VIGIL 3: Uh... can we get a mulligan?

[Shadowcaller]

[Conference Room]

Cessie nods. "I still feel like we would lose a lot of our credibility if we do this though." She comments as she puts away her version of the contract. "It do seem like a bit much."

"We understood that might be a issue, but its all about how you frame it. Explain, Amy." Spark once again takes the word, only to hand it back to Amy again with a gesture.

"Y-yeah, I wanted to make it look more like a documentary series than some kind of soap opera. A 'behind the scenes' kind of thing. There is plenty of that now, and I think following the real VIGIL would draw a lot of interest." She explains.

[Morty]

[Conference Room]

Wenomir nods in affirmation.

"A soap opera isn't on the table, and never was. Showing facts about us, what we do and how we carry on the fight might help us. If presented right."

[Shadowcaller]

[Conference Room]

Wenomir nods in affirmation.

"A soap opera isn't on the table, and never was. Showing facts about us, what we do and how we carry on the fight might help us. If presented right."

[Conference Room]

Spark smiles and corrects his glasses. "Sounds like we are all on the same wavelength then."

"So it would seem, but I still have my doubts. We probably need a few weeks to adjust and make out final decision." Cessie cautions. "We need to see what this really is."

"If you need it, but that reminds me. Mr. Kelligan added a addendum that might make you more inclined to agree." The lawyer remarks as he fishes another, smaller, contract from his portfolio and presents it to Wenomir and Cessie. "Mr. Kelligan couldn't help but to notice that while you all have fancy weapons, you are a bit lacking in defensive equipment. Therefore, Mr. Kelligan, who just so happens to own a company that makes combat armors, is willing to sponsor the construction of a new armor for each VIGIL member partaking in the... documentary. You'd design these armors yourself of course, but perhaps you'd consider something more fancy. To make a good impression I mean."

[Deathkeeper]

Conference Room

Spako speaks up for the first time since entering the room.
"And how would Mr. Kelligan have noted that? Mine, I'm sure, but Commander Wenomir and our field agents haven't exactly been giving many interviews in the last few months. And I doubt there were many functioning cameras at that place he saved last month." he asks quietly.

[Morty]

[Conference Room]

"It would have been prudent to mention this 'addendum' before," Wenomir points out. "I have no interest in fancy armour, as you put it, and my current defensive equipment is entirely satisfactory. But others might find it more appealing." He examines the additional contract carefully.

[Shadowcaller]

[Conference Room]

"Simply from personal observation. I don't think he's saying that all of you lack armor, but that some of you do. Though if it really matter, I could call Mr. Kelligan right now so you can personally ask him, Mr. Highclaws." The lawyer offers as he picks up his phone. "But if you want my personal opinion." He gestures at Amy. "And I think miss Zap will agree with me here, I think it will be in your best interest to at the very least look professional for the show. Though, I'm not saying you already do, but the common man has certain perceptions of what professional is, colored by watching television for ages. I am simply trying to help you make a good impression."

"Will Mr. Kelligan sponsor the creation of armors not made by this company of his?" Cessie asks.

"Yes, it's all written down here just how much." He puts the papers on the table and shoos them closer. "Really, there are no downsides here as it seems like your and Miss Zap's visions of the shows are aligned. I hate to cut to the chase, but are you ready to consider agreeing on it? I can get that item you need here in five minutes if you do."

[Deathkeeper]

Conference Room

Spako grumbles and sticks a finger on the corner of the contract, trying to be unobtrusive as he downloads its contents like he did the other one. He won't speak up again unless he finds something strange in the contract, but he doesn't expect any hidden clauses in micro-type this time.

[Morty]

[Conference Room]

"We are entirely likely to agree, yes," Wenomir affirms. "After all, the item we're supposed to receive in exchange is rather valuable. As long as the armour sponsoring is free to opt in and out of, I have no issue with it."

[Shadowcaller]

[Conference Room]

"What happens if we aren't pleased with our deal after we signed the contract?" Cessie asks. "It seems to me that the circumstances can change drastically considering this organizations goal."

Spark shows his palms. "We can renegotiate if that happens, trust me, we both want this to go as smoothly as possible. Nice and predictable. As predictable as your line of work can be, of course." he clears his voice. "But if that's it, could I have a signature, please? Kelligan and I have already signed." He pats the contract.

Spako will see that the contract specify's that the armors should be suitable for the tone of the show and not cause "discomfort or outrage for the viewers".

[Deathkeeper]

Conference

"Relax, Mr. Wisewiz. The train's not leaving the station just yet. Regardless, I don't see anything objectionable in the contract itself and any concern I have with your addendum is null since there's no compulsion for any of our members to comply with it if they don't wish. Though I do admit I don't know enough about your culture to know what your viewers would consider discomforting. " Spako says casually with a shrug, returning to his spot in the back.

[Morty]

[Conference Room]

"You are awfully eager to get it signed," Wenomir observes. "But I don't see any problems that would prevent it. Do you, Cessie?"

[Shadowcaller]

[Conference Room]

"I'm still skeptical, but we might as well invite them in and see what happens. I suppose we could always hand back the focus if it doesn't work out." Cessie remarks.

Spark leans back in his chair. "I thought you were eager to get it over with. Most of my clients don't want these meetings to last longer than necessary, and they didn't even have to go through years of legal studies to do it. I'm in no rush though, feel free to come with more questions or read it through again."

[Morty]

[Conference Room]

"Let's get it done, then."

Wenomir will sign the contract as Wenomir of Raven's Ford, Commander of Vigil.

[Skies Above]

The Vigil base might be treated to a rather unpleasant sight one day. A flock of large creatures that look like the fusion of a bird and a human are circling above, getting ever closer. Some of them start dipping down, as if searching intently for something. Specifically, they will home in on objects with obvious power of some sort.

[Shadowcaller]

[Conference Room]

Cessie quickly looks the contract one more time before finally signing it as well.
"It will be a true honor working with you." Amy says with a shy smile. "I just hope I will be good enough to do your organization justice."

"Excellent, then its time for my part. If you excuse me a moment..." He jumps down his chair and retrieves what appears to be a scroll case with a numpad on it. "I think I need to go outside the base, as I assume you're using some sort of teleportation blocker?" Of course, the view of the lawyer is now blocked by the desk as he is quite a bit shorter than it.
Cessie glances at Wenomir. "Yes." She lies. "If you need to teleport something, do it outside the base."

"Very well, I'll be back soon then." He walks up to the door and steps outside, two of his entourage following him out.
Amy smiles. "That went relatively well. So as soon as Spark gets that magic-thingy, we can have a look around the base, right?"

[Skies Above]

The harpies are meet in the air by a large purple eagle who seems to just have happened to been flying around the base. It starts following them, unless of course they're going to attempt to attack it straight away.

[Obstacle Course]

Ambrosia can be seen slowly walking up to the obstacle course. She is carrying a staff which Wenomir hasn't seen her use before. She seems to be just watching what's happening for now, however.

[Deathkeeper]

Conference Room

"I can probably do that. Unless Commander Wenomir or Miss Mithar would like to come to establish what's allowed." Spako offers at Amy's question.

[Recaiden]

Anyway, seeing the shadows swooping by, Alice comes outside and looks up at the harpies(?), one hand shading her eyes. What are they doing here?

[Morty]

[Conference Room]

Yes, getting a teleport block is a priority Vigil hasn't got around to yet. But they might as well make people believe they have.

"The more publicly available parts thereof, at least."

[Skies Above]

The harpies swoop towards the emergency monorail, and try to rip chunks off of it. They're not doing a very good job at it, needless to say. They appear rather focused on the task for now.

[Shadowcaller]

[Conference Room]

"Yes, you probably can't be allowed everywhere. You certainly can't look into our homes here." Not that she actually lived here, she didn't have quite that devotion.

Amy nods eagerly. "Of course, of course. I would never do that. I'm sure Spako is sensible enough to figure out where I'm allowed or not. I'm just planning to have a quick look around anyway, perhaps figure out where we are supposed to stay. That won't be a problem, right?"

[Skies Above]

Anika was pretty sure they weren't allowed to do that, damn pests. The eagle suddenly swoops down into the middle of the harpy group, turns into a night elf mid-air, and then unleashes a powerful sunblast, hopefully blinding the flying pests as they hopefully will turn to the sudden eagle flying towards them.

[Deathkeeper]

Conference Room

"Stay? All of you? Don't know if we planned on that, but we can probably figure something out for you at least." he says, looking at Wenomir.
Can they trust multiple goblins to be living on the premises and not pose a security risk? It's not his call.

[Recaiden]

Alice ducks back inside, and then a moment later rushes to the emergency monorail, brandishing a long-handled broom at the harpies as if they were just annoying birds.
"What do you think you're doing, you ugly things? Get away!"

[Morty]

[Conference Room]

"We should be able to put you up in the upper village," Wenomir says. "It's our general living area."

[Skies Above]

The blast of light blinds most of the harpies, and they plummet to the ground in confusion. Some, however, didn't turn to face Anika in time, and now swoop down on her with their long, sharp and filthy talons. Some turn their attention towards Alice instead, and try to peck at her with their strong beaks. They appear to be no smarter than a regular bird of prey or carrion bird... except for having a clear purpose.

[UncleWolf]

Debate Night

"I imagine I feel the same as most people whenever I think about Southside. Saddened." Jezebel states after a moment of consideration. "It is a section of the city that has been hammered the most by strife and bad luck. The people that live there are much the same. There seem to be pockets of stability growing within the region, but for the most part it truly needs a helping hand."

[Shadowcaller]

[Conference Room]

"That should work just fine for us, right guys?" Amy states, turning to the rest of the goblins who just mutters quietly in agreement. They all seem rather nervous in the presence of all the VIGIL members.
"See? No problems there! We are all ready to go! Show us the way, Spako!"

[Skies Above]

Anika gestures towards the attacking harpies and green energy in the form of vines shoot out from her hand and attempts to grab a hold of the harpies lower talons. Wherever it succeeds or not, the druid then turn back into a eagle, with the green vines still attached to her body, and then tries to dive underneath the harpies, likely taking a few scratches if it didn't succede. The ones, if any, that are entangled will be pulled along with her.

[Deathkeeper]

Conference Room

"Uh, okay. Here we go." Spako says, wishing he could have just brought a certain someone for this. "Make sure someone's around to keep Spark from getting lost if he's not back in a while." Spako says with a wave to Wenomir before they go.
Spako will do his best to lead the three goblins to the upper village. He keeps his eye especially on Amy, who he suspects he might have to keep from running into things as she stares at everything.

[Recaiden]

"Ow!" Those kind of hurt! Aren't harpies supposed to have human faces? What's with the sharp beaks!?

Seeing that they aren't really phased by swats with a broom, Alice lets it fall beside her. A shimmering force field of interlocked polygons appears around one hand, a shield that she uses to try to fend off the monsters. And with her other hand, she grabs at one of them, hoping to slam it against the stone of the monorail.

[Morty]

[Skies Above]

Two harpies are pulled along with Anika, screeching. One is still free, and rakes at the druid with its talons.

Meanwhile, Alice succeeds at slamming the harpy against the monorail. It hangs limply, dazed. The others appear to grow less confident as they encounter such resistance.

For the record, the harpies do have bird-like faces with strong beaks.

[Obstacle Course]

"Oh, Ambrosia! Good to see you." The scholar will see that Wenomir is standing some distance from the course, observing it from a vantage point. "My students are going through an obstacle course I devised."

[8BitNinja]

[VIGIL Skybase]

A man in white plate armor with gold trimmings and blue cape shows up at the entrance on a white warhorse. He is carrying a white heater shield with the gold emblem of a lion's mane. In his right hand, he has a lance with alternating white and gold stripes on it. On the left side of his belt, he has a longsword with a gold colored grip in a gold scabbard and on the right there is a leather scabbard with a knife in it. He dismounts and walks up to the entrance. He takes off his helmet and puts his lance on his horse. It can be seen that he is a caucasian man in his mid 20s with brown hair, blue eyes, and a 5 o clock shadow. He says "Hello, my name is Steve, I am a paladin of The Benevolent One. I come to tell you on behalf of myself and Ambrosia that there is a massive attack being made by demons, and we need every available soldier to counter the attack. I myself can accompany your force."

[Deathkeeper]

Debate Night

"Well frankly, Miss, I think that the whole place really should be cleaned up and anyone still stuck there given help, but that's not technically in the jurisdiction of Eastside. I would send aid if the people wished me to, and it was all agreed upon with the other Sides as to avoid any diplomatic incidents. Personally, I would also flush out from the city organizations and their members that openly go about calling themselves terrorists and villains, but it does seem that some people disagree on that issue." he says, being far too tactful to openly stare at Amyria or the other current officials, but not really leaving anything else open to interpretation as the people who let an AMENite run for office.

Speaking of which, one or two of the imps will be doing their best during the night, shapeshifted into young people, to spread rumors about that. After all, Stu isn't even a resident of Riverside (which was pretty much the only requirement) being an AMENite and doesn't qualify for office in the first place. Clearly.

[Recaiden]

"Thank you, everyone," Sophie says, stepping forward. "I'd like to ask the second question, now that we've heard your opening statements." She opens an envelope she's holding. "An issue that we've seen in many letters from citizens is that of Southside. What do you think about the no man's land that continues to exist in Riverside?"

"I imagine I feel the same as most people whenever I think about Southside. Saddened." Jezebel states after a moment of consideration. "It is a section of the city that has been hammered the most by strife and bad luck. The people that live there are much the same. There seem to be pockets of stability growing within the region, but for the most part it truly needs a helping hand."

"I think it's disingenuous to refer to our fellow district-state as no man's land. That's the land of the people who, despite everything, still make their homes in Southside. I don't agree with the methods of Southside's leaders, and think the Court of One did the whole city a great disservice with the disappearance, but none of that means the 'Side doesn't deserve our respect."

"As I hope you know, last year the council and I incorporated part of the southern riverfront into Eastside, with the full agreement of everyone there."
It helped that this was before the invasions and there was hardly anyone there.
"It is my wish that our southern neighbors follow Eastside's example, but that will be up to them. I remain hopeful for them."

[Ashen Lilies]

[VIGIL Skybase]

A man in white plate armor with gold trimmings and blue cape shows up at the entrance on a white warhorse. He is carrying a white heater shield with the gold emblem of a lion's mane. In his right hand, he has a lance with alternating white and gold stripes on it. On the left side of his belt, he has a longsword with a gold colored grip in a gold scabbard and on the right there is a leather scabbard with a knife in it. He dismounts and walks up to the entrance. He takes off his helmet and puts his lance on his horse. It can be seen that he is a caucasian man in his mid 20s with brown hair, blue eyes, and a 5 o clock shadow. He says "Hello, my name is Steve, I am a paladin of The Benevolent One. I come to tell you on behalf of myself and Ambrosia that there is a massive attack being made by demons, and we need every available soldier to counter the attack. I myself can accompany your force."

[VIGIL Skybase]

The lookouts will ferry him on to the island and direct him to someone important.