The Goblins Fan Forum

Julius stops instantly when he hears the howls and pulls out his compass. He concentrates and uses his magic to try to find out what creature is nearby.

At Olly's best guess, it sounds like wind through a narrow space.

He grins and signals to the others:

"Come on, that's just the wind!"

Loki thinks the request over quickly and finds he has a couple more questions. "Thank you for offering me the opportunity. But... may I asks first: when and where is that job, and why doesn't Mac ask me himself? I'm also assuming no weapons, or a truncheon at the most are allowed?"

Risu gulps her mouthful before wiping her mouth with the back of her sleeve. "Yeah that's fine, would be a nice change from fighting and training to be honest. Who are they?"

Olly grins at Korga and cautiously moves forwards.

Olly, Korga, Julius
Julius panics immediately, pulling out his compass and looking for any signs of a monster, but the compass just slowly spins around in a circle. After a moment's pause as Olly tries to reassure the others that there's no worry, the larger man starts down into the cave. The ground is rough under his feet, but it provides stable footing for the descent. As he moves deeper the rock of the walls and floor becomes smoother, and after a dozen metres the way turns and doubles back on itself, continuing deeper.

Risu
"A potential sponsor from the Academy, interested in taking up residence here to study the demonbeasts. And she's an only child from a wealthy family, so she would be a very valuable supporter indeed, for both funds and influence. She doesn't seem to be too eccentric, as far as academics go, but we've only got rumours and hearsay to go by. So, your job will be to show her the demons and beasts, make sure she doesn't get herself hurt doing something foolish, and assess whether she's the sort of person we want around. If she is an unsavoury sort, try to be polite and carry through to the end, tell her that Tor will see whether we can arrange anything to suit her desires. Tell her that if you decide she would be good to have around, too. If you're not certainly, try to convince her you feel you have been a poor guide, and assure her that the head handler, myself, will give her a tour personally, as soon as possible. Do you think you can manage that?"

Loki
"This evening, as business is starting to pick up, at the Mug and Pony, on Sunrise Avenue. It mostly caters to small-time traveling merchants just in off the road. As for Mac, he smelled of sweat and dirt this morning, I wasn't going to let him anywhere near asking a favour before he washed up. But I wanted to find him a buddy as soon as possible. And people are more likely to agree to a favour for a pretty girl."

Julius frowns at the compass and tilts it upwards to see if there is a monster below them. He feels the walks and tries to see what it's made out of for it to be so smooth, but not knowing much about rocks he probably won't know. He keeps out the compss, constantly checking it as he follows Olly to thier doom the cave.

Olly continues forwards, signalling to the others that so far, it's all ok.

Loki can't help but smirk at Alice's last sentence. "Darn it! You have found my only weakness. And here I was hoping to keep it a secret at least a little while longer." he says in a mock-upset tone of voice, his face pretending anger, only to nearly instantly melt away into a warm and charming smile. "Alright, I'll take the job. Tell Mac he should pick me up before he leaves for the tavern and go there together, to make sure I'll be there on time and I find it. Got any last minute tips for non-lethal weapons that would hurt unruly patrons, so they are more likely to stop, without damaging them too much? I'd rather not use ANY weapons at all, but you have to be prepared in case push comes to shove."

Risu nods. "No sweat, won't let you down!" She lifts the flap of her largest pocket and feeds a scrap of her breakfast to the repkull. "I can show her this little guy too!"

Korga follows Olly, with enough distance that if the big man needs to turn and run, that she at least has some advance notice to retreat herself.

Olly, Korga, Julius
The trio descend into the cave, looping back on itself three more times, before opening out into a circular cavern. In the centre of the space, stretching from the floor to the ceiling, is a glowing purple, crystal shaped like an hourglass, about one metre in diameter at the widest points, where it connects to the floor and ceiling, and at its narrowest barely two centimetres thick. The ceiling curves down in a smooth bowl shape, roughly two metres high at the edges of the space and four in the centre. To the left and right sides of the room, perpendicular to their path earlier, are two openings in the smooth stone surface, smooth, circular openings which continue away from the room. The roaring wind seems to be coming from the left passageway, while standing near the right fills them with a sense of complete and utter stillness.

Risu
The repkull hatchling chirrups happily as it bites into the food scrap, tearing off pieces that it can swallow with little shakes of its head. "She probably would take an interest in that one. Anyway, she'll be waiting at the front entrance in fifteen, twenty minutes. Enough time to get ready?"

Loki
Alice smiles softly, "Most of them will be flailing drunkards you can handle by hand, but for the ones that are actually trouble, a club that's enchanted with lightning or heaviness to help disable them is ideal. Weighted so that you can handle it with good control. Need any more pointers?"

Olly is captivated by the purple thing and runs up to it for a look.

"Woah!! Look at this thing!! Julius, is it magic?"

He doesn't touch it.

Loki grins at Alice. "If I say 'yes', will that get me into any trouble? Like, would you try to hit me over the head with such a club? Or simply report me to Tor for being incompetent? Or worse yet, take your battering eyelashes and swaying hips thither and try and charm someone else into helping Mac out, because clearly, I couldn't be trusted with the task? "

Loki will listen to anything else Alice has to offer - advice-wise - or, if she's willing to help with practising moves specially suited for non-lethal approach and/or not hurting the target, but rendering it incapable of fighting back (e.g. police hold in real life), does that and tries to learn as much as he can.

Afterwards - or, if she doesn't have more guidance to share, right away - he goes off to find a suitable club with the right enchantment that lays good in his hand and sets it aside so he can take it with him, when the time comes.

He'll spend the rest of the day with Odin and more training, sharing the midday meal with Malis (if available) and having a quick nap afterwards. He wants to be well rested for the job.

Julius looks at the crystal with awe. "I have no idea. I will check"

"If I bring some back, Marie might know the properties." Julius scans the crystal like he did with the illusion barrier, truing tocfigure out if it is magical or not.

"Plenty. Will meet her there."

Risu makes sure she has a bucket of meat, her repkull happily stowed away, and her stilleto and tessen tucked into her boots in case of emergency.

Olly, Korga, Julius
Olly quickly comes close to the large crystal, deciding it would be best not to directly touch it, but even as he comes close he can feel a change in the air, a tingle on his skin like the moment after a lightning strike, the small hairs on his arms and legs raising up. To answer Olly's question, Julius tries to examine the crystal for magical energy. While the illusion felt like a tightly woven lattice, though, this is a solid block of magic, compressed beneath the surface.

Risu
Risu makes some preparations before heading to meet her guest, bringing a bucket of meat chunks with her. Stepping out the front of the Arena, she has to wait a short while before she's approached by a young woman. "You there, girl, I'm her for a tour. Guessing by the bucket, my guide will meet me here?"

Loki
Alice rolls her eyes, "I just might, but Mac gets along with you." Alice spends some time instructing Loki on how to subdue people (2SP strength), then leaves him to himself. Once he's collected a club (Tier 2, Lightning) he sets to training again, and playing with Odin. As he comes to late afternoon, Mac comes to meet him.
"Hey, Loki, ready to go?"
(2SP in Strength from training with Alice, the club is a Tier 2 weapon enchanted with Lightning. What did you want to train with the other training slot?)

To get an idea of his partners reflexes when faced with an unexpected situation,Loki simply pulls a punch at Mac in lieu of a greeting, though he stops in the very last moment, not actually letting his fist connect with his face, and pats Mac's shoulder instead, then cracks into a smile. "As ready as I can possibly be as of now. How about you?"

He uses his combat training and on top of that talent to tab into Mac's thoughts and emotions to try and predict his reactions and evade any attempt from him to grab Loki's arm or fight back otherwise.

"Facinating. It's made of pure magic." Julius brings out his note pad and scetches the crystal in it. He adds in a note to it and a location on his duplicate map. "I would like to take a tiny bit home but thst might be impossible." Julius looks around the crystal for any signs of loose crystal. He gets slowly gets closer to it, studing it carefully.

Risu smiles. "Sorry, you're unfortunately stuck with the bucket and me! Don't worry, the bucket is for the beasts, they'll be very receptive to us if we come with a meal for them! I'm Risu, one of the new gladiators here. Pleased to meet you!"

Olly wrinkles his brow and steps back slightly while Julius messes with the crystal.

Olly, Korga, Julius
Julius investigates the crystal more closely while the other investigate less closely, putting some distance between themselves and the crystal. In the process of his investigation, Julius bumps against the crystal, going numb around where his skin made contact with the crystal, as well as an unusual warmth from the crystal. Searching around the crystal and room, he can't find any loose pieces that he can collect, only the large, smooth crystal.

Risu
The woman blinks at Risu, staring for a moment before responding, "You're... But you're so young! You couldn't really be involved with those monsters, could you?"

Loki
Loki manages to take Mac by surprise with his punch. Taken by surprise and already moving toward Loki, he barely manages to stumble backward out of arm's reach, though still within reach if Loki were to take a step forward. When the initial surprise fades it's replaced by a scowl, "What was that about, then? In a habit of assaulting your friends?"