LoD Chapter 2 - The Legend of the Forsaken Brother

[TheBlindMime]

"Hmm..." Howl moans aloud as he begins to do a handstand in front of their makeshift board. He slowly leans to the right placing his weight on that hand as the other reaches over and places an X just below the lumbering minotaur's next move, "I don't see what the fuss is about, we are the chosen. That means we are fated to arrive in time. Such is the way of existence, is it not?" Fate was such an interesting thread of existence, it was or it was not, or perhaps it is and isn't. Something to muse over at the least, Howl thought.

[Mintaro]

Karnok nods sagely to his game partner. "It be bein fate indeed dat muss be bringin us here. So den us must be bein heralded by da portal, not da otha way `round." He then marks the spot to the lower right of himself, Blocking the cross.

[lazy man]

Kerith looked around at the children playing in the snow, the people at peace, everyone around him not struggling to survive. Kerith suddenly didn't feel comfortable here. He could only remember the past six years of his life, and all he was allowed to do was fight. Seeing these people at ease disturbed him, whether it was because he had to live the past six years in the darker side of humanity or because he'd never lived peacefully, he didn't quite know. With all this going on, however, he wanted this altar to appear quickly. This wasn't his environment, and he felt the need to get out.

"Damn thing won't come fast enough..." Kerith muttered under his breath as he began to pace back and forth in front of the fountain.

[Zephie]

It only took Jen a few minutes to eat his dinner.

As he entered, so he left, without raising a fuss. But after he left, he ducked immediately down a side-street and took on a new guise, and disappeared into the shadows.

***

Some time later, Ralph and his patrol buddy were busy scouring the town for more signs of crime, when they heard footsteps running up behind them in the snow. Turning around, they saw a small woman running their way, looking as if she'd just seen a ghost. "Officers! Officers!" she shouted in near hysterics.

"Whoa, whoa," they told her. "Calm down, miss! What's the trouble?"

Catching her breath, the woman replied, "I saw him! He's here in town, on the east side!"

"Who?"

"Sora Kanos!"

"Are you sure?" Ralph asked, stepping closer.

"Positive."

Ralph turned and looked past them, towards the east side of town, where they were headed anyway. He bit his lip, then turned back and told her, "Thank you madam. Now go home and lock your doors."

He turned to go, but she grabbed him by the arm and stopped him. "Wait, please, I saw a group of strangers entering town a while ago, I think they might have something to do with him."

"No, that's not true," Ralph answered, trying to comfort her. "Renetta's with them, they're harmless."

"Renetta? You mean she's back?!" she asked with excitement.

"Yes, ma'am. But..." he started, glancing at his partner nervously. "She found out about her brother... I don't know if she's going to do anything about him or not."

"Trevor...?"

He nodded, and she lowered her head a bit in thought. Ralph lowered his head a bit and told her again, "Relax, Miss Bertram. We'll handle this. You hurry on home now."

He looked up at his partner and nodded, and the two of them then rushed off towards the east side, hoping to catch Sora before he could escape. The woman had nodded and run off down the street, ducking into a side alley and watching as they ran off, leaned up against the wall. But as they disappeared down the road, a little smile played across her face and she turned back around, the disguise fading from view in a haze of ethereal smoke to reveal Jen underneath, even smaller than the woman's form he'd taken. Grinning maniacally now, he waved his fingers in the air before him and muttered in jest, "Dance puppets! Dance!"

Completing the image, chibi puppet forms of the gaurds appeared on strings and wiggled in front of his chest for a moment, wrapped in a wavy outline of clear smoke. He stopped that in a hurry though, and snuck off down the alley, towards another section of town.

***

Some couple minutes later, Sora Kanos, shrouded in a cloak, walked off down an alley by himself, shuffling about town aimlessly as he waited for Jen to get back to him.

Wandering about that alley alone, he was surprised when a man's voice called out to him, "Sora Kanos?"

Sora stopped dead in his tracks and turned, face obscured by his hood. "Who knows the name Sora Kanos?"

"I have important business to discuss with you..." the little old man said, stepping forth. His blue, simple robes rustled in the wind, a hood covering his face but revealing the smile on his lips. And then, once within three steps of him, the disguise faded away to reveal Jen.

Relaxing, Sora sighed and muttered, "Oh, it's you, thief."

Jen stepped closer, gesturing as he spoke. "I need to warn you, I've told the police that you're in town. They're looking for you right now."

"You what?"

"Now, don't worry," Jen said in reassurance. "I told them you're on the other side of town, but I think you should get out quick, before they double back this way."

"Is this how you do business, by backstabbing people?!" Sora growled back, obviously not happy with the development.

"Relax, old man..." Jen said, waving with his hand while he looked around. Leading him off to the side into further darkness, he said, "I'll meet with you down at the southern crossroads later tonight. Just go to the Devore Inn and wait for me there; I'll bring your 'item' to you tonight when I get it."

"Then you've solved your problem with the palace?"

"I've got it all worked out now, diversion and everything."

"I don't suppose you'd let me know some of the details?"

"You let me worry about that," Jen answered, looking back again. His ears had perked as he heard someone coming from far off, but it turned out to be just a pedestrian in the street, passing by. He hadn't noticed them there. Looking back, he added, "Just get on out of town now, I'll get back to you later."

"All right... but you'd better show, thief." Sora pointed a finger at him threateningly. "I don't take kindly to being crossed."

"What kinda guy do you think I am?" Jen asked, smiling. "Ten gold pieces now, ninety later?"

He patted Sora on the arm and clicked his tongue, which Sora didn't seem to like too much. "I gotcha covered, old man."

With that said, he turns and walks back out into the street, reassuming the old man's disguise. Sora stood watching for a time, but eventually sighed and lowered his hood a bit, then turned and left Jen to his devices.

***

The bulk of the foreigners were in the park by then, and Jen hurried up, following his clues to them. Entering from the east end, he saw them gathered before him, seemingly waiting for something -- or someone -- to show up.

Well. This's where I step in.

He shrugged and reseated his robes, and then approached them. Anyone within a large radius would see an old man, wrapped in a blue robe, walking up to meet this odd group of strangers instead of the fox-thief underneath. "Ahoy, strangers..."

They turned to look, watching as the old man walked calmly up towards them so he could lower his voice. "I take it you are looking for something?"

Glancing at Renetta, he added, "Or someone...?"

Conspiratorily he muttered, "If it's Trevor Clifford you are looking for, then I'm the man to ask."

[Astral Harmony]

Renetta wanted to give in to hope, but this guy was just too suspicious...and convenient. First off, she didn't know who he was. Secondly, he didn't introduce himself.
And how the hell did he know what we were looking for?
Still, the alter wasn't here...at least not yet, and the day wasn't turning out too well for her, either. She was starting to get impatient and her true personality began to surface.
"I've got ears and time to listen, but this better not be any of that 'what's my information worth to you' crap. I don't like being approached by mysterious old guys who somehow know who I am and what I'm personally looking for when I just suddenly arrived in town a small while ago."

[Zephie]

(( Since Raiden's out of town, I'm gonna take a little liberty here...

>_> ))

The old man cocked his head a bit. "I understand where you're coming from... and let's just say... I hear things. Things that can be useful to people."

Samoht stepped forward, his hand crackling with lightning. "If you're jerking us, sir, I assure you you will regret it."

"And I assure you, I do not lie," the old man replied, looking over at him lazily. "Unfortunately, my information comes with a price, because you see, I can't just go around telling everyone--"

He then choked as Samoht grabbed his throat in anger, lifting him up on his tiptoes. "Tell us now! No prices!"

The old man choked, then cleared his throat and looked Samoht back in the eye, unblinking. "I cannot tell you anything if I'm dead."

Samoht looked about, then grit his teeth and grudgingly released him, stepping back. The old man checked his robe, then said, "As I said, a man of my knowledge can't just go around telling everyone my business. If you want to find your brother, you will have to pay for it."

"At least tell us your name, old man," Samoht demanded. "I don't like the way you look."

"My name is not important," he answered, a little aggravated at the resistance he was meeting. "My information is."

Looking back at Renetta, he asked, "So are you going to pay me or not? I do have other clients who might find this information useful."

The old man glared back at Renetta, making certain they understood he would not bend on that provision.

[lazy man]

"I say we just leave it be for now and worry about this later. We've got business to attend to, I'd rather not get distracted," Kerith said bluntly and emotionlessly as he continued to pace, leaving a small trail in the snow. He never was the type to get sidetracked, and Kerith didn't feel like squabbling over some old guy at the moment.

"If this guy really does know information about wanted people, he better not know me. I swear I'd kill him if he ratted me out to those bastards that kept me all those years..." Kerith thought as he paced. He knew for a fact the pits were very closely related to criminals and the like, so the fact that this guy had information on criminals could have meant that he knew Kerith from news on the pit fights.

Kerith, of course, just happened to have become famous in the underworld for his... prowess. He'd lasted six years in the pits, so it was unlikely that his escape WASN'T known to anyone who would put betting money into pit fights. If this guy knew anything about him, he would make sure he stayed quiet. Whether he killed him or not didn't matter to Kerith, he just had to make sure information about himself wasn't leaked anywhere.

[Zephie]

The old man glanced at Kerith and then back at Renetta. "Well... if this is... unimportant to you, then perhaps I was mistaken..."

Shutting his robes tighter, he bowed and took his leave. "Good day."

He stood then and turned to leave, glancing over the whole group one last time before walking off, keeping his ears perked under the disguise just in case one of them decided to actually off him before he could get away. It would, however, force him to alter his plans...

[Astral Harmony]

"I probably should have stopped him, but it didn't sound right to me. Why give us information that he could've been paid much more offering to the law?"
Renetta sat down on the edge of the fountain and yawned.
"He's probably a criminal, too, trying to scam money. I wonder what would happen if we caught him and threatened to turn him over?"

[Zephie]

Jen heard that and smiled. You'd have to catch me first.

He disappeared around a building and kept going, where he quickly dropped the disguise and leapt up onto a signpost, and from there he leapfrogged up on top of the buildings and bounded off across the rooftops, working his way across town to the palace. He moved faster than anyone should jumping from roof to roof, and with equal grace and ease, as if he'd done it for years.

Hmm. Their loss... my gain...

***

Within the hour he was across town, and still inconspicuous. Perched atop a rooftop overlooking the palace grounds, he sat back on his heels and rubbed his chin thoughtfully. I guess I'll have to do this the old fashioned way... let's see... gaurds in the towers... about... ... ...twelve of 'em... six more in the courtyard... few buildings... main palace in the center... standard stuff.

He pulled his legs out from underneath then and sat cross-legged, crossing his arms as he looked out. And of course, Trevor will be making his appearance later tonight... that bunch of people seems to be looking for something else though, so I suppose they won't interfere... so... might have to stay out of his way, too.

One hand reached up and scratched behind an ear, an eye squinting as he thought harder. Hmm. Looks like a textbook job... I'll need... rope... and... need to map out the place a little better.

He then glanced down and shut his eyes, remembering the map he saw back in the town records office. The building plan had shown a few corridors and trap doors he might be able to use, but he'd still be in there a good long while. He would have to make good note of the gaurd's movements. Opening his eyes he sighed and watched the gaurds moving about, making mental notes of their rotations and routes, while also planning his entry and exit to the fine details.

Until then, it would be a long night, with all the waiting.

He rather wished they'd have bitten on the information bait, would've saved him some trouble. Next time he'll just have to make a note not to even try and deal with paranoid, aggressive strangers.

Meh. They'd've cramped my style, anyway, he told himself, crossing his arms again and taking more notes. I work better alone. Oh, this guy looks a bit innattentive...

At least night was falling fast.