[Leo] Chapter 2: A Trade Deal

[Lance]

"Don't get mad," Leo advised, as he carefully sauntered towards the Lizard's voice. "Get glad!" The writers arm was then reflexively raised, the thoughts of pie once more rising to the surface of his mind. However, after getting past the apple-flavored mist, whilst the sweet scent of victory lingered triumphantly in the air. one glance at his opponent caused him to decide on a different approach.

The girl was in tatters, after all, and he was a gentleman! Additionally, he was no ordinary gentleman too; for he was a trustworthy gentleman! Naturally, there was only one thing left to do for a gentleman as gentlemanly as he! Thus, he offered his hand once more to the girl now lying fallen on the ground.

"No manacles this time!"

[Throndir]

The white fox came over then, still wearing the manacles loosely around its neck, and proceeded to lick Liza's cheek.

"Ah! I can't believe I lost!" Liza complained, trying to ignore the licking as she puffed up her cheeks. But she proceeded to take your offered hand anyways.

[Lance]

"H-heavy," Leo stood aghast, as he displayed a desperate struggle in raising the girl from the ground. Who knew she'd be this heavy! But, in time, he succeeded! This was a true demonstration of humanity's will, showing that no matter how difficult the task, a strong will can still lead to success! However, there was no time for celebrations just yet.

"Now let's skedaddle," Leo hurriedly said. "How're you holding up, though? Are you well enough to run? I don't mind resting a little should you need it, but I believe you mentioned some rather scary folk are already on their way here. Therefore..."

"Need me to carry you?" The writer joked. "I've grown use to carrying heavy loads."

[Throndir]

Perception requested.

[Lance]

Perception provided: [blockquote]Rolled 1d20-1 : 17 - 1, total 16[/blockquote]

[Throndir]

"You're absolutely infuriating for a hero, you know that?" Liza sighed. "Normally, they're a lot more confused, and you can usually subdue them very easily... And I don't need you to carry me!" She pointed at the horse and wagon some distance away.

"You're coming with me on that whether you like it or not! You cost me a small fortune, I'll have you know. And you are going to help me earn it all back. Either you agree, or the manacles are going right on you!"

Requesting a perception each 6 seconds/1 round, basically each post.

[Lance]

"Easy there, tiger... lizard.. wolf," the writer appeased his would-be captor, as he picked up the fox and began petting it for a job well done. "So I take it you're in the business of capturing aspiring young heroes, then? My, how heroic of you. You must make the world a better place! By chance, did you ever meet any hero as dashing or as gallant as I? ...In the first place, what made you think I was a so-called hero in the first place?"

Leo grinned while making his way over to the wagon he swore wasn't there before. "If you ask me, I think you were ripped off. Remember how I tried to at least net you a discount and Mr. Shady guy immediately tried to run away? That's a sign of people ripping other people off."

"But fret not, my reptilian comrade!" Leo appeased the Lizard once more. "For I was actually thinking of opening up a restaurant with this here little gift of mine, however starting up without the proper connections would be absolutely infuriating - and you know how great that feels! Naturally, I wouldn't want to feel anything like that at all!"

"Thankfully, I managed to overhear something about you and your many connections: something about having more connections than the pope had little boys? Hah, that's more connections than there are stars in the sky! So, how about it - my food and your connections? Together, we'll conquer their stomachs, then their wallets, then the world!"

"If things go well, then we'll be swimming in countless coins of gold-pressed platinum, making your initial investment seem as nothing in comparison!"

[Lance]

Perception: [blockquote]Rolled 1d20-1 : 17 - 1, total 16[/blockquote]

[Throndir]

For non combat things that are time sensitive, I'm being more strict with dialogue length and time going forward, meaning I'd end up speaking the lines and timing myself to determine how many seconds have passed for it. I'll let this one go since its the first time. For example, the dialogue above would have taken ~4 rounds. I should probably formalize it with word count => rounds.

"I noticed you summon food, I'm assuming that's your hero blessing. What's with the fox pup though?" She began making her way towards the horse and wagon.

"Now hop on! Last I could tell the Felencorp goons and church were hot on our tails. Because someone didn't want to get caught quietly, we wasted a lot of time!" She hoped up on the wagon.

"Lets talk while we get going."

[Lance]

Eh, just make whatever rolls are needed then. In this case, we can just tack on another 3 perception rolls if needed.

The writer vigorously nodded. "Best. Power. Ever." He proudly spoke before promptly hopping onto the wagon himself. "As for the fox pup, it just couldn't bear to keep away from me - sorta like you but without the manacles." Thus, it wasn't long before Leo found a nice comfy spot for himself on the surprisingly spacious wagon. "Now this is nice. No crazy ki-powered ambushes, no pies flying in self-defense, and no wolves trying to fly... that was amazing by the way. It's absolutely shocking how tranquil things can be when you're not trying to capture the people around you." Leo grinned. "Anyways, here I am answering your questions while you've yet to answer one of mine!"

"In return, why don't you teach me that cool 'ki' thingy you were doing? And you still haven't gotten back to me about that potential partnership, but more importantly..."

Though hardly much time passed after the two had gone on the wagon, or perhaps precisely because not much time had passed, Leo had to turn seriously towards his newfound traveling companion and ask:

"Are we there yet?"

[Throndir]

Perceptions rolled.

In the distance you see a group of riders making their way full speed towards you. It looks like Liza had noticed them as well. The riders were still a good distance away however.

"Oh no." She spurred the horse forward, and immediately the horse began.

"Faster!" She spurred the horse more, and the wagon started taking off at a faster rate. Much of the current landscape was open fields for as far as the eye could see, so there wasn't much of any natural places to hide away. A bead of sweat rolled down Liza's forehead.

At the rate of speed the horses are coming, they will catch up in roughly 15 minutes.

"Aright, first thing, summoning heroes isn't really something like us normal civilians are allowed to do. It's more of the territory of the church and state... You're kind is a bit of a big deal over here. You know... the whole crazy powers?"

"You were supposed to be my... hmm... indentured servant, but not all plans work out I suppose."

"I was originally planning on selling out your services to the border towns, or even to other countries. Maybe even train you a bit so you can take care of them. I might have even hired a valkyrie or something. But I know heroes have all sorts of abilities that might not always be around combat... A restaurant, eh?" Liza's mind pondered through the possibilities.

"That could work... We need to test what you can do with your food summons... As long as those goons back there don't catch us first. Haha... They're... actually going to catch up with us soon aren't they?"

[Lance]

"Church, state, or Lizard, huh?" Leo pondered the decision. "Guess I'll be sticking with you after all, Lizzy, my scale-free reptile! The whole indentured servant thing really does you no favors though. Why, there use to be a time when people actually asked nicely for things they wanted. You'd hear 'die please' and 'kindly go to hell' from people on a routine basis and while these folks might be of the unsavory sort, at least they asked nicely. At the very least, it was nicer than a certain girl extending a hand out to shake then suddenly... manacles."

"Ah. the good ol' days, how I miss thee," the writer fondly reminisced. "Still, that's neither here or there now, is it? What's here is a wagon and if you're able to ki it like you did with yourself, we can light-speed it out of here in a flash. Of course, driving would be a real pain then and you'll likely crash, but hey, it can't be much harder than flying, can it?"

"Alternatively, -oh look how close they've gotten!- you can always let them come. Would they have any means of distinguishing the summoned from the common folk? If not, then I'll just pass off as either your friend or relative. Then -hey, they can probably see us from here!- we can tell them of that suspicious 'summoned hero' who rode off before us."

"There's a few other tricks left too, but first, -I'm gonna wave!- how about some input from our lovely lady?"

[Throndir]

"There was no guarantee you'd follow along! Besides, insurance is what gets you through the business. Either way, things worked out." She shrugged.

"And part with Waggy the 5th? No sir! Besides, can you even use Ki? Don't tell me you're actually some amazing martial artist back in your world?"

"Normally just letting them catch up would be easy, but the moment one of them sees my face, they'll probably connect the dots. So far, none of them know I was the one who got to the summoning circle first. They probably know I've been poking around though. Or at least, someone in either the church or the Alliance figured it out, most likely the latter. But when they see the great Liza Hearts just happened to be driving off from a dead summoning circle... well... even the church goons can connect the dots."

"If worse comes to worse, I do have a hidden compartment in the wagon. It'll be a tight fit, but I can probably squeeze in there... The other option is for me to simply just speed up ahead, but, Leo, I'm not letting you out of my sight."

She grinned dangerously at you.

"Besides, if I wanted, I could probably still put those manacles on you."

[Lance]

"How cold-blooded...," the writer replied with an exaggeratedly hurt expression. "But that really begs the question: whatever happened to Waggies 1 through 4? Did you eat them, Lizzy..?" Leo gasped. "Don't tell me you actually did!? Waggies are bad for you, Liz-Liz! It's no wonder you act the way you do! You might've heard the phrase that a Waggy a day keeps the doctor at bay, but that's just plain wrong!"

"After all, you are what you eat and you don't want to become a Waggy now, do you? Therefore, you must avoid the temptation, Lizalala! Do not give in! You will struggle and you will hurt, but you must stop yourself from eating your poor Waggies! I mean, think about it from their perspective! What may be a delicious snack for you is an apocalyptic event for them! When you deprive those pitiable Waggies from their delectable Waggy families there is much weeping and gnashing of Waggy teeth! I could go on and on about the many reasons why you shouldn't be eating your Waggies, Lizalulu, but you should probably be covering your face right about now. They're getting real close - and they haven't been eating their Waggies."

Leo grinned dangerously back at her.

"How was the pie, by the way?"

[Throndir]

"Ugh! You are absolutely infuriating! That is not how you talk to a lady such as I! Hmph." She said as she as handed the reigns to the wagon to you.

"But the pie... was actually kinda good."

She began climbing into the back of the covered wagon then, looking for something. She eventually pulled out a wash cloth, dampened it with some water from one of her pouches, and began lightly cleaning her face.

"I bet I smell like apples." She said dryly as she stared piercingly at you.

Let me know what the plans are for the next 15 minutes.