Myriad Acts of Banditry! (Rhi)

[DaGlobster]

Trigger Warning: rape threats and violence!

"Smed 'The Red' Anklehacker. Wanted for banditry, several charges of arson and theft, and more than a dozen confirmed manslaughters. Reward of one thousand gold pieces, dead or alive." Smed dictated to his fellow goblins. He was standing on a barrel outside a jeweler's shop, holding a wanted poster for himself that he had just taken off a wall. He was reading to a small crowd of five goblins, his partners in crime for the night. Smed took nights like these off every once in a while, visiting Arca to steal some things that travelers, guard patrols, and caravan's didn't carry. Soon to be fenced jewelry was on tonight's menu.

"What do you think of that, boys?" Smed said, placing one small foot on the rim of the barrel and leaning forward. One goblin holding a shortened pitchfork raised his hand, and Smed pointed at him. "The reward's too low!" the goblin said, and the others nodded along. "Yer nose is too big in the poster!" Another said, waving his sword in the air. Another eagerly raised his crossbow to the air. "Methinks dead or alive's rather stupid! Smed'll never go with the guard while he's kickin'!" the goblin said, and Smed nodded his head. "All very valid points, boys. But enough talk about me..." He said, crumpling up the wanted poster and tossing it over his shoulder. "...Let's talk diamonds! Skitzo, throw the torch!" Smed called out, and an extremely twitchy looking goblin holding a torch burst into laughter, and flung it straight through the window with a resounding crash.

The goblins poured inside, climbing through the broken window and into the store. The torch laid on the ground idly for a few moments before Smed took it up in his own hands. "Case the joint! of it glitters, take it! if it's in a locked case, smash it!" He barked, and turned his head when the blubbering shopkeep came in through a side door, still in his nightgown. Before he could say anything, Smed hit his leg with Footcleaver, and the man fell backwards into his room, crying out with agony. Smed tossed the torch in there with him, and closed the door, propping up a chair against it.

Soon enough, they were making off into the back alleys, in and out of the now burning shop before any neighbors were the wiser. That was exhilarating, Smed. his demon moaned. We should make this a weekly thing...say...we didn't kill the shopkeeper... it said, and Smed shook his head. "No way that shopkeep could survive that. He's in there with a slashed ankle, and the door in's locked." He muttered to himself.

The goblins, despite their efficiency, lacked sophistication. They were unwittingly leaving a trail of small jewelry like earrings that slipped out of their sacks. Eventually, they found a nice quiet spot in a dead-end alley to count up their loot, and settled there for the moment. Hopefully, nobody would shot up.

[Rhindeer]

It was the smell of fire that brought Owl to the burning jewelery shop, and it was very fortunate that she chose that night to go out. For the townspeople, fast asleep in their homes, hadn't yet been roused by the smell, and the guard had been patrolling another area. By the time they noticed, it would be too late.

Too late for the man she heard screaming inside.

Heart in her throat, hoping she wasn't too late, Owl went in through a broken window, glad for her gloves so she didn't cut herself. The place looked utterly ransacked, but she didn't have time to care about that. Smoke filled the room, stinging her eyes and burning her nose, and she buried her face into the crook of her arm and ducked down beneath the smoke as she walked, boots crunching over broken things.

It was hard to see, so she followed her ears. A door lay ahead.

With a chair propped up against it.

Sick bastards, she thought, but she was quick to kick the chair aside. "Stand away from the door, sir!" she called, knowing better than to just grab the knob, and then she reared back and aimed a hard kick into the wooden door.

It slammed open--I've always wanted to do that!--and smoke poured out, hot flames licking filling the room. And there, curled up on the floor beside the door, was the half-conscious shop-keeper.

It was an effort to get him to his feet; he was bigger than her, and his leg seemed injured, but she managed to sling his arm around her shoulder and half drag, half walk him out of there, nearly falling several times and choking on smoke. But finally, they got outdoors--and by then, half the town had arrived to gawk. Kia, this felt familiar. How many burning buildings would she pull people from? Only this time, Ryk wasn't there to help her--

--Or get all the credit.

Owl laid the man out on ground, no longer able to support his weight, and knelt beside him with his head propped up in her lap. She snapped her fingers--which failed, because she was wearing gloves. Fail. "Someone fetch a healer! He needs--"

"I'm a healer," a voice answered, and Owl looked up to see a woman rushing over. She waved Owl aside, and Owl moved to let her take over. The guy didn't look good, and for some reason his ankle was bloody. Whoever had done it had been a sadist, that was for sure, and the more Owl thought about it, the angrier it made her. To hobble a man and lock him inside a burning building to die? Gods. Stealing all his belongings wasn't enough, but to try to steal his life, too? And in the most horrible of ways, a slow, burning torture...?

But under the healer's care, he started to look a little better, a little less ashen, though he was also moaning about monsters.

Monsters? Well, surely whoever did this had to be a monster...

It was as she waited, wanting to make sure he'd be okay and also ask him more about what had happened, that a glint of something shiny caught her eye. Turning away, she went to investigate and found...was that an earring? And then, not several feet away, was another.

Whoever it was, they had done a very sloppy job.

Owl turned back to the healer and the man. "Take care of him. I'm going to go find the bastard that did this."

And with a flourish of her cape, she darted off, following a trail of jewels just as the guard arrived on the scene.

Hopefully she could find them. As selfish as it was, perhaps this could be her moment, her time to shine. It was the first time a group of people had actually witnessed something she had done as Owl, and something heroic, too! Now if she could just find this criminal and defeat them...and surely she could, for Ryk had been teaching her, and she felt far more confident.

The trail (gods, she couldn't get over how sloppy this was!) ended at an alley.

And there, at the end of the alley, were the most horrific little creatures she'd even laid eyes on.

And they were counting up gems.

Literal monsters. Wow.

Well. Either way, it was time to do this thing.

"Hold it right there, evildoers!" she said in a booming voice that echoed impressively off the alley walls. With a flourish, she drew her sword. "Your wickedness ends here tonight! Now you have two choices! Come peacefully--or fight! Well, okay, and a third choice, which is dying in said fight, but it'd be much easier to just give up! You've got nowhere to run, little rats! And this Owl is hungry!"

[DaGlobster]

"Someone's there! I can smell 'em!" The goblin previously identified as Skitzo screeched, ducking behind a barrel. All the other goblins, including Smed, turned their heads to look at the figure at the end of the alley. It smelled like a woman, but was disguised as a man. The person then started going on about "wickedness" and "evildoers", and all the goblins could do at the moment was stare. One of the goblins leaned towards Smed, its measly little fingers clutching a tiara. "Who the hell's this jobber?" it whispered as Owl talked, and Smed smiled under the scraggy, blood-stained scarf that usually covered his mouth. "Dinner, and desert." He said openly as Owl finished, and stepped forwards. He had a terribly malicious gleam in his little eyes, which burned with pure anarchic glee. Skitzo came out from behind the barrel, clutching an unlit torch that had nails protruding from the oil-soaked rags. The other goblins walked up behind Smed, clutching their various weapons. They all had demented little smiles on their lips, only made worse by the fact that their teeth looked like gnarled, thin daggers.

Smed himself drew Footcleaver, which still had the shopkeep's fresh blood on it, and Anklesnagger. He was still smiling, and shook his head. "We'll take neither of those, thank you. What should we do, Nips?" Smed said, turning to the goblin with the shortened pitchfork. "Methinks we should eat her while she's kickin." the goblin said, and another in the back piped up! "No! Break her legs an' make good use of 'er!" the goblin with the crossbow said, tossing a knife from one hand to another. "Boys, boys!" Smed said, raising one of his weapons. There was a bit of a pause as they awaited his answer. "Why don't we do both?" He said, and pointed Footcleaver at Owl.

"Get 'er!" He said, and the four other goblins rushed forwards, murder in their beady little eyes as they gnashed their teeth and brandished their weapons. Smed himself joined them, just behind. Before they fully closed in, Smed jumped up onto Skitzo's head, using the goblin as a platform to leap at Owl. He swung Anklesnagger first, trying to snag the many bent nails or fishhooks embedded in the shaft on her clothing, or even better, her flesh.

[Rhindeer]

Gods! Owl wanted to scream in frustration. Even stupid, creepy little monsters could tell she was a girl! How?! She was walking like Ryk had suggested (well, hopefully a little less like 'cat in heat', as he had put it) and bound herself flat and everything! Argh! But her frustration was cut short, because what the creatures said was some of the creepiest stuff she'd ever had leveled at her.

And was even creepier, considering the sight of those little beasts. They were short, but each one was armed tooth and nail--and speaking of tooth and nail, their teeth looked terrible! But Owl stood her ground. She had taken on a man thrice her size (maybe she was exaggerating, he got bigger each time she told the story) so what were a few little toddler-sized monsters?

But they were still incredibly creepy, making her hair stand on end as she studied them--and heard them discuss her like a meal.

Ulp.

There was no time to get too creeped out, though, for soon the demon-toddlers were charging her, surprisingly fast on those short legs, and those weapons looked very unpleasant. Sliding into a defensive stance, Owl readied herself, swinging first at the heads of the ones closest to her before--

Shit!

One of them spring-boarded off the head of another, and that club embedded with all sorts of nastiness was soon coming right at her. With a yelp, Owl swung her sabre up to block and deflect, and aimed a hard kick at one of the goblins that was at foot level.

[DaGlobster]

Smed snarled at Owl as he passed her, just out if reach of biting range but snapping at her anyways. He came to a tumbling stop, rolling for a few feet before coming to a stop behind her. Release me, Smed! Manifest me against her! the inner demon said, and Smed shook his head as he prepared to go running at Owl again. "Don't need you for this one." Smed muttered to himself, and took a moment to observe the fight. Owl was holding her own pretty well, managing to kick one of the goblins straight in the face. The little monstrosity went flying straight back, coming to a sliding stop on the cobblestone. It raised it's head, a boot mark clear on its face, before it rolled its eyes upwards and its head fell backwards.

Smed himself ran back towards her, jumping at her back and aiming to snag onto her cloak and slash at her back. If he snagged onto it, he'd try to pull her down.The other goblins advanced in one coherent mob, trying to cut at her hips and legs. All except for Skitzo, who was hanging back and trying to light his torch club.

[Rhindeer]

One critter down, like four to go--wait, where was the other one?

Owl had been so focused on keeping the other advancing goblins at bay, swinging her sword to parry their hits and backing up as she went, looking for a good opening--it was surprising how challenging it was, but fighting them wasn't like fighting people who were on her level; this involved a great deal more bending to be on theirs, and worse, they were surprisingly fast and vicious and stronger than they looked.

She had just parried another strike and kicked that goblin hard in the belly when--

"Oof!"

Something struck her back, hard, and then snagged in her cape, and before she could right herself she felt a tug that toppled her off balance.

[DaGlobster]

The goblin Owl kicked in the belly fell backwards, but quickly bounced back up, albeit with considerably less excitement than before. It would bruise later, but that didn't matter now. Smed smiled one of his usual pre-manslaughter smiles as he pulled her down and off balance. The other goblins were quick to capitalize on this moment of weakness, and of the three conscious goblins in front of her, one of them jumped at her waist helmet first in an attempt to knock her off her feet, and the other tried to gouge her legs with the shortened pitchfork. Smed himself lept again, using the weapon snagged onto her cape to pull himself up and attempt to bite her shoulder.

[Rhindeer]

Owl managed to right herself--just in time for another goblin to slam its helmeted head into her belly. She doubled over with a wheeze as the air was knocked out of her lungs, but had no time to recover when the goblin that had latched onto her cape climbed her.

And sank those wicked teeth into her shoulder.

With an agonized yell of pain, Owl twisted and did the first thing that popped into her head: she slammed her shoulder, goblin still attached, into the wall as hard as she could, pulled back, and slammed it again, and she would have done it until the horrible thing let go if white-hot, searing pain hadn't stabbed through her shin.

With another cry she went down.

[DaGlobster]

Smed didn't let go of Owl's shoulder as she repeatedly slammed him against the wall. The first time left him a bit dazed, but the fact that he had been digging his teeth into her helped him latch on. The second hit just made things worse for Owl, because he was now using his sharp little claws to stay on her. When she started falling over, however, Smed jumped off, avoiding getting pinned under her body.

The goblin that stabbed her with the pitchfork left its implement of murder in her leg, clambering up her fallen body with murder in its eyes, a wicked knife in its mouth, and cruel smile on its face. It sat down on her belly, brandishing the knife. The others moved to pin down her arms, with Smed opting to place the sharp side of Footcleaver against Owl's neck. "These rats have teeth too, Pigeon. Hmm...Pigeon. I like that." He snarled, nipping at her earlobe.

[Rhindeer]

Owl had started to get up, until the little monsters pinned her arms, one even sitting on her belly, and the other...

Well, once he laid the sharp edge of his weapon against her neck, struggling was out of the question. She froze, her breath coming fast and heavy, and gods, but everything hurt. Her shoulder felt a wreck, and felt unusually hot and wet beneath the sharp, throbbing pain, and her leg...

She grit her teeth and glared as well as she could at the goblins, her face pale as she blinked hard against the tears that wanted to pool in her eyes. Not frightened tears, not yet, but tears of sheer pain, because fuck that hurt, and the weapon was still in her leg! But she focused on channeling her pain into anger, and jerked her arms against their hold, her hand still clutching her sword.

"Oh, stuff it! It's Owl, you toads! A-ah!" She tried to turn her head when he nipped her ear, but doing so risked pressing tighter against his blade. "Shit! Let go, you blighters! You're seriously gonna regret this! Really! You are! You should have come quiet when I gave you the chance 'cause now I'm really pissed!"

And, okay, so she was also kind of about to piss herself, too, because finally through the haze of pain came a lick of sense--like the fact that she was currently pinned down by some monsters--who were stronger than they looked--that had talked about eating her. And who had managed to overpower and lock up a grown man!

[DaGlobster]

"She likes to squeal, boys. Skitzo!" Smed called out, and the goblin was still trying to light his club on fire. Skitzo turned his head. "Yes boss?" He said in his ratty little voice. "I like the way this Pigeon squeals, Skitzo. Make her squeal some more." He said, half whispering it into Owl's ears and half addressing the unstable goblin. Skitzo smiled, and stepped over, raising his club with both hands. He seemed to be deciding where he wanted to hit her with it, the small nails poking out of the oily rags glinting in the moonlight.

As Skitzo decided which part of her body he wanted to maul, The goblin sitting on her belly leaned forwards, placing the tip of his knife against her diaphragm. "Move, and you get stuck." It said.

He stood over her for a few moments, smiling, before suddenly wheeling around and swinging the club downwards towards her unwounded leg, aiming for her outer thigh.

[Rhindeer]

Squeal she did.

When the club swung down and all those little nails pierced through her breeches and into her flesh, Owl screamed, and though she tried not to move for the sake of the blades held to her neck and diaphragm, it was impossible to hold still, too. Her body convulsed with pain, straining against the hold the goblins had on her, and her scream soon trailed off into raw sobs. She couldn't help it. Maintaining an angry, stoic disposition was hard when you were being stuck like a pincushion, and the pain was unbelievable.

"F-fuck! Fuck you!" she sobbed, vision blurred with tears. "Ugly fuckers!" It hurt bad enough she couldn't think straight, couldn't focus much beyond the sensations in her legs and shoulder. Though thank Kia her other leg wasn't as bad as it could be; the thick leather of her boot had saved her from getting pierced as deeply as it could have gone.

"You better pray you keep me down! I'll have you squealing like the hogs you are! All of you!"

[DaGlobster]

Smed smiled as she sobbed. Him and the other goblins started chattering in their native tongue, a scratchy, multisyllabic mess of growls and clicks. They broke into simultaneous laughter, and leered down at her. Skitzo put his spiked club back onto his back, and switched to a blunt one. "Save your tears, Pigeon. You're gonna need them for later." Smed said, and then nodded his head towards Owl's, and Skitzo swung the club down at her head, in an attempt to render her unconscious.

[Rhindeer]

Beneath the agony, Owl's mind raced, and while the goblins chattered, she went over her...very lacking options. Ryk's potions were still in her thigh harness, thank the gods, but pinned as she was, she couldn't get to them. Thank Kia they hadn't noticed them, but they still might. Okay, Owl, think. Potions. She had those. If she could break free, she could heal. And then? Her sword was right beside her. Okay. It would hurt when she broke free; no doubt she'd be stabbed, not to mention how hard movement would be with her existing wounds. But if she drank one fast...

And magic! Gods! How could she forget? Probably because she always used it so superficially. It wasn't much, but she could probably do something! Some illusion! It didn't have to be impressive!

She gad just formulated a plan--a small one, but something--and was about ready to fight for all she was worth when...

Well, the club happened.

And quite abruptly, nothing hurt anymore as darkness swallowed her.

[DaGlobster]

The goblins let go of Owl as she went limp from the blow to her head. They started cackling among themselves, and the goblin that had been sitting on her belly started cutting her shirt open. "Stop." Smed commanded, and the goblins immediately froze up. "Save yer urges, boys. We're taking this one with us. Meat's meat." He said, and the goblins started nodding and smiling again. They all collectively hoisted her up, and got moving.

The next time Owl opened her eyes, she'd find herself in a tent. She had something metal around her neck, wrists, and ankles, and if she tried to move, she's find she was chained to something by the neck.

The tent she was in was obviously set up as someone's living quarters, with all kinds of living amenities sized for someone two feet tall. Disturbingly enough, the bed had some rather fresh looking blood stains on it. She'd hear a cackle from outside, and see someone enter the tent.

Smed.

It didn't look like he noticed she was conscious yet, and he started going through some cabinets, looking for something.

[Rhindeer]

When the world swam back into focus, Owl kind of wished it hadn't, because everything hurt. Her head pounded in time to her heartbeat, her left shoulder was on fire, and both legs ached in various places. With a groan, she slumped forward--except she realized she couldn't, because something was around her neck and holding her in place.

That made her snap fully awake.

She was alive, thank Kia, but she was...in a tent? Not a human tent; she couldn't be that lucky. Everything was tiny and...bloody, she realized with a twist of her gut.

And she was chained up--she swallowed hard, the metal around her throat feeling tighter than it was as she fought against the panic that wanted to rise up against being restrained. Metal bands circled her ankles and wrists, and when she felt at her throat, she let out a low curse when she realized what it meant. Not just bound, but it was iron. The monsters knew she was Serenian, and had chosen to use iron. While it didn't hurt, not yet--for she was lucky in that it didn't burn her on contact--she would start to develop an irritated rash before long, but worse?

It meant no magic. And it meant she was stuck.

But even more importantly than any of that...

Oh thank Kia. Her potions!

The thigh harness 'Rufus' aka 'Ryk' had given her was still there, and with shaky hands she opened the pouch and found her potions were still there, too. Pulling out the stopper of one, she gulped it down, and shivered as the taste of peaches flooded her mouth while her wounds mended, just like that. Gods, that stuff was wonderful, and she let out a sigh of relief as, for a blessed moment, she was pain-free. The blood still remained, though. Hopefully that would be enough to fool the monsters.

Because as soon as she'd tucked the empty vial away and begun to examine the chain restraining her, a cackle sounded from outside and her heart skipped a nervous beat. It looked like her alone time was over.

She went limp right before the goblin entered, slouching over to fake unconsciousness. But she watched him through a slightly cracked eye and fought to keep her breathing the deep, heavy breathing of the sleeping even while her heart wanted to gallop out of her chest.

[DaGlobster]

Smed raised his head. Something was up, he could feel it. More importantly, the demon bound to his soul could feel it. She's conscious, Smed... The demon said matter of factly, and Smed looked over to Owl. She was a terrible faker, that one. He finally found what he was looking for, and pulled it out of a drawer. In his hand was a bottle of finely aged Serenian wine. He walked over to the table in the middle, about five feet away from Owl, and sat at it, popping open the bottle by sticking the cork with a claw and pulling it out.

He sat at the table, and looked at Owl for a bit. Here she was, faking unconsciousness, in his own tent. Smed felt insulted. As quick as lightning, he threw the half empty bottle at Owl, intent on hitting her in the shoulder with it. Regardless of whether he hit her, or she dodged it, he started speaking. "I figure I should fill you in on what happened last night after we put you to sleep, Pigeon." Smed started, forming his hands into a pyramid. He started laughing. "Turns out Skitzo hit you so hard, you were out cold even after we brought you back. You weren't struggling, so...we capitalized. During that entire affair, I had the greatest idea, so here's todays schedule." He said, and got up off the table, pacing back and forth in front of her, just out of arm's reach.

"First, I'm gonna slash your pretty little ankles. Then, I'm gonna walk you over to the butcher's tent, and he's gonna tell me which parts of you are good for eating. After that, we'll..." He trailed off. He smelled at the air, his little nose scrunching up every time he did so. Something smelled like...not wine. "You open something up, Pigeon?" He asked, and he snapped his fingers.

Two goblins entered the tent, armed with polearms and armor, and stood at Smed's side. "You, search her. You...stick her if she moves. Tear her clothes off of her if you have to. Actually, go ahead and do that anyways. Never hurts to be thorough." Smed barked, and the two goblins advanced, one pointing its polearm at her and the other approaching her, intent on giving her a very thorough searching.

[Rhindeer]

So much for a fixed shoulder.

The bottle hit her healed shoulder and she jolted upright with a cry. Fortunately, it would only leave a heavy bruise; the bottle didn't break, but fell to the floor with a clatter, wine spilling out in a puddle beside her. Gritting her teeth, Owl clutched at her shoulder and glared at the goblin--

And then paled at what he said.

"What." It took her a second to get what he might mean, but then her eyes went the bloodied bed and her stomach churned, a sick, terrified feeling gripping. "What...what do you mean 'capitalized'...?" Did he mean...?

No. Wait. No. They couldn't have--no. Panic had begun to swell up inside her, but before it could bloom, she swallowed back bile and really thought about it. That very well could be her blood. But it was a lot. Certainly not from...things. If anything, it was from her wounds. Her shirt had a cut in it, but her chest binding was still tight around her and her thigh holster was still strapped to her...no. If they had tried anything, she would have known. She would have been aching in other places than just her wounds, and they would have had to unbuckle the holster if they had wanted to...try anything. Still, it was an effort to work moisture back into her mouth, because even if nothing had happened, the threat was still clearly there, and her blood didn't go any warmer--especially as he described, you know...butchers.

And started to sniff the air.

Shit.

"Um. No?"

Yeah, he was totally convinced. As shown by the two goblins that entered the tent, ready to search her.

Double shit.

"W-whoa! Wait! That's really not necessary! Look! Okay! I opened a thing!" Digging into her holster, she pulled out the vials: two of them, including the empty one. "See? It's just this! That's all I have left, okay? I was thirsty! But you can have it!" Laying them on the ground, she kicked them to the one who was clearly in charge, and then unstrapped her holster and tossed that his way, too. "There. That's it. No pockets, either, so..."

She put her hands back down on the ground so he couldn't see the third vial she'd swiped, and hopefully he wasn't suspicious when she "accidentally" knocked her hand against the half-empty wine bottle and nudged that third one inside it. Hissing at the pain of hitting her hand, she rubbed her hand after. "So, uh, yeah. See? You just have to ask. I'll cooperate. I mean, clearly, you've won here, right? It's not like I can do anything."

[DaGlobster]

Smed looked at her for a moment, judging her reactions. "What, you think we raped you? No, we just took turns cutting you. Excellent stress relief. The rape'll come later, Pigeon." He said, and listened to the rest of what she said. The complete shit spewing out of her mouth was almost strong enough to repel even Smed. She had just proved she had hidden potions on herself, and she expected him to just take things up at straight value? He supposed Owl thought he was stupid, and he hated when people thought he was stupid. She also thought that sleight of hand was going to get past him as well.

Smed picked up the two potion bottles she handed him, and immediately dropped them and crushed them under his boot, an angered expression slowly building on his face. He bent over, swiped up the bottle of wine, and looked back up at her, a scowl on his face.

He motioned to the guard that was about to search her, and it stopped in its place. "I've got a better idea, boys." Smed said, and he motioned to the two other chairs at the table.

The guards looked at each other, and sat at the table, turning their chairs towards Owl. Smed smashed the wine bottle in half on the table, and picked up the vial she hid in it, holding it in front of him. "You think I'm fucking stupid?! Huh!?" He yelled, smashing the vial against the helmet of the guard next to him.

"Here's the deal, Pigeon. We're gonna play a game called 'search yourself', alright? you are going to strip yourself down to your skivvies, and we're going to watch. After that, we're gonna search you. If we find anything, I'm gonna carve my payroll lists onto your back with a rusty knife." He said plainly, eliciting some cackles from the guards.

"And you better make it a good show, Pigeon, or I'm gonna chain you up in the common tent, and tell the boys, all five-hundred of them, that they can do whatever the hell they want to you."

[Rhindeer]

Gods, being cut while she was unconscious...wasn't much better. And worse, as he smashed her hidden potion, well, there went that. She winced, watching the liquid drip down the goblin's helmet, blood chilled, because if she was injured after this--and let's face it, she knew she wasn't getting out of here unbloodied--then she was screwed.

She had to think, and she had to think fast. At the very least, she had to buy time.

Thank Kia he was allowing her to 'search herself'.

Owl wasn't sure how to make a "good show" of it, and the idea sickened her--though not as much as the alternative, obviously. But chained up as she was, there wasn't much she could do. With a deep breath, she peeled off her boots (with some difficulty, given the metal around her ankles; turned out it was tight enough that she couldn't slip off the cuffs, but loose enough that the boots could be yanked off beneath them), then removed her mask and tossed it the leader's way like a discus.

"So..." she said as she undid the clasp of her cape, hoping her hands weren't trembling too visibly. Or maybe...maybe that would help if she looked more vulnerable? She drew a shaky breath and stopped trying so hard to hide her fear, though it went against her every instinct.

She licked her lips, mouth dry. "You, uh, you were telling me about the daily schedule? I think we left off at the butcher? So following that, are we going straight to 'chop you up into bite sized pieces' or is that rape-o-clock time?" She threw the cape aside and rubbed at her bruised shoulder. "Or, um, maybe both at the same time? Sorry. I'm just...I'm trying to come to terms with this. You know?"

She started to strip off her shirt, but as her neck was chained, there wasn't a way to full discard it. With a deep breath, she looked away as she stripped it off, fighting back a humiliated blush. But worse, she knew once she did this, it would be obvious she'd been up to something--he'd notice her wounds were healed, every trace of them gone except for the dried blood. Letting out her breath, she pulled the shirt up over her head, but had to leave it hanging around the chain.

"Personally I'd, uh, I'd forgo the chopping up part," she said, swallowing hard. "I mean, if you wanna eat me, I get it. I'd wanna eat me, too. Probably. If I ate people. Okay. Bad joke. Moving on. It's just, you like jewels, right?"

The pants came next, and she tried not to think about what she was doing as she wriggled out of them, leaving her clad in just her chest bindings and her smallclothes. She shivered and pulled her knees against her chest, wrapping her arms around her bare legs. "So, I mean, if you like riches, it's just--" She cut off, shaking her head and looking away.

"Never mind. What's the point, right? I'm gonna be dead and mutilated soon, and you wouldn't believe me, anyway, so let's...just get this over with." Owl didn't have to fake the trembling, or the tears that had started to well up. She was, frankly, fucking terrified. If this didn't work...