[IC] Ventures in Veridia: The Wandering Warrior [rush99999]

[Guardian Angel Haruki]

As Keiji shakes her to rouse her from her sleep, the snot bubble pops as she snorts and wakes up, "HA! HA! WHAT WHAT?!" She looks around as though she was looking for danger, but she only sees Keiji and the Daimyo. She relaxes and she comments with her eyes on Daimyo, "Oh! Peacock man," She then looks at Keiji and she asks with a raised eyebrow, "Who you be?! HEH?!"

Her voice is loud...is she near deaf?

[rush99999]

Keiji reeled back a bit when the woman woke up yelling. He prepared to leap back further in case the woman attacked, but thankfully she wasn't a hostile drunk. It took all of Keiji's will power not to burst out laughing when she referred to Daimyo Harukaze as 'Peacock Man'. He liked this halfling already. When the woman refocused on him, Keiji composed himself for the task at hand. "I am Keiji Shujinko" Keiji said at the same volume the woman spoke "I'd to talk to you about Peacock Man's daughter. Have you seen her recently?".

[Guardian Angel Haruki]

The halfling jumps a bit at the loud voice, and she waves at him, "You don't have to yell, sonny! I can hear ya just fine!" ...And yet, her voice remains at the same volume. After Keiji asked about the Daimyo's daughter, the halfling commented "The nice lady?" She then shrugged and answered "Haven't seen nice lady! Disappeared with the moooooooooon!"

[rush99999]

"I see" Keiji said when the halfling said she hadn't seen the Daimyo's daughter "In that case, do you know where she might have gone off to?".

[Guardian Angel Haruki]

"Hmmm...." The halfling gave a contemplative hum, and swayed while looking at the ceiling. It seemed like she was thinking, before she looked back at Keiji and her answer was...

....

......

"Tomato is a fruit!"

And with that answer, the Daimyo let out an irritated groan.

[rush99999]

"Tomato is a fruit? Really? You don't say" Keiji said "Well then, just one more question needs to be asked. When did you last see her and what was she doing at the time?".

[Guardian Angel Haruki]

The halfling gives a smile at the remark towards her answer, and she adds cheerfully, "It true!" After he asked his next question, she was silent before she shouts "WAIT! That color of skin! You...have NOT BEEN DAIKON HAVE YOU?!"

Um...what?

The halfling then quickly rifles through her own sack of belongings, and she pulls out a daikon. She then shoves it towards your face and say "Here! Eat Daikon! It good for you! Make you healthy and strong!" She starts gently poking the daikon at Keiji's lips, as though she was trying to get him to actually eat the vegetable.

...At least she seems concerned about his health...?

[rush99999]

It was pretty clear that Keiji wouldn't be getting anywhere with the halfling. So after taking a bite from the daikon and taking the rest of it to finish on the way out, Keiji rose to his feet and bowed to the halfling. "Thank you for your time" Keiji said before turning back to the Daimyo "Let's be off then". As they walked back to the stairs, Keiji ate some more of the daikon and sighed once he was out of the halfling's earshot. "Well, it was worth a try" Keiji said with a shrug "Fortunately I know someone who might be able to point me in the right direction, so all is not yet lost".

[Guardian Angel Haruki]

The halfling seems to have her eyes intent on Keiji as he starts to walk away. Before he can get too far though (i.e. Further than 20 feet), he would hear a voice in his head,

"Don't trust him,"

As both men leave, the halfling toddles behind them. Clearly she was going to follow them out of the cellars. The Daimyo sighed, "Well that's a relief to hear. I hope you-" Before he can finish though, a guard runs up to him and Keiji and he informs the Daimyo, "My lord! There's a pair of sellswords outside! They're forcing their way in,"

The Daimyo hurries out of the cellars, and the halfling also heads out of the sewers.

[rush99999]

When he heard the voice in his head, Keiji was shocked to say the least. It sounded like the halfling's voice, but calmer. Saner even. As shocking as it was, Keiji didn't let any of it reach his face. He walked and talked as if nothing strange had happened until the announcement that a pair of sellswords were barging into the estate, at which point he disguised the shock of the voice as shock over the sellswords. When the Daimyo and the halfling made their way up the steps, Keiji was quick to follow after them. As they exited the cellars, Keiji drew level with the halfling and took another bite of the daikon. "Never got your name by the way" Keiji said to get her attention before mouthing the words "Why not?" at her.

[Guardian Angel Haruki]

The halfling tilted her head at Keiji and answered his first comment, her voice still shrieking and crazed, "I Yuki!" After he mouthed his question, and the voice could be heard once more,

"Love is beautiful,
When Love dies, she runs far from
The One who kills Love,"

That is all you got for the answer to the question.

[rush99999]

And so the plot thickened. If the halfling was telling the truth, Keiji probably was going to have much luck with Tsukiko. Women grieving for dead lovers weren't the easiest to get with. But that wasn't important right now. What was important was that there were intruders on the estate. Keiji was a little worried that the Iron Shadows had found him, but since the guard had said 'sellswords' rather than 'ninjas', Keiji wasn't that worried. Plus, he doubted they'd try and attack him in such a heavily guarded place with such a high profile method.

[Guardian Angel Haruki]

Yuki the Halfling was clearly following Keiji as he made his way over to the commotion. As the both of them drew closer, Keiji would be able to hear the Daimyo vehemently answer three figures in a rage,

“Absolutely not!!! That is out of the question! You will receive the kin reward and that is it!”

The three figures were that of men, who looked as experienced in fighting as Keiji. In how handsome they looked, only one of them could count as competition for Tsukiko’s heart. The three were a human man with a shamisen on his back, a bulky half-orc with a heavy battleaxe, and a scrawny red skinned tiefling man stood, speaking with the Daimyo. The handsome human man chuckled and casually answered the Daimyo,

“Well, I guess that’s just too bad. We happen to know where she went, and if you won’t promise to...introduce Princess Tsukiko to us, then I guess we just won’t help you find her. We’re your only chance,”

The man gave a demeaning chuckle and emphasized his words with a shrug, “Zannen desu nee...”

[rush99999]

"Yare yare daze" Keiji said while shaking his head at the trio as he drew level with Daimyo Harukaze "Thinking with the head between your legs rather than the head on your shoulders when a man's daughter could be in peril. You should be ashamed. Although what else could be expected from a bard, a barbarian, and a scion of the lower planes?".

[Guardian Angel Haruki]

The bard looks towards Keiji as he makes comment, and the bard rolled his eyes. He retorts, "Oh please. Don't act like you're not here for the same reason. Every man knows of Princess Tsukiko and her radiant beauty, and of course, every man would want her hand in marriage. You're more of a scoundrel than I am," He then spots Yuki by Keiji's side, and he comments "But I guess that's to be expected of a man who travels with his wet nurse instead of his friends," This gets a barking laugh out of the barbarian, and the tiefling smiles. Some of the guards were clearly holding back laughter and trying to maintain their composure.

The Daimyo calls out irritably to both your party and the bard's, "Enough! If you are to squabble like handmaidens, then do it outside of my estate!" His shout definitely snaps his guards back at attention, and they are certainly prepared to escort both parties off of the estate if the argument continues.

[rush99999]

When the bard retorted, it was Keiji's turn to roll his eyes. He opened his mouth to return fire, but closed it when the Daimyo called for an end to the argument. "Another time perhaps. But right now, I have better things to do than waste words on these three yapping mongrels" Keiji said before bowing to the Daimyo. "I thank you again for taking the time to see me" Keiji said "I will see to it that your daughter is safe. This I promise". With that said, Keiji made to exit the estate.

[Guardian Angel Haruki]

Daimyo Harukaze returned the bow to Keiji. As Keiji walked to exit the estate, Yuki followed him out. As they left, the gates closed behind him. As the both of them got close to the Bard and his party, Yuki turned to face him and she simply told him, "I no like you!" before blowing a raspberry at him.

The bard simply chuckled at Yuki before turning his attention to his friends, and he told him, "Alright men. Let's go find Princess Tsukiko," He then led the way, simply ignoring Keiji and Yuki as they left.

[rush99999]

Keiji stood there and watched as the trio walked away, contemplating whether or not it would be worth putting an arrow in that asshole bard's back. Just as his hand began moving towards his bow though, Keiji stopped as an idea came to his mind. If they knew where Tsukiko was, then all Keiji needed to do was follow the trio and deal then with them once they had found her. Keiji took another bite of daikon before setting off after his new found rivals, following close enough to not lose them, but far enough away to not be immediately noticed.

[Guardian Angel Haruki]

Keiji manages to follow after the Bard's party, and to his surprise, Yuki is still following. Despite being an old halfling lady, she's not able to keep up, but she is also able to make her movements as swift and silent as Keiji's own. Now that the both of you are out of the Daimyo's storeroom, Keiji is able to notice that Yuki smells as though she drank a lot of alcohol, much like the drunkards in the inn he stayed at the night before.

Regardless, both Keiji and Yuki were able to follow the party through the forest, until eventually, the three stop. The barbarian draws his axe, the bard has his shamisen at the ready, and the tiefling has opened a book. Keiji can't quite see what they see, but something is clearly up ahead that has set the three on edge.

[rush99999]

When the trio stopped moving and readied themselves for battle, Keiji did the same, finishing off the rest of his daikon, pulling out his bow, and preparing an arrow. "Stay hidden if you can, Yuki-san" Keiji whispered to Yuki as he watched for any sign of what put the trio on edge "We only join the fight if someone comes after us".