[IC] Kings and Killers: A Classical Fantasy Adventure (Chapter 1)

[Spiffy]

Cicero Bladewalker

Cicero replied to Gwyn, "Well, I suppose imprison them at the nearest port! We arent the kind of people to execute needlessly. Especially when there are other options."

Satisfied that Dalious was in agreement, Cicero tended to his gear. He polished and cleaned his armor and weapons. Then he spoke to Gwyn, "I only hope my horse Merlin made it out of the city safely...By the way, how is our...uh priest doing?" Graves had been passed out for some time.

As Gwyn went to check on him Cicero listened intently to Dalious' sea shanty. Cicero couldn't help but sing along after he heard the tune a few times, "...and we'll all hang on behind.."

[Cyrania]

SS Libertalia

Cicero Bladewalker , Dalious , & Gwyneria

@Spiffy@Sol Grim

"Whelp, at least that got settled fast." Gwyn thought before responding. "We'll definitely need to be incognito for that to work, but it shouldn't be much of a problem." Even if it meant giving them to a crueler death than Dalious had proposed, but that was neither here or there. Cicero's intentions were definitely good. She made her way to their other comrade and checked him other. "I'm sure your kingdom's not cruel enough to punish an innocent horse for its master's crimes, hopefully. Graves himself is still alive, though still sleeping off whatever it is he took earlier. Whatever that was, that stuff's potent." A mild urge to find more of that potion from their escape passed through her, but she suppressed it. Wouldn't be right to go through the guy's things while unconscious. Besides, she wouldn't know for sure what she was looking for. Instead, she stood up and looked over the sea, wondering what the next port would bring as the four sailed on.

[Cyrania]

Port Raventine

i.pinimg.com/originals/d1/f3/72/d1f37…

The sun was high in the sky as the large port bustled with life. Traders bartered and bought, merchants called out their wares in the street markets. Sailors, disreputable or not, recovered from their morning hangovers to spin tales, speculate in games of chance, or seek for the sun-tanned women. Every man smiled at his neighbor, preparing their daggers for when opportunity was right. Meanwhile, the breeze blew placidly over the lapping shoreline as seagulls cried overhead.

Black Jack's Roost

Nylah Aldaos

@The Muse

Within the major seedy pub, a red-haired elf leaned back and glanced through the available bounties. The time had come for her to take on a new job after all. Of course, the highest ones caught her eye and not simply for their price. It was also from Alvion's "covert" contractor and involved an assassination. Nylah looked closer at the drawn pictures and description. They were certainly amateurs to be so easily found out. The thing allowed for wanting them dead or alive, of course. It seemed like it could be interesting. Of course, going for the Dalious contract could be a decent challenge. He had quite the reputation, though he'd be technically safe in any of the Knight Isle ports. She'd need to consider her options.

Does she seek for more info on either assignment, does she choose to pursue some other target, does she start investigating some leads, does she sit a while and mentally prepare herself for her choose target, or does she enjoy herself a bit before the next hunt?

SS Libertalia

Cicero Bladewalker , Dalious , & Gwyneria

@Spiffy@Sol Grim

(While sailing, all injuries were healed and Gwyn rested until she got up to full strength).
After a slight detour to turn in the prisoners (all quite anonymously) in a port that would accept their arrest, the Libertalia finally arrived at Port Raventine, one of the largest hives of scum and villainy throughout the world. And one of the best places Dalious knew of to get information and to hide. Cicero and Gwyn couldn't refute that logic after finding out that there were indeed bounties for their heads, and rather high ones. Even though he hated his sea-sickness, Graves elected to stay and watch the ship once they arrived. His criminal contacts were more situated on mainland operations after all. (And it allowed him to make sure Gwyn didn't get more of Thorin's Revenge until times were desperate again. She'd been clearly pondering it during the trip and their party only had room for one full time addict at a time.) Gwyn shivered, made sure her hood was over her head, checked over Cicero's disguise, and checked again that everyone was in top condition. There was way too much that could go wrong here and she wasn't going to take any chances. She'd simply need to keep watch and be ready when they got attacked or double-crossed or something. Important thing was to stick close to Cicero and make sure he did nothing too stupid.

As Dalious was their guide, he could take them to a variety of places he thought of as fun and/or useful, such as the pubs or the marketplace. He could also potentially lead them somewhere to double-cross them if he wanted. Or he could ditch them and do something on his own.

Cicero also had options. He could choose to trust Dalious and follow him, choose not to and strike off into the port with Gwyn on their own, or decide to stay on deck. Gwyn would most likely stay with him unless it was a case of needing to make sure Dalious didn't go off alone and turn on them.

[The Muse]

Nylah Aldaos

In a dark corner of Black Jack's Roost, sitting in a booth by herself, Nylah Aldaos thumbed through some bounty papers she had snagged from the local mercenary boards. All of which were interesting to her, though especially the bounty from Alvion's contractor - something that came few and far between, but always paid a hefty price. She had worked for them once before, but they were typically so popular that many people would be after the bounty. It was mostly a race to see who could carry out the orders first. This, however, paid the largest price she had seen them offer yet, which meant it could be worth the extra effort of trying to be hasty and possibly fighting off other mercenaries who were after the same thing.

"A rouge knight and an elf..." She read the descriptions carefully, "The knight could be a problem. The elf... perhaps. I could take her out first, deal with the bigger problem afterwards." She leaned back in her booth, pondering on how the odd pairing could have possibly killed Alvion on their own. If there was one thing she had learned through all the years of mercenary work it was that you don't underestimate anyone.

She pulled out the second bounty paper she had grabbed and looked over the details. "A pirate..." She thought, recalling several times she had brought in or killed pirates in the past. This one, however, has apparently had a bounty on his head for quite some time and had avoided being taken in, or killed, so far. He could prove to be more difficult than the other pirates she had encountered. Clearly he was skilled in evading capture, which would explain the high price for his head. Much less than the Alvion contract, but could still be worth her time.

"Both." She decided, folding the papers and putting them carefully into her satchel. She would pursue both contracts at the same time. Just in case the Alvion contract didn't pan out due to some other mercenary, she at least would have had other leads on the pirate by then.

"For now..." She looked up and took a survey of the pub. It was bustling with people on this day. Loud. Wenches stood near the entrance, waiting to sink their claws into any man who would let them - for a price. Drunkards hung around the bar, shouting at each other and the women who walked around serving drinks. No doubt a crew of pirates had pulled into port recently and were celebrating being on land again.

"Someone here might know, or have heard of Dalious. Pirates know pirates. Especially infamous ones." She stood and moved towards the bar, ignoring a dwarf who whistled as she passed him.

"Barkeep!" She called to the man behind the bar counter, making herself heard over the noise of the room. "A pint of your finest ale, please." She flashed him a warm smile and leaned up against the bar, flirting with her emerald eyes as she playfully looked him up and down. Bartenders typically knew a lot of information. They hear a lot of things throughout one shift, especially in a place like this.

If no one took any interest in her from the group of pirates, she would focus her attention on flirting with the bartender for information.

[Sol Grim]

Dalious

"Right, well here we are," Dalious spoke to Cicero and Gwyneria from the docks. "Port Raventine, one of the biggest shit holes I've ever had the displeasure of knowing. Though the people are quite lovely if you get to know them." Just on land some teenagers stole a stranger's coin purse from his belt and ran off with it, the man screaming obscenities after them and giving them chase.

"If we're going to be going on any much further in our journey together, we'll need some coin as we are indeed quite broke," he went on as he walked. "Leave that part to yours truly, as I know of a few ways to make a quick gain or two. Perhaps you two can find out more information on our little situation. Or if you simply fancy a drink then just follow me, I'm dying for one or six!" Without waiting for their response he wandered off quickly to the nearest pub he knew of.

Black Jack's Roost

Entering the tavern, Dalious kept his head low as he passed through the crowds of people. The last thing he wanted was to run in to someone he knew, as there were none he still trusted these days. He smiled to the first waitress he passed and ordered a few whiskeys and some ale, then made his way forward to a table of a few playing a game of dice.

"No coin, no play," a dwarf spat out, he was a large, short man with a long dark beard and a quick temper. He crossed his arms across his chest and grunted as Dalious approached the table. There sat four others with him, playing a game of pirate dice. The majority of the winnings seemed to be in the dwarf's favor.

"Listen lads, this is all I have left," Dalious assured the drunk men as he dropped a few coins on the table. It wasn't much but enough to get started, just a portion of his share that was made from selling off his old crew.

"Winner takes all, boy," the dwarf informed and pulled up a chair for the newcomer. Each man put five dice into a mug, shook them all up, then slammed them down on the table upside down. Turn by turn they went, and as the time went on, Dalious' pot grew larger and the opponent's he faced grew drunker. By the end of the half-hour, the last two men playing were Dalious and the dwarf, the largest pile of coin on Dalious' side.

"Three sixes."

"Exact!" the dwarf spat. He had two dice left, one being a six and the other a three. He was confident Dalious had two sixes, plus his own six would justify his claim. They showed their hand. Of Dalious' three dice, he had zero sixes, leaving the dwarf's six as the only one. "Damn you outlander! You've won every single damned game since we started!" His face was red and heavy in sweat.

"You've one dice leffft, mate,"the pirate slurred, he was beginning to feel a buzz as he downed another pint and ordered anew. Everyone was either wasted or passed out at the table and the drinks kept coming. Around them the pub was livelier than ever and Dalious couldn't help but notice a stunning red-headed elf that sat at the bar. He combed back his hair with a free hand in case she were to look toward him, but the dwarf grunted loudly, bringing his attention back to the game.

"One four."

"TWO FOURS!!!!"

"Three fours."

"Ahhh, lies!!"

They revealed their hands again. The dwarf had a single four, while Dalious had two fours and a five.

"Three fours, I win," Dalious said and smiled. "A pleasure."

"Ahh cheater!!" the dwarf yelled and nearly waved his drink off the table. He stood and balled his hand into a fist and he wavered in place hesitantly and drunkenly.

"Only if you catch me!" Dalious spat back. He actually had not cheated this entire game, so he took offense. At this point the others that were passed out at the table had woken up and they all stood around the pirate looking for a fight. One was cracking his knuckles while another sniffed the smoke filled air. "No need for murder so early into the day, gentlemen. I trust we can get behind this in a civilized manner, we are all here for fun." he spoke as he began transporting his earnings into his pouches along his belt.

"I'm pretty sure you're a con man!" the dwarf spoke as he cracked his neck both ways.

"Nonsense, I'm simply a gambling man as you lot are" Dalious went on. "We are all on the same side, mates. All of us come from the same cloth. We are all brothers and friends. Devine's bless us, one and all. All for one, or something like that." Dalious stood with his winnings all stored away. "Now, who's with me!"

Someone punched Dalious square in the jaw and a fight broke out.

[Spiffy]

Cicero Bladewalker

Cicero wrapped himself in a sizeable cloak and followed Dalious to the tavern. It was clear the man knew more about the seedy parts of the world then Cicero or Gwyn did. They could lay low and get information. At the first sign of betrayal from Dalious they could turn him in for his bounty. Of course..they could also get turned in themselves. It was a risk they had to make.

Cicero quietly muttered to Gwyn, "We can follow the scoundrel and figure out what we need to clear our names. He knows more about these places than either of us."

Then he got his belongings together and followed Dalious to the tavern. It wasn't as welcoming as the ones he had entertained in his home city. Dark, musky and dirty. He kept his head on a swivel as he took a seat at a table in the corner with his back to the wall. His hood overshadowed his identity. He muttered to his companion, Gwyn, "We will need new identities if we are to blend in and not be caught. What do you think?"

Just then, a bar fight broke forth and sure enough, Dalious was at the center of it. Cicero held himself back from intervening thinking, "That man is a magnet for trouble.." It was difficult to do, but Cicero remained seated and prayed that the scoundrel could get out alive and relatively unscathed.

[Cyrania]

Black Jack's Roost

Nylah Aldaos

@The Muse

"Coming up, miss." The barkeep replied as he reached down for a pint to fill. If one happened to look closely, a glimpse of some sort of tail could be seen as he moved before he straightened himself up pour in the ale. Then he slid it over to her and leaned forward, resting his head into his hands with elbows on the bar. "Now, what are you wanting lassie? Guys like me are not given those kind of eyes for the heck of it."

The observed pirates were either swimming in their tankards, observed in the paid wenches, or surrounding a game going on. One at the table did look her way that might look oddly familiar (roll a d20 for a perception check) though now he and a good many others are involved in a brawl. So they're most likely not going to be available sources of information at this time. So talking to the barkeep would seem to be the most worthwhile choice at the moment unless Nylah would love to join a barfight [if you get above a 10 in the roll, then you'd recognize Dalious and be able to act on that knowledge. If you roll a nat 20, you notice two suspicious people beyond him, a likely human male and a likely elvish female.]

Dalious

@Sol Grim

The punch pushed Dalious back though his jaw was intact for now. Though the three other fists being aimed towards him might be of concern. The first puncher got attacked by one of the guy's watching the game saying, "Oi! You didn't think that dwarf was cheating before. What makes this guy different?"
"Who're you calling a cheater, Darrell?" The dwarf yelled out as he tackled the guy. The two rolled around on the ground while others started to join in with the chaos.
A sideline pirate though, a pipe in his mouth, had a squinty look in his eyes before sighing. "Yep, that sure looks like him."

Cicero Bladewalker & Gwyneria

@Spiffy

Gwyneria rolled her eyes at the scene. Did the pirate really have to get into a fight now? And why hadn't Cicero fought of talking about secret identities before coming here? Of course, she should have thought of that before as well, but it was far too late for that.
"Are you sure you want to talk about this now?" She replied, though the fighting did throw out a lot of white noise so maybe they could get away with this. "Always heard that it's better to stick as close to the truth as possible when coming up with a cover story." She whispered back. "Though we also need a story that doesn't make us a target. We could just go with the story that we're adventurers out to seek our fortunes though we don't know how yet. Pretty simple. We could go with a story where you're my deaf and mute bodyguard while I'm a forest elf enchantress or something recently hired by your crew that doesn't speak common so requiring one of us to write everything down if they talk with us or Dalious has to act as translator. We could be random travelers that only met today or members of some sort of pirate crew. Or something you come up. If Dalious is with us long though, we'll have to let him and Graves know the story."

"As for names," she mused on that. It'd have to be something that they'd recognize as themselves without being super obvious to a bounty hunter. "Maybe Freda and Cyrano? Names are not a forte of mine, sorry."

[Sol Grim]

Dalious gave a hard left hook to the first person he saw after the punch, knocking the culprit out. When chaos assumed around him, he turned to look and see his fellow companions had entered the bar and had taken seat. He made his way over to them, clocking another random person along the way.

"Glad you lot made it, I've made some coin," he said and tossed the coin pouch over to Gwyneria for safe keeping. "By the way they started this, and since I'm in my prime, I'll have to finish it."

He gave Gwyneria a wink just before some random guy smashed a chair over Dalious' back and back head, which knocked him out cold as his unconcious body flopped onto Gwenarias lap.

[Spiffy]

Cicero Bladewalker

Cicero listened to Gwyn with a thoughtful countenance. He replied with the utmost sincerity, "Cyrano...I like it." Just then Dalious broke their cover by walking straight over to them. "So much for our disguises.." Cicero thought.

Suddenly a chair bashed over Dalious and knocked the rapscallion out. Cicero rolled his eyes and breathed a heavy sigh. He had to step in now. Jumping up, his cloak whirred behind him as he began boxing the man who brought Dalious down. A left hook here, a right jab there, a left cross. Bam Bam WHAM! The man was on the ground before he knew it. Not taking time to admire his work, Cicero hoisted Dalious over his shoulder and muttered to Gwyn, "Time to go." Then he made his way out the back exit. If he wasn't interrupted he would attempt to leave the area and reconvene somewhere else.

[The Muse]

Nylah Aldaos

(I rolled a 2 so Nylah definitely didn't notice anyone in particular Haha!)

As the barkeep slid over the pint of ale, Nylah slid over a few silver coins toward him in exchange. As he leaned towards her, she locked eyes with him and a subtle smirk appeared on her lips as he questioned her. "Guys like you?" she retorted in a sarcastic tone. "Why, I think you're quite handsome." She looked him up and down with her emerald eyes. He wasn't exactly her type, but she was sure someone out there could find him handsome. "I've seen worse." She grinned at him before taking long swig of the ale, playful eyes peering over the edge at him.

"At least you're not stupid." She chuckled a bit. "I'd say that's attractive." She leaned against the bar, further removing the space between them. "I'll tell it to ya straight," one gold goin appeared between her fingers "I'm looking for a man named Dalious. You know him? The infamous pirate." She pushed the gold coin towards him on the table, though still holding possession over it with her fingers, indicating that she would pay him for information. "I'm looking to join his crew." She held his gaze, smiling innocently at him over the counter.

Just then a loud crash from across the room caused her to break eye contact and grip the coin back into the palm of her hand securely. She looked to where the sound came from and eyed the group curiously. A man flopped over into a woman's lap and broken pieces of a chair sprawled across the floor. The surrounding group burst into laughter and then cheered as another man sprung to his feet and began to box the man who had smashed a chair over the unconscious mans head. She raised her brows and then glanced back at the barkeep for a brief moment. "This happen often?" She almost laughed, then looked back as the unconscious man was hoisted up by what was seemingly his friend who had just defended the man. She watched as they left through a back exit, finding it odd that they would take that exit versus the front. "Interesting..." She thought, turning back to the barkeep, "Know anything about that group?"

[Cyrania]

Black Jack's Roost

Cicero Bladewalker, Dalious, & Gwyneria

@Spiffy,@Sol Grim

Gwyn sighed, collected the dropped off bag, and followed after Cicero as the remnants of the fight continued on around them. One would think that a PIRATE with a price on his head would know something about being discrete. But of course she'd find out that she'd been saddled with two imbeciles (though in very different ways), but the objective right now was to make it back to the ship intact. Since her knight was occupied carrying the lughead around, that left her in need of watching out for threats on the way there. As most of her concentration was taken up though in navigating the main bar fight without injury, she missed a certain observant fellow elf at the bar.

The street the merry band exited onto would have been a typical closed in alleyway if the bright seaside sunshine hadn't shone through. Gwyn's eyes darted around the street, only to consider it a reasonable certainty that they was not anyone nearby. She sighed in relief before asking her companion, "Straight shot to the ship or a more roundabout way? If we have attracted unfortunate attentions, shaking anyone following us off would be the safer bet. However, unless our fearless captain wakes up, we have a high chance of getting lost in this town and attracting attention from other threats we do not want to deal with."

Nylah Aldaos

@The Muse

The barkeep shook his head as he looked at the gold coin. "Unfortunately lass, I don'nae know anything worth a gold coin. I've only been employed here two weeks." He pointed at the group in question as they passed through the remaining barfight. "I've never seen that group before in me life and frankly, those two not unconscious are too conspicuous looking to be regulars to this kind of dive. Look like they're trying too hard to play the part of regular customers, especially with those hoods." Then he pointed towards the other side of the room where a squinty eyed older pirate sat out of the fight, still smoking his pipe. "He's among the oldest regulars here. If anyone knows about Dalious or any of the famous rogues, it'd be Old Deke."

Will Nylah pursue this source of potential info or follow the strange group out of curiosity or gut feeling?

[Spiffy]

Cicero Bladewalker

Cicero looked at Gwyn and replied, "Let us go a more roundabout way. Perhaps we can lose any pursuers and our 'Captain' will wake up in the meantime." Cicero chose an alleyway to delve into that was particularly dark. If he just stayed with the sun as his compass he shouldn't get too poorly lost.

Then he remembered Gwyn's magic, "Do you happen to have any magic that could either trick our pursuers or give us direction?" Having an adept mage on their side was a boon that he could not pass up so easily. Cicero had lost count of all the times she had come through for him. This situation was no exception.

[Sol Grim]

Dalious

Dalious' eyes opened slightly as the trio made the way back. He heard Cicero speaking to Gwyn about being potentially lost and kept his mouth shut. His head still throbbed from being hit and his body ached, so he just simply let the knight carry him off further. It wasn't until his groin started hurting that he spoke up, "Hey, easy around the potholes I've a delicate form!"

It was here that he tossed and moved until he was standing on his own two feet again. "Thank you kind sir I've got it from here, oh my head!" He closed his eyes and rubbed his temples. "I was dreaming of beautiful women and endless wine, now I'm back here with you two, ugh. Where the hell are we anyway?"

He took a quick turn to look at the buildings around them and remembered they were still basically where he left off. "Right. I'd say we're going the right way, are we being pursued? If you do use any magic, best not let any see. These people are crazed and unpredictable, the burning fire mob type if you catch my drift. I say we keep heading this way a bit longer." Dalious turned a serious gaze toward the knight. "Would it be too soon to ask for you to carry me the rest of the way, fine sir?"

[The Muse]

Nylah Aldaos

"Is that so?" Nylah took her gaze from the barkeep and eyed the man named Old Deke. If he was a regular, she would be able to find him there again in the near future. Best to pursue a fleeting opportunity first. "Thank you. Keep this, I may be back." She gave a playful wink to the barkeep as she slid the golden coin over to him.

With that, Nylah weaved her way through the crowded tavern and exited out of the back door just as the mysterious group had. They may end up being a dead lead, but something inside was telling her that she ought to check it out. The only problem... which way did they go? Her eyes scanned the area, then looked down at the ground. "Ah-ha" The dirt below was still fairly wet from a rain storm that had rolled in a day ago. Luckily for her, a trail of faint footprints lead her in the direction of her group of strangers. Her luck, however, ran out quickly after a turn down an alleyway. The dirt road had turned into cobblestone and left no trace of them. She muttered a curse under her breath, thinking of which direction they might have gone.

"Hey, easy around the potholes I've a delicate form!"

Well, they certainly weren't far. Nylah's ears perked up as she listened closely for where the voice was coming from, hoping that it belonged to who she was pursuing. Slowly, careful not to kick any rocks or step on anything that would give her position away, she followed the sounds. As the mans voice became closer, Nylah stopped behind a corner and listened for a brief moment.

"If you do use any magic, best not let any see. These people are crazed and unpredictable, the burning fire mob type if you catch my drift. I say we keep heading this way a bit longer."

"A magic user?"

With no real plan, Nylah made the decision to let herself be known. She needed to see them, to confirm that it was the group she was looking for, though she currently didn't have a good way of getting to the roof of a nearby building without being heard or seen. Facing them was her only option, unless she felt like following them in the shadows all day. She'd have to think on the fly.

"Uhm.." Nylah put on her best "innocent-girl" tone of voice and stepped around the corner, laying eyes on a group of three. "Bingo!" She gave them a sheepish grin as they took notice of her, "I'm sorry to interrupt... I just.. I saw you all in the tavern a few minutes ago." She began digging in her satchel and pulled out two silver coins. "You dropped these." She held them up for the group to see. It wasn't a gold coin, but she knew people around these parts were typically desperate to keep any coin they could. Perhaps it would lure one of them to speak with her. "I grabbed them but figured I should return it. They fell out during the fight... " She took a few steps closer, suddenly noticing the female elf between the two men. "Interesting..." She thought, careful not to let her gaze linger too long. When Nylah had a chance, she needed to review the portrait sketches on her bounty paperwork. The three all looked oddly familiar... but what luck could it be to have three bounties dropped in her lap? Not only that, but how would she ever overcome three people to take them in all by herself? That didn't seem feasible...

[Sol Grim]

A girl had come out of the shadows all of a sudden. She had picked up a few of the coins they had dropped and followed them to return them. Dalious lightly pushed aside Cicero to take in her full attention.

"Thank you, my lady," he said after combing his hair back with his hand. He changed his tone from what it was to sound more interested and polite. He already was trusting this woman to be kind and he might have already fallen in love with her just based on her appearance. "Your kindness is refreshing, and should be rewarded!". He looked at Cicero for no apparent reason.

"I...am Captain Dalious Durendail," he said next. "Sailor of the dark seas, king of the storms and tides, slayer of the krakken, master at arms." The krakken he referred to was just a giant squid, yet still he looked direct at Gwen for her reassurance. "...they don't recall all that, you know, new bloods."

Dalious took the coins and added them to their pouch. He then snuck in close to Cicero and whispered. "I think we should keep this one, she seems the trustworthy type. Rare to find such in this town."

Then he cleared his throat and spoke again to the newcomer, "Anyway, we greatly appreciate your kindness madam. If only more followed in your style, this world might be better for it!"

[Spiffy]

Cicero Bladewalker

The elf walked with a lightness to her step, like a cat in dextrousness. Cicero eyed her warily, his hood covering part of his head. Dalious proceeded to make aquaintance with the woman, certain of her trustworthiness. Cicero wasn't so sure.

"We appreciate the act of kindness..though we are in quite a hurry, so we must be on our way.." Cicero placed a hand on Dalious' shoulder and gave a slight pull in the opposite direction. Then he glanced at Gwyn and jerked his head down the alleyway. There was no telling what unwanted attention this newcomer and Dalious might bring.

[Cyrania]

Port Raventine

Cicero Bladewalker, Dalious, Nylah Aldaos & Gwyneria

@Spiffy,@Sol Grim,@The Muse

"If she's what Dalious considers trustworthy, I'd hate to think where the point that someone is thought of as untrustworthy would be." Gwyneria mused to herself as she tried to figure out how they were going to get out of this. Everything screamed dangerous about this new elf, especially how Gwyn was sure that no coins were dropped. Call her paranoid, but this was the city for paranoia and it seemed like the best route was to lose this person.

Unfortunately, it'd probably be best to heed Dalious's advice on no obvious magic, at least nothing that could obviously be connected to her by someone else. And glancing around this side street, it was still pretty deserted. Saving an image of the three of them traveling together for later, she spoke, pitching her voice into some sort of different accent from her usual. "Yes, wesa most away. Thank yes for thes! I hoop ya hav nah truble wit thee man whoose purse ya stoole" With that she gestured behind the stranger, sneakily closed Dalious's mouth with ice for the time being, then headed away with Cicero. As they left the street for the next one, Gwyn prepared the illusions to go opposite the direction would go.

[Spiffy]

Cicero Bladewalker

Cicero wasted no time and followed Gywn's lead. Hopefully this woman would not follow suite. Gwyn was full of tricks and could still manage to give them a clean getaway. Dalious on the other hand...

Cicero lassoed his arm around the ne'er-do-well and drug him along with them. The ice already doing its work. The dishonored knight's size and strength made pulling Dalious a simple feat. Would he go along without a fight though?

[The Muse]

Nylah Aldaos

"I...am Captain Dalious Durendail, Sailor of the dark seas, king of the storms and tides, slayer of the krakken, master at arms."

Nylah did all that she could not to let her facial expression show the utter shock she was feeling inside. Instead of giving herself away she held the innocent, naive smile on her face as she dropped the silver coins into Dalious' palm without hesitation. Had this man really just revealed himself to her without her having to hold a knife to his throat, pretend she would sleep with him, or covertly raiding his personal belongings? What luck! The mercenary gods certainly had her in their favor today. How, exactly, had Dalious avoided capture for so long? As soon as one female showed the smallest kindness to him, he offered up his identity. He had to know that he was a wanted man... right? Was this some kind of trap? It was too easy...

"THE Dalious Durendail?!" She exclaimed, wide eyed and grinning at him in delight. "I have been searching for you! I'd love to join your crew... if.. if you'd have me, of course. I have some experience on the open water, and -"

"We appreciate the act of kindness..though we are in quite a hurry, so we must be on our way.."

This man was, perhaps, smarter than the infamous sailor. He was wise to be wary of her, though it was rather annoying.

"Yes, wesa most away. Thank yes for thes! I hoop ya hav nah truble wit thee man whoose purse ya stoole"

Nylah turned her gaze to the womans voice, getting a closer look at her now. It was typical to hear that dialect here, but what was unusual was the hear an elf speak in that uneducated sort of accent; even in this part of town. Another interesting aspect of this group.

With her best act, Nylah began to pout. "Oh, won't you please let me join you? Dalious, I've been looking for you for so long...." She frowned and began to follow as the two mysterious people began to pull Dalious away from the alley way; clearly trying to keep their distance from Nylah. Perhaps the Gods hadn't dropped an easy bounty into her lap after all...

[Sol Grim]

Dalious

Before Dalious could respond to the beautiful stranger, ice formed at his lips and he felt a tug at his collar. He gave Gwyneria a sharp glare, knowing this was her doing. Of course the two of them would be skeptical and careful around others as they were all wanted, but every other person in this town was seemingly wanted for something as well. He tried to inform his companions that not everyone was out to get them, that this one was probably just a big fan of his which he deemed to be normal. Unfortunately, all that came out of his mouth was, "Mhmmm...mhmmmhmm!! HMMMMM!!"

Though he wanted to stay with the newcomer longer and discuss how much she admired him, he got the message. He grunted and huffed, but eventually abided and went along with them to wherever the hell they were going. They moved quickly, as he glanced back at the stranger one last time. Maybe it was too good to be true, he may never know now.

Being frustrated with his group he began yelling at them and cursing them for being so paranoid. He gave them a good piece of his mind, going on and on as they walked away. He started with, "Mhmmmm! mmmmMMMMMM!!!!! Hmmm uhmmm….mmmm..." and ended strongly with "Mhmmmmmm, hmmmm arhmmmmmm!!!" Until deciding to give up as the ice around his mouth was too thick.