The Barons' Game

[Heulen]

"It is funny how destiny always seems to have a way to to ruin even the best thought out plan, let alone a garbage one."

[Agnes]

Agnes strode out from the tavern towards Lady Arielle, making a point of walking directly passed the panicking 'noble'. She laid the tip of her sword in the ground in front her and bowed just as she had done with Bruce, and just as before, everyone nearby could faintly hear the crowing of many birds.

"Agnes Mercurius, my Lady. I pledge my service to you in this contest." she said, glancing back at Hadrian and his sycophant.

[Nathaniel]

This Hadrian guy was a piece of work. "Hello Miss, my name is Nathaniel. I've never been employed for anything more than a mining job, but I promise that I'm plenty good in a fight."
Nathan stood and nodded towards the red-haired noblewoman, assuming that she was his employer.

[Magikeeper]

"FINE! You have a team. A member short, but I'm sure you'll have a boy raised by pigeons drop by or some such nonsense." Hadrian takes a brief moment to glare at Jebidiah, Agnes and Heulen before stomping his way to his carriage. "You'll find my team more than their equal, I assure you." He scoffs towards the gathered mercenaries one last time before setting off.

"Will you, Hadrian? I think I rather like my chances~" The woman waves at the departing carriage with a confident smirk. She then turns her attention back towards the gathered group and clasps her hands.

"You've already figured it out, but I'm Arielle. Haha, although I admit to underestimating Monsieur Hadrian in the past, I sincerely doubt your arrival was within his calculations." She glances once more at the departing carriage. "I'm also starting to think he doesn't have much faith in his team at all... which doesn't make much sense, given what we know..."

"I agree on both counts." Added the lightly armored elven woman. "I feel this group is on the level." She explained, nodding towards the group and more particularly towards Nathan and Agnes. She proceeded to address the group directly "I'm Tia Rocsera, head of a mercenary company back in Ballena. I had come here to help Arielle, but-"

Arielle stepped forward with another wave. "I'm sure they've already heard about it from Monsieur Bruce. You coming all this way anyway was still most kind of you, my friend. That said, I must admit to being rather excited! Do you mind if we set off for my families estate now? We'll show you the papers on the way." The lady quickly motioned towards the third member of her group. "My mysterious companion will surely reveal herself then as well. Wouldn't want Hadrian's informants to know whether or not she was raised by pigeons, after all~

[Serena Noveau]

Serena smirks under her hood holding back laughter at Hadrian's tantrum and continues to listen in on his and his company's conversation as they walk away. (Basically for as long as she can with her super hearing.) She pays only slight attention to what Arielle is saying until she says "My mysterious companion" and Serena waits until Hadrian and company are far out of ears reach when she smirks and says playfully, "Coo.. coo.. coo. I've been found out..." She holds back her giggles by biting her lip.

[Agnes]

Agnes chuckled to herself lightly as she eyed up the carriage, trying to decide how safe it would be to travel in.

"Would you prefer me to ride on top? My crossbow might deter any childish interventions that lordling might conceive of on short notice." Agnes offered.

[Jebidiah]

Jebidiah contained his chuckling at the lordling to himself. This was going to be fun until the battle started. As their opponent seemed to think that this was a literally life and death experience. He and his golem followed towards the carriage. "Let's get the party planning started, shall we?"

[Heulen]

"We are not to kill our opponents, correct? Is severe bodily harm out of the question?"

Heulen stretches and his back and neck crack in the process.

[Darby]

Darby grabbed his equipment, and slowly shuffled his way to the cart, using Minor Telekinesis to bring his leftovers behind him. He allowed his dinner - and the secrets - to digest.

"So, any theories on what ole' Haddy's got up his sleeve? Was he really planning to do this uncontested, and his team are all nephews of rich folk who won't find honest work?"

[Magikeeper]

The carriage looked fairly typical for the area albiet larger and a bit better furbished. The wood looked sturdy, the old man driving it trustworthy enough, the equiphant's pulling it in good shape. The top of the carriage did look like it'd support Agnes guarding plan if needed.

Ariella, however, grinned at Agnes as she shook her head. "If he actually tried that he'd be risking more than just losing the game." Her grin faded as she thought about the matter more deeply. "He wouldn't attack me, or do anything as flashy as assaulting a carriage on the main roads.. but if he could have something happen to you... I think you should stay at our manor until the games start. I mean, I was going to offer that anyway, but you have a point that he did look rather desperate."

After the group was situated in the carriage Ariella and the others began answering their questions. First, to Huelen- "Correct on both counts! Although healers will be present, you should keep in mind that 'grievous bodily harm' could very well turn into 'death' in the time it takes for them to get to your fallen foe. The area for the games is quite large and the healers, aside from Monsieur Jebidiah, will likely be staying behind the flags for safety's sake.

Tia took over at this point, turning to Darby with a thoughtful look. "The opposite, really, from what we've heard they're all very strong and we're not sure how they ended up working for Hadrian." The warrior shrugged as she explained "They got involved in a bar fight on the way here. Only three of them fought, but apparently the seven men fighting them were utterly smashed. Their opponents weren't well trained or anything, but some of them were pretty burly.."

Arialle nodded "It could be that the other three are weak, but based on our reports the reason they didn't fight is because two of them were keeping the third one out of the fight - much to her dismay! - and it sounded like everyone present very much wanted to let them keep doing that."

Tia pulled out some of the papers they had gathered."The flaming blood woman, right? It was more that the barkeep was afraid she'd burn the place down if she got involved." She shared the documents with the group.

There opponents were a team of six individuals. The first was a man called "Jarbson", a muscular fellow that punched like a stampeding bison and tackled like one too. He and the other three that'd fought all had Ballenian accents, and it was thought that they were from some gang in Tiburon (although this was unconfirmed). His compatriots were a gaunt primal-magic user, "Deeter Halifax", that seemed to have a thing for bats and a rather dexterous woman, "Almira", that favored hookswords and storm magic. The other three were an androgynous wolf-shifter archer only known as "Scruffs", a mysterious cloaked figure called "Masiro", and finally...

Ariella pointed at the last section. "Oh the ink got smudged there. Her name's "Nessa Viachaslau", not "Nevra Eopia".

Tia laughed "Ariella, it doesn't look anything like Eopia."

Ariella crossed her arms in a mock pout. "It definitely does." She then started laughing as well.

In anycase, the last member was a woman with glowing veins, steaming breath, and a penchant for bones and forming various things from her own blood. She also appeared to love fighting, but had been prevented from actually doing so during the bar brawl.

"The group's been fairly quiet since then, I believe Hadrian had them take up residence in his manor. Based on how much food he's had delivered I think we can also safely conclude they eat a lot and that one or more of them really likes fish, chocolate, and pasta. At least two of them must love pasta, I cannot believe one person is eating all of that."