Someone needs to be taught a lesson (Clyde, Ahilya)

[Persona]

OOCYou're going to start off in separate places doing separate things, and I'll bring you together as the thread goes along. Summer 30th, 512 in the dead of night Location: The Slave Market All was quiet, except for a soft splash and the occasional clink of a slave's chain. In the dark of night, two small boats floated into the slave market from the channel running under it. They pulled up to the edge of the channel, and a short, sneaky-looking fellow hopped out, leaving a tall, lanky man behind. The tall one held a loaded crossbow, peering out into the darkness, while the shorter one made his way to the nearest of the slaves. The barest chink of metal on metal as the short man began fiddling with the lock on the shackles of a young, fair-haired woman. She had been sleeping, but roused at his touch. Worried that she would cry out, the man placed a hand over her mouth and whispered, "Shh. Don't scream, we're here to rescue you." He was rewarded by the light of hope that blossomed in her eyes. It was such a rare thing to see in this terrible place, but even the tiniest shred of hope was worth fighting for. It took several chimes, but finally, he managed to snap open the shackles binding the pretty lady. He escorted her to their getaway boat, pretending he was a gentleman. As he bowed her into the boat, his tall friend frowned at him and hissed, "Pilf, stop messing around, hurry up." The ex-thief shot a quick glare at his companion and said, "Don't worry about ol' grumpypants here; Rej is just not used to sneaking around." He winked at his partner, who ignored him. Faiing to get a reaction, Pilf went back to unlock another soon to be ex-slave. His next rescuee was a rather nervous-looking man who seemed eager to get into the boat, and was not at all keen on waiting for Pilf to unlock more shackles, though one look from the tall man with the crossbow kept him silent for the most part. Pilf was just pleased that they'd been quiet enough so far not to wake anyone else up. As he moved again toward the nearest slaves, he heard a sharp "psst!" from off to his left. He nearly jumped out of his skin, but if whoever it was wanted to sound the alarm, they would have done so already. He searched the darkness for the source of the sound, creeping closer until he found a large, blonde man with startlingly blue eyes. Pilf immediately set to work freeing the fellow, who started speaking in limted Common. "Thank you. You help me. Svefra be greatful." "Yeah yeah, it's what we do. Thank me when we're out of here. If I can just...get...this...thing...open!" Pilf felt like he had almost gotten the hang of these shackles. In just under a chime, he managed to free the large man. It made the thief feel a bit better to have him on board; maybe if they got caught, he could at least be good in a fight. As Pilf approached another shackled prisoner, the blonde man called out a word Pilf didn't understand, but it sounded like a warning. At a stern look from the crossbowman, the Svefra winced and shrugged apologetically, then said more queitly, "Careful. That one...changes." Pilf did not understand what the big man was talking about. He looked at the girl sleeping peacefully on the floor. She looked normal enough, with her brown hair and pale skin. She was wearing a collar, but he assumed that was just a weird quirk of the slavers. It was disgusting how they treated people like animals. Shrugging off the blonde man's warning, he set to work unlocking her shackles. He felt like he'd almost got the trick of the petching things, and he made a bet with himself for whether he'd be able to unlock them before the girl woke up. Suddenly, there was the 'thunk' of the crossbow release, followed by the 'ching' of the bolt bouncing off one of the iron poles and a frightened yelp, which came from the nervous man. The tall man hissed, "We've been spotted. Time to go!" "Hold on, I've almost got this one!" He was starting to sweat, but this was the kind of thrill he lived for. Clock ticking away, grabbing one last treasure--I mean, greatful damsel. His partner was already shoving off with the first two slaves, unwilling to risk everything for Pilf's dreams of heroism. The man who could barely speak Common had stayed behind, presumably to help. Just as the girl's eyes opened, the lock clicked open. Grabbing the girl's wrist, Pilf said, "Come on, quickly. We have to go, now!" Location: somewhere near the docks It was a quiet evening, and as such, Samara had the leisure to mess with her favorite new recruit. The young Ebonstryfe commander had told Clyde Sullins that she had an important mission for him. In truth, she just wanted to see what he would do if she stood him up. How long would he wait for her to find him? Was his desire to make a good impression on the Ebonstryfe stronger than his pride? She patrolled the canals surrounding their appointed meeting place, appearing to all onlookers to be just another Ebonstryfe keeping the street of Ravok safe, while she kept tabs on Clyde. Suddenly, something most unexpected happened. A young boy came running up to her, urgency written all over his face. He skidded to a stop in from of her and said, "Someone's robbing the Slave Market!" before he allowed himself to catch his breath. Samara raised an eyebrow; this was interesting indeed. She bade the boy to tell her more. “Two men stealing slaves. They saw me, but I got away. They had boats! Please, don’t let them get away, I’ll be in so much trouble if you don’t get the slaves back!” A slow smile curled Samara’s lips. Perhaps she had an assignment for Clyde after all. To the boy, she said, “You have served Rhysol well. Fear not, I will send someone to...deal with the situation.” The much-relieved boy thanked her profusely, and then ran back toward the slave market, saying something about keeping watch. Samara casually meandered toward the meeting place, where she found Clyde still waiting for her. She had not kept him waiting nearly as long as she’d intended, but this would be a much more interesting test of his loyalties, and his abilities. “Two men have stolen slaves from the slave market,” she said, not wasting time with unnecessary peasantries. “Find them, recover the slaves, and if you can, find out what you can about the thieves: their motives, their allies, anything that can be used to prevent this sort of thing from happening again. If you do well, you may be rewarded.” She began to turn away, to leave him to his task, but remembered one more helpful piece of information. “They were travelling by boat. There is a boy at the slave market who may know more.”

[Clyde Sullins]

A mission... What the petch did that even mean? Really, Clyde had no clue. It seemed rather vague to him. He preferred specifics, but was not going to argue it. He would find out soon enough... Meeting the assassin again, well, she was like a poisoned rose. Pretty to look at, but careful when touching or getting near, lest you get cut and drop dead... Clyde kept this thought in his mind, as he waited for her... She was late... Clyde himself was a very punctual person. He had to be, in his line of work. If he did things on his own time, or out of order, he was likely to get himself blown up. So it annoyed him a bit when others were not as punctual. If Clyde was going to be random and chaotic, he would simply change the time of the meeting, never doing it at the same time, keeping changing it, but would be there when he was supposed to be. Plus, it was always good to not keep an exact schedule, and not always do the same thing at the same time... It made it a bit harder to predict him, and to take him out if he gained someones displeasure. She was late... Which annoyed him... But he held back the thought of preparing a bolt of lightning, and shooting her in the head with it, when she showed up... Really not a good idea... Then the Stryfe would be mad at him for killing her... Better to wait till he got higher ranked, before doing such a thing... Maybe a paladin. So Clyde was standing there, consciously breathing, and keeping it even, tapping the tip of his staff in time with some cadence in his head... When she finally arrived. But when she showed up, it was to immediately tell her him something to do. From the sound of it, this thing had just popped up, so could not have been the mission she had planned for him. But two people, stealing slaves, in the middle of Ravok? How stupid could you get? This was the worst place to try such a thing. And by boat? Well, that might help, but might not. There were a lot of boats in Ravok... But the task was simple... Find the slave thieves... Get back the slaves... And gather intel from the men, to find out who they were from, why they were doing as they were. Clyde nodded, and then raced off at a jog towards the slave market. Hopefully they had not gotten to far, and would not be to hard to find... Otherwise he could always sink the boat, and force them to come to him... Assuming they knew how to swim... Maybe that would do better as a last resort... Regardless, Clyde would be looking for groups of several people, any kind of scene or person being sneaky... Or perhaps just someone with several slaves at this time of night... Since they were fresh from the market, they would still be wearing there slave clothes, rags, or whatever cheap cloth they had. Or maybe armed men... Surely they would not try and steal slaves without at least some weapons. Clyde would get there was fast as he could, at a reasonable pace anyways, trying to find the people... Focusing on the task, and beginning to work up a ball of res, to use for a spell...

[Ahilya]

Ahilya didn't rouse at any of the metal sounds happening around her. The thief was doing a good job of keeping quite, but even if he hadn't, the sound of the shackles scraping against the ground or hitting up against the iron poles around them was something Ahilya had gotten used to. It was normal and surprisingly enough, it relaxed her. The normal sounds of the slave market at night meant things were right. Being worn out as she was probably wasn't helping anything. She had spent the whole day with the slavers, being taught the very very basics of fighting. They hadn't allowed her to shift as that wasn't what they had wanted, so they had left her collar on. It wasn't often she was allowed to prowl around in her larger feline form. The claws and fangs made her a danger to them and their business, so she very rarely got time without the collar. Her smaller, weaker human form had gotten a workout that day as she was ordered to try and dodge attacks directed at her and attempt to touch a certain part of her attackers body. They had told her she needed to learn things that possible masters would want to have her do and Ahilya had jumped at the task. This training, they had explained, was if her new master wanted her to guard them. She wouldn't be a very good slave if she couldn't avoid being hit from attackers. They made it very clear though that she shouldn't ever avoid a hit from her master though and they had switched between playing an attacker and a master just to drill it into her head not to flinch away from someone with that title. By the end of the day, Ahilya was exhausted, dirty and covered in bruises. She'd been washed, fed and then shackled in her sleeping area and as soon as her head hit the ground, Ahilya was practically dead to the world in her sleep. Even though she was still a rather young kelvic, Ahilya understood her need for a master. It was the only thing she knew seeing as the slavers had raised her telling her that one day she'd have her own master and he would be the only person in the world that mattered. It became a fantasy of Ahilya's, the day she would finally find her master. Be it on the auction block or them going through the slaves in the back and picking her. She looked forward to the day and hoped that the following day it would happen. When she had first been told about her future master, Ahilya had waited, and waited and waited some more. She had started to think that nobody would purchase her, or that something was wrong, and in her need to be owned, she'd tried to bond with one of the slavers. That had been a mistake and she'd been beaten. The slavers made sure she couldn't bond to them, spending only time with her to train her. All other times she was left with other slaves or shackled to her pole. She didn't even know any of their names, they were all just faces and scents to her. They weren't masters of her, but at the same time, they were, at least for the moment. A voice right above her made her stir and when she felt the weight of her shackle come off, she opened her slitted golden green eyes and looked up at the man over her. She took in a deep breath, taking in his scent as he quickly grabbed a hold of her arm and yanked her to her feet. "Wha...." Her eyes darted around the area, seeing a few poles were empty where there had been other slaves. As she was pulled, she looked ahead and found the missing bodies. Two were already in a boat as it was being pushed away from the dock, another was between her and the man that was pulling her. This wasn't right.... An armed man in a boat with another putting slaves into their boat in the middle of the night? Where were the slavers? They hadn't been training her all this time just to let her go for free. Her heels dug into the ground and she pulled back on the arm the man held. "No! Let go! Who are you?" She said, voice louder than was probably good for the thieves. She'd been trained not to speak out unless spoken to and had been beaten several times to learn that lesson, but she knew this wasn't right.

[Persona]

Ahilya: The thief tried to shush the girl, while struggling to keep hold of her. "Quiet, you'll get us all caught! Idiot wench, can't ya see we're rescuing you?" When Pilf's words had no effect, the tall blonde strode to the pair and wrapped his arms around the girl, covering her mouth with a large, calloused hand. His strength and muscular physique had been well prized among the slavers, and he might have fetched a good price if they could have broken him of his stubborn rebellious streak. By the time the two had wrestled the struggling girl to the boat, the other group had rowed almost out of sight. Pilf's usually dexterous hands fumbled with the rope tying the boat the the mooring. He had a bad feeling that he was about to be put in the uncomfortably heroic position of buying his partner time to escape. Clyde When Clyde arrived at the Slave Market, all was dark. There were few sounds beyond the occasional snoring and clinking of chains. Just as Samara had said, there was a boy waiting for him. He came out of hiding from behind a pile of crates, looking relieved. Catching Clyde's eye, he pointed out toward the center of the structure and whispered, "They're over there, in the canal. One of them left a while ago, but the other one might still be there." Casting a pleading glance at Clyde, the young boy said, "Please get them back! I don't want to get in trouble!"

[Clyde Sullins]

Clyde nearly shot the boy with a fireball, he was a bit jumpy after all, at someone suddenly popping out. But he kept himself from doing so, keeping his magic shaped and ready, building to the ball of res. Feeling that ever pleasant taste of djed on his tongue, and that small bit of joy... Luckily for the boy, he recalled the Stryfe woman's words, that a boy informant would lead him along... He pointed the direction to Clyde, telling him one had already gotten away, and that another was preparing to set off. He had better hurry then, if he wanted to make it. Clyde set off right away, moving his hands in a swirling pattern all the time, sucking in res, and finally breaking off a chunk with a sweep of one hand, while keeping the other hand swirling. Once he came into sight of the boat, he would ignite the prepared chunk of res he had broken off, and shaped into ball... Then it was simple enough to do a overhand sort of lob, throwing it at the boat, and igniting the core as it reached his limit of control, while using one final quick push, to thrust it all the faster on its course. Though considering it was a boat, and likely unmoving, and such a big target, it was unlikely he would miss. If his aim was good, the fireball would seem to sort of drop out of the sky, and smash the decks in the center of the boat, forcing everyone on it to jump off back to shore, or if in flames, into the waters of the canal, lest they should be burnt to a crisp as the boat went up. Though if he missed, he would have to throw a second one... Though at this range, really, it did not seem likely, not with his skill. All the while, Clyde was continuing to approach the people on the boat. Trying to pick out which ones were slaves, and which thieves. And he continued to channel his res, swirling it all the harder, shaping it into a cone, and along with that using his res to attract and suck in air like a straw, compressing it in the core, and pulling in more, slowly adding more res. Blasting a wave of pressurized air, highly condensed, would do well at close range. Probably knock someone off there feet, maybe even knock them out, usually causing a sonic boom alike to that of thunder, as it ripped through the air. Also, it was a lot less likely to be fatal, than if he were to roast them with fire, certainly much less deadly than a bolt of lightning, that would burn a whole right through them. Though how many uses he got depended on how long he had before he was attacked. If they attack right away, and he had to deflect a crossbow bolt or something, he would need a blast for that, and would be interrupted in his collecting process... But surely, he had enough already, to shoot at least two blasts. And he was working to build up enough air that he could later release, for a third.

[Ahilya]

Ahilya didn't stop struggling as the thief struggled to keep hold of her. She didn't want to be held, she didn't want to go with them and she really didn't want to be quiet. His words rang through her head. Rescuing her... Freedom... Loneliness... No master. Her eyes widened as she came to that realization and she cried out, almost a wail as she tried to rip herself free from the theif's grasp on her. She was facing away from the water, actually reaching back toward where her post was as if she could just grab hold of it, she'd be fine. Tears were starting to stream down her face as she struggled. She didn't know who to call out to, the slavers had made sure that she understand that they weren't her masters, but she didn't know what else to call them. Never before had she needed something to label them with to get their attentions. As she felt herself being lifted up off the ground by the blonde slave, her arms pinned to her sides with the one arm wrapped around her, she screamed out. "MAST...!" She got out before her mouth was covered. A hand over her mouth while she was screaming out probably hadn't been the best idea. Letting out a loud growl, she tightened her jaw and tried to sink her elongated canines into the flesh of his palm while her legs kicked and flailed in open air. Even though she'd been practically beaten and bruised all day in an attempt to teach her some fighting moves, Ahilya was so worked up right now she was acting on instinct alone. Her struggles didn't matter much though it seemed as she realized they were at the water and the thief that had undone her shackles was undoing the boat. Before they made it in though, Ahilya felt her eyes drawn to a light in the sky and sucked in a deep breath from her nose as she recognized the light to be fire. Her struggles in the blonde mans arms increased, wriggling and twisting trying to get free. She had no desire to get burnt by the flames if they hit near her. One, it'd hurt to be burned, she knew that from getting the brand on her hand. And well, two, who would want to buy a burnt up slave? She'd never find a master then.

[Persona]

The fireball came out of nowhere. The three had time to maybe notice a light above their heads, but none had time to react before a hole was blown in the boat. Everything was on fire. The Svefra instinctively dove into the water, dragging Ahilya with him, still bent on protecting or rescuing her. In the water however, he lost his grip due to her increasing struggles. The thief got the worst of it. The fire had splashed closest to him, and he was slower than the slaves at getting into the water. The bloodcurdling screams of the man on fire filled the air. Pilf's attempts to beat the flames off him finally resulted in him rolling into the water, but fire has already consumed much of his flesh. The screams stopped when he fell underwater. When he didn't come back up for a few ticks, either because of the extensive burns or because he just couldn't swim, the Svefra decided he was in more danger than the idiot girl, and dove underwater to pull his rescuer back up. Never one to give up, the Svefra began trying to tow the burned thief down the canal, even though there was no possible chance he could escape his pursuer, not dragging a burn-victim. All that could be heard from Pilf was pained moaning and the occasional quiet, "...hopeless..."

[Clyde Sullins]

Clyde could not have hoped for his attack to go much better than it had. It arced perfectly down, smashing into the boat, and catching it aflame. He saw one form pulling another out of the boat, and into the water, to safety. The third however... Well, he had been trying to just catch the boat aflame, and stop them before they got off... Catching the third person on fire, was not intended. As a scream could be heard cutting through the air, he knew that he had done more than he had meant to... Hopefully the guy wasn't dead yet, and would last long enough to be questioned. Clyde moved in as quick as he could, coming up to the canal, trying to get to the people as they came out of the canal. Once he got within earshot, he would speak to them. "Now, which ones of you are slaves, show me your brands, and you live, and come back to the market. Now who was the one stealing slaves. We need to talk. And no causing trouble. Unless you want to see some real magic, and feel some real pain, as I burn you from the inside out, and you taste your own lungs burning." Really, if he had to, he could kill them. Shove so much air down there throat, it might make there lungs explode, or simply use the blasts as a nonlethal weapon. It all depended on if they tried to fight, and if he didn't force Clyde to torture him, before giving the story. Now which ones were the slaves, and which the thief?

[Ahilya]

Ahilya, who's feet were already lifted off the ground by the Svefra, felt like time had slowed down as she watched the water get closer and closer until they were both completely submerged under it. Ahilya had never been fully under the water before, all of her baths having been water sprayed on her or when she was permitted, bathed herself with her tongue. She didn't know how to react to the pressure of the water around her, cutting off her air flow and filling her nose. The water helped in her struggles to get free, though now that probably wasn't the best for her. Her arms and legs flailed in the water as she panicked and tried drawing in a breath of air only to get her lungs filled with water. Fear gripped her then and her only thoughts were for the need of air. Her legs kicked and her hands reached all around her, trying to find something to grab onto. After what felt like forever, her fingers brushed against the burning boat and she dug her nails in and tried to pull herself up. By then, she'd taken in several more gulps of water and when she tried to breath in the now smoke filled air, she couldn't. Choking violently, she used the boat as a guide and pulled herself around it and closer to the dock where she reached up, her hands shaking wildly as they searched for a place to grip. Getting her fingers between the boards of the dock, she managed to pull herself half way up before she was able to angle herself a little better and the water she'd breathed in started getting coughed up. She could hear someone demanding something, but her ears were filled with water and everything had a rumble sound accompanied with it. She understood the command to show her brand and after she'd managed to pull herself the rest of the way out of the water, she crawled toward where she heard the voice, her head held down as she continued to cough. Once at his feet, she slumped against his legs, most likely getting his pants soaked with water from her hair, and slowly lifted her left hand up toward him, the black half sun brand clearly seen against her pale flesh.

[Persona]

The Svefra had to think quickly. Should he go back into captivity, or take his chance for freedom? The only think that could possibly be worth willingly walking back into the hands of his captors would be if he could save this man's life. The man had freed him... but his burns were so extensive. There was no guarantee that he'd survive even if the Svefra gave up his freedom. He did not like the odds. He decided NOT to give up his freedom on the mere chance of a man's life. With a Fratava word of apology, the Svefra let go of his rescuer, and set out to swimming in earnest, hoping to at least catch up with the other boat, and if not that, swim to the far shore of the lake. Like many of his people, he was a strong swimmer, and unless something very powerful stopped him quickly, he would be out of reach and out of sight before too long. The burned man flailed halfheartedly when he was released, but he slowly began sinking, unable to keep himself afloat through the pain. He had not even been carried to the edge of the slave market before the Svefra took off without him. He hoped drowning was a peaceful way to die; though anything would be better than being captured by the Defiler's zealots.