Return of the Emblem Chapter Eight: Affairs of the World

[Acacia Sgt]

Robin fired. John attempted to put his shield in position. Despite so, the arrow proved to be faster than him. On the other hand, said arrow missed him, even if by so little.

<That was a close one.> He thought. <Now's my chance.> He took charge on this opening, and quickly reached her. Since this was a sparring match, instead of a thrust, John swung the lance and hit her with the side of it.

http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3382642/

(5,3,6)

Target: Robin

6+5 = 11 > 9 HIT

Damage: 6+3 = 9-3 = 6

[Remaining HP:

John 24/24

Robin 6/12]

<Not enough...> After his action, he then jumped backwards, and put his shield at the ready once more.

Edited February 19, 2012 by Acacia Sgt

[Snowy_One]

Robin cried out in pain as the lance struck her side. Unlike John, she lacked armor of any sort. Even in her normal clothes, they were meant for covering, not protection. With a quick burst, holding her side, Robin darted a short distance away before knocking a second arrow, this time actually aiming for John...'s chest plate where she felt certain the arrow would bounce off without any harm. Still, she could feel the flesh on the side of her body bruising up as she pulled back the arrow to fire a second shot at John.

Robin attack! 1, , 3.14: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_pie HIT! FOR AN AMAZING AMOUNT OF NO DAMAGE! BOO YEA!

[Acacia Sgt]

Another arrow came his way. John was once again too slow to block it... except his armor did the job on it's own anyway. <Time to end this...>

John charged again. Lance at the ready for another swing, scoring another hit. But he didn't stopped there, he raised his arm and swung again, this time at the stomach.

http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3382688/

http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3382689/

(5,2,3)

6+5 = 11>9 HIT

6+2 = 8-3 = 5 Damage

[Robin's HP: 1/12]

(6,6,4)

6+6 = 12>9 HIT

6+6 = 12-... does it matter at this point?

<Not what I expected... then again, her arrows were too fast to be able to block them.>

Edited February 20, 2012 by Acacia Sgt

[Snowy_One]

The blow struck Robin hard in the belly, knocking the breath from her lungs. She collapsed to the ground, desperately gasping for air in the now-familiar 'Robin is defeated' position that had, sadly, become very common for her of late. "*cough* *cough* *gasp* *cough* I- *Wheeze* yeil*gasp*d. *cough cough*."

[Mercakete]

"Are you alright?" Norbert asked, slightly concerned at how much Robin was caughing. The fight its self lasted longer than the fights Norbert generally got into, but it was a bit of a pathetic display. Robin's arrows were no match for John's armor and she didn't keep the distance between her and John very well at all. "That wasn't the best match-up..." he mumbled to himself. Hmm best to keep Robin away from wyvern riders, I guess.

[Snowy_One]

"Yes." she said after catching her breath at last with a large inhale. "Thank you... I do not think I could have won without seriously hurting John though. He was too fast for me as well."

[Acacia Sgt]

<Looks like I overdid it.> John thought. ''Sorry about that.'' He said to Robin, stretching out a hand so she could get up. ''Too fast? Heh, I'd say you were fast as well. I was no match for blocking for arrows.''

Sophia quickly approached the scene as well once she was Robin fall and start to cough. Fortunately, it turned out Robin was only gasping for breath. It didn't looked like she suffered internal damage or anything.

[Snowy_One]

"You hit me hard in the ribs. I can feel the bruises already. I can only hope that the pain does not affect my accuracy. Clearly you are the stronger warrior than me and I have failed. I must become stronger and better, but I do not know how."

[Mercakete]

"Well, I'd reccomend working out more often and eating food that will help your muscles grow more easily," Norbert suggested as he stood up from where he'd been sitting and resting his poleaxe on his shoulder again. "Don't expect results right away, but it should help in the long run."

From there, the pegasus rider Stretched his back, rising onto his toes, then returning to a normal standing position. "Well, I'm ready for another roud. Who wants to fight me?" he challenged. Really, any of them would make a good sparring partner. Each were beyong him in various forms of combat, though he liked sparring with Blake because he felt they were fairly equally matched.

[Snowy_One]

"I already do! I eat a lot of meat and work out hunting often! I do not have to physically rush after my quarry though. I ambush them with one well-placed shot and let them bleed out. Unless I can hit a vital organ, I do not have much of a choice. I will challenge again if you think I am weak."

[Acacia Sgt]

''Well then, it shall be against me.'' John answered. <Fighting consecutively... at least it shall test my endurance then.> He thought.

[Mercakete]

Well, it looked like he got two answers to his challenge. Robin apparently thought he thought she was weak and was challenging him to an honor match or something while John seemed eager to try his hand against Norbert in battle. Such ready responces got him thinking for a moment. Either I'm respected as a fighter, they think they can easily beat me, or a lot of people would just love to punch me in the face. ... Eh. The last one's probably true but irrelivant.

"I'll fight you after I see how well I do against John," Norbert told Robin before readying his poleaxe and shifting his attention to the wyvern rider, "I don't have Splinter and Crunch with me now so it stands to reason I won't always be able to rely on them. It's kind of funny, though. We're both usually in the air when we do battle. We should spar with Gil and Riz sometime. But for now, do you want to attack first or should I?" I wonder how well I'll do. John isn't easy to phase or damage. I'll just have to try to punch through that armor and avoid the shield.

[Acacia Sgt]

''Hm, that wouldn't be a bad idea.'' John commented. ''But for now, we fight on foot.'' He placed himself in position again. ''I'd say... you first.''

[Mercakete]

"No complaints here," Norbert responded with a shrug. John did well at covering any openings there might have been. I'll just have to make one. With that thought, Norbert attempted a feign, charging in and swinging his poleaxe.

WTA!

((4+2)+3)-5 = 4 = hit!

(5+2)-12 = no damage

The feign worked well-ish. It was hard to change the direction of the unwieldy poleaxe too much, but he was able to land a hit, even if it was waekened by the direction change. His poleaxe just bounced off of John's armor, though. Norbert kept to his feet as best he could in a light retreat for John's counterattack. It's going to be hard to avoid his attack with this big axe...

[Acacia Sgt]

And so Bert charged. John didn't expected the direction change of the axe, but it proved to be of no major concern. <Bad mistake.> He thought. <Alright, here it comes.> So he now ran straight at Bert. Like with Robin, he swung his lance, but unlike before, it was actually a weaker swing.

http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3382817/

(2,1,3)

6-2 = 4+2 = 6=6 HIT

6+1 = 7-3 = 4 Damage

[bert's HP: 11/15]

But soon after making contact, he withdrew his lance, put his shield in front, and rammed with it.

(6,5,3)

6-2 = 4+6 = 10>6 HIT

6+5 = 11-3 = 8 Damage

[bert's HP: 3/15]

He quickly tried to stop himself. After all, such a move was prone to leave him open if Bert could recover quickly from it.

[Phoenix]

Meeting With Paz

Once she found out where the armory actually was, Raquel headed there. Rasha stayed with her and Veronika if only to give the soldiers the impression that there was some supervision going on in the fort. Regardless, she knew the fastest route back to the palace and so it was a good idea for her to remain with them for the time being. They found Paz just outside of the armory as Commander Aziz had told them. Introductions were made, Adel's order was relayed, and Paz brought them into the armory to have a look around. 'House of Weapons' could have easily summed up the place. There were counters and a few island displays as well as racks lining all of the walls. There were also a few doors leading into other somewhat identical rooms.

It was a curious sight, but now Raquel wanted to get the Dauntless; with it at the fort, she could more easily transfer bought and sold goods. It was back at the palace, though ... and hardly ready for travel. Convenient in some ways, frustrating to no end in others, she thought. All she had with her was her inventory notebook. She figured it would start off with inventory checks, so she exchanged her notebook with Paz's; his was much larger even though the information was more concise and written smaller. She could only gawk as she went through it all. Paz smiled while looking through her notebook, though. There were some items he found himself wanting, after all. The only matter left to deal with now was purchases and sales.

Thinking back to the previous time they'd dealt with a military in this manner, Raquel thought it best to inform the others that they could have a look through the armory as well. Raquel could hardly get into trouble while doing business, so Rasha decided to relay the message while they stayed put.

Bad News

Rasha noticed Amon, Haythem, Malik, and some other woman on her way out. It wasn't exactly her business yet, so she went on her way, heading back toward the palace. A moment later, Lulu appeared out from the nearby stables with about ten guards and her hooded cloak on, again. She and her entourage approached Amon and the others, prompting all of them save for Fizza into stiff stance. Glancing back to see Lulu approaching them, she became just a little too interested to leave well enough alone and wandered over to see what was going on. With the men at attention, Lulu greeted them. <"I'm glad to see you're alright, but who is this woman with you?">

<"She's ..."> Amon began and then paused. He was generally honest, but he knew there was almost no chance he could keep Fizza out of cuffs without a very well played revelation. That wasn't his forte; she was out of luck if he had to be the one to say it. Haythem and Malik weren't speaking up either, though.

<"I'm Fizza. Keep your guards back for a moment, would you? I'd like to be civil about this."> Apparently she was taking matters into her own hands. Probably for the best, Amon felt.

<"I'm listening.">

<"Now there is no good place to start, so I'll just tell you straight, that the Tide discovered the location of your little Sanctuary here and sent the information off before your boys ever arrived. The spy you sent was tortured to death ... after a druid got into his head and got enough information to complete the charting mission. So yes ... you have an armed counteroffensive on the way in the near future. Don't blame these guys, though. They did their best and you will have a surrender from the group we left back in the mountains."> she explained, all in just a few breaths.

Lulu looked up, the shadows cast by her hood fading up to her forehead. <"They already sent off the-How do you know about this? Who are you, really? Are you one of them?">

<"Yes and no. I betrayed the Tide and saved all three of them. Why? Well with Sanctuary discovered, they're going to do some 'unkind' things to you Sancturans and I don't want to be on the receiving end of Aisha's wrath. A war against her was never feasible, and even now they have no hope of ever removing her from power. I only worked with them because I needed to eat, and it's good work if you don't have a conscience. I don't. I agreed to cooperate with them and even help you guys out with information and the like if you keep your cuffs and chains to yourself.">

<"Who agreed to this?"> Lulu asked, sounding angry.

<"Amon did."> Malik spoke up.

<"... fine. You if you really saved their lives out there, then we owe you that much, but you are not to be armed while within city limits, and you'll be confined to the Low Quarters for the time being.">

<"Ehhhhh it's better than nothing ... though with the way you people act, I'm wondering if it wouldn't just be better to head for Port Temptress instead of sticking around here."> Fizza commented, getting into thinking gestures.

<"If you're going to give us information, then we obviously need you here.">

<"Oh High Priestess ..."> Rasha approached. <"You should probably know that Raquel just met with Commander Aziz, and she got permission to trade with us. She's at the armory right now. I was heading back to inform her other mercenaries that they're free to browse the inventory as well.">

<"Thank you for letting me know. I won't keep you."> Lulu replied with a nod. <"Amon. Haythem and Malik, you too. Go back to the palace and wait for me in my office ... ... I've got questions of my own about the Tide so ... you go with them, as well ... Fizza.">

<"Why certainly, High Priestess."> Fizza replied in a patronizing fashion.

Relaying Information

Rasha arrived back at the palace and the first ones she encountered were those in the courtyard. There seemed to be sparring matches going on. She didn't think it was the best place to be doing that, but at least they were out in the open and no one would be suspicious of them ... annoyed by them possibly, but not suspicious. She didn't want to interrupt the duel, so walked around in a long orbit before standing near Sophia and Robin. There was no rush, so she could wait until the duel finished before explaining the situation at the armory ... provided no one wanted to know right then and there.

[Mercakete]

The lance forcefully put some distance between him and John, but it wasn't anything he couldn't recover from. He wasn't expecting the follow-up shield-bash, though, which nearly knocked him onto the ground. He looked a little silly trying to regain his balance for a moment, but just threw his weight forward to compensate and swung his poleaxe with all his might at John in a counterattack.

WTA!

((4+2)+6)-5 = 7 = hit!

(5+6)-12 = close, but not enough str to damage.

Norbert's poleaxe connected with John's shield, hitting with enough force to move the wyvern rider and to jerk his shield arm away. It was a very mighty blow, but John's armor, shield, and sturdy skill protected him from even that all-out attack. He paused for a moment, then suddenly began to lower his axe as his composure began to crumble. "Tch-- hmheheh... Hehehahahahah hahahahahaha! Aaah, John, I just can't break your defenses!" he laughed. He was acting as though someone had just said something incrediably funny, leaning on his poleaxe and laughing to himself. "I hit you as hard as I could, but I just can't break through! Sure, I made an opening with that last attack, but I can tell right now it's futile. You win!" He seemed oddly delighted at the results of the spar.

[-Cynthia-]

Veronika

Veronika browsed through the weapons the Rexian armory held. They were interesting and probably quite usable, but she eventually settled on buying nothing. The blade she had taken from home had served her well enough thus far and she saw no need to obtain a replacement.

After perusing the wares for herself, she turned her attention back to Raquel. "So, I suppose we'll need to get the wagon here then? Won't be the easiest driving conditions, these streets are narrower than I'm used to. Probably not as much traffic here in Sanctuary as there is in Ursentius or Kievan Rus," she commented.

Selene

"Ah yes, the seemingly endless battle over Urcenter. I'm sure General Remus can retake it, but we'll never be able to mount much of an offense against Neviskotia until we find a way to either beat or circumvent that navy of theirs," Selene replied to Capaberra, her voice laced with irritation.

[Acacia Sgt]

His shield got deflected, but it was alright, at least he had managed to block it. Despite being left open, Bert decided to stop.

''Heh, you're not bad either.'' John said, putting down his arms, the fight now over. ''I can tell your blows are quite strong regardless.''

It was this now that he finally noticed their little crowd had gotten bigger. <Hm, that's one of the Maidens from the Guest Quarters.> He noted.

[Snowy_One]

"That leaves just you and me Bert."

[Mercakete]

I haven't had any time to rest, but I feel well enough for another spar. Norbert pushed himself off of his poleaxe and rested it on his shoulder again as he turned to face Robin. Something caught his attention, though. Next to her and Sophia was one of the maidens. "Huh. Decide to watch?" Norbert asked the maiden before locking eyes with Robin and jerking his head to indicate she should move away from the noncombatants for their spar. "Come on, Robin. I saw you fight, but I'm curious about actually fighting you myself."

[Phoenix]

Raquel

"Well carrying things back and forth from here to the palace is no good, and we might actually be leaving today if everyone's feeling well ... so I guess once Paz decides what he wants from me and I find some new equipment I can afford from him, we'll go get the wagon, bring it here, and make the exchanges." Raquel replied, visualizing each step of the process as she spoke.

Rasha

"For the moment. I'm actually here to let you know that Raquel has gotten permission from Commander Aziz to do business here. If you would like to peruse our weapons and armor down at the armory, feel free to do so. If you don't know where that is, just ask someone around the palace to take you there." Rasha explained. "If it's not too much to ask, could you inform anyone else in your group? I'm going to head over to the guest quarters, but I may not come across everyone."

Capaberra

"Perhaps Weyland should shift his inventive genius away from ground based armor and focus on naval advancements. It is difficult to compete with their naval industry, but we are blessed in the simple fact that it costs them a great deal more to sustain such a mighty navy. Their economy is much more fragile than ours. Perhaps that would be a better place to strike. Hmm." casual discussion or not, they were at war with Neviskotia, and anything that resembled a viable strategy was worth dwelling on, even if it had been tried before. There always seemed to be a 'new' way of accomplishing a given task, Capaberra had learned in his time as an officer.

[Acacia Sgt]

Those were certainly interesting news. <The armory huh.> John thought. <Hm... sure, why not. I may find something of use there.>

''Excuse me, can you please tell us where the armory is right now?'' He asked.

[Snowy_One]

"I shall try not to disappoint, especially since you do not wear armor as heavy as John, so I can actually shoot at you without shooting your eye out." she said with a smile before taking several paces. She turned about and pulled out one of her arrows and, with a wicked grin, looked at him. This would be perfect revenge for their arguments! A chance to justifiably hurt him!

And... What? He is a Urswine... but... Robin sighed as she pulled back her arrow.

"I am ready Bert! Beat me and I will make you a knife myself!" she said before she focused on her target and then... let her arrow fly!

The arrow shot forwards, well-aimed, as it shot towards Bert's knee. She wasn't going to hurt him, not really, but she was not going to lose so easily as she had done so just a moment ago!

Robin: 1, 6, 2. http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3383086/ Hit for 9 (6+6-3) damage!

Robin HP: 12/12

Bert HP: 6/15

[Mercakete]

Well, that was interesting news. Norbert was listening to the conversation, about to speak up when Robin started talking. Idly, he wondered if he had time to talk to the maiden, but then Robin offered to make him a knife if he won, which caught him off-guard and puzzled him for a second before he had to hastily raise his weapon and one of her sharp sticks pricked his knee with enough force to make him whince. Though he had no idea why she chose that target. Immobilization? He wouldn't be moving as quickly, but why didn't she aim for his chest or head? Or even his shoulder? It wasn't like his poleaxe was a light weapon. I'll just fight. he decided. So, he began closing the distance between them as quickly as he could. If she retreats, I won't be able to get as many swings in before she nocks another arrow.

(4+2)-9 = Miss

And, she retreated, easily avoiding the poleaxe's wide swing at Norbert's more sluggish pace. She also seemed to be much quicker than he'd anticiapated. I guess she has to rely on that. I have to be careful. He was a tad frusterated, but it was a good tactic to buy her time if she didn't think she could make the shot earlier, he had to admit.