IC: Sanctuary REVAMPED

[Cucoo5]

Achlys's Rules for Making a Profit
Rule #41
When a catastrophe strikes, do not flee. Take your business and go towards it, for there will always be someone foolish enough to also go to try and stop it and will most likely be ill-equipped for the task and will need supplies.

Supply and demand.

Sanctuary -> Pine Grove

Achlys's stall was mostly spared from the destruction the undead dragon wrought, with only some rubble cluttering the area. Aion managed to find his way back through what crowds of worried people remained and saw the elf woman fussing over her wares that were trapped under stone and wood. "You all right?" It was the first thing that came out of his mouth once he evaluated the damages. He half expected her to ask what took him so long, in which he would have told her about how he found the herbs and then got stuck under some rubble which he only escaped thanks to a freak accident with his chronomancy. However, she didn't ask.

"No- No I'm not alright. We lost the hats."

"...the hats?"

"The hats! The ones that I could have sold for a lot."

"Oh the extremely cheap-" Achlys's face flushed red as she tensed up, seemingly crushing the rock she had pulled off of some of the wares. "Right so I'll start salvaging-"

"No time. We're leaving. Now." Aion stood staring at Achlys with part of a wooden frame of a nearby building in his arms.

"What?"

"We're going after the dragon."

"Why?" Achlys had finished hooking up the wagon that served as the mobile shop and their home to their two horses and had gotten into the driver's seat. She merely looked at Aion as if it should be obvious.

"Rule 41, we're going to help future customers." The expression on Aion's face was that of disbelief.

"Have you lost your mind? Didn't you see how big that thing was? It's my job to protect you and I can't prote-"

"Yes it is your job to protect me, so you better get moving and stop whining. Time's a-tickin'." A low, frustrated growl was Aion's response as he begrudgingly got into the seat next to her.

"One day, Achlys. One day." He then smiled and chuckled at the situation as he saw Achlys smiling triumphantly.

The roar told them which way to go and they headed for the pine grove.

[SUSTIC]

Pine Grove - En Pursuit of the Undead Dragon

As the temporarily deafened Saru was riding on Zena's horse, he turned as he saw the other Yaju trying to tell him something by yelling. He could barely hear what the fox yaju was saying unfortunately, even with her yelling back at him. So all he replied was with a loud "WHAT!?"

While Saru yelled that he looked forward as he noticed the tower, thankfully his hearing was beginning to come back as indicated by the ringing beginning to go away. As his hearing was returning he could hear the faint voice of Zena asking what she was and what she was capable of. Being able to make it out slightly, he crossed his arms and straightened his posture.


"I AM SARU OF THE APEX VILLAGE OF WUKONG AND MEMBER OF THE TEMPLE OF APEXIS! I HAVE THE KNOWLEDGE OF COMBAT THAT MY ELDERS HAVE TAUGHT ME! I WILL BE OF HELP!!!" Saru yelled once more, even though his hearing was beginning to slowly return.

[Zekai]

Pine Grove

"Hydro, Aero and Photomancers and a non. Fox Yaju, A Human/Jin, Elf and Apex. Hm.........." Zero thought as they all mentioned their breed and mancy. "Hold on, Zena you said you're an elf? Not an orc/elf mix? Considering Molack is your father, I thought you was a mix." He asked her.

[Kristia]

Pine Grove

The black and white yaju was checking the inventory of her vials and answered for the elf female "I was talking with Molack on the forge, he was talking about Zena as his daughter even though they don't share a blood bond" she spoke and looked at the group.

"Now we need to make a plan on reaching the castle, entering without alerting guards and discover who is behind the curtains by being the puppeteer" Nera laid out the primary objectives "We need to be fast though, that dragon may start going away again."

[S121]

Access Elevator - Chronomancer's Tower - Outskirts of Pine Grove | Time: 4:05 PM

Azeruk did not know who this girl was, but he was not about to simply let her destroy his home. If she was going to do so, it would be over his dead body. Instead of anger, Azeruk felt resolve against this new threat. Right as Azeruk was about to throw his knife at the threat and accelerate it towards her, he suddenly heard a voice echo throughout his head.

"Remember... Control your surroundings... Think boy... think..."

Azeruk carefully considered his position. He was not in a good place to get into a fight. Now was clearly not the time, nor the place, meaning that he had only one choice. In that moment Azeruk froze, but after resuming motion, he slowly put away his knife and conceded.

"You can follow me, but I must ask, who are you and why do you want the book?", Azeruk asked the strange girl.

After that, Azeruk looked to the guardian near the doorway and spoke to the metal behemoth.

"Take Lavender deeper inside. I don't want her with us at the moment."

After speaking, the Guardian slowly followed Lavender and passed over her, leading her deeper into Azeruk's home.





River | Near Tenma's Court

"Heh, I probably would under other circumstances, but as you are, that is a huge 'no'. I know enough to know that stripping myself down and hopping into a creek with the Tenma's daughter in extreme heat is just asking for trouble. I'm pretty sure I would get into serious trouble if anything were to happen.", Takeshi half-jokingly remarked to Kazeane.

To be honest, it was ever-so-slightly tempting to him to join in the waters, but he knew that it left him open to temptation, and he had no idea how the Tenma would react if he were to give into that temptation. Best to avoid Kazeane as much as he could.

[Tewi_Inaba]

Pine Grove | En Pursuit of the Undead Dragon

Zena was about to explain her family to the boy but the fox yaju had beaten her to it. The elf simply nodded and confirmed this to be true. "I was adopted. I've lived with my father for most of my life now." she said responding to the boy's question as they all traveled towards the now fallen tower

The fox yaju went on to talk about strategy and how they would need some sort of plan if they wished to take that creature down. Having studied as a paladin for so many years, Zena knew a thing or two about slaying the undead. A creature that size would be hard to bring down on their own but there was still a way to stop it. "The dragon itself is to powerful. If we want to stop it we need to take out the necromancer or necromancers protecting it. Miss Nera you said you specialized in stealth correct? Perhaps if Zero Saru and I were to cause a distraction you could find and swiftly put down the ones responsible for this monstrosity?"

ccess Elevator | Chronomancer's Tower

The necromancer waited, ready to strike the boy down at a moment's notice but she refused to attack first. She would have rather gotten the book without any bloodshed but she didn't mind slitting a throat or two if need be. For a moment it looked as though they would have had to do things the hard way but the boy sheethed his weapon and seemed to agree to hand over the book. It was a turn she truly wasn't expecting. Perhaps he was afraid? No wait there was something more goin on here. She didnt' realize it at first but there was one more undead in the area then what she brought with her. The boy had something, or rather someone that talked him out of the fight. Regardless the girl didn't let down her guard as she descended into the building to follow the boy and hopefully obtain the book without anymore blood shed.

Hearing the boys questions, the girl thought it was only fair to answer his questions. She didnt' want to be rude after he had already surrendered. "If you must know my name is Seki. As for why i'm after your book. It's one of seven. Back in the first era the heros of fate created them to guide the mortals and protect them from further divine interference. But that's not important. What is important is that an acquaintance of mine wants this one, the book of chonomancy. and if i bring it to him then i can retrive the book that rightfully belonged to my master." She answered in a rather calm and nonthreatening tome. It seemed she had no intention of harming the boy so long as he cooperated with her and gave her what she wanted.

[Zekai]

Pine Grove

Zero listened to Nera and Zena. "I see." He said as his eye stopped hurting so he opened it. Zero then heard a cart heading their way. "Miss Nera correct? There's a cart coming, if we go with Zena's strategy, you'll need rope right? So seeing if they have any would help. I was thinking something similar but if that dragon attacks, we're screwed so" He said and looked at Zena and Saru. "If me and Zena distracts the dragon as best we can, Saru can go after the mancer. I think that's our best bet since your Photomancy is best against the dragon." Zero suggested, not knowing if it was the best strategy but it was all he can come up with.

[Kristia]

Pine Grove | En Pursuit of the Undead Dragon


The yaju rubbed her chin while thinking, she had a vague idea forming on her mind on how the four could work, then she looked at the young Jin "Saru could be our main attacker with his abilities and strength, your speed and wind magic can be a good asset while dealing with ranged targets and could deal with them with great evasion. As for Zena, her magic against the undead will be both a blessing and a curse, so we need to cover her just in case. I can do a good work by attacking from behind, but just give the call and I´ll join you people" spoke hoping it was a good plan.

Nera then looked at Saru "I suppose that you have the ability of a good climber as your animal side is of the apes, am I correct?" she asked and continued nodding at Zero´s words about the oncoming cart "The rope and hook will be good to reach the dragon, but the actual castle might be another obstacle, so we need to climb the wall with our bare hands and paws"

[SUSTIC]

Pine Grove | En Pursuit of the Undead Dragon

As the four were discussing strategy, Saru was busy trying to make sure his hearing was returning. Thankfully it had finally returned to normal, and he was able to hear the others clearly. What he was hearing was them discussing their plans. They were discussing of who would be the one to attack, and who will distract and/or help. Though what the Fox Yaju was saying seemed to be a logical plan that Sarutobi himself was fine with. Him being the one to focus on attacking the mancer who's controlling the beast seemed like a perfect idea. Especially with his climbing skills he'd be able to quickly scale the beast to reach the dragon.

However what Zena proposed wasn't that bad either. He knows how to get on a person's nerves, and more importantly he knows how to create a perfect distraction. So he could also do that...

Though as he was thinking of a good distraction, he heard the Fox Yaju ask him a question on whether he was a good climber or not. He simply turned to Nera and nodded.

"My climbing skills are more than just good! I have advanced climbing skills that only the peak warriors of my village possess! So yes. I am a 'good' climber."

[Zekai]

Pine Grove

"Looks like we have our plan." Zero said to them and he reached into his small bag with his right hand and search felt around and took his hand out. "Here, take these." He said as he tosses what looks like red scales with a silver outlining to them. "I can track you with my wind with those so don't lose them." He said as they get closer to the dragon.

[Kristia]

Pine Grove


Nera nodded at Saru when he answered her question "Then you and I will help Zena and Zero when we climb the castle wall so we are the carriers and they can both check and eliminate a possible threat above or below us" she spoke and waved her paw to the oncoming cart where she could see two individual "I think those two are merchants, if they got rope, we can do this" The fox yaju took two vials of water and uncorked their seals, with the movement of her paw, the liquid floated out of the vials and became a sphere of water with the size of an average human head.

Putting the empty vials on their straps, Nera used both hands to form the water into the one of a hook, straining her eyes for a moment and with a breath, the water started solidifying until becoming ice. With a faint smile, the black and white vixen held the tool on her paw "This thing will hold on as long as my mind is ok" she said and the caught the scale that the jin gave to her, putting it in her pocket.

[Cucoo5]

Pine Grove

When the two saw the group in the area, Aion shook his head in disbelief. "Sure enough... There is someone here."

"And here you were doubting me, huh?" Achlys chuckled as she brought the mobile store to a halt near the group. "Hello there!" She called out, "My name is Achlys, a traveling merchant, may I be of service to you lot?" Aion sighed as he jumped off the cart and leaned against it while standing, watching the group with arms crossed against his chest.

[WriggleRid3r]

Access Elevator - Chronomancer's Tower - Outskirts of Pine Grove | Time: 4:06 PM

---

Lavender yelped every time the giant metal man slammed its foot down. The ground shook near her, making her constantly uneasy as she waited for the statuesque figure to take lead and escort her to the destination. As amazing and cool the statue was... it scared her innocent heart a bit too much.

---

River | Near Tenma's Court

---

Kazeane giggled. Takeshi didn't buckle down to his temptation and kept his duty as a bodyguard, which made Kazeane proud of him. If she wasn't in heat, she would give this man a hug...

"D- don't look while I'm undressing, okay?" Kazeane squirmed, warning Takeshi not to look. Of course her sudden embarrassment came from how in heat she was; normally she would just shed whatever clothes she had off in front of Takeshi and tease him if he made any witty remarks or blushed in shame.

[Alayosho]

Prolouge -- Hero's Festival, Tavern

Mateveivh lay slumped against the tavern's counter, barely able to keep herself upright despite its stable nature. To the onlooker, the beauteous maiden at the stool was too drunk to even sit, let alone walk. She wiggled the glass in her hand, still half full, as if to signal to the barkeep to refill it. He raised a dubious brow and shook his head, "Nay, lass. Ye've had enough, I recoken. Get yer hindside home. Pretty thing like ye' shouldn't be in a state like this, ya hear?"

Mateveivh's head rose, as if pocessed by a ghost. The rest of her body seemed not to respond, but her head rose and canted to the side due to a lack of support. She rose as if to be imposing, but lost her footing and stumbled, almost falling on her side but through some miracle, catching herself. "I"ll tell y-- when IM DoN' You K'nit?" She stammered. Despite her words implying she felt she was not done, the drunk girl stumbled out of the tavern. The cobbled road that she had seen so many times was not a rocky mountain path. The houses craggy cliffs that could fall on her at any moment. Howling, ranting, crying of the wind that sounded like the many screams of people assailed her senses. The festival was all around to threaten Mateveivh's senses.

Two men followed her out of the tavern. The girl was unstable and probably needed an escort. Where could she possibly have lived? They followed her for a little while, seeing where she went. Mateveivh knew where she was going, despite her condition. Her home was in the darker portions of the city, less watched, and less seen. This played into the men's plans perfectly. Afterall, the barkeep said it himself; it was dangerous for a pretty girl to walk around like she was, and the men sought to show her exactly why.

Mateveivh's confused steps took her down the wrong path, and to a dead-end alley. Nice and dark. Perfect for the coming event....

The first man approached, drawing a knife. He crept close to her. He wasn't exactly stealthy, but he doubted the girl could hear her own thoughts despite the stillness of the alley. The bugs themselves were holding their breath as the man got closer, ready to grab her and--Wait...was she smiling?

Mateveivh spun around, striking the man across the chin with a hidden blade. The second man was too shocked to process what happened. The first man recoiled, but Mateveivh, despite her lack of skill, still had the training to follow up her surprise attack and remove the man's air pipe to stop him from making sound. It wasn't the men who were the predators, it was Mateveivh. Only Despicable filth that would follow a girl into a dead-end alley without calling out to her. They deserved what they were getting, and Mateveivh's coin purse was about to get fatter, if only by a little bit. What mattered most is that these men were going to be no more.

This wasn't the first time she'd staged this scene, but she usually got nice people who sought to help her get home. Other's who didn't immediately offer help were simply unsure of how to approach a woman so far gone. A select few would follow Mateveivh to one of these alley-ways and find themselves an untimely demise. They were the type that were generally known for their ill nature, and had little contribution to the city. Investigations into their murders were short and disregarded as men reaping what they sowed. Certainly, Mateveivh didn't do this event often. She had other ways to aqquire gold, clothing, or whatever else she might need. Murder was rare, but when she did get the chance--when enough time had passed, she certainly reveled in the process of removing a few more useless bags of flesh from the world.

The first man fell to the ground, crying out in muffled gurgles as he choked on his own blood. The horrific scene still had the second man stunned until Mateveivh started to approach him. They were both too caught up in the oment to realise the shadows of the alley growing darker. Before Mateveivh got anywhere near the second man, the wall next to her exploded, and the world went black....


Sanctuary -- Aftermath

Mateveivh lay motionless. The man she had murdered was crushed beyond recognition and she lay beneath a smaller amount of rubble. She was bleeding from somewhere, maybe? Maybe it was the man's blood. The unconscious Mateveivh could not tell. The second man did not get very far. He lay dead several meters outside the Alleyway. He had tried to run, but failed. The only survivor was Mateveivh. Would she be found before she woke up on her own?

[S121]

Interior | Chronomancer's Tower

"... Why the book?", the voice within Azeruk's head whispered to him.

"Why does he want this book?", Azeruk asked the girl.

Meanwhile, the duo walked deeper and deeper into Azeruk's home, the twists and turns beginning to blend together as they delved deeper into the bowels of the tower. The girl may or may nnot have known it, but Azeruk was aimlessly leading her deeper and deeper into the tower to get her further away from Lavender so that if a conflict did ensue and he was possibly killed, there would be enough distance between Lavender and the girl accompanying him.





Automaton Workshop | Chronomancer's Tower - Outskirts of Pine Grove | Time: 4:08 PM

Meanwhile, the large mechanized humanoid eventually led Lavender to a large, heavy set of doors made from some kind of rare and exotic brass-like metal. Such doors looked impossible to move for a normal man, but the Guardian pushed the doors wide open and led the girl inside. Inside the room was what appeared to be a factory of sorts, or something akin to a very large workshop. Various mechanical creatures were alive and moving about the room, performing maintenance and repairs on themselves, while others were bringing in fresh parts from the foundry. One of the many mechanical spiders skittered by Lavender with a gear in its arms, but stopped in its tracks when it detected a non-mechanical entity within the vicinity. It then turned to look up at Lavender, who was standing 3 feet away from the creature.

Spoiler:

River | Near Tenma's Court

Although Takeshi found her request somewhat unnecessary, due to the fact that nudity was not such a big deal to the Yaju, he still honored Kazeane's request and turned around. After turning, Takeshi's gaze eventually drifted off to the canopy above and the clouds beyond them. He still couldn't really believe he had gotten Kazeane and himself into such a situation. He felt that he should have been more vigilant and somehow found a way to test the tea. Surely, if the tea was toxic instead of having its current affect, then Kazeane would have been poisoned and it would have been Takeshi's fault. Even if nobody found out that Takeshi retrieved an aphrodisiac tea for Kazeane, he would still know, and that just left the smallest blemish on his otherwise excellent performance as a Guardian. He knew that the small blow to his pride would quickly subside, but he still had to take his mistake into account and learn from it, and hopefully he would be more vigilant in the future. Of course, despite what he was thinking, he wasn't upset about his current situation, just a little disappointed.