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Post by Peregrinus on Dec 15, 2007 20:42:58 GMT -5
The large tavern located at the end of town happens to be a nice spot to rest during a long difficult journey. Tonight, the tavern is as load as ever with many travelers and villagers alike merry-making in the hall. In one of the distant corners, almost unseen through the thick smoke and constant movement of beer and ale, a hooded traveler sits quietly sipping his cider. The eyes are unseen as the hood casted a black shadow over the face of the stranger.
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Post by Princess Anne on Jan 2, 2008 20:41:50 GMT -5
Meanwhile, Anne fought her way through the crowd as she repeatedly bumped elbows with many different peasants and travelers. She kept her head downwards and pulled her hair closer to her face and avoided eye contact with anyone while she continued to search for an area to sit at. She had also purposely dressed herself in a very non-revealing dress so no one could look upon her for too long. She clutched her short sword shield tightly that was hidden under her thick clothing and made sure that her ancient map was firmly fastened into her left boot.
*THUD*
"Hey there woman, watch where yer goin'!! You hens don't even have any right to be outta the house! 'Outta be in the house cookin' n' a cleanin'!!" A burly, barbaric-looking warrior with a large black beard and a missing left eye looked down at Anne after running her into a table nearby the hooded stranger. She grunted and slowly got up, appearing submissive.
"I-I-I'm sorry..." Anne whimpered and attempted to be on her way again. The man grabbed her and called out to a few of his other friends to come over. Soon enough, three guys were dragging her off away from the tavern into a secluded area. Oddly enough, Anne was not thrashing to get away, and didn't appear to be frightened at all. She had a piercing look in her eye as she noticed some riches in one of the guys' traveling pouch.
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Post by Peregrinus on Jan 2, 2008 20:59:31 GMT -5
The ranger watched carefully as the young woman was forcefully dragged outside, a smirk on his face the entire time. As the group traveled out of the door, he made sure to finish his drink before getting up and making is way outside. Seeing the last burly man slip into a darken area, Peregrinus followed behind them, his footsteps not making a sound. With one hand on his longsword, the ranger disappeared into the blackness where the group had vanished.
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Post by Princess Anne on Jan 2, 2008 21:27:30 GMT -5
The man with the long black beard suddenly threw Anne into the dirt, and he and two other men surrounded her with hungry looks in their eyes. They started to remove their thick outer armor.
"Since it was my idea, I git 'er first." said the barbaric leader of the group, who Anne found to be beyond disgusting. "I can already tell she'll be tender."
"'I hope that gal's husband doesn't come 'round here, he'll be ready to raise hell." a lesser member of the ground of friends was somewhat paranoid of the situation.
"Well, hows bout we take her for ourselves and kill the 'ol worm off. He cain't be that powerful." the leader stroked his long wirey beard, approaching Anne quickly and launched himself onto her. Anne flinched, but still didn't seem to fight back right away. She carefully withdrew his small money pouch from the side of his belt with her left hand and she started to position her hidden sword to his stomach with her right. For her own amusement, Anne tried to make herself appear more desirable and shot the man a "look."
"See that, boys!? She's lookin' forward to this!" The leader barked loudly, having no idea what Anne was really planning.
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Post by Peregrinus on Jan 2, 2008 21:40:05 GMT -5
The shireking sound of steel pierced the air as Pere drew his longsword. The paranoid groupie turned just in time to see the blade of a longsword enter his chest. He muttered a slight grunt as blood slowly twinkled from his mouth. He fell with a loud thud and remained motionless. Smirking the ranger turned to the other standing member. The man's face was in the state of shock with his jaw somewhere around his knees and his eyes bulging forth.
"You want to end up like your friend there?"
Pere asked. However, the man appeared to want to as he drew his sword and swung savagely at the ranger. Easily side-stepped the brunt attack, Pere slashed the man across the chest and he fell on top of his friend. Turning around, Pere checked to see the remaining rapist.
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Post by Princess Anne on Jan 2, 2008 22:08:53 GMT -5
As Anne noticed someone was attacking the other men that were standing around, she quickly rammed her head forwards right into the man on top of her, knocking him back.
"Ahhh!! you stupid b--- AUGH!" Anne had thrust her right wrist into the leader's gut deeply and twisted the blade steadily towards herself, hopefully to peirce one of his lungs. She rolled to the side of him, letting his large weight drop to the ground as she pulled out her sword from his body. She stood up, more interested in the newly obtained money in her hand than the gorey scene before her.
"Peh, these guys got nothin' extravagent on them. This is no where near enough to get me new gauntlets..." Anne said, dissappointed. She pulled off her thick peasant dress, revealing her real attire, and her royal armor on her chest. She checked her map casually.
"Hm, Lost as usual." she smoothed her hair back into its original state.
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Post by Peregrinus on Jan 2, 2008 22:21:55 GMT -5
A rather stunned look appeared on Pere face as he saw the last goon had been killed by the girl. He noticed the blood stain on her dress and was about to say something when she suddenly pulled it off. Coughing to clear his throat, Pere slid his hood off to reveal his face.
"I have to admit I underestimated you a bit. Obviously, you can take care of yourself."
Kneeling, Pere wiped the blood from his sword and replaced it in his scabbard.
"Where does a woman like you learn to fight like that?"
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Post by Princess Anne on Jan 2, 2008 22:34:31 GMT -5
Anne looked over quickly in almost a "spooked" manner. She found Pere's appearance very intimidating, and powerful. "Damn, another warrior. Gotta lose this guy before I figure out he's some kinda old enemy or something..." She tried to play the situation off with her "gracious princess" act. She looked at Pere dead in the eyes, as if she were trying to put him in a trance. She pretended to start crying.
"Oh my, I've killed someone! I-I'm sorry, please do not tell!" Anne attempted to hurry away, but before doing so, she tossed Pere a few solid gold coins. She soon ran off into the crowds again, but had accidently dropped her map a few feet in front of Pere. It was a very ancient looking map of an unknown area.
"I'm so thirsty." Anne said normally as she headed to the closest bar.
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Post by Peregrinus on Jan 2, 2008 22:49:22 GMT -5
Another look of surprise crossed Pere face as the girl began to wail about the man. He was so surprised the girl managed to get pass him before he even knew what had happened. As he moved to follow her, Pere's foot hit one of the coins as it pinged against the hard stone street. Collecting the coins, the ranger came across the strange map.
It wasn't a place Pere had ever been to. He had traveled these woods for years and had never seen the landmarks on the map. Curious, Pere began to search for the woman. He headed back to the tavern where he had first seen the girl. Maybe someone knew her there.
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Post by Princess Anne on Jan 2, 2008 23:06:32 GMT -5
Anne walked casually into the bar and certain people that looked to be thieves or bandits looked up at her, aknoweldging her presence, but went back to their drinking. She made her way to the bar counter and sat down. The bartender seemed to know her and a drink was promptly set in front of her.
A bandit person walked over to her and muttered something in her ear. Anne nodded took another sip of her drink. "Huh? Peregrinus? Never heard of 'em. I wonder why he mentioned this "Peregrinus" person..." she thought. "Oh well, I gotta keep searching..."
Anne leaned over and checked around for her map, discovering that it wasn't there. "Oh no..." she felt her heart sink in fear.
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Post by Peregrinus on Jan 2, 2008 23:26:22 GMT -5
As Pere walked back into the bar, he carefully hid the map in his cloak and sweep the room searching for the girl. Pere could not seem to find her as he made through the bar. Finally, he spotted her at the bar and approached her. Taking a seat to her left, Pere slipped his boot into her chair and locked her leg in.
"You never answered my question."
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Post by Fearn on Jan 2, 2008 23:27:24 GMT -5
Fearn tied her pony, Aurum, to a tree outside the tavern, and made for the door. She wasn't there to drink- only to hear the latest gossip, and more importantly, news. Scanning the ground, she saw blood. Her hand twitched towards her dagger, and she jumped back a step. Bar fights weren't exactly anything out of the ordinary, but the amount of blood she saw did not suggest a mere brawl. Fearn cautiously moved forward, to see a dark mass lying unmoving on the ground. Wonderful, she thought. I'm welcomed by dead bodies. And dead bodies mean there are killers around. This is just great.
Giving the corpse a wide berth, Fearn dodged into the tavern, trying not to draw too much attention to herself. Looking around, she saw what looked like a bandit whispering something to a woman. Did he have something to do with the body? Fearn tried to hear what he was saying, but could not. Nevertheless, she would stay away from him in the future. The same went for the cloaked man who next approached the woman she was watching. He looked downright sinister.
Reason for Editing: late post
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Post by Princess Anne on Jan 2, 2008 23:46:18 GMT -5
Anne's true side came out as she gave Pere a good stare-down right in the eyes. She stared at him, refusing to respond with words for about 5 minutes. Eventually, she spoke.
"Hey Adonis, get this guy a Dragon's breath." her gaze on him didn't waiver. Soon, a drink in an odd cup in the shape of an egg was placed in front of Pere.
"I enjoy combat, I've lived my life fighting for so long that its normal for me. Many of my family members fight." the brunnette opened up to him temporarily, but quickly avoided him again, getting up and walking away from him. She approached Fearn, eyeing her.
"Don't get too comfy in here, you should watch yourself. It's tough in this area..." Anne spoke respectfully, wanting to give some wise advice to the new face in the area.
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Post by Fearn on Jan 2, 2008 23:55:19 GMT -5
Fearn barked a sarcastic laugh. "I've noticed. Care to explain why there's a morgue being set up in front of this place?" she said, tensing. The woman sounded tough, and Fearn knew that fighting with her would be a very bad idea. If she was so confident around the man she had judged as suspicious, she must be quite self-assured.
Fearn was beginning to decide that today was probably the worst day she could have chosen to come to the bar. Normally, the other people would ignore her, something she was very thankful for. The patrons of this bar tended to rather shady, and often downright crude.
Reason for Editing: omitted last sentence
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Post by Peregrinus on Jan 3, 2008 0:12:06 GMT -5
Pere kept his eyes locked with her until the drink was placed in front of him. The ranger wasn't one to turn down a drink so he downed it. The stuff burned all the way down. No wonder they called it dragon's breath. Pere's mouth was on fire. He barely heard the girl explain about her background and couldn't stop her from leaving as the drink continued to work its magic. Pere coughed loudly and he swore he saw smoke rise from his mouth. Almost instantously, the fire disappeared.
"Good stuff, good stuff." Pere said to the bartender as he rose to go after the girl. She seemed not to want to be questioned. However, she would answer him- if she ever wanted that map back.
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Post by Princess Anne on Jan 3, 2008 0:27:24 GMT -5
Anne figured she better lose the mysterious warrior before he learns too much about her, and her past. She sprouted a mischievous idea and smiled at Fearn.
"Hey, do you see that guy with the hood on over there? He's very shy and he said he'd like to talk with you. Despite his appearance, he's a real gentleman." Anne said properly and felt like laughing out loud at the same time. "Here, take this and buy him a drink. I think you'll be glad you met him." Anne slid a gold coin into Fearn's palm.
"Heh heh, that'll keep him busy for a while." Anne thought to herself as she walked past Fearn and scanned the whole bar area for her map.
"It can't be far, hopefully noone knows what its a map of..." she sighed to herself.
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Post by Fearn on Jan 3, 2008 0:50:05 GMT -5
Fearn raised an eyebrow. Riiight... Buy Mr. Dark-and-Sinister a drink for Ms. Tough. She thought she's do better to take the money and run. What if the guy with the hood with the murderer? Still, she might be able to learn something if she did as the woman said.
Standing up, Fearn threw her braid over her shoulder and marched up to the counter. She slammed the coin down. "I think you get the idea," she snapped to Adonis. He gave her an odd look, but brought her the drink anyways. If she was paying him, he would do his job.
Fearn turned to face Sinister Person, and shoved the drink at him. "It would be polite to take this," she said wryly. Now came the moment of truth: was Sinister Person a brutal killer who would happily make Fearn into mincemeat or the "shy gentleman" Anne described him as?
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Post by Peregrinus on Jan 3, 2008 1:01:40 GMT -5
As Pere turned from the bar, he met another woman who slammed a drink into his hands. He leans back by the suddenness of it all and sat back onto the bar stoll. Throwing a glance over the girl's shoulder, Pere could still see Anne in the room.
"Umm...thanks." He, however, placed the drink on the bar behind him without drinking it. That Dargon's Breath was some strong stuff.
"May I ask your name?" Pere didn't want to be rude. He had some time before he lost the female warrior before she disappeared.
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Post by Princess Anne on Jan 3, 2008 1:18:18 GMT -5
Anne grew so desperate to find her map that she started crawling around on the floor. At this point, she was making herself look like a complete idiot. She quickly got up, and shot a glare at some of the guys in the bar who were chuckling about her.
"Whenever in doubt, use the eye.." anne chanted in her head. She walked over to a table of men, who were playing a game of craps.
"Hey there, any of you guys seen a map around here?" she stood there, looking down at them as they paid more attention to her form than her face. She immediately noticed and stomped away, not even wanting an answer from them. She went to a chair that was in a corner and carefully took something out of her carrying bag. It was a large and perfectly round jewel, that was ruby red but had a sharp black line going through it. It was the crystalized eye of a St George's dragon.
"Come on ol george, gimme some luck or something..." Anne childishly began to stroke the eye, thinking it would give her good luck. An odd light reflected itself on Pere's clothing. "What...? He has it?" she was puzzled.
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Post by Fearn on Jan 3, 2008 1:27:33 GMT -5
"Yelena," Fairn said quickly. She coughed to the side to hide a grin. The name she used was one that had belonged to a fairy tale princess in a story she had read a long time ago. She found the idea of being called the name of a princess amusing; her clothing was more fit for a caveperson.
Noticing the light from Ms. Tough's jewel, she shifted nervously. The tavern was quickly turning into a circus, by her estimates. She hoped the jewel wasn't magic, but was under the impression that Ms. Tough probably wasn't playing with it for no reason.
"Now why is it you want to talk to me?" she asked Sinister Person. "And what's your name?"
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