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Post by Armitage Apolithymius on Sept 9, 2014 15:25:10 GMT -6
”The Lycian military has records on anyone who makes a splash, even if they aren’t particularly an enemy at the time, as they could be one in the future! I wouldn’t worry about it though...” As Orys began to land, Armitage let her excitement get to her and almost ran off. She had tunnel vision. All the promises of battle and future gold were starting to go to her head. She stopped abruptly and turned to face the group again.
"Oops! I guess after yelling my name out, I forgot I never actually introduced myself..." Armitage spoke with a laugh. "I am Armitage Apolithymius!" Great pride in her name--she would scream it if you let her. "I hail from Laus but have been traveling as a mercenary for fun...Recently I've started trying to learn how to buy trinkets from one country and sell them to another for some quick pocket coin.” Armitage was more focused on where she was going, not the journey that was behind her.
After introducing herself, Armitage started to make her way towards the new wyvern that was in her company. Oh, all this wyvern action was making her blush. She approached this new wyvern more casually; they were in a more comfortable setting and she wasn’t completely unknown now. She still cooed softly at it, and approach with open, non-aggressive, body posture. Her hand motioned outward, open palm, toward the wyvern, hoping to receive its greeting. It was then she realized Orys never introduced his wyvern--he had mentioned his name sure, but addressed it like a belonging. Poor fella.
"Hello there beautiful... Very nice to meet you, Balerion."
Speaking of conversational strangeness--a weird thought struck Armitage. Her mind drifted to Valcrist; the man made such a stink about needing to get his papers through and not usually being into this sort of thing, but yet he identified himself not as a merchant, but as a swordsman and blacksmith. Very peculiar indeed. He definitely had some secrets to keep, Armitage respected that, as long as he was reliable in battle, Armitage didn’t particularly care about what he may have been hiding.
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Post by Valcrist on Sept 9, 2014 22:16:30 GMT -6
So Gaius, Orys, and Armitage Apolithymius. Wow, that last one was a mouthful. He wasn't the type to go around giving people little pet names, but he'll make an exception this time and call her Army. Or Armi. Well the spelling didn't matter when it came to sounds, but the first one might confuse him if he ever wrote it anywhere. "It's nice to meet you all." Valcris said with a friendly sort of grin. He was a touch inconsistent in his demeanor, but that wasn't particularly new or anything. A bit ago he was grumpy and standoffish, and now he was trying to make an effort to be polite. It was more effort than it was worth to be bitter about this whole thing, by this point he simply just accepted. If he was going to do this, might as well enjoy it, right?
He gave a wary aside look at the flying creatures, his brow knitted and a small frown on his face. While Armi seemed fascinated to an almost unsettling degree, Valcrist was wary. He didn't see wyverns often, until just recently that is, and he almost felt bad over how he felt about them. It wasn't their fault that being so high in the sky simply filled the smith with dread, and that such creatures where vehicles to do that. Pegasi got a bit of a pass because it was easy to pretend they were just horses, though he wasn't particularly fond of those either, they were significantly more rare.
He crossed his arm, fidgeting a bit on the spot while the three were having some sort of wyvern lovers powwow or whatever they were doing. He was a bit eager to get this over with personally, but after stopping Armi from rushing ahead he was in no position to do it himself. He'd groan about it, like he usually did because he was a complainer, but he didn't feel like it. Instead he would just internally monologue for a few more minutes while he waited for the others to get into position. Good thing he had lots of practice with that, he was the undisputed champion of thinking things to himself and never saying them. Let's get started shall we?
First of all, he looked over the people he was to be fighting with. Two wyvern riders and a lanceman, it seemed they all preferred the spear as a weapon of choice. Of the three, he'd bet Gaius is the most well trained, considering he apparently was some kind of famous guy. If there was stories about him being a murdering machine, or something along those lines, he clearly wasn't just some guy with a lizard. He seemed rather laid back about the whole situation, not particularly strongly reacting to anything that has happened, even when Armi basically rattled off his life story, he took it relatively unperturbed. He seem rather laid-back and not entirely concerned with the situation in general, which could be a good or a bad thing considering the direction things go. Val had yet to see him fight, but he was confident that he was a man of skill. How much skill was to be seen of course, but assuming it was any amount more then 'some' then it would be a good thing.
Armi seemed to have some sort of background, based on what she said coupled with the worn look of her armor. They all introduced themselves as travelers, meaning none of these were natives of the town. Not that it surprised him, but it was a thought to keep in mind. They were all in Etruria, and that wasn't an easy task from what he was aware, though maybe there was some backdoor of sorts he missed. She spoke of the Lycian military in a familiar way, like she was intimately acquainted with it, which implied she was once part of it in some capacity.
Finally there was Orys, who Val actually had a chance to see fight. He could do it clearly, but he wasn't particularly flooring anyone with his prowess and skill. Then again that was him bare handed off of his wyvern, perhaps he'll surprise the smith once things got serious. He was injured, which may hinder his ability, but Val knew little about riding, so maybe it was a total non-issue.
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Post by Gaius Balmung on Sept 16, 2014 18:30:06 GMT -6
Gaius was reminded more and more just how unusual this Armitage was. Or perhaps Lycian just raised their children strangely. Though Gaius was one to talk as his childhood wasn't exactly normal at all. Still, he didn't expect her to be so excited about all of this. While the others in the group seemed more annoyed than anything here was this beacon of energy and positive attitude. It was strange, Gaius wasn't exactly used to being around someone like this very often. He just hoped that it wasn't contagious. Whatever fame he had would surely disappear if everyone saw 'The Black Rider' of Bern being all giddy.
It was a bit odd to hear someone say that they were a mercenary for fun. That wasn't the usual answer that Gaius would hear from most people. Normally it was for money or fame, in some cases to become powerful, but for fun? Now that was something that Gaius didn't hear every day. He would then watch as the woman would then turn her attention to the wyvern of Orys, Balerion was its name right? Gaius still couldn't find himself getting all that invested into wanting to know more about the wyvern, though it seemed interested in Phantom.
The scared wyvern watched carefully as the other wyvern approached him. He was a bit curious as to what Balerion had intended to do but quickly losened up once he realized the other wyvern was just sniffing him. Phantom wasn't exactly the type of wyvern to get all worked up over the appearance of another wyvern unless it was trying to start something. Seeing how they were both males if Balerion decided to try and show any sort of dominance Phantom would quickly establish a pecking order. For now though Phantom would mind his own business as long as Balerion did.
Now that it seemed they were all acquainted with each other it was bet that they actually get inside now and figure out what it was that they would be doing. "Alright now that we're all acquainted let's get going. Sure that 'mayor' is probably having a fit that we're not already out saving those 'hostages'," Gaius would say before turning around and making his way into the building. Once inside they would immediately be greeted by an armed guard who appeared to be waiting for them. The guard would lead them to where they needed to go which was up the stairs to the second floor of the building and to the third door on the right.
As they would make their way there it would pretty obvious that there was no real sense of control going on as people were scrambling about all over the place. Whether it be armed guards, servants or what appeared to be business men, they were all disorganized and cluttered about. "I don't care what their demands are! We don't do anything until this group of mercenaries either comes back with their heads or end up dead in the sea!" A voice would shout coming from the door the group was about to enter.
Well not only did it seem like the man didn't care for the hostages but it appeared that he didn't care for them either which wasn't surprising. Once they entered the room they would be greeted to a cluttered room with papers and books all over the place, a desk in the middle with an angry mayor sitting at it and two men standing next to him. "Finally! You're here! You two! Tell them what's going on!" The mayor was in such a pleasant mood.
One of the men, a blonde short haired male with a blade at his side obviously a fighter of some kind, looked over to the ground and let out a sigh. "So here's the situation. There are a total of three boats, two belonging to the pirates and one of them is ours. They've apparently taken 6 hostages and killed the rest of the crew. They demand a one million gold ransom and are convinced that we can pay that off somehow. It wasn't that big at the beginning but OUR brilliant 'mayor' here decided to send some men out there to confront them and let's just say they won't be coming back anytime soon," The man began, signs of annoyance and anger in his voice.
"We know however that there are at least 20 to 30 of them in total and that they aren't a bunch of amateurs," This time it was the other man who chimed in, a shorter man who appeared more worried out of the three of them. "If they don’t get what they want by sunrise they'll kill all the hostages and then make their way to the shore to finish the job. Any questions so far?" It was the blonde man who said this. There was a lot of tension in the room, so much so that you could probably cut it with a knife.
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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 Sept 17, 2014 0:11:44 GMT -6
Balerion stared at her hand for a moment, lazily sniffing it before offering it a token lick and nothing much else before already returning to lying on the ground, seemingly soon reaching very content sleep. Orys let out a slight chuckle as he watched this, stroking his beard as he spoke. "Don't mind Balerion, he's a bit of a lazy arse. I'm pretty sure he's accepted you into his little social circle." To be honest, befriending Balerion was not that big of an achievement. He had become rather lazy and easily befriendable after Orys had tamed him, yet he would only ever let his master ride him.
Once they reached inside and listened trough the mayors speech, it became rather clear that he was asking them for something that would clearly be impossible. Sure, he loved a good fight or a giant battlefield, but just four people, one a merchant with no probable fighting skills, against twenty to thirty armed men who have the defensive advantage of being on a ship which they would have to board to handle. He spat onto the ground as the blonde man asked if they had any questions. He'd just have some hard striking insults.
"So. You're sending us, four people, against twenty to thirty men on a boat. With a very defensive position and many chances to kill the hostages. With no back up at all. Nothing." He shook his head, gritting his teeth. "That sounds so stupid and arrogant that I'm starting to think the pirates should just have your stinking ship, cargo and people."
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Post by Armitage Apolithymius on Oct 8, 2014 9:58:29 GMT -6
Armitage moved into the mayor’s room, following behind Gaius. There seemed to be a whole lot of commotion going on in this office. Whatever was happening with those pirates off shore must be really important to a whole lot of people. Her mind drifted back to the cool and collected way that Lycia handled tragedy. Calm, calculated; they would address issues discreetly and never involve the entire population of an entire town! She was sure that being raised in that way had a heavy hand in how she handled tragedy now. In her opinion, becoming flustered only ever seemed to exacerbate an issue; as a matter of fact, Armitage could not think of a single military conflict that was solved because one person got agitated and started yelling. It was just silly.
Armitage shook the thoughts out of her head. Her mind seemed so cluttered today. The mayor screaming from the back of the room brought her attention back to reality. She brushed off the lack of care that they showed. Working as a mercenary—and honestly, as a soldier too—she was used to it. People talked down to you or even spoke through you as if talking to an object instead of a person. It was all a way to stay separate and guilt free. If you don’t treat them like a real person then you won’t feel like you just sent a real person off to their deaths! Armitage would not deny having done the same many a time.
The words of the mayor’s men passed through her as she let her thoughts sprinkle over them. She listened to Orys’ complaint afterward; he made a very valid point. Still, that sense of danger did not stir anything but a bit of excitement in Armitage. There were always tales of innumerable odds in the military. Not only that but the pirates were obviously cocky; threatening the mainland and demanding so much money. It was clear they thought they had the advantage. That could definitely be used against them. Cockiness and momentum are two of the easiest things to use against an opponent and right now they had both.
”My only real concern is how we get to them without them noticing us. Assuming we can do that it shouldn’t be too hard! Plus, we have air support.”
Armitage motioned toward the wyverns as she spoke. Her tone still had the flex of enthusiasm but not so much that she would not be taken seriously. Her mind was already formulating plans of attack on how they could whittle down the pirate crew. Five to one weren’t the worst[/t] odds. And if they could break that down a bit more, combined with some hit and run tactics from the air, this could be fairly painless. That is, assuming they could get the drop on the pirates. If the pirates saw them coming and had time to preemptively attack well then…then Orys was mostly right—they were pretty screwed.
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