Jack Baker

@Hazard Time Yeah, don't worry about it. I've been busy with some 4th of July stuff with my family as well.

Hmmm... Maybe.

@Hazard Time Raze looked at the "blood cloud" hovering above the two of them. It seems she didn't want anyone else to interfere. Fine by him, it meant he could step his game up. He drew his katana and took out the bottle of purifying liquor dangling from his waist, taking a swig and spitting it on the blade. He then slowly ran his hoof across it, reciting something in Neighponese: Pure body Pure mind Pure soul As pure as fresh snow, so too this blade shall be. The katana began to glow a faint white, the glow outlining the edges of the blade. The blade was now free of all impurities, and he could now perform Sacred Arts. He resheathed it, and resumed his original stance, hoof on the handle, ready to draw the sword again if necessary. He remained silent, eyes fixed on the baroness's next move.

@Hazard Time Tbh, I think we should just keep the duel where it's at. I'll edit my post. Alright, it's edited.

@Hazard Time "Ah yes, resulting to insults. How elegant of you," Raze said to her, as he reseathed his katana. He then began to think about her offer. Yeah, he'd like to do that, but at the same time, he couldn't help but feel suspicious about all of this; ponies like her tend to go back on their word in the blink of an eye... No. He would not fall for her tricks. He would end her, right here, right now. "First off, Ag's a wraith, so he's got no blood to begin with. So there goes that threat, yeah? And second, if you think I'm gonna just let you tell me where to go, you've got another thing coming. We're gonna do this right here, right now. You don't even deserve that attention anyway. No, you deserve to die alone, here, in a dirty street." He put his hooves on his sword, ready.

@Hazard Time True... IMO, I don't think going in would really upset anything, as you can easily adjust plans in a combat situation, but that's just me. Also, yeah, I really don't want to be locked out of the RP until the 9th... by then I'll have stuff to take care of as well, and then this scenario will be delayed even further.

Well it's a good thing I stepped in to help Agririon out.

Raze looked at Lektra as she flew off. She obviously didn't hear the last part of wanting to know her more. "...Rude," he said softly to himself, as he sat up. "Doesn't she know when a guy's trying to hit on her?" He sighed. Oh well, he thought. She was nice either way... and that was mostly business too...maybe next time. He peeked his head out the door. Now, it seemed like a couple of guards had been stationed to various places around the facility. He quickly ducked his head back inside as he looked out the window. It didn't seem like a far drop down. He braced himself, and took a running jump out the window, landing with a roll, then proceeded to run out into the town. @Hazard Time As he ran, he heard something. Sounds of a fight? A voice cried out in a language he wasn't too familiar with... a feminine voice, which he knew he heard before. He began running in the direction he heard the fight coming from, and hid against a wall. Slowly peeking his head out, he saw the aristocrat and Agririon facing each other. What he really noticed though was the aristocrat's weird powers. ...Blood magic he thought. The forbidden, demonic kind... so she can fight. At least she holds her own, I'll give her that much. He thought about this for a while. He just made that deal with Lektra; maybe he shouldn't go in now. At the same time, Agririon didn't look like he was doing any significant damage to her, and it looked liked stepping in would turn the tables. After a minute, he decided it was time to lend a helping hand to his wraith friend, and quickly turned the corner, hooves on his katana, and dashed towards her, drawing it and going for a horizontal slash towards her chest.

I believe it's always near-death in arena matches. Maybe you can die outside the arena, and someone knows revival spells or something like that?

Just curious, does Lektra accept payment in the form of, say, favors? I.e. she needs a special kind of material/tool, and Raze's gets it for her?

Probably just beat Raze to a point where he can't fight anymore, then capture him.

Ah, shit man.

Raze looked at the hologram. Fifty bits? Not bad, in fact, cheaper than he expected, and he had that money on him right now. He reached into his saddlebags and pulled out his money pouch. He opened it and laid out the money in front of her on a small table next to the bed he was sitting on, then gave it to her. "It's a deal," he said, with a small smile, then bowed once again. "Thanks again for doing this." He looked at his sword. "Don't worry about making the sword, the katana I have now should be more than enough. I'll probably just reinforce the blade and the hand guard on it, just in case." He poked his head outside. No guards yet. He sighed. "I... might need to lay low here for a while, if that's ok with you. S'pose it gives me a good opportunity to get to know you more." He smiled.

Raze looked up at her. She's like me, in a way, he thought. He listened to her. Offering her services? From what she said before, she was an inventor... Just then, he remembered something. He stood up, still dizzy. "There is... one thing." He reached into his saddlebags, and pulled out a rolled up piece of paper. He unrolled it, revealing a very intricate hand-drawn sketch for a weapon of some sort. "I knew a guy in Dodge Junction," he said, looking at the sketch. "Old guy, but a great weapons maker and blacksmith, one of the best I've ever seen. He took a shine to me and took me under his wing at one point to pass on some of his skills. We wanted to create something together, but not something ordinary. We wanted it to be a masterpiece, our masterpiece. So this is what we came up with." He showed the sketch to Lektra. On it were dimensions and constraints, along with various notes detailing what features would be on it. Overall, it was described to be a "gun sheath" for a katana. "Unfortunately, he had some problems with family abroad, and before we could start building, he had to leave Dodge to care of it, effectively putting him into retirement..." He sighed. "But, we managed to get the design and sketch done, at the most." He looked at Lektra. "Before he left, he wanted me to finish it in his stead, and I promised him that I would, but... I've been having a hard time trying to get it right. I know the design works, I'm just not as good of a weapons maker as he was..." He looked at Lektra. "So, I'm asking you... please, help me finish this. Somehow, I think this will help me take down the baroness, give me an edge. I'll explain more if you accept, and I'll pay you up front as well..." He bowed his head. "Please... help me out here."

@J.R. @Fractured Hey, some dude who's new here and wants to join posted in the RP instead of here.

@Fractured Raze remained silent; she wasn't wrong, after all. He was troubled. For the longest time, the corrupt and powerful were his enemy. He had learned firsthand what they could do and what they were capable of, and he swore to himself he'd wipe every single one of them off the face of the earth. He tried to forget what happened on that day, when he brought upon his Sensei's death with his own hands. And yet... he still couldn't help but remember and feel empty about it, like an important part of him had been stolen. And when he saw the baroness going around complaining about the shoddy state of the arena... it pissed him off. The way she described it... was almost the exact same way those two other aristocrats described Sensei and his dojo before they burned it to the ground. He looked at the irritated face of the stallion who mocked him. A dime-a-dozen story? Entitlement? What an ignorant and foolish comment, the exact words of a egotistical know-it-all that thinks he has everyone all figured out. It irritated him. Where was he when the flames burned everything In their path? Where was he when the blood of his fellow students and his Sensei splattered the walls like paint? Where was he when their screams echoed throughout the night sky, only to fall on the deaf ears of the arsonists and hired arms sent to kill them? His breathing began to get heavy, and he hid his face, gritting his teeth... No. He had to calm down; he wouldn't let anger get the best of him now. He didn't think he should judge right now either. He sighed. "I..." he began to say, then suddenly felt dizzy. He never realized just how tired he was from running and stressing nonstop. He tried to stand up, but ended up falling on Ivory, holding her on the shoulders before he could actually fall on her. "...Sorry," he said. "It seems I've... wasted a lot of energy today."

@Fractured Raze laughed a bit what Ivory was saying. "Hah hah... It's fine, you don't have to hide the fact you think what I did was bad," he said to her. "Yeah, acting on impulse is gonna be my downfall one of these days. And yeah, I've done a lot of bad things in the past couple of days; never said I was a hero or anything..." He paused. "But I'm not a bad guy either. As a mercenary, I've done a lot of things, both good and bad, to get the job done. In the real world, results beat idealism, and that's just the way it is... You can be the most moral pony on the planet, do things that society considers 'idealistically correct', but if it doesn't help anyone, what's the use?" He sighed. "Anyway...No one might know this, but that bigshot I pissed off is bad news, I can tell. She's up to something, something that involves the Royal Guards here as well, and that's why I need to need to cause as much uproar as possible amongst the authorities and her so I can stop her...

"I see. Don't worry though," Raze said with a slight smile. "I'm not a criminal. Although now, everyone thinks I am." He frowned a bit. "Like I said, I pissed off some corrupt big shot by slicing her crown in half. Why? Because I can't stand ponies like her, that's why." He sighed. "Now almost everyone I meet gives me the evil eye. How foolish..."

Oh my goodness this is gonna drive me crazy.

I also quoted you in my last post as well, something to get that conversation with Lektra and Raze started.

@Fractured Raze looked back at her. "I have my reasons..." He said then shook his head. "Ah, fuck it. I pissed off a corrupt aristocrat, sliced her crown in half, and took it to make her even more pissed. I went into hiding for a little while with help from a friend, who took me to some other city via portal, and now he teleported me back here." He looked at both of them, then sat back down, sighing. "I can't stand ponies like her..." he said. "They piss me off..."

Raze looked at Lektra, remembering he should have introduced himself. "Hey, look," he said. "I apologize for my... unsightly behavior. I just happen to be that way sometimes, even though I've been trained in discipline I still let my emotions get the better of me sometimes..." He bowed his head respectfully. "I'm Raze, a travelling sellsword. Nice to meet you."

@Fractured Uh-huuuuuhhhh....

@P-Jay Yeah, enjoy yourself! Also, you're really pushing this rivals thing, huh? @Fractured So, uh, can you explain what was going on with your last post?

@Fractured Ignoring what the stallion had said, Raze turned his attention to the pony now entering the room. "Oh, hey Ivory," he said. "How's it going... wait...Saved me?" he asked, raising a brow. "...Wha... What are you going on about? When did you 'save me?'" He then realized she wasn't mentioning him. "Oh, you mean them. Ah, sorry..." ((Seriously, I'm confused, help me))