Return of the Emblem Chapter Five: The Retrieval

[Zsword]

Shadrak nodded at Raquel. "It's about the Item, if you're wondering, but then again, when do I want to talk you about something that isn't?" He asked, giggling. "The other thing of note is Naoki will be joining us for awhile, he's a smart little messenger, so if you think he can be of use let me know." Shadrak glanced around a bit, just seeing who was around.

[Phoenix]

OOC:

We're getting closer to the next TS, so if you can, try to start steering interactions to their conclusions(this is actually like a three day notice so active posters pay no mind, but many of you only post once a day or less so it's good to get this out right now). Current TS point is the shore. After that, the next stopping location could be some days away so it'd be good to plan accordingly.

Raquel

The emblem, huh? Yeah that's usually what he's interested in. I wonder what it is this time ... Her train of thought was cut off when he pointed out Naoki. She gave the bird a dubious glance and got a blank stare back from the raven. That bird ... and it's eyes ... "Well, I'll let you know if we need any messages delivered, then." she replied with an uncertain look. "So, what was it about the item you wanted to talk about, exactly ...?"

[Mercakete]

Rizen was somewhat uncertain about Valter as she stood guard over her sleeping rider. The whole while he was coming over, she was watching him carefully. The only reason she let him near Norbert was that Norbert seemed to talk with him a lot on his own anyway, so it was probably okay if she let him near. She tensed when Valter prodded the pegasus rider's shoulder, however, her dubiousness pitching. Bert could handle himself from this point, however, so there was no use in attacking and risking friendly fire without his order.

The first thing that registered in Bert's mind was that wakefullness was disturbing his rest. It was a sluggish, subconciois realization, but once percieved, his mind began working much quicker, realizing that someone had touched his shoulder. Since he lived in a fair amount of isolation, this usually meant either some wild animal that didn't quite know what he was was sniffing him or something or someone was checking to see if he was dead. Instinct took over as Bert's hand shot to his axe's haft while his eyes opened and darted up to see what had awoken him. Though he'd simultaniously jumped into a crouch so he was in a striking position at the same time as his eyes opened, all his action stopped as he saw who exactly had prompted the overreaction. As the adreniline rapidly died down, Bert visably relaxed and let loose a quiet sigh, falling back into a seated position.

"It's just you, Valter," he mentioned. The sentense had little purpose other than to reassure the horseman that he recognized him and to let Rizen hear his tone so that she knew she could relax, too, which she did. Next, came the realization that he wasn't stinging all over, which was prompted by his recalling recent events. Since he hadn't been concious for his healing, this puzzled him. Perplexed, he got up and began looking himself over. "... My wounds are gone... Did you call a healer while I was asleep?" he asked his teammate.

[Zsword]

Shadrak took a deep breath, he didn't want tos care her. "There may be side effects, and I want to ask you if you, or anyone around you, particularly animals, have felt or seemed... strange, differant." He said. Still glancing around for people that might be watching.

[Phoenix]

Raquel

Side effects? That was certainly a new consideration from the shaman. "Um, I'm not really sure ..." she said quietly before pausing to think a bit harder. The first thing that came to mind was her little capuchin in the bag containing the emblem. Well ... there is Chip. He can't seem to get away from the emblem. He even sleeps in my bag now just to be close to it. Is it affecting me too? I don't have some unyielding need to be near the thing, but ... come to think of it, I felt kind of weak when I left with everyone else, and Connor kept the emblem with him. The moment I got the emblem back though, I felt fine. I'm not sure that's really related to the emblem or not, but it's kind of weird that it happened so fast. I don't do well in places like this to begin with, but ... still .... "Well, there is one thing ..." She revealed the bag containing the emblem underneath her cloak. Opening the bag, there was Chip, snoozing and holding the dormant emblem close like a companion. "I don't know what that's about ..."

Naoki tilted his head at the little monkey and emblem.

[Acacia Sgt]

After wandering around a bit, John found out he had no idea where he was going. 'Guess I should've asked first.' He thought. 'Well, this place can't be that hard to navigate, I may find it sooner or later. Or at least, on time.'

Soon he reached another room. 'Maybe this is it?' But upon entering, he found it wasn't. It seemed to be a place for storage, although it wasn't that well kept looking at the pile of sacks littered on the floor. 'Well, time to look somewhere...hm?' Looking at the sacks, he suddenly noticed they seemed to be covering something. On a closer look, he finally noticed it was actually someone. ''Huh?'' Deciding to act quick, he began to move the sacks out of the way.

[Zsword]

Shadrak peered into the bag, glancing at Naoki, then looked up to Raquel, his expression, worried, and kinda scared. "That could be a problem... um, yeah, has he always been that cuddly with it? Or is this a recent, or ongoing, development?" he inquired, carefully taking out his notepad and quill... trying not to disturb Naoki from his perch on his wrist as he did. "and uh... have you felt anything? Like, anything? Even the slightest thing, situational or otherwise, could be vital."

Let's see... I think the oldest instance of THIS type of thing I can re-call was back in Skotia... a fisherman said that all the fish in his favorite lake had vanished, or at least thinned, after he accidentaly hooked some sort of magical artifact. His business was cut in shreds. He cursed the artifact, and threw it back to the water, fearing it as some dark omen or ill item that was ruining his life... I wouldn't be surprised if the emblem was capable of feats such as this, or even shards of it...

[Phoenix]

Raquel

"Well, Chip's been a little possessive of the thing for awhile now. I started noticing him guarding it more and more after our little group formed. Now he just sleeps in the bag with it." Which is just annoying because now the bag stinks, and I can barely stand to open it. I don't want Chip to suffocate in there though. I'll have to start cleaning this bag out everyday soon. "He's the only animal I've noticed any changes in though. None of the others ever get that close to it.

While Raquel replied, Naoki opened his wings and carefully jumped up to Shadrak's shoulder. Despite making note taking easier on the shaman, he also had a better view up there.

As for what I felt ... "... as for anything I've felt ... I don't really know for sure. Did what happen earlier really count? It felt more like a morning coffee kicking in than being drawn to it. "I don't know if it's a good idea but, maybe once we get back on land we should run a couple of experiments to see just how much it's affecting Chip." It's obvious he's possessive but ... maybe there's more to it than that.

The little monkey heard his name enough times to wonder why he was being talked about and poked his head out of the bag. The emblem was close enough so he let it go and peered out at his surroundings. There was that bird again ...

[Zsword]

Shadrak nodded, and began to scribble a little. "It'd be advised. I'm no detector but I'm pretty sure Naoki here can sense any possible... I don't want to call it contamination, but, I guess that's the best I can put it, if you know what I mean, if Chip has any... and uh, you kinda droned off about yourself, I'm pretty sure it's hard to tell, but even slight things, like, thinking about it on instances more so than usual... um... an unnatural urge to be with it.... weakness perhaps? I know that I feel... weak, when I don't have my magic tome with me... there's a lot of things this can do, so really, anything counts..." He began to prattle on. Toward the end he was really just listing off random ideas, whatever came to his head to maybe get her to start thinking about it more. He didn't deny that she was probably telling the truth when she wasn't sure... but she didn't even say any possible things, just... ended.

[roymbrog]

Valter had almost been prepared for Bert to attack when he woke or something (you never knew, and it had happened with others before), so when the Pegasus rider only took a position of readiness it wasn’t as bad as he expected. He had, however, still been startled and taken a step back. Afterwards, looking confused, Bert got up and started checking himself over. Valter didn’t understand when he was doing till he spoke, and then he was just as confused himself. “No... You think someone passed by while you were sleeping?”

[Mercakete]

"That's probably what happened," Bert agreed with a nod, "Man, I must've been tired. I took Riz over here so she could get some fresh water, sat down and fell asleep.." He returned his full attention from his musings to Valter, then asked, "Anyway, what did you want?" I'll have to ask Ranyin to repair my clothes sometime soon... Raquel will probably be flooded with repair requests tonight so it'll take her a while to get to all of them and... Sheesh, I might have to get a new tunic. Darn, this was a good tunic, too... When I have the money, I should invest in some armor sometime... Heh. How long have I been telling myself that? Well, either way, those wind blades swirling around did most of this... I'm glad everything turned out as well as it did, though. Once this is over, maybe I'll get Splinter and Crunch back, too.

[Phoenix]

Raquel

That bird ...

That monkey ...

Shadrak was speaking a bit oddly, like he had too many things on his mind to speak his mind proper. "Contamination? Hmm ..." Raquel crossed her arms and put a hand to her chin to think. "I did once wonder if this thing was bad for a person's health, but you've also got to consider that this thing is apparently the fire emblem, not something you'd expect to be contaminated with something. You might even consider it holy if it wasn't so ... arcane. If it isn't good for people though, then I should probably find something more secure to wrap it in and keep other people from holding it too much." It's the least I can do, after all.

[Zsword]

Shadrak shook his head, she had missed interpretted what he meant... though. "I'll be honost, I don't know if it's good or bad for your health, that's something I'm trying to figure out. What I do know is, objects of intense power tend to effect the environment around them in some way, because they simply radiate energy. 'Contamination' may not be the right word to use... but, I do want to make sure that if it is affecting you, that we can detect it, and build off of it." He explained, not really noticing the staring contest between Naoki and Chip.

[Rothene]

His thoughts clearing more quickly than he anticipated now that his contents were clear, the hungry Ranyin decided to check the galley of the ship for food.

Stumbling into it, he noted Nadya was there along with other sailors preparing their meals. So food isn't ready yet, grumbled Ranyin disappointedly in his mind. No point complaining, he knew that he had to act now if he were to get any food soon.

"Hey don't mind if I help out with the preparations? I know how to debone meat and dice vegetables," said Ranyin optimistically. The more help they get, the faster the cooking gets done, thought Ranyin, so long as they do not put me near the stove...

[Phoenix]

Contamination

"Well, Professor Weyland did say that the emblem's energy was 'invisible'. He could apparently only find it by sensing how it was affecting his own barrier. At least that's what I remember." Raquel replied.

Preparation

Looking over to Ranyin, Fira said "You can help with the vegetables while I help clean out a few more dishes. I'll get the fire going after that."

[Rothene]

Happily, Ranyin complied and picked up the knife to begin chopping his set of vegetables. Picking up the carrots, Ranyin asked, "So what're we having?"

[Zsword]

Shadrak nodded. "Right, it's stupid hard to detect, but I think Naoki is getting a feel for it. He might be able to check for us..." Shadrak said... though it was clear that even he was uncertain, he glanced at Naoki, and saw that he was just staring intently at Chip. "Atleast... the way he's looking at your monkey I'd guess that's the case..."

[Phoenix]

Galley

"Well we were gonna be fixin' up some beef stew-""Gods help us." the scrubber interrupted ", but Fira suggested we make stir fry instead. Doesn't mean I won't still be mixin' in my special seasonin' though."

"... oh no."

"Where's your gods now, huh? Hehehhhh. Don't mind him, he just hasn't got a taste for my cookin'. Can't be any worse than what you folks eat though, am I right?"

"I'm not so sure." Fira cut in. "They might not have a taste for your cooking either. I'll handle that part and make it normally this time around, and you can experiment later. Is that alright?"

He sighed. "Alright, fine, Fira. Have it your way." he finally conceded. "Would have tasted delicious though."

"Would have tasted like garbage ..." the scrubber murmered.

"Maybe, but in my hands it'd taste like delicious garbage." he confidently shot back. "That's the sign of a true chef."

A deep moan followed that. It's the sign of someone who will one day kill us all with his spices ...

Raquel

"Hmm, what is with this staring contest anyway?" she asked seeing the monkey and raven for herself. She figured that Chip was just trying to intimidate Naoki so the raven would stay away from the emblem but what was Naoki doing just staring back? She thought he might just be doing what Shadrak mentioned and trying to detect the emblem but she couldn't be sure. He sure didn't give a lot of indicators as to what he was doing.

[roymbrog]

“Hmm? Oh, I just came to get you out of the rain, before you catch a cold or something. Also, they seem to be getting dinner ready below deck. I’m guessing it’ll be ready soon,” Valter said, explaining why he was there. Bert awoken and message delivered, the horseman started walking off towards the horses. “I'm going to check on Phyllis,” he called back as an afterthought.

[Zsword]

Shadrak shrugged his non-occupied shoulder. "Iunno, magically afflicted creatures having some sort of... issue, I guess, I'm actually interested in seeing how this is going to break out... if it does..." told Raquel, just kinda looking from the bird to the monkey, and back to the bird and like, watching to see if they were actually gonna do Something.

[Mercakete]

"Oh, alright. Thanks," Bert replied as Valter left. That was welcome news but it was best to check in with someone to see if he could take Rizen with him into the galley, lest she do some sort of damage to whatever he tied her to. The alternative? Find some way to get the food from the galley to where he could keep Riz, which actually wasn't preferrable. Norbert sort of wanted to eat with everyone else. It was strange since he usually preferred his only company to be Rizen, but that was how it was. "... Hey, Valter!" he called as he followed his friend, pegasus in tow. Once he'd caught up again, he asked, "Could you please bring me something to eat? I have to stay with Riz and it wouldn't be fair if I was eating while she waited for food."

[Phoenix]

Dinner Is Served

With the five of them working together, it was only another twenty minutes before they had made enough beef stir fry for the whole ship.

No girls pretending to be maidens or pyrophobic mages were harmed in the making of this stir fry.

"It's ready." Fira announced.

"I dunno~ ... could probably use one of my seasonings ..."

"No!"

"I think it's fine." Fira replied simply.

He sighed. "Alright, but don't come crawling back to me when they complain about how bland it is. We could've kicked it up a notch and it would be perfect."

"I think you should only give a meal for this many people so much seasoning. Not everyone likes something the same as someone else, and it's difficult to wash out flavor, so it's probably better to just let people use some extra salt if there's not enough already."

"Listen to the Fiery One." the scrubber muttered.

Raquel

The staring contest continued for way longer than Raquel was willing to put up with, and she eventually took her palm and gently pushed Chip back down into the bag and closed it. "Let's do this later. I don't think we're going to get anywhere with them just staring at each other. That aside, it seems like dinner's almost done. I can smell something good at least."

Praying

Standing by Siv who was still tied to the mainmast and looking rather pathetic. She had caught scent of the food brewing long before anyone near her had and it was making her wriggle around in her ropes in discomfort. Once Gio picked up the smell of food, he smiled and bent over toward Siv a bit, bringing himself to her level.

"So, you feel like talking yet?"

She shook her head violently and looked away.

"Hmm ... wait ..." Does she know common or did she just figure out what I was getting at? "Hey!" he raised his voice to get her attention. Of course she looked at him, but slowly and carefully.

"Do you understand what I'm saying? Nod for yes, shake for no."

Instead of either option, she gave him a pitiful look of uncertainty before looking over at Gabbie. She was standing off to the side with her arms crossed. Looking back at Gio, it was obvious that the captain was getting a little impatient so she finally spoke up. "Little ..."

"Little?" he echoed quizzically.

"I know little ..."

"Hmm, did any of the other fallen speak common?" he asked Gabbie.

"Yeah, the one in the red gown just switched over to common when we showed up. That lancer didn't though. Just kept talkin' in Kigenese."

"Did the red one teach you?" He turned to ask Siv.

She nodded. "She knows and teach ... es ... teaches."

"Huh. Doesn't seem like she got very far before you were nabbed, ey?"

"Home! Take me home!" she began yelling.

"Uh, no. Can't do that."

"Please! Take me home-please!"

"'Please' is not the magic word, Miss. 'Money' is."

"I have no money!"

"I figured as much, so just sit tight."

The now teary eyed Siv looked down at the floor and began chanting <"Lord Valdimarr, please come for me. Lord Valdimarr ..."> over and over again.

"Sheal? Valdimarr? What's she sayin'?" asked a confused Gabbie, to which Gio simply shrugged. They wouldn't know what she was murmuring about without Fira present.

"Let's just leave her be for now. It's almost time for dinner anyway."

<"Lord Valdimarr, please come for me ...">

[GoD]

"All right, let's get to work with you.....Once you're awake you're gonna pay us back big time. How should you make it up to us? Perhaps you could start wielding a carrot in battle as your weapon? Go on a shopping spree and make you carry everything.... Hehehe.. The more you sleep, the worse the punishment soldier....."- Chelsea smirked as she healed the young man.

[Zsword]

Zel

Zel rolled his eyes at Chelsea's comments (not that anyone could see them), and took a whiff at the air. "Excuse me miss, but I think food is ready, if you've done everything for this man that you can... I suggest we head that way." He said, politely holding his hand to her as some sort of escort.

Shadrak

Shadrak nodded at Raquel, snapping his fingers a couple of times with a magic spark to draw Naoki's attention away from the monkey and emblem. "Shall we be on our way then?" he asked, taking a step forward with a slight bow, gesturing with his hands as a sort of chaperon saying 'lead the way'.

Krystal

Krystal took a good breath of the decks air, it seemed like dinner was on. With a smile she started to make her way to the source, hoping to find the source there.

[Phoenix]

Raquel

Naoki looked at Shadrak's fingers and then paused ... false alarm.

"Oh, sure thing." she said, a bit surprised. Shadrak seemed capable of playing any part he needed to, from avid researcher to gentleman at the drop of a hat. To that she smiled, and headed for the galley with her escort.

Debrief of the Fallen

Under the pouring rain, Brynhildr stood over some feasting hellcats. While the beasts cleaned up what was left of the fallen demons, she tightly gripped her lance and snarled. Her hair hid her burning irises from Svanhildr who was close by and soaked to the bone.

<"So tell me, what happened in the end? It is rather obvious that you failed to rescue our sister, but there was no new blood on the Cloud Breaker either ...">

<"Just shut it ..."> Bryn quietly snapped.

<"I am not asking solely out of curiosity, I have a report to make compile.">

<"Report to who?">

<"You know very well who, Bryn. Our Sovereign.">

<"We said that we weren't going to report any of this to him until we had something to report! Do you want to lose favor or something?! How weak are we going to look, a Matriarch and Admonitor failing such a simple mission?!"> Bryn began shouting. The hellcats even stopped to look up at her momentarily. <"Where's Gunnar anyway? This is mostly his fault.">

<"Mourning the loss of a particular demon."> Svanhildr explained, pointing over to the forest edge.

Sure enough, Gunnar was near a tree with a dead harpy in his arms. The harpies cold blank gaze had Gunnar on the verge of tears. <"Oh Agnethe ... my precious Agnethe. Why did they do this to you ...?"> he murmured while unaware that Brynhildr was approaching from behind with a couple of other dead harpies slung over her back.

<"Hey, idiot. The cats are done cleaning up. We're heading out, so bag that thing, send the demons away, and get ready to move.">

<"Can't you see I'm in mourning?! ... and what the hell are you doing with my harpies?!">

<"Harpies are the only demons I can stomach, so I'm saving a couple of them for the trip.">

<"You're eating my harpies?!">

<"Yes, I'm eating your precious harpies for dinner. I snagged two before the cats could get to them. If I hear anything akin to a 'but' from you, I'll send you back to the princess in a bloody heap, understand? Now grab that demon and let's go.">

Gunnar could see that she only had one hand used up carrying those two corpses ... the other was on that lance of hers ... <"F-fine ...">

<"Urgh. Of all the demon summoners we could have used, we had to borrow that brat's vulture. That's the true reason this mission failed.">

Harsh words but Gunnar couldn't exactly disagree with her on that. He knew of many summoners who were far and away more powerful than he was. The demons they would bring to bare would have overpowered the mercenaries and their reinforcements in mere moments.

Meanwhile Svanhildr pondered the situation. I understand Bryn's hesitation. We did not inform Lord Valdimarr about Siv's abduction, or our attempt to rescue her. He will be furious at the very least. We did this to prevent him from becoming directly involved however, something he tends to do quite often. As of right now, the empire is approaching the Slaughter of Siblings, and if Lord Valdimarr is to triumph, he must not reveal any of his weaknesses to his brothers. Going after Siv himself would show his brothers how much he values our clan and make all of us targets for an elaborate scheme. I may be able to convey this to him, but our failure here will only make his intervention seem even more necessary. There must be another way to go about this ... Lord Valdimarr's involvement could hurt his chances of ruling the empire in the long run ... and bring my clan to its utter destruction in the process. That is why I MUST think of an alternative and present it to him before this gets out of my hands ...