Fable - Ask Town Called Malice

[Jazat Mar]

Bhathairk was a strange place.

Thankfully they were going through a rainy season because it meant he could actually go outside during the 'day' but apparently even in the rain the number of people just wandering around was rather more than he had expected. Still, he was wandering through the marketplace when he felt it happen - the theft began and it was noticeable.

Did he had deft reflexes that allowed him to detect a pickpocket in motion?

Were his eyes sharp enough to pick up the slight of hand?

No because Orcs were rather direct when they were stealing things. Rather than a pickpocket, a rather large Orc simply walked into his path before sucker punching him so hard in the gut that he was left gasping for breath on the ground for a moment. Honestly he didn't even register the fact that they'd stolen his backpack for a few moments because he was busy trying to re-teach his lungs how to work after all the air had been so abruptly forced out of them in a single second.

Gods but he felt like he was going to be peeing blood for a week after that and... and now an Orc thief had his stuff. The stuff he needed to go adventuring and continue on his latest mission!

"Stop...!" he groaned out as he straightened himself up gingerly, "Thief! I... oh gods that smarts... bugger me standing..."

He started to job lightly after the thief who, honestly, barely looked concerned. What the hell? This was not how thieves worked! They were stealthy and they ran like the wind when chased - they didn't punch someone, steal their stuff and then casually wander off! Oh none of today was going right.

 

[Oliver Rose]

The rain was battering down with all the force of a thousand armies. Rysa was only staying in Bhathairk for one night before starting the journey back home to Alliria, but the rain would surely slow her down.

It wasn't often that she found herself in the northern lands, but she wanted desperately to trade with a well known orcish alchemist, who had a wide array of spices Rysa had never heard of. She'd just left the alchemist's hut when it started pouring. The bustling of bodies was hard to navigate through, but Rysa simply tucked her sack close to her body. She would have to tough it out, regardless of how worried she was of ruining the new package of herbs she was carrying.

"Stop, thief!" a voice bellowed from further down the street.

Like a flash, a large orc man sped past Rysa. He was clearly carrying a heavy backpack and his eyes were set ahead of him. The sound of wheezing followed.

Rysa gripped her sack tighter. Were thieves common in Bhathairk? Shaking the though out of her mind, she followed the sound of the wheezing man. He wasn't far and he wasn't moving fast. Part of her wanted to let him keep running, but she couldn't stand the sight of it. Especially in this rain.

"Wait!" Rysa shouted, running out into the rain, "Wait."

She stepped in front of the man, an elf from the looks of it, and placed a hand in front of his chest.

"Please, slow down," she said, "I can help you."

 

[Jazat Mar]

Wait?

Who was telling him to wait? He needed to hurry up and catch the bugger who had robbed him or else he was going to have to find himself some way of surmounting his adventurous quest without any of his equipment aside from a dagger, a sword and a dozen coins.

He'd locked everything up tightly in his backpack - was it his fault he hadn't accomodated for people punching him in the gut and literally high-tailing it away with his entire pack?

In hindsight it probably was his fault.

"I can't stop..." he groaned, trying weakly to push the woman's hand away, "He's got my stuff and I... need that for my job."

He groaned in pain but ground to a halt and just stood there for a moment before spitting some blood out to one side.

"... alright maybe."

 

[Oliver Rose]

The elven man was more hurt than he let on. Internal bleeding? Rysa thought for a moment about the medicines she'd brought with her. Being paranoid helped in these sorts of situations. She could probably whip up something to help him.

"It's okay," Rysa said, laying her hand back on his shoulder, "I'll help you get your things back. You're in no shape to be running after anyone right now."

She helped the man to his feet and led him to the side of the road where she set him down and slipped her sack off her shoulder. Quickly, she rummaged through her multiple packages of herbs and boils, mixing a pinch of a purple salt and a handful of jagged leaves into a small jar of turquoise liquid.

"Here," Rysa handed the man the concoction, "Drink this. It'll help."

Despite the pouring rain, she pulled back the hood of her cloak to reveal her long, now soaked black hair and pointed ears. Rysa always lived by the philosophy that an elf on their own should remain independent, but two elves together is an unrivaled comradery.

Her sack laid unattended by her side, open for the whole town to take a peek inside.

 

[Jazat Mar]

Well she seemed to be prepared to treat injured people but he was a little bit confused by how concerned she was acting. Both because she didn't actually know him and, therefore, didn't owe him a thing... and also because she seemed to be very insistent that he drink her homebrewed... something.

He blinked at the concoction and made no moves to drink, instead just staring at it.

"... what even is that?" he asked with a grimace, "And why do I need it? A hit to the gut is bad and all but... what even is it again?"

The 'what is it' part of his line of thought dominated every other part because seriously, it looked like it might just kill him by itself. What kind of liquid was turquoise for the love of the Gods?!

... was this some elf stuff he'd missed by leaving the Underground behind him? Feck it probably was.

So focused on her potion as he was, he completely missed it when a small human child came close and began to empty the woman's open sack into a purse of their own.

 

[Oliver Rose]

"Don't worry, it will help you," Rysa said, thrusting the potion forward, "It's made of purifying ingredients that will ease the pain."

She forced the potion into the man's hand and curled his fingers closed around it, "If you got punched so hard you coughed up blood, then trust me, you'll need it. Especially if you want to be in peak condition when we get your belongings back."

Rysa sat back and fumbled for her bag, pulling it into her lap. A gasp sounded from behind her as she did and she whipped around to come face to face with a child, human from the looks of it. They had Rysa's newly bought packages in their arms and the rest of her medicines along with it.

Quickly, she glanced into her sack and noticed the only things left in it were her nearly empty coin purse and a map.

The child darted away in the time Rysa spent looking through her remaining belongings. Forgetting the man for an instant, she jumped to her feet and rushed after the child, but they were long gone by the time she made it out to the road.

"Dammit!"

 

[Jazat Mar]

Easing pain was something he had a lot of time for even if it had begun to actually ease on it's own slightly in the mean time. Grimacing, he took a swig from the potion before almost throwing it back up. The taste... ugh who made a potion that tasted of blueberries?

Jazat hated blueberries.

"The blood?" he blinked before chuckling as much as his aching stomach would allow, "Oh no I just bit the inside of my cheek you know? Nothing serious."

Probably should have mentioned that before he drank the potion now that he thought about it. Was it going to have side effects because he hadn't actually been bleeding internally? Eh it was probably fine, especially since he'd only drank about half of the container and...

Yeah and she was gone.

What the hell? Oh wait no, there she was running after a child. Because that made perfect sense to him for some reason. Weird kind of day. Rushing after her, he handed her the half of the potion he hadn't actually drank back.

"Thanks for this - I think I've got an idea about our stuff." he admitted, "Thieves have to sell their goods somewhere, right? A Fence. All we need to do is find the Fence that's likely to take our stuff from them and take it back."

Left unsaid was that he didn't intend to PAY said Fence.

 

[Oliver Rose]

Rysa groaned and ran her fingers through her soaked hair. She wanted to scream.

She travelled all this way from Alliria just for those spices and now they were gone along with her medicines. Rysa was a very calm person, often nervous, but aside from that, calm. Now, she was angry. Her blood boiled in her veins as she narrowed her gaze on the bustling street.

Too long she'd been away from her inn. Away from Silvan. Away from warm sheets. She swore silently to the sky that she'd raise hell on this town. Not that she was actually capable of doing so.

The man was talking to her. She missed the beginning of it, but understood what he was asking of her.

He had a plan for getting their belongings back. How he knew of this Fence place, she was weary of, but she was too desperate and frustrated to care. She'd left her bow back in Alliria, thinking she wouldn't need it, but at this point, she wasn't afraid to use her fists. Not that she could actually do any serious damage with them.

"I'm in," Rysa told the man, "Do you have any spare weapons by any chance?"

 

[Jazat Mar]

Seemed that his fellow elf was rather shaken up by having all of her stuff stolen by a kid - he could relate, of course, considering he'd recently just lost all of his stuff too. Though his thief had been bigger, greener and hit a lot harder.

Still, end result was the same even if the journey to it had been different.

"Come on then, let's have a look around." he urged with a frown as he reached into his clothing before pulling out a small dagger and handing it too her, "Stiletto dagger alright?"

Long, thin, wicked sharp but unable to block a strong hit.

It was hardly the best weapon in the world but it was better than nothing or relying on magic. His magic tended to be more defensive in nature and his few offensive spells were not things to be thrown around lightly.

"Taverns in the worse parts of towns often work as Fences too." he explained to her before glancing back at her, "... I'm Jazat by the way. Didn't introduce myself but thanks for the potion back there."

 

[Oliver Rose]

Rysa curled her fingers around the knife the man offered her. She'd used knives plenty of times before. She was no stranger to them. Well, no stranger to them in the context of a kitchen. Her cooking skills would be of no use in this situation, but she was sure she could defend herself well enough with the finely cut blade she now possessed.

If she was going to fight, she would have to get a bow. Or she could attempt magic again, but the last time she did that, she passed out and woke in a cold sweat, unable to utter a word out of pure shock. She remembered the horrid dreams she had in that deep slumber. The raging fires, the smell of burnt flesh, the sound of crying children.

Magic pained her. She never wanted to use it again. Not unless she really had to.

When she snapped out of it, she caught the man's name. Jazat. And he thanked her. She tucked the knife into the pocket in her skirt.

"Don't worry about it. That potion should make you feel a bit pepped up, too. Scolding salt seems to do that to you," she said with a smile, "My name is Rysa, since you asked."

She held out her hand, "It's a pleasure it be working with you."

 

[Jazat Mar]

Jazat honestly wasn't sure if he had given her a weapon she could use to defend herself or if he was going to be responsible for her cutting herself with his knife. That would probably be more his luck and something harder to explain as well... Sorry Mr Towns Guard but she tripped and fell onto my knife that I had given her?

Yeah he was either going to think this was a good idea or he was going to regret it for however long it took for him to get led to the gallows or the like. Looking at how she was holding the knife he felt a little bit bad about giving it to her but he was NOT going to give her his sword instead. Reaching out, he adjusted her grip ever so slightly.

"Hold it tighter, yeah?" he instructed her, "Hold it like you're going to cut carrots and people can tell - trick with knives is half their effectiveness comes from looking like you're ready and willing to gut them even if you're not."

Most people weren't after all and he was only desensitized to it thanks to his former employment including mercenary jobs. He chuckled a little bit, tilting his head to the side slightly as he grinned at her.

"Well then Rysa..."

He shook her hand firmly.

"Ready to put the screws to a bartender?" he joked as he led the way towards the tavern, "What do you do for a living? Your potion skills are good stuff - you do it for a job?"

 

[Oliver Rose]

Jazat showed her how to hold the knife, his rough hands contrasting her soft ones. She still didn't feel very competent with it, but she would try her best nonetheless. Pushing all thoughts of her incompetence with a knife out of her mind, she thought on his question.

"I own an inn in Alliria. It's in the inner city so work is always bustling. I've got an apprentice that takes over for me when I'm away," Rysa told him.

Poor Silvan was probably flooded with work at this moment. Rysa had been gone for nearly two weeks at this point and she wasn't going back until she had what she came for.

The potion-making was another story. She wasn't sure how she learned it. It was one of the things she'd forgotten about, she assumed. Everything always trailed back to her amnesia.

"I'm glad you think I'm good at potion-making. I've always known how to do it, I suppose," she began, recounting everything she knew, "I have amnesia so I'm not exactly sure where I learned to do it, but a while after I woke up I discovered that's it's all muscle memory. I don't really have any actual memories from before, but in the back of my mind I've managed to remember every single ingredient I've encountered and what they're for."

Rysa sighed, following closely behind Jazat, "I guess my brain's got it's priorities sorted out."

 

[Jazat Mar]

She didn't look comfortable with the knife but that was okay - if she had looked comfortable with it then he would have been concerned about why an innkeeper had such skills. Maybe if it had been in a different place but Alliria was a nice enough area. About as nice as anywhere was these days but probably better than at least half the continent.

Though finding out that she had amnesia was... odd.

There was just something more than slightly concerning about having someone admit that the potion they made for you was by muscle memory. Some part of him was honestly worried that he might have accidentally been poisoned but so far so good so he was going to chalk it up to his luck holding out or, maybe, her luck holding out, either way.

"Take this the right way but that doesn't fill me with confidence." he joked with a smirk so she would know he wasn't being serious, "Ever wonder what you might have been before? Some mysterious assassin or something maybe? A princess?"

He was teasing her because he was beginning to get a bit nervous - the alley they were in now was rather narrow and they were drawing quite a bit of attention from the shady-type of folk who lurked in alleyways. Reaching the tavern, he noted no less than three burly looking humans watching them closely.

"Alright we're going to need to be quick here..." he whispered to Rysa as he held the door open for her, "They're not looking friendly."

 

[Oliver Rose]

As they walked through the progressively narrower streets, Rysa began to feel more comfortable in the elf's presence. He cracked a few jokes and although he looked nervous, she gave a lighthearted laugh. Her amnesia didn't make her feel very confident either. She'd learned to live with it, though.

"I'm not really sure what I was in my past," Rysa said, "But I've certainly pondered over it."

Pondered was the wrong word. Every night, Rysa stayed up glaring at the ceiling wondering what type of person she was in the past. Her only memories were the nightmares she had of the fire consuming everything before her. Whatever she was in the past frightened her. She didn't really want to know what she used to be. Especially if that person from long ago never felt any remorse for that which the fire consumed.

"I think I might have been a mage," she said, voice hushed, "It's just a feeling in my gut."

As they approached the tavern, Rysa took notice to the three men watching them. Taking Jazat's advice, she quickly ducked through the door and into the tavern, letting herself be washed over by the dim orange lighting.

 

[Jazat Mar]

Yeah it would be a bit weird, in Jazat's opinion, to NOT ponder who the hells you were when you had amnesia. Like you were aware that a massive part of who you are, were, was missing. Of course you were going to want to correct that! Probably a bit angry about it too if he was being honest with himself too.

A mage though?

That was intriguing.

"Well if you got any useful spells feel free to use them but if they're the fiery kind or the bright kind?" he shrugged, "Give me a warning. Bright light hurts my eyes."

Kind of an understatement but whatever.

Walking into the tavern after Rysa, he grimaced when everyone turned to look at them and only some of them returned to what they were doing before. Reaching the bar, he waited patiently to be served by the innkeeper... who seemed to be really interested in washing a single glass.

"... is this an innkeeper thing? Cus we're not local or something?"

 

[Oliver Rose]

Rysa would have absolutely no problem with managing her magic. She knew she could do it and she doubted she would be pushed to the point of having no other option. Nor could she imagine being so enraged that it became a matter of instinct.

She often found that during the few moments when she was really, truly angered beyond belief her magic would instantly rise through her veins and burn at her fingertips. It was unlikely that her current mission would draw any such reaction out of her. Well, she hoped it wouldn't.

Not to mention, after she did use magic, she would have trouble coming out of such a state.

"Don't worry about that," she assured Jazat, "I hopefully won't need to use it."

She accompanied Jazat to the front counter, taking notice of the pressing glares they were receiving. Rysa was used to not having any attention put on her. Customers would come up to the counter, state their business, and turn back to their room or table.

The innkeeper was ignoring them. Jazat tried his best to get their attention. Perhaps if she ordered something? No, that was idiotic.

After Jazat finished talking, she merely cleared her throat in attempt to catch the innkeeper's attention.

 

[Jazat Mar]

Yeah he hoped they didn't need to use magic either and not just because the flashy kind of spells hurt his eyes but because using magic tended to signal that the fighting was serious. Throwing fists and kicks and even stabbing?

All things that could be waved away or forgiven rather easily. Some of those potions would have you good as new after only a few minutes after all. But throw magic into the mix? The sheer effort that most spells and magics required meant that they were usually lethal or powerful by default. No one wanted to draw directly from their life-force to knock someone out after all but burning them to ashes and scattering the ashes? That was kind of more impressive.

The innkeeper was deliberately ignoring them and that was quite clear. They ignored him and they ignored Rysa's polite clearing of her throat. If this was a more respectable establishment he was sure that would have gotten them service immediately but it seemed they were not in a respectable establishment. Which was good because it meant they were right where they needed to be and bad because it meant that they weren't exactly friendly.

Reaching into his pocket, Jazat grabbed some of the coins he had hidden away in different places about his person as security. He placed a handful of coins on the bar and the innkeeper paused in their glass washing to eye the coins.

Taking one of the coins, Jazat rolled it along the bar towards the innkeeper, who set the glass down to catch it before one of the patrons could. The innkeeper, revealed to be a rather rough-looking older woman, grunted.

"What you want?"

... bloody hells, how did you ask to see stolen merchandise without sounding like a narc?

"I heard you have a secret menu...?"

The innkeeper just stared blankly.

"Don't know what you mean."

 

[Oliver Rose]

The innkeeper had an expression of pure boredom mixed with a hint of frustration. She wanted to get through the day with as little trouble as possible.

Rysa could understand. She had countless days like that back in her own inn. The customers would be swinging their mugs of ale around without a care in the world, leaving Rysa with the rough job of scrubbing the floors mercilessly until all signs of drunken travelers were gone. There were plenty of people who'd tried to steal from her jewelry display case, despite the amount of work she put into perfecting each piece.

Now was not the time, though, for sympathy. She wanted her belongings back in her empty bag. Immediately.

"Look, ma'am," Rysa folded her hands over the counter and plastered a fake smile on her face, "We're travelers. And we just got robbed. I know we're practically asking for it, being foreigners and all, but I'm not taking that shit today. So if you'd kindly point us to where we want to go, that'll be great."

She slapped the remainder of her earnings on the table, "This should compensate, right?"

. . .

OOC: Sorry for the late reply!

 

[Jazat Mar]

... was this really what his life had been reduced to? He groaned in annoyance, running a hand across his face as he tried to swallow his frustrations. How was it this hard to try and buy some stolen goods? They weren't guards undercover or anything like that and that should have been bloody obvious.

Not to bring race into it but the guards here were almost entirely made up of Orcs with a strong minority of humans as well. There hadn't been a single other elf around except for Rysa and the woman he had met earlier and yet the innkeeper insisted on being a pain in the backside.

Bribing the innkeeper though?

It worked as the innkeeper grunted before gesturing for the two of them to follow them out into the back. Apparently there was nothing back there except a loading area with two Orcs and a human child waiting for them. The innkeeper left and the Orc behind a makeshift desk grinned at them.

"I heard you got robbed - that is most unfortunate but it looks like my compatriots here may have found some... replacements." he spread his arms open, "So how can we resolve this?"

Their belongings, the exact belongings, were placed on the table. It didn't take a genius to see through the play since the other Orc was the one who had bodily attacked him and the human was the kid who had stolen from Rysa.

Jazat stared at the assembled arseholes for a moment before glancing at Rysa.

"... I'm thinking I'm going to employ violence." he admitted to her, noticing how everyone else tensed up, "I'm tired of playing games. You?"

 

[Oliver Rose]

When they were taken to the back room and left alone with the odd gang of thieves that had their belongings laid out so temptingly on the desk, Rysa felt her blood boil all over again. The boy in the corner was the one that had taken her things. She could feel it. Rysa may not have gotten a good look at his face, but she could feel it.

She narrowed her eyes at the boy, attempting to convey all of her frustration in her glare. He simply looked back at her. Rysa huffed and crossed her arms. If she felt any sort of anxiety at the situation, her anger overpowered it.

Jazat leaned to her and suggested violence. Rysa didn't think they were going to be getting out of this situation any other way, so she nodded.

"I wouldn't have it any other way," she grumbled through her teeth, "Two can play at this."

Rysa, tired of sitting and waiting, wrapped a hand around the dagger in her pocket and stomped over to the desk. In a flash, she grabbed the package of herbs she'd bought earlier in the day and waited for the orcs to react.

 

[Jazat Mar]

Excellent!

Jazat was probably a terrible elf but he liked to employ violence as the first option because it tended to solve half of the problems he faced right off the bat. His dagger was in Rysa's hands now but he still had something to make their foes think twice.

Drawing his sword, he swung it immediately. It wasn't meant to hurt anyone, all it did was show he had it and cause the orc that had body-checked him to back off out of fear of being slashed open. The fence tried to reach for Rysa's haul...

So he brought his sword down, cutting the man's hand off at the wrist.

"... gods damn it." he muttered as the man screamed and clutched at his bleeding stump, "He's getting blood all over our stuff!"

The real issues.