In Search of Secrets - (Bob)

by **Zandelia** on October 20th, 2011, 12:48 pm

Zandelia looked at Bob, trying to discern his reaction to what had unfolded within the last few minutes. She couldn’t help but think he seemed slightly out of sorts, as if he inwardly wished to says something but thought it best not to. His eyes kept shifting between her and the corpse of Degarde upon the floor, perhaps indicating his displeasure as to her having put a permanent end to his beastly actions – and they were beastly to Zandelia. She stood there, time ticking away as she tried to work out what it was that had halted his words and made him seem even more shifty – of that were indeed possible for a dwarf rogue who cheated others out of large quantities of money on an hourly basis. After a handful of seconds she merely shrugged to herself and let the matter drop for the time being. She could always ask him later, perhaps trying a little practise in her aura reading to boot.

I keep meaning to work on that. Could be useful one day, very useful indeed she thought to herself as she looked at the safe, taking out the keys and walking towards it.

She fumbled through the keys one by one, trying out five of them with the lock – rattling them to see if any give was created – and moving on to the next when it didn’t work upon the safe. If she were truly honest with herself she only held the desire to get the petch out of the place and as far away as possible, especially before the other guards found out about their little…intervention. Still, greed was also a very powerful motivator for her – and combining the fact that the safe could contain enough to pay for Bob’s help, as well as other more secretive documents, proved too much as she went about her attempts to open the damnable thing as hastily as possible. She fumbles with the ring and it slipped from her grasp.

“Petch!” she growled as she snatched it back up and put the last heavy key into the slot, turned it and grinned to Bob a little as a distinct clicking sound could be heard from the bowels of the fortress before them. She pulled the level down so that it was horizontal and with a heave accompanied by the squeeling of rusty hinges pulled the door wide.

Inside there was merely three heavy leather bags, their bulging masses giving little hint of what they might contain. She clucked her tongue in her mouth as she hauled them out, passing one to Bob for him to carry. They did not have enough time to go about sifting through the contents here, not with the guards about to return at any moments, and so would need to appropriate the insides out between them in a more secure and less lethal location – if such a place were possible to find in Sunberth. She set about attaching the two bags to her belts, and the accompanying straps across her chest from the cases she had ‘retrieved’ from Deharde’s desk. That achieved she stood up and looked down at Bob, his own bundle secreted somewhere about his person so as to not show at all, fostering the thought that perhaps he held more surprises than she had first assumed.

“Right, lets get the petch out of this place then,” she stated firmly as she strode towards the entrance they had used to enter the office, “and we can free these slaves too I think. Give them a chance at freedom at least” she continued, smiling down at the short man before she was stopped in her tracks by a revisiting of karma.

“You ain’t goin’ nowhere girly. You’re gonna stay and be shown exactly what your place be. Your shorty friend too” grunted one of the three guards standing stoicly between the two of them and the way out.

She scanned the situation carefully as she licked her lips, a slightly nervous gesture escaping her usual level of control – surprise being a good lever for such things. Three fairly well armed men against herself and Bob, who from his actions so far seemed to not like killing. In short, she wondered whether she would get out of the place alive. Still, when life threw thugs at you there was only one logical response to give. She drew her Tonfa with both hands as the three of them laughed at their appearance – showing her that they clearly had no idea what Tonfa were or what they could do. Well, they would know after today – hopefully, and if she let them live.

“You got any plans Bob then now is the time to use them. For example, a crossbow or a whistle to summon warriors would be a good bet” she told him as she shifted her balance into a defensive stance and readied for the inevitable exchange.

oocContents of bags from safe to be determined by thread grader - if anything of value is deemed to have been within

by **Bob Barton** on October 27th, 2011, 5:06 pm

It was one less active slaver actually. The body was lying there on the floor so technically Bob could say that Delgarde the slaver was still here, just not participating in his trade any longer. His eyes went back and forth between the corpse and the murderer scrutinizing her latest act. Come to think of it...she has been suggesting nothing but killing ever since they got in and it was only a natural result that she actually went through with it even if some could have been spared like the guard and shopkeeper. All this got him to thinking in silence about her motives with this job, whether she had the interests of her employer for research or her own bloodlust more.

When she turned away Bob finally got to voicing out his opinions in anger. There was no way she can be allowed to take his silence as approval. "Delgarde was already in our mercy. He would have been a lot more valuable alive you fool! Why waste time with possibly outdated documents when you can interrogate the source?" he yelled pointing at the corpse who was undoubtably the brains behind the operation. "Your mystery employer might have given a bonus for such a well done job too" but the statement was not to suggest that Bob wanted more money. It was more to make her feel guilty and unprofessional through her greed.

All it did was make her more greedy because she went straight for the safe that he found earlier. Bob moved out of her way cautiously because he decided after today this was a very hard woman to trust. At least for the others like Cade, Antar or Mok he could guess their motives for killing and use them to his advantage to protect himself from his enemies or so called friends. But Zandelia? She was a complete mystery, even more than women naturally were. Crossing his shoulders he watched patiently as she fumbled through the keys and taunted her with her earlier actions "I bet that a living slaver would be a lot more helpful now. At least he can tell us which key is the right one and whether the others go into more valuables..." Then he mockingly tapped his chin to act like he was thinking deeply while asking "where could a slaver be now I wonder...?" and then formed a sneer eventhough the buzy murderer might not see it and gave the answer which would say it all in a cold tone that "...right, you killed them all!"

Bob took all the goods and followed Zandelia straight out the door. They can settle this little issue later. After they handled the guards which happened to return. He had enough of fighting and killing for one day but how would he convince the guards? Stupidly as usual because "this isn't what it looks like!" They didn't just kill everyone of their gang in the building and looted it, "your boss just gave us this as compensation for our missing dog and boy. If you do have them we will return these to him" but it would be a waste since he is already dead so "you guys can have it if you want, as compensation for all the trouble you have gone through" giving a wink at his subtle hint hoping that they will accept the bribe.

It was a flawed reasoning because as one of the guards mentioned "we can take that back as our reward after we give you a reward of our own!" There was no mistaking what they meant by that when Bob could see some gripping on their weapons or bringing them up ready to attack. He shouldn't have been too greedy...his hands are now so full of their ill gotten gains that he won't be able to handle his weapon properly. By the time he actually put them down and take up his cane, he could already be sliced into pieces. Yep, when it came to his luck it was very strange. Even the good things can be bad. It was like that ever since he got this weird mark from those weird twins in their weird encounter.

Today he would have to make his own luck though. He didn't even want to think about relying on people like those twins for help because they make really close calls. "Why the hell would I have a magic whistle?!?" It was nice that someone recognized his capabilities but this was just too much. "All I have is this..." treasure and bag which he tossed straight at one of the attackers smashing him hopefully long enough to buy some time to "run! Thats the plan" and took up his cane and started darting to the side leaving Zandelia to fend for herself.

by **Zandelia** on November 1st, 2011, 11:41 pm

Zandelia felt the world stop for a few moments, Bob’s words slowing down and seeming to grow deeper and more extended as his hand crept forwards and the beg of items she had given him for Degarde’s little vault seemed to arc slowly towards the three assailants. She noticed that Bob dived for cover, leaving her to deal with the three men before her by herself. AS the bag smashed into the knees of the man on the right she thought that she would be mad about that fact if she did not possess a very strong desire to do exactly the same as he. She was trapped, however, and would need to at least partially fight her way out of the building – there being no other way to go about things as they were between her and the exit. It was then that the world sped back up and came to live in an eruption of curses and a sickening thud as the man’s knees gave way to the bad Bob had thrown and he fell sideways, bumping the other two a little and putting them off balance.

“RUN!” Bob shouted again and she did, though not in the direction he was going, she ran towards the three guards ahead.

Her tonfa flashed as she spun them in her hands, keeping the two that were trying to regain their balance wary as their eyes kept upon their flashing forms, hesitant for now. She used that to her advantage, stepping forwards with the tonfa still spinning in front of her – at times merely spinning to bounce between her underarm and the top of her forearm and elbow, at other times she span them one at a time in front of her body. It was a display more than anything, meant to intimidate rather than hurt and she watched them step backwards, leaving their fallen comrade open to a couple of sharp kicks to the neck that she was more than happy to do with her heel. She heard a satisfying crunch and knew he would not be getting up to help the other two.

Come on Zandelia! Think! You can’t keep this up for long! What the petch are you going to do? she thought to herself as she saw the two men tense and get ready to spring forwards.

She sidestepped to her left in order to ensure that one of the men was now behind the other, making a human shield out of one of her enemies so that she would only have to fight one at any given time for as long as she could keep it up. She saw the frown that darkened his brow before his shoulder shrugging indicated that his strike was about to come towards her. As his diagonal slash came from her upper left she brought up her left tonfa, locked firmly along the side of her forearm for extra support and let the blade smash down upon the shaft of her own weapon, feeling the impact jar her very bones as she let her arm give way and deflect his attack away from her body. She brought her other tonfa around to flick out into he ribs with as much force as she could put into the attack, driven onto her back foot as she was. Still, she was alive and the man had doubled up in pain briefly whilst the other one circled around him.

“Come on Bob! Do something! Now!” she shouted out as she took the opportunity to surge forwards once more, this time bringing her right tonfa across her body in an aimed attack at the hilt of the man’s sword, twisting and pirouetting her body around in order to follow through with a jab of her left tonfa into his injured ribs once more in a stabbing motion before brining herself around fully in a 360 degree motion now to block the second man’s horizontal slash in another deflective blow that felt as if it were smashing her bones to pieces.

Petching bastards! she screamed inside her skull as she leapt backwards to avoid any follow up attacks, spinning her weapons in figure eight patterns in front of her as she tried to ignore the numbing pains creeping up her limbs.

“BoB! NOW!” she shouted out once more, fervently hoping he had not sued her as a distraction to escape himself, leaving her to die if she was unlucky.

by **Bob Barton** on November 2nd, 2011, 1:52 am

As good as the plan sounded to put as much distance as he could from any fight that would inevitably happen between Zandelia and the guards, there was a big flaw in it. It was those same guards that he would want to escape from that are standing right between Bob and the door making any sort of plan a sure failure unless it involved being caught by the guards. If he had not wasted any time being frozen in place thinking of what he should do next, Bob could have already ran over or past the guards while they were wrestling on the ground trying to get back up and apart from one another. For that wasted opportunity, he was rewarded with no means no escaping through the front door. He would have to stay and watch another display of violence by the magnificent Zandelia and help her as her midgety assistant in a vanishing act to get rid of these guards and escape through the front door as he should have done earlier. Wonderful.

Once Bob had gotten back his wits and decided that he was forced to help, he reminded Zandelia to "run!" away so that they could regroup. A two on...make that a one and a half on three fight would be a lot more better than a one on three fight? Where was Jinsen when you needed it? At least then it can be as fair a fight can be in Sunberth where each person had their own opponent instead of Bob taking a risk of having to go up against two people at once. In the end, numbers would not be an issue here because Zandelia for some reason dived into action at his call to take on all three of the guards on her own.

"What the hell are you doing?!? Do you really think you will stand a chance against them" even if you are a psychotic killer? After Zandelia was down there was nothing stopping the guards from coming straight at Bob unless those men decided to do something distracting like raping her right after. No chance of that ever happening at least not until they have taken down Bob who would be an unwitting spectator or witness as well. In an ideal world, they would distract themselves with whatever means available to them even if it was raping Zandelia who Bob could not really care about at this point and allow the midget to leave straight through the front door without any incident.

While Zandelia still had them distracted under more painful means, Bob was asking the same question to himself. He had to think of how they can turn this around because there was only so long a woman can hold herself against a man be it in a fight or be it on a bed. Even more so when Zandelia had three of them to contend with. Frankly, how could anyone expect Bob to think with all the wailing and screaming by the other slaves in the background? It was easy for them to cheer expectantly for an escape but they were not the ones fighting out there.

Then Bob had a great idea he did not even have to think of because all he had to do was listen to the slaves who were begging to be freed. "I got it, I got it" he told Zandelia when he finally thought of what he should do. "Just hold on until..." he finds the shopkeeper that she killed earlier. The corpse was just conveniently lying there dead besides him and Bob fumbled looking through every nook and cranny for the key. There was a few mizas in his pocket which was not looking so enticing right now, some fluff in another and a half eaten apple? That would make a good last meal for Bob as the previous owner if he fails to find what he wanted to.

And he failed, badly because someone else already took all the keys. All of his efforts wasted but there were many slaves around the store. It was like going fake shopping all over again. Bob looked through trying to find those which would be energetic and furious enough to put up a fight and found many still roaring and slamming with passion to be let out but unfortunately most of those were in shackles and cages for obvious reasons. Bob had to look past those along with the more quiet and resigned people as tried to choose from the selection.

Unable to decide he went to the most concentrated area of slaves in ropes waving his sword as he yelled a once in a life time offer excitedly to lift their spirits up and make them more receptive to the idea. "Who! Wants! Freedom?!" For those who yelled back passionately enough, Bob would go straight behind them slashing through the ropes with his sword as quick as he could. It would be dangerous for the slaves if this was the Bob from the days he was inexperienced in fighting but now, he aimed the sword right in the middle and pushed it through the gap between the arms and legs of each slave and cutting their bonds with only a few stray cuts here and there.

The first slave he cut free he would yell "for freedom!" because that was what everyone in the room excluding the guards would want. For the second he yelled "get it anyway you can!" The third he would have to say in a soft voice of apology that "I'm sorry" because Bob accidentally cut off a few fingers in the process. That one would not do much good to anyone now. From the fourth onwards he readopted that false encouraging attitude shouting "fight!"

Zandelia would not have to wait too long. Bob was pretty much getting into his role as liberator and leader of the newly freed slaves after a while and tried to rally them all together as he shouted "attack!" pointing his sword forward at the guards who would be pretty much outnumbered at this point. As he did not need anymore, he stopped telling two of the newly released slave to "help free everyone else" before he charged forward to help Zandelia and four other slaves to take down the guards. Six on three, now those were very nice odds.

by **Zandelia** on November 4th, 2011, 12:40 am

The man whom Zandelia had initially kicked in the neck was coming around once more now, his groggy head clearing rapidly judging by the groans and curses emanating from his yellow-toothed mouth. She could see him pushing himself weakly up onto all fours as the guard she had smashed in the ribs reeled backwards into the door and attempted a recovery, the last guard now closing upon her position. He was less wary than the others, she knew, his expression speaking plainly what his intentions were – her swift death followed by other considerations whilst she was still warm she guessed with much loathing. She still kept her weapons shining on circles and figure-eights around her, but the intimidation act was wearing thin now. She knew he was about to attack her and took a step backwards, spinning her tonfa one last time before letting them thud into the sides of her forearms in preparation for the inevitable.

Come on then bastard! Come and earn what you take she spat at him mentally as she spread her stance to become wider and more balanced in order to better fight back against the aggressor.

The guard swung his own weapon around his wrist a few times, loosening the joint there as he decided what to do. Without warning his weapon flashed out in a well-time lunge towards her gut, its blade only barely deflected as she side-stepped and let her right weapon whip out to knock it aside, bringing her other one around to flash at the man’s face as he ducked out of the way. He merely grinned at her, teasingly and let her know he thought to be probing her defences. She merely growled and narrowed her eye as she prepared for another assault as they circled each other warily. He blistered another attack at her, a sharp downwards chop that she swatted away once more, but he followed up with a horizontal slash that she was forced to lock her tonfa into an x-shape to block and force away with a heaving push. He chuckled at her uncoordinated efforts and she was well aware, not for the first time, that she needed more training.

“Freedom!” came the shouts out of nowhere as four men – freed slaves she noted after a few moments – slammed into the man and knocked him off balance before they separated and jumped upon the man still getting up from the floor. The guards screams as they tore him apart with their bare hands would haunt her, she knew, but she could not lose the opportunity she had been blessed with.

She launched herself forwards, weapons glistening as they arced forwards, both aiming in cracking, whip like motions at the man’s sword hand and wrist. They struck out, hitting their target one after the other before being pulled back into position with a forceful flicking of the wrist, ready to strike again. The guard cursed, his now numb and fumbling fingers struggling to hold onto his weapon, not to mention use it capably. His attention quick re-focused to Zandelia and he screamed at her, running at her with his sword swinging in for the kill. It was a clumsy slash, exacerbated by his injure grip. She blocked it fairly easily, turning the blade enough to leave an opening in his defences – his left leg. She used the height advantage to rally of a crack at both sides of the knee joint, the satisfying crunching sounds apparent to all in the room. She followed that up with a kneeling smash into the top of the kneecap, her tonfa brought down in an axe-like motion.

Her opponent was now very compromised, his sword hand barely holding its weapon and his leg now all but crumpled as he fell to one knee in pain. She brought her tonfa around in a spin that landed them on top of her forearms, following the limb up and past her bent elbow joint. AS his eyes came up to meet his she did something that chilled even her own blood, she smiled at what they both knew would happen. She stepped to the side gracefully and brought both of her weapons cracking down upon the side of his head, his body slumping to the floor with a thud and blood staining the boards underneath him.

“I hope your dead too you bastard” she grunted at him as she turned her attention to the brawling melee that was erupting throughout the room to cheers and howls room the still chained slaves.

What have you been up to Bob, you little rapscallion? she thought to herself as she tried to figure out exactly what was going on in her tiny little world.

by **Bob Barton** on November 4th, 2011, 9:55 pm

Zandelia actually did pretty good so far. Bob was pleased that she was pretty competent in a fight. Much like Mok and Cade, Bob could use the woman for protection next time. He would not even need to tell her that he was using her for a guard. He could just call her out for a drink or two and maybe a few games in the casinos. She was a woman which means that Bob can invite her out for dates as unpleasant looking as she was. You only rely on looks the first time! After that was the chemistry and how easy it was to get a night. It looked like there will never ever be any chemistry between Bob and Zandelia after what he saw next. Shocked and amazed that she was not only able to stay that long against three trained guards lone, she was also able to bludgeon one to death. But it was the sheer violent manner which she did it that appalled the midget.

Those things were only thought of after Bob finally entered the fight. Pointing his sword to the one at the door which he knew was the easy target he yelled to the slaves "get him!" They were already winning by numbers but with the weakest one out in the quickest manner, Bob hoped that one of the slaves could actually take his weapons and use it on the men who were still fighting. Even if Bob was the one who released the slaves they owed him no loyalty. Only fighting to get back at those who had been keeping them for so long before they escaped. Of course they would head over to the biggest threat. His defeat would boost their confidence more to continue to fight but Bob who normally wouldn't fight alone still wanted "help?" from "someone?"

No one would come. Zandelia of course was busy having her bloody fun with the slaver. If that was her idea of a date, Bob would be glad that he will never try to get one with her. The slaves would be doing their own bloody work in tearing apart the guard. Not for enjoyment like Zandelia obviously had with creepy smile of hers but an act to show that they finally had power and were in charge. Bob could hear the screams and the excited voices but as his back was turned he could only think of the worst. "Why did I have to use the slaves?" They were weak! He could not have possibly relied on them to begin with. Now the guards must be slicing them apart laughing happily. Those laughs in the air right now would belong to no other than the winners and those guys had weapons. Who else had weapons? The guard who was standing up to face Bob. "You don't really want to kill me do you?" he asked trying to bargain for safety which he actually would have soon enough. "You could just let me escape and then there is one less person for you to deal with here" he suggested with an unconvinced smile. His desperation forced him to rely on djed he added along with his words suggesting to the guard that he should take the petching deal though when the guard experienced it, it will be without any hint of Bob's own emotions like when he was telling the offer. This was because to make the suggestion Bob took on to looking back at his own gambling experiences. The one which made him unable to stop and that was greed. Recalling the exhilarating rush from when he did that Bob wrapped it around the djed and sent it from himself to the guard.

In the circumstances even with that advantage, the guard knew his own advantages especially when Bob had the disadvantage that some blood trickled down his mouth showing that he is a weakling easily hit even if it was from overgiving. The rush and confidence to the guard who was bigger and probably more skilled in fighting told himself why he should not take the offer as suggested, the guard muttered something about a bag, killing slaves or slaves killing him and taking down anyone he could before that. That of course included the man who tossed the bag at him and his petching lover. Bob would be happy to offer a compromise after cleaning himself up a little but then instead what came out of his mouth was an aggresive tone retorting that "she is not my lover! Are you that stupid?" He probably threw out any chances of diplomacy right there and then but diplomacy had no place in war where the only objectives were to kill everyone else even if only one side wanted that to happen. Seeing the guard lifting his sword, Bob tried to beg because "I am sorry and a smart man like you would not like to resort to killing right? How about money? I can give you..." how much exactly was he getting out of this? "...at least fifty gold mizas? No?"

That greedy bastard. What kind of person charges so much for passage through a door? What he wanted was too much. "No, not my life! How about sixty?" because life was all Bob could hear. Zandelia should not hit people so hard next time. Bob could not hear anything properly with all that hard breathing. "Well if it is slaves you want, they are yours if you can capture them again..." but the guard would not hear anymore. He lunged forward with his sword fully prepared to take down Bob and anyone else which got in his way.

Bob stepped back dodging the clumsy slash by just a little bit and drew out his own sword. It should be important to note that Bob did not exactly try dual wielding at this point. Which was why Bob lifted up the cane at his shoulder and threw it straight forward. It spun around which made it hard for the guard to block but it provided a good chance for Bob to strike just like he should have done before the guard caught his second wind instead of trying to bargain and plea for his life. Once the guard threw up his sword to try and block the cane, Bob struck. Lunging forward and aiming his sword right at the shoulder blades. He was still not going to kill anyone yet and was hoping for backup from the other slaves who should be getting freed by the ones he ordered to.

The sword pierced right through the shoulder but it only made the guard stare at Bob before he prepared for another attack. As much as Bob wanted to stab at the shoulder with the sword and force the guard to drop it, the sword and shoulder was so awkwardly positioned to block the cane for Bob to get a clear target. He tugged and pulled on the sword trying to get it out before the guard could make a slash but in the end he had to let it go unless he wanted to lose his own hand.

Now Bob lost his weapon and had one very determined guard in front of him. It was then he heard another set of yells about freedom! His backup finally pulled through. Without sparing a second, he ducked away from the guard's slash and leaped forward as his body unfolded. Then the guard was down along with his sword which clattered on the ground when the force of impact from Bob's tackle. He punched and pounded on the guard's ankle a few times until he heard the bones cracking before getting off making room for the rest of the slaves to come in.

"Nice of you guys to finally come in" he said very pleased until he heard the guard screaming for mercy and blood flying up along with a finger, a thumb...an arm... Trying to pull the group apart he would ask "what the heck are you doing? You might have been slaves but that does not mean you are animals. Stop that at once. I didn't let you guys go for this!" If he was able to get them to attack then surely he can get them to stop, but no. His position of leadership only lasted for moments until the carnage started. Failing Bob looked around only to see more horrible sights. Another guard torn apart and Zandelia standing at the corpse of one more. With a sigh he put away his sword and mumbled dissatisfied about how bad this whole day had been.

by **Zandelia** on November 7th, 2011, 9:01 pm

Zandelia could not help but chuckle a little as she looked around at what was happening in the room. Rapidly realising that there were no further enemies to engage she deftly threaded her tonfa back into their holsters after wiping them back up to a nice, clean shine. They had proven their worth today, gathering a few more scratches but stating unequivacobally that when it came to fighting it was cunning and ability that held more strength than the size of the weapon one was using. Still, that rational thinking was blown away by the grotesquery and base human action that was occurring near the door out, something which Zandelia could not condone. Shaking her head she marched over to the throng, hauling them off of the guard they were tearing to pieces bodily, throwing them back and levering them off before their hands could become stained further with gore. It was then that the rabble began to turn against her.

“You can’t tell me what to do! Get offa me! He deserves that bloody stuff!” one screamed at her, bunching his fists a little as if about to launch an attack.

“Whaddya know about us eh? You don’t know what they were like! Bitch!” another said, and it was that phrase that flared up her own anger beyond her ability to control it.

“I used to be a fucking slave too you filth, and I know what gaining freedom by blood is like. But I didn’t use my petching teeth to bite a man’s gut to pieces,” she shouted, punching the insulter in the face soundly, watching her fall to the floor in a slump, “get a hold of yourselves, you’re not damned animals!” she screamed, drowning out the dissent in a shrill voice that surprised even her.

“Now, the damned keys are over by the counter. Go free everyone and get out. Anyone else even thinks about telling me I have no idea about slavery then they will get a bloody lesson in what I petching know!” she howled, pointing at the counter and trying to regain control of her temper, reigning it in with an obvious struggle.

At the telling that they would be freed the others merely gave her sullen looks and slunk away to set about their apportioned task. As they did so Zandelia finally got a glimpse of the mutilated corpse before her, cheeks torn to pieces, eyes pushed into their sockets and so many bite marks she could not even believe she would ever be able to count them – even if she were so inclined to do so. Instead she merely shifted it out of the way of the door with her feet and pulled at the bar to open the wooden barrier and let in the open world of Sunberth once more. Light flooded the room and the sounds of life filled the air and gave her something to smile a little about. She stood there in the threshold for a few moments, her eyes closed and wishing she had not revealed to Bob Barton that she had been a slave in a previous life. It was something she wished none knew or could remember, herself included.

“Come on then Bob, let’s get the hell out of here. We’ll find a nice pub or something and get ourselves a few drinks to get the memory of today out of our minds,” she spoke up, not able to look at him at that moment, “we can divide up whatever loot we have there. You can get paid too, as agreed” she finished, striding out of the door and elaving Bob to follow her at his own pace.

She was not overly swift in her walking, it being more of a slow meander than anything else, her mind not focused upon the present so much as the past. The day had affected her more than she had thought it would, rage and sadness mixed with loss and an empty place within her soul that could never again be filled. It was not that she had been a slave that made her want to weep, it was how she had been turned into one. She was aware that many never got over being a slave if they were ever freed. That was not an issue for her as she had put the past behind her in that respect. It was the fact she knew her life would have been thoroughly different had her parents not been killed that truly motivated her actions and thoughts.

Father, today I brought back a small measure of justice. May it stay in the city for longer than I do she thought to herself as she became slowly aware that her feet had taken her to the door of the Pig’s Foot Tavern.

Pushing the door aside she all but slumped into a chair and ordered a flagon of ale to her table in the dark back corner of the establishment. She was not even aware that Bob had followed her, or even if he had. Only in the last few moments had she returned to the present and she tried to focus upon what was happening before her.

oocPick up the bags! She forgot them!

by **Bob Barton** on November 13th, 2011, 8:07 am

After Bob recovered from seeing that horrible display far worse than anything he had ever seen in Sunberth so far he just realized something. There was nothing to stop those slaves from turning on them! Bob went up behind Zandelia to whisper to her a warning that the best thing she could do now is "don't antagonize them" and in the event that she did Bob was in the perfect position to use her as a shield yet again until those slaves who were having their way with the last guard left the door alone. In a sense, Bob would be pretty impressed with the way Zandelia protected the guard since he thought of her as a mentally deranged killer but now she seemed more like a honorable businesswoman? Not really, because if she was they will not have a dead slaver in the office right now. Something he still could not figure out about.

Until now. So Zandelia used to be a slave? No wonder she suddenly had that unprofessional attitude when she handled Delgarde. Unless as Bob would tell her later when they left the building and the rest of the slaves "that was a pretty good lie to keep them in line. I liked the part where you talked about using teeth to bite guts into pieces." Of course she could not be a slave, that description was wayyyyyy to scary. She seemed more like a killer. Not a contract killer but one of those who did things for fun remembering the smiling faces from earlier. "So what were you really? Bored little rich girl? A trained assassin in an ancient cult? Vigilante in Sunberth?" he will ask with a laugh on their way to the tavern. After all they just went through it was something that Bob needed. Humor and closure.

"Actually..." Bob said nudging her by the ribs to get her attention, "you got the keys. These guys only got out because some people are too cheap to use proper chains." A good thing too or they would not have won today. After they got the keys, Bob will join in with Zandelia's attempts and say that "you wouldn't want her lessons either. It is very, very bloody as you have seen today and you don't want to add to it right?" gesturing around the room. Since Bob had no way of controlling the slaves through loyalty, he would use fear and since no one would fear him, he would use Zandelia fear. "Come on then people, times are wasting" he reminded them clapping his hands in a quick rhythm. "If you don't want to work for other people without pay you better work quickly for yourselves now." The order was needed since they were still fixated on the guard who is terrified of their glares. The obvious truth always worked in the face of desperation which was why he chose to use it.

Bob was so busy co-ordinating the slaves that he did not know that Zandelia had left. Great...he could feel the glares which were shared between the guard and him but unlike the unlucky man, Bob was free to go as long as he did it quickly. He might have been a man but Zandelia had proven she was very capable. So why was it that he had to be stuck with the bags? They only pretended they were shopping and acted as lovers. Even if he was getting paid Bob should not have to put up with this. Bob scrambled to pick up the bags and carried them out the door when he looked at the slaves one last time. With a sigh he threw one of the bags over to them telling them to "get some new clothes and get the hell out of Sunberth. I never want to see any of you here ever again!"

At the tavern, Bob pushed the bags to the table and asked Zandelia "what just went on over there?" Bob wanted an explanation and "are you sure you want to divide all this up where anyone can see to mug us later?" They had to hurry with it too since Bob still had some unfinished business. Did Zandelia forget about Jinsen already? Bob had to find his dog soon before anything bad happened. There was no way he was going to trust a slave boy even if the said slave boy should be indebted to him. Another sigh at the thought of slaves Bob just asked Zandelia to "get over with this quickly. If you need some more help it can wait until tomorrow" deciding to stay only as long as his drink was unfinished. He was not going to make it a secret that after all that his opinion of her had changed and unless she had anything else to do with him, he was going to leave her until next time. If there is a next time for them.

After that he would walk home with his loot and finding the boy at Killroy's. "I don't know if you listened to me or you are just hungry" he asked Jinsen though the boy might just think it was directed at him. Getting back his dog Bob would gesture for the boy to shoo off because "you are free now. What are you waiting for?" No, don't use those eyes. It will not work... "Arrgh! I'll tell you what." Taking out five gold mizas from what he got today he pressed it into the boy's hand. "Get a bath, some new clothes and meet me back here tomorrow morning." Whether or not the boy would listen or run with the money was no concern of Bob. Either way the boy was not responsibility after he did his part and all Bob would do now since he barely survived was to try and get the boy something to do. "I will introduce you to Killroy tomorrow" and perhaps he will learn a new trade and keep out of Bob's hair.

Bob could tell that his goodwill was treated with suspicion and with a disgusted look of disappointment he tried to appease the boy by telling him "you can pay me back with interest when you can" though he doubts that Killroy would actually pay the boy anything. It was good enough that he learns something and gets free lodging. So Bob added that "and take care of Jinsen for me while I am busy." It should be one of the easiest jobs out there seeing how friendly that dog was and maybe the boy would learn something. But until then "I am going to bed. See you tomorrow and our story will be that you are an orphan who saved my dog." Grasping the boy's head as hard as possible and staring at his eyes to tell him just how important it was to "understand?" this one fact that no one should know that he was a slave until today.

by **Zandelia** on November 13th, 2011, 1:44 pm

Bob’s words were a knife to her very soul, generating wounds far deeper than he could ever know. It was an irony in her life that none believed it possible she had once been a slave, forced to beg and scrape for everything, up to an often including unwanted sexual interactions. The years still clung to her like a tattered and unwanted cloak, always draped over her shoulders and made of a fabric far weightier than it looked to be. It smothered and suffocated her in ways none could ever truly comprehend, not unless they lived it themselves – an they were terrible fortunate they had never had to do so. She could still feel the vestiges of shame from forcing pleading sobs from her lips for her ‘master’ to ‘satisfy’ her after beating it out of her with such force it had cracked ribs. The terror of living in the knowledge that if one did not do as they were told then all it would bring was more pain and humiliation. Not to mention the humiliation at eventually becoming awfully eager to please so as to never be hurt again. Even now it brought shivers to her very soul, as proven by her shudders as Bob sat opposite her and let loose his diatribe.

You think you know despair and danger dear Bob, but in truth you know little of the depths I have plunged. I would rather face ten thousand swords and slavers than a single other whip used to dictate my actions she thought to herself as a morose and broody nature began to come over her.

“No Bob, it was no lie I spoke to the slaves back there. It was simple truth. Did you ever wonder how I got the damned scar and lost my eye all at once?” she told him with a deep sigh, tracing the body of the thin line that had stolen half of her vision all those years ago with her left index finger.

“Bob, I do not think I even want that which is in the bags. You can take them both with you when you go, take them away from me and leave me with my thoughts. I do not deserve to profit from that which caused my own soul to be twisted. Take them with my thanks, along with the payment we agreed for your services” she stated simply, pushing it all towards the little man, “and I ask only one thing. Do not mention today t anyone and do not think too badly of that which you can never understand” she finished, her voice all but a sigh now as the man left her at the table, alone and drowning in the memories.

So much blood for blood. Too little justice for justice. An eye for an eye some say but I took more than that from the one who took mine. Degarde was a gnat, latched upon a much larger beast. It will only end when it is dead. Then the memories ma fade, for a time, and vanish completely from my sight she thought to herself as she drank from both her own and Bob’s untouched mug of ale.

She had thought that raiding Degarde’s, killing the man and his thugs, would bring her a sense of inner peace – a small island of tranquillity in an all too turbulent sea of hatred and spite. It had brought her satisfaction for a brief handful of minutes, filling her with righteous fury and a sense that a little bit more of the balance had been restored – injustice pushed back an inch or two. Now she was left devoid of all emotion, able to look back upon everything without bias and saw that she was little better than the slavers she hated, anger festering within her and corrupting that which was once purer than it was now. The more depressing thought was that her current mood would pass soon, replaced once more with the rage that drove her to murder, that fuelled her vendetta against each and every slaver she found. She was no vigilante, not in the traditional sense. She fought for her own sanity and satisfaction and not out of a foolish ideal of universal justice.

“Eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth. Life for a life and soul for a soul,” she muttered to herself as she pulled her father’s knife from her boot and studying it in the light, reflecting off of its surface, “but what do you take when what was taken went deeper than even that? What can you do in recompense for that which you have no name for yourself?” she asked herself as she slipped her dagger back delicately into its sheath, stroking the handle almost lovingly.

Thus it was that the fires began to return as her thoughtfulness receded, leaving naught but memory in its wake. Zandelia sat in the tavern for the rest of the day, drinking as much as she could before stumbling back to her tent that was called a home. It was dark out by the time she returned, the stars glittering like jewels upon a satin canvas. She had not the heart to muse upon that, instead choosing to throw herself upon her bedding and let sleep offer her what little comfort she ever really received.

oocRight, thread finished! Well done bob you made it amazing. Once I've got your skills/lore requests I'll psot it up for grading

by **Archelon** on December 12th, 2011, 8:41 pm

Thread Award

"..."

And the Results!!!!:

Bob :

Zandelia :

Would you like some extra turtle sauce ? :