Lamb in a den of Wolves

[Layne]

Morning 20 Winter 510AV

Like a moth to a flame Layne approached the gates of Sunberth. Edging slowly towards the ominous town wthout a purpose but morbid curiousity she felt the dark structures lure her to her doom. But she had no other direction to turn lest she wished to make the perilous journey back to more civilised pastures. So it was that Layne, a small Konti at such a young age, chose a path that would drastically change her otherwise uneventful life.
Upon entering the city she noticed nothing out of the ordinary. At first glance it seemed to be another Human town struggling to regain to regain it's posture after the catalysm of the Valerian. Walking the streets people bought wares from others quite calmly without the rampant violence that would solidify Sunberth's already volitile reputation. Of course there was the usual rowdy behavior that one would expect from any growth of civiisation. In particular the men lining the street would leer at her, even under the thick hood that she wore. She cursed being born as the beautiful Konti; it drew too much attention to herself. She never knew how to react to such behavior shy as she was. There was of course fighting outside the taverns and the usual prostitution but overall there was nothing out the ordinary.
All in all she felt that her previous fears were foolish and that her hopefully brief stay at Sunberth would be uncomfortable yet unperilous.
Yet what was this feeling that she felt? The streets were not in fact littered with average looking humans but in fact what appeared to be the strongest and most threatening men that Sunberth perhaps had to offer. The men would were fighting had a look in their eyes not to say that they wished to injure the other to overpower them. Instead their eyes betrayed something darker; as if their objective was to torture the other to death.
And this brought a shocking reality to forefront of Layne's mind. The men staring at her were not leering at her in the hopes of some sexual gratifaction but in fact were the stares of predators. As the shocking truth exploded into her intuition she began to walk faster hoping to evade the predatory looks the men were giving to their prey.
They were slavers...if only she realised sooner...
However the men followed and this provoked Layne to jog which the men recipretated with ease causing her to run. Soon she started sprinting through the filthy streets with the men behind her back. And they were gaining. She had no choice but to use her power of spacial recognition to escape. So on she ran scrambling desperately to the undeveloped power she wielded. Her lungs filled with molten iron and her legs tried to betray her by slowing her pace with fatigue. And still her persuers gained.
Finally after what seemed like an eternity of desperate fleeing her sense thrust an escape route into her mind and she violently turned right into a tight space betwen two buildings. She shimmied her way through this tight crevice quickly trying to shake off her persuers. To her luck her short stature allowed her to delve deeper into this crevice and the persuers, evidently too large to fit, snatched into thin air after her wishing for her capture for a Konti prisoner could sell for a small fortune, even one with underdeveloped powers like Layne. After 5 minutes of this futile activity the slavers resorted to threats and soon Layne feared that her so far short life would be filled with humiliating depravity in the hands of such vultures.
And in these short moments Layne muttered prayers to Avalis,Laviku, anyone who could hear her plea for a solution to the prison she had got herself into within mere moments of entering the most dangerous city in Mizahar...

[Adder]

Adder was leaning against a wall of a warehouse in Castle Commons. He'd been meaning to purchase some supplies and had been strolling around the market in Alphonse's "realm" for the Seaside Market had been quite dissapointing. The sun was shining feebly this morning and had only a tiny bit left to climb before she would reach her zenith.
Now what have we here? - he thought grinning maliciously as he spotted a hooded figure nervously making her way through the streets. She glanced up and Adder saw a glimpse of that easily recognisable hair. A konti?

Rayne pushed himself from the brick wall and went in pursuit. Others had noticed her as well and were making inconspicuous gestures as to alert their henchmen. The half Dhani realised this would be going south fast.

She broke into a jog and then a run. Not a smart thing to do... The slavers had smelled their game and were following her like a stag a hind. Passerby pressed themselves to the walls to avoid being ran over by the horde of thugish pursuers. Adder kept pace.

The konti fled into an alleyway and managed to squeeze herself into a tight crack. She was safe inside the crevice, but it would only be for so long before the group would think of something to retrieve her...

Adder kept his right hand close to his mean dirk and adopted a waiting stance. It would be impossible to take the crooks on all at once so instead he would have to think of something...

"Whose is she?" he yelled over the commotion to spring a discussion among the crooks. There were too many of them, he would have to use his wit and the inner strife and greed Sunberthians were inclined to. "Has she been claimed?" he added in effort to get the group to divide.
Careful enough to not have the questions trace back to him, he shuffled closer to the crevice the Konti had wiggled herself into. There was a certain irony to the nature of her would be saviour.

[Layne]

Layne heard the questions again about her morbid future. 'Whose is she?'. 'Has she been claimed?'. She knew it-her future would be as a lapdog to whatever pervert had the money to buy her. Men were such monsters. Inside she thanked Avalis that the entire Konti population were all female.

Yet at the sound of this new candidate for her life, the others gradually faded away as if the owner was a hideous creature. Layne did not know whether to be fearful or grateful for for this sudden turn of events. Perhaps this slaver would be benevolent and kind. While Layne understood that given the circumstances this conclusion was naive and foolish it still gave her some hope.

Her breathing slowed down and she felt the adrenalin snaking through her body slowly melt away. Inching slowly to the end of the crevice she attempted to hear more of this so far helpful stranger but could hear none. Feeling bold she quickly swung her head out and looked straight into the eyes of a lizard. Yelping in fear she scrambled as far back into the crevice as possible.

Just her luck to be saved from slavers by a lizard who would probably eat her. Lady fortune was a cow sometimes.

[Mastermind]

There were only four thugs in total, all dressed in dark leathers, and wielding various weapons intended for the close-quarters combat inherent to Sunberth. The smallest of them was in the crevice, trying to wriggle his way closer to Layne, and the other two were standing on either side of it. Finally, the largest was standing back a few feet, watching. All save the smallest put their hands on the hilts of their weapons as Adder approached. Only the largest spoke up. He was a man of some height, perhaps six and a half feet tall, and with the thick build of a man inclined to violence. Tucked into his belt was a morningstar, its shaft and leather grip stained with old blood. "Yeah, she has," he said, and he gestured to the two others outside the crevice. Apparently, all four men were in cahoots. The two lackeys moved to block Adder's approach to the crevice, but not before the halfbreed got his look. One of the thugs had a dirk similar to Adder's, the other a butcher's cleaver. Both were heavily scarred, fat, and ugly to boot. The dirk man was short, though, about five foot five, while the cleaver was Adder's height, albeit much thicker. "Who tha petch are ya, boy?" said the leader, moving closer. "Best ya run 'long, 'fore ya get hurt."

[Adder]

Adder cussed. Damn it, his scheme hadn't worked. His mind raced to find a solution for this four headed problem before him. They blocked his path to the pot of gold. He cussed again interiorly.

"Yeah she has," the apparent protagonist of the foursome said. His two 'dogs' placed themselves between Adder and the crevice. One of them was armed with a meatcleaver, the other with a dirk. The protagonist, by far the largest of them, had a dirty morningstar resting in his belt, though his hands seemed to not wander far from it.
"Who tha petch are ya, boy?" said the leader, moving closer. "Best ya run 'long, 'fore ya get hurt." The threat was more than obvious.

Adder took a step back and placed his feet a meter apart, his scaled hand gripped the hilt of his precious dirk. It had tasted blood before, that was inevitable in Sunberth, but he wouldn't be able to take four of them on at the same time. Even if one of them was trying to fit desperatly in the crack.
The thug reeked after cheap alcohol and his own filth. His leathers seemed worn and dirty.

Assessing his opponents he deemed it impossible to take them down fighting and walk away unscathed, even if he was as strong as the largest. Instead, he took a more intimidating stance, cocked up his head and defiantly looked in the thug's eyes with his own serpentine gaze.
Being a Dhani off-shoot had his drawbacks but in some instances those drawbacks became an advantage.
"That sslave belongs to Lazaruss..." he lied. Hoping mentioning 'Chubs' name would instill some fear in the bandits he continued. "Sshe escaped not an hour ago and naturally he wantss her back... I've been sssent to recollect his property." For a moment he had almost said 'chubs' again instead of Lazarus. He made his s's sound more hissing by purpose, trying to further exploit his bastardism.

Adder smiled provocativly and let his long bloodred tongue slither alongside his pointed teeth. If he had bet on the wrong horse he would be forced to make a run for it or fight and take as many of them down with him. The large brute would be the first, he promised himself.

[Layne]

"That sslave belongs to Lazaruss..."

"Sshe escaped not an hour ago and naturally he wantss her back..."

Her future was once again being bargained with like she were a lamb.

And yet a thought occured to her. She had awoken just a few moments ago in that clearing. What if he were a slave to this Lazarus? Although she appeared to have a sense of what people wanted with her as her pursuit proved the possiblility was still there.

'Mr-er-Snake-man' she called out to her benefactor 'P-please help me! I appear to have gotten myself into a bit of a pickle!'

She had no idea why she was calling out to this Dhani man seen as rescue in his hand could lead to her either being eaten by him or being sent back to this Lazarus who she didn't know. Nonetheless she had no choice but to cheer for him.

Aside from that she was curious who this Lazarus was...

[Mastermind]

The mention of Lazarus had the two lackeys smirk, and their boss laugh. "Chubs? That fat petch?" The leader laughed again. "Chubs won't do 'nothing. 'Sides the fact you're probably lying. I ain't lived this long believin' ev'ry thing I hear. We'll take tha pretty thing over to the market, and see how much he really wants her back. And if it ain't 'nuff, we'll try sellin' her ta Lasher." He scoffed dismissively at Adder, before turning to regard the Konti down the crevice. "Get rid a this fool," he told his two fat minions. Putting one hand on each side of the crack Layne had gone into, he stuck his head in and yelled to his skinny subordinate. "Hurry the petch up, Willy, I've got somewhere ta be!" Willy, as the squirmer was called, turned his had back an yelled, "Almost there, boss!" And he was. The smaller man was only slightly bigger than Layne, and he had made good progress down the crack during Adder's interruption. Stretching out a hand, he reached for Layne, his finger waving just in front of her face. "C'mere girly. Willy won't hurtcha. Jus' want a bitta lovin', tha'sall." Outside the crack, the cleaver-wielding minion stepped forward, coming just about nose to nose with Adder. His breath stank horrendously, and spittle flew from his fat lips as he menaced, "Ya heard tha boss. Git tha petch outta here, 'fore we gotsta make ya bleed."

[Layne]

She stared eye to eye with the squirming man and realised her subwhat dismal luck had finally dissipated. It would seem that her fears were initially unfounded. Indeed it would seem the circumstances the Dhani's interuption was well timed. She didnt know who to root for, a Dhani or Humans, but at least Adder seemed to be showing her at least some respect- he talked about as if she was a person at least.
And a correction from the rape hopefuls- It wasn't Lazurus but 'Chubs' which sounded a lot less threatening to her. It did not matter in any case as her fate seemed to be sealed either she becomes a slave or she dies of starvation in a crack in a wall. On the basis of keeping her life and which was less immediately painful she chose the former and decided that she should assist the Dhani.
In light of this decision she decided to kick violently with her legs to throw 'the squirmer' off. She hoped for the best...

[Adder]

Outside the crack, the cleaver-wielding minion stepped forward, coming just about nose to nose with Adder. His breath stank horrendously, and spittle flew from his fat lips as he menaced, "Ya heard tha boss. Git tha petch outta here, 'fore we gotsta make ya bleed."

Adder's left fist flew forward like an attacking viper and hit the man right on the nose with considerable force, probably breaking it. The thug grabbed for it and stumbled back a bit. With the created room between them, Rayne drew his dirk and sliced over his opponent's abdomen and chest in one fluent diagonal movement. He kept the weapon permanently sharp and clean.

The Dhani halfblood ferally kicked the wounded man right in the middle of his torso. The power he put behind the kick should have sent him flying into his comrade standing somewhat behind him.
Adder stood with is right foot in front of his left and a bit apart so they weren't forming one line. He lightly bent through his knees and made sure the side facing his opponents, being his right shoulder and side, was as small as possible without depriving him from the opportunity of striking rapidly. People who stood on one line were easily brought down with a simple sweep.
The dirk moved slowly through the air, tip facing the foursome.

[Mastermind]

NPCsRemember that you cannot control your success in actions such as attacking an NPC, unless it is a flashback. That is the purview of the Storyteller. Say what you do, and I'll tell you how well it goes. You also cannot control how an NPC reacts to actions. Layne's kicks peppered Willy's face, and he yelped in pain and stopped reaching for Layne. His face was bloody, and he put his hands up to it, cursing. "Petching bitch! I'm gunna take ya so hard you die!" But apparently, he wasn't planning on getting her just now. Instead, he started squirming the other way, heading for his friends. The yelling from the crevice reached Adder's ears just a few instants after he threw his punch. The punch landed soundly, and with a crack, but the man did little more than grunt, even as blood trickled steadily from his nose. He did, however, scream as his guts spilled out of his belly. Adder's kick sent him to the ground, clutching his stomach as he alternated between screaming and whimpering. There were curses abound, as both remaining men in front of Adder drew their weapons. The fat dirk wielder jerked his out of his belt and went straight for the kill, thrusting the blade with a meaty hand, straight for Adder's neck. The boss took a different approach, choosing to remain right in front of the crevice, morningstar at the ready. He looked back and forth in a quick manner between Adder and the crevice, clearly watching both.