Reign of Immortals RP

Seoul, Kingdom of Korea

Hanging against the grey storm clouds above the former Korean capital was the Japanese flag, proudly displaying its colors to its new subjects. This was in contrast the colorless masses of dwarves and humans flocking the marketplace below in the relentless drizzling rain.

One rather unusual man in the crowd was the esteemed Dr. Johansson Guldvaeske, alchemist extraordinaire. It was in Seoul, despite the turbulent times, that Johansson had finally felt safe enough to stay for an entire week in the city. And he’d immediately garnered the attention of Korea’s intellectuals by talking to those who’d listen about his research into the life sciences and alchemical secrets.

Today, he found himself entranced by the presence of a swirling golden liquid of a short dwarven woman. He’d long since lost the interest of his companions as he talked in depth theory with the Korean alchemist. Unfortunately, he was so captivated by the liquid, that not until the Samurai who’d started to surround him were reflected off the glass – did he finally notice it was a trap. Before the liquid fell to the ground, the nearest Samurai had the elder Dane in their iron grasp.

The woman, who appeared to be their leader pointed in the general direction of the Europeans who’d accompanied the Dane to the ends of the Earth. Unfortunately, she also pointed at Nereida Palaeologa, who stood by her lonesome self as the crowds dispersed to avoid the impending conflict. Immediately, a bunch of Samurai rushed in the pointed direction in pursuit of their prey.

Yasuo Nakamora, exiled former retainer of a once great lord,  sees this situation through the bottom of his glass of sake, leaning against one of the nearby market stalls.

"Damned dogs." he mutters to himself.

How much of that have you had today? asks a voice that Yasuo knew came from his armor.

"Not enough that's for sure." he says downing the rest of the glass. yasuo then straightens his robe and sonters forward.
You better not do what I think you're going to do." yasuo sticks his right foot out, right in the middle of the charging samurai.

"Shit," He cursed under his breath from being so stupid as to fall for an ambush. He moved steadfast to the opposite direction, grabbing hold of Liv's neck to get him to start running.

Nereida looked over to the samurai heading her way. Oh you have GOT to be shitting me. was her thought as she turned around and fled.

She couldn't believe her luck, or lack thereof. All she was doing here was looking for help for her country, who is nearly surrounded on all sides by enemies. Her liege Ambrosius had been doing a great job at holding Anatolia and Greece, but the pressure of invasion was building every day.

While she was running, she bumped into a Half-Elf and a Human. "Watch it!" she shouts to them.

The column of Samurai running towards the Europeans rushed by Yasuo. The samurai that Yasuo eventually tripped fell onto the pavement with an audible smack, thanks to his momentum. Unfortunately for the samurai who was face-checking the pavement - it wasn't the end of his pain. A second and much larger samurai, unable to stop himself, fell on top of the already sprawling figure. The remaining two Samurai who managed to very clumsily stop themselves from joining the two Samurai on the ground rounded on Yasuo. They had their katana drawn (guess who they're pointed at) with blood-lust in their eyes, and one of them asked "You think this is funny, huh?"

Yasuo recognized the emblem of the Samurai attacking him to be of the Daimyo of Hiroshima (Asa Yaochi). Asa had been described by Yasuo's former master as a "snake" - one who'd always follow the winds of opportunity for personal gain.

The remaining samurai managed to gain on the Europeans - as the Europeans had a somewhat clumsy running start. This was thanks to Nereida initially bumping into Liv and Dorian. Now the set of them were running from the Samurai together. Ahead of them the road out of the market place was flanked by various smaller stores like "Goblins & Games", "Ale & Apples" and "Sorcerers & Salons". It's almost as if the stores were names according to a scheme. Anyway, this particular road forked up ahead with the following two options being presented to the fleeing trio:
1. They could run downhill towards the outskirts of the city. Once in the outskirts of the city - there would be ample opportunity to hide from the Samurai. The only problem would be passing from the inner city to the outer city via gate (Seoul has multiple layers or "rings" divided by stone walls).
2. The other option would be to run uphill into the temple district. Seoul's temple district, which was built in the side of cliffs, thus featuring an impressive array of temples chiseled into the cliff sides and a maze of tunnels connecting the various temples together. Of course being the temple district, this area would be well-guarded by Samurai, particularly since this was also where the "Resistance [to occupation]" was said to hide.

In the background of all the commotion, Dr. Johansson was dragged against his will towards an uncertain fate...

Yasuo reached inside his robe and pulled a flask out, pouring the contents into another small glass. "This? No. What I do think is funny is your willingness to be ruled by that snake you call a Shogun!"

Liv was a little annoyed - her preferred response would have been to start hurling lightning bolts but courtesy of Dorian she was kind of committed to the "running away" strategy.

Not that she couldn't multitask.

She shrugged off Dorian's hand, calling upon her power as she did so. The air around her surged, lifting her up off her feet and boosting her forward ahead of Dorian and Nereida before dropping her back to the ground to continue running. Lightning arced around one arm, gathering in a sphere in her hand before she flung it behind her at the lead samurai - narrowly missing Dorian in the process.

"MOve it!" Dorian shouted back at the woman who collided into him. He shoved past her, just as the lightning orb grazed past his ear which sent a slight harmless tingle. He held his ear and turned his head towards the direction of the orb and back at Liv, "You almost hit me!"

"I know! Such a pity I missed," Liv replied, not slowing down to say anything at length and not displaying a single solitary shred of remorse.

"Of course you would feel that way, you lifeless doll," He snarled under his breath as he reached into his bag and slipped on a gauntlet of some sort. He aimed the gem of the backhand of the gauntlet towards the incoming guards and fired a small fireball at them

Yasuo

"We were going to let you off lightly" one of the fallen samurai said angrily as he got up, drawing his katana "But we can't let you insult the good honor of the Shogun. Now you must decide whether you want to come peacefully or whether - and I do hope you choose this option - you come in the hard way."

As he spoke the three samurai formed a semicircle around Yasuo with their Katana drawn. They clearly wanted blood.

Liv, Dorian & Nereida

Meanwhile the group of samurai chasing the trio of Europeans were composed of four samurai who'd drawn their katana. The remaining three had opted instead to pull out their crossbows, clearly not concerned with civilian casualties.

Liv's lightning bolt surged towards one of the samurai near the front, slamming into one of the katana wielder's shoulder. The force of impact spun the samurai sideways almost slamming him against a market stall. The impact ended up setting him back quite a ways as he took a few valuable seconds to recover. Dorian had a slightly better angle to shoot his fireball from - causing it to hit another samurai from the front line in the chest. The impact caused him to reel over and clutch his chest for a few seconds.

This left two remaining samurai to get a lot closer to the Europeans - their katanas gleaming in the afternoon's sunlight. Having noticed that they were chasing magic wielders, they kept closer to the citizens of Seoul, as the citizens hastily parted way for the pursuit.

The crossbowmen in the back shot at the group (rolls in OOC). They clearly weren't concerned about the civilians - nor were they good shots. The most damage they did was to their own - as the samurai Liv had hit spun straight into the arrow shot by one of the crossbowmen (natural 1). To the Europeans, the arrows missed, hitting stands and almost civilians. But already the crossbowmen were loading up another round of arrows...and even the worst of crossbowmen must eventually hit.

In front of the trio, the crowd continued to make way for the pursuit - but the crowded streets served to narrow the distance between the samurai and the Europeans. The mostly dwarven/human crowd made no effort to help the samurai, but neither did they try to help the Europeans. The main problem presented by the crowd was that it wasn't going to take long for the samurai to reach their targets.

The road ahead was nestled between shops - and was going to fork soon. The right hand path hugged the cliff-side, forming a steep upward sloping path to the dwarven temple district. Ceremonial dwarven carvings decorated the cliff-side and the path was mostly traversed by what appeared to be pilgrims and clerics. To the left the path wound down the slope into what appeared to be a district of taverns and townhouses. The path would eventually lead to the gatehouse of the 3rd ring (Seoul had 5 rings of walls) leading to the 4th outer district.

you better not get any blood on me this time Yasuo.

"Well I'm sure you fine, upstanding gentlemen would love to have a chat with me but... there are more important things i must attend to. Farewell." Yasuo says before dashing forward, casting expeditious retreat, and leaping over the samurai.

Seeing as Liv was out in front of the others she took it upon herself to make the decision. It was easier to run downhill than uphill, plus that path seemed it would have way more opportunities to branch off of the main road and throw off their pursuers. Thus she went left.

Dorian was obligated to take care of Liv, so wherever she wound up running to, he has to follow aftter her lest she gets damaged and meets his mentor's wrath. He ran right behind her towards the left path.

Seeing the other two turn left, Nereida also decides to go left.

The Europeans
The left hand path as expected led down hill into a district of houses, taverns and stables to welcome anyone coming through the gatehouse at the end of the road. Ahead were two fruit merchants who'd managed to hit each other with their carts yelling profanities at each other. while a younger guard was trying to get them to calm down (to no avail). The wagons blocked the middle of the path, forcing everyone else to walk around - thickening the crowd. On the right hand side was a larger tavern "Beer & Brawls" filled with common folk listening to a bard. On the left was a narrow alleyway presumably leading into the more desolate portions of the district. The alleyways was flanked by a rundown tavern "Whiskey & Wizards" and a stable with three haggard looking horses "Horace & Horses".

Yasuo
Yasuo saw his newfound allies run the left hand path before he dashed though the startled Samurai. The Samurai couldn't believe he'd do something so brazen - so Yasuo managed to get through them without a scratch (although one of the Katana came close to scratching the robe). The Samurai chased after their prey shouting for him to stop. But Yasuo was too fast, and as long as he would be able to concentrate on his expeditious retreat - it was clear he'd outrun his pursuers.

yasuo continues sprinting away from his pursuers, making the decision to follow his unlikely allies left.

Excellent. This would do nicely to slow down her pursuers. Liv fired another ball of lightning back at the samurai, the surge of power causing the winds around her to manifest again. Using them, she lifted herself off the ground, up and over the wagons in the middle of the road. They faltered once she was on the other side, and she dropped to the ground and nearly lost her balance - but she'd done it. Now that she'd bought herself some time she could throw them off her trail...

Liv was beginning to get on his nerves again. Not only leaving him behind for samurai bait but also making his job of keeping an eye on her ever so much more tedious. He pushed into the crowd, using what he can to cover his head and went to the alleyway for some cover.

Nereida briefly considers taking one of the horses. After all, she'd probably be able to purchase one and ride out of the city.

Probably being the key word here. There was still a chance- an admittedly huge one at that- that the samurai would catch up to her. And that was not a chance she was willing to risk.

And so she decides to follow the artificer into the alleyway.

Nereida & Darian
Yasuo and Nereida made it through the narrow corridor, leaving the laughter from Whiskey and Wizards in the distance. Unfortunately the sound of boots running didn't stop - as several Samurai must've seen them running into the alleyway. In front of the pair, the alleyway finally opened to a exquisite view of rundown buildings and a forgotten crossroads. Clearly this part of town had fallen in a bit of disrepair.

Sitting cross-legged on the only dry portion of the muddy road, was a fortune teller with her little dog (although there was more mud on the dog than dog). Seeing the pair run down the alleyway, she beckoned them over so she could read their fortune. Where she sat, the road forked - one path looked like it would lead towards the gatehouse and the latter deeper into this part of town.

Liv
Once Liv found herself on her feet again after her stunt, she noticed that most of the Samurai had gone after her companions. Of course there were still a few trying to push themselves through the crowd. Flying over the merchants had managed to achieve one thing - shut them up - as they were now glaring her way. This included the guard who'd previously failed to keep them in line, who looked equally shocked. Liv didn't manage to get far before someone strong pulled her into the crowd - the someone who'd pulled her was an elderly dwarven cleric "Are you crazy? The Damyo doesn't allow unregistered witchcraft. But seriously that was COOL."

Yasuo
Yasuo, thanks to his spell managed to for the time being to loose his pursuers, arriving at the same intersection as the Europeans had earlier. The only difference being that the two merchants ahead were momentarily silent (courtesy of Liv) and majority of Samurai head down the alleyway after Darian and Nereida.

In the distance he could see his pursuers searching for him. Soon they'd be at this intersection...

Darian was in no mood nor time to hear hogwash from what he can assume was a senile woman slowly dying away in this filth of a town. He may as well head for the gatehouse for an escape attempt but that required abandoning Liv which he is forbidden to do. So he took the path that lead deeper into the town.

Yasuo decides to head down the path that Liv as heading to keep his distance from his followers.

Probably best not to shock him just for laying hands on her, no matter how tempting...she wasn't sure she should go wasting her power on things that petty. Yet. "What is a daimyo and more importantly: why do I care?"

Nareida & Darian
As Darian turned to run towards the interior of the town, he saw out of the corner of his eye a Samurai charge towards him (perhaps he took a shortcut?) - swinging his katana at Darian's head. As the Samurai got within lethal range, he started to shout for his comerades...who presumably were nearby. In fact, one rounded the corner just behind Nareida.

Liv
"Oh, sorry - I figured you'd be aware what a Damyo is, seeing as you're running from Samurai. These are the Damyo's men (pointed at the too-close-for-comfort Samurai), and I suggest we make ourselves scarce unless you want to meet their leader" the elder man started off toward a set of narrow stairs leading up towards the temple district - indicating Liv follow.

Yasuo
As Yasuo pushed himself through the cart wreckage after the Samurai (who in turn were pursuing Liv), he was spotted by one of two Samurai who'd managed to get themselves stuck in the crowd "Hey - that's the guy who helped the Londoners! Get Him!"

Needless to say the two Samurai pushed themselves through the crowd towards Yasuo.