Smoke 'em Out [Perun, Bee, Don]

[Donovan]

The green clad mercenary and his large orange companion walked up to the blacksmith’s shop feeling like he was about to make a huge mistake. The last time Don had seen the small mage in training, she’d used liquor to set two men on fire, caused a tavern to go up in flames so spectacular that it nearly destroyed half a block, and almost got the both of them killed. All in all it was the most exciting evening he’d had without Perun to help him get into trouble.

*knock, knock, knock*

Donovan pushed open the door and called toward the back. “Hey, Hot Shot! It’s your favorite con artist!” Walking back into the forge, the mercenary saw his pink haired friend and leaned against an unused anvil. “Good to see you again, Bee. I hope your wound healed up alright.” He grinned wildly. “Because I have an opportunity for you that you’re not going to want to turn down.”

He gestured over to Perun, “This Giant, right here, is my closest confidant and master of public relations, Perun. He and I have been hired, along side a small collection of other mercenaries, to take out a small gang of bandits who’ve holed up in a fortress a few miles outside of town. Now the rest of the assault team just want to storm the gate and try to take the place by force. But seeing how Perun and I rather like our heads firmly attached to our bodies, we told them to give us a couple of days to come up with a better plan. And that plan; is you.”

“Remember how you burned down the Den of the Disgusting — disturbed, something. Well. I was wondering how you’d like to set a small fortress on fire, so we can smoke out this unruly band of killers.” His eyes lit up and he leaned in a hair. “It’s a government sponsored gig, so the pay is phenomenal.”

[Perun]

"Perun is not thinking Duno-ven is wrong, but is also not being sure should being trusting someone using megics. With iron you are knowing what you are getting. Megics will be unpredictable. Perun is trusting you though Duno-ven." Perun cautiously followed his thinner friend into the smith. He looked around suspiciously at the armaments hanging in the shop. It was odd to him. Weapons were something simple, something noble. With a sword, you were depending on your body, and the strength of your spirit. It felt strange to him, to be meeting someone so entrenched in the arcane in a hall dedicated to the elements of physical warfare. Perun lifted an axe from a table as Donovan detailed their assignment. It had a good weight to it, but the edge didn't appear to be straight. Were it a little smaller, Perun figured it could be used for throwing. Instead, it was too long for a hand axe, and a little short for a battle axe.

Perun set the axe down then continued to look around the forge for a few moments before looking at the girl. She looked... odd even for someone in this outside world. Perun sat back on a table and crossed his arms, but he kept his face soft. He didn't want to scare the girl or any sort of thing, and he had met few but Donovan in this part of the world who did not shrink at the sight of him. He looked over at Donovan as he detailed the whole of the plan. Then Perun nodded and said, "It is being many coins for killing bendits." He smiled.

[Bee]

A loud ping filled the room as metal and hammer came together. When the duo entered Bee was working in the forge. Mr. Johnson was sitting to the side of the main hall as the two men walked in. He gave them a slight look and simply sat there and allowed them to pass by. It seemed that they did not notice him, he had that kind of effect. Don was a friend from Bee's last adventure so he did not think much about him. The burly man who came with him, well he was with Don so he gained a benefit of a doubt.

As Don walked in Bee did not hear him. The maiden was working on the forge at the time and her attention was turned to the flame and sparks. The blade was almost done. Bee just needed to quench it. The maiden lifted the red hot metal up and placed it in a vat of oil. The sound of sizzling flames filled the room as Bee began to focus her ears to see if she heard a ping sound. By dear lord she preyed she did not hear a ping. It was in that moment however that she heard Don. The maiden turned around to look at the two of them. Don was normal, she meet him not too long ago. The other one, well.

"Is that a troll", spoke Bee suddenly as her eyes brow rose with excitement. It was then that she realized she was just staring at chest hair and raised her vision to look upon the man's face. "Oh sorry about that", spoke Bee as she began to rub the back of her head. The maiden inadvertently pulled off her head band allowing her pink hair to come falling out. At the time she was working on the forge and as a result Mr. Johnson had banned her from using her signature gel. So instead of getting the box cut the duo got the straight hair Bee. "Let me introduce myself", spoke the maiden as she walked past Don and up to the orange haired man. "My name is Bee. It is spelled B E E. Just like the insect, but without the stinging." After introducing herslf Bee turned back toward her blade, which she could only pray was properly formed. "So what do you want again Don", spoke Bee as she pulled the blade out the oil. "Now I just need to polish it", he spoke as she set it aside and then walked back up to the two. It was then that they told her about a opportunity that she could not pass up.

"A chance to set a castle on fire", spoke Bee. The maiden did not even have to say yes. The twinkle in her eye and the expression on her face already spoke her answer. "So when do we leave", spoke the maiden as she looked at the two gentlemen.

[Mila]

And I lost them. Mila had spotted Donny with a large orange haired companion out on the road. She had just finished a small delivery errand when she spotted the young mercenary out on the main street. She tried calling out to him but he did not hear her. As the young mage managed to make her way across the hordes of people walking and going about their daily business she lost sight of the man with the striped hair. It had been a few weeks since their first encounter out in Sacae. And the young man showed good skill with a sword while they were fighting the doogs.

She looked around for him. She passed by the blacksmith's shop and noticed a tuft of orange through the window. She peered inside and saw Donny and the large orange haired man. Oh well that was easy. Good the big guy is so noticeable. Donovan's green apparel sort of blended into the soot covered windows and broke up his appearance. But the large orange man stuck out through the tinted lens like a sore thumb. She took a deep breath and opened the door into the blacksmith shop.

"Heyo, Donny." She greeted him in a casual way. She was hoping to catch up and see how he was doing. Here she noticed he was talking to another person, a young maiden with bright pink hair. She didn't see her through the window. But she loved the color pink atop her head, reminded her of her mother. Bless her soul wherever it may be.

"How's it going?" She had a bit of a smile on her face.

[Donovan]

Perun was being oddly stoic during Donovan’s little recruitment session. He supposed the large man just didn’t want to scare the young girl. And Donovan got it; Perun was so hairy that if Bee got a little tome happy he’d lite up like a dried out tree. Not to mention, Perun wasn’t much of a fan of anyone but Don calling his a giant — let alone troll.

Of course the girl hadn’t heard his pitch the first time, as it had it, she hadn’t even realized he was in the room until he’d just about finished it. Once he’d repeated the gist of his plan, Bee enthusiastically agreed to join them. A little too enthusiastically. This girl really needed to work the pyromania out of her system. At least he’d found a productive outlet for her.

“Heyo, Donny.” The mercenary turned around. He knew that voice, but the odds of her finding him in a random Lycian town were just insurmountable. “How’s it going?” Mila stood at the entrance to the shop, with a cunning grin on her face.

“You have got to be kidding me! There’s no way!” The mercenary laughed wildly and ran toward the beautiful mage he’d met not too many weeks ago, giving her a hug. “I can’t believe you’re here right now. What are the odds?” Donovan pulled away and realized that he’d just gotten luckier than he ever could have with this job. “Hey, Mila. Tell me you don’t have a job right now. Because Perun and I have a government gig lined up that you’d be perfect for.”

In his excitement over the chance encounter, he realized that Mila had never actually met Perun, and Bee was likely a complete stranger. “That big guy over there is Perun, you remember me telling you about him? The pink haired girl is Bee, she and I had a bit of an adventure a little while back. Thought she might be able to help us on this job since she’s an anima mage, like you.”

“Basically, we’ve got a group of bandits holed up in an old fortress. Big wooden thing. There’s a small crew of mercs who’ve been hired to clear it out, but a frontal assault wouldn’t end with a lot of us, you know, surviving. So I figured we’d smoke them out and arrest them (or otherwise) outside." He looked at her hopefully. "You in?”

[Perun]

Perun lifted an eyebrow at the girl when she called him a name. He would have to remember what this 'troll' was. It didn't sound like a way to call someone friendly. "It is nice to be meeting you Bee. Perun is being my name." Why would he think stinging would be involved in her name? That was an odd thing to say. Maybe some odd person had brought it up to her before and she felt the need to clarify. She returned to her work on the sword, which Perun felt again was somehow wrong. The girl didn't fight with a weapon, in fact she probably couldn't with how devoted to magic she was, and yet here she was, pretending it was something normal that she was making one. Then however she did something he liked.

Perun threw his head back and laughed. "Perun is thinking setting bandit fort on fire is good job for you now." He laughed again. Then suddenly there was another young woman in the smith, a young woman with greenish hair. Without realizing it, Perun got off of the table he had sat on, and stood fully straight. He listened as Donovan detailed the job again then said to both Bee and this new woman. "If two megic people are setting fort on to fire, then bendits will have to be fleeing twice as fast. As soon as they are to be coming outside, Perun and Donovan are going to be much better at fighting and killing bendits. It is easier to be fighting on outside than inside." Perun sat back down on the table, satisfied with himself.

[Bee]

Bee looked at the big man for a moment. He was weird, but he seemed nice enough. Part of the way she wondered if he even knew what a troll was. He did not seem angry so she guessed he did not. Besides it was a comment best left in the dark. Now however everyone's attention turned toward the new mage who presented herself. Mila, thought Bee to herself as Don introduced her. She was a mage huh. The same, well a even better version of what Bee was. Bee would prefer the term pyromancer than mage, but at the moment she was a pure pupil. Her control over fire had greatly increased over her training she still needed a little more umph before she could call herself a mage. Still Bee made up for this weakness by using her jars of hair grease and small oil jars.

Suddenly Bee stopped and began to smell the air. She turned and looked at Mila and then turned toward her hands. "You smell like smoke", she spoke as she looked at the young maiden. "Have you been using any magic of lately", asked Bee as she looked at the women. To Bee all magic smelled like smoke. Though she was not sure if it was a play on her mind or if she really could smell magic. Neither of them mattered at the moment. Bee had meet a real life mage. That meant that she could possibly get some training out of her.

"Well I think that is enough", spoke Old Mr. Johnson. The old man had enough of people just rushing into his shop and making it there one stop place fore adventure. "I don't care where all of you all go, but you have to get out of here", spoke the old man as he rushed off the group of prospectors. Bee and his friends could talk about there plan all day as long as they stayed outside of his shop. He did not have enough room for them to be having family reunions.

[Mila]

Mila returned Donny's hug with a hug of her own. It was nice that the two were on such good terms. The mage tilted her head lightly at Donny's question. She almost spoke out loud about odd's and chances but Donny kept talking. She looked over at the orange haired one who had seemed to have gotten up off the table in a hurry. Perhaps he thought it rude to be sitting on tables? But the way the man spoke reminded her of someone. Even the way he looked reminded her of that merchant man of her past. The nice one who talked of Ilia with an accent a lot like this man. But, as far as she remembered that merchant had less hair then this guy. And the merchant died when she was a young teen. Stupid bandits. She thought to herself before refocusing her attention back to Donny.

"Oh yeah, I remembered you mentioning him. You were right he is like a giant orange bear of a man. That's pretty neat. It's a pleasure to meet you Perun." She nodded at him. Her space was limited so she couldn't exactly walk up and give either of them a handshake.

"And it is nice to meet you too Bee. That's a peculiar name, but I've heard stranger ones." She nodded politely to Bee.

"Woah, slow down there, Donny. You had me at government gig. And it's bandit hunting? That's a bonus, I'm so in." She spoke with some joy in her voice. She knew government jobs paid well. And she had been a little strapped for cash as of late. So this would be a huge asset to her if she agreed. She made a quick mental check to see if it would interfere with any other jobs. Nope, we are all clear. Then the pink haired Bee spoke and asked if she smelled like smoke.

"I smell like smoke? Pretty sure I bathed this morning and my laundry is still pretty clean. We are in a smithy so maybe your smelling smith smoke? I haven't done any casting today.. yet." She asked. Mila didn't cast any magic recently. All she did today was keep herself clean, eat, and run a bunch of errands. But before she could speak any more the group was kicked out of the smithy by the owner.

"Sorry to have disturbed your business sir." She as she was being ushered outside. No sense in being rude. Once outside though Mila asked about the details of the job.

"Right then, so where are we heading off too? How many of us? How many bandits? And how long do we have to do this?" She asked all in one long hurried breath. Mila found herself pulling out her journal and pencil ready to write down the details of the job.

[Donovan]

Mila had agreed to help out in the job, which was a huge boon for the group. Between Mila and Bee, they’d be able to set some fires all over the place, there’s no way the bandits would be able to put them out fast enough. Like a ghost, Bee’s master had been sitting over in the corner of the shop. Donovan hadn’t even seen him there, but he was kicking them out of the shop. Apologizing politely, the group of 4 stepped outside to finish their conversation.

Had Mila not pulled out a pen and paper, the mercenary would have suggested that they walk and talk, but it wouldn’t take too long to give her the information, and they were in no rush. Besides, it’d give the group plenty of time to catch up and meet each other on the road.

“Its a fortress about 6 miles outside of this city. A couple hours walk, because we have to move through the forest for almost all of it. These bandits started off raiding the nearby villages, but have started raiding the supply lines, as well. We think there are about 20 to 30 bandits, and including you and Bee, we’ve got a 10 man squad. 2 archers — 3 if you count Perun’s bow. A brigand gone straight, a pair of myrmidons, and a cavalier. He’s the official leader of the group, our government contact. Supposed to be pretty damn good at fighting on horseback, but he isn’t much of a planner, so I took the helm on that end of the gig. We’ve got a couple of days before the job has to get done, if you wanted to show Bee a thing or two in pyromancy before we get started. But we could attack as early as tonight.”

The mercenary thought for a second before continuing on. He was pretty sure he’d gotten to answer all of Mila’s questions. “Either way, I think I’ll wait until we get back to camp, before I detail the plan of attack. That way I don’t have to do it twice and it stays fresh in everyone’s mind.” He made sure everyone was okay with that, before looking over at Perun. “You have anything you wanted to add, Big Guy? Or should we just head back?”


[OOC: Anybody feel free to jump us forward to the campsite! I just wanted to leave you all a chance to respond to that info.]

[Perun]

When the trio of thinner, younger people were forced from the smithy, Perun was meant to be sent with them. Perun stayed a moment longer than the rest. He did not say anything, instead he stared the man in the face, and picked up the axe he had been inspecting before. Without breaking eye contact, PErun lifted his knee, and with a small grunt, bent the handle of the axe against it. Handing it to the man he said, "Meybe now it is being better for throwing." Then Perun turned and walked back outside to where the other three now spoke.

He listened to Donovan as he explained the plan. Perun did not like the ideas of taking orders from men he was stronger than. He'd prefer it, if he could simply keep following Donovan's plans, and not have any whisps telling him what to do. However, that didn't make him much coin, so technically the horseman was his commander for the time being. When the swordsman asked Perun if he had anything to ask Perun said, "Megics are not being very protecting from swords and axes, yes? If you are wanting, Meel-ha and Bee can be staying close to Perun when bandits are fighting." Then after some more brief discussion, they headed to the camp.

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Perun massaged his feet while sitting at the campsite. He sat in front of a small cookfire basking in its heat, not that he was particularly cold. He turned to Donovan, and smiled, "Duno-ven is making many more allies when Perun is not being with him."

[Bee]

Mr. Johnson stared at the orange haired man for a moment as he bent the axe. It was a weird jester for him as the weapon he moved was not one of his own. Actually most of the weapons in the shop were not of his forging, well not the good stuff. The weapon that the bearded man had picked up was forged by Bee, along with half the steel equipment on sale. The maiden had gotten skilled at smiting weapons, but she was no expert. The big man seemed to have taken offense to her work. "Well I guess that design was down the drain", spoke Mr. Johnson as he attempted to bend it back. He failed.

As Bee walked outside with the rest of the group Don gave the rest of the information. "So the fort is made out of wood", spoke Bee. A sad tone could be heard in her voice. Here Bee wanted to try the ancient stone breaking technique she picked up along her travels. You heat the stone up with fire and then rapidly cool it with water. The sudden cooling would then cause the stone to crack. She wanted to try it out on a castle wall, but it seemed that she was dealing with regular wood. Still wood burned well and Bee would not mind seeing it go up in flames. However her fire magic. It was not that good yet. She could set things on fire sure, but depending on how thick and wet the wood was it could become a problem.

"Hold on a second", spoke Bee as she walked up to Don. "How much time do we have before we assult this fort. If you give me a bit I can whip up a special concoction that will set the wood ablaze almost instantly", spoke Bee as she motioned her hands following her words. A excited expression filled her face and a creepy glare filled her eyes. If there was anything Bee loved to do it was to set things on fire, and this time it would be legal. Before Bee could set off to grab her stuff the big fellow walked out of the shop. He looked at them for a moment and then began to speak about protecting them from blades and spears.

"Not to hurt your feelings big guy", spoke Bee as she began to twist his orange chest hair. There was something about it that she could not take her eyes off it. Maybe because there was so much of it, or because it reminded her of fire, but the chest hair. "You know flesh splits just as well as cloth", spoke Bee as she finished a small braid in his chest. "You need to be careful just as much as we are.

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At the campsite Bee was fast at work. She had collected a few ingredients for her concoction, which was similar to the stuff she used for her hair gel. However she left a few parts out and add a bit more. The mix was heated up under a very small flame, which Bee almost constantly check to make sure it did not grow too big. If it did well, lets just say that not even Bee would want to be near that pot. After a few minutes Bee kicked dirt on her fire and put it out. She then took a ladled and began to scoop the black material out and started to put it into jars. "I call it Bee's Wax", spoke the maiden as a small smile crossed her face. She loved puns, though she rarely made them. "One spark from a fire should set this stuff ablaze. It burns like brimstone and floats on water so you need to be careful with it", spoke the maiden aloud. It was mostly to herself, but any alley within ear shock needed to know that as well.

[Mila]

Mila quickly wrote everything down. She was quick with her writing hand. She wrote down names and brief descriptions.

"So 6 miles... Figures the government gets involved after their supply lines get raided." She muttered to herself. After she was satisfied with her notes she closed the book and put it away. Bee went back into the shop for something. She had tuned out the others a bit during her writing. Regardless the small group started talking, walking, and making their way through the woods. Mila had a nice time talking and catching up with Donny and learning about the other two. Bee was an apprentice blacksmith and a pupil. Perun was a warrior from Ilia. Mila wondered, perhaps if this man was from the same town or area as the man from her youth. She closed her eyes and cringed lightly at his pronunciation of her name. Sweet heaven's above it's worse then Me-ha! She would have to grit her teeth and bare it. At the campsite she took a moment to sit down and ask him.

"Excuse me Perun, but you sound an awful lot like a merchant I once knew. He had less hair but I think you two had the same nose... Are you by chance from a valley in Ilia?"

Once she had finished her conversation with Perun.

While at the campsite, Mila looked over curiously at Bee's concoction. She watched as she prepared the mixture and subconsciously took notes. The pupil was very careful and very thorough with her recipe. This "bee's wax" looked like something akin to tar or a deep brown oil. But either way it looked... No she knew it would be effective. The ingredients insured that.

"How would you get the wax onto the building for us to burn if we as, magic users are going to be shoved behind a wall of protective bodies?" She asked. That could have been worded better but she had said it.

[Donovan]

Donovan sat around the encampment’s fire next to Perun, sharpening his sword. The blade had belonged to his friend Flynn, a fellow mercenary who Perun and Donovan had travelled with for quite a while. Mila and Bee were looking over the concoction that Bee had prepared to help light up the building more easily. The other 6 members of their band had been busy honing their weapons, playing cards, and preparing food the whole day, and were glad to hear that they wouldn’t have to try and take a fortress from the outside in with such a small force.

“I’ve made a fair few, I suppose. I met Bee a pretty long time ago. After my umpteenth shield had splintered, so I went into town to grab a new one. Ended up being an unexpectantly eventful day. Mila and I worked on a monster hunt a while back. They’re good people, we’re lucky to have them fighting with us.”

Bee’s wax, while a pun, sounded like it would do an excellent job of helping set the fortress ablaze. Mila asked an important question tough, and Donovan figured it was the perfect opportunity for him to detail to the entire group his plan.

“With your permission, Commander Hubbs, I’d like to provide a plan of attack.” The Cavalier waved Donovan on, as if he didn’t care what his plan was, but the mercenary could tell that he was paying attention. When they finished the mission, he was pretty sure Hubbs was going to steal credit for it, too. The dull witted bull.

“The first, and most important step, is going to be getting them out of that big wooden box. And that’s what Bee and Mila are here for. Once it is dark enough, 2 two man teams will take out any patrols on duty, and go around to key points of the fort and set them on fire. Those teams will be Mila and I, and Perun and Bee. Since we have two mages, the fires will be starting faster than they will be able to put them out, and the entire bandit gang will have to flee the fort to escape the smoke. Our archers, Dew and Lou, will start firing from the tree line as they try to get out. And Once it seems like there won’t be any more of them escaping, our close combat troupes will advance. Including the 2 fire squads.”

The mercenary had thought through the plan, but was always open to suggestions. “That’s what I got. I think it’s a good plan, but if anyone has any insight, I’m down to hear it.”

[Perun]

Perun did not doubt Donovan's words that the two were good people. Bee seemed a bit young to be an accomplished magic user, and Perun doubted that she had seen much killing. Though she could not have been much younger than Perun had been when he took his first life. It was impossible for him to discern the ages of young people out here. Donovan was probably in his early twenties, just like Mila, but Bee, Bee was a mystery. Until these outside people were adults, they all could have been eight for all he knew. Maybe she was a little older than he had been. There was no true way he could know but to ask.

Then suddenly Mila was interrogating him with a very familiar line of questioning. He squinted at her before saying, "Yes, Perun is being from Ilian valley. You are being asking question similar to a man who Perun is meeting before. Are you being from Etruria? Knowing a man, how did he say his name, Doom-ugch?" Perun tried unsuccessfully to untangle the braid left in his chest hair by the pink haired girl.

Then Perun listened as the girl explained her bee wax, Mila questioned it, and Donovan detailed the plan. Perun stood up in order to address Mila's question about applying the wax. "Perun can be the one who is putting all of the wax onto the fort. Perun is having experiences in making way through many arrows, and is best man to be making it to fort." Perun then looked over at his swordsman companion and gave a fierce nod.

[Bee]

Bee raised a eyebrow as Mila asked her about how she was going to deliver her concotion to the wall. For she thought it was pretty obvious, but everyone else seemed to still be in the dark. Before she could speak however Don stood up and gave everyone there missions. It was all well and good, but Bee figured she could make it a lot more effective. What everybody seemed to not understand is that Bee already had a very effective way of using the Bee's Wax in battle. It was quite simple really. She was surprised that nobody took notice of the small jars sitting next to her. She was already filling one of them up when Don began to speak.

"Actually Big man I don't think that will be necessary", spoke Bee as she held up one of her hand size jars. "Inside of this Jar is the Bee's Wax", spoke the maiden as she tossed the jar toward a nearby rock. The jar flew forward and smashed upon the stone leaving broken pottery pieces and black slug all over it. Then Bee brabbed a stick off the ground and set it on fire using the campfire from before. With a flick of her risk Bee set the rock on fire, well at least the black goo did.

"You see the plan is simple", spoke Bee as she pulled out a few more jars. "I am going to stuff these jars with Bee's Wax and then have them tossed at the wall. That way anybody with a torch can be useful", spoke Bee. "Though I am not sure if I have enough containers to use the entire batch. If we have some left over Perun you are more than welcome to carry around the large pot.