[32] Louie is led on by Maya...or the other way around?

[Merc]

<Merc> The morning after greets the group all energized after an exciting day of cupcakes (well, mostly Aleph) the day before and ready to explore the very large capital. They're not in any hurry to go to Dalewyn after all and there's a lot to do around town! Maya did find a way to familiarize them with the town more if they don't want to explore it on their own, for a mere 5 gold. So that option's on the table.
<Maya_Mahabala> "Let's take a tour...might as well, it is a pretty big place," She smiled.
<Aleph> "Why not?"  Aleph shrugged, yawning.  "As much as I'm sure everyone'd love to tour the clothing outlets again..."
* Brina nods to Maya.
<Maya_Mahabala> "We already did that...no need for new clothes so soon," She smiled, dressed in one of her normal traveling outfits, defying modesty as usual.
* Aleph can't help but to try and sneak a look. Immodesty is the best modesty!
* Anassia glances toward Maya curiously.  "You don't want to buy more clothes?" she asks, warily.  "Are you sure you're not feeling under the weather?"
* Maya_Mahabala blinks and smiles at Anassia, "Now now, we just bought some yesterday, or did you forget?"  She ignored the rude implication.
<Merc> Maya recalls that the guy who offered to lead you guys around was going to be around the marketplace during the morning, but not all day. It might take a bit of looking around to find him, but she recalls the street where she last talked to him.
* Maya_Mahabala casually leads the way out of the inn as they talk, heading over toward the marketplace.
<Anassia> "Hardly, I've just never seen you pass on the opportunity to buy yet more," Anassia responds, smirking slightly.  "Not that I'm complaining; any more and your wardrobe might fill a wagon entirely."
<Merc> ooc: roll spot, maya
* Aleph casually follows behind Maya, entertaining in his imagination the thought of varied wardrobe malfunctions!
<Maya_Mahabala> roll 1d20+9
<Penuche> Maya_Mahabala invokes Penuche's magic: < 20 > [d20=11]
<Merc> Maya quickly spots him off in the distance even though he wasn't at the spot she expected. He's apparently trying to charm some girl...and not doing a good job apparently as the girl slaps him and stomps off! The guy rubs his cheek as he sighs, shaking his head.
* Maya_Mahabala smiles as she sways over, "Maybe you should be thanking us for our company," She teased, her smoky voice drawing his attention behind him as they approached.
* Brina sighs and rolls her eyes at another Aleph in the group.
* Anassia shakes her head slightly.
<Aleph> "..."  Aleph grumbles slightly
<Merc> The man perks up at the sight of Maya and then moreso at the sight of Brina and Anassia, though he seems to not pay attention to Aleph. "Ah, your two friends are almost as beautiful as you, miss Maya! I knew I made the right decision offering my services to you and your friends!" he says as he bows to Maya and then to the other two girls. "I'm Louie."
<Aleph> "Your services?"  Aleph inquires sharply
<Maya_Mahabala> "Alongside being clumsy in love, Louie has gone over all of the city."
<Merc> "Indeed! I am THE best tour guide you shall find in this fine city, I dare say! Mostly because I am the ONLY tour guide service you shall find! Though past customers certainly have not left a complaint behind!" Louie says as he wags a finger.
* Aleph smirks, imagining precisely -why- there'd be no complaints left behind
* Maya_Mahabala smiles,  "We'll see about that," She twirled a set of gold coins about her fingers with ease, teasingly close.
<Merc> "I protest that accusation, my fair Maya! No! Louie is most certainly NOT clumsy in love! He is an adventurer! A risk taker! An explorer! And what better way to meet a vast collection of experiences than by escorting such fine ladies along the best Viridian has to offer, it's hidden gems revealed? Is Louie's plan not grand?"
<Aleph> "...okay, stop pretending I don't exist, you yoik."
<Maya_Mahabala> "Risk takers make it there," She dropped the coins in his hand.  "Now, I'm sure you can live up to that tale."
<Merc> He sighs as he looks at Aleph again. "Yes, yes. Alas, it would seem that three ladies have had their eyes covered to grandness that is Louie by this lout. I have no idea what charms you have weaved over these fine young ladies, but beware! Louie shall reveal your tricks over the course of this tour! And then, they shall understand Louie's greatness!" he declares, raising his finger towards the sky, drawing attention from passerbys.
<Merc> His attention is brought back down to earth at the feel of gold in his hand, which he eagerly digs into his pocket. "Well alright! Let's get started then!"
* Anassia is undoubtably amused by the tour guide's eager statements, smirking slightly to herself.
<Brina> "... Aleph. My opinion of you has risen."
<Brina> ".. In comparison, at least."
<Merc> "You all look fairly in shape, I could take you all around the city, should cover most of the day, but we'd see just about everything. Or I can just hit the high points, the park, university, give a little glance at the nobles' homes, and end the tour with a night out at the coliseum. Any preferences?" Louie asks cheerfully.
<Anassia> "I suppose we might as well make the most of your... expertise," Anassia says, suppressing her smirk.
<Maya_Mahabala> "Ah, but if you do not manage to show us a hidden gem of the city we wouldn't find ourselves, we might make fun of you," Maya smiled in that way only beautiful women who knew nobody would call them on it could.
<Merc> "Ah, of course! Let us work up a fine sweat! Then north we go!" he says as he starts moving at a brisk yet reasonable pace towards the north, keeping an eye on his three female customers, and ignoring Aleph. He can keep pace just fine if he's any sort of man, surely!
* Aleph whispers to Brina 'in fact, I'm sorely tempted to make fun of him anyway'
<Brina> "Now, now. Be the better man, Aleph."
* Anassia is, without a doubt, the least hardy of the group, but she rather doubts this lout is capable of outpacing her after the amount of walking, fighting, and bleeding she has done of late.
* Aleph grumbles and follows along anyway, looking a bit less than enthused with this "Louie"'s company.
* Maya_Mahabala is simply not going to seem tired no matter how much they walk around the city.
<Merc> As the four follow after Louie, he takes you almost as straightforwardly north as he can, navigating around the busy streets of the marketplace. Soon you reach a well-paved road, on the other side of which are some rather stylish looking shops. "If you ladies feel like shopping later on, don't be fooled by the stylish look of those shops. I've seen things just as good in much cheaper shops," he confides in them.
* Aleph isn't going to be that tired with what he's been doing. And especially since Brina's idea of special endurance training
<Merc> "The best shopping to be found is probably in the north-east market. A lot of things tend to go there at cheaper prices, simply because they didn't sell as well at higher prices elsewhere. Most travelers don't ever figure that out, but Louie SHARES his great knowledge!"
<Anassia> "How generous of you," Anassia comments idly; sharing usually doesn't involve payment.
<Merc> "Indeed!" Louie agrees with Anassia, as he continues to lead them onward to the north, looking confident that his little sharing of knowledged started them on the right foot.
<Aleph> "Well, we already completed our shopping yesterday, so it doesn't help us much as of current."
<Merc> As Louie leads you further north, he shares some random trivia about the places as you pass them, such as how the Red Saucer Inn once exploded because of a drunk arcanist, or how Miss Fisherwood's cat once killed a burglar by jumping at his face and putting him off balance until he tripped and stabbed himself on the fence. Stuff like that!
<Aleph> "..." Aleph follows, thoroughly not impressed, though the tour might currently just be colored by a visceral dislike of Louie to begin with at this point.
* Anassia glances toward the Red Saucer curiously as they pass it, idly wanting to go into it.
<Merc> As you start moving a bit more eastward while still moving north, you all start to hear grunts and yells, and seeing a large walled-off structure up ahead. "The western garrison is led by Commander Saul, they've been training harder than ever in recent times, even though the chance of war with Adallia has cooled off. But it's understandable, since they're in charge of keeping order amongst the worst criminals of Vyrdam.
<Merc> That's the prison up ahead. It apparently held Renaurd once, actually caught by Commander Saul himself at great cost! The legendary assassin managed to escape though, the first time anyone has ever managed to do that, and Commander Saul still holds that blemish on his record with a lot of...oh, you -have- all heard of Renaurd before, right?" he asks, turning to look at the ladies, again pointedly ignoring Aleph.
* Aleph has also been making a more concerted effort to be at Maya's side at this point. "Yeah, we have heard of him."
<Aleph> "Legendary assassin, has a giant bounty on his head."
* Brina is amused by the little drama going on, and keeps her silence so as to better enjoy it.
* Maya_Mahabala eyes the prison curiously, "Why'd they just hold him?"
<Merc> "Ah, well, anyway, rumor has it that Renaurd actually -let- himself get caught, there was some mark in the prison to be killed. Can you believe it? Letting yourself get caught, not letting on that you let it happen, and then escaping?"
<Merc> "He was scheduled for execution, but they waited too long or something. Who really knows?" Louie shrugs. "Personally, I'm surprised Commander Saul didn't just slit the rogue's throat when he was caught."
<Aleph> "If he's that legendary, guy might've wet himself at the thought of being that close to him in person."
<Merc> "Probably would if they ever met again, I guess, but I wonder if the fight would go the commander's way if Renaurd really had let himself get caught," the guide muses.
* Anassia glances toward Aleph at his comment, bemused.  "He also may have been legitimately caught," she points out, "and simply claimed it was intentional."
<Aleph> "Yeah.  Anything to save face.  Hell, captain might've just had an ego trip himself by the idea that he could hold the guy."
* Maya_Mahabala smiles, "That does sound more exciting.  Why go for the boring answer, it has no romance."
<Merc> Louie frowns a bit at Aleph's words. "Maybe. Be careful saying those words around here though. Most of the guards in this area? Trained -personally- by Commander Saul. They're likely to take offense to such words," he points out.
<Aleph> "Right, right." Aleph comments.  "Anyway, next?"
<Maya_Mahabala> "What does Renaurd look like anyway?" Maya wondered as she walked.
<Aleph> "I'd presume we could ask Commander Saul that.  He'd know better than anyone, I imagine."
<Merc> Louie starts leading you off towards the east. "Further north is mostly just some more markets and neighborhoods. We can visit those later if you guys want, but there's nothing particularly exciting about it, and this way I can show you a bit around where the nobles live and share some stuff about 'em,show you around the university and all," he comments, as he points in the direction you're headed. [ooc:more]
<Merc> "That's the central garrison, where the 'elites' train. Sometimes you see a couple of 'em head to the coliseum to test out the little people. Haven't heard of 'em getting a loss knotch in their belt yet, so I guess they call 'em elites for a reason," he notes.
<Merc> "The guilds probably have a wanted poster on Renaurd," Louie suggests. "We'll pass by there later on, they're near the coliseum."
<Anassia> "A university?" Anassia asks, curiously.
<Merc> As you head towards the center of the town, you once more hear the sounds of soldiers training. Louie nods at Anassia's question. "Aye. It was established by the Kellan family, that's one of the five noble families of Viridian. A lot of Viridian's history is also stored there, and just about all the nobles go there, even the ones who choose to go into the military later on."
<Maya_Mahabala> "Do you want to go there, Anassia?" Maya wondered at the bookworm.
<Anassia> "It sounds a bit stuffy," she replies with a faint shrug.  "And I doubt that they'd simply let me in."
* Aleph keeps standing near Maya, keeping an eye on Louie
<Merc> "The university is built above the royal crypts if that's of interest to you lot," Louie notes with a grin. "Some of the people claim the ghosts of kings past push them in their studies."
* Maya_Mahabala smiles, "Well, would they Louie?"
<Merc> "Nah, it's probably a drunk tale, I bet!"
<Maya_Mahabala> "I meant about getting into the library," She smiled, not surprised.
<Merc> "Anyway, Viridian is made up of six noble families. I know I said five a sec ago," he says, whirling as he holds his hand up, in the direction of Aleph (Hoping he walks into it maybe? Or just expecting him to interrupt? Who knows). "Thing is, Vyrdam has a strange sort of government, called a republic. It was made of a bunch of smaller kingdoms, and though united, they easily splintered. Adallia is a splinter nation for example.
<Merc> To keep things together, they ended up creating a sort of elected position amongst the nobles of Vyrdam. Currently, one of those six nobles families of Viridian is in charge, the Albrecht family."
<Merc> "They're led by Lord Darius, he's got three sons, Ophius, Victor and William. Not that you're likely to meet those three, but there you go. Well, maybe William or Victor, they like to meet with the people from time to time, y'know? They're alright."
* Aleph has a smirk on his face, remembering the past adventures in Vyrdam
<Merc> "Supposedly, Victor's the top in line for Lord Regent of Vyrdam when his dad dies, too, so Vyrdam should do well in the years to come. It really helped his status that he found the man responsible for poisoning Lord Darius too, and revealed it wasn't an Adallian plot. Funny, he was one of the ones that pushed for war the most, next to Ophius, but now he's helping structure the peace with 'em!"
* Maya_Mahabala smiles, "Good to hear, it would've been terrible if Adallia had needed to crush such a wonderful city!"
<Anassia> "That's good to hear," Anassia says, nodding slightly.
<Merc> Louie snorts at that. "Sorry, Maya, but there's no way Viridian could ever hope to fall. Adallia's fighters may be almost legendary, but it's still not even a sixth the size of Vyrdam, and lacks the resources we got. I'll admit, we'd take huge losses probably, but in the end, we WOULD win."
<Aleph> "But it wouldn't really be worth it in either case."
<Merc> "No. War'd be terrible," Louie agrees readily with Aleph there. "On both sides."
<Merc> Anyway, Louie continues to share stories as you pass around the university, pointing towards the regent's castle, the noble estates, and giving out his tidbits. He doesn't give out much about the civic district outside of the comments regarding the Caswell family, when...
<Merc> ooc: roll spot all except Brina
<Aleph> roll 1d20+11
<Penuche> Aleph invokes Penuche's magic: < 23 > [d20=12]
<Maya_Mahabala> roll 1d20+9
<Penuche> Maya_Mahabala invokes Penuche's magic: < 18 > [d20=9]
<Anassia> roll 1d20+8
<Penuche> Anassia invokes Penuche's magic: < 10 > [d20=2]
* Maya_Mahabala laughs, "Well, it's good it didn't happen in any case," She smiled knowingly.
<Merc> Aleph and Maya spot a familiar face up ahead! Hey, it's Davan, Victor's knight! You guys almost missed him, particularly Maya, since he's not dressed up to the gills in armor and he's apparently let his hair grow long, but it's certainly him! He looks a bit thinner admittedly. Must not have been exercising much lately?
* Aleph gives Davan a nod if the guy's looking this way
* Maya_Mahabala glances over and waves to Davan, "Why, isn't that a familiar sight!"  She's much harder to miss really.
* Anassia glances in the direction that Maya is waving, blinking a few times.
<Merc> 'Davan' gives no reaction to Aleph's gesture, and doesn't seem to react to Maya's either...well, outside of turning to look and glancing at her chest. He doesn't seem to realize the greeting was towards him though!
<Maya_Mahabala> "Davan, is that you?" Maya wondered bluntly, not really caring about proprietry.
<Merc> His eyes turn upwards at the mention of the name! "Eh? My brother? Err, I think you're confusing me with my brother, that is?" he clarifies, stumbling over his words, blushing as he looks at Maya. Jeez, he certainly doesn't -act- like Davan either. Louie just raises an eyebrow and stops to watch for now.
* Brina raises an eyebrow.
<Brina> "Who is Davan?"
<Aleph> "Oh.  Well, sorry for the mixup.  Tell Davan we said hello?"  Aleph responds to Davan's brother
<Merc> "Uhm, alright?" he says, looking confused as he turns at Aleph's words.
<Aleph> "Someone we met a while earlier." Aleph comments to Brina.
* Maya_Mahabala smiles, "Tell him we'll see him at the ball, then...I didn't realize he had a brother," She reached over patting the man's cheek.  "Oh well, come on, let's continue our tour."
<Aleph> "..."
* Anassia glances toward Maya flatly at her comment.
<Merc> The man blushes bright red and just stands there frozen as Louie scrambles after Maya, looking amused. "Well, you sure shorted out his brain!" Louie comments.
* Brina just shakes her head at Maya's antics.
<Anassia> "Don't encourage her," Anassia responds.
* Aleph rushes onward to stay by Maya's side
* Maya_Mahabala smiles, "Perhaps if you're lucky, Louie, you'll learn something and have better luck."
* Maya_Mahabala leans over and simply taps Aleph's nose, saying nothing but smiling at how red his face was.
<Merc> "Maybe! Maybe!" he grins at that, giving a quick glance/leer at Maya's chest, before raising his head back up. "So what was that all about...if you don't mind my asking? If you knew someone in Viridian, and a noble apparently at that, what'd you need Louie for?" the tour guide asks.
<Merc> He grins brighter. "Oh, I get it! You -did- fall for the ol' Louie charm! Woo-yeah!" he exclaims as he punches out into the air.
<Aleph> "..." Aleph is glaring -death- at Louie
* Anassia lets out a soft, pained sigh.
* Maya_Mahabala looks at Louie and after a moment starts to laugh.  It isn't a fierce laugh, but just ...it was such a funny joke.  So totally ridiculous.  Someone probably should stop her from destroying the poor man's ego, but she just couldn't help herself.
* Aleph` is now known as Aleph
<Merc> Louie doesn't seem to take offense to Maya's laughter, just bouncing along ahead, apparently forgetting his question about the noble as he starts leading them towards the coliseum! You can already see the structure up ahead, and while not as tall as either the city gates or the castle walls, it's certainly immense, height-wise! How many people can be stuffed into the stands? It must be tooooooons!
<Maya_Mahabala> "What is this?" She thought it was the coliseum, but it was so massive, it was hard to compare with any of the stages in her hometown.
* Aleph quirks an eyebrow. "Whatever that is, it's huge."
<Merc> "That, my dear Maya, is the coliseum! One of Viridian's pride and joy, it's got a lot of history behind it, most of it bloody, though not quite so much these days! Well, usually. Most man to man fights don't go to the death now, but they occassionally find some new beast to toss into the ring and some poor sucker brave enough to try and take it down," Louie says, going back into tour guide mode, though he's still grinning.
* Maya_Mahabala stretches her shoulders a bit, "That sounds kind of fun really."
<Merc> "S'not -all- about fights though, there's shows and other stuff too...but I gotta admit, most people? Go for the fights, myself included. We have time for a show or three if you guys want to watch. We can spend even more time if you want to cut out stuff from the tour also, or save it for another day," he adds.
<Brina> "Hmmm.."
* Brina looks around the coliseum rather intently.
<Aleph> "What manner of beasts, if I may ask?"  Aleph questions, making sure that if he did enter, he wouldn't be up against a farking dinosaur
<Merc> "All sorts, they try to keep it special when they toss something into the ring. Wolves, lions, raptors. Had some sort of bird once, not sure how they kept it from flying out the top, but that was a great fight. Biggest thing I recall seeing was some sorta reptile called a something-rex. Strangest was that thing from Dalewyn that looked like a bear got drunk and slept with an owl. Vicious thing, but man, that was weird to look at."
<Merc> "Beast and slave fights aren't that common, generally, but you can be sure it's special when they happen. I hear they actually have a beast fight on schedule today too, so you guys are in for a special treat!" Louie says excitedly.
<Maya_Mahabala> "Ah, those Rexes are kind of a pain," Maya considered.  "Mmm, could we fight a few of the elites?" She smiled.  "Just to have a good memory of Vyrdam."
<Brina> "Any idea what the beast is, today?"
<Merc> "They've been keeping it pretty hush hush too, just keeping it to word of mouth spread, so you -know- it's gonna be special."
* Brina glances at Maya and eyes her.
<Brina> "Want to join in?"
<Merc> "Uh, maybe, Maya, but c'mon, didn't I just say nobody wins against 'em? It's more fun to watch someone get murdered or at least beat the crap out of, why would you -want- to be the one taking punishment?" Louie says.
<Maya_Mahabala> "Dancing among beasts isn't quite as fun as blades," She admitted and turned with a smirk to Louie, "Now, now... perhaps this could be interesting.  A bet or two?"  She eyed Aleph.
<Aleph> "Well, I wouldn't mind joining in if it's not one of those huge lizards...but sure, I'll be fine with taking bets."
<Maya_Mahabala> "Why don't you go ask for us, Louie.  Part of the tour right?"
<Merc> Louie sighs. "Well, you're the boss today. At the very least those fights aren't to the death. But yeah, I'll ask if any soldiers are in testing themselves today..." he mutters as he starts heading off towards the building. "Gimme a min..."
<Merc> He comes back after a while, shaking his head. "You're outta luck, ladies. If you -really- want to, and I continue to advise against it, there's going to be three of 'em coming in two days supposedly, two newbie elites and their captain. You can probably still fight though, build a reputation if nothing else assuming you don't care about the odds thing."
<Merc> "Can always just watch whatever mystery beastie they got locked up devour some poor suckers? Wouldn't that be fun?" Louie tries to suggest.
<Maya_Mahabala> "We can bet on the odds, right?" She waved a finger.  "Well, I suppose we can see the show."
<Aleph> "Guess we can try betting on a few matches, at least.  And watch, yeah."
<Merc> "Yeah, you can bet on any fight. Some people also take special bets, not just who wins, things like how fast, victory conditions, etc," Louie answers.
<Aleph> "Heh.  That must make it interesting, at the very least."