Start Ups One True Hope

[Prez]

One True Hope

@Alolan Ninetales; @Yun; @Hanzo in Plain Sight; @Kana-chan; @Vanellope Von Schweetz; @WolfOwl;​

Larke was a large, bustling city nestled right beside the ocean. Many people lived there, and blissfully lived their long, dull lives without much of a problem. This was because the city had everything one needed. Shops, with merchants tactfully making their profit throughout the day. Doctors, who knew just how many leeches could cure a cold... Larke basically had everything.

It wasn't perfect, however. Magic, which was what made the world go round, was a fickle subject. It was a force not to be messed with, or even looked into. Those who did... well, nothing good ever came from it. They died, or disappeared, or found themselves locked up in a dungeon for the rest of their days.

Essentially, nothing too pleasant.

Guards from Larke's castle kept careful watch over this. It was for the public's own good, after all. It was to keep them safe. However, some people were just natural risk takers. They had a thirst for knowledge and thrills.

Andreius, the city's most famous blacksmith, was one of these people. For such a kind and gentle guy, he had quite the criminal record. All violations were blaring breaches of the king's rules: invesigation into Magic. He was cursed with a curiosity for Magic and the world around him. In the basement of his shop was a lab of sorts. A meeting place for those like him, filled with tiny, curious trinkets he either picked up or made in his free time.

When his shop wasn't busy with various orders for swords, he escaped to the basement and worked. Luckily, this basement was still a mystery to the guards of the royal castle. It was quite well hidden, and appeared to only be a closet at first glance.

It was a brisk, fall evening when Dreius found his latest discovery: some powder. When put into a fire, it burned a bright blue. He wasn't quite sure what it was, but he knew this would certainly help him on his research into Fire Magic.

He sighed, walking inside to the shop. Hopefully the place wouldn't burn down because of it.

"Welcome back!" a young girl cheerfully exclaimed. She looked up from her work; she was crafting a longsword. Basic, but very popular amongst the masses.

Dreius waved in response. "Brynna, you'll never guess what I just found."

"What did you find?" she simply asked in response, glancing back down at her sword. "Another rock?"

"No," he bluntly replied. "Better than a rock. It's powder."

"So?"

"So, it makes fire burn a bright blue! Isn't that great?"

Brynna raised an eyebrow in curiosity. "My, you're right," she genuinely said. "I'm sure the others will love it. They're supposed to be coming soon, right?"

"Right, and you know the drill. Knock on the door four times if guards come," Dreius instructed.

"Uh, right."

((Hi! It begins. Just have your OC strut their stuff and show up at Dreius' shop. Nothing too crazy just yet. If you have any questions about anything, shoot me a PM. Anyhoo, enjoy! Get creative!))

 

[Yun]

Sias was at the door exactly at the time he was needed. Punctuality - it was necessary, especially for a meeting such as this. Andreius was renowned, more renowned than most smiths. It was difficult to make a name for one's self in the business of crafting by virtue of the difficulty of the work. Yet, somehow, the man had done it.

Being an avid man of science, himself, naturally Sias would want to speak with him.

He walked briskly with his cane toward the door. Before stepping in, he lifted a small hourglass from his pocket. The sands hadn't run out; his medicine wasn't due for another hour or two. That was good.

A tapped on the door, but not loudly. Disturbing a blacksmith at their place of work was disrespectful.

 

[Midorikawa]

Raven smiled as the young child chattered away cheerfully. She was so glad she was doing well and that the herbs did their job right. The mother was thanking her non stop. All of this was things she was used to being she took on patients for free as opposed to those who charged for healing. "I should get going. Just make sure she continues taking the medicine I made until there is no more left. Just a spoonful a day. This will prevent a relapse and help her grow stronger against future illnesses." She got up to exit the small house when she heard a commotion outside, seeing some guards from the castle dragging a man away.

"Oh that's Mr. Wilkes. He was secretly practicing magic. I guess they found out," the mother explained to her.

"So the guards take away anyone who practices magic?"

"Yes."

Both were silent after that waiting until the guards were long gone. Raven realized that she needed to tell the woman, otherwise she could be in danger.

"Don't worry. I'll hide the medicine if they find any reason to come here."

Raven smiled. She knew already. She knew and didn't care, but then why should she. The magic was healing not hurting.

With a nod she left, walking opposite the direction the guards went. Her pace was brisk, her senses alert. She was probably being paranoid but it was better to be safe than sorry.

As she walked she caught snippets of all kinds of things, nothing that stuck out to her until she heard mention of a blacksmith. At this she stopped immediately. Apparently the man was the best in the city. She didn't care for weapons, but she at that moment felt that she might need to keep one on her in case of self defense. Last thing she wanted to do was use magic to defend herself and be dragged away by guards.

After listening long enough to figure out the location she approached the shop, frowning when she found only a girl there. "Is this the shop of Andreius?" She asked.

 

[Hector]

Wilhelm walked the streets of Larke alone as he did most days. He didn't mind the solitude and in fact liked it more than most. It made sure that nobody asked questions.

His black armor kept him warm. Even on a night like this one, when there was no reason to expect any... unpleasantness... he still wore his armor and carried his sword on his back. It made sure that most people gave him a wide berth. For some reason, nobody wanted to stray too close to the massive knight with the massive sword.

He arrived at the blacksmith's to see a small group gathering. He said nothing to them, simply nodding in greeting.

 

[Flaze]

"Hmmmm," Claude muttered to himself as he made his way towards the shop, noticing that Sias seemed to be entering just as he was arriving. "I guess I must be late or something," he pointed out. He still wasn't sure about the whole "secret magic meetings" thing, he himself didn't really know much about magic and had only starting to grow curious about it, it was a real coincidence that his sister just happened to be working for someone who had such high curiosity for it.

It also gave him a reason to get away from his last job too, even if he still couldn't get used to the life of being a merchant's apprentice. He noticed more people began gathering around the shop and then saw Wilhelm. He said nothing as he approached, looking at the man before nodding his head respectfully as he turned to the others. 'I see we all have the same timing."

 

[Taengoo]

Aria was beside herself in a nearby alleyway, hunched over with her chin touching to her knees. To most people, it would look like just another poor, homeless orphan in the slums. In reality, however, she was shielding a canvas sack of currency from view, her empty cerulean eyes drifting across the wall listlessly. The ex-slave remained silent, even as word of the blacksmith's shop passed through the streets, into her own ears.

Not that she would want to be seen as she was in any establishment of sorts. Not in her current condition, anyway.

 

[Prez]

"The door," Brynna said to Dreius. "There's someone knocking-"

"I hear it," he said, cutting her off. He quickly dropped his stuff off on a nearby table, and began to head for the door. He opened it.

"Oh... oh!" Dreius then exclaimed. "Hello. I didn't expect so many people. Come on in, let me know what you need," he explained, gesturing his hand inside. They would fine a typical, small blacksmith's shop.

Nothing out of the ordinary.

 

[Yun]

Sias gave a respectful bow of his head to the group as they approached. "Indeed. Quite the turnout."

He was pleasantly surprised by Dreius' hospitable disposition - that would make talking much easier. Sias gave him a bow of the head as well as he entered. "Very nice to meet you, Blacksmith. Thank you for welcoming us into your place of work."

 

[Flaze]

"You already know what i'm here for," Claude muttered as he walked inside of the shop, glancing over towards Brynna.

 

[Prez]

"You're early," Brynna said to Claude. "How was your day?

"Nice to meet you too, uh," Dreius said. "Please. Come in. Sit down. We can talk about orders of the sort."

 

[Flaze]

"I didn't get fired at aleast," Claude replied, looking slightly grumpy. "But I'm gonna have to read a lot of books," he groaned in annoyance. Of course he knew being a merchant involved a lot of studying, he just had never been too big on books.

 

[Hector]

Wilhelm found himself looking at the blacksmith's... normal wares. While he wasn't there for that, he also noticed that the man had some skill. Perhaps he could do some work on his armor and battered sword and shield. He heard Dreius speak and nodded. "Of course. Thank you." He said softly.

 

[Prez]

"Tragedy, big brother," Brynna said with a laugh. "I'd love to read some books."

"Anything you all need in... particular?" Dreius added, raising an eyebrow. Few knew about his studies, but he had to be certain of these people's intentions.

 

[Yun]

"Just a dagger for me, good man," Sias stated, sitting down carefully into a chair and resting his cane in his lap. "Nothing special. No embroideries are fanciful additions."

 

[Hector]

"Perhaps some maintenance and repair on my armor and shield." Wilhelm said after a few moments of consideration.

 

[Midorikawa]

Raven followed the others in, but said nothing at first. It was strange that so many came all at once. She wondered if there was something special going on. However it seemed like there wasn't, at least judging by what the others ha to say.

She waited until Deius asked what it was they were there for. "I'm looking for a weapon for self defense, preferably not easy to kill without intention. And light and easy to use." She wasn't sure what would be best for her and hoped that the request wasn't too difficult. Feeling uncomfortable she kept we gaze all over the place, at least until she noticed a rapier on the wall. She liked the swords look.

 

[Prez]

"Ah," Dreius said to the group. "And nothing else?"

 

[Midorikawa]

Well that was a strange thing to ask. "What terbreason would come one come to a blacksmith shop?" She asked cautiously. She considered backing towards a sword on a wall but figured he would be better with weapons if he was dangerous. So instead she reached into her bag for a talisman that would put everyone but the user asleep if he turned out to be dangerous.

 

[Flaze]

"Trust me, theyr'e not that fun," Claude pointed out with a roll of his eyes. "Numbers are very confusing."

 

[Prez]

"True," Dreius then replied. "You're right." He glanced over at Brynna, who simply shrugged in response.

"Uh," she said. "Tell me what you want again and I'll jot it down." She briefly left her work alone and began to run for some parchment paper and a quill.