Red Herring
T H E- A R J A N- O B E R O I
Private to @Hugh Lowe
Did he not have people to do this sort of nonsense for him? Why did he have to bother to go? He knew the answer deep down but that did not mean he liked it. Arjan needed to get his first broom, which was stored in the family vault, for a magazine photoshoot. He was not a fan of being an errand boy but since it was a family vault, only specific people were permitted to enter.
He was an athlete! People should be getting things for him! In fact, why had no one stopped him on Diagon Alley for an autograph yet? This was outrageous. There was no way that he would not be recognised. How could anyone ignore him?! He was The Arjan Oberoi, the great. He frowned slightly, irritated by the fact that not a single person had swooned or stopped him begging for his photo. What was happening!
Today was clearly a cursed day. The cashier at the desk did not even recognise him. The goblin had the audacity to ask him which vault he wanted to access! "Towers," He stated, slightly miffed that the family vault was still under the Towers name, rather than the Oberoi name as he pulled out a small golden key that had a tiny vault number engraved onto it.
The Towers vault was considered a high value vault, in a lower floor, so it required a little bit more security that the average vault. He stared at the goblin at the counter for a moment. It was strange. The vault was named after his father who, as it turned out, was not his father. Yeah... he was going to have to get a new vault. The Arjan Oberoi vault. One that no Towers had access to.
Though, perhaps he could find a better bank. One that was not run by goblins. He always felt so out of place here. Perhaps it was because he was a giant compared to everyone else- Arjan groaned as he went towards the mine carts, which he hated, only to see a man far taller than him. One that was able to make him, the Mighty Arjan Oberoi, feel like a goblin all of a sudden. As he cranked his neck to look up, he suddenly realised that he did not enjoy having to look up at people and to feel small. Wait- why did that guy seem familiar? Ugh. Did he go to that wretched school where half-breeds like him were accepted or something?
PC: Serena Towers | iNPC: Arjan Oberoi | Other: Hjørdis Jensen & Xiomara Torres
Obnoxiously Strong | The Martial Artist | Spell Spread | Charmer
Sta: 15 | Eva: 10| Str: 25 | Wis: 6| Arc Power: 8 | Acc: 18
Obnoxiously Strong | The Martial Artist | Spell Spread | Charmer
Sta: 15 | Eva: 10| Str: 25 | Wis: 6| Arc Power: 8 | Acc: 18
Red Herring
"You have absolutely no idea who I am, do you?"
He shouldn't have been surprised by this. Hugh had never made the mistake before to see Serena's brother for the idiot he was. The half-giant did not try to hide his amusement at seeing Arjan practically breaking his neck to look up. It occurred to Hugh that he shared a similar frown with Serena whenever she tried to figure things out. Unfortunately for Arjan, that had to be most of the times. A shame good looks could not buy brains.
"Alright..." Hugh sighed, surrendering to the inevitable.
"I'm supposed to escort you and Mr. Kobnok-" He pointed to an approaching bank teller, small even for his goblin race, that seemed no more amused than either of the two people waiting on him. The giant offered a polite nod in acknowledgement of his arrival. "- down to the lower levels, the Towers vault to be precise."
Hugh turned towards Serena's brother and pulled out a golden squiggly rod. He tried to do things fast and proper. Not giving Arjan time to think of any annoying comments that would delay this visit. Security could be a drag to anyone that did not cooperate. But Hugh wanted this guy out of here as soon as possible. Now he held out his hand.
"Your wand, please."
Whether Arjan would hand his wand over within an instant or an hour, Hugh would be required to simply follow protocol and wait for him to oblige. When they inevitably reached that point, he stepped aside and placed the visitor's wand upon a wide ornamental brass scale. Mere seconds later a long scroll of paper protruded from a slid in the back and got ripped off by the half-giant, who promptly read its contents aloud.
"11.5 Inches and dragon heartstring? You've been using this wand for almost ten years, correct?" He barely waited for Arjan's acknowledgment before pushing it back into his hands. The scroll he dumped into a basket positioned next to the scale. Great. Now they could be off to their little 'adventure'.
Kobnok nodded in approval of Hugh's procedures and signaled for another goblin to holler a mine cart. They barely had time to reach the platform before one arrived with four passenger seats. Yet another goblin, this time one of his guard colleagues, stepped onto the vehicle and raised a hand in assistance to Arjan. Hugh's eyebrows lifted in both surprise and anticipation. He figured he knew where this was about to go.
He shouldn't have been surprised by this. Hugh had never made the mistake before to see Serena's brother for the idiot he was. The half-giant did not try to hide his amusement at seeing Arjan practically breaking his neck to look up. It occurred to Hugh that he shared a similar frown with Serena whenever she tried to figure things out. Unfortunately for Arjan, that had to be most of the times. A shame good looks could not buy brains.
"Alright..." Hugh sighed, surrendering to the inevitable.
"I'm supposed to escort you and Mr. Kobnok-" He pointed to an approaching bank teller, small even for his goblin race, that seemed no more amused than either of the two people waiting on him. The giant offered a polite nod in acknowledgement of his arrival. "- down to the lower levels, the Towers vault to be precise."
Hugh turned towards Serena's brother and pulled out a golden squiggly rod. He tried to do things fast and proper. Not giving Arjan time to think of any annoying comments that would delay this visit. Security could be a drag to anyone that did not cooperate. But Hugh wanted this guy out of here as soon as possible. Now he held out his hand.
"Your wand, please."
Whether Arjan would hand his wand over within an instant or an hour, Hugh would be required to simply follow protocol and wait for him to oblige. When they inevitably reached that point, he stepped aside and placed the visitor's wand upon a wide ornamental brass scale. Mere seconds later a long scroll of paper protruded from a slid in the back and got ripped off by the half-giant, who promptly read its contents aloud.
"11.5 Inches and dragon heartstring? You've been using this wand for almost ten years, correct?" He barely waited for Arjan's acknowledgment before pushing it back into his hands. The scroll he dumped into a basket positioned next to the scale. Great. Now they could be off to their little 'adventure'.
Kobnok nodded in approval of Hugh's procedures and signaled for another goblin to holler a mine cart. They barely had time to reach the platform before one arrived with four passenger seats. Yet another goblin, this time one of his guard colleagues, stepped onto the vehicle and raised a hand in assistance to Arjan. Hugh's eyebrows lifted in both surprise and anticipation. He figured he knew where this was about to go.
INPC; Cassanora Browne
Race: Half-Giant // Ability: - STR: 16 EVA: 7 WIS: 10 STA: 20 ARC: 1 ACC: 7
Red Herring
T H E- A R J A N- O B E R O I
Interacting with @Hugh Lowe
Who did this troll think he was?! Did he really think he was worthy and memorable enough to take up headspace in The Arjan Oberoi's perfect head? No, that was ridiculous.
But Arjan also felt slightly offended by the question. It was almost as though the troll was implying Arjan was stupid for not remembering but that would be even more ridiculous - The Arjan Oberoi was NOT stupid. He was no fool. He was the smartiest smarts of all of the smarts. Of course, he was no nerd though. He was cool. A cool smart.
"I don't bother remembering the help," Arjan responded with a wave of his hand as though to dismiss him. He was about to walk away when he heard the words. Ugh, the troll was coming with them?! Wait who the heck was Kobnok? Oh the short guy. Got it. Arjan immediately forgot the name as soon as he registered who it was.
Arjan grit his perfectly white teeth slightly as he disliked this whole thing. The guy seemed familiar. Why. It must have... Hogwarts. Yes, that was one of the few times he had interacted with a giant, especially one that seemed to be of a similar age to himself. "Hogwarts..." He suddenly murmured as Hugh was staring at him, waiting for a wand. He looked down at his fist. They had exchanged blows. How could he forget? "You tried to gang up on me with help... though I recall you failing badly..." He continued, entirely certain he had won that fight despite being the lone warrior against a hoard of half-breeds. Of course, he might have been suffering from a concussion or yanno, Narcissistic Selective Memory Loss Disorder. Either way, he was certain that he had won in the unfair fight.
"Ugh, why would I give you my wand-" He was about to accuse the giant of trying to steal it and being bad at magic but he remembered that there was some sort of identity thing regarding the wand. Gringotts was a strange place... "Do you not know who I am? Why do I have to provide anything?!" He hated this place. They constantly required him to prove his identity to get in, even though he was famous! The WORLD should recognise him.
(Of course, he was not that famous. Not yet anyway. He would be. Just... needed a few more years).
He grumbled as he dug through his pockets to pull out his wand. It took a solid thirty seconds to remember where it was, indicating that casting magic was not usually on his mind. He literally had no idea where he put it half the time. For a guy who acted like an elitist, he really did not cast enough magic. If anything, other than the fact that he flew brooms all day, he was basically a muggle. Not that he would admit that.
"I've been using it my whole life!" He responded with a smirk. Ten years?! TEN YEARS? No, he was destined for magic. If they gave him a wand when he was 1 day old, he'd have wielded that bad boy and casted magic instantly.
ARJAN WAS BEING OFFERED A HAND? This act made him forget that he was going to complain about sharing a mine cart with the larger guy. He stared at the hand for a solid five seconds before he moved. Almost in shock. No one had dared! Arjan was the one who helped others! He offered his hand to others, because he was great and kind and mighty.
The Great Arjan Oberoi flashed Hugh a look of smugness as he stepped into the mine cart by himself, intentionally pushing the giant's hand aside with his huge bulging biceps as he did. When they got out of the mine cart, Arjan would offer Hugh his hand in arrogance.
PC: Serena Towers | iNPC: Arjan Oberoi | Other: Hjørdis Jensen & Xiomara Torres
Obnoxiously Strong | The Martial Artist | Spell Spread | Charmer
Sta: 15 | Eva: 10| Str: 25 | Wis: 6| Arc Power: 8 | Acc: 18
Obnoxiously Strong | The Martial Artist | Spell Spread | Charmer
Sta: 15 | Eva: 10| Str: 25 | Wis: 6| Arc Power: 8 | Acc: 18
Red Herring
@Arjan Oberoi
The way Hugh's eyes rolled, you could have expected them to continue down all the way towards the back of his head. The goblin guard gave a look that pondered the age-old question, 'What'd I do?'. The giant waved him off and signaled that everything was good to go. He thought the goblins had to have been used to treatment like this. Then again, perhaps most purebloods still had standards, in contrast to this twat.
And he actually believed he was the victor from their encounter back at the lake? How daft did he have to be to actually believe that himself? He could not comprehend how Serena could have lived under the same roof as this guy. FOR YEARS.
Hugh closed his eyes as he sat down, taking a moment to maintain his patience. This was just going to be a quick visit to a vault. Just a quick in and out. There was no need to engage in conversation with the guy. His eyes opened, and he saw Mr Kobnok staring at him expectantly. Hugh hastily looked over at Arjan's seat and made sure he was strapped in correctly. After a short thumbs up, Kobnok snapped his fingers, and the cart burst forward into the tunnels.
After a short journey through a twisting maze of endless passages, the three of them would find themselves landing on a circular platform. Tall ivory columns held up the half that was covered by razor-sharp cavern walls, and between them stood a handful of vault doors. Before Hugh departed the cart, he looked around the area. What type of security did the Towers afford?
"Wait here, a second." Hugh commanded.
INPC; Cassanora Browne
Race: Half-Giant // Ability: - STR: 16 EVA: 7 WIS: 10 STA: 20 ARC: 1 ACC: 7
Red Herring
T H E- A R J A N- O B E R O I
Interacting with @Hugh Lowe
The Arjan Oberoi hated every single little thing about this whole experience. First, he was already miffed that he had to come in person rather than being able to just send someone. Second, he had to deal with goblins that seemed to trigger an emotion in him that he was not comfortable with. Third, he had to deal with this part giant who he had the displeasure of seeing multiple times over the years. And fourth was what happened next.
He was fine with the chaotic bumpiness of the tunnels, used to travelling on brooms at high speeds and sometimes spelled to be chaotic as part of his practice. It was not the twists or turns that bothered him. No, it was the security that sat outside of the Towers Vault.
A dragon would have been suitable. They were important, they were rich and their items or wealth needed to be protected properly. Plus, dragons were kind of cool. A red one, specifically. Not that Arjan could tell you what breed a red dragon was but it was fine. They were all cool, right?
Trolls would have been an eyesore but, at the very least, they would not speak to him and he was entirely confident that he was better than them in every single way. He was smarter for sure, and definitely stronger. Yeah, he would arm wrestle a troll - and win - if he was willing to touch the gross being.
But Arjan's "father" had decided to annoy him even further. True to his nature, the goblin had picked his fellow kind to protect it. A 'protect our own' kind of thing. He hated it. It only served to remind him that he was the one who did not belong.
To make this experience as quick as possible, he handed over the key or his wand or anything else that they wanted and left the security details to Hugh. Instead, he just silently did it.
Once the vault was open, he quickly entered. Arjan moved quickly, knowing exactly what he wanted. He had been here plenty of times in the past. It never felt as bad as it did after he found out the truth about his blood. Before, he actually enjoyed it. He felt superior and proud of everything in the vault.
If Hugh was to look inside, he would see that it was full of galleons piled up, there were several closed chests around which appeared to be locked, statues or ornaments made out of gold or platinum with diamonds or other gems on them on the walls or on some shelves that had been put up in the vault.
Arjan made his way to the right side, where several brooms were attached to the vault wall and picked up the one he was after. He turned to leave, grabbing a leather pouch from the floor that was full of what sounded like metal coins and pocketed it, pausing for a moment as his eyes fell on something else.
It looked like a table full of cases of different sizes. There was a very small case that sat on top of several others that he was staring at. It was small but clearly made with love as it was made out of platinum, engraved with intricate details. From the size of it, one would guess it was likely a case for a ring.
He sighed softly as he stared at it, shaking his head as he refused to think about the dreaded topic of marriage. Instead, he grabbed a soft cloth pouch nearby and pocketed that. The second pouch made a very different noise to the first. More like gems. Arjan knew what it was without looking inside and he knew exactly what he wanted to do with it - can you imagine an outfit embroidered with diamonds as his next uniform? He could.
"I'm done. Let's go." He ordered whoever was listening as he went to make his way out of the vault and back to the cart.
PC: Serena Towers | iNPC: Arjan Oberoi | Other: Hjørdis Jensen & Xiomara Torres
Obnoxiously Strong | The Martial Artist | Spell Spread | Charmer
Sta: 15 | Eva: 10| Str: 25 | Wis: 6| Arc Power: 8 | Acc: 18
Obnoxiously Strong | The Martial Artist | Spell Spread | Charmer
Sta: 15 | Eva: 10| Str: 25 | Wis: 6| Arc Power: 8 | Acc: 18
Red Herring
@Arjan Oberoi
Hugh did take a few peeks inside. His nosy nature getting the better of him. Though as soon as Arjan made any notion of turning around and coming back out, he would resume his role of guard in an instant. As Hugh was about to acknowledge the young Oberoi's order. He stopped in his tracks.
Looking down, the half-giant spotted the red glare emitting from his uniform. The run on his Gringotts badge was glaringly bright red. Within seconds, Hugh's head would snap upwards and look for Arjan's presence, who unknowingly approached the cart once more.
"No! Arjan, wait!" His hand reached out as his long legs desperately began to motion towards him. But the expected danger did not come from the cart as Hugh had assumed. A blast from behind almost threw him off his feet, if not for his giant stature being able to absorb a great deal of force. Kobnok the goblin, who was charged with re-sealing the vault door, flew past his peripheral sight and slid unceremoniously towards the edge of the vault's platform. His body was still smoking from the blast.
A loud crack echoed through the caves as dozens of fissures made their way to the vault entrance. Whose iron door now hung lopsided from its frame with several goblin guards racing for the cavern walls. Without many options left to him, Hugh did the only thing he had left to do.
With one great leap, he arched towards Arjan. The stone beneath his feet collapsed along with the rest of the platform. Kobnok had already disappeared amongst the rubble. But Serena's brother was still in his charge. His big arms wrapped themselves around a no-doubt struggling Arjan. As they both began to tumble downwards.
One of Hugh's hands hopelessly reached for nothing but still got hold of cold steel. His fingers locked around the bar as the giant pulled both him and Arjan up. Both realized they were hanging onto the cart, still stationed on the railing. As the cavern continued its rumbling state, Hugh shoved away fallen debris and cleared the steering seat. But before he had any chance of pushing the cart in any direction, a giant stalactite came crashing from the ceiling. It cut through the rails like butter and warped them downwards. As the unbalanced cart slid forward, Hugh could only observe himself and Arjan falling into a seemingly bottomless pit.
INPC; Cassanora Browne
Race: Half-Giant // Ability: - STR: 16 EVA: 7 WIS: 10 STA: 20 ARC: 1 ACC: 7
Red Herring
T H E- A R J A N- O B E R O I
Interacting with @Hugh Lowe
Wait? Why should he have to wait?! And wait- did the giant call him Arjan? The disrespect! It should be The Arjan Oberoi or Sir, or Mister Oberoi or something!
But before he could say something, he heard a sound. Arjan had no idea what was going on in truth. Everything that happened seemed to happen in seconds. He felt arms holding him, and the ground beneath his feet disappearing as he stood there. His brain failed to process what was happening.
His brain was properly slow on a good day but today? This was the most bizarre thing he had ever experienced. For starters, why was he being hugged?? And more importantly, why was it not a hot chick?! "Get off me!" He groaned, trying to get out of the grip but also struggling to kick off on... well anything. Where was the floor?! What was the blasting sound? What was happening? And more importantly, why was HE BEING HELD instead of DOING THE HOLDING?
"What the shit is happening?!" He yelled, angrily, trying to understand what the heck was happening. His brain had failed to understand the danger they were in. He shoved against Hugh's grip, trying to free himself from whatever was happening. As he did, the broom that was in his other hand managed to slip out. "LET GO!" Arjan demanded as he quickly tried to wriggle free. If Hugh did as he was instructed, the wizard was definitely planning to freefall into the broom and mount it midair. Either way, he would scream towards the broom, "UP!" He yelled as he waved his hand towards the broom to try and grab it again.
PC: Serena Towers | iNPC: Arjan Oberoi | Other: Hjørdis Jensen & Xiomara Torres
Obnoxiously Strong | The Martial Artist | Spell Spread | Charmer
Sta: 15 | Eva: 10| Str: 25 | Wis: 6| Arc Power: 8 | Acc: 18
Obnoxiously Strong | The Martial Artist | Spell Spread | Charmer
Sta: 15 | Eva: 10| Str: 25 | Wis: 6| Arc Power: 8 | Acc: 18
Red Herring
@Arjan Oberoi
Of course the idiot let go of the only object in their vicinity that had the ability to fly. "ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR BLOODY MIND?" The giant roared at the top of his lungs, inhaling a copious amount of air in the process. His head grew heavy as he felt his body steer them involuntarily towards a cavern wall. If he did not act quickly, they were both going to be toast.
Hugh could do little else than let go of the struggling wizard. He did tell Serena that her brother's arrogance was going to get him or someone else killed. He just never had expected to be that guy in particular. As the distance between them started to grow, the giant felt he had given Arjan the time to think. Hopefully, even his dull head would instinctively try to retrieve his broom.
But his own situation was less ideal. A rapidly approaching stalagmite was about to impale him if he did not act. His hand whipped out his wand as he pulled his shoulder back. With a long outstretched arm, he pointed towards another, larger stalagmite closer to the cavern walls.
"CARPE RETRACTUM!" His spell echoed through the caves as a red retractable cord of light shot outwards and lassoed itself around the stone spike. It was going to hurt, but at least he was not going to take part in any sort of impalement.
With a hard impact, the half-giant collided into the rocky spiral and slid further down the sides amongst the rubble. An avalanche of rocks rolled downwards in a cloud of dust until it all reached full stop in a large heap of rubble on the cavern floor.
Seconds passed before a large hand broke itself free and reached upwards to find something to hold. Hugh's entire figure soon emerged from the dust as he limped forward into a clearing, trying to peer upwards at Arjan. His clothes were torn, white with rubble, and he was bleeding from the side of his head. He puffed out a cloud of dust as he tried to shield his eyes from anything else falling from above.
INPC; Cassanora Browne
Race: Half-Giant // Ability: - STR: 16 EVA: 7 WIS: 10 STA: 20 ARC: 1 ACC: 7
Red Herring
T H E- A R J A N- O B E R O I
Interacting with @Hugh Lowe
Everything happened in a blur. Of course The Great Arjan Oberoi was out of his mind - he had decided to trust a bunch of goblins and a dimwitted giant to guard his precious belongings! They couldn't even stop the cart from going crazy! What was happening? He had no idea but the floor beneath them had caved, the walls were crashing around them and rumble was falling from the air.
All he knew was that he was freefalling through the air in the caverns deep underground. With his eyes laser focused on the broom that he had been here to retrieve, he quickly snatched it up and mounted it midair. He probably looked like a muggle stuntman doing cool tricks in the air whilst rocks were whizzing past but in reality, if you play Wizard Broom Sports, you get pretty good at being knocked off your broom and trying to remount it. Usually, it was not something he did midair but hey, if needs must. In truth, Arjan had no idea how he did it. His body moved more on instinct than anything else. Experience from years of playing crazy sports plus luck that nothing whacked him on the head whilst he was doing this clearly helped.
As quickly as he could, he steadied himself, glanced around and quickly trying to dodge the incoming roof. Some rumble scrapped past his bicep, narrowly missing his shoulder and he managed to kick against another rock with his foot, though at an awkward angle so it hurt more than he wanted to admit.
Gritting his teeth, he dodged through the space, quickly trying to return back to a familiar surface. Of course, he should have just let the ridiculous staff at the bank to perish their own mistakes but being the kindhearted, amazing, generous individual that he was, The Great Arjan Oberoi managed to find the part-giant after the dust had settled. It was not particularly hard, he was pretty big.
Arjan panted softly, trying to hide how much pain he was in and how tricky dodging everything and flying out of there actually was. He probably should not have freefallen. But... this was kind of good training. Surprisingly so.
His usually impeccable hair was covered with a bit of dust and tiny rumble, whilst some blood trickled down his arm and he was pretty sure his foot was bruised but it was not super noticeable. Though, he was definitely in better shape than the part-giant who looked as bad as this guy felt on the inside.
"Fancy a proper ride?" He asked, offering the giant a lift on the broom - though he was not entirely sure how they'd fit but it supposedly would hold multiple people! Nonetheless, he was clearly the best. He was willing to help those inferior to him, how nice of him!
PC: Serena Towers | iNPC: Arjan Oberoi | Other: Hjørdis Jensen & Xiomara Torres
Obnoxiously Strong | The Martial Artist | Spell Spread | Charmer
Sta: 15 | Eva: 10| Str: 25 | Wis: 6| Arc Power: 8 | Acc: 18
Obnoxiously Strong | The Martial Artist | Spell Spread | Charmer
Sta: 15 | Eva: 10| Str: 25 | Wis: 6| Arc Power: 8 | Acc: 18
Red Herring
@Arjan Oberoi
Hugh was gonna kill him. Or worse, Arjan was gonna be the death of him. And Hugh would finally be proven right about what a useless pile of (slightly handsome) muscle Serena's brother really is. Reluctantly, Hugh reached upwards and managed to climb onto the broom. There was not a whole lot of space on the tiny thing. The half-giant was used to flying a whole tree during his races at school.
It was a different experience, though. Hugh had never flown a broom through the bank's underground before. He had always relied on his two feet and the giant wiry network of cart rails to get him where he needed to be. There were a few patrols on brooms in the actual guard rotation, but since his size did not really allow him to comfortably fly on a broom, he had never been placed on that unit before.
It took him a minute to orient himself and really understand where they were supposed to go from their current position. It did look like the fallen rubble had not obstructed any of the other vaults in the process. That was good. It meant a lot less cleanup for whoever was being sent out to fix the broken paths, stations, and railings. Carefully, Hugh directed Arjan through the twisting caverns until they finally saw a station they could land on.
Several other guards came running as they saw us arrive. A younger guard, though still older than both Hugh and Arjan, approached and began to check them for injuries. Bruises and scratches were easily healed, and at least six guards were summoned to escort the client to safety. Hugh would need to debrief Magrin first. One goblin explained they had already found and captured the culprit. A thief who got spooked by the unexpected visit to the vault tried to retreat and slipped. In his alarm at being discovered, he just started bombarding the platform to try and cover his escape.
Before the guards were able to begin their slow march upwards, with a, no doubt, complaining Arjan. Hugh stepped forward and reached out a hand. "Thanks for the ride. You fly well."
INPC; Cassanora Browne
Race: Half-Giant // Ability: - STR: 16 EVA: 7 WIS: 10 STA: 20 ARC: 1 ACC: 7