Darky
Flea Market Artist
Veritas et Aequitas
Posts: 1,268
|
Post by Darky on Oct 27, 2019 9:12:00 GMT -6
Cèasadh Stamina: 8 Strength: 7 Resistance: 5 Dexterity: 4 (+1 Gym) Mentality: 3 Special Abilities: Fly, (Swim), Water Resistance, Shadow Resistance, Nightvision, Danger Sense, Hardy, Endurance Moves: (Climb), (Gash), Ebil Nom, Phase Out, (Horn Strike), Shadow Strike, Screech, Dash, Rend, Shadow Burst, Vanish, Wing Buff Tricks: Name, Come, No, Stay - Character Profile -
In the darkness of the awning, her eyes fluttered open as the world rubberbanded back into physical form. The snap back to reality had become less of a gut punch and more a familiar free-fall when one knew the bottom had a comfy feather mattress to catch you. She blinked, rubbing her face, stabilizing to sensing in just three dimensions again and looked out into the yard. Little was seen, for night had fallen and they had been careful to remove all lights in the area. So, instead, she pulled the amber goggles down over her face and began to scrutinize the view. Winter was not far off, so for once the goggles drew everything is cold brown colours. Except for a few small bright orange dots floating through the air, disappearing and re-appearing, just a she had seen them do on approach. Then, further to the left, a very large, very strong colour emanation beaming out from inside a small-ish wooden building.
They had been camping out here for three days and three nights. Now, the board had been set and the pieces were moving towards the fright of their lives..
(1) Céasadh: 91 (1/5)
|
|
Darky
Flea Market Artist
Veritas et Aequitas
Posts: 1,268
|
Post by Darky on Oct 27, 2019 9:12:40 GMT -6
Three days ago, the prospect of catching any potential thieves hadn’t been nearly so certain. Much as always the mammalian had wandered by the questing board to see if there was any jobs to take, and much like always there had been a listing of curious sorts - this time of another theft. Though where the first one had simply been a single object taken, this one seemed to have a rather.. persistent problem. And worse, unlike the previous time as well, the victim wasn’t even entirely sure who or what it was.
So, it was less a “find the thief and bring it/them to justice” and included more actual investigation to begin with. Her curiosity had been easily peaked by the prospect, even if her enthusiasm quickly found out there was a bit of a conundrum that came with it - surely she couldn’t handle it just by herself given the thieves could have worked in groups or handled dangerous magic to ease their process. But it was a tricky thing trying to figure out which of the creatures to bring with her to both watch her back, help her find the culprits and help out in case a fight ensues.
The agate had seemed the obvious choice, but given she herself was already going to be one golden yellow being with no small amount of red (and a lot of bright purple) on her, he wouldn’t have worked all too well for a stealth mission.
For stealth, where things trying to murder was strong possibility, there was only one option - the Shadowbane.
(2) Céasadh: 91 (2/5)
|
|
Darky
Flea Market Artist
Veritas et Aequitas
Posts: 1,268
|
Post by Darky on Oct 27, 2019 9:13:26 GMT -6
Some would have come to question bringing a sarane onto a stealth mission, given their size and overall unpleasant nature, but those some did not know Cèasadh. With a father known for having blood-lust and a mother of purple blood able to walk dimensions, Cèasadh’s inheritance was a quieter demeanour, a love for hunting and.. a somewhat less direct manner of blood-lust. The shadows running through his blood only helped strengthen what had already been there, giving some of it a bit of a morbid undertone, granted, but the sphinx had found him easier to coax than any of the others, even Cathàn himself (though, the fact he and Cèas had been the only broken ones probably didn’t help).
Arriving to the farm the sphinx quickly got to sorting out what details she could with the owner. It wasn’t much, especially since the owner seemed perpetually in a hurry, but what few details could be gleaned would have to be helpful enough. So.. a pocket pet.. breeder? To be honest, she had never thought pocket pets to be things which bred, though in hindsight perhaps it wasn’t entirely impossible. Lab-made though they were, they were still creatures of flesh and blood (most of the time) after all.
When inspecting the workshop she had initially been a little fearful of what manner of ‘tools’ were required in pocket pet breeding, but found the shed to be mostly filled with yard work things and a few handicraft stuff. As for what had been already taken, the owner had explained it to have been mostly smaller things, such as silver wire rolls, pocket pet treat bags, some brushes, a lot of little metal plates and some smaller decorative chains here and there.
There was more, Darky summarized, but the person hadn’t had the time to recite the full list before they jogged off again. Sometimes new City trends took time to understand, she had long since realized.
(3) Céasadh: 91 (3/5)
|
|
Darky
Flea Market Artist
Veritas et Aequitas
Posts: 1,268
|
Post by Darky on Oct 27, 2019 9:14:03 GMT -6
With the owner reviewed, the workshop inspect and the yard studied, the investigation could have begun in earnest. Inside the workshop there was certainly signs of fervent activity by something smaller than humanoids, but as far as the mammalian was able to tell there was nothing to hint at a break in through neither the doors nor the windows. Searching outside the yard around the workshop certainly held a lot of little footprints, but those could have just as easily belonged to any number of pocket pets wandering the yard as to the possible culprits. Though, as Darky gently shooed aside one small bird-like pocket, she picked up something stuck in the grass just outside one of the windows of the shop. Cleaning it of dirt, she raised it up to reveal a metal button, shimmering in brass colours. Quirking a brow, she pocketed it for eventual evidence and return to the owner, but the thought began to circulate - what sort of animal steals buttons?
The preliminary work had been completed, evidence, such as it was, had been gathered and it had left them more duped than anything. Cèasadh was instructed to try and see if he can pick up any scents in the yard or around it, but the drake’s ribbon message simply said it was all “the same”. When asked same how, he just replied, “same as elsewhere.” Darky took it to mean the farm was still close enough to the more common byways of the City’s residential areas that any number of mixture of creatures could pass by the fences daily, from equillion and vulticus, to murp and seeker. All those scents mixing together, especially in the more territorial sense when it came to some species.
Just to be on the safe side, she strictly forbid the drake from proceeding to mark any territory while they were there, much to the drake’s disappointment.
(4) Céasadh: 91 (4/5)
|
|
Darky
Flea Market Artist
Veritas et Aequitas
Posts: 1,268
|
Post by Darky on Oct 27, 2019 9:14:47 GMT -6
Thus began the vigil. With only circumstantial evidence pointed to a big ol’ nothing conclusive, the best option left to the two was to simply.. hope the thieves return and they can catch them in the act. The owner had been able to say most of the taken items had gone missing in the night, so as evening began to fall, the sphinx returned to the workshop one last time to make a mental count of everything there. Then, the mammalian and drake moved towards the house, settling underneath an awning of the roof where the shadows would help hide them, but just in case she pulled up a few bags of raked fallen leaves to obscure them further.
Eventually night fell and though purple as he was the drake’s body seemed to blend into the very atmosphere of the darkness, as he laid down against the grass as flat as he could. At first it was a state of readiness, but as the hours wore on and there seemed no sound nor sight of anything approaching the workshop, it became a state of napping. The sphinx didn’t mind him, since as far as she could tell, nothing was really happening, so he might as well as gathered his strength for when it could.
With a viewing cap between the bags of leaves and her back up against the house wall, the sphinx felt hours ooze on by like a syrup monster in the Mansion. Though she couldn’t very well stare the building down the entire time out of sheer wish to retain her sanity, she none the less thought to have kept a well enough lock on it that when the morning rays began to peek out from the horizon to paint the skies gradual shades of orange, that the night had been a dud and the thieves had not come.
(5) Céasadh: 92 (0/5)
|
|
Darky
Flea Market Artist
Veritas et Aequitas
Posts: 1,268
|
Post by Darky on Oct 27, 2019 9:15:17 GMT -6
But no sooner had the workshop door opened that she could tell something was wrong - things on the desk were moved around, the bags of treats had been dragged off the shelves and even a couple scattered around the floor. Confused and startled, the sphinx rubbed her forehead, lost. There had been no sounds.. no sights.. no scent if Céasadh’s calm reaction had been an indication. Her immediate thought was that, perhaps, the workshop had a floor entry the owner had neglected to mention. A basement into which something could dig, or even just dig right up to the workshop itself.
And yet the floor was intact, a mixture of packed dirt and stone paving, with only small little scuffs and marks here and there from the tools. She went to put the treat bags away, shoving them back into the shelf when one of the open bags caught her attention.
It.. had been opened.. By teeth. Darky squinted, looking closer - the marks were definitely teeth, but by no means teeth of any normal creature. These were incredibly small teeth. Her first thought, again, were pocket pets, but that was quickly discarded. Pocket pets tended to have quite limited capacity in their prowess, and whatever was getting into the shed was much more capable in nature.
And clever in nature.. and..
Darky stood in the middle of the workshop, paused, and smacked a palm squarely into her forehead.
Of course.
(6) Céasadh: 92 (1/5)
|
|
Darky
Flea Market Artist
Veritas et Aequitas
Posts: 1,268
|
Post by Darky on Oct 27, 2019 9:15:53 GMT -6
There weren’t many creatures at the Labs able to fit into a jar in terms of their size, and really only one with a particular thieving nature. The stealing of the tools weren’t likely to be out of any practical sense and even less at random, for they all had something in common - they were shiny (and the food, she suspected, was just tasty). But, before a proper tag could be put to the culprits, they still needed to actually spot them, and more importantly how they were getting in and out.
Darky had had a few faeron back in the day, though only one really stuck around the kennel for long. Even so, aside Zita who had become an unofficial Fhèr mount, the main other faeron had been Spica. Neither of them had habits of theft, but Mimme? Now that was a whole other story. Considering the mess and the amount of things taken, the mammalian suspected this wasn’t a single-creature incident, that it had to have been a smaller flock.
Catching them in the act, though, was likewise a difficult task.
The day passed with the two largely napping under the awning, gathering their respective strength to stay awake in the night, until dusk began to fall and the two stretched and settled in for a night’s watch once more. This time around the mammalian had pulled the goggles down over her face, while Cèasadh watched with his own sharp nightly gaze for anything that moved. He had been instructed to strictly stay in place, lest any premature movement scare their quarry away too soon.
So, settled in their hiding spot, they watch, waited and felt the arduous passage of hours.
(7) Céasadh: 92 (2/5)
|
|
|
Post by Renathan on Oct 27, 2019 9:47:35 GMT -6
You have rolled a success! Your QP has been added to the bank, and your prize will be sent shortly. You may continue roleplaying if you wish!
|
|
Darky
Flea Market Artist
Veritas et Aequitas
Posts: 1,268
|
Post by Darky on Oct 31, 2019 19:52:04 GMT -6
Both drake and mammalian could feel the strain on the eyes of just staring off into the darkness, trying to see something neither could focus on. For the mammalian it was swath of cool browns with only a few bruised orange splotches here and there where the ground took longer to cool off from the sun. For Céasadh it was a mass of blacks and greys, and he could not help lock onto anything with motion, nearly twitching as he did so. His instinct was to hunt and to hunt was to find a target and stealthily chase it down. To be told to hunt, but not.. move.. His mind understood, but his body was repeatedly refusing to.
Half a night passed without incident nor sight of anything, threatening to cause the two to almost doze off. The other half of the night might have followed suit in the much the same way, if not for a soft, but audible noise from the workshop - a small clatter, like the dropping of a bag. Both mammalian and drake honed in on it and the sphinx realized their quarry had likely slipped the surveillance loop after all.
Stay here, wait for my command, she told the sarane and crept low across the yard towards the workshop. The skies were overcast, taking away any moonlight that might have revealed her, and in the dead of the night there was neither colour to betray the bright red and purples she tended to wear (she seriously needed to invest into a sneaking outfit at some point in time). Reaching the workshop side, she paused and crouched, listening in. Inside all sounded quiet.. the wind outside wasn’t strong but she could still feel it gently breeze past her ears. Was it the breeze or the gentle buzzing of tiny wings?
Risking a peek inside, the mammalian searched the orange-tinted darkness for any sign of movement or heat. There was none. Damnit
(8) Céasadh: 92 (3/5)
|
|
Darky
Flea Market Artist
Veritas et Aequitas
Posts: 1,268
|
Post by Darky on Oct 31, 2019 19:52:40 GMT -6
What she did see was a bag on the floor, likely more of those treats stolen, and the desk a mess. So.. the quarry had been here not a minute before. Somehow, already, they had escaped, however. The sphinx moved around the work shed, keeping low and close to the wall, to see the other sides. Rounding the second corner, she suddenly spotted bright orange splotches in her vision, disappearing off into the distance.
The goggles worked wonders in the dead of night (or the deep tunnels of the mines), but the problem tended to be they only had so much range, and these creatures were about to go beyond it. But.. she needed to know where they went. It was too late to chase them down for capture now, but perhaps if she could figure out their movement patterns, they could work out a solution.
So, the mammalian, as quietly as she could, began to sneak across the lawn after the glowing dots, heading towards the trees. The chase did not last often, within a few minutes the dots suddenly winked out and didn’t re-appear even as the mammalian picked up the pace to run faster. That, for the night, was that, then.
Tallying up the losses from the work shed, it was much the same - either something shiny or food. It was some consolation to know the faeron were likely stealing out of fun rather than necessity, though she also realized the flock likely consisted of at least seven or eight individuals. Chasing them down one by one before the others winked out of existence was an impossible task any way they looked at it.
Which brought them to the morning of a new plan, a day of sleep, a dusk of preparation and the night of the trap.
(9) Céasadh: 92 (4/5)
|
|
Darky
Flea Market Artist
Veritas et Aequitas
Posts: 1,268
|
Post by Darky on Oct 31, 2019 19:54:46 GMT -6
Darky rubbed her eyes, blinking away the trans-dimensional dizziness. The agate had begun to summaize that she may be resorting to walking the veil a bit too many times, too often, but in this case it was a necessity (Admittedly, so had been all the other cases, though he would have counter-points to those as well). The darkness greeted her, tinted in orange and browns when the goggles came down and she watched specks of bright yellow flutter through the air towards the work shed. Though they had failed to capture the faeron in the act yesterday, she did discover their heading and had projected her mind to the area while they waited so they would have warning of their approach ahead of time.
Steady, she instructed the sarane.
The problem with faeron wasn’t so much their physical resilience (although that certainly didn’t help their petulant natures at times) but rather that to ‘catch’ one, you had to somehow stop it from simply.. teleporting away. Even now as they approached the different parts of the flock disappeared and reappeared a little closer to the work shed. Darky had shifted her perch under the awning to finally hold the coming flock in view, having been blocked off by the work shed itself the past two nights.
Almost..
As expected, when the flock neared the work shed wall, suddenly they all disappeared from view entirely - the reason no break in could be detected before was because they technically had never needed to break in. Once inside they were free to take and steal what they wanted, then simply teleport back out with their hard-earned loot.
But that night the faeron weren’t the only ones walking the veil.
Now!
No sooner had the faeron popped back to existence inside the work shed and begun to flutter towards their goal, that the entire shed suddenly filled with a low rumble. The deep growl could be heard all the way to the awning, and although Darky could not see what was going on inside, she none the less smirked to herself briefly, knowing what was coming. The middle of the shed was engulfed in darkness as suddenly a giant dragon-shaped creature materialized from nothingness, snarling with black toothed hunger and snatching at anything which moved nearby it. Cèasadh had been given strict instructions to not harm the creatures, but he was given absolute free will to terrorize the ever living daylights out of them.
Panicked chittering sounded from within as hell seemed to break loose in the workshop. It was mere moments later when the mammalian saw the small heat signatures pop into existence outside of the shed again, flying off and away as fast as their little wings could take them. Sitting down, she smiled to herself and at the work shed as well. Good job, Céas. I dare say they might not be coming back anytime soon.
Just in case, they stayed a few more nights to be ready to spook the faeron from trying again.
(10) - (added) Céasadh: 93 (0/5)
|
|