• Graded • Symbols of death

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Nauta F'mos Geey
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Race: Aukari
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Symbols of death

87 Zida 717
F'mos was hard at work as always and usually would not be interrupted unless there was something urgent, or he had guests. Lizzie's expression when she interrupted him was not one which would show any urgency which meant he had guests. That said it was not the usual excitement she had for a new guest which came calling at his home either. She looked more frightened, with a mix of... esteem at their guest. It made F'mos a little confused as to the identity of the person she brought home with her. He had always tried to keep a low profile so there should not be anyone well known in Etzos to be searching for him who also knew of his relationship with the girl; unless it was Nightshade though she would not actually have Lizzie so scared despite being a detestable avriel.

He thought on it for a moment and then realized that it might have been from his previous trip to Foster's? That would be bad if they actually did come all the way to Etzos just because of it. Nothing really bad came out of it either to have him so bothered. He asked the girl if she knew his visitor, she said yes and when he asked the name, she said no; but it was someone the both of them should know according to her because of... mutants? Maybe it was Swain who Lizzie met a few seasons back and, Big Franko who was in charge of the boy but both should know better than coming to his home on business. It infuriated him that they were so crass towards his position in his city and which much hostility directed towards, went to meet them in the next room.

Only it was neither Big Franko nor Swain, but Noth, another one of those detestable avriels. The aukari sent Lizzie away to get some drinks and perhaps, some dessert. It should take her some time to do. Once she was out of earshot he immediately went with his suspicions of the avriel's motives as he asked "what did you do to her? She scared." So long as his guest had not answered anything which may be perceived as a threat to the girl, it was on to the next question to ask "what do you want?" It was the only time the avriel ever needed the aukari which was an arrangement F'mos was completely fine with to maintain a peaceful lifestyle but, Noth also knew there were better ways to meet the aukari. He better be able to justify the need to visit the aukari at his home.

What Noth wanted probably would not even make sense for the aukari, which is probably why an explanation would be needed until it did. Long enough for the girl to actually return with their refreshments and as it would be impolite to have her leave as soon after that, "we can talk about party favours later." A veiled suggestion which should make sense to the avriel the moment F'mos gestured at the girl. It would be up to Noth to entertain Lizzie for a while as it seemed like with the refreshments, she started to get a lot more comfortable with her saviour of the old mutant-mage melee; more interested about the avriel which she kept asking questions about.

Bad parenting. That was the only thing F'mos could think of the girl who readily associated herself with all these dubious individuals which made sense as he was the one who acted as her parent now, unfortunately for her.
Last edited by Nauta F'mos Geey on Tue May 01, 2018 6:37 pm, edited 1 time in total. word count: 611
But I don't want to cure cancer. I want to turn people into dinosaurs.
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Noth
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It was a natural truth that there were typically many different ways to solve a problem. That was an excellent thing, because people typically had differing ways of thinking, or even of perceiving a problem, and if everyone only ever chose the same sorts of solutions without considering any alternatives, then many of the greatest and most useful inventions would never have come to fruition. Along that same line of thought, there were many different ways that an enemy could be disposed.

One could simply assail them socially, convince others that whatever they were doing or saying was anathema to what they believed, and actively work towards turning them into a pariah who would be shunned or perhaps even exiled for their ill-contrived transgressions. It could also be easier at times to take a more seductive approach to dealing with a foe, especially if one was physically attractive or had a way with words, because they might be able to convince an enemy through entrapping words that they would be better off as allies, and that their ideologies or their actions were not so terribly different as to require or necessitate any conflict between them.

The Prince of Eternal Mercies had typically found it far easier to simply eliminate a target through the more conventional and violent means. A stab of a knife in the midst of a dark alley, the jamming of a poisoned needle in the throng of a crowd where capture remained unlikely and guilt could be evaded, the brutish application of a mace to the dome of the skull until it caved, and all those hopes and dreams and aspirations became little more than a pasty red upon the floors surface. People often concluded that such violent activities required less finesse and less work than the other methods, and he supposed that in certain areas that was likely true. One needn’t worry much about the motivations and worries of a person if they simply intended to end their life.

That said, there was actually a surprising level of planning that went into planning each and every individual slaying, and one always had to be considerate of the tools they had at hand, because one tool might be equipped for a certain foe, whilst another would provide far more quality work against a different form of enemy. For example, his longbow was excellent at picking off targets wearing weaker or no armor whatsoever, but his mace was far better at death-dealing when it came to those who wore carapaces and suits of iron and steel.

The necessity to acquire new weaponry was the entire reason that the twilight hybrid had sought out the services of an alchemist he had met one before during an operation that had worked quite well in his favor. He had operated decently in the past, and whilst he certainly wasn’t the highest quality alchemist he had ever worked with; the Avriel had spent some time with Doran who had created his Null Gauntlet for him, he was far easier to reach than others, and also likely much cheaper than any of the alternatives. It had taken him some effort to track down the Aukari, but he had been told about the presence of his food establishment once before, and so after some searching, he had managed to locate his charge, and promptly follow her to their home. She seemed healthy and well, which was fortunate, because the incident where they had met had been a stressful and rough ordeal, and he would have thought it perfectly reasonable if she had cracked slightly under the pressure.

She took notice of him once they had reached her home, and promptly went to tattle to the Aukari so that he might deal with it. He called out to the Avriel as soon as he had disengaged himself from conversing with his charge, questioning what Noth had done to her, because it had managed to strike her with fear. That elicited something of a cruel snicker from the hybrid, because it was no surprise whatsoever that someone would be afraid of him, even after he had helped to save her.

“I followed. Nothing more. I have come to speak with you about a proposition.” He would await a response before continuing, “There is a weapon that I would like to have designed. It is simple in thought, but I am not talented in creating such things, and so I have come to you.” He paused again, reaching down at his side and removing what appeared to be a near perfectly preserved human skull, showing it off to the Aukari before pausing at the re-entry of the girl. He quickly placed his hand behind his back in mock imagery of every child who attempts to hide something from their prowling parents. The girl seemed intent on questioning him about several aspects of his life, and those which weren’t incriminating, he answered, albeit sometimes with less honesty than might be strictly permitted under typical etiquette.

“Very well. We may talk after we have… concluded with these discussions.”
word count: 855
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Credit to Pegasus


As a note: Noth is a Grandmaster in Intimidation. That means that he's at least as scary as the Count from Sesame Street. Beware.

"The tyrant confuses those he can't convince, corrupts those he can't confuse, and crushes those he can't corrupt." - Anonymous
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Nauta F'mos Geey
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Though the avriel's answers to the query F'mos had as well as the reasons for his visit were no more delightful than the aukari himself finding vermin in the kitchen which he had to deal with for... health and sanitary reasons, at least Noth's own visit did not seem something which would bring ill to the aukari's home; not unless the repugnant object he brought along with him was ridden with a disease or worse, had some curse on it. Or... it could just be an ordinary skull which the avriel was attached to for some reason, not that F'mos wanted to know what went through the bird's brain. Nevertheless at least Noth had the good sense to not allow Lizzie to see it. F'mos did not want to have to deal with a hysterical girl because of it after he turned Noth down.

But that would have to wait until F'mos was done playing the good host or at least, a host which had no problem being open with the unexpected visitor in his home. For that he left it to Lizzie who asked him about everything, from what he did, the item which was hidden behind him, about the rest of his crew she was already acquainted with, the only other avriel in town she knew and "oärïl ädà kav'el... PUT THAT BIRD BACK IN ROOM!" Somehow or another, Lizzie also brought the pet bird in to show off to Noth and F'mos was not going to have that especially when the last avriel to set its hands on it nearly killed the bird. And that at least, gave the aukari the excuse to get the girl out of his business since if she had time to play with the bird, she had the time to take care of it.

Once the pair was left alone in peace with the door shut to keep out any further interruptions, F'mos decided to at least oblige his visitor for his patience. He asked for the skull, which he studied while he had the avriel present his proposition. There seemed to be nothing special about it though the remains obviously creeped him out. How his visitor got the idea, he had no clue and really did not think it a good idea to even try and get into his head to find out. Still, the idea was interesting and should not be too much of a problem if the avriel had as much of the specific material he claimed to have though it was an unnerving example of how dangerous an individual he had just allowed into his own home.

And one which he also now realized, also knew where his home was.

It was obviously a thought which alarmed the aukari, not only that Noth knew where he lived but also how easy it was for the avriel to find him which meant, anyone else could do it with ease. He thought about it for a while and other than remuneration for the job which they could negotiate on once F'mos was sure the weapon Noth wanted was possible, "I'm going to need access to materials and a quiet place to work." As if on cue, the noise of Lizzie in her attempts to get a handle of the bird on the next room could be heard in a loud, audible crash of something being knocked over. "See?" he asked before he excused himself to check on the girl and his bird to give Noth time to make his decision.

Which Noth had until the time F'mos returned with the girl in tow which he held unto by the cuff. Unlike her previous excited conversation with the guest she was bashful and wet but without any further explanation, the aukari only said "See? Dangerous" as if his point was made before he had to send the avriel away after he had finished his refreshments. If he had no problems with the conditions F'mos had to begin his work, it will not be long until he would next meet the alchemist anyway.
word count: 698
But I don't want to cure cancer. I want to turn people into dinosaurs.
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Noth
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In honesty, Noth didn’t particularly care for the Aukari before him. It was not necessarily that he disliked him for any particular reason, or at least none came to mind when he attempted to muster them into conscious thought, but rather it was some unforeseen complexity hidden away in his personality that warded away the Avriel. It was difficult enough attempting to work with independent contractors on the regular, especially when they constantly bickered about how they weren’t receiving ample compensation for their work, or how they would be more valuable if they were doing this or that as opposed to what they had been assigned. Yet, these people were very much criminals, scumbags and venomous snakes hiding amidst the grass, waiting to lance out like vipers with their vicious fangs and subdue whatever targets he demanded. They served him for the sake of piteous coin and the security that his work provided to them.

When Noth compared such persons to the Aukari before him, he was faced with a somewhat differing set of personality traits. So far as the public was concerned, it seemed quite likely that Nauta was a fairly decent fellow. He was unaware of any particular charities he ran, or whether he contributed to public organizations, or whether he was even much of a member of the community; though, he supposed that last one must have been true, or else he would have suffered far more difficulty in locating his whereabouts.

It was somewhat strange, he considered, that he would be more unnerved by the fact that the man was presumably a stand-up citizen than by the multitude of murderers and robbers he recruited under his bloody-handed banner. Nevertheless, he distinctly remembered an instance of violence involving the Aukari, and how he had served to assist them in their fight against what could only have been a particularly vile group of cultists. Noth did not believe that the man’s hands were clean in terms of having spilled blood, nor that he was completely innocent in the dark dealings which occurred in the Etzori underground, but he had managed to retain a reputation of little ill-repute, and that spoke of his talents of subterfuge. It was, perhaps, one of the same reasons that Noth was so wary of hanging around Maws in times of past, because it was hard to discern their true goals, their true intentions.

The ward of the man returned, asking a variety of questions, and the hybrid gave answers to the child when they weren’t incriminating, satiating her curiosity as best he was able without providing so much information that it put him at risk. At some point in the conversation, she had even brought forth what appeared to be a pet bird to show off to him, perhaps attempting to showcase the similarities between the Avriel and the more animalistic cousin she possessed. He observed it carefully with crimson eyes, taking note of the vague similarities, though his analysis was quickly subdued by the interruption of the ward’s guardian who demanded that she put away the creature.

The girl was sent away, and the adults were left behind to conduct their shadowy business. The Aukari asked to see the human skull, and it was unceremoniously deposited into his hand, as though it were a simple item that the Avriel had grown accustomed to carrying hither and thither. In actuality, whilst he had certainly dealt with many corpses in his past, it was a somewhat seldom event for him to take hold of the more cleanly-picked remains that constituted the skeletal structure. That was reasonable, because he had a purpose behind searching and rifling through corpses, but it was evident by visual stimulus alone that skeletons possessed little of value to him.

He presented his idea in full detail as the man cradled the skull. “I am aware that the alchemically inclined are capable of creating explosive devices out of the many powders and reagents in your possession. I wish to weaponize these explosions, and the best way to do so seems to be to carry around an easily ignitable object which could be thrown at an enemy. I chose a skull, because the fragments of the bone are hard enough to pierce flesh, but weak enough that a simple detonation should propel those outwards, not altogether unlike a storm of knives flowing free from the storm’s eye.”

The man seemed to believe that it could be done, because he spoke of how he would need a quiet place to work, and access to materials. The Avriel nodded, having expected the request for materials, and he supposed that the request for an additional laboratory was not so unwarranted given that he would be working with explosive materials in his testing. Having one’s home detonate in a flash of fire was certain to draw the ire and attention of the authorities. “Very well. I will make a place for you in the Underground. I will, of course, require a list of reagents so that I may bring them to you, and I recommend you bring your own equipment.”

Not desiring to remain for a social chat, and aware that the man would likely need to explain the meeting to his ward at some point, the Avriel spun upon his heel, talon gently scratching at the floor, careful not to absolutely annihilate whatever was underfoot.

“I’ll dispatch a person to take you to your lab in the morning. Do not be late.”
word count: 929
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Credit to Pegasus


As a note: Noth is a Grandmaster in Intimidation. That means that he's at least as scary as the Count from Sesame Street. Beware.

"The tyrant confuses those he can't convince, corrupts those he can't confuse, and crushes those he can't corrupt." - Anonymous
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Nauta F'mos Geey
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F'mos should be taking lessons from Noth on precautions as the aukari was the one meant to be in hiding but knowing of one of the avriel's hidden labs was better than nothing and, where F'mos lived was information anyone could easily get as the crow demonstrated. Information on the explosives he wanted on the other hand, was not which would be given lightly. Even though the requested list was quickly given, it only held a little of the reagents actually needed for the weapon Noth wanted; some of the more commonly used items in explosives and some redundant elements present only because of Sirothelle craftsmen superstition. The rest were for the alchemist's other projects, troublesome items he did not want associated to himself by acquisition.

The avriel on the hand as the villain he was should have no problem with just a few more minor things added into his own infamy, very unlike the aukari who only wanted to live comfortably and in peace though... if F'mos was more mindful to how the list itself could affect his life in Etzos, he would have remembered to leave out some of those redundant elements. There were not a lot of aukari in Etzos and he doubted a lot of them would be alchemists like him. The craftsmen superstitions themselves because they were redundant and not required in most things he made, were good enough things to be used as evidence for anyone who would want to incriminate him in some dirty deed. Those properly trained in their craft knew their own practices were a sort of a signature and that it would be able to identify the works of others.

Too late for F'mos to remember that part of the practice though... Still he was rather satisfied with his ability to withhold the true recipe from Noth just in case the avriel decided to use another alchemist to make the explosives for him. Not that the aukari cared about the loss of a customer especially one like Noth, just that F'mos preferred to have some form of control over the supply of the other. With that the deal was done. "Have those ready tomorrow with your skulls. No one else. I work alone and... no disturbance..." he said, the latter dragged on just about long enough as he watched the girl to give an idea that if it was not for her, his own workspace would suffice. As for his compensation, "we can discuss the rest later." After all, the alchemist controlled the supply.

He did think Noth quite rude for leaving immediately but as the avriel suspected, the aukari had some explaining to do which he felt, he got off easy by only having to say he was doing a favor for her savior and he was a busy bird. Unlike the pet the girl kept fat without needing to do any work. The aukari would have to fix its laziness sooner or later but until then, he would be kept busy with the bombs Noth had commissioned.

It took probably four trials for F'mos to do this; not only to meet Noth's specifications but also the aukari's own needs and, it also took a lot of time for the aukari to make sure the proper reagents he supplied and his own tools were safe from the avriel's agents to keep his own secrets. The bomb he made at first was the usual he was taught by his uncle back in Sirothelle although the problem with the first batch was the explosions were too strong. Instead of shrapnels like Noth wanted, the skulls exploded into chunks with pieces too tiny and oddly shaped to do any damage. Subsequent tests with a lesser amount did not have any promising results either until the point they became too weak for any damage entirely.

The first clue which had the alchemist in the right direction was in one of the skulls Noth provided to him. He noted it because of how damaged it was but did not really care about it because it was only for a test. A test which had a sharp chunk embedded right into the walls after one of the usual explosions. A few more attempts to replicate it and the aukari was set with a skull bomb which was enough to spread out fragments like a fan of knives. The end result was a batch of bombs all ready for Noth as skulls like any other except with a wick soaked in flammables at the head and metal rods sticking out from random parts of it, visible cracks formed by them and then extended by brute force were undoubtedly the reason the fragments could reach a more damaging state.

There was only one more addition to the bombs which the alchemist made though it was less for its effectiveness and more as a precaution against the dangers of his creations, just like another one of the creations he had gifted to someone else. With that the bombs were ready to be presented to Noth, full of the explosive powder as the much more effective medium for its use within them, which the alchemist would allow the avriel to test well after he had left. Noth had the idea right but he still had to practice with the weapon and F'mos would rather not be injured by the bombs although if the avriel was injured that would be his own problem. "You maybe want to throw far and hard, or use longer trigger over there" he advised before it was time to conclude his business.

"Ten bombs. Ten a trial but time is gold so you tell me early for more. Maybe... one trial after every ten trials because other projects. I can make more if you want, but will cost more if rush job or if I have other things to do." The reason was not really true but the alchemist knew he had to create a demand and some sort of control so Noth could not do anything which would shake up Etzos without him getting a hint of it- if his plans involved those bombs that is. They were rather nice bombs if the alchemist had to say so himself, which was why there were a few hidden within his own equipment. No sense in letting all the good materials go to waste. "You got anymore fun ideas, you know where to find me" he said before he left the Underground chamber to return to being the 'stand-up citizen' Noth and plenty of the racist Etzori thought him to be, topside.
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word count: 1151
But I don't want to cure cancer. I want to turn people into dinosaurs.
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Doran Cooney
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Nauta F'mos Geey
Knowledges
Intelligence: Of someone within a community is easy to obtain
Interrogation: Use an innocent source
Hunting: Just follow a mark
Business management: Point out obstacles for better conditions
Deception: Use the obvious for support
Alchemy: Never give out the recipe
Alchemy: Qualities of containers to improve effectiveness of contents
Alchemy: Habits of alchemists can become their signatures

Loot: +200 Gn from Noth; +5 skull grenades
Injuries: N/A
Renown: N/A

Points 15
Noth, Prince of Eternal Mercies
Knowledges
Alchemy - Capable of Creating Bombs
Alchemy - Useful for Acquiring Otherwise Difficult Equipment
Alchemy - Surprisingly Complex With Formulas
Business Management - Try to Get Cheap Prices

Loot: -200 GN; +10 skull grenades
Injuries: N/A
Renown: N/A

Points 15
---
Even with a pretty standard purchase thread, it was neat to see Noth's little introspective, philosophical consideration at the start! These seem like pretty niche weapons, so I'm definitely interest to see what will be done with them. Sneaky F'mos overquoting and keeping things for himself, haha.
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