Xaltwind

Iskah And The Incubus Knight (Xaltwind and PaulHaynek)

Pagras

@PaulHaynek

"You're familiar with their kind then? I'm surprised. I haven't met many of these Zipanguese girls in my own travels." Vanessa replied, before adding: "Then again, I might just not have noticed them, since I've never really been looking for them to begin with."

Upon hearing Iskah's comment about the danuki having only herself to blame if some of her merchandise got stolen, the dark mage chuckled lightly and nodded. But then, then there was a buzzing in her ear. Her mind's ear. Her BRAIN EAR! It appeared that the elusive rabbit they were hunting had been found by her loyal dogs, and their barking was letting her know everything she needed.

Which... Wasn't exactly good news... In fact, it made her frown slightly.

"Yes, it appears I found him... From the looks of it, he's preparing to skip town. Not very knightly if you ask me. We should probably hurry if you'd like to catch him before he runs away though."

With the information she'd gleaned relayed to her employer, Vanessa turned to face the lizardman fully. Aiming her staff at said lizardman, she chanted her 'acceleration'-spell again - since the effects of her own hadn't yet worn off, there wasn't a need to refresh it.

"Well then, let's go catch ourselves that hare of yours."

with that, Vanessa would momentarily wait for Iskah's conmfirmation and/or agreement, and then head off, leading the way towards where Aun was preparing to get away - guided by her magically constructed spies.

Iskah And The Incubus Knight (Xaltwind and PaulHaynek)

Pagras

@PaulHaynek

When the knight jumped over her earth-shaped conjured arms, Vanessa didn't so much as bat an eye. After all, she had half-expected him to do so. However, when the man performed a rolling self-catapultation right through her second wave of ice-shaped arms, the dark mage was briefly stupified. She... Had not expected someone to use themselves as an impromptu battering ram. There was a first for everything.

However, more surprising was the man's sudden turn-about and foul-as-heck-ice-hockey-rules-violating hooking-stunt! The wretch dared attack a defenseless maiden with a pole-weapon!? What kind of knight would do such a heinous thing! If she'd just been running normally, the dark mage would've surely face-planted onto the street below, with only her built-in airbags to soften the impact. Luckily, as she was under the effect of her own haste-spell, Vanessa had just barely enough cognition and reflexes to manage to drop her staff and catch herself by extending both arms. It still wasn't pleasant to fall straight down onto cold, hard, solid-ass stone, but it sure as heck was a lot better to be able to catch oneself than to give it a sudden, involuntairy smooch.

And then the jerk man casually jogged off behind some buildings, as if he'd done nothing at all.

Thankfully, Iskah wasn't far behind and manged to catch up with the majin, who was now pushing herself back onto her feet. With a little help from her lizard-employer, the black-haired woman was soon enough back on her feet, brushing herself off and fixing the pelvic curtain of her dress which, unfortunately, had become a bit tangled and displaced thanks to a certain someone's desire to have women fall for him...

"Thanks, ow, I wasn't quite expecting him to do something like that." She thanked and commented, adjusting her hat. At Iskah's words though, the dark mage simply smiled a confident and unconcerned smug smile. "Lost? What're you talking about, little one? Don't you remember who I am? You think him running out of rang eof our physical eyeballs will keep him away and hidden from someone like me?" She almost laughed the words out.

Then, just as she had done when sending her little magic construct to find iskah and lead her to Aun, Vanessa conjured up a few more of her strange, bird-butterfly... Thingies. With a flick of her wrist, she sent out a veritable swarm of the little blighters, watching as they took the sky and soared up and above the buildings of the city.

Now granted, Aun had mentioned to the mage that he and his fellow knights had done things to try and hide, weaken, scramble and displace his incubus aura. And, for some monsters, that had actually worked. However, against a monster that specialized in magic manipulation, seeing magic weaves and with vast amounts of knowledge and experience when dealing with magic phenomenon, the man's 'smokescreen' was highly unlikely to pose any real issue. True, he may be able to lay low or hide for a while, but it would only be a matter of time before Vanessaa's hand-crafted familiars would be able to hone in on and locate his unique energy signature.

The fact that she'd been sitting right next to do the man and gotten a good feel mfor his aura wasn't exactly going to help him stay hidden for long either.

But back to the majin. She looked around for a bit, plucked her staff up off the ground and then turned to Iskah.

"So.... Did you lose our friend, the goober dum-yucky? You'd think someone like her would be a bit more cautious about leaving her precious trade goods in the hands of strangers." Vanessa chuckled. "But you just leave finding your hubbie to me, alright? Just like when I fetched you earlier, my little minions will come and let us know once they've found him again."

Iskah And The Incubus Knight (Xaltwind and PaulHaynek)

Ensemble d'Entertaine

Vanessa the Dark Mage

Name: Vanessa
Age: ??
Race: Dark Mage
Gender: Female

Appearance:

Height: 5'6" (168 cm)
Eye Color: Blue
Hair Color: Black

Personality:
An optimistic and friendly dark mage, with a playfully mischievous streak. Vanessa is confident, collected and casual, taking things in strides and never truly seems dejected or worn down. She loves magic, to the point of using it for mundane (and often-times unnecessary) tasks or parts of daily life. She has an insatiable hunger for new spells and the magic of foreign lands and cultures, seeking them out and doing whatever she can to collect and possess them.

She can be physically playful, especially with other monsters, and is a bit of a flirt at times. That said, she seems to have a very specific type of husband in mind and, as such, doesn't seem to show much interest in most men - even those other monsters would generally flock around and fight tooth and nail for. While she may act laid-back and unserious, the dark mage does have some remarkable qualities. For one, she always keeps her word and puts a lot of stock in upholding agreements, promises or deals - and this doesn't just apply to herself, but to the other party as well. She absolutely despises people who break their vows or are flippant about their deals.

Secondly, while its rare, Vanessa can get incredibly serious when a situation calls for it. This usually only happens when or if she encounters someone or something that she can sense is an actual and legit threat to her own survival or well-being. In times when such a person or thing appears, she becomes almost like an entirely different person, serious, focused, analytical and cautious. However, which of the two sides of her is the actual Vanessa is unknown.

As a final note, Vanessa greatly appreciates cute things, and will often fawn over them. She likes salty and sweet foods, but is bad with sour or bitter things. She enjoys... Risque... fashion and clothes that show off her physique. On that note, she also puts a great deal of pride in her own appearance and isn't shy about flaunting it or getting compliments.

History:
Vanessa was born a human, in a nation somewhere far off. She was the daughter of a noble household, and as such was sent to a prestigeful and well-known magic academy when she came of age. She was a diligent and hard-working student, who received good grades and was often praised and encouraged by her teachers .

However, as time passed at the academy, Vanessa's sklill and raw talent began to out-pace the curriculum. She soon began to feel frustrated with the "slow and steady" mentality of the faculty, the lack of commitment and progress of her peers and the fact that the kinds of things she wanted to study were either kept under wraps or reserved for "later" studies. Thus, as all frustrated and indignant teenagers, Vanessa sought to take things into her own hands - because obviously she knew best.

Thus started the girl's descent into becoming a "bad girl". She'd sneak out of the dorms at night to perform rituals and spells on her own, sneak into the library and pilfer books from the "forbidde section" and began frequenting shady and less reputable merchants and stores in the nearby city in order to acquire "certan goods". All was fine and dandy for a bit, until it wasn't anymore. After a particular ritual that was way beyond her current abilities, something went horribly awry and Vanessa was hit by a massive back-lash of magic... Magic energy very heavily infused with monster essence...

As a result, when she awoke agian, she had transformed. No longer a human, but having become a dark mage. Naturally, this wasn't something she could hide or conceal from either the school or her peers. ANd when she was finally found out, let's just say it caused a bit of a mess. You see, Vanessa's homeland was a part of The Order, and a fairly conservative member at that. Thus, having a dark mage running around a prominent school was obviously not going to fly. Attempts were made, in no small measure, to apprehend and "deal" with the monster - but fortunately for Vanessa, her new-found abilities and powers as a majin allowed her to avoid capture. Returning to her home, she was hoping to get some help or support from her family - but to no avail. Her parents immediately and utterly ostracized her, declaring their daughter to be "dead" and then promptly siccing their household guard on the "intruder".

Forced to flee her home and country, Vanessa took to the road. She found herself not too upset with the unfolding of events, having pretty much predicted them after realizing what she'd turned into. Instead, she saw it as an opportunity: Now therre was nobody to stand in the way of her pursuit of magic, nobody to tell her what she could and couldn't read or research, nobody to tell what she could and couldn't cast or conjure. So, the young dark mage began a journey, wandering the continent in search of new spells and magic to fill the insatiable curiosity that she had for the subject.

Abilities & Equipment:

• Vanessa's Hat: The dark mage's hat is an enchanted, magical item. Ironically, all it does is regulate the temperature of its wearer. This means that no matter the enviroment, be it a sweltering desert or a freezing tundra, the person with this hat on their head will never be uncomfortable or subjected to the natural elements. Which may explain why Vanessa is able to dress so lightly.
• Vanessa's Staff: This ornate and pretty staff is a lesser magic item. Its main purpose is to serve as a focal point and conduit for Vanessa's own magic and spells. It helps amplify and/or concentrate any spells cast by the dark mage and makes her use of magical energy more efficient. In a pinch, it can be used as a bludgeon too.
• Bag of Holding: Vanessa owns a magic bag, with an interdimensional storage-space inside of it. It has the appearance of a mostly mundane little sack, but with some fancy string to keep it closed. Inside is a space that's roughly 10x10x10 ft (3x3x3 sqm) in size. Not the biggest bag of holding around, but certainly not the smallest either. Vanessa keeps the bag between her mammaries, as her clothes typically lack pockets.
• Expert Caster: While Vanessa's main focus is in offensive elemental magic, she also has a vast array and library of other types of spells. These range from utilitary ones, to defensive ones, to buffing or debilitating ones. While she may not be on the level of an Archmage equipped with every known spell on the face of the planet, she certainly has a very wide arsenal. Given her nature as a Dark Mage, she also has an innately high amount of magical energy to spare, making her a formidable spellcaster indeed.

(This section is currently under construction)

Iskah And The Incubus Knight (Xaltwind and PaulHaynek)

Pagras

@PaulHaynek

"I'm sure there're places your people couldn't go that belonged to The Order. But then, there're likely places where you could still travel, where my kind can't. Or are you suggesting that The Order persecuted your nation's people wherever they went? For that seems rather unlikely if I'm honest, good sir." Vanessa merely replied. The fact tat certain humans from certain cultures and countries didn't get along wasn't exactly news. After all, the main culprits of basically any and every war were, to some extent, humans. So it wasn't really surprising to hear that these Ortusians got bullied when they went to certain places... Though it did beg the question as to why they'd joined with The Order in the first place.

As the wagon rolled on and the incubi relayed his story, Vanessa listened intently. She didn't really say or respond to any of his words though, allowing the man to finish his tale. It wasn't particularly enlightening or anyhting... From the sounds of it, his change had been nothing more than the result of training in an area with overly thick monster energy. To be honest, Vanessa had kind of, sort of hoped for something a little less... Mundane... Like a curse cast on him by a scorned lover or him picking up a mysterious magic artifact or falling into a pocket-dimension and being warped...! You know, something a bit more interesting than 'Hurrp-a-durrp, I did a lot of working out in a foggy place and got all sweaty and now the stank's stuck to me, a-hyuck!'.

Then the wagon finally stopped.

Then a voice called out from behind. A familiar voice. Vanessa turned her head and looked back, spotting the apporaching lizardman. She smiled smugly to herself.

The knight's words just gave him a coy smile from the dark mage, who didn't respond with words. As the exchange between the scaly female warrior and the armored knight began, Vanessa watched with... Moderate... interest. Things were playing out pretty much how she'd figured they would. The incubus wasn't the least bit interested in the girl and was now trying to make a half-hearted escape.

... But that simply wouldn't do, now would it?

"Acceleration."

A flash of green sparkling... Sparkles! Enveloped Vanessa's entire body atop the wagon, before disappearing as quickly as they'd formed. But once the dark mage moved a little, the effects were quite clear. Her movements, even just small ones, seemed to now be greatly hastened. In fact, she looked almost out of place, as if you were playing her and her alone on fast-forward while the rest of the world (or movie) played at regular speed. Within a few mere seconds, she was well past Iskah and caught up to the jogging knight with little effort - amazingly avoiding to bump into any other pedestrians or citizens while moving at this unnatural pace.

"As I said, sweetie. I've got obligations in this town." These were the words she uttered once she appeared right next to Aun on his left, easily keeping pace with the man thanks toh er magic.

... And speaking of magic...

"Stone Grip."

Despite being like... Five feet away from Aun, Vanessa still aimed her staff at the poor fellow, and uttered words of magic again. The tip of her staff glowed and a small, tennis ball-sized sphere shot out, striking the ground infront of Aun, rather than the kkn ight himself. Almost instantly, a pair of earthern arms, seemingly made out of liquid, or very maleable, stone rose and at once reached out... Towards Aun! Trying to grasp the fellow. In total there were four of these stone arms, and they eached attempted to grab onto a part of the incubi. One for each shin or leg, one for his waist or torso, and the last one attempted to just clumbsily nab him by either arm.

Now, this was neither a very advanced spell, nor would it do Aun any actual harm. Sure, it might not feel very nice being clutched by a massive hand made of stone, but it wouldn't do any damage or cause any actual meaningful pain to the fellow. After all, the intent was to stop him and force him into a situation where he couldn't run away anymore. Now, if he somehow managed to dodge out of the way of all four arms, or decided to break through the spell by smashing it with his bardiche (provided it was magically enchanted), Vanessa would just cast a similar spell, but with ice as the element this time... Well, unless Aun decided to take a swing at the dark mage... Then she'd probably have to focus on evading his attack rather than use a follow-up spell. But givne her already improved movement thanks to her haste-spell, that... Shouldn't be too difficult... Unless he used some kind of magic too...

Anyway, the hunt for the husband was officially on!

Iskah And The Incubus Knight (Xaltwind and PaulHaynek)

Pagras

@PaulHaynek

"Teleport around?" Vanessa repeated the man's words, but did so with a jolly laugh at the end. "It's not like you can replace walking and travelling with teleportation. If you've never been somewhere and you try to teleport there, you could very well end up inside a wall or a tree, or a stone. Or even inside another living being." Vanessa explained, still amused. Besides, long-range teleportation wasn't really something that was viable for getting around if you just wanted to travel and see new things. It took too much magic and too much prep-work to be worth the effort.

Short-ranged teleportation would be an option, but even then, you'd just waste a butt-load of magic on something you could achieve easily by just walking or otherwise. Teleportation magic wasn't meant for everyday travel after all. But, the dark mage had a feeling this incubus wouldn't really care or be interested in the different applications and purposes of magic and amgic theory, so she spared him the lecture and instead sat quiet for a bit.

Once he was aboard the carriage, she could really tell the thickness of his spiritual energy. It was like sitting in a sauna with someone constantly throwing water onto the heater. Add onto that the feeling of sitting next to a high school heartthrob while being a high school girl who was all giddy and ready to squee, and you pretty much nailed the sensation that this was exuding. Luckily, while he did cause Vanessa's face to get flushed and body to feel all warm and tingly, he sadly lacked the criteria to truly draw Vanessa in. Basically, he was like a piece of marbled, well-seasoned meat - nice to smell and look at, but not the dark mage's favorite food.

"Bold... Interesting perspective." Vaenssa responded, gently grabbing hold of one her sidelocks and beginnig to twril it. "You humans are born with the ability to go everywhere and anywhere you want. You can visit lands that belong to the Demon Lord, or ones under the thumb of your Order. At worst, you'll encounter other humans who try to steal or rob you, but on the whole you can go anywhere in this world." Shhe paused and turned her head to the Incubus Knight, tilting her head and looking at him with the r sparkling blue eyes. "But we don't have that freedom, sir. If we try to go beyond certain invisible walls taht you humans put up, we can end up getting chased, imprisoned or even killed. In some place we don't even realise your kind's set up these barriers, and then we end up being hunted and killed for simply existing." She looked at the man for a bit, then turned to look ahead as the wagon slowly kept rolling forward. "So, do you still think we're bold when we hear that one of these invisible walls that's blocked an entire piece of our world off from our kind has been broken and taken down? A whole new land, with sights we've never seen and people we've never met, suddenly opens up before us and we can go there, without fear of torches, pitchforks or burning stakes." She fell quiet for a while after this.

To Vanessa, there was nothing bold about going into ortus or any former member-nations of The Order. To see something that had been denied to you, something that could've had gotten you killed or imprisoned, that wasn't being bold - it was just morbid curiosity. Why had this been denied to our kind? Why weren't we allowed here? What was so special about all this that we had to be kept out? To be bold, one would've entered the borders while the area was still under The Order's control. At least, tat was what the dark mage thought.

Then, she raised an eyebrow as the man continued.

So, they had purposefully scrambled and tinkered with his aura? How interesting. There weren't a lot of humans who knew how to successfully tinker with the magic energy of an incubus - especially since in most cases they weren't really considered to be 'humans'. Of course she knew of humans who tried to mask or muddy their own spiritual energy, to try and avoid monsters or detection magic, but she was intrigued by the prospect that this man and his Order were apparently trying to fiddle with his overwhelming aura.

Then he asked the silly question that made her laugh out loud.

"Court and flirt with you? I'm terribly sorry, sir, but while you smell really nice, you don't really come close to what I'm looking for in a man." The dark mage said, honest and without an aounce of restraint. "And if I was married, I wouldn't be out and about, now would I? I'd have... Wifely duties... to fulfill." This last bit was said with a very sultry voice and a very naught face, befitting of the develish woman.

What the Incubus Knight might not have noticed though, was that as soon as he began climbing onto the wagon, Vanessa had done... Something... She had whispered some words under her breath and conjured a small... translucent... bird? Butterfly? Some kind of winged creature, no larger than your standard butterfly. She had held it up to her face and said something to it, and then she'd flicked it off her hand. The little creature had taken flight, and zipped off at high speeds. But what was it? Simple. A magic recording and a bit of detection magic, woven into a constuct. It had been tasked with finding Iskah, and once it did, it'¨d deliver the message.

"Your husband's here, follow." In Vanessa's voice.

The little glowy thing would then guide Iskah back towards where the dark mage was. Noq, the question became, what to do next. The wagon had rolled into a less crowded part of the street, and while this man seemed polite enough, he was a knight, and likely had duties. The chance of him staying to continue small-talk and a friendly conversation was very low. So, what were her options to keep him in place long enough for her familiar to find and bring Iskah back?

Option A: She could try and seduce the boy. A fun idea, but given that he'd seemingly become used to fending off potential brides-to-be and his words from earlier made it clear he probably wasn't the kind of guy who would be stopped by that sort of thing. Unless she got really aggressive about it, but her lizardman employer probably wouldn't like that....

Option B: She could always try and continue their conversation and casually continue talking to him, even as he got off the carriage. If she just played the part of some chit-chat-starved traveller who was simply enjoying a bit of friendly conversation, she could likely manage to stay by his side for a little longer and also keep an eye on where he was going - which would buy more time for the lizardgirl. The issue here was that if the guy was one of those rule-sticklers, he might try to shoo her away or say something like: 'Alas, I must return to my duties!' or some such other straight-laced bull-honkey, which would make it much more difficult to keep tailing him.

Option C: As soon as he got off the wagon, she could cast a bind-spell on him. Be it earth or ice, it didn't really matter, as long as she did it quick and without warning, she could lock him in place, and would likely cause a scene... Which may help Iskah return and find them quicker. The down side? The man was an incubus. She had no accurate way of telling how strong his own magic was, nor how easily he could break out of one of her spells, furthemore, there was no wayto gauge how he would react to having 'hostile' magic cast at him. He might turn violent or become resentful, which wouldn't be good.

For now, she'd choose to try Option B. If things looked like he was about to try and sneak off though, she'd have no choice but to go for the final C-option. But, for now at least, she'd try the civil approach and continue this little back-and-forth of theirs.

[color=lioghtblue]"As for why I'm here... Let's just say I've got obligations towards someone who needs my help with something very, very important. But, I'm more curious about you, sir. How exactly did you manage to become an incubus? You don't have the scent of being marked, so you obviously don't belong to any monster. And you're part of a chaste order of knights, which would suggest you don't fool around either."[/color] Vanessa said, light-heartedly. "An most curious phenomenon indeed... As a scholar and student of magic, I'm very curious."

... That's right... Distract him with small-talk and conversation that doesn't allow him to just answer 'yes' or 'no'. Keep him here, keep him busy... And if he tries to slink away, BAM! Ice grip! Stone bind! Iskah was getting to talk to and marry this hunk ofhunk-meat, that was their arrangment after all.

Iskah And The Incubus Knight (Xaltwind and PaulHaynek)

Pagras

@PaulHaynek

Vanessa, despite having put herself to sleep with a spell, had been surprisingly easy to wake up with very little actual fuss. The travel from that point, through most the morning, had been uneventful and filled with very little actual actually contextual or notewrothy events. Though it seemed Iskah and the foreign monster girl were getting along fairly well, chit-chattig and small-talking to and fro. The dark mage, on the other hand, had adopted a more laid-back, non-invested approach and was apparently absorved in her own little world to pay much attention.

That is, of course, until they reached the new town. Yet another place Vanessa was not familiar with. Just like with other town though, the locals weren't what you would call 'welcoming'. Side-eyes, tense faces, the air of suspiscion and distrust. Yup. This sure was a human town too! Oh well, at least the guardsmen milling about in their pretty formations weren't stopping to harass them or demanding they explain their reason for visiting or some other nonsense. So, in that regard, perhaps it wasn't such a bad place. That didn't neecessarily make it a good place either though.

Then, a sudden waft of energy suddenly hit the trio of girls, and their cart jerked to a halt. It was like the sensation you got when opening a warm oven inside your kitchen during winter. The unnaturally hot air just rolls out and slaps you right in the face. That was, essentially, what it felt like to Vanessa. A wry smile spread on on her lips and she placed a hand on one cheek, tapping it gently with her index-finger.

"...Oh my..."

She didn't really have time to say anything else though, for in the next blink of the eye, Iskah leapt from the wagon in true action-movie-hero style, doing a sick front-flip with the camera doing one of those cool, horizontal spinning cuts to keep her in focus, and then she was off. Shrtly after that, their merchant-friend also threw herself off the cart... A... Dubious choice to make, considering she was, y'know, a merchant and had just abandoned her entire wagon of goods in the hands of some stranger she'd just met the night before... Not that Vanessa was the pilfering type, but you would've though someone who makes a living by selling things would be more... Concerned? For their wares.

As she watched the crazed hens run off in search of this incubi knight, the raven-haired bombshell let out a exasperated sigh. Before she could do more though, a voice caled out to her. As she lifted her eyes and turned her head to face the source of the voice,she couldn't help but raise an eyebrow. A handsome young man, wielding some kind of polearm, or axe...? Vanessa couldn't really tell, weapons weren't exactly her field of expertise. After all, who needed to know the difference between a long sword nad a rapier when you could just throw fireballs the size of pumpkins at anything that gave you the stink--eye?

It appeared this man was exuding the aforementioned spirit energy though. As in, it was leaking out of him constatnly. He apparently had a desire for Vanessa to move the cart... Wait... How could that lizard-girl and raccoon-fool not tell this guy was right here? Were their sesnses so overloaded by his musk that they lost all ability to think and sense the presence of magic? The irony that he would've come straight to Iskah, delivering himself on a silver platter, if she'd stayed put for a few more seconds was almost enough to make the dark mage laugh. Luckily, she managed to reel it in. Still, this was a good opportunity, all she neeed to do was stall him out for a bit... Or failing that, she could always take more forceful measures. But for now, she would at least try to not cause a scene.

"Hail to you too, good sir. I wish I could respect your request, but this isn't actually my wagon, it belongs to a very recent acquaitence. I'm not sure she'd appreciate if I just up and started to roll off with her precious luggage, trade goods and, well, everyhting she owns." Vanessa explain, in an overly long-winded fashion. She'd also chosen to speak more slowly and deliberate, giving herself one of those sleepy air-head kind of vibes. "Besides... I... Don't really know to handle a... Um... Well... Horse." That was a lie, of course, but he didn't know that!

Iskah And The Incubus Knight (Xaltwind and PaulHaynek)

Ortusian Wilderness

@PaulHaynek

Thus, through the power of commerce and trade, Vanessat the Dark Mage exchanged her single, small magic crystal for a total of ten slips of paper... With weird... Moonrune-scrawls... On them. Yes! Truly, this was the bartering of the century!

Regardless, the dark mage seemed pleased with the arrangment. Holding the bundle of paper slips in her hands, she shuffled through them as she stared down at their surface. Her hand movement and overall technique at handling the Zipangu-scrolls were very remeniscent of someone who was skilled at shuffling a deck of cards... Was Vanessa secretly good at, or addicted to, gambling!? Perhaps an intervention was needed? But that was neither here nor there.

Instead, the black-haired monster looked at her newly acquired goods. Her eyes sparkled and her mouth was spread into a big, silly but nontheless charming smile. The kind of expression a child would wear, filled with wonder and excitement, whenever they got a new, fascinating and interesting toy that they just couldn't contain themselves to play with. But, of course, Vanessa was an adult and thus knew how to excersise both restraint and control. ... Maybe... She at least had the decency not to start flinging the ofuda around at random or without warning. Instea,d once she was done looking over each and every one of the paper talismans, she opened the starnge brown pouch from before, and then gently slid all of her new goods into it, after which she tugged at the string and sealed the bag once more.

... Then promptly returned it to its rightful place inbetween her massive mammaries.

Looking up, she only caught the tail-end of what Iskah and Rei had been talking about. Her big goofy smile retrated a bit, being replaced by a more casual and polite face. She was still smiling, but more so out of habit than anything else. After the question was posed and her opinion was asked, the dark mage merely shrugged.

"I don't mind, so do whatever you want, Iskah. Slowing down our pace with a day or two shouldn't keep you from meeting up with your honey-bunny."

Of course, Vanessa's true feelings on the matter were likely different. But, Iskah was the one in charge here, so she was the one to make decisions and calls in situations like this. If the Lizardman wanted to drag around an extra head who wouldn't be helping in any way when it came down to confronting and pulling her future husband from the clutches of the Lot Knights, then that was her choice to make. The raven-haired beauty just found it strange that Iskah had been in such a hurry back when they first met, but was now content to slow their roll... Was it because they'd made extra time by not stopping back in Shinbid or whatever that place had been called?

"I'm gonna get some rest now though, staying up too late's bad for your skin." The dark mage commented. "Just wake me up whenever you're ready to get going. Or if something happens."

With that, Vanessa rose, stepped back a bit from the bonfire, sat down in a cross-legged state and placed her staff over her lap. She then extended one hand, pointing her fingers back towards herself and... With a bit of magic, made her fingertips start to glow a dim, azure light. And then...

"Invoke: Sleep."

... Her arm slumped down along her side, her head became limp and tilted slightly to the side, her eyes closed and, the other two monsters could hear a consistent, rhytmic breathing. It would appear the spellcaster had forcefully put herself to sleep using a rather powerful sleep-spell...

Iskah And The Incubus Knight (Xaltwind and PaulHaynek)

Ortusian Wilderness

@PaulHaynek

"What a silly notion... Magic being tied to The Order." Vanessa scoffed, though was she still smiling. It was more like a dismissive reflexive reaction it would seem. "Our fuzzy-tailed friend has the right of it though, sometimes humans need to be educated I suppose." She added.

When the tanuki-girl offered and asked about what Vanessa was looking for, the Dark Mage laughed heartily.

"A certain spell? Now, why would I know what spells and magic you use in Zipangu if I've never been there, silly girl? I'm just interested in the type of sorcery you use in the far away east. Just call it morbid curiosity." She stated, rather cheerfully.

While Rei was busying herself with the scrolls and other magic items, Vanessa proceeded to... Reach... Into... Her... .. Uhm... Cleavage...

...

... Yeah...

... And withdrew... A ... Bag? A small pouch, actually. A rather mundane-looking thing, brown in color, with a strange, silvery string tied around it to keep the container shut. Gingerly undoing the string, which oepened the bag, Vanessa put one hand inside and dug aroud a bit, before pulling her hand back out. And in said hand, she was now holding a strange, irregularly shaped... Gem? Jewel? Crystal-thingy? It was azure in color and slightly sparkly, giving off a soft, dim light. The thing was also roughly the size of your standard ping-pong ball, well, maybe a little larger than that, but around that size regardless.

"I don't have any money on me, mind you. But how about this mana crystal? Would you be interested in trading goods, Miss Merchant?" The dark amge asked. It appeared Vanessa wasn't really too bothered about which scroll or spell she was trading for, but rather, just seemed to want to get her hands on some Zipanguese magic in general.

She then turned her head over to Iskah, who seemed to be hard at work thinking and brooding. It was all very cute, but hardly a healthy way to spend the evening.

"Don't worry. I told you I'd help you get your man, and I've every intention of doing just that. I really don't like breaking agreements after all." Vanessa said, attempting to be... Comforting? Reassuring? It was a bit hard to say, but her smile was at least genuine and warm, not like the usually playful or mischievous expression she carried on her face.

Iskah And The Incubus Knight (Xaltwind and PaulHaynek)

Ortusian Wilderness

@PaulHaynek

At being corrected for mispronouncing the name of her new acquaintance's species, and then being negatively commented upon her physical appearance, one would perhaps have expected the Dark Mage to sling an insult or two back in retribution. However, Vanessa displayed an uncharacteristic degree of maturity when faced with the obstinate raccoon-girl, smiling all the while as she next to the fire and listened.

"Aww, you noticed them. Thanks~ I guess they are a bit on the big side, huh?" Was all she said in response, looking down at her own chest, giving them a quick squeeze and jiggle to confirm - just to be safe and for no other reason at all. "But exotic goods you say? You wouldn't happen to have spellbooks or magic scrolls from this far-off Zipangu, would you?" Vanessa inquired, curious about one thing and one thing only as usual.

Other then this though, she remained mostly quiet and listened with... Moderate... interest as the other two monster-girls discussed the situation and plight in which Iskah found herself. Apparently these Lot Knight-gents were popular enough to attract a recurring flock of monsters who wanted to snag one of them. But when the topic got slightly more grim and dark, Vanessa raised an eyebrow. This seemed as a strange factor to her, but then again, not all monsters were equally forceful in how they obtained a husband. So, she simply assumed that, like Iskah, most of these would-be-brides didn't have the ability to overcome their intended significant other in physical proweess - for whatever reason - or weren't willing to take more morally questionable avenues in order to secure their mate.

"Oh, so they're that type of men." The dark sorceress commented simply. [color=ightblue]"I guess that means we made the right call in pushing on, rather than staying back in that village. Wouldn't want to waste time if your hubby's the kinda guy who'd throw his life away at any moment, for the silliest of reason."[/color] Vanessa continued. "Humans... Hah... Always so wasteful and careless with their lives... Even though they only live for such a short time. I never could understand that." She finished off, eyes gazing off into the distant nightscape, seemingly not focusing on anything. It was mroe liek she was staring off into space while absorbed in her own thoughts for a bit.

Iskah And The Incubus Knight (Xaltwind and PaulHaynek)

Falkran

@PaulHaynek

After they'd passed through Sinjid, Vanessa's playful antics towards Iskah seemed to bcome less and less frequent, until they eventually stopped. Perhaps the dark mage had grown bored of it, or perhaps she'd picked up on Iskah's distress and discomfort? Regardless, the lizardman was at least free from pokes to the ribs, blowing in the ear and tickling of the sides - which was probably a welcome change of pace.

With the setting sun on the horizon and the town of racists humans behind them, the hour grew late and daylight grew dim. Of course, being that they were both monsters, a lack of sunlight was hardly an issue for either of the girls. In fact, both of teem more than likely saw just as well, if not better, at night anyway. Still, it wasn't good to stay up too late - the skin tended to be the one who had to pay for such poor habits, so perhaps it was time to find a nice place to plunk down for the night?

But, that's when they saw it. Ort well, Iskah saw it at least - Vanessa's view was kinda obstructed by the lizardwoman's head. A small campsite by the side of the road. As they approached ontop their trusty steed, a voice rang out and greeted them.

Coming to a stop, the dark mage looked at the unfamiliar girl before them. Some kind of... Weasel-girl...? Was it a ratatoskr? No, her tail and ears were all... Wrong... Truth be told, Vanessa had never been to Zipangu, notr was she overly familiar with any of the various monster-species form there. She had read some about foreign monsters back at the academy in her human days, but those were more related to the big names, like Youki or Ryuu or Ushi-Oni... This... Raccoon-person did not seem to click or trigger any sort of recollection though. Oh well, she seemed friendly enough. Feeling the effects of having been on horseback for several hours without any real break, Vanessa gingerly slid off the mount's back and onto solid ground with a quiet thud.

Stretching and arching her back... Backwards! She let out a content 'Nnnnnnnnnhh!'-noise, then looked around the area. A fire, a tent, a cart and a small girl with a bushy and big tail. Yeah, sure, this could work. She listened to the exchange between Iskah and this stranger, and was pleased when the latter offered them a place to rest. Honestly, if she hadn't offered, vanessa might've just brazenly requested to share the raccoon-girl's camp anyway.

The comment about husbands and keeping warm made the dark mage snicker.

"Aren't you the forward one. I'm Vanessa, a stray wandering mage, helping this love-struck maiden get her prince so she won't have to be lonely or cold at night anymore." She introduced, and esplained her purpose, to the tanuki. "As for your offer, I think we should accept. Its not good for beautiful ladies to stau up too late, after all." She added, looking over at Iskah and smiling.

Of course, in reality, Iskah didn't have much of a choice, unless the lizardman intended to walk. Since, at that point, Vanessa snapped her fingers and, with a soft ghostly neigh, the steed that they'd been riding on began to... Fade? It was like he was losing opacity at a dangerously quuick rate, becoming more and more see-through until he at last vanished, just like water vapors. At that point, the saddle and reins which Iskah ad put onto their mount sort of just... Felll onto the ground... With a soft leathery thud and metallic jingling-clinking noise. Oh, and iskah also fell off, if she was still sitting on the horse... 'Cuz Vanessa was considerate like that.

With her horsey gone and her magic now slowly beginning to regenerate again, the dark mage turned to their hospitable host.

"I don't think I've ever run into one of your kind. You were called a ... Goober Danyucky? What's someone like you doing so very far away from the far east? Oh, mind if I sit here? Thanks." Vanessa sked a few simple questions, and then plomped her plump butt down next to the pleasant fire, taking off her hat and beginning to fix her long, glossy black hair. She rested her staff ontop of her lap as she did.