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 looked Sybille up and down.

"Yeah, that's a bit posh for a normal person on the street." He said. "Well, that makes two of us who need new threads. Maybe you can help me find mine."

The half dark elf waved a hand for Sybille to follow him as he made his way down the street, towards the market. Thanks to some sensible planning by the merchant's guild, the market was generally well grouped together by product types. He wandered for a bit till he found a group of clothes venders.

"And here we are." He said, gesturing to the stalls. "Good clothes, if you don't mind the smell. Oh, and we're in a budget, so don't go too extravagant with your disguise."

 

Dral Grindstone sat down heavily in his office chair above his family's jewelry. Lots of new issues to deal with. Joker being pushed out by the other elves was a massive headache. He wasn't sure he trusted the girl, but at least she was smart. Couldn't be too sure about the rest of the knife ears.

Then there was this Ander. The old dwarf had heard of the half-breed, even the rumors of his parents. If the rumors were true, he could be useful against the nobles in late game. But that was a possibility in an uncertain future.

"One step at a time." Dral muttered to himself, before he got up and went to work.

Sybille nodded and walked off to find something that fit. She was very small in stature so clothing suiting for her was harder to find. After a few minutes of looking she ended up with some tan pants and a white cotton long sleeved shirt which she tucked into her pants. She kept her boots because they were a plain brown leather and were nice and sturdy. She also found a green vest which nobody seemed to be missing too much. She paid for everything using the money she stole from her father while planning her escape. She figured that telling the others about the money in her possession might not be a smart idea. Once finished she quickly changed and went back to where Ander and herself first parted ways.

 

Once finished washing her hair and headscarf, Joker made her way towards the market to find Ander. Instead she found Sybille sitting on a low wall in new clothing. "Where is Ander?" She asked upon reaching the girl. 

"Still finding new clothes." She replied lazily swinging her legs back and forth. Joker nodded and sat next to her. They both sat in a rather uncomfortable silence awaiting Ander's return.

Ander browsed through a few stalls before he found what he wanted. The vender was selling some robes and turbans like those used in the east, around the Great Alhalon Dessert.

"How much?" Ander asked, indicated a set of turban and robe.

The vender eyed Ander's makeshift disguise for a moment before answering.

"11." He said bluntly.

"11?" Ander exclaimed. "These rags aren't worth 5."

"True, but it looks like you really need 'em." The vender replied, waggling his eyebrows.

Ander inwardly fumed. This vender had him. But he couldn't act like it, least the price to up.

"Whatever, but I'm not paying 11 for these flea nests." He declared. "9."

"11, or no sale." The little man said, his eyes narrowing.

"11 it is." Ander said quickly as he trust the money in the man's hand and took his new clothes.

He quickly found an alley to change. He could already tell his makeshift bandage disguise was drawing attention. As he changed, he made a mental note to make several different disguises in future. That way, he wouldn't have to scrabble like this. He might even look into some body paints or something to make his dark grey skin into maybe a brown. That might work.

With his new disguise on and itching less then he had figured, Ander walked back out into the market to find Sybille. He was rather miffed at himself for not watching her the whole time, but he had to deal with his own clothes concerns. Still, Ruby should still be on the job of watching the girl. Well, one of Ruby's crew, at least. He finally found Sybille with Joker.

"Ah, there you are." He said as he walked up to the human and the elf.

He looked at Sybille's new outfit.

"Not bad." He admitted.

Sybille hopped off of the wall with a flourished bow. "Why thank you". She stood up straight and grinned. 

 

"I found a place, its not ideal but it'll work" Joker said standing up. She waved for the other two to follow her through the thick crowds of the market until she reached the small clay hut-like structure. She opened the door to the musty rooms and moved the blanket hanging over the window to let in a little bit of light.

 

Sybille wrinkled her nose but said nothing knowing that she was in no position to be picky. "At least it will be safe...right?"

"In theory, sure". Joker shrugged and leaned against the wall. She didn't want to promise anything for at one point she would've sworn no one would ever find her place.

Ander followed after Joker, making sure they weren't followed. He thought he could identify a couple of street urchins paying a little too much attention to them, but that was it. He wondered if someone else was using Ruby's crew to keep an eye on Sybille. Or Joker and himself, for that matter. He might try to talk to the halfling later.

Upon seeing the hut Joker picked out, Ander smiled. It was actually quiet good, from the failed Monk's point of view. He took quick stock of the inside after Joker opened the hut up.

"This should do nicely." He said, unexpectedly cheerful. "We might even dirty up the outside some more. Nothing like a little revulsion to keep coppers away."

Safely inside, Ander pulled off his turban and scratched his chin.

"The first room we should keep a bit nasty. The rest can be fixed up, if you want."

Sybille groaned, "Can we not?". She knew that it was because of her upbringing but she was using a lot of self control at this moment and trashing the place further may pass her limit.  

Joker sighed, " I think if they reach the front room I wouldn't be in the back room anymore anyways."

"Exactly!" Sybille crossed her arms then walked to the back room to look at the blankets. 

Joker rolled her eyes at bring interrupted. "And hopefully, this will be a highly temporary situation. " She sat on the hard packed dirt floor and crossed her legs putting her hands in her lap. She wondered how her friends were fairing, and if, or when she would hear of their deaths.

Ander sighed. He never understood why people didn't see his logic. Even the monks that raised him and his mentor at times couldn't figure out what he was planning, but it all made sense to him.

"Oh, well." He thought. "Having good exit plans can be just as good as a proper deception."

He followed suit as Joker and sat on the floor. He knew he should get to discussing the next move, but something started bugging him about what the two girls had said about the hut.

"So, what if we did the opposite of my suggestion then?" He asked. "The walls seem sturdy enough. If we put some effort into it, we can make this place more comfortable."

He shrugged.

"It might give us some bonding time or whatever. And there's nothing like someone trying to find the right color paint for their door as a cover for moving around the market."

Joker laughed out loud leaning further back onto the wall, "Hah right we will just be a happy little family secretly trying the overthrow the government. Brilliant!." She stopped laughing when she saw the serious look on Sybille's face.

"Well I think it's a brilliant idea, besides this house needs a lot of help!" She crossed her arms over her chest. 

Joker sighed, "You do realize this house is only temporary, it's not like we are all going to live together like this. That's just ridiculous." She looked over at Ander for confirmation to her statement. She didn't want the girl to think they they were all one big happy family now, that's just not how it works out in the real world no matter what she learned from her nurses inside of her large estate.

Ander smirked at Sybille's and Joker's reaction to his suggestion. He had been thinking more metaphorically when he came up with his question, seeing how well the human and the elf saw the concept of fixing something. He could now see there were too many factors to get the answer he wanted. Ander had to occasionally remind himself that sometimes, simple and direct was best.

"Oh well." He thought. "I'll figure them out as I go."

"Temporary is not as definite a term as people thing." He replied. "I was temporarily assigned a room at the monastery for 5 years because a brother kept forgetting to paint the wing I was to move to."

He shrugged.

"While this place may be a temporary home, but it is still home."

He glanced over at Sybille.

"If one wants to live someplace clean, one has to clean it up. I, for one, am getting a broom at some point. It's a monk thing."

He pushed himself up and dusted off his new robes.

"But there are concerns that superceed this place's comfort. And getting too attached is dangerous. I suppose now is a good time to switch the topic to the whole 'now that we have a place to stay, what now?'

Sybille sighed at the constant repetition of temporary. She looked to Joker for an answer to Ander's question.

She supplied it quickly with, "We stick to our old plan, just...edited a little. I mean we already have our makeshift hostage right?"

"Hostage? What hostage?" Sybille said in a panicky voice.

"Our old plan was to kidnap the child of a noble. But now that your with us, you can play that role. You didn't actually tell your father that you ran away right?"

"Right... But what would there be to gain from it?"

"Blackmail to get an in on the viscount of course." 

"In order to ensure the viscount can be permanently overthrown, we need the human nobles on our side." Ander explained. "Which means, we need to get them off the Viscount's side. He's got to be doing something they won't like. We just have to find it."

The half dark elf paced a little, a habit he did when he thought.

"We'll need to be careful how Sybille is seen, then. If she is seen friendly with us, we may have some problems."

"Wait what? I don't want to be treated like a hostage I wont agree to that!" Sybille pouted glaring at Ander.

"I don't think that's what he meant by that." Joker murmured watching him pace about. "Maybe we should contact Dral, I know he didn't like the plan but now that we aren't actually kidnapping anyone he might be in. We could use the supplies and intel he has access to." 

"Who's Dral?"

"Doesn't matter to you right now." Joker snapped looking to Ander to see what he thought.

"Only if necessary." Ander thought after Sybille voiced her objection.

He wasn't proud of such thoughts, but you had to do distasteful things when you wanted to get rid of distasteful circumstances. Still, it might not be necessary.

"I'm not sure if Dral would like this any better, but it could be worth a try."

He scratched his chin as he paced.

"We might even ask Ruby. She seems to know a lot of players."

He stopped pacing and turned to face Joker and Sybille.

"Two questions."

He pointed at Joker.

"Is there anyone you can still count on in your crew?"

He switched his pointing finger to Sybille.

"If you go along with this, it will likely cause some distress to your family. Can you deal with that?"

Joker looked down in thought, 'I'll see who I can get". She stood up and left the house going towards the old bar. She supposed this would be a fine time to see if anyone was still even alive. Her fists clenched at the idea of their deaths.

Sybille nodded, "My only real family were the nurses that cared for me. They know that I ran away, but don't worry they wouldn't rat me out I'm sure of it." She sighed, "The only reason my dad would pretend to be upset is to keep up his image, and to use it as a power play I suppose. That could be good for us, he might be in if we tricked him into thinking he could get something good out of it."

"Ah, we can work with that." Ander replied.

He made a mental note of this. If Sybille's father could be manipulated like that, maybe others could be drawn in as well.

"Tell me, Sybille, is there anyone you do like in your social circles? Someone who would be interested in making this city more...pleasant to live in?"

Joker reached the bar and entered, she was not surprised to find it empty as the group usually only met at night. She walked around a little then picked up her favorite bottle of wine and poured herself a glass. Nothing really seemed to have changed, so she waited on the sofa figuring it would be impossible to try to go out and find them.

 

Sybille shrugged, "I suppose my uncle is pretty cool, he is not as powerful as my my dad though. He always argues that the humans are being to harsh then the viscount gets mad and sends him away for a while." She frowned, "He always ends up coming back though I don't know why."

"Your uncle may be work talking to, then." Ander commented, starting his pacing again.

He knew very well that if & when the viscount was removed, most of the human aristocracy would still be needed, even with their attitudes. Still, having a few idealists would be nice.

"And what about you?" He asked suddenly. "You should know we're intending to shake things up in this 'fair' city. Some of what you know could crumble away."

 

Dral left his family's shop and walked down the street, making an almost imperceptible sign as he walked. After a block, he turned into an alley and waited. After a few minutes, a street urchin ran in, bashing into the old dwarf.

"Watch it." Dral growled, looking the urchin up and down with his one eye. "Where's Ruby?"

"Personal business, Master Grindstone." The young halfling squeaked, looking a little panicky. "She said i was to meet with you."

Dral glared at him.

"And your name, boy?"

"Freddy, sir."

The old dwarf snorted.

"Fine. Follow me."

Dral stomped off down the alley as the halfling scrambled after him.

Edited August 8, 201411 yr by rikunobodyxiii

Joker looked up as the curtain covering the bar doorway swung to the side. She swirled the wine in her glass, "Adil". She acknowledged the male elf coldly.

"Your no longer welcome here." He said gruffly walking up to her.

"Says who, the poor elves you threatened into following you?" Adil growled at this and grabbed her wrist causing the wine she was holding to crash onto the floor.

"Well that wasn't very nice." Joker said frowning at the broken glass. She hissed in pain as he started bending her wrist backwards.

"Why are you here Nimue?" 

She looked up in shock, "How do you know that name?"

"I know alot of things that I shouldn't." He smirked and grabbed for her neck.

 

 

Sybille watched him continue to pace and sighed. "I don't it won't effect me at least a little but... it's for the best right?" She asked looking unsure. She really never thought things in the city were this bad. Sybille wrapped her arms around herself and shivered, " How long was Joker supposed to take...?"

Ander nodded approvingly.

"I believe so." He answered her.

He thought it interesting that Sybille seemed worried about Joker. Then again, it could be that she didn't want to be around him. Ander had come across that tendacy before.

"We could check up on her, if you'd like." He offered. "I'd need to get some directions, but I have a feeling that it wouldn't be hard to get some."

Sybille shook her head, "It's fine, I'm sure she can take care of herself haha". She rubbed the back of her head and looked around the house. "I think im going to get some supplies so we can clean up this old place just little. She left the house heading toward the market wondering how much a broom would cost her.

 

Joker jumped back in anticipation of the attack and knocked the chair she was sitting in toward Adil. "Your going to have to try harder than that if you want to get rid of me." She rubbed her wrist a little to wear the soreness away. "So can we please talk like civilized beings?"

Adil huffed and crossed his arms, "What do you want?"

"You're the one who told the guards who I am weren't you."

He shrugged not bothering to deny it, "So? What if I am?"

"You put all of us in danger for some spending money?" 

"Actually I made a deal, give up the dangerous head of the rebels, and the guards would leave the rest of us alone." Joker opened her mouth to say something, then  closed it again. "I see." She walked out the bar without anything else to say.

Ander watched Sybille head out.

"She could prove more useful then I had originally thought." He thought.

He bowed his head and pinched the bridge of his nose. This whole plan of coming here and avenging his teachers was going to be more complicated then he had thought. Oh, he could go destructive. It was clear that a bloody revolt could be ignited with only a small amount of effort or real danger to himself, but that was...messy. It was also wrong. This feeling puzzled Ander, as he personally considered his moral compass rather screwed up. Given enough time, he felt he could justify any crime, as long as he tagged them on to the right cause. But now...he felt he had to protect this city. This city and the monastery were the only worlds he knew, and the monastery was gone.

"So, it's the hard way." He mused to himself.

He grinned slightly, because that also made it more challenging.

Raising his head, Ander put his turban back on and went out of the hut after Sybille. Joker might be able to handle herself, but he still wasn't sure about Sybille yet.

 

Dral and Freddy stopped in front of a building that smelled worse then a butchery. Freddy looked at the old dwarf with a mix of confusion and fear.

"Are you sure you wanna be her, gov?" He squeaked.

Dral snorted.

"Hells no, but I got some questions for someone here. If I'm not out in 10 minutes, get the word out."

Freddy gulped, then scurried away. Dral sighed. He couldn't believe what going against the Viscount was making him do. He reached up and knocked on the door to the goblin den.

Sybille smiled as Ander followed her out of the house then turned her attention back to the market. She found some cleaning supplies and better quality blankets since the ones inside the house were torn and thin. Humming to herself distracted her from letting the reality of her new situation sink in. She didn't want to think about how nasty or even when her next meal was coming, she didn't want to think about the deaths her actions could cause, and above all she didn't want to see the look of her father's enraged face.

 

Joker sat out at the end of town in shock. She found herself unable to move or speak or think about what to do next. Everything had gone to shit and she couldn't except it. She knew her group would ultimately protect themselves over her but, she had been at the top of the world fighting bad guys and... completely making everything worse for everyone. She brought her knees up to her chin sitting in in the dirt in an abandoned alley. For the first time in years, she began to cry. 

Ander kept his distance from Sybille, letting the human girl have her space. If she was really planning on going through with this, then she had a lot of adjusting to do. And she would have enough of being around Joker and Ander by the time this was all over. As he watched Sybille, Ander also took in the market place. The odd thing about this city was that while it had some serious issues in the way of equality, it worked. The Viscount had kept things going, despite the majority of the population being unhappy about the situation. Now just think what a ruler could do with just a few concessions to make people happy?

 

"Lemme guess, no love between you and your old band?" Ruby said as she traipsed over to Joker and sat down. "That hurts. Lost a few good guys like that."

The halfling put a hand on Joker's shoulder.

"Here's the question, though. Are they worth the tears?"

 

"What does a squat like you want?" A goblin voice demanded from the moveable slit in the door.

Dral eyed what he could see of the creature with contempt. He wished he was here to remove heads rather then talk.

"I'm here to talk to an elder about an old job you twats might have done." He growled.

"Go away!" The goblin barked, then tried to close the slit.

A small bag was thrust in the slits way. A shiny gem showed from opening of the bag.

"Two bags of gems you'll get for this." The old dwarf said, somewhat reluctantly.

The goblin grabbed at the gems, but Dral pulled it back.

"The elder. Now."

The goblin hissed.

"Wait here." He answered, then closed the slit.

Sybille got all her needed supplies then walked back to Ander. "Think we will need anything else?" She held out a bag of various supplies they would need for the house. She also had a broom tucked under her arm. "Oh do you think we should get some food... or?" She began to look around the market again not waiting for Ander's answer. 

 

 

Joker looked over at Ruby and wiped her eyes. "I suppose not." She sighed and brushed imaginary dust from her person. "Hah what would King think if he saw me now. He knew how to keep it together." Joker stood up and fixed her scarf. "Dral not have you out on a job?" She asked wondering why Ruby was wasting her time sitting with her.

"Since I like eating, and I assume you and Joker do the same, food might help." Ander replied, quickening his pace to catch up with Sybille.

He gave her what he thought was a reassuring smile.

"Don't worry, though. I'm willing to spring for good stuff. You can live off of a lot of things, but it isn't pleasant. It'll be simple, but good. What do you like?"

 

"No, I've got one of my lads seeing to the crusty old dwarf." Ruby answered, offering a tattered, but clean hanky to Joker. "I was out on my own business and saw you coming out of your old haunt."