Open Chronicles A Sight To Behold

[Tol]

A thief, a bloody heartless thief stole from the lizard while he was busy trying to make a potion for Tol. The lizard couldn't even make any more potions for two weeks as the thief seemed to have stolen everything. Such transgressions against Tol and his friends can not be taken lightly. It seemed Rizzo had the same idea as she stood with her blade in the air like a general ordering her men to charge into battle. As she yelled Tol released an ear bursting

"ROAR!!"

Tol was ready to find this thief and teach it some troll justice. It didn't help that Tol currently did not have his trusty club but he didn't need it to deal with the thief. Now Tol waited to see where Rizzo would lead them as she knew where everything was and surely would catch this thief.
"I don't know which way to go"
Never mind it seems even her skills have a limit and the only way they had a chance at finding this thief was a miracle and wouldn't you know it Tol is in the profession of miracle.

Tol grabbed a bone dagger hanging from his rags. To a troll this mostly served as a sharp toothpick but sometimes did come in handy "Da Swamp will guide us to da thief"
It was time for Tol to summon the divine magic of The Swamp and Tol wasn't ignorant of the cost of magic even if it is divine in nature. "Dis land is no swamp but Da Swamp will help"
Tol didn't have any swamp water with him at the time and wasn't going to waste time by heading to The Shallows, luckily Tol is filled with red swamp water called blood. Those spectators who didn't run away after the Tol roared recoiled in horror at the sight of the troll spilling its own blood on the pavement.

Using the bone dagger Tol Stabbed it in his left arm and slowly cut it open spewing blood onto the ground. If Tol wasn't a troll the amount of blood lost would possibly be fatal but as long as his natural regeneration still worked Tol was safe. Tol stopped as soon as a decent puddle of blood was made and despite his regeneration Tol definitely looked pale. Turning towards the Ye'svonne Airileth Tol held out the bloodied bone dagger.
"Ye Da Flowery if ya want poson back givith a drop of blood to Da Swamp an think of thief. If Da Swamp finds the cause worthy it shall guide us to da thief"

As Tol said this the puddle of blood he made started to bubble but before any of the bubbles could leave the puddle of blood they hardened and slowly disappeared. Tol looked at Ye'svonne directly in the eye and in a very serious voice he told Ye'svonne
"Quickly now givith a drop of blood or Da Swamp will not help"
The longer Ye'svonne took the smaller the puddle of blood would get.

 

[Ye'svonne Airileth]

Rizzo and Tol both never ceased to amaze the alchemist.

The dark elf's display showed that she truly believed in what Ye'svonne carried. Her exuberance was a bit outlandish but nonetheless genuine; anyone could see that. Despite what her drive may be or whatever it was that made her who she was... She wore it with pride. It reminded him of Violetta in the days they were on the seas. The lizard could not help but love her attitude due to that.

Tol himself made an even greater uproar. To the point that civilians could not stand by him anymore. In all honesty it even shook Ye'svonne a bit when bellowed, and again when he slit himself open in order to practice a ritual that must offer some sort of vision. An ability the swamp he hailed from must have blessed him with. He showed the merchant his conviction, and he even returned with the coin he'd promised.

Both of them showed boundless dedication to a poor reptilian trying to acquire coin for nothing more than daily necessities. In an instant he felt reinvigorated. Their combination of wayward personalities and possibly misled valor flooded him with memories of piracy. He shot straight up to stand atop the rock and gave them both a determined stare.

"Ayyyyyyyyyeeee. You've both reminded me that this does not have to be the way it isssssssssssss. My blood is yours, my towering friend." With that, he dragged his claws across the back of his arm and gave himself a laceration. He held it over the puddle and let the blood flow.

He trusted them.

 

[Rizzo Bouchard]

Da Swamp will guide us to da thief.

Da Swamp! Of course! Why didn't she think of that? Rizzo loved Da Swamp, he was a outstanding fellow, wow, just an all around swell person--!

Dis land is no swamp but Da Swamp will help.

Oh okay. Got that wrong. The swamp was like "the forest" or "the mountains" or "the plains." Oops. Well, fair is fair, she lived in cozy ol' Alliria all her life, how would she know. But! Rizzo loved Da Swamp, it was an outstanding land, wow, just an all around swell place to help the three of them out of the goodness of its metaphorical heart!

Rizzo twirled her bowstring sword back around and sheathed it and with a keen interest watched Tol--ow!--cut himself and let blood spill to the cobblestones. Wide and dawning awe, along with anticipatory cheer, spread across her face.

"Ohhh~~, is that magic-magic?"

Rizzo loved magic! No, seriously this time! It really was interesting. When she was younger she had often followed and gawked at traveling mages and wizards, those from Elbion or Fal'Addas or even Vel Anir, when they visited Alliria and she saw them. Yes, she did, she did! Why? Because it was so neat, that's why! Fire from the hands? Wow! Commanding the earth with a flick of the wrist? Incredible! Using blood and a quick thought to find a thief? Hit close to home, but still, amazing!

Ever since the Masked Man taught her how to use her own little magic tricks and gifted her the violin, she was positively thrilled by magic. Full of wonder! No limits! Go wild! Something-something Laws of Magic, but that was probably some bookish stuff! Who cares! She really wanted to say "Hello" to the College of Elbion one day. Maybe even enroll there. And by "enroll there" she meant steal a bunch of stuff and vandalize a bunch of other stuff.

Rizzo smacked her hands down on her knees and bent ever so slightly over the mess Tol had made with his blood, as if trying to see her reflection in a puddle. Ye did his part! But~~

"I don't see anything! Did it work? I know! Wait for it...wait for it...Now! It's working now! No wait. It's not. Oops! Lemme try again! Wait for it...wait--Now! Nope-nope. Nothing."

 

[Jakub Bram]

What in gods name was that?! Was the only thought he could think to himself as he heard a massive bellow. He stood up from his leaning position, quickly throwing on his helmet and grabbing his halberd. Old habits died hard, and out of instinct he hurried off in the direction of the commotion.

Once he got over there, it was a rather odd scene. A huge troll, Tol, a lizard, Ye'svonne Airileth, and a elf whose face seemed awfully familiar, Rizzo Bouchard, were gathered around a massive pool of blood. As he got closer, he saw that the lizard and the troll were both injured, and the elf was peering over it. His eyes narrowed as he recognized the face from his time as a guard and as the son and brother of a shopkeep. Either way, that wasn’t exactly the issue at hand. He glanced around, and noticed the emptied out table. He quickly put two-and-two together and felt a pang of sympathy, but quickly approached the group and said the only thing he could think to say.
“What the hell is going on?”

 

[Tol]

As soon as Ye'svonne Airileth's blood touched the puddle it stopped bubbling and shrinking and for a moment it seemed as if nothing happened. Tol understood that the spell was still working and just needed more time but due to the constant blabbering by Rizzo Bouchard he started to get annoyed. Unlike how he was before Tol glared at Rizzo quite annoyed at her apparent disrespect to the ways of the gods.
"IT WORKING" Tol stated.

Finally the blood started bubbling up again but this time the bubbles actually left the ground and started to float towards something. If one was to look closely at the bubbles they would notice a small piece of divine light somewhat making the bubbles look like red transparent eyes. "DA SWAMP SHOWS DA WAY" Tol said in a triumphant manner. Looking towards Ye with a smile on his face "Da Swamp see Ye Da Flowery as worthy. We follow Da Swamp eyes"

Everything was going perfect until a guard appeared attracted by the loud racket Tol and his friends made. Of course a guard appears when they don't need him and not when the thief attempted and succedded in stealing Ye's potions. "Guard let thief steal strong poson. Tol do better job den guard" Tol then started to follow the bubbles on the assumption the guard wouldn't try and stop their holy cause.

 

[Ye'svonne Airileth]

Though apparent, Tol's frustration still brought a vigor to the lizard. Rizzo was just so curious and despite the Troll very clearly knowing what he was doing she couldn't contain herself from well. Being herself. The bubbles grew from the pool of blood and one started to trail off from them. It was brighter than the rest of the blood. Ye'svonne dabbled in bits of magic when it came to his potion making but he was far from a mage. This still bewildered the lizard has blood magic is not something he'd ever seen before. And really, he didn't know how well it go over with local authorities.

Well, speak of the devil and she shall appear.

A guard from the area arrived on scene shocked and confused. Not that anyone could blame the bastard. Not only were they quite the ragtag group but they also found themselves conjuring spells that Ye'svonne wasn't exactly sure were legal. Crime to stop crime, eh? As Tol took his flight towards the bubble he had faith that he and Rizzo could handle the chasing. After all, the alchemist was easily the least physically fit of the three.

"I'll catch up." He whispered to Rizzo and waved both of them off while simultaneously making his way to speak with Jakub. If he could be of any assistance to the situation perhaps his salesman skills would work here. He didn't know what would happen but this was his best bet. He had to put his trust in the two behind him.

"Ah-Uh-I, you seeeeeee sir." He spoke frantically to Jakub. "We've had a little mishap in whichhhhhhh a brigand has made off with my wares. These fine folk offered to me that they'd help find the guilty and bring my hard made craft back to me. They are doing no harm to the folks around us and uh." He looked at his blood soaked arm.

"This was something I agreed to." The beautiful thing was Ye'svonne didn't even need to lie to him. That didn't protect him if they were breaking the law though. The thing the alchemist feared the most was watching however many guards it would take to subdue Tol. He assumed most of them would well.... Die.

 

[Jakub Bram]

“Wait but I’m not a gua-“ Too late, the troll was already walking off, he looked confusingly after him as the lizard man approached him, quickly explaining the situation, once he finished talking he started jogging after the elf and the troll, assuming the salesman would follow him explaining, “Maybe I can help then, but I do highly suggest you keep an eye on that elf, they tend thieve around and I wouldn’t be surprised if they decided to steal some of your potions while you weren’t looking.” He glanced at the man’s arm. “You might want to bandage that or something.”

Ye'svonne Airileth Tol Rizzo Bouchard

 

[Rizzo Bouchard]

That was the secret! Yes indeedy! Rizzo just didn't know how to coax the magic like Tol did. So many things to learn. Maybe she could do something like that one day. But, ow, did it seem painful! Maybe, maybe not. Other magic! There was plenty of other magic she could try. Just had to make time. Which was hard. Because she spent most of her time tactically acquiring things. Particularly shiny things. Politely!

"It is working! You did it, Tol," she said, clapping her hands together and rubbing them vigorously. "Da swamp shows da way! Ready or not, here we come!"

Someone came up. A fellow in armor. Wow, look at that halberd! Waitwaitwait, what? He was a guard? Tol thought he was a guard, and Ye whispered in her ear right before Rizzo could set off after Tol and the floaty blood bubbles. He didn't really look like a guard to Rizzo. And she oughta know! Been on the oopsy-daisy side of childish (and more recently non-childish) mischief gone wrong and getting caught. Ha, well either way, she didn't do anything wrong. Yet. Honest-honest!

The plan! Ye said he'd handle it, whatever it was that needed to be handled, and the potions were off that-a way, yes, that-a way! Follow the bubbly blood and Tol the Bull. That's where she needed to be, of course. Those potions weren't going to tactically acquire themselves, now were they?

So she skipped along behind Tol, smiling and metronoming her pointer fingers as she did, as if keeping the rhythm of a tune in her head.

"I like your halberd!" she called back to that armored fellow.

 

[Tol]

How was Tol meant to know that guy wasn't some guard. His in a city wearing a helmet and holding a halberd something that Tol knew some guards used mainly at gates. Aren't all armoured men in cities not riding horses guards. Ye seemed to want to talk to this not guard instead of following the bubble most likely since Ye is not a fighter and a simple shop keep which Tol understood and respected. The bubbles kept on moving twisting through the streets as Tol kept up with it. Hopefully Ye would be able to catch up after them.

it wasn't long until the bubbles slowed down and stayed in place which meant to thief was near. Maybe in the swamp or with more essence the spell would have told Tol exactly who the thief was but sadly now he had to use his head. Looking behind him at Rizzo he asked a plain question "soooooo ahhhh what does thief look like" Sure Tol could grab every single person in the street but that would take time. Hopefully either Rizzo knew who the thief probably was or Ye would catch up to them soon to identify the thief. It didn't help there was also a two story tavern at this section of the city which the thief could possibly hide in.

Before Tol could say anymore a bolt came flying out of the top floor of the tavern piercing Tol's shoulder. Normally a crossbow bolt would be little concern to the troll but who ever shot it understood a troll's weakness and had made sure to dip the tip of the bolt in tar and light it on fire before shooting. If anything it was more of a warning shot and most likely shot by either the thief in question or one of his or her friends. Tol of course roared in pain as his regeneration abilities failed to function in his shoulder.

 

[Ye'svonne Airileth]

Ye'svonne scratched the back of his head with a nervous smile faced at Jakub. "You'reeeee definitely right. I should patch myselfffff up." He pulled some flowers out from his robe pockets and crushed them in his hands until they were a coarse powder. Nothing refined like the mortar and pestle stolen from him would make. He then rubbed the powder deep into his arm wound letting out a pained hiss at the sting. The soldier he was talking to would be able to see its effects immediately though. His blood dried quickly and the wound was already starting to close.

"If you'd like to help out I suggest following the eccentrics that just bounded away. I'm fearful of what they'll do to the thief when they catch him anywa-" As he was speaking to Jakub, he heard a roar from Tol far into the crowd. Luckily, he hadn't lost sight of him due to his vast size, but what he saw filled him with dread.

Fire attached to the Tol's shoulder from somewhere unknown. Ye'svonne's smile faded. Who could've stolen from him? They were far too aggressive to be consider common thieves now.

The alchemist cut his and Jakub's conversation and headed towards the now affected Troll. "Best makeeeeeee your decision now!" He cried back to Mr. Bram as he fled. Mid sprint he revealed two pasel blue mushrooms that he promptly crushed into his hands. Gripping the remains in one fist he jumped up and threw the powder on Tol's shoulder, extinguishing the fire.

"What wasssss that?" He asked the Troll.

 

[Jakub Bram]

He had been paying attention, after all he was a little concerned that Tol might break something and so he saw the troll being hit as-well. However, instead of focusing on the troll after that, he quickly scanned the area, seeing that a man was ducking into cover from a window. Once Ye'svonne Airileth had taken care of the fire on the troll, he threw him his halberd, yelling “Hold onto this for a second!” Before drawing his sword and shifting his shield from his back, then he charged at the building before the attacker could reload, kicking down the door and readied himself to move up the stairs. He hoped Rizzo Bouchard followed him. It was always good to have backup.

 

[Rizzo Bouchard]

The bubbles led them along. Hot on the trail! See, this is why ya need to be smart. Yes! Oh, and polite! Rizzo could of swiped the potions from Ye. Really coulda! But she had a sharp intuition, yes she did, she did! Gotta know your whos, your whens, and your wheres. My oh my does getting into a lot of trouble as a child teach you something good! Get a knack for timing. Oooo~~, that sly instinct! Didn't develop on its own, nope-nope! Hone it on silly stuff, like painting ludicrous things on the back of John Hambry's shop. Figure out all the important particulars for getting away with it. That's right! Then move on to the bigger fish.

And it worked out, her sly instinct! Coulda been her, being tracked by Tol's swampy magic. But no, ha ha, not today! Some other schmuck picked the wrong one, and Rizzo was primed and set to come out on top! Seize the day!

The bubbles stopped. Hovered. And Tol asked her a question.

Rizzo touched a finger to her chin and rolled her eyes around thoughtfully, saying, "Oh I don't know~~" She snapped her fingers as if struck by inspiration. "Ah ha! But he stole all the potions, right? And that was a lotta potions! He had to put 'em somewhere. Satchel! Traveling pack! A little crate! Maybe he was silly enough to just carry them in his arms! Somebody around here's gotta--"

Rizzo yelped in surprise, and even though her grin didn't break, still she jumped back and steepled her hands beneath her chin when the crossbow bolt struck Tol in the shoulder. Ha! The thief missed her! Was he aiming for her? Shruggy-shrug, who knows? But! All's well that ends well, there's Ye! Sprinkle some doobly-dust on that fire and everything was sunshine again!

Except! The potions! Whoever shot Tol was here, there, or somewhere nearby. Halberd-Man--okay Sans-Halberd-Man--was on the job! He musta saw something Rizzo was too distracted to see and off he went, kicking open the door of some building and running in and going for those stairs.

Their chance!

Rizzo drew her bowstring sword and swiftly followed after Sans-Halberd-Man. Said with no shortage of exuberance, "Now we got him! Here come some manners, grabby-fingers!"

Never mind certain details. Maybe she had her own grabby-fingers. But not right now! And that's what counted!

 

[Tol]

Tol tried to pat out the fire on his shoulder but the flames refused to go away and burnt his hand. This is why trolls hated fire as it seemed to use their own blood as fuel. Hopefully Tol could somehow smother the flame before it grew too big.

Relief. Ye'svonne Airileth had appeared and using his knowledge of Tol guessed potions the lizard had somehow gotten rid of the fire with some powder. The greatest fear of any troll defeated by some blue powder in an instant. Ye was clearly a master at his craft.

Once Tol calmed down and ripped the crossbow bolt from his shoulder and he looked at Ye
"Day shoot fire at Tol" pointing towards the window of the Inn the rest of the group had entered. While Tol would have liked to follow sadly his size would be a major issue preventing him from entering the establishment.

For now Tol would just have to wait for the rest of the group to capture the thief or thieves and if any tried escaping the tavern he would be waiting outside for them ready to crush their skulls.

"

 

[Ye'svonne Airileth]

The alchemist stumbled as he caught the giant metal axe that was thrown to him by their newest arrival. An array of confusion struck Ye'svonne's mind. The potion theft, the attack on Tol unannounced. Something else was at play here. Those two things were a bit too connected to feel like circumstance. The lizard tried to piece together what was happening. He looked up at Tol's shoulder and considered the facts...

1. There was someone who had seen Ye'svonne's potions and heard of their value, and thus took them as opportunity struck.
2. The person didn't ransack him. They took his wares without any hint of violence.
3. As soon as the guilty was pursued, someone took not just a shot, but a knowledgeable one at Tol.

"Monster poachers." The alchemist snapped his fingers and sad this quiet enough for not even Tol to hear. He knew monster hunters to exist in order to keep ecological balance and keep those who cannot fight safe, yet there was always a dark side to things. Poachers. Using living creatures as a token for their own pocket despite having done no harm. Trolls were extremely uncommon in the city walls. And the residents were already intimidated by Tol's presence. The odds that they would show apathy towards his disappearance was a high one. The city of Alliria had finally shown its bad half.

Lost in thought, Ye'svonne nearly missed the next oncoming threat. He looked down a broad alleyway that was nearby in horror. There was at least five other poachers and somehow lodged in the alleyway was a ballista. Among the poachers were mages who must use some sort of tranportation or creation magic. Lord, how badly did they want him. They began to aim.

As they did, he heard barking from the main street they stood in.

"Aye big green and ugly! Over here, ya fuckin' monster!" The alchemist swiftly looked back and noticed another group of five waving Tol down to distract him from the enormous bolt about to pierce him. Ye'svonne peered back up to his troll friend, eager to help however he could. "TOL DON'T LISTEN TO THEM, ITS A TRAP, RUN!"

He clutched tight to the halberd and hoped his voice didn't fall on deaf ears.

 

[Jakub Bram]

His boots hammered up the stairs. Sword drawn and ready. He raised his shield as he went towards the room where the bolt was fired from. He looked at the door and saw it was rather flimsy, so he slammed his shield into it and watched it shatter open. The assailant was ready however, and a heavy bolt slammed into his shield. Without pausing, as soon as the bolt was fired Jakub charged him, slamming the hilt of his sword onto the top of the man’s head. He was out for the count.

He took a second to breath. He quickly slammed his boot on the crossbow, breaking it. “Close on, eh?” He said, mostly to himself but loud enough for Rizzo Bouchard to hear before hearing shouting outside. He poked his head outside the window to find Ye'svonne Airileth yelling at Tol, he quickly glanced around, was there something they missed? There was something they missed, a big heaping ballista to say the least. He quickly barked out an “Oh shit.” As he quickly turned around and went back down the stairs.

 

[Rizzo Bouchard]

Here's a winning strategy: let the human with the shield go first. Sans-Halberd-Man could take it, you know, whatever nastiness was behind that door they rushing toward after reaching the top of the stairs. Rizzo fell in behind him. Lead the way! Tie up the impolite potion thief behind that door, and then she could casually slide around to the side. Trip that thief up! Thumb his eyes! Kick to the groin! Good ol' sucker slap! All's fair in a fight.

Sans-Halberd-Man smashed the door open. Oh! Blocked a crossbow shot! Ahh, that made Rizzo flinch anyway! But everything was swell and fancy, look at that, Sans-Halberd-Man smacked the thief something good on the top of the dome. Night, night!

"And I~~ helped! Sorta!" Rizzo proclaimed, grinning amicably. Then her expression twirled into a quizzical one. "Heywheresthepotions?"

Hm. Problem-problem. No potions. But wasn't this schmuck right here the potion thief? He was, wasn't he? Had to be. Rizzo glanced around the little bedroom, looking for any cozy spot grabby-fingers might of stashed the potions. Sans-Halberd-Man checked out the window. Genius! Rizzo would've never thought to stash the potions outside the window! Sans-Halberd-Man was one step ahead of her and grabby-fingers both! Probably woulda seen it though, dangling or something on the outside, now that she thought about it. Yeah, she or Tol or Ye or Sans woulda seen it before they even came in here. Then why--

Oh shit.

Ahhh, Sans found a problem that needed correcting out there! Opportunity strikes again! Sure it wasn't the stash of potions, but that was coming soon enough. Maybe the real thief was out there. Rused again! Oh well, learn and learn some more!

Sans-Halberd-Man hurried back toward the stairs of the house. Rizzo decided to get more of a bird's eye view of things, oh yes! She jumped onto the sill of the open-air window, crouched and slipped through, and slapped her left hand against the outside wall of the building next to the window. Tiny wisps of black and purple shimmering between her hand and the wall, holding her effortlessly there like a spider as she vacated the window. The same when she planted her boots against the vertical surface, her feet like her hand seeming to adhere to the wall. Poised there now in her three-point stance. Ready to jump as needed!

Good vantage point, latched to the outside of the house. There's Ye! There's Tol--hard to miss Tol the Bull! Hey! Who were those guys waving at him. Fuckin' monster, huh! That was impolite! They had to know were the potions were! Let's get--

A trap?? Ahh! They wanna distract Tol, huh? How 'bout this! Distract 'em back!

She grinned wildly and thumbed the rune on her sword's hilt to morph the bowstring into a tether of crackling lightning. And she yelled at them, "Aye! Little pink and...ugly-uglies! Over here, ya fuckin' divvies!"

She also had no idea about the ballista, lurking around the corner of the building in the alleyway.

 

[Tol]

Great so it turned out the people who stole the potions were most likely some professional monster hunters. Being a troll Tol has fought their kind before. It isn't like they have no reason to hunt trolls as many swamp trolls including Tol have committed banditry within the swamps.

Did these guys really think Tol was that stupid and come towards them. While Tol had never seen a ballista before he did know what a crossbow was and that was just a bigger one that most likely didn't need fire to kill him. Tol was at a disadvantage here as he didn't have his trusty club nor were they in a swamp meaning the his magic was greatly weakened.

Ye told Tol to run. Now Tol was a swamp troll something that could take on any man so of course HE RAN, Tol wasn't stupid and understood the risk. Tol quickly turned a corner knocking anyone not smart enough to move to the side to the ground. Tol was planning on following the path hoping he could somehow find a route behind the enemy or atleast having some of the hostiles split off from the main group making them easy pickings.

 

[Jakub Bram]

He sprinted out the door, cursing and sheathing his sword, aswell as slinging his shield behind him as he sprinted towards Ye'svonne Airileth, snatching his halberd out of his grasp. He had seen Tol run off and Rizzo Bouchard was doing some funky stuff on a wall. He quickly charged towards the ballista stealing himself. So long as he could reach it in time he could stop them from firing before they aimed at the troll. Speaking of which, why are they-

“Oh god that’s not good!”

He quickly jumped to the side, panicking as a ballista bolt whipped past him and tore up his armor and left a cut on his side. Not good, that was going to be expensive. He quickly got to his feet and continued his charge, and quickly reached the crew as they panicked. He rammed the tip of his halberd into the gut of one and quickly stepped back, ready for a fight.

 

[Ye'svonne Airileth]

The ballista bolt may have only scraped by Jakub but the fact of the matter was it was still on a crash course collision with the big lug beside Ye'svonne. Even with Tol grasping the concept that he should move the poachers wasted no time trying to fire upon him. The halberd he'd planned to use had been ripped from his hands and was out of ideas at this point. All he had left to use was his own weight.

To say Ye'svonne wasn't a fighter would be accurate. But he was a pirate, dammit! He couldn't stray from danger when his well, uh. Customers. Were in peril! As the bolt came flying by, Ye'svonne somehow nailed his timing and tackled the thing. Yet while his timing was impeccable, his strength was quite the opposite he soon learned. Tol avoided the ballista bolt completely on his own while the alchemist then found his heroics had led him into a much more dire predicament. The bolt flew upward into a building passed the troll, and there hanged poor Ye'svonne. Two hands clenching tight to a bolt slammed into the side of a building.

Tol had his hands full dealing with the crowd, and Jakub was already locked in combat by the ballista. Aha! As he looked across the way he saw Rizzo perched on the balcony of the nearby inn, about the same height as he. Though he was good ways away from her.

"Rizzzzoooooo." He called out to her dangling for dear life. "Might you be a dear and help me from fallllllling to death?"

 

[Rizzo Bouchard]

Those divvies didn't fall for her distraction, Tol went charging off, Halberd Man got his Halberd back and--Ahhh!--almost had a bad day, and Ye was a lot faster than she thought, wow! Bystanders and passersby on the street, humans here and there with curious eyes and nosy-noses, cleared out to a safe distance quick.

Now they were making a mess! Oh yes they were! Rizzo remembered doing this herself, gawking at nasty fights and dangerous incidents all throughout Alliria when she was a kid--wasn't all that long ago! Just like the bystanders now, she loved to watch. The great city of Alliria, puttin' on a show! Of course she knew what came next: guards, guards, and more guards! They'd be coming around soon enough--they just hated commotion and entertainment, yes they did--and who knows what they'd do and who they'd blame. Gotta get those potions back while she could!

Ahhh! But she needed to be polite and buy them and the lizardman she was going to buy them from was hanging from a huge crossbow bolt lodged into the side of another building across the street!

"Stay right there, Ye! I'm coming over!"

Deactivate sword enchantment. Sheathe sword. Look across the way. Judge distance. And...!

Rizzo jumped in an extraordinary manner from the face of the house, her body level and twirling and sailing fast, like an arrow loosed straight at a bullseye. Across the gap of the street below she soared. A twist of her body, and her hands and boots came into contact with the building first, an abrupt and controlled stop akin to a cat landing all-fours on the ground. She was latched there beside him and the ballista bolt. Those same wisps of black and purple magic held her to the wall with ease.

She looked quite pleased with herself. Then, a swirling puzzlement as she said, "Soooo...I didn't think this far ahead. Oops. I'm not very strong. I don't think imma be able to--Wait! Aha! Don't go anywhere, Ye! I'll be right back, right back!"

A little hop from the wall to the ledge of a window just up and off to her right. She grabbed the ledge with one hand and threw open the shutters with her other hand and she scrambled inside. A shriek and a shout from within, Rizzo talking fast and apologizing loudly, and then Rizzo appearing at the window again. She was fumbling with a linen bedsheet, rolling it into a makeshift rope.

"Here! There's a half-naked mister and missus in here but I asked politely if I could borrow this and they said yes so everything's alright! Honest! Now here! Catch this and climb! Ready-ready?"

Rizzo braced herself against the inside wall of the room she was in, tightened her grip on the linen as much as she could. She licked her lips in a concentrating fashion and swung one end of the long, rolled bedsheet out the window and toward Ye.

 

[Jakub Bram]

He stabbed out, drawing the blade as of the halberd across his opponents hamstring, two down, three more to go. He was quickly being surrounded. He dropped his halberd and drew his blade, quickly blocking a slice.
Not good, he thought
He quickly shuffled backwards. Then, he heard the hammering of boots. Reinforcements.
The poachers were quickly surrounded by guards, those who didn't surrender where quickly restrained. He glanced back at Rizzo Bouchard and Ye'svonne Airileth, along with Tol. Yeah, they were in trouble if he didn't explain what was going on. The guards knew him though, and he quickly threw off his helmet and began to explain the situation.

 

[Tol]

Tol kept running and running, turning corners and running some more. He was bound to find the route behind the potion thieves and their ballista and so he did.

One issue had arisen by the time Tol had ran behind the ballista the entire area was surronded by guards making all the running Tol did useless.

"Dey steal all Ye Da Flowery Poson an attack Tol" He shouted at the top of his lungs pointing towards the assumed thieves. Hopefully now Tol could rest and maybe enjoy a nice stamina potion which he really needed and probably everyone else especially Ye who was hanging on to the ballista bolt for some bloody reason.

 

[Ye'svonne Airileth]

Ye'svonne swallowed a large amount of saliva out of nervousness but this was far from the most daring thing he'd done today. "I apreeeeeeeciate you!" He called back to Rizzo as he took his leap of faith. With his pirating years in mind he gripped it by one hand and started to yank upwards towards her. It felt incredible! As if he was scaling the mast by rope yet again. He had misstepped in one single, unfortunate manner.

He forgot that he was a lizard, for gods sake.

The heat of the moment caught up to Ye'svonne as his heart pounded with excitement and his days of adventuring came rushing back. His claws dug far too deep into the fabric of the borrowed cloth and snapped as he locked eyes with Rizzo and bore his toothy grin. The grin faded progressively as the lizard fell from such a height. Eventually turning into a loud yell. Below him awaited the tarp of another merchants stand and he saw the man posted there run out from underneath it. He crashed straight through the tarp and onto a table of glass wares the man had posted.

This did not feel like an adventure to Ye'svonne anymore. This felt like Hell. Glass entered his skin from several angles and he could not stand up. The guards took notice right away and while they had their healing mage with them, they also had a pair of cuffs that the lizard could not escape from. He could hear dissonant voices speaking on his behalf and trying to calm the situation down. Though no matter how it went there was no escaping the fact that he would owe the man he just inconvenienced an incredible sum of money. Or that wounds healed quickly or not, someone was going to need to pull hundreds of pieces of glass out of his skin. Or that he most certainly had a concussion.

He could vaguely see Tol and Jakub trying to convince the guardsmen to let the situation go. He saw poachers being arrested as well through his blurry veil. He could see the guards near him asking him inaudible questions and resting a hand on his shoulder for comfort.

No matter how freeing the feeling of fight or protecting Tol was... It was still a rotten day.

 

[Rizzo Bouchard]

Rizzo almost went toppling out of the window when Ye grabbed hold. She was a little weaker than a comparable human, but she was also a lot lighter than one too. While her arms and hands were out the window and holding the bedsheet rope, the rest of her body was pinned against the inside wall of the room from the pull of Ye's weight. But! But! She was holding. All Ye needed to do was climb.

And he did. All up until his claws ripped the bedsheet. Oops.

"Nonono, Ye!"

She stuck her head out the window, helplessly watching him fall. Ahhh! They were trying to avoid that and it happened anyway! But wait! Everything worked out fine, just a happy accident. Ye landed on a tarp and--

Was that the sound of glass breaking? Yup. That was glass.

Ahhh! She needed to be polite and buy those potions from him! And wow was he going to need one of his own healing potions! Also, don't forget, said potions still needed to be recovered. How was that going? Oh those guards came quick, didn't they? Tol and Halberd Man were already having a chat with them. LOOKATTHESIZEOFTHATCROSSBOWOVERTHERE. Wait-wait, don't get distracted. First things first!

Rizzo hopped onto the sill of the window and slid off the edge, her hair and her cape fluttering up as she dropped down (and a hand to her skirt, holding it in place). She landed on the street next to merchant's stall Ye had crashed into, her landing hardly making a sound and there a brief little spark of black and purple magic from the soles of her boots.

One of the guards by Ye had put cuffs on him! Whaaat~?

"Hey! Ye didn't do anything wrong-wrong!" Rizzo said, stepping up next to him (owthatlookedpainful!) and putting her hands on her hips.

Wait a minute. One of those guards had a familiar face. Sergeant Declan took one look at her and said, "Why am I not surprised to see you here, Rizzo."

"I was just trying to buy some potions!"

"That so."

Rizzo puffed out her chest with an inordinate amount of pride and said, "Yes! I was being~ polite!"

"I see."

"And there I was," Rizzo continued, speaking with a dramatized flair, "helping my best friend, Tol the Bull--hesliterallyrightoverthereyacantmisshim--when suddenly...disaster! Say it isn't so! We turned our backs for but a moment, Ye included, and all of his potions were gone! Grabby-fingers struck, taking everything! And worst of all they were impolite about it!"

Sergeant Declan crossed his arms. "So a robbery took place."

"Pre-cisely! We tracked them down, those crooked thieves, all throughout the streets of Alliria. And its them over there!" Rizzo pointed at the batch of monster poachers, those silly divvies, being arrested. "One of them has the potions, or knows where they are. Honest-honest!"

Declan, not betraying his thoughts one way or the other on the matter, glanced to Ye, battered and injured as he was, and asked him, "And what have you to say, lizardman?"

Rizzo, regardless of Declan's neutral stance, looked to Ye and grinned and stood on the tips of her toes, leaning forward a bit and giving him an excited double thumbs-up. Big purple eyes simmering with celebration suggested that she was sure they'd have the potions back within moments.

 

[Jakub Bram]

“DeclanListenBuddyMan.” He quickly belted out as quick as he could before Ye'svonne Airileth said anything self-incriminating as Rizzo Bouchard encouraged him. He nervously scratched his head, wishing he could throw the helmet back on. “I can hardly believe it myself that the elf over there wasn’t up to anything, but it checks out today. I can show you to the room that we tracked the thief to with...” He paused a moment, dubios on the legality of blood magic himself, “Uhh... fancy pancy magic, and it’s pretty solid. I’m sure if we just do a thorough sweep of the room which we didn’t get a chance to do because of the big heaping ballista over there, the potions will turn up.” Speaking of the big heaping ballista, wasn’t he forgetting something? Ah yes, right. The wound. As his adrenaline died down the pain kicked in from the nasty gash on his side. He gritted his teeth. “You can even ask the troll over there.” He gestured at Tol, “I’m sure he will back up the story. Let’s get to that room and find those potions and clear this whole thing up Huh? Ya?” He gestured feebly towards the inn where the first poacher had shot from, hoping the Sergeant would listen. He had worked with him a couple of times, he was never a direct underling but they knew eachother a little, he just hoped he had enough sway as he feebly walked toward and gestured at the inn.