Rising up in Risentide IC

[Amnestic]

Very slowly, and with a few encouragements from Darion, Sally reaches a hand into the 'top' of her dress and pulls out a piece of string tied around her neck. Looped into the string is a golden ring with a number of blue gems inlaid in it. She gives Sella (but not Lodwjiq) a short look at it before clasping it tightly in her hand. Blue light begins to spread out from the gaps between her fingers and she gently lifts off from the crates, gently hovering in the air. Sally's face lights up as she does so, the tears gone and replaced with the joy of the experience. "It lets me fly." She says with a little giggle.

Spoiler

Show

Probably the last Pale Green you're gonna see :P

[PollyOliver]

"Well, that explains that," Sella says, more to herself than to Lodwjiq. Then, a little louder, so Sally can hear better--"I don't suppose you would be willing to sell it, then?" she asks.

[Amnestic]

"No!" She even punctuates this by flying backwards a little away from Sella, though still remains hovering. "It's mine, I'm never selling it."

Spoiler

Show

Not exactly sure you guys could afford a ring which offers permanent perfect flight :P Not yet anyway.

[PollyOliver]

Sella nods. "All right. Thanks for the information. And if you ever are willing to sell, you know how to find me." Her fingers have that familiar itch, but she's not stealing from one of the kids--she might as well go rob herself a few years back. She fishes a few coins from her purse and sets them in two piles for Dar and Sally, then spares Lodwjiq a short glance before heading off, wondering if they should head for the Old Arena or back to the inn to tell the others first.

Spoiler

Show

Edit: didn't realize it was permanent; figured it was use activated, a few rounds at a time, or something like that.

[Kantolin]

Qkon bit his lip, at the stare.

He remained put for a time, just staring, as he realized he was afraid to explain.

Why was this? He was a Zagan, Zagan weren't afraid of anything! Was he afraid of getting caught? These were people who were already, apparantly, agreeing to be away from the humans who cared about spellcasting.

Why was he afraid?

And despite this, he wasn't... wasn't explaining. Wasn't talking! He didn't mind talking! What was this?

"I got... got 'it with some shadow stuff."

He paused. That wasn't an explanation - was he still afraid? "Er. I got cursed. I can do dis shadow stuff, but it's not magic. I was 'oping it might be da same's dat.... truenamin', but I sure as 'ells didn't ask for dis crap, so I guess not."

There. It was out. And he hadn't even realized how much he'd been hiding it; he was actually more than a little annoyed with himself.

[Kurai]

"Shadow curse?" Ophelia asks with a sudden shift of interest, body slightly leaning forward in wonder. Her mind now found itself occupied with the extensive research of finding out everything she had read or heard about this kind of... what could it be? Magic? A subform? Maybe an inherent trait, like some of the mage hunters portrayed.

"I might know something about this, possibly. But you have to be more...," a vague hand gesture, ", specific. If you got 'hit' with it, it certainly is no form of Truenaming, especially if you have no immediate control over it." Maybe he had run into a magic trap and now portrayed faint residues of a powerful spell... right now, with the information she had, the possibilities were endless.

[Kantolin]

"It's..."

Sigh. Now this problem again - it'd taken his shaman a week to understand this. "It's like.... bah, 'ere den."

He took his whestone out of his belt pouch, and held onto it for a moment, trying to remember this one. He'd picked up on it with a lot of work from the shaman, so maybe it was a better example than the first one he'd done. He adopted a slightly angry-looking face for a moment, in momentary concentration, upon which the rock floated slightly into the air. Qkon did no additional gestures or the like, the stone simply moved across the room.

"Er. Look't 'im, not me." Qkon added, speaking and pointing amidst the effect occuring. He was pointing at his shadow, which was making a series of gestures and otherwise in no way behaving the way a shadow ought to.

The stone was softly rested in front of Ophelia, Qkon's shadow seemed to snicker, then it finally returned to behaving the way a normal shadow should.

"Like dat."

Spoiler

Show

Fundamental used - Umbral hand. Using shadow cast so it Qkon doesn't have to do the components himself.

[Andre]

Contempt. Contempt and disgust now twist Lodwjiq's facial features. Thieving should be an art... it is an art, and should not be the plaything of dirty streetkids. He spits on the ground next to the small piles of coin Sella left behind, and turns deliberately slowly to follow the halfling.

[PollyOliver]

Sella reaches for something diplomatic to say but gives up. He likes blunt, does he?

"What the hell is your problem, anyway?" she asks, not bothering to look up.

[Andre]

Lodwjiq easily catches up on Sella in a few steps.

"None at all." he says in a surprisingly calm voice. "Let's get to that Arena."

[PollyOliver]

Sella nods tersely and head off through the crowd, hoping she remembers the way.

Spoiler

Show

She does know how to get there, right?

[Amnestic]

The approach to the arena is quiet and subdued, different to the hustle and bustle of other streets. The carved rocks tower above Sella and Lodwjiq, their tan stones dirty; they likely hadn't been cleaned since the last game happened years ago. Inside you can see glimpses of wood, rock and cloth making up whatever ramshackle accomodations the 'homeless' had. Inside is everything one would expect from a slum; children running around, mud, people hunched over, tall plumes of boiling steam from whatever meager soup they could make. A few questions to the locals points you in the right direction, and before long you're stood before the Blue Winds outside one of the nicer looking shacks in the Arena (though it takes a keen eye to notice why; they all look about the same).

It's clear from the start that they're a different breed to Darion's group. True, they're dirty, but not nearly as much. Each has a small band of blue cloth tied to their left upper arm. Most of them only glance at you and go back to their conversation, but a few lock their eyes on you. One such is a girl with long brown hair and a determined look on her face, about fifteen years to her name. If you weren't mistaken, you were quite sure you'd seen her at the market fleeing the Hunters, a satchel clutched tightly in her arms. She says nothing though, and seems to want you to make the first move.

Spoiler

Show

I knew I'd get to that payoff eventually. :P

[PollyOliver]

Sarcella evenly meets each gaze that bothers to drop to her as they walk through the old arena. She passes the rest of the Blue Winds and stops in front of the girl from the market. And then is promptly at a loss for words, as usual. She's certain she won't send this girl bawling like the last one, but the cost of angering her might well be higher than the cost of angering Dar. She glances up at the scarred human for help--not that he was exactly diplomatic the last chance he had.

[Andre]

Lodwjiq walks among the crowd, scarcely amused, and clutches his grip tighter on his flail. He looks around, this time determined not to leave empty-handed.

"Well, well, well, the infamous Blue Winds. I've heard so much about you."

Spoiler

Show

Uh, how many of them?

[Amnestic]

The young lady with the brown hair and determined look stays seated on her podium of a broken down old rocking chair, resting her cheek on one hand as she looks up (and down, what with Sella's height) at the two of you. "Oh? And what is it that you've heard of us exactly?

Spoiler

Show

About a dozen are in sight, most of them aren't paying attention to you. Two - a boy and a girl, twins, reaching the end of their teen years at a guess - have their eyes set on you, plus the young lady. There could be more inside, you couldn't say. There maybe more people inside, but whether they're Blue Winds or not, again, is unknown.

How's DarkSlateGray for a colour? Better? :P

[Andre]

Spoiler

Show

Much better.

"A lot. But, for instance, several items go missing when you are around, even from places few would dare to venture close to."

Lodwjiq gives the girl a meaningful look as he speaks these words.

[Amnestic]

"Things go missing all the time, sometimes people...forget things, misplace them. If they happen to turn up elsewhere, well, that's just an unfortunate coincidence. Doesn't explain why you're stood on our doorstep."

[Andre]

"Doorstep?" Lodwjiq sneers "What doorstep?"

He charades, deliberately looking up and down. "My bad. This doorstep. And a mighty fine tower you live in, miss."

[Amnestic]

Spoiler

Show

Sorry for the delay. I didn't get an e-mail prompt that a new post had occurred. Really weird.

"Is this how adults ask for things? With double-talk and insults?" She stands up and a few more of the Blue Winds take notice shifting their gaze while continuing the conversations. "This is Blue Wind territory. Either treat it with the base amount of respect offered to strangers or get out."

[Andre]

"We're even, then. You insult me each time you pretend not to know what we're talking about."

Lodwjiq lets a somewhat harder and matter-of-fact tone take place, and makes a little pause to better study her facial reactions.

"Why, we're talking about the heist you pulled at the expense of the Mage-Mistress not long ago."

[Amnestic]

"You consider it an insult that people you meet for the first time don't immediately admit to any and all crimes they may or may not have committed?" She breaks her solemn demeanour and outright laughs at you, holding her stomach slightly as she does so. A small chuckle from the Blue Winds around her rumbles up until she finally waves them to be quiet. "You're too damn stupid - and yes, that is an insult - to be a mage agent. What do you want to know about it?"

[Andre]

Lodwjiq's right hand twitches nervously, performing a similar motion to a throttling - it's fairly obvious that all the kids he met throughout the day have stomached him, although his face show no real emotion this time.

"What made the theft worthwhile? And more to the point, how could you even acquire it."

[Amnestic]

"Annoying the mages is enough reason to hit them. Rubbing their arrogant noses in their own stinking failure doesn't hurt either." She pauses for a moment, a look of visible, unhindered confusion passing over her face. "Acquire what? What do you think we have?"

[Andre]

Lodwjiq ponders the matter for a moment, prior to deciding to call in a bluff of sorts.

"You should know that, shouldn't you? Although you are more likely to have stolen valuables, rather than the truly hot stuff, stuff she cares about the most."

He makes a dismissive gesture with his hand, as if closing the argument.

"Not important, then. Could you tell me how did you get to her, then?"

[Amnestic]

"Of course I know what we have. We took it. I was there." She smirked, clearly quite proud of their victory."As for getting to her, s'pretty simple. These mages love their dungeons and elaborate cellars. Probably for the theatrics. All that magical waste has to end up somewhere. It ain't pretty, but-" She was cut off when the male twin beside her interjected.
"Kitty! We just gonna blab this to anyone who comes askin'?" The brown-haired girl - 'Kitty', apparently - shoots him back a look of annoyance. It might be that he interrupted her, or that he was questioning her in general. Perhaps she simply didn't like him that much.
"What do we care? We got what we wanted. If they wanna break in and mess up that mage, more power to 'em." She turns back to Lodwjiq. "Headed in through the sewers, basically. We broke in through there, messed 'em up, took what we could and bolted out the front door. Dunno if they'd have patched the hole though, you might have to make another one. We could sell you some stuff to do so...if you're interested."

[Andre]

This time Lodwjiq can't help but break in a short laughter, and winks to the girl. "Typical."

"Very well, then, how much would that be?"