It was a rather dark night. This was admittedly a rather usual state for
night, but even so, there was a rather unnatural feel to the blackness.
Within the darkness a small shape of black moved silently over the main wall of the village, and dropped down silently into the village. The dark figure moved rather like a cross between a lithe cat and a shadow. Making no sound whatsoever, but moving rather quickly, the figure moved across the rooftops of the village and eventually slid down to the stable's, next to the tavern, where it managed to slink into an empty room via an open window.
Then some really strange things began to occur.
Alone in one of the rooms of the tavern sits an adventurer sharpening her sword. Galathea has been staying in this tavern for a few days now. There has been no call for a wandering adventurer lately and she is running out of money. She would have to leave in the morning but while she has a roof over her head she may aswell relax....
The figure pulled out a large roll of black felt from the small leather satchel he had slung over his shoulder. He unrolled the material to reveal a series of long thin metal rods, dulled with lampblack. He started screwing some of them together, and soon had a long and complicated peice of appiratus with a small mirror at the end. He proceeded to place the angular pole out of the window, positioning it around the corner, and placing it so that noone could see it from below. He made a small seriese of adjustments to the other end of the pole, and the mirror at the end turned to show a close up view of the window of a second tavern in the center of the town.
He pulled a small silver pocket watch from his pocket, and placed it open by the window, and checked the time.
The figure then reached inside his satchel again, and pulled out some oddly shaped peices of wood with metal screws on the ends. As he began to put the oiled joints together, a crossbow began to take shape. The figure reached inside his cloak, and pulled out a long thin metal container. He unscrewed the lid and pulled out a small corked vial of clear liquid. He did this with great care.
He pulled a quarrel out from the sling over his other shoulder, and dipped the arrow head in the liquid. He then positioned the chair at a precarious angle and leaned out of the window, looked at the watch and waited.
Abadon: I was sitting on a table in a bar.well It wasnt just some bar to me.......I lived in the attick upstairs.....and YES I was sitting ON the table.I yawned.It had been a quiet night so far....no fights or anything yet.....I was bored.
The figure looked intently at the watch, and readyed himself.
(The target entered the tavern by the back way and proceeded up the stairs)
Making sure he wasent visisble, he lined up the crossbow with the magnifing mirror, and targeted the window of the other tavern.
(He went up the stairs, rooting for the keys to his room)
He waited for the hand to finish the circuit silently, his finger on the trigger.
(His hand grasped the doornob, and made to turn it)
At the moment the hand reached the top of the watch, the door to the room opened and the target walked in.
It was the same room as the figure.
He and the figure regarded each other with suprise, before the figure casually shot him with the crossbow, a confused look on his face. He pulled a small map out from his pocket, and unfolded it out and looked at it.
After a while he turned it the other way up.
The figure casually walked down the stairs to the bar, and ordered a small non-alchaholic drink. He attempted to find a small out of the way table where he could be alone, and eventually ended up sitting close to the wall, cramped and depressed.
He sighed and sipped his drink.
Well, that could have gone better. It had taken him ages to get the correct equipment set up, and all of that for nothing. Hey ho, what a funny old world it was. Pitty the only people having fun were everybody else.
The figure sighed, and took another sip.
After walking around for awhile Esmerelda came upon a crowded tavern. She had just beat the crap out of a group of men that thought it would be fun to have their own personal concubine. She had broken almost every bone in their useless bodies, they would probably be dead in the morning, which was fine with her. That meant they wouldn't bother anyone else. She walked inside and ordered a beer from the tired looking bartender. She looked around and smiled when she saw that a few people in the bar were looking at her with fear or admiration. Good. That meant that the massacre that had occurred in the last town she was in wasn't for nothing. She frowned when she noticed that all of the tables were taken. She cleared her throat and walked towards one of the men that was looking at her in fear. She sat down across from him and smiled "Gee, don't I know you from somewhere?" The man shook his head furiously and ran out of the tavern, leaving the table free. Esmerelda laughed and leaned back in her chair contently.
The figure watched Esmerelda with mildly mopy intrest from the nearby table. She caught him looking at her and looked at him in her sweet yet threatening way.
He rolled his eyes and returned to his lemon and lime.
Naturally he had heard of Esmerelda, everyone who was in 'the game' knew Esmerelda. In the 'unnoficial leauges of assasination' she was pretty high up.
Not as high as him though. Which was incredibly ironic, as he had never been high in his life. He had'nt even got above sea level.
His eyes wandered moodily over to her again, and despite himself found that he was checking her out. Nice outfit, he thought, but could do with more black.
He liked black, most of the people in 'the game' did. It just seemed appropriate. Plus it was a great insult to kill someone while you were badly dressed. Assasins didnt have morals as such.
They had standards.
He sighed and returned to his drink, and looked up again to find she was looking at him.
He sipped his drink lightly. Things were getting interesting.
Esmerelda was got up to go talk to the man that had been looking at her when one of the local scum sat down across from here. She looked at him and groaned "Satch what is it this time?"
The old man with yellowing teeth smiled at her "The same thing it always is dear, I have an offer for you." He picked up a large bag of gold coins to show his point. Esmerelda just rolled her eyes "No."
Satch gave her an amused look "What do you mean by no?"
"I mean no. The jobs you offer are always sleazy. I got three rules. I don't kill children. I don't kill Women. I don't kill those who can't defend themselves. Your jobs always seem to want me to break that code."
"You have a code of honors, yet you kill men. Isn't that a big contradiction? I need this job done and I'm willing to pay much more than this."
"I'm not in the game for money, no decent assassin has a price tag. Go find someone else."
Esmerelda rolled her eyes as the man went off to find a third-rate that would do the job poorly and went back to her drink.
After a while the figure walked over to her table and sat down.
"Mind if I sit here?" he asked languidly.
"Not much point if youve already sat down is there," said Esmerelda sarcastically, wondering what he wanted.
"I must admit, I admired the way you rejected that insects money,and displayed such aplaudable standards. It makes one feel most exuberant to be, 'one of the players.' Esmerelda looked the young man up and down. So he was an assasin as well. The swords, daggers, and grapnel should have given even the most mentally challenged person a clear idea of what he did for a living.
"Do I know you," asked Esmerelda slowly. He seemed a little bit familiar, and she was certain that she had heard of someone similar to him.
"Quite possibly my dear," he said, "My name is Wormwood."
Esmerelda was impressed. She had heard of this guy alot. Assasination was a very closed society, but the 'players' as they called themselves were constantly keeping tabs on the other, being in direct competition. Very few actually went as far as trying to kill another member, that would be considered rude by the rest of the 'players', but instead they kept attempting to climb the charts by Inhuming clients with various things taken into account as style, finnese, decourum, dress sence, and painlessness.
Assasins who killed for pleasure or personal gain rarly lasted long, as did those who were, a little bit too extreem. The Codex, which was what Assasins used as their official guidebook, was very clear on the matter about Inhumation for free.
Painfully clear.
Wormwood looked at Esmerelda, and felt a wave of mutual admiration. They were both professionals, doing a job that needed doing. Many a war had been cancelled due to an important leader chocking on a ckicken bone, or in one extreem case, a chicken, (the chicken was fortuantly unharmed, but never layed egg's in quite the same quantitys as it used to) and Assasins were in a great demand during these troubled times.
"Are you killing anybody in particular while you are here, or are you just passing through?" asked Wormwood politely.
Esmerelda took a sip of her drink and smiled "Coming from actually. I just took care of a bunch of gangs in the last town I was in. The villagers were tired of always being robbed so they hired me. It didn't go as..." she paused to think of a good word for the situation "...painlessly as I had hoped, but it got done. What about you?"
Wormwood looked a little embarrased.
"Ah, well you see the thing is, there was a slight error on my part. You see, I had been given information that the client would be located at the more exclusive of the two taverns in this town. I failed to take into account that he was the partial owner of this very establishment. My second error was in reading the map he gave me."
"You mean you ended up in the wrong tavenr?" asked Esmerelda incredulously.
"Hardly. Just after I had finally arranged my equipment and had everything in place, the damn fool walks through the door of the room I was in."
Esmerelda tried to supress a giggle.
Wormwood sighed and sipped from his drink.
Esmerelda supressed another giggle. It was funny that one of the most respected assassins would make such a silly mistake "Well, it's not so bad. I mean, that's like one mistake in about two hundered if I've heard right."
Abadon: I watched their conversation carefully. Of course I knew who they were.....Their reputations were as bad as mine. Dont get me wrong, I like haveing people afraid of me.....At least that way there woulnt be anyone stupid enough to flirt with me. I wasnt sure If I should join them or not....I was very comfortable sitting on my little table.....
Despite himself, Wormwood did something he rarly did. He smiled. "Why thank you my dear," he said warmly, "I must say it is nice to be appreciated, especially by an Assasin with such flair and style as your own.
Esmerelda tried not to blush. "Thanks," she said. After a moments pause, she said in a very level voice, "You know, that girl seems to have been watching us for a while now."
"I know," said Wormwood dryly, as if he was talking about the weather. Esmerelda got the point and spoke in a more normal voice.
"Do you think she's a spy or something?"
"Not a clue," said Wormwood moodily, "possibly an Assasin like us."
"How can you tell," asked Esmerelda smiling.
"Call it a special feeling," said Wormwood flatly, finishing the rest of his Lemon and Lime.
"What do we do," she asked, pretending to get close to him.
"Wait," he said, attempting to see through his glasses.
They were steaming up. Esmerelda smirked as he took them off and cleared them with a small black lace handkercheif from his pocket. As he cleared them Esmerelda used them like a mirror to check out the girl closely.
"I think things really are getting interesting," she said as Wormwood repositioned his glasses.
"Oh goody," he said flatly.
Within the darkness a small shape of black moved silently over the main wall of the village, and dropped down silently into the village. The dark figure moved rather like a cross between a lithe cat and a shadow. Making no sound whatsoever, but moving rather quickly, the figure moved across the rooftops of the village and eventually slid down to the stable's, next to the tavern, where it managed to slink into an empty room via an open window.
Then some really strange things began to occur.
Alone in one of the rooms of the tavern sits an adventurer sharpening her sword. Galathea has been staying in this tavern for a few days now. There has been no call for a wandering adventurer lately and she is running out of money. She would have to leave in the morning but while she has a roof over her head she may aswell relax....
The figure pulled out a large roll of black felt from the small leather satchel he had slung over his shoulder. He unrolled the material to reveal a series of long thin metal rods, dulled with lampblack. He started screwing some of them together, and soon had a long and complicated peice of appiratus with a small mirror at the end. He proceeded to place the angular pole out of the window, positioning it around the corner, and placing it so that noone could see it from below. He made a small seriese of adjustments to the other end of the pole, and the mirror at the end turned to show a close up view of the window of a second tavern in the center of the town.
He pulled a small silver pocket watch from his pocket, and placed it open by the window, and checked the time.
The figure then reached inside his satchel again, and pulled out some oddly shaped peices of wood with metal screws on the ends. As he began to put the oiled joints together, a crossbow began to take shape. The figure reached inside his cloak, and pulled out a long thin metal container. He unscrewed the lid and pulled out a small corked vial of clear liquid. He did this with great care.
He pulled a quarrel out from the sling over his other shoulder, and dipped the arrow head in the liquid. He then positioned the chair at a precarious angle and leaned out of the window, looked at the watch and waited.
Abadon: I was sitting on a table in a bar.well It wasnt just some bar to me.......I lived in the attick upstairs.....and YES I was sitting ON the table.I yawned.It had been a quiet night so far....no fights or anything yet.....I was bored.
The figure looked intently at the watch, and readyed himself.
(The target entered the tavern by the back way and proceeded up the stairs)
Making sure he wasent visisble, he lined up the crossbow with the magnifing mirror, and targeted the window of the other tavern.
(He went up the stairs, rooting for the keys to his room)
He waited for the hand to finish the circuit silently, his finger on the trigger.
(His hand grasped the doornob, and made to turn it)
At the moment the hand reached the top of the watch, the door to the room opened and the target walked in.
It was the same room as the figure.
He and the figure regarded each other with suprise, before the figure casually shot him with the crossbow, a confused look on his face. He pulled a small map out from his pocket, and unfolded it out and looked at it.
After a while he turned it the other way up.
The figure casually walked down the stairs to the bar, and ordered a small non-alchaholic drink. He attempted to find a small out of the way table where he could be alone, and eventually ended up sitting close to the wall, cramped and depressed.
He sighed and sipped his drink.
Well, that could have gone better. It had taken him ages to get the correct equipment set up, and all of that for nothing. Hey ho, what a funny old world it was. Pitty the only people having fun were everybody else.
The figure sighed, and took another sip.
After walking around for awhile Esmerelda came upon a crowded tavern. She had just beat the crap out of a group of men that thought it would be fun to have their own personal concubine. She had broken almost every bone in their useless bodies, they would probably be dead in the morning, which was fine with her. That meant they wouldn't bother anyone else. She walked inside and ordered a beer from the tired looking bartender. She looked around and smiled when she saw that a few people in the bar were looking at her with fear or admiration. Good. That meant that the massacre that had occurred in the last town she was in wasn't for nothing. She frowned when she noticed that all of the tables were taken. She cleared her throat and walked towards one of the men that was looking at her in fear. She sat down across from him and smiled "Gee, don't I know you from somewhere?" The man shook his head furiously and ran out of the tavern, leaving the table free. Esmerelda laughed and leaned back in her chair contently.
The figure watched Esmerelda with mildly mopy intrest from the nearby table. She caught him looking at her and looked at him in her sweet yet threatening way.
He rolled his eyes and returned to his lemon and lime.
Naturally he had heard of Esmerelda, everyone who was in 'the game' knew Esmerelda. In the 'unnoficial leauges of assasination' she was pretty high up.
Not as high as him though. Which was incredibly ironic, as he had never been high in his life. He had'nt even got above sea level.
His eyes wandered moodily over to her again, and despite himself found that he was checking her out. Nice outfit, he thought, but could do with more black.
He liked black, most of the people in 'the game' did. It just seemed appropriate. Plus it was a great insult to kill someone while you were badly dressed. Assasins didnt have morals as such.
They had standards.
He sighed and returned to his drink, and looked up again to find she was looking at him.
He sipped his drink lightly. Things were getting interesting.
Esmerelda was got up to go talk to the man that had been looking at her when one of the local scum sat down across from here. She looked at him and groaned "Satch what is it this time?"
The old man with yellowing teeth smiled at her "The same thing it always is dear, I have an offer for you." He picked up a large bag of gold coins to show his point. Esmerelda just rolled her eyes "No."
Satch gave her an amused look "What do you mean by no?"
"I mean no. The jobs you offer are always sleazy. I got three rules. I don't kill children. I don't kill Women. I don't kill those who can't defend themselves. Your jobs always seem to want me to break that code."
"You have a code of honors, yet you kill men. Isn't that a big contradiction? I need this job done and I'm willing to pay much more than this."
"I'm not in the game for money, no decent assassin has a price tag. Go find someone else."
Esmerelda rolled her eyes as the man went off to find a third-rate that would do the job poorly and went back to her drink.
After a while the figure walked over to her table and sat down.
"Mind if I sit here?" he asked languidly.
"Not much point if youve already sat down is there," said Esmerelda sarcastically, wondering what he wanted.
"I must admit, I admired the way you rejected that insects money,and displayed such aplaudable standards. It makes one feel most exuberant to be, 'one of the players.' Esmerelda looked the young man up and down. So he was an assasin as well. The swords, daggers, and grapnel should have given even the most mentally challenged person a clear idea of what he did for a living.
"Do I know you," asked Esmerelda slowly. He seemed a little bit familiar, and she was certain that she had heard of someone similar to him.
"Quite possibly my dear," he said, "My name is Wormwood."
Esmerelda was impressed. She had heard of this guy alot. Assasination was a very closed society, but the 'players' as they called themselves were constantly keeping tabs on the other, being in direct competition. Very few actually went as far as trying to kill another member, that would be considered rude by the rest of the 'players', but instead they kept attempting to climb the charts by Inhuming clients with various things taken into account as style, finnese, decourum, dress sence, and painlessness.
Assasins who killed for pleasure or personal gain rarly lasted long, as did those who were, a little bit too extreem. The Codex, which was what Assasins used as their official guidebook, was very clear on the matter about Inhumation for free.
Painfully clear.
Wormwood looked at Esmerelda, and felt a wave of mutual admiration. They were both professionals, doing a job that needed doing. Many a war had been cancelled due to an important leader chocking on a ckicken bone, or in one extreem case, a chicken, (the chicken was fortuantly unharmed, but never layed egg's in quite the same quantitys as it used to) and Assasins were in a great demand during these troubled times.
"Are you killing anybody in particular while you are here, or are you just passing through?" asked Wormwood politely.
Esmerelda took a sip of her drink and smiled "Coming from actually. I just took care of a bunch of gangs in the last town I was in. The villagers were tired of always being robbed so they hired me. It didn't go as..." she paused to think of a good word for the situation "...painlessly as I had hoped, but it got done. What about you?"
Wormwood looked a little embarrased.
"Ah, well you see the thing is, there was a slight error on my part. You see, I had been given information that the client would be located at the more exclusive of the two taverns in this town. I failed to take into account that he was the partial owner of this very establishment. My second error was in reading the map he gave me."
"You mean you ended up in the wrong tavenr?" asked Esmerelda incredulously.
"Hardly. Just after I had finally arranged my equipment and had everything in place, the damn fool walks through the door of the room I was in."
Esmerelda tried to supress a giggle.
Wormwood sighed and sipped from his drink.
Esmerelda supressed another giggle. It was funny that one of the most respected assassins would make such a silly mistake "Well, it's not so bad. I mean, that's like one mistake in about two hundered if I've heard right."
Abadon: I watched their conversation carefully. Of course I knew who they were.....Their reputations were as bad as mine. Dont get me wrong, I like haveing people afraid of me.....At least that way there woulnt be anyone stupid enough to flirt with me. I wasnt sure If I should join them or not....I was very comfortable sitting on my little table.....
Despite himself, Wormwood did something he rarly did. He smiled. "Why thank you my dear," he said warmly, "I must say it is nice to be appreciated, especially by an Assasin with such flair and style as your own.
Esmerelda tried not to blush. "Thanks," she said. After a moments pause, she said in a very level voice, "You know, that girl seems to have been watching us for a while now."
"I know," said Wormwood dryly, as if he was talking about the weather. Esmerelda got the point and spoke in a more normal voice.
"Do you think she's a spy or something?"
"Not a clue," said Wormwood moodily, "possibly an Assasin like us."
"How can you tell," asked Esmerelda smiling.
"Call it a special feeling," said Wormwood flatly, finishing the rest of his Lemon and Lime.
"What do we do," she asked, pretending to get close to him.
"Wait," he said, attempting to see through his glasses.
They were steaming up. Esmerelda smirked as he took them off and cleared them with a small black lace handkercheif from his pocket. As he cleared them Esmerelda used them like a mirror to check out the girl closely.
"I think things really are getting interesting," she said as Wormwood repositioned his glasses.
"Oh goody," he said flatly.