Prepare for the #LodanRespawn2024 Existing characters may choose to be displace from/have memories of different timelines, thereby allowing returning members the option to retcon their whole character. These changes are the result of the "Unnatural Fog" plot device that is running between now and the Respawn. The plot is simple: no matter where your character is, that place is shrouded in a thick fog that suspends time, but not thoughts or memories, so even if they're repeating the same day over and over again, they continue to remember, so each time feels like a new day. For those retconning OCs; this is where new versions of themselves have the opportunity to replace the old versions. Official lore and tree updates will be announced asap
Max watched with something between an amused and curious expression as Epikuro worked. Needles were not a weapon she was accustomed to seeing so the sight of them in action fascinated her. And at the same time she was also getting some satisfaction from seeing the one man fall to his knees while the other looked around wildly. She normally didn’t find any fun while doing her assassin work, but the fact that these guys had been oh so rude and creepy, it was just a little bit nice how they were getting a payment from karma.
Glancing towards the supposed ‘ginger stick,’ she waited to see what would come next.
"I only go out to get me a fresh appetite for being alone." -Lord Byron
Post by Edelweiss Fjäril on Jul 23, 2015 4:24:30 GMT
One of the reasons why Epikuro was always really strict about whom entered her kill list was exactly that - only people who deserved it in their karma. She never felt mirth from death, but some people were so atrocious they were better gone so that others could have some mirth in their normal lives.
The third needle was thrown, and hit the man with the knife (as in the man who was holding the knife, not that the needle would make him stab himself - whut is English). He didn't see it coming either, and gasped as well, while his colleage was seriously nauseated and all fours on the ground gasping for air.
The redhead decided to mentally call them Creep1 and Creep2, respectively.
While Creep1 took a moment trying to find the needle that had been stuck to his neck, Epikuro released the hook tip of the wire roll from under her coat, and slid it down, quickly freeing more wire still with the roll's other hand bound to the unseen straps around her own back/waist, till she hooked the free tip on Creep1's suspenders. She then gave Max a quick glance before whispering: "Still up to give me a hand?"
The curious gaze never faltered as Epikuro threw another needle, this one landing in a similar place as the it had in the first man. When she pulled out the wire, Max followed the small hook down as it latched onto the man’s clothes.
“Yes,” was all Max answered to the question, a bit eager to hear about the plan.
"I only go out to get me a fresh appetite for being alone." -Lord Byron
Post by Edelweiss Fjäril on Jul 23, 2015 15:41:00 GMT
At the affirmative answer the redhead gave a small smile and nodded, then made a little shushing motion with her fingers and locked the hasp of the wire that was still strapped to herself.
"Hold on firmly." She instructed simply, voice still in a whispered tone, waiting for Max to assume the same piggyback ride position from before and then taking taking a couple steps towards the archway edge that was opposite to the one the men were... and dropped off. No Speed spells used this time. She and Max fell on a straight line still the wire straightened and the straps on the redhead's attire held them in place, feet still midair at about 30 centimeters away from the ground. Creep1 should be slightly heavier than Epikuro, on a loose estimative, but adding Max's weight to her own that little issue was reversed. Also add the force of gravity to it all, and the girls' weight downing on one extremity of the wire worked as a lever pulling the other extremity up. Result was the man that had been hooked before was pulled up on the other side, as an unnerving yet dull sound of flesh and bone hitting stone reflected how he had been slammed hard against the archway. He would have screamed if could, but fact is he could not, gasping and squirming up there.
Then the redhead turned to the second thug, giving barely time enough for him to give a look of bewildered horror before she unlocked the wire hasp again. And as the wire string was released free, the suspended man fell over the second with a cracking 'thud' sound.
Doing as told, Max grabbed onto the guild leader and hung on. It wasn’t a very difficult task, but at least she’d be able to help somehow. As they jumped down, she watched with an amused look as the man who had been hooked was lifted up, slamming into the arch with a rather satisfying thud. Wires and pulleys were officially an intimidating weapon.
And before she could question what Epikuro was going to do next, the man fell onto the other, both slumping down. That was an impressive way to handle a pair of people, Max could only imagine how she handles others. “I see why you’re in charge,” she said quietly, feeling the need to at least speak up somehow.
"I only go out to get me a fresh appetite for being alone." -Lord Byron
Post by Edelweiss Fjäril on Jul 24, 2015 2:04:33 GMT
Max's frank statement brought a quiet laugh from the redhead.
"Well, thank you. I try my best." She replied simply while re-rolling up the wire as quickly as possible and set it aside back at its hidden spot under her coat, then checked on the fallen men better. None of them were breathing anymore. Good, job done. A thin short line could be seen glistening abandoned on the ground right ahead, and Edelweiss carefully picked it up by the throwing tip before setting it back into the undersleeve straps as well. "Can you give me a hand to find the other two needles before we leave? Can't leave them here... wouldn't be smart work-wise, but also they were an old gift" besides the size being custom-made "and I try to avoid having to replace any of them. Just be careful not to touch the sharp tip and you'll be fine." Added to the fact after habing been stuck in flesh for a while any poison in them had probably seeped off already, but nothing guaranteed it all went away so it was better to play safe and not touch the sharp tips.
"All power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men." - John Dalberg-Acton
“Sure,” she answered, turning her eyes to the ground.
The man first attacked with the needles had been standing off to the side a little, and if they weren’t still in his hands, then they would probably be nearby. “How’d you learn to use those?” She was still barefoot from when she had been practicing her tricks, so she hoped not to step on one of the needles. But her hopes were short lived as she jumped up, swearing quietly; one of the needles having pricked her foot. At least she had found it.
"I only go out to get me a fresh appetite for being alone." -Lord Byron
Post by Edelweiss Fjäril on Jul 24, 2015 4:38:26 GMT
"You might find it strange, but I learned it through crafting dolls and sewing their little dresses." The redhead gave a somewhat nostalgic smile at the memory while also searching for the lost needles.
"Although you can also say I learned it thanks to the previous leader. CAEsAL didn't exist at that time yet, but the assassins guild did, under the cover of a toyshop. When I joined the leader noticed I wasn't much of an usual 'blades and guns' type and suggested me to see the cover job as practice. I was a doll-maker. So it went slowly from needles and pins on dolls from needles and pins on people, and same about from puppet strings to wire. Took me a couple years to get reasonably good though."
She finally spotted one of the missing needles and stashed it back, and was pleased to notice Max had also found the last one... by stepping on it barefoot. Uh-oh. ".....Well now we better head back to the Theater." She stashed that needle under the sleeve too and stuck herself under one of Max's arms to be used as a crutch. "Thank heavens that was one of the short needles." Sigh. "You won't die from a limb prick, no worries. But I should warn it should get pretty uncomfortable in a moment..." It would probably turn harder to walk, although not impossible.
"All power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men." - John Dalberg-Acton
CAEsAL first existed as simply a guild of assassins? That was interesting news, she would have thought the entertaining side came first. Despite the numb feeling quickly climbing up her foot, she wanted to continue asking questions. “What was the toy shop like?”
Looking down at her foot, Max could swear it felt like it was swelling, but remained the same size to her eyes. Poisons were defiantly something to avoid, but for now, it was nice that the guild leader was about her height. It made hanging on and walking an easier challenge.
"I only go out to get me a fresh appetite for being alone." -Lord Byron
Post by Edelweiss Fjäril on Jul 24, 2015 20:43:47 GMT
"It was called 'CS Stars'. I'm not sure where the name came from though." She responded to the question about the toyshop with an amused smile. It seemed like Max was still curious despite her foot, but they better chat while walking - someone who'd find those two dead ones later would probably think of a brawl, or through a closer inspection that a suicidal jump from the archway resulted in the top guy falling over a poor sod passing by underneath, but the scenery would change if there were two other people casually talking close to the dead bodies. Therefore away they go. "A quaint, cute toyshop just a couple squares away from the Merchants District. We were a really small group, even; I think at most we'd count 7 to 10 people if all gathered together."
Though Max wasn't wrong on assuming the enternainers had been around back then either. Only, at the time, they and the assassins weren't merged groups and had completely different leads.
Last Edit: Aug 4, 2019 10:10:38 GMT by Edelweiss Fjäril: typos fixed
"All power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men." - John Dalberg-Acton
The performer-in-training limped along as they spoke, feeling a bit frustrated with herself on having stepped on the needle. It seemed that she gave up her stealthy tendencies when she gave up the job title.
“Why were there so few of you? And who had the idea to start it?” The questions probably wouldn’t stop until they reached the theater. She was a curious girl after all.
"I only go out to get me a fresh appetite for being alone." -Lord Byron
Post by Edelweiss Fjäril on Jul 25, 2015 1:56:12 GMT
".... Hmmm I have to admit that doesn't have an easy answer." Edelweiss told about why there had been so few assassins before CAEsAL's foundation. "You should know that Lodan currently has 5 guilds, right (although officially only 3). But during the previous Queen's reign there were 10, all official and recognized. The assassins guild was one of them; we already had codenames and our identities were hold by secrecy, but our existence was public knowledge. So it was much harder for an assassin to remain anonymous. There's only so many people you can get working in a single small 'toyshop' before others start suspecting things too, so all those things added made it so our numbers were small. When we lost someone the leader recruited a new person, but that was about it."
She sighed. "Oficially, who founded CAEsAL was me. But I honestly don't know who founded the original guild. I only met the previous leader, 'Clue'."
"All power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men." - John Dalberg-Acton
She hadn’t actually known about the other two guilds; only having heard rumors about them. But she kept the surprise to herself. “Ten? What were the other nine?” was the first question she asked. Guild business was one of the harder things to gather information about on the streets.
“Is the toy shop still around?” she asked a moment later. If it were, she wouldn’t mind going to visit the building. See what it was like way back when. It was too bad that the original founder was lost to history, however.
"I only go out to get me a fresh appetite for being alone." -Lord Byron
Post by Edelweiss Fjäril on Jul 25, 2015 4:44:11 GMT
"Military, Hunters, Engineers, Merchants, Magicians, Andersweltlers, Pirates, Thieves... and Entertainers." She told last, with a bit of a snicker. "Those 10 merged into the 5 we currently have. Should be easy to deduce from which duo CAEsAL originated from."
"The last time I passed by, the building itself hadn't been demolished at the very least. But it's quite run down now. Been closed for a long time."
"All power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men." - John Dalberg-Acton
“Wow…” Max said quietly. So many guilds must have been hard to keep track of; let along not wage war with one another. Her questions about the guilds were finished, at least for now.
But the toyshop however, still held interest for her. “Could you show me where it is sometime?” Toys weren’t really her thing growing up; having any possessions other than a cloak and dagger was never really her thing actually. But she was curious about the old shop and would go there now if her foot cooperated. It didn’t exactly hurt, just stun and felt funny really.
"I only go out to get me a fresh appetite for being alone." -Lord Byron
Shoutbox
Welcome to the Shoutbox - If You Have Discord, Ask to Join the Discord Server