Roleplay

@Forelle @roseyvaporeon

“An honest thief, hm? Not in my town, at least, I should hope.”

Lady Naii glares at Atropos, but there’s a soft twitch of her lip that makes it clear that she’s amused by the crow’s words.

“Whatever the nature of the artifact, it would have been well concealed, I’m sure – not even I could scry it once it passed into our waters. But we will find it, I have no doubt – I am not unfamiliar with the… shadowed corners of my city. There are few mages here who would not report such a thing to me – I have no doubt it, or its effects, will turn up soon enough.”

She turns to Seven with a nod. “Of course. You may have heard of a Mark of Justice? An ancient spell, the very blessing of the Kirin herself on those who enforce her laws. I will lay it on each of you, and then you will be allowed to go about your business. The nature of the spell is to lie harmless, unless a condition is met – it will not activate unless you attempt to leave the city, and then it will cause you to rapidly weaken.”

She twists her fingers, the image of the mark appearing in the air between them.

“And, with my own magic upon you, you will be easy enough to find should I need to. I will contact you all via Sending when the matter is resolved, and dissolve the spell so you may go about your business.”

She gives another little grin to Atropos, image dissolving as she lowers her hands.

“And have no fear, little one… this isn’t punitive. It won’t be used to track you save for purposes of this investigation.”

@Mistwing608

As you sink your focus down through the ship, you sense a few smaller magic items glimmering – small charms and tokens as you might expect to find on a ship. They cause you little concern – such things are common, magic far too weak to worry you.

The much more pressing worry you might have is the silhouette of a figure that’s just appeared, invisible to your eyes but wreathed in <school: illusion> magic, standing about three feet behind you.

@AardRinn
As he had suspected, there was a magical tag. Seven did not approve of this but what actual choice did he have in the matter? He simply held still while the spell was applied to him. A faintly warm sensation was all he felt for a moment, then it was gone. At least that would mean that no guards would be following them.
"Thank you, Lady Naii. I hope that matters are resolved soon." He nods to her, rather happy - if happy is the right word for it - that he is able to leave the pile of people now.
"Goodbye for now and see you again soon, hopefully." He wanted to get rid of this tag as soon as possible.

When the crowd slowly dissolved, Seven remembered the elven woman who had talked to him earlier. He looks for her only to find her on the pier, seemingly in meditation. He pulls up his scarf so it covers his mouth and nose and steps back to her.
"Miss, people are leaving. You should get up."

Eleneth snaps herself out of the spell, picks her spear back up, turns around and nearly starts to yell at the invisible figure. Then she thinks better of it...

"Who... Who are you to have mastered the invisibility spell? To have held the spell so long, I assume you must be tired... Why don't you take off the illusion and sit and talk with me a while?"

She holds her hand out to the invisible creature.

"My name is Eleneth Liadon, What may I call you?"

Eleneth then turns to the, now walking away, Elven man from earlier

"Thank you sir, I will be leaving for the bakery shortly... I want to talk to them a bit first" She gestures to the figure. She feels the tag placed on the man and will gladly entertain herself on the pier while the investigation takes place instead of getting one of those placed on her.

"Be careful on your job here.. That tag could easily be used for more than one investigation!" She calls after him.

Seven is ignored by her but he can see why. While he is not actually able to see the creature, her reaction is enough for him to focus on the presence - or what he thinks said presence is.
"If an invisible person is here, perhaps Lady Naii should be informed." He heads over to the powerful mage who is about to leave. Today he is definitely speaking more than he is used to.
"Pardon me, Lady Naii. Apparently one member of the group has found an invisible person on the pier." Maybe this whole endeavour would be over with just that.
The elven woman is talking and actually calling out to him but it's hard to hear her over the general mumbling of the crowd.

@AardRinn

"hmm... not a big fan of... magical magic stuff myself.." Atropos squaked. "me suppose it cant be helped..."

Atropos, although coming from a clan that specialized in magic, had no "real" magical abilities of his own. (save for anything related to theavery).

He seemed quite interested in whatever the magical object was and why it was important to the elven woman.

Atropos decited to pursue the object further into town to so see if he could find information, however feeling a bit doubtful of the town's residents. He then started down the main road of the town keeping an eye out for someone that might appear as though they might know something.

@f6e @sadiemariefrost The Knight continues to explain how the Mark of Justice works, and people slowly begin to trickle out as the black marks appear on their hands. When it slowly fades into visibility on your own hands, you see that it’s a mark like a pair of wings overarching a castle – the symbol of the city of Tell’s Howe. As the docks empty, you notice that a handful of people are straggling behind – and then, a voice shouting as an elf strides across the dock. <cont’ below> @RoseyVapoeon You turn to wander away, but before you can get far, you hear a shout from behind you, a red-robed figure appearing in the air. It’s enough to catch his curious eye for the moment. <cont’ below> <sorry I’m not letting you wander off quite yet to explore, I’m just trying to keep the party mostly together until you’ve had a chance to meet up and become a single group – otherwise things get really confusing. Soon, tho!> @Forelle @Mistwing608 The invisible form seems to freeze as Eleneth greets her. "Ah- me? I’m – um -" There's a startled exclaimation from - well, nowhere, actually, but you hear a faint scuffling from where the invisible figure is standing. The voice grows a little louder as Seven speaks and turns to stride away. "-I mean, well - wait!" Whoever it is, they scramble after Seven. Just as he reaches Lady Naii, a hand reaches out and grabs him - the figure fading into view as it does. The girl who appears is obviously fairly young - perhaps 14 or 15, were she a human - and has a sweet face with wide blue eyes. She's dressed in a long red jacket with black trim, under which she wears a simple black tunic and breeches, and at her hip is a silver dagger worn bare. She's panting a little from chasing Seven as she addresses Lady Naii. "Wait, you don't have to - oh, hi, sorry, Lady Naii. Captain Liir! Nice to see you too! Sorry - didn't think anyone'd be looking for me. I was gonna check out the ship." “Hello, Formel. It’s a pleasure. Kyanmort and your brother are both well, I hope?” “Tier’s good! Kyanmort’s – well, she’s how she always is, but, you know, that’s all right! I’ll tell her you asked!” “Please. And wish her well – remind her that she’s welcome to come down herself, sometimes.” Lady Naii gazes at the enthusiastic young girl before her with a soft smile on her lips before glancing up at Seven. “It’s quite alright. Formel is the student of a close friend of mine – the Red Huntswoman Kyanmort. Kyanmort is the one who first detected the artifact – she contacted me, and said she’d be sending someone to assist.” The Lady Naii surveys the few people who remain at the docks – Formel, Seven, Atropos, Eleneth, and a little further back Cerber and Zaydin. “But I’m sure that’s of no concern to any of you – as I said, we hope to have this wrapped up soon enough. I’ve arranged for rooms for the passengers and crew of [i][u]Myrqab’s Daughter[/u] [/i]around the city – the rooms we have left are at the Bear’s Claw, in the east quarter.” She glances over at Formel. “I’m sure Formel would be happy to escort you. You’re planning to visit Laakiim, are you not?” The young girl bounces excitedly on her heels before turning to the rest of the group. “Of course. It’d be my pleasure!” [quote]The Hunts are a set of orders of warriors and mages, distinguished by the fact that all members of the order ride flying mounts - from pegasii and gryphons all the way to manticores and dragons. They're very well known in Fidel for their work keeping roads and rivers clear for trade. Each "Hunt" has it's own characteristics - the White Hunt is primarily pegasii-riding healers, the Blue Hunt rides exclusively gryphons and are fierce fighters, the Ash Hunt are all archers, and the Red Hunt, one of the most infamous, is comprised entirely of exceptionally powerful mages. Oft-repeated wisdom says that Red Hunters only ever ride to battle alone, because any allies would be at great risk of dying to the Hunter's own magic. That said, little is known about them - they aren't often seen, so they're as much legend as fact.[/quote]

Seven does not say a word during the whole conversation. He accepts the hand on his shoulder without a flinch, taking in the dialogue quietly. Self-discipline is all that keeps him from rubbing the mark on his hand.
He nods to Lady Naii as she reassures them that this is quite alright accepting it for now. Watching the further interaction he finally turns to the young woman that has been introduced as Formel. The further names mentioned are sucked up by him like a sponge.
"Right." is all he remarks, waiting for Formel to lead the way. It is quite a curious little group that is left around them and chances are, they all have their story to tell. If he's stuck with them anyway, he might as well investigate them.

@AardRinn

Zaydin does not see the mark on his hand, nor does he look. He feels the magic settle into his skin (or at least, he imagines he feels it). He looks to Pyre, wondering if she, too, has been marked.

Zaydin turns his attention toward those that remain on the docks beside them. Not many, and an odd assortment of people.

The mention of a Red Huntswoman, and that a student of hers suddenly appeared in front of them, only adds to Zaydin's uneasiness. If he managed to be swallowed up by the earth itself it would probably be an improvement to him.

Atropos turns back to join the group he was with before, staying silent for might accidently squak somthing in another language.