In the lands of Sunny Corneria...
All was peaceful. All was gay. This land was a land of happy people. While not bereft of hardship, their lives were generally easy and welcome lives. Despite the ever ample monster population roaming the countryside, these people had eeked out a rather tremendous living alongside the greatest human kingdom in the world....
And it is here that we start our story... With a young white mage by the name of Patricia Dunkirk, currently an apprentice healer at the local White Mage's guild. Today, she sets forth on yet another daring mission to bring good and light to all the corners of the world at the behest of her overseer, Sister Margurite.
"Lady Patricia, are you paying attention?" The old hag dressed in white robes demanded.
Dracos
"Yes, Sister Margurite," Patricia replied. Paying attention to the glory of the world around her, yes. It was embarrassing to be lectured on the properties of herbs she knew about when she was just a little girl, trekking through the woods around Vertice with Father Maxwell. This old biddy barely knew hemlock from burdock.
"Now, Lady Patricia, I want you to go gather those herbs now. Make sure to pick up a guard to help you. The countryside has been somewhat dangerous of late."
Sister Magurite handed Patricia a little spending cash. "Just in case. And remember, don't bruise the herbs!"
Dracos
"Yes, Sister. I'll be back soon, Sister." Taking the pouch of money, Patricia conceals it within her voluminous white robe, heading out of the room.
"Three bags full, Sister," she mutters, stalking through the halls of the guild. "Honestly, you'd think I was born yesterday!"
Muttering complaints about the unfairness of having to do the guild's most menial chores, she heads out into the streets of Corneria, her destination the local guild of mercenaries.
She passes by a powerfully built red-headed warrior in chainmail as she crosses towards the mercenary guild. A somewhat lazy appearance mars his face.
Alexander, you spot....
Dracos
An attractive young woman, with long brown hair and rather delicate features. Most other details are hidden by the rather shapeless white robe of the White Mages' guild wrapped around her body, but she's of a bit more than average height for a woman, and she strides along with purpose, her normally cheery face a bit flushed with irritation.
Clad in a grey cloak that seems to only annoy him, Alexander passes by. His tall, bulky body is adorned with with a tight red tunic, shaped and impressed by the chain mail on underneath. The shifting of metal links can be heard to your ears as he walks, the telltale sign of metallic armor.
His black hair is messy, a shock atop his head and shielding two green eyes. Giving you a glance, Alex pauses just a moment, perhaps to admire your face. After that, his booted feet carry on, his sword hilt on the other side of his body jutting back and forth as he walks.
Patricia turns at the sound of chain mail - not many people walk around the streets of Corneria in armor, at least not that she's seen so far. Seeing the rather large man, she hurries after him, a question framed on her face. "Excuse me, sir?" she says, hurrying up behind him.
Alexander stops at the womanly voice, turning his broad shoulders and body. "Mmmm?" he asks in a monosyllable, showing a lazy curiosity at your question.
"Yeah?" he asks, in a quiet, steady tone. Not much life or inflection to it, though, as if speaking is boring rote. His gaze is simple, no deep searching of your own eyes or anything past a basic enjoyment of your pleasant face. He's not terribly attractive himself, though he won't scare off every single lady in the world, either.
Giving the somewhat indolent looking man a simple smile, she ducks her head in greeting. "I'm sorry, sir, but I couldn't help but notice you're wearing armor. Are you a warrior of some kind?"
He raises an eyebrow at the question, one thick and black line of hair reaching towards his more unruly crown of black fur. "...I can fight," is the vague answer, the accompaning nod causing his metal under garment to rustle again.
...I wonder if she thinks I'm the town guard?
"You don't... um... do work for hire or anything, do you?" she goes on, giving Alexander an embarrassed smile. If it means I don't have to go into that stupid mercenaries' guild, I'll take it. Even if he does look half asleep.
Taking in her rather embarrassed smile, Alex pauses a moment.
No, she must think I'm a mercenary. But...
What does a White Mage want with a sellsword? Curious...
"Maybe," is the short, sleepy reply. Opening his eyes some, away from the half lidded stare he had, Alex gives the cleric a good look down. "...What does a White Mage need a merc for?" So asking, he brushes his bangs out of his eyes with one hand, while the other idly goes towards his sword hilt ina long familiar habit.
The two of them realized that while they did get a sense of being alone they were standing in a somewhat busy street and they probably should retire to somewhere less likely to be bumped into if they wanted to discuss at length.
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Patricia grumps a bit. "If you ask me, I don't NEED one, but the guild insists that we take some kind of protection when we're going to gather herbs. I doubt it'd be too much work," she says, figuring that if this fellow is as lazy as he looks that should hook him in. And it's not like I DO need any help - even if we did run into something, I could probably take care of it myself anyway. Father Maxwell did teach me how to take care of myself.
"Heh," is the reply to that, glancing around. There's the inn nearby, it'll likely be quieter. Motioning for to follow, Alex heads towards it.
"...No use talking in the middle of the road."
Patricia squeaks a bit, realizing that the foot traffic has been having to divert around the two of them. "Sorry, I didn't even think of that..." she says embarrassedly.
Quickly, she turns her footsteps towards the inn, following along behind the bear of a man.
The inn is the normal affair you'd suspect. A stone roof and working, as many of the towns in the city are, the stairs sturdy and well worn from the feet of many travellers. Leading you to the second floor, Alex opens the door to the third room on the right from the stair well.
Inside, he goes the bed and sits, the room unremarkable and clearly uninteresting. He looks at you, as if waiting.
Patricia follows the man with a bit less trepidation than one might expect, heading into the man's room with quick steps. "Okay, where was I? Oh yes - would you be interested? It should just be for a little while - I doubt it'll take me very long to find what I need."
"How much," Alex asks, while letting his mind work.
Easy work, probably. Just sit in the forest while she picks plants. I do need more money soon, and that's a sight less bothersome than monsters. Nicer to look at, too.
Patricia withdraws the pouch from her robe, holding it up for inspection. "This cover it?"
Eyeing the heft of the pouch, Alex pauses only momentarily before giving a short nod. "Yeah," he says quietly, having made up his mind at the sight of the sagging gil bag. "When do you want to go? Now?"
"Unless you need time to get ready, now is great!" Patricia says cheerfully. Well, the mercenaries will be glad... seems like every time I've had to go over there so far, I've had to demonstrate some of Father Maxwell's... less beneficent techniques. "Most of what I need is pretty close to the city, so I don't think this will take too long. Old Sister Margurite is just a worrywart," she says with a grin. "It's not like the woods around here are THAT dangerous, not any worse than around Vertice anyway. Why, Father Maxwell and I once ran into..."
The brunette chatters on, not really paying attention to whether her audience is listening or not.
"...Uh huh," Alex says once as they depart, annoyed but willing to quietly tolerate the chatty mage.
After all...heck, maybe she'll be extra grateful if I do have to save her from some monsters.
Repressing both a blush and a smirk expertly, Nah. Head in the sky. Though, I wonder what she looks like under those robes? Walking with her, Alex travels out, letting the white mage lead the way as need be. And, of course, keeping an eye out. It's not likely, but banking on not likelies gets you most likely dead.
And lo did they travel through the streets, the warm sun shining down upon the start of their little trip. Passing through the streets of Corneria, they came to the wooden gate that provided the exit to the town, two guards watching the road leading into the city.
One of the guards briefly looked over at the two of them before going back to his task.
The road outside lead clearly onward...
Dracos
Patricia stops her speech long enough to nod to the guard, leading Alexander outside. She opens her mouth to begin again, then shuts it, an embarrassed blush creeping across her cheeks. "I was babbling, wasn't I?" she asks. "Sorry... I kind of tend to ramble on when I get excited."
With a shake of his oversized head, Alex keeps walking. "Lead the way," is the only reply he gives, his taciturn nature settling in to him like a familiar cloak.
"Right," Patricia agrees, still blushing faintly. Keeping the conversation to a minimum, she leads the way down the road, turning aside to the path leading into the nearby woods. "Everything I need to gather should be in here, and I don't THINK it'll be too hard to find."
Beckoning to the silent swordsman, she starts off down the trail.
Passing by the guards, they found it a generally easy trip for the most part. The sun was high. The wind was cool and light. The path pretty clear. It was, if anything, a great day for traveling. The two travelers swiftly making good time along their path.
After a few hours of walking, they arrived in a small clearing, a wild garden of herbs of all various sorts naturally growing in the space between the trees. It would take a bit to harvest the necessary amounts.
Dracos
"No problems, of course," Patricia says, shaking her head. "You can just wait over there for a minute if you want... um...."
Her brow wrinkles with concentration. "Did I ever get your name?"
"....Alex," so replying, Alex looks around and aquaints himself with the little clearing, looking for anything bothersome or troublesome. Stepping back from her, he waits for the cleric to do her herb picking.
Patricia nods. "Patricia Dunkirk - sorry I didn't ask sooner."
With a slight sigh of exasperation, she gets down on hands and knees, beginning to get to work as she searches through the herbs and plants in the clearing for the specific ones she needs. The movement lays her robe against her body, revealing that she's shaped quite well beneath it - although there's not much to see even now aside from a general outline.
Alex leans back on a nearby tree, keeping half an eye on the magess while maintaing a degree of awareness of the surrounding environs.
Not bad...More body than all those elf women from Elfland...heh.
It smelled something... nearby. Two maybe. Maybe more.
It gestured to it's kinsmen, slipping quietly through the brush that was their home. Through the bushes it spotted them, a human, dressed in white robes. And another, lazing against a tree.
A slight smell entered the clearing, moments before a set of foppish imps, their red hats bouncing, their blades sharp and bared, leaped out of the bushes, rushing swiftly as their short legs could towards the white mage, chittering!
Dracos
While there likely won't be too many things that will get Alex's attention, this is one of them. Namely, savage and smelly imps going after the White Mage he said he'd bodyguard.
"Damn," he mutters, drawing his sword automatically, while, "Behind you!" he cries, to alert the target of her danger.
Patricia looks up in surprise, the noise of the imps startling her out of her reverie. Quickly she leaps to her feet, a long-handled hammer appearing from out of the recesses of her robe. "Figures... I THOUGHT things were a bit quiet out here."
Taking up a ready stance, Patricia brings her hammer around in a low swing, designed to catch the lead imp right in the breadbasket!
OOC: Ow. Poor Imp!
IC:
The imp stopped...his eyes bugging out widely as a high pitched squeal ripped it's way from his throat as it collapsed on the ground, it's comrades briefly stalled at the horrific site. No man could remain unmoved by such brutal and sadistic treatment!
Dracos
"Damn," Alex mutters for the second time today. Only pausing a moment at the unexpected brutality, he closes in on the nearest imp, making a powerful, weighty downward slash at the beast! If that fails, he'll at least probably give him a fine bump from a quasi shoulder tackle, using his weight to send the thing onto it's ass.
His slash succeeded! A bloody trail was left as he sliced right through the imp, the other two looking at each other and then picking the safer of the two foes in front of them.
They both leaped on Alex, their little daggers stabbing against his chainmail, leaving small cuts.
Dracos
"Hey, get off him! I don't have any more money for hazard pay!" Patricia squawks, bringing her hammer around in a level swing at one of the two imps clinging to the large fighter.
Grimacing in annoyance, Alex brings his sword hilt down into the face of one of the attacking imps. Or tries to, anyway, hoping to just shatter their face and end it then and there.
Damn, she's good, too. Watch out for that club...
A classic problem with striking an imp, known for their small and juicily crushable skulls, on top of a fighter with a large mallet.
The mallet rarely stops there.
Alex's attack was tossed astray as he finds the imp to his left smashed against his shoulder and then him and the other imp sent slamming back into a tree.
Ow.
Dracos
Gasping as he's slammed into the tree, Alex marshalls his reserves to shove of the imp off of him. Hopefully slingshot style, or just something to get rid of the smelly annoyance.
Patricia drops her hammer in shock. "Oh my god, I'm SOO sorry!" she exclaims. "I was just trying to get it off of you, I swear!"
Painful though it was, he was able to slam the imp out of comission.
Dracos
Once's that is done, Alex checks his sword grips and very quickly assesses the situation.
OOC - Just getting a glimpse of what's going on, to make sure I'm on the same page here.
"Are you all right?" Patricia asks, assessing the fighter's wounds with a practiced eye. The sisters in Corneria aren't exactly impressed with her healing abilities, but she's had enough experience in treating the wounded to get an idea of how serious someone's injuries are.
He's minorly wounded. Not too bad but not pleasant or anything.
There's the leftovers of a few squished imps around, and the nearby wildlife has pretty much fled from the ruckus as far as Alex can tell.
Dracos
Patricia murmurs quietly, finishing her incantation with a loud "Cure!" as she directs a healing spell towards the wounded man. It's nothing TOO serious, but hopefully it'll keep him from asking for any extra money, since she doesn't have any.
The pain fades away as the magic does it's work.
Dracos
Alex starts ever so slightly as the healing magic does it's work, but recovers as he mentally blinks.
I am travelling with a White Mage...
"Thanks," he says, surveying the remnants of the imps. "Are you hurt at all?"
Patricia shakes her head, bending over to retrieve her hammer. "No, I'm fine - just dropped the herbs I was gathering," the white mage replies. "I'm really sorry about that - I thought I could get the imp without hitting you."
Alex shrugs simply, bending down to wipe his bloodied blade on the grass. Withdrawing a small cleaning rag, he goes to work.
"Don't see a White Mage who can fight like that often," he notes as he does so. Don't see one who fights like a dwarf with a warhammer often, anyway. Glad I didn't try anything...
The brunette sighs. "I know it's a little unusual, but Father Maxwell made sure I learned how to defend myself. None of the sisters here in Corneria want me to fight at all - when I told them Father Maxwell taught me how to use a hammer, they all just sniffed." She shakes her head, her hammer disappearing inside her robes.
"Mmm," Alex voluntees as she chatters away, filing that way curiously. Having cleaned his sword, he rises and sheathes it, before glancing at his chainmail. The armorer will like a few gil to repair that damage, likely.
Damn.
"Are you ready to go," he asks, again glancing around the clearing.
"Just a minute," Patricia replies, taking a few moments to gather up the dropped bundles of herbs. "All right, that'll do for that. I'm ready to go now."
With a curt nod, he falls in step with the magess. Yet in his mind...
Those White Mages must have more money than they can spend if they're giving HER mercenary money. She could've dealt with those alone! Hell, she could've taken a wild horse with that thing.
"They make you hire out every time you go to get herbs," Alex asks, slight curiosity coloring his quiet, almost flat tone. "How often is that?"
"Usually about once a week," Patricia answers. "And yes, they always make me hire a guard. I usually end up going to the guild of mercenaries to hire one, but I really hate going in there. The men in there are always leering at me - I swear I'm going to hit one of them one of these days."
ANOTHER one of them, actually, but he doesn't need to know that, Patricia thinks. It was his own fault, pinching me like that!
"Anyway, it's apparently just their regular practice to have a guard go with one of us whenever we need to do anything outside the city, and they won't change it just for me."
Nodding once she's finished her chattery, "I see...I'll be in town a little while if you require this again," he offeres. "Though, to be honest," he smies slightly, "You should just sneak out and pocket the gil."
She sighs. "I tried that once.... Sister Margurite had been watching me to make sure I did what I was told, and... well, let's just say I'd rather not go through that again."
Snorting, "Yeah..." he murmurs, shifting his shoulders under the weight of his armor. "Anyway, I'll be in town for awhile if you need a guard," Alex offers.
Easy money as long as more monsters don't show up. It's a good excuse to be able to spend time in the quiet forest, anyway.
Patricia gives the man a smile. "Thanks, it's been nice working with someone who knows how to be polite for a change. I'll be sure to look you up if I need any more help."
It was getting darker as they traveled back, a nice sunset visible as they made their way onto the road proper back towards Corneria.
Dracos
Alex nods, and lets the rest of the trip go in silence as they head back to town.
"I'll be around the inn, I reckon," he notes, before leaving. "Thanks for the money."
"Thanks again for your help, Alex," the white mage says, nodding to Alex as the two stand outside the inn. "I'll be sure to look you up if I need a bodyguard... and, oh, what the heck. If you ever need a healer, just come and stop by the white mages guild and ask for me."
He looks a bit lazy to be an adventurer, but going out and DOING something - ANYTHING - has to be better than sitting around running errands.
"Heh, I will," he nods once. "See you." With that, Alex heads towards the inn.
Strange girl.
Pretty, though, and she can take care of herself. I could do worse than to see if she needs help again...
Heck, maybe she'll like to take naps, too.
Smirking as he heads off, Alex notes his mood is better and his pocket heavier. Really, what's better than that?
Standing outside the inn they both notice a commotion further down the street. A crowd of people gathering to see whatever it was.
Dracos
Patricia pauses, just as she's about to head away from Alex, her head turned towards the source of the commotion. Giving the large fighter a questioning look, she begins to head down the street to see what the ruckus is all about.
Through the crowd she saw the royal proclaimer... standing upon his little stage a trumpet playing to get the crowds attention.
"Ahem... Due to certain issues that have occurred... His Excellency, the greatest king in the land, King Gregory, has sent out a call for heroes. Those who feel themselves fit to stand forth and take claim of the task may apply to learn more at the castle."
Dracos
Patricia glances over at Alex one last time before heading over to hear more of what the crier has to say. At the word 'heroes', her hand slips inside her robe, coming to rest on a small but rather heavy pouch hanging from her belt beneath her voluminous robes. She makes her way into the crowd, her height giving her a slight advantage in hearing what's being said.
While there is no mention of light warriors in specific, the proclaimer continues repeating his announcement, mentioning how groups of skilled heroes are needed.
Dracos
Patricia tries to catch the crier's attention. "Do we just go to the castle right away if we're interested?"
The proclaimer, dressed in his royal red clothes looked down his nose at the white mage. "Well, um, yes. But only serious heroes should apply. This is for a very important and difficult task."
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"I'm serious!" Patricia protests. "I bet I can do whatever the king needs." With that, she spins on her heel, headed for the palace - with a pack still stuffed full of herbs from her earlier expedition.
Boy, that wasn't going to make the sisters happy later, but anyhow...
Patricia made her way to the castle, a truly grand and epic building, the likes of it were unmatched anywhere else in the country. Guards protected the entryway as she arrived.
"Halt. Who goes there?"
Dracos
The sisters' likely irritation is only a small fly in the ointment for Patricia.
"My name is Patricia Dunkirk," she announces. "I heard that the king is looking for heroes, and I'd like to apply."
This could be my big chance! the mage thinks giddily. Just don't get TOO overexcited, girl...
"Um... The king is looking for 'heroes'. Plural. Not lone adventurers."
Dracos
"But I... oh, all right, fine!" Patricia huffs. She stalks away towards the white mages' guild, then pauses, a calculating expression on her face.
'Heroes' plural... just means more than one. Maybe I should talk to Alex about another job...?
Slowly, she begins to walk again, a more determined spring in her step as she heads for the inn!
Same.