Fantasy The Extirpation of Illios

[beedis]

Horace produced a pair of spectacles from a pocket before plucking the gem off of the table with extreme care. The goldsmith's brow furrowed as he examined the crystal. "Delgue...are you sure you just found this gem laying around?" he asked incredulously "This is a mage's gem, you can tell by the swirling glow inside." he explained "What that swirling glow is exactly, I'm not sure. I've heard its some kind of latent magic but that's the extent of my knowledge." he continued "And I'm sure this is going to break both of your hearts but this gem is worthless in my line of work. In it's current state its too dangerous to shape. I've heard horror stories of people trying to make jewelry with these gems only to vaporize entire rooms and the like." he explained. "If you really want to know what this crystal is all about you could ask a magics expert. But that would mean a hike to the Silfren Isles and I know how much you hate leaving Osterlund." he finished before gently handing the gem back to Neriah. "Now I can only hope assisting you here today won't come back to bite me, correct Delgue?" he asked. The mercenary rolled his eyes at the accusation "Yeah, yeah You'll be fine Horace, quit being such a baby." he teased. "I'll be back next time I need something from you. Don't get too lonely." he quipped beckoning Neriah before making his way out the door.

As soon as they found their way back onto the street Neriah began rattling off her plan for their trip to get to the bottom of the crystal mystery. "Woah, woah, slow down Einfauld. I get you're upset the crystal was worthless but I can lend you some ingots for a little cash primer to get you started instead." he offered. "And the deal was I help you get back onto your feet, not I travel half way across the world with you to learn about some fancy stone. That would cost you way more than just one favor, and I don't think you can afford my rate in your current situation." he barked. "I still have a lot of stuff I need to take care of here first you know? People in my line of work are pretty in demand around these parts as I'm sure you understand." he explained. "Now, we got some time to burn until your armor is finished. How about we head back to my place? Hanging around on the streets could be asking for trouble." he finished.

 

[Mopzee]

Her pale blue-grey eyes fluttered back and forth between the men as they seemed to hold a tense conversation with little regard to her. The shopkeeper, named Horace as she had gathered, seemed incredibly wary of Delgue based on his tone and the way he held his body. Not scared, so much as distrusting. Like the man expected Delgue to attack him at any moment. Delgue on the other hand, didn't seem to be taking this confrontation seriously at all. He dismissed the man with a teasing tone, and then gestured for her to follow him. Neriah hesitated, catching the gaze of the man for a moment, feeling her own eyes soften as a near apology for the burden she somehow felt that they had been. But eyes in Osterlund, much like her people, were not soft. The man let out a slight grunt in irritation and dismissed her with a disinterested wave of the hand. The young woman gathered the stone from the counter up into her arms and followed after Delgue hastily. She hoped he hadn't gotten too far in just that split moment, he probably hadn't even noticed that she wasn't right there behind him yet. She hurried out, and spotted him quickly, "So I suppose we should head back to the docks then? The Silfren Isles are as far South as you can go, right? I bet that would take weeks if we went on foot and-"

She was quickly interrupted by Delgue, who immediately began to list off reasons he couldn't go, wouldn't go, refused really. She stopped, feeling the fine sand grind under the heel of her boot, the stone cradled tightly against her abdomen. Her expression faltered, and fell. He wasn't coming. That was it. He dragged her here, brought her to two shops for armor and a lead to the mystery home wrecker, and that was it? How could someone do that? Go so far and then drop someone like nothing happened? If she had done that as a guard... Her round face tinged red, she gripped the stone tight, and narrowed her eyes. "Really? After all this, you're just going to leave?" an irritated and hurt edge crept into her tone, "You know what? Fine. I'm going to go find out who burned down my gods damned house. If that means I go without you, then fine." Neriah was beginning to get fed up by all of this. She was capable, or rather she had been, until she saw whatever it was she wasn't supposed to and ended up meeting this guy. "I don't know how you plan to get that favor from me if you don't know where I am. But if you're fine taking the chance that you'll never see me again, or that I might just die out there, then why should I care?" Neriah bit her lip hard to keep herself from saying something she'd regret, She glanced around to try and get her bearings, then selected a direction and turned on her heel to begin distancing herself from him, ducking into a grouping of people quickly to try and get out of his line of sight. If she was going to be alone from here on out then she may as well start getting used to it sooner rather than later. Of course this kind of thing would happen, right when she was starting to think that maybe it wouldn't be so bad to go travelling with someone, they turned around and told her she was alone. She was alone before, she managed that, she knew she could handle it one way or another. That didn't mean that she wanted to do it alone though.

"Ugh. Whatever." She groaned to herself, glancing down at the stone. At least she'd get to see the Silfren Isles, seeing all the mages would be fun, and she had heard from merchants that the island itself was an amazing sight to see. Neriah steeled her expression, as long as she was brave and careful, she would be fine. She just had to keep that in mind and then she wouldn't have anything to fear.

 

[beedis]

Delgue offered only a roll of the eyes in response as Neriah went off on him deciding it best to hold his tongue for now. It would be impossible to reason with her given how pissed off she was at the moment. He could certainly understand why she was so angry, but he had agreed to help get her back onto her feet not hunt down some arsonists halfway across the world. He liked Neriah but he was no saint. There was only so far he was willing to go to help somebody, even for a favor.

What he hadn't expected was for this little misunderstanding to cause Neriah to try and run off on her own. As she turned on her heel and hurried away he called out after her "Neriah, what are you stupid? You're gonna get yourself killed!" but she either could not or would not hear him. Delgue cursed under his breath before hurrying after her. She would draw a lot of unwanted attention holding that stupid gem. Osterlund thugs loved tourists, and they loved secluded wealthy tourists even more. He would have to find her, and quick before she got herself into trouble again.

As Neriah pushed further into the city the streets narrowed and the crowds dispersed. Soon she would find herself in a quiet more residential area. A network of winding paths barely wide enough for two people separated the homes. Before long a woman of imposing stature clad in ragged clothing, armed with a crude weapon and wearing a burlap sack for a mask emerged from around a corner in front of the ex-guard. The first bandit remained silent as two more criminals shuffled in from behind her wearing similar outfits. "Lovely weather for a walk eh?" One of the thugs asked before moving towards her his tone full of malice and his voice muffled by the mask.

 

[Mopzee]

She felt her ankle roll a bit as she stepped on a fist sized rock in the sand. It didn't hurt, but it did startle her, maybe irritate her. At this point every little thing was making her even more upset. She tried to avoid the thickest groupings of people, for when she ducked into the masses of people she got jostled around this way and that. They didn't care if they bumped into her, not one bit. If she wasn't holding this gem it would be a lot easier to avoid them, but she wasn't willing to lose her only lead.

Her eyes settled on an alleyway, and she took her chance to get away from the shoving, stomping crowd. It was much quieter now, almost peaceful. She breathed deep and exhaled in relief. It would be harder to get to her destination with how winding these paths through the houses seemed to be, but it was easier going. Neriah glanced up into the sky at the Sun to check which way she was going, reminding herself that she should keep in mind what directions she turns in case she makes a wrong turn. She passed a man as she walked, nearly bumping into him as she hadn't expected to see anyone when turning a corner. "Oh! Sorry!" She blurted, offering a sort of half bow to apologize, but still not stopping.

A fearsome looking woman as if on cue, stepped out in front of her, stopping her in her tracks. Neriah backed up a few steps in surprise, noting the woman was looking directly at her. A voice from behind her called out to her about how nice the weather was for a walk, but his tone didn't fit small talk. It sounded threatening. She glanced behind her, noting the distance and putting as much distance as she could between her and the speaker's two accomplices, the second having just now stepped out of another alleyway to block off her last route of escape. Breathe Neriah, you'e got to be careful. She reminded herself, the dry air filled her lungs, threatening to make her cough. They were closing in on her, no doubt they wanted what she was carrying. She should've expected that. Still, it would be good to get them to talk, maybe that would buy her time or lower their guard. "I wasn't aware Osterlund had nice weather" she responded at last, straightening her back and shifting the weight of the gem to her off hand. The speaker chuckled once, and stopped. He was getting serious now. She reached for the ace on her belt, and felt a hand grip onto her arm with crushing force. "Not so fast Vestian." She hesitated when they called out her heritage. Wait, were they after the stone, or her? She dropped the stone as another hand caught her left arm and she found a knee hurtling towards her gut. If they didn't want the stone, what would they do to her?

 

[beedis]

Despite the head start Neriah had on him Delgue managed to catch glimpses of her as she ducked between crowds on the busy streets far ahead of him, he had to push his way through the traffic just to keep up. Soon he spotted her heading into an alleyway probably in an attempt to get away from the bustle. He broke out into a sprint to try and close the distance. If he didn't catch her now he would lose her in the winding alleyways, and as soon he encountered a fork in the path that fear came true. Nobody was in sight down either fork, he would have to guess. "Bad luck." he muttered under his breath hesitating for a moment before rushing down the left path.

Moments later the sounds of a struggle could be heard in an adjacent alleyway. It was almost impressive how fast she had gotten into trouble, Neriah had been nothing but an ongoing pain in the ass since he saved her. Sighing he drew his saber before taking off in the direction of the sound. As he turned down the path his ears had lead him to he finally spotted Neriah again. Delgue had come up behind the mugging, two thugs had restrained his partner by the arms while the third took free hits. They hadn't quite noticed him yet so it would be easy to take one out, the other two would be more of a fight.

He took a moment to steel himself before moving in as silently as he could. Luckily the thieves seemed too occupied with their mugging to pay him any mind. Once he reached striking distance he raised his saber before bashing one of the brigands in the back of the head with his blade's pommel causing the thug to crumple to the floor. Seeing they were under attack the second bandit restraining Neriah threw her to the ground in order to reach for his weapon, but before the thug could strike Delgue slashed at his throat causing the foe to grasp at his wound before collapsing. Delgue wouldn't get a chance to breathe as the woman who had been attacking Neriah slashed at him with her crude axe, and try as he may he wouldn't be quick enough to avoid the blow completely. The blade of the axe glanced him shredding through his armor and leaving a deep gash on his torso. "Gah!" he exclaimed gritting his teeth from the pain before steeling himself for her next attack, which came at him only seconds later in the form of a heavy downward strike, but this time he was ready. He sidestepped the blow before retaliating with a stab that pierced the thugs chest, she struggled only briefly before going limp. With a heavy sigh Delgue freed his blade, shuffling over to a nearby wall grasping at his wound to stem the bleeding as he went before sliding down. "This really smarts you know, and the worst part is getting this armor repaired is gonna cost me an arm and a leg." he groaned. "Well Einfauld, seeing as I'm in no position to give you a hard time right now I'll cut you a deal, you knit me back up and I'll find time in my busy, busy schedule to go to the Silfren Isles. Sounds too good to be true right? Well there is one more catch, you gotta promise me you won't do anything this bullheaded again." he added with a cackle not taking his wound too seriously.