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

Raven cocks her head to the side, confused, but agrees to abide by Alastor's request with a bemused smile and nod. She likes to make mischief, not enemies.

When they reach the orphanage, Raven slows to a slinking sneak, trying to avoid catching the eyes of the children. That is, until she caught a whiff of a familiar scent...

She freezes; her jaw goes slack as she takes a deeeep breath to make sure her senses aren't deceiving her. They aren't, the scent she eagerly matches to a friendly face is as clear as a sweet summer day.

A bounce springs into her step as she turns to face the others, her eyes wide saucers as she grows a positively radiant smile. "That fox is here! Oh my goodness ohmygoodnessyes!"

She scampers, meowing incessantly, around the building in search of an easy way in. An open window, a hole in the wall, anything. If the place is surprisingly well-patched, she scampers back to Jules and Alastor, waiting for one of them to open the door.

"You're gonna like him, her...them? I can't remember, but this guy has good food. Trust me, you're gonna love this as long as no one smashes the place..." Her eyes narrow. She swings her head left and right as if another Neo will pop out of nowhere and wreak havoc with his insane powers.

Ren addressed the newcomer first, “Trust me, Inquisitor, we have no lies for you to untangle.” Then she turned back to Geoff, “And I have an amulet to aid in my elemental magic.” She took off said amulet and held it up for the magician to see. She glanced over at Naida. Truthfully, Ren had no clue what the fairy might be carrying. She had a tendency to collect things, but Ren was sure if any of it was magic, Naida wouldn’t really know anyway. She wasn’t even sure if Naida realized the shard was magic, so at least she wouldn’t be lying if she answered “no” to the question.

Her eyes light up more. "A fox you say?" She asks as she looks around. A whole barrage of new scents fill her nose. "Well, I am certain I will not know a soul here... personally I should say." She says as she looks around. She stretches as they arrive. She felt a little uneasy at how revealing she was in front of kids but it was too late to change. That and she didnt really feel like changing. She looks at Alastor. "Are we ready?" She asks softly.

"Yep, haven't been to it myself..." Just before they speed away, he says, "Hey, I set up some snares in the woods, hopin' we could check them later?"

They come across a target in due time; some pretty well-off looking merchant and his wife heading a small train of supplies to sell. Drake asks Victi to slow the bike as he slips a newly enchanted dagger out from under his coat. He makes eye contact with the driver as he aims...then he sends the blade flying at the reins of the horse.

The enchantments do their work and set the beast of burden free. The lead carriage crashes to a halt; the driver tumbling over and hitting the ground. The rest of the caravan stops; guards tense up, drawing their weapons. Passengers peer outside, confused. Upon sighting a grinning chimera and fox-like being the likes of which they'd never seen, the merchant and his wife duck back into hiding. At some unseen signal, the guards cluster around their carriage in a pointed formation, each one taking a stance with spears aimed out like a barrier of wooden stakes. And to Drake and Victi, they're about as threatening as such.

Victi tries the whole, "Give us what we want and no one gets hurt" spiel while Drake draws another dagger and shapeshifts his other arm behind his back. His boss's reasonable request hits about how they expected; a man who presents himself as the lead guard signals for his spearmen to advance.

Drake lunges, dodging and slicing spears apart with his claws while Victi does what she seems to do best: illusions, kicks, and snarky remarks, mowing over the spearmen to search a bruised, cowering coach driver for a map.

It doesn't take much to wrestle the head guard's side-arm away from him: a handsome-looking broadsword. This blade isn't quite up to the standards of Drake's old weapon, but it'll do. He hops on top of the wagon and swings down to block the exit, cornering the man and his wife. Brandishing a sword in one hand and a handsome set of claws on the other, he greets them with a swathe smile.

The merchant's hands, fat fingers curled around a small dagger Drake isn't worried about, tremble. "What do you want from us?"

"Your wife looks pretty nice..." he drawls.

"What-!?"

"...but I'll take some money too." They didn't rob the caravan for money, he thinks, but it wouldn't hurt to snatch some while they're here. He holds out his hand. The merchant and wife flinch as he flexes his talons. The poor woman looks about to faint.

"Hey, I was kidding about your wife. Taking her, I mean; I never lie about a pretty lady." He winks at her as the merchant hands him a sack of coin. "Thanks!" He hops off and backs up away from the caravan, toward the trees and also nearer to the Shriker. "Hey, Victi!" He waves with both the new sword and the small sack. "How are you doin' over there?"

"We might come back, I remember places pretty well," Victi replies to him as they speed off, "Not a bad way to get food."

At the end of the raid

Most of the guards had their hands over their ears and their eyes squeezed shut by the time Drake was getting ready to go, assaulted by awful sounds and flashing lights, only faintly audible or visible outside of the areas they were meant to impact. Suppression spells weren't her specialty, but they were usually pretty effective anyway. The one exception was a semi-competent spellcaster the merchants had hired, who was looking exhausted as he tried to strike Victi with any spell he could muster, each time finding it disrupted and/or blowing up in his face. Seeing that her hireling had gotten what they came for, Victi gave one last vicious kick to the lesser mage's stomach, knocking the wind out of him, and bounded back to her hoverbike.

"That was fun," she sighed happily as they got to some distance from the caravan, "Always nice to strike like lightning and leave like thunder... Anyway, just to let you know, any more jokes or threats of the kind of violence you suggested to the lady and I'll castrate you and force feed what I cut off, okay? okay. Anyway, let's pull over and take a look at that map. What was the name of that city again?"

Under a minute later, they teleported to an area of forest within sight of the walls of Telmarune. After stashing the Shriker in a pond (she promised it would be fine underwater) and Victi adopting her previous chimera disguise, they proceeded toward the city on foot....

Isabella's eyes met with Geoffrey's as he casually mentioned her spellbook again. It was something that made her uncomfortable for reasons beyond her grasp. Mentioning an interest in it could mean an interest in taking it....which was something she avidly resisted even in theory.

She pulled her hand back and let the mantis crawl onto one shoulder while she watched him speak. It was an easy distraction from her tomb, she thought, being it was the only other magical artifact she had. She reached into the book and pulled out the shard she had found, holding it grasped in one hand while tightly clutching her book with the other.

"All I have is thi-" was all she managed, extending her arm out halfway towards the guard before she cut herself off at the new arrivals intrusion. Her head snapped to him and she stared skeptically, almost fearfully as this man sauntered in. She retracted her arm and, still holding the shard, used it to press against her tome.

Being accused of being suspicious only made her apprehension worse, and unsure of what to say or do, Isabella could only search for guidance. She looked over to Nadia, wondering what it was the fairy would do in response to this odd man.

Naida did not like the newcomer. She grew quiet when he approached, watching carefully and hoping she wouldn’t have to address him. Much like a toddler, she moved closer to Isabella, mostly for her own protection and partially in case the strange man tried to hurt her new friend. She briefly remember her own magical artifact, and saw Isabella had her shard out. Naida knew she really shouldn’t mention blood magic and shards to the Inquisitor, but she also really couldn’t lie. Maybe the man would just let them study. She pulled her shard from her pack. Feeling Isabella’s eyes on her, Naida cleared her throat and said calmly, “Sir, I have this shard, which I’m sure has some sort of magic, but all I want to do is go to the library for some research.”

Isabella's eyes watched Nadia carefully while she proceeded. She could see the apprehension in her movements and this only further fueled her own discomfort with the stranger. Still, if she was going to show her shard, Isabella figured she should too.

She looked back at the man tentatively and held up her own shard with a step closer to Nadia, almost pulling the husky along as he stepped with her insistent on having close personal contact with the girls hip. The reluctance she felt he picked up on, and he watched the stranger intently awaiting their next move.

"I found one too," she claimed quite timidly, not yet willing to say anything further.