(CLEAR) CH2: Gob in Town (Redone)

[Alma Taschner]

Sezrix' Gummi- A personal infantry mech of his own design, built from a combination of Gummi alloys and signature Goblin Rocksteel -made long, powerful strides across stone and dirt alike on its way to the wall city, Radiant Garden. Not long before, Sezrix had been in Firebloom, the closest Goblin camp and a thriving mining town, when explosions rocked the land. They had quite clearly come from the direction of Radiant Garden, thus why the Goblin chief had chosen to return to the city so soon. According to him, the explosions were probably the result of Fursie Penfist, a rival of sorts who'd been tampering with magic. The reality was that it was tied directly to the large number of Darksides who appeared shortly after Sezrix' previous visit.

That particular detail was one that the entirety of the Firebloom tribe was unaware of, however, as they'd never laid eyes upon one of the things, let alone seen the many which had appeared that day. When Sezrix was close enough to see the wall of Radiant Garden, he could immediately tell that something was off, moreso than he'd previously thought.

First off, it wasn't in quite the shape it was in when he'd last seen it. It was bordering on pristine just that morning, but now it was busted up in too many places to count, and even a few holes had been blown through. Smoke also rose from several locations on the other side. He stopped his machine's walk cycle, taking in what damage he could see from the outside. It really shouldn't have surprised him, what with how his camp had been shaken, but actually seeing what kind of blow the city had taken firsthand was a bit saddening. Someone had built that! All of it! And then someone else came along and dropped a magic bomb on it for reasons he had yet to discern.

[Celia Darkson]

After the raids upon several worlds which happened some time ago, Celia had been all but curious as to see the remainder of the destruction. Behind that motive lied another that was known only to her but it involved heading over to the castle. Until then, she would do her best in aiding those who had befallen unfortunate circumstances. However, it'd take more than her prowess in magic to help repair the damage that was done, yet, because it was her older brother, Gwain who took care of the world and its people, she felt obliged to do the same. Besides her twin sister, Gwain was and still is the sibling she adores the most. During her times of reflection she often wondered how she could repay the man for all of his support. Maybe this was a step in that right direction.

Thus, she opened a portal to the world and came through in front of the entrance, where the magnificent arch managed to stay strong but the flowers weren't so lucky. They wilted and had seen many instances of being crushed out right. It was a sad sight. Celia could do nothing for them. Further down from there stood the grand wall, which happened to look largely intact. Reports supposedly showed that a lot of the damage had been inside the meat of the city, nothing really happening outside except for the minor force that attempted to approach.

Security had been doubled and spared what men and women they could, in order to ensure no one else tried their hand at further damaging the city. Luckily for Celia, she was able to get past without much trouble thanks to her connections to the Darkson family. That's when she feasted her eyes upon what lied behind the wall. Everything within a city block (a calculation she made accurately) had been flattened like a parking lot. It was horrendous to say the least and to help remedy what damage that was done, many would see the woman raise her hand and utilize a form of geomancy and telepathy, to place small buildings back together.

Celia didn't show her face as she did this nor did she stay around to speak to some of the shocked, yet grateful inhabitants. Wearing her silver and white robe, the woman threw on its hood to obscure her features and cut an assisting path towards the castle. Even though it was a small attempt, it was better than staying around, doing nothing and watching everything crumble.

Much like the rest of the inhabitants here, the attack left a bitter taste in Celia's mouth. She meant to prepare her countermeasures and those lied beneath the castle grounds...

[Alma Taschner]

Sezrix brought his machine partway through the nearest hole large enough to hold it, using the breach to get a closer look at the inside. There, the affront to craftsmanship was enough to border on breaking the Goblin's heart. Everywhere he looked, the bustling crowd of buildings and people had been replaced with empty space, rubble and dust. He nearly charged in to look for the person who'd dared to commit such vandalism, but stopped when the view was broken by a newcomer to the scene.

It was another human, cloaked in some sort of white cloth, who strolled into the clearing and raised a hand. Right before his eyes, Sezrix witnessed a number of shattered concrete blocks and metal beams float from their places and reassemble without a finger touching them. It was easy to tell that, though the figure never really did anything, the objects had reacted to their hand's movement. Something else that was abundantly clear was how unnatural the event was. Could this have been another instance of someone using magic, like Fursie had?

There was little time to ponder. The human took their leave, moving further into the city and away from view. Sezrix refused to allow his questions remain unanswered, and flung himself from his mech. He landed hard on his short legs and took off after this strange magic-wielding builder, rocketing past the legs of several other humans in the process. As Sezrix struggled to catch up, he witnessed the magic continue on, with almost no visible effort on the builder's part. Normally, such a thing would appear as lazy, with how there was so little being done, but with how the magic seemed to fill in the gaps and bring the wrecked objects back together anyway, it was closer to beautiful than offensive.

[Celia Darkson]

As Celia went more and more buildings had been repaired, nothing too large but homes for those who were displaced for them had come back. There wasn't much she could do about their furnishing and other family heirlooms, but most would be glad to have a roof over there heads. She heard mixed reviews of her work. Some wondered where she had been when the attack happened, others thanked her through hushed breaths and the comments went on. No doubt there were a couple of armed guards who started to send word down the chain of command.

Almost everyone stopped in awe at her save for one being. Behind her she could hear the way people spoke in astonishment and even agitation, as they made remarks regarding some sort of "rude" being. Celia's initial response was to ignore it, because the likely culprit was some recently orphaned urchin who tried to capitalize on the peoples' moment of weakness. The jeers grew closer and closer, however, so Celia stopped her progress of repair and took a moment to look over her shoulder. From where she was standing, people were being brushed aside and the one responsible was a midget-sized creature that ran her way.

[Alma Taschner]

The human Sezrix was pursuing finally came to a stop, and so he was able to as well. His hands went to his knees, and he took a few too many seconds to catch his breath, his wheezing easily audible even through the bulky leather mask he wore. When he was finally able to regain his composure, he looked upward, catching the human's face in his eyes...

And he was quiet. This was not the face akin to the powerful, coordinated forces he'd seen a moment before. Rather, this was the face of something in its own realm. It was completely devoid of the scarring or burns of a workshop, and it even lacked the stress lines of the workers he'd seen wandering the markets for bread in his previous visit. On top of that, her eyes didn't carry that sort of fatigue he'd see even in his tribemates at the end of the day. The disconnect between this person and their actions was jarring, and he found speech difficult at first- Obviously, a result of the shock alone.

Finally, he came up with something to open with. "Pretty uplander!" he began, tacking on the adjective without much thought. "Let gobbiefriends help!" Again, he didn't really plan out his words, but as they escaped his lips he felt they were aligned with his current wants. It was almost physically painful to see the city in the state it was, and even though his machines weren't entirely welcome inside the walls, he saw no reason not to put the offer in the air. After all, it didn't look like this person had much help to begin with. "Firebloomers have lots of setters and building rocks," he pointed out, wanting to make the offer a bit more tempting. After all, the people here wouldn't know that much about Goblin engineering, would they?

[Celia Darkson]

The last thing she expected to be stopped by was something so forward in its speech. Celia wondered if that was due to her succubus-side, a sort of enhanced natural charm to those who stared upon her visage normally found themselves indulging their more impulsive thoughts. It made speaking to others easy in the sense she can just smooth talk her way past should they have no mental conditioning against a succubus' charm, but Celia didn't think the small being before her did. Beyond all of that, the creature seemed eager to help.

"You wish to help? You and your friends?" She asked and took to a knee before him. Celia then outstretched a hand towards the creature. "Your hand, please." The cloaked being requested and politely at that. Before any sort of helping could be done, her natural protective instincts (a trait nurtured from being a mother) kicked in and her mind wanted to analyze what that creature was. All she needed was to touch and stare long enough to get a proper reading on what it could be. As long as it wasn't anything with a violent temperament, she'd be obliged in speaking further with it. "What's your name, stranger?"

[Alma Taschner]

The human asked for his hand, and he obliged immediately, with not a thought of any potential consequences crossing his mind. The question of his name was brought forward, and he replied, "Sezerix Buildie-Bunch," with perhaps a bit too much enthusiasm. After all, she hadn't said 'No' yet, so there was still the chance she'd say 'Yes', and it was no lie that he was eager to help rebuild now that the idea had come into his mind.

[Celia Darkson]

"Hm, unique name." The woman commented as their hands touched. Celia required that short time to get a proper analysis of the tiny-being. Satisfied, she withdrew from him and stood up straight. "Well then, Sezerix, if you want to help, you'll have to notify the king of yourself alongside your friends. During that time, you can also work out what sort of reward you'd like in return. I'm sure he'll be reasonable." She explained and had turned her back to the goblin, her attention now focused on the castle. "I'm going to the castle right now as we speak. Should you wish to accompany me, I won't mind the extra company. I will, however, take stops to repair what damage I can."

And without saying too much more, Celia resumed her journey. Her pace wasn't too fast or slow, but moderate so she could make sure not to miss any small buildings. The power she wielded harmed many before all this but something concerning recent events have made her... Sympathetic. Thus, she resigned to helping the people her brother governed. A start had to be made somewhere after all.

[Alma Taschner]

There were no issues, which relieved Sezrix. The Goblin was sure this 'King' person would be glad for his help, once they'd met and he could make the offer in person. What was even better was that this human was supposedly on her way to meet him as well. It was almost suspicious how conveniently these things were coming together, but Sezrix wouldn't bother going down that road of thought. It was a tad bit too dramatic to be realistic, and this human seemed nice enough as well.

As they continued onward, Sezrix was able to observe plenty of the human's strange reconstruction. As much as he saw, he wasn't able to discern a clear method as to how she enacted her magic. He could, however, tell that there were some limitations. She could lift things and re-arrange them however much she wanted, but it seemed like overly complex things were out of the question. This rebuilding magic didn't seem capable of welding steel, for instance. Maybe welding wasn't something the people here had developed yet? If that was the case, then maybe her own understanding of the materials was what limited her. There were plenty of ways to think of it, and the poor Gob's head began to hurt the more he tried to apply rules to something that seemed to defy reality from the start. "Magic is weird," he said aloud, though it was much more of a mental note than a statement to her.

[Celia Darkson]

Celia decided it best for her to come back to the city after some time, only due to the fact that right now was more urgent than ever. She could help Gwain and the goblins rebuild when she had the space to fully focus on the architecture of the area. While she had excelled through the use of magic Celia hadn't perfected it, thus limiting her from doing too much at any given time. A light sigh passed her lips as she began to feel a strain of uselessness. It was frustrating to say the least. So much destruction... I can scarcely imagine the being with the gall to attack the worlds like this. I must make haste. The vampire-succubus said to herself.

It was only a matter of time before her thoughts were broken by the voice of Sezrix. Honestly, it was a welcomed thing to be brought out of her mind and back into the current situation. Her lips parted momentarily. "Tis true, Magic is very complicated. So much so it's better to leave it as is than to unravel all of its intricacies." She said softly. They were steadily nearing the castle gates and had approached the grande staircase that led to them. Even that wasn't completely void of destruction as cracks ran along some of the steps, on their sides and at other angles. Security was surprisingly not as tight there as it was at the entrance and township. Thanks to her paperwork and words, she was able to squeeze by with the goblin as her guest. "The King does so much for the people, he often neglects himself..."

Celia spoke aloud then turned her golden-red eyes over to Sezrix. "The king will likely be in the throne room, hearing out the needs of the people. I implore you to seek him out and tell him what you told me involving the help you offered. No doubt he'd be overjoyed." She said and offered a soft, genuine smile. "We will separate not long after, so if you have any lingering comments or questions, don't be afraid to speak your mind."

[Alma Taschner]

According to her words, the King was compassionate person who tried to secure his people, rather than himself. Sezrix certainly wanted to meet the person she spoke of. Whoever it was, they sounded like quite the pleasant, reasonable individual, and they'd certainly be glad for the help of the Firebloom tribe. The human said the same.

According to her, the King was in a place called the 'Throne Room'. Whatever a Throne was, it sounded important, and Sezrix made a mental note not to scratch it. There was an offer to answer questions, but the Goblin shook his head, the bulk of his mask swinging with it. "None," he assured her, but thought of something else shortly after. "...But come to Firebloom someday not farsoon! Show Gobbiefriends magic, and help to learn!"

It was a spur-of-the-moment idea, much like every other idea he had, but having someone who knew magic as an ally could be essential if Fursie, the Goblin who claimed to use magic himself, tried to cause trouble again in the future. If the Firebloom tribe could know more on the subject, it could prove essential to countering it. Or even better, they might be able to incorporate it into their construction.

[Celia Darkson]

Once they made it atop the stairs the gates to the castle were just a hop away. Celia made haste at this point, to which the guards easily stood off to the side, considering she ordered the ones from earlier to alert them of her presence. Their chain of command had to have been restored if any of them had the thought of reinforcing security. Then again, it might not have even been damaged to begin with. Celia didn't know and it considered it non-important for the time being.

"You mentioned a word like 'Firebloom' earlier. Is that the name of your tribe or a company you and your friends are associated with?" She asked and hadn't addressed the magic part of it, for a few reasons. Celia wouldn't know where to start and she wondered if the goblins even had the aptitude to learn magic anyways. This universe did have magic abundant but not everyone had the capacity to utilize it. Celia could identify this within the beings of others but there was something of an exception concerning Sezrix. Maybe she'd stop by just to see more like him...

But beyond that, they had entered the castle at last. Soldiers well-armed and appearing a bit more bulkier made up the look for those who guarded the interior. Just up ahead had been the throne room, where the grand doors stood open and revealed a small line of people. Sitting upon the throne was her brother, Gwain Darkson, hearing out the wants and needs of those he governed. "We're here." She'd say and pointed forward. "Once you're inside the room, I'll depart from your company. Hopefully you can make it back on your own."

[Alma Taschner]

Finally, after passing through enough corridors to make the place seem more akin to a labyrinth than a castle, they arrived at what appeared to be a comparatively important room. The human told Sezrix that they'd be splitting up from there, and he fought the urge to complain. As much as he would have preferred to learn more then and there, he did have other tasks to complete at the time, thus why he had come here to begin with. He gave her a nod and a wave, turning to enter the Throne Room, but stopped when he got a good look at who was sat upon the great chair in the center.

"Dirtfighters!" he confirmed. Out of instinct, he swiftly drew a device from a near pocket on his pack, poising a finger over the single, overly large red button. It was then that he recalled his last meeting with this particular human, in which he'd been banned from using his devices within the city walls. As such, he didn't press the button, instead returning it to the pack that held it before and walking inward to join the long line of locals who were pleading to the 'dirtfighter' in turn. The guards had all seemed familiar to a degree, but only now did he realize why. It was the same uniform that he had seen before. But where was King?

[Gwain Darkson]

The throne room had been a lot less protected than the rest of the castle grounds, a subtle way for the king to boast his confidence. Should anyone make an attempt on his life then he'd be the one to defend it then and there, he wasn't a coward nor was he weak. The people were more important than he and that was why he had a line of them before him. They each requested some form of aid that one way or the other, would have used up resources that the kingdom was slowly coming in short supply of. Instead of outright denying their pleas, the man had stood firm in resolve to help them and told those with large requests that certain resources of the relief effort needed to be directed to the more essential areas of the city.

Some understood and others still held their bitter contempt for the Heartless, directing it passive-aggressively towards Gwain. He understood their plight, though, so he never once blamed them for the way they acted. Simply put, he'd just have to hurry to tend to their needs. Easier said than done. The line wasn't at all large and that was mostly in part to him settling disputes several weeks after the attack on Radiant Garden. These were just the remainder who were either at their wits end or wanted to ride out the weeks so they can seek an audience with Gwain faster.

Though, there came a commotion that occurred outside the open throne room doors. The man had taken the moment to notice his guards had drew their weapons upon someone who shouted an eerily familiar, yet unique insult. His brow raised a little and lo and behold, his armed guards pointed their guns and swords towards that goblin from some time ago.

"Hold it, hold it!" He called out and waved off his men. "He doesn't mean any harm, I'm sure he just remembers me from a less than favorable encounter." While the men were hesitant in doing so, they withdrew themselves but kept a cautious eye on the creature. A light sigh of relief came from him and he personally mentioned for the leather-clad being to come forth. "Sorry for that. They're a little on edge right now. I do say we all are." Gwain chuckled. "I remember you from some weeks back. You were with that transient man, right? Summoned the giant mech that damaged a bit of the market place. What brings you here to see me?"

[Alma Taschner]

Some of the nearby guards turned their weapons on Sezrix, but were called off by the human in the chair. He came over to the Goblin, recalling the market incident and asking about what he had come for. Sezrix hesitated a moment before answering, wondering just how much he should tell this person. After all, this was a bandit lord, as far as he knew. Still, if he was allowed to be in a place so important as this Throne Room the other human was talking about so much, then either he had much more influence than previously thought, or he was trusted by King.

Considering how lost he was, Sezrix decided to bet on the latter and give some leeway. "Gobbie wants to help fix Wall City," he explained. "Pretty uplander said to find King, so Gobbie is looking for King." He kept it simple, not bothering to explicitly ask where this King was. If this dirtfighter had any courtesy, he'd direct the Goblin along with little trouble, and they could go on without having to see each other much more. Hopefully.

[Gwain Darkson]

Gwain blinked several times and had to hold in his laughter from how easily confused the person before him could be. "Whoever told you to go find 'King' probably meant the King, as in me." He chuckled. "If you're looking for the king, you found him. I'm Gwain Darkson, King of Radiant Garden." The man introduced himself formally, at last. "You want to help fix what you call the "Wall City," is that correct? I'm open to almost any help as long as its the right kind. Last time we had encounter, you destroyed a part of the market place I was looking forward to seeing opened. I won't have to worry about you bringing further ruin to my world, do I?"

He inquired with an inquisitive raise of an eyebrow. As Gwain mentioned, he was very accepting of aid but even the king knew of potential consequences should he get the wrong type of people on the job. Last thing he needed was further scrutiny from the people.

[Alma Taschner]

Sezrix paused for some time as he digested the strange claims the bandit lord was making. Apparently he was the King? Nonsensical, but... In a way it explained a few things, like why his goons were defending such an important place, and why he was in the Throne Room. Maybe he was being truthful. If that was the case, it would make things both more convenient and more obnoxious at the same time. That the person who kicked out his machines was the same person who ruled the place was an issue in itself.

But he just decided he'd roll with it. After all, this was the only authority figure he had seen at all, so who was he to suggest there was anyone else? "Gobbiefriends will behave," he assured the King. "Bring lots of Setters and replace any footbrokens!" The Goblin gave a stubby thumbs-up with one of his gloved fingers.

[Gwain Darkson]

Gwain couldn't have been any happier and had given the goblin a wide grin. The people who stood behind him, those being the many who wanted to address problems to him, gave a mixed bag of reactions. Some smiled and silently gave their thanks to the little one, while others were skeptical of his intentions as they recalled his spot of trouble from the time before. The king, however, out that all past the being considering they traveled all this way just to lend a hand.

"Excellent, you have no idea how much more this'll speed up the relief effort. I am overjoyed with your eagerness to help. Say, I don't think I've received your name yet and if I have, forgive me for I may have forgotten it. I remember faces better than names and given the stress of the past few weeks, it's been a bit of a struggle to remember much else." He said sheepishly and gave a humbling chuckle. Taking a hand, he reached out towards the goblin and offered to shake his hand.

Their union could definitely speed up the time repairs would take. Houses would be finished up in no time and they work on the taller, more extravagant buildings will take considerably less time than first estimated. Ironically enough, those who owned the high rises often complained about the time and money to fix it all, rather than the well-being of anyone else. It was surprising to see how greed and the selfishness of others extend to dire times. Hopefully the goblin and his friends would be able to alleviate that stress.

[Alma Taschner]

The offer of a handshake was mistaken for that of a high-five, and so the Goblin hopped up to give his palm a firm slap. Within that slap held his spirit of pure, refined motivation which, from simply being felt would radiate outward and inspire several strikes and uprisings in multiple foreign nations, whose governments would then summarily collapse to the overwhelming power of their united citizens, and be replaced with a peaceful regime with the aim to treat its citizens fairly and to limit the power of its leaders. An inspirational moment to be remembered in all history, truly.

The moment of narrative ended and Sezrix returned to the ground. "Will go to Firebloom and bring back Gobbiefriends," he announced. He turned away, giving little thought to the idea of further discussion as he rambled quietly to himself about various improvements he could make and who he might appoint to do particular tasks. "Not farsoon, help will come!" he assured the humans in the hall before stepping out of the room.

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