Return of the Emblem Chapter Eleven: Unleash

[Ether]

Well, it seemed it was finally time to turn in for the night, the wagon stopped at the side of the main path after a day's travel. Faatina noticed that efforts to set up camp hadn't really gotten very far quite yet, so she appeared to have some time before perhaps being called upon. Thinking back to the fighting earlier, as well as taking a look over her lance, the paladin grimaced at the state of the blade... it had not had the best of times this day, and would certainly need to be sharpened... although, the Rexian woman couldn't help but wonder if there might be some adjustments that could be made at the same time... she supposed it would be easy enough to ask Connor about it.

Entering the Dauntless, it became quickly clear that Connor, as well as that Tia girl, were at the moment readjusting the inventory... oh well, she could place the order for later if the young alchemist was too busy.

"Hey Connor... I was wondering something. Do you think you would be able to do some work on my lance for me after you finish getting everything back in order? I was hoping to increase the length of the blade and temper the edges... right now it works great for stabbing, but if I need to swing it, my options are a lot more limited if I want to do any real damage... it'd be pretty bad if someone got to you or Raquel because in the heat of the moment, I got stuck in a bad position over something like that... now that I think about it, if you did that, it'd probably be best to add some weight to the end too, else the balance would be off from what I'm used to..." Catching herself going on a slight tangent, the woman immediately stopped herself, rubbing the back of her head sheepishly.

"Sorry, I guess I don't really need to go in-depth over something like that... do you think you could do that for me when you have some time?" The paladin concluded, as she brought out her coinpurse so that she may pay Connor whatever his requested fee might be.

***

As the group travelled, Arietta wondered a few things. For starters, it seemed that whoever these guys were, they seemed to at the very least be able to pick out the armour beneath her clothing and avoid attacking her physically, or got lucky with the mage's points of focus... either way she would need to be wary about their magic users, because even if they got lucky the first time, they knew now... they also weren't adverse to poisoning their weapons, or something to that effect... in the heat of the moment she had managed to ignore it for the most part but looking back on the fight, the points where it had made her more sluggish than she would have liked were readily apparent. At least, aside from that Sardis, they seemed susceptible as anyone else to having their faces smashed in by large steel instruments... speaking of those, Arietta was pleased to know that hers had been stowed safely within the wagon during their retreat... it would have taken a hell of a lot of material to replace the thing.

And that was the gist of the combat logistics, for now. Aside from that, this particular piece of clothing was entirely trashed unless there was a highly proficient weaver about, which the bodyguard was going to ask about shortly. The armour plated prevented her wardrobe malfunction from really meaning anything, as they covered pretty much everything on their own, but it was annoying to have them exposed... they lasted longer shielded from the elements, and having a weapon glance harmlessly off what was supposed to just be a dress was always a plus when it let her rip the fool a new one. Oh well, seemed a good enough time to take care of that one now. Making her way over to the merchant, Arietta spoke up.

"Aye, Raquel. I was wonderin' if ya had anyone good at mendin' clothes around... needless t'say, what I'm wearin' now has seen better days... be a shame to lose it if someone around here can fix 'er." The woman called to the merchant girl, who appeared to be just waking up from a bit of a nap.

***

Travel time with no visible pursuit was as good a time as any for the fox-woman to curl up amongst those fluffy tails of hers and take a nice, rejuvenating rest... built in pillows are oh-so convenient, and the roof of the wagon allowed a nice breeze and the warm sun to tickle her fur.

[Snowy_One]

"Here. Connor. I'm sure I can figure out what goes where more or less and I'll stick to the obvious tomes. You go help them out, I'll handle the organizing and sorting and, hey, maybe you can show me a bit of alchemy afterwards! I'd love to see how you manage the modification of her lance! Maybe you could use a lighter material. That way the mass doesn't change from increasing the blade length and she can utilize the cutting edge in a slicing and thrusting motion easier!"

[Phoenix]

Dauntless

There was some activity inside the Dauntless from what Raquel could tell, mainly Connor organizing things and attracting various sorts of help, but she had also attracted some attention of her own. She wasn't able to respond to Arietta right away as she was too distracted by the current atmosphere. Waking up sweating was something she hated and she was already groaning about it. "Ohhh it's so stuffy in heeere ..." Fortunately there was a pretty big opening in the roof or it would have been much worse by then. She uncovered herself and then immediately opened up her vest so she could cool off. Next, she took it off altogether and picked herself up off the Dauntless' floor. "I can mend any damaged clothing you have. Just give it to me once you have spares to wear and I'll get on that once I find the time," she replied miserably. She was tempted to start charging for the service but at the same time, these people were going through enough. They were lucky to be alive and most didn't have outstanding reasons to put up with this craziness anymore. In fact she wouldn't be surprised if some left after what had happened, so tacking on more inconvenience was just poor timing.

Ayano considered sending a light breeze throughout the Dauntless to help, but eventually decided not to draw any attention to herself. People had a tendency to ask her questions, and usually not the questions she didn't mind answering. The irony of that never sat well with her. Who are you? Who do you work for? How are you becoming invisible? Can you teach me how to do that? Never anything outside of that context. Admittedly being as deep in the Dauntless as she was, the stuffy atmosphere had been oppressing her too. Those closer to the center where the hole was and by the now open door had it rather easy by comparison. If the combination of the open door and new sun roof didn't help clear things up soon, she'd consider the breeze approach again.

Camp

Things were getting started from what Reign could see, but there was plenty else going on too, Veronika walking off with Rook for example. Reign figured it was probably to get his regular pay back since ... after what they just went through was more than a little warranted. Others were emerging from the Dauntless behind him and some were going in and he could only imagine how bad getting around people was getting inside. "Glad I got out when I did," he mused aloud as he glanced back at the wagon for a moment. That was when he noticed Grant getting to work on refreezing their dead. It was grim business, but somebody had to do it ... and ... and why the hell was that Kit woman still there? Raquel already lost her emblem piece, so he was surprised that wasn't the end of it on her end.

While he was still trying to figure out what would motivate that strange woman aside from getting to see the incredibly ancient fragments of shiny deus gold in action, Blake arrived and informed him of a wardrobe malfunction. Perhaps 'malfunction' wasn't the right word, or at least that's what Reign felt. Unfortunately Reign couldn't help him with that, at least not directly. He was wearing the only shirt he had and while he didn't mind letting the man borrow it for awhile and just sport an open jacket like he used to, Raquel had insisted that he not do that. Considerations of compromise had just entered his mind when he noticed Gabbie loitering rather close by. She was still inside a bedroll that looked uncomfortably tied to her wyvern's back, though and might actually have been asleep. "I doubt I can help you with that, but I think I know who can," he replied, glancing more noticeably over at Gabbie.

"Hey, are you okay?" Shadrak asked Mushirah, hoping she hadn't noticed his little accident, but hoping even more so that she hadn't been overcome by the stress of it all. He knelt down and considered his options. Could he move her into something of a more upright position? Probably, but could he do it without doing something stupid like grabbing her in the wrong place? Less probably. "Mushirah ...?"

[ReformBlade]

Turning her head over unceremoniously to find a sharp dressed man kneeling over her, "I'm fine... really. Just insanely tired is all." Blinking while thinking to herself, a smile found its way onto her face, "I'm actually kinda hungry right now but... I'll live, I'll live. If one thing is going right today, living is that thing. Need to figure out how to keep doing it though, I'm playing the thing over in my mind and... and..." A tear rolled down her face, though it was quickly wiped away, "I can't... hah." Afraid to say anything further for fear of not being able to control herself, Mushirah kept silent, still smiling on the ground, though she did roll over onto her back, trying to prop herself up.

[scorri]

Marella stalked over towards Blake, a frown evident on her face. "You. We need to talk. Now is preferable, but if whatever you're doing here is important, I can wait. But not for very long."

~~~~~~~~~~

Lumi flew over the scene, taking in the semi-chaotic state the group was currently in as they made camp for the night. She nodded to herself and then flew off, back to Pete. Landing, she jumped off Star and quickly reported what she'd seen. "Looks to be somewhere around 20 to 30 of them. They're camping for the night now, and it doesn't look like they've set up sentries. They've either got to be the most incompetent bandits I've ever seen or they're clueless in how to travel safely. Which... judging from what I saw earlier, might not be far off. Thoughts?"

[Phoenix]

Le Camp

"Hey, don't worry about that right now. You're hungry right now, so the first order of business is dinner. You can go over what went wrong last time later. Way later actually, when you're more comfortable thinking about it. It's a long way to our destination, so there's no need to rush anything," Shadrak tried to reassure her. He was feeling a little hungry too, but only a bit peckish. He wouldn't be moaning and groaning while waiting for someone to whip up something at a campfire.

[spoiler=Spire]It was quiet, but Valdimarr could tell there were people nearby. One was particularly close. She was leaning over him, in fact. When he opened his eyes to see who it was, he saw Ragna, sitting off to his side, and leaning over with something dangling from her lips. It smelled good, so she was probably just feeding him in a somewhat kinky fashion. This was certainly a welcome break from the slaughter of siblings. Once he'd taken that piece and eaten it, and realized he was getting fed some delicious horse meat, Ragna leaned away to get another one for him. He saw that she was holding a plate on her opposing side so that it was almost completely out of view. <"How long have I been asleep?">

<"A few hours,"> she replied, still grinning as she retrieved the second piece with her teeth.

<"Huh ... it feels more like a few days. My wounds don't even hurt anymore. Did you ...?">

Instead of getting the answer from Ragna, he got it from Architect Fury, who was also in the room, lurking in the shadows with his arms crossed. <"The nerves have been silenced. You've endured enough, Sovereign.">

<"Fury? What are you doing here?"> While waiting for that answer, he ate the second piece of meat Ragna had for him.

<"Empress Urd does not want you alone with that one,"> Fury answered, pointing his decrepit old hand at the woman looming over him. <"Regardless, with the three of us working together, you can be rebuilt much more quickly. The time a Sovereign remains vulnerable after the slaughter of siblings must be kept to a minimum.">

<"Right ..."> Valdimarr replied distractedly. <"Wait, three?">

<"A fine morning to you, my lord,"> came a voice from behind him. A second later, and Valdimarr was able to look up and see Valor, the seraph winged architect standing there. <"I am so glad to hear our work to address your pain was a success.">

After eating another piece of meat, Valdimarr said, <"So what does this rebuilding entail exactly? You architects can only get away with so much, you know,"> with a smirk.

<"Your hand must be replaced, but I have something special in mind for your tail, my lord,"> Ragna chimed in. <"Before, you were using a surgically mounted tail blade, and while sufficient for offense, such weapons are easily and painfully broken. This time around, you'll sport a metallic-chitinous blade built right into the spinal column. Such blends can be safely bonded, so this blade should never require any maintenance other than the occasional reinforcing.">

<"What is this, the Fervor special?">

<"... no, but that is reserved just for you, my lord~">

[ReformBlade]

"I am hungry, yes." She nodded in acceptance, her stomach growling to emphasize the point. "But that is just still buzzing in my mind. I-" stopping herself short, Mushirah sighed and sat up correctly, "I should just relax, let my adrenaline finally take its toll on me..." Smiling and falling backwards again with a small thud, "I have a feeling I'll be asleep for a long time if I do right now... You'd better hurry up and get me my dinner, Shadrak." She said with a laugh, turning on her side towards the man.

[-Cynthia-]

Nadya

"It won't take too long, all we got are rations. I guess ya could heat 'em up if we get a fire goin', don't expect a big improvement though," Nadya interjected into Shadrak and Mushirah's conversation.

Connor

"I think I see- you want to be able to swing your lance more easily so it covers a wider arc? Transmuting the metal in the lance to a lighter material is a good suggestion," he said to Tia. "I'll need 30 gold to cover materials costs- should have it ready within the next day or so," he said to Faatina, allowing Mireille and Tia to work on the organizing for the time being.

[Ether]

"That just about covers it, thanks Connor." Faatina replied, retrieving the requested 30 gold and offering it to the young alchemist, in addition to her lance.

***

"Aye, it is. Y'would think that the big hole in the roof would help with that, but I guess not... Boss'll have a field day with this story..." Arietta replied, rubbing the back of her head as she looked at the... unsightly and unrequested renovation to the Dauntless.

"Hope we don't get any rain b'fore we get there, though." The bodyguard added, as it then became apparent that Raquel herself seemed to be the resident seamstress.

"Alright, once I change inta somethin' else I'll hand this one off t'you then, Raquel." She concluded, making a start towards the exit of the wagon, hoping to find a decent spot to switch her clothing a tad further from the camp site.

[Snike]

Blake followed Reign's glance over to Gabriella, who appeared to be sleeping for the time being.

"Thanks, I'll ask her once she wakes up, in that case," he said, looking away. "Haven't had much luck with waking people up and not being attacked."

Then, Marella came over and said that she needed to talk to the swordsman. Oh boy. This would be an unpleasant discussion, especially judging by her expression. The man frowned.

"I can talk right now," Blake said, turning to face the knight. "I'm guessing if what you want to talk about what I think you want to talk about, it'd be a good idea to step away from the camp for a bit, so we don't distract anyone."

***

"Well, considerin' the army's gone and run all the idiot bandits out of Ursium, my guess'd be they're clueless travelers," Pete said, crossing his arms. "I'd like to meet'em, if you don't mind, Lumi. Safer for us and for them, especially with their state this afternoon."

[Snowy_One]

Tia smiled happily, nodding in acceptance of Connor's compliment. Doing something like that felt great! Maybe, just maybe, she could actually learn alchemy as well! Calmly, though, she set about to shelving the books before speaking up. "Connor. Do you mind if I store my books here as well? They don't have magical properties so I doubt people will buy them, and carrying them around all the time is going to do a lot of damage."

---

"Ummm..." Robin's voice came, nervous and timid, to the conversation that Shady and Mushy had been having. She had gotten up to walk about from the Dauntless and had overheard their talk. "If you want, I can cook something. I was about to go hunting to see if I could get some fresh meat for dinner tonight, but I can stay and work the pot and fire as well if you do not mind me using rations."

[Phoenix]

Dauntless

Arietta planned to go change and then hand over the damaged clothing for repairs and Raquel suspected that she wasn't the only one who needed some mending done. On the bright side, at least if she did end up with some enormous workload, it would be a decent distraction from the epic struggle she got them kicked out of earlier. It was odd looking at it like that but that was exactly what happened. Now of course, she had to wonder what Hypnos was up to. He said he'd answer her questions once they stopped for the night. Now she was wishing he'd been more specific so she wouldn't have to mentally poke around for him. H-Hypnos? Are you there? Hello?

Yes?

Raquel flinched as Hypnos' voice entered her head. So you are here. Umm, you said you would explain everything once we settled down for the night?

You don't want to hear any of this on an empty stomach, and I doubt anyone else wants to either, Hypnos replied in a teasing tone, and on cue, Raquel's stomach let her know just how much of an appetite she had. During or after dinner, perhaps?

"... fine."

Camp

Shadrak made a mental note to find some place better for Mushirah to sit and or lie down than on the ground when some dinner related suggestions came up. Nadya was talking about cooking rations and Robin was talking about helping to cook the rations. Neither one of those was sitting too well with Shadrak or his stomach, so her aside of hunting gave him a somewhat desperate idea. "Heheh ... you know, gu-I mean ladies, after everything we just went through, is a real meal really out of the question? We're kind of in the middle of nowhere but I'm sure if we put together a hunting party we can bring down something big and eat that instead of these stale old rations," Shadrak nervously suggested. Hearing a no to that was going to ruin his evening with a single crushing blow.

"One sec," Reign said when Blake turned toward Marella. He reached into his pocket to retrieve the insignia Blake had given him earlier. "Don't forget this." It was closed up in his hand, but once Blake reached over for it, he would carefully drop it into the swordsman's palm. With the shirt issue settled, and Blake being drawn off to the outskirts of the camp for some sort of conversation, Reign was left with little to do but keep an eye out or help with the fire. He figured he would wait on the latter until they actually had something to burn and headed over to Gabbie. "Hey."

"... you can't possibly need my help with setting up camp. Go away," Gabbie mumbled in response. She also somehow managed to turn over in the tied down bedroll of hers. Reign was both annoyed and impressed.

"True, but we do need someone to watch Connor so he doesn't stub his toe or something. I was also wondering if you had any spare tunics. Blake could use one if you do."

"So ... let me get this straight. You're an ass, and Blake wants to wear my ... clothes ...? Why exactly?"

"I wouldn't say 'wants' but it's better than nothing, right? Wardrobe issues. Your tunics are pretty unisex looking, so I figured one of them would do for now," Reign explained with a shrug.

"Foine. Now buzz off." Fair enough. He'd gotten what he wanted, so he decided to depart without a word. She'd know he was leaving by the sound of his footsteps in the grass and that little snicker he let loose a moment after starting off.

Edited May 22, 2013 by Phoenix

[-Cynthia-]

Connor

"That should be fine. Raquel and I will both know they're not for sale, so I wouldn't worry about them being carried off," he said to Tia while inspecting Faatina's lance.

Nadya

"People can try huntin' if they want, although some people are still gonna have to eat rations. One person ain't gonna catch enough food to feed thirty, or however many people we have now," she said.

[scorri]

Marella nodded at Blake's suggestion and walked off away from the wagon with a scowl. Once they were a safe distance away, she turned on him and said tightly, barely stopping herself from yelling, "What the hell was that? Why in the world did you think it was a good idea to leave yourself back there among the enemy like that? You're the one that Raquel was depending on to protect her. There would have been nothing good coming out of you staying back and because you refused to leave me behind, all we got was Luka almost burning himself out. If I had stayed, I could have either fought my way out of there or just plain up surrendered. What gives you the right to play hero and leave Raquel all on her own?"

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

Lumi grinned at bit at the bandits comment and then outright smiled when Pete said he wanted to meet the group. "Good! I was hoping you'd say that! I want to talk to their pegasus riders. Make sure they're taking good care of them and maybe get some good tips on how to handle a pegasus. I want to make sure Star Hunter is getting the best possible life." She hugged her pegasus who nuzzled her back and then pointed towards the group. "They're this way! Come on, I'll lead!" She started off at a leisurely walk, assuming that her companion would be following.

Edited May 22, 2013 by scorri

[Snike]

"Thanks," Blake said, as he reached for and had the insignia dropped into his hand. After placing that in one of his undamaged coat pockets, the man followed Marella away from the campsite before he was, to the surprise of none present, yelled at for what had happened at the fortress. He'd made the right call in getting some distance.

"It wasn't a good idea because no one was expecting to have the dragon head come in and escalate things," Blake said, frowning. "And I shouldn't need to remind you that I'm not the only one who Raquel's depending on. It's every single mercenary in this group, including yourself. As for Luka, well, the kid's got guts, but he was an idiot in trying to warp us all out. Had I stayed back and you had gone without arguing, I would've been able to buy more time for everyone to clear the fortress, which might've prevented the absolute disaster that was the battle, courtesy of yours truly. Let's be clear: had either of us left behind, we wouldn't have been able to survive, and I'm not the one who would be missed as much. You say Raquel would be all on her own, but, even taking out the mercenaries, she has Reign, Veronika, her mother, her sister, her cousin, and her father, who was the goal, had my plan panned out. I highly doubt my death would affect her too much. As for the 'right' to stay behind, I was the one who came up with the plan to deal with the meeting. I knew about the warp staff limits, and so if we were able to, I was going to try and have Raquel warp Jethro out right as Luka warped you and Raquel herself out. That way, she would've been reunited with her father, and then, as a result, our duty would be at least partly done, since one of our tasks was to get him back. So there's my reasoning. What's yours?"

***

"Heh, lead on," Pete said, following his companion. He was smiling, for some reason. Lumi's good mood must've been contagious, or something.

[Rothene]

My my, so many El grade tomes lying about, pity few mages seek these poor things out, Mireille thought as she stacked them together together with their respective elements. The Ursian knight noticed a disproportionately large amount of wind and fire tomes. Of the elements earth and water, hardly any were in sight. They were even rarer than the light tomes.

"Hmm...the ability to generate a repelling field," Mireille mused to herself as she sifted through a defending tome before placing it on the appropriate pile reluctantly. It held electric based energy, but it also had directions and enchantments to enable the wielder to raise a pushing field around themselves with neutral anima. "Interesting. I should raise funds for that."

[scorri]

Marella waved her hand dismissively. "Raquel barely knows who I am. She's not depending on me more than she is you. Who was the one who protected her during this last battle? Oh right. You. You're the one who comes up with the battle plans and who knows what's going on. All I do is try to protect people and apparently fail miserably at that. I barely made it out of the Dragon Head's training thing, and almost got killed here and then wasn't around to protect Zach or Rook. And since Zach went down... well. As for you buying time, I could have done the same. If I had died doing so, so be it. And you continue to prove my point. You're the one who came up with the plans. You're smart. You know how to deal with battle situations. You can help everyone work together and you think of things like this. All I do is alienate people from each other and sit around getting knocked out. Either you're purposely understating how useful you are to the group and exaggerating how useful I am, or you just don't get how important you are. My job is to protect people. That's where my right to stay behind comes from. I'm a knight. I protect those weaker than me and do anything to try and make sure they aren't harmed. If that means sacrificing myself to make sure they have a better chance at survival, then that's what I do. So don't you even dare try and suggest that I didn't have a right to stay behind. That is my life. I live solely to protect people."

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

Lumi slowly approached the camp, pausing close enough to the group that they could vaguely see them, but hopefully far enough away that they wouldn't be noticed. "There they are! Lets go say hi!" Grabbing Star Hunter's reins, Lumi walked casually into the group, looking around to see if there was anyone who was obviously in charge.

[-Cynthia-]

Veronika

While scanning the camp, Veronika noticed an unfamiliar woman and her pegasus approaching the group.

"Excuse me, do you have some sort of business with us or are you just passing through?" she asked, walking up to the stranger, one hand on her sword. Another stranger...what about our group attracts so much attention I wonder? She doesn't seem like an enemy, but one can never be too careful

Edited May 23, 2013 by -Cynthia-

[scorri]

"Hi! Are you in charge here? My friend and I are travelers like you! We saw the smoke coming from whatever happened at that fortress today and then I flew over your group and saw that some of you had pegasus! Can I met them? Oh, well, that can wait. So then we decided that since we're traveling just the two of us, it might make more sense for us to see if we could travel with you guys for a while. Also we can fight, so we can help if you guys run into any more trouble like earlier today. So are you in charge or can you take us to whoever is if you aren't?"

[-Cynthia-]

Veronika

She's certainly...chipper. That's a nice change I suppose. "I'm the second-in-command of this group. We would be grateful for your help, but where are you traveling to? If we are traveling in different directions it makes little sense to travel together," she said. She almost seems a bit too eager to join us...bah I'm probably just being paranoid.

[scorri]

"Traveling to... uhm, well, I'm mostly traveling to stay away from Ursentius because... reasons." She glanced nervously at Star Hunter and then continued, "Pete's kinda the same I think. We don't really have a set destination. Right Pete?" She glanced back, expecting to see her companion behind her.

[Snowy_One]

"I am willing to try and catch something for a 'real meal'. But it takes time. Even if aided with flight I need to spot, down, retrieve, clean, and cook the meat. Such things are not easily done as the only animals willing to approach a person are ones who will eat a person." said Robin, trying her best to smile reassuringly. "But I can handle it Shade drake!"

---

"Yup! You can do a lot of interesting things with repelling fields if you know how they work. For example, that whole last battle we fought? I used a defensive tome despite trying to wash out an entire enemy squad. Repulsion combined with unique thoughts. Though if we fight again I'd much rather have an actual offensive tome or two. Makes things a lot easier. I don't think I can afford to buy one from here though."

[Rothene]

"That sounds effective. Unfortunately I'm more proficient with lightning based magic, and electricity is not know for its forceful properties. But apparently non-elemental usage of anima magic seems to be flexible enough," Mireille replied to Tia adding another book, a slim dark tome, to a different pile, "It makes me realise how much mages tend to overlook using magic itself apart from manipulating the elements, especially after attending some of the lectures in the university Weyland teaches in."

[Snowy_One]

"You studied at E.U.? Wow! I hope to get there one day myself or some other university of at least good quality!" said Tia, jumping up as she shelved one of the tomes followed, in kind, by one of her books on golemancy. "I tried some of that stuff you suggested a while back and it didn't exactly work out as well as I had hoped. Water is my natural affinity after all, so I wasn't surprised. Tell me though, do you attempt to combine various elements? Like, for example, having me utilize a water spell to saturate a group of enemies before you strike them with lightning?"

[ReformBlade]

Talking of food and rations made her stomach growl again, making the exhausted magician laugh weakly. Some moments later, she found that her eyelids were getting really heavy and before Mushirah knew it, she had fallen into a silent slumber, breathing regularly and going limp as she luckily fell into a more comfortable sleeping position.