Changing Hand

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The camp is clean, the pot is gone, even the leftovers from our dinner are gone. If not for the three girls standing there, you'd never be able to tell that anyone had been there. "Good morning you two" Oelia tells them, smiling a bit as the sun comes over the horizon, illuminating the forest. "Did you sleep alright? I hope I didn't wake you as I cleaned up". She took the bow resting against a tree and placed it on her back, with the stone still charging, it was much heavier for her and she struggled to make sure she had a good grip on it. "I'd like for us to get out of here as soon as possible, I do not like to stay in one place." She put her hands on her head as she suddenly remembered something. "Honestly, I don't know exactly what or where I'm going. I know there is a town nearby I have heard, and I wish to travel there. I realize that you two must have your own situations and own travels to make, and if that is the case, I am more than happy to bid farewell to you here."

She was glad for their short company that night, however, as much as she enjoyed the companionship, she had a mission to do, and she'd see it done. She remembered what was at stake, the importance of introducing her people back to the world. She did not want to get sidetracked, and she was ready to part with her friends. "If you like, you can accompany me there, though I assume you have your own destinations in mind. I would not impose on your company any more than is necessary." Oelia humbly bowed to the two, before making her way back to the trail. It would still be half a day's walk to the town, and there was no reason to delay. It would have been faster to fly, but with the bow out of energy, it was too heavy for her to fly comfortably, and it would be too easy to be seen this close to civilization.



???
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The burning incense wafted through the chamber, the only light coming from candles places on the edges of the room, giving it a dark, gloomy feel. There were only two people in the room, the shadows dancing on his wings as they stretched out behind him. The other coughed and looked up to him.

"Do you think it was wise? There is no supervision, nothing to ensure that our plans are in motion!" He gestured angrily to the older avian, almost yelling at this point. The older one looked down at the human, smirking with his beak.

"She was raised to trust us, to believe that all we said was correct, and right. That is why we kidnapped her, that is why she always believed her place was to help us. She will do as we ask, the penalty for failure will weigh too heavily on her mind. She exists to be a tool for us, and I make sure my tools do not break." He sipped a strange, golden, cloudy liquid from a wooden goblet, and closes his eyes. "She is young, and inexperienced, and does not know of our plan. But there was not much other alternative. She is the only one that can even remotely pass for human, and that innocence means she is not aware of the danger her weapon brings."

"So you would have us sit here, sip our malted wine, and wait for some little girl to do what we should be doing ourselves?! You have no idea what she could be doing, she could have died on the flight over, she could have been killed, found out, there could be an army sent here to wipe us out for all you know and you do not care!" He slammed his fist down on the table, leaving a crack in it. The avian frowned at him, his aging visage gazed disapprovingly at the man.

"I've planned out everything. For over 100 years I've been making sure things would go exactly as planned. If you do not think I have ways of getting information from the mainland, you are sorely mistaken." He sipped again.

"Useless, pointless. If you want to take over a world, why not do it yourself? Some naive girl isn't going to take over a continent for you." He calmed down a bit, but he was still upset.

"I do not plan on her taking anything over. All she has to do is deliver the package to the intended destination." He chuckled. "Why not sip your wine? Drink with me, it's okay to celebrate early."

"I'll celebrate with you when we're sitting on our thrones, and not until then". He muttered, but still, took a drink from the glass, the shadows playing on the goblet. "Seems to be a bit more bitter than usual, the winemakers are slacking.... hrk?!" He started coughing, his throat burning, everything was burning. "You.... b-bastard.... why...?"

"Silly, silly, silly human. You all have such high opinions of yourselves, so greedy, it is your species' fault in the first place we are trapped here. But don't worry, I aim to fix that. You see, I do not plan to conquer the mainland, oh no. I plan to kill everyone on it." He chuckles and sips again from his goblet, smirking at the lowly human in front of him as he takes his last breath. "Just make sure to find a nice place to take that bow, my dear girl Oelia. It'll do the rest from there."[/hr]
 
Ansley​
Hearing the Neko speak, Ansley turned towards her to answer her question, but her attention was diverted by the sudden glimpse of pink which she quickly diverted her gaze from and blushed a little realizing it's nature. "I-I think so... B-but I-I'm not so sure about it..." She said, attempting to make eye contact with the Neko as she didn't want her gaze to fall any lower before Oelia began talking, and after she finished Ansley turned towards her "I...I'm coming with you." She replies after coming to a quick conclusion, she remembered her older sister was indeed a little overdue for a visit, and she often looked for her in a town near here... Going there would probably increase her odds of running into her, plus, she would have no trouble playing her harp for the most part, just as long as she wasn't in the wrong area. She inspected what once was their camp site with a bewildered look; Oelia had left no trace of it when she had packed up, something she'd only heard done by her sister. It was a common thing hunters were able to do, but she wasn't entirely sure if that's what Oelia was, she figured she'd ask about this later... Right now Oelia seemed like she didn't want to waste much time, so Ansley stayed silent for the time being.
Scarlett​
The sudden sound of another worm approaching not too far from her drew her attention for a split second, and she manages to turn towards it just in time to see a large worm withdraw from the scene leaving behind the body of Atuat for a few mere seconds before the desert sands swallowed it, leaving nothing behind... "Dammit all! I should have been paying more attention to these things!" She thought to herself blinking rapidly so that her tears wouldn't have a chance to flow past her eyes. Then, upon hearing the voice shout out that the diggers have enough stones and they were departing, Scarlett realized her work here was done, but not without consequence. In any other circumstance she would have stayed behind to finish off the worms, but today she needed to get to wherever her sister was ASAP, so she leaped off the worm she had been standing on and began sprinting towards one of the vehicles that the diggers had set up. She stopped when she reached one and looked back just in-case any others wanted to get back too, however she also knew if she happened to spot the worm that had killed Atuat, she'd make sure her death was avenged...
 
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Issac wasn't the only one who had seen the giant woman get crushed she had seen it too and she covered her mouth trying not to vomit from what she'd seen; she really just wanted to play some calming music to help herself and other relax but with the worms still around she couldn't do that... "I...We need to stay away from the town...I don't want them to try and take my flute or the stones I keep with me...I don't have that many but..." Seraphine looked down and sighed a little, there was THAT song that she could play, but it wouldn't make any difference to the worms. "Tch...I really am useless...I shouldn't have come but then...I would be at the mercy of those merchants...I would rather not have to use my usual techniques to avoid them..." Seraphine sighs slightly as she turns her back on the cave and she tries not to think about the giant woman being crushed; she was shaking like a leaf but they needed to get out...She lifts her flute to her lips and sighs a bit as she plays into it, it's a slow song and she runs off as she plays; knowing the sound will draw the worms in, a decoy; she could play that easily enough and give the others the time to run away; that was the plan anyway.
 
Cadoc quickly caught up with his fleeing companions jumping on to one of the vehicles, he never let down his guard though seeing that the giant rifle woman who had been shown to be more then capable was killed by one of the behemoths he had been combating "are we sure we can outrun them, should we try to kill it" he said, unsure on what to do in a situation like this, if only he had some weapon that could pierce deep enough to kill one of these worms, or that he had been trained to fight them, if that were so nobody would have died, at least so he thought.
 
Isaac

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It seemed like some had chosen to retreat, and that was a good enough call for Isaac to run after them. However, the Commander sees that the worms had not given up so easily, and were shaking themselves off, ready to strike again. "Oh, no you don't." The Commander thrusts out his right arm at them, as the stone in it glows, the top part of his drill shoots off and penetrates into the head of the largest worm. "Take that, you Driller!" The drill tears apart the Driller's head, and once the Commander pulls it out, the Driller collapses into the sand. The other Driller's appeared confused, as the Commander rushes over to the others once his drill reattached itself.

"Wow, Commander Daquan!" Isaac commented. "That was incredible!"

"Let's celebrate later, we have little time. You men, start up the vehicle's, let them run for a bit to heat up." Daquan ordered, as two of his Digger's proceeded to do as he commanded. "Everyone else, let's move! We don't have anymore time to waste on these worms, we have to make sure Fairwolf is safe!"

???

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She was certainly fast, the woman thought to herself, as her drink is brought over. Taking it into her hand, she raises it up to her mouth and sips it, setting it down once she was satisfied with it. "If you ever wanted something more out of life, I know some people who could offer you better jobs." She smiled at the animal girl, this was her way of saying she had caught her eye. Normally, people didn't interest her, but some did, and she knew they were either going to be a problem or the best she could find in Centora. "You don't have to listen to me, but here is my card." She pulls it out, handing it to the waitress. Although it didn't say a name, it certainly said a frequency she used to communicate with others. "Contact me if you ever are interested in what I have said today."

Hamilton

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"Well done, Mr. Hamilton." Victor, The Mistress' representative in Merricrest. "Thanks to your team, we now have been able to extract the newly discovered red stones out from the cave. If you don't mind me asking, what do they do exactly?"

"They restore power to the blue stones. I do not know if they have any other purpose." Hamilton answered honestly, he didn't have the time to test out the full potential of the red stones, not yet anyway. For now, he was happy about other things, and how well things had gone for him.

"Fair enough. This shall be a great thing for the people to hear, Mr. Hamilton. Your team will get full credit for this, have no fear. What of your former boss though?"

"I took care of that."

"Er, um, right." Victor was nervous, he had no idea what Hamilton had done, but he heard it was nothing good. "So, I believe your promotion is at hand, Mr. Hamilton! Since a spot has just opened up, we would like you to be in charge of spreading out the word of the Merchant's."

"I see." Hamilton saw his opportunity at long last, but there was a problem left to take care of. "I would like to give a request before I head off to Vertice."

"Let's hear it, we do owe you after all!"

"Since my team is currently recovering from the over-exposure to the red stones, I would like some assistants in the other towns."

"Oh, I see. Who would you like? We have plenty to choose from these days!" As Victor took out a paper to write it down on, Hamilton saw the opportunity had finally arrived before him, and he knew just who to pick.

"I would like the message to be sent by a Whapsepso. You know, those birds that can memorize and repeat human language?" Hamilton noted, seeing Victor nod in response.

"A Whapsepso will take two full day's to get to each town, since Whapsepso are handy when it comes to helping find others and making them copy each other."

"Right. Well, for Aldness, I'd like Ebsor, one of the Giants, since they live in the mountains. Vulon, an Elf, for Merricrest. Scarletlock, for Fairwolf. Buckminister 'Cross' Elton, for Morwynne. Finally, Maxim Heliot, for Belbridge." Hamilton knew that he could have no one else but them for the assignment he had in mind. "I will handle the message, then be on my way. And Victor, tell The Mistress I said hello, when you tell her that I am indeed alive."
 
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Now that I'm awake, I begin to notice something strange in Oelia's behavior. It doesn't really set off any red flags, but the campsite was left unsettlingly clean for someone who wanted to leave in a hurry. It almost looks as if she wanted to cover up her tracks. In addition, I know Oelia has been hiding something under her clothes now. She wouldn't take off that cloak even as she slept. Plus, she clearly had a moral dilemma that other day on if she should flee us or come back to us. I don't know what she has planned, but all I can truly ascertain is that she means no harm to us. Currently, my biggest hint to her true intentions have to do with her intended destination. She has traveled a good distance judging by the condition of her clothes, yet has no idea where her destination is. While it is possible that she is truly an aimless traveler, Oelia seems far too frightful, especially of people, to fit that role. Well, whatever she has planned, I definitely want to be a part of it.

And as for Ansley, she must be pure as the white driven snow. The poor thing saw me flash her, and didn't even think to say anything. She was acting all embarrassed, as if it were her fault for my careless behavior. Besides, we are both girls, it isn't like she hasn't seen a naked girl before. I mean, surely she had siblings, or at least had gone to a bathhouse before. Plus, Ansley was incredibly willing to run off with two strangers. I know I look innocent enough, but Oelia has a giant death bow, yet Ansley doesn't even look like she has considered the possibility that Oelia might turn on her. Someone like that must be a truly trusting person. No doubt, that kind of trust can be easily abused. I consider the possibility that someone has been protecting her. Pure people like that don't exist without someone shielding them from reality.

Raising my hand up with youthful energy, "Oh, oh, Akane wants to come! I know where the town is too." I boast with my chest puffed up, "If you want, I can show you."
 
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She nodded at the two girls, and especially at Akane. "Please, show me the way, I'd appreciate that." She wanted to set off, the sooner the better, and went off with the Neko in lead, the bard behind. Oelia walked silently on the forest path, drawing her cloak tighter against her. So much had happened these last few days, and she was hoping more wouldn't follow.

'What did I have to do again?' She thought to herself, the sun shining through the leaves of the canopy, making the ground sparkle in the sunlight beneath their feet. 'Find the capital, reveal my people, and offer a gesture of goodwill, that's what I needed to do'. She thought back to her home, those islands in the Dark Sea, where she was raised.

Every year, as a celebration of goodwill, the humans and avians, the only two species on her islands, would gather together for a ceremonial feast, a tradition that went on since the Blind Times started. They would have a feast, and while Oelia would usually be helping the temple with chores, and running it, she would always find someone willing to offer some food here and there. Afterwards, the top hunters of both species would deliver a ceremonial weapon, a spear for the humans and a bow for the avians. And in the fountain that sat in the middle of town, they would place the weapons, breaking them in half, a sign that there would not need to ever be war between them. From the waters of the fountain adults and children alike would toast each other, celebrating another year of peace and harmony.

She smiled as she thought of it, walking along the peaceful forest path. It would be a tradition she would love to share with the humans on this continent, that even with all the senseless fighting, they could still put aside their aggression and embrace each other once again. She gingerly touched the bow on her back. It was a weapon said to have been one of the first ones made on her island, and was used by one of the original survivors of that terrible time. It was the temple's high priest, Eldien, who suggested the idea of showing that ritual to whatever king, lord, mayor, whoever ruled this land, to show that there were an entire species that would like nothing more than to be at peace with the humans of this continent.

She had her plan, and she knew it would work. After all, there was a human and neko here that trusted her enough to guide her to the central city, if most people were like them, she was sure everyone would have their peace.
 
Ansley​
She followed closely behind Oelia and the Neko, she felt a little nervous as always heading towards a large settlement but excited at the same time. There was indeed alot of people that knew about her skill with playing her harp, so a large crowd would most likely gather as soon as she started playing. "It might be for the best if I didn't play my harp as often there..." She thought realizing attracting too much attention to them may not be a good idea despite how much she wanted to play her harp sometimes. For now she didn't worry about that too much though, and just enjoyed the walk with Oelia and the Neko wondering once more if her sister would be there too...
Scarlett​
Scarlett noticed that strange girl with the flute running off and drawing the worms toward her... She sighed a little, in most circumstances, she would have run after her but she knew that would be detrimental to that girls obvious efforts to create a diversion. A loud grinding sound suddenly caught her attention and she turned around to see the leader of the diggers reattach the tip of a drill to the rest of it which he held in his right arm. One of the worms fell to the ground almost right after, quite clearly killed by the leader. He yelled at them to get moving, which she definitely wasn't objecting to, she got into the vehicle she had been standing next to and waited for the others to follow suit.
 
"Thank you," Genevieve smiled as she took the card, it had very little information on it and Genevieve understood that she had her reasons for that. She knew it was meaningless to ask for a name or any more details on the matter. The lady hadn't given Genevieve much reason to trust her but she felt something in her gut telling her the lady wasn't all bad. "I will keep this in mind." She slid the card into a pocket on her change purse "Like I said, if you need anything else while you're here just give me a shout. I gotta grab this man's food quick though." She gestured in the direction of a rather large man sitting across the room, "He's one of those fellas who fights for money, so we don't want to give him any reason to complain ya know?" Genevieve gave a wink to the lady before running back off towards the kitchen and returning back to the brawler with a large dish of some unrecognizable fried meat.
 
Isaac

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Isaac could do little to stop the person from running, but the worms didn't seem to go after her. They were beginning to leave, but he had little time to wonder why. Running his way over to the two Roller's and hops in one of them. "Are we going to make it in time?" One of the Digger's asked.

"I hope so, I don't want to go home to smoke and rubble."

"Don't think like that." Isaac said quickly. "We have to keep our minds clear while going in, no matter what. Got it?"

"Yes, of course. Thank you." Isaac didn't feel safe himself though, he hated merchants, the whole lot of them. Everything seemed to be getting more tense for him, he didn't know where everything was going to go from here.

???

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The mysterious woman could only admire how fast the animal girl was going at. She felt her device turn on, quickly taking it out and inserting a blue stone into it before putting it up close to her. "Hello? . . .Yes. I see. Excellent, everything is fine then. Yes, I understand, and I approve." She pulls out the blue stone and puts both away, returning to her drink as if nothing had even happened.
 
Genevieve came back over to the lady's table after serving a few others, "Are you fine on the drink?"
"Yes, quite." The mysterious women responded. "But I must be leaving soon, you understand. I hope you'll consider my offer."
"Aww that's no fun you can still walk straight. I thought you were gonna make me carry you outta here." She jokes with the lady, it was a natural thing for her. "Oh, yeah, when should I be able to get in touch with you?"
"Anywhere, provided you have a stone to contact me with."
"Well that could be a problem unless I can get one from Dominic. I don't actually use stones." She replied looking slightly embarrassed.
"You don't have one bonded to you? Why?"
"I don't think we should be using these stones in the first place. They have power that the people of this content weren't meant to have."
Something sparked in the woman's eyes, as if the gears were turning. ". . .You think we should limit them to only the Digger's?"
"I think we don't need them at all, I think they should destroy them honestly."
Hearing this made her suddenly take action, she puts a hand on the girl's shoulder. "By Her name, you have kept this to yourself?!"
Genevieve was startled by the sudden action from the formerly calm and mysterious woman. "A lot of people take some sort of personal offense if you say something like that about their precious rocks."
"Child, you could end the Stone Conflict! You could bring peace back to Centora, order in this time of conflict!"
"M-Me?!" She couldn't figure out what the lady meant and she couldn't find the words to express that to her.
"Yes, you! This view of yours could bring everyone to an agreement!"
"I'm sure there is someone more suited for that kind of role don't you. I'm just a little kitsune girl"
"And aren't you tired of being looked down for it?"
Genevieve looked down away from the lady. "Well yeah, but wouldn't you be more likely to listen to a human on this kind of matter?"
"Child, everyone is equal. No matter the blood or look."
"I'm not sure everybody agrees with you on that."
"But you could help change their minds."
Genevieve's eyes meet the lady's again, "How would I do that?"
"I can help with that."
Genevieve's gentle smile returns again. "I think that would be nice"
"It would, wouldn't it."
"I'm sorry. Now I've gone and kept you up haven't I"
"No, not at all!"
"So... uhm... About getting into touch."
"Don't worry about that." She smiles gently. "How about coming with me?"
Genevieve looks back to the patrons of the bar and Dominic, the owner who took her in. "Can I maybe finish up here tonight?"
"You sure?"
"I owe a lot to Dominic. He's probably the only reason I'm alive to talk to you today. I couldn't just abandon him like that."
The woman sighs and rufflles her hair. "Oh, very well."
Geneveive gives her a cute smile to make up for the trouble. "Thank you for understanding." She quickly runs back behind the bar to explain to Dominic before getting back to work.
"I'll be waiting at the gates tonight then." She walks out of the Alco-hole, an unusual smirk appearing briefly once no one could see her.
 
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[glow=purple]
Allia Morrigan
[/glow]
[glow=blue]
Inside Fairwolf Digging Site
[/glow]

​
Making her way through the eroded corridors of the site, Allia rushed into the cavern where the rest of the group had positioned themselves and gawked at the humongous worm that lay before them, writhing and wiggling along with others. Aiming at the beast, she saw that it was focused on one of the diggers there, whom was trying to distract it as another warrior climbed the beast and plunged her spear into it's body. Paralyzed with fear, she could only watch as the events unfolded in front of her eyes, memories of Mako flowing back to her brain.

In a split second, Allia watched a third figure whip out a enchanted rifle as she pulled the trigger, as the warrior withdrew her spear from the worm's insides and the boy digger pulling back from the worm, as the larger one swung it's body, knocking into the rifle bearer and crushing her.
At that moment, Allia snapped out of her trance, regaining control over her body as the smaller worm crashed toward her entrance. "Shit!" Barreling out of the way, she unloaded her clip into the worm, singing it's skin causing it to recoil in pain. Using this as a distraction, she circled around the creature before retreating to the boy digger, diving to the ground as the commanding officer shot a drill into the beast in pursuit. Disoriented from the fall, she hears the commanding officer addressing everyone. "Everyone else, lets move! We don't have anymore time to waste on these worms, we have to make sure Fairwolf is safe!"

[glow=teal]"You gotta be kidding me."[/glow] she mumbled as more worms began to approach the group. She pulled out the empty cartridge from the plasma cutter and shoved another inside, firing blindly at the worms to buy some time before quickly sprinting to catch up to the rest of the group.

[glow=blue]
Fairwolf Digging Site Entrance
[/glow]

​
Allia stopped just short of the roller, reminding herself that she was getting paid, as she wondered why she continued to roll with these people. [glow=teal]"Yo. Digger kid, what's this about more worms?"[/glow] she looked back at the entrance. [glow=teal]"If anything, why would they head toward Fairwolf? Or is there something I'm missing?"[/glow]
 
Hamilton

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Hamilton got into the Roller, all prepared and ready to take up a new job and the beginning of a new life. "You look rather pleased to see me." A voice suddenly spoke from the side, he looked over to find a man wearing a suit.

"Ah, my apologies. You must be the leader of Vertice's assistant." Hamilton shakes hands with the man briefly.

"Spot on, my boy. Driver, start going, we have no time to waste!" The Roller starts to move with the two in the back, Hamilton smiles as he looks out the window.

"Tell me, Hamilton. How did it feel to survive death's embrace?" The man asked, with Hamilton not bothering to look back.

"It felt like a new experience."

"Is that all you have to say?"

"I'm... Not sure I follow." Hamilton waited for the man to start, and luckily, he went on to the topic that seemed to plague the assistant.

"Something doesn't add up to me. When I hear the situation, I hear that Hamilton and his team barely survived death from an assassination attempt by their superior."

"What's the problem? We had our issues."

"Yes, but that man was not clever enough to pull off such an accomplishment on his own." The assistant eyes Hamilton suspiciously. "What did you do?"

"I don't know what you're --"

"Don't play dumb, Hamilton. The evidence adds up if you look at it the way I did. You always hating being bossed around by him, why go this far?" Hamilton sighs out and looks the man directly in the eyes.

"Why don't we play Checkmate?" Hamilton smiles at the man, as the assistant raises his brows quickly.

"I suppose we have time. Very well." The man takes out a board and sets the pieces down on it. The assistant then moves a piece. "Is this fair to you?"

"It is. It's my turn, I suppose." Hamilton moves a piece. "I can't actually say that it was me who did all of this."

"You are the only one who could be behind it all." The assistant moves another piece. "Look, you are already almost under Checkmate."

"I think not." Hamilton moves a piece. "Because you have no supporting evidence against me. No witnesses, no documented conversations, nothing."

"Ah, but I do have something." The assistant moves a piece again, almost knocking down one of Hamilton's own pieces in the process. "The point of Checkmate is to get your opponent without knocking down one of his own, except for the King. And my evidence is that he never knew about the red stone rumors or where you were heading. Tell me, or you lose the game."

"Oh, very well. I guess I have no choice." Hamilton makes a move. "Oh look, I get to go again."

"What?! How did you --"

"It's simple, really. I weighed my options at the beginning, and I combined the best pieces of each into one, solid path." Hamilton moves again. "My team is always handpicked by me. I chose them because each of them had the skills I required in order to make a successful team."

"That still doesn't explain anything though." The assistant makes a move. "You are saying you didn't need to dirty your own hands? Why bother doing all of this, then?"

"Oh, but it makes sense, because that's how it all started." Hamilton makes another move that froze the assistant's turn. "Gem is the only one of us who ever talked to him, and she got his trust over time. She convinced him to tell us his secrets, in time, we came to know everything we could about him. The others, meanwhile, would go off and see others, collecting information and certain items we needed in order to make ourselves look too good to him."

"But why do that?"

"Because we needed him to trust Gem." Hamilton moves a piece. "You see, I would tell Gem what we wanted her to tell him, and it worked. Once he hated us enough, Gem let him in on our plan before we left and helped him to hire an assassin. A few days beforehand, I had the pleasure of meeting said man, a man who wasn't an assassin, but a very good actor. The man worked for us the entire time, getting the man's trust and doing everything we had planned with him."

"Y-you can't be serious! You mean you manipulated and calculated everything that would happen?!"

"Oh, but I am. The red stone incident was an added bonus, even the actor was surprised to find us in our state."

"But you all escaped unharmed, why go through the trouble of having your team in medical recovery?! Look at yourself!"

"Oh yes, look at me." Hamilton smiles, as his claws come out and he moves a piece with them. "I talked to the hired actor once he woke me up, and we agreed the best action would be to have my team examined and studied to determine the full effects of this plan. Even The Mistress must of thought I was dead." Hamilton makes one last move that claims him Checkmate. "Everything turned out nicely, I'd say."

"B-by Her grace..." The assistant had grown pale, frightened by how calm Hamilton had been in explaining this to him. He knew that if he spoke a word of this to anyone else, he'd end up six feet under.

"Oh, and another thing to note." Hamilton retracts his claws, with a smirk on his face. "I need you to do me some favors from now on."

"You... You had this planned out, didn't you? You must of laid out the evidence openly for someone from Vertice to come meet you in person! And now... And now..."

"And now you will do everything I say." Hamilton chuckles, before gaining a serious expression. "Let's talk business now."
 
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Hamilton

​
Hamilton knew it had taken a while, but eventually, they were nearing Vertice, said to be the center of Centora. He looked over at the assistant, who's name was Tullus, as the man tried to avoid all contact with Hamilton. "We are nearing Vertice." Hamilton spoke to Tullus. "Anything you want to tell me about it?"

"No, you already know much about it." Tullus spoke, looking out the window. "For an outsider, you sure caught on quick."

"I've lived in Centora most of my life." Hamilton smiles. "It was so strange, finding out how to use my stone to use those strange devices."

"A Linker, Mr. Hamilton. They create a link between other Linker's, making it possible to contact someone from a distance in just a few minutes. " Tullus didn't sound too happy to explain this though. "Listen, don't cause any trouble."

"You aren't the one to be giving orders here." Hamilton smirks at him. "I am the one in charge here. Don't forget it."

"Mr. Tullus, we are about to pass into Vertice's west entrance." The driver's voice spoke out from Tullus' Linker.

"Very good." Tullus, reluctantly, looks over to Hamilton. "Oi, answer me one question. Do you know how many moons She has?"

"Of course, She has three. However, two cannot be seen by Centora, so we only get to see one appear during the night. If you need further proof, the two we can't see are named Oscion and Muhines. The one we can see is named Nayama. Are you satisfied now, Tullus?" Tullus let out a growl in response, closing his eyes and crossing his arms over his chest. Hamilton smirks, satisfied with the reactions Tullus gave.
 
(A collab between York, infinity, and ☆Luna☆)


The breeze rustled the leaves of the forest, the cool air pleasant as the three girls walked along the forest path. It was quiet, the only sounds the natural ones of the forest, and the crunching of the three's footsteps, cracking the leaves and branches of the forest floor. As the time passed, the sun moved in the sky, illuminating the trio as they walked, filtered through the leaves of the canopy, on their long trek.


Oelia stayed quiet, she had too much to think about, and wasn't comfortable initiating a conversation among her companions. She spent the first part holding her stone in her hand, thinking about the land she was in, when she heard a voice from one of the others. As Ansley continued to walk, there was a question that was nagging at the back of her mind. It was a rather simple one that she should have asked before they had left "H-how long do we walk f-from here?" she said looking a little awkward about saying something like that this far into their trip already. Akane cheers, "Well, from here, it will probably take ummmm." Akane begins to count on her fingers, not terribly confidently, "16 hours?". Oelia looks over at them, speaking in her accent again. "16 hours? That is not the worst, but that means it'll take another day of traveling after this to get there, and that is assuming we walk for this day and the next with very little breaks. It seems a bit much, don't you think?" Akane looks to consider the matter briefly, "Ummm, well, we are kinda far away. But I'll walk all day if I get to stay in your company." Suddenly excited, "Oh, oh. If Akane runs at her speed, she can probably get there a lot faster!" Ansley looked at Akane rather worriedly and hesitated for more than a moment before she spoke "Y-you sure you c-could keep running for the entire trip?" She asked wondering if it was a good idea. Granted she wouldn't underestimate Akane just from how she looked, but even then everyone had to have limits… Right?


Oelia shakes her head at the two. "You know, Akane, if you run all the way to the town, we won't know where to go, right? We can't keep running like you probably can." Akane nods understandingly, "So I run too fast?" Realizing what it meant if Akane ran too fast ahead, Ansley nods "W-we just can't r-run as fast." she said, looking quite ashamed of that. Maybe her sister could run as fast but she's never been too good at that sort of thing. Akane once again puts on her thinking cap, then after deliberating for about five seconds, "Well, we could take a path to Merricrest, but the paths have meanies who try to take your stuff, and it isn't faster unless you have a horse or something that likes flat roads." Oelia shakes her head. "Which we don't have, and my stone is out, so I cannot fight anybody who tries to rob us." Ansley sighed a little, her own experience with robbers weren't the best… But her harp usually took care of what her sister couldn't. "W-Well… What do w-we do?" She asked, lacking any ideas on it herself. Akane calls out, "Oh, Akane can fight!" Akane pulls out her dagger from a hidden back pocket. She is clearly wielding it incorrectly, but honestly it might be a surprise just to know she was carrying a weapon at all. "She's been armed this whole time…" Ansley thought, it was indeed a little surprising to her, but somehow expected. It felt like there was something obvious missing from the picture though, but she couldn't quite figure it out at the moment. Oelia glanced at the dagger, then looked at Akane. It took her a few seconds, but she began putting two and two together. "You are skilled with that dagger, aren't you? I suppose that's why that demon suddenly died, hmm? I feel safer then with you around." Akane looks confused at first, but then starts to understand the seriousness of the accusations being pinned against her, her tail and ears drop, and she kicks at the grass, avoiding eye contact. "Is Akane in trouble?" Oelia giggles. "Of course not silly, you can be in charge of protecting us until I can fight again. My stone should be charged in but a few more hours, until then, you can keep us safe." Oelia smiles at Akane, trying to make her feel better about it. Ansley looked deep in thought about the news that she had just heard… It was too late to do anything about that now, and she wondered if her harp would really have helped the situation like it did before that girl turned. "N-no you… You d-did what you h-had to." She said appearing to be mostly unaffected knowing that Akane was capable of killing. Despite preferring another way to resolve a situation, she knew her sister would probably have done the same if she were here. Akane looks sadly toward the ground, "But you wanted to save her." A hand was suddenly placed gently on Akane's shoulder, the hand belonged to Ansley. "T-there's nothing w-we can do a-about it now…" she said forcing a small smile. Then she pulled her hand away with a blush realizing just now that she had placed it on Akane's shoulder in the first place. Akane looks up toward first Ansley, then Oelia, "So, you don't hate Akane? You aren't afraid of Akane?" Oelia smiles. "Of course not silly, there's no reason to hate you, at all." Even though it isn't like her, Oelia wraps her arms around and hugs Akane. "Just be sure to keep us safe, okay?" Akane perks up after Oelia hugs her, she seems touched by the actions of the other two. "Everyone else was scared of me because I can fight, but you two want me to fight for you, so Akane will do her best! But, please keep it a secret. I don't like when people are scared of me." Ansley nodded without saying anything, she was still a little embarrassed about what had happened. It didn't mean she didn't understand how scared people will be if this wasn't kept a secret though, her sister was often feared during her stays in large towns for a similar reason. Oelia nodded too, she knew all about secrets, so she could keep that one easily. From there they walked the 3 of them mostly silent now without much to talk about, especially Ansley, and to her the journey seemed to last forever.
 
(This post and it's finishing post are both collab's between myself, Osys, York and Blake. Enjoy!)

Fairwolf Struggle: Part 1

​
Isaac raises an eyebrow at the woman as she asked him the question. "It's not the worms that are our problem now. It's those merchants." Isaac looks to the driver. "Start driving, we got everyone we could." With that said, the Roller's start to grind on ahead through the desert. Allia glanced back at her plasma cutter, resting her hand on it as the Roller continued on.

"So we got us some business men in a town... Big deal." She rolled her eyes, moving her hands back into her lap. "Like... What'll they do? Give us cutthroat prices on some 'fine quality' goods?" Scarlett looked rather concerned at the mention of merchants.

Damn... Hope nothing big is going on over there, my sister's probably there too. I'd hate to have her caught up in this mess too. She thought, as she gripped her spear a little tighter than usual, staring out of the desert to try and avoid revealing any unnecessary emotions to the others.

"Merchants don't exactly go by definition anymore." Isaac motions for a Digger to use a Linker to talk to Daquan. "We need to prepare for anything, if we get there without them spotting us, they may not attack. That depends on how long this is going to take though." Scarlett looked towards Isaac now clearly hearing what he had just said.

"What do you mean by now?" She asked frowning a little, she herself was never too involved in the conflicts between the merchants and the diggers. Often times the bigger details tended to slip her while she was occupied with other things. Allia scratched her forehead, wiping off the sweat from her forehead.

"Do they now? Huh, I thought merchants just bought and sold stuff. Then again, I don't really go to cities so I guess I wouldn't know. Books, not experience."

"Merchants became a corporation sometime back, after turning the majority of stones unused into a currency, money, and the people love them for it. Not only that, Merchants are trying to look better than Digger's, by caring about the environments and such."

"Shit..." Allia looked out toward the expansive desert that seemingly stretched for miles.

"Question is... Are they?" Scarlett said figuring she'd inquire further. Despite the Merchants seeming like decent people, alot of rather shady corporations used that as cover. She wasn't so sure the Merchants are all that they say they are, or just what they say in are in fact.

"I'd figure not. Too many people out there who front. It's always the good ones that have the worst behind them I'd suppose." Looking through the haze, Allia looked at the sky, covering her face with her hands. "God it's hot. This thing have a roof or something?"

"Deal with the heat." Isaac commented.

"Uh guys, we have a problem." A Digger said, as Isaac tensed up, while the other three could hear running outside.

"What is it?" Allia glanced back at the digger, as she rested her hand on her plasma cutter.

"Hm?" Scarlett said looking around her, she gripped her spear tight enough to make her knuckles turn white now.

"A Texoyote Pack." This made Isaac frown.

"Oh no."

"How many?" Scarlett asked starting to assess what was going on outside, perhaps she could just jump out and "take care" of some of them... They were now considered new prey for her to hunt, but she wouldn't waste her efforts if they were too strong for even her.

"A pack of Texoyote's can consist of fifteen to twenty-seven... Normally." Allia's eyes widened, she'd never seen a Texoyote before, let alone a whole pack. Gripping her cutter, she checked the charge of the clip while forcing her hand through her pockets to feel for the rest.

"Do we have a definite number? Rather know what exactly I'm up against." Of all things, she felt nervous. This was outside of her contract, but yet, she could see a variety of new things by sticking with these diggers... provided these things don't kill her first.

"They've probably sent out a few scouts to determine how strong we are... I can only hope Daquan and the others can handle the Texoyote's on their end. 'Cuz we're going to be in trouble, since I ran out of juice on those Driller's."

"I say we help them out again, that's presuming we can take out the ones tailing us." Scarlett comments glancing outside again, but she still couldn't quite catch sight of any Texoyote's. It didn't mean she couldn't hear them running around out there somewhere.

"Damn... That sure sucks." she looked back at her rucksack, and an idea appeared before her. "Hey, what if I gave you some of my stone's energy?" Meanwhile, Cadoc readied his blade, he knew how to fight beasts like these and he felt confident that when they get close he would be capable of beating them.

"Anyone see them?" He shouted.

"Be careful, have you ever seen a Texoyote?!" Isaac asks quickly. "And watch that sword! It's too big!"

"I know how to fight wolves and bears, how different can they be?" He replies, as he got ready to sheath his sword. Scarlett glanced at that sword for a moment and tossed him her spear.

"Here, I trust that you're familiar with this kind of weapon?" She asked him, eyeing him curiously. She had seen his skill with his sword but he clearly required a different sort of weapon for this situation.

"Just be careful!" Isaac said.

"I know the basics, but wouldn't you be better with it?"

"I can handle myself just fine." Scarlett said confidently, she was perfectly capable of hand to hand combat with beasts. If things were to go downhill, she always had her trusty hunting knife to take care of things.

"Alright, i hope your right." Outside, Cadoc and Scarlett could see what looked like a sand storm behind them coming up. Shadowy figures that rose up from eight to ten feet could be seen running at the head of it.

"Things are just about to get interesting..." Scarlett thought to herself taking note of what seemed to be the "scouts" of this particular group of Texoyote. She needed to figure out their weaknesses before the real pack hit.

"Does anyone here have range weapons, we should try to pick them off before they get to us." Cadoc suggested.

"I would, but..." Isaac gestured to his stone. "I don't know -how- we can transfer stone energies, either. It's not been done, as far as we know."

"I'm focusing on driving here!" The Digger said to them.

"The stone in my spear still has some juice in it... Should we give it a try?" Scarlett asked looking towards it which was now in Cadoc's possession.

"If you can make it work, then by all means." Isaac said.

"Worth a try." Cadoc said, as Scarlett nods to them.

"I'll need that spear for a second then." She said and grabbed the end with the stone in it before any response could be given. Putting her hand over the stone and closing her eyes for a moment, it popped out of the spear again despite the fact that it wasn't used up. Then she released her grip on the spear once more "There, now how do we do this?" she asked.

"Ask him, not me." Isaac looks back to see the sand storm starting to pick up speed. "Whatever you two got in mind, do it fast! Those things are about to catch us!"

"We shoot them before they get to us." Scarlett turns to Cadoc once more.

"With what? If we still had Atuat with us that wouldn't be a problem, but all we've got to work with is a sword and a spear... Unless there's someone else with a weapon." she stated looking around at the others in the roller.

"I thought you were doing something that could make us shoot them, i know nothing of this stone sorcery."

"I'm out." Isaac said.

"I used most of mine back in the cave. Plus, driving!" The Digger responded, by now, the sand storm was also upon them.

"Then we will just have to face them when they get here."

"Per--" Isaac is interrupted, as Daquan fired off the top of his drill again. A howl is heard from inside the sand storm, while Daquan pulls the top of his drill back on. Suddenly, something hits the end of the Roller's. ". . .Right, let's not look."

"Hey, they stopped!" The driver noted, Isaac seeing the sand storm dying down.

"But for what reason?" Isaac asks.

"Maybe they gave up?" Cadoc said not totally believing himself.

"Let's not stick around to find out." Scarlett said, she knew whatever reason they had stopped for wasn't going to have pleasant results if nothing was done about it.

"Right, full speed ahead!" The Roller's moved on, yet Isaac didn't look convinced.

"You think they're still gonna pose a problem?" Scarlett said to Isaac, taking note of the look Isaac had on his face.

"You could tell?"

"I've seen enough packs of beasts in the jungle to know that they never give up on their prey this easily." Scarlett said, taking a look back at the still fading sandstorm, half expecting it to start up again at any moment.

"Maybe they thought we were to big of a threat." Cadoc said. Eight hours later, the Roller's end up at an entrance to Fairwolf, as everyone gets out of them. Daquan looks up at the sky.

"Well, Route B took a few hours longer than expected." Daquan looks back at them. "Digger's, your with me. The four of you will be lead by Isaac to an inn to rest for the night. Rest well everyone and have a safe journey home tomorrow." With that, Daquan heads off into Fairwolf. Scarlett nods and looks towards Isaac for guidance towards the Inn they'd be staying at. She wasn't as familiar with how Inns worked as she was with the jungle, so her better judgement told her it was for the best to let Isaac handle things for now. So Isaac leads the three into Fairwolf, for better or worse.
 
As the hours pass by patrons start leaving the bar in groups until only a few regulars remain. As work slows down Genevieve decides to talk to Dominic. She explains the situation, "And after, you did say that you didn't expect to have to take care of me forever." Dominic knew it was only a matter of time until she found something better in life than working at a run-down bar with an old man like himself. "Well I hope you will keep in touch." He said as he gave her a pat on the head, rustling her hair as if she were a pet dog. She giggled, "Thanks Dom, you've been so great to me, I promise I will repay you one day." Dominic smiled at the little kitsune, "You've certainly made it worth my while over these past years kid. I can handle the rest of the night, go ahead and get your things."
"Thank you so much!" Genevieve propped up on her toes and gave Dominic a soft kiss on the cheek before she ran off upstairs. She returned a few minutes later with a bag and her ring blade slung over her shoulder. She gave one last wave to Dominic before hurrying out the door and towards the gate hoping the lady hadn't gotten tired of waiting. As she approached the main gate she didn't see anybody, she stopped at the gate and looked around. Where was the woman?
 
Isaac

​
After a long day's journey, the gang had finally gotten to Fairwolf, and it was just like how he remembered it. As they walked, they saw that the ground to Fairwolf felt hard, rather than soft like the sand outside of Fairwolf. Around them, the buildings were huge and shadows could be seen spawning all over the town from them, already they all felt cooler. They could hear in the distance the sounds of the gates closing from the entrance they just used. Isaac lead the group, he knew where they needed to go, and as they walked, merchandising could be seen all around for many things: Clothes, suits, stones, food, drinks, supplies, among much more. Below them could be seen blue lines, just large enough to be noticed, but they seemed to run in certain paths along wherever they walked.

Isaac soon lead them to what looked like the biggest inn they'd have seen, it towered over them and it seemed to look like it held so much space. Isaac opens the blue doors and heads inside with them. "By the way, certain buildings can be identified by color, since the shade is very hard to see through sometimes. Blue means a place to rest, red means a place to eat, yellow is someone's home, black is the Merchant base, orange is the Digger base and white means for the injured." Isaac then pulls out a key for each of them, handing a key to each one of them. "The room number is engraved into your key, just don't hurt yourselves on the way up. I'm going to rest out here for a while." Isaac headed on over to a comfy blue chair, leaning back in it as he was so thankful mentally that he got to take this suit off soon.
 
Vulon

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The young kitsune could see a Roller coming in from the distance, as it pulls up to the east entrance. One of the Roller's doors open as an elf steps out of it, the first thing she'd notice was half of his left ear missing. The elf appeared young, but showed experience to his form, with protective gear covering his body. Vulon looks around as his eyes soon drew themselves to the kitsune. "Driver." Vulon speaks. "Who is she? And how did she get there?"

"I do not know sir. My only request was to bring you to Merricrest to be updated in a few days."

"Well, make a new one from me. This young lady seems to be waiting for something, and if she intends to go to Vertice, you will take her there."

"What?! But, Mr. Vulon --"

"Enough. There is nothing more to discuss." Vulon heads off for Merricrest, making his way past the kitsune briefly before entering into the gate.

Hamilton

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Hamilton entered into the town of Vertice, the closet thing they had to a city in this world. The Roller moves along on one of Vertice's roads in the west section. He could see many other Roller's moving about in the section, he knew that Vertice was the only town to have put in paths for the Roller's to move inside it safely. Each building they passed by had either a gray or brown color to it, with the gray's usually being bigger than the brown one's. "We are approaching the Merchant Tower, Hamilton." The driver's voice could be heard through the Linker.

"This will be my second time in the tower." Hamilton smiles to himself. "This time, it'll be a permanent stay." Hamilton was going to enjoy this, though unaware that he had caught someone's eye from afar.
 
Cadoc wandered around the outside of the inn, he had only recently been dealing with wurms and texoytes, but at the moment he was able to relax with little worry about beasts like those. Glad that he could finally rest after a bit of walking around Cadoc left going into the main room of the inn, were he found himself a seat were he could relax.
 
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