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Post by Vince Altus on Nov 3, 2011 19:48:12 GMT -6
As they entered the room, Vince was immediately surprised by the size of the room. This was probably known as the inn's "honeymoon suite". It had two beds (surprisingly high quality for an inn) and the owners had even put out a few plants and paintings, not bad at all. This mysterious crew must have a decent amount of wealth to afford a room like this.
He was the last to enter the room, and he glanced around, unsure of who to speak with. The red-haired women had retreated to the far side of the room, where a hooded figure that Vince hadn't previously noticed was already lounging on one of the couch's. The painted man was easing down into a couch, they made eye contact, and Vince walked over to him. Vince felt obligated to take a seat, but he resisted, opting instead to stand near the painted man and lean on the wall. He was taking a risk as it is, if these people turned on him, he would at least stand a fighting chance.
"So, what's your relationship with the Ilian military?" the painted man asked bluntly. "They don't seem to like you very much."
Ah, right to business, just the way Vince liked it. He mulled over a response for a second and figured he might as well give a quick summary of all that had occurred. "I'm a knight from Lycia, I was sent with an ambassador to see if we could work out a compromise with Bern. We were ambushed in Sacae, the ambassador died, so I set out to do what I could." He pushed off the wall and stood at ease, "I made contact with a fortress commander, and he told me he couldn't help because 'Bern's military was tied up with other matters', I'm guessing he said too much, and now they want me in for questioning...More than ever now that I've resisted." Vince shrugged, "that's about it."
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Aidan Lowell
Griffon Knight
Symbol of Rebellion
Ten years is far too long to be a stranger in your own home.
Posts: 265
Bern Fame: 4
Illia Fame: -4
Profession: High Consul in the Bernese Senate
Affiliation: Bern
Affinity: Thunder
OoC Alias: Elias
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Post by Aidan Lowell on Nov 4, 2011 21:59:20 GMT -6
"I figured as much." His words sounded confident, but his voice was annoyed. He brought a hand to his chin, rubbing his scruffy little beard with thought. "We got lucky, in all honesty. But this is the only time, the only window we have. We need to get things now or we will simply not have the ability to continue anymore. Now is, ironically, the safest we've ever been. They aren't looking for me at all, in fact everyone thinks I'm dead since my execution was scheduled for yesterday. It's the only reason I can be in town with this joke of a disguise without being caught in seconds." It was really a joke, don't think he didn't catch any of Syana's eyerolls, it was simply all he had though. It wasn't like there was a convenient costume closet sitting in the middle of Bern.
"But..." He brought his hand down, folding his hands together, looking out to the window. Longingly, almost, he felt a small touch of nostalgia, years ago. As a child, he'd never imagine being in anything like he was now, never imagine being like he was now. He almost smirked, just a small twitch of the corner of his mouth. "I have something to do now, and now is the only time I can do it."
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Saturos Prox
Swordmaster
The Wildcard
I'm almost incapable of lying. I'd be a terrible spy.
Posts: 351
Etruria Fame: 1
Profession: Undercover Operative
Affinity: Anima
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Post by Saturos Prox on Nov 6, 2011 18:00:25 GMT -6
Saturos's brow narrowed. Lycian compromise? With Bern? Well, that would be possible if Bern wasn't a puppet state of Ilia. So, despite being part of an ambassadorial team, this knight didn't really know. However, with the current state he was in, he probably wouldn't be hard to recruit.
"And now you're an enemy of the state," said Saturos, smirking/ "Aren't we all." The myrmidon crossed his legs, sitting up straight, pausing to examine the knight. He was tall, that was for sure. "Well, I can probably provide some insight to why you're running into problems," he continued. "First off, Bern's authority is not it's own. Ever since Ilia took over, any Bernese soldiers you see are either Ilian soldiers in Bern uniforms, or whatever's left of the old Bernese military. Even then, they still ultimately report to Ilia. So, by being tied up in other matters, he probably means 'no longer functionally exists' my friend." Saturos shook his head. "No, that was probably an Ilian you spoke to, and he's trying to get rid of you because any real foreign investigation into Bern right now would show that Ilia's got the noose to it's vassal state."
The myrmidon glanced over to Aidan, who was talking to Syana, before looking back to the Lycian knight. "So by the look of things, it seems like you're a bit of a rebel," said Saturos, a mischievous gleam in his eye. "And a rebel is a dangerous thing to be in this country right now. But, see, the thing is, we are too, and we're on a bit of a mission right now. Searching for a symbol of sorts. A symbol heavily linked to authority, or to but it straightly, the same kind authority one would need to consult with Lycia." He tilted his head while putting his hands together. "Do you see where I'm going with this?"
Saturos was well aware of how deviously shifty he sounded right now, but unfortunately, he couldn't reveal too much without the knight's acquiescence to their cause.
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Post by Vince Altus on Nov 6, 2011 18:47:47 GMT -6
Vince frowned as he listened to the swordsman's account. It was an unbelievable tale...but it explained some things...the alternately colored armor...his captors disregard for Bernese taxpayer money...it also meant trouble. The ambassador had debriefed them before they had been attacked. He had expected Ilia was involved somehow...but things were much, much worse than anticipated.
"Searching for a symbol of sorts. A symbol heavily linked to authority."
A symbol...Vince stroked his goatee thoughtfully, could be a weapon...a crown...a royal decree maybe...Regardless of what the symbol was, Bern would be indebted to Lycia if it helped them overthrow Ilia once again. Vince couldn't help but smirk as his train of thought finally came to a full circle. The mission was back on track.
"Do you see where I'm going with this?"
He looked back into the swordsman's eyes. He probably knew more than he was telling, but everybody had to be cautious in this country, it seemed. Vince reached out for a handshake with his still-bloody glove, "I'm in." For Lycia...For Ostia...
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Post by Syana Flamberge on Nov 6, 2011 23:01:31 GMT -6
Syana glanced back over at Saturos and the new knight. Wait, did Saturos just invite this guy to join the group? Another guy who stands out in a crowd. Yeah, this isn't going to end badly at all. Shaking her head slightly, she turned back to Aidan. "Something to do, huh? Well, whatever it is, make sure you're careful. Especially if it involves those "Sons of Bern" fool." She sighed. "From what I've heard of them, they sound like real pieces of work." Pieces of work she'd really not have to work with. But Aidan was the one with the plan. She just hoped he knew what he was doing.
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Aidan Lowell
Griffon Knight
Symbol of Rebellion
Ten years is far too long to be a stranger in your own home.
Posts: 265
Bern Fame: 4
Illia Fame: -4
Profession: High Consul in the Bernese Senate
Affiliation: Bern
Affinity: Thunder
OoC Alias: Elias
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Post by Aidan Lowell on Nov 7, 2011 8:14:46 GMT -6
He turned to look out the window, for just a moment, before shaking his head with a sigh. "I already did what I had to do here, I'm ready to leave as soon as we're ready."
He caught ear of what the two were talking about, and he couldn't say he was surprised. The second they picked up that knight like a stray kitten off the street, he had a feeling that he'd somehow come with them. That's how it always went. Still, now was the time to remain silent no longer, he left his hood up, but he stood and looked at the man. While Aidan was the shorter man of the two, he had a way of filling the room with his presence. It might of been his large imposing stature, it might be his years of training in the army along with the small hidden scents of a noblemen, while the man wasn't much of a speaker he could definitely capture attention.
"So, you say you're in? Just like that? Lycia is important to you, isn't it? To put your life on the line for something that may not even help. To do everything you can to save the land you love. I know that feeling, I feel that for Bern, and every day is painful." He remained hooded, but he spoke in a way that made it obvious he was in charge. He looked to Saturos, and gave a small nod of the head, looking back at the knight. He stuck out in a crowd, sure, but for now he's unrelated to anything to do with the rebellion. That may be a boon one day. He could scarcely trust them as he could trust Ilia itself. "If you want to come, I will welcome you with open arms, but know that it won't be an easy road. But... nothing worth fighting for is easy."
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Post by Vince Altus on Nov 7, 2011 20:13:02 GMT -6
After agreeing to join, the couple in the corner shifted and ended their conversation. The hooded figure made his way over, and stood in front of Vince. Vince stood about a head taller than him, but the man was thicker than he was, they probably weighed about the same. He noted that this man was probably a knight, like himself, but his poise was misleading. For all Vince knew, this man could be a general, he had the casual demeanor of a veteran, and his voice possessed a cool callousness, the mark of one who has endured much. Vince was in utter admiration.
He spoke, his voice carried the passion of a true warrior, but it carried itself with the elegance of a politician. He spoke of loyalty, of desperation, of pain, and Vince could not halt the aching of his heart.
"If you want to come, I will welcome you with open arms, but know that it won't be an easy road. But... nothing worth fighting for is easy."
Vince bowed to the hooded figure. It was completely uncalled for, but Vince couldn't help himself, this man had the presence of a king. "Ostia has fallen...my country is lost...The best thing...the only thing I can do for them now is my best." He looked into the man's concealed face, "I am ready to serve."
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Saturos Prox
Swordmaster
The Wildcard
I'm almost incapable of lying. I'd be a terrible spy.
Posts: 351
Etruria Fame: 1
Profession: Undercover Operative
Affinity: Anima
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Post by Saturos Prox on Nov 7, 2011 20:48:19 GMT -6
Saturos sat up, and walked over to Aidan and the grey armored knight, putting a hand on each of their shoulder's. It was good to have another comrade-in-arms in the motley crew. The first of many, hopefully. Aidan would need some serious support to put Bern back together.
"The more the merrier, eh?" chuckled Saturos, jostling both of the scary looking men as he completely ruined the moment. "Good. Glad to have you on the team, uh..." The myrmidon paused, giving the knight a blank expression. "What was your name again?"
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Post by Vince Altus on Nov 8, 2011 20:06:41 GMT -6
"What? Oh! My apologies," Vince caught the intentional casualness of his companion, and he smirked as he bowed his head slightly at his other male companion. "I am Vincent Altus, a knight of Ostia, just call me Vince."
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Aidan Lowell
Griffon Knight
Symbol of Rebellion
Ten years is far too long to be a stranger in your own home.
Posts: 265
Bern Fame: 4
Illia Fame: -4
Profession: High Consul in the Bernese Senate
Affiliation: Bern
Affinity: Thunder
OoC Alias: Elias
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Post by Aidan Lowell on Nov 8, 2011 21:33:23 GMT -6
"Welcome to have you aboard Vince." His slightly formal way of speaking melted somewhat, then again he always had a quality about him that made everything he said and did way more serious then it had any right to. A quality that made the very common description of a man with a fallen branch lodged inside him a common description for him. "You'll have to forgive me if I skip the introductions right now, it's not particularly safe here. Especially if they send more soldiers looking for the two that vanished." Aidan was many things, overly cautious was one of them.
It was sad, he'd been to this town before, in fact his family owned a Villa a few miles from here. Of course going there would be a death sentence, it's been long since turned into something else he was sure. Still it reminded him of older times, when Bern was Bern and Ilia was Ilia. Before he had grown into his armor and was being trained by his personal tutor on how to ride a wyvern and not die viciously. Staring at the world from above, something he'd never would of experiences if he had taken diction lessons and learned politics, it was better this way of course. Still, there was always those moments of what could be.
"As soon as everyone's ready, we should leave. I assume our other friend is done with his job, and judging from all these apples we're set on food for quite a while especially if we like fruit." And Aidan did, no cooking, less of a chance to kill everyone with food poisoning. This is why he never had kitchen duty. "We're headed to the east, to a fort." He left the important bit of 'full of cultists' out, but he'd fill Vince in later.
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Blasius
Mage
RETIRED
"With the Prophet guiding my feet and St. Elimine lighting my path, I cannot fail."
Posts: 13
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Post by Blasius on Nov 10, 2011 19:04:21 GMT -6
A paper-white Blaise sat in the back of a merchant cart as he continued on his way through Bern. His hand was almost permanently clamped over his mouth as he fought the urge to vomit. He despised riding on carts, horses, or even in carriages; he much preferred to walk to his destinations if at all possible. However, Bern was so far from Delfia that Blaise had caved in, requesting passage into the country with a merchant that used to trade with his father and didn’t mind giving him a ride. Of course, Blaise left out the true details of his trip, merely saying he was looking for work outside of Etruria for a time.
After another ten minutes of bumps and weaving, the cart finally pulled to a stop at the edge of a small town. Blaise weakly stood from the cart but quickly leaned against it, his head spinning and his stomach still lurching. While he tried to rid himself of his dizziness, the merchant walked over to him and shook his head, grinning slightly. “Ah, don’t worry son, this is our last stop. I’ll be staying here for a few days, so if you can’t find whatever it was you’re looking for just let me know and you can ride back with me.”
Unable to speak, Blaise merely nodded his head and pushed himself off of the cart, watching as the merchant got back on the cart and directed his horses to drive it into town. Like hell I’m ever riding on that cart again in my life. Blaise watched the cart pull away before walking in the same direction into town. He was exhausted and hungry, for sure, though neither of the activities to fulfill his bodily urges would happen anytime soon. “St. Elimine, my archer, and great Prophet, my bow, guide your ever-fervent arrow down the path of justice and righteousness.” Blaise’s prayer silently tumbled from his lips, but he felt himself reassured of his purpose and even felt a bit less nauseous.
Now more focused on his task, Blaise resolved to head towards what looked like a local inn. A large, multi-story building with a large tavern encompassing most of the ground floor, it seemed like the best place to grab a table and try to pick up information about the area and where to find the Sons of Bern Blaise had been told to investigate. To be honest, Blaise had no idea what he was looking for. All his informant had told him was that they were a rebel group speaking heresy against the Prophet, but he assumed that someone in the area might know a bit more about them. After all, Blaise was here to gather information on and potentially deal with the group, so he would have to do his best to work with what he had.
Blaise entered the tavern, grabbing a table and a cup of water, sitting down near the back in a corner. Slowly sipping his water, he listened to the idle conversation around him. He wanted to get a baseline for the types of things the people of this town talked about so it would be easier to spot those who didn’t seem to be concerned with the same things the townspeople were. That would be a sign Blaise was headed in the right direction.
OoC: From this point on I will refer to Blasius as Blaise; it just flows in type easier than Blasius does.
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Aidan Lowell
Griffon Knight
Symbol of Rebellion
Ten years is far too long to be a stranger in your own home.
Posts: 265
Bern Fame: 4
Illia Fame: -4
Profession: High Consul in the Bernese Senate
Affiliation: Bern
Affinity: Thunder
OoC Alias: Elias
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Post by Aidan Lowell on Nov 10, 2011 19:35:42 GMT -6
"No one has anything to say?" He posed the question to the empty air, looking around with a stern gaze barely contained by a thin fold of fabric. A small rapping filled the silence, answering his question thoroughly, and raising his attention. It was a small rat-a-tat, like the sound of glass being tapped over and over. It beckoned Aidan closer to the window, the balcony that this oh so fancy room had. Opening the window he saw something interesting, and something familiar. A brown haired man, the archer from before, he looked... worried? Disturbed? He wasn't sure what the right word would be, but definitely not at ease. He can only assume what was coming next was unpleasant, it always was. Life was like a balancing act for him, and every few minutes someone felt the need to add another few pounds for him to keep precariously perched as he wildly flailed his limbs to remain on his feet.
"Aidan, we need to leave. Quickly, this place won't be safe for long. They're coming much faster then expected, it seems that the message is being delivered by air to here. I don't know why, but it's almost as if of ANYWHERE in Bern they wanted to rush the message to here of all places. The messenger is already here, in just a few hours the entire guard will be notified then the entire town. We need to leave NOW." Oh, perfect, things were getting rather too comfortable anyways. What's living without running for your life every few moments?
"Alright, thanks for the warning. We'll get out of town right away, go find Lyar and tell him to wait at the meeting spot, everyone else is already with me." He stopped for a moment, thinking. "Wait, how did you even know we were here?"
"Your new, ah, friend I suppose. Caused a lot of commotion, a good thing for us, it'll make it take a bit longer for all the guards to be notified your execution was a flop. Still, that just means they're searching for you for ANOTHER reason. Be careful" Figures.
He turned to look into the room, his gaze lingering slightly on Vince then the others. "You all heard that, didn't you? We need to leave, now. Vince you especially, keep a low profile. We shouldn't run, it'll just make us obvious, but we DO need to hurry. We don't have long.
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Post by Syana Flamberge on Nov 10, 2011 21:30:13 GMT -6
Syana nodded, already having everything ready to go. She looked more at Saturos than the others as she said, "I'll see you outside the town. Stay safe." And with that, she was out the window. Normally, she could have moved quickly across the roofs and been out of the town in a matter of minutes. She decided, however, it would probably be best if she kept a look out from above. That way, if something happened, she'd know and would be in a position to help. So, staying out of sight, she moved into position to observe.
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Post by Vince Altus on Nov 11, 2011 11:55:13 GMT -6
Vince wasn't the comedy type, but he couldn't help smirking as Aiden, no shorty himself, told Vince to keep a low profile. He nodded pensively when spoken to, leaving the town would have to be carefully orchestrated, or they could all end up in prison. "Yes sir, ready to move."
His eyes lingered enviously on Aiden's cloak before he sent to thinking. With his height and armor, it would be almost impossible to be "stealthy". So, he'd need a ruse, he couldn't afford to linger, but he also couldn't afford to bull rush through the crowd...not without reason at least. Perhaps a plan was in order? He turned to the others, "Suppose we stage a fake chase?...That would get us out of the city quickly...but real guards might join in."
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Saturos Prox
Swordmaster
The Wildcard
I'm almost incapable of lying. I'd be a terrible spy.
Posts: 351
Etruria Fame: 1
Profession: Undercover Operative
Affinity: Anima
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Post by Saturos Prox on Nov 11, 2011 18:13:54 GMT -6
The myrmidon shook his head as Syana vanished. Regular disappearing act that girl was, though her ability to move so stealthily was...attractive, to say the least. That, and the glimpse he got of her rear as she jumped out the window.
"Suppose we stage a fake chase?...That would get us out of the city quickly...but real guards might join in."
"Yes, Vince, they probably would," commented Saturos, putting aside thoughts of his red haired companion's butt. "And that would be really bad for us. We're trying to stay low, discreet..." The Etrurian flitted behind the grey armored knight like a sheet blown in the wind, and placed a hand on his shoulder, whispering into his ear. "...sneaky." He then straightened his back, addressing both of his armored companions. "But neither of you have need to worry about your armor, clattering a clanging around as it does. Stealth is as much an art as a science. One doesn't need to hide if they can misdirect." Saturos put a weathered finger to his temple. "You following?"
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