Tides of Change (Open)

[Avalon Silvasti]

As the suns light started to wash over Tamasha a ship was docking in the dock of their port. The sounds of the ship docking and the voices of the disgruntled sailors sliced through the almost silent morning. A woman named Alyria walked briskly over the desk of the ship, her ship, The Black Rose. She stopped to survey her surroundings before she stepped down onto the docking plank and onto the dock. Her boots made very little sound on the wood of the docks as she adjusted her hair and her hat to hide her elven ears. She wore black leather pants, a red and black corset adorned with gold trimmings along with black leather fingerless gloves. She the proceeded to walk to the town's nearest Inn. She pushed open the door to the inn. Looking around she made sure that her ears remained hidden. She pushed her way past a few men and sat at a table in a darkened corner of the room. She raised her hand to flag down one of the barmaids scurrying around and ordered a tankard of Rum, sliding coins to her. She sat back looking around at the inn, taking in each person in turn until a young male approached her. He leaned in close to her and whispered to her, handed her a bag and a glass vial. He then bowed and left in a frightening hurry. Sliding back in her chair she started to relax and put the vial into her pouch.



Alyria Du'Monte

[iizak]

IIzak was feeling dejected. Elphame had been such an interesting person. It wasn’t often that you met people that interesting, and not only did she simply seem to fade away, but his fun had been ruined when she had defeated Olg and his cronies.

”Oh well” IIzak thought to himself, strolling down the street with his new umbrella.

Still, it worried him that the Band had found him. At least not yet anyway. He still needed more allies if he was going to take them on. Based on the rumors that he’d heard, the Band of the White Falcon had grown larger and more dangerous, even taking on assassinations. IIzak shook his head in disgust at the thought.

“Man, this is just too depressing” IIzak groaned aloud, eliciting stares from several passersby, but he paid them no heed, just kept on walking until his feet naturally led him into an old inn. The sign was worn and crack, but in that homely, cozy sort of way and a picture of the silhouette of a dancing elf was plastered onto the sign.

“This is as good as any I suppose” IIzak thought to himself as he pushed open the doors to the inn.

The smell of roasting potatoes and spiced ale filled his nostrils and the din of the crowd was strangely comforting. Over in the corner, a seedy looking man with a rather pointed nose was swindling drunks out of their pocket change. Out came his dagger, spinning and flipping with quiet flair. IIzak loved to beat cheaters. It was one of his favorite challenges. He walked over to the table, muting his tossing of the dagger and simply twirling it around his fingers.

The game appeared to be a simple one; the man would put a stone underneath one of three cups, swish them around, and the player had to guess where the stone was. After watch more closely for a round or two, IIzak had the trick and knew how to counter it. The man had several stones in his pouch, which he pulled out different ones every round. IIzak swiped one while the man wasn’t looking and then asked to play.
“Aye lad, but it be 20 gold minimum, and I get the feeling ye ain’t got enough” the man said.

Unhooking his pouch, IIzak dropped it on the table, where it landed with a thunk that knocked over one of the cups.

“Its Olg’s gold anyway” IIzak thought with a chuckle as the man’s eyes glistened with greed.

“Alright then lad, take a seat. Now whatcha want tah do is keep yer eye on this here stone” he said, holding up the stone for IIzak to see before placing it under a cup and swishing them around so fast that it was nearly impossible to keep up.

IIzak held his gaze on the one that initially held the rock and watched as the con man deftly flicked the rock into his sleeve. It really was a simple trick once you figured it out, but the man pulled it off expertly. When he had finished, he gestured for IIzak to choose a cup.

“Do you mind if I lift the cup?” IIzak asked innocently.

“Not at all lad” the con man said with a confident grin.

As IIzak lifted the cup, he pulled the exact same trick that the con man would have pulled, placing the rock he had swiped underneath his chose cup as he lifted to reveal that he had chosen correctly.

“Well what do you know? Today must be my lucky day” IIzak said, feigning surprise. He quickly swiped his bag and the con man’s previous winnings off the table. Turning to the man whom he had seen lose before him, he handed him most of the winnings and said “take this, and go take care of your family”

The man who had lost looked grateful and took off out of the inn. Smiling to himself, IIzak tipped his head to the con man, who’s jaw was still wide open. He winked and then found himself an open table. He ordered a bit of food and drink for himself and sat back to people watch. He was quickly bored though, and brought out his wooden dagger to amuse himself. It really was a silly old habit, but he couldn’t break it.

A glint of something caught his attention and IIzak saw a young man enter the room, looking a bit shady, and very nervous. He watched the man slide past patrons and make his way over to the table of a gorgeous looking woman whom he hadn’t noticed before.

“Ye need to always be taking in your surroundings” Cain’s rough, grumbling voice sounded in IIzak’s head as he berated himself for not paying closer attention.

“Yeah, yeah I know” IIzak mumbled under his breath, watching intently out of the corner of his eye as the man leaned down and whispered something to the woman, then handed her something and rushed out of the door.

On any other day, he probably wouldn’t have done it. The situation really wasn’t any of his business. But he was bored and curious, and he’d already had one interesting adventure slip away from him; no way was he going to let it happen twice in the same day. Putting on a confident face, he grabbed the attention of a barmaid and asked her if she could cancel his order. When she said no, he chuckled a bit and said, “Alright then, would you mind taking it over to that table instead?” He gestured over to the woman’s table, and the barmaid agreed.

“Thanks” he said, tipping her a gold piece before striding over to the gorgeous woman’s table.

She was dressed rather provocatively, with her gold trimmed corset showing off just enough cleavage to get a man’s heart racing. Attractive as she was, he was more interested in why she was dealing in shady business in the middle of a crowded in. Her hat was pulled down low over her ears and IIzak could see a pair of cutlasses at her sides, unbound.

“So, a beauty and dangerous, this oughta be fun” IIzak thought to himself.

“Hey there, would you mind if I sat for a second?” He said, keeping his voice light and free of any suspicion.

[Avalon Silvasti]

She finished tucking the vial away and looked up at the man that approached her. Her blue eyes peered up at him from her long dark hair and her hat. She looked him up and down and smiled. Her voice held a bit of an accent as she spoke, "I don't mind a wee bit of company." She reached for the tankard that was placed in front of her earlier and took a drink of the rum as she used her other hand and opened the bag that was just handed to her. She took her eyes away from the man long enough to peer into the bag and smile. She lifted her gaze back to the man and smiled at him, "Not that I don't mind but what makes a man like yourself to sit with a stranger? I could be a villainous woman, a con artist, or a simple bard. You never know this day and age." She laughed a bit and extended her hand to the man. "I am neither of those thing. The names Alyria. And whom do I have the pleasure of sitting with?" Her eyes looked past him for a second and noticed that a town guard had walked into the bar. She moved a bit uneasy hoping the guards for once would leave her be, but knew that was almost next to impossible due to her stature.

The guard looked around the room and locked eyes with Alyria whom retracted her hand from the man that just sat down and ducked her head, using her hat to hide her features. It was too late the guard was already walking towards her. She rolled her eyes as he approached and knew where this was going to go. The guard reached the table and looked Alyria over as he spoke, "You a pirate miss?" She didn't answer him she just took her tankard in hand and took another drink as the guard spoke again a little bit more stern, "I know you are, I seen you exit the ship that had docked this morning." She continued to ignore him hoping he would grow tired of questioning her and sighed as he continued to badger her, "Listen I know who you are and i don't trust pirates, and I don't like elves." The guard spoke as he reached for her hat to hank it from her head. With lightening fast reflexes she caught his hand before he could tear it away. She looked up at him making her features look innocent and smiled sweetly to him, "I don't know what you are talking about sir and removing my hat from my head would be very ungentlemanly of you." She looked to the man that sat down with her and smiled then looked back to the guard, "Now if you don't mind i would like to enjoy my drink with my date." She released his hand and he scoffed sulking out the door.

Alyria turned back to the man at her table. "I'm sorry you seen that. Happens all the time due to whom I am." She then laughed a bit thinking back to her last comment to the guard. "I apologize for calling you my date. Now where were we? Ah, yes, My name is Alyria. And who might you be?"

[iizak]

"There were a couple of reasons actually..." IIzak said, contemplating what she had said, "Well I guess to answer the easiest question first, my name's IIzak, and I'm..." IIzak stopped mid-sentence, noticing Alyria's eyes dart towards the door. IIzak followed her gaze to a burly looking guard who had swaggered into the bar. Turning back to his current drinking companion, he noticed that she seemed to almost shrink down, as though attempting to conceal herself from notice.

Despite her efforts though, IIzak heard the telltale thump of boots as the guard wandered over to their table.

"You a pirate miss?" He said, gruff voice rumbling in his chest, and with an odd venom in his voice.

IIzak was surprised that the guard had not recognized him. The Band had certainly put out a big enough price on his head to tempt a town guard. So he simply listened to the conversation intently and analyzed what was being said, looking for clues as to the whole mystery that was Alyria.

"Pirate and an elf?" IIzak thought to himself, a bit unsure of how he felt about his new "friend". She certainly seemed friendly enough, however, there appeared to be a certain danger mixed into the sweetness. His instincts told him to be wary, but they didn't tell him she wasn't trustworthy. Plus, the guard was being quite an oaf. Right as IIzak was about to step in and help her out, a dainty hand shot out and secured the guard's own with an iron grip. After a few words, the guard sulked out the door and she turned her attention to back to him him.

"Certainly beautiful and dangerous," IIzak thought to himself as her sweet smile turned towards him and she acted as if nothing had happened, like it was an everyday occurrence. "Still, who am I to judge, I certainly seem like a criminal at first glance"

IIzak cracked a grin of his own and replied "I'm flattered that you'd even entertain the thought milady, truly honored. Like I said before I'm called IIzak. And as to why I'd want to sit here, to be truly honest, I'd say half this bar is jealous as all hell at the moment of me, and the other half wishes they looked like you." he said with a wink and a laugh "Still I'm curious about how casual you seem to be being during that whole ordeal. Is that sort of thing an everyday occurrence for someone like yourself?"

[Avalon Silvasti]

Alyria laughed a bit and smiled at him. "Aye yes. It happens rather regularly once they figure out whom I am. Not many people take kindly to a lady being a pirate, especially an elf to boot." She sifted a bit and pulled out the vial that the young man had brought to her before IIzak sat down. She gently uncorked the vial and dropped a few drops into her drink. She then put the vial back and drank her rum. She peered at the man over her tankard as she downed every last drop of her rum. "Tis one question on my mind as I look at you. Are you a man to be trusted?" she placed her tankard down. "If you are there may be some gold in your future." She then pulled out the bag the young man brought her and laid it on the table. "You see I usually don't make port here that often and don't know the area that well. You see i have came into some valuable information and I am in dire need of some assistance. Would you be willing to help me if i promise you a cut in it?" She smiled and took her hat off her head showing off her long pointed elven ears that were adorned with a few dangling piercings. "So what say you?"