Completed Snake Eyes and Hangedmen.

[Gad]

Afternoon, Spring 20, 513AV, Near The City Center. Above ground, Gad could hear the masses calling for blood. He was unfazed. This was now the norm in Sunberth. The dugout chamber he was in was separated from the surface via a crisscrossed wooden grate that broke up Syna's yellow beams and cast shadows in it's shape. This holding area was post-val, but still very old, from before Robern and his Daggerhands. Back then, it was a storage area for local vendors. Now, it was a makeshift dungeon with an occupancy of one. Gad gave his typical incredulous squint and his narrowed eyes looked the prisoner up and down. "Why don't you just tell me? I don't see what you have to lose." "Ha!" The man in the stocks spat to the side. "I'd die first. Cut out my own heart for I gave in. Specially to the likes of you!" "Hmph! I take umbrage at that sir!" Gad sniped in a mock officious tone. "Is that anyway to speak to your only visitor?" He faded back to his more familiar register "Now look, I can get you outta this easy! Why not just tell me where to find ol' Roby eh? Then I break you outta here. Heard Zeltiva's nice this time of year." The disheveled black haired man for a moment looked weak, but his resolve shone through still. "You're more of a fool than I thought, if you think Zeltiva would be far enough from Robern. Even if I thought you could get me out- which I don't- and even if I knew where Robern was - which I don't- I still wouldn't tell you. Look there, at my mark." Gad's skeptic eyes flashed to the bound man's tattooed hand. "Yes, yes, I've seen the mark before-" "No! My chest." Gad walked around from in front of the Daggerhand and knelt down next to his torso, and then pulled open his tunic, revealing a similar tattoo over the man's heart. Gad sighed. "And? What am I looking for?" "Indeed, that is the question fool. That mark is where my heart would be cut out for the treachery of telling you anything, were I not about to be hung by those pigs above us. So consider it for a moment. Even if you could find Robern - which you can't- what do you think he'd do to you? I live in The Wolf's Den and that man's still the most frightening thing I've ever seen, and you? You're a toothless mutt. What chance could you have? " Gad now knelt down next to the man who's head and hands were bound through a wooden plank, his crooked smile patronizing the captured criminal as he patted him on the cheek. "You could've just told me." With that the wizard turned on his heels and left the chamber. When he got to the guard he'd convinced to let him in he said "Mm guess he wasn't feeling like paying his debts. Oh well, never play Blush with a Daggerhand, am I right? Hahahaha!" As Gad tossed up his pair of lucky green dice for punctuation, the guard shook his head sympathetically and with a slight smile responded. "He'll be payin for all his crimes soon enough, don'tchu worry." And he walked into the chamber to retrieve the man. *** Gad watched as the prisoner he'd interrogated was lead to the gallows. The crowd tossed rocks and rotted produce at him. Gad grimaced to himself as he stroked his chin. Where do they even get all this rotted food? Weren't they tossing garbage back at the cannibals' executions? All these hungry people, and somehow such an over abundance of uneaten food? Gad placed his social criticism's aside and yanked on his chin hairs at the same moment the rope yanked the Daggerhand's neck. The crowed cheered and jeered. A man bumped into him and jovially said. "Oi! Sorry chum. Been a while since a good neck pulling eh?" "Yes," Gad's manner was dry " a whole day almost. Crazy." "I know!" The man bustled back into the crowd. It was more of a party. Gad had to focus. There had to have been something the man said. The words rang in the young Wizard's ears. 'Wolf's Den' He said, hm...if he lived there, could be something to lead to Robern...I could check his body- Gad's eye caught the corpse of the man being cut down from the rope, and dragged around by the crowd for some added postmortem abuse -guess not... Gad was near the middle of the mass of people which was only growing, easily in the hundreds. It was like a city fair, except more blood and less children. "Ah! petch!" Gad said as he tripped over something. A kid. Well, more blood at least. The little scamp rose to his feet a ran along, vying for a chance to see the body. Gad decided the best way to navigate was to boss hog through and so he did, just pushing anyone out of his way as hard as he could, right and left, regardless of who they were. It occurred to him for a moment that this might lead to trouble but his exasperation at the whole affair overruled this. The crowd seemed to get thicker and thicker as he plowed through, shoving people out of his path.

[Michaela Abendroth]

Michaela was at the hanging of the Daggerhand. That man had committed a bad crime or something. She wasn’t really paying attention. She just liked going out to these things. She stood there watching as the man stood there just waiting to be hung without even saying anything before they killed him. Sometimes people have last words to say but apparently this man had none. Michaela looked around to see what was going to happen now that it was done. Everyone seemed to be gathering to the man’s dead body but Michaela didn’t come here for that, she just liked to see the hanging and to find out as much as she could about why the person was being hung. She liked to keep up to date on the gossip or rumors that were going around. Michaela searched the crowd for someone who could explain to her what was happening.

Michaela looked over to where everyone was gathering around the body and she seen a man who looked very interested in the man who was just hung. He looked like he was someone special. Michaela decided that maybe he could tell her what was happening, why this man was being hung. She decided that she would stay away from the man until he wasn’t around so many people. She watched him with a close eye and awaited for him to leave the swarm of people that were around the body.

[Gad]

Gad received a few good licks for the trouble as he crawled his way through the mob, and was reminded quickly that he wasn't the only one here in Sunberth eager to get rough. Amidst all the commotion he was overcome with an odd sensation. It was the uncanny feeling of someone watching him. In the middle of not so gently directing an older gentleman out of his path an odd sight grabbed the corner of Gad's eyes. The jade beads of his pupils darted over to the sight then quickly moved back to the crowd in front of him as Gad worked his way through. He was pretending he didn't see her and he swallowed and a cool drop of sweat ran down his cheek from his temple. A part of him wanted to do a double take and another part wanted to hightail it out of there, figuring it best to ere on the side of caution. In his head both sides argued Why is there a Zith watching me?...Maybe...maybe someone heard me asking too many questions about Robern...hm...couldn't really escape her, even in this mess she'd just fly over if she really wanted to see me. Need to confront this... When a random member of the mass of people shoved him from behind Gad seized the opportunity. He made it look like the push knocked him to the ground, but really he just had ducked down beneath eye level, and concealed himself in the gathering of miscreants. As he ducked down he noticed the boy he'd tripped over before, sliding easily between the waists of the rambunctious adults. "Hey there lil' shyke- er...tyke! Wanna make a quick Miz?" The child nodded eagerly: even the youth in Sunberth jumped at the chance for illicit income. Gad gestured in direction the Zith girl was. "My friend over there, it's her name day. I wanna give her a little surprise. Run up to her for me, wish her merry." The boy looked confused for a moment. "The Zith lady, big wings, can't miss her." The boy nodded and went about it. Gad would have to time this nicely. The boy did as he was told, and Gad watched through the legs of the oblivious crowd as the kid ran up to the woman and got her attention. Her expression before the child approached seemed to indicate she was looking for where Gad had disappeared to, but he could've been wrong. At the moment the boy ran up to her jumping up and down excitedly wishing her a happy Name Day, Gad burst out of the crowd and circled around behind where she was standing. Walking up close enough to her that if she extended her wings she'd surely touch him with them, Gad spoke to the girl. "Hey, you." He'd had more clever introductions to be sure. "What are you doing? You watching me? The Daggerhand send you?" He launched the accusatory barrage of questions at her without allowing her much time to speak. "Hey! What about my Miza!" The child moaned. Gad flipped the kid a silver coin and replied. "Be about your way little one. Me and my friend are catching up." In his head he translated to what he really meant. Petch off you little shyke. Gad redirected his attention back to the Zith. "So? What is it? What's a Zith doing here, watching me?"

[Michaela Abendroth]

"I am not following you for anyone, you just looked like you knew what was going on and I was wondering why this man was hanged. I just like to know what is going on around this city and why it is happening." I said to the man, "I don't even know who the Daggerhand’s are. Just being curious that is all. Sorry if that is a crime.” I said confused, nervous and with an awkward look on my face. Michaela than turned to the man so that she could see him and awaited to see if he was going to say anything.

“Why are you so interested in this man anyways? What did he do? Could I be of some assistance and help?” I asked him getting even more curious.
"I am not following you for anyone, you just looked like you knew what was going on and I was wondering why this man was hanged. I just like to know what is going on around this city and why it is happening." I said to the man, "I don't even know who the Daggerhand’s are. Just being curious that is all. Sorry if that is a crime.” I said confused, nervous and with an awkward look on my face. Michaela than turned to the man so that she could see him and awaited to see if he was going to say anything.

“Why are you so interested in this man anyways? What did he do? Could I be of some assistance and help?” I asked him getting even more curious.

[Gad]

Gad looked the creature up and down. He'd never really seen a Zith before, but they were well known enough to him he could recognize her for what she was. "You in Sunberth looking for a tour guide? I thought you Zith were cut throats...then again, I guess wings and claws make it a lot easier to go where you like Sparks crackled in the dark recesses of Gad's mind "But hey, don't worry about it! You want to know what's going on? You want to help? Fine, let's talk and walk friend." Gad grabbed her gently by the hand and lead her a long. "Y'see, the Daggerhands are this real nasty type we have here in Sunberth. Bleed you dry as soon as look at you. Common folk got real tired of their carrying on and whatnot so, as you see by the crowds plaything," Gad looked back over his shoulder at the corpse being totted by the mob "they decided to finally do something about it! That's not important. Ol' boy over there owed me some Mizas for a card game we played a while back." Gad lead the girl along the path from the city center, headed towards the Wolf's Den " But seein as how he's dead now and can't really pay it, and there's not much in the way of law here in Sunberth, it looks like I'll need to get my money back myself. And that's where you can help me, help right this wrong and see justice done. Just gotta get into the guy's apartment. Follow my lead, and I'll split it with you." Gad smiled his crooked grin. "Name's Gad, in case you were curious about that too."

[Michaela Abendroth]

Michaela was hoping that she could trust this guy … she seemed to be able to and her instinct was telling her that she could. She didn’t know many people around here and this sounded like a good idea. Sure Michaela was against a lot of things but this was one thing that she could do. She was always for getting people back for whatever they did; and this man seemed to be telling the truth.

“So, Gad, my name is Michaela and I was wondering if we are now going to be working together or is it just this one time thing? What do you need me to do and are you doing it to? What if I run into trouble in there?” I asked him seriously.. Stopping for a moment so that we could talk before we got any closer to where we were going. “What do I need to do? I want to be as prepared for this as I can be. I don’t want anything to go wrong and I want to be well prepared.” She said. Michaela knew that they would need some kind of planning and doing research ahead of time was good. “Do you know if there are any people in there? How many? I can listen from outside of the room if you need me to.”

[Gad]

Gad considered the girl's question about if they would continue working together after this. It seemed to him like it was too soon to tell, so he averted the question. "Look look look, don't you worry!" Gad patted her on the head, dwarfed as she was next to him. "Like I said, we're going to his apartment. But first, we have to find out where it is. He didn't exactly tell me fore the rope broke his neck. We're going to the Wolf's Den. I won't lie to you. If Sunberth had a bad end of town, it'd be the whole city ha!" Gad laughed at his own lame jokes "But no, seriously though, the Wolf's Den is a pretty bad. Don't worry, no one's gonna mess with a scary looking Zith like you, as long as you let me do the talking." Gad stretched out his hand to her and smiled the closest thing to a sweet smile he could And even if they do, I'll have your back. I'm not all wings and fangs like you, but I'm tough enough to make my way around here. You can trust me. Except when you can't. And even then, you can't say I didn't warn you." The young aspiring wizard breathed in deeply and looked off into the distance, the dilapidated pre-Valterrian buildings in the distance were his destination, the Wolf's Den. His eyes scanned the horizon, as always they seemed to search for something. "If you're hopping to find more honesty than that in Sunberth then, ahahaha, you'll be honestly disappointed. Now come on Michaela, we have a few blocks to go and we still have to find our mark. And it may not mean much to you, but the Wolf's Den is no place for someone as pretty as me to be hanging around after dark!'' Gad punctuated this last remark with a laugh and strolled ahead of the girl in the direction of the den. If she followed, they'd be there in a few minutes.

[Michaela Abendroth]

I followed him. "But what do you need me to do?" Michaela asked him. She still wasn't sure exactly what he wanted to do. She could kill and her skills weren't that bad... She just wasn't sure of what was being asked of her. "Are we killing people? Interrogating them? What are we going to do exactly?" Michaela asked him. He was walking towards these big, old buildings. "Do you want me to fly up there and scan to see if I can find out which one is his and let you know if I learn of something? Or what exactly is the plan?" She hoped she wasn't getting to annoying with all of her questions, but this was her first job here and her first time meeting someone here that wasn't afraid of her, or didn't want to be around her.

I think that things could get very interesting from here on out. She hoped that she could do well of what he was to ask of her and that they could remain friends and stay together.

[Gad]

"Damn girl you ask a lot of questions!" Gad laughed to show her he wasn't really bothered by it. "That's good though, in fact that's what we're about to do, just try not to be so obvious about what you want to know. he wagged a condescending finger at her "Here in Sunberth you don't really want everyone to know what you want to know, you know? As far as what you'll be doing, for the moment just back me up. Where we're about to go there's a dangerous lot of hooligans. A place called the Blood Pits' but first we have to go through Wolf's Den. Both places where we can easily get our neck cuts. When we get to the Pits keep your eyes and ears out for anything about the Daggerhand, and do you best to look intimidating. We probably won't have to fight, but who knows, so be ready. Here, look, we're almost at the entrance to the Wolve's Den. The duo approached a narrow pathway between buildings, on either side stood men with swords. They didn't look affiliated with any faction. Brigands Gad thought. He whispered to Michaela "Like I said, just look tough for now, let me talk." And then louder, to the cutthroats."Hey, just passing through, gonna go get wasted and watch some fights." He tossed them each a silver. The men exchanged looks then eyed Gad's Zith companion, apparently deciding it best not to test their luck by trying to get anymore out of them. The brigands stepped aside and let the two through. Once they were out of earshot Gad continued filling Micaela in. "See that!? Haha, normally it'd be a real hassle, but not with you around. So here's what the exact plan is. I'm gonna go in here in smooth talk some of the drunken patrons. I think our dead Daggerhand friend hung out around here almost as much as I do. I'm gonna lean on em a little and see if they'll give us any info on where our pal lived. If they get rowdy or don't feel like talking, that's where my new scary Zith friend comes in." He nodded at her. "Sound good? Great!" He didn't wait for her response. The Wolf's Den was the worst neighborhood of one of the worst cities in Syliras. So, it was never over abundant with joy, but especially of late, when the factions that used the area for dastardly deeds were being persecuted. As the pair walked down the broken streets gangsters and peasants ducked into corners and shops wanting to avoiding trouble. Soon enough they were at the entrance to the Blood Pits; mines that had been made into a makeshift prizefighting ring. At the entrance to the Subteranean Fight Club a large well muscled thug stood. "Bettor or Fighter?" the grizzly bear of a man asked. "Huh? Oh no, we're just going in for a couple of drinks." "No, you aren't. People been shyking around lately with all the riots. Danstania said only bettors and fighter's could come in the Pits until she says otherwise." "Ugh. Fine, what's the minimum bet for entrance?" "Fifty." "Fifty? Fifty Silver Mizas!?" "Gold." "Petching Aye. You've got to be kidding me!" "Yeah, I'm all giggles. You can enter as a fighter if you'd like, there's not bet minimum if you do that. Or, you could stop wasting my time." "Ha." Gad gripped his septum between his thumb and forefinger. "Fine. Here's my fighter, her name's Michalea. I'm betting 20 silver Mizas." The guard eyed Michaela up and down and seemed to be considering not letting them in. Gad shot her a look that said 'Just go with it.' He'd hoped she wouldn't muck up the plan.Finally the man wrote her name on a roster of fighters and moved out of their path. "Eh. Fine. Welcome to the Blood Pits. Your fight'll be after Sun down Zith." Gad walked down the path into the mouth of the mines, deep underground. He then spoke quietly to Micaela. Yeah yeah I know I know. But look, we can probably get in and out fore you're number's even up! And if it is? We'll you can handled yourself right? Right. Wait here for me, just a bell." The inside of the Blood Pitts was lousy with the smell of things smoked and drunk, and blood. Down in the Pit two men jostled for their lives, striking each other with hay makers and slamming their fists against each other's ribs and jaws. The drunk bettors on either side of the pit overlooked the fight and cheered on the bloodsport. Gad walked around the rim and eyed the competition before he reached the betting table where he gave his name and placed his silver. When he turned around and looked back where he'd left Michaela she was gone. What...in the world. He scanned the room until he saw an official- well, as official as it got in the Blood Pits- dragging her towards the fighting ring. Gad sprinted over to them and yelled down from where he was above them. "Hey! What're you doing!? That's my fighter, she's not due till after dusk! The fight coordinator looked at Gad and replied. "Everyone chickened out when they saw a Zith was fighting. No one wanted to go against her, cept Jaco, and he didn't want to wait. So, she fights now. The man shoved the Zith girl into the ring with her opponent, Jaco. Jaco stood opposite Michaela on the other side of the Pit, and wielded two sharpened pickaxes. Gad rubbed the back of his head, doubting there was much he could do now. "Uh, hey, yeah. Real sorry bout this." Gad offered to the Zith" Just stay out of his range with your wings. Ovek preserve you. Oh, and don't die. When you when the money's yours! On that note the fight started. The dual-weilding Jaco, a tall and somewhat lanky human charged the girl, swing furiously with each of his pickaxes. Gad slumped into a nearby seat. This should be good.

[Michaela Abendroth]

((sorry about the late post I have some RL issues going on but I should be back Full time now ... i hope my post is okay ... I wasn't really sure how to make the other guy be, but I hope I did an okay job, if anything needs to be changed just let me know))



Michaela watched as Gad walked away to go and place his bets at the table; and next thing I knew I was being dragged away. There was a lot of people in line for fighting and I wasn’t supposed to fight for about another 4 hours, but when I turned back around the whole line up was gone.
Oh yeah I forgot I am a Zith … there were benefits to being a Zith … Pretty soon I was thrown into the ring with this man with two axes in his hands...

Oh this ought to be fun, Michaela thought to herself.


I could see what he was going to do and just as he was charging at me with his axes out, I quickly stepped out of the way and then flew up in the air, making sure that I did not fly out of the ring. I then folding my wings behind me and made a dash at him, hitting him square in the head. It only knocked him down and just as quickly as he was down he was back up again. I then decided to fly back up into the air until I could think of a way to take him down again, I had to get away from those axes or to get those axes away from him which probably going to be harder than I thought it was going to be.

The man with the axes started to raise his axe in the air and looked like he was going to throw it right at me. Michaela quickly once again swept down and came really close to hitting the guy and she dug her long talons into his head and then quickly flew back up into the air again … She seen the man grab at his head and he almost had hit her with his axe. While he was holding his head with his one hand, Michaela swooped down onto the ground and quietly walked up behind the man and hit him pretty hard to the back of the head from behind. She looked confused but not knocked out. Michaela was a Zith and the Zith liked to play with their prey before finishing them off and she was just getting started. Michaela heard the crowd start to get louder.

The man slowly started to get up and he grabbed his one axe off of the ground and started to run at her with both of the axes open, he then changed his decision right at the end and stuck out his axe as he ran passed her. Michaela didn’t see this quick change and he slightly cut her arm. The cut wasn’t tooo deep but it did sting a little bit. Michaela quickly turned around to see what the man was going to do next, she knew that having her back towards her prey was a bad idea. The man with the axes seemed to have been stopped too thinking of what his next plan was going to be. He raised up his axes again and started to run towards her. Michaela quickly flew up into the air and then landed behind him and once again knocked him down. This time she quickly jumped on the man and knocked both of his axes out of his hands, before he could reach up and hit her with them. She then held down his hands with her wings and started to punch him in the face with her free hands.

Michaela did have some background hand to hand training from her grandfather before she left where they were living to start exploring the real world on her own. Michaela then came back to and paid attention to what she was doing. She knew she had to get those axes out of the man’s reach because that would be the first thing that he would go for once she let go of him. Michaela punched the man really hard one last time in the face and then quickly got off of the man and ran for one of his axes. Michaela grabbed the axe off of the ground and when she turned around to get the other one the man was already up and had grabbed his other axe. Michaela flew up into the air again and threw the axe out of the ring so that the man would have to go out of the ring to grab it and therefore he would be disqualified and she knew that he would not be stupid enough to do that, but 1 axe was easier to handle then 2 axes. Now what was she to do next?

The man slowly put his axe up in the air, and looked kinda of confused and like he didn’t know where he was. Michaela was glad to know that she hadn’t lost completely everything that she had learned when she left. The man threw the axe up in the air at her and it knicked the top of her wing. She looked behind her at where the axe had landed and seen that it was still in the ring. Michaela dove down at the man as he was running towards his axe. She landed on top of the man and tackled him to the ground just arms reach out of his axe. Michaela then took her hand and banged it really hard into the man’s head. He was now knocked out. Michaela then threw the other axe out of the man’s reach so that even if he gets up he will have no weapons on him, but by the looks of it, the man was not getting back up and Michaela had own the match. She stood over the man and waited for the announcer to announce the winner.

Michaela had hoped that she had done Gad proud. She wasn’t sure why as she had just met the man, but she hoped that maybe he had found out some good information while she was waiting. She looked to see if she could find Gad in the crowd while she waited to hear the winner of the fight. Even though she was looked for Gad she was also keeping a sharp and close eye on her prey below her.