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.

As he made his way through the crowd, Ander grabbed bits and pieces he needed for the plan forming in his head from the crowd. A large, floppy hat here, a bottle of cheap wine there. He pulled back his hood and rammed the hat down fast so no one saw his white hair. He took a swig of the wine, swirled it around in his mouth, then spat it out over his robes, spilling a little more on himself for effect.

He then stumbled out of the crowd and into one of the guard's holding Joker, slurring a few curses at his slipped drink, no on the guard.

"What the hells?" The dumber guard said asked.

Anymore reaction from the guard was interrupted by Ander's fist striking his windpipe. Ander then pushed the choking man off Joker and tried to smash the wine bottle on the head of the other guard.

The brighter guard turned around quickly to see his comrade go down, he took his sword from his belt to knock the bottle from Ander's hand.  He didn't think for a minute to help him instead pulled the half-conscious Joker to her feet by her hair.

"Take one move drunkard and shes dead" He snarled daring the man to make a move. He wasn't sure how this elf was related to him but he wasn't about to lose the most valuable piece of leverage in stopping the rebellions for good. 

"Won't matter to you." Ander hissed, low and menacing.

He usually didn't use cheap scare tactics like this, but he had to work on the fly. While the guard's sword was out, it was still slightly away from Joker from bashing the wine bottle away. The kind of opening Ander could use if he played it right. He whipped off his stolen hat and gave the guard a nasty grin.

"You are already dead." He finished, making his voice sound snake like.

The guard stalled for a moment, but that was all Ander needed. Both his hands shot out, first knocking the sword arm out, then grabbing hold. He yanked the arm down savagely as his knee came up at the same time. There was a sickening snapping sound from the guard's arm and he yelled in pain. Ander let go of the broken arm and wrapped one hand around the back of the guard's head. Like before, he brought it down to meet his elbow coming up. With a solid smacking sound, the guard went over backwards.

Knowing there wouldn't be too much time before more guards swarmed, Ander picked up Joker and half carry, half dragged her in the direction of some back alleys.

"I guess now would be a bad time to mention that getting out of this is your part." He murmured to Joker as he tried to get her away.

Joker sighed, "seriously...?" she thought to herself as she looked around trying to make out the blurry shapes of her surroundings. "stick to the alleyways" she said quietly. "head south until you come to the second to last building in town." Joker blinked a few times trying to clear her head.

"HEY! get back here!!" The brighter guard scrambled to his feet and ran after them.

"buddy..?" the other woke up minutes later, when he realized everyone was gone he ran off to report to the nobleman.

"Oh good." Ander said, following Joker's directions. "You actually have a way out."

Ander was somewhat amazed at hearing pursuit from the brighter guard. The arm must not have broken as well as Ander had hoped.

"Must be part bull." He thought sourly.

Ander pressed on, not liking his options right now. He could stop and try to deal with the pursuer, but that would mean that Ander and Joker wouldn't have much of a led on any reinforcing of guards that were doubtless coming. He needed more time.

Like an answer to his unspoken need, a gang of human kids burst out of the alley he was heading for and streamed past him and Joker, yelling, throwing balls back and forth and so on. Ander was a little confused till one of the kids at the back of the pack with a grubby face looked up at him as he went past. The child smiled broadly, showing a gold tooth on the left side of his mouth, and winked conspiratorially. That's when it hit Ander that the human child wasn't a child, but a halfling. And that he was probably a she.

The halfling darted past Ander with the others, pulling her cap further down. The gang of "kids", made up 50/50 of actual human kids and halflings, ran through the crowd, bowling over a few pedestrians. Two "kids", apparently fighting over a jump rope, were suddenly jolted out of their fight at the sight of a human guard running directly at them. They both yelled and ran in opposite directions, bringing the jump rope taught between them. The brighter guard had no time to stop before tripping over the rope at full speed and face planting on the street.

Ander heard the rattle of the guard's helmet hit the street from half way down the first alley. From the sound, Ander estimated that the guard must be really dazed if not out cold. At least he hoped.

"Think you can walk yet?" He asked Joker.

Joker glanced back to see the guard fall, she sighed in relief when he didn't move to get up.

"uh yeah.. i think so..." She leaned off of Ander and instead supported herself on the wall. "come on its not too far away..." she said mostly to herself as encouragement. She made her way steadily through the alleys making sure Ander was following every once in a while.

"oh good.." Joker sighed in relief to see the bar had been left untouched by the guards. She pushed the curtain door out of the way to find her group contemplating a new leader, with one of her men in her chair. "hmm..." she looked around at them deciding who she should kill first.

"gave up that easily did you?"

Ander kept an eye on the way Joker and he had come, making sure they weren't followed. He was a little surprised that no other guards came. They must have gotten some bad eye witness reports. That halfling's doing? Ander determined to find her again and at the very least say thank you.

Ander followed Joker into the bar and stopped behind her at the sign of the meeting. His pessimistic mind, which hadn't done much considering on how Joker was captured, instantly started making note of any odd look or move from those gathered. Betrayal for advancement was an old game, one almost hardwired into Ander's brain.

Deciding this was Joker's show, Ander moved to lean against the wall next to the curtain, folding his arms in the process. Though he looked relaxed, his muscles remained taut. If he was right about a traitor, he didn't want Joker on her own here.

The large male sitting in her seat rose and walked up to her, "we've decided you are no longer fit to lead us" he said standing firm.

"i see... did everyone agree to this?" She looked at the filled chairs of the room some wore mixed expressions but some remained in a straight grimace. "it doesn't seem the case to me." she said looking back up at the elf.

"it was a majority"

"since when did we ever go by a majority our rule was everyone has to agree or it isn't done!" She said getting irritated.

"that was your rule! not mine, im in charge now its best for everyone"

Joker looked down at her feet in thought, "better for everyone... what better to be lead by the only person who supported a plan to get us all killed?? dont you remember that? you had your chance to lead and you failed!" Her hand went to a dagger resting at her hip.

"that wasn't my fault!" The elf said in a rage, in his anger he lost control and took out his sword pointing it to Joker's throat. "get out or ill kill you myself" he said darkly.

A dark chuckle echoed in the back room. Ander shook his head as he chuckled. "No wonder you lost your position." He said, a mocking edge to his voice. "You lack any real leadership skill what so ever. As a leader, all failures are your responsibility. You must be the first in to fix the problem, but from your whining, you must have failed even that simple test."Ander's pale eyes stared into the big elf's eyes. A smile speed over the half breed's lips."You probably didn't have the courage to try to regain your position when Joker was around. But, lucky you, she was out of the way when you moved. Your sense of timing is incredible."

"Ander stop" She said turning just enough to glance back at him. "arguing wont do anything here". Joker looked back at the elf, "dont expect help from me when your foolish plans go wrong"

"like wise" he growled refusing to put away his weapon until Joker turned around and walked out, only then did he relax and turn to face the angry group of elves before him.

Joker sighed when she combed her fingers through her hair, "this will take forever to get out..." she grumbled as she started down the road not wanting to think of what will become of her friends. "its their own stupid mistake, its not in my hands anymore" she thought to herself looking at the ground.

Ander smiled at the new leader of the elf resistance. He moved from his place by the door and clapped the elf on the back, while whispering to him, "I'll be watching."With that, he followed Joker out. "He has better control than I thought." He commented conversationally. "I had pegged him as bull headed enough to attack me, like I planned."He watched the elf woman a moment."So, what did he do and why doesn't he have a knife in his belly?" He asked, no accusation in his voice, just puzzlement.

Joker smiled a little and looked over at the half-breed, "he sent a bunch of kids on a suicide mission, it didn't sit too well with their parents or the rest of the crew for the matter..." She said thinking back to the day. "I was around 15 at the time, the only reason i wasn't sent was because i happened to be on a scouting mission when he sent them. When only one kid returned the elves exploded into a riot, some tried to kill him others threatened to leave. Because my father was second in command, he took over the whole thing. I'm surprised he didn't banish the guy from stepping into the building ever again... but he was too merciful for that"

She glanced over at him again, "for why i didn't kill him, i promised his fiance i'd look after him. So thats what I have to do, i suppose stabbing him would be against the point"

"Not if he gets others killed." Ander thought, but figured it was not something Joker would want to hear.

Aloud, he said, "If last time as leader went that badly, how did he get a majority vote to make him leader?"

Ander thought he could smell a rat all over this situation. And he could smell cheap wine. He pulled off the robe he used as a disguised and frowned at it. He was going to have to find a new disguise to move about the city in. Maybe a variation on what Joker used would work.

As he bundled up his smelly robe, he caught sight of a small figure dart away down the alley. Another halfling?

"oh he didn't, but he is the master of intimidation. He used to be the ones that would torture people for information. Of course I didn't allow it when i was in charge but who knows now" She watched him roll of his robes.

"need new clothing?" Joker asked adjusting her scarf so she could see a little better. "i bet i could get my hands on something if you wanted" She was secretly glad he wanted to get rid of the awful robe but didn't say anything. 

"before all that i want to get this blood out of my hair" She said barely able to stand the sticky gross feeling any longer, she also figured her scarf was soiled and would need another one of those as well.

Ander nodded to Joker's question.

"The old disguise is exposed now." He admitted. "I'll need something that covers most of me, my head in perticular."

He shifted position to get a look at the back of Joker's head.

"Are you going to need some doctoring for that? Blows to the head can be nasty. Maybe Dral's little infirmary should have some medication."

"And it is not a place the big idiot doesn't know you'll go." He thought.

Joker sighed, "im going to get so much crap from him about this..." she looked over at Ander.

"Buts its probably not a bad idea" She turned to head toward the hidden clinic, she was glad she decided to memorize the way when Dral took them before. She started to wonder if Dral would be there, it would probably be better if he wasnt so of course he would be.

"Well if we're lucky, he won't show up till we have a good spin on the situation." Ander said, following Joker.

"Best think fast, then." Dral's sour tones came from behind.

Ander cringed as he turned around to see the old dwarf coming up from behind. With him was the halfling girl that had winked at Ander as the diversionary group of kids and other halflings. She grinned up at Ander and Joker.

"Your eyes and ears?" Ander asked Dral, waving a hand to the halfling.

"Well paid eyes and ears." Dral answered, giving the halfling a look.

"You know I'm worth it, Dral." She said, still grinning.

She offered a hand to Ander.

"I'm Ruby." Ruby introduced herself. "I run some of the best street urchins in Brixia."

Ruby winked at Joker as Ander took her hand.

"Been a while, Joker."

Joker sighed and looked down at the halfling, "yeah...". She never really liked the over confident attitude of the girl but put up with it for the information she provided.

" What has you out Dral?" She asked looking at the dwarf. She put her hand on the back of her head hoping he didnt hear the part about the head injury, even having a clinic she didnt trust him enough to let him touch her head. She looked over at Ander then around the alley trying to think of an excuse to slip away.

"Hear you were picked up." Dral answered. "The details sounded like a trap, so I figured some personal attention was called for. If you were taken out, who knows who would replace ya. You at least have some brains."

Ander sighed. Dral really wasn't gonna be happy with the other events that had been happening. He decided to give the grinning halfling with the gold tooth his attention.

"Good diversion team." He commented. "All halfling in human children's clothing?"

Ruby shook her head and took of the grubby cap she wore. Her hair was black and currly, but kept shortish.

"Nope, got some humans in the band." She replied. "They got to eat too."

Ander raised an eye brow.

"Orphans?"

"Yep. Don't matter if your human, halfling or half breed. You live on the streets, everybody kicks ya."

Though what she said seemed somber, Ruby's eyes still twinkled with mischief.

"yeah...right" she looked at the ground before glancing back up at him. "after the little run in a had with the guards i was booted from the group". She avoided looking at Dral directly for fear of setting him off. "its uh... well Adil is in charge now....". She wasn't sure if he knew exactly what he had done in the past but she knew that Dral would of heard of him by now. She spotted a small alley she could run down if she really felt like Dral was going to blow his lid, Joker kept it safely in the back of her mind closing her hand into a fist to hide the half dried brown smears of blood on her hand. "Maybe trying to hide my head like that wasnt such a good idea...' She thought to herself.

Dral stared at Joker with a blank expression.

"That nincompoop?" He asked quietly, though there was an edge to his voice.

Ruby rolled her eyes as she walked over to the old dwarf and placed a hand on his arm.

"Don't explode on the nice lady, Grinder." She said, saying it as if to a child. "You know how fickle crowds are."

Dral transferred his blank stare to the halfling.

"Shut up, Ruby." He growled.

He then sighed and drew his hand across his face.

"One more issue to work around. I suggest you start working on getting Adil outed by the other elves before he gets 'em all killed."

He turned to leave, but turned back.

"You hurt bad by the guard's?"

She sighed, "yeah...easier said than done" She looked off to the side to think but was brought out of it by dral's question,

"oh no im fine haha" Joker kept her eyes off of the dwarf. "just leave just leave just leave" she thought silently to herself. She waved and turned around to go in the opposite direction not really sure where she was going.

" i need time to come up with a plan..." she mummbled itching her ears from under her scarf.  As she walked her thoughts of the likelihood that the elves would stand up to Adil shrank, "i may just have to break my promise..." she thought. Getting rid of Adil seemed to be the most fool proof plan at the moment. She wondered if she was strong enough to take him on, he was always marked as a cheat playing dirty to get what he wanted.

As Joker walked away, Dral and Ander shared a look. Both were suspicious by either nature or by live experiences, and both had certain gut feelings about this take over. Ander nodded to Dral and Ruby and took off to follow Joker.

"I guess Adil is on the watched list, too?" Ruby asked Dral.

Dral nodded.

"Warn me if he tries something even looking as bad as last time." He said.

"I might be late getting you that information." Ruby replied, her voice a little tight. "I'll probably gutting him."

Dral snorted. Ruby got touchy on the subject of underlings dying, particularly when those that died were kids.

"Let the elves do that. If they got the back bone."

Both the dwarf and halfling went their separate ways.

Ander caught up with Joker, tearing his robe up to strips.

"So, what's your next step?" He asked as he wrapped some of the cloth strips around his head.

"I'm not sure yet..." She admitted looking over at Ander. "All I do know is the most effective way to get rid of Adril now would have to be driving him out of the city". Her train of thought was stopped when she saw a little girl run across the road. She didn't seem like other children her clothes were way too nice for that, and she was too tall to be a halfling. "Did you see that?" Joker asked, she didnt wait for an answer but instead ran off in the direction the girl went. It looked like she was running from something, guards probably, but isnt everyone? "Hey wait!" She called out when the girl was back in her sight. She definatly seemed to be from a high class family, "but why would someone like that have to be running...?" Joker wondered.

Ander was slightly thrown by Joker's sudden charging off, but recovered quickly enough so that he was alone a few yards behind her when he joined the chase. He did his best to tie the strips of cloth around his head and arms to disguise the dark gray coloring of his skin. It was a temporary disguise, at best, but it had to do until he got something better.

After managing to get a look at who they were chasing after, Ander felt puzzled. Why would a high born child be on the run? He began to hang back a little more, hoping to see what the girl was running from.