Hidden 3 yrs ago Post by Forsythe
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As the wagon, horse and the motley group finally got moving, Margaret kept walking alongside at a brisk pace. Keeping up was nothing to her, but sitting down on the cart might lead to the cart getting an axle broken. Or all of them. Her illusion spell could only hide so many things, and her mass was not one of them, her human form leaving rather deep footprints anywhere that was not paved.

She kept her talk with Thaddeus: "You need not release the blade form your hand. If you were truly close to those dragons, I wonder... did they reveal to you their true names?" She asked. True names were reserved for family and only a few very close, very trusted friends. Heck, in her family, she only trusted her father with it. Her brothers were opportunistic blacks and the witch of a female that called herself their mother would one day die by her hand, if it was the last thing Taraah ever did. "If the dragon since perished, I could hardly use it against them, and knowing it I could perform a resonance spell to gauge if you are truthful." she explained.

"If you are, you have my undying friendship. If you are lying... Well, frankly, dealing with that is beneath me." she snotred amusedly. "I can not lose the feeling though that for some reason fates decided I should meet you. One does not simply wander into a friend of dragonkin, as the rest of this town clearly shows."

She was briefly amused by the return of the apologetic wizard. "Better an apologetic bigot and coward than one not reformed at all," she shot an ugly look towards TOM, "I will fight by your side, wizard."
Hidden 3 yrs ago 3 yrs ago Post by ArmorPlated
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"Not at all...just jostled a little..."
"I have done nothing to the bookworm. He was not watching were he was going."

Roa pulled the half-elf to his feet, only to watch him turn back and look at the town with a growing expression of worry, despite legitimately nothing appearing wrong. "Oh dear..." Roa looked again, trying to see what Rudolph was. More than a little confused, she turned back to him with a quizzical look, on the cusp of questioning his bizarre behaivior before noticing his attention was fully elsewhere. She followed his eyes and spotted a horse-drawn wagon passing behind the houses along the street in the distance.

"I would love to talk some more, but my prior commitment to our resident blacksmith requires me to follow-through with what I said I would do. I do promise answers if you still need them when we return."

In a flash, the wizard had grown to grotesque proportions and taken off in an explosion of wind, leaving her no time to so much as call out. "Wait, Shina? what do you mean- wait!!" She called after the half-elf, but he was already gone from her sight. Her confusion only grew as she tried to grasp exactly what has just happened.

"What in the seven hells were that all about?"
"I haven't the faintest clue. That man has clearly lost his mind to whatever magic he has been toying with. He looked as though the town not being on fire was cause for alarm." She couldn't help but shake her head as she took a calming breath.
Hidden 3 yrs ago Post by RedPandaGamer
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Shina listened intently to the princess as she told of her past adventures. Shina could see her dressed in the finest armour and going out on military missions. She still couldn't quite believe she was joining them on this adventure.

'Oh forgive me princess, well we should be coming up to the Inn fairly soon. I remember that large oak tree covered in ivy, so not too much father to go. I hope someone at the Inn has seen Guan recently and we don't......' Shina was about to finish when she felt the wind suddenly die down, just as a 'whoosh' passed her. An arrow flew quick as lighting and caught the tip of her ear. She could feel warm liquid drip onto her neck....Lapoo squeaked loudly and flew high above attack range. Renn reared with fright, almost knocking Shina off!

'BANDITS!!!!! EVERYONE TAKE COVER AND ARM YOURSELVES!! From behind several trees, Shina could see faces appear, they had dark paint covering their eyes. She didn't recognise their clothing but there was no time to think about that. She quickly knocked an arrow of her own on her bow and shot in the direction of one of the bandits, she missed, but it was enough to startle them. They obviously thought they had caught some travellers that would be unarmed...pity for them.

Shina knocked another arrow, it flew true and hit one of them in the shoulder, making him yell out and the rest piled out, forming a semi-circle around their group.
Hidden 3 yrs ago 3 yrs ago Post by Ozzy Cross
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Princess? Psh, what a joke. Thaddeus listened silently as they rode slowly along the long road through the forest. Truth be told, he had no real love for anyone who deigned themselves royalty. In his short life up until this point he had meant many so called rulers, Kings and queens, princes and princesses, and not one of them was worth even half as much as they let themselves be. Most were just a bunch of plump, egotistical bullies who delighted in exploiting their people and an over-enlarged sense of importance that impressed even him. The children were worse, spoiled brats who think that the world is something to hold under their thumb, feigning strength but having an army of protection at their back. Thaddeus was not known for being cynical but when it came to this subject he was a bit sore, he had run-ins with some particularly nasty royalty in the past. Back than he was untempered more back in that day than he was now, and that attitude often brought him on the wrong side of others. Growing up with dragons two of the most important aspects he ever learned was strength and loyalty, and you definitely needed one or the other if you were going to live in that world. While he was taken in by dragons that did not mean that other dragons accepted it or even liked it, this life is harsh and many a dragon did not trust humans or anything that looked like them and half human or not he was no exception by far. Some might say he would have grown up a lot safer away from dragons all together but there was something that dragons had that many other species lacked and that was they protected their own, no matter the cost. If one were to fall than the others were kill whomever did it, even if it took centuries or even longer than that, the one who committed that crime would be punished.

That was something humans did not understand, a loyalty that goes deeper than the skin, a loyalty that where you would cut your own arm off and smile while doing it. A loyalty where you would jump in front of an attack to save your own fath... Thaddeus was thrown from his thoughts suddenly when Pyronas voice cut through his head. He listened silently to her words as the wagon he sat upon moved up and down rhythmically upon the dirt road. More or less it was a continuation of the same conversation they were having back in town, she was probing him, trying to gage him and determine if he was worth being trusted or not. Not shocking, it was pretty ironic actually that dragons had such a hard time trusting others and Thaddeus had a hard time trusting anyone at all. He would say that their meeting in Lorenstad was fate if he truly believed in such a hokey concept. Those chance meetings were determined by some all mystical force that no one could see, Alduin had tried once to teach him of a god but he just couldn't let himself believe in it. If what they said was true, and dragons really did reincarnate than where was brother, his best friend, the only real family he ever had? "You act as if destroying me would be simple, the reality is a lot different than that. You are young, a stripling as Alduin once called me. You are no doubt dangerous in your own way and any normal being would be easily felled by you, but I am no normal being, you would do well to remember that because there are…” Thaddeus swallowed hard as if an uncomfortable thought had come into his head, his hands tightened on the reigns to the point they creaked under the pressure. ”Things out there that could destroy you without even trying.”

There was no ridicule or malice in his voice, in fact it would almost seem like he was trying to impart some life advice for Pyrona’s sake. ”I don’t really care if you trust me or not, however, I know that trust is very important to dragon kind so perhaps I will allow you to do this… test, if you truly desire to do so. Yes.. I did know their true names, however I neither trust you nor are close to me so it is not something I am willing to divulge. It might interest you to know this though” leaning over so that his voice would not travel to the other he finished what he was saying, ”My real name is not Thaddeus.” Leaning back up he had intended to greet Rudolph who had finally joined them on the road, instead he raised his hand and caught an arrow that was intended to strike him in the chest. Cowards… the Mesmer thought the word angrily as he broke the arrow like a twig. He barely registered Shina’s yelling as a man with paint of his face jumped through the foliage to the right and boarded Thaddeus’s wagon. With no hesitation they brought their right arm down intending to slam a dirtied dagger into his neck, moving quickly the dagger slashed into the wood behind him getting stuck deep in the paneling. With one quick lunge he took the bandit by the throat and picked him up off his feet, with his other hand he struck the man in the head, the hit solid, the bandit was out almost instantly.

Throwing the man aside Thaddeus quickly pulled his sword and leapt off the wagon, a couple more arrows hit the seat where he had previously been. Shina was already on top of it as she loosed arrows of her own striking one of the bandits clean in the shoulder. This would force them out of hiding and into view to confront them forming a half circle around them. Moving in a quick arc Thaddeus brought his sword down to the ground and sliced the dirt deep with it as if it was butter, he formed what seemed to be a boundary line in front of the advancing bandits. a black smoke started to rise up from the slash mark as if it had been burned with fire. Its only purpose was to intimidate the bandits, he did not recognize this group at all so it possible they were easily frightened by stronger opposition.

Hidden 3 yrs ago Post by Forsythe
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"I said nothing about destroying you being simple. I said it's beneath me. I have no need to harm those who would lie to me. Why spend such an effort for any scum of the sort? Simply ignoring their existence is far less tiresome." the dragon-turned-witch grinned. She wanted to continue the conversation, but the group was rudely interrupted by a bunch of different kind of scum looking for easy coin (And no, she definitely never raided a caravan herself, nooooo!).

"Come, bandits! Face the fire and darkness themselves, if you dare!" She roared in her draconic voice loudly enough to rattle everyone present, less of a sound and more of a shockwave. Several arrows buried themselves in her fur coat that occupied the spot she just vacated in one long jump, landing just behind the smoke barrier Thadeus created. "Suffer my rage!" She growled as the silver blade was drawn and pointed at one of their attackers. Everyone so far seemed to incapacitate the bandits. Taraah had no such plans. In a second the length of her blade was engulfed in fire, which promplty shot forward as a jet, searing half of the flesh off of the poor sap in front of it.

Then, she stabbed the tip of her blade into the ground, and a vile, black aura seemed to coil like tendrils around her.

"Rise!"

The still smoldering skeleton twitched, got up, and proceeded to claw at the eyes of the man standing next to it.
Hidden 3 yrs ago 3 yrs ago Post by Kumbaris
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Yoshina's combat reflexes activated when she heard the whistling of arrows heading straight to the group. Quickly bringing her trusty steed into a nearby tree. A slight smile crept up from her face. The Princess dressed in a maid outfit knew that this would be her time to shine, a chance for battle in this new land, she knows that she is an ambassador of peace, but that doesn't mean that she doesn't like combat completely.

She wouldn't be a commander if she disliked combat in the first place.

Unfurling the cloth covering her Naginata. She crouched a bit, intent on examing her weapon first, the bladed edge of the weapon has not gone dull at all, fully reflective of her face, good, that's very much necessary considering the current situation. But then, she thought for a moment, would it be apt to use that enchantment here? Perhaps not, the Bandits doesn't seem to be particularly threatening or that well armed.

She noticed the bandit creeping up to her from the bushes, pretending to not notice. She let the bandit crept up until the last second, where she twirled her Polearm, stabbing the man in the neck straight through. A simple trick of the hands and wrists she learned while training, always gets an unsuspecting aggressor quickly whenever she doesn't want to fight protractedly.

Standing up from her crouch, she walked calmly towards the site of combat, looking really out of place with her maid outfit, unsurprisingly drawing the attention of practically every bandit not preoccupied with Thaddeus, Shina, or the dragon. Swarms of men came to her at once. With the Sangakuan princess seemingly not caring despite the severity of the situation.

"Move 1, Great Sweeping Broom."

Her legs tightened, putting her into an immediate combat position. She then swung her Naginata around her, the timing of her strikes hit the first person closest to striking her, decapitating him, and then dismembering the one next to him, and then the other, and then the other.

It all happened in a flash, the Sangakuan Princess's moves was fast, almost like a lightning strike for anyone seeing her moves. She stood alone in a pile of dismembered and decapitated bandits, in one second, she looked like she was in danger, and quickly after that, she stood triumphant.

That didn't stop the remaining bandits from congregating onto her however. A veritable horde of them appeared in front of her. She counted 5, add 2 archers with crossbows already firing their bolts, combat reflexes made her dodge the crossbow bolts easily, and, seemingly distracted. One bandit moves in with a sweeping strike from her sword. Her sword carrying arm was cut off in a quick motion from Yoshina, quickly followed with a stab in the bandits' neck afterwards.

Leaving the female bandit to choke on her own blood, she walked at a leisurely pace, countering the moves from the bandits like water flowing down a river. Her strikes was fast and powerful, but never preemptive. A veritable ballerina on a battlefield so to speak. Graceful and Calm, yet ferocious whenever someone tries his/her luck with the fire of Sangaku herself.

Soon, the bandits quickly figured out what she's doing, and tried picking her off by signalling the crossbowmen to shoot her from the top of the trees. That proved to be their undoing since the Sangakuan Princess replied by leaping into their positions and slashing them one by one.

She dropped down, the bodies of the dead crossbowmen falling off of trees like a rainfall of blood. Somehow never hitting her dress. "Listen, you can try your luck and die here, or you can screw off and don't bother us ever again." She told the remaining bandits trying to attack her. The group, seemingly reticent of her advice, with the fallen comrades behind her being more than enough motivation, quickly ran away.

She smiled, that was a good end to that group, and she quickly surveiled the rest. "Anyone here need help or something?" The Princess asked, her normal demeanor quickly returning quickly despite the actions that she has taken.
Hidden 3 yrs ago Post by eemmtt
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Gunner watched the retreating form of the wizard and came to a realization. First he was far too sober to handle what just happened. And second he was going to fix the first problem. The skald turns on his heels towards The other mind and sets off to the tavern.

"I’m gonna go get drunk and forget about this." He informed Roa as he walked away.

Gunner easily navigated the streets of the town to TOM. As he has done many times before. The skald paused as he reached the establishment taking note of the broken window. He quickly figured there must have been a bar fight when he was gone. At least Minnow can’t blame him for it this time. Entering into the tavern he took a look around to see if he could spot any of the regulars.
Hidden 3 yrs ago Post by Searat
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He was rather glad that the dragoness and the others were still rather amicable with him after his little panicked fiasco earlier in Lorenstad. But, honestly speaking? Taarah still scared the wizard deeply...well that's something he could say the same for any dragon he'd encountered. Except for silver dragons. The scholarly books and scrolls about them were completely accurate. Friendly, helpful, and social. He'd hope that Aban was still doing well after all these years. Rudolph smiled at the memory...which was promptly wiped from his face when an arrow nicked Shina's ear and narrowly missed the abnormally swole wizard.

"Makers above!" Rudolph valiantly took cover behind the wagon as the more combat oriented of the group dispatched a number of the the bandits in quick succession. "Why do we even pay taxes if the roads are still dangerous!?" The wizard yelled to nobody in particular as he did his best to put enough 'oomph' to the fireball manifesting in his palm without causing a forest fire. He really wished he had brought his wand; it would have been infinitely easier to channel and focus his magic with it. But by the time he peeked out of his cover with his fireball, ready to be thrown upon the brigands, the battle had finished.

He was a little embarrassed that he was unable to contribute to the battle, but his shame turned into disgust and revulsion as he observed the smoldering skeleton animated by necromantic magics. "Kannon's crooked horns. The dragoness is a necromancer..." Closing his eyes and grimacing, he thought of returning back to Lorenstad and deal with an angry Minnow. Taking a deep breath and exhaling away his doubts and second thoughts, he decided that dealing with a dragon necromancer would be far easier than dealing with the Night Elf innkeeper right now. "I understood that they were scum, but necromancy? Really? That's...that's just distasteful." Rudolph understood that all magic is a tool to be used and not something that is inherently good or evil...but the school of necromancy was an exception in Rudolph's perspective. Especially the spells that create undead.
Hidden 3 yrs ago Post by RedPandaGamer
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Shina had NEVER seen such carnage then what befalled the bandits that had tried to overrun their group, she half wanted to laugh out loud, half wanted to run a mile. This team might have been a bit heavy handed but they were sure as hell going to get through this unscathed, well, mostly.

She was very impressed with the princess' moves, she knew she was a warrior but she was very talented indeed.

What she didn't expect though, was the dragon to bring the undead back to life to fight! She had only ever seen that once, from a wizard she and Guan had encountered, and it left very bad memories. Nevertheless, the results couldn't be criticised!

She saw from the corner of her eye, Rudolph looking at the scene with horror, he must have the same thoughts about the dragon. Shina galloped to the side of the sorcerer's side...

'Good to see you hear friend, as you can see, I think we are going to be OK... she finished her sentence as the last of the men ran for the hills. 'Hopefully that'll be all we encounter on our journey!'

She looked around at the rest of the party, well, apart from her torn ear, everyone else looked unhurt.

'What power you all have, how fortunate I am to have such a group on this journey with me! The inn is just around this corner, let us make haste before we run into anything else!

They rounded a corner to see the Inn she remembered so fondly. She and Guan stopped by often on the way back from their missions. She just hoped someone had seen him.


'OK, we must leave our wagon around the back of the Inn, horses can be tethered at the front. We must be vigilant, the walls have ears here. Let me do the talking Ok... She gave a glance to the dragon lady, she hoped everyone would behave so she could get the information she needed.

Shina pushed open the door to be met with a hearty smell of beer and pies! Thankfully the inn was fairly quiet, there was a small group of men sat in a corner playing cards. Shina recognised the inn keeper at the main bar area and went over.



'Hallo Bethamir, my friend!' The inn keeper lent over with a big grin and gave Shina a hearty handshake, it felt good to see a familiar face again...

'SHINA! HOW LONG HAS IT BEEN SINCE I'VE SEEN THAT BEAUTIFUL FACE?! Bethamir put down the glasses he had been holding and came round from the bar, revealing his missing leg from a battle long ago. A tale he would regularly tell his patrons.

'Too long my friend. I am hoping to speak with you, about Guan.' Shina trailed off as she remembered why she was there. She also realised Bethamir had started to move towards the group, his face looking wary and confused.

'BY THUNDER, WHO DO WE HAVE HERE, SHINA, THIS LOT WITH YOU??! He eyes up the princess and gave her a long stare.

Oh dear, Shina thought.... 'Bethamir, these are my new comrades. They are with me to help search for Guan...which is what i wanted to speak to you about, have you seen him recently?...
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Taraah laughed out loud as the wizard rated her performance, snapping her fingers and letting the reanimated bodies drop and rest forever. "Words of ignorance form a student of only half the books that were ever written!" She reached for one of the fallen bandits that was not dead, only writhing on the ground. "The use of magic can be distasteful, but not the magic itself. Necromancy can be used to raise an army of undead soldiers, or to heal injuries beyond the ken of healers." It turned out the subject of the demonstration was the bandit that Shina shot to the shoulder. Taraah ripped the arrow out, the arm hanging limply as the nerves were severed. Then, she cast a reanimation spell that replaced the severed nerves with magic. The bandit gazed on his arm that worked once more, flexing his fingers in front of his eyes.

Before Taraah swiftly snapped his neck.

"And even the undead soldiers can fight for good." She cleaned her blade on a piece of bandit clothing, noticing with displeasure that indeed, as she mentioned at Shina's forge, the silver plating was wearing off too much for her eyes' liking. Sheating the sword, she returned to the wagon, wondering if anyone would mind if she took a bite out of a bandit's liver. It was good for vitamins! She decided against it though, silently praying this inn was better than the last. The innkeep seemed more bubbly and awake at least. She looked back to Thaddeus, continuing their earlier conversation as if nothing happened: "So... would you agree to cast the spell yourself if I show you how? I need only to observe the results." she suggested.
Hidden 3 yrs ago Post by Ozzy Cross
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Thaddeus leaned silently against the cart choosing to remain outside, it was better that there was no more trouble. He was not all that welcome at this particular inn due to some problems he had with a certain group of patrons who frequent it and subsequently got chairs broken over their heads. Better that he just keep a visual on their goods lest those bandits try to hide among the crowd and steal from them. He sighed deeply, staring down at the ground, it was very much unlike him to be so gloomy, usually he was the life of the party, hell he was the whole party, but these memories kept assaulting him. Everytime one came back to him it chipped away at him. Alduin and Xevoaren were gone and he would never see either one of them again and this by itself made him feel alone, very much like he was before they had found him. It was stupid to think he was alone given all the people he considered friends and considered him a friend. The only real good thing he had was Thomas and he knew one day he too would grow and move beyond these lands and seek his place in this world. He awaited that with anticipation but also with dread, he supposed without realizing it that he lulled himself into a cozy existence that was never meant to last. Looking up at the large disguised Pyrona he couldn’t help but think she was just as impulsive as Xevoaren used to be. She definitely had the same level of intensity that he had, not to mention the fact that she was adept at necromancy. The thing they both shared perfectly though is how annoying they could be with their egos. Wasn’t the first time he had heard a dragon talking about how lower beings weren’t worth their time. As if on cue Pyrona’s voice meant his ears, he looked up at her quietly. She was still going on about doing that spell she wanted to do on his sword. He didn’t really understand what she wanted to do but he supposed they had some time before they move on, so long as she didn’t touch his sword… ”Fine. What do I do?”

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Location: Lorenstad: The Dancing Donkey


D’Artagnan waited patiently for Thaddus, he already had a couple of glasses of water because he wanted to venture as soon as possible. After what seemed like a couple of hours he had a feeling he was not going to come. “How disappointing.” He shook his head but did not hold it against the other man, he thought a better venture came up that Thaddus could not decline. Ordering a shot of their strongest liquor, paying for the drink before downing it in a matter of seconds. Order another glass of water he looked around the tavern for any strong person that could accompany him on his journey.

His eyes noticed a large human that had just entered the tavern, D’Artagnan assumed this man was some sort of warrior. Or perhaps someone that has a lot of experience in combat. He looked like someone that could be helpful with whoever is protecting the relic. However, he was not sure if he could convince the man to join him. But he had to try to see if this man would join him. Waving the man over and calling him, “Excuse me, sir, could you please join me I wish to speak to you for a moment.
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Dusting branches and leaves out of her hair, Minnow let out an angry sigh. She was completely cluttered in the shrubs that lingered along the shady side of The Other Mine's welcoming exterior, a glassy breach above. Today was definitely not Minnow's day, that's what scratched across her mind in between bouts of exhausted anger.

After taking a few minutes to fester in her frustration, Minnow rolled to her feet and with defeat everpresent in her face, she limped back into her establishment. The interior was quiet, with the culprits responsible for her rough day long gone and the lingering patrons quiet -- like children after witnessing an argument between parents.

Behind the elf, the invisible servant quickly picked up vestigial leaves and twigs that were crumbling from the shambling Minnow. With a mighty yawn, Minnow took a step behind the bar, her next step turning into a crouch, finally a kneel, until she was laying flat on her face -- the cold wooden floor her new bed.

She stayed like that for a while, before weakly squiggling forward to find the futon roll she was sleeping on before this terrible day began for her, still stuffed behind the bar. Her hired help had already left her, but Minnow was at her limit -- her eyes fell closed and a deep breath hissed from her chest.

In moments, whistling snores could be heard -- the defeated finding her rest.
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A small smile graced Taraah's face as she finally got somewhere with what she wanted. "I assume you know draconic pronounciation. It is a bit of dark magic that is as low level as it gets, but it serves some useful purposes." she said, producing a piece of parchment and a quill from her satchel. Then she wrote an incantation in draconic runes. When said out loud, the draconic language sounded like growls, jaw snaps, and stones rumbling down the side of the hill, but the words could be formed by a humanoid mouth, if barely.

"The ritual calls for a piece of a body to recall the soul it inhabited it. The older the body, the more of an imprint the soul would leave on it, but if cast early enough, even a young bone would do. Now, as you would know, knowing a dragon's true name is to have power over them. If you modify a detection spell to use a somatic input and think of the true name of the dragon, it should resonate with the soul recall and detect it as the dragon him or herself. I won't even need to know the name of the dragon, as you would not know the name if you weren't close." she said, sliding over the copper coin the detection spell required as a material component.

She hoped the man spoke truth. She could use someone she could trust. Most of all, it would be less strange why he felt familiar despite the two of them never meeting before.
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Yoshina was surprised that the battle ended quickly after that. There wasn't any protracted combat, no-one was seriously injured, and the bandits rapidly dispersed after their collective show of force, perhaps a win-win if there ever was one. "That ended... rather fast for my tastes." Yoshina commented on the battle. "I usually expected a more protracted combat, but I guess the bandits wanted to keep their heads on their bodies this time around."

The group then quickly approached the inn Shina mentioned about, and Yoshina was immediately drawn to it's bizzare architectural style, the buildings back in her native land of Sangaku looked so... typical compared to the ones showcased here. "It almost feels like it is a building designed by a child." She commented almost instinctively, then proceeded to correct her sentence. "I don't mean to insult, that is suppose to be a compliment, it just looks so different to the buildings I'm used to during my journeys."

She tied her horse to a nearby stand and walked towards the building, grabbing some dried fish and chewing on it on the way towards the receptionist, she could only observe the interactions between the firetail and the innkeeper, and bowed when this Bethamir person looked at her. "Hajimemashite, I am Princess Yoshina Shizue of Sangaku. I am here in accompany of this firetail woman, and we are searching for a missing person named Guan. I must reiterate the Blacksmith's question and ask if you've seen him anywhere here?"
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Rudolph's focus shifted to Shina, who welcomed him back to the group with open arms. He too hoped that the roving gang of bandits was just a rare occurrence. He was an honest and devoted tax-paying citizen of the Archduchy's land. Dangerous roads was simply unbecoming of the relatively clean record of her highness' rule. Though, sadly, he couldn't say the same for the rest of the nobles and their lands. Baron Otrar for example. No prior history of rule nor tutelage in governance and was left to handle a lakeside hamlet. No surprise that he bungled things up so badly that he led the hamlet and himself into ruination.

But his thoughts digressed from the topic at hand, the dragoness had insulted his biggest pride as a wizard of the capital's Royal Academy. To hells with his fear of dragons! "Ignorance? Ignorance?! I've dedicated over a hundred seventy years of my life to the mastery of the Arcane Arts and that's excluding the forgotten knowledge I've recovered and preserved from the Ancients! I did not graduate as the Arch-Wizard's First Seat, with knowledge I EARNED to be called ignorant by a lizard that's had their magic since birth! I of all people understand that all magic is a tool to be used. But even a dragon like you, so separated and 'above' the understanding of mortal decency and morality, ought to have a fundamental understanding why a corpse puppet is distasteful at the very least." Rudolph fumed so hard that he lost concentration to his body enhancing spell and reverted back to his more reasonable sized self. The wizard scowled at the dragoness as she paid more attention to the injured bandit but held himself back from speaking any further. Opting to storm off to follow Shina. He had said his piece and there was no need to say any more words he would possibly regret later on.

For the rest of the trip until they reached the Ivy Inn, the wizard said no words.

He left Shina to do the talking, plus it seemed that she already had some history here. Which was rather strange as he only knew her as Lorenstad's blacksmith, but perhaps there was more to this Firetail woman than she lets on? It was only when the old human turned his attention to them he spoke. "Pleasure to meet you. I am Rudolph Admoss. A wizard and acquaintance of Ms. Shina. And as Ms. Shina and our fighter mentioned, we are looking for a Mr. Guan."
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Forsythe Graf von Kaffeetrinken

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Taraah and Thaddeus


Thaddeus would nod slowly, taking the piece of parchment and the small coin, he removed his blade in the opposite hand. Taking a deep breath he looked at the parchment, he would clear his throat a couple times. It had been some time since he pronounced anything draconic, it put a lot of strain on the throat if you were not a dragon. Handing the paper back to Pyrona he took the hilt of the blade in one hand and levelled it at his chest, in the other he clutched the coin which he placed over the hilt so they were touching, he stared at the hilt, a name would flash into his mind:

~Jaraah~


Taraah felt something stir. Inside of her, so deep within she didn't know she could feel that far into... into her very soul. For a moment, her body felt alien, as if someone else woke up from the deepest slumber, stirred and took the reins form her. But as quickly as the feeling came, it was gone, before the dragoness could figure out what happened. It frightened her to her core nevertheless. What the hell was the Mesmer doing with the spell? Did the magic reacted poorly to his nature? Or did it react to something else? No. Someone.

In another moment Thaddeus would begin to make noises tantamount to growls and jaw snaps, the veins in his neck bulged a bit as the pronunciation had to be forceful. The moment the spell was spoken there was an almost immediate reaction, it was strong, it would throw Thaddeus into a spiral as the whole world seemed to spin. Before long his consciousness was gone and everything went black.

At the same time, the dragoness decided to investigate what she felt. Fishing out another copper coin, she recited the incantation in her head and cast detect thoughts on the half-mesmer. She was curious as to what the spell revealed to him.





Out in the real world, the dragoness did not just see the same memory. She felt it. Every blow, stab, and unkind word. She almost screamed when the first impact came. A dull, crushing pain seared through her body, her bones feeling like they nigh shattered. She steeled herself, unable to do anything. By this point, she figured out what was happening. She was not just observing Thadeus' memory.

For the next minute or so, her soul recalled the memory! She stood through it all, only dropping to her knees at the end. She knew the wounds were not real, but they hurt her all the same. And when her soul stirred before, it was now screaming in rage at the injustice of it all! Her chest felt like it was going to explode.

What finally made her body cry out in anguish was when she saw the older Mesmer impale Thaddeus like he was made of butter. She felt like dying there and then, and a lesser dragon might. That was her brother! Her anguish turned to fury such as she has not felt since that day Nihelbet made her fight her siblings, and she drew her blade, pushing through the pain and charging forward! She would slay that Mesmer if it was the last thing her battered body ever did!

She woke up from the memory only when she slammed sword first into the wagon, the magic finally fading away and letting her go. She shook her head. No. Not her brother. Not in this life. Yet, anyway.


Thaddeus opened his eyes as the world around him spun into a frenzy and slowly but surely returned to the real world. A.. memory? But it was not his own, it couldn’t have been. Pyrona… had he been inside of a memory from Pyrona? No, not just inside a memory, it had felt as if he was living it himself, he could feel it still, everything that had happened was still reverberating in his body. The rage, the pain, it was almost overwhelming, not of his own but of the other that rivaled his own and it shook him. When he looked up and saw Pyrona’s sword inside the side of his cart he barely registered it as he stared at the dragoness. ”What the hell was that? Was that… was that your memory? What kind of spell did you have me do?”

"I don't know what you've seen. But I think I know why." the dragoness whined, stumbling a few paces away from the wagon to an empty space. With a whisper of her mantra, she changed back into her true self. Good thing they were not in clear view of the inn anymore. "Your Draconic could use some sharpening. I think you cast detect thoughts instead of detect presence by mistake. As to why you've seen some memory of mine? I have only one explanation. The spell latched onto what reacted most to the true name of the dragon." she lowered her head to look Thaddeus straight into the eyes. "Me. I apologize for intruding, but when you started casting I felt something resonate within me, so I cast detect thoughts on you. You must have been thinking of where that bone came form on some level. I saw you and Xevoaren battling against another Mesmer and doing, forgive me, poorly. I see no better explanation as to why the spell would react to to me rather than the bone - I carry the soul of Xevoaren. I was him in a past life." she proposed. It was a hypothesis, but she only needed the feelings in her core to know it was true.

”That's… that's impossible.. Thaddeus looked at Pyrona with a rather distasteful glare. She was mocking him, she had used her magic to peer into his thoughts and saw a memory and now she was playing a cruel joke on him, trying to get in his head. But the question was, did he really believe that? He wanted to but deep down his heart was telling him that she was telling the truth or at least she thought she was. It would explain why he felt a connection to her even though he knew nothing about her, but that would not be enough to convince him. ”So what you're saying to me.. Is that you are the reincarnation of Xevoaren?” He shook his head side to side, deciding to ignore what his heart was telling him deep down. ”He’s dead and he is not coming back, Alduin and him may have believed in reincarnation but not me. They spent hours trying to convince me but It was just something to make one feel better about death. A way to make it easier to live with the passing, convincing yourself day after day that they will come back someday when they never will. Spending year after year living with the hope that one day some stripling will look at you and in their eyes you will see your long departed brother. I don’t know why any of this is happening but I know this, your not the reincarnation of Xevoaren.”

"Of course." Taraah nodded, "A death is a death, and the person is not coming back, it is the end of our stories here in the mortal world, the only way to change that is a divine act. We do not believe in anything like that." She agreed.

"And I do not claim to be him. I am my own person, thank you very much. My life ends with my death. What we believe in is that the soul is immortal and moves on, reincarnating into a new being based on the worth of it's previous life. If you were a scumbag, your next life may be spent as an ant, or a honeybee, a member of a hive without free will, but spending your life doing work that matters for the benefit of others. Likewise, if you lived the life of a hero dedicated to the protection of the people, you may be a demigod in the next life." She explained.

"Naturally, like with all beliefs, there are sects that modify this part and that. I am not sure if what you were taught matches what I told you or whether you care to believe in it. It defies my beliefs as well! I was taught the soul cannot move on if the body is not laid to rest in its entirety." She nodded her snout towards the bone in the sword, "Yet here I stand. If you do not think my hypothesis is correct, then answer me this: Why did the spell target me, rather than the bone? You can ask the wizard to teach you how to cast the spell in a language you are proficient in. See if the result is the same."

She straightened up again and then coiled up next to the wagon, pondering the conundrum. "If you ask what this means… I do not know. Us meeting could just be a fluke. But what I saw in your head… I know what it's like to lose siblings. Meeting in a previous life or not, I will be there if you need me. Whether to talk or to kill someone."


Thaddeus would sigh and sit on the edge of the wagon crossing his arms as he thought of what Pyrona said. He didn’t have an answer to her question, he knew nothing of magic, Alduin tried to teach him some but it just did not take. That was one of the reasons he trained with a blade or close combat. ”Forgive me, I have become so untrusting through these passing years. In truth, I wanted to believe more than anything that his soul was here, for a lot of years that kept me going, but eventually I just had to let go of him.” Letting his mind wander he went back to the memory he had felt from the dragoness. If he really thought about it, the two of them were more similar than either of them would think. ”Look, I don’t know if an old soul resides within you, I don’t understand that kind of thing, I never did. But it is nice to see a dragon again, I've missed them for so long now, up until you whipped me with your tail I thought I would never see another live dragon again. For what it's worth, I am glad your here.” Thaddeus became quiet, he wasn’t all that good with emotions.

”Then I shall keep you company.” the dragoness purred, looking at the skies, ”Until you no longer need it, or grow tired of it. I have been looking for new home, perhaps I shall find it here yet.” After that, she laid her head on her tail, almost ready to doze off after the emotional flight of a revelation.
Hidden 3 yrs ago Post by eemmtt
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@Eviledd1984

Gunner turned to face the voice that called his attention. And was met face to face with a Katorian. One who said they needed a word with him. The skald was intrigued by what they could want. Although years of experience was telling him that this conversation would be best held away from prying ears.

”I will hear ya out. However let's do where it's more private”

The Skald motioned to a booth in the far back of the tavern. Making himself comfortable before he spoke to the Katorian.

”So what do you want to speak to me about?” He asked Katorian.
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D’Artagnan


Location: Lorenstad: The Dancing Donkey


D’Artagnan watched as the human came over towards his table, from a much closer look he could tell the human looked quite capable. Waiting for him to sit down in front of him before giving him the details of the job. “You look like you are capable of holding your own, How would you like to make a lot of coins?” The Katorian then explaining the details of the venture, mentioning he was going to an Azathothian ruin to collect a book. The book itself was rumored to summon beings from another dimension. “The museum that assigned me to this venture is willing to pay handsomely to retrieve the book.” The Katorian wrote a quite high number of what both of their payment would be.

He assumed that the human would not be stupid enough to turn down this offer. D’Artagnan sipping his water watching him like a predator to prey. Waiting for him to respond to his job offer.
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@Forsythe @Kumbaris @Ozzy Cross @Searat

Shina saw the Innkeeper's eyes shift from one member of the group to the other, his expression changing from curiosity, to fear, to intrigue. 'God, please don't let them frighten him off helping me' Shina thought. He looked worried but turned back to Shina and smiled.

'WELL LOOKS LIKE AN...INTERESTING GROUP YOU HAVE THERE. KNOW I DON'T WANT ANY TROUBLE OUT OF YOU LOT, I KNOW HOW YOU CAN BE SHINA!' The Innkeeper chuckled, then his face turned sour... 'Aye, I did see im... he drew closer to Shina, his voice almost a whisper... 'I did see ol' Guan, about eight days past. I thought it were odd that he wasn't with you, but I didn't think much of it. He came in and seemed his same ol' self. But.... He seemed to pause, like he was remembering something that made him think twice about saying more.

'Go on Bethamir, what happened?! Shina felt a shiver down her spine, Bethamir seemed oddly afraid of something. 'Please, tell me what happened'

'Well...he seemed imself, like I say, and he sat in the back corner on 'is own...until...until a very odd looking man came in, asking for him. Now I keeps to myself and I wasn't going to have any trouble in my inn, but he seemed polite enough, so I pointed in Guan's direction. Ol' Guan and this chap seemed to have a intense talk and then, they both left. Shina could sense there was more to this but the Innkeeper looked rattled, which was disconcerting.

'Bethamir, do you know where they were heading? Or anything else you could tell me? Please, it's important that I find him and know he is safe.' Shina was trying to keep calm, but her tail was starting to twitch and she could feel her patience wearing thin.

'I'm sorry Shina, neither of them spoke to me when they left. But I do remember one thing. The man who came in...he had a staff, like a walking stick it was...but it had a huge green skull on top. I wouldn't forget something like that!

Shina suddenly felt her soul on fire! A staff with a green gem! She remembered years back that Guan had mentioned a man who had once been a very strong sorcerer. This man was not someone to take lightly....and his name.....his name was...

'Oh no...not Kaladous. No. Why would Guan...? Shina realised the Innkeeper was looking at her concerned. They had to make haste to the only place she knew Kaladous had been seen....further South and through the Thousand Year Old Woods.

'Thank you Bethamir, for everything. I will not forget you. And here, for your trouble. Shina pulled out a bag of coins from her satchel and placed them in front of him. 'Until we meet again

'Until then my friend. And...be careful Bethamir gave Shina a squeeze and she turned to leave.

She came out of the Inn and addressed the group, who had been very patient [color=green] 'OK everyone, we have a new setting...further South and towards the Thousand Year Old woods. It is not going to be an easy trip, so I suggest if you want to get a drink or some food, do so now.

This was not going to be a smooth ride.
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