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Post by Gaius Balmung on Aug 22, 2014 12:09:25 GMT -6
Ever since the famous 'Black Rider of Bern' had been discharged from the Bern military he had been reduced to nothing more than a wandering odd job man who did almost anything just to get by. It wasn't like it was all that much of a hard adjustment for the rider as he wanted nothing more to do with Bern and its people. He also had no idea what to do with himself so this was a good option until he figured things out. This was of course what he said in the beginning, it had been quite the long time since then and so signs of any improvement.
The only one who knew this on a more personal level was the man's wyvern partner who ended up being the man's babysitter, which the wyvern was currently doing a good job at. The two had accepted a delivery job for some Etrurian official to bring some equipment and other things to a small port town. It was a bit unorthodox for them to be hiring some wandering traveler but due to a rampant occurrence of attacks by bandits and pirates the official had been looking for outside help for this job.
Gaius wasn’t sure if he was the only one nor did he really care about that or the bandit/pirate problem the Etrurian was having. It was there problem to deal with but if they were willing to pay up then maybe he'd change his opinion. Well that wasn't a sure thing as the man showed his care for the job by sleeping as his wyvern flew toward the port. It wasn't until Phantom began to fly a bit on the slanted side that Gaius woke up due to noticing that Phantom wasn't flying straight and figured there was something wrong.
He was about to go back to sleep until he heard the wyvern growl a bit and noticed the port not far from where they were. Gaius let out a loud yawn and looked back to check on their cargo, which thanks to Phantom's size they were able to carry more than most would expect. They circled above the port a few times to make sure it was the right place before landing in front of the gate to town. Alternatively they could have just landed in the town but Gaius knew from experience that people didn't react well to that sort of thing.
At the gate Gaius identified himself as someone delivering packages and such, showing off a piece of paper that had the missions' description on it. Gaius hated moments like this due to the fact that most people normally gave him a hard time, due to the giant winged lizard next to him. It was easy this time and they let him in faster than he thought they would, the bandit problem must have been serious. Gaius and Phantom walked through the town to where they had to drop off all the packages, Gaius taking note of a tavern as they walked.The drop off process went smoothly, except for one schmuck who almost got his hand bit off for approaching Phantom from behind.
Despite it not being the smartest thing to do in Gaius' emotional state the man wanted to head to the tavern, or go take a nap or something. As he was walking he noticed a lot of noise coming from a building not far from where he was. Curious, the man walked over to it to see what was going on. It wasn't surprising to see that it looked like a bunch of guards and soldiers letting off steam by sparring. It reminded Gaius of all the times he used to do that with his men. Not wanting to get depressed the man decided that it was probably best to walk off but the match he was watching was a bit interesting. So he would stand in front of the door watching from there.
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Orys Durrandon
Wyvern Rider
Posts: 107
Profession: The Ambitious Rider
Affinity: Fire
OoC Alias: Oleg
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Post by Orys Durrandon on Aug 22, 2014 12:45:42 GMT -6
Orys let out a loud grunt as he kicked back one of his attackers, said attacker slamming against the stone wall, sliding down it and grunting. Unfortunately another one came from his back, hitting the back of his head and forcing him to go forwards. He grunted, swiftly turning around and backhanding the said attacker, only earning a punch to his gut.
"I'd call that enough of a spar." The attacker offered his hand to Orys, which he took. He then limped off, noticing another man standing near a door as he then limped over to him. "Mrngh. Just gonna sit down." He then proceeded to sit down next to him.
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Post by Armitage Apolithymius on Aug 22, 2014 13:26:29 GMT -6
Armitage’s breathing was labored. She relished in the cool sea breeze as she neared a bustling port town. There had been many a rumor of bandit attack in the region and this sounded as good a place as any to make some coin. There was much deliberation of this though as to the best way to go about it; Bandits or town guard? Normally, siding with the bandits was a messy ordeal. You either got paid very little or you struck a great raid and got a lot, but, then there was all the infighting on who owed who what and who claimed what and when and it all gave Armitage a bit of a headache. Siding with the port authority was a bit more of a stable affair. Any formal government usually had standardized methods of payment though so, whether you ran into any trouble or not you usually got paid about the same. Given that the port town would most likely have more many than others, being a hub of trade, Armitage was starting to lean toward that as her best bet.
Unfortunately, that choice was soon made for her; on her way to the town she was assailed by a group of 3 bandits--most likely just a scouting party that took the lone soldier as an easy target. At the least, they figured, her armor and weapon would sell for enough to make the assault worth the effort. As the bandits approached Armitage, she decided to test their friendliness. At nearly the same moment they demanded she lay down her spear, Armitage asked if they were in need of any more hired arms. Their laughter was met with a deep sigh—she expected the bandits of the frontier to be a bit more open minded to the idea of a woman soldier. She slowly detached the spear from her back before raising it over her head in a striking posture. Despite being outnumbered she had a few advantages; a bit of surprise, reach, and of course, the weapon triangle.
Before the bandits could completely ready themselves, Armitage had slapped on in the ear with the flat side of her spear tip. Bringing it around with a swing, she both intimidated the other bandits and slammer the shaft of her weapon into the sword hand of the dazed bandit, effectively disarming him. With a quick step forward, Armitage shifted the weight of her weapon and hit the man in the gut with the base of her spear, taking him out of the fight. The other two men were on their guard now and advanced quickly. Armitage rolled forward over the first man she disabled, creating distance and moving herself out from inbetween the two other men. The second bandit moved in, thinking he was fast enough to attack Armitage before she gained her footing. Before he could close the gap though, Armitage was able to utilize her moment to thrust her spear out. Catching the second bandit by surprised, the spear tip entered his abdomen before he could bring his sword down onto the soldier. Armitage felt her heartbeat speed up; she knew she was vulnerable in this moment. Though she had been fast enough to take out the second bandit, she knew this position put her off balance and open to a counter attack.
Lucky enough for her, the third bandit was not as battle savvy. At the sight of his comrades dispatched so quickly he panicked; running back toward what Armitage assumed was his group, she made note of his direction encase she would be charged with hunting them down later. With a bit of a groan, Armitage forced the second man off of her spear. She took out a wrap and clean the weapon a bit before musing about how she nearly MUST join some sort of group in the city, for there would almost definitely be some counter attack planned for her once she left the port. As she picked a tuft of grass from her shoulder pauldron, her gaze caught the shadow of a great beast in the sky. Her heartbeat quickened again. There was always something Armitage found oh-so appealing about Wyvern Riders. She found the creatures majestic and powerful and was a bit jealous of their riders. In her youth she had considered going into the Wyvern Corp and, although she was a bit of a natural at riding them, she was never able to form a true bond with one and understand the Wyrm. It discouraged her enough to ultimately result in a change of career.
She inadvertently followed the creature to the gate of the port town. This one was interesting—she could tell it had been in more than a few fights. Her gait was slow and deliberate as she followed the wyvern and its rider through town. They seemed to be delivering something with a detached indifference before making their way toward the tavern area of town. The veritable “spawn point” of adventurers and their tales: the tavern. Had it not been for the detour to the raucous, Armitage may have lost interest altogether. She wasn’t one to purposefully embrace clichés. The fight happening in the barracks wasn’t anything terribly exciting; a few of the heavies blowing off some steam. Armitage had participated in a many of these events growing up; more often than not other men used it as an excuse to test her mettle, to try and break her. She always welcomed the challenge.
Her interested returned to the wyvern. She let out a low, hollow whistle to get the wyvern’s attention and then followed it with a low purr. This was how the Wyvern Riders of Lycia Military Academy would approach their wyverns in the infancy of their relationships. Her demeanor was calm and confident—Armitage had been around enough wyverns as both friend and foe to be comfortable around the creature, even if it did not respond well to her. She knew not to approach them without them knowing and that’s why she announced her presence. The low purr was to signify that she was friendly and kind to the creature. She was not seeking to intimidate or show herself as alpha—simply to interact with the magnificent creature. Once she noticed its attention was on her she would reach out a soft hand.
”Hello there lovely.”
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Post by Valcrist on Aug 22, 2014 14:48:53 GMT -6
Do you know how hard it is to get into Etruria? Valcrist had to get countless papers signed and approved, his mercantile license updated (a license! Back in his day you traded a loaf of bread for a dozen eggs and you were a merchant, now there's paperwork involved bah!) luckily for him he had always kept his self clean and there was never really anything for the nation to turn it's nose up at. The few times he did... less then reputable things, the situation in ilia comes to mind, he left before anyone even got a hold of his name. Then in Bern he was under a pseudonym, really the only problem was that time he traveled with the Ilian military but they seemed to look past that. Probably because Ilia and Etruria were 'allies' or at the very least they didn't abhor each other as the other nations.
They reviewed his record, then re-reviewed it, he was stuck at that checkpoint for almost an entire week. He had to apply for a license and everything, he never even knew he needed one to begin with! Also they gave him a prayer book. He tossed it in the back of his caravan, but there was seriously a lot of evangelical supporters of Kraft that tried to push it one him every opportunity they had. It made his skin crawl, but he kept it under wraps, he put on a smile, said his 'hail Krafts' and they were on their way. In the end he just spent most of his time in his room, only really leaving to visit the office to see if his papers had cleared. They hadn't, by the way.
He spoke to a few of the other merchants at the checkpoint, and learned it wasn't really that unusual to take a period to get cleared. Unless you belonged to one of the big merchant's guilds, a week wasn't too unusual to get your license. Etruria was... picky. Of course that doesn't stop people from sneaking in but oh well. He wasn't going to be doing that, if he wanted to do business in Etruria he needed a license, or he'd be arrested. Or worse. Some of the things he heard about what they do to Etruria prisoners caused him to go pale, well sort of. It was hard for someone of his pigmental persuasion to go pale and it being noticeable without it being a serious case. That was scarcely the point however, seriously though Etruria was scary. There was good gold in it though, many merchants were scared off by the militaristic superpower and as a result the few that do make the trip are usually met with great sales. Something inside of him was telling him that selling weapons to the nation that may or may not have blown up Ostia (the second time) isn't exactly the 'moral' thing to do. However that person telling him was drowned out by the other person telling him how much money he'd make. He wasn't a greedy man, but he knew a good business opportunity when he saw one.
In the end he managed to get through though, even a nation like Etruria couldn't survive entirely without trade. Especially if it intended to keep up it's militaristic might, they needed lots of a weapons and lots of metal for their 'secret projects' he's heard so little about. There was rumors about powerful weapons being developed that could rival even dragons, of course it was all so hush-hush that just hearing that was probably more then most people knew. He was lucky merchants were such gossip hounds, information was power, and power was money, it was hard to find a merchant worth his salt that didn't know at least the gist of what was going on around the world. So he decided to visit the nation with his burgeoning caravan, really it was just him, a wagon, and a horse. He was a bit stingy when it came to hiring help, for the most part he could take care of protection on his own and he needed to save every gold piece possible.
The roads were remarkably safe actually. Well the caravan's roads, they were commonly patrolled by soldiers to allow safe passage for the merchants carrying good. The fear of Etruria probably scared away most bandits, and least the bandits that weren't purified by Kraft's 'peacekeepers', the inquisitional army. For all the bad things about Etruria, there was one thing for sure, it wasn't a bandit ridden hole like some places. Like Bern. Of course it was still incredibly dangerous, just in a different way. While in other nations you were in danger for being too weak, in Etruria you in danger for being too smart. Asking the wrong questions to the wrong people, get on the wrong person's bad side and you vanish without a trace. Corruption was prevalent amongst the higher ups, those in power abuse that power, it was good for the merchants in a way. Align yourself with the right nobles, and you're set. All of the major Etrurian Merchant's Guilds are in the pocket of some person or another, the ones that try to stray outside are devoured... or destroyed.
Of course that was just another sign of Etruria's lopsided justice, because while these roads are entirely safe and free of bandits, the other roads are sometimes plagued by them. The soldiers were clearly focused in certain ways, in certain paths. It was only natural, the ones that pay the soldiers are ordering them to protect their investments. How would they get their silks and spices if bandits assaulted them? That didn't mean much to the average man trying to fend off savages with nary a pitchfork between them and death. That never really matters to the ones in charge though, it was disheartening to say the least. Of course Valcrist found it easiest to simply not think about it, he was just one man and he could not change a country. Anyone who dreams of such things were delusional.
There was rumors about a Etrurian campaign in the western isles, an armada sent to pacify the pirates that roamed the seas. Perhaps it was because of their navy's absence that the pirates had decided to launch their own attacks upon Etruria's ports? It was a shame, it was the common man who suffered the most from such things. He remembered this detail in particular, because he was traveling towards a port town. It was said to be dealing with some problem itself at the moment, nothing Valcrist couldn't handle if they rose to greet him, meanwhile because of their attacks they no doubt needed weapons to defend themselves. Valcrist, Blacksmith extraordinaire could help on that front. Maybe even give a discount too, if he was feeling enough pity, which he probably would. Damn he was soft sometimes.
He had arrived in town just earlier that day, he was getting himself situated with the local outpost (can't set up shop without prior approval, there was taxes to pay after all) and now he was sort of waiting for his papers to clear once more. Bureaucratic slowdown basically, he was used to it at this point. So he wandered the town a bit, only to come across some sort of brawl. It wasn't particularly impressive actually. None of them were particularly skilled fighters, they all appeared like thugs and one of them seemed to have a somewhat awkward way of moving. As if they weren't quite as used to fighting on their feet as they could be. Based on his armor, and the way it was distributed upon their body, it was clear that he was a rider of some sort. Being a man, it clearly wasn't a pegasus, so that meant a horse or a wyvern. He could tell a rider right away for the most part, then again he was a blacksmith and he knew WHY armor was designed the way it was.
Speaking of wyverns, there was one not too far from him right now. Eh... Wyverns always sort of put him on edge, it wasn't that he didn't like them but... he didn't like them.
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Post by Gaius Balmung on Aug 22, 2014 22:47:27 GMT -6
The fight wasn't as exciting as Gaius figured it would be, though it had its interesting aspects to it. For starters it was interesting to see one man supposedly take on more than one opponent, though it could have just been a free-for-all for all Gaius knew and that man just so happened to get the short end of that stick in that situation. Either way it didn't matter as the fight ended quicker than Gaius would have wanted so now he would have to find something else to do. Maybe another fight would start up, one that would be a bit more entertaining.
As for Phantom, the wyvern was simply relaxing next to his rider. Whenever Gaius got distracted by something this gave Phantom some time to take a nap or rest for a moment. Before he could get settled his attention was grabbed by something. A familiar sounding whistle was coming from somewhere and Phantom began to look around for the origin of said sound, Gaius being too distracted at the time to notice anything. Phantom at first was a bit puzzled as to what he was looking at for a moment when he then heard a low purring noise coming from what appeared to be a human.
The wyvern tilted it's head first, curious as to what the human wanted. It didn't appear that this human wanted to harm him so he began to slowly move towards her. Now Phantom wasn't really the one to go out of his way to interact with a stranger but it wasn't all that often that someone approached him like this. He stopped in his approach as he noticed a hand reached out toward him. The wyvern then slowly continued his approach, taking a moment to take a examine the hand out of suspicion at first.
When Phantom finally came to the conclusion that this human meant no harm he allowed the hand to gently press against his snout. It was about this time that Gaius had finally noticed what was going on, being take away by the fact that he was about to speak to a man on the inside of the building but found this to be quite the sight. Sure Phantom was the friendly one of the two but it wasn't all that often that Phantom would allow something like this happen. Gaius was fully expecting the wyvern to either have a hissy fit or try to make that hand a snack.
Instead here he was letting someone touch him, the world was really strange wasn't it. "Now that's definitely not a sight you see every day," Gaius said, mainly to himself but it would probably be loud enough to be heard. He didn't want to ruin the moment as it was rare to see someone not frightened of Phantom. The wyvern was a big black scaly winged behemoth with a scar on his face. Most people would probably stay away from that but this person didn't. What an odd and interesting creature.
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Orys Durrandon
Wyvern Rider
Posts: 107
Profession: The Ambitious Rider
Affinity: Fire
OoC Alias: Oleg
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Post by Orys Durrandon on Aug 23, 2014 6:53:32 GMT -6
Orys, although panting, stared at the sigh, his eyebrow raising a small bit with each step of the progress before it was raised as much as it could get. "... Well I'll be damned." He spat onto the ground, grunting a bit. "I've never seen someone get that close to a wyvern that fast. It took me months with my own." He slowly got up, grunting a bit as he held his leg, still leaning against the wall.
Meanwhile, outside of the city...
Balerion sniffed the air. He had just landed near the forest next to the city, after he had dropped off Orys near the city gates. The air smelled fresh, almost waiting for something. And then he sniffed it. Animals. Deer. He dashed forwards, snarling with hunger, after the deer he had just startled.
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Post by Armitage Apolithymius on Aug 23, 2014 11:15:51 GMT -6
Armitage smiled as the wyvern lent itself to her touch. She could feel the power behind his scales as she caressed his snout. Taking a small step forward, Armitage brought up her free hand as well to embrace the creature on both sides of his head. A slight chill ran up Armitage's skin as she got closer to Phantom, the rush of adrenalin Armitage is feeling was palpable. With the excitement, a twinge of jealousy carried through Armitage's skin. Where others could hear, feel and understand their wyvern's, Armitage never got farther than a surface understanding of what the creatures felt. Like how a pet owner understood his cat; sure you can know when he's hungry, happy or sad, but Armitage knew a rider's bond with their wyvern was more than that.
"Oh the stories you could tell me if only I heard you..."
Armitage said as an admiring eye passed over the scar on the wyvern's face. She had to admit the wyvern imposed a formidable figure. What most would find intimidating on these sometimes brutish creatures, she found beautiful. Armitage heard some notice her approach. It was in that moment that Armitage noticed the wyvern's rider. Her stance hardened. Too often had riders mistaken Armitage's sensitivity toward the wyvern with personal affection. She let herself smile at his comment. Mostly she was happy that the rider did not seem to take offense to her touching his wyvern without his permission. It was too often she was overtaken with excitement at a wyvern, just to be swore at by its rider afterwards.
Her eyes fell upon the two men watching her from the doorway of the building. One of them was clearly nursing his leg a bit as he stood and the other had a shock of blue hair on the top of his head. She took the sight of both of them in for a moment as her mind deduced who this lovely wyvern belonged to. She took the comment from the large, muscled man to mean that this wyvern here was not his. She parsed the comment from the blue haired man; was this wyvern usually disagreeable? Or perhaps people just usually aren't all that agreeable with wyverns. That isn't so far fetched, she deduced; wyverns themselves can be a bit off-putting, that, and their usual association with the Bern area could conjure negative memories.
"Nice to meet you both." Armitage nodded her head in the direction of the two men."My name is Armitage. This is a truly beautiful wyvern you have here. Armitage let the words roll from her mouth. The admiration in her voice not without a touch of flirtation. "What is his name?"
Her tone of voice was a bit low--her age and confidence definitely carried into the low pitch of her speech. That, and this made Armitage realize how long it had been since she said much of anything. She had been traveling through the lands of Etruria for a bit of time without speaking to herself. Her voice carried an air of rasp with it and that, combined with the dust and dirt on her armor, belied the appearance of a traveler.
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Post by Valcrist on Aug 23, 2014 11:33:39 GMT -6
The crowd began to disperse, whatever the situation had been it was over. He'd complain about it being boring, and that was because it was, but the fact of the matter was that whenever a fight broke out people were just naturally drawn to watch it. At least until it becomes dangerous for the people on the sidelines, then they freaked out and ran. It was just something in human nature, it was why coliseums were so popular, even he came to watch the fight so he couldn't even take a moral high ground about this. Not that it would stop him from trying, mind you, but y'know whatever. His caravan was in the street not too far from him, he couldn't stray too far or that when the sticky fingers started to appear. It might be different if he had a guard, but he didn't, he was his guard. He'd be selling things from it, but y'know papers and such. Though he was sure it was only going to be a short while longer.
He kept all of his weapons in the wagon, outside of Fang, leaving his with only a single sheathed blade at his hip. The scabbard itself was rather generic looking, leather and wood with no designs, though the hilt of the blade poking out showed great workmanship, it wasn't exactly eye-catching. Which was the point, he didn't want people to try and steal his sword. Well they could try, and fail miserably, but he would prefer if they didn't.
After the crowd vanished, it seemed that the fighter was over there shooting the breeze with the man with the wyvern with some other type of mercenary or something that was rubbing the monster down. Honestly he wasn't sure why he was looking, since it wasn't particularly interesting. He was probably just watching the source of most movement in the area, like the dork that he was, so he turned his gaze away and back towards his wagon.
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Post by Gaius Balmung on Aug 23, 2014 15:50:29 GMT -6
It was definitely an amazing sight to see someone get so close to Phantom so quickly. The only other person that the wyvern let touch him like that was Gaius himself. He wondered who exactly this woman was and how she managed to do so. Perhaps Phantom just felt safe around this woman, she did appear to mean no harm to anyone but still. Gaius couldn't exactly put his finger on it, though it was completely possibly that Phantom saw something in the woman that Gaius didn't. Wouldn't be the first time the wyvern was able to pick up on something faster than his rider.
Gaius watched in awe as the wyvern nuzzled the woman's hands, enjoying her touch. Phantom was fine with the woman being as close as she was, even enjoying it. The only human interaction he had that was on a friendly basis was his rider so it was a nice change of pace to find another human that appeared to be as kind as his rider. Though Phantom figured this human didn't have the same issues his rider had. Gaius couldn't help but continue to wonder if this woman had a history with wyverns as it definitely appeared so.
"I know right. I've been with this wyvern for years and never seen him get like that to someone so quickly. Feel like she should teach me her secrets," Gaius said jokingly in response to the man near him, though not initially knowing that he was there. When it appeared that the woman had noticed the two men near the wall Gaius began to slowly move toward her and Phantom, studying the woman as he moved. The way she stood, the way she spoke, the current condition of her armor, it told Gaius a few things about this person.
Definitely a traveler and it appeared as though she was on her own though Gaius was concerned about that as it looked like she could take care of herself in a fight. He noticed the lance and smirk a bit, always nice to see someone who shared your choice of weapon. Now how good she was with it would make this observation even more pleasant in the long run. Too many people nowadays just grabbed a weapon and figured they could master it in a day or two. No one ever too in the consideration the amount of training and dedication it took to master a weapon, hell Gaius wasn't even call himself a master.
"No, no, the pleasure is all mine," Gaius said as he placed a hand on Phantom, petting the wyvern as he got a bit closer to Armitage. "Not many people can walk up to my partner here and get a response like you did. Either you've got some tasty treats on you or there's something special about you that he's pick up on. Probably the latter though," The wyvern rider said with a smile on his face as he continued to pet Phantom.
"This handsome fellow right here is Phantom," Gaius began as the wyvern then let out a low humming sound which was the wyvern's way of saying hello. "And I'm his rider Gaius, it's a pleasure to meet you Armitage," It had been a while since Gaius let met someone that he found enjoyable. Most people he either met it was for a job or just a passerby so limited interaction there. Before the man would have anything else to say he would be distracted by sounds coming from where he had dropped off his delivery.
It was then that two men fully donned in armor began to approach the group, though one ran right past them. "Excuse me but you are all have been summoned on behalf of the mayor of the town to come to the town hall in the center of the port! It's quite urgent and you will no one is allowed to leave or enter the port town until further notice!" The armored man said, showing obvious signs of haste and worry as if something terrible just happened, before he ran past the group and headed inside the building, shouting soon to be heard. Gaius was quite annoyed at the last part, despite being quite confused.
Who were they to tell Gaius when he could and couldn't not leave? What was stopping him from mounting Phantom right now and just taking off? Though if he was summonded to meet the mayor than maybe he should, could be an opportunity to make some much needed money. Where was the other one headed? Gaius took a look and noticed the other guard approach a man heading toward a wagon. "Excuse me sir!" The guard began as he approached Valcrist. "I'm sorry to tell you this but as of now the process of clearing your papers has halted until further notice as you have been called to the town hall in the center of the port town!" And with that the guard was gone, heading off to tell more the same message he just told Valcrist.
Gaius wasn't one to stick around in a town for too long after he finished a job but after meeting Armitage and now this message, this place was starting to get a bit more interesting the longer he stayed here. Whatever was going on in this town wasn't all that much of Gaius' concern but he figured there was no harm in entertaining whatever this Etrurian official wanted. As long as it wasn't a complete waste of his time. Though it wasn't like Gaius had anything else better to do with his time, but what did they want? If they were gathering everyone in town then there had to be some kind of emergency right?
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Orys Durrandon
Wyvern Rider
Posts: 107
Profession: The Ambitious Rider
Affinity: Fire
OoC Alias: Oleg
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Post by Orys Durrandon on Aug 23, 2014 17:25:19 GMT -6
Orys simply grunted his answer, still holding his leg a bit as he leaned against the wall. "Mrhgn... I am Orys Durrandon." Sure, his name might have never been asked, but it was best to spread his name. Maybe in future, people would flock to him simply by hearing his name. After quickly examining the female with his eyes, he simply turned his attention to the wyvern. It was a fine specimen, but to him, it could not beat Balerion.
His ears flickered a bit as the guardsman came about. Summoned? By the mayor? He wasn't blind to all of the world's politics. He had known that coming to Etruria would make his life VERY difficult. But if he now tried to flee, he could get into trouble. But going could also mean death. His eyes simply darted from Armitage to Gaius.
Meanwhile, outside of the city...
Balerion dug in on the deer meat. He let out a few satisfied snarls and grunts in between bites, blood and bits of meat falling from his jaw. He then turned his head towards where he came from, beginning to stomp out of the forest.
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Post by Armitage Apolithymius on Aug 23, 2014 22:31:53 GMT -6
Armitage let a smile warm her face as she was complimented. She knew she had a bit of uniqueness in the way she could approach a wyvern. Unfortunately, that’s where her gift began and ended. Perhaps they could identify the fire inside her. Perhaps it was the amount of respect that openly poured out of her for the creature. Whatever the case may be she could always get close, but never really ride. She mused over what Gaius said—the way he spoke of Phantom made it seem like he was quite the unruly beast. At the moment though she enjoyed his sweetness.
“Phantom, hmm? Makes sense! Probably just as swift and deadly as one! Pleasure to meet you Phantom. And you too Gaius.“ Her eyes then fell to the third of their party. “Are you alright there Orys? That scuffle get the better of ya!”
Before she was able to continue to engage in any witty banter, she was interrupted by messenger. His voice was a bit grating but his message was exciting. The mayor?! Great! This is exactly what Armitage wanted! Her mind raced as she wondered what the meaning of her summons was. Rid the land of bandits? Chase down a rogue general? Take down some pirates? All likely reasons and also all things mayors tended to reward exorbitantly. A common trait she noticed among mayors is that a lot of times they had no idea how much to pay for that sort of physical labor. Sometimes they would lowball but usually they overpaid. And you could usually negotiate more depending on how desperate the situation!
“Sounds great! Hey we should all go together! If they need us to do some merc work I’d love to see Phantom in action” Her eyes went from the wyvern to Gaius as she tried not to seem too excited. “I’d love to just stay and chit chat but I have a hard time turning down the potential for money to be made!”
Her enthusiasm was a bit more palpable than she would have liked. Perhaps it was a recent dry spell of good work. Or perhaps it was still the endorphins from being so close to a wyvern. Regardless she was happy and now feeling a bit antsy. Without really waiting for an entire response she headed off toward the center of town with a bit of a hop in her step. She turned back to Orys and Gaius and gave a playful wave to follow.
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Post by Valcrist on Aug 24, 2014 3:29:46 GMT -6
"Hrm?" There was some kind of commotion going on, he could hear the telltale clink clanking of steel on steel that was made when someone hustled in full plate, he turned around only to see a heavily armored man running towards him. Oh hell, was he getting arrested? He didn't even know what for, but with Etruria they didn't need a reason. He sort of flinched at the sight, almost reaching for his blade, but he managed to stop himself. Calm down Valcrist, hear what it was first. Then murder him. Well if he wanted to arrest him, actually murder's a little much, just knock him out a little. Bonk him on his little steel helmet like 'tonk' give him a nasty headache yes it would.
"Excuse me sir! I'm sorry to tell you this but as of now the process of clearing your papers has halted until further notice as you have been called to the town hall in the center of the port town!"
"Eh?" He sort of stared at the man with confusion in his eyes, before he scurried off for some reason or another. Oh boy. He couldn't even ask what that was about, he'd have to go to this 'meeting' and probably get involved in something he didn't want to and why does this always happen? He justed wanted to make and sell weapons. That isn't too much to ask for, was it? He had a nasty habit of getting himself caught up in things larger than himself, oh well it wasn't too surprising at the least. Might as well lean into it, if he doesn't have a choice. Though he'd like to see them try and stop him from leaving, he wasn't exactly the type to do such a thing, not to mention it might make his business in the country... difficult. Or easier. Etruria was weird.
He looked towards the other folk, the ones with the wyvern, who seem to have received a similar message and shrugged. Though none of them were looking at him at the moment, so he was shrugging to no one. He let out a sigh and ran his hand through his hair as he moved forward. The armored woman seemed to be hopping off towards the center of town, so yup they were told to gather there as well. They probably told everyone, maybe they were anticipating an attack and were forming a militia? Or something. He wasn't a very tactically minded person. At least it seemed he wasn't singled out in particular, so he didn't need to worry about Etruria blackmailing him with some sordid details of his past, as they are want to do.
"You guys too huh?" He said as he passed by, heading towards what was certainly his doom.
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Post by Gaius Balmung on Aug 25, 2014 16:25:38 GMT -6
Well it sure seemed that Armitage was enthusiastic about this whole thing, completely opposite from what Gaius currently felt about the situation. She did have a good point though, it was never all that smart to turn away from the opportunity from making some money and while Gaius wanted to leave this place making some extra coin wasn't too bad. Besides, they barely paid him for the delivery so bleeding these guys out for some extra change wouldn't weigh too much on Gaius' conscious. It had been a while since Gaius and Phantom got in some good action so that would also be a reason to go if things were going to lead to that.
The blue haired man looked to his wyvern to see his reaction. If Phantom didn't want to be bother with this then Gaius would have to change his options. There wasn't much arguing with the wyvern whenever he made his mind up about something. Luckily it seemed that Phantom didn't care all that much either way, though he was a bit more interested in the woman than anything else which wasn't surprising. Gaius was interested in too and wanted to get to know more about her but for now there was other pressing matters.
Before Gaius would move, to go in the same direction of Armitage, he turned to Orys. The guy didn't look like he could walk all that well and Gaius was feeling rather nice at the moment. "If you plan on heading over there and need some help I'm sure Phantom here wouldn't mind helping you make it faster," Gaius said before starting to move. Phantom would wait for Orys to decided whether or not he needed assistance before following behind his rider. Gaius on the other hand didn't really care either way if the guy made it or not, less people to take his money.
Gaius walked toward the center of the port town, eyeing the blonde that was passing him. "Figure you've got no clue as to what's going on either," Gaius wasn't expecting a response from this and just said the first thing that came to his mind. Didn't take long for Gaius to notice that a lot of the men from the building he was just at were now running out, dressed as if a war was about to break out. Though if he knew what was about to happen maybe he'd understand a bit more.
Anyone who was either currently at or going to town hall could hear the sounds of people talking and the crowd that was swarming inside of it. On the inside of the building people were gather about in front of a stage where the Etrurian mayor stood, guards littered throughout the hall to maintain order. Many armed people would also be inside, most of the being sellswords and mercenaries that were either hired by the Etrurians or were just passing through this town. It was obvious that there was a lot of tension in the building besides the looks on the guards faces.
Whatever the mayor had gathered everyone here for was clearly unknown as there was a lot of chit chat going on between everyone inside about the purpose of why they were there. The mayor was standing upon the stage but was stalling for some reason. The man was sweating bullets and pacing about the stage, looking for an escape from the position that he was in. After everyone finished pouring in and everything to settled would the man talk, but that was after the fact that a guard had came up to him and whispered something.
Gaius would make himself positioned in the back of the hall closest to the door as he always preferred to be in the back. He looked around to everyone that had gathered around noticing how odd it was that it was so easy to separate mercenaries and guards from normal townsfolk, it didn't even look like there were many townsfolk in here. Something was definitely up and Gaius would have preferred it if the guy on the stage would hurry up and say whatever the hell it was that he had to say so they could get moving.
"Erm," The mayor would grunt, clearing his throat and trying to gather everyone's attention. "So I'm sure you're all aware of the current situation plaguing or beloved town," He began stumbling a bit due to his nervousness which was plastered all over his face. "Bandits and pirates have made it hell for anyone to leave or enter this town by land or by sea and we had this problem under control thanks to our fine guards but there seems to be a bigger issue," The mayor took a pause, not exactly sure how to say what he was going to say next.
"Recently a large group of pirates had attacked a few of our ships, taking them for themselves and raiding them for whatever was valuable on them. Now there were many valuable things on those ships along with many fine men and women who are now being held hostage for a large ransom," Gaius took note that the way the man mentioned the hostages made it sound as if he didn't really care but was focused more so on the valuables. "And until we figure this situation out no one is allowed to leave or come into the town! So I need volunteers to go recapture the ships and bring back the hostages and valuables! You'll be paid handsomely," And with that the man was done with his spiel and waited to see who would be willing to take on this task.
Unknown to about everyone in the room was the fact that the man was lying through his teeth. While there were raided ships there was no hostages, at least to his knowledge. Even if there are it wasn't like he was going to cake much about them. The mayor was in a tight spot as there were a lot of important documents on one of the ships and if they didn't come back the mayor was probably a dead man. There was also the frustration of the fact that no one had made it back alive so this was practically a suicide mission.
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Post by Armitage Apolithymius on Aug 25, 2014 17:23:43 GMT -6
"Hi. Name's Armitage!"
She introduced herself to the new blonde haired man that had wandered toward their group. She overheard the guard mention something about trading licenses to him and had a bit of interest in trading and mercantile. Recently she was making a habit of traveling quite often and was looking to take advantage of that 'buy low sell high' technique. Nonetheless it never hurt to make a couple more acquaintances. As she continued walking backwards she eyed up the rag-tag bunch that seemed to quickly gather. It had been awhile since she felt like she was apart of something bigger than a solo venture and it was a welcome change of pace. Sometimes she never quite realized how lonely she was.
Moving into the building, Armitage resisted her urge to run right up to the front of the crowd. She normally loved to be at the head of things like this but was not so eager to part from her new found party. Lucky for her she was tall but she still stood on her tip toes and moved to and fro to get a better view from the back of the crowd as people filtered in. She figured she must look like an anxious teen but couldn't shake that giddiness in her spirit. She let a laugh slip out at herself. Armitage admitted that she was getting far more excited for this than the situation warranted.
A bit of a hush fell over the room as the mayor spoke. He was anxious; pacing, erratic breathing, eyes constantly moving, and fingers fidgeting. His nerves were clearly on edge and the way he told his story made it seem like it would be more believable if he farted it over the crowd. This might have bothered a normal person but Armitage really only heard a few key words anyway; valuable things and paid handsomely. Now Armitage never thought she was one to preen over money--maybe it was her recent shortcomings. Maybe it was because if she had to eat bread, deer meat, and drink plain water for one more night she would probably overdose on the stuff. For some reason though, this offer made her almost jump out of the crowd. I KNEW this would happen! Armitage's mind yelled to herself.
"We'll do it!!" Armitage exclaimed, waving an arm in the air. She quickly realized the burden of choice she conveniently removed from her new group. It wasn't completely on purpose; Armitage was known to be impulsive and headstrong, eager to prove. She turned a bit slightly to face Gaius and Orys. "You aren't the kind of guys that back down from a challenge right?" Armitage said, goading the guys a bit. Hopefully, even if they didn't particularly want to do it, they would try to impress her. Although a bit cocky, Armitage hoped she was right. "Phantom, you won't leave me go alone right love?" She spoke lowly to her new wyvern friend. A bit presumptuous of their relationship, sure, but she was excited!
"The great Armitage The Enduring of the family Apolithymius will save the day in no time!"
Armitage gloated as she gave her lance a couple thumps on the ground. She was pontificating now. Her mind swirled with excitement. She thought of Gaius and Orys and if they would be up for helping her. She also wondered if they'd be open to holding onto the money and potentially extorting a bit more money out of the mayor. It is simple to assume that as long as her ransom was a deal less than the bandits, the mayor should forfeit it easy. Some might see that as wrong but to Armitage, it was just money. She wouldn't keep the hostages of course, just the valuables. As long as what the mayor was paying is more than what the valuables were worth, she was sure she could go home happy. There was a flash of self-consciousness in the pit of her stomach. She worried, ever so briefly, that her new party members would think her ridiculous for volunteering them so quickly and without consult that they would simply leave her. For the most part, she ignored this concern.
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Orys Durrandon
Wyvern Rider
Posts: 107
Profession: The Ambitious Rider
Affinity: Fire
OoC Alias: Oleg
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Post by Orys Durrandon on Aug 26, 2014 7:33:36 GMT -6
Orys folded his arms, listening to the Mayor. Something seemed off about his whole speech, but it was just probably the man's nerves. Phah, a true leader would not break under this kind of pressure. A true leader would handle this issue by themselves! This trail of thought ended quickly once this woman, Armitage, yes, offered herself, the rider of Phantom and himself as people who would help.
He furrowed his eyebrows for a moment, grunting for a moment. He then nodded. "Aye, I'll help. Even with a very hurt leg." He then quickly placed his hand on her shoulder, speaking lower. "You owe me a favor for this."
Meanwhile, outside of the city...
Balerion snarled. He sensed that he was needed somewhere. His rider? Orys. Orys would need him. And with that, the wyvern sprung into air.
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