Saint and a Soldier [Goldie]

[Zane]

Sinead was not a fan of Connlaoth, The Church of Connlaoth did not like the idea of another religion recruiting within the country. But Sinead wasn't being accompanied by the other Saints or any of the followers. he was here to buy a special sword, a red Claymore called the Blood Fang. One of the other Saints had told him about the sword, he decided that that was something that someone called "The Wolf Saint" needed to have.

Sinead had all ten swords on him today, The sword he was after was a legendary sword. Needless to say, Sinead almost expected trouble.

[Goldie]

He took another swig of liquor from a dented flask, wincing slightly as the hard alcohol burned its way down his throat. Watching was boring. It was one of the most unbelievably boring things he was paid to do and the whiskey in his flask was the only thing that made things a bit more interesting. At least then the world had a fun fuzzy quality about it and blades cutting into his flesh hurt a whole lot less.

The hard liquor made things, funny to be honest, and he needed some fun in his life. The bar wench had left a sour taste in his mouth that could only be chased away by sheer drunkenness.

Yup, this was the life. Really, what was better than drinking your heart out surrounded by whatever struck your fancy that particular night? Andwyad was a man on the wind. A man out for adventure. A man waiting for a boat load of gold after he got this stupid sword. A man completely, and utterly, wasted.

At least, that's how he'd appear to those around him. Connlaoth was no different than any other place in that regard. Sure, they burned witches at the stake, or something crazy like that, but no one noticed a drunk man staggering in the streets. It was a natural occurrence. The natural order of things: Man gets sword, Man gets job, Man drinks, Man murders a couple defenseless citizens.

Right now, Man was well on his way to being drunk and waiting for the world renowned Sword maker to turn his back long enough for Andwyad to blunder in, grab the sword, then fight his way out the back door.

Seeing the store empty out, except for one bloody big bloke, signaled that now was the time. Andwyad was an expert swordsman - especially considering the myriad of daggers he kept hidden in his sleeves and his less than honorable nature.

He put his stagger on and made his way to the shop, making sure to hit a few people on his way to make his purse heavier.

"Hey theer....." he staggered over to the counter, taking another swig of drink, "I wants t'buyme a swooord....." ahhhh drunk....especially acting it.....good times. He turned to the big guy and snorted, "Yer buyin' up one o'em too?"

[Zane]

Sinead, having just bought the Blood Fang, was waiting for the Sword-smith to bring it out when another man entered the shop. Sinead's warrior sense went on high alert, the man who just entered was extremely dangerous, worst of all he had been drinking.

Placing a hand on the sword opposite of the man, Sinead whistled three long low notes, a Connlaothian signal for danger. That was when the man spoke to him. "Why yes, I just bought one actually." Sinead looked out the small window to see if anyone was outside waiting for the man, which there wasn't.

[Goldie]

Andwyad leaned in real close to the gentleman and laughed throatily upon hearing the news. He knew this already, of course, having watched the man purchase the sword in question, but it didn't hurt to have the stink of stale liquor blasted in his face to reinforce the drunkenness factor.  People always underestimated drunkards and Andwyad didn't understand why. Some of his best sword fellows were drunks! Maybe he should be offended, or maybe he'd just continue to use it to his advantage.

"Lemme have a looksee," he said, "I'm kinda an expert on swords meself, not that'dit lookit." yup, keep the slurs coming. People couldn't resist a good slur. Oh, and a stagger. He made sure to bump into the guy a few times while grasping at the countertop for stability.

"See, I gots meself myown swoordy here...." he went to reach for the sword at his hip and stopped, staring down at the empty hilt as if in surprise, "Well...I did....wheresat sword gots isself off to......"

Step number two: make the soon-to-be-assailed think he's unarmed. He couldn't count how often that one worked. People were so stupid....or he was just a fabulous actor. And fighter. Couldn't forget that. He didn't get where he was today without knowing his way around a dirty fight.

"Hey swordy..." he worked his way around the store, stumbling into things and making quite the ruckus, "Where'dya get to ye stupid swordy...." he stopped and looked up at the man, "Hey! You!" he stumbled forward again, "Ye seen a sword lyin' around?"

When was the shop keeper going to come back? Sheesh, he couldn't wait forever....

[Zane]

Drunk, yes. Vulgar, no. Which is weird, ninety percent of drunks are vulgar, Sinead thought. He was starting to have his doubts about this man. The man smelled like he had been drinking, not like he was drunk. The slurring and the staggering was a bit much for someone who had been drinking, and wasn't drunk.

Sinead made a show of looking around when he was spoken to by the not-so-drunk man. "I'm afraid I don't see a sword. But you do have a dagger strapped to the back of your belt under you your shirt. The hilt poked me in the rib when you bumped into me." That was far from the truth, much like a pick pocket would relieve someone of their money, Sinead searched the man every time he bumped into him.

[Goldie]

Andwyad grinned and pulled out the tube that was in his belt, tucked behind his shirt, "Wrong! Wow....an' I though' I wasdrunk!" he unscrewed the top, using as much attention as he could spare to make it appear that he was having difficulty with the latch, "Y'see, I gots a map." he pulled out the roll of parchment and waived in in front of the guy's face, "It goes t'" he lowered his voice and leaned in close, "magic places."

He did a nice little stagger and shook his head, "Awww dammit.....I's gettin' sober..." he laid the map on the counter and pulled out his flask, taking a swig. He frowned and turned the contained upside down when only a drop landed on his tongue. Huh....he must have had more than he thought. Waiting...it can kill a man for sure.

".....thasnot good.....hey you..." he waived the flask under the man's nose. He was taller than Andwyad but not by much. However he did appear a bit brawnier. "Gots anythin' strong on ya?"

Finally, after far too long, the sword smithy returned in his scortched leather apron hoisting a giant claymore. Andwyad groaned silently. Of all the bloody blades he could have been told to get, his client had to want a frikkin claymore.

Now for the hard part. The buyer was going to take the sword from the smithy and walk out into the crowded street. Andwyad had two choices: let him get the sword and follow him until he turned down some dark ally occupied only by whores or pickpocket children....but that would mean more waiting and his flask was empty.

"Bloody hell..." he muttered. With a faux drunken flourish, Andwyad whipped a dagger from his sleeves which caught the smithy in the arm. The sword fell out of his hands just as the mercenary jumped across the table to catch it by the hilt and hoist it over his shoulders. As he lept, he threw another dagger behind him towards the gentlemen. This one he aimed toward the throat. A crazy bloke with too many swords to begin with wouldn't be missed in the world while a talented smith would be a waist to kill.

Yup, save the smith.

Where Andwyad lacked in brute strength he made up for in speed. Within seconds of the first attack he was through the back door of the shop and into the forge out back. He bowled over the apprentice before the poor kid had time to think about trying to stop him and was quickly out into the Connlaothian streets.

The unfortunate part of this plan was the fact that he was now highly suspicious, running through the street with a pretty shady sword across his shoulders. Yeah, he didn't look guilty at all.

To the roofs. he thought to himself, spotting a nice pile of barrels that would provide pretty easy access. He knew the man was behind him, but he didn't spare a glance for fear of slowing down his pace.

One

Two

Three

He was up the barrels and gave them a good kick, sending the pile barreling into the crowds below. The thief dashed across the rooftops to the sounds of dying screams.

[Zane]

Sinead caught the dagger in mid flight, the gauntlet well protecting his hand. A rage suddenly boiled in him. His hand subconsciously went for the Book of Fate, some quick reading and a little bit of ink and the man who had tried to kill him would die. When he realized what he was doing he quickly stopped, Changing fate by way of the Book was against the religious law of Cleara Verdad.

Making his way out the back of the shop, Sinead chose to go slow. The thief's burst of speed would not last. Sinead jogged past the apprentice, who was clearly shaken after being barreled over.

Sinead approached the crowds, many of them were still shocked by being pushed aside by the thief. A quick glance around and he spotted the crook. "Bloody hell he took to the roofs." Noticing the path that he took to get to the roof, Sinead saw the barrels askew.

Getting a running start, Sinead planted a foot on the barrel farthest from the wall and leapt. he travelled through the air for a good second and a half before he clamped the gauntlets in midair and hung there. Anyone who saw what happened would say that he simply grabbed the air, which was exactly what he did.

Swinging his body forward then back, Sinead was gaining momentum. He let go of his grasp on a forward swing and rolled onto the roof. Spotting the thief easily, he gave chase. The hunt was on.

[Goldie]

The nice thing that Andwyad had noticed about himself was that he had an uncanny ability to move entirely silently when the time called for it. He stoked it up to being incredibly good at his job through years of tireless practice. Of course he wasn't exactly one to "practice" per se but his background made him an excellent swordsman and an even better thief. After all, nobles stole from their subordinates all the time and never got caught. Not to mention they stole from each other on a daily basis.

It was all very corrupt.

Meh, didn't matter now. All that mattered was he get away as quickly and cleanly as he could. The drop spot wasn't too far from the shop, which was a good thing, and Andwyad wasn't really one to play fair. Once the sword was out of his hands he didn't give a crap what happened to the clients. As long as he got paid.

Using his years of endurance training, the mercenary jumped across a few rooftops - taking a bit of a round about way through things. The usual, start running across roofs, realizing you're being followed, jump down to a few alleys, do a bit more running, double back and whisper the secret catch phrase at the designated door.

Well, it was more a bit of a wall than a door, to make sure it blended in and all.

It only took a split second and Andwyad was in.

"Got the sword?" a large man asked in a deep husky voice.

"Yeah, I'm sure you can see it. Seeing how it's bloody huge." Andwyad swung the sword off his shoulders and held it out, "My payment if you please."

"Yeah yeah...." the beefy bloke looked over it and shrugged, "Looks like it's all in order." he then tossed a pretty decently sized coin purse over, "For your troubles."

Andwyad saluted mockingly, "Much obliged."

He turned to leave and looked back with a grin after tucking the purse into his boot - uncomfortable yes, but less likely to be stolen, "Oh, and there's this big sword bloke on his way here. Probably mad that I took his blade consid'ring he just paid for it and all. Hope you can use that thing." he waived and kept walking toward the door before the client could process through what he'd just been told.

[Zane]

Sinead was gaining on the man when he decided to jump down into the alleys. Sinead, on the other hand chose to stick to the roofs. His clothes and armor blended into the dark sky. Following the man for a bit long, Sinead watched as the man entered a hollowed section of the wall. But he didn't care about the sword anymore, after all, it was just a sword. Now, Sinead was after the man, after all, the man had tried to kill him.

Sinead was circling the building, waiting for the man to appear again. He would wait all night if he had to. Luckily it didn't come to that. The man come out of the front of the building after a few minutes.

Sinead jumped off the building, landing behind the man. Sinead drew his short sword and laid in on the man's shoulder, the tip an inch from the man's artery. "You caught me off guard back there, I'm returning the favor."

[Goldie]

Andwyad stepped out of the building, senses alert. He was sure that sword bloke was about somewhere but just how close he hadn't been expecting. He was a master at stealth and it would take a pretty impressive guy to follow him this far. At least that fast.

That said, Andwyad was not expecting to feel the sharp point of a blade close to his neck the moment the wall-door closed behind him. He froze, not realizing at first who his assailant was, only knowing that any sharp movements would cost him blood. Blood that he was pretty keen on keeping. 'Cus, you see, blood kinda keeps you alive and Andwyad wasn't a supporter of death. He left that for the crazy religious. Crazy being the optimal word here.

"C'mon now," he said with a crooked smile. Damn this guy was fast. If a sword wasn't up against his neck he might have appreciated it. As it were.... "We can both see that you're fine and dandy like a noblegal eatin' roast duck. Really, I have no issue with you. I'da done the same to a lady in white had she been the one t'buy that sword. You've got enough bloody swords to begin with. Didn't think a lone dagger'd do you in and I was right wasn't I?"

[Zane]

"Aye, you are right. But I wanted to make sure you know the consequences of your actions. Now walk back to the sword shop. One false move and the tip of my sword finds a new sheath." Sinead had no intention of killing the man, life was nothing to be squandered, even the life of this man.

A guard was about to intervene, but realized that the man with the blade was a Saint of Cleara Verdad. If the man had a Saint after him, there was a good reason. So the guard decided to mind his own business and hope for the best for the man with the blade against his neck. Reciting prayers, the guard walked on.

[Goldie]

"Hey now..." Andwyad replied slowly after the instructions were given. The cold blade bit uncomfortably into his neck, but no blood had been drawn. That might be a good thing....maybe alluding to the fact that the guy didn't want to kill him? Maybe?

Damnit, now that his debt had been paid his previous employers weren't going to give a shit what happened here. The blade had been delivered and the deliverer had been paid. What a stupid thing he'd just done...But how could he have known that this bloke wouldn't want to get the actual sword back? Who could have bloody predicted that!?

"Ya know....your blade's just beyond that wall. I don't have any issue with you, like I said, I just do what it take t'pay the bills." and provides a little thrill, he couldn't lie.

Not to mention....

"Not to mention the sword show is a bloody long walk, mate."

Did that guard just walk away? No, that was a good thing. He'd at least die with his money intact.

[Zane]

It was always like this, the captured trying to negotiate for their freedom. Sinead pressed the sword into the man's neck a little, just enough for a small trickle of blood to fall. The cut would close in a minute or two. "The sword is of little importance, swords can be replaced. But one of your actions tonight cannot be easily fixed, and I want to show you what it is. If you don't try anything, I might be so inclined to let you live. Now walk." It was a hollow threat, he had every intention of letting him go, the only way Sinead would kill the man was if he attacked.