Zetaark

"Hmm? This group is just a couple of regulars who come by every now and again. They work some of the horse ranches around the east side of the island. Pretty good folks I'd say. Still though, not often I see someone so concerned like this. He something special to you?" the barkeeper asks her, glancing over at the bard. "The Baron? Ah yeah, guess you wouldn't know about him since you aren't from here. The Baron's actual name is Roman, and he's one of the top guys for one of the noble houses on Romani. Not as big as the Romani family themselves, but still pretty big. He runs things up in the north, though recently he's been trying to get some influence in places other than here. But unless you've got high up friends or quality merchandise, you won't get too much recognition outside of your island. Sort of why he's been harrassing the Romanis as of late, though it seems like he's finally gotten the memo," he pauses before nudging Cass a bit. "Speaking of getting the memo, that lady over there has been eyeing you ever since she came in. Got any ideas why?" he asks Cass, nodding his head in the direction of Emilee. ---------------------------- "That's understandable. Most mages have particular preferences to which magic we use. I for one am not a really big fan of thunder magic at all, even though everyone at my academy was obsessed with it. So I can certainly see where you're coming from," Helena smiles. "Now then, where to next?"

"Not too much really, though I've heard some interesting rumors. Apparently some church lady or other is getting tried for murder or something in a couple of weeks or so. Not sure on the exact details of what exactly happened, but the trial is going to be held in Arcadia. Sadly its a private trial so unless someone fesses up about the thing to the public, that's all we're getting. Past that, I heard the big bad Baron has been rounding up new recruits. That guy's desperate to try and get his hands on the Romani family brew. Heard the guy tried marrying into the family once, but get this. The girl publicly shot him down, and what's even more rich is that she went and got married a few weeks later. Boy he was livid after that," the man laughed before looking over Cass. "You a traveling musician or something? I've not seen a guitar like that any place around here," the man asks. To the side out of sight, the barkeeper passes Emilee her drink. "Here you are little lady. Free of charge, all drinks are on the house today for all patrons," he tells her.

"400 is just fine sir. As for the Romanis, they recently had a bit of a scuffle with one of the barons of the north end of the island. Guy supposedly wants ownership of the Romani brew or some such and the family isn't willing to sell it. Last I heard of things, the younger son got in a fight with some of the Baron's men and the two groups left on pretty bad terms. That was a few weeks ago though and not much else has happened since. Chances are they already settled the matter in private. Anything else you care to know?" the shopkeeper asks.

Inside the tavern is a group of men at the bar, chatting loudly with each other. Though they have a few drinks in front of them, none of them seem to be drunk quite yet. One of the men notices Cass entering and calls him over. "Come on by! Drinks are on the house today apparently. Not sure why, but I'm sure as heck not complaining. The drinks here come from the Romanis themselves, the finest brews in all the islands. Come on, sit and chat."

"Hrm..." the shopkeeper frowns as he glances over the worn down weapons. "I'll cut 350 off the total price of the rapier and knife. Sound fine?" the shopkeeper asks. -------------------- Belros hears a few people discussing particular archery techniques for both hunting and combat. He also hears from two men in the back about some sort of trial happening in Arcadia, though the two men leave before Belros can hear more about it. He then overhears two women talking about something regarding the Romani family and a recent incident for a brief moment, before talking about their shopping endeavors. -------------------- Cass finds a store that contains a variety of supplies, primarily staves, but also general medications like vulneraries. The shop even has a section for wandering bards and dancers, containing a few pieces of equipment for them. Shop List:

Belros takes a stroll to find the archery shop. On his way, he hears a bit of commotion from the local tavern nearby. Walking past it, he finds the archery shop, and finds quite a few people discussing a variety of things inside. There seem to be a large variety of bows present in the shop. Shop List: ----------------------------- "Not much really. Though, this could be a nice grab," Helena states, grabbing an Elwind tome and buying it. "I personally prefer fire magic, but wind magic is nice to have when you absolutely need to hit something. Out of curiosity, is there a particular reason why Druidic tomes don't appeal to you?" Helena asks, hoping to learn more about the class of magic.

"Oh yeah, one of the shops 2 blocks over has an archery shop. They have some nice bows in stock if that's what you fancy," he answers.

Darius walks around the town in search of a magic shop. Helena also decided to join him, and the two eventually found a small shop that contained various tomes. Nobody besides the shopkeeper was inside, but the shop had a variety of tomes. Shop List: ---------------------------- "Oh, looking to sell something eh?" the shopkeeper says, taking the dagger in his hand and examining it. He takes a moment, and then nods. "Yeah, this thing is still in pretty good shape. Sure, I'll take that deal," The shopkeeper states.

The trio walks over to the armory, which seems to hold a host of swords, axes, and lances. Belros would note that the armory did not sell bows, but there were an assortment of swords and knives present. Inside the armory are a few other people chatting, and the shopkeeper is a burly man who seems to have just come out of a forge. Shop List:

"O-oh?" Madante said, surprised at Rayne's sudden arrival and the friend she brought with her. "Ah yes, I remember you helping us out in battle...and flattening a knight. As for pay..." Madante trails off, looking at the new additions the group had acquired. "Well I needed to adjust the payroll anyways, adding another person won't change too much. I'll just have to let...him know about it in advanced," Madante sighs before continuing his thoughts. "Still though,there's the matter of us getting to Kabumu still. And if what I've just heard from Belros and the pirates is accurate, there may be a lot going on there. Unfortunately, the boat to Kabumu from here won't come around for a little over a month, time we just don't have. What to do, what to do?" Madante frowns, trying to think of a solution. Having been silent up to now, the boat captain steps forward. "Umm, excuse me, but if you need transport, I may be able to aid you to some extent. While it's true that Kabumu is not my end destination, I am going to Z'Ark after I pick up goods from Romani. See, I'm one of the merchants from Z'ark, and I came here to pick up some goods. Of course, as you saw, I ended up getting caught up in this mess. Technically, cargo ships aren't allowed to carry passengers, but they are allowed to have guards on board to protect their ship. I wasn't granted permission to do so before since my trip was seen as low risk, but given this incident, I feel like its safe to say that I can get away with hiring some protection. It may not be the most direct route, but compared to waiting here for a month, I can assure you that you will get to your destination faster. Does this sound fine to you?" the captain asks Madante. "Considering our alternatives, I'd say that this will work out just fine. Besides getting us closer to where we need to go, it will be convenient for getting all of us around. Apparently a few new people came around and helped out in the fighting. With that, I'll gladly take their assistance if they decide to continue traveling with us. And uhh, miss? What about you?" Madante then asks Helena, not quite sure as to her plans. "Me? I suppose I'll stick around with you for a while. The boat to my destination won't come for any reasonable period of time, and coming with you at least lets me continue some of my research," Helena answers, glancing at Darius. "Very well then. I'll get these three over to the local authorities while you pick up the goods you needed, and then we can head out later. Is that fine?" Madante asks the boat captain. "That sounds acceptable. Oh, and call me Xavier," he replies, smiling a bit. As Madante takes the three pirates over to the local authorities, the rest of the party help Xavier move some of his goods onto the ship. Once both groups have finished up with their work, Xavier pays the group for their service before leaving Gateon Port. Party acquires 3000 vespers (each)! Chapter 3: Local Whispers Year 1638, 25th of Vembra After a few days of sailing on the seas, the party safely arrives in Romani, encountering neither pirates nor storms on their travels. The party arrives at the docks of Hylva, the primary seaport of Romani, sometime in the early morning. Even in the early morning, the town has quite a few people out and about, enough to resemble other towns in the middle of the day. The area has a bit of a country feel to it, with the rustic style of the buildings. As the party debarks for a moment, Xavier explains what he needs to do. “Alright, I’m going to be picking up some goods from one of the larger families from here. The Romani family is the oldest family name that exists on this island, thus the name. They also happen to produce some of the finer drinks in all of Veritas, which is why I stopped by here. It should take a few hours before I get the supply, so until then you all can hang out in the town. When I get back with the goods, we’ll be off to Z’Ark, which is about a day’s sailing away from here. Have fun!” Xavier says as he walks off into the town. Looking about, there are quite a few stalls and buildings, some of them weapon shops, others taverns, and others still for just miscellaneous items.

Ritsu, noticing some of the commotion, decides to join the others.

The trio looked at each other for a moment and collectively shook their heads. "Sorry, but we don't know where he would have kept something like that. Not even our captain would have known. Scion only wanted us to move stuff to the boat and deal with its crew. Nothing more, nothing less. All I can tell you is that I heard him mentioning some Rico fella or whatever. You two heard anything?" The mercenary asks the other two. The archer shakes his head, but the pirate does speak up. "It's not quite the info you wanted, but there was one time I was passing by that Scion fella when I overheard him talking to one of the other thieves. He said something about Rico needing them for some operation elsewhere and something about some guy in Z'ark. The way the guy spoke, that Rico fella sounds like the head honcho for whatever guild Scion's in. Can't say for sure though," The pirate states, saying all he knows about the thieves.

"Is that right? I recall that Scion person mentioned that the rules changed or something. I have no idea what that's supposed to mean nor do I care much, but it sounds to me that the guild that Scion was in probably isn't the same guild you left. I don't really care enough to probe any further beyond that, but if your withholding of information gets someone hurt, you'll have to answer to me. Understand?" Helena tells Belros, glaring at him as she waits for his answer.

"You asked the spirits to take care of it? That shouldn't have taken very long at all if you were mindful of the flames. And judging from the scorched area, it looks like it was burning for some amount of time. You either didn't care about the spreading fire or you're a third-rate mage. Actually, even a third-rate mage could manage something like this if they dealt with it early. Concerning. I also feel like I heard your voice not too long ago, but I'll leave that for another time. For now, I'm waiting to hear what relation this rogue has to the thieves from earlier," Helena states with a frown, eyeing Cadence for a bit before turning her attention elsewhere.

"Oh. Oh right, that was something that happened wasn't it? I'll join you, this is something I have to hear," Helena says, joining Darius. As she walks up, she notices the fire spreading through the trees and going towards the shop. "...Who thought it was a good idea to leave a fire burning next to this building by the way?" Helena asks before using her own command of fire magic to lessen the intensity of the flames until they stopped.

"Most of the stuff he stole were weapons and food for the trip over there as far as I remember hearing. We got most of it onto the ship before you showed up. The boat schedule tampering was apparently to keep people from showing up here in large numbers. Even for cargo ships, you'll need a couple dozen people to move cargo and such, and passenger ships can have all sorts of folks on it. Scion didn't want to risk having to deal with too many people, so he tried to make sure that there wouldn't be very many when a suitable boat arrived. Didn't end up working out in the end as you can plainly see, but it was somewhat effective," The pirate explains. "As for why he wanted to go to Kabumu specifically, all he mentioned was something about his guild needing them and that his group was way off course. The waters were rather stormy a few weeks ago, so I'm guessing they got stuck out here at some point and needed to get back. That's all I know about what they were doing though. Scion didn't tell us much more than that," The mercenary finishes, explaining what he knows.

"Sheesh woman. Blow up the whole place why don't you?" the mercenary muttered before looking at the destroyed trees. "And besides, the guy who set in motion this whole mess got burnt to a crisp, so you're a bit late for that," the mercenary finishes. The archer gives a glance at the man, indicating that he should probably stop pestering her, while the pirate decides to speak up. "Truthfully this whole run-in was not part of the plan. Scion told our captain that all we'd be doing was securing a boat to get them over to Kabumu or something. None of us really knew that the Royal Guard happened to be around, not that it matters to you from what it appears," the pirate explains, slightly worried but hopeful that the woman wouldn't kill him.

"Well Cadence, a ship close to Kabumu may have to be what we settle for. There's not a direct trip from here for another month, and the docked ship is apparently a cargo ship headed to Romani," Madante informs her as she walks up, sighing at the end. "This mission seems to love throwing us off course it seems," Madante groans, deciding to lie on the grass for a moment.

"Well...the next boat from here to Kabumu docks here in a little less than a month. Places like Kabumu aren't exactly the biggest travel spots, and Irvetos seems to be similar. Because of that, trying to find straight boat routes from here to there is...not simple. That's actually why we set out on one of the royal vessels. If we didn't, it could take quite a while for us to get places," Madante answered. "I just had the pleasure of finding out that the boat I was supposed to catch left while I was coming back to this port town," Helena sighs. "When I got to the island, I took a look at the schedules to see when I should come back to get back home. Unfortunately for me, the boat schedule mix-up wasn't found out fully until a day or two later. But by that point I had already set out west to investigate a few things. So naturally when I came back and found that the boat I was looking for wasn't there, I found out the hard way about the issue. At least something decent came out of the trip, but there's still the matter of me getting back home that I need to figure out," Helena finishes, lying down on the grass.

"You called?" the man announces, appearing from seemingly out of nowhere. He takes a look at the staff and smiles before taking it. "A sleep staff eh? Should be useful for the priestess. It certainly was for me, back in the day," he states before vanishing again. After a brief moment, he arrives near Emilee. "I have a delivery for you miss," he announces, holding the sleep staff out towards her.

Having gotten to the chest, Karik opens it up with the key he has and finds a staff inside it. The staff is fitted with a green orb, and looking at it makes Karik slightly drowsy. Karik obtains a Sleep Staff!

"Riiiiiiiiiight. Well, if she was helpful, I suppose its fine. Still though, now we're going to have to figure out where to go from here..." Madante trails off as he sits down, deep in thought.

Madante takes the papers Belros has and looks over them. It doesn't take him very long to figure out what they are. "This is the master copy of the boat schedule!" Madante announces, loud enough for most to hear. "I suppose the thieves took over the armory and hid their important things there so nobody could get them. This is a great find! Now as for this boat..." Madante trails off as he looks through the schedule, starting from the beginning of the month and going to the end of the next. "Oh...it seems that this is a cargo boat headed towards Romani. And to make matters more inconvenient, the next boat to Kabumu from here isn't for quite a while," Madante frowns. As he finishes looking over the sheets, Helena, having overheard the commotion, had come over. "Someone found the boat schedules? Sir, could I please take a look at those?" Helena asks in a polite tone. "Uhh...sure? Who are you by the way?" Madante asks as he hands her the schedule. "Just someone who's helped out a bit. The rogue over there or Darius can tell you more about who I am," Helena answers as she scans through the schedule. What started as a pleased grin on her face as she grabbed the schedules turned into a slight frown in the next moment, followed by the color draining out of her face. "You...CANNOT BE SERIOUS!" she yells, loud enough for the entire side of the town to hear. "You mean to tell me that not only did the boat to where I needed to go pass by 3 days ago, but that there won't be any more for the next month?! I just...forget it," she sighs, throwing the papers back at Madante. "I think I'm just going to sit down for a while and think about my options ok? Ok," she finishes as she walks back towards where she was earlier. "Oooookay? Belros, do you know her?" Madante asks, very confused as to the scene that had just occurred.

"Oh? Is it something from one of the buildings? Did it have any of the plans of the thieves, or did you find something else?" Madante asked, curious as to what Belros found.

Belros' call went unanswered. Curious, he went inside the armory only to find that it was in a state of disorder. Broken weapons seemed to be scattered across the floor, and places where display cases of weapons would be were empty. On the left side of the room was an open chest, with the lock beside it. Inside, Belros finds a clump of papers that have times and locations on them.