Trial By Fire - Exalted 2e IC Thread

[jaydude]

The thieves look at Viktor and Koharu with curiosity, no doubt wondering what these two are doing here, but they make no attempt to eject them from the premises. They all give each other looks of confusion and uncertainty when Viktor asks about the buy-in, before one of them turns to the Zenith and says, in a rather hesitant voice "Two dinars."

"Now do you really want to play a game of gambling with a group of thieves?" Annika asks as she walks over, an amused smile on her face as she looks over both Viktor and Koharu, recognizing the former as the smith that Aredin and Darian had told her about briefly. "After all, we do have a habit of cheating if we think we can get away with it."

 

[MasterDAF]

Viktor turned his head towards Annika's voice, and watched as the woman came nearer. Judging from the way the other thieves seemed to defer to her, going so far as to look to her when answering his question, he felt strongly that she must be the big-dog in camp. Stepping away from the dice-throwers, he hooked his thumbs through his rough leather belt and wheeled his body around to face hers. "No, I suppose not," he admitted. "I never seem to fare so well with games of luck. Might just make a fool of myself." He cracked a lopsided grin. "Couldn't have been too foolish offering though, as it got me an immediate audience with the lady behind the crew."

 

[jaydude]

"Or, you could have just looked around for a bit. This is a pretty small camp, after all." Annika replies, still bearing her look of amusement. Then her countenance becomes more serious, though the smile still remains.

"Don't mind the less than enthusiastic reactions my people had when you asked to join their game. I've warned them to not steal from anyone of Gwynnin, and they're very used to cheating when playing games like this. It's gotten to the point that they struggle to play any other way." She says, while shaking her head fondly. "My name is Annika, of South Landing, and as you guessed, I'm the leader of this group. You must be Viktor, the famous blacksmith of this town." She grins at him, and then turns to Koharu. "And who might you be?"

 

[MasterDAF]

Viktor unintentionally smiled at the mention of his popularity. Hmm, I like her. "I don't know about the famous part, but you've got the rest right." Koharu stood silently, watching the interaction and offering no response. A couple seconds passed, and he turned to her. "Are you going to introduce yourself?"

"You told me to 'leave the speaking' to you."

After he mentally facepalmed so hard it would've knock his eyes loose from his skull, Viktor shook his head. "We're gonna have to work on that whole words-versus-intentions thing." He gestured in a more serious manner to the automata. "This is my --," I can't say she's a robot, who knows how that'll be taken, "-- traveling companion, Koharu. I met her while traveling through Chiaroscuro. She displayed a keen sense for business and organization, which I sorely lack, and after we hit it off she decided to join me in my travels. Once we settled down here in Gwynnin, she took over the administrative side of keeping my crafting services running smoothly."

Koharu nods curtly, keeper her eyes trained and unblinking on Annika, while Viktor shrugs. "Anyways, I didn't come here to discuss my crafting shop, and I'm sure you don't care to hear about it either. I had heard rumor of a band of accomplished thieves at the outskirts of town, and have come with a business proposition."

 

[jaydude]

"A rumor? Did the Lord and Lady not tell you about the...agreement between themselves and me?" Annika asks, looking intrigued at Viktor's words. "And a business proposition, you say? But what sort of business would a blacksmith want with a band of thieves? Are there rare materials or ancient schematics that you want stolen from somewhere?"

 

[MasterDAF]

Viktor shook his head. "I haven't had a chance to meet with the Lord or Lady in some time. I've been quite busy with the crafting requests, and preparing for their upcoming nuptials. With the end of the week fast approaching, I may as well have been chained to my forge." He takes a cautious look around, as though weighing the risks of someone else listening in on their conversation. "The kind of business I come to you with is the type I would rather not be advertising or recognized for in the public plaza, if you understand my meaning." He gestures to one of the tents. "May we?"

 

[jaydude]

"Of course. And you can rest assured that my thieves will prevent anyone from overhearing us." Annika says, walking towards the tent indicated by Viktor. Once both of them are inside, she pulls the flap closed and takes a seat in a wooden chair, removing her sheathed daiklaives from her back and resting them against the side of her chair. A small number of Annika's thieves surround the tent, paying little attention to the matters being discussed inside, and making sure no-one else can get close enough to overhear.

"So then, what is this business of yours that you wish to discuss with me?" Annika asks, crossing her ankles and resting her hands on her lap.

 

[MasterDAF]

Viktor motioned for Koharu to stay outside the tent with the thieves and help keep an eye out for too-curious strangers passing by, then followed Annika inside the tent and took a seat. "As I'm sure you and your band of merry brigands have noticed, the defenses of Gwynnin are sorely lacking. The walls may provide a basic bulwark against an ineffective force, and the local militia are well trained under Ram if what I hear is true. In the case of a true siege however, I worry as to how well we will be able to throw off seriously equipped aggressors." He reached into his pocket, and retrieved a folded paper with a doodle of the city's perimeter defensive line.

The picture is drawn somewhat poorly, but the basic shapes are labeled well enough to get across the idea of crenellated walls and towering battlements evenly spaced out along the wall's length. He handed the scrap of paper over to Annika, then pointed to a tower featuring the shape of a large crossbow mounted inside. "Adding some teeth to the wall could go a long way towards dissuading potential attackers. The problem is, as of now we have no teeth to speak of." Viktor tapped the image of the massive crossbow. "But if you can get me one of these, I can change that. Tell me, how familiar are you with implosion bows?"

 

[jaydude]

Annika listens to Viktor, while also looking at the map and crossbow picture he gives her. When he is finished speaking, she looks up from the piece of paper. "Never heard of them. But I'm guessing from this picture that it's some kind of ballista from the First Age, back when Solars ruled Creation. And what little I know about First Age technology is that..." she grins, "...well, it puts anything that the Realm can field to shame."

Her expression becomes more serious and businesslike."Well, I'll certainly see what I can do. Do you have any idea where I could find one of these?"

 

[MasterDAF]

"Lookshy certainly has a number, though as you noted the majority are vastly weaker than anything used in the First Age. As young Haichei in the Seventh Legion we were taught that three variants of implosion bow existed, though we only ever had access to the two weakest versions. The light implosion bows were usually placed in fixed defensive positions, though sometimes they were mounted on smaller flying and naval crafts. The medium implosion bows were the size of small wagons, and my impression was that we only had a few dozen at most, so they were rarely mounted to anything besides large naval vessels or fixed emplacements." He shrugged, "Supposedly a heavy variant exists, but I've never seen one. To be honest, I think its all just conjecture. The rare transcripts documenting them seem more like fairy-tales than reliable facts: crossbows the size of small houses, yeah right. More like fanciful exaggerations than anything else."

Viktor rubbed his chin, thinking. "Obviously at our position on the intersecting rivers, we saw a lot of river-borne traffic. Sometimes ships from other nations would ply up or downstream, and you could spy a light implosion bow mounted at the bow. One time we even had a diplomat from the Hundred Kingdoms region visit, and they arrived with not only an armed guard but also a couple of chariots pulling light implosion bows. They looked the worse for wear, but I'm sure they fired well enough to ward off enterprising bandits."

"I would think that the best bet for retrieving one, without causing an international scene, would be swiping one from a passing ship as it moves up the Grey River. Marauders, while not frequent, are not unheard of on this strip of river south of Lookshy's Marukan Redoubt. Word spreading of an armed ship being taken by unknown assailants shouldn't raise too many red-flags, I would hope. If you were able to find such a ship and overpower the crew, theoretically it would be an easy job to sail it back downriver to our main port, then offload the weapon to a covered wagon and haul it up to my workshop. From there, it would just be a matter of time before I could strip it apart and learn how to reproduce them."

 

[jaydude]

Annika remains silent for a few seconds, thoughts on how to best pull off this caper - and get away with it - going through her mind, before she gives Viktor a reply.

"Taking the ship should be no trouble on its own, but bringing the weapon back here will be the hard part. None of us are sailors, so our only options would be to either force the crew to sail to Gwynnin - and kill or imprison them afterwards - or get the weapon onto the wagon when we capture the ship, and transport it back here overland. Alternatively, I figure out how to sail within a very short amount of time."

 

[MasterDAF]

"Yes, I can see where that would present an issue." He leans back in the chair, lifting the front two legs off the ground in the process. "Well, I certainly don't wish any permanent harm to the sailors on the chosen ship. If you feel confident in your crew's ability to hijack the ship without taking any lives, then I suppose I could send Koharu along with a wagon. She'll keep quiet about the operation if I ask her to, and can follow your brigands along the shore of the river until the weapon is captured and moved onto the transport." Viktor wrings his hands together. "It'll take a little longer to move it back overland, but if your crew is unable to sail than I don't think there'd be any other rational choice to make that would still end in success."

 

[jaydude]

Annika nods. "I'll see if we can set off once the Lord and Lady have tied the knot. My thieves will certainly appreciate being able to do something other than sit on their backsides, even if it involves more travelling. But I think you can rest assured knowing that we'll get you your implosion bow."

At that moment, one of the thieves keeping watch outside the tent - an eastern woman with light brown skin and short blond hair - pushes the flap aside and enters, her eyes going to Annika.

"Boss, there's someone outside looking for you. Says that he's got a message for you from the High Priestess." She says.

"Thank you." Annika says with a nod at the other woman, before she stands up and goes outside to receive the message from the envoy.

"Darian wishes for you to join her and Aredin for dinner this evening. This message also applies to Viktor." He said.

"I see." Annika replies. "In that case, you may let her know that I'll be there."

 

[MasterDAF]

Viktor followed Annika out of the tent and listened to the envoy's message. He chimes in after Annika, "I shall be as well."

He turned to the leader of the thieves. "I am glad to hear your optimism towards this venture. Once it has been completed, and the item is secured at my workshop, I will be sure to see to it that your followers are compensate for their troubles. In addition and as a thanks for this favor, I will personally craft one object that you request, though I reserve the right to veto a request in favor of a different object of your choosing."

He reached his hand out, in order to shake hers and seal their agreement.

 

[jaydude]

"I'm pretty sure I can think of a few things that would be useful to me." Annika says, before she reaches out and shakes Viktor's hand.

"Let's just hope that the Lord and Lady don't have any plans for me over the next few months. Otherwise it might be a while before we can head over to the Grey River."

 

[MasterDAF]

"Agreed." With this matter settled, Viktor turns to Koharu. "Time to go. If we're lucky, I can have those ring engravings finished before the close of shop today." He looks back to Annika. "And I suppose I'll be seeing you for dinner. Perhaps I'll learn a little more about your arrangement with the Lord and Lady." He nods in respect. "Until then."

[Unless Annika attempts to stop them Viktor and Koharu leave the encampment and walk to his workshop, where he engraves until time to meet for dinner]

 

[jaydude]

Annika allows Viktor and Koharu to leave, and spends the rest of the day either at her camp, or walking around Gwynnin.

 

[Sherwood]

Off some distance from the city, Durke is plodding along on his horse next to a large covered wagon, brining in a bountiful supply of goods for the town of Gwynnin. It seems that there is some celebration going on in the town, and this caravan is due to arrive in the city later this day. Other than your band of guards, there are a pair of men riding along with the caravan, and from the talking that you have overheard from them, they are friends of the local Lord of the town, and have some special gift for him at this party that's going on.

As you ride down the road, you finally see the short walls of Gwynnin up ahead.

 

[LowRollLyfe]

"Gerard!" Durke barked to his second-in-command, "have the men prepare, we will be at the city shortly!" He slowly exhaled his breath through his nose, 'if I'm gonna talk to them about this Lord,' Durke thought to himself, 'gonna need to do it now.'

He looked away from the approaching walls and towards the two men riding a few meters to his right. Locking his eyes on the closest one, Durke approached the pair. "So, been hearin' you two talkin' about going to the lord of the city's party. Now, I heard he is lookin' for some strong folk to help out with an issue he seems to be havin'. After seein' the fine work my men have done protectin' this 'ere caravan, would you fellas mind introducing me to em'?" As he finishes speaking, Durke's moustache twitches as the corners of his mouth struggle to form a smile yet this only makes it appear as though he is grimacing in pain.

 

[Sherwood]

Gerard nods and gives a brief, "Yes, sir!" and then he turns to go make sure that everyone is doing something to keep busy.

The older man looks you over and raises up an eyebrow. "Well, now. If you are looking for work for Lord Aredin, I do suppose that I can be persuaded to make an introduction." The large man holds out his hand. "I am Aysik Vaysel, and this is my colleague, Dunbar Holst. Tell me, what kind of work are you looking for?"

As the introductions are being made, you can see that the caravan is pulling up to the main gate, and a half dozen city guardsmen come out to do a quick inspection of the wagons. One is clearly a Dragon-Blooded with his jade Daiklave on his back. He gives Aysik and Dunbar a friendly wave. "Welcome back. I was wondering if you two were going to be here in time for the wedding."

Dunbar laughs. "Good to see you, Ram. I owe them my life; how could I not be here for this glorious occasion?"

The Exalt named Ram gives a laugh of his own. "Someday, you need to tell me that story. Shall I send a messenger to tell Aredin and the others that you are here?"

"Sure. Tell them also that we have a guest that wants to meet them that will be coming along with us."

Ram motions to one of the guards, and he turns and runs back to send the message. "Done. Let me give this convoy a once-over, and I'll be done. Have a good night."

 

[MasterDAF]

The sun was beginning to set outside, pulling away over the horizon and leaving the inside of the workshop in a state of temporary twilight as the light receded. Viktor squinted and tried to focus on the two golden rings sitting on his workbench, one lying flat and the other propped up against it. He shook his head and rubbed his bleary eyes, then walked over to the cask of water typically used for tempering hot metal. Submerging his arms within the cool liquid, he cupped his hands together and splashed the gathered water up onto his face. He gripped the sides of the cask and took a deep breath, then grabbed a rag from nearby and wiped his face and arms until they were only mildly damp. Somewhat refreshed, he walked back over to the workbench to give a final look-over to his project. Though they were small enough to both fit snugly in the palm of a man's hand, they'd taken more effort to craft than anything else Viktor had ever attempted. He pulled his stool over and sat down, propping his elbows on the workbench and admiring his creations. Etched across each ring in a carefully dictated line were words Aredin had requested months ago in private, hoping to surprise his betrothed, and they read, 'From the ashes of broken dreams, two suns become one. One heart, one will, one path to a new day.'

So fixated had he become on getting the engraving right that he had let some of his essence slip into his anima, focusing his crafting abilities to neigh-unreachable heights. The faintly glowing half-filled disk now reflected on the two rings, illuminating the Orichalcum that made up the majority of the wedding bands. As members of the Sun's chosen, it made sense at the start for Viktor to use what little Orichalcum was available to craft such auspicious items. As he gazed at their soft golden glow, he felt reaffirmed in his decision.

"They're...beautiful," Koharu said aloud, walking up from behind. She gently placed her hand on his shoulder and smiled at the blacksmith.

He nodded, lacking the words to respond. Instead, he simply reached an arm across to pat and hold the hand she'd sat on his shoulder.

"Your predecessor would be proud."

 

[jaydude]

Annika has told her thieves about her and Viktor's plan to steal an implosion bow, and as predicted, most of them are glad to have the chance to finally see some action. But after a few hours, simply sitting in her camp has made her restless, and she stands up and walks into Gwynnin. She glances at the door to the King's Inn as she walks past it, but shakes her head, having had enough of the place for a while. What she'd really like to do is visit either a gambling den or a brothel, but somehow she gets the feeling that Gwynnin is far too wholesome to have one of those places.

Instead, she decides to head towards the King's Tower, even though it's before the appointed hour, thinking that Darian might be over there if she isn't currently conducting a service at the temple. For no particular reason, part of her feels like having a chat with the other female Solar in the circle.

 

[Rykon]

Aredin nearly bumped into Ram just outside the King's Tower coming back from a quick run. His escorts held, panting as he received the message from his trusted Marshal.

"Meeting huh? Send em on in, I need to get cleaned up." Aredin replied, toweling his head off with his shirt before jogging up to the tower, guard fang in tow. Within a half hour, Aredin would be waiting for them in the usual private audience chamber.

 

[jaydude]

Having started heading towards the tower earlier, Annika is the next person to arrive for the meeting, entering the audience chamber and waiting for Aredin to finish freshening up, taking the time to consider what she should say when the meeting is underway.

 

[LowRollLyfe]

"Well thank you Aysik, I appreciate your willingness to present me to uh...Aredin." Durke replies after Ram resumes his inspection. "Like I was sayin', I heard the good lord needed a little muscle and it sounded like somethin' me and my men could handle." Before Aysik or Dunbar can reply, Durke sweeps his arm out towards his men. "We used to number quite a bit more but...recent events have cut our numbers. Any chance we can get to return to our days 'ah glory would be much appreciated."