The Shopkeeper's Daughter: Act 1

[desertbloomed]

Characters: Ashelia, and other Heroes that answered her call
Where: Her house, B-05
When: 09/10
Summary: Ashelia has an interesting proposal: that the Heroes of Light start acting like them.
Format: Prose or action is fine
Warnings: none!

Everything was set up perfectly. The table was laid out with a bowl of (non-spiked) punch and some sugar biscuits. Chairs were arranged into a circle. Ashelia paced around the living room anxiously. We haven't the time for this. That little girl was dying, and here she was, holding a meeting to propose a plan of action on what to do about it. That's what Queen Ashelia would do - that's all a queen could do. But I am no queen here. She should be out there, finding the seeds herself. The battle with the Chocobo Eater continued to gnaw at her, though. She'd gotten out of it relatively unscathed, but only because there were people more able to take the hits. She needed the other Heroes for this. As much time as she felt she was wasting with this meeting, she couldn't be in two places at once.

Comments

[urnotafraid]

He stood in the back, having really not much to say about everything. He wasn't the best person to call himself a hero - in fact, he was about as heroic as a piece of fluff being a bird. He was a crook and despite Zal's attempts at making him feel like he was a part of this, Sho just was idling on by and trying to make sense of this world.

"It should be easy enough to make the guy talk," Sho said, shrugging slightly. He remembered the girl from the fight and while he still questioned her abilities to lead mainly because look more like they were assuming what they need instead of what they will need, he was still listening..

"'Course that depends on exactly what you're gonna need in your scouting mission. Fighters and soldiers and even a cop or three you've got, but what other problems are you gonna run into? Would you need people to take apart traps and who's got that skill? What about marksmen and magics? You might wanna also figure out who would work with best as what."

[umslay]

Sho's housemate, who hadn't been seen since he arrived the previous week, was still skeptical about what they were to do with the mission. How were they to find the seeds if they knew so little about them? And why would they need to send a large group to retrieve something so small?

Ales listened carefully to Sho's comment. He was right: they would need more than traditionally heroic skills.

"I'll have to agree with this fellow here," he said as he stood up on his chair. "Not only would they need physical protection, but someone skilled in subterfuge and trap detecting as well. Plus, we need someone who will be able to identify the seeds by sight." Ales was prepared to research them himself whether he decided to join the mission or not, but he wasn't going to volunteer on a whim.

[desertbloomed]

"The area the seeds grow in is very small - a small plateau, apparently just more than a day's journey southeast from Aqures Ixen." Ashelia regarded the two men carefully, recognizing Sho instantly from the Chocobo Eater battle. He didn't seem very impressed with her in general. His presence here, though, spoke more about him than any reaction he might have had in the heat of battle, in the queen's opinion.

"I, myself, am an adequately skilled tracker. Traps and snares are not by any means my area of expertise, however. As for physical protection, I think a party of four or five should be enough, if I were planning conservatively." It would have to be the right jobs, of course; if the battle with the Chocobo Eater taught her nothing else, it was that a well-balanced party would survive anything. "Thus have I summoned you all here."

[urnotafraid]

"I think you should get a couple people to research the seeds. Draw up ways for those looking for them to identify them in the wilds just in case that guy doesn't cough up anything useful. It'll take us about a day to get supplies together and that should give us a bit of time to get the research done."

He was thinking now, looking at the people that did show up, lining up what might be a good way to split the various skills that he could see. There was a lot of stuff that might still go wrong, but saving a kid was worth going off without a full detail.

"They are mine." He would never come out and say it, but people knew back home what someone did. This city was far softer than the one he was from and people were so blind to it that he found it amusing. "Traps, locks, snares, that sorta thing. Who will move after the Gerad person?"

[umslay]

Ales raised his hand almost immediately after Sho spoke. "I volunteer to do any extra research on the seeds. Going only by someone's word won't be good enough."

At least someone had the right idea how to plan this mission out. He wasn’t all too interested in finding and delivering the seeds, especially since so many here wanted to join the scouting mission.

[desertbloomed]

Ashelia shook her head. "I have conducted my own research; the shopkeeper's claims hold true. We will not be wandering around the wilderness, hoping to come upon our quarry. I'd not ask that of any of you. We've our destination, the plateau a day's journey southeast of Aqures Ixen. Something in the soil there specifically precipitates its growth. All we must needs do is plot out the best course, gather our supplies and set out."

[umslay]

"I wonder what's so special about the soil there? You said that they used to grow inside the city, right?" He sat down and crossed him arms as he thought.

"You know what? I'm curious now about these seeds. If I could bring a few with me, I could take them to whatever research center can use them to study."