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

Alastor winced slightly. "A rapier, eh? Well the knives I can definitely use, s'pecially this feller right here." Alastor pulls the larger knife from the box, beginning to playfully flip it between his fingers. "But I can't say I'm particularly fond of a weapon I can't conceal. It ruins the harmless look I..." His voice trails off as he begins to think. Hold on. That'll work with the noble look. I can use this. "... you know what? I take it back. This'll all work."

"Heh. We have a helluva crew startin' teh form. A conman, a friendly demon, a cat familar. Then there's Neo out in the world." Plus the kid. Hope she made it to safety. "Keep this up and we'll have an army by the end!" Alastor let out a quick chuckle.

Urug calmly stood up and walked over beside Alastor as he spoke. As he finished his comments, Urug delivered a quick slap to the back of Alastor's head. "Appreciate what you're given. You obviously don't realise how rare of an opportunity this is, to meet a far realmer. Oh, and add an orc bodyguard to your list."

Urug takes a moment to think before continuing. "Now that I think about it, I don't believe I've had a chance to see one of these shards. I'm guessing there's multiple. How many people are there protecting them?"

She chuckles. "You've only seen my friendly side. And I thought you didnt want people to know I was a demon here." She says as she runs her fingers through her hair.

"No matter, it's not like it wasnt hoping to get out anyway. As for how many of us have a shard, um... I have run into like 5 people? But I know there are more." She says as she pulls out her necklace from somewhere and places it around her neck. "Mines locked away in here. Only a healing demon can open it easily." She says softly as the necklace lies on her clavicle quite nicely.

Kylarion gives a sly, smug, and very vulpine smile as Alastor and Urug make their comments about the sword.

"Indeed, I hoped you might appreciate it," he says with a bemused tone. The magistrate lifts the weapon, pointing it toward the ceiling, pressing the hand-guard outward slightly and letting the blade slide down in two parts, disappearing into the handle. "Here you are then," he almost chirps, holding the collapsed sword out to Alastor.

A mild trick or omission upon his ally, but he suspected the thief would appreciate it.

"To answer your question, Urug," he says, returning to seriousness, "the value of that figure depends strongly on how you define it. There are nine confirmed shards, but... no, I will not speculate for now, but that could mean nine people. However, protect may not strictly mean hold, and a number of people have become embroiled in this situation. Counting all involved who are native to this world, there may be upwards of fifteen people keeping control of the shards out of our enemy's hands. That said, at least two of them are in her employ, though their personal agendas may vary."

Alastor smiled, taking the other two weapons before him. "Well ain't that a welcome surprise. Yeh definitely know yer audience. Can't be easy tracking that many people either. How do yeh do it?""

"Don't worry Julesy. This is the one room I trust with my secrets. Urug here won't do anything against yeh, since he's been through similar things. Not many people listen to an orcish scholar. And as fer our friend here, he'll have an uphill battle if he gives out that information." A quick word to the xenophobic masses, a message to the king about a foreign dignitary sowing dissent, and an odd case of 'some fox-looking feller casting illusions fer funsies', and I figure he won't get any real traction going. Alastor smiled, showing his wolfish grin. I imagine he's got some ways I haven't seen yet, but I can adapt. Not that it'll be needed though. "Outing you would work against him."

"There are certain aspects of my observation system which I will not reveal here for the sake of compartmentalization of information, but the details that will not be harmful should our adversary learn of them are as follows," Kylarion begins, willing to be transparent.

He puts up a projection of their planet, and explains, "within a few hours of my arrival, my people established an array of observation devices just beyond the atmospheric boundry, nearly a thousand such devices, in fact. They carry sophisticated observation tools which can make out details on the surface, and are connected to a computation machine capable of processing the image data and identifying key subjects. Having used scrying magic, something one of my assistants is far more skilled at than our adversary, thankfully, to locate the shards, we have been able to keep track of the location of the shards and those who have made contact with them ever since by means of the observation network. A tad unnerving, yes, but for what it is worth they are not calibrated to see into buildings. Listen into buildings, admittedly, yes, but not see. You may change clothes in peace. To further ease your minds on the matter, most of the data is not watched by a person, only the relevant data is fed to-- What is it?"

He's abruptly cut off and glances to one side, holding up a hand to signal for silence.

"Pardon me, I am not mistaken in hearing 'tea'? ..... Really now. You understand the degree of risk this entails, yes? You do appreiate the fact that you could very soon have a devastating sorceress in the room with you, cackling as you beg for mercy? Yes? ....... No, I will not set foot in the same city as her, and you will respect the chain of command. ...... If it seems as though she may, yes, though try to re-posses the other, let us not be..... I would rather have a vessel and guards nearby regardless, should we fall under attack, so deploy them posthaste. .....Yes, the evacuation protocols should be readied, but avoid panic, everyone knows their tasks and routes. Very.... oh, you never have good news for me, do you? Very well, relay."

He gives the group the tight smile of someone appologizing for a sudden urgent call going much longer than it should.

"..... A scan-shielded landmass, you say. Naturally so? ..... Indeed, how cle-- What? .... No, no, this is likely beneficial, but no references on..... Oh, oh dear. Yes, yes, those in fact may, unfortunately, so arson does seem like the best option. Try to evacuate them, but if needed.... Oh, no, she will not steal from a library. She risked arrest to return a book she found on one of her victims once. Once that I have heard of, and I suspect many more times. ..... This is now all? Good, thank you."

"My appologies, the situation has become a mite more complicated, but unfortunately not in a way that you can immediately impact. Shall we move on to your new protective garments?"

In spite of herself, Lisa snorts as Victi expresses concern for her mental health, as if she actually cares.

She opens the pouch at her hip once, twice, three times before slipping something out and clasping in both hands at her lap.

"I...I agree." Then she hesitates. "So...what got you involved in this, w-with us?" She gestures to herself and the children, then around the room, meaning not the "us right here in front of you" but "us who live on this planet." She doesn't expect Victi to offer a straight answer, but hopes trying to turn the question around will win her a bit of a distraction. The less information she has to give up, the better. Lisa can hardly carry one lie; trying to fib her way through the entire conversation would, without a doubt, land her six feet under.

A server stops by their table and Lisa asks for black tea, the first beverage to come into her head as she really doesn't want tea right now, but she might as well order something.

Raven, who contented herself with exploring the office while the others talked and had really only displayed pointed interest when Kylarion mentioned getting her something to play with, freezes in place atop the desk and stares, eyes wide and ears pricked, as the magistrate starts talking to his communications thingy.

She can't put her claws on it- maybe its his frustration rubbing off on her, or the repeated mention of her, or his dropping of the word "arson"- but Raven's hackles rise as a suspicious sinking feeling settles in her gut. The cat raises her question very calmly, however, tilting her head and sounding curious (reread: nosy) like normal when she asks, "Complicated how?"

Victi smirks. She wouldn't give the *full* details, but maybe admitting a few things could help her coax info out of the skittish young woman, or the children with her.

"The shards, of course. Or, well, the vase," she explains in answer, "I have something I'd like to do, and it turns out that this world has the tool I need to do it and is in a state where the stars are properly aligned for it for the next while. So yeah, I'm here because this is the right place and the right time. Once I assemble the Vase and figure out a good spot to forge the sealed chamber I need, I can use the Vase to do that, and use it for the main event, and then I can go. Won't be a problem for anyone else here for another..... 32.6 million years or so? I did some math, but I don't remember the final value offhand. You, though, what's your involvement with all of this? You've been doing a lot of interesting research, from the sounds of it."

As Liliath sat down and Victi started talking she listend very intrested.
"So you need all the shards? But what are you going to do to the people who don't want to give it to you?"" When the server came Liliath didn't ask for the tea, cause she was not in the mood for tea. She needed to know what Victi was going to do, cause Liliath wasn't going to give her shard away.

After managing to pull away somewhat from Lisa, Adriannu made eye contact with Lisa whereupon the Chimera would whisper to stop calling her Mom. She started to continue with something else, but only said the word "she" before going silent. At this, the child narrowed her eyes, but nodded before being released completely. Clearly something Vitci did has freaked out Lisa, but the question is...what the heck could it be? While obviously this situation is less than ideal, she hadn't seen or heard anything to explain Lisa's behavior which highly irritated her. Due to this critical lack of information and less than desirable surroundings, there wasn't too much she could do at the moment. Her shard wasn't particularly useful at the moment and she really didn't want to reveal it's hiding place in the first place anyway. So far now, her best bet would probably be to shut up and draw as little attention to herself as possible.

During this, Lisa was clearly trying to soothe Liliath which was yet another factor she was hardly thrilled about. After this they made their way to the tea shop and Lisa would pull a chair out for Victi who told her that she didn't need have to show such respect just because the enemy scared her. As for herself, she would only take a chair if there was room for all three of them and if not, she'd just stand. When the server came by, the Cathera didn't order anything by explaining that she didn't like the taste of tea which was a lie, but there was no way she was going to drink anything next to a known enemy. For all she knew, Vici had some special way to poison her drink so it was just safer that way.

Lisa then asked Victi what brought her to this planet which was obvious the shards or more accurately the vase that shards made up. Apparently there was also something about the stars being aligned, a sealed chamber and that fact that it should be a problem for anyone for some weird number she had never heard before. Honestly, she wasn't entirely sure what to make about this information, but it was still important to have. It was after Victi had finished speaking that Liliath spoke up, asking the kitsune what she intended to do about the people who won't give the shards to them. It was a question that intrigued the Cathera, not for the answer because that was fairly obvious, but rather the fact that the kid had asked it in the first place. Did this crybaby actually have a shard? And if so, this just made everything a much bigger mess.

Victi had a brief exchange with the server, asking about particular teas, the flavour-profiles thereof, as well as ideal sweeteners for them, eventually settling on something known to be herbal and soothing, sweetened with what sounded to be a somewhat exotic nectar. She let out a pleased anticipatory purr as the soft-spoken human walks off to the back of the shop.

Now able to focus on less tasty matters, she answer's Liliath's question with a bemused smile, "Whatever I need to do to get them, and ideally in a way that lets me have some fun. Within reason, I mean, there's a difference between valid prey and, for example, you, but I'll figure out what to do about that."

"You, little blood-mage, I think know what I mean," she says, turning to look at Adriannu, "Your eyes are sharp and you walk like someone who's been on both sides of predator and prey. On the assumption that you hunt, you hopefully know to not hunt the juveniles, only the adult specimens, and ideally the ones who have served their biological purpose. I still need those shards though, obviously, so I'll have to work out a solution. You have some time, though."

Though her eyes had glanced at Adriannu, Victi's attention was still obviously focused on the back of the shop, and her tails seemed to have started revealing themselves, tips wiggling excitedly as she periodically sniffs the air.

After a few moments of distraction, but still seeming completely oblivious to her large fluffy tails now being visible, she switches back to Lisa, again asking in a clearly happy tone, "I told you mine, you tell me your's. How is this your problem, and what interesting things have you learned in those books and scrolls?"

"Oh...kay," Drake rises and continues to follow her, now a little less irritated and more confused. He hesitates to answer, determining how much information he can safely share.

He settles on the minimal amount of honesty, giving just enough details that he hopes she won't press further. "Me and an associate were on our way to the Library when we ran into your problems. Neither one of us look at that circus of pompous pricks who call themselves the Inquisition too kindly, so we figured we'd lend a hand."

Lisa leans a little to the side, watching the illusion over Victi's tails fade as white coils of fluff, tipped in black like a painter's brush, spill out of the seat. They wag like they belong to an excited dog; she might've found it cute if she didn't know who they were attached to.

As Victi turns her question back around for a second time, she leans back into her seat with a weary sigh. "It became my problem when..." I got the message? Maybe; however, if it weren't for Adriannu's arrival and Kylarion's physical visit she and Raven most likely would have thrown the damned shard away. Yet even after that, she was still set on destroying or tossing out what shards they had. Then with the visit, the destruction of her home, the surreal trip off-planet and losing track of Raven...it has all been one disaster after another. While she can easily pinpoint how it become her problem to begin with, she hasn't had the time to ask herself why she let it stay that way, even visiting the library to try finding and hiding information from her opponent before prematurely facing said opponent who, frustratingly enough, managed to inadvertently raise the question over tea.

Now is not a good time to consider the issue, yet the question of why she's gone so far continues to trouble Lisa as she answers, "...when I received this warning."

Yes, helpful answer.

"As for what I learned at the library," she pauses long enough to look a little bit theatrical, "Most of what I read is probably more...more fiction than what I hope. Haven't had a chance to try separating what's possibly truth yet."

Victi's eyes narrowed slightly. Was this lady bluffing, or actually this uncertain about this?

It was weird, but the chimera did seem to be having a little bit of a crisis. Best to just take it with a grain of salt for now.

"Right, a warning, huh?" Victi asks, leaning back a bit and crossing her arms, "Mysterious words from a mysterious benefactor, right? Something like that, maybe... showing up out of nowhere?"

Victi was taking a bit of a chance on a typical type of alien's MO, but if she was right she could hopefully make it sound like she knew a lot more than she did. It was a lot easier to get people to admit what you already know than to make them disclose new info.

Apparently. She's heard this.

"You know, if you're willing to be leant a hand, I've gotten pretty good at figuring out what stuff about mysterious artifacts is true or not," the kitsune proposes, "maybe we can help each other against each other. Could be fun."

“Well, we appreciate it. Again, so sorry about kidnapping you. We’ll get you back where you belong soon enough. Unless you want to help us in our adventure, but we can talk about that later. We’re here!”
Naida grabbed Drake’s hand in an attempt to drag him into the large cavern. If allowed, she would hold on to his hand for a while longer. “Everyone!” she called for attention when they got close enough. “This is Drakie! He’s my fuzzy buddy! Drake, I think I caught you up on everyone already.”