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Welcome to the world of Fortuna, a land of fantastic proportions. This is an original fantasy roleplay that takes place in a world developed over nearly a decade of work and collaboration. We aim to encourage all participants to have a hand in the stories of the characters here, and the world around them. Your choices are key - so make them with pride. You decide who wins the wars, you decide who becomes King, the world is ours, and together we will bring it to life!
Post by Leigh Haskell on Dec 21, 2016 12:06:36 GMT -7
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[attr="class","wavesundtext"] Leigh had been wrong. She frowned with Colossus told them the details and threw the stupid bottle of "rosé" at the wall. Wight didn't take that as enough, and teased her about it. Put his finger in the wound and wiggled it around, causing her to grimace. She didn't respond to him, she knew she had done wrong. She knew her gamble hadn't paid off, and she knew she'd taken too big of a risk. She didn't need them to tell her.
"Let's go," She said through gritted teeth, "Load this one on the caravan. Kali and I will ride up front, Wight and Colossus you'll ride with the weapons. Got it?"
She pulled herself up the ladder, the voice in her head still railing her. She had wanted this operation to go smoothly. Wanted to go back and tell the Captain that she'd done a perfect job. That she deserved to be more that the sailing master's mate. She should be sailing master. Now she'd be lucky if she didn't get a demotion. She got up top and spotted Kali. Kali who'd saved her ass. She would thank her later, now just needing a moment to curse herself.
She watched as Mal and the orc loaded the weapons up, watched as Kali joined them and greeted their driver. Their driver who picked the wrong route this morning. When she was given the thumbs up, she hitched a rope and slid down, landing with a thud on the wooden slats below. At least if she was going to fail, she'd look cool doing it. She hopped into the caravan on the other side of the driver, surprising him. She offered a smile however - something that looked strange on her face - and began the next phase.
"Mind if we make a pitstop?" She asked, innocently enough. The driver, though startled, took it in stride: "Sorry, got a few other pick-ups, so we've gotta keep it to the exact route. Busy time, you know?" He laughed, and Leigh nodded to Kali to do her thing. Enchantment once more - she wondered if it tired Kali out? - and then once the driver had parked in the alley they were heading for, she would let Kali let off a touch of steam. Not enough to kill the guy, he didn't deserve that... But enough to leave him with no memory of them, certainly.
The inspectors had moved onto the next ship finally, and she released them from the enchantment when they had gone out of sight. Their ship was clear, and it was too late for them to do anything about it even if they realized the wrong mark was on their sheet when they got back to their offices later. She let out a breath and turned when she heard someone else on the deck. It was Leigh, but the look on her face wasn't inviting. Kali decided to let her have a moment. Besides, they were onto phase two. Now that the ship was in port, they had to offload the weapons and 'commission' a caravan. The caravan was already waiting for them, and the two men offloaded the weapons. Kali could have helped, but she didn't.
She got off the ship as well, not with as much of a flourish as Leigh had, and approached the caravan behind the other woman. Leigh hopped in and spoke with the driver, who said he couldn't make any extraneous stops as it was pretty busy right now, and neither Leigh or Kali liked that answer. They had things to do, and they were going to take the caravan whether he wanted them to or not. At Leigh's nod, Kali placed her hand on the man's arm and this time, just because she was a little impatient, she may have been a bit rougher than with the inspector. The caravan driver looked worried, then scared, but she shook her head and grit her teeth, reaching for the magic for a third time today as she said "Leigh is going to tell you where to drive, and you're going to drive there, understood?" The man's face went slack for a moment before he nodded. "Good," Kali said, releasing the man's arm.
The rest was up to Leigh, who would direct the caravan to where their next stop was. Kali had the contact, but she had never been to Aissic before and certainly had no idea where they were going from here. She wanted to just sit down in the caravan and not do anything until they got there.
Post by Leigh Haskell on Dec 21, 2016 13:02:54 GMT -7
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[attr="class","wavesundtext"] Watching Kali's magic work up close - when she was sober - excited Leigh. There was something about the way she looked at her targets that was different, and the way that the target's features changed in such subtle ways... She wondered briefly if Kali had used this on her. She knew that Wight had little problem using his magic for advantages against the crew, and Kali certainly had no loyalties quite yet. Still, Leigh felt as though her interactions with Kali had been genuine. After all, she was definitely Leigh's type.
"Take a left," Leigh told the driver as she leaned back in the seat, letting the horses trot along. She offered directions as they went, not taking the most direct route. She assumed that the SSPB were on the lookout at the most obvious entrances to the underground, and they would be following anyone they saw taking the usual routes. Tarifa's Jarl could only do so much, and the Winter Storm showed her limitations quite clearly. If they didn't take a direct route, they'd be fine. Leigh's idea. And a good one, too.
Finally the carvan reached the secluded alley she had planned, and Leigh hopped off. Colossus was quick to get off - obviously eager for the reason she wanted him on the team - and Leigh nodded to him and Kali. They were to do enough damage to the driver to knock him unconscious, and hopefully clear his most recent memories. She had told Kali she could play when they got Underground. The SSPB would care more about investigating what happened to the driver.
Meanwhile, she had Mal pop open the crate and remove his illusions on the weapons. She'd let Kali and Colossus have their fun before the group would descened through the dumpster-covered manhole and into the sewers.
Post by Maldrem "Wight" on Dec 23, 2016 2:47:07 GMT -7
And now the part where we get our hands dirty
M aldrem was happy once they'd gotten into the alley. While Kali and Colossus responded to Leigh's order and got busy working their cab driver over, Maldrem was quick to drop his illusions - all of them. The whole crew of them looked a bit scruffier with the glamour gone, and Maldrem's horns, tail, lips, birthmark, and fangs were all back to normal; refreshing, honestly. He wasn't used to looking like the world's version of "normal" anymore, and he often found it unpleasant to do so for too long.
With one hand he worked at pulling off the lid to the crate their weapons were stored in, while the other began ruffling his black hair, spreading the necrotic magic that sapped the pigmentation from it, his skin tone paling as well. "There we are, all nice and pretty again, hm?" he joked, glancing over at Leigh and waving a sword around. He caught his own reflection in the steel as he did so, and noticed his eyes were still a solid, complete red. "Whoops," he muttered, quickly tapping a finger against both eyeballs (he didn't even flinch anymore) and watching as the color receded a bit, exposing the whites of eyes and a cloudy, black pupil. "Theeeere we go."
He tossed the sword over to Leigh when he was done, joining it with her pistol a moment later. After collecting his own daggers and armored knee pads, he then pulled out (with some effort) the massive axe Colossus favored. There were a few more miscellaneous items, such as small knives, some bracers, and Leigh's bullets, and he distributed them all accordingly, sticking Kali's and Colossus's things in a small pile as they were still off in a corner torturing their poor driver. Mal glanced over at them, just a couple dozen paces away, and shrugged. They'd been ordered not to kill him, which was a shame since the guy likely wanted to be put out of his misery by now, but he was sure Kali would just make him forget everything when they were done anyway.
It wasn't any of his business.
"How much longer are they gonna be?" he whined, though. Because hurrying the mission along was more his business. "I wanna get underground already."
Kali didn't necessarily mind using her magic, and she certainly had used it plenty of times for plenty of reasons, but using it on all of these boring people just to convince them of boring shit was driving her crazy, and frankly giving her a headache. Kali was glad for the opportunity to take out some of her aggression on the caravan driver. Honestly, the man didn't deserve getting his ass kicked, but did Kali care? No, no she did not. He was here, and she needed something to drive her fists into, and it was that simple. Orc guy was also into the idea of beating the shit out of him, and she gave him a quick nod. She was pretty sure if they both attacked the man at the same time he would probably die, because seriously he was just a human and they were very breakable beings, and they weren't allowed to kill this one. But boy oh boy could they beat the snot out of him one on one.
"First dibs," she called, and rushed the caravan driver. The driver was not really a fighting type, but she wanted him to fight back. She wanted this to be more than just her beating him up while he cowered. She punched him in the gut and as he doubled over she brought her knee up and caught his face with it. He could hear his nose break. "Fight back," she growled, and because she didn't trust him to do so of his own accord she may have pushed a bit of magic into the order as well. "Fight back like you mean it, coward." The man's nose was bleeding as he stood back up and faced her, his mouth twisted into an angry scowl. That was more like it. He ran at her and she smirked and stepped to the side, so the man instead ran straight into orc. He went to punch at orc guy, who grabbed his hand and squeezed hard, causing the most amazing cry of pain as the caravan driver's fingers broke under the grip. It was music to her ears. She wished she could listen to it all night.
Speaking of listening to things, she was pretty sure she heard Maldrem being a giant whiny baby about something, and she glanced his way. It looked like while her and orc guy had been busy with the caravan driver, he had pretty much unloaded the caravan. Oh right, there was another part to this plan now. She turned back to the caravan driver, who was clawing at orc guy with his free hand and stomping at his feet and kicking at his legs, but orc guy was a tank who would not be moved. Kali made a fist, a good proper fist, and with a clean punch to the back of his head she knocked the man out cold. He slumped to the ground and the orc let go of his hand unceremoniously.
Kali walked back over to the other two and gave Mal a once-over. "Looking more normal now, I see." She supposed her 'normal' for him wasn't exactly what most people would call normal, but normal was for suckers anyway. "Now, what's the next step?" For this question, she looked to Leigh.
Post by Leigh Haskell on Dec 23, 2016 10:34:18 GMT -7
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[attr="class","wavesundtext"] "Like a flower," Leigh entertained Mal's teasing vanity as she tied her sword's scabbard around her waist, putting the thing in once done, and shoved her pistol in the back of her pants. Pistols weren't common yet, and so she figured it would give her an advantage. The bullets made their way into her pockets, and to a small hidden pocket in her boot, and she was ready. When everything was prepared, she enjoyed the show Kali and Colossus provided. She didn't get off on pain the way that Kali did, not even close, but she liked watching Kali's muscles tighten and loosen as she fought. The girl was well-built, that was for sure.
As the two finished, Leigh moved to the dumpster, signalling for Colossus to move the thing. Behind it was a hidden door - the place that most would usually try first. The door however, was heavily trapped. Even if you got past it, all you'd find were a couple of guards ready to slice your throat. The real entrance was the sewer grate. But the entrance wasn't quite the sewer.
"We go down," Leigh explained, watching Colossus lift the grate before going to grab his own weapons - of which there were several. The axe used up all the room on his back, of course, but his impressive mass left enough hiding places for smaller weapons. "Kali, then me, Wight, Colossus bring up the rear," She wanted to ensure that they had strong fighters on either end. Maldrem's use was later, and so she'd want to ensure he was decently protected from any unforeseen threats. "Once we're down, Kali will keep an eye for her contact. Mal and I will question our own contacts for information. If they're a little less than willing..." She pulled her hook down the wall, letting off an ear-piercing sound. She smirked, and then motioned for Kali to start moving down the ladder.
Once they got just under halfway, however, she stopped Kali. They weren't going all the way down. "Touch the wall," Leigh told her from above. When Kali did, her hand went right through. An illusion. It was a path. As Kali realized it was there, the illusion seemed to fade in her eyes - Mal, Colossus and Leigh could already see the path before - and it was just a matter of stepping onto it... Once past the fake wall, the noises from the underground were apparent. It was loud and bustling, and smoke seemed to rise and almost pool in the path - but it stopped at the fake wall.
Leigh smirked from behind Kali, leaning in more closely than necessary to whisper to the satyr: "Welcome to the Tarifa underground." She pulled back just as quickly, gesturing for Mal to take Colossus with him for protection, but to start the search.
Kali was unimpressed at first when orc guy moved a dumpster to reveal a door. She knew it couldn't possibly be that easy, or the underground here was just asking to be raided. At it turned out it wasn't that easy, as the actual entrance was down the sewer grate . Leigh finally said orc guy's name out loud, which ended up being Colossus, no shit, and then explained the plan. When she scraped her hook down the wall Kali grinned at the thought of her using it on an unwilling participant.
And then they went down the ladder.
It didn't escape her notice that everyone else had an assortment of weapons with them, while Kali herself had only her fists and a small dagger, though she liked to think she was equally as dangerous as the lot of them. In addition to her magic, she didn't need much more than herself. Plus it made maneuvering easier. She would like to see orc guy pull off some of the stunts she could do while he was weighed down with all those weapons. Although he probably couldn't do most of them even without weapons. He looked like he was built for raw strength, not dexterity. Leigh on the other hand...
Halfway down the ladder Leigh told her to touch the wall, and when she did she realized it was a false one - her hand went through it and the illusion faded, revealing a pathway that they all proceeded to step into. Leigh leaned in close enough that Kali could feel her breath on her ear as she spoke, welcoming her to the Tarifa underground. The noise and smoke were familiar to Kali, as the underground everywhere seemed to be roughly similar, and she realized she missed it a bit. If this mission didn't already have the promise of potential violence, she would consider seeing if she could get a fight in anyway - the cage matches usually allowed bystanders to challenge if it could make an interesting fight.
Leigh gestured for Wight and orc guy to head off on their search, and Kali turned to her. "Coming with me?"
Post by Leigh Haskell on Dec 26, 2016 10:48:57 GMT -7
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[attr="class","wavesundtext"] Leigh watched Mal and Colossus depart, knowing they'd see them again quite soon - but worrying a little that they wouldn't. If something went wrong in this expedition, it was Leigh's head. She doubted her trust in Mal for a moment, worried that he might try to purposefully screw her over... But no. This wasn't just a group of pirates looking for treasure. This was an incredibly important operation sanctioned by Captain Merlyn himself. Mal wouldn't do that, would he?
She was broken out of her nerves by Kali's voice, and she put herself back together with a smirk, "Not the same way as the other night, but yes." She began going the opposite way of Kali, the two of them passing by some of the less important figures in the underground without much notice. The smoky craps den, a whorehouse, a few black market stalls... It was at the entrance to the cage that Leigh stopped. "What's more likely: Your guy's in there betting up a storm, or he's enjoying the more private offerings of this place?"
Post by Maldrem "Wight" on Dec 26, 2016 12:43:43 GMT -7
I've got a date with a wall of muscles~
W hen Leigh dismissed Mal and Colossus to split up and go question Mal's people, he turned and gave Colossus a bat of his eyelashes. "You gonna come and keep me nice and safe, big boy?" he asked, a giggle in his tone.
Colossus gave him an orcish smirk and winked, and Mal gave him a slap on the arm as they laughed.
The two did as instructed and headed away from their companions, Maldrem guiding Colossus down a mazework of streets and alleys that were so loaded with steam from surrounding buildings and grates that it was easy to forget they were in Aissic. Aissic was one of the few places cold enough to bother Mal; his body's toasty temperature usually kept him quite cozy in cold weather, but Aissic tended to veer towards more heavy extremes. Thankfully, the underground was an exception to the surface, and may even have felt a little too warm whenever he and the orc would pass by some of the billowing grates of steam.
"What're we lookin' for?" Colossus asked, the first words he'd spoken since his report on the inspectors, and only the second set of words since he accepted Merlyn's orders to join the mission in the first place. He was the strong silent type, and Maldrem liked that in a strapping young man.
"Well, I know a lady," Maldrem responded airily, walking as though he had not a care in the world, but keeping his eyes carefully vigilant with every step. "Kali has her contact that'll point us towards getting a hold of that ship, supposedly. My job though is to get our hands on some official papers. Artavia, if you'll believe it, is pretty much just about as strict with ship inspection year-round as Aissic is during the Festival, so even if we can get a ship through Kali, we're gonna need some documentation if we wanna get into Artavia undetected."
"And your lady can handle the papers."
Mal smirked. "She's one of the best when it comes to forgery. Used to work in government, so she knows all the lingo, and she's still got people that report to her to keep her up to date on policy changes so she can make her papers look legit. The Captain has actually had me use her for a bunch of jobs in the past, when we needed to get somewhere 'official'."
Colussus snorted humorously. "But we couldn't use 'er this time to get into Aissic cuz she's in Aissic."
"Right you are, amigo mine," Mal replied. "She mighta been able to tell us that our documents were outdated and warned us that we'd have our wares sampled, but alas, we couldn't very well ask her before we got here, could we?"
Not that Merlyn had even asked Mal in the first place. He supposed that he saw the logic in it on a practical level: Maldrem could have infiltrated into Aissic by himself to visit his contact, get ahold of some current papers, get back to the Grail, and then use those papers so that Leigh and Kali could get in with the ship, but all of that would have been a lot of extra time, and time was of the essence if they wanted to get Plague back. Since they already had papers on the Kittihawk, Merlyn probably figured they could get by as is.
Mal saw the logic, but it still bugged him just a little that Merlyn hadn't even asked him. He was so gung-ho about giving Leigh her first assignment, putting her in charge, letting her pick the crew; hell, if she hadn't picked him, Maldrem wouldn't even be here right now. It did sting a little.
Maybe it was penance for having stolen from the captain.
"This is the place," he told Colossus as they came up to a thin building tucked at the end of an alleyway. There were a couple guards standing outside. "You just leave the sweet-talking to me~!"
OOC Note: I'll be continuing this gradually as you guys progress your end of the thread, just so I'm not dumping a massive text wall of what Maldrem is up to, haha, and to give me more time to think about how it goes.
Kali chuckled at Leigh's comment but didn't let herself dwell on those thoughts, pleasant as they may be, as they were ready to go their own way into the underground. As they walked she kept her attention on the surroundings, the people, knowing she wouldn't find her contact out here but keeping watch for any others that she may know for good or ill.
They stopped at the entrance to the fights and Kali licked her lips absently. Leigh wanted to know what was more likely - him betting on them or being off somewhere enjoying more 'private' offerings. She didn't know what was more likely, but she knew where she wanted to look first. She also knew that she had made him a lot of money, and after her disappearance from Muerte if he heard she was going to participate in a fight here he would surely show, even if he was enjoying alternate company. She was itching for a match, but that plan was the 'b' to this operation. Plan A was just to find him without drawing too much attention to themselves.
"Betting. You don't need to come underground for more basic carnal pleasures. He'll be in there. And if he's not, we'll draw him out."
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