Murder Going on Homicide

[Isalidi]

I shook my head. Who the hell was this man, anyways?

Tariam gave me a look like mud and skulked away. Knowing her, I hadn't heard the last of my wretched choice of friends. I noticed that he didn't wait for an answer, so I followed him. (I didn't know where the bar was, anyway.)

The wind was changing, again, this time towards due north. I decided that it was probably going through puberty: constant mood swings.

As I walked, I thought to myself, and eventually came to the conclusion that I was wasting time. I needed to find the scroll... But, since this "Fareron" was already involved, he WAS going to help.

[MaxBlade]

The Dying Hawk was the name of the bar, it was a really run down place. There were not many patrons, but the people that did choose this place were the shifty type. This made it a perfect place for a meeting about…business.

It was a tavern not far from the city area, and a little closer to the forest then most. It had taken them about 10 minutes of walking to get here. Fareron picked the Dying Hawk because if they were going to go on an adventure, being closer to the woods (which was always a good place to start) would be smart.

As they walked through the front door of the pub, the aroma of piss, perfume and alcohol hit Fareron all at once. He felt as if his nose hairs had been scorched. All you could hear were the whispers of the shady customers, and the sipping of alcohol.

All heads inside the establishment turned and looked at Fareron and Shikmanota, then quickly resumed their own business. With a quick glance, Fareron counted at least eight people inside the taproom.

The aeromancer took a step inside the room, making the floor creak in the silence, but confidently Fareron walked to the nearest table. It was slumped to one side as if someone had recently broke it. The chairs weren’t the best seating either. The one Fareron was sitting in was missing a back to it. There was no waiter, if the pair wanted anything, they were obviously going to have to ask for it.

“So…. we’re here, and you wanted to talk about something you needed help with. I’m guessing an adventure?” Please say an adventure…please, please, please! Anytime he met people these days, it was always about an adventure. If this wasn’t the adventure he was expecting, he decided he was going to leave and get laid. Human women were so easy.

[Isalidi]

I sat down. The bar was quite a shady place. The seats were uncomfortable.

"Umm... yeah. I guess you could say that. Umm, you see, I'm looking for..." I trailed off, unsure of how much to tell him. He didn't seem particularly trustworthy. "I'm looking for an object of some value to me. A scroll. It was stolen from me many years ago, and I recently got very close to finding it, but it was stolen again."

I held up the empty scroll-holding container. "It belongs in here. I don't know for certain, but it seems to have some..." I reconsidered. "Nevermind. It belongs in this case."

[MaxBlade]

As Fareron sat in his chair listening to the man speak, he leaned forward, studying the man's appearance. He had green eyes, black hair and was very pale. He didn't seem like a magical creature. Fareron leaned back and ran his hand through his own hair, he felt it lock up, he needed a shower. As Shika was done with his proposal, Fareron sat up straight and considerd it for a moment.

“So you have to find a case? That’s been stolen…so there will probably be some fighting going on?” He thought a little bit more. How would this effect his social life? He didn’t think it would. “All right…I’ll join you. Will I get paid?"

[Isalidi]

I decided to let everything wrong slide, lest more time be wasted. Of course, we were looking for the scroll inside the case and not the case itself, but he'd figure it out.

He seemed to be thinking about something for a moment, and so was I. The scroll...
I barely noticed when he spoke again.

"Payment shouldn't be entirely impossible, if it's what you want. There will indeed be fighting, but I don't know how strong our would-be enemies are. They could be common hacks who thought to-" I caught myself before I let something he didn't need to know slip, "Who thought to steal an old artifact. On the other hand, they may be much stronger and have intentions all together more sinister."

I decided it would be good form to tip him off about how probable the second selection was (based on past experience), and then further decided that hitting ladies was not good form and that the two bad forms would more-or-less balance out.

"Well, either way, we need to get going." I decided to add a little extra, "Erm... we're on the clock."

Not waiting for an answer, I walked out the door.

[MaxBlade]

When the man said money would not be a problem, all doubt flew from Fareon’s head, he would be with this man till the end, or until Shika died, which ever came first. As Shika lead the way out the door, Fareron stood up and looked the place over once more. He would have to come here again some time, if he ever needed more business. He then walked after Shika, this time the floor stayed silent, his footsteps echoing throughout the establishment, the door closing silently behind him.

Stepping into the fresh warm air away from musty damp air, Fareron took a deep breath and sniffed his robes. He smelled like the place, he definitely had a reason to take a bath now. Fareron took off at a brisk pace and quickly caught up with the pale man. “Wait a second, where exactly are we going?” Fareron said questioningly only slowing down to walk beside the Shika. He didn’t really care where they were going he just wanted to get an overview of the route before they started off. “Not to mention food…I believe we should stop to pick something up! I know we’re…on the clock as you say, but come off it. We can’t survive without food.” As a matter of fact, Fareron was hungry; he just didn’t want to get any food inside of the filthy place.

Off in the distance a bird cawed in the forest. The sun was setting behind the trees, and night was coming closer. Off to the east you could barely see the moon in the afternoon light. Fareron, looked at the man, wondering about who he might be, and what Fareron might have gotten himself into this time.

[Isalidi]

I looked at Fareron as I prepared to begin my response, but instantly regretted it. He smelled of liquor and tobacco. I probably did, too.

"Well, food. I guess that could be an issue. We should handle that. I don't know of any markets on Brae, though... Perhaps we could get some once we're off the island. That's where we're head-"

I was cut off by a shrill shriek reverberating through the town.

"SHIKA! HELP!"

I looked in the direction that the scream came from, west. I got a nasty feeling in the pit of my stomach.

Tariam...!

"Hurry up!" I snapped at the man, and ran in the direction previously noted.

[MaxBlade]

Even though this was probably Fareron’s second time hearing the firey woman’s voice, he recognized it instantly, and he did hurry! He moved swiftly down the road, how her shout could reach there ears from this far away, he did not know, and he didn’t care. This was his chance to show off his fighting skills! He leaned forward into the wind, trying to create less resistance, his feet pounding the dirt road, leaving puffs of dirt clouds in his tracks. This better not be something stupid he thought to himself. His lips pursed closedas he focused on getting to the goal!

[Isalidi]

I'm going to assume that you're referring to emotional center when you say 'big boosomed', because I don't ever remember referring to her breast size.

I continued running in the direction of the scream. Thankfully, she was not far away. There were two men pointing guns at her, but no, something was wrong. There was something odd about their clothes...

These were no thugs! These were... cops? Cops? The hell?

"Heh, heh. I like a girl who screams for help," said the shorter of the two in a markedly unpleasant voice.

The other laughed as well. "I know, right, Zed? I mean, what's anyone gonna do? Arrest us?!"

"Yeah!" back to Zed, "They gonna do nothing! We get anyone we want, whenever we want them!"

I drew a needle, and carefully snuck up behind the taller. I attempted to throw it into the back of his neck, but I missed, accomplishing nothing but alerting him to our presence and ruining the day of an unfortunate, needle-pierced, tree.

He turned around, and, noticing, Zed followed suit.

The taller one. "Ahh, and the little hero comes! What was it, Sheela or something?"

I looked at him furiously, but said in a very level voice, "Shikamanota."

He grinned at me, and Zed's smile faded.

"Shikamanota Isalidi?" the latter asked, almost nervously.

I realized he was scared of me, and smirked.

"Yeah." I confirmed, smugly.

Zed then did something completely unexpected. He turned to the other, and said:

"Snake, common. We don't wanta fight this guy. He's bad news. Let's up and get outta."

I looked at him curiously. "Who are you?"

He looked at me, stunned at the very question. "I'm not answering!"

And then he ran away, leaving only Snake.

"I don't know where you know Zed from," began the remaining cop, "But I am STILL going to fight you."
I braced myself, and wished Fareron would hurry up.

[MaxBlade]

" but I am STILL going to fight you."

Fareron came running up on the tail end of the conversation, coming to a complete stop besides Shika. His eyes looking around frantically, knees bent ready to spring. Problem was, there was no immediate danger. There the damsel in distress stood, but unharmed it seemed. "Well..." he muttered to himself, slightly frustrated. Then he looked at the man confronting Shika, he was tall. Fareron started to chuckle for no apparent reason. "Well what have we here?" Looking the man up and down, then his brain did a double take. He was a cop! "A cop?" He said answering his own question.

He wasn't fond of cops, or authority figures, sponsored by the government at all. In his home land, Sansada, the police were large humanoid beast called Rayon's. They looked like bears, and they had dreadlocks that writhed with life, these helped the Rayon's see, for their seeing was not great. They had large teeth, two at the top and one large on at the bottom. They spoke educated, but no one was surprised at that. They were originally, humans in the first place, but the scientist of the land, thought to make them stronger their experiment at first a success, until the drugs took over the body of humans, creating a devastating on effect on their bodies. For days they were sick and bleeding out of the different holes in their bodies. Their DNA being reconstructed vigorously. They tried to make an anti drug, but it didn’t work against it, but it helped the virus. Turning the sick men into animal like monster’s! These were the monsters that killed his mother, actually devoured her body.

These memories racked Fareron’s brains, as he stared at the cop with a blank expression, not knowing what to do his lips slightly agape. Coming to his senses, he spoke to Shika. “What happened?” clearing his head of previous thoughts, that he had worked long to stop thinking about.