Patricia arrived at the inn, no further delays...
---------------------------------------------------------
Meanwhile, Helena and Craig made their way to the front of the awe inspiring castle of King Gregory.
"Hey, are you applying for this hero thing, too?" asks Helena, turning to.. well, that guy.
"I'm trying to check out a rumor. IF it turns out that I'm needed, I'll join." Craig responded to well...that woman.
"Oh. It was really swell, y'know, 'cos I already know I'm going to be picked," comments Helena, producing her Light Orb.
"They gave me this the other week! It's apparently some great symbol of heroism and Goodliness.
'course, I don't think it actually *does* anything. Just, I dunno. A paperweight? Either way, here I am!"
...
Craig had to admit that little admission threw him off. Oh well, ever since he had stepped into the city he knew that he was putting his head on the figurative guillotine anyway.
So with a heavy heart, he produced his own Light Orb and showed it to the red mage. "Like this one, eh?"
Helena peers at the other orb.
"Yeah. Exactly like that," she comments, holding hers aloft. "Heck, they're almost identicle.
Well. Who'dve thought, huh?"
"I got mine from my grandfather, though. Who'd you get yours from?"
Helena shrugs.
"The higher-up people called some meeting and elected me the most deserving recipient. Apparently they've had this thing stashed away for some time.
I'm kinda surprised they picked me, y'know. I always figured they'd pick some great swordmaster or archmage.
But I'm not complaining!"
"Oooh, Illuminati-styled dealings-spooky. They probably picked you because of ...well, you're a middling everything. Don't your ilk learn how to fight with magic, swordplay, and whatnot?"
"Well, sort of," replies Helena, looking askance. "There's no real formal training for a Red Mage, though. Some are just black mages in different clothes, y'know?
I guess that makes sense, though. Still, if there's a group of four, I figured they'd cover all the bases individually, rather than have one person know everything."
"It's smarter having someone be able to play back up." Craig quoted his captain's words of wisdom, remembering all the raids they had gone on where they had other pirates standing by to rush in if any of the teams got in trouble.
"I s'pose!" says Helena, brightly. "My name's Helena. And you are.."
"Craig Amethyst." The poofy panted one responded.
"Well then, shall we?" asks Helena, advancing towards the castle.
"Yeah, we may as well meet this glorious king person I keep hearing about." Craig nodded and walked on in as well.
Patricia enters the main door of the inn, looking around for any sign of Alex.
Alex hmms, sitting at the inn tap bar, thoughful and quiet as always. Which, really, means that he has nothing better to do than to glance over when Patricia enters.
The brunette spots her target next to the bar, making a beeline for him. "Alex? Are you going to be busy?"
With a shake of his head and a sip from his mug, Alex waits for the cleric to go on.
Heh...maybe my rugged natureman look does it for her?
"Did you hear the announcement asking for heroes?" Patricia asks. Without waiting for a reply, she continues on. "I really, REALLY want to apply, but they won't let me in by myself. Do you think you could come with me, at least until I can talk to the king? You don't have to stay or anything, just help me get inside."
"...," shaking his head, Alex sighs. "What's this all about, now?" he asks, sounding weary. "Why do you want to go to the castle and become a hero and all that?"
You can practically see the stars in Patricia's eyes as she speaks. "I've always dreamed of getting a chance to be a real hero," she replies dreamily. "Exciting adventures, seeing faraway places...."
She frowns. "And ANYTHING'S got to be better than playing errand girl around here!"
"So, you're going to go to the castle and apply to be a hero, probably doing off to do whatever the king wants," Alex asks, raising an eyebrow. "And you want me to get caught up in this? Sounds like a whole lot of effort for nothing."
"I didn't say you had to come along," Patricia says quickly. "But they're not letting anyone into the castle by themselves, so I just need you to go with me to get me inside. You don't HAVE to go talk to the king if you don't want to."
That gets a sigh from Alex, tempered, however.
...I go on a journey to throw off work and it keeps finding me. Dammit...
Though, at least it's in the form of a cute girl. Hell, I can use it as an excuse to ask her to dinner and see if anything catches, right?
"Fine," he nods, rising. "You're buying me dinner after this, though."
"All right, all right," Patricia agrees.
Just dinner? That's a relief... I was afraid he was going to ask for a full payment for a merc job. Dinner I can manage.
"Are you ready to go? They're meeting the people at the castle now."
Taking a deep gulp to finish his drink, Alex purs a gil coin on the counter before rising. "Yeah, lead the way," he says, shifting the weight of his sword and armor around to be comfortable, wiggling his shoulders and shifting his arms.
And arrived just as they saw Helena beginning to bicker with the guards.
"I'm sorry, but we're looking for real heroes, Helena." The guardsman responded.
Dracos
"I'll kick your ass if you don't let me through, you stupid dork!" yells Helena, cracking her knuckles.
Alex shrugs lightly at all this, eyeing the red garbed woman mutely.
Guess they're not taking in any random idiot with a sword, he smirks.
The guard frowned. "Are you all together or something?" He looked over the squad of weirdos who'd been pestering him for a while.
Dracos
So THAT's Helena the Hellraiser... same girl that ran me over earlier, Patricia thinks.
Stepping up to the guard, she clears her throat. "I've gotten some help," she says levelly. "NOW can I at least go through to talk to the king? If he decides he doesn't want me, fine - but at least give me the chance!"
"Well," The guard hemmed. "I guess that does make a party of heroes...."
Dracos
"Damn straight!" says Helena, nodding in agreement. "Like, a party! Us! All four of us! That's what we are."
Producing a cord from somewhere, she starts tying her silky white hair into a tail.
"So, do we just go in, or what?"
"Yeah, head into the waiting area with the rest of them."
He gestured through the gates to a mediumish long line of groups of fighters, thieves, and scoundrels.
Dracos
Patricia groans, rolling her eyes. This is NOT what I had in mind about meeting interesting new people, she grouses mentally. But I guess I can put up with her if it gets me inside - there's no WAY she'll be picked to go do whatever it is the king wants.
Alex just tags along, mute but keeping an eye on the more lively white haired magess.
"We've gotta wait?" says Helena, irritably. "What a bore.
Hey, who are you two, anyway?"
"...Alex," the swordsman finally replies, tactiturn. Shifting his feet at the long wait, he settles in and waits to be processed.
"Patricia," the white mage replies, her irritation causing her to be much less talkative than usual.
OOC: Sorry, sorry. Had to spend most of the morning helping my mom with her car problems.
"...sorry about all this." Craig quietly piped up for Helena to the other two, taking off his bandana so he looked more solemn for the poor cleric and the fighter. "My name's Craig, pleasure to meet y'all."
Patricia gives Craig a wan smile. "A pleasure to meet you," she says, giving the man a quick bow - curtseys don't exactly work in a robe.
At least HE knows how to be polite, she thinks.
"Excuse me, but wasn't this only for people with these?" Craig asked, moving his back towards the rest of the line and only showing the cleric and fighter his light orb. "I was lead to believe the king only wanted people with this particular bauble, but if not..."
Patricia blinks in surprise. "The announcement just said heroes, but..." She fishes inside her robe, bringing out a pouch.
"If that IS what they're looking for, I have one too - I was going to use it to try to be one of the ones picked." She opens the mouth of the pouch, revealing an orb almost identical to Craig's.
"Oh...well, this might complicate matters for me." Craig sighed as he quickly placed his orb back into its own leather pouch before letting it drop back into his traveling pack.
Alex blinks at this, showing open surprise.
"The hell..." he mutters to himself, mind working. Just like the ball that old kook gave me back when I started this trip. Identical, in fact...
Eventually it came to be their turn. A guard stopping them. "Excuse me, your group name?"
Dracos
Patricia glances at the other three, caught off guard - and says the first thing that pops into her head. "The Light Warriors?"
"Uh...yeah, that works." Craig just didn't know what else to say as he looked at the cleric questioningly. Oh well, it beat what he was going to blurt out, at least.
He doubted anyone would respect a group calling themselves the Orb Warriors.
"Right." The guard deadpanned and lead them in.
The proclaimer stood up. "His highness, King Gregory the First, Greatest in all the land, has undergone a terrifying dilemma. His beloved daughter, the Princess Sara, has been kidnapped by Lord Garland, previously our captain of the guard. He has taken Princess Sara north to the ancient temple of the fiends. We've gathered you heroes here today in order to set forth and save her. Whoever shalt rescue Princess Sara shall be rewarded handsomely by our great king."
Dracos
"How come a whole palace full of guards couldn't stop Garland? Did he take her away during the night? Just how skilled is he?"
"He is the mightiest warrior in the land."
Dracos
"Tch. Typical. Can we expect at least getting some half way decent gear if we were picked for this operation? Or are we going in with the things we came in here with?"
Patricia simply sits back and listens... at least this guy sounds like he knows what he's doing.
"We called for heroes. Not amateurs."
Dracos
Craig rolled his eyes. Really typical royal behavior, send out the peons to do all the work and never support them. "Do you want Garland back dead or alive?"
"We don't want Garland back. The king only cares that his dearest daughter is rescued."
Dracos
"One last question, is there any truth to the rumors that the heroes the king is looking for all have a special artifact that they each wield? An orb of light, perhaps?"
"There is indeed truth to that statement. But that search has been postponed in light of the more important issue at hand."
"Heh...the world sure is convenient at times." Craig presented his own light orb. "The heroes that show up are the same ones that you were looking for before this whole debacle."
"I cannot recognize such. Only our king may. And he will not see anyone until his daughter is returned here."
Dracos
"Looks like we've got a job then," Patricia says. Rescuing a princess isn't EXACTLY what she had in mind, but then everyone has to start somewhere, right?
"Well, I for one want to find out what's going on here, so I'll go save Princess Sara." Craig put away his light orb. "Besides, I want to check out this temple they're holding her in too."
"Well. We'd better get going then, hadn't we?" says Helena, shrugging. "Have you got a map to this temple or something?"
A guard came up and handed her a map of the Corneria countryside with the temple marked to the north. "This should do."
Dracos
After quickly consulting the map..
"Aw, no problem! I think this is only a week or so away," she comments. "Are you guys good to leave today?"
"Hope you don't mind." Craig had snuck up on the woman and quickly took the map out of her hands before she could even blink, moving away as he inspected it. "I'm an old hand at these kinds of things, used to work in the ...fishing industry."
Usually robbing some of the more wealthier people blind, of course.
"A week's journey?" Patricia asks uncertainly. "Aren't we going to need supplies for a trip that long?"
"Well, it's easily fixed. C'mon, let's go get them." Craig started off, deciding to take the lead for now.
Leading out, Craig was followed by the smart-alecky Helena, the pseudo-demure Patricia, and the lazy and silent Alex as they headed off into the city, passing such great venus as:
Don's sleezy no good supplies shop
Rakhal's deathtraps
"Quality Supplies, not Rat Poison"
And Walmarts (Grand Opening in roughly two thousand years)
Dracos
Using his extensive knowledge of thieving places blind, Craig lead the group to the closest store that sold quality supplies.
He realized Don's was probably the best of the lot.
Don, a sleezy greasy looking fellow with short black hair, stood behind the counter as they entered.
Craig began eyeing the goods speculatively as he poked about the store, grabbing stuff that'd be useful for their trip as he went about. "Grab whatever you want kiddies, 'cuz this is going to be a long trip." With that bit of advice, he headed off to dump off the supplies at the counter.
Helena grabs camping equipment, field rations, a spare knife, some rope, a grappling hook, and a backpack.
"The fishing industry, eh? What sort of fish?" she queries, dumping her stuff alongside Craig's.
"The very acrobatic kind."
Helena blinks.
"Never heard of acrobatic fish before."
Alex pauses, quietly speaking to Patiricia. "Hey," he says, while the other two shop away.
"Hmm?" Patricia says, glancing up from looking over the shop's rather sad healing potion display. "What's up?"
Softly, perhaps by volition or merely by habit, Alex goes on. "You're going to run off with these two and chase after Princess Sara?" His question is to the point and rather blunt.
"I..." Patricia stammers for a moment. "Well, I've always dreamed about being a hero - you know, saving the world and all that. Maybe it IS just a crazy dream, but I figure I have to start somewhere, you know?"
Alex just shrugs lightly - as lightly as a man his size can - and goes on. "Your life," he admits. "Good luck, though." So saying, he stretches and turns for the door. "This is a touch much for me."
Even if...naw, it's just a coincidence. It's just a shiny piece of glass.
"Thanks for your help, Alex," Patricia says to the retreating fighter.
Well, I DID tell him that he didn't have to stay. Shame to see him go though - I kind of liked him.
"Yeah," he says, before stopping near the door.
Damn.
She still owes me dinner.
"Actually, why don't you come here a moment," he says suddenly. "I wanted to ask you something else, too."
She heads over to the entrance to the store, her prospective purchases bundled in one arm. "Huh? What did you need?"
"...Two things," he goes on after a moment, glancing back to make sure that one strange girl and Craig were busy at the moment. "One, you still owe me for the castle," he points out, but goes on after a momentary pause, not enough to let you get in a word edgewise. ODd, considering what his normal demeanor has been so far.
"Oh...and where did you get that orb exactly," he asks. "That glass ball."
"The Light Orb?" Patricia says, a bit puzzled. "Father Maxwell gave it to me before I left Vertice. He told me he'd gotten it when he was younger, but it never turned out to be useful to him, so he gave it to me."
Dinner! I forgot about that completely - I'll make sure to tell the others to wait until tomorrow morning before we leave.
"And I'm really sorry, I almost forgot about the dinner. Just let me finish up here first?"
Alex simply nods, waiting.
Wonder if that red mage is going to try anything? She's...something.
Helena, standing several metres away, isn't really doing all that much.
And then, she opens her mouth!
"Hey, are we leaving today or tomorrow?" she asks, questioningly. "The sooner we leave, the sooner we get back.
Though there's something to be said for a good night's sleep," she adds, musing. "Decisions, decisions.."
"It's too late to leave today," Patricia opines. "I mean, the sun's already down - we might as well go ahead and rest up tonight and take off in the morning."
"I s'pose," replies Helena, shrugging. "Well, there's free room and food at the inn if anyone wants it! You have my *guarantee!*"
With that, Helena, scoots back to the inn, with certainly no intent to get plastered the day before her great excursion, no sir.
Alex shrugs, waiting for the white mage and sending a curious glance at the resident thief.
"I'm going with her, nothing beats free eats and a bed to sleep in." Craig casually responded to the fighter's look with a shrug as he started to casually slink off after her. "You two should come back when you're ready."
With that he was off.
"...Yeah," Alex nods slowly, turning to her. "Let's go."
Patricia nods. "You lead the way - it doesn't really matter to me where we go."
And quickly did they make their way to the inn, Helena securing both food and good ale for them, as well as seats at the best table in the house.
Dracos
Alex sits down, and after enjoying the offered meal...
"...You're still seroius about going off with them," he asks simply, getting to the point. He glances at the other two, nearby.
"I definitely would NOT have chosen to go with Helena - she's got a reputation in Corneria for being a real troublemaker. The other guy doesn't seem too bad, though. But at this point? Anything that will get me away from the guild has to be an improvement." Patricia keeps her voice pitched low, so that only Alex can hear her.
Alex nods, silently agreeing. "I suppose if it's that restricting," he comments softly. "So this is your bid for freedom?"
Patricia snorts. "I couldn't really stay in Vertice with Father Maxwell having passed on, and the guild here treats me like a little girl. I just want to get out there and DO something."
A waiter comes by and refills their drinks.
Dracos
Alex glances at the drink, but restains himself. Don't want to get drunk, at least not yet, or risk getting close to it.
"I can understand that," he nods thoughtfully. "At least getting out from an annoyance at home." Quietly, he plays with his food a moment, flicking some vegetables around. "But there's something else, too."
"Oh?" Patricia perks up, curious. "Where are you from? And why ARE you traveling?"
Alex just shakes his head, his mane of black hair moving to the motion. "Nevermind that right now. I'd like to ask you about that orb - could I see it?"
The white mage shrugs. "Sure, I don't mind." She fishes around underneath her robes, bringing out the pouch once again. "Father Maxwell swore to me that this was one of the real Light Orbs - I'm still not sure if it is or not myself, but it does seem... I don't know, special somehow. Maybe it's just my imagination."
"Heh," Alex shakes his head a second time, reaching into his own cloak. Withdrawing a simple burlap drawstring bag, he opens it to reveal a glass orb. "These seem to be going around...I guess it's not impossible that someone would make a fake," he comments.
"They do look similar, though. Maybe even the same craftsman?"
Patricia leans over the table to get a better look at Alex's orb. "Sure do," she agrees. "Could almost be identical - where'd you get yours?"
"I saved someone from a troll, and he gave it to me in gratitude," Alex says, putting the bag on the table. "Haven't gotten around to selling it. It was probably a gift from his grandchildren."
Patricia's face takes on an expression of mixed awe and excitement. "You fought off a troll that was attacking an old man? That's so heroic - I want to do something like that someday!"
You can practically see the stars in her eyes.
"It was a pain in the ass," Alex gripes. "Never got a good chance to relax until I cleared the southern desert." Shaking his head, "Being a hero is a good way to get yourself into a lot of unneeded work or if you're unlucky, dragged in a bag to the nearest White Mage."
The robed mage giggles. "Well, at least I'm a little bit ahead of the game on that one, at least. Is it really that hard to fight off big monsters like that? I've fought imps several times around Corneria and on my way here, but I know they're really not all that hard."
Leaning back in his chair and stifling a yawn - he really should have taken a nap this afternoon, on reflection - Alex just shrugs yet again. "They can be, the things that live up in the rivers and mountains near Crescent Lake are pretty nasty." His eyes go slightly distant at that, as if recalling.
"The best way is to surprise them - the troll wasn't much good when I'd hacked it's left arm off before it even saw me."
"That's what Father Maxwell taught me, too," Patricia nods, dropping her voice into a somewhat gruff imitation. "'Patty girl, the only thing that matters in a fight is makin' sure you're the one walkin' away with all your parts attached,'" she says with a grin. "He taught me a lot about how to use a hammer to fight - and it's gotten easier the more I practice with it."
"Smart man," Alex murmurs in appreciation, taking his mug for a small sip. "Lucky you had someone to teach you that. Most people think it's charge in and hack honorably."
Actually laughing now, "Never met a monster who bothered with fair play."
...When's the last time I've talked this much. Not since....damn.
Probably shouldn't have anything to drink if only a cup is doing this. Especially if she tries to drag me along with them.
"Anyway," he says, glancing at the other two of the group idly. "Going to go tomorrow?"
The mage looks over at the other two as well. "Looks that way, doesn't it? I'll probably have to sneak out of the guild in the morning - there's no way the sisters would let me leave on something like this. Unless there are undead involved, white mages aren't supposed to go out and fight. But I know I can do it!" she says determinedly.
At least I hope I can, She studies Alex's face for a moment. Shame he's not coming with us - it's been nice to actually get to talk to someone who's willing to listen to me for a change. And he's not half bad-looking, either - at least when he doesn't look like he's about to fall asleep.
"That's the spirit!" says Helena, flopping into a seat nearby the two. "Whadda they gonna do to keep you in if you decide t'leave, anyway?"
"Probably lock me in my room, I'd guess," Patricia says with a shrug. "I'm already going to catch it tonight as it is - I was supposed to have these herbs back hours ago," she adds, patting her knapsack.
"But it's no big deal - if I can leave my stuff here, I'll just climb out the window in the morning."
"Why dontcha just stay here, and drop off the herbs before you leave tomorrow?" asks Helena, leaning back in the chair. "I mean, if you're going to break the rules anyway, may'swell make sure y'can't be caught."
"You have spare rooms?" Patricia asks. "I mean, I know this is an inn, but I can't afford to spend a lot of money on a night here - I spent most of what I had on supplies already."
"I told'ya y'can stay for free," replies Helena, raising an eyebrow. "'sno big deal. We got a couple nice rooms nobody can afford, and they're always empty, so y'can stay there."
"Then that's what I'll do!" says Patricia.
At least that'll make up for running me over earlier today, she thinks to herself.
"Then we're set!" says Helena, cheerily. "Don't worry, after we rescue the princess, I'm sure they'll be just dyin' to make sure everyone knows you came from their guild."
After a few hours they all went their separate ways to thier rooms, awaiting the sunrise with anticipation for some, just snoring away for others.
As it tends to do, the sun rose, stirring the lot of them from their beds where they assembled out in front of the inn, getting one last chance to get things done before heading north into the wilderness, seeking the Temple of the Fiends, rumored to house ghouls that could tear a man's flesh from his body with but a gesture.
Dracos
With little fuss, Patricia heads over to the guild, leaving the bundles of herbs gathered the day before and a note telling the sisters that she'll be gone for some time, before returning to rejoin the other two outside the inn.
It took longer for Craig to get up after a relaxing night of drinking, eating, and unwinding from nearly avoiding a horrifically bad death in a blazing forest the other day, but he eventually did so. Gathering his things together, the former pirate made his way out of the inn and made his way to where the others were gathering together.
Alex stumbles on down after a slight deal of refreshment, hanging around as the others gather.
May as well see her off...[/]
It looked to be a good day for travel as they all met in front of the gates leading out of Corneria.
Dracos
"Anyhow, if everyone is ready, we can go now." Craig said, stretching out to get the stiffness out of his joints as he addressed the group. "I'll get us to the Temple of Fiends in no time at all, no worries."
Helping himself to a nearby apple, and leaving behind some cash for it, he began chewing on it as he started out of the gates.
"I'm ready to go if you are," Patricia says, hefting her pack. It's considerably more full than it was for her trip to Corneria, but nothing she can't manage.
Well, apparently Alex was late...
But the hour was good for journeying as Craig noted, so he could start out and get a good few hours underway.
Dracos
"Your friend isn't going to join us, eh?" Craig questioned the white mage with a knowing tone. It was always sad seeing relationships break down.
Patricia shrugs, although she does look a bit sad. "I only met him yesterday, actually. He didn't want to come along, and he really only agreed to help me get into the castle to find out what was going on. I wish he would have come, but I couldn't really make him or anything."
Craig nodded, "Oh well. It's a pretty big loss, but I guess the three of us can come up with something to handle Garland on our own. Isn't like we don't have time to come up with an idea, afterall."
Looking over the map in his hands one last time, he gestured for the others to follow after him as he began leading them off.
And Alex, yawning, made his way to the great gates of Corneria... The golden sun shining warmly down upon his shoulders.
But what is this? The others are not there! They've already left? Was he too late?
Dracos
"Damn," he mutters to himself, shrugging. He didn't think that he'd overslept by any means. So it goes, though. Turning away to go back to his innroom, Alex stops.
One little thing remains in his mind....
...
Damn.
"Damn," Alex repeats a second time, to his mental chorus. Checking his sword and armor once, he heads off out of the gate, making good time by his standards.
Marching along the path, he noticed smoke coming from the woods as he walked.
Dracos
Curious, Alex goes investigate, knowing this is the path they probably took.
Hope that mage didn't burn down the forest...
He hears a chittering around as he notices several trees and imp corpses on fire as he travels.
Dracos
More imps?
Glancing around, Alex looks around carefully, loosening his sword in case there ARE imps and they want to try and fight.
While the chittering doesn't go away, no one seems to appear to pick a fight with the armed warrior.
Moving further, he spotted a flame wall burning out swiftly in front of a large cave.
Dracos
This moves to A journey to the temple of fiends.