SRQ: A Deal between Devils(Verillian, Then Ravok contingent)

[Ariadne]

'Calm. Remain calm. Think relax. Slow your breathing. Loosen your shoulders. Confidence.' The thief droned on in her thoughts a mantra to still the break-neck speed her heart was racing at. If she couldn't relax than at least she had to look relaxed. Unconcerned. Humans were predators and at the smallest sign of weakness they would descend like vultures. Ariadne couldn't imagine Sunberth's residents being much different - quite the opposite in fact. And right now they had been spotted, marked and tagged for something. A robbery, most like, though she didn't put all her hope into such a small and petty crime. Rape. Murder. Slavery. What do lawless men do? She supposed she'd find out soon enough. Ariadne donned a self-satisfied smile - much like a cat's smile after it swallowed a canary - but the truth was she was very, very alarmed. "It's really not that hard to play. But if you can't use both hands simultaneously you have to practice at it more." Jacquin was saying. He had pulled the mandolin that had become a permanent fixture on his back out and now it sat on his lap as he lazily strummed a few chords. "It's not as easy as you make it seem, my brother." Kaervin replied, patting his brother's shoulder affectionately. Ariadne cleared her throat before speaking. "Gentlemen, I think now would be the time to-" "Of course it is." Jacquin carried on as if he hadn't heard her. Which was entirely a possibility, but it was rude to interrupt regardless. Besides, her news was more important than his inane ramblings. "As Ikvan said, you over think it little brother. If you-" "Gentlemen," Ariadne repeated louder with more steel in her voice (and maybe a touch of alarm). She took a quick breath before continuing, now the center of attention at their little table. "I think perhaps it is pass time that we left. They will not wait for us, and I for one am not interested in staying in Sunberth for longer than absolutely necessary." Kaervin opened his mouth, a stubborn and angry look on his face. During the trip from Ravok Ariadne had gleaned a little something (unfortunately) of Kaervin. His opinion of women were that they were to be seen, pawed and fucked, but never listened too. And his lack of respect (which she would have exploited to levy the burden of money from him so graciously) would see them killed now. Ariadne dropped her voice barely above a whisper. She lost nothing in sharing her knowledge with them. "There are men who've taken special interest in our little party here." As she spoke she looked at the first of the men and saw Ikvan and Kaervin looking. 'Good.' "I think it would be in our best interest to leave. Now." Her brown eyes flared momentarily as the fight-or-flight instinct rose inside, silently demanding that she just leave the idiots behind to their own fate. But Ariadne was fairly realistic, and four men dissuaded many more from approach her. In Sunberth their mere presence would save her life or at the very least avoid most confrontation. "How many, little girl?" Ikvan asked in his brutishly thick accent. From anyone else 'little girl' would have been an insult. To Ikvan she really was a little girl. "Three that they chose to reveal. Which means there's more." Ariadne answered before saying, "And they're probably outside the tavern waiting for us. These men will follow behind and stop us from escaping." She shrugged, for all the world seemingly at ease and unconcerned. "Or that's what I would do, anyways. Seems a little cliché, but there it is." Ikvan nodded. Unofficially he was the leader of their little group; no one had to listen to him, but they were left behind if they didn't follow his lead. And Ikvan was the most experience fighter out of them all, so it was generally a good idea to stay near him if she wanted to survive Sunberth. And her chances seemed to be dwindling as the seconds passed by. "We will go then. It is late now and they will not wait for us." Ikvan said, standing up. Ariadne had to resist the impulse to shoot up from her chair to follow, and instead drained the last of her piss-poor wine before following suit. Rhysol, but Sunberth didn't have anything appealing in it. She was glad to be gone from the city soon.As they were leaving the tavern Ariadne cast a look back and met the gaze of the first man she had seen. His wolfish smile grew but he made no move to follow them. Yet. Ariadne made herself smile back in the same predatory way and saw a flash of doubt in dead eyes. Once outside their little group unanimously went right, towards the docks. Outside the smell was worse and Ariadne couldn't wait to be away from this squalor and filth. It was hard to imagine her kind of life in this city - she used her citizenship of Ravok nearly as frequently as she did the wrist knife belted to her right arm. There was no law or law enforcers in Sunberth. The freedom of it had a sort of temptation, but freedom was a double-edged knife and could cut both ways. They walked for a little bit, a smattering of conversation picking up to only fade into obscurity again. They were all too tense anyways, waiting for thieves and/or murderers to turn the next corner. It made for a wholly unpleasant walk and Ariadne for one just wanted to run to the docks, get on the boat and leave this city far, far behind. But as they left behind the tavern and the men and got further away it seemed that they hadn't been as interested as she thought. Kaervin even said so. "The bitch doesn't know what she was talking about." He had a certain elegance with words, that Kaervin. And in spite of herself Ariadne had been thinking the same thing. Maybe she had misread the situation and reacted like a scared kitten seeing it's own, darker and more perverse shadow for the first time. It would be a bit of a relief if she was just jumping at shadows, but Ariadne's instincts were practically screaming at her and she learned long ago o follow her instincts. So where were the men? As if on cue four men stepped out of an alleyway in front of them though even at a first look Ariadne knew they weren't with the men from the tavern. They were more finely dressed and openly wore finer weapons. They carried themselves more like fighters than the men from the tavern, and they had a sort of self-righteous look about them. "What are you doing here?" The far left one asked in a deep baritone. Abruptly the men from the tavern materialized seemingly from the ground itself, bolstered now with two more men. And by some way these groups seemed to know each other, something that made them distinguishable to each other. The tension grew thicker, and the men in front visibly straightened, surprise and alarm on their faces. "Night Eyes." The left man said, uncertainty thick in his deep voice. His stance became wary and his hand stole to the hilt of his sword. Knife, tension, cut like butter. The hair on the back of her neck was standing straight up, and the thief readied herself to run and leave the blood bath to those more skilled in bloodshed. "Dragoon." The other man, the first man she saw, the Rhysol-damned man who had started it all, replied. He, by contrast, was completely at ease, an assumed smile on his face. His eyes were dead, though, and the smile didn't touch those grey orbs. For their part the Ravok group tried to shrink away, but it was hard to since they were literally between the two groups. Which, in her estimation, was not a good place to be. "What are you... doing here?" The left man asked, his voice carefully neutral. The man from the tavern shrugged. "Where Daggerhand is interested, we are interested." He replied as if that explained it. Which it didn't, not to Ariadne at least. But the man - the "Dragoon" - seemed to understand as the thief watched realization dawn on his face. He didn't seem to be itching for a fight with these men either. "Ah, well if that's the case... we'll leave you to it." The man said, tilting his head slightly in recognition to the tavern man. The Dragoon order his men back and they left, though Ariadne got the vague impression that they weren't going far and would stay near to watch as whatever unfolded. The wolf smile returned. "Alone at last." OOCHey, hoping this post is okay. If not I obviously have no problems changing it, but I thought that if the Daggerhand and Night Eyes are at war and the Ravok contingent is "protected" by the Daggerhand than the Night Eyes would be interested. O_O Hopefully it's alright with you guys ^^

[Rezren]

Rezren was surprised to see Jeram come from the darkness and even more surprised when the man who had been hired off the street with him a few months earlier followed moments after. The two had been around camp and Rezren trusted both of them to an extent that comforted him in the dire situation. All of them seemed a bit worn down by the night’s trials and it was probably good for all of them that they were now reunited. The prospects of making it to the docks were looking up. Rezren motioned silently to his to companions in the direction that he believed the docks were in and started to move. He kept his pacing steady and his body low as to try and avoid attention or make himself a smaller target if he had already been spotted. He didn’t want to speak or make any unnecessary sounds as any attention drawn seemed like bad attention in the end. He kept his sword and shield equipped because startling a few innocent people greatly outweighed the safety and comfort the two items provided. He felt fairly sure that the worst was behind them, but it was impossible to be sure of anything. The unknown streets with unknown people unsurprisingly posed unknown threats, as the previous events had made clear. Perhaps it was an exaggeration, but the mercenary felt as though he had grown considerably on the short voyage the docks. He felts smarter, stronger, and stealthier as he navigated towards the destination. If any foes presented themselves, he felt as though he could cut them down with a bit of help from his allies. A rat chased by a cat darted in front of him, but he didn’t flinch despite the fact that this would have made him jump a few hours ago. He was fully functioning and had heard the animals coming a few moments before they had sprung into vision. He readjusted the sword in his hand and proceeded closer and closer to salvation. He glanced back to check that his fellows were following.

[Jeram]

Jeram was at least a little happy that he finally saw some familiar faces. He didn't really care very much for the companions that he had lost and it seemed that the others had some trouble as well. What they had overcomed up till now has only been a test in their actual goal which would be accomplished after they left this damned city. Jeram didn't know Sunberth very well so he couldn't really tell if they were close to the docks yet or not. His weapon and shield were kept equipped as he didn't really care about keeping a low status anymore. If a large confrontation like that had already happened then it was pointless to try and hide who they were anymore. With a group as good as this Jeram was pretty sure they could take on any group that might try to attack them at the moment. "I hope you know where you're going." Jeram said to Rezren as it looked as if he apparenrtly knew how to get to the docks. He couldn't help but continously look around for danger even though Rezren, Bojovnik, and himself alone would probably be enough to intimidate anyone willing to cause trouble along with the others who joined them. The large group continoued on to their destination without speaking very much as there wasen't as much of a need for words now. "I can't wait to get the petch out of this city. he stated to the group.

[Bojovnik Vybutit]

Bojovnik Followed the group happy to be behind and not leading. He wasn't scared of anything at this point. If someone wanted to try and attack him it wasn't going to do much as he was ready and willing to kill someone. Killing people who tried to protect him! People he started to like. It made him want to just burn down this entire city. Looking at their three man group someone would have to be crazy to attack them at this point. Two mercenaries and the Ebonstryfe soldier or whatever he was. Bojovnik didn't feel like he was the strongest of the group from his experience with the two as of now. Seeing that they both have had some form of a fight on their way here it wasn't hard to see that this was some of the best in the group. As they walked on Bojovnik pulled out his axe and began twirling it around. His new found favorite pastime. "I'm with you Jerman. When we get back from this little old adventure...I'm burning this place to the ground." Bojovnik said, meaning every word of it.

OOCSorry about this taking...FOREVER...with classes starting again and all that jazz its been hard to find time. sorry.

[Ariadne]

“What the hell do you want?” Kaervin demanded, his voice betrayed by the quiver of unease that shook his words slightly. Slight, though Ariadne noticed it and –undoubtably- so did their Night Eye friends. The thief suppressed a grimace. Running was looking more and more appealing. Unfortunately, running also had the nasty habit of inviting chase, and sometimes it was better to try and stand ground. All five feet of her. Ha ha. She was woefully outmatched here. “To send a message. The kind of message that leaves bodies and gore behind. Your options are quick and painless or drawn out and slow; if you answer my questions and give me what I want I will ensure a quick end for you all. Otherwise…” He left the rest unsaid, but the thief didn’t doubt his words for a moment. He really could make them suffer for their silence. Unfortunately they didn’t really have an information to bargain with. Besides, Ariadne was rather fond of living and those options didn’t satisfy her. Nor did they seem to please Ikvan. The man charged without preamble, drawing his sword as he crossed the distance between them. After a moment’s hesitation the rest of the Ravok group save Ariadne followed, coming together in a clash as steel met steel. The thief cast a quick look around and backed up, intent on leaving others better equipped for this kind of warfare to battle it out. She turned on her heel and made to sprint towards the dock but was halted by another man. She hadn’t even seen him come up behind them. “’Ello there, birdie.” He growled. Ariadne turned to run the other way but the man thrusted out a hand and grabbed a handful of her hair, pulling her to an abrupt and painful stop. She cried out as the man pulled her closer to his body, keeping on hand tangled in the brown mass as the other produced a knife from seemingly nowhere to rest coolly on her neck. “You ain’t half bad – certainly would be a waste to cut you up. Why don’t we get you out of here?” He said with a leer, likely trying to scare her. On the contrary, this was more than she could have hoped for and the thief hatched a plan, albeit one she wasn’t fully confident in. Better it than the alternative, however. “I’m a smart girl,” she replied quickly, letting some of her fear colour her tone. “Get me out of here and I’ll do whatever you want. I don’t want to die.” She said the last part with a quiver that wasn’t entirely pretend. Behind her she could hear the fighting continuing, the grunts and cries of pain. The man smiled, likely pleased to find them of the same mind frame. Well, moderately so, anyways. Ariadne wasn’t one to shy away from sex as a tool (or weapon, in the right hands) but even this was beyond her. He moved the knife away from its perch, and that was something, though he kept his grip on her hair. The man turned them away from the fighting and walked down the street with her in tow before turrning into a dark alleyway scattered with refuse. The thief suppressed a shiver of disgust as the man pushed her down on her knees among the refuse, though she was so nervous she didn’t think so voice complaint. He was situated between the entrance and her, blocking her escape should she try to run. He then began to unclasp his belt, feeling confident with her compliancy and their bargain. His pants dropped abruptly, followed by his small clothes in haste. Ariadne recoiled slightly but the man grabbed a handful of hair and pulled her head towards his sex. The thief moved quickly, her hands disappearing into the dark between the man’s thighs accompanied by a small shick. An instant later the situation changed and she felt his grasp go rigid. She applied a little pressure on the wrist knife and tried to keep the quiver out of her voice. Adrenaline pounded through her, and she wasn’t sure if she was giddy or terrified. Probably both. “I’m not doing this. I’m going to leave and you’re not going to follow me. You’re going to leave me alone and tell your friends I ran to the gates of the city – back to the camp. I don’t know what’s going on, I don’t care. I want to leave. Do you understand?” The man barely moved his lips as he spoke. “You crazy bitch, you can’t be serious.” Ariadne gave a hard smile; although the man couldn’t see it he could at least hear it. “I’m literally holding a knife to your manhood… do you want to test how serious I am?” The audible gulp was strangely satisfying to hear. “So we have a deal?” She asked, trying hard to not shake, though from what she wasn’t sure. She wasn’t sure she could actually go through with doing something like this, but she wasn’t about to let him know that. She deliberately made her voice hard and cold. “I don’t have all day.” “Yes, yes, just… go.” He said, still not moving beyond what was absolutely necessary. The thief nearly breathed a sigh of relief, and suddenly with a spike of reckless abandoned she spoke before she knew what she was doing. “Give me your money.” “W-what?” The man floundered. She put pressure on the knife again. “Give. Me. Your. Money.” She emphasized, and smiled at his haste to obey her. He collected her money and held it out to her. The thief moved to take it and the man struck. He came down in a hack with his knife, aiming for her head. Ariadne jumped back, her hands held up to protect her head palm first. She felt a sharp kiss and warmth well up, crying out in shock and pain. The man smelled blood and tried to follow her but was thwarted by the pants wrapped around his ankle and fell flat. The thief jumped up quickly to her own feet, making a run to jump over his prone body, expecting him to rouse any moment. The man didn’t move. Ariadne waited. The man didn’t move, and in the limited amount of light she could see that his chest didn’t rise. The thief didn’t wait but pressed her back against one of the buildings and edged around the felled man. He was still. She nudged him experimentally with the toe of her boot but didn’t get a response. She stared at him for a few more heartbeats before turning from the body and leaving the alleyway, leaving the coins where they had fallen. She ran from the alley, heedless of where she was going at first and simply intent on getting away. When she finally stopped running, winded and flushed, the thief crouched down to dress her wound: long slash that parted the skin of her right palm.