Forums » Fantasy Roleplay » Bloodied Shards IC (CLOSED!)

"I think for the most part," she answers, "He plans to pay anyone who manages to keep their shard from you. The magistrate left a, uh, deposit of gold with his message, and not a small one, then explained it was only a fraction of the reward for..." she chuckles ruefully, "...for the survivors."

Her expression hardens into a glare that suggests she knows exactly what Victi's trying to do by suggesting she can help Lisa demand answers from the magistrate, but instead of calling her out and facing the possibility that her guess is right, the chimera shakes her head. "I don't want to talk to him again."

As Victi rambles, jumping from topic to topic, her face adopts a puzzled expression. Her brows furrow and her ears twitch while she tries to keep up with what the vixen is asking her. She snaps to full attention when Victi proposes they strike a deal. Lisa shares information, and Victi might be convinced not to kill a loved one who may have also gotten ensnared in this mad quest- no, who may have eagerly wrapped themselves up in the madness like an aristocat donning a luxurious fur coat.

That is a deal she would be eager to jump on. Victi doesn't know about Raven at all, probably, but if her familiar did pluck the shard from the cabin ruins and is at present roaming the country raising God-knows what chaos while toting along the base of an ancient blood artifact almost certainly unconcealed, they'll meet eventually.

So, clearly exercising restraint, Lisa nods. "I did take notes at the library, but I can't say I've committed much to memory, and the books and aforementioned notes are...aheh, you see, not...not here."

"....buuut I can try to recall something. Most of today's been a blur, but some of what I read did stand out to me."

Victi's ears quirk up at Lisa's reply. "Oh? I guess that makes sense. Precious metals are nice when you can't just.... make things. For what it's worth, he probably mostly expected you to be killed by me, not engineered by him. I mean, would it be easy to hope for you to win and then either leave you with nothing or just bomb everyone? Maybe, but it would be kinda awful. So yeah, this probably wasn't his plan, which means I'm getting in the way of him getting in the way of me, so that seems pretty good for me overall." She seems very pleased by this, tails flipping from side to side happily.

The sharp glare gets Victi to stop flopping her tails, two of them freezing in place mid-motion. She blinks twice before saying, "Huh, he must havvveeee......hmmmm." A hand moves to the tip of her snout. "Talk.... to? Talk to Again?" She asks, "Other than the warning, did you interact with him? Another message, maybe? OH! wait.... I mean, what I'm doing isn't technically breaking pre-mature contact, so I guess he could have met physically. I dunno. Anyway, if he ticked you off that bad, I'd be happy to hear that story." Her tails relax again as she thinks some more. "OOooooohhhhh, rightright, I forgot, you're probably mostly mad at him because he tried to murder you, regardless of the quality of your previous interactions. Sorry about that, forgot. Either way though, It would be good to hear! We've got time before that backstabber has a chance of finding you here."

Lisa's reaction to the offer was a bit underwhelming. No immediate agreement, but also not an immediate rejection or dismissive laughter. Well, still, it presumably meant that Lisa had someone she wanted spared, probably.

"Okay.... So, presumably you have a name or something for me? We may as well get this part done quickly, since I'm pretty sure you won't go back on your word, and I need the information before I take off, so this way I can't really go back on mine! Okay, I could, but that would require being petty and gross. Anyway, I figure we should talk about that first, and let you work on remembering some things in the meantime. Sounds good? Specifically, anything about actually activating the Vase. That's the important bit," She explains and offers with a bubbly tone, obviously in good spirits in the current situation.

Adriannu knew that Thalia's words were true, but her guilt over Lisa's abduction wouldn't abate that easily even if she knew there was nothing she could have known. It was just how she hadn't been able to save her parents and she had truly hoped to never be put into such a situation again, even if her fondness for Lisa was obviously much weaker. Nevertheless, she did have to agree that it was best to assume that Lisa was dead even if they were hoping otherwise, that being said, she certainly wasn't going to share that mindset with Liliath. "In my mind, I am trying to think of her as a rotting corpse somewhere, but would be delighted to be proven wrong, though I'll pretend that she is probably fine for Lilaith's sake. No point telling her otherwise until one has to."

After this, Adriannu explained how the shards worked in regards to the blood cost and how the blood was used,. In return, Thalia pointed out that Victi was unlikely to try to use them until she managed to reforge the vase, but when she did, she'd likely only have to fill the vase instead of coat the whole thing. "Oh I don't expect her to use them unless she can reforge the vase and you are right that it probably needs to be filled. However, just how big is this vase? I can tell you that even if I am a kid, giving up enough blood to use my shard's full power really sucks. So even if she just has to fill it, that is still going to demand a lot of blood, quite possibly a lethal amount. Now we have two shards between Liliath and myself, if we had one or two more, we could maybe get a rough idea of how big the completed vase is and from there, roughly how much blood be needed to fill it. "

From there however it was time to meet up with Cornelius and Lilith again. Upon doing so, the Cathera child gave Thalia a moment to speak before bringing up the matter of the books again. "So, Thalia, do you think the books should stay here? If you believe so, then I will let the subject drop."

“Yeah, sure it makes sense,” Naida says with a smile. See, Fuzzy Buddy wasn’t such a bad guy.

“Yeah, sure it makes sense,” Ren copies, “but it would make a lot more sense if you told us the whole story. How exactly did you encounter this person? Why are you so eager to get our shards? Do you work for her or something?” She laughed slightly with the last question; what would a super powerful enchantress want with him?

Okay, Naida thought, taking Ren’s somewhat-joke seriously, maybe he is a bad guy. Like a literal villain-thing.

The Library

“To be honest,” the Librarian tosses his head toward Liliath, “she had more useful information to offer than I.” He steps back and gives the young girl a grateful smile, but when he turns his attention back toward the others, the corners of his lips pull back in a serious, concerned frown. He takes a breath, then flies straight to the point.

“Something strikes me a little odd about the timing of these recent developments. Could you share with me any pertinent details about the fire? Unusual behavior exhibited by the goblins? Strange persons, other than our sorceress, appearing at the sight before or during the incident? Or, well, basically anything that’d raise an eyebrow?" He leans forward, lifting a brow of his own. He drops his voice, as if what he is about to say next is some great revelation or secret. "It might be possible that another party has reared their head here."

His ears pique. In an instant, he turns his frown up into a polite, collected smile. "Oh, My Lady, and Cathera lass, about those books! During the brief encounter I had with her, the sorceress expressed great respect for Libraries and keepers of knowledge such as myself." He winks and rests his palm against his chest, his smile growing. "Perhaps I'm reaching, but I can't imagine she'd twist breaking in to steal from me into a show to such respect. It's possible I won't see her again at all."

"Now, I'd take the word of a known trickster illusionist with a grain of salt, but assuming she abducted Ms. Adeptus for information, it is also quite possible she'll have been satisfied with whatever the chimera can tell her. It would be unfortunate that she got any part of what she is after at all, but that is better than her making off with the primary source, right?"

Thalia raises an eyebrow at Adriannu's point about the danger of the raw tax of blood required, tilting her head in that way that says she's now definitely taking it into account. She replies to the wyrm first, though.

"I think you may be right, Cornelius. As usual, the guardsmen are happy to keep what they can from me. Even though I think this is inquisition jurisdiction doesn't mean they agree. That said, I did learn a few things. Not all guardsmen stand up to me so well. One, the goblins infiltrated the city. Nobody saw or, more impressively, heard them before they reached their apparent destination. Two, a guardsman was found with a hole burned through him, presumably by very powerful fire or light magic. He was likely dead at about the time the attack started. No priests have spoken to his final memories yet. Three, the little brutes had supplies waiting for them, and only arsoned the one building before going on to other fire-free chaos. Adriannu, if you saw any more of that incident from your vantage, that information would be appreciated. Even if not, however, I am very certain that someone from outside was helping them, and... my intuition tells me they wanted to interrupt that meeting."

She tenses her jaw as she considers another thought before continuing. "My one problem with this possibility is that it was not a planned engagement. Adriannu, Liliath, am I right in saying that neither of you nor Lisa expeted to be having tea? And if you had not, and our mysterious enemy was only being opportunistic, Cornelius, you can likely confirm or deny this, then how could a third party have planted supplies, conscripted or mind-controlled goblins, and planted an unseen assassin to remove any interference in such a short time frame? They would have needed to be able to travel incredibly quickly, and without being seen, but I do not know how they could have done so unless they were... draconic wizards or something similarly problematic. Not you, of course, but you know how... capable you are."

One the subject of the books, Thalia glances to Adriannu, waiting for her reaction to Cornelius's reassurance.

“No i hadn’t expected to drink tea at all. I thought since she is evil and wants shards then why would she bother taking us to a tea parlor? Maybe she tried to be friends with us so we give her our shards. But on the other hand, she did was mean to Adriannu. So I am not sure what her tactic is.”

Liliath shrugged “Adriannu do you wanna play with me? They probably wanna discuss things. So we might as well play.”

Adriannu walked back along with Thalia to meet up again and Cornelius and Liliath. Upon doing so, she was a bit surprised to hear that Liliath had been so useful to the librarian, but was pleased to hear it. She was then asked if she could remember seeing anything during the attack from her vantage point and all she could do was repeat what she had already told Thalia. "Sorry, but all I saw was Lisa's abduction and after that, all of my attention went towards Liliath as she didn't have anyone to protect her. I will say that goblins seemed very focused...too focused if you ask me."

The subject about the possibility of this being a planned assault was debated a bit more before she decided to bring up the matter of the books again. At this, the dragon assured her that based on what he had seen of Victi and that because she had kidnapped Lisa for information, that he believed they were safe. At this Adriannu narrowed her eyes before replying back. "There is a problem with the second part of your reasoning. That being that Lisa was very confused by the contents of the books and Victi had made an offer to help translate so we both got the information. As such, she still might want the books if she decides Lisa's memory isn't good enough. However if Thalia believes that they will be safe, then I will drop the subject. "

Finally Liliath decided to ask her quite the unexpected question, that being if she wanted to play with her. Play with her? Adriannu hadn't played with another child for two years now and idea just seemed so...foreign to her. "I'm more concerned with getting something to eat Liliath. I haven't eaten for quite a while and I need to do so if I'm going to stay fighting fit." She hoped that not only she manage to brush off Liliath this way, but that perhaps Thalia or Cornelius would offer her a meal as well. She would dip into her stock if she had to, but it would be much better to avoid doing so.

“After we ate something we can play. Cornelius or Thalia probably have nice food. Please we don’t have to play for that long after that we can do the more serious things. Now I wanna have fun and play.”

The Library

Cornelius listens raptly to Thalia and Adriannu as they take their turns, his expression serious and focused. "The way you describe these goblins' behavior is...quite eerie. It sounds like they not only had help and a distinct target, but...but were acting on some direct compulsion. Quiet, focused, likely under control..."

He turns away, giving the others substantial space as he prepares to release the form he had taken while walking with Liliath. Cornelius morphs back into a dragon, almost on the cue of Thalia musing over her "draconic wizards" and spins around, long clubbed tail arching over the three ladies' heads, an enthusiastic toothy grin crawling up his muzzle as he looks down on them over the bridge of his glasses.

"This is fascinating! So many loose ends to tie together. How might they have controlled the little goblins? Aaaah, Cathera! What is your artifact in particular capable of? And have you three met any other carriers aside from Ms. Adeptus? Also, I'd like to assume your first encounter with our enemy was today, here in this lobby for Liliath, and somewhere near the tea parlor for the Cathera, right? You are welcome to correct me if I'm wrong. That said, Ms. Adeptus seemed...not prepared to face her, but expecting- no -dreading it when it happened, like she had been warned." His bright green eyes widen. "If perchance you hadn't encountered another person keeping an artifact or met the sorceress previously, you don't have any outside help, do you?"

A moment's hesitation. His smile fades, or rather, relaxes. He chuckles at Liliath as she begs Adriannu to come play, yet poor Adriannu doesn't seem like the playful type. "Yes, yes, we should continue this discussion over refreshments. I keep some toward the back of the building. Also tea, but I'm sure you young lasses aren't in the mood after, uh...recent events. Come!"

He leads them down a hall lined with polished marble shelves, treasure troves of the literature he'd collected over years of searching, having gone uncharacteristically quiet as he waits for answers.

Lisa doesn't dignify Victi asking for details about her in-person encounter with a response aside from her hard expression slacking as an uncomfortable feeling settles in the pit of her stomach like she'd just said something wrong. Something that'd spell catastrophe for the magistrate.

That feeling fades quickly- He tried to assassinate me, after all. -and she shrugs. "Our conversation went about how you'd expect; he went into more detail about you and your abilities, and we discussed what to do next." She leaves out the part about their talk being so rudely interrupted by a stranger flying into their cabin and her and Adriannu being teleported to orbit. Those details are relevant, sure, but Victi didn't directly ask about that part, so she doesn't need to tell.

She hesitates before going on, reluctant to have to share a name, sorely tempted to say, "you'll know her when you meet her," and hope that they never meet. While she can't say the vixen has been dishonest so far, Lisa doesn't trust that, after their conversation, she won't hunt down Raven immediately and murder her for that shard, especially after Victi reminds her that she could totally back out of the deal.

But as she weighs her options, she realizes that her cat might be safer if Victi knows about her now and agrees not to horribly maim or kill her. If they don't strike this deal, she will find Raven eventually and handle her about the same she'd probably handle anyone else who gets in her way: without mercy.

"Alright," she relents. "Don't tell her I bargained for her life. She will get mad if she realizes you wouldn't be putting your all into hunting her."

"Her name's Raven. I'm sure she's already dying to meet you, so if you'd be so kind as to not actually harm her when she gets her wish, I'd be grateful."

Ah-HAH! so that was an involuntary slip! Though for the most part what conversation her.... prisoner? captive? very unwilling collaborator? Whatever Lisa counted as, had with the other kitsune sounded brief and about right for the situation. Improved sitrep now that he probably had his files together better, co-ordination of strategy, and all that other good boring stuff. "The main thing I'm curious about there is what you know about me," Victi says, trying to imply that Lisa should share, "Know your enemy, and also know what your enemy knows about you, it all goes hand in hand."

Lisa's introduction of this "Raven" definitely gets Victi's attention.

"Oh, I like her style already," the sorceress snorts in amusement, "And sure, I can definitely torment her or whatever without killing her, sure. That's not a problem. So.... considering that explosions don't exactly discriminate, what should I be looking to not hit? Species and general description would... yunno, help. If I'm tracing shards, I'm not going to politely ask the names of everyone involved, and especially if I need to not reveal that she's off the prey list."

"Once that's out of the way, let's see if we can pick apart anything that you can remember."

Adriannu nodded at Cornelius's words about the goblins before making a suggestion. "Perhaps a close examination of the dead goblins may lead to some clues about what had been controlling them. Maybe some supplies from their potential benefactor, or a goblin keeping something they weren't supposed to. Can goblins read? Maybe they kept some written instructions or something if they can."

When the librarian turned into his dragon form, the cathera took a step back in surprise, but recovered quickly afterward. "My name is Adriannu please and my shard controls predatory animals. Also no, I haven't met any other shard holders aside from Lisa and her talking cat Raven with the later being the one who has their shard currently. No I don't what Lisa's shard does. No I didn't mean Victi in the tea parlor. I met her in the streets after she had already found Lisa and Lilaith. It was after that that we went for tea." When he finally asked if she had had any outside help, she said yes and repeated some of what she had already told Thalia, but made sure to not say a word about Victi's capabilities to him since Liliath was there. Instead at one point, she briefly gave the inquisitor a knowing look making it clear that she expected her to tell him the whole story later. The child did however reveal the daggers that had been his gift to her and commented that they had cut through the goblins she had fought with unimaginable ease.

Liliaith on the other hand was continuing to make her life difficult by now insisting that they played after they ate. Well since her nice attempt to brush her off had failed, she guessed that it was time to just tell her the blunt truth. "I don't "play" Liliaith. I haven't played for two years now. When you have to take care of yourself in the wiles, you don't have time to play." While that was mostly the truth, she did leave out that she had sometimes played with stray cats or dogs, but only when she was in excellent condition had she deemed she could afford to "waste" the time. However the desire to play with other children had long withered away into nonexistance.

Adriannu did look delighted however to hear that they would be indeed be offered food. There was nothing better then to have someone else feed you so you didn't have to spend the energy looking for it yourself and didn't have to touch your own supplies. Naturally this mean that the dragon had earned a few points in her book by offering to feed her.

Thalia had stayed quiet as they walked, mulling over various thoughts which had come to her mind during this exchange, as well as keeping an eye on the Librarian. An excited dragon, even if generally friendly and fairly careful, was still dangerous just due to raw size.

She eventually comments when Adriannu suggests looking at the goblins, saying, "I've been trying to get a look at them, but my people are being locked out of the investigation as much as possible, which is almost entirely. I may be able to ask someone from the cathedral to ask, but we'll see. From what I was told earlier, however, it seems like all they had on them were their weapons, tools, and loincloths, but I wouldn't put it past the people I spoke with to hide more important details from me if it meant keeping my people from 'butting in' on city guard business. Given that having either of you get arrested or have bounties put on you makes my job harder, I would appreciate it if I, or Cornelius if he feels like doing so, could take care of examining the corpses, since we can go through legal channels."

She returns to quiet focus again, not working through the puzzle as much as Cornelius so much as the logistical implications of how the Inquisition would need to react to the situation as a whole. That said, one more immediate thought did nag at her...

"Cornelius, you implied that the sorceress was here? I take it she arrived after I left?" the High Inquisitor asks a bit shortly, "What did you note about her? I need to corroborate more information."

At last, following up on Adriannu's comment to Liliath, the severe woman chimes in with, "Liliath, please remember that the Shard you carry brings an important responsibility with it, namely keeping it out of the grasp of a powerful sorceress who, as far as we know, is forcing miss Lisa to suffer while figuring out how to take the shard from you, possibly violently, while staying within her moral code. You of all people, having encountered her, should have a sense of how dangerous she could be. You may be young, but unfortunately your.... friends thrust you into a situation that requires focus when you have the chance to figure out information like we do now. Your contributions are also of value, as Cornelius implied. There are times to do things we need to do, and times to do things we want to do. Now is a time for things we need to do, for all of us."

"Fine, fine. It must be boring, if you haven't played for two years. I never met any child who hasn't played for two years." Liliath was genuinly surprised "I understand, but isn't fun always trying to protect myself from evil people because they want my shard. Which simply belongs to me now. Maybe we can attack Victi with everyone who has a shard . Then she might get defeated and then we can live in peace again." She happily walked after Cornelius and the others "Indeed I don't want tea, I don't like tea anyways."

The Library

"Ah, interesting," Cornelius processes Adriannu's answers quietly, muttering under his breath. "So there are three shards now which we know of, guarded, reluctantly or even unwillingly in some cases, by four individuals, but there are likely more, and you all have had help from this Kylarion."

His spiky brows furrow and his eyes widen as they lock on the cathera's twin daggers. He pauses in his leisurely walk and clears his throat politely. "I understand if you refuse, Miss Adriannu, but if I get a spare hour or so, may I examine one of those blades?" Silence, then with a hearty laugh he slips almost seamlessly back into the topic at hand, resuming his walk.

"Likewise, I'd be happy to help examine the bodies of the goblins, or at the very least put in a request for such and then arrange to pass the corpses to your department. And, yes, I thought I'd mentioned that already. She presented her illusion, a white-haired chimera. Strange choice if she wanted to be covert- it's possible that a combination of inexperience with this region's culture and indifference toward scrutiny contributed to that disguise -but I have to admit, it was convincing. I can say with utmost certainty that she has achieved a mastery of illusory magic. If I hadn't been keeping up on my sight," he chuckles and adjusts his glasses, "she could have fooled me.

"Aside from that, as I said, she seems to hold a deep respect for libraries, and struck me as both predatory and pragmatic. She also had a very odd bow-legged walk, like she was stuck standing on her toes. Then, as she left, I caught a glimpse of her true form: nine snow-white tails with black tips, like paintbrushes washed in ink."

Apparently, Cornelius was quite taken with the sorceress, or at least, the mystery she practically dropped in his lap. He snaps out of it as Thalia helps Adriannu curb Liliath's demands to play with a harsh reminder that this is dangerous, serious work, and remarkably it does the trick without setting the child off. He blinks as the woman brings up...her friends. It's safe to assume she means Adriannu, Lisa, and their foreign benefactor, but obviously he has to know for sure.

"Liliath, what can you tell me about your friends? Those who my Lady speaks of?"

"Jules is this demon lady. She is very nice, but we also got in many fights. I met Jules when what I believe her house was on fire. She got mad at me for trying to leave so I could sell my shard, so I can buy my castle. Which still is my goal, to get enough money. I ended up leaving anyways, but I wonder if she is mad at me or misses me. She was very nice to me." Liliath sighed and looked a little sad "Then we also have Alastor. He is the best, but at first I didn't like him a lot. But we ended up getting along very well. I miss him the most. And you have Neo, Neo is just Neo."

She giggeld "Am I going to see them soon?"

Upon showing her daggers to Cornelius during her explanation, the dragon actually paused when making a request to be allowed to examine of of her daggers if he got a free hour. At this, the child clutched the blade's handles even more tightly out of a defensive instinct. "Never give up your claws." She remembered her father saying after telling her the fable of the Lion in Love. The lion had been so in love with a woodsman's daughter that he agreed to have his teeth taken out and his claws cut for her, only to be killed afterwards. Giving up your weapons only makes it easier for others to harm you so never give them such an opening. "I must refuse your request for my daggers are my claws and what I make my living by. I simply don't know or trust you nearly well enough to risk placing half of my livelihood and protection in your care even if only for an hour." She hoped her answer wouldn't upset him and that he will still be willing to feed her, but she wasn't about to risk handing over one of her daggers only for him to choose to keep it.

Afterwards, Adriannu attempted to dissuade Liliath from trying to play with her and was most grateful for Thalia's aid in this and even flashed the inquisitor a quick look of gratitude. Even so however, she still felt the need to say one more thing before dropping the conversation. "Most children have someone taking care of them." The dragon librarian then asked Liliaith about her friends and it turned out that she did have some besides Lisa. She knew nothing about these people though, so she kept silent.

Drake pauses, taking a moment to carefully observe Ren's body language and tone of voice. Her laugh, quiet but ringing clearly in the cavernous chamber, suggests she's joking, so Drake smiles and barks a laugh himself.

"Nah, doll. I'm way too out of her league." He turns his head to the side with a forced cocky grin and catches a glimpse of Nadia's much more serious expression. She may be taking Ren's comment seriously, but her suspicion is only as threatening as far as it can influence the others. He decides to brush it off for now.

"Uh....for the sake of the kids, I'm going to skimp on some minor details at the beginning, but I encountered her a few days ago, shortly after getting the message. She didn't seem to realize who I was at first, but planned to kill me anyways for local coin or something along those lines." That, or she knew the whole time and was screwing with him; he never quite got it figured out.

His face darkens and he lowers his voice. "I only survived because she ended up having better things to chase after." At least after she came around to the idea I was more useful to her while breathing.

He pauses there, opening up to interjections. It's going to take him some time to come up with a convincing reason he in particular wants to collect their shards. "To protect these people who obviously can't take her" is honorable enough and all, but it's so damn knightly and chivalrous that only the most desperate or naive of people would take it at face-value. And what's more, part of him suspects that some members of this party would take that as an insult.

The Library

The Librarian's naturally imposing posture slumps a little when Adriannu politely rejects his request to examine her alien weaponry. He accepts her answer with a disappointed but resigned nod, then brushes it off with that laugh and lets the subject drop.

He brings the group all the way to the other side of the library and pauses in front of a tall, dark and ornate door, listening with a slight smile as Liliath describes friends and her own bubbly, very simple child-like way: Jules the nice demon lady, Alastor the best, and Neo the...Neo. Her endearing naivety is tainted only by the implication that she spent most of her time with these "friends" fighting. Whether she means they fought others or each other she left a little unclear, but either way he grows concerned.

"Ah, I see. I have a few more questions for you now, but first," he wraps his talons around the polished brass handle to the door and pushes it open. Cornelius gestures for the women to enter the spacious conference hall, furnished by a long, elegant table lined by equally elegant velvet chairs. "Please, take a seat."

While the others get their bearings, the Librarian crosses the room in a few long strides and slips through another door, disappearing from sight for several minutes. He returns balancing three small plates and two serving dishes of crackers, cookies, dried meats and cheese in one hand and a clear vase of iced water and strikingly plain drinking glasses in the other. He swiftly but carefully lays all of this out on the table within reach of his guests, setting the serving platters and vase in the middle of the gathering and pairing up one plate and one glass in front of each person.

"Help yourself, my ladies," he says, resting on his haunches across the table a polite distance away, where can still be privy to the conversation but also where no one is likely to get injured by a swinging tail if the conversation takes an "exciting" turn.