Islands of Destiny [IC]

[deepsear]

"Sir. You never mentioned what you want with his sword. Would you like to keep it or should we have possession of it to use as a clue?"

Ash says this almost before leaving the room, gently removing from his belt and holding it out horizontally, handle in one hand and blade in the other.

[Silverkiss]

"Oh... the sword. You better keep it, you may have a better use for it."

[deepsear]

"Ah. Well."

Ash turns to the two people left in the party.

"Since we are working together, we can all use my house as a base of operations. I don't mind,"

Ash glances back at the captain one more time.

"Unless you have different accommodation ideas for us."

[Silverkiss]

"No, that's actually quite perfect. This way you will be able to better plan and share information. As I said, you are free to do as you wish."

[El_Frenchie]

Arkturus

"Your house?" He seems to raise a surprised eyebrow, as if not used to these kind of gestures or hospitality. He catches himself, however, and simply nods.

"Well, I appreciate the offer, and will take it up. If you can give me the address, I will meet you there after I gather my things from my room at the inn."

He turns to the other one, Aryil, whose name he didn't catch, and simply nods as he leaves after Ash gives him the name of the location.

"See you at your place then."

---

Ark' will be waiting at your place with all his things, and knock at the door to rest for the night.

[deepsear]

Ash addresses both men and gives them the location of his home.

He then nods to both men, who he presumes needs to gather their belongings, and heads to his home to prepare for guests.

He takes the scenic route and clambers atop a near building, strolling along and trying, albeit not that devotedly, to staying out of sight.

[Leon Stormchild]

Aryil nods back to Arkturus, and says to Ash, "I'll meet you there." He then heads off to the inn where his few belongings are. While walking, he starts thinking. Wow, all of this has happened rather quickly. I can't believe that after so much false leads and boredom something exciting is finally happening. A grin spreads over his face, and he walks to the inn, whistling lightly.

******

After gathering his things, little more than some clothes, a few books and other small items, Aryil walks to the location given to him by Ash, and knocks on the door.

[Silverkiss]

Aryil and Arkturus, after getting their stuff from the inns they were staying, went to Ash's house. They quickly got to know each other a little better, after all the three would be working together against a common threat. After some minutes of conversation and a rushed meal, the three men went to bed, tired of the fight with the mysterious hooded man.

After a night of good sleep, even Ash waked up early. But the reason for that was not because he had slept well or because he was tired the night before, but rather a man knocking on the door downstairs and shouting for the residents of the house. As Ash opens the door, he sees the insignia of the Guardsmen on the stranger's clothings, and soon realises that he must be a messeger.

"Hello good sir, I am sorry to disturb you so early, but Lieutenant Russel wishes to speak with you. He sent me here to call upon the ones who would help him on his quest. He wants to meet with you on the plaza near here, 'where it all began', he said." - The messeger bows and leaves after giving the message he was entrusted with.

Still a little disturbed as to how the Lieutenant discovered where he lived, Ash went upstairs and told the other two men what had happened, and that Russel waited for them on the nearby plaza.

[deepsear]

"So, I suggest we should go there immediately. Which I'm sure none of you object to."

He gets a crooked smile on his face, half-smiling at his almost-joke. He gets up from the table, belts his sword on, stows their quarry's scimitar under his bed, and gets set to leave the house. As soon as the others are ready, he will leave with them.

[El_Frenchie]

Arkturus

The elf rises up and early and was staring out into the street, thoughtful. When the man arrives, he too wonders how in the world they knew about this place. He eats a few pieces of waybread he kept with him, puts his red scale-mail back on and takes his sword back from under the place he was sleeping, sheathing it.

"Right. Well, we better go as you said."

The violet elven eyes look around the house from the windows before leaving and proceeding to the plaza.

[Leon Stormchild]

After waking up, Aryil ate his breakfast and read from his book. When Ash mentions that they should leave, he grabs a small pack, places his book and a few other small items in it, and, after a moment's thought, takes two long strips of cloth and wraps his hands and wrists. He then looks at Ash. "Can never be too careful, eh? Gods know that, with our current track record, things aren't going to go as smoothly as we'd like."

[Silverkiss]

After grabbing whatever they would need, the small group left Ash's house and went to the plaza. The streets already had a bit of people coming and going, mostly merchants or laborers heading for a new day of work. Arriving at the plaza, the group find that it is mostly desert, with only a few people moving quickly through it. Under a fountain in the middle of the plaza sits a lone man, wearing a shiny chain mail. You're too distant to actually see who it is, but that's probably Russel.

[deepsear]

Ash walks around to the front of Russel, kind of far away before approaching. He takes in the scene around him.

"Someone else needs to talk. I'm no good at this, besides, I need to watch our backs."

He allows the two others to approach closer while he stays at their backs, looking around for trouble.

[El_Frenchie]

Arkturus

"Alright, then I guess I'll go forward and speak for all of us."

The Elf moves forward towards the plaza, towards the man wearing the shining mail. The scale mail he wears clicks and makes a distinctive sound as he moves about towards the person. His violet eyes gaze around the plaza as well, looking for -perhaps- any traps, once he's done, he also takes a good look at the weapons the man is carrying.

"Hail! You called us out? How's your wound..." he simply says towards him, ready for anything, his whip at his side and the hilt of his short sword ready to be drawn out in a flash. His eyes also look at the man for any wounds.

[Silverkiss]

Arkturus doesn't see anything suspicious in the plaza, so he aproaches the man, taking his time to observe him. Russel is wearing his usual clothing, and the only weapon he carries is his longsword, sheated at his side.

"Hail, my friends. I wanted to personally thank you again for your help. My wound has closed; we have quite good healers here. The Captain said you wished to help with capturing the murderer, and that is much apreciated. However, I would like to measure your level of skill; if possible, could we cross swords on a friendly match ?"

[El_Frenchie]

Arkturus

As soon as the man's words end, Arkturus' hand is already down at the hilt of the sword, and in a flash, the short blade is drawn and he slashes at the arm of the man with deadly accuracy, aiming for the ligaments. If the man successfully parries, Arkturus follows with several stabs, always aiming at disabling features at the limbs. Occasionally, he seems to use underhanded tricks of his trade, including the handle to knock the human backwards as well as the occasional punch with his free hand when the blades lock together. Overall, however, his style is probably more reliant on trickery than Ash's and less effective in straight swordplay.

[Silverkiss]

Russel quickly dodges Arkturus' blow, showing agility far superior to that of a common guard. He quickly draws his longsword, and proceeds to meet every blow Arkturus gives with a counter-blow, blocking every slash. The battle goes on, seemingly a draw; although Russel blocks every attack, he doesn't find the opportunity to strike, either. After a few minutes, which seem like hours to both combatants, Russel pushes Arkturus back with his blade, jumping back and sheating his own sword.

"Enough ! This is pretty impresive, stranger. I'm one of the best swordsmen in the guard, yet you manage to hold your ground against me. I'm relieved. I confess I did this to test your ability; if you were nobodies you would be more of a weight than would help, but I see that it is not the case. Please forgive my rudeness."

[deepsear]

Ash, eager though he is to see his own skill rated, firstly concerns himself with the guard's health.

"I would definitely spar with you sometime, sir, but seeing as you have just fought, it would be unfair."

He then glances at the others, then back to Russel.

"Since we are working together, I think we need to introduce ourselves first. I'm Ash, Ash Smith."

He extends his hand, looks Russel in the eye, and dons a lopsided smile, the most he can muster for now.

[El_Frenchie]

Arkturus

"Your rudeness is forgiven, of course. I was hoping to find openings. But I see I misjudged you. What happened yesterday, it seems accurate to say that you were caught completely offguard when the man jumped and slashed at you. I confess, I thought I'd try catching you offguard and test it."

The violet eyes of the Elf gazes on Russel for a moment. Eyeing him as if he were potential material. He then looks at Ash as he cuts in.

"He's right. And not only that, but you were also wounded yesterday. You can't be just fine in a matter of hours, whatever healing you guards have at your disposal."

The elf looks around the plaza, looking for any passer-by's or witnesses to the fight that might have stopped and watched them. If there is, he signals them to get a move on and continue what they were doing.

"In any case, I thank you for the compliment on my sword skills. But from what I've seen during the fight yesterday, Ash here has even more talent than I do with a blade. I don't think I'd be on equal grounds with him. He'd probably have the upper hand." The elf seems to admit with reluctance.

"As for my name, it is Arkturus. Ark, as the humans seem to liken shortening my name and pride. I am a High Elf. And I think that ought to do as a first impression." The elf looks at the man, then Ash and Aryil, smiles and finally sheathes his sword.

[Silverkiss]

Russel greets the three of you back, bowing.

"Don't worry about me, I'm fine. I am Russel Antioch, Lieutenant of the City Guard of Varannó. I must say that your sword abilities are impressive, and if you all have this level of skill, I think we can have the upper hand in this "battle". I don't know about you, but I wish to capture that criminal as soon as possible. What do you think, let's get working ?"

Russel seems anxious to look for the hooded man; having let him escape once must have felt terrible for him.

[deepsear]

"Hm. I guess we should. The problem is, where do we start?"

Ash thumbs the hilt of his sabre, thinking but still listening.

[El_Frenchie]

Arkturus

The elf pauses, looking at the team of people that had assembled to track down the man. In a way, the high elf hadn't had that much fun in an age, and for now, he participated willingly, without a second thought for his own affairs.

"I'm ready anytime too."

He then pauses, listening to Ash.

"Well, the man's leaving a path of destruction. He's not trying to leave because there's noone to challenge him yet, and because it seems there are still valuable targets to assassinate on this island. The fact that he took care of Russel's informant might also mean that he briefly got distracted from bigger missions to safeguard his identity or his goals."

The elf pauses once more.

"Which means he will be going back to what he was doing: Murders. And my guess is, eager Lieutenant Russel here has an ideal who the next target might be."

With that, the violet eyes of the elf rest on the Lieutenant, then briefly exchanging a gaze with Ash and Aryil.

[Silverkiss]

Russel smiles.

"You hit the nail, my friend. You don't excel only on the blade, but also on the intelect, it seems. I do have an idea on who might be the assassin's next targets. Let us start our preparations as soon as possible, I don't know anymore what to expect from that cursed man. Come, follow me !"

Russel turns around, leading you through the plaza and into the now crowded streets of Varannó; he seems happy. You move through many streets, and even Ash gets a little confused after a while, without knowing for sure where you are.

After a few more minutes of walking, you move out from the crowded, small streets and enter a isolated part of the city, where there are no shops or merchants; only huge houses and mansions towering over the large streets. This seems to be one of the rich districts, where most influent merchants or nobles live. Ash knows that this place in particular is home to some people with great influencies, some even friends of the Emperor, but he never walked there before.

"Very well, we are arriving at our destination. You see, I suspect that our assassin is going to kill a very important noble who lives here. He has much political power, not only on this island but everywhere in the Empire. He already knows we fear that he is being targeted, and agreed to let us help on his protection, so we won't have much troubles."

Spoiler

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Didn't wait on Leon this time because I don't know if I'm going to be able to post later today or even tomorrow, so I didn't want to leave you guys waiting. Sorry for that, Leon.