Completed Following Up, Tracking Down (Kyodaija)

[Inoadar]

OOC - continued from Here.

28th of Summer, 513

'The things we do for pride...and vengeance...' Inoadar thought as he caught a look at himself, in the mirror, while scanning the crowd at The Silver Sliver. He was "dressed", literally, in a dress. His hair a wig, his face made up and the tan talc from his disguise kit masking any "shadow" of whiskers that might crop up. His slender body was padded to fill out, slightly to excess, in all the right places. He had deliberately overdone the padding, giving the dress a somewhat 'strained" look. He didn't really want any men paying attention to him, but there were already a couple of drunks that appeared to think they might "fall back" on him if they got no response from anyone prettier.

This was not his usual haunt, but it was necessary. This was where Kyodaija was known to hang out. But Inoadar was not watching him so much as he was watching those watching him. He had felt confident that there would be some surveillance, and he had been right.

He and Kyo had been duped a few days earlier, being set up to fall into a trap that would eliminate Inoadar as a loose end that a certain businessman wanted silenced. Kyo himself was not necessarily a target at first, just a poor sap, handy to be used and discarded. But having not been killed as well, he was now also a loose end. They'd been hired separately, having no knowledge of each other, supposedly to steal an item, a book. Kyo had been told he was being hired to kill a certain mercenary guardsman. In truth, he was just a distraction to allow Inoadar to get inside the mansion, while the guards were busy, and steal the book.

Both were intended to be killed in the process. Inoadar was to have fallen victim to the elite mercenary, Wrenmae, stationed inside the manse, while Kyo was expected to be overwhelmed by the regular guards outside. What the contractor did not know, however, was that Wrenmae and Inoadar were friends of a sort, and perceived that it was a set-up.

Inoadar decided to turn the tables on the schemer by letting slip a rumor that Kyo had betrayed him, killing him and taking the book from him to sell. So it was necessary to act quickly, since stolen items were routinely fenced in a hurry. Also, it was necessary for Inoadar to lay low, since he was supposed to be dead. But he had a business to run and needed to get this charade over without delay.

He knew Kyo had numerous wounds, but he doubted they would hinder him much once his blood was up. Also, they lent great credibility to the story that he'd gotten the item through violent means.

So now the game was afoot. Kyo sitting in the middle of the bar, bait, awaiting contact. Inoadar, in disguise, keeping watch on what back-up their contact had in place. He'd already picked out three men that fit the bill. He had his poisons prepared to equalize the situation once the target arrived and tried, as he surely would, to take the book from Kyo by force.

[Kyodaija]

Kyo sat at his usual stool at the bar of the Silver Sliver. Drinking his Sliver slowly while surveying the room. Ever since the incident a week or so earlier Kyo had been increasingly wary, having been made aware of the fact that the man he now knew as Inoadar had set him up as the bait to draw out those who worked for their bogus contractor.

He as usual sat with his back against the wall with his left leg propped up on one of the other bar stools at the bar. Not that anyone would have sat next to the violent man anyway, as he was in full battle gear same as the rest of the week. He expected a fight and came prepared, uncharacteristically bringing his club to the bar as well. every night he brought the thing into the bar, the barkeep warned him, "If ye be swinging that thing for some reason, take that reason outside and save me shop the damage!" Kyo would indeed drag any fights he had outside, as he would not want to ruin his relationship with the barkeep.

Peering around the room he saw a rather ugly lass, dolled up and looking the part of some innocent wench simply out for a nights drink. She was shapely enough, but had the look of makeup thick on her face.

She would make a poor meal Kyo decided offhandedly...

He hadn't really spotted anything else out of the ordinary in the tavern as of yet. Only seeing the usual patrons and more or less the same amount of new faces he ever saw. None particularly taking any notice of Kyo outright. Just when he figured it was likely to be another dull night a man walked in through the front door wearing a black cloak and a cowl covering his face.

Kyo noted him peering around the room and pointedly seeing Kyo at the bar, walking purposefully toward Kyo in turn.

He got directly in front of Kyo and spoke in a muffled voice, "Hand over the book and you walk away from this alive."

Kyo grinned at the obvious threat, "I'm sssuprisssed they sssent only one of you... I have a counter propasssal, give me what I am owed for the job and then we will talk about thisss book."

The asassain rang a bell beckoning two more men from outside into the bar, dressed in an equally concealing nature...

Kyo luaghed loudly and said, "Guessss that'sss a no then..." Picking up his club he walked past the man toward the door.

"Let'sss take thisss outssside... Wouldn't want to ssspoil the drink..."

[Inoadar]

'Oh Shyke, that makes five, not including the one talking.' Inoadar groaned as he saw the two additional thugs respond to the bell. He wondered what was with the cowls, though. He had to consider the possibility that the man that had been all dressed in white, when he'd first hired Kyodaija and himself, may have decided to keep his distance on this encounter. He had to consider that these cowled men may be djed crafters of some sort. They seemed to go for the mysterious look.

This threw a wrench into the gears. If the man was watching from a safe distance, then simply beating the thugs into submission would not reveal him. Inoadar knew he'd have to spend a good portion of the fight looking for loitering businessmen with curious eyes. The next few chimes would settle whether or not he was among these men.

If he was not, then there was no doubt that he'd paid these men not to ask him for his identity. On the other hand, if these men did not know him, they would have no loyalty to him either. After a good beating, an offer of a bribe just may turn one of them, they he and Kyo could don their cloaks and cowls and be escorted to him.

He saw Kyodaija rise from the table, club in hand, brimming with confidence and violent intent, and start to follow the men to the door. Inoadar was already on his feet, the lonely drunks he'd previously wished to avoid now taking on a constructive aspect. He slipped the 'bird's tongue' voice changer to the back of his throat and hurried to come up behind the men "escorting" Kyodaija toward the door.

He hadn't bothered bringing his cane/blowgun. For some reason, it seemed out of place somehow to see a woman with a cane. He didn't know why this was exactly, but fitting in often required the observance of some odd stereotypes. Nonetheless, he had the bracer with the five loops for poisoned darts, and those doses were all perfectly able to be "administered" by hand.

Inoadar found one of the drunks watching him with a leer. 'Perfect...' he thought, letting the man see, and misunderstand, the grin of anticipation on his face. 'Time for ME to provide the distraction for KYO.'

He slipped up to one of the men converging with the cowled thugs accompanying Kyodaija and slid himself into the man, catching his arm and hooking it to force it to pass across his padded "breasts". He let out a gasp and turned the man towards him with force that clearly surprised the thug. "You BASTARD! Keep you paws OFF me!" he cried, the 'bird's tongue' altering his voice to a higher range. He slapped the man and let himself lose balance to fall into one of the other thugs, rewarded by the roar of drunken rage belching from one of his inebriated admirers.

The first thug was suddenly contesting with an angry drunk, bent on impressing his prospective 'girl friend'. 'I'm going to have to get the petch back into men's clothes in a hurry,' Inoadar thought to himself as he trapped the second man's arm into a lock that forced him to grab Ino's backside.

"PERVERT!" he screeched, and kicked the man right in the crotch. 'Two down...' he grinned to himself. Dirty tactics, he knew, but then again, just how "fair" are you obliged to be to men that went for six-to-one odds?

[Kyodaija]

Kyo had never seen Inoadar fight, but he figured this must be his "distraction" they had discussed briefly. Kyo had not wanted to fight the men in the bar itself, but it seemed he had little choice. He would have to keep this to a simple brawl.

"You damned foolsss!" tossing his club to the side Kyo came rushing in on his first victim, the man whom had approached him initially and was escorting him to the door. Looping his hand around the mans neck he slammed his forehead downward into the mans nose. Though he hit his chin instead, the man reeled back all the same a loud clacking noise resounded as his teeth slammed together from the impact.

One of the other men whom had been waiting by the door waded in and revealed a hidden blade from beneath his cloak, appearing to be a short sword he drove it in at Kyo tip first meaning to skewer him. Kyo had prepared for such an attack and utilized his much longer reach to make a lumbering backhanded swing at the mans head.

The man dodged the blow easily enough, but the point had been to steal his momentum. Kyo lept forward and drove his spiked gauntlet fist into the mans stomach, throwing a good amount of weight into the blow. The man buckled over onto his knees still clutching his blade tightly. Kyo had achieved knocking one enemy out of commission for a moment but no sooner had the thought occurred than 2 of the other thugs rushed in at Kyo similarly wielding short swords. Kyo pumped Djed through his arm and lashed out at one of the foes, reaching his chin and shattering his jaw. Leaving himself totally open to the blade of the second goon. Which due to his armor managed to do little more than scratch his side.

The thug grinned all the same, giving Kyo the idea that it was not good he got hit at all... Leading Kyo to believe he had been poisoned...

Kyo slowly moved the djed from his arm to his legs meaning to improve his leg control. But instead he was pressed again by the man with a poisoned blade, though perhaps they were all poisoned. Still not feeling the affects of the poison Kyo attempted to swing out at the man... At least he thought he should do so.

The man nicked his outstretched arm this time, picking at him quickly but not drawing an overly deep wound. Doing so 2 more time's before the now lumbering Kyo could respond correctly and withdraw his arm.

Kyo was beginning to feel tired, and was starting to get frustrated and confused at his lack of coherency. He figured he needed to stop getting hit by this fools poison... Probably should just eat him...

Kyo turned to look at the man who was grinning contently at Kyo's frustration. Causing Kyo's blood to boil, launching him from the spot he was finally releasing the Djed he had forgotten was building in his legs, making for a very powerful tackle assisted by the spikes studding his armor.

The man confused by the sudden burst of power was caught completely unaware. And so the two men tumbled out the door together, the wind fully knocked out of both of them.

[Inoadar]

Inoadar assumed Kyodaija could handle the cowled trio. His surprise was about spent, though. The other two men were looking at him as if they were aware his clothes and behavior were a ruse. He immediately pulled a dart of Greenblood oil, and made for the door, watching the nearest man's progress toward him in various reflective surfaces. He spun, as if to slap the man, his hand concealing most of the dart.

The distortion of the reflective images put his anticipation off enough to miss by a inch or two. He felt his hand impact something though. Some poor man or woman would be finding themselves feeling exhausted very quickly. The man put his arm around Inoadar's throat. Right now, Inoadar wished he'd stuck with a male disguise. Then he could have employed his Nettle Cloak and be driving spikes into the thug's arm right then. Instead, He slammed his heel onto the toes of his assailant's boot. He could feel the metal toe protector deny any serious impact.

He tried to shove himself back into the man, intending to topple them back and land on him, but the man redirected the force and threw him aside. Bouncers were moving through the crowd now and ejecting those they thought to be the troublemakers. The 'Bird's Tongue' device still worked well enough to fool them, but they still ordered him out, embellishing their remarks with several gender-specific insults.

He'd lost track of Kyo as he tucked in beside the door, his dart readied to strike. He saw the face of the man he'd been fighting come through the door and immediately lock on him. He slammed the dart into the man's leg, but before the poison could take effect, the man grabbed his arm and leveraged him into a hold and twisted. The only way Inoadar could keep his arm from being broken was to spin with it.

Unfortunately, the direction this maneuver took him, sent him off the edge of the flotations and into the lake. Nonetheless, he felt pretty confident that he'd reduced the number of active thugs by three. He just needed to find a spot where he could climb back to street level.

[Kyodaija]

Kyo rose up to his knees struggling to finally gasp some air into his lungs after having the wind painfully knocked out of him. He was rudely interrupted by the man whom he had thought he shattered the jaw of coming out of the bar and to his side. Clearly meaning to stab his sword right through the back of Kyo's neck. Kyo slammed his back into the mans legs. managing to get the man to stumble, giving him the much needed chance to grapple onto his legs.

Kyo pulled the man down to a sitting position on the ground taking the short sword through a slip in his armor on his shoulder. The blade dug deep but quickly was pulled out and brought down to bear for another strike. Kyo would not let him get that strike, throwing himself on top of the man to crush him a bit with his weight. The man howled painfully as Kyo's armor spikes dragged painfully across his unarmored legs.

Kyo could feel his strength was quite a bit lessened. Probably due to the poison they employed knowing full well his strength as a Dhani. He was still atleast as strong as a slightly beefy human, managing to wrestle with the man on the ground using his weight as leverage against the much tinier man. Kyo backhanded the thug, drawing several lacerations across his cheek in the process. Not as devastating as it would have been if he was at full strength, but effective nonetheless.

It was then that the man behind Kyo had come up and slamming him in the back of the head with a sap, causing Kyo to fall of the man in a lump clutching his head painfully.

The man wailed on him a couple more times before kyo took his boot and brought it up between the man's legs striking him hard in his crotch. The man's eyes practically rolled back into his skull as he fell backward clutching his groin painfully. The other assailant stood up and wobbled over meaning to drive his short sword into the still prone Kyo.

Kyo in reaction to his approach began to build Djed slowly into his legs... Allowing it to build up as carefully as he could manage. The man continued to limp toward him with a look of ire clearly painted on his face. just when he limped over top of Kyo's form, Kyo swept his leg quickly into the mans foot driving it out from under him. Until he had swept him up clean head over heels, smacking painfully onto the ground on his head.

Kyo stood then finally. Watching the two pitiful foes writhe and cringe on the ground. His head ached from the affects of the poison, he could wobbled back over to the bar door. meaning to check on Inoadar, dressed up as a woman.

He chuckled a bit at the absurdity of it all.

[Inoadar]

There was enough crowd noise that Inoadar doubted anyone was aware that he'd ended up in the drink, except perhaps the thug who'd maneuvered him there. There were bumpers enough along the pier to give him ample hand holds while he wriggled out of the dress. It was not so much due to embarrassment, he would certainly be just as self conscious in his "short clothes". But it was waterlogged now, and very heavy.

He worked his way along the pier, finding a Ravosala platform for the public. It was late enough now that he doubted any regular run would be arriving, though special arrangements were always available to be made. He really didn't need much more than pants and a cloak as he climbed up on the platform, keeping as low and inconspicuous as he could. He hated to let that dress and wig go, but he'd be easily recognizable in them now.

He slipped behind some crates and locked eyes on a man his height standing nearby. He wished he had his cane-blowgun now, but then again, he might have lost it in the water. Instead, he crept out, keeping to the shadows as he circled around the man. He found a heap of discards against the side of a building and made his way to them. He dropped to his knees and started to moan, as if coming out of a stupor.

The man whipped around, "Shadow's Grace! Is someone there?" the man took a step back.

Inoadar muttered something about his head, the side of which was covered by his hand as he teetered as if about to collapse again. "Sss..some...one...h-hit me!" he stuttered. "Call the S-stryfe." then as if realizing his injuries. "Gods, I'm bleeding! Pleassse s-sir...help me...t-to that b-bench first."

"Good preachin' Gods!" the stranger cried in alarm, "They even stole your clothes!" He whipped off his cloak and offered it to Inoadar. "Here, you must be freezing."

Inoadar grabbed the cloak clumsily, thanking the man. He kept an eye on the door to the tavern, now the better part of a block away. There didn't seem to be any fight going on. He wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not. He did see a man looking turning people to see their faces, and he was mostly targeting women. 'Ahh...he's one of them...and looking for me.' Inoadar mused with silent anticipation.

Inoadar turned back to his benefactor, giving a companionable pat on the man's shoulder, and pricking him with a dose of Pillowsap. He immediately pulled his hand away from the man, who clearly had felt something. "OW!" Inoadar yelped in feigned surprise, shaking his hand. "Did you just get a shock? Damn! that hurt!" He knew the poison would take a moment to work and he wanted to give the man an explanation for the pin prick pain he'd just felt.

The man seemed to accept the explanation and started helping Inoadar to the bench. By the time they got there, it was Inoadar helping HIM to lie down, where the man promptly fell asleep.

[Inoadar]

Inoadar stripped the pants from the man and hitched them up as well as he could. They were far too "roomy", and Inoadar had not brought a belt since he had originally been disguised in a dress. Still, he had had a dagger tucked into his garter, which he had held in his teeth as he climbed from the water.

He used this now to punch a new hole in the waistline of the pants. This allowed the pants to sit tight enough to look normal. He now walked nonchalantly in the general direction of the tavern. He kept his eye on the man that he'd seen checking people out. He saw now that the man was not checking anyone that was approaching the tavern, only leaving. This probably made perfect sense to him, but Inoadar knew it was a classic mistake. This man was a skilled thug, but not a subtle observer.

Inoadar walked right by him, hearing the man curse under his breath. The man obviously didn't know where either he or Kyodaija were now. It suddenly occurred to Inoadar, though, that he didn't know where Kyo was either. Well, that was okay. All he wanted was to find out who these men worked for. If they got the worthless book, and eliminated the unstable Dhani, he didn't really care. He wasn't all that sure that the Dhani didn't intend to kill him when this whole thing was over as well.

He dropped a coin on the ground, just outside the door of the tavern, and made as though he was determined to find it, and having trouble doing it. His turning and fake searching allowed him to keep watch on the thug out front. The man eventually stopped checking people and stood with his hands on his hips as if he'd run out of ideas. Inoadar made as if he'd found the coin and started heading into the tavern, halting as if someone was coming out, to take a last look at the man. Sure enough, the thug was shrugging and starting to walk away.

Inoadar slipped silently into the shadows of nearby crates and barrels and charted the man's path back into town.

OOCKyodaija has informed me he's bowing out.

[Inoadar]

It was no surprise that the man headed toward the merchant district. He had not expected him to go straight to the home of whoever hired him. He hoped the man was going to go to one of the businesses there. That would be an easy path to follow back to the man he suspected of having ordered the theft of the book.

Instead, the man entered a small cafe on the corner of intersecting walks, one of which featured a bridge over the nearby canal. Inoadar walked past without looking in. He had none of his usual surveillance gear, but he had his wits. He reached the next intersecting walkway and stopped to lean on the railing, as if admiring the local classic architecture.

He looked back casually the way he had come while he waited for a few strolling citizens to walk by. When it was clear, he hopped the railing atop the canal wall and crouched. The stone railing had a sufficient decorative flange at its base to allow him to get enough of his heel between the posts to support his weight. He slowly worked his way back toward the cafe, stopping when he was half way back.

He watched for several chimes to see who else would arrive, or leave. Instead he heard shoes click on the stone walkway approaching from the way he had just come. He gripped hard with his hands and let his body slip to hang from two of the stone posts that made up the bulk of the rail. He caught sight of a white hat pass by. Pulling himself up, he saw the man in white approach the cafe.

Three men came outside and met with him. Inoadar could hear nothing that was said, but the wrapped book was handed to White Hat by one of the thugs. The men left and within a few chimes a fourth man came out and locked the door of the cafe. Inoadar was quick to deduce that this cafe was a primary meeting place for this group. If not, it would be highly unlikely to have closed its doors so quickly. The owner only kept it open to service this brief rendezvous.

Inoadar was not about to attack the five men now crossing the bridge over the canal. But he knew from personal experience how important a ledger book could be to an owner that allowed the records of illicit business to be kept in his shop.

[Inoadar]

There was no immediate hurry. The group would make their way back to deliver the book to their boss. He would find out it was just a random item and probably throw it away. The man would figure his purpose had been served, believing Inoadar to be dead. The only difference being that he would think he died at the hands of Kyodaija and not Wrenmae.

That would make no difference to the man that had hired them. He would think the Dhani had been tricked into thinking the book was worth something and had killed his partner. A classic betrayal, and one that was delightfully pointless. Inoadar could imagining him chuckling over the unexpected turn of events. It would have been unbelievably good fortune for the random book stolen from the estate to have actually been rare and valuable. No, Inoadar knew, he would count his blessings and call it a job well done. If he kept the book, it would only be as a token of his success.

Inoadar weighed his options. He had no great skill as a lockpick. Given time, he could manage, but there was too much likelihood of prying eyes here in the middle of town. He could resort to his glass cutter and look for a window lock. But if he was going to do that he might as well just break the window and save time. The glass cutter was to allow silent entry in case people were inside the building he was breaking into. There was no one in the cafe now.

It occurred to him he could lay in wait and ambush the cafe owner the following morning. But it also occurred to him that he could case the place out. He didn't know where the ledger was, but it was probably locked away in a cabinet or drawer. Even if he successfully picked the lock on the door, he might be stymied by locks on the furnishings inside. And he knew nothing of the cafe owner. He might be an ex-soldier or even a hand to hand trainer, with his luck.

But then it dawned further on him, there truly WAS no hurry. The boss would think Inoadar was no longer a problem. If he broke or cut the window glass, it would give away that someone knew to look here. Coming so soon on the heels of recent events, it would play his hand too openly. No, it was best to bide his time and strike suddenly. Vengeance stayed fresh a long time.

OOC - continues here.