freedomliveson

Fate can be a funny thing(HeavenxFreedom)

"Well?"

Vol had placed the invitation on the wooden table and explained the situation to Nadia, who had also been awoken by the sudden trumpet blast. After his exposition, there had been nothing but silence between the two of them, Vol occupying his gaze with the note. It was only upon Nadia's question that he looked up.

"Well, what?"
"Are you going?"
"I...I don't know. This must be some mistake, right?"
"It's got your name on it, right?"
"Nadia, I'm not a warrior! I can barely use a sickle in the fields and that's on a good day."
"This..." Nadia pointed at the invitation before reaching up and planting her hands on her brother's shoulders.
"This is our way out, brother. If you can even finish with a bronze medal or in third place or whatever isn't first, there's probably money involved. Money that can get us away from Jiago and this way of life. We can actually start living the lives WE want to live." Vol looked down at his sister, his hazel irises filled with the swirling emotions that occupied his mind.
"Brother, haven't you always wanted to live in Nuvansa? Haven't you always wanted to have that cottage that has the carpenter's workshop in the back and a place for you to have a room?"
"Well, you stole mine."
"That's besides the point." Nadia patted her brother's shoulders.
"This tournament...they won't have you fighting to the death and BESIDES, you're HUGE. Remember when you took on that group of bandits a few weeks ago that were trying to raid Jiago's wheat field?"
"Yeah, yeah..."
"Remember how you BROKE ONE OF THEIR ARMS LIKE A TWIG?!" Vol blew out a sigh.
"Just because I can thrash a few bandits doesn't mean that I can go against trained, fully armored knights."
"You can train somehow, can't you? You've got a few days and Nuvansa is only a day's journey by wagon. Get there and try your best."
"And if I don't succeed?" She shrugged.
"That's not an option."

__________________

A day and a carriage ride later, Vol found himself at the gates of Nuvansa, an expansive walled city that covered at least two miles. The interior of the city held massive stone and metal structures that seemed to scrape the sky, inhabitants bustling about between market stalls and buildings. The streets were wide enough for two horses to pass, the cobbled roads holding themselves together just barely underneath the foot traffic. While the city was walled in a loose square, the interior was built somewhat like a divided circle, the innermost circle playing host to the glistening walls of the palace. He figured if someone knew anything about the tournament, they would be there.
"Right then..."

Fate can be a funny thing(HeavenxFreedom)

CS

Name:Volgorl Malatesta
Age: 23
Occupation: Serf

Note about image below: Just shove the girl out of the picture...only good one I could find of a young-ish looking medieval guy xD

Image:

"No, Jiago, I'm telling you, I can't give you any more than I already have!"
"Listen to me, you brutish thug, you will give me my required share of the yield this year or I will drive you and the rest of your family off of my property...oh wait, let me emphasize a certain word...what is it...oh yes, MY!"
With that, the elvish dignitary turned on his heel to the horse drawn carriage that he usually presented himself in, the white chocolate colored horses snorting as their passenger situated himself in the carriage, his chin tilted upward, eyes seemingly gazing defiantly at the sky. Volgorl couldn't help but chuckle, the carriage trotting away on the command of the driver, wheels and horse hooves whipping up some of the loose earth that was naturally a result from the consistent rains they had been having the past two weeks. It was wonderful for the crops now, but if it had just been a month earlier, their wheat yield would've been double. For an Elf, Jiago didn't seem that in tune with nature; of course, he was one of the Elven gentry, which meant he attended fancy dinner parties with other rich royalty members, including men, dwarves, Dasvrochian and any other species that could stick out their finger while sipping on tea and comment on the slow manual labor they had hired. Volgorl honestly found Jiago amusing for the most part(along with most royalty), his hubris so over the top that it almost seemed like he was faking it.

Unfortunately for the world and Volgorl himself, Jiago was not "faking it".

Blowing out a sigh, Vol turned his broad shouldered frame from the road and trudged back to his home, a modest looking cabin that he had built himself with some help from local men who were looking for work(they were in the fields at the moment). It was decent enough for his living, but it was rather awkward due to there only being two rooms, Vol not having the luxury of his own private room, unlike his sixteen year old sister who insisted on having SOME space(kids). His ice blue irises noted the darkening sky, the large muscles in his arms and legs moving him quicker now in order to avoid the impending storm. As he reached their front door, a clap of thunder pierced the air, lightning shooting through the heavens. A marvelous sight.

________________________________

"So, tell me brother dear, what are you going to do about him?"
The duo had just finished dinner and were seated across from each other at a wooden table, a stack of playing cards in the middle along with three cards in their hands and five face down in front of both of them. Vol had recounted the interaction with Jiago and after Nadia swore profusely about their overlord's ugly face, she had asked him the question.
"I don't know. We won't have enough to meet the export yield he wants." He placed a card down on the table, a grinning goblin with axes and two numbers in the upper right hand corner visible. Nadia snorted, placing a card on the table herself, this one with a dragon breathing fire. Volgorl groaned, placing the goblin on top of the deck.
"Then we just steal from another field, right?"
"Nadia..."
"No, I'm serious, Vol, the Summerset farm has more than en.."
"No! We've been through this already. I can't steal from another man's field...it's just not right."
"Then what do you propose we do, then, eh? Get thrown into prison? I get sold into slavery or probably prostituted..."
"Nadia, that's enough."
"Hey, at least I'm not moping! Do something about this! We're already behind on our lease payment for the land."
"Get married...at least that way we can get some money. Dowry prices have gone up last time I checked." They both laughed slightly, Nadia leaning back in her chair, her lithe frame barely filling the seat. She brushed a lock of black hair from her eye, looking at her brother's own short hair that mirror her color.
"You need a haircut."
"No."
"Yeah, you do."
"Shut up."
"Whatever." She rose from her seat, placing her cards on the table before walking past Vol, patting his head as she told him: "We'll figure this out, brother. We always have."

__________________

It was the next morning when, instead of the early morning sunlight waking him, a clear trumpet blast resounded, causing the large man to almost fall out of his bed. "VOLGORL MALATESTA! PRESENT YOURSELF!" Vol grabbed a shirt that was draped over the only chair he ever sat in, donned it and walked outside to see a man garbed in blue and gold, a beret with a feather in the cap complimenting the lavish outfit. A royal messenger? Out here?
"Yes? what is it?"
"You have been summoned by your royal highness to a tournament of arms in the capital city. Please ensure you bring your finest..." The messenger looked Volgorl over more closely, then continued with a sneer: "Your best, I suppose, attire and any weaponry or armor you desire to use."
"Wait, wait, I wasn't...this doesn't make sense, I'm not a warrior, a knight or a..."
"Just take this decree and be in the city within the week." The messenger, in a similar fashion to Jiago, turned on his heel and walked down the path to the road, a carriage visible in the distance. Vol looked down at the unfurled piece of paper and read it aloud:

"The King and Queen of Metaschi would like to formally request your presence at the Capital city for a rousing tournament of arms. Those who prove themselves worthy will receive a prize far beyond their comprehension. Please be at the Royal Citadel by the end of the week or you will be marked ineligible for this grand opportunity." A blue and gold seal was printed on the bottom of the letter, proving the authenticity of the document.

"Well then..."

Fate can be a funny thing(HeavenxFreedom)

Awesomesauce. Let's get this ball rolling.

Wink Murder: Who Killed Mr. Jig?

Kaz grunted at the intrusion, looking over to find a rather sharply dressed man with what he perceived to be an almost...cocky air to him. No, not cocky. He knew what cocky looked like. He was...confident? Overly so? He couldn't exactly nail it, but there was a quality that the man exuded which was rubbing him the wrong way. Then again, most people tended to rub him the wrong way simply because they didn't seem important enough to bother with. However, it wasn't an accident that this stranger was on the same platform. Who was he? Was it Jig? No, it couldn't be. Could it?

"Possibly." His response to the stranger's questioning was accompanied with a quick survey of the area. There was a rickety shelter close by, which would serve as somewhat of a buffer between the incoming weather(England! He joked that the rain was so frequent because the gods couldn't stop crying over how awful the English were as a people...that wasn't a popular joke among most. He told it anyway.) and the travelers that were surprisingly present. One other person on the platform might have been a coincidence, but for there to be a handful? This was tactful. Jig might have asked these interlopers to come and serve as camouflage. Jig could have been any one of them, yet he could be watching somewhere, plotting his next move as he laughed gleefully at the confusion.

He muttered a string of curses in his native tongue before spotting a rather pretty woman dressed head to leg in red, her black shoes serving as a fantastic compliment to her attire. She seemed innocent enough, which made Kaz suspect her all the more. He decided to poke the bear, see what would happen if he interacted with someone.

It didn't hurt that she was gorgeous.

Kaz approached her with a disarming(or at least he thought it was) smile, miniature suitcase in tow as he asked her:
"Now what would bring a beautiful woman such as yourself to a..." He paused, seeking the right word.
"Backward location." Smooth as usual.

Wink Murder: Who Killed Mr. Jig?

@Jig

My bad. Hopefully the IC post will make up for it...or not xD

Wink Murder: Who Killed Mr. Jig?

19:45

Kaz frowned at his iWatch, the glowing numerals on the screen being replaced with yet another notification from Reuters, this one indicating that the Pope had declared "all human life should be held sacred" in response to some sort of ISIS ploy in the middle east involving a massacre of hundreds. He had been keeping tabs on the story most of the journey from London, but he hadn't expected the Pope to speak on the matter. Kaz read the headline again, this time aloud to himself:

"All human life should be held sacred."

He chuckled at the sentimentality, which garnered a very strange look from one of few passengers that occupied the decrepit train. Kaz felt eyes burning into his skull and looked sideways to find an older woman leering at him with curiosity. After all, it probably wasn't a normal occurrence to find a sharply dressed Japanese man intently studying his technological devices on such a desolate route. He had done as much research as he could into the route to Pryrush, but there wasn't much he could dig up other than it was a rather cheap route that didn't feature any kind of first class car. He had looked into flying, but attempting to find Pryrush on a map was an excruciating process, one that involved consistently zooming in on an electronic map until a small pinprick registered on-screen. Sure, the transportation method AND the village itself seemed backwards, but the CFO of Ujohiri Financial Holding inc had to...stoop(for lack of a better term in his mind) to the level of common individuals just this one time in order to resolve a matter that was all too sensitive.

Any hint of civilization seemed to disappear after about an hour into the trip, but he had at least somewhat of a cellular signal up until ten minutes ago, which he cursed about inwardly. Without any line of communication, he would have to improvise somehow. He straightened up in his seat, looking down at his gold cufflinks before realizing that he had brought it with him in order to make more sense of it on the trip. On the seat next to him lay a smallish suitcase that contained the usual accouterments of travel, but in the front pocket was an envelope that he withdrew now, opening it to reveal a rather tacky note, newspaper letters making up the message:

"Why don't you drop on by? We can talk."
-Mr.Jig

This was the latest letter, which upon putting together with the others, formed the motivation for Kaz to follow the instructions laid out for his journey to Pryrush. He rapped his fingers on his leg, tapping one foot on the floor of the car. He would figure this out...somehow.

_____

Kaz had gotten the attention of the conductor by moving to the front of the train and claiming that he needed to get off at Pryrush, not trusting the judgment of a backwoods Englishman to get him to his specific destination. The conductor looked at him rather oddly, but shrugged and told him that they would be there in just a few minutes. On his way back, he noticed that some of the cars had passengers that seemed...distinct. He couldn't put his finger on it, but some of these passengers didn't belong, he just knew it. Were they also headed to Pryrush? No, probably not. Could they?

The train stopped, allowing Kaz to deboard onto the free standing concrete platform. He scanned his surroundings, looking for any sign of his mysterious communicator.

"Come on. Show yourself."

Wink Murder: Who Killed Mr. Jig?

Informal Character Sheet:

Name: Kaz Ujohiri
Picture(so I don't have to explain every last detail xD):

Details:
-Kaz is CFO of a rather large financial firm named Ujohiri Financial Holdings Incorporated
-As such, he dresses rather fancily because he can. He can usually be found in a dark suit of the finest quality with a light(always light) colored dress shirt and contrasting tie.
-He likes feeling "connected" to the world around him, which means his rather obnoxious iPhone(and equally obnoxious gold set iWatch) is constantly buzzing with information.
-He can be rather charming, but there is a "fiery" look in his eyes that deters most people from delving deeply into his personal life
-He loves talking about global affairs and often reads up on multiple news sites for "breaking news"

Wink Murder: Who Killed Mr. Jig?

Here!

Wink Murder: Who Killed Mr. Jig?

@Jig, do we have a specific posting order or do we just post our blurb and wait for everyone else to contribute?

Can't wait to get started!

Wink Murder: Who Killed Mr. Jig? [Murder Mystery]

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