All stories, small or grand, have a beginning. This tale's true beginning was some years priveous, when the young Viscount of the city state Brixia took ill and died, not 3 years after his rule began. With no heirs of his own, the position was past to his younger brother. A vile and lazy man, the new Viscount allowed his greed to guide him. He increased taxes, made laws suggested by other nobles in his city to keep the rising elf and dwarf populations from achieving the same social standards as the clearly superior human nobility. With the proper pay offs, criminals operated mostly unmolested in Brixia.

Many hoped that once the Viscount died, the city would be able to return to the way it had been, but that hope was in vain.

During his reign, the Viscount sired a son, who grew to be more intelligent and devious than his father. Where the old man had made laws out of laziness and disinterest, his son, Jafallo Trastead saw opportunities to increase his wealth while cementing his power over the pitiful people his father ruled. When Jafallo came of age, his father also suddenly took ill like his brother had so long ago and died, though few believed this illness had been natural. Talking his place of power, Viscount Trastead began a iron handed rule of Brixia and surrounding lands. Segregation among the races became the norm. Crime increased further, which seemed to call foul things like goblins to the city, soon making a place for themselves in the criminal element.

Now, 10 years after Trastead began his rule, some people have had enough. Talks of rebellion are whispered behind closed doors, though knowing who to trust is hard. Old hatreds between races rekindle under the Viscount"s rule and he has spies everywhere. Who is there to trust? And who has the will to stand up to make a change?

 

Character Sheets:

Name:

Gender:

Race:

Appearance:

History:

Weapons:

 

My characters

 

Character Sheets:

Name: Ander

Age: 20

Gender: Male

Race: half human, half dark elf

Appearance: Short by human standards. Athletic build. Dark grey skin and bright blue eyes. Messy white hair that sometimes gets in his eyes. Usually wears simple shirt and baggy pants in earth tones. Has a larger monk tunic he wears when he doesn't want to be harassed. Though he prefers to be bare foot, he keeps a pair of wood sandals around.

History: Left an orphan outside a monastery near Brixia, Ander was dealt two bad cards by life. First, he was a half breed of human and elf, meaning despised by both. Second, the elf who had been his parent had been a dark elf. Only the intervention of another half breed monk prevented Ander from a life of isolation or worse. Using Brixia as the grounds, Ander's teacher taught him all the survival techniques he had learned before becoming a monk from how to move through a city like a monkey in the trees to developing a thick skin to ignore what the small minded said about him. Ander was also taught how to the simple movement forms the monks used as a basis for fighting with no weapons. In recent years, his home has been hit by attacks from local bandits. Many monks, trying to talk it out, were killed. His master, one of the casualties, spoke his suspicion of Viscount Trastead's hand in the attack before he died. Armed with this, Ander feels the shift of winds as he leaves the monastery to assume a new place in Brixia.

Weapons: None.

 

Character Sheets:

Name: Dral Grindstone

Gender: Male

Race: Dwarf

Appearance: short and stocky. Most of his face is obscured behind a long, braided beard that is brown with veins of grey running through it. A crooked nose peaks put above the beard, as does one keen, dark brown eye. Where the other should be is covered by an eyepatch. Wears a mix of leather and chain mail common among dwarves along with an iron helm to cover his shaved bald head.

History: The co-owner of a jewelry store, Dral Grindstone is kept away from the customers as much as possible. It is well known that he hates all humans, hobbits and elves with a more powerful version given over to goblins. Those who know Dral don't pay this too much mind as he also seems to hate every dwarf he lays his eye on. Some say that before he became a jeweler, he had fought in several wars in his younger days, though any who ask are cussed out and told to mind their own bees wax. Now a days, with more problems coming from the Viscount, Dral has been becoming less vocal and more quite. Like the calm before the storm.

Weapons: crossbow and one handed ax.

Ander slowly released removed his arm from the dwarf merchant's neck.

"Smart move, boy." The voice in his ear said.

The merchant slumped, breathing heavily for a moment. He then looked up with fire in his eyes and raised a fist to strike Ander.

"Not on your life, Thro Hammerskald." Ander's capter bellowed. "Just get your miserable behind out of here and keep your trap shut about this."

Thro gave the person with an ax to Ander's throat a look with a little fear in it.

"But, uncle, this one's a-"

"Did I stutter or something, boy? Get out of here or I'll forget we're kin."

The merchant swallowed then scurried out of the alley.

"Now, then, what has that snot nosed punk done this time?"

Ander took several deep breaths. His hand then shot up in a blur and grabbed onto the ax just under where the ax head attached to the handle. From the grip on his neck, he doubted he could win a strength match with his assailant, but he wasn't planing on that. His other hand shot over his head and grabbed hold of his opponent's clothes in the shoulder area. With his two hand holds, he yanked with all his strength, sending the other person over his shoulder and into the wall. His opponent's arm around his neck went lax as the whole thing happened. With this opening, Ander pulled out and rolled away, managing to take the ax with him. He got up to his feet to see that his opponent was already in a crouch likewise.

He was a dwarf, as Ander suspected, but he looked a bit older than the other, with streaks of grey running through his bread. Only one dark brown eye glared at him. Where the other eye should have been was covered by an eye patch.

Ander had been taught how to size up an opponent, because if you couldn't, your chances for survival decreased. This dwarf knew this stuff. He was ready for Ander's next move.

"Well, this is going to be difficult." He thought grimly.

Joker crouched on a rooftop not too far away from her home. Her suspicions were confirmed when she saw guards surrounding the small building.

"Damn it...." she watched as they ransacked her home throwing out anything that looked useful before setting fire to the place. "So they know im nearby... heh some warning" she jumped down to be in between two larger buildings. Joker took off running back into town. Once in the presence of people she checked her scarf and made her way through the thinning crowd.

"This is not good....." she sighed and leaned against a stone building watching people, two figures in the shadow if a shop. Joker, naturally curious decided to check it out. Upon closer inspection from a roof top she discovered the dark elf from before and a very irritated looking dwarf. Joker sat on the roof getting comfortable to watch the confrontation.

"Well?" The one eyed dwarf growled. "You got da weapon, lad. What ya gonna do with it?"

Ander looked at the ax in his hand then dropped it.

"Nothing." He answered. "I don't have a quarrel with you."

The dwarf snorted.

"And ya think having a quarrel with my kin doesn't concern me?"

"I just needed the names of the elves who ruined his wine."

The lone dark eye narrowed.

"And why would you want to know about them?"

"The one they were helping might have something of interest to me."

The dwarf have a low chuckle.

"So, you want to get something from Joker, eh? Good luck with that."

"At least I have a name for her." Ander thought.

"From what I've seen, I'll need it." He said aloud. "What's her angle? Likes hoarding secrets?"

"More like self righteous assurance that what ever she does, it's all hunky dory cause it's for her pointy ear, flower pickin' people."

"Met her have you?"

"One or twice, us having similar interests and all. Though it usually just ends in shoutin'."

"What? You both thieves?"

The dwarf laughed.

"You might say that. We want to steal the Viscount's power out from under him."

There was a moment of silence.

"Grand goal." Ander observed. "Dangerous to just tell people."

"Well, you ain't just people, dark elf." The dwarf spat.

His voice got low and a dangerous tone entered it.

"Cause you want the exact same thing, or my name ain't Dral Grindstone."

Joker put her hand over her mouth to stifle her giggle.

"God dral is an idiot..." she thought waiting to see if he would give up the names.

"He better now im watching... maybe hes not as good as he used to be" she sighed resting her chin on her hand.

"Hes not even attacking the elf for being a twit... maybe hes going to therapy?" She smiled at the thought and looked over at the horizon, the sun was starting to sink and the fire from her house was becoming more visible. Joker shook her head and looked back down at the men.

There was silence between Ander and Dral for a bit.

"Good deduction." Ander admitted, keeping his eyes riveted on the one eyed dwarf. "The question is how did you come to it?"

"You think you are an unknown in this city?" Dral demanded. "Quiet a few people knew about the dark elf sightings in the city over the last 10 years or so. Only a few of those knew that there was also a half and halfer liven with monk place outside the city. Putting those two things together wasn't har-"

Dral cut himself off as he heard a thudding noise. It was a repeating pattern that echoed a few more times before fading.

"We got us an eavesdropper." Dral whispered.

"Oh, I thought the person above us was one of yours." Ander said quietly back.

Dral gave him a scathing look.

"Right! Dwarves on rooftops, that makes sense. No, only one thing fits."

He raised his voice to call up to the roof.

"You gonna sit up there all day, knife-ears?"

She smirked and dropped down, "thought you were losing your touch old dwarf". Joker leaned against a wall and looked over the two in front of her.

"So you got some messed up heritage" she commented looking over at Ander. She hadnt realized he was half human until Dral mentioned it, but now that he had it was pretty obvious. She looked back over at the glowing light in the sky then at the men.

"Oh and by the way the you would have no interest in the letter."

"You were the one who was seen, girl." Dral spat. "Both by the guards before and this whelp now. And you think I'm slipping?"

Ander grinned at Joker.

"I know, right." He said. "Two evil races having a kid together sure makes for an interesting time."

He regarded Joker for a moment before continuing.

"Considering I miss judged you before, I'll accept you word on that."

"Oh, really?" Dral scoffed. "Your just gonna let it go? Nothing's changed, lad."

"Enough has." Ander retorted calmly, pulling back his hood. "The reason why is just as important as how someone does something. Though I didn't know any resistance was this organized and this bold."

"Well he wouldnt be able to look at even if he wanted to" she said shrugging looking over at Dral.

"I suspect its either a pile of ashes or in the hands of the viscount by now." Joker took a knife from her belt playing with it absentmindedly.

"But nevermind that the letter is no longer what concerns me" She looked at Ander trying to decide his true motive in getting involved in all of this. Joker put her knife away,

"the viscount's nobles are going to more extreme measures to rid of us"

"You'd think they'd go after the goblins first." Dral grumbled. "They're the vermin 'round here."

"But controllable vermin." Ander pointed. "Most goblins don't have the brains for high aspirations. As for the rest of us, it was only a matter of time. What happened at my monastery is happening else where, at estates held by nonhuman land owners, any nomadic tribes that pass by. Removing close by outside backing, leaving you here in the city kind of on your own."

"Removing yourself from the equation, are ya, laddie?" Dral asked sourly as he finally walked over and got his ax.

He looked at it a moment, cleaned it with his sleeve, and finally stuck it in his belt.

"Sorry, not use to being considered part of something." Ander replied. "Even in the monastery, it was usually just me."

A thought occurred to him as he turned to look at Joker.

"Any lives lost because of the fire?"

"I agree the goblins are not a threat to the viscount, more of a public nuisance." She looked down at her knife, "no it wasnt our meeting place that burned no one was inside" she said.

"But the warning is clearly there" Joker clenched her free hand.

"Thus is going to turn real serious fast. Dral they know who I am... none of the elves are safe anymore" she put her knife away and looked at the dwarf.

"With how careful ive been its apparent he has gotten even more powerful" she adjusted her scarf to cover more of her face.

"It's not like the direct method is a real option right now." Dral snorted. "As much as I'd love to just put my ax through that snot nosed excuse for a ruler, we don't have near the man power to do it. The other humans, especially the nobles are behind him. That's a lot of man power and money to contend with."

"Then we hit him where he is weak, not where he is strong." Ander put in. "He takes kick backs from the gangs and some aren't as discriminate about there targets as some."

Ander rubbed his cheek with a hand.

"If only we had something to use as a wedge between him and the other human nobles."

Joker thought this over for a minute before speaking,

"what if we could get support of the nobles. I know it wont happen out of the goodness of their hearts" She smirked a little at the thought, "what if we had.... a bargaining tool?" she offered. "That way the viscount will be low on numbers and funding, with the noble's money we could overtake his rule in no time." She looked around the area that was visible to them from the small corner of town, most everyone had gone home.

"We should find a place to continue this talk guards will be here soon to in force curfew."

"Ah, an issue I had been putting off." Ander said, nodding sagely. "Where to get lodging."

Dral looked from Ander to Joker and back.

"You elves are hopeless." He muttered. "Come on! I got a place fore us to go. Follow me."

The old dwarf stomped to the edge of the alley they were in. Ander replaced his hood before leaning closer to Joker.

"As two people who don't really trust each other, how well can we trust the dwarf?" He asked on a whisper.

"he may be grumpy but he's no traitor. He has helped me before, besides he owes me one" She grinned and followed the dwarf down the alley way.

"So whats this hideout of yours?" she asked upon catching up to the dwarf. She hid her uneasiness of the much too quiet night with teasing the dwarf. "please dont tell me its the same one the guards discovered within two hours of you establishing it, i mean come on everyone has their weak points but that was just pitiful. Or it could just be a sign over the growth of the viscounts over powered guards..." she took that into account for a moment then shook her head. "but seriously where is this place?"

"I meant them to find that one." Dral grumbled. "Got ta toss 'em a bone every once in a while, or they get really nasty."

With Ander right behind Joker, Dral trudged on, using side streets as much as he could. Ander squinted a little. He had good normal vision and excellent night vision, but the twilight hours made it a little hard to focus on which one he needed. He had enough practice to ensure he wasn't half blind, but it was still annoying.

"I'd rather not use most of the normal safe houses." The old dwarf continued. "While I see you two tall folk might be useful, other dwarves I work with might not even concede that, and they also run the safe houses."

He fell silent for a moment, then worked his jaw for a moment.

"There is a little place near the market gate I've got. It ain't connected to the others and I got several fronts between me and the name on the papers. But, if you breath a word about this place, I will be hacking you down to my size."

Ander smirked. What did the old dwarf want that hidden?

"You got it." He said aloud.

Joker laughed and rolled her eyes, "sure sure". She followed Dral only half listening to him carrying on about dwarves even grumpier than he.

"Yeah ok top secret stuff" She sighed, "its way too late in the day to be threatened by a dwarf" she thought to herself. As they walked she thought of possible method of incentive for the nobles. Taking their money would be pointless they could just steal more from the civilians, there is no way to take away their power, it would have to be something important, so important it couldn't be replaced. She mulled this over silently

"hey Dral, if you could choose one thing that would be most important to you what would be?" she asked seemingly out of no where trying to get a grasp on what a noble would value above all else.

"You already said it." Dral answered. "Choice. The ability to make your own decisions and live with what happens after, good or bad. The bloody Vicount has been talking that from people for a long time. That has to change."

Ander studied some of the people they past.

"No, he only took away options, not the ability to choose." He said, some what absentmindedly. "There is always a choice, though all the options can stink."

Dral snorted.

"So you are a philosopher now, eh?" He derisively asked.

"No, but there were plenty of them were I grew up."

The old dwarf scoffed again, but didn't press the point. A moment later, he turned down an alley and took some stairs down to a basement door. The door was heavy and had a couple of locks on it. Dral pulled a chain around his neck which bored key on it and began unlocking the door.

"That didnt help" Joker mummbled to herself watching Dral unlock the doors.

"There is a difference between making all the options stink, and the option you want chosen most desirable out of the two" she said absent mindedly. "I was trying to think of something to use against the nobles, but I cant think of anything to take away that they cant just replace." She sighed in frustration. Looking behind herself making sure mo one was following them, now would not be the best time to get caught out.

"Not something material, no." Ander agreed. "Though if we take something that money can't be used to replace, such as their peace of mind, their sense of being above the lives of those in the lower social circles, then we might have something."

He grinned slightly.

"It would be fun if we could convence the nobles that they were next after the Viscount dealt with the other races."

"I don't doubt that's what the man has in mind." Dral said over his shoulder. "Oh, he'll be more careful about it and smile as he does it, but I'd bet he already has it in mind."

The last lock was undone and Dral opened the door.

"Come in, but don't touch the equipment."

Ander looked inside and raised his eyebrows when he saw what looked like a doctor's examining room. There were bottles of chemicals on a set of shelves. Clean, gleaming instruments in glass cupboard.

"Whose clinc?" The half breed asked.

"Mine." Dral growled. "Don't dawdle."

Joker looked around then sat on the examination table, "eh... seen creepier, anyways the peace of mind idea sounded good, how could we go about taking that?" she swung her legs a little off of the edge of the seat. She looked down at them thinking,

"hey idea.... " she said not really liking her own idea but figured it would be the most effective one. Joker looked back up at the two hoping they had another idea they could interrupt her with. "unless either of you have an idea....?" She asked hopefully.

Ander gave a couple of bottles of chemicals a look. They had official names, but small notes were stuck on with a more straightforward classification on them written in block lettering.

"'Better pain killer.'" he read aloud. "'Knock out.'"

"You learn doctoring on the battlefield, and you tell me how easy it is to call out for 'Levobupivacaine hydrochloride' when your elbow deep in someone's guts." Dral growled.

"You're a doctor?" Ander asked, puzzled. "Then why hide your office?"

"For personal reasons." the old dwarf said flatly, his voice positively radiating with the message of 'leave it alone.' "Besides, the girl needs suggestions."

Ander shrugged and left the drug shelves.

"We could try to find evidence that the Viscount is plotting against them, if it exists." he suggested. "Or invent it, if necessary."

"And if they see through it, we are kicked back to some where behind square one." Dral grumbled. "Best to show 'em that without us, there nice little worlds would go bye bye. I'd like to see them get ready for war with out dwarf smiths to make and fix their weapons and armor."

"Takes time and more likeable people than us." Ander replied.

He gazed at Joker.

"You had a thought?"

Joker was deep in thought staring at the wall, finally pulled out of her daze by Ander's questions. "yeah....your not gonna like it" she said quietly laying back onto the table sighing. "damn I wish I better idea..." she looked over at the bottles and tools. "if we really want to get their attention, to make them take us seriously to tell them we are not screwing around here we have to do something drastic" Joker sat up and looked at the two. " as much as I hate to say it, we need to have a living form of blackmail, a loved one, family preferably". She studied their faces waiting for a reaction of agreement or to be hit in the head with Dral's axe.

Dral regarded Joker coldly, though Ander looked to be considering the option.

"It is certainly a vulnerable spot." The half dark elf said. "Though, we'd have to pick targets carefully. Some nobles don't seem to care about relatives too much."

Dral transferred his glare to Ander.

"You really considering this?" He demanded.

"Yes, because we don't have a lot of options. Kidnaping does pose some big risks because we have would have to keep our captive alive, but secure. We loss them, we are in a deeper hole with out a ladder out. The main question is who is a good target. We won't be able to get many 'blackmail material', so we need to be choosy."

"like i said Dral, unless you have a better idea" she looked at him, "anything...?" she hated herself for the idea, this rebellion was supposed to stop terror and corruption not contribute to it. But in her eyes, it appeared to be the only way considering the circumstances of their situation. Her mind wandered to the noble that happened to be the viscount's right hand man. She knew he had a daughter, she rubbed the back of her neck under her scarf feeling stressed.

"Not yet, but there is a little time." Ander admitted. "We need to work up the details of any plan, so we can consider all angles."

"Well, I ain't getting involved with a kidnappin'." Dral declared firmly. "You want help with something else, fine. But not that."

Ander took of his over robe, folded it up and placed on a counter, along with his solo remaining sandal.

"Then we'd better get thinking, then." He said before hoisting himself up to sit on the counter.

A smile twisted his lips.

"Do any of the nobles have any...idealistic children or siblings?"