[IC] Estermere - A Medieval Fantasy Roleplay

[Shisa]

Anya quickly placed the bucket down inside the study for her father's use before stepping back outside, where she wouldn't have to look at scary things. Of course, she continued listening intently to her papa to make sure he was OK too. She rushed back into the room when he loudly announced having found an accounting book, however, and watched intently as he placed the volume into a pouch. Luckily, the body was gone so she didn't have to look at that.

"But papa, that doesn't sound like accounting," she proclaimed, "Are you sure it wasn't an adventure book? What did the minotaur reveal? I bet it was his humongous blade! I bet he revealed his humongous blade, and fought a heroic knight or something! With his humongous blade!"

It didn't even occur to Anya that a minotaur would ever pull out a ledger and begin grinding numbers intensely, because minotaurs always had humongous blades and not ledgers.

[annalynne_d]

Julia jumped up from the position in which she rested, grabbing the dagger from under her pillow.

She was dressed in dingy white cotton trousers, and a white peasant shirt, blue ribbon strung through the seems. Jules stared at the man for a few moments, there was a look in her eyes which shouted disbelief and rage. She held the dagger out towards him in the same manner he aimed his sword at her, but it was clearly an instinctive move. Her eyes darted around the room as she looked for a way out of this. The art of seduction was a cheap trick, even she knew this. And while it fooled the man downstairs, it was clear it wouldn't do anything to Corvus. The room was dark, but what he could see of her, she looked no older than perhaps 20? The slight point of her ears poked through her fire red hair. She was sure no one had followed her, how could they be that quick?! Obviously he was, otherwise he wouldn't be standing there in her room, his sword looking to draw her blood. She moved slowly from the bed, her step was shaky at first. Only a fool would think they could defeat this man in her state, with only the small dagger as her weapon. But her words came out quicker than her thought process took to access the situation.

"I better explain myself?!" she repeated slowly, anger seeping through her words, "What business is it of yours?"

[IncredibleBee]

"....No. He pulled out a pen and started filing a tax report. For all three hundred pages. End of story, this is for adults, please stop asking about this book." James said intensely, scrubbing the floor as hard as he could.
"I'll make you special candy if you promise to forget you ever heard about it." he offered. He was going to make her special candy anyways, but a bribe was a bribe.

[Feigling]

"Watch your tongue, assassin." Corvus growled, stepping forwards a couple of steps. His leather boots traipsed softly on the wooden floors, the long steel sword getting ever closer to the girl on the bed. "You have no right to judge another the way you did so tonight. I don't care what he did to you, but law has its due place and process. You have broken that law - you better have a damn good reason for it"
Years of training with the Khans had hardened Corvus. He did not feel an ounce of pity as he threatened this quivering, frightened elf. He had a total advantage over her. He knew it, she knew it, the bugs in the walls knew it.
"And just what are you planning on doing with that miserable butter-knife?" He added spitefully, punching his armour with his spare hand to emphasise the point. It clinked softly as bands of steel and iron clashed between layers of leather. "You won't do any damage with that. So put it down and explain yourself - now!"

[BKburke]

Ark'kruy'ek smirked as Randolf hissed out. Three arrows struck the ground from different directions around Randolf. This indicated that the Gnolls Ark'kruy'ek sent out were watching and if the group did anything that harmed their pack leader ten they would loose someone too. Ark'kruy'ek chuckled. "You mistake my words with ignorant racist stereotypes. You check bodies. Anything your pathetic race finds valuable is still there." Ark'kruy'ek then pulled out what looked like letters. "I took these. Figured they write to their leader, these letters might show who. I would read them if your group hasn't showed up." Ark'kruy'ek looked at Randolf. "I have your scent boy. Watch your remarks." Ark'kruy'ek then looked to Rihar. "Perhaps it is your friend who needs a leash and muzzle." Ark'kruy'ek then looked at Randolf. "You don't want me to lose patience. If I do, someone dies. Either way, Estermere make another enemy. Our pack would gladly make deal with your new enemy if given reason. My death would be good reason. My pack has info on land you can't afford enemy to have." Ark'kruy'eks tone showed he was beginning to get irritated by Randolfs inconsistency. His smart remarks were bound to cause a problem if it continued.

[annalynne_d]

"There is no need to shout, I think you've established your dominance in this situation, buddy" she growls, throwing the dagger to the floor by his feet. Her demeanor suddenly changed. She was certainly scared at first, though never quite showed to be this quivering, frightened little half-elf. She was more out of her element, a child caught with its hand in the cookie jar, with no escape out of the kitchen. What she showed now was certainly discontent, but she had grown tired of being treated like a child, and some petty criminal ... if he only knew ...

"I'm sure the elf was quite irritating to him. Not many elves are much else, my own life was threatened by them. But that man was a bully, and I don't like bullies. Not to mention what judgement would he had received? hm? He was quite content going back to his drinking after he beat the life out of that elf. I only did to him what he deserved. There is a saying, what you put out into this world, you get back upon you ten times over.". Standing before him, she began to snicker quietly, walking towards his sword. "Are you here to deliver my judgement then?", her lips curl into a slight smirk. She just couldn't help herself. Possibly staring death right in the face and all she could do was laugh. "Had I my sword, we would have a proper fight, but as you can see I am without it. So if you're going to kill me, get it done with already. I answered your question, what more do you want?"

[Professor_Wyvern]

Dealing with the Gnolls

And just as Ark was doing the ominous threat of watch your remarks, that is when the Wood Elf reinforcements, came on horseback. The Wood Elves glared at the Gnoll, and quickly drew out bows and were ready to fire. "Give us the word Randolf and we'll fire. We are yours to command." Cateline immediately shot him a glare, probably to encourage him not to kill the lead they had. Randolf grumbled, as he glanced at the Elves, "As much as I would love to give you the order, Rihar is leading this operation. Not me.' Rihar cocked his head as he glanced at the Wood Elves who unstrung their bows and placed their arrows back in the quivers.

One of the wood elves glanced at the other, "Wait so Randolf isn't the Dwarf?"
"Appears not." said the other, both of their steeds were calm in the face of these horrible, horrible monsters. Randolf shot daggers at Ark as he brought up information on the land, and he... knew the wretched cur had a point. One that Rihar would make obvious if he brought it up. Randolf sulked, as the Wood Elves glanced down at the Dwarf.
"Caedan." said the slightly taller Wood Elf who had his head shaven completely, and a scar down the bridge of his nose, he was a tad lankier than his companion.
His companion, who had more muscle and had a lengthy brown mane of hair, which was kept in a ponytail, that went down to his tailbone spoke up in a slightly softer pitched voice. "Sylchor"

They both gave a salute to Rihar. Caedan spoke first, "Captain Ironmaw..." then Sylchor spoke, "well you know." Caedan spoke again, "So we were sent." Sylchor spoke up again, "for reasons you would probably assume." Caedan and Slychor then spoke in union, "So we are now at your disposal."

Rihar gave a quick nod, "Welcome boys. Cateline is searchin' corpses and we are askin' the Gnoll a couple o'questions. That should catch you two up to speed." The pair both nodded in union and replied, "Right."

---

Elric's Manor - The Description of the Exterior

Ah, this was a most wondrous sight, and a sight Elric did not see all too often, as he would constantly stay at his shop working with various surgeries and barber-craft, instead staying at the manor house. It stood over verdant lush green fields, which appeared to be natural for the area. Near the entrance way there was a small vegetable garden, well for the manor anyway, that was surrounded by some white stones, that were surrounding the vegetation that was planted in a dark soil, which did not appear to be very rich and fertile, but nonetheless it still had some crops that were yet to be harvest, mostly as they hadn't finished growing in yet. The crops that were still in the soil, if one were to head up and observe it would be primarily radishes and carrots, that were close to harvesting, but were not yet ready to be harvested.

The manor itself was light grey in its complexion as it was composed of stones of that color. The great hall, which was a rather noticeable feature had the typical large windows, in order to get light into the hall. Unlike other manor houses, the actual entrance was not extremely luxurious. The door was made of a dark oak, and had a large iron knocker on both of the sides of the door. However, the windows to the manor house was fairly luxurious in its nature, as the windows were stained. The window on the left featured a plague doctor in his gear tending to a female patient who was in the rather late states of the plague. On the right, there was that same plague doctor with the patient cured of any trace of plague.

The roof of the manor was made of red planked wood, the great hall of the manor was a gabled design, as were the left and right chambers. There were rather large black chimneys producing soot, one above the great hall, one further down the left and right chambers, towards the middle of the building. Speaking of the left and right chambers, in front of them were trimmed hedge-bushes, in a simple block frame. However, in front of it on the left side there was a fountain, that contained a statue of an angel, and some cherubs, with a few blankets set out in front of it, where it appears some individuals were currently sitting in front of. On the left side of the building, there were a few horseshoe poles set up at a variety of distances.

Elric paused as he spoke up, "...This, is why I want to get back to work as soon as possible." He stated plainly and bluntly, knowing damn well he needed to keep his coffers very much up. And the fact that seeing the manor, and not having a spouse and heir despite these holdings made him incredibly melancholic. At least with the shop he would have some excuse for not having an heir. Elric waited in the lull before speaking again, "Also I really need to send that knight a missive."

[Shisa]

Anya continued staring at her father, eyes full of curiosity, but she knew that if her papa was sure it was about accounting, then the book was about accounting. And accounting was really boring, even if it was a minotaur accountant.

"It's OK, papa. I just wanted to make sure you were sure. I know you'd never lie to me," said Anya, walking up to her father who was still cleaning blood off the ground and hugging him, "So you don't need to give me candy, because I know."

Anya still loved candy, however, and wanted to make sure her papa knew that she didn't mind if he gave her some anyways.

"But if you still wanted to give me the candy, I wouldn't mind. I've been pretty good except for maybe spilling some things and making some art in mister Elric's study. And it was good art too, so that wasn't even bad."

[Professor_Wyvern]

Bit of Rabble at the Den

"Bwahaha!" A human man was laughing, as he spat out his ale onto the tavern wench's blouse. She gave him a glare, "That'll cost ya." The human man, a pudgy set man, with a thin mustache that was recently trimmed, and was dressed in a festive yellow tunic, with trims of purple embroidery around the edges, peered at the tavern wench eying her with a lustful endeavour. He licked his lips before cocking up his left eyebrow. He sauntered his right elbow on the table as he tried his damnest to sound suave, "For what, the waste of ale or spotting those marve-"

That is when he was cold-clocked by the tavern wench, and fell flat on his ass, from being knocked off from his booth. He whimpered in pain as he held onto his right eye, which was already quickly becoming swolen. The table burst out into laughter, some with applause, "And that's another one knocked out by 'Devil's Dame' Hildred!" said a relatively young man, who was dressed in rather dirty rags. Hildred glanced at the young one, "Ah, if you think that was good, you should have seen what my husband would do. ...Damn bastard seems to be always sleeping, when this stuff seems ta happen." She said as she idly cracked her right knuckle, and glanced at the assembled patrons. "If any of you 'tavern trash'," Hildred emphasized tavern trash, in such a way that she meant it in a loving way for this band of ruffians, scoundrels, and general ne'er-do-wells, but having that love underscored by an incredibly cold, and harsh undertone.

"Keep me from making my man dinner on time by having to smack sense intaya..." She glared at them immediately before bursting into a bit of laughter, as she began shaking her head. This was immediately followed by staring at a Dwarf who wore a particularly large brown leather hat, with a pronounced brim, and a wilting pointed tip that went down. "You lost the wager ya made earlier, and ya know what that meaans..." she said in a rather sing-songy tune, as she beamed a heart-felt grin, which was both joyful and snarky in its nature. Though as this was Hildred, it came off more as snarky than a genuine happiness. As the tavern quickly hushed, with many of the patrons leaning in to glance at the dwarf.

The Dwarf, tugged on his dark red beard, as he gave a solemn nod to Hildred. "Aye, gotta pay for all the rounds comin' up." And that is when the tavern exploded in great cheers, and many toastings. The Dwarf opened a violet coin purse as he began counting his coin, "I... maaay be doing some work, cleaning dishes, floor and what have you... As I know for sure I won't have enough to quench the thirst of all these patrons with just coin." Hildred smirked at the Dwarf, "Oh it'll be fun, don't you worry." The tavern again exploded into laughter and cheers at the Dwarf.

[Feigling]

Corvus held his glare for a few seconds more, giving the room an angsty, dark silence... then burst out laughing. It was the loud, warm laughter of a man who had been told a great joke. "I like you, girl! You've got balls, that's for damn sure!"

After calming down a little, still smiling, Corvus sheathed his sword, though he did kneel down to pick up the dagger, eyes on the girl at all times. "Firstly, that's not my place. The guards can decide what you deserve and whether you should get away with it. Secondly, you killed a man because he was a bully? That's harsh, even by my standards." He held up a hand to silence any would-be protests, but his voice was still gentle, like a father telling a daughter that 9 add 10 was not 21 but, in fact, 19." Trust me, girl, where I come from, law is hard, and punishments severe. If you wish to end this in a sword fight, take your knife back and we'll settle this one to one. I don't want to do that, but it's an option. Instead, I'd rather -"

Then there was the big clamour downstairs. Had they discovered the corpse? Maybe. It didn't sound the panicky cries of old drunks and whores discovering a murder. Then again, Corvus didn't spend much time around drunks and whores. Either way, they couldn't speak here - they'd find the pair and that would be awkward to explain. He'd rather not lose her to mob 'justice'.

"Actually, maybe we should find somewhere a little quieter to talk. Grab some clothes, we're taking a walk. And take your sword, if you have one - there are some unsavoury types about and with a sword and two daggers between the pair of us, we ain't exactly a force to be reckoned with."

[annalynne_d]

She seemed a bit jumpy at the rowdy crowd just downstairs. She can usually sleep right through the noise, but considering what she did, and that there was a person standing in her room because of it, she was quite on edge. So when Corvus burst into laughter, she flinched. She certainly didn't expect the sudden change in his behavior and acted unevenly because of it.

She glanced at the door, the noise from downstairs disturbing his sentence, grabbing her dagger from him in a panic. She turned quickly to grab her clothes and gather what belongings she had with her. "As I said, it's not here. It's actually with the smithy, I needed some repairs, was supposed to pick it up in the morning. But I'm not about to stay around here so..." she quickly threw on her clothes and turned to meet his gaze, "lead the way". She paused a moment, her eyes darting around the room now. "Wait ... how do I know I can trust you?", she says, it was more of an afterthought, why would she expose her back to someone who might kill her, especially for something like getting dressed. But it was true, and the idea of going somewhere unknown with someone who held a sword to her wasn't exactly a very comforting one.

[Feigling]

The sight of the half-elf flinching and grabbing her needle-point was almost enough to set Corvus laughing again"Are you scared of me, girl? No need to be. There isn't any sense in killing you... yet. Besides, most people who I level my sword at turn into quivering wrecks. It's refreshing to see someone with some courage. Reminds me of the good ol' days"

"You didn't say it wasn't here. You said you didn't have it" Corvus shrugged, referring to the absent sword. "And when a sword needs overnight repairs, it's because either the sword is weak or the owner unskilled - you should only ever need to maintain the blade."

Of course, she was suspicious of him. No-one really trusts the man who bursts into their room, threatens their lives and then proceeds to laugh at them. Hell, had the situation been reversed, he'd have ran off minutes ago.
But the girl was almost too naïve to be mad at. Like a novice, she had failed to secure her position. From the looks of things, this was her only room. She hadn't killed her victim in private and she had failed to set up appropriate defences in case of emergency. Instead, she had relied on her wits and a small dagger. She'd even disrobed and went to bed, instead of disrobing and then looking for somewhere new to hole up. Error after error, each one powerful evidence of either the girl's newness or plain incompetence. He was wrong - she wasn't some hardened assassin. She was a murderer, plain and simple, not much better at the subtle art of quiet execution than a mewling child. Her agility, granted, pointed to a presumably successful career as a housebreaker or acrobat, or even an agent of some sort. But she had failed to kill of an aggressive drunken, presumably racist, man in a dingy old pub, wearing skintight leather, a mask and owning a room upstairs, without being noticed. Even the old soldier himself could have done a better job, and he spent most of his life in straight-up duels and brawls - he knew of assassination only from the stories fellow Khans would tell, or from spies whilst serving. Corvus himself would simply have beat the man in a brawl, probably disfigured him and left him with severe breathing difficulties - the girl could have taken the man to her room, bumped him off and escaped without being noticed. She could easily have smothered him with a pillow, thrown him out the window or, if creativity wasn't her thing, shanked him until there was more blood outside him than inside. Each could have made a different story and, though eyebrows would have been raised, no-one could say anything and prove she killed him. She was impatient and amateurish, which was probably the only thing stopping Corvus from knocking her out and reporting her crime.

"Believe me, miss, if I wanted you dead, you'd know. If you can't trust me, I could easily hand you in to the guards for murder" he paused, then grinned "and assault on my good person. So think less about 'can I trust this guy' and more about 'what do I need to do to get this guy off my case?'"

[Professor_Wyvern]

Interrogation of Mimsy.

"...And that is when the boss said I could have a pet rabbit. And I really have been practicing not accidentally killing the fluffy bunnies when I pet them, like boss said I would do if I had a pet rabbit. So I have been really practicing not accidentally killing the fluffy bunnies when I pet them, so that I could be trusted with a cuddly rabbit!" Mimsy said, not caring or really noticing a few bruises from his freshly bare feet, that must have been made by the Gnome earlier, probably when he was talking about the Boss some, but apparently not the thing the Gnome wanted to hear about the Boss.

The Gnome just glanced at Mimsy, astonished at the nonsense he heard. He quickly began rubbing his temple as he sighed. "I WAS JUST CONFIRMING WHO YOU WOR-" The Gnome boomed enhanced by his natural baritone voice.

Mimsy quickly spoke up, "You mean Boss? Boss is nice, though some people say that he is a money-grubbing sociopath who cares for no one! But that is not true!" Mimsy said very adamantly, "Boss is nice, like this one time, he didn't beat me up even though I made a mistake. OH! And this other time, long ago, Boss took me to a Festival to get me to shut up!"

The Gnome dropped his chains, as much as he wanted to enjoy slamming the meat-hooks into Mimsy, he had to slam his right palm at his face. "Gwa... Oh by Pelor this is going to be a long one." He said as he muttered to himself, while Mimsy just smiled on at the Gnome, eager to talk about the virtues of his boss. "OH! OH! OH! And this other time, boss was really really upset, and I asked him if he wanted to tell me to shut up or glare at me, and he said that he didn't want to! And that was nice! Because Boss is nice, and he knows it makes me feel a bit sad when he glares at me, and yells at me to shut up. Though sometimes, Boss is right to yell about that! And Boss knows when he is ri-"

The Gnome clutched at the top of his hair as he growled out, "Okay, just. SHUT UP! I need to think!" The Gnome yelled at his interrogation target. Though, he had the eerie feeling that it was not Mimsy being interrogated, but he, himself was the true target of this. Mimsy proceeded to shut up, as the Gnome began pacing back and forth as he picked up his chains with the meat-hook, pondering on how to get the bastard to talk, and how he could torture Mimsy, rather cruelly and effectively, for driving him insane.

[annalynne_d]

She looked at him, a cold hard stare peered his way. She growled lowly, he saw right through her, and she knew it. She also wondered how much he saw. But could she use this to her advantage? She knew so very little, and he seemed to know so much. Her face contorted into several different looks as these thoughts raced through her mind. But he was right, and she needed to get out of there.

"Very well", she said, reluctantly. "But please, stop acting as if you know anything about me. Because you don't have the slightest clue. If you truly want me to trust you, you can give that pompous attitude a rest. That being said, I suppose I owe you a thank you. Now you may have earned enough trust for that, and for me to go off in the night with some stranger who held a sword to my throat. So if you want to talk about assault, I can very well spin that right on you. I may have not fooled you, but there's a tavern full of" she started to ramble, catching herself midsentence and then sighed. "Let's just get out of here before someone sobers or smartens up"

She donned the vesture and pulled the hood over her head, muttering something under her breath.

[Feigling]

Corvus replied rather testily "I'm not 'acting' anything. I'm coming to logical deductions based on the evidence before me and past knowledge. And if I'm going to drop my 'pompous' attitude, I suggest you drop your bratty 'I-don't-give-a-damn' attitude. You're not impressing me. Being gutsy is one thing, being rebellious is quite another. Ares, you would make terrible soldier."

Favouring neither anger or joy, he straightened up and continued "Look, in the nicest possible way, you're a total novice. A noob. A neophyte, fledgling, rookie, tenderfoot, greenhorn. You tricked a bunch of drunks temporarily, but if you truly want to be an assassin, you've got to work on a metric tonne of skills. It's not easy, it's often uncomfortable, and unless you go into bounty hunting, highly illegal. If anyone there was paying even the smallest ounce of attention downstairs, you would be languishing in a cell right now. Again, no offence or presumption intended, but that's the conclusion I'm forced to come to. So here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to head back to my safehouse. Feel free to follow me - I recommend it. If you want to wander off, that's fine, but bear in mind if we meet like this again, I won't show any mercy. I'll tell you more on the way. Let's go."

He went out the same way he went in, through the window. This time, though, he didn't bother climbing down. Instead, he dropped, catching the window ledge as he went past. He let go and fell to the ground, barely keeping balance but staying standing. After checking that the area was clear - it was - he beckoned the half-elf to follow.

[IncredibleBee]

James froze up for a moment as a pair of tiny arms wrapped around him. His hand reached up, and patted Anya on the shoulder reassuringly before going back to the rag, dipping it in the bucket.

"I bet it was very good art." he said, eager to change the subject.
"So Elric lent you paper and ink to draw, then? That's good. I think you could use a hobby."

[annalynne_d]

She grumbled and pouted a moment after he disappeared through the window. This was just a chance she'd have to take. And so, with all she had with her along, she followed him.

Moving towards the window, she took a deep breath and climbed down. "May the gods see me through this" she muttered softly, climbing about halfway down before she let go, dropping herself the rest of the way, landing softly on her feet. She fell silent at this point. Either he was offering her an opportunity, or her death, or simply an escape. But taking it for what it was at this point was much better than staying in that room, and finally noticing her words were of no help, she decided just to keep quiet and do as told. There was a thoughtful look pasted on her face as she trotted along, she studied his movements and mimicked them as best as she could. He would notice, despite her clumsy appearance, and the novice display prior to their meeting, she did have potential. For what, that has yet to be seen. But there was something about her, creeping through the shadows, she seemed to just fit in. It came so naturally to her, that at one point, if one wasn't paying attention, you wouldn't even know she was there.

[Feigling]

Corvus had to say, the girl had potential. Naturally finding the darkest parts of the road, pacing softly so her footfalls went almost undetected; She certainly seemed like an ex-thief. But -
"You walk like a man."

"Okay, first things first, we should get formalities out of the way. My name is Corvus. I'm a - was a soldier. Learned enough about the art of war to last me several lifetimes. I should warn you, I've never undertaken an assassination before. I was frontline and guerrilla, so I guess we share some similarities, but I can't help you with specifics. If I'm taking you to my home, I need to know a few things. What exactly are you hoping will happen tonight and what do you think will happen? Be honest"

[annalynne_d]

She frowned when he said she walked like a man, it's like she couldn't do anything right. But she answerved his questions swiftly and simply enough. "Well, I am Julia, a pleasure to meet you as well,", she smirked, "and at the moment, I think all I'm looking for is for you to not kill me in my sleep. Not only do you see right through me, but everything thing I do is wrong. So perhaps if we stick together a bit longer than just this evening, you can pass on a few pointers." While her tone was at first bitter, there was a genuineness to her words.

"I've done nothing with my life worthy of mentioning, I have no idea who my parents are, grew up in a worthless town, and I, being a half blood, was quite close to worthless to most who lived there. So, suffice to say, I've learned at an early age how to blend in and disappear. That's all there is to it. Where ever this ..... arrangement goes, is up to you. It's clear that you have the better hand in this round."

She matched his footsteps perfectly as they walked through the dark terrain. Looking like a guy or not, at the very least, she wasn't heard.

[Feigling]

Corvus' laughed bitterly "Good to see Estermere treats it's guests with such kindness and compassion." He paused, then added as an afterthought "Mind you, being a full human myself, I don't think I can really say anything. So far, everyone has been perfectly pleasant to me."

"But how do you see me?" It was put to her as a test and Corvus made no attempts to hide that. "If I can see right through you, I wonder if you can do the same to me. Perhaps we are just open people, or know each other particularly well. Tell me what you think of me."

"Never play a bad hand" he said as a response to her statement about him having the upper hand. His tone was stiff, but motivating, a little bit like a mentor or tutor of some kind "First rule of covert operations: if it looks like things are going to go belly up, they probably will. Second rule: All warfare depends on deception. The spy and the assassin are two of the most powerful units at a general's disposal. A good warrior can win a battle, a good spy could win a war. If you really want to go into the shadowy business of contract killing, that's one of the big things you need to know. And my third rule: know your target better than he knows himself. Before you go kamikaze and start shanking folk for the giggles, remember most contractors pay for as little blood spilled as possible. If you want to deal with someone without having to fight of his security, not to mention thguards, you need to study a man until you know his next move before even he knows it. Find out what he likes, dislikes, loves, loathes, his vices and temptations, the moment's he's at his strongest and, most crucially, when he is weakest. Wait for the opportune moment - you were impatient in the bar today. You got sloppy and thus got caught. If I were anyone else, you might be dead, or worse. The entire enterprise relies on you having a plan. Don't break it, don't deviate and always have a backup plan in case things go wrong. Have two, just in case."

Bloody hell, he could talk. Corvus never really thought of himself as the talkative type, but now he wasn't so sure. Obviously this girl wasn't like the rest of these degenerates, with her good manners and slightly rebellious nature. Did she think the same way he did? Would she be willing..?

No. He had to screen her thoroughly before he asked anything major.