Hell's Rebels [IC]

[PersonMan]

As the flight from the riot comes to an end, Kyra stays quiet, coming to a stop and resting her polearm against a nearby wall. The shine on her armor fades, and the last remnants of the blue-green frost which briefly covered one of her hands vanishes, dripping away as what seems to be entirely mundane droplets of water. After the others speak, Kyra slowly removes her helmet, almost hesitant, if only because of the implications that came with it. The fighting was over, which meant that the simplicity of what to do, how to respond, was gone. It was like finding oneself at the end of the road, needing to continue into the wilderness guided only by some half-remembered wisdom about which starts to follow or where the moss should grow. Without the steel and shadow to hide them, Kyra's emerald-green, gleaming eyes flash in the light, joined by the almost steel-like hair on her head. Between that and her skin, a shade darker than usual for the area, Kyra might stand out from the usual Kintargan, were she not a few feet away from a rather obvious tiefling.

Of course, removing her helmet is only the beginning. Kyra looks between the two that have spoken so far, lining up her words and preparing each response before opening her mouth. "Hello. I believe we did, yes. I am Kyra. I have a last name..." she pauses, then turns more towards Fortuna. "Hello, as well. I have not seen your plays. I have heard of you. I agree, your cape appears damaged. I did hear Thrune," she nods. Goes over everything silently. She didn't miss anything to reply to, did she? Probably not. Hopefully.

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

"Are we sure we want to do names? Alright. I'm Lynera." The elf looks up at Fortuna from the edge of the lake. She's trying to rinse off her sword before she puts it away, lest the inside of her scabbard become unnecessarily gross and sticky. "And you're right! I was expecting Barzi to read off the usual emergency powers diarrhea and make some empty promises to get the crowd off his back, but instead he cooks up that pointless shipwreck of a proclamation. Like he can insult us like that and then act surprised when it doesn't go over well."

She puts her sword away, apparently satisfied. "Either he's completely incompetent, or he just wants to watch us squirm. Probably both. Either way, there's no sense making it easy for him, right?"

She starts glancing around the park, searching the fleeing crowd for signs of one-glove guy. He's probably long gone by now, but it's worth a quick look around. He shouldn't be tough to recognize now that she's seen him once.

[The Kool]

"The riot was planned, make no doubt about that. The more people rise up against him, the more excuse he has to use force to put them down."
The noblewoman sighs. "More fool I, I played along. Don't think he's all bark and no bite though, the Night of Ashes painted a very different picture there. My name is Arodea Lerung, though the family name carries little meaning now." With the rush of the riot behind them, she places her sword at her side once more. "You lot seem to have come more prepared than the average citizen for the protests today. Were you expecting things to go this poorly?"

[AHalfOrc]

"So you have heard about me? Nothing but great things, I hope." Fortuna smiles broadly at Kyra, her metallic fangs bared, looking a bit too large for her mouth. Seeing Lynera wash her weapon she casts her eyes to Kyra's polearm "Oh, let me take care of that for you," she says as she casts prestidigitation to clean the blood from it, "Don't want to be going around with that thing dripping with... people bits."

Returning her whip to her belt, she responds to Lynera, "He's already gotten more resistance than he was expecting, I reckon, what with the crowd being so well-stoked. Wonderful work by the by," she says, making a sweeping gesture to Nyda and Arodea, "If Thrune has any sense he'll think twice before pulling such a stupit stunt again."

[Hazuki]

The halfling, having caught her breath, speaks up softly. "You were all very impressive," she says. "I hope you don't mind me accompanying you here; I found myself swept up all of a sudden and here I am. My name is Uly, if you care to know it."

Spoiler: Arodea

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Now that things have calmed down, you realize that you recognize the halfling from earlier. She was the one who told you the rumor about Nox.

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

"Well, no, I wasn't really expecting any of this," Lynera says to Arodea after offering nods and smiles of acknowledgement to all present. "I was a little on edge, but that's because because I was meeting someone unrelatedly sketchy."

She sighs.

"I guess that's pretty much fallen through, though. Whatever my idiot roommate has gotten himself into, I need to start looking over again."

[PersonMan]

Kyra is already composing her next set of answers when Fortuna replies, and as her polearm is cleaned - before she arranges the right words to make it clear that she could do so herself, which is a task she sets aside once its purpose seems passed. "Generally good, yes," Kyra nods. "Astrixa enjoys your writing, and finds your horns attractive." She nods again, but there's no rest because there are more things to reply to and she has to arrange the words and it's already happening immediately after the last ones. There's not even time to review the choices she made. But they were good, right? Surely she hadn't said anything inappropriate or unusual.

"I was not," Kyra replies to Arodea. She considers saying more, but instead turns to another.

"Thank you, Uly," Kyra says, looking down at Uly. Not that looking down at the people she's speaking to is something she hasn't been doing already. "I am not perturbed by your decision to follow me, or the others."

Excellent. This wasn't going so bad, after all.

[AHalfOrc]

"Oh, she's far too kind," Fortuna runs a finger along the crest of one horn, in a way one might smooth their hair, "Though I did polish them specially for today. I was hoping to meet someone at the protest, y'see. Hadn't expected things to get so... heated."

"That cloud you made, Uly, was that some contraption or was it a spell? If so, I'd love to know how you do that."

"If your friend had a run-in with the dottari, I heard they've been forcing people into the salt works. Probably a wild goose chase but you might try there."she says with a sympathetic look to Lynera.

[Hazuki]

"I draw power from the heavens," Uly answers Fortuna. "I also used it to grant some of you blessings, in the fighting. I hope you don't mind."

[The Kool]

Arodea nods in understanding of the situation. This halfling helped them get away, and knew that Nox wasn't human before her display with the dagger proved it. "Well, you seem to know a fair bit about what's going on here. I don't mind the help of anyone." Turning to the group, she added, "We shouldn't stay here, we're too conspicuous. If they start searching the area they'll find us in no time. Does anyone know of a safe place we can go?"

[Shadowflick]

Nyda leans against the wall, listening as everyone introduces themselves. the Half-orc scratches her chin with an idle thumb. If Thrune was trying to use this as an excuse to react violently, it might have worked. Buuut...he might have underestimated just what the people of Kintargo were willing to do to fight back. Indeed..Thrune didnt know.

"Sorry Fortuna. But I'm not much for plays. Know that an unpopular opinion but I was never much for him. Life's enough of a drama, don't need other ones clogging up my headspace." Nydasmirks "And when people are angry, it's not hard to get them to act violently. Something I'm really good at actually.

She turns to Lynera and chuckles "When your so full of crap it's hard to stop some of it from spilling out of your mouth you know. It's almost like he wants this place to destroy itself slowly. Maybe Chelix needs an excuse for blood sacrifices huh? Either way, if he wanted to destroy Kintargo I don't think he'd need a justification, he'd just do it. Besides! We can't just lie down and let him put a knife to our throat. It's about time we decided to fight back against him and his thugs. Only a matter of time before a rebellion forms. Especially with all those people he's rounded up. If your room mate's missing and not dead, she's either there or skipped town like a wise person.

Kyra's odd tone confuses Nyda a bit. Not visibly though, just an arched brow. Almost like she struggles with the idea of just talking. Every word picked precisely as to be grammatically correct and portray a direct meaning. She's met some people like this before. Back when she was running with some orphans. They had the kid count the coming they collected. A bright mind, just bad with others."Hey, you were brave out there. Not everyone has the courage to cut down one of Thrune's men in broad daylight. I think your actions did some real good for some people." She smiles, nodding to the armored caster.

Nyda chuckles to Ardoea "Please, I'm always prepared if things go south, I've had enough knives pointed at me to know you need to prepare for the worse. Let Thrune flex his muscle and try and push us down. just His actions are like timberwood to the flame. Fuel. The more he pushes, the more we rise to meet him. Soon, he'll burn himself out, and be left in the ashes of his own tragedy. Night of Ashes was bad yea, but we'll show hi fires far beyond those." As Nyda speaks, there's almost a gleam in her eye. The gleam of ambition

"Thanks for the BLessings Uly. nice to know some gods care about us little people in the streets. Any help you can provide is much appreciated. especially if it serves against Thrune. You know how to throw fireballs? I know a certain opera house that could use one."

"And a Barracks...and a watchtower...and a prison...Hmm. You know. I'm just saying. I'd ont think things are going to get any better. I think Thrune's just going to keep making proclamations till everyone's in a cell, or dancing for his enjoyment. Likely on fire. That is...unless people of above-average skill decided to say..do something about it. I'm not much of an optimist. I don't think any kind hero is going to come by town anytime soon to slay an evil king. The only way this is going to get better is if someone from here does something about it. Someone told me that once in the past and i didn't listen to them. Stayed quiet. Being passive though didn't solve much. So! Say a few trouble makers who all might feel the same about said tyrant...and might have caused a scene at an earlier protest.... decided to get together..and think about ways to lossen the iron grip around Kintargo one finger at a time?

[Hazuki]

Just as Nyda finishes speaking, the group hears the sound of steel clashing against steal, tumbling bodies, and the incantation of a spell coming from a nearby alley. It seems a fight has spilled out into it, as a lone man is practically tossed onto the ground, face-down in the alley. Lunging after him is a member of the Chelish Citizens' Group, and behind him is...at least one more, who stumbles dizzily before faceplanting.

Spoiler: Lynera

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You recognize this man. He has one glove, one bare hand...

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

Uly has already been thanked like three times by the time Lynera gets around to it, so she just seconds the sentiment with another nod. She's trying to think of an answer for Arodea and Nyda when her own subplot suddenly shows up and dumps itself at her feet.

"Oh! It's you! Unrelatedly sketchy guy!"

Hoping that the in-joke will serve as enough of a signal to get the team up to speed, Lynera seizes the initiative and charges to get the CCG off of her contact.

Spoiler

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I'm torn between modeling this as a bull rush or an unarmed strike. If she gets the sense that she can sneak attack him with a drop-kick, she'll go for it... so, I guess unarmed strike it is?

Charge! (1d20+4)[12]

drop-kick damage? (1d3+2)[4]

sneak attack? (1d6)[5]

[Shadowflick]

Nyda's eye twitches as her speech is suddenly interupted by a few Chelish Group thugs. her eye twitches with annoyance as she slowly starts to draw her two jagged looking short swords out. There less swords and more like very large make shift knives. "You know, it's pretty god dammened rude to interrupt someone in the middle of a conversation. Now, I was not thinking I was gonna kill anyone today, but I might make an exception for an Inbred, Bootlicking, Devil Lover like you." the half-orc turns, rolling her neck "This? This is the wrong alleyway for you to be in today."

Spoiler: Intimidate to get this guy running off!

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(1d20+9)[26]

[Hazuki]

Because she's not The Rainmaker, renowned Tian Xian performance combatant, Lynera charges in and manages to nail the Chelish thug with a significantly less silly punt to the chest that sends him stumbling back, wheezing for breath. His lungs sound like an exhausted church organ as Nyda approaches with both her blades drawn, and he immediately starts scrambling down the alley as fast as his freshly-fatigued body can manage. Now that they're deeper in, they can see that there are two other thugs, knocked unconscious around the alley's corner.

The man on the floor does his best to pull himself to his hands and knees, though every motion makes him cough and splutter. He manages to spot the group as he does so, his eyes widening briefly. "My thanks... Please...we have to depart..." He glances at the fallen thugs. "I know a safe place..." He has tan skin, with a dark goatee and head of hair. He wears a red and gold cloak over a waistcoat over a tunic; more layers than most people would know what to do with.

Beside him sits the unsheathed blade component of a sword cane, as well as the cane part further down the alley. It's obviously of decent quality, with a sleek coating on the cane and solid unstained steel on the sword.

[Shadowflick]

Nyda scoffs, putting her blades away as she makes her way down the alley, stepping on the Chelish thugs in her way as she picks up the man's scabbard. She returns to the man and crouches down, "Not bad back there. Two out of three ain't so bad." She pats him on the back "We were planning on leaving this place anyway. Where are we heading?"

[AHalfOrc]

"For not being a fan of the theatre, you've one hell of a dramatic streak. Powerful. You'd be a good actor." Fortuna smiles at Nyda as she strides past. "I think you're more suited to stuntwork, Lynera. Nice kick! My place isn't too far, but maybe 'shady' here has a better place in mind."

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

"Right, let's get out of here first, and work out the specifics on the way, okay?" Lynera helps one-glove to his feet and picks up his snazzy cane while she's at it. "I've been meaning to talk to you anyway, so let's go for your place."

[The Kool]

Arodea jumps forward, hand on her blade, but the situation resolves before she can properly react. She looks back and forth with the banter, slowly relaxing. "Someone you know?"

[Hazuki]

"My thanks, my thanks..." The man shakily tucks his cane under his arm and reaches into his belt as he's supported. He retrieves a corked red bottle and pops off the top with a flick of his thumb, A few gulps later, he replaces the bottle in his belt and a bruise that had been forming starts to fade. "Ah, that's better!" He draws his cane to his hand and flicks it, only to stumble forward and have to balance himself on his cane. "Perhaps not as much as I expected," he chuckles to himself. "Anyway, yes. I happen to know this lovely little bookshop just down Jarvis End; perfectly private, not too far, and, hopefully, not the sort of place these fellows will follow us." He looks at one of the unconscious men, who's starting to rouse, and his smile falters. "We...may have to run. I'm afraid my spell may not stick for as long as we'd like."

[Shadowflick]

Nyda scoffs, rolling her eyes at Fortuna "Please. These guys blow away like leaves in the wind once there alone. Not an actor! I just have a thing with getting people to do what I say, thats all."

Nyda sheaths her blades again, turning to the Man as he chugs a healing Potion "Could have just knocked them out a bit extra after the spell was cast. A quick kick to the ear tends to do the trick." Nyda smirks, thinking on doing that herself "Either way, lead on stranger."

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

If anyone in the group isn't running away from the alley by this point, Lynera grabs them and starts pulling them away. "Yes! Let's go!"

Spoiler

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Since she happens to live in Jarvis' End right now... Knowledge(local) to guess which bookstore he means?: (1d20+6)[12]

[The Kool]

Jarvis' End is on the complete other side of the city from where Arodea lived, so she has no clue where this bookstore might be. "Lead on" she says, following after whoever has the confidence to take the lead, which right now seems to be Lynera.

[AHalfOrc]

Fortuna follows, always eager to get to a bookstore, even if it was to hide from armed militants.

[Hazuki]

Spoiler: Lynera

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Lynera is familiar with the bookstore; Crissali's Fine Tomes is known for its arcane items, but also its apolitical owner, Nandy Crissali, who doesn't engage with such topics.

The man hurriedly leads the group through the streets of Jarvis End, until they find themselves standing in front of Crissali's Fine Tomes. It's a relatively luxurious storefront, with a painted sign up front and spotlessly clean windows, which provide a clear view of the simple but obviously expensive interior, with shelves lining every wall and a rich blue carpet on the floor. There are even scrolls set up behind the desk, and in front of them stands a human woman with tied back hair and a mildly age-worn face.

It takes little more than a few words with the man to get the group through the backdoor, a simple room with facilities for preparing beverages and a few comfortable chairs around a table. Unfortunately, there are no hallfing-size chairs, so Uly kneels at the end of the low-hanging table.

"Thank you again for that timely rescue," the man says as he practically sinks into the chair. "Truth is...our meeting was no coincidence. I noticed your actions in the protest earlier today and meant to follow you, but in the panic I lost track; I'd hoped to wrap around and find you once more. Which, most fortunately for my health, I did." He laughs, then winces a little at the remaining wounds. "Anyway. You proved yourselves to be people of uncommon skill, and I am a man of uncommon needs."

"My name is Rexus Vicocora," he introduces himself at last. "And, until last week's Night of Ashes, I was one of this city's nobles. My parents' estate burned to the ground that night," he recalls with a slightly faltering smile, "and I escaped simply because I was studying at the Alabaster Academy during the fire. There were other fires that night, as you know - fires that many believe were started by Barzillai Thrune or his agents in an attempt to squash any spirit of rebellion Kintargo might have had."

Rexus leans forward. "Now, more than ever, we need that spirit of rebellion to stay strong, but Thrune's actions have driven into hiding those who would stay strong and resist! Those who could once rally the city to a cause, such as Lord-Mayor Jilia Ilainilus and m parents, are missing at best, and are most likely dead. I cannot do this on my own, but with talented citizens such as yourselves, I have hope that we can." He looks everyone in the eye, one by one. "Will you aid Kintargo?" His voice grows more intense. "Will you save this city from the devil?"

[PersonMan]

Kyra follows the others, bringing up the rear partly because of having to pause to retrieve her weapon, partly because of her slowed pace in her armor, and partly because she was sure to throw a glower at the most-recovered thug before following. As they go, her mind still circles on the end of the brief conversation from before, questioning whether supplying responses once they had arrived at their destination would be suitable. It's only when she's inside the bookstore that she shelves the idea. Entering a new building was usually a break point, which meant that a reply now would be too late.

Entering the private room, Kyra spends a moment depositing her chair and polearm before sitting down. The lack of a chair for Uly brings her to a simple conclusion, and after she's seated, she turns to the halfling. "Would you like to sit on my lap?" She asks quietly. Either way, once Rexus begins speaking she turns to him, providing her full attention. Luckily, what he says is all very straightforward, at least by the end. His introduction almost makes her think it's time for those again, but he keeps talking, and no one else pipes up, so she doesn't say anything either. By the end, Kyra nods.

"Yes," Kyra says, when Rexus looks to her. "I am prepared. Do we have pre-existing assets to make use of?"

[Hazuki]

Uly looks up at Kyra as the question is asked and shakes her head. "No, thank you."

[AHalfOrc]

"I suppose I can move some things around to fit in a little rebellion... Really don't like Fiends either... What the hell, I'm in! What's first?"

What had started as a disappointing day was showing promise in ways that Fortuna could never have expected. In a few hours a whole troupe of interesting people, all from different walks of life, united against a villain who ground their whole city under his boot, had fallen into her lap. Not only were they all rich in stories to fuel her imagination, but the chance to be part of this tale, not just writing about it, was too tantalising to pass up.

[Shadowflick]

Nyda chooses to stand instead of sitting, easier to fight back if your on both your feet! Not that she'll have to but..it's always a good idea to be ready in case there might be another. She smirks, chuckling to herself as she looks down at the well-dressed man "Well then! For someone who we found getting knocked around, you have a good head on your shoulders. See, I was already thinking about putting together a rebellion before you got thrown into us. Even had a little speech I was sayin. So yea, I was already planning on it. Lets Rebel. Hae any Plans? And the Armored gal is right, were going to need assets if you have em. I can always think up ways to get some but it's best just to have a few prepared already.""

[The Kool]

The noblewoman looks around the bookstore in wonder. I hadn't realized there were buildings of such riches outside the noble portions of the city. She didn't let her wonder slow her down or become obvious, she had more decorum than that, but when the man started to speak with such passion she immediately found herself nodding in agreement with his words. "Few know the Night of Ashes as well as I," she says as she pulls aside her cloak to display the house emblem on her breastplate. "I was, fortunately, out of the house when the fires started. As to assets, I have none but what I had on my person at the time." She pulls her hand out of her pocket, running her thumb once more over the soot-blackened rose petal that she pulled from her garden. "I have long asked Iomedae why I was gifted with more talent than others, an ability to inspire crowds and to fight. I believed it was to help the people of my house, but now I see it was for a far greater purpose: to help the entirety of Kintargo. I will not leave until this city is safe again. You have my word."