The Kindom in Chaos....

[LadyRozes]

Anya

Anya looked up at the soft sound of Delbeath's voice. He had been so nice to her today, she really didnt know what to make of it. She didnt know what she had done to deserve this kindness but she wasnt about to let it pass. Shyly she looked at the ship.

"Aww it cant be that bad.. "Looking up, meeting his gaze. "Can it?" Clearing her throat she stood a little straighter trying not to show she was scared shitless about being on this boat and crossing over the water to get onto the boat.

Once on the boat the Duo met the captian. His fat greasy self was dining in his private quaters. "So..." He said from between his mouthful of turkey "Wot is it I can do fer Yooz?"

Anya grimaced at the site but she knew it would only be a matter of time, all they had to do was convince him to let on his ship and the y would succeed.

Looking up at Delbeath she played her cloak covering her outfit she played the docile woman, "Oh honey .. are you sure that we have to go on this ship.. surely there are others.." playing hoping that he would get the drift and play along.

 

[Third Magus]

Delbaeth blinked at Anya imperceptibly, then realised her strategy. For a moment, he was unsure if he could even attempt her deception, but then he recalled his bardic training, something he'd tried very hard to forget. It was strange how easily the bardic voice, the talent for deception and creating a new whole-spun persona, returned to him.

He laid an arm, slightly awkwardly, around Anya's shoulders.

"I don't know. This ship looks fine and seaworthy...", he turned and pretended to inspect other ships nearby, "Then again, if you don't like it, there are others..."

Mock-regretfully, he withdrew the bag of gold Liliana had given him, and shook it, making sure the captain could hear the jingle of coins.

 

[LadyRozes]

The greasy ole captain eyed the bag of coins. "IM sure you guys will have a mighty good time on my ship .. I still have a few cabins available..." His slimy gaze roams over Anya as he tears another piece off the turkey leg.... "are ye planning on purchasin some slaves then? I have a few at the bottom .. you could inspect them.."

 

[Third Magus]

Delbaeth's face unthinkingly changed to an incredulous scowl. This was a slave-ship?

"No", he began, " We are not interested in purchasing slaves and..."

He trailed off as an idea ran through his mind. Pretending to notice a lock of loose golden-brown hair on Anya's shoulder, he brushed it off and took advantage of the movement to whisper into her ear:

"Could you use the inspection to set the slaves free? Making it look like an accident... a chain that was too loose somewhere? I think if they could reach the shore, they'd be able to find shelter. I know it's not what we came here for but..."

He paused, helplessly, and eyed the greasy captain again.

"I hate slavery", he finished, in a fierce whisper.

 

[LadyRozes]

Anya leaned into his voice. acting as the she was doing a show of some public affection she turned into him, "Oh honey, but dont you want to see them at least.. maybe we wont have to travel all the way to the auction..."

The greasy captain romaned Anya's figure once more nad said, "perhaps you can travel and take a gander at me slaves at yer leasure.. I have a few hundred in the cargo bay... wot do ya say..."

Whispering into his ear. "I think that might cause too much attention.. lets wait untill we cross .. then .. we'll let them have control of the boat...Just let the captain know.. what do you think?"

 

[The GrandMage]

Relissa and the Half-Breed

It was a silent exchange of death threats.

Relissa was one of the King's most loyal bodyguards. She had watched him get sick, frail, weak. It was a horrible thing to see, because she knew it was not natural. But it was also not an attack she could protect him from.

Relissa was a powerful fighter, and had been taught by a great master. She had a good deal of weapons training, but had vowed to never take up arms against an opponent she could best with her body, alone. It was but one of several vows she held firm to, now that her training was complete.

And that was part of the silence between her and the half-breed. She had never before seen the bastard child of an elf and an ork, and had very little opinion for this one. Although her master had always schooled her to keep her emotions under control, the half-breed was awakening a deep anger she didn't know she had.

She might have been able to fight it back under control had she not seen the emotion mirrored in the creature's eyes. She was prepared to kill it, but noticed its stance before she attacked. It was subtle, but she could see that he, too, was no stranger to hand-to-hand combat, and did not know the depth of his skills. She thought it prudent, therefore, to wait for it to make the first move.

It was turning into a very long wait.

 

[Third Magus]

Delbaeth's anger swelled as he saw the slaver captain's beady eyes linger on Anya's body. For a moment, he wished they were in the royal elven courts, where he could have challenged the cur to a duel on the spot. Then his eye fell on Anya, still leaning lightly on his arm, and he wondered at the mental picture he'd painted: the royal princess' bodyguard, fighting a formal duel with a human slaver over the honour of a ragged street-urchin. Why would he even do such a thing?

Instead of attempting to answer this unanswerable question, he instead bent down to whisper to Anya again, pretending to be gathering her into a tight embrace. The apparantly affectionate gesture was at odd with his scowling face and cold eyes. Tensely conscious again of her warm, slender body pressed against his own, he breathed hastily:

"Very well. We'll release them at the end of the voyage".

He released Anya and returned his hard stare to the captain.

"We've come to buy passage, not slaves. Others will be coming with us".

He spilled the coins from the bag down on the deck in front of the captain and let him scramble for them, reluctant even to touch the man's hands long enough to place the money in them. He stared out at the docks, hoping to catch a glimpse of Liliana or her companions. He'd been reluctant to leave her alone even that long. Gods knew that even her own city had proved to be unsafe, these days.

 

[LadyRozes]

The greasy captain moves his slimy gaze fromone to the other .. and picks up the coins from the table..
"how many ... will join you .. you'll all have to share a cabin.."
"I only got two livable ones.. and ones mine.. " laughing he continued ".. the little lady can share mine.... if there is no room..."
eyeing Anya once more..

 

[Third Magus]

Delbaeth's patience was exhausted, the pressure of the captain's eyes on Anya enraging him.

"That will not be necessary, captain", he gritted, "I have another arrangement in mind. Our party is seven in all. One cabin is not enough. You will have to forfeit your own and sleep with the crew... or in the hold with the slaves, if you'd prefer".

He leaned over the table, staring coldly, daring the slaver to deny him, itching for the chance to just draw his sword and end the swine's life.

 

[LadyRozes]

Feeling frantic Anya put her hand on Delbeath's arm, and in an extra sugary voice she said, "Oh, dear we will manage in one cabin... I dont like the idea of putting out the captain." Trying to salvage the situation, Anya gave the captain her most convinsing smile.

"Its a large cabin yer getting, bigger dan mine. There are some folk already in der bot im sure yooz will not mind. There pretty folk like yer girlie here."

Quickly ANya said, "Lead the way," pressing into Delbeath'a arm, with her eyes , she promised.. later .. you can hurt him later.. then flashing her impish smile they folllowed the captain to the cabin, when he opened it , they saw Lily,Ivellios, and Relissa there already.


Now it was time to wait for Tenora and Yrismir... Hopefully they would make it in time... before the boat left the dock..

 

[Third Magus]

Delbaeth followed in stony silence, Anya still clinging with both hands on to his arm, as if afraid that if she let go he'd draw steel and follow through on his violent impulses. As the captain led the way to their cabin, Anya looked up, a mischevious smile darting across her face. Delbaeth wondered if she'd found the whole charade of a loving couple they'd been through funny. She found the strangest things that way sometimes.

In the cabin, they found the princess, their shepherd companion Ivellios, and Relissa. Nodding to the other two present, Delbaeth bowed to Liliana.

"Passage has been commissioned, highness"

He glanced down at Anya.

"You can let go of my arm now"

 

[LadyRozes]

giving Delbeath a teasing smile she said, "ohh you dont lke to pretend we're an item.. " she humphed exageratingly.. "fine I understand.. sniff sniff .. IF thats how you feel then .. we'll go our seperate ways..."dramatically stifling a few aligator tears.. and ran to Lily..

"Ohhhh Lily ... your guard .. he's such heart breaker.. " Anya peeks from Lily shoulder and flashes Delbeath her teasing impish smile and Lily puts an arm around Anya and then rolled her playing along... "there there.. there is always more fish in the sea.."
She could always count on Anya to get to cut the tension in a room.

She turned to look out of the porthole.. it was getting close to when they were going to set off.. she hoped Yrismir and Tenora would make it onto the ship in time.

 

[DarkThoughts01]

Ivellias dozed ona small bunk,seemingly completly oblivious to teh world,his rounded straw hat laid over his face and his crook against his shoulder,listening quietly to the exchange.He coudlnt help giving a small grin as he sat up,tipping the hat back and stretching his feet out."so where cna we get soemthiogn to eat on this floating hunk of rotten timber?"he asked,running a seemingly experienced hand along the wood of the hull,examining the poor workmanship.

 

[The GrandMage]

Relizza and Yrismir,...and,...ummm,...I guess they're done now, huh?

Relissa was in the ship, umm, watching over the Princess, as the King had asked her to. She gave a slight nod of the head to the Princess's guard as he entered, seemingly the only guard for the royal family who had managed to keep his ward safe. Although, judging by where they were now, and what they were doing, that could change at any minute.

Yrismir, on the other hand, was nowhere near as silent as Relissa was being. He was arguing with 'Tenora'. "Well, I still think it's a bad idea. Going off like this. It's not like there aren't plenty of people you could send in your place."

He looked over at her, concerned. "What if something happens to you?" He looked back up, over the docks. "Umm, speaking about questions I don't know the answer to,...which ship do you think they're on?"

 

[LadyRozes]

Tenora smiled and rolled her eyes. "I told you before, the Wise One herself told me that I should go. and the ship is that one." POinting to the dingy ship at the end of the docks. "It looks like it about to deport. We should head over there now." Darting towards the ship leaving Yrismir standing there.

After flirting with the sleezy captain, Tenora managed to convince the captain to let them on the ship. She was still doing her flirty act and turned to look over her shoulder flashing a smirk at Yrismir. She was happy to get him back for manhandling her earlier.

The captain knocked on the cabin door once more, and then opened it. When Tenora and Yrismir slipped inside, he shut it and said, "Dinner will be served in the captain's cabin" He said as he leered at Anya once more and then turned and left.

 

[Third Magus]

Delbaeth nodded to Yrismir and Tenora as they came in, and scowled as he saw the captain eyeing Anya once again. He wasn't sure why he felt so protective of the rogue -based on what he had seen she could more than look after herself. His gaze strayed to the princess. Perhaps it was just habit.

He nodded to Ivellias.

"Dinner soon then. There's your food. If you can stand to eat with that swine"

He retired to stand watchfully behind Liliana.

 

[The GrandMage]

Relissa, Yrismir, and a rat with two tails. (It's behind you!)

Yrismir was fuming. He waited until the captain was gone, and turned to Tenora. He lifted a finger, his arm shaking with rage as he shook it at her, uncontrolled anger on his face. He curled the finger back into his fist, and lowered it, taking two deep, calming breaths.

Once he was back down to a rational level, he looked at her with a look that would have had most of the lower circle exiling themselves from the Neutral Zone in shame. "Now I see why the Wise One decided you should go, Tenora. Flirting with swine like that, she was afraid your'd rub off on the orks and turn them back into a barbarian horde of smelling, stupid creatures with no futures."

He turned and wfolded his arms, moving to the far end of the room and leaning against the wall, busying himself with not looking at anyone.

Relissa stared blankly at the outburst, and frowned at the half-breed. She still disliked him, but luckilly their standstill at the tavern had been broken up, or they would have waited until one of them died from hunger.

She turned her attention back to the Princess. Ever-watching, ever-vigilant. She didn't like the idea of this ship any more than the other two guards, but she was thankful at least that the captain was a fat slob, and not a tough-and-ready fighter.

Killing him would be easy.

 

[Angelus]

As soon as Feris walked onto the ship he walked straight to the railing and leaned against it. He hated the fact that he was with this group and there was nothing that he could do about it. He had promised the leader of the group that he would stick around although he liked being by himself as he was the only person that he could count on. He looked over the edge of the ship and realized that he had actually had some moments of peace while he had been with this group and that brought a smile to his face.

He watched the group walk towards the cabins of the ship and wondered if he should join them. He shook his head and told himself no, that he would stay here outside as he would be where he most liked it and where he would be most at peace.

 

[DarkThoughts01]

Ivellias smiled and put away everything btu is staff as he bowed to teh assembled group."well,im off to eat,no doubt the fair here will sustain me"he grinned and walksed out,hjeading to teh mess where he tooka seat after grabbign a palte full of slop.

 

[LadyRozes]

Narration


Twenty minutes before the ship is due to depart, a cloaked figure steps off the gang planks, smiling as he is lost in the crowds around the port.

The Ship's captains smiles as he thinks of the great amount of profit he has made and hasnt even sold any slaves yet. This voyage is going to be a profitable one for him, he thinks to himself as he counts out the money in from his latest payment.


~*~

A few days go by and Anya spends most of it next to the bucket in the corner as she pukes the empty contents of her stomach. "uggggghhhhhhhhh"

Tenora walks over to Anya and says, "You know I have something that might clear that up .. but it might give you loos motions instead.. Its a potion I was working on .. I just havent gotten the formula perfected yet..."

"NO thank you, I would rather sped the day with my bucket then in the toilet. .....bloooooooooooooooooough" Anya says as she spits the contents further.

"i think I am going to spend the day outside in the fresh air...anyone care to join me?"

"I'll go with you," says Tenora. She heads out the door following Relissa who has become a shodow to every movement the princess makes.

~*~


Meanwhile the Captain tosses a few coins at the mercenaries that bought the other cabin. "Make it look real boys.."

~*~

A few hours later, Anya takes the potion Tenora offers and says, "better an hour on the toilet than anymore of this.."

After a few more hours Anya looking less green ventures out of hte cabin after four days of confinement. Thinking about their plans of freeing the slaves. Now that they were safely in the middle of nowhere Anya started to make her rounds around the ship, Making observations that would help them with the slave revolt.

Another day or two past and ANya shared her thoughts with with the other girls thinking that delbeath would share it with the rest, since the dinner hours were getting too rough to have any of the girls out of the cabin they had to ask the rest of the guys to bring their plates back.. "So I have been thinking, that greasy captain's been looking mighty cheery lately.. I say we have a little fun with him, and let loose his slaves. What do you think??"

Lily's eyes light up, she was looking forward to doing something fun. And she could count on ANya to want to work find something .. "I'm in," she says.

Before anyone else could answer the group heard the door bolt slide in and a cakle heard, "enjoy the rest of your trip ladies, your going be very profitable for me.. dont bother yelling for help, your companions are otherwise occupied. " They hear his laughter echoing down the hallway.

Anya starts banging on the door, frustrated when she gets no responce, she kicks the door. "stuipid Fat greesy monster!!!" Grumbles a bit then remembers, "aha!!! (insert verbal incantation) and then says. Open sesimy," then she stands back and says, Alright girls get ready....


~*~


Meanwhile the guys at the captains cabin noticed a few rough looking individuals assemble into the cabin and shut the door, as well as a few other more militantly dressed figures. It looked like they had been planning this a while..

"ello' Mates. You interested in having a go then?" The large one pulled out a small looking dagger... not very intimidating except that he looked like he was ready to throw it.. as the rest pulled out a couple of swords and an axes out. They looked like they were in the mood for a bar brawl, cept there wasnt a bar around and it definately was going to get messier than a brawl.


~*~

"SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIT" Anya cried out as she broke pushed the door down and saw that the half a dozen guards that were posted had been waiting for just that.

All of them looked ready to attack any second,

"Remeber Boys, I want them subdued not dammaged... at least not too damged that the can't heal from it." A voice seemed to call out.

"Oooooooahhh ... why does this always happen to me, " whined Lily.

Tenora readied her staff, she was just itchen for some action...

 

[The GrandMage]

Yrismir and Relissa: To Battle!

Yrismir had dumped his armor and sword in the cabin, carefully putting them away to guard from the sea air, and had left them and his boots there, spending most of his time by himself, gazing at the sea, or staring off into space as his mind was occupied elsewhere. He spoke little, even when spoken to, and had become withdrawn.

He smiled now, though. It was not a smile of happiness, but one of danger, like a fox set loose in the chicken coop. He watched as the men pulled weapons, the wiseass readying his dagger to throw. He stretched, and grinned at the man.

"You ready to die then? Let's go." He started forward, feeling the floor beneath his toes. The dagger was let loose, but Yrismir was ready. The blade pierced through flesh and bone as it went throughhis hand. He grasped the hilt, and pulled it free before he came up to the man, thrusting it had and deep into his chest. His eyes went wide in surprise.

Yrismir grinned hungrilly, and turned the stricken man to fall in line with the blow of an axe met for him. Releasing the hilt, he let the man fall under the blow as he turned into battle, feeling the rush of need to spill blood, take life, the bloodlust that ran through him as pain sent singals from his injured hand that were ignored by the greater need. The need to fight for life,...or death.


In another part of the ship, Relissa cocked her head to the side. Crowded area, six armed guards. Seemed Like fun. With elvish grace she slipped in front of the others, a hand rushing out to distract the nearby guard's attention before her leg cut his legs out from under him.

She wondered, momentarilly, before sweeping into the fray with fluid movements, how well trained these men were, and what they'd resort to in the confined space.

 

[Strolling Gecko]

Lan

The sound of clanking armor woke him. Lan stood up and peered out of the storeroom door. From what he could see, several heavily armed warriors, most likely mercs, were making thier way towards Lily and company's quarters. I guess it's time to make my move, he thought. He began to exit the storeroom, when he saw more mercs walking in the other direction, Lan ducked back into the storeroom unnoticed. There's got to be even more of them. I'm going to need to even the odds.

Lan looked all around the storeroom for an equalizer. Mostly, all he found was salted meat and brandy. But a medium sized iron box caught his eye. To his surprise, it wasn't locked.........Adn it contained a hold armory's worth of daggers. Now all he needed was an army to outfit. And he knew just where to get one.

He placed five of daggers in his belt. Lan learned many years ago that a back up weapon often saved your life. He tucked the box under his cloak and slipped out of the storeroom, moving quickly, quietly, virtually unseen and unheard covered by the sound of steel on steel and cries of war. He made his way down to the slave holding. It was locked, but this proved to be of little consequence as Lan simply smashed it with the iron box. The slaves began to stir inside. Lan opened the door and made his way into the holding area.

What Lan saw shocked him a bit. Most of the slaves were human and elf females. They weren't looking weak, slaves needed to be strong. And they looked healthy, which they needed to be. Sick, weak slaves never sold for very much.

"Who are you?" an elfish woman asked him.

"Someone who brings you freedom," and with that Lan dumped the box of daggers onto the floor. "Start arming yourself with these. If there aren't enough, grab whatever's at hand. We are going to fight for your lives."

There was a rush to the daggers. Fortunately, they were only four daggers short, so Lan shattered a stool and handed the last four slaves the legs to use as makeshift clubs. Lan looked at his makeshift band of warriors.

"The time to attack is right now," Lan placed his hand on the hilt of his long sword, "are you all prepared?"

"We'd rather fight and die then be concubines for orcs," said a firey, red headed human.

Lan looked her over, he could tell this girl had some fighting skills. He smiled. "Good. Let's go." Lan let out a war cry and chraged out of the holding area, the slaves cheering and yelling behind him. The ran up to the main deck.

"I want half of you to go that way," Lan pointed towards the dining hall, "the other half to spread out and cover us. Now fight hard and well, your lives depend on it."

Lan grabbed the red headed slave girl by the arm as the rest of the slaves rushed towards the dining hall, yelling out all sorts of profanities. "What's your name?"

"Jasmine."

"You're coming with me."

"All right." Lan and Jasmine rushed to the cabin. The six mercs Lan had seen earlier were having thier problems with the ladies. Anya had dropped one of them. One merc had slipped around to the flank in an attempt to get to Lily. Lan drew a dagger and hurled it at the merc nearing Lily. The dagger whistled through the air and pierced through the back of the merc's knee, causing him to fall to his knee, giving Jasmine an opportunity to pounce on the fallen merc and drive her dagger into his throat. Lan unsheathed his long sword ready to fight whoever was willing to step up to him. Lily would not fall again. Not after she saved his life.....

 

[Third Magus]

Close quarters fighting was vicious, cramped and bloody. There was no space for the formal, elegant maneuvers Delbaeth had learned in the courts of the elven king; only for jabs and grappling. He had one of the crewmen by his pigtail now and was repeatedly hammering his head into the cabin-wall; all his brooding tension and frustration over the last few days transformed into violent action.

Suddenly, his hold loosened as he remembered the important thing: his charge. Liliana. While he, Yrismir and the others were held here, the princess could be at the slavers' mercy. The stray, puzzling thought ran through his mind: Anya could be in danger. But why should that matter? He wasn't sworn to protect her and, anyway, she could look after herself.

Taking advantage of his opponent's distraction, the slaver he was grappling with made a sudden turn and punched him hard in the stomach.

Delbaeth fell backwards into the fray, but had time to bring his sword up in a fast sweep at his enemy's head. The blade sliced open the slaver's face and he clutched at it, fingers running with blood, as if trying to pull it back together by sheer force of will. Delbaeth, emotionless now, thrust his sword up to the hilt through the crewman's chest, pinning him against the wall. When the bodyguard withdrew the blade, he collapsed like a puppet with the strings cut.

Delbaeth now threw himself blindly into the fray, not even seeking to slay opponents, simply to cut himself a path to the door and the princess' cabin.

 

[DarkThoughts01]

Ivellias
Ivellias looked up from under hsi aht,having been dozing in a semi-drunk state,compliments to a jug of slipped in drink by one of the ships normal crew.
"Now whats all this about then?Im getting ready to get roaring drunk and pass out for the trip"
He smiled in a broad,almost alarmingly wide way,making one or two of the mercs step back.
"why cant we all be friends?come on ive got some drink here to share."
The mercs drew their weapons as he tipped up his straw hat,smiling wildly.
See?now this i can handle.no scarey,mythical drow or hulking ogres and orks,nothing btu a bunhc of ne'er do-wells He thought to himself as one of the mercs charged him.His staff flew out,and the mercs eyes widened as his body weight carried him on to the shepherd crook suddenly at groin level.
"n..no Fair!"the man squeaked.
"'course not!nothing fair in love and war and all that,you understand dont you?"with that he pulled a sturdy dagger out of the mercs belt and bopped him unconcsious,shifting his staff and the dagger to both hands for a moment to puick up the jug and fling it Hard into teh fac eof another merc.
"Cheers!"he chuckled,then focused on teh merc stepping up to him,using the staff to ward off attacks and the dagger to make quick thrusts and stabs,laughing occasionally and jeering the mercs that came at him.

 

[The GrandMage]

Yrismir

Delbaeth was throwing himself into the fight, looking very determined to get somewhere. Suddenly, it dawned on him. The princess! The Wise One!

For the first time in his relatively long life, the Wise One might actually be in danger. He heard a high-pitched wail of pain and terror from nearby. He slammed back into what he was doing. A man had tried to attack him, and he found himself holding the attacker's arm at an odd angle. Broken bone was ripped out of flesh. With a quick shove, Yrismir imbedded the sharp edge of the broken arm into the man's torso, making him give another wail of pain. Taking the sword from him, as he would no longer be needing it, he kicked the injured man out of his way and started towards the door, hacking his way through a more reluctant to face him enemy force.