Raze meets his compainions....
I stood outside for over twenty minutes, staring at the doors, contemplating my future. If I go through with this, I thought, There's no turning back everything'll change. I won't be able to go back to the way things were. Even as I pondered these bleak thoughts, I knew my choice had already been made. Warlord Cast made sure of that. Cast had a lot of thugs, all of them after me. Some I could deal with, but the rest I'd need help with. It was all this that had brought me to that bar. If I want any shot at revenge, I'm going to need friends. Friends. The word had been only that to me before, but now it took on a whole new meaning. I needed someone to turn to.
With that last thought I stepped through the doors into the hazy bar room. As the doors fell shut behind me, I fermiliarized myself with these new surroundings and relaxed. Good, plenty of shadows here. This should be interesting. Darkness had always been my only friend as I favoured stealth over brute stregnth.
My eyes scanned over the many patrons of the room, I cursed to myself silently at the sheer number of people about. I hate audiences. I finally located the group of people I sought. There were five of them, all sitting at a table in the middle of the room, laughing and talking amongst themselves as they drank. Sitting there were two Sidhe, one short and one tall, twins from what I'd heard; one Nocker, swearing up a storm; a Sluagh grinning knowingly as she glanced at her companions; and one Troll (I could tell that he would stand almost a full foot taller than me). At least no one has noticed me yet. The bar being run by a freehold, I suppose the appearance of a few oddling customers wasn't all that odd after all.
Instead of my usual subtlety, I walked straight up to them and offered a round on my tab. "We're not thirsty," the shorter of the two Sidhe, Nefratina, replied blandly as she sipped mockingly from her sister's drink. I leaned down, took hold of her shoulder and spun her so that she faced me. "But I insist," I growled in my lowest, most menacing voice. The Troll immediately jumped to his feet, drawing a huge sword of at least five feet in length. "Get your hands off of her!" he bellowed. I pivoted smoothly on my left foot and steped back to confront my opponents. Or rather, opponent, to my great surprise, only the Troll had bothered to get up. The other four were glowering at me from their seats, but were otherwise in mutual aggrement that it was their large friend's fight.
"Now you die, stranger!" yelled my assailant from across the table. He proceeded to kick the table in my general direction, giving his company only a moment to scatter out of the way. As the table flew towards me, I let my right hand drop to my side and drew my blade, Razorkiss. I took a mighty swing when it got within reach, cleaving the table in half, the pieces landed at my feet ominously. I took another step back, into the light to let everyone in the room have a good look at me. I heard some gasps from tables all around me, guess red eyes aren't all that common. The greatest surprise was to my blue furniture thrashing friend as it dawned on him that I too am a Troll. Although I am shorter than most other Trolls, I nevertheless have a good build, my strength is nothing to scoff at, and the blue skin and horns are a dead giveaway.
He only faltered for a second then stepped into the light as well, only a few feet from me. He had great white feathered wings, plated on the back with armor to protect them, otherwise he was lightly armored, obviously not expecting to join in on any barroom brawls. We slowly faced off, gauging each other. "Do you have a name, stranger, so that we may put it on your tombstone?" he taunted. "Raze," I answered quietly. "Well, well Raze," he intoned sarcastically, "They call me Frost."
He then chraged at me, his sword raised as he was obviously intent on slicing off my head. Again, I let my superior speed do the work. As he came at me, I feigned a block with my sword, but rolled on the ball of my foot and sidestepped out of range, or rather, almost out of range as he managed to nick my cheek. The momentum of him carried him past me just a bit more to my right. Switching my grip on Razorkiss I drew back my arm and hit him with an unexpected punch to the head from the hilt. Frost staggered forward a tad more, but was otherwise unaffected. Not bad, I thought, genuinely impressed, he has pretty good stamina. I also discovered he had a strength slightly superior to mine as his blade collided with, then pressed against mine. Time to bring out the big guns.
I jumped up and away to avoid a blow to the groin and put some distance between us at the same time. He proceeded to taunt and call me a coward as I backed away. I simply stared back at him, my face devoid of emotion. I was not impressed. I knew he wanted to prevoke me into a direct one on one confrontation, in which his siperior strength and height would give him the advantage. I, however, had not survived my former profession of mercenary by being suckered into situations I couldn't get myself out of. I know how to pace a fight. I let him taunt.
Out of frustration, he finally came at me again. This time I had every intention of letting him strike me, or rather, letting him think he had done so. As he advanced on me, I stepped back once again into the shadows, letting them engulf and cloak me. His triumphant cry was quickly transformed into a yelp of dismay and surprise as hit sword struck nothing but air before sinking into the wall. By that time I had crossed the room and was standing twenty feet behind him, watching as he struggled to free his sword
His friends were on their feet now, looks of disbelief crossing their features. I revealed myself once again was rewarded with gasps of shock and awe from the crowd that had gathered to watch. I threw Razorkiss at Frost and the hilt struck him in the back of the head, at the base of his skull. He fell to the ground dazed. I quickly recovered my weapon and calmly said, "I don't want any trouble." The Nocker, Quantum quickly retorted, "It's a little late for that, dumb ass, you seem to have Razed some!"
Before I could react, Rosa, the taller of the twins had cast Eldritch Prime and vines were sprouting from the ground and coiling about my arms and legs. The Nocker ran up and used a simple device to try wrench Razorkiss from my grasp, grumbling all the while. The Sluagh Kestrel came to his aid and my grip faultered as she closed er clammy hands over mine, they took the sword away, turning to face me once again. As I prepared for my inevitable demise at their hands, Nefratina turned her sister's vines to stone. Wrong move. Your first and only mistake.
The four Changelings circled me as their wounded friend collected himself on the ground. "What's your game, stranger?" demanded Nef, hands on her hips as she glowered at me. She was tough despite her lack of stature. "I don't play games," I answered in a startlingly cool voice, "I'm here to join your party." "What makes you think we won't just kick, then fry your sorry ass, huh, pal?" asked Quantum. I smiled, baring teeth. "I won't let you."
His retort was cut short, not by me, but rather by a large chuck of stone hitting him on the side of the head. More stone rained on the four as I freed myself from my bonds. Vine would have been better restraints than stone; it can stretch and twist. My unfortunate opponents had just realised that stone couldn't. Once free, I picked up my saber that Quantum had dropped and headed to Frost, who seemed to have recovered his wits. Anticipating an attack, he rolled back, jumped to his feet, and fell into a defensive stance. I brushed past him as I sheathed my blade, then pulled his from the wall. The name Blood Bath was etched into the hilt. I turned, switching my grasp on it, and offered it to him, hilt first. He took it and slid it into the scabbard that hung on his back. Watching this display, the others backed away. I heaved a sigh of relief
My goal had been to confront the team and pray I survived long enough to impress the party sufficiently for them to even consider me as a potential companion. I was rewarded for my troubles when the Sluagh narrowed her eyes and whispered, "We shall think on your proposal." "It's obvious you haven't come to slay us," continued Rosa, "I must say, I am honestly relieved you are not our enemy. You would be a considerable foe. We will leave a message with the barkeep. Return in one weeks time. If we accept, he will give you instructions on how and where to find us." "You are damned lucky you caught us by surprise, you piss-ant, 'cause we woulda kicked your sorry a-..." started Quantum, but I was already outside, having slipped out with the shadows.
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