Jack Baker

@Windy Breeze. At the sight of Delight's reaction, Raze started to feel a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. He didn't like making anyone feel bad like that, especially when she was going out of her way to basically let him stay for free... He sighed. "Alright, I'll eat the food you made for me," he said with a smile. "That would get me up to three square meals today anyway, so..."

@Windy Breeze "Sounds good," Raze said with a slight smile. "As for my little walk, it wasn't anything too big, just needed to get some information is all..." He followed her back. "Just a little bit is good, yeah? I ended up getting sucked into some buffet in town from my client... not that I can complain, but..."

@Samurai Equine Raze stared at the puzzle box in Samurai's hoof. "Hmm..." he pondered at it for a bit, then sighed. "Well, I seem to have some sort of idea about what's happening now... that's all I need for the moment. I'll let you know if there's anything else I need in the coming days." He turned around and began to walk back to Delight's house, but stopped briefly. "Oh, by the way... send your half-payment to the house of one Sundae Delight, yeah? It's where I'm staying at." He then waved his hoof once and continued to walk. @Windy Breeze After a few minutes, he arrived back at Delight's house, and lightly knocked on the door.

@Samurai Equine Raze cleared his throat, and looked Samurai directly in the eye. "I'm gonna need more... information about what's been going on in this town," he said to him. "If that thing from earlier is really what I think it is, I'm gonna need all the help I can get, capische?"

@Samurai Equine @Bastian "Well then you do what you need to do; I don't particularly care who he talks to first as long as I can get my say in," he said to the monk as he walked out. "If anything, I feel like we'd be asking the same thing anyway..."

@Samurai Equine @Bastian @Pastel-chan @ExplosionMare @Dynamo Pad Before Raze could protest, he reluctantly ended up at a buffet with Samurai and a bunch of other ponies he didn't know. He quietly returned the toast, quickly emptied the contents of his cup, then stood up. "Well, this has been... interestin', to say the least, but..." He turned his gaze towards Samurai. "...You and I need to talk. I'll wait for you outside." He grabbed his longsword next to him, gave a slight nod to rest of the group and quietly walked outside the entrance of the restaurant.

@Windy Breeze Raze looked up at the ceiling of the house for a while. Then stood up. "Well... this has been fun and all, but I think I'm gonna explore the town for a bit. Methinks I'll be here for a while, so might as well get acquainted with my surroundings." He waved his hand once at Delight. "Catch ya later. I'll be back soon." He gathered his things and re-equiped his longsword and Evoker, then stepped outside, making his way back towards the town proper. Once there, he slowed his pace down a bit, while looking around and absorbing the sights. @Samurai Equine @Bastian @Pastel-chan @Dynamo Pad @ExplosionMare As he walked, he could hear a commotion coming from what looked like a theater. Curious as to what was happening, he decided to check it out. Inside, he could see a group of ponies chattering excitedly amongst one another, two of which he recognized as Samurai, and the other fighter at the cemetery. Raze whistled at Samurai to get his attention.

@Windy Breeze "That apparition I was fightin' earlier is apparently the spirit of Nightmare Moon, somehow back with a vengeance," Raze explained to Delight. "As for the vines, yeah they're called plunderseeds. They're magical vines, so they don't exactly die when you cut them once. Magic fire seems to work though..."

@Windy Breeze "It's no big deal, really" Raze said. "I dont really mind telling people about it, to be honest. To answer your first question though... I was hired by some guy to investigate a disturbance, which ended up being that apparition and those plunderseed vines..." He paused. "As for my spirit... sit back, it's gonna be a long one." He looked up at the ceiling. "It was about four months back... remember how I said I do 'extermination work'? This was one of those missions. I was hired by a small village to clear out a cave nest of changelings that were harassing the people nearby. I thought it was gonna be a simple, easy mission. Go in, destroy the nest, get out. As it turned out, I had grossly underestimated just how bad the situation was. There was tons of them, everywhere. Despite my best efforts I had found myself up against a wall, shot up by magic energy and bitten from every angle. I was bleedin' out, and bad... barely energy left to pick up my sword. And I thought to myself, 'this is it. This is how I die.' But before they could get to me, a flash of blue just appears right before my eyes, almost blinding me and every changeling in the cave. When it all settled down, there he was, floating in right of me... my 'Persona', as he called himself. He takes out his sword and just cutting everything in sight. Any changeling still alive fled all the way back to their kingdom..." He paused again before continuing "Then he turns around, heals me with magic, and just introduces himself. Said his name was Thanatos, and that he was devoted to protecting me should I need it. He kinda explained that if I wanted to summon him, I needed to 'invoke the fear of death.' Finally he disappeared, and on the ground in front of me was this thing..." He held up his pistol. "He called it an 'Evoker'. Doesn't actually shoot bullets or anything, but it definitely feels like the real deal. The only way I can summon him is if I point this thing to my head and squeeze the trigger. Freaks everybody out, though I'm not surprised; I mean, it really looks I'm about to shoot myself, yeah? Have to explain it to people everytime I use it..." He sighed. "Sometimes, I wonder... what is this power, really? Why do I even have it? Where does it even come from. I really want to know... sometimes I even think I should just march right on up to Princess Twilight's castle herself and ask her. In fact, I'm determined to do so. If anyone would know, it'd have to be her. Until that happens though... I'm gonna have to find out the answers myself..."

@Windy Breeze Raze was sitting back in the couch, eyes closed when he heard Delight return from the kitchen. "Welcome back," he said. "I'm assumin' you took care of whatever needed to get done?"

@Windy Breeze Raze let out a sigh at Delight's worried voice. "Yeeaahhh... it's dangerous alright." He didn't want to mention how he had almost died on one of those missions, where he had to clear out a nest of changelings. That was how he had even awakened to his mysterious spirit guardian in the first place... He looked up as Delight left the room. "Alright... I'll just be waiting here, I guess..."

@Windy Breeze "Hmm... I see," Raze said to her as the food arrived. He picked up a spoon and took a light sip. "Huh... that's pretty good," he said as he started to dig in. "I was in the Royal Guard once... was pretty good at it too. So good that they even trusted me to be Princess Celestia's personal bodyguard at one point. But then some guy, jealous of my position, decided to frame me for stealing money. So they dishonorably discharged me, and I was left to wander the streets. I picked up my longsword and tried to make a name for myself as a mercenary for hire, traveled across the country doing whatever jobs I could. Mostly security. Occaisionally "extermination". And now here I am." He set the down the spoon, completely finished with the soup. He sat back. "That was good," he said. "Might've just been soup, but I haven't had a good meal like that in a while."

@Windy Breeze "Uh... ok then," Raze said as he followed her. He then removed his longsword from his back, as well as his saddlebags and set them aside. He was about to store his Evoker in the bag but noticed how dirty it was from the tussle. "That won't do..." he said, taking out a cloth from his bag and began wiping it down. "So... you're from a rich family, yet you run an ice cream parlor..." He said as he cleaned. "What made you decide that?" He finished cleaning the last of the dirt as he asked the question, then stared at it for a bit. To this day, he still wondered why he even had the ability to use this thing; the power called "Persona"... what made him so special? What higher power thought he was worthy of receiving it? And why did he have to pretend to shoot himself in the head everytime he wanted to summon it? He shook his head, and looked at Delight, waiting for her to respond.

@Windy Breeze Raze looked around the fancy interior, whistling at sight of it. He had worked with various members of Equestria's wealthy before as a bodyguard, and their decadent and expensive houses looked almost as grand as the one standing before him now, though he never actually stayed over in any of them. "...Nice," he said, nodding with approval, then looked at her. "Again, I really appreciate this. I don't think anybody's ever been this generous to me before..."

@Windy Breeze Raze's eyes widened at her gaze towards him. He paused for about a second, then spoke. "D'uh... I, uh... I mean, um... yeah! That sounds, uh... sounds great! Yeah, yeah... great..." he voice trailed off at the last sentence, then continued to walk, head lowered.

@Windy Breeze "I, uh... got lost," Raze said to Delight as he quickened his pace to walk alongside her. "I'm a traveling mercenary by trade, so I was looking for any new work I could come across but I ended up taking a road I didn't know about. Walked for about seven or so days until I wound up here. And here I am... little to no money, no food, until you fed me earlier... I ain't gonna lie, I'm kinda strugglin' here." He kicked a rocked out of the way as he walked. "I don't know, I did just get a job from some guy who met me near the front gates... I might find more work to take on here as well, from what I've seen, y'all could really use an extra blade..." @Samurai Equine He turned back when he saw the stranger he first met approach him. "Speak of the devil..." he said. "I appreciate it, but I'll only take half. I don't think that spirit is anywhere near gone yet... and I don't like leaving a job unfinished. Once it's done, I'll gladly take the other half."

@Windy Breeze "Nah, I ain't got nothing like that... lead the way, miss," he said to her as he followed behind. As he walked, he tried to contemplate exactly what had happened. So I guess Nightmare Moon's back... great... she might've disappeared now, but who knows if she's gone for good? I don't think this job's done just yet... need to rest and recuperate before I come up with another plan of attack... should probably consult that other guy who met me earlier as well... He lowered his head in deep thought.

@Windy Breeze "Oh, him? Don't worry about him, it's a long story..." Raze said, looking away. "Besides, he's harmless unless I say otherwise. You could say we're almost one and the same... though I don't completely understand it myself..." He shook his head. "Anyway... you said you had a place for me to stay at?"

@Windy Breeze "I would definitely appreciate that... though, I need to finish tending to the rest of the injured here first," Raze said to her. He walked back to where some more injured ponies were and quickly and quietly tended to them. A bruised leg here, a couple cuts there, however one seemed to have a rather nasty gash from the plunderseeds attacking him. "...Yikes," was all Raze could say before taking out his Evoker pistol and pointing it towards his head. "Thanatos," he called out again while pulling the trigger. A gunshot and a sound of light broken glass followed, and Thanatos appeared once more in a flash of blue flames. The sight seemed to scare the injured pony quite a bit. "Calm down, yeah? I ain't about to hurt you..." Raze reassured him before holding his hoof out. "Dia." At the incantation being spoken, Thanatos held out its hand and hovered it slightly above the pony, who was then surrounded by a soothing green light. The gash soon began to close up and heal completely. Raze looked up at Thanatos. "Return," he said, as the spirit faded away in another flash of blue flames. He then turned his attention to the formerly injured pony. "That oughta fix you," he said to him.

@Windy Breeze "Pleasure's all mine, madam," Raze said in a slightly playful voice. He sat up. "So then... you mind telling me exactly where I'm at? Like I said, I've never heard of a place this far out... it's never been on any map I've ever seen in my life."

@Windy Breeze Raze collapsed on the ground, his hunger somewhat satisfied. "I think I'll be good for now, thanks... can't be having too many sweets in one go, know what I mean?" As he laid down on the ground, he looked up at the mare. "Suppose I should introduce myself... name's Raze. I'm a mercenary." He held out his hoof.

@Windy Breeze Raze immediately snatched the dessert box and at first began to quickly devour it, before realizing what it was and slowed down in order to avoid brain freeze. He paused for a second to look at the mare. "...Thanks," he said, before continuing to eat. It wasn't much, but it was more than he had before.

@Windy Breeze "...No... I'm not," Raze said as he stretched his hooves. "That obvious, huh? Yeah, I just happened to come across this place after traveling for a while. Didn't know even existed until now..." As he talked his stomach grumbled once more, louder than the last time. "Grrr..." he grumbled, clutching his stomach. "No food... three days... I'm surprised I can still even stand, let alone fight..."

@Windy Breeze Raze looked to his right to see another mare, about two years younger than him, cry out in pain. He slowly approached her. "Hold on, I'm comin', geez..." he said to her as he took out a cold press, and handed it to her. "Here, apply that. Nothing looks broken; you might just have a really bad bruise or something." He sat down. "What the hell are you even doing out here? Wasn't there some major catastrophic event happening, like, not too long ago?"

@Samurai Equine @Bastian @Windy Breeze Seeing that the last of the vines had died out, Raze lowered his weapon. Thanatos in turn did the same. "Return," Raze said to the spirit, who flew back to his side and slowly faded away. His stomach growled. "Urgh..." Raze grunted in quiet frustration as he sheathed his longsword and his Evoker. He looked around. Not too many of the townsfolk caught in the skirmish seemed to be injured. He approached a couple of the injured and reached into his saddlebags, taking out a travel first aid kit. He then set to work on patching them up as best as he could.