IC Scene - The Alleys of Windholm

The dark streets and alleys worked to Rivatha's advantage as she avoided the men chasing her. It was clear they were among the rebels, untrained to track or spot her in the unfavorable conditions. When their shouts died down, she continued on to the commoner district, albeit a bit more cautiously. Avoiding any more trouble, she finally arrived at her destination.
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Sir Meraxes of the Radiant Cross joined his knight-brothers in the city, slipping away from them as they marched past a poorly lit part of the road. It seemed wiser to get a head start on the search while the rest of his men remained with Ser Valran. At least, it seemed wiser until he ran into a pair of drunken commoners just outside of the merchant quarter.

“Who're you?” slurred one.

Rivatha looked around, then she drew folded paper from one of her pockets. She unfolded paper and read it quickly folding it and placing back to her pockets after she was done. Rivatha looked around one more time and then knocked the door of seemingly abandoned house 3 times quickly and 2 times with longer time intervals between them. Soon voiced was heard from other side of door.

"Who is there?"

"Arrow pierce trough mist till it stops at someones neck"

"Let her in" different, more commanding voice was heard.

Soon door opened, first who Rivatha saw, was man in his mid thirties, he had a short hair, and was wearing simple clothes, he held sword in his hand. As Rivatha entered she saw few more thugs standing besides man who was siting near table, he obviously was the leader here. The leader was wearing red brotherhood armor, and was siting in lousy pose.

"Who do we have here? Cait if i am not mistaken?" He asked

"You are not" Rivatha answered.

"Maybe you would remove your hood? for the sake of good old times you know." small smile appeared on leader's face.

"Dream about it, Robert"

"You information is incorrect Robert is dead, i have now taken his place, my name is Odin."

"Doesn't matter to me"

"Of course, so why are you here?"

"I need an information about Scholar of Great Influence who recently arrived here in Windholm, who is he, where is he, does he have any guards. Also i may need to borrow 2 of your man for a little spectacle . You know me i won't stay in debt."

It was good Mattus left his friend with the talking. Only one of them was needed to represent their order and Morek was a far better example than he is. The streets that he walked were dark and noone payed him much attention until he met a group of drunk men. They clearly wanted some trouble, the bladr of his spear was still covered in a cloth so they must have thought him unarmed. They were no harm to him in their current state so he decided to act calm and avoid making a mess.

"My name is Mattus and I am only a traveler looking for a friend of mine, we got separated earlier. He is quite big, have you by chance seen him?"

Mattus ended with a smile but still he tightened the grip around his spear, just in case this was a trap.

Odin regarded Rivatha carefully. "There are many influential wise men in the world these days," he said flippantly. "A question that vague could net you a hundred answers and none of them could be right. Fortunately for you, I know precisely who you're talking about."

"Of course, before we get to that, we must discuss how you intend to pay for the information. Something this rare most certainly is not cheap, and you borrowing a couple of my men for a "spectacle" doesn't sound quite like payment as I understand it."
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"Big?" The other drunk seemed thoughtful for a minute...or as thoughtful as a drunk man can seem. "I think we saw someone like that tonight, didn't we John?"

"We'wre at the harbor, of coursh we did," said the first. "A hunnit of them, even! Why're you lookin' for thish guy, anyway? He owe ya money?" He was leaning heavily on his more sober friend.

"As i say i won't stay in debt. I can pay XXX Denars(3 Renown) or we can trade favors, i am sure you need something done in this city."

The three men were hardly understandable but Mattus stayed calm and continued smiling.

"No he does not owe me anything, he is a friend of mine. And thank you for your help my friends, I will go look for him near the Harbor."

Mattus nodded and waited for the three men to continue walking. He wasn't sure how they would react if he walked past them with his spear.

"I believe favors would serve us better," said Odin after mulling over the options in his mind. "After all, a knight of the Ebony Gauntlet can't be that wealthy," he added with a wry smile.

Standing up, he approached Rivatha and spoke quietly into her ear. Although there was little chance of his words not going beyond the room, he clearly wanted to take no chances. When he finished, he stepped back and waited for her answer.
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The men laughed as though they didn't believe him. "Right, a 'friend!' Good luck getting your money back, 'friend!'"

The drunks continued on, apparently not caring for one moment about the state of the city. They were still prattling on. "Hey, did either of y-you conshidder that maybe he wush going to findsh a 'lady friend?'" The trio paused, as though in deep though. Turning, the third shouted, "Hey friend!"

Mattus was already long gone however. Being a bit more careful to avoid entanglements, he travelled through the city more slowly. He eventually emerged from the streets overlooking the harbor. From what was readily visible, the long strip along the coast seemed to be the headquarters of the rebels. Many of the torches visible from the castle were clustered there. For a moment, the wisdom of walking straight down to the unusually-busy docks seemed questionable.

Rivatha whispered back to Odin.This conversation was getting rather strange to other man watching it.

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When knight of Radiant cross watched the stars, hooded figure made sure to run from building to building, a bit closer to the knight.

/Mortimer

More words were exchanged between Rivatha and Odin. Though their words were hushed, it was clear their bartering was intense.
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Luck was not on Mattus' side. As he began his search for a tavern, a tight knot of torches appeared down the road.

"Hey! Who are you?" The words reverberated off of the buildings nearby and the knight had only a few seconds to react.

Mattus stopped walking right as he heard the noise. He tightened the grip on his spear and looked around while responding. He searched for a way to escape if anything would happen.

"I am a mere traveler looking for a friend of mine. We got separated and I think he is somewhere around here."

Mattus tried to make out the number of people approaching him, he stepped a little bit to the side into the shadow to adjust his eyes to the darkness.

Dark figure was approaching from behind the building silently, but he froze just as Knight took a few steps back. All he could do now was taking a grip of one of his throwing daggers, and hoping knight he was following won't run further into the darkness.

/Mortimer

Mattus was approached by a group of five. Unlike the drunks from earlier, these seemed to be much better equipped than before. In fact, they were dressed as city guards. Whether or not they were was unclear, however. They seemed to be on patrol.

"Is that so?" answered the leader of the group as they approached. "In case you haven't noticed, the city is a dangerous place. Especially for travelers like you. And frankly, we aren't too keen on the idea of folks wandering so close to the harbor." The man tightened his grip on his spear slightly. "You should come with us."

He leaned to the right for a moment, apparently looking past Mattus, but his attention quickly returned to the knight in front of him.

When negotiations finally ended, Rivatha took a step back.

"Thank you, i will keep my end of bargain."

Rivatha was about to leave, then she turned around.

"Oh and in this case, i won't need your man."

As soon as Rivatha left the building she headed back to Castle.Miriam, the 8th Ebony Glove was on her way to meet Rivatha.

Mattus thoughts raced as he saw the men approaching. He calculated his chances against them if anything would happen.

"Of course I will follow you! Are we going to the Castle?"

With a little twist and wiggle of his spear he loosened the cloth around the blade, it still covered everything but he could remove it with a swift motion.

Rivatha's trek back through the city seemed more dangerous than her trek in. Every few moments, it seemed she was hiding from someone new. Her near-encounter before made avoiding any further encounters seem wise. One particular encounter near the Artisan District seemed different, however. This one wasn't ambling ambling about on its own tasks. Indeed, it seemed to be hiding as well, flashing from building to building, melting into the darkness as quickly as it appeared, just as an Ebony Glove would.
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"The castle?" The man dressed as a guard snickered, as did his friends. "'Traveller,' this area's controlled by Captain Barbarossa. And anyone who understands a thing about the city here knows that there's no way we're letting you go to the castle. After all, who knows what you've seen?"

He leaned over slightly to look over Mattus' shoulder. His eyes popped as he caught sight of Mortimer. Dropping into a combat pose, he pointed and barked, "Dammit, he's not alone! Take 'em both!" Two of the five ran for the shadowy Mortimer as the other three moved to surround Mattus.
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Among the fallen barrels, Rayvs and his men discovered the unconscious form of the woman who had approached them earlier. A swelling and bleeding gash on her forehead marked where one must have hit her. Haroun was merely a few seconds behind this discovery, reporting nothing in the alley. His brow was furrowed as he regarded the senior knight.
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The knights of the Radiant Cross followed the same path that the Eventide had take to the Artisan District. However, with a slightly better sense of where they were going, they managed to avoid getting as hopelessly lost as the other knights. Indeed, they even ran across Terstine, who was a little out of sorts like his knight brothers.

Rayvs stood, stunned. He noticed that she was the woman who was asking to be escorted, but she seemed out of place hiding behind barrels. Might she have been following them?

"Haroun, hold her down and search for some rope to tie her up. Men, search her and keep a perimeter around the area."

Two knights moved to search her while the retainers held a perimeter, bows drawn. (OCC: I'm assuming they're Ghilmen?)

Rayvs drew Dusk and pointed the black tip at the neck of the woman, carefully looking around.
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Terstine saw the Radiant Cross Knights and raised his hand in greeting. Still moving quickly, he said "Good luck, Radiants," and continued on his way.

After noticing another possible glove Rivatha mimicked the sound of owl which seemed completely out of ordinary in the city, and waited for a response.

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Mortimer started to ran away not as fast as he could tough, he will throw one of daggers should rebels get close or turn their backs on him

The figure didn't react to the owl sound. It continued to move as though hiding from something. If it had noticed Rivatha, it didn't seem to care.

Suddenly, the sound of an owl broke the silence. It was weak and quiet; she very well could have imagined it...or perhaps even heard some odd echo of her own.
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The man, surprised by Mattus' speed, tried to dodge the strike but was too slow. The spear slammed into his cheek, tearing skin and he spun to the ground, too stunned to rise again. The other two held back, much more cautious of a man who suddenly seemed far stronger than originally. One circled back to the fallen man, leaving a possible gap to run, or an opportunity to strike once more.

The other two were distracted by Mortimer, running after him into the darkness. He stumbled as he tried to escape, using the opportunity to turn and throw a dagger at them. Whether the throw was more precise or lucky was debatable, but the man on the left stumbling as it embedded in his left thigh was not. Tripping the man next to him, the Ebony Glove was given ample time to put distance between himself and his pursuers.
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Terstine continued to wander, eventually finding his way back onto High Street and to the line. It was slightly emabarassing when he reappeared alone, but apparently not distressed. Most assumed the Eventide had gotten lost. Recieving directions, including how to easily follow the path back to his fellow knights, he began his trek back out into the city.

In the streets, Rayvs' men discovered several daggers on the unconscious woman, strange for a mere commoner.

The Radiant Cross nearly passed the Eventide one road over, but one of Morek's men spotted the shadowy knights and pointed them out to his commander.

[OOC: Can't resolve Terstine yet. He obviously would be gone for a while.]

Rivatha drew one of her daggers, it wasn't valid response... Rivatha watched further movements of another shadow carefully glancing behind her from time to time.


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Mortimer didn't run however he used this opportunity to wait till second rebel almost got up and throw dagger at him, later drawing his sword. Mortimer could deal with one pesky rebel, he taught this way at least.

Morek listened to what his man had to say before deciding upon a course of action. Heading down the alley that had separated the two groups, he held up a hand in greeting. The torches from the men behind him giving them enough warning that it would be unlikely that they would be entirely surprised or startled by him. The white crosses, the one on his chest plate, his shield and on his Great Helm stood out in stark relief of the blackness that was the rest of the armor.

Hail Knights of the Eventide! It seems we are not the only ones that decided to brave the darkness tonight. His gaze turned towards the cluster of barrels and the men surrounding them.

Might you indulge my curiosity and answer why you seem to be unduly fascinated by a bunch of empty barrels? His men followed him through the alley and spread out in a loose bunch behind him. His ever present Conquistadors flanking him after a few moments.

Rayvs grew more and more panicked as the daggers were discovered on her body.

"Damn spiders...she's an assassin for him. She must be. She was sent to kill me, that's why she followed us."

Rayvs turned with an evil glint in his eye. "The punishment for assassination or attempt of assassination is death. I would love to prolong it, but we must be on our way. He drew his sword and was about to strike the finishing blow, but then the sound of the Radiant knights voice startled him out of reprieve.

"Form a perimeter." he barked.

"This assassin has just attempted to kill me, and she was knocked unconscious in an ensuing struggle. I was just about to deliver the just punishment for such an act."

Rayvs then turned and raised Dusk once more.

As he raised the blade, Morek's voice rang out again, much sharper than the warm greeting he had just uttered. Are all Eventide Knights paranoid idiots or are you a special case? In case you haven't noticed yet I also have a hanger on at the moment and so far she hasn't tried to kill me. Morek hooked a thumb over his shoulder towards the woman in the midst of his party, who was still surrounded by her trio of plaguewarden guardians, though now two of them had grabbed her arms at the mention of assassins.

If you want to kill her I think you'll need a better reason than just having found a few knives on someone or moving about in the dark. If that's all that is needed to condemn someone as an assassin it should only stand to reason that you kill every member of your party. Starting with her. Morek had pointed at Boadice, who had a large gelding knife.

Otherwise, calm down, this sin't the time for rash actions my friend. If you want I can give you a type of root that should settle your nerves.