Private Tales Silver Lightning

A private roleplay only for those invited by the first writer
Takashi looked at her as she questioned further, before they could move on to reach the tavern.

"We'll go to the Grand Bazaar in the morning. There's a person there who can help us", he replied, before walking off towards the tavern, passing through the open doors just as a pair of drunkards were kicked from the place due to not having coin to pay.

In the counter, stood a pair of tall orcs, male and female, serving a few drinks to the customers hanging around. Ugrath looked up just as Takashi and Lin entered his place, opening a large smile.

The young swordsman took down his scarf to show a smile of his own as he approached the counter, being greeted by the friendly orc.

"Takashi Haller! I thought you said you'd be going on one of your long journeys to slay 'em demons!", Ugrath shouted as he cleaned bits of the wooden counter, signaling his wife to take care of the customers.

"I was on my way, but I'm helping someone now", Takashi replied, looking over to Lin as she neared his side. The orc nodded respectfully towards her before asking if they wanted some drinks, to which Haller quickly refused, at least for himself.

After a few more minutes of talking, Takashi filled Ugrath with the lesser details of what they'd need, and the orc promptly arranged a room in the back of the tavern for them, away from the drunken and loud mess of the main hall. He bid them goodnight before returning to his work, leaving the pair to their rest.

"You'll need some rest. With luck, we'll find your brother soon", Takashi said with a compassionate smirk as he took off the sword from his waist and sat down on one of the guest beds, leaving the other to the woman.

He laid down, facing the degraded ceiling while holding his sword close to his chest, an old ritual of his to sleep safely.

Tomorrow would be a long day.

Sung Lin
 
Takashi Haller said:
With luck, we'll find your brother soon
Click to expand...

That wasn’t likely. But she definitely appreciated the optimism. “Thank you, Takashi. I appreciate all of this. I’ll see you in the morning.”

She took her sword from her belt as he did and left it beside the bed. She laid on her side and went to sleep, she was a calm sleeper, absolutely still and quiet, and ready to wake up at the slightest hint of trouble. If it was an untroubled night, she’d sleep until sunrise.

(I apologize for the short posts, I’m just not sure what else I can put in, I’m trying to make them longer though, so please be patient with me.)
 
Takashi woke up early in the morning, with those few hours of rest being all that he needed to calm his mind and center his thoughts. He waited for Lin to prepare before taking off, en route through the crowded and lively streets of Elbion towards the Merchant District.

The district was quite notorious and was filled with merchant stalls, people browsing for their routine shopping as well as some other interesting and quite obnoxious stuff, but the location was also home to Haller's main destination that morning.

After a few minutes of walking, the pair reached the entrance to the famous Elbion's Grand Bazaar, its eccentric decorations showing off a evidence of one of Liadain's main merchant hubs in the region.

In his time at Elbion before, Takashi had learned that the Bazaar held every manner of item one could possible want for, from rare magical trinkets to even shady, black market stuff being passed around right under the City Guard's noses. But all that was sponsored by the Merchant Council itself, so the College and the Guards could do little but turn a blind eye.

The monks at the Tai'Kon Monastery often taught Takashi the value of knowing how to pick a fight, and he knew that such a battle could never be won. Sometimes, injustice prevailed, no matter how hard it was to accept it.

Takashi and Lin neared one of the merchant stalls as the owner fixed some of his wares, his back towards the pair.

"Trinkets, oddities and je-- You again!", he said, alarmed as soon as he turned to face Takashi.

"Cídric, we need your help."

Cídric was a half elf well known in those parts for being a fairly competent smuggler, even though a botched job cost him one of his eyes. But he had been a great help to Takashi just weeks before and he also owed him a favor.

Also, if anyone knew how to use his underground connections to track someone, that would be Cídric, the One Eyed.

Sung Lin

(OOC: Don't worry about it, really! I don't mind post length, and maybe I've been making it hard for you to develop something longer, but I end up losing myself and writing too much sometimes haha)
 
(Thanks. I appreciate it.)

So a Bazaar was just a market, okay. She didn’t like the atmosphere, it seemed to aggressive and dishonest for her to lake it that much. She suspected that dirty dealings were taking place. Back in her home, her family controlled everything with an ironclad and unshakable moral compass that sent all lawbreakers to the mines or the headsman, which was always the current family’s head, namely her father. And they always had spies working their way into any existing underground and uprooting it completely, and punishing organized crime with an uncompromising, pitiless Wrath. But alas, that couldn’t be done everywhere, and she had no proof, so she did nothing and simply focused on the task ahead.

The one eyed man certainly seemed to know Takashi, and clearly didn’t much like him. Lin was going to be careful around him, and watch him closely, he just might prove an enemy.
 
Takashi took down his scarf to reveal his face, taking a step closer inside the tent to approach Cídric, who was still mumbling with his arms closed. The young swordsman had cost him a small fortune when they last met, but it was for a good cause.

"I guess I still owe you for keeping one of my eyes, at least. What do you need, Tak?", the half elf asked, turning to meddle in the trinkets laid on his selling table.

Takashi looked around a bit before he explained the whole situation, also introducing Lin as his partner and how they were after her brother, who was also been hunted by others.

"I knew trouble would be on your tail as soon as you left the city. There's been some rumours, you know?"

"Rumours?", Takashi asked, the confusion marked upon his face. Cídric went on to grab a small ring covered in gold from his personal box before showing it to the swordsman.

"After that small... trouble of ours, the College doubled down on their investigations on demonic curses and the City Guard had their hands full with complaints from the Merchant Council, sweeping the whole city. You know where that leaves us?"

Cídric took a map of Elbion from one the tent's walls and put it over the table. The map was marked with many locations, particularly the shanties outside the city.

"The small gap created by the distraction made some of the criminals around here too confident. They've been working close but underground, hiding in the shanties and planning their moves. They won't attack the city, but they'll do something very bold and dangerous soon."

"And how do you know this?", asked Takashi, to which Cídric replied with a few arrogant laughs.

"It's my job, kid! If it weren't for me and my so called 'dirty connections', you and your orc buddies would still be chasing ghosts and we'd have a noble family possessed by demons, running loose on the streets!"

Takashi kept silent, his attention still fully on the map. Going by Cídric's words, they'd have to go to the shanties, a very dangerous place by itself, and even more so that it's apparently being controlled by criminals.

"I just know you're planning to go there and hack everyone up with that sword of yours, and even though you're pretty good at it, it's a lot of ground to cover. So here, take it", Cídric said before throwing the golden ring towards Haller, who took it in his hand midair effortlessly. "It may help you on your search."

He made a quick but respectful bow to the half elf before leaving the tent with Lin. They'd have to make their way towards the shanty towns now, to continue their pursuit.

Sung Lin
 
That was strange. They received information about the criminal underground, and the actions of the local guilds and law enforcement but nothing that seemed to connect with Chei. It was a good thing to keep in mind that the criminals were getting brave, and she’d definitely be down with butchering them like swine if it came to it. But she didn’t quite understand what was going on with the lawkeepers, and she definitely didn’t understand the politics of this land, so she couldn’t do anything direct just yet.

So she did as she could, which was just follow Takashi’s lead. “So How isn’t this ring supposed to help us?
 
The pair quickly got out of the Bazaar and made their way towards Elbion's front gates, to search the nearby shanties for clues.

"I guess we'll find out soon. Better keep your eyes open", he replied just as they set foot outside the city, rain starting to pour down from the skies.

Elbion was a majestic town, but its splendor hid the gruesome fact that not everyone was privileged enough to live in such a city, and many of the unfortunate lived in small shanty towns scattered nearby. Over the year, such small villages became home to bandits, killers and others of ill intent.

Takashi had lived such dirty life as a kid, and he felt grateful for having been rescued from it.

They reached one of the main villages just outside Elbion, being greeted with suspicious looks from a few civilians. Takashi held his sheathed sword on his left hand, making sure it was noticed from underneath his cloak, and Lin was also well armoured, which meant that the common ruffians were smart enough to avoid grouping on them to try and start a fight.

***
​
They spent a few hours going from village to village, discreetly talking to people to try and get information, until they hit a jackpot. A running jackpot.

The bandit did his best to run away, but Takashi and Lin were too quick and eventually caught up to him, cornering him in a alleyway. Takashi pressed him against the wall, showing him the ring given by Cídric.

"Do you know anything about this ring? Say it, and I promise to spare your life", he calmly said while looking at the man's eyes, full with fear.

"The mayor's house. It's all I know, I swear!"

Before he could cry for his life even more, the young swordsman knocked out the man with a swift elbow hit to the side of his head, letting him fall towards the mudded ground.

Takashi could see the house all the way from the alley. It was a remarkable structure for such a small village, and he could feel there was something off about that place as soon as they arrived.

He turned to Lin, ready to move on with his plan.

"There's something wrong here, I can feel it."

It felt like they were in a ghost town. Many of the residents disappeared to their homes, the silence taking over the air as they carefully walked through the city, eventually stopping in front of the large mayor's house.

The pair paused, glancing upon the place and preparing to move inside.

"We should be careful."

Sung Lin
 
Sung Lin kept her left hand on the scabbard of her sword and was prepared to draw it in an instant if they encountered anything dangerous within the mayors large home. It was dark, tall, brooding, menacing, and made her feel just as on edge as Takashi seemed to be. She hadn’t been intimidated by the many ruffians and criminals she had seen during their search thus far, but this place definitely scared her.

She looked around the entryway of the large house, looking for potential threats and escape routes alike. Windows were the most likely to be escaped through, while doorways were the most likely to get them lost, but were kept in mind as last resort gambles.
 
Takashi used the tip of his sword's pommel to slowly push open the door, feeling a cold breeze rush past them on that very same instant.

Although he was prepared to be met with a volley of arrows or a few ruffians charging at them, silence had been their only answer. The menacing darkness that took over the halls of that house as they slowly crept inside, both Takashi and Lin looking over each other's shoulders while antecipating some kind of ambush.

There were candles that were still lit with some smoke, a sign that they had been only put away recently. Their steps, as careful as they were, echoed around the wooden walls and kept the pair at edge, until they came to a halt just before the main hall.

Blood, spattered all across the floor, and then leading deeper inside, like a body had been dragged through there. Takashi looked over at Lin before kneeling down and passing his fingers through some of it.

It was still moist, fresh. Whatever happened there was recent.

Only now they could see the bits of light coming from the entrance to the hall, which prompted Takashi and Lin to move forward, finally reaching the large room.

The swordsman gasped in terror, looking at the room in shambles. There were mutilated corpses and blood everywhere, as well as overturned and broken furniture. What once looked like the hub of a organized power for the village was now a slaughterhouse. And at the center, someone still grunting in pain, a knife on his belly.

Takashi and Lin stepped forward to try and help the man, but were cut off by the sudden appearance of two enemies, appearing from the shadowy corners to ambush them.

Sung Lin
 
Takashi Haller said:
Takashi and Lin stepped forward to try and help the man, but were cut off by the sudden appearance of two enemies, appearing from the shadowy corners to ambush them.
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It was here that Lin redeemed her earlier loss to Takashi, by reacting as fast as he did and cutting up across the attacker’s chest, shearing open his armor and clothes and possibly his chest I feel he didn’t respond fast enough. If he managed to evade her original strike she would swiftly follow up with several more, each in extremely rapid succession as she hadn’t originally attacked Takashi, with the intent to overwhelm her opponent with swift blows.

She was intent on the fight, but she ask vividly aware of everything else around her. And she looked for opportunity to turn the fight to her advantage.
 
One of the attackers was already trading blows with Lin while Takashi was quick enough to draw his sword just in time to react, putting steel to steel and blocking the blow.

The man wore a mask but his eyes were clearly filled with violence, and he didn't stop at that attack. He continued to try and pound Takashi with pure might, as the swordsman just continued to swiftly block his attacks, patiently waiting for a opening.

But Takashi was surprised to see a change in the brute's attack as he grabbed him by a piece of Takashi's cloak and drove him against the wooden wall that connected to another room, sending the shinobi flying amongst the rubble.

Lin looked busy enough with her own fight back in the main hall as Takashi got back on his feet, looking at the huge hole in the wall. The bandit lept through and charged at him again, but this time Takashi was far more focused, evading to the side and making a large cut on the man's leg. He knew he had made a decisive blow judging by his grunts of pain, and the brute recklessly came to attack him again just as Takashi deflected his blow to the side, then spinning back to slash him twice across his chest.

The bandit dropped on his knees, but Takashi didn't even wait for another opportunity, quickly separating the man's head from his shoulders with a single strike of his Nikana.

It seemed both fights were done in the same minute, with Lin also emerging victorious from her own battle as Takashi passed through the wall to return to the main hall.

After putting away his sword, Takashi rushed to the bleeding man at the center of the room, surprised to see that he was still alive. Bald and aged, the man fought against the shock and pain to grab a hold of Takashi's arm in despair, trying to utter a few words despite the agony.

Takashi knew that there wasn't much to be done for that man. The blade was deep on his abdomen and taking it out would surely cause the man to bleed to his death. All he could was listen to what he had to say.

"Th-They're... everywhere... They took... some of the people... Murdered them in their own... houses... The woods... some they took to the woods..."

Takashi grabbed the man's hand, trying to make him comfortable enough to continue.

"It was... an ambush... They were... after someone..."

Takashi thought they were finally getting more information, but he felt the man wither away and pass to his death before he could say anything else, feeling his cold fingers slip through his hand. He looked over to Lin, visibly disappointed for having hit another dead end.

Sung Lin
 
(Sorry for the wait.)

“They took some people in the woods, if we look through it we might find them. It’s not a dead end yet.” She said. She stepped up to the man and closed his eyes. “Let’s see how good our tracking skills are. Or we can search the house for clues first. Whichever do you think we should do.”

She was a little worried now, if this was how they could find her brother, then he was either in a lot of trouble or a lot of people don’t like him.
 
Takashi made a small nod in response to Lin's words before slowly crossing the dead man's arms over his chest and closing his eyes. The swordsman uttered a small prayer out of respect for that man's soul, that it may cross onto the skies and be free from the pain.

Looking around now, the whole place was turned over into a huge mess. Anyone that lived there with the mayor was probably killed too and wandering around the village could be dangerous, given that they didn't know if there were any more bandits hiding with the villagers.

"We should go to the woods. It's not safe here", Takashi said, looking over at Lin before walking towards one of the large windows of the main hall. He could see a group of bandits nearing the outside of the house, weapons in hand, after getting out from the houses.

It seemed the ambush was not yet done.

"They're surrounding us", he said while crossing the hall, reaching a small room in the back.

After a few slashes of his katana, Takashi bluntly kicked the wooden wall, opening a space big enough for them to pass. He signaled her and waited for Lin to pass through first before he did so himself, leaving behind the dreaded house just before the rest of the bandits arrived.

The pair cut through the alleyways and eventually reached the other end of the village while the rain continued to pour down. Takashi looked back after they got away from there, clear disappointment and a bit of frustration on his eyes.

The village would be left to the wolves now, taken over by those lowlives. He should return there one day, after helping Lin with her family business, to clean away that dross with vengeful steel.

Accepting his fate for the time being, Takashi and Lin started their walk towards the nearby forest as the night began to fall upon them.

Sung Lin
 
“How many are there? If there aren’t too many we can take them. And we might get some answers.” But he was already gone. He had kicked the wall open and she had little choice but to follow as they sped silently and skillfully through the dark alleyways. They entered the dark wood and disappeared into its shades.

Once Sung Chei was found, she’d return to this village with Takashi should he allow her to, and Sung Chei might just want in in the action, and help him deliver it from brigand overlords.
 
They had been trekking the woods for a while now, trying to pick up on whatever trail was left behind by the bandits who were dragging people through there. They had found blood and broken branches, but were yet to see someone, dead or alive.

Until they stumbled upon what looked like a forest grove, the sight of another bloodbath. But this time, in a fairly different manner.

There were bodies everywhere, blood spattered all over the ground and trees, but the people murdered there didn't look like villagers, being more akin to bandits and thieves, their weapons without an ounce of blood. Whoever killed them seemed to be very skilled and efficient.

Takashi went over to one of the bodies to try and see if he could get any more clues on what had happened there, but he ended up hearing one of the bushes being stirred up. He looked over to Lin, signaling her to silently circle around and check on whoever was hiding there from the back while Takashi slowly approached from the front.

A kid jumped from hiding, letting out a small scream out of fear and begging for his life just as Takashi reached for his sword. The pair tried to calm down that child, full of sweat and dirt, before asking him about what had happened there.

"T-They were taking us inside the forest, to kill us I think. But a man appeared from nowhere, he was so fast and he had this huge, strange weapon. He killed them all so quickly!"

Takashi looked at Lin as the kid explained, already suspecting of who he was talking about.

"He said he knew a good hiding place not far from here, but he needed to check if there were any more ambushes. I told him I could stay behind and run to warn him if there were any more bandits coming from the village."

The blue eyed swordsman gently put his hand on the kid's shoulder, thanking him for that information with a small nod.

"Do you know where this man went?", Takashi asked.

"He took some of our people to a cave to the east exit of the forest, said it's hidden under a waterfall. That's all I know, I swear."

Sung Lin
 
Sung Lin observed the field, the bodies left in ruin, with limb shaking and heads missing or their chests cleft open with what she could tell to be perfect precision cutting with great speed. Definitely something her brother would leave behind.

Then the bushes rattled, and she was told to go around and trap whomever it was. She had only gone halfway round when a boy stumbled out. Covered in dirt and grime, and describing a man with unnatural speed with a large weapon killing them all off. Definitely a description her brother fit.

“How long ago was this? A few hours? A day?”

They were given a direction and a landmark, but she doubted that her brother would let them get close without knowing they were there. He probably had a watch system up, letting them see more than they normally would.
 
Takashi and Lin proceeded through the forest, having followed some clues given to them by the kid from earlier.

The woods were quieter at that time in the night, but it also made them be more wary of other ambushes. Takashi looked over to Lin as they walked, starting to feel a little worried that they've been walking and fighting without rest ever since Elbion.

He took a small canteen of water from his garments, offering it to her as they paused for a while to collect some breath.

"If your brother did that... Then surely he's not in any grave danger like you said before?", Takashi broke the silence, wondering about Lin's brother and how he must've took out all those men without breaking a sweat while his sister had been worried for his safety all along.

Still, he wouldn't leave things to chance. They needed to find him and warn him of the danger that she talked about, and after that was done, Takashi had some unfinished business with those ruffians back at the village.

Suddenly, the pair smelled the scent of fire burning nearby, and steps among the bushes could be heard getting closer. Takashi and Lin ran to find cover between some trees just as a large detachment of well armored mercenaries passed by, mumbling about being close to finding their target.

It looked like they weren't alone in their search for Lin's brother.

Sung Lin
 
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Takashi Haller said:
"If your brother did that... Then surely he's not in any grave danger like you said before?"
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“He’s not the only one capable of this. He’s not my only brother. Our eldest brother is the one who hunts him, and he isn’t just as dangerous, with professional armies to boot. He is in danger, grave danger. Alone he cannot fend them off, maybe if he’s warned and has time to prepare, but alone, he cannot be aloneness and survive. I only need you to help me find him, then you needn’t do anything more.” She said. “You shouldn’t get mixed up in our family war.”

Takashi Haller said:
Suddenly, the pair smelled the scent of fire burning nearby, and steps among the bushes could be heard getting closer. Takashi and Lin ran to find cover between some trees just as a large detachment of well armored mercenaries passed by, mumbling about being close to finding their target.

It looked like they weren't alone in their search for Lin's brother.
Click to expand...

The mercenaries passed as they hid and spoke of the gold and silk that they’d be given in return for the location of their target. They talked about their employer, an intimidating foreigner with a huge saber. Definitely her eldest brother Sung Na.
 
(OOC: Sorry for taking so long, had to take care of some personal problems but it's all good now.)

Takashi and Lin had been carefully trailing that mercenary band for half an hour, keeping a safe distance from them and using the cover of the trees to hide their presence, while also eavesdropping on some of their conversations as they bragged about their pay, their work in torturing and killing some villagers as well as taking some of the women and kids overseas, to be sold into slavery.

As angry as he was at hearing that, the young swordsman did his best to control his emotions and not instantly lash out against them, not because he couldn't take them all down with ease, but because he and Lin needed their information, and they seemed to be leading them straight to Lin's brother, the one who had been pursued all this time and was helping those villagers.

Suddenly, the trail came to a halt after a trap was sprung and one of the archers were thrown to the air, shot with several bots coming from the trees. Takashi signaled to Lin to stay in cover to avoid being caught in those machineries, as another wave of bolts went past the mercenaries, taking down two more.

A group of armed villagers came forth from the bushes, and even though they were armed with only short and rusted swords, they attacked the mercenaries without fear of being slaughtered, shouts of bravery echoing in the darkness. That was the moment when Takashi knew they needed to join the fray.

The battle was fairly short after Takashi and Lin attacked the mercenaries from behind, helping the villagers to finish them off. Takashi swung his sword in the air before quickly ramming it through the chest of a fallen merc, killing him for good while the villagers looked at them, confused.

"We are not your enemy. We're looking for someone, her brother. We think he's the one who saved you", Takashi said, cleaning his sword before slowly putting it away on his scabbard and pointing towards Lin while talking to one of the villagers, who seemed more trusting of them after that display of help.

"We're not soldiers, just scared and angry people that were driven from our homes by these lowlives. But the man who helped us is a good man. If your business with him is genuine, we'll take you to him."

Sung Lin
 
Takashi Haller said:
(OOC: Sorry for taking so long, had to take care of some personal problems but it's all good now.)
Click to expand...

(No problem at all. I’ve been slow to reply myself, so I can’t really be upset about it.)

The attack on the mercenaries was a bit of a surprise, but she and Takashi were swift to descend upon the mercenaries along with the poorly armed men and women who fought surprisingly well. If their swords were rusted, that meant that they hadn’t been armed long, so they hadn’t had much training, so it made sense that the rescue had been maybe a day or two prior.

She, with her jian, practically danced through the living mercs, cutting them down with ease. They were ill trained. So she and Takashi were able Tom cut through them without difficulty, and their newly acquired weapons would prove useful in defense.

“Where is he?”
 
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