The Gypsy City, Saul.

[mizcryptic]

Saul is a free trader town of Gypsies. Despite the high quality of their wares, very few people speak of it or visit sense it lays hidden in the mysterious Spirit Forest. The forest is vast and ancient with little to no distinguishable features. All the tree's look similar and are roughly equidistant from each other and are technical one tree sense all the 'trees' are connected to each other at the roots. The thick canapé of the forest also blocks off the sun. The forest is not without light though. The tree's are filled with glowing flowers and wisps weave through the branches like fish in a coral reef. Not all the spirits are friendly though and they are completely unaffected by the human art of science. Only thous who implement magic in their combat can fight them of and thus The Vanguard was formed. A group of ex-mercenaries that guide travelers to the town of Saul for a small fee. The air withing a few hundred feet of the forest is considered a no fly zone (Though higher is ok) sense the nearby ship will often anger the spirits and they will stop at nothing to sink the ship while it is near the forest. The town of Saul is surrounded by wards that make it the only safe heaven in the forest.

(- By Leonardo)
==============================================

The smell of incense and smoke engulfed the small town as tents and stalls lined the dirt roads. It resembled a carnival with vendors and food cooking in enormous pits. Gypsies danced and children played with hand-made toys, while Pirates argued over prices of weaponry. Everything from hand-crafts to ship parts were sold here, even flight-stones, if you were willing to play the exuberant prices.

((Leo is so cool. -By Miz))

[checkmate]

Carver finished up a chess match against his second in command with a faint that sacrificed the queen to let a pawn and bishop make the checkmate. He didn't bother to move or say anything as the man got up, carver knew he only played to keep him busy, but he wished that there was someone more interesting to play.

Sitting outside a tent in Sual Checkmate Carter waited. He had made plans to meet Cryptic here is Sual, so he had gotten here early to see if there would be any issues. He had quite a reputation as far as pirates go, he wasn't ruthless or cold blooded, he was shrude, narcissistic, smart, and in some people's opinion, reasonably good looking. Very soon into his 'free lifestyle' Carver had done several quick things for the Gypsy's of Sual and in doing so had secured himself a hiding spot or in this case more effectively a very off balanced meeting spot. To the casual observer it seemed as though neither of the meeting parties had an advantage. Gypsys were known to not take sides in most issues that didn't involve them, they were just as quick to deny pirates and OSDF alike, and the numbers were on neither side, but it was when you examined the outside factors it became very interesting. Several gypsys owed Carver favors, a few others were friends with him including a female who was sitting watching the last chess match, oh and last of all there was the fact that he had set the time of the meeting to an awkward hour of 4am just before sun up to have the meeting, since he was an insomniac the time would put him at his sharpest.

[Leonardo]

Jun 16, 2010 18:41:13 GMT -5 mizcryptic said:

May 23, 2010 0:56:52 GMT -5 Leonardo said:

"Well, I might know a place. Not too far from Orlandia is a small town called the Sual in the middle of the spirit forest. It's pretty dangerous to go to so you might want to find a friend or two to go there but the stuff they make their is extraordinary. If you want the best of something you go there. I've been there a few times and to be honest I plan to help the escort caravan that makes a business out of escorting travels to the town for some extra pocket change when we Reach Orlandia. It's a rather nice town.

The smell of incense and smoke engulfed the small town as tents and stalls lined the dirt roads. It resembled a carnival with vendors and food cooking in enormous pits. Gypsies danced and children played with hand-made toys, while Pirates argued over prices of weaponry. Everything from hand-crafts to ship parts were sold here, even flight-stones, if you were willing to play the exuberant prices.

((GRRR! Darn you for jacking my city!...town.... place...thing......... JK, I'm not really that upset but the parent post needs to be a non-connect area set up summery. Basically a quick post so that people coming in know what the place is like without reading though 50 pages of banter. If you want I can modify your post [just adding a paragraph to the beginning, wouldn't change anything else] to have the area set up. If you do it you can't leave out any of the details I mentioned so far though ;P ))

[mizcryptic]

((>_______________> sorries. I told Skye via facebook message that you were going to fillet me for this. Yes, you can go ahead an modify my post.))

[skysu]

(And I told both of you that it really doesn't matter who makes this thread, it would have been done eventually anyway, regardless of who started it. Stop being immature about it.)

[mizcryptic]

((T^T I'm sorry.))

[Leonardo]

((I was just joking. I thought it was funny at least. ><))

As Leo started to come near the Spirit forest his cloak was covered in a thin layer of ice crystals from all his recent rift walks. He never used so many in a row sense he rarely traveled far alone. he took off his bag , cut a big branch down and into three parts then set the logs on fire, curling up next to the fire. He was dead tired from being cold so long, the actually energy he used wasn't more then that of a brisk run but Leo always joked he was cold blooded with how fast the cold put him to sleep. He was far enough from the forest so none of the spirits would bother him but he hoped that no highwaymen came across him. He didn't feel like fighting right now.

[mizcryptic]

((>___> It was. Kinda.))

Morrigan wheezed, grabbing onto Skye's arm. "I hate walking. I want my ship back. I hate OSDF for taking my ship. I hate Carter for making me drag myself out here. I hate Soles for not lending me a ship." She stopped walking. "Then again, if Carter were to destroy one of Soles' ships...I'd never be able to take the Crypt back for repairs." She frowned. "Then again, if I had borrowed Soles' ship last time I went to see Carter, I wouldn't have had my right wing ripped off." She punched the air in frustration, before glancing over at Skye. "Maybe we should take a rest?" She suggested, meekly, afraid of being slapped.

[skysu]

She laughed at this rant. "Sure, we can stop, but in a little bit, there is a clearing up ahead that has a source of water, and a camp fire ring." she told the woman. "ITs only a little further, I'm sure you can last that long." she added shifting the weight of her back a little till it was more comfortable.

[mizcryptic]

She groaned, but nodded, thumbing the small ivory horse chesspiece in her palm. She didn't know how long they had been walking, or how much time had passed. She missed the sun and the freeness of flight. The forest almost seemed to suffocate her.

She stumbled over a root, before catching herself. She could of sworn she heard laughter, coming from the trees. "Alright, Spirit Forest, play nice."

[skysu]

"It wouldn't be wise to demand anything of the spirit forest." she told the other woman with a smile as they reached the clearing. "Come help me get some firewood before it gets too dark." she suggested.

[checkmate]

Everything was in place and Carver was still a day early. It was barely 8pm and his meeting wasn't till 4am of not tomorrow but the day after. He'd been busy talking with some of the locals, gathering information, as such was his weapon, and playing chess with those who hadn't given up on beating him. He'd mapped out the meeting location several times imagined every likely possibility plus a few that were highly unlikely, like her bringing a small OSDF group with her, and everything still showed him in the lead with a rook and a bishop with her two knights though, her flight pattern and thinking style, still out there to be dealt with. Both of them had sacked their queens in their first encounter, taking the strong hand but to himself he found the queen was actually a useless distraction that needs to be accounted for and protected to often. "Oh well, it will come down to the pawns more likely than not." He said to the sky. When he had set up the game to himself he'd left all his pawns still up but only given her 4 since he hadn't expected to many outside influences from her.

Carver leaned back against a tree watching the stars. He didn't see any of his group obviously around but he knew at least one if not two were probably close by keeping an eye on him. They didn't like to leave him to fend for himself which was starting to let him get rusty on his hand to hand combat. Maybe i'll fight some of my own as training so they see i can handle myself, he thought drifting into sleep.

[Leonardo]

Leo woke soon after sunset, the fire he had made little more then embers now but he was still plenty warmed up by it. As he stretched he noticed a wisp watching him from the forest. He instantly recognized it as a kender spirit. They tended to be the most annoying sense they have no sense of right or wrong but they where the least threat to anyone and fairly easy to deal with. Leo picked up his pack and strapped it down. Then walked over to the kender. "Ello little guy. Are the Vanguard home?" The kender shook it's head no. "Saul then?" It nodded. "Recently?" It nodded again. "Well then I guess I'll meet up with them in Saul. Thanks little guy. Here's a treat for you." Leo then showed the kender a trick. The kender then ran off, most likely to show the new trick it learned to other kenders.

Leo then called on a stream line wind and ran though the forest in the path of the wind stream. It was less effective then rift walking but Leo didn't need to be falling asleep again when he'd be able to reach Saul by morning. As he went through the forest he noticed a fire off to his side and stopped. Curious he approached the camp. As he got near he could tell that the fire was relatively fresh and their where two people in the camp. Way too small be the vanguard on escort. After a moment he recognized the one of the people was Skye. The other looked familiar..... the person on the stairs from the inn? The two where similar but Leo was relatively bad at remembering new faces. He never spoke to her anyways so his recollection of her was fuzzy at best. Seeing Skye did remind him that he meant to visit the parent tree. Odd kind of reminder with them being unrelated.

Leonardo tensed up as he heard a sheath silently being drawn from behind him. He quickly drew his sword and spun around to see a different kender swing a huge sword at him. Leo easily disarmed him and the sword faded as it left the kender's hand. Immediately after the kender from earlier appeared behind the new kender, eager to try out it's new move, and assailed Leo with a cold version of the flame petal dance he showed it earlier.

upset by the unavoidable but not very harmful attack, Leo growled to himself and yelled "I don't have time for you and all your friends but if want flashy I'll show you flashy!" With that he mad a near instant strike on the first kender, that marked it and sent it flying back into the second one. Right after they collided the mark exploded in a bright fireball that scorched the two kenders but left everything else untouched. Kenders, not being real fighters and always running away after being shown something interesting, promptly left. Leo stood up and chuckled to himself, then froze in a panic as he relised that their was no way Skye wouldn't have noticed that outburst or display. He really over did it for the kenders.

[skysu]

(OH noes! Leo tried to kill Tas! shame on you!!! XD)

Skye startled at the sound and her twin knives were instantly in her hand as she slowly moved towards the edge of the clearing, she gestured for Morrigan to stay on gaurd but back, using OSDF hand signals that Morrigan would recognize. She dissapeared into the woods for a moment before she returned shaking her head. "I'm not sure what it was, but its gone now." She told the other woman as she sheithed one of the blades but kept the other out as she fetched an apple from her pack and sliced a piece off of it and placed it in her mouth.

[mizcryptic]

Morrigan had been fiddling with her useless SatCom. The small explosion made her jump, and she rolled to her feet. She unsheathed one of her bayonets and looked at Skye, who gave her the sign to stay back.

She grimaced, as the ex-gypsy disappeared into the woods. "So much for me protecting her." Morrigan muttered and tensed until Skye returned to the clearing. "That's probably a good sign us to pack up." She through her SatCom into her pack and threw it over her shoulder. She was not looking forward to walking so soon, but she certainly wasn't a mage and she certainly knew that her and Skye would be outnumbered against the tree spirits.