Location: Undercity, Tirisfal Glades
Date: Unknown
Hour: Late Afternoon
The smell of decay, dust, and death became more apparent as Victor and his men led Matou deeper down the halls into the Undercity. Matou frowns at the smell, but says nothing. The halls eventually open up to a large and morbid underground city. Matou looks around at everything, observing the ghastly motifs that permeated the place.
"Five stars for interior design…" Matou mutters sarcastically. He continues following Victor and his men as they meander their way through the city. What must have been water troughs in the days of the Undercity being a sewer were now filled with a greenish ichor. Matou simply frowns at the stuff. He was typically apathetic, but even he was disappointed with the nastiness of this city.
Eventually, the group turns and begins heading down a new tunnel. Matou just quietly observed everything as he was led on. Finally, the tunnel opens up on an antechamber. In the center was a pale haired elven woman with red eyes. Matou analyzes the room before fixing his eyes on her. Victor leads Matou before her.
"We found this one in Silverpine Forest, my lady. He is not of the Alliance, and speaks a language none of us know. We bring him before you. He also says he is not human." Victor says as he stands aside for the woman to get a good look at Matou. The woman gives Matou a cold, suspecting stare.
"Who are you, and what are you doing within my lands?" The woman asks, curtly. Matou simply shrugs.
"My name is Matou Takeda. What I am doing here is something I have no bloody clue about. Here I am, on a mission, walking through fields of amber grain, and… boom. Suddenly I am in some bigass pine forest." Matou explains plainly, showing little respect for authority.
"Watch yourself around the Dark Lady!" Victor scolds Matou. Matou simply rolls his eyes.
"If you aren't Alliance, and you aren't human, what are you?" The woman as interrogatively, gripping her dark longbow threateningly.
"I am racially and demographically Endarian. I am from the Endarian Empire." Matou explains. "If you wonder what sets us apart from humans, well, aside from being more civilized and less barbaric, we live significantly longer. Most would consider us effectively immortal." Matou continues. The woman watches him, not entirely convinced it seems.
"What are your intentions here?" The woman inquires. Matou shrugs again.
"Don't really got any right now. I guess one would be not to imitate Victor here and die. I quite like having warm blood." Matou says dryly. With him, it was hard to tell if he was joking or throwing an insult. Victor glares at Matou.
"Should we kill him, my lady?" Victor asks the woman. She looks at Matou, analyzing.
"I'd prefer to stay alive, if I may confess. Perhaps a deal can be arranged?" Matou says calmly.
"And what would that be, Takeda?" The woman asks coldly. Matou looks her in the eyes, his icy stare matching her cold voice.
"Since I'm in a predicament that essentially has me… unemployed… I can offer you my services. I'm certain you would find them most useful." Matou says in a confident but pointed manner.
"And what are your services?" The woman inquires.
"I'm an agent I guess you could say. So… assassination, theft, torture, kidnapping, framing, forgery, deceit, and basically every kind of skullduggery one would have need of." Matou explains, now taking on a business-like air.
"I already have people who can do that. Dark Rangers, assassins, I have no need of such services." The woman explains, dismissively.
"Sure sure, you probably do. But, I am confident that I could make a decent asset, besides, based on how this city is designed, I feel you don't understand assassins too well." Matou says sharply. The woman scowls at his insult.
"You insult the person who controls your fate. It seems you are the fool here." The woman says irately.
"You have an underground city, the smell of the city is strong in native scents, those being death and rot. The city is dimly lit and made of winding tunnels and alleyways with little in the way of open spaces. Everything about this city is a poster child example of tactical ineptitude. The small spaces, alleys and tunnels make it exceptionally easy for assassins and criminals to hide. With the smell of death and rot, a corpse could be hidden and never be discovered, making it hard for investigators to find evidence. So already, a capable assassin could sneak in here, kill you, and hide your body, and be gone and if they ever even found your body to investigate, the killer would be long gone. But, not only that, but martially, this town is bad as well. Sure, the layout is excellent for ambushing invaders, but if someone attacked, it would take forever to mobilize as the winding tunnels and small spaces make it hard to move troops in any large amount, meaning if a sizeable invasion force came around, by the time you have mobilized, half your city is already captured." Matou explains sharply. He nods his head to the woman, waiting for an answer. She stares at him, gripping her bow and half reaching for an arrow. Matou watches her, plainly, waiting. Finally, she sighs and relaxes.
"You are a sly and arrogant bastard, Takeda." The woman says begrudgingly. "Fine, I'll let you live. But, one slip up and you will not survive." She continues, warningly. "I am Sylvanas Windrunner. You answer to me from now on."
"Pleasure doing business with you, my lady." Matou says, bowing. Victor looks at Matou, scowling and annoyed by the turn of events. "If I may have my weapon back. Sanguis is the only sword I use." Matou says, holding his hand out to Victor. Victor looks at Sylvanas.
"Give him his sword." She says, concedingly. Victor bows and hands Matou his sword. Matou proceeds to hand it on his belt and nods in gratitude. Matou then looks at Sylvanas.
"What now, Lady Windrunner?" Matou asks. Sylvanas looks him over.
"I want to see what you can do. If you are actually capable, like you profess." She says. She looks at Victor and his men. "You five can go. Takeda, you stay here." Victor and his men bow, leaving. Matou watches her, waiting. Sylvanas looks at one of her guards. "Arm five prisoners and bring them here. Tell them that I won't use the blight on them if they manage to defeat someone." She commands. The guard nods and heads off. Sylvanas looks at Matou. "If you can defeat these five. Then perhaps you have some value to me." Sylvanas explains plainly. Matou simply nods his head softly.
"No problem, Dark Lady."