2017-08-10: The Songstress and the Geohound

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  • Log: 2017-08-10: The Songstress and the Geohound
  • Cast: Elena, Ryudo
  • Where: Lacour - Adventurer's Guild Headquarters
  • Date: 2017-08-10:
  • Summary: After a bizarre meeting, two unlikely companions set off to rectify two Drifters' mistake and help some poor farmers out.

==================<* Lacour - Adventurer's Guild Headquarters *>==================

The Adventurer's Guild Headquarters in Lacour is the largest outpost of its kind on the continent. In theory, it reports to the central headquarters in Guild Galad, but for all intents and purposes, it controls and coordinates all Guild activities and outposts throughout Ignas more or less independently.

Located in the western half of the castle town, the Headquarters occupies a three-story building far from the chaos of the Market District. The first floor is a receiving and processing area, much like a bank, devoted entirely to the receipt, posting, and paying out of Guild contracts. The second floor is rarely seen by anyone who does not work there - the employees of the Guild responsible for sending and receiving messges from outposts across Ignas. The third floor is occupied by the Guild's local head, a woman few can name and fewer have seen.

BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJ0Idh3dz3g
<Pose Tracker> Elena has posed.

The Church of Granas has a fairly good relationship with the Adventure's Guild. Priests and priestesses are reputed for knowing healing arts, whether magical or otherwise, and so it isn't unusual when Drifters and adventurers get injured, some of the responding healers might be members of the Church.

Not every priest or priestess likes that job though.

In the lobby of the guild, two Drifters sit on wooden chairs, their arms held out and covere din claw and bite marks. In front of them, a priestess in white and blue clothing, bonet in her head, blonde hair kept neatly braided, is in the process of scolding them, as pulses of blue and white light slowly repair their injuries, coming from an egg-shaped crystal in her hands.

"You would not have gotten this injured if you did not pursue such a greedy request!!" Elena insists, as the other two lay defeated and highly annoyed.

'Yeah but-' 'It was just another job-'

"It was not! You were hired to protect a farm from thieves, not pursue the thieves after the fact and steal all their belongings!!"

'It was worth it!' 'Yeah now we're rich.'

"You are no better than thieves! The spoils should be returned to the victims, you know that!"

They don't look like they'll win the argument.

<Pose Tracker> Ryudo has posed.

To contrast, most Geohounds typically *do not* have a good relationship with the Adventurer's Guild. Many are former guild members who have gotten themselves blacklisted through their deeds, while others routinely execute such atrocities that they've been pre-emptively blacklisted. Still, there is the occasion for one to occasionally visit.

One such man draws a few idle glances as he enters the room. His attire is slightly outlandish for a swordsman (what is that headgear?), but more unusual is the hawk resting on his shoulder. It's not unheard of to see an adventurer with a trained pet, but hawks are not a terribly common sight. He pursues the job board for a moment, clearly looking for something in particular, before finally ripping a posting off the board and slapping it down on the reception table with little ceremony. "This job isn't needed anymore. The requestor asked me to take it down as part of our arrangement."

The glances in the room immediately turn cold. "Thieving Geohound.", one mutters as he spits off to the side. It's technically not the Geohound's fault that the requestor ignored a taboo when they didn't offer the guild exclusivity, but the one who inadverently poached the job still bears no small amount of scorn.

Paying no mind to the glances, he turns to exit when that shrill voice that he heard upon entering still seems to be going at it. Finally unable to leave well enough alone, he turns toward the three. "Look lady, you've got a job, okay? Just do it. If they let the bandits steal the goods on purpose, they're gonna get banned by the guild anyway. Let the people at the desk manage the complaints. You just patch the boo boos and let the grown ups manage their own affairs."

<Pose Tracker> Elena has posed.

At first, Ryudo's entrance goes without notice. He's just another adventurer coming in! Elena is very busy right now, you see? "Where ARE the supplies, anyway?! What have you done with all of those poor people's stolen goods?!"

'Look, we couldn't have known the thieves kept monsters in their cave.'

'We kind of dropped most of it trying to get out.'

"So you not only got in over your heads in the name of greed, but you also lost everything as a result?!" Is her screeching getting higher-pitched by the second? "What kind of Drifters are you?!" It sure is. The windows of the guild are starting to shake.

Their wounds sealed, Elena puts the Mana Egg away, just in time for Ryudo's intervention. The two Drifters seize the opportunity to scutter away, but Ryudo probably only cares about that insofar as they revealed there's still a job out there to do. Some bandits holed up somewhere with stolen goods, ain't that a prime target?

Elena cares more about the unparalleled rudeness of the Geohound. "I am sorry? You do not look any older than I am! If they do not learn now to be better men, what hope do they have for the future?" It's less screeching and more scolding now. It's certainly stiff, though.

Maybe now she realizes that everyone is giving Ryudo the stinkeye. She was too busy yelling to hear why. "As a Songstress of Granas it is my duty to mend body AND soul! Drifters, adventurers and mercenaries should be selfless, heroic, their primary concern should be to help those who cannot help themselves!!" Just like you, Ryudo, right?

<Pose Tracker> Ryudo has posed.


The stranger certainly isn't making himself any more friends by inserting himself into this mess, yet strangely the ones giving him the cold gazes before...are uncomfortably biting their tongue, one going as far to glance away while scratching his cheek. While the spectators aren't fond of Geohounds, this one seems versed in guild rules at least.

When the young nursemaid takes the bait, Ryudo grins rudely in response. "I don't recall saying anything about age. I said leave it to the grown-ups. The ones who know what their job is and respect boundaries." ...

And Ryudo barely gets that word in before the healer leaps straight into her sermon. "As a *contracted healer*, your job is to mend wounds and leave the details of the guild to its members." He lets out an exhasperated sigh. "But if they've bungled the job and recovery technically falls out of the contract, I guess it would take awhile for the paperwork..." Turning his back to Elena, the Geohound strides over to the counter and props his elbow down upon it. The hawk on the opposite shoulder shifts haphazardly as Ryudo begins plying his trade with the receptionist. "Look, if those goods were to find their way back to the owner, that'd help to smooth things over, right? If someone were to, say, overhear the location by coincidence while standing at this counter...no one would care how it got fixed, right?"

<Pose Tracker> Elena has posed.

"Now you are just twisting my words!" the sister protests, stepping towards Ryudo even as he engages conversation with the receptionist.

"I do not see anything wrong with reproaching them their mistakes. They must learn from them to better themselves! Those men were clearly more interested in the acquisition of riches than the protection if innocent farmers from bandit raids, they should be ashamed of themselves! Truly their only merit was their willingness to risk their lives at all, and anything beyond that is rotten and stained!" Wow she is a BIT opinionated, isn't she?

And there's no higher-ranked father here to save Ryudo and remind Elena she's getting carried away just a bit. Luckily, Ryudo then seems to be showing some kind of goodwill, and the priestess calms down, staring at him a bit dumbfounded.

The receptionist probably mouths off something about how hypothetically if that happened it'd all be good but she can't actually confirm or deny the fact to a Geohound.

Elena crosses her arms, raising a brow. "Then, I take it you will shoulder their burden for them? Finish the task they started and get those farmers their belongings back? It would be the right thing to do!" Shame on everyone else overhearing this and not jumping at the occasion, but Elena doesn't say that out loud. Is that a dash of hope that this man's rudeness can be excused?

<Pose Tracker> Ryudo has posed.

"Strange, I could have sworn the words came out that way and I was untangling them for you.", he quips. Those assembled continue to marvel at the struggle for the last word.

Before he can be interrupted further, Ryudo *tries* to finish his conversation at the counter. It's difficult when Turban Goldielocks is nattering on and on from behind your back without taking the hint. "...Excellent. And if the guild or the aggrieved parties were to discreetly provide that kind soul with adequate compensation, then everyone can be happy and move on with their lives.", he finishes with a broad and calculating smile. This is said in answer to the lady behind the counter, but in all likelihood someone who is currently being ignored will misinterpret this as him actually listening to her.

Or giving a damn about her sermon one way or another.

<Pose Tracker> Elena has posed.

Elena huffs, quaking visibly. She's only calmed again by the fact Ryudo seems to be gong through with it. She disapproves of his request for compensation, but it seems to be how Drifters operate. As long as Ryudo isn't asking for something unreasonable for the task, she can't see it wholly as greed and at least understands the fact people need money to live. Mostly.

And since the receptionist doesn't want to give Ryudo any more explicit clarification or details, the only conversation partner he has left is Elena! Well, he's still a Geohound, so that's expected.

"Allow me to come with you!" she suddenly demands, in such a tone that she may as well have said 'I am coming with you' instead. "It would not be right for me to sit idly by when there are people in need! I will not require compensation, I am simply happy to help." If she actually knew Ryudo's reputation she would change her mind very, very quickly.

"There is something else that concerns me. Those two men, they claimed to be rich, then doubled back to claiming they had dropped everything. I must see what happened with my own eyes!" She may well have gone on her own if Ryudo hadn't offered. "Or will there be a problem with this arrangement? Surely you are not above traveling with a priestess for but a day." Or is it more like she's not sure she can trust him to be any better than the last two?

It's not going to be a fun trip either way.

<Pose Tracker> Ryudo has posed.

It's hard to say whether Elena is hopelessly naive or strangely perceptive with regard to the swordsman's motivations. Is...the hawk laughing silently? No, clearly it's just preening. Hawks don't laugh. Obviously.

When Ryudo's attempts to ply the receptionist ultimately end in a deadlock - more than likely due to the latter realizing that the Songstress can minimize the trouble she might get into for facilitating this - the man's smile slowly crumbles upon the realization. His mouth knits itself back into a thin line as he braces himself to turn around and face the terror hovering behind him.

"I...huh? Uhhh, no thanks lady. Returning the goods is one thing, but have no contract with the Church of Granas and can't accept responsibility for y--" On she presses, unphased in the slightest. It's only when it finally becomes evident that she was going to put herself ind anger with or without him (or when his patience breaks, it's hard to say) that he finally relents. "Alright, alright! I guess it's fine. Just stay behind me if we run into any trouble, and do exactly what I say once we enter the cave." Such dashing chivalry! "I don't want any trouble from your superiors if you get hurt on my watch." Or not.

Resigned to this arrangement, Ryudo leads the way back out of the guild. "Alright...which way are we headed?"

<Pose Tracker> Elena has posed.

"Nothing will happen to me! I will have you know that combat duties were part of my training and that I am fully capable of handling myself! It is you who should try to keep up!" Elena insists, looking annoyed, especially at the sudden notions of chivalry Ryudo seems to want to live by. She seems rather uninterested in being the princess! ... in this highly specific regard.

"This is, regardless, my decision! I must ensure things go smoothly. My 'superiors' will not question this course of action. It is the duty of all who believe in Lord Granas to render help onto others, whatever form that may take!" Does she mean helping Ryudo, or helping the farmers? Because there's a high chance this WON'T help Ryudo do his job better.

Maybe it's to the relief of the Guild, at least, that both the shrieky Songstress and the Geohound leave together. Some things just work themselves out!

Once outside, Elena pulls paperwork out of a pocket. "According to the job posting, we must head for the village of Capo Bronco southeast. The thieves were thought to reside in some of the caves and ruins near the mountains there." On the bright side she's making herself useful. Better enjoy that while it lasts.

"I am Elena, by the way. Songstress of Granas."

<Pose Tracker> Ryudo has posed.

Ryudo blandly returns the indignant look of the Songstress as she tries to convince him that she is a highly trained combat unit. It's possible that she has some amount of magical skill that isn't immediately obvious, but even with that taken into consideration...the way she distributes her weight is too off. You can recognize these things when you have a lifetime of training behind you, even at his age. The casual glance downward at Elena's build as he assesses this may be interpreted for something very different, but his face clearly looks too drained of emotion from what he finds. "...Uh huh." He's clearly not impressed by what he sees, however she chooses to (mis)interpret it.

Once they start to put Lacour behind them, Ryudo takes a deep breath of and tries to let himself relax a little. Calm down. The turban chick talks way too much, but she means well. Nothing to get stressed out over. "Capo Bronco it is then. I've heard something of that cave before, but haven't been there myself. We shouldn't have too much trouble locating it."

A moment of silence passes after the Songstress finally introduces herself. The swordman's reluctant answer is terse: "Ryudo." After all, there's no sense in trading excessive pleasantries with someone you won't be seeing after tomorrow.