2017-05-29: A Ninja Arrives in Gounon! The Mystery of the Mysterious Hyadeans!?

• Log: A Ninja Arrives in Gounon! The Mystery of the Mysterious Hyadeans!?
• Cast: Ambrosius, Prima
• Where: Gounon
• Date: 5-29-2017
• Summary: Ambrosius welcomes Prima, the Veruni ninja, to the Ignas Continent, and together they discuss their new allies...as well as the focus of their search.

...He also discovers that Prima is kind of a huge dork.

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=================================<* Gounon *>=================================

The port town of Gounon is renowned throughout Ignas and even beyond for the quality of its wineries -- and even moreso for the rarity of its product thanks to the Veruni stranglehold over the region. Gounon is one of the few ports that allow trade routes between Ignas and the Veruni Control Zones due to how highly prized their apple wines are amongst Veruni nobility.

Because of their trade, Gounon may be one of the few truly prosperous human settlements of Ignas -- and certainly one of the only ones ostensibly under Veruni control. Stone paved roads wind through beautifully homey brick buildings and bending waterways, beset on either side by high, rocky cliffsides that protect and buffer it from the outside world. Things are serene in Gounon, and the rich smell of fermenting apple pervades the town -- especially as one gets closer to the sprawling Johnny Appleseed Distillery, one of Gounon's most famous brands and their chief export to the Control Zones.

Though Veruni are so rare as to almost be myth here, their presence is always felt in the underlying tension that never quite escapes this place, no matter how peaceful it may be.

<Pose Tracker> Ambrosius has posed.

Gounon was a nice, friendly little port town. It'd be nicer if it wasn't for the Veruni's strong control over the region that limited the export of its primary goods.

Ambrosius, though, felt right at home here. Perhaps it was partially due to said Veruni control, that lent it a feel almost like being back in more civilized lands. He found the scent of apples that permeated the town relaxing, as well.

Because of this, he was being a bit more lax about his identity than he might otherwise be. He had found a nice little spot near one of the cliffsides overlooking the town, with a table and a bottle of delicious apple wine. His poncho, which he normally wore, had been removed, folded up, and placed off to the side with his hat set neatly upon it, and the hood that normally hid his pointed ears was pulled down.

He actually looked...relaxed and pleasant, for once, as opposed to the sometimes menacing grin he bore towards the humans he had met in the past.

He had arranged to meet a new arrival to the region. He didn't know much about her yet, other than that she was apparently a talented stealth assassin. It would be interesting to see what she was actually like.

<Pose Tracker> Prima has posed.

On the cliffside, there stood a single, gnarled tree. On the tallest branch, perched a young woman garbed in an outlandish costume, all dark purple and black, with a ragged grey scarf blowing in the wind dramatically.

How long has she been there? Why is she perched, overlooking the town, dramatically? Why did she set up a small electric fan to make sure the wind was blowing -just so- to make her scarf's dramatic flapping the perfect angle? These are all mysteries.

The only thing that is not a mystery is that this must be her...this must be Prima.

<Pose Tracker> Ambrosius has posed.

Ambrosius sat there for a while, sipping at a glass of apple wine. Eventually, he looks up, whether it is incidental or on purpose, and...

There she is.

He stares up at her for a moment. Many questions go through his head, but those have already been discussed.

Except for the electric fan thing, it would be way too far away for him to actually see so the secret of her technique is, for now, a mystery.

He stands up from his seat.

Did she...expect him to join her? He settles with simply waving in her direction, but he doesn't call out to her.

That would be neither stealthy nor dramatic.

<Pose Tracker> Prima has posed.

She leaps, and lands dramatically before him. How? Ninja secrets.

"You must be Ambrosius," she says. "I am Prima. I hope I did not keep you waiting." She did, and intentionally, but it'd be rude to point that out now. This is a ninja technique.

"I was watching the pitiful inhabitants below. From here, they look like the insects that they are."

<Pose Tracker> Ambrosius has posed.

Ambrosius doesn't flinch when she lands. Instead, he resumes his seat.

"Iiindeed...I was...siiimply sitting heeere...with my wiiine...do nooot worry..." He replies with a nod in his...usual manner of speaking.

"Would you...caaare for a glass...Miss Priiima...?" He offers, gesturing to the empty glass on the other side of the table.

His expression becomes a bit complicated at the way she refers to the humans, but this lasts for only a moment.

"Yes, I iiimagine...but...like it or...nooot...for now...we siiimply have...to bleeend in...with theeem...until...Looord Vooolsung's plans...come to...fruuuition..." He says.

He takes a sip from his glass.

"Speaking of...haaave you...read the dooocuments...on our...new 'alliiies'...? The...Hyadeaaans?" He asks.

<Pose Tracker> Prima has posed.

Prima frowns. "I don't care much for the idea of blending in, but if those are our orders, those are our orders," she says. She eyes the wine, eyes the glass, then frowns. "I usually limit myself to sake, the ninja's favorite beverage in legend. What is it?"

"I saw some of the dooocuments--uh, documents, yes. They seem to be at least worth working with...though I somehow doubt the alliance will hold forever. Just as well to study them now for the inevitable day when they turn against us." Or we turn against them, she does not say.

<Pose Tracker> Ambrosius has posed.

Ambrosius nods. Her attitude towards the humans was understandable. He didn't really expect anything different, but perhaps in time she would come to feel differently?

...A long, long time, probably.

"Ah, this is...a wiiine made frooom...feeermented apples...it iiis...a faaavorite...back hooome..." He comments with a slight chuckle. It was rare for him to get the opportunity to have any himself, but since he was here...why not?

An eyebrow raises slightly at her little slip, but he doesn't address it. Instead, he nods.

"Iiindeed...Iii...had the...miiisfortune...of eeencountering one...during the...aaattack on...the human settlement....'Aaadlehyde'... It was a...sliiimy, baaabbling thing...iiincomprehensible...I did not...get iiits name...preeesuming it...even had one..." He comments. It was possible it had said its name, but he didn't care to remember. It had also poisoned him, but...it was perhaps best not to mention that.

<Pose Tracker> Prima has posed.

Prima snorts. "Aaadlehyde, more like Addle-hide. Wait, that only works if you can see it. Okay, so instead of the proper spelling, A-d-l-e-h-y-d-e, I said addle, like--oh, nevermind. They'll certainly not know how to handle a true ninja."

<Pose Tracker> Ambrosius has posed.

That...gets another eyebrow raise, and a quiet stare. There's a hint of a smirk, though, so it wasn't a complete loss.

"Iiindeed..." He says in response, and takes another sip. She didn't seem too interested in the wine, so for now he decided to keep it for himself and move on.

"I do not...doooubt that... Their taaactics were...largely...unreeefined...but I suppose...to deal with...unawaaare huuumans...they need...liiittle else..." He replies.

"But...for now...we must...cooperaaate with them...at least...until we learn...what this...'Teardrooop' is to them..." He says.

<Pose Tracker> Prima has posed.

Prima nods. "Have you heard anything aboooout the Teardrooop--" She coughs. "Anything about the Teardrop at all prior to now? What information do we have about it at all? Is it a secret codename for a tricky plan to ambush the enemy, named after what the foe would shed when the true ninja strategy is revealed?"

<Pose Tracker> Ambrosius has posed.

Ambrosius's brow furrows a bit. Is she...doing that on purpose? He frowns a little, bit masks it with another sip of his drink.

"I haaave not, and...I...do not beeelieve...that is the caaase..." He replies, shaking his head.

She...certainly had an active imagination.

"Aaaccording to our...iiintelligence...it is a...Fiiilgaian aaartifact...with some...inheeerent power...and the reason...for the...Hyadeeeans...attaaack..." He explains.

"Juuudging from...its name...I presume its...looks are reeemniscent...of the claaassic...teardrooop deeesign..."

<Pose Tracker> Prima has posed.

"Maybe it allows someone to turn invisible and strike silently and with deadly force! Of course, that's already basically possible with the proper training. Hmm. Maybe it summons an army of shadow clones to do one's bidding? But that doesn't sound like a very cool name for that. I'd call that like...the Shadow Army Gem. Or something even cooler."

Prima, that's not cool.

"Oh, it could let someone teleport from place to place instantly. You could go from directly in front of your target to immediately behind them and strike the vitals before they know what's happening!" Prima poses to demonstrate.

<Pose Tracker> Ambrosius has posed.

Ambrosius listens as Prima works through various possibilities for what the power of the Teardrop could be. He chuckles slightly.

Definitely an imaginitive one. Where was she getting all these ideas?

"Perhaps...but...with a name as...siiimple as...'Teardrooop'...it could...be anythiiing... It could be...something as...siiimple as...opeeening doors...to summoning raaains...from the heeeavens..." He suggests with a nonchalant shrug.

"At this tiiime...I do not think...we have enough...daaata...to deeetermine..."

<Pose Tracker> Prima has posed.

"Whatever it is, it must be important. I'll keep my ears open for clues." Prima nods. Then she looks at the glass, still empty, and then glances at Ambrosius.

Secret ninja technique: Speak without speaking!

<Pose Tracker> Ambrosius has posed.

"Iiindeed...I will...atteeempt to...meet with the...Hyadeeeans myseeelf...soon..." Ambrosius replies with a nod. He then follows her gaze to the glass, then back up to himself.

Taking it as a hint, he undoes the cork and fills up the empty glass. Hey, if she didn't want it, then he could just drink it himself instead. It wouldn't go to waste.

<Pose Tracker> Prima has posed.

"I haven't been here long enough to make plans in detail yet. I need to learn the lay of the land yet, as it were. I cannot wage war on unfamiliar territory to my best effectiveness! That is in chapter three, paragraph seventeen of the Art of the Ninja."

<Pose Tracker> Prima has posed.

She then takes the glass and enjoys a sip.

<Pose Tracker> Ambrosius has posed.

Ambrosius chuckles.

"I haaave some...maps I...can provide you...with...but for now..." He picks up his own glass.

"For now, let us...proooperly welcome you...to Ignaaas, Miss Priiima..." He says, raising the glass.

"With a toooast... to our...eveeentual viiictory..."

...Is that the best you can come up with, Ambrosius?

...Probably. He doesn't get the chance to do this often.

<Pose Tracker> Prima has posed.

"To our eventual, inevitable, victory!" Prima adds, clinking her glass against his, then...then tossing it all back!

<Pose Tracker> Ambrosius has posed.

Ambrosius chuckles, and then follows suit. He had a good feeling about this partnership, and the future. Hopefully, things continued to go this smoothly for them. The survival of their people depended on it.