Thanks to those bastard highwaymen, Lis was very late in her arrival to Starkvale. The borderlands themselves had been hard enough to traverse, but with the competition taking part in Starkvale, the roads and wilds were crawling with foes. Many were bandits or goblins, riled by the sudden onslaught of supposed do-gooders and treasure hunters; some escaping, others revelling in the bloodshed about to occur over the next week or so. As for Lis, she had been somewhat luckier than most; only running into a handful of whelps with badly dulled swords, demanding her coinpurse... and other unmentionable things that could be taken from a woman. Despite her short stature and young features, Ninlisus Jadan was not someone to be underestimated, especially on the road. While it would have been easy enough to injure the fools and slip away into the shadows - she had fled from far more nefarious creatures than village idiots, after all - the thought of them convening on another innocent traveller was too much to bare. Not all women were as she was; indeed, not all men were either. The highwaymen had to be dealt with.
And so, she was late.
There was a bittersweet feeling as she arrived at the gates of the bustling city; there was a grim satisfaction in ending the lives of those men, even relieving them of certain appendages after their threats of rape before cutting their throats. But alas, she had missed the competition; and with the competition ended, many of the mercenary groups had left... along with potential job prospects. All that was left for the young half-dwarf to do was to enter the city, and hope to find some coin there. Killing for money was a lucrative and booming business, after all; there'd be some noble in the city looking for someone like her. Hopefully.
Approaching the gates, the guards stood there looked down at her, lips curling up in amusement at the sight of the petite lady. Their sneers faded quickly after gauging the woman before them properly; from her dark scowl to the weapons she carried; her scraped knuckles to the blood-stained bandage wrapped around her forearm.
"Open the gates. I'm looking for work." Lis' tone was brusque, arms folded in a business-like manner. The guards shared a hesitant look with one another before turning back to the short woman. Like so many others Lis had encountered in her life, she could tell they were trying to work out what she was; a tall Dwarf, or a tiny human?
"Uh...for the mercenary guild?" One asked uncertainly. Lis' eyes narrowed ever so slightly at the guard's choice of words - so the competition had been more than just some coin and fame. They did actually get a guild... but if this made getting a job easier or more difficult, Lis was unsure of that at the moment.
"Of course - what else would I be here for? To dance and entertain your jumped-up nobles?" Snapping in response, her eyes glinted - daring the guards to make a joke. The one she was staring down (And it was quite a feat to stare down a man nearly 2 feet taller than oneself) was now visibly sweating, and he shouted the order to open the gates. Stuttering slightly, he stated that an escort would be necessary in some attempt to gain control of the situation; she simply strode ahead and ignored him, only allowing to be overtaken when realising she did not know the way. That was one thing an escort was good for, after all. Sprawling cities like this one were far too easy to get lost in. One wrong direction and you could easily find yourself stuck in a blocked-off alleyway... and then you find yourselves killing more idiots who think they've snared an easy catch.
As Lis walked in silence beside the marching soldier, she pulled at the tattered bandage around her forearm, lips pursing in annoyance as she tightened the cloth. One of the highwaymen had landed a lucky blow; a glancing catch of her arm by his sword. The blade had been dulled and rusty beyond anything vaguely useful, but it had still left a sizeable - yet shallow - cut where her bracers did not cover her flesh. Thankfully her coat sleeve had been rolled up. Lis had no time, money or patience to have the battered leather coat repaired. Glancing back up at the street as the guard came to a stop beside a sizeable manor, he motioned towards the door and began marching rather quickly back to the city gates. Lis sometimes forgot just how effective a dark glare from herself could be. And speaking of glares...
As Lis approached the rich oak doors, a well-dressed man left the guild; he had the very familiar look on his face that noblemen often had when dealing with peasants - nose stuck high up in the air, a fruity expression of lingering disgust as he walked down the street. He glanced at Lis, and the pair shot daggers at each other simply on principle. Lis didn't like jumped up rich people - and this jumped up rich person obviously didn't like half-dwarves. Or maybe just tatty looking people. Or was it women? Lis didn't know, or particularly care; now ignoring the man, she opened the door to the guild and stepped inside, looking around. Her scowling expression eased up into a more neutral one (Which still looked somewhat annoyed, unless you know her very well.). The guildhall was indeed a pleasant looking place. Calmer and cleaner than she had expected, barring a door nearly smashed to pieces.
Ahead of her stood four men at a table, all having glanced her way at her arrival. Three humans, and a gnome with some rather striking hair. Two of the men looked battle-hardened, but the third looked far too young, uninjured and handsome to be a mercenary. Still, Lis tended to avoid assumptions and ignore first-impressions, especially in regards to potential new employers. Time and talking would be the judge of everyone in the room.
"I understand you gentleman are taking on new recruits? If that's the case, I'm interested. If not, I have a guard to severely injure for wasting my time." She began, walking towards the table and stopping a respectable few feet away from the men. "I have plenty of experience taking orders from outfits like this, and been in more merc groups than I can count. However, you're the first I've found to have their own guild hall." Lis' deadpan expression gave way to a vaguely impressed one as her brown eyes once again regarded the room. It was certainly much better than the camping sites and battered ruins she was used to staying in with merc outfits.
