Solo Nude and Broke

[Arthur Graystone]

5th day of Summer, 513 AV Late Night. Or maybe it was early morning. Arthur could never tell the difference. And who cared for that matter. When you walk into a place notorious for crime and no punishment, the last thing on your mind is what time of day it is. Or at least that was Arthur's way of thinking. Of course the first thing on HIS mind was food... As he hungrily made his way through the dark streets of Sunberth, Arthur was oblivious to the eyes on him. Down every street. In every corner. Even in some of the windows. But why wouldn't they stare? How often does a stranger come into town in the middle of the night with a bag full of loot who's completely dense? It was like he was just begging to be robbed. And that's what happened. Surprisingly, nobody made a move until Arthur had food in hand, which he stole simply because he was in the home of thieves. As he was scarfing down rolls and pieces of meat, a group of thieves came in force. With knives drawn ready to kill, they encircled him, and started making threats on his life. Arthur didn't even notice them until he'd scarfed down the last of his food. When he was done, he simply looked up, wiped his mouth, an smiled at the strangers. "What ya' say?" Arthur asked. "Yea I didn't get a word of that. Might wanna wait 'til the other guys finished eating next time?" Of course that response only brought on anger. To show they were serious, one of them brought a knife to Arthur's neck. Or at least he would have it Arthur hadn't accidentally flung a dagger at his skull. When he moved, Arthur thought the man was about to go for a kill strike, so he acted first. As he saw the man go down, all Arthur could say was "Oops." When the other thugs saw their friend go down, it was as if all of them shouted "screw the loot this guy's a dead man!" in each other’s minds. And like one unit, they leaped forward with knives ready to kill. They fell to the same fate as the first, though Arthur had to use his Assassin's Dagger on a few of them. When it was all said and done, Arthur found that he had a few cuts on his body. Looking at the bodies, he also saw that not one of them was dead. Even the guy he hit in the skull was clinging to life. But was that such a good thing. If they weren't dead yet they probably would be after he pulled the daggers out. He did still need to reuse them. Now as he was plucking out the daggers, Arthur probably should have noticed the giant of a man sneaking up on him from behind, but of course Arthur's skills of observation were...non-existent. He was out like a light before he knew it. It was morning by the time his eyes opened. Nothing embarrassed him more than waking up naked.

[Arthur Graystone]

It wasn't the fact that they stole everything from the cloak to the underwear that really set him off. It was the fact that he got robbed in the first place. What kind of thief lets himself get robbed so easily? "When people find out there king was robbed..." Already the thought of him being dethroned before he even became king came to mind...as well as an immediate solution. "They won't find out. Before the day's over...HE WILL PAY! Let's see how HE likes being naked!" And thus, the journey for revenge had unofficially begun. Unfortunately there was one major obstacle to overcome before he could really do anything. He had to cover himself. Sure Arthur didn't care if he ran around letting it all hang out, but there were women and children that thought differently. One woman even went as far as chasing Arthur down with a dirty towel. He was getting way too much attention being naked. Too bad he was broke and couldn't buy clothes. Then again, that's why theft was invented. All he had to do was rob some guy blind and he'd be all set. Of course thinking about it was the easy part. Actually going through with it would be rather difficult. Considering he didn't have his dagger or any of his tools, he was basically useless. But he couldn't just steal another dagger or tools from somebody without drawing attention. To get supplies he needed clothes and to get clothes he needed supplies. It was quite the conundrum. "Gotta think this over a bit. I'll even use...my brain...if I have to." And Arthur did just that. Sitting down, he tried what the monks called "meditating." He fell asleep within moments.

[Arthur Graystone]

Yawning after his long nap, Arthur blinked in the darkness, wondering just how long he'd been asleep. His body felt stiff, so he guessed he hadn't actually slept well. And he must have been sleeping under two rocks because he could barely move. In fact, his whole body was numb. But he just shrugged it all off as morning sickness. It would probably blow over eventually. "Back to my search!" Arthur shouted. But when he tried to get up, it felt like something was weighing him down. It wasn't until someone came to take the blindfold off that he realized he was tied to a wooden chair. And when he looked at the candle lit room around him, he still didn't know he was in danger. He just thought everyone was there for a party or initiation ritual. Even when they started giving an explanation he didn't know the truth, since he tuned out everything they said. Arthur was more focused on the fact that he had clothes. "Oh wow! Thanks for giving me something to wear. But you could have given me something with a cloak. I mean these are just r-" He was cut off when one of them pulled out a knife and held it to his throat. "You'll regret the day you crossed us," he growled. For once Arthur was able to understand what the man meant. And that's when he realized, he'd somehow angered a gang. "So which group did I piss off this time?" Arthur almost groaned. To his relief, the men weren't a part of the Daggerhand or the Night Eyes, which were the two main gangs in Sunberth. In fact, he'd never even heard of their gang before, which made him forget the name seconds after they gave it. What was the point of knowing a gang that was too new to be popular- or was just too bad to be considered a gang. "Alright you got me tied up. Now can you hurry it up so I can get back to my search?" That statement seemed to set the leader off even more. He was actually mad enough to try to kill Arthur, though the other guys stopped him before a blow could be made. They wanted to savor the moment, like any of the other gangs would have. Killing Arthur right then and there would have been a mistake. They had torture in mind. And so, the gang made there first mistake: leaving Arthur alone in the room. In there mind, they thought he'd go crazy waiting for death all alone, but in reality, he was already planning his escape. The first step would be getting out the chair without alerting the guy outside. He'd get to him later. "Let's see...paper, books, a table, and candles. Perfect!" While Arthur was tied to a chair, that didn't mean he was immobile. It was a good thing his legs weren't tied to the chair. All he had to do was haul the chair onto his back like a turtle shell and after that he was ready to work. Moving to the books, he picked them up one by one with his mouth and began to stack them up. He wanted to make them tall enough to reach his ropes for the actual escape. With the last book, though, he carried it to one of the candles, lighting the end and bringing it back to the stack. It seemed that, as soon as he put the book down, he had a small fire going. He had to be careful not to burn himself as he burned off the ropes and fast so that he got out before the chair caught on fire. When his arms had been freed, the whole rope fell from Arthur's body along with the chair. He could stand naturally once again. Now there was only the fire to deal with. But Arthur actually wanted to make it bigger rather than putting it out. That's why he started knocking over candles and feeding papers into the flames. He kept one candle for himself, though, to try to burn off the door. However, it wasn't long before smoke was noticed and the guard came to check up on Arthur. For his efforts, he got a hot candle shoved in his face. Seeing the guard down, Arthur quickly shoveled around in his pockets until he found the guard's dagger, since a dagger was the only thing he knew how to use. It would be an essential tool in his escape and his revenge scheme. Thanks to the gang, he now had everything he needed for revenge. Unfortunately, he also had two more obstacles: getting past the gang members and outrunning the fire.

[Arthur Graystone]

"Outta my way!" The guard was silenced with a dagger penetrating his skull. And then it was back to running for the exit. After managing to pull off his escape, thanks to the incompetence of his captors, he was now faced with both the threat of angry guards and being burned alive. And all he had for protection was a blood soaked dagger he had to reuse over and over again. It was nothing like his assassin's dagger. The blade was way too big and it obviously hadn't been properly taken care of. Much of its sharpness could have been improved and it was actually dirty in Arthur's eyes, but beggars couldn't be choosers. He'd have to make do with it. As he searched for the exit, Arthur continued to find guards rushing to stop him instead of fleeing from the flames. But each time, he found only a single guard attacking. There was never a whole group charging at him with weapons drawn for battle. It was always some random guy who was lured by the smell of smoke. But that didn't really strike Arthur as unusual. There was nothing weird about a group coming one at a time. There was nothing weird about each guy being extremely weak. There was nothing weird about the leader not showing up once. Everything was normal. With thinking like that, it was no wonder Arthur fell to the ambush so easily. Forget the fire, Arthur had more trouble surviving their onslaught of swords and daggers. It took only moments for them to get Arthur bleeding and running for his life. He'd underestimated the relatively unknown gang. Despite their mistakes, they were strong. Or perhaps Arthur was just weak...Without his own dagger, with which he had years of experience, he might as well have been a civilian. Never before had the need for hand to hand combat experience been needed. All Arthur could do was run away. But to do that, he had to get past the many gang members. Their leader was showing surprising clarity with all of his actions. Under his leadership, the group was acting as one unit. Of course that brought up the option of taking out the leader first, but Arthur tried that and ended up losing his dagger because of it. That's how he got into the predicament in the first place. How was he supposed to know the leader was wearing armor under that cloak? So taking out the leader was out, and Arthur was running out of time. What with the fire, guards chasing after him, and the fact that he was defenseless, it was an impossible situation. He had maybe thirty seconds before the place went completely up in flames. Whatever he was going to do, he had to do it fast. Hiding behind a corner, Arthur bandaged his wounds with shredded pieces of clothing and started to use his brain to try to think up...a plan. He normally acted by instinct, so actually figuring out how to escape was difficult. However, he managed to pick the one option that he felt was the only way to come out alive. Running up to the gang members, Arthur dropped to his knees and shouted "I surrender!"

[Arthur Graystone]

He burned down their secret lair, killed their members, and tried to assassinate their leader. The only logical retaliation for all that was either a merciless beating, torture, or execution. Though Arthur was lucky enough to forgo torture or execution, he had to look forward to a beating from the strongest members in the gang. They made sure to keep him alive, though, so that it was borderline torture for Arthur. Spitting up blood after another beating, Arthur watched as his attackers left to rest before the next beating. His whole body was numb, but at least he was alive. If he hadn't surrendered when he did, he might have either perished in the flames- as some of them did- or been killed for resisting. Sure he might have been able to think up a better escape if he had more time, but he only had half a minute to get out. Could anyone really make a good plan in that short amount of time? Well, it didn't really matter how he got there. What did matter was how he was going to escape. After that last experience, the gang had moved him to a windowless room devoid of anything save for a door that the guards used to come and go. It was pitch black when the door was closed or there wasn't someone beating him. That's the only time they brought in a candle to light the place. But even though the empty room was bad enough, they just had to tie him up. Before, he had been tied to a chair, but they had broken it in one of the beatings, so Arthur just had his arms and legs tied up instead. That at least made things a bit easier, but it would still be a difficult escape. It would require plenty of...thought and...planning. But the good thing about being tied up in an empty room was that it gave him plenty of time to think. Even an idiot had no choice but to use his head in this situation. "C'mon brain," Arthur thought. "Work your magic! It can't end like this! I still have to see Noll at the very end! And Elena! And even Piers! I still need to be king!" Flopping around on the floor, Arthur managed to stand for a moment before plummeting face first to the ground below. Standing was out of the question, since it only opened up old wounds. And he surely couldn't fight in his state. So what could he do? He was at a complete loss. He was getting desperate even. And could you blame him? He hadn't seen the sun in three days straight, he had all of his items stolen by some giant guy, and he was the prisoner of some unknown gang that was out for his blood. If he didn't get out fast, he'd lose more than just his honor as a thief. But how was he going to get out? Screaming at his brain to come up with a plan wasn't working. And he couldn't break free with will alone. He had to really think in his situation. He had to actually concentrate on getting out. Once again, he attempted meditation.

[Arthur Graystone]

Noll always was better with ideas than Arthur. With his smooth tongue and slippery nature, he didn't have to be a thief to be successful. He could have made it as anyone else with all his skills. It was always a target of Arthur's curiosity to think about why Noll became a thief in the first place. Of course he could never ask him, since the last time he ever saw Noll was five year ago. But Noll wasn't the only one smarter than Arthur. Just about everyone he'd ever met in his life was smarter than him. Even the gangster, Piers the Malevolent, had an IQ ten points ahead of him. He would have gladly had any of them with him now. Why did he think traveling on his own was a good idea? If he was to get into situations like this on a regular basis, he needed companions of some kind. But he couldn't worry about what happened in the past, or what he planned to do in the future. He had to focus on the here and now. Was there any way he could escape from his rope bind without objects of any kind? There had to be a way. What did he have to work wit- His eyes popped open as the thought came into his mind. It snuck up on him so fast he didn't even know if it was his own. It felt like someone else had just planted a thought in his mind. But by the time he had a chance to try it out, his time was up. The order was given...He was going to be sold to be sold to a wealthy man. Arthur wasn't able to get the details, but some random guy had approached the group and offered to pay them a fortune for little old Arthur. While they questioned just how he knew about Arthur's predicament, they ultimately just shrugged off doubt in favor of money. How could they turn down all that cash for some guy they wanted to get rid of anyway? The best torture they could do was making Arthur live the rest of his life in chains. When he was freed so he could make the walk outside, Arthur was ready to make a quick escape. Unfortunately, a dagger over the front and back of his neck kept him in line. All he could do was walk with his former captors to his new master. His mouth fell open at first glance, or it would have if the knife wasn’t keeping his chin up. So instead he just stood there wide eyed and almost pissing himself. There was no mistaking him. Those dark calculating eyes, squinting against the sunlight yet more powerful than a telescope at night; that jet black “robe,” with all the familiar jagged curves; and even his very presence gave it away. After spending years being hunted by one, he knew most of them at a glance. “Congratulations. You just sold me to a Zith.”

[Arthur Graystone]

Unfortunately, by the time the gangsters took Arthur’s words to heart, they were lying dead in a pool of blood. “Why does nobody ever listen to me?” Arthur thought bitterly. He was left alive only because he was to become the Zith’s new slave. The only reason Arthur didn’t run as soon as the gangsters were killed was because the Zith told him not to. When a Zith says, “You move…you die,” then you don’t move for the rest of your life…or at least that was Arthur’s opinion. He couldn’t afford another Zith battle royal, especially when he still had no weapons. So Arthur went along with what the Zith said, though he was constantly suspicious of sudden attack. Every time the Zith twitched, Arthur thought his life was over. Arthur was so focused on the Zith that he didn’t notice the warehouse right in front of him. Falling on his back after bumping into the door, Arthur felt the Zith lift him by the coattail. When he opened the door, though, the Zith simply threw Arthur inside. He gave no explanation as to his actions whatsoever. The Zith simply repeated his warning and closed the warehouse door. Arthur’s heart was still beating even after the Zith was gone doing who knows what. It wasn’t until someone tapped him on the shoulder that he finally stopped snapped out of his trance. Glancing back, he saw a man roughly the same size as him with jet black hair and pale skin. His eyes were two closed slits, though. Arthur assumed he must have been blind. “So he got you, too?” the man asked. “Just be happy you didn’t put up a fight like that guy.” Looking where the man was pointing, Arthur saw what looked like a grizzly bear. But there was something wrong with it. Upon closer examination, Arthur realized that it was covered in scars. Not only that, but it looked like one of its eyes was mission. Just seeing the bear’s sorry state reinforced the idea that running was out of the question. “And that’s why you don’t mess with Ziths,” Arthur said. “I’m guessing you just went along as well?” The man shook his head, saying that he just got off easy. “But he probably hasn’t transferred me yet because he’s afraid I’ll start a riot or something. He’ll probably end up killing me because he doesn’t-“ Arthur cut him off when he finally realized what the man had said. “Transfer? That means move right?” After mentally calling Arthur stupid, the man nodded. “First thing in the morning, you guys are going to the outskirts. Some other Zith’s gonna come by to pick you up and then I won’t be seeing you again.” Arthur went white at the thought of a second Zith. One was bad enough, but he wouldn’t stand a chance against duo. Even if the second Zith was a wimp, Arthur would still be dead before he even scratched them. “But enough about the fact that you’re about to spend the rest of your life as a slave,” the man went on. “What can I call you newbie?” After giving his name in a melancholy tone, Arthur heard the man give some long hard to pronounce title. “I’ll just call you S. And does the bear have a name?” Much to Arthur’s surprise, it actually spoke. And it wasn’t just a growl either. He gave a name Arthur could actually understand, though not really pronounce. Jumping up in surprise, Arthur ran towards the bear to see if it was magic or a demon or anything like that. But as Arthur was looking at the bear’s paws and checking its heartbeat and looking in its mouth for vocal cords, S pulled him away. “Are you trying to kill yourself? You act like you’ve never seen a Kelvic before.” Now that was a race Arthur wasn’t familiar with. When S explained to him what they were, Arthur literally shook the bear, telling him to change forms. “C’mon H! Change already!” Once again S had to pry Arthur away. The bear was already angry enough about getting beat by a Zith. The last thing he needed was an annoying human yelling at him. “I wanna see a transformation, though…” Still glaring at Arthur, H made it apparent that he wouldn’t change just for his satisfaction. S saw this too, letting out a loud groan. “If it’ll shut you up…” Putting his hands and feet together, the change began to come on S. His hair shrunk before disappearing altogether. His arms grew closer to his body until they disappeared. His legs stuck together and elongated. And throughout the transformation, his bones were being rearranged. As S became more and more slender, Arthur began to feel queasy. The transformation was a lot more disgusting than he’d expected. But it only lasted for a good thirty seconds. And when it was over, a large rattlesnake stood in S’s place.

[Arthur Graystone]

Seeing the Dhani version of a transformation made Arthur drop the idea of wanting to see another transformation ever again. "I think I'm gonna hurl." Looking to H, he assumed his transformation was even nastier. Thinking about it did make him want to puke. But then his mind started to wander. What if he could transform like that? What if he could turn into some animal creature? "Actually, that's kinda cool now that I think of it. But if I could do it, I'd turn into a giant fire breathing shark or a mutant bird that laid exploding eggs. Then that Zith would be dead in a second!" Just thinking about it got Arthur excited. But that excitement vanished when the Zith suddenly walked in. "What was that about killing me?" Rather than jumping, Arthur just froze, too scared to even look the Zith in the eye. He felt his heart beating faster and sweat accumulating, but he forced himself not to have a "sudden release." Pissing himself would only make him look weak...er. "Maybe I need to remind you..." Gulping, Arthur decided to finally turn to face the Zith, though he did it slowly and awkwardly. Fear must have dulled Arthur's senses because he usually would have noticed if there was a six foot giant standing behind him...normally. But before Arthur could look the Zith in the eyes, he had a hand wrapped around the rogue's face. As punishment for what he had said, the Zith slammed Arthur's head into the ground...hard. Arthur was lucky his head didn't burst from the impact. He was instantly knocked out, though, waking to find his head nicely bandaged. His head was still throbbing from the attack. Sitting up, Arthur saw S, still in snake form, sleeping peacefully. But he didn't see H anywhere. It should have been easy to spot a thousand pound grizzly bear even in the dark warehouse, but the only one Arthur could see was S. He couldn't see the Zith either, though Arthur knew he must have been watching. Rather than bring on "the Master's" wrath again, Arthur decided to try his hand at meditation again. Though he'd managed to escape the gangsters, his predicament worsened when he was sold to a Zith. Now he was either going to become forced labor or food food for a bat. And he still hadn't gotten revenge on that giant that attacked him in the first place. "How did things get so messed up so fast? I heard Sunberth was bad, but this is just crazy. If I'd known this would happen, I would have packed a bag of explosions along with extra weapons and hid them somewhere. At least then-" He cut off when he heard the warehouse door opening. When he looked, he found himself squinting against the sunlight. The master was in the doorway. His chest and arms were covered with claw marks, but they weren't deep enough to be life threatening. The same couldn't be said for his companion, who the master was holding by the head. At first Arthur thought it was just a corpse. But then he realized, it was still breathing. The corpse was still alive. She was still alive.

[Arthur Graystone]

Compared to her, the Zith had nothing but paper cuts. It looked like parts of her skin had been raked off among some of the severe wounds. Her left arm was twisted and limp and she seemed to be missing one of her eyes. And there were several other still bleeding wounds and gashes, leaving her whole body covered in blood. But it wasn't her sorry state that immediately drew his attention. The first thing he actually noticed was the fact that she was naked. "Clean up this mess," the master ordered. Dropping the female in front of Arthur, the Zith simply turned and left again. S was still fast asleep. Looking down at the female, Arthur was in a panic. He didn't know anything about healing and a Zith wanted HIM to heal someone close to death. "What the hell am I supposed to do?" There was only one thing he could do. Turning to S, Arthur ran up and slammed his foot right into his "snake chin." The woke him up, along with pissing him off. "Be mad later. Right now you gotta take care of her." At first glance, S immediately thought about eating the patient. Arthur could tell this by the look in his eye and the fact that he seemed to be licking his...scales. "I meant healing and stuff." Hissing in what Arthur assumed was disappointment, S went through his transformation again, this time turning from a snake to a human. Arthur didn't look this time, since he didn't feel like puking. "Fine then," S said when the transformation was done. "But if she doesn't make it I'm eating her anyway." Picking up his clothes, S shoveled around in them until he found a sewing needle. "Lucky for you, I rip my clothes a lot. But I think we'll need to clean the wounds first. I mean I gotta see what I'm supposed to stitch up. There's some water in the bucket over there, but I got some soap right here." Reaching in his pocket, S pulled out a small bar of soap and showed it to Arthur. Since he had soap, Arthur was going to get the water when S stopped him. "I'll need your clothes too. Since we don't have bandages, we'll have to improvise." Arthur hesitated before giving away the only clothes he'd acquired. Trying to save the woman had put him right back to square one. Running over to the bucket, Arthur found it nearly empty. Sure there was water, but it was all the way at the bottom. Someone would have to reach in the bucket or tip it over to get a drink. Bringing the water over to S, he didn't seem surprised or even care that the water was so low. He simply picked up the bucket and went to work.

[Arthur Graystone]

"Is she dead?" S shrugged at the question, though he hoped that she was. He hadn't had fresh meat in a while, especially from humans. "She might live for a couple more hours but that it. We need a real healer." Arthur took that as good enough. Looking down at their patient, Arthur didn't let their crude work scare him. So what if they used cloth threads for stitching? So what if a ripped shirt was being used for band-aids? So what if his pants were being made into a cast? At least they'd prolonged her life. "Well at least we bought some time." Sitting back to rest, Arthur glanced up to see the warehouse door opening. The Master was back, and he brought a "friend." It was yet another female, though this one wasn't beaten to a pulp. She just had a few scratches, most likely from resisting capture. Why she wasn't near dead like the other one, only the Zith knew. Considering her bright red hair, Arthur guessed she was an Inarta, though she didn't act like one. She was much too timid and quiet. Then again, she did just get captured by a giant bat-man, so she had every right to be scared. "So you managed to keep her alive," master said when he saw their patient. "Maybe I didn't need this one after all." Tossing the inarta inside, the Zith approached for a better look. Seeing the corpse up close made him take back his comment. "I want her back on her feet by tomorrow," he said to the Inarta. She simply nodded without a word. However, when the Zith left again, she started freaking out. "Where the hell am I? Who was that guy? Who are you people? What's gonna happen to me? What happened to her?" And the questions just kept coming. S finally got her to shut up with his nasty transformation. "Now that that's over," Arthur said, "who are you? I'm Arthur and that's Sava something. I just call him S." The woman introduced herself as Arila, a common Inartan name. "But shouldn't you be more worried about your friend." Looking down at the corpse woman, Arthur still saw her breathing so he simply shrugged. "There's nothing more we can do. She'll kick the bucket soon without a healer." Arila jumped at the word. Rolling up her sleeve, she revealed a winged serpent symbol on her shoulder. It was a Gnosis Mark. Without any words of explanation, Arila sat next to the other woman and put a hand to her. Arthur noticed a second mark on the back of it with the same symbol. S was the only one to recognize it, though. It took Arthur a while to realize what was happening. "Hey you're a healer! But what's with the tattoos?" And then S had to go through the explanation process again to explain the concept of Gnosis marks. "So they're spiritual tattoos" is what Arthur got out of it. He did get the gist of it, though. "Using a god's power does sound good and all, but I don't feel like giving up my life just for all that power. I'd rather just use a regular old knife or regular magic." Shrugging, Arthur looked down to see that the woman's injuries were actually healed. It didn't even look like she'd just been severely injured. "You can get your clothes back now," Arila said. It wasn't until then that Arthur remembered that he was still naked. Taking off the womans clothing bandages, though, he saw that they were soaked in blood. He sure couldn't wear them now. Standing up, Arthur was about to go look for something to cover himself when the woman woke up.