Return of the Emblem Chapter Five: The Retrieval

[Mercakete]

Something tumbled into the gally and Gytha didn't know what it was until it crashed against her leg and unrolled to reviel its self to be none other than Ranyin. "Are ye a'right, there, Ranyin?" asked the mariner, unbudged by being the outside force to stop the object in motion.

[ReformBlade]

"Uh... why would they be pissed, pretty sure they aren't racist pricks like that. I dunno, I didn't pay much attention." It was odd. This is the thanks I get for saving her? Duly noted. Don't bother with the archer girl, she will be pissed that a foreigner helped her out. Aneda decided to hang out on deck for a little bit, trying to cool herself off in the rain a little. She knew Hannah could use the rain to wash away some of the dirt from that scuffle anyway.

[Dark Sage]

The human appeared to be so irritated it did not want him to nuzzle her. Miskavolv complied, backing away and decided it'd be a good idea to go get his master up instead. One thing he knew that would wake humans up was water. Cold water anyway. Taking off and diving into the surrounding water, Miskavolv got some in his mouth and flew back onto the ship and spat it on Domovoi.

"*gag* *cough* *cough* ughh....the hell?" Domovoi said, awakening with a start. Looking up, he saw Miskavolv gazing at him with a seemingly pleased expression on his face.

"Oh goddammit Miskavolv. You don't cough up water on me to wake me up...still, you saved my life flying me back to the boat. I guess we succeeded on our mission? Hope we did...anyway thanks old friend."

Edited August 3, 2011 by Sagekitty

[Phoenix]

Have Something

Raquel with Rico's help--honestly he wasn't going to let her walk on her own at the moment-- reached the wagon. From there she came up to Connor, who had apparently just finished something significant. "Hi Connor, we made it back. Can I have my bag back, now?"

Rico couldn't help but wonder what the Weyland was up to as he eyed all the stuff in the back. "You've been at this for awhile, kid? What are you makin' anyway?"

Questions, Answers, and Language Arts

Siv was securely tied to the mast below the main deck with Captain Giovanni, Fira, Atsuko, Amon and Gabbie present. The instant Gio took off the cloth Siv was gagged with, she tried to bite him, her little fangs showing for only an instant. "Whoa. Feisty." he said somewhat amused. She then began fiddling with her jaw to get the taste of the cloth out of her mouth.

Before Gio could ask his first question, the sound of something crashing caught his ears. He thought to investigate, but then opted to let it be until someone came yelling. It generally wasn't an emergency otherwise, and what he wanted to find out was more important anyway. "What's your name, again, little one? Just for the record."

She stared at him the same way Robin would stare at Ursian officers. This probably wasn't going anywhere. "... okay, how about telling me how old you are?" Again, silence.

Fira tilted her head a bit. She then spoke up saying "She's twelve, almost an adult." Siv gasped which was all the confirmation Giovanni needed. He even chuckled a bit.

"How did you know that?" Atsuko asked.

"It's in her thoughts. Typically when you ask someone a question, if they know the answer, it immediately comes to mind. It doesn't really matter if she answers aloud or not. If her thoughts dwell on the answer for even a moment while I'm listening for it, I can generally catch it. To be fair, she was thinking in her native language, so she probably wasn't expecting me to understand. In truth, I don't understand the Corvian language very well, but it's taken directly from the Aquilan language. Being an oversimplified variant, it's not hard to get the gist of what she's thinking right now."

"Whaddyamean oversimplifoied?" asked Gabbie.

"Well ... it's not unlike 'cave speak'. All they've seem to have done are cut out any unnecessary words and added some new ones that explain a lot more than any single word in common could. For example if I wanted to say 'I am Fira.' in Corvian, I would only have to say 'I Fira.' using some Aquilan words. The word 'am' does exist in the language but it's considered as weird as speaking without ever using any contractions." Fira explained.

"Heheh. I Wolfy! I make death stick! This Fira! She make fire! Pinky make wheel for wagon! Hahah whatta dopey language!"

"I guess that's about as close as common comes to expressing it."

Suddenly a hiss came from their captive. Siv was giving Fira a pretty murderous look for some reason. Fira, pretty sure what was about to happen there, grimaced. <"Stop listening to me, you smelly disgusting halfbreed!"> Siv said in Corvian.

Fira then asked <"That's a bit harsh isn't it?">

<"Everything about you is disgusting! You reek of humans, your mother and father don't make any sense! Your father should have killed your mother, not ... not ..."> she cut herself off when she saw the image of Fira's father that came to mind. She didn't know what he looked like until just that moment, and that much fire and rising flame scared her into sweat and silence.

<"I'm not sure what you're worried about ... ... he's dead."> she said, lowering her head a bit.

Everyone else was lost by this point but Giovanni didn't mind. Fira would fill him in on the details later.

[Zsword]

Shadrak

Shadrak nodded. "<I see... at least others mock you for something you CAN controll... given the right resources... Wish it was the same way with me...>" He said, starting to slowly descend down the stairs of the ship. even though he tried to whisper or mutter, what he said would still be pretty clear to Robin, seeing as they were right next to each other.

Zelatus

Zel shook his head. "We might be able to take him to the hammocks, if someone will help me carry him..." he mused, really feeling like he just got pimped-slapped across the face by Wrath himself... I can't believe... he's alive...

[-Cynthia-]

Veronika

"That's probably the best we can do, a hammock is the closest thing we're getting to a bed on this thing," she said, taking one end of Axel so Zel could take the other.

Connor

"Oh sure, here you go," Connor said handing the bag to Raquel. He noticed she looked somewhat bedraggled, but figured that wasn't especially odd considering what they might have went through on the mission.

"I've actually been doing transmutation research for years, but working with Raquel gives me a lot more access to arms and armor than usual. Using runes I can replace the materials in an item with something entirely different- even should work for tomes in theory. Maybe I'll start working on those next. The potential applications for transumation are limitless really, if I keep testing things out who knows what I'll be able to do in time," he said to the guy next to Raquel.

Current UPGRADE list:

Half-Plate Armor

Iron Shield

Iron Barrier

Blessed Robe

Steel Shield

Steel Barrier

Holy Robe

Iron Mount Armor

Steel Mount Armor

Full Plate Armor

[Snowy_One]

Robin looked at Shadrak oddly as he whispered the last words. Something she could change? No, she couldn't. She had grown up making tools from stone. It was every bit a part of her as that damned cat was to the pirate. "<It is not that simple. To make it worse, every time a trader comes by, they see my stone tools and assume I am some backwater dumbo who doesn't know how great iron is. They always speak common. They are always from outside Neviskotia, and they never try to think about what it is like for us, only about hawking their wares and treating us like hillbillys.>" griped Robin as she approached a hammock. She carefully bent down to allow Shadrak to crawl into it. "<Take that knife next time we are in a town and just try to buy something with it in plain sight. People will ignore a gun at your side to try and sell you a iron knife to replace it.>"

[Zsword]

Zel

Zel nodded and grabbed Axel by the legs... he had no more words, this man, was a trooper.

Shadrak

Shadrak shook his head. "<I've been to places where people refused to sell to me at ALL because I carried a little black book,>" He said, "<and ladies first...>" He told her, with a very cutrious smile, just trying to shake off the thoughts of his persocution for being a Shaman.

[Phoenix]

Now Then ...

"Thanks, Connor. Once Raquel took the bag, she opened it and there was Chip, inside with the glowing emblem. He was more snuggling with it than guarding it from the looks of things. I wonder if this thing is bad for your health. I mean Chip won't let go of the thing half the time. she thought as she closed it up and put the bag back around her waist. As her cloak fell over it, she got out of the wagon.

"Huh, so like Weyland, like nephew I guess." said Rico in response to Connor. He didn't think the chances of hiring the alchemist full time were all that great. Like the kid just said, he had more access to resources with Raquel's company. He did like that she had gotten herself a good business partner though.

Raquel then turned to Krystal. She looked perfectly normal now. "So what did you want to talk about?" Another dark avian. I wonder who she is ...

Bird On Deck

One of the crewmen was carrying a rope across the deck in the rain, and just happened upon a soaking wet raven. His first thought was to chuck it overboard since it could just fly away, but then quickly realized that with the rain that was no longer the case. The bird wasn't going to do anything but drown if he chucked it overboard. Upon further inspection he saw a little note fastened to its leg.

"Messenger bird? Don't they usually use pigeons for that sorta thing? What, guy thinks raven's are badass or somethin'?" He extended his hand to the bird hoping it would climb on, but it just stared at the hand for a moment and tilted its head. The crewman sighed and tried to move closer only to get nipped. "Ack!" Sighing again he said "This could take awhile ..."

[Snowy_One]

"<Ladies... first? But I brought you down here to rest.>" said Robin with a confused look on her face. Why was he being nice to her? The reason the pair was down below decks at all was so that he could rest. "<Besides, I don't do well with pleasantries like that. I'm a hunter first and a mannered woman... seventeenth. Somewhere after a girl trying to survive from day to day and a bow and arrow nut.>" she carefully slid him onto the hammock before taking a step back. "<Why would they refuse to sell to you though? It's just a book. Is it smut or something?>"

[Acacia Sgt]

'Well now, I guess I can take this chance to explore or something.' John thought now below deck. It was this when he saw the small group with the captive pass. 'Hm? Now what...?' Curious, he decided to follow them, where turned out to be an interrogation.

'I wonder what they hope to gain. I doubt she would be willing to talk. But, then again, that's what they have these avian here for I guess.' So he proceeded to just hear it out for the time being.

[Zsword]

Shadrak shook his head. "<don't you need rest too?>" He asked. "<As for my book, there's a suprising amount of... of...>" He blinked, when he realised he didn't know the work in Skotian, with a saddenned sigh he switched back to common. "Of Prejudice against dark magic." With a sigh he started to relax... he needed a break...

[Snowy_One]

"Pre-juice against dark magic?" asked Robin, her eyes narrowing to focus on Shadrak. Was he a dark mage? Wasn't dark magic that magic in children's tales that the big bad evil witch practiced to lure in little children to their homes where they would eat them up in one bite? She was positive that the tales she had heard as a little girl had been greatly exaggerated for the sake of the children, but to the degree that they were wrong about it being bad news? "This book contains dark magic? Why would you even touch such a thing? Do you eat children?"

[Phoenix]

OOC:

Krystal's free to talk to Raquel now

"Caw"

Eventually the raven found a path he deemed safe and abandoned the crewman with the rope. Trotting along at a hurried pace, Naoki tried to home in on the power source he had followed to the ship. The crewman with the rope was worried though. he was still fearing what little Naoki had spent the last couple of minutes planning to avoid, getting stepped on or kicked by passing crewmen. So in his worry, he followed the raven until it spotted him. "Caw!" Naoki called out before picking up the pace. He went from just walking fast to hopping around and running. Occasionally he would test his ability to get airborne and take the lead by some meters. He reached the stairs leading below decks before some kind of cloth came down over him like a big wet net. Trapped!

"Gotcha! Sorry about that, little guy, but we don't want you getting hurt before you can deliver whatever that little message on your foot is, now do we?" the crewman said.

"CAW!" replied Naoki.

Methodology

"Captain, Gio?" Amon began. "Do you know why Weyland wanted this particular fallen?"

"Nope, he just wanted us to wait by the border to pick them up when they arrived with her. We ran into some sea patrols a few times during the wait, so we couldn't stay all the time. We had to pick the best times to loiter and wait for them. That's when we got a new message telling us to ferry some 'reinforcements' across the channel and wait for them this time. Of course that pretty much doubled our pay so we weren't complaining. It'll be awhile before we need to work again." Giovanni explained.

One more group in the dark. I don't like this, but I guess we'll just have to ask him ourselves once we get back.

"He did say one thing to my team, though." Atsuko chimed in. "He said not to let this fallen die, no matter what. The consequences will go far beyond just us."

"That goes without sayin', doesn't it? We're kidnappin' a clanner. That's like kidnappin' an Ursian general's daughter. I see why he used Kigenese mercenaries to do it, and an unaffiliated ship, as well as sendin' a mixed group of reinforcements. Not a single Ursian loyal party to speak of, and we're all gettin' paid out the ass for our troubles. Politically speakin', this won't go back to them unless they track you to Weyland, and he's technically just an arms designer and entrepreneur that lives and sells in Ursium. I suppose no matter what happens, this doesn't get pinned on the nation itself, but it is a bit of a gamble on Weyland's part. I'm impressed that someone like him would stick his neck out so far, though to be fair, he has a lot of his bases covered." explained Giovanni.

[roymbrog]

“What the hell?!” The mage’s actions caught Valter entirely by surprise, and he wasn’t able to catch Ranyin before he met the stairs. Luckily, at least, the mage jumped when he tripped instead of sliding down on his face. Valter hurried down after him, curious as to where he ended up and if he was alright. He was relieved to find that Ranyin had run into something less dangerous than, say, a metal pole or a knife rack. Instead it was the woman Synthia had been talking to on deck; Gytha, he remembered. The impact couldn’t have been too bad. “I don’t need to find a healer, do I?”

[-Cynthia-]

Connor

"I'll take that as a compliment I guess," Connor said to the man, laughing. "Say, aren't you the man I saw with that strange little device earlier? What was that thing anyway?" he asked Rico.

Nadya

"Maybe this Weyland guy's tryin' to start something between Ursium and the Fallen. Sounds like suicide to me, messin' with a clanner rather than just pickin' off a straggler or something. Still, if he manages to wipe out the winged buggers pretty much everyone wins," Nadya chimed in after the captain

Veronika

Veronika, with Zel's help, carried Axel below decks, ignoring the gaggle of people around the Fallen for now. She laid Axel in one of the free hammocks. "I guess we just uh, wait for him to wake up now?" she said to Zel.

Edited August 4, 2011 by -Cynthia-

[Zsword]

Zelatus

Zel nodded. "Um... I'm sorry I doubted your intents, I thought this man was dead... though, your valor has managed to save him... you have my apologies m'Lady." He said to Veronika, giving her a deep bow.

Shadrak

Shadrak chuckled... then sighed. "No, i do not eat children. Dark magic is a tool, it isn't evil, those who use it aren't evil. It's tales like the ones you've been told, that makes it hard for me to function in the modern world... understand?" He asked, hoping, really hard, that'd she understand...

Krystal

Krystal noticed Raquel seemed available, so she approached again with a wave. "Um, Miss, are you ready to talk?" She asked very politely, extending her little ice umbrella over the both of them.

[GoD]

As Axel was being relocated, Chelsea momentarily stopped healing the soldier and looked up at the clouds, shielding her eyes from the rain.

When the group was managing to get Axel down the stairs, she followed, quietly mumbling a little song and blocking out the rest of the world..

"On a rainy day, with my eyes closed, I listen to the voice of waterdrops falling from the sky~

and inwardly feel, the sparkling melodies, gathering in my ear~

above the world, the soft hands are softly hanging the canopy with the clear rainbow~"

When Veronika and Zelatus had finished putting Axel unto the hammock, Chelsea decided to speak up.

"I don't think we should just leave him to wake up, we should judt try and heal him more...that said, his armor is quite annoying and is blocking most of my attempts to heal his skin....I'm afraid to say that we need to...undress Sir Axel in order to closely examine his wounds."

[-Cynthia-]

"I did not know whether he was dead or alive myself, I just...thought it would have been dishonorable to leave him behind after what he did. He wouldn't be here if it were not for your help either," Veronika said, bowing back to Zel.

"More healing never hurts really, but that explosion welded parts of the armor together, you're going to have trouble getting it off," she said to Chelsea.

Edited August 4, 2011 by -Cynthia-

[Snowy_One]

Robin looked at Shadrak warily. She did know a bit of how it felt, to have people assume the worst about you because of something they didn't understand, but was this really the same thing? Her stone tools, at worst, might crumble or be more lethal than someone using them expected, but they weren't going to suddenly summon a demon or rip a portal into the netherworld.

"<I... I do not know if I do. What you say does make sense, if it is true, but... You are a outsider as well and..." would he lie to her? What would he have to gain? Robin had seen old pairs of socks with more magic than her and at best she was a private in the Neviskotian army, if even that. A friend then? A companion? He could lie to one of his own kind and not have to put up with the mistrust that would be directed at him just for coming to visit her.

"<It doesn't make much sense for you to lie about it as you would have nothing to gain that you couldn't get easier elsewhere but... Why me? Why a hunter from a country town? You should know that my only encounters with that sort of magic are through the tales and you wouldn't have to put up with first getting past my urge to shut you off because you are not Neviskotian. Why?>"

[Rothene]

Crashing into someone snapped Ranyin back to his sense...rudely. He paused for a while as he gathered his wits. He recognised the voice that spoke to him. Sweating all over quickly, Ranyin slowly raised his head. And saw the qustioning visage of his fears incarnate whom he had not confronted in a long time...

"G...Gy...Gytha?!" exclaimed Ranyin quickly. Then he answered her question while slowly backing away from her, "Oh, I'm fine. I must have been able to cast a protective wind barrier in time."

As he tried to he only then realised that Valter bared his exit. "Valter? Don't mind excusing me? I need to go to the deck for some...fresh air."

[Mercakete]

"Well, glad yer doin' a'right," Gytha replied before idly musing, "Hmm I'm hungry. Wonder when they'll be servin' up some food..."

[Phoenix]

Vicinity of Siv

"It was suicide." Atsuko muttered with her head down. "He offered us so much money that we pretty much had to accept. Our families would be financially secure for the rest of their lives if we got them that money. We were so close ... but now they're all ... urgh." she cut herself off to turn around and began praying. They can't all be gone. Kai, Katsu. Please. You have to be alright.

"I guess he might be trying to alienate them, but ... you'd think he would just be up front about it, instead of working through three separate groups like us." Amon commented.

"Hmm." Giovanni mumbled crossing his arms and looking Siv. "There's weapons research ... but why use someone like her for that? And why female? I'll bet he's already got a male tucked away somewhere and wants a female for comparison or somethin'. That doesn't really answer why it had to be this girl though. I mean, what would have happened if you mercs did catch a regular old fallen girl, and not this one?"

"We probably would have gotten out of Kigen without most of us dying." Atsuko said coldly while glaring at Siv. "If we come to find that we no longer need this demon, I will be the one to kill it."

"Easy now. She belongs to a powerful clan, now doesn't she? Even if Ursium went to war with the fallen, killing her might not be in anyone's best interest." Gio explained.

"I said 'if'." Atsuko shot back before walking away with her grip on her sword hilt.

Vicinity of Raquel

"Yeah, I can talk now." Raquel said before glancing up at the ice structure that had stopped the rain from hitting her hood. "What exactly did you want to talk about?"

Rico felt around for his amplifier, then quickly remembered that he loaned it to Fira so she could scare off the fallen. Crud. "Well our lovely Fira has that at the moment, but it's a magical amplifier. I don't know the mechanics, but it takes what you've got, and doubles the impact. It's a bit tough to wield though. I can only use it a few times before I get worn out. I'm not sure it can even drain Fira though." Would have made a great gift if she hadn't insisted on me having it. Oh well. I'll have to come up with something else.

Vicinity of Naoki

Taking the raven he had wrapped up in a shirt, he headed below deck and began looking around for a place to put the bird. Naoki felt like Shadrak was very close by now so began cawing loudly in hopes of drawing the shaman over. "Calm down, would ya? I'll find out if anyone in Raquel's party was expecting a messenger bird." the man said to the bird.

Edited August 4, 2011 by Phoenix

[-Cynthia-]

Connor

"Hmm, if it takes more energy out of you than it does from her that's probably due to her being a dark avian. Since they can use magic naturally, she should have a lot more energy to draw on than a human. Where did you get a thing like that anyway? I don't remember Uncle ever making an invention like that..." Connor said to Rico, hand on his chin.

Nadya

"Uh yeah about those dead Kigenese guys...they're not gettin' paid for this, right? I mean it's sad that they died and all, but dead men don't have much use for coin," Nadya said to the group after Atsuko left.

[Phoenix]

Treasure~

"Well this is a treasure ship. If we aren't workin' to keep our bellies full, we're searchin' all over the place for lost treasures. That amplifier was mixed in with a lot of gold and jewels but stuck out like a star in the night sky. Once we realized what it was, I ended up becomin' muuuuuch more active in our fights. That thing packs such a punch that I don't even need Fira's help with other pirates most of the time." Rico cheerfully explained.

Money~

"I dunno. I guess that's up to Weyland. I don't know what he arranged with them as far as payment. For us he just offered a specific amount and left it up to me to divide among the crew." Gio replied to Nadya.

"They were trying to support their families. I suspect they still need the money ... ... despite their deaths." Fira commented.