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Welcome to Elenlond, an original medieval fantasy roleplaying forum! We strive for creative, free-form roleplaying, in the hopes of allowing each and every single member the power to achieve their potential.
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| Welcome to Elenlond, an original medieval fantasy forum! We're always looking for new, dedicated members. Elenlond is composed of two continents: Soare and Esiria. Esiria, a land now isolated due to the efforts of the last remaining Goddess, is inaccessible to all beings and lies in the east. Soare, a continent in the west, is composed of three distinct nations: Ashoka, Soto, and Morrim. Lying between the two major continents are the Scattered Isles. Since the dissolution of the pantheon and the fall of the gods, these countries have existed in relative peace and prosperity. But how long will that peace last? Enter Elenlond; Turn the pages and tell your own tale. If you're already a member please log in to your account to access all of our features: |
| Impulse; MidnightShadow | |
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| Topic Started: May 30 2009, 11:15 PM (188 Views) | |
| Drium | May 30 2009, 11:15 PM Post #1 |
 
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The sky was a sight to behold on this clear summer’s eve. The temperature was low, but comfortably so, a nice refreshing end to the blistering heat that made up the daylight hours. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky and the half moon was a bright yellow, lighting up the world beneath it in a very tranquil light. Drium could be found lying atop the wall that surrounded the City of Oracles, arms folded behind his head as he stared upwards at the stars above. For a few moments he closed his eyes and simply took in the atmosphere of his surroundings; the smell of the grass, the texture of the stone. He could feel the aura that the city gave off as well, the magical enchantment used to ward of things of a negative nature. It caused a strange, not quite unpleasant tingling feeling to course through his body and the hairs on the back of his neck stood lightly on end. Drium hadn’t actually set foot inside the walls of the city just yet. The aura it gave off was much different from anything that he had sensed from a place before so he was slightly leery. Instead, he had decided to scope the location out first, which is what he spent most of the day doing, and decided that in the morning he’d explore it. He was certain that there had to be a few gems worth having scattered throughout its streets and buildings. Otherwise, why would anyone take the time to place such an enchantment on the place? As he lies there, mulling over the plethora of goodies he was destined to find during the next day’s examination, a change in the area’s stillness catches his attention. The ears atop his head twitched and he gently peeked open an eye, listening more carefully. Aside from the occasional sounds and murmured voices of the guards changing post, the night had been pretty silent thus far. Again a faint noise caused his ears to twitch and he blinked, giving it his full attention. Turning on his side and propping up on his elbow, his half lidded gaze scanned the area in front of the wall before zoning in a small caravan of hooded carts that was now approaching. He watched the caravan closely for a while, counting the three carriages and checking to see if anyone was around them. Seeing nothing, his imagination began to run wild, brimming with thoughts and ideas of a wagon filled with priceless jewels and other such precious and expensive things. With a smirk, he rolled himself off the wall, correcting his horizontal posture in midair with relative ease before landing with a soft thud on the soft earth. Freeing a single dagger from its place on hip, he began to quickly creep towards the approaching caravan, getting within considerable range before it was within good distance of the city. He kept low to the ground and waited for the first two carriages to pass before grabbing hold and swinging onto the back of the third. With a glint in his eye, he used his dagger and cut a sizable chunk of fabric from the back before pulling it open to slip inside. |
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| MidnightShadow | Jun 5 2009, 03:05 PM Post #2 |
If she were warm and fuzzy she'd be a kitten
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"Uh... What is it you think you're doing, exactly?" The voice came from behind the thief, female, not high pitched like most women's, a menacing undertone to it. She was a mere foot behind him, riding atop a black pegasus, one dagger in her hand, the remaining seven sheathed comfortably at her waist. She was clothed in a white short-sleeved tunic, a pair of dark brown breeches, and her boots; upon her back was her sword, sheathed, though it seemed likely that it wasn't going to stay that way for long. The woman's dark brown hair fell about her face comfortably, the lack of wind keeping it in place. Her emerald eyes stared pointedly at the man's back, one eyebrow arched, her mouth drawn into a cross between annoyed and incredulous. What the hell did this man think he was doing? The caravan was relatively large - or large, according to Shadow - being composed of only six large wagons, each one piloted by at least one person, usually two or three with more hiding in the back. There were very few guards for the group, as the owner had not been able to afford more than a small handful, for reasons he had not mentioned. They had acquired one extra on their journey, however, having had the fortune of running into a certain shapeshifter on the road, along the way, a girl who didn't really have anything better to do, apparently, than join the group. Upon discovering that she was not only proficient with weapons, but with magic as well, it had seemed only necessary to bring her along, despite her refusals for payment. Surprised to hear that all she asked was that they provide a roof, food, and water, they had eventually accepted her terms and away they had gone. Had she known what Ashoka was like, however, she may not have agreed to it at all. The desert, as it was turning out, was a very unkind place. And she'd been there before too, of course, but one forgets these things when they choose to avoid such places. The journey, for the past couple of weeks, had been unexciting - until now, of course. "If you don't turn your ass around and hop out of that caravan I will be forced to hurt you," she continued; it was clear that she meant it, too. The weapon had now been extended towards the stranger, her expression darkening. The caravans behind them hadn't noticed that there was something amiss, nor had the few guards who patrolled beside them. It was just him and her, and she wasn't interested in putting up with any of his crap. "Hop off the caravan and go about your merry way, and this won't get ugly. Honestly, I'd rather not have to stab and/or maim you." Wasn't that the truth? Even with the cool air descending upon them and the nearing of the City of Oracles, their destination, she wasn't particularly interested in a conflict with anyone, or anything. How unusual. |
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| Drium | Jun 5 2009, 03:36 PM Post #3 |
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He started when another’s voice reached his ears; obviously female, but without that usual ‘feminine’ tone. His brows furrowed for a moment as he froze in place, wondering how exactly someone had gotten the one up on him. Perhaps he hadn’t been paying as much attention to his surroundings as he thought; after all, wouldn’t be the first time. He gave a soft sigh, his shoulders slumping slightly before he turned around to face the person who was calling him out. Crouching inside the little cut of space he had made to enter the carriage, half inside, half out of the carriage, he maintained his balance as the vehicle continued to move along the road. What met his eyes when he actually looked at the person was an interesting sight indeed: an armed woman atop a black Pegasus. After the initial look of surprise melted from his features, he grinned at her, shrugging his arms casually as if getting caught in the act was very trivial matter. His own dagger was still in hand and he spun it in his palm before relaxing his arms between his knees, obviously making no attempt to appear threatening. Her next bit of speech made the grin plastered on his face widen, his eyes glinting once more in the moonlight. She had her weapon pointed at him, but he didn’t feel particularly in danger. For the most part he took her words as more of an invitation rather than a warning. Drium had dealt with guards before who had given him similar ‘warnings’ and sometimes, though not always, they could be bribed with a trinket or two from whatever cookie jar he was currently sticking his hand in. “If you’d rather not cause me harm...” He began, his fangs becoming quite obvious as he spoke. “Then don’t.” He playfully winked at her then. “Maybe I’ll bring you a little something.” He added with a quiet laugh before hoping backwards out of the rays from the moon into the much more comforting darkness that the carriage provided. |
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| MidnightShadow | Jun 6 2009, 07:55 PM Post #4 |
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If she were warm and fuzzy she'd be a kitten
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Shadow stared after him incredulously, as if he was out of his mind. True, threats in this day and age didn't seem to hold any water like they should have, but she was hardly kidding when she'd said that he would be seeing an ass-kicking if he didn't hop down. Growling under her breath, she dismounted from Kerani, hauled herself up onto the slow-moving cart, and followed him through the hole, into the semi-darkness beyond. She hadn't given him very much time to move - his back was just to her, and whatever he was doing, he wasn't going to have the time to plunder and loot like he'd wished. The moment she spotted him, Shadow sprung like a feline, tackling into his back. They crashed to the floor below, the wagon rocking unsteadily until it managed to regain its balance and continued along. The driver glanced back briefly, but couldn't see anything through the curtains that had been erected in front of it. The two girls who were riding with him were also up front, engaged in animated discussion, oblivious to what was going on behind them. That left the shapeshifter and her quarry to their own business. Perched comfortably on his back with her dagger pressed against the nape of his neck, Shadow tilted her head to the side. She spoke quietly, so as not to draw more attention their way, ignoring the crates and boxes that surrounded them and what was likely inside them. "I don't want a 'little something', thanks. I want you to remove yourself from this carriage before things turn ugly. I'd rather not hurt you because I'm really not in the mood to, but if that's what it'll take to get rid of you, I will. So what'll it be, stranger? Are you going to step outside and walk away, or will you have to deal with me before we haul you off to the prisons of this city? I'm sure the guards'd love you." The fighter failed to mention that she was also a magic user, and a proficient one at that. If physical weapons didn't work, she'd change tactics. |
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| Drium | Jun 10 2009, 12:37 AM Post #5 |
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Drium looked around the interior of the carriage, eyes sparkling with greed; he had hit the jackpot with this one. Or so the thief hoped anyway. He didn’t know where to start his plundering first; there were just so many crates to choose from. Just when he was about to begin, choosing a fairly large one on the far left, a sudden weight smashed into him from behind and sent him crashing to the floor. He hit the ground silently, narrowly avoiding breaking his face with a sharp turn of his head while holding back a surprised exclamation for fear of alerting those in the front of carriage. There was movement on top of him and then the feeling of cold metal pressed against the back of his neck. He blinked several times in succession; guess that unicorn riding guardswoman wasn’t as careless with her responsibilities as he had hoped. Drium listened to her words without much movement aside from the steady drumming of his fingers on the floor beside him. Despite even this second warning he wasn’t very much deterred from his plan of robbing the caravan. All he had to do was remove this woman from being on top of him. Very slightly Drium pushed himself up, lifting the woman along with him before settling back down to the position she initially had him in. It was clear from his short, albeit obvious display, that if he really wanted to, he could easily throw the woman off of him. For a moment he considered that option, but then he would also most likely be throwing himself into her blade and he wanted to avoid injury wherever possible. Furred ears twitched then as an idea popped into his head. His eyes closed and he began focusing, the muscles in his back tensing. Within only about five seconds of this, dark wings burst from his back with such force to toss the woman off of him. He wasted no time in correcting his position, jumping to a crouching position and spinning round with a soft hop. A toothy grin was spread across his face and both of his daggers were now drawn and held in front of him. In truth he only pulled them for the intimidation factor; Drium had no intention on actually attempting to use them on the woman. “’Fraid I don’t like any of those options.” His voice was a whisper, but still loud enough for the woman to hear. With a quick, practiced movement he swung his arm to the left, his dagger puncturing a hole in one of the chests. In response, a slew of gray and black runes with red markings on them spilled out. Drium’s brow furrowed when he saw this, the contents of the crate not being anything near what he had in mind. The words he said next exemplified this, heavily coated in a confused and angry tone. “The hell is this?” |
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| MidnightShadow | Jun 13 2009, 01:40 PM Post #6 |
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If she were warm and fuzzy she'd be a kitten
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Shadow, who wasn't particularly heavy to begin with, was lifted with ease whilte sitting on the infiltrator's back. She did, however, manage to keep her balance, and as he seemed to admit defeat she leaned forward, a smug smile spread across her lips, and those same lips parted to speak something wholly arrogant and characteristic of the shapeshifter. She didn't get a chance to speak as she was thrown backwards, the sudden appearance of his wings sending her soaring into the crates in the corner. She landed with a minor crash; there was a flutter of the curtains and one of the young girls poked her head inside. "Is something the matter?" she called; she clearly hadn't noticed the intruder. "No, everything's fine. I just... tripped." Shadow scowled in the intruder's direction as soon as the girl had disappeared, climbing out of her corner. Her hair was a mess as her head popped back up, and it took her a moment to re-order it so that she could actually see him in the dim light. A low growl emitted from her throat as she dropped lightly into the middle of the caravan. The knife was still in her hand, and she had every intention of using it. That is, until he spoke again. Truth be told, Shadow hadn't the slightest clue what was on board all of these rickety, old caravans. She hadn't asked when she'd signed up for the job, being made aware only of the fact that they were extremely important, delicate, and that it was absolutely necessary for them to reach the City of Oracles in Ashoka. It had nothing to do with trust, just that she didn't much care to know why they were travelling thorugh the scorching desert, or what it was exactly that was being transported. Now, however, she came to crouch beside the other, her brow furrowing. She had dealings with magic, oh yes, but it was usually only her own, and if not, combat magic. Nothing she knew involved runes or even needed them. That was just the nature of her magic. The swordspell reached forward, to scoop the substance into her hand. Judging by the tone of her intruder, it wasn't what he'd expected. "Do you know what it is?" she asked quietly, studying it. She glanced towards the front of the carriage. "Magical in nature..." she mused quietly. Rather than draw on her true affinity, water, she drew on light, gathering photons from the slowly fading sun. The magic, now a string of brilliant light, swirled around the substance in her hand. She didn't dare touch it yet, as she didn't know what it'd do. For now, she had forgotten about their little qualm. |
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| Drium | Jun 14 2009, 10:38 PM Post #7 |
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The thief was surprised that the woman covered for him and his face clearly showed it, if only for a brief second, before returning to a softer, more neutral look. He was happy that the girl who stuck her head in hadn’t spotted him. If she had, he probably would’ve had to take her hostage and that would’ve been such an inconvenience. Not to mention, it would have made getting away with anything much more awkward and difficult. Drium shook his head at that thought, tossing it from his mind as the woman he was previously entangled with approached; her desire to put a stop to him apparently diminished. Drium watched her closely as she came and crouched beside him to examine the runes that just spilled out of the crate. He stared at the side of her face for several long moments, just taking her in. When she asked him if he knew what they were dealing with, he snapped back to the task at hand, blinking repeatedly and coughing slightly. “Ah… Other than rocks with markings on them? No.” He responded while making a face. Drium didn’t really deal too much with magic. Being the type of thief that he was, he didn’t really need to make use of the skill in his line of work too often so it wasn’t a priority. He could enchant things with an elemental property if he so desired, but beyond that, his magical range was pretty limited compared to others. The demon could become a bit more magically inclined if he wanted, but the desire and will to do so simply wasn’t there. He shrugged at her observation that they were magical in nature, having assumed that himself already. There were simply too many of them in one place for them to be anything but. That is, unless the City of Oracles was suddenly going to open up a gift shop. The demon’s eyes darkened in response to the light element the woman began to manipulate. Her ability with magic was something to note for future reference in case she decided to come at him again. He didn’t know what she could do, so he’d have to be a little bit more cautious. “Are all these carriages filled with these things?” He asked while looking around the vehicle they were currently in. Standing, he moved to the opposite side, being sure not to draw attention from anyone in the front before stabbing a hole in a second crate. The action caused another torrent of the strange rocks to spill onto the floor. “The hell would you need so many of these things for….” Drium picked one of the smooth oblongs from the floor and held it up to his eye with forefinger and thumb, examining it closely. “What do they even do?” He asked the woman before apparently losing interest and carelessly plucking it at the carriage wall nearest to her. |
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| MidnightShadow | Jun 19 2009, 08:06 PM Post #8 |
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If she were warm and fuzzy she'd be a kitten
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Shadow was far too preoccupied with the runes to care that he had been surprised by her actions. In the greater scheme of things, it was more important to figure out why magical runes were being transported into a city clearly built from the ground up in magic, swathed even, in it. That was what she found so perplexing. Runes possessed a thousand different uses, and there wasn't any reason for them to be transported into the City of Oracles. From what she had gathered from her brief stay in Ashoka, it was a city of magic with hundreds of mages. It was that last bit that concerned her most. Surely a city with so many people that had dabbled in such practices would know how to erect spells without runic stones, and even if they did need them... What were the chances that so many caravans would be transporting them? In secret. Shadow's brow couldn't possibly have furrowed any more than it already had. "I don't know..." she replied to his question. There was a good chance, however, that the other caravans were carrying these, or something more deadly. Dispelling the light, she didn't want to activate them until she had a general idea of what they would be used for. Shadow scooped several of them into her hand and pocketed them, for testing. "There's something not right about this, though," the shapeshifter mused. "If the City of Oracles is a place based entirely on magic and is populated mostly by mages and other users of magic, why would they be importing rune-enscribed stones? They could make their own. Hell, they probably don't even need the damn things. "Runes are used for many different things... Enchantments, protection, the warding away of evil spirits, to create fire, to summon the rains... Anything that can be done with magic can be translated into runes. For some, that's how their magic operates; they must know the exact strokes of the rune, or suffer having their spell backfire. For the people of this city, though... I can't imagine that any of them would need a single one, much less crates of them... They aren't hard to activate, either." Shadow trailed off, watching him. He apparently had the attention span of a gnat, for the moment he'd asked his question - and she had replied to it in detail, too! - he'd lost interest in the whole ordeal, taking interest elsewhere, in the form of the wagon's wall. "Where are you going!?" she hissed, standing and making her way towards him. "You can't just leave. You found these damn things, and you're going to help me figure out what they're being used for." She laid a hand on his shoulder, as if to spin him around. |
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| Drium | Jun 22 2009, 01:32 PM Post #9 |
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Drium listened as the woman voiced her knowledge about the runes and the magical properties they possessed. His gaze began to wander elsewhere, roving the carriage idly; magic wasn’t something he was very much concerned about so it was hard to keep his full attention on the one speaking of it. His feline ears twitched as she continued, Drium now just finishing his search of the back wall for something else other than runes that may be of worth. The search turned up nothing unfortunately and he scowled in disappointment, resigning himself. He blinks and stares at the woman with large eyes after she whirled him around; he was in the midst of turning to face her anyway so the added motion nearly threw him off balance. “Nowhere..?” He sounded confused at first and shrugged before raising an eyebrow as he looked at her. “You just wanted me gone a few minutes ago, but now you want me to play detective with you?” He hissed back, tone incredulous. The demon paused then, actually thinking about the request, which was more like a statement of inevitability coming from her than anything else. If he did go along with this and it turned out to be nothing, he could get away with a few goodies and the distraction was at least keeping this woman from trying “On second thought, I think it might be my… Uh…” He scrunched his face, the first couple words of his next sentence coming out strained and painful. “Civic duty… To help you with this mystery.” He offered her a lopsided grin before flicking his gaze to the spilled contents of one of the crates and thinking over what she had said earlier. At first he couldn’t get his mind to focus on the task at hand, his brain continually moving to thoughts regarding how much these runes could possibly be worth rather than what their actual purpose could be. He had never really sold anything that was innately magical before some such pondering was hard to resist. Finally with a shake of his head he was able to clear his thoughts, wandering over to the first crate and crouching to the ground. “What about the opposite?” He offered, plucking another one of the runes from the floor and massaging it between his fingers. “Could they reverse all that too?” |
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| MidnightShadow | Jul 4 2009, 02:11 PM Post #10 |
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If she were warm and fuzzy she'd be a kitten
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She flashed him what could only be described as a feline grin. "Yes, because a few minutes ago you were trying to steal the cargo that I am supposed to be guarding. That was before you decided to try to plunder one of them, only to discover that the contents were... not to your liking. Now that we've uncovered a mystery that makes very little sense... Well, you're being enlisted to help. Unless, of course, you'd like me to throw you out and have you imprisoned?" The grin only widened when he seemed to reconsider his decision, whether by her words or not, forcing himself to say the words he obviously didn't want to. In some ways she was reminded of herself, but she wouldn't dare say that to him - he might renege if he knew. Shadow's fingers drummed against the nearest crate, the smile vanishing. Of course the runes could be used for the opposite effect, but why would anyone want to? What purpose would there be for destroying the City of Oracles? Now she was truly perplexed. Supposing that this caravan was carrying runes designed to obliterate the city, or at least all of the barriers that protected it, there needed to be a purpose. The only answer she could come up with was a rogue band of people; it seemed highly unlikely that Morrim would have sent it, Soto never would have, being an absolutely neutral territory, unless... No, it still didn't seem plausible. There was no real reason why the Moghul of Ashoka would be destroying his own city; if he wanted mages, he simply could have requested them or, better yet, demanded them. With the civil war raging, however, it was unlikely that the country's king would have the time or the interest in the mages. Thus, she arrived at the one question that kept circulating in her mind: why would anyone want to destroy it? For what purpose? "Yes," the shapeshifter finally replied, the dumming of her fingers coming to a close. Although she couldn't come up with any real answers to any of her questions, she at least had a direction now, and had every intention of following it, until she came up with those answers. "As I said, runes can be used for anything. Normally they aren't, but if one really wanted to... They could enchant a rune to destroy rather than prevent. We would have to find the one who enchanted these, though, to be sure. But... I think you're right. There's too many of them to be for anything but chaos and destruction." She moved towards the hole from which they had entered and motioned for him to follow. She would not make complete assumptions if absolutely necessary, but the evidence was beginning to pile up. "If we want to get anywhere, though, we're going to have to question a few people first. Assuming that you hadn't just stumbled upon the troupe here and decided to raid it, have you seen anyone who might look suspicious or knowledgeable? That'd be a good place to start." It was probably foolish of her, but as Shadow slipped through the hole he'd made, she didn't bother to look back to see if the thief was following. Somehow she just knew he would. |
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| Drium | Jul 7 2009, 10:04 PM Post #11 |
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After asking his question, Drium raised his eyes to stare at the woman, his feline ears zoning in on the drumming of her fingers against the crate. His eyebrows rose and he leaned forward expectantly, but she didn’t answer immediately. His eyes narrowed and he sighed before, for whatever reason, he put the rune in his mouth and lightly bit it. She wasn’t looking at him, which was good; so caught up was she in her thinking. If he wasn’t truly, honest to goodness curious about what was going on with those runes, he’d stab her in the back right about now; she was an open target. He knew nothing of the current political situations of the places he was traveling to so he had no idea what she could be trying to connect the dots about regarding the runes. Gingerly, he removed the one from his mouth and tucked it into his pocket, beginning to pace back and forth within the carriage. Just when his mind was tempting him to burst through the front apron and scare the life out of those who were driving up near the front, she responded. Drium stopped moving, ears and brows perking up as he looked at her. He listened to her speak about the runes and about what their purpose surely must have been with great interest. He smirked to himself when she finished. “You sure do know a lot about all this.” He commented plainly, though he meant it as a compliment. The thought of using the runes himself played in his mind then. If they could be used for destruction, he could probably steal a few and use them himself. That way he could probably use them as a distraction when trying to escape from somewhere; just throw one of those rune things behind him and disappear while whoever was after him dealt with the damage. Of course, that would require knowing how to actually make use of the damn things. He trailed her to hole she disappeared through, but made no further movement once he peaked his head out of it himself. “Wait…” He called, not sure what to do. “So yeah… Questioning people is all well and good, but who and where?” He paused, thinking. “Maybe we sho-… No…” His eyes cut to the side as he scratched whatever it was he was thinking from the drawing board before focusing back on the woman. He grinned toothily at her. “You mean someone besides me? No, haven’t seen anyone like that.” Drium then looked around at the night. “I doubt whoever planned this is here themselves… Though they probably left someone in charge to oversee everything… Perhaps whoever is in charge of the caravan?” |
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| MidnightShadow | Jul 11 2009, 08:50 PM Post #12 |
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If she were warm and fuzzy she'd be a kitten
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"You have to know a lot about these things if you dabble in any sort of real magic. Not that I use them, but I know what they're for." She paused as he called for her to wait, turning to face him as the caravan continued to roll away. When she realized that he wasn't going to just hop out and follow her like she'd expected him to, the shapeshifter began to trail it, though with some difficulty. Walking on sand wasn't exactly her cup of tea, and the feeling of her feet shifting awkwardly was the reason why she spent so much time on Kerani's back out here. It was probably a good thing, then, that the caravans stopped often for breaks, as the poor pegasus would be exhausted. Although she was a pegasus, one of those fabled creatures, she was still similar to any sort of horse, and that meant that continuous riding for extended periods of time was detrimental to her health. Realizing that there would be a break soon as she followed, Shadow ran towards the back of the caravan, kicking up sand, until she was close enough to pull herself on. She turned her body, legs dangling over the edge, watching the caravans behind them. If the other drivers had thought that there was something odd happening, they hadn't said anything and, as she glanced at the one directly behind him, he didn't make a motion or anything to suggest he'd really noticed. That was good. Now was a time for secrecy. "Likely, yes; I imagine the one running this caravan would know, but at the same time, that may not be the case. Sometimes, if you want a deed done, you throw it onto the shoulders of those who are unsuspecting, so that it gets delivered without questions. It wouldn't hurt to ask, though. We'll have to wait until they stop - it's too much of a hassle to run to the back, and we'll look oddly suspicious." Shadow's eyes watched the endless sea of sand for a time, before she could no longer stand to stare at it. Her eyes instead shifted towards the stranger, the thief's name unknown to her. For now he'd be labelled 'the Thief', until she had a name, if ever she received one; he didn't know hers either, which was fine, as she didn't see a need to give it. Perhaps after this little fiasco, but even then... The odds didn't seem very high, or in his favour. She was only keeping him around now because he'd pointed out some very valuable information to her; otherwise, he probably would have found himself in a tussle with her. Eventually the shapeshifter's eyes dropped to her knees. Fortune was with them that evening: the caravan, after another fifteen minutes, came to a stop. They weren't anywhere near an oasis, but in the distance one could finally see the vague shape that represented the City of Oracles. They were getting closer. Hopping down from their caravan once it was put off to the side and the animals pulling it - large oxen - had been sent off to be watered, along with any of the guards' horses, Shadow motioned for her new companion to follow, a warning glance cast behind her saying: "If you don't follow me you'll be kicking yourself later". She marched across the relatively large encampment, her footsteps awkward on the shifting sands, making a beeline for the man who had hired her. He glanced up at her approach, arching his eyebrows in mild surprise when he saw the stranger behind her. "Who is th-" "He's an... acquaintance of mine. It's not important. What is important, however, is that I need to... talk to you. Do you mind if we do so in private?" The man, slightly taken aback, stood. He was rotund, obviously a merchant of sorts with money under his belt: he was clean-shaven with short-cropped hair and clothing that radiated 'rich', a round, pig-like face with an equally pig-like nose set below two beady blue eyes. He was a kind enough person, at least as far as she was concerned, but she really hadn't dealt with him very much. Of the time she had spent with his troupe, most of it had been with the other drivers and their children. He led the way to his caravan; a brief check behind the screen told her nobody else was nearby. Folding her arms across her chest, she asked: "I probably should have done this when I first signed up for this temporary job, but what is the cargo we're carrying, exactly?" The merchant stared at her, perplexed. "The cargo?" "Yes, the cargo." "Well, it's... um..." |
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| Drium | Aug 14 2009, 10:29 PM Post #13 |
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He hadn’t noticed her looking at him for he was far too busy with staring at and fiddling with one of the runes. They were such curious objects and he wondered who had developed them originally. His mind only stayed on the runes themselves for a minute or two before he began thinking back on the situation he was in as a whole. Should he stay here and work with this woman to find out what was going on with this highly strange cargo shipment or should he just call the whole thing one big mess and be on his way. He glanced up from the rune he was staring at to look at the only other person in the caravan with him. She was staring at her knees and had the same thoughtful look on her face that he had only moments ago. Perhaps she too was wondering whether or not this was at all worth it. When they had finally stopped moving, he waited for a cue from the female in his company. Normally he just would’ve went about his own plans, but since he assumed they were now working together and because she knew the caravan a lot better than he did, it was in his best interest to just let this be her show for now. He caught her glance that said to follow and nodded and hopped out of the back of the vehicle, almost on her heels. Drium noted that the other didn’t seem to be all that comfortable with walking on sand whilst following her to wherever they were headed. There was something about her gait that was just… off, as if she felt like she would lose her balance or misstep at any given moment. He tilted his head at the observation and shrugged. The thief didn’t feel any sort of discomfort on the current terrain; it was just like all the others to him. For the thief, the ground was the ground and as long as it wasn’t threatening to break away and send him freefalling through an endless abyss he was comfortable on it. At least now though, he knew that if things turned south he’d likely have an advantage at escaping if the woman were to give chase to him. Drium then looked up then to see where they were headed; his face unresponsive to the slight look of surprise on the man’s face when he glanced beyond the woman to look at the thief himself. It seemed that he and the woman had the same intent in mind for they were both ready to cut off the one they were here to question. However it was his companion who got the first word in, leaving the one behind her with a slightly opened mouth and dead words on his tongue. Drium was simply going to introduce himself by name, but after hearing what the woman had to say, figured that to be better to allow her to start off the conversation. He then glanced off as the merchant led them off to a more a private area to speak, Drium trailing behind them. He needed to simply remind himself that he was merely going to be supplementing whatever the woman was getting at; he didn’t need to, nor should he try to take control out of nowhere. After all, the people here were likely all familiar with the woman, not with the furry eared demon thief. “I wasn’t actually told what the cargo was…” The merchant finally confessed, a pudgy hand reaching into a pocket to retrieve an embroidered handkerchief to dab at his nose with. “You mean you accepted a job to move large amounts of ‘something’… possibly harmful across treacherous terrain and into a mysterious city that seems to want to keep things out rather than let them in?” “Hey!” The merchant threw the purple haired male a sharp look, seeming slightly indignant to the thief’s question. “I’ll ship anything anywhere as long as the money is good and for this job it was plenty.” “Fine then. At least tell us who hired you.” “Oh… Um… I don’t know that either…” “You… Don’t know who you’re working for?” Drium asked, sounding both annoyed and surprised. He scratched the side of his head curiously. Were all merchant types this incompetent? Who in their right mind would take a job with so many unclarified details? “The person I talked to said he was just a proxy for someone who worked inside the city we’re to deliver the stuff to. He never gave me a name, just said that he was a good friend of one of my drivers.” The man paused for a moment in thought before throwing in one of his own questions. “Why does any of this matter? Is there something wrong with the shipment?” |
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| MidnightShadow | Aug 17 2009, 01:40 PM Post #14 |
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If she were warm and fuzzy she'd be a kitten
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Shadow stared at him incredulously. Of course, whoever had thought that common sense was actually common was an idiot, but it always astounded her that the ratio of people who actually used their brains was far outnumbered and skewed by those who didn't. This man, she decided, was one of them, and the best way to describe to him what his potential cargo could do wasn't to describe at all, but to play show and tell. For that reason, she turned to Drium and, noticing that he happened to have taken possession of one of the runes, reached over and snatched it from him without a word, holding it between her index finger and thumb towards the caravan leader. He stared at it and arched his eyebrow. Apparently he didn't know what it was, either. "What is it?" "This?" she asked, mock surprise upon her face, as if she had expected him to know. "This is what they call a rune - on a little stone, this one is, but they can be on anything: weapons, armour, windows, cobblestones, caravans. They do a number of things as well, like protect, heal sickness, augment the power of a spell or, coincidentally, to destroy and maim things. Let's see which one this is, hmmm?" The shapeshifter closed her eyes, her thumb brushing against the rune. Given the nature of the magic, and the feel that it had to it, she decided the best way to activate it. And it wasn't difficult, either. Pulling her arm back, Shadow flung the stone into the desert, as hard as she could. Gathering photons from the slow-fading sun - it was no difficult task - an orb of light began to form before her. As the rune began to fall towards the sandy earth below, the orb stretched as she mentally manipulated it, appearing more like a rounded rectangle than a sphere. It shot towards the falling stone, colliding with it. The rune exploded. Shadow grabbed a fistfull of Drium's one wing and yanked him down, shouting amidst the deafening boom that followed for him to get down and cover his face. As soon as they were both on the ground, she kept her head down with her arms over it, feeling the wave of sand that blasted their backs. It blew into her hair, into her mouth; she could feel it against her skin as her shirt blew open and it filtered in. A moment later she lifted her head and glanced about. Silence. A crowd of people had formed around them with a terrified caravan leader hiding inside his carriage. Shadow leapt to her feet, kicking up sand, and nearly tackled the man as he poked his head around the sturdy wall of his vehicle; she grabbed him by the shirt collar and yanked him forward. "Did you see what that just did?" she shouted over the hubbub that was now coming from that same crowd that stood around, speculating, as well as her own temporary deafness. "And I don't even know the intricacies of that rune. All I knew how to do was activate it, what sort of magic it may or may not respond to. Do you know what you could do if you knew how to properly use it? You have tens of thousands of these bloody things as your cargo. Don't tell me that the City of Oracles is requesting them for war - they don't need it, and even if they did, not that many. You make the connections, you figure out what these may be used for. Do you understand me?" She shook him. The man looked thoroguhly terrified and made an attempt at stuttering out something, failed. "Where's the driver whose good friends with this 'proxy'?" "I-I-I don't know..." "Tell me, or I'll make sure the gods damn you to the deepest, darkest pit in hell you useless bastard." A knife appeared in her hand, pointed at the man. She knew exactly what those runes were being used for now, and while she shouldn't have cared, she did. The last thing Ashoka needed was one of its major cities blown to pieces. "He's... right there." Glancing over her shoulder, Shadow stared at the man who had been singled out. He stood among the crowd, towards the back, watching the spectacle with a mild form of fear upon his face. The driver was a fairly lean man, muscular, a well-trimmed beard upon his face and cropped black hair; his skin, oddly enough, was pale, as if he was not a native to Ashoka at all. The moment a shaking finger was pointed in his direction his lips parted to protest, as if to defend himself, before he turned on his heel and began to run. Shadow threw the merchant she was holding off to the side and hopped down from the caravan. "Damnit! Somebody grab him!" Edited by MidnightShadow, Aug 17 2009, 01:47 PM.
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