As I walked along the docks and wound my fishing pole I heard a
wonderfully melodic sound coming; it seemed, from the forest beyond the
side of the dock. Curiosity having gotten the better of me, I jumped into
the water and swam toward the enchanting sound. It was not a long swim
before I came to shore just beyond the walls of the Dock. There near a tent
sat a small, (well young. not too small to me) half elf bearing some
remarkable semblance to a friend though I could not place which one.
"What song are you playing?" I ask rather prudently coming close to see if she had any sheet music with her. The girl jumped and looked warily at my daggers before answering
"What concern of yours is it rogue? Leave me be." Now this, of course, I found perplexing and so I proceeded to pry. I picked her pocket.
"You seem to have lost something" I told her slyly. The young elf quickly put her hand to her pocket and her eyes turned to rage
"Thief!" she shouted, "give that back!"
I laughed being the little rogue I am and ran off with a rather nice looking pendant bearing the markings of Bristlebane. I thought it might fetch a nice little price in the markets of Antonica.
Well, my being a short, but rather fast gnome, and her being a long legged half elf, we were somewhat matched at speeds. I deemed this bard to be of no particular threat as she seemed quite young and indeed only had a short sword with her. Her leather jerkin would be of no defense against my daggers, let alone the poisons adorning them.
I ran towards the gate of Kaladim. If she would not give me information, she would give me something else of value. I was quite determined to get the pendant, but she was quite determined to get it back. She chased me right through the gates, and to my alarm the guards did nothing. I was a cousin to them, but it appeared she too, was a friend. That was of little consequence though. I needed only get to the mines to loose her. Half elves couldn't see nearly as well as gnomes. After all, we live our lives under ground. Besides which, the miners knew me, as I had done many favors for them. Favors even if they did not know the price they paid in raw gems that simply "disappeared".
At any rate, I was right and I soon lost the young half elf in the torch lit tunnels. I waited in the shadows behind a rock. I was quite overjoyed to see my investment of armor paying off. The girl glowered into the darkness hissing something under her breath, and again something about her screamed a resemblance to some one I knew, but still the name escaped me.
After I was rather sure she was gone, having given up, I left the mines to talk with the banker about the worth of the pendant. As I stepped out of the mineshaft, I was caught quite unexpectedly and for a rogue, that is an embarrassing thing by that little bardlett. She grabbed my tunic in her fist and lifted me rather high up to see her eye to eye.
"Give me back what is mine, little thief, and I shall give you your life." The woman growled at me. This I found quite funny as I could slit her throat in an instant. The only thing keeping me from doing just that was the fact that she so reminded me of someone.
"Go back to your mother girl, and come see me when you know how to fight. Or in the least, when your hygiene is better." The girl's eyes lit on fire at that, and she dropped me rather ungracefully on the ground to draw her sword. It was a rickety old thing and a well-placed hit would likely shatter it. I was almost looking forward to teaching the child some manners when a guard happened to walk by. He took one look at her sword and my bared daggers before he decided to disarm the both of us in one fell swoop and dragging us before the captain.
"Dueling within the city is prohibited except in the arena. Stabbya, you should know that by now. How many times have we told you now? And Olysiousa, I will let you off seeing how this thief did in fact steal something from you and you are rather new to the Butcher-Block area.
I gaped in open astonishment. How long had I been negotiating trade agreements for these worthless dwarves? Well, enough was enough and as soon as their attentions were focused on the bard, I escaped, loot and all. As I left the gates, I waved kindly at the guards and went on my way toward the boat to Freeport, laughing and tossing the pendant in my hand.
I was in luck and the boat was not long in coming. It seemed the dwarves were taking their time in following me. Or perhaps they had decided to do nothing about it. Whatever the decision, it didn't bother me.
As I boarded the SirensBane I looked back to the dock and saw to my dismay that bard still coming after me. The ride through the Ocean of Tears was a long one and it would be rather trying to hide from her the entire time. Besides which, she had already seen me. This was becoming trouble some.
The bard's eyes were still flaming as she ran toward me. She managed to get aboard the boat just as it pulled away. I scowled at my luck.
"If you be looking for a duel on a boat, girly, you won't be getting it. I have no wish to push you off into the ocean" I was trying to be nice to the ignorant girl, but I was fast loosing patience and interest in the pendant. She looked up at where I sat above the door to the lower deck of the boat.
"Give it back!" She said through clenched teeth. I laughed; highly doubting this bard in training could much more than scratch me. I will admit, however, that I had underestimated her stubbornness.
"Fine, if you want it, take it. Its not that pretty anyway" I said flippantly, tossing the item at her. She gave a yelp and dove to catch it.
"I should kill you for that!" She gasped after she had recovered the pendant and her wits.
"You should learn how to take a joke, Girly. Or at least learn how to make one. Yours aren't very funny" I retorted lightly. The pendant was, after all, a token of Bristlebane, and the children of Bristlebane were pranksters. The bard's face went red, and I must admit it looked quite funny in view that her hair was white. "At any rate, you shouldn't make threats you can't carry out." I wonder, sometimes, what annoyed her more. The words, or the manner in which they were said?
"I could very well bring down the wrath of the Antonica bards on you, thief!" The bard retorted. She was quite hot headed, and that was a quality I liked.
"You are a hot headed little bard indeed. Well, since I don't fancy spending the long journey to Freeport constantly insulting you, lets call a truce shall we?" The bard seemed as tired of the feud.
"Very well," said she. "But you, thief will keep your distance. Agreed?" I laughed a little more, yes; I was now rather fond of her.
"Certainly." I extended my hand to her, or rather down as I was still atop the door and she was below me. "Stabbya, be the name."
"Olysiousa" She responded, tentatively taking my hand. "So where does this boat lead anyway?"
"Freeport, City of men." Her eyes lit up at this. No doubt in memory of some child hood tale.
"Freeport. That's where he said she went." She murmured to herself.
"Where who went?" I asked off handedly, ruffling through my packs for a bottle of Gypsy wine.
"My mother." She paused for a moment with a hand on her flute. "But its no business of yours, thief"
"If you need someone found, I bet I can help." I offered, trying to be nice. Alright, so I felt a little bad about making her chase me all over the Butcher Block, I can try to make up for it, rogue or not.
"I don't need your help." She replied automatically. "What are you looking for?"
"Mmm? Oh, Gypsy wine. Best wine this side of The Ro. Though I don't think I bought any more after my last boat trip." I had also forgotten to buy any Dwarven ale. That is one of the few good aspects of our cousins. They have the best breweries in all of Norrath.
"Not only a thief but a drunkard too, Stabbya?" She asked with a smile.
I sighed and leaned back against the boat and took a look out to sea. We were coming up to the Goblin Isles. I fingered the band at my wrist that bore the markings of my guild, my home. Idly, I noticed that Olysiousa didn't have any such bracers on her own wrists. Not even one marking that she was part of the League of Antonica bards. That made me smile a little bit. Perhaps Sopranoe could help set her up with the guild in Freeport.
"If you are indeed a member of the Antonica bards, Olysiousa, then why is it you don't have their bracer?" I looked down at her with a half smile. It takes no genius to observe the little things like that. None the less, Olysiousa flushed and seemed to want to say something, but lack the words. I had only to tell one member of the Bards that she had been impersonating them and they would most likely imprison her for the better part of her life. "Bah, you don't have to worry about my saying any thing. I'm a rogue, remember? Secrets are my specialty."
"Exposing them, you mean." She looked at me suspiciously.
"Well fine. If you need a reason to trust me, join my guild. We need a few more up and coming bards anyway."
"Just like that?" She stared at me in a rather disbelieving manner. "Do you invite all the people you have stolen something from into your guild?" I snickered
"No, but if you don't want it, then that fine" I went to put the bracer I had taken out back into my belt pouch. She looked rather hesitant to say either yes or no.
"What guild is it? I have never seen those colors before."
"I can't say I am surprised. We are still a young guild. Not too many are willing to join a home where all are welcome. Necromancers, Dwarves, Trolls and all. We are the Unification of Norrath, Standing against the boundaries which have strangled the world of Norrath for ages and all that sort of stuff. You don't have to stay within the guild forever, but we can help you get on your feet as a bard and at least get you some training so you don't look so ridiculous with that short sword of yours."
She seemed mostly to ignore my comment on her lack of skill as she looked at the bracer. I was rather reminded of when I myself put the bracer on my right wrist for the first time. Generally, people wore their guild markings on their left wrist and the marks of their trade on the right. Ours was rather symbolic, family and guild above trade. I wasn't much into symbolism either then or now, but I was willing to go along with it all as the people were very nice and we were generally well received in most areas of the world.
"So, if I found what I was looking for somewhere else, I could leave any time I wanted?" She asked looking over at me as she had climbed up to where I sat some time ago. I nodded. "No strings, hard feelings or anything?"
"Nope. We are an optional membership guild. You may leave if you like, and you may come back, but there are limits. We can't just keep taking people when they need help. You have to help us too, promise not to use us as a wayside shelter. And you have to put aside personal feelings against certain types of people. Dark Elves for instance. To my knowledge we have no trolls or Iksar among our ranks yet, so you don't have to worry about them I do guarantee, however, that you will meet more interesting people with us than you would with any one else."
"Trolls?" she said with a hint of distaste. "Well, I suppose I have never really met one before, so I can't say anything about them." She looked rather hungrily at the bracer. I think, personally, that she just wanted to find a place to call home. I knew that feeling well enough. The sting of events years earlier in Ak'anon were still fresh.
"Very well, I will join your guild rogue. Based on the assumption that you will help me join the Antonica bards, and help me find what I need. Other than that, leave my business to me. Agreed?"
"Agreed!" I declared. It was always a wonderful feeling to hand a bracer to some new wanderer of the world. I told her about why we all wore our bracers on the right instead of the left. She smiled as she put it on. Surprisingly, it didn't look so bad with her leather sleeved tunic. I told her the basic rules, and codes of conduct.
"You will have to wait with me a little while in Freeport while I find some of our more prominent members. I have two or three such in mind who can help you earn a place in the League if you want." Olysiousa seemed rather overjoyed at that fact. Maybe she had given up on a few of those hard feelings over my prank.
My plan was to wait for Synnibar to come and meet his newest fledgling, and then to find Sopranoe and see what she could do to help this girl. Sopranoe is a smart bard, especially for a half elf. I still smile at some of the things that woman got away with in her younger days. To me it is always a wonder how she has not been hung. If all went well in the meeting with Synnibar, our leader, then Olysiousa would be accepted fully into the UoN, as it was more commonly known. I had high hopes for this girl. Some day she would be worth all the effort I took to make her acquaintance, if she wasn't already worth it. I rather hoped that Lady Keyley, Gilyen, Baggza, and the rest of the regular crew, (that is, the usual party of travelers.) liked her as well as I did.
I stretched and yawned looking out to sea. To my surprise the walls of Freeport could just be seen in the distance. I smiled. Boat rides were always much faster when there were people with you.
"Ah, there we are," I pointed off to the east. "That is the city of men, Freeport. We should be arriving there shortly." I sat back and listened for the familiar sound of the music that could be heard on the docks. Olysiousa turned and watched the city approach.
That's the first chapter. Let me know what you think!
Stabbya Indaback Rogue of the 29th circle, currently in hiding
Olysiosa Bard of the 27th song
"What song are you playing?" I ask rather prudently coming close to see if she had any sheet music with her. The girl jumped and looked warily at my daggers before answering
"What concern of yours is it rogue? Leave me be." Now this, of course, I found perplexing and so I proceeded to pry. I picked her pocket.
"You seem to have lost something" I told her slyly. The young elf quickly put her hand to her pocket and her eyes turned to rage
"Thief!" she shouted, "give that back!"
I laughed being the little rogue I am and ran off with a rather nice looking pendant bearing the markings of Bristlebane. I thought it might fetch a nice little price in the markets of Antonica.
Well, my being a short, but rather fast gnome, and her being a long legged half elf, we were somewhat matched at speeds. I deemed this bard to be of no particular threat as she seemed quite young and indeed only had a short sword with her. Her leather jerkin would be of no defense against my daggers, let alone the poisons adorning them.
I ran towards the gate of Kaladim. If she would not give me information, she would give me something else of value. I was quite determined to get the pendant, but she was quite determined to get it back. She chased me right through the gates, and to my alarm the guards did nothing. I was a cousin to them, but it appeared she too, was a friend. That was of little consequence though. I needed only get to the mines to loose her. Half elves couldn't see nearly as well as gnomes. After all, we live our lives under ground. Besides which, the miners knew me, as I had done many favors for them. Favors even if they did not know the price they paid in raw gems that simply "disappeared".
At any rate, I was right and I soon lost the young half elf in the torch lit tunnels. I waited in the shadows behind a rock. I was quite overjoyed to see my investment of armor paying off. The girl glowered into the darkness hissing something under her breath, and again something about her screamed a resemblance to some one I knew, but still the name escaped me.
After I was rather sure she was gone, having given up, I left the mines to talk with the banker about the worth of the pendant. As I stepped out of the mineshaft, I was caught quite unexpectedly and for a rogue, that is an embarrassing thing by that little bardlett. She grabbed my tunic in her fist and lifted me rather high up to see her eye to eye.
"Give me back what is mine, little thief, and I shall give you your life." The woman growled at me. This I found quite funny as I could slit her throat in an instant. The only thing keeping me from doing just that was the fact that she so reminded me of someone.
"Go back to your mother girl, and come see me when you know how to fight. Or in the least, when your hygiene is better." The girl's eyes lit on fire at that, and she dropped me rather ungracefully on the ground to draw her sword. It was a rickety old thing and a well-placed hit would likely shatter it. I was almost looking forward to teaching the child some manners when a guard happened to walk by. He took one look at her sword and my bared daggers before he decided to disarm the both of us in one fell swoop and dragging us before the captain.
"Dueling within the city is prohibited except in the arena. Stabbya, you should know that by now. How many times have we told you now? And Olysiousa, I will let you off seeing how this thief did in fact steal something from you and you are rather new to the Butcher-Block area.
I gaped in open astonishment. How long had I been negotiating trade agreements for these worthless dwarves? Well, enough was enough and as soon as their attentions were focused on the bard, I escaped, loot and all. As I left the gates, I waved kindly at the guards and went on my way toward the boat to Freeport, laughing and tossing the pendant in my hand.
I was in luck and the boat was not long in coming. It seemed the dwarves were taking their time in following me. Or perhaps they had decided to do nothing about it. Whatever the decision, it didn't bother me.
As I boarded the SirensBane I looked back to the dock and saw to my dismay that bard still coming after me. The ride through the Ocean of Tears was a long one and it would be rather trying to hide from her the entire time. Besides which, she had already seen me. This was becoming trouble some.
The bard's eyes were still flaming as she ran toward me. She managed to get aboard the boat just as it pulled away. I scowled at my luck.
"If you be looking for a duel on a boat, girly, you won't be getting it. I have no wish to push you off into the ocean" I was trying to be nice to the ignorant girl, but I was fast loosing patience and interest in the pendant. She looked up at where I sat above the door to the lower deck of the boat.
"Give it back!" She said through clenched teeth. I laughed; highly doubting this bard in training could much more than scratch me. I will admit, however, that I had underestimated her stubbornness.
"Fine, if you want it, take it. Its not that pretty anyway" I said flippantly, tossing the item at her. She gave a yelp and dove to catch it.
"I should kill you for that!" She gasped after she had recovered the pendant and her wits.
"You should learn how to take a joke, Girly. Or at least learn how to make one. Yours aren't very funny" I retorted lightly. The pendant was, after all, a token of Bristlebane, and the children of Bristlebane were pranksters. The bard's face went red, and I must admit it looked quite funny in view that her hair was white. "At any rate, you shouldn't make threats you can't carry out." I wonder, sometimes, what annoyed her more. The words, or the manner in which they were said?
"I could very well bring down the wrath of the Antonica bards on you, thief!" The bard retorted. She was quite hot headed, and that was a quality I liked.
"You are a hot headed little bard indeed. Well, since I don't fancy spending the long journey to Freeport constantly insulting you, lets call a truce shall we?" The bard seemed as tired of the feud.
"Very well," said she. "But you, thief will keep your distance. Agreed?" I laughed a little more, yes; I was now rather fond of her.
"Certainly." I extended my hand to her, or rather down as I was still atop the door and she was below me. "Stabbya, be the name."
"Olysiousa" She responded, tentatively taking my hand. "So where does this boat lead anyway?"
"Freeport, City of men." Her eyes lit up at this. No doubt in memory of some child hood tale.
"Freeport. That's where he said she went." She murmured to herself.
"Where who went?" I asked off handedly, ruffling through my packs for a bottle of Gypsy wine.
"My mother." She paused for a moment with a hand on her flute. "But its no business of yours, thief"
"If you need someone found, I bet I can help." I offered, trying to be nice. Alright, so I felt a little bad about making her chase me all over the Butcher Block, I can try to make up for it, rogue or not.
"I don't need your help." She replied automatically. "What are you looking for?"
"Mmm? Oh, Gypsy wine. Best wine this side of The Ro. Though I don't think I bought any more after my last boat trip." I had also forgotten to buy any Dwarven ale. That is one of the few good aspects of our cousins. They have the best breweries in all of Norrath.
"Not only a thief but a drunkard too, Stabbya?" She asked with a smile.
I sighed and leaned back against the boat and took a look out to sea. We were coming up to the Goblin Isles. I fingered the band at my wrist that bore the markings of my guild, my home. Idly, I noticed that Olysiousa didn't have any such bracers on her own wrists. Not even one marking that she was part of the League of Antonica bards. That made me smile a little bit. Perhaps Sopranoe could help set her up with the guild in Freeport.
"If you are indeed a member of the Antonica bards, Olysiousa, then why is it you don't have their bracer?" I looked down at her with a half smile. It takes no genius to observe the little things like that. None the less, Olysiousa flushed and seemed to want to say something, but lack the words. I had only to tell one member of the Bards that she had been impersonating them and they would most likely imprison her for the better part of her life. "Bah, you don't have to worry about my saying any thing. I'm a rogue, remember? Secrets are my specialty."
"Exposing them, you mean." She looked at me suspiciously.
"Well fine. If you need a reason to trust me, join my guild. We need a few more up and coming bards anyway."
"Just like that?" She stared at me in a rather disbelieving manner. "Do you invite all the people you have stolen something from into your guild?" I snickered
"No, but if you don't want it, then that fine" I went to put the bracer I had taken out back into my belt pouch. She looked rather hesitant to say either yes or no.
"What guild is it? I have never seen those colors before."
"I can't say I am surprised. We are still a young guild. Not too many are willing to join a home where all are welcome. Necromancers, Dwarves, Trolls and all. We are the Unification of Norrath, Standing against the boundaries which have strangled the world of Norrath for ages and all that sort of stuff. You don't have to stay within the guild forever, but we can help you get on your feet as a bard and at least get you some training so you don't look so ridiculous with that short sword of yours."
She seemed mostly to ignore my comment on her lack of skill as she looked at the bracer. I was rather reminded of when I myself put the bracer on my right wrist for the first time. Generally, people wore their guild markings on their left wrist and the marks of their trade on the right. Ours was rather symbolic, family and guild above trade. I wasn't much into symbolism either then or now, but I was willing to go along with it all as the people were very nice and we were generally well received in most areas of the world.
"So, if I found what I was looking for somewhere else, I could leave any time I wanted?" She asked looking over at me as she had climbed up to where I sat some time ago. I nodded. "No strings, hard feelings or anything?"
"Nope. We are an optional membership guild. You may leave if you like, and you may come back, but there are limits. We can't just keep taking people when they need help. You have to help us too, promise not to use us as a wayside shelter. And you have to put aside personal feelings against certain types of people. Dark Elves for instance. To my knowledge we have no trolls or Iksar among our ranks yet, so you don't have to worry about them I do guarantee, however, that you will meet more interesting people with us than you would with any one else."
"Trolls?" she said with a hint of distaste. "Well, I suppose I have never really met one before, so I can't say anything about them." She looked rather hungrily at the bracer. I think, personally, that she just wanted to find a place to call home. I knew that feeling well enough. The sting of events years earlier in Ak'anon were still fresh.
"Very well, I will join your guild rogue. Based on the assumption that you will help me join the Antonica bards, and help me find what I need. Other than that, leave my business to me. Agreed?"
"Agreed!" I declared. It was always a wonderful feeling to hand a bracer to some new wanderer of the world. I told her about why we all wore our bracers on the right instead of the left. She smiled as she put it on. Surprisingly, it didn't look so bad with her leather sleeved tunic. I told her the basic rules, and codes of conduct.
"You will have to wait with me a little while in Freeport while I find some of our more prominent members. I have two or three such in mind who can help you earn a place in the League if you want." Olysiousa seemed rather overjoyed at that fact. Maybe she had given up on a few of those hard feelings over my prank.
My plan was to wait for Synnibar to come and meet his newest fledgling, and then to find Sopranoe and see what she could do to help this girl. Sopranoe is a smart bard, especially for a half elf. I still smile at some of the things that woman got away with in her younger days. To me it is always a wonder how she has not been hung. If all went well in the meeting with Synnibar, our leader, then Olysiousa would be accepted fully into the UoN, as it was more commonly known. I had high hopes for this girl. Some day she would be worth all the effort I took to make her acquaintance, if she wasn't already worth it. I rather hoped that Lady Keyley, Gilyen, Baggza, and the rest of the regular crew, (that is, the usual party of travelers.) liked her as well as I did.
I stretched and yawned looking out to sea. To my surprise the walls of Freeport could just be seen in the distance. I smiled. Boat rides were always much faster when there were people with you.
"Ah, there we are," I pointed off to the east. "That is the city of men, Freeport. We should be arriving there shortly." I sat back and listened for the familiar sound of the music that could be heard on the docks. Olysiousa turned and watched the city approach.
That's the first chapter. Let me know what you think!
Stabbya Indaback Rogue of the 29th circle, currently in hiding
Olysiosa Bard of the 27th song