Forums » Fantasy Roleplay » Walking the World Again (Closed)

Azumi was nervous. She was being inspected carefully by Radigan, hoping he did not see through her disguise. She kept smiling throughout the entire time, while he continued looking at her. Is he...?, she thought to herself, hoping he wasn't eyeing her in a way that she thought. Ren, on the other hand analyzed the way Radigan was looking at her, and was starting to panic internally, somehow keeping any obvious facial expressions hidden.

"Is something the matter, mister?", She asked Radigan, tilting her head. Despite his rude behavior, she knew better than to act aggressively in this situation. Ren held his pistol tighter, attempting to unholster it, but Azumi held his other hand in an effort to tell him it's alright. He understood this and simply exhaled slowly through his nose, keeping his pistol holstered.

"I apologize for his behavior, that is my shinobi, or you can say bodyguard. He is quite protective of me", She smiled.

Lio took a moment to figure out how to describe Ren and Azumi's relationship. "They are also bound together. Magical bonds, quite unbreakable. Something you would surely understand." She loosed her formality a bit and gave him a smile as if he was a magic user on her level.

"Allow me to personally escort you around, you may be interested in some of the small magics I've done here. Nothing too complicated, you understand." She needed to talk to him, find out more about him, and try to get a read on the amulet he was wearing. Lio was pretty confident that her defenses could stand up to it, but it was best to be careful. And they needed to be sure that he would be willing to end up in alone with them.

She waved her hand, made her ring flash again, and increased the volume of the music a little. The ring wasn't actually magical, it was simply a symbol of her mage line, but she wanted him to want it.

Linota looked from Assallya to Cairo, a spike of worry crossing her features at the thought of Cairo picking the lock. Even what Assallya said about her forgetting spell went unheard as Linota’s thoughts grew louder. She had been just fine to let Assallya take the risk of a possible trap, but not Cairo. If the boy had started to walk toward the door, Linota would have put out a hand.
“No!” She said suddenly, then paused to think of an explanation other than ‘I think it’s booby trapped, but I was just fine letting you do it, Assallya'. “I’m.. faster at it. I’ll do it.”

She took the lockpick set from Cairo, whether he liked it or not, and moved to start working at the lock. Keen amber eyes saw no runes, unless the scrapes from past attempts could be considered runes. She wondered who that was, though it didn’t take long for her mind to land on Caldwell. Of course he had tried to break into Radigan’s chambers before he was promoted to be his right hand man. Maybe even while he was his right hand man. Linota continued until the loud click of success sounded, about a minute later.

Usually she would smile at the sound, the joyous feeling of such an achievement–and in so little time–making it impossible not to do so, but here, she winced and waited to be shocked, speared, or turned to ice. Surprisingly, none of those things happened. Linota slowly, cautiously opened the door and- She couldn’t believe it. Absolutely nothing happened!

“Dummy,” she said to herself and swung the door open, presenting the entrance to Cairo and Assallya. When she looked in, it was a mosaic of glowing colors, like the stained glass in church. It took her eyes some adjusting, yet again, before she could start to see the items beneath the glow. A rope? What looked like a silver platter. A creepy doll..

“Seriously, what did you do to me?” Linota asked Assallya, trying to blink the useless rainbow glows from her eyes. “This spell is just lighting up a bunch of junk.”
She walked over and grabbed the rope, judgmentally holding it up to Assallya. The rope’s unique coloration meant nothing to Linota, as she had never done this before, and so it did nothing to help her deduce its use.

Useless?

"It has a different name in each school," the blonde sorceress explained, "Dweomer Kenn, Flow Sense and Mage Sight to name a few. You're looking at magic, folded over onto itself, suffusing, permeating things."

Assallya stopped into the room, looking about. So much of this stuff was just junk.

"Don't step on the carpet," Assallya added as she looked around, "Mages often use them to move trap wards from location to location without having to start from scratch. It's hard to see their glow because the magic is buried, inside the weave."

"Robbing wizards can be a bit more dangerous than normal people so as a thief it helps to know their tricks."

"I've got one of these," Assallya muttered as she looked over a comb, recognizing the way the flows were arranged, weaves of transmutation layered with abjuration and just a touch of illusion for that little bit of glamour.

"We need to hurry," Assallya added, not because of Radigan's impending arrival but because they needed to finish before it was too late to place the spell on Caldwell.

Assallya was starting to get a feel for this man based on the room itself. Private spaces often reflected the soul of a person. It was a mixture of both chaos and organization. Radigan seemed to have just a smidgen of magical potential, maybe enough to find out what was magical and what wasn't. She was beginning to suspect, long ago, when he was Linota's age the man had been an apprentice to a wizard and then cast out.

It tracked with his behaviour. He probably used what little power he had to lord over his fellow urchins- But! The blonde girl felt she was on to something. Everytime he looked at Cairo and the other ruffians he was reminded of his failure, at being kicked out of the only home he'd known.

"Most of this stuff is just junk!" the blonde elf said softly, "He must keep the good stuff on him or he keeps the dangerous stuff in a lead lined box. Oh... That's a relief. I was worried this place would be filled with staves and rods."

"Wait, Sir Radigan!", Azumi called out to him, "I did mention a while ago that I would make exquisite delicacies from our homeland, It would please me if you'd try it!". She was worried, and so was Ren but only because the only thing he's gotten close to cooking is baking and boiling and he knew he was going to take part in the cooking process. He added that not only were they diplomats, they were excellent chefs and he was going to the kitchen to ready the ingredients so that all may see the spectacular cooking skills. Little did Radigan know, that he grabbed Liothryth by the hand and dragged her by the kitchen to ask her something.

"We're gonna kill him now right?", He whispered angrily, "I don't want him touching Kuzu in any way whatsoever!". He shook his head in dismay and paced back and forth, worrying for his familiar's safety.

Meanwhile, Azumi also offered to clean and repair Radigan's coat and remove the source of the smoke using her magic

“So these things actually have magic,” Linota reiterated, looking at the length of stretched rope in her hands.
She could have deduced that easily enough, seeing that Radigan’s pocket watch had the strongest glow yet, but it just didn’t add up that a bit of rope, and a fork, could be magical. Linota checked for the lump in her pocket, where the watch was, and wondered if Assallya could see it there, just as Linota saw it on Caldwell. She wanted it to be kept a secret, if for no other reason than the great and detrimental power it wielded. She had no thoughts of using the watch’s power, she only wanted to be sure that no one else could use it. At least, that’s what she told herself.

Assallya, who seemed to pay no nevermind to the watch, told Linota not to step on the carpet and Linota took a step back just before her foot landed on an unkempt rug. She leaned down to inspect the rug after Assallya’s explanation and raised her brows at the woven material.
“Crafty,” Linota commented, readily retaining all of this new information. It was almost making her giddy. Magic opened up so many possibilities! How could everyone not be obsessed with it?

Linota wanted to say something like, ‘yes, I also have a hair comb’’, but she knew the comb to which Assallya was referring did something magical and so she refrained.
“What does that do?” Linota asked, unable to keep the acumen from her tone. “Comb through your hair extra nicely?” She wouldn’t understand that that could be useful, whether Assallya explained what it did or not.

While Linota spoke, she had put the rope in a pocket and walked over to the doll, careful to avoid any rugs on the ground. Now she worked to shove the doll in another pocket, no matter how insanely creepy it was. It did something magical and she was going to figure out what! Assallya told her to hurry and she looked through the door where she could see Cairo keeping watch and Caldwell on the ground beside him. She wouldn’t be surprised to see Cairo antagonizing the older man while he was so defenseless.

“So he doesn’t even have anything good in here?” Linota asked angrily.
She was embarrassed that she had been manipulated by a man who only had junk to show for his ‘holier than thou’ behavior. The only good things he seemed to own were his amulet, his pocket watch, and her staff! Granted, at least two of those things were really good. Good enough to make her murder one of her closest friends, anyway.

A pang of dread blossomed in her chest as Assallya spoke of relief and Linota worked to swallow it down. She couldn’t dwell on the past now. They could do this. He was missing one of his weapons and, to Linota’s knowledge, he still didn’t know how to properly use the staff. As long as Liothryth kept her wards up, she and the other two wouldn’t be affected by the amulet. Again, Lin was hoping without knowing.

“Grab what seems useful?” Linota offered, hoping she sounded unfazed by everything. Then she grabbed up an oval shaped, silver plate which she stuck a third down the front of her trousers.
She put her shirt over it, concealing it from view. It wasn’t the most comfortable thing, but it made her feel like she was really going into battle and, put simply, she wanted it. Curiosity made her rush into the kitchen next where she swiped the glowing fork and rainbowy goblet off the dirty countertops.

“We should go and help them,” Linota told them when she was back in the common area. She began to search the room and collected what looked like parts to a machine, then stuffed them into a bag along with the magic laden goblet. The magical fork she had tucked into a pocket as a last resort weapon. “No sense in waiting around here now.” She looked at Caldwell and Radigan’s tampered-with room.
“Actually- We’re dead if we stay here.”

And Linota found that she couldn’t stay there a minute longer. She took in the sight of the dirty house, the sight of her very life for the past several years, for what she hoped would be the last time, and sighed. ’What a waste,’ she thought.

"So, Assallya what you're saying is all of that stuff is useless?" Cairo questions her while keeping a close eye on Caldwell making sure he doesn't move

"Not useless," the blonde sorceress clarified, "It's more... Better yet, think I'd them as ridiculously expensive toys worth a lot in coin. There are a couple of good things here with during magic but they're not going to be a match for a master mage like Liothryth."

Lio thought quickly as she watch Radigan walk away then with a nearly imperceptible wave of her hand she caused a small rock to rise up through the ground to trip him.

"Friend Radigan," she said as she rushed over to him. "Are you alright?" As she helped him to his feet she took the chance to get a closer look at his amulet. It didn't appear to be too powerful, but she couldn't be sure.

"Did I hear you say that you are in some sort of difficulty? Can my associates and I be of some assistance?"

Lio had a bad feeling about what the trouble might be. Cornering Radigan in his home wasn't optimal, but ther might be fewer people there since it seemed like the rest of the town had come to the party.

As Linota was about to head to the party, most of the kids from Radigan’s tribe were coming home and they gathered in front of her. She looked up at the darkening sky and gritted her teeth. It was half past dinner time.
“Where’ve you guys been?” One of the teen boys, Isaac, asked her. “Radigan was so pissed.”
Linota stared up at the boy, who had gotten taller than her in the last year. The thought of this brought up a whole mess of other thoughts, memories playing like a flashing slideshow behind her eyes. All of it felt so small now, now that they were about to go slay the beast as it were. The ‘beast’ that had been playing pretend all this time, making her look like a damned fool.

“We were,” Linota began, then shrugged up her shoulders, sounding regretful and annoyed. “Stealing. Like we do every day.”
Isaac gave her a puzzled look, almost defensive at her answer. Linota looked from him to the children all around him and sighed.
“Look,” she told him. “We’re leaving. And we need you to come with us. All of you. We can find you homes somewhere. Homes with actual beds and actual parents who might actually love you.”

She wasn’t the best at sounding passionate, as dull toned as she was, but she felt it deep down anyway. She purposefully left out the part about her plan to kill Radigan, not with the children here. They were more than used to death, but she thought they had seen enough for their lifetimes. Linota looked at Isaac’s even more puzzled expression, which also held a heaping dollop of skepticism, and could feel an impatient scowl coming on.

“Anywhere is better than here,” she said. “You have to know that.”
“He won’t let us go,” Isaac said, trying more to form excuses not to go than reason that they should. It wasn’t the best place, but it was his home and the unknown was far scarier than his reality there.
Linota said nothing, but her penetrating, amber stare did well enough to shake Isaac and he dropped his gaze to stare at the ground. There it was– self reflection. When he looked at Linota again, she was smiling, a rare thing for the teen to behold. It made him smile too, even though he didn’t want to.

“What’s the plan?” Isaac finally asked her. It was the same question he had asked a hundred times before, when they would go out to steal food or treasures. This time the question was waffled and uncommitted. It wasn’t a certainty that Isaac would be on board with the plan, but the seed had been planted.

Linota began to explain how they met a few strangers outside of town and how they were willing to help, though she left out any names. She told him about the party that Radigan was now distracted at and how one of those strangers had arranged it.
“That’s what all that noise is?” Isaac asked, looking over his shoulder at the, once, abandoned building. “They wouldn’t let us within a mile of the place.”
“It smells soooooo gooood over there,” one of the young girls added in a whiny voice and tugged down on Isaac’s arm. He took his arm back with exaggerated frustration.

“Maybe my new friend will let you have the leftover food from her party,” Linota told them, the idea to bribe them with food having just dawned on her. “If you pack up one bag and come with Cairo and I, you can eat that delicious food.”

The children looked confused and fearful at the idea of leaving, but the hesitancy only lasted as long as it took their stomachs to growl again. The prospect of getting food that could smell that delicious was just too great to pass up! They all headed inside, as if corralled there, to pack up what they each could carry. If Assallya and Cairo were still inside, the children would give them odd looks after seeing Caldwell on the ground, but nothing more than that. Caldwell was the biggest believer in ‘mind your own business’ and he loved to scream that lovely little idiom at all of the children for whatever reason. And so that’s just what they did now; they minded their own business.

Linota waited for them outside, and waited for Assallya and Cairo too. She still didn’t want to reenter the house after having solidly decided to leave it. By fleeing or by death, she was done being a fool’s lackey.

As Liothryth started to run towards Radigan, in order for him to remain in the premises much longer, Ren grabbed Azumi's arm and followed suite.
"The hunt begins", Ren told Azumi as he ran towards Radigan, Azumi following. They both were lurking in the shadows, making sure to keep their distance from Radigan as much as possible so as not alert the man. Ren was shaking, he could not wait to eliminate the person who nearly mistreated Azumi. He was seething with a rage that must be quenched, but he knew better than to release it outright, right at this moment.

"Who shall be the sniper?", Azumi asked her bond, who hurriedly pointed at her and briefly told her why. Azumi comforted Ren to calm him down and summoned a wooden bow with filigree markings all over it. She then moved through several vantage points until Radigan arrived at his home.

Still masquerading as a young pickpocket, Assallya began pulling off her skirts.

Linota had made a good choice as far as she was concerned, getting all the kids out and removing all the powerful items from Radigan's stash was smart. Those items they'd cleaned out would support those kids for years once they figured out how to sell them. That wouldn't be easy.

Now it was her turn. Radigan was going to be irate and eager for vengeance. That would mean he'd pursue the kids unto the ends of the earth, both to kill them and to regain his valuables. She needed to keep on eye on him.

Lying naked next to Caldwell she began casting spells. All of them were small overlooked spells that she couldn't do without. First she cast a charm spell upon him, thus making him into a steadfast ally, or at least as close to it as Caldwell were capable. The next was a suggestion spell where she told him that he had decided she needed to demonstrate her abilities before he could join Radigan's little band. That, while they were having sex Linota and Cairo had run off with all the children and treasures. She then cast a spell of forgetting do that he didn't remember being detained.

That was where the suggestion came in.
Based on the suggestions implanted and the fact he was naked in bed with an empty jug of ale nearby, he'd assume he simply drank too much.

There was, of course, no sex to be had but he wouldn't want to admit he'd been too drunk to remember.

"Ren, Azumi," Lio called to them as she wove a protection around herself, "wait a moment before we go any further." She kept an eye on Radigan as she went to them. Though anger was spurring him on, he was still a large, out of shape man and could only move so fast. "Let me put protection spells on you, just in case." Thankfully, the spells didn't take very long so they could be on the move after Radigan quickly. "I'm going to follow him on foot. You two know your skills best, so I'll trust you to go where needed."

With that she rushed after Radigan, mentally preparing herself to do battle, something she hadn't done in 500 years, and something she didn't know if she was ready for yet. But she didn't have any choice, those children needed her.

Liothryth and Azumi’s stalling had done well for the ragtag trio of teens. Or, the duo teens and the woman posing as a teen. Assallya had enough time to put Caldwell to bed and Linota had time to put her contraption together while she waited outside. The device looked and worked as a hookshot, though the grabbers at the end were a wicked set of mandibles, like those one would find on an atlas beetle. The three horns were carved from wood, jagged and misshapen from her unpracticed hands, and the sides facing in were lined with small, gnarled thorns. It was strong enough to drive into trees, though that proved to rub the carved thorns down quite a bit, making Linota have to carve more into the wood and thinning the whole shape of it. She had yet to test it on a human, but she would find out soon enough.

She was just thinking of ideas on how they should sneak into the party when Radigan showed up. She was winding the hookshot’s chain around a dial set into the handle, but stopped when she saw him.
’He knows,’ she thought, hiding her panic. ’Of course he had something on the door. Foolish girl.’
She naturally berated herself in his own words and that turned her panic to anger. Come what may, she wouldn’t let him see a scared little girl, cowering at his feet. They locked vicious gazes for a couple long and intense seconds before Radigan growled.

“You,” he rumbled.
Linota was almost impressed at how one word could hold so much malice. He wanted her dead. She had seen it before. Her hands slowly, subtly finished winding up the chain and she set the cover in its place on the handle. Radigan was looking past her now, at his home, seeing the children scrambling within. It was apparent that this was suspicious to him, that he wondered where the hell Caldwell was, but it became even more apparent that this was his best case scenario. The smile that twisted up his face could attest.

At that moment, be it from knowing what was coming or for the anger that boiled so fiercely inside her at seeing him hold her staff–or from the brazen excitement the exhilarating click of hookshot-readiness induced–Linota unleashed her weapon at him. In a flash of motion, the explosive sound of spinning chain rang out and Radigan, with infuriating confidence, held out the staff to defend himself. Linota’s face widened in shock and dismay before she desperately yanked back on the hookshot, causing the open mandibles to come up short and snap down on air. It had been inches away from the staff and she cursed at Radigan’s using it as a shield.

“Coward!!” She screamed, her anger making her loud at last. “Fight me yourself! No magic!!”
Radigan smiled before he wielded the staff like he meant it and pointed it at her.
“No!” Linota shouted at the same time Radigan casted a spell.
She hadn’t heard what he said over her shout, but she felt the effects of the spell immediately after. She was bound by what felt like an invisible snake and it coiled tighter around her the more she struggled, making it harder to breathe. Her hookshot fell to the ground with an oddly shaped clatter and her body followed suit right beside it. She swiveled to land on a shoulder to protect her head and the force of impact pushed the rest of the air from her lungs. She gasped for more. Sometimes, she hated magic.

“Foolish girl,” Radigan told her, echoing her own sentiments. “You weren’t so smart after all.”
Linota watched him approach her, her eyes on the white and gold sands that forever ran down the staff’s hourglass. It seemed he did know how to use it. Better than her in any case, but it was looking mighty low. It would turn on him in due time, there would still be a chance for the others. Even if she didn’t make it, she thought.
“Now you can watch your friend die, before you do,” he said, his boots stopping mere inches from her fallen face. “Or we can keep you like this. You’re much better like this and I can still find some uses for you. You were never the pretty one, girl, but I can make do.”

Linota could do nothing but focus on getting air, even though all she wanted to do was kick in every single one of the man’s rust colored teeth. Radigan walked towards his open front door, amulet in hand, ready to demand the children to kill Cairo.

Cairo seeing radigan ready his amulet thinks of a way to lure radigan away by angering him "hey radigan you always send someone else to do your job because you cant do anything yourself?" He mocks him "you just sit in your big chair and act all high an mighty not lifting a single finger, i don't really think you know as much about magic as you say you do" striking a nerve radigans becomes enraged at cairo as cairo shouts to him taking his attention away from linota "IF YA WANT ME COME AND GET ME YOURSELF!!" Taking his katana out of its scabbard readying himself to fight and run to the rest of the party to out number him

Ren ordered Azumi to pin him down with arrows, which she obliged reluctantly, while he goes on to disrupt him and help the others. He was waiting for this, the one moment he could cast the one spell, but realized that there were people nearby so it was still too risky. He threw one of the small bombs he gave away to the group towards Radigan and attempted to stun him with the pistol that uses blunt rounds.

"You fight a Treasoner! You're tyranny shall cease!", He yelled.

Before Azumi could take the shot however, she saw children moving out of the way from the fight, it seemed they were in their teens. Children?!, she thought to herself worryingly. She did not want to disobey Ren because this was their one chance to beat their foe, but at the cost of collerateral damage in the form of lives? Children even? She could not stand ignoring them and wanted to help, so she ran past Radigan, losing her disguise in the process, revealing herself to be a kitsune. She tried to escort the children and gave them protection spells.

"If you find any other children like you on the way", she said in a motherly tone while casting the protection spell, "Please, I beg of you, don't leave them behind, this fight shall be quite messy alright? And don't even think about starting any fights yourselves! just call for my name if you need me, It's Azumi". She then gave one of the teenagers a paper doll of some sorts with some symbols written on it.

When Lio arrived the air around her fairly crackled with magic. At some point while chasing Radigan she had once again become the mage who, along with three of her comrades, had destroyed an entire army. She directed protection spells at everyone she could see except Radigan. She took in Linota trapped on the ground, Cairo armed and ready to fight, Ren throwing bombs and firing at Radigan, and Azumi sending the other children safely away. She could only assume that Assallya was here somewhere as well, hidden for now but ready to raise all hell when the time was right.

"Radigan," she said. Her voice was eerily calm and though not loud, everyone in the immediate area could hear her. "You have done enough harm in this world, it's time for you to pay for your crimes."

This wasn't the battleground they had chosen, but it was the one they had, and one way or another, Radigan wouldn't not be walking away from it.

The blonde elven sorceress heard the commotion outside and quickly rose, padding over towards the window on bare feet.

"What is it?" Caldwell asked of her as he basked in the afterglow of an event that had never happened.

"By Sharess' tits," the naked elf muttered as she peered between wooden slats of the glassless window, "Beshaba's coin and Myrkul's shriveled balls combined."

"What was that honey? I didn't quite catch it."

"I said," she replied, closing her kohl lined eyes for a moment as she concentrated on summoning arcane might, "somnus!"

With a gesture Caldwell closed his eyes and face planted into the covers of the bed, snoring loudly.

"Fireball my arse," he said and looked back out the window at the fracas.

Bearing witness to the amulet causing the children to attack Cairo Assallya tsked. She could try to dispel the effect but that could fail. Better she thought to give Cairo the edge he needed to defeat the children without hurting them.

The naked elven woman then began to cast a different spell, one she used with relish on those she sent into battle.

"Oriri meam gigantes!" she said softly as she gazed intently upon Cairo, fingers twisting as she asjusted the magic.

-And with that Cairo began to grow, doubling in size and weight.

"-and this do you win battles, eliminating your enemies without ever facing them."

"If you don't want lead, I'll do something else!", He yelled at Radigan. Ren then summoned a staff and casted a spell that broke the ground around him, breaking it apart until little, heated, glowing specks were the only observable feature from the shattered floor pieces. He then summoned an enchanted blade over the staff's gem tip making it look like a Naginata. He ran towards a wall and proceeded to perform a wall run with ruthless efficiency. It was when he tried jumped off to hit him with the magically bladed staff that the barely visible specks started to hit Radigan's shield in an attempt to melt it.

Meanwhile, as Azumi saw the children off to safety, she heard even more children, this time it seemed they were brainwashed, but by who? She told the children she was currently with to hide somewhere and quickly as she ran off to the ensuing chaos that was the fight between Radigan and an elf mage, an assassin, two people who were tortured by Radigan, and of course, the two treasoners who will ensure Radigan's quick demise. This is Radigan's doing isn't it?, she thought to herself. She quickly bound the children with a spell and attempted to talk to them in order for them to snap out of Radigan's Control.

"Children, can you hear me?", She said as loudly, but motherly as she could, "Radigan isn't who you belong to! You all belong to families full of love and hope! Please, don't waste your time with that man, he shall hurt you even more!"

With Assallya and Azumi helping Cairo, Lio decided the first thing she needed to do was free Lintoa. Not an easy task, Radigan was proving to be a more challenging opponent that she had thought.

With her right hand she cast a spell that sent fireballs at him, many of them to dazzle him and keep him busy countering them. Then with the tiniest movement of her left hand she sent a tricky little spell that would travel back around behind Radigan then strike him like an arrow in the arm holding Linota. The complication of changing the angle of attack meant that the spell wouldn't hurt him much, but she hoped that it would be enough to at least have him drop the young woman.