RP:Impromptu Afterparty

Part of the The God of Undeath Arc

The Whalers' Bar

The Whaler's Bar is a well-loved destination in Cenril, and at any given time the sound of raucous laughter and the buzz of talk will be audible from outside its walls. Inside will often reside any number of individuals from all races and walks of life, as the owner has made it clear that all are welcome within his tavern. It is a space especially beloved of the fishermen and sailors who frequent Cenril's shores, and has the sort of worn homeyness that can be expected from such a haunt. The building is made of sturdy oak, though the interior is dingy from time and innumerable patrons. The original dark stain is faded and scratched, especially on the floor, but despite its flaws the Bar is kept cheerily lit by lamps. The bar itself is narrow, pitted and glossy, and at the end of the day finding a seat along its length can be a difficult thing. So too is the task of cleaning made difficult by day's end, and no matter the attempts made at wiping spills and sweeping the floor, surfaces are often dingy and sticky -- not that the regular clientele cares about such trite things as tidiness. Indeed, various old trophies from local sailing legends line the walls in a cluttered display and it usually smells of seawater, sweat and fish. Assuredly The Whaler's Bar is a scarred, beat up bar, but to hear the locals tell it there is no better place for a drink after a long day in all the port cities in the land.

Kasyr is wanted. Again. Really, it'd be exhausting to the man if it wasn't old hat- and, he supposed, if it wasn't warranted to some degree. Nonetheless, whilst the most prudent decision may have been to vacate from the city at large- the Kensai had instead chosen to venture further into it, once his rowboat had drifted ashore. Frankly, getting a closer look as disaster took to the streets seemed prudent. After all, he wanted to be there to meddle, if there was some disaster waiting in the wings- such as if Caluss managed to snag enough followers through the rapid acquisition of 'Devotees' through the plague. Which is how he ultimately came to be lounging in the whalers bar, conspiciously inconspicuous in his long billowing poncho, and overly large straw hat. "I wonder how Lionel es doing. Or the guild?"

Quintessa || Trying to remain inconspicuous, shrouded under her dark, fur-lined cloak, Quintessa of the Dark Forest nears the Whalers’ Bar. She had Syndicate feelers out combing the city for the newest alleged criminal, Kasyr. Since becoming the second-in-command of the SoS, Quintessa felt somewhat responsible for the members of her clan, she probably should have, so when bounties as large as the one placed on her former lover’s head were brought to her attention, she made a point to get involved. The dark fea girl was troubled; This wasn’t the first time she had heard of Kasyr being involved in wanton slaughter of unarmed bystanders, first in Xalious and now in Cenril. Quintessa, however, was still prepared to give Kasyr the benefit of the doubt, after all, she was no saint herself- She poisoned the Holy Trees. She was involved in the kidnapping and murder of a Larketian child. She served under Gevurah during the Razarath Genocide, but she had been making efforts to curve this beharior while it seemed to her that Kasyr was ramping it up. Now she was here to either find answers or put an end to the violence once and for all. Just like when Quintessa hunted down Lionel to collect the bounty Khitti placed on him, the changeling tracked down Kas, her shadowy form haunting the threshold of the tavern. Her emotions were strong and thick with disappointment and disgust, rolling off of her as she sought after the empath. He would surely recognize her before needing to look up, her heeled boots clicking on the hardwood floor as she draws closer. Though her left hand clenched tightly to the weapon at her side, the Jubako no Kijo, her bloodlust remains tempered. She was going to give the accused a chance to defend himself. “Kasyr.” Quintessa addresses the room, mismatched eyes scanning the few gathered here as they avoid meeting her gaze. “I know you haven’t left the city- you might as well show yourself.” The pancho and oversized hat was enough to go unnoticed at first glance.

Kasyr could feel Quintessa approaching, but he wasn't quite sure how to place the emotions roiling off her until she grew closer and he grew more acutely aware that they were directed at him. That said, she still manages to catch him offguard when she steps into the room and publically announces his presence- effectively setting off a tide of unease in the room. Still, as much as this situation lends itself to some absolutely delightful theatrics- the Kensai has larger priorities. Namely, trying to locate a cigarette within the clutter of his poncho, and his coat. It's only when he's managed this and has it placed at his lips that he finally chooses to lean back, offer a lazy wave to the changeling, and push the chair across from him out. Frankly- even if this does explode in a matter of moments, at least he's gotten comfortable. "Evening."

Quintessa turns to appraise the kensai coldly, icy blue and warm hazel eyes narrowing at the chair he had offered her. She didn’t take it. “Anyone who doesn’t want to get hurt should clear out.” The changeling addresses the room once again, causing some of the patrons to leave while others just chose to escape against the wall. If a fight was to break out it was sure to be intense. Every time they crossed blades it was, but usually you had to go to a tournament to watch it. This was a free show. With a wave of her pale hand her unhallowed aura manifested into long tendrils of physical shadow, sweeping away the tables and chairs that sat between them as she approached, shattering some of furniture in the process. “Even when the world is crumbling around us,” she began, her heels clicking against the floor once more. “You are nonchalant as ever. Tell me this; Are you even capable of feeling guilt?”

Kasyr carefully takes off the hat he was sporting, and sets it onto the table, if only so he can begin picking some of the strands out from his hair. It had been a cheap thing, and hardly comfortable- so a part of him was grateful that she'd blown his cover. "Efficient- but you might want to barricade the door, when you're done giving a countdown- given we're apt to see some city guards or bounty hunters. They -are- going to run off seeking help." The mention of barricades and that things were guaranteed to escalate -also- serves as an impetus for the few remaining bystanders to pack up there stuff and finish rushing off- leaving only the bartender to spectate this debacle. "As for guilt. Well, you'll have to be more specific. Et, as for the world? I'm doing my best to ensure it doesn't crumble any faster." He snaps his fingers, coaxing a few small sparks into life which he applies to his smoke- and begins to lazily puff away, his eyes never really departing from her form. "Et tu?"

Quintessa finally allows a smirk to caress the smooth features of her face, cracking the corner of her mouth. “The Unseen Hand will keep the guards at bay, and any bounty hunters will have to go through me first.” The dark fae girl wasn’t the least bit concerned. Throwing her cloak over her shoulder, she revealed her alchemy blet, sporting a row of colorful vials filled with various potions. Quintessa removes ones, uncorks it, and then drinks. No sooner had the mixture entered her belly did a slight transformation take place, her muscles contracting and bulging slightly as the potion endowed her with the strength of the bull. From the looks of things, she was preparing for a fight, but her intentions hadn’t changed- the telltale sign she was going to attack, a sudden spike of bloodlust, hadn’t taken place yet. “Tell me what happened on that ship.” Her voice is demanding as places the empty vial back in her belt. “I’m trying to stop the crumbling too, so why does it feel like we are working against one another?”

Kasyr moves to point a finger towards Quintessa, before pointing over towards the Barkeep- who had still been spectating this exchange. Not a moment after, the air above the fellow splits apart in a cobweb of silvery strands, that expand outwards only to condense into the guise of a floating sword- the likes of which slams down into the man's forehead with enough force that he'll be waking up with a goose egg. "Discretion -really- is advisable, if you're going to conspire in front of people, or admit to holding up the city. That's a -very- good way to get a bounty matching mine." Her preperations are noted- the alchemy bringing to mind thoughts of her other concoctions- alongside the possibility that it's boons may not be related to just the visible changes. Still, there wasn't much to do about that- yet. Other than to be grateful that it hadn't done anything like set her on the cusp of berserking. "Caluss happened. Similar to last years Hallow's Eve- which es beginning to make me wonder if he has any association to it." ...Perhaps he did, given he was an aspect of Vakmatharas. That parsed. "Gevurah had warned me earlier in the evening that something may occur- but I hadn't seen anything. Not at first."He pauses here, only to scratch at his chin thoughtfully, "Everything changed, in a matter of -heartbeats-. Undeath- spreading in a bite, and changing those effected almost instantly. It wasn't even minutes before it became a floating corpse ship." It's here the Kensai paused, his hand moving to massage his forehead, "My first impulse had been to move towards the captains cabin, to try et steer the ship towards somewhere isolated- to set it adrift. But Lanlan, et a swarm of other passengers isolated themselves there- et made it inaccessible." There's a frown, before he carefully adds, "And so, I had few options available to me, in order to contain or stymie the spread."

Kasyr said to you, "As for why it feels like we're at odds. It's not like we've had many opportunities to debrief, enfin, before you hunt me down with a sword drawn. I'd appreciate if you didn't take problem solving lessons from Krice."

Quintessa didn’t bother to watch the bartender get knocked out. She didn’t sense an incoming attack on her person, so she didn’t bother keeping track of the safety of others. This was perhaps hypocritical of her, but her focus on Kasyr distracted her from the irony. “Holding up the city? Have you seen the state of this place? Cenril has no government- none that is present. You think Uma is going to show her face during this crisis? And the guards have families to think about. Slip them a few gold and they’ll look the other way- everyone knows this.” Quintessa’s disdain for Cenril was palpable. “Since I found out I’ve been aiding the refugees and trying to contain the outbreak. They’d would be stupid to turn away foreign aid at a time like this.” Suddenly her brow furrows. “Caluss?” She was still largely in the dark regarding its existence, despite serving its means for a time, but she was never privy to the name of the ‘Great Insectoid That Dwells Between Worlds’. Quintessa only had a second to suffer confusion before her anger boiled over her feelings of disapproval. “Gevurah?!” The changeling bared her sharp teeth at the kensai. “Tell me you aren’t working for that horrible woman again, after she tried to kill you- after she tried to kill ME!” Quintessa’s fury fueled her magic, causing the light in the room to dim in a foreboding manner. The young woman fumes for a moment, her hand moving up to rub her temple. “So you decided to kill them all to eradicate an already contained illness. You gave yourself authority over the lives of others because you were too lazy to find a better way.” Quintessa wishes with all of her heart that she could have been there to provide the scientific approach. “Do you realize that by sinking that ship you exacerbated the spread? The undead would have had no way of navigating the sea- they would have most likely remained on that ship, giving me time to organize the Necromancer’s Guild so we could study it. Now that it’s reached the mainland?” Quintessa visibly deflates, the fury inside her following her mood. “It could be hopeless.” The comment about Krice was best ignored, that was a whole different can of worms she didn't want to open right now.

Kasyr waggles his finger at Quintessa, his expression cynical, "It wasn't 'at sea' persay. The Gankplank was out- close enough to land that people could step off in droves. Et the Captains cabin was offlimits, so setting it adrift et isolating it was off the table in a timely manner. Especially since they -could- navigate the sea. Some had spilled off the boat, and began attacking those that dived overboard." All given, the Kensai seems a bit exhausted, especially given he's continued his unpleasent stint of sobriety. "So- yes. I contained what I could, to ensure that it did not spread any faster than it already had. Something which may have given Cenril a fighting chance, since it seems they also had an outbreak in the city. ..Since we were greeted by even more coming -out- from there." Kasyr pauses for a moment, to contemplate what he's just said, before he finally adds, "I'm not asking for you to condone what I did- but I could not allow that to spread unchecked, especially since they didn't seem like -sentient- undead. Just...moving . . ." What was the word? "Er, Sentient ... Victors of the illness?" ...Close enough. " Et frankly- I have the suspicion that Caluss es doing this in order to gain followers. He's a god of undeath- creating a revening horde of devotees- of things symbolic of what he'd reduce the world to, seems about right. Especially as part of something larger." The kensai falls quiet then, partly as he tries to go over what he's already told her about the nature of gods, or ascendi. If anything. Notably, he's also not really saying anything about Gevurah.

Quintessa || The air in the room stands still for a moment as Kasyr speaks, the pressure causing the wooden boards to creak and groan under her maleficent aura. However, as Kasyr explains his actions her gaze softens, and the light in the room shines through once more as her shoulders relax and her jaw unclenches. “Frakking Hells.” She mutters, her hand finally slipping away from her weapon as she picks up the chair she had swept to the side and seated herself at his table. “I believe you.” Quintessa continues, her face resting in her hands as the swirl of information rattles around in her head. “But what about Gevurah?” She wasn’t going to let that go so easily, her head tilting up to allow a single, pale blue eye to peer through her long bangs. “Are you really going to sit there and tell me you trust her enough to work next to her? After everything she did? After everything I’ve done for you in the name of vengeance? Kasyr, I’m responsible for the death of countless Drow during this feud, and you mean to tell me that you just casually walk back into her sphere of influence??”

Kasyr folds his hands together, and gingerly rests his chin on top of them. It helped, really- given that diving into this explanation was apt to be more exhausting then carving a path out of the city. A tiredness that likely showed on his face, and helped to press his lips into a flat line, "I don't think -trust- really factors in it. Not in that I am trusting in her nature to be charitable. But her connection with her god es threatened by Caluss- she cannot invokve it against him. Et thus, she has an investment in my wellbeing, as I represent someone who takes issue with malevolant gods- et es not subject to their influence. Not like she es." The swordsman frowns a bit, before his attention flickers off to one side of the tavern, sweeping across the windows in search of anyone that might be there- though for now, his empathy simply discerns that more people are -leaving- the proximity than coming near. His reputation really does proceed him. "Et her feud had been very one-sided. At it's very worst, I still refused to do harm to her directly, since she was the only one who really had an idea to stop this thing." And Lanlan seems mostly over it, really. Maybe everyone getting booted out of the mage guild placated him. "Made escalating things a bit hard- given that doing her harm could help precipitate the end of the world a bit faster." Yup. That's why he'd been so diplomatic. "It's not so much a matter of what I had -wanted- to do. Of impulses. But what was necessary in the long run." Like the boat.

Quintessa stares blankly at Kasyr as the remaining influence of her malice dissipates from the atmosphere. She considers his words for a moment, the confirmation she needed to something she had suspected for a long time hidden in his words. “Elazul’s Bite.” She curses, sitting back in her chair to cross her legs and pull forth her own cigarette, a dark, clove scented vice she had all but given up trying to quit. A snap of her fingers produces the flame to light it and she takes a few slow drags before she continues. “I see.” This complicated things quite a bit. She hated Gevurah, wanted to see her squirm and suffer for hours before Quintessa finally gave her death, but her hatred was now sullied with the realization that she had been manipulated to hate her by Caluss. Her thirst for vengeance now targeted another. “So the feud is over, I hope. Lanlan and I are allies once more, so I will do him a courtesy and leave the woman who warms his bed alone. If you feel so inclined you should tell her that Caluss was the one behind the attacks on the Eternal and Xalious Trees, and that I am heading the research on the ways to reverse the damage done. I am willing to let bygones be bygones to stop this Mad God.”

Kasyr feels a palpable sense of relief. The idea of trying to prevent multiple apocalypses while also feasibly being hunted by people he trained was less than ideal. "I'd send him a letter- honetement. Whilst I'm sure there's apt to still be sore feelings- the severity of this event means they'll be pressed for allies." The clarification no the damage done to the trees is noted by the Kensai- mentally filing it away, whilst simultaneously going over whether or not he needed to pass it along. Gevurah seemed keenly aware of when things pertaining to Caluss were abound. It seemed likely she already knew- but he could always just casually drop it in a conversation? That seemed like a safe way to seem in the know. "I'll likely have the opportunity to mention it at some point. I seem to find her et Lanlan more often than not." ...Probably because he keeps venturing over to disaster areas. "...How have you et Karasu been, by the by? It's been some time since I've talked to you both. Work et all." Probably not the best time to shoot the breeze- but it never hurt to keep up a little.

Quintessa continues to indulge in her cigarette for a while, keeping quiet until Kasyr mentioned Karasu, which caused a slight spike of suspicion to accompany a raise of her brow. “Karasu has been… preoccupied with her own problems. The mark on her neck has been causing more issues, and to make matters worse she avoids me to protect me.” Quintessa shakes her head, her messy, bobbed hair flipping behind her shoulders as she flicks her ashes on the floor. “But it’s fine, I told Khitti about it and she’s going to help her for me. It’s probably about time for me to introduce my mother to my girlfriend anyway…” A small chuckle escapes her before she rises to her feet, throwing a glance at the door. “You should really get out of the city. I’ve produced conflicting misinformation pinning your last known location all over the continent, so you will be relatively safe if you stay out of the public eye… and out of bars.” She gives him a pointed look. “And the next time you hear about something big going down, tell me. What did I give that earring to you for if you’re not going to use it?”

Kasyr hrms a little bit at the mention of the curse getting worse- his thoughts briefly flickering back to the demi felines behaviour at their big conspiratorial meet up. "...Well. Alive es good, au moin. Though it seems like this es not exactly an ideal time to go over what you two know in regards to swordsmanship." Quintessa getting up serves as his own cue- though swordsman eyeing the poncho he's still wearing, "To be fair- the disguise did work. But- I suppose I can leave cenril to it's own devices, for now. There's other things to address, anyways." The mention of the necklace -does- elicit a wince from the Kensai, all the same. "...Uh- valid point, all the same. Though- I suppose, it probably turned out for the best that no one else garned a bounty. Et on that note." Well, on that note- he promptly flickers from sight in a wash of sparks- bursting from his position with so much speed, the poncho doesn't even have time to flutter down to the ground before he's long gone. It's a pretty decent exit strategy, really.