WQ - Parley with Pugnacious Pirates

The whole situation felt surreal to Surrechis. She was traveling with a king and his consort to convince a bunch of sea raiders, who were on land, to let them pass through a mountain range and rescue a Falderen princess. It sounded like one of the operas she had watched, and studied from, a while back. It was best that they get introductions out of the way, to avoid any confusion when negotiating. She gave a curtsey to each of her companions before saying,

"Greetings your Majesty, your Royal Highness, my name is Surrechis. I must admit that I am not very skilled in negotiation; however, I do know a few songs that they might enjoy. It would be best if I did not have the first word, especially to anyone in charge, but perhaps I could convince a few people around whatever guard post they have to be more... sympathetic to our cause."

After her little speech, she gave another bow and stood aside to let them take the lead. While it was unlikely for her to make an impact in the main negotiations, a couple words and some songs around the camp would make the Aesir much more willing to lend an ear. She was also sure that the king and his spouse would be much better suited to more formal talks, them being royalty. Perhaps they were still new, but rulers weren't forged overnight. It took at least one act and maybe two or three arias before they rose, and hearing the stories about their fight against the Bloodied Queen and Elder Vampire Wurm... convincing a few bandits shouldn't be that much of an issue. She could already hear the signs of activity up ahead, no doubt the marauders were expecting them.

@Astor Balthas
@Ilusa Nakhalee

97 + 5 = 102
SOCIAL / Roll Link
102 / 450
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It was the first time he has interacted with Surrechis. While many of his security advisors would try to convince the King that adventuring with random people was incredibly detrimental to his safety, Astor thought nothing of it. He was a big boy, he can handle himself in combat, evident by his track record of conquering Castle Dormont and participating in the defeat of Azog. He was a warrior King and there are only a handful of uninformed people in Astorea who did not know of his deed.

While Surrechis spoke to him and Ilusa, Astor was rather distracted as he rummaged inside a modest carriage that all three of them have been traveling on. Loud noise came from within the, produced by Astor’s struggle to navigate the mess he had made on his mad search. Once the noise died down, the blond emerged from the carriage and hopped down from the height. Without a single hint of shame, Astor looked up and presented himself to his traveling companions, displaying a blond walrus mustache in all of its glory. He also wore more revealing clothes, decorated with thick fur and a number of ornate accessory, making him look like an overly-embellished Aesir.

Clearing his throat, the King spoke in an uncharacteristically deep voice “Who is this Majesty, I am Olaf the Jarl of Jutland, conqueror of the eastern sea, I was overzealous and charged into the enemy’s territory, horgh horgh horgh!” he chortled.

Clearing his throat once more, Astor addressed the two women. “What? We’re never going to get past the blockade if we don’t put on a little show for them, how on earth do you expect these Viking Pirates to just let us through after a parley? We’ll have to pull some crazy shit to be able to get through that,” he said. “So here’s the plan, there are a bunch of costume in that carriage, go and find some clothes or something and act like I’m a rich Jarl with two wives, from what I know the Aesir women are warriors too so it’s never too strange for a Jarl’s wives to escort him into battle.”

Then, he came forward and presented the fur to the two. “Check out how soft these fur coats are, there’s no way the Aesirs won’t believe us,” Astor grinned.

@Ilusa Nakhalee
@Surrechis

75
Social / Roll Link
177 / 450
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Ilusa was grinning. She was pleased and her tail swishing was yet another proof of that. She and Astor were going on an adventure! And the person that accompanied them seemed to be… Not a Player. The felis was not sure the small and lean fearin was an NPC, but she suspected that she was one. There was something about the glances given to them both a timidity that Players… Did not have usually, even when they played along with Astor being a King (she wondered just what he did to manage to leave on his own, without escorts, or at least one bodyguard).

The young girl, because she looked like young and as NPC and faerin probably was, was nervous and seemed overwhelmed.. Which made her a rather quiet companion during their travel. Not that it was a bad thing.

“An aspiring bard will surely help with our approach.” After all they decided to use wits, charm and diplomacy. The woman behind Ilusa judged the look of the faerin and found them to be definitely not lacking. The girl was adorable and that would further soften the hearts of the Pirates. “Right Ast-?” As the felis turned to her male companion, her question died on her lips, noticing him rummaging inside the carriage.

“…?” She tilted her head and then her lips twitched as she held back a giggle. ‘Don’t laugh, don’t laugh, don’t laugh, don’t-’ That mantra repeated in her mind, Ilusa managed to not burst laughing. It was not even that it looked bad. It was fitting, but the sharp contrast to his usual look made this humorous. And as the first wave of want for laughter ceased, she actually appreciated the brilliance of the plan. For a moment she wondered if the Aesir were similar to the Norse Aesir.

“…Yes, that can work well, Olaf.” As @Astor Balthas came over with the furs, mentioning how soft they were, Ilusa leaned close and checked it out; it was indeed soft. And it looked warm. A high quality fur too. “You need to change your hairstyle a bit though.” The felis said reaching out to model his hair a little, make it different from the usual look.

“Okay, @Surrechis, lets go into the carriage and change. For the time being we’ll have to change names and become sister-wives to Olaf.” That said, she ushered the younger girl in, but gently so that the faerin could slip away if she really was uncomfortable. Then, she too changed her clothes, putting her usual equipment, aside the weapon, sneakily back into inventory.

She changed her look. Added colourful feathers to her hair, put her hair high up, put on accessories that complimented her skin or eyes, put on ear clips, there was even a tail accessory that she put on! The clothes were somewhat revealing, but not too much. They teased with her uncovered stomach, legs and arms, but the long fur-jacket also hid it often… Not always because it was left open. It all looked pretty, but it was not armour.

If Surrechis came with her, Ilusa would have given the girl some clothes that artificially added a year or two to her appearance, as faerin often looked rather child-like, the proper folds gave illusion of the girl having more curves than she did.

It done, she walked out of the carriage. “I'll take Nadine as my name. Olaf-dear, tell me what you think of how your wives look?” She grinned bit widely and as he gave his opinion or hints what to change, she asked. “Will we be taking the carriage with us? A man like you, a conqueror of the eastern sea should have plan on how getting back what he lost.”

Still she was ready to face the Aesir, hopefully their group would charm them to let them pass.

93 + 0 = 93
Social / (Roll) WQ 9/22
270 / 450
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Surrechis gave a light wince upon hearing King Astor's plan. The man was... not that great of an actor and she herself knew next to nothing about the Aesir. What kind of noise was horgh horgh horgh? It resembled a sailor choking on his own beard rather than any laugh she had heard. Regardless, it seemed like both of the royals were committed to the plan and she didn't really have any better ideas. She would just have to hope that both of them knew what they were doing.

Letting herself get dragged by Lady Ilusa into the carriage, she wore the clothes that were given to her. She felt uncomfortable garbed like this, it was far too unlike her. Still, she had a role to play and a duty to fulfill. Putting on the various accessories and adjusting her hair to match, she took the moment to compose herself for the coming times. And were those fake ears and tails? Well, it would certainly help her match with Ilusa, although she felt especially apprehensive about wearing them. So she wore them and tried to rebuild whatever composure she had built up before. And tried to think of a name that would fit because Surrechis sure wasn't going to cut it as an Aesir name. It didn't cut it as her own name a few times...

As Lady Ilusa stepped out of the carriage and announced her own name, Surrechis followed behind her and waited for an opportunity to say her piece. When there was a lull in the conversation or they asked her, she would say,

"I have decided upon a name although I am unsure of it. Will Isabella suffice?"

Depending on their answer, if they chose another name for her, she would accept it. She wasn't particularly attached to that one. Now transport was a real issue, it was possible for an unknown carriage to be assaulted on sight unless it was sufficiently signalled or enough warning to be given beforehand. Maybe they could have the 'Jarl Olaf' scream at the top of his lungs as they approached? It would probably give them an opportunity to at least speak with the guards. They might just have to walk the rest of the way, which was something Surrechis was used to. Being in a carriage was odd to her, something about it just felt wrong.

Looking back down at her outfit, Surrechis winced. She did not pull of the look well and didn't quite have the spirit for the attitude as well, luckily there was a hood or something resembling one. She pulled it over her head to hide her face a bit better, there, that was better. Maybe it was due to how large the coat was that she could pull part of it over her head and still have room to spare. She stood out of the way and off to the side, ready to follow the group wherever they went.

19 + 5 = 24
SOCIAL / Roll Link
294 / 450
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Astor started to feel rather pressured at the fact that Ilusa laughed at his appearance and Surrechis looking at him with a questioning gaze. However, Astor was not about to cut short a perfectly reasonable plan. He was a certified Thespian when he was in high school, as such he was confident he would be able to channel the inner Shakespeare to put up a performance that would be good enough to pull the wool over the Aesir’s eyes. Although he was bothered that Ilusa kept on laughing at his appearance, he gladly dipped his head forward, allowing her hands to weave through his luscious golden hair and reshaping it to something more… rustic. “Ah! Ah! Not too much, I have to keep my good looks too, Jarl Olaf must be a fashionable seaman,” he said, taking Ilusa’s hand away before she overworked the hair.

With Ilusa and Surrechis rushing into the carriage, Astor cleared his throat once more and pulled out an ornate mirror, which he used to put the finishing touches on his appearance and attempted his best Danish impression; he needed to prepare himself for a performance of a lifetime.

When the girls returned, he was impressed with how Ilusa managed to pull off a wild and furry look about her. Although it didn’t fit the image of a Viking woman in his head, it was good enough for a compliment, which he gave. “You look good Nadine, Jarl wife of Jarl Olaf, come hither,” he said.

Then… words seemed to stuck in his throat as he glanced over Surrechis, who looked absolutely terrible with artificial curves and clothes that clearly did not fit her at all.

“N-nice…” Astor said as he scratched the back of his neck, unable to look at the pitiful Faerin in the face.

“Okay, so Nadine and Isabella, I can work with it. Now the problem is the carriage, it’s obviously not going to be any good if they just raid us thinking we’re simple travelers. I think I would be best if we park it close to their outpost and break the wheel, we can then just play up the fact that we robbed it from a Falderen traveler and will give them some of the goods as tribute if they help us deliver it through their camp and fix it for us, yeah? As much as I would like to leave it behind, it seems kind of suspicious for us to simply try and waltz through their territory empty handed,” Astor commented as he leaned his shoulder against the sturdy carriage.

Should the group agree to it, Astor would get the horses ready and had either of the girls drive the carriage toward where the Aesir’s blockade to carry out the plan he had proposed. Getting off the car once they arrive, Astor summoned a sharp icy blade and drove it into the wheel, breaking it in the process. As expected, the carriage sunk down into the ground from the weight. Then he came toward Ilusa and Surrechis and cast a fire spell within his palm and enveloped them with heat so they started sweating.

“You may think this is nasty, but we need to make it seem like we have been busy pushing this broken carriage most of the way here. Pretend like you’re tired, yeah?” Astor asked as he increased the output of the heat.

Finally, it was the trial by fire as he began walking up to the Aesir blockade, waving at them and assuming his burly voice, “oi, oi friends, come hither, ja? Huff… huff…” he panted after the short sprint.

The group of armed-to-the-teeth Aesir approached Astor with their weapons brandished, looking as though they were ready to cut him down the moment he tried to pull anything funny. “Who you?” one of the Aesir asked.

“Horgh horgh horgh, has the Aesir been living under a rock or what? I am Jarl Olaf Olafson, son of Olaf, I am the fucking Jarl of Jutland, have you never heard of Jutland you uneducated swine? Our wagon are all broken down the road, if you lot help us fix it up and get to camp, we'll share some of the loot we got from the west with your group, we were returning from a autumn raid when we came across it.” Astor spoke with terrible accent, but his confident delivery threw the Aesir for a loop, or so it seemed. They were on the border of believability at this point with Astor’s picture-perfect acting.

“Uuh, and who they?” another less impressed Aesir spoke, jutting his chin at @Ilusa Nakhalee and @Surrechis.

54
Social / Roll Link
348 / 450
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Of course she preened at the compliment from her ‘husband’ (and sharply stomped on the fresh wave of pain that went through her at even thinking of having a ‘husband’ now; not now, not now, it was only a game). Hearing the soft voice of their third party member, she focused on it with all of her strength.

“Isabella sounds great.” Ilusa said with grin and looked at the newly named ‘Isabella’ only to blink momentarily thrown off at the sight that greeted her. ‘That was not the intended result!’ Perhaps there was some of the horror shown, because what. How? Why? Too many fabrics were pushed together there! While she wanted her to gain some more curves, there was such thing as too much, when it started to look unnatural.

This, was bad, she realised. “My apologies!” The felis said, leaning down and as the faerin tried to hide her face in the cloak, she moved her hands to pull out two fabrics, from under the clothes and the tail and ears. Then she shifted the hood, pulled out the hair and the end result was… Passable. It was no longer cringeworthy, even if it looked weird.. At least now it looked like weird on purpose.

Ilusa might have perhaps been a bit too enthusiastic in her actions.

“It... Sounds good. But can you haggle? As pirates, we have to have certain greed there, no?” Still, she agreed and she already suspected that the overwhelmed faerin would not say no.

The rest of the ride, the woman behind the avatar spent trying to mentally prepare herself for the role to play. It was still gnawing at her. Being ‘wife’ to @Astor Balthas's ‘husband’. But she could go through it, it was only play pretend anyway, she could treat it like a mission. It was this mindset that let her find the strength needed to go through it without so much trouble.

Her red eyes watched how Astor destroyed the carriage, then made them sweat. It would work too. Her chest started to rise and fall faster, her breathing turning laboured as she got into the role. It was not that hard.

Then it was the showtime.

It was her first time seeing the Aesir and they looked rather Viking-like. They had many weapons and she grabbed her wand subconsciously. Checking their colours they were, well. White mostly, but their number was high.

“Nadine’s the name. Jarl’s wife.” She replied at the question, her own voice deeper now and sharper, biting almost, and her grin showed tad too many teeth, her eyes in the current light looked like pools of blood. Her hand ostensibly hovered over her wand, before she pulled it away and walked over to Astor and leaned on his side.

There was also enough time for the little @Surrechis to make her speech. And it seemed that they started to believe them more. The looks were still wary, but they were also interested and there was greed. And while there were some looks thrown her and Surrechis way, they were tempered by ‘Olaf’s’ presence. “Now. Are we gonna make the deal or not?”

In the back of the group she saw few Aesir sheathe their weapons and gesturing wildly they were clearly talking. Good, their suspicion lowered even more and they were almost in.

74 + 0 = 74
Social / (Roll) WQ 9/22
422 / 450
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Surrechis squirmed a bit in discomfort as Ilusa asked undid the abomination of an outfit she created. After that business was over, she looked at herself once again and found it to be somewhat acceptable, if still odd. Better than before, that was for sure. When Ilusa asked Surrechis if she could haggle, she replied,

"If needed, I could, your Royal Highness. I must admit that it is not one of my strengths although I have picked up a fair bit of skill over my travels."

During the ride, Surrechis gave a quick glance at Astor and Ilusa. The king seemed confident, which was good but Ilusa seemed to be a bit nervous still. After the first part of the king's plan was executed and the Aesir asked the 'Jarl Olaf' and 'Nadine' their names, Surrechis, considering her own stature and demeanor, quickly decided that being a warrior wife was not believable. Thinking quickly, on the little myths, plays and operas she had seen, perhaps she could pose as a seer or shaman of sorts, what were they called? Vala? That sounded about right. She receded deeper into her hood, before staring right at the guard who asked and saying in a slightly modified voice, courtesy of her muse skills,

"I am Isabella, vala to Jarl Olaf. My time is limited and patience thin, let us conclude our business with haste."

She could see a few of the Aesire recoil upon her announcement, good to see that her limited knowledge wasn't completely outdated. As the Aesir discussed and let decided to let the group in, she left the negotiations to the rest of her group. It seems that her little disguise had worked a bit too well and most of them looked uncomfortable at even being near her. That was fine with her, the less she had to speak, the better.

97 + 15 = 112
SOCIAL / Roll Link
544 / 450
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The plan went off without a hitch, Astor wasn’t exactly sure if @Surrechis use of ‘vala’ was even correct, but it did sound Scandinavian and ominous at the same time. He wasn’t going to complain if their awful ruse could fool the uneducated sea raiders. Astor believed that the key to their success mostly stemmed from their brimming confidence. Before he got a chance to speak with the Aesirs again, the burly brutes looked at one another and seemingly whispered to one another before they approached Astor with retracted weapons. One of the Aesirs put his greasy arm around Astor’s neck and pulled him away from @Ilusa Nakhalee, who was clinging to him, then with a balled up fist, he threw a punch into Astor’s stomach. Before anyone mistook the gesture as aggressive, the Aesirs burst into uproarious laughter, and spoke with a heavily accented voice,

“horgh horgh horgh, ohf course we knoo abuut fooken Jarl Olaf Olafson of Jutland, who doosn’t fooken know of Jarl Olaf’s mighty conquest, thoo you kind of smool for a Jarl, but size dunt meen anything ye, brothers an sisters? Anyways, Jarl or noot we need to do business ye?”

Astor’s constitution was not great in his avatar’s body and as such he slowly turned to Ilusa with a face flustered and contorted with pain. Had she seen his HP bar, it would have dropped by 20%... Astor took 20% damage from a common sea raider’s greeting, it seemed that no amount of mastery over magic could have saved him from the shame he was experiencing at that moment. Knowing that he had to keep up the act, Astor slowly turned back toward the Aesir while holding his breath in, for he knew that the moment he exhaled, the pain will come and make him look like a fool. With a tiny and breathless voice, Astor parlayed, “70:30 of the carriage.”

“No offense tiny Jarl, but ye give half and we fix the fooken wagon,” the same brute replied, his words firm.

“60:40” Astor retorted with a firm demeanor, albeit still in his tiny voice. It seemed the inner actor in Astor was in full force now, he was fully in character and it would take the rest of his party to intervene before he ices the uneducated sea people.

“No deal Jarl, summer raid’s toogh this year, 50:50”

93
SOCIAL / Roll
637 / 450​

 

Ilusa did not say anything as the people bought it. Some might laugh and say that such ridiculous thing works only in game, but she knew for a fact that real life did work like that too.

Still her eyes widened when the man pulled Astor away from her and hit him. That single hit took so much of Astor’s health. While it made sense (mage’s were more fragile than melee fighters), it was still painful looking and she had to stop herself from healing him, because that might give up the game.

To be honest, she was bit too interested in what they were saying to pay attention and haggle, she was too curious how the place of those pirates looked. She also walked closer to ‘Isabella’ and leaned down to whisper encouragement. “Good thinking there.” Because best part was the fact that her bit weird attire suddenly looked just right. Off just the right way, weird in the way that was normal for a vala, her little stature only highlighted the rightness of the wrongness.

The little faerin was now given a wide breath from the Aesir’s and Ilusa’s grin turned sharper, almost smug. As if to show ‘look, we have a vala’. Still, she so wanted to take a bath and change clothes.. Too bad she could not do it yet.

But the most important thing was the fact that they had managed it. They could now go inside, past the barricade and continue looking for what they were here in the first place.

Distantly, she wondered what the black-eyed advisor of Astor was thinking when she realised that he did not listen to her and he did go on an adventure. The poor woman probably deserved a raise, but adventures were different breed than normal Nobility. Ilusa herself was bit more free, what with not having the actual land per se and the temple still being constructed. Then she shook her head and paid attention to the now, waiting till it was right time to heal Astor when no one saw.

13 + 0 = 13
Social / (Roll) WQ 9/22
650 / 450
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