Stable Wars

[Lavinian Pride]

(Closed to the initiates of the Grander's Order)

“You have to get her to join us. It’s that simple Miss Dahlios,” The voice said. It was strong, underlying a bit of amusement as Sarah sipped at her ale. Tonight it was on someone else’s tab, which made the brew a bit bitterer, just the way she liked it. As she brought a few stray strands of hair behind her ear she sighed pondering it over.

“Why me? I have had nothing to do with this “Grander’s Order” I didn’t even know it existed until now,” She said flatly.

A grin appeared on the rather tall man’s face as he said, “Well that is the puzzler. Surely you remember the trek through Haidia you had to endure. The dragon you slew single handedly, the fame of traveling with Brock Rund-“

“You ever mention that name again and your balls become my personal property.”

“Understood, but, to continue the point, it was because of your ability to remain cool in the face of danger, and your rather choice selection of skill. It was those attributes that made us decide to acquire those skills, offering full membership in return for the favor.”

“Why would I want to be a part of this fledgling Red Hand? The last time a Dahlios got involved in such an enterprise he had to leave due to the incessant bickering and infighting between the inmates,” Sarah said hotly. Using the memories of Seth had given her an aversion for the groups of power dotted around the land, especially after Ghaun’s death. As she waited a reply another sip of the amber liquid was taken.

“We are so much more than the Red Hand, so much more. We are disciplined unlike those silly merchants, and everything given to the Grander’s Order, is solely for our benefit. Unlike the Red Hand we do not waste resources only for profit. We are in seclusion now, but soon we will make our name known,” The man said shifting his lithe form. Sarah looked at the seven foot tall monstrosity. He looked to be a poorly fashioned mix of a few different things. Not that it bothered her, she wasn’t going to sleep with the ugly man, however he did push a few select buttons that she couldn’t help but feel he had been told about.

“I see, well then, what’s in it for me?” Sarah said firmly.

“You do this for us, and you can be sure the Grander’s Order will fully endorse you, to the point of making your aimless treks through Althanas a thing of the past. You wish to prove better than Seth Dahlios? Here is your-“

The sound of metal upon metal could be heard as the knife was brought up to the man’s neck. He didn’t flinch at the violent reaction and she could see why, an axe was firmly pressed to her gut. If the deadlock were to go off, she’d be gutted and his throat would be slit. The two were deadlocked for what seemed like an eternity as the tavern watched in silent awe. Slowly almost at the same time, axe and dagger were put back in their place as she sat and sipped her ale.

“I’ll do it, however on one condition,” She said simply.

“What’s that?”

“I’m in charge, I call the shots. I don’t take orders well, and to be ordered around by some desk jockey is not my idea of fun. So, either give me the rope to hang myself, or cut me loose.”

“Deal.”

(You guys can be at Erebus, Sarah will basically be hanging out in the common grounds and when you write your intros you can report in to Clement. When you’re all assembled Sarah will move you guys out.)

[Emblem]

The day was good. People were busy about their business, women buying their meager food for the day, men working in the fields, merchants spouting off about the value of their wares, drunks spewing tales of greatness, children frolicking about in bliss. The center of town held an open park filled with greenery and important statues all centered on a large multiplatform fountain depicting children in natural positions. There seemed to be only one thing that was out of place in the town square, a solitary figure cloaked in blue with unnaturally bright hair, a deep frown crossing his normally cordial face.

Children…Over there holding a balloon, that one’s peeing in the fountain. Why aren’t there parents watching them? Damn parents. Keep your stupid babies locked at home so the rest of us don’t have to put up with them. God, I hate kids!

Oran Tellios was in an oddly angry mood, it’d been tough to get here, he was hungry, and the world was thoroughly unpleasant. The fountain was irritating, the plants were ugly, the breeze got dirt in his eyes, and the children, they were the worst of all. They made so much noise, so much mess, everything they touched became sticky and disease infected, they tainted everything. Sitting on a random bench, trying not to think of what a kid may have done to it, Oran was struck by a particularly cruel thought, a reason to smile.

His hair glowing a sickly green, the devious human plotted his amusement, picking out potential targets. Spying a carriage being pulled along speedily by thunderous hooves, the mastermind went to work. A soft whisper from the side, just enough to get her attention, her eye catching on the dancing piece of paper, moving unnaturally in elegant twists and turns fluttering tantalizingly just feet into the street, drawing her towards itself. How easy young minds were to manipulate, so carelessly did they stray from safety, unknowing of the mother’s watchful eyes. A swift joyful music, a melody from Oran’s childhood, just enough to drown out ambient noises, it was just enough to completely capture her in the paper’s dance. Almost frightening how good he was at it, Oran was nearly as entranced as the girl except he could still hear the hooves.

His concentration was broken as a hand lodged itself on his shoulder, squeezing gently yet enough to cause a good deal of discomfort. The mystical illusion dissipated with the paper blowing down the road along with the faint melody. He’d gotten better with his mind but distractions continued to cost him dearly, the mother swooping down and snatching the girl from the street, moments before the stampeding chariot could trample her.

Damnit! Somebody’s gonna lose a hand!

Before he could even turn the figure behind him spoke, the calm polite voice causing his eye to twitch involuntarily, even grumpier than before for being disrupted. “That’s not very nice you know. Nonetheless that is quite a talent you’ve got, a talent I could use.”

Although he was angry, Oran could smell an adventure a mile away (or at least thought he could), the conspirital whisper hinting at something great. “What are we talking about? Robbing a bank? Breaking into an imperial treasury? What?”

Turning slightly to get a view at his potential partner, Oran couldn’t keep the shock from his face, it seemed to be some monstrously tall distortion of a human, easily a head taller than he was and ugly enough for the entire town. Yet his voice masked any abnormalities he may have had, calm and collected, rational. Chuckling slightly he answered, “Maybe, someday. Today you must prove you’re worth my time. Do well, you may go far, if not, we part ways. It all depends on you. There is a young woman in Erebus, find her.”

As smart as he was it still wasn’t making sense, words flowing to his mouth before his brain could decide they sounded dumb, “and what then?” The stranger walked quickly in great strides from the area, his cryptic message ringing in Oran’s ears, “Look to the hooves.”

[streak101]

Banda searched aimlessly, around Khu'fein. The fields had been pleasant that day, and there was no trouble except for the usual child, having a tantrum. A speeding carriage was racing through the area, and Banda couldn't help but notice a little girl, almost be trampled by it. For shame! Haven't they got an eye on their children?Banda sighed, as what would have happened if the mother did not rescue her little girl from the carriage.

It was at that time, however, that Banda had come to a point where he needed a good brawl. So he started causing a little commotion, enough to irritate some of the local bandits and thugs. Eventually, the amount of blades that were pointed at him had become a 5 too many. He slew half of his opponents, and ran as fast as he could to avoid anymore contact with the now enraged adversaries.

As he crammed himself into a tiny cravise at the back of a tavern. A hand reached out toward him. He grabbed the hand, and was pulled out of his uncomfortable pose. "Who are you?" Banda asked, "My name is Clement, and I could use someone of your talents..." Banda, feeling that his boredom was about to disappear, asked, "I'm listening!"

[Lavinian Pride]

(So there is no confusion now, Clement has taken you to Erebus; you are meeting Sarah for the first time, after this round we will go to the camp. You should be either arriving at Erebus, or have already been there.)

"I got your two lackeys," Clement said as he knocked on Sarah's door. She had been resting on her bed, wondering just what to do when he had cured her boredom. Sighing she stretched her lithe form as she sat on the edge of the bed.

"What am I dealing with?" Sarah replied bluntly. She then moved to pull her hair back into a high ponytail, keeping the brown strands off the back of her neck as she closed her eyes, listening for Clement's answer to her question.

"Well, we have a rather mature young man, and to be frank...and a younger man who’s an adventurer. Both of them seem able, but I wouldn't recommend taking a military action on this job..." He said crossing his arms as he leaned in the doorframe.

"I thought I was having a mission, not a babysitting fieldtrip. I want able bodied people who can do something to help, not wannabe adventurers who'll piss their pants when the first hint of danger crops up..." Sarah retorted.

"One of them seems quiet able. The other seems more than willing to be helpful. Do not dismiss them until you've seen them Miss Dahlios," Clement said sighing.

"This is part of your little test isn't it? Throw as many obstacles in my path and see how I turn out right?" Sarah asked as she got up starting to throw a few things into her satchel.

"I think you've made up your mind and will only believe what you want to believe at this point. Still at least meet them before you write them off in your book. You have to stick around them anyways, and might as well get used to it."

"Fine, but you're buying the first round at the stable..."

"Deal, shall we?"

Sarah shouldered her satchel till she walked through the common grounds of Erebus. People seemed to be going about doing various things, and Sarah knew this was her chance to be a more lasting presence in the camp. As she moved to where Clement had instructed her to go she sighed as she looked up at the sun tapping her foot impatiently.

Clement looked at her before he said, "Keep your cool Dahlios, not worth getting in trouble in the compound."

"They had better get here soon, or I'm going to go myself. Help be damned," She said curtly.

[streak101]

Banda heart was pounding. This Clement man, had made his day. Now Banda might bust some heads, if he needed to, and do a little sly movement, he needed the practice. Either way, he was to report to the location Clement had given him, and meet the of this um....'Expedition'.

As he was arriving at Erebus, Banda looked through all the streets and homes, looking for Clement. He was just too eager to check the address given to him. He wondered what would his partner's be like? They better not be idiots...The last time I did that, it didn't go too well... He thought.

After finding Clement, he noticed the woman who he knew had to be the leader. "Miss Dahlios," Clement announced, "meet lackey number one, Banda Utako. Young adventurer, he's quick on his feet, and knows how to fight. He really knows how to 'disappear' when he's being chased by a flock of people."

Banda wondered if that statement had to be mentioned. He pushed the butt of his sword handle, and hit Clement's stomach hard. As Clement gasped for air, Banda said, "Nice to meet you Miss Dahlios." He stretched his hand out toward her.

[Zerith]

A few days ago…

“Alright, so why the hell did you want to meet me face to face like this?” The young halberdier asked the half orc that stood in front of him. What was his name again? Clement something-or-other? Well whatever it was, Zerith was sure there was a reason for why he wanted to meet the young halberdier face to face. What the reason was exactly was still anyones guess.

For some reason the stranger smiled slightly. “Well first I just wanted to meet the man I heard of back in Scara Brae. Y’know, the one that took on an army of a thousand with only one hundred and fifty men behind him and won? The man that some call a hero and quite the talented fighter. I don’t suppose you know where I can find him-“

“Just get to the point Clement,” Zerith answered immediately as he reached for his pole-arm. “Cause if that’s all, then I’m afraid this meeting his over and I’ll be leaving.”

“Y’know that is quite the weapon you have there, a real testament to skill considering you don’t see many people with pole-arms or spears these days. I can assume it must have a lot of meaning to you Zerith. With it being a trophy and all.”

“What? How the hell do you know that?” Zerith demanded.

“I’m not a fool. I did my research and recongized that halberd as the one that belonged to one of the generals in that lead that brigade. I also discovered that it was missing when the their recovered the bodies. So it only makes sense that you took it. Besides, there are quite the number of people back on that island that still remember your name and what you did. It wasn’t had to find you at all.”

“However,” he continued and gestured for Zerith to relax. “I’m really here to offer you the opportunity of a lifetime. You see I’m in need of a little assistance with a problem I have to deal with, and when I heard of your achievement I thought you would be a perfect candidate. If you do a good job, you’ll even be offered a position in the Grander’s Order.”

In response, the fighter nodded to show the he understood. “Okay, so that’s all that is in it for me? What the hell is the Grander’s Order anyways?”

“Well let me put it this way. It’s an organization that is quickly growing in both power and influence. So by joining, you’ll probably even become quite an important member in a short time. In this Order, you can go a far as you want to with hard work and commitment. That and with the Grander’s Order behind you, you’ll make quite the name for yourself.”

To Zerith, it honestly did seem like a good bargain. But what was the catch? “I’ll think about it Clement. If I decide to take the job I’ll just go to the headquarters of this order and help you out. I just need a little time to think this through.”

Present day…

It wasn’t until know that Zerith was having his doubts. The only problem was it was too late to turn back now. He had just entered Erebus and now he was lost, he had no clue where he was or where he was even supposed to go. How hard could it be to find a half-orc anyways? You’d think they would stand out among the crowd.

“Hey, you there!” he called out to some random person. Upon getting the man’s attention the halberdier continued, “I’m looking for someone. A half-orc with the name Clement, do you know him. You see he offered me a job a few days ago and I told him I would get back to him. Well now I’m here, I’m also quite sure he isn’t expecting me. Do you think you can help me out?”

Little did Zerith realize it but he was standing on the common grounds of Erebus. Not only that but if he were to look carefully he would have been able to spot a group of people not too far from him at the moment, and one of them looked a lot like that Clement fellow.

[Emblem]

It seemed like years. Oran had only been in Erebus a day but he was supposed to be waiting for someone. Waiting was an aspect of patience, patience was virtue, people were supposed to be virtuous, Oran was not. Waiting was one of the horrible things in the world; things like children, sour milk, old cheese, old eggs, old people, taxes, dying. Not only did he have to wait, there was nothing to do. Not doing stuff made waiting even worse, in this case it wasn’t that there was nothing he wanted to do, there was nothing he could do.

Erebus was in a mountainous area, it was a pretty dull little town, maybe a little smaller than a town but bigger than a settlement. It was quite a ways up in the mountains but if you knew how to get there it wasn’t a problem. Normal people went about normal activities, nothing that interested Oran. It’d been over a day since Clement had gotten him to come up to Erebus, supposedly for something that would be worth his time, and he wasn’t impressed thus far.

Finally, the woman he was waiting for showed up. This woman was apparently Sarah Dahlios, “You’ll know her when you see her, you’ll see nothing else.” He hadn’t understood at first, but in hindsight it made perfect sense. She was incredibly attractive, somebody that didn’t need money or a name or anything, someone that could live on looks alone. That kind of girl, they were few and far between, they were ones that ate men up and spit them out.

As he crossed the courtyard coming up to her, he suddenly realized that Clement was there was well, along with another man who was shorter than himself but seemed equally energetic. How he hadn’t seen the others was beyond him, they were both standing out in the open plain as day, perhaps the Tellios senses were getting dull, though he doubted it. He wasn’t able to catch their conversation until the shorter man extended a hand to the woman. Quickly thinking about what Clement had told him about the two, realizing he didn’t know anything, Oran was going to have to be strategic in his introduction.

Don’t appear weak. Introduce myself? No. Gotta be cool. Look her in the face, be strong. His mental instructions were vague and him with little idea as to actual words. Stoically ignoring Clement and the young man, he addressed the woman using his firmest and most controlled voice he could, “Well, if you’re done wasting my time, than let’s go.” Good. Sound like they’ve been holding you back. They have. I’ve been here for years. Damn them. Waiting always made him angry, as concerned as he was with looking cool in front of the girl, he was still angry that they made him wait and that they seem ready to move out and get their job done. The one pleasing thought he had was that he would be spending some time with the woman, which could be either a good thing or a very bad thing depending on her attitude, women were either really nice or really bitchy, but it was risk he would take.

[Lavinian Pride]

It seemed that when her temper would run out, they had come out of the woodworks, in many attempts to show off. The first was a younger man, decent looking to say the most. However, his child like manners were quickly evidenced when he hit Clement in the stomach as he spoke about the first of the Lackeys. She raised an eyebrow slightly at the act, knowing that to randomly hit people was probably not a good sign as to future actions.

"Charmed," was the only reply as she ignored the handshake opting instead to continue onto the next person to walk up to the group with a look of mild interest.

The next would be participant of the journey was a rather short tempered fellow, already harping about dilly dallying. Her gaze met the eyes of the man as she snorted and looked at the recovering Clement not sure if this truly was the party. It wasn't until he regained his breath that he spoke, "I told you, a bit surly but promising..."

"If I wanted promising I'd go to a nursery..." Sarah replied stiffly.

It was then she heard bits of a conversation, fragments that included Clement's name. Looking around the compound, a man with a rather interesting looking spear showed up. As she sighed she whistled shrilly before she gestured for the man to come over to where she was. Not even bothering she began to speak, "My name is Sarah Dahlios. I'm going to give you one fact and three rules, if you can't follow them, get the hell out of here. I'd rather be short staffed than caught off guard because someone trumped themselves up to be more than they truly are."

He held up a finger as she spoke, "My only fact, I'm a Lavinian, you want to piss me off, fastest way is to butt heads with me, and you will not enjoy the result." She then looked pointedly at the young man who had spoke about wasting time.

"Now for my rules, the first rule is, I'm in charge. You don't like it, kiss my ass. I won't coddle and I sure as hell won't be nice about it. The second rule is, you do anything that I perceive as endangering the mission, then you can get yourself out of trouble, because I will not save your sorry hide. You bite off more than you can chew, I will boot you out of this little party and leave you out to dry. The final rule is very simple, when I'm drinking, you do not bother me. Unless I have invited you to join me, you will not approach me once I have drink in my hands. I hope I made myself damn clear, because I will not repeat any of these rules," She said as she ticked each rule off finger by finger.

Now to see if they are ready for this party. I know I probably coerced a few objections, lets hear them out, She thought as the wheezing Clement began to straighten up, almost recovered from being winded. With that she shrugged her satchel up on her shoulder as she spoke one last time, "You got objections bring them up as we start walking, we have until the end of today to reach the stables. Once there we'll brief you on the mission, and make our decisions on the best course of action."

[Emblem]

He had a new found respect for this woman, she had a strong will about her, something substantial. Where Oran was from the girls were silly, they did frivolous things and had flimsy personalities. Oran Tellios was some kind of mystical object to them, he was handsome and rugged yet eloquent, an outgoing personality and surrounded by good friends. They could never hold his interest; they were simply perfunctory and held little consequence. This woman was different, she existed for herself alone, she had true goals and true purpose, she wore it like cloak.

She laid down the rules rapid-fire, she was leader and everyone did things her way and no other. Not only was she demanding and authoritative in her tone, it almost seemed as though she was directly focusing them at individuals, well, mainly at Oran. It seemed that way to him at least. Clement only stood there, not taking the lead but not exactly following either, as though he were somehow above it. He gave off a vibe of strangeness suggesting that he knew more than the rest of them did, at least more than he’d told Oran, but it could have just been his physical strangeness. He was pretty weird after all.

It seemed everyone was moving out and he wasn’t going to be left behind, his hair fluidly changing color to jet black, Oran Tellios was used to walking by foot and it seemed they had quite a ways to go. Traveling’s such a drag. Fortunately Oran’s distractible mind had something other than endless trudging across the “beautiful” landscape, beautiful commonly used as nature’s equivalent for mind-killingly dull and repetitive.

They were going to a stable somewhere, hopefully it wasn’t their main objective. Stables were normally special barns meant for horses or any various barn animals. At least in Oran’s experience that’s what they were. Maybe there was a monster eating all the animals, or maybe it was disguised bandit hideout, or maybe there was some kind of special treasure kept there that they were going over after. There was only one way to find out.

Explain there? Gee, it’s not like we’ll have time to explain it now during the hours and hours with nothing to do. . . She need’s some drink now. “So, what is it exactly that we’re needed for? Clement was…fuzzy, on the details. Fuzzy on everything.”

[streak101]

Banda looked blankly at Sarah, surprised at her attitude. She had ignored his handshake, and laid down the rules during the little escapade. Banda sighed silentyl under his breath. Banda did a quick stereo-type, of Miss Dahlios.Sarah Dahlios... Judging from what she just said, she's very strict when it comes to quests, and likes to drink alone. But hey, she's the leader she's the boss. Did she had to ignore the handshake though? This was just a first impression though.

Banda looked at his comrades for this particular mission. The first he noticed was a man, roughly taller than him, and had certain...attributes about him. For one, the man had a weird ability where his hair changed color. Does his hair change color on mood?Banda thought, curious about this man. He had an axe on one hand, and that's all that seemed to protect him.

Banda then looked at his other partner. This man was smaller than the other, but still taller than Banda. He had a halberd, and was very well equipped, unlike Banda. There was not much to be said about him. He had a rugged look about him, and that was all he could depict from him.

Banda then noticed that there was no transport to the stables, so he had to walk. Can't I get one chance where I don't have to walk? I mean, come on! Just because i'm an adventurer doesn't mean I don't ride on a wagon sometimes! Banda thought angrily. At least we can get some information on what exactly were doing. Banda thought, yes it would be likely that they would be well informed before reaching their destination.

Banda folded his arms, over his head, and asked, "So what exactly are we doing at those stables?"

[Zerith]

It’s just my luck that once I decided to commit myself to this job I find out about who I’m working with, Zerith thought. Sometimes that was one of the more difficult things, having to force yourself to co-operate with others. Especially when both you and someone else had strong wills. Simply because then all you would ever accomplish would be to bash skulls with your comrade. With luck, Zerith wouldn’t have to be reduced to such a thing.

There wasn’t much to say about some of his future companions. The one man with the axe looked promising, maybe even a slight possibility of some decent conversations. Providing that he did talk of course. Perhaps his hair does the talking for him? Zerith asked himself. He had never seen such a “gift” until now, yet he still couldn’t imagine himself being able to do such a thing. Nor would he ever want to be able to do something like that. Perhaps the man’s focus on what the task ahead of him was his way of coping with it.

Still, that man was much more appealing then the second. Quite frankly, the next one didn’t even seem like a man at all, more like he was still a boy trying to become a hero. Oh my god, Zerith thought as he just realized something. I’m beginning to think this is how Rheawien felt when she first saw me back in Scara Brae. God, did I really look so pathetic? It wasn’t the boy’s fault though. It just seemed like he was trying a bit too hard. Although that may chance later on, when the boy’s true colors would show through.

Then there was their leader, Sarah. She wasted no time in introduicng herself and laying down three rules. They were simple and made logical sense, so Zerith saw no problem in following them. She was attractive though, quite attractive to say the least. So much that for a brief moment Zerith was at a loss for words. Yet it didn’t take long for him to come back to reality while the others were asking what the mission was.

“Clearly you didn’t hear Sarah,” Zerith spoke clearly. “We’re going to be briefed when we get to the stables. So the sooner we get there the sooner you’ll know.”

“Well it’s good to see that someone was listening,” Clement said smiling. “It’s also nice you decided to take my offer.”

“Yeah well I figured I might as well give your Order a chance. We can talk about the reward once we get back,” Zerith answered. With nothing else to keep him there he started walking out of Erebus. “Oh and by the way Sarah, my name is Zerith.

[Lavinian Pride]

Sarah lead the way with Clement in tow as the men seemed to get agitated. Both Banda Utako and the mysterious hair color changing man Oran Tellios were beginning to grate upon her nerves. Asking the question she had explained would be answered elsewhere, when Zerith spoke up, his grizzled voice sharply smacking the boys in a way she had only begun to appreciate with the ensuing silence following his hasty introduction.

Looking at the man she smiled as she nodded, "You heard the man; I said wait until the stables and wait we shall. If you can't figure some way to pass the time I would suggest counting the number of birds you see..."

Clement meanwhile managed to catch his breath fully before he spoke softly to Sarah, "Well now, I think its all taken care of now Sarah. I will be accompanying you as the oversight of your little adventure. Keep yourself in the best of manners once we get there, you are representing our best interests."

"Yes, I know quite well you're here to keep an eye on me so you can look good Clement, just keep it under you hat. Last thing I need is one of the boys getting ideas for themselves." She hissed as she looked sharply at Clement. The low voices quickly cut short as they continued walking.

It was hours before the sounds of horses could be heard echoing through the valley. She looked forward seeing nothing but a sloping path that cut off her sight to the valley below where the horses must be kept. As she reached the crest she stopped seeing horses running around and eating grass. Amongst them were a few people, some herding the horses, others grooming and taking care of them.

Sarah looked out over the valley before she sighed softly, almost wistfully seeing the free spirits before her. Closing her eyes she spoke up, "From here on out you ask permission to breathe, got it gentlemen? If you don't think I'd do it, don't. Our job is to get the breeder of these wonderful stallions, by hook or by crook, and I'll be damned if you mess it up for me."

Clement then cleared his throat as he spoke, "Corone Guards have been posted here, bartering protection for stallions. In short, what you do here also affects our relations with the Kingdom of Corone. I would not suggest picking a fight with these men; all are trained to brutally retaliate against provocation."

"You heard the man, keep it in your pants and you got no problems."

[streak101]

“We’re going to be briefed when we get to the stables. So the sooner we get there the sooner you’ll know.” said Zerith, "You heard the man; I said wait until the stables and wait we shall. If you can't figure some way to pass the time I would suggest counting the number of birds you see..." added Sarah. "Aww...." Banda sighed. So instead of pissing off the two even more, he decided to count.

"1...2...3....4...." Banda counted every bird he saw, and eventually he started to enjoy it. "20! 21! 22! 23!" Banda noticed he was getting too loud, hearing grunts from Clement so he started counting in his head loudly, as if hoping Clement would be the only one having a brutal migrain. 30!! 31!! 32!!.

When Banda started hearing the sounds of horses, he picked up his pace, to catch up with the others. The closer they reached the top of the hill, the closer the valley became. Soon Banda was able to see the horses, and their groomers.

"From here on out you ask permission to breathe, got it gentlemen? If you don't think I'd do it, don't. Our job is to get the breeder of these wonderful stallions, by hook or by crook, and I'll be damned if you mess it up for me." ordered Sarah. More orders? Whatever... Least I'll have some fun before this ends. "Corone Guards have been posted here, bartering protection for stallions. In short, what you do here also affects our relations with the Kingdom of Corone. I would not suggest picking a fight with these men; all are trained to brutally retaliate against provocation." added Clement. Banda won't be able to bust heads this time.

"Well, now that were here - forgive me if it's the wrong time - what exactly is our objective, and what's our first order of business?" Banda's mind switched from his happy-go-lucky attitude to his serious attitude, like when he was in the militia.

[Emblem]

The day was sunny, birds were fluttering all about chirping their happy songs to each other and Oran was enjoying it. Sure, he hadn’t done anything exciting so far but he knew it must be something good. It just had to be.

It was apparent that he was getting no where with the woman, she had backup from the other man and couldn’t be pressured into giving them the information early, curtly informing them they would have to wait and advising on activities. Oran didn’t have much love for birds and so he would find his amusement elsewhere, something destructive. Whenever he was bored he could create stories that he would tell in his head, other times he would just cement details about what he was currently doing so that he could tell vivid stories of his unimaginable and magnificent tales to his village, if there was one thing he loved to be, it was the center of attention. Whenever he went into one of these monotonous motions and got lost in his head he would convert to his smartest form, ancient symbols forming on his head though they often went unnoticed due to his hair.

The seal in which he currently was active was always one of his most fascinating, it interested him greatly to know what others were thinking, it was only a matter of time before he would. Until then he would just have to explore and fortify mind, searching out into the dense brush nearby, searching for minds of things big and small, searching for minds that could be opened.

After many hours Oran felt pretty good about the destruction he’d caused so far, partially controlling common animals for his cruel amusement, birds losing control of a single wing, rabbits charging the fox, butterflies crushed in mid air as though they had landed in some invisible outstretched palm, but he was losing interest. It was just as well as he had no time to play anymore, they had approached the top of the valley path he knew it was time to work. There were horses all abound, grazing, trotting, being groomed, trained, all manner of horsely activity was about.

The woman was once again barking instructions, and although she was pretty Oran still wasn’t going to let her speak down to him like that. Permission to breath? You’ve got to be kidding me… “So if I need to take a leak, I’ve got to ask?” Before she could even answer Clement responded, smacking him across the back of the skull, a statement that was clear to the rest of the group as well.

[Zerith]

The walk was actually not that bad, even with the one man’s counting. “Relax Zerith,” the voice in his head reassured himself, “He’s still young. He’ll take on this mission more seriously in time. Until then, you’ll just have to sit back and make sure he stays out of trouble”. How much trouble could one person get himself or herself into anyways? Perhaps the only thing Zerith had to do was make sure this man didn’t get in the way of Sarah. For if that happened, then the entire group would feel the consequences. Who knew? Perhaps it would even put the mission at risk.

The remaining hours spent walking turned out to be not that bad. Though they were silent, nobody spoke a word and only the only things heard were their footsteps and the sound the wind made as it blew by. Was there something Sarah had against having a good conversation? Zerith didn’t want to be the one to find the answer to that. She was the leader, plain and simple and it was that single fact that made Zerith focus on doing what she asked. The reality was that if he could please her with his performance then that would make him a happy man.

Eventually the sounds of horses reached his ears, however they didn’t come into view until later when he could see them down in the valley below. There were so many with each having it’s own unique markings and personality and various groups of them were doing various tasks. Some were grazing in the field while others were trotting, there were even a few being trained to be something similar to war-horses. Maybe one day Zerith would own a horse of his own. Then that way he would at least have a companion to travel with and fight alongside, even if he weren’t human.

Eventually they stopped and the mission was explained. Sure enough the one man who was counting asked another stupid question shortly afterwards as well, which Zerith quickly answered before they would encounter an upset Sarah. “Basically we’re to convince the breeder of these fine horses to join the Order. I am assuming it is so their talents can be used to the benefits of Clement and others. It doesn’t matter how we get the job done, but there are Corone guards here and we don’t want to risk bad relations between them and the Order. So there is to be no needless conflict.”

“So, now that is cleared up,” Zerith said to Sarah after the other man got smacked in the head by Clement. “Is there any other information about our target? Not to mention are there any possible methods to do this, or are we to come up with a plan here?”

“Yeah, that’s the way to do it. Show that at least one of the men here is focused on the job. Eventually you could become one to be trusted and relied on, and that have an important part in what the Order will think of you.”

[Lavinian Pride]

Clement spoke up as Sarah looked out over the horses, "Miranda Soemaon is our target, she has blonde hair and blue eyes. Her figure is a bit curvier than most women, with the exception of our fearless leader..."

Sarah made a rather rude gesture at Clement which caused him to chuckle a bit before he continued, "Her passion is breeding the horses she cares for. If it involves the horses she's all for it, and that’s the problem, since we'd be trying to get her to start horse breeding, she would have nothing to work with, rather than the stallions she's used to. We also don't have the money to purchase the horses, our orders are to get her, anything else is icing on the proverbial cake."

"Now, we got Coronian guard, that means best behaviors, and yes Oran, if going to the bathroom is going to endanger the mission, you better hold it. I wasn't kidding; we have to be careful, we probably already have been announced to the guard, and so, let’s just continue on with that expected. You guys want to talk keep the chatter off the mission, talk about anything else but Miranda, so we don't attract unwanted attention," Sarah replied.

Her boots kicked up a bit of dust as she moved down into the valley shouldering her pack in a tired fashion. Clement eyeing the change in the Lavinian remained silent but mentally tallied up the stubborn will of the girl, and the rather harsh wall of words she hid behind. It was no wonder she didn't want anyone drinking with her, she might end up getting close to them.

As Sarah continued on she kept up the facade of being tough as she said, "Clement, you said drinks were on you tonight, that still on?"

"Just for you Sarah, I figure I owe you anyways..." Clement said as he grinned, the girl didn't miss a thing, blatant alcoholic at work he thought carefully. He knew her taste in alcohol, bitter and nasty as hell, the kind to clean your insides out and leave you hung over the next day.

Still the sounds of hoof beats from far away could be seen as a group of five men in armor could be seen coming up the road. Sarah sighed as she stopped letting some hair go into her face as she prepared for their arrival. For once, she remained silent, figuring she had ordered them around enough for one day.

[streak101]

"Miranda Soemaon is our target, she has blonde hair and blue eyes. Her figure is a bit curvier than most women, with the exception of our fearless leader. Her passion is breeding the horses she cares for. If it involves the horses she's all for it, and that’s the problem, since we'd be trying to get her to start horse breeding, she would have nothing to work with, rather than the stallions she's used to. We also don't have the money to purchase the horses, our orders are to get her, anything else is icing on the proverbial cake."


Well this is great. I have to look for a really hot chick, and convince her to come with me. Isn't today the weirdest of my life? Banda thought, not wanting to speak scared that Sarah would scare the crap out of him. Ah well, Banda in the end, you and everyone else in the group, will be heroes, or something.


"Now, we got Coronian guard, that means best behaviors, and yes Oran, if going to the bathroom is going to endanger the mission, you better hold it. I wasn't kidding; we have to be careful, we probably already have been announced to the guard, and so, let’s just continue on with that expected. You guys want to talk keep the chatter off the mission, talk about anything else but Miranda, so we don't attract unwanted attention," Sarah explained. Banda ran those words through his head, over and over until he had words written on his skull to remind him. The last time he forgot the rules, he was half-dead.


Banda then saw 5 people, they were dressed in clothing of the guard, so it must've been the same ones Sarah was talking about. Banda then tried to look as cleaned up, as any adventuring mercenary, but he still looked washed-up as always, and with the fact that his uncombed hair never came down, he was even more washed-up.

[Emblem]

The two of them just kept going on, it irritated him how they talked as though they were speaking to children, like everything needed to be laid out for them explicitly. Finally Clement told them what they were doing there, how they had come to collect. They were there to get a woman, a specialized horse breeder, why they wanted to get her wasn’t something he knew or cared to know.

The Corone guard? Why are they even down here? The plan was that they would just slip past guard, common folk traveling together, avoiding any special attention from the guard. This was something that didn’t go well with Oran, he wasn’t content to sit in the back as part of the crowd. No, he needed to be seen, heard, he wanted his presence to be acknowledged.

Spotting the Corone guard approaching them, it was all he could do to restrain his tongue. The urge to call out to them, probably insult them, was incredibly strong, authority never liked to be questioned and Oran had questions for no one else. As a child it had been among his favorite past times, taunting the officers or throwing mud at them, anything that would get them mad enough to chase him. Even if he couldn’t voice his opinion of them, he would still have his fun.

Hair a fluorescent shade of green, Oran had some built up anger and cruelty he was going to out today. A little bit of mental strain, a sharp tug on the horse’s bridle and one soldier was dismounting his horse in a most ungainly way. Landing on the ground head first with a deep grunt, he would be the laughing stock of the post for the next week. To make it worse, Oran felt the need to rub salt in the wound. “Look at that, probably a rookie. I guess all the washouts get posted up here, heh.” It was obviously meant for their little group but loud enough all the guards could here them, made all the worse as he muttered to himself about children riding horses and some undisguised comparisons.

Feeling satisfied that he’d at least brought one of them down off their high and might pedestal, Oran even allowed himself to smile. It’d been a while since he’d smiled. He used to smile all the time, laugh and joke with friends. He’d become detached from people recently, traveling all over and never seeing the same person twice, it wasn’t something he was fond of.

His current companions didn’t make him feel that good either, they were too serious and too overbearing. They weren’t necessarily unfriendly, with the blatant exception of Sarah, but they just weren’t his kind of people. Maybe it was the age difference, except for the short man, he seemed too young for even Oran.

As they walked across the fields towards the facilities, Oran became lost in his own head, pondering the ideas of age and solitude and change, his eyes stared blankly ahead of him at the dusty road and the grassy pastures.

[Zerith]

“Well aren’t you quick to throw insults,” Zerith spoke up as he approached the guard that “fell” off his horse. “It probably because you’re just jealous,” he continued as he eyes went back to look at Oran. “Jealous of the simple fact that this man can ride a horse and you can’t. It must really piss you off to see that he can actually get somewhere on horseback, even if it doesn’t take that much skill or brains.”

As he gave the guard a warm smile, the young fighter helped the man to his feet. “Don’t let him get to you, otherwise he’ll win. At least you’re able to ride a horse while the rest of us are stuck walking everywhere. Just don’t let this fall stop you from riding, it might just cost you losing something you enjoy”. With those words Zerith helped the guard back onto the saddle and back on his way. He’d wait until they were gone before speaking to the idiot that nearly ruined everything.

What the hell was he thinking anyways? Did he expect that the guards would have a good laugh and carry on with their day? Fine, well if Oran could have his way then Zerith could have his. This would currently mean gutting Oran like a fish and planting his corpse on a post here for everyone to see. It’d be a good warning to everyone who saw it, “don’t be stupid” would ring loud and clear. Nobody here would miss him, at least that’s what Zerith thought.

Actually now that he thought of it, why the hell should he bother to punish the bastard? Sarah would do a much better job then he would ever do. Then if ever Oran found himself in a pinch, Zerith wouldn’t be there to save him. No, instead the halberdier would completely forget about him and wouldn’t give a damn if Oran lived or died. That would teach the asshole not to fuck with the mission.

Although come to think of it, Oran was doing him a favor. By pissing off Sarah, Oran was giving Zerith the perfect opportunity to impress them with his dedication and hard work. Impressing Clement meant impressing the Order, which would hopefully give him a good reward for this. Impressing Sarah was something completely different, if it was even possible.

[Lavinian Pride]

Sarah was a girl first and foremost. The drastic difference lost on most. The first sign you were pissing a girl off was not the slap, nor was it the angry voice, it was the silence. The insufferable silence that often followed the enraging event and that drove the victim wild. It would linger in the air, letting the victim of its wrath know full well what they had done, was no where near what should have been done. It was this silence, which could easily be attributed to the mockery of the Coronian Guard.

So when the soldier was mocked for falling out of his saddle, and the hair change to green seemed to accompany the mocking, she knew who was in trouble. She couldn't pin the falling out of the saddle on him, no, she had no way of proving it. But she could blame the indecent act on him, and oh was she going to. However, first and foremost was the fact that Zerith, had somehow managed to salvage the situation miraculously. The guard, helped to his feet, looked sheepishly at the group as the other guards inspected them. Finally one pointed at Sarah's daggers before she sighed, knowing full well what was coming.

"Well now, trash here? I suppose they let anything walk the roads," The guard began. It was well known Lavinians and Coronians weren't too fond of each other. What for, the reason was never fully given, but it was quite clear that Lavinya and Corone weren't on the best of terms.

So Sarah's retort, while curt was quite expected when it fired out, much to Clement's dismay, "Well, when I see competent guards, I'll be sure to tell them to clean it up. Apparently there’s five boys masquerading as guards around here..."

Clement now, had to pull in the reins on two people, one directly assaulted, the other directly assaulting. It was two far different scenarios as Sarah was showing teeth, while Oran seemed to be proving he had some. Still he placed a warning hand on Sarah's shoulder before one of the guards looked at the half-troll. Clement avoided looking at the man as Sarah shrugged the hand off, but seemed to relax a bit, obviously settling her ruffled feathers.

"Clement? My god, the trash just keeps coming! I never expected to see your sorry hide here!" The lead guard said.

"Well Bryce, tell you what, unless its a crime to walk the roads, best to stop harassing the passerby, wouldn't want the ranch owner to get upset that you were harassing potential customers..." Clement returned calm and coolly. While he could see the cogs working in his former comrade's head, Bryce wasn't keen on starting something.

Sarah then continued down the path before one of the Guards called out after her, "Watch your back Lavinian, step out of line, and you will be punished...This isn't Lavinya, where you thieves do as you please..."

Sarah stopped and for a moment Clement feared she herself would endanger the mission before she replied, in a sweet and sarcastic voice, "Oh don't worry Mr. Guard, I will be on my bestest behavior..." She then continued to move forward a look of pure disgust on her face.

[streak101]

((First post I ever typed on word...enjoy.)

Everything happened fast. As the guards came up to the five people who just looked like travelers, Banda noticed Oran's hair changed to a light green. What's he thinking of doing? Oh god no.... Banda thought disappointed. If the green hair meant evil thoughts, the five of them were in a heap of trouble. Banda tried to look as unaware as possible, pretending not to have an idea of what was about to happen.

As the guards came up the road, riding their horses, it appeared as though one of the guards fell from his horse and landed face first on the ground. Banda would have slapped Oran right then and there if not for the guards staring them in the face. As if he couldn’t have caused more trouble, Oran then gave a sharp remark, about the man’s position in the guard.

Zerith saved everyone’s ass when he told Oran off, “Well aren’t you quick to throw insults. It’s probably just because you’re just jealous, jealous of the simple fact that this man can ride a horse and you can’t. It must really piss you off to see that he can actually get somewhere on horseback, even if it doesn’t take that much skill or brains.”

Zerith helped the man up back on the horse with a gentle smile, and then the guards decided to have revenge on the group, by smack talking Sarah about her country. Banda knew this angered her because, he used to get his sister angry all the time. When the woman didn’t speak you offended her the most you possibly could, without harming her. She’s pissed.... Banda thought.

Expecting an outburst, and a showdown Banda stepped away from between the guard, and Sarah. Clement managed to calm her down, before something happened. The guard then noticed Clement, and decided to try and piss him off. "Clement? My god, the trash just keeps coming! I never expected to see your sorry hide here!" Clement seemed to be calm, and replied, "Well Bryce, tell you what, unless its a crime to walk the roads, best to stop harassing the passerby, wouldn't want the ranch owner to get upset that you were harassing potential customers..." This shut the guard up. As the group walked down the road once again the guard shouted something, about Lavinya, and Sarah this time replied sarcastically, “Oh don’t worry Mr.Guard, I’ll be on my bestest behavior.”

Banda walked down the road, and heard one of the guards mumble near him, “This one looks like a dumbass.” Banda swung his arm around at the guard, and stopped as he was about to hit him, causing the guard to flinch. “Actually sir. I’m more of a jackass.”

[Emblem]

It shouldn’t have surprised him, but it did. Sarah’s tongue was sharper than he’d thought, she wasn’t just callous but also spiteful in ways only women can be. Falling in stride behind her as she stalked away from the guards with a truly horrible look on her face, Oran couldn’t keep the mischievous smirk from his face.

Zerith hadn’t liked what he’d done apparently; he even helped the guard off the ground. It didn’t matter though; every group had its stick in the mud, the one that couldn’t flow with the group, the one that had to do everything and stuck to a rigid moral code. That was the impression that Oran had of him anyway. Not even Clement had held back that much, the guards were making enemies rather quickly.

Of course, it wasn’t like they could just outright attack the armed guards and risk being outlaws in all of Corone, but everyone would still get their licks in before they moved on. The young man Banda even took a chance, almost attacking the guard. Sure, they may have gotten by the patrol without too much of an incident, but they were all definitely suspected now. Knowing the Corone guards, Oran wouldn’t put it past them to accuse them for anything that happened or even create something to frame them for.

He hadn’t really been paying much attention to where they were going but instead just trying to keep pace with their leader, but he eventually realized where they were going. They seemed to be making a bee line for a large open barn with several cow hands attending to the stable’s various animals, but what caught his eye was the woman fussing over a giant black stallion with her various tools.

It had to be, this was Miranda. She was certainly pretty, and not just by Oran’s standards. Normally he would have tried to win her over with his natural charm, his tales of glory and greatness, only resorting to threats as an absolute last resort. But this wasn’t a normal situation, and it wasn’t his responsibility which was even better. He could just let someone else try to deal with her or at least set up negotiations, someone such as Sarah or Clement. If all else failed they could kidnap her, Zerith would probably have a fit about something so underhanded. Oran had no such qualms nor did he suspect Sarah of them.

They would do what needed to be done, and what Zerith didn’t know couldn’t hurt him.

[Zerith]

Considering it was the first time Zerith helped a Corone solider, the reaction he received would make him seriously think about doing it again. The bastards, all Zerith did was help one of them to his feet. Then from atop there “thrones” they mocked his comrades about whatever they could think of. “Well that’s not the exactly type of thank you I was expecting.”

“Get your hands off of me!” the guard Zerith had just helped up shouted. “God, are you always so friendly to people? Or do you find Corone guards so attractive that you can’t keep your hands of them? Is that it, you queer!”

“Alright that’s it.”

With a quick twist and pull, Zerith easily flipped the guard flat onto his back. Yet before the jackass could get up Zerith’s boot was already placed on the mans chest. Just in case that’s wasn’t uncomfortable enough, the young mercenary held out his halberd with one hand. Causing the soldier to go silent and stare at the shiny, titanium spear tip that was mere inches from his throat. A little too close for comfort perhaps?

“Let’s get one thing straight alright?” Zerith spoke coldly. “The only type of people I would ever take to bed are strong women. Unlike that bitch of a mother that brought you into this world. Speak to me like that again and your friends here will get to see your rotting carcass on a wooden pole everyday when they pass by here, understand?” He moved the tip closer to emphasize the point. Just in case that for some reason the solider was more stupid then they thought Banda was.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Bryce questioned. “Perhaps you and your friends wouldn’t mind coming with us n-“

“If that’s the case then I’d start planning what I’d be saying to this man’s family, if I were you,” Zerith countered. “As I’m sure it’s always tough to tell a family that a loved one has died.”

“You wouldn’t dare.”

“Oh I have no problem with it. Although it’s much easier to do what Clement said and make a complaint to the ranch owner. Yet if you back of now and leave us alone from now on I might just not bother to do either one.” The halberdier replied.

After a few seconds of staring at each other Bryce finally succumbed, “Alright, let’s go guys. There’s no point wasting our time here any longer.”

With that out of the way and the guards gone, the group began to move on again with Sarah leading. Would she be furious at Zerith for threatening a soldier? Most likely. Hopefully the mission would take up too much of her time for her to lash out at him. “So much for staying under the radar,” he told himself as they walked.

When they finally got there he saw her, Miranda. A pretty thing he would have to admit. Watching her fuss over the stallion she was attending was interesting to the point that he was absorbed in it. How much work did it take to care for a horse, or how hard was it to ride and own one? As they continued to walk and as he continued to watch, Zerith’s fell upon the form of the stallion and he suddenly made a decision.

“I want one.”

[Lavinian Pride]

The target was to say the least beautiful. Sarah was even a bit taken aback by her beauty as Clement nudged Sarah trying to knock her out of her staring. She knew that the girl was definitely the right type for her, but that wasn't the important part. For now she had to focus on the mission, business before pleasure. Still she kept her reserve as she said simply, "Nice horses..."

She then turned to the group, talking a bit franker, "We're obviously not liked here as of meeting Bryce and the boys. Clement I don't want to know what you had to endure because of Bryce, but I will say this guys, we gotta at least tread the line on the safe side. Defend when provoked, but otherwise, do not look for fights. For right now we hit the stables, we've seen a few of the workers, lets just rest for now and get something to eat. In the meantime we can talk about our options. Oran, just promise me not to pick a fight with the guards."

Moving towards the tavern that served as an inn for guests Sarah sighed as she pushed open the door. Eyes upon eyes seemed to greet her as she ignored it moving to the center of a room where the empty table lay. Dropping her pack confidently she sighed as she sat down in a chair as pulled the tie out of her hair, letting her hair fall loosely around her shoulders as she muttered, "Well now its time to relax for now at least..."

Clement meanwhile looked about the tavern before he sighed and leaned down by Sarah's ear, "You do plan on continuing the mission right?"

"What do you take me for? Of course, but to go right for business would merely force our hand, lets see if we can't get something figured out over dinner tonight...You're paying right?"

Clement frowned for the first time since Sarah knew the man before he sighed and said, "Of course..."

[streak101]

The events that had happened were amusing at the least. Once the guards had pissed Zerith off, all hell broke loose. Zerith knocked the guard down again, this time holding him down, and showing the guard his halberd. Oooo, shiny!, Banda thought. Great weapons that gleamed in the sun attracted him ever since he was a boy. He continued to stare at the halberd until Zerith put it away.

Everyone was able to jump into the fray of insults, and intimidation. In the end, the guards left scared that their horses would be lost, or that their fellow guard’s family would be very sad to hear about their dead father. The group won, and the guards were probably on their way to report them to their commanding officer. They’ll be back, Banda thought, acknowledging the beauty around them.

Once Banda got a better look at Miranda, the woman he would have to convince, he saw that she was beautiful. “Do you guys s-” Banda stopped because everyone was looking at her in awe of her beauty. Eh? They can’t all be oogling at her! Banda thought. "We're obviously not liked here as of meeting Bryce and the boys. Clement I don't want to know what you had to endure because of Bryce, but I will say this guys, we gotta at least tread the line on the safe side. Defend when provoked, but otherwise, do not look for fights. For right now we hit the stables, we've seen a few of the workers, lets just rest for now and get something to eat. In the meantime we can talk about our options. Oran, just promise me not to pick a fight with the guards."

Banda snickered at the comment Sarah had made. Hopefully Oran didn’t notice it. They made their way to a tavern, Oh good, I could use a drink after what just happened, and maybe a bed...But then again, those guards could come at any minute to arrest us. The best thing to do would to focus on the mission! Bah, I’ll tell them later...I can barely stand anyway. Banda pulled a chair from one of the tables and napped.

[Emblem]

Much to his confusion, Sarah was walking away from the stable, away from their target. It seemed counterintuitive to him, but he wasn’t going to break the flow. So, just like they had for hour and hours he walked along behind her and followed her into the tavern.

It was pretty standard as taverns went; a fireplace, a long wooden bar, and a few tables spread about. It wasn’t particularly clean, but it definitely wasn’t one of the grimy bars that were never allowed inside town either. Watching Sarah as she took her seat, he was contemplating whether or not to sit at the same table when he overheard her answer to Clement.

Well, if he’s paying…

Oran took his seat at the bar and eagerly addressed the barkeep. “So what’s on the menu?”

The barkeep was a middle aged man; slight beer gut, balding with a bad comb over, and beady brown eyes. “Well, we got ale and food.”

“I’ll take the food. All of it.” Oran was starving today. It felt like days since he’d eaten, and since the tab wasn’t on him, it didn’t matter if his eyes were bigger than his stomach. Looking around as the man went into the back kitchen, Oran could see the others loitering around, Banda was taking a snooze and Sarah was getting comfortable.

He could smell it before he could see it, the food was ready. It had taken a surprisingly small amount of time for the man to prepare a gigantic plate of food. Oran’s lack of manners or etiquette should have been embarrassing to anyone traveling with him, in his excitement such things often went forgotten. He grabbed anything he could with his hands and stuffed his face, devouring the spiced potatoes, the grilled pork, he made several attempts to eat the mashed potatoes without utensils as well.

By the time he was through, his plate was almost empty, save a good deal of crumbs, and he felt like he needed to unbuckle his pants. Moving the plate to the side, Oran let himself fall asleep on the bar. They seemed to be waiting or resting, so when they went to continue of them would surely wake him up. If they didn’t, well, Oran wasn’t awake long enough to contemplate that.

[Zerith]

“Oh don’t worry about Oran,” Zerith thought. “Cause if Bryce and his boys try to fuck with us again. I’ll most likely be the one to pick a fight.”

Zerith was in a bad mood ever since Bryce and his men left. The bastard needed to get his ass kicked, and after they decided to take a shot at Zerith after he helped them, the halberdier was considering it. Even if Bryce suddenly went missing, Zerith wouldn’t care. Hell, he’d probably only want to find the guy that did it so he could shake his hand. Although right now the guard wasn’t important, he wasn’t worth any of the mercenary’s time. So in the meantime Zerith tried to look forward to other things. Such as sitting down at the tavern and relaxing.

The tavern itself was smaller that the ones Zerith had seen before. Perhaps it was because this wasn’t in a town, only by a group of stables instead. It was a nice size when you thought about the small amount of guests it’d receive. What kind of people would come here anyways? Sure there would be possible buyers and the employee’s would probably come here for a drink after work, but who else would really come here? Not many people most likely, the owner of the tavern would probably think today was his lucky day. Simply because of the four that just arrived would probably be enough people to fill all the rooms upstairs.

The atmosphere was nice, the tables were all in good condition and some of them looked like they were just built. The walls were covered in pictures, images of various horses alongside trainers, owners, and riders. Were all the animals bred at these stables? Most likely, otherwise why would they hang their pictures here in the first place? On one wall a horseshoe was on display, another had a bit and bridle. The fireplace had and nice sized fire burning lively in it, the cracking sounds from it drowned out from all the commotion. The bar looked new as well, like they made it large or just finished from adding something to it. All in all, the tavern was nice and there was no doubt that it wouldn’t be going anywhere anytime soon.

The young fighter calmly walked to a table near the fire and pulled out a chair. He then leaned Amenzanil against the table a took a seat. Then as he put his feet up onto the wooden surface Clement called out to him from where he stood. “I figured I’d tell you the same thing as I told the others. I’m paying.”

“I don’t need your courtesy,” Zerith quickly shot back. “I’m not a beggar Clement. I can pay for my own meals and drinks.”

“That’s for sure,” he told himself. “I don’t need to have something which I’ll feel the need to repay.”

[Lavinian Pride]

Sitting at the table Sarah sighed as she took in everything. Ordering a Lavinian Ale from the waitress along with the house special she waited for Zerith to take his place at the table before she spoke her voice soft, yet not losing the edge it had shown against the guards earlier, "It seems to me, we are going to have a problem with the guard whether we like it or not."

She stopped letting the words sink in before she looked up at Clement, "As for the girl, we'll deal with her once we have a better grasp of the situation, now you said she wasn't willing to come right?"

Clement nodded as he said, "She said she wouldn't want to join us, that we were just not the type of outfit she wanted..."

Sarah sighed as the food and ale came. Setting them down on the table Sarah grabbed her drink and sipped thoughtfully. She then looked up at Oran, "Oran..." He was sleeping at the bar before she snapped out, "ORAN! Now, I don't know what you did to the guards, but I can only imagine that’s not the extent of your powers, what you can do to people? Would you be able to force her to think we’re the “type of outfit” she wants?" The question while frank was innocent of the former anger she had sent towards the boy.

Giving him a bit of time to ponder his answer she considered the next option. The guard were not going to give up the breeder without a fight and so she spoke again, "The next question is, who here is squeamish about killing? Because I do not want those pigs to live after what they did and frankly I doubt you guys would either...I won't explain why, but I feel at least one or two of you agree with me...Clement?"

"Bryce was an ass, but I don't think he deserves to die-"

"Bryce also, might I point out, knows who we are by association with you. If we are to make this work, anonymity is key and he's an, unfortunate casualty," She said with a sarcastic undertone to the mention of unfortunate casualties.

Clement sighed before he said, "You’re the boss, and it’s your mission."

"Damn straight," She responded. She then looked at each of them in turn before she said, "Before we do anything truly illegal, this is your last chance to back out. From here we're going to be dealing in murder and potentially kidnapping. Both of which are rather tough charges, so if you can't take the heat, walk back to Erebus and I'm sure they'll supply you with enough diapers for the trip home..."

She knew that she would not get anyone to leave after such a callous remark. It was her way of seducing them to the thought of killing them. Zerith seemed on edge about the whole thing, and she knew he would be dying for a few good hits on the guards. Oran was unreadable as usual but she knew he wanted to cause some havoc. It was Banda who seemed to be the unknown factor. If he truly was as prideful as he showed back in Erebus, she knew his answer.

After all, who could blame a person for killing a bully like Bryce?

[Zerith]

"Before we do anything truly illegal, this is your last chance to back out. From here we're going to be dealing in murder and potentially kidnapping. Both of which are rather tough charges, so if you can't take the heat, walk back to Erebus and I'm sure they'll supply you with enough diapers for the trip home..."

Zerith sighed, “I don’t see a point in backing out now Sarah. Personally I don’t intend on the trip here to be a waste of my time”. It was perfectly understandable, the walk took hours and there was no way he’d waste the same amount of time by walking back empty handed. If he did walk out now, he could already pictures the smug faces on Bryce and his men.

Bryce, he alone was another reason why Zerith wanted to stay. The bastard has managed to land a few hits on the group, so it was only fair that Zerith should be allowed to deal a few hits to the guard. It would be even better if Bryce fought back or opened his big mouth again. If that happened, then Zerith was more than willing to kill the asshole. The only difficult part would be making it look like an accident. Killing a man was one thing, but killing the same person and endangering the mission was something else.

“To answer your question, Sarah,” Zerith said, “I have no problem with killing. My only question is how are we going to do this? I mean are some of the guards going to die “accidentally” and then we kidnap Miranda during the confusion all by the end of tomorrow? If that’s the case it’s going to be a little tough to pull off, but you can count me in.”

Zerith really felt like it was going to be a real pain in the ass to so something like what he just suggested. But with Bryce in the picture, it was probably a good idea to take him out and get the job done as soon as possible. Then the four of them could take Miranda and disappear, back to Erebus where they could finally relax. Miranda would probably hate it at first, but she could eventually take a liking to her new workplace. Especially when she saw that the horses she trained were being ridden by more competent soldiers than those pathetic guards.

“So exactly what did you have in mind Sarah?” Zerith asked. The concept of getting even with Bryce was becoming more and more appealing to him.

[streak101]

"ORAN!" Banda woke up half-way when he heard Sarah snap at Oran. The gentle bubble in his dreams, going back and forth popped, and produced a screech in Banda's mind so loud it took him out of his heavy sleep, and Banda was a heavy sleeper even on normal conditions. Mimph....Ugh, my head...

Sarah was screaming at Oran about his powers. She sounded as if chastising him like a mother chastisises her child, for what he did to the guard, and then asking him in a hot-tempered way, if he could do anything else, Banda suspected supposedly she was asking something about mind control or persuasion.

Banda had been able to hear clearly what she was speaking of after a few minutes of grogging, and stretching, though to everyone he still seemed to be asleep, and out like a light. Banda clearly heard Sarah speak about who would decide to go back, and if they pressed on murder, and kidnapping would be involved.

Great! A chance to get back at the guards! Sometimes I love being a mercenary. You don't mind killing. Except who needs to kidnap? Whatever happened to seducing persuasion? Sarah asked Oran, and Zerith whether they were with her, or not. She knew Banda's answer well enough.

By the time Banda was able to do speak, and stand up, they were already on terms of how to kill Bryce, and his men. Banda entered the conversation saying,

"Well, chances are Bryce is coming with more of his precious guards to arrest us, or possibly kill us right now. So I suggest having a distraction, and then use a main attack force to wipe em' out before any of them can report back. As for kidnapping Miranda, why not try to convince her, or get one of us to seduce her into following us there? I'm pretty sure most of us are attracted to her. So maybe we can each give it a shot."

[Emblem]

Sarah managed to wake Oran with quite a start, basically shouting at him. Normally he was a pretty deep sleeper and would try to fend off anyone trying to wake him, but he could feel the tension in her voice and knew it wasn’t the time or place. It helped that he may have had a slight fear of her cold callous demeanor, but he felt braver just it was his keen perception of tone.

An inquiry into his power? It felt like it was about time someone took interest in him, but the attention was short-lived. Of course, she wants him to do even more beyond his natural talents, nothing made you feel more mediocre than being overestimated by people.

“Well…I can’t force her to think something, but I could try to give her a push in the right direction. It’d be a lot of work though. Couldn’t we just…ya know…escort her?”

And then Sarah began openly discussing murder. Oran wasn’t a veteran at this kind of thing, but he certainly thought conspiring to kill was best kept quiet, well short of the hearing range of the tavern staff. Sarah seemed to have no such cares and so the job fell onto Oran, he needed some unsuspicious way of either quieting the group or deafening the bystanders. As the latter seemed easiest, Oran broadcast incredibly loud and horrendous bangs and metallic clinking from the general kitchen direction causing the workers to run into the backroom to investigate. It was fortunate that he’d recently refined his technique to allow for directional sound, Oran rather enjoyed toying with people.

“Well, I don’t have any qualms with people dying. Making it look like an accident could be difficult depending on how accidental you want it to be. Someone suddenly suffocating cause they couldn’t swallow some food would be perfectly coincidental, but if it happened to more than one person relatively close together…On the other hand forest fires often claim many lives, but forest fires don’t just happen either.”

While leaving them with that to absorb, Oran used as much self control as he could to respond to Banda. “Yea…You can try that if you want. You and Clement are such stallions you should probably try first, if you can’t do it the rest of us don’t stand a chance…”

[Lavinian Pride]

She listened to the various opinions coming into her, some laughable others quite serious. As she listened to the reports she sighed before she said, "As much as I hate to say it Oran is correct. We can't seduce her that much. It’s a different matter, you want one of us to get into her pants, it’s only a night, you want to get them to join us, that’s a different matter. Its easier to prey on emotions and hormones than make them defy their own logic..."

"As for the deaths, I am talking straight up without it looking like an accident. I'm talking the full blown act. Assassination isn't my thing, and frankly I'd rather be known for eliminating witnesses than wet work," She replied stiffly as she began to pull her hair back and tying it once more. She sighed as she looked at each of her charges before she spoke, "I plan on taking them in the night, and getting Miranda as well. So the question then becomes this...who wants to do what?"

She looked at Zerith and Oran then at Banda and Clement before she spoke, "If you're all going to stay here, then I need volunteers, I'd say no more than two after our Honored Guest and the rest after our favorite men..." She said as she started to speak a bit less blunt.

She then turned to Banda who had spoken up, "Since you seem so keen on the guards you're probably going to be with Zerith since He spoke up about wanting to bushwhack the guards. So that leaves Clement and Oran making their choices..."

She then looked at Clement who spoke up, "I would prefer not to use force or do anything, so consider me a devil's advocate. If no one goes with you, then I will otherwise I'll just be a watch out for the other two. I don't want my hands dirty and I sure as hell am not going to force the girl to do anything..."

"Neutral to a fault," Sarah said dryly. She then looked at Oran as she said, "With me or the boys, take your pick, but do it fast, we have until nightfall to cement our plans into action..."

[Emblem]

Wish I could do nothing.

Clement somehow managed to get by unscathed while choosing the absolute least helpful and wondrously lazy option. It managed to arouse a rare jealously that Oran rarely let himself feel, but seeing someone else get to do nothing while he wasn’t also doing nothing was something that he just couldn’t stand.

The choice presented to him was a tough one. On one hand he would be killing the guards and it offered the least mental strain as he didn’t need to maintain any kind of circumstance or hidden intent, but was also physically draining. Kidnapping the girl could be difficult, depending on how they went about it. If they went in and captured her it had the potential to be just as physical as the guards, if they tried to kidnap her and smuggle her out unnoticed than that could be frustrating and time consuming.

“Well… It depends on how we’re going to go about each one, but I’m cool going where I’m needed. We can’t all strike at the guards and leave the do-nothing to not get the girl. It’s really up to you.”

The idea that she would be joining them seemed to stick oddly in the back of his brain. Something about her joining them, but them having to force her to come seemed counter-intuitive. “By-the-by, just what is your plan for getting her to come with us? How much room for…persuasion…is there? Since we’re making plans and all, thought it was a pretty important deciding factor.”

Glancing around and giving his companions a much more thorough look over, noticing for the first time just how well armed they were. Zerith was wielding a massive spear like weapon, Banda and clement had nothing so large but appeared just as well armed, and there was no doubt that Sarah had weapons on her, somewhere. Sure, they would be able to handle the guards easily, but as a whole they didn’t appear equipped for kidnapping.

“Say, none of you happens to have an opiate on you by chance?” It was uncharacteristically crafty for him and he couldn’t quite keep the smudge of arrogance that comes with a genius idea from appearing in his voice. It may not have been genius level in complication, but recently he’d been on a rush of sly thoughts and was quite smug with himself for it. Oran, you’re brilliant! Dope her up and it’ll be like kidnapping a sack of potatoes. Genius.

[streak101]

“Say, none of you happens to have an opiate on you by chance?” Oran had said. "Opiate!? I know seducing her sounded strange, but I just don't want to force her to do anything! Even less drug her! Can we at least try to persuade her without having to use force? I mean everyone wins even if we try right? If not I want no part in the kidnapping, leave the guards to me, and Zerith. Besides I want revenge on the fat ass that insulted me."

Banda then looked at Zerith, at first he thought Zerith was someone who got angry pretty fast, then he knew he was right, but there was something about the group Banda hadn't noticed before. They were all ready for anything during this mission. Zerith had his shiny halberd, Oran didn't need to be ready, all he had to do was sit back, and use those powers of his to blast anyone that steps near him. No one would even think of attacking Sarah without a lot of hesitation, and Clement was as he said, not going to step in.

"I'm ready to kick guard ass just give me the word, and I'll wait for them wherever we decide to wait, or if we charge them that's fine too, I just want the asshat to die by my hand, but what the most important thing is, is not to kill with witnesses around they'll report it too the guards, and then were screwed over."

Banda imagined the scenario of him being beaten down by fat smelly guys with clubs, and didn't like it at all. He shuddered and said, " Now that I think about it charging them before they get to town would be good, because I don't want to harm the innocent people. Another thing is what are going to do after we deal with the guards?"

[Zerith]

“An Opiate?” Zerith said to himself, “What the hell is an opiate?”

Although he didn’t want to admit it, the halberdier had never heard of such a word. More importantly, he didn’t want to admit it either. There would let the others enjoy laughing as his circumstance, in case they thought everything knew what “opiate” meant. “Maybe if I just wait, someone will blurt out something that I could use as a definition”. It probably wouldn’t work, but it was at least worth a shot.

Luckily, Banda dropped a hint by saying something about drugging the target. Was it that simple, was “opiate” just a fancy word for a drug? “I’m such an idiot,” Zerith told himself, “How could I have not known what that meant?”

“I like the sound of that Oran,” the mercenary said as if he knew what an opiate was the entire time. “By drugging her, the trip to Erebus would be a lot easier for all of us. We could always persuade her to join the GO when we get there anyways.”

“So if we can do that,” he continued, “the only real problem would be the guards. As long as we can get them away from the stables, then we can do our thing and be rid of them. Then with Miranda drugged, we’d just have to steal a couple of horses and disappear during the night. Nobody would really know we were here, the only real witnesses could be thrown in some ditch one the way back for all I care. All we have to do is piss Bryce and his boys off and lure him off to some random place. They’d never see what was coming.”

Normally, Zerith wouldn’t be so eager to kill someone. Except this time things were different. All the halberdier did was give a kind gesture and helped one of them up, as his reward was to have both him and his companions insulted. Besides, Zerith could see Sarah’s point. They were becoming a threat to them, so it would be best if those guards disappeared.

Who would miss those guards in the first place? In Zerith’s opinion, the stables would be better off without them.

[Lavinian Pride]

Sarah sighed as she rubbed her temple, her drink and food finally showing up. A lot was relying on her orders now and she had to give them soon. Time was one resource that would not be saved no matter the cost. Finally she spoke, her tone almost betraying the fatigue on her, but still showing the strength of will that had characterized her the entire time.

"Oran, you're with me. Zerith and Banda, you guys have the fortune of taking care of our unwanted witnesses. They might still be on patrol, they might be off somewhere, the point is simple. If we don't leave them six feet under by the end of the day, we're going to be in deep shit," She then looked at Clement as she saw he was hiding something. It wasn't the fact he was fidgeting or even acting like he wanted to say something. It was the fact he refused to look her in the eyes.

"I don't think we have anything of which to drug her, so we may have to get her another way, I the meantime, me and Oran will figure out what to do, and Clement is with me. I figure he wants noting to do with his former colleagues death, and I'm fine with that. I'll baby-sit him myself. You guys have your objectives, meet us at the crest of the hill on the way out and leave if the moon reaches midnight. One way or another someone has to tell them what happened," She ordered stiffly as she looked at Oran.

Her gaze lingered on him, at first they had butted heads repeatedly, to the point it was more frustrating than not. However somehow, he had grown to become almost like a kid brother to her. Someone she would not only tolerate, but willing do so. She gave him a genuine smile before she looked down inside her pack rummaging around. She sighed as she began to slide on her arm sleeves and gloves as Clement raised an eyebrow. She ignored it for awhile trying to force him to say what was on his mind, much to his irritation. Continuing she pulled on fingerless gloves as he finally asked, "I thought you said you wouldn't need to rough her up..."

Sarah's reply was curt, "Well if no one has the ability to drug her, we may have to. A potion or something would be appreciated, but I know that not all things are possible."

Clement to his benefit gave no outward sign of discomfort but his silence was enough to damn him in her eyes. As she pulled on her bracers she sighed as she looked at Oran and the others, "We got our jobs, get them done, finish them as specified and I have no doubt we would be welcomed into the Grander's Order." With that she gave a gesture of dismissal to the two sent after the guards before she said, "Oran you're with me. We'll wait a bit to finish my dinner, and after we're done, we'll mosey on over to the stables."

[Zerith]

“You guys have your objectives, meet us at the crest of the hill on the way out and leave if the moon reaches midnight. One way or another someone has to tell them what happened," Sarah ordered.

With that simple sentence, everyone was dismissed to do whatever their task was. Sure, Sarah was still talking but that didn’t really matter. She had already given the objectives so while she talked to Clement, Zerith made sure everything was ready. First he pulled out his longsword, Trithdursil. The dehlar blade seemed in good condition, there was no need to sharpen it or anything. His hand gently passed over the engraving on the blade, it wasn’t anything special, just the name of the sword.

As he sheathed the sword and examined his serrated dagger and spike bracers, Zerith spoke up, “So if you’re not at the crest of the hill by midnight, we leave without you. Seems simple enough,” he commented. When he was satisfied with the state his equipment was in he rose from his table and looked at Sarah and Oran, “Well then I’m going to get started. By the time Banda and I see you two again, we won’t have to worry about Bryce and those other guards. In fact, I’m willing to bet I’ll be done with them before you two even meet up with the target.”

“Although I know there’s nothing to worry about when it comes to my job,” he said as he picked him his weapon of choice, his halberd. “I’m still a little unsure about yours. So do me a favor and don’t get in yourselves in trouble, cause Banda and I won’t be there to save your asses from whatever shit you get into. I doubt that Bryce and his men are the only guards here.”

The halberdier stopped for a moment to down the rest of the only drink he ordered and place the empty mug on the table before he headed to the door. “Let’s get to work Banda, I have an idea on what we can do to get our prey right where we want them”. He stopped when he reached the door and spun around to face his companion. “Providing you can be the jackass you claimed you could be,” he laughed.

“Poor Bryce. There’s no way he’d see what’s coming,” the mercenary thought. As he stepped outside he laughed again, leaving Banda to catch up before they could even begin to get started.

[streak101]

Banda chuckled at the position he was in. Zeriths words, "“Let’s get to work Banda, I have an idea on what we can do to get our prey right where we want them. Providing you can be the jackass you claimed you could be,” had made Banda think about what he meant, and now he knew he loved the idea. So there he was on the path they had previously walked earlier today.

As soon as Banda spotted Bryce, and his men he shouted, "Hey Bryce! Which one's your husband?" Bryce's attention turned to Banda, "It's that punk that was with Clement, and his men!" The guards all turned to look at Banda, recognizing the guard from before, Banda shouted, "I'm more of a jackass, but you look more like an assface! You look like this!"

Banda turned around, and mooned the poor guards watching. Banda's problem was that the guards, curse their vile weapons, were equipped with guns. A gun was fired, and missed Banda's arse by an inch. "Gah! Catch me if you can asshats!" Banda ran in a direction away from witnesses, hoping the guards would take the bait.

Almost slipping after a steep turn, Banda ducked into the near brush before the guards were able to come into view. The only thing the guards saw was the enclosed space, far from the main road, and an object on the far end of the path. Once they were in view Banda grinned, and slinked towards a tree. After he climbed up, he saw the guards noticed what that object was. Banda laughed to himself almost maniacally.

[Lavinian Pride]

Once Zerith and Banda were gone Sarah seemed to become a different person. Her actions were far colder and more formal than she had been around the others. Her gaze hardening as Clement once again fidgeted. She then spoke more for Clement's benefit than hers, "So you had something that could help us, and have been hiding it for this long. How considerate. Were you ever planning on giving me this information, or perhaps even what we need, or are you going to try and hide the fact you have it in the first place?"

She continued to eat as Clement spoke his voice a bit stern, "My job isn't to do your job for you...Its-"

"I know what my job is," She snapped as her head snapped up and she bore her eyes deeply into Clement's. To the half troll's credit he didn't flinch as she did so. His stature stiffened as if he was waiting for the violent nature of the woman to rise again. She then spoke again as she continued her meal nonchalantly, "I would think however, that you would supply all necessary equipment for such a job. Failure for doing so would happen either because you cannot, or you could not. So I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and say it never crossed your mind."

"It’s your job, and I don't think violence is needed in this matter. Drugging her will-"

Two hands slammed down on the table as she leaned forward over the table her face mere inches form Clement's. He met her gaze as she hissed, "It's not your place to decide what's needed in this manner. I asked for rope and you better give me the god damn rope or I swear to god when I get it you're hanging up there with me when they realize it was your fault it didn't get done."

"You're attracting attention," Was the curt reply of her employer.

"You're acting stubborn, I feel like for like. You want to endanger the mission, then lets talk about it, tell everyone why we are here. Perhaps Bryce should get a front row seat, as he's been dying to see this happen."

Clement crossed his arms before he said, "You're the seductress, the vile temptress and lord knows who you've screwed over to get what you want. You don't need me, it should be all too easy for Sarah Dahlios, or is that infamous Lavinian Pride not enough for this one?"

A slap resounded through the tavern as everyone seemed focused on the group. Clement merely dropped gold on the table as he got up to leave and spoke tersely, "I'm heading to Erebus, find your own damn way home..."

[Emblem]

He was fine with waiting. Waiting was just another way of not having to work. Although they would eventually have to go, Oran was glad Sarah had decided to wait a bit and let the others start first. Procrastinating was a specialty of his and he took pride in its use.

As soon as the others left though, the atmosphere became a lot less comfortable and tavern-like. Sarah was being most unpleasant, it made Oran was thankful her attention was on Clement and not on him. Clement apparently had something that would help but wouldn’t give it to them and Sarah wanted it, badly. It was impressive that Clement held up against her, Oran would have snapped like a twig. But then he made the mistake of following his resistance with an insult and she followed that with violence.

These kind of tense situations made him uncomfortable, it was one of his ultimate goals to avoid ever being involved in one, it was something he’d never learned to deal with. Although he’d rather distance himself, this was something he had to get involved in. Clement was the reason he was up at the stables and he couldn’t just let the man walk off. Shouting out as he ran out the door, “Clement! Hold up. Come back here man. Don’t let her get to you, it’s just the way she is. You gotta keep your cool around her.”

Clement turned back, “She’s impossible!”

Oran caught the point their heated discussion and the truth was he agreed with Sarah. It was Clement’s responsibility to supply them with what they needed to get the job done especially for the type of job they were doing, the type that didn’t have room for personal ethics. “Clement, I understand your point of view, really, I do. But you have to think, what will she do if you don’t help us? Think of how much worse it could be. Miranda could end up beaten into submission, and I given Sarah, Miranda could be delivered in a comatose state. Not mention what might happen if Miranda tries to get away and more people notice. Do you want their deaths on your conscience?”

The look on his face showed that Clement hadn’t considered this, “No, of course not. But it won’t come to that. I won’t let her,” he had a fierce look that made use of his troll features.

Oran knew better, his was a desperate attempt to assure his own power. “Really? How do you intend to stop her? The others, Zerith and Banda, they’re out there right now, and they’re already too deep to turn back. They’re going to side with her, I know it and you know it. You can’t stop them. If you help, everything will go smoother and no harm will come to Miranda. Sure, she may bear some ill will towards us, but none of the blame will fall on you. Think about it, temporary incapacitation versus serious bodily harm.”

Seeing that Clement was still struggling with this in his head, “Besides, this is a test right? Well, when you report to…whoever it is that you report to, tell them the situation. Of course, you’d also make sure to tell them how useful and supportive I was. I’m going to give you a minute to think this over, if you’re not here when we come out in two minutes, I can’t guarantee Miranda’s safety.”

As he turned his back on Clement and went in side, Oran couldn’t keep the smile off his face. Had Clement been less distressed, he would have noticed that Oran had a glow coming from his hair, would have connected it to their first meeting. Sentimental people such as Clement got so bent out of shape about their emotions and such they allowed themselves to be distracted, allowed themselves to be lost in the conflict.

Oran had been prodding through Clement’s open satchel the entire conversation, pulling things out mentally and placing them back, luckily the breeze had disguised the movements. It was a good thing Oran could blab for hours, he was going to keep Clement there as long as it took, but had found what he needed rather quickly. Having grown up with a variety of children, Oran knew more than he should have about a great many things, including what the plant looked like before it had been processed. Mainly because he’d failed to grow his own once.

He’d left it open for Clement to help them still, and for improvising at the moment Oran was pretty proud of how persuasive he’d managed to be, but it didn’t matter if Clement still refused. Sure, it’d be easier with him and being able to get a more exact dosage or find some clever way to administer it, but not everything could go your way all the time.

Taking Clement’s seat at the table he addressed Sarah, “I gave him a minute to think it over whether or not to help. Either way, I got enough to do what we need it to do. You know, sometimes words work better than palms, but the mind conquers all.” Oran was positively beaming, the feeling of tricking someone and getting away with it always caused an adrenaline rush, it was a feeling he was beginning to enjoy more and more.

((Lavinian Pride has permission to bunny Oran))

[Zerith]

The plan was simple. For a moment Zerith actually thought it was a bit too simple. It wasn’t fancy or genius, otherwise it would be risky to try and pull it off. But if Zerith was right and if it really was indeed too simple, then there was a chance that the Corone guards wouldn’t fall for it. Another thing that made Zerith a little uneasy about it was the fact that the most difficult part of the job wasn’t his. Instead he entrusted Banda to bring the bait. So naturally he was having his doubts, but that would happen regardless of who would do the hard part.

“The plan is really simple,” Zerith said to Banda as the two traveled. “I think it’d be best if we just lured them to path were we met them last time. Then when we get them there, we can get rid of them without having to worry about being caught. Then when we’re the only ones standing we can just drag the bodies into the brush and hide them. Your job is to get Bryce and his boys to come to the spot where we can take them out. Then once you get them there we’ll…”

***

“That dumbass!” one guard shouted. “Who the hell does he think he is! He’s mocking us!”

“I’m not stupid,” Bryce shot back, “I heard what he said.” He smiled a little as he watched Banda disappeared down the path and fled into the darkness. “Let’s beat that ugly ass of his to a bloody pulp. That’ll teach him to mess with the Corone guard.”

The four guards that rode with him that night all agreed. So all five urged their horses off the assigned patrol route and headed down one of the many path’s that lead away from the stables. There wasn’t any concern of the possibility that they would get in any trouble. The patrol route was one of the dead ones, nothing every happened and it got quite boring during the night. Besides, it couldn’t take to long to teach that kid a lesson. The kid seriously looked like a joke. He was a mercenary? That was highly unlikely. Bryce doubted that the kid could even lift that sword he was carrying.

As the five traveled further down the path the eventually traveled so far that they couldn’t see the stables anymore. If it weren’t for the path, then they would have probably gotten lost in the woods. That was the thing about this place. It got so dark a night that if you couldn’t find the pathways you’d be lucky to find a way out. Although the lantern a few of the guards carried helped a bit, it didn’t make every as clear as day.

“Sir,” one guard said. His right hand pointed further down the path, “Do you see that?”

“Actually, yes I do Keirn,” Bryce replied. Although when they got close enough to see exactly who or what it was, Bryce immediately dismounted to see if what he saw was real. “What the hell?”

There, planted in the middle of the road, was Zerith’s halberd. The spear point was buried in the dirt so that the pole-arm stood straight. The crimson shaft was barely visible by the light of the lanterns and if one looked very carefully, they could make out the various runes that covered the wooden pole. Attached to the weapon was a single piece of parchment, folded in half. “The hell is this?” Bryce asked as he took the piece of paper in his hands, “Doesn’t this belong one of those guys that traveled with Clement?” Puzzled by the sudden appearance of the weapon Bryce unfolded the note, hoping that there was some sort of expanation.

I thought I’d give you one good look at the weapon that kills you, Bryce. Too bad the rest of your men can’t see what’s coming out of the woods…

…here it comes.

Without warning, Trithdursil spun through the air and seemed to materialize out of the darkness. Keirn didn’t see it coming, although at the last moment he did hear it. The odd sound of a longsword twirling though the air reached his ears just in time for him to turn and face the direction from where it was coming from. His eyes widened in horror as he suddenly felt the dehlar blade sink into his chest, the shock of the blow took away all the pain. “Sir…” he whispered as he gave his last breath, his body slumped to the left and fell of the horse.

He never did see what was coming. Neither would the rest of the others.

[streak101]

Don't you just love it when your bait works? Banda smiled. Bryce and his men had followed Banda without caution thanks to Banda's rear end. Another thing was that they couldn't recognize the weapon at all. Banda almost thought Bryce was sleep walking. Banda took out his boomerang and waited for the signal from Zerith to attack.

As soon as Bryce had read the letter, Zerith's blade come from the shadows of the night and struck whom Bryce had called Keirn. Banda then knew it was time to go to work. He sent his boomerang toward, not the one who called him a dumbass, but towards his comrade next to him as a warning of what was to come.

The boomerang cut into the poor souls head, an instant and clean kill. The boomerang had stuck to the body so Banda reminded himself to retrieve it later. He jumped out of the brush, seathing his blade while doing so, and charged forward to strike the guard who was on the other side of his actual target. The man was able to parry and called over Banda's target.

Banda had to think and fast. He was engaged in battle against two people who didn't like him very much at all. "You two are the most dishonorable people I have ever seen in my entire life! Coming at me at the same time, do you think you'll win? Do you?" Banda said grinning, dodging one man's attack, and parrying the other. "Your lucky I haven't taken my shield out! Well I won't have to anyways, because here comes my Sly Striker!

As he threw off his insult man, his target, Banda stabbed the other man a few inches from the heart. The man cringed and fell to his knees as Banda pulled out his sword, and jammed it into the last remaining man of Bryce's squad. He pulled the man close, and said, "Who's the dumbass now?" The man fell limp, his last words, "Damn you bastard..."

Bastard? Well it's better them being a dumbass I guess.Banda thought. He was glad none of the horses were killed, and that they stayed in their place despite the brawl that was going on. One of these could help me in my travels...Someone to carry my stuff if it gets too heavy, a nice ride, and these Coronian saddles can get me past the guards of the city itself. Maybe. Banda walked over to the body of the first guard he killed, and dislodged the boomerang from his head.

Bryce was already being taken care of at the moment, so Banda took the time he had before having to dump the bodies to see if any of the guards had a nice horse. He then saw a gallant male horse. It was a brown colored horse, with a black mane going from the tip of his head, down to his shoulders. He had no shoes, and the only thing that marked him as a horse of Corone was the saddle on his back. I'll call him Streak.

[Lavinian Pride]

She sat down before she glared at the people about her. They quickly went back to their food as she picked at her meal and ate. Soon she washed it down with a bit of ale trying to figure out how best to get Miranda to follow them. As she continued to sit in silence she began to unwind the careful blows to her pride had gotten her tenser than anything else. She wasn't at all concerned with Banda and Zerith, she knew Zerith had a level head, and that would help level out Banda's more, ambitious qualities.

As the innkeeper began to light up the tavern Oran made his way back in and began to report in. He placed a bottle of something in front of her and began to berate her about how her tactics had produced nothing. A hand clenched as she wanted to reach out and slap the boy. However, she allowed him his pride as written very neatly upon the bottle was the words "opium". Picking it up she unscrewed the lid and took a sniff before she coughed and resealed it quickly. Waving her hand in front of her face she sighed as she said, "Well, real winner there. I'm going to be a bit light headed that’s for sure. At least I know one way to get her to do what we want."

She then looked at Oran deeply as if concentrating on his features. She sighed as she said, "Not a true lady killer, but we can work on that. I guess I'll have to make do with what I got...now are you able to read minds?"

Getting up she looked at her dagger belt which was still on the table. She considered it for awhile, the daggers would be useful, should things get desperate. However, she decided against them, a small cloth and some of the opiate and Miranda would be higher than a kite. As she worked off her high they could escape and she would be able to meet up with the others.

Tossing her dagger belt in her pack she moved gesturing for Oran to follow. Her gate was measured and precise as if to enforce her stature as the party leader. Once outside she sighed as she made sure her hair was pulled back. She waited only a moment to make sure Oran was in tow, and seeing him appear outside she spoke, "Here's the deal, I'll be feeding you lines. I don't have time to properly seduce her myself, so you’re getting a crash course in sexual predation 101. You get her worked up properly and pull her near where I'm hiding; we drug her and its game over."

Her words were careful and quiet only for Oran's ears as she looked around. The horses were starting to head into the stables, and so she knew their time was limited. The last waning light from the sun was disappearing over the mountains and she began to move before she heard a voice loud and crisp, "Dahlios, hold it right there."

Reaching into her pack a thorn was carefully plucked form her dagger belt as it was carefully concealed. Turning towards the owner she saw Clement walking up to her before he spoke his voice low, "Let me get one thing straight, this is all going to Raelyse, and he'll decide whether to take you in or not. So, I would suggest you don't rough that girl up, or you aren't going to get a recommendation from me..."

A gloved hand gently patted Clements cheek as she purred softly, "Don't you worry big boy, and I won't need to rough her up, now get the hell out of my way, and watch how a Lavinian gets things done..."

Clement raised and eyebrow as he said, "You look like the cat that swallowed the canary..."

"I figure I could use a good lay to make up for the shit you’re putting me through. Raelyse shouldn't mind too much if she’s just exhausted when she comes in..." Sarah said boldly before she turned hitting Clement square in the face with her hair once more gesturing to Oran.

"You think you could get that woman? You're crazier than I thought, I'll go wait at the hill. At least then I can check on Zerith and Banda, have fun you crazy bitch..." Clement cried out as he moved off.

It was all Sarah could do not to throw the knife and end Clement there. However for the sake of the mission she stayed her hand as she remained quiet. Clement wandered off as she said softly to Oran, "That son of a bitch better never come near me again, or he will not like the reception..."

[Zerith]

With Keirn out of the picture and the two other guards occupied with Banda. Everything was running smoothly, just as planned. Thanks to Trithdursil and the yew boomerang, the threat level the guards originally had dropped by almost fifty percent. But after those initial surprise attacks the rest of the battle would have to be fought face to face. Banda seemed to embrace the fact by unsheathing his sword and rushing into battle, taking on the remaining two guards by himself. However Zerith didn’t since he was only left with his dagger. His sword and his pole-arm were out on the path. So until he saw an opening to grab one, he’d have to wait.

His opportunity came shortly. When Bryce saw Banda come out and attack, the soldier reached for his gun. Thankfully for some reason the guard had some problem with free the firearm from it’s holster. Perhaps it was nervousness, or maybe the sudden attack caused him to want the firearm in his hand as soon as possible and he pulled at an awkward angle or something. Whatever the reason was it certainly gave Zerith enough time to sneak out onto the path behind Bryce and retrieve his halberd. When the guard did finally managed to draw his gun, Zerith was already waiting. The halberdier quickly brought the shaft of his weapon down on Bryce’s arm, causing the hand to immediately release the gun. The second blow to the chest knocked Bryce down on his back.

“Didn’t I tell you I’d be using my halberd to kill you?” Zerith said as he kicked the gun away, into the brush. “So without your gun, what do you plan on using to fight back?”

“Unless you’re blind, you could clearly see that I have more than a gun in my arsenal,” Bryce replied as he climbed to his feet. When he was finally standing he drew the shortsword he wore on his right hip, “I still have this! If that’s not enough for some reason, I’m more than able to improvise as well!” Surprisingly, he reached over to Keirn body and retrieved Trithdursil.

“Oh that’s really smart,” Zeritb said sarcasticly, “Use my sword to kill me. How original.”

The two clashed, the familiar sound of metal on metal filled both pairs of ears. Bryce was a good fighter, impressing Zerith by appearing to know how to use a longsword as well as smaller one. The face that he was dual-wielding made thing harder for the mercenary as well, forcing him to use every part of the halberd to fend of each blade. The two swords danced, the halberd twirled around as each combatant tried to try and deceive the other into where he was attacking. Blows came in quick succession until eventually Zerith was unable to halt one directed at his left arm.

Being unable to stop it with Amenzanil, Zerith improvised. Instead of flesh and bone, the sword crashed into titanium. With a slight adjustment, the blade of Trithduril was caught in Zerith’s spiked bracer. The angle Zerith held his arm made it so that one of the angled spikes trapped the blade, making Bryce unable to free it. The guard tried to make a feeble attack with his other arm but that one came to a quick halt to. The halberdier’s right hand released the halberd and grabbed onto Bryce’s left, locking the two together.

“I should have known you were just as much a pain in the ass as Clement,” Bryce spat out.

“Well, even if I am,” Zerith replied, “Unlike Clement. I have no problem with doing this…”

Upon releasing hold of Bryc’es left arm Zerith slammed his knee into the guard’s gut. The bastard bent over, holding his stomach in pain while being totally unaware of what was happening above him. He would never see Zerith’s right arm descend on the back of his skull. By the time he felt the titanium spikes of his brace pierce his skull he was already dead. The lifeless body of Bryce slumped to the ground, leaving Zerith more than enough time to place his longsword back in it’s sheath and retrieve his halberd.

The halberdier took his time, dragging each body a good distance into the brush and discarding the weapons they used. It didn’t really matter if they were found later, by that time Zerith and the others would be gone. Yet Zerith covered the bodies with branches just to make things a little harder for the search parties. He’d take the lanterns they brought though. They’d be a great help for the four of them to travel tonight.

When he was finished, the mercenary joined Banda by the horses. They would be a great way to return to Erebus, especially when he knew how long it’d take to walk there. Luckily he knew exactly which one he wanted and thankfully Banda didn’t chose it. It first caught his eyes when he first saw it in possession of it’s previous owner. The stallion was pure black except for the white marking on its forehead. But even better than how it looked was how Zerith felt when he climbed onto the saddle. This horse felt like it was his, which it was now. It’d be his newest trophy to mark his achievement tonight. In time it would even become one of his closest companions.

“We’re done here,” Zerith said smiling when they were had everything. They had their horses as well as two for Sarah and Oran along with the lanterns that were left behind. All that was left was Miranda and hopefully Sarah and Oran would have her ready to do soon. “I think we did a good job,” he said to Banda, “We even managed to get a ride home. Come on, let’s get going to where we’re supposed to meet up with the others. I want to get the hell out of here long before people wonder where Bryce is. Let’s go Exarion,” he said as he urged his new horse to a gallop.

“Exarion is definitely a great horse. It’s a shame I couldn’t thank Bryce for his gift.”

[streak101]

Banda managed to find enough time to watch Zerith's battle against Bryce. The only one left on the checklist. On the inside, he was smiling in an awkward way, everything was going according to plan, and soon they would be rewarded for their deeds, but it wasn't so great when you dwelve deeper into it. Banda had to get his hands dirty something he didn't like to do. He came to the conclusion that his ill-temper towards the guards were what caused him to become so brutal. That made him feel better at the moment.

Banda heard the swords clang, and turned his attention to the battle Zerith, and Bryce were having. Not exactly what Sarah meant as assassination but, it'll work. Zerith equipped with his mighty shiny halberd looked like he had the advantage, and Bryce was wielding a familiar sword Banda could have sworn he saw earlier. That sword...I know that sword! That's Zerith's! Bryce looks like such a poser right now. He thought of jumping in, but stopped when he felt a hot liquid he knew all to well trickle down his leg. What? THat guard touched me after all huh?What a diehard...

Banda was forced to sit and watch the brawl from atop his horse, waiting for Zerith to finish. Eventually, the two had locked each other in arm in arm. Banda was expecting a dirty trick, but instead dialoque followed, “I should have known you were just as much a pain in the ass as Clement,” Bryce spat out. “Well, even if I am,” Zerith replied, “Unlike Clement. I have no problem with doing this…” Banda saw it coming, Zerith's bracer slam down into Bryce's head. Ouch! That was harsh man... Banda thought it mad to jam in spike's into a hollowed out head like Bryce's even if he deserved it.

Though he thought insane, Banda thanked Zerith in his thoughts, for it was clean, and silent. A lot of other killers, as he's seen, rather leave them bleeding and screaming. Okay on second thought maybe it was like an assassination. Zerith took the time gained extra from that clean kill, and retrieved his belongings. He also hid the bodies. Hidden enough for time to be long gone. When he came up to Banda he was carrying lanterns, Now THAT'S something useful! “We’re done here,”Zerith said actually smiling. "That's something ya don't see everyday."

There were four horses, one for everyone in the group. Except for Clement but, he probably had his own ride right? “We even managed to get a ride home. Come on, let’s get going to where we’re supposed to meet up with the others. I want to get the hell out of here long before people wonder where Bryce is. Let’s go Exarion,” said Zerith. "Exarion huh? Not bad. Mine's named Streak." Banda tied one of the reins from one of the horses not being ridden, to Streak's saddle bag. "Let's move fast out of here, turn off the lanterns too. We'll raise suspicion, and be as visible as the moon with the lanterns on. Chances are Bryce had buddies besides his squad so they might be patrolling for anyone that matches our descriptions. If we can get out of this path fast and get to the hill unnoticed we won't have any trouble with the 'extra helpers'.

Once they were on the hill Banda looked behind him, and saw what he was hoping to avoid. More Coronian guard. Wooptedoo....He though sighing. He searched into the saddle bag, and luckily, found a guard uniform. "Zerith! Look over there! Corone guards. We might be able to outsmart them if we put on this!" Banda showed Zerith the tattered uniform, "See if theres one in your saddle bag, if they come asking questions, you do the talking. It looks like there's too many of them to fight. So if you got nothing to convince them. I got some ideas." Banda put on the uniform without effort. It was too big. He hoped for the best and hoped Zerith would do the same.

((Excuse me if I have any spacing errors in this post my spacebar is broken on the lefft side,and seeing as I'm left handed doesn't help me there at all. This is also my biggest post. I just got out of writer's block.))

[Lavinian Pride]

"Alright, time to turn you into a lady killer," Sarah said as she turned to face Oran. Her hands moved carefully to try and play with his hair, move things about him, trying to turn him into something at least decently attractive. As she did this she sighed as she moved about him, her hands moving with delicate grace.

"I can pick up general thoughts, but I doubt I could read your thoughts reliably," Oran replied as she continued her work.

Sighing she crossed her arms as she looked at Oran and said, "Well then, three simple rules, and you can get any woman you want. The first is, let them do the talking; the best lies are the ones you don't have to tell. The second rule is that you should not touch them unless you are absolutely sure its okay. A hand on a shoulder can seem invasive when done wrong. Lastly, don't you ever mention sex flat out. If you do your job right, they'll do all the talking for you, you simply herd them into it. One mention of Sex blows any potential one night stand out of the water, and alerts them to what you want..."

Taking the bottle from his hands she looked at it before she shoved it in her pack. She then moved him over to the stables as she said, "Now, you gotta do this on your own. Move her towards one of the stalls, and I'll be able to take it from there. Now, go get him tiger..."

Oran moved into the stables as they looked around. Various horses where about and it was obvious that it was feeding time. The horses would occasionally react to the people inside the stable, but otherwise remained in their own little worlds, eating their hay and resting after a day of running in pastures. Amidst all this was Miranda, moving about and putting piles of hay in each horses feeding trough.

Her blonde hair now contained a few straws of hay, but it didn't detract from her beautiful visage. It was one Sarah was finding hard to resist, despite her preference to drink the night away now a days. As she waited by the door Oran moved his hair changing once more to its green as he spoke up, starting a conversation with the target.

This was Sarah's chance to move about the stables as she moved slowly, her boots making sure to tread only when a horse started getting rowdy before claming. This allowed her to be pretty much unnoticed as she moved about, Moving behind Miranda. Carefully unscrewing the lid of the jar she took a shirt she had taken jsut incase the trip was overnight, and rubbed it against the Opium, trying to get it to absorb the fumes of the illicit plant.

As Oran continued in his attempt to woo the lady Sarah saw a few things about the stables before her eyes caught something. A cart with a horse still attached, carrying hay in the back. While modest, it would work well for transporting her once push came to shove. As she moved about she heard Oran's attempts on the lady before she smirked inwardly, This guy is really not my type, to think, he is cocky cause he thinks I taught him all my tricks...

As she continued on Sarah moved away form the cart hiding nearby before she watched Miranda move over and take another armload of hay, "You came in with Clement and the others didn't you?"

"You know Clement?" Oran asked a bit surprised.

"Yeah, he offered me a position with some crazy group of his," She began. She then looked at Oran before she said, "You aren't trying to get me to go with you are you? Cause if you are, I won’t go. I have to take care of my horses, and make sure they're okay. The other stable hands are too new and need good training before I could leave. I'm sorry but I need you to go if your only intention is to get me to come with you..."

Oran to his credit remained calm as he said, "Now come on, just cause I'm with the guy doesn't mean I don't care about you..."

The C word is not the right card buddy, but good try, Sarah thought. While saying he cared would help if he was trying to slowly get in her pants, their time frame was fast requiring a more frantic pace. As she pulled the shirt out of the jar she Waited as she held the cloth far form her face.

Soon Miranda spoke again, "Sir, these stables are also private property, I'm going to have to ask you to leave, otherwise I will call the Corone Guard to dispense of you. I saw your group come in, and it looks like you already had a tiff with the guards. I wouldn't recommend giving them a second chance to grab you..."

Sarah looked at Oran as she met eyes with him; he nodded seeing the look in her eyes as he said softly to Miranda looking her dead in the eyes, "I'm sorry..."

"What for-"

At that moment Sarah quickly moved placing the dampened cloth firmly against Miranda's nose and mouth. As she tried to scream the shirt muffled it before she clutched at Sarah's firm arm over her. Oran quickly grabbed her hands as Sarah purred in her ear, "Just relax, no one is going to hurt you. That's it..."

Slowly the hands went limp as she found herself starting to feel the affects of the opiate. Sarah and Oran quickly deposited her on the back of the cart as she sighed and sat next to the girl. Looking at Oran she said, "Alright, here's the deal, I drive us out of here, since I'm going to assume you've never lead a wagon. Your sole job is to make sure she stays doped up. Keep the shirt on her, whatever; just don't let her start fighting or screaming. Clear?"

"As crystal," was the reply as Sarah jumped into the driver's side.

Moving forward the cart she saw it reach the barn doors before she said firmly, "Alright we're going to have to run it, the guards will more than likely know that this cart is up to no good." Stopping the cart she pushed the barn door open wide enough for them to get through before she sighed and took up her spot in the chair.

"Ready?" Came the question behind her.

"I always find it funny how when human beings are about to do something they know will get them in trouble, they ask if they're ready..." Sarah replied as she nodded. Snapping the reigns she yelled at the horse before they began to trot. Moving the reigns again the horse began to go form trot to gallop as the wagon moved swiftly through the area. Guards came rushing out of the tavern as she looked at the passing by cart, and Sarah merely ignored them and pushed on.

The result was a few men shouting out from the small community about the stables as she pushed the horses on, heading for the rendezvous point. She looked up to see the moon slowly heading towards the peak of its climb. She figured they had about ten minutes to get there, before the group would move on and Sarah had to abandon the handler.

[Zerith]

What a stroke of luck, first they were lucky enough to get rid of Bryce and his men. Then they were fortunate enough to obtain their horses. Now thanks to Banda’s discovery they had guard uniforms waiting to be used. With those guards that Banda spotted heading their way, Zerith didn’t need to say anything. Instead he searched through the saddlebags for another uniform for him to wear.

For some reason Bryce’s horses didn’t have any saddlebags, yet the one of the other two horses did. Sure enough it carried another uniform as well, a bit big but it would probably fit well when Zerith put it on overtop of his clothes. He didn’t have enough time to do a complete change. The entire process from getting of his horse and removing his bracers to putting the uniform on and his bracers afterwards was hurried.

Though just as he was finishing, shouts were heard from the direction of the stables. “They’ve stolen a wagon!” one guard yelled, “They’re trying to kidnap Miranda!” shouted another. In the distance, the young mercenary saw the wagon for himself. The horses were pulling the wooden cart on a direct course to Corone’s two newest ‘guards’. It wasn’t hard to figure out who they guards were shouting about.

“It looks like Sarah and Oran dealt with the guards for us,” Zerith said as he climbed back onto his horse. The truth was that not only did they catch the attention of those few guards, but also they managed to also have the rest of the men stationed at the stables to chase after them. “So much for disappearing into the night,” he thought.

“Alright, change of plan Banda,” Zerith said as he looked at his companion. “We’re going to ride down at meet the wagon. When we get there, we’re going to deal with the guards and try to protect Sarah, Oran and Miranda. Considering our latest attire, the guards won’t believe what is happening at first but they will catch on and try to kill us. However we are not to kill them, understand? We’ve already made a few guards disappear, killing all of those after the wagon will only cause the Grander’s Order more trouble. The sooner we get rid of those guards, the sooner we get back to Erebus. So let’s do what we do best.”

With nothing more to say, Zerith dug his heels into Exarion’s side and urged the horses to gallop. His halberd was held tightly in his right hand, the reins in his left and his eyes were fixed on the target and the objective. There was no way he would let the mission end in failure. Especially when completion felt like it was within in the reach of his pole-arm.

[streak101]

Zerith scrambled for a guard uniform, and hastily put on half of the whole attire. He didn't have enough time to completely dress himself. Banda hoped the guards wouldn't look down at the two's legs for whatever the reason. Bryce's horse had no saddle bag though, Banda pushed that thought to the back of his mind, there are other things to attend to he told himself. As Zerith was putting the finishing touches on his attire Banda's ears picked up a faint sound. "Say, do you hear something on wheels?" Banda had said, but it was lost in the shouts of the guard, and the noise he had heard getting louder.

Banda turned his attention to the direction the noise came from growing louder every passing second. That wagon was going fast, if that’s not Sarah and Oran with Miranda then it's an act of the heavens. Banda laughed to himself at what he was saying. He sounded as if he knew them for a long time, when in reality, barely conversed with them for the one day they were grouped up in. Again, he pushed the thought out of his mind. focus damnit! Focus! A split second later the wagon, driven by Sarah, dashed from the bottom of the hill, and sprang past their meeting location. “It looks like Sarah and Oran dealt with the guards for us,” Zerith had said.

“Alright, change of plan Banda,” Zerith said as he looked at his companion. “We’re going to ride down at meet the wagon. When we get there, we’re going to deal with the guards and try to protect Sarah, Oran and Miranda. Without fighting? Let's see how this turns out... Considering our latest attire, the guards won’t believe what is happening at first but they will catch on and try to kill us. However we are not to kill them, understand? We’ve already made a few guards disappear, killing all of those after the wagon will only cause the Grander’s Order more trouble. The sooner we get rid of those guards, the sooner we get back to Erebus. So let’s do what we do best.” After hearing this Banda closed his eyes and thought hard, I'm confused, they won't know what’s happening at first, but they'll catch on? Alright time I take charge, and do something meaningful here besides fighting.

As Zerith began to ride Banda called back to him in the deepest and most serious tone he could muster, "Stop! You have done your part for this mission fellow mercenary. I'll handle this situation. I don't care if you don't like the idea I'm doing it anyway," Banda paused to breath, and glad he said that bit before continuing, "Besides, I've talked my way out of bigger problems." He clicked his tongue twice, and shifted his body forward urging his horse Streak to move. Streak felt his new master feeling uneasy, and impatient, and broke into a mixture of a sprint, and a trot. For those who are confused on how he sensed this - animals can sense the feelings of tension in someone’s body as well as other feelings.

Banda urged his horse to ride faster seeing as he was getting nowhere at the speed he was going. Finally catching up to the wagon, and the guards Banda looked at the situation. In the wagon Oran, Sarah, and the unconscious Miranda, were sitting at the front Oran making sure Miranda was out and stayed out like a light until they reached their destination. He looked at the guards giving angry dangerous looks at the wagon. Am I sure glad I put on this uniform about 20 men were stationed in front of them. Banda was looking back and forth at the two groups. Okay let's see unconscious person two people with her in the vehicle, and two 'guards' apparently riding with them...Oh duh! I got the perfect lie! Banda hid a grin, and trotted up to whom he presumed to be the leader of the group.

"Um...is there a problem? Or do you just hate stable hands?" Banda asked making a face of mixed anger and impatience. The man replied, "There is a problem. Their taking one of our best stable hands!" Banda gave out a short laugh. "Do you notice that she's unconscious?" The man looked over Banda's shoulders, "Yes." Banda kept the same face never changing it. "Do you notice me, and my buddy over there," Banda pointed to Zerith, "Are giving this wagon a guard escort to the nearest healer?" The man looked at Banda, and seemed as though this was a joke, "Who gave you this order?" Banda did not freeze or panic nor did he show any signs of desperation, "Why Bryce of course! Don't you know he cares about Miranda?" Banda you sly dog you! "Oh! Bryce!" The man's eyes grew wide, then he reconsidered, "Prove it." Banda had only one second to think of this his cunning mind at work, "Do you not see my friend over there has Bryce's horse? Why would he give his horse to his squad? Not for kicks I'll tell you that! Now are you gonna move or what? Because heaven be with you when Bryce finds out Miranda is deceased because of your blockade you got set up here!" This time Banda had hit the bulls-eye. The man was struck with horror, but his mind was not made up just yet. He needed a little more convincing, "Okay then. Where can I find Bryce to see if you speak the truth?" Banda looked up at the sky murmured something, and said, "Bryce has gone ahead with another horse to clear the path. Before you set up your chase Bryce had already left. We needed time to get the wagon ready. Now stop asking questions so we can get this poor woman to a healer! So I can save your sorry hide too." At this the man had no doubts of letting the group pass. Banda dashed forward towards the wagon which was charging through. Wait a minute...Why stop there? "Oh, and some crazy civilians played a prank on the guards today. They dressed up some carcasses to look like Bryce and his troop. I'd be careful if you see them they might be tinkered with." The man gave a nod of thanks, and left along with the 19 men with him. Banda spoke again only this time to his companions, "Let's get out of here fast we need to make it look like an emergency if their going to believe us. I think I've done my part thank you." His last sentence with a hint of sarcastic in it.

[Lavinian Pride]

As the wagon moved swiftly Sarah found herself heading towards the blockade. Gritting her teeth the only thing she could think of doing was to egg the horses on and snapped the reigns. The horses began to move eve faster, until a miracle happened, they parted for the wagon, rather hastily. As she moved through the blockade, time seemed to slow down as she looked about until her eyes focused and held Banda's for only a second. A soft smirk lit up her face as time resumed and the horses continued to push, Zerith had to be somewhere nearby.

As they made their way up the hill Oran began holding the girl down as she started to get up. It seemed the night's air had ventilated the effects of the opiate, and to his dismay she was starting to wake up. As he covered her mouth to prevent her screaming she started clawing at him as he shouted, "She’s coming round Sarah!"

Sarah's mind raced with the possibilities before she groaned and said, "Hit her with another dose!"

Oran looked about frantically, until he realized the spare shirt they had used to give her a dose was conspicuously missing. Groaning he tossed the jar to Sarah as he continued to keep the girl suppressed as he said, "Better hurry she's getting catty!"

Sarah quickly looped her arm through the reigns in an effort to keep control of the horses while she undid the lid, handing the jar back to Oran she said, "hurry up, I can't keep playing babysitter if she's awake!"

Oran nodded as he did the only thing he could do, reaching in he rubbed a hand over the material, before he clasped that hand over Miranda. She groaned as the scent overwhelmed her and went faint again. A sigh of relief overcame Oran as he closed the lid and reported, "She's down again, but I don't recommend a third dose..."

Racing over the crest of the hill she thought she saw a guard looking conspicuously like Zerith, but couldn't be sure, what she was sure of however was the fact they were now out of sight of the guards. Racing a bit ahead she finally pulled the wagon over to the side of the road, deep into the forest. Slowing then stopping the horses she sighed as the wagon came to a halt, along with her rapidly beating heart.

"Everyone okay?" She asked sternly.

"Yeah, patient's fine and so am I a bit shaken..." Oran replied.

"Drinks on me back at Erebus..." Sarah replied as she moved to unyoke the horses. Oran looked at her as she did this before she explained, "Erebus needs horses not wagons. I figure we take every horse we can get our hands on, they can cross breed them and in no time we'll have equal if not better quality horses, hope you can ride bareback..."

Oran merely shrugged as they prepared the horses and Miranda for transport back to Erebus.

[streak101]

Streak sprinted attempting to catch up with the wagon, but the fact that the wagon had two horses pulling it, couldn't so much as follow it a couple feet behind. Banda spurred him, but to no effect. Finally, Streak was managed to get a break when the wagon rushed through a part of the forest and stopped. As Banda dismounted, he said, "You weren't gonna leave us behind and go ahead to Erebus were you?"

"Hey look what me and Zerith found!" Banda deattached the reigns from the extra horse, and handed it to Sarah. "A er...parting gift from Bryce." Banda said sarcastically. "You probably already thought of it, but it'd be faster to travel on horse back. Zerith's got the other horse for Oran, the question is, who's riding with Miranda?" Banda inquired.

After they were set, they had dashed from the stables until there were no more guards to be seen. Slowing down then, Banda had taken the oppurtunity to see what else there was inside the saddlebags. What better place would you put your valuables? Where no one would think of, of course! He also checked the somewhat stinky guard uniform he was wearing.

He expected crap, or some personal pictures, but he found something more. Searching through the saddle bag he found five gold pieces, shined and polished, he deduced that the former rider was a collector of coins. He also found a necklace, it didn't seem much of value the material was cheap. The cord was a thick black thread, and the object was that of a shark, later on in Banda's life he would learn never to take it off.

Inside the uniform he found another three gold pieces, like the other five, they were shined, and polished. He found nothing more in the pockets but as he took his hand out of the left pocket, he felt something bump his hand. He looked inside the pocket, and noticed the space in the left pocket, was larger than the right pocket. Upon closer inspection he found another hole as if the tailor made two pocket holes in one. He reached into the hidden hole, and found a ring. It was nothing highly expensive, but would fetch a nice sum of gold. The ring base was made of silver, and the stone in it was of sapphire. Banda put it in the pocket of his usual pants.

He took off the guards uniform, stopping for a few moments to stuff it back into the saddle bag, and caught up with the group. They were approaching Erebus, Banda was relieved to complete the objectives, nice and easy. "Great job guys. Let's hope whoever is going to welcome us to the Order, is already there. Hey what ever happened to Clement?"

((Spoils: Streak(a horse) 10 gold pieces, a necklace, and a ring. I hope this is how it works...))

[Emblem]

Getting out of the wagon, Oran saw Banda coming up in the distance on horseback with a second horse in tow. By the way Banda was riding he obviously was on a saddle and so it was likely the second horse would be saddled as well. While he wanted the comfort of riding in a saddle he didn’t want to appear too self serving to Sarah by taking the saddled horse.

Given Banda’s current attire and his sarcastic quip, Bryce was no longer in need of his horse. It was a small comfort knowing the guards had gotten a taste of real authority but Banda also left the troubling question of how to take care of Miranda. Never short for ideas, Oran was quick to take action.

First grabbing the reigns of Banda’s second horse from Sarah and led the steed closer to the wagon. Oran easily hefted Miranda’s light body into the saddle in a riding position, arms dangling limply over the sides. It was obvious she would fall if the horse turned at all and so he untied the saddle-bags’ leather straps and used them to bind her legs to the saddle belt and tied her hands to the saddle’s horn. Giving the straps a quick look over and tugging on some questionable knots, Oran assured himself she wouldn’t fall off and gave the reigns back to Sarah.

Watching as Banda took off towards Erebus, Oran realized he had a new problem. How was he supposed to get on a horse bareback? He’d always had stirrups to give him a leg up and both of the unyoked horses appeared quite tall. Looking at the two, it was quite obvious which one he wanted to ride. The one he was looking at appeared to be a dark red, it was difficult to tell at night, its head was several inches higher than his, and it was heavily muscled and seemed aggressive. Its feet were covered by long silk-like strands of white hair and as soon as Banda’s horse began to leave it started stamping its hooves and fidgeting. He could just sense its impatience and need to go and he shared it.

“Sarah, you and Zerith can catch up. I tied Miranda down, you just need to lead the horse.” With those parting words Oran ran back and jumped into the wagon, sprinted towards the front and leapt onto the back of his horse. The large draft horse kicked off into a gallop in sheer surprise, Oran managed to just barely keep from hurting himself dearly in his landing, and the two bolted after Banda towards Erebus.

((No Spoils, the horse goes to the GO))

[Zerith]

Much to Zerith’s surprise, Banda’s stunt actually worked. He wasn’t sure what exactly the kid said to the guards. Though whatever it was must have been convincing enough to make them move the blockade. Perhaps he was better this way, taking on twenty guards seemed like a bit too much for them now. So sneaking Miranda out from right under their noses would was much better. Not only that, but the thought of them not realizing what happened until the group got back to Erebus brought a grin to Zerith’s face.

Sarah, Oran and the target passed by the halberdier and pulled the wagon to the side and deep in the forest. Then everyone met together and began to prepare the horses for the trip back to Erebus. Zerith and Banda dismounted their horses and handed over the reigns of the other two they had to both Sarah and Oran. While the young fighter was taking off his uniform, Oran took the extra horse Banda gave the Lavinian and placed the unconscious Miranda in the saddle. By the time Zerith tossed the uniform he wore into the wagon, both Banda and Oran were already gone on their way back to Erebus.

Left behind with Sarah and the target, the halberdier handed the reigns to his extra horse to the woman to led the group and said, “I think that when we get back to Erebus I’ll take that drink you offered.”

Just then Clement finally made his appearance. He had probably spent the entire time walking through the woods, avoiding both the blockade and any soldiers that were stationed along the way. He didn’t look to happy though which made Zerith wondering if something happened that he didn’t know about. Still it was nice to see that Clement also made it out of the stables, though they would have probably just have met up with him back in Erebus if it weren’t for the sudden appearance. “Well look what we have here,” Clement said coldly. “I take it everything turned out okay?”

“As far as I’m concerned,” Zerith replied as he climbed back on Exarion. “The mission was a success.”

“Well I can see you guys managed to get Miranda. But what about the Bryce issue?”

“Perhaps my new companion here can answer that for you,” the halberdier answered he gestured to Exarion.

Clement’s gaze turned to his Zerith’s horse, his eyes seemed to change to a look of disappointment when he realized the fate of his old friend. “So he’s dead then?”

“I think my horse answers that question as well.”

“Your horse?” Clement asked. “Is Bryce’s horse really just another trophy to you? Another prize of your to put beside that halberd in your hand.”

“That depends on the way you look at it Clement, I think I’m doing this horse a favor by taking it. Now it’s in the hands of someone who can appreciate it.”

“Well then perhaps you’re right. I guess Bryce never did have an appreciation for horses. Anyways, let’s just go back to Erebus alright? I want to away from this place as soon as possible.”

Zerith nodded, “I know exactly what you mean. You and Sarah can take your pick of the two horses. I’m going to head back with Sarah though, just in case something happens with Miranda.”

“After that,” the halberdier thought. “I’m really going to enjoy Sarah’s offer, even if I don’t drink much.”

((SPOILS: Exarion-The black stallion that once given to Bryce by the stables, which Zerith decided to take as his. The horse is a solid black except for the white marking between it’s eyes. Also, although Zerith doesn’t realize it. Exarion is actually a Fallien horse, one of the few that the stables have.))

[Lavinian Pride]

Sarah sighed in relief as she mounted her horse. Clement and her had a falling out of sorts, and it was obvious the half troll wasn't too impressed with the Lavinian. As she slipped up in the saddle behind Miranda she sighed as she gently squeezed the sides of the horse sending it off into a trot. She looked back at Zerith as she tried to get an idea of just what was going on. With Clement beside her she snapped her head back towards him as he said firmly, "Looks like you won out. Next time do it without my help..."

She snorted in derision as Clement took off after Banda leaving Sarah with Zerith, a comfortable silence ensuing as she merely rode back towards Erebus. It had been a rough day for certain, and she needed to relax, have some fun. However, first she had to get the very drugged up Miranda back to Erebus. As she sighed she moved at a steady pace, so as to not let Miranda fall out of the saddle.

She remained silent most the trip as she spent it in quiet reflection. She accomplished her goal, albeit with a few hang ups. Having to dupe Clement, get Zerith to do his part, and trust Banda not to ruin it all was taxing to be certain. Still, she knew she had what it took to lead, and when the day was through, they had made it. No casualties, not even a scratch on the party, and Miranda firmly in her saddle, gift wrapped for the head boys at Erebus.

Moving into the camp Zerith in tow, she looked at the group of Horses assembled as she carefully cut Miranda from her saddle. In the end it was up to whoever they sent, to determine if she would join the merry band of boys. Stretching after giving Miranda over to the men of Erebus she sighed as she waited for her superior to show up, and report in.

(Spoils: None requested.)

[INDK]

As I generally do in threads this big, I put a lot of information up here in favor of putting detailed comments along with the scores.

Lavinian Pride- Be careful about skipping between perspectives. Quite a few times you slipped in a familiar tone that seemed out of place. Also, Sarah is a wonderfully complex character, and sometimes when you don’t do her justice in a thread, she comes out as a bit bipolar. When you aren’t careful, it doesn’t work nearly as well. All in all though, I'm begining to really like Sarah. I'd love to quest with her sometime, she'd be a lot of fun.

Streak101- Tenses are an issue with you. Unless there is a really good reason, an entire thread must be in the same general tense (past, present or future). Also, while I appreciate your attempts to extend out your posts sometimes, try to stay away from filler. Low moments in the actions are good opportunities for interesting backstory, or descriptions of setting, not a time to count birds or do something else frivolous. I would also like you to be careful with paragraph length. Just like paragraphs shouldn’t be too small, they shouldn’t be too big either. Break up your paragraphs if you are going to have more than one set of dialogue in it. One thing I really did like from you was your inner monologue. It just felt real, and had a slight touch of irreverent humor that I appreciated.

Emblem- Sometimes you get caught up on points that are not nearly as interesting as the time you dedicate to them. Be a bit better in choosing what you want to talk about. For example, Oran’s borderline misogyny failed to be particularly entertaining or relevant.

Zerith- I felt that you didn’t add enough to this thread. Zerith was unsure about joining the Grander’s Order, why not play up or something like that? A bunch of will he/won’t he would have added a lot of intrigue to this thread. You write well enough, but rising action suffers when you don’t contribute more creatively to the plot.

Total Score= 41 Not terrible. There are positives you can all take from here.

Introduction – 4 Sarah’s introduction was the strongest of the bunch, because it at least offered some insight into her character. Zerith’s introduction wasn’t far behind. For Banda, I didn’t even feel like I really got his rationale for deciding to join this mission. With Oran, there was much more details, but there was nothing about him that really stood out to me. The introduction is the best chance you have to get a reader interested in your character. I really felt like I wanted to see you guys present characters that seemed anything more than generic. Remember in the future, tell your stories through the lens of your characters. What about this adventure appealed to Banda or Oran, why the Grander’s Order? Sarah did an acceptable job setting up a plot, so you guys should have been able to carry this a little better.

Setting – 3 Why was this in Alerar? This was a McPlace, it had no character to it. I was particularly upset at the fact that none of the names were even remotely dark elven sounding.

Strategy – 5 There was nothing in here that was all that creative. Perhaps more disappointing was the fact that you occasionally emphasized strategy that was fairly trite.

Dialogue – 5 I liked Streak101 and Lavinian Pride the best.

Character – 4 This score might be a bit higher than you guys deserve. Sarah brought it up because she was the only one who shone as an individual throughout the thread.

Rising Action – 3 I don’t want to throw the blame solely on the QM, because it seemed there was little interplay between each others posts, you guys really did a poor job in making story progress in every post. Even in a four person thread, that should be expected. Every post doesn’t need to be a climactic event, but every post needs to matter. One of the biggest problems here was people putting in filler. Brevity is not something you should fear. It is a virtue, and at times, a sign of security.

Climax – 5 I liked the way things came together here, but for the most part, I think it was less than acceptable.

Conclusion – 3 This was a perfect illustration of why an ending is different from a conclusion. An ending means the danger is gone, the victors are found, and everything worth knowing is known. A conclusion is supposed to offer closure, remind the reader why reading the thread was so worthwhile. You had too much of the former without any of the latter.

Writing Style – 5 Decent stuff for the most part. Banda needs to work on his mechanics, and both Emblem and Zerith need to work on showing their creativity.

Wild Card – 4 Bonus point to Streak101 for being left handed.

Spoils=

Lavinian Pride receives 1100 EXP and 325 GP
Streak101 receives 375 EXP and his spoils
Zerith receives 750 EXP and his spoils
Emblem receives 350 EXP, 50 GP and the spoil for the GO.

[Zieg dil' Tulfried]

EXP and GP Added!