And so they traveled north, their horses, the swiftiest in the land, making fast strides across the Corneria countryside and over the north Cornerian Bridge into northern Corneria.
The four heroes had been gathered and the legend begun... though their path was not unseen, as with every stop, they could hear wolves howling in the distance late in the night, the fearful thunder of an ogre in motion somewhere...nearby.
But luck held with them as they made their way to the cave of the great seer Matoya, across the rivers Keltic and Syngal. They could see it now from atop the hill where they currently were resting, a grand mountain just a few miles in the distance, an almost fearsome glow eminating from a huge cave entrance which, if Zack was telling the truth, the great magus Matoya lived.
Dracos
Zack gazed up at the light-exuding cave. "We're here," he notified the others as they approached the cave. "I hope she's still not mad about that eyeglass incident," he muttered to himself.
"Well, I suppose we just go in, right? I mean... unless there are traps or something." Quatre smiled, taking some tentative steps towards the entrance.
Zack shook his head, clamboring off his horse. "No, no traps... unless the old hag's decended more into insanity." He started toward the cave a bit.
"Oh, yeah. Don't mind the brooms," he uttered almost eerily as he walked further into the light-filled cave.
Quatre blinked, tilting his head to the side a bit. "Brooms? Well, whatever you say. Oh, yes... what are we here to ask her about, anyway? Just general questions about what we're supposed to do?"
And so they entered the cave...torchlight only illuminating the entrance as they saw a sight that would stun most men to silence.
On the edges of the darkness further in, they could see brooms. but not just any brooms. These brooms had arms. And no hands wielded them as they swept across the floor, back and forth, keeping the place clean.
Dracos
"...Wow, you weren't kidding about the brooms. I'm honestly not sure what to say about this." Quatre just... sort of gawked a bit, not entirely expecting something this fantastic for some reason.
Zack nodded at one of the brooms passing his way. "HSUP B TCELES." "A CIGAM LLEPS?" they exchanged quickly, before Zack walked further into the cave.
"...Is that some kind of magic spell?" Quatre asked, staring a bit more at the brooms before he hurriedly followed after Zack.
And Zack found himself in darkness. The torchlight ending mere feet away.
And he realized his obvious problem. He could not see.
Dracos
Zack stopped. "I... don't remember this. T-torches must have gone out... yeah." He began feeling around the air for the cave wall, or something else to hold on to in the darkness. "Matoya?" he shouted out into the darkness.
He got no answer, but then he did remember the fact she usually slept pretty deeply and these caves were pretty large.
Dracos
Quatre blinked and looked around, a bit surprised himself. "Maybe one of us can conjure up something so we can see?" he asked, hoping no one had fallen into any holes.
"Damn lazy old woman," he sighed.
He turned to Quatre. "Use up Mana on something as menial as seeing? Surely you je--" He then remembered he was wasting mana eariler that day trying to freeze Morte.
"Oh, right, then." He began casting a fire spell, hoping it didn't go wildly out of control and burn off everyone's clothes. Or their skin.
"uh, hey, uh, guys...not to be a party pooper or anythin' but...." Morte chattered from...right next to one of the torches illuminating the entrance.
Dracos
Zack turned around, cancelling the spell.
"Oh, sure, if you want to make a rational, almost non-homicidal decison, take the torch."
"Aha... aha... ...ha." Quatre just went back, grabbed one, and began moving back towards the darkness. "Is it like this every day around here?" he smiled a little.
The torch illuminated the way forward, further into the cave.
"Oh, we're just going to check with her on the location of all our enemies, Quatre." Craig said offhandedly as he brought up the rear, having decided to leave leading the group through the cave to Zack.
"I know for a fact that one of them is in Elfland, since it's the place that best represents the earth itself, but we still need to know about the other three."
"I wouldn't be so sure of that," Zack muttered as he continued walking. "But who knows, you could be right."
He waved the torch around in front of him a bit. "We should be nearing that lazy witch soon."
Quatre nodded a bit and just walked further into the cave, holding the torch out so no one hit any walls or anything painful. "I hope she can help us." he said, looking a little worried. "So, what type of person is she... Zack, right?" he asked, pondering what kind of person this Matoya really could be.
"Lazy?" A screech was heard. "You ungrateful apprentice. Go clean the latrines!"
Dracos
"Kinda like that, Quatre." Craig idly mentioned.
"Oh, great. She's awake," Zack moaned under his breath.
"Not now," he hollered back. "We need to ask you something."
"WHAAA?? I hear you come in here badmouthin' me and then you want things? What do you think I am, some kind of old wisdom service?"
Dracos
"Are you impling that you aren't?" he muttered to himself.
"But, it's important for the whole "save the world" quest you sent me on," he shouted back. "You know, the one that involves saving the world?"
"Please, Miss Matoya! I'm sure you can help us!" Quatre said, slowly moving forward to see if he could possibly stop the shouting match.
They saw an old woman, matronly a bit, with wrinkles all across her face as she sat in her rocking chair, her eyes open in the darkness as she stared blindly across the room, reacting only to their voices.
"Help you? I'm...a bit troubled at the moment to help."
Dracos
"This...isn't good." Craig weakly summed up in response as he stared at the woman. "How'd it happen? And can we do anything to help?"
"Someone stole my crystal. My sacred crystal. They went to elfland...of this, I am certain. But no more can I see...even now my other senses dim."
Dracos
"What?!" Zack exclaimed. "I thought you just used that thing to see. Not... Y'know. Live." He thought a moment, then glanced at Craig, then back at Matoya. "So, some... elf took your crystal, then, Mistress? What are we waiting for," he turned to the others, suddenly no longer feeling the urge to whine about the old hag now that he knew she was dying. "Lets go get that bastard!"
"What is it?" Craig archly asked at Zack's look. "Elves being out of their lands is an exception to the rule, not the norm. It was probably someone else. At any rate, we know where to go next."
"Only way to Elfland is through the sea, and the closest harbor is Pravoka."
"Well, then let's get going!" Quatre said, smiling. "We can't do anything here, right?" and with that, he started back towards the exit, but not so fast as he'd leave the others behind.
"Oh, I know, I know. It just strikes me as... a tad odd that two people from Elfland left at around the same time... and to roughly the same place..." He turned to Matoya. "We'll be back with your crystal soon enough, Mistress." He turned and followed Quatre before waiting for a response from either of them.
"Take care of yourself. We'll be right back with your crystal." Craig turned to his talking skull friend. "Hey, Morte. Mind watching out for Matoya for us while we're gone?"
Morte considered. "Well, I could stay around with the old bat."
"Who ye callin' an old bat?" Matoya's eyebrows twitched.
Dracos
"Obviously not a ravishing beauty such as yourself." Craig rolled his eyes as he soothed the seer's ego.
The old woman blinked a bit and laughed a little. "Why aren't you a silver tongued young man. Anyhow...I guess I wouldn't mind some company."
Morte, well, he didn't shrug, the whole lack of shoulders prevented that, but he did start wandering around the cave, checking it out.
Dracos
"Well, we'll be off, then. C'mon, everyone." Craig waved the others to follow after him. "And thanks for the help, Morte."
He lead them out of the cave.
Quatre nodded and hopped back on his horse, waiting for the others. "So, Pravoka it is then." he smiled.
Zack climbed on his horse, shaking his head disdainfully. "She can be a real witch sometimes, but for someone to just go and steal her crystal like that..." he muttered to himself.
"So," he said, looking to the southeast. "To Pravoka. But... how can we be sure we'll be able to get a ship there?"
"We won't. But doubting ourselves at this stage of the journey won't get us very far. Let's just push on and see what happens." Quatre said, and started on the path towards Pravoka.
"I suppose you're right. If all else fails, we'll just steal one. Not like anyone will be using one for something important." Zack started following Quatre back through the valley, rivers, and forests. Oh my.
"Usually everyone needs to go through a ton of red tape to be allowed to leave or stay at the harbor. Hopefully we won't have to even set sail to catch the thief if they were unlucky enough."
And so they started off, past the rivers surrounding Matoya's mountain hideaway, traveling along in the woods towards Pravoka, the famous port city of Northern Corneria. A wild and energetic town, known for it's rowdy nature, fierce sailors, and wild barfights.
But first they had to get there... And there was a chill wind in the air as their horses rode through the forest.
Something nearby to the east making a thudding noise that caused their horses to whine loudly in fear, pausing for a moment and nearly throwing Zack from his horse.
Dracos
"What the heck is going on here?" Craig ran his hands along the side of his horse's face to calm it down as he annoyedly brought it back under control after a while. It seemed to be what he needed to do, he thought.
Stupid land travel, he never ran into this stuff while on his ship.
He tried to peer over to where the sound had come from.
Zack grabbed a hold of his horse's neck to prevent from falling off, and waited until his horse calmed before he let go.
"What the hell is that?" he turned towards the noise, arm extended in that direction.
A few wolves passed the trail in front of them, running from something.
Nothing immediately appeared though.
Dracos
Quatre blinked, frowning a little at the possible outcome of this. "Well, guys, we have two options. We can either stay here and fight whatever it is that is coming, or we can try and outrun it. What do you guys think?" he asked, looking to the others for some advice on the subject.
"Let's go. It doesn't help us to go fight everything that crosses our paths. Besides, we have a black mage with us. Just like...ignite the trail behind us or something when he run. Or freeze it. C'mon." Craig started off once again.
As they started off, a little bit behind them they heard the thud of a giant foot...
As a giant stepped out onto the road, looking around.
Dracos
"Well, now what do we do? If it spots us running away, it's bound to just chase us... can we really risk leading it towards the city?" Quatre asked, following, but not looking happy about it.
Zack was about to cast a fire spell to ignite the trail as they continued their travels, but was interrupted by the giant's foot. He gazed up at the giant, trying to keep his horse at the very least near the rest of the group.
"Oh, sh...." he mouthed to himself.
"Well, let's go, first. If it follows Zack here wouldn't mind blasting the trail behind us with ice, right? Then we'll ride off into the woods for a bit just to shake him off and then resume our trip."
Talking good.
Talking slow.
Talking gets people's attention.
Like Giants.
Giants are people too, you know? Everyone forgets that. No one ever sends them a census or asks their opinion on the local royal issues. No, they mainly just scream in fear.
but they're people. And they have ears.
Big ears one might say. Like an elephant.
Except they're pretty forgetful.
And none too bright really.
But that's all a sidetracking. A step in the wrong direction one might say.
This giant at least had pretty good hearing.
And could like, see them.
On the road.
Little guys. He calls them squishes really. But little guys is more politically correct these days.
And he turned towards them, his feet causing the ground to rumble as he shouldered his mighty club and faced them on the road, ready for combat.
Dracos
And Craig took that as his cue to make a break for it, prodding the other two into action!
As his associate was already running, he decided he might as well follow suit. "Zack! Can you possibly freeze it's leg or anything in order to slow it down!?" it was mostly an afterthought though, as he was already trying to get away.
The giant blinked, looming over the fighter and the black mage.
Dracos
Zack followed suite by fleeing from the Giant, lobbing ice spells behind him as he ran, looking back every once in a while to see if he actually hit anything, and to aim the spell he was casting at the time.
It was notably, pretty hard to miss.
Though that also made the Giant angry.
Angry giants are pretty dangerous things.
The ground thundered as it's swift strides slowly gained on them traveling along the open road, it's club lifted high for smashing.
Dracos
Zack watched the giant's shadow slowly loom over the horse-mounted heroes. Panicking, he looked around for anything to help them. Some landmark, some path the giant couldn't follow. Finding none of these things, he panicked even more.
"Giant. Giant kill, Giant kill us. Kill us. Kill us bad. Bad? Bad? Fire. Fire bad. No, fire good! Burn, burn, burn! Smoke suffocate, smoke blind! Fire good! Burn forest!"
Is what he tried to say aloud to himself, but it came out as:
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
He screamed and started lobbing fire and lightning spells to his left and right, hoping to ignite the forest to help them get away.
And somewhere off in another world, a member of Greenpeace began to shed a tear.
"He doesn't take high stress situations well, does he?!" Craig shouted over the explosions and cracks of lightning as he had his horse duck and jive through the magical impliments of death.
"No, no he apparently doesn't! Augh... I'm not very good in situations like this either! ZACK! ZACK! Try and just hit it in the face! Then maybe it'll be blinded and we can hide!" Quatre yelled, trying to not get squashed by the large man who was approaching.
The forest quickly lit on fire, it being a dry season, the crackling of ancient trees slowly beginning to smoulder and burn, cutting off an escape path filling their ears even as the giant continued to gain!
But what was this, the end of the forest was in sight!
Dracos
"Geez, talk about overkill. Gettiup!" Craig pressed his horse onwards towards the exit before it was blocked by a furious blaze and he like ...died. Dying was never good.
Zack continued galloping toward the exit of the forest, trying to hurry the escape along. He was no longer lobbing spells, and too panicked to know if it was because he was out of mana or if he realized no more fire was necessary. All the long hoping that they don't die in this forest (or at the very least, if they do die he dies with them), since that would be really bad for his resume.
He could just imagine it now.
"And why did you leave your former party?"
"Uh... I killed them in a forest fire."
"...Next."
Yes, everyone escaping seemed to be in his best interest now. Not that it wasn't before.
Quatre just followed suit, bringing up the rear of the party. "If we make it out of this alive, we'll have some exciting stories to tell, at the least."
"I hope we *can* have kids to tell this to afterwards."
"At this point, I hope we have mouths so we can tell anyone about this afterwards."
"Now now, we've gotten out of worse before, right? ...Okay, so we haven't, but there's a first time for everything."
The quartet (sp) of adventurers burst out of the forest just as a blazing tree tumbled over onto the ground as they erupted out of the forest, their trail kicking up dust as their horses were furiously put to the test as they escaped from the burning clutches of the deathtrap the woods had been turned into.
The giant though was unhindered as he smashed his way out of the flaming forest, roaring and following them, their horses beginning to tire at the breakneck pace they'd been setting. They had to lose him somehow soon, or face him.
Dracos
"Guys, I don't know about you, but I don't think running is helping. Does anyone have any ideas? We could try and split up, but... I'm not sure that would work, either!"
"We could try fighting, but I think I've used up all my mana. If we split up, only one of us will be killed... better than us all dying."
"You guys keep going forward, I'll break off. I still have energy, so I should be able to fend for myself. Okay?"
"Uh. No. Let's keep running together. You can't face a giant, what with being a white mage and all. The city has some kinda defense or something, I think. Let me check if there's anywhere marked on the map that we can lead him off towards." He checked the map.
"We're not going to be able to outrun him much longer!" He looked back at the giant. "What if we started circling around him, try to make him dizzy, or something? It could buy us enough time to gain some distance, at least."
According to the map:
Hey, they could lose him in the marshes to the south, or try and swing hard south east and get back into the southern moutain chain. There were quite a few caves there so maybe they could give him the slip that way.
Dracos
"Follow me! Quatre, try to see if you can keep our horses healthy with your magic." Craig began leading the others south east to go with the mountain/cave gambit.
"Or... not," he muttered, in reference to his suggestion being ignored. "Even with Quatre's magic we're not going to make it! Mana isn't infinite, and even if Quatre's mana doesn't run out, that giant's gaining on us too quickly. All this is going to accomplish is trapping us underground with a giant and two manaless mages!" 'Course, he didn't say this loud enough for anyone to hear. Actually, he didn't say this at all. He was too busy panicking to spend energy on moving his mouth.
They traveled south and swung east quickly, moving as fast as their faltering steeds could take them, the giant grumbling as he struggled to catch them.
They eventually arrived in the rocky lower mountain paths, a brief reprieve granted them as the ogre took longer to navigate through. They could go up the mountain from here or cut across south and try for the caves.
Dracos
"Right! Let's just go as far as we can... I think we should keep going through these mountains, the giant is bound to get tired of chasing us at some point, right?!" He tried to be hopeful as he started working Cure spells to try and keep the horses going long enough to reach their destination.
"We have the worst luck ever. But you have a good idea, Quatre." Craig sighed as he nodded in agreement with the white mage. "At least we're all in one piece, relatively." He continued leading them onwards to the mountain caves.
It was exhausting going, but they soon managed to get ensconed in a cave, the giant slowed in his pursuit as he tried to figure out where they were, passing by the little cave they'd snuck into.
It was starting to get late though, the twilight horizon casting lovely reds across the clouds as they tended to their horses in the caverns.
Dracos
"We... actually... escaped," Zack sighed a sigh of relief.
"That's not something I want to have to do again within the near future..." he sighed before shutting up. The thought crossed his mind: How the hell are they going to take on these four demon general thingies if they had trouble dealing with that giant? But, he didn't say any thing, since everyone was undoubtedly tired and didn't want to here it.
"Let's rest. Quietly, as to not alert big ears. We'll continue in the morning back to town."
And so they rested in the cold caves. It wasn't the most comfortable place to sleep, but it was safe, and the four adventurers survived their encounter with the Giant.
As the morning sun dawned, their horses had recovered from the treacherous route they'd been forced to ride the night before.
And, for the good news, no sign of any giants could be seen from where the cave they were in. This didn't necessarily mean they were home free, but it sure looked like it.
Dracos
"Well, I think we should get going while the going is good. What do you guys think?" Quatre said, stretching and taking another look around to make sure there wasn't anything else in the vicinity.
"Yeah. Let's just go about it more quietly this time." Craig nodded as he finished feeding the horses, hopping on top of his and slowly riding it out.
"Yeah, it's probably best to leave now. Our mana should be restored, and there's no reason to stay here any longer." He climbed on his horse and followed Craig out.
"All right, then." and with that, he followed Craig out and back into the sunshine.
Heading out into the sun, they found the going pretty easy as they made their way to the city of Pravokia. The winds were warm, the spring breeze still on the air. The salty scent of the sea touched their noses as they looked over the hillside at the bustling port town.
Here... they would hopefully find a ship to aid them in their travels.
And perhaps a little fun and adventure, for as they'd heard, the city of Pravokia was known for it's wild night life.
Dracos
"Well, shall we just head straight for the docks? I mean, that's all we really need, right?" Quatre said, looking around the impressive city.
"Well, we should take the horses somewhere to rest first, though. That, and I'm getting a bit hungry here. The local taverns probably have some info on what goes in and what goes out, anyway."
"Mmm... Yes, let's put our horses to rest and grab a bite. It may be in our best interest to stock up on equipment and new magic spells before heading off, as well."
"Okay, that sounds fine to me. Have any of you been here before? Are there any stables here?" he turned back to his group-mates.
"Yeah, I know of a few places. Akbar's and Rakhal's are the closest to the warf, though. Rak's place even has an inn there, so let's hit them up first." Craig lead the group off.
"Okay then!" he followed along, enjoying the sights of a city he had never been in before. "Do you think it'll cost us much for a ship?"
Heading on horseback towards the inn, they crossed the relatively peaceful daytime varient of the city by, traveling through the buildings and eventually coming to Rak's place, a small inn, a few blocks from the harbor, complete with a stable for the horses of travelers. Rak, as Craig remembered, was a soft spoken, if likeable fellow. Keen though on paying first with being so close to the harbor.
Dracos
"Huh. This place is amazingly close to the harbor," Zack overstated the obvious. "Must be rather expensive, due to the location, despite its size. Are you sure we can afford it?" he looked at Craig, who was currently trusted with the teams funds, of so he assumed.
"It'll be fine, I've been here before. Rates are decent." Craig lead them inside while prepping the cash.
"Ah, well then. So once we get a boat, I suppose we'll be going south?" he asked, looking around again. "This is really a nice town, I'll have to come visit here more later."
The place was a little empty, but it was early yet. Rak was there though, standing beside counter, going over the books.
Dracos
"They'll most likely head to Elfland. Big artifact market over there and such. Hopefully they're still here, though." Craig walked up to Rak and laid down the cash. "How are you doing, old timer?" He jovially asked.
He blinked and responded in his quaint Pravokian dialect. "Oh, you folks in town again? Rentin' the place as usual? Bit short of the regular fee for the inn."
Dracos
"Just us four today, Rak. We were on the trail of some thieves that had stolen a crystal orb from the mentor of one of my friends here, but we ran into a giant and had to go into hiding." Craig shook his head in annoyance.
"Happen to have heard of any gossip about anyone carrying something like that?"
"Gossip on crystal orbs? Can't say that I have. Sorry, I'll keep my ears open though."
Rak took the money, handing them the room keys. "Room numbers are on the keys. Don't lose 'em or I charge ye extra."
Dracos
"Thanks a lot." Passing out the keys to his teammates, he went to go rest for a while.
And so Craig went to go rest in his room, leaving the rest of the team a chance to get their act together before ship hunting on the morrow.
Dracos
Quatre took his own key. "Well... Hm, do you know anything about ships traveling south, Mister... Rak, was it?"
"Mmm? There's usually one or two every week or so that sets out." The innkeeper shrugged.
Dracos
"Oh, really? That's good. I suppose we can just take one tommorow?"
"Uh. If one is in." Rak shrugged. "Never know."
Dracos
"Okay! So, is this where we could get some food, or is there another area we need to go to?" he smiled, looking around again.
"Yeah, but dinner isn't served for a bit. If you want to wait around, I'll have it brought over."
Dracos
"I think I'll lay down for a bit, then come out to get dinner, thank you." and with that, he headed off for his room.
"I think I'll follow their lead. That cave wasn't the most comfortable sleeping place I've slept at." Zack mused. "Just wake me when dinner's on," he asked the innkeeper before going off to his room.
And so they ate, and slept, and awoke to the rising sun over Pravokia.
Now was as good a time as ever to go and try and get a ship. Or hunt around town for the thief.
Dracos
Heading out of his room, Craig stretched out and did a few more exercises before he went to meet with his other friends. He hoped they had a good enough night's rest.
Walking up to Quatre's room, since it was the closest to his own, he knocked and patiently waited for the white mage
Zack yawned and groaned as he walked out of his room, next to Quatre's. He had been up for an hour and was ready, he was just waiting for the others to wake up. He looked to Craig knocking on Quatre's door.
"He still not up?"
"Not yet. I guess he's not used to traveling abroad yet. Want to poke around town and check to see if those thieves are still in town?"
Quatre's door burst open.
"SORRY! I was reading something, and... oh...um... hi guys." he blinked, then drooped a little, having made a huge scene of himself.
"Reading... something?" Zack blinked. "Well, whatever. Yeah, let's go poke around town, see if we can find any information on that thief, or book a ride on a ship."
Craig briefly stared, "Uh. Yeah, okay. Well, let's be off, then. We should try the local taverns. But we careful guys, we don't want to draw too much attention..." He briefly looked at Zack.
"And try and keep the property damage to a minimum."
And so they were off, heading through the wild streets of Pravokia. Craig had been here before, so he didn't have too much trouble making his way to where the taverns were, a few streets down.
Using his wily pirate knowledge, he lead them to the most likely place for knowledge of...illicit activities to be. An old beat up tavern on the left side of town by the name of the Scalawag. It was a bit early. Damned early one might say. But that never mattered much at the Scalawag. Stepping into the door, they might see a glimpse of about five or six ne'erdowells around. Playing some poker in the back of the room. A few more, arrayed by the barside, still up from the night before. Not it's high time to be sure, but still a pretty rougish type of spot.
The bartender eyed them briefly before going back to servin' another gin to a particularly drunken young man. The bartender was bald, with a bronze ring in his left ear and a scar across his right cheek. Nasty lookin' fella, but he kept the order in this place, one might say.
Dracos
"How much would it take to hear about the latest shipments in town? Specifically that of any rare gems?" Craig eased up to the man casually, making sure his voice was low enough for only the bartender to hear. Less people that were in this circle of knowledge, the better.
"Few hundred, Sailor. And somethin' to drink." The bartender polished a cup meaningfully.
Dracos
"Of course." Craig slid over the funds to cover for both drink and tip.
The bartender quickly filled a mug, heading back over to him. "Crystals you say? Eh, hum..." He handed over the mug. "I remember a fella, bout a week back. Shifty guy. Had some crystal on him."
Dracos
Quatre took the opportunity to chime in. "Do you happen to remember what he looked like, or where he was headed?"
The bartender frowned at the audible question, visibly considering. "Eh, he might've been wearin' a cloak over his features."
Dracos
"I see. Must be long gone, then." Craig paid down more than usual for another drink as he continued. "Any news of ships sailing towards Elfland?"
"Mm..." The bartender brushed the counter, a hand raised slightly on top of it in hint as he pondered. "Well, I heard ol' Captain Jeffy should be back soon. Would be no more than a couple of weeks likely before he'd set out again with more cargo for elfland."
Dracos
"Another for my friends here." Craig placed down more money. "But they've been awfully jitterish lately. They've heard all the tales I weave about my homeland's 'hospitality', and are dying to see it."
"Ah. Well, it'd be a fine place, to be sure." He got a few mugs, filling them and putting them down, leaning in as he did so. "I hear Black Bikey's gonna be makin' a run sometime soon. Neva know what kind he be lookin' for." The bartender pocketed the gold, nodding and heading over to another customer.
Dracos
"Well, there we go, then. Drink up, boys!" Craig began drinking from his own mug as his eyes began to wander.
Zack grimaced beneath his mask. Just like his stay at Onrac; the people in one tavern are just like the people in the next. That, and it was a little early for his taste to be drinking. But, he supposed it'd be best not to make a scene by not drinking. After a couple sips, he began speaking, in the same sort of hushed tones Craig and the barkeep were speaking in moments before. "So, we just wait for this Jeffy guy to be back and we can be on our way to catch our theif, eh?"
And instantly garnered five or six unfriendly stares from around the room. Apparently, talk of thieves and the catching weren't very welcome here.
Dracos
Quatre rubbed the back of his head, laughing a little bit. "Ahaha... ha... how... awkward." he just shifted in his seat and stared at his drink, whistling innocently.
Zack gulped. Oops. "Yeah, that fief will be a nice piece of property. Heard it's a orphanage now. Ripe for the picking. Because those damn orphans are so rich." He tried to pass it off as a mispronunciation.
The room reception, if anything, got even colder. You know, now might be a good time to make with the feets a movin'.
Dracos
"Oh, look at the time... I think we should all be going right about now!" Quatre smiled, rather fakely, and started to get up to move towards the door with the others.
What I wouldn't give for Amnesia dust right about now, Zack thought to himself as he hurried out the door as well.
Craig shook his head and wandered out with the others. "Yeah, better not mention those keywords around here anymore, guys."
Quatre turned back to his group. "So, what do we do now?"
"Well, since it seems our... uh... guy... has left already, we should probably just bide our time until that... other guy comes back, so we can sail off to that place."
"Well, it seems he's the only one that'll be around for a long time now. Unfortunately, there's a catch. That being that the guy is a supreme asshole. He might even try to rob us blind if he tried to approach him..."
"How is that any different than being around you? I'm sure we can tolerate him. For a bit."
The three of them meandered down to the port...
Only to hear screams as they got close. A squad of five rough and tough pirates in view, pillaging anything they could get their hands on and chasing the dock workers away with their blades. Booming laughter sounded over the raid as Bikey the black pirate, cruelest pirate around these parts, oversaw the proceedings from his pirate ship, the Conquista. Bikey cut a broad image, his well groomed black beard brushing against his wide torso, a grin on his face. "Take no prisoners men! Loot and Plunder!"
Dracos
"Wow...the fates were kind to us." Craig's blades flashed out as he dashed off to go take on the pirates. "Hang back and give me backup, guys!"
And he descended on them like a hurricane. He was itching for a fight he could win, anyway.
Quatre ran a hand through his hair. "Hoo boy..." with that, Quatre began chanting protection and speed spells to benefit Craig, focusing on helping him get the upper hand in the battle.
The pirates were caught off guard by his sudden attack, but they got numbers on their side as they held him off, only one of them falling to his sudden spinning slash from no where as he charged the lot of 'em.
"Eh? What's this? Resistance? Kill him!"
Dracos
Craig slid backwards as he twitched and turned this way and that, eyes narrowed in concentration as he focused on letting his body do what needed to avoid being cutty stabbified by the forces in front of him.
There!
Springing forward, he ran up the sword of one of the pirates and slammed his feet into his face so he could spring forwards in a flip, landing behind his foe and jamming his blade into the back of his head before twirling off from any counteract.
Zack rubbed his hands together. At last, enemies who froze easily! He tried to keep his excitement at a minimum firing off as many ice spells as he could at the pirates. He conciously avoided Lightning and Fire spells since they had too much of a chance to hit Craig since he was in the middle of the fray. Not that it didn't stop the spells from veering wildly off course at times.
Things happened at once, Zack's bolt of ice splattering over the ground, turning it into an icy landscape as Craig's nifty acrobatic feats left him landing on it, the force of his stab and yank out sending him sliding past the other pirates on the plane of ice towards... Bikey's ship!
Dracos
Craig blinked, and allowed himself to keep sliding down towards the ship. "I'll go secure the ship!" He used his natural agility to its best as he skii'ed down towards the pirate's base. Best clip their escape while he had the opportunity.
"Yarr! Yarr Shall not pass~!" Bikey pulled out a wicked sabre. "Ye not comin' but one step further!" He got ready to swing at Craig as Craig slid within jumping distance of the boat.
The other pirates starting to get a grip on the new ground and turning to the mage.
Dracos
"Aha... ha..." Quatre took a step back, frowning a little bit. "Well, I can try and slow them down with my magic, and you can try to disable them, Zack?"
Zack grinned under the mask, acknowledging both of his cohorts comments. Now nobody was in the way. He rubbed his hands together.
"Don't like ice, eh? Let's see how well you burn, then." He began throwing fireballs at the pirate gang, taking a mild glee in burning flesh. A bit too much glee, since he started throwing them as rapidly and wildly as possible, so long as they didn't hit the pirate ship or his cohorts.
Quatre held his hand forward and simply tried to slow the movements of the pirate crew in order for Zack's spells to work a bit more effectively. "I sure hope this works..."
Well, it did work.
Even if it sort of lit the wharf on fire, flames melting the ice and beginning to burn boxes and protective wrapping and...this was going to be a firepit pretty soon. They should get out of there!
Dracos
"Oh... dear." Quatre tried to grab for Zack and start running towards the ship with him, before they all just got engulfed in flames. "This has -not- been our week."
"Hehe... ah... whoops. Time to run... again. Hope the whole town doesn't light on fire," he said to himself as he ran towards Bikke's ship with Quatre.
"Don't you have something to put that fire out?! I rather like this port myself! Try to cast a firebolt or something to cause the water nearby to try and put the fires out or something!" Craig had meanwhile thoroughly engaged the pirate leader, blades crossing with the captain, blurring as he slashed and parried his foe's attacks.
The bulky pirate was a fiercesome swordsman as he held his ground firmly, "Yarr, you won't get by me scalawag!"
Dracos
Zack frowned. "Aw, now I have to fix my mistakes?! Oh, fine. Quatre, go to Craig and help him, I'll... do something to fix this." He looked around for something, anything that he could use to put the fire out. Wind and Water Magicks weren't available to him, and just dropping magic into the water won't produce enough splash. Or so he assumed.
He then caught a glimpse of the last sheet of ice melting, and it hit him. "Ice Plus Fire Equals Water. Water extinguishes Fire. We have Fire. We need water. What do we do? Ice!" So, with the logic of fixing destruction with another destructive force in mind, Zack began casting as many ice spells as he could at the fires and just slightly above the fires. "Hope this works, don't want to anger that pan...er, elf boy, now," he mutters to himself.
The port of Pravokia was swiftly turned into a disaster zone as Zack cut loose, fire burning, ice freezing, it was a total disaster zone as Craig and Bikey fought it out on the ship.
Dracos
Zack stopped. "This isn't working very well..." He looked around frantically. "Hm... we're by the sea... maybe the air's humid enough to freeze and then melt when I throw fire at it... no, knowing me it'd probably smash the entire harbor...Ohh." He looked out to the sea, combining his idea with Craig's. If he froze the air above the water into a giant ice cube, it may create a wave that generates enough water to put out the fire.
And sink every ship in the harbour. Which would be worse than what's happening now. Zack looked around helplessly for an idea.
Already in the last few seconds, Craig had nearly lost his life more times than he had in the last few years in the service of his captain along with his old crewmates. Now all he wanted to do was end the fight with Bikke quickly before Zack brought the whole town down over their heads, and it showed as he fought with a rare ferocity as he gave his all in putting down the pirate captain he was facing down.
"Zack! Um...bring help!"
What's that? An excuse to dodge his responcibility of cleaning things up?
"I'm coming!" Zack yelled, making his way back to the ship to help out.
Bikke fought back, holding his ground, but not moving much, obviously strained against the young warrior as Zack made his way to the ship.
Dracos
Zack climbed onto the ship where his cohorts battled against the massive pirate, staying low until he made it up to the ship's deck.
'No time for fooling around. Fire would be bad. Hope I still have enough mana for this. Be precise, keep it small. Don't trip, don't destroy the ship.` The thoughts ran through Zack's head as he jumped up, pointing a finger at Bikke and throwing a ball of ice at Bikke's head. "Freeze!"
Bikke was hit in the back of the head, being flung briefly off balance at the pain of the blast, his guard still holding as best as he could manage as he grunted.
Dracos
Craig surged forwards to attack Bikke as he was thrown off balance by Zack's spell.
Zack cheered inside. That's the first time one of his spells did what they were supposed to!
'No time to celebration,' he thought. He watched Craig stab into the pirate, keeping another ice spell on stand-by in case that wasn't enough to rid the team of Bikke.
Quatre had used the opportunity while Bikke was distracted by his other two companions to get on the ship as well, and just stood off to the side and waited for a good moment to help out with something.
Bikke took a nasty blow, getting knocked off into the waves where he vanished.
Dracos
"Quick, we have to set sail before we get boarded again." Craig quickly put away his knives as he quickly scurried about prepping the ship to sail. "Keep an eye out, Zack. Quatre, follow after me and help me out."
Zack nodded and went to the edge of the ship, near where Bikke flew into the waves. Keeping that ice spell on hand, he looked back and forth from the waves to the inferno of the wharf while the other two set sail.