398 replies to this topic

[Ken the Wandering Soul]

Ken stumbled over his words a bit, unable to think.

"Well, uh, I remember Shadow saying he wanted look around outisde the Fortress, but I figured I'd follow you, then I saw the anvil in that place, and, and, I walked up to it becuase it--it was--I dunno, but I went in, then this wierd guy with scars all over his face almost attacked me, then he said a few things, and I had no idea what to say and then he gave this scroll holder and then he pushed me out and now I still have no idea what just happened." he managed to blurb out.

Ken then blinked a few times, trying to refresh his mindset.

"Did I make sense?"

[JRPomazon]

Jordan grinned from hearing Shadow's answer. He was half-expecting a full out "NO" on the issue of being involved. Perhaps his skills weren't unnoticed after all.

"XI and Wanderer really miss you, ya know..."

The words Shadow said rang in Jordan's head. "Miss me?" He thought to himself.

Before he let himself reflect on what he had heard, he took his pouch and grabbed a sheet of fabric. It was a dark gray-brown color, cotton and long enough to make a hood out of. He took the sheet and tossed it to Shadow.

"If what you said about Z is true, your face is a dangerous thing to have around here." Jordan said, accessing the situation.

"Keep it hidden for now. . ."

Jordan paused for a second.

"Oh yeah, sorry it doesn't match." he said smiling.

"Shall we get going?" He asked as his feet began to walk towards the Fortress.

[ OoC: Jordan's pouch isn't some small little pocket. It is similar to a small backpack that can hold medium sized objects. The current inventory in the pouch is gold from the Vanadiel ship, the note from the beginning of the story and Jordan's carving knife That is all on character explanation. ]

Edited by JRPomazon, 26 July 2007 - 12:49 AM.

[SL the Pyro]

Shadow looked at the fabric skeptically. "Can't say I'm arguing; I've had some bad pasttimes with these pirates. It'll cause a commotion if they recognize me. Thanks." he said, putting the fabric on as if it were a cape and tying the top up into a hood to conceal his face. Thankfully it covered most of his... unique clothing as well. Then he remembered the cape he bought at the old man's house. "This is gonna get warm soon... better find some place to ditch my jacket for now." he thought.

"Shall we get going?" he heard Jordan say to him as he was walking.

Shadow smiled and walked alongside Jordan. He was glad he picked the right people to journey with.

[31-Year-Old-From-Georgia]

"I... uh, guess," XI replied to Ken's flustered storytelling, "Weird. Well, this place is full of crazy people."

XI looked away, pretending to be interested in a nearby stupid-looking young fellow. Ken seemed very confused, as if he was trying to recount a dream. It wasn't Ken that XI's thoughts were focused on, but Shadow. Over the fast few days, Shadow had remained to be a mysterious person. XI's suspicions had blossomed. If Shadow truly had malicious intents and was on his own in the Forsaken Fortress, the hundreds of hordes of treasures in the fortress could be in danger. As far as this crowd was concerned, treasure was more important than human life. XI would be in some real heat if he had led a successful thief to this place.

"Eh?" XI muttered aloud, noticing Ken. He had forgotten the white-haired amnesiac was there. Breaking the short silence, XI gabbled, "Right. Scroll container. Want to check it out after finding Shadow?"

[JRPomazon]

Jordan and Shadow were walking along the large rocks and the beach that surrounded the Forsaken Fortress. The sky was becoming gray, the sun slowly became dim from the clouds coming from the north. The air started to become cooler. Jordan stopped walking, something wasn't right. The cloaked person appeared in front of Jordan, his face not showing the same smile it normally bore. It seemed as though there was some sadness in this smile.

"Take this." He said.
He took out a piece a paper that was folded into fourths and handed it to Jordan. Once he gave the paper to Jordan, he vanished as quickly as he appeared.

"What the. . ." Jordan said to himself. He looked at the paper. There wasn't anything abnormal about it, so he folded it open. Jordan read the contents of the paper, making sure to catch every word. After he finished reading, he folded the piece of paper back into fourths and placed it in his pouch. His face lost all visible traces of emotion.

"Shadow?" Jordan asked.
"Is it OK if we move faster? We need to regroup as soon as possible."

[Ken the Wandering Soul]

Ken nodded to XI, following him thereafter. Unable to put off his curiosity, Ken opened up one end of the contianer as they walked, looking down into it. There were several fragments of a rough paper, like papyrus, which collected at one end as Ken looked down. There was one large scroll, rolled up, next to a few smaller rolls. Ken looked forward to seeing what was actually written on them, but that would have to wait until they were on their way.

Ken sealed up the container, looking ahead to see where XI was going. Ken's pace has lessened as he look into the container, so he was a bit behind. He caught with XI, tying the scroll contianer to his belt. He looked all around, trying to see if any of them looked familier. Eventually, after they reached the edge of the fortress, Ken was looking to one side when a sight made him double-take.

"Jordan?"

[SL the Pyro]

Shadow didn't know what to make of the cloaked person's arrival; he reached into the back of his new "cape" and grasped the hilt of his sword in case he was going to attack, but was a bit dumbfounded when the man simply gave Jordan a piece of paper. He was a bit unnerved when he sensed a tinge of worry in Jordan's voice though; from what he could tell from Jordan, worriedness was rare.

It was clear to Shadow; something was going to happen. Something bad.

"Shadow? Is it okay if we move faster? We need to regroup as son as possible."

Shadow nodded. "Agreed." he answered. After a bit more walking, he saw Ken and XI in the distance.

[JRPomazon]

Jordan was baffled by the cloaked person's appearance. Was his purpose to screw with Jordan's mind, to psych him out? Or was it something much more sinister and twisted? His head hurt just thinking about it all. But there was one thing that drove Jordan insane. The stranger's smile was different from usual, appearing as if it were hiding some sort of pain or sadness. It wasn't completely impossible for the cloaked person to possess some form of humanity. Seeing how deranged his mind was however, proof enough to know that his humanity was well suppressed. Jordan stopped in his tracks and looked straight ahead. Wanderer and XI were right outside the fortress.

"Seems we're all back together again." Jordan said.

[31-Year-Old-From-Georgia]

Having not heard Ken, XI continued on, looking around for a sign of Shadow. It only took a second to see Shadow and Jordan a short distance away.

"Hey, Shadow. Hey, Jordan," XI greeted them.

XI blinked a few times as he stood in place.

"Jordan?" XI asked loudly.

The blood running through XI's veins seemed to stop for a moment. Shock, fear, happiness, disbelief, and primarily confusion all danced through his mind. A thought-dead person was only a few yards away. This kind of thing wasn't typical, even in a wild world where monster attacks could be part of one's daily routine. Not even aware of what he was doing, XI staggered a few steps closer to Shadow and Jordan. Not in full control of himself, the bewildered kid did what he did best: ranted like a lunatic.

"Jordan. Wow... So you, uh, survived? Yeah. Appearantly. But the cloak guy told us you didn't. Well, he isn't that reliable, I reckon," XI chattered on and on, voice steadily rising higher in tone, "Seriously. You're... not dead? What? What's going on? Shadow bring you back to life or something? Ken, say something. No, wait. Jordan, you say something. I'm very much confused right now. Yeah. So you're not dead?"

XI glanced wildly around at the small crowd. "What in the world is going on!?" he summarized his confusion.

[JRPomazon]

Jordan paused for a moment. It had been some time since he had to process XI's rants. It was like everything he said ad to be slowed down and broken word for word. By this point, it became second nature for Jordan to do this. "Well. . ." Jordan started. "I was lucky enough to survive the explosion and washed up here at the Forsaken Fortress. I think I may have been unconscious for a day or so while I spent the rest of the time recovering. Didn't take too long to recover, my wounds weren't as bad as I thought they were." Jordan scratched his head, almost forgetting the fact that he had just received a message from the person who was trying to kill him. Once he gathered his thoughts, Jordan addressed XI and the others.

"We have a problem. Do any of you guys know a safe place we can stay? I need to talk to you guys." The old shack Jordan was staying at was remote, but safety wasn't guaranteed. If the cloaked person found him there once, he could find him there again. There had to be another haven they could find in the Fortress. A thought rushed into Jordan's head, his face looking confused. "Wait, who's Ken?"

[Ken the Wandering Soul]

Ken heard the question and flushed a little.

"Actually, that's something I am glad I can tell you about. My real name is Ken Miyamasa, and I'm sorry I did not tell you before but I didn't even know it before becuase..."

Ken's face flushed up some more as he worked up the courage to say it.

"Well, before I met you, I had lost my memory, and I'm sorry I didn't say anything before but... Well, it was just something I did not want to share."

He turned his gaze dirfectly to Jordon as he felt the embaressment pass.

"I am just glad I got to tell you the truth."

[JRPomazon]

After hearing Ken's news, Jordan had a big grin on his face. "I'm happy for you Ken. It seems you found what you were looking for." The happy moment didn't last for long, as Jordan soon remembered the state of urgency he was in. He looked around to see his surroundings. There wasn't much, just beach and the entrance to the fortress. "OK, everyone follow me for a second." Jordan began walking the way he came, followed closely by XI, Ken and Shadow. The four of them walked along the beach for a minute or so, away from anyone who could overhear their conversation. Once they were far enough, Jordan stopped.

He sat down on the rocky sand with his legs crossed and reaching for the piece of paper that was recently given to him by the cloaked person. He took it out slowly, hoping not to rip the paper. He folded out the paper and laid it on the ground. It was blank, a normal piece of paper. A few seconds went by, nothing happening whatsoever. Slowly, the piece of paper started to grow darker. An image began to develop from the blur that appeared and in seconds. The picture finished developing, showing a city under siege. Widespread fires and smoke consumed buildings as the flames lit the night sky. "This is a living picture, a image that displays what is happening in other places. This place is Van'Duras, the capital of Vanadiel." Jordan looked up from the image below. "I'm not sure who is attacking the city right now. However, since it was our cloaked acquaintance gave this to me, something tells me that we're all going to be involved somehow."

Jordan put away the paper and placed it in his bag. "Any questions?"

[31-Year-Old-From-Georgia]

XI stared in awe of the paper's moving image. It was a gruesome sight, but interesting to look at. The utterly confused kid didn't say anything as he processed his thoughts. Relief and bewilderment were giving away to annoyance at Jordan's re-appearance. XI couldn't place why, but he was becoming unhappy about the present situation.

"Yeah, there's a few," XI snapped, trying to stay calm, "Who's the cloak dude? How- wait, when did you meet him? Where is he? Why's his voice like that, anyway; some kind of cancer or what? Are we going to Van'Duras? I thought we were going to chill out and search for Ken's identity? And what about Sonaiid? Vanadiel's nowhere near it. How did you know it was Van'Duras anyway? What do you mean 'involved somehow'? Are we stopping the chaos or adding to it? Pillaging is fun and all, but..."

After trailing off, XI automatically sprang up from a kneeling position. Without concious thought, his arms crossed. "I'm still totally lost, if no one else is," he informed everyone.

[JRPomazon]

Jordan looked up at XI. "Sorry about that. Let me just clear thing up: The following events that you just saw may come to affect all of us." Jordan got to his feet, shaking off some of the sand that got on his pants. "Sornaiid is still our final destination, but I also agree that finding out Ken's identity comes first before any of the following." As for XI's question on the cloaked person, Jordan couldn't say for sure. Why he choose to give him the information about Van'Duras was still puzzling him. Jordan put these thought in the back of his mind for now, help his friend find his identity came first. Jordan looked over at the Forsaken Fortress. "OK, lets go memory hunting." He said as his feet began moving towards the Fortress.

[31-Year-Old-From-Georgia]

Redness overcame XI's cheeks. The annoyance he had felt was now transforming into embarrassment. His outburst was justified, but low self-esteem was getting in the way of XI's forgiving himself even for something as minor as getting a bit angry. Thankfully, one would never know about his humiliation by the way he was acting.

"Well... okay then! Let's find us some clues!" XI exclaimed with a chipper attitude.

XI marched across the sand, avoiding large clusters of stone. This part of the beach was even more empty than the rest of it. Due to its rockiness, the beach generally only ever had visitors arond the docks. Jordan had picked a good place to discuss a secret. XI's shock at Jordan's survival returned again. He decided not to dwell on it and turned his thoughts to Ken. Almost immediately, XI stopped in place.

"Wait. What about that scroll container thing?" he asked, just now remembering it, "Do you think that guy knew you?"

[SL the Pyro]

Shadow looked on at the paper while Jordan had it out. "That's Van'Duras!? Whoa... but, this couldn't have been Uradiel. They only go for the soldiers and then occupy the place I'm sure; this looks totally decimated... I get the feeling I'm gonna hear about this from the boss man as soon as I get back home."

Shadow looked on at his travelling companions with concern.

"Well, this is weird... this must mean they'll all be going there too..." he concluded. His head then shot up in shock. "W-wait! That's bad! There'll be no way I can hide that I'm a Uradiel agent if they're with me!"

Shadow was beginning to panic; he had the nagging feeling that he'd lose his shaky trust of these people if they found out who he really was. Quite unnerved, he still continued to follow the others back to the Fortress.

Shadow snapped back into reality. "Okay, one thing at a time, Shadow. We still have to get to Sornaiid first."

[JRPomazon]

Jordan and the others re-entered the Forsaken Fortress. It only took a few moments for the familiar sounds of drunkards and loud crashing to resound in there ears. "OK, where do we start?" He asked aloud.

[Ken the Wandering Soul]

Ken checked inside the scroll container again, thinking over what to do.

"Well, I want to take a closer look at these papers... Well, maybe we could split up. Some of us could look at the scroll, and maybe some others could talk to that odd smithy guy."

Ken capped the container, taking a look around.

"I'm gonna need a flat, relatively clean spot to look at this stuff with."

[JRPomazon]

"I'm gonna need a flat, relatively clean spot to look at this stuff with."

With that being said, Jordan kept his eyes open to see if he could spot anything that could suffice. He spotted a pub. "Wait right here." Without another word, Jordan left the street and entered the run down establishment. The sight of fallen drunkards, middle-age wenches attempting to be young, the smell of booze and vomit and the horrid sounds of men drowning their sorrows almost killed Jordan in the first second he stepped foot inside. He noticed an small empty table that wasn't being used, so he walked over the incapacitated pirates and grabbed it. Just as he felt sure that he could leave, something dreadful happened.

"Hey there sailor, where you going?" The voice sounded like that of a frog or some sort of reptile. He turned around slowly, scared of what he might see. In turned out that his fear was justified. "Oh shit." he thought to himself. An elderly bar wench was uncomfortably close to Jordan, moving in close proximity of his personal bubble. She looked like something you would hear about in ghost stories told to children right before bed. "Why don't you stick around? We can have a little fun." Her eyes were looking at inappropriate places on Jordan's person and her arms where wrapping around him. Countless battles and several brushes with death, but this by far was the most horrific battle Jordan had ever fought. "Please stop, please stop. Please go away." He thoughts of horror showed on his face, feeling as thought he was going to enter a hellish nightmare that would make him wish for sweet death. "Umm. . . could you let go of me?" he asked meekly.

Before he become more emotionally scarred by his elderly acquaintance, a pirate grabbed him and dragged him away from the hag. "What do ya think yur doin' wit me woman stranger?" The greasy pirate was apparently speaking for the woman and decided that Jordan was trying to move in on his "woman". "Uh. . . I can explain. Really." Jordan said, still holding the table while trying to not inhale the pirate's breath."It seems ya oughta learn some respect Casanova!" Reasoning was useless, Jordan had realized that this man was both drunk and angry. Never a good combination. The drunken pirate attempted to throw a punch, which went terribly off course do to the intoxication of the various drinks he had consumed and landed in a pile of other drunkards. One of the woke up and angrily punched the one who disturbed his sleep. One more pirate woke up and joined the fight. Before long, most of the pub was fighting each other. Taking the chance he had, Jordan ran out of the pub with the small table and ran back into XI and the others.

They stared at him, confused at what the hell had just happened in the pub. The noise was loud enough to hear from the outside. Jordan slammed the table in front of them. "HERE! HERES THE TABLE! USE IT! USE IT AND FIND SOME DAMN CLUES ALREADY!" After shouting, Jordan was gasping for breath. It was definitely a ordeal that he never wanted to do ever again.

[31-Year-Old-From-Georgia]

“So… Did the trouble start when you tied to steal the table or when you knocked into someone?” XI asked, highly amused.

Jordan looked absolutely terrified. It was so extreme that XI thought it looked like he was trembling. It took every ounce of XI’s willpower not to laugh. Under normal circumstances, Jordan running out of a building with a ruckus going on in the background was not good news. When Jordan was carrying a table and looked near fainting, however, it was like a stand-up comedian was performing. To any normal person, drunkards beginning to tear out of the pub would turn the slightly amusing situation into a cause for alarm. For XI, it was like the comedian made a sex joke.

Eyes transformed into faucets as XI burst into laughter. Jordan’s wild behavior was nothing in comparison to the three men shuffling out of the door. Two were involved in a brawl. This fight seemed to be more akin to shadowboxing than a physical quarrel. The other man was either much more tolerant to the effects of the effects of alcohol or and melee climate or simply had had less to drink. Whatever his circumstance, he seemed dead-set on arriving to the fortress-faring four.

As the man grew closer, it was easier to make out the details of his appearance. He couldn’t have been more than forty, but his face was coated in wrinkles. Black whiskers helped to disguise the man’s canyon of a face. His muscle structure was difficult to read under his outfit. The flannel shirt- which looked as if it had been dragged through a marsh at some point- was incredibly baggy. With ferocious moans, he grabbed the table and lifted it up.

“Lousy,” the tired man growled at Jordan, “First you aggravate them and then you steal my furniture.”

“Uh, if you have a pub full of fights, why are you focusing on us?” XI managed to say between giggles.

“Stolen property is worse than damaged property. It’s not even freaking there,” the pub owner elaborated gruffly. With these words of wisdom, he hurriedly took off back to the pub. On his way, he knocked over the two brawling, drunk men with a series of grunts.

It took several minutes for XI to stifle his laughing fit. Trying to keep his amusement expressed by any way other than a smirk, XI indicated his fellow identity researchers and offered, “Uh, sorry about your poor luck there, Jordan, buddy”- he nearly began to laugh again- “We can use my room as a base of operations, I guess. So… what Ken said! Let’s split up, gang.”

(Ooc: I hope in no way to invalidate the previous post's awesomeness by having the table taken away. ;P )

[SL the Pyro]

Jordan's hilarious change of attitude made Shadow laugh long before XI started; he was already imagining what could've happened in there. "I hope whatever trouble Jordan went through was worth that table..." he thought. Although he was a little dismayed when he saw the pirate take away the table... only to have it broken to pieces by a pirate being thrown into it from across the pub. Shadow smacked his forehead and laughed again.

“We can use my room as a base of operations, I guess. So… what Ken said! Let’s split up, gang.” XI said.

Shadow finally got over his laughing fit himself in time to say, "Agreed. Before the barfight spills out on top of us." Then he had a thought. "So... who's going with who?"

Edited by Shadow_Link, 01 August 2007 - 08:22 AM.

[Ken the Wandering Soul]

Ken could stare in amazment at the events that just passed before him. He eventually shook it off when it was realized again that things had to be done. He really wanted to look at the papers in the container, but nothing was going anywhere. He looked all left, right, up and down before he snapped his fingers when an idea occured.

"Okay, two of you go talk to that smithy and ask about me--say you are going to be traveling with me and want to learn more about me. I'm going to find a way to get up to the top of one of those fortress walls and take a look at the stuff in this container. Now who... XI, your from around here, so you would be less suspicious asking questions. You do best with Jordan, so Shadow," Ken turned his head "You come with me."

Ken immediately turned and began moving, his eyes scanning the walls until he saw a ladder leading up the sides of the fortress. He checked the container to see if it was secure to his belt and went up as fast as possible.

[SL the Pyro]

Shadow nodded; that sounded fine to him. Although he was a bit surprised when Ken started climbing the ladder. "Gotta admit, he's got guts to try that so soon after his arm was healed..." he thought, climbing up the ladder behind Ken. He noticed that it was a little more difficult since his foot kept getting caught on the makeshift cloak that Jordan gave him, causing the ladder rungs to be a bit more slippery. On top of that, having his black jacket and the cloak on at the same time was beginning to make him uncomfortably hot. "Augh, I'll be glad when I can get rid of this thing..."

[JRPomazon]

As Ken and Shadow headed off, Jordan and XI were left to themselves. "So, how has things been with everyone?" he asked frankly.

Edited by JRPomazon, 02 August 2007 - 11:07 AM.

[JRPomazon]

OoC: Well, I might as well make a PSA.
I know the story has become increasingly confusing, my bad. I'm gonna try my best at making things make a little more sense. As of now (if you haven't already figured it out), the current objective is finding Ken's memories. Now that I've got everything squared away, let's resume to story.

[31-Year-Old-From-Georgia]

XI turned away from Shadow and Ken and walked in the opposite direction of them. Jordan walked by his side. After a surprisingly long silence (ooc: ), XI answered his question.

"Well, not much has happened. Actually, a fair bit has. After you d- uh... got 'blown away', we decided to continue on this same course. But before that Shadow revealed that he knew Ken's real name all along. That guy... jeez, I don't even know who he is. But whatever. So we went by my grandparents' and stayed for two days, I think. We got all healed up; Ken found use in his arm again. Then some kind of giant vine-slash-tree plant monster attacked. It was nuts. But we kicked ass and took the thing's name because we're cool like that. Actually, I don't know what that thing's supposed to be called. Uh. Anyway. Our mysterious shadowy friend person popped out of nowhere, threatened us not to continue, and went poof. Still don't know who that was either! We pretty much just got on a boat from there and came here. And we caught up with you. And that's pretty much it," XI summarized, "Wait, we missed it!"

Having been caught up in his story, XI neglected to notice the blacksmith's shop. Wheeling around instantly, he ran to the door. Jordan followed suit. The building was made out of faded red bricks. Two windows rested on both sides of the door. Shrugging slightly, XI peered through the left one. A number of metal objects and tools coated the interior. There appeared to be nobody inside by sight, but yells and rummaging could be heard from outside.

"He- that guy with the scars- must be in back," XI concluded, "I'll handle him, I'm a people person!"

Jordan clearly wanted to say something at this, but XI bolted through the door before any sound could come from his mouth. The anvil burst into sight immediately. Trying to gather his thoughts, XI hollered out, "Hello there! I need some help!"

The scarred man came into view after a moment. His expression was that of annoyance. A sword was firmly gripped in his hand. Raising a brow, the man asked suspiciously, "What do you want?"

XI was taken aback by just how scarred the man was. Figuring that he had no chance to survive if the rough, sword-wielding man attacked, he tried to speak carefully. "Um... I was hoping for... I dunno, a metal coat for my... dagger thingy?" XI requested, unsure.

With brow raised, the man accusingly asked, "Yer with those pests, aren't you?"

"Uh..." XI stammered.

"You little-!" the man started, raising the sword above his head wildly.

"Wait, wait! I'm innocent, I tell you! Completely innocent!" XI pleaded pathetically.

"Get out," the man demanded simply.

XI didn't need to be told twice. He raced out of the place as quickly as his feet would carry him. With a slam of the door behind me, XI paused in place, panting nervously. Glancing at Jordan, XI quietly muttered, "That guy's totally bonkers."

[SL the Pyro]

After finally reaching the top of the wall, Shadow and Ken ebgan walking along it, searching for a private spot to check out the scrolls or whatever it was he had. Shadow was reflecting on things that had happened, thinking about the cloaked man in particular. "I wonder... he seems like the right kind of person... could he be working for Z? Or is he just another criminal? I have to find out..."

Shadow was lost in thought so much, however, that he didn't watch where he was going. A sharp pain rang through his foot and up his leg.

"YOW!" he yelped, muttering profuse curses and holding his injured foot while hopping up an down with the other.

When he regained his composure, he looked at what he'd stepped on; a little blue ball with spikes of some sort.

Shadow looked the ball over. "Who just leaves things like this up here for people to step on?" he asked Ken since there was no one else around.

[Ken the Wandering Soul]

Ken shrugged, grunting something along the lines "No Idea".

He finally found a spot he thought was good for looking the papers over. The stone was dry and no one was around, so it was perfect. He pulled out the container and opened it, pulling the various pieces of paper.

The really old pieces looked degraded, ripped, and old. He pulled out another piece of paper, the largest, and noticed something. The large paper had similer drawings to the ones on the old pieces. After flatening out the large piece of paper and weighting it down, he started placing the old pieces on top of the large paper. They matched up perfectly; the large piece was likely a an intact copy of the ripped papers. However, that did not matter as much as when Ken realized that a drawing on the paper was familiar. It displayed sword, similar to his, only more angular. In addition, a large symbol was prominant, the same as the one on the blade of his sword. In addition the complete scroll paper was covered in unidentifiable pictographs.

Ken then pulled out some more pieces of paper, written in a modern language. He picked up a piece, reading it slowly. Some of the cheap ink had been washed out, so he scanned through it quickly.

"... from the desk of Professor Hector of Roslen University... found in the Tor-Denma Mountains, the "White Mou... appears to describe a sword of special construct and propert..."

Ken was frustrated that most of the paper was washed out, but some of the rest were still intact, and had the same handwriting. He picked up another washed piece.

"... appeared to be connected to a "god-like ultimate power" which was discribed as insanity inducing and..."

The note ended completely, the rest of the ink gone. Ken sighed and looked over the paper before him.

"How does this connect to me?"

Edited by Ken the Wandering Soul, 06 August 2007 - 12:26 PM.

[SL the Pyro]

Nursing his foot, Shadow looked over the papers as well.

"How does this connect to me?" he heard Ken ask.

Shadow wasn't sure how to answer that; he too noticed the resemblance of the sword in the drawing to Ken's own sword, but didn't know any more than that. He read over it again, mostly the "from the desk of Professor Hector of Roslen University" part. "Hmm... if the ink wasn't messed up, I'd say this 'Professor Hector' guy knew quite a lot of stuff about your sword. That's just a guess, though." he said. "But this might be worth checking out in the near future."

[JRPomazon]

Jordan looked into the doorway to the smith's shop. The man clearly had some problems with XI coming in. It was all rather baffling, but nothing serious. He grabbed the dagger right from XI's hands and walked towards the shop. He wanted some information about Ken and this guy had it. Whatever problems were present didn't matter to Jordan. He walked inside the shop and went straight for the clerk. The blacksmith was still there. Jordan took his pouch and slammed it onto the long table separating the blacksmith and Jordan from each side of the room. After also securing the dagger Jordan grabbed from XI, he emptied his pouch and poured out most of the gold coins he had taken from the Vanadiel ship.

"I'm here for two things: I want this dagger to receive the best steel coating you can give it and information. Give me these and this is all yours."

The large amount of gold captivated the blacksmith, his eyes focused on it. He hastily reach for the dagger, stopping short when the second request resounded in his mind.

"What kind of information?" He asked suspiciously. It seemed that his trust couldn't be bought with gold. A very admirable trait.

"Tell me everything you know about the man Ken Miyamasa."

There was silence for a moment. The blacksmith grabbed a handful of the gold and took the dagger.

"I'll give the dagger an upgrade, but I'm not interested in giving you the information."

He took the gold he grabbed and placed it in his pocket, leaving the rest for Jordan to recollect. He headed towards the back with the dagger, out of plain sight. Jordan slowly put the gold back in his pouch, one or two coins at a time.

"It seems that Ken told this man to keep his mouth shut when he still had his memories. Better not try and press the guy for info or I'll just get a headache." Jordan walked outside the shop and sat down on the ground next to the entrance. Now all he had to do was wait for the dagger to be finished.

Edited by JRPomazon, 07 August 2007 - 12:05 AM.