Return of the Emblem Chapter Nine: Consolidating Forces

[ReformBlade]

Catching the trinket, Aneda looked it over with a puzzled glance before putting it on. Whatever she thought. "I can star off the round, eh? This should be quick." There was a Norbert trying to cheer her on, that was nice. "Go for a high score? Haha... Yeah I'll try i suppose." Saddling up on Hannah, Aneda felt ready for... a few things. Not everything, just a lot of em. Taking the offensive, Aneda charged Mandy.

http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3542276/

Aneda misses, Mandy hits, totally didn't see that one coming. This is very much a unique situation in which god dammit.

Aneda 11/18

Mandy 21/21

[Eail]

With Batman and Nightwing, Bush and Chenny, Beavis and Butt-head ZACH AND SHADRAK, reaching the Warriors Field, Zach immediately noticed that Mandy seemed to be testing someone, a girl riding a pegasus by the looks of it at current.

'Damn, Joseph wasn't kidding when he said good looking. I suppose the other girl over there is the other one he was talking about, niiiiiice~. Oh yeah, the guy is here too, meh.'

"Hold up a sec" Zach said to Shadrack "We shouldn't interrupt one of these tests, shouldn't be long though."

[Phoenix]

Main Deck

"Oh ... well that's fine, I guess. Though I'm starting to wonder if it was even a good idea to take a break. I'm supposed to be helping decide how we deal with this and I practically ran off." Though, that was only because of the emblem talk. I have no idea how I'm supposed to deal with THAT on top of the real issue right now.

Warrior's Field

Shadrak stopped where he was, giving Zachery an unamused look all the while. "That's stupid. They aren't all fighting that girl, right now. Nadya, Bert, and that new girl are just watching, so I don't see why we can't tell them what's going on. It's up to them if testing with the guild is more important than Raquel's safety."

OoC: The Razor Sword is equipped, so Mandy doubles.

http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3542775/

4,3,4

AUTOHIT ( )

-5 hp

Talitha glanced over at the two arrivals, but it was only a glance. It was more important to keep her eye on the duel. She quickly marked down some more areas down after Mandy's second attack. "Well this is coming along nicely. Just a few more ..."

[Script]

A Man Called Gar

"Heh, not even the most ardent of military men can keep up planning forever, and it's pretty easy to see you're not some crusty old hunchback general with more scars than actual face. And heck, because of my intrusiveness you went right back to planning during your break anyway," Gar explained. "Let'em level their complaints at me, I'm the one who aggravated everything like a jerk anyway." He shrugged.

[Acacia Sgt]

''Well, not that we were making much progress either way.'' John said. ''Not to mention, Reign has still to come back. Who knows, maybe he was successful so when he comes back we can add his findings to our planning. And with that we would be better off in finding a definite plan to stick to.''

[-Cynthia-]

Veronika

"I'm to blame as well," Veronika said simply. Sometimes I forget she's only barely an adult and not an especially world-weary one at that. I have to keep myself focused or my mind will drift...but maybe she isn't the same.

Connor

"Well it doesn't look so terrible, but I'm glad I got a dish I could actually eat," Connor said, noting how much of Davod's plate was still unfinished.

Nadya

Nadya found Aneda's test somewhat dull. She did want to assess the strength of the other group members, but this system the guild was using didn't make much sense to her so it was effectively useless.

Looking around she saw someone familiar and decided to ride over to him, for lack of better things to do.

"Hey Shadrak, ya here to get tested for the tournament too? Ya gonna have to get in line, these tests take a while," she said, sighing a bit.

Clara and Cloe

"Thanks Simon! I'm glad we ran into you," Clara said to him.

"Be sure your report is accurate- Layla has a low tolerance for failure," Cloe said, making a cutting motion across her throat with her finger.

[Phoenix]

Main Deck

"It's okay, I can handle complaints." Raquel replied to Gar before immediately realizing how wrong she was. The last time there were real complaints, she had a lance aimed at her. "We're making some progress, just not a lot for just one hour of planning. Reign and the others probably won't be back for some hours, so maybe we should do something in the meantime. I don't know, like ... scouting the mansion or something?" Wait, that won't work. They know what most of us look like. On the other hand, we could just send people not in the dossiers.

Warrior's Field

"What tournament? Never mind that; we're here to let you know that there's a situation. I'd advise heading back to the Leverager ... unless ... this test is more important, or something." Shadrak replied. "By the way, this guy is part of the situation." he added, pointing a thumb at Zachery.

http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3542867/

2,1,2

AUTOHIT

-3 hp

2,2,5

AUTOHIT

-7 hp

4,6,6

CRITICAL HIT

-16 hp

KO

Aneda hp 0/18

Mandy hp 14/21

"Okay so strength is definitely seven, and stamina is six." Talitha said aloud as she filled in the blanks.

"What else did you get?" Mandy asked.

"Accuracy and speed. All we're missing is magical power and fortune."

"Ugh, fortune always leaves us guessing. Hey Aneda, do you practice magic at all? Like ... at all? If not, we can just put a zero there and move on to the last mark."

Mining Town

Needless to say, Clara's gratitude made Simon happy ... and needless to say, Cloe's warning scared the living crap out of him. "Tis no trouble at all. After all, I am here to help. I will ... be as accurate and forthcoming as possible." he replied.

"If she gets upset with you, just remind her that the more moles she has keeping tabs on Sardis, the more information she'll get." Cecily advised.

"More moles, more information. Yes perhaps that will calm her somewhat if I inadvertently provoke a ... violent response. Hopefully ..."

[Eail]

"Hello" Said Zach to the newcomer, obviously one of Raquel's people. "What he said is true unfortunately, it'll be best if everyone that works with Miss Raquel to be back at the boat for now. Everything can be explained there."

[ReformBlade]

The duel over, Aneda sighed. "Nah I don't dabble in magic at all... And what the hell is fortune? Is that luck? Is that really something you can measure? How do you measure... randomness? Eh whatever..." She had tried her best but didn't feel like a winner or anything good really. "Is there anything else you need me to do, ladies?" She asked, only mildly impatiently~

Davod however, had to stop eating his food, his mouth feeling like it was on fire. Panting, he decided to drink some of the milk brought out to him. The cold, soothing liquid gave him a little shock from the drastic change, but he gave it some time, letting it sit on his tongue for a bit. Eventually he took a gulp of it and set it down before eyeing his plate which was only half eaten. "Gods help me... I seriously thought I ate more than that, this is... this is gonna be tough!" Yes yes, the hardest thing you've ever done! Truly you're in your own personal hell, what with getting a paid meal by a lady and... hell I don't know what the kid is, an intellectual? Yeah I'll go wth that. WOE IS YOU!

[Script]

A Man Called Gar

"There you go," Gar complimented her, sorta. Back to planning now though. "It'd be impossible to check out the mansion interior, gonna have to rely on Zachary for that, but a quick casing of the guards on watch might work. Going in too close is a no, maybe see if there's a spyglass around to borrow or buy so things can be checked out. I'd volunteer myself for checking suitable ambush or defensive locations, but I'm well, me," Gar grinned. "You'd have to have someone else completely trustworthy be sent just keep an eye on me and then if you had that I wouldn't be needed anyway." Gar tilted his head a bit towards the question man. "From that comes the question, single scouts or scout team?"

Edited May 31, 2012 by Script

[Mercakete]

The exchanges were quick and brutal, especially at the end, there. Even with that little trinket -- whatever it was -- Aneda couldn't beat Mandy. Norbert was watching the battle carefully as it played out. She's tougher than she looks -- as expected from a member of the warrior's guild. It seemed like Shadrak and some other guy had wandered over to them. Nadya was already talking to them. They were a bit of a distance away, so the pegasus rider decided to keep his attention on what the guild members and Aneda were saying. It seemed Aneda wasn't quite done yet with her testing. They even test your luck here? Well, that didn't sound pleasant.

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

Gytha had been wandering around the Leverager as her mind drifted. Memories of her naive high hopes on her first voyage, looking too far forward to see what was just around the corner. Idly wondering how the Salty Brine was doing -- if it was busy and bustling or empty and quiet -- and the faintest thoughts drifting towards questions she often pushed to the far corners of her mind. Where was the Saltstraumen right then? What changes has she undergone since Gytha last saw her? Was her captain safe? How did Gytha really feel about all this anyway? What if she could find the answers to her questions? Would she be happy? Angry? Uninterested? Things sure have complicated since back then... Gytha leaned against the guardrail, looking out to the sea. Will Raquel turn out like Captain Grater? Will this time be worse? She said she was goin' t' get t' know us... Onla seems t' talk with a few people, though. Can I trust 'er?

The mariner sighed and watched the light play off of the water. There was a lot to think about. A lot she normally put off thinking about and was considering pushing back again.

[-Cynthia-]

Veronika

"Not sure the rest of us have any experience scouting, so we might be poor choices. I'd normally suggest a wyvern or pegasus, but those might be rare enough around here that it would draw too much attention," Veronika pointed out.

Nadya

"Tournament coming up, groups of three, big gold prize. Ya should consider joining Shadrak, but yeah yeah situation's more important right now I guess," she said, sighing again, before riding back towards the testing area.

"Not to ruin the testin' or anythin', but the boss needs us back at the ship. Some kinda situation accordin' to Shadrak and the other guy," Nadya said to the assorted people in the field.

[Acacia Sgt]

''Pretty much, they'd be easily noticed.'' John commented. ''If only Amon were still with us. He'd certainly be up for the task.''

[Snowy_One]

Robin sighed as she watched the pot before her, bubbling with yummy goodness inside. Already the scent of well-cooked food filled the kitchen with a strong scent of delicious food. She even had cracked a port window or two, not to let the smell out, but to let the cooler air in to help her relax from her cooking. It had been worth it though. Before her sat a pot of venison stew cooked as best as she could manage. A broth that was thick and saucy, but not so viscous as to glop together, veggies cooked to the point where their color brimmed as the taste of stew penetrated them, and meat that was brown and well cooked, yet laden with its juices and laced with broth. A four out of five dish to be certain! The only problems were that she had let the onions cook a bit too long causing them to become too limp and that she hadn't brought enough bay leaves to flavor the stew as she had wanted. As soon as Raquel returned she would gladly present the good food to her.

Thank you Robin. You made good food! I should have trusted you more sooner. You are a valuable member of this team. She could almost hear the praises now! Plus, Bert... You did good Robin. Would you be willing to teach me one day? and Zach... This is the best gift you could have given me Robin upon our reunion. and scumbagpiratepants... I am so sorry Robin. I should never have shot ya. This soup has single-handedly changed my opinion of you! I would love to be your friend again and even teach you how to write common if it will make it up to you.

She took a step back and took a deep breath. Had she laced it with drugs unknowingly? She should know better than that. Still... It was nice to dream as she lowered the fire down to keep the food warm, but no longer cook.

[Mercakete]

Situation? They sure are calm about it. "Was it attacked or something?" Norbert asked, his eyes moving from Nadya to Shadrak, to the other guy and back, not really sure who to aim his question at. I don't think it was if they're behaving like this. It's probably not an emergency and if no one's actually in danger, I'd rather get my testing done before I go back.

[Phoenix]

Main Deck

"If they spot a pegasus or a wyvern flying in circles around the building, they're probably going to figure out it's us ... or at least be suspicious, yeah. Amon could have fit right in around here ..." Raquel commented. Suddenly she wondered what he was up to. Gar's would be volunteer didn't go unnoticed, though. "I honestly wouldn't mind sending you, Gar. I guess I'm trusting too easily here, but if you can handle the job, you might as well. If we can't trust you now, I'm not sure when we'll be able to." She didn't think that was the best reasoning, but she just didn't see him tagging along and fighting any number of battles with them proving he was 'trustworthy'. It'd obviously be a decent enough start but ....

Restaurant

"Okay, good." Gabbie replied to Connor, before giving Davod a sympathetic smile. "It's okay. If you can't take anymore, you can't take anymore." Gabbie assured him. It was fun, but again, she didn't want to have to carry him out of the restaurant. In fact, she would make a point to tell him this. "I don't want to have to carry you out of here, so don't wreck yourself."

Warrior's Field

"Maybe. I'll think about it once the danger passes." Shadrak replied as he crossed his arms. The idea was intriguing but there were more important matters at the moment.

"Don't let the name 'fortune' fool you," Talitha warned. "It's got a short and silly history within the guild. If you want to really comprehend it, just think of it as 'reflex'. People can be pretty fast on their own, but reflex aids greatly with evasion. A long time ago, the comment 'luck' started coming up in fights. It usually happened whenever someone did something impressive, like dodging an arrow they didn't even see coming or evading a blow they really shouldn't have been able to based on their other scores. The directors wanted to start factoring the varying dodging abilities into people's score sheets, and so we had to start finding ways to test for it. The term 'luck' evolved into 'fortune' to make it sound more formal. Either way, that's what stuck, so I've gotten the 'privilege of explaining this all of three hundred times over the course of my career." she explained bitterly, though still managing to keep a normal tone.

"Bravo again, Tali. Fifteen points~" Mandy interjected. "So like she said, it's not as random as it sounds. All we're really trying to figure out there is how much your natural reflexes aid your speed. We could figure that out by comparing your evasion to your attack speed."

I honestly think it's two, but I could be wrong." Talitha noted.

Borderlands

It was approaching the afternoon, and Amon slowly opened his eyes to a terrifying sight. A massive reptilian face staring down at him. The noise and breathing was what woke him up. It took him a moment to realize that it was Haythem's wyvern, Isis. <"What's going on? What's wrong?"> he instinctively asked the wyvern. Forget that she wouldn't understand a word of it. Looking around, he spotted Haythem nearby cloud gazing with Fizza. What? He quickly hopped up and slowly wandered over toward the two.

<"Why does every cloud that comes by look like some kind of weapon to you?"> Haythem asked, sounding confused and bothered.

<"Why do you ask an assassin why she interprets everything as a possible weapon?"> Fizza countered, mimicking his tone and facial expression.

<"Why are you two looking at clouds?"> Amon chimed in.

<"There's not much else to do. We still haven't reached civilization yet."> Haythem replied with a sigh. <"What's worse, with Isis, I'm not sure people around these parts won't freak out at the mere sight of us. Perhaps my coming with was a mistake, after all.">

<"Pff, how else are we going to get around quickly? Let them freak out; we need Isis."> Fizza reassured him.

<"If you say so, but I don't want to have to camp out all of the time ... I'm starting to miss Sanctuary already. I'm sure Malik is, too.">

Fizza quickly stood up. With the cloud watching done, it was time to talk mission specifics. <"So, Amon, where do you think we're likely to find an emblem piece we can bring back to your dream goddess?">

Amon tried not to blush and shook his head. <"There's only one other emblem piece we know about ... so we might want to look into ways of getting it.">

<"You mean those shady people who were after that Raquel girl, right? Should we really be messing with them?">

<"I'm not sure we have the numbers for that ..."> Haythem noted quietly.

Amon shrugged. <"They're already our enemies. We should consider it if nothing else turns up, at least.">

[Script]

A Man Called Gar

"Well, well, well, looks like I'm playing scout," Gar said. So much trust so easily was so disturbingly stupid. Not that he should be getting mad since it was letting him solve the problems, but plenty of people would so easily take advantage of her thinking like that. Hell, maybe they already had. Well, better not bring that up right now. He looked at the wagon. "You have any light green materials inside this thing? Cloaks, to be specific. Spyglass too, I'll borrow one from the Captain though if you don't have any. And--oh yeah--I don't think I actually know where this manse is. I've kinda been presuming its outside the city haven't I? Unless only Zachary knows where it is, then we're back to playing the waiting game."

[Mercakete]

Danger, huh? If it's so urgent, why aren't they acting like it is? Maybe it's a looming threat or something. Not like that's anything new. As he listened to the Fallen girl explain how "fortune" worked, it began to make more sense. Ah, so that's what they meant. I wonder how they'll test for it... I guess they'll just keep shooting those arrows at us and see how well we avoid them then subtract our attack speed. It sounds like Aneda's almost finished. He was wanting more and more to get this testing finished. Now, not only to get Riz away from people wanting to buy her or because he was excited to see his own scores, but because there seemed to be something at least somewhat important going on at the Leverager and that was making him...unsettled.

[Acacia Sgt]

''It is outside the city itself.'' John said. ''He didn't go into details, but he did mentioned it's near the edge of some woods.''

Edited May 31, 2012 by Acacia Sgt

[ReformBlade]

"Well... why don't you just call it reflex then if that's what you're really referring to? Seems smarter to just cut the middleman and not aim for another hundred explanations. And frankly, I'd imagine most competent fighters would be smart enough to know a difference between raw speed and reflexes or agility." Aneda commented and then had Hannah trot over to Mandy to hand over the Lucky Charm. "Thanks but I don't think it helped much, haha... I think you're simply out of my league right now, no amount of luck would have helped. But... agh it looks like there's a problem elsewhere, so unless there's something else necessary for me to do I need to go..."

Davod gave Gabbie a rather annoyed look, "I ain't never seen a person get knocked out by food before outside of outright poisoning, and I doubt I'll be doing just that, oh ye of little faith!" he said, pointing at her in matter of fact manner. "However..." he said, looking at the half empty plate again, "I don't think I'll be stomaching this much more, hehehe..."

[Snike]

"Hopefully they aren't trigger happy as well," Grant remarked in a nonchalant manner, as he put away his crossbow bolts and pulled up his hood. "That wouldn't end well for either party. Anyways, lead the way, Mister Reign."

[Phoenix]

Main Deck

"You'll have to go to the captain for a spyglass. I lost mine." Raquel replied. "As for green materials, none yet, but I know how to get some if you have some time. Since I have no idea where the manse is, I could work on the green cloak while we wait for Zachery." That suggestion came with an overdue shrug.

Restaurant

"Tell ya what, I'll have all the faith in the world, if you stop coughing." Gabbie quickly replied, trying not to laugh.

Neela was making her rounds again and couldn't help but spare Davod's table some attention. Portions of the food and drinks she'd brought him were gone, so it seemed he was in the middle of the battle with his meal. "Well at least he's not screaming or anything. I guess it was prepared properly this time. That's good." she said to herself from afar.

Arena

"Mmm, do me a favor and take the hood off once we get there." Reign added.

"You poor vigilantes. There's nothing you can do to keep infiltrators out of your midst, especially not those worthy of the title. If you were strong, you wouldn't have to be so incredibly wary." came some rude commentary from Claudia. Reign winced a bit in response. He didn't completely disagree with her, but no one was truly invincible as far as he knew. 'Strong' couldn't do much about a gunshot wound to the head in one's sleep, after all. "Okay, then. You two are off to meet with this friend of his ... Haidar, deliver my message to father, and then return here with his reply."

"Yes, Ma'am." Haidar replied submissively.

Warrior's Field

"I already told you, it stuck. Nothing I can do about it; the guild's been around for decades." Talitha replied to Aneda. She seemed to become even more agitated once it was clear that few if any of them were going to stick around for further testing. She didn't like coming all the way out to the field for nothing. She didn't need to say anything else for the moment, since Mandy was addressing the other part.

"Well your scores are useless if they're incomplete, and even with a full sheet, we'll need your information for our records. No point having a bunch of marks if we have no idea who they belong to, and such." Mandy explained.

[Script]

A Man Called Gar

Getting a green cloak was more standard operating procedure, but the manse actually being near the woods was quite a good stroke of fortune. Still, concrete locations would help. "Doubt it's manse central out there, but yeah, guess I'll take your idea Raquel and wait it out for Zachary to get back. So that'll give me the time you asked about that I could also use to be getting a spyglass." Gar answered. "Looks like a plan's coming together."

Edited June 1, 2012 by Script

[ReformBlade]

"Then like I keep asking, what else do you need? I'm not saying I'm cutting out, I'm saying what do I need to do to make this faster!" Aneda said, a whee bit frustrated at... who knows what.

Davod, however... Oh for God's sake, what is he doing now?

"Prepare to be fucking amazed, Miss. I will eat this without coughing!" Indeed... for some reason, this sounded like a good idea, but... he stuffed his face full of the rice, leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms, merely chewing it in slow contemplation, like he just realized how bad this was going to turn out. All he did was chew, the spiciness obviously getting to him, but he did not cough, so he decided to give Gabbie a glance. "Eh? Eeeeh?" Was all he was gonna get out before he laughed again. The silliness finally dawned on him.

[Phoenix]

Main Deck

"Yeah. As long as Zachery isn't back in the next twenty to thirty minutes, I'll probably finish in time." she replied, trying to figure how long it would take her to acquire a green cloak. She had a few options, but her favorite was sitting around a half hour's worth of work, assuming everything she needed was aboard the Leverager.

"Oi!" came a random sailor's voice. Raquel assumed it was aimed at her, but the second she glanced at the source, she saw that the man was calling to other sailors. He jogged over toward them as several of them gathered. "Smells like dinner's almost ready~" he informed them

"Dinner? It's the middle of the afternoon." another asked, wondering why it would be so early.

"Are you complaining about free food?"

Raquel cocked her head at the conversation, wondering if they were talking about Robin's food preparations. She didn't smell anything, herself, but the galley was at the back of the ship and they were far closer to the front end. The bit of enthusiasm there was made the situation a little sad for her. "They're going to be disappointed. I doubt Robin's making enough for everyone ..."

Restaurant

And amazement was forged within Gabbie's very soul from gazing at this incredible semblance of badassery. She wasn't sure if he was going to keel over or go into hysterics soon or what, but if he didn't, that was going to be one hell of a story she was a part of~ "Wow ... that's ... yeah, that's pretty amazing. Are you gonna be alroight?"

"Oh gods no ..." Neela said aloud in the background as she saw Davod downed much more of the food all at once.

Warrior's Field

"Just your 'reflex', luckily." Mandy replied. "Tali said she thinks a two but if she's not sure, she's not sure." After that, she shrugged. "I'm willing to bet Tali's guess is right on, but she's worried about what being wrong might do to her reputation. All I think we need now is for you to sign your name and a few other details on a form, and then we'll get you a score card made that you can use."

"Here." Talitha chimed in again, handing Aneda a fresh pen and notebook. Sitting on top of the book were a small stack of identical forms, but the one on top had everything filled in but the fighter's name and 'fortune' rank. "Just sign your full name here, and then come back to the guild in a few hours."

"A real shame we only finished one ..." Mandy frowned. "Oh well."