RP: Book 1, Chapter 3: The Long Shadow He Casts

Scene 3:

The team heads down to the Lows, the most run-down, impoverished part of the city. Beggars sit with bowls amid rubbish piled high in the streets. Many windows are broken or boarded up and some buildings are burned out or in ruins, though still appear to have occupants. Women in revealing costumes are stood on many of the street corners, attempting to attract the attention of passers-by.

"This place reminds me of the bad old days, before I went to Jaydia, when I still worked for the Ivos." Konrad says, causing Marcus to grunt.

Alexandra looks all around, rather astounded. "Wow this most be the happiest place in town, very welcoming and homey." She speaks in such a cheerful way it's impossible to tell if she's being sarcastic.

"Where should we start? Any suggestions ma'am?" Konrad asks.

Klysis shrugs. "Question the locals, someone must know about a hoofed, cloaked killer."

"Take your pick Marcus, who looks interesting?" Konrad prods Marcus.

Marcus looks about. "Well, we must start somewhere."

Asking around, many of the people are unwilling talk, while those that do don't seem to know anything about this cloaked figure.

Eventually, after some amount of frustration, Konrad speaks a group of Tendu women who are dressed in quite revealing outfits. They seem a little disappointed to realise he just want to ask them questions.

One of them nods. "Yeah, I know him. Hoof is what they call him around here. Never seen him run on any roofs, but who knows, he's a weird one. So what do you want to pay to know more about him?"

“Well...” Konrad says, a little put off, “we'd probably like to speak to him, but I didn't bring a lot of cash..."

"I bet you could make it worth my while to help. You seem pretty eager to find that little weirdo." She says.

Alexandra starts reaching for her pistol, suddenly getting angry. “You're going to tell u-”

Marcus pulls Alexandra back and spins her around. “Sorry about that, Konrad, you do the negotiation." he steers Alex away.

“Hey!” Alexandra snaps at Marcus.

“What in Shaledemos' name do you think you're doing?” He asks, keeping a fairly level voice.

“Shalley-what?”

Marcus blinks. “It is an expression. What were you doing there?”

“She's extorting us! There is a killer and she's wasting time, I'm not paying her anything.”

Marcus sighs. “Look, Alexandra, you can't just go about threatening people. And can you really blame her? Look at her, she has next to nothing, and she's selling herself in order to survive.”

“That's no excuse.”

“Just try to imagine what she is going through her mind, and why she does what she does.”

Alex looks to her gun and says "Well of course you don't mind paying them, Grace. You're always wasting money! If I listened to you I'd have blown everything on fancy gun oil and polish."

Konrad looks over his shoulder as Marcus moves Alexandra away, one of his ears swivelling to follow them, then it swivels back. As he returns to the matter at hand, he finds that the Tendu woman's demeanour has soured, considerably.

“She was going to attack me!” The woman shouts angrily. “I shouldn't expect any better from the guards in this city! All thugs in the pocket of the rich! People like me just get swept under the rug." She starts to walk away.

Konrad sighs. “I'll give you twenty for the information.”

“Seventy.” She snaps back, “you're lucky that I haven't just walked away!”

Konrad glances over to Marcus, who is still talking to Alex. “She didn't hurt you, and we're investigating a murder here, come on...” He looks back. “Fifty.” The woman opens her mouth, looking angry- “five.” Konrad says, turning on the charm. “Come on, ladies. Show a poor sinner a little kindness here. We're all just trying to make our way in the Lows, right?"

The Tendu woman sighs. “Fine. The guy you're looking for, he's a regular with me and the girls. Real freak, real weird. Never takes off his cloak and hood, not even when he's with one of us. Rags and cloths wrapped all around his body. He has us dress up too, in cloaks so we're all covered. Can you imagine? A client who wants us to put on MORE clothes?"

"Deviant... makes sense." Says Klysis "This type of killer most often have some sort of sexual dysfunction."

"He's killing people? Really?” The Tendu woman shakes her head. “He always seemed pretty... well pretty pathetic. Scared all the time, nervous. All the girls just felt sorry for the poor little bastard. He's so jumpy you want to give him a hug. But you never really know people... not even in my job. He doesn't have any place of his own. Hides out in abandoned buildings. I think people scare him mostly. I can show you the building if you follow me."

The Tendu woman leads them to an abandoned looking, two story building. It looks to be in a very bad state of repair and there are large holes in the roof.
"He's been staying in there recently. Hoof isn't his real name, he wont give his name to anybody, gets upset if you ask him. We just call him that because of those big clomping things he has for feet..." She looks down at Marcus' hooves, "No offence."

"No offence taken.” Marcus says.

"Maybe he's dangerous, I know some girls won't see him. They say he reminds them of some kind of priest. I dunno, I just thought they found him gross, but maybe they knew something I didn't?"

"I've seen some nasty slums before," says Konrad "but this place takes the prize... I don't expect you to go poking around inside with us, so is there anywhere else we might look for him if he isn't here?"

"No, but he does move around.” She says. “I'll keep an eye out and let you know if he shows up anywhere else. I hope you find whoever is doing those killings."

“Thank you,” Marcus says, “you've been more helpful than you had any need to be. Stay safe."

Konrad says "Don't forget to pay the woman, Marcus."

"Pay her?"

Konrad says "Yeah, I had to do some tough negociating for her help...but I'm a little short at the minute."

Marcus frowns as reaches for his money.

Klysis cuts that short. "Alright, what's our plan going into this place?" She looks at Alexandra, "keeping in mind we want him alive and we don't want to turn the Lows into more of a war zone than it already is."

"Room to room is probably the only way we'll find him.” Konrad says. “When we go in we should stay together and be wary, but let's keep our weapons sheathed unless we need them, I imagine that people around here wouldn't react well if they saw a Watch captain and some strangers walking around with drawn weapons."

"I concur, we should stay as civil as we can.” Marcus agrees. “This fellow... he is a suspect, but he could also be a witness..."

“She did say he was like a priest.” Alexandra speaks up.

Marcus glances at her, giving a concerned look. “Yes. You may be right. I will go first. I'm bulkier than most of you and well armoured, so if he attacks I'll have the best chance of survival."

"You shouldn't assume the worst may happen, Marcus,” Alexandra says, “for some odd reason it tends to happen more when you do."

This causes Marcus to look back at Alexandra, slightly surprised by her change in tone. "Maybe, but I try to be careful."

Konrad says "I'll follow behind Marcus. You two," he nods at Grace and Klysis, "follow behind me, and be careful that no one sneaks up on us. I've got a chill in my spine, I feel like we might be walking into trouble here."

Entering the building, they see that inside is strewn with dirt and bits of broken furniture. Small rodents scurry away as the new arrivals startle them. Moving through the first room into a hall way, there are several doors and a flight of stairs with a broken banister. From upstairs, some sort of chanting or prayer can be heard.

Alexandra glances around and whispers, "Not the most cheerful, I feel bad for him living here."

Everyone else ignores her and Marcus slows the group down slightly. He gestures towards the stairs and continues moving, glancing carefully at the doorways as they pass. The stairs creek slightly as Marcus steps on them, causing him to wince, but the chanting from upstairs does not stop. Finally they reach the top of the stairs and can see two doors. One is slightly ajar and it is from behind that one that the chanting is coming from.

Marcus risks a quick and careful glance into the room. Less interested in checking on Hoof as he is checking if there are any windows or escape routes. Peeking in, Marcus sees a figure in filthy, ragged black robes, kneeling seemingly in prayer. There is one window to the room and a hole in the roof through which the sky is visible. In one corner of the sparse chamber are some blankets, laid out as a simple bed. A couple of loaves of bread, one with some bites taken out of it, are laid beside the bed.

Marcus notices the praying figure has a necklace wrapped around one of his hands, looping between his fingers. Hanging from this is a small symbol consisting of a half circle attached to a flat line, like a setting sun. Marcus is familiar with this as the primary symbol of the West.

Marcus turns to the others and nods, indicating they have found what they are looking for. He opens the door and steps inside quickly, letting the others rush in after him. Though he is the first one in, he holds his hands forward, palms out, indicating he does not have a weapon in his hands.
As Marcus enters the figure spins around and springs to his feet with great speed. He has a thick snout, covered by a hood like an executioner's, with eye holes and pieces that cover his ears, and he had the hood of his robe pulled over this. He has a thin tail that is bound up in cloth. His feet are heavy hooves. He looks thin and small, but moves with a lot of energy and agility.

He pulls a short, curved blade from his belt an slashes the air between him and Marcus.

"Get back! GET BACK! Keep away!"

There goes that plan, Marcus thinks as he stops, hands still out. Though he moves them back, signalling everyone to not move past him. "We simply wish to ask a few questions. Though I am surprised to see a Priest of the West here."

"Get out! Get out! DON'T TOUCH US!"

Konrad cocks his pistol and moves to have a better line of sight on the priest.

"I can only see one of you." Marcus says, as calmly a he can. Though he does take a bit of a step back, allowing Konrad the line of sight he needs if necessary.

Hoof seems frantic, waving the blade to keep them away. "We said to get out! Leave us alone! GO GO GO!"

"Who is this 'us'?" Marcus asks, carefully. "You were seen leaving the scene of a murder, we want to know if you know what happened?"

Konrad takes aim with his pistol. "Look, we aren't out to hurt you, but if you don't drop the blade and sit down I'm going to dig a trough through your head."

"No murder! Leave us alone! Get back! Don't come closer!"

"You saw nothing?" Marcus asks.

"We've got people saying they saw you at the scene.” snarls Klysis

Suddenly, Hoof springs to the hole in the roof, catches on with one hand and swings himself up onto the roof of the building. He seems to be very nimble.

"Sorry... the bastard was faster than I thought he'd be.” Konrad says, disappointed. “If he moves like that he'll be long gone by the time we even get outside."

Klysis shouts: "You're the Ranger! Get after him!" She moves under the hole and positions her hands to give Konrad a boost up.

Konrad shoves his pistol into it's holster and takes a boost from Klysis, he pulls himself onto the roof and sees Hoof fleeing. He takes quick aim and fires with the carbine, but Hoof darts behind a chimney, the shot knocking a chunk out of the bricks.

"Alexandra, could you go up there too? I fear I'm too heavy." Marcus says.

Seeing that he'd have to jump between roofs, Konrad shouts down: "Like hell! How about you jump from rooftop to rooftop?!"

Marcus sighs and says to Klysis. "Try giving me a hand up. We train in vaulting, so if I must run and jump along rooftops I can." Klysis boosts Marcus up, though he is forced to discard his shield so he can climb effectively.

Hoof darts from the cover of the chimney to jump to another roof top.

"Take care of that shield! And search that room for any hint of anything!" Marcus shouts as he runs after Hoof. Preparing to jump after him.

Alex takes a boost up from Klysis and runs past Marcus, jumping to the next roof after Hood. "Come on Marcus, you gotta not think about it and just do it!" She shouts back at him from over her shoulder while continuing to chase.

"I'm being outrun by a Golta." Marcus mutters under his breath as he runs and jumps. "The boys are never going to let me live this down."

Konrad lowers himself back down into Hoof's room, then starts loading his carbine. "While they're chasing him I think we should see if he left anything behind, and if we're lucky Hoof may circle back to collect his belongings."
Searching, they find very little in the room. Aside from the two loaves of bread, there is a small bag of coins that also contains what looks to be an Ivos style ring made of gold with red jewels in it.

"It looks like he has some Ivos jewellery, a very expensive-looking ring no less. There's some money as well, but not much..." Konrad puts the pouch with the coins and ring into his pocket, he stands up and looks around the room. "The potter had all of his money taken, and the jeweller's was emptied as well, but the only thing Hoof has is a few coins and a nice ring. He can't have spent all of the money, and I can't imagine a man dumping enough jewellery and coin to set him up for a few years, so he must have stashed it somewhere."

Klysis says, "If the other two can catch him we'll soon get out of him where he stashed the rest, don't worry about that."

"A sound beating should be enough to loosen his tongue, assuming they can catch him.” Konrad says, annoyed. “I don't think we'll find anything more here, it would probably be a waste of time to tear up the floorboards on the slim chance he stashed something. Do you think we should wait?"

"We should go out to the street, see if we can head them off." This said, Klysis rushes downstairs.

Hoof stamps his foot down onto a roof tile so it breaks off. He then grabs it and hurls it at Alexandra, sending it spinning through the air at her.. She darts to the side and the tile hurtles past her. Hoof continues running, springing down from the rooftop and through the window of a neighbouring building.

Marcus intends to follow onto the roof of the building, feeling rather pleased with himself for his agility only to find that there is no hole in this roof, leaving him stuck on top of the building, while Hoof is inside.

Grace dives after Hoof through the window, curling herself so she can roll off her back, onto her feet and keep up the chase. "Please stop running sir, we have not intention of hurting you," she calls to him in her soft, truthful voice. She finds herself in what seems to be an empty bedroom. As she stands and attempts to get her bearings, Hoof kicks off from the wall and jumps at her with a flying kick. She evades Hoof's first kick but as he lands he kicks out at her body, striking her in the stomach and knocking her back against a wall.

Hoof then flees out of the room. "Keep away! Don't touch us!"

Konrad and Klysis get outside in time to see Marcus on the roof of a nearby building, just before Marcus swings himself down to crash through a window into the building.

Marcus gets a few cuts on his legs from smashing through the glass. He lands in a hall way with several doors and stairs leading down at the end of it. Coming from the other direction, Marcus sees Hoof running down the corridor towards him.

That's just about enough! Marcus thinks to himself. Dashes towards Hoof, watching the doorways so that if Hoof turns into one he can follow. In his left hand, Marcus draws his dagger, point downwards. That way he can use the pommel to hit at Hoof if necessary and it won't hurt him, but he can also use the blade to block Hoof's dagger. He is using it defensively, so will avoid actually cutting the man. "Stop! Or you leave me no choice!" Marcus shouts.

Hoof jumps up and kicks off from the one wall, and then the other, and then springs over Marcus, landing behind him in the corridor and continuing to flee at full speed.

Marcus turns and throws the dagger, but he feels a pressure on his shoulders as Alexandra uses them to leapfrog over him, land on her feet in front of him a take off after Hoof. This causes Marcus to fall forward and fumble his knife.

Hoof moves quickly to get out of the way, but Alexandra still manages to catch him around the waist with her arms. Hoof thrashes around in a panic to try to get her off. "RELEASE US! DON'T TOUCH US! STOP TOUCHING US! LET GO!" He slashes at Alex's arm with his curved blade, which he is holding in a reverse grip.

Marcus runs forward, goes to the ground, and uses both hands to grab at the knife arm, to prevent it from harming Alexandra any further. "If you had just cooperated..." Marcus huffs, "we wouldn't have to be touching you at all! Be still!"

Marcus grabs hold of his arms, which seems to get Hoofs even more distressed. He suddenly pulls up both his legs and pushes off from the wall, driving backwards and slamming Marcus and Grace into the opposite wall.

"Please stop fighting us we just want to talk to you," Alexandra says softly in a calm voice, she doesn't seem to even notice that she is bleeding.

Tightening his grip, Marcus growls to Hoof. "Stop struggling, or I will hamstring you! I don't want to, but I will!" Marcus tries to wrench the knife from Hoof's hands.

"Marcus don't you dare do such a thing! He's just scared, we can do this without hurting him." Say Alexandra.

Marcus manages yet another confused look at Alexandra.

Marcus manages to force the weapon out of Hoof's grip. Konrad runs up the stairs and sees Marcus and Alexandra struggling with Hoof, who is wildly thrashing around. With Konrad's help, the three pin Hoof down until Klysis can get over to him and manacle his hands behind his back, restraining him. Hoof starts making weird, distressed wailing sound.

"Stop crying or I'll bloody well give you something to cry about!” Konrad shouts angrily. “I'd actually take him waving that knife around over this racket!"

"Why did you guys have to get so violent with him, scaring and hurting someone isn't a good way of getting answers from them you know!" Alexandra says, sounding disappointed, though she still doesn't know she's bleeding.

“Viole- you were going to threaten to shoot that Tendu woman.” Marcus says, “and she had offered no real provocation.”

“I'm just doing what you told me to do.”

“Yes, but, but... the situation was-”

Klysis pulls Hoof to his feet. "Got you, you little shit! I ought to let Konrad give you a beating for messing us around so much. Fleeing when you are ordered to stop is an insult to the city guards!" She glances at Alexandra's arm and looks worried. "You've bleeding! This scrawny bastard must have nicked you."

This interrupts Marcus' train of thought, and Alexandra looks down at her arm, surprised. "He did?" She blinks. “Well, Grace still agrees that you were too harsh on him.”

Marcus sighs. "He doesn't understand, and he wouldn't have stopped running. So we had to get him somehow. Though, I'd say it isn't really his fault, he is definitely a Priest of the West. We will need to question him about the murders, but what he is actually doing here is of vital importance as well. There is a good chance He,” Marcus emphasizes the H, “knows about Rhoadira, and may have plans for it."

"Let me get some bandages out of my pack for you Alexandra...” Konrad says. “I'd expect a bit more of a 'thank you' from someone who nearly got herself cut to ribbons. Besides, he's fine, if we'd properly hurt him he wouldn't be walking." He gives Hoof a sharp look, "Keep that in mind, if you try anything stupid I'll put a stop to it damned fast, and you'd better feel like answering our questions or you'll risk pissing me off."

"What is this Grace crap anyway?" Asks Klysis.

Hoof continues to wail, he seems very distressed.

"Grace is her gun... don't ask." Konrad says as he pulls the bandages from his pack and tosses them to Alexandra. He looks through a window to see if they attracted much attention. "Can we shut him up? Either gag him or I'll smack him with my carbine, but he needs to be quiet."

"We need to get him to some place secure” Marcus gestures to the wailing Hoof, “and quickly. Not only is the noise grating, but the Ivos think him responsible for the murders, whether he did them or not." He glances at Hoof. "Did you commit the murders? Did you kill three people?"

"You know what he's going to say, Marcus. Let's just put a bag over his head, give him a whack, and get the hell out of the Lows before trouble shows up."

"I don't know.” Marcus says, “I feel kind of sorry for him, and yes, it took three of us to pin him down, but I'm still having trouble believing he did that. Do you see claws, Konrad? Or a large enough weapon to make that damage you saw?"

"You don't have to carry a weapon around with you to own it, for all we know it could be stashed somewhere. But he doesn't have claws, which means that someone else has to be involved. All the more reason to get him back to safety and convince him to talk about it." Konrad sighs. "I honestly don't give a damn if you feel sorry for him. We know he was involved in the murder of the jeweller, Klysis and I found Ivos jewellery in his room, so... let's get out of here before people show up and cause us trouble, okay?"

"No, we failed! Too scared, we are a coward, we failed! Let us go! He will find us! He is watching!" Hoof declares as they move outside.

Outside, a small crowd is gathering wondering what is going on. Klysis says "Take him to the guard house, I'll take care of this situation, and compensate whoever owns that house we were just chasing around in."

As they take him away, Alexandra looks to Hoof. "I really wish you would calm down please, if you could do that for me I promise I wont let these brutes hurt you any more then they already have," she says, trying to calm him down.

Hoof seems frantic, shaking his head and talking in a panicked voice. "He will find us! We must hide! Too scared to fight, scared of the apostates! We will be punished, you will be punished too! Punished for your defiance. You must let us go!"

With talk of being punished, Marcus nearly snaps. "Punished? Me? If your King wins, then I'll be punished alright! I was part of the army that killed The Harlequin! So if anyone comes after us, I am to give them a fair bit of a fight!"

"Why can't he just calm down normally?” Alexandra laments. “I think he's just really scared, he sounded fine till you walked into his room Marcus."

"He's scared of something, but not us. He is scared of his God.” Marcus says, sounding more subdued.

"It looks like your insistence on staying has paid off, Marcus,” Konrad says, after thinking for a bit. “You might just have gotten me sucked into another fight with the West. My people back home are a little pissed that I got sent down here, but if the West is involved and we can do something... well I think they'd be itching to be here too." He sighs. “Alright Hoof, if you stop crying and wailing I promise I won't beat you, and we'll try to keep you from getting hurt. Though if you try to run I'll shoot you in a heartbeat."

Scene 5:

Hoof is eager to serve as a guide, and seems very confident that this will lead to his release, although Klysis has yet to confirm this bargain. With a rope tied to his manacles, Hoof can lead everyone through the streets to show where he claims the killers went.

He leads the group to an area with numerous shops and businesses, located close to one of the cities outter walls. There is quite a bit of city beyond the walls, as new houses and small settlements are always springing up, but the walls provide protection for the city proper.

"Here, here!" says Hoof "We saw them go here, three of them with bags and Ivos. We saw them! We led you here!"

The businesses on the street include a large blacksmith, a baker's, a large private residence, a shop selling furniture, a fletcher's shop and a shop selling fruit and vegetables.

"Which place in particular, do you know?" Konrad asks.

"Don't know,” Hoof says, “we saw them come down this street, didn't see them come out. Stopped watching. Should be in one of these buildings."

"I don't want to start searching at random,” Klysis says, “the residents might refuse to cooperate if we don't have a firm reason to search them, and while I can force the issue, I'd rather not. The property owner could take it as an insult and dad won't be happy at us stirring up a lot of trouble. More importantly, if we search one place, the murderers will probably realise we're onto them and do a runner. Do we have anything else to go on?"

Alexandra speaks up, “Grace wants to know if we can let that thing go now," she points at Hoof.

"He's not going anywhere until we we know that he's led us to the right place." Konrad says.

"Funny how you say that yet you took that whore on her word, bit of a double standard." Alexandra says, discontented.

"To be fair, Alexandra, the 'whore' wasn't a murder suspect who might be trying to misdirect us. I believe him," Marcus gestures at Hoof, "but we should be certain."

Alexandra addss, “At least he isn't charging us for information either!"

Klysis looks at Hoof. "He can stay exactly where he is. He is still guilty of petty theft, so if we don't catch the murderer he is going to have things to answer for."

"There Grace, I asked if they'd let him go, seems like a no.” Alexandra mutters to herself, or her gun, nobody is quite sure which at this point. “Well it's not my fault the captain is a Tolpish bitch, why should you care? He's from the West... oh just shut up about it for now." She goes back to talking to everyone else. "I say you give me a day and I can wipe this place out, heheh saves the time of having to search for them."

Marcus, Konrad, and Klysis look at her, dumbfounded, for a couple of seconds. Konrad is thinking that maybe Alexandra might be more danger than she's worth. Marcus is trying to figure out if she's joking. Finally, Klysis speaks. "You should be careful with the insults, Golta, you're pushing your luck. And I'll assume you are joking about blowing everything up."

“Back to the matter at hand...” Marcus says.

Konrad looks at the buildings along the street. "How about I have a look at the baker's shop, perhaps that stuff we found spread around the potter's house was flour? I'll go buy myself some bread and get a measure of the people there, then we can decide if it's worth searching the property."

"I could check the blacksmith, inspect their wares. See how good they are at making heavy axes, things like that." Marcus says. “Though personally I suspect the residence. It is large, two stories, and you could store plenty of goods in there.”

Klysis nods. "Alright, try not to seem suspicious. And Konrad, get me a pasty." She hands him a few coins. "A meat one."

Hoof says: "We want pasty."

"You can fuck off you thieving little shit, that's what you can do." Klysis growls.

Marcus speaks to Hoof. "You know, for a Priest of a power hungry killer, you're beginning to grow on me. I mean, you're oddly likeable."

Hoof looks at Marcus. "Can we have a pasty... or a cake? Hungry."

Marcus sighs and tosses Konrad a few coins. Konrad gives Marcus a look of disbelief, then shrugs. “It's your money, Marcus.”

They move off to investigate their respective marks, and Alexandra comes with Marcus. "I will go with you to the blacksmith, I could use some things from one."

Konrad walks into the Bakery, passing under a sign that reads "Gorbalie's Bakery"

Inside is a pleasant smell of fresh baked bread, with shelves of loaves and tasty looking cakes. There is a thin layer of flower all over the floor and counter. Behind the counter is a smiling, middle aged Zadakine woman. "Hello there! Welcome to Gorbalie's (that's me!) bakery. What can we get for you?"

"I suppose I'll have two pasties, maybe two sausage rolls if you've got any. This seems like a nice street, quiet." Konrad says.

Gorbalie nods. "Oh yes, it's a bit out of the way but we get more and more business all the time. I think word's getting out that it's a nice area." She calls to another Zadakine woman (who looks younger) who takes Konrad's order and hurries to the back. "Do you live near here?" asks Gorbalie.

"No, I'm from Jaydia, here on business. I couldn't even tell you what part of the city I'm staying in to be honest, I've spent most of my time here out in the bush. I've noticed that there's a lot of Zadakine in Port Yorgerson though, good business opportunities I suppose." Konrad looks around (trying not to seem suspicious), looking for anything besides the flour that sticks out.

There are lots of cakes, pies, buns and all sorts of other bakery related food items. One of the staff brings out Konrad's order, which Gorbalie wraps in a bag and hands to him. Konrad hands her the money for the two pasties and two sausage rolls. "Thank you! Have a great day!"

"You too." Konard leaves, returning to Klysis.

Marcus walks over to the blacksmith. The sign outside says "The Enlightened Hammer Moves Metal Closer To Divine Perfection." Inside are racks of metal tools and objects, making it quite cramped to move through. The counter is manned by a rather dark green Tsung-Dao. He nods in acknowledgement as Marcus enters.

Marcus nods back to the Tsung-Dao and immediately begins looking at some of the tools and equipment, checking their metal quality and composition, trying to determine two things: 1) the skill of the smith and 2) the quality of the metal. Those two things would indicate if the smith was capable of producing heavy weapons like axes, and if the metal was capable of being made into heavy weapons. There are no weapons on the shelves. After a cursory inspection, the quality seems good, and it is clear that the blacksmith could make effective weapons if he wanted.

Alexandra walks in, goes up to the blacksmith, and asks "Do you sell different types of powder?"

The Blacksmith shop owner raises an eyebrow at Alexandra. "Powder? What kind of powder?"

"What powder does not matter, do you have any or no?" Alexandra asks.

"You mean Pyronite?" Marcus asks Alexandra. He is satisfied with the quality of the equipment and metal, so, once Alexandra and the Smith are done, he asks "Do you have any lead or metal pellets? As if for bullets, for a sling I mean, not a gun?" Marcus produces one from his sling pouch.

The Blacksmith says to Marcus, "Sling shot is no problem. Tell me how many you need and I should have them ready for you by tomorrow.”

"Six." Marcus pays the man now.

Then the smith gives Alexandra an annoyed look. “I don't know what you're talking about with this 'powder'. What kind of idiot would store pyronite in a smithy? As for easily shaped metal... you come here to get metal shaped, this is a blacksmith! If you've got your own forge what are you bothering me for?"

Alexandra's eye twitches. "Just some thin metal I can buy, do you have any or no?"

"I suppose so." The blacksmith says to Alexandra and gets some metal bars and puts them on the counter. They are quite big and heavy and look to be made of iron. He then scoops the money from the counter. He says to Marcus "That's just right, come back tomorrow, I will have them waiting for you."

Alexandra looks at the iron bars. "Yeah, no those won't do, sorry shouldn't of expected a Tolpish to sell what I needed. I'm going to get Vakari to write a really bad review about this place."

"You have a shameful and rude manner, get out of my shop!" The Smith shouts at Alexandra, who storms out muttering expletives to herself and Grace.

Marcus sighs, then examines the iron. "Hmm, I know some Brorg-Dao who have been looking for new weapons and some upkeep on their remaining ones. It is a pity they prefer larger, heavier weapons like big axes, I've never understood that, and Tsung-Dao smiths are best known for their skill at making fine, sharp, blades."

"I must make what people need and what they request. Most of it isn't weapons, tools mainly, people always need tools. Everyone is always building around here." The smith shrugs.

Marcus nods. "Building is good. There seems to be a lot of it going on around here, and some of it quite grand, like that house there." Marcus gestures towards the residence. "Business must be booming."

"I do well enough" says the Blacksmith. He doesn't comment on the house.

"That is good to know. Thank you for your service." He leaves.

Konrad gets back to Klysis. "The bakery is run by a couple of Zadakine women, they seemed nice enough, the owner was curious about where I lived in the city as well. I'd chalk that up to harmless banter, but everything was covered in white flour. Where did Marcus and Alexandra go?" He hands one of the pasties to Klysis.

"They're checking the blacksmith.” Klysis says as she takes the pasty. “So you think the Bakery is suspicious? I'll trust your judgement on this."

"I'm not really sure.” Konrad says, weighing his thoughts. “I think that anyone who spent any time in the baker's would probably get flour on themselves, I probably tracked some out myself. We should see what Marcus has to say about the smith before we do anything."

Konrad does indeed have some flower on him. Klysis dusts him off and takes a quick bite of her pasty.

"Food for us?" says Hoof "Give us food."

Konrad sighs and hands the man the last pasty. Hoof gobbles it up as soon as he gets his manacled hands on it, nearly eating some of the wrapping as he shoves it under his face veil. Konrad makes a disgusted sound and starts on one of his sausage rolls.

By the time Marcus gets out of the shop Alexandra is standing facing it, a little distance off, and muttering to herself. "Hmm if I place some there there and... there," she says as she points at different places around the base of the shop.

Marcus leaves and immediately sees Alexandra doing what she is doing. "No."

Alexandra acts cheerfully innocent. "What do you mean, no? I wasn't going to do nothing, you're paranoid."

"Of course not, Alex.” He says as he walks with her back to Klysis. “We're going to talk about appropriate levels or response one of these days, just so you know.”

“Well?” Klysis asks as they reach her.

"Well, of the two possibilities we've looked at... The smithy is big enough for something to be hidden in it, though the front of the store is cluttered. The counter was run by a green Tsung-Dao. He says that he mostly makes tools for building, though most of the building occurs outside the walls now, I suspect... and he claims he does well enough. The metal could be used for making weapons, and I think the smith has the skill. Motive? I don't know. Tsung-Dao do have claws, but you said that the bodies had been partially eaten? I don't really see that as... likely with a Tsung-Dao... but there could be Brorg-Dao in there. Brorg-Dao might get along better with a Tsung-Dao, who isn't a... fur skin. Brorg-Dao like smithing, yes?" Marcus shrugs. “Not exactly much to go on, though."

Klysis laughs. "You do realise that the killer could buy weapons anywhere? You don't have to make your own weapons to do murders. Being a blacksmith with the ability to make weapons does not connect you to murder. And as for claws, on a Tsung-Dao? Please! Stubby little child's claws. They couldn't scratch butter. You insult people with REAL claws!" She grins and holds up a hand. Deadly sharp claws spring out from her fingers and thumb, each about an inch long. "Now THESE are claws!"

“Point, uh, point taken, Klysis.” Marcus nods. “What about the bakery?”

"Klysis is right Marcus; I don't know how to make a gun, but I've lost count of how many people I've sent to the Protector.” Konrad agrees. “Beyond the man being green and knowing how to make a good, sharp axe we really don't have anything that links him to the crimes. Maybe he is involved, but I doubt the captain is going to let us search people based on suspicion alone. As for the bakery, Marcus, flour. Flour everywhere.”

“Ah. Well, I was simply laying out the case. And I doubt that we'll find Brorg-Dao at a grocery.” Marcus glances at Klysis' claws, then teeth. “Not likely to be big fan of veg. The smith didn't seem to have any powder at all, not that I could see. And there was certainly no flour at the smith, and whoever works there probably goes to the bakery from time to time. Someone tracking flour all the way to the victim's house would have to be spending considerable time in the bakery. Ergo we search there."

"That sounds all fine and dandy,” Alexandra says, “but what can I do? Me in an enclosed building sounds like a bad idea if things go south. Grace does not handle enclosed spaces well!"

"That is a good point.” Marcus nods. “Not to mention that if fighting does start, you'd probably not want to fire the grenade launcher because that woman who was abducted may still be alive. You have a pistol, though, and maybe you could load Grace with something else?" Marcus takes Hoof's knife out. "And maybe keep this with you until this situation is over with."

Alexandra rolls her eyes. "Yeah because I'd hate to kill some Tolpish I don't know, but you're right, I guess I can use my pistol and use Grace like the blunderbuss she once was, I have my own knife, maybe give it to that thing,” she gestures to Hoof, “and let him help." She reaches her hand down the barrel, shakes Grace a little and twists her hand then pulls out the special grenade she had loaded, then drops it into her bag and proceeds to load Grace with pellets.

"No, the captain ought to keep him shackled until we're satisfied, and I don't trust him enough to give him anything that he could use as a weapon.” He turns to Klysis. “Actually captain, I'll have to speak to you about him later... something just sprung to mind, but it can wait a bit."

Klysis nods.

Alexandra continues on, oblivious. "I doubt captain lady would let us anyway. I don't trust it much either but he could be usefully, it's called taking a risk." She smiles cheerfully, "You know like you boys do all the time in staying around me and trusting me to not blow you up! Talk about fool hardy! You guys must be nuts!"

This really doesn't help soothe Konrad's growing concerns about Alexandra's mental state. "There's a difference between a calculated risk and a needless risk, and I'd say giving a weapon to an assassin from the West is just plain stupid.” He finally says. “Stark raving mad, actually.”

"Oh I'm not crazy, right Grace?" She smiles. "See? She agrees with me!" she tilts head to the side and giggles a little.

"Alright then, lets turn this place over." Klysis says, getting everyone back on track. She looks to Hoof. "You're coming with me, so don't get any smart ideas."

"Boys, captain, and whatever that is," Alexandra points to Hoof, "shouldn't we come up with a plan of attack just in case we need to fight? I'm sure we can't go in and start demanding they give themselves up." She looks at Marcus, "It never works."

"If they want to start trouble with us then they're going to be sorry.” Klysis says, determinedly. “They've got nowhere to escape in there." Bringing Hoof along by the rope tied to his manacles, she strides up to the shop and through the door.

Scene 7:

“Oh,” Marcus turns back, “what about Hoof?"

"Him?” Klysis gives it a thought. “Well, he is still guilty of theft... I'm too young to have fought in the war, and I don't really know much about it. I was born over here anyway... so its far off to me. But I dunno, a lot would say being an agent of the West is guilt enough. I thought you lot might be more hard on him... considering that."

"I'm no fan of the West,” Alexandra says. “I wasn't in the war, I was still a young girl at the time, but my mother was killed in the war. But Grace thinks we should let him go for he's been helpful and straight with us."

"I don't really know.” Marcus says. “He might be a menace, but he has been helpful. That and... those from the West are... they are different. Like the most frightened, downtrodden slaves there are. Just seeing what they are like forced me to be kinder to my family slaves. He just doesn't... he has no choice. It seems hard to really blame him." He grits his teeth. "The Fourteen, though, they know what they are doing and chose to be what they are. Damn them."

"Captain, I'd like to talk to you about Hoof... in private please." Konrad says, and Klysis steps over to talk with him, leaving Marcus and Alexandra to their discussion of the war. "Hoof has been helpful, I'll give him that much, but he just doesn't sit well with me. I'm not sure how involved the Brorg-Dao were in the Nameless War, and I you're too young to have fought that one regardless, but the West is as close to pure evil as you can get. So what I'm getting at it this; Hoof admitted that he's a servant of the West, he still prays to the King in the West like he's a god, and he told us that he's been trained as an assassin. He may have got cold feet when it came time to go to Vellastrom, but who's to say he won't grow some stones? He might be afraid of being punished for failing, but what if he thinks he can win back favour by causing mayhem here?” Konrad lets this sink in. "I wouldn't treat him like a common thief, and I bloody well wouldn't just let him go. The man could be very dangerous, so don't you think it's safer for everyone if you just kill him? I'm not one for casually executing people, but I think it would be foolish not to in this case. Don't think I'm telling you what to do, just think about this before you make any decision, and let's not tell my comrades over there that I told you this, I don't think they'd approve..."

"Could you so easily pass up such power if offered?” Alexandra asks Marcus. “The only one of the Fourteen I know of was the Machine, and he was scary.”

"I don't know much about The Machine. But some of them were very powerful, that is true. The Harlequin was a pain, but strategically and tactically no match for my commanding officer Dominius. I can't match that man either, and I'm not a tactical slouch. As for power. I suppose it is understandable to some degree. But they don't have anything to offer me. I'm already powerful enough, personally, and unless they can bring the dead back to life..." Marcus shrugs. "They'd have nothing to offer me."

"Well aren't you the strong willed one," says Alexandra "I dunno what I would do... depends on the deal." Alexandra says.

Konrad walks over grinning, "I know I couldn't be bought. I'm still young...ish, I've money, men at command, and I've yet to fuck up my good looks. What else could a man ask for?” He pretends to think for a moment. “Hmm... on second thought they could probably threaten to kill me; the pleasures the living enjoy aren't much fun when you're dead." He laughs again. "You're buying the first round Marcus, I've lost count of how many times I've saved you're hide."

"I'll buy the first round, as you insist.” Marcus grumbles. “It isn't as if I distracted that one," he gestures in the dead Brorg-Dao's direction, "when he was about to stick an axe in your pretty face."

"And I thank you for that,” Konrad nods, “but you've yet to buy me a drink for the other times I've saved your arse, or the times you've been a pain in my arse. You do remember the beach, right? I'm not letting you live that down."

"What beach? We haven't been on a beach?" Marcus grins. "Yeah, the beach was a mess. But it isn't as if I had other options. And that time it was Alex who saved me. And you do remember that Al-Saigal I stabbed in the throat for you?"

“Hey!" says Alex "Me and Grace saved both your asses on the beach that day, I think we deserve a couple of free drinks for that!"

"I know that Alex saved us on the beach, thank you Alex,” Konrad nods at Alexandra before focusing back on Marcus, “but I told you not to start ordering the Brorg-Dao around, I told you not to bother them about the legality of what they were doing, and I insisted that you shouldn't mention us working for Baldamson. And what do you do? You say we represent Baldamson, you tell them that looting is highly illegal, and you demand that they leave the area at once. I guess you nobles aren't used to dealing with us shady plebs, are you?"

"Shady plebs... hmm. I like that.” Marcus chuckles. “I'm going to be shelling out a lot for you all. Though I suppose you're right. I'm more of a military person, I don't always interact well with civvies.”

"Has that shouting orders ever worked for you since you got here?" Alexandra asks Marcus. "Maybe you should learn people don't always give a shit who you are."

"It isn't because I think people care about who I am.” Marcus says, after giving it some thought. “I don't have much other experience of resolving conflicts with people in other ways. Though it did work for that crowd a little bit."

“Well, I'll have you know that most don't like being told what to do and you could get yourself killed, don't think you're above people because your some big stuff back home." She laughs a little, "we are just the most fucked up group of misfits aren't we? A guy in heavy armour who bosses people around that don't care, an orange guy dressed like a Golta who always talks about the past and how much of a bad ass he's been and then me and Grace are the normal ones.”

Marcus shrugs. "I'm used to command, what can I say? It try to listen though. I do have some basic social skills, at least, and I try to be polite. I only start shouting when I need to make an impact. It gives them an opportunity to surrender."

"I still have what it takes Alexandra, I've been at this for nearly a quarter century, almost as long as you've been alive." Konrad says, annoyed. Then he pauses, like he is remembering something. "Marcus, could I have a word with you when we get back to the tavern? My father-in-law is going to be looking at a deal to supply refined gold to the Ivos Empire over the next few years, we're dealing with a certain nobleman and I'd like some advice on dealing with him. He's a miserable bastard to have as an intermediary."

"Sure. I know about shipping and trade deals.” Marcus grins. “As well as the idiots involved."

"That sounds all rather boring to me!"Alexandra chirps, chipper as usual all the sudden.

Klysis comes over, looking troubled. "I need to think things over about... what to do..." She glances at Konrad, "We'll leave tomorrow to scout out this village. Make yourselves ready for then."

"Don't make any final decisions until after we've scouted the village, for all we know the situation could change somewhat.” Konrad says. “We'll be at the tavern, like usual."

Marcus nods. "Excellent. That will allow me to pick up the sling pellets. Pity I don't have time to modify the pila and add some weight to it, but I'll have time to fix it at least."

The three of them head back to the Cabbage and Onion. Zadakine love an exciting night life, so the cabbage and onion is usually has an fun atmoshere after dark. Eltim keeps Marcus and Konrad well furnished with drinks and three of her sons are playing musical instruments in one corner. The air is heavy with Yowboo smoke.

Alex, on the other hand, heads back upstairs, not being such a fan of loud music, smoke, and drinking.

Marcus has several letters he is busy writing splayed out in front of him. "So Konrad, I know you don't want to talk business, so what's really on your mind. Let's hear it."

Konrad sighs "Well, alright I'll get right too it. It's just that I'm a harsh bastard and a damned realist.” Konrad begins. "The short and sweet is that I told Klysis that Hoof could be far more dangerous than you lot give him credit for, and I told her that she might want to ere on the side of caution and kill the man. You lot seem to think that he's harmless, or at least pathetic enough that he can just be let loose, but I'd have expected you of all people to see just how stupid that is! The man told us that he's a priest of the West, that he was trained as an assassin, and you've seen yourself what the man is capable of when he nearly escaped us this morning. I don't expect that he's serving the West right now, we likely wouldn't have found him if he was, and we definitely wouldn't have taken him alive, but what if he tries to win back favour with his masters? Then we've got a man who can run and jump like the blazes, is probably tougher than boot leather when he wants to be, and is trained in killing important targets in enemy territory. Imagine if that sort of man was let loose on civilians, it would be a nightmare."

"I see." Marcus stops his writing to listen. "You do know that I'd have preferred if you had given Alexandra and I a chance to have some input with Klysis before telling her that? Ignoring that, though, I see your point."

"I would have told you if Alexandra wasn't there, given how she took a shine to Hoof, I wasn't sure what sort of reaction I'd have gotten out of her. More than anything I wanted Klysis to treat that man as a serious threat, the last thing we want is the Watch underestimating him and something happening.”

Marcus sighs. "I'll grant you that, he'll almost certainly go back to petty thievery immediately, and probably be a bit of a thorn in the Watch's side. But... you're right, I did see what he was capable of this morning. As is, here is my impression of him: gore makes him sick and he can't take a life even to escape. You remember when he kicked Alexandra and ran? Had he been truly dangerous, he would have knifed her when she was down. If he had done so, he might have escaped. Furthermore, he knows he will never be forgiven for his lapses. He is more interested in hiding. And even when he thought that The King in the West himself was attacking Alexandra, he cowered and the furthest he went to gain favour was denounce us and descend into feeble prayer. Surely he would have tried to attack us if he thought that would appease his master? He was manacled, true, but he almost escaped them just to start praying.” Marcus thinks for a moment. “As for his being an assassin... and this is conjecture... I think he is a throwaway, not important in the least. He was trained to go after that Nymus, and only that Nymus. Something I doubt his handler's expected him to survive."

"As far as I'm concerned, you must have let vasps eat your brain.” Konrad says flatly. “You're one of Dominius' men, and I know you've seen combat against the West just as I have. Maybe it's because we Golta lost nearly half of our homeland, but I have no sympathy for that wretched little bastard; but for the grace of the White Mother we'd all be like Hoof, if we were lucky enough to keep our lives."

"I'm trying to look at this the same way I'd look at anything. And I don't feel comfortable killing a man for what he might do just because what he is." Marcus grunts. "If I did that... well, you know a Junlock slave killed my wife, yes? He was one of my most trusted slaves, but he turned on me simply because of a deeply engrained cultural attitude. Should I sell all the Junlocks I own? Just because their culture?" Marcus shrugs. "Though I am surprised at the popularity of Junlock slaves."

"No offence Marcus, but you know what I think of owning slaves. Nothing good ever comes of it.” Konrad continues. "That's a bad comparison anyway; no one wants to be a slave, helpless to the whims and demands of someone else. It's awful that Illia got killed, but owning people is just asking for trouble like that if you ask me. You can't compare a Junlock slave to a man from the West. Junlocks like their freedom and hate being imprisoned, let alone enslaved, but the West is just evil, and everything from the West is dangerous. I don't know about you, but I still have nightmares, and I'll never forget the shit I went through. That man is from the West, and that makes him one of the enemy, he's dangerous, and he can't be trusted." Konrad rubs his eyes in frustration, "I'd rather kill an innocent man from the West than even consider risking the life of someone from the civilized world. We'll talk to Alexandra after, she's going to agree with you, and the two of you are going to talk Klysis out of it, I can tell the captain isn't comfortable with this either, but at least if he does something stupid no one can blame me.

"Really? Well, I suppose I shouldn't expect a Golta to understand. You might even be right; maybe the Junlocks having are right to want to slit my throat, Shaledemos knows that I wouldn't have been half so concerned if Averix had tore my throat out!” Marcus raises his voice just a little bit. “But he didn't. The comparison is warranted because, according to you, I shouldn't trust Junlocks. They love their freedom too much. And strange, isn't it, how you side with the slaves in that case, but then turn around and want to have one killed because he might act according to his slavery. What do you think that snivelling thing is? If you have pity for the Junlocks in my household, but none for him? I don't understand you." Marcus groans."But as much as I hate to admit it... you're right. There is a chance he'll come back to haunt... me. If he survives. I doubt Alexandra will care, and you're absolved of blame, if Hoof kills someone. I think that chance is miniscule, but it is still there. It's a damn mess. And fine. I'll admit that much to Klysis. That yes, there is a chance. I think a small chance, but a chance."

“Let me straighten this out;" says Konrad "the majority of Junlocks aren't trying to take over the world, while the West is, which means that I like Junlocks a lot more. I don't expect you Ivos to understand. I've got enough dealing with Alexandra's craziness, without you wanting to set another looney loose."

Marcus smiles "At least she's our looney."

Scene 9:

Alex continues to work her way between the thick branches of the tree tops.

Eventually she reaches the edge of the tree line, where a clearing has been cut amongst the forest. Below her she can see five log cabins of various sizes. The largest one has a glow coming from inside.

The occasional figure can be seen walking around in the darkness around the cabins and the surrounding trees.

Konrad advances through the forest. He notices the large shapes of figures, though in the darkness he can't pick out any details of them. He would guess from their outline they are Brorg-Dao. He keeps low to the ground, moving slowly. He tries to count how many lookouts are guarding the approach to the village from this direction, he also tries to guess how many people might live in the village. As he gets closer he keeps an eye out for somewhere to keep captives, maybe a pen, or one of the huts.

Alex moves around the village. There are cleared areas behind the houses that seem to be for to grow crops and to graze gimbits. Seeing as there is not much else she can do she tries to spot Konrad, before resolving to head back.

Konrad manages to evade the figures patrolling the jungle and get closer. There are a couple of log cabins that don't look to have any windows. He would need to get closer to tell if either contains any captives. Konrad has a hard time judging how many people would live in a village like this, as it would depend on their level of comfort. Also there could be more houses in other similar clearings nearby.

He moves closer still, trying to get a better look at the cabins without windows, as those are likely to be the best places to keep captives. But as the mead hall is nearer, he moves to check that out first. Konrad darts across the open and flattens himself against the wall of the cabin. Looking in through the crack between the shutters on a window, he can see a scene of drinking and eating.

Brorg-Dao, mostly men with a few women, are sat at several long tables. Younger Brorg-Dao girls and women are serving horns of ale and plates of roast meat to those present. A large Brorg-Dao at one end of one of the tables is sat in a large, decoratively carved chair. "There are a lot of ways you can get killed out there." He says, loudly. "Norgok could have slipped down a slope and broken his neck, something could have eaten him, bandits... all sorts of things... could just be late, lazy bastard busy drinking in town."

"But what if the city people got him?" Asks one of the Brorg-Dao at his table. "What if he talks?"

"What?!" The father roars and throws a lump of meat at the one who spoke. It misses, sailing over the target's head and landing on the straw covered ground where several grobla's start fighting over it. "You think your brother would betray us? No...no chance of that."

"There's enough now to pay, isn't there?" Asks another warrior.

"Aye, you've done good work my sons, good work. The Brotherhood will be paid. Speaking of which... wives, bring us more spores!"

Several female Brorg-Dao bring out plates piled with a blue powder. The Brorg-Dao snort small amounts of it through small wooden tubes.

"Let me tell you of my victory!" Says one of them, standing up. "I bested two fierce fur skins, came at me with blade and tusks! A lesser warrior would have fled!"

Konrad remains unseen, for now so he looks around for patrolling Brorg-Dao, if he can check the windowless cabins for captives he will, at the very least listening at the doors. Suddenly, Konrad has to duck down as a couple of guards walk by, both armoured in chainmail and helmets and carrying axes and shields. Once they have passed, Konrad moves over one of the windowless cabins. There are two Brorg-Dao warriors stood guarding the door. It looks like it's some kind of shed.

Konrad takes note of the guarded cabin, he figures if they are keeping captives that would be the place. He backs off, intending to move away to the rest of the group waiting in the tree line. Just as he starts moving away, though Konrad notices a figure going over to the other windowless cabin from the drinking hall. The single guard on this building nods to them, opens the door and lets them inside. This causes Konrad to stop for a moment to study the cabin that the Brorg-Dao went into, before he carefully makes his way behind it and presses his ear to the wall. Listening against the side of the building, he can hear sound from inside, but is unable to make out who or how many are speaking.

Then Konrad hears a, muffled, female voice with a Brorg-Dao accent speaking. "They'll come and collect you tomorrow." She says.

Judging from what he heard Konrad suspects that the Brorg-Dao are either buying the spores from the Yellow Brotherhood, paying to keep them away, or both, and he thinks they're going to add the Ivos girl to their next payment. He looks back to where the others are waiting. I'll need their help, he thinks, we can't wait for the attack tomorrow.

Meanwhile, Alex has still not caught sight of Konrad and is just thinking about going back to the others. She notices a group of three figures moving in her direction on ground level. She goes very still, confident in her hiding spot. I don't know where they're going, she thinks, I can't tell, I hope they're not going towards the captain. Once they disappear she begins to make her way back to the others. However, it is dark and she loses her footing for just one instant. She falls against another branch, so her body is bent over it. The impact knocks the wind out of her. The sling holding Grace snaps and the gun tumbles away into the darkness.

Alex swears in her head as she sees Grace fall, she works herself up to a sitting position then starts working her way down quietly and slowly to look for her gun. Alexandra's Golta magic gives her a good sense of the position of her weapon, even through the darkness. She climbs down the tree and starts feeling her way through the under growth.

Suddenly, she hears a roar from behind her. "Trespasser! Stop right there!"

Konrad's ears perk up when he hears the lookout shouting. "That idiot got spotted, so much for surprise." He fits the cutlass to his carbine and cocks the weapon.

That moment, the Brorg-Dao woman exits the building Konrad is hiding next to. The guard says "Get inside" to her, pointing to the main hall. She sets off running in that direction. The guard begins to move off, but then looks back into the shed and decides to remain where he is.

The barking of groblas can be heard, along with a lot of commotion. Figures are running around in the darkness in the direction of the shouting.

Marcus and Klysis can also hear the commotion. Klysis narrows her eyes and twirls one of her axes around her hand. "This is going to get messy. Think you can handle that, Marcus?"

"Certainly. Ridiculous odds is what I do. I'll have a hard time if they bring groblas, though. I hate killing those things, it makes me feel bad." Marcus chuckles. "Lets go."

"I never feel bad killing anything that can fit my whole head in its mouth!"

The two of them head off through the jungle, Klysis stays low and moves slowly to try to avoid being seen. Marcus following her, moving as stealthily as he can.

Konrad hesitates. He could go in the direction of the shouting, but decides against it. This is dangerous, he thinks, but here goes nothing... he slings his carbine and draws his dagger. He creeps up behind the larger man, making sure that he isn't spotted by the other Brorg-Dao rushing off to the forest. When he gets closer he springs up and wraps his arm tight around the man's throat, simultaneously driving the knife into his back several times, going for the artery alongside his spine.

The force of the jabs is enough to pierce the touch scales of the Brorg-dao's back. Spurts of warm blood spray over Konrad's forearm until the warrior goes limp, dropping his axe to the ground. Konrad looks around quickly and does not think he has been noticed. He pokes his head into the shed.

In the shed, chained to a stake in the ground, is an young Ivos woman, two Zadakine women and a Darsai woman. There is bowl with vegetables in it that they were eating when Konrad enters, startling them as he does so. Konrad grabs the Brorg-Dao and hauls him into a corner, taking the keys from his belt.

Konrad begins unlocking the manacles. "I'm Konrad, I'm a mercenary working for the Yorgerson Watch, and you're all bloody lucky I decided to snoop around tonight, otherwise you'd be going off with the Yellow Brotherhood." Once he has the manacles undone he open the door a crack and crouches down with his carbine propped next to him and his pistol in hand, "I hope you're ready to run if we have to, ideally I'd have you stay here until the fighting is done, but we mightn't have that luxury. If one of those bastards comes here I'll have to kill him and we'll all have to leg it out of the village before they all come after us. So while I figure out what we're doing, how about you tell me about your hosts?"

The Darsai woman speaks to Konrad. "They're all crazy, they live out here thinking the people in the city are out to get them. They only captured young women to trade to the Brotherhood, they murder everyone else they come across. They killed my husband when we were travelling through the woods taking lumber out to some settlers, and brought me here. I think...." She looks around and seems a bit distressed "I think they might have eaten his body."

One of the Zadakine women says: "They keep the money they've stolen in that building there." She points to the other windowless building. One of the guards has moved away to investigate the commotion. "There is only one guard there now, if you can kill him we can take some of the cash with us."

"Are you insane?" Asks the Darsai woman. "We need to go! We should get out of here while they're distracted."

"And let those bastards keep our hard earned money? After all they've done? I want to make them suffer!” The Zadakine insists. “Konrad, you said you're a mercenary, surely you want to collect a bonus for yourself while we're here? I guarantee there is more cash in there than you are getting paid and most of the owners are dead."

"Well that's why I like you Zadakine.” Konrad says, “but I've already got more money than I want, I'm just out here because I'm stupid, reckless, and pretending I'm young." Konrad eyes the guard. "Although if I can sneak up on that bastard and put a knife in him quiet-like... one less drug-addled thug should make our work here easier, and it's not like I can sneak you girls past him if he's standing there..." He gestures to the women to follow him really quietly.

Konrad sneaks up behind the guard on the shed. Konrad is tall and thin, so is slightly taller than the guard, though far less bulky. He catches hold of the guard from behind, stabbing him in the back.

The guard struggles and attempts to call for help, however the Darsai woman with Konrad grabs the guard's snout with her hands, clamping it shut until he goes limp.

With him dead, the Zadakine woman who spoke before, takes the keys from the dead guard and opens the shed. Within are large boxes with rope handles on the sides. "Quick! Grab some!" says the Zadakine, taking hold of the handle on one side of a box.

Konrad drags the corpse inside the second shed, thanking the Darsai.

He scowls at the Zadakine and looks at the boxes, "Come on, we'll break our necks trying to carry all of this through a jungle at night." Konrad pokes at a box of jewellery and pulls out a silver ring. "Though... I'm sure you could talk the Watch into letting you keep a portion of this, some of it is yours after all. If you don't trust them then I suggest you hide what you can on your person, but don't expect me to be able to do anything if they find it on you and lock you up for theft or something silly like that."

The Zadakine responds quickly. "I don't need the money! I'm taking revenge here! If it makes you feel better we can hand it to the Watch, or throw it in the jungle. This is retribution on these savages. I want them to pay for what they've done. Now they know they're discovered they'll have emptied this place by morning. This is our chance to strike at them! You're a big lad, you could easily carry one and we we could carry one between two of us, no problem."

Konrad does recall from dealing with Zadakine that when they talk about 'paying for crimes' they mean it in a literal sense, and view justice as something that can be settled financially. They also hold grudges very firmly until they feel they have been compensated.

The Darsai woman says "Zadakine are all bloody mad!"

The Zadakine narrows her eyes. "And I just thought, tomorrow the Yellow Brotherhood are going to be coming expecting payment from these guys. We just need to hide a load of their money in the jungle till after that. Do you know what the Yellow Brotherhood do to people they think are trying to cheat them?" She grins, evilly.

"We're going to wipe the bastards out if we can, at least that's what I figure the Watch wants to do. If you're willing to risk your life hiding this stuff that's your choice, but I'm not going to put the others in danger if they don't want to go along with this. You make perfect sense, but I don't want any more bad memories to keep me up at night." Konrad looks out at the village again, trying to spot the lookouts and anyone standing guard in the village itself. "I don't know anything about the Yellow Brotherhood, besides them being yellow, but these Brorg-Dao will be just as dead regardless of who kills them and how long it takes."

"They'll be gone by morning now they know they've been found.” The Zadakine explains. “Unless the guards are here right now, they'll escape unless we do something. They're more than capable of building a new village somewhere else. These people live in the outback. If we take their money there will be no where they can hide on Rhoadira. Not with the Brotherhood after them. I can't carry enough myself to make a difference. If we want to hurt them I'll need all of you to help. We can carry the boxes out about half an hour and them just throw them into the undergrowth. The outback is huge, no one will ever find them, certainly not by tomorrow."

Konrad pokes his head outisde and can't see any guards near the shed they are in, he reckons if they make a run for it now they have a good chance of getting away unnoticed.

"You heard Konrad, lets just go and let the guards deal with them!" Says the Darsai woman, "you're going to get us all killed trying to settle scores."

"Damn it..." Konrad looks at the Darsai, "I'm sorry to say this, but she's got a point. We've only come with a scouting party, without knowing how many are in the village we don't know if we're outnumbered, so the captain will probably want to fall back and wait for our reinforcements to arrive. If that happens they'll grab their payment for the Brotherhood, go deeper into the jungle and start killing again, only the next time they'll be harder to find and stop. If we can hide this crap, even just dump it out of sight, then they can't hide in the outback. So, who's in?"

The Darsai woman rolls her eyes. "Fine, lets just get going then. Its always bloody money with you Zados, one way or another!" The women pick up two boxes between them. "Alright," says the Darsai "What now?"

"Can any of you fight?” Konrad asks, and they shake their heads. “Just in case...” He gives his dagger to the Darsai, she showed some real initiative when she helped kill the guard. "I guess it doesn't matter which direction we go in, as long as it's away from the village." With that Konrad hefts a box onto his shoulder and leads the way to the edge of the village, keeping an eye out for any Brorg-Dao hiding in the darkness. He has a compass with his kit, good eyesight in the dark, and a good sense of direction, they won't get lost easily.

Alexandra makes a dash for Grace, but is unable to reach the gun before several large figures come bearing down on her, rushing through the under growth. She can't make them out well in the darkness, but they are coming at her very quickly, roaring with rage. She runs towards the nearest tree, but a thrown axe pins into the tree right next to her head, and the pursuers are getting closer.

Alexandra drops down from the tree and draws her pistol as she flees. One of the Brorg-Dao chasing her yells at her; "Get back here or we'll set the Grobla's on you!" She can hear barking, and also light from torches carried by approaching warriors.

"Sod that!" She yells, pulls out a grenade from her pocket, whacks the base hard on a tree to activate the mechanism inside then turns and throws it behind her at a tree near her chasers, and then she turns and keeps running.

The esplosive round slams into the tree, the impact setting it off. Hurling the warriors giving chase to the ground. As Alex runs she can hear barking and snarling behind her, which sounds like it is getting closer very quickly. She holsters the pistol and dashes partway up the nearest tree when she suddenly feels a sharp, stabbing pain in her ankle as the jaws of some creature bites onto her. She is forcefully pulled down from the tree trunk and crashes to the ground on her back in the prickly under growth.

Alex pulls her dagger from her boot and plunges it into the creature attacking her. It is a Grobla, a fur covered creature with a wide mouth that opens in four directions. The smaller side "jaws" each have a single barb to help them latch onto the flesh of things they bite. They have long, weasel like bodies with their arms and legs mounted on the sides like a lizard rather than under their bodies. The creature convulses but maintains its grip. After a few more stabs it collapses, but its jaws remain locked in place, Alex's blood running from its mouth.

By this point Marcus and Klysis are running through the forest, they can see fiery torches up ahead amongst the trees, still some way off.

Alexandra tries to pry the dead grobla's mouth off her leg, muttering angrily as she does so. "Fucking piece of fucking shit get the fuck off my foot!" But as she pries the thing's mouth off, she looks up to see another snarling Grobla coming rushing through the under growth towards her, its disproportionately large mouth open and ready to latch on. She pulls up her pistol and fires, for a moment she winces as the open mouth comes hurtling at her, and then feel the thing's lifeless body land on top of her, a hole shot through its head.

She puts a hand against a tree and pulls herself up. Her ankle seems quite badly injured, she would not be able to do more than limp on it. A Brorg-Dao warrior, holding an axe and dressed in a chainmail shirt over his clothes, rushes towards her, attempting to barge into her with his shoulder. She grips the blade of her knife and throws it hard at his head. The knife glances off his head, causing him to scream in pain and lose his footing. He crashes into her, knocking her against the tree and then falls to the ground clutching his head.

At this point Alexandra blacks out.

Konrad and the women flee with the crates into the tree line. The Brorg-Dao are too preoccupied to realise that they have escaped with the cash, and so for now do not seem to be giving chase.

"The Brorg-Dao will be busy with my comrades, judging from that explosion. We'll keep going until we're sure they won't find the money. Let's just try to avoid making too much noise, I'm not sure what could be out here." Konrad keeps his head on a swivel, watching the terrain for a good place to hide the crates, looking for any sign of animals or, White Mother forbid, anyone following them, his ears darting to listen at the slightest sound.

Konrad stops for a moment and turns back towards the village, they haven't gone too far, but the foliage muffles much of the sound. "I think I heard some shouting back there... I hope I don't have to tell Marcus' son that the poor bastard got eaten by madmen. We'll have to be careful when we've finished hiding this, I'll have to scout the village to make sure we aren't walking into an ambush when we return." He turns back in the direct they'd be walking, listening for movement, "Right, let's keep going."

Then a little later Konrad stops again, this time hearing screams and finally a series of explosions coming from somewhere far behind them. "That was loud. It sounds like Alex set off most of her bombs at once... I've got a sinking feeling that we'll be making our way back to town without the others, if we're lucky we might run into the Watch reinforcements on our way."

"Is it the others that are making all that noise?" Asks the Darsai woman.

"Yes, I had an Ivos, another Golta, and a Brorg-Dao Watch captain with me. I saw a trail leading further out into the wilderness when we were leaving, so it's possible that there might be another village near that one. If that's the case I can't see my friends taking them all on, hopefully they did the smart thing and turned tail, but even then..." He turns and keeps walking, "Even if they ran they'd have a hard time keeping ahead of those drug-fuelled villagers, and that's assuming no one is wounded. If any of them got killed... well, it sounds like they took some with them when they did."

After a while of fleeing, the Zadakine who suggested stealing the money speaks up. "Are we going to carry this stuff back to town, or stash it somewhere and come back for it later? I think we're far enough out that they aren't going to come chasing us."

Konrad stops again. "Let's just drop it here. We don't know who or what could be out here in the bush, and I'd at least like to keep you four from getting killed. We'll try to get back to town... and then Baldamson is going to knock my teeth in for getting his daughter killed." He reaches into the box he was carrying and takes a few assorted rings and other jewellery from a bag, "You might as well take a few things for yourselves, I know I am."

The women fill their pockets, put rings on their fingers and generally take what they can before putting the boxes down. The Zadakine woman tries to use Konrad's compass to pin point the location of the boxes, but Konrad suspects the odds of ever finding them in the jungle are very low indeed.

After a long trek, Konrad and the women reach the gates of Port Yorgerson. Baldamson is waiting at the gates with a force of about fifty guards, evidently prepared to set off into the jungle.

Konrad is far too worn out from this mission to contemplate accompanying them.

"Where is Klysis?" Baldamson immediately demands.

"I don't know where she is. I went ahead to scout the village and find the captives," Konrad jerks a thumb towards the women, "but as soon as I found them all hell broke loose, one of the others must have been spotted by the villagers. Those maniacs are dealing with the Yellow Brotherhood, and they've been using the goods they steal to pay them off, so the five of us took off with their loot and ditched it. We figured that the Yellow Brotherhood would go after them if they lost a payment, and I thought the others would have the good sense to run rather than fight a dozen warriors on their own." Konrad sighs and takes a pull from his flask, "I don't know what to tell you, maybe they got away, but I doubt it. I wish I could have helped them, but I was more worried about getting these ladies to safety."

The commander grabs Konrad by the collar, snarling and showing rows of sharp teeth. After a moment he releases Konrad and takes out a map. "Show us where they are, and we'll move."

Konrad points at the location of the village on the map, "I'm not sure what you'll find there, I saw about a dozen warriors and I killed two of them myself, but it looked like there might be other settlements nearby. Good luck, I'll be at the tavern if you need me, I've got some things I need to think over in case the others don't come back."