Decadents and Dropouts IC

[Belinda35]

Phyliss Ovida

(Now, I got the norse one, and probably i got the better half, if you might say so.)
She smiled at the barbarian, and hoped it looked convincing. She tried best not to to let it look like a "Hey I am all drunk, take me"-smile.

"I am Phyliss and this is my friend Verialyn. So, what led you into that little town here?" She fluttered her eyelashes and felt rather silly doing that.

 

[Cherubian]

The Narrator

"Actually we are on our way east to Gorn. It's till a long way to go, but Count Darion is hiring mercenaries, and he has a reputation for paying well and punctual. Since we had nothing else to do, Ulfgard and I decided to head that way." replied Haerdon.

"Yah, has some trouble with guys from the south, so he pays us to smash some heads" Ulfgard tried to contribute to the conversation with a grin.

Meanwhile Haerdon took the time to study Phyliss and to a lesser extend Verialyn closer, but in a more subtle manner than Ulfgard. There was far less initial rejection from these two women than usually, hell they were even smiling at them. And then there was the fact that Phyliss was a gorgon, which gave her quite the exotic touch. So maybe this stop could turn out to be a rather enjoyable evening.

 

[Belinda35]

Phyliss Ovida

Phyliss put her elbow on the table, laying her head on her hand.
"So, have you been here before?"
Phyliss wondered if Canut was still watching them, probably he did. She hoped that he wouldn't think that she was not only drunk but a stupid slut as well. But she had to comfort these two bullies to get out of here. If they were not sent by the sandcrawlers, they might even try to protect them if someone wouldn't let them go.

 

[swordandsandle]

Canut

BURP Ah, that felt good. Canut stared down at his half empty and slightly bloody plate. Leaning back agenst the counter, he continued to watch the conversation from afar, glancing occasionaly over his shoulder for any tell-tale signs of shifting.

Then, he saw it.

It only took a moment, and he might have been mistaking, but for one second it was plain as day; the crawling skin, the shifting gate, and then a halfling was standing where a human had once been. He wanted to make sure that the girls diden't do anything too stupid, but then again had ANY female he'd met not done something stupid that ended up getting her killed, and never by him? No, he would let them go about there own devinces, and insure that the shifter diden't get a jump on them.

 

[Belinda35]

The Narrator
The Halfling looked around, but he didn't looke over to Canut. Either he hadn't seen him, or he tried not to raise his suspicion. The halfling walked across the room, and headed to the table with the girls, just making it look like a random choice. He approached one of the barbarians.
"Say, big man. Have pity on a brave halfling who had bad luck. Just a cup of beer, and I will ask my magician to do you a favour, when I see him this week."

 

[Cherubian]

The Narrator

Initially Ulfgard gave the walking distraction an angry look and was about to kick him across the room, but then even he thought better and remembered that an overly brute display like this might diminish his chances by that black haired lady.

So instead he reached into his pouch, handed the halfling a coin and murmured: "here, go and get yourself a mug of beer". Then he turned his attention back to the ladies.

 

[swordandsandle]

The shifter wandered off, reveiwing his short encounter with the two new arrivals. They where obviously from the north, forced into a difficult life with no time to learn subtlties, and he respected them for that. The problem was that they had taken an intrest in the woman he was supposed to "spirt away". Shapeshifter he may be, but he still had only one body, not enough to fight the two without attracting unwanted attention. So, he snuke into the back, and grabbed what appered to be a blowgun...

 

[Belinda35]

Phyliss Ovida

Still affected by the alcohol, Phyliss didn't pay much attention to the halfling. She despised this race anyway. This "look i am so cute and nice" creatures stole and begged without being bullied by the humans, while more decent creatures were on the run all their life.
So, back to the barbarians and the quick getaway.
"So, we are just traveling through her, just the two of us." She nodded over to Verialyn, all smiling and curling her snakes.
"i can't believe what I'm doing." she thought to herself.

 

[Cherubian]

The Narrator

"It is so loud here. Why don't we grab some food and drink and go to our room?" asked Ulfgard. "Umm.... Ulfgard" reminded him Haerdon "we do not have a room. Remember the innkeeper told us they were booked out?" .

Verialyn Kallidis

Verialys thought about this. Canut was most likely right. Judging from the size of the building and the population of the taproom it was quite unlikely that they were in fact booked out. So the logical conclusion was that the barbarians were simply not "exotic" enough for the syndicate, and therefore to be shooed off at the first opportunity.

The Narrator

"Uh, you are right" mentioned an embarrassed Ulfgard. Then his face lit up with something at least he seemed to consider a bright idea. "Why don't we go out to the stable then. It is also quiet there, and we can show you our horses. We have really pretty horses!".
Haerdon almost performed a public facepalm, but reined himself in at the last moment. Subtlety really was not Ulfgards strength.

 

[Belinda35]

Phyliss Ovida

"Oh. I looove horses." said the gorgon. She watched her mirrored image in the polished, empty goblet, just to be sure she didn't pull a face as she said thhat.

 

[Belinda35]

The Narrator

The shifter realized that he had to act quick, because the barbarians were just about to lure his prey away. He aimed carefully and shot. Just in this moment a damned drunk fool stumbled in between. He staggered and dropped to the ground, but nobody had seen the little dart that hit him. Kipko, who stood guard, realized what has happened. He bursted with faked laughter.
"Oho, he had one to many again. No need to worry. We will just drag him to the drunk tank so that he can take a nap till tommorrow."

 

[Cherubian]

The Narrator

Haerdon could not believe his luck, but he would not wait for the gorgon to change her mind. So he rose from his seat and adressed Phyliss "In this case it would be a pleasure to show them to you. If you would follow me?"

On his cue, Ulfgard also got up and said to Verialyn "You wanna come along?"

 

[Belinda35]

Phyliss Ovida

The gorgon got up. She didn't pay any attention to the drunkard who had collapsed and was dragged out of sight. "So, let see the dear animals then."
"Oh I hope this one isn't protected against magic and poison, or I will be in a fix."

 

[Belinda35]

The Narrator

There was a small door at the side of the mainbuilding, that lead in an open archway that led into the stables themself, which were L-shaped. The front part was for the horses, while upper part in the "L" was used to store material and sometimes as sleeping place for different kind of people. This part had two stores, one of them underground.

 

[Cherubian]

Verialyn Kallidis

With an ambiguous "Sure, I will join the fun" Verialyn also got up. She continued to smile at Ulfgard, although the barbarian most likely did not know that Verialy's smile was due mostly to her amusement caused by his desperate attempts at seduction.

The Narrator

Haerdon led the way and walked out of the door that led to the stables, offering Phyliss his arm and beckoning her to follow him.

Meanwhile Ulfgard approached Verialyn with a "Great, let's go!" and a happy grin on his face, put his mighty right arm without asking around her waist and followed Haerdon. Verialyn resisted the reflex to dodge his grip and shove Ulfgard into the nearest wall. Initially she had a little trouble because of the sudden pull, but she quickly managed to regain her balance and to keep up. At the door she checked again whether Phyliss was following them.

 

[Belinda35]

Phyliss Ovida

Phyliss and "her" barbarian were just behind them, as they walked trough the archway into the quite large stable... Despite its simpple basic l-shape and the windows in the front part that let enough light into the place for the horses, the whole place turned out to be rather complex place, with lots of doors, hatches, ladders and stairs. Phyliss felt quite anxious. When should they strike? They were out of the pub, but this place didn't look that safe as she hoped. What would the barbarians do, and when should they try to get rid of them?

 

[Belinda35]

The Narrator

Ulfgard turned around and grinned to his companion. Hell, that went better then expectet. The soon reached their horses in the front part of the stables. But the better things should happen in the later part, where they would be undisturbed, even if the wenches made some noise. Should he drag that pale bitch off just now? Ney, he would make it the subtile way first, like his chap with the snakehair-slut.
He stopped and pointed at his horse. "See, that's Sleipgardwyrn, my strong 'orse."

 

[Cherubian]

Verialyn Kallidis

"Oh, this is really a beautiful animal" Verialyn truly admired the enormous stallion with the brown fur standing in the box before them. She carefully reached out to try and pet his head, however the stallion withdrew carefully with a snuffle. "To bad vampires don't get along too well with most animals, it would indeed be quite the experiance to ride such an animal" she though. Loud she said "It seems he is careful around strangers."

The Narrator

Haerdon led Phyliss to the box next to Sleipgardwyrn, where a black horse with a blaze on his nose stood. "And this is Gyrdwyn, my steed. We have been together since he was born, and he is the fastest horse I have ever seen". Indeed Gyrdwyn was not quite as strongly built as Sleipgardwyrn, but his movements emanated a grace that was unmatched by most horses.

Haerdon quickly looked at Ulfgard and observed how his companion was already - understandably - oogling over the black haired girl. "I only hope Ulfgard can restrain himself a little" he thought "and does not botch the whole thing with his all too direct approach like so many times before".

 

[Belinda35]

Phyliss Ovida

"Why, what a nice animal." said th gorgon. She took a quick glance over to Verialyn, to see if she already took action or would give her any signs. She was talking to th brute, so maybe this place wasn't save yet - already she didn't see anyone. Allthough she didn't like to go into the darker areas, it might be better to get out unnoticed. She thought about the shapeshifter, she didn't noticed anybody to follow them. Or was he just beside her? Not, these barbarians were probably for real. She din't see Canut following them, but that meant nothing.

The Narrator
Ulfgard looked at Verialyn. "Yea, pretty horsey, is it? Haha. Would you like to see the stables? Great place it is."

 

[Belinda35]

The Narrator

Back in the Tavern
The shapeshifter cursed, but not to loud. While the boys dragged the idiot away who had caught his prepared dart, the barbarians were getting up and leading the girls away. If they went into the stables, as he had heared, the could try to make a getaway. Damn the kobald that had warned them. The shifter, still disguised as hobbit, gave some quick orders and dissapeared out of sight. Let the others handle the rotten kobald, he had to get behind his prey.
Soon after the hobbit had dissapeared, four men grouped around the kobald.
"Hello, Canut. Nice to see you again." said one of the guys. He had seen his face the last time when he escaped from here.

 

[Cherubian]

The narrator

The shapeshifter started to consider his options. He knew that the stables were a labyrinth, and there was the slight off chance that one of the girls might have noticed something. Plus those barbarians sure would not be happy if someone took their playthings away.

Maybe if his shapechanging ability allowed more variety. But since he only could morph into a humanoid form his options were limited. It would probably be safer to wait for now. Let the barbarians have their fun first, and once they were off the worn out gorgon would be easy prey.

So he rapidly climbed the stairs and then went through the hatch that led to the roof of the tavern. From there he climbed over to the roof of the stables, to a vantage point from where he could survey all the exits. He loaded his blowpipe and settled down. "Good things come to those who wait" he thought.

Verialyn Kallidis

Ulfgard's intent was rather obvious, but Verialyn was in her playful mode now. She was concerned about Phyliss, but on the other hand the gorgon had proven on her last encounter that she could handle herself very well, and it would be easier to take out Ulfgard without anyone noticing if she could separate him from his companion.

So she voiced a silent "Scream if you need any help" at Phyliss when no one was looking and then replied to Ulfgard innocently "You are right, these stables are indeed an interesting place. But we are already here and have seen them, what do you want to show me?"

 

[Belinda35]

The Narrator

Ulfgard chuckled. "Yeah, the stable... We just look at it." he grinned and pulled a arm around Verialyn. "Come on, Ye will like it."

Phyliss Ovida

"Now I am really lucky with my barbarian, if I regard the other." thought the gorgon. Maybe she could take him out without killing him. If she "turned him into stone", the common misinterpretation of her paralyzing power was, he still had a good chance of survival. The "petrification" lastet less then an hour, and most victims did recover completely, only a few died during the process. But if her magic failed, she had to relay on her lethal snakes. She allowed Haerdon to take her arm. It was better to sperate the barbarians, so they couldn't team up against them. There were enough dark corners and hideouts in that labyrinth.

 

[Cherubian]

The Narrator

Haerdon continued to tell Phyliss about his horse and the adventures they had had together. His stories were surprisingly entertaining and free of boasting. However while he did so, his right hand slowly slid up across her back and came to rest on her bare right shoulder, while his left hand lightly touched her left ellbow.

Then he bent forward, seemingly intent to kiss her neck.

Verialyn Kallidis

Verialyn allowed Ulfgard to wrap his arm around her waist. She also gave no indication of noticing that his hand thereby came to rest on her right buttock and gave a slight squeeeze. She willingly followed Ulfgards lead and let herself be guided into the other sections of the stable.

 

[Belinda35]

The Narrator

Ulfgard led Verialyn to a different direction then Haerdon. He liked his chum, but he wanted to be alone with his latest catch. He found a place place he liked. A wooden platform just under the roof, a kind of triangular cave below a little window that still let some light in. He patted and groped (what was her name?) the girls butt and pointed to the ladder. "Let's get up there." He saw that Haerdon went into a different direction, more downwards. "Now, let them go into the cellar if they lieke." he thought.

Phyliss Ovida

Phyliss found that Haerdon wasn't so revolting as she first thought. But still, he shouldn't take to much liberties. As she felt his stinging beardhairs on her shoulder, she turned away a little. "Now, not to fast." She quickly looked around to check were he was heading to. She had to watch the location to find her way out again.

 

[Cherubian]

The Narrator

"Relax, this will be enjoyable". With these words the grip of Haerdon's right hand on phyliss shoulder tightened slightly, while he continued to lead her to one of the smaller rooms next to the main stables on the grond floor. His lips continued to wander down her neck towards her left shoulder, while his left hand slowly crept up towards the left halter of her dress. The were at the entrance of one of the smaller rooms now, and with his foot Haerdon pushed the door open.

Verialyn Karridis

Verialyn actually liked the spot Ulfgard had chosen. With an innocent "I am really curious what you want to show me up there" she climbed up the ladder, letting her ass sway slightly while doing so. Ulfgard was close behind her, and she finally reached the platform, with him in close pursuit.