Unguarded Guardians (IC) Part 2

[napsii]

Wham, blam, HAM! Kaz was hearing commotion outside!

"Oooooh, wut's that!?" she sparkled with curiosity, grabbing Tide tightly and bashing her head back out the door. She tumbled across the dirt for a while, coming to a rest on her butt with her eyes spinning around in their sockets until she bopped them back straight. A gruesome creature -- a shapeshifter thingie, wowzers! -- stood by Sort, Mex and the others...oh, along with some other gal who she hadn't seen before. WOWZERS! She caught the tail end of the conversation as she stumbled out from the shop. Magic? Captain Merah? Well, she had no idea what was going on, but she wanted IN!

Skipping to her feet and bounding over to Sort, she skidded to a halt and blurted:

"I WANNA COME TOO!"

She clenched her fists and grinned, seeming too giddy for her own good.

[Sortaix]

Sort drug the familiar inside the guard post, while it screeched in disproval. He threw the creature into a cell and gave it a boot to the gut. The guards gathered around as Sort threw the creature up against the bars.
"Now, your going to tell me everything that happened, and maybe I won't banish you back to the netherworld."
The creature screeched again and began to tell his tale.
"My master and I were coming to this village, looking for souls. We stopped when we heard the sounds of battle. We went to see and several guards were fighting a group of Orcs, they never stood a chance. The Orcs overwhelmed them before they could get away. The woman was raped many times as my master and I watched. We then followed the Orcs, to their hideout. My master and I were going to kill them and claim their souls, before and keep the woman as his pet, but the Orcs found us first. My master was able to kill many of them, but an archer got him in the throat. He wasn't powerful enough to become a Lich, so he did not come back. I was able to hide, but I had to take the form of the woman, last time I saw her to get back into the town.
Sort then put a light dagger through the creature, killing it. He then turned to the guards, who looked rather shocked, and appalled. Sort turned to them and asked.
"So you guys have been having problems with Orcs?"
The guards responded, a little shocked.
"No, we have been having problems with bandits, and things attacking our livestock, but this, this is new."

Alcatraz:

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

The bartender looks over at Nyx and says quietly to her.
"You may want to be careful around here, Miss. One of the rich guys in town is building that slave trading post. If he sees a traveler like you,he might try to enslave you. And he is the typeof bastard to not care what happens to you."

[daxtinator396]

Dax watches Kaz come over holding back a laugh,"Hiya Miss Kaz.We`ll be happy tohave you along." He said and then looks at the shocked gaurds,"that thing deserved it." He said coldly.

[MiscChaos]

Lilia doesn't say anything, but her face probably showed her feelings before she erased it: She didn't like Sortaix reneging on his word. He said he'd consider not killing the familiar but then heartlessly killed it without a second thought. It may have been a being of evil, it may have done something in the past to deserve it, but if the thing never had a chance to begin with, let it know that straight up inside of killing it with hope in its belly.

[Sortaix]

Sort smiled as the creature died and he spoke to the guards.
"Don't worry, guys. That was a familiar, a minor demon, summoned by a Necromancer. They have the ability to take on the appearance of anyone close to their size. They are normally used for spy work, or other sneaky stuff. You have to look for purple eyes, those are what give them away. And before you ask, they normally eat whoever they impersonate, before trapping their soul for their Necromancer master. Fortunately for us, this one was escaping, and if what it said is true, your captain is still alive."

[daxtinator396]

"Well then we need to get her! She looked pretty beatup and that had to have been at least a day ago." Dax said with a worried expression.

[napsii]

Kaz gave a salute and a wink in Dax's direction. Well, durr, of course they'd be happy to have her along! She just loved being 'round these guys and gals now! Even the newcomer, whose name and identity she didn't even know! She twisted around on a heel to alleviate the boredom of having to listen to the blabbing shapeshifter familiar, who gave a long spiel about sum mildly interesting crap. Gross. Orcs! She knew only a few Orc. Most of 'em were hunters or blacksmiths, and one was a really big and tough warrior! Cud be good people, but mostly they were just too warlike for their own good!

"Well, caman, let's go 'n shizz! Gotta rescue peeps 'n stuff!" Kaz urged.

[daxtinator396]

Dax goes to stand beside her smiling once again as she winked at him,"Yup! Couldn`t have said it better myself. Miss Kaz how do you keep such an ever cheerful attitude? It`s fantastic." He asked curiously. She was always in a good mood even when she was angry or in battle and he loved it. It brought alittle spark of happiness into him evrytime they were near each other.

[MiscChaos]

Lilia allows herself an eye roll at the antics of Dax around this newcomer, Kaz if his introduction is right, and it really should be. "Well, I owe the Captain one, so I'd like to see her safe and all. Orcs aren't the most gentle creatures out there." She'd know. Some of her most difficult marks were Orcs in terms of straight up hard-to-killness.

[Angel_Slayer_Alcatraz]

Nyx unseals Ookami and he howls
"I would love to see him try..."
she growled
"AROOOOOOOO~"
Yelps Ookami as he disappears

[Zender_Solarheart]

(To cover for my long absence, let's just assume Victor remained quiet after the beating he took saving Nyx, then when they got to town, he found a comfy place to rest for a bit, which happened to be where he couldn't hear that shriek in town.)

Having rested enough to not feel aches and pains all over, Victor gets up, and heads off to the tavern that Nyx went into earlier. Honestly, he never knew that she actually went in there; he just felt like having a drink to help take his mind off of things. As he steps in, he overhears Nyx say something about "loving to see him try," whoever "he" is, and notices Ookami getting unsealed. Okay...seems that whoever "he" may be, he'd be a likely one to warrant self-defense around.

Well, whatever. For now, Victor casually walks up to the bar, sits down in the seat next to Nyx, and (when the bartender's got a break in chatting with Nyx) asks the barkeep: "Pardon me, but do you have anything with lime in it? Bit of a personal taste for me."

[Sortaix]

Them peoples in that there guard, post, thing-a-ma-bobber.

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

The guard has a worried look on his face, as he imagines what has happened to his captain. He looks over to the group before pulling Sort to the side. He tries to explain something to him, but Sort halts him.
"Oh, Hellll, No! That shit is not gonna fly while I am here. And considering what I know about people like that you WILL tell me companions what you just told me, or we are going to have problems. And, considering I kill necromancers, Liches, and other undead monsters in my day to day, you do NOT want problems with me, Buddy-boy."
The guard looked to the ground, it was obvious he was a little nervous talking about this, probably due to the fact he couldn't have been more than twenty years old. He looked around the group a little sheepishly before saying.
"Listen, that new building under construction is going to be a slave trading post. The rich man in town, Mr. Durach, is building it. He is trying to get the local Baron to make him mayor of the town. If he hears what happen to the Captain, he'll claim she isn't fit for her duty and he'll try to enslave her. He has been after her for a while. Listen if you guys get her, please don't let anyone know. I'm going to take that familiar thing and show it's body to the townsfolk so no one things it was the Captain. Please! Durach will make Merah his personal servant if he finds out what happened! Please! you have to help her!"
The young man is obviously worried, almost on the verge of tears. He must really believe this Durach is NOT a very nice person. Sort however reflects on this. He stands off thinking to himself.
"How popular is this Durach?"
He asks.
The young guard replies to him.
"The rich folk that own slaves like him, but the rest of the people hate him. The mayor is at odds with him, because he wants the mayors job."
Sort looks back to the guard, then to Mex, then to Kaz.
"Would he try to enslave them?"
Sort asks, pointing to Mex and Kaz.
The guard replies, rather nervously.
"He might if he sees them and finds out they are travelers."
"Fine then, we kill him before we leave. It's the only way your captain, or your town will be safe."
The guard looks down, this being something he had never considered. He thinks only for a few moments before he looks up, with anger in his eyes.
"Okay, but you have to leave right after you do. I can make sure a message isn't sent to the other towns or the city."
" Good man, you'll make a fine guard, assuming you stick to that type of thinking."

Nyx and Victor:

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

The bartender looks at Nyx's sword and takes a step back when it howls. He looks fairly disturbed, but when Victor arrives he turns away. After Victor places his order, the bartender makes some sort of ale drink before going into the back to get a lime. He comes out with a single lime, it looks a little old but still good. He juices the lime into the drink before handing it to
Victor and walking away. It seems Nyx scared him a little bit.

[MiscChaos]

Lilia's eyes dull at the mention of this man, Durach, enslaving women. How is it that's she's been in this town for weeks and hasn't heard of this!?! "I can have him killed, no problem. Hell, I can even get it done pro bono." she offers up. "That way, no one in this group is implicated in anything. The rich being assassinated isn't anything new."

[daxtinator396]

Dax`s eyes grow hot with fury at the mention of the new building and what it was and then grew angrier and angrier as they spoke of this man, Durach. He stepped alittle closer to Kaz unconsciously,"He even thinks about it he is a dead man. We need to find those women. Now. If we leave them like they are they`ll just become his next victims and it will be our fault. I can`t have that on my conscious Sort. They trusted us to get them here safely. I can`t let something bad befall them." He said a worried tone creeping into his voice,"I`ll need your help Miss Kaz. They seemed to like you alot and we can get them somewhere safe."

[napsii]

Kaz thought about what was being discussed, still spinning around on her heels. Slave...trader? Wow, what a dickhead! If there was one thing popular in this world that she hated, it was the slave trade. Not any good unless you were one of the rich men (or even women) who dealt in buying and selling trades. It was a shame to think so many people had built their fortunes on that, rather than something honest like...wine making, like her parents' parents' parents had done! Least it was outlawed in Furon, though...

Of course, that it wasn't here only gave her a lot of reason to do something about this guy. Killin' him would probably have assassins and crap sent after them, but meh, it'd be worth it.

She looked to Dax questioningly.

"Or we could, y'know, just like beat Durach's face in so he don't try anything. Jeez, those girls are a handful." she suggested.

She skipped over to Sort.

"So, let's go beat his face in or some stuff! Oh, and rescue people!" she grinned brightly, seeming giddy to do...well, something. Anything!

She rubbed her chin thoughtfully, like something had hit her.

"Ugh, if only we had like...a dragon on our side." she thought aloud, thinking back to the water dragon that had protected that village they'd been in a few weeks back.

[daxtinator396]

"It sure would make travel so much easier and I suppose it would be simpler to do that.Though I worry we may be too late for them by the time we get to him." Dax says with a frown. If they didn`t get to them before Durarch he doubted they would ever trust a man again no matter how nice. They would break those girls minds to make them hopeless. He couldn`t let that happen,"Alright we need to get this show on the road. Time is of the essence." He said quickly anxious to leave.

[Zender_Solarheart]

Victor seems a tad confused at the bartender's..."reserved" way of serving drinks, and can't help but look to Nyx for some semblance of an answer. "Wow...what's eating him?" He asks her quietly, simply wondering about it without any offensive or hostile implications.

[Angel_Slayer_Alcatraz]

"I think I frightened him a tad...."
she chuckles warmly
"you Okay Vic?"
she asks taking a sip of Sake

[Sortaix]

Guard post peoples:

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

Sort thought for a few moments then asked the young guard another question.
"What type of troubles has this village been having?"
Well, bandits are raiding merchant caravans, something is attacking the farmers livestock, and now we have orcs."
"What can you tell me about the livestock?"
"Only the farmers claim to hear strange howls, their livestock get eaten, and the grass is burned around the paw prints."
"Demon hounds, are whats eating your livestock. If we take care of these problems, we may get enough of the town on our side, to kill Durach publicly, to make a statement about slavers. That would ensure the safety of the women we rescued. Alright, Demons are fire element, Kaz, you're in charge of taking them out. The Orcs will likely be more immune to storm magic and weak to fire, Mex you're in charge of taking them out. What can you tell me about the bandits?"
"They have a mage that can summon clouds and lightning and stuff."
"Storm mage, Dax you take care of them. Now I am not expecting you guys to handle this by yourselves so go get Victor and Nyx then we get this party started. After we rescue this town, we will show Durach the price of evil."
The young guard was smiling by now at the thought of having his town's problems solved as well as Durach getting what he deserved. He then ran over to a desk and wrote a few notes handing one to Dax, Kaz, then Mex.
"Take these to the guy in the magic shop, it will explain everything. He will help you any way he can, Merah is his sister."
"Alright, we all have our missions, let's get to it. Assassin, you can join whoever you wish."
With that, Sort gets ready to move out and begin the next adventure.

(You each have your element of enemy to fight, Sort is going with Mex, Dax and Kaz both need at least one partner to go with them, Lilia can join whomever she wishes. If you don't want to go in small groups you can all join in and do each mission one at a time. In what order or how the missions are accomplished does not matter, but all three must be accomplished for the story to progress.)

Zender, Cell #42, block D, Alcatraz maximum security prison.

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

Nothing else going on in the bar.

[MiscChaos]

"I'll kill the demon hounds. If I can't get Durach killed without hurting people overall in the process, then there's no point in doing it." Lilia says darkly. "But 'Assassin' has a name given the fact that she's not an assassin and she'd prefer that you use it."
She turns friendly again once she turns to Kaz. "So, Kaz, is it? I'm Lilia. Nice to work with you." she says with a slight bow.