Teshalia's Blessing

[Chia]

She counted the coins carefully. You never knew. Guy was a halfer, after all.

Was pretty neat how things turned out. Stupid snobby skanks. First they took her job, then stole her shinies, and when she magnanimously offered her help for a fair cut refused even that. And that after she already helped them not get hurt and stuff.

Then they ran into the dogs and everything, and it was just pretty funny, really. She totally saw it coming when they split up like they did. One ran into a room full of Kalem and dogs.

She paused, considering. The dogs were new. Either Kalem just moved out some really high profile stuff, which she missed because the stupid skanks were slowing everything down, or somebody got annoyed with her habit of going to the caves for pocket money...

Either way, the elves had gone down, and she had had to work real hard not to laugh when she was helping herself to the loot.

All of it.

Though the stuff wasn't as expensive as she had thought. Still, served them right for being totally greedy and uncooperative and just... stupid!

She nodded cheerfully to Ram, despite him being a halfer and all, then started toward the door. The place didn't have the best prices in town, but he... um, moved things. Seemed best not to unload at Ealden or Ironbacks, just in case.

Also, his shop was the closest and she didn't feel like dragging all that stuff all the way to either.

It smelled of darkies.

[Kell]

*Suddenly, dark. Yvalee drops to her knees, then to the floor, and all the lights go out. When her eyes flutter open again.. well when one of her eyes flutters open, she's exposed to a slowly waking pain. She finds herself lying on a table, staring at the ceiling. Dim lights surround her and a throbbing pain pounds through her head. That, the fact she can't seem to open her eye and that snide, cruel pain in her stomach that suddenly has her stitches, seems worrying.

"Dunna worry ya pretty lil' face, me girl." A soft but coarse voice whispers to her. From the sound of it, it's coming from somewhere near her feet. "Ya gonna be peachy keen soon. You mite be worried a bit about ya pain, but 's all gonna be over soon.."

Yvalee tries to push herself up, but slumps down again soon after. Then, to her dismay, she suddenly realizes she's naked. "Ahn.." She begins a soft winced complaint, wants to say something but her lips, they hurt.. so badly..

"I be tellin' ya, hush now. Let me do me work. Ya were beaten up. A thieffer got ya. Right, ya were fightin' me boys, but it were the thieffer that got ya. Ya should go turn 'ar in, ya should. Tell 'em guards how's it goes up with them good folk? Whilst me boys get beaten up, eh.. but she be runnin' down here, takin' all she can with 'er grubby lil' 'ands -and then- beaten ya up. I be tellin' ya.. dunno o's rite or wrong, but that thieffer..."

[baby1111007]

Pain...lots of it, mostly centered in her back and her head...her head throbbed. Tahl'nae remained very still, taking stock of her situation. Cold air caressed her body, she was naked. She was laying on something hard...a table maybe. Someone was washing her face. Her eyes did not flutter open, they snapped open, the dark green eyes for a moment as shadowed as the darkest of nights, looked on a male face. "There ya are, pretty one. Thought I may have ta kiss ya to wake ya up...may not be a prince, but I be a prince among thieves." The human winked at her, dressed like the rogue bards her and her cousin had been fighting.

Fighting...fighting...the protective spells disappearing, knowing Yvae needed her, knowing she went down in battle. The doll-like elf let out a growl that belonged to an animal, attempting to sit up. "My cousin...where is she?" This one didn't look in a panic, she looked feral. The human bard gently eased her back down. "Ease up, pretty, you will be undoing all of my doctorin...the blonde lass is bein tended to in the next room." He wasn't surprised with the doll-like face went from frantic to wary.

"Aye, pretty. Ya was being watched...and we thinks ya have a certain...quality. So rather than lettin the dogs eat ya, we brought ya someplace safe ta be tended ta. But nothin comes for free, pretty. Ya cousin and yaself will be set free, but ya now owes us one...savy? Ya accept the terms?" His eyes were weighing her, even as he continued cleaning her face...as she saw he had palmed a dagger in his other hand.

"Very well...terms accepted. Now where are my clothes? I want my cousin...now." Tahl'nae sat up and went pale as stitches pulled in her back and side. Her jaw clenched, her teeth ground together but she did not cry out. The bard looked at her with a measure of respect. "Well now, lass...this be how we found ya...must say it was a bit of a treat. Ya and yer cousin be mighty fine for wee elves." He helped her up gently and handed her a dress.

"The men said that woman ya were travelin with took eveything each of ya had on yer bodies. Cold...man, not even we are that mean. Orange eyes, odd skin...been through here a lot, robbing us blind. Consider the information a freebie...wouldn't mind her gettin what she deserves." Tahl blinked at him, reading him, tryin to figure out his motives. He grinned at her, reading her just as she was reading him. "Lass, you now be owin us a favor, ain't got a reason to yank yer chain on that...in fact ta show ya a gesture of our lil business arrangement...here." A small bag was pressed into her hand, weight not much, but enough for a bow...and she had more blades hidden in their room. "Now, let's get ya and the other wee lass up and out."

[baby1111007]

All over Cear, under the cover of shadows, posters go up. A picture, a good likeness of the hooded face, orange eyes, grey skin is the focus. Underneath is written.

Public Notice Announcement- Form 96nv8

BEWARE!
Beware this female. Do not trust her. Will lead you off, attack you, steal all that she can carry and leave you for dead.

[Chia]

The weather was nice for a change. None of them soggy rainy skies.

Chia stretched luxuriously, leaving the Buck. It was probably going to be such a great day!

She was still feeling large amount of good will toward the world at large. Not toward anybody actually specific – er, maybe almost not - but... general-like. Until some sodder messed her mood up.

Even if she did see one of the skanks from yesterday walking around without being all fuzzy at the edges and whatnot. That was a bit of a bugger, but meh. Couldn't have everythi- well, of course you could, but she guessed that wasn't one of the times.

Kind of wondered how they got out of the Kalem place. At least, in one breathing piece, without a controlling necromancer around.

She paused for a moment, an unseen frown forming behind her face veil.

It's not like the Kalem knew it was her, right? Especially after all those years, anyway. So, maybe she had distinct - if very fetching! and great for work! - eyes. And kind of memorable skin color, but that could be any darkie, anyway. And maybe animals kind of really did not like her, but it's not like she went around petting anything on four legs, anyway.

Um, and maybe what the horc said about her smelling weird was kind of true, even though she thought she smelled very nice, thank you very much. Especially after a bubbly bath with fizzy.

And she kind of did have the same habits as before, what with the bubbly baths, and fizzy, and kind of treating the Kalem like her personal expenses providers, but...

NAAAAH!

It would take somebody smart to put all of that together, anyway. Especially since mos- Almost all the Kalem she met down below kind of ended up not being able to remember much, anyway.

The skanks probably gave them that good of a tumble. Yeah. That made sense. Woodies, right? Or darkies. Whatever. Still hussies.

She nodded, the world making full sense again, when her eyes caught the sight of a new poster nearby.

Narrowed.

Pidgeons flew in panic as the shriek pierced the quiet of the early morning,

“THAT'S SODDING WO- DARKIE LIES!”

[Chia]

*Th-thunk!*

The crossbow was not her preferred choice of a weapon, but you used the right tools for the job.

Right now, her job was to get rid of her own annoyance by handily spreading it among all the rival gangs of Morell. The fact that she got to stab halfers often enough was making it even more fun.

Stupid Kalem and their stupid letting go of stupid darkies. They must've given a really good tumble not to end up on a meat market, too.

She probably should have been angry at the stupid skanks more, but in retrospect it was all the Kalem's fault. They owed her, and she was collecting...

The hunched figure on the rooftop, dressed in Kalem leathers, reloaded the crossbow, then sent a bolt after the fleeing companion of the man just shot through the back of his neck. Right through the spine, judging from the way he was still twitching down there. His own damn fault for wearing Ni colors, and walking right under her.

She already bagged a bunch of Rovers, White Handers, and Scuros, and this was about to complete the set of the heavy-hitters in town.

Eh... maybe a few more. Just in case some stupid lieutenant fails to recognize the tools used...

At the increasing distance, the bolt dropped in flight significantly, and instead of hitting the back of the fleeing man it sunk into his buttock. The impact sent the other Ni thug sprawling. He scrambled for a moment, then launched himself into one of the side alleys.

Not like she was going to run after him, anyway. When the darkness fell, the various crews were out for blood, and it was blood of anybody not wearing the right colors. Or scarves. Or stupid little tufts of embroidery in one memorable case. She was here to ambush them, not get ambushed.

Chia drew the string in ready position, then attached the carrying strap. Reloading was always a problem with crossbows, so it helped to keep them at the ready. But... the important thing was that what she was slinging on her back was a Kalem crossbow. With Kalem bolts being shot out of it. She also carried a Kalem rapier, with its distinctive cross section, for more personal type of work. Her armor was a genuine second-handed article, with a Kalem hood over her head. The bandana covering her face completed the outfit. Not exactly a safe wear in Morell, but that was pretty much the point. There was enough bad blood between the Kalem and town's crews her actions could be easily attributed to the myriad of offenses, past and recent.

And now...

She jumped down, landing softly on the muddied path between the buildings. Or, tried to, anyway, as something unmentionable yet very viscous she failed to notice despite her excellent night vision made her foot slip.

With a teeth-jarring impact she fell down on her posterior, the bolts carried in a side-pouch scattering all around in the, now that she had time to smell it, side street part-timing as a pigsty.

“SOD!”

Not that the smell was that different from the rest of Morell, either.

[Chia]

Stupid darkie-looking woodie skank does things to implicate innocent tiefling:

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=11661#p117590

*

Morell was getting dicey.

Just after a day she gainfully spent rummaging through the ruins of Daris there was a palpable tension in town. Not to say that things were usually bunnies and rainbows, but... people were rushing past now, even in daylight hours. Windows sported recently nailed boards across the closed shutters, which usually was a good idea anyway but had not seem to impact some people. Before, anyway.

She just got out of the only real store in town, replenishing her supplies, when the Scuro hit squad tried to work her over.

That was definitely new.

Not that it helped them much, especially since the half-woodie she met in the ruins was there to help out. A little bit. Not like she needed help, anyway, but it saved the effort.

Then another group tried to hit them.

That was definitely new.

Course, by then one of the apparently many boyfriends of the chick came around, and it was all but the wiping of tears for poor ganger mothers. Assuming they had any. Alive, anyway. Or not sold into slavery or something. Gangers, right?

Granted, having a guy along meant things were getting done the dumb way, so despite her insistence they didn't even try to get one of the attackers to talk. Which was real stupid, especially given the unusual numbers of the groups that did attack them.

People were so dumb sometimes.

She decided to skip town about then. Her ruse appeared to be working really well, what with the hit squads out on the streets in broad daylight. It sure improved her mood. The Kalem were so going to get it. She had worried dumping her disguise in the river on the way to Daris was a mistake, because... well. People could be so stupid... but apparently the bolts were enough. Or maybe the guy she let go.

Whatever.

It was definitely a good time to get out of the town, anyway.

Particularly since her pack was full of gang equipment she preferred to sell somewhere distant. Just in case. She probably would have done better to leave it, but...

Fizzy money was fizzy money.