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

Naida was completely focused on the man is the strangely green outfit until she heard the word “mantis.” She looked up to see Isabella looking at her quite pitifully. It took her a moment to process that this child wanted her mantis. “But... My mantis...” she started, but then realized how truly depressed this child appeared. Without a word, Naida picked up the mantis and fluttered down, placing it gently in the girl’s hand. “Our mantis?”

At the Gate

The sergeant at the wall watches in amusement as the strange wizard does his thing. It took a lot of power to be that confident, even if it was... an unusual form of confidence.

"You won't have a need to worry," Geoff reassures, giving the dog's undead head a pat, "I'll make sure he behaves. Necromancy isn't my big thing, but I know enough of how these li'l guys behave usually to keep watch for a day or two."

He gives a beaming, friendly smile before getting back to the task at hand.

"Okie-dokie then, let's just handle those questions real quick, shall we? Again, no stress, no pressure, just wanna know what's good so that when the inquisitor gets here I can make sure they don't get too out of control," He explains in his continued relaxed way, "Tell me a bit about the kinds of magic you like to start off, and if you're associated with any groups, that would be good to know, too."

At the mention of the mantis, he looks over and smiles a little. "You two having a little disagreement about whose pal this one is, huh? Got a little story behind this at all?"

Between the beaming smile the guard offered, the mantis' return, and the fact she wasn't going to have to unsummon Lucas (at least for now), Isabella's mood lightened. It was when the mantis reached her hand she outstretched towards Nadia that the soft smile returned to her face.

"Thank you," she said politely as she collected the reluctant creature who still seemed to stare cluelessly as to its fate. She toyed with it in her hand, rotating it and watching as the poor thing scrambled to stand on the most even patch of her hand that was offered.

"I like all kinds of magic, but especially the kind that made Lucas," Isabella explained still watching her insectoid companion, "Mother was teaching me enchanting and potions too, but she..." Isabella paused a moment, not openly reacting to the sorrow inside. She simply needed a moment before proceeding.

"She's gone now....so I have to study magic on my own," she claimed, overlooking the master apprentice relationship she was supposed to be acting within. It was a subtle slip, but then he was a wizard.

"And no," Isabella said finally looking up to Geoffry, "We're not arguing, he's both our bug." She turned with a small smile at Nadia, feeling the hopeful feelings of a friendly connection in its earliest moments, or at least she hoped.

Wait, when did Naida get a mantis? Ren was, yes, confused as to what just happened between her fairy and the girl, but at least they seemed to be getting along now. She noticed the girl had been glaring at Naida a lot on the way over here. “My magic is elemental, mainly with water. I draw power from an amulet my father gave me. I haven’t really studied with any schools or anything; I prefer my quiet, secluded cave where I can self-teach.”

Naida returned the child’s smile, happy to have a new friendship blossoming. For once she didn’t feel the need to share a story.

She would, however, talk about magic anytime. “I love Ren’s magic! She can do these really cool portal things, and she can fight really well with ice bullet things, but she doesn’t fight often because people are usually pretty friendly, except for that one time where we.. okay, not gonna talk about that. And Isabella’s magic is really cool too. Like this puppy is so nice, even if it’s really just Isabella’s niceness, I love puppies. Do you have any puppies?” The fairy continued her ramble, probably to the sky because the conversation typically goes on without her. “I don’t do any real magic on my own, but sometimes I’ll help Ren out,” she finally finished and took a breath.

"My parents taught me well." Adriannu answered back which wasn't a lie as much of her survival knowledge had indeed come from her parents. Hopefully such a quick explanation would help satisfy the merchant's curiosity as she would prefer to keep him from pressing further. The less curious he was, the better. "Anyway I'm looking for sixteen people days of food for my family. We are mostly planning to live off of the fruits of the hunt, but it's good to have a backup for when hunting is bad."

As she waited for the merchant to prepare her order, she noticed some man examining some wickerware, but seemed to be suspiciously inattentive to said wares. Now it was possible that she was being paranoid, but, she was a little kid who had apparently been entrusted with the shopping money, an "easy" target. "You know, my pa gave me a new hunting knife for my birthday and I love it so much that I always keep it on me. Though he did make me practice how to fight a man with it again. Says I need to know how since I'm a girl and am a considered an easy target by creeps out there, so I have to be able to defend myself. Told me the belly is the best place to aim for since there are no bones I can damage my knife in there. Hopefully I never have to do that and can just stick to using it on wild game huh?" As the child said all this, she turned her head slightly in the direction of the wicker man to see what he did. If he hadn't had any bad ideas, then he should be perfectly content to keep on browsing, but if he had, well hopefully she just gave him something to think about. Adriannu would truly prefer to avoid drawing her blades if possible since they would doubtlessly attract unwanted attention however, but if need be, she would and carefully moved one hand close to the hilt on her left side just to be safe.

At the market

"Aye, typical for hunters, then," he says with a nod as she explains her knowledge, "Some say ya don't take care of yer own, but I know ya teach yer own to take care of 'emselves and are there when it counts. Eighteen days then, right? It's a bulky bag, but I know you cathra are a sight stronger than you look."

He busies himself assembling the large order as she start talking about her knife training. It's a little more intense than most youngling rambling, and not as cautious as normal hunters would like to be. She'd caught sight of the man as well, it had to be. Unless she was fancying robbing his store, which he.... suspected she was far too clever for. To be safe, he glanced around for signs that she might have backup but found none. Good.

"Well, I'd hope that nobody would try something to make you need to bloody up good steel here in this market, or at least at this end," he says with a chuckle, "You probably noticed that it gets to be, ah, less day-to-day goods the further down you go. Food and candles and such at this end, then common trade-goods like knives, horseshoes, carpentry and toys, and it keeps going through maps and charms all the way down at the far end to where you see witches and their potions and sleazy men who send their good-for-nothing nephews out to lure little girls down to buy the results of their uncle's corpse lootin'! She don't want no shady jewelry and magic bows, Carlos, get outta here!"

His voice turns to growl as he runs through that last bit, and the sketchy man stiffens before speed walking away, having already looked rather nervous at Adriannu's knifing talk.

"Ohh, always good to make those bastards run," he chuckles before turning his voice to a whisper, "I know I like to upcharge and barter. It's mostly to help make more conversation though, even if I don't mind extra coin either. You've been interesting enough already though, little lady, so don't tell anyone, but I'll just give ya the fair price."

It was the truth, she had been interesting to talk to, and he did give his actual price. The real interest, though, was that Raul had sent someone up this far, not something that happened without some reason to it. Best to let the girl keep her time and coin to keep looking around the market, and see if he could help keep an eye on her. Ever since that firestorm out toward the sea, he'd felt a tension in the air over the streets of Telmarune...

She nods. "I'll try to mention the demon thing then." She smiles softly as she sees the scene changing. It kind of reminded her of her first home town. She lightly smiled in memory before she knits her brows as she gets lost in thought.

She was snapped back to reality when she hears Alastor. "Oh? This place seems like... well like you made a lot of fond memories." She says softly before seeing the kids. She smiles warmly as she watches them. "They are little cuties..." she says softly as she follows Alastor.

In the orphanage

Kylarion stops in the middle of turning a page as voice buzzes his inner ear: "Sir, we've picked up the energy signature of the shard holder known as Jules approaching your location. Sat-cams confirm she is accompanied by the building's proprietor and the female chimera's familiar. That is all."

He looks up toward his gracious host and politely says, "It seems your employer has returned, and with guests, as expected. The cat may put on the same act you do, just so you are aware."

Any decision of other action would be left up to the person across from him in the study.

At the Gate

Geoff was.... a bit suspicious with Isabella's phrasing, but let it slide. The master-apprentice relationship at, say, the academy in Telmarune, tended to encourage a near familial level of comfort, so claiming to study alone would be unusual to say the least, and more likely worrying and requiring review of the teacher's technique and behavior. Out in the rest of the world, though, those may not be the expected standards. The fairy, though, spoke eagerly and earnestly enough that either she knew both of them as closely as Ren had claimed, or she was an exceptionally good fibber. Either way, there were already people in the city who were far less trustworthy, so it probably couldn't hurt. Worst case, he'd keep an eye on them.

Not letting his smile slip in the slightest, he replies, "alright, alright. An elementalist with the mojo for water and a generalist with an interest in necromancy then... hey, if you two are at all interested, I'd be willing to help vouch for you at the academy. Standing offer, we like people who know enough to learn a lot, you know? It's normally pricey, but enough skill and you can usually make back more than the cost. Anyway, other than that spellbook, which is pretty rad, by the way, enchanted spellbooks are always cool, do you have any magic items we should be aware of? Wands, amulets, potions, reagents for anything like that? The Inquisitor's going to want a complete list, so it's probably better if I have it and can tell them myself, cut down your stress a little."

"Oh, but mister Geoffrey, stress and discomfort lead to so much more... truthful stories than comfort. A mind under stress cannot keep its web of lies from tangling," comes a new, immediately annoyingly self-important voice. A man in well made travelling leathers with an elegant hat lowered to cover his eyes emerges from the shadows under the arch of the gate. He lifts his head to stare down his knows at the girls, fairy, dog, and wizard, his icy gaze as sharp as the rapier at his hip, the crossbow bolts in the quiver on the other, or the furred ears that extended from the sides of his head. "On behalf of high Inquisitor Thalia, visitors, consider yourselves.... suspicious."