38 - Flying guards, with a surprise
Jhin Lemon
Lawful Cute
- Location
- Trapped in the interwebs, please send help
Winning votes:
[w] Urgent airship transport to Asoa, low resistance anticipated, guards wanted - F Rank (urgent)
"Are you sure you're ready Eshani? It's a whole other continent," asks Tobias, eyebrows furrowed with concern.
"Ah, she'll be fiiiine Tobi," Mira says as she wraps an arm around you and leaning, "you worry too much."
"Er," you stagger a little under Mira's weight, "can we just go sign up?"
Mira thankfully gets off and you head to the front desk, producing your cards before the clerk even asks for them. He wordlessly takes all four and puts down a few notes, then quickly checks something.
"Unlike your last quest," he begins, the information directed solely at you and Tobias, "this one won't go back on the notice board, since after you take it no one else could get to the airship." he pauses for a moment as you all give him a funny look, "Yes, I know that's obvious! Guild regulations mean I have to tell you if it's the first time it happens."
He reddens with embarrassment, you raise a hand to cover the smile that developed from the outburst, before deciding it's better to just leave so he doesn't notice. Liam thanks him for you as you all leave.
"Soooo, where is the airship?" you ask.
"Well obviously, we read the extra info," Mira reminds you as she grabs slams the quest notes on a close by table.
A small map of the town is with the note. On it, a series of arrows directing you from the guild to one of the buildings at the edge of the town, which is also circled just to make sure you know which one it is.
"Well, he seems calm under pressure, if he might have to go without protection I expected him to sound more desperate," Tobias notes.
"But...the building's in town, but there's no way there could be an airship here without it being seen," you say, confused.
"He said his crew would help us, they probably have some transportation arranged," Liam answers, "Now, let us go."
The very clear instructions make it so you couldn't get lost unless you were actively trying to do so, and in a matter of minutes you stand in front of a small house. It's very bland compared to all the others, the other houses have something that makes them unique, flowers outside, colourful windows, paint on the exterior... This one is just bland wooden walls, some windows, and a door. As you get close, the door bursts open.
"Is someone finally here to take the quest?!" A figure yells as it bursts out of the house. You reflexively jump back and raise you arms in front of your face, but the sudden unexpected shouting leaves you nonplussed.
"Oh...uh oh...umm, I really didn't mean to scare you guys."
You lower your arms as the voice suddenly becomes much meeker. It's a young boy in a brown jacket and blue cargo pants. There's an emblem with a pair of wings on it, one wing smaller and on top of the larger. The five of you stand there and stare at each other awkwardly, your four waiting for him to say something, him unsure of what so say.
"My, my," An elegant voice says from indoors, "you haven't been waiting that long Randy, now apologise and invite these poor people inside."
The boy - now identified as Randy - flinches a little before lowering his head.
"I'm sorry for being loud like that, please come inside."
"Don't worry," Liam smiles at the boy, "no harm was done."
Randy brightens up at that and gives him a nod before leading you inside, where you find a fairly normal looking woman...and a magic circle as big as the room itself.
"Is this?" Mira begins.
"It is indeed," the woman answers.
"Can you inform those of us who don't know?" Tobias asks.
"Oh, of course. How rude of me to assume. This is a transportation circle, it will take you anywhere you need to go so long as you have been there before."
"This is a lot bigger than what I'd-" you break off into a totally coincidental coughing fit that didn't interrupt you from almost giving away what you did with the God intentionally. "Ahem, sorry. This is a lot bigger than what I expected a magical circle to be."
"Well, of course it's big," Mira responds, "the bigger a circle the more powerful it is. Well, there are a few other things too, but that's the main one. And you need a lot of power to move people across the world."
"Slight problem with this plan," Tobias interrupts, "If I have this right, we're going to use this to get to the airship, correct?" The woman nods. "Then, how do we get there if we haven't been on it before?"
"That's what I'm here for!" Randy announces.
"Indeed, the boy will act as a conduit for the location for all of you."
"So, could we make our own anytime and go anywhere?" you ask in awe of the power to simply draw a circle and go anywhere.
"Unfortunately, that is mistaken young one. One must also know the ritual to activate a circle, and if not done on a suitable material, the circle will collapse mid-ritual."
"Collapse?"
"Yeah," Mira continues for the woman, "magic circles draw power from the person doing the ritual and the thing they're drawn on, so you can't draw them on a plank of wood and teleport through walls, the plank can't support that kind of spell. Plus, circle rituals only make regular spells more powerful, so you'd need to know how to teleport in the first place to do it."
"But, if a circle only enhances, why is this a teleportation circle?"
"'Cause it's specifically made to enhance teleportation more than other spells."
"I think we've talked about magic circles enough, let's get going," Tobias says grumpily. What was so bad about the discussion? You hadn't even asked that many questions. Did what Mira said mean there were people with tiny magic circles to enhance weak magic? What happens to the thing you draw the circle on if the magic collapses? You still have a bunch of questions you want answered.
The five of you step into the circle while the woman stands at its edge.
"You needn't all stand in the middle, the ritual only opens a portal that you may step through."
And with that, four of you step out of the circle.
"Thanks guys. Vote of confidence," Randy says to you all.
The woman, who you now realise you don't know the name of, begins making many fast moving, flowing movements around the circle's edge. As much as you try, it's impossible to follow the ritual from just looking at it happen. After the woman makes a full loop of the circle, a small disk appears in front of Randy, quickly growing in size to be more than double your height. The disk then shimmers slightly before the image of a ship's deck appears.
"One express ticket to the Airship Dawes," Randy announces with a flourish and bow. He then steps through, like it's a hole in a wall, only, instead of leading to a house it leads to what looks like a ship's storeroom. "Perfectly safe," he calls from the other side.
Mira then steps through without any hesitation. Liam looks at it warily before following along. Tobias meanwhile glances at you for a few seconds before sighing and doing so as well. You give the woman who opened the portal a smile, but then something hits you in the back and pushes you through the portal.
You go tumbling along the ground. Sliding to a stop you notice a weight on your stomach. Jocelyn is straddling you and pulling your head up by your collar.
"Wh- Jocelyn? Why are you here?"
"I'm here for revenge you liar! Remember those strikes I got for telling you stuff?! That got removed when you made my Boss second guess himself?! Guess what! It was an Abomination! And I got fired and there's no trace of it! And you probably had something to do with it!"
She forces you to look into her eyes as she speaks, and even if she wasn't saying anything here look alone would terrify you. You thought Tobias' contorted face was the angriest a person could get, but you were very wrong. Her eyes are full of hatred and loathing for you. Then she pulls out a knife. Then Tobias goes flying over you and suddenly there's no weight on you any more. You hear a clattering noise. Tobias and Liam are holding Jocelyn in place away from you.
"We had nothing to do with what happened after you all went back. The guard in front probably heard you telling the world about it and they removed it themselves." Tobias yells, an equally angry look on his face directed at his captive.
The words hit Jocelyn like a punch of the gut. Literally. She goes limp in their grip. Then she begins to sob.
"Oh gods, oh gods, oh gods. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I didn't even-" she breaks down into sobs.
Randy is just awkwardly looking at what's going on. This...was not a good first impression in the slightest.
"D' I hire guards or a bad comedy group?" A gruff voice reverberates slightly through the room as the captain enters through a door. "'Ah had a fanfare all set up 'n' stuff, but this ain't worthy of that."
You all figured Captain Dawes was male, but what stands in front of you is clearly a girl wearing a white shirt with poofy sleeves and brown cargo pants. But those aren't what denote her as the captain, that would be the hat with a shining gem and feather on it. Radiating her authority while remaining fairly simple.
"In our defense," Mira counters and points a thumb at Jocelyn, "we weren't expecting her."
"Oho, a stowaway is she? Well, th' portal's closed, she can stay in th' brig till the transport's done."
Jocelyn's sobbing intensifies at that.
What will you do?
[] Let them take her to the brig, she tried to stab you!
[] Try to convince them to let her stay aboard normally, she looks like she won't do that again.
[w] Urgent airship transport to Asoa, low resistance anticipated, guards wanted - F Rank (urgent)
"Are you sure you're ready Eshani? It's a whole other continent," asks Tobias, eyebrows furrowed with concern.
"Ah, she'll be fiiiine Tobi," Mira says as she wraps an arm around you and leaning, "you worry too much."
"Er," you stagger a little under Mira's weight, "can we just go sign up?"
Mira thankfully gets off and you head to the front desk, producing your cards before the clerk even asks for them. He wordlessly takes all four and puts down a few notes, then quickly checks something.
"Unlike your last quest," he begins, the information directed solely at you and Tobias, "this one won't go back on the notice board, since after you take it no one else could get to the airship." he pauses for a moment as you all give him a funny look, "Yes, I know that's obvious! Guild regulations mean I have to tell you if it's the first time it happens."
He reddens with embarrassment, you raise a hand to cover the smile that developed from the outburst, before deciding it's better to just leave so he doesn't notice. Liam thanks him for you as you all leave.
"Soooo, where is the airship?" you ask.
"Well obviously, we read the extra info," Mira reminds you as she grabs slams the quest notes on a close by table.
letter said:
A small map of the town is with the note. On it, a series of arrows directing you from the guild to one of the buildings at the edge of the town, which is also circled just to make sure you know which one it is.
"Well, he seems calm under pressure, if he might have to go without protection I expected him to sound more desperate," Tobias notes.
"But...the building's in town, but there's no way there could be an airship here without it being seen," you say, confused.
"He said his crew would help us, they probably have some transportation arranged," Liam answers, "Now, let us go."
The very clear instructions make it so you couldn't get lost unless you were actively trying to do so, and in a matter of minutes you stand in front of a small house. It's very bland compared to all the others, the other houses have something that makes them unique, flowers outside, colourful windows, paint on the exterior... This one is just bland wooden walls, some windows, and a door. As you get close, the door bursts open.
"Is someone finally here to take the quest?!" A figure yells as it bursts out of the house. You reflexively jump back and raise you arms in front of your face, but the sudden unexpected shouting leaves you nonplussed.
"Oh...uh oh...umm, I really didn't mean to scare you guys."
You lower your arms as the voice suddenly becomes much meeker. It's a young boy in a brown jacket and blue cargo pants. There's an emblem with a pair of wings on it, one wing smaller and on top of the larger. The five of you stand there and stare at each other awkwardly, your four waiting for him to say something, him unsure of what so say.
"My, my," An elegant voice says from indoors, "you haven't been waiting that long Randy, now apologise and invite these poor people inside."
The boy - now identified as Randy - flinches a little before lowering his head.
"I'm sorry for being loud like that, please come inside."
"Don't worry," Liam smiles at the boy, "no harm was done."
Randy brightens up at that and gives him a nod before leading you inside, where you find a fairly normal looking woman...and a magic circle as big as the room itself.
"Is this?" Mira begins.
"It is indeed," the woman answers.
"Can you inform those of us who don't know?" Tobias asks.
"Oh, of course. How rude of me to assume. This is a transportation circle, it will take you anywhere you need to go so long as you have been there before."
"This is a lot bigger than what I'd-" you break off into a totally coincidental coughing fit that didn't interrupt you from almost giving away what you did with the God intentionally. "Ahem, sorry. This is a lot bigger than what I expected a magical circle to be."
"Well, of course it's big," Mira responds, "the bigger a circle the more powerful it is. Well, there are a few other things too, but that's the main one. And you need a lot of power to move people across the world."
"Slight problem with this plan," Tobias interrupts, "If I have this right, we're going to use this to get to the airship, correct?" The woman nods. "Then, how do we get there if we haven't been on it before?"
"That's what I'm here for!" Randy announces.
"Indeed, the boy will act as a conduit for the location for all of you."
"So, could we make our own anytime and go anywhere?" you ask in awe of the power to simply draw a circle and go anywhere.
"Unfortunately, that is mistaken young one. One must also know the ritual to activate a circle, and if not done on a suitable material, the circle will collapse mid-ritual."
"Collapse?"
"Yeah," Mira continues for the woman, "magic circles draw power from the person doing the ritual and the thing they're drawn on, so you can't draw them on a plank of wood and teleport through walls, the plank can't support that kind of spell. Plus, circle rituals only make regular spells more powerful, so you'd need to know how to teleport in the first place to do it."
"But, if a circle only enhances, why is this a teleportation circle?"
"'Cause it's specifically made to enhance teleportation more than other spells."
"I think we've talked about magic circles enough, let's get going," Tobias says grumpily. What was so bad about the discussion? You hadn't even asked that many questions. Did what Mira said mean there were people with tiny magic circles to enhance weak magic? What happens to the thing you draw the circle on if the magic collapses? You still have a bunch of questions you want answered.
The five of you step into the circle while the woman stands at its edge.
"You needn't all stand in the middle, the ritual only opens a portal that you may step through."
And with that, four of you step out of the circle.
"Thanks guys. Vote of confidence," Randy says to you all.
The woman, who you now realise you don't know the name of, begins making many fast moving, flowing movements around the circle's edge. As much as you try, it's impossible to follow the ritual from just looking at it happen. After the woman makes a full loop of the circle, a small disk appears in front of Randy, quickly growing in size to be more than double your height. The disk then shimmers slightly before the image of a ship's deck appears.
"One express ticket to the Airship Dawes," Randy announces with a flourish and bow. He then steps through, like it's a hole in a wall, only, instead of leading to a house it leads to what looks like a ship's storeroom. "Perfectly safe," he calls from the other side.
Mira then steps through without any hesitation. Liam looks at it warily before following along. Tobias meanwhile glances at you for a few seconds before sighing and doing so as well. You give the woman who opened the portal a smile, but then something hits you in the back and pushes you through the portal.
You go tumbling along the ground. Sliding to a stop you notice a weight on your stomach. Jocelyn is straddling you and pulling your head up by your collar.
"Wh- Jocelyn? Why are you here?"
"I'm here for revenge you liar! Remember those strikes I got for telling you stuff?! That got removed when you made my Boss second guess himself?! Guess what! It was an Abomination! And I got fired and there's no trace of it! And you probably had something to do with it!"
She forces you to look into her eyes as she speaks, and even if she wasn't saying anything here look alone would terrify you. You thought Tobias' contorted face was the angriest a person could get, but you were very wrong. Her eyes are full of hatred and loathing for you. Then she pulls out a knife. Then Tobias goes flying over you and suddenly there's no weight on you any more. You hear a clattering noise. Tobias and Liam are holding Jocelyn in place away from you.
"We had nothing to do with what happened after you all went back. The guard in front probably heard you telling the world about it and they removed it themselves." Tobias yells, an equally angry look on his face directed at his captive.
The words hit Jocelyn like a punch of the gut. Literally. She goes limp in their grip. Then she begins to sob.
"Oh gods, oh gods, oh gods. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I didn't even-" she breaks down into sobs.
Randy is just awkwardly looking at what's going on. This...was not a good first impression in the slightest.
"D' I hire guards or a bad comedy group?" A gruff voice reverberates slightly through the room as the captain enters through a door. "'Ah had a fanfare all set up 'n' stuff, but this ain't worthy of that."
You all figured Captain Dawes was male, but what stands in front of you is clearly a girl wearing a white shirt with poofy sleeves and brown cargo pants. But those aren't what denote her as the captain, that would be the hat with a shining gem and feather on it. Radiating her authority while remaining fairly simple.
"In our defense," Mira counters and points a thumb at Jocelyn, "we weren't expecting her."
"Oho, a stowaway is she? Well, th' portal's closed, she can stay in th' brig till the transport's done."
Jocelyn's sobbing intensifies at that.
What will you do?
[] Let them take her to the brig, she tried to stab you!
[] Try to convince them to let her stay aboard normally, she looks like she won't do that again.
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