Plaza Peace in Pieces

Log Info

• Title: Plaza Peace in Pieces
• Emitter: Rassata
• Characters: Duthei Level 3, Devola Level 2, Aya Level 8
• Place: Alexandria - Sage Orum's Plaza
• Time: Nov 2, 2016
• Summary: Students cause chaos with a mini-construct battle.
• APL: 4 (Non-combat Plot)

It is one of those nicer autumn days, warmer than usual. As expected this has brought more people than usual to Sage Orum's Plaza, which is to say that it looks relatively lively rather than sparsely populated. The people are appear to be in a mood befitting the weather but, as is the way of things, to the more observant there is an ominous lining to the silver cloud. Outside each of the schools a group of students have gathered, five or six in each group. They are talking among themselves and occasionally looking across the way to the other group. It is possible that this is mere happenstance. However, given the history between the arcanists and artificers even an optimist would likely be a little dubious of their intent.

Speaking of artificers, Devola is in attendance. Anytime there is an opportunity to show off or get attention drawn towards her, one can be certain she'll show up. Especially if there is an opportunity to show up the silly arcanists! Besides, its a nice day. And nothing has exploded yet. Kind of odd considering Devola is about.

Circulating through the crowd is Duthei, who - for reasons known only to peopel in the adventuring trade - is out and about, armed and plated up, when civvies would do. Maybe they're heading to the field, maybe they're coming back. Who knows? Adventurers are very strange people. Currently, the pale, strange beauty towers over a pack of gnomish artificers who are apparently here to see what the students are up to - and, being a generally curious sort, Duthei has decided to join them. Duthei provides shade, after all.

Most of the people present are less conscious of the students, if not oblivious to them. One can't blame them, since there are a number of performers present who are more interesting to the average citizen than small gatherings of stuffy students. The performers are quite good so, between their music and the general good cheer of the people, their hats are a little more blessed with coin than usual.

And then, as if responding to some unseen or unheard signal, the students start toward each other. Each group produces a collection of little things which, it quickly becomes apparent, are some manner of construct. There are four for each. The students stop and set them down. As soon as they are set down they begin closing the distance and the students begin jeering each other. "We'll show you what real magic can do!" and calls of that sort. Even now they are conscious enough of where they are to restrain themselves from uttering anything tasteless.

These little constructs are no more than a foot tall or long.

Welp. And then the Jets and the Sharks are gonna rumble. Duthei's blue eyes light up.

Aya does not travel to the plaza terribly often, though her business occassionally brings her through it. Today, there looks to be growing collections of, or even tensions between, students of the buildings opposing each other both in location and theory. Interesting. Her unhurried steps slow even further as she observes. A few exploding alcolytes can easily make the day more exciting and enjoyable.

Students are discouraged from such displays, to state the matter gently. The reasons for this are obviously not clear to these students, but obvious they quickly become. Even before the squads of mini-constructs reach each other they begin throwing off small sparks and flashes. Once the fight begins these - reactions? - become more severe. Sparks begin skittering across the plaza like drops of water across hot rocks. Now people begin to take notice and react with alarm. Fortunately no harm is done.

That is, until these sparks strike the musicians' hats. Somehow whatever magic powers the little constructs leaps across to the hats, as well, and they begin jerking about. It soon becomes clear that they also intend to join the brouhaha. The performers, bemused, become alarmed and angry when the unsteady movement of the hats begins spilling coins everywhere.

And then the accusations begin. "What are you doing?! Your artifice is ruining everything! As usual!" "Our artifice?! Your stupid magic golems began breaking down before the fight even started!" "Damn you, students! Always causing trouble! Why don't you be useful for a change and help me collect my coins!" "Hey, don't touch that! That silver is mine!" "The hells it is! A lucht dropped that in my hat half an hour ago!"

Duthei leans on their polearm, grinning at the, uh, conflict. Really, they're ready for someone to start throwing fire.

Aya's steps halt utterly. Oh, this is DEFINITELY worth a watch. It was all fun and games until the busquers' livelihood was suddenly at risk. She crosses her arms before her and leans again the shaded side of a building to enjoy the spectacle.

Contest? Yes, please! Devola is in on that in a rather short period of time, joining the other students of Artifice and adding her voice to the taunts and the like. However, hers are more like: "Make it explode!" And things in that vein. Then the activity begins. Sparks start flying. Not quite explosions, but more or less the next best thing. "This is awesome!" She cries excitedly.

"Are they going to fight?" one woman asks another, sounding shocked. "I'm shocked!" They continue to hurry away while trying to appear as though they aren't hurrying. Others are doing likewise, while a few are choosing to also observe. From a safe distance, what with over a dozen people involved. As these close in on each other tempers are rising and the mini-constructs are all but forgotten. Accusations continue to fly and the first insults begin to creep in.

"Hey, don't step on my hat!" Not so with the hats, naturally. There is money involved. This results in the first shove. "Oh, you want a fight, do you?!" "Hey! Ow!" "Why are you pushing me? It's the students' fault!" "We can't help it that you had your stupid hats there!"

A wagering type might say it's only a matter of time before fists start flying. Unless some more reasonable sorts choose to intervene, of course.

Shocked? Are you kidding me? These idiots look like they'd fight over a piece of tin if you stamped 'for the smartest' on it. Duthei flexes their shoulders, sighing internally, and - because they're not interested in watching half the city burn down because of goddamned magic nerds - picks up their polearm and drapes their arms over it, drying-pole style, and saunters into the clearing.

"Hey," they call in a bright, sunny voice, smiling at the potential combatants. "Are you gonna kill each other? Can we take wagers?"

While this is exciting, it could certainly improve. Aya can be quite patient, but today she has a full schedule. That means some improvisation is needed. She focuses on those the most agitated and... well, 'large' or 'imposing' aren't exactly applicable to wizards and possibly not artificers, either. Either way, she calls upon the shadows to darken the vicinity around them. A bit more unsettling can't hurt.

Devola raises a hand and waves her arm at Duthei. "I'll put 10gp on the Artifcers." She chirps.

The students and performers have closed enough that some pushing and shoving is inevitable, as with a crowd trying to get into the colosseum before the fights begin. With the exception of certain choice words and phrases, it really does call to mind a group of youngsters trying to show each other who's toughest by puffing up their chests. Some even have their fists raised threateningly but haven't - yet - worked up the courage to swing anything.

"Yeah! I'll definitely kill anyone who touches my... coin...?" the one performer trails off, but he is one of the few to is aware that the shadows deepened just as Duthei decided to become involved. An unsettling coincidence, indeed. "Oh, really?! Your coin? I've got your silver right here!" calls a woman and swings her fist at the back of the man's head. Judging by the expression on her face, little crack from the punch is not from the man's skull. She goes pale and cradles her hand. "Yeah, artificers!" calls one of the students in reply to Devola's wager. "Damn the artificers!" shouts a gnome performers and charges the student. An almost completely ineffectual effort: the gnome bounces off the taller and heavier student. Unfortunately for the latter, it appears the gnome's head did make contact with his family jewels. The student sinks to the ground next to the gnome.

Since the headgear (or, rather, the coin in them) seems to be the most exacerbating point, Aya focuses there. With the darkened shadows as distraction, discomfit, and some cover, she ..simply discorporates from where she stood. She reappears within the dim to snatch at one of the more laden hats to toss it to its NOT owner. Namely a wizardly alcolyte. Preferable a gnome, as they are easier for others to step on. Aya then discorporates once more into the dim only to reappear back in her original position.

Duthei flexes their arms a bit, causing the polished mahogany haft of the bill over their shoulders to flex slightly. "So if you're gonna fight, go ahead and get started, because you're blocking the way for everyone else. Not a good look, huh? Less you folk want a better kind of combatant." Really, Duthei isn't being threatening. Just being pretty. And heavily armed. And smiling. My, what white teeth.

No one was daring enough to take Devola on her bet, so she stands there for a moment. The coin in the hats is rather tempting, so she starts shuffling her way over there when no one is looking. Or when she thinks no one is looking. Miss Grabby-hands going for some shiny stuff!

"My hat!" two people call out almost in unison. In fairness, most of the hats do rather look alike. Especially in the dimness. They both make for the would-be wizard gnome, but one of them gets no farther than tripping and shoving one of the other students in the effort to catch himself. That students stumbles back and bumps into Duthei.

"Ow! Hey, watch where...!" He becomes very quiet when he sees who he's bumped into. "Oh. Uh. Uh, no. No!" He uses his sleeve to try to polish the armor, where he bumped into it. "No fighting." He elbows one of his compatriots. "No fighting. Right? Right?!"

The gnome utters an alarmed yelp when the hat lands in her hands and again when the one performer tries to close in on her. "Give me that!" he demands, trying to force his way between two other people to reach her. She sort of obliges by throwing the hat at him.

As for Devola, when she tries to grab some of the coin a hat attempts to... attack her? Things being as they are, the felt hat's 'bite' is merely a loose grabbing. "That's my hat, you wench!" gasps the woman with the broken finger.

"Disperse." Duthei leans down to smile a little more at the students. Such /white/ teeth. They don't look as if they've changed since the day they grew in. Curious, that. "Please."

Now that her bit was added, and some additional chaos incorporated, Aya disperses the shadows. All the better for them to see each other, to hit.

Though there is the matter of the spoilsport and her attention focuses upon Duthei. "Should they? Better that they get their grievances out, now, then let them fester and grow into something worse... Wouldn't you agree?"

A de-escalation of sorts begins to go through the little crowd. The students closest to Duthei are beginning to take notice that someone very large, wielding a very big stick, is standing right there. They're intelligent enough to register that Duthei is the bigger threat. Literally. This gives them pause. The performers, meanwhile, are becoming aware that one of their number has, somehow, obtained a hat. With coins in it. Perversely, this immediately makes him more of a target than anyone in robes, leading to such utterances as, "You sneaky bastard!" "Is that my hat?" "Oh, I see how it is!" "Wait, no!" the hat-bearer protests. "It's not my fault!" However, despite the jostling and shoving he keeps a tight grip on the hat.

"Okay, look!" Now, Duthei is angry. Sounds angry, or at least put out. "I am here to do some shopping! You are /getting in my way!/ Disperse, or at least one of you is going to end up with a lot shorter reach than you had a minute ago!" The platinum-haired tower unfurls their polearm, whirling it with a flourish and sweeping it demonstrably in a circle around their own ankles. "Out!"

"I was just trying to fix it..." Devola replies to the woman who called her a wench, which was a bad idea because it clearly offended Devola. Since the hat is glomming onto her already, she just closes her hand and runs away with the now living hat. "You're a wench!"

"I'm going! I'm going!" The student who'd bumped into Duthei quickly backs away. None of the others is willing to be the first to stand up to the warrior. Quite the opposite: they all look rather cowed. "Let's get out of here!" another says, to a general murmur of agreement. "Isn't Professor Tillikiki due out soon?" another wonders, which results in another chorus of murmured agreement leavened with a smattering of, "Oh, crap." There is one final smack and a "Leave it!" when one of the students stops to try to pick up one of the little artifice creations. At this point the mini-constructs are nothing more than rubble, junk, and perhaps a few spare parts.

"Hey! Thief!" The woman makes a grab for Devola, which is a mistake. The pain from her hand makes the second word come out as a gasp. The dispersing students make the performers aware that they're about to be the only ones left facing the tall, attractive person wielding a fearsome lance. "Just wait until I report all of you to the guild!" one of them blusters, trying to pretend that Duthei has nothing to do with his imminent departure. "You'll be lucky if you only face censure, the lot of you!"

"Ha! Only if I don't report you to the guild first, you second rate lutist!" rejoins another. For all that she takes the time to rake together some coins. And all the while she keeps an eye on Duthei, just in case.

Duthei, for their part, looks quite satisfied. "The affairs of irritating little people," Duhtei says to Aya now that the crowd is well on its way to dispersing, "Is nothing before my shopping. I shan't have a new dress spoiled by...whatever that was going to be." They prod at the ruins of the golems with the business end of that vicious billhook. "Care to join me?"

With a brand new hat-thing that is busy trying to eat her hand, Devola finds it is best to disperse with everyone else, and gets lost in the crowd as she retreats back home where it is less chaotic.

Hats, even animated hats, make for very poor carnivores. It is very unlikely that Devola is at any risk. The hat probably won't even hurt a hair on her head. For their part, the students have hurried off. It has probably dawned on them that news of this event will get back to their professors and that they'll likely be scrubbing toilets for the rest of the winter. If they're lucky. Even the performers are dispersing, rather sullenly, after collecting almost all their coins. For the next while their audiences will likely be plied with tales of betrayal. Oh, the drama!