Edrick
Shaman
Even in darkness one can devote themself to the light.
Posts: 114
Sacae Fame: 1
Profession: Jack of all Trades
Affinity: Light
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Post by Edrick on Feb 2, 2014 19:48:10 GMT -6
It was a nice quiet day and there was a cool breeze rolling down from the mountains. It seemed so serene at this town despite all the chaos that seemed to ravage the rest of this land. It was enough to make a person just want to stand there and soak in the peace and quiet forever. But this wasn't the time, there were things to do. This town had all it needed to survive, it had farms, a black smith, a general store, a guard tower, a small market place, a pub, and what seemed like someone of every trade to do what was needed. It was a nice respite, too bad he wouldn't be able to enjoy it longer. He was just passing through to see if he could pick up "bodyguards", although he could take care of himself there had been rumors of bandits nearby and mercenaries were gathering here, so there had to be SOME danger about.
Passing through the market Edrick took in all of the sights and smells of the area, the baked goods, the fruits, the meats, the weapons of all kinds, it was almost a shame that he was fully stocked and ready to go. He Looked down at some particularly nice swords, nice enough to make him almost regret having to give up swordplay. Without saying a word he gives a nod of approval, pulls his hood off and fixes his hair. Noticing that without his hood he seemed to be catching others attentions, most of them female, he met all of the glances back but they all looked either down or away. Why? Continuing to the to the most likely place mercenaries would hang out Edrick comes upon the tavern. Walking in more people glance his way, again with the glancing. It gets annoying meeting everyone's eyes. Raising his voice to a level just above the lowly murmur he spoke with an unwavering tone. "Excuse me, I am looking for some people to accompany me to an area to the north of here."
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Post by Valcrist on Feb 2, 2014 21:31:19 GMT -6
"You're going to have to speak up, no one's going to hear you if you mumble." Valcrist dancingly descended from the heavens and sidled up to this new man. (actually he was sitting at a nearby table enjoying some drink, but that was much less entertaining) When he walked in Val did a little double look. Then a triple. Then he looked at his alcohol, then back at the man. Confused. Painfully so, was it really who he thought it was? Seriously? Super seriously? Valcrist needed to punch this guy in the face. Or talk to him at least, maybe punching's a bit much Val. Stop being violent. You're a mean drunk. His dark tan face didn't get all red and blushed after a few drinks, but that was mostly because it's really hard to tell if he was blushing or not. He was a little tipsy though.
"I know you, Edrick the pale right? I have something I wanna talk to you about." He gestured to his humble table. "As for your little travel bodyguard thing, I can probably take care of that no problem. We can work out the details later, first I gotta talk to you though. It's important." It wasn't actually that important. Still, even in Val's somewhat addled mind, he had some questions he wanted to ask the man. Mostly about that town he ran into him so long before, when he just sort of ignored him. Which was rude, but what was more important is that he wanted to know what happened later.
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Edrick
Shaman
Even in darkness one can devote themself to the light.
Posts: 114
Sacae Fame: 1
Profession: Jack of all Trades
Affinity: Light
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Post by Edrick on Feb 3, 2014 15:21:26 GMT -6
"You're going to have to speak up, no one's going to hear you if you mumble." A man, who was clearly enjoying the tavern's spirits a bit too much, said from a nearby table. "Well apparently it was enough for you to hear, so that's good for now." The man looked familiar but Edrick just couldn't put his finger on it. He must have seen him before someplace, but it wasn't enough to put a name in his head. Oh well, time to just pretend like he's a new person.
"I know you, Edrick the pale right? I have something I wanna talk to you about." The man said as he gestured to his table. "As for your little travel bodyguard thing, I can probably take care of that no problem. We can work out the details later, first I gotta talk to you though. It's important." Well it seemed he knew Edrick from the arena, as that was his "show name". He really hated the guy who named him that. The Pale. Wonder how long THAT will stick. But anyway, the man wanted something. " You do?" Edrick asked as he sat down across the table from the man, beckoning to the waiter to bring over a couple of waters. " Well okay, what did you need to talk about?" He said ha he met his gaze with a bit of interest, what could this man want to talk about?
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Post by Valcrist on Feb 8, 2014 23:43:03 GMT -6
"You got me there." Valcrist laughed as he took a seat, waiting for Edrick to join him. You see, the average man would probably have forgotten such a thing, since everything that happened after that tourny just pushed everything out of everyone's minds. It was large, it was chaotic, it killed, dragons were involved, kind of hard to remember a novice shaman's bout near the beginning of the tournament. He doubt that anyone would even remember him, for that matter, but he didn't want to take that chance. Even in his clearly inebriated state, however, he clung unto such useless auxiliary information that really did no good for anyone. That included people's silly stage names, and his inability to ever forget a face just compounded on his occasional 'call out to random people when drunk' thing he does from time to time. Still this time was with a purpose, so he'll probably not regret it later.
"Look, you were in that... uh... town in Bern right? Aw shoot, what was it's name?" He crumpled his face in, and begin to snap his fingers a bit, as if it might jumpstart his stalled memory. Shortly later, perhaps a bit too shortly really, he just shrugged and grumbled. "Ahhh, whatever. Doesn't matter really. It was that one place after the bern dragon thing, with lots of refugees and junk. It was like a giant jar of pickles, but with like fifty pickles too many." He delicately explained it, hoping Eddy would remember it. It was kinda hard to forget after all. "I saw you there, I tried to talk to ya, but you ignored me." He recounted, but waved a hand in front of his face with a laugh. "That's not what's important now though. Still, it's rude to ignore people ya know? Oh well, what I wanted to ask..." He stopped speaking just before asking, the words trailing off in the air, his goofy grin became a much more somber frown. It was as if the words themselves had a slight sobering effect, it was hard to remain carefree when your care's caught up with you after all. "There was a terrorist attack there, right? The rebellion, from what I hear. I left the city just before that happened, so I didn't see it myself, what... what happened?"
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Edrick
Shaman
Even in darkness one can devote themself to the light.
Posts: 114
Sacae Fame: 1
Profession: Jack of all Trades
Affinity: Light
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Post by Edrick on Feb 22, 2014 1:05:21 GMT -6
"You got me there." The man chuckled sitting down at the table. "Look, you were in that... uh... town in Bern right? Aw shoot, what was it's name?" The man asked his face twisted in thought while he snapped his fingers. After a little bit it seemed that he just gave up. "Ahhh, whatever. Doesn't matter really. It was that one place after the bern dragon thing, with lots of refugees and junk. It was like a giant jar of pickles, but with like fifty pickles too many. I saw you there, I tried to talk to ya, but you ignored me." The man explained roughly, but suddenly he waved a hand in front of his face with a laugh. "That's not what's important now though. Still, it's rude to ignore people ya know? Oh well, what I wanted to ask..." The man stopped speaking, his words trailing off in the air, his goofy grin became a much more somber frown. This man seemed to be all over the place. He probably was just another drunk, it would be surprising if he knew how to fight at all. "There was a terrorist attack there, right? The rebellion, from what I hear. I left the city just before that happened, so I didn't see it myself, what... what happened?"
"Did you try to talk to me? I'm sorry I was a bit busy, I had kinda snuck out of the city after it had been put into a lockdown, I was afraid they might have sent someone after me. " Truthfully Edrick didn't even know which place he was talking about; almost all of the towns he was at after that event was filled to the brim with people fleeing the city.
"You want to know what happened at the arena?" Just thinking about all of the carnage that happened during that time was enough to make any sane man cringe; he was able to feel a sense of peace though knowing that he had saved couple of people's lives. Heck, the cake he got from a lady for saving her husband wasn't too bad either. "Well the tournament was going swimmingly aside from the occasional fight where someone was killed or died soon after. The first rounds were quite peaceful, well about as peaceful as people fighting each other can get. The second round however was were thing began to get interesting. I ended up getting eliminated in the second round by someone who went by the name 'The Volcano'; the worst part is that he din't even touch me, I ended up losing focus of my magic. It's a painful thing dark magic." Edrick said shaking his head a bit.That match was horrible, it showed an arena full of people just how inept he was at magic compared to others. If only something else had happened. He needed to find that man again for a rematch when he gets stronger if anything just to redeem himself.
In his pause the waitress came over and set down the two waters he had ordered. He slid one over to the man."Here drink up, Well you probably didn't care to hear that part about me but oh well, now to get to the main part." He took a drink of his water and then set the glass down. "Well everything started late into the second round; it was a good fight between two people, I believe they were called the rising lance and the lost swordsman.From what I had heard afterwards,for they would not let me out of the infirmary, in the middle of the fight The Lost Swordsman's sword had shattered and he had given up. Taking a short break he drank more of his water to wet his pallet; talking so much was starting to dry it out. Or he could just be dehydrated, meh. "After that, from what I could gather although no one could agree on their story someone clad in green came in and attacked The Rising Lance. I can't say if she survived or not as I've heard it both ways. But somehow, I don't know if- or even how it could be related but than a dragon apparently appeared and started attacking people as everyone was running around killing each other. Just thinking about how blatantly people disregarded each other's lives just for the adrenalin rush of a fight made him angry, being angry was never a good thing for Edrick, it made him not nice, time to calm down. "It was around that time that I left the infirmary, I was able to get a few people back in to safety but then I left to see the dragon. I mean seriously, how often is one able to witness the appearance of such an ancient being? By the time I got out there there were multiple out there engaging the dragon, I believe I had saw The Lost swordsman, The maiden of the blade, and even the man who'd beaten me, The Volcano. I noticed that two of them had weapons that seemed to be magical of origin, you don't simply find those every day. But The Maiden'd blade didn't appear magic but it must have been special to pierce those scales. Reaching into his pack he brought out a bunch of scales that he'd picked up after the fight."See these? These are some scales I'd been able to pick up, they are extremely strong yet light, not even with all my strength can I break one." He said showing it by bending them before putting them back in his pack."But anyways I say the dragon kinda seemed more scared, it looked like it was fighting defensively,, not really too aggressively considering it was a dragon. But soon after the dragon fell the guards moved in and started putting some people down and cleaning up the mess. And I think that's just about it." And with that Edrick picked up his glass and drank it while leaning back into the chair. "But what is your name since you already know mine? And why's you have to leave after the first rounds? Or can you tell me that?
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Post by Valcrist on Feb 28, 2014 19:18:28 GMT -6
Edrick completely misunderstood Valcrist's question, which only proved he knew nothing about the attack, which was both a relief and a pain in the patookis. The somewhat drunk artist took in a heavy breath and let out an equally heavy sigh as he listened to the man's recounting of the arena incident. Not what he was hoping for but still interesting in it's own right, it was nice to hear about the situation from another person's point of view, and call him self-centered it was also sorta nice to hear people mentioned how 'he' fought against the dragon. He mentioned how his sword broke and how Val gave up, it wasn't really that simple Valcrist just realized that no matter how hard he tried he would have lost that battle and preferred to finish it then rather than fight a battle with no victory that could have ended his life, he saw another man's life ended in that tournament shortly before his bout... maybe it unnerved him. Still it wasn't a choice he regretted, since it allowed him to aid in the big ole brawl that broke out shortly thereafter.
He talked about the dragon, about Valcrist's windsword, and the drunk man simply nodded along wordless, humming in a sort of strange way. Then he finished off by asking a few questions that had answers Valcrist planned in advance so he had no problem answering them. "Oh I'm Valcrist, I was running a weapon stall outside the arena. You might have seen it, I'm a blacksmith." He simply explain with a shrug. "There was a bit of a crisis involving a thief and I had to leave the arena right before the riot broke out. Got lucky there I suppose, perhaps I should thank that thief even if he stole all my gold, at least I got out alive." He finished the blatant lie. Perhaps a small part of him felt guilty over lying, that part however was drowned out by the even louder part of him that was busy being drunk.
He didn't bother to bring up the town he really wanted to know about again, if this guy didn't remember that then it was clear he knew nothing about it. Instead he dove into another topic. "So, whatcha need a bodyguard for? Make some enemies? Going someplace dangerous? Have a bad habit of running into bandit camps by accident? Lemme tell you, those bandits can really sneak up on ya. I once was just walking down the road and BAM I found myself fighting like twenty bandits, it's crazy."
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Edrick
Shaman
Even in darkness one can devote themself to the light.
Posts: 114
Sacae Fame: 1
Profession: Jack of all Trades
Affinity: Light
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Post by Edrick on Mar 1, 2014 14:42:42 GMT -6
"Well it's a pleasure to meet you Valcrist. I've always wanted to learn how to smith, but my parents said it didn't suit me." Yeah right, they just didn't want him doing commoners' work. Even though it had always seemed like fun, and a useful thing to know how to do. Maybe someday he'll get someone to teach him how do to it. "But a thief stole your money? I wouldn't be thanking him too much unless it kept you out of the arena, it didn't quite spill out into the city. I think they just wanted to trap certain people in when they shut off the city. I bet they got away though, for I got out quite easily." It's actually quite surprising that it did stay in the arena. Violence isn't something that can usually be easily tamed, especially when a dragon and an arena full of people high on blood lust is involved.
Then Valcrist finally asked what he needed the bodyguard for."Well, I'd rather not talk about that around here, too many ears. Do you know of anyplace more quiet?" Edrick spoke in a hushed tone. There was a goo chance that Valcrist wouldn't believe him, he'd only read about this place in extremely old tomes and there was a good chance that it didn't even exist. But if people didn't take chances like this how much stuff would they miss out on.
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Marric
Fighter
Oi there! Brigand! Let me axe you a question, eh?
Posts: 79
Profession: Mercenary / Fugitive
OoC Alias: Gus
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Post by Marric on Mar 1, 2014 16:28:34 GMT -6
A tall young fighter wearing an bernic axe on his back would overhear the two, he was rather muscular but compared to other axe users he was scrawny. He'd approach them hoping to find some work, seeing one looked like a scholar, and the other capable enough, he'd hope to provide a bit more muscle to whatever they had planned.
I know a place you could use. It ain't nothing much to look at but its private enough.
He'd come into the conversation after waiting for the best moment to do so. Marric would size the two up with a closer view and offered a friendly smile.
Name's Marric, heard a bit of your conversation, i'd like to offer my services. His garb would be that of a mercenary, his scars would add to his air of professionalism, but his youth might stand out as a misnomer.
My price is fair, but if you don't want to hire me, you can still use my place.
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Post by Valcrist on Mar 6, 2014 1:58:18 GMT -6
"Yeah it got my butt out of that arena before it became a death arena, or something. I guess I didn't explain that all that well, I don't explain things too good." Valcrist laughed, not nervously like he usually might, but instead freely. "Private? Well we could go to-" Valcrist began muttering but stopped when he noticed the man start to walk up. "Oh hey there! Decided to talk to us did you?" Valcrist waved with a big dumb grin, he noticed the man listening in on them earlier but didn't really pay it much mind. People listen in to everything everywhere, so it was more impressive that he actually came in to the conversation rather then sitting on the sidelines the entire time. Valcrist opened his mouth to say something but... he sort of forgot what he was gonna say. Oh well, probably wasn't important.
"Well hello there Marric. Nice to meetya, I'm Valcrist and this is Edrick as you may have overheard." Valcrist grinned. "If you're offering, I'll take it. You'd have to speak to Ed about the job, but I'm not greedy so I don't mind if you join or not." He looked around a bit emptymindedly, as if he was expecting someone else to come out of the walls and offer to join them as well. No one did, obviously, so he just shrugged. "So where's your place?"
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Edrick
Shaman
Even in darkness one can devote themself to the light.
Posts: 114
Sacae Fame: 1
Profession: Jack of all Trades
Affinity: Light
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Post by Edrick on Apr 3, 2014 19:05:13 GMT -6
Edrick turned to face the newcomer to the conversation. He was a man a little bit shorter than Edrick and about as large. He appeared to wield an axe, or maybe it was just for show. Who knows?"Pleasure to meet you Marric. I don't believe I've mentioned pay though, but I'd be glad to use the room. And you may of course listen in and if it piques your interest I'll gladly take you along. Edrick spoke to Marric. This man seemed interesting at the least. Hopefully he would decide to go along; it might not be so good if there was any competition trying to go to where he planned to go. Payment would be a problem, but there would probably be bandits with some sort of bounty on their head there, they could split that.
Finishing the rest of his water Edrick stood up and spoke to Marric. "So where is this room? Lead away. Hopefully the inebriated Valcrist would be able to walk, for it would be quite tedious to carry him. But Edrick would be ready, willing, and capable of doing it if necessary. It isn't too easy to find arms around here after all it seemed.
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Marric
Fighter
Oi there! Brigand! Let me axe you a question, eh?
Posts: 79
Profession: Mercenary / Fugitive
OoC Alias: Gus
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Post by Marric on Apr 6, 2014 23:07:58 GMT -6
Don't worry about the payment, I'm more than interested already. He greeted both the men with a fist to his chest in a casual salute. The blonde one seemed incredibly tough after Marric had a closer look at him, much more skilled than he at least. The other seemed fairly adept as well, and both were nice to boot. (at least they were acting like it)
And yeah, come this way; its right down the road. He led them (had they even followed him in the first place) to a large building crammed with windows that badly needed to be refurbished. He pushed on the flimsy the front door, and it creaked open. He led them through a run down complex of doors and screaming couples; akin to an apartment of sorts; or an inn. But this was a little shadier than those things. It was a boarding house for those down on their luck, too poor to afford housing or those too frugal to buy a room elsewhere. Marric led them up a flight of stairs and to a door smacked in the middle of two others. they were oddly scrunched into the stair case landing that was hardly room enough for fifteen men. He used a rusty key on his belt to open the door, and much like the first it creaked open as well.
Sorry for the shoddy conditions of this place, I'm an Ilian you see; I'm trying to save up the most I can to send back home. He offered the apology sincerely.
Its a good enough place for this type of meeting, though; quiet and private, once you close the door that is. He chuckled at this last bit and offered for them to walk in first.
The room wasn't hardly as bad as one would expect. It was rather nice compared to the building it resided in anyway. It was small, but comfortable enough for three. There was a small table, an un-made bed, and a bookshelf that was empty save for three thin books. Of course, it had a few more effects, but these would have stood out the most. Marric went to grab a box off matches off the table and lit three candles situated around the room giving a better lighting of the place. The drapes over the windows seemed ancient, and blocked out the sun just enough to justify lighting the wax torchs. Marric would have opened them instead, but the view acrossed from the room was fairly unsightly. He'd learned this when he opened them his first day and saw the women and children on the roof of the short adjacent building disposing of waste buckets.
Take a seat, trust me they're sturdy enough to hold a fat man after a feast! Marric chuckled again and took a seat, and if the others wished it he wouldn't speak up if they took a small tour of the place or perused his few books he had placed on the shelf.
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Edrick
Shaman
Even in darkness one can devote themself to the light.
Posts: 114
Sacae Fame: 1
Profession: Jack of all Trades
Affinity: Light
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Post by Edrick on Apr 26, 2014 16:13:29 GMT -6
As Marric was leading them through the town Edrick caught some murmurings of Hargus, the bandit king, being returned and the fact that he was about to attack Kenshin's city of heroes. This could be bad. It would most likely be even more important than what he was currently, and this could wait.
Once Marric had gotten them inside he turned to the two men. "I'm sorry about this guys, but I heard some disturbing rumors outside. Apparently the city of heroes is going to be attacked by Hargus. I want to help defend it. I'll be leaving towards the city now, hopefully I'll see you guys here. And about this trip? If you guys will, I'll be back here in about 2 months. If you guys want to help meet back in the tavern then. See you later." And with that Edrick walked outside and began his long run to the city of heroes.
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Post by Valcrist on Apr 29, 2014 15:24:32 GMT -6
To be honest Valcrist didn't care all too much about Edrick's hasty departure. He didn't care much about anything really as somewhere along the way he simply checked out and fell asleep from drinking too much. This was not reflective of anything that was said, or would be said, in fact by the time Valcrist would wake there's a very good chance he simply would not even remember any of this, just another foggy dreams that didn't quite make the cut into his long term memory. Oh well, that's how it goes sometimes. Edrick was gone, and without him the other guy was sure to not care enough to bother the now unconscious blacksmith.
In the morning (or rather an hour or so from now when the bartender kicks him out before he stumbles to his room) when he wakes, he would probably just pack up and wander off somewhere. He was getting really good at that lately.
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