a torrent of flying shrapnel and broken armor bits. Jason had barely managed to pull Regis away in time. Staggard put down his bow to see if Donnel was still alive. Fortunately he was; unfortunately he was in no shape to continue fighting. "S-Staggard? Is that you?" Donnel asked. Staggard simply nodded. "... yeah that's definitely you ... ya silent bastard, heheh uuuUUUCAGHCAGH!" Donnel coughed up enough blood to paint his chin red.

The Neviskotian infiltrators were recovering as well. Their casualties were unknown, but most of them were staggering back onto their feet. Brady shot the closest one in the head, blasting off his helmet, and sending a blood splatter straight to into the wall behind him. "Fucking move, I dare you sons'a bitches!" Brady shouted, while struggling to reload. He finished quickly and shot another one dead. "Just give me a target!" The next shot was blocked by a firewall. Brady had to pull back given how close that one was. Jason and Regis were crawling away trying to get onto their feet again, but there were more soldiers right behind them. Lupo kicked one back and then helped Jason up, staying behind only to help Regis next. Jason then ran over to see if Sampson was still alive. Sampson had survived too, but he was in terrible shape. His armor prevented the shot from penetrating, but it was so badly dented in that broken ribs were a very real possibility. The moment he tried to pick Sampson up, the man screamed weakly. He didn't have enough breathing room in his suit for anything louder. "J-just ... leave me ... this is ridiculous."

"Oh shut up, you. I'm not letting you play the fallen hero until you actually do something heroic." Jason shot back.

"You want somethin' heroic ...?" he paused to spit out a bit of blood. "Fine ... move!" he shouted, shoving Jason away just in time for several shots to fly by him. Sampson fell onto his back laughing. "There ... saved your life. Tell your wife and kid once you get the hell outta here." he ended with a wheezing cough. Jason, Regis, and Lupo were the only ones near the infiltrators that could still move under their own power, so they pulled back leaving Sampson behind. Staggard carried Donnel along while Brady covered their retreat.

When an infiltrator discovered Sampson alive, he reached for his combat knife and knelt down over the man. He shook his head at the downed Ursian. <"None of this ever had to happen, but you self righteous scumbags insist that our allies are evil, and all you seem to care about is killing the lot of us. You insist that the whims of faulty gods must be obeyed. You insist many things. Do you want to know what I insist, Ursian?">

"I ... don't ... speak dragonese, you damn dragon courtier." Sampson spat out.

"Heh ... I insist that you kindly fuck off. That is what I insist!" The Neviskotian said before slitting Sampson's throat.

Outside, two dragons fought with the defending forces. They made high speed low altitude passes kicking up as much wind as they could to disorient them and pick off anyone too close one the way. One of them came back for another pass at the wrong angle, however, and was shot in the eye by a well placed ballista bolt. He spiraled downward and crashed into the mansion on the first floor. His crash left him dead in the hallways, cutting off the retreat of Brady's squad. Staggard looked at the dead dragon embedded in the hallway and could only stare in disbelief. "Oh are you fuckin' serious?" Donnel coughed out.

Edited October 29, 2011 by Phoenix

[-Cynthia-]

Veronika

Veronika headed to the conference room and sat down before waiting for the others to arrive. It's certainly taking everyone a while to get here... she thought to herself impatiently, tapping her foot as she did so.

Nadya

Walking through the hallways with Valter, Nadya's eyes lingered on an ornate vase sitting on a table. So shiny, could fetch a high price at market I bet. There aren't any guards around here, I bet no one would- no, bad Nadya keep your eyes on the reward for the mission! she scolded herself before conveniently running into Gytha and Amon.

"Hey y'all!" she greeted them with a hand wave. "Where is everyone else- oh was I interruptin' somethin'?" she asked the pair. The pirate and the palace boy? Stranger things have happened I guess.

Edited October 29, 2011 by -Cynthia-

[Phoenix]

Amon

"Huh? Oh hi, Nadya." Amon replied, looking back to see who was talking to them. "I guess everyone else will show up soon. Weyland came to the dining area to let us know the meeting was about to start." he explained. He looked around the conference room, not sure where to sit. It then occurred to him that it would probably end with Gytha randomly picking a seat and him just tagging along like always. With that in mind, he stopped looking, and started waiting.

Gabbie

The waitress soon returned with their drinks. "Thanks." Gabbie said before quickly downing the glass and handing it right back to her.

[Zsword]

Zel looked at Gabbie with a slightly confused tilt of his head. "You only wanted some water?" He inquired.

Shadrak, well, it was his turn to get lost in the maze that is the Weyland Estate, and it seemed like there was no one around to help him out of it in the immediate vicinity...

[Phoenix]

All That She Wants

"Yep. More convenient than a cold shower." Gabbie replied with a half grin. A soft sigh followed. "Alroight. Let's head over to the meetin' ... and pick up any stragglers we foind on the way~"

[Mercakete]

"Ahoy, Nadya an' ... ... ... ... oth'r jack with Nadya," Gytha greeted Nadya and Valter before adding to what Amon had mentioned, "Ye should find a place t' sit. Don't know when it'll start, after all. C'mon, Amon." With that, she began pulling him along until she found a random place to sit, sat him down by the chair she'd selected for herself and sat down as per Amon's prediction.

~~~~~~~~~~

Norbert was flat out sleeping at this point: head back, eyes closed, mouth ajar, arms crossed and unaware of the world around him. However, like many others, he was in the correct room and seated.

[Snowy_One]

Robin had finished knocking on the doors. It seemed that no one had responded to them, at least in the rooms she had knocked on. With that finished, she quietly headed to the meeting, weapons slung over her back and bear in her arms.

[Snike]

The commute was short, and before Blake knew it, he was in the conference hall. Already seated in front of him were a sleeping Bert (hadn't he been awake just ten minutes ago?), the Skotian lady, John and his priestess friend, Gytha and the Rexian, a knight in ebon armor, and a young blonde-haired noblewoman. What an eccentric group. Regardless, he was getting paid to be part of the band, and missing out on a big meeting would be a major mistake. The newcomer found the chair closest to the center of the hall, and sat down to wait.