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Post by Wolfy on Sept 11, 2013 21:19:29 GMT -5
Joshua eyed the city ahead with distaste, before glancing back at the overloaded cart he was pulling. The city was the best place to barter the things he had found. With an annoyed sigh, he dragged the cart into town.
--
Leaving one of the shops in the brightest lit part of the city, he examined the money he had received. Instead of the cart, he now had a bag on his back, a rumor, and far more than enough money for supplies. The cars he had come across, untouched, had been far more fortunate than he'd thought.
Now he considered the information he had gotten. Supposedly, to the north was one of the lesser nobility's castle. He'd searched the monarch's castles for clues with no luck. Joshua didn't know why a lesser noble would have any clues to the safe point, but at this point he was willing to try anything.
As he thought, he wandered past the slave cages. He grimaced. He wasn't a fan of mages, but he didn't like the taste slavery left in his throat, either. Pausing to look at the current auction, his thoughts circled. Going out in the lands was mad alone, but he couldn't trust most city folk to know how to handle the shadows in the numbers he had run into. And mages... Considering how most mages were living now, he couldn't trust them to help him with his quest.
And yet... Mages were the best weapon against those beasts now. That was the realization that constantly pulled him to the slave cages whenever he came to the cities. His own weapon was enchanted - a staff he'd taken from a mage that had lost his fight. Joshua's best guess was that the mage had run out of energy and hadn't really the training for staff fighting.
But the shadows were getting worse. He knew the only reason he'd made it this far relatively uninjured was pure luck. He grimaced, then sighed. At this point, some principles had to give. Displeased, but desperate, he started bidding.
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Post by NightWing on Sept 11, 2013 21:38:15 GMT -5
Countless times he'd already done so, but once again, Burakki cursed his carelessness in being discovered and ending up in this sad condition. He sat in the center of the cage, legs crossed and hands on his knees, waiting for this despicable event to end and eying each of the bidders in an attempt to gauge if any of them were of decent character. At least when he'd been sold, he could return to practicing his arts, if he got lucky.
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Post by Wolfy on Sept 11, 2013 21:46:59 GMT -5
The bidding was quick, and Joshua handed over half of what he'd made to a smug mage in charge. As the mage went to the cage, she explained how keeping the slaves in check worked. Joshua barely listened, glancing at the bundle of belongings he'd been handed. The thought of a mage slave with a weapon made him uneasy, but at the same time, if the mage didn't need to always rely on spells to defend himself, that could only be a good thing, right?
Joshua shoved away his disgust at himself for participating in the slave trade as he examined the mage who'd been let out of the cage, silently handing over his belongings.
The female stayed close, watching for a moment to see if this slave would test the bonds. Most of them did, once out of the cages.
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Post by NightWing on Sept 11, 2013 22:00:44 GMT -5
Burakki accepted his belongings and arranged his possessions to his liking, his blade in a state where he could easily draw it at a moment's notice or defend it from theft in the same manner.
Loathe as he was to accept his condition of servitude, he was already familiar with the collars, and had the wisdom to spare himself the pain of testing it.
"Where to?" He asked, looking at Joshua, "Unless you like it here I don't want to stick around this particular piece of town... and do let me know how you'd like to be addressed."
He was calm, for now, or at least as calm as he could manage. Malice could wait until he was wronged. He had his belongings back, and he was content with that for the time being.
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Post by Wolfy on Sept 11, 2013 22:10:36 GMT -5
The female nodded slightly in satisfaction, then left to oversee other auctions. Joshua watched her leave with a faint look of distrust before turning his attention to the mage.
"Out of the city, at the moment. And my name is Joshua," he said after a moment before turning and heading away from the slave cages. Anything else he had to say would wait until the other mages couldn't hear. After all, knowing the mage couldn't turn on him was the entire reason he had even participated in this practice. The ends justified the means, right?
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Post by NightWing on Sept 11, 2013 22:17:12 GMT -5
Burakki followed the man with a slight nod, choosing to say nothing more, for now.
Perhaps he could resume his practice soon...
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Post by Wolfy on Sept 11, 2013 22:28:50 GMT -5
Joshua glanced back at the slavers area, then at the mage following him.
"I suppose that's far enough away," he mused, heading into a still lit area off the main thoroughfare. Silent for a moment as he again studied the mage, he thought about what to say now, and what could wait. He supposed honesty would be the best policy - for some things at least.
"First things first, I guess. I'm not exactly a fan of slavery, however, nor can I trust mages. I'm searching for something, though, and everyone knows the best way to deal with those creatures is magic. So, you keep us alive, and when I find what I'm looking for, you go free. It's not exactly fair, I realize, but it's the best I can offer," he stated finally. It was important to him that the mage know freedom was offered. Probably wouldn't gain anything in it, but it made him feel less disgusted with himself for buying a slave in the first place.
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Post by NightWing on Sept 11, 2013 22:35:16 GMT -5
Burakki cocked an eyebrow, barely able to contain himself.
"Well, it seems I've fallen on good fortune, then." He said with a slight smile, "I'm most grateful that it was you that managed to purchase me then, as my primary desires at present are to practice my craft and to regain my freedom. It seems our interests align quite nicely, Joshua. My name, should you choose to use it, is Burakki, at your service, for now."
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Post by Wolfy on Sept 11, 2013 22:45:07 GMT -5
Joshua nodded.
"Well, by all means, feel free to practice whatever is needed. I warn you, though, unless I get lucky, my search may take some years," he added with a small bit of relief. "I hope by the end you will still feel fortunate, Burakki."
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Post by NightWing on Sept 11, 2013 23:31:22 GMT -5
Burakki shrugged slightly.
"Could quite easily be a hell of a lot worse." He countered, voice calm, "'sides, the whole arrangement really isn't even that unpleasant as long as I can keep training. It's all I really did before anyway, for any significant amount of time."
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Post by Wolfy on Sept 12, 2013 1:35:17 GMT -5
"All right. Well, for the moment, we'll be headed north. Unless we find someone with more information than that, that's where we start," Joshua said with a slight nod before heading back onto the main street, glancing around. He disliked the cities. Even now, even towards the middle of the city, he could see the cultists preaching to the few people scuttling by them. That, and the slave trade... the only good to be had in the cities was supplies.
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Post by NightWing on Sept 12, 2013 2:03:09 GMT -5
"What's north, if I may?" Burakki asked, following along and keeping a careful eye out himself.
While he wasn't exactly expecting to get jumped, it was good practice to keep as aware of his surroundings as possible. He was just happy to have his sword back and freedom from the damned cages.
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Post by Wolfy on Sept 12, 2013 16:18:09 GMT -5
"I'll explain a bit more once out of the city," Joshua said, keeping an eye on the shadows as they got closer to the outskirts. If one watched closely, they could sometimes see the beasts waiting, a movement of darker shadow in shadow.
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Post by Omnomivore on Sept 12, 2013 18:55:57 GMT -5
Kazia was on her way out of the city as well, her staff over her shoulder and her expression grim. To be fair, it usually was, these days. She noticed the pair of travelers mostly thanks to the collar around Burakki's neck - ugh. She shot Joshua a sour look.
She was tall for a woman, lean and well-muscled, with mousy brown hair that'd gone mostly grey and skin darkened from too much time outside. She dressed like a nomad, which was notable in and of itself, because she was alone. On the rare occasion where the nomads entered cities, they always stayed in groups. Kazia didn't care for the places herself, but sometimes there wasn't any way around it. Now there was a full bag of supplies over her shoulder. No work, though. Her money for essentials was running dangerously low.
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Post by NightWing on Sept 12, 2013 20:24:31 GMT -5
Burakki shrugged slightly.
"No trouble here... got nothing but time, really." He replied easily.
He noted the look Kazia gave Joshua as she came into view and smirked slightly. He recognized that look. He'd given it to quite a few people himself, and likely for the same reason. He waved to her in a carefree sort of way. It would likely seem odd to her that he was so calm. Truth be told, it was a bit odd to him, too.
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Post by Omnomivore on Sept 12, 2013 22:25:17 GMT -5
Kazia arched an eyebrow and raised a hand back at him in reply. She wasn't sure what to make of his reaction, but annoying someone who openly kept slaves wasn't on her agenda for today, so it only made sense to acknowledge the mage. It was odd enough to meet someone else heading out of the city at this hour, and it was likely that they'd be walking nearby on the roads, for at least a little while.
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Post by Wolfy on Sept 12, 2013 23:21:58 GMT -5
The movement distracted Joshua from his watch for shadows, and he looked up in surprise. THe surprise only deepened when he noticed the nomad clothing.
"Strange..." he mused to himself, nodding a greeting at her.
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Post by NightWing on Sept 12, 2013 23:35:11 GMT -5
Burakki smirked slightly.
"Not polite to say such things under your breath, I think." He said, "Though I agree it's a bit rare to find one dressed as a nomad alone in a city. Your business is your own, of course, but I'm curious to know if you are actually by yourself here."
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Post by Omnomivore on Sept 13, 2013 0:08:43 GMT -5
The woman pushed a strand of hair out of her face cautiously. Admitting she was alone was risky on a number of levels, but it also wasn't something she could really deny. "I don't have a tribe, no. I'm quite fine on my own." Kazia wasn't even, strictly speaking, a nomad. Not born and raised, anyhow. But they were the experts at surviving in the changed world, so it wasn't surprising that she'd adopted most of their practices. "You aren't the sort of people I'd expect to see heading into the wilds at this time of day." It'd be nightfall before they reached another settlement.
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Post by Wolfy on Sept 13, 2013 0:21:01 GMT -5
"Yes... There's some caves close enough to get to before it's... more dangerous than normal to be moving around out there," Joshua said, pulling a tattered map out of his bag and studying it. Strictly speaking, most maps were useless in these times, but he had filled this one out with his own symbols. The cities weren't important. The landmarks were.
Mentioning the caves was a gamble. Most people would feel caves are a death wish at this point, and turn tail and flee at the mention. Or the cultists glorified them. However, the nomadic people were good navigators. If she wasn't appalled by the destination, she might be able to give him a better direction than 'north a ways'.
Furthermore, the nomadic people he'd met weren't much more pleased with the way things were than he was. They were, marginally at least, trustworthy.
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Post by NightWing on Sept 13, 2013 0:33:52 GMT -5
Burakki gave a small nod at the woman's words.
"I quite imagine you are, or you wouldn't be alone." He said, speaking in a manner that seemed to communicate that he'd assumed as much, then addressing Joshua.
"Heading to some caves then, eh? Fine by me. Might give me a chance to stretch, figuratively and literally. I hope you have some way to light it up if we run into anything particularly dangerous? I mean, I'm not keen on dying, and I imagine you're not either."
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Post by Omnomivore on Sept 13, 2013 1:15:28 GMT -5
"The caves?" Kazia spent a lot of time in this area, and she knew the land pretty well. "Well, no. Not a bad option. If you're looking to get yourself killed." She didn't care so much about a slave-master, but the mage shouldn't have to be dragged down because of the man's stupidity. "That's practically a breeding ground." She clearly didn't think much of this plan.
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Post by Wolfy on Sept 13, 2013 1:26:34 GMT -5
"Flares. Bright enough burst at first, and it takes them a while to regroup," Joshua explained. "Leaves enough time to make a perimeter before they come back. Like most places, if you're smart, you'll survive. Fire circle usually works well enough then, though that was when I was only making a safe spot for one person..." he continued, musing. They were out of the city proper now, into the abandoned parts.
"I suppose now would be a good time to ask what your specialty is," Joshua realized, looking over at Burakki.
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Post by NightWing on Sept 13, 2013 1:37:30 GMT -5
"Electricity." Burakki replied, "I can make bright flashes, but nothing sustainable, in terms of light. Seems a good enough plan. Where're we going?"
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Post by Omnomivore on Sept 13, 2013 19:10:29 GMT -5
"You're taking a lot of risks." Too much could go wrong, in her opinion, and then they'd be in the thick of a shadow convention with no protection. "You've done this before?" Kazia had noticed that people underestimated the beasts, if they weren't used to life outside even the meager protection of the cities.
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Post by Wolfy on Sept 14, 2013 0:32:27 GMT -5
Joshua nodded slightly in response to Burakki, filing that information away later. At some point, he'd probably have to asks for specifics about what he can do. He then looked over at Kazia.
"Quite a bit. To be honest, while I can't say for sure, it seems the beasts in the caves are less dangerous than the ones that haunt these areas," Joshua commented, nodding towards a trash strewn alleyway. Shadow beasts the size of dogs prowled there, just barely discernible against the regular shadows. "Then again, I would guess there's not much for them left to eat out there," he added, mostly in a mumble to himself. He shook his head slightly to gather his thoughts.
"And yes, I know there are risks. What I'm after is important enough to risk them. Though... I suppose it's not just my skin I'm risking now, is it... Do you have objections, Burakki?" he asked, glancing over at the mage.
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Post by NightWing on Sept 14, 2013 1:41:53 GMT -5
Burakki smiled slightly.
"Again I count my fortunes... I don't imagine slaves often get masters that would bother asking that question." He commented softly, "But no, I've no objections. You don't seem the type to take risks you deem unnecessary, and I'll go along for the ride. I'm curious as to what you're after, but that'll wait, like you mentioned before."
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Post by Omnomivore on Sept 14, 2013 1:51:50 GMT -5
This was just... bizarre. The man wasn't acting like a slave owner at all, and what the hell was he doing going out to the caves, of all places? "Do you know the way well enough?" Kazia didn't comment on the shadow creatures nearby. She'd noticed them, of course. She always had one eye out for them. But so long as they were in the light, she could split her attention easily enough.
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Post by Wolfy on Sept 14, 2013 1:56:13 GMT -5
Joshua nodded at Burakki again, then frowned slightly.
"Not entirely... I've got directions, but they're from someone who hasn't been out of the city in... a while," he admitted. "Supposedly they're easy enough to find, but I've been told that before."
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Post by NightWing on Sept 14, 2013 2:05:37 GMT -5
Burakki shrugged slightly.
"Do you know the way?" He asked, "It'd probably be useful to have you along, if you're willing, of course."
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