Chapter 2: The Pit

Thomas watched amused as the staff-wielder said he would fight but not join the freelancers. Sure, he would not be joining them either, but as a member of the Padilla Empire if he joined such a group it was sure to make the Emperor less than pleased, so he could not even consider that prospect, not that he was invited to join in the first place. "For all that I am willing to fight, my reasons are my own at this time, so keep that in mind. I look forward to the competition." Still  leaning against the back wall, all he did was raise his voice, not caring who heard him as long as Nigel did as well.

Ace was sitting in his room graciously provided by the Spades. Bitter was sugercoating his feelings about his loss. 

"Tch. Dammit. Thought those guys were just small fry, but turns out i'm the small fry here."

Even after going on a journey to find his memories, and to find out why he had giant scar on his back. To think that his own weakness would be his lack of strength. 

"Maybe its not that i'm weak... but that everyone else is really strong?" He rolled over and fell off the bed, ignoring the pain and staring at the ceiling for a few moments before getting up. 

"Training for me it is then." He then got changed, smoothed his hair (which didnt do much due to how naturally disheveled it was), opened the door and went on his way to the training hall.

Freelancer's Guild


Sakuya looked around the guild a bit trying to get a feel for the place, wondering who might be in charge of the place and who she should talk to about any sort of training she might be able to do. She walked around, looking over the wall and at all the equipment, her tail flicking behind her happily when she saw something she liked, the tail occasionally brushing against the katana and ringing the tiny bell she has attached to the pommel. The story behind that is it is supposedly a charm whose ring repels evil spirits, she highly doubted it actually worked, but she just thought it was cute. She stopped her tail each time it rang though, worrying it might not be as appreciated by everyone else there. Once she finished looking around she tried to flag someone down who looked like they were part of the guild staff.

Nigel watched as his guests arrived in the hall.  He did not start until the youth Ace had arrived, him being the last to arrive.  He looked at the assembled Clubs and spoke.  "Thank you for meeting me today.  As many of you know the big tournement is tommorow.  We are here to stratigize.  The past several years have not been good for us.  It has been ten years since we were exiled.  Forced to adapt to survive.  For some this change was easy.  For others it has been a hard blow to take.  And as you know the stress and heartbreak of our fall killed our former guildmaster the king of Clubs."  Nigel said as he pointed to the picture of the fallen leader.

"Since that time the freelances have been run by the Queen of spades.  And things are bleak.  The Spades have become little more then bullies.  Yet they have sway, do to their standing in the pits and tournements.  That is why I am adamant about assembling a good team to fight with us."  Nigel finished to applause from the guild.  It was common knowledge the Clubs wanted Nigel to take the title King of Clubs but year after year the Jack refused out of respect for the memory of his mentor.

"Sir Thomas while you are not a member of the guild.  And we fully understand you are a knight of padilla and can not have split loyalties I thank you for your time, and help.  And I would like to ask if you would take one of the four fighter slots.  Unlike regular pit fights this is a 4 vs 4 tournament.  So if you along with mr Danny and Ace will be a team.  I would make it worth your whiles.  First of all while this is our main guildhall we take jobs across the continent....or at least anywhere humans are allowed to travel, and as such we have several guild safe houses for use by traveling agents.  So Sir I am not sure why you are on the continent, but if you plan to continue traveling the continent I offer free reign of any freelance facilities while in wrozan."  Nigel offered the knight as recompense for helping him.  He then turned to Danny.

"Fear not Danny we are called freelances for a reason our members come and go as they please.  And we have plenty of jobs on the mainland.  You will have acess to our grounds, facilities, shops,  and of course if you find yourself in a pinch the freelances provide support to one another when needed.  Of course the choice is yours to join or not we never strongarm.  Should you choose to join the tournement what I can promise is join or not you to will be a welcome guest in any freelance facility.  And should you or Ace choose to join our guild we will also waive the guild fees.  And Decimus will personally oversee your training."  Nigel explained aiming the last part at Ace who Decimus was wanting to train as well. Then he looked at tthem and added.

"Also I am not wanting you to endanger yourselves.  I am not looking to take the gold....just show the spades up for once, show that you don't need to force people into the pit to have a winning team.  So if you feel your life is endangered you can pullout without forfeiting the boons I have offered."  Nigel did not care about defeating the champion.  It was tge spades he wanted to crush.  So he looked at tge three of them. Should all three agree he would still need one more and he wondered who to send with them.


(Ooc Doven I am not ignoring you.  I do not want to step on Nots feet and I belive he has something in store for you.)

Meera's Chambers

---

"Your targets will be the other stables. They each have their own water supply like our well over at the courtyards. I want you to do this as soon as possible the if they ingest the poison some time today then they'll start feeling effects tomorrow during the fight. First target the Shuffle Alliance the Spades, The Clubs, The Hearts, and The Diamonds. Then proceed to the Pusong Bato Stables make sure you give them every single drop."

Meera was confident in Maria's skills if not she would've asked someone else to do this. Meanwhile J'asha was eyeing a certain human, Sylvan. He had problems with Sylvan not being able to complete the initiation ritual and wanted to beat the crap out of the boy, tear him limb for limb. Perhaps he'll have a chance to do so in the arena. Meera had already planned for Maria to back out and so J'asha could take her place. Knowing this J'asha devices a plan in his head to make Sylvan suffer.

Thomas thought about it for a moment, letting Nigel's words spin in his head as he thought out a proper response. He knew that he had come here for a purpose, but he could not tell them what it was. Well, not here per say, he had taken a slight detour to discern the truth behind the strange sight in the skies. Still, for all that he would see with his own eyes what came from the sky.

"Very well, I will partake of this four versus four tournament of yours." The knight said nothing else after this, waiting to see what the others would say. He had been training hard this past week, although he did so without a sparring partner as he did not believe any here were a match for him after the demonstration when he arrived in Drakestone. As much as they might boast, they were incredibly weak, and Sir Alexander had no inclination to see more of them sent to the infirmary because he was tired of holding back.

For Svendas
The hooded figure wa somehow able to advoid calling to much attenton to himself throughout his search in the market and the closer he came to the pits, the less he stood out with warriors form all over gathering in it's premises, wether to make teams, scout the competition or just show off for their fans. However, it also became harder to move, and at one point, he was forced to go through an empty alley to continue moving. And as soon as he did, two blurs fell from the roof, revealing themselves to be uniformed men holding shortswords, and behind him, a voice spoke up. "It's a shame we couldn't speak back at the gates, mr... But as you should know, it's not in good form to pull visitors away from their buissines... especially when they have such a big... tool of the trade." The voice came from an aged man, probably in his 50's wearing a adorned armor, obviously an officer or some other high-brown post at the town militia. "The freelances might handle a lot of things, but we have to be the ones ttaking care of newcomers, you see? Now, you can either answer a few questions here or... Follow us somewhere. Your choice." As he said that, the man's hand went to his side, where a sword was sealthed, as a clear sign to the foreigner. BEhind him, two men kept anyone else from entering the alley.

---

For Agnes


After leaving the inn, Agnes' room was simply left open by Lady Jessebel, it wouldn't matter either way as she would lock up the inn until it was ready to recive the travellers to the night. The streets surrounding the inn, unlike those near the city entrances and the path to the market and the pits, were relatively empty, giving the young woman an easy path to follow by the seashore into the streets overlooked by the city wall. By the time she passed the first gate, it still lead to the nothern port where the Nyanqin were entering from, but going through the crowd was not as hard as it cuold be. A cloacked figure carrying a large sword on it's back was eye-catching as she did, however... As was the armored man who followed it a few moments later, breaking from the line of guards of the gate.atthe distance, another way out of the walls was visible, leading into the wetlands as one of the qin aproached Juliet from behind and pulled her sholder as grab her attention. "You wouldn't know of a good inn around here, right? Cute girl and looks like a local... You should know, eh?" the catman's breath reeked of rum, and from the lack of firmness in his grip, it was obvious a strong breeze would make his face take a nap on the ground.

---

PC POST
(I'l give doven something to base himself out of, but NPCs are yours when it comes to the freenlances' clubs.)
It seems the green blue-haired boy was finally there before Nigel started to speak... Well, he was part of the "group" so it was to be expected. But before he started, a wolfqin girl entered the hall... Well, for now it wasn't his problem for now, so he just focused on the old man's speech. The whole exile thing was fishy, but Danny figured presing it would be out of line right now... And he didn't want to get the man he learned the name to be Thomas during the las few days to be present if those talks took place... He didn't think an imperial would take kindly to the motive, whatever it was.

"A team of four huh? Well, i suppose it would be possible if we got another guy..." Danny said before turning towards Ace with a serious look on his face. "or rather... Two. Kid, from what i saw so far i'l admit ya got potential, but potential means jack until it's fufilled. We all know hw your fight went against those two thugs. Can you honestly say ya could watch for your own back or that of others in this tourneament? Even if me and this fella..." Danny pointed towards the Imperial knight that was their 'companion' ...Are strong, from what i could gather this week, a lot of people could make the two of us look like wimps. I'm not willing to risk my neck against those guys unless i KNOW the whole team i'm in can at least handle themselves. So i'l ask here an' now... Ya willin' to get into this?" This might have been harsh, but Danny wouldn't cut any words here. It was their lives at stake, it wouldn't just be some friendly match... It was deadly, and Danny knew death. It was quick, it was brutal and it was ugly... And most of all, it was forever... Or at least that was the reality for them right now. "But, regardless of that... I wouldn't mind helping ya if i make it through this, kid. Nigel, is it? After we're done with the tourneament, i think i'l take you up on the offer of joining. So should you, kid, going around alone isn't a good way to be at your age. I know it from experience." That was all Danny had to say about the current situation... Noticing the wolfqin was just looking around, he figured it wasn't a good idea to just leave strangers wandering about... Who knows, in this town and this kinda competition, he wouldn't put it past people to cheat. Excusing himself for a moment, he aproached the short wolfgirl, towering over her and leaning a bit in out of habit, his face not quite friendly, even if it didn't offer agressiveness. "Ya need something?"

Ace heard the words Nigel had spoken, the word bullies had made him grit his teeth a bit. If there was one thing he hated most of all, it was the strong making the weak suffer for not being strong. 

Ace only spoke one sentence, for he knew what he needed to do. 

"I'm in."

Fighting bullies was a good way to get stronger right?

As svendas journeyed his way through the City's market square, the crowd was beginning to become increasingly compact and this forced him to detour away from the main square and onto an empty alleyway.  Normally this would benefit him greatly as he would've been able to slip away undetected and prevent his identity to become knowledge.  


However, this proved to be a false move on his part as suddenly, and without warning he found himself ambushed by a duo of uniformed men who already had their short swords out pointing directly at Svendas.  This caught him unaware and unable to make any counter moves.  

An older armored male was the first to speak..

Quote :

"It's a shame we couldn't speak back at the gates, mr... But as you should know, it's not in good form to pull visitors away from their buissines... especially when they have such a big... tool of the trade."

Svendas gritted his teeth and looked behind his back and realized that the uniformed individual was referring to his large wrapped blade on his back.  He knew it was odd that he wasn't caught early on since it was hard to not see it but now it would seem that it has indeed been caught on.  

to himself, "Dammit, should've known this wouldn't be a walk in the park.  Getting in was easy; in fact, it would seem it was TOO easy" 

The aged man soon said to Svendas..

Quote :

"The freelances might handle a lot of things, but we have to be the ones ttaking care of newcomers, you see? Now, you can either answer a few questions here or... Follow us somewhere. Your choice."

The options presented to him was not to his liking.  He made quick brief glances at his surroundings for a possible escape.  Seeing 2 more uniformed behind him blocking his escape and preventing anyone from entering.  Things seemed dire for Svendas as he knew he couldn't fight all of them at once nor not afford to make a scene that could possibly make the situation worse.  Seeing as the aged man ready to unsheathe his sword he had to make a decision fast.  

Svendas wrote:

Chooses to follow the Uniformed men 

 Svendas reached to his side and grabbed the "Dawn Bringer" from his waist and held it up to the aged man.

"Fine, you win; you put me in an unwinnable predicament for me and not looking to start an incident with you or the city"

Svendas pointed to the large wrapped blade on his back..

"However, I advise if you want to take this from me you use caution when carrying it (that is if you can).  It doesn't like anyone but myself carrying it"

To Svendas


The older knight let out a satisfied sigh and raied his left hand. With that, one of the two roof watches climbed back up and the other sealthed his short sword... But did not remove his hand from the hilt. "He's not gonna be talking here, huh?" That would either mean he'd try something funny on the way or that he had something to hide from prying ears. Well, regardless, if he was taken to one of the buildings used by the city guard, it'd be enough regardless. "Firstly, you should put that thing away if you really don't want trouble... As for the sword, i know it's a bad idea for handle magic blades. Now, follow that gentleman behind you." The remaining uniformed soldier turned around without a word. The Lieutnant and his two armored soldiers followed righ behind, staying close to the man as they made way back to the gate they came from. "Now that i think of it, i heard of a man that also caried a magic sword... Something happened even before i was a whelp in this city, but it couldn't be you, could it? Maybe you know of it? You seem too young to be the man." Even as a lieutnant, all he heard was rumors, as it was an old event, but the captain of the guard knew of the full tale, as did a number of other officers. But ever since then, they were ordered to keep an eye out on the member of the "Dawn Aliance". The wraps around the man's arm could have something to do with his suspicious behaviour... Once near the beach however, he noticed a scene in the distance.

---

To Both Agnes and Svendas.

The smashed cat looked puzzled towards the pink haired girl, almost as if what she said was complete gibberish or another language. It took a few seconds for the information to process in the mind of cat, and when it did, he raised his finger, hand clearly shaking and his face contorting in anger. "Now you lisshen here, you! Do ya have any idea who i am? I'm *hic* The great warrior, Majabi!" Said the flabby-armed, ill-equipped buffon. "And i shwear, that once i win the turney... Torney... Turkey... Once i win the thing, no peron is gunna talk smack to me like that again." IT seemed that the Qin Majabi would go on a tirade for as long as he wasn't topped.. Be it by someone else or his own lack of balance. However, before he could continue continue or let Agnes have a chance to stop him, the sound of footsteps on the and increased as 5 men aproached. They were Svendas and the city guard that acompanied him. "What could be happening here?" Asked the most grandiose of the group, the lieutnant. Majabi grogly turned around, once again silent for a moment, but unlike with Agnes, his response was almost fast. "Oh, mr. office man, it's nothing, i'm just aking directions to this cute lady here, you see? His voice seemed clearer somehow, almost like he was exagerting his state before for some reason. Then there was the sound of something digging into the sand and sudddently the cat kicked upwards, sending a surprizingly large amount of sand into the group of officers and began to run surprizingly fast, utlizing the reeling officer as a spring board to pass over the armored guards and the roof watcher, confusing the three. The roof watcher and one of the soldiers began pursuit at the orders of the lieutnant, leaving only him and another soldier to guard Svendas, one of them blinded and the other shocked.

Notingles wrote:

"Ya need something?"

 Sakuya looked up, her ears giving a slight twitch as she listened to the tall man. Sakuya smiled as she responded to the man "I was looking for a place where I could train. I assumed this would be a place that could do the trick. Was my assumption correct?" She grinned a bit as she bounced lightly on her heels, trying to ease the serious man into relaxing a bit. She moved her hands behind her head, placing them further away from her katana just for good measure. "I do hope I wasn't interrupting something"

Nigel smiled thankfully at the three of them,  He was glad that they had agreed to join.  He looked at Danny and nodded.  "We have a day, Decimus has something in mind for Ace.  If Decimus gives the ok, then tomorrow he can participate.  Until then you're right we do need more members.  I do not want to use current members, as i want to show that good scouting is more effective then forcing prisoners to fight."  Nigel explained.  

He then looked at the wolf girl.  He wondered why she had wandered into the guild hall.... it was not often people just wandered around the hall off the streets...then again a guild member would normally have stopped her.  "Hello welcome to the freelances guild.  You seem to have wandered into a Clubs meeting.  I am Nigel Please allow me to finish up our meeting and then I will be down to help you."  He wondered if she was here with a job.  Had she seen there was no clerk to post the job, she might have come wandering looking for a clerk to file it.  She was lucky to have wandered into the clubs meeting and not the spades.  they would have taken it as an attempt at spying.  Not that Nigel had discounted that idea she might be a spy.

"Ok Everyone.  Tomorrow i want tight security on the gates there will be a lot of people n town.  and not all of them play well with others.  now teh Queen of spades and I discussed last night.  The Queen thinks we are to soft and, well we all know what I think of Spade methods."  Nigel was saying when there was a crash as the doors were flung open. A very effeminate man in a long gownlike armor strolled in.  He wore a petite crown on his head and carried a large sword that looked like this man should not be able to drag it, let alone lift it.  On his chest he wore a large spade.  He was followed by a man in a hood and mask, his robes looked lightweight yet durable, likely spider silk, his mask was emblazoned with a spade with a large A in the center of it.  He stood silently next to the effeminate man, who just walked in unabashed and finished Nigel's statement.  

"You think we are a bunch of brutes, and bullies, but I maintain for this guild to survive we must do what we must.  Sorry to interrupt honey, but I just had a wickedly fun idea.  lets have a preliminary tournament today.  Just our four happy little groups, and the group that wins will represent the guild in it's entirety tomorrow."   He finished with a wicked smile

"Why Hello Dorian, it is not often the Queen of Spades makes his way to the club meeting hall."  Nigel said with familiarity.  Many of the older Clubs knew that before his father died and the guild went into decline, Dorian and Nigel had been best friends and partners on missions.  And tho they disagreed on methods, they were still quite friendly towards each other.

"I know Sugar but I just had to come at once.  It is a great idea one team to be the face of the guild.  Plus with our losses piling up it would be a shame if we lost members from each suite.  No deary it is better if we only risk one team this year."  Dorian said smiling.  Prepare your people we will hold two rounds at dusk.  Until then good training dearies."  And then the Queen of Spades, guildmaster of the freelances turned and walked away

Nigel looked at his old friend and sighed.  When the old guildmaster, Dorian's father had died Dorian had taken it hard.  It had been two much and he left on his own for three months and when he returned he had changed considerably.  He wanted to knock some sense into him, but sometimes he feared an inner guild war might be all that could put the guild right...or it could shatter the guild forever.  but now was not the time to worry about that.  so looking at the Assembled Clubs he said.

"Well that changes things.  Decimus get to training Ace right away we only have a few hours to prepare.  The rest of you get out there and find us another person willing to fight in the tournament with us.  As for tomorrows Assignments I was saying our guards will be patrolling partnered with Spades so please do your best to maintain the peace and not fight each other, and our pages will be out selling refreshments to the gathered crowds.  Ok anything else wi be discussed after tonights prelims so get out there and do your best."  Nigel quickly finished the meeting.  Dorian's challenge had really shaken up Nigel's plans.  Having dismissed his people he stepped down to speak with the wolf girl directly.  He wanted to prepare for the fight but he knew that he had to take care of business first.

"Sorry about that I was holding a meeting for my people.  we were discussing tomorrows tournament.  So what can I help you with?  Are you here to post a job.  I apologize for the inconvenience just talk with a clerk, and they will hep you get the job posted."   Nigel told her.  he was a bit restless, he needed to get out and find another fighter for the tourney.  He looked at the girl and wondered out loud.  "Unless of course you are here for a different reason?"


As Nigel spoke with the Wolf girl and the rest poured out of the room.  Decimus rounded up Danny, Ace, and Thomas.  "Ace I have been assigned to see to your crash course in training.  It will be difficult and dangerous,  But it is the only way I know to quickly boost you up to a Level where you can stand with these two.  So I ask are you willing to take on this training?"  And then he looked at Thomas and Danny,  "you two are free to train in your own ways or if you like rest until tonight.  But if you like I will set you up with the same training Ace here is about to experience."   the old man said flashing a toothy grin...a grin that many in the guild knew had ominous connotations

Location: Drakestone, Meera's Establishment, Large Cell.


Yui's eyes began to shift around beneath the eyelids, signifying that she was dreaming, or at least had some brain function going on. She found herself in a world of black, yet she could see herself clearly. She saw herself from a distance, yet was clearly standing where she was. This other Yui had her back to her and, as she approached, she found that the other Yui had a knife.

She felt a level of panic and began to rush towards the second Yui, discovering that the boy she had stabbed was in front of her. As she neared her other self she reached out to try to stop her, suddenly finding herself in the other Yui's place and her attempt to stop her other self only driving the knife into the boy's heart once more.

Although she was dreaming Yui could feel the warmth of the boy's blood as it coated her hands, running off the handle as she tried to pull the blade out of the boy. She could feel resistance, something holding her arm in place as she tried again and again to remove the knife, even putting her foot up onto the boy to try to get leverage. But it was like the boy, knife and hand were all frozen in time. She couldn't let go of the knife or remove it.

The boy looked her dead in the eyes and spoke "Kill me.", as a second child stepped out from behind him. The child was identical to the boy and was stabbed in the same manner, blood running from the wound down to the ground where it would pool. Yui's heart began racing as she started to panic, she was well aware that she was dreaming but she could feel things and, quite frankly, it was creepy as hell.

The boy just kept multiplying, each one saying something like "Kill me." and "Murderer" as it appeared and moved to surround her. They were all already stabbed and seemed to be bleeding endlessly, it was then that she noticed a feeling. Her ankles were wet for some reason, so she took a look down and found that all the boy's collective blood had been pooling together. The blood was starting to fill the room as the boy's started to multiply from the duplicates as well as the original, their numbers growing faster and faster and causing the blood to fill the area quicker than before.

She began sweating outside of the dream world as she tried desperately to remove the knife from the first boy, trapped there in her dream as she waited for the blood to fill the room. Yui was already panicking, but the thought of drowning only drove her to desperation. She pulled herself up and put both feet on the boy, who seemed to defy the laws of physics and stood there completely unphased as she tried her damnedest to pull the knife out of his chest.

The blood was now at her back as she pulled and pulled, the knife finally popping free of the boy's chest. But that wasn't the end of it. The duplicates grabbed her and forced her under the blood with the force of an anchor dropping, holding her beneath the blood as they attempted to drown her. She could feel herself suffocating, she could feel the life draining out of her as the boy's drowned her in their blood.

She kept sinking deeper and deeper into the blood, the pressure holding her down suddenly vanishing as she frantically started to swim towards what she thought was the top. She made it after a while and gasped for air, both in the dream and reality. She grabbed onto something to keep afloat, only to find that a knife was sticking out of it and that it was the body of the boy once more. She pushed off of it in a clearly panicked state, only to hear a laugh from behind her.

"Now now, you shouldn't discard that so readily." A voice said to her from behind, the smell of smoke filling the air as she turned around. She found a duplicate of herself once more, sitting with her legs crossed atop a pile of dead bodies, all of which were the boy. She had a heart on an over sized knife and held it over an open flame, the smell of meat cooking filling the air as the heart sizzled.

This Yui was grinning wildly, showing off a set of fangs as she spoke to her. "I mean why let good food go to waste, right?" the duplicate Yui laughed and pulled the heart from the flame, biting into it with her fangs and causing scalding hot blood to squirt directly into Yui's eye. She grabbed her eye in pain as the duplicate tore off a piece of the heart and consumed it, smiling at her as blood ran out of her mouth and off of her chin.

Yui gagged as she found herself rising out of the blood, more and more duplicate bodies floating up from beneath the blood to make some sort of landmass. She stumbled as she got to her feet, blood squishing out of the duplicate boy's clothing with each step she tried to take, much to the amusement of her duplicate.

Her duplicate stood and licked her lips, her eyes shifting to resemble slits as two large black leathery wings unfolded from behind her. "I wonder how it is that you would taste. All I've had today are these boys...The taste can get a bit dull." The duplicate grinned as she flapped her wings once, taking to the sky.

Yui couldn't help herself and started trying to run, having difficulty maintaining her balance as she ran across the bodies, blood shooting up from their blood-soaked clothing with each step and obstructing her view.

It was pointless, however, as the duplicate caught her without any trouble and rammed the over sized knife into Yui's back. The blade popping out in front of her with her heart intact on the tip, blood shooting with each quick beat of her panicked heart as her duplicate moved around to her front. She watched in horror as the duplicate, no, the monster smiled and leaned down, taking a bite of Yui's heart while it was still on the blade.

Yui summoned up the last of her strength and started throwing punches. It was then she woke up screaming in silence, completely covered in sweat, her skin as white as a ghost and throwing punches wildly everywhere near her before realizing that she was awake. She was breathing heavily as she looked around, her heart still beating quickly as she put a hand to her chest where she was stabbed in her dream, making sure her heart was still there.


"So much for rest" She thought to herself, using the rags she was wearing to wipe the sweat from her face.