Return of the Emblem Chapter Nine: Consolidating Forces

[Mercakete]

"I'm not interested in testing racists, anyway ... unless it's the evasion test."

Norbert coldly armed himself with his maces and fell into a battle-ready stance as a reply to the yellow-feathered woman's response. "I'll take that challenge, wench-hen," he practically growled.

"Now now." Mandy regained Norbert's attention, though he didn't relax his stance. "She gets this sometimes, but Tali's only half fallen. So maybe you could 'half' work with her or something."

"Alright. I'll only beat her half to death." He didn't appreciate the joke, apparently. More talk about Dark Avians.

"For shame, Norbert. If you are to judge people, do it based on thoughts and actions, not based on parentage. To attempt to determine the worth of a person based solely on where they were born, or to whom? That is deplorable... I expected better of you." Faatina was next to speak against his handling of the situation.

"Tch. Shows how much you know," he remarked before she began apologizing for him. That only served to increase his burning anger. He could only see it as insulting ignorance. Then Aneda put in her piece.

"Look, Norbert, I don't think showing immediate animosity is going to help you out. I mean look at the targets over there. I don't think you'd wanna pick your fights so recklessly. I can understand your reaction but do keep it in check, mkay? If it's not okay we can go right here right now if you wish, maybe get you to let off some steam... I mean if it's ok, that is. I assume friendly spars are a-ok in here, right? If not, well... I guess we can take it somewhere else. Either way, I hope we can all simply put aside some silly prejudices for a little while at the least."

"I don't have any quarrel with you, Aneda," the pegasus rider spat in reply, "But the Fallen are creatures I can't stand. I don't care about how accurate she is with a bow against an immobile target or how good she is in combat. I've taken on people who are out of my league before -- don't think something as stupid as odds is going to stop me now! But I'm not even aiming to fight her. I just don't want to work with those tailed monsters. And in case you haven't noticed, they aren't human. I'm not being prejudiced but if you want to call it that then go for it -- see if I care."

The Fallen woman replied to Aneda and Faatina and they in turn replied to her. Norbert was content to shut out their happy-Fallen-and-human-best-friends-forever conversation and work on trying to calm down somewhat. Not an easy task with a representative of the species that's threatening to make your species the equivalent of cattle with the means to accomplish it. By now he'd turned his back to the conversationalists as was back to a normal -- though tense -- standing position.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And then Robin chimed in about not killing again. "It's probabla best if ye just stay out o' fights, then. Prisoners will be killed if their livin' threatens us," Gytha dully warned Robin. She was fairly tired of this oath thing and if Robin got upset over their execution of prisoners, well, she was better off leaving.

Edited May 15, 2012 by Mercakete

[Snike]

"There are other ports on this 'island', if we ARE in Tremere. They'd think that we were just changing ships," Blake said to Zach patiently, before continuing on with the discussion. "I was suggesting that we pretend to head out that way, and have you lead the cult on that way. They send out a pursuit team, which we promptly ambush and eliminate, THEN we storm the castle. Fewer hostiles to take on at once, and they're not going to expect us to charge in after apparently escaping. The main issue with that, though, would be hiding the bodies, but, well, it's going to be difficult to contain things if the manse is just on the edge of town anyways."

[-Cynthia-]

Veronika

"You'd think that given all their illegal activities that they'd have some sort of guard system. Not to mention this cult leader apparently has a great deal of gold- and those with gold tend to have homes which are much better defended."

Blake then gave an interesting suggestion. "That plan might have some merit- although it would backfire if they sent all their forces towards us," she pointed out.

Nadya

"It's prejudice, but it ain't a silly one. Fallen will rip you to shreds or take you as a slave if you give 'em the chance, that's just how they are. Didn't know there was such a thing as a "half-Fallen' though," Nadya chimed in, looking at Tali dubiously.

Connor

Connor wrote down the measurements in hhis notepad. "Sounds good. Do you want any more blades grafted anywhere? Probably don't want too many, you'd cut yourself putting it on," he said to Gabbie, half-joking.

[Snike]

"That is an issue," Blake admitted, as he absentmindedly clasped his hands behind his back. "At the very least, though, they're less prepared for a fight out there than in a direct the manse, if only because they'd be in position and they would know the building's layout. Outside, at night, the enemy would have a harder time due to the openness of the battlefield and our relative agility compared to the larger force. Freedom of movement is our ally, so if they send their whole force out, we can outmaneuver them, but combat and clean-up-wise, we would be disadvantaged. Does anyone have any ideas which could address those concerns?"

[Acacia Sgt]

<Hiding the evidence huh. Doesn't sound like an easy task.> John thought, and then something came to mind. <Too bad Siv's no longer with us. Then again, I doubt she alone could get rid of them all, and the ones on the manse, heh. Anyway...> ''We can just bury them.'' He suggested. ''Unlike the manse we would be fighting them in the open. Plenty of space. Though I suppose it would take a while, so long there are no witnesses we can safely do it.''

[Script]

OOC: My heart is all aquiver.

The Man Named Gar

Garfield.

A man few people knew.

Garfield.

A man who liked to be called Gar because the fat orange cat at his residence was also named Garfield.

Gar.

Who was wandering the world searching for something that was a myth because someone was trying to screw over his Guild. So they were planning to screw them right back. So now he was off in some miserable little corner of the world looking for a myth instead of directly hunting the jerks who sent him on the snipe hunt down.

Well, it hadn't been all bad. He had sold out his contract and solved a few problems on the way to this useless spick of land. But now it was time to call it quits and head back and get to some real problem solving. So he was down at the docks looking for a mighty fine transport vessel to take him anywhere. And he finally found one that looked promising.

Or would have been if the name hadn't frozen him solid in complete confusion.

"Leverager?" he asked no one. "Is that even a word? Did they mean Leverage and added on an r as a joke? Bah," he shrugged just to shrug. "Eh, guess it should pass. Not like Banana Boat made any more sense." He shrugged again and went looking for some crew, which wasn't that far away. "Ahoy matey!" he waved through his cloak, the beige cape lifting and revealing his knees covered in black. "Where does this vessel's next destination be?"

Edited August 4, 2013 by Script

[Phoenix]

Meeting

Suggestion after suggestion came, but it didn't seem like they had any foolproof approaches. On the other hand, no plan ever survived contact with the enemy. Reign knew that all too well and sighed when the memories reemerged. Hmm. Zachery's one of their people ... until tomorrow, I guess. It'd be nice if we could use that to our advantage. I mean sure he's done plenty already, but a double agent could screw them over so badly right now it's not even funny. We're the ones attacking, though so all he could really do for us now is mislead them about something that gives Raquel and company a gross advantage. Or maybe we could find some of Cervantes' enemies or the cult's enemies and get them on our side. If they get sponsored, they won't have to worry so much about burying bodies or getting identified, at least not if they don't turn them in afterward. Kinda short notice though. Hmm, or maybe just come straight out with the truth. Sounds crazy but I've read quite a few historical incidents get resolved that way when anyone else would have tried something sneakier. It's kind of strange imagining Raquel and a bunch of armed mercenaries coming right up to the mansion, explaining that they know about the attempt to take her and demand it all be settled there and then. Huh ... epic ... need a few barricades, though ... aaaand it could backfire like all the other plans if they can't convince the authorities that they didn't just viciously kill off a bunch of other mercenaries.

First Meeting(sorta)

The sailor's attention was seized and he looked back at the cloaked man dubiously. Oh if only they the whole ship hadn't been put on edge by the talk of spies and assassins and crazy cults, he might not have been so suspicious about the question. "There is a next destination, but who are you and why do ya wanna know?"

Restaurant

"That should be enough on the 'true' weaponry. The gauntlet tips should be sharp enough for me to improvoise with them, though. Same with the shin guards. Don't see them piercing anything but soft targets, though. Should be good enough, though. Now about the attachments ..."

Menawhile in the kitchen ...

"Hottest thing on the menu, hmm?" one of the cooks mused aloud while watching another cook empty a bottle of some kind of sauce into what looked like stew. "Wow, are you legally allowed to put that much in there?"

"Yes I am. This bottle's empty, but I need just a bit more. Do we have any extras?" the cook asked.

"Of course we've got extras. Nobody orders this stew. The rumors are all over the place now."

"Somebody ordered it~"

"Yeah and the girl must be drop dead gorgeous for him to be risking his life like this ..." the other cook guessed.

"Maybe he's just here for a challenge."

"Or has a death wish."

"Stop being pessimistic and get me the damn sauce! No, you know what, I'll go get it myself." With that the cook stormed off. Neela immediately entered the kitchen as if she'd been waiting for the chance to do so without that man seeing her.

"Another bottle?!"

"Yyyep."

"We need to do something, he's going to kill him."

"I'll think of something ... hopefully."

Guild

"What is this guy, a Wrathite or something? Whatever. Mandy can have him. I'll take anyone who's not a bigot, please, thank you very much." Tali commented. She was still looking away from the conversation with her arms crossed.

Mandy shrugged. "Well alright, but it's your loss. Both of you, actually. We can learn a lot from people we've never met before. Anywayyyy, are you going to be testing for unmounted strengths or do you have a mount waiting for us outside?"

"Same question if Mandy's having any of you work with me ..." Tali commented.

[Script]

The Man Called Gar

"You can call me Gar," he responded when prompted about his name. "I wanna know because I want off this island, and I'm not exactly picky about direction either." He'd prefer going straight back home, hell he'd prefer knowing where it was going in the first place. Well, he couldn't really fault the guy for keeping a secret. Not like Gar was spreading the name of the Howling Voice or even his own full name around.

[Mercakete]

Once that was resolved, Norbert was able to calm down some. He wasn't even effected by either guild member's words except that he wouldn't have to work with a Fallen.

"I ride a pegasus but I can fight on my feet, too," Norbert informed, not sure which fighting style he would rather be tested on.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"We could just put 'em in th' manse," Gytha suggested with a shrug, "If we're killin' 'em all anyway, might as well just let 'em stay there. 'R d' ye think many people go there often?" She wasn't entirely certain what a "manse" was.

[saifors]

OOC: So can someone help me, like tell me what would be a good way to start RPing and fill me in on where all the characters are and the like?

[ReformBlade]

"Hmmmmm.... I think I'll go unmounted. I don't wanna bother Hannah much right now, she gets enough excitement just dealing with me every day~. Question is, if I do it this way now, can I only go in unmounted? Just curious." She glanced over at Norbert for a moment before deciding to not open that can of worms at the moment. Maybe after all was said and done she would, but that seemed unlikely.

Nanahm sighed and scratched his head. Battle plans were never his strong suit, and any evidence to the contrary will be dealt with swiftly. "Is there any way we can just kinda... walk away from this and come back later? I mean, there's nothing holding us here except a lingering threat or whatever, right?" Perhaps I should've paid more attention to what was going on... There shouldn't be this much deliberation, should there? Either go for it now or later, or don't go for it...

[Phoenix]

Main Deck

"Huh. That so?" Just looking for passage? Well we've got plenty of those already but ... guess I should at least let the captain know about this guy. "Alright, you can come aboard for the moment, but don't wander. I'm gonna let the captain know there's someone who needs talking to." With that, the sailor yanked the nearest sailor from offscreen and then told him to stay near this Gar fellow, more or less to keep the other sailors from overreacting asking accosting him about the same thing over and over again. After that, he headed for the wardroom to find the captain.

Main Meeting

Same old same old with the planning and such, but then a knock on the door changed things up a bit. "Should I get that?" Reign asked the captain, to which he got a raised eyebrow in return. Reign understood, but honestly, he'd been answering doors since he got on board, so it seemed natural to volunteer ... and he didn't hear a 'no', so he did. "What's up?" he greeted the sailor.

"There's someone who wants a ride off this island. Thought you should know. He's on the main deck."

"Heh, ask if he's a Skotian." Reign half joked. At least if he is, it would be less of an issue since we've got smuggled dragons and eggs on board. Then again, he doesn't really need to know they're 'smuggled'. I don't know. Up to the captain, I guess.

"I'll talk to him. Let me know if anything changes." Bogdan announced before leaving the Wardroom with the sailor.

Back to the meeting. Nanahm wanted to know if they could just avoid fighting the cultists altogether. Raquel spoke up for a change. "Well normally that would probably be the best way to go about this, but I'm not sure I can just leave this the way it is in good conscience. I don't just want to rescue my father, I want to shut these people down."

"Just don't bite off more than you can chew." Reign warned.

Main DecagonDeck

The sailor returned with the captain pointed out Gar to him. The two approached. "So you aim to get off this island?" It could have been a more formal greeting, but the captain had a lot on his mind.

Main Guild(not really)

"Weeeell, what do you want to be tested for? Are you fighting in the arena? If so, then are you fighting mounted or unmounted? If you're fighting in the arena, and fighting mounted, then you should definitely be testing mounted." Mandy replied. She tried to simplify it without sounding like she was talking down to him or anything like that. It was his first time, so she might as well be thorough, she figured. And her explanation to Bert seemed to at least partially answer Aneda's question as well, but Mandy still tackled that one too. "There have been cases where people fought unmounted with mounted records and vice versa, but nobody really cares unless it's a singles tournament. Are you planning on entering one of those anytime soon?"

Tali waited right where she was. She had no intention of doing anything whatsoever without any volunteers.

[Ether]

Giving Norbert a dissapointed glare, Faatina didn't bother taking it further. The man had a temper and was not easy to sway, if she felt the need to chastise him further it could be done later, out of earshot of those to be bothered by it.

"Ah... Sharif is still at the docks... I suppose I'll be going on foot then." Faatina mused, readying her shield. She assumed it would not be long before the testing began.

[Script]

A Man Called Gar

"I request permission to come aboard, sir to discuss business," Gar fired off before the sailor man let him on board to wait for the Captain to be fetched.

"Yes, that be what I aiming for," Gar answered the distressingly informal Captain. "You want money for your services, I'll pay. You need an extra workhand to let me aboard, I'll lend one. Things get a little violent on the high-seas, then you can hire me to be a whole lot violent back." Gar offered some simple terms.

[-Cynthia-]

Meeting

"I agree with Raquel, I don't think we should avoid anyone allied with the Organization if it's a fight we can win. Leaving them around will probably just cause more problems for us later," Veronika said.

Restaurant

"What sort of attachments? Do you want to be able to make fire come out of your armor or something?" Connor asked Gabbie. That would be cool...but tricky to set up...ah I should wait for what she has to say. he stopped himself.

Guild

"I always fight mounted, so I might as well practice outside too," Nadya said to Mandy, glad to be able to ignore the Fallen. "How do y'all measure healin' ability anyway, does someone gotta break Bert's nose or somethin'?" she wondered aloud.

Edited May 19, 2012 by -Cynthia-

[Snowy_One]

"I agree with Raquel as well, but I would like to suggest that, maybe we spend some time to think before we act. Their trap is set and they will be waiting for us, not us waiting for them. We would be fools to rush in after only a brief moment to plan. Our biggest problem is that they know we are coming and doubtless have eyes on us now. Zach's willingness to work for us is our one key edge. Maybe we should find some more wild cards to bungle their traps."

[ReformBlade]

"Nah, not really planning on entering a solo tourney. Don't really like the prospect." Aneda stood with her hands on her hips now. "So when do we start this thing? The assessment that is..."

"Well." Nanahm had to butt in again. "They're expecting us, yeah, but we know they know that. Do they know that we know they know? ... Did I say that right? Anyway. Honestly, I'm sticking to the tried and true suggestion of just going on the offensive. You've deliberated over it for some time now while I was painting, I think, and if there's anything this group knows how to do well it's somehow come out of reckless situations alive and intact. Worse comes to worse and we somehow get local authorities riled up, maybe we can call in some favors with Weyland somehow? I don't even remember, are we doing anything for him currently?" Yeah. Paying attention sounds smart right about now...

[Acacia Sgt]

Amidst the planning and debate, there was the side note of someone wanting to board the Leverager. It seems this was someone looking for passage off the island. And now the Captain had left the room to see about this.

<Well, I suppose dealing with that is bound to be faster than this.> John noted.

That certainly was proving to be the case anyway.

''I wouldn't say we come out completely intact, and alive especially.'' John said. ''We have lost quite a few ever since this started. Thankfully not all by death, but there has been.''

[Mercakete]

The pegasus rider gave Nadya a slightly irritated glance. "Thank you for being so quick to volunteer me," he sarcastically retorted. It was only a minor irritation, though, so he could shake it before redirecting his attention to Mandy.

"Nah, I'm not planning on entering the arena," Norbert clarified, "I just want something I can use to track my progress. If I keep working on my fighting ability and check in at a guild every once in a while, I'll be able to see how I'm improving and what I have to do to get stronger."

Edited May 17, 2012 by Mercakete

[roymbrog]

"Hmm?" The guard looked up. "Next tournament's tomorrow. Cost is 300 gold. It's a three on three I believe..."

Synthia had waaay more than that on the ship. It was just a matter of returning and getting it. "I'll sponsor your brother. If he wins I get paid, right?"

"Antonio, it doesn't matter if it's fair! Is the arena fair?" Turning to Synthia, Torin glomped her in a very thankful hug. Synthia tried to pull free. Torin was not so easily deterred. "Oh, thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou-"

"Get off!"

[saifors]

Restaurant

A young and maybe suspicious man enters the restaurant and looks around at first and then continues by walking to an empty table to sit, he then picks a book from a bag he took with him, and after a few seconds, reading like he's studying it.

[Phoenix]

Wardroom

"Hmm. Well I guess that settles that." Reign said out loud. He didn't seem to be referring to anyone or anything in particular. He just turned and made for the door without so much as a hint as to why he was leaving. Raquel was caught up in thought again so didn't notice he was leaving yet.

Main Deck

"Decent enough offer. We are bringing other passengers with us as well. You'll have to be able to get along with them. As for our destination ... Yoshimo. After that, depends on the circumstances at the time. How far are you looking to get from this place?" Bogdan inquired. The two sailors just stood by for the moment.

Restaurant

"Foire? No thanks, I do not wanna go out loike Axel, but it's a noice oidea, hahahah." Gabbie shot back. "We've got plenty of mages anyway, so I'll leave the foire to them. But I do want to make sure everything's noice and fitting~" Hmm ... I'm not sure how to ask him to make thigh high leggings for the greaves. I'll need a fullbody suit to go underneath everything too if I'm going to be more weather proof in the future. "Dave--new nickname--whaddya think of thoigh hoigh anything's?"

The situation in the kitchen wasn't changing much, but there was another customer, so Neela approached the young man at the table with a menu. "Welcome to Anton's. May I take your order, sir?"

Guild

"Actually we can test your healing ability in another way, though we did used to test healing ability by waiting for injuries during the sparring matches ... never had to wait very long. Anyway, I think enough of you are mounted to warrant us all going outside. Works for me. Mounted testing is fun~"

"No one asked for me; can I go back to target practice?" Tali asked. Yeah, she couldn't have cared less about this.

"Nay. Come along winged sniper girl~" Oddest sounding directive yet, and Tali sighed, a sign that she was going to comply. "I'll meet you all back outside. I'm going to head over to the stables and get Summer, then we can get started. Tali, you should get the forms and some pens and ink."

"Fine."

She Was Strong

She couldn't delay for long. Cassandra slowly stood up and the look on her face was blank again. She was still a little dead inside after being talked down to like that by her own father ... or maybe he was right, after all. She wasn't the real Raquel, so Jethro couldn't be her real father, at least not in the general sense. The memories were there, but Jethro rejected her on the spot. If only she didn't have to keep it all hidden. Her hatred for Sardis was growing by the second, and she used that harmful intent to fuel her attacks on Jethro. It was all she could do to keep up the illusion until Sardis put an end to the battle.

With each of Cassandra's attacks, her approaches grew more and more practical, and she was taking less blocking swings from Jethro. Jethro meanwhile was taking far more hits, but was being shielded by his armor. While Cassandra was faster, Jethro didn't allow her to get at the gaps in his armor. The battle finally shifted in Cassandra's favor when Jethro began to grow tired from throwing his sword's weight around so much. They'd been locked in a dead heat for almost five minutes, but now Cassandra's higher stamina was beginning to reveal itself, much to her dismay.

Finally, the climax came, and Cassandra caught Jethro off guard. She could only afford to hold back a little, but she still sunk her dagger's blade completely into Jethro's bicep. The pain was tremendous and prompted a loud cry from Jethro, but it turned out to be his plan. Taking that one hit would allow him to end the deathmatch then and there. With one anger fueled thrust, he impaled Cassandra through her abdomen. Cassandra didn't recover before he raised up his foot and kicked her in the chest, removing her from his sword and sending her tumbling away face down into the dirt. Jethro quickly removed the dagger from his arm, threw it into the ground and walked up to Cassandra's downed form. At last, he showed a hint of compassion as she looked up at him. She looks ... so sad right now. Is she really just a blank copy, or ...

I guess ... the real Raquel couldn't have done it ... but I did. Cassandra thought to herself as she began to get up. She covered her wound with one arm as she did, so getting up was a slow ordeal.

"Satisfied, Sardis? She'll do what you want, even take down the real Raquel if necessary. All I ask is that you get her an emblem piece ... so we can see just what happens~" Burke chimed in.

"Very well. I'll use her." Sardis answered simply. "Someone go fetch a healer." he added, but Naomi was already there and ran over to Cassandra and Jethro with a staff in hand.

She Was Stronger

Deep in the mountains separating Kigen and Rex-Avaz, something tremendous was taking place. Clouds were brought low and swirled around a massive area at unnatural speeds. The shifting winds eventually caused lightning to begin to strike near the center. The only witnesses to this were a small group of dragons of mixed ages. All of them looked up at the hectic display in wonderment. Soon the entire spectacle ended, and the clouds separated. This had happened once before, but was much larger and farther away. The dragons didn't know what to think, and when a winged man came falling down from the sky, they began roaring. The man struck the ground hard enough to break every bone in his body, but survived. Floating high above was Lilith, and she had the coldest look in her eyes.

As bones began to pull back together and limbs began to snap back in place, Griffin hauled himself to his feet, his back and wings covered in blood. "... damnable she-wrath. Five thousand years of playing dead and she's still a titanic nightmare in battle." He ignored the dragons nearby for the moment. Ordinarily, they might have attacked Griffin, but his power was incredible and they could feel it from where they were, not to mention he survived a crash that should have killed anything mortal. This wasn't their fight. They could only hope these two beings would leave soon. "Why do you want my help? We aren't friends, or allies anymore. In fact just seeing you again reminds me why I hate the two of you so much."

"I can still use you." she replied as she slowly floated to the ground.

"So much like Wrath. Honestly, it's difficult to distinguish between you and him." Griffin muttered. "Fine. I'm yours, Lilith ... for now."

Edited May 18, 2012 by Phoenix

[Script]

A Man Called Gar

"Haha, well, we'll get along famously I'm sure," Gar smirked. "Yoshimo eh?" Not a bad idea to brush up again. "Eh, just looking to get back to the mainland eventually I guess. Distressingly little to do on these islands beyond ship work really."

[GoD]

SHE WAS THE STRONGEST!

"Sooooo.... What's the plan here? Long-Range attacks, Stealth Mission, Rendevouz Point, or do we try a Suicide Mission? Should we just vote for an option and go with that?- Chelsea let out an exhasperatsd suggestion. She was too damn tired of all this useless conversation, and she wanted to move around a little.

Edited May 18, 2012 by GoD

[Mercakete]

"Alright," Norbert agreed before backtracking and exiting the guild. Rizen was right where he'd left her. "Thanks for looking after her," he said to the guild members who'd kept an eye on Rizen as he unhitched her and mounted up.