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 Posted: Wed Jul 11, 2012 12:47 pm
Rather like a royal taster, the guard intercepted the book even as the young noble reached for it. With a glaring frown the guard turned the worn leather binding over in his hands then flipped briefly through its pages before his eyes widened slightly at what he saw then he snapped the book closed and growled accusingly at Sam, "Where did you get this?"
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Posted: Wed Jul 11, 2012 1:22 pm
The traveler looked to the guard and stifled within himself the most base of basic responses to being accused. You see, Sam's reflexive wit wanted him to respond almost immediately with "up your bum" and then continuing the childishness, stick his tongue out.
This was not, however, what happened.
"Eht fell a breek." Sam stuck his hand inside his bag and recalled the lock and key that had come with the trunk, "whig das."
He held it up, then turned his face from one of sincerity to one of concern, but not too deep. "Teg book ehs min ta sell ah trahd as a wish."
So the merchant stood, gilded lock in one hand, empty in the other, facing the guard waiting for him to relinquish the book back to the Caliph or to himself.
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Posted: Tue Jul 17, 2012 10:18 am
The guard sneered at Sam's response. He quite obviously disagreed with the merchant's sentiment of ownership and was even less impressed with the explanation of where it had come from. It was hard to tell if the guard didn't believe Sam's answer or if he just didn't like it. Either way there was a good deal of frustrated displeasure involved and no doubt when he opened his mouth to retort it was going to be something biting but the young noble reached forward and snatched the book from his hands suddenly. The guard nearly turned that bite on the boy but held himself back and only growled lowly as the Caliph flipped through the old book's weathered pages.
"So what is it?" the boy asked curiously, glancing up between the two. The tip of his white tail flicked in slight irritation though he wore an amused smile.
"A book," the guard answered with the obvious and held up a hand to stop the boy from thanking him. "It is what the book says that makes it. . . dangerous." he half sneered then turned to Sam. "Have you read it?"
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Posted: Tue Jul 17, 2012 10:34 am
Though the conversation was not so bad Linda's headache made concentrating more than a little difficult and she felt rather incredibly sick, dizzy even as she stood in the drafty stone hallway of some very strange place in the midst of even stranger men. Stories of old magics and myths probably wouldn't help either of their situations, however entertaining they may be. Or perhaps they would. To Rüd it seemed as if they'd just stepped into one of those myths, what with the dragons and magic, even a knight in shining armor. There was no telling what other myths this wondrous place could hold for them. As if to answer the question they heard a strange, screeching roar from the courtyard behind, down the hall they had just come through. It was an awful, shrill sound but fierce and threatening enough to chill the bones of a lesser man. . . or woman.
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Posted: Tue Jul 17, 2012 8:41 pm
Nothing Sam could do would make the guard's a** less tight. Though the merchant was not at all familiar with the phrase "tight a**" so that was completely one for the author.
Sam laughed, "Rehd, noht hahdly, I only jus' got da dan thig."
This would cause the guard to think whatever the guard wished, but the traveler could say something to the book's effect.
"I flipped to it, loog lige a wizzad's farmulary."
Formulary.
"Migged be da keen of ting to int'rest you, Caliph?"
Sam had no need for magic books, magic was useless to him. Its artifacts, however, were not useless, they were quite valuable and quite good at being traded for things more of the mad man's interest; such as that crystal he could not help but to eye again.
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Posted: Thu Jul 26, 2012 9:10 pm
Alana frowned. She'd enjoyed the peaceful, if highly unusual scene. Normally in Chicago, she'd pay very close attention to whoever got too close to her. She didn't want to be caught off guard by any robbers or perverts looking to cop a feel, so she kept an eye and an ear out wherever she went. In this place though, she managed to relax enough to pay a meager amount attention to the bustle about her. It wouldn't have mattered anyway; she still couldn't understand a number of them. Alana couldn't remember the last time she watched people for the sake of watching them. To have her tranquility broken by the impact from afar annoyed her, but there was nothing to be done about it. "I wonder what it was," she murmured. The very least she could do was try to talk to the man who'd been so suspiciously (yet amazingly) patient with her. The impact piqued her curiosity, but not enough for her to want to try and get a better look.
When Traveler had held out his hand, Alana hesitated for a moment before taking his hand. "Where are we going?"
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Posted: Fri Jul 27, 2012 7:16 am
The question got a wry grin out of the man, but he gave her a slightly bowing nod as he helped her up and turned toward the garden path leading away from the city. "To higher ground," was his calm though cryptic answer as he began to lead her away from the throngs of people in the marketplace just as faint screams were starting to echo from farther down the street. Something bad was happening and the watching crowd was still struggling to figure out what while this strange, hooded man seemed already to know. Or was overly cautious and preemptively leaving what could become a panicked mob. The ground had shaken after all and earthquakes alone were enough to cause fear in some places.
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Posted: Sat Jul 28, 2012 6:30 pm
Alana pressed her free arm into her stomach as the two walked away from the crowded marketplace. Even though Traveler had given her an answer, it was annoyingly vague. She pressed her lips into a thin line as they walked down a garden path.
The faint screams made her flinch when she heard them and unconsciously gripped the perplexing man's hand a little tighter. Screams were never good, and the tremor from the ground could indicate an oncoming tsunami. That was a distinct possibility since something had fallen into the sea. "Will we get there soon?" She was more than a little nervous, especially when she had no idea what was happening behind her.
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Posted: Thu Aug 02, 2012 9:54 am
"Soon enough," the strange man answered with a shadowed smile, the rest of his face still hidden in the depth of his hood. Despite the rising panic around them Traveler seemed unconcerned with the situation, confident they would survive or just not worried by the prospect of danger. The path he lead her down passed into high garden hedges that hid them from the streets and blocked much of the sounds, a bit more than simple hedges should, but there was no way it would protect them from whatever was causing the screams outside. People would be pouring into the garden if it could offer such safety. Unless they just didn't know. But how could a bit of shrubbery protect them?
Traveler seemed to think it might as he walked irritatingly slow through the flower lined paths overhung by vines and twisting tree branches. Truly it was a beautiful place but now was not the time to enjoy the fragrant flowers with their fluttering butterflies, the knotted tree roots will quivering bunnies hiding in their holes, the leafy canopy where squirrels perched with rapidly flicking tails. Not even the six point buck they passed at a babbling stream or strutting peacock on the bridge were much distraction from the terror outside.
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Posted: Fri Aug 03, 2012 11:08 pm
Marfolious Rickards
"Okay, gargantuan tidal wave... Gotta think, gotta think, I've handled this kind of thing before, right?" Marfolious started snapping his fingers and looked around the area, he needed to reach high ground quickly if he wanted to survive that monster of a wave, but all he saw was sand, which wasn't exactly above ocean level. He looked back at the tidal wave. It looked a fair distance away, but remembering that larger objects appeared to move slower, it wasn't any comfort at all. He needed something tall, really tall, like a tower, or a mountain, or a... giant floating island? That didn't seem right.
"Is that... even possible?" He blinked his eyes to correct his vision, but received zero corrections. The amount of magical power needed to left that much land would be ridiculous, so just what was suspending it in the air...? He then noticed a torrent of water, falling from the sky. Marfolious followed it skyward with his eyes, and saw that it connected to- "Wha... WHAAAT?!" The waterfall started at another landmass, this one being colossal in comparison to the first one. He slapped himself to make sure he wasn't unconscious, he'd seen a lot of things, but nothing as bewildering and outlandish as these. Just where was he? And just what could possibly keep these giant islands in the air? "Gah!" Marfolious messed up his hair in frustration. Now was not the time to be asking questions, now was the time for action! He jumped up and down a few times to get his blood flowing. "Look alive, friend, there's a tidal wave you need to escape from!" He looked out to the water again. There was a massive tidal wave headed inland what would quite possibly kill him, he needed to get to high ground, and there was a floating island nearby that would save his hide. Any other immediate options? No. With that in mind, he took off in the direction of the floating landmass. At this point, he had to stop caring about how it was staying in the air and get on top of it.
After what seemed like hours of running, he found himself at base of the island, and at the bottom of another cliff. He took a deep breath in and began to climb. "This'll be easy, it's just some climbing." He was wrong. This time seemed to be much more difficult than usual. Was it stress? Pressure? No, those weren't it; he'd been chased by freakish, undead warriors before and managed better. But when he was about halfway up, the chunk of rock that he was standing on broke off, as if to mimic how he came to be in this foreign place. Instinctively, he reached for his pickaxe and swung it at the cliff face, but it bounced off. Must've been a bad swing. He swung again. It glanced off. Another swing, same result. He stowed away his pickaxe and tried to pull himself up to a better position, but he couldn't reach for anything else. "Come on, Rickards.... This isn't that hard, especially with mag-" As soon as he said that, he realized why this was so much more challenging than before.
Marfolious couldn't use any of his magic. He flicked his thumb out, usually he'd create a small flame from it, this was not one of those times. He swore to himself. "Think, you can do this!" Without magic to augment his body, he was only a bit stronger than the average man, meaning he had to rely only on his problem-solving .A challenge was a challenge, far be it from him to turn one down, especially when his life was on the line. Looking down at the long drop, he grit his teeth. It was a long drop. He looked around. He needed something to grab, anything before his arm gave out... aha! He took out a throwing grapple from his satchel and swung it at a branch, it wrapped around it, as per his plan. Over on his right, there was an indent in the cliff face big enough for him to stand in, he could swing over, and start from there. He pulled on rope to test the strength of the branch, desperately hoping that it wouldn't snap.
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Posted: Sun Aug 05, 2012 5:21 pm
Quintus stepped forward ever so slightly as the guard began to sneer. He didn't care less about the book, and he'd hardly been paying attention, but there was a whole act to keep up here, and if the guy tried to keep the book, there might be disagreement. Sam would never order him to take it back by force, but Quintus and the guard were both looking for excuses, and this one smelled like the right one.
The right one for what? Don't be an idiot, Quintus. Fight the battles you need to. It was fine to bluff and be ready to back it up, but he was still acting like an idiot. This, right now, was not the time to make a fight happen. They were getting what they wanted. A fight could change that. Not a good time to let bloodlust run his mind. It just needed to have a firm say, was all.
"Formulary?" Quintus asked. Wizards were not a thing where he came from. In fact, he was already having trouble accepting that wizards were a thing. Nevertheless, he posed a question that could be interpreted in several ways, hopefully enough that he could excuse himself should someone assume he should know. Hopefully someone would nevertheless explain what a formulary actually was.
Mac gave Castor a curt nod and then promptly began climbing one of the trees. His weight would have made it challenging, but he could jump from thick branch to thick branch with a precision most humans could not quite have managed.
Why he was climbing was a little harder to explain. Mac was not a human. Inspiration came in flashes for men, and in great number. Inspiration came to Mac in the form of shifting paradigms. Just now, the paradigm had shifted from 'marching' to 'operating in hostile territory.' There was limited evidence for this being the case, but a march could be performed just as well in hostile territory as in friendly; only the hostile territory required precautions. A good vantage point and a better idea of the surrounding terrain were necessary. The best possible vantage point would be from the top of one of the taller trees. Once there, he scanned the skies for tiltrotors (of which he unsurprisingly found none) and then the terrain for obvious routes towards their objective. The mountains seemed foreboding, but there had to be a pass, and Mac wanted to know about it before they started moving again.
The scouting done, Mac began climbing back down. He had considered jumping, but given the potentially hostile nature of the territory, making that much noise would be ill-advised. His descent was therefore made as quiet as possible while his ears scanned for abnormal activity. He had once been told by the Sergeant that the best sign of incoming foes was the lack of animal sounds as they fled from other forces. If there were animals, they were probably well enough off for now.
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Posted: Sun Aug 05, 2012 5:48 pm
Castor stared at the island in the distance until his eyes hurt, trying to formulate a plan for how to proceed, but it was difficult- his mind was just so tired. Giving up, he laid his head back against the tree he rested against. Surely, it couldn't hurt to simply rest his eyes for a few moments...
Castor opened his eyes, drowsiness still clouding them somewhat, though the air and his Lady's gifts energized him somewhat. He sat up, somewhat frustrated that he had dozed off. How long have I been out? He brushed his arms off unconsciously before once again noticing the veins of magic under his skin. With an irritated roll of his eyes, he turned back toward the floating continent in the distance, his eyes glowing slightly brighter as he again sought the flare of The Lady's power. He grit his teeth again at that saying. "The Lady." I've got to stop calling her that. Ahura is my Lord, no one else- this is a means to an end.
As his eyes again took in the now-somewhat-familiar shape of Tír na nÓg in the distance, Castor homed in on the flicker of power that belonged to The Lady-- rakash. Castor sighed quietly- he supposed he would just have to get used to calling her that, albeit privately- no reason to further Skurk's opinion of his insanity. But that aside, he had to find out what they would do upon reaching the island. Castor thought for a moment, about his Lady's words. Her... "sister's" temple is there. As good a place as any to start, I think. Castor gave a somewhat louder sigh, standing up, and nodding his head in Mac and Skurk's direction.
"" He said in Skurk's language, seeing as both the goblin and the construct inexplicably knew the same tongue. He started to walk forward, anxious to get moving to make up for however long he had been resting. ""
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Posted: Sun Aug 05, 2012 8:09 pm
Rüd started at the sudden and impressive sound. Alarm was easily replaced by intrigue. "I'm going to see what that was all about," he informed his inebriated partner. He strolled right up to the doors they had used just minutes ago and flung one open to peer out. He remained half-hidden by the other- he may be a fool to some, but none would call him a stupid fool.
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Posted: Mon Aug 06, 2012 3:54 pm
The rope held against the tug and when Marfolious chanced to swing across to the ledge he managed it without much trouble. The trouble came when the cliff face at the back of the ledge which he had intended to use to catch himself on and climb up proved not to . . . well, exist. Rather than hitting a rock wall, Marfolious fell through an illusion that sent him tumbling down a steep slope into darkness. Down wasn't a good direction to go when trying to escape a tidal wave but the tunnel didn't offer much grip and Marfolious was in no shape to stop his descent with might alone so he crashed through the dark till it spat him out into the leafy green of a lush garden.
It was a truly beautiful place, flowering vines and shady trees, fluttering butterflies, chittering squirrels, everything a woodland paradise needs. Even a mossy brick path winding through the dense foliage. Not far down the path two figures were approaching, a young woman looking much too tense for the surroundings and a hooded man, almost completely covered in dark red robes.
Traveler didn't miss a step as a strange man tumbled suddenly out from a vine covered wall and into a bed of flowers beside the path ahead of them. Given as many strange things as Alana had seen that day it could be a common occurrence but that didn't make it any less strange to the earth girl. Stranger still was when her hooded companion spoke.
"Seems Fate has decided we won't be alone today," the hooded man nearly purred to the girl as he stopped beside this new stranger to look down at him in the flowers. "Fine day for a stumble?" Marfolious could hear the subtle mocking tinge to the man's tone and all he saw of the hooded face was a smug little smile against a pale jaw.
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Posted: Mon Aug 06, 2012 10:10 pm
Alana bit her lip as she hugged herself at the arrival of a clumsy person. She'd already met another unusual man (who disappeared into who knows where), and she had no reason to believe that this man wouldn't run off like the other. Traveler seemed to believe otherwise, though she didn't understand why. The young woman stayed right beside him staying somewhat hidden while he spoke to the (new) stranger.
Alana somewhat wanted to remark how weird the whole situation was, but really, there didn't seem to be a need to speak up. The man on the ground would probably talk to Traveler, and then he'd be on his way. If he did join up with them for whatever reason, then she'd say something to the new stranger...what she'd say, she wasn't sure of yet.
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