Letters of the Damned:(part IV)Reprisals gone awry(Eridanus)

[Antar]

62nd day of Fall,511av

Ten days had passed since the last letter... ten days of paranoia and watching his back, wondering when he would be hunted. Ten days of trying to make life in Sunberth seem, 'normal' enough for him to not let anyone notice what was going on. But finally, some intel managed to fall into his hands through a rather uncommon source; a beggar who'm he had met before had told him a man had come a'calling. Coming to ask questions about what Noth had learned from him.

The beggar played a fool and hadn't told anyone; the only sure grace he'd ever been given in this petching city and the only reason for it was because he had returned a memento of the half insane mage's dead wife. There was a bit of intel here that piqued his interest... the man was living off a Svefran Palivar on Dead Man's Wharf. It seemed a fitting name for what he was about to try and do, to make an end of a damnable thorn in his side. Grimswald had said he had followed the man there.

So with that information he planned a bit of a counterattack tonight, his mind warned him it was a trap, his instincts told him it probably wasn't anything he should follow up on. The man had to have known there was a possibility of Antar finding him out. But still; the attempt and chance to end this all was there, only if he could reach out and grasp it. In the midst of all the ruckus of merchants fleeing town a couple days past, the seaside district was still pretty empty of stalls, and Noth intended to use this to his advantage.

With a bit of a beard grown in he had set up an empty shop, just cleaning and washing the stall as he looked towards the ship in question out on the pier. His weapons were below the counter, and he was waiting for his chance... but was the man even there?

[Eridanus]

Eri wandered around the Castle Commons, the usually crowded place that was bustling with activity of people making their living off others - either by selling merchandise or pick-pocketing for those who lack the necessary business skills - empty. It was like a ghost town, for the merchants were chased out of Sunberth for some reason. Eri had no idea why, for he was not particularly well-versed in the art of intelligence, nor was he the sort to participate in gossip. He had been running jobs as usual for Tua, earning his keep to prevent himself from starving, and either training his mind and body in his free time, often taking up books to read in the library that he was secretly slumming in. He had also been studying the ancient book that he acquiredI'll acquire it in a thread that I haven't done yet xD from the library, trying to understand its contents to glean a better understanding of his formal life.

This was his day off, for Tua's workload for the couriers plummeted along with the exodus of most merchants in the city. He guessed that that was because his employer would not have many recipients to pass messages to, since most of them was chased out. It was an excellent reprieve, and he wandered the unnaturally empty city, finding himself unconsciously in this place.

The trip to the seaside district wasn't any more troublesome then usual and soon round the area of Old leg's Wharf he began to see all the deserted shops of the seaside market and stalls standing empty due to the turbulent climate of sunberth's merchants were in due to the droughts.

Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw a movement, and he turned to look, surprised. Was there still someone here? He'd thought that there would not be anyone left, and whatever that could be looted had already been done, the entire place picked clean by the vultures that were the scavengers of the city.

Eridanus strode towards the empty stall, an expression of curiosity evident on the Vantha's inquisitive face.

[Antar]

The Dawn's light was breaking through the fall mists that were over the bay now, burning through the haze. The pre-dawn scenery of the bay had been as always in the morning. Filled with bustling bodies of sailors staggering back to their ships before they departed the piers, he had heard many things in passing about the ship he was looking at.

Stories of how the sailors did not speak to the others within the port, nor did they ever speak of their work or their cargo. The Palivar was named the Revenant Dawn, and word was that it was a refloated vessel and worse, that it's name hadn't been changed. Sailor's supersticion said it was bad to sail on something which had once been taken to Laviku's depths. For surely he would endeavor to see it there again or let Zulrav take its crew for a spin.

But somehow, despite the little rumor, the Dawn seemed to have been seen in port before, for about twenty years at least, and last three years ago. Only that time it had been captained by an epharyian who had taken it off a svefra. Now they didn't know who its captain was. Only what he looked like. When he pressed and prodded for information, the sailor's in question would mutter and make a sign warding off evil spirits. They'd only say that the new captain was a dangerous man indeed. When one of the boys had hit him in a fight he seemed to twist out of the way with a grace and speed that they had never seen before in such a shrimp.

Not only that, but after the sailor looked like a fool to his mates, the man had made a small spectacle of apologizing to him before walking nonchalantly towards the door. Of course, being a searat meant that that type of action was an insult so the foolish sailor rushed him. Only be thrown over the small man's shoulder before a loud thump against the baroom floor was the precursor to a sickening crack as the Dawn's newest Captain broke the bloke's arm.

When he asked about what the captain looked like, the features themselves matched the ones ohe had recognized of the 'beggar who had accosted him on the first day of this little cat and mouse game. Before, prying further he let out a barking laugh and said he wished he coulda' seen it too, but the sailors said to stay away, bad blood in that captain for sure. Probably had the blood of a sea monster or something.

Noth smiled and shrugs, and threw the men an apple to share to 'thank 'em' for the story and told them to come back and buy their vittles from his stall anytime. His best customers were sailors, long as the captain could pay his prices.

Seeing the story, and the interest wrongly as an attempt to make a sale the staggering drunks meandered back towards their berths and Antar's eyes followed them as they walked up the gangway of a large zeltivan merchant vessel. Whether it was a true vessel of Zeltiva was another matter. Sunberth shippers would change the colors of their flags any time they deemed it necessary to make a buck.

Looking back towards the Dawn Noth's eyes saw a figure standing on deck and he squinted to try and make out who it was clearly. But from this distance he couldn't , all he could do was make out the figures movements in the distance as the man began to launch himself into a series of exercises on the deck.

Exercises, he knew too well to be coincidence, he'd duplicated the flow of the arms and the legs in the sets of punches and kicks and blocks many a time before himself. It was an exercise drawn from the confines of his former life, taught only to those in contact with his former Masters. It was the movements of an Assassin worthy of the title.

Bending down to clean the top of his 'stand' again, Noth's eyes ventured towards the bag below where his stuff had been readied. Soon, he'd have to get to that ship... the only question was how. From the corner of his eye he saw the shadow of a man approach out of the sunlight and took a quick glimpse, allowing the hair on his face to fall over his eyes, as he began to scrub the stall with a damp cloth. Slyly he glanced out of the corner of his eye and gripped the kukri beneath the countertop, wondering if maybe the hunter had turned into the hunted...

[Eridanus]

Eri realized that the man was looking somewhere else, and quite intently. He followed his line of sight, squinting as he made out... a ship in the distance. Honestly it would not normally be that easy to actually know what someone was looking at especially in a crowded area like the seaside market. However, as most of the merchants were somehow driven away the area became a sort of ghost town, making it clear to trace another's line of perception due to the lack of people around. As he approached, he saw that the man began to look down to focus on cleaning his stand, and that quite perked Eri's curiosity.

Who in the world would stay behind here when there would clearly be no customers? There was no products, no merchandise for the vantha to shop for, and thus he decided that he would shop for mysteries. There was quite like nothing but a mystery to get the excitement pumping in his veins, and the vantha was quite notably a self-professed adrenaline junkie, thrill-seeker and adventurer. That was the main reason behind his wanderlust and the constant need to discover more knowledge and to invent new wondrous things. He was much more successful in the former than the latter, of course, seeing how he found it difficult to properly enter the area of Gadgeteering when he tried it out back in the University of Zeltiva years ago.

Eri finally reached the lone man, and he felt a slight brush on the surface of his skin, instantly making him wary. He had felt this same brush before, and he had passively gained the ability to unconsciously notice powerful auras (more so than non-wizards) due to his constant use of Auristics. He remembered feeling a stronger aura when he met Eryss Waldu only two days ago. The vantha tapped into his djed, concentrating for a moment before he felt the man's aura come into focus, and the first thing he noticed was the larger aura cloud that this man had compared to normal people. This meant that he had either naturally more djed than others or simply a better understanding and control of his own djed. The former was pretty rare especially for non-wizards, while the latter was typical of magic practitioners, especially those who frequently used personal magic.

The vantha lightly knocked on the counter, acting all innocent and cheerily said, "Watcha selling here, good sir? Any merchandise on discount?" He was still studying the man's aura, for there was something familiar about it that he could not quite catch but yet unfamiliar enough that he was not sure if he had seen this aura before. Eri was alert, of course, for one can never truly trust an unknown mage.

[Antar]

Making sure to keep his face hidden under the cowl of his robe, Antar spit onto the topof the wooden stand as the shadow seemed to stop for a moment. Uncaring , and paying no mind just as a shop clerk would he began to swab clean the top of the stand before he asked the shadow a gruff voice, "Can I help you for somethin'? I ain't got much. Only about three apples left, and a bit o' fish that's a little brown 'round the gills."

With those words, Noth set the cloth aside to reach under the countertop to pull out a fish and slam it down upon the hard wood. Without another second passing he pulled his kukri and brought the blade downward in a vertical chop to sever the head as antar turned his face slightly to let one eye rove over the stranger's features , keeping only one half of his face hidden. A bit of recognition passed between his thoughts as he recognized the man. Giving no sign of it though, he continued to play the part of the merchant in a fish stall by spearing the fish head on the end of his blade.

Holding the grisly trophy under Eridanus' nose the gawping face of the severed fish would be staring him in the eye. Keeping one eye on his quarry ending the last of his practices, the rogue would hiss out. "Pretend to buy something damnit! I hadn't figured on meeting you here today Eth. So look like a petching shopper or I'll gut you later for this! I got my eye on something I got to do , personal business: I need to kill someone who deserves it, so if you're not ready for a scrap then I don't want you around. Got it? "

[Eridanus]

The man placed a fish on the counter, and suddenly brought out a knife, causing Eri to quickly deactivate his auristics to reach for his djed streams in surprise. He had been rather paranoid lately in Sunberth - though that paranoia kept him alive - and sudden movements did not sit well with him. He could not do anything anyway, and it was to his benefit that the knife had been aimed at the fish rather than him.

The handed him the fish, but whispered to him, causing bells of alarm and revelation to ring in Eri's mind. The vantha began to blurt something out, but he quickly stopped himself in time and listened carefully to what his disguised friend had to say, looking at the fish and wrinkling his nose.

"This fish isn't very fresh, shopkeeper. Let me take a look at your apples instead," He enunciated clearly and calmly, adding a tense whisper at the end, "I'm free today Antar, let me pay you back for your help in introducing Eryss."

[Antar]

Noth took out the fish back, purposely smearing the gunk of its slime over the counter top he had just spit shined before wrapping it carefully up in a bit of paper to throw back under the counter. Taking the cloth again he began to scrub the slime back as he whispered."You may regret those words Eth, this might be a little beyond you. I'm going after an old 'non-friend' as it were. But take a careful look down at the Palivar there, the man on the decks, crew of five. The man's the one I'm after, the crew too... I need a damn clean sweep, kill them all and burn the ship but I need it done quietly. It isn't going to be easy."

With a bit of a tilt of his head, Eridanus might see what Antar was referring too. There was Rastar, the palivar's newest 'captain.' The damned beggar and the man who had been hunting him in a game of cat and mouse since before the job he had taken with Eridanus and Zenai. That job had only been to recoup some losses, and to try to scrape together some quick cash in case he needed to cut an run. But that was irrelevant.

What was relevant was that the good 'captain' was still ingrained with the last series of flurried kicks as he seemed to glide around the craft's decking with a set of ease. "He skills haven't seemed to have grown rusty either at least not like mine have and I'm pretty sure he's as deadly with a sword as I am with my bow." Noth muttered, "Damn vagik's been toying with me for nineteen days that I've taking hiding out in the hills. "

[Eridanus]

Eri observed nonchalantly as Antar continued his act with the fish, purposely messing up his counter so that he could clean it up again. He marvelled the way the rogue did the whole act with practised ease, and he reached his hand up to his head, scratching the hair on the back of his head while tilting his head as little as he dared to. He did saw what Antar was referring to, and he casually returned from his glance to face Antar again.

"I know who my allies are, Antar. Sometimes it pays to risk yourself to help keep your allies alive," Eri muttered softly. He did not mean to sound so callous of course, but he knew that the rogue was a calculative man of business and so he doubted that Antar would understand words like charity, honour and friendship. Instead, this line of argument should appeal to him more.

If Antar had not been exaggerating, this meant that the person hunting the rogue was a superbly skilled swordsman, for Eri knew from first-hand experience just how deadly the rogue's archery skills were. The vantha could handle himself in a fight most of the time, but he was not sure if he would be able to deal with Antar's foe. They would need a plan, for charging in would be out of the question.

"I've a few ideas for blowing stuff up... practical experience as it were," He whispered, making a show of taking out his coin-pouch as if to check how much mizas he had before deciding what to purchase.

"When are you new stocks coming in, man?" He addressed Antar in a normal voice again as a customer would do to a merchant.

[Antar]

"Not for awhile. Rates are up cause o' the blasted drought." Noth said before spitting roughly to one side. In a lower voice he said his peace. "Alright, you want to help fine. I'd be a fool not to take help right now. But I take no responsibility for you or your injuries if you slow me down. Not with this one. It's too important. That man needs to be ended quickly and quietly and sent to his grave before he- "

His words trailed off as a cry rang out on the far off dock, and the target turned to enter the main cabin of the ship. "Petch. I need to get onboard somehow. Fire and blowing it up won't work till I'm sure he's dead. Though I'll try just about anything right now."

Pondering the problem from all sides his eyes noted the Palivar's anchor chain in the water close to the dock pylons. The surf was a little rough... but if he could get there he could get onboard, he'd just have to stay out of sight enough to ... "Go take a stroll for three minutes while I get a position to watch the deck down by the beach. Just keep a watch out for that man to see if he's goes anywhere , then meet up with me under the dock itself."

Raising his voice as if Eridanus had said something off, Antar began spouting a stream of curses that would make a sailor blush as he waved his arms about, "Listen, what are you trying to do, put me out of business? Get the petch out of here ya' scrawny runt, before I shove this fishbone down your craw far enough to make yar' stomach bleed!"

[Eridanus]

Eridanus nodded to show his understanding of both of Antar's meaning, and he turned his head to the docks when he suddenly heard a cry. Antar began giving instructions in a hurried manner, and Eri listened carefully. The rogue had showed that he was a good strategist earlier, and if the vantha could trust him then he should be able to trust him now.

"Petch you bloody cut-throat merchant. It'll be the death of me if I ever try to buy from you again," Eri responded loudly in disgust. Turning around like he was highly affronted, he walked away from the store, silently counting up to three chimes as he strolled towards the docks in a fit of anger.

He made sure that the man pointed out by Antar was always within his cone of vision, and though he was heading towards the Dock, he walked as if he needed to get somewhere else but was walking through the docks to get there.

When he finished counting, he would head towards the docks casually, but striding towards their meeting place as if he had business there when the sailors around noticed his arrival. His manner of urgency was similar to the rest of the working men there, and they soon took him to be one of their own and returned to their business. He had been carefully keeping an eye on Antar's target, but no one came out of the main cabin, meaning that he should be still in there.