The Forge of Marid's Fall IC

[Jacior]

The morning sun peaks over the horizon, first casting its rays on the peaks of the World-Spine. As the sun rises and more is shone upon by its light, a mist forms around the peaks, evaporation from the rain the last couple of days. It is the first nice day in nearly a week and as the sun finally lands on the peaks of the tallest buildings in Marid's Fall, the city starts up early, the sound of forge's being lit and the smell of baking bread fills the streets.

Cassandra is awoken by the sound of a bird tapping a snail shell against her window, the rapping sound like a shrill bell against the glass.

[EdroGrimshell]

Cassandra sits up in her bed before stretching and parting the hair in front of her eyes to look at window, while Cass liked birds, and animals in general, she wasn't much of a morning person so right now it was little more than an annoyance. Instead of immediately stopping the bird, she went to the chest that held her clothes and pulled out her work set, an undyed tunic, leggings, and a band to keep her hair out of her eyes before she goes to the window and opening it, likely scaring the bird away in the process, the air would be nice today if it didn't get too hot, then the humidity would be hell.

Once set, she goes down the hall, grabbing her leaf patterned scarf, which was seen as a signature for her, and went to the main room to set up shop, bringing out display cases with show pieces, whetstones, some quartz of various colors cut to display the different cuts she could make, and charms she's made by carving designs into metal. Once set up front, she starts up her furnace, she'd probably be using it later in the day, and opened shop.

[Jacior]

The bird flees as Cassandra approaches the window, dropping the snail it had been trying to crack open. A light breeze through the window reminds her why living on the side of a mountain was both better and worse than the flatlands below. It was nearly the middle of the summer season and with the rain, a chill almost hung in the air, but having lived their as long as she had, she knew it'd warm up before long.

Business was slow, as usual. Some of the locals were warming up to the idea, but many couldn't get over a women working a forge. The store was mostly empty for the greater part of the morning. Someone came in to pick up an order, a couple of young girls took a liking to a pair of pendants that had been hanging in the window and one, rather gruff looking man came in and looked at swords for about twenty minutes, picked one up as if to purchase it and when he noticed the shopkeep was a women, placed it back down and left.

Shortly after midday, noted by the sounds of the city's bells tolling, a great many people tumble into the shop, all looking at weapons and armor and causing a general ruckus.

[EdroGrimshell]

Cassandra wasn't surprised by the sale of the pendants, they were pretty popular actually, but it did annoy her to no end that someone would leave just because she was a woman, she'd seen many female warriors lay much bigger men on their backs, so why would anyone see a female blacksmith as odd? Then again, that was on the other side of the Spine. It helped somewhat that she was one of the only people that dealt in cyrite weapons on this side of the Spine.

She'd have to start doing hunts on her own soon if she really wanted to prove herself, not that it was a big deal, she could live on what she made from her charms, alchemical items, and smaller items, but she took pride in her skill with weapons, both in making and wielding them, and to have someone judge them based simply on what she looked like was just plain insulting.

She had plenty of time to calm down before the rush, luckily, and used the opportunity to sharpen her blade until the rush started. Once it did, she stowed her sword and kept an eye on everyone in the store while keeping things from getting out of hand. She was also looking out for anyone that looked like they might be answering her request for a guide to this part of the Spine, someone knowledgeable about the creatures and area, but not necessarily a fighter or hunter.

[Jacior]

Some of the men give scowls to Cassandra as they look through her wares, but none seem inclined to leave. It seemed whatever was causing this rush was causing them to overlook certain traits the proprietor possessed. Nearly all of them find something to suit their tastes though, be it armor or weapon and make their purchases and head off down the street in a bit of a rush. A couple people are still left milling around the shop, taking more careful time to choose from what's left or perusing other objects there.

One man however, gives Cassandra a look before walking up to the counter. "I'm surprised you're still here, Girly. I figured you would have closed up shop and left with that rabble earlier, what with you looking for a hunting guide for this side of the Spine." He was moderately older than Cassandra, perhaps in his late thirties. With a rather unkempt appearance and slightly-too-dirty-to-be-polite clothing, he seemed like one of the street people from some of the old places Cassandra has lived before.

[EdroGrimshell]

Cassandra looks up at the man, with a raised eyebrow, "waiting for someone to offer before I start going out there," she replies plainly, "I take it, since you're asking, that you're interested?"

[Jacior]

"You've not left this shop all day, have you, Girly?" The man says, with no real change in attitude. Though, his widening eyes when she spoke so plainly, maybe spoke of a burgeoning amount of respect. "They say a group of guides have just shown up from the other side of the Spine, claiming to be accepting an apprentice each to learn the lay of the land and the monsters that have started popping up over here." He looks her up and down. "I don't know if any of 'em will take a woman, but it can't hurt to try right?"

[EdroGrimshell]

Cassandra nods, "thanks, I'll take a look into it. And I prefer Cassandra," she glances at the shop to see how many people are around, "I owe ya one, but if I'm going to catch one of them I'll need to leave now. Come by tomorrow and I can cut you a deal on something."

[Jacior]

There's about three other people in the shop, excluding the man your talking with. "Aye, I know your name, Girly. Not many folks around here that don't, truth be told." He shrugs at that and ambles out the door. "I don't really need anything, but I might take you up on that anyway, Girly. Better go hurry before the good ones are gone." He calls out over his shoulder before closing the door rather loudly behind him.

[EdroGrimshell]

"The good ones are the ones that actually take their time picking someone," Cassandra mutters as she ushers people out and closes shop before she changes into her combat gear, a white and gold kimono style top with a leaf pattern, loose-legged pants, and shoes that are easy to slide on, with a mithril shirt under her top, then heads out to find these guides.

[Jacior]

With a little asking around, she discovers that the guides are in one of the squares near the edge of town, one affectionately nick-named Tribulation by the locals. It's upon arriving there though, that Cassandra realizes she's not the only one to come down here. Half the populace seems to be trying to crowd into the square, but she can't tell how many are there for purpose or just for a look.

On the stage, which seems to have been brought out by the city for this event, there stand eight, or is that nine, people of varying heights and builds. Four of them seem to be women and the rest men, but from this distance it's nearly impossible to tell for sure.

[EdroGrimshell]

Cassandra sighs, it was always a crowd... she started to push forward, using her sheathed sword to weave through people and clear a path for herself, as long as no one tried grabbing the scarf everything would be fine. Once she got to the front, she'd be in a good position to actually get an idea of what was going on.

[Jacior]

It seemed the people on the stage, three women and four men now that you were close enough to make them out, were actively waiting for the crowd to quiet down. Though it was plain from the smile on more than one face that they were enjoying the attention. It was obvious that they could stay there most of the day soaking in the crowds talk and looks.

The largest of the men, standing nearly a head taller than everyone on the stage and presumably everyone in the crowd, is heavily muscled and wearing heavy platemail. He seems to wear it like a second skin though and as he steps forward, you can't help but feel that it's no hindrance in the field. He carries a greataxe, stylized to appear as a dragon breathing flames. "Quiet, quiet now everyone. We know you're all excited, but we have some things to say first." He steps back and one of the women steps forward.

She's dressed sparsely, almost in no armor at all. Her hair is cut very short and a thick, jagged scar extends from her cheek down her neck and under her armor. Her weapon appears to be a flail with twin heads and very long chains. She seems much more serious than the man before her. "First off, anyone here not seriously looking to learn, LEAVE NOW! We have not the time nor the patience to deal with crowds." From several looks given to her by the rest of those assembled on the stage, that feeling wasn't exactly mutual.

The crowd doesn't exactly eager to disperse, but after a number of minutes of inactivity from the stage, about half the crowd leaves, grumbling and murmuring to itself.

Another of the men steps forward, this one quite a bit smaller than the first. He's dressed in baggy clothing, with both his pants and his sleeves ending wide and long enough to conceal his hands. He carries no weapon and seems quite a bit more amiable than several people on the stage. "Now that the looky-loos are gone, it's time to weed out the stragglers. Anyone here not prepared to die, please leave now as well." He says with a smile. About half of who is left also take their leave at this point. "I said anyone. I meant everyone. Please leave if you aren't ready to lose your life." When no one makes a move, his smile falters ever so slightly before regaining itself. "Have it your way." He says and his sleeves move slightly before several people cry out in pain, including someone directly behind you. Looking back, you see a thin, sharp looking razor sticking out of his shoulder.

Most of the remaining crowd runs off at this, leaving about twelve people, including yourself. The second woman steps up and scowls at the remaining people. "I thought you would have scared off more than this." The man with the sleeves just smiles and shrugs at her. She has a pair of swords at her hip and she's dressed, rather quite like Cassandra. "What are we to do with this many people? I'm not taking on more than one of them. If that." She scowls again at the group and jerks her head towards the next person.

The third man doesn't bother getting up from his sitting position on the stage. He's wearing leather armor, reinforced in several places with plates of some metal that reflects green light, despite being silvery in color. "A test perhaps? But what would suit them for something such as this?" Laid across his lap is a simple staff, reinforced with metal at the tips. He lays back and stares up at the sky, apparently not very interested in whatever the group decides.

The last of the women, wears scalemail that looks peculiar, though you can't seem to put your finger on why. Her hair seems long, but most of it is tied up into a thick braid. What is most eye-catching however, is the massive shield and bizarrely shaped lance she carried, it was far too short to be effective. "Why not a trial by combat? It's usually the most simple way to go about things, and it'll help us figure out who here is actually ready and who's just suicidal!" Her voice is chirpy and sweet and she looks to be the nicest of the women on the stage.

The last man carries a scythe that seems much to large for him. It seems a little odd, but after the last woman finishes speaking, everyone turns to face him. It seems as though he is their leader, unofficial or otherwise. He wears a blindfold and little more than peasants clothing. "I don't see why not." And the somber expression he was trying to put on breaks into a grin. "HA! I don't see! Bwehehehehe." You can almost feel the rest of the group on the stage roll their eyes. "But I think we should ask them what they think on the matter. There's no need to be blind to the needs of those assembled after all." And after a moment he starts laughing to himself again. "I guess I have to be blind to that, don't I?" The woman with the twin swords audibly groans.

He points at the crowd, directly at Cassandra, actually. "You, you're the only girl that stayed. You decide how we're to pick 7 of you out of the 12 that are here."

[EdroGrimshell]

Cassandra raises an eyebrow as she scans the people on the stage, starting and ending with the blind man, "I imagine that tests from each of you would take to much time," she looks towards her competition, "so, a trial by fire, see what you have to work with and who would fit your own teaching style best."

Cassandra is still holding her sword, "I do also believe that each of you should interview more than one of us so that personality clashes do not occur, if you choose someone that fits skill wise, but has a personality you can't stand, you'll just be wasting time."

[Jacior]

The man with the scythe grins. "I like her! But that's not really how this is going to work. We're going to pit you against each other, and then you're going to pick one of us! Assuming you win that is..." He nods to himself, as if all this was very sagely and wise. It was then that the lancer spoke up again. "But there's seven of us and twelve of them. That's not going to work very well." He frowns at that. "You're right of course. So, we either go find two more people. Or one of us can sit out. Or we can work out some sort of complicated tournament style fight." He folds his hand under his chin. "So many options."

The man who'd attacked the crowd shrugs. "There's always the culling method. We simply kill five of them and then there's no issue!" More than one person nods at the last statement, leading you to wonder what you might have gotten yourself into. The group on the stage starts talking amongst itself at that, but too quiet to hear from where you're standing.

[EdroGrimshell]

Cassandra decides to look through her competition, get a read on them and see which ones are really her competition, "just like untempered steel..." she mutters as she looks through the people.

Spoiler

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Appraise: (1d20+11)[18]

[Jacior]

The group on the stage finally ceases their deliberation after a minute or two. "It's been decided that you shall all fight, tournament style. Best of three." The baggy sleeved man said with a peppy tone. "Lethality of the fights is to be left up to the competitors. Anything goes folks." They divide the group up into pairs using a system you can only assume is with great care and calculation.

Your first opponent is a slightly older man, the one with the greataxe. He seems to value function over form and his weapon and armor have no ornamentation, other than obviously being well made. He grunts at you, but makes no other committal noises.

Spoiler

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Roll for initiative: (1d20+6)[21]

[Jacior]

The man brings his axe up to bare first, not hesitating because Cassandra is a woman. His swing is enourmously powerful and the first strike hits true into her shoulder, she can feel the blood flowing down her side. "That axe is annoying, let's get rid of it," Cassandra says and swiftly draws her sword and shifts her weapon to pull the axe from the larger man's hand.

As the axe changes hands, the man looks bewildered and more than a little embarassed. "I uh, surrender. I can't do anything without my axe." The match was yours with little effort it seemed. Well, that was quicker than Cassandra expected, "Here," she hands back his axe, "you ever need another one I deal in them. I suggest keeping a back up weapon for this sort of situation. My sheath is built for that purpose."

"Well that was certainly a fast fight!" The blind man exclaims and claps his hands together. "Come up here and let Laura take care of your wound. She's good at that kind of thing. And we can wait for the rest of the lot to be done." You come up on the stage and stand, letting the lancer handle your wound. She appears to know magic as her hands start glowing as they rest on your shoulder. You also make note that she has you face her and attempting to look behind you is blocked by the smiling face of the old man. "He certainly did a number on you for one attack, didn't he Girly? Wow."

The fights are over in short order after that. "We've got one fatality over here!" The girl wielding twin swords calls out, straightening up from inspecting the body. From what you can see, the man is torn open something horrible. "Next bout! Up and up." This fight you're paired against a man wearing nothing but hides and carrying a blood-specked maul. "Get ready, I'm gonna crack your little head open." He doesn't seem the most friendly type.

Spoiler

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Initiative: (1d20+2)[10]

[EdroGrimshell]

"We'll see," Cassandra replies, drawing her sword.

Spoiler

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Initiative: (1d20+4)[19]

[Jacior]

Cassandra flashes forward and makes her attack, but gets her sword caught in the armor on the man, giving him a chance to dodge. The man side-steps Cassandras attack, but only barely. His swing goes wild however, smashing into the ground and cracking the stones. Cassandra glances at the weapon, and goes to do the same maneuver she had used against the axe man from earlier. "I hope you can fight without your maul," Cassandra says as she takes hold of the heavy hammer and slams the head into the ground while directing her sword at her opponent

"As a matter of fact, I CAN!" The man says and swings his fist at Cassandra, connecting a blow on the same shoulder she'd hurt earlier. "But you can't hit nearly as hard," Cassandra replies before she surges forward, slashing with her sword right at his stomach, and seemingly passing through his side as she dashes past him, still holding the Maul in her other hand.

The man grimaces at the cut before glaring at her with the utmost contempt. "I'LL CRACK YOUR HEAD OPEN WOMAN!" He swings overhand with both his arms, landing a solid blow against Cassandra's head. But it doesn't feel cracked.

Cassandra's blade comes up to strike while he's distracted by his own attack. Suddenly, blood gushes from where she had struck him earlier, "I hope you like my attack, it's a rather potent one," Apparently a little too potent, for immediately afterwords, he topples over like wall being pushed down. "I guess you won't learn from the mistake though," she states as she flicks the blood from her blade and sheathes the sword.

The woman with the twin swords comes to check the collapsed man. "That's two fatalities this round! You people really don't mess around, do you?" She says, almost a complement. "Well, that concludes that, doesn't it! You two," he points towards the axeman you fought earlier and the man wielding the katana. "Leave. Be gone from our sight for a hundred years!" He starts laughing. "Actually, if you could be in my sight in about five minutes, that'd be great!" He laughs to himself as the two men leave dejectedly.

The other fatality, unsurprisingly, belongs to the man that killed someone in the first round. He looks at you and one other person, the one wielding the single longsword with a certain disturbing eagerness. "You three get to pick first." He says sagely. "So choose wisely your Master."

[EdroGrimshell]

Cassandra hums lightly, then goes to the two that caught her eye, "a quick question," she says, "are either of you artisans as well as warriors?" the question is directed at the woman with two swords and the man with the staff.

[Jacior]

"You'll find that each of us here crafts our own weapons, armor and gear. I would not place my trust in the blade I did not forge with my own two hands." The one with the twin swords says, insulted by such a prospect. "You should follow such an example, none here will make anything for you."

[EdroGrimshell]

Cassandra grins, "I've already taken to that philosophy," she says, "I own a forge in town where I make my own weapons and armor," with that said, she makes her decision, "I think we may be able to work well together," she says to the man with the staff, the metal he had on his armor interested her.

[Jacior]

The man doesn't notice at first, not having gotten off his back since he laid down earlier to watch the clouds. The man with the scythe nudges him with his foot. "Finnegan. She picked you, get up you slug." He grumbles and grunting all the while, rises to a sitting position. "Of course she did. Why couldn't I sit out like we were talking about?" He scratches the side of his scruffy face. "You know we voted fair and square." The man groans and flops back down, hitting his head hard on the wooden platform. "I know, I know. I was just hoping."

Finnegan rolls over and climbs to his feet, using his metal-shod stave as a prop. "I guess it's settled then."

[EdroGrimshell]

Cassandra blinks, "would you like to come to my shop? We could talk there before starting, learn a little about each other."

[Jacior]

"Sure, if you've got something to drink, that'd be great." He says and shakes his head to each side.

[EdroGrimshell]

"I have some wine, but there's a tavern nearby if you want something stronger," Cassandra says as she leads the way.

[Jacior]

"To the tavern then!" He says and hops off the stage, nearly falling on his face. "I assume you're buying?"

[EdroGrimshell]

"Just don't go overboard," Cassandra says.

She leads Finnegan to the tavern and takes a seat with the staff user, "a drink or two before we start?" she asks, "they have a decent mead here, and I'm partial to the spiced cider."

[Jacior]

"Something hard and brain-rattling." Finnegan says, ordering something most obviously reserved for late-night drinking. When it's brought to him, he quickly drinks it down and orders another, which he takes the time to sip.