(OOC: You kept the tail)

"The Albans are facing extinction from a large army, they'll gladly accept people who would help...plus, why would Cid need spies, he's just going in there with a wide army sweep...don't need espionage for that...and Lynx still has a tail, if thats not cattish, I don't know what is..." Jude interjected.

(OOC: Hmm. I thought he lost the tail... Oh well.)

(OOC: No, I remember him saying that his tail was poking out...)

"And plus, spies stay in the shadows and work alone, we're out in the open with a large group..." Jude added.

(OOC: Jad, don't try to correct me, I really couldn't care about the proper ways of spies...)

"And, there is no reason for them to think we are spies, so stop delaying us and lets get moving. We need to find the stables of this place, take some horses, leave payment, and go." Lynx said as he headed for the door.

"Other than us crossing the border from a country that declasred war on them would seem suspicious to me."

"Then don't come if your so scared of being accused as a spy."

"Who couldn't really care what the new guy has to say?" Jude said, raising his hand. Some of the girls were hesitant to vote, but the male population, minus the new guy, had the majority.

"Who wants to head to Alba, and damn the consequences." Most hands raised up.

"I love democracy. Sorry new guy, majority and all that good stuff." Jude said, walking out and looking around for the nearest stable.

OOC: If you're wondering where Ghostie is, she's been here at home playing with the guinea pigs. And reading. And stuff. And she's lazy. And stuff.

IC: "You're all insane. I'm finding it very hard to believe we're going to be able to anything quietly, or even get the trust of someone since the blood-thirsty duo over there seems to insist on killing for the hell of it. Furthermore, even if we do get Alba to go against Cid, thy'd be SMUSHED. And since cid knows we're still alive, he'll bring his full military weight down on an entire nation, killing thousands of people just to get AT US."

"But Cid is going to send his army to Alba anyway, so maybe if we get there first, we can help out somehow..."

"And all Alba has to do is defend, which makes it much easier for them. And why do you think they would be smushed? (We need a name for Cid's Kingdom...) Cid's army isn't that powerful, and Alba isn't that weak."

"It would be a focused attack. Hit one point long enough it's gonna' weaken, and because they'd have to switch troops in the troops wouldn't be familiar with the envoronnement. Eventually, he would punch through."

"Now, what logic are you using that the Alban warriors are unfamiliar with Alban territory?"

"They don't know everything abuot their entire country. People get familiar with the spot they're in. If they die, and someone who isn't completely familiar with that spot comes in, odds are they'll do worse then the man before them. And siphoning to one spot weakens the other spots, making it weaker."

"But Cid's troops will be much more unfamiliar then the Alban's. And it's not like they are just going to sit there and defend the entire time. Most likely Cid will try and go straight for the capital, and all the Albans have to do is defend for a while, while I come up with something, which I am already thinking of."

"Right, forgot about your superior intellect. I still think this is insane though."

Gin smiled. "To bad this isn't a democracy. It's a monarchy. So 'your highness'" Gin said to Cesia. "Where do you want your 'servants' and mercenary to go?"

"Actually, we as a group are an anarchy. Cesia was only a princess in her kingdom, but at the moment, Cid is in control, and Cesia is nothing more then a peasant. She is not in charge of this group anymore, even though she never truely was since Cid was put in charge of our group before, and after he had left, our mission was done. We just happen to stay together."

"Well then it seems the title of leader is up for grabs. Might be a good idea if the princess wants to get her ass in gear. I have no idea how she plans to govern a nation if she can't manage this disorganized band."

"I'm pretty sure nations don't insist on going excessively violent, showing off and killing everyone they please." Ark glared at Tama and Gin.

"Title of leader is only up for grabs if something would happen to make this a dictatorship. You know what, stop wasting our time and shut up already. Lets go find the horses already..."

"In my defense I didn't kill any of them. I just injured them enough that they couldn't fight back. That takes alot more control than just killing them, thank you very much."

"Yes but you insisted on showing off in the process."

"I can't help it that i'm good at what I do. pay attention you, might learn something."

"Well I think 'this unorganized band' has managed fairly well for everything we've been through." Cesia countered, "But I agree with Lynx, lets go. Now." The group headed to the stables. Cesia adjusted the saddle on her horse, then climbed up. "Make sure you have everything you'll need. It will be a long ride to Alba... and I doubt it's going to be easy."

"You were showing off. You could've just smacked them with the blunt ends and it would've been fine, but you INSISTED that you had to twirl and leap and stuff. Note how I ended the entire melee with one very easy action, that wasn't big and impressive, nor did it involve excessive ammounts of pain."

Instead of being forced to electrocute Tama, Lynx rode over to Cesia. "Tell your stalker to make some weapons and leave them here so the owners of the horses we have to steal get something out of it."

"Cause arming the enemy is so smart. We've killed militia members, wrecked the inn, might as well go for the trifecta."

"Good point." Lynx turned to Thid. "Any money you have, or anything of any value, leave it at the inn. Or even better, find the inn keeper and give it to him."

Vace made his way outside and said, "Nothing's been easy so far, I doubt it would be easy now. Anyway, good old Alba, might be nice to see how things have chaged there, other than the likely military preperations for Cid's army..."

[OOC] I assume you meant Thid, IHMN [OOC]

"Any money you have, or anything of any value, leave it at the inn. Or even better, find the inn keeper and give it to him." Said Lynx to Thid.

Thid simply stared at Lynx a few seconds, and then he withdrew one of the runed arrows with copper in it and handed it to Lynx.

"Next time you cast a spell, jab that into your arm. Please make sure it's a powerful spell." Thid then rode onward, leaving Lynx sitting there pondering the arrow.

Little upity catboy bastich try'n to tell me what to do with my hard earned cash. 's not like i even stole a horse.

Thid then rode over to Cesia, noticing her bandaged (arm, hand, wrist?) he said, "I'd really like to say I’m sorry for not giving you your knifes as soon as you woke up. It sort of slipped my mind. But I’m glad you didn't get hurt badly due to my..." Thid struggles for a word, "forgetfulness."

------------
Arrow description: The finely carved runes are inset with copper wire. The runes appear to have been carved rapidly. There are appearances of small errors in the runes (to the trained eye) due to hasty carving on a delicate object. Standard arrow head, standard fletching.

OOC: Might I ask where Thid keeps his money?

(OOC: I just thought of something, if Cid is soooo afraid of Jad's new guy, how come he doesnt have a bounty on his head...usually you want everybody you fear to be hunted...so I guess hes more afraid of us than Gin...and Jad, don't try to use history or your debating skills to prove me wrong, it'll just bore people...)

"Stupid new guy'll be the end of us...Dawn, wanna share a horse again?" Jude said, saddling up.

"Well, uhm..." She thought about it for a moment. Everyone else was getting their own horse, but she honestly didn't feel like having her own again after the last time, nor did she feel like she could handle trying to control a horse with so much on her mind.

She finally nodded, going over to where Jude and his horse were. "Alright... I'll ride with you."

As Thid walked away, Vace shook his head and thought, <What a jerk, he blows up the guys inn and won't even help to pay for the damages. Well, one less person's back I'll have to watch in the coming battle.> Vace then walked into the stable and got a horse out, a sturdy horse it looked like, and left a bag of gold behind him to pay back the owner. He then rode the horse outside to wait for the others.

[OOC]Trust me, you don't wanna know.

Edit - Note to self: Vace the ruthless killer does not like Thid, in addition he feels sympathy for the Inn owner who betrayed everyone to the authorities. [OOC]

Lynx stored the arrow inside his saddle bag. Ok then, now two people are going to be punished when this is all over.

OOC: The peopel of that region are very stupid, and he assumed he was doing the right thing, like the knights where.

Ark brought his horse over. Being a ranger, animals naturally liked him. In this case, it was nice enough to come follow him.

"Tell me we are not using the road."

Tamakatari slung his bag of weapons up onto the horse that he picked, and rode up in front.

"I'll be up in the front. If anything tries to get to the princess, it's gonna have to get through me.

[OOC] Take a joke man. I'm just trying to get through the point that Thid is not the same person that started the quest. He is no longer a fearful coward, he is now a little ball of repressed rage. The main force of this rage is being directed toward Cid, but others can get caught in the fringes. The question your characters should be asking is: Why did he change so much? Another question would be: Since when the hell could he make runed arrows and why hasn't he done it before? [OOC]

OOC: My question is why did you decide to completely change your character probably more then halfway through the RP... I did mine in chapter 5 by the way.

(OOC: My character doesn't care about stuff you can do now. He just cared that you almost blew him up with the arrows. You have now earned a grudge from him.)

Tamakatari looked back at Thid.

"Hey, Magical Shield! Keep your head up. I might need you to block a spell, or better yet, try to blow us all up with one of your arrows."

OOC: Bah, had a foul day and not up to par for my usual self. I'll delete my rant and get back on track.

"I assume we won't be taking the road since this expedition back into civilization has worked out so well. It would probably be best if we didn't show our faces around here while Cid is in charge, although we should be fine taking the road when we reach Alban territory.

OOC: And what is the name of the this kingdom? It gets awkward trying to find ways to say it without a name...

Thid considers making an obscene gesture toward Tamakatari but decides against it. He's one of the more effective front-line meat shields, I’d best not piss 'em off.

Instead, Thid just sends a withering glare Tamakatari's way.

OOC: One was never made.

"We're going to go in the straightest line we can to get to Alba. If it means crossing a road or going on it for a while, so be it. Unless there are guards on that road, there is no reason we have to avoid it."

"We better make sure no one spots us then, and that they don't live long enough to tell the tale if they do. If Cid learns we are heading for Alba, he may rush his army or do something else and try to stop us."

"If he rushes into an attack on Alba, he will probably lose, so lets hope he does that."

"And I could hope that you guys shut the hell up and keep a watch out. Remember, we're gonna have a frickin' army here by morning, and if they decide to take the scenic route, they're coming right at us." Tamakatari noticed the looked Thid gave him, and sniffed loudly.

"Look all you want. I'm not scared of you. It will take you a few moments to get an arrow ready to shoot me, and by then I'd have taken care of you. And since I prefer weapons over magic, there isn't much you could do to me in a one-on-one fight. So I'd recommend sucking up your little tantrum, and focus on protecting our job."

"If he rushes to attack Alba, Alba may not be ready for him yet. Other than rumors that Cid has the superior army in numbers, we don't know much at all about the Alban army and how they are preparing." Vace said, then responded to Tama saying, "Hey, we know what we're doing. We'll make sure you don't get turned into a pincushion so calm down there buddy."

"I'm not worried about me, Vace." Tamakatari pulled his cloak up, and revealed an underlayer of Mythril.

"You think I'd make all those weapons and armor, and not make something special for myself? No, I'm worried about the princess. She's wounded, and if we have an entire army going after us, I can't protect her on my own."

"The Albans already know they were framed for murdering the king. Things like that spread very quickly, and any Alban in Cid's kingdom at the time would've already contacted the Albans, and they are probably more ready then Cid is. And the entire army will not come for us, I doubt Cid considers us that big of a threat."

"Maybe not the entire army, but since we beat down the last group he sent after us, he'll most likely send a MUCH large group. Wouldn't YOU send more soldiers if there weren't enough before?"

"He sent normal knights, next he would send a semi-larger group of knights with more training or experience. Or he might come for us personally. But, all we have to do is make sure anyone who see us, if anyone does, is taken PRISONER, not killed, and never gets to tell anyone about us."

Tamakatari huffed.

"You mean I can't kill ANY of them? Not even just a few?"

"If you do, you'll just make it even worse for yourself later on."

OOC: I'm assuming we are already moving, and not still sitting on horses in the stable...

(OOC: I sent CelesJessa a PM. She'll make up something for us to be doing.)

Tamakatari sniffed.

"I killed off a large portion of the last group. I have yet to see any consequences, other then there are less witnesses now."

(OOC: I just got back from christmas shopping. (I'm such a procrastinator) Anyhoo. I'll get working on the next chapter right away, but first, question: Would you guys rather have a slower chapter, basically just us getting there and across the border, or just skip to when we're already in Alba. I vote for the slower chapter since Christmas is upon us and I would assume some people aren't going to be around a lot. But what do you guys want?)

(OOC: Slower chapter. I want to be with my family at least SOME of the time this holiday.)

OOC: Slower chapter means we get attacked, and you'll get to miss out on all your super fighter killing...

[OOC]

I agree on the slower.... I'm gonna be gone for the next to days out of state with family, no comp to check on anything at all... so yeah... I would like it to be slow so I won't have to check twenty pages of stuff.

(OOC: slow it is then. (since I assume that the majority will go with slower.) and I'm not sure if we'll get attacked, we might have to do some sneaking around the border or something though. Alright, I'll get going on the next chapter. It might take me a little bit, since I have other things that are going on at once. ^^; )

OOC: Guess I'm not the only procrastinater around here when it come to Christmas presents. :)

But I would vote for slower chapter too, since I'll probably not spend much time online after Christmas for awile, and I still got another hectic day ahead for tomarrow, NOT finishing my shopping... ;)

OOC: My 'gifts' are from my sister and myself... Meaning I did nothing

OOC: I Amazoned...

[OOC]
Did most of my shopping a couple weeks ago... stuff I procrastinated on got done yesterday. Tomorrow I travel, and Christmas I spend with family and do more traveling.
@-@ The next two days are gonna be rough