Open Chronicles Its the principle of it!

[Heskan]

In The Righteous Goat Tavern, located in the outer city of Alliria was Heskan Noscales. He sat by himself in the back corner of the tavern idly spinning a wooden spoon in a bowl of lukewarm porridge. He had spent almost all of his coin fleeing here from his old monastery in the Taagi Baar Steppes, and just now he was spinning a spoon in the last of it.

"I see they serve the same slop all over Arethil." He muttered to himself, Heskan slowly raised his head up looking all over the tavern for something he could do. Maybe he could put his skills to the test and slay a beast, or better yet save a princess from a callous evil dragon. Those always happened in the stories the old Komodi told him when he was a boy. He picked up his bowl and approached the barkeep. He placed the bowl on the bar and beckoned the barkeep over.

"Excuse me sir, I was wondering where a fine warrior such as myself could find work? Maybe your princess was captured and sent to another castle by an evil beast of sorts."

The barkeep blinked and blinked again waiting for Heskan to smile or laugh, but when the man with the strange dragon scale tattoos did neither of those things he sighed and muttered.

"Why do always the crazy ones always come here, ok how about this...there is a savage beast outside causing a ruckus with some of my regulars, how about you go out there and make sure that they settle down mhm?"

Heskan smiled and pounded the bar in excitement. This was what he was talking about, no man or beast could stand in the way of an Ioth Ir and their target. He tightened his leather bracers and headed out toward the door and sure enough, he heard a large commotion coming from out front.

"Don't you worry sir!, I'll take care of this!"

He pushed the doors open and slowly stepped out turning his head the loud disturbance.

 

[Aeyliea]

A ruckus was not a very precise way to describe what was going on outside.

The woman stood in front of a pair of men seated on the steps outside, fists on her hips and eyes flashing with anger. The severe expression on her face was certainly heightened a great deal by the choice of decor she wore - the skull of an crow with feathers resting like a kind of crown on her head, and her long, silvery white hair woven with the bones and feathers of birds until it looked like a rather obscene headdress of some kind. Her face was finely feature, definitely bearing the markers of the plains and savannahs where she was, in fact, born. She cut a rather pretty figure, with figure hugging leather jerkin and pants dyed in shades of gold, black, and green.

"Just go away, will ya, ya daft cunt?" This was from the taller of the two. Both looked like the sort of men it would be unwise to tussle with, the crooked noses of professional brawlers, sunken knuckles of men that knew how to fight with their fists. Not exactly the brightest bunch, either. At least the one on the left, the shorter of the two, who was thumbing a big, heavy bladed knife at his waist. His thoughts were plain enough to read.

"When my money you have paid me, leave I shall," she replied in a level voice, thickly accented common understandable, if only just. She shook a finger in the face of the tall one. "A gold crown and ten silvers, agreed upon price it was."

The nameless bloke looked her up and down, and barked a short laugh. "Y'ain't worth a handful of coppers," he said, shaking his head. "Boss said 'e'd pay ya when he was ready, din't he? Why don't ya just trundle that fine ass o'yers back down to your little office an' go do whatever it is you big, bad mercs do when yer not squeezin' people fer money."

"Little piglets like you, I be gutting," she said icily. She too, was fingering knife at her hip, an equally heavy affair. It was the long hilt of a two-handed sword sticking over her shoulder that was really worrying. Neither of the bruisers seemed the least bit concerned by it or the woman that was in front of them. "Your boss, he knew the deal," she added.

"Boss makes the rules, not some trumped up wench with a big bit o' metal on her back," the tall one aid. The shorter, uglier one stood up, gripping one balled fist with his other hand, and squeezing to a chorus of crackling knuckles.

"Should I deal with 'er, Blade?" the ugly one asked, eyeing her up and down. The woman didn't flinch or back down, if anything seeming more ready to deal with the two.

"Try me," she said. There was a predatory gleam in her eyes.

 

[Heskan]

Heskan stepped out and eyed his surroundings, he spotted three humans in a heated discussion two heavier and large men and a silver-haired woman carrying a very large sword but no monster. The men were trying to intimidate the woman, the monster would have to wait Heskan had to make himself part of this ruckus.

"Excuse me!"

Heskan slowly approached the men, his gray eyes scanned both men. One was ugly, one was tall and less ugly but still pretty gross to look at, and both had crooked noses and sunken knuckles. Amateurs Heskan thought these men had no training when fighting hand to hand, they didn't guard their faces and took poor care of their bodies. At a closer look, the woman didn't seem that she needed much help. She had the body of a warrior and dressed like one. Her confidence and body language told him that this would be over before the men even drew their blades.

"I couldn't help, but overhear that you owed money to this lady?"

He stepped in between the men and the woman, everything in his body screamed to take these thugs down before they could think about trying anything, but he had to be patient and ignore that voice in the back of his head. He wasn't a killer any more and these men didn't do anything to deserve death at his hand....not yet anyway.

 

[Aeyliea]

The enforcer's head's snapped to take in the new challenger, and the one named Blade - presumably because he was as slender as one - spit on the ground, scowled and said: "You have no business gettin' involved in this, friend."

The woman looked at the newcomer with her eyes the color of distant storms on a horizon, blue-gray and utterly inscrutable. "A friendly conversation we are having," she said in her thick accent. "Strictly a matter of business."

The larger of the two took to his feet, and stood inches away from the newcomer, even though he was not as tall. "Private biz'nss, pal. Prolly best to move along 'fore something happens." To him, to her, to the street. It was delivered in the tones of someone accustomed to making things happen, usually for a price and for someone else not paying up.

Funny how, when the situation was reversed, it wasn't him in the wrong.

"Boss don't give a fig about none o' that. If you want t'speak to 'im, y'know how. How's about the pair of you just walk away."

 

[Heskan]

The man was inches from Heskan trying to intimidate him surly. This was not the time for bravado he thought clearer heads must prevail. He truly wanted to help this woman now, these men were holding out and didn't intend on paying her. Which was a truly wrong and an unjust thing to do.

"Nothing will happen, because you don't have the money right?"

Heskan patted the large man on the shoulder and looked back toward the woman and smiled

"If you would allow me too, I would like to accompany you until you get your payment."

He turned back toward the large man inches from his face and once again patted his shoulder smiling from ear to ear. He truly wasn't trying to mock this large man, he just didn't want to fight him if he didn't have to. Even though everything in Heskan's body was screaming to fight, but he ignored this impulse surely these men were sane and rational creatures.

"Sorry about that friend, where is your boss? We can just talk to him instead"

 

[Aeyliea]

"Boss ain't got time to talk t'ya or the wench," the ugly one said. Everything about the big bruiser said he did not care one way or the other if he fought or not; he was getting paid either way. He did look at the offending hand that had touched him, clearly implying by eyes alone that he was the one that did the touching.

"If your honor it will assuage," the woman said in her thickly accented common, "then as you wish. These ruffians, they have no coin. Enforcers only are they." She fixed both with a fake smile, all teeth and no mirth.

"If'n ya really want t'see the boss, though..." the thug said, a twisted grin on his face. Blade was the one that finished for him, though.

"...then you ain't going to be standing when you do."

 

[Heskan]

"Fine, this is your fault now."

And just like that Heskans friendly demeanor vanished from his face. As his minded wandered back to a moment of his childhood when he was only a boy and hadn't yet earned his tattoos. He held a knife to a wounded and beaten bandits throat at the monastery. Brother Baylin stood behind him. The old Komodi whispered in his ear as his hand trembled.

"This man is a wicked being. He lives on the misery of others, sunken knuckle, scars and a crooked nose he is so proud to show off his brutality. He loves that he is stronger than those that he preys on, he probably wasn't scared of anything until now. Look at him Heskan, look at the fear in his eyes that is your doing"

He quickly seized the man in front of him by both of his shoulders squeezing as hard he could as he brought his knee crashing toward the man's groin.

 

[Aeyliea]

It was impossible. The thick man took that grip without any alteration to his expression, and when Heskan tried to drive a knee into his groin, he effortlessly brought a hand down to counter the blow. The solid snack of knee and palm echoed for a moment. Turned out the nameless thug was made almost entirely of muscle, not a scrap of fat on him.

He grinned at Heskan. "Please, pal," he said in a friendly voice as false anything else he said. Surprisingly, the big man made no other move. "We c'n try this again, an' pretend ya dint do that. Otherwise, I gonna break ya like a wooden board." The calm with which the thug delivered the pronouncement was disconcerting.

"You know I will not desist until your boss pays what he owes." She was still defiant, her eyes locked on Blade. It was clear that these men were not run of the mill street toughs. If there had ever been any doubt, then the heavy one shaking Heskan off like he was water disabused the notion rather quickly.

 

[Heskan]

Heskan quickly hopped away shaking his knee trying to get the stinging sensation out of his leg gritting his teeth in anger.

"Stupid boy, stupid, stupid boy"

Heskan let out an audible frustrated growl punching his thigh on the leg that was blocked by the enormous man. He could feel the disappoint of brother Baylin wherever he was. This was not going to be as easy as he thought, the world was much bigger than the Silver Wind monastery led him to believe. The title Ioth Ir was not the pinnacle of hand to hand combat something Heskan was learning first hand right now.

"Stop your childish games now and take this devilish man out of existence!"

"SHUT UP!"

Heskan yelled toward the man as he ripped off his tunic revealing his bare chest and the dragon scale tattoos that covered his body from his neck down his body. This was not going his way, the monks lied, this man lied, the boss lied and Heskan was tired of it. No more games, no more half-hearted attempts at peace. He was not as strong as he thought he was and that angered him.

"WE ARE FIGHTING! AND I'M GOING TO KILL YOU AND GIVE THIS WOMAN HER HARD EARNED MONEY!"

Heskan quickly assumed the white lion claw primary stance. He squared his legs to his shoulders and extended both his arms outward his finger forming claws. He took a deep breath channeling his inner ki with all the rage and frustration he was feeling, transferring the furious rage he felt into his fists. The bones in his hands grew harder and denser as his skin turned hard as stone.

He dashed forward, cocking his right hand back aiming a punch toward the man's big ugly face but that was just a ploy. A diversion setting up the real attack. He jetted out his land hand still in the claw towards the man's groin again.

 

[Aeyliea]

The bloke read his eyes, but this time was not quick enough to block the blow. His eyes screwed up into his head for a moment, a grunt escaping his lips before he dropped to his knees.

The other fellow, Blade, slammed up against the side of the building, quickly rolling to the side. He rubbed his wrist; when Heskan struck again, he had tried to club the man senseless with a rounded wooden cudgel. That lay on the ground, now, kicked from his hand by the woman.

"Shouldn'a done that," he growled, then put his fingers in his mouth and let loose a shrill whistle.

Aeyliea, face a cold mask devoid of any emotion,slithered forward. The tall one moved to defend himself, and managed to acquit himself well, turning a swift punch aside and using a knee to knock a kick away. She slid around a well placed blow, and drove an elbow in under his sternum.

The tough grunted, staggered back. Then straightened, spitting to one side.

As half a dozen men, most from inside the establishment, came out. They had a sameness to them, the kind of ruffian you expected in gangs.

"Don't kill 'em. They wanna see the boss," he laughed, and it was harsh.