PM to join Venomous Vermin (Aliara)

[Deltan Colari]

73rd of Fall, 514 A.V.; 19th Bell Deltan made his way down the street in the late evening, for the first time in a while not fearful for his safety. At least, no more than any other man who felt like he could defend himself if need be. After all, Deltan had a weapon now. With a heavy club slung over his back, the heavy end iron-banded with spikes protruding from the bands, Deltan felt rather safe. He looked it, too. Truth be told, though, he preferred a sword. Carrying this monstrosity around hurt his back, and he still wasn't good enough with the weapon to feel comfortable facing a trained fighter. The club looked fierce enough to dissuade most people who wanted an easy target. Still, Deltan couldn't wait to earn the mizas to pick up a well-forged sword. ...He missed his last one. The young man was walking along the road parallel with the river, counting the intersections in his head and under his breath. Sixteen, seventeen, eighteen... There. Nineteen. Turning left, he proceeded into the side street, eyes alert for signs of movement. No matter how well-armed he was, if he was oblivious enough to get clubbed in the head, he fully deserved to be robbed, even if he had little more than a couple mizas on his person just then. Deltan had received a job last night, after only a few hours of searching. A rather seedy-looking man had been puttering about a local tavern, asking various tough-looking men and women something or other. Each of these refused the job with little thought, either seeming disgusted or dismissive. Finally, other options exhausted, the man came up to Deltan, who seemed much less the battle-scarred mercenary than most with large weapons in the tavern. It turned out to be a fairly straightforward job; there were rumors of a Dhani taking up residence in a particular warehouse owned by this man, and he wanted them dispelled. He was paying fairly little for a job that involved a snake-person, but it was enough that Deltan would be able to go a couple days without work if he wanted. Or, more importantly, he could save it to help buy himself a way out of this pit of a city. Needless to say, Deltan jumped at the chance. What could go wrong? Deltan had been given the man's location for collecting payment, and had been warned what lying would do to his reputation. Apparently, the man hadn't the power to enforce his will. Lucky for him, Deltan was true to his word. He just hoped the man wouldn't cause problems when it came time to hand over the money. The young man kept an eye out as he approached the warehouse, twentieth building down on the left. It was fairly large and tall in this city of squat buildings, and seemed more than a little imposing if Deltan were being honest. Deltan had been promised backup, so he waited outside, opting to lean against the wall beside the door and survey the darkening streets. The sunset made Sunberth look almost pretty...were it not for the wretched faces, the stink, the ugly buildings, and...did he mention the stink? Deltan sighed, keeping an eye out for whoever was being sent in to help him as he adjusted his cloak, tightening it about him in the cool, fall air. In his mind, he was formulating a plan to scout the warehouse quickly without risking themselves. It would be careful business, and he'd need to ensure his coworker didn't want to club him and take his belongings. That would be the tricky part; it was hard to fight alongside someone that one did not trust. Still, it was better than going into a dark warehouse alone against a snake-person who may or may not even be there. A Dhani could likely avoid him easily enough, but two people searching? That would make it significantly harder. Who was he kidding? With the low pay they were being offered, they likely wouldn't even see one of those snake-folk he'd heard tell of recently. The entire city was still abuzz with the gossip, and Deltan thought it would stay that way for a while. People loved to talk, especially if something even slightly odd happened. Snake-people invading the city was, after all, very odd.

[Aliara Cantrell]

It was a good day..

Aliara walked from the common castle as she awaited the time she had been given. It had started with a drunken story, a man in the pigsfoot telling Aliara all about the mysterious creature in his warehouse, it had been interesting but as the story progressed Aliara realised after a few bells of listening to the man rattle on that he was describing a snake person, a dhani. Aliara hadn't seen one since the town had turned against them.
She waited for the man to sober up before offering her help. Aliara would do almost anything at this point to line her pockets, she wanted to buy a better set of armor. She smiled and was as polite as she could be and after a bell of persuading him that she wasn't a male entertainer, she was offered the job.

All geared up with her kuri in her boot and cutlass at her side Aliara began to walk the familiar paths that would lead her to the warehouse. the chilly breeze lifted strands of her hair as she walked. Scanning everyone briefly as they walked passed her Aliara could still see effects of the starvation in the townsfolk, sallow cheeks and pale complexions, the food shortage had be hard for everyone. Even those who had managed to find rations by the end were stealing and eating trash by the last few days.

Aliara tried to forget what happened to her in the shortage, her life had turned dark and she had led the life of a thief, though Aliara wasn't stealing for herself, she'd eat just enough to keep herself alive and given the rest to the orphanage. It hadn't of helped much however, it was only ever a few scraps.

Turning the corner she was faced with large garish building the loomed over the rest of the buildings on the street. Counting the buildings she double check it was the right one after all it would be awkward if she was to take down some poor homeless in a shelter. standing in the street she scanned the building.

Her eyes rested upon a man with dark blue eyes that pierced whomever looked upon the man. Aliara assumed he was the help she had been promised, maybe this would be easy. Holding her head up high she stalked towards him and held out her hand, her hair was covering her eyes but she would put it up when the entered the building.

“Aliara Cantrell, Cutlass and Kuri,”
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[Deltan Colari]

Bored, Deltan surveyed the street, waiting with a touch of impatience to see if any help would show up. Pathetic people skulked along the sides of the streets, starving and ragged and hollow-eyed. Meanwhile, more healthy ones kept to the middle of the thoroughfare, clearly better fed than their fellow citizens. It was the way Sunberth worked, Deltan had realized a few days ago. The strong did what they would, and the weak kept out of their way and scrounged what they could. Deltan was somewhere in between; strong enough to not have to huddle and hide, but not at all able to hold his own if a gang of thugs came upon him. This city repulsed him, but Deltan felt he might one day understand it. The young man hoped his assistance would show soon. He'd not be going in, if it was to be just him. As much as he needed the money for this job, he valued his life far more than a scant few mizas. Fortunately, the young man quickly caught sight of someone a bit different from the rest in the crowd. A young blonde woman with hair allowed to grow out not quite long enough to get in the way approached Deltan, sure step indicating that she wasn't afraid of him. That meant she was either his help, or incoming trouble. The young man pushed himself up off the wall, blue eyes hardening a bit in wariness as she drew closer, but he kept quiet and didn't put his hand on his weapon. It wouldn't do to get into a scrap with a fellow mercenary if he didn't have to. It surprised him that the help might be a woman, though; Deltan was hardly sexist, but he never pictured mercenaries as women. Especially not pretty women. Deltan wasn't sure why that was the case, but it was. He hoped she hadn't seen the faint widening of his eyes as he thought, Her? When the young woman offered her hand and said, "Alia Cantrell, cutlass and kuri," Deltan grinned and gave her hand a firm shake, replying in kind. "Deltan Colari..." He hesitated, almost ready to mention his short sword. With a wry smile, he jerked his head toward the large, spiked club on his back and said. "Club." It really amused him; he barely knew how to handle the thing, though he knew he could deal damage if he had to. Still, it felt silly. He was too small to be one of those huge club-wielding brutes...Except that he wasn't weak enough to be unable to handle it. It might be a bit slow, but with enough force he'd only need to hit once. The young man gestured to the warehouse, "So, Alia, have you been in warehouses like these before? I don't know what to expect in there, except maybe a snake or two." Even that was an overstatement; he'd never even seen a Dhani before. He suspected a club would stop one as well as it would anyone else, though. The shadows were lengthening as sunset started, dusk just beginning to fall over the city. The crowds began to thin, and the seedier side of Sunberth (if one side could be more seedy than the other, of course) began to awaken. Soon, it would be safer in the warehouse, Dhani or no Dhani. The young man looked about warily, ready to club someone senseless if they even thought of assaulting the pair... Though few did. Two armed mercenaries were more than enough to dissuade most from having at them, unless they had something worth risking life and limb for.

[Aliara Cantrell]

So this was her help, a lumbering man with a ugly club, shruggin internally Aliara decided she could have ended up with some sniveling old more or even worst a kid younger then herself. He even had a good handshake, putting her hands on her hips Aliara huffed in attempt to get a stray strand away from her eyes.

The warehouse was a simple one, just from looking at the shabby outside Aliara could guess it was like any of the ones located around the docks. She assumed the inside would be remotely the same, a large open room with walls of crates and boxes.Hopefully it would even have a gangwalk so that the pair could skip wandering Aimlessly throughout the maze of boxes.

Rolling her eyes slightly at the mispronunciation of her name, Aliara peered into a small gap in the doors. Hunting Dhani’s, the job itself didn't pay well however there was a bounty for 200 mizas if you gave a Dhani up… the man never did say he wanted the Dhani… Blinking out of her thoughts Aliara smiled at Deltan.

“How do you want to do this? Run in weapons in the air or maybe one goes in back one goes in front?”

Unsheathing her Cutlass Aliara ran a finger across the blade lightly, it sliced the first layer of skin. Smiling Aliara gave it a quick spin before looking back up at her partner. walking past him slightly she put her ear against the tin of the warehouse it burnt her cheek slightly but it gave her the chance to hear what was on going on inside the ‘abandoned’ space.

“Sounds empty, is the old man sure its still in there?”

Aliara pushed the hair out of her face and turned back to Deltan and raised an eyebrow. he might be useful, with his club he certainly took a different approach than Aliara’s throat slitting one.
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[Deltan Colari]

Deltan gave Aliara a narrow-eyed look at the way she rolled her eyes. He smoothed his expression quickly, though; tensions between mercenaries rarely went over well, he suspected. Especially here, where some people would be happy to stick knives in you just for looking at them wrong. Besides, a bad attitude wasn't always a bad thing in someone you were trusting your life with. As long as she turned it on their prey instead of on him, at any rate. Deltan was also thinking of the prize, coincidentally. He'd heard of the bounty, and was somewhat on his guard concerning Aliara. What if she tried to kill him to take the bounty for herself? Deltan didn't know if he could best her or not, with a club. She was likely faster, and had more practice with her weapons. So, better start convincing her not to kill him. Considering her suggestions, Deltan tried to catch her eyes. Blue eyes would suddenly seem to hold a certain kinship...Even if it was hypnotically-enhanced. He was pushing a faint emotion onto her, a camaraderie between two professionals. It was up to her whether to accept it or not, but the faint emotional push had helped him more than once. He wasn't strong enough to make it more insistent. Not yet. "Splitting up would let the Dhani get the drop on us, Aliara," the young man said with a shake of the head, "Why don't we go in all quiet, and see where that takes us?" The suggestion was offered tentatively; neither one of them had taken command of the situation, and Deltan didn't want to bully her. From what he could gather, Sunberthans were very fickle when it came to who was in charge of them. No need to force a confrontation. As Aliara placed her ear against the cold wall, she would very likely hear nothing thanks to the necessary thickness of the wall. No matter what was going on, she likely wouldn't hear much unless it was unfortunately loud. "The fool sure looked convinced," Deltan replied with a shrug. "As long as we make sure it's empty, he doesn't need to know we didn't find anything, does he?" Really, Deltan highly doubted that there was anything in there. If the man saw something, Deltan didn't think he'd have survived it. Any race that was associated with snakes had to be nasty. The young man pulled the door partway open, the hinges squeaking faintly and making him stop immediately. Deltan frowned at the door, trying to think of how to be sure it wouldn't squeak when they opened it. That would surely alert something inside, if there was anything. Though Deltan had his doubts, he didn't want to die for being unwary. "Ladies first?" The young man asked with a playful smirk and a chuckle, opting not to use hypnotism this time. He didn't want to strain himself; he might need his Flux, after all. Though he'd made the offer, his positioning made it clear he wanted to go in first. Mercenary or not, Aliara wasn't as strong as he was, or so he believed. Besides, he had a big club. Who could argue with the one with the big weapon going in first?

[Aliara Cantrell]

The more Aliara spent time with Deltan the more she found herself getting more comfortable. It was always better to get along with other mercenaries, always meant backup if you needed it. Taking her face off of the outside of the warehouse she nodded in agreement to the comment about the man being convince but that didn't make him any less petching crazy.

In most situations splitting up would mean possible chance of ambushing however Aliara was convinced that there wasn't anyone in there, she could just go back, and like Detlan said, tell the old bat that they cleared it all out. Staying close to the outside of the building Aliara shuffled to the edge of the building and peered around. It was a large building, hence why Deltan was here but it still seemed like a big job for just the two of them.

The screech of rusty metal against metal echoed through the air and Aliara spun around eyes wide. Deltan had open the door a crack, rolling her eyes she stalked up to him and glared, What idiot would open a rusty door. Tightening her bun she drew her cutlass, Aliara slipped in.

The warehouse was dusty and dark, the sunlight from the windows showed the dustmites floating in the air. Aliara looked around and was faced with masses of crates that created a maze, touching one of the wooden crates Aliara wondered what was in them. It could have been anything, the old man did seem unpredictable. As Aliara surveyed what she could see of the room she began to formulate a plan.

The way the crates had been stacked it ment there was no advantage to either side, The dhani wouldn't be able to see them coming around the corner but neither could Deltan and Aliara, they could always climb up onto of the crates and sneak along that way… As she began to picture it Aliara realised that the Dhani would see them and most likely before they saw them.

“Deltan… the crates form a maze, we are going to have to go through it if we want to be a surprise, otherwise we can climb up the top of the crates and just wing it.. unless you have a better idea?”

Her voice but a murmur as she drew a rough map of what she could see with the tip of her sword. This was going to be a challenge.
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[Aliara Cantrell]

When no reply came Aliara just shook her head and looked over the rough map, maybe Deltan had already gone further in? Sheathing her sword Aliara drew her Kurki and placed it carefully in her mouth, she would climb the crates and search from the top of them. Turning back to the crates Aliara clenched her teeth and jumped, grasping the edge of the top crate Aliara winced and walked her legs up the side. Taking it step by step Aliara slowly crawled up the side of the mountain of crates until she reached the top.

Laying with her belly against the crates Aliara looked to either side, one side showed Aliara’s and Deltans footprints and the other showed nothing just spider webs and dust. Standing up slowly Aliara took noticed of the walkway that the crates provided, she only had a small platform before the crates disappeared into a mass of nets. Taking small steps Aliara tried her best to keep silent so she would not scare anything off that was lurking in the shadows.

The warehouse was eerily cold, from where Aliara stood she could she numerous things, the pile of nets, another set of crates in the left corner. This warehouse was a mix of fishing supplies and bricks, telling by the pile of to the left Aliara considered the bricks were used to separate the shipments. Shaking her head she pushed the thoughts out of her head, Aliara was looking for Dhani not looking for reason why people have bricks in their warehouses.

As she watched the area of the warehouse Aliara made sure to watch for any kind of movement, at first she had assumed the man was off his nut but seeing Deltan here made her question herself. Yet Deltan had disappeared, maybe he had just left her to collect all the money saying that she had never turned up and the warehouse was empty. Frowning Aliara tried not to think about it as she watched the dusty warehouse.

Yawning Aliara looked away from the sight she had spent the last couple of bells watching, slowly sitting up Aliara cringed as cramps filled her muscles, Aliara was going to dig though the nets before finally declaring this place clear. Turning around Aliara gripped the edge of the crates and slowly lowered herself down onto another crate and continued to make her way down. As her feet touched the floor her muscles sighed and she yawned again. Aliara was so tired, shuffling over to the nets she lazily dug around in them using her Kurki to cut the the stronger knots that had occurred Nothing had reared its ugly head in the entire time that Aliara had been watching so as she dug through the pile she was paying full attention. Yet again nothing, Sighing Aliara scanned around the room once more before slinking out the warehouse and making her way to collect her payment

.

[Jashkataal]

“Heroes know that things must happen when it is time for them to happen. A quest may not simply be abandoned; unicorns may go unrescued for a long time, but not forever; a happy ending cannot come in the middle of the story.” ― Peter S. Beagle, The Last Unicorn

 

Deltan Colari

Experience

• Deduction +1
• Hypnotism +1
• Observation +1
• Socialization +2

Lores

• Aliara: a sell sword
• Aliara prefers the cutlass and kurki

 

Aliara Cantrell

Experience

• Observation +4
• Socialization +2
• Tactics +1
• Weapon: Kurki +1

Lores

• Delton Colari: a sell sword
• Delton prefers the club.

Sorry your thread got cut short, well done salvaging it.

If you have any concerns, please do not hesitate to send a PM. Please remember to delete your grade request. The pleasure was all mine.

Regards,
~Jashkataal