On Step Closer [open]

[Emory Ruin]

Finally, smiled Emory, glad to be at the end of her long day.

Around the corner was an entirely different world. The street soon came alive as though a circus was performing. Men and women alike joined together in boisterous laughter mixed with songs Emory couldn’t understand . Though the road was mostly stripped of human activity, animated music filled the atmosphere begging each straggler to come investigate its source.

A large hanging sign with the image of a dragon painted on its frame was visible through the midnight vigor. That must be the Tavern….and that another Inn, thought Emory, speculating two buildings a little further down the street.

Kamrynn leaned in towards her to grab Emory’s attention and pointed to the building with the sign of a golden dragon. Smiling, Emory followed after Kamrynn into the fantastic Inn. A stout woman with greasy hair and a soup stained apron greeted them at the front desk…or bar. Whichever it was, Emory wasn’t sure.

“A room,” replied Emory, “Two rooms, separately” she promptly swung her hands apart for emphasis. The Greasy –haired lady stared quizzically at them both, but went about her business behind the oak countertop.

Emory was removing her backpack from her shoulder when Kamrynn asked, “Would you like join me for dinner?”

She hadn’t even noticed the pit of misery in her empty stomach until he’d mentioned it. “I’d like that,” she replied, genuinely pleased. “First, we should probably put our belongings in our rooms though”.

After mumbling something to a very tall man, the Greasy-haired woman returned. “This way, follow me to your rooms”, she chimed, weaving through the crowd masterfully. Emory followed after her, hoping Kamrynn had heard. Looking back to see, she accidently bumped into a burly man with a scruffy black beard and intense blue eyes.

“Watch it!” he scowled. He turned around forcefully, probably looking to fight whatever unlucky lad was stupid enough to run into him, but paused when he saw Emory. “Sorry miss, didn’t see yah there, here let yer old man help yah”.
Emory immediately shied away from the deep throated stranger who had just seconds ago come across as an unruly man with a hot temper.

“No thanks,” she murmured, uncomfortable with the situation.

“No, no, I’ll carry yer bags fer ya,” he insisted.

The blue-eyed stranger’s accent was odd and sluggish as if he had one too many drinks. Greasy-haired woman stopped at the end of the room, near the base of some stairs. That must be where our rooms are, Emory reflected.

“No, really, I’m fine.” Emory’s voice was barely audible above the clamor within the Inn. She hoped he would just move away as she passed him. Emory took a few more questionable steps in his general direction, heading for the stairs. Don’t touch me,[/i[ she thought, [i]Or I’ll burn your hand like dry pine needles over a fire.

[Kamrynn Sleightyr]

Kamrynn followed behind Emory wordlessly, he was dumbfounded. What would the guys back in his barracks think when he didn't show up for the night? He wasn't on duty tomorrow, he had no obligation to return but certainly they'd wonder. Telling them he took a girl to an inn and spent the night in the room adjacent to hers... Well, it would invite a lot of questions and a lot of teasing.

Concerns for his peers would have to wait, though, for ahead of him he caught sight of Emory having trouble with a burly looking man ahead of him. He picked his way through the crowd towards her with some difficulty, the hole the old lady had punched through the congregration sealed up quickly after Emory. He was forced to make his way a bit slower and more forcefully.

His eyes were glued on Emory and her tormenter, he saw her shy away from him after he mentioned something, but the words were lost in the dull roar of the bar.

By the time Kamrynn had made it to Emory's side, her exchange with the drunkard was mostly finished, but Kamrynn had heard and seen enough to surmise the situation.

“I got 'em!” The drunkard reached down to wrest Emory's bags from where they were clutched in her hands. Kamrynn pushed himself between the two, thwarting the drunk man's attempt and unwittingly saving the trouble makers hands from becoming two charred stumps.

Only inches separated the two men, the smell of liquer and beer was so heavy on the blue eyed man's breath it was stifling. It took no small amount of will power for Kamrynn to keep from gagging, and even more self control to keep himself from grabbing the man by the shirt collar and breaking his teeth in. But, whenever Kamrynn was mad he did his best to resist the first knee jerk reaction that came to his mind, so instead he offered words. “Lady Emory said she could carry her own bags.” Kamrynn bit off every word slowly.

The drunkard backed up a bit to look Kamrynn over. An array of emotions played out across his face; fury at first for being interupted, then concern when he recognized Kamrynn as a Syliran knight. Finally, after moving a step back and taking careful stock of the situation, he was back to his drunk and confident self.

“Ser,” He slurred sarcastically. “There's no crime in helping a lady with her bags.”

Emory watched on quietly, forgotten now by both of the men, but she was readying her own defenses. The drunk had no idea how much trouble he was getting in.

"Be that as it may," Kamrynn said dangerously. "She doesn't want your help, so let her by." With an exagerated motion, Kamrynn moved his left hand to rest on the hilt of his sword and smirked, holding the drunkards icy blue gaze. The other man wasn't visibly armed; like many of the nicer bars in Syliras, weapons weren't allowed in the Golden Dragon by anyone but the guard.

The bearded man belched in Kamrynn's face. "Kid, as I see it, Knight or no, it's three to one." His gaze shifted over the Knight's shoulder and he gave a sharp nod.

It would have been impossible for Kamrynn to distinguish the two men who had slipped up from behind him in the crowded Inn as anything more sinister than the rest of the dozens of patrons.

They were hearty, grizzled looking men in their late thirties and big by anyone's standards. They reached out, each grabbing one of Kamrynn's arms and pinning him back. The young knight had less than a second to free himself before the attack came.

The blue eyed man reared his fist back and cracked Kamrynn across the jaw, sending his senses reeling. The ground spun above him and the ceiling below. The drunk readied his fist for another blow, a terrible grin on his face.

Meanwhile the bar broke into pandemonium. People crowded around the fight, pushing and shoving to get a better look at the drunks beating up a castle guard. The Greasy haired woman screamed at everyone in ear shot, but her cries fell on deaf ears and she was nearly trampled.

Kamrynn hoisted his legs up and kicked out with all his strength, catching the drunk in the chest. The man staggered back a few steps, but the men holding Kamrynn's arms were relentless, and now they were trying to force him to the ground. If he was only able to free one of his arms and get to his sword, the scales would swing back in his favor. He was a swordsman, not a brawler.

He grit his teeth, but he was smiling. Things are looking grim. He thought idly to himself.

[Emory Ruin]

“Stop! Stop!” interjected Emory, “Please!”

Nobody seemed to hear or even notice her presence. It was as if a ghost had spoken. Kamrynn was stilled pinned back and about to induce a stalwart punch in the face when a potbellied man with yellow teeth blocked her view.

The rambunctious crowd that had assembled around the brawlers was cheering gleefully. Their mocks were garbled for the most part for most of them were undeniably drunk. Not wanting to place her bag down, Emory attempted to push through the crowd to see what was going on.

Somebody shouted, “Get ‘em! That ah boy!”. A very nasty laugh cut through mass and echoed high above all the other voices among the wasted crowd.
“Ohh, he’ll feel THAT tomorrow!” chuckled the potbellied man in front of her. He stunk of sweat and cheese. Disgusting.

The whole scene was beyond frustrating to Emory. Not only could she not distinguish clearly what was going on, but the idiocy of this crown infuriated her. Couldn’t they see with their own beady little eyes what was going on? Damn them! Don’t encourage these drunken potheads! Emory swung her head to the right, looking for the Greasy-haired lady. She was no longer there, hopefully finding some help. A few minutes passed, it seemed longer than that, but only because of the pain associated with the next excruciating groan. Somebody collided with a table. DAMNIT! Where was that woman? What was she doing?

As if on cue, two very buff men (or giants) stepped into the maelstrom of people. They were followed by the Greasy-haired woman. Took you long enough, thought Emory.

“Get back all of you!” one shouted in a booming voice so that every man in the room stopped what they were doing to listen. A few stepped out of their way, others simply froze, dumbfounded without direction.

He stood perhaps 7’3’ and his companion was shoulder height to him. They each wielded bronze swords, glaring at the mob. The larger of the two men walked over to the blue-eyed trouble-maker, caught him by his bloodied cuff and growled in his face.

“You wanna start a fight, Big Boy? Well,” he challenged. Tilting his head to the left, a steady torrent of pops could be heard as though someone had snapped numerous dry branches in half.

The blue-eyed drunkard gaped in disbelief. The glassy look cleared from his eyes as he juxtaposed the pictures together, comprehending what was about to happen. He sobered long enough for the titanic man to release his collar and shove him back three feet. Blue-eyes stumbled and fell, or at least, that’s what is sounded like.

Emory still couldn’t see Kamrynn, or what was accurately going on. She could only hear. The crowd slowly dispersed and Emory saw the giant guards watching all three trouble-makers leave Inn.

“Kamrynn?” shouted Emory. She swung around but the crowd was still too thick. Where was he? Was he okay? “Kamrynn!” she tried once more, this time shoving people out of her way.

[Kamrynn Sleightyr]

More people poured in around the fight, and Kamrynn wriggled helplessly like a fish caught on a line. By now someone was usually coming to his aide, but it looked like today he was on his own.Think think think! He demanded, and finally he came up with something.

He lifted his left leg and brought it down sharply and sideways against the knee of one of the men who were holding him. There was a popping sound as the knee clicked out of place and ligaments tore like fraying rope. The man went down groaning loudly and released his grip on Kamrynn's arm.

As soon as he felt his arm slip free, Kamrynn whipped it around in the widest, sloppiest, hardest hitting hay-maker he could muster at the drunk holding his other arm. The drunk, laughing obviously, still had both his hands wrapped around Kamrynn's right arm and made no attempts to raise a defense. The punch connected with ever ounce of Kamrynn's body weight, dead center on the nose.

Crunch. The bones in his sinuses shattered like broken glass under foot; the mans grip slackened and he staggered back, blood pouring in tiny rivers from between his hands as he cupped them around his nose.

Kamrynn turned to look for Emory, the knight enjoyed a fight as much as the next guy, but this was hardly the time or the place. There were too many people, his eyes scanned the Inn desperately, darted between every scrap of crimson he could make out, but they were all dresses and shirts, not Emory's fiery hair.

"Ugh!" Kamrynn gasped, blue eyes had tackled him, laying him out on a table. The man rained heavy, ham-fisted blows down on the knight, who could do little else but raise his arms to ward them off, he was pinned under the substantial weight of his attacker and the stifling crowd.

There was yelling, more patrons were joining the fight on both sides and the bar was getting trashed. Tables were upturned and chairs, bottles and glasses were shattered and recruited as weapons.

One of the new combatants, young peasant boy, pulled blue eyes from off of Kamrynn and the knight was back on his feet in an instant. Blue eyes dispatched the offender in short order, then turned back to his original prey.

But Kamrynn was nowhere in sight.

Biting his tongue and sucking up his pride, the knight had sunk to his hands and knees and was crawling out of sight beneath the tables on the sticky bar room floor. Finding Emory and making sure she was safe was more important than a stupid fight.

The brawl was hitting a crescendo now, men cursed at the top of their lungs and bashed everything and everyone in sight, they were all too drunk to care who had started it, or why they were fighting in the first place. It was every man for himself.

There! Kamrynn spotted her, at least what looked like her from the waist down. He clamored to his feet, well away from the throng of fighting and came up from behind her just as the bouncers were stopping the fight.

"Kamrynn!" She called a second time.

"Right here, Emory." He reached out to touch her on the shoulder, glad to see she was safe.

His right eye was bruised and only halfway open, a spattering of blood leaked from the corners of his mouth, but for the most part, he wasn't much worse for wear. The two found themselves on the outskirts of the crowd now, and he wondered if it would be best for him to try and slip out unnoticed to avoid incurring any blame for the fight.

"Sorry about that, are you alright?" His face flushed hot with embarrassment, he was ashamed. Emory was safe by dumb luck alone, his skill hadn't been up to the task. If he couldn't protect a young woman from a few drunks, he certainly didn't make much of a knight.

[Emory Ruin]

“I’m right here,” came the familiar voice.

Emory whirled around looking Kamrynn right in his eyes. She was startled by brutal marks left by the Blue-eyed trouble maker. I’m so sorry, she wanted to say. Somehow, it just didn’t seem appropriate at the time. Apart from feeling apologetic, Emory also had the urge to pound her fists against his chest. You scared the light out of me! she wanted to yell in his face. This too didn’t seem right.

Besides that, she hardly knew the young knight. A few conversations doesn’t really construct a close relationship. Friends wouldn’t be so far off though, Emory supposed.

“Why don’t we see about those rooms?” she finally suggested. He looked tired and beat up. Emory whish, more than anything, that she had some healing herbs.

The Greasy-haired lady returned to their sides in a huff. “Well, wasn’t that just fun?” She smiled sarcastically. Clearly she hadn’t thought the ordeal was funny, yet that didn’t seem to stop her from carrying on in her original optimistic mood. “Better put a damp cloth on that son,” she cautioned, pointing to Kamrynn’s swelling bruise, “Or it’ll turn nasty in the morning”.

After climbing the stairs, the Greasy-haired woman strode down a pitifully-lit hall and swung open the door to the first room. The setup appeared basic enough. There was a bed, a single table stand with a washing basin and mirror hanging over that and one window above which no curtains were draped. It didn’t look as if it matter since they were on the second floor.

Emory found the setup rather quaint. Her favorite feature in the room was the blue and green woven carpet spread out across the floor. The next room was almost a replica of the first except there was no carpet. Instead, a striking painting was suspended above her bed. The image was of several knights all riding atop galloping stallions.

“You just call me Rae,” said the Greasy-haired woman. “How long do you think you’ll be staying for?”

Emory thought about it for a moment before answering. “Well, I have to find a mage craft and supplies. No more than three days, possibly two.”

Rae nodded her head and stepped out of the room. “You just pay me down stairs before you leave,” she confirmed.

Emory nodded her head, showing that she understood. Dropping her back pack to the floor, Emory walked over to the mirror to check her appearance. I’ve looked worse, she resolved, still…. Emory fished her brush out of the bottom of her backpack. She quickly finished combing the knots from her hair before going to check on Kamrynn.

Emory unclasped her black traveling cloak. Yellow thread interwove a crisscross design across her corset. The skirt was a matching dark green ripple, latent against her tired legs. “Kamrynn?” she inquired at his door.
A moment passed and nobody answered. “Kamrynn?” she tried again, this time opening the door. She spotted him across the room, the blood all whipped from his face, but his bruise was still an upsetting sight.

“I’m sorry that you were hurt on my behalf,” Emory began, “May I help you?”.
Instead of waiting for permission, Emory strolled over to where Kamrynn sat on the bed, placed her hand above the cool water inside the basin and preformed a simple spell. She commenced by pulling the water towards her finger tips and then commanding them to lift into the air. This, she brought to Kamrynn’s forehead. “I promise this won’t hurt,” she laughed, seeing his expression.

The water gently slid over the swelling bruise like rain. The swelling significantly reduced, though the coloring was not entirely faded. “There,” she breathed somewhat drained from the exertion. “It will heal just fine.”

A forgotten thought suddenly came to her as Emory surveyed her saviour, “So, what was that about dinner?”

[Emory Ruin]

[Due to my newness to the game....I did not realize there was an actual golden dragon here in Slyliras. We can either A) Keep going in here, or B) Transfer to the Golden Dragon...however difficult that may be now that we've started a brawl, described the rooms and so forth...and I named the Inn Keeper. It's up to you, we can even take twist and move lodgings for some reason)

[Kamrynn Sleightyr]

[[[Wow, yeah I didn't realize that either. I'm a newbie too. I was kind of aware they had locations, but I didn't realize we were at one. Bit of a mix up...

Let's start up in the Golden Dragon thread, and adopt all of their predefined descriptions once the characters go back down to the bar. First post will be Kam and Emory walking down the stairs?]]]

[Emory Ruin]

Okay, that sounds like a plan to me. Any time we leave the golden dragon we can go ahead and switch back here.

[Kamrynn Sleightyr]

Kamrynn was glad to see Emory was alright, but the look she gave him as she spun around made his blood run cold. It was unreadable: a mix of anger, fear and relief –to name only a few in the kaleidoscopic range that played out across her face.

Kamrynn kept quiet as the inn keeper lead them upstairs. The scenery was swimming before his eyes; the entire world seemed warm and far away. His adrenaline was starting to wear thin and pain seemed to be emanating from every part of his body, many from injuries he didn’t remember incurring. The worst of them were his right eye, his jaw and his lower ribs.

The Inn keeper showed them to their rooms and Kammrynn B-lined to his bed. He ripped his armor off and tossed it into a clattering pile on the floor. Normally he was more careful with it, but right now it was the least of his concerns, although he did add his sword to the pile more carefully.

The mattress groaned as he flopped down on it and began to take inventory of his injuries. Nothing seemed broken, his joints moved freely and (mostly) without pain, and his bones were all intact. All his teeth were in place, which was good news to him, though his jaw clicked painfully.

His eye was really the worst, it was swelling enough to now to have some effect on his vision, and he tried with futility to push the swelling fluids back into his body. Pain was the only reward for his efforts, and it was bestowed upon him generously.

Emory appeared in the doorway suddenly –he hadn’t heard her calling. “I’m sorry you were hurt on my behalf.” She almost whispered, making her way to the water basin.

“Really, it’s nothing.” Kamrynn tried his best to sound macho, but he looked ragged and his words carried less weight than the air they hung on.

“May I help you?” She wasn’t really asking, but Kamrynn didn’t object. In his opinion, if you couldn’t appreciate a beautiful woman carrying for your injuries there was something wrong with you. At least, that was how he felt until he noticed she was casting a spell.

He bolted upright as she wove her spell, terrified. Hadn’t she mentioned earlier that her spells had a tendency to get away from her on occasion? His terror turned into dread as the water droplets rose from the bowl, and he inched himself away on the bed.

She laughed. “I promise this won’t hurt.” His body went rigid, but he held himself still as the droplets collided gently with his face.

He winced, but it was needless. The droplets spread a cool relief through his face, it was indescribable. The swelling went down almost immediately, leaving little more than a dark purple ring around his eye. He was still appreciating her work when she interjected, “So what was that about dinner?”

Kamrynn looked up at Emory, a hint of awe in his eyes. The look quickly turned to one of concern, her efforts had drained her visibly, her shoulders hung lower and she seemed paler than before. The knight jumped from the bed. “Of course!” He offered her his arm to lead her downstairs. “Shall we go, mi’lady?”

[[[Next post in the Golden Dragon Thread?]]]

[Gossamer]

Note: Please keep your brawl in this thread and don't transfer to the Golden Dragon. You don't need to clutter location threads with private roleplays. You can always visit private locations in individual threads that ARENT those location threads just by saying your going there. So please keep your posts here! Otherwise the GD thread will be hopelessly cluttered all the time.