A smell of fish
- Pronouns
- They/Them
Unfortunately for you, the enforcers recognize their outnumbered nature: they aren't letting anyone through, no matter how inoffensive. If they did, it wouldn't take more than a handful of rioters on the other side of the cordon to get them trapped in a pincer and overwhelmed.
Thus, it doesn't matter that you'd really rather clear out than engage: you don't have a choice. "Dawn, try to look... I don't know, inconspicuous." She shoots you a dubious look, but nods. Both of you adjust your tunics, covering a bit of your face. It's not much, but it's at least something.
The enforcers begin to engage with the mob. The guardsmen are outnumbered, but some are armored and all of them are trained. They lay about with spear haft, sword in the scabbard, truncheon better suited than mace to this sort of fight. They stand shoulder-to-shoulder, most with shields to protect both themselves and each other. They're not trying to kill, but they are savagely putting down anyone they can.
The mob is only sparsely armed, but vicious. There's no single, unified cry that you can make out, but "down with the Regency Council!" and "food-hoarding pigs!" make several appearances. Broken bricks an the occasional stone arc overhead, hurled with anger but without the training of an archer or slinger.
The man you'd seen previously, the VIper's Kiss warrior with the drunken approach, puts down more than his share, and comparatively nicely. He staggers away from and around attacks. When someone overcommits, he grabs their wrist, or elbow, or jaw, or ankle. Any exposed skin works. After a second or so, whoever he's touched falls over and starts snoring off the worst bender of their life.
The mob is all surging in one direction. You try to resist, to go against the flow, but the best you can manage without drawing even more attention, and the attached violence, is to pull off to one side. You see a lightly defended side street, where a couple of fighters lurk, delivering a hearty thump at people who get too close and otherwise try to pretend that they aren't there. Smaller numbers mean easier to overwhelm, even if there's not room for more than two people abreast.
Eyes lock. The guards see you weighing your options, and ready their weapons in a business-like manner. Both of them have spears, which they're intent on leveraging for a reach advantage. "Go back, on your knees," the man instructs. "Set your weapons aside and don't resist, and you'll be processed once the disturbance is over."
You're not willing to do that. You aren't even particularly sure who the Regency Council are, and you're not willing to trust that they have your best interests at heart. You and Dawn nod to each other, and plow forward.
It's not an equal fight, because you're not all aiming for the same goal. The enforcers are here to prevent anyone from getting out, but especially can't risk a general breakout. You just want past, and won't double back on them. That's an advantage, since if you're even a handsbreadth past them, they're not going to pursue you. On the other hand, you aren't aiming to hurt them, just get past, while they're intending to beat you down.
The first attack comes in on a downward diagonal. It's a powerful swing, meant to overpower you or force you to keep your distance. You deflect it with your shield, and from the corner of your eye you see Dawn do much the same. Your foe gives half a step, readjusts his grip, and scythes at your legs. You get your sheathed sword in the way, eating up most of the power and keeping you from tripping.
You're on him after that, and he blocks a feint you throw, and then you're past. You have just a moment to feel smug before you stumble, a sharp pain at the bottom of your ribcage. You manage to keep from falling, though. You realize a moment too late what happened: the woman Dawn was distracting shifted her focus, and stabbed you hard with the butt of her spear.
Once you're a turn or two away through the streets, you and Dawn stop running. "Are you all right, boss?" She got away mostly unscathed. It's you who got unlucky.
You gingerly feel the injury, and are greeted by a sharp pain. "Not sure. Cracked or bruised rib, maybe. I don't think it's too bad." Neither you nor Dawn have much first aid training. It never seemed relevant, given that everyone knew that those destined to the burgundy tunic always died in their big fight. That means that all you can do now is double-check, carefully, and find out that you're still able to move as normal, though it does hurt and the mother of all bruises is already threatening to form. "I think we got away cleanly, at least. The cordon's got enough people in it that they're not likely to come hunting, and we look... relatively non-descript, I hope."
- -
You meet up with the others at a quite place near the docks, where you can catch up without much of anyone paying attention. The others turn out to not have had nearly as exciting a time as you have. You and Dawn sketch out the relevant portion of your day, including what you've found out from Ant. Samir considers Dawn warily, but it's hard to imagine what he thinks is going to change. The two of them have never gotten along very well, so he doesn't spend much time in arm's reach of her, anyway.
"Well," Zahira says, once you've caught her up, "this sucks. You're getting beaten up, we're probably going to get in trouble with angry men with swords if we go back to the temple you sort-of promised we'd vacate, we don't have much money, and the only thing of use that we've learned today is that it should be relatively safe to learn magic if we get Ant's trick to protect us from whatever that is." By tone, she sounds more frustrated at the world than angry with you. She waves around a book she picked up from the temple, one of the theory books she was looking at earlier, explaining how to bind a concept to one's mind to work that path of magic. It's not quite clear how this emphasizes her point. "I don't know about you, but I think I want a plan to get us somewhere good before we end up dead in a gutter or something."
A group of men carrying a barrel of fish walk past. Conversation among your group stalls until they, and the smell, are gone. "Did you notice?" Kalju asks abruptly. "They all had weapons and were side-eyeing us."
"So?" Samir clearly did notice. When he did, he pulled out his little blade and began ostentatiously cleaning his fingernails. "We have weapons, apart from the bookworm, and we side-eye people all the time." Zahira ignores him.
"So," Kalju continues, "they aren't warriors, normally, but they are afraid someone is going to steal the fish. Didn't you listen to anything else today?" Kalju looks over you all, then sighs. "The Regency Council is stockpiling most of the food that comes through the port." He lapses into silence.
In a flash, you realize where Kalju is trying to go, and nod. "Right. It's a power struggle, that's what you're getting at. The Regency Council is trying to hold onto power, and this 'Lady Adara' is a competitor--she's gathering her own sort of legitimacy by getting together remaining priests. Maybe others. We have dueling groups who are trying to hold power here in the capital, and it's starting to boil over." The mob you got caught in may have been the first, or maybe not, but there will be more clashes unless there's a resolution.
Kalju looks satisfied. "Yes. Also, they're trying to sway Admiral General Hobi, who took charge of the military here." By the looks that go around 'Hobi' is not a familiar name, but Kalju was the one paying attention to this side of things. Still, that must be the soldiers you've seen who are not wearing either gold or purple, which is most of them. Whoever sways the admiral general will get enough military might to hold the capital.
"Right," Samir says, finally putting away his knife and inspecting his not particularly cleaner nails. "So I see a simple plan. Let's sign up somewhere. I don't really care where. Anyone who's expecting some fighting is going to be happy to pick up four more fighters. And a bookworm. At least if she learns some magic. They can feed us."
Dawn shakes her head. "That's... not a good plan. If we do that now, we're no one. In a world where heroes are starting to come back, we need something to set us apart, or we're just going to be front-line fodder. We've seen that people are starting to pick back up magic and enlightened martial traditions already. Although we didn't succeed before... we got training on the theoretical side of things already, and we have resources at the temple that we can access to help. That's more than most people are working with. Let's try to develop some superhuman skill. Something that isn't Ant, who isn't much of a bargaining chip with other people." Samir shrugs. He doesn't seem too against this plan, either, but it seems somewhat irrelevant to his goal.
"We can do both," Kalju points out. "Go to the admiral general or go to Lady Adara, and offer to help develop skills for us and others."
Zahira checks some of her notes. "There... is something else special that we might get at." You all look at her. "There's one type of magic item that may have survived, given what Ant said to you. Most magic items broke, right? There's one that I think would be immune to this type of attack. Potions. It's a long shot, but given that any defenses or guardians probably also died in the Great Dying, it could work. We should try to break into the Emperor's potion vault. A single potion of something like hell's heart or hydra's breath, much less having a bag full of them, would be a tremendous advantage to have." You wince at her cavalier description. A single drop of hell's heart creates a nigh-unquenchable fire that burns for days without fuel. A full potion could burn a squadron of war galleys to the waterline. Hydra's breath is an invisible, odorless poison that can be poured out into the air, where one breath causes dizziness, two causes vomiting, three paralysis, and four instant death. Again, a single potion contains so much that a spill could choke an entire town. The best potions are valuable for their tremendous power, but using one is a heavy responsibility, even the ones with positive effects such as healing. Zahira looks around at everyone. "Or, well, I don't mind Dawn's idea, either. I will be learning some magic again."
The discussion turns to the merits of the various plans, giving you a chance to steer it to wherever sounds best.
[] Go back to the temple, try a self-guided crash course to power.
[] Time to break into a potion vault. It's too tempting to resist.
[] Try to sign up as the well-trained fighters you are. People need that.
- [] Lady Adara is looking for people exactly like you.
- [] The Regency Council might still be worth looking into.
- [] Never mind the power struggle. Admiral General Hobi's forces can get away with being apolitical.
- [] Sign up for the next boat somewhere else. Maybe back to your family. This isn't your fight.
[] Write-in.
- -
Sorry this took a while to get out. I lost my pet bunny of eleven years recently, and it took me a bit to get back in the writing groove. She used to always sit on my left foot as I wrote...
Thus, it doesn't matter that you'd really rather clear out than engage: you don't have a choice. "Dawn, try to look... I don't know, inconspicuous." She shoots you a dubious look, but nods. Both of you adjust your tunics, covering a bit of your face. It's not much, but it's at least something.
The enforcers begin to engage with the mob. The guardsmen are outnumbered, but some are armored and all of them are trained. They lay about with spear haft, sword in the scabbard, truncheon better suited than mace to this sort of fight. They stand shoulder-to-shoulder, most with shields to protect both themselves and each other. They're not trying to kill, but they are savagely putting down anyone they can.
The mob is only sparsely armed, but vicious. There's no single, unified cry that you can make out, but "down with the Regency Council!" and "food-hoarding pigs!" make several appearances. Broken bricks an the occasional stone arc overhead, hurled with anger but without the training of an archer or slinger.
The man you'd seen previously, the VIper's Kiss warrior with the drunken approach, puts down more than his share, and comparatively nicely. He staggers away from and around attacks. When someone overcommits, he grabs their wrist, or elbow, or jaw, or ankle. Any exposed skin works. After a second or so, whoever he's touched falls over and starts snoring off the worst bender of their life.
The mob is all surging in one direction. You try to resist, to go against the flow, but the best you can manage without drawing even more attention, and the attached violence, is to pull off to one side. You see a lightly defended side street, where a couple of fighters lurk, delivering a hearty thump at people who get too close and otherwise try to pretend that they aren't there. Smaller numbers mean easier to overwhelm, even if there's not room for more than two people abreast.
Eyes lock. The guards see you weighing your options, and ready their weapons in a business-like manner. Both of them have spears, which they're intent on leveraging for a reach advantage. "Go back, on your knees," the man instructs. "Set your weapons aside and don't resist, and you'll be processed once the disturbance is over."
You're not willing to do that. You aren't even particularly sure who the Regency Council are, and you're not willing to trust that they have your best interests at heart. You and Dawn nod to each other, and plow forward.
It's not an equal fight, because you're not all aiming for the same goal. The enforcers are here to prevent anyone from getting out, but especially can't risk a general breakout. You just want past, and won't double back on them. That's an advantage, since if you're even a handsbreadth past them, they're not going to pursue you. On the other hand, you aren't aiming to hurt them, just get past, while they're intending to beat you down.
The first attack comes in on a downward diagonal. It's a powerful swing, meant to overpower you or force you to keep your distance. You deflect it with your shield, and from the corner of your eye you see Dawn do much the same. Your foe gives half a step, readjusts his grip, and scythes at your legs. You get your sheathed sword in the way, eating up most of the power and keeping you from tripping.
You're on him after that, and he blocks a feint you throw, and then you're past. You have just a moment to feel smug before you stumble, a sharp pain at the bottom of your ribcage. You manage to keep from falling, though. You realize a moment too late what happened: the woman Dawn was distracting shifted her focus, and stabbed you hard with the butt of her spear.
Once you're a turn or two away through the streets, you and Dawn stop running. "Are you all right, boss?" She got away mostly unscathed. It's you who got unlucky.
You gingerly feel the injury, and are greeted by a sharp pain. "Not sure. Cracked or bruised rib, maybe. I don't think it's too bad." Neither you nor Dawn have much first aid training. It never seemed relevant, given that everyone knew that those destined to the burgundy tunic always died in their big fight. That means that all you can do now is double-check, carefully, and find out that you're still able to move as normal, though it does hurt and the mother of all bruises is already threatening to form. "I think we got away cleanly, at least. The cordon's got enough people in it that they're not likely to come hunting, and we look... relatively non-descript, I hope."
- -
You meet up with the others at a quite place near the docks, where you can catch up without much of anyone paying attention. The others turn out to not have had nearly as exciting a time as you have. You and Dawn sketch out the relevant portion of your day, including what you've found out from Ant. Samir considers Dawn warily, but it's hard to imagine what he thinks is going to change. The two of them have never gotten along very well, so he doesn't spend much time in arm's reach of her, anyway.
"Well," Zahira says, once you've caught her up, "this sucks. You're getting beaten up, we're probably going to get in trouble with angry men with swords if we go back to the temple you sort-of promised we'd vacate, we don't have much money, and the only thing of use that we've learned today is that it should be relatively safe to learn magic if we get Ant's trick to protect us from whatever that is." By tone, she sounds more frustrated at the world than angry with you. She waves around a book she picked up from the temple, one of the theory books she was looking at earlier, explaining how to bind a concept to one's mind to work that path of magic. It's not quite clear how this emphasizes her point. "I don't know about you, but I think I want a plan to get us somewhere good before we end up dead in a gutter or something."
A group of men carrying a barrel of fish walk past. Conversation among your group stalls until they, and the smell, are gone. "Did you notice?" Kalju asks abruptly. "They all had weapons and were side-eyeing us."
"So?" Samir clearly did notice. When he did, he pulled out his little blade and began ostentatiously cleaning his fingernails. "We have weapons, apart from the bookworm, and we side-eye people all the time." Zahira ignores him.
"So," Kalju continues, "they aren't warriors, normally, but they are afraid someone is going to steal the fish. Didn't you listen to anything else today?" Kalju looks over you all, then sighs. "The Regency Council is stockpiling most of the food that comes through the port." He lapses into silence.
In a flash, you realize where Kalju is trying to go, and nod. "Right. It's a power struggle, that's what you're getting at. The Regency Council is trying to hold onto power, and this 'Lady Adara' is a competitor--she's gathering her own sort of legitimacy by getting together remaining priests. Maybe others. We have dueling groups who are trying to hold power here in the capital, and it's starting to boil over." The mob you got caught in may have been the first, or maybe not, but there will be more clashes unless there's a resolution.
Kalju looks satisfied. "Yes. Also, they're trying to sway Admiral General Hobi, who took charge of the military here." By the looks that go around 'Hobi' is not a familiar name, but Kalju was the one paying attention to this side of things. Still, that must be the soldiers you've seen who are not wearing either gold or purple, which is most of them. Whoever sways the admiral general will get enough military might to hold the capital.
"Right," Samir says, finally putting away his knife and inspecting his not particularly cleaner nails. "So I see a simple plan. Let's sign up somewhere. I don't really care where. Anyone who's expecting some fighting is going to be happy to pick up four more fighters. And a bookworm. At least if she learns some magic. They can feed us."
Dawn shakes her head. "That's... not a good plan. If we do that now, we're no one. In a world where heroes are starting to come back, we need something to set us apart, or we're just going to be front-line fodder. We've seen that people are starting to pick back up magic and enlightened martial traditions already. Although we didn't succeed before... we got training on the theoretical side of things already, and we have resources at the temple that we can access to help. That's more than most people are working with. Let's try to develop some superhuman skill. Something that isn't Ant, who isn't much of a bargaining chip with other people." Samir shrugs. He doesn't seem too against this plan, either, but it seems somewhat irrelevant to his goal.
"We can do both," Kalju points out. "Go to the admiral general or go to Lady Adara, and offer to help develop skills for us and others."
Zahira checks some of her notes. "There... is something else special that we might get at." You all look at her. "There's one type of magic item that may have survived, given what Ant said to you. Most magic items broke, right? There's one that I think would be immune to this type of attack. Potions. It's a long shot, but given that any defenses or guardians probably also died in the Great Dying, it could work. We should try to break into the Emperor's potion vault. A single potion of something like hell's heart or hydra's breath, much less having a bag full of them, would be a tremendous advantage to have." You wince at her cavalier description. A single drop of hell's heart creates a nigh-unquenchable fire that burns for days without fuel. A full potion could burn a squadron of war galleys to the waterline. Hydra's breath is an invisible, odorless poison that can be poured out into the air, where one breath causes dizziness, two causes vomiting, three paralysis, and four instant death. Again, a single potion contains so much that a spill could choke an entire town. The best potions are valuable for their tremendous power, but using one is a heavy responsibility, even the ones with positive effects such as healing. Zahira looks around at everyone. "Or, well, I don't mind Dawn's idea, either. I will be learning some magic again."
The discussion turns to the merits of the various plans, giving you a chance to steer it to wherever sounds best.
[] Go back to the temple, try a self-guided crash course to power.
[] Time to break into a potion vault. It's too tempting to resist.
[] Try to sign up as the well-trained fighters you are. People need that.
- [] Lady Adara is looking for people exactly like you.
- [] The Regency Council might still be worth looking into.
- [] Never mind the power struggle. Admiral General Hobi's forces can get away with being apolitical.
- [] Sign up for the next boat somewhere else. Maybe back to your family. This isn't your fight.
[] Write-in.
- -
Sorry this took a while to get out. I lost my pet bunny of eleven years recently, and it took me a bit to get back in the writing groove. She used to always sit on my left foot as I wrote...
Last edited:
- Location
- United States
I am so sorry.
- Location
- va
[X] Go back to the temple, try a self-guided crash course to power.
NaanContributor
Provider of delicious flatbread, and nothing else.
- Location
- Hawaii
[X] Go back to the temple, try a self-guided crash course to power.
InterstellarHobo
Cosmic Vagrant
- Location
- No Fixed Planetary System
Repeated yourself there.
[X] Go back to the temple, try a self-guided crash course to power.
Ultramandalore
Errant Quester
- Location
- just south of Parts Unknown
[x] Time to break into a potion vault. It's too tempting to resist.
[x] Time to break into a potion vault. It's too tempting to resist.
InterstellarHobo
Cosmic Vagrant
- Location
- No Fixed Planetary System
It would seem there is a tie. Time to argue a case.
So, the reason I didn't vote potions is twofold.
First, the potions are transient and unteachable. Successfully acquiring potions from the vault probably gets us (significantly!) more power in the short term than successfully founding a new art, but the potions don't grant nearly the same level of long term influence.
Second, it sounds like the potions are essentially weapons of mass destruction, and it's kind of hard to leverage that in a way that makes the world better. The more restrained power of esoteric arts is far better for actually solving problems.
Third, I'm kind of hoping we set ourselves up as heroes of the people, and crash course fits that much better.
So, the reason I didn't vote potions is twofold.
First, the potions are transient and unteachable. Successfully acquiring potions from the vault probably gets us (significantly!) more power in the short term than successfully founding a new art, but the potions don't grant nearly the same level of long term influence.
Second, it sounds like the potions are essentially weapons of mass destruction, and it's kind of hard to leverage that in a way that makes the world better. The more restrained power of esoteric arts is far better for actually solving problems.
Third, I'm kind of hoping we set ourselves up as heroes of the people, and crash course fits that much better.
Ridiculously Average Guy
I'm you, but stronger
- Location
-
Hmmm.
[X] Time to break into a potion vault. It's too tempting to resist.
I want to do the self-guide thing, but I also want healing potions on hand when doing so. It both lets us try more risky things and makes us less likely to die from dumb accidents. Also the longer we go without grabbing them, the greater the chance that someone else does.
[X] Time to break into a potion vault. It's too tempting to resist.
I want to do the self-guide thing, but I also want healing potions on hand when doing so. It both lets us try more risky things and makes us less likely to die from dumb accidents. Also the longer we go without grabbing them, the greater the chance that someone else does.
- Pronouns
- They/Them
So I unintentionally did.
Like a ninja wearing orange, I have fixed this, but it's still really obvious.
Thank you.
Ridiculously Average Guy
I'm you, but stronger
- Location
-
A reminder that we can always crash course later, but only have a limited window of opportunity for the potions.
Since, eventually, someone else will get the bright idea to take them.
Oh, also, a self-guided crash course with healing potions on hand seems better than one without.
Since, eventually, someone else will get the bright idea to take them.
Oh, also, a self-guided crash course with healing potions on hand seems better than one without.
- Location
- St. Petersburg
Well, if we are discovered breaking into a vault, getting back to the temple might become a bit complicated.
Not to say it would be impossible, especially if we back some other power and help them take the city, but it would be sufficiently different from doing so right now while there is no heat.
Not to say it would be impossible, especially if we back some other power and help them take the city, but it would be sufficiently different from doing so right now while there is no heat.
InterstellarHobo
Cosmic Vagrant
- Location
- No Fixed Planetary System
There's a real advantage to being one of the first to found an art- so there is indeed some rush.
Also, you're assuming that healing potions exist. The only given examples of potions were offensive in nature. Never mind that one.
Also, you're assuming that learning fantasy martial arts/magic will be more dangerous than breaking into a vault used to hold superweapons, which seems a little bit suspect.
Also, you're assuming that learning fantasy martial arts/magic will be more dangerous than breaking into a vault used to hold superweapons, which seems a little bit suspect.
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- Pronouns
- They/Them
Healing potions are actually called out, immediately after the description of the other two. They do exist.
Ridiculously Average Guy
I'm you, but stronger
- Location
-
Why wouldn't it be? All the superweapon stuff should be dead innit?