Return of the Emblem Chapter Nine: Consolidating Forces

Ether · May 1, 2012

"Oh, sure." Faatina replied, loosening her grip slightly, though still keeping a firm hold on Aneda. There was fair warning given, but when ascent came, Faatina instinctively squeezed Aneda a bit tighter and let out a slight yelp, burying her head into Aneda's shoulder for a moment before re-composing herself.

Regaining a spot of composure, though perhaps not dignity quite yet depending on how close attention Aneda had been paying, and how much she particularly cared, Faatina pulled her face out from the nape of Aneda's neck, and felt a calming breeze run through her hair, the light gusting of the wind from the higher vantage point incredibly soothing.

"Wow... everything looks so... different from up here..." Faatina noted as she looked off to the side, her expression brightening with wonder at the sight.

************

"I suppose that will be all, then. If you have nothing else to report, you may go. And do tell the good men working in... artificial intelligence that the Goddess is well." The Director said to the messenger, dismissing him.

Acacia Sgt · May 1, 2012

So the duo took flight once more, though currently they didn't left the airspace of the port. He wasn't the only one who had decided to take to the air, but he was paying no mind to them.

<Let's see, who knows how long it will take before Raquel decides to go into town.> John thought. <That is, if I do decide to accompany her and whoever else goes. Maybe I should keep to myself and just fly around. Although...> And so they remained there for a while, the rider deep in thought.

Snowy_One · May 1, 2012

"That seems like a horrible thing to do on the whole. You do not have anyone that you care for? Any friends at all? You would gladly turn me in to... my enemies... for a pretty coin or two?" asked Robin as she picked up several mushrooms, squeezing them to ensure that they were good.

Phoenix · May 1, 2012

Raquel

"I would not recommend coming with us past Yoshimo if we take the eastern route. You would have to get back to Ursium the long way. The imperial fleets are making it a complete nightmare to travel the eastern channel." Bogdan replied.

Gabbie

"Arguing with yourself, huh? Well at least you never get lonely." Gabbie assessed, shrugging afterward.

Cecily

"Well there's no point in openly trying to best them. There's no need to gain any rivals; it'll just complicate things. This is less a competition for Sardis' trust, and more of a shortcut to promotion. Even if we don't end up replacing them in earnest, we can still achieve our goal here, I think." Cecily explained. "It's true, Sardis isn't the only one who can give us information. In fact, I doubt we'll have to go to Sardis directly to find out what's got him so depressed."

Messenger

"Very well. I will. Good day, Director." And with that, the messenger made a slight bow and began a slow ominous departure. The locked door caused a hiccup in the flow, but there was little to be done. Alas.

GoD · May 1, 2012

After a quite awhile of doing absolutely nothing but walk Nesha around, the troubadour decided to return to the ship. She was getting tired of her old clothes and it was time to change her wardrobe. So she lead Nenesha back to the ship and deposited him at the stables where he would be well kept. It was certainly not because she was mad at her horse, because he kept making chuckles at his master. Well that was kind of a bonus, but whatever.

Entering her room, she decided to pull out one of the outfits that Sister Arquinas and the others had made for the troubadour. It wasn't awful, on the contrary, it was amazing and she would remind the sisters that they should open up a business. On the other hand the outfit was a bit... risque? It didn't look like something a cleric should wear, but then she was not like other clerics. And she wasn't on a religious mission, so the more versatality the better. Sister Lucia HAD suggested the skirt be extremely short, luckily she was able to convince (and by that I mean knock some sense into her literally) the nun that long skirts were better. "Note to self, mention that the girls are extreme perverts and they will be punished when I get back"

In any case after putting on her new outfit (Picture will be added later) she was at a loss of what to do. So she wandered around the Dauntless, hoping to find Shadrak, so maybe he could comment on her new outfit.

ReformBlade · May 1, 2012

"It's a different perspective, to be sure. Definitely not for the faint of heart as well. Hehe, I remember when I first rode Hannah, I was so freaking nervous! However, in my opinion, it's not much different than riding a horse. It's just more dangerous, and yet satisfying and effective. Not that your horse isn't good, Faatina, I'm sure he's a great one, I just prefer the freedom of the air~" Aneda couldn't help but feel smug after Faatina's reaction, "I take it you like it, eh? She's not used to having multiple people on her, but I'm sure she doesn't mind if you wanna go for a ride every so often. Also, while this is a great view, the ocean is just the tip of the iceberg. Wait until you see a forest or mountains from above, or even the city! Wanna go check it out?"

"Oh you'd be surprised, Miss. Talking to the same person can really get on your nerves over time... but I appreciate your, for lack of a better term, indifference." Davod gave a quick smile as he wondered if there was anything to do now. Eat? Relax? Do both? Gather some supplies? Chat it up further? The possibilities simply did not end. "Anyway, I think I'm gonna go hit up a store, maybe get some simple supplies. You're welcome to come along if you're not busy, but I won't guarantee any excitement."

-Cynthia- · May 1, 2012

Nadya

Nadya sighed at Robin's response. "I already told ya, my friends other than Luca are all in my clan, that's why I'm tryin' to get money and that's why yes I'll accept a much better offer if it comes along. Now if ya will excuse me, I got stuff to sell," she said, trotting away on Luca before beginning to haggle with a nearby merchant.

Veronika

"I wonder how long it would take us to get a ship at Yoshimo- our group size and the wagon does make it difficult to get on most vessels. Perhaps it would be better to travel on land from Central Sardius if possible...dangerous though," she added, frowning.

Sisters

"We're going to have a tough time getting promoted if Sardis never gives us any jobs in the first place," Cloe said frowning.

"Let's ask around here then. Er...stealthily or something so it doesn't seem too obvious," Clara added, remembering the mission.

Ether · May 1, 2012

"It really is amazing..." Faatina remarked, still looking about every which way with a sense of bewilderment.

"The city, huh? That sounds nice too, we should definitely check it out!" Faatina replied gleefully.

********

"Good day to you as well." The Director replied to the retreating man, finishing off his second glass of wine.

"Now that he is out of the way..." Cervantes noted to himself happily, re-locking the door.

"I do hope you have taken this time to ready yourself for me, my Goddess~" The Director flourished, sliding in behind the curtain concealing the other end of the room.

"It is time for today's cleansing~" The man exclaimed with delight, licking his lips.

Phoenix · May 1, 2012

Raquel

"If we found anything in the first few days it would be a miracle," Raquel noted aloud. ... or a trap. The afterthought seemed a little too pessimistic to say out loud. "Even if we can avoid all of the fighting, it'll take more than a week just to get back to Europa, and we'll still need another boat to take us across the Central channel ... urgh."

"Quite a situation you people are in." Bogdan commented.

"That does it. We need to find a way to contact Weyland before we end up having to head all the way back through Central. I'm just not sure how. We could end up waiting in Yoshimo or someone else for who knows how long. Uuurgh." The more she thought about it, the more frustrating it became.

Gabbie

"An outing? Certainly." Gabbie replied. She didn't have any plans for the day, herself, so this was certainly a good start. She quickly put her fingers to her lips and whistled for Ringo. The wyvern picked his head up, and as soon as he confirmed that it was her standing over on the other side of the ship, he stood up, spread his wings, and took off. he passed over the both of them being careful not to hit anything like the mast or the netting. After passing overhead, he began flying in figure eights. It seemed like he was trying to keep on the move, but remain close enough to swoop down on her at a moment's notice. "Don't moind him. Just needs a bit of exercoise~"

Cecily

"He's an idiot if he just let's us sit around and do nothing all day, though with everyone else lazing about, one has to wonder. I'll bring up the subject gently if that's looking to be the case. We should ask around, though. Don't worry, Clara; there's nothing all that suspicious about us learning what we can about operations in this region, just try not to be too direct about what Sardis is doing. It should come across like general concern, obviously." Cecily explained. Proteus snorted a few times, probably protesting the smell of the new environment or something. Cecily didn't pay him much mind for the moment, only glancing back to make sure he wasn't actually doing anything besides following along.

Main Deck

More reading; the look on Shadrak's face was pretty much a scowl. He wanted to know more about what was going on, especially with the fire emblem. First it started glowing in Lilith's presence and the others stupidly assumed it was another emblem piece on her person ... he did too. Foolish, he thought. Next she wakes up and tells them the energy within the emblem will kill Raquel if she doesn't learn to control it, despite the fact that Raquel is never in good health without the emblem very close by. Despite its apparent lethality, she opted to leave it with her so she can 'master' its use. Why? Shadrak was convinced Lilith wasn't being completely honest with them about something, but he wasn't sure where the lies were, not for certain. At the very least, he suspected there was more to the emblem than simply excess energy output. Raquel was fine, not dying. He shut up his notes when he'd had enough and stood up by the Dauntless. "I need to get to the bottom of this ..."

Reign wasn't spending so much energy just thinking about things and strolled around the deck with his arms behind his head. "I've kinda had enough of ports to last a lifetime. I never thought I'd be perfectly content just to 'stay on the ship', heh."

Snowy_One · May 2, 2012

Robin watched sadly as Nadya turned to leave. The woman was greedy and misguided at best and would almost certainly end up betraying the group.

[spoiler=Robin's Mind's eye]

Raquel stood before a field of battle as, before her, a giant demon loomed overhead. His massive form was as tall as a mountain while his giant wings spread out to cover the sky as black as night. Overhead the sky was red from the blaze of the fires that had consumed the nations as a field, strewn with the bodies of hundreds of soldiers. Only Raquel and six others remained standing alive. Raquel stood at the center, emblem in hand, as long robes flowed about her in an unearthly breeze. Beside her stood Veronika, Bert mounted atop his pegasus, Miri who was inexplicably wielding an axe, Nadya with her staff in hand, and Gytha dressed up with a giant black hat with a skull and crossbones on it and an eyepatch covering one eye.

"BWAHAHAHA! Look before you little girl! All your armies have fallen! There is nothing more that you can do! All your best warriors, all the winged ones, even the dragons themselves were no match for a GOD! Only six of you remain! What hope could you possibly have?"

"Foul creature of the abyss! We shall always have hope! Our bonds of friendship are stronger than any demon. We have fought through many trials, arm and arm, through man, dragon, demon, and even the darkness itself! My light may be small, but all my friends have given me their own and I shall make it shine brighter than the sun itself!" Raquel raised the emblem up over her head. Between her hands magic crackled as power more immense than even the Vasili had ever wielded took form as pure destructive energy.

"Heed me thou who is darker than dusk... Heed me thou who is more red than blood... In the name of lavos who has been buried in the bottomless abyss of time eternal... I summon thee, master of all darkness... Infuse me with power, let your strength become mine.. Have no pity in the fools who stand in our way.. To vanish them from the face of this earth... To deliver unto them the ultimate doom!"

"Bwahahaha! You seek to use my own power against me? The emblem and my own magic? Very well... I shall use your own power against you as well! Come forth my minion! Strike down that which I have decreed!"

From behind Raquel Nadya drew a small knife. "Sorry Raquel, just business." she said before she suddenly plunged it into Raquel's back. Raquel's eyes went wide as she fell to her knees as Nadya twisted the knife cruelly. "He offered to pay me more than you could ever provide so, sorry." Raquel was dead before she hit the ground.

"Haha. Sorry Nadya. Now that she is gone, your species is doomed. You have served me well loyal pawn, now die!" With that the demon raised his hand and blasted all five remaining people with enough dark magic to disintegrate their bones.

Robin gave a shudder before she returned to her shopping. She had the potatoes, carrots, mushrooms, and spices now. She would need to keep an eye on Nadya for sure, but there was nothing more that she could do right now. She needed some onions and bay leaves to go with the basil and thyme she had already picked out, possibly a bit of red wine as well, though she didn't usually cook with it, and the venison itself still.

Mercakete · May 2, 2012

Well, it was still definitely a desert of sorts, though by the ocean. Norbert had gained enough altitude to be flying over the port city, which wasn't exactly easy given how tall the tightly-packed buildings were. The gusts coming off the water helped a good deal, though. In the distance was something that looked kind of like farmland, though Bert couldn't recognize what they were trying to grow. There was one area that caught the pegasus rider's interest, though. It was in a sort of urban clearing with only one building in it center. People were entering and exiting in a sort of steady flow and the building its self looked sort of like a giant, stone cylinder with the top cut off. People were inside, too, filling rows and rows of seats.

What is that? Norbert wondered, deciding to investigate. It took some time steadily diving towards the area and Riz had to trot to a stop to end her flight's momentum, but once they were on the ground, Norbert asked one of the people near where he'd landed, "Hey, you. What's this giant building for?"

Rothene · May 2, 2012

Leaving her armour and lance behind, Mireille decided to take a long walk around the port armed with only her feather pen, some ink and a notebook. Those would be the only spear and shield she would require for the day, the Ursian lady hoped. Dressed only in clean a white dress with some embroidery of her father's coat of arms and a red silk shawl, Mireille took careful steps to not let any dirt fall on them while she navigated her way through the streets in search for inspiration to aid her in her never ending war against writer's block.

In her pack, she kept a letter opener that was sharpened enough to serve as an improvised dagger with her hands straying to it every so often. It was a lousy weapon to defend herself with, but at least it was a weapon sorts. And that fact was enough to give her some comfort. Taking a seat on one of the various barrels left unattended in the marketplace, Mireille took out her notebook and began scribbling the various ways she could describe her surroundings. Maybe later that day, she would sift through them and pick her favourite.

Eail · May 2, 2012

'This is a fine mess I've gotten myself into, involved with a child raping cult and all. Mother would be SO proud of me' Thought the man known as Zachary. 'Enough moping around, I've got to do something about this. There's no way I can sneak her out of here, she's guarded far to well. Not a Wrathdamn chance I could fight my way out either........ DAMMIT there has to be something I can do! I can't just sit around and let these sick fucks continue to do this.'

Hearing a knock outside his room Zachary calmed himself down before answering, opening the door to see a lesser member of the cult he asked "Can I help you with something?"

Edited May 2, 2012 by Eail

-Cynthia- · May 2, 2012

Veronika

"Couldn't we land in Tracea? I know Neviskotia controls part of it and Ursium another- their direct border is probably guarded, but we might be able to sneak over once we're dropped off. Don't know much about the naval situation around there though," she admitted.

Clara and Cloe

"Ooh, I call the guy with the crazy hair who greeted us when we arrived. He seemed easy to talk to," Clara said, arriving at the stables finally. Perseus seemed half asleep...maybe he really was tired.

"We're trying to gather information, not pick out dancing partners," Cloe scoffed. "At least the fact that the base is in a tavern should loosen people's lips...wonder if it's an open bar," she mused aloud.

ReformBlade · May 2, 2012

Aneda smiled at Faatina's excitement again, laughing a little herself. "Yeah, it's a fun feeling... But you've also gotta remember... Eh I'll tell you afterwards. Anyway, yeah, let's go fly over the city for a wee bit." Urging Hannah towards the city, they sped over. "Hold on tight! Wouldn't want you to fall onto the pavement or anything~!" Aneda had Hannah simply circle over the city at a moderate distance, being sure to not have her make sudden turns so Faatina could keep her balance. "Haha, don't worry, I'm just teasing. We're going slow enough that I'd basically have to force you off if you were going to fall. It's a nice view up here... Seems to be some sort of arena over there, tons of land over there, and then a bunch of people down below. They look like ants, but that's just how high up we are! Isn't that amazing?"

"Exercise? I think even if he didn't do much he'd still be quite fearsome, but I'm just judging by size I guess. I don't know the specifics or... well, anything about wyverns and whatnot. Hell I don't even know what they eat. Are they carnivorous? Herbivores? Omnivores? Ah well..." Let's see... you should probably get yourself some food for travels, water, and then... Wait, were you even payed? "Ah shit, I don't have much left, do I? I guess it's time to make do with scraps again... Oh well. It could be worse."

Ether · May 2, 2012

"G-gahahahahahaha!"

And the cleansing was over. The Director pulled away, quickly grabbing the needle from the nearby shelf.

"Now hold still, my Goddess~" Cervantes whispered to the writhing form beneath him, before sticking the needle into her wrist. Injecting the sedative into the slim wrist of the Goddess, the writhing stopped after a few seconds, replaced with a dull panting. His pastime done, for now, the Director exited the curtained off corner, closing said curtain behind him, as he wiped a spot of sweat from his brow.

"How... invigorating. Whatever shall I do now, though... perhaps hold a sermon...?" The Director pondered, before a loud knocking came to his door, so many coming to visit today, it seemed.

"Yes, what is it?" Cervantes asked through the door.

"We have captured a traitor, sir. He was attempting to feed information to an outside source." The cultist replied, giving the Director a bow.

"Is that so? Very well, I shall inform the Goddess of this treachery. Gather everyone to the judgment chambers." The Director instructed the man, at which he ran off to comply. Cervantes himself turned back to the curtained off section of his room, producing a second needle, this one filled with a deep red liquid.

"It seems you will not be allowed to rest quite yet, my Goddess." The Director noted, advancing towards the curtain once again.

***********

"Yes, Seventh Circle Zachary. All members are to gather in Judgement chamber C immediately." The cultist told Zach, heading off himself to the destination.

***********

"Wow, it really is amazing." Faatina replied, gripping Aneda a bit tighter at her joke, though not loosening after realization of such... just in case.

"It seems like a nice city from here."

Phoenix · May 2, 2012

Raquel

"There are two ideal ports in Tracea we could bring you to ... depending on which route we take," Bogdan began. He tapped his finger down several times on the western end of the large island on his map. "No doubt. You can find a ship large enough to take you back to the Ursian mainland from there." After saying that, he paused for a moment. "I must say, I never imagined I would be transporting a bunch of Ursians around. Do you really not mind what we're doing here?"

Raquel looked down at the edge of the large desk and frowned. "I'm sick of being told to hate dragons on principle." she muttered quietly. She quickly looked back up at Bogdan when a troubling thought came to her. "W-we're not going to tell them about you or anything ..."

"I know you won't. They won't catch us, and you're the ones that would get executed in the end." Bogdan replied with his finger pointed in their general direction and a slightly amused grin on his face.

"Oh ... right." Well at least it's only the second time I've committed treason without giving it much thought. Raquel thought to herself, giving the table an unamused look.

Gabbie

"Well he won't ever be a pushover but his overall floight toime won't increase without exercoise. They're carnivores but they've got preferences. Ringo doesn't seem to have a taste for anything, though. Only eats when he's really hungry for some reason." she explained. When he mentioned scrapes, she smirked. "Sounds loike you'll be hungry soon, too. Why settle for scrapes, though? Weeeell I guess I wouldn't go around moochin' off the others, myself. Not unless I was really sick of scrapes, heheh."

Cecily

"You be careful with that one." Cecily warned. She was suspicious of Colin from the get go, obviously. "I'd prefer to focus on Sardis myself if I ever get the chance, but the two of you can ask the others anything useful. I'm not liking how long a mission like this could take ..." she sighed and began to get Proteus settled in and untacked. He was behaving but looked rather pissed about the accommodations.

Person

The man just stared for a moment. "Tttthat is the arena, sir." the man spoke with a somewhat thick rexian accent. "Is that really a pegasus you're riding?" he asked after answering. He didn't look at Bert for more than a split second just to see who he was.

Eail · May 2, 2012

'Oh man what poor bastard are they going to accuse now' thought Zach as he made his way to the Judgement Chamber. Thinking about the possible ways he could rescue the girl and get the hell out of town the only answer he could come up with would be to find some help. 'I stand no chance in a fight against everyone here, I may be stronger than everyone except for Master Kerrigan but they could overwhelm me with numbers'

Arriving at the Judgement Chamber Zach took his place with the rest of the 7th circle and awaited the beginning of a poor fools death.

Mercakete · May 2, 2012

Arena, huh? I think I remember hearing about arenas somewhere... Bunch of people fight for money or something. "Yes," he answered the man's question about Rizen's species before asking another question of his own, "How does the arena work?"

-Cynthia- · May 2, 2012

Veronika

"I am no Ursian, captain, I am Veronika of House Rusayev. Many of our group is not from Ursium, but it is where our base of operations lies. That is why many of us supported your cause. I'd like to help you further, but the criminal organization we fight commands most of our attention," she said to the captain.

Clara and Cloe

"Oh, I'll be fine," Clara said, waving her hand dismissively and hitching Perseus to the stables, allowing him to resume his nap. "See ya later," she said cheerfully, exiting the stables quickly.

"Eager thing, isn't she? I'd really rather have a mission where I can just stab something...I'll poke around I guess," Cloe said, hitching Thadeus up, the pegasus sniffing the air with some concern.

Clara quickly walked back to the tavern, where she saw the brown-haired man from earlier. "Sorry about the missed introduction before, sisters can be a little pushy sometimes. I'm Clara, nice to meet you," she said, holding out a hand for the man to shake.

ReformBlade · May 2, 2012

"It seems nice from a distance, but you never know~! Hahaha!" Aneda teased before sighing. "Anyway, you think you've had enough or do you wanna keep circling? We've got the rest of the day to do whatever, so I'd be up for more flying if you are, but I could also go for some food if you'd like to join me. It'd be on me of course since I'm inviting you~!"

"Why settle?" Davod was puzzled for a moment before realizing who she worked for. "I settle because I have to a lot of the time. I don't have the luxury of choosing how I live all the time. OK, well... I shouldn't say I HAVE to. I suppose I could settle down and get a steady minimum wage job and get a room and all that jazz, but that wouldn't sit well with me. Plus I'm not sure where my wife is, and I doubt staying in one place would lend itself to finding her all that well, you know?" A sudden headache struck him and he cringed. "Ow... Heh... You ever feel like you're so close to figuring something out but you just can't quite do it and it hurts? Well that's what it's like here. I know I'm forgetting something important, but I can't for the life of me figure out what. I suppose if I knew what I forgot it'd be kinda... contradictory by its nature, but I digress..."

Ether · May 2, 2012

[spoiler=Violent. Really violent. You've been warned.]The Judgment chamber was a ritualistic affair. A caged arena took center stage, the room itself lit by multitudes of candles and fireplaces. Three men entered after the others were seated. Two were large and burly, holding the third by the arms and dragging him towards the cage. The third, smaller man was kicking and screaming some sort of mix between bloody murder and begging for forgiveness.

"Silence, heathen. It is the Goddess who shall judge you today." The man on the left said, tossing the man into the cage and shutting it behind him.

"No, wait! Please, I didn't do anything! Besides, can't you all see this is crazy?! It's crazy, don't let them kill me!!!" The man spoke, his body shaking as he wrestled with the bars holding him in. No response.

"Ah, I see you have all arrived." The Director announced from his own special seat, a Throne above the cage. Taking a swig of yet another glass of wine, how could he not on such an occasion?

"You sir, stand accused of betraying the trust of your brothers, and attempting to not only sell us to the hands of another, but besmirch the name of our Goddess. A Dire accusation indeed... how do you plead?" Cervantes announced with bravado, earning a chant from the gathered followers.