darkSpyro

"Well-- it is a lead and one I did bet 50 gold on, so we might as well see if it was at least worth the investment.," Todd said thinking of his slightly lighter bag and also noting how the graveyard was next to other possibly interesting locations. "And worst case scenario-- we simply move on and see where else we can look. The mayor's house is nearby for instance.," he pointed out on the map indicating the marked building next to the graveyard. 'That Goblin better be telling the truth...,' he thought to himself not about to let his investment go to waste. He probably shouldn't have been so gullible, but someone had to get a lead and it might as well be him. One thing was for certain, he was glad he wasn't alone at least. And he hoped he could prove that he was capable of protecting his fellow party members should things go astray.

"The mayor may be too busy, but he or she may provide us with a better lead than a goblin." Eydis said, firmly believing that the leader of a town would be far more reliable than a greedy goblin. If somebody knew about the town, it should be the one in charge of it, isn't it? Couldn't hurt to try. As the two companions walked, Eydis looked around for anything else she could purchase, but nothing else striked her as interesting, useful or even attractive. She believed she had everything she needed for the time being, and the only purchase she wanted to make was food. The times Todd took to look around, she contemplated her new bracelet. She still doubted it was magical considering it was given for free, but at least it made a nice decoration. Still, it was strange how the creepy man gave her this and all of the sudden everyone in the store vanished, with no trace of him whatsoever. And now a goblin pointing them to the graveyard? Some bizzare things were happening in that town, and even though Eydis enjoyed the initial stay, she was starting to believe that adventuring was better. She wanted to find their mysterious individual and get out of that strange place.

By the end of the brief confrontation between Gallan and the barkeeper, whatever minuscule joy the lizardboy felt had long since evaporated. He was once again as dry of a husk as the glass the mouthy goblin had been slaving needlessly over, save for the utter stupidity he felt for thinking for a second that this encounter could have gone any other way. At least the man had bothered to give them an answer, he reminded himself. However, logic could only blanket his emotions, like a soft, embroidered quilt concealing the thrashing beast underneath-- Enough of that.

Matted hair casting a shadow over his face as he tilted his head down, Nolis hissed, "Thanks, that's great. Let's go, Gallan." Turning on his, heel, he trudged his way towards the exit, hands balled into fists and calloused feet scraping against the floor. Not bothering to check if the boy was following, he pushed the doors open with more force necessary, planting himself in front of the building as he crossed his arms.

OOC: Is this still alive? I'll keep posting.

Relying on the map, Eydis and Todd reached what was supposed to be the building where the mayor resided. It wasn't as impresssive as she expected, but at least they were finally there.
"Well, this is it. I hope the mayor has better info than that dumb goblin." she said, rather desperate to enter the building and have an audience with the leader of the town. It was urgent for them to find the individual they were tasked to track, and who was better at doing that than the one in charge.

"There's only one way to find out.," Todd said eyeing the average looking building. If the mayer didn't turn out to be helpful or wasn't willing to give them with the information, then there was still the graveyard. Ether way, they seemed to be the only ones doing something-- and something was better then nothing. 'Well-- here goes it.,' Todd thought as they approached the doors. Perhaps they would get lucky. Perhaps.

Muta stepped into the brewery and began looking around, noticing how cluttered the place was. She started to wonder what the machines were for, but the sound of someone muttering distracted her. She turned her attention to the girl behind the counter. The half-orc couldn't help but overhear, and raised an eyebrow at what she heard. Sexy looking smoke? How can smoke be sexy? The idea didn't make any sense to her.

When the girl realized she had a visitor and spun around, the sudden volume in her voice caught the half-orc off guard. Does she even have an inside voice? Blinking a few times, Muta took a moment to actually register the words spoken. "Uh, it's fine," she muttered. She blushed faintly and looked away. "Um... T-thanks?" She wasn't used to this sort of treatment. She blinked again as she watched the girl halfway throw herself over the counter. "I'm Muta, and tha--Tasty? Potion?" She threw her hands up in defense. "Now h-hold on--" Muta cut herself off, when she saw the girl fall, and was about to ask if she were okay, when she was immediately back on her feet again. I think this girl might have a few screws loose...

Before Muta could say anything more, the potion brewer began to explain her craft. She listened and figured it sounded a little like forging weapons, using materials to make something new, just with a different craft involved. Muta tilted her head when she seemed to shout something at random. She was distracted by Malara's outburst, which had something to do with monkeys, for some reason. The half-orc watched with widened eyes as she rolled towards a cabinet. "Hey, wait! That's--Oh..." Muta sighed in relief when she narrowly missed it somehow. Geez, couldn't she just walk? At least she had the sense to not roll back to the counter with the bottles. The half-orc nodded along while she listened. "Special promotion?" She wasn't sure how useful these potions would be, but she figured that she and her friends could at least take advantage of this deal, so long as she could get them to come here with, what was it? Slime juice? Muta wasn't entirely sure what that was or where to get it, but she was fairly certain it didn't sound tasty. They didn't actually have to drink that stuff, did they?

The half-orc continued to listen to the explanation given to her. Considering the ingredients being listed, she figured these potions weren't actually meant to be drank. I mean, no one in their right mind would actually drink slime juice, thorns, fairies, and magma rocks, right? However, as Malara rambled on, that seemed to be the case. Muta's eyes widened. She couldn't imagine how any of this could taste good, or even be safe for someone to drink. Even the process itself sounded dangerous. Just randomly throwing stuff together with no real science to it? How was that considered a good idea? Still, being powered up sounded promising, that is, if the potion didn't kill you instead.

Muta just blinked and stared at the potion brewer for a moment. That smile of her's had to have been painful. Why did she feel the need to strain her face like that? It didn't seem at all necessary, when a nice, normal smile would do just fine. Either way, that wasn't important right now. The half-orc finally had a chance to actually ask questions, and while she was admittedly a little curious about potions, she still had business to attend to. "Okay, so um, first things first, do you know where I might find someone wearing red dragonscale armor? It's kind of important." Figuring it was rude to just walk into a shop and ask about something else entirely, she added, "do you maybe have a sample potion to try, or something, or do I need to actually bring you materials first?"

Gallan followed Nolis's lead, he didn't want to get in the way and the lizardboy seemed to have at least some form of confidence in what he was doing. "So like, I guess we just go to that abandoned house, but um...What if he is there and like he gets upset we're trespassing! Oh no I bet he'll roast us over a spitfire! No, no that doesn't make sense I'm just being paranoid, I'm sorry I uh, I have trust issues, now even more than ever considering about our parents. I guess this was our decision going on this quest though, right? I'm sorry, I ramble when I'm anxious..." The boy lacked any confidence, something he'd desperately need to find if he were to survive the future happenings of the quest at hand. Nolis seemed like he could defend himself, he seemed much braver than Gallan, maybe Gallan would be able to learn something from him, heck he couldn't even talk to the barkeep he was so afraid, he hoped that his companions courage would rub off on him. As they made their way to the abandoned house Gallan tried to think of something to talk about, "So um, where you from? Do uh, what kinds of stuff do you do for fun? I like to talk to animals, I-I mean like, I don't talk to them!" He began to wave his hands trying to swipe away the embarrassment. "I mean like, they don't talk back, I'm not insane or anything! I just, I like them y'know?"

-------

The doors to the Mayor's home flung open as Todd and Eydis approached, and out from those doors came a regal looking man, his clothing of red and white, a large puffed out kerchief lined his breast and his pants seemed far too puffy and big for his size, plus one couldn't ignore his long white hair tied up in a bun. He was screaming to himself. "Why, I never! How rude!" He shoved past the two and continued walking, his lip pouting and his hands clenched in fists. "Unfit! He's unfit to run this town! I ask for a trade between our towns and he turns me away!? That cretin! I'll have his head for this! YOU HEAR THAT!" The man had turned around and began to shake his fist in the air up towards the large stained glass windows that lined the front of the tall three story home. "I'LL HAVE YOUR HEAD!" The man's speech continued but under his breath as he stomped towards the entrance of the town.

Following this event another person walked out the large wooden front doors, this man had light brown hair, combed over in waves and a buttoned up white shirt with a beige colored vest over-top, he looked like the living breathing definition of formal. "Oh but wait! You forgot your dignity on my couch!" The man chuckled to himself, he couldn't have been older than 30, but he seemed much younger in demeanor. "Hm?" His eyes had drifted away from the yelling man and over to Todd and Eydis. "You two have an appointment?" His voice was monotone and serious, scarily so. "If not I'll have to ask you to leave, this is private property!" After a beat the man broke into hysterical laughter. "Oh! Oh I'm so sorry!" He wiped a tear from his eye. "Just joking! You two need something? You're new here, I know everyone in town and I haven't seen you guys around ever before. Listen, I got a nice freshly brewed pot of tea upstairs, you guys wanna try some?"

-----

Malara's eyes lit up, Muta's request warmed her heart and tingled her bones, quite literally, she could feel the tingles through her spine, although that may have been the new experimental potion she'd drank which she'd made out of a questionable part of a rabbit. "AHHHHH~ Um, like of course you can have a sample, I just brewed this health potion up! Okay like, here! I'll fill your bottle up! DID I MENTION THESE BOTTLES ARE FREEEEEEEE!?" Malara grabbed the bottle and twirled around, nearly smashing herself into a rack of bottles filled with an array of colors and consistencies. There were large open kegs in the back, most likely filled with different concoctions. She dipped the bottle into a keg full of viscous red liquid. She twirled her way back to the counter and raised the potion up into the air following up by swiftly slamming her hand downwards as if she was going to smash the bottle on the counter, but came to stop and lightly placed it down, smiling widely as she did so. "Okay this is totally on the house AND UM I KNOW THE DRAGON PERSON, yea like they come in here sometimes, oh they're so mysterious I'd love to just touch their arm and maybe take some of their flesh for my potion, with consent of course! Okay so like there's this abandoned house and I hear that the mystery dragon person hangs out there sometimes but it's like so gross in there, BUT ALSO I hear that at night they go to the graveyard and do something mySTERIOUS HAHA!" Her frantic switching between speaking and screaming was jarring and the way she stared at Muta's tusks was disturbing. "Okay so like we're best friends now by the way so you come anytime and like, yea!"

OOC: Alright. Let's see if we can make this RP active again.

As much as Eydis wanted to drink something, she never trusted having anything from strangers, especially food. She only accepted the bracelet due to being free and seeing it harmless enough.
"No thank you mister. We're kinda in a hurry. We're looking for somebody. He's described as wearing a red dragon armor with a red cloak. Do you know anybody like that?" Eydis asked, not even bothering with the introductions. Since the man claimed he knew everyone in this town, she assumed he must be the mayor. She didn't want to waste any more time in that town. From everything she's seen, it seemed like the inn was the only kind place there, so the sooner they could get information, the sooner could they leave.

OOC: Sorry for the short post.

"Yes please mister-- it's important that we must know.," Todd quickly added with a sense of urgently. If the mayer wasn't able to help them, then they would explore the next opportunity; and that meant going to the graveyard. He knew his fellow companion wasn't entirely up to that task, even if he had bet 50 of his own gold on it. One way or the other, they would HOPEFULLY get what they were after.

Amid Gallan's barely coherent ramblings, Nolis simply trudged on without a word, giving nothing more than a curt, "Hmph," at the boy's self-assessment and brief lapse into silence. Perhaps they seemed incoherent because the lizardboy neither was in the proper mood, nor gave enough of a care to hear it. Nevertheless, he at least paid some heed to his words when he decided to bring up the subject of home. What a lovely topic that was, after learning about their long-since deceased parents. "I find stuff," he replied, not allowing his gaze to stray from the path ahead of him. "Sift out the junk from what's remotely useful. It's tedious and you won't get rich from it, but you'll learn a thing or two."

Muta was already reaching for her coin pouch before hearing how much the potion would cost. She paused and looked back at Malara with slightly widened eyes. "Wow, you mean I can really have this for free? Thank you very much!" While a part of her questioned how smart that was for a business to do something like that, she wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth. Besides, that health potion sounded like it would come in handy.

The half-orc watched as the potion brewer spun around, once again moving carelessly in her own shop. "Be careful!" Muta gave the warning as she saw her nearly smash into the rack. When she saw Malara raise the bottle up high, she started waving her hands frantically. "Nonononono--" She tried to stop her, but it was too late. The bottle was sma--Oh, it was fine. She actually managed to stop herself and lightly place the bottle down. Muta sighed in relief. Why did she have to keep doing things like that?

She nearly jumped in surprise when Malara started shouting again. She should really learn to control her volume. However, her words did catch her attention. Oh, so she knew the dragon person? Great, that sounded promising! Muta listened intently to get the information she needed, but then started to wish she hadn't just heard what she did. She began to shuffle her feet and squirm uncomfortably. Malara wanted his flesh? "Uh huh... That's... Something..." She muttered under her breath. She stopped herself from saying what she really thought on the matter, figuring it would probably be rude, or something like that. Trying to distract herself from those thoughts, she focused on where to find this dragon person. "So the abandoned house and the graveyard?" She said quietly. Interesting places to hang out. At least it was a start. This person sure did sound mysterious, though.

Muta grabbed the potion bottle and slowly started backing up towards the door, keeping her eyes on Malara. "Well, thanks for the potion and the information," she said, a bit hesitantly. She shifted uncomfortably, seeing how the potion brewer was staring at her. She reached a hand out behind her, feeling for the doorknob. "Yeah, uh, great," she gave a slight smile to the mention of friendship. "Um, I really should be going now, though. I've, uh, got things to do, so... Um... See you later," and with that, she turned the knob and was out the door in a flash, closing it behind her.

Gallan wasn't a fan of how reserved Nolis seemed to be, it was a total contrast to his bumbling, anxious person however he seemed to handle that scene in the bar pretty well so Gallan was thankful for that, god if he'd been there alone he might have pissed himself from fear; all those people staring at him. "Oh?" Maybe Nolis was friendly, if the right question was asked and it peaked his interest enough. "What kind of stuff do you find? Hey y'know I bet once we're done with this quest you won't have to search through garbage anymore, right? I mean, if we come out as heroes I bet we'll be rich right! I-I mean not like money is everything but it sure is helpful, sometimes times get tough y'know? I uh, I remember when--" He'd stopped in his tracks as they had already reached their destination. The house definitely was abandoned; the wood that it was built with was rotting and had greyed from years of neglect, cobwebs filled the shattered windows and the door seemed to be bolted shut with several locks, the windows boarded up from the inside. That Goblin said this Magician dude went there to chase mice and stuff, right? How did he even get in!? "Um, Nolis, how are we...I mean, it's all, who would want to even be near a place like this? It's just...I mean look how nice this town is and then this house, it's just dark and gloomy in one single area of this place, how could that be?" He was right, it seemed as if when they stepped into the house's vicinity everything went misty and the sky had greyed. "M-m-maybe we should g-get someone to uh, maybe we shouldn't do this, I-I bet it's dangerous right?" No. He had to prove himself. "Uhm, no wait there's...There's gotta be a way in right? Maybe we could check out the...The back." He gulped but it felt as if the saliva got caught in his throat, he was terrified but this was their only lead and there must have been a way in." Gallan slowly made his way towards the side of the house, which was surrounded by dark brown fences. He screamed like a little girl as a mouse ran out from a hole in the side, it was like someone had dug a hole just big enough for a person to get into. "Uhm, Nolis?" He called over. "I think I uh, I found the way in...But I think maybe you should go first y'know, cuz what if um, yea..."

------

At the inquiry of both Eydis and Todd the Mayor looked a bit puzzled. "Azaroth? What would you want with them?" He crossed his arms in front of his chest and stared both of them down from top to bottom. "You look like travelers...Oh god did Azzy steal something from you two? Not again, we've had this discussion a million times!" He began to rub his forehead as if a headache was creeping up on him. "Okay listen, Azaroth usually messes around at the cemetery just a couple minutes to the left from here at night, but that's not for a while, it's barely even noon...So, hmm...You could check the Fortune Teller! But...Hmm, you'll have to pay her. She's not the sweetest old broad but she means well...I think. Or, you could always wait til night, your choice."

Eydis closed her eyes in disappointment, hating the idea of waiting another minute in this bizzare town.
"So pardon me sir, does that mean we really have to wait for nighttime? Isn't there a chance you know where this man is at this very moment? Of course, we can go to the Fortune Teller if there is no other option, but we were hoping to solve this matter a bit faster." Eydis said respectfully, finding it strange how the mayor, who knew the guy they were searching for after all, couldn't know about his present whereabouts. She still had some money on her, but she didn't want her or Todd to blow it all away on some destiny reader, especially since she's never been a fan of that method.

//BUMP So I'm back (I think ahh) and I'm changing some stuff. Weapon crafting is different now, your bonded weapons sorta evolve like pokemon when the time is right and you've earned an upgrade, potions and weapon upgrades will still exist but without the complicated crafting stuff, so ignore all the item stuff, sometimes youll get items but they wont be for crafting.//

The Mayor, befuddle at why these two random travelers would ever want anything to do with Azaroth, began to tap his index finder to the side of his cheek, his thick eyebrows inverted in a manner of concern and deep thought. "Well..." Suddenly the man shot up with energy as if a lightbulb had actually manifested above his head. "I've got it!" He snapped his fingers. "If you really want Azzy to come right NOW there's always the one option but...It's just an idea. Azzy always has been hellbent on basically having the record of most consecutive days drunk as humanly possible but there's something she loves just as much...Maybe a little less. Excuse me!" The Mayor ran back into the building, there was a girlish scream and then after a minute or two the man had come out with stains all over and holding a pot full of steaming hot tea. "It's a bit scalding hot right now but...Nobody knows where Azzy lives but there's always sightings at the graveyard at night, sometimes I bring tea there and put it on a specific gravestone and it's gone by morning...Maybe if you do that now and hide and wait for a little while you just may find your mark!" He extended the pot out. "Here. There's a gravestone with the name "Aldan Astera" on it. Place the pot there and hide and wait, maybe you'll get lucky."

OOC: It's no problem. I missed this RP

Eydis didn't understand what kind of wizardry was this, but they had to find this Azaroth, so they had no other choice.
"Well, alright mayor. If you instruct. Will we have the cup?" she asked politely, despising the idea of going to the graveyard, but no matter how many times they wanted to avoid that place, it seemed that their methods always lead to that place.

Eyes with slitting pupils honed on the boy upon the utterance of "won't have to". What, did he think his little hobby was out of desperation? Said eyes softened and flicked away, teeth withdrawing from their clenched state. No, it didn't matter. He couldn't expect this kid to understand. He wasn't the sort of want to hide away from the presence of others and fiddle with things forgotten and unwanted. Or at least, not from his animal companions, as he had spoken of. It was fine; not everyone could be like him.

Not everyone could be stoic in the face of some goofy haunted-house-looking place, either, as Gallan demonstrated, stammering and cowering like a little rabbit as he searched the perimeters. Nolis sighed at the scream that pierced his ears, pressing a scaled hand against each weather-worn plank that composed his chosen side of the building. Said hand drew away upon hearing something useful.

"Let me see," he said, marching around the corner and following Gallan's eyes. And would you look at that; a hole in the wall. Pretty self-explanatory. Not another word was spoken as Nolis fell to his hands and knees and scurried underneath, unflinching at the jagged, wooden edges as they snagged at his shirt. Batting a lazy hand at a few pesky cobwebs as he lifted his head, he proceeded to survey the inside of the strange house.

Muta spent a moment or two looking over her map, trying to decide on where to go next. The potion brewer had said that the dragon person can sometimes be found at the abandoned house or the graveyard at night. Sure, it wasn't late enough yet, but the graveyard could still be a promising option. Maybe she would get lucky, or at least find some sort of clue. Besides, it was by the mayor's house, maybe they would have some additional information about this elusive dragon person. It was worth a try at least.

So with her destination decided, Muta put away her map and headed towards the graveyard. As she approached, she could see what had to be the mayor's house, with a few people standing in front of it. Hold on, weren't two of those people familiar? "Hey!" Muta called out to them, waving her arm in the air to get their attention. "Eydis! Todd!" Hopefully, she could catch them before they wandered off to continue their search elsewhere. Maybe they had found something out.

"Muta-- is that you?!," Todd said sounding somewhat surprised by the unexpected voice... almost jumping up like that of a frightened Fennec Fox. In fact-- the half-half halfling could even imagine such a scene thanks to that strange dream that he couldn't entirely get out of his head. In any case, Muta had successfully gotten their attention. 'Why that dream? Oh nevermind that.. what are you doing here?!,' he thoughts quickly wondered.

OOC: Brief post, but I hope it works. Glad you're back!

The Mayor complied with Eydis's request and handed her the tea pot. "Careful, it's made out of material that keeps the outside cool but the tea itself is scalding...For some reason Azzy loves a burnt tongue, maybe because it takes away from the dru-...Nevermind. I hope you two find what you're looking for and don't hesitate to visit again!" With that the Mayor took his leave back into the building.

---

Gallan, reluctant as always but ever wanting to prove himself followed behind as Nolis crawled through the hole and into the interior of the house. Gallan wasn't as static in his emotions however as the pulling at his clothes made him wince in fear of being scraped and the cobwebs that were before him filled his mouth with a disgusting bitter and dusty taste which made him choke briefly. "M-Maybe we have the wrong..." As the two boys finally made it to a point they could stand the house seemed to overtake them, it was more than just abandoned and run down but something else altogether. Blood soaked into the rotting splintered ends of broken chair backs, a magic powered fan attached to the ceiling was hanging on by a thread, half used candles were tossed all over the floor in a large tripping hazard and piles of tea pots were in the corner of the room. "Oh I hope this is the wrong house...We aren't really gonna look around this place are we?" The house had all the amenities one would need to live but it was so run down how one could even hide out here was beyond belief. Nailed boards covered a hole in the ground that presumably led to the basement and the kitchen was...surprisingly clean, or at least the stove top was. The broken cupboards were filled with nothing but cups and teabags, a chest was on the other end of the room, lock unhinged. A broken staircase leading up was accessible but would request some careful movements to get up.

Eydis grabbed the cub and bid the mayor a polite farewell to hide her frustration about the fact that going to the graveyard was a must.
"Let's go Todd..." she said before realizing he wasn't alone.
"Oh. Hey. Didn't know you were here too. Guess our mission lead you to this place too, huh? Well, if you don't know yet, our next stop is the graveyard. We have to put this cup on a certain tomb if we want our mysterious Azaroth to appear." Eydis explained, still not liking the idea. Why couldn't Azaroth be a person with a home or at least someone that chose a certain normal place like a bar to hang out in? Not even the mayor knew her current whereabouts. They actually had to wait in a forsaken place in order to meet with her. But Eydis tried to shake off her frustration and avoid making a big deal of it. She and Nolis faced a people eating sand squid just yesterday, so it wasn't possible for this to be any harder, was it?

Muta smiled at Todd as she approached. "Yeah, it's me. I'm glad I ran into you two," she said, turning towards Eydis as she had realized that the half-orc was there. Muta nodded as she listened intently to her explanation. "So their name is Azaroth then? And we have to put that cup on a certain tomb?" Muta gave a firm nod with a grin. "Alright, let's go. Based on the information I got, I was headed there anyway. Now we can go together."

The half-orc was glad that she wouldn't have to go there alone. While she wasn't too concerned with whatever danger that may be there, she did like having the company. Besides, how much danger can be in a town, where it's supposed to be safe? Even a graveyard is nothing to worry about. Everyone there is already dead. Dead people can't get up from their graves and move around, can they?

By the time Nolis had risen to a stand, his mind was flitting with thoughts as quickly as his eyes darted from one corner of the house to another. It was immediately clear that the place had seen some form of activity recently, but the details all added up to... well, nothing the boy could immediately discern. It was quite strange. Blood-soaked, broken chairs? Used candles strewn about the floor? An oddly clean kitchen littered with teabags instead of dust and grime? Had someone been prepping for some sort of weird sacrifice? Nolis had seen stranger things in presumably abandoned houses, but in spite of that, he wasn't sure what all of this meant.

Gallan's constant whining about their investigation wasn't helping him draw conclusions, either, although by the time he saw the unlocked chest across the room, the sound of those complaints died in the background of his thoughts. It was almost instinctive, the way he strode in its direction and crouched before it, eyeing it keenly before placing his scaled hands over the lid. He was ready to peek at what was held inside, ignoring whatever comments Gallan had been making during his brief analysis of the chest.

//So to make things easier we're getting rid of item crafting, it's just too confusing to keep up with, you can still buy potions and weapons, and weapons will still evolve but we won't be getting any items to make potions or upgrade weapons, i hope that's alright it was just far too much to handle and keep track of. Some enemies will still drop items that have purposes however. I'm also going to keep some items for new special purposes such as crystals and gems.//

Gallan knew that Nolis was doing his best to ignore the frightened boy, heck if Gallan split in two that very moment he'd try to get away from the other so he didn't have to deal with his complaining any longer. What was it? Why couldn't he just be brave? It was like something was stopping him from achieving any greatness, some sort of force pushing him back, a force he'd have to break through. He didn't want to be lesser than the others, he wanted to be thought of as an equal, not the scared little boy that happened to be dragged along. Gallan began to scour the broken cupboards.

Inside the cupboards Gallan found nothing but some loose gold pieces and cobwebs.

Nolis, however, opened the chest, his eyes would grow wide as he'd discover the secrets of the chest: Gold pieces up to the brim, shining brightly even in the darkened room somehow. Golden coins...Made of chocolate. But not all, some were real, it was as if someone just couldn't be bothered to put the real ones somewhere separate. Nolis grabbed whatever real ones he could find adding up to 200G. There were also a few red crystals and a red gem.

"Get....OUT" A voice echoed perfectly despite the holes everywhere. A figure emerged from the shadows...No wait, it was a shadow? Completely black, large and looming over the two on every single bit of light that was pouring in through the holes. It was impossible to make out who or what was casting all these shadows and how it was completing such a thing.

Gallan couldn't move, he was frozen, and not out of fear, if it had been up to him he'd have ran out the side of the house creating a hole his shape just like in a cartoon, no, his legs were frozen to the floor with ice. "NOLIS I DON'T WANT TO DIE TO A SHADOW"

-----

Muta, Eydis and Todd made their way to the graveyard. Even in the daylight one could get chills. Each grave was unique, an impressive feat against the usual generic tombstone, some were tall and pointed and others were shaped like heads, but one stood out about all, shaped like the head of a dragon, wings curved inward as if protecting the grave itself, moss covered the statue, the grave read "Aldan Astera"

Eydis and her two companion arrived to the gravestone they wanted, and following the mayor's instructions, she placed the pot in front of the gravestone.
"Well then... that's all the mayor said. Now then, time to hide and wait..." Eydis said unenthusiastically, still not liking the idea of spending an undetermined period of time in a place like this, but she hoped it was far better than almost being devoured by some giant sand squid.

It was as if someone was listening to Eydis and her thoughts of her not wanting to wait long because almost immediately the sky over the graveyard turned dark, the white fluffy clouds were now gray and thunderous, lightning struck the ground, igniting flames that surrounded the exits. A large red shadowy figure approached the grave and enveloped the tea pot, it disappeared inside of the being. "WHO SUMMONS AZAROTH!"

OOC: I'll be honest-- I'm a little rusty as to what is going on in this RP. Time will do that to you.

"Uh...," Todd quickly said stumbling for words. "My name is Todd and this is Eudis. Oh and this is Muta.," the half-halfling said introducing himself and his fellow companions. He hadn't expected an reaction so soon and so urgently. It was as if time itself had decided to spare them the wait.

As the sky turned dark, Muta looked up at the grey clouds. Strange, was there a storm brewing so suddenly? It looked like they wouldn't even have time to make it to shelter before it would start raining on them. However, there didn't seem to be any rain, just lightning. When the lightning struck and created flames that blocked off the exits, Muta quickly drew her sword. This was no ordinary storm, this was a trap, and that meant danger.

The half-orc turned towards the shadowy figure who approached and watched them carefully. So was this who they had been searching for? Muta sheathed her sword, not wanting to give off the wrong impression. "You are Azaroth, yes? We were told to find you. I believe you're supposed to train us to use magic?"

Indeed, Nolis's eyes did grow wide at the twinkling they were met with once the lid was pushed away. He had expected anything else. Nameless junk-- to the untrained eye, at least-- more tea kettles, perhaps some weird occult items with the angle this place seemed to be going for. Not an entire chest full of gold and jewels, prime for the picking. It had to be some sort of trap, he speculated, perhaps even knew. But no sooner had that crossed his mind was he stuffing handfuls of the treasure in his satchel. It was weighing against his shoulder almost painfully when the smell reached him.

Scaled brows furrowing, he took a single gold coin in his fingers and scratched at what he realized were the ends of some sort of coating. He peeled back the glittering paper and took it under his nose. It immediately wrinkled. "Ugh. Of course it's dark."

The meticulous process of sifting gold from... chocolate, for whatever reason, was cut short, evidently by a shadowy entity who was making its displeasure of their intrusion very clear. Well, there was the trap. The lid was slammed shut, Nolis shooting to a stand and making to dart out of the haunted house like a skink from black-eyed cat. He would have to risk the graze of its claws, however; Gallan was in no state to save himself.

"Oh god, why--" A loud hiss left his nostrils as he veered off to the boy and knelt at his entrapped feet, taking in the extent of the ice cover as he muttered all the while about how shadows should allow a decent chance to leave when it's demanded. Glaring at the ice as if it had personally offended him, he pulled his flail from his belt and readied for a blow at the base of it.

The red figure in the graveyard began to dissipate and then form into a red dust, the entire graveyard became a fog, separating the three adventurers, their sight limited now in this new environment, the dust began to rotate around Muta, getting faster and faster until it disappeared completely and with it the fog. The sky cleared, showing its brilliant blue.

"Oh, well why didn't you say that sooner?" Behind the group stood Azaroth, his bright red dragonscale armor rustling and clanging in the wind, his helmet face was down, covering any facial features but the voice sounded...Weird. Not like it should have. "Listen, this better not be a set up to catch me day drinking again, because I've been sober for months now" three bottles that once housed beer fell out from under the armor. "and by months I mean a few minutes." Azaroth approached the three, inspecting them one by one. "You sayin' I'm s'posed to train you? I mean sure I heard word I was supposed to train some new heroes or whatever, I mean I told em 'nah I'm busy' but they said I'd be saving the world or whatever and they offered me some cool stuff and to unban me from the bar if I do it. But you guys look so..." Azaroth grabbed Muta's arm and raised it up high, inspecting it. "Weak." He shook his head. "Much weaker than the last ones I trained." Azaroth fell to the grass, cross legged "Is this all of you or did some of you die the way here?"

-----

Nolis raised his flail and...Hit Gallan right in the leg where the ice should have been. The flail had just gone right through, as if it weren't even there.

Gallan screamed in pain. "WHAT WAS THAT FOR!? HIT THE SHADOW NOT ME!"

"NO HITTING ME. YOU BREAK INTO MY HOME AND YOU STEAL FROM ME. AND NOW YOU THREATEN ME." A plastic box enveloped Nolis and the ice around Gallan began to crawl up his body, covering more of him. "TELL ME WHY YOU TRESPASS. WHY SHOULD I SPARE YOUR LIVES."

Eydis was very cautious around this individual, and not wanting to remain there any longer, she went straight to the point.
"Good evening sir. We we re instructed to find you." she explained, trying to ignore his bizzare behavior. Battling a giant, man eating squid didn't sounded so bad after all...

It would have been natural for Nolis to acknowledge his lack of skill in the area of armed combat and assume that he had missed the mark entirely with his first swing of the flail. His... fail flail. Dammit. But his eyes never lied to him. He saw it phase through the ice and crunch that poor kid's leg. This wasn't a matter of incompetence. Well... arguably. This shadow person was making a pretty good point, and honestly, it was pissing him off. That, and his ability to flee from consequences was hampered by this wall pushing into his back.

"We... uh..." Think, for gods' sake! "We thought it was abandoned. Our bad." Speechcraft 100, nailed it.

//Hello everyone. I read the entire RP and typed this up, it's got references to our characters items and stuff at the top. I wrote up underneath the character info a summary of everything that's happened until now. I suggest you give it a read if you've forgotten what's happening.//


https://docs.google.com/docume...dit?usp=sharing //

The shadow wrapped itself around the plastic box that Nolis was now a prisoner of. "Abandoned? You thought...Oh."

The shadow backed off from the box, in fact the box disappeared and so did the ice from Gallan's legs. The shadow shrank into the form of a young looking woman, she had long brown hair and very slender figure. "You must be the others, no way this is coincidence, unless and it is, well boy will I look a fool. I smell...." She began to sniff the air, getting closer to Gallan as she did so, practically sniffing right next to his face. "Ah, you came from the bar... Did you bring me anything? No, not the time Azzy, not the time. Listen, your other friends are at the graveyard with me right now, well.... Okay how do I explain this." the girl scratch her head and a bunch of dandruff poured out in flakes. "Okay so like, I'm sure you heard I'm a magical man OoooOOooo! Well, they probably undersold me. I trained the previous saviors, so by proxy, I sorta saved the world... Anyways, magic... Oh, wait why are you looking so surprised?"

Gallan had previously been frozen to the floor and now he was just frozen, but what else was new? "You're Azaroth? You're supposed to be a guy"

Azaroth stared at Gallan displeased. "And you're supposed to be not pathetic but look what I'm dealing with. I don't like people knowing my business, so DON'T go telling people my business, you got it?"

The odd girl began to twirl her hair in her fingers. "Aaaaanyways, magic. So, right now my armor is at the graveyard, long story but it gets a bit lonely being, well alone, so I used a Personification spell on my armor, and who's personality did I use? Well, mine of course cuz I'm the only company worth having. Problem is the armor thinks it really is me sometimes, I don't have the heart to undo the spell... They should be headed here soon so now we wait! And then, we train. And then we drink a lot!"

-----

The living armor turned to face, er, it didn't have a face, but if it did it would have been looking at Eydis. "Sir?" The armor folded its arms and turned away. "Can't you see when you're in the presence of a lady!" The armor shook its head. "Okay, you're friends are waiting at my house, it's a long story and I can explain on the way... C'mon!" The armor began to lead the way, and as it led them to the abandoned house it explained the situation just as the real Azaroth did to Nolis and Gallan. "So yea, I sort of get carried away in the act, thinking I'm the real one, but hey, I don't see why we can't share the title of greatest magic goddess in all the realms." The armor didn't even care to look if the others had followed, it had just assumed they had. It was too interested in talking about Azaroth. The armor led the adventurer's to a secret door in the side of the building and led them inside.

-----

The real Azaroth smiled with content. "Ah! Armor! You brought em here! Welcome! I'm Azaroth, you can call me Azzy. Shall we begin?

Gallan smiled at the others and waved.

... What. That wasn't supposed to work.

Though, in an ironic twist, the confusion in Nolis's slit eyes would only diminish to half-lidded boredom the longer their "host" drabbled on. Just what the team needed. A nutjob for a teacher. Great...

He was in no place to complain, however, given that his and Gallan's fates would not turn out to be suffocation and hypothermia, respectively. Or, presumably. He wasn't one to know how metaphysical boxes and noncorporal ice worked. And while he doubted this... interesting character could supply a reasonably coherent lesson, still he kept his tongue locked behind shut lips, returning the flail to its loop on his belt while he waited alongside Gallan for the awaited meeting.

A scaled hand resting over his satchel betrayed his hope of not returning other things.