Return of the Emblem Chapter Nine: Consolidating Forces

[roymbrog]

After another half hour of searching, Valter finally found a familiar face. Phyllis was tied up just outside a rather large building, the arena if he remembered right. What on earth would Synthia be doing there...?

-----

“Wait, wait! Where are we going?” Torin ran up the stairs after the departing figure. He caught up at the arena floor. “I know the guard let us go, but you're leaving everyone behind you know.”

Synthia didn't slow down, much less stop. “They don't have to come. I'm just getting money to pay the entrance fee.”

“So you are sponsoring?” Torin asked.

“I'm entering.”

The kid almost tripped over himself. “You... what? But you're a girl!” Synthia gave him a glance, and Torin backtracked. “Uh, I mean, you're not really equipped for it, you know? Arena contestants usually have armor and stuff.”

Synthia was miffed. Hadn't he witnessed her magic prowess firsthand? Actually, really, yeah. He probably had a point. “I'm a healer, I don't need armor,” she said, crossing her arms. “Besides, I have to enter on a team. I'll just grab someone else who has some, like that guy.” She pointed to some dude sweeping the stalls. Wait, that was odd. “..Why is he wearing armor, and why the hell is it so gaudy? That's a crime against fashion if I've ever seen one...”

“Oh, oh, that's Fred. Hey Fred, wanna be in the tournament?!”

“Shut up! I didn't actually mean him.”

Edited June 13, 2012 by roymbrog

[-Cynthia-]

Veronika

Veronika unceremoniously grabbed one of the prepared stew bowls and sat near Raquel. She ate some of the stew as she listened, not really paying much attention to it.

"Actually I suspect our enemies do spend a lot of time planning- that attack on Weyland's estate probably took months to plan. Seems to be a pretty organized Organization- someone with experience is running their operations I wager. Probably ex-military," she guessed as she ate some more.

Connor

Connor sat down watched people eat the stew, which he found pretty dull. He was wondering when they'd discuss what was going on, though he figured he wouldn't be directly involved anyway.

[Acacia Sgt]

Seems talk had begun, though not completely regarding their attack on the cult tonight. Despite not being on the same table, it was still within earshot.

''Months?'' Sophia turned to face the table with Raquel and the others. ''Have you been in contact with the professor for that long?''

''Considering what they were after,'' John spoke up, not bothering to turn. ''Either they must've had the foresight Raquel would try to get in touch with him, or it was an unfortunate coincidence.'' He finished before taking another bite. ''Or to take a third option, they were able to plan that in just days after our first leave knowing we'd be back.''

[Phoenix]

Leverager

"Weyland is the one that made Chip's gun, and he's a friend of my fathers." Raquel answered.

"So I'm guessing the attack on Weyland's home was unsuccessful? Seems like it could have been either or; them attacking to get to Weyland-who's useful of and by himself, or to get Raquel ... or more likely changing the plan at the last minute to achieve both. I've seen that happen, before." Reign commented.

"They actually succeeded in capturing me, but that ended up working out in the end. An Ursian battalion that came to Weyland's aid tracked them down. I'm sure they inflicted a lot of casualties." Raquel explained. And then everything went to hell and now we're a thousand miles from home ...

Ursian battalion? I wonder who's. I'd ask, but now's not the time. Hell, I'm sure it wasn't Nadine's or Raquel would have mentioned it.

Danton ... ugh. Sooner or later, I need to find out whether they've got people listening, or if he's someone from the past. My past. I keep trying and trying but I have no freaking idea who that man is. I don't even feel like I might know him ... nothing familiar about him at all, and yet, he knows me ... thought Gabbie as she continued to eat, donning a bit of a hostile look as she did.

[-Cynthia-]

Connor and Veronika

"Uncle made Chip's gun? I didn't recognize it- then again Uncle doesn't make much monkey-sized weaponry," Connor commented.

"Yes, for all we know Sardis could already be dead. That battalion that came from Europa was no laughing matter. In a way, being sent to Purgatory was a favor, having to travel with the Ursian military was...uncomfortable," Veronika noted.

[Acacia Sgt]

''I doubt it was one-sided at any rate.'' John said, finally turning as well. ''Since didn't they had one of the pieces at the time? I'm sure that made a good dent to the Ursium military, considering he alone was crushing tanks left and right. So at the very least the winning side got crippled considerably. But yeah, that was fortunate. Having to deal with the military soon after those coffins was bound to not end well.''

''At least until we head back to Ursium.'' Sophia said. ''Then it would be back to having to deal with both of them.''

Edited June 12, 2012 by Acacia Sgt

[Phoenix]

Leverager

"Oh if only ..." Raquel replied sorrowfully at Veronika's comment about Sardis. "It sounds like you guys didn't enjoy having all of that backup. What happened, exactly?"

Reign was suddenly curious, so cut in after Raquel's question. "Coffins? Purgatory?"

"It's ... really complicated ..."

"No, just impossible to believe." Gabbie teasingly corrected.

[Mercakete]

Oh that was just loads of fun. Norbert sarcastically thought at the memory of the last time they were in Ursium. Recalling it, it was just one thing after another. We had to work with the military and got warped to Purgatory by those maniacs. And that was caused by Raquel getting stolen by those creeps. And during that fight I wasn't even conscious. And before that there was that situation with the Fallen. That particular memory was a particularly disturbing series of events. That was when I really began to understand what the Fallen were. That prince guy explained it pretty well. He thought bitterly. They're just a bunch of weird magic-users with wings and tails and a superiority complex...and they have the power to back up their claims, blast it.

He was eating slowly, chewing on the chunks of venison as he meditated darkly on his experience with the Fallen, now including when they'd fought their vicious beasts in Kigen and seeing what the ones with white feathers did to those mercenaries, though his primary focus was when the Fallen princess had cast that strange spell on him. His grimace intensified as his free hand moved up to his chest. ... I still don't know what that was. It wasn't like any other spell I've suffered... It just...crawled into me. His jaw clenched. When Steinn pulled it out, it was like it was digging in its claws -- like it didn't want to leave. Spells don't have minds of their own, do they? And I've never heard of anyone being turned to stone before, much less experienced it.

The tide of the conversation turned somewhat as Raquel asked what had happened regarding the military and Reign sounded curious about the following circumstance. "It was supposed to look like a Neviskotian attack, so the military got involved," Norbert spoke up, still brooding and in a fairly foul mood, "They went to hunt down our enemies, too, but for different reasons. We went in to find you while they fought the enemies outside. You know the rest: we were attacked by some nutcase and his girlfriend. She could control these magic coffins. I'm not sure what they were made out of -- maybe steel -- but they fought us like normal enemies. When we defeated them, the whole fortress we were in was warped to Purgatory."

[Acacia Sgt]

''You could say it was their attitude.'' John answered. ''They basically took charge which didn't sit well with everybody.'' He shrugged. ''Also, it was probably just being cautious. After all, you know the implications of military presence, especially if they're Wrathites.'' That alone spoke for itself, should send the message quite well.

[Eail]

"<You know cooking was never my strong point, but hey that's what I had you and mom for right? And yeah I can take the stew out to the rest of them>" Said Zach as he managed to hold onto all the bowels as he left the kitchen. Walking over to those without food yet he sat down the stew infront of them before walking back down to a table and began to scarf down his own food at an amazing pace.

[Snowy_One]

A fresh and sticky pool of some sort of goop that Fred didn't particularly want to know the origin of rested upon the floor of the stand. It had proven particularly troublesome to clean up as he had been fervently sweeping at it for the past five minutes to almost no avail. To make it worse, he had been working all day and he could feel the heat beginning to rise inside his armor. Exhaustion and manual labor were taking their toll bigtime. He felt almost like he was being crushed under it's weight! He needed to take a seat.

As he sat down upon an overturned bucket, wiping his brow, he looked down to the ground at the bothersome goop. How had he come to this? He wasn't some commoner sweep! He was an alchemist! A warrior! A thespian! A great mind! A... man with no money working off a debt bigger than his children could repay sweeping up unknowable items in an arena stands. Then, the call came to him.

"Hey Fred, wanna be in the tournament?!”

His head instantly snapped up. Down below, on the arena floor, was two people. A brat, and a gorgeous woman of beauty reserved for those of the soft and gentle nature of healing. A wondrous gift to be sure. Fred quickly stood upright as she called up to him before he started to walk down.

"Indeed. If the fair lady has requested it, I would be more than glad to protect her in a tournament. I assume that the prize is money? Though, I do not mean to imply that I am in this for it, just that it would be a big help. Alas, fair miss, I am one caught in a fiscal bind that prohibits me from entering solely to protect your honor."

---

Robin sighed as she watched Zach go out to the group. It seemed that the people were generally enjoying her cooking. That alone made her very happy. She had put a lot of work into making sure that this went right and didn't end up in a kitchen fire or summoning some elder god or something equally horrible and her effort had paid off.

"Please, eat up everyone. I made this stew for you, and I am glad to see that you are enjoying it." she said to the group as a whole.

Edited June 13, 2012 by Snowy_One

[roymbrog]

“Uh... what?” The confusion was obvious on Synthia's face. Why did he talk like that? And why was he calling her fair? “No, no, no, it's fine. I already have, uh, plenty of bodyguards to choose from. There's no need to inconvenience yourself,” she said, slowly attempting to walk away.

“She's rich,” Torin said, nodding. He just barely dodged a blow from Synthia, and ran behind Fred to protect himself. “What? What did I do?”

“Idiot, I don't need more people trying to mooch off me, you're bad enough!”

[Snowy_One]

"A mooch? Alas, you have wounded me fair dame. I am no mooch. I am a bright, brilliant, charming warrior deserving of every penny spent upon me... which at the moment is probably none seeing as I am volunteering. Never the less, even without your purse, to simply have attained the money from the tournament would be well for paying off my, unfair, debt."

[roymbrog]

“Uh huh. Well, if you were willing to pay your own entry fee I might consider it, but you mentioned you have money problems. So yes, you are indeed a mooch. I don't even know how capable you would be in a fight, so it's rather pointless anyway. Come on kid, we're leaving.”

Torin didn't want to go. The knight might be a lousy alchemist and compulsive gambler, but he felt sorry for him. The arena wasn't kind to anyone who owed debts. “Wait! If you want to know how good he is, you could fight him, right? Pleeeaaaase?”

[Script]

A Man Called Gar

Now things were really starting to get rolling. Veronika let talk free about an attack on the Weyland's estate. That certainly wasn't something you'd do by the seat-of-your-pants. Armor guy brought that the attack seemed to happen when Raquel was there, which certainly put forth some very disturbing theories in Gar's mind. Some other girl was wondering how long Raquel apparently knew the famous Weyland, and it was quite some time if he was making guns for some other guy named Chip and was an actual friend of her father. Gar had really stumbled into it this time. Messing with someone as influential as Weyland wasn't high on the Guild's priority list for a reason, and it seemed they would probably be heading right back to him at some point.

Reign guy pointed out that attack was a failure, which would be obvious since y'know, Weyland, but Raquel somehow managed to get captured during it all. Like she said it obviously worked out, but still, that must have been one hell of a mess to require a Ursian battalion to help sort out.

And then the largest surprise of all was dropped when some uhhhhh, nephew of Weyland apparently, dropped that Chip was a monkey. Oh was Gar gonna have to pursue that line of questioning! But better let them continue on without pointless interruptions.

Though things became rather confusing from then on. Sardis? Purgatory? The first name was probably a stupidly named person, and the second was a place--one that sounded so vaguely familiar Gar was probably just making that feeling up to prove himself educated or some such nonsense. Armor guy talking about crushing tanks left and right? Was Sardis a dragon? And coffins? Were they attacking a cemetery or something? Sure, they tended not to fight back, but it was also really dull. Reign guy was just as confused as Gar was at least. So he hadn't been here long either. Was that a comfort or fear?

That guy called Bert spoke up, trying to say that the attack on Weyland was set up to look like a Neviskotian assault. Which... didn't make much sense since they were busy playing catch-and-release with center again. Though it might explain Sardis-if-dragon. Bert boy also explained the coffins, as magic, which... well, probably more believable than tanks be crushed effortlessly at any rate. Some nutcase and his girl being behind that didn't help though, never fun to fight couples. They were always so whiny. And then whatever cemetery/fortress that all took place in apparently decided to vanish into Purgatory. Because things were making enough sense as it was. If it wasn't for the frightening lack of symptoms on their faces Gar would have just assumed they'd all been drugged, repeatedly, to come up with all of this.

But, priorities first. Gar finished chewing his latest bite into the apple, being 3/4s done at this point. "So, let me get this straight, monkeys can use guns now?" No, wait, wrong priority! "Errr, I mean, so," Gar got back on track. "This, Sardis guy, beyond having a stupid name, is he a dragon? Or is it somehow worse than that?"

[Snowy_One]

"Yes, indeed. How about a wager? If you can make me cry 'uncle' once during a fight, I will leave and not bother you again. But if you fail to make me cry out for my uncle after two minutes, you must pay my entry fee? Does that sound acceptable to you?"

[Phoenix]

Leverager

"Chip's ... my father taught him how to fire a gun. It's helped us just as many times as it's got us in trouble. Anyway, Sardis is human ... or maybe not. I've never seen someone hurl so much dark magic around like that. It's like there are ten shamans all working together." Raquel explained.

"Did you see any large lumps on his back? He might be a dark avian. They're pretty good at overpowering their attacks." Reign commented, suggesting that maybe Sardis was hiding his wings under thick clothing.

Raquel immediately shook her head. "He couldn't hide wings in that outfit, no way." she replied. Reign shrugged. He wasn't quite ready to believe a shaman was just that powerful, but he hadn't gotten a look for himself, so he couldn't investigate much further than that.

[roymbrog]

This kid was expensive. Why did he insist on helping everyone with debts? Well, the other guy was his brother, so that made sense, but this didn't. She was surprised when the knight took him up on his offer. Was this guy serious? Armors never did well against magic. Well, it'd be a quick way to get him to leave her alone.

“Are you sure about this? I mean, I can patch you up afterward, but I wanna be sure you're ok with getting hurt. If so, I'll take you up on that offer.” She usually wasn't one for gambling, but this seemed like a win either way. He'd either leave her alone or be a good meatshield.

[Acacia Sgt]

Well, the stew was finally here. And what better time to show the newcomers the ropes of the party's shenanigans than over food? Certainly a topic to talk at the table, isn't it?

''Well, don't forget,'' John said. ''There was certainly another emblem piece in there that night. That would definitely give him a boost, which means he knows how to use it.''

[Snowy_One]

"Of course I'm sure. I wouldn't have offered it otherwise." She's a healer meaning she can't hurt me under my thick armor and, in the event she does, all I have to do is bite my tongue and I still get a chance to pay off this debt faster than sweeping would have me do so. So she pays my entry fee, keeps me patched up throughout the tournament, and bang! Home-free!

[Script]

A Man Called Gar

Raquel answered, the monkey thing was certainly helpful. The Sardis thing really wasn't. Armor guy bringing up "emblem piece" certainly didn't make things easy either. Beyond that the emblem was a myth, why would it be in pieces? Well, it was probably some other powerful, emblem in pieces.

Even a child wouldn't believe that.

Well, it was also stupid to just immediately believe the Emblem of legend was in fragments and Sardis had a piece and possibly even Raquel too. This really was a terrible set wasn't it. But, Gar switch back to talking about the fun things. "Man, if they can use guns, can they be trained as butlers? That idea, it's just so, so, transcendent!" Gar excitedly said. "Ahem, moving on to the uh, less transcendent news, if he's not a dragon, and he wasn't hiding wings, then his wings possibly got ripped off, or he's some scary-ass human who's seeking revenge against the world for having his name be one letter away from it. Though don't quote me as either of those being reasonable facts until I actually meet him face-to-face. Or you get lucky and he did fall to those Ursians." Gar didn't even bother to acknowledge the emblem piece thing.

[roymbrog]

“Alright then,” Synthia said, and brought her tome from under her cloak. Torin hastily moved away from Fred, and the mage sent a barrage of wind needles towards the lone knight. The idea was to make it hurt, not to actually cause damage here.

Roll: 4, 5, 5

7 + 4 = 11 – 5 = HIT

6 + 5 = 11 – 7 = 4 * 2 = 8 DMG

Fred's HP: 22/30

Synthia's HP: 12/12

“...What. You have a barrier? Urgh, that's...” This might not be as easy as she had thought.

Torin, meanwhile, was cheering from the sidelines. “Whoo! Go crazy lady!”

“Shut up.”

[Phoenix]

Leverager

John's comment had brought Raquel back to her most recent attempt to use her emblem piece. What an incredibly silly failure that was. She kept her head down once he said it, deciding to take another spoon full of stew as an excuse not to talk about it, and to get more before it started to get cold. She still replied to Gar's monkey comment, though saying "Chip's too selfish to be a butler, but maybe, I guess." She took another bite and then added "Remind me to have him aim for Sardis the next time he shows up."

"Heh, that'll never work. I beat Chip, and you had me at a disadvantage." Gabbie boasted before downing the last of her sausage roll.

Sounds like an interesting story but ... "If Sardis isn't a dark avian, then he would need an astronomical power source to draw on to take on Weyland's equipment. You think it's an 'emblem piece'?" Reign commented, looking to John toward the end of it.

[Mercakete]

A wingless Dark Avian, huh? "Maybe he's a Fallen," Norbert threw out bitterly, "If an Avian can lose its wings, a Fallen can too. Same with the tail." He took another spoonful of stew. It really was delicious and it was tough and hearty enough to force him to take his time on the bites, tearing at them and chewing on them until they could be swallowed safely.

His mind was still on the Fallen. They were dangerous and if it wasn't for a couple instances, he'd claim they were entirely evil. But what about those other two? He hadn't known Tali for long and she wasn't full Fallen, but she was behaving as he'd expect any normal person to behave. And then there was Siv, who was young but seemed innocent, if not strange in her mannerisms. Even Steinn proved he could be sociable, though it was that kind of sociable that seemed arrogant. Steinn was likely the most dangerous Fallen he'd come across yet if only because he could be so composed, not to mention how powerful he was. It's a good thing the Kigenese are handling them. I don't know what Ursium would be like if we had to handle the dragons and those dragon-loving freaks and the Fallen. If what that prince said was true, though...things will be rough no matter what happens.

Edited June 13, 2012 by Mercakete

[Snowy_One]

Fred braced himself, digging his feet into the ground as Synthia's wind bellowed forth. He knew just how to deal with this situation for sure. His armor had weight to it and he knew how to use it. He quickly tried to shrink down, letting the armor function as a weight to keep him anchored to the ground and incapable of being blown away.

"Who knew? A woman cutting wind!" he said, attempting a poor comeback. "I still haven't cried for my uncle yet!"

http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3562889/

Fredrika makes a cutting remark! Fredrika rolls a 6, 4, 3: MISS!