Masquerade Part 2: Army of Darkness

[algae]

Sonia sighed, realizing that this was probably a better deal than she would have found elsewhere. "A fair price." She handed over the gold and the book without complaint: she didn't doubt that they would find more of those monsters, and it was worth spending some time broke if this 'Blight' did even half of what he claimed.

[riariadne]

"The fire... of course. Thanks for all the help, Edward," Valha spoke with remembrance from her rooftop spot. "You're a good kid, you hear?" Seeing him and Ingverd start off together, she dropped down with the two of them as well. "It's no problem. I've got a habit for rememberin' stuff like that, yeah? Never know when you meet someone who could end up meanin' a whole bunch to you." She looked where he did when he turned his head, confused. "Think you heard someone? I thought I saw someone from up above, but if you're hearin' mystery things then it's probably no coincidence. Someone could be--"

"Hey." Valha turned again at the sound of the voice she dreaded coming from behind them. A menacing harpy stood alone far back, white wings with black ends along with matching hair. Deep red eyes stared intensely forward, further amplified by red and blue facial marks.

"L-Leiha," the smaller harpy started, visibly terrified. "Funny seein' you around, isn't it?"

"Why are you back? You're not welcome here anymore," Leiha growled. "Sure were fine running away before. Do it again. Scamper right out of this city, small and scared, and stay gone. Your... boyfriend or whatever can get going with you." She bared her talons. "Or did you fail already, and you're back here to cry and moan about how your delusions of grandeur didn't work out after all? Lanos go off and die on you or something?"

"We're mercenaries. I'm here lookin' for a job, 'n Lanos is with us too. You're not in charge here... you lost last time, so what gives you the rights to try 'n boss me around?"

The taller harpy stalked forward, looking to Edward and Ingverd. "You two should get going. It's not about you guys... wouldn't wanna see you get involved in something you'll regret." She smiled cruelly. "Don't make yourselves into prey here when there's an easy way out, yeah?"

[Xinnidy]

With the awkward mood behind them, Maja put some effort in taking the subject off of her mind. With the books arranged, this was a perfect time to ask about Kadin... probably! "By the way, have any of you seen Kadin? Er, or sensed, maybe? I can't find him since we got here." It brought some sense joy to talk so casually about a ghost, and part of her returned to wish and find the ghost.

[Vestige]

"Well, it was a nice chat, Sara. My name's Raith," he mentioned out of courtesy, "and one of these days you'll hear about me finding something incredible, and wish you'd come along for the ride," he said with a coy smile on his face. He was of course, referencing his desire to find Griberge, but he opted to leave that particular detail out, keeping things vague (just in case it didn't end up working out--not that he was planning for that, but still). "Anyway, see ya around," and he walked off to find his room on the upper floor.

It was a nice room, nice furniture, a lot of decorum, and best of all a soft bed. He wanted to just lay down and fall asleep, but he wanted to take care of a few things. He placed most of his belongings off to the side, giving a second glance to the peculiar looking lance Lanos had given him. Where'd he even get the thing? He wondered if it would fetch a good price, but decided against selling it. "Might as well try it out and see if I like it," he said to himself. Instead he picked up one of his other lances, and walked back outside the room. Definitely getting rid of this thing though. He walked back downstairs and outside the inn, aimlessly wandering the streets of Felson's upper rung, until he happened to, be it by luck or by fate, walk in front of a shop by the name of "Alice's Armory", and walked inside. At the front, he immediately noticed Angus, and who he presumed to be "Alicia" discussing some sort of transaction. Without announcing his presence, he found himself a seat and sat down, waiting for the woman to be done. He scanned the room, looking at the various weapons in stock but none particularly stood out to him as being of extraordinary craftsmanship. Sure, some of the weapons here were forged with a better metal than his Iron Lance, but he was hoping to cash in on something a bit better than just a standard upgrade.

Meanwhile, Ophelia was outside the city walls, eyeing down a few guards just to see if they would freak out or not.

[Oersted]

"It's alright." It wasn't like he'd been soaked like she had. She was even drying him off! "From what little interaction I've had with Kendeall I've gotten that he's a bit standoffish and a bit of a jerk with a big mouth. I didn't think he was like that though." Lanos could only hope Vriska didn't intend to electrocute Kendeall to death the next time something happened between the two of them. He decided he should probably attempt to change the subject. It had worked last time. "So what are you gonna do once you finish drying off? Personally I was gonna walk around a bit, visit some places."

[Nanami Touko]

Terror

"You're welcome, miss!" Edward happily called back. It was nice to be appreciated

"Well, it's probably nothing, but... I had the same sort of feeling earlier, before Makin's bag was stolen, and--" and then a voice, which pretty much solidified this paranoia. Valha said Leiha, and it took Ingverd a moment, but the name sounded a bit familiar. Leiha... Lei... Huh. Her sister? Sister or not, she didn't seem very pleasant. In fact, this was probably the most hostile he'd seen someone, after that Ertel character. She'd even started spouting out threats! How amusing.

Edward obliged, and quickly found himself running around a corner to hide. There was no way he was getting involved in this.

Ingverd, on the other hand, began to laugh to himself. His little laughter turned louder and he began to walk over, placing himself only slightly in front of Valha. "You're funny. You think I'm scared of you! That's very funny." He drew his sword, leveling it at her. "Come on, then. Let's see what makes you so scary. And Valha," he said, glancing back at her for a moment, "don't even try and stop me. Like I'll let some overgrown pigeon try to tell you what to do." Truthfully, he hoped bravado would be enough. His arm still hadn't been healed, and if he risked damaging it any further, he might not be able to get it fixed. On top of that, if something happened to his arm, he wouldn't be able to fight back properly. And unless Valha could handle her sister alone, that would implicate some very unfortunate thing. Here we go...

SOCIAL ACTIVITY

Well, at least Lanos was buying her side of the story. His tone might change when both Ken and Quincy vouched for how smug she had been, but whatever. That was all she'd left out, and she was fine with that. "Oh well... Maybe he was just jealous that he couldn't perform his magic as well as I can. He's so much older than me, I wouldn't be surprised if that was it." She shrugged, and continued drying Lanos off, getting his shirt dry because the water stain was so small. She sat down again and went back to drying herself off.

"Kadin? That ghost guy? I haven't see him. Sorry, Maja. Maybe he remembered something and went off somewhere." She shrugged again, but did feel a bit sorry for the girl. She'd seemed attached at the hip to that ghost, so maybe this was getting her a bit down. "Oh! Can I go with you? I'd love a little walk around the city~" Hmmmmhmhmhm... And if that Valha lady sees us together, she'll get all jealous~ Perfect~!

Inn Activity

"Thank you, Raith." Sara waved him off as he went back to his room, wondering about what he'd said. "I hope he doesn't. That sure would suck. And right when I had the chance to do something about it." She pouted for but a moment, but left it at that, resuming her daily activities of checking over the logs, and making sure the filing was all proper for the rooms that had just been paid for.

Drogan Dealing!

"Done~ Enjoy melting the undead~" Drogan chuckled happily, returning his attention to the half-elf and the axe. "So, sir? Have you come to a decision? It's a very good piece. I'd be willing to bet my hat that you can't find a better one in the city. And I love my hat!"

Weapons Merchant

"No way. I'm too old fer any o' that, and... Well, the only reason I sell these things cheaper down here is 'cause, iffin you haven't noticed, there's no market down here. People can't afford nothin' without a discount. You'd be darned sure I'd be going full price for a mercenary group."

outside the city, the guards were giving nervous glances to the dragon, wondering if they should simply stand there, or do something about it.

[Sandalphon]

"A room?" Vesta had not planned this far ahead. Usually, this sort of evening ended with her falling asleep outside after having been violently expelled from the premises. She supposed this sort of thing would be a welcome departure from the norm.

Still, what the hell had she just gotten herself into?

"Aren't these sorta places rather expensive? I mean, there's always the option of me sleepin' in the ditch again tonight. Cobblestones aren't that hard, you get kinda used to them especially considering I can sleep standing up and all..."

[riariadne]

Leiha was unimpressed by the show of bravado, refusing to step back. "You're out of your element so far from your forested home, little elf. Your devotion is admirable, but foolish... should've found yourself a nice, quiet girl, none of this pest's nonsense. You'll feel the pain of your mistake swiftly, I'm afraid."

"Don't be an idiot, sis," Valha taunted, putting on her own brave face despite not feeling up to it. "Two on one when you can't even beat one of us? That's just askin' for problems on your end."

"Your arrogance will be your undoing soon enough, sister. You could both learn a few lessons from the kid." She pointed at the both of them with her claws. "What are you waiting for? If you're so tough and two-on-one really matters, then try me. Or are you scared to discover that you're wrong?"

Despite Valha's talk, she hesitated, making no attempt to go forward. Damn it... she's not that tough, Valha, you can do it, right?

"Not really so confident when it comes to the real thing and not just boasting, huh? What about you, elf? Are you smart enough to know you should be calling it quits, or blinded by your pride?"

[charlie_]

"One thousand? That's plenty. I'd like to sell the bow too, even if it isn't worth as much. It isn't really doing anything for me anyway." He couldn't remember the last time he'd had this much money at his disposal. Now he'd just need to think of a way to spend it... or not, if the case may be.

[Oersted]

Lanos had to actually stop and think about his answer. While he'd intended it to be more of a personal trip than anything else, it was a good opportunity to talk to Vriska (relatively) alone without risk of her falling asleep. "Er, if you want to I guess it's fine. I was gonna head into the slums though, as nice as it feels to be in the Upper Rung I still feel like I don't belong." Granted I feel that way about the slums too now, but I still wanna have that walk. "Besides, I've almost done everything I wanted to do up here anyway." The last thing, if he ever got around to it, was obviously to visit the bookstore he'd stolen from and hope the owner didn't recognize him long enough to buy something.

Edited September 25, 2014 by Oersted

[Refa]

Before Quincy could reply to Drogan, the man had went to speak to another customer. He sighed, waiting wasn't really his strong suit. Luckily Drogan's transaction with his other customer didn't take too long, and he was back soon enough. "It is a rather nice weapon; you don't find enchanted goods like this everyday. However, it's a bit outside my price range at the moment. Would you be interested in buying this?" Quincy asked as he pulled out the Lancereaver.

Edited December 27, 2014 by Refa

[Nanami Touko]

Nonsense!

"What? No way!" Makin said, a bit surprised. "You're with us, you get a room. I mean, I won't pay you until we get back, but at least for now, you get a room. It's the least I can do. Why would I ever ask you to sleep outside when there's an inn right here? I know you've got trouble with couches, but certainly you can lay down in a bed." Makin chuckled to herself, not exactly knowing how a horse managed to lay in a bed. Makin would just curl herself over herself and throw the blanket on top, it was easy enough. "Don't worry about it. Here, I'll go pay right now." She slipped off of the couch and stretched her arms out, wandering over to Sara. "Ooooone more room, please," Makin said, reaching into her bag o' holding and producing another small sack.

"For the horse?" Sara asked, searching around for a key.

"Yeah, for the horse. She's pretty fun." Makin smiled and took the key she was finally handed, slithering back on over and offering it to Vesta. "There you go. I'm sure a mattress will be more comfortable than cobblestone streets."

Sara smiled, but then turned her attention to the man laughing, wondering what his problem was. Is he alright? Maybe I should say something... Or maybe I should ignore him. Mercenaries can be scary...

Out of Your Element

Ingverd took a deep breath. "Out of my element, huh? For all your talk, you haven't done anything, either. And, sorry," he began, as he readied himself to lunge at her, "quiet girls turn me off!" He jumped at her, taking a swing. Perhaps she'd been ready, perhaps it was instinct, but she managed to avoid the brunt of the swing with a quick back step.

A small cut opened up on her forearm, but she didn't seem to pay it much attention. She was already lunging right back at him, raking her claw across his chest! He cried out in pain, but he saw an opening. Pushing himself past the pain, he grabbed the arm that had done the clawing. "Maybe you should check your own pride!" he taunted, driving his sword straight through the wing of the arm, letting it sit there for a moment, before drawing it out and taking a small jump back. Leiha let out her own pained cry, glaring more than daggers at the elf. "Yeah, not so tough now, huh?" he said through a huff. She's strong, but... I think I can take her.

Perfect

"Glad to oblige~" Alicia said with a happy giggle, producing eleven hundred and fifty gold for Angus to take with him. "I'm sure I can get the poison off of this bow and sell it to someone, and I know exactly where I can get rid of this. Thanks for the stuff. Hope the gold's worth it. Anything else I can do for ya, before I help the guy behind you?" She waved lightly to the man who'd sat down behind Angus.

The Slums, Again

Vriska was visibly bothered by the mention of going back to the slums, but she worked herself past it and tried to smile. "Sure, I wouldn't...mind going along, to there. I'm sure it'll be fun." She was yelling at herself for that wording. It would most definitely not be fun. But no matter, she was upset and wanted to spend time with Lanos. Then she realized she'd be tossing Maja aside. As much as she'd rather be alone with Lanos, it didn't feel right to be that mean to someone who had only been pleasant to her. "Maja, did you want to come along?" she finally asked. "Maybe you'll find your ghost wandering around the slums."

A Good Sell

"Ohhhh, a Lancereaver," Drogan exclaimed, accepting the sword to look over, losing his demeanor once again. "Perfect condition, no use, no scratches along the blade, I could have one made, but it would be a bit costly." He returned to the smiling man he was moments before the sword. "Of course I shall! And I shall ask that, for the Quick Axe, you pay the balance of five hundred gold."

Edited September 26, 2014 by I have opinions

[Sandalphon]

"Uh, alrighty then," Vesta said as the small key plopped into her hands. People did not typically give things like keys to rooms away nilly willy, so this action caught Vesta off guard. There were things Vesta was used to getting, of course, like earnings from her fights or those metaphorical knuckle sandwiches, but rooms in rather nice inns were not amongst those things. "I'm gonna go uh, try to walk off my buzz... I figure since I'm kinda an employee now that this sorta thing ain't exactly professional."

Vesta stumbled to her feet, as getting up on wooden floors always posed a bit of a problem to her. "Is there any peculiar time you should want me ta report back ta this here base o' operations? I'll let ya know I am one darn punctual kinda gal,Miss Tiarn."

Edited September 25, 2014 by scolipede

[Refa]

Quincy took out the remaining 500 gold and gave it to Drogan. "Thanks for the axe, I'll be sure to make good use of it," he mentioned before heading out. There doesn't seem to be much to do, maybe I'll just head back to the inn, Quincy thought donning the Talisman. He probably could've sold it for a hefty sum, but it just didn't feel right too.

Edited December 27, 2014 by Refa

[riariadne]

"Ahhh!" Leiha howled, backing off. She looked at her wing, touching the would carefully and wincing in pain. "You lucky bastard," she barked at the elf. "Or maybe you knew beforehand where to go for... wouldn't put it past her to bring that up." She quickly took a salve from her belt, applying it to her wing and calming down from her frantic state. "Try me again. Won't work a second time, I can assure you."

Valha looked to Ingverd with alarm when he was struck by the claws. "Are you okay?" she asked him, stepping forward and readying her new sword. "Easy... I've got this." She darted forward to swing at Leiha, who mostly shrugged off the hit to claw back far harder than the sword struck. "Urgh..." She inhaled sharply, trying not to show signs of the fierce pain she felt.

"Not gonna be as easy as last time, huh?" Leiha taunted. "So much for strength in numbers. Pathetic..." She wiped the blood from her claws off on her cheek, smirking devilishly. "Come on! That all you've got? You've lost your edge since you left, Valha... you're a better fighter, but you don't have the brutal side you used to!"

[Xinnidy]

"Oh? Y-Yeah!" That was the perfect opportunity for Maja to explore the slums. For a moment, part of her wondered if it was really ok to get in their way. But... since she's the one asking... "Thanks! I've been meaning to search there, but going alone would probably not be a good idea."

[charlie_]

Angus scooped up the gold, smiling to himself. "I don't think there's anything else. If I change my mind, I'll be sure to let you know." With that, he turned and left the building. After a few minutes of consideration, he made his way towards the forge, a plan forming in his head and a smirk forming on his face.

[Bluedoom]

Ferdinand nodded at Saul's reply before heading out, going to Burke's forgery. He wasn't really surprised to see Angus over there too.

" Guess a forged bow is a nice idea, huh?" he commented as he went up to Angus.

[Oersted]

Well so much for the whole alone aspect... Lanos internally grumbled. He could see where Vriska was coming from by asking Maja if she wanted to come along though, it would've been completely rude to ignore her like that. She also had a good reason to tag along at that. He couldn't help but smirk at Vriska's wording. Last he checked the slums were anything but fun. "Well, if you two are all set, let's get going."

[Nanami Touko]

Professional

"I don't think we're the most professional people, so don't worry about it," Makin said with a laugh, sitting herself back onto the couch. Well, maybe Ingverd would be happy with that, she'd done something. Something maybe a bit impulsive, but there wouldn't be any regretting it, that was for sure. "Oh, don't with the 'miss', stuff. I'm older than you, sure, but I'm hardly a 'miss'. And, no, not really. If you see anyone especially...'mercenary' looking, feel free to chat them up. They're probably with me. And if not, worst case, mistaken identity. No big deal, right? You just punched a drunkard in the middle of an inn, I'm sure you can handle that." She laughed again, and then laid herself down onto the couch, beginning to unstrap her armor. "Don't worry, I'm wearing clothes under this," she said to no one in particular, as it might've worried Sara across the room, "It's just not comfortable to lay down in. Maybe I'll take a nap, or something..."

Bad Blood

Ingverd groaned as she pulled out a salve, shaking his head. "You're not tough at all. I took a hit, and you don't see me running to heal. Who's pathetic..." He sneered, shaking his head again to keep away from the pain in his chest, as his shirt had been unfortunately ruined by both her claw and his blood. It was too bad he was so focused on keeping the pain out of his mind, as Valha attempted to attack Leiha, resulting in a similar bit of damage. He cursed his body for not jumping in the way, doing so afterwards just to make sure this woman couldn't do anything worse to her. "What the Hel's your problem, anyway!? She's your sister!" He knew some of why they didn't like each other, but she was trying to kill her!

"There they are! Stop her!" came a small voice from an alleyway down sight from them. Looks like Edward hadn't just run away! Along with him were Kurtis, and at least five other men, some harpies. They came into the small area, bearing weapons at Leiha.

"Leave. At once," Kurtis demanded, stone faced.

Slum Trip

Going at all would be a bad idea, Vriska thought, keeping her displeasure to herself, at the idea of this trip. Well, no matter. She slung her arm around Lanos' and waited for him to start walking them, smiling up at him. "Go ahead~ Maja, could you be a dear and carry those tomes? There's only four. I can get a new robe, it'd be easier than drying the old one out."

Drogan and Alicia

Both of them happily waved off their customers, before returning to their work.

Alice, though, waved Raith over to the counter. "Alright, handsome, you're next. Seems t'be plenty of nice faces in my shop, today."

Burke on Break

Burke sat there, chewing on an apple, as Angus and Ferd came into his smithy. He'd still been admiring the sword Lanos had given him to work on, wondering if he really had the talent to improve this without busting parts of it. It's so fragile, And so well made... I mean, I can sharpen it, maybe adjust the balance, but I don't really wanna touch th'blade work... Geez. This'll be tough.

Customers, though. "Hey there." He set it down and sat up. "What can I hammer fer ya?"

[riariadne]

"You don't have easy wings to prey upon, either!" Leiha shouted at his murmurs. She started forward for Valha once more, but found herself inconvenienced by the arrival of Kurtis and several weapons being pointed at her. "Damn you... this was supposed to just be between us. Listen up! You got off easy this time, sister, you hear me? This fight is over, but we still have a score to settle. I'll be back." She slowly backed off, cradling her wing Ingverd had stabbed carefully and ducking into another alley.

Valha collapsed as soon as her sister was gone, panting heavily. "Thank you," she spoke up after a few moments. "All of you... Saul was right, I really should've been more careful." Valha bit her lip, taking her own salve from her satchel and pouring it into the claw wound. She calmed down slowly as she did so, standing on her feet again when she felt strong enough. "We were actually here to see you, Kurtis, to talk about earlier a bit. Hope you don't mind all this hassle..." She sheathed her sword and clung onto Ingverd's good arm, still somewhat dazed.

[Vestige]

"Well, if my eyes don't deceive me, it seems to me like there should always be a pretty face in your shop," he said, smiling slyly. "I was actually hoping to sell something, if you're interested in buying?" he asked, placing his Poison Lance on the counter top. "There's nothing wrong with it per se, it's just not my kinda lance..."

[Xinnidy]

Taking a look at Vriska's new act of closeness towards Lanos (or so it seemed, in her head), Maja had a lingering feeling that she'd be the third wheel of this trip. "Hm? Oh, sure, I can do that!" She picked up the books (again) as asked nicely, out of both politeness and mild hope that the other two would start walking in the meantime. "Uh, right, I'll be right behind you." I'd better find Kadin there. I sure hope I do...

[Sandalphon]

"Oh...uh, of course," Vesta replied. She wasn't used to having bosses other than Mama, but that was a whole other story. This whole being employed thing was more difficult than it looked. "I hope ya have a nice rest then, mis- Makin. I got some stuff I should probably sort out before we go to godforsaken spooky castle land, I s'pose."

She stumbled out onto the street, immediately regretting her decision as the light stabbed her eyes. How long had she even been in that dingy inn tavern anyway?

The most pressing matter now, Vesta reckoned, was to get her old axe sorted out. It was slightly blunt and was far from being her favourite one, but the old one was in the pawn shop now and she did not have the funds to recover it. She sighed as she slowly made her way in (what she hoped was) the right direction to get to the nearest smithy so that Inferior Replacement could be sharpened.

[charlie_]

"Great minds think alike, I suppose." he said to Ferdinand, before turning to the blacksmith. "Hey there." He pulled out his Greatbow and showed it to the man. "This bow here has done pretty well for me, but I've been kind of worried about it's accuracy lately. Think you can do something to improve it? A little extra oomph wouldn't hurt either." It was strange, but he'd grown oddly attached to the weapon during the short time he'd had it, even if using it felt like somewhat of a gamble at times. Hopefully he could get those problems sorted out here?