RoA News

[SirManguydude]

The harbor of the bustling port city of Reysol. It is always bustling with travelers, merchants, and Naval forces. Reysol is the second largest port in Konad

A beam of light appeared, and a portal opened. People scattered, trying to get away from the strange light as a Half-Elf stepped from it. Forcystus blinked, the world suddenly becoming brighter, and his fatigue setting in. He had swept back a few time zones, and knew he wouldn't get good sleep for another six, if not more, hours.

A sentry ran up to him.

"Sir, you have violated the laws of Konad, by using magic within city limits, please come peacefully, or I will use force," He said, uncertainty filling his voice.

Forcystus stood tall and puffed out his chest, knowing that the guard must have been a new recruit. Intimidation would be one of his keys to getting around this, should the guard not know of his target.

"I come on official business, by the king of Skyback, to track down the assassin Tano Noro." Hoping the new recruit wouldn't spot the bluff.

"O.K. I will send a guard to keep an eye on you, until we verify this," the sentry replied, acting according to the book.

He turned away, and motioned for Forcystus to follow. Not getting a reply, he turned around, and saw that Forcystus had disappeared.


*****

The crowd had made it easy to escape that guard, that had no clue what he looked like, or if he wasn't seeing things in the first place. Forcystus walked down the street, looking for a nearby tavern, and was suddenly grabbed by some unknown person and tossed down an alleyway.

"Mr. Noro, I was looking for you!" Forcystus exclaimed, before getting up. He spit in the general direction Tano had just been.

Forcystus ducked, and grabbed the Abyssion, swinging it behind his back. Tano jumped back narrowly dodging the blade.

"Tell me what you were going to tell me."

[Revamp]

****** Seperate from the Above ******

There was a heavy down pour of rain in the city, the air translucent with mist and fog. People passed each other in a rush, trying to escape the wet as soon as they could to find somewhere warmer and with better company than the rushing hordes in the street. Among those rushing only one seemed content with the rain, a stranger to the port making his way up from the docks. He wore cheap clothing, little better than rags, and looked sorely in need of an umbrella. Despite this he plodded along at a slow and steady pace, his eyes apparently closed not only to the rain but the world itself. After a few minutes he finally made it to his present destination, a small tavern with a rotten sign and a light in the window. There he walked in and took a seat at a table in the back, shaking a little water from his hair as he sat down. When the waitress came by she was marveled by the fact that he was already completely dry, despite the fact that he was about as far from the fire as possible. He ordered water and refused a light of the candle on the table. preferring to enjoy the silence and darkness. She fetched him his drink presently, and as she did he pulled from his pocket a small scrap of paper with bullet points on it. He checked off one of the points and placed it back in his pocket just as the waitress returned, and so he settled down in the chair and waited to see what sort of things this establishment would have in store with him.

[Twilight Sword]

[Enter Nebibita]

Nebi was sitting at one of the tavern's tables and was staring at a piece of parchment. On the parchment was a map of Konad with many of the towns and cities marked with an X while a few other were marked with a circle. She marked an circle over Reysol and seemed depressed.

She folded the parchment and placed it in her pack and continued to take small sips from her drink. After a few sips she folded her right palm into a fist and slammed it against the table "Damn it!"

[Revamp]

Xellos was started by the sudden sound, as were most of the patrons, as they all turned and looked at the woman who had suddenly made such a scene. Gesturing to the waitress he asked if she had some idea what was going on, but since she didn't seem to know more than he did about it he thought it more pertinent to ask her himself, if only for the collective curiousity of the group. Thus engaged he stood and walked toward the womans table on the otherside of the room. Once there he put on the friendliest face he could and smiled as he addressed her: "Excuse me miss, but is there a problem I might be able to assist with? You seem agitated about something or other."

[Twilight Sword]

Nebi looked at the man that talked to her. He seemed to be dressed in rags and yet seemed healthy and could afford to be in a tavern. She figured there was nothing to lose in indulging him "Ever tried to track someone down?" she said before she took another sip from her drink "It's literally finding a needle in a haystack!"

[Revamp]

"Hmm." Xellos said with a thoughtful face, placing his hand to his chin. "I suppose that all depends on who your looking for doesn't it? If your looking for a sailor you start at the port, if your looking for a soldier you look in the battlefield, and if your searching for a priest you ask in a church. So i suppose the question that must be asked," Xellos said as he pulled out a chair to sit down, "Is who your looking for, isn't it?" That said he rested his head on the palms of his hands and smiled, trying to look cheerful. "If I can I'll try to be of help, its part of my oaths after all."

He lied about the oaths, of course. Demon priests, unlike human ones, don't have oaths or creeds they have to follow. Still, she didn't have to know that, so what was the point in telling her?

[Twilight Sword]

Nebi looked at Xellos and smiled before saying "And what happens if you're searching for a wanderer?"

[Revamp]

"Hm. Now that is the tough one." said Xellos, opening one eye and looking at the woman he had addressed. "Being a bit of a slave to wanderlust myself, I know exactly how whimsical the whole process can be. Sometimes you go somewhere because you hear they have good food, or that they'll be having a festival. Other times you just leave a city and drop a stick, and then start walking until you get somewhere. Its really a very random process." As he finished talking he sighed and leaned back in his seat, closing his eye again and appearing to think very hard. "I suppose you'd have to know the person very well if you want to predict his movements. What places he likes, where he's not welcome, and his pattern of wandering. For example, i once knew a man who traveled from Skyback to Elmshire for a turkey sandwich. The problem with this is that he didn't want to use teleportation circles, so he just walked there. No other plan, no route in mind, just that he wanted to go to that place and get a turkey sandwich. That is, in essence, the nature of a wanderer."

[Twilight Sword]

Nebi giggled a little "Then I am royally screwed." She lifted her mug and finished her drink before putting it down and letting out a big sigh "We're the same species and he's a fighter. Why he's wandering is beyond me." She said.

[Revamp]

"Ah, now there's two clues right there. Species and Occupation do narrow things a bit." He said, a glow finding his face once more, "With the occupation of a Fighter we can assume he'll either be somewhere there is fighting or on his way there. And by narrowing it by species we can perhaps narrow it further by where said species is allowed and where its not. For example, if you looking for a monster you look in only one of about 5 cities, because that's where they are when they're not working. So then, based on your species, we might could narrow it some. Though, since you appear to be human, he might could be about anywhere. Especially if you are human."

[Twilight Sword]

"If I was human it would have been easier. Much easier." She laid back in her seat and started massaging her forehead with her left hand "He arrived on Konad in Mercantheal and left four days ago on one of the ships here." She sat normally again and placed her left hand on her chin "Which means I'm going to once again find the ship he got on and once again get on a damn ship."

[Revamp]

"How unfortunate. The storm out there won't be subsiding for a while though, so you might as well search for clues while your here." Said Xellos with a sigh. After doing so he thought carefully about the clues he had gathered about this woman from what she had said and tried to determine what race it was she might be, if it wasn't human. Unfortunately all he could come up with was that it was one on a different continent and that it was far away, as well as a more exotic place based on her dress. The lion on her clothing seemed familiar, but he couldn't quite remember where he'd seen it before, or if he had even seen that particular type. "Well, for the time being, I have no pressing engagements. That being the case, if you'll take the company I'll accompany you in the search."

[Twilight Sword]

Nebi looked outside and sighed "I'll have to ask around on the docks tomorrow. For now I'd rather just stay inside this warm tavern and let you guess which continent I'm from." She said with a grin on her face "Because just telling you would be no fun at all."

[Revamp]

Xellos laughed at this, not because it was funny but because it was unexpected. Apparently she had discerned his mental quandary, and so he was half apt to embarrass himself. Still, he only had to determine it between two continents, as he had already eliminated Konad and Yobimal. "Well, if i were to guess, your not from this continent or Yobimal. I say this because I'm rather well traveled within those two, and so I would expect to have knowledge of your people if that were the case. Now then, based solely on your clothing, i would say you are from Gradaon. I say this because your not pale enough to have been exposed to the harsh snowy regions of Iyouelle. Also, people from that continent tend to sweat easily in places that are warm like this, due to the average temperature of Iyouelle being so low. So, my final answer would be Gradaon, probably from Tiberias since i don't think the desert has much of a settlement in it from the stories i've heard." With this he sat back and waited for his result of reasoning, and tried to not give away too much of his thoughtfulness on his face.

[Twilight Sword]

"Well... you are right about Gradaon and Tiberias." Nebi said while smirking and crossing her arms "However the desert does have a settlement. You need to catch up on the last couple of centuries or so."

[Revamp]

"Oh, so you know huh?" Said Xellos, letting his hands fall to his side. "Yes, its been a long couple centuries since i've been to that desert. But that reminds me of a new game... since I had to guess where your from, why don't you try to guess what I am." With this he smiled and put his hands back on the table, waiting for her analysis to see where she thought he was from.

[Twilight Sword]

"Well... A human you're not. That much is obvious." Nebi looked at his clothes or rather rags and then looked at his complexion "And despite dressing like a dirt poor beggar you don't have the health of one."

[Revamp]

"I'm a priest, my calling requires a vow to poverty for seven hundred years. I'm only on year three-hundred so far, so I've still got a long time to go. As for my health, I simply take care of myself. Not hard to exercise when you walk across continents for weeks at a time. As for food... well, I mostly have to beg in the streets for that. Still, I don't really think that's a bad thing. Humility is important, no matter your race."

[Twilight Sword]

"Hmm... seven hundred years as a period of trial?" Nebi thought about all the races that could live long enough to count a near millenium as a small portion of their lives. She thought about it for a few moments before saying "So you're immortal? My bet is something divine or near it."

[Revamp]

"Not divine. More like.... infernal." Said Xellos, smiling a bit. "I'm what most would call a Demon, though its really just a stereotype that we're all evil. I mean, yes, we do like to have fun with a few pranks but that doesn't make us evil."

[Twilight Sword]

"Divine is a matter of subjectivity. What is divine to you is infernal to others." Nebi said as she thought about this wanderer being a demon "So not all demons have claws and wings and different colored skin? That I didn't know."

[Revamp]

"Oh, many of us are. I used to be one of those, a long time ago. You have to give up all that if you want to become a priest. There's a lot of things you have to give up for that. You give your power to a higher lord for a few hundred years, and when its over you get rewarded massively. Kind of like a high interest loan with delayed payoff. In the end you get to be a lord yourself, if you live that long. Any race can become a priest, but most won't live long enough to be a lord, so its usually us demons. Thus why you hear of demon lords and overlords or whatever you want to call them, rather than human lords or monster lords. there are some elf lords, but they're rare and reclusive usually." Said Xellos, telling the truth for a bit as a change of pace. Telling her what was public knowledge to demons wasn't worth lying about, and it might earn her trust.

[Twilight Sword]

"Interesting. The only thing remotely divine in Gradaon is the crystal." Nebi gestured the waitress to come to their table before she continued talking "And even then we barely know anything about it. What we do know is that it's one vengful bastard." When the waitress reached their table Nebi ordered more ale and then turned to look at Xellos "You want anything to drink?"

[Revamp]

"A drink? If your buying I'll take whatever you want to get, otherwise I'll just keep at my water for now." He said, only then noticing that his water was missing. "Oh shoot, i forgot my water at the other table. Do you think you could get it for me miss?" he said to the waitress, who nodded and seemed fine with that. Looking back at the girl who was sitting across from himself, he started speaking and then stopped. "You know, its the strangest thing. Here we've been talking for a while and we still haven't called each others names or introduced ourselves. So, allow me to start. My name is Xellos, though I'm often referred to as the 'mysterious priest'. I'm also known as whipping boy, but that's only to my masters." At this last bit he made a playful face, sticking out his tongue a bit and opening one eye. That done, he put his face right and sat back down. "And your name would be?"

[Twilight Sword]

"Well then, hello whipping boy." Nebi smiled for a moment before she said "My name is Nebi and I'm buying so order whatever you like."

[Revamp]

"How lovely!" He said as the waitress returned, placing his water on the table. "Madame, could you please bring me some club soda, two lemons, three limes, and a little sugar? Oh, and a knife of course. I'll construct my own drink." He said with ease, taking a drink from his cup of water as he finished talking.

[Twilight Sword]

OOC: You bastard. You're going to make a medieval Sprite?

"Interesting ingredients of a drink." Nebi yawned for a moment before she talked again "So how are the Demon Lords or Overlords?"

[Revamp]

OOC: How'd ya guess =P I was just kinda thinkin' "what'd be a good drink"? and i said "Sprite." Viola.

"Depends on which ones your asking about. There are technically two sets of them. There's the ones from the plains of chaos, like me, and there there are the ones with the more 'religious' demons in this other Nether-worldly place. It basically divides that way: Netherworld or Chaos Plane. The ones from the Netherworld i don't keep track of, but the ones from where I live are doing rather well. Except for lord Mistral. He's lord of unending torment, and some wizard returned his power upon himself so he's suffering eternally. Other than that though, everything's pretty good."

[Twilight Sword]

"Sounds very mundane for infernal beings" The waitress returned with Nebi's drink and Xellos' fruits and soda "Thank you very much" Nebi said as she grabbed the mug from the tray and took a swig "Delicious." She took out a few gold pieces and placed them on the waitress' tray "For the several drinks I had before. I think I'm done for the evening."

[Revamp]

"Perhaps, but we don't feel the need to rush through our lives. The shorter the lifespan the more a person feels like they have to live in each day, which is why humans work so very hard to do so much. Meanwhile, you never hear of an elf doing much at all, because they live ten to fifteen times longer than a human. We can afford to be lazy, thats all it is." he said as he took his knife and and sliced the very bottom off the lemons and two of the limes. He then held the first one over the cup and squeeze, the juice erupting from the bottom of it into the cup as though he had crushed the essence of the lime itself. he did this to each one he'd cut in turn, and once done stirred it and took a sip. "Hm... close. Needs some sugar, but its good as is." Finding it grew on him as is, he decided not to add sugar and drank it like it was, pocketing the remaining lime. "So what are you going to do now? I assume your preparing to leave as you've decided to stop drinking."