Aurora: Rising Sun

[Witchery]

"Nice to meet you, Herbert," The Sister said. She was going to press him for more details when came the crude retort to Aki, from the woman she was talking with. After her comment, Ysmay had no problem looking down on the brutish woman. In fact, she was inclined to lend her a haughty, proud glare. The man that accompanied her said something interesting, though. "I beg your pardon? The Bloody Saint?" She asked, cocking an eyebrow. It sounded quite intriguing and strangely familiar. A warrior who fought in the name of Karic? A paladin of sorts? How strange.

[Arch-Mage Matt]

"They say he was a Sworn Shield before he took to killing Wilders," The man continued, happy to have an ear to talk into. "They say he's eight feet tall and Wilders jump on their own swords rather than face him."

[Witchery]

Well, Ysmay didn't know about the latter claims, but the first part was believable. "How curious," Ysmay said, processing the information. A member of the church taken to killing cutthroats and bandits in the name of the gods? Curious indeed. "Where did you hear about this, um, rumor, for lack of a better term?" She had better terms. Myth, legend, folklore of the fanciful. She took out a piece of parchment and an inkwell from her bag. As a Holy Sister, it was her job to write. . . and if she could record her own travels and the lore of the people in them, who knows? They may be of value.

I've heard rumor of a rogue Sworn Shield known as the legendary "Bloody Saint." Whether it is just an urban myth or based on factual information, I have yet to know, but a patron at a local inn explained to me the details. He apparently kills Wilders in the name of Karic. He heard the rumor from . . . She stared up at him intently as her calligraphy-like print dried.

[Arch-Mage Matt]

"Heard it from the Gazette," the man passed the day's headline article to Ysmay.

Spoiler:

(Front page if you missed it)

[DarkEastwood]

Spoiler:

Did the woman respond? Or should I just join in with the conversation between the man and Ysmay?

[Witchery]

"This 'Bloody Saint' is competing today? So he is real?" Ysmay asked skeptically, looking over the gazette. "And he really has taken to killing Wilders in the name of Karic? I'm surprised I haven't heard of him." She wasn't actually surprised. Current events weren't on the top of her priority list, and the temple she resided in in Pellwood was a little slow to deliver news. She hadn't picked up the pages of an Imperial Gazette in a few months. "I'd love to meet him," She said thoughtfully, more to herself. Question him. Record his motives and reasons.

Oh, I am woefully uninformed. Perhaps I should get my nose out of history books and start listening to what's currently going on, Ysmay thought. The Bloody Saint is actually competing in the Tourney of Steel today. I'm still unsure if these rumors are true, but he appears to be more than a rumor. Or at least claims he is. She dabbed her quill-pen.

[Arch-Mage Matt]

Spoiler:

You scared the woman off.

"Of course he's real," The man sighed like he was talking to a child.

[DarkEastwood]

Aki sat back in her chair and sighed. She started to tune into the conversation between the two Tourney fans, but quickly lost interest. She then stood up and walked over to the innkeeper. "Do you have any kind of soup, or maybe a sandwich?" she asked Edwina. She then looked around for someone new to talk to.

[Kerr]

"Sure...." said Herbert.

[Nevastar]

The Wayforge
The mysterious looking human with tanned skin and long dark hair turned from the archery range to see what loud commotion had interrupted his focus. Ah, the Wolfbloods have emerged, Sakhr thought, examining each of the family members. He had heard that Chander was to compete in the archery competition, and thus spent more time examining him. What's that he's got? he wondered as he noticed the mysterious object devouring Chander's attention. Still carrying his bow, Sakhr approached Chander, undaunted by the man's fame and controversy. "I hear you're competing in archery," he said boldly as he neared him.

[Arch-Mage Matt]

Almond-Grove Inn

Edwina was busy cleaning her counter-top. "Soup n' sandwiches, we got 'em," She said without looking up.

The Wayforge

Chander Wolfblood, who had been completely focused on the object, snapped his head up at Sakhr. Chander was a very plain man with a clean-shaven, nervous looking face. His round eyeglasses were rimmed with a heavy golden pattern and shone white in the light, shielding his eyes from view. Chander was wearing a simple attire of a brown tunic and black pants. "What?" He said quickly, alarmed. The Wolfblood ran a hand through his brown hair, which was barely present on the top of his head. "Oh, oh, I apologize." Chander revealed a crossbow, but with many foreign looking attachments and gears that made it much bulkier that a normal crossbow. "This is my weapon, see. It's... experimental. Mechanical, you see... but I suppose you wouldn't know what I'm talking about." He was dismissing his own words, not Sakhr's intelligence (At least not intentionally).

[DarkEastwood]

Aki tossed some coins on the counter, without even counting them. "Well I suppose I'll have a bowl of tomato soup and a turkey sandwich." she demanded.

[Arch-Mage Matt]

"I suppose you will," The innkeeper said. "They'll be ready in a bit. Sit down, now."

[DarkEastwood]

Aki followed the woman's orders, and gently sat down on the stool. She hummed a bit, and looked around for conversation.

[Nevastar]

Sakhr studied the weapon with interest. "How curious," he said. "How long did you work on it?" He really thought the contraption looked quite silly, but knew that it had probably taken as much skill for Chander to create it as Sakhr required to hit a deer between the eyes.

[Eltee]

The Wayforge

The clumsy, skinny 18 year old girl that was making her way through the periphery of the crowd of fighters with little inkling what the Wolfbloods were doing was just about the antithesis of what was to be expected among the fighters. For one, she was a female, which differentiated her from the vast majority. Even compared to the rest of the girls, she was an anomaly: Skinny, weak, and without the proprietary silent step and secret smirk of a thief by trade.

She stood five feet five inches, pale skinned and lightly freckled, with an unremarkable face, large, unremarkable brown eyes, and messy, unremarkable mousy light brown hair. Her slight figure was largely hidden by the green cloak that pooled around her shoulders, and hung almost to her feet. A cheap wooden bow, not even recurved, hung from her back, along with a small pack of miscellaneous items and a quiver proudly bearing six of her own homemade arrows, as well as an extra baker's dozen of the ones provided by the tourney. (with REAL steel heads!)

No. Marie Trill did not look like a warrior at all.

Her large eyes flashed around through the crowd, looking for her travelling companion.

Aura's Autumn Apples, it's like he doesn't even want me to find him... She thought worriedly.

When Marie spotted Ettan, her face lit up like a lost puppy catching sight of her home.

Heedless of decorum, or anything else, she waved a narrow arm as she approached, the cloak slipping back to reveal the bright white cotton of her tunic. "Hey! Ettan! Guess what?" She said, her voice inflected audibly with a backwoods twang that would mark her as a resident of somewhere decidedly else most places she went in Aurora.

She drew even with him, her big eyes drawn to the hacked up dummy.

[Arch-Mage Matt]

Almond-Grove Inn

In a few minutes Edwina was pounding on the counter for Aki to collect her food.

The Wayforge

"Oh, it took many months to perfect the design," Chander said. "This could revolutionize the way men fight battles. Sadly, General Archon did not agree with me. Nor did Mother. They laughed, actually. I was left with little choice but to demonstrate it's power myself."

[Nevastar]

"Ah, a competitor with a cause!" Sakhr exclaimed with a smile. "Well, best of luck to you. I'll be interested to see your weapon in action." He extended his free hand in a friendly manner.

[DarkEastwood]

Aki quickly approached the counter and snatched her food. She then sat down at an already occupied table, hoping to strike conversation with them. She began to quietly slurp the soup from her spoon, and nibble on the sandwich. She was hungry, but she didn't want to look starved in front of everyone in the tavern.

[Arch-Mage Matt]

Spoiler:

@DE: Are you looking for NPC conversation or player conversation?

@Nevaster: The object he's holding is the crossbow.

"Yes, yes," Chander said, shaking Sakhr's hand. "You - you don't smell smoke, do you? Oh, this can't happen now! That's what the lubrication is for! You can't trust anybody to make good lubrication nowadays." Chander hunched even farther over to inspect his device.

[Nevastar]

Spoiler:

Right, that makes sense.

Sakhr took a step back and raised an eyebrow, relieved to find that Chandler's device wasn't as perfect as he claimed.

[JVElEven]

Spoiler:

Goddangit, stupid night!

The Inn

Hoshikari Hogo was in a very bad mood. She sat alone near the tourney-discussing imperials, shifting an annoyed glare between them and her big brother, who was preoccupied with using every last penny he owned on the pool to get to know the inn-keeper's daughter better.

I don't get what he sees in her, she thought, That what's-her-face. Imperials aren't even pretty.

Her black eyes darted back to the loud group next to her.

And why won't these people shut up? Honour in battle my arse! The only thing you get in battle is a maimed hand and the hatred of your enemies.

She kept her eyes darting back and forth, leaning back on her chair, which was standing on two legs as she searched for an opportunity. An inattentive guest. A forgotten item. Anything to turn their luck around.

She sighed loudly, before very loudly, to make sure the two imperials and her countryman could hear her the next table over, but still talking almost to herself:

"Not like that stupid tourney matters... Only fools sign up for things like that."

[MARS]

Wayforge

"No. What?" was Ettan's monolectic reply. His gaze was fixed on Chander. That mechnical weapon seemed like bad news.

[Witchery]

Ysmay loathed being patronized, as if she were expected to know the backstory of everycometitor in the Tpurney. Her words were only coated with a hint of sugary defensiveness. "Perhaps if you wouldn't tell tales I would have believed you sooner," said the Sister, pursing her lips. She was meant to believe an eight foot tall Wilder slaughtering paladin was competing today? Truly. Dismissing the man, she once more smiled at Herbert. "I suppose you're quite the magician, then? "

Spoiler:

do forgive the obscene amount of mistakes. My phone doesnt much like me.

[DarkEastwood]

Spoiler:

Preferably NPC