Fantasy Of Distant Legends

[Hanarei]

Bethany Evelyn - "The Arcanist Absolute" Armitage

Evelyn looked to her little brother as he seemed to doubt her words. Truthfully it wasn't as if she had tried herself. She had a tendency of boasting even about things she really couldn't be certain of. The talking skull seemed to find it fit to chime in as Evelyn looked at him. While she initially was planning a rebuttal is admittance to being under her will put a satisfying smirk on her lips. The smirk only lasted so long as he was quick to try and get rid of her to 'help' her brother making a mockery of herself with such false slanderous accusations. What kind of talking skull has such a damn ego to think he can talk to someone like her in that way! She looked as if she was about to gesture to slam Faust into the ground repeatedly though it was stopped by her mother's words.

Go on a mission with her family? The very thought make the girl blush as she seemed to try and quickly put on an angry expression though her embarrassment made it hard to come off that way.

"If it really is such an easy task why would I even be needed? That seems like a waste to me." She spoke out more bothered by the notion of having to go on a mission with her mother then the possibility that it could be taken as an insult to her abilities being ushered to do some simple mission where her talents would be 'wasted'. She looked to Faust forgetting her desire to smash his bony face into the ground repeatedly. The part of him mentioning teacher her little brother in some part struck her on a very weird way. It felt as if he was trying to show her up in another way. It was even stranger considering she had no desire to really teach her little brother in the first place, at the very least she wouldn't ever admit to being willing to do so.

"Fine I guess, though don't think I'll listen to you mom just because you tell me to do something. I'll do whatever I think is best for the mission." She spoke as she crossed her arms looking away. Truthfully she would likely follow what her mother said perhaps with some faux resistance to it. She had to do some sort of work. While she was confident she could handle a harder mission on her own she had a bit of a desire to teach her brother some magic to show the lich up. It would be a rather difficult and unlikely task given Evelyn wouldn't be at all willing to vocally volunteer such a service as much as she hoped he might beg her to teach him something.

Mentioned: Epiphany Birdsie LostHaven Inheritance

 

[IamNotLoki]

Liam Gregory

"Nolan No-Shoes"
Location: above Grog's cave
Goal: Rescue Aegis.
Tags: Archdemon Birdsie June Verles Kylesar1 Reinhardt

The vampire guide led the old priest up a thickly forested hill. Although it was crowded with trees, the floor beneath was dense and stony. Ichabod got off his horse and crouched down on the floor. "Is this where Aegis is?" Nolan asked... suspecting that perhaps the vampire planned to trick him from the start.

"Shhhh..." Ichabod put a finger in front of his lips. "come..."

Ichabod led the old man to a fallen tree. It's rotting branches were covered with dead leaves and spiderwebs. Under closer inspection, one can see that there is a hole on the floor, large enough for two horse to fall into, side by side. Nolan peered underneath. The scene unfolded as his eyes sculpted dimly lit shapes in the dark cavern below. A large, ugly troll was looking around his warily while relatively smaller figures hid behind pillars and objects. Nolan quickly realized the urgency of the situation, the troll was hostile and threatened to make the adventurers into soup. One of them in particular, Nolan identified as the young Aegis. This is bad... I need to go down there and help them. Nolan clenched his fist and debated whether or not to jump down.

"Don't even fucking think about it, old man..." Ichabod placed a cold hand on the man's shoulder. "If you interfere with them... I'll jump down there and kill her myself..." Ichabod flashed his black knife. "Don't make me do it. Don't say I was bluffing..." the vampire taunted.

This made Nolan's blood boil. Just when he thought that Ichabod wasn't such a bad guy, the man threatened to harm a young girl. He had no choice but to grit his teeth and calm down.

"Just watch, alright?" Ichabod kneeled down next to Nolan and peeled an apple with his knife.

Down below, the team was trying to drive the situation to a peaceful resolution. A giant dog came from the cave entrance and tried to challenge the troll, but an orc woman got in the way in an attempt to calm the troll down. Nolan approved of the woman's actions... he hoped that she could be someone Aegis could learn from.

He eyed what Aegis was doing behind the stalagmite. The girl was holding her mouth with both hands as she crouched down on the floor. What is she doing? Crying?
The young elf pushed herself up and wiped her eyes with a forearm. She had this determined look with her posture... making herself push both palms to both her puffed up cheeks. He can almost feel her newfound determination.

She turned her body towards the stalagmite and peeked at the troll. When she saw that it wasn't paying attention to her, she dashed quicky behind one of his barrels. she crouched down, trying to keep out of sight. Nolan wished she would stop taking such dangerous risks. Godspeed young elf... May the gods be with you.

 

[Birdsie]

Cesimir & Azhi - Ludenwick Manor Lobby

Cesimir made a specific hand gesture at one of the golems and it nodded, then phased through a wall like a ghost, returning moments later with a silver tray. It brought it close to Cesimir and he took the empty wineglass from it, and then the golem filled it up for him with Angel Chalice-brand wine - one bottle was said to be worth twenty gold pieces, but it would be Cesimir to judge that.

Cesimir shook the glass lightly, then brought it close to his mask and the glass phased through, allowing him to take a sip. His tastebuds kicked in and analyzed the chemical contents - not bad, he thought, and took a follow-up sip to enjoy the bitter-sweet celestial grape burn.

After the sampling, he approached the Armitages plus Brom, intending to inquire what they were still doing in his lobby after they received their task, but he noticed their conversation. Cesimir choked on his wine, visibly and audibly, and hit his chest several times as he let out throaty gagging sounds. Red liquid dripped from his chin, before he cleaned it off with his cuff and laughed.

"Y-you! Hahahahaha! No, no, I won't say it. Faust is in enough pain as it is - I think I've just felt his phylactery crying out in sorrow and despair from whatever nebulous demiplane it is on. The best part is that all of you are convinced the young lady actually bound him," he said with the most amused and pompous of tones yet, sipping wine again. "Ah, my mood is returning. The static fuzz is practically gone. I don't think I'll have to prank anyone today anymore, and I'm yet to get results from my latest gunpowder set-up and the date is to happen only in a few hours! Today is just a great day. The best day."

The youngest Armitage looked at Cesimir incredulously. "You mean..." Azhi started, "Evelyn hasn't bound him?"

"Of course not! This is one of Faust's multiverse-spanning plots, or, to the contrary, a counter-plot crafted by gnomes. Either of those things. Knowing him, this will end up with someone eating food laced with hallucinogenic mushrooms, and by someone I mean everyone." Cesimir brought the wineglass close to his lips intending to drink, but paused when he realized his statement wasn't clear enough. He clarified: "As in, everyone who exists." He then sipped wine calmly, as if what he just said wasn't distressing at all.

"Oh, that reminds me; I wanted to ask all of you to get out of my foyer before I make you," Cesimir said nonchalantly. "I have a date regarding arranged marriage planned for this afternoon, and I have full intent and have prepared to make the engagement fall through and turn the meeting itself into a cruel game for the to-be fiancée, involving psychic spaghetti, cursed pork cutlet, and wine with fast-acting emetics. Ozirmok can ask anything of me but marriage, and I'll show him I'm willing to bite back."

Azhi wanted to say 'you are such an asshole,' but seemed to think better on it. Instead, he asked, "Isn't that kind of evil, though?"

"Oh, please, child, you know nothing of politics. Nobles? Their hearts are as black as coal. Take me as an example," Cesimir said with startling conviction, and inserted magic into the word 'take' mid-sentence while handing Azhi his wineglass, which the hypnotized boy accepted.

The wineglass promptly explused its contents like a geyser into Azhi's face, waking him from the aforementioned hypnosis. The boy stared furiously at Cesimir who had already lost interest and began walking away upstairs.

Without looking at them, he suggested, "If you seriously think the task is below your paygrade, talk to that lawful neutral abomination parked in my foyer, then get out."

Luthandrone blinked from the corner of the room where it was stationed, unaware Cesimir was just referring to it.

Epiphany Hanarei LostHaven Inheritance

 

[Birdsie]

Archdemon IamNotLoki Kylesar1 Reinhardt June Verles

Grog - Grog's Cave

The troll stopped performing its intimidation tactic when it saw a wolf move out and speak towards it. Grog seemed confused and scared by the sudden appearance of an aggressive wolf, which caused his mind to go into a combative state. Grog hunched down, raised his club-arm slightly, and prepared to swing, growling quietly.

Then, an orc woman appeared out of nowhere. A troll's instincts were simple, but as simple as they were, they had a basic part of programming that told them: 'Greenskins allies. Everything else bad and dumb.' The troll seemed to calm down visibly, though narrowed his eyes at the words she spoke.

Grog shook his head, but, as if realizing that the orc woman wanted to help solve his problems, he explained: "No. Humans bad! Many time ago, humans in mask come and chase Grog away from the stream... take Grog's home and his fings! Well, Grog take humans food and water! Now, humans and Grog even! Grog smash anyone who not agrees!"

 

[Archdemon]

Fox
Location: Grog's Cave
Mention/Interactions: Birdsie IamNotLoki Reinhardt Kylesar1 June Verles

Fox watched as the situation escalated more and more. It looks as though they'll have to improvise. Seeing no other way, Fox went back into the cave to face Grog. Fox walked methodically in the cave, making sure that the click of his shoes on the stone floor echoed.

Fox looked at his companions and then towards the Troll himself. It seems like Cesimir caused the problem in the first place, or at least it sounded like it. Since Fox was wearing a mask, the situation might escalate with the Troll. He didn t want to do this, but the situation forced his hand. Fox reached around the back of his head, and slowly pulled off his mask. He placed the mask on his belt where it hung at his side.



Fox looked around for Aegis, before seeing her run off towards the barrels. He slightly motioned his hand to tell her to stay there. Fox looked at Grog, before writing a note and handing it to Shelby.

"So it seems as though we need to provide that which Grog lost. We must promise him a new home and offer citizenship so as to make sure none mess with his property. We could even offer a job to his for manual labor. Do what you must to convince him."

Fox listened to Grog, Humans with Mask... No it couldn't be them. No it had to be someone else, but if it is them... Fox wrote down hastily on another piece of paper. Giving it to Shelby, it only had 1 sentence.

"Ask him what the masks looked like."

 

[Inheritance]

Brom Beararm​

It seemed as though whenever he arrived at this mad wizard's house, his serious attitude didn't fit the mood of the place. Looking around, he saw a variety of things that he would raise an eyebrow to, but stayed quiet with nevertheless. He took a few steps towards the demon who he had fought with before, figuring she was the only one he knew. Strangely, outside of battle, and now knowing what they all could do, Brom was a bit more cautious approaching them. As he got closer, his brows raised even higher seeing the Demon and her apparel. He started to point at it, then deciding against it, quickly pulled his hand down.

"Sharp swords I can attest to, but I can't say the same for my tongue. I've been told my brain lies within my sword arm, and perhaps my smithing one. I'm a blacksmith, not a wordsmith mind you, unless the right battle should rise up or perhaps the right kind of ale. But I'll tell ya, you want something done I'll find a way to get it done-or die trying." He looked at the boy, the three, then back to the demon. "You three...family? " He asked, looking between them.

He didn't know much about demons, all that was wizard stuff that he just didn't understand, but he had never heard of demons being family members. Maybe she forced her to call her that? Clearly she was a magic user, so perhaps it was her demon. Her very strangely dressed and motherly demon. He looked to the sorceress.

"Do you just have her call you 'daughter'? Kind of strange for a master to want to be called daughter but I suppose that magic stuff is really complex. How do you control her? Do you just think about where she needs to go and she does it? I got lots of questions about magic stuff, like uh...why the apron? I can see the use of having a personal servant serve you breakfast but uh...well the apron is a bit much don't you think? And don't those female devils turn you into frogs if you kiss them or something?" He shook his head. "I guess I wouldn't get that stuff though. I've never seen a demon before, just heard stories. I bet one would be really useful in my shop. Do they all look like that though? Doubt my shop would be taken seriously if they were parading around in attire like that-erm, no offense...Is that skull yours too?"

Epiphany Hanarei Birdsie

 

[Epiphany]

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[/div][div class=statusText]Location: Cesimir's Estate
Tags: Inheritance Hanarei Birdsie LostHaven [/div][/div][div class=title]Shriandriath the Debased Maiden[/div][div class=text]Shri turned to face her daughter, once the darling girl spoke up of her concerns. Shri smiled with an expression that would be benevolent on anyone else, and looked slightly creepy on a Succubus to anyone who, well, wasn't related to her. Evelyn, of course, was very familiar with that expression. It's that 'Aw, you're being so cute right now!' expression that probably contributed to the Mage moving out and changing her name.

"You're right, dear, working together would waste your amazing talents. I don't want to put your brother in mortal danger but I would like to...season him a little. He's old enough, don't you think?" Shri's smile widened after Evelyn affirmed her independence. "Of course, dear. You're a grown woman, you can make your own choices." The Succubus managed to not say 'I'm so proud of you!' in front of everyone but Evelyn was well aware of how hard her mother was thinking it.

Birdsie
The lunatic mage's remarks about the lich's skull were as unempathic and condescending as she'd come to expect of him. Wizards. The only good one she'd ever met was, well, her daughter. So she simply fixed Cesimir with a glassy smile and nodded agreeably to everything he said, maintaining an expression that suggested perfect politeness and perfect disinterest in anything he had to say. His mention of a marriage proposal was, in fact, the most interesting thing he had to say.

Shri briefly considered how she could turn that to her advantage. That distraction allowed the insane wizard to prank her son. The act both angered and amused her. While the Succubus promptly took a clean corner of her apron and promptly wiped her fourteen year old son's face, she shook her head. Mortals. If that was a demonstration of his evil, he was woefully misinformed cosmologically speaking. There was no doubt the man was mad. But evil? He had no idea. She'd seen thousands of damned souls. He might very well end up in a layer of Hell, even her layer of Hell. But if he thought he was truly black as coal, he'd be surprised to find out how completely common his soul really was.

"Thank you," she said politely at the end and promptly tugged her two kids towards the modron, tilting her head at Brom to urge him over that way as well.

Inheritance
The big burly warrior had a very pleasing musculature and Shri felt a reflexive wistfulness as she gazed upon him. How long had it been since she'd had arms that strong wrapped around her, or legs that powerful thrusting between her-

Clearing her throat, the Succubus nodded to his question on them being a family. Then her smile dropped off as surprise lit those glowing blue eyes of hers. Turning her head towards Evelyn, Shri opened her mouth to speak. Then paused. Then grinned wickedly. "Oh yes," she said to Brom. "The skull is hers, and so am I. I am Shriandriath the Debased Maiden, ravager of worlds and ruler over the souls of a thousand men. And this mighty wizard has bound me, bent me to her will. She lets me amuse myself with mortal trappings like this apron because it amuses her too. Fear her power, mortal man. Fear her-"

At which point, Shri's ability to keep up the ruse breaks down and the demon disintegrates into incoherent laughter. [/div][div class=text][/div][/div][/div][/div] [class=wrapper] background-color:#5e5560; box-sizing:border-box; color:#eeeeee; display:inline-block; position:relative; width:100%; text-align: justify; [/class] [class=title] color: #bfbfbf; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size:3em; font-style:italic; padding:0; text-shadow:0 0 1em; margin-bottom: 10px; [/class] [class=box] margin:2em 1em; padding:2px 4px 0px; position:relative; [/class] [class=boxBg] box-sizing:content-box; height:100%; pointer-events:none; position:absolute; width:100%; [/class] [class=boxBgLarge] top:0; left:-5px; padding:0 4px; border:1px solid rgba(255,255,255,.35); [/class] [class=boxBgTall] top:-8px;left:3px; padding:8px 0; width:calc(100% - 8px); height:100%; border:1px solid rgba(255,255,255,.25); [/class] [class=boxBgMedium] top:-4px; left:-1px; padding:4px 0; border:1px solid rgba(255,255,255,.4); [/class] [class=boxInner] background-color: #5e5560; overflow:hidden; margin:0.5em; [/class] [class=statusBox] box-sizing: border-box; border-right: 3px dotted white; padding: 15px; float: left; max-width: 250px; margin: 0px 15px 15px 0px; [/class] [class=text] padding: 0px 15px 15px 15px; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size:0.8em; [/class] [class=statusText] font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 0.75em; margin-top: 5px; [/class] [class=characterPortrait] box-sizing: border-box; position: relative; border-radius: 20px; overflow: hidden; [/class] [class name=characterPortrait state=hover] opacity: 0.5 [/class]

 

[Inheritance]

Brom Beararm​

Brom followed, having nowhere else to go, and upon his question, he saw Shriandriath's eyes light up-literally. He found her eyes shocking, as whenever he pictures a demon he pictured flaming red eyes with a touch of energy coming out of them; yet these sapphires were unlike any he had ever seen. It still gave her a radiance of power, yet also gave off a mixture of care and passion he had scarcely seen in any human man or woman. Upon his asking of his question though, he was met with quite an answer. He certainly thought she was being serious, and he found his hand slowly creeping towards his weapon, before the demon started laughing it off. Feeling foolish, he pulled down his hand, half a grin and half a worried expression filling his face.

"Aha uh yes I am...I mean I do fear you. Or her. Did um...did you say one thousand souls?" He stuttered, trying to sort out which was a joke and which was real. As far as he was concerned, she could have told him that rabbits were demons and he would have believed it. He had personally never heard of her, but that meant very little and while he was never a blusher, he was certainly embarrassed of his lack of knowledge. With nervous laughter, he continued, "Ahaha so you two have the same amount of power? Or uh...forgive my ignorance great wizard. Or sorceress. Or uh...summoner? Or did she not summon you?"

Despite himself, he found himself smiling. Her laughter brought a smile to his face, despite the embarrassment that radiated off of him. "One thousand men?" He repeated dumbly.

Hanarei Epiphany

 

[IamNotLoki]

Aegis
Location: Grog's Cave
Goal: Trying to help the team. Use diplomacy on Grog
Tags: Archdemon Birdsie Kylesar1 June Verles Reinhardt

Aegis crouched behind the barrel planing out her course of action in case the troll became hostile. She thought about giving him the ol street girl sucker punch... but it was too risky. She thought about dashing to her allies and carrying them to safety, but she is too weak to carry even one of them. All she could really think of doing when that happens in hide and stay safe. But would I be an adventurer if I just sat there and watch them get eaten?


She shook the thought from her head. They can't get eaten, they are adventurers... right? She wondered how long her allies have been adventurers... maybe they have done things like these many times before. She heard the troll's explanation. The troll seems to have been chased from his stream by a masked man... and is now attacking humans because he wanted to get even. "He... sounds a lot like my friends from the street..." Aegis couldn't help but sympathize with the Troll's plight.

Masked man... does he mean my teacher? Or that other man?

Aegis only knows two people who wore masks. She looked at her teacher but something was off.

"His... mask is off... and... He's cute?" She blushed as she whispered to herself. She turned back around quickly to hide from both the Troll... and her teacher (she would rather not have him see her blush).

"Get it together Aegis..." She slapped both sides of her face. "Think... we have a mission to finish..."

 

[Hanarei]

Bethany Evelyn - "The Arcanist Absolute" Armitage

Evelyn's eyes were like daggers gazing upon Cesimir. She didn't want to be associated with Faust as it was, but the fact he insulted her only made her desire to get at him that much greater. Always talking high and mighty like he was so great and having the gull to insult someone as brilliant and perfect as her. It was despicable to her. Not to mention his words made so little sense. A multiverse implied multiple worlds devoid of any connection with one another linked together in some arbitrary way. it made far more sense to label such simple alternate dimensions of the same world parallel to one another. It was a far more descriptive way of explaining the hogwash he attempted to pass off as making him sound intelligent to her brother. If it was a 'multiverse' it would be the lamest one in exists not even bothering to at the very least iterate if no change its structure in a way that they differed in how things worked or the setting at the very least be someone different with the time period chosen.

Her gazed turned to the other man as he seemed to think she had her mother bound as her demon. She blushed a bit looking rather humiliated as it was even worst then the implication of Faust by leaps and bounds. Being talked back to was far less embarrassing to her then having her mother dressed in such embarrassing attire. Her cheeks glowed redder as her mother spoke back as she seemed to teasingly go along with the man's words. Even though it was clear she was being mocking in her tone it still further embarrassed the girl as she turned her head down looking down. Why did she have to be subjected to such humiliation? What terrible things had she done in some parallel universe that could warrant such? Has she gone around being overly dark and brooding and went about slaying gods or something to deserve such humiliation?

"No... I did not summon.... her... clearly." She spoke avoiding calling Shri her mother out of fear admitting such out loud would further bring upon more humiliation. "Neither this loud mouth talking skull. Don't believe anything this showboating head states, if a Lich were to really lose to some miserable gnome and turn be put in such a state... well I guess its silly to even speculate that is possible since I don't think a lich could ever be so pathetic for that to happen anyways. He was probably just some lesser minion who was summoned and somehow got involved in his Master's experiment and sent here. Likely the only reason he can even utter some ounce of sense about magic, just getting it out of sheer coincidence from hearing his Master mumble it and taking notes. I suppose if anything I'll congratulate him on not being just a numb skull and having potential. Much better then that idiot archdoofus at least. But it's whatever i suppose... we should just get to doing a mission..."


Evelyn let out a light sigh as she glanced over in the direction of Cesimir. Her eyes fixated that direction before turning away with a light grin on her lips. She wasn't normally the devious type though the thought of 'helping' Cesimir's arrange marriage work out smoothly was brewing in her mind. She wasn't very vindictive though the thought of it was that much more tempting after all he had done, particularly insulting her in such a way.

"Although, if we want a more difficult task... perhaps we can assist and make sure Cesimir's little meet up goes over extra smoothly to help him get married."

Mentioned: Epiphany Birdsie LostHaven Inheritance

 

[June Verles]

Mizu Nagoyaka
​

Finally after managing to climb down from the tree and getting up the rope back into the tree Mizu rejoined the group. As he did so he would just squat near the wall of the cave casually and wait.

It seemed like Shelby was going to try and communicate with the troll, unfortunately it seemed like the conscious wolf was in on the idea as he deciding to impose his authority on him.

At this point the young adventurer was really relating to the troll, this whole ordeal was really tiring. I mean he didn't even know where the silent hot guy even came from and where did they leader go off to. Maybe it'd be best if they came back tomorrow and tried again at a better time, clearly the troll was hangover.

Archdemon IamNotLoki Birdsie Kylesar1 Reinhardt

 

[Kylesar1]

Sheub "Shelby" Mangoza
Grog​

Shelby took the note and read it. Of fucking course. Cesimir.........While Shelby didn't know for sure it was him, she was primed to believe anything said about that guy. She whispered to Fox. "It seems that Cesimir wouldn't care about his property anyways." She wouldn't ignore Grog though, lest he take it as planning.
So Grog was talking now instead of fighting. That was fantastic. They had to negotiate on his terms, not hers. Plus, she did agree to a degree. If they take your stuff, take their stuff. However.......... "Orc and human help Grog get stream and home back. Grog promise no more stealing."

Then Fox passed Shelby the other note. That made perfect sense. If it was Cesimir, it would make her wonder what else they would have to clean up because of him. He could very well be a public menace. The simple thought made her start seething. "What human mask look like?"

Archdemon Birdsie June Verles IamNotLoki Reinhardt

 

[Birdsie]

Epiphany Inheritance Hanarei LostHaven

Azhi Armitage

"That's right!" Azhi bleated to Evelyn's mischevious proposition, eyes widening in raw excitement. He turned to Evelyn, hands upraised to his cheeks in childish anticipation. "Let's show that jerk who's in charge! The moment he gets a wife, he's bound to mellow out and act nicer! That must be why he was so scared when mentioning marriage!" he said, not paying heed to his own word choice of 'scared' and expecting the others to already understand he saw people's emotions.

"How do we do it, though?" Azhi asked in sudden realization. "Doesn't he have wards and stuff everywhere? He noticed that wolf behind the window earlier... We'd need some powerful magic to conceal us, sister. Hit me with your best illusion spells!"

Archdemon IamNotLoki Kylesar1 Reinhardt June Verles

Grog

The greenskin considered her offer for a moment, guarded. After another second, he laid his club down on the ground and stepped forward, then nodded hesitantly. His voice was calmer now, more controlled. "If Grog has stream back, Grog won't steal anymore. Promise."

Then, she asked Grog about the masks and he said, "Grog not sure, but they call each other animal names, and their masks similar to animals. One was Pig, one was Rat... they also say there was a Monkey nearby, and their big boss was Dragon. They told Grog to give stream to the sin.... sin... sin-dee-cat? They told to give it to sindeecat, to Dragon. Grog try to fight them to have stream still, but they beat Grog out. Rat almost kill Grog, but Pig convince him not to... Pig is nicer, but still bad... They both hurt Grog and chase him out!" By the end of his speech, Grog was wheezing through his nostrils with anger.

 

[Archdemon]

Fox
Location: Grog's Cave
Mentions/Interactions: IamNotLoki June Verles Reinhardt Birdsie Kylesar1

Fox listened very carefully to Grog's plight, as he was being very cooperative with negotiation. When he mentioned Rat, Pig, and Monkey, Fox looked both concerned and angry. He had hoped they wouldn't have arrived at all, but that was just wishful thinking. Fox looked almost as if he wanted to say something, but stopped himself.

Fox looked at Shelby, and wrote another note.
"Ask him where the Stream is, we're going there."

Fox bowed towards Grog, thankful for the information given, even if it is bad news. Fox would walk past Grog, to where Aegis was hiding as he gently pulled her away. She did good at making herself scarce, so he patted her head, but he still looked concerned.

Walking back towards the group, Fox put his mask back on. He walked past them as he went outside, waiting to head over towards the Stream immediately.

 

[Birdsie]

AN: Just something I wrote out of boredom when idling around with my notes. Decided that with some editing, it would fit in here.

~ Intermission ~​

Spoiler

The door telekinetically closed behind Luthandriel. A pair of pixies flew to him and unpinned his mantle as he walked forward, then carried it to the hanger. Luthandriel sat down in his chair and flicked his wrist, summoning the paperwork for today.

With a sigh, he cracked his fingers, took his pen, and bellowed, "Tea."

A white porcelain cup came into being, on a small silver platter to the right of his parchment. Luthandriel stared at it distrustfully, then cast his mind into its molecular structure, and saw there was no nitrate ester contained, which meant no spontaneous explosion in his stomach. Thank the heavens.

Luthandriel grabbed the little teaspoon, and the moment he did, a small cup appeared with small cubes of sugar. He tested the sugar, of course, and aware of its safety, he added two cubes and began to stir carefully as he went over the financial reports.

Government finances for law enforcement and military expenditure were a mess on many levels. Some of the departments were underfunded, others understaffed, some overstaffed or overfunded.

On top of that, lots of taxpayers were complaining their money wasn't being spent well. Luthandriel cast his consciousness into the vast age of six months forward, under the assumption he cut funds for the royal guard by thirty-two percent.

The future looked... less secure, surely, but not enough to matter. Serious crime didn't increase, and the minor violations of public order or safety were still kept in check. People felt less secure, but on the off-hand, they would complain less.

He marked down a 32% decrease next to all departments that didn't need it, then moved onto another issue.

Dylaxanne felt very secure with the funding the Adventurer's League was receiving, and the revenue she received from private contracts was startling, so she was offering to throw some of it to the royal treasuries. He marked down a 'yes,' and moved to the next document.

As he read the lines, Luthandriel moved the teacup close to his mouth and took a sip from it, when he noticed the spoon was starting to... vibrate.

"What?" he asked, then cast his mind to see what---

Luthandriel stood from his chair, opened the window and chucked the spoon out, casting a spell on it to prevent it from losing its acceleration. The spoon flew into the sky like a rocket, then, around a kilometer away and a hundred meters into the air, it turned into a black-orange cloud of ash, and Luthandriel heard a very distant 'boom.'

It was so unnerving.

Even with his foresight, Luthandriel knew not what was protected from divination, and Cesimir knew spells that protected from divination. Sometimes, Luthandriel might not get a read on something, and sometimes, it might slip his attention if he didn't focus enough. And Cesimir knew when and where to place his explosives to target Luthandriel when his mind was busy with other tasks. A fight of preparedness and prescience between two archmages.

Cesimir will pay for this, he thought, sitting down to calm his nerves. Luthandriel breathed out through his nose, then looked down at the paper on his desk. From Cesimir.

Your move, Luthan-drrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr-iel​

​

Yours truly,​

CC​

​

PS: If you're reading this, that means the explosive spoon has activated. You have like ten to fifteen seconds before it blows up.​

PSS: Tell Maggie I said hi​

This made Luthandriel think: Does he even know what an addendum is?

Suddenly, a new line of writing appeared on the paper.

PSSS: I'm having a meeting with that noble bitch today and I just now scried her. Do you think this is fucking funny? Do you think I'm laughing you goddamned son of a bitch?​

At that, Luthandriel cracked up.

 

[June Verles]

Mizu Nagoyaka​

During the entire interaction Mizu was squatting down in a corner of the cave munching on orange peels. His eyebrows rose in realization as grog started talking about different animals and mask, anyone could have made the connection to fox almost immediately. So now they were going to go confront a criminal syndicate? How exciting!

"..."

Mizu stood up and threw his orange peel into the ground in silent protest, who the fuck could get excited about this. He did come here to get into wild adventures but wasn't all of this a tad bit convenient? Someone else must have noticed that right? He wasn't the only one right?

As he let out a tired sigh as he gave up on any thoughts of confronting Fox about the absurd train of events, betting that Cesimir had something to do with it from the start. And after all, this was for his fellow suffering soul Grog.

Speaking of the troll, right before he followed after Fox he would approach the giant and gesture him trying to grab his attention;

"Hey if we don't return in a day there's a village by the sea side, say Mizu sent you. The old crones there will take care of you." he said before putting his hands lazily behind his head as he started following the group leader.

Archdemon Birdsie IamNotLoki Kylesar1 Reinhardt

 

[Hanarei]

Bethany Evelyn - "The Arcanist Absolute" Armitage

Evelyn looked to see Azhi speaking up first. It wasn't all that surprising really, he was younger after all and it wasn't all that uncommon for a kid to be more mischievous... not that she was acting in such a way it was very much justified. She was a fully grown adult after all. She pondered a bit thinking it over not even giving the others a chance to speak up having some fun out of foiling Cesimir's plans attempting to outplay him. Whatever she could do to show that pompous man what such cocky behavior could end up leading him. She finally shrugged a little bit as if to downplay what she was about to say even before she spoke.

"Really a simple invisibility spell would work. If his wards detect stuff outside simple vision chances are they aren't very accurate anyways. Being invisible and suppressing the sound you make would be enough, particularly if you focus on rooms in which people are going to be around. It would make the other methods of detecting people much more difficult and would just make you blend in with others around. Once all the pieces are in place, it wouldn't mater if he knew we were around as the event was going on since it would be far too obvious if he attempted to do anything in front of others. If he was being honest about it he could simply call it off himself, but he made it quite clear how he rattled on about sabotaging things that isn't an option for him." A smirk rested on Evelyn's lips seeming satisfied with her own thinking particularly in being able to get at the archmage.

"Worst comes to worst, we alternatively just find a way and pin all the bad things happening on either ourselves or someone else, and play the event out to make Cesimir come off as the hero whether he wishes to or not." She spoke adding an alternate method that could work as well as a backup plan. Truhtfully though the notion of things going over extraordinarily well seemed like a far more entertaining option to make the smug Cesimir squirm much more as everything worked perfectly... in the way he didn't wish them to.

Mentioned: Epiphany Birdsie LostHaven Inheritance

 

[Epiphany]

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[/div][div class=statusText]Location: Cesimir's Estate
Tags: Hanarei Birdsie Inheritance LostHaven [/div][/div][div class=title]Shriandriath the Debased Maiden[/div][div class=text]Shri listens to her children plotting something mischevious concerning the Archmage and she just sighs, shaking her horned head. "The problem with Archmages is that their powers of reprisal are great. But marriage has been known to mellow a great number of men. Rather than spying on him, which he's clearly prepared for, we should intercept his bride-to-be. Perhaps convince her that there's..." The Succubus suddenly smiles widely and rubs her hands together with glee. "Perhaps convince her there's a prophecy, in which the fate of the kingdom rests on her bringing love to his cold heart. Only through love can he be saved, and by extension all of us as well."

She shrugs and turns to Evelyn. "I don't feel all that strongly about it, though. If you'd rather we spy on him and manipulate events, we can do that too."

With a raised eyebrow, the Demon glances over at the tall, muscular warrior. "What do you think? Do we receive a better quest from that lawful abomination, or do we try to redeem the soul of a man who is likely to make life hell on us if we don't?"[/div][div class=text][/div][/div][/div][/div] [class=wrapper] background-color:#5e5560; box-sizing:border-box; color:#eeeeee; display:inline-block; position:relative; width:100%; text-align: justify; [/class] [class=title] color: #bfbfbf; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size:3em; font-style:italic; padding:0; text-shadow:0 0 1em; margin-bottom: 10px; [/class] [class=box] margin:2em 1em; padding:2px 4px 0px; position:relative; [/class] [class=boxBg] box-sizing:content-box; height:100%; pointer-events:none; position:absolute; width:100%; [/class] [class=boxBgLarge] top:0; left:-5px; padding:0 4px; border:1px solid rgba(255,255,255,.35); [/class] [class=boxBgTall] top:-8px;left:3px; padding:8px 0; width:calc(100% - 8px); height:100%; border:1px solid rgba(255,255,255,.25); [/class] [class=boxBgMedium] top:-4px; left:-1px; padding:4px 0; border:1px solid rgba(255,255,255,.4); [/class] [class=boxInner] background-color: #5e5560; overflow:hidden; margin:0.5em; [/class] [class=statusBox] box-sizing: border-box; border-right: 3px dotted white; padding: 15px; float: left; max-width: 250px; margin: 0px 15px 15px 0px; [/class] [class=text] padding: 0px 15px 15px 15px; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size:0.8em; [/class] [class=statusText] font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 0.75em; margin-top: 5px; [/class] [class=characterPortrait] box-sizing: border-box; position: relative; border-radius: 20px; overflow: hidden; [/class] [class name=characterPortrait state=hover] opacity: 0.5 [/class]

 

[Inheritance]

Brom Beararm​

He never would understand magi. He shook his head and kept quiet while the smart people spoke. He was fine with that, he didn't need to be the smartest one in the room, or even the strongest. As he listened though, a scowl began to form on his face at the thought of getting this man married. He was here to fight, to prove his talent as a warrior-not a wedding planner! Still, he was silent until he was spoken to. With a fake laugh, he responded.

"I'm no love doctor ma'am. I'll follow you guys if you really want to, but there is very few things I would rather do less than set up a wedding right now, especially cheating some girl into it. I wouldn't wish marriage with that man upon my worst enemy, and not that I know who the bride to be is, but love isn't tricking someone into marriage. I think. I wouldn't know myself, but still. Bottom line, I say we look for a quest that suits our talents, and if this magic man wants to mess with us, then we can use our talents to overcome that obstacle as well."

He stretched, flexing every muscle in his upper body as he did. He needed a workout, not a wedding.

Epiphany Birdsie Hanarei

 

[Birdsie]

Epiphany Inheritance Hanarei LostHaven

Azhi Armitage

Azhi tapped his chin thoughtfully at Brom's argument, then said, "Think of it like this: Right now, as it is, they won't fall in love. Both of them will walk away unhappy from this, but we can make them happy! Set up a timeline where they marry. Cesimir will get mellow, and the noble lady gets a nice, powerful husband who pranks people a little less!" Azhi flashed him a grin, before hearing his own mother make an argument about convincing the girl instead about a prophecy, and not doing anything with the food.

"Convincing her will be easy!" Azhi said with an easygoing voice, as he let out the tiniest fragment of his aura leak out. The people around him would feel it, the current of emotion sweeping through their mind and subconsciously telling them that the little boy in front of them was cute, perfect, and absolutely correct in what he said. "Just leave it to me."

"Still, I think we should still do something about that food that he's going to serve. He said... psychic spaghetti, cursed pork, and emetic wine. We need something that removes psychic powers, curses, and detoxifies wine... Ugh, now I really wish I asked dad to teach me that universal-use purification spell."

 

[Birdsie]

Archdemon IamNotLoki Kylesar1 Reinhardt June Verles
(Don't mind me, just trying to revive this story thread.)

Grog - The Stream Valley

Grog led the group outside the cave, then down the main road, where they soon veered into the forest. The path was difficult - full of bushes and they encountered a few wolves on the way which were dispatched relatively quicky. It took them an hour to arrive.

They reached a clearing, from which one could see a mountain in the distance. Grog pointed at it and said, "Beyond mountain is a valley, and there is creek. We call it Stream. Many greenskin like Grog live there time ago, but now only masked humans camp there. They build walls of wood and pay goblins food to guard them. Goblins are greedy and want food, but they know Grog. They help us if Grog or Sheub talk to them. Oh, and the mask humans know magick, Grog thinks. One of them disappear into dark, like the black thingies on the ground."

To illustrate, Grog pointed at his shadow. "He look almost like this when he do it, only human-shaped and not on the ground."

 

[June Verles]

Mizu Nagoyaka​

Mizu follows along, relatively calm for someone who was very against fighting a crime syndicate. Nonetheless he didn't say anything or tried to oppose his party until they reached the clearing where they could see the mountain.

"So one of them can hide in our shadows? Then if we are really hell bent on attacking them now would be the best time wouldn't it?" he says as he points up at the sky. They left early in the morning but 3 hours already passed since then.

"However, before we head in we should probably talk some things out. One the battle formation, since I assume a crime syndicate won't just let go nicely, I suggest this." he says as he draws a battle formation in the ground with his sword.

Spoiler: drawing

"Front line combatants at the front, non-combatants and Sheub at the back and me in the center since I'm the only healer. Any questions?" He says as he looks up to see their reaction.

Archdemon Birdsie IamNotLoki Kylesar1 Reinhardt

 

[Hanarei]

Bethany Evelyn - "The Arcanist Absolute" Armitage

Evelyn heard her mother rolling her eyes. It was less so out of annoyance with her bringing up another idea as much as the fact her idea was in ways better then her own. To be fair to herself though, she saw her solution to the problem to involve upstaging an arch mage by attempting to outdo him at his own game and outclass his magic with her own. She couldn't help but lean to the solution would let her attempt to outmaneuver his magic with her own. She looked to the other man who seemed to be lumped in with them as she seemed to have a rather sour look about his less then eager reception to her plan though being willing to take part anyways.

"Well then, as the little twerp says, we can do both. It wouldn't really take all that many of us to sabotage the snobby archmage's own sabotage. Even if some of his pranks go off, it shouldn't be enough if we take care of the major ones. We can even paint it in a way for him trying to scare her off, being the cold man he is but secretly having deep desires for her but viewing himself far too dangerous or flawed to hold her. It could paint is cold demeanor in a much better light to her and perhaps further coax her along while making him see like a much better guy." She spoke as to expand upon the idea while getting a jab at Cesimir. She glanced over to Brom staring at the man who was less enthused on the plan.

"If you so like you can accompany my brother, there could be danger along the way so maybe you could flex those muscles of yours if this more tactful approach to a problem isn't to your liking. I mean if we need it I can create a scroll to summon some lesser demon, an undead, or other potential threat from beyond to ambush her caravan for you to swoop in and save the day and help warm them up to you being there and get my little brother in close to use his persuasion. We could even use it to our benefit of potential outside threats trying to attack Cesimir and anything he desires as a reason why he might wish to keep her away." She brought up the idea figuring it would be best to intercept her before she arrived making an encounter with some kind of hostile threat possible.

Mentioned: Epiphany Birdsie LostHaven Inheritance

 

[LostHaven]

Faust Windfallow
Cesimir's Estate | Epiphany Birdsie Inheritance Hanarei

This was humiliating. No, it was beyond humiliating. Any doubt Faust may have had regarding the race of the self-proclaimed 'Debased Maiden' was gone in an instant. There was no more doubt nor hesitation, that thing could be nothing but an Archdemon of the Nine Hells. Her equally wicked daughter on the other hand, stubbornly refused Faust words, which up to this point had been nothing but the hard, honest truth. The elder lich, at this point, was fuming with annoyance, irritated beyond death by the fact that the fools seemed to obstinately deny the fact that they were holding the skull of an ancient undead of timeless power, and pissed at his current situation - he was completely unable to draw upon his vast reservoir of mana to smite the heathens with arcane energy and at mercy to the whims of an idiot cambion.

Though, Cesimir's statements did serve to ease Faust's disappointment somewhat. At least one person in this god-forsaken world recognized that his current situation was beyond his own control. And after revealing his own plans, Faust could only grow more amused, imagining the shenanigans that would ensue from Cesimir's plot.

His heightened mood only lasted for so long however, as Evelyn immediately began to trashtalk him once more, insulting Faust by calling him no more than a useless minion. "Excuse me, how can you just decide that by yourself? Have you actually tried anything I've told you? For the love of gods, I feel like a half braindead minion could cast more magic than you!" Grumbling, Faust quietly bore witness to the Armitage family's own counter-plotting to Cesimir's ingenious plot of ruining his wedding and escaping a political marriage.

If Faust had his body, he was sure that he would participate in the clusterfuck himself, but alas, it was not to be. He, the all-powerful Raven-Masked Magus would be forced to play spectator to what would be one of the greatest shitshow the world had to offer. Oh how much he would have sacrificed to play a part in this.

His silent contemplating was interrupted by the talk of summoning undead, unable to stay silent against the rookie's talk of summoning the dead. An idea suddenly popped into his head. He had out of the void, concocted a brilliant plan that would allow him to play his part in the shenanigans that would ensue, and prove his identity once and for all. "Summoning scrolls?" Faust chirped out without warning. "I have an idea. You ever heard of 'The Raven's Arcana'? It's the shop I run in town, I could, out of the kindness of my nonexistent heart, give you a few spell-crystals with a greater summoning ritual." He was a genius. At least, in his mind, he was. There probably wasn't a single adventurer that had not at least heard rumors of The Raven's Arcana. A general-wares shop that sold more than just 'general wares', at laughable prices, from mana-bombs that could wipe out an entire cave, to useless shit like half of a broken phylactery. The only obstacle, Faust had not accounted for, was the stubborness of the stupid arcanist. Now it was down to luck that the moron would at least take heed to his words and give the store a visit.

 

[Epiphany]

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[/div][div class=statusText]Location: Here
Tags: Inheritance Hanarei Birdsie LostHaven [/div][/div][div class=title]Shriandriath the Debased Maiden[/div][div class=text]The conversation around sabotaguing the Archmage's sabotague of his own impending nuptials was amusing and Shri allowed herself several moments to entertain herself with the imagery. Concrete statements from her 'group' gave her something to reply to, though, and Shri was never hesitant to speak her mind.

"Like the good warrior here, I would also favor a quest that suits our talents. Something to save the kingdom, save some innocents or at least give us an opportunity to exercise our skills. That said, there's no reason we can't do both approaches. Bethany's suggestion would allow us to help Cesimir help himself, so to speak, while giving us as a group the opportunity to demonstrate our willingness and ability to save the people of this kingdom...even if it's from a problem we concocted."

"There's no reason to split up, though." Shri nodded thoughtfully at the skull's suggestion. "If you wanted to attempt a greater summoning of some kind, to conjure up a threat for us to put down, we'll probably need all of us to overcome any monster so bound. Why not work together as a team? Bethany summons the beast and sends it towards the noble woman. All of us join forces to bring it down and rescue the grateful noblewoman. And once she's in my arms, I-" Shri paused, glanced behind herself at her tail which had begun to whip around in an animated fashion and promptly caught it with one hand before turning back to the others. Clearing her throat, the Succubus corrected herself to say, "We convince her of Cesimir's inner nobility, that evil wishes to keep them apart and she'll surely fall into arms immediately."

The demon snapped her fingers and said, "Works every time. So, shall we?"[/div][div class=text][/div][/div][/div][/div] [class=wrapper] background-color:#5e5560; box-sizing:border-box; color:#eeeeee; display:inline-block; position:relative; width:100%; text-align: justify; [/class] [class=title] color: #bfbfbf; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size:3em; font-style:italic; padding:0; text-shadow:0 0 1em; margin-bottom: 10px; [/class] [class=box] margin:2em 1em; padding:2px 4px 0px; position:relative; [/class] [class=boxBg] box-sizing:content-box; height:100%; pointer-events:none; position:absolute; width:100%; [/class] [class=boxBgLarge] top:0; left:-5px; padding:0 4px; border:1px solid rgba(255,255,255,.35); [/class] [class=boxBgTall] top:-8px;left:3px; padding:8px 0; width:calc(100% - 8px); height:100%; border:1px solid rgba(255,255,255,.25); [/class] [class=boxBgMedium] top:-4px; left:-1px; padding:4px 0; border:1px solid rgba(255,255,255,.4); [/class] [class=boxInner] background-color: #5e5560; overflow:hidden; margin:0.5em; [/class] [class=statusBox] box-sizing: border-box; border-right: 3px dotted white; padding: 15px; float: left; max-width: 250px; margin: 0px 15px 15px 0px; [/class] [class=text] padding: 0px 15px 15px 15px; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size:0.8em; [/class] [class=statusText] font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 0.75em; margin-top: 5px; [/class] [class=characterPortrait] box-sizing: border-box; position: relative; border-radius: 20px; overflow: hidden; [/class] [class name=characterPortrait state=hover] opacity: 0.5 [/class]