07-15-05 1
Characters involved: Rothal, Zeraph, Keita, & Dosu
Halyard Tavern: Main Room
A quiet night in the tavern. Few vermin sit at the bar, or in the chairs nearby, and no disturbances of any kind have occurred throughout the day. The guard at the front door lounges against his spear, half-asleep.
Rothal is haphazardly serving drinks at the bar. Not that he's looking at all well for any sort of work. He seems a bit paler than usual, and the deep gashes on his cheek have yet to heal, and drops of blood run down his face every now and then. Eww. The vermin he is serving, however, seem rather amused at the unlucky hare's plight.
Zeraph seems more worried about Rothal's appearance than the vermin that he is attending to, his ears pinned back and brows furrowed. The buck snaps his attention back around to the ferret, though, as he is snapped at. A glare begins to form across his features, before he catches himself. Better to be nice tonight. Don't want to be killed when you're about to escape. A smile cross the hare's muzzle and he nods. "Yes, sah." Before serving another drink.
Keita has just exited from the back room of the tavern, with a couple of tugs given to her collar as she does so. It's annoying her, that much is apparent. A glance is given Rothal's dripping cheek, but she says nothing.
Blacktooth, the ferret Zeraph was serving, nods, taking the mug between grimy paws and drinking from it. Sure, he's suppose to be on guard duty tonight, along with the beast dozing by the door, but the hares have been behaving well lately, so what's the harm of a drink or two? Several other vermin are here, anyway, if the hares should try anything.
Rothal serves yet another drink, before taking a step back to lean against the wall. He's been having some trouble standing lately, and to talk to anybeast makes his face hurt worse than ever. His eyes roam about the tavern, looking at each of the vermin inside. Not to many... Tonight would be a good one for the escape.
Zeraph nods and murmurs an "I'll be right back" to Blacktooth before moving over to Rothal, looking concerned. "Kay..Now don't talk but, are you alright there?" He digs in his pocket, where he has been tending to be putting things lately and draws out a cloth, that he shoved in there at one point, handing it to the other buck.
Blacktooth seems to find the buck's concern amusing, chortling into his drink and almost gagging on it. Regaining his breath, he nudges a thin, wily looking rat seated beside him. "'Ey Jarbil, lookit. One o' the rabits looks 'urt, 'e does." Both seem to find this amusing, and the two laugh, joined by a large stoat who had just entered.
Stepping up to a drinking rat, Keita peers at him with arms crossed over her chest. "Getcha anythin'?"
Rothal grimaces, shaking his head. He accepts the cloth, holding it against his face.
Zeraph sighs a little, then shoots an unhappy look over his shoulder at the three at the bar, though the buck also looks frustrated. His ears quiver very fast.
The drunken rat orders and Keita delivers the drink with a sarcastic grin. "... Hope ya choke on it." The rat, pretty much too far gone to realize what she's said, breaks out in raucous laughter and pounds a fist on the bar top. With a brow quirk, Keita... steps back, and turns away. She heads over to Zeraph. "... They're gettin' stupidah."
Zeraph nods and then smiles. "At least.." He goes back across to Blacktooth to offer another refill to him and those present. Of course, they all take it, and the guard by the door has already fallen out asleep.
Merely snorting in reply, Keita moves away from Zeraph and to the drinking vermin, again, who have apparently started a game of "who can drink the fastest". Greeeeat. Keita quickly refills their drinks. In the face of their cheering and laughing, her next comment goes unheard, "Hope ya /all/ choke on it." This is said with a cheery grin, and back she turns to face Zeraph, with an eyeroll. "Idiots."
The buck is hardly able to hear the comment himself, with the raucous behavior going on around him at the bar. Zeraph smirks in return and winks at the doe, shaking his head. Ah..what a night for them to do this. So wonderful. The fighter sets more drinks out as fast as he can pour them, then goes to lean against the back wall, watching.
Just for good measure, Keita sets out another round of drinks after Zeraph does, and then she too steps back from the crowd, arms crossing over her chest as she leans against the back wall next to Zeraph. She nudges him with her elbow and smirks.
The tavern door swings open as the marten, Dosu walks through, bending down as he usualy does when entering. He looks over to all of the many roudy vermin at the bar, and lets out a small sigh before heading to the far wall of the tavern.
Zeraph shares the glance with her, looking ready to laugh now, though he keeps it in. An ear flicks in Dosu's direction as he moves into the tavern and the buck looks thoughtful for a moment, brows furrowing. The dull 'clunk' of a rat's head dropping on the bar sounds out, soon followed by laughter from his companions.
Dosu slowly shakes his head as he hears the going ons of the other vermin. He then carefully pulls the massive sword from his back, pulling it around himself and leaning it against the wall before walking over to have a seat at an empty table just to the side him.
Keita notices Dosu's entrance, but to be honest, the rat's head going 'clunk' is far more entertaining. Keita nudges Zeraph once more, "Think they could use anothah round?"
Dosu raises a paw, motioning one of the tenders to come over. Staying quite silent as to not gain the attention of the other vermin sitting at the bar.
Zeraph nods and smiles, before moving to the bar and giving the beasts 'another round', though his eyes remain on the marten now that he is settled down. He doesn't know what to think of Dosu.
Catching sight of Dosu's gesture, Keita gives Zeraph a nod before moving down the bar until she's leaning against the wall on her side of the counter. "Can I getcha somethin'...?"
Dosu gives a nod to Keita. "....A double rum should do me well....", he says loud and clearly before he raises a paw to the side of his mouth so no one can see him talk, and mumbles somthing to her under his breath.
Dosu whispers, ".....I see what your doing, but do you actually think it will work....?" to you.
Lowering her head as she prepares his rum, Keita nevertheless keeps her ears perked as she listens to what he has to say. She replies with a murmur, her lips barely moving. "... Sorry - don't know what yer talkin' about, sah."
Zeraph observes the marten and doe, chewing on his bottom lip, when suddenly his paw is slammed down on by a nearby stoat, who growls out for more drinks. The buck rubs his paw and prepares more, controlling the urge to hurt him.
Dosu grins lightly at this. He dosn't say a word more, only tapping the side of his head wit his forfinger, then bringing it down to hold it infront of his mouth.
Keita's eyes flicker up to Dosu's and... she merely nods, then speaks up. "If ya need anythin' else, sah, give a yell." She then moves back down the bar, to help Zeraph out some more drinks to the vermin. Just as she reaches him, another head goes *clunk* onto the countertop.
Dosu dosnt touch his rum, only stares at it... thinking. He then rather suddenly stands up, calling over to the other vermin at the bar. "...Boys, the next few rounds are on me.....", he says with a grin as he holds up his own rum.
Zeraph gestures that there are only two more to go, before returning to rubbing his paw and scowling, before smiling at the doe and then flicking another glance to Dosu, curiously. The buck goes to step into the back room.
( A rousing cheer follows the marten's announcement. )
Dosu grins as he digs into one of his larger pockets, pulling out a rather hefty pouch of coinage and tosses over the bar to Keita.
Keita catches the pouch with one paw behind her back, because... well. She's in a good mood, just at the moment. Can't imagine why. She drops Dosu a wink, and begins filling glass after glass. It takes her a full minute to deposit them all before the two remaining vermin, and even a couple in front of the passed out one. XD "Drink up!"
Dosu grins as he retakes his seat. Then taps his head once again with his forfinger before downing his drink.
Zeraph watches with a slow, cunning smirk spreading across his muzzle. The buck watches the vermin down their drinks, before one topples out of his stool completely. The remaining raises his arms in rejoicing and lets out a 'woop' before passing out himself. Immediately the hare stares cracking up.
Coming up to Zeraph's side, she quickly smacks him across the back of the head - lightly, though. "Shh!" She's grinning, though.
Dosu grins as he slowly stands up, giving the two tenders a slight nod as he silently makes his way over to the bar.
Somewhere on the muck, Darklett has disconnected.
Zeraph is smacked in the back of the head. He quiets down but that grin remains across his muzzle, ears quivering in excitement. "Guess that is that.." The buck murmurs, bouncing back and forth from heel to toe and observing the passed out vermin.
Keita smirks at the buck, and then gives a tug on her collar. "Mind helpin' me outta this thing?" Apparently she has determined to trust Dosu.
Dosu says nothing, only motioning her over to him as he stands back up leaning over the bar top.
Zeraph takes the 'lock-pick' from his pocket and begins to try and get the collar off, looking concentrative, even if that smirk remains firmly placed. A glance still goes to Dosu every once in a while, but he trusts Keita, if anything. Soon the collar pops open.
Seeing Dosu's silent offer of help, she nevertheless shrugs to the marten as Zeraph goes to work. "Thanks anyway - 'course." Once the collar pops open, Keita is only too quick to jerk it from around her neck. She'd throw it if she wasn't worried about it waking the others. "... Thanks." She rubs at the rather tender area, and quietly sets the collar down on the counter top. She pulls her own 'lock-pick' out of her pocket, and then nods to Dosu. "Help us with the othahs...?" She looks out at the others who are still chained up.
Dosu gives another nod. "....Sure....", he says as he slowly makes his way over to them.
Zeraph finally goes about taking his wrist cuffs off, seeming like he feels a little light headed, even as he grins and sighs happily, trying to remain silent. The buck soon gets them off, then goes to help the others be unchained. By now he is quite skilled in this 'lock-picking' thing.
Dosu bends down beside one of the others. Grinning as he looks over to Zeraph while pulling out a small, double bladed knife from under his sash. "....Never was good at that lock-picking....". He then turns back to the captives and puts the tip of the knife through one of the chain links and squeezes it in his paw while twisting the blade. A few moments later, the sound of metal breaking can be heard, and when he releases his grip the collar falls away. He then gets to work on the cuffs.
Moving around to the other side of the bar, Keita drops down beside a squirrel maid. Looking like she's about to say something, Keita puts a paw over her mouth and shakes her head. "... Latah. We're gettin' outta here." She goes to picking at the lock on her chain. A good few seconds later, the collar falls away and she stands again, whispering instructions for the squirrel to head into the back room. She does so. Keita moves onto the next beast.
Dosu keeps a steady pace at breaking the collars and cuffs as he moves from beasts to beast, trying to keep the noise to a minimum.
Zeraph smirks at the marten and nods, then goes about picking the locks on the collars and cuffs of all the long patrol captives, looking rather chipper again. "..well I've become a master now, you see.." He half laughs quietly at this one and soon has his first captive out of his chains. This task goes about smoothly enough. The fighter tells everybeast what to do as he lets them go.
Releasing another from their chains, Keita helps this one to their feet and walks them towards the bar and nods to the back room. "In there..." She glances back towards the others, but with so few left to free, she stays where she is, waiting.
Dosu room-pages, "Zeraph can have it then.".
Dosu frees his last captive, pointing him in the direction of the others. He stands back up to watch Zeraph with the last captive.
Keita would be watching Zeraph and Dosu if she wasn't too busy herding the freed captives into the back room, keeping one finger held up to her lips at all times to remind them of the great need to be quiet.
Zeraph soon has the last captive free, which just happens to be Taeura. He grins at her then straightens, looking around the empty tavern. Well..empty of captives that is. The vermin are still there of course..All passed out and smelly. The buck's nose wrinkles at the sight of them, then he hurries over to Keita, doing the happy-grinny thing again.
Keita gives Zeraph a firm pat on the back as he comes over, and nods her head to the back room. "... Go on, get 'em organized and start diggin' the last bit."
Dosu stretches his arms above his head as he slowly walks over to Keita and Zeraph. "....So their a way out through that pack room....?", he ask as he places his paws in his pockets, shoulders drooped.
Zeraph half bows to her, all gracefully, then moves into the back room to do his duty. It is silent back there except for the random shuffle of a couple of people moving about. So it actually seems that they may get away with it..
Keita watches Zeraph until he's disappeared into the back room, and then she turns to face Dosu, with a nod. "Aye... we've dug a tunnel. Will ya come?" She steps towards the doorway, looking to him expectantly.
Dosu takes a quick look around the mostly empty room, only Keita, the vermins, and himself remain. "....You go ahead.... Close the door and I'll catch up in a few moments....."
Keita studies Dosu silently for a few moments, then glances at the vermin. In the end... she nods. "Right." Stopping in the doorway, the doe rests a paw flatly on the counter beside her and just... looks around for one long moment before hesitantly turning away. There's even a brief second where she actually stops, as if she wants to turn back, but in the end she wills herself to move on into the back room, and out of the tavern. She goes to join Zeraph by the corner where the hole is dug. "Let's do this..."
Zeraph already has the sacks moved and the floor boards up and the buck is holding all four knives and chewing on his bottom lip. He nods and grins. "Most of the digging is done..I just have to do the very last.." The fighter hands Keita two of them and then drops down into the hole, crawling into the tunnel. After a few moments, the buck returns and gives a thumb up, before passing a dagger to another buck that will go in behind him.
A sudden gasp can be heard from behind the door followed by the sound of somebeast gurgaling. The sounds of a struggle can be heard for a few moments, then nothing..... Then the doorknob slowly sarts to turn.
Keita takes the two knives and, looking around, she picks out another one of the patrol hares and hands them her spare knife before grabbing the buck by the shoulder and tugging him to the back of the line. "We wait..." She then calls out to Zeraph, as quietly as she can. "Go, go..."
Zeraph looks startled for a moment, as if hesitant, then darts into a tunnel followed closely by the buck. A silent panic runs through those captives still in the room as the doorhandle turns.
Keita turns to face the door, knife held firmly in paw. The buck does the same, as Keita gestures frantically with her free paw to the others to move, move move! towards and into the tunnel. "Go!" she whispers hoarsely.
The door slowly swings open, and Dosu slowly walks through. His paws are drenched in blood, along with some smeared on his chainmail shirt and under his left eye. ".....It is done.....", he says to Keita with an emotionless face.
Zeraph pops his head out of the hole again and does a kick search then springs up, just in time to see the weasel coming at him. Before the vermin can say anything he's slammed him against the wall and shoved the dagger in the weasel's throat to silence him..for good. The other buck is soon surging out of the hole, followed by a few of the captives.
Somehow both tensing /and/ relaxing at the sight of Dosu, Keita dips her head in a not-so-sure nod. "... Good." She turns for the tunnel, as the room begins to clear. She glances at the buck who holds the other knife. She holds out her free paw to him. "... I'm Keita. An' you are?" At the offer of his name, she nods. "Pleasure t' meetcha. Do avoid gettin' killed, eh?" She grins, shakes his paw, and then pushes him on towards the tunnel, since he's to exit first. She looks back at Dosu. "You comin'?"
Dosu points his thumb over his shoulder to his massive sword on his back and shakes his head. He must have gotten it after the struggle. ".....I can't fit through that little tunnel.... I'll go out front and meet you out back...."
Zeraph room-pages, "Take it outside then?".
Keita is climbing into the tunnel as Dosu gives his answer. Only her head and shoulders visible above the edge, she gives the marten a rather fatalistic grin. "Let's hope neithah of us dies before we get t' chat next, eh?" With that, she pops down below his sight line, and off into the outside world she goes. To face what, she doesn't know.
Halyard Village: West Square(#93069RJA)
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Halyard Village ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Surrounded on most sides by short, squat buildings, none any higher than two
levels, the main square of this small, sea-side village is covered in a fine
layer of dirt, which mostly covers the old cobble stone beneath. Many of the
buildings lining the square are homes, though some are places of business -
and, of course, there are the obligatory pubs. However, pubs are not the only
staple of a small village, especially not this one. Scattered here and there
upon sidewalks and in front of stores, various fishing nets and traps lie
about, most considerably worse for wear. It's obviously a fishing village.
Beyond that, a dirt road runs north and south from the square, with a small
scattering of homes, and behind these, a backdrop of trees. Meanwhile, beyond
the trees lies the shore.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Visible Exits:
[A]ntique [S]tore [S]outhern [R]oad
[H]alyard [T]avern [N]orthern [R]oad
[K]nick-knack [C]at [S]hop [M]ain [S]treet
[B]ack to [D]irt [P]ath
Zeraph has, for the most part, insured the safety of all the captives now, fighting hard against those that have found out that they are escaping. A fox has gotten the better of the buck for a moment though and he is shoved hard against the wall, with a looks of pain. He looks up with wide-eyes as the fox goes to swing a sword at him.
Suddenly, the fox gives a wide-eyed gurgle and rather than swing the sword at him, he falls forward towards Zeraph, with a dagger much like the one Zeraph wields sticking out of the back of his neck. Keita stands behind the fox, her now-empty paw still held up in the air.
The doe hares lock eyes grimly for a moment, but just as quickly the moment is over and Keita's ducking down to yank the dagger out of the fox's throat, while Zeraph grabs his sword and jumps over the now-still form as he heads after the other.
You room page-pose, "Keita ers. Take out 'doe'."
Through the darkness a rat with twin short swords charges Keita from the rear. But out of nowhere Dosu, the marten comes between her and the right. While simoltaniously grasping the long handle of the monsterous sword upon his back, and in one fluid motion pulls it up over his shoulder, sending it down untop of the sprinting rat. The blade of the massive sword enters the rat just right of his neck, continuing down through him diagonaly, exiting just above the left hip before continuing down to dig deep into the ground. The two gorey parts of the rat hit the ground as Dosu looks over his shoulder at Keita with a grin. "....I knew I'd be saving you tonight....", he says with a slight grin.
Standing from her crouch just as the rat charges at her from behind, Keita hears his approach but before she's even turned, Dosu is there. By the time she is facing the scene, the rat has already hit the ground... in pieces. The doe looks away from the gore with a grimace, but nevertheless gives a pat to Dosu's shoulder. "... Thanks, I owe ya one." She grins weakly and turns to head for the path where the others have disappeared to. "C'mon, let's go before anyone else shows up..."
Dosu swings the bloodied sword back up over his shoulder and onto his back before quickly following Keita and the others down the path.
