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Flaming Hearts {OPEN, PM to join}

Started by Celegwen, July 24, 2017, 02:53:13 PM

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Celegwen

Exon was intrigued by the sword, but she was right. The sword only worked once the demon was weakened. Mythril, however, was foreign to the Maoin. He had heard of it, but never actually seen it in person.

He grinned to himself when Rena told him Spark was lightning. Exon enjoyed playing with fire, but his special lady would definitely want to see that sword. She had an unspoken ability with lightning that went hidden to everyone, except Exon. A sword with power similar to hers was right up her alley.

Either way, that wasn't important at the moment. If Amara got to see the sword at some point, it would be in the future, when the Devourer and the Eye of Hunger were no longer threats to the world.

"So, no one knows how the swords were infused with elemental power?" He asked her. "But that's a waste of knowledge for it to die with him... No matter. If Spark is lightning, do the other three have the other elementals?"

Wrathwyrm

At the comment of it being such a waste, Rena just shrugged.

"I can't exactly know the mind of the old lord.  It was long before my time.  From my point of view, you can't afford to potentially flood the world with such swords.  The effects would be pretty calamitous across the countryside."

Magic was already prolific in the world, and a wizard duel alone could endanger everyone and everything around it.  If these swords were numerous in the world, as common as steel or silver, there would be alot of death on everyone's hands and destruction abound.  Besides, if there were many, the ones that existed would no longer be special.  Maybe the originals would be heralded or cursed in such a world, but they would certainly lose their signficance in the face of so many copies.  The answer to Exon's questions would no longer be interesting.

"Flint, Flood, and Swift represent fire, water, and wind, respectively.  It's worth noting that the swords tend to fit our personalities in some way.  My father was a well-tempered heat in battle, and my uncle was a clever, adaptable man.  So, their swords fit them well enough.  Flash, Dusk, and Quake - the absolute originals - represented heaven, the underworld, and the Earth in between, so they are light, dark, and earth-powered."

Altogether, it was seven.  Now, they were just about coming into town...  Where exactly were they going to have Rena's legs looked at?

Celegwen

The Maoin took a breath, not really sure if he should continue. The potential disasters of such powerful blades weren't exactly something he wanted to think about. Despite his own open-mindedness, Exon still wasn't completely comfortable with that level of power, especially having to do with elemental magic.

Granted, the concept was pretty interesting.

Seeing the town approaching, Exon sped his horse on a bit. "So, uh, I know someone who can help your leg." The tone underneath his voice probably wasn't the most comforting, but it was more positive than dark. "He goes by Master Rulius. He's... Well, he doesn't really live by the Thanati way of 'manners above all.' He's a good guy, who actually helped me out the many times I had accidents while training for my fire show."

Exon pointed to a small, green hut ahead of them. "That's his place."

Wrathwyrm

Both legs were hurt, actually.  She didn't correct him because it wasn't important to.  It was a valid concern, though.  Rena had not been clad in her usual armor over here because it was Mythril, which - while effective - would've drawn too much attention.  yes, more-so than even her sword.  She'd wanted to bring it, but couldn't being herself to bring it, if you get the drift.  It seemed wrong, so she didn't, and now her legs paid the price.  Well...at least it was only some lacerations.  Could've been alot worse...

"Thank you, Exon.  I'm sure Master Rullius can handle this, if he's any good at medicine at all.  They're not as bad as..."

She didn't finished her sentence, but he'd know what she meant.  The men who were dead, the man who'd lost his hand, and of course poor Maxton...who ended up as host to the evil being, itself.  So, as they came to the little green hut, the only real concern right now was how much this was going to hurt.

"Will he need me down off of this horse?"

Celegwen

Exon nodded in understanding of what Rena didn't want to say. It had been a difficult experience for everyone involved, and losing members of the group wasn't something you just spring back from.

"He will," the Maoin said, dismounting. He approached the horse Rena was sitting atop, offering his hand to help her down. There was no doubt in his mind that she could've gotten down on her own, as she was definitely more of a fighter than half the men on the island, but it was better not to push the injuries further.

Feldler perked up, recognizing where they were. He barked excitedly, tail wagging and eyes wide. The man smiled and whistled sharply. The pup raced over to the green hut, barking and scratching at the door.

"Oi!" Came a crabby voice from inside the hut. The door swung open and out waddled a little man with wildly styled purple and white hair. He was slightly hunched over and couldn't have been more than five feet tall, but he dressed... Well, he dressed like a homeless man. "Feldler!" He exclaimed, bringing his spectacles to his eyes from the top of his head. "You bein' here only meanth your airhead of a mathter burned the thkin off hith leg again. Come on, ol' boy."

Exon looked at Rena with pursed lips. "Master Rulius," he called. "Not for me this time, but I truly thank you for thinking of my needs. This is a friend. Her name's Rena, and we could use your help."

The funny, little man scurried over, stopping far too close to Rena than would be considered comfortable for any normal person. "Whath wrong with ya, girly?"

Wrathwyrm

When Exon helped her down, the free hand was pulling out her big sword to basically use as a cane and support for moving around.  Pretty good idea, considering that she was effectively at a limp until someone healed her up.  She remained in fairly-high spirits as they approached the door Feldler was scratching at.  What came out even surprised Rena, though.  There have been jokes about adventurers - people who wander the world, exploring its wonders and selling their talents along the way - as murder hobos, but this man outsold all of the rumors at once!

Was that a gleam of madness in his eye, or was that just me?

Oh, and he had a lisp too.  That completed the picture, without a doubt.  Exon had taken her to a raving lunatic for healing purposes.  Rena was now trying to determine if he wa genuinely crazy, or if he was just some poor soul who'd seen too much.  When Exon explained the situation, the man walked right up to her - and we mean right up to her - and inquired with his glare maybe inches from her face.

It...wasn't just me.  He's got the crazy in a bad way.

Rena made sure her free hand was in his field of vision when she pointed downward, looking uneasy about this.

"It's...down there.  My legs.  They were scratched pretty badly by...  Well, it's best if I didn't say.  I don't want to start a panic about a situation that's been largely resolved."

The thing that did it was dead, more or less.  The man who'd been involved in it was dead, as well.  The only other person that would have any marginal involvement with the issue was...well...they didn't know where HE was.  With luck, he was just a thief who got paid and was gone.  If they weren't...then, at least he was just a thief and not a monster.

Celegwen

Master Rulius squinted through his large spectacles, examining her up and down. He looked at Exon with what most people would consider a sneer, but which was actually just his normal expression. "Thith ith about that damned Eye of Hunger again, eh?" He inquired.

Exon laughed nervously, putting his hand behind his neck. "Uh, Rena, I should've mentioned that he's psychic, too."

"I wathn't readin' her mind, boy!" Master Rulius snapped. "It wath your mind! Anywho! I don't much care either way. Thtay right here." He disappeared and reappeared within a minute, holding his hands in the air. His palms were now covered with a purple paste. He approached Rena with a smile that was probably more unnerving than comforting. "Thith won't hurt."

Exon nodded to Rena briefly. "It's his own concoction. Heals most injuries completely in about three minutes; five if the wound is bad enough." The Maoin smirked. "Weirdly enough, smells like blueberries."

"I gonna touch ya now," the man said with a nod, kneeling in front of her legs and going to place his hands on the scratches.

Wrathwyrm

Yes, the mention of the utterly secret Eye of Hunger by a total strange DID startle Rena.  Thanks for asking.  The laughter and the explanation set her mind at ease again...slightly.  Rullius was still creepy.  He went off into the back to get something, and then returned...purple.  Despite the expression on his face, this much was at least recognizable.  It was a healing salve, or ointment of similar properties.  The worst Rena expected was a momentary sting, although she was assured there would be none at all.  Once she was told about it, she gave Rullius the nod to go ahead, then looked over at Exon.

"So, does that mean that it's not blueberries?  And if that's the case...what is it?"

She was no alchemist or anything, but her studies had left her at least educated to the subject.  It helped one know what will help or harm in the wild, if nothing else.

Celegwen

"Of course it's not blueberries," Exon murmured, shaking his head. "Since when have blueberries healed injuries?"

Master Rulius snorted, adjusting his spectacles and tilting his head to the right in an almost perfect ninety-degree angle. The man placed his hands at the top of her injuries, slowly dragging them downward. The concoction wouldn't have been painful, but it usually left a strange tingling feel on the injury - like your leg had fallen asleep, but isolated to the injury.

What was weirder was that the paste disappeared as soon as it touched the injury. "That'th thuppothed ta happen," Master Rulius assured Rena with a mangled smile. "Off with ya now!"

"Wait," Exon said. "What do I owe you?"

The hunched man scoffed, shaking his head without looking back, as he retreated towards his hut again. "Don't be botherin' me for a while, fire boy!"

Wrathwyrm

For shame, Exon!  You're forgetting those sharp ears of hers!  Rena inclined her head in his direction with a small smile and spoke aloud to his quiet comment.

"I wouldn't know.  I'm neither alchemist nor healer, by trade."

This, fortunately, distracted her from the actions at hand, and especially the odd angle of the man's head.  True, she has seen her fair share of weirdness, but let's be real here, for a second.  These things don't go away.  They add up in your head, and if you're not careful, the number of things in your life that disturb you might out-weigh the things that don't.  This is why people go to crazy town.  It's a failure to make things add up properly.

Inevitably, her attention would be drawn back down, though.  One does not create pins and needles for your leg without giving it some notice.  And since it was a number of scratches there, it was a fair sting.  The paste vanished and Rena was given the official ousting from the older man.  You'll understand if she took it easy for now.  You don't push yourself too hard after recovery if you can avoid it, even after a magic healing.  He left them without taking payment, which looked to her like a problem...  She sidled up nearby and inquired now.

"Is he just being nice or do you pay him in too many favors and not enough hard currency?  Not that I doubt your talents, but sometimes people just want money."

Which shouldn't be too bad, right?  He was, after all, a decent entertainer, so his spending money should be reasonable, at least.

Celegwen

Exon smirked, shaking his head slightly. "I tend to overpay Master Rulius," he said with a small shrug. "He doesn't really like me, since I'm always showing up with new injuries I get when practicing a new act. Plus, I usually come to him for healing instead of one of the other people in my group. He says I disturb him, but I think he just wants to see my dog."

The Maoin whistled sharply, as the hunched healer closed the door before Feldler could invade the hut he called home. The dog's ear swiveled, and he high-tailed it back to Rena and Exon.

"We should get back to town," he said, taking his horse's reins. "Return the horses and figure out what to do about the thief. Do you know what kind of person we're facing? Or are we going in blind with this guy?"

Wrathwyrm

When Exon mentioned his acts being a potential source of alotof his injuries, Rena nodded.  She could see that happening.  He worked with fire alot, for one.  Presumably, he did alot of things that could cause injury and mayhem to his body.  Granted, after today, some of that would seem like a cakewalk.  That's a funny phrase, isn't it?  Who even came up with that?  Nevermind.  The lady warrior smiled at the mention of Feldler.

"Well, he is a nice dog."

They were going to take the horses back and make their next move.  Naturally, the question of who or what they were dealing with in the thief was raised.  Rena had to think about that for a minute, so she delayed answering until at least she was back in the saddle again.  It took some effort, but since she wasn't even in her mythril plate, there wasn't going to be any real issue about it.  Only after they started off did she speak up on the matter.

"I have a suspicion, but I can't be entirely sure about it.  Our thief is visiting this place, maybe for the first time, but he hasn't made any obvious mistakes.  He's done a very good job stealing this thing and he hasn't tried using it himself.  More to the point, no guard or soldier has spotted a suspicious man OR woman who might be the thief.  Nobody saw anything.  What we have here is a good thief, a smart thief.  Hell, he might be some kind of a great thief.  That's what worries me."

She shook her head, uncertain about this.

"I dunno.  Could be paranoia.  Has Thanatos ever heard of a guy called Gary Blight?"

We will saw that he's more well-known on the mainland, but if any Thanati have ever heard foreigners talking about this rumored highwayman, Exon would know.  Who knows?  He just MIGHT know a few things about this goblin thief.  Guy's got a reputation.

Celegwen

Gary Blight... The name rang a bell, but Exon fell quiet, trying to pinpoint exactly why he knew of it.

"Uh, I believe so," he said finally, narrowing his eyes slightly at her. "Don't hold me to it, but I might know who you're talking about. My lady has family spread all over the land, so she tells me all kinds of stories from her siblings. He's a goblin thief, or something like that, right?"

Thanatos probably hasn't heard of Gary Blight, but Exon's connections reached further than the island he had never left.

From what he gathered, the goblin thief wasn't one to mess around when it came to his jobs, so if this really was who they were up against, Exon already knew that it wasn't over.

Wrathwyrm

She nodded at his basic understanding of Mr. Blight.  Uhh...then her mind trailed off back to the fact that Exon seemed to have quite an unusual status of relationships.  It was just one of those things.  She would have to let it pass.  He was Thanati and Thanati were different, in many ways.  Still, to return to the topic at hand...

"It's kind of hard to tell, because it seems like a number of his exploits are mainly there to make people believe that he can do anything, kind of like a folktale.  You talk about this person who does impressive things, and then you start telling tales that are blown out of proportion, and pretty soon, Gary Blight is omnipresent figure who can steal a king's ransom all on his own and trick a Manticore into stabbing itself with its own tail."

It was a problem, then, sorting out the real Gary from the fake one.  Rena shook her head.

"The most I really know is that he is a goblin, and that he is very good at thieving and robbing, probably a decent fighter.  And at least one of the credible rumors is that he's good at disguises and sneaking around.  One way or another, you haven't seen a goblin on this island.  Someone would've said, would've asked his business in Thanatos.  I am certain that plenty of good thieves could pull this off.  It's just that this has the feel of a human-hating goblin."

That was another thing that was credibly told about Gary Blight: He didn't like humans, not at all, and that goes for human-like beings, as well, save for the obviously supernatural who were most-definitely not human.  He was fine with those, and he got along well enough with outright inhuman races other than the gobbos.  Rena felt he might be at the end of this because a roaming demon of devouring power on an island full of humans would appeal to him.

Celegwen

"That does make sense, then," Exon mused aloud. "If he hates humans, this artifact would be pretty efficient in ridding the world of more than a few of them."

It wasn't really a long ride back to Sylphera's house, though it seemed the older woman had taken the warhorse out for a ride, herself. The man dismounted and nodded for Rena to do the same with Torch, taking Ashen's reigns and bringing her into the field. When the widow returned, she would take care of removing the tack and brushing them down, but Exon knew that he and Rena had more pressing matters.

He held the field door open for Rena and Torch, while Feldler lay panting near his master's feet. The Maoin's eyes drifted over, and he smirked, reaching towards the side of the field and picking up a six-foot staff. "Son of a bitch," he muttered. "Been looking for you for almost a year." He looked back up at Rena with a smirk. "So, if he's a master of disguise, how are we supposed to find him?"

Wrathwyrm

"It'd certainly go far.  He'd probably warn goblinkind before getting someone to use it.  If this was a test run..."

She shook her head.  If this were merely a test run, that he allowed Maxton to have it so he could know the properties of the artifact before taking it back...  Well, in this case, someone would have to drop the Devourer before that was possible.  But after that, a master thief could pick it up again.  She was making assumptions.  It wasn't helpful at all.  Rena continued to ride on until they were able to drop off the horses, which...led to Exon discovering a quarterstaff he'd apparently lost.  Here, though?  And for so long?  Hope it doesn't smell...  This was a horse pasture, after all.  As for the master of disguise...

"That's a difficult one.  I suppose he'd have trouble looking tall, so you can at least limit it to short people and tall people who walk stiffly because of stilt-legs."

Standing as she was now, still leaning on a fence with the box, Rena was at least starting to feel better.  She didn't know how long it was until her full strength was back.  Maybe she'd be ready already, but she didn't wanna test that until maybe a goblin tried something.  In the meantime, uhh...there was a bunch of guards coming in this direction with Arrok in the lead.  Exon would know that look in their eyes.  They were in a 'take charge of this matter' kind of mood.

"Should I have a bad feeling?  They look like I should have a bad feeling about this."

Celegwen

The reason why his staff had been left at Syl's place was because he often trained there. His Maoin lifestyle didn't provide him too much time - or space - to practice any type of combat, so he usually used Syl's house as his personal training grounds. And sometimes he got forgetful!

Feldler jumped up with a sharp bark, looking in the direction from which they had come. His ears flattened, and the dog looked at his master for instruction. Exon looked up, following Rena's gaze to the group of guards approaching with a look he knew all too well. It was often the look he got from his superiors whenever he was causing trouble.

"Oh, yeah," the Maoin said with a frown. "Anytime a Thanati has a look that obvious, you should definitely have a bad feeling." Glancing at Rena and back at the guards, Exon swallowed and gripped his staff. "Your call, Rena. Run or stay?"

Wrathwyrm

[OOC: Needed to think on how I wanted this to go.]

"What?  Make off like a thief in the night?  Oh, he'd love that.  If I'm about to break a ffew laws to protect people from themselves, the first one is going to be assault."

That was a decided 'Stay' as she put the box under one arm and stared down Arrok, her right hand free to grab a weapon if it became necessary.  He and the guards now came to a halt before them.  No weapons were drawn yet, but they looked like they could be.  There was an unpleasant moment of silence between everyone, then...

"So, how's your guy with the missing hand?"

Arrok: "He'll live.  I see you're in decent condition."

"Can't complain."

Another awkward pause, then Arrok's gaze narrowed.

Arrok: "I'm under orders to take that thing back to the Temple, where if it cannot be destroyed, it must be chained with all the chains we can find, and then dumped into the lower vaults, where it can lie in solitude, to be forgotten until it finally dies."

"I'll save you the time and tell you that there is no means on this island to destroy the Eye.  My uncle discovered that when he was here and I know it for certain, myself.  However, I DO have a plan.  You're familiar with the Mordecai of Connlaoth?"

Arrok: "I don't concern myself with the ways of other countries.  You know that."

"Well, if you did, you'd remark about how much Connlaoth and Thanatos seem familiar with their anti-magic laws and the magic-defeating Mordecai.  I hand it to one of them - or better yet, an Adhara - and it's dead."

Arrok: "Why do you have to transport it to some foreign country where it could be lost?  Can't you bring one here?"

"You mean, apart from my having no authority there and the limited availability of such people?  It'd take too long.  You could still have a master thief in your midst-"

Arrok: "We DO still have a thief in our midst!  Maxton's property was robbed!  It happened while we were out dealing with that thing.  The thief must've known the Eye would kill him and took advantage of gaining the free stuff."

Ah shit...  Thief confirmed.  Rena wasted no time now.

"Then, you have to escort me to port.  No offense, but you're lucky it's just a really good thief.  If someone powerful came here, found it, and then just chucked it in the ocean...  Well, you can imagine how bad THAT would be."

And now, Arrok's imagination was going straight to an insatiable demon-shark...

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