Revision as of 22:08, 7 September 2013

Participants

• Angus
• Arimia
• Dio
• Mazurek
• Meyna
• Selena
• Sveta
• Zevran

Date

7/9/476

Log

Today, there's a long line of carts and wagons stretching in from the road from Firmament. The better off have their vehicles powered by mathemagic, those less fortunate have theirs drawn by beasts of burden. The mood is somewhat tense despite the Crown's reassurance that there's enough for all, and the weather's not helping any.

At the head of the line is a small counter at which a vulture sits, one of the Crown's bean-counters overseeing the rationing as workers load and unload hand carts of precious grain. Guards have been posted around the entire building and alongside some stretches of road, hoping that today's a trouble-free day.

Selena has a faint smile playing across her face this afternoon; apparently fond of the atmosphere that some might call gloomy. After landing -- Divine math being far cheaper to use than public transport -- she approaches the vulture from an angle that makes it quite clear she's not in the buying crowd. "You left a note with the Freeswords? If there's anything you want to clarify about the job posting... Other beings will probably be arriving soon." She greets, taking a glance around the area.

Zevran approaches from the direction of Firmament, using the cheapest form of transportation possible. He seems a bit distracted, lost in his thoughts as he walks at his own pace past the line of waiting folk, staying far enough to the side so that nobody could accuse him of trying to cut in line. Once he makes his way to the head of the line, he approaches the vulture and Selena, offering a wave to Selena. "So, I suppose you left the job posting with the Freeswords. Guard duty doesn't seem too difficult." He remarks to the vulture, taking a chance to look down the line of waiting folk.

A gloomy day, but at least it isnt' raining. A bit of water always weighs down upon a poor lion's already heavy mane. With blade at his side and iron buckler at the ready for wonderful guard duty, Dio arrives from the city by hitching a ride with a friendly individual. It would seem they were having a nice conversation! With a chuckle, the lion hops off and joins the growing group, heading up to the desk and giving Selena and Zevran a solid nod. "Right! I'm 'ere for guard duty as well! I hope you aren't expectin' anything."

One of those arriving in response to the message left at the Inn does not come along a ground route. Instead a shadow crosses the ground repeatedly and anyone looking up would be able to see a Griffon. The hybrid is a Raven and Panther mix, circling the structure twice before finally descending for a landing close to the group. The thrusting of the wings to finally land sends up a cloud of dust and other loose debris, and thankfully none of it is within range of all the food. Nothing is said by this one yet as he pads up to the assembling Soulless.

Arimia has made her way out of the city as well, choosing the ground route. Upon reaching the line she starts to walk along beside it, taking the time to examine each merchant, each guard, pretty much every being that has come thus far. Though if she sees anything that seems out of place to her, she doesn't comment on it. Instead she arrives at the counter with the vulture and takes a few minutes looking him over as well. Then she takes a few steps away, toward Selena, and leans against the wolf.

Angus appears as well, the chill of the fog causing him to throw on a leather jacket over his usual set of armor which he tighened around him as he walked up to the slowly forming crowd. "Guess this is were the freeswords are gathering to help?" He asks, turning his gaze over the merchants waiting patiently in line as he trys to make a mental list of how many guards were already here.

The vulture looks up from his paperwork, motioning for a granary worker to load a merchant's wagon with a full handcart. "That's as much as you're allowed to buy at the reduced prices. If you don't like the rationing, take it up with the Good King himself."

Dismissing the poor fellow with a wave, he then turns to everyone gathered. "Good afternoon - although it certainly doesn't look like it with this fog around. I'm Anson, and I oversee the running of this granary in the name of the Good King. I usually run a decent staff, so this has never really been necessary before, but the last time I opened the stores to the public three days ago there was a scuffle between two merchants that grew into an outright fistfight. I'd like to prevent that from happening today. No one likes rationing, but everyone needs to be fed. I don't see why the panic - this is one of Sweetwater's biggest granaries. There's always been enough for everyone. If you have any questions, please ask now - it's going to get busy really soon."

Selena greets Zevran, Arimia and Angus with friendly waves, her arm settling back down just over the raccoon's shoulder, glancing down at the currently quiet woman for a moment before the Vulture says his piece. "A pleasure, Anson, I'm Selena; The panic's likely because there's rationing here. I doubt that much of an impact would've come from the recent weather alone..." She replies, then glances back to the others for more useful input. "That said, if there's trouble here it might be a good idea to ask about later on and see how some of the smaller granaries have been coping."

Zevran waves to Dio, Angus, and Arimia as they approach. He also gives the unidentiied Griffon a nod of acknowledgement before turning back to listen to the vulture. "Panic doesn't always make sense, and it spreads quickly. Still, there shouldn't be too much trouble here if the merchants and others stay calm." He remarks to the vulture, taking another opportunity to look up and down the line of merchants and waiting folk, checking for anything out-of-place.

Dio gives the new arrivals a good nod and turns back around to witness the exchange. "Don't worry lad," he returns, holding up his hand slightly. "I know all 'bout rationing an' havin' to tighten yer belt. When ya gotta save food, it's fer the good o' everyone." The lion looks back at the line of wagons and crosses his arms, getting a good observatory glance at their guarding environment. "Army folks 're certainly more used to rationin', but merchants... Probably not so much. Guess we'll try an' stop chaos at the root before it spreads."

The griffon listens intently to the vulture, eying the merchants and the other common folk in the meantime. When the others have said their pieces he finally pipes up, revealing who he is to those who know him, "If it comes down to it and it is only two who are quarreling, I will take them in my talons and fly with them. The threat of being dropped several hundred feet is more than likely to force them to simmer down."

Arimia looks over the vulture then says, "We'll do our best to keep things movin' as smoothly as we can." She looks to the others gathered and says, "I'd suggest a couple folk wander the line. It's a long one. So havin' a patrol, of sorts, a visible presence watchin' everyone an' not jus' those at the counter, will help keep 'em calm." She then excuses herself, slips out from under Selena's arm, and makes her way over to talk in hushed tones with a feline guard, then moves along to another guard. Possibly just making sure there's no hard feelings about Freeswords being called in.

Angus rubs at his chin as he looks over the crowd again. "Wouldn't be the best idea Mazurek, picking them up and threatening them like that would probably cause more problems then it solves." He returns the greeting that everyone has given him as he turns a few thoughts around in his head. "So far I'm liking Arimia's idea, lets just try and act friendly towards them. Don't want them thinking we are just here to act like enforcers." Turning to the vulture he gives him a rather shallow bow, buttoning up the front of his jacket to hide the armor underneath as best as he can. "My name is Angus, and we will do our best to help."

Meyna is running a bit late, mostly because... she's running late. Not a morning feline really. She lands with a bit of a stumbling run while holding onto her hood to keep it up. When she finally comes to a stop, dark feathered wings poof and the feline tugs the hood away before grinning. "Nothing's burned down to the ground agai-yet right?"

"I most probably will check in with the others when a message can be sent, but my duties come first. The thing is, it appears that policy is that the crown would rather not have an actual shortage on their hands before doing something. Common folk are still free to buy and sell as they please - the restrictions are only on merchants and only on purchases from royal storehouses. This may be setting a precedent, but I think it's the lesser of two evils. In any case, well met, all of you, and I had similar thoughts as to your duties. Patrolling the merchants is part of...oh, no. Well, there it is! Hurry, do your job!"

Anson points down the road and long line of vehicles - indeed, there appears to be a small scuffle brewing some way down the road. A few flour sacks have already fallen to the ground, although thankfully none have split, and it appears to be between a coyote and meerkat, the former accusing the latter of pinching his wares when he'd been up to the counter. Traffic on the country dirt road has certainly been stalled, and most of the guards from the granary are already heading for the scene.

Angus turns towards the commotion, squinting a ittle bit to get a better view of it. "Might want to call your guards off Anson, the fight doesn't look to be as bad as you think. Just a heated argument, think we can handle this without any problems." Smiling to Anson he looks to the others before he moves to walk up to the coyote and meerkat, making sure that he kept that smile as he gets closer.

Selena tilts her head to the side and shrugs. "That depends on if they know enough math to fly themselves." She replies to the griffon, gesturing to Angus in corroboration of the fox's former comment as Arimia slips off to do as she does. "That being said, Griffons are supposedly good at keeping an eye on things... And hello Meyna. Nothing's burni-..." She greets the leopard, pivoting sharply to the commotion with a sigh, though before she begins to move towards it she catches herself to hear Angus out before moving along with the fox. "Probably better to keep the conflict to the side of the road, but I'd rather not be telling them what to do judging from how lout they are."

Zevran looks back towards the Griffon as he hears the suggestion. "Why take the time to fly up there when you can just knock them out and end the fight there?" He remarks, before turning to look at the commotion pointed out by the vulture. He starts to move towards the quarrel, but stops as he listens to Angus. "I guess that means I won't be punching anything." He sighs, feigning disappointment as he watches the quarrel. He starts to follow after Angus, though he does his best to not look overtly intimidating by trying to keep his expression friendly.

"Ah! 'ello there lass," Dio says as he turns towards Meyna and gives her a wave. "'ad a good cat nap did ya?" The lion chuckles softly, but soon gets serious. JOB TIME SERIOUS. Which for the lion, is mostly just a slight smile on his leonine muzzle. At the mention of a fight, he spins around to the source of disturbance and gives a good stare, hoping such a thing wouldn't end up being a full out brawl. "Ah yeah, probably jus' the fog gettin' 'em down. Nothin' too bad. Just a nice 'n' friendly chat should sort things out." Wearing his best goofy smile, the coat wearing lion follow behind to reach the disturbance.

The griffon giggles and pads right up to Zevran, "You know, you could join me in the sky for the patrol of the line like the others were suggesting. You can change to your griffon form still, yes? If not, you can climb aboard to feel the wind over your body." He winks before spreading his wings and crouching, ready to take flight, though he does wait to hear the response to his offer, willing to take someone else if they wish it. In the meantime he actually ignores the scuffle down the line, letting the others take care of it.

Arimia offers Meyna a wave and looks about to speak before her attention is directed toward the scuffle down the road. She frowns and says loudly enough that the guards can hear, "Better not all be leavin' your posts. It don' take that many to break up quarrelin' merchants, an' doin' so would leave other vulnerabilities." She looks about to start down the line, but upon seeing the others doing so she instead moves to the counter saying, "While they're doin' that I'm gonna take a walk around the silo an' all." She turns, lifting her hood, and starts to walk, pulling a rolled smoke from her cloak and lighting it with a small bit of fire magic.

Meyna doesn't even turn to face the argument as she starts to draw a pistol with her left hand while returning the waves with the other. She stops, pistol half-out and mutters, then slides it back into place and says, "Wasn't so much a cat nap as just not paying attention. Morning by the way" offering the last bit to all three. The others are met with a curious look before she asks, "Anyone working the crowd not standing out all obviouslike?"

Anson rubs his forehead. "But why? It looks like they've already got this quite under control." Indeed, the granary guards have already broken up the fight without too much fuss - the combatants have been separated by the guard, and the merchandise they've been arguing over confiscated. A group of onlookers have gathered in a ring about the scene, and both of them are looking quite petulant as they're hauled up front. However, as the group reaches the scene, the feline guard that Arimia had spoken to earlier comes running up from around the silo, looking quite shaken and out of breath. He quickly whispers something to the pink 'coon, then moves to join his fellows down by the road.

Selena splinters from the main group after a moment, double-taking at something over from the silos. The cat moving out of the area hastily serves to push her into tapping Angus's shoulder, murmuring "Over there; behind the Silos. Someone's messing around. Since the cat's just ran back out it's evidently not somethign small." before quickly moving over to the location in question with one stop - just by Meyna, to make the same comment and get a slightly closer look at the area - though the heavier obfuscation of the area by thickened fog doesn't help at all.

Zevran shakes his head towards Mazurek at the offer. "I would have to focus on changing my Sacred Family first, and that would take a while. I appreciate the offer, but I prefer to keep my feet planted on solid ground unless I'm the one doing the flying." He responds to Mazurek before he continues to move towards the scuffle until he notices that the guards have broken it up. He tilts his head as he sees Selena splinter off, but he doesn't see anything odd and instead starts walking back up the line towards the others at the head.

"Well, I suppose that's over 'n' done with. Hope that was the peek o' emotions fer today." But of course, when are things ever that simple? At the very least, maybe something won't explode today. As Selena wanders off, Dio cranes his head curiously and crosses his arms. With everything seemingly taken care of at the scuffle, the lion shrugs and spins around, heading over towards Meyna's location.

Trouble on the side of the grainery? Well, that attracts the griffon's attention rather swiftly. He can at least hear what the others are saying and it doesn't take much effort to take to the air and begin an aerial recon of the suspected danger. Superior eyesight and all that thanks to the avian head. In fact, he actually works some air maths in an effort to disperse the fog in as wide an area as possible to expose what is happening. Well, after he lets out a birdlike shriek intended to startle those below.

Arimia glances back and whistles, making a beckoning motion to Selena and Meyna. She then drops and grinds out her smoke, tugging her cloak tightly about herself, and slips off into the fog. She avoids the taller grass as best she can, however, the small 'coon being used to plying her stealthy trade in cities, among stone and wood, not out in the wilder areas, with grass, and branches.

Angus turns his head as his shoulder is tapped, then starts looking towards the silo as his smile fades. "You go ahead and cheek it out, I'll stay here to make sure nothing breaks out in the crowd while your gone." He turns to watch Selena go, before he turns back around and straightens his hat as he eyes the line.

Meyna is a little more familiar with the brush and.. actually avoids the tall grass anyway, that stuff tends to be noisy. She's watching the periphery though, rather than where the reported problem is. As a bit of an afterthought, she pulls out her small boot knife. and rests it so that the blade is hidden in the fluff of her arm.

As everyone reaches the west side of the silos, all appears to be quiet, with not a single soul in sight. Fog continues to roll along the ground, although it's now only calf-high thanks to Mazurek's efforts. There's but one door set into this side of the building - it looks quite heavy and reinforced, but remains closed. Some stretches of grass have been flattened recently, though, leading up to said door - someone's tried to muss it back into place, but it looks like they didn't have much time to do more than a haphazard job.

On Angus' part, having dealt with the two scuffling merchants, the guards appear to be muttering amongst themselves. Apparently something's spooked all of them, and as one, they leave the crowd be and march straight to Anson.

What a thick fog, but at least it's not bellowing in his face. Kinda reminded him of soup. Perhaps he'll have to get a fine bowl later when everything is said and done. "That's an interestin' door... I think I'm gonna give it a go if ya don't mind..." Without actually waiting for anyone to speak such objections, the lion walks up to the door and places his hand upon the handle with a bit of hesitation. What if a giant trap came springing out of there? Well, nothing ventured, etc. He quickly yanks open the door to reveal... A stone wall. A solidly built stone wall. "This is... How interestin'. Someone playin' a joke on us?" Dio gives the stone wall a good knock and then shrugs his shoulders.

Selena mutters something annoyedly under her breath, eying over the 'wall' and plying her craft as the others like up in front of the wall, opening gaps in the rock and weakening other segments to compromise the structure, notably aiming for the base first - though likely after a brief pause to consider the math that was used to erect the wall on such short notice in the first place. "You can tell it's a rushed job. Shame they aren't being productive with that talent." She comments, though it's clear she's having some effect, subtle or otherwise as a few cracks widen.

Naturally, Dio wanted to knock this wall down. However, he didn't have much of a blunt weapon on him. Except perhaps, his shoulder! To assist in Selena's earth magic, the lion gets a few feet back and charges at the wall with all his strength. "Ooh! Ow!" He hops back a bit and continues to help break it down, helping to reduce the wall's integrity.

Without anything to be seen except for what the others are gathering around, the griffon decides to land. He does so, again, far enough away to keep the dust storm from obscuring everyone's view. He merely watches for a moment while the others work to break down what looks to be a wall behind the door that was opened. At least the door opened outward so they could all see it. It does not take long at all for the avian to join in on battering the thing down, his only warning being another birdlike shriek before the quadruped charges. As he reaches it he administers a shoulder-slam to it, all his bulky weight crashing into it and all.

Arimia waits as Selena performs her magic, and as others throw themselves at the wall. Instead of doing the same, knowing her small size wouldn't be of much help with that, she kneels down in front of the wall during a break when others are throwing themselves at the structure. With the metallic claws of her right arm she starts to claw at the magically weakened base of the wall, tearing chunks away. After a few minutes she stands up and moves out of the way, flexing that prosthetic hand, then shaking it slightly. "Right. Should be easier to knock over."

Zevran blinks as the door opens upon a wall. "Heh, the silo must be smaller than it looks from the inside." He chuckles. He watches the others working at the wall, trying to weaken it enough to take it down. "You're doing it wrong. That's not how you take down a wall.

Frowning Angus turns around as the guards start shuffling towards Anson, which prompts him to put his hand up to his mouth and whistle at them. "Um, guys. Don't think marching up to Anson is really going to change anything, why don't we get back to work and make sure the kind merchants that came here for their rations get them without a problem?" He was still smiling, but he was worried about the way they seemed spooked. Wondering what the others were doing.

Meyna looks at the group trying to tear things down the hard way. In the meantime, she looks for anything to use as an adhoc prybar even if it involves going for a bit of a walk. When she returns, she finds a loose point and begins to jimmy the wall open, or at least she tries. She begins to mutter, "I could jury rig a black powder bomb with some spare powder if all else fai-... or we could just go the other noisy route"

Zevran blinks as the door opens upon a wall. "Heh, the silo must be smaller than it looks from the inside." He chuckles. He watches the others working at the wall, trying to weaken it enough to take it down. "If by other noisy route, you mean the fun route, then yes. I'm going that route." He comments after hearing Meyna. "You're doing it wrong. That's not how you take down a wall." He calls to the group, moving a short distance further away from the wall. "You all might want to move." He motions for the others to get out of the way, hoping they would do so before they got trampled. He charges at the wall at full speed. He doesn't slow down, throwing the full force of his momentum behind the charge and busting through the wall. "That's how you take down a wall." He remarks before looking around inside the silo.

Indeed, the stone wall gives way under Zevran's mighty bulk, crumbling in a handful of chunky chunks, and the room beyond is revealed: a ventilation control room of sorts. Great pumps here labour to keep the air flowing through the granary cool and dry, the hissing and roaring of air making it hard to hear much under a shout. It's about the intake of one of these pumps that a group of five beings clad in grey-green wrappings is clustered, one of them with an open spellbook and about to recite something. At the party's entrance, the mage scowls and jerks her free hand in their direction, clearly prepared for the party's arrival considering the noise they've made getting in. "Hurry! Kill the sellswords!"

Her fellows do not reply, instead quickly forming a defensive semicircle about their leader with practiced ease. One of them concentrates briefly and a flood of blackness flows from his hands, threatening to plunge the entire room into darkness unless something is done.

On Angus' side of things, things are a little tense as the guards converse with Anson. "Right," he says. "Two of you, stay here with me and keep things going. The rest of you, go out and help the Freeswords with their problem. And you over there -" he jabs a finger at Angus -"do the job I paid you to and help them out, all right?"

Selena glances back to Meyna and then to Zevran. "Well, I'd say this works better, less resources used is usually a good thing. But if that wall was any thicker you'd have a headache about now." She chuckles, though the hostility is returned in kind; the new debris being funneled into a squall and directed to the where the circle of mages were last before the darkness encroaches on the room - disorientation be damned for now.

Zevran chuckles at Selena's comment. "I have a hard head." He responds, barely turning to notice the small cluster of folk inside before the darkness spread and obscured his vision. He sighed, reaching for the ever-present greatsword on his back and drawing it in preparation for the fight he knows is coming, even though he can't see very much at this point.

"Ooh, not bad lad," Dio comments as the wall comes tumbling down. "Guess I'm already gettin' a bit too old fer this sort o' thing. Or maybe it's just because I 'aven't eatin' yet. Yeah, that's it." The lion lets out a hearty chuckle, soon ceased entirely as his eyes and ears come across a strange group of fellows. Fellows making a lethal threat against he and his party! "We'll see about that..." With a small roar, Dio unsheathes his sword and tosses it in the general direction of the leader with all his strength! At the very least, maybe it'll hit one of the guards. If not, he'll have an interesting time wrestling it back. He has his fists, after all.

Mazurek does not have anything that would help the group here. Then again, when the silo is entered he notices a lot of things happening at once. Nothing he can do to help except, well, blast the entire group with a burst of wind in an attempt at causing some chaos amongst the enemy, swirling the grain about them and all.

Arimia looks in after the wall is down and draws a sharp looking dagger, preparing to use it. Until she sees the darkness flowing out to try and shroud the room. She grins viciously then and waves a hand, sending out a wave of her own darkness. This darkness doesn't threaten to shroud the room, instead encasing the flood from the other caster, shrinking and then appearing to almost devour it, before simply dissipating. "Uh-uh. The darkness is mine an' I won't see it used against us."

Meyna whips her pistol out and cracks the chamber open, dropping the ball and loading something else from the palm of her hand before flipping the chamber shut and aiming into the room. She grins and says, "I always liked a packed room, makes some kinds of ammo so much more fun to fire." She sort of cuts herself off pulling the trigger, firing an overcharged load of scattershot into the room, mostly centered on the one she was hoping was the caster. She then ducks to the side and begins reloading.

The last killing blow lands, and five very dead bodies are splayed all over the ventilation room, blood gathering in pools under them. The hearth magician's tome has fallen to the ground, unsouled save for a faint coating of floury dust, and the sound of footsteps from outside signals the arrival of the granary guards. Now might be a good time to do some cleanup, search the bodies, or simply take a breather.

Selena grimaces slightly and wipes some flour from her hands, averting her gaze from the corpses before picking up that single tome, flipping through a few of the pages before looking over the bodies briefly. The hearth mage in particular gains a few moments of scrutiny as she frisks the being for any papers or identification, though she looks decidedly uncomfortable with the outcome regardless. "Did they have to..?" She asks nobody in particular, shaking her head as her voice trails off before sighs and announces to the group; "The book's the spell they were planning on casting. Essentially, it makes mist or clouds, but this one's been worked on a lot. I haven't seen anything quite as overdone as this outside of Cliffside, if that means anything other than what I think it does." The wolfess shakes her head, moving to the exit of the granary already. "I'd rather talk outside, but if you want to stay here some more, I might as well wait."

Meyna lifts up a couple of vials and shakes them around carefully. She holds them up to Selena and says, "My trick's tweaking gunpowder, do you know too much about cream colored powders or the darker one here?" She starts to take them outside, then stops and mutters, "Wait a moment... really?" She sets them to the side and calls out, "Hey careful with the vials, especially the dark one. Got some notes for those." Then she begins laughing and adds, "If we catch anymore of these guys? Take their boots from them if they're alive." She fiddles with the boot, then holds out a few silver pills in her palms

Dio shakes his head as he enters the room, letting out a small sigh at the dead. "Never happy 'bout havin' to cut some fellows down, even considerin' the circumstances..." Walking over to one of the dead bodies, he puts his foot upon it for leverage and pulls out his previously thrown sword and tries to shake off some of the blood. "Interestin' book from what you've said," he comments as he looks over at Selena. "If it's too dangerous fer pryin' ears, perhaps we could take it private. I'll leave that decision up to ya though." He tilts his head curiously at Meyna. Obviously chemistry wasn't one of his more known subjects. "Some notes ya say? What's in those vials?"

The griffon is not going to let an opportunity by to dig through the belongings of the enemies. In fact he rifles through their things without even waiting to revert to his natural form to do so, and somehow he doesn't wind up shredding anything in the process. The only comment he utters after making a few discoveries, uttering it each time, is what one might expect from such a creature, "Ooh. Sparklies!"