Cold Hearts IC Thread

[Mello]

As Indoril emerged into the room it seemed to actually be some vast natural cavern, with a hole in the center of the roof to allow a pale light through. The ground was littered with straw and unsurprisingly the ground was littered with corpses and large amounts of excrement. It certainly smelt of animals..

The slave looked up weakly and tried to speak, but could only manage a croaking pathetic noise. Perhaps more notable was what he smelled of. It wasn't regular blood or excrement, something far worse smelling, what appeared to be a thick black slime thinly coated the slaves' skins.

Suddenly a feral growl and two small pairs of eyes were seen in the shadows, underneath a natural overhang in the cavern Indoril was in.

----------

In the cell, another amused giggle was heard, and then a tapping sound in Shevael's left ear.

"You're even more ugly than I imagined" chuckled a young female voice.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Aneaya."

 

[Count michael]

Oh now you've hurt my feelings, you'll find once I get you in bed with me you shall cry out in ecstasy of my greatness, I can be rather persuasive you know. You know I am naked, we might as well make the most of it I've shown you mine how about you show me yours" Shevael said bowing to where he thought he voice was coming

"Where are my manners I am Shevael Redmane killer extrordiner and perfect lover. So Aneaya you are not the gods then though you sound like a goddess , oh well at least I won't have to go all religious and become celibate the ladies would be unable to cope. So you going to get me out I am very curious about who you are and how you got here, have you been in this cell this whole time????
How about we talk about it over dinner then you let me show you why the ladies find me irresistible in bed as I am the most perfect lover starting to put his clothes back on

 

[Mello]

The female voice chuckled

"I'm in the adjacent cell dummy. And no I'm not taking my clothes off, I'm 10 years of age.

However.. I could free you if you like, I only stay in this prison because its better than the place I used to live in before.

But what's in it for me?"

A small, almost angelic little face appeared in a largish crack in the wall, peering intently.

 

[Count michael]

Hmmm being 10 kinda rules out something good for you maybe find me when you are older maybe 18 or 20" Shevael said rubbing his chin

"I know, how about you say what you want and I shall try to do it.... Hey what do you expect I'm not really an idea person I usually just wing it"

 

[Mello]

The child's eyes lit up. "Ok then how about you get me.... a witch sacrificial knife?" she asked gleefully..

"They're so spiky and sharp.. I've always wanted one" She almost seemed to lick her lips with anticipation of receiving the dagger.

 

[Count michael]

"Ok then I promise" shevael relpied slightly disturbed by the girl I don't really want to know what you want it for, so can you get me out now and show me where this hydra is.....please

 

[Mello]

The girl's eyebrows furrowed.

"A hydra? I thought they were just stories, definitely didn't know there was one here though. Sounds exciting." she giggled.

"Either way, I'll let you out, give me a minute Shevael."

The face dissappeared and small echoey grunts were heard, along with much scraping and scratching.

Eventually Aneaya appeared at the front of Michael's jail door, and unbarred it.

She was a small girl, perhaps only 5 feet, her hair was strangely grey and swept back into a messy tumble over her shoulders, hanging down to her waist. Her eyes were near as dammit to bitch black. Her clothes were a darker grey than her hair and blood and filth stained.

She took a step back.

"Don't touch me" she mumbled quietly looking down.

 

[Count michael]

I won't don't worry, well thanks anyway I'll get your knife but I got to be going got to go play hide and seek with this Hydra, damn lizard where is it? It's lucky I can't kill it
With that Shevael waved to Anneaya one last time before wandering off in search of a way leading to the Hydra
Creepy girl he thought now where would an over grown lizard hide the kitchen? Nah maybe somewhere below me

 

[Mello]

Anneaya giggled and skipped after Shevael, "I'm not leaving you, silly, I gotta make sure you get me that dagger. And I want to see this hydra anyway.

The rich bastard who owns this house owns many animals, I could show you where he keeps them if you like."

 

[Count michael]

Yes that sounds perfect little one.....lead on by the way you don't want anyone killed do you I am a legendary assassin of a famed order of assassins" Shevael proudly boasted
Wait should i be telling this girl this? Oh well as long as I get the mission done he thought

 

[The Archivist]

January looked for the innkeeper. She went up to the bar shortly after Kelarith had sat down and chucked a couple of gold coins onto the bar.
"How much for a room. One night, no disturbances, extra for no thefts or murders."

 

[Mello]

Aneaya pouted as she led the way

"Just because I'm young, doesn't mean I'm little. And if you're such a good assassin why did you need me to free you? Actually, why were you imprisoned in the first place? You could have killed the guards."

She quickly started ascending the staircase, back into the bleak light of the day in Karond Kar, despite the hurricane-like weather, Aneaya seemed to care little for it, except adjusting her clothes slightly. She looked around briefly before walking confidently straight towards the main entrance of the castle, where there were at least 20 guards stationed.

"Come on then" she chirped brightly.. or was it pretense.

 

[Malochai]

Indoril’s nose wrinkled distastefully. He had always enjoyed seeing the beasts the Druchii used in warfare; less so smelling them. When the slave struggled to reply, the elf simply kicked him sharply in the stomach and spat at his feet. “No wonder you ended up where you did,” he muttered condescendingly, shaking his head. The cavern was full of faults, with little to distinguish it as made to Druchii designs. ‘Poor,’ he thought, ‘Poor design.’

He glanced around, trying to find a vantage point high enough to afford him a good view, as well as some protection against any attack, and the points of light, the eyes in the dark, only spurred him on further, whilst concurrently he walked backwards slowly. He had no desire to discover what creature he faced until he had a reasonable advantage.

 

[Mello]

The single pair of eyes turned into two, then three pairs. Three hugely overmuscled Nauglir slinked out of the shade sniffing the air intently as their badly adjusted eyes peered keenly out into the gloom of the room. One of the trio suddenly whipped its head round and stared straight towards Indoril and bellowed a bestial call to arms.

The walls of the cavern like room simply started off vertically, like a cliff. However there were some rocky crags and other juts which one could scale up a couple of meters. Would it be high enough to avoid the jaws of a Cold One though. The grate in the centre of the room didn't have any of the Cold Ones' slime in the centre of it, notably, perhaps the gaps in the grate were too large for them? One would have to be an extremely good acrobat however.

---------

The grizzled, and thickly bearded Bartender could almost be mistaken for a dwarf were it not for his height and notably accented nose. He confirmed his elfishness when he chuckled nasally, definitely a druchii trait.

"A mistress of the night eh? I got just the room for ye'. All fancy like. 20 silver and 4 bronze's it'll cost ye'"

 

[Malochai]

The elf started walking backwards a bit quicker, and then turned on his heel and ran for the grate in the centre, putting his blade back up his sleeve easily as he moved. ‘Dammit,’ he thought, cursing the damnable beasts. He had never taken the step to coat himself in the slime that the nauglir exuded; he had always enjoyed the pleasure of flesh, food and drinks far too much to numb himself to it all so effectively. Reaching the edge of the grate he leapt, judging the distance so that he would fall between two of the bars, throwing his arms to catch himself. He gritted his teeth prematurely, knowing the pain he would endure when he did, but knowing it would be much better than to let the reptiles tear him to shreds. He didn’t have to look at the slaves to know the torment and physical pain that would his then.

 

[Count michael]

As he was following her Shevael replied somewhat casually
"sorry then well you see, part of the plan was to do it with out attracting too much attention, so killing a few guards would of been bad apparently. I was meant to be a distraction but I kinda got ahead of my self ending up where I was, what about you???? Why were you there???"

Seeing that they were walking towards alot of guards made Shevael grin
"I like the way this is going Aneaya lets carry on"

 

[The Archivist]

"Here's 30 silver. Where's the room?"
January flipped a silver coin form one hand to the other before chucking it onto the table. She took a pouch containing 30 silver and dropped it on the bar. She wasn't planning on buying drinks tonight.

 

[Mello]

The cold ones hissed softly and slowly paced towards the grate before pausing at the edge. There seemed to be some intelligent gleam to their eye and they settled down patiently around the grate. They had all the time in the world, Indoril didn't.

-----------

Anaeya hunched over slightly

"No killing? Sounds boring for an assassin if you ask me. I guess we can't kill these guards then. Never mind, I'll handle this don't worry."

She strode at a faster pace than seemed possible for her size towards the guards, still idly chatting as she moved forwards

"Why am I here? Well usually when anyone who can use magic sees me they try to kill me. This place is the farthest I could get from anyone who knows magic. It seems the owner doesn't take kindly to unknown visitors, especially mages. Doubt he knows I'm here either frankly, he has a lot of secrets to hide it seems."

---------------

The bartender glanced suspiciously at the money, carefully inspecting they were not fake, after all it was unusual to be over payed.

"Very well." he said gruffly, "Up the stairs, second on the left."

 

[Malochai]

A slight hiss escaped the Druchii's perfectly formed mouth as he landed, and then swung a leg up to hook it around the bar he was gripping. Confidently, he hooked his other leg onto the same bar and simultaneously let his hands loosen, before letting go entirely and causing himself to oscillate quickly.

Once confident of his plan, Indoril took a breath and, as he travelled to the apex of his swing, loosened his legs and shot across the drain, now not caring about the blood and other bodily products hailing down on him, only caring about catching the ladder, aware again it would hurt. He reached out both hands ahead of him, and grasped. One got a good hold, but the other slipped on years of accumulated slime, and his entire weight pulled on his left shoulder. Another gasp erupted from his mouth, and then he managed to catch a rung with his right hand and found another with both feet.

Looking up, he saw the nauglir surround his refuge and a plan formed in his mind. He once more hooked his left leg and arm around the outside bar of the ladder and unhooked his handbow from his belt, and waited for a cold one to make a mistake and move where he wanted it - directly above him, so that he could shoot it through the eye.

 

[Mello]

The cold one looked down, almost making a quizzical noise. Shortly one leaned over, peering into the darkness to see whether their quarry had escaped. A low growl emnated from them, presumably frustration.

 

[Malochai]

The dark elf smiled maliciously, and aimed his repeater handbow, closing his left eye. He squeezed the trigger three times in rapid succession, all aimed at the creature's eye.

"Damnable beasts," he muttered.

 

[Mello]

One shot sank home as the bolt burst the eye clean, the other two sinking harmlessly into armored plating. The beast roared before retreatin violently, thrashing around as it tried to rid the pain from its eye. The other two backed up slightly before advancing cautiously again, being careful to not expose themselves. They weren't going to let Indoril get away, but they certainly weren't stupid.

 

[Malochai]

Indoril smirked. Bastard creature had gotten what it deserved. 'Which only leaves me with two to go,' the elf thought, grimacing. He had a thought. Drawing a knife from his belt - a utilitarian piece he only had for emergencies - Indoril drew it across his left hand, ensuring that his blood coated the blade thoroughly, before clasping the grip between his pearly teeth. His nose flared at the sweet smell of elven blood; his heart pumped faster, adrenaline coursed through his veins.

His right hand still free, he pulled at the clasp around his throat, letting the cloak fall free of his neck and then shoving it over his left shoulder, allowing the cut palm to rest against it, letting it absorb his life-blood as well. With his right hand, he once more reached up and took his knife in hand, pressing the flats against his palm once more before throwing it over the edge of the hole, hoping it would entice at least one of the creatures closer.

 

[Count michael]

Following Aneaya Shevael seemed to be ignoring the guards
"I know, not killing is never fun but sometimes a contract is a contract....wait your a Mage, oh we all do what we have to to survive, what sort of Mage are you???.

Wait.....secrets????? I like the sound of that if we can't find this hydra how about we loot the place????? after all it will have nothing do do with my mission....... and the employer never said we couldn't loot his place plus we can kill stuff, besides who says he will even pay us chances are he will try killing us afterwards, we might even find your knife"

 

[Mello]

One cold one, perhaps more stupid than the rest, but certainly fast, snapped at the dagger, swallowing them up. After a moment's pause it started coughing and choking as the dagger got caught somewhere inside it. Circling around erratically while it moaned an odd, whistle like croak. Eventually it collapsed and the other two set upon it in a frenzy, tearing its flesh up for their own sustenance. All the while the slaves simply carried on sweeping up the gore. They were evidently used to nauglir dying like this.

-----------------

Anaeya shrugged. "I guess I'm a mage, I don't know though, I just know I'm different and people try to kill me all the time."

She walked up to the guards and waved her hand idly, even though she was still looking at Shevael. Instantly all of them collapsed to the ground in a clatter of glitsy armour. Aeneya looked back as if nothing happened.

"Come on assassin."