Dragoknighte

The Wolves of Red Lake (Completed)

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Harry Kingsfield

Location: B&B

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Harry was already writing down Mrs. Walker's words right as they came out of her mouth, while as usual adding his own commentary to them for himself. It was kind of amazing how quickly his hands moved considering his notebook and pen hadn't been anywhere in sight just a few seconds before. Perhaps in another life he could have been a damn good stenographer. Or he could use that as a back-up job in case being a private investigator ever goes belly up. For the time being, his skills of speed writing went towards justice, not merely court records.

• Riley age 5 had interest in supernatural. Perhaps carried over or renewed in adolescence? Likely relevant whatever the case even if just.
• Mrs. Walker's go-to topic from the occult was the town's history. More evidence for ingrained history of the supernatural?
• Halsey:
  • Supposedly knowledgeable about the history of Red Lake
  • Has a shop
  • Old
  • Female

"Thank you, Mrs. Walker," Harry responded, setting down his writing utensils to the side once he was done with them. He contemplated giving her some story about perhaps coming across signs that some of the people involved might have been engaged in some kind of supernatural prank gone wrong. Something along the lines of someone thinking they were possessed by a ghost as a rationalization of their crimes, but stopped himself for two primary reasons. It would go against what he'd been telling them up to this point about not divulging information about the investigation.

But more importantly, lying was unbecoming of one who was supposed to be snouting out the Truth, even moreso when it was falsehood about the subject of their profession. A story might have given the mother some measure of comfort for her ailing mind, but it would drive a stake in the foundation of his person, and that he wouldn't abide by.

Unrelated to the job, from his seat at the table, Harry tried to shift his gaze to see if he could steal a peek into the kitchen, He was really hungry, and was curious how soon his food would be done. He knew it was unlikely that he'd be able to see much of anything at all, but he didn't want to rudely ask up-front since he'd only been seated for a few minutes.

🦄 Darker Than Black - Merged With T.S.

Mali Anson

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Location: Queensguard
Skills:Perception

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Mali picked up on Elizabeth eying Wentworth and made note of it in her head. She probably noticed that they had been watching her, but whatever the case didn't seem to follow up on that anymore than distancing herself and her cronies from them. Of course, she could always suggest to Wentworth that they should relocate, but she didn't want to make it too obvious that they were spying on them. That would just throw a wrench in all the plans she, Wentworth and Zoie/Relic/Tinder had for the night.

Besides, when you got right down to it, Mali didn't really care all that much about that specific batch of people. Yeah, she knew they were important and it would likely pay off if she could keep an ear on them all night, but that statement applied to half the people attending the party. And even if she was stuck socializing the whole time, she could spend it far more productively than following around people who clearly wanted to stick around among their own. It wasn't worth chasing the point as far as she could tell.

At Wentworth's word, Mali took a hard look at his face and tried to decipher was exactly he meant by that. A small part of her was telling her not to overreact and freak out. However, a far more significant portion of her reiterated that there were no such things as coincidences as far as Juno was concerned. Furthermore, his tone of voice indicated to her that it was indeed a warning disguised as a suggestion. This all called into question how much the guy really knew and how involved he was in this whole business. Altogether this just made for yet another reminder how much danger the was behind the facade of glitz and glitter.

"I heard Zoie mention your son earlier," Mali said in response to Wentworth's reminisces over his late son. She hoped her complete removal from business-related topics would signal to him that she was picking up what he was putting down. Regardless, even if he hadn't been trying to subtly keep her from doing anything stupid or life threatening, she didn't really have much better to do at the moment. She could just take a chance and approach someone at random, but the chance that they would be as influential or moreso than Wentworth was... decently high, but not extremely so from what she could gather. More than likely that she'd just keep running into groupies knowing her luck.

"Whatever happened to him to cause his," Mali paused, looking for the proper word to describe the situation correctly without unduly pissing off the businessman, "state of decline?" She could guess based on context clues that it was likely that due to being a rich kid set up to take over daddy's company, he ended up going out to too many parties, ended up getting himself addicted to something like cocaine and then spiraling ever downward through black connections, crime, addiction and alcoholism until he ended up being one of those murdered at that bar last week. But she wasn't here to try being a precog who has knowledge of everyone's private lives before they reveal anything. She was there to talk.

🦄 Duplicity - D&D Style Fantasy Rp Adventure (Completed)

Cyne

Location: Tower 3F
Interacting with:FC

Things were getting pretty wild elsewhere on the floor, but Cyne was busy with other things. Namely the giant Fiendish Crocodile she decided to grapple with. It shook its impressive bulk to and fro in a valiant attempt to shake the bear off, but there was no way that Syne was going to let that happen. Directly above or below the reptile were the safest places to be. There, it wouldn't be able to effectively use its obscenely powerful jaws, paddle-like tail, or even try to take a swipe with its claws. Anywhere on level footing was death. Or a lot of prospective pain at the very least.

After a bit, she managed to find an opening where its thrashing died down for a bit, perhaps worn out from exerting so much vigor over such an extended period of time. If she recalled correctly, crocodiles didn't have the greatest amount of endurance. They were like a great, hot flame that burned through its fuel very quickly. But whatever the case, she wasn't going to let it go to waste. Rather than trying to smack it or bite it, or anything of that nature, she used what was already in place: she was grappling the crocodile, so she'd give it a great squeeze.

And squeeze the bear did. The first thing to give way were the Fiendish Crocodile's ribs. Then its scales cracked. Soon after that Cyne could feel the organs give and tear under the pressure of her assault. Then, like a bag of popcorn microwaved for too long, the reptile burst open, shooting blood and viscera everywhere. Cyne couldn't see her comrades, but she wouldn't have been surprised if they had all gotten an unexpected shower of crocodile bits. Had she not already been covered snout to paw in the innards of at least two other kinds of creatures, the druid mind might have been grossed out. But as it was, she could only stand back (in a mental, figurative sense) and watch at what she was doing in a mix of awe and horror. Perhaps she had been underestimating the black bear shape all this time and had never realized it. Or maybe she had never really gotten to know the full extent of any of the bear forms' true physical might.

Darke Magyk - Concluded

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Atkin Bowman

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Location: Wizard Tower

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"Well that's a load of bullsh-winkle," Atkin said, catching the swear before he fully managed to speak the whole thing. He could feel himself pissing all over a lot of what the Tower stood on, but frankly, he didn't really care at that moment. Or a lot of the time, really. He went along with it mostly because it wasn't worth fighting over, but this certainly was a case of something worth wrestling with.

"What bloo- blimey reason could he have had for settin' up something like that? And how did he even go about settin this up in the first place? 'Hey apprentice, draw from this pot so I can send you off to die and get someone better. By the way if you don't play along you die anyways.' 'Hey, remember how I tried to have you killed? Well your apprentice has to do it too. Don't worry, eventually once enough apprentices have died, there won't be any more danger except that apparently you can just add more murder stones.' There couldn't have been a Gathering or whatever the first few times, since there weren't enough ghosts."

Atkin was certainly more than a little mad and scared about the implications this whole set up had on his chances of living, but that wasn't the main source of his discontent with this whole situation. What was really setting him off was how unjust the whole thing came off. He knew most apprentices were way younger than he was, and didn't really have the same ability to object as he did right now. And that they were essentially made to draw a lot to see if they were killed off was arbitrarily sadistic as far as he could tell.

That the event of people being forced to go on this Queste was well known enough to have everyone react as they did told him that there were enough of these things that more than a handful of people had to go on these Questes and the fact that only 2 survive indicated to him that whatever this fucking thing was, the fact that they survived was not an intended outcome. It would be one thing if this was an optional task one had to decide to take on for themselves despite the inherent risk. As it was, it was a game of Russian Roulette somebody else forced onto you. And every one of those ExtraOrdinary Wizard ghosts who Gathered for Draws was complicit in this.

"No," he stated flatly. He was aware that he was probably coming off as having a tantrum, but it was either that or just let the whole stupid practice continue ad infinitum because he was too scared to do anything about it. Internally, he vowed that he would do everything in his power to stop these Questes as the barbaric ritual it really was.

"I'm not going to go to the Library, pick up a SafeCharm and hope that all the danger just passes over my head so the pillock who happens to come after me will get walloped by it. That's probably what whoever did this in the first place wants, for us to cower while they can do whatever they want. I'm not gonna be some wee hare freezin every half hour cause it thinks it sees a wolf. If this hogwash was able to be set up, and somebody was later able to change the conditions of the whole thing by addin' more. Than it can be undone. Or something. If we can't do something as simple as undoing a bit o' magyk on a pot, how d- darn ExtraOrdinary can the position be?"

It was at this point that Atkin realized how much he'd been ranting. So he shut up before he went too far with his flagrant disrespect for the history of Magyk and the traditions of the Tower and the Castle, as bull-headed as they were. Still, regardless of anything Arya or Rowland would have to say, he was deadset on doing something about this mess, even if that meant tracking down this damn Questing Pot himself and smashing it to pieces or chucking it into the sea. On that note, he had a feeling he was forgetting something.

"Oh fuck. We need to be at the Castle in half an hour."

🦄 The Paradoxical Emendation - Merged With T.S.

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Giosue Zino

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Location: The Main House->Mill
Skills: N/A

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"I specifically avoided counting you, Nancy dear. Any help you could provide is canceled out by the inevitable mess you'd cause," Gio teased Nancy in return. Honestly he was just expecting Nancy to stand back and watch him and George dig that grave by themselves. He knew she wasn't totally averse to physical labor, but she definitely preferred to leave heavy lifting to others. Even with her insistence that she'd help, he wasn't confident in her ability to focus on the single monotonous, boring task of digging up a grave. But knowing her, she'd probably demand to help, even if she was only going to get bored and stop after the first 5 minutes.

When George got nailed by the pie, Gio could stop himself from laughing at the prankee outright, but what he wasn't able to halt was an ear-to-ear smile at his misfortune. Instead, he covered his mouth with his hand, despite the fact that anyone there would be able to see the smile in his eyes and the laughter in his voice. That was a perfectly executed prank, and even if Alicia was an unwelcome participant in the prank war, he could still appreciate when a practical joke like that was pulled off flawlessly.

"I don't believe that was Nancy, and I didn't set that up. We had been preoccupied with much a larger scale project." Normally, he'd provide George something to clean off the pie, if only to assuage his own desire to see the mess cleaned up. But seeing as he had his hankerchief in his jacket pocket, and that was folded up dozens of meters away, the Paradox would just have to deal with the foodstuff caked to his face for the time being. Gio stepped around George to get into the Mill House proper. Now the issue was, where did they leave the damnable shovels again? Was it in the corner, or against the Eastern Wall? He couldn't remember.

"Nancy, George," he called as he turned back towards his two compatriots, "do either of you remember where we keep the shovels in here?

🦄 Darker Than Black - Merged With T.S.

Mali Anson

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Location: Queensguard
Skills:N/A

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So it seemed Wentworth as well was keeping a very close eye on what was being said by others at the party. At least that made things far simpler as far as socializing went. Although now that she thought about it, it made total sense. This was a big social event for a lot of who's whos, corporate execs and would-be social climbers. Why wouldn't people be spying on particular targets of interest for their own personal end goals?

Their interaction had been rather short up to this point in time, but Mali felt like she was gaining a lot of insight from Wentworth, whether it was intentional on his part or not. He wouldn't be her first choice for somebody to talk to, and she was still certain the guy was a colossal tool, but she also got the feeling that she could learn a lot from him even beyond the short term of 'what the fuck is going on with Queensguard.' She also didn't want to acknowledge it, but there was part of her that was enjoying being a shit, and encouraged her to go even further with the cattiness Wentworth seemed to respond to.

"My first Queensguard event, yes," Mali replied as she took a sip of her own drink. It would be best to keep the number of lies she had to tell to a minimum. The fewer falsehoods to keep track of, the less likely it was that you would fuck it up and out yourself for the total fraud you were. Besides, saying she had been to other events were possible avenues to him asking more questions that she'd have to make up answers for. She'd been doing well so far, but she wasn't going to push her luck any more than necessary.

"I can't say I expected much different than the affair here, however. Is every such 'party' Queensguard holds so..." Mali trailed the end of the question off, as if looking for the right word to describe the atmosphere. She hoped that Wentworth would be helpful and provided the most fitting adjective that would fit an upper class' elite's view of the party they'd found themselves in. But seeing much of what the guy had acted like, she was also about half certain that no such help would come. Either way, it would probably do its job of shifting the brunt of the speaking back towards Wentworth. Hopefully.

The Wolves of Red Lake (Completed)

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Harry Kingsfield

Location: B&B

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Harry wished he could assure Mrs. Walker that he would tell her if anything important came up, but several things that he'd deemed as such had already turned up, and he hadn't revealed anything to them. After the case had concluded, he resolved that he'd tell the couple what he'd discovered, but the last thing he needed on his hands was some kind of familial break down to deal with as he juggled solving the mundane and supernatural aspects of this case. It really did pain him a bit having to keep them in the dark, but he had convinced himself it was for the best. The situation really did not need additional, unnecessary layers of complication added on top of what was already there.

"I wish I could tell you much, but I've spent more time on the reservation out of town, than in Red Lake proper," Harry told the innkeeper. He took the fork and knife in hand, already preparing himself for the meal to come. "But from what I've seen of the town, it's quite a nice town. But there's a lot here that's hidden beneath the surface." He casually mentioned. To others, such an observation would probably be given more weight, but Harry just tossed it out as a matter of fact. He'd been to many towns like Red Lake, and none of them were the simple hamlets such places were made out to be. People weren't nearly so simple that a town, any town wouldn't have a lot of hidden complications.

"Actually," Harry began, returning mentally to the first question Mrs. Walker had asked him that day. "You wouldn't happen to know if Riley ever had an interest in any kind of obscure topic would you? Something like alchemy, ghosts or Native American cultures?" He didn't see anything of the sort when he went through her room, so he doubted that her mother would be able to confirm anything of the sort. But, if as a child she really liked Ouija boards or something, it could make his job figuring out how everything fit together somewhat easier.

🦄 Duplicity - D&D Style Fantasy Rp Adventure (Completed)

Nor

Location: Tower 3F
Interacting with:His Left Leg

Now that he had dispatched the snake and the rowdy human had slain the centipede, Nor was freed up to start dealing with new targets. Well, he would have been had things not taken a turn for the FUBAR. His hatred for mages only received further validation when the cocky hooded bastard whipped up half a dozen more enemies to contend with. Furthermore, one of the big zombie blokes got ahold of Sana and was doing quite the number on her. He wanted to chalk it up to her breaking one of the rules of combat: never separate yourself from your allies, but she was a lass that used a bow and arrow, and he didn't really see how she could use those effectively in their specific context without splitting off a bit.

The big bloke immediately ran to the gypsy's defense, and seemed to be making slight progress on that endeavor. Additionally, there were more enemies within his striking range. However, the dwarf didn't want to overextend himself and end up being surrounded, and Nor was here in the first place to make sure Sana didn't get herself killed, so he would continue to utilize his strategy of 'always gang up on an enemy whenever possible.'

The zombie had Sana in a grapple, so the first solution Nor thought up was to take out its ability to effectively hold one: remove its ability to move, and it lacks the stability and mobility to really defend itself. Luckily for Nor, he was short enough to be able to reach it. The dwarf stepped forward and struck, and right then, out of the corner of his eye he saw a bear body slamming a crocodile, and that was enough to distract him for the split second necessary to fuck up his aim, missing the zombie entirely, and by sheer bad luck, slipping right through one of the few exposed sections of his armor to embed in his leg.

Cursing his own stupidity, Nor grit his teeth and with a clean yank removed the knife, splattering his own blood all over the floor. Weapon in hand once again, Nor attempted to swing again, only this time to find his footing fail. He slipped on his own blood of all things and ended up stabbing himself in almost the exact same place, but at a somewhat different angle. When he extracted his blade this time, he couldn't stop himself from swearing externally as well as internally.

[Son of a Duergar whore!]

🦄 The Paradoxical Emendation - Merged With T.S.

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Giosue Zino

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Location: The Main House
Skills: N/A

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Every moment that passed seemed to fill Gio with restless energy. Just standing around waiting for everyone else to get everything else done wasn't sitting right with him. He really didn't want to intrude on whatever Eve or Gil were doing. The two of them focusing on equally important tasks as far as the burial ceremony went, which really left him with one potential thing for him to do in this whole situation. Or assist with.

"George, I must insist that you not do that by your lonesome," Gio interjected when the Paradox volunteered to dig Peter's grave. "Two sets of hands work more efficiently than one, no? If we work together, we can get it done in half the time, you won't be so fatigued and the sooner Peter can be put to rest." As he spoke, Gio started to undo his jacket. Unlike George who was covered in blood and filth already, the emendator was relatively clean, and he would much rather keep it that way. His jacket, vest and tie were all removed, folded and placed somewhere that looked least likely for them to get stepped on.

Lastly, the Emendator rolled up his sleeves up to his elbows as he returned back to Nancy and George. The Watch may have been the oldest of the lot as far as appearances went, but he was by no means elderly as far as his health and raw physical capabilities went. Of course he was no musclebound Adonis like Gil was in most of his guises, but his lean physique was well equipped for what was needed at that moment.

🦄 Darker Than Black - Merged With T.S.

Mali Anson

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Location: Queensguard
Skills:N/A

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The look he shot her hurt a bit, but it was expected. And it seemed to hit the mark as far as Wentworth went. Maybe if she could play her cards right she could actually get into his good graces. What to do after that, she had no idea. She couldn't exactly just call him up for favors or anything, and neither Zoie or Relic seemed particularly fond of the guy (Not like she was a fan either). In the back of her head, she figured that even in the best case scenario, she wouldn't have much to gain from this conversation.

But it would be a marginally better situation than she'd been in when she got there. For instance, it would be an ally that she had earned herself rather than through the proxy of Relic. Technically she had "earned" Relic as an ally, but that was entirely unintentional. More a matter of satiating her conscience than actually trying to make any sort of power play in the bigger picture. No, it would be her first sign to herself that she could actually affect things, even if only a bit. But back to the conversation at hand.

"I think I get it. Never interrupt your enemy when he is in the middle of making a mistake. Is that about right?" She hoped she was right with that assessment. But she was also worried what that could mean. If something was about to explode, or guys with guns were about to storm in, she didn't want to get caught in the crossfire. Then again, Wentworth didn't seem to be all that fussed by the whole situation, so whatever he thought was going to go down, probably wouldn't affect him directly. So from all this, she gathered that she should stick close to the guy and don't piss him off. Lower her already too-high-for-comfort chances of dying tonight.

It was around now that she realized if she had gone and punched the guy earlier, she would have gotten herself in serious shit. Way more than would be immediately obvious from the simple fact of punching a dude while at a party. Silently, she thanked those old anger management sessions from back in high school. Yet again they saved her bacon.

Mali's eyes flicked over towards the source of the phone alarm with a mix of curiosity and annoyance. What? Couldn't you have your phone on silent for one night? But it could also be really important. Mali shifted her stance just a bit so her ear would be pointed closer to Elizabeth and her phone call. She'd try to keep tabs on it as best as she could without leaving Wentworth. She was still being a distraction after all.