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[SeriousConcentrate]

"Right." Toman inspected the card as he passed through the gate. Once he was through, he collared a person who wasn't looking particularly busy. "I'm looking for Ediacaran. Can you tell me where she lives?"

(Also I hope one of y'all with some diplomacy skill comes with me because I doubt Toman can Intimidate her into giving up her ring and I'd rather not go that route anyway. >.>)

[IamanElfCollaborator]

(I come with some, luckily.)

[Skyrunner]

Action: Bael and Ria head to the market for magikal items!

Well .......... considering it is anti-magic Noire ...........


Hehe. Anyways, that can't happen, because-


As soon as the party exits the gates, three squads of musket-holding soldiers march out from hidden doors and join around the party. The thirty six men have bright red coats and drab pants, and each hold their muskets, all with a sharp blade on the end, at ready.

"Don't mind us," said who looked like the squad leader, a mid-aged man with a clean shaven face,  "We're just making sure you get to your destination, the Presidential Office."

He grinned.

"Should I tell you the tale of one late Palmieri, who was escorted just like you people?"

[SeriousConcentrate]

"Might as well, to pass the time while we walk," Toman said.

[Skyrunner]

"He was this man who came to find his hostage lover. She was kidnapped by Ediacaran and slated to be privately executed. Palmieri came, was escorted by us - I was a mere footsoldier then - and brought to the backyard of the Office. A full firing squad was ready - he tried to escape, but we, under orders, prevented him. Guess what happened next?"

The man's grin is less cheery, now.

"Ever since (I think that was a decade ago), each time someone was called to be escorted 'like Palmieri' didn't get to live for more than half a day..."

[SeriousConcentrate]

"Interesting tale, brother," Toman said. "You must feel like a real man, several armed soldiers shooting down one person trying to rescue a woman he loved." His fist clenched; it was taking most of his self control to not rip the soldier's face off.

[Skyrunner]

"...What the hell, man? -I- did NOT shoot him! The firing squad did! In fact, that's why I'm still here leading a paltry three squads of city guards, because I refused to be promoted to a high officer. Y'know, the guys who lower their pistols as a sign to shoot."

The man is more angry now.

"I mean... why would they do that...? So cruel..."

[Dwarmin]

Bael's stance didn't change. But it somehow conveyed the tension of a readied bow string all the same. He took a side step toward Ria defensively.

"Ei Tylia os Tyrdas eil tesaesaes...*" he said, spitting on the ground.

*A country of cowards and murderers...

[SeriousConcentrate]

"'We, under orders, prevented him' was it?" Toman said, throwing the quote back to the soldier. "You are just as guilty as the men on the firing squad. And you seemed pretty cheery about telling us that story." The black knight took off his helmet so the man could see his eyes, which had become reptilian in appearance. "If you meant to frighten us, you have failed miserably."

[The Fool]

Luke and Neciel walked forward. Luke raised his hands as if he was surrendering, and he looked at Neciel, "Somehow I think we didn't research this enough. I think we should just go with it for now." Luke turned back to the men pointing their muskets in their direction. "We don't want to surprise them, or else this will end badly." Neciel nodded in agreement as she dropped her book into her haversack and raised her hands to show that she wasn't trying anything. Her familiar was about to raise his wings as well, but quickly realized that it would probably be better to just act like a normal bird.

Daero stared down the guards as he did the clerk. He tried not to smile at the thought of slaughtering them all, but he fought the thought off. He didn't want to risk losing someone he was traveling with in the crossfire. He swallowed his pride and stepped forward. "Alright then, are we going of not? You can lament on the past later, but for now you're escorting us."

In the last lane a small Petal was riding a rather uncomfortable looking dire wolf, sitting calmly on it's head. The lanes were simply claustrophobic to the silvery-gold wolf, but it could still fit. The dire bat behind him was looking rather impatient, but it was fairing better than the dire wolf. The bat's fur was also a silvery-gold, which was rather unnatural for a bat of any kind. Technically the dire bat could have flown them over the walls when no one was looking, but he didn't want to be fired at, so he tried going through the port entrance.

The petal flied down to fill out the paperwork, checking off boxes that said that he had no magic items at all, nor any items with him at all. "I'm not carrying anything with me. I work as a chef in inns around the world. They provide the food, so I almost never carry food with me. I just brought my animals with me. I hope no one minds." He signed the document and waved at the clerk. The dire wolf started walking towards the guards and out of the building. "What's going on here?" The petal tilted his head off to the side, making one of the leaves in his hair fall out.

[Skyrunner]

Ninja Fool xD


The man didn't look at Toman, adverting his eyes.


After about five minute's walk, the party were admitted into a spiraling staircase.

"All the way to the top," the man mumbled, and stood there.


There was a short hall, and a pair of large wooden doors at the end.
Inside the doors was a utilitarian room: large, but with nothing but a small bookshelf, a number of chairs with no cushions, a state desk. A large window looked out onto the back of the Office building, a spread of grass fenced in with steel.

Lyliss was perched on a chair next to the desk, looking uneasy, and Ediacaran was writing something on a roll of vellum. She let it curl on itself, took of her square glasses, and greeted them.

"I was expecting you."

[Dwarmin]

Tali mentioned from behind Toman, in a quiet voice-she spoke in Dwarvish, so only he and possibly Rae (who now had learned basic Dwarven language skills) could understand.

"It's not that he was trying to scare us, Toman. Some things you do, they stick with you. He's probably thought about it every for ten years, every day he escorts someone in.

Something about us today, and he just had to say it, he had to confess. I know the feeling. He's pretty scared himself right now, probably. Doesn't make him any less guilty. But understand him, at least."

...

In the office...

Bael immediately moved to the bookshelf and began leafing through, not paying attention to their 'hosts'. Ria had a hand on his shoulder, easing out the visible tension that could be seen broiling in him.

Tali stepped forward, facing Lyliss and Edicaran.

"Hmm, well we've been given a bad first impression of the state of affairs around here, ladies.

Let's get to business, all right?"

[Skyrunner]

"And that business is what, precisely?"

Ediacaran steepled her fingers and looked curiously at Tali.

Lyliss scratches her back.

[SeriousConcentrate]

Toman didn't actually speak Dwarvish (seriously, he doesn't have it as one of his six languages ), so he had no idea what Tali had said. Rae had only gotten the gist of it. For now, the black knight donned his helmet once more and lowered the visor. He didn't even want to look at the idiot; the sight of the soldier alone was telling him that the man needed to be punished for his part in that tragedy.

Upstairs, Toman merely crossed his arms, his mouth set in a straight line. He didn't trust himself to say anything to Edia at the moment. Rae put a hand on Tali's shoulder reassuringly. "About the ring, of course," she said. Anya... was still on the ship.

[Skyrunner]

Ediacaran looked pained for a moment. She unsteepled her fingers and rubbed her eyes with the back of her right hand, and then picked up her glasses again and donned them. After that, she rolled up the vellum and placed it in a plain, metal scroll-holder. She capped it and sealed it with pre-softened wax.

"Now... is not the best time for it. To say the least. Can you push that one back a bit? Two hours will suffice. No, one hour should do it just as fine..."

Edia's expression is taut, and she seems a bit nervous, or maybe undecided.