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Tarak Tales: Into The Unknown

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Kohdeki stared at his empty mug a second before he got up and went after Cersei.

"I'm always ready for action, love!" Kohdeki said as he pointed to his pack, which was under his cloak. He rarely took either off when he was out and about.

"Besides, we should stick together if you wanna' leave today." he said as he followed behind Cersei.
 
The table was violently overturned, spilling a variety of items on it including cards, gold, and pints (some empty, some still full). The huge towering man stood over a small, petite looking woman with an eye patch over her right eye. A single piercing green eye peered out from beneath a mess of flaming red hair and up at the man, giving the deadliest of glares.

" YOU CHEATING WHORE! "

" Say it again. " She mumbled in a sultry tone as she arose. She stood only half his size, but she did not flinch as he took a step forward and leaned down to her level. Her nose flared at his heavy breath on her face, she could smell the booze on him.

" W-H-O-R-E. "

Her lips pulled back into a grin as she shifted her stance slightly, bracing herself for the worst. Her arms folded over her chest as she cocked her head to the side. It was obvious this man wasn't from the area, a traveler no doubt...and him being drunk didn't bode well considering his temperament. Sure, she cheats every once in a while, but as far as the traveler, he was just drunk so she figured she would do the tavern a favor and avoid any altercations.

" I think you've had enough-- " As she turned to call out one of the guards to get him out of there, she paused once feeling something warm and wet make contact with her cheek. She paused and brought her hand up to her cheek to wipe the spit from it as she returned her gaze to the drunk. A flame of sheer hatred burned in her eye as she locked onto him. Without a word, or even a warning, her fist connected with his face, shattering his cheek bone and breaking his nose. As he fell to the ground, Lucca approached the drunken heap and straddled his backside before grabbing a handful of his hair. She lifted his head to her lips as she knelt down, whispering lowly as she slipped a hand into his shirt to retrieve whatever gold he had left, " You worthless sack of shit, " before finally slamming his head down on the floor, knocking him unconscious.

She rose and turned to the table to gather her gold, her cloak, and her satchel from the floor. Turning back around, glaring at those who kept staring in awe, she dropped the drunken traveler's coin sack onto the tavern bar and without a word, she left.​
 
Passing by one of the seedier bars of Tarak's less reputable districts, Cersei saw Lucca exit, looking either angry or satisfied. Either way she also looked like she had just won a fight. Without warning Koh, Cersei began running through the crowd to get to her. "Lulu!" She shouted out, trying to get her attention. Hopefully Lucca would hear and come to her first. Cersei wanted to spend as little time in this place as she could, so once they had Lulu with them, everything can be planned back either at the Blue Boggan, or at the guild hall.
 
Lucca turned, a single visible brow arched as she heard someone calling her through a sea of people. There, in the midst of everything, she spotted the gorgeous Cersei weaving through the thick crowd. She had a general idea of what Cersei wanted when she spotted Koh trailing behind her. A smirk traced her lips as she made her way toward the two, her cloak slung over her shoulder with her satchel grasped firmly in her hands.

" Cersei. " Lucca mumbled as she peered over her shoulder to the bar she just exited. The man she had knocked unconscious was brought out by two burly looking men. She gave another smirk when assessing the damage she had done, mainly the amount of blood that continued to drain from the drunk's nose.​
 
Cersei wasted no time once Lucca found her. "We have to get somewhere more private so I can really bring you up to speed, but what I can tell you right now is that I need your help, and it involves leaving Tarak. Got it?" She didn't like the feeling of being rushed, but deadlines did this to her no matter how much time she had. The fact that she only had today and tomorrow to recruit her help and leave was just nerve wracking enough to make her want to just throw her plans to the demons and finish off Fallmorik for good. Everyone knew he deserved it, despite this bullshit "test" idea Guildmaster Orino concocted as an excuse for the bastard's terrible attitude. She could hardly believe she fell for it at the time.
 
The urgency in Cersei's tone caused Lucca to give her undivided attention. The news of leaving Tarak was something serious, even more so if Cersei wanted to enlist Lucca into her ranks. Her single emerald eye peered over Cersei's shoulder and fell upon Koh to whom she gave a nod. Lulu didn't like to lend her services unless she received something for it, but due to current circumstances, it appeared that she had no choice but to help. Even if it meant for free.

" Follow me. "

She began to walk through the crowd, pushing her way through toward a cart full of strange and fantastic looking odds and ends. The man that owned the cart gave a toothy grin to Lucca as she approached, but the smile faded as he noticed that she was being followed. She jerked her head to the side at the man, an unspoken order to stand aside. As the man did so, he revealed a small hole at the base of the wall. Without hesitation, Lucca entered the entrance and exited into a medium sized cellar. The walls were filled with weapons of all sorts. This was her sanctuary.​
 
Cersei followed as close as she could through the thick crowd, having a little difficulty as she looked back over her shoulder to make sure Koh was still following. Each time she looked back to find Lucca, she had to search a little before being able to find her again. Once they passed the man and his cart, went through the hole and wound up in Lucca's sanctuary, Cersei looked around in awe of what she saw. "Wow..." She said simply. "You sure this is private enough? How do you know there isn't someone spying on us?" She tried to make herself sound sarcastic, but she really was concerned. She didn't want anyone who didn't need to know to find out lest she screw up her chance of mitigating her sentence.
 
She gave a sideways glance at Cersei as she dropped her cloak and satchel upon a nearby table. On it were scrolls and bits of paper with names listed, several dozen were crossed out with red ink. Lucca shifted her body and let her bum rest upon the edge of the table. Crossing her arms over her chest, she locked gaze with Cersei.

" I think you can trust my little safe haven, " she mumbled in return before pulling out a pair of stools for Cersei and Koh. " Seems somethin's got you in a mess, Cersei. What is it? "​
 
"Well, a mess is one way to put it I guess. A travesty is more the word I would use." Cersei sighed and found a place to sit down to help her keep calm while she told certain parts of her story that made her more upset. She didn't want to be near anything dangerous when it happened lest she lashed out in the process. She started in the obvious place, with the evaluation and Fallmorik getting what he deserved when she made his back explode. Next, she spoke of her week in jail, though not much since nothing really interesting happened until the end once Guildmaster Orino made excuses for his mistake in hiring Fallmorik, then explained the mission the Council had for her. "So the basic jist of it is, we have to leave Tarak to find Arran Shieldbiter, who no doubt expects someone to be there looking for him. That probably means traps when the outside is a dangerous enough place as it is." She looked up at Lulu from her seat, hoping that even after all of that, she would still help.
 
" So basically, you want to go out of the city to track down some guy who already knows we're coming... "

Lucca shifted her stance slightly as she pondered over Cersei's story. At first she was reluctant, but now the situation seemed to pique her interest quite a bit. It had been a while since she had found herself amongst ranks of friends. After flicking a hand through her blazing red hair and placing her hands upon the table behind her, she pulled herself onto it and crossed her booted legs. With hands on her hips, she gave Cersei a full grin.

" Sounds fun. When do you propose we leave? "​
 
Cersei stood up with a smile, happy that Lulu was on board for this. "Well, now would be good, but I suppose you would need at least a few minutes to get ready. We need to be out of the city as soon as possible. The two of us are already ready to go, so just your equipment and some food and you'll be good to go." Cersei figured that Lucca would have everything on hand here. A room full of weapons and other gear would have to make a good spot to store everything one needs.
 
Lucca gave a nod as she slid down off the table. She usually kept everything she needed with her as she would be called away on missions randomly. She also knew to pack light for just such occasions. Crossing the cellar to a cabinet on the opposite wall, she opened it, revealing smaller weapons like daggers and throwing knives, all with great craftsmanship.

" Feel free to help yourselves to whatever you need. "

And without another word, Lulu crossed the room again toward a set of stairs that led upward. She followed them and opened the trap door to her shop. The entire area was vacant, which was usually how it was during the morning. Once climbing another set of stairs, Lucca was led to her living quarters where she then removed her lightly blood splattered shirt which smelled heavily of booze and tossed it aside. She then knelt before a large chest and placed her hands upon the lid, lifting it gently. Inside were a wide assortment of clothing that Lucca had gathered throughout her travels. Once digging through the mass, she located her buckled corset and at once began to put it on. Of course, it'd take a while to fasten all the buckles down the front of it.​
 
Cersei had nothing more she needed as she always kept the necessary items for venturing out into the wilderness. She waited down in Lulu's sanctuary for her to get ready, not wanting to intrude on her home while she got ready. She went through the plan inside her head, making sure she didn't forget anything. So far the only things they were missing were the location device and horses, both of which Orino said he would supply for them before they left. Her gaze turned to Koh, who seemed...not oddly quiet, as he was typically like this, but the situation didn't seem to warrant it. Was he suspicious of her, or maybe even Lulu? Cersei put it out of her mind, judging it as stress making her paranoid.
 
Finally changed, Lucca strode across the floor at a leisurely pace and quickly grabbed up her cropped jacket off of the bed. She flung it over her shoulder and turned abruptly, eye locked on her window. For a fleeting moment, she felt as though she were being watched...but of course, she remembered from the bubbling hiccup that left her mouth that she was a tad bit on the drunken side. Damn traveler just HAD to be a decent drinker, she cursed to herself as she hunched over. After a minute of steady breathing, she snatched up her satchel and made her way down the stairs.

" What's the matter, Koh? Ain't got nothin smart to say today? " She grinned as she quickly slipped the cropped jacket over her bare shoulders.​
 
Upon entering the weapon-covered walls of Lucca's fine sanctuary, Kohdeki absorbed himself in examining the weapons and other various items that covered the walls.

He prefered the silence of the room to his constant run-on and boasting, occassionally testing how quietly he could move about the room. Since Lucca had offered up some of her stock of weapons for use, Kohdeki moved over to the throwing knives and replenished his stock, occassionally exchanging lower quality knives for those of higher quality.

He had seen the list on the table as they entered; some names crossed out in red ink. He tried to ignore it, out of courtesy, but it still reminded him of what kind of work Lucca did. Reminded him of the blurred visions of his past. He wouldn't judge her; he knew business was business, just like any other Shadow Guild affiliate. In fact, he was sure most of her targets deserved their execution, but it still bothered him on the inside.

His belief that life was too important to waste might have been ungrounded, but his past was to blame.

The sound of Lucca's footsteps reached Kohdeki's ears, signalling him to back away from the wall. It was more of a subconscious action than anything else.

Kohdeki greeted Lucca properly, this time, with a smirk at her question.

"Nothing at all, Looney." Kohdeki said before stifling a small laugh at his bad pun. "Well, besides informing you that we should be getting paid by the Council. If we survive. Orino said the Council was pushing this off on Cersei, which means shiny for us."
 
Cersei rolled her eyes at Koh while he talked about the gold he'd get once they finished this mission like the greedy little thief he was. "Figures the only think really keeping you from just blowing me off is the gold." She smiled playfully and poked Koh in the chest. "Teaches me to think you're ever altruistic." After having a short chuckle, her demeanor got serious again so that she could set the last things straight before they left. "Alright. Orino should be waiting for us at the gates with the locator and transportation. Let's not delay any longer, I wanna get this crap over with."
 
There were many winding tunnels to traverse on the way to the Farm Gate, where they would pick up horses, camping provisions, and the tracker. When they passed through one wide gallery, the blue tabard of the City Guard could be glimpsed browsing at one of the shops. It didn't matter to their mission, of course, but a number of their circle of friends were Guardsmen.

In fact, it was Chay Wytphire in that gallery, and his sharp eyes recognized his friends. He knew Koh, clearly, and Lulu as a friend, albeit one who resolutely refused to talk about her everyday life with him (much like Koh), but it would have been the greatest surprise to see Cersei. He was one of the visitors she'd had in her sigil prison cell, and he had no idea why she would be wandering about. Even if her current company suggested a jailbreak, getting in and out of the Guildhouse was entirely unlikely, so she was most probably out because they let her out, for some reason.

It was such an odd occurrence, he was compelled to investigate.
 
The teifling chewed absentmindedly on the snack he purchased with his payment, though a majority of it was put into the advancement of the Gaurd's siege weaponry, and was admiring how he was given a temporary vacation because of the incident in the mines. If anything he was somewhat surprised at how his higher-up had to command him to take the vacation, though it might have been fear in how the survivor from before the exploration had returned, not wanting one of the best swordsmen in the city to be lost from insanity. Then again, he already was partially insane, due to his sadistic nature with fire and siege weaponry.

He quickly noticed his comrades as he just thought to himself if there was something that can burn faster than regular fire, wondering what it would be or do yet excluding acid. Chay nodded to himself when he saw Koh, then perked a brow when he saw Lulu, though stopped what he was doing when he saw Cersei. She doesn't get out that dungeon unless something's up... he thinks to himself, finishing the last of his bread before approaching the trio. "Oi, something must be churning in the world for such an occurrence," Chay calls out as he waves whilst walking up to them. "Anything happening that might require some combat assistance, siege operations, or possibly the cloak and cowl of a Gaurd's status?"
 
Cersei looked at Chay in the distance and held her finger to her mouth in an attempt to silence him. Once he got close enough Cersei grabbed him by the collar and pulled him close to whisper in his ear. "There isn't much time to bring you up to speed, but if you wanna come I have to tell you that it involves leaving Tarak, and putting your life in extreme danger solely for my sake. If you're alright with that, leave your guard tabard here and leave with us." She couldn't say more now lest someone else overhear them. Just as she was told by Orino, the less people knew the better, and she intended to stick by that tooth-and-nail if it meant saving her ass from a long sentence.
 
The first gesture stopped him as his mind began to wander about the situation, the only reason that she'd do something like that mulling around his head. Once his collar was pulled it engraved how his life won't be the same after this encounter for sure, but he never expected something to this degree to happen yet. "Fine... I don't know what you're up to, but there's always the need for another comrade," he whispers back to her and can't help but lick his lip slighlty out of being nervous, after all he was always a little touchy around his friend who could rend him in multiple 'twains' for annoying her. "Where should I be meeting up with you later?" Chay whispers as he knows that he'll need to change into a temporary disguise to keep from arousing suspicions.
 
"Right here, we're leaving now. There's no time to waste. Just chuck it somewhere and let's go." The anxiety in Cersei's voice was evident as she ordered Chay around. She wanted this done as quickly and efficiently as possible, in and out, then she can get the rest of her miserable sentence in peace. It was nothing she was looking forward to. She still thought that Fallmorik deserved worse than he got, but there was nothing she could do that wouldn't just wind her up in jail for even longer.
 
There's definitely something serious going on... Chay thought to himself as he perked a brow, unlatching his helmet and getting the rest undone as well. "I'll meet you outside. At least one of you should be able to recognize me outside of my uniform," he says and heads towards his room, ditching his outfit for the more relaxed and less-flashy visage of his regular traveling gear. He mutters to himself as he checks his equipment for the mandatory items of travel, fire-inducing goggles included. After disposing of his castings, preferably via fire, he heads outside to the others, horns under his cloak and cowl with his tail still bound around his belt to keep suspicions from being aroused.
 
The "tracking device" turned out to be a large disc with a chain attached, like a huge gaudy medallion. It wasn't operated as such; it relied on the holder entering a receptive state and then being able to sense what the device was indicating. Cersei was instructed in its use via the Receptive Telepathy spell, and once in the proper mindframe, she could sense that it was indicating a direction of strongly west-southwest. This meant their course led largely down the wide Senna River, but their destination most likely lay on the far bank.

So they rode their horses out of the Farm Gate and followed the curve of Tarak's wall to the south, to the Docks. There, a raft was secured, with a raftsman trusted by the Council to keep his mouth shut.

That's how the approaching dusk found the five of them, four passengers and the raft's captain, drifting steadily downstream, toward the middle of the wide channel, where it was safest. There were a few aquatic threats, but water travel was the least dangerous way to go since the coming of the Night Plague.

While all of them had been outside of Tarak, it had been a long time since any of the city dwellers had been this far away from the metropolis. Other than the burble of the water and the occasional nervous stamping of the horses tied to the raft's central post, the land was quiet compared to the constant underlying hum of the busy city. The river cut through the Vendall Valley, with the majestic high peaks of this part of the Toran Range rising all around. The truly impassible mountains were behind them, to the southeast, but they were still a long way from the simple foothills and floodplains that made up the central part of the Oresti region.

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(yes, it's taken from shore, but it's not too hard to imagine the view from the middle of the river)

The raftsman, Vorman, was dozing at his stool at the raft's rudder and propeller assembley (a specially-shaped Ever-Turning Wheel mounted on a moveable armature near the rudder provided extra thrust as well as a way to travel upstream). Vorman wore travel jewelry, which eliminated his need for food or water and cut his need for sleep to merely two hours a day, but he seemed to take those two hours in a thousand catnaps over the course of the voyage. His reputation for keeping his mouth shut applied to his traveling chatter; other than the basic raft safety instructions and the occasional request ("could you stand over there," or "let me know if you see anything along the left bank," for example), he kept to himself, and seemed almost bored.

As night fell, and Vorman was at the far end of the raft, it was a good opportunity for the group to talk privately about the full nature of the mission and what might be called for.
 
Kohdeki was on edge. The raft ride was nastalgic, in the worst way possible, and it wasn't often that Kohdeki was surrounded by such a long period of silence.

Since little had been said about the mission, Kohdeki thought he might break the silence by discussing it.

"So, we're after Shieldbiter. Are we suppose to find and kill him, or do we try and bring him in?" Kohdeki asked Cersei.
 
"I'm pretty sure that they're fine with either one, with preference that he be alive, but from what they've told me that might not be possible." Cersei looked out in the distance, appreciating the view. It was greener outside than she remembered it to be, but perhaps it was just the time of year. Last time she was out here, it was of her own accord, mostly to test her skill, but also for leisure. Now there was no time for that.

She periodically checked the locator just to make sure they stayed the right course, and by the intensity of the suggestion she could tell they were already fairly close. Then again, this being the first time she had ever used such a device, she could be very mistaken.
 
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