Open Chronicles On The Run

[Maecey]

EagleHead - Valkira

She hated when the job went wrong.

It was always a pain in the ass and the Guild took a heavy price. She had done her best on this one, she really had, but sometimes even the best couldn't get it done.

Her target had been one of the richest merchants in Valkira, a man who supposedly had separate vaults for both his silver and gold. Someone had wanted him dead and the Guild had given Maecey the contract. It had all gone fine and dandy until she'd found the target already dead in his office. A knife had been buried in his chest, and stupidly she'd picked up that knife.

Of course in that exact moment the targets loving wife had walked in and screamed her head off.

Now Maecey was hiding beneath one of the bridges that spanned the divide between Valkira's two sides. Above her she could heard guards frantically moving about, dozens of men and women trying to find her.

Of course because the man had been so famous the city itself was now closed to prevent her escape. The gates had been sealed, the walls were being watched, and the harbor had a constant patrol. Maecey had no idea how the fuck she was going to make it out of here.

 

[Amalia Rosethorn]

Amalia had not spent much time near Elbion. At least not in a long while. She vaguely remembered killing someone from the college at some point, but that was too common a memory for her to sort out the details. She found herself wandering Valkira out of simple boredom. She had no plans. No hits. Nothing to do. She sighed as she walked around aimlessly looking for any bit of excitement.

As luck would have it, she saw a young halfling find her way underneath the bridge that split Valkira. It was a curious thing since not long after that a whole gaggle of guards and angry townsfolk came barreling across the bridge in search of someone. It took them a good amount of time to veer off completely. After they did, Amalia made herself a small staircase out of ice and walked down it towards the underside of the bridge. She stepped off the last ice stair straight into a puddle.

"Gods dammit!" She said abruptly, moving and cleaning her foot and leg from the muck that now covered it. She whined. "I just cleaned these fucking things." After getting some of the debris off of her leg she peered over at a hidden Maecey with a half hearted smile.

"You must've really caused a ruckus, doll."

Maecey

 

[Maecey]

Maecey drew a knife almost instantly.

The blade flickered with a pale gleam of moonlight for just a brief second before she regarded the person that had crept up to her. "Me?"

The Halfling sounded genuinely confused, though anyone with half a brain would see it was just an act. She''d always been good at that, acting innocent. Half the chickens she'd stolen around the village had been blamed on someone else.

"No no." She waved her free hand. "Just a coincidence I think."

Maecey looked around. "I'm just an innocent bridge troll."

Not her best lie.

 

[Amalia Rosethorn]

Amalia held a hand to her mouth as she chuckled loudly. It was an innocent laugh though it had something horrid attached to it. She cocked her head and looked at the halfling with a demonic smile.

"I wonder how you did it," She mused. "Must've been sloppy if you have this many people hunting your tail." Amalia had been cutting throats long enough to know when she saw the face of one of her kind. Especially one who did not want to be caught.

Her eyes aimed upward towards the underside of the bridge. "They're gone, y'know. Otherwise I wouldn't have found an opportunity to jump down here." She aimed the palm of her hand at top of said bridge and reformed her frozen staircase. She took a couple steps backwards after she did and craned her head again towards it.

"Go ahead. Check it out."

Maecey

 

[Maecey]

Her ears flicked for a second, standing up before slowly lowering.

She could hear the steps, or rather the lack of them. Whoever this person was she was certainly right about the guards being gone. Of course if they kept up with their patrols there would be another one in just a few minutes.

This place had a surprisingly well prepared city watch. "I actually didn't do it."

Maecey had wanted to, but she'd missed the punch as it were. In a weird way that hurt her professional pride. She would never have been this sloppy.

"He was already dead when I walked in." She shrugged. "I was just there to steal from the silver cabinets."

A huff escaped her. "They always blame the help."

It was a more smooth lie. Halflings were often used as body servants and maids, and her look didn't exactly scream assassin.

 

[Amalia Rosethorn]

She looked at her curiously for a second. She could've sworn she'd done somebody in. Maybe she was just in the wrong place at the right time. "Hmph." She scoffed, placing her hands clasped behind her back and jumping on nearby rocks very child like. She then extended her hands to give herself balance.

They always blame the help, huh? It must have been a set up, Amalia thought. The world has always been quite cruel to those in lower society. Though something still felt off about her story. The Cloudburst felt no reason to pry anymore though. She did a small pirouette and and landed on both her feet with a "Ta da!" and a giggle.

"Well it sounds like you're in a bit of a pickle. And I'm quite bored. So let me help you! Are you looking for a way out of the city?"

 

[Maecey]

She blinked at the womans performance for a second, then frowned before her expression slowly drew into contemplative neutrality.

”Y-yes?” Maecey answered slowly.

The nerves weren’t exactly acting. She wasn’t entirely sure whether or not accepting this persons help would save or doom her. A part of her realized that circumstances were somewhat dire, and if she didn’t do this right she’d end up in a grave.

Accepting help from a random stranger whose motives she didn’t exactly know could work either in her favor or demise. Fingers tightened.

”How would you do it?” She asked. ”It’s not exactly easy to trust strangers.”

Especially with your life.

 

[Amalia Rosethorn]

She tapped a finger to her chin. She did need a plan, didn't she? But this halfling didn't trust her?! Well it made sense but did she need to SAY it? That was extremely rude. She could be trusted she was trustworthy SHE WAS SHE WAS SHE WAS SHE WAS. An array of emotions displayed across Amalia's face that would either confuse someone greatly or make them grievously concerned for her mental health.

She shook her head and held a cute, yet creepy, smile staining her cheeks. "The first thing is to figure out what to do about the mob, no? They're already rampaging without thought. They want to harm you upon sight and with them not all being guards, from what I could tell, I'd doubt you'd make it to trial."

She pirouetted again. "BUT!" She proclaimed with a finger held high in the air. "That level of obstinacy can easily be turned against them." She conjured a throne of ice and sat down in it in a dancing motion. "If they're blind to their own path that they carve, I can trap them in walls. Or I can shift their focus onto me via another crime, whichever." She placed her head in her hands and swung her foot back and forth while leaning in this seemingly never melting ice throne.

 

[Maecey]

More crime.

That seemed like fun. She was no thief, but if these people meant to burn her alive without even offering her the benefit of a trial it seemed only fair that she should be able to get back at them a little bit.

Something did bother her though in the back of her mind...who had set her up? Why?

Lips thinned a brief moment, and then she slowly shook her head. Getting out of the city was all well and good, but the Guild wouldn't be happy about this. If she didn't return with answers it wouldn't go well for her. "I can't leave yet."

This person would likely think she was an idiot.

"I need to know what happened first." She had wanted to leave, but...well not if the Guild was only going to kill her after. "Then I can go."

 

[Amalia Rosethorn]

Amalia liked this girl. Ready and willing to face tribulation in order to discover the truth. This was not going to be a boring day at all. Figure out a set up, maybe cut some throats behind it. She was getting butterflies. She clasped her hands together and hopped off her throne with one foot.

"Alrighty then!" She spouted with violent glee. "Still, before anything can safely be found out, that crowd is going to be an enormous problem. If you know the way back to the scene of the crime I can at the very least make sure you get their safely."

She conjured two icicles in her hand and tapped them together. "Are you gonna want to kill whoever set this up? Seems an ending fit for a king, no?"

 

[Maecey]

She considered the question for a moment. "Probably."

Maecey admitted with a shrug.

"But not before I get answers." The Guild would want to know why anyone else wanted the target dead. If it was another hitter they would need to trace the contract, and if it was just a coincidence...well, Maecey didn't believe in those things.

Her lips thinned, and she glanced up the side of the bridge where she had earlier clambered down. Above she could still hear movement, likely part of that Mob Amalia kept mentioning.

"Getting into the palace won't be hard." She said as she turned towards the makeshift ladder. "It'll be getting out that's that hard part."

 

[Amalia Rosethorn]

"Fair enough. If you've a plan, I'm all ears." She took a more serious tone this time around. She looked up towards where the crowd was making an encroaching sound. She shifted her mask a bit.

"As long as you don't care about any of their lives; this will be easy." She smiled towards Maecey once more, looking very eager to kill something. Her eyes matching the ice she held in her hands. Her voice barely hiding the excitement she had for this situation. It would remain unclear what her true intentions were.

 

[Maecey]

Maecey hesitated at saying something for a moment, and then quickly decided it was probably best not to care at all. "There's a path through the sewers."

Not many people liked going through the sewers, but the Halfling had learned it was often someplace no one looked.

"Leads directly under the palace walls." Of course, she didn't mention that you came out reeking like nightsoil. Best to avoid that detail until the agreement was already struck. "From there it's pretty easy to get into the chamber where he was killed."

That would be the best place to start their investigation.

 

[Amalia Rosethorn]

Oh, Amalia pouted. She was not keen on the idea of traveling through the sewers at all. She knew that this was probably the best route to go undetected but she had no current standing as an enemy to those who hunted Maecey and if at all possible she was not going to make her way down there.

"Well, okay but." She looked at her outfit, which she held so dear and made her feel so beautiful. "The thing of it is, I don't want to do that. At all." She was being honest, for once in her crime riddled life. "They don't know a thing about me and I have no intention of covering myself in shit for this. Could I not just mosey in through the front? It's you they're after."

She hoped with all her being that she would be able to flip this around and avoid reeking. She'd done a sewer kill once, and she did not want to repeat it. Ever.

 

[Maecey]

"Well no." Maecey said. "The Palace is on lockdown."

Otherwise she'd just use the front door too. "I imagine that the Duke's wife is probably pretty scared because of all this."

She shrugged.

"If you have a better solution I'm more than happy to hear it." The Sewer wasn't so bad really. She used the same method to get around Alliria. Most people never even really thought about it. Made for good getaways.

Maecey just bathed after.

 

[Kyla Scathach]

“What do you mean closed?” Kyla’s brow furrowed. The guard had stopped her on one of the cities many bridges spanning the sides as she tried to leave. Valkira was never closed? Kyla has come to visit an old blacksmith friend she had known back in her rougher days and had been leaving when these shit heads had stopped her.

On her back an old claymore was strapped. Worn from obviously extreme amounts of use along with a short bow and a quiver full arrows. In her hands was something wrapped in leather. It’s shape spoke of the items nature.

It was a long dagger of some kind just small enough to not be a short sword but far too long for some assassin to shove in their boot.

“You heard me.” The guard spat. “Closed. Fugitive on the loose and such. City’s sealed up tighter than a dreadlords ass until they’s found.” He said with growl. His eyes drifting to Kylas weapons. His own hand drifting to the handle of his own sword.

He didn’t like the vibe he got from this one.

There was brawlers, drunks, and even the odd merc or two that got out of line sure, but this one..This guard knew when he was dealing with someone truly dangerous. Maybe it was the way she had sized him and his men up when they had approached like she was looking for weak spots, or maybe it was the way she had smirked after doing so like she liked her chances.

“Listen lady. No one gets in or out of here til the murdering scum is caught so best move along back to whatever hole yah crawled out of eh?” He said puffing out his slightly over weight chest trying to intimidate the woman. Kyla let out a gentle laugh.

“Ok you win yeh great bloated gas bag. Just stop puffin up before yeh burst.” Kyla said with a snort. She waved the guards off and went to lean over the side of the bridge. Wasn’t often one got to take in the sights of a new city.

The orphans were old enough to take care of themselves now a days so she had taken the trip at their urging. Vaarish has been working on a new great sword with black steel and that being her specialty it had been a nice excuse to leave her forge and manor and be in the world again. It was a nice change.

WAS a nice change.

Now she was ready to return home to her forge and her young charges, but it seemed not to be. At least for the time being. She was so lost in thought she hadn’t noticed the thief inching ever closer.

Not until he had grabbed the leather wrapped knife andturned to dash away did the ex bandit come alive suddenly. The man yelped as Kyla grabbed him by his arm and swung him into the railing of the bridge.

“Drop it.” She growled as her cold eyes met the thief’s. He glanced at her. Then the knife before shrugging and tossing it over the side.

“Hey!” Kyla yelled. Letting him go she lunges for the knife only to see it plummet to the bottom and land with an audible thump. “You son of a b-“ She began turning to see the thief long gone.

“Don’t get so red lass. You might boil over!” The guard said. He had watched the proceedings and after the red haired woman insult was more than satisfied with doing nothing.

Kyla turned on him with such a growl and look of intense rage that the guards quickly gathered themselves and left. After watching them go she gave a whistle. A black shadow shot through the sky before landing on the railing of the bridge as Kyla tilted forward to look over it. “The knife Vaarish gave me fell down there. Look for it will you? I’ll be downright after you.” She said as the massive terrorhawk gave her a slight nod before spreading its wings and diving slightly to get a better view of under the bridge.

Kyla herself decided to go to the end of the bridge and begin the slightly easy climb down into the ravine the bridge spanned. Shouldn’t be too hard to climb back up.

She thought to herself as she finally made it to the bottom. Nothing caught her eye at first as she searched beyond the bridge and not the bridge itself. The massive bird landed next to her with a gentle screech and nipped her ear comfortingly. “So nothing eh?” She asked. Back still to The bridge and any underneath it. The terrorhawk shook its head slowly.

“Ah we’ll find it. City isn’t letting us out anyway so there’s always tomorrow if we can’t find it.” She said stroking her chest feathers and under the big birds beak when she suddenly tensed.

Looking behind her Mimi screeched threateningly beating her wings and flexing her talons challengingly at something or someone behind her. Rolling backwards Kyla ended her roll facing behind her with two arrows already notched and her bow drawn.

“Who’s there?” She would growl.
“I’m warning you. I’m a dead good shot and me friend here can crush a skull in her beak wether it’s got a helmet on it or not.” She continued through gritted teeth nodding towards Mimi who let out another screech as if to confirm the point. Then her eyes met Amelia’s.

“Ah shit.” She would say with a frown lowering her weapon and stashing the arrows back in their quiver.

 

[Amalia Rosethorn]

"Fiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiine." She caved. Clearly unhappy but unwilling to let go of the fun she'd stumbled upon. She'd have to do the same. The same being bathe. For hours. Somewhere high end. With money she'd procure from someone unfortunate. Unfortunate because they would have met her, but they'll probably rich. And then not so rich. Because they'll be dead. She sighed heavily as she started to move towards the sewer entrance.

Someone called to them from underneath the bridge as well? Asking who goes there and sounding threatening. The guards had found them? They hadn't been exactly loud. She prepared an icicle to toss their way and stopped in her tracks when she saw who was in front of them. "Kyla? And Mimi?" She disintegrated the weapon into her hand.

"Why on this earth are you here right now? I almost took your head! Would've made saving you in the past a bit obsolete." She giggled in a relieved surprise. She turned to face Maecey again.

"This is good. They can help!" She said gleefully. Amalia began skipping up to Kyla and her terrorhawk in excitement. She blew a kiss towards Mimi as she approached. "Both of you, so beautiful! Ah, what a pleasure it is to see your faces again!" She embraced Kyla tightly and lifted a leg, whispering to her.

"How's a bit of debauchery sound to you, doll?"

 

[Maecey]

Oh great more people.

Maecey wondered if any of this was actually going to be worth it. The more people were involved the more likely that something would happen and she ended up as a corpse. Lips thinned as her 'friend' and this new person bantered back and forth.

Briefly the Halflin considered making a break for it and just escaping the city.

Running from the Guild wouldn't be too bad, especially if she could find a way to get back into their good graces. A fantasy of killing the King of Vel Anir briefly flittered through her mind, but she quickly realized the foolishness of that thought.

"Hello." Maecey finally offered in greeting, deciding it was better to just stick with the plan.

 

[Kyla Scathach]

“I’m just as surprised to see you cloud.” Kyla said stiffening with a grimace at Amelias sudden tight embrace. “And you didn’t “save” me I-I had it handled..” Kyla said indignantly with a slight blush gracing her cheeks before vanishing.

“Still slitting throats I’m guessing..” Kyla said in return to the whisper from her old work partner. “I um.. on the other hand have moved on with my life. Rest of the gangs moved on a couple years ago. I don’t need any of what your selling love..” She said with the kind of manner and tone might treat a snake that had its coils around you and was debating whether it was still hungry.

Too be honest her bias towards Amelia touching her was built on solid evidence. She had seen that girl give bad hugs. Bloody, icicle filled, hugs. She still somehow managed to never get a speck of blood on her but that wasn’t the only thing.

She always felt cold.

Always had even back then.

Mimi gave her a questioning squawk tilting her head to the side as Kyla struggled and finally managed to untangle herself from Amalia’s vice like embrace and her smile always has unnerved her and carried with it about as much warmth as a crypt.

“Go on then ye feather brain.” She said with a slight scowl as she turned to the halfling. Nodding in response to her greeting. “What are yeh doin out here with a lass like cloud?” She said the last part in a slight whisper with a quick glance at Amelia who, if Mimi had her way would be getting her ear nibbles and hand nudged for strokes.

“I just don’t know what either of them see in each other.” Kyla said in a bewildered, tired tone almost to herself but loud enough for the halfling to hear.

“I don’t need your name by the way. Probably for the best.” Kyla also said “Because Mimi and myself have a knife to find and lodgings to return to.” She said turning on her heel and brushing past Amalia whistling for Mimi to follow. After another nibble on her ear Mimi would flap her wings and took off to follow Kyla.

“Good luck.” She said over her shoulder as she started to take her leave. No need to get involved with something she didn’t have too. Especiallyif someone like Amelia was involved. Things always seemed to get more messy for herself when that child like psychopath was involved.

 

[Amalia Rosethorn]

Amalia nuzzled the terrorhawk lightly and scratched under its beak, offering soft coos and whispering sweet things to it. Her eyes were however locked entirely on Kyla as she decided she wanted to turn tail to this situation. Moved on with her life, huh? Once a killer, always a killer. She couldn't run from it, no matter how hard she tried, thought The Cloudburst. Knowing she would just need some prodding to convince. Mimi was being very convenient in this scenario as she would play as quite the bargaining chip.

"Well, I suppose I can't blame you. You wouldn't want to wind up almost dead again needing me in your stead. Though I guess I thought we were closer than that, dearest Kyla." Her voice was very passive as well as prodding. Her face now turned to meet Mimi's eyes. "You remember me breaking my arm for her, don't you Mimi?" She chided. "How far the loyal have fallen." If this wasn't manipulation, it was hard to say what counted as it.

She turned back to Maecey. "I guess it's just us then. Through the sewer, no? Let's hope we don't get a blade run through our hearts then." Her voice feigned worry. Pretending to be scared of the upcoming situations. She knew this would at the very least get underneath Kyla's skin. Though did she still choose to flee, she was more than confident that her and Maecey could handle the guard.

Kyla Scathach Maecey

 

[Maecey]

Maecey blinked, shaking her head and deciding that not asking any questions would work out much better for her than anything else. "Alright then."
Who was she to question strange associations?

The Guild had all sorts of folk roving around in it. One time she had met a Troll who'd claimed to be the most silent assassin in all of Arethil. She'd never managed to make him prove it, but he had actually been able to move with surprising silence.

It had been strange.

"This way." The Halfling said as she waved and quickly lead Amalia through a series of quiet twist and turned until they entered the sewer.

They the stench quickly overwhelmed them, though a scarf prevented most of the smell for her as they went crawling through the undercity towards the palace.

 

[Kyla Scathach]

Kyla stopped in her tracks. “You of all people would lecture me about loyalty? You..” she began as she turned holding up a finger to the woman so clearly trying to toy with her. Her mind seemed to be trying to form exactly what to call Cloud before giving up with a sigh.

“Wait!” She would say walking to catch up with the group.

“F-fine. I’ll help cloud.” She spat bitterly. Clearly the woman knew exactly how to crawl right under her skin. “But after this....were even.” She huffed. Whistling to Mimi the bird seemed to nod and flew off to the place they were lodging no doubt before she crawled after them.

 

[Amalia Rosethorn]

Amalia gave Mimi a light kiss before setting her back to Kyla. Her piercing blue eyes locked on Kyla's as she moved towards the sewer. The Cloudburst offered her a condescending wave and raise of her eyebrow as she descended with her temporary ally.

She would be heard immediately not being able to stay in her sadistic character with loud "FUCK" as the waft of sewer stench erupted into her nostrils. She audibly gagged and covered her nose and mouth as quick as she could and trying to prevent her own vomiting. "I hate the fucking sewers I hate the fucking sewers fuck fuck fuck fuck!" Just an assault of profanity could be found coming from the cryomancer as she followed close to Maecey. Her privileged life was showing.

She turned only once she heard the footsteps of Kyla following behind them. She was able to smile from this. "Like a moth to flame, huh doll?" She spoke to her red headed 'friend' with cocky resolve.

 

[Maecey]

Maecey had already wrapped a scarf around her face and tied it tightly with some herbs right beneath her nose.

It was a trick that had been taught to her by the man who'd showed her how to use the sewers in Alliria. In hindsight she probably should have told Amalia about it as well but...she hadn't exactly come to that thought with all the commotion.

Glancing behind herself the Halfling noted that the other woman had inddeed decided to come along. Her head shook, but she said nothing as she quickly lead the group through the sewer.

Eventually they reached a smaller tunnel, one that the others would have to duck through. Maecey just waltzed forward until she stopped beneath an oddly shaped tunnel above. "Here."

She pointed to a large stone cover above.

"This leads into the palace gardens. The run off from the fountain comes through here." The Halfling explained.

 

[Kyla Scathach]

“Never were one for the dirty part of dirty work..” Kyla said with a sly smirk at her old friends swearing.

She glared at her friends cocky response before she pulled out one of her knives and moved to pin Amalia against whatever wall she was opposite with her forearm. She pressed against her until they were almost nose to nose.

“If this is one of your little games I won’t hesitate.” She growled giving the knife an expert twirl before sheathing it.

“You’ve been warned..” She said before seeming to notice how pressed against Amalia she was. Some of the more pleasant times pushed back into memory refusing to be kept at bay by well founded hatred.

Her heart sped up before Kyla released her with a blush she hoped Amalia wouldn’t notice in the darkness. ”Y-you’ve been warned.” She said darkly. Her voice carrying a tone of longing she corrected halfway through.

Trying to push the memories away Kyla turned away from her old ally and moved to stand next to the halfling that had stopped and pointed out a large stone cover above where they stood. Nodding in response to her statement giving a slight raise of her eyebrow.

“You do know the sewers then.” She said clearly impressed. “So what’s the plan once we’re up there.” Kyla asked her.