Sura was taken aback by this mans desperateness. "The amount of gold i own is irrelevent. Know that i have enough. It is pure gold, yes."

Sura took another look around at the slavers, hoping to eye a more figure head type - he doubted this man.

Balast

"I can do that," nodded Marku. "When would you need the gate? As soon as possible? It might be difficult to obtain the audience of Marcento, is all.."

Sura

Sura saw another, bulkier man, wearing ornate jewelry and laughing loudly with another slaver - perhaps this was who he wanted.

"Pure gold, eh? I can work with that. Yes. When would you like the slaves? Can we say, five kilograms of gold per ten slaves?"
This message was last edited by the GM at 05:35, Sun 17 Jan 2010.

"Ideally yes - as soon as possible.  Anything I can do to speed up the process I will do."

Sura walked off on the man without a word and approached the bulkier man.

Balast

"Hmmm. We shall try."

Marku led Balast down to the lower levels of his tower, through the alchemical athanors, labs, cellars, storage rooms, Callisti torture-pits.. eventually they reached a solid oak and silver door, chained, which Marku unlocked. Behind the door was a long, dark tunnel.

"This is a direct tunnel to the Athanor's mansion, where Marcento should be. If you'll come with me.."

Sura

Sura continued walking as he heard the slaver's angry cries, eventually reaching the larger, wealthier man.

"Yes? Can I help you?" asked the second slaver.

"I am Sura Al'Amun, who are you?" he simply stated.

Balast followed, his eyes eagerly trying to remember the route.

"Lead on, and let the tree guide us in this."

Balast


The tunnel was damp and dark, but designed with efficiency and speed in mind; even though a great distance had been traveled, only twenty minutes or so passed.

They soon came upon a door of a similar design to the one they entered, but in red and gold. Marku knocked. A gruff voice was heard within. Marku unlocked the door, and nodded to the man inside. The man was thin, wiry, and was studying over ancient documents on a solid desk.

"Danovan, brother, I've brought a friend," said Marku. "He wishes to see thee Great Adept."

"Hrrmmph," said Danovan. "Better be a good reason. You know what he's like when it comes to interruptions.."

"Is he transmuting? In prayer?" asked Marku.

"No, no, simply writing, but.."

"Then we'll see him. Come, Raelis."

Sura

"I am Brors, slaver and trapper of rare beasts. I see you've upset my, uh, friend over there.. heh, what'd you do to get him rolling?"

Balast followed wordlessly.  He had nothing to add and no reason to seek to assist his guide who was more knowledgeable in such matters than he.  His eyes flickered around looking for the symbols of the first age trying to determine any hints of the alchemist's identity as he followed Marku.

"I didn't like him." Sura said simply. "I'm looking for a business partner. I require slaves on a regular basis and perhaps even these rare beasts you contain. Tell me about these beasts you trap."

Balast

There were no immediate signs of the First Age, or of the Concave; most were vague alchemical symbols that Balast had seen before. The Egg and the Sword, the Furnace, the Philosopher's Stone..

They soon came to the tall, wide, locked red doors that marked the private chambers of Marcento, Greatest Adept of the Athanor and High Lord of Niborkerese.

"We'll just, uh, knock," said Marku.

He rapped twice.

There was no answer; Balast could hear a clattering, crashing sound from faintly within. He could hear heavy breathing. Coughing.

"Come in, you bastards," said the rough, savage voice from within..

A familiar voice.

It couldn't be -

Aesin.

Sura

"A business partner, eh? Well, no offense, lad, but I might be a little out of your league. Brors is the greatest rare beast trapper the Realm Supernatural has ever seen, and one of the top five slavers in this world - and that is a more recent endeavour. Still, if it's slaves you need, I can provide them - for a price."

Brors suddenly seems overly proud.

"Interested in a pet or two, huh? A guardian? That's my field, lad, and there's none who could come close to matching me. Hell, I've recently finished my magnum opus, captured the beast that has thwarted my efforts for close to two entire decades.. I have a live, and biting, Howling Slaughterbeast of Yhast! It's for sale for more than you could possibly afford, but take a look at these.."

Bror rolled out a length of old, weathered parchment, showing a great thing that was a cross between a cat and a lizard with eighteen eyes and the nastiest fangs Sura had ever seen - but it was the tail, the tail that split into two dozen great lashes, each with a great scythe at the end, which drew his admiration. There was a tiny speck below it, barely visible - Sura first assumed it to be a trace of blood or mud, but to his surprise saw that it was a tiny - oh, so tiny - figure of a human.

"Yeah, to scale. Beauty, isn't she?" asked Bror. "I've got others, too. I've got the Nameless Stalker of the Deathly Swamp, the Phoenix of Danth, and.."

Bror stops for a moment.

"Say, you wouldn't happen to be looking for work, are you? I've got a job that's difficult to fill.. I've been requested to capture, for a massive price, the Kraken of Jormungandr, but the task seems difficult - Conclave's watching the sea tight, y'know, and I need someone not immediately known to them.. I can't risk operations here, see. The fee is six hundred and fifty thousand souls, but if you capture it we could go half-half. What do you say? You look like a man of resources - business partner?"
This message was last edited by the GM at 08:15, Mon 18 Jan 2010.

Balast's face smoothed out flat as he heard the voice.

"Hmmm - that sounds like a conclave low lord I know.  One who is unlikely to have turned.  He won't know this shape and I literally am not Raelis now so there should be no risk.  Could I suggest we enter and discuss matters."

"Perhaps." Sura stated. He was curious, that was for sure. Yet his face would be known just as much or even more the Brors - even through his mirages. "Tell me all you know of this Krakken, and how you would catch it."

Balast

Marku looked at Balast as if he were mad - or worse, allied with the panting warrior within - and slowly opened the door. Inside, Balast saw that there was blood everywhere - all over the walls, the rugs, the smooth floor, the furniture - and that the butchered corpse of Marcento lay at the feat of warrior. Aesin was dressed in silver and white, red staining his formal battle garments, the Seal of Odin pinned to his chest. His sword was in his hand, and while Aesin looked a little ill Balast gathered that this had been a surprise attack, for he wasn't injured.

Suddenly, Balast staggered as he was struck with the strange paradox of time - a pain in his right arm declared that the arm was missing, bleeding, and he felt burns and blisters burst all upon his body.

"The Great Work!" cried Marku. "What have -"

"Silence," said Aesin. "You have both been declared as enemies of the Conclave. Prepare to meet your death."

Sura

"The Kraken is a great beast, rumoured to be the size of this entire slaving pit, if not larger. It is a fearsome thing, with bone tentacles capable of sinking a dozen ships at once, and it is said that it secrets a poison from it's mouth capable of killing a hundred men! As to how I would capture it, I do not know.. perhaps, aheh, I would begin by draining the ocean in which it sleeps."

Balast's mask stared straight ahead, its eyeholes concentrating on Aesin with almost unbelievable calm.

"How nice - would that be the same conclave that has no regard for its own laws, MURDERED Raelis using its callisti and has within its ranks people who can ignore callisti oaths?  Raelis said you were a god of order Aesin.  There you stand over the murdered body of another god slain on the word of those who have no respect for the truth.  I am an enemy only of those who oppose the tree.  If I am an enemy of the conclave then the conclave are enemies of the tree and that is the truth.  Are you an enemy of the tree?  Do you seek its falling into dust?  Do you oppose the path laid down at the creation of all things?  Are you true to the order of things as they should be or merely a murderer obsessed with law?"

"Hmm. Well i cannot undertake this task immediately... I have urgent matters to attend to. However i do not want to sacrifice a prospective business partner like yourself. I will attempt to catch this Kraken."

Balast

The huge warrior-God snarled.

"You are a worm, a pathetic bastion of filth and disorder, in league with whores and drug barons.. death is too good for the likes of you."

With that, Aesin threw himself and his heavy blade towards Balast, murder in his eyes.

Sura

"Thank you.. sorry, what was your name? When you can get me the beast, alive, I'll sell it and we'll split the profits fifty-fifty."

OOC : this seems familiar - law god charging at Balast with a sword.  Where has that happened before.... :)

The scene before Balast shifted abruptly  and Raelis charged with his silver blade.  Balast leapt in towards the god of words and attempted to wrap his limbs around the law god as the scene changed back and he found himself leaping in towards Aesin in an attempt to get inside his sword's reach.

"Marku, infuse this area with chaos."  His voice sounded strange even to himself as the two gods hurtled together.

"You will know my name when we establish trust between us. Unless you have any suggestions on how to capture this beast then we need to discuss human slaves."

Balast

Balast, delusional, threw himself at Aesin. He saw that he was striking against the God of Order with his sword, but a flash of rationality revealed that the God of the Hungry Dark had no sword - he had no right arm. It was gone, a bloody stump where the arm once was..

He heard Marku chanting, invoking various forces of chaos, and felt the whole room slip sideways as if turned on its head. Various gravitational fluctuations hit Balast, causing him physical agony, and the room filled with a cacophony of wild colours. Aesin grabbed the God of Destruction and flung him to the side, screeching in agony, rage.. Balast saw Aesin's muscles twitch, throb, increase in size and knew that he was in extreme danger..

Sura

"Okay, okay, no need to be so pushy, sandman. Slaves it is. How many do you need, how often, and how much are you willing to pay? Human slaves, I take it?"

Balast seized the nearest heavy object and hurled it at Aesin's torso and followed it with as many more as he could.  He needed to buy time as much as possible for the chaos to render Aesin's order weak enough for he and Marku to finish this.  He cast a quick eye at Marcento's body trying to determine if it had a weapon he could use or if the body was ressurectable.

"Yes, human slaves. I need them at least every fortnight. - perhaps 10-15. I only have pure gold to trade with."

Balast

The body may have been respectable - Balast wasn't quite sure, but Marcento did wield a heavy, ornamental saber - it hung at his belt. As the room curved, and the lights started to meld into one another, Aesin growled, storming through the hail of books, glasses, and small furniture, and through himself upon Balast. Balast felt a hideous pain as something sharp - the sword - stabbed at his stomach, and he saw his own blood..

Sura

"I can do fifteen a week for three kilograms of pure gold per slave, assuming the gold isn't enchanted or otherwise supernatural. Sound like a deal you'd be interested in?"

The pain helped clear Balast's head somewhat.  His remaining arm reached out for his opponent's throat and tried to throttle him.

"You're no order god.  Marku, use whatever you can to knock him out.  We need this one alive and able to answer questions."

"Deal" Sura said, "But i expect the price to lower once i get this Kraken for you."