Didn't Mean Nuthin' (Darian)

[Drayton]

30th day of Spring, 511 AV

Castle Commons was disgustingly crowded today. The calls of vendors collided with one another in the air, fighting through the clutter of chatter in an attempt to be the first to reach potential customers’ ears. It wasn’t only airspace that was fought for in the space patrolled by Alphonse and his guards. Bodies slammed together, elbows jabbed stomachs and feet were stepped on in the bustle of shopping.

Eleanor hated the Commons when they were like this. Days like this the unwashed masses of Sunberth were squeezed together uncomfortably close, sharing each others' space, air and smells. It was deafening, it was claustrophobic and it was wonderfully distracting. Merchants stood behind piles spices, fruits, cloth and crafts. They shouted eagerly to the crowds of buyers with money purses on their belt. There were so many heads turning about and feet stomping and hands grabbing it was impossible to tell whose limbs belonged to whom. The dirty hides of the anarchist town may all have been gathered in an unpleasant manner, but the goods they had brought with them were a bit more appealing.

Might as well start off slow today, Eleanor, the teen thought as she let the crowd carry her from one stall to the next. A rotund woman turned in front of her, examining a string of cheap beads that had been thrust into her face. Eleanor found herself plastered into the corner of another stall, the wooden edges pressing into her skinny spine. Perfect.

It was a fruit stand she was glued too, and Eleanor let the momentum of the woman’s behind carry her into the goods with force. Yelping, her arms flew back, and a pyramid of oranges crumbled. “HEY OW!” she cried, dragging her arm across the chipped wooden surface as she twisted away from the woman, “Oh, sorry sir. I didn’t mean nuthin’ by it…” Her eyes widened as she looked at the rolling fruit and backed away apologetically. The merchant swore as he fumbled to stop the escaping oranges. Eleanor backed away into the crowd as best she could, an orange tucked into her baggy sleeve, secured slightly by one of the grimy rags she always had wrapped around her various body parts.

Elbowing her way out Eleanor managed to reach the edge of the market. The crowds were thinner here, and she sat on a barrel, watching the shoppers go by, and set to work peeling the orange.
OOCIf you have a better idea for where they could me let me know. I didn’t know how else they might bump into one another and so I present you with the generic marketplace scene.

[Darian]

He walked through Castle Commons briskly, bumping people out of his way, and stepping around those that he could. A disgustingly fat man laid his greasy hand on his shoulder and shoved him out of the way. Darian stumbled back a few steps, bumping into some fellow people, before he finally managed to right himself, and whirl around to glower at the fat man. His teeth grinded together tightly as he stared at the man's back for a few moments, before turning back on his heel and continuing on his way. Normally he made have followed the man and taught him a lesson, but today he had an important meeting to get to. It wasn't good to leave the more underworld types waiting, after all they seemed to disappear rather fast, and more importantly hold a grudge.

With a brief thought he filed away the image of the slob, and made his way once more through the market place. Soon on the side he noted the location for his rendezvous, and made his way to the little used alley. At first glance it seemed entirely empty, but then the shadows to the side of the alleyway dissolved and a lanky figure appeared, his sharp features making him look more like a rat than a man. " Do you have what I requested? " he asked coolly, as he stood there stooped. His oversized cloak concealed his body well, and the smattering of dirt and grease on his features hid his profile well enough. He did not desire to be seen with types like this, and nor did he consider this man worthy to know his true identity, this was simply business and that was the end of it.

"Yea, I got them" he said as he produced a large cotton sack and tossing it on the ground before him. With a single motion, he sank down to his knees, and unfastened the thin twine that kept it shut, the sides folding out to reveal the contents inside. As he peered inside of the bag, he rooted around in it with his hand, pushing aside pieces of armor to see if the other things where still inside as well. "You better have the money for them" the small man growled, looming over him to keep an eye on his investigations. Using his shadow in the dimly lit alley as an aid, he palmed the hilt of an assassin dagger, and as he stood up the weapon disappeared in the folds of his cloak.

" Yes, I have your money " he said as his hand disappeared into the folds of his oversized cloak, and produced a sizable coin pouch. With a brief flick of his wrist he tossed the cloth pouch towards the man, who caught it eagerly in both hands. At once he began counting the sum, 100 gold mizas, meticulously making sure that all was there. Getting down on one knee, Darian inspected his newly acquired items, and smiled in under the shadows covering his face. Yes, the night leather set of armor, assassin's dagger, and assassin beads are all here he thought with a wicked grin. Surprisingly everything was there that he requested, and even though he was overcharged a bit, it was worth it for the secrecy.

Hefting the bag onto his shoulder after properly securing it, he turned back around, and went out the way he came, paying no more mind to the man who was too busy counting his new found wealth to show him any further interest. After only a few steps into the busy marketplace he quickly disappeared into the crowd, and he made his quiet way across the street to an alley on the opposite side. He worked his way deeper into the murky darkness of the side passage until he was fully out of sight from any curious glance that might wander his way. In the quiet gloom he dropped the dagger he had secretly stashed away into his pocket, before stripping off all of his cloths. He had snagged the dagger in case the wretch had tried anything sneaky, but luckily that hadn't been the case.

Completely nude in the musty passage, he shivered and slowly put on the specially made leather night armor, starting with the leggings, and then working his way up with the various other armor pieces, before putting on the boots. With that done, he then pulled on his other cloths over it, and thankfully it was a lucky fit, his cloths already oversized for his slim form to begin with. Throwing the cowl of his cloak over his head, he bent over to retrieve the last item inside the bag, an unremarkable set of prayer beads, loosely connected together by twine. He picked it up in his hand with his forefinger, and middle, briefly testing its weight before putting it into the pocket that he had stowed away the dagger in moments ago.

Darian stood up straight, and after ruffling up his cloak appropriately, he resumed his hunched back guise, shambling for the mouth of the alley from which he had entered. A commotion to the side caught his eye, numerous oranges rolled across the street, and the voice of an angry shopkeeper rose above the clamor of the crowd. He grinned slightly when he saw that the perpetrator was only a young girl, and he watched on as she stammered her apology, before walking off. For whatever reason his eyes followed her as she made her way out of the thickest part of the crowd, and came to settle on the outskirts of the bustling market producing, to his surprise, a orange that he suspected she acquired in her little accident. She would be suitable for my plans he thought with a smile, before disappearing into the shadows of the alley ways.

Using the various side passages, he gradually got closer to her, and soon he came out of a passage near her and hobbled up beside her quietly. " Well done " he said in a rough gravelly voice that was not his own. " That was quite the trick you pulled "

[Drayton]

As Eleanor pulled back the dimpled skin of the orange a burst of fragrance leapt up from the fruit, and sparkled as they lingered in the sunlight. This was her favorite part about eating oranges. The bright smells seemed so eager to escape their container and sprang into the air, hanging before her nose and clinging to her hands, softening the scents of the city. As she split the peel from the fat body of the fruit the discarded bits fell to the floor, landing pale and bright like shed scales on the trampled dirt floor. She breathed deeply, sucking some of the sweet smelling drops that still lingered in the light up her nose.

Pulling a wedge away from the main body of the orange Eleanor was careful not to pierce the thin skin that separated the segments before popping the piece into her mouth. With gentle guidance from her tongue and the sharp edges of her teeth Eleanor broke the membrane and released the flavors of the juicy flesh. A lovely breakfast to start the day with, she thought, dropping another wedge into her mouth. Some juice shimmered on the corner of her lips, lacking the weight to fall across the girl’s chin.

The droplet flew through the air as Eleanor snapped her head around to see the owner of the voice. He was a greasy, bent sort of man whose body disappeared beneath the folds of a great black cloak. Great, what a creep. What’s he doing disturbing my meal? She turned on her barrel seat to face the man better. A scowl twisted her lips down and her eyebrows dove together, wrinkling angrily over her skinny face.

“What's it to you?” she asked, spitting an orange seed on the dirt before his feet. One gloved hand rested in her lap, cradling the half devoured fruit. With the other gloved fist Eleanor wiped the small track of sticky juice from her chin, leaving a fresh streak of dirt in its place. All the while she kept her brown eyes on the stranger who had approached so silently.

[Darian]

From the shadows under the cowls of his cloak, he watched the girl before him. Her indignant response had been ignored, mostly due to the fact that she could prove useful, but also because he simply didn't care. He was not the prideful sort, and thus did not need his ego stroked constantly. It was only when someone slowed him down; that such rudeness really irked him and that usually incurred his wrath. However from this girl he was more lax, since after she was his purpose for disturbing her, and such an encounter with this outfit on was bound to incur some irritation from any he accosted. Watching her carefully for a few more moments, he studied her noting her overall appearance, and examining her as one would examine a weapon in the marketplace. She has potential

Keeping his face expressionless on the off chance she saw it, he opened his mouth and cleared his throat with a series of coughs. " It is really nothing I suppose, just an old man admiring real talent when he sees it " he said in the same rough, cracked voice as before. "One such as you could make yourself a living doing certain things for people like me, given you have any good sense in that head of yours" he added, finishing with a cackling sort of laughter, that launched him into another tirade of coughs and wheezing. He faltered where he stood and stood lower, coughing into his arm, and overall putting on an impression of weakness.

Beating his fist against his chest, he managed to stop his coughing, and offered a toothy smile towards the girl. His teeth appeared yellow, a product of honey smeared over his teeth, and his disguise was rough, since he had never practiced it, but he hoped that it would be enough to mislead this woman for now. He would need to know her a little bit more before unveiling his true self. Then should she pass that, she could be well on her way to learning of certain things, and as long as she didn't get in his way, find power. After all, unbeknownst to her, he did reward well, and while it was not always money, it was always well deserved. He may not care for others, but he knew the value of work, especially work well done.

Reaching into a pack at his side, he pulled out a single gold rimmed miza, and flipped it towards her. "So how bout it, you looking for a bit of work?"

[Drayton]

Eleanor rubbed her juicy fingers on the stained fabric of her pants as she listened to the man hack into his elbow. The girl’s bony knee was visible through a large hole that shifted back and forth across her leg as she dried her hand. What’s he talking about? Probably has some sort of consumption… she thought, sneering at the bent figure as he drew another wheezing gasp.

She understood what he meant by making a living doing favors for others, she was already in the habit of running the occasional errand for several folks in Sunberth who preferred to keep their hands clean. But Eleanor usually knew who she was working for, and what sort of trouble she might get into before she took a job. The girl didn’t have a very strict moral code, but she wasn’t fond of making unnecessary enemies.

Despite her wariness the scowl faded when she noticed a miza shining in the stranger’s filthy fist. Her own hand shot up quickly, catching the coin in a gloved palm with easy. Eleanor pocketed the money, with no intention of returning it whether she accepted whatever task the man had or not. It’s not like he offered any conditions, not my fault if he loses money by chucking coins at strangers…

“You tell me who I’m working for and, more importantly, who I’ll be making angry and I’ll think about it, old man,” she said. Her narrow face wasn’t scowling anymore, but she looked at him with suspicion. It wasn’t easy to trust strangers in a place like Sunberth. Still, I could use a bit of extra cash. If he doesn’t want me to do anything ridiculous I could get a good deal out of this, and be a couple mizas closer to leaving.

[Darian]

With the acceptance of his token, Darian smiled underneath the shadows in the hood of the cloak and weighed her next words carefully. He didn’t think she had earned the right to learn of his true name or form just quiet yet, but with a little sponsored test he figured that he could learn her true mettle and the breadth of her abilities. She looked like an accomplished pick pocket in her own right, but for all he knew she could be a skilled assassin, but the well received coin told him otherwise. Most likely this woman was on hard times that every one, himself included knew by experience of living in Sunberth. However he’d traveled halfway across the world and back, finding out that for now Sunberth suited his designs until it was time to travel again. He also needed funds to achieve his goals, but as the old saying went, you have to spend money to make money.

With a shuddering breath, he cleared his throat with a hacking cough again, adding more to the disguise, and looked towards the girl taking her in his view, and more importantly, focusing on her deft looking hands. “ To answer your first question, you will be working for me, and as for the second, I’ll leave that one up to you ” he said, his voice sounding weak and frail, a result of his present action of resisting swallowing. Every time he coughed he disposed of some of his extra saliva, so he could more manageably keep his throat dry. “ I suppose your also wondering about what the job is, and it’s easy enough and the pay more than worthwhile ” he said in a almost teasing voice. Suddenly he took two steps closer to her, till he was within easy arm reach, and in a quieter voice said. “ Simply put, I want you to kidnap anyone of your choosing, and bring them to them to a location you deem secure. I will of course come once you are there, with 50 gold miza in hand for your efforts. ” he finished. Of course in a violent, unpredictable city such as Sunberth, nothing was as ever cut and dried as that, but that’s why he compensated her accordingly knowing that anything that might go wrong would make some interesting entertainment for him.

It would be a true test of her skill, and if she passed it might even open new jobs for her in the future, something he was sure she would need. Although he would never admit this to her, should she pass he might need her just as much as she needed him. After all some of his plans required workers, and if he was to do what he would wanted, more importantly closer to his goals, than he would need those that would further him along in that regard. Their reward in return would be increased wealth, reputation, and thus influence, Darian never really having a taste for such things. All he cared for at the present moment was power and revenge, and wealth, reputation, along with influence where nothing more than tools for him. “ Do we have a deal? ”

[Drayton]

The girl wasn’t surprised when her would-be employer refused to offer a name. I wouldn’t want people to know who I was either if I skulked around asking young girls to run my errands… she thought, knowing that Sunberth was a place that rewarded discretion. At the mention of pay more than worthwhile Eleanor adopted a nonchalant pose. Curling her fingers toward the thick fabric on her gloved palm she examined the black filth that had collected beneath her nails. A disinterested face often earned more than eager eyes and a desperate look.

Her first reaction as the dirty man moved closer was to lean back on her barrel. A wave of heavy, sickly-sweet smelling breath washed onto Eleanor’s face as he spoke to her. She stopped edging away at the mention of kidnapping. With a sharp motion she popped off of her seat and landed in front of the man. The girl’s wiry frame was tense as she squared herself off with the man, one hand raised as if in protest.

“Listen Mister, I’m fine with grabbing some guy who owes you money so you can rough him up. Or even if you want to snag a kid and hold them for a ransom, I get that. But you saying you don’t care what poor hide I drag off, that sounds suspicious to me,” her murky, hazel eyes glared at the hunched figure before her, “I do this job only if you promise you’re not doing something strange and unnatural, like magical experiments on whoever I bring in. You’re creepy enough as is, and I’m willing to work for you, but I will draw the line, and leave the second you cross it. Got it?”

Fifty mizas isn’t something I can pass up easily. That’s more than I could ever earn scrapping muck at the Kennels. It could help me find a way up… Nonetheless, there was something about the man’s casual way of requesting her help that unnerved her. Still, the young woman offered her own grimy hand for the man to shake, providing he agreed to the rather loose guidelines she had requested.

Next thing to worry about, how am I going to do this…

[Darian]

His gaze flickered from merely casual, to cold, and calculating in a brief moment. The grimace he now wore would have been off putting where the young woman able to see his face clearly through the shadows, and he was slimly thankful for the anonymity the shadows provided him, as well as the chance to collect himself it gave him. With a quiet intake of breath, he watched her silent for a few moments, while the awkward silence hanging between them to stretch on forever before he finally spoke. There was no fake sickly wheezing this time, nor was there the dry, cracking speech he had been using up until then, there was only the deep, dark voice that was his true voice. Following suit the rest of his disguise frayed as he stood straighter before the girl, but didn't remove the hood, leaving the shadows it left to cover his face.

" You assume that one that you do not trust, would keep such a promise, but yes, despite your indignity I'll agree not to perform any magical experiments on whomever you bring me " he replied coldly. Silently he wished he had just turned back and left the waif, paying her no more mind to her foolish moral conditions, but desperate times called for more patience. Where it only a few more years ago, he might have left the girl right then and there, or tried to kill her outright, but time had tempered his early rage, and with a cooler head he could see that was not the wisest course of action. It might be sometime before he encountered a suitable thief, and this youngling wasn't entirely useless. He would just have to put up with her morality for now, but if later on she came to work for him more permanently, he might have less tolerance for such conditions.

Tempted to shirk off his disguise then, and there, he decided best to keep most of the visible disguise on for the time being, and shook the girls offered hand, equally dirty as his, even though his was dirtied purposefully. " We have a bargain, I'll come to you when you show results " he added coolly as he disappeared into the ever changing crowd.

As he walked amongst the pressing walls of people, and he thought of what might the young woman do in preparation of her newest task should she choose to go through with it at all. It would be interesting to watch for him should she succeed, something he indeed to watch through every step till its completion. Yes, everything was working out for him nicely so far.

[Drayton]

He’s tall… The man lifted himself from his hunched position, where Eleanor had be slightly taller than him, to his full height. The girl was very conscious of the fact she now had to tilt her head slightly to look at the shadows that were his face. The fact that someone would disguise themselves in Sunberth wasn’t exactly surprising. The reality of seeing someone grow more than five inches and be magically cured of what sounded like a fatal cough was shocking. Eleanor’s eyebrows popped up for a moment in surprise, but the rest of her narrow face stayed fixed in a scowl, which her eyes were quick to rejoin.

Asking for your word is better than just following orders blindly, at least now I can object, she thought to herself sulkily, Besides, now I know a little more about you… And your temper. It hadn’t been her goal to draw out the truth from this man by baiting him, but she couldn’t deny it was useful to know her employer was healthy and strong, and rather easily angered, than a frail old man she could have knocked over with a sneeze. Come to think of it, the sneeze itself probably could have done someone like that in…

He was quick to disappear, leaving Eleanor alone to think. What to do. What to do… She kicked the wooden side of her barrel, the orange she had been eating had tumbled to the ground with her final request, and small specks of brown were colonizing the moist fruit. Even the gods couldn’t convince me to bring a kid to that creep, and I’m not taking some wimpy girl for him to toy with… As she ran through the possibilities her list of potential targets seemed rather short. Anyone I could just run up behind in an alley and snag, maybe tie them up, I can’t give to this man. I’ll have to find someone else… With a list of potential victims that all sounded like the could fight back and would be difficult to lift Eleanor was at a loss. In the depths of her pocket she twisted the golden miza around and around. The bonus from her benefactor was cool to the touch as her nimble fingers ran over the telltale ridges of minted money. She was loath to part with it, but it was beginning to look as though she might be forced to spend her miza to earn fifty more.

Clutching the coin tightly in her fist Eleanor walked as quickly as she could out of Castle Commons. After she pushed her way through the crowds of shoppers it didn’t take the girl long before she was pushing open the weather stained door to the Pig’s Foot Tavern.

It was early afternoon, and so the habitual smoke and gloom of the building hadn’t yet begun to be churned about by the drunken rowdiness of the patrons. Instead the smoggy air settled like a depressed blanket on the souls who found themselves sweating over mugs of ale. Not that the patrons’ moods brightened things up, most were there to drown out pain, which was exactly what Eleanor needed. It was just a boon that she had gotten here before the crowds settled in. Kidnapping someone was easier when you didn’t have to squeeze between the muscled arms of brawls, climb over broken chairs and dodge knives to reach them.

In the back corner was a man hunched over a tall mug. His face was flushed with alcohol and his eyes were red with tears. He was skinny, tall, a lanky sort, and it looked like he was planning on drowning his sorrows tonight. Eleanor just needed him to do it quickly, and so she seated herself at the bar and grabbed the attention of Merv.

“You want something? Something that’s not a waste of my time?” the huge man asked, frowning down at the twig of a girl sitting at his bar.

“Yeah Merv, I do,” she said, unfazed by the violent look he was giving her over his hooked nose. “That man over there, the one who looks like he’s about to start sobbing into you mug, help him get drunk. I’m buying. I want him dopey as quick as you can, and then I want a wheelbarrow.” She set the gold miza on the knife etched surface of the bar. Eleanor couldn’t read, but she could count money, a gallon of ale cost 2 silver mizas, she had enough money to buy this man five and he most certainly didn’t need that much alcohol to be useful to her. “I’m just renting the wheelbarrow, you’ll get it back tomorrow, you know my name so you can send any goonies you want after me if I don’t. And you can keep any change left over, okay?”

Merv grunted and gave her a foul look as he slide the coin off the counter, as the man turned away Eleanor tacked on her own order for a mug of ale, well within her price range.
OOCSorry if there’s not much for you to do yet, it was just getting a bit long.

[Darian]

As he made his way through the crowd, he silently reprimanded himself, he hadn't intended to reveal himself, even partially to her so soon. Oh well, what’s done is done he silently thought. Yes, he still had much to learn from the subtleties of subterfuge, and he had so much more to learn about disguise, even though he wore one now, it was barely passable at best. All he needed was a good deal of patience for the knowledge to come to him in time. Syliras wasn't built in a day as the saying goes was a sentiment that passed through his mind.

With a subtle shift in direction, he made his way to a small alcove between two buildings, likely a place used as a private garden for one of the wealthier store front owners that flanked the space. Slipping through the gate was easy enough; ally he had to do was push the unlocked gate open, and make his way inside the long forgotten garden. Plants once capable of sustaining life, lay dried up and useless along the ground, more than a few of which appeared to be tomato bearing vines, but it was almost impossible to distinguish due to the advanced dried up state of dead crop. A lone, spindly tree stood among the remnants, barely holding itself up as it was, and it appeared too also suffer the same neglect as the long dead plants strewn about its base.

In the sparse shade that the dead tree provided, Darian stripped himself of his robe and all of the other cloths he wore over his Night leather armor, and with a quick cut of the broad blade of the assassin dagger, he severed the hood of his oversized black cloak. With the swatch of cloth in his hands, he pushed the pile of his left over clothing to the base of the tree, before tucking in the edges of the hood into his leather collar, and fashioning a makeshift hood for his new armor. Feeling slowly along the smooth leather that covered his thigh, he felt the barely traceable line of a hidden pocket, and tearing another strip of cloth from the pile at the base of the tree, fashioned a makeshift hilt for his dagger, carefully slipping the wrapped weapon into the pocket while sliding it more towards his inner thigh where it was easy to get but less likely to get noticed. Around his neck he placed the prayer beads he had procured earlier, the reddish, yellow beads catching the sunlight, in a way that would need to be solved sooner or later. Lifting up the collar of his armor, he decided to solve it now, and slipped the hollowed out beads underneath it before looking on to see if there was more to be done. With almost a afterthought he remembered to clean his face, and with one of the torn pieces of cloth he whipped of the grime and grease he had smeared over his face as best he could, not stopping the hard scrubbing till he felt his face was completely clean, only then deciding it was time to go. Stooping down, he filliped his backpack over his shoulder, and did not spare a glance to the discarded cloths that he had worn so long, instead choosing to go to the market to procure some new ones.

He browsed through the stalls quickly, soon locating the weapons merchant and appropriately making a bee line towards the man. His armor seemed a bit to flashy to be worn in broad daylight, even though that was the opposite of its purpose and he would have liked to have picked up some cloths first, but a revealed blade with hilt seemed like much more protection than cloths did in the violent city of Sunberth.

Arrayed out on the simple wooden stall where a gleaming variety sat arrayed out on silk cloth, and Darian leaned over examining the closest ones first, before glancing at the back ones. More than a few guards surrounded the wealthy merchant, and a few of them put their hands on the hilts of their weapons when he approached the stall but he paid them no more mind, than he would a fly. He did not come here to make an attempt on the greedy man's life; he came here for a weapon, a most particular weapon to suit his tastes. " May I? " he asked gesturing to the longsword in the very back, that gleamed grayish black in the sunlight. The slightly obese merchant before him grunted, and taking that as permission he gingerly reached over the other weapons to pick up the iron longsword. The metal felt icy cold to his touch and as he picked it up in his hands to test its balance, he twirled it in the air threw a few passes finding the balance to be exquisite.

Done with his testing of the sword, he handed back the blade to the merchant, and placed his hand on his coin pouch that he kept under his armor near his heart. " How much for the iron longsword? he asked the merchant as he drew the non-descript cloth pouch from under his armor, and disentangled it from his neck. " 75 gold mizas " the man replied in a light voice, a smile creeping to his face at the prospect of a sale. " 75 gold mizas! That is a gross over charge for a simple iron sword, let us be more reasonable, I’ll give you 23 gold miza's for the blade and will call it a deal, what do you say?" Darian bartered, placing the 23 gold rimmed mizas on the merchants table. " No deal you simpleton, do you know what this iron is, this is cold iron, twice as tough and the blade won’t get dull as fast. This sort of piece is at least worth 55 gold mizas! " the merchant said back keeping adjusting his voice to make it seem like the information he was giving was the most important information ever. As he bantered back to him he also made elaborate unneeded gestures in a effort to convince Darian. Of course he knew the sword was made of cold iron, he'd felt the metal and guessed the rest, but if he kept playing negligent for a few moments longer before revealing his knowledge of it he might be able to get it for a cheaper price.

" Bah! Cold iron my backside, for all I know you could be chilling the iron with some magic stuff and as soon as i walk off with it it'll be a regular old iron sword once more. Besides even if it is cold iron as ye say, it’s not like it’s a rarity in a mining town like Sunberth! The old thing can't be worth more than 34 gold mizas Darian shot back, downplaying the swords value. He knew very well that the iron wasn't easy to come by, and it was most definitely not easy to work with. By his own estimation it was worth around 45-50 gold miza's but, maybe if he was lucky and played his cards right he could only have to pay 43 or 45 gold mizas for it. " Do you know how hard this metal is to find and work with! I obtained this at cost, please be reasonable, I’m just trying to make a profit off of my purchase. But I can see that you sir are a concerned buyer different than others, so I’m prepared to offer you a special deal, 52 gold mizas for the sword, that’s a bargain you won’t find anywhere else. " the merchant said, holding the sword horizontally before him, his eyes gleaming with eagerness.

" Ye thinks me don’t know the value of cold iron do ye? I’m betting that ye got a friend who makes your cold iron swords for less price than others, and ye be overcharging me to make yourself a small fortune. I'll tell you what’s what ye lying dog, you'll be giving me that pretty sword there for 44 gold mizas and no more than that! " He said back his voice taking on a accent more and more as time went by. Darian with a reach in his bag added 21 more mizas to the pile already on the table. Huffing, and puffing the merchant glared at him and gritted his teeth, most likely cause he guessed on the mark, but not wanting to cause a scene on the crowded streets of Sunberth, he lowered his voice but still kept the optimistic tune about it. " How about this, you know it all street vagrant with your fancy dark armor, you going to buy this sword for 47 gold mizas, not a miza less, and I won’t tell my guards to beat you within an inch of your life " he said with a weird smile on his face. " Err, what a bargain, ye to kind mister " he said in his best impersonation of a frightened voice, as he laid down 3 more gold mizas, making his hand shake as he did so.

Satisfied that the deal had been completed, and at moderate profit as well the merchant handed over the cold iron longsword, after sliding it into a black leather hilt. With a begrudging nod, the man nodded towards him with a smile, and waved him away to make way for more customers to come along. With practiced ease, he strapped the sword to his belt, and then once more disappeared into the crowd, satisfied at the deal he had gotten today. Now it’s time to find the girl he thought as he made his way through the crowd, and checked in the various alleys, and stores first before he decided to search the inns. As he was now, he was arrayed in supple leather armor, his boots making only a whisper of sound, as he walked along the winding ways, and a longsword stood out belted to his right hip. His face was also partially covered with the makeshift cowl, and when he went through a shadowed alleyway the usefulness of his armor came quickly apparent. Darian also managed to find a mud puddle in one of the alleys, and used the chance to finish cleaning his face with the water inside, before going into the market once more and purchasing a selection of cheap cloths.

With a gold miza he purchased an assortment of tan garb that included a sackcloth shirt, breeches, slippers, and a cotton cloak to go with it. Right then and there, he covered up his armor as best as he good, and when he was finished he looked more or less like one of the more average citizens of Sunberth walking the street, looking to make a coin or two. After this small purchase he resumed his search, until at last he came upon a tavern he knew all too well, known to all as the Pig's Foot Tavern, represented gruesomely by a depiction of a bloody pig’s foot hanging over the front door.

He quickly stepped up the short flight of stairs to the entrance and from their peered inside, noting the girl he hired by the bar after a careful search, and silently he slipped over into a corner of the room opposite of the side she sat on. In the shadows he sat down at a empty table there, and drummed his fingers on the table, looking at nowhere in particular in a effort to appear like he was only waiting to be served but his real attention was focused on the young woman at the bar talking with Merv, a man he had run ins within the past. What are you up to girl? he thought as he watched her out of the corner of his eye.

oocSorry if this is a bit long, had a lot to accomplish in it, and don’t worry about it you gave me plenty to work with