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Comments
We don't know that. We're just the one he sent to interrogate the ghost, since we can do that.
Well, I'm guessing there'd be enough witches in the land so he could pick a more experienced one, if there wasn't some weird random shortage of king's agents. It's quite explicit the king relied on adventurers. Whether he could've used some of his own courtiers, but didn't trust them, is another matter.
Not exactly. It's an open offer; any adventurers were free to come along and ask for details. You were one of these adventurers. There are others- you just haven't met any yet.
Actually, that was just your plan. The king himself didn't have any leads to go on- that's why he issued the call. His daughter was kidnapped, his guards were killed, the agents sent to investigate were unsuccessful; time to call in people with experience using unorthodox methods to solve problems. (That's also why he specified that he wants his daughter brought back in unharmed, not just alive.)
The king does have courtiers and agents he has sent out to investigate further. None of them have reported back in weeks.
That is your eventual goal. In order to be arrested, you need to be brought back to the constabulary's office, where Rory will be on hand to explain the situation.
There has been several opportunities to meet recurring characters so far. That is mostly the fault of the options; picking the ones most relevant to your goals means you miss out on the side-stuff.
You should meet more characters during your stay in Farever that will remain relevant.
Will post in a while; housework to do.
[Three votes for A1; A1 wins.]
Lien and yourself begin trudging through the streets, making your way to the area Lyara is patrolling.
It takes you over an hour to get there, as you need to navigate the bustling crowds to get there. You ignore the twinge in your leg.
Once there, you begin wandering around the streets, looking for someone in a guardsman's outfit. You note many petty crimes around you as you do so; you see four pickpockets, one theft from a stall, and you are pretty sure that charging money for jewellery as horrid as the things being sold by that one woman with the hooked noose counts as a con.
You do eventually find the guardsman, patrolling down the main street of the area. The pickpockets of the area dart out of sight as he approaches.
"Stay here," you mutter to Lien, then approach a perfume stall.
Perfumes are valuable things. They are often used by noble ladies to cover up unpleasant smells, and throwing them at Fae chasing you on the road can often throw them off the scent. It is not unusual to see perfumes being sold for a minimum of five marks.
You watch Lyara's approach out of the corner of your eye. You wait until he is a good fifty feet away from you, then you reach over to the stall and quickly grab some of the bottles and turn to run.
You hear a loud cry of "Stop! Thief!" behind you, and your mouth quirks up into a small smile. You begin angling down the street- there was a smaller road further down the road, near a blacksmith, and that street had an alley behind it. That would be the perfect
a man's corpse falls on you
you are knocked to the ground. The bottles of perfume are knocked to the ground, many of them breaking and spilling over the ground.
Your eyes fix on the man's neck- where blood is pouring out, hampered by the crossbow bolt buried in his neck. The blood is staining the man's blue fineries, you absently note.
Your eyes dart up, and you scan the roofs. You don't see anyt- there, on the grocer's roof; you can see the flutter of a scarf as someone turns to flee.
Behind you, you can hear people screaming, and Lyara's shouts as she struggles to catch up to you.
Well, you didn't account for that in your plan.
[A] Abandon the plan to test Lyara's loyalty and chase the assassin. You can always come back and finish the job later.
Flee. You might still be able to test Lyara's loyalty. although the results are likely to be skewed by the whole unexplained murder thing.
[C] Flee back around and grab Lien. Head back to the constabulary's office and explain what happened to Rory.
[D] Something else. (Please specify what.)
i did not see that coming
um
shit
what do
Um...well, B is unlikely to be fruitful.
C...doesn't seem like it would accomplish much.
Can't think of a D. Might support a good one someone thinks of.
Until the, [A].
[A]'s our best bet right now.
C
[A]. I guess we can explain the perfume affair later.
[Three votes for A; A wins. Thanks for being a tiebreaker, Gacek.]
You roll to your feet and dart in the direction of the grocer. People are just beginning to notice the man's death, and screams are beginning to rise. You quickly scan the area- there, a pastry stall- you throw yourself up, lifting yourself onto the roof of the stall. From there, you jump onto the roof of the building next to the grocers.
You glance down behind you for a second, and catch Lyara pushing her way over to the building you are standing on. Turning, you begin to jog in the direction the assassin had fled.
The buildings here are generally fairly close together. In fact, in many cases, the buildings merge into one seamless building, with the wall of one store also being the wall of the one next door. It's not always very secure, but it saves space.
You continue running over the roof, scanning for any sign of the assassin. For several heartstopping moments, you fear that you lost them- but then, there; on the other side of the street, some distance ahead, you see someone ducking into an alleyway. They're wearing a dark green scarf. Good enough.
You continue rushing ahead, looking for a convenient spot to climb off. The decision is taken out of your hands when you slip on a broken tile. You barely have the time to notice that you're falling before you hit the tiled roof and start rolling. You reach out to catch a tile- no, the edge of the roof- no, you clutch at empty air, then the breath is driven out of you as you hit the ground, and you are no longer aware of what your arms are doing.
It takes you several moments to remember how to breathe again. Ignoring the crowd forming around you, you try to stand. Your legs are weak, your head aches where you appear to have hit it against the ground, and you're having some difficulty breathing, but your vision is clear, and there's no burning pain in your body- if you broke anything, it's likely a rib, and you can wait to get that fixed.
You push your way through the crowd, aiming for the alley. You don't even know if the assassin will still be there, but you have to check,
The crowd murmurs behind you, but nobody makes any moves to follow you. You're glad of that, you think, as you duck into the alley.
And then you are lying on the ground again, and you think the pain in your head is worse, again, and there's a woman standing over you with her foot digging into your stomach. A green scarf flutters around her neck.
"Hardy lil' bugger, aintcha?" she asks, her lips turned up in an amused smile. "Kinda stupid though."
You fight for a response, but you're still struggling to remember how to breathe. A sarcastic quip is beyond you at the moment.
She watches you for a moment longer, then shakes her head, the grin disappearing.
"'m sorry about this," she grimaces, pulling out a wicked knife. "I really am."
Now, many people think that hedgewitches wear the robes you do for the intimidation factor- scare the illness right out of people. As amusing as that thought is when applied to someone as slight as you, you know that the reason is somewhat different. The robes are made of a thick material, designed to be difficult to cut. It won't stop someone with a sword, but it can buy a hedgewitch a few precious seconds if someone decides to kill them.
Om this case, the assassin has to take a moment to cut open your robes and bare your throat. While she's doing that, you reach down to your belt and grab your knife. A quick jab, and-
there's a slight burning sensation in your neck as the assassin jerks, but she missed anything vital. You raise your left arm to protect your neck again, then lash out with your knees, pushing her away from you.
She staggers back, and you try to climb up, still drawing in furious breaths. The assassin looks at you and curves her lips in a smile again.
"Crafty," she says admiringly. "But not good enou-"
You cut her off by throwing your knife at her. You don't actually know how to throw knives properly, but there are very few people in the world who can simply ignore a sharp metallic object flying at them.
You follow it up by launching yourself at the woman as she flinches to the side, half-raising her sword arm to deflect the weapon. She staggers back, but you keep a hold her shirt, trying to restrict her movements.
Your left arm raises up, catching her sword arm in the elbow as she tries to stab you. The point of the sword digs into your shoulder, but you push off again with your legs, sending you both stumbling, falling to the ground.
You don't really weigh enough to try and grapple with the assassin. That's quite okay, though- you leap on her, trying to pin her sword arm down, and while she tries to free it, you reach up with your right hand and jab at her eyes.
She curses and kicks out. You slip off her and roll to the side, trying to stand up. The assassin follows suit, trying to see you through streaming eyes.
Adrenaline is flowing through you, and you are panting still. The assassin is eyeing you warily, trying to see you through streaming eyes.
You fake to your right, and she lashes out in that direction. You duck to your left, then throw yourself to the ground to avoid her follow-through swing. Scrambling blindly, you feel the hilt of your knife. You push it, sending it skittering backwards, towards the entrance.
Following suit, you roll to the side- barely avoiding a cut downwards that would have split your head in two- then crawl desperately towards the entrance, grabbing your knife as you go.
You stumble out into the crowd. There's some small shrieks, but nothing to hamper you too much.
And, best of all; you still have your knife. Covered in the assassin's blood.
[A] Swing back around to the market district and pick up Lien. Head back to the inn and patch yourself up before going to speak to Sir Rory.
Go and pick up Lien, then head over to the constabulary's office and report to Sir Rory immediately. Maybe someone there can patch you up.
[C] Lien can take care of himself. Head over to report in to Sir Rory first. You'll probably meet back up with Lien in the inn tonight.
[D] Something else. (Please specify what.)
And, again, apologies for my extremely bad action scenes. I just can't seem to get them onto paper right. Or text box, as the case may be. I think I will rewrite future plans so I can skip out on them even more. At least this one's not broken like the last.
Anyway; I have a request. Or a statement. I dunno.
If people feel that something I wrote in feels off- if it feels railroaded (like I realize the post before this latest could have come off), or badly written, or otherwise iffy, please, speak up. I will at least attempt to explain my reasoning, and I'd really like to know if I've screwed something up so I can attempt to fix it.
And finally; thanks for reading/participating, everyone!
I'd pick here, unless our heroine can do some helpful (or harmful, depending on the point of view) magic on the assassin. Without going into Dark Arts, of course. And as we mention it, does she have anything that can be used for magical tracking? Like, dunno, perhaps the crossbow bolt. I don't know if the blood can count without invoking Dark Arts. But obviously I wouldn't try tracking before the patching-up.
I trust Alex's gonna give you a novel-length lecture on fight scenes; as for me, I haven't yet seen good reasons to complain. I guess I could only mention that I didn't expect our heroine to be so badass. In other words, if I'm going to complain, it's unlikely I'd target your writer's workshop.
You have the assassin's blood, and if you speak to Rory, he may give you the crossbow bolt.
Yes. It can.
It depends on the capacity you use it in. If you draw power from the blood, that's the Dark Arts. At that point, the assassin will permanently lose a part of her life essence; she will never be able to replenish the amount of blood currently on the knife.
However, there are other aspects of the blood you could use it for. Primarily, one thing I mentioned in a much earlier post; 'once an object, always an object'. This is due to the extremely vague rules about ownership; as you haven't stolen the blood, per se, it's just sitting on your knife, the blood is still 'hers', and thus any ritual that utilizes a part of the whole in order to affect the rest of the whole will be useful.
To quote my earlier post:
That is not the only way you can use it, of course; I trust you may be able to imagine something better. If you are not sure if something would be possible, feel free to ask.
It is kind of a necessity. Both for reasons concerning not ending the quest thread just yet, and it has to do with your character's superiority complex (she absolutely cannot stand the thought of someone defeating her).
I imagine that if she ran up against an opponent who knew what they were doing and didn't let her cheat, she would lose very handily.
I also imagine that not writing fight scenes at 2AM would help.
Let's take B. Play things safe.
[Three votes for B; B wins.]
Your body aching like this is starting to become distressingly familiar.
The street where you had left Lien is not that far away- in fact, he's only on the other side of the buildings to your side and a few hundred feet up the street. However, in order to get through the buildings, you need to walk even further down the street to find a space to cross it.
You eventually manage to limp your way back to where Lien is still waiting. Luckily- or unluckily, as the case may be- Lyara is nowhere to be found.
"Come on," you mutter tiredly to Lien, ignoring the way his eyes widen in concern when he sees you. "We need to go report in to Sir Rory."
You begin to limp towards the constabulary's office, but Lien slips an arm around your shoulders, giving you someone to lean on.
At least this time you don't pass out.
It's a long, slow walk to the constabulary's office. You get there before noon, but not much before.
The guardsman guarding the door is suspicious of you, much like the one from last night, but he lets you in. You hate walking near someone who keeps a hand on the hilt of their sword, but if it assures his safety for long enough to get you to Sir Rory's office, then you will put up with it.
It's slow going, but you do eventually make it to his office.The guard knocks on the door.
"Sir Rory," he calls out. "There is a woman to see you."
There is a slight pause, then you hear Rory's voice, calling out. "Send her in."
You push open the door. Inside, Lyara blanches as she sees you. You wince, seeing her sitting in a seat opposite to Rory.
"You!" she hisses.
"You are mistaken," you say hurriedly. "I am not me. I mean, I am not she!"
Lyara goes to stand, but Rory's voice interrupts. "What is this I hear about you stealing perfume, Urien?" he asks.
You shrug, trying not to look sheepish. "If I was going to bribe her, I needed something to bribe her for," you explain. "Thievery seemed as good an idea as any, and I needed it to be something expensive, to justify how I was carrying around so much money."
Lyara looked puzzled, before comprehension swept across her face. "Oh," she mutters.
Rory nods at your explanation. "Okay. What is this I hear about a dead merchant?" he asks sternly.
"I am not sure myself," you admit. "I was attempting to lure Lieutenant Lyara here into an alleyway, when the man's corpse fell on me. I happened to notice the assassin, so I attempted to follow them. It went... about as well as you might expect, but I did get a hold of some of her blood." You hold up your knife.
Rory sighs and drops his face to his hands for a moment. He looks up and looks at you. "I don't get paid enough," he mutters. "Okay. Did you happen to visit any of my other guardsman before Lieutenant Lyara here?"
You shake your head. "I did not," you tell him. "I will go and investigate them once this stab wound has been tended to you.
Rory's eyes widen for a moment. "Go see Vera on the first floor," he tells you. "She is our medic- she should be able to treat you. I would appreciate it if you would see to my other guardsman before nightfall, as they will return here and likely learn of your presence."
You nod and thank him before moving down to the first floor, ignoring Lyara on your way.
Lien hovers over you as Vera patches you up. You bite your lip against the pain, trying to remember where all the other guardsmen were.
[A] Visit Feila Tachsten first. She is patrolling the slums, around fifteen minutes away.
Visit Ari Eveline first. She is patrolling near your inn, and you can swing by the inn and secure the blood on your knife before it dries.
[C] Visit Uva. He is patrolling a district some half an hour away from you now.
[D] Visit Osten Veristel. He is patrolling a district some several blocks away from you, a bit under an hour's walk.
[E] Something else. (Please specify what.)
B. Gotta preserve that blood.
If I understand right that this allows us to do some tracking later, I pick .
B; tracking with blood!
bloody bloody blood blood
for Blood! Blood! Blood!
also the tracking
[Four votes for B; B wins.]
Lien waits until you leave the constabulary before he speaks up.
"What happened?" he demands.
"I got stabbed," you reply. "Come on, we need to get back to the inn before this blood dries."
Lien follows you, still looking irritated. "I know that you got stabbed," he growls. "How did you get stabbed?"
"Someone stabbed me," you frown at him. "Are you okay, Lien?"
His hands clench into fists. "How did you get stabbed?" he asks again. "You know what I mean, Urien. Don't act like a fool with me."
You raise a brow at him. He scowls back at you. Sighing, you tell him.
"I chased the assassin into an alleyway," you explain. "She was waiting for me there. She threw me into a wall and nearly slit my throat. I stabbed her, she stabbed me, I ran away."
"Is that how you got her blood?" he asks. You nod. "Will she be coming after you?"
"I-" You frown. "I hadn't considered that. I don't think she knows who I am- but it probably wouldn't be too hard to find out who the hedgewitches in town are, and she may have access to a mage herself. This could go badly."
Lien scowls. "Is there any way for you to prevent her from coming after you?"
You shake your head. "Not without killing myself," you say. "And even then, she still might be able to desecrate my corpse. We're just going to have to hope that she doesn't know a mage who is skilled enough to kill me, and track her down as soon as possible."
Lien nods. "I'm going to need a weapon," he announces.
You look sideways at him. "A weapon?"
"Preferably a rapier," he nods. "I was taught with a rapier, but I am passable with a shorter sword."
You tap your money pouch- ha, Rory had forgotten to ask about the money he had given you to bribe Lyara with. Or possibly he considered it compensation for getting stabbed. Either way. "We can afford that," you state. "I could use a better weapon than my knife myself."
He nods. "Wait until we get back to the inn."
You are silent until you get back to the inn. There, you head up to your room and begin to clean the blood off your blade. Wiping it onto a thin strip of black cloth, you place it into a small circular dish, which you float in water. It won't stop the blood from drying, exactly, but the water will be there for later.
Once that is done, you head back downstairs to meet Lien. He gestures at the door.
"What's the plan?" he asks.
[A] You have to try and bribe Ari Eveline. You know roughly where she is- this is the merchant's district, the less high-brow area to buy goods, and she is patrolling the area. How are you going to attempt to bribe her?
Lien is also going to buy a weapon. Are you going to:
[A] Send him off to buy a weapon now? If so, what weapon are you going to ask him to buy for you? (Specifications: You are five feet nothing tall, weigh a hundred pounds soaking wet, have next to no muscles to speak of, but you're fast and accurate.)
Keep Lien with you through the confrontation with Ari, and revisit the weapon issue later?
[A]> The money is not ours and I'm uncomfortable using it for any other purpose.
Point of clarification: For the most part, people actually carry around crossbows and knives. They are more effective weapons against Fae, as crossbows can pierce even tough hides such as that found on trolls, and knives are excellent for dispelling glamours, and can be made out of silver easier than entire swords. Other common weapons include spears and rapiers, with rapiers being common due to their cultural perception as the weapons of gentlemen. (This last point is also why Lien knows how to use a rapier, as he was the son of a baron before his nature became apparent.)
Swords are not very common, although you could liken them to horses or poleaxes- they are not unusual to see, they are just not as commonplace as crossbows, knives, spears and rapiers.
[A]: Get a staff. You got reach and versatility, it's cheap, and easily replaceable.
You should probably specify the type of wood, too, if you wish a wooden weapon.
Rapiers also tend to cut poorly, be expensive and have some severe limitations as a versatile defense tool. A staff, longsword or messer is our best bet (and our knife is good enough for our purposes).
Oh, yes. A longsword is certainly more versatile than a rapier; a lot of experienced hunters and the like will carry them.
They're just not the most common weapons. Spears are carried because they're easy to make (you don't need a whole lot of silver to make a spearhead, as compared to an entire sword) and you can make them out of wood, which makes for a fairly versatile weapon vs. Fae depending on the wood used. Crossbows are carried because really, would you want to go toe-to-toe against Fae that can rip out trees with one hand and toss them at you? Knives are used because they're relatively cheap and make effective anti-glamour weapons, and rapiers are seen as good weapons, as they're used by the nobility. (Rapiers are, in fact, less effective than longswords, but longswords don't look as good in the poncy outfits used by the nobility, so rapiers it is, and the common folk often just carry on from that.)
I am counting your vote as a vote for a longsword, don't worry about that. I just wanted to note that longswords aren't super-common and will probably be fairly expensive.