Rising Dark Logs | The Escape >
andrix_ST The small town of Kaon lies approximatly 75 miles due east from Nexus along the road to Great Forks. Once a small farming town, the settlement became prosperous with the establishment of a large inn, built specifically to cater for the slew of merchants travelling past everyday, providing a comfortable nights rest and an abundance of the especially strong ale the immediate region is famed for locally. Though a number of smaller inns
andrix_ST now sprouted up, the largest and best remains the original, the Dragon's Scale. A large three storey building in the center of the town (with a population of around 500), the common room you find yourselves in is bustling. Two large fires illuminate the rustic settings, set deep within two opposite stone walls either side of the main entrance.
andrix_ST The wall opposite the door is lined with a sturdy looking bar, the shelves behind stacked heavy with bottles, some alien and some all to familiar to you. A small show with a pair of exotic looking dancers has just finished and you can barely move for the large crowd, bursting to throw their coins, demanding an encore.
Ire however refrains from joining the cheers and jeers of the crowd, prefering to sit quietly at one of the rear tables with the other two solars she had fallen in with leaving Nexus. She views the room with sort of aloof aristocratic detatchment that does not altogether fit her appearance.
Mierin sits at a table brooding over some paperwork with a scowl on her face as she writes. She is currently wearing a semi-casual military uniform mostly of white and is a small woman around 5'0 with pale skin and short blonde hair.
Ire The twilight is thin and somewhat gaunt, slender to a fault. She has the bone structure of a beautiful woman, but something has wasted away at what once was a proud face, bust and curved hips. She sits slightly hunched, as though a great weight drags her shoulders down.
Luka pushes his hat back a little and settles down between his two travelling companions, "Why so glum? We're out of Nexus and we're still alive, aren't we?" He looks at the crowd, "Let's try to enjoy life a little, shall we?"
Ire Her medium-length dark hair hangs in stringy locks over her pale face, and her lips once-full are now thin and near-colourless. Her grey eyes flash from a strange and elaborate pully system over the bar for hauling kegs to Luka.
Ire "Your brand of common entertainment is distracting, and not in the way intended." She replies, frowning a little and turning away from the light to hide the small array of discoloured marks lining her cheeekbone.
Luka "My apologies, dear lady," he half-bows, only slightly mocking, on his stool, "But these are the people that I grew up amongst." He looks over at them, "I'm still one of them, mostly."
Ire She tugs her simple black tunic over her shoulders. It was not cold in the inn, however she seemed to be, Luka's slight mockery not lost on her. "I am happy for you," she replies monotone.
Ire pushes her untouched ale to the center of the table and stands, straightening the long skirt that had become almost impossibly tangled around her slender legs from her annoyed shifting. "If it is all the same to you, I might leave you and your 'people' be for the night."
andrix_ST Glancing up from your drinks, you notice, over towards the bar, a lithe young man, no more than 19, with long black hair tied tightly into a ponytail and a strong physique hidden beneath his clothes. He's pretending to talk to one of the prettier serving girls, though you can see he is intermitantly staring straight at you. More specifically, Luka notices he's eyeing Ire rather intentlly
Ire notices Luka's slight stiffening. "What?"
Luka "Someone at the bar's watching us. Rather, you." Luka glances quickly over the watcher, "He's stronger than he looks, possibly a soldier or enforcer."
andrix_ST However, before you can act, the attention of the entire room is pulled towards two large men, staggering about somewhat and clearly the worse for ware. Unlike the majority of the crowd, they seem to be ignorant of the plees from the dancing girls to be allowed to leave, their desire not to perform any further due to the rowdiness quite evident. One of the two men, unable to take no for an answer, moves to grab one of the girls.
Ire sits down slowly as if nothing is happening and asks the air. "Why would he be looking at me...?" It wasn't for her appearance...
Luka grins, "We're demons, remember?" He makes a jokey monster face, and then looks over at the brewing trouble. "Unfortunately, my people are sometimes a little too... direct in their desires."
Ire "Dont think of getting involved, try to remember that we have other problems..." Ire hisses quietly, grabbing Luka's wrist lightly with a slender hand.
andrix_ST The girl screams loudly and is met by a fist in the mouth from the man. This is met by the man himself recieving a blow to the face from a slightly more sober, well wishing memeber of the audience.
andrix_ST The first mans companion then retaliates with a firm fist to the girl's defender's nose, the situation teetering on the edge of a brawl as friends of both sides begin to move closer together through the crowd.
Mierin Mierin glances up as the men start to fight and narrows her eyes. Quickly putting away her papers into a case and closing it she stands and walks over towards the brawlers. "Break it up gentleman, I am not going to sit through a fight tonight." She says in a firm voice used to being obeyed with a slight soft slurring accent.
andrix_ST "They started it," a protest shouts from the crowd, "be damned if I walk away from a fight with that bunch of whoresons."
Ire "See? Its well in hand." Ire assures Luka in her slightly artistocratic voice. "Lets just take this opportunity to make an exit"
andrix_ST The first man, nose slightly bloodied, turns to where the shout came from, his words slurred "come 'ere an' say it to me face!"
Violet Hearing the commotion from below Violet Lotus leaves her room and stands at the top of the stairs, watching the crowd
Mierin Mierin glares harder at the growing brawl and makes a small snort in disgust. She reaches into her pocket and takes out a small baton and with a flick of her wrist it extends. "Ok.. Now if you guys don't calm the 'ell down I am going to put you face down on the ground and tie you up. Hopefully let you spend the night in a cell."
andrix_ST The crowd generally seems to calm down at the sight of a weapon with the exception of the man with the bloody nose. "I don't take no orders from women," he says, squaring up to Mierin. "Especially not from ones as short as you."
Luka kisses Ire's hand and whispers, "My apologies, my lady," before standing up. His hat makes him even taller than he already is, and he looks at the belligerent fool, "Calm down, now. It will go so much easier on you, if you do."
Ire yanks her hand back and glares, saying nothing.
andrix_ST The mortal, seeing Mierin tense up, attempts to take the inititive and strike first, throwing a drunken fist almost aimlessly in an uppercut to her jaw, which is barely level with his chest
Mierin Mierin cracks the baton against his wrist and takes a small step to the side, deflecting the attack without even taking her eyes from his face. "This is your last warning." She says in a low menacing voice.
andrix_ST The mortal grunts, shaking his wrist slightly from the sharp tap of the baton. Enraged at the perceived humiliation of his situation, he swings in wildly, an apelike knuckle attempting to reach the short warrior's skull
Mierin Mierin once again bats away the blow before doing a sharp spin to plant a polished black boot into his stomach then bludgeons the back of his skull with the baton then he bends over. She glances around to see if any other people are attacking before she moves to climb on his back and pin him to the ground.
andrix_ST The man falls to the ground semi-concious, everyone else in the bar backing away awkwardly from the situations, a number of the mans friends rapidly backing out of the door into the brisk summer evening outside. The two dancing girls look on with a mixture of gratitude, awe and fear on their faces.
Mierin Mierin removes her belt from around her waist and uses it to tie him up on the floor with his face on the ground. She taps the baton lightly on his head, "Next time I would listen if I were you."
Ire "There Luka, the situation is under control - shall we go before another one arises?" Ire scans the Inn's common room for the strange man that had been observing her minutes ago.
Luka turns to Ire, "Good idea." He straightens his hat, quickly scans for the watcher, and then follows Ire up the stairs.
andrix_ST The man grumbles incoherantly and then seems to fall asleep in a drunk stupor. The man who had first stepped in to stop him moves over to you with, a beaming smile filling his face. "I'm in your debt, may I buy you a drink."
andrix_ST Ire: As you go to leave, you notice that the man who was staring at you has left, though you could swear you never saw him go up the stairs and there were far too many people in between him and the door to get out.
Mierin Mierin replaces baton in her pocket then snakes her head at the man, "No thank you. I think I will retire to my room. Not likely to get much more work done down here." She states then collects her case and walks up towards the stairs.
andrix_ST The man looks disappointed, though having seen the ease with which you dispatched the first man decides not to press the issue
Mierin Mierin goes up to her room and gets ready to go to bed but before she does she kneels on the floor and bows her head in prayer.
andrix_ST The four of you are half way up the stairs when you hear a comotion outside on the streets. The sounds grow louder and more frantic before the men who left shortly before are pushed back in, distressed looks on their faces. They're followed shortly by a tall man, standing around 6 and a half foot, a shock of bright red hair adoring his skull complemented by a large suit of lamellar of a near identical colour and a long blade hanging
andrix_ST back. He saunters in with a commanding gait, demaning that everyone stops where they are, casting a glance to where the group of you are stood and signalling you back down the stairs into the common room
Ire Ire's grey eyes flash almost coloured with intense cold hatred. Dragonbloods!
Luka takes his turn to whisper, "Relax... he might not be here for us," putting a calming hand on the woman's tense arm.
Ire "This is no time to attempt to be soothing, Luka." Ire murmers under her breath as she slowly descends the stairs.
andrix_ST As you all begin to make your way back down the stairs he begins to address the crowd, his voice booming with an arrogant self-righteous power. "No-one tries to leave. I have over a dozen men with me. They're positioned both outside and in other places around the town and have orders to stop anyone trying to leave here by any means nesicary."
Luka "Prickly," he thinks to himself, while also thinking about the weapon in the rooms above.
andrix_ST The dragonblooded signal's to a barmaid to bring him a drink and continues, "I am Sesus Tethak, Captain of the Hunt." The title he has bestowed upon himself typical of this particular breed of dragonblooded, counting on the ignorance of the populus to fuel his own self importance. To half of them, there may as well only be one hunt as far as they know.
Ire "The hunt. Still think they're not after us?" Ire hisses in Luka's ear, however careful that no one else hears her words.
Luka examines the Terrestrial closely, as well as the door and windows; years of criminal instincts scream at him to find an exit, but he holds back and turns slowly, "It's looking that way, but there's always hope. He might just be the petty bastard he looks like."
andrix_ST "We have been following the trail of a number of anathema for the last few weeks now. As far as we know, there's a man and a woman. They left Nexus a handful of days ago. All along the road since there have been reports of demonic occurances. These came to a head the day before yesterday when we happened across a small village west of here. It took us the entire afternoon to remove the undead from the rubble they'd left. If we find
andrix_ST has harboured this taint, we'll have no choice but to purge it out. So far, I have seen these demons destroy 5 settlements and left their foul curse upon the land. One more is a price I'll pay to prevent it spreading further."
Luka 's face curls up into a snarl, "Petty, murderous bastard..."
Ire Ire gives Luka a supremely ironic look that says 'still sure they're not after us?'
andrix_ST Two more dragonblooded move through the door. One, a man at least the equal of the Sesus captain and twice as broad, pushes his way through the crowd, the sight of the massive white jade scythe he has strapped across his back enough to cause anyone in his way to quickly move. Reaching the stairs, he gives Luka a quick shove to move out his way and mounts them, heading up to the rooms above. A smaller woman, long green hair trailing
andrix_ST follows, catching Violet's gaze as she does so. Her eyes are acidic in her scorn.
andrix_ST trailing down her back follows*
Luka turns to Ire, "OK. I was wrong. But it looks like the bloodthirsty bastard's compatriots don't much like him."
Mierin Mierin rouses from her prayer upon hearing the muffled speech and loud footsteps and quickly decides there may just be trouble. She retrieves her armor and puts it on, hanging the axe from her belt and strolls out into the hallway.
Ire nearly snarls when she looks at the fire-aspect, but she cannot fathom why his appearance and what it is about him drives a profound hatred.
andrix_ST Mierin exits the room on the first floor, turning to meet the gaze of the massive man with the scythe. Her expect training automatically causes her to scale up the threat. He's wearing sturdy armour that somehow manages to fit around his massive bulk, the white jade plate glistening in the light of the torches which are pinned to the wall. Turning to his green haired companion who is following up the stairs he grins happily. "Found
andrix_ST Mimicking his grin, she flicks her wrists out from under her cloak, brandishing a pair of khatar's cast from green jade. Judging by the bulges underneath the dark brown cloak, you feel it's fair to assume that she too is heavily armoured.
Luka whispers, "If they go into my room there's going to be trouble. Cloudbreaker isn't exactly hard to see..." He hears voices from the stairs, "Although trouble might already be here..."
Mierin Mierin settles into an easy fighting stance and glances between the two warriors with a tilt of her head. "Can I help you?"
Luka glances up... "You know, I think my room is right above us." He looks around, noting the positions of the windows, "Maybe..."
Ire starts eyeing the same pully system used to haul large ale kegs onto their stands... perhaps if the Dragonblood was standing directly under it...
Violet watches the dragonblooded in the corridor, curious about the woman they were facing
andrix_ST The large warrior clad in the white armour frowns, ripping his scythe from his back with an experienced flourish and lunging towards you. The 6 foot wide corridor is nowhere near large enough to swing such a weapon in, but he does it anyway, slashing great scores in the wooden walls that cause the boards to creak and collapse slightly, splinters raining down on Mierin as the scythe whistles towards her head
Mierin Mierin dodges back out of the way of the huge scythe deftly and draws her own weapon from its loop, "My nation was once allied with the Dragon-Blooded so I will allow you the chance to stand down before I join this battle. Otherwise I suggest you flee before you get in over your head." She grins at them and hunkers down in a defensive stance.
Luka takes advantage of the distraction caused by the battle to duck down and dart back towards the wall. He peers out of the window, and then looks up the wall. "Hrm..." he ponders for a few seconds, before muttering, "Fuck it!" He sits up on the sill, then stands up outside, and hitches his way up the rough wall to his room, oblivious to the cries of the soldiers. Once inside, he grabs the haft of the golden weapon and grins vi
andrix_ST Before she has a chance to fully adopt her stance Mierin is knocked back further as the woman darts under the arch of the scythe, catching her opponent off balance. Leaping against the wall, her feet seem to dissolve and become one with the wood, propelling her quickly behing Mierin as she seems to move twice as fast as she did moving along the ground. Leaping sideways from the scythe scarred planks, she hits the floor nimbly, piroe
andrix_ST spot, slashing out with a khatar, angling her blow upwards, trying to slice, Mierin's carotid artery from behind.
Mierin Mierin drops back and spins as she falls, swinging the large axe at the smaller khatar in a burst of brillant sparks. She kicks up then rolls her neck, "I guess we fight then."
Mierin She rolls her neck and carefully observes the pattern of her opponents attacks, matching her defense to their style as she watches for a weakness in their guard. (Fivefold Bulwark Stance.)
andrix_ST Luka is halfway out the window when he hears the sound of a bow string being pulled tight from a building directly across from the inn. His senses alert him of the danger just in time to make evasive actions as the arrow flies towards him.
andrix_ST Luka twists himself as he climbs out the window, the arrow whistling just past his cheek, knicking the flesh slightly but causing nothing more than a tiny scratch. Desperatly trying to clamber out, he becomes actutely aware of the fire caste captain bearing down on him from inside the bar, slowed down by the crowd between him and the solar
Luka "Crap!" hisses Luka, having hoped to get out unseen. He grabs hold of the wall and climbs up rapidly, hoping that the soldiers can't see him so well now that he is no longer silhouetted against the window.
andrix_ST Luka more or less manages to get a hold on the stone wall despite the darkness and the fact he's being shot at. Clawing at the hold, he heaves himself out of the window frame and pulls himself a few feet up the wall, so only his boots are dangling down and visible from inside
andrix_ST The Sesus captain idly pushes a drunk out of the way as he hastily makes his way to the window. He watches in disdain as a mortal is skewered through the throat by a shot meant for the man trying to flee up the side of the building. All around him men are panicing and many are heading towards the doors, only to find them barred by members of the hunt. Seeing Luka's legs begin to disappear out of view, the Captain lunges desperatly a
andrix_ST trying to grab his shins
Luka kicks free of the Terrestrial's grip, planting a boot on his face as he does so, scrambling further up the wal.
andrix_ST The captain catches them as Luka escapes up the wall, desperatly trying to pull him down. His grip however fails him as Luka summons up more strength to heave himself up the wall, a boot coming away in the dragonblood's hand.
andrix_ST Meanwhile, in the corridor, the scythe weilding earth caste seems to focus for an instant on somthing behind Mierin, the woman who got behind her still there. The large man hesitates, seeming to wait to pick his moment to dip underneath Mierins guard. Behind the solar, the wood caste woman signals, waiting for a slip in Mierin's defences before plunging in for the attack.
Violet Violet watches as the dragonblooded runs to the window, as he leans out she surreptitiously takes out a poisoned needle and throws it at him, aiming for one of the gaps in his armour
andrix_ST The needle flies out and hits the dragonblooded, the needle, fortunatly for him, deflecting off a plate of his armour and landing harmlessly on the floor besides him
Ire Ire backs up slowly, her slender hands clenching into fists - there was nothing she could do. Taking advantage of the dragonblood's momentary distraction in the form of a climbing Luka she melts like a wraith into the chaotic throng of panicked mortals trying to stampede but with nowhere to go.
Ire Numerous patrons receive her sharp elbows into their sides as she pushes her way into the sea of bodies, her eyes scanning left and right for something - anything - a makeshift weapon or something she can quickly convert.
andrix_ST Ire's eyes scan the tables. One has a few dice and coins left over from games, though the majority are merely the resting points of beers glasses, the contents in various stages of consumption.
Ire She is nearly hit square in the face by the flailing arm of an overly decadant older woman, and she gets a savage shove in retaliation from the Twilight who was growing increasingly iritable as more and more tables turned up nothing even remotely of use.
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