Throwing caution to the wind (closed to Kaiser and Kially)

[Canen Darkflight]

The Drum and Monkey Tavern was located in the centre of Radasanth itself, deep within the winding labyrinth of filthy alleyways and passages where most residents dared not traverse after the darkness of night had fallen upon Corone. It was a crooked, almost decrepit sort of building, with its cracked stone walls and brittle sloping slate roof that fractured almost any time someone slammed the rickety wooden door closed, showering fragments of shale tile over the already littered pavement below. Yet, despite its apparent structural poverty, the tavern still boasted a healthy nightly turn out. Through the cracked, stained glass windows, the oil lanterns burned brightly and the shadows of their patrons jigged merrily about in the night. The chorus of drunken cheers leapt from the crevices of the doors, sending a shiver down the spines of those passing by. These types of back alley inns, as they traditionally did, tended to house some of the most street smart, sneaky, low down scum that ever raised a tankard to their lips to drink their ill gotten gains away into the early hours of the night.

Canen, as he traditionally did, had found himself in the wrong place, at the wrong time, and as the cool blade of his treasured sword rested steadily against the jugular vein of the stubby gentleman in front of him, he challenged the poison dwarf to take back what he had said about his mother.

Before the requested apology was extracted from the offending patron, a bystander and friend of the offender decided to clear up any misunderstanding about the reputation of the tavern and soon a bar stool found itself a whole new purpose, launched from an admirable distance across the tavern’s musky breadth before colliding with the back of Canen’s skull. The Khaian’s legs folded underneath him as the dwarf went for him, a trickle of black blood forking down the back of his pale neck as he fell.

“You ain’t welcome here, stranger!” The dwarf screamed in Canen’s face as he pinned him to the rickety wooden floor, throwing a fist in his face. The Khaian’s head recoiled horribly off the planks. “Anyone seekin’ the monkey boy is gonna only bring trouble to this here peaceful town!”

Everything was fuzzy around the edges. The blow to his head hadn’t done him much good, but he was still holding his sword, and although he wasn’t in the mood for slaughtering innocents, Canen wasn’t partial to getting gang beatings either. Deciding actions were louder than screaming idiots, the Khaian kicked the floor to the left, pushing momentum onto his side, and log rolled with his miserable mount to his right. His blade slid neatly between the folds of flesh covering the dwarf’s kneecaps, and slit the skin. The dwarf cried out in horror while Canen challenged the other patrons with a cold stare, his sword still stuck in his victim. They backed off from around him and his new hostage slowly.

“Oh dear, what a predicament you appear to have gotten yourself into! One neat twist of my wrist and that nasty looking wound isn’t closing anytime soon.” Canen replied with a great deal of smugness tucked away in his voice, gesturing dizzily towards the tip of The Valiance. “Now, I asked you a question, I believe, before you insulted my dear mother. Where is Kaiser now? I’m losing patience, chaps.”

It took less than twenty seconds to get the full story, get the blade out of the dwarf’s leg and get the hell out of the tavern. It seemed Kaiser had set about looking to upset everyone he came across, not healthy for a guy who didn't want to be found, chased or hounded.

Canen had missed this sort of thing, very, very much.

[Kai]

Radasanth

The centre of the Corone Island, at least financially, it was a rather large town, but it drew in crowds easily, and many great adventures had likely started in at least all of the inns and taverns of the city. Kaiser Nightwind had come to a conclusion that he and Radasanth had a love/hate relationship, he enjoyed the city for the amusement it brought him, especially when it allowed him to escape his … ‘co-workers’ from time to time, not to mention they had some of the best underground tournaments than Scara breia, at least in his opinion.

What he hated about Radasanth was the reputation he had acquired somehow, True Kai had been known as a troublemaker, but that wasn’t accurate, Kai was a trouble magnet, and he had long ago leant how to deal with it. Currently said silvet was just enjoying the town for what it was, at night there were not to many people around, which meant it was quiet, and that was what the silvet was enjoying right now.

“Hey Kai!”

Or maybe not quiet

The silvet turned around to greet the lord of Chaos incarnate, the vilest of beings, and the most destructive force on the planet, a hyperactive demon child.

Not very climatic is it?

“… what’s up?” for kai to respond to the being known as ‘Jesty’ in anything other than wariness or paranoia, it would mean that Jesty was not living up to her name sake, quite the opposite for her infact.

She was being normal … the 3 bags of sugar must have worn off “Sera was lookin for ya … said you had to help out with sorting out the current stock” she said, gaining an impish grin as the silvet’s expression turned into one of annoyance.

“What is she my mother?” he quietly muttered while folding his arms in a slight defensive manor, his eyes returned to Jesty as he sighed and let loose his stance so that he could scratch the base of his rope braid “look tell her I will be back later ok …I’m doing something tonight” he lied but Jesty wasn’t about to do anything about it

She shrugged and turned around “Kay … but don’t blame me when she hog ties you again … and this time I think she will use the branding iron” Kai flinched unsure if it was his fate or her sing-song voice, but he was creped out by it none-the-less

“she wouldn’t” he stated, but he felt his statement to be hollow … “She would” he corrected and Jesty grinned before waving her good buy and walking off back to the nearest town away from Radasanth. Being late as it was, that was almost asking for trouble, but this was Jesty, any trouble that followed her was her own path of trouble, if anything he felt sorry for the poor bastards that would start trouble with her.

Kai sighed and turned around resuming his walk, and trying ever so hard to recall what he had been thinking before his mind was derailed and the sudden urge to jump in a barrel interrupted him. His thoughts strayed to the Neko for a moment, he related her to pure annoyance, but still an unlikely friendship had formed … gah, she offered him a roof over his head, of cause he was grateful to her.

Kai paused in his tracks to look around … it took him a moment to identify the cold street he stood in, and with a frown he asked no one

“Where the hell am I now?”

[Kially Gaith]

The youngling has been quite the spender today, flicking from store to store in excitement, the Bazaar being all what he’d imagined it to be and more! His actions of course though, with such amounts of spending, were not without monitor, and those monitoring such behaviour were the underdogs of the city, the ones lurking in the dark alleyways after hours. They had confirmed, through reports of the more shady shop keepers, that the boy indeed had quite a large amount of currency on his person, and further information had confirmed that the large lump on his right leg was in fact the holder of such monetary goodness. This was far to good to be true. A large amount of money on a young and weak target!

Creeping in the darkness, the first crook to take up on his own biddings and the valuable information, lurked silently, watching the child attempting to find lodgings for the night, easy pickings.

When the boy wandered past the vile humans alley of choice, that’s when he’d dart out beside the boy, knocking into him, a hand fishing straight into the boys pocket. The crooks informants had been right, there was indeed a pouch, he heard the money jingle as his hand dipped towards the bag. His informants and his common sense however, clouded by greed, had not told him to think of the depth of the bag. The crook, now finding himself leaning to get low down enough to grab the bag has difficulty snagging the bag with the ease he’d hoped for, brushing against the childs’ leg as coin pouch was awkwardly removed.

“HEYYYYYYYYY!” The child shouted, his voice echoing about his choice streets that were filled with nought but silence, the shrill tone of his voice echoing maliciously as the thief found himself to be found out rather sooner than he’d wished.
Now, had the boy been pick pocketed earlier, he wouldn’t have been all that fussed, it’d have been redistribution of wealth, something that he didn’t understand.
Now! However! The boy was rather pleased with this bag of coin, it could buy him pretty things. Edible things. Sharp things. Things to play with. All the things a young child like him could ask for, and he’d figured that, with such value in a bag, he’d be able to find a bed for the night, something he hadn’t had in time gone past. The youth was not best pleased at all, and for once, a rare occasion, he snapped, his joyful day having been spoilt by another one of those HORRID HORRID humans! Urgh! First they destroy the planet around them without a single care, and now they take his belongings! Enough was enough!

The thief laughed heartily, a nervous tone all the same, as his pace quickened back towards a second dark alleyway, retreating to what he knows best before any can come to the boys aid, it just so happened that his route headed him towards the Drum and Monkey tavern, where he planned to gain himself a well earned drink with a few comrades who tended to hang out in the rundown establishment.

Now in a rather down state, anger fuelled a burst of speed, he didn’t quite know what he was doing, but hatred tore him and his young feet on the same path as the thief, running past boxes and tables that had hosted the streets market that morning, grabbing up a thin misplaced store prop that had been left on top of a box. His feet, now, hit the ground at fifty to the dozen, and even still, he struggled to keep up to the wider and faster paced thief…There was only one thing he decided he could do, and he’d chance it, especially considering his funds that had suddenly made his life a great deal easier were at stake. He stopped, allowing the male to continue on his journey, down the straight alley way, he paused for the briefest moment as he channelled wind energy into the store prop that he’d grabbed so casually before in his anger and attempts to chase the thief. As the thin although somewhat weighty store prop gained a dangerous edge, the male kept running, laughing ever so hard to himself. Boy was the rum going to taste good tonight!

It was then, in the darkness of the alley, that his dreams were to be shattered, the child heaved the long store prop, from above his head, like a javelin into the air.

The thief still couldn’t believe his luck, turning to head towards his favourite tavern, until the swishing sound became all to apparent, his turn had put him side on for the oncoming offensive, and in that very moment, realisation set in, he had but a few seconds to react, and that reaction was audible. “Oh…Sh- Urghhhhh!”, a blood curdling scream of detest at the penetration of geomagus magic influenced wood to flesh.

The makeshift spear had come down at a 45 degree angle, puncturing through his standard cotton shirt and straight between two ribs, puncturing a lung. His life flashed before his eyes as he considered his place in the afterlife, ever so sure he’d die, as he moved at an awkward ragdoll motion towards a solid wall. He saw the tavern. That was his only hope. Crying for his life, he made his way, stumbling like a drunkard after perhaps 10 to many, begging for forgiveness to whatever god or deity he so perhaps worshipped “Forgive me…Forgive me.” The Gods seemingly heard him, the tavern seemed to gain closer and closer with his stumbling until the utmost convenience appeared.

The slates on the floor from the roof of his salvation were the Gods laughing at him, a misplaced drunken foot, and a slate slides along with his foot, ricocheting him into the wall on his left, pressuring the spear to exit through the other side of his lung, coughing up blood, he fell to the floor, shouting and screaming for his life as his breaths grew shorter and shorter. Even with the bar brawl perhaps just moments before, many of the taverners shuddered to think what fell beast had perhaps mercilessly attacked whatever poor being screamed outside. Many sat in shock as they heard the scream, whilst others rushed towards the door.

Those who rushed to the door were there only to see a young innocent boy with a ribbon in his hair collecting a bag from the male and stuffing it into his pocket before making a run of his own…The little thing had obviously took advantage of a clan killing, one of the more renowned thieves being slaughtered for being in enemy territory. Of course, that would be the rumour the following day, for no one expected the child who ‘took advantage of the moment’. After all? Why or how could a little boy be possible of such atrocity?

Ah…The joys of innocence.

[Canen Darkflight]

The night’s air was bitterly cold for this time of year. Even wrapped in the thick of his trademark black greatcoat and a smattering of thick robes underneath, the wind chill seemed to cut through Canen like an icy, serrated knife as he stood alone on the cracked alleyway pavement, wiping the dwarf’s thin red blood from the flat to the tip of The Valiance with a white rag. It was well known that the blade’s worst enemy was rusting, and it was important to ensure that his weapon was well maintained at all times, and so Canen took considerable care to ensure he wasn’t taking any chances with his. Blood had a surprisingly adverse effect on weaker metals, most types of which contained a great deal of iron, which, when dry, caused all sorts of problems for the metal. As it turned out, he would be relying on it a lot from then on, and so with this in mind carefully sheathed the clean blade into its ivory and marble sheath, neatly lashed to his back.

His first footstep from the cracked stone curb made a splash. Surprised, Canen looked down, not having noticed any puddles on the way here. It had not rained for a long time. As his eyes skimmed the liquid lapping at the sole of his boot, Canen sniffed the air in front of him, and repulsed.

“Blood…?”

Unlike the dwarven blood he had cleaned from his blade, this blood stunk of human, and was thicker in consistency. It smelled fresher, and was warm to the touch. This was the blood of a fresh kill!

Canen’s eyes bolted from left to right, and then straight ahead. This area had been known for its murders over the years, and although he didn’t fear the dark or its inhabitants as he knew far worse hazards to his health than these petty criminals, he knew that his current situation and the circumstances of his coming here and ejection from the tavern were not favourable ones. The patrons of the taverns had friends in the night, friends who didn’t like the question he had asked. Canen, even with his sword and magic, was still a lone statistic compared to the masses of scum that glued together in this area. Perhaps now would be a good time to leave, and further contemplate his goals in an area with which he was familiar.

As he started edging towards the direction of the main road, a child shaped blur bolted past him at almost eye watering speed, and disappeared ahead of him. Instantly acting on instinct, the Khaian drew his blade at breakneck speed, and prepared himself for what might have been an ambush.

“I know you’re there! Show yourself, if your intentions are towards me alone, and settle this outside of this cowardly cloak and dagger manner. I have other business and I don't like wasting my time.”

[Kai]

“Yahhhhhhghghgh!”

…

Hmm Type C blood curdling scream, usually enacted when sudden death is upon them or usually heard when a parasite is escaping its host, although the slight undertones of the typical Radasanth accent was not lost on his ears, he had to question what kind of sword was thick enough to cause that scream.

Not that Kaiser Nightwind was an expert on screams, to him it sounded just like any other scream, he would have to wonder what kind of person would be identify what kind of scream it was.

The silvet had frozen himself in the street being faced with a typical choice of mortals and immortals, Fight or flee … although fighting what was questionable, he would have to consult his curiosity

… Bored so very bored …

Ok so maybe he wasn’t listening to his curiosity very often

Might as well see what kind of hell was happening in the cold night of Radasanth.

When Kai approached a suspicious looking group of people, seemingly pouring out of the nearby tavern, Kai had to wonder who the hell would make a kill or attack so close to would be adventurers. His approaching form was not unnoticed, one of the people looking around with his sword drawn ready for the killer spotted Kai and raised his sword to him, stopping the silvet as he came within range of the tip.

“I should have known you would have been close by monkey!” he spat looking at the silvet with contempt, to which the silvet made a half-hearted shrug.

“Like I had anything to do with this … so what killed him?” Kai asked while thumbing the tip of the mans sword, testing its ability to cut people, however before he could prick his thumb the man lowered his sword to look over his shoulder.

“You don’t want to know” he said with a more civilised tone but there was still disdain there, this sudden change of heart was not made on the spot, the monkey wasn’t kidding around, and that meant it was a good idea not to poke it … with taunts or a sword.

“Try me” Kai asked, still not able to see the body due to others surrounding it

“A store prop” the man said causing kai to make a half hearted snort, what a way to go, and death by store prop?

“That’s not so strange” kai said, finding that if it was possibly to kill someone with something as absurd as a spoon then a store prop was not easily ruled out of things you can kill with, but the man shook his head.

“Impaled, with a cut as clean as a sword” … ok now that was something different, in order to do that, the killer would have to be god damn physically strong to be able to puncture the body with what could be considered a blunt object, but to impale them …

“Ouch … anyone see the killer?” Kai commented but the man shrugged “Why you going to hunt him down? Don’t bother it was a Gang kill … positive”

Kai shrugged, he had no intention of fighting a whole crime gang of Radasanth, although he enjoyed cracking the arms of those who thought they could try and rob him, hunting them was a different game.

“No one got out quick enough to see the kill … but there was this kid who was lightening the guys pocket though, he probably saw who did it” kai thought about that for a moment, considering if he should track this man down, simply because he could or head back home for some supper.

…

“Anyone consider that the kid could have done it?” the silvet asked which caused the other man to chuckle, “Kid that size was what … no more than 9? Doubt it” Kai didn’t respond to it instead he let the whole subject drop.

“Ain’t my problem anyway, so you guys waiting for the city guard to pick the body up?” to which the other man nodded and the silvet sighed scratching his scalp lazily, for some reason, he got the impression that even if he were to ignore this and walk away, he would somehow get dragged into this by some unseen means.

Kai’s attention on the current subject was lost when he spotted a couple of dwarfs, with a healer currently tending to his kneecaps through the open door of the tavern, “What happened to Jimbo there?” Kai didn’t actually know the Dwarfs name; they had only met after he had boasted that a silvet could out drink a dwarf any day … no one was actually conscious when there was a winner however to the mystery remained.

The man who Kai was talking with gave a glance over his other shoulder to see the same scene and actually grinned “oh, some guy was looking for you and it all blew up into a barroom brawl, decent swordsman the way he got his information before leaving too” Kai automatically responded to that

“Me? … why would …” … kai paused himself considering everyone who would willingly seek out the silvet, the numbers could be counted on one hand, and only one of them was a competent swordsman

“… black long hair, green eyes wears nothing but black about ye high?” kai asked while holding his hand up to the estimated guess of a certain nocturne, although Kai’s … best friend was company he enjoyed, he was seriously dreading there meeting, praying that Canen didn’t want yet another fight in the citadel.

“Yeah that’s him … friend of yours?” the man asked while Kai sighed, it was inevitable, if Canen was around here then he was going to get caught up in these events, he had a knack for sticking his nose into trouble … the God damn basted was going to Drag kai into whatever the hell is going on … that was the natural order of things after all.

Face Canen and trouble, or face Sera and sadism … who the hell gives kai these choices?

“Kind off … take care” Kai said with a lazy wave of his hand before proceeding to walk away from the commotion, while chanting that if he saw Canen, he would thwap him on the back of his head before he did anything else … he sighed … it was all he felt like he could do other than walk away, which he was currently doing … and knowing his luck directly in the direction of Canen …

Was his life this predictable?

[Kially Gaith]

He had not planned a kill, nor had he really planned to do any harm, it really was not in him. He’d only wanted to stop the man and retrieve his currency, and although such had been achieved, it had been in the most unsavoury way he could have dreamt of.

The sight of blood had been enough to snap him out of his rage, and running now felt more like a chore than it did a necessity, before, his heart had began to race as anger and adrenalin over took him. Now though, it throbbed painfully, both worry and fright as to what he had done.

Running, his little legs nimbly skipping over waste and the remains of everyday life in the alleyways, he turned to look back. Looking back gave him no view of in front of him, where a male stepped out to his right. With speed, however, on his fortunate side, he raced past, only to catch a brief glimpse of the man, that alone being enough to make his heart miss a single beat in worry. Maybe he was after him? This only made him more determined to run. He placed in more effort, running for dear life and love of whom he was, it was finally, when he reached an alley away that fatigue and exhaustion were setting in. Sure, he was fit, sure, he was well, but with such anger having took over him, a running spree on a diet of zero square meals a day for two days or so…His efforts had took a toll on him.

Slumping, his back against a wall, he quietly slid down to listen to what last few words of the male he’d passed were being spoken. It didn’t sound like he was being followed, but he knew very well, from his time in the forest, that sound was not always the way. He tried to sniff the air, like he would in the forest, looking for something out of place. He had not considered that a town would be full of smells…And these smells were more than unhealthy, they were rancid! Rotten food and mix of human and animal waste. “Urgh.”

He took long deep breaths to try and slow his aching heart which was still giving athletic runners a competition in pace, his whole body aching from the come down of an adrenalin rush. It hadn’t occurred to him that he had committed a crime…But he’d never heard a real scream before, at least not from something of a species walking on two legs that could talk. It was so...Frightening. Panting for breath, he allowed his body to finally take it a little more easily.

With rest in mind, he partially closed his eyes, allowing his ears to take over for a while, listening to the goings on of the town, the hustle and bustle about the incident, and the paranoid wordings of the male he’d been fortunate enough to have avoided, or at least so he believed.

[Canen Darkflight]

The silence closed in on Canen quickly, and it felt like standing in the centre of a room with the walls collapsing inwards, with nowhere to go. It was unlike the Khaian to feel uneasy like this. It wasn't an overpowering emotion by any stretch of the imagination, but more of a sense of isolation, a feeling that he was well and truely alone in a hostile environment of which he had no knowledge or safety. With warm human blood staining his boots and a sickly odour of death in the air, without knowing what he was facing, Canen suddenly had a very real reminder of what it was like to feel tension.

It was very difficult to see properly in the sparce light of the alleyway, the only illumination coming from the feint glow of distant oil laterns burning in the window of the bustling Drum and Monkey tavern, and as Canen stepped forward slowly, his eyes bolted from left to right, scanning everything over and over again. Every now and then, he would believe to see movements in the shadows, but nothing came of it. Over his own breath, he could hear not a sound. The silence was deafening.

Gradually, the sound of a human panting heavily honed into Canen's ears, and echoed through the straight alley with a granulated ambience. The Khaian brushed aside a bang of hair and stiffened his arms, straightening his back as he did to prepare himself for whatever might be around that next corner, waiting for him. As further steps were made, the panting became shallower, more like a child than a man, and they were filled with an emotion, a sort of cross between fear and panic, perhaps even shock.

Their eyes met as he spun around the corner of an outlet in the alleyway, and Canen reacted with suprise. A few moments passed, the man looking down upon the child with cold, emerald eyes, before carefully lowering his weapon, a signal that his hostility had ended.

"You run quick for a kid." Canen said, approaching the child cautiously. He spotted the dark blue ribbon in his hair before his face. Odd accessory. "I mean you no harm. You look frightened, boy. I am not here to cause you any hurt. Tell me, what is your name?"

Canen changed his tone to a lighter, less aggressive one. The kid looked frightened enough.

[Kai]

Apparently Kai’s life was predictable

Why?

Because not too far up the deserted street was a figure that the silvet could have identified if the whole world had no such thing as colour, Of cause the only thing good old Falcy had that had any colour, were his green eyes, an insult to colour … really it was.

Kai sighed as he stopped in his tracks just to watch what his old friend was doing, obviously his attention was elsewhere, and with his sword drawn he was expecting hostility, so yeah, kai really wanted to scare the hack out of him so he could earn a Dark Matter orb for his face, does good for the complexion… honestly

No the silvet knew it was his entire best interest to wait this one out … infact he should totally ignore him and go home, but he could not, damn Falcon for being his best friend.

‘ why the hell do I have to go and say hello ’

Kai had the sudden urge to pounce of his best friends head, just so that he could scare the hell out of him, but still that urge was labelled with a bad idea, not to mention the Nocturne the silvet’s antics.

But kai had noticed that something had spooked Falcy, so much so that he didn’t even spot his old friend slowly approaching from down the street, Kai took the time to take note of his surroundings, to see if he could spot something that Falcon may have overlooked.

As it turned out, he didn’t feel that anything was out of the ordinary, just a little quiet, but it was rather late. Kai shrugged and stepped over the closets wall and leant against it, curious as to what Falcy was actually trying to accomplish, his face curious as he idly scratched the thin scar under his left eye.

‘ the heck … is he trying to find his own shadow … I’d kick him if I thought that it would actually help him at his rate???’

[Kially Gaith]

His ears quickly traced that of footsteps towards his current position, he tightened his left hand on the floor, his fingers bracing themselves together as he channeled his energy into them, blading the whole edge of his hand and fingers, cleaning the floor as particles of dust are pushed slightly aside, visually however, this would look like he'd just mopped his hand side to side on the floor a little.

His right hand raised to his left shoulder, as if to hide something, preparing himself completely, for the worst. Sure, A wind blast probably wouldn't shift something with the size of what he believed the footsteps could be, but it'd at least make a good distraction should he need a quick get away...Couldn't be much longer until he passed out though, poor boy had already gone through alot, on an empty stomach no less.

When the male cornered into vision, his own eyes were wide open and aware, his face paling to see that the male was not only large but suitably armed, his gaze quickly flashed about him, looking for anything other than his own hand that could become a weapon. He was dissappointed to find sweet fuck all.

That is when blade was lowered, this, however, did not take him off the offensive, like wild felines in the dense overgrowth of where he'd grown up, he daren't risk a false dignity, a fake offering of peace only for the foe to pounce when opportunity arose. He still held ready to his offensive pose, although such pose probably looked like that of an exhausted child, which was, in all honesty, a correct description. He did however understand that, should the larger male strike, it'd probably be the last of his own breaths, and in his current state, he'd have little go power to block or return an offensive. He'd be using a good amount of his remaining energy trying to stand up, let alone strike. He decided he'd try talk his way out of this...Something he'd never done in a life time.

P'ease le' me live, Mother He silently pleaded with his own deity in his mind, not a shade of such appearing on his face or form.

"Kially." He finally spoke, Pronounced Key-All-E his eyes gazing over the male, trying not to cry. His emotions were all flooding over him, never had he feared for his life so much. His heart was back to racing, enough so, that he could feel and hear the blood pumping through his head, aching painfully once again, this time however, even in the face of danger, he was not graced with the adrenalin boost he so wished for. There was no rage or anger, only fear in place of something to fight for.

[Sifer]

Far from home.

The stench, unpleasant and warm, of Radasanth could be cut with a knife. The endless bickering between clans of criminals, and sometimes local authority, was the main attraction of the city. Wrongdoers from all over Althanas came here in search of some sort of glory that only the guilty, guile, and not so glamorous scum could attain. The kind of glory that turned poor men into the thugs that ruled the streets.

Why?

Nymraif found himself drawn to the atrociously beautiful city. Why was he brought here? He wasnt so sure himself. He had simply followed the path the forest had laid out for him, usually leading to some sort of adventure. Mostly likely due to his young age Nymraif craved adventure and mystery. Lucky for him, both could be found in Radasanth.

He kept to the shadows and lurked from building to building. A small trail of green followed him as he stepped through the alleys looking for any clue as to why he was there. The forest was watching his back which meant he was likely in danger. Nymraif decided to check over his shoulder at every corner, he was far away from the forest and it may not be able to warn him of an incoming enemy. He missed the forest’s green and its seclusion. Nymraif began to think of home when his attention was diverted to the clatter of feet running through the streets. This man had very short legs but was very quick.

A gnome maybe? Too fast to be a dwarf.

He smiled to himself thinking of the old grudge between his magnificent race and that of the tiny stumps. The footsteps stopped just around the corner Nymraif was about to turn. His senses heightened. Suspecting an ambush, he drew a smoke bomb from his pack and pressed himself against the wall. He appeared invisible except for his eyes which glowed slightly in the dark. Slowly, he crept against the wall to the edge. He peaked one eye around the corner and saw a small child leaning against the wall panting. Another figure appeared though the shadows, this one was much bigger and had a weapon drawn.

What could have this poor child done to upset this man to the point of drawing a weapon on him?

The man lowered his voice to a less barbaric tone and spoke to the child softly. Nymraif was not about to let his guard down. If he had to save this poor child from an utterly stomach upsetting death then he would. He held a smoke bomb between his fingers, ready to draw his sword and pounce to the rescue. Perhaps the child was the key to Nymraif being in Radasanth. He couldnt let the man hurt him.

Tread lightly old man. Make no mistakes that you may regret today. Don’t worry Kially, ill protect you.