The day of the escape was nearing. The tunnel that led into the Fort's prison was mostly secured. Previous plan of getting out using the 'Teleporter' was eventually ditched as the artifact couldn't be used on the person wielding it, which forced reliance on a complete stranger. This alone could go so very wrong and did not guarantee success at all. The gloves, however, were useful so the party decided to keep them.
As excited as they were to fully explore the dungeon lying beneath the Fort they couldn't allow themselves to betray their intentions to the Magisters who were sniffing around. To avoid being suspicious, usually one person was deployed to scavenge around and get the things needed. This time it was Elane's turn to secure supplies. She was making her way through the beach right under the Fort's ruins, strolling casually towards the far end of the shore. The coastline there extended farther into the sea, accumulating quite a collection of ship debris and wreckage.
The elf just moved past one of such remains when she suddenly felt a sting on her neck. Seconds after she was pinned down on the hot sand, a needle being pushed in little ways closer and closer towards her aorta. The attacker has chosen a perfect position to remain unrecognizable as the sun was right above their shoulder, blinding the grounded elf. Her eyes squinted but could catch no detail of the person other than the blurred silhouette.
"My, my look what the winds have brought," a female voice, oozing with self confidence and smugness said. Elane gulped, that was a bad omen. "Stingtail is mine and I'm afraid I'm not in the mood to share."
"Look, I am not here to mess with your business. I only need a word, that is all."
"In truth", the attacker hissed, "it does not matter in the least who you are and what you do. You saw me mark my prey. You could warn him, save him, or kill him before I get any chance."
"Or I could simply walk away without even turning my head back…" Elane snarled.
The attacker's body shifted, moving between the merciless sun and the elf's eyes. The restrained noble was quite surprised to see another elven woman above her. Her features as symmetric as a cut diamond, eyes shining with catlike, yellow glow, hair braided back in a messy ponytail. Quite a sight it was indeed, even if the perspective was a bit off.
" 'Could' makes you a liability. And that makes you needle feed."
Only now did Elane notice that her cheek was adorned with some kind of an intricate tattoo...or a scar but that was hardly relevant at the moment.
Sighing in utter annoyance, the pinned elf forced herself to not struggle, bracing for the pain to come.
"If you do not want to listen to reason, by all means, go on," and she closed her eyes.
The sharp tip inched forward ruthlessly, but the noble remained still. After a few agonizing moments the pinning weight disappeared. Elane opened her eyes, surprised of sorts.
The assaulted elf sat up slowly, feeling the blood trickle down her neck. She eyed the assassin suspiciously, who casually leaned against a nearby wreck.
"Maybe you're not worth my time after all," the scarred woman smirked. "You got friends, I presume?"
"Ones that would actually hunt you down if I died? Maybe two." Elane murmured, dusting off her shoulders and checking her hair adornments.
"Not much, but still troublesome." The other chuckled. " Far from home, are we?"
The needle flicked with a glint of sunlight and disappeared in the woman's hair.
Expecting another blow any second, the noble got up slowly. Once she stood fully upright she noticed that the assassin was a few inches taller.
"If you have nothing against it, I will be on my way,"
"Absolutely, after you answer a few questions."
Taking a step sideways, the elf moved between Elane and the freedom from her murderous company.
"Well, my name is Elane for a good start. Ravenloft."
She crossed her arms, looking at the woman with as much aristocratic dignity as she could muster.
The information struck the other as odd and she tilted her head curiously. "Isn't your surname a little too human for an elf?"
Not-so-human Ravenloft nodded."It is. If you have been in Arx you could have heard of my family, we arm the city."
"Ahhh, I do apologize for assaulting a richman's daughter," she mocked.
"Well, I do not know the proper elven ordinance, but I guess I could eat you for this misconduct, " the noble retorted.
"Fair, add Sebille Kaleran to the menu, will you?"
"I wonder if Sebille tastes better with a side dish of escaping a certain prison island?"
Something changed in the catlike eyes at the sound of the word 'escape'.
"How do you tickle me. Most of the misguided dears here would argue such a thing is impossible."
As their conversation went on, the aforementioned trickle of blood quickly stopped flowing and instead of dripping down began crawling its way back to the wound. Sebille took notice of this event but didn't let it be known.
"So, whatever you want to do with this lizard; I don't care. I just need a few things from him to secure the route." Elane explained, as the grin on the assassin's face became wider and wider.
"Do follow me then," an ominous smile crossed Sebille's lips and with a spring in her steps she began nearing the lizard in question.
Fane suddenly looked up from his book. He spent the last few hours reminiscing about the past instead of properly reading the tome and up until now was stuck in a trance-like state. Once he snapped out of it the surroundings manifested themselves in his undead senses with a loud hum of the nearby waterfall. He was retrospecting again. What's strange, he did not recall trailing off. His hand traced the cheekbone under the cowl. Glancing around he found no sign of the elf, a telepathic sigh followed this finding. What took her so long?
A rustle of cloth caused him to stop wondering about the fate of his 'guide'. The pathetic human male left the shade of his tent and strode towards a basin filled with water on a nearby tree stump.
"Aren't you hot sitting in the sun like this?" he asked, wiping his wet face with one sleeve.
"I mana-" a sudden movement under his garments stopped the skeleton mid-sentence. It was as if his nonexistent insides tried to burst from his abdomen and, after a while of utter terror, they did - taking the form of a black feline head.
"-Oh, for the love of…!"
A mixture of horror and amusement crossed Vermil's face when Fane tried to pull the cat out of his robes, only to have the little creature retreat deeper into them. The undead gave up with a sigh, adjusting the clothing.
"You, uh- have quite some space in there," the human spoke, befuddled, pointing at Fane's stomach.
"Damned cat…" the sound of gritted teeth followed the curse, "I believe I do not have to lecture you about the dangers of an open flame? Screaming will also be futile as I will simply rip that stupid moustache from your face and force it down your throat."
The human acknowledged the threat with an understanding nod. "I see that Elane tried to protect your identity, but unfortunately for you I am no fool. I knew what you were the very moment I saw you back on the walls."
Fane's head snapped, glaring, judging, weighing risks. Vermil only raised his hands in response,"Look, you can expect no threat from me but...um...I guess I'll have to break the news to Lohse somehow. She should handle it well though."
"I must be truly blessed to not be surrounded by complete morons trying to kill the last Eternal," the skeleton renewed his attempts to drag the cat out of his bones, revealing his skull in the process.
A glint of curiosity lit Vermil's eyes, "Eternal?"
"Ah, of course, you see…" The cat was once again left in peace, curling inside the pelvis as the scholar began his explanation.
The elf was back in the camp just as the Eternal concluded his opinion of humankind to a rather amused Vermil. She was back, but she was not alone. Confusion and sudden panic shifted the elf's face when she spotted the two men chatting. One without his usual camouflage on, with the skull shining gently in the afternoon sun.
"Quite the troupe you have here," Sebille remarked before Elane could even turn to her.
The ongoing conversation stopped. The man's eyebrow sprang up, eyeballing the newcomer. Fane's skull, well, made no expression whatsoever. Dead air hovered above them so the noble elf took the introduction upon self.
"This is Sebille. Sebille, the raven haired gentleman here is Vermil and the lovely skull before you is Fane. She wants to join our escape and I believe she can turn out to be a rather useful asset."
Vermil eyed the newly introduced elf suspiciously, his gaze lingering over the scar visible on her cheek. Sebille didn't falter, quite on the contrary, she seemed pleased with all the attention focused on her.
"We should probably wait for Lohse to come back before we make any decisions but do tell me,Sebille, this scar of yours is lizard of origin, isn't it?" The words were neither judging nor appraising, though a hint of curiosity could be heard in the scholar's voice.
"Oh, you do seem informed about living scars," the elf's expression toughened," yes, upon a bad old time a lizard cut this thing into my cheek, the mark of a slave. But"-she leaned over with a malicious smile,"-said lizard has been taken care of and I am free, of sorts."
The raven haired human answered in acknowledging nod while Fane's look jabbed daggers into Elane's side. "Where do you find all these mortals? I can barely stand the three of you." his voice rang in her head, only her head.
"Strength in numbers and all of that, Fane", she groaned back, crossing arms on her chest without as much as a glance back at the querulous skull.
"I thought," the skeleton continued out loud, "the saying went 'strength in intellect', but please, have it your way, oh esteemed leader."
The esteemed leader smirked in response before looking around the camp and further, seeing no sign of the redhead woman. "So, where is Lohse anyway?" she asked, addressing Vermil.
"Said she spotted someone familiar here and went to the Fort, been away for a while now."
"We can only hope she stays out of trouble then…" As this futile request left Elane's lips
Lohse's tangled, vividly coloured hair appeared from behind the vine curtain. A nervous smile on her face and...someone following closely behind.
A human, slightly taller than the bard he followed. Hair kept long and untidy, his look cold yet savage. Bearded, rough face. He was dressed in a prisoner's mantle. Despite a source collar around his neck this man did not seem tamed. Not at all.
"Bad news," Elane thought to herself as she took a few steps forward to meet the two, bracing herself for whatever was to come. She felt Vermil stopping right behind her, tense.
"Heeyy, you're not gonna believe this," Lohse said as soon as she saw the puzzled looks of her companions.
"Who is he?" the elf hissed, ignoring whatever Lohse had to say. Her hand twitched inch by inch to grab a dagger tucked behind her belt.
"Yeah, that's the part of the story," the redhead continued, her tone careless and her posture relaxed,"I was having a nice chat with a fellow musician back at the Fort, sang a tune or two, all good fun. He gave me his lute as a gift honoring the 'good old times'. But anyway, I was walking towards the main entrance, figuring out whether I still know how to play or not and then, well, the upstairs visitor made me break it on some random fella's head. Well, not that random, he was one of Griff's brutes trying to rob an elf-"
Elane furrowed, then raised one brow up while listening, her effort to grab the dagger canceled.
"- then a fight broke out. That could turn really grim if not for this guy here."
The man in question grinned, "Ifan ben-Mezd, pleased to meet fellow escapees and you again, Sebille," he nodded towards the elven assassin.
"I assume you have told the man everything, Lohse?" Elane's voice turned icy as she scornfully looked down at ben-Mezd.
The woman shrugged casually, "Only that we could help each other."
"I've just got a small errand to run, before I bid goodbye to the lovely seaside here. I could use someone to watch my back and it looks like you could use someone to watch yours," his voice was closer to a low growl than articulated speech. Who in the Void was he?
"We do have quite a few skilled backwatchers already. What skills can you offer?" The man before her was a mystery, for sure,but the one that you wouldn't want to unravel.
"I can keep an eye on him," Sebille suddenly interrupted, striding closer, "knowing how much of an untamed beast he is."
The savage's eyes meet Sebille's, his glare softening in an instant then turning back to the noble. "I am a man of many skills and a Lone Wolf on a mission, I can offer whatever you need."
"Do enlighten me, what is Lone Wolf's business in the Divine Order's prison?" It was Vermil, who seemed none too pleased with Ifan's presence.
"Lone Wolf?" Elane's black eyes shot back and forth between the two humans, demanding an answer.
"A mercenary, a contract killer," Vermil spit, offering the elf a grave look.
"Is that so? I take the two of you-" her gaze turned towards Sebille for a moment and she subconsciously stepped between Fane and the stranger, "are acquainted?"
"It's a job. My job. Everyone needs to make a living," Ifan was perfectly calm, despite the venom oozing from the interlocutors' eyes.
"Who are you after?" Every muscle in Elane's body was iron, waiting, expecting.
He grimaced and shrugged off his backpack, his hand diving into the depths. After a quick rummaging he held out a piece of paper sealed with a broken wax seal in the shape of a wolf's paw. "Here, why don't you take a look?" and he tossed the scroll to the elf.
She caught it and with a rustle opened the contract. Her eyes went gradually wider and wider as she was reading the contents. Both Vermil and Lohse moved closer to have a glance.
"Alexandar?," with this one word the elf voiced the disbelief hovering in the air above the party, "quite the impossible task you got yourself into."
"Maybe," his hand reached over for the paper that Elane gladly passed,"but it could work out. I've got a contract, a man on the inside and, possibly, you."
"None of us are hired murderers, even if it's the bloody son of the Divine himself," the elf suddenly lunged forward, getting so close to the man that he was forced to jerk his head up.
"Getting me into the killing distance is enough help," not only did he hold her iron gaze but didn't even blink while doing so. Elane knew her presence was unsettling to people and she could inflict those emotions on others easily, it was her aura. But this man? His nerves must've been of steel or adamantite even.
"Best I can offer is getting you out of here or giving you the chance to die trying," she turned to her companions, "we still do not know how big the prison underneath the Fort is, the more of us the higher chances to escape."
"So be it, boss," Vermil sighed then shrugged, he either agreed or respected Elane's decision, either way he did not protest.
Lohse was more enthusiastic, while Fane seemed to be at a critical mass of annoyance, manifesting this by putting on his cowl and wandering away from the crowd.
Ifan smiled, offering a hand for the elf to shake. He let out a silent groan as the strength of her grasp was far greater than expected.
"Elane Ravenloft."
The smile turned into a vicious smirk.