[Bounty Collection] Orcslayer In A Web

[Mn`dharrowrynn]

TS: Winter, Melora; 2nd Cycle

http://www.playbypost.com/forums/zinnsu...ml#post1330969 - direct link to initial post

http://www.playbypost.com/forums/zinnsu...ml#post1330970 - direct link to initial post

http://www.playbypost.com/forums/zinnsu...ml#post1331415 - direct link to initial post

As Soukou's body rolled haplessly on the ground, swimming in its own blood, the Kemite in red-robes looked outside. He turned slowly, witnessing the awed expression of Mn's gesture. "You look like you're waiting for something to happen, elf." The man looked sternly at Mn'dharrowrynn, meeting her eyes with his own black piercing orbs. "Look not for an orc, however, as you shall find none in this place." The man sighed, releasing his hair from his bun, allowing his black, wavy locks to flow freely through the air. "You've been mislead haven't you? You decided to search for something you thought would reveal itself by distinguishing its appearance in the public. I'll tell you now, before your head explodes, what you should be looking for."

The man then sheathed his gargantuan nodachi in its prospective guard. He then looked out of a nearby window, acknowledging the night sky. "Heh, how strange. I thought it would happen late in the future. Anyways, as I was saying. You should be looking for that which is buried deep within the hearts of all men. Its name is evil. It plagues the land wherever it goes. I can tell you from experience, about this evil.

He then opened his robe, revealing several huge gashes on his chest and stomach area. An enumerous amount of cuts and bruises layered his muscular frame. Closing his robe, he then dictated. "This evil has the perfect disguise. It feels no fear, no emotion. It lurks in our dreams and awakes in our nightmares. It twists our thoughts. This evil, is the most dangerous of them all. You might have heard of it, or you might not. But I guess it doesn't matter now that you've taken this bounty. You might be surprised as to how I know, aren't you? The man who wrote the bounty, is a fake. I shall leave you now, try not to get into too much trouble."

He slowly walked towards the doorway, holding his large sword with one hand. He then turned back to Mn'dharrowrynn. "Yell if you need someone or something killed."

Saying that, he left into the darkness of Zinn'Sunn. The only wise thing for Mn'dharrowrynn to do would be to head on back home and try to process the situation in her mind. Something maliciously important to Zinn'Sunn was about to happen very soon.

It would take more than a night to process, or had she simply been too lax in gathering enough information? The whole affair marked of an obstacle course more than anything else, and the sudden end left her puzzled. Why warn her? Why post a bounty to attract someone to warn? Pride stung her, but she had seen the surface of the trouble and more than anything else, she saw that she was outclassed by all the actors in this play. But in that she courted inspiration, subsiding the frustration to pursue the red robed kemite.

"Wait, who are you, and how will I find you?" She tried to keep pace, knifing through the crowd without so much as a second glance to the dead body on the ground. She had seen lawlessness in all parts of the empire, but she had to remember the Kemite guarded their own, and dealt with their own as well. This must have been routine for the locals to witness; a far-cry from the elfhame of Syl'rosya. The elves knew precision, and how to harness a near-surgical strategy against their foe. She, like a human, was moving too fast for her nature to keep up. Or perhaps these events were too fast for her

"How did you draw your weapon so quickly from its scabbard?" The hunger to learn danced a flickering fire behind her eye. She said nothing further, resilient against distractions from the intrigue at hand.

[Black Waltz]

The man in Kemite robes suddenly turned around back once more, alarmed at the fact that the elf had wanted to extract even more information out of him. "What did I say? Yell. Just yell with an admiration to slay your foe and I will instantly be in front of your eyes." He gave off a cold grin. He turned around and touched his sword admirably before turning back to Mn`dharrowrynn. His expression oozed a permeating layer of confidence and pride, obviously marking the years among years of experience that the Kemite man adorned. "I don't draw my weapon from its scabbard. I release it from the depths of hell and plunge it into the hearts of the forsaken. Perhaps if you took the discipline to become a master in the art of the sword, you'd be able to do the same." It was clear who he was now. A master in the art of long blades, an artist capable of decimating his targets in a blink of an eye, a fierce predator that hunts without remorse. Once more, he slowly vanished into the streets, the mysterious figure that he was.

[Mn`dharrowrynn]

She had so much to ask the individual, moreso now that she felt a strong sense of mastery about him; it was a vibration of presence that hearkened to the blademasters of Syl'rosya, graceful and fleet, near-surgical with their precision. This kemite man impressed a lasting memory on the elf, reminding her that the journey would not be lacking for tales when she came full circle and found her home again. With a distant smile she accepted the facts, let the man be, if only to hope that they meet again, and next time she claims at least a first name. Mn`dharrowrynn had other pressing matters to attend to now, like the dark portents she had been fore-warned of, the falsified documentation for the bounty, and the dead body at the foot of the bar. She glanced back to the crowd, less fearful with the knowledge that eyes watched from all corners of the city. She regarded the ruffians nearest to the bar, emboldened and charged with a sense of strength just to have survived and been acknowledged by such a warrior. Without a break in her stride she walked through the crowd, back to the body, and didn't even pause to regard any eyes spying on her when she lent down to pat the corpse of Soukou, looking for a visa, information, anything, but completely unashamed to take whatever else she might find of value. His slayer marked of a nobility that she could respect.

Before she leaves, she'd heft that massive blade Soukou intended to pull on her. It looked like something fit to arm a bear with, but she fully intended to push herself and learn its most basic functions, if for anything, to build muscles she would one day need.

[Su Farong]

Nothing but two pieces of silver dropped out of his coat, enough to buy a cup of ale but that's it. Just before despair could raise its head the bounty hunter would feel a small piece of paper in his trouser pocket. It had only a few words written on it by a soft pencil.

G. Goa
47 South Dragon Street

Any other clues would elude her for now. If she was knowledgeable about the city she knew it this street was the same street that the kite shop was. If she didn't know the city that well she'd have to find out where the kite shop was to begin with.

The blade was heavy and would be cumbersome for her to take along. It was much heavier than it looked. She could take it with her but it would tire her and cut down on her agility and speed.

The tavern stirred around Mn'dharrrowynn. Her presence made them nervous and it was bad for business. The bartender looked perplexed.

"Guards!" The word spread as footsteps could be heard outside. Four Vermillion guards were entering the tavern.

Mn'dharrowrynn had two choices- stay and explain herself, or take off for the back entrance that could be found through the kitchen.

[Mn`dharrowrynn]

She clasped the parchment, squeezing it tightly as if to affirm a commitment to herself. When struggling with the blade created a real sense of jeopardy for the elf, she released it with a loud thud resonating against the plank floors. The impracticality of her actions lifted her from the warriors reverie, quickening the elf to be escape-minded. With the pressing crowd and the clamor beginning to grow, she began to fade back, bleeding in and out of the kemite crowd until she could slink into the kitchen recesses. The back door stood at the threshold, and she glanced once more to the address. This turn of events was a strange convolution so far, and the red robed warrior seemed like an unexpected player in the Vermilion Guards game. With such a public display, and all the efforts the various informants had gone to keep matters in a gray region, she wondered if their effort was still committed, of if they'd abandoned her now. It would not do well to be an outsider disturbing the peace, and the man had no visa, but she was not the one who delivered the blow. This prideful and masculine culture would never give her that much credit. The logic threatened to unhinged her ferocity, but she had enough joyful experiences in this city to not let the thought tarnish her respect for their way of life.

Rising to the occasion, she began a serpentine retreat through the dark streets, intent for her pavilion within the Empire of Night; intent on her trunk where everything emblazoned in elvish fury lay waiting to arm and armor her sleek frame. The time was eclipsed by a candlemark and a half, more than she'd expected, but enough to carry her deeper into the twilight of the darkening. Beneath a billowing swathe of emerald there strode an elf decked down in a traditional raiment of war, her high borne regalia provoking an image of the shrouded effigies lurking in the deepest forests. Dressed for battle, she knifed through the dark corridors of Zinn'Sunn like a scythe through wheat, moving through the districts she'd gradually come to know in the past three months, till the familiar kite shop herald a sequence of numbers and names that confirmed the location. She felt high on the honorable eires of this country, imbued with a sense that could only make her feel as if there were truth behind the claims of Torek. Something in her felt stronger just to let her mind embrace what the true kemites pledged devotion to.

Perched from a shadowy retreat across, and flanked at the left of the building, she peered from out of the gloom; her elvish vision adjusting to the low light features, discerning dimensions and colors from nearly a hundred yards away. Underneath those emerald folds she waited with white knuckles clenched around the handle of her longsword, the other hand poised to fly up from those emerald depths to seize at the iron shield slung across her back should the need arise. Elvish chainmalle, elven steel plate armor, and all the other functional decorum of battle that ensconed her frame seemed to speak volumes regarding Mn`dharrowrynn and the very real seriousness in her intentions.

With eyes that searched armored defenses for weakness, she began her assessment for kinks of a vorpal nature, ready to strike for the core unobstructed, and as quickly as possible. Entering was going to be a matter of near-surgical precision, and every fiber of her being seemed focused upon just that.

[Su Farong]

The building was ordinary, perhaps a bit rundown. It stood two stories tall with narrow alley ways on either side of it. The walls were oak and the doors iron. Small windows glowed red- lanterns were on but the cherry colored blinds were drawn. Two sets of two on top, only two on the bottom floor. On the roof was a large chimney that spewed smoke into the night.

Very quiet, not a soul stirred on the street. Her only company was a nearby wino who was passed out in the entrance of a nearby alleyway.

She heard a door open and close but it seemed to come from the back of the building. A couple moments later a Kemite male walked from the right alley and into the street. He turned left and began to walk north on South Dragon Street. He was young and did not carry a pack or any intimidating weapons. Not much threat to the elf's life if they happened to battle.

[Mn`dharrowrynn]

All those visceral sensations of the woodland; a primordial origin that betrayed the seelie kiths compassionate frivolity with an unnatural fury-- a thunderhead the likes of which could humble most warlike beings. It was in that vein of blood she felt her energy pump, heightened by the darkenings crazy carriage ride of events, and how the notion that her sense of honor may have been manipulated by forces locked in intrigues gnawed at her from within. The door that opened though, oh how it might very well be her way in, and there goes her key!

Kissed to the shadow of a winter-slick wall, she flanked the dark corridors of the street, trailing the kemite man until their next distinct path purchased her a less open space. The minute he claimed a corner, or dipped into another alleyway, she would move upon him in a rush of vigor and blade.

She needed to question him.

[Su Farong]

Success!
The next alley over was when Mn made her move.

The elf had snuck behind the man and had taken him easily. Her prey was not much more than a boy. 15, 16... Rags hung off his body and he shivered in the cold. The boys teeth chattered. He held up his hands.

"I surrender!" He pleaded. "Don't hurt me!"