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Post by Bloodtrailkiller on Feb 17, 2018 8:39:28 GMT -8
/The Boardwalk/
Focussed on the path ahead, The Ex-Lord managed to slowly and carefully creep forward; his feet leaving an impression in the damp boards of the boardwalk as he approached, spear at the ready.
The Light ahead softly pulsed and wavered, as flamers were wont to do.
Courcy's eyes, however, gleaned a soft glimmer of metal that held the Lantern aloft from the top of the ovoid light. Indeed, there was a slight cage around it. It seemed to be jutting out of a larger building, held high about eight feet off the boardwalk. The Light doubly seemed to be about sixty feet away
The slight glow in Tilly's bag from the oils found seemed to be of the same hue as the Light ahead, however, where the light ahead seemed to occasionally shiver, whereas the oil in Tilly's bag held a constant pulse.
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/Lekalis/
He stopped some distance away, a measured ten feet ahead before he took an unexpectedly shaky breath, sighing, he ran a hand through his hair before fidgeting with the clasp holding his falchion in place.
With one glance back, he noted the women making various observations; he nodded, more to himself than anything.
Lekalis cleared his throat, glancing back again and motioned for them to follow him with his spear,
"Come, we'll not glean much from here..." He whispered back as he checked his belt, then the straps on his cuirass one last time before holding his spear across his chest, waiting to march on until his comrades followed suit.
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Post by Vanitypirate on Feb 19, 2018 13:14:04 GMT -8
Flickering so, dancing in that hue, suspended above the ground. She could only surmise that the light was a brazier or lantern of sorts, fueled by the same holy oil in her bag. Tilly's feelings were mixed: holy oil was certainly less sinister than any of the other means for lighting she'd seen, but she could only imagine her party to be the night-moth lead astray by a flame.
On the other hand, that was exactly what they were being paid to do.
"It's just holy oil." Shrugged Tilly, "I think it's burning."
It was certainly an expensive means of fuel for a lantern, if the size of the bottles was anything to go off of. She suspected there would be a very good reason to choose the oil over simple coal.
"Reckon it's a trap..." She continued at a murmur, giving her compatriots a glance before starting cautiously forward after Lekalis, one hand on her pickaxe.
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Post by black379 on Feb 20, 2018 18:35:29 GMT -8
The hellion was glad to have something more or less affixed to anchor their direction. If it weren't for the restricted path of the briny boardwalk, they might have gotten turned around in the inundating fog.
Courcy hushed her steps, and continued at a more careful pace. "Let's hear your idea then." Her weapon was ready to strike into the gray air, prepared to fight through a trap, since there didn't appear to be any way around one.
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Post by Bloodtrailkiller on Feb 21, 2018 15:54:14 GMT -8
/The Boardwalk/
Approaching slowly, the party stepped over one sodden board, then the next with martial wariness. The squelching boards seemed to grow louder, and louder as they approached the growing light.
About thirty feet forward, the faint silhouette of a tower came into view.
A mighty and imposing structure, perhaps twenty feet in length and width, roughly thirty feet high, with crenellations. Seaweed and flotsam had flocked to the base of the structure, providing a slight net around the boardwalk. It was almost relieving.
There was another silhouette. A silhouette of a man, frightening, if but for the Scaramouche-like attire; he was facing away from the group, reclining against a crenellation atop the Tower with the neck of a lute apparent over his shoulder, as if he were playing it.
Yet only the gentle lapping of waves against the boardwalk, the soft rustle of seaweed against the boards, their hushed whispers... That was all that came to their ears. The rest was silent.
/Lekalis/
He paused, as the shadow of the Tower became apparent; his knees dropped a touch, combatively as he poised his spear forward now and then tensely rolled his shoulders, looking over them to his comrades.
"... Definitely a trap?"
He spoke ironically, as he shrugged and offered a nervous chuckle.
"We don't rightly have a choice but forward, do we..." He muttered, taking a knee; his tone implied he was very open to suggestions as his gaze drifted out to the waters around them, warily...
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Post by Vanitypirate on Feb 22, 2018 12:39:09 GMT -8
Tilly's eyes lingered on the silhouette with no small degree of dread: if this figure was truly a man, he would no doubt need to be more dangerous than the beasts and magic in this Cove.
Given his haphazard attire and holding a lute, he seemed not to be so worried or on edge, either.
She bent her knees, shifting her hat so that it was less of a tower.
"We could call out at that fellow from here." She proposed at a whisper, crouching now, to put herself out of view of the Scaramouche man. "If he's looking to get us, it gives us time to run off. And we'll have the fog..."
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Post by black379 on Feb 22, 2018 15:01:31 GMT -8
As the shadow of the tower came into view, Courcy quietly scoffed. It seemed blatantly obvious that a watchtower would, in fact, be of no use. Apparently one already stood, lost and forgotten in the fog.
She halted as the others did, and swapped a glance between Tilly and Lekalis, to figure some concensus about Tilly’s plan. When it seemed the only option besides strolling into a possible trap, that was enough for her.
“Hey, asshole!”
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Post by Bloodtrailkiller on Feb 22, 2018 15:11:18 GMT -8
/The Boardwalk/
Courcy's voice echoed out over the water, but just as it seemed to be gaining momentum, it stopped short; as though snared by the fog itself.
The silhouetted man gave no signs of moving.
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/Lekalis/
With a heavy flinch his head snapped to look at Courcy with wide eyes; surprised, for hardly a moment before he sighed and his eyelids fell to their typical tired settle.
Though, he closed them fully as he sighed and stood up,
"Bother... That works, I suppose." He mused looking off to the tower, and cleared his throat.
He braced his spear forward after slipping his buckler around his leftly wrist; he bared the point daringly at the fog, the shadow of the Tower with an almost haphazard intensity.
If there was an ambush to be had, it would have happened by now.
The one thing that whirled in Lekalis' mind right now was the fact the man didn't react at all, he squinted hopelessly at it as he rolled his shoulders and glanced to either of his comrades.
"... What now?"
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Post by Vanitypirate on Feb 22, 2018 15:32:07 GMT -8
"Bloody--!"
Tilly's shoulders lurched and she seemed like to dive for the floor at Courcy's sudden shout.
She had imaged it to be much more planned and diplomatic, but she supposed to harm came of it.
"--Heavens above. What'd he ever do to you? You hurt the man's feelings." She let the tension come off with a sigh and a little jest as she tossed a smile Courcy's way, drawing her sword out of her bag. A plume of pale blue dust spilled out from the bag at the draw of the sword.
She looked left, then right, and then shrugged,
"We haven't been skewered yet, so... onwards?" She waggled the longsword in the direction of the tower. It still felt alien in her hands; she tried to remember how Roderick used to hold it...
Her breath caught in her throat a moment, and she thought it best to put the thought aside instead.
She stepped forward, careful to avoid any troubling-looking planks or traps, and called out again, a hand cupped about her mouth for volume,
"'Scuse me! Sorry about my friend! Lovely tower you've got here!"
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Post by black379 on Feb 23, 2018 22:01:27 GMT -8
She hunkered down after the shout, expecting something to happen. When there was no trap, no ambush or attack, Courcy was rather disappointed.
Glaring up at the static figure, she would’ve cursed at him again, except that Tilly continued forward and interrupted with her own, more amicable greeting.
With a sour face, she moved to steal the lead from Tilly again. “Could still be a trap.”
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Post by Bloodtrailkiller on Feb 24, 2018 14:18:08 GMT -8
/The Boardwalk/
Tilly's exclamation echoed out then stopped just like Courcy's. The Scaramouche man stayed still as ever, mid-strum.
The Boards creaked, the seaweed rustled. In the distance, a cargo crate bumped up against another. A larger wave splashed up against the boardwalk, sending water scattering over the midsection of the already precarious walkway.
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/Lekalis/
"Probably... 'Ought to just spring it at this rate, no?" He proposed with a jest, as he moved to walk ahead of or at least alongside Tilly as she advanced.
He cast a haphazard glance over to her, his eyes lingering on the blade with a glimmer of malice before he swallowed it down and offered a small toothy smirk; an eye scrunched up in an almost-wink,
"Come now, let it rest easy in your hands--" He brought his spear up to bare for a moment, emphatically bouncing it up and down in his palms like an impromptu example.
"-- it should rest lightly in your hands; a feather, a quill, an instrument. Hold it tightly and brace only when you mean to use it.", he nodded, conferring the information as best he wanted, before looking ahead and sighing.
Lekalis' ears twitched slightly at the sounds off the Boardwalk, and he cast his eyes out to them with a tactical paranoia...
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Post by Vanitypirate on Feb 25, 2018 12:55:18 GMT -8
"That's the secret to these traps." Tilly shrugged, with a little smile in spite of the seawater that threw itself at her boots. "You gotta spring them while you're well away from them..."
A thought came to mind: the sound seemed to stop, as if hitting a wall...
And her trusty poking-stick was right at hand.
With a brief nod of thanks and a wide grin at Lekalis, who she waggled her sword at lazily in a much more gentle hand, she located the stick she'd used to poke at the box earlier.
"Think I might be like to mean to use it. Mind your heads..." She rose the stick, squinting at her target to judge the distance between them.
With practiced aim, she hurled the stick upwards at the Scaramouche man.
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Post by black379 on Feb 26, 2018 13:35:43 GMT -8
Courcy took a wide stance in front of the pair, to bar an ambush from getting past her. She half hoped that some opposition would appear, that she could finally make use of her blade. She had enough pent up frustration to expend after all.
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Post by Bloodtrailkiller on Feb 26, 2018 15:53:32 GMT -8
/The Boardwalk/
For a moment, time seemed to slow as the stick flew forward in thinly veiled anticipation; its wry frame taking its time through the air as it flew end over end at the silhouette of a man, the Scaramouche man.
The stick finally impacted, clipping the man's hat in what would have been very, very frightening. The hat flew off, snagged onto the stick, as it fell out of view.
The Silhouette of a man still stood, mid-strum, cheeky as ever before.
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/Lekalis/
His fingers wringed around the shaft of his spear, tense, anticipating; he wanted to face something at last, to see something blatantly hostile. Something to put his paranoia at rest.
Instead, it only built further and he let out a noisy, exasperated sigh; looking over to Tilly with a risen brow, channeling every ounce of snobbish, lordly noble as he could.
"Beautiful release, flawless form, really. You ever consider joining a carnival?" He mused in a rapid, pedantic manner. Hushed, of course, which made the snobbish tone almost more condescending.
He made light of it though, with a small apologetic chuckle; shrugging as he waited for something to happen.
"I think it best to seize that tower while we can... I don't like being out here in the open. All it takes is one bolt and we'll be running like rats to a falconer."
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Post by Vanitypirate on Feb 26, 2018 19:19:57 GMT -8
Tilly watched it go; she hadn't expected it to collide with the Scaramouche man at all, but knocking his (inferior) hat off his head was all the more satisfying.
She gave a small hop of joy on her feet as the stick arced over the tower, tilting her hat up to admire the full breadth of it.
"Absolutely... capital! Did you see--" She looked to Lekalis cockily, hand planted on her hip and sporting a wide grin.
She fanned out her fingers and feigned mild surprise,
"I thought this was the carnival?" She crowed at her own joke as she bounced after Courcy, reaching up to pull Beansprout out of the band on her hat with the intention of consulting him in the future.
She doubted a statue would shoot a crossbow at them, but it was strange to put a separate hat on one...
It was no doubt still a trap, and it would perhaps be wise to temper joy with caution.
She gave a glance to Beansprout for his input after throwing a glimpse at Lekalis and flashing another triumphant, cocky smile.
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Post by Bloodtrailkiller on Feb 26, 2018 19:35:34 GMT -8
/Beansprout/
The wrapped hilt was warm to the touch, and a bit prickly, though it seemed to smooth out as Tilly held it. There was a stretching sensation, and the tendrils at the pommel straightened for a moment, before resuming their typical curled stance.
There was a moment of confusion, before a sigh of relief as the viney grip tensed and relaxed in her palm, like an ecstatic heartbeat. As proud and happy as it was, there was an undeniable eagerness to be used.
However, as a small second-awakening washed over from Tilly's hand, like plunging her fist into cool and fresh water, she might feel a sense of innate worry. Not aimless thankfully; there was a moment of heightened sense on Tilly's fingers. It would feel numb and stiff for a moment, a creeping sensation, as if she'd just been pricked by a stinging nettle.
It was only for a moment, and Beansprout seemed to curl into itself defensively.
There was a toxin induced into the Scaramouche man. Not from any land-based plant, but from something found along coastlines and in shallow water. Beansprout, and respectively Tilly, couldn't place the precise plant; but it the effect on the man was induced definitely from this material plane, and not magic.
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