The Mystery of the Cane Sword (Bob Barton)

[Eridanus]

Bob affirmed that he had not remembered their appointment, and seemed to be somewhat insulted by his threats. Well, it was not exactly diplomatic of him, but Eri believed that the midget needed some shock in his system to jolt his mind awake. It looked like it worked, and Bob raised his cane so that Eridanus could get a better look at it. "That's what I'm talking abo-", the Vantha began, before he felt his vision going white momentarily followed by a sharp pain as the cane smacked his face. The suddenness of the surprise attack left Eri in shock, and it was not immediately that he replied with a "Why you little -", and he felt another sharp pain at his foot before he could continue as the cane drove down into his foot. Bob casually replaced the cane as his support and Eri hobbled comically on one leg, one hand grabbing his injured foot and the other hand massaging his bruised face. Despite the entire situation looking very comical, he did not feel that it was funny at all, especially since the 'joke' was made at his expense. "Opps, sorry about that Eridanus. I get tired pretty easily so I guess I lost control over the cane", Bob apologised mockingly, and it was obvious that every single motion had been planned and executed just as the midget had intentioned. He began to swear, but his bruised cheek sent him a jolt of pain when he opened his mouth and he swore mentally instead, the hand on his face furiously kneading at the bruise to perhaps aid blood circulation. It hurt a great deal, but at least the constant kneading would help the wound recover faster, not to mention that the constant waves of pain as he touched the bruise helped to condition himself and make his cheek partially numb. Before he could say anything further, Bob excused himself for a while and went inside to do his business, probably to hit on that lady, and he felt incredulous that the man still wanted to pursue that. The Barton strolled confidently out of the door, and Eridanus felt an urge to smack the little shyke into the ground, only staying his hand because - well - his face and his foot hurt, and he would probably look like an idiot trying to deliver a smack down while hopping on one foot. At least wait until the pain receded, and maybe he could think of something else. Wait, why was he even thinking of that? Mentally shaking his head to rid himself of vengeful thoughts, for it was a single step down a certain slippery path that he did want to take. Not after the incident that happened after the first night that arrived at Sunberth, where he met Idue and accepted him as a trusted ally. Bob continued walking away from the tavern, and he hobbled along the midget, being able to barely catch up as the midget's shorter frame meant that his strides covered less distance than the much taller Vantha, and this barely compensated for his pained limping. Upon hearing the location of the training, he inwardly grinned. Not because he was glad, but because of the fate between him and that location. Somehow he always ended up there, whether he expected to or not. Nevertheless, he was already quite familiar with that location and whole-heartedly agree with the human about the lack of people in that area. The skull though, that was mysterious. He vague recalled that just before he got his face quite painfully smacked by the cane he had noticed that there was some sort of skull that he assumed was a decoration of some sort, namely due to the carvings in it. Still, something did not add up, and he ventured, "I don't exactly wish for a skull? I'm afraid I don't catch your drift there, Bob."

OOCRemember that Eri still doesn't know what Malediction is, and all Bob did was offer to show him how to make one. He had agreed out of curiosity, but still has no inkling of what the skull is for, and the fact that you could do it on any other body part.

[Bob Barton]

OOCUnfortunately Bob is completely useless at Malediction too. I guess this is where your auristics will come into play later

Pain is always funny and Bob regretted that he was the only audience member to Eridanus reacting to his attack. He should have sold tickets or take cuts out of the bets going on in the tavern. The odds would undeniably be against him so whoever was foolhardy enough to bet on him would be one very lucky person. Hopefully this would be a premonition to better things for Bob as well, like succeeding with the girl he was trying to hit just like he succeeded hitting Eridanus. It was a very funny thing to see for sure if Bob did not have better things to do. If only he thought things through better and allowed Eridanus in with him. The other tavern customers opinion of the short man would have reached new heights seeing the way be beat the vantha ethaefal. Maybe the girls impression about him would be affected too because all she did not give Bob much of an indication behind that faux smile of hers.

A little bit more of talking and rubbing the defeat at the dual wielding sword fighter's face with derogatory statements like "I guess two are not better than one. You could not even beat a half today. Does being a woman help in anyway since you seemed to kick more ass the last time?" Bob continued over to Stumble Alley where he knew the library was. You will never know what juicy tidbits of Sunberth you can find there and that can give a very good advantage since a lot of them do not use the information there. Eridanus failed to see its importance. He was only more concerned with the cane sword. "Just why are you so obsessed with this thing?" he asked holding out the cane to face level again. Eridanus might still have the memory of what happened the last time since it was only moments ago but Bob did not intend to hit him this time. He actually wanted Eridanus to take a proper look at it.

Putting away the sword Bob would tell just how confused he was with what the ethaefal wanted this time. "Then I am afraid I don't catch your drift either. Are you trying to grift me after all we have been through together?" Nothing says a trust bonding session than a life threatening experience even if they were forced into it but look at the situation right now. Eridanus was just beating around the bush for what he wanted and the thing is, normally it was Bob doing all the grifting. It was uncomfortable thinking that he might actually be on the receiving end this time because it might mean some sort of retribution for the way Bob used the ethaefal to protect himself when they first met.

"What do you want then?" Bob asked a little bit annoyed at the waste of time. The canesword was just a normal one Bob picked up as he already said except for the fact that "I added this rat skull to remind myself" and everyone else "about just how awesome I was during that rat attack at Killroy's last season." If Eridanus could remember the carvings he saw on the skull, it would be an image of a short, dwarfish stickman holding on to two long weapons on the top of a pile of stickrats. It was not the best of drawings but if Eridanus was able to connect the dots, he would now know what the skull meant.

But would he know why? Not really unless he asked further and then Bob will tell Eridanus about the ramblings of a sick and twisted Sunberth boy or what he could interpret and use from his words. Until today Bob was still oblivious to the fact that his canesword, or the skull on it held some form of power but he would not be able to know that. Not until the strange power happened over and over for him to notice or if he had some way of feeling it for himself like through the use of auristics. So until then Bob getting more impatient asked Eridanus again about "what is it you want from me then?"

[Eridanus]

Bob continued to rub in his victory over the Ethaefal, but Eri was hobbling behind too busy nursing his bruise than listening to the midget continuing to brag. Bob seemed to be quite curious on Eri's own curiosity of the blade, and as he brought the sword closer to him there was a flash of deja vu, and he fidgeted, his body looking like he was about to dodge, roll and draw his blades. The trajectory of the cane sword did not continue this time though, and it stopped in front of the Ethaefal's face, allowing him a closer look. It was not as if he was obsessed, but there was something about this piece of equipment that made him feel that something was not quite right. It was a niggling feeling, and a general uneasy instinct that told him that this was no ordinary object. Why don't I look deeper into it? Eri could have smacked himself for not thinking about it, and he stopped Bob when he was about to put it away in order to get a more in-depth look at it. He began to channel his djed into his eyes, though this time he only wished to utilize his visual perception for he had no wish to (even magically) taste nor smell the item. Blinking a few times as he focused his gaze on the item's aura, he could see a very fuzzy outline barely protruding out of the cane, as all non-living and non-sentient inanimate objects would have, due to their minimal amount of djed. As he continued to study the object, he looked up to notice that there was something unusual about the way the aura was flowing, like there were tendrils going downwards to various parts of the weapon. He followed the tendrils, his gaze shifting upwards, until it landed on the rat skull, and he studied the memorabilia. He frowned, trying to glean more information from it was he felt his djed being consumed little by little. The little picture drawn on the skull helped to aid his understanding, and from this piece of information he found this story more or less collaborated by the bits and pieces of information he could pick out from the skull. It seemed that this trophy was quite hard-won by the midget defending himself against some kind of... rat invasion. Eri resisted the urge to snigger, for how difficult could dealing with a rat invasion be? In fact, calling it an invasion proved to be too good for them. It was more like a pest infestation. Still, a rat might be pretty big when compared to the shorter man. He continued looking at the skull's aura, his magical sight deciphering more bits of knowledge as he tried to piece together what he found out. There was something missing in this puzzle. It was like the pieces were already all arranged and ready, waiting for a single trigger to activate it. Activate what, Eri did not know, but a feeling in his gut told him this. A glyph perhaps? Or some sort of djed-related activation? Perhaps a trigger or command word of sorts? Bob continued to talk, but his words droned on and the Ethaefal ignored them as his senses were completely focused - aided by magic - on the skull and the story it was trying to tell. Suddenly, there was an image of a cowled man standing over an array of glyphs and items, raising his finger over a large glyph he was standing behind of. A single drop of blood dripped from his finger, soaking into the ground that held the glyph, and there was a momentarily clap of thunder as the smell of oil and lavender began wafting up from the glyphs, the runes beginning to turn white as the room itself faded to white. There was a strain in his head, and Eri instinctively clenched his eyes shut, dispelling his use of Auristics to prevent accidental overgiving. He glanced up at Bob, gasping out one word victoriously, "Blood!" There was a look of triumphant satisfaction on his face as he thought that he might have solved the solution to the puzzle. The reason why the aura of the cane telling him that there was some sort of hold the skull had over the weapon it was affixed to, but not activating. There was a need for some sort of trigger, and apparently this was blood. He was not sure what kind of whose blood it was, but logically speaking it should come from whoever carved that idiotic picture or whoever that slew the rat, though perhaps in this case it might very well be both the same man. The one standing in front of him looking at him in a quizzical way. "You need a drop of blood to activate that weapon of yours", he added, elaborating on his exclamation.

[Bob Barton]

Eridanus was lucky that Bob was only lying the last time that his attack was due to him being tired because if it was true, Bob would have repeated the act of smashing the canesword on the vantha's foot another time. Because Bob was already feeling pretty satisfied with his victory, he decided against it and humored his friend to let him inspect it even more. No one could blame the obsession that Eridanus had for the cane. Just how many people besides Bob and his sidekick Antar who he omitted from the awesome drawing could say that they fought a swarm of rats? While Eridanus was trying to refrain from sniggering, Bob could tell that the serious look he had while using his djed for information was changing like it was about about to explode. Eridanus was just too focused on the ridiculous idea that the drawing seemed to portray to see just actually what it was on. Because if he did, he would know just how hard it was to deal with the invasion of an infestation.

These were no tiny run of the mill rats. Bob impatient at look of disbelief Eridanus was giving him at the drawing mentioned rather loudly that they were "direrats" The skull itself could easily be mistaken for a dog's if someone was to give it a quick glance but on closer inspection just as Eridanus should be doing for its make, anyone could see that it actually had rat features on it. So it was all Bob to make himself that awesome when he reminded Eridanus that "they are as big as dogs, driven to eat you and completely uncontrollable." He gave a shudder of terror when he continued on that "they even eat their dead when they have nothing else" but that worked to their advantage since Bob and Antar both charged out in a surprise attack while the rats were too busy munching on their food.

"Have you ever been chased by a pack of dogs?" Bob asked Eridanus who might not know the feeling since he did not work at the Kennels like he did. Another question leading up to a big reveal whether "now, have you ever been swarmed by rats?" Fortunately Bob did not have to experience that but he had heard of stories that as tiny as they were, the hundreds of vermin biting into you will finish you off in an excruciating death given time and that was the best part. If you survived you will have to live through even worse trauma from the wounds and the diseases they carried with them which his Uncle Marny used to tell him as the reason he periodically kept the house sanitary and rodent free for their personal health and those who came for his uncle's experience in the practice.

This was just a thought, but "imagine both combined? Being chased by a swarm of rats the size of dogs?" he asked feeling rather frightful of the suggestion. Bob only had to put up with no more than a few at a time then. At most four with help and even that was very threatening. Letting the idea sink into Eridanus, Bob put the weapon away saying that "blood would be the least of your problems you simpleton!" This was the problem with all these fighting people. They had absolutely no imagination or capacity to think whatsoever other than fighting and maybe even killing. The idea that Eridanus was so joyous about that just disgusted him but he assumes that the women were always into these bad boys kind of people.

Oh he meant blood for..."what do you mean activate this weapon of mine?" Bob asked a little bit perplexed as he looked at his cane sword to see what he missed. "If I want to hurt someone, all I have to do is..." quickly pulling the sword and cane apart Bob showed him "...this." Waving his sword around, just to show Eridanus that Bob could attack anytime he wanted. It was insulting to realize that the some people had to think that Bob was so obsessed with his no killing rule that he would carry around a dull weapon. Bob finally got an idea to destroy that ill gotten reputation. With a grin he swiped the blade in a quick slash at this foolish fool's throat only stopping right before he hit because his intention was only to cut away his foolish thoughts.

Eridanus would not know that at all but that does not mean that Bob's intention to scare him would work. He was smaller and only used a weapon while Eridanus was bigger and used too. So Bob decided to use another weapon that he had which was the element of surprise! After all, Bob was only sharing some of his experience with his friend though not the one Eridanus wanted. Triumphantly Bob said "lets put that blood theory of yours to the test shall we? Or...I could always take your mizas and leave it at this for another day." It was just too funny to see how this turned out and a chuckle might give away all of Bob's intentions and Eridanus would not need his dispelled auristics to know this.

All that waving a sword around was just plain suicidal not only in Sunberth but everywhere else. The best part was that Bob and Eridanus were already in Stumble Alley. It was a place notorious of being dangerous so what was one more mugging by a midget to a vantha? Some people did not seem to think so and another two people who saw Bob waving the sword and perceived it as a threat came running with their own weapons. Only Eridanus would know this though since he was facing them whereas Bob's back was turned so oblivious to all the danger he continued on with his joke asking Eridanus "so, what is it going to be buddy? Your money of your life?" misinterpreting any reaction that Eridanus might give at this point as being because of Bob's own actions.

Once the two were positioned nicely behind Bob to cut off any escape one would mention that it was the exact same question that they were going to ask. Bob whispered "petch!" once he found out that his pretend mugging became a real mugging only now his role is a lot worse off. Giving a worried smile he would whisper to Eridanus asking "so? How bad is it? Can we take them on?" Hopefully by now Eridanus would realize that Bob had been messing with him all along so that they could work together to get out of this and trusting the ethaefal's intelligence he turned around to conceal Eridanus at the waist so that their assailants cannot see the dual swords. "I, I mean we choose..."

[Eridanus]

As Bob tried to justify the event by probably exaggerating the the size of the rats, Eri simply made non-committal grunts of acknowledgement as he studied the drawing and the skull it was on. Rats the size of dogs? Who was the guy kidding? The original size of rats was already so tiny, even if they were Talderian rats they could not possibly become as big as Bob claimed. Or could they? He scratched his chin thoughtfully as he brought the cane further away from him to try to get a grasp on how big the rat would be should this skull be on it. As it turns out, pretty big. Was this a rat skull in the first place? The skull shape was not of a dog's, and what little information he could glean out of it through his magical sight definitely had the word 'rat' mentioned a few times here and there. Perhaps the midget was right, though Eri had no wish to be chased by a pack of rats this bloody-sized big. After he explained his sudden burst, the midget did not seem to believe what he said, instead suddenly drawing his sword. Eri's mind took a second or two to realize that the trajectory of the drawing would lead the sword to himself, for he could not believe that his comrade in the previous life and death situation would draw a sword on him. He quickly stepped backwards, still hoping that the midget was not actually going to attack him thus refusing to draw his blades, instead his stance quickly going into a practised combat one, his arms loosely hung in front instead of raising up in his unarmed combat pose to prevent being non-confrontational should he have misread the man. He did not, and Bob began issuing a series of warnings which were the usual cliche words that robbers favoured. Eri could not believe that he was actually hearing this from his friend, though his subconscious deeply believed it to be so for he was being unknowingly manipulated by Bob's hypnotism. The Vantha had no way of discovering this, unfortunately, and his body began pumping adrenaline to his body, his arms aching to draw his blades. He felt trapped, and there was a tiny part of him that relished cutting down anyone who opposed him, to set them on fire - wait, to WHAT? - and to vanquish all obstacles. Did he mention set them on fire? No wait, that ain't wise. Nope, probably not. He was on a shortPardon the pun, but it's for the NaNo challenges xD fuse already from being smacked painfully by Bob and this did not help in making him feel better all. He shook his head getting the weird clashes of conflicting opinions from his mind, and that seemed to help in unwittingly shaking off the weak, though strategically positioned with great timing, attempt at hypnotic suggestion, his mind clearing up that Bob might very well mean it as a joke. However, the Vantha could see two people approaching them from the corner of his eyes with their weapons drawn, approaching and positioning themselves in such a controlled manner that there could be no misunderstanding as to what their intent would be. Eri could almost face-palm for their current light-hearted situation was gradually descending into a serious and life-threatening one. To the Vantha, there was no such thing as surrender or yielding, and the first thought which sprung to his mind was to quickly and violently terminate all opposition, instead of quietly giving the robbers what they wanted. Not that the latter would work anyway, for the depraved things that Sunberth criminals do simply made other run-of-the-mill criminals elsewhere look like bloody saints. The expression on the Vantha's face began even more serious and he imperceptibly nudged his chin forward, and the midget somehow seemed to realize that they were in unfavourable straits as he pretended to scratch his elbow but sneaking a glance behind. The reality of the situation began to weigh down on the both of them as they considered their options, and the midget whispered to Eridanus for their next course of action. There was something in the Vantha that told them they should be able to survive this, for it was a two-on-two and what would generic mortals be to them when they have survived ghosts when they fought together as a team? Still pretending to go along with the charade, Eri did not look at the would-be robbers to continue letting them believe that they had the element of surprise, nodded again once to Bob to signify his intent, and he began feeling the familiar raw tingling deep in his body as he mentally drew up his inner strength. "Ol' ye lights, focus now on my balance", the Vantha whispered more to himself than anyone else, beginning the first phrase of the incantation that he had learned from a fellow Flux practitioner many decades ago. It was effective in that it helped him to visualize the necessary processes to bring about the desired effect and so he continued to use it even after so many years. As he finished the incantation, he felt the familiar drain of vitality in his upper torso as his legs welled with strength and energy, and he whispered harshly to Bob "Now!" before leaping over the midget in an impressive display of unnatural strength, his supernaturally charged legs allowing him to clear the height unlike a certain poor Benshira who would attempt this same trick four days later. The distance and momentum it bought allowed him to go into a roll, and as he recovered from the roll into a half-crouched position he spun in a fluid motion, knocking a surprised assailant with a powerful kick to the side. At the same time, he drew his blade with one hand to meet the other robber's attack, generating the first real sound of metal-on-metal clashing that screamed "violent combat" to anyone in the vicinity. He fully expected Bob to deal with the other robber that he had knocked down in order to give the midget an initiative that he could use to his advantage, for he was now fully engaged with the other man. As their blades were locked in frontal clash, he swung his other hand to deliver a hook at the man's head, his fist only connecting due to his unorthodox method of switching between unarmed combat and swordplay techniques without warning. He followed up with a snap kick that staggered the surprised robber, using little personal strength but the resultant force was more than expected due to his augmented strength in his lower torso. Eri followed quickly up drawing his other blade, meeting the robber's attempted slash with a parry of his own by his already drawn steel sword, then casually swinging his other cold-iron sword in an arc parallel to the ground, the man narrowly avoiding spilling his guts with a leap backwards. He was not fast enough in avoiding the full swing though, and Eri's cold iron made a glancing laceration on the man's stomach, his blood dripping over the floor as his torn clothes began to stain. "Get the hell out of here and I will spare your life, mortal", the Vantha snarled at the robber, hoping to intimidate him to escape so that he could avoid killing the man. There was a part in him that was raging forward to take this scum's life, but he barely held this hunger at bay by issuing this qualifier of sorts that would somehow justify his further actions in the twisted self-rationalizations that he often used when trying to come to terms with his apparent blood-thirstiness.

OOC NoteI'll let Bob handle the other one and for you to provide the robbers' response to this

[Bob Barton]

Yes of course it had to be something significant like a swarm of giant rats for Bob to take the time drawing the incident and putting it on the top of the cane to be displayed for everyone to see. The reason for that was simple. It was so that no one would think of cutting downIs this a pun too? XD Bob's capabilities short to match his height. Thie fact became a lot more important with it on his sword because then people will not know who will be his next conquest and think that it might even be them. Sure it was only a rat and a person's skull would be more effective but then it was too disgusting an idea for Bob to actually put into practice. But even that won't stop Bob from holding up the cane when he was looking at this new pair to show them the skull. They paused for a moment and scoffed at the midget who was trying to scare them off with something so insignificant a part of a dead animal before continuing on. Bob asked them "don't you know what this is or how I got it?" before getting a harsh telling off that it did not matter now that they were going to die. Great...Bob actually thought that the picture on the skull would do wonders in scaring people off from a fight and now he would have to find another way of using it.

Maybe its other effect though unintended was to make his allies more confident with having him on their side in fights? That was what he would like to think when he saw Eridanus leaping into the fray from the air because what kind of person would not want to be in same team as someone who took on a swarm of rats the size of dogs? Call Eridanus a little bit crazy for relying on obscure things to inspire him like the rat story and those lights he was just praying to but it worked. Maybe like Xalet he was being assisted by that light goddess? Gods, Eridanus must be really crazy like Bob thought about her other followers. However like the other muggers around Bob just stared at Eridanus amazed with that impressive feat of strength instead of what he was thinking of before they all realized the fact that they were in for a fight, and Eridanus had the initiative.

That was all good for Bob though since he had an advantage too. Bob did not like to think that he needed special treatment but if it was going to help he would happily accept it. Since he already had his sword drawn from the start, it did not take much for Bob to figure out that he should already be using it. Without wasting much time he lifted the sword up and slashed it downwards towards the mugger in the heat of the moment and the mugger who was still recovering had no way of defending himself but...to roll to the side dodging the sword by a hair's breadth. In a way Bob frustrated that he could not end it there and then but was relieved that he did not do the dirty job of lobbing off his head. A cut to the chest? That would have been a lot more neater and less lethal until Bob refused to get his victim any medical attention.

It was not too big a deal because Bob's other hand was on his cane and he sweeped it right at the direction that the mugger was rolling from and smashed right into his back pushing him back from where he came until he rolled back to the sword. A very confused Bob and mugger looked at each other for a few moments until Bob realized that his opponent on the ground had his hand moving around looking for his dagger and it was reaching dangerously close! Bob lifted his knee without hesitation and brought his foot down right on the mugger's ankle warning him that "that is not a good idea. You should give up before I have to hurt you more." Hearing the offer Eridanus gave to his opponent Bob would also say "you better take the deal fast or I won't have a say in it any longer" hoping that if the mugger heard what Eridanus said he would be scared enough to take Bob's deal too.

But just what sort of self respecting Sunberth criminal would admit to losing to Bob even if he had a little help from a flying vantha? With a jerk of the knee he got Bob off balance and falling backwards only to land at the wall of the alley. "That wasn't very nice..." Bob said trying to get himself straight again as the mugger got up as well with his own dagger. "I don't suppose you would give up?" he asked nicely pointing the sword at the mugger which he carelessly allowed to get beaten away as his opponent rushed in. "Arrgh!" Bob yelled out in pain when he tried to block it off with his cane but he was caught by surprise. Instead of the cane knocking the dagger, it knocked the mugger at the face to stun him for a few moments but the damage was done. The dagger cut right into Bob's hand and now it was bleeding rather badly.

While the mugger stepped back, Bob dropped the cane from his hands and grasped the sword with both for a solid defence, getting the blood that Eridanus mentioned over his weapon, sword, skull and all. When the dagger came down, Bob lifted the sword to meet it and held it there being supported by both hands while his leg swung up again to give a kick at the mugger's...manly parts... That was one personal that Bob was forced to break today accident before it would happen again in four days with a certain benshira that Eridanus knew at this very location. Hopefully he would not break the other more important one as much as he wanted this mugger gone.

"A little bit of help here buddy?" Bob asked when he pushed the dagger off. The day started off so well, the moves on the girl had no problem and the prank went down pretty hilarious. Even the fight started off with a good advantage. Why can't it end nicely as well? Except for the bleeding hand, Bob had no problem defending himself but it looks like fighting them off is all up to Eridanus.

[Eridanus]

Bob yelled and Eri turned to see a flash of red that seemed to spill from the midget. He quickly turned around just in time to meet the robber trying to take advantage of the situation, and he snarled in frustration, pushing off the man with a powerful kick enhanced by flux. The robber widened his eyes in surprise at this flashy display of strength, and Eri did not give the man pause as he dashed forward, his blades swinging in quick succession once more, driving the man back as he dodged some blades, parrying some all the while stepping backwards. Soon he found himself backed at the corner, and Eri grinned in savage triumph as he finally drove both blades downward in an overhead swing, the robber meeting the blade but his hands quivering as he tried to match the Vantha's force. Eri slammed forward with a snap kick aimed at the man's knees, and he buckled, his hands flailing as he tried to regain his balance. Eri leaped back momentarily to avoid the sword that was flailing along with his hands, and he stepped forward, cutting the man down where he stood. He used one blade to do so, however, and he tried to stay his hand as he did so, not killing the robber instantly. Still, if he did not get medical attention soon he would probably bleed to death, though the Vantha would feel no guilt if that happened. There was some sort of twisted self-rationalizing going in his mind that this was a sort of self-defence, and in his mind he was entitled to any kinds of actions if they were done in self-defence. "A little bit of help here buddy?" He heard a voice behind him, and he quickly turned around, assessing the situation was quick as he could. Bob might be in trouble, and even though he had been a total moron to Eri earlier, he knew that Zenai would not be pleased if he got his friend killed, not to mention the knowledge that Eri was trying to pry that would die along with the midget. He took a deep breath to stabilize himself, dissipating the djed streams that were gathered in his legs to prevent accidentally killing himself from overexertion, and he jogged forward to the remaining robber with his blades drawn. The sound of his steps drew the man's attention, and as he looked at the incoming Vantha, he saw his friend collapsed in a growing pool of blood further down the alley. He looked at his defeated comrade, looked at Eri and his two blades (one of which dripping red), and looked at the midget with his cane sword, and he decided that one on two was not a very advantageous situation him. Not caring about his comrade, the robber simply turned tail and ran, and Eri let him go, for he just wanted to proceed with the lesson that the two robbers quite rudely interrupted. "How you doing, Bob? Guy got you anywhere serious?" He said, visually checking the midget to see if he had suffered any serious wounds. He noticed with interest that his blood had soaked all over the rat skull, but he resisted any further inspection until they entered a more quiet and safer place, like the library for example. When they were done with the area, Eri would direct Bob to the library and continue with their original plan.

[Bob Barton]

Alright the true story is this. Bob's hand hurt like hell and he was expecting Eridanus to drop whatever it was he was doing, here being his own mugger to the ground where he belongs and come to his rescue straight away. Disturbed, Bob called out for "Eri-?" and the mugger could see it in the dwarf's face that. It gave the Sunberth scum his much needed confidence to send his sword cutting down for the kill. While Bob with the pain might have been thinking about how this fight was going to end, he was still not going to give up and quickly held his sword up into the air in defiance. He knew that the condition of his hand would not be good enough to go against the sword and as soon as he felt his sword being pushed down, he tilted his sword down to follow and directed his opponent's blade away to the side. Still in the end, his sword clattered to the ground because he could not hold it any longer and Bob was left open. Desperate, he stepped forward grunting "How..." with his shoulder pointing forward, he asked the mugger "...do you like that?" when he slammed the rest of his body into the mugger's stomach forcing him back while Bob dropped to his knee.

"Where the hell are you..." Bob muttered to himself for Eridanus a little worried while the mugger recovered full of anger. He had to find some way to stop the man but how? Bob always found that the most effective way of stopping himself from doing anything was fear. Bob tried to shake off all his worries in his mind and focus on the one thing he is definitely scared of. No, it was not death like now but it was losing because when you lose it puts you in a weaker position. He snarled fiercely "hell no!" pushing on his knee to force himself up as he gathered his djed into his mouth filling it up with the emotion he just brought out of himself. There was so many to choose from and one of the best choice he had for Sunberth was Tall Johnny's especially when Bob went for the high stakes. The thought of losing, it just filled him with dread and after finding it through all the other feelings that he had at the casino before, Bob clung on to it like his hand would with his sword had it not gotten cut. Bob was a little bit too worked up to notice that the mugger was looking at what happened to his friend but all the djed needed to do was reach his ears to do its work when the example hand sent it to its target. In combination of the terrifying vantha and the dwarf's efforts the mugger's instincts took over and ran. "That's right you coward!" Bob shouted out behind him flailing his fist as much as the blood would allow without interfering. If anyone asked it was a result of wiping his mouth with his bloodied hand after all the excitement from earlier.

He was just not satisfied with it all. What was a harmless prank to him and probably something more sinister to Eridanus turned horribly due to the unexpected chaos of Sunberth. Bob held out his bleeding hand telling Eridanus that "if he did I would not be here" and walked over to the fallen mugger. The man was unconscious but that did not stop Bob from lifting his head up and slapping from cheek to cheek trying to wake him up because from what he had to do, his mouth hurt to talk and it is going to take a while before the pain soothes over. In that condition, Bob only got some moans but it was good enough to tell him that the man would be conscious enough for what he was about to experience next. No mercy even if he was bleeding out because Bob could not see anything past some retribution even if it was pain. "Don't worry...you are going to be alright..." Bob said trying to settle him down and then with his well hand which was holding his sword underhanded he set it down to try and stab one of the man's hand only his aim was so bad and he still could not use both hands properly and he ended up stabbing the man at the thigh.

Still, it got the effect that he wanted and Bob told Eridanus that "I am not done yet" looking through the man's pockets for whatever he had. "We are not the only ones that you victimized tonight are we?" he asked putting whatever he found away and asked Eridanus if "do you want anything?" Bob was not really going to give Eridanus a share of the loot so he would be better off finding if there was anything else that Bob missed like the weapon or armor. "Done yet? Let's go to the library then. At least the worst I can get there is only a paper cut." giving the mugger one final kick to the stomach as a parting gift before they left.

They made their way to Stumble Alley accidentally taking a few wrong turns along the way which Bob will take note of the next time they were here just in case he cannot afford to get lost. "Oh look. It is that place..." The Majestic where they first met and opposite it was the library. Stumble Alley is normally one of those places which people their best to avoid but at least you could see a person or two like those muggers. Maybe even more around Red's but at the library there was nothing! Bob pushed open the door to get inside first hoping that Eridanus is "not afraid of books are you?" Fortunately they were not here for any books here today and just to talk and like Bob thought it was so devoid of life that there was no one else around or they might just be observing the silence rule.

Bob chose to take a seat away from that strange librarian doing her strange library things at a table right at the back surrounded by shelves aptly in the section which contained historical espionage. The reason was once Bob tried to hit on her by trying to check out a book as was the common practice in Zeltiva. He wrote his name and a time to meet at the Pig's Foot on a slip of paper and put it at the cover and handed it over to her at the counter asking that "I hope that I can take it out for the night?" His lecherous grin was returned with an annoyed scowl and they had a staredown for a nearly a chime before Bob gave in and said "I'll try another time" getting out of the library as quick as possible. That happened last season and hopefully she would have forgotten it by now.

As though there was nothing wrong he ignored her and had his attention on Eridanus. "Pretty funny how things turned out today huh? So where were we? Putting blood all over this? As you can see those mugger were kind enough to help us out with that already..." showing his hand which was wrapped around the sleeve of his jacket. It was soaked now but at least the blood was stopping. Still it would be better if "we should get this over with so that I can go back to Killroy's." He would rather take his chances getting animal treatment than anything from that crazy doctor.

[Archelon]

Turtley Interludeoh jeeze, turtle's put on the spot... good lordie lord, you spilled blood on it already? D: I hoped you'd wait awhile, Anyways Item: Description Maledicted Cane Sword Handle (can altered by a craftsman of maledictions level 50 or higher for a price of 100 gold mizas to reset the circles and make it better then this *_* or just replaced entirely for that price with something better. XD) Cons okay that's a load of pain there waiting to happen here due to the unbearably low score and the power of the animal it was taken from... from now on- he likes cheese alot whenever he holds the cane and likes the smell of garbage like the queen rat did. Pros If he ever gets to dualwield a whip with his cane it will afford him a one percent more bonus in accuracy with the whip in the corresponding hand because... it is like a rats tail and the queen rat liked to whip her children into a frenzy XD. there that's the best I can do with that skill XD oocTurtle the Turtle out! Just remember what auristics as a novice can or cannot see or length they could discern details ^-^ Bob, Eridanus. Note- this only effects bob when he holds it, so it may *barely be possible for Eridanus to play twenty questions to figure out the effects if* he gets the cues from auristics. *if the staff is taking in and out of his possession multiple times. Of course- in crowds that's hypothetical and prone to headaches or overgiving if not stopped so just bear with it and use it as a springboard to XD PLAY ON!

[Eridanus]

Hooray for Turtley InterludeNo worries Bob I'll fix your thing when I hit 50 in Malediction. For free

After the remaining mugger ran away in panic, Bob seemed to want to do something, and he approached the wounded mugger than Eri had struck down. As he reassured the man while slapping him awake and propping him up to a more comfortable position, Eri wondered if Bob had a compassionate side to him that he never knew. A moment later, he realized that he was definitely giving the midget the benefit of the doubt, for his doubt finished when Bob clumsily aimed an attack at the man and stabbed his thigh. The man yelped in pain, then fainted again from the overwhelming pain and blood loss. Eri winced slightly, and Bob began to pilfer through the man's pockets. The Vantha took his cue from Bob and followed to take anything else that Bob had missed. They then went to the library after passing by The Majestic, which was some sort of mysterious shop that had some form of high level shield preventing access. Eri made a note to remember where this was so that he could study the shield further next time. They finally arrived at the quiet location, and Bob told the Vantha that he wanted to get this over and done with quickly so that he could return to wherever he wanted to go. Now that they were in a more safe environment, if this adjective ever applied to anything in Sunberth, Eri once again raised the cane above to his eye level, looking at the rat skull. There seemed to be no trace of blood on the skull, though there were splatters here and there on the rest of the sword, and Eri noted that this might be a key that his theory might be correct. He sighed, and closed his eyes for a moment, concentrating and drawing djed up to his eyes. He felt a slight strain in his eyes, for had consumed quite a bit of djed in the previous encounters, and he opened his eyes, focusing on the aura emanating from the rat skull. As he stared, more details became to come into place and he noticed a red djed scar across the rat skull that he could have sworn was not there before. Unable to discern any more details, and with a mild headache threatening to strike, he closed his eyes, softly sighing with relief as he felt his migraine lessen and the strain in his eyes reduced. This was all he needed to know anyway, for what the change in the skull's aura told him was that there was a noticeable change in its astral structure or property, though what it was he would not know. Eri proceeded to share his findings and thoughts with the midget, and raised the question about finding his own rat as Bob had mentioned before. He was quite interested in replicating this process, and so he asked Bob to teach him how to replicate what Bob did with the rat skull. He would then study the new thing he made, release a drop of blood on it and see if this same red djed scar appears. If so, it would validate his theory and he would be able to further study this phenomena.