[center][img]https://txt.1001fonts.net/img/txt/dHRmLjY2LmZlZTMwMC5SWHBsYTJsbGJDQktiM0pwYjI0LjA/angel-bandit-demo.regular.webp[/img] [img]https://i.imgur.com/Cq67IYB.gif[/img][/center] [color=FEE300]Race:[/color] Aasimar [color=FEE300]Class:[/color] Paladin [color=FEE300]Location:[/color] Stormrider; Cargo Hold [color=FEE300]Interactions:[/color] Liana [@Oso], Scratch & Val [@Apex Sunburn] [color=FEE300]Equipment:[/color] His longsword; [url=https://i.imgur.com/0dnfaQH.jpeg]Retribution[/url] and a [url=https://i.imgur.com/TAGHTJ2.jpeg]healing amulet[/url]. A [url=https://i.imgur.com/92lzGaT.jpeg]backpack[/url] with supplies and his [url=https://i.imgur.com/pSHLAct.jpeg]lute[/url]. [color=FEE300]Attire:[/color] [url=https://i.imgur.com/cVUVpsf.jpeg]Clothing[/url] and [url=https://i.imgur.com/pezKStD.jpeg]gloves[/url] [color=FEE300]Gold Balance:[/color] 71 [color=FEE300]Injuries:[/color] Old injuries include a missing eye, numerous iridescent scars, and a knee that aches when it rains. [hr] [color=silver] [color=firebrick]“I’m about to admit something to you that’s never happened to me before. Not once, in all my years of doing this, have I ever felt bad for being good at my job.”[/color] Ezekiel sighed. A soft and tired sound as he simply accepted that his day was only about to get more complicated. The light from the portal faded and vanished. [color=firebrick]“Not until today. Not until [i]you.[/i]”[/color] His focus shifted to Liana. Watchful, silent, and heavy with disappointment, he kept his gaze locked on her. It would’ve been nice to simply help a woman with sad eyes save her family. To lift a curse and watch three people find the hope they’d thought they’d lost. But fate had other plans, and he was here, in this spot, with someone who had led him astray because he was meant to be here. [color=firebrick]“I’m sorry.”[/color] Her remorse sounded genuine, but then again, so had the story she’d told him. He said nothing as she pulled away a blanket and revealed the two beaten people who were certainly not her sickly parents. A pair bound by chains who struggled to keep up their shallow breathing. A bomb hovered between them, and dark magic pulsed between the device and the chains. [color=firebrick]“You can probably save one of them. If you’re lucky.”[/color] [color=FEE300]“Is that what you want?”[/color] He asked, voice barely audible and not expecting an answer. Was this merely a game of test the Aasimar for her? Force him to choose between two lives, who to save and who should perish? [color=firebrick]“But try to free them both, and all three of you die.”[/color] Did she expect him to believe her? She’d certainly lost all credibility now. There likely was a way to save both people chained to that bomb, but Ezekiel was not the man to solve that dilemma. He knew little about bombs, even less about the type of magic, one far different from his own, that powered the device, and one wrong move would likely end the lives of everyone on the airship. Preventing the bomb from detonating had to be the top priority. And that thought hurt worse than the betrayal of a stranger ever could. [color=firebrick]“I’m sorry it had to be a good man. You truly are a dying breed. But this is about something more important than good or evil. Goodbye, Ezekiel.”[/color] [color=FEE300]“There is nothing more important. Until we meet again, Liara.”[/color] He answered as dark smoke engulfed her. There was no doubt in his statement, nor was it a threat; just a fact that he knew to be true. Ezekiel knew their paths would cross again, just as he knew there was a reason he was in the cargo hold facing a situation he had no idea how to handle. He simply felt the hands of fate directing him, and he accepted that this all meant something. Liana vanished and left him to deal with the problem she had created. Ezekiel reached out his hand, hovering near the device but never making contact. His eye closed as he tried to focus and get a read on the magic that powered it. He asked the Silver Flame to protect the airship, to keep safe the lives aboard the vessel. He asked for clarity, to better understand why he was here, what he could do. He asked for the strength to make the right choice. He asked for mercy, for the remorse he thought he saw in Liana to be genuine, and for her to find a better path to walk. [color=E579FF]“Oh, hello again, [color=FEE300]mister Eyepatch[/color]!”[/color] A familiar voice rang out, Val, the young assistant to the surgeon from earlier. [color=FEE300][i]…Mister Eyepatch?[/i][/color] His jaw tightened, and his focus broke. His prayer was left unfinished. The child screamed for Scratch, and perhaps the dark elf was a partial answer to his prayer. Someone who could help the situation at the very least. [color=E579FF]“What’re you doing, Eyepatch? What happened to them? What’s going–”[/color] The very understandable string of questions was interrupted by the man quieting the frightened child. Ezekiel realized exactly how the situation must look and slowly lowered his hand. [color=EBA536]“You, the one Val calls Eyepatch. Listen very, [i]very[/i] closely. I honestly don’t know what you’re doing, or what’s going on, but unless you really, [i]really[/i] want to meet whichever Gods you believe in today, don’t touch anything. Touch those chains, or just make them twitch, and we’re all going to have a very, very bad time.”[/color] [color=FEE300]“I am trying to determine what sort of magic powers this bomb. And praying it does not go off.”[/color] He answered while slowly turning around to face them. [color=EBA536]“I need you to stay calm. Go up to the bridge, find the Captain. Tell him not to worry, but we have a bomb aboard.”[/color] [color=FEE300]“I think the Captain has reason to worry.”[/color] Ezekiel added to the crew member with the pair. [color=FEE300]“A woman asked me for help. She told me her parents were hidden here and needed a deadly curse lifted, so I followed her down her. She led me to this: a pair who certainly do not appear to be her parents, chained to a bomb. Before she vanished, she said if I were lucky, I might be able to save one of them. But that could be another lie.”[/color] He looked Scratch in the eye as he explained the situation, and admittedly, it sounded less convincing than the tale Liana had constructed. [color=FEE300]“Not easy to say no to a pretty face with a sad story.”[/color] He admitted. [/color]