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Malus99
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Post by Malus99 »

“There is no time” Answered Dinil to Loathren’s request for aid, seeing their attackers just a few metres away. Turning, Dinil uttered his own war cry and charged towards the ambushers, his blade preceding him in a high guard which turned aside his opponent’s first blow as they came together in a clash of steel. Swearing, Loathren switched his sword to his left hand and met his own opponent’s blade with a binding block, which he swiftly turned into a reverse overhand sweep looking to behead his opponent. Unfortunately his blow, made clumsy and slow by using his off hand, though executed with all the art of a skilled Sariya fencer, failed to connect with his foe, the lightly armoured elf easily ducking out of the way of the keen edge. A ringing blow half glanced off Loathren’s shield, though the deflection still partially struck him across his wounded shoulder as the pinned joint had prevented him from moving his shield up to properly block the attack, roaring in anger, Loathren hurled himself at the smaller Druchii, intent on battering his opponent into a bloody pile of torn flesh and broken bones.

Malthang scrambled up the weather-beaten walls to the rusting balcony overhead, pulling himself up and over the cast iron railings. As he approached the stout wooden door that lead into the house, Malthang brought his repeating crossbow into firing position, just incase there was anyone on the other side of the door who might take offence at the unwanted intrusion. He took a breath, and then smashed his foot against the door with all of his strength, the door rattled, but did not burst inwards, Malthang lashed out at the door again, cursing under his breath at the racket he was making. On the fourth kick the door crashed inwards with a shriek of twisted metal as the locks on the other side finally gave in, Malthang was confronted with a battle cry as he stepped through the portal, a lowborn wearing nothing more than a simple, cloth robe was dashing across the room with a sword in his hand, evidently alerted by the sound of the hammering upon his balcony door. Sneering, Malthang fired his crossbow before the elf got within ten paces of him, the bolt punched through the lowborn’s forehead with a brittle crunch, exited out the other side and buried itself in the wall behind him, spraying blood, skull fragments and brain matter across the room. The elf collapsed to the floor, a final shudder racking his frame. Malthang walked across the room, kicking the corpse out of the way as he passed it, and examined the window on the other side, windows were a fairly unusual accoutrement in most Druchii houses, being perfect entrances for assassins and thieves, and there was little enough light that reached the city anyway to be let in. Through the window, Malthang could see the alleyway below where the two embattled warriors had taken refuge in, aswell as the houses across the street where the enemy marksmen, if they were repositioning, were most likely to appear. A perfect sniper’s nest in other words, at least for now.

Meanwhile, Lenya was also moving up in the world, springboarding off a building, she began to ascend the opposite wall slightly further down the street from Malthang’s position. Reaching the top, she found a line of steel barbs ringing the rooftops, obviously a measure to keep unseen lurkers such as herself from getting up onto a roof, or more likely, down off one to enter one of the houses. No matter, it might have deterred a common thief, but Lenya simply took a firmer grasp of the edge of the roof and kicked off the wall with her feet, pivoting about her handhold, she brought her legs up and over her back, flipped into the air, neatly somersaulted over the barbs and landed on the roof, lithe as a cat. Hoping that none of the ambushers had seen her aerial acrobatics, she crept across the roof towards the alley where the warriors were fighting. Reaching the opposite edge of the roof to where she climbed up, Lenya pulled out her crossbow and peered down into the gloomy street below, her two allies were each duelling one of the ambushers, a shot against any of those down below could risk hitting one of her allies instead, ‘so the problem is?’ She asked herself. Then a glimmer of movement caught Lenya’s eye, two of the marksmen were moving stealthily, but not stealthily enough, across the rooftops several buildings across from her, obviously having decided they had waited long enough for their prey to fall into their sights, and so they had come to hunt them out instead. Just as Lenya trained her crossbow on the foremost of the two marksmen, her attention was drawn again, this time by a cry of pain from the alleyway below, she saw Loathren stumble back from his opponent, a small dagger sticking out from the back collar of his armour, the blade had pierced the steel and was buried to the haft, straight into the warrior’s neck. The triumphant Druchii disengaged Loathren’s blade and gave him a kick which sent the warrior crashing to the ground, before he turned and raced off towards Dinil to help his friend kill the last warrior. Cursing, Lenya saw that the wounded warrior wouldn’t have much chance against two opponents, but then again, he would have even less chance against the two marksmen on the roofs, who to shoot first?

Dinil parried another vicious swipe from his opponent, the shriek of steel grinding upon steel assaulting his ears as he smoothly twisted his blade to disengage it, before bringing it down in a smooth, overhand blow aiming to split the skull of his foe, the Druchii was too quick though, dodging backwards so that Dinil’s blow cleaved nought but air, before diving back in again with a vicious thrust towards the warrior’s midriff. Dinil smiled coldly from under his helm, swinging his blade in a vicious block which would knock the ambusher’s blade well away from his body, leaving the elf wide open to a counter attack. But once again, Dinil’s blade passed through thin air, the attack had only been a feint. His foe neatly slipped his blade passed Dinil’s to catch the warrior a sharp blow on his upper arm, though the sword stroke was stopped by his armour, a second slash was blocked with his shield, at the same time Dinil brought his sword around in a disembowelling strike, his opponent twisted out of the way again, though this time not quickly enough to avoid grazing the edge of the steel, the point of the sword carving through the light Kheitan and scoring a small scratch along the ambusher’s side. The elf dropped back, placing a hand against his wound, seeing it come away covered in blood. Dinil used the spare moment to check on his own wound, blood was seeping freely from the hole in his armour around the edges of the crossbow bolt still embedded there, he could feel the cold metal twisting in the wound every time he moved his arm, gouging at his flesh, a distracting irritant. The two Druchii were just about to clash again when a howl of pain drew all eyes towards the other duel in the street.

Loathren lashed out again with his blade, frustrated by the awkwardness of the blow, if only he could use his right arm! His opponent was not weighed down by heavy armour, and was easily dodging out of the way of Loathren’s attacks, though Loathren’s skill with a sword, despite being forced to use his weaker hand, had kept the short sword of the other Druchii at bay aswell. The brigand was obviously uncomfortable fighting a left-handed opponent, finding it difficult to pass an unusual guard and having to defend from angles of attack he had never encountered before. The ambusher backed off for a moment, switching his sword from his right to his left hand, 'looking to engage me with the other arm in order to fight in a position he is more used to' Loathren thought. The bandit attacked again, though it was instantly obvious to Loathren that his foe had made a serious mistake, this elf was apparently even less used to fighting off-handed than the professional warrior was. Smelling victory, Loathren brought his sword up in a flat-bladed parry, collecting his opponent’s weapon with his own and bringing it across his body from left to right, leaving the elf’s guard open. The bandit twisted with the direction of the parry, his arms going wide and his torso turned towards Loathren’s blade, defenceless. Then there was a staggering impact in the back of Loathren’s neck, and suddenly, the warrior realised his mistake, his opponent had not switched weapon hands to fight him in a more normal position, he had done so to use a dagger concealed in his right hand! Loathren’s body went rigid with pain as he felt the blade, given extra momentum by his own parry, drive through the steel collar of his suit of armour and strike the back of his neck dead centre, right over his spine. Loathren's vision blurred, he felt another, smaller impact against his chest, and then he was falling backwards, crashing against the paving stones. Then, all he saw, was darkness.

“Mother of Night!” cried Dinil as he saw his ally fall lifelessly to the ground. He cursed even more vividly as he saw the bandit who had been facing the warrior turn and race towards him. “Where the hell are those blasted shades!?!”

Ok, so, we still have 6 ambushers, 2 in the streets facing Dinil, 2 Marksmen on the roofs and the other 2 we don’t know where they are. Lenya is on the roof opposite the roofs the marksmen are on overlooking the alley Dinil is in, she has seen the marksmen but they don’t appear to have seen her. Malthang is in the top floor of the building whose roof Lenya is on, looking out a window below and to the right of her, he cannot see the marksmen on the roofs at the moment due to his angle. Dinil is still in the streets, facing two opponents now, one of whom is lightly wounded. Deadline is Wednesday night as usual.

OOC: Sorry for such a late post, I had a lot to do this morning, also sorry that this is such a long one, got abit carried away :D

OOC Edit: I mistakenly put down Sunday as the deadline when I first posted and then edited it to Wednesday night, as there have been no replies I assume you all missed my edit, sorry for confusing you, as it is, Deadline can be Sunday as it was at first
Veni, Vidi, Voro!!!

All things perish, this is the law of existence, accept your suffering and your mortality, only by using this truth, can you transcend it.
Varaken
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Post by Varaken »

Malthang took up position in the window the dead peasant already forgotten as his lifeblood seeped into the threadbare carpets and unfinished floorboards of his home. He was listening for the tell tale sounds of footsteps on the roof as the sharpshooters changed position. They inevitably would the shade thought, all hunters have to eventually, prey rarely comes to the hunter in these lands. And that prey is usually considerably larger, stronger and faster than yourself he mused with a wry grin. All the while he scanned the street below, the melee was continuing and currently looked fairly even.

Loathren, fighting with his off-hand looked slow and cumbersome by comparison to his opponent but the unusual, albeit involuntary, fighting style seemed to have the ambusher sufficiently confused that he had not yet been gutted. Dinil also seemed to be holding is attacker at bay despite the crossbow bolt embedded in his flesh. Of Lenya, Malthang could see no sign. If she kept this up she might actually reach a level of impressing the shade.

"Mother of Night!"

The cry from the street caused Malthang to flick his eyes back to the alley just in time to see blood begin to seep from the prone figure of Loathren. Simultaneously cursing himself for his inattention while also speculating on the prospect of a three way split on the treasure he raised his repeater crossbow to the ready, flicked the catch from single shot to rapid fire and took aim on the Druchii responsible.

"City Dwellers." he muttered.

He was tracking the ambushers movement down the street, keeping the cross-hair a fraction in front of his target, his hunter's instincts honed for the kill. Exhaling he waited for the gap in his slowed heart rate to improve his aim. He pulled the trigger, letting a small hail of bolts fly towards his target.
Only by the blade can weakness be purged.
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The buoyancy of water
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Post by The buoyancy of water »

Lenya cursed under her breath as Loathren's body was kicked to the ground. He had proved a useful distraction and had kept attention away from her, something which would be sorely missed. The death was quickly forgotten, pushed to the back of her mind. She knew she had to deal with the snipers first, as far as she knew she was the only one of her group who knew of their whereabouts. Moving as little as possible so as to avoid drawing attention to herself she scanned the rooftop, looking for something suitable to hide behind. Dinil wouldn't last long, she had to take these two out quickly so that she could cover his fight with the two elves below. She still wanted to hear that information he held.

(If Lenya doesn't spot any good cover, she will slowly draw her crossbow and lie down, trying to use her cloak to cover as much of herself as possible.)

A position found, Lenya waited for the snipers to draw nearer. She wanted to minimise the return fire and she would only achieve this by taking them both out in one volley. She didn't think this would be possible, so instead decided her best bet was to ensure the first target died and give herself a chance to at least wound the second sniper as they looked for cover. She waited patiently, hardly daring to breathe in case they saw her breath. Once the first sniper got close enough she started firing, aiming for their chest. As soon as the second sniper starts moving for cover she switches her target. Her shots fired, Lenya holds her breath and reloads quietly, watching for return fire.
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Malus99
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Post by Malus99 »

Dinil swore as he ducked another swing from his opponent and then lashed back out, but his blade was easily intercepted and deflected by his opponent. His enemy was fighting conservatively, knowing that he only had to hold Dinil off long enough for help to arrive, Dinil tried not to think about what would happen when it did. Dinil parried another half hearted attack, and then stormed onto the offensive, hoping he could overwhelm his foe before his friend arrived. His blade whistled through the air, slashing high to the right, disengaging from the parry to stab for the elf’s leg, the sudden switch from body blows for maximum damage to crippling blows to the extremities took his foe by surprise, the elf twisted to his left, though too slowly to avoid all of the blow, and took a shallow cut across the thigh. It was a minor injury, but now the elf was off balance and Dinil pressed his advantage, putting all of his weight behind heavy blows which forced his opponent to either dodge aside or match him blade to blade, the bandit’s guard rapidly disintegrated under the assault, he was a cutthroat not a duellist after all. Dinil closed in for the kill, his steel sweeping across the space between the two to smash his opponent’s blade away from his body, the bandit managed to hold onto his sword, just, but his defences were cracked wide open, his sword arm flung to the side, to far away to block the final blow. Then several things all seemed to happen at once, Dinil, watching his opponent’s eyes rather than his sword as any seasoned swordsman does, saw them widen in shock as he realised he was finished, but then they fixed on a point over Dinil’s shoulder, and a gleam of hope crept into the inky depths of despair they had held just half a moment before, Dinil also heard the rapid footsteps, close. Too close. His time was up. Cursing, Dinil started to turn, bringing his sword around as he did so to take his first opponent’s sword arm off at the elbow and if he was lucky the trailing edge might catch the elf somewhere more vital, either way, he did not have the time to finish his current foe off, he’d receive a sword in the back for the trouble if he tried. But if he brought his blade around wide as he turned to face the new enemy it might disarm (hopefully literally) his other foe long enough for him to deal with the new threat, then he could finish the other off at his leisure. Then there was pain. And screams, one of them was his own, he felt a blinding pain in his right hand, and then another in his back, he felt his sword fly away from numb fingers. The impacts of two crossbow bolts smashing into his armour spun him around, he saw the elf who had been approaching his back tumble across the cobblestones with blood spraying everywhere, he saw a body fall from the sky to hit the street with a sickening crunch, and he saw the cold, pitiless eyes of the marksman above, for a moment they watched, and then they were gone.

Lenya slowly took aim on the marksmen on the roofs, out of the corner of her eye she saw Dinil tearing into his opponent with reckless abandon. That man would have made a good Khainite she thought to herself. Lenya saw her mark flash across her sights, he was careless, thinking himself safe, she would demonstrate to him his error. Squeezing the trigger she instantly began readying for her next shot, she didn’t need to watch to know she would hit her mark, her aim was true. Lenya saw the second marksman dashing from cover, this one was crouched over, moving erratically, a more difficult target. She fired a second time as she heard the scream from her first victim echo off the walls of the alley, but her haste and his evasive manoeuvres were enough to foul the second shot. It hit him in the leg, and the elf tumbled forwards, but she realised that even in the fraction of a second it had taken her to take aim and fire after the first shot, her second mark had also brought out his crossbow and sighted his own target. The elf turned in the air as he fell forwards, hit the edge of the roof and rolled once, then fired. Lenya saw the bolts flash across the darkness and hit Dinil, neither fatal, but it was an incredible shot nonetheless to have hit the target atall. Fatal or no, Lenya saw that it was enough, Dinil’s sword flew from his hand and the momentum added to his turn by the impacts of the bolts spun him fully around before he collapsed to the stones in a clatter of metal plate. His sword appeared to have struck the elf he had been battling across the arm as it went cartwheeling away, but not enough to do any major damage, and the bandit still had his sword in his hand. Lenya furiously worked at the reloading mechanism on her crossbow, but she knew it would be too little, too late.

Malthang watched Dinil’s furious battle for a moment as he waited for his target to give him the best angle to shoot from. The warrior was a passable swordsman he thought, rough around the edges and lacking subtlety, using the typical city dweller’s solution of brute force over finesse, but he had to admit, it was effective. Malthang saw his target approaching Dinil’s back and knew now was the time to strike, he was travelling almost directly in line with Malthang’s shot now, leaving the least chance of missing because his target was now travelling almost along his sights, rather than across them. Malthang fired and was pleased to see his shots strike home, the elf rolling across the street, bathing it in his blood. At the same time Malthang heard two other screams, the first came from the roofs above, he saw one of the crossbowmen fall with a bolt embedded in his eye, the second however came from the duel below, Dinil was knocked to the ground, apparently by shots from another enemy marksman. Cursing, Malthang began to reload, suspecting Lenya was doing much the same, and was thinking the same thing aswell. Too late.

Dinil looked up to see his opponent standing over him, he tried to bring his sword up, but then realised it was no longer in his hand, looking around, he saw it nearly ten yards down the street, fat lot of good it will do me over there he thought. His shield was trapped underneath him, that wouldn’t do him much good either. Dinil sighed, wishing the sneering face above him wasn’t the last sight he would have in this world. Then the bandit was gone, Dinil saw him hurled backwards with a sword embedded in the centre of his chest, the bandit crashed to the floor, dead as a doornail. Looking round he saw Loathren standing some twenty meters down the street, looking pained, but unmistakably alive.
I’m Back.”

Terminator Loathren is most definitely back, looks like some wishes do come true thanks to a very nice throw. Hope everyone had a good Christmas and a happy new year and apologies for the belated post. Both Loathren and Dinil are in the street without their swords but both can be recovered quickly, there are also bodies to loot if you want to spare a moment to search them. Lenya and Malthang are still in their positions. We now have three ambushers, one with a wounded leg on the rooftops who is fleeing, Malthang can’t see him but Lenya could get one shot to kill him before he gets in cover, assuming Lenya does decide to shoot at him I will roll a dice and on a 2+ he is dead. The other two marksmen, last time we saw them, were on a balcony on one of the buildings on the main street this side-alley has come off. Where they are now is anyone’s guess, they might still be holding their positions or they might have moved, where do you think they are and how are you going to deal with them? Or are you just going to ignore them and get away? Deadline is on Sunday night since I have posted so close to Wednesday and you will want to discuss your battleplan. I haven’t heard anything from Dinil so if he doesn’t post I will take over his character for now. Whilst he got abit banged up, none of the shots actually penetrated Dinil’s armour so he still has only the one crossbow bolt in his left gauntlet, the bolts that hit him in the back and on the right hand stung quite abit, but never pierced his armour and so those areas hurt, but nothing more.

OOC: On a side note, how do you want crossbows to function? Do you want them to fire two shots very quickly and then require reloading, or just have a fire rate which is quicker than a normal crossbow but you still have to reload between each bolt? And for ‘single fire mode’ do you want the shots to be fired with more power and more chance of success?
Veni, Vidi, Voro!!!

All things perish, this is the law of existence, accept your suffering and your mortality, only by using this truth, can you transcend it.
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The buoyancy of water
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Post by The buoyancy of water »

Lenya let out a sigh of relief as the second sniper began to fall back. She did not, however, plan on letting them escape to tell their superiors where she was, so levelled her crossbow at their back after she had reloaded. After a moments pause to aim she fired off a single shot, aiming between the snipers shoulder blades. Her shot fired, she stepped up to the edge of the roof and peered down into the alleyway below. It was with no small amount of surprise that she saw Loathren standing once more. Perhaps he will prove more useful then he first seemed... She signalled to them that she was fine with a wave of her hand before speaking down to the others, trying to keep her voice quiet but still audible to those on street level.

"Any idea how many are left?"

Lenya waited briefly for an answer before stepping back to search for other ambushers. She made a quick lap of the rooftop, crossbow ready, checking other alleys and opposite balconies.

OOC: Sorry it's a bit of a short post. Will post again pretty quick when I know if the sniper dies and if Lenya notices any other ambushers.
Lenya Talos

WS: 4
S: 3
T: 2
D: 4
I: 5

Equipment: Short Sword, Repeater Crossbow, Shade Cloak, Small Brass Ring. 5 Gold

Skills: Basic Stealth.
Varaken
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Post by Varaken »

Malthang studied the alley with a disinterested air. He was surprised to see Loathren still standing, quelling the initial annoyance that it was still a four way split he realised that the Elf was surprisingly hardy. Perhaps he will be useful on the march ahead. Processing this, Malthang moved out onto the balcony once more, getting the attention of the Elves below by tapping the butt of his crossbow lightly against the rail before signalling through a combination of mouthing and signs that at least two of their ambushers were left alive.

This complete he turned back to the wall above him and planned a route to the rooftop, from the high ground hopefully he would be able to see their would be assailants and deal with them accordingly. He smiled cruelly before beginning his climb. The to go hunting. He thought maliciously.

OOC: as they are repeater crossbows makes sense to fire 2 bolts in quick succession and then require a reload but perhaps have a shot selector so they can be turned to single shot?
Only by the blade can weakness be purged.
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Post by Naggarothian hunger »

Loathren stood breathing heavy, his narrow escape from death, left him stunned that he had been so careless to allow the ambusher to strike such a blow infuriated him, his attention being momentarily drawn to his companions Lenya and Malthang on the rooftops, watching their exchange of silent words and being satisfied that this was a moment to collect himself.
Loathren retrieved his sword from the corpse of the dead ambusher and cleaned the blood against his tunic, turning to Dinil who was still on the floor, he reached his handout and said, "Now would be a good time to remove this blasted bolt from my armor."
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Malus99
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Post by Malus99 »

The bolt was about 6 inches long, composed entirely of blackened steel, barbed along its length, it had a cross-headed tip with four slightly flared fins for stability. It passed through the air effortlessly, though the howling wind bent its trajectory somewhat. Striking something solid, it carved through cloth, Kheitan and flesh with only the slightest drop in momentum. Slicing through the Trapezius, it clipped a lung as it passed through to its ultimate destination. Striking the heart in the left ventricle, it tore a hole nearly an inch in diameter through the thick muscle which gave one last pump, spraying fluids across the chest cavity, before the organ finally stilled. The steel bolt was halted at last when it collided with a solid span of bone, the bolt buried its head and a full quarter of its length into the 5th rib before coming to a rest. In little over a second since the bolt left its crossbow, an elf crumpled to the floor with a hole clean through his back which afforded quite a clear view, if one had the inclination, a torch and a steady stomach, of the rib cage on the other side, as well as a cross-section of a small area of the heart. Lenya was not so inclined and so, instead of jumping across roofs to examine her kill, she did a quick circuit of the roof she was on to see if she could spot the remaining two ambushers. Reaching the end which overlooked the main street, she lay on her stomach and cautiously peered around the corner to the balcony the ambushers had originally been perching on. The balcony door had a curtain drawn across it, but a witchfire lamp had been lit inside casting the shadows of two elves onto the thin curtains, one appeared to be moving, perhaps pacing back and forth, the second was motionless, apparently watching out onto the main street, probably with crossbow in hand. Lenya suddenly felt a presence beside her, tensing she slowly began to draw a knife from her belt.
“That won’t be necessary,” chuckled Malthang. Lenya returned her knife to its holster, but she didn’t relax.
“Mother of Night Malthang! Don’t creep up on me like that.”
“Apologies if I startled you,” Malthang sneered, his tone anything but apologetic.
“Two figures, still on the balcony, probably waiting for us whilst they sent their companions to flush us out,” whispered Lenya. Malthang nodded, “Plan?”.

Dinil accepted the hand, wincing as a few bruises that wanted to lay in peace were disturbed. Wordlessly Dinil grasped the bolt in Loathren's shoulder and began to pull, the bolt was reluctant, but eventually slid free.
"If you would be so kind," said Dinil indicating his own wound. Loathren obliged, pulling free the spur of steel from Dinil's vambrace, accompanied by a sharp hiss of discomfort from the warrior. Dinil quickly stripped off his gauntlet and the armour across his forearm, then tore off a strip from the cloth robes of one of the ambushers to bandage the wound, taking a moment to pour some liquid smelling strongly of alcohol from a small flask on the wound before he bound it.
"You have some medical knowledge," noted Loathren.
"I've had cause to learn some rudimentary battlefield dressing, that coupled with Barvalk is enough, alcohol can heal most wounds in sufficient amounts, one way or another," Dinil said with a smirk
"One thing it can't do though is protect a man from a dagger through the neck, how in the name of the abyss are you still standing?"

"Well..." said Loathren.

There are two figures behind the curtains on the balcony on the left side of the street as Lenya and Malthang look at it, on the same side a little closer to Lenya and Malthang is the side alley Loathren and Dinil are in, meaning to get to the set of roofs above the balcony Lenya and Malthang need to cross the gap between roofs the side alley makes, though it is a small gap because the alley is very narrow and probably easily jumpable. If you get onto the right set of roofs, you could make your way to the balcony the ambushers are in, or there are probably balconies and street-level entrances you could use to get into the same building, and then make your way up through there. What is your plan? Deadline is Wednesday night for mod post on Thursday

OOC: I thought I’d string out the bit where Lenya shoots the ambusher or else this post would be very short. added in a section for Dinil and Loathren since NH posted whilst I was writing, Dinil has knowledge of rudimentary first aid gained from needing to repair numerous beatings he received in Ghrond, he is the party medic, though he does not have much knowledge of the wilds, although I expect Malthang, as a shade, has some knowledge of naturally occurring plants and herbs which could be used in poisons and maybe even some medicine. Try to give each party member a role in your plan, there's no point leaving people twiddling their thumbs. Also, you don’t have to wait until the very last day before you post you know :lol:
Veni, Vidi, Voro!!!

All things perish, this is the law of existence, accept your suffering and your mortality, only by using this truth, can you transcend it.
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The buoyancy of water
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Post by The buoyancy of water »

Lenya jumped slightly when Malthang suddenly appeared behind her, inwardly annoyed to be caught off-guard. Still, she had found there last two attackers and unless Malthang had messed up, they hadn't noticed their position. It was obvious they needed taking out simultaneously to avoid one of them escaping. And in her mind Malthang had just volunteered to sneak round to the balcony while she covered him. With the ambushers undoubtedly listening closely as well as watching for them she decided to remain silent and use gestures to explain her plan. Leaving her crossbow, she rolled onto her back to free both her hands and be able to see the other shade.

She pointed at him, then drew a path with her finger across the roofs to above the balcony, keeping a finger pressed to her lips at the same time. She then pointed at herself and mimicked aiming down a crossbow before pointing back to the balcony. Motioning back to Malthang, she then made an OK symbol before pretending to fire a crossbow and finally gesturing towards Malthang a last time and pointing at the balcony, pretending to draw a dagger as she did so.

She waited to see if he understood before quietly rolling back over to her crossbow as he headed off. She kept it aimed at the balcony and waited patiently for his signal.

OOC: Thought I'd see if we could actually communicate through describing motions, though this could become a bit like Chinese Whispers...
Lenya Talos

WS: 4
S: 3
T: 2
D: 4
I: 5

Equipment: Short Sword, Repeater Crossbow, Shade Cloak, Small Brass Ring. 5 Gold

Skills: Basic Stealth.
Varaken
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Post by Varaken »

Malthang chuckled inwardly at being able to approach Lenya without being seen or heard. It would be useful indeed to test his companions abilities over the next few days. She began signing for him to cross to the roof above the balcony while she would cover him with a crossbow from here. She would then fire once and he would drop onto the balcony to dispatch the final assailant up close and personal. The shade considered this for a half second before shaking his head. There was no way he would leave himself exposed like that to "friendly fire" even if the female was the only member of the party he felt a very slight lessening of suspicion towards. After all, she had saved his life.

He shook his head firmly, pointed at himself, aimed down his crossbow and gestured left. Then pointed at Lenya, he crossbow and pointed right before doing a three finger count down and firing the pretend crossbow.
Please say she understands for the love of Morathi! Malthang thought to himself.

Malthang put himself prone and began sighting at his mark, all but ending the discussion. A thought occurred to him as he did so and he began to re-examine his surroundings. It just seemed a little bit too simple, could it be a ruse? A trap for them to give away their position? Malthang crawled slowly back from the his firing point and using all the skills of stealth he possessed decided on a quick sweep of the building and the surrounding area to check his suspicions....
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The buoyancy of water
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Post by The buoyancy of water »

Lenya cursed inwardly as Malthang shook his head. However his plan seemed promising, so she turned back to her crossbow and looked down the sight at the shadowy figure on her right, preparing to fire. Malthang also lay down, seemed about to begin the count, then got up and walked off around the rooftop. She waited as patiently as possible, alternatively looking between the balcony and the other shade. When he returned she raised her eyebrows in question, wanting to know if he was ready yet.
Lenya Talos

WS: 4
S: 3
T: 2
D: 4
I: 5

Equipment: Short Sword, Repeater Crossbow, Shade Cloak, Small Brass Ring. 5 Gold

Skills: Basic Stealth.
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Post by Malus99 »

Malthang cautiously hopped from roof to roof, keeping low to the ground to minimize the chances of being seen. Night was falling and the streets below were shrouded in fog, Malthang drew his neck cloth up to his nose to ward off the acidic mists caused by the city’s numerous forges. The bulbous orb Morrsleib was hanging low in the sky tonight, occasionally slipping out from behind the clouds to cast its sickly light across the city. For a heartbeat Malthang turned to stare at the chaos moon, he could have sworn he’d seen a figure silhouetted against the pale green glow out of the corner of his eye, shaking his head, Malthang moved on. But now his spine was tingling with a sensation Malthang trusted far more than half imagined spectres in the night, an unmistakable feeling. He was being watched.

Lenya muttered irritably to herself as she watched her target and waited for Malthang to finish his little night-time jaunt and return. “Its not as if I would have purposefully tried to shoot him, I mean sure, he might have stepped in between me and my target at an inopportune moment but I wouldn’t have tried to kill him, only accidently of course. It’s like he doesn’t trust me. Why on earth that would be I do not know.” A thin sigh of air whispered past, stirring Lenya’s cloak, the storm of earlier today had died out completely now, leaving the fog gathering in the streets below to twist and billow in the faint gusts of wind that still lingered. Lenya rolled onto her back, carving the space that had been behind her with her wicked knife, but the razor sharp blade passed through nothing but air. She was sure she had heard something, but no, there was nothing there, at least there was nothing there now, curse that blasted shade for making her so jumpy! Lenya settled back into her sniper position, and waited for death’s dance to resume.

Dinil and Loathren examined the door of the abandoned building, it was made of solid wooden timbers heavy with age and had a partially obscured rune carved onto it's surface, though the carving looked far younger than the door did.
“This is going to take quite some kicking to get it open,” whispered Dinil as he stepped back a pace.
“Not necessary,” replied Loathren as he stepped forwards and simply pushed the door inwards, the twisted hinges groaned as the door reluctantly swung back.
“It has already been forced,” he added, indicating the useless locks on the side of the door that had been sheered off in decades past by some other intruder.
“Guess we know now why it was abandoned.”
The two warriors stepped cautiously into the entrance hall, and slowly made their way to the open doorway at the other end leading further into the house. Dinil suddenly drew his sword and turned back to face the door they had entered through.
“What is it?” hissed Loathren as he drew his own blade. Dinil watched for a moment, then lowered his guard, but didn’t sheath his sword.
“Nothing, I thought I saw something moving behind us, must have been the wind stirring the fog outside.”
The two hunters turned and stalked deeper into the dark rooms of the abandoned building, more wary now than ever.

Malthang returned to Lenya’s position, shaking his head to indicate he had found no trace of any snipers waiting for them around the rooftops or in any of the other houses. Malthang settled down in his own spot and sighted down his crossbow, ready to fire. Whispering, he began to count down. 3…2…1…

Then he squeezed the trigger.

Loathren heard a scream of mortal agony from the other side of a door at the far end of the hallway he and Dinil were now standing in, they were on the top floor and if his sense of direction wasn’t misleading him, the sound must have come from the balcony their original ambushers had been hiding on. Without hesitating Loathren charged across the narrow space and crashed against the door, forcing it open with his armoured bulk. Across from him he could see the opening onto the balcony, one of the marksmen was sprawled across the floor in a rapidly spreading pool of blood, several bundles of rags and a stuffed pillowcase with a crossbow bolt embedded in it were scattered across the room. To Loathren’s right was the other marksmen, his throat slit, but based on the amount of blood it had happened several minutes ago, apparently without his partner noticing, unless his partner did it himself, but why? It must have been not long after the other two marksmen had departed to shoot at the warriors in the alley. It didn’t make any sense.

Then Loathren felt a gentle breeze, and heard a quiet chuckle. Turning to his left he saw an opening draped in shadows, the shadows had a face.
“Want to play?” it whispered, then it was gone.

All of the ambushers are dead, but there is one elf who is currently fleeing across the rooftops away from the room with the dead ambushers in the opposite direction to Malthang and Lenya’s position, There is an opening onto the rooftops in the room Loathren and Dinil are in which must be how the other two marksmen (who were shot by Lenya) got onto the roofs to shoot at Loathren and Dinil when they were in the alley, and is the opening this elf has just fled from. Loathren, you can follow this mysterious figure or leave him alone, you can walk straight onto the rooftops through the opening and can probably travel across them quite easily, even in your armour Druchii streets are so narrow that you can probably jump across most gaps, Dinil will follow you unless Highborn on Black Dragon makes a post saying otherwise. As for Lenya and Malthang, both of your shots were on target but one of the targets was a dummy, rigged up to keep you busy so that a marksman could guard the other doors into the room. You can see this mysterious person fleeing across the roofs away from you, do you follow him or leave him be, what is he doing here? Do you think he had a hand in the ambush? I advise you all stay together so if one of you chases after him, you all probably should do and vice-versa. Deadline is Sunday night for mod post on Monday.
Veni, Vidi, Voro!!!

All things perish, this is the law of existence, accept your suffering and your mortality, only by using this truth, can you transcend it.
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Post by Naggarothian hunger »

Loathren was startled by the shadowy figure, shifting into a defensive stance, "What sort of game do you have in mind?"

OOC: Sorry about not posting last time.
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Post by The buoyancy of water »

Lenya was watched the figure flee across the rooftops while she reloaded her crossbow. Having just scaled a wall during the ambush she had no desire to follow the figure, and instead took and mental note of the direction they were fleeing in. Once the figure was out of range she shrugged and slung her crossbow back over her shoulder to rest on it's strap. She rubbed her hands together against the cold, her fingerless gloves keeping out most of the cold but not enough to completely remove the night's chill. She turned to Malthang, keeping an eye on the escapee.

"Well, I know I don't want to go running after them. You? I think we should find the other two then get out of here before anyone else appears. Actually, let's check those bodies first."

Lenya took a running jump onto the rooftop where she had shot the sniper and went over to the body. Trying to disguise a look of disgust at the terrible wound she had inflicted she searched through the sniper's pockets, looking for any clue as to who had sent them and where they had come from.
Lenya Talos

WS: 4
S: 3
T: 2
D: 4
I: 5

Equipment: Short Sword, Repeater Crossbow, Shade Cloak, Small Brass Ring. 5 Gold

Skills: Basic Stealth.
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Post by Varaken »

Malthang saw the figure running away across the rooftops, shadows coalescing and flitting across him as he fled the group. Malthang half hearted raised his crossbow, sighted the fleeing elf before lowering his crossbow and glancing around at their current situation. Malthang turned to face the other elf as she began to speak.

Malthang grinned at the idea of looting the bodies, after all, they had been prepared for the group, it would make sense that they had accepted a portion, if not all of their pay for the ambush as well as bringing some provisions in case things did not go to plan.

Nodding his agreement, Malthang began to run towards the lip of the roof, planting his dominant, right foot firming he sprang as lithely as one of the Mountain Yrethina that inhabited the hills near to where his tribe lived. Feeling the air rush past his face brought a slight thrill of exhilaration though not as much as it once did Malthang reflected wistfully. He braced for impact, ready to move quickly over to one of the corpses and begin his search.
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Post by Malus99 »

As each of the bounty hunters moved to search the corpses of their ambushers, the darkness closed in, the relative peace of night was occasionally shattered by a scream somewhere in the depths of the city, but otherwise all was calm. After completing their search, the hunters convened at the foot of the house where their original ambushers had been hiding to share their findings.
“20 gold pieces between them, this must have been only part of the payment, its insulting,” said Loathren in a hurt voice.
“Either way they got more than they bargained for,” hissed Malthang with amusement.
Dinil stepped forwards and dropped a small piece of parchment onto the loot pile, “I found a scrap of paper on the body of one of the marksmen, it says ‘you can find me at the Siren Song’, the Siren is a tavern in one of the lowborn districts in the East area of Vikarh, maybe we could get some answers there, or perhaps a knife in the back, it is reputed to be a rather uncivilised place.”
“That elf fled east,” added Lenya.
The hunters pocketed their share of the loot, considering their next move.
“By the way Loathren, you never did tell me how you survived that knife in your neck,” said Dinil, “Care to share your secret?” Loathren grinned sheepishly, reaching beneath the collar of his armour he pulled up the torc he wore around his neck for all to see, the flawless band of silver-steel glinting even in the near pitch-black darkness.
“That blasted dagger hit this and snapped, that’s what you get when you buy cheap trash rather than quality weapons I suppose, even so, I nearly blacked out and there’s going to be a horrible bruise there I bet, which is going to chafe against my armour and be a right pain in the arse, err, neck I mean.” Malthang rolled his eyes, “and here I thought you’d just discovered the single most valuable trick in all of Naggaroth, instead, you just lucked out ‘cos this guy went BOGOF rather than special order.”
“Hey! Unless you are hiding a substantial amount of armour under that cloak of yours, which I find unlikely, I’d have liked to have seen you get hit by that dagger and still be walking around.”
“I didn’t get hit though did I?”
“Shades!” Loathren huffed to Dinil as he threw his hands up in a gesture of frustration.
Malthang turned to Lenya with a wry shake of his head, “Warriors.”

Right then, you are in the streets of Vikarh, you can either visit the Siren Song tavern to see if you can find out anything more about who sent these ambushers after you, as they were obviously paid by someone to attack you, or you can ignore them and continue with your hunt. When you do resume your hunt for Varranaithe, we had two choices before, either to visit one of Malthang’s contacts here in Vikarh, or go to the most likely place Varranaithe has fled which is Ghrond, when you do start after Varranaithe again you will need to choose which of these to do. I have a lot of work to do this week and I have posted late so I will set the deadline for your next posts for Sunday for a mod post on Monday. You can each add 5 Gold to your items collection, Malthang has also found an ornate (not very practical but could be used as a weapon (St1, Sp4) dagger which he can pocket or leave, Lenya has found a small brass ring with the runes of an unknown foreign language carved into its surface which she can pocket or leave. (I will occasionally select people by dice roll to receive a random bit of loot they find, makes things abit more interesting ;) )
Veni, Vidi, Voro!!!

All things perish, this is the law of existence, accept your suffering and your mortality, only by using this truth, can you transcend it.
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Post by The buoyancy of water »

Lenya climbed down to meet the warriors in the street below having decided not to bother chasing after the mysterious figure. She was quietly pleased: she had found an odd ring on one of the bodies and had quickly pocketed it before anyone else saw. She hadn't recognised the language, but was sure she could find someone who would know at some point. After a brief discussion it seemed the group had both the attackers direction of travel and the location their death warrant had been issued from. Both seemed connected, and it seemed stupid to leave the city before following up this lead. It was best to cover ones back before walking away after all.

A predictable argument cropped up closely after the mention of knives to the neck and Lenya left the others to it, letting them vent some steam at each other. She shook her head in exasperation. Men... Once they were all quiet again she spoke up.

"It seems foolish not to find out more about whoever sent these elves to kill while we are here. I for one vote on heading to the Siren Song and seeing what happens when or if we are recognised by anyone. It might lead us closer to finding out where Varranaithe is hiding?"
Lenya Talos

WS: 4
S: 3
T: 2
D: 4
I: 5

Equipment: Short Sword, Repeater Crossbow, Shade Cloak, Small Brass Ring. 5 Gold

Skills: Basic Stealth.
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Post by Varaken »

Malthang dexterously negotiated his way down to the street level after quickly checking over the corpses of the men on the rooftop and pocketing an ornate but impractical dagger. It was rather distinctive so maybe someone would recognise it and lead them to something useful. He had noted the flash of distaste that crossed Lenya's face when they arrived at the bodies and that concerned him. She must be new to the theatre of death, the Shade thought, well, she would soon learn if they intended to continue along the path that had been set before them.

Upon reaching ground level he engaged in a rather half hearted argument with the fortunate warrior. Utilising his full mental capacities would no doubt confuse the crude druchii mused Malthang wryly. He was competent with a sword but his tongue was a rather duller blade.

Lenya rejoined the conversation to suggest a course of action.

"The Siren Song is probably the most feasible course of action. Plus it allows us time to find my contact if we still desire to meet with him. We should not tarry over long however, we do not know who may be watching."
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Post by Malus99 »

The quartet made their way through the gloomy streets of Vikhar, heading East, though certainly not in the direction of a rising sun, the only thing rising around this seedy district was the stench of sour wine and corpses decomposing in the back alleys. Finally they arrived outside their destination, what first appeared to be a run-down shack with a childish drawing scrawled across the front, though as it turned out the place was actually a flesh house with a depiction of a harpy looming over the portal leading into the depths of the building.
“You can tell we’re in the lower districts if they can’t even tell the difference between a harpy and a siren, bloody commoners,” snorted Dinil with disdain.
“Unlike a refined gentleman like you I suppose, who couldn’t find his arse with a map,” chuckled Malthang, Dinil started to snarl back but was interrupted by Loathren’s icy voice.
“Do we all go in or have someone cover the back door?”
“If it is a trap it might be handy to have someone ready to cover a rapid advance to the rear, so to speak,” suggested Lenya.
The men considered this turn of phrase for a moment, a number of inappropriate comments sidled through each of their minds, though swiftly skulked away again under the glare Lenya directed around the circle after a moment of silence and not-so-subtly wandering eyes.
“What?”
“Nothing,” replied the blokes in unison.
“Well then, what’s the plan?”
Loathren coughed nervously.
“Ah yes, the plan, the plan is… um, any ideas guys?”
“A few…” said Dinil.
“Oh for the dark mother’s sake! Will you please get your minds back onto business and stop drooling everywhere or do I have to start shooting people?”
“Death by snoo snoo, I suppose it isn’t a bad way to go.”
Lenya rolled her eyes, “Men!”

Right then, sorry I strung that out but after writing the first little bit it just kept going from there. It’s been a long week ok? The siren’s song has a front door, and at least one back door, though there may be other secret entranceways, then again, there might not. The building has three floors, will you all proceed inside? Will you all go in at once or singly so as to not advertise the fact that you are all working together? How much do you think this mystery elf knows about your little band and do you think he will be waiting for you? The clientele of this establishment is not unused to a little rough and tumble, how do you think they will react if you start a fight? You need to plan how you’re going to go about going inside and trying to find the information you want and then tell me what you are going to do. Deadline is Thursday night for mod post on Friday morning.
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Post by The buoyancy of water »

Men! Can't live with them, can't live without... Actually, forget the second part.

Lenya waited for the men to get themselves under control before speaking. As suicidal as it seemed, she had grown up a nobles daughter and so relished the idea to visiting a real dive of a bar. Just to see how the dregs of society lived. "I believe one of you three just lost the rights to a couple of drinks and will have to cover the Siren's Song from the outside. I'll let you choose amongst yourselves."

She pulled her cloaks hood up and tightened it at the neck to help obscure her face. Next she checked the position of her dagger, ensuring it was within easy reach if she needed it, and checked her crossbow was loaded. Finally she moved her money pouch further into her robes to stop would be pickpockets stealing her hard earned cash. Ready, she turned to the others and gestured to the front door. "Shall we?"
Lenya Talos

WS: 4
S: 3
T: 2
D: 4
I: 5

Equipment: Short Sword, Repeater Crossbow, Shade Cloak, Small Brass Ring. 5 Gold

Skills: Basic Stealth.
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Post by Varaken »

Malthang drew his cloak slightly tighter around himself to hide the newly bared steel he held in his right hand. The newly acquired dagger might not look practical but in the close confines of the flesh house a short sword would be worse and harder to conceal. He felt the flat of the blade against his forearm, completely hidden by both the cloak and his bracer. Using his free hand he drew up his hood and began stalking off towards the back of the building.

"One of your two should cover the door. All that extra weight your carrying can do some good and hopefully stop whoever tries to escape from running through you. Though running you through is another matter entirely." Malthang added, his voice turning to snide contempt. "I'm going to try and find another way in. Lenya can barrel through the front doors if she wishes but I have no desire to make more of a target of myself than necessary."

With that Malthang turned and stalked off into the shadows, eyes alert for every movement, his ears pricked for even the slightest noise that sounded suspicious. He eyed the walls of the flesh house, searching for another way in aside from the back door, his actions having the added benefit of allowing him to search for alternative exits that their quarry could use. Under his cloak his fingers of his left hand gently touched the repeater crossbow he had carved himself. He had to remember to add his kill markings for the day to his tally. Soon he would have to start engraving them on the other side of the stock he thought with a smile. Like most Druchii he was ambidextrous and though admittedly he favoured his right hand he was capable of pulling out the crossbow from either side. However, for now the knife would be all he needed. He had shadows, cover and his natural abilities. No target would ever see him coming.

He continued his sweep of the building, ready to act at a moments notice....
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Post by Malus99 »

Silently the hunters dispersed, Dinil took up a position beside the front door ready to catch any escapees whilst Malthang glided off into the shadows around the back of the building. Lenya and Loathren stepped through the front door and glanced around the tavern. The main room of the flesh house was gloomy even by Druchii standards, the only source of light being a pair of witchfire globes set close to the door, obviously a concession to the shady customers the place supported, allowing them to see anyone who entered clearly without being seen themselves, and perhaps slink off out a back door if it was someone they would rather avoid. The conversation was muted and most of the patrons, of the few Lenya could see, were indulging whatever vices they entertained alone. The pair quickly moved out of the doorway and further into the building, noting corridors and a winding staircase off to one side which likely lead to private rooms. Loathren moved towards the opposite side, distinctly aware of the fact that his heavily armoured form was drawing some attention, the city guard rarely had business in this den of lowly brigands and petty thieves, even so an armoured warrior was not a sight to inspire confidence for a room full of minor criminals whose only saving grace was the fact that they were mostly so insignificant that they usually passed without notice. Loathren turned, out of the shadows loomed a familiar face, the mysterious elf that had fled from them in their previous battle was sitting calmly in the far corner of the room, when he caught the warrior’s eye, he motioned for the two hunters to join him. Cautiously Lenya and Loathren made their way over to the table. A human servant shuffled over but Lenya dismissed him with a wave of her hand as she settled herself into one of the cold-iron chairs.
“I expect you have some questions,” said the elf, his voice was soft, barely above a whisper, now that she was closer Lenya could see that he was dressed in plain black cloth garments, the sort an Autarii or assassin might wear, the hand he rested on the table was encased in a glove made from elf-hide, from a young Asur woman if Lenya had to guess, reinforced with strong dwarf hide at the fingertips and across the palm. His skin was surprisingly dark, a grey pallor the colour of steel, suggesting he spent much time outdoors, but not under the full sun. His face was framed with white hair the colour of pure snow which fell to his shoulders, providing a sharp contrast to his darker skin. His eyes were a striking purple of dark amethyst, though on the surface they looked to be as gentle as the summer breeze on the meadows of Ulthuan, their depths burned with the cold fires of determination, loss and a will stronger than Dwarven Gromril. His bearing was calm and relaxed, a faint smile tugging at his lips, but Lenya wasn’t fooled, this elf was ready for anything.
“Who are you?” Asked Loathren.
“Do you want the long version or the short version? A famous Estalian philosopher named Ly Tin Weedle once went to a party uninvited and somebody asked ‘Why are you here?’ Ly spent the next two years answering. My name is Sirulleathe, I am from Har Ganeth, I am a devotee of Khaine, and occasionally work as a bounty hunter, I like long evening walks in the forest of shadows, collecting Lotus flowers to fashion into poisons and murdering people in the name of my deity, I could go into more detail if you like, I have nothing but time.”
“That’s enough detail for now thank you,” said Lenya, then her eyes narrowed, “did you hire a group of Druchii to kill us?”
“I see you don’t beat around the blood bush. No, I didn’t,” replied Sirulleathe, Lenya raised an eyebrow.
“But I did hire that band to attack you. To test you, not kill you.”
“And why are you testing us?”
“Ah, now we cut to the heart of the matter. I too am hunting for Varranaithe, and there is stiff competition, I could use the help of your little band and you could use mine, together we both have a better chance of succeeding than either of us apart.”
“And why shouldn’t we just kill you right here and be done with it?” Asked Malthang as he materialized out of the darkness behind Sirulleathe, his crossbow pressed against the back of the Khainite’s neck. Sirulleathe smiled. In an eyeblink the elf leapt from his chair, spinning on the spot to slap Malthang’s crossbow aside, the shade’s reaction was half a moment too slow, a black-fletched bolt smashed into the wooden table as Malthang swung with the dagger concealed in his left hand, but Sirulleathe ducked under the blow and responded with a thunderous side-kick to Malthang’s midsection, lifting the shade a foot into the air before he crashed to the floor. At the sound of the commotion a half dozen of the house’s customers left their drinks and drew daggers or short swords, advancing on the table. Malthang was on his feet again in a flash, he had dropped his crossbow but still held onto the dagger. Warily he considered the situation, Lenya and Loathren had drawn their steel and were ready for a fight, but it quickly became obvious that the patrons were taking the Khainite’s side, more of the elf’s hired thugs. Seven against three was not good odds, and Sirulleathe appeared to be a formidable fighter, Malthang could certainly attest to his speed and strength.
“Your stealth is impressive Malthang Ravensbane, but you’ll need to move faster if you want to keep up with me. You can by all means try to kill me, but I think you might find the task somewhat difficult with my friends here. It is your choice, I offer you an equal partnership, you get my knowledge of the target and my abilities, in return I get a share of the bounty, or we can duel it out.” Sirulleathe drew a curved short sword of the sort favoured by the witch elves of the temple with his right hand, and produced a small dagger with his left, a wicked smile crossing his face.
“It’s your choice.”

Well then, simple enough, do you fight him or join him? Discuss amongst yourselves which you want to do, Dinil is currently just outside the door and unaware of the situation, deadline is Wednesday night for mod post on Thursday morning. Sorry I didn’t make the mod post till now but I was waiting to see if NH posted on Friday and then my internet crashed over the weekend.
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Post by Varaken »

Malthang considered his options as well as the pain that streaked through his mid-section. The elf was almost supernaturally fast and strong, and he hid it well in his slender frame. Having seen first hand just what this elf could do the answer was an easy one for him. He slowly sheathed his dagger and, without taking his eyes from the elf, bent to retrieve his crossbow, holding it idly with his right hand.

"Very well, let's talk about this. Why do you hunt our mark?"

OOC: Sorry for the short post, been a crazy busy week!
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Post by Malus99 »

"Why do I hunt Varranaithe? Because I wanted to give him a cute little rabbit I found whilst skipping amongst the daisies this morning. Why do you think?" Sirulleathe glanced at his hired hands, "You can go now," the thugs slunk back into the shadows of the tavern.
"And before you think of using that little squig tickler you've got there shade now that I am alone, you might wish to hear my information first," smiled the Khainite, looking pointedly at the crossbow in Malthang's hand.
"Very well, what do you know?" Asked Loathren.
"I know that Varranaithe used to work in the docks of Karond Kar, if he is spooked he may try to purchase passage on a ship there to flee Naggaroth, any hunt for him must be discreet and silent. I know that he has knowledge of hedge magic, and that he is affiliated with some of the Vauvalka that lurk in the gutters of Naggaroth's cities and in some of the wilder areas outside the walls. I can help you track him, I can help you survive in the wilderness, and maybe having a devotee of Khaine amongst your ranks will bring the god of murder's favour."
"Spiritual blackmail? Like that's gonna work on us," sneered Lenya, Sirulleathe flashed her a predatory smile.
"Khaine works in mysterious ways, perhaps the god of murder's favour is merely metaphor for the attentions of his worldly followers, whatever your views on faith, you cannot deny that it has a very real effect on this realm through its believers, even if Khaine can't smote down the disbelievers with righteous thunder, what do you think the Temple spends its days doing? They don't use those swords for cutting bread you know." Lenya conceded this point with a reluctant nod.
"Even so, why should we not simply kill you now that you've told us all this?" asked Malthang.
"And risk the temple's wrath for killing one of their initiates?" said Loathren, Sirulleathe smiled.
"And maybe I haven't told you everything I know yet, I'm not a complete fool. So what is your decision, do I come with you? And if so then where do we go next?"

When you've decided whether you want to join or attack him, you need to decide where you will go next, either Malthang's informant in Vikarh or head to Ghrond, or somewhere else if you like, and the hunt will truly begin! Deadline is Sunday Night for Monday Morning Mod Post
Veni, Vidi, Voro!!!

All things perish, this is the law of existence, accept your suffering and your mortality, only by using this truth, can you transcend it.
Varaken
Executioner
Posts: 156
Joined: Wed Dec 23, 2009 10:48 pm

Post by Varaken »

"It does not appear that we have much choice. You may accompany us as long as you prove useful provided that the rest of the group has no objections. As to where we are bound I know not. I have an ally in this city we can exploit or we can head to Ghrond."
Only by the blade can weakness be purged.
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