The streets were mostly deserted, but not dead silent. There was still the sound of nails pounding and crews moving from place to place carrying materials and some rather ominous masked men watching the workers for any slip ups. But even with the arena being full, there was still at least some people out wandering the streets. A few men who had taken notice of Thea held longing gazes in her direction as she passed by when she got close enough. But as she twisted through different pathways to stumble into the market area, things had died down considerably. It was in an almost creepy fashion to see the market district so well organized. Each merchant along their stalls trying to get the attention of passerby or lead them into their stores...but not in the same way as normal. There was no shouting involved or curse words against other competitors. Several of them tried to direct Thea's attention to clothes or some random assortment of goods, but they remained entirely polite and calm, faces unflinching in expression...at least the part of their faces that could be seen. Every single one of them had some kind of archaic language symbol tattooed on their faces and necks that kept a faint blue or red glow. They all looked different, but seemed to have the same effect. They kept calm and relaxed. It didn't look painful in anyway...but it was definitely off. Maybe a bit better than one of them trying to jump on her at sight...maybe. After wandering for a while, she had gotten directions and found a small building. Barely enough to be considered the size of a proper shop and it looked a lot more decrepit than any of the other places. As Thea made her way in, the scent was overwhelming. Something burning and some extremely strong things that smelt like a mixture of perfume that hit the nose hard. The interior of it was aligned with expensive looking drapery, impractically laid out. Thea suspected this was just to give the impression of this shop being more magical than it was, but she had made her way to see a woman sitting on the floor. She didn't look like a proper Thiatan, but was dressed and had features that didn't make her stick out too much. Other than her hair color, she looked like she could properly blend with the population if she dyed it. Possibly from one of the neighboring desert countries since she didn't look like she struggled with the heat...whatever the case, she was more interested in staring at her ball than a customer. "If you want opium, try the west district. I don't touch the stuff. Yes, really. If I did, I could afford a place much nicer than this."
@unisol_gr44 @Tjf After gathering his stuff, Arensios makes his way out on to the sands to see another woman approach from one of the other gates on the same side, clearly the woman was part of his team though he had no idea who she was supposed to be. He caught Safiya overlooking from her position on the balcony observing the women, apparently even the princes surprised by her presence, but both of them walking to where the red head woman stood waiting with her sword drawn who had taken notice of the other two approaching from the same side of the arena. "New developments in the arena!" She didn't get a chance to open her mouth before the announcer piped up announcing the joining of the other two. "Arensios, personal shield and sword of King Nikolaos III, and standing in for the famed captain Ostrukh Borjigin, we have his daughter and personally chosen second, Kijito Borjigin! With top of the line warriors like this, is there any opponent out there that can be a match for them According to princess Safiya, there wasn't. Until now. Today marks the unveiling of the prototype of Thiatan's greatest warrior. A marvel of engineering and magic coming together to form- While the hype man was busy working up the crowd, the red haired vampire took a look at her two teammates, then straight ahead at the other gate, waiting for this opponent to show, now left teamed with two people who saw her as belonging to the enemy. "I'm fine with your with you hating me and my people, as long as you hate losing a lot more. I'm not about to roll over just to avoid hurt feelings." There wasn't time for a proper conversation, the sound of sand starting to rumble down below. While it took many of the common people by surprise, Aversa remained unflinching as well as the other ones. Arensios could see the upper class now fully observing what had just became apparent. This was a glorified area for weapon testing. The point of inviting people over was to show off what they were capable of. Kijito was left seeing the thing rise out of the ground. She was an excellent shot with arrows, but she doubted it would due much good against a non living thing. Especially of that size. Not that it was everything. Something of that size would be completely impractical in an open area, but in a cramped arena it spelled bad news as chunks of sand and debris began to fall and hit the earth with a thunderous impact as it properly stood up straight, waiting for the signal of the battle commencing. @moonblack @merkros "What is-" Roi had actually taken to properly observing it, torn between being disturbed by such a thing existing or the fact Safiya had actually laughed at it's appearance. "What? I can do other things than just stab shit. But that's not the finished project so I'm not gonna pat ourselves on the back just yet. Still worth showing off though. Will give them something to write home about." Safiya looked thrilled at the creation, the other person mirroring the same expression being Raziyma who took a look at her little group. "Anyone feel like placing bets?"
Sakhmet Spent most of her time gawking at the entertainment below. She always had a bit of a fascination for blood and greatly enjoyed the color of it, but a duel to the death for entertainment was something that she had never experienced before. So as it was, she practically leaned over the side of the balcony to see what was going on below. Once the fight below was concluded and they waited for the main entertainment to start, she leaned back and listened to the discussions of her siblings. She wasn't surprised to hear that Roi was uninterested in the spectacle, but when she went to voice her opinion, Raziyma shut her down. Of course, her own opinion didn't have to be stated. It was the same as Raziyma. Still, her expression turned to a slight pout at the interruption. Raziyma knew best, but that doesn't mean that she can't trust her younger sister to voice the right opinion. She mulled over this throughout the remainder of the break before the main event. She listened to the discussions but was mostly focused on whatever the main event was going to be. Thus it was her who was one of the first to see the rippling of the sand as the golem-like creature emerged from the ground. While blood was fascinating, she found the proper use of magecraft to be even more fascinating and her eyes gleamed excitedly at its use. Sakhmet took a sideways glance at Roi and gave him a snide grin at him suddenly paying attention and before Raziyma could stop her. She taunted him. "So what say you now, Roi? Are you still bored?" Sakhmet settled back in her seat and eagerly watched what was about to unfold. "My money is on the golem."
'A golem? What mockery is this?' Arsenios was furious, looking to the balcony of the Imperial princelings, 'Does Thiata have no men worthy of facing us? They have to resort to magic tricks.' The Carian warrior took position next to the two women, 'Let's break those brats' new toy. Any bright ideas? I've never fought something of that size before.'
“Well, it certainly makes for an imposing and impressive sight.” Kellia admitted as she observed the... golem, or whatever its official name was. “My first thought was that this is going to be a pretty one-sided fight. My second thought, however, was 'is it agile enough'? Because strength doesn't mean much if its opponents can safely avoid its attacks and dance around it.” She made a brief pause as she looked at the large golem and its three opponents. “Still, considering the limited space available, this should be pretty one-sided in favor of the golem, unless it's really slow or there are rules that give an advantage to its opponents.” The elf concluded and took a quick look at each of the four siblings.
Kjito thinks for a moment. "My arrows aren't going to do much against it, but if I use my heavy broadheads, they should be enough to get its attention. I shoot it, and it comes after me, while you two take the thing down." She frowns. "Any idea how to take it down, though?"
'We need to trip it somehow,' Arsenios said, 'But how easy that is depends on how clumsily it moves.' If he was being honest, Arsenios had no idea how to fight this monstrosity. Given it's magical properties it might move faster than expected and being a magical construct of sand and stone, there was no way of telling how to even hurt it without using magic.
Thea was extremely careful not to let her appearance be seen. And once she had directions to a magic shop, she happily heads over there. Ignoring its rundown appearance, she thought that just made it more... authentic... right? And as she entered, she took note of the owner. The succubi simply smiled under her hood, looking at her wares. Judging by her apparent infatuation with her crystal ball, Thea thought she was a foretune teller. Though she had no idea just how accurate she was. And after being mistaken for a drug user, Thea clears her throat, using a deep voice to hide who was underneath the cloak. "I'm not looking for opium. I'm looking for an enchanted ring, one that can hide... unwanted qualities in a person."
@moonblack @merkros Roi certainly did not appreciate his sisters mouthing off to him, let alone the one that was considered the lowest on the totem pole. "Quite the mouth on you. I didn't even know you had one. I only ever see it when it's up your "precious sister"'s ass." Safiya who had been antagonizing him equally had actually laughed a little and the elf could see Raziyma biting her lip to try not laugh at his response, pretending to focus on the match. "I'll have to pick...their team." Raziyma peered downwards still holding a confident smile that made her sister who had apparently helped plan this snap to attention looking appalled. "Don't patronize them." Safiya was not amused at the prospect of losing this, but she snapped to look at the elf who had voiced her thoughts. She gave a bit of a snort and rolled her eyes about the questions if the golem would be able to keep up with the group. "No. I never thought of that. I made a perfectly standard issue golem. That's why we chose this whole event in the first place." "We did. Anyway, I've seen enough." Raziyma had stepped away from the balcony and took a look to the stairway as she started to walk off, catching her brother by surprise. "You aren't even going to stick around for when things are actually getting interesting?" "I want to be the first one to use the bathhouse, so I should be going. A healthy routine is important for the skin. Come on, Kellia." She didn't leave it up for debate for the desert elf as she began to walk off, though she was aware this was mainly due to Raziyma going out of her way to keep her and Sakhmet separate from each other.
@Tjf @unisol_gr44 Aversa shared the same frown as the other two at facing their opponent. "I'm uncertain of what to expect, but I doubt this is a conventional construct if they are making such a grand showing of it. I have magic, but it's only really effective on things with blood. I can keep up in a fight, but how much damage we can actually do to it, I don't know." Before she could talk anymore on the subject, the sounds of the magical orbs that broadcasted the announcer's voice blared as the golem started to come more to life and approach halfway into the arena, lowering itself, placing one knuckle down onto the arena floor, coaxing it's head, but halted and patiently waiting for the trio to do something, seeming to pantomime the actions of a warrior bracing itself for a duel. "Round one! Start!" As soon as the announcer had spoke and the crowd cheered, it had started to lift itself up again a little, but remained mostly hunkered and bracing itself defensively. Kijito had been in enough raids to see the difference between proper soldiers and peasant militia. Arsenios had been involved in enough campaigns to get a read on the morale and thinking of other soldiers. This thing's face remained perfectly still and it out dwarfed any of them, but Aversa caught the same thing as the other ones did, the vampires slowly readying her sword. "It's going on the defensive apparently...I didn't think golems knew how to do that. Proceed as planned?"
Raziyma's order left no room for argument and so, though she was curious how the battle would go, Kellia got up to follow. “Well, as long as the golem is fast enough vampire knight does not reveal some unexpected trick or power, it should be relatively easy for the golem to win this, I believe. I hope you'll all enjoy the spectacle. Now please excuse me.” She bowed to Roi, Safiya and Sakhmet in order and hurried up after the eldest princess.
"My apologies brother, I left my enthusiasm get the better of me." Sakhment sunk into her chair in embarrassment at Roi's chastisement. She knew that she was out of line with, but the opportunity to prove him wrong and the superiority of her older sister was too much to resist. However, with Raziyma's pick counter to her own, it left her in an awkward position and Sakhment had little choice but to reassess her decision. "W-Well...I suppose it's possible they could win." She eyed the golem with doubt but quickly regained her composure. "Of course, it would just be another example of Raziyma's skilled eye for talent!" When Raziyma announced her intentions to leave, Sakhment didn't move to follow. Had her sister wanted her to tag along, she would have said so. The feeling of being left alone with her other siblings was tense as she knew that she wasn't very well-liked by most of them. Normally she would have politely taken her leave and returned to her quarters, but her curiosity for how the fight will go overtook her and she gleamed eagerly to watch the coming fight with earnest.
@moonblack @unisol_gr44 Kjito shrugs. "All right. I hope you guys think of something before I get crushed to death." She moves away from the other two warriors, nocking a heavy bodkin arrow to her bow. "Hey, over here, you sandy cunt!" She looses an arrow into the golem's forehead, following it with a few more arrows, and running when it starts to follow. She continues this, shooting arrows, cursing loudly and running away to distract the monster, keeping it away from the others.
Arsenios closed with the hunkering golem and harrassed it with thrusts of his spear, trying to find points that might hurt the monstrosity.
Thea having asserted herself as not here for drugs got the woman to look up, who laughed just a little. "Keeping things quiet that people don't want you to find out is pretty much ninety percent of my clients. The other bit are here for wisdom. I know people's secrets, but whether or not I keep them, comes down to price. In your case...I might have something for you. Kind of. Where did I put that fucking thing..." Mumbling to herself the woman began to rummage through her supplies before finding a wooden box and placing it on the miniature table in front of Thea. Prying it open, there was the appearance of a silver band with one large gem in the center, along with two smaller circular slots for mini ones on the sides along it..except despite the different shapes and sizes that aligned the ring, they were all clear and grayish in color.Thea had traded enough stuff to recognize garbage and junk items when she was it. This ring was authentic, but the magic charge had been sapped out ages ago. "If you can get magical energy flowing back in it again, it should help with any excess energy if that's the problem. Which would be fine, but...I feel like you should work to get it enhanced. Luck for you, I'm amazing at that. Depends on what you want to do. A mental illusion? Shape shifting? That's all simple enough....but I'm not going to touch any lovey dovey stuff of making people fall for you or shit like that." The annoyance in her voice made it obvious this was something that had came up pretty often. "So, I'll give you the ring for cheap. Get it functional again and then I can work with it to make it better."
As Kellia followed along, Raziyma was already halfway down the stairway, taking a look back at her, the confident smile on her face completely unchanged as they walked down to the lower floor themselves. "So, you know what to do, right?"
Hearing the seller had what she was looking for, Thea's yellow eyes grew wide, "Really!? Erm. I mean. What if I'm looking for is the opposite? You know... keep people from... lusting over me? Can you emchant that?" She asked, letting her real voice out for a second, before changing into her disguised deeper one. While waiting for an answer, Thea checks her satchel to see if she had enough to pay for the ring. After all, she knew a few spells of her own. Maybe she could recharge it herself.
"I have better things to be doing myself." Roi began to rise, stifling a yawn. He looked for one of the alternate pathways, clearly deliberate to avoid running into and interacting with any of his other siblings more than necessary. He didn't pay any attention to Sakhment which was nothing new, choosing to stop for a few moments to address Safiya. The side he had approached her was the plated half on her face, and nobody was ever certain if she could actually see out of that eye or not, Roi looking unsure if she was actually looking at him or not. "What was even the point of this? If it gets destroyed, it humiliates our country. If people know it's more dangerous than a regular golem, they'll never sit idly by to produce it. This is just a massive waste of resources. Fa-Pharaoh Tota will be livid." He waited for a proper response from his sister, but after five minutes of her standing there he never got one and just left in a huff. With both of Sakhmet's siblings, no longer there, she was stuck with Safiya. Which was unusual. While she never had a "soft" side to her, Sakhmet had always found her to be markedly nicer when it wasn't in front of the rest of the family. But given the regular treatment, that wasn't saying much. Safiya had taken the seat that Raziyma had, sitting beside her younger sister, but looked more focused on the battle than anything else. She didn't comment on it or say anything to Sakhmet, but she wasn't actually insulting her or actively berating her either. It was only when the battle had kicked off, Safiya had actually spoken watching the combatants spring into action. "I think the dagger has to be my favorite weapon. It's quick and concealable. It's much better to feel things up close and personal."
@Tjf @unisol_gr44 The insults don’t phase the golem in anyway, but the arrows flying through the air make an impact...much to the dismay of the trio. Kjitio’s shots have no problem hitting a target of it’s size, but as soon as they make an impact, the point begins to sink, grains of sand falling, but the arrow getting swallowed inside of the golem rather than just denting a hard exterior. “I...wanted that to go different.” Aversa makes the comment, but still moves into flank the side Asedios isn’t on, the two attacking at it’s legs with spear and sword, but after the first one or two strokes, it becomes apparent how ineffectual it is. The thing’s body isn’t solid at all, and attacks only sink through the surface. While Kjitio has made her distance away, the other two warriors are up close as the thing moves to become aggressive. A strange metallic and almost magical beastly roar being let out, the plan to angering it having worked and now ready to take proper action in a one sided battle. While they can’t hurt it, it certainly can hurt them.
“Of course, my princess. It is always a pleasure to wash you.” Kellia replied for the benefit of anyone who might be eavesdropping, whether accidentally or intentionally, and continued to follow Raziyma towards the baths.
