childrenofbahamutlogs | what you're given, what you live in

Absinthe goes from looking from her chicken to Ardyn as a joking comparison, to looking from Ardyn back to her chicken now with a look of dude, are you also seeing this shit? Then, looking at the chicken with the disappointed realisation that of course you don't, you're a chicken. Chickens don't understand bad vibes the way she does, daughter of petty criminals, growing up in a way where getting what you want meant taking it from other people- this sort of eloquently shady vibe, in the Crimes industry, sort of makes Ardyn sound like an industry expert, you know? It's still not good because the Crimes industry kind of sucks for everyone involved, but you gotta respect the hustle? You gotta wonder about his 5 secrets to success (in crime)?

Anyway, Absinthe looks at the guy and she is a little wary but somehow, still genuinely curious enough about how he ticks to play ball.

“What do you suggest to 'persuade' them?”

She doesn't really see how the chickens are stubborn when they're pretty docile at the moment but like whatever. Ardyn can propose some sort of chicken-based drug cartel if he wants, she might not agree to it since she's not super into career crime at the moment, but she'll hear him out. It's fineeeeee.

Edited 2024-10-28 14:03 (UTC)

The chicken gives a small bock but otherwise stares blankly as it has the entire conversation. If it understood what Absinthe was getting at, it certainly showed no indication of such. And if Ardyn catches that look, which he does, he doesn't seem to pay it much mind.

"Nothing terrible," he starts with. That's probably not at all reassuring, but he continues: "Perhaps if they were scared away from the pen, they could be scared towards it. Maybe another magical blast or something similar to help herd them the right way?"

“Oh!” Absinthe perks up; “Yeah, I can do that!”

A more level-headed person may have found this a bad idea; but this is an entirely reasonable plan of action to her, an adventurer from Dungeons-and-Dragons-land. In fact she had already been thinking about it before the farmer warned her not to use magic.

She does at least have the sense to add, “let’s put these chickens back first, then for the next ones, we could try the magic blasts. You got any of that yourself?”

It's fine, Absinthe, Ardyn already does not associate you with 'level-headed.' It's not necessarily a bad thing, but it is something he plans to exploit now that he's aware. If it seems reasonable enough, then why not? For him, that means a potentially enjoyable bit of chaos.

"I used to be able to conjure up fire," he muses, reflecting on his abilities both lost and not. His connection to Ifrit was tethered in the transfer here, it seems, and so he's been left woefully cold. "I can't anymore, but I doubt the farmer would want his chickens back roasted." Just a hunch!

“Ah, shit-” her face changes, as if suddenly reminded of something. “Not gonna lie, my magic's gone a bit funky since I got here… I don't have much of it, but it looked different last I tried. I'm sorry about yours, though.”

A pause, as she continues turning back towards to drop off their current chickens at… wherever. A bigger cage to transport them back to the farm, perhaps.

“It's okay, my aim is pretty good. We can throw other things if magic gets too risky.”

Yeah, she's not much of a theorizer. She'll figure out the implications of having a red dragon patron on the field, through good ol' Trying It Out. Absinthe plonks her chicken down, and dusts off her hands.

So, she's also had some... alteration to the way her magic works, hm? Interesting. Ardyn wonders what the link is. It seems to vary between person to person but obviously someone or something, if not Charlie, didn't want them to be too powerful. Could it be their dragon souls acting as dampeners? Possibly, which-

He's a little lost in thought by the time she sets the chicken down and dusts off her hands. Ardyn scoots a little back as his chicken clucks in nervous curiosity. "That's true," he agrees, eyeing a very nice stick nearby as a possibility. "But in the meantime, the floor is yours, m'lady."

Ardyn does not say that ironically, he's just Old and sometimes shows his age.

“Yay, okay!”

Absinthe is just happy that she’s being seized up as a potential asset and not a victim. That’s the kind of standards we’re working with here, though as she walks up to center of the street with the swagger of a high school theater kid auditioning for the big play, a little bit of common sense does give her enough pause to look back at Ardyn and squint- “-y’know, we didn’t talk about what exactly we’re going to-?”

They don’t have an actual plan, do they?

Well, they’ve got kind of an idea of a plan.

She’s not gonna tell an alleged mass murderer guy to stop and pull out the drawing board again.

Absinthe looks back at the street, pulls out the arcane focus she wears on a cord around her neck (a crystal), and chants her incantation for Eldritch Blast; she lets go of her crystal as two spectral daggers materialise in both hands, shifting through a prismatic range of colours before very abruptly settling on red. A glow begins to flare off the blades, as if they were red-hot enough to warp the air around them.

“Chickens! Get the fuck outta here!”

She just finds the first uncontrolled fowl she sees and shoots the closest object to it with a dagger. She’s only been a Warlock for a single level but it’s hard to ignore the siren call of Solving All Your Problems With Eldritch Blast.

Edited (omg sorry i found a typo) 2024-11-18 10:57 (UTC)

He finds her unwarranted confidence quite endearing. He's happy to let her take the leading role in this, as it were, and enact their master plan. Which, granted- She realizes very quickly there isn't exactly one. A vague idea, sure, and that's usually good enough for him. When does Ardyn ever actually have a plan? For as conniving and calculating as he wants people to think he is, the truth is that a lot just happens to work out for him more than it doesn't.

But some of it doesn't. Even when it seems to! To him, this is going incredibly well. He watches those daggers materialize with interest. The color choice doesn't surprise him. Red is a good one! There is no bias about that whatsoever, of course. Then comes that dramatic shout - was it necessary, or just for fun? likely the latter - before she's laughing her assault. He can't help the way he chuckles for the extra flare to everything. The enthusiasm really sells it.

It's a fantastic flurry of feathers and frantic squawking once the hit lands. It not only startles that one, but then the ones on Ardyn's person also end up in a tizzy. Are they that sensitive to magic, or is it just herd mentality? Hard to say. He gives a small clap though as they flee away from the pair and closer to their destination anxiously. "Bravo! I dare say that worked out better than-" he starts, but is cut off by a large, low growling and heavy-set (chicken) footsteps.

Absinthe is in the middle of aiming another shot at the chickens when the growling starts. That swings her attention away from the chickens immediately, because “sounds like a big monster” is obviously way higher on her priorities than a level-one-adventurer-type quest, and so “focused adventurer” mode turns off and “I Am A Spooked Cat Fuck This I'm Out” turns on. She's got no shame about it. Absinthe jumps back very much like a spooked cat and first hides herself behind Ardyn, then changes her mind and goes for a nearby shopfront awning instead.

Stage-whispering, because she simultaneously wants to be heard by Ardyn and doesn't want to be heard by the big scary monster, “What the heck was that!?”

Bock, comes the reverberating noise as a crowned head and yellow beak appear around a corner.

Ardyn is - with all his obnoxious layers - a completely reasonable person to hide oneself behind. He does blink at how quickly Absinthe shifts from magic menace to frightened animal though. While not the 'heroic' type, he figured already, he thought there'd be a bit more bravery in facing a potential unexpected foe. Huh.

"I'm not-" he starts to answer, low, but then straightens up as he sees that larger-than-expected rooster. That's... a lot less scary than he was anticipating, he admits, but he makes the classic mistake of judging on appearances. "That must be the leader of their flock," he assumes, talking both to Absinthe and processing it aloud. "Maybe not too happy about us causing more fuss?" Which, okay, yeah. Fair. He was having her be a dick to the chickens on purpose for fun, but: "I'm sure we can calm it down."

Which might be Ardyn Izunia's famous last words. Before he can even take a step towards the creature to attempt such a thing, it's inhaling sharply and letting out a loud head-splitting crow that he flinches away from. The rest of the chickens start to heed the call and whip up into a frenzy around them. One flings itself at Ardyn pecking who gives a small 'ow' in response; while they begin to converge, the largest of them is now stepping towards the pair with an unmistakable aura of aggression.

See, she understands the roles of a party and that as a DPS she is a delicate flower whose devastating damage output is maximised by putting the tank between her and the enemy at all times. (Well, it doesn't have to be the tank). We don't have to talk about what formative level-one experiences shaped this.

But she hasn't abandoned Ardyn completely, as an Eldritch Blast shoots out and spears the chicken immediately attacking the man. Absinthe looks between chicken and chicken, and bigger chicken, trying to aim her second shot; but she's counting a lot of potential targets, she realises.

“Do you have like an AOE or something? If you don't I think we gotta go-!!”

Meanwhile, Ardyn has been a solo adventurer since his mortal days so he doesn't understand party compositions. What do you mean he can't be the healer, tank, and DPS all rolled into one? That sounds fake.

The chicken crows loudly at the attack and that just further infuriates the hoard of them. This might be a problem. Where are they even all coming from? He thought it had only been a handful of chickens, but now they're coming from every direction and seemingly materializing from thin air.

"Do I have a what-? Ow," he questions, interrupted by another chicken assault. Why is she speaking code at him right now? "I vote for go," he says, leaning down to grab his hat and plop it back on his head before starting to run. He doesn't forget Absinthe though and also grabs her arm on his way past. Look, he's got the longer leg span and sprinting capability so- Hold on, girl.

~~How do you be a solo adventurer and not know what an AOE is!!~~

The second chicken is allowed to attack Ardyn uninterrupted, as Absinthe aims her Eldritch Blast at the big chicken this round- however, the creature turns its head and shatters both attacks with a mighty swing of its beak, which is real bad. And what’s even worse is the second small chicken has also gotten past Ardyn’s armor class to peck him, somehow, despite being a chicken. It’s possible they’re magically enhanced chickens, but also, Ardyn doesn’t seem to be putting much effort into smacking them off.

Well, at least they’re running now.

Absinthe keeps up with Ardyn well; she’s light on her feet and a quick sprinter, as could be expected by her skinny build. But she does pull her hand away from his- unless Ardyn can beat a 20 strength check, can’t believe this is the roll she gets a natural 20 on- and shout to him, “we gotta stagger!” (Because of the AOEs, of course.) “How do we kill this thing!?”

He isn't. That's because they are chickens, after all, and what damage they can do probably won't amount to much. Granted, that's for a singular chicken and not a frenzied flock of them.

"How will that help?" he asks, since- Look, he's more a mage than melee but he also operates on the 'use as much force as possible and sometimes even more than necessary' strategy where he can.

He doesn't mind her hand being pulled way or even really notice. It was instinct, actually, to grab her in his run and she doesn't even realize how that was already quite out of character for him to begin with. Something told him to though, which- He doesn't dwell on overly much in the moment. "Can we even kill it?" It's taken her blasts like nothing and seems hellbent on getting them. "We should lead it - and them - back to the pen." Maybe familiarity will calm them the fuck down?

“So if it blasts us it won't hit us both!!” It's okay, they can not question Ardyn's strange altruistic impulse together. “It’s gotta be killable, unless it's actually some dark chicken god?!”

She's also the ‘use as much force as possible’ kind of DPS, but under Ardyn's (unusually?) sensible counsel, she can easily accept a reasonable nonviolent solution. Well, they can continue trying to kill it after they've penned it if they have to, it's often too early for violence but it's never too late.

“Okay-” -she’s interrupted by a bone-chilling crow from the large chicken, a clear signal that it's preparing for some kind of Special Attack. She glances back, then to Ardyn; before veering away from him as she'd just explained. The chicken would have to choose between them instead of trampling both underfoot, at least.

Hopefully, it'll never come up again! He'd prefer if it didn't. He'd also prefer if Absinthe made a bit more sense, but- They can't all get what they want, can they? He understands the theory, sure, but putting it into practice is another thing entirely. Oh, well. They don't have time to do anything but put it into practice now, so: Here they go.

He lets her go this time though. It splits up the chicken offense, at least, and the larger one seems to view Ardyn as the bigger threat despite Absinthe's attacks. That's good, he thinks. He can't be killed in any way that matters, so he might as well take the heavy hitter. "That's right," he offers it, taunting, as the shine of his yellow eyes becomes a little brighter.

"Do your worst."

The large rooster screeches and rushes at Ardyn in some sort of charge attack, its heavy footfalls causing tremors across the cobblestones. However Ardyn chooses to handle that, he doesn’t have to do it alone for too long- after a few seconds, the chicken pauses trying to savage Ardyn and looks up, sensing some sort of spell being cast on it.

Absinthe is further down the road, yelling and waving. As the rooster takes a moment to decide whether to keep attacking its current target or go after the new one, Absinthe’s yells turn into a yelled command word; two Eldritch Blasts shoot out to the chicken to bait it away from Ardyn.

The chicken continues further down the path; slowly, but steadily, they’re making progress.

Between Absinthe's persistent redirection and Ardyn's provoking it towards the direction they seek, eventually they manage to get the rooster and flock both back to its owner. "Next time," he says, to the farmer a bit more menacingly than he intends, "maybe outline all the details, hm?" He would have liked to have been prepared for the fucking angry giant rooster, but- He concedes they won't be getting paid due to the unfortunate eradication of a chicken or two meaning he lost some money on eggs.

He actually isn't too fussed about that though. Tired, certainly, but no doubt Absinthe is too after using that much magic just to wrangle a bunch of feathered freaks back into their coop. Ardyn has half a mind to pelt the farmer's house with eggs stolen like a disgruntled teenager, but- No. He won't.

(At least, not in broad daylight with any witnesses around.)

"Far more than we bargained for," he says, "but at least we make an interesting team."

Absinthe, on the other hand, is fussed about the lack of payment- she gripes and whines to the farmer about it, before sulking off to survey the damage she'd wrecked in the wake of things.

She won't admit it, but the farmer did have a point when he retorted that she had killed a lot of chickens. In her defense, they kept going for her or Ardyn. As the Tiefling spins away from the disgruntled farmer in a full sulk, Ardyn comes up to her, and his remark does bouy her mood somewhat.

“Yeah! We did good, even if the farmer doesn't get it.” She stares at the closest chicken corpse obliterated by a 1d10 Eldritch Blast, the wheels in her mind spinning again. “Thanks for partying up with me. You think some of those chickens I shot would do anything for you?”

That's not much worse than the compensation they would've gotten anyway, she thinks. Freshly killed chicken is even better than eggs and feathers!

"That's alright," he says, about the farmer. "I'm sure he'll recognize the error of his ways when we're the next successful champions of Town." Or, you know, his house is egged. It's going to be the latter, but Ardyn can pretend he means the former.

"I mean, far be it from me to deny good meat. Even if I don't eat it, I'm sure I can find a use." He could lure some kind of creature out to tame, maybe, or give someone salmonella. The possibilities are endless, truly!

“Yes. I’m sure he will,” Absinthe agrees, fully confident in their potential as future heroes. She fancies herself as having outgrown egging houses, but she’s hardly going to police other people about it.

“Let’s go! If we pick them up quickly, it’s basically fresh.”

what you're given, what you live in

Cw: mention of drugs. It's completely irrelevant to the scene tho.

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i'm up for timeskipping to the end of the encounter maybe? playing it turn by turn may take a while

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(this seems like a good point to wrap?)