Akrovia - The Age of Steam [Kuragari]

[Hazard1325]

Candy pushes up against Brand who lets out a soft grunt. He tried to stay still but she could feel his hard on from behind. It must have distracted Candy because her lockpick snaps from a beginners mistake with the tumblers. She's about to pull a new pick out when the door opens revealing another one of the mercenaries. He blinks surprised at the two of them and his hand goes for the dagger on his belt.

[Kuragari]

Candy withholds a curse as the door opens, revealing a mercenary. Thinking quickly, she grabs Brand by the back of his shirt and charges forward, intending to bull over the merc. Her other hand slipped for her dagger. If she could, she'd follow it up by slicing the mercs throat before he could call for help.

[Hazard1325]

The mercenary stands in her way and shoves her backwards onto her rear when she tries to slip through. Her knife however cuts a gash across his face and he cries out holding it. She can hear the other two from outside rushing over, Brand has pulled his dagger and swipes at the Merc in the doorframe landing a cut across the mans shoulder. He staggers backward from the combined attack and the two of them struggle through the door. Its a large one room building with a few crates piled in one corner, half a dozen bedrolls in another. A man is tied to a chair in the center of the room with a bag over his head. He begins struggling against his bonds when he hears Candy and Brand break in. Two of the other mercenaries are sleeping, the last one glances over from a tray of food which clatters to the ground as he draws his sword and charges over.

[Kuragari]

Well, things could have been worse. She quickly dispatched the merc that had blocked their passage, and then pulled her blowgun out, thankfully already loaded, and said to Brand "Block the door! Quick!" She then fires a dart at the guard that had noticed them, already moving to load another dart in case that one missed.

[Hazard1325]

As Candy whirled to kill the mercenary on the ground she was hit hard in the side by the one that was charging. Her knife connected with the wounded one's neck finishing him off but now she was in melee with the other one and Brand was to busy holding the door to help her. Thankfully the other two were heavy sleepers and weren't waking up despite the loud noises. The mercenary with the longsword swung at her and she was able to parry with her dagger but the blow was still hard enough to knock her back. She landed next to the prince who was struggling with the ropes tied around his wrist and ankles.

[Kuragari]

This time, Candy does curse. This was getting rather annoying. Once more, she raised the blow gun, aiming for the longsword wielding merc. She put all her focus on this, since it seemed trying to multi-task didn't do her any good right now.

[Hazard1325]

Candy blew on the pipe and the dart landed directly in his jugular vein, despite the direct injection it didn't bring him down but his movements were much more sluggish and stiff. He swung and she rolled away as he cut loose the princes leg from the chair. Their captive kicked out from his chair and managed to trip the mercenary sending him sprawling and an easy target for Candy to finish off. She glanced over to Brand to see the door give an inch or two before he pushed it back again. She could see the lock and a latch on the door but apparently Brand had been to panicked to notice the easier way to secure the door.

[Kuragari]

"Lock the door Brand!" She called out, and then slammed her dagger into the back of the Merc's neck. If it didn't kill him, he would at least be incapable of acting against them. She then glanced at what she assumed was the Prince, moving over to aid him in getting the rest of his bindings off. She kept herself alert though-If the other two mercs or any others popped up, she'd load up another dart and fire.

[Hazard1325]

With the mercenaries dispatch for now and Brand finally holding the door Candy pulls the hood off the prince. He has short black hair and deep green eyes that burn with rage at the moment, he seems slightly surprised as he focuses in on Candy. "Your not one of my mothers agents... who are you?" He asks before spotting Brand. "And you brought him along?" He asks with a bit of contempt. When he's free he picks up the sword from the fallen guard and walks over to the sleeping ones executing them one after another. When that's done he returns to the two of them. "Let them through, we finish this now." Brand moves to undo the latch, apparently the prince thinks himself a fighter, and maybe he is but Candy gets a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach for some reason.

[Kuragari]

"No." She says, the command sharp and filled with authority. It also held the tone of someone who knows what they're talking about. When one spends their life living on the streets, they learn to trust their gut. And her gut told her that letting those guys in would be a bad idea...as would staying here any longer then needed.

She glared at the prince, her look telling him there would be no argument as she walked over. "I don't know how you got yourself into this situation, frankly I don't care. I'm here to rescue your royal ass, and if you want to keep it then you'll come with me." If she had to, she'd prick him with one of her darts and drag the kid out.

[Hazard1325]

The prince glared down at her not amused by Candys interference. "You'll be rewarded well for your services to the throne, now get out of the way." He says shoving her aside easily. "Brand move." He said plainly, but Brand shook his head. "Lets just get out of here, before the shade comes back" The prince shouted at him now, clearly upset by the idea of running away. "They took fathers sword, we're not going to let them slip away until we find out what they've done with it!" The prince hadn't noticed the scratch on his left arm that Candy had left with her dart and after a few more seconds of shouting angrily at Brand his eyes rolled back in his head and he fell onto the ground. Brand looked to her apologetically. "He gets like that... sorry."

[Kuragari]

"Not a problem, I know how some people get." She says as she picks the prince up. He's not horribly heavy, but he will slow her down. Hopefully they could avoid any more mercs. "Make sure the latch is secure, and then we're gonna see if we can find another exit. If we have to, we'll try and swim out*. I'll need your help carrying his highness if it comes to that."

She made sure to load her blow gun up again, so she could just fire at any new enemies that presented themselves.

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

Am referring to that entrance you mentioned requiring swimming

[Hazard1325]

Heading towards the back of the warehouse the jetty extends out into the bay for a couple meters. There is a boat nearby which means they wont have to swim back to shore at least. If the Mercenaries have spotted them they have no ranged weapons to speak of. Brand helps Candy load the prince aboard and they head south along the docks until they find a clear ramp to the streets. "I really appreciate the help Candy. Could you look after him a while longer, I'll get one of the guards to send a carriage for him."

[Kuragari]

(requesting GM roll, wish to see if Candy can notice anything about how he said that.)

Candy was rather glad that they didn't have to swim out, she wasn't looking all that forward to swimming through the waters of the pier. When they finally got far enough away, she dropped her guard somewhat, even though her instincts were still telling her something was up. Maybe she was just overthinking things, but the way the Prince had spoken to Brand gave her an odd feeling...

[Hazard1325]

As she gets a chance to look between Brand and the prince she realizes they have a very strong resemblance, there are only minor differences such as Brands light brown hair as opposed to the princes much darker shade of black. They have the same jaw though Brand's demeanor makes his look more like one of a fools rather than a noble. Judging by their conversation with each other they certainly know of each other though the prince seemed resentful of Brand. They were about the same height too, and roughly the same age. Though the prince looked as though he had lead a relatively comfortable life Brand had a slightly rougher complexion one gets from mild exposure to the air in Lanataria.

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

Perception check 1d20+5 = 20 VS DC 14; Success

[Kuragari]

"Hold on Brand." She says, reaching out and grabbing his wrist and pulling him back into the boat. She gave him a small smile, running a hand down his arms as she leaned him into her, her breasts touching his arm. "I'd like a few things sorted out first, if you don't mind." She isn't planning on taking no for an answer, and continues on "For example, I'd like to know why you and the Prince look so...similar."

She had a guess for why, but she wanted the truth from the kid first.

[Hazard1325]

"Uhmm... well I know you've probably heard the rumors about King Lastrin and Queen Lavana not being able to conceive a child for the longest time. He thought it was a curse and he was sort of right... he finally found someone who could lift it for a price." He scratches his neck glancing away. "So my mom who was a sorceress from Staros cured him in exchange for a night with him. What she didn't tell him at the time was she lifted the curse before he slept with her..." He said a little embarrassed. "He didn't know for a long time and once he found out he couldn't exactly bring me home to the palace. He visited a couple of times a year and made sure I had enough to get by. He died a few years ago so I haven't talked much with my brother, and I've never met the queen. She would probably have me killed if she knew." He shrugged. "But once the guards see we've found Kyros they'll probably take him back to the palace and I can slip away."

[Kuragari]

Candy still had an off feeling, but she was no longer sure if it was coming from Brand or not. "Hmm...well alright, I suppose that's really all I need to know right now. Go get the guards." As he moved to get up, she smiled, brushing her finger along her inner thigh as she said "I guess I can add bedding a royal bastard to my list of accomplishments." She blows him a kiss as he moves off...and then moves to hide in the shadows, after making sure the prince is secure and isn't going anywhere.

Better safe than sorry, she thought to herself. It did occur to her that the kid could go get the guards, bring them here, and then say she was the one who'd kidnapped the Prince. It was a possibility, even if a potentially slim one. And of course, if the Mercs were trying to follow them, she could better dispatch them if she was concealed.

[Hazard1325]

Brand climbs out of the boat and leaves quickly, his face a little red from her comment. From her concealed location at the bottom of the boat she could see down the docks and along the Jetty they had stolen the boat from. The mercenaries glanced around searching for any clues Candy might have left for them but they quickly gave up returning to the warehouse. The uneasyness Candy felt had faded quickly after leaving that place.

Brand returns with one of the guards a few minutes later. The man lets out a cried of surprise. "You weren't kidding lad, that's the prince alright. Who's this with him?" Brand answered for her. "The friend who helped me get him away from the men who were holding him prisoner." The guard nodded and blew a very distinctive whistle that would bring other guards running. They lift Kyros out of the boat when a horse drawn carriage comes to collect him. Someone else steps outside of the carriage to meet them, a squat little man dressed in the dark green court colors of Lanataria. "Ah so these are the two?" He asks the guards who nod. "Well then, the queen extends her thanks to both of you and offers a modest sum of coin and in addition extends an invitation to join her tomorrow evening at the palace for a celebratory dinner." The dwarf holds out a small well crafted box to Candy. Upon opening it she finds it contains five neat rows of ten platinum coins, each worth ten of the more common gold coins. The box itself was probably worth another two or three platinum.

[Kuragari]

Candy smiles at the reward...and at Brand, happy to find that her street senses had been towards the Mercs instead. She gives him a sultry wink, but when she thinks about the invitation, she frowns as she asks "May I inquire to what time this dinner will be at? A friend of mine asked if I could help them with something tomorrow night, and he'd be upset if I have to cancel."

She makes sure her tone isn't conveying disinterest, merely concern for the feelings of her friend. Though she figured that Thomas would probably understand. Heck, Thomas had once told her about a time he'd had to make a choice like this, and went with meeting the noble lady. From what she could recall, he didn't regret the choice one bit.