Return of the Emblem Chapter Ten: Converging Destinies

[Script]

A Man Called Gar

Gar sighed after seeing how hotheaded everyone was being. Maybe it was because "furry" thing was a completely useless description? Yes, yes that was it exactly. But still, Gar followed behind--at a much more relaxed pace, which still put him about equal to the others speed because damn, he was fast.

[Snowy_One]

Robin unslung her bow and drew one of her arrows, knocking it to the string. "I believe Raquel wants you to back off. I suggest you follow in suit. These arrows are forged from volcanic fire and shaped by master arrowmakers who put their heart and soul into their work. Their edges are sharper than any knife and I have trained my whole life with a bow. Gytha has trained her whole life with a pistol and can shoot you with ease if she wishes. Raquel has had almost a dozen attempts on her life, and we have kept her save each and every time. If she says back off, you back off."

It was a very surly and aggressive speech to be sure for Robin, but threatening Raquel was a huge no-no in her book, and maybe, just maybe, if she was intimidating enough, it wouldn't come to actual blows. Something she REALLY hoped would happen.

[Eail]

"Ah it's fine, standing around all day has gotta be boring. They'd be wanting to get some action I'd wager." Blowing off the guards, with Fyodor's seeming approval he took a seat in front of the big guy. "Would you mind teaching me a bit though Sir? You're the most powerful thing I've ever felt in my life, I think it'd be a real honor to learn some things from you. But you wouldn't happen to be a Thunder Element by chance?"

[Phoenix]

Leverager

Gabbie gave Veronika an unamused look as she headed off, and only Lance was left to see it. "Are you sure you want to get that apple instead of going with her? This sounds urgent."

"Yeah, I'm sure. Connor's nowhere near that mess." she replied simply.

"Buuut Raquel is ... right? Why protect him n' not her?"

"As far as I know, I'm the only person here who prioritoizes Connor's survoival over Raquel's and I could care less about the emblem ... but probably not. My only job here is to keep Connor safe. I'm not sticking my neck out for her specifically unless she starts paying me." she explained in an agitated tone.

Lance sighed, conceding a bit. "I guess I just wouldn't understand. Around here, we stick our necks out for any other member of the crew. It's just ... expected."

"You get paid; of course it's expected. I'm not playing bodyguard for her or the emblem and the sooner they realoize that the better, I say." she concluded. She then began stretching her arms over her head as she turned around to leave again. "Now, about that apple~"

Outskirts

"Why yes, I am ... but what would you like to know, exactly?" Fyodor asked, cocking his head a bit.

"New techniques, of course," Rin chimed in. "Even after I had perfected my technique, I would still seek out new teachers to further my understanding of the sword."

Fyodor frowned. "You're not planning on going to war with anything I offer, are you?"

Unknown

<"It's alright,"> Katsu replied. He began taking off some of his gear, armor, swords, anything he didn't want to get wet, and sat it all carefully between two large rocks, away from all of the water. With just his basic clothing and a small knife left, he knelt down and began to head into the cave, taking on quite a bit of water as he did so. Now if only it was bright enough to see deeper inside ...

[Eail]

Zach shook his head rather solemnly at Fyodor's question "No Sir, I'm not much one for war. All I want to do at the moment is try to protect someone, I owe my life to a girl and she can't exactly defend herself very well. To put it rather dramatically, other's can be her shield, and I'll be her sword."

[roymbrog]

The owner of the pastry stand was a short, plump Kigenese man who clearly enjoyed his own baking. He watched with interest as the foreigners approached his stand. One of the women was very excited about the taiyaki he had on display, and the winged one asked about the treats as well. Perhaps he could make a sale.

“Oh ho ho, just the finest baked goods in all of Tracea! They are called taiyaki, and are filled with sweet bean paste or custard. You would like to try one, yes?” he asked the group in general. To Faatina he answered, “Oh, that is my best kept secret. A baker never reveals the art of their craft.”

-----

So far Synthia and her new horse hadn’t had any mishaps. The mare seemed accustomed to being ridden, something the mage had been worried about since she knew it was a wagon horse. About halfway back from the market, however, she got the odd feeling that she was being watched. Sure enough, a few minutes later a young Kigenese man appeared jogging to catch up to her. Her first reaction was to be suspicious. Hopefully it wasn’t one of those promoters again.

The man himself didn’t look very threatening, being no older than twenty and shorter than she was. “Excuse me! Miss! Could I have a moment of your time?” he called, and she stopped to see what this was about. Yes, this was his chance. In as suave a voice as he could muster, he continued. “You see, I believe you have something of mine…”

His tone wasn’t lost on her, but she took the words at face value. “Uh… huh. You calling me a thief?”

“Well in a sense, yes. You-“

”What?”

“N-No, I didn’t mean it like that,” he backpedaled immediately. “What I meant was… uh…”

And then his floundering was cut off by something that caught both of their attention. Another guy popped out from hiding behind a nearby cart. “Dumbass! That’s not how it was supposed to go!”

While the first guy cringed, she just stared blankly. “Uh… how what was supposed to go?”

“The line!” he shouted again, smacking the first guy’s head for emphasis. He wrapped an arm around the shoulders of his friend, who was now awkwardly refusing to make eye contact with either of them. “I must apologize for my friend's incompetence. Nori here was going to ask you for drinks, but you can see how well that went.”

“….” Synthia didn’t quite know how to react to that. This was awkward, to say the least. Perhaps she could just leave…

His face bright red by now, Nori threw off his friend’s arm. “Satoshi! Why would you say that?”

“Because it’s true, you really are a dumbass.”

“That’s not what I meant!”

“Of course it’s not~” Satoshi answered cheekily, and then looked around. “Oh, hmm…. Where did she go?”

“…”

[Mercakete]

So, Robin was getting a little tense at the situation, too, now. Enough to draw her bow and even likely accidentally spoil the element of surprise Gytha had previously held. Well, that was fine. Hopefully that would be enough of a deterrent to the strange lady to get her to leave, but she could still warp. So, Gytha calmly stepped in front of Raquel, putting the merchant between herself and Robin and putting herself between the strange lady and Raquel. Hopefully Robin would stay where she was so she could protect Raquel from behind since this lady could warp. It was fairly obvious her hand was on her pistol now, but she didn't draw. Not yet. The lady would have to make the first move before that would happen.

"Best be on yer way," she coldly advised.

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

With Katsu entering the cave through the crack that was its mouth and a sheet of water veiling the sun, there wasn't a lot of light entering the cave. The rocks were slick with water and the mouth was, in fact, a small tunnel as it cut deeply into the ground. It only lasted a couple feet, though, before sharply angling downward. Several feet more of steep tunnel and it opened up into a dryer, underground cavern. Once the entry was no longer blocked, some light could filter through into the tunnel some, but the place was largely devoid of light. A few tunnels branched off from the cavern, but they were invisible in the dark.

Back outside, Haruo set down his supplies and waited for Katsu to enter. He planned on bringing his staff and armor, though, even though he'd likely have to squeeze through somewhat himself. He was smaller than Katsu, though, so it wasn't strictly necessary for him to reduce his gear so much.

[Rothene]

A dragon...why am I not surprised, thought Mireille. Somewhere in the books she had read, she had learned some theories of dragons being master spellcasters. In fact their breath weapons were spellcraft claimed some of the books.

All the stories in Ursium on the terrors of dragon kind to justify their hunting seemed silly as soon as the Ursian knight heard the dragon speak in such civil manner. Well, we learn something new everyday.

Standing rigidly in her armour, Mireille surveyed the rest of the dragon's protectors. Until mention of more refined techniques with which to wield thunder magic caught her attention and she started concentrating on the conversation at hand.

[Phoenix]

Intersection

Well it was good to know she had allies she could count on, but the fox woman seemed unfazed by their threats. "Sooo they're made from obsidian. It's more intimidating if you're quick and to the point~" she replied blowing the archer off a bit. "And what's this ...?" Gytha's move to have her pistol ready didn't go unnoticed. She gasp slowly, placing her free hand over her chest. "You're going to shoot an unarmed woman in the street? I figured the archer would just miss me, but you ..." Next she sighed. "Very well, I suppose I can wait; anything worth having is worth waiting for ... and maybe, once you calm down, you'll realize that I ... might just be an ally~"

Unsure how to respond to that, Raquel stayed quiet, nodding somewhat reluctantly. It seemed the confrontation was only delayed a little bit.

"You can put those things away, now; I'm going ... but not too far~ Bye for now ... Raquel~" She waved goodbye with three of her tails and then vanished in a dark warp. Ironically and in classic fashion, The group Shadrak was leading arrived a little under ten seconds later.

"What was that thing that just warped away?!" Shadrak asked, having only seen a mass of tails on top of a pair of legs with a pointed hat at the top. "Are you alright?"

She only felt like answering the first question for the moment. "Yeah ... I'm fine." Would Sardis' people try something like this to get to me or is she a third party after all ...?

Outskirts of Magic

Fyodor frowned at the response. "Sounds like war to me ..." He then began pondering to himself.

That created an unnaturally long pause and so Rin chimed in hoping to explain what may or may not have been plainly obvious. He took a few steps to the side, getting slightly in between Fyodor and Zachary. "Fyodor is not ... comfortable arming people for war ... violence in general."

Fyodor quickly came back from his pondering, though and moved his head closer to Rin and the visitors. "Well ... it does pain me knowing that the powers the gods gave us are being used to maim and kill each other. I'd rather not contribute to the destruction, myself; there are plenty of normal ways to end life, after all. Are you sure you wouldn't rather be a shield?" Fyodor asked.

Cave of Wonders

Not as dark as Katsu expected, but he didn't have a torch on him. Suddenly he missed an old comrade who knew a bit of light magic that would have come in handy in a situation like this. Once Katsu was out of the mouth, down the steep slope and into the cavern, he turned around and leaned up against it to call back out to Han-nnruo. <"We probably should have gotten a light. All I can tell from where I am is that this place is bigger than I expected. It's too dark to make out much else."> He seriously doubted they were going to find any clues like this even if they were there.

[Script]

A Man Called Gar

"And we arrive too late to do anything," Gar sourly commented as the reinforcements to Raquel's group arrived just in time to do nothing. "And I doubt whatever just fled was scared off by our heroic statures marching over the horizon." This was now an obnoxious waste of time.

[-Cynthia-]

Paths Collide

"That was an awful lot of tails from what I saw. Not human that's for sure- maybe some kinda demon? Though the Fallen usually don't put hats on their creations," Nadya noted in a surly tone from behind Shadrak.

Veronika arrived on the scene shortly after the warping had finished. "I heard there was a...furry thing asking you about the emblem. What's the situation?" she asked Raquel noting that Raquel seemed unharmed at least.

[Snike]

Of course, by the time they actually made it to Raquel's group, the threat had warped away, leaving the mercenary employer herself, accompanied by an armed pair of Gytha and Robin. The former was pointing her gun towards where that tailed creature had been, while the latter had an arrow pointed in that same direction.

Well, Raquel appeared to be fine, if not shaken, and given that she said as much, Blake decided to take her word for it. Given that he had nothing insightful to say, and that a discussion was already under way, the swordsman decided to perform a quick perimeter check, and make sure that there wasn't any enemies lying in wait.

[Snowy_One]

"We are fine. She started to get a bit close and ask about Raquel's medallion a bit too much. Gytha and I intervened and managed to get to to back off a bit." said Robin, releasing her breath as the threat had passed. "And yes, she was a furry. A fox furry." What is a furry anyways? She was furred for sure, and foxes are furry, so... yes? She was a furry?

[Mercakete]

Well, the strange lady left without her even having to draw a weapon. That was good. The mariner relaxed, taking her hand off of her gun and resting her hands on her hips as allies arrived. Immediately, they began clamoring to know just what was going on. Gytha stepped out of the way, deciding Raquel could handle this herself. Instead, she decided to talk to Robin, who briefly explained the progression of events.

"As one o' me better friends might say, that was a little rash," she informed the archer before her smile widened into a grin, "Ye did well, Robin. Thanks fer th' help. I think she's gone now, though, so time t' relax some. Ya aright?"

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

Norbert and Valter arrived at the ship a little after most of the others had already gone and the pegasus rider's first destination was the Dauntless. He fully planned on getting some more spending money from his share of the cache waiting there, so, as soon as they were near it, he dismounted.

"I'll be right back," he informed the horseman before heading in that direction.

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

<"It's a cave,"> Haruo plainly stated as he answered Katsu from outside the cave mouth, <"Of course we need a light of some sort if we're going to look around it. Do you have one? I could get it for you if you have a lamp or a lantern something.">

Edited November 22, 2012 by Mercakete

[Snowy_One]

Robin shook her head as she put her arrow back in her quiver. "No. I have never tried to intimidate someone before in my life. My heart is beating fast and... Well... I was afraid that if she chose not to stand down the bad luck that has followed me would continue to do so and she would wound me badly, like with most of our other fights. And... I might have made things worse for us all. I am afraid Gytha. I am afraid Raquel."

[Phoenix]

Intersection

She's afraid? She looked pretty sturdy to me. I was terrified because almost everyone who asks about the emblem attacks me afterward. Even Lilith wasn't kind enough to just leave well enough alone and stole it from me. "Well she's gone now, so ..." and that was about all she could say to that, unsure how to finish the thought.

So the others had arrived, first Shadrak, and then a few others, more than Raquel was expecting, actually. Gabbie didn't come back with them, so she ... probably found something better to do. "Yeah, what happened?!" Shadrak asked, giving up on the first question entirely in favor of Veronika's. The consensus seemed to be 'furry thing'.

Well now that Veronika had asked and Shadrak had reinforced it ... "Well she just warped in out of nowhere and started asking me about the emblem. Her senses are really strong. She can pick up the distortion Weyland told us about. She was insistent, but not as much as everyone else. I mean aside from people joining us and Lilith, she's the first one to ask me about the emblem and then not attack afterward." And for once something doesn't blow up in my face.

"Don't let your guard down. She's probably just testing the waters." Shadrak warned. "What if she's working for Sardis or some other enemy we don't even know about?"

"She warped in, and she warped out. There's not much I can do to protect myself from that. Besides, she's gone for now," Raquel quickly tried to get onto business. "Veronika, I know it's a little sudden to be getting back to this but I think it's better overall if we focus on getting out of here as soon as possible. Did Gabbie tell you about the meeting Anna's setting up with the ship captains?"

Oh my goood, it's like she's just ignoring the danger here! Shadrak glared. Fine! I'll think of something regarding this furry woman. It'll be less of a hassle for me if we don't have to reach a consensus on the matter, anyway. Now the first thing I need to come up with is a way to counter the dark warp. Hmm ...

Cavernous Conundrum

Did we even pack a lamp? I wouldn't be surprised if we didn't. I had no intention of heading into a cave; this was rather sudden. <"Could you check?"> Katsu called back. Best place to start, he figured.

Edited November 22, 2012 by Phoenix

[Rothene]

A shield? Mireille thought, does he imply that thunder magic can be used for protection? This I must learn!

Stepping closer to the dragon, Mireille asked, "Sir dragon, you mention being a shield. Does that mean thunder magic has techniques with which one can protect others with?

[roymbrog]

“I’ll be right here,” Valter informed the pegasus knight before, well, waiting. It wasn’t long before another familiar face showed up, however.

-----

As Synthia neared the Leverager she dismounted and walked the rest of the way while leading her horse. There was a disturbing lack of anyone not Valter or Bert’s pegasus on the dock. She could’ve sworn others would have been back by now. “Are you two the only ones who've returned?” she asked.

Valter shrugged. “I suppose someone could be on the ship, but as far as I know, yes.”

“Huh. Maybe they left without us…” she muttered. Well, she could either wait here or go looking for Raquel. Considering her earlier advice to Robin, it would probably be better to wait here…

“So what’s with the horse?”

Oh, how to explain that? The argument on ship wasn’t necessarily relevant, so she tried to keep it simple. “Well we kinda brought two horses with us from Tremere. Grant needed someone to take one, so…”

“Hmm.”

[-Cynthia-]

"Yes, she did...what are you going to be doing?" Veronika asked Raquel. More people after the emblem is distressing news, but if she warped away there's little we can do. Getting away from here quickly may be the best move.

[Mercakete]

Raquel seemed to be handling the situation better than Robin was, which was somewhat surprising. Raquel also seemed to be handling talking to Robin some, but it shifted fairly quickly. Gytha decided to give a quick word to Robin before paying attention to the goings-on around her again.

"Don't worry about it," she quietly encouraged with a little smile, "S'long as we're a part o' th' same crew, we always have someone t' look out fer us. Nothin' t' fear with that many people joinin' with ye as one, aye?"

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

Retrieving the gold was a simple task -- Norbert knew where the gold was and only needed a little bit of it -- so he began his return fairly quickly. He was a bit surprised to see Synthia there when he returned, though.

"Hey," he greeted as he approached, slipping the gold coins into one of Rizen's saddlebags as he continued, "Just get here?"

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

<"Okay,"> Haruo replied into the cave before turning and heading over to Katsu's supplies. As he went through them, he realized that there were a lot of useful items there that he hadn't thought to bring himself. That fact brought a grimace to his face. <I should have thought of some of this... Well, at least Katsu-san remembered.>

In spite of that, though, there was a severe lack of lamp. Frowning, he tried to make sure everything was neatly in its place again before heading back with the news. Once he was at the mouth of the cave, he called down, <"I can't find one in your supplies. Should we go into Kosato and see if there's one we can buy then come back here or should we skip this cave entirely?">

[Snowy_One]

"I do not know. Hunters in Ohka work solitary, but we are always watching out for each other when we can. Working as a member of a team... is just not something we do. But if one of us screws up, we can get other hunters killed easily without even knowing it." she said before shaking her head. "I am sorry. This is a glum. Yes, I am worried I screwed up and made things worse for everyone by intimidating her, but should we not think of happier thoughts? Like, ummm... I do not know."

[Mercakete]

Gytha couldn't help but laugh at Robin's misinterpretation at what she'd said. Once that was clear, she clarified, "No, no, that's not what it's like at all."

Cheerily, she went on, "When someone gets in trouble th' others come t' help. As a crew, yer stronger than one person. All th' strengths 'r combined. S'long as we're all one crew n' yer a part o' it, ye don't have t' worry about bein' alone. When ye mess up, everaone's there t' help protect ye."

A bit sorrier, she added, "Well... That's th' way it'll become. I don't think we're quite there yet. But if we all work towards unity, we'll get there!" She knew she was probably being a little over-hopeful. Realla, it takes a good leader t' unite a crew... I hope Raquel steps inta that someday... But I'll just have t' do me best without 'er help fer now.

[-Cynthia-]

Nadya

Nadya listened in on Gytha and Robin's conversation, for lack of better things to do.

Gytha might have a point- everyone watchin' each other's backs might make everyone safer. But I don't really care about everyone here- s'long as me and Luca get out alive, the rest is just part of the job. These people are my coworkers, not my family. Wonder when I'm gonna be able to see them again. she thought to herself, sighing as she looked towards the harbor.

[Script]

A Man Called Gar

Well, whatever the furry thing was was gone, and Raquel said it asked about the emblem, so any hope of discovering if it was related to whomever hired the Guild was gone too. On the other hand dealing with some furry thing was probably not worth the trouble even if it was connected.

On more positive news Raquel had some Anna person lining up ship captains so they wouldn't need to be wasting as much time searching for ships. Yay and such. On other party news, Robin and Gyntha got into some talk about camaraderie. Being the helpful fellow he was, Gar was all too pleased to help. "Gee, maybe with such furry dangers and other horrid unknowns lurking always in our path we should extend that 'always work in pairs at least' thing I advised Raquel on."

[Phoenix]

Intersection

"Well we haven't stocked up on supplies or new equipment in awhile and I have some things to get rid of so I'm going to go back to the markets after I get some things from the Dauntless. I'll be as fast as I can," Raquel replied, shrugging helplessly. It was going to be at least a two hour venture no matter what, and she knew it, but at least most of these colonists spoke common. That eliminated the language barrier, or at least kept it to a minimum. Negotiations would still be tough.

"I'm coming too," Shadrak spoke up. I can make sure nothing happens to Raquel and I can look around the market for useful things at the same time, so ... that's happening.

So Veronika's going to the meeting in Raquel's place ... I guess that tome shopping trip will have to wait a little longer. Hopefully she'll pick up some new tomes I can look through, Reign thought to himself.

To Gar's comment, Raquel said, "That's definitely a good idea, no matter where we are, even Ursium."

"Especially Ursium," Reign chimed in with an unamused look on his face.

Leverager and Docks

Gabbie was apparently serious about that apple; she left the ship with a half eaten one in hand and Ringo following faithfully. "Well look who's foinally back," she greeted Synthia, Valter and Bert.

Less than a hundred feet away, the group of wyvern riders from before were drawing closer, several of them pointing up at the Leverager's hull. The one at the head, Lev, picked up his pace, leaving his wyvern with the rest of the group and approaching the loading ramp. "Hey, are you people working on this shi-damn ..." he cut off his question a bit early after seeing Gabbie. "Wait, I remember you. You were there when those guards were blocking our way."

"Hoi," she greeted.

Outskirts

"Mmhm," Fyodor nodded to Mireille's question and smiled.

Cavern

Katsu frowned just thinking about it. If not this cave, then what other leads did they have? <"We'll come back after we see about that lamp. And maybe we can ask around about Hana while we're there."> Might as well knock out two birds with one stone, he figured, though it probably wouldn't be that simple. He then began trying to climb back out, not as easy as he hoped, but with some careful foot placement, he managed to begin making his way back up and out.