Fantasy RP

Antheia heard the slight mistake, but didn't point it out. She just nodded at her and Emma, playing with her bracelet.

Emma didn't hear the mistake, but she looked at Zora with a weird expression. "Just a thief? What kind of magic do you use?" she asked, putting her weapon back on her gem before crossing her arms.

Nathan listened to the others as they did their introductions, and he debated about how much he should say. "Well I'm Nathan Yttris. I'm something of a mage, though I guess an anti-mage who can use magic is a better description." Nathan finally said, deciding to go with the truth. If they were going to be hunting an assassin mage then they would need to trust each other, and it would only have been a matter of time before the others found out about his anti-magic. "And this here with me is Cadmus, an ichneumon. As such I suppose his existence is also in question by the magic ban." Nathan added as Cadmus lay curled up on his lap. "Oh, and sorry. Please continue, I'm curious as to what magic you use as well." Nathan said as he realized that he had interrupted part of the conversation.

Zora fiddles a bit with her tail as a nervous habit almost. "Fire magick mostly. I'm both a pyromaniac and kinetic." She smiles just a teeny bit. "Used to get me in trouble all the time on jobs because of that." Trouble being a word for Wynter almost killing her technically. "And a little bit of illusion, not much though. Just enough to typically go unnoticed by most guards."

Emma nodded, looking at everyone else who hadn't answered. "Anyone else want to share?" she asked expectantly.

Antheia looked at Emma, surprised by her actions. "That was a little rude." she thought to herself before looking down at her hands.

"Apparently not, it's almost like y'all don't trust complete strangers. Whatever. We have a good enough idea of who most of you are now, so let's start making a plan for catching the assassin." Ruby yawns, pointed tongue long and curved, poking out of her mouth and revealing white fangs. She doesn't want anyone to forget whom or what, she is.

Zora ended up propping her head in her laws and looking fake thoughtful. "I have some contacts with the thieves. Perhaps they can help us."

Nathan turned slightly in his chair so that he could face everyone more easily. "I probably won't be much help in finding the assassin, but once we've located him, her, or it I can cancel out their magic if you get me close enough. I'm sure that'll help with the whole capture and relocation process." Nathan said, being careful to not give away just how close he needed to be in order to cancel magic. Even if they were working together now, Nathan didn't want to be unprepared in case he had to face one of them at some point in the future.

"So we'll go to the thieves to find the assassin. Worst case scenario, we can set up some rumors to draw them in, and once they're caught, Nathan gets to nullify their magic. We want to keep them alive, so that makes it a little harder..." Ruby crossed her legs over one another, stroking her chin as she thought, occasionally reaching out to pat Nyx, who was sitting there with a normal blank face, seemingly shaking. "Anyone else have anything helpful?"

Zora sat there quietly in an attempt to not draw attention to herself. She's almost surprised no one has pieced the puzzle together yet and she doubts they will. Eventually she speaks up a little. "In keeping them alive we could always use a spell to knock them out first. Nullify the magick after."

"I'm kind of useful when it comes to tying people up." Antheia says quietly, "Since, you know, vines."

((I didn't know what to post, so it's short lol))

Nyx silently raised a tendril, staying stone-still under Ruby's touches and gathering attention to themself with the motion. "If we can examine the body, I may be able to sense and follow the magical signature of the assassin."

(( sad noises the rp is dying...))

Nathan nodded as the group's plan seemed to come together. "Well since we have an idea of what we can do to capture this assassin, I guess our next step would be to get on their trail and probably try and figure out what kind of magic they can do. Am I right?" Nathan suggested.
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"I agree with Nathan, and if we go to the scene of the murder I may be able to sniff out what type of magic was used in the assassination. It would only be a vague idea of what this assassin can do, but it would be a start." Cadmus added in after Nathan. After listening to the exchange going on Cadmus has more or less come to decision to at least trust in their current common goal of catching the assassin.

((must fight against this wave of dying rps...))

(( We shall fight and survive, defeating the spirits of lethargy and loneliness. ))

"Well then, to the scene and body we go! Slight problem though, they'll be looking for us since we kinda set the whole guard place on fire, and the body was in there. Hopefully just the scene of the murder will give us enough to track, assuming we can get there without being arrested. Nyx, do your thing." And with that, the shadows of each being changed, stretching and reaching up off the floor and walls to open huge mouths, snapping them closed over each one of the group and dragging them into  the shadows, taking them to a pitch-black path where nothing could be seen except the white of Nyx's eyes.

"Follow me. We're traveling through the dark paths, so you all need to hold hands. If you get lost, you'll never get out."

Antheia nodded slowly, not really paying attention to the plan. She grabbed Nathan's hand, since she trusted him the most, and blushed slightly in the darkness. Thankfully, no one could see her face. She took a deep breath, trying to get her feelings to go away.

Nathan nodded, agreeing with the plan. It was risky, but Nathan was confident that their group could get there and do what they need to without getting captured again. After Nyx plunged their group into shadow, Nathan became aware of a few things. First was that he'd have to keep his antimagic aura especially stable for this trip, since if it flared up Nathan worried it would at the very least cause disturbances. The second thing Nathan was aware of was that when Antheia grabbed his hand, he noticed just how glad he was that she was there with him and Cadmus. Having a familiar face around was actually pretty comforting, and if anyone could see they would have noticed his ears go red with embarrassment at how sentimental he was feeling. Taking a deep breath, Nathan forced his focus back around to keeping his antimagic in check and not getting lost, he can allow himself to feel sentimental when they aren't embroiled in a dangerous stealth mission. "Well Cadmus, I'm counting on your keen senses to keep us from splitting from the others." Nathan said to the ichneumon, who had reclaimed his place across Nathan's shoulders like a scarf.
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"Easy for you to say, young Yttris. I can't see anything more than you can in here, and everything smells similar to that Nyx creature. But I'll do what I can." Cadmus said. While keeping a calm composure, Cadmus was actually quite uncomfortable with their current environment and was eager to arrive at their destination.

Soon enough, they arrived, Nyx leading the way and subtly latching on to each being with a tendril of shadow just in case they were stupid enough to get themselves separated. The way back into the world wrenched itself open with an audible tearing sound, and bright sunlight streamed in, stabbing at their eyes like a thousand spears. Nyx let their eyelids close, thin membranes shielding them and other senses perked up as they floated out, keeping the gateway open for the others to get through.

All through the long walk in the shadows Zora was rather silent. She didn't think she needed to say anything and this way she could be alone with her thoughts. She must find a way to cancel out whatever they'll be doing to identify the assassin. Once Nyx opens the way back to the living world she slips through and hisses in slight pain to the sudden readjustment from pitch blackness to sudden searing light.

Ruby stepped out of the portal and put her hands on her hips, looking over their small group and making a gesture to Nyx, teeth bared in a snarl. They nodded and moved their fingers in a complicated pattern, each of the group's shadow lifting and wrapping around them in a black cloak that would hide them from prying eyes. "Now we can go without getting caught. Don't take those off, they're looking for us."

Nathan snapped his eyes shut when they slipped out of the shadows, his eyes stinging from the sudden transition to light. After Nyx wrapped them in the shadow cloaks, Nathan sighed at the thought of how easy this was seeming so far. "Well since we have stealth pretty well covered, I guess it's time we went and checked out our destination. We may be hidden but I'd rather be out of the city again as soon as possible." Nathan said as he examined the shadows wrapped around them.

Zora pulled the cloak further around her and smiled. "I agree with the child. And along the way we can try to find my contacts and they can help us."

Not waiting for the conversation to finish, Ruby bodily lifted her shadow, wrapping her in the conjured robes and setting off, sniffing at the air for the reek of blood and magic, the specific scent of the dead councilman familiar and sickening. She led the group to the crime scene, slipping through doors and melting locks with careful application of fire, finally arriving in his office, which was covered in blood and the scent of death. The body still lay on the floor, and she stepped forward, leaning down and almost shoving her nose into his gaping wounds, sniffing for something they could use to track the assassin.

"Well, that is certainly one gruesome corpse. Whoever our assassin is, they are clearly not the subtle type." Nathan commented as he took in the room. The sight was enough to make Nathan's stomach churn a little, while he had seen many slaughtered animals and beasts, Nathan could only claim to have seen a few slaughtered humans, but that had been due to a tribe of roaming cyclopes, not an assassin. "Looks like we can probably say the assassin isn't a pyromancer or anything similar, those wounds suggest that whatever they did use had some physical form. Though that hardly narrows down what type of magic the assassin uses." Nathan said as he crouched down beside the corpse to get a look at the wounds and let Cadmus have a good sniff.
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Cadmus recoiled slightly when they had entered the room. He had smelt the blood and residual magic from outside, but the smell was much worse inside, and was even worse when Nathan brought him up close to the source. "Well, I can't guarantee I'll be able to get anything specific with the smells of blood and death everywhere, but I can at least give it a try." Cadmus said, hesitant to actually take a sniff but knowing he had to for the mission that Nathan had agreed to. 'At least it's not the inside of a dragon's stomach.' Cadmus reminded himself before he took a sniff and tried to discern what the different scents were.

Antheia's eyes widened as she looked at the body. "Goodness..." she thought to herself, crinkling her nose at the smell, "It smells absolutely horrid in here!"
She started to get queasy just looking at the mangled corpse. She covered her face with her hands, trying to block out the smell and the sight.

All Ruby could smell was blood and fear, nothing she could track to the assassin. She wiped at the blood smeared on her nose, licking it off of her hand and turning back to the small group, hands on her hips. "I'm good, but not this good. Any of you got any ideas? I always forget how bad corpses smell, and it's blocking the other scents."

Cadmus shook his head with dissatisfaction. "I'm not getting much either, between the corpse and the scents of everybody's magics I can only make out a little. All I can confirm though is that the assassin is, without a doubt, a mage, and that wherever they were before coming to this city had water, either a river, a lake, or even an ocean. I can't make out any more." Cadmus said, shaking the stench from his nostrils.
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"So," Nathan said as he stood up, "what now? We've been here for a while and haven't found much of use. Any ideas princess?" He asked, looking over at Ruby to wait for instructions. Partly he just wanted to get out of that room, standing near a corpse didn't seem to be particularly comfortable for any of them, but he was also concerned that the longer they stayed then the greater the chance of something going wrong was.