Thread: Life's Journey (The_Gladiator & darkangel76)

There was no moon on this night, nothing to break up the unrelenting blackness. Although to some, the darkness was welcome. Some, like Taurean welcomed the darkness. Keen gray eyes watched the door to the inn open and two figures emerged. They were both instantly recognizable to the half-elfs infrovision, the heat seeking sight of the elves. The first was recognizable, all be it not known personally by Taurean. The shape was petite, and clearly under the control of the other. So this must be the Target. Instantly he ran over what he knew of the woman in his mind, short, age, between ages 18 and 30, with a high probability that she fell somewhere near the center of that range, weightunknown, class, priestess, race, human, fighting abilitiesunknown, probably minimal. All in all, he really did not know much outside her name the Lady Rhonwhyn disciple of the sisters of Trine, on pilgrimage from Gomgoroth, this much was either common knowledge in the village, or clearly visible or guessed at by her appearance. He assessed her potential threat to be minimal. Not that she was his target, quite on the contrary, and yet this is how he functioned, each person was assessed as a potential threat in turn. The second figure, much bulkier, was both recognized and known to the gray eyes of the assassin. Name, Grennen, age, unknown, in his fighting prime, race, half-Ogre, Height 7 feet, give or Take affiliation Despurden enforcer, Weapons probably some sort of blade, plus the giant ax he wore strapped across his back. The weapons were not visible to Taurean, but he knew him, so knew they would be there. Threat level, high. He would not be easily killed. None of the poisons he had on him would work on his physiology, and the small dark elf style hand cross-bow which was the only ranged weapon he had in the city with him would not be remotely affective against his tough hide even if the toxins he had with him would work. This left sword or dagger. This meant that Taurean was back to his original plan of attacking him out on the road, a task that would grow exponentially more difficult as the enforcer joined his team which had to be waiting in the forest for Grennen and his captive. Taurean wished that he could just kill the bastard now, especially as he watched him run his hands over the woman, and then knock her down. The only emotion that crossed his face was a slight clenching of his jaw and a tightening of his hand on his daggers hilt. The problem with killing Grennen here was that Taurean knew there were Despurden eyes and ears all over. A fight between the two of them would not be over quickly, and the half-elf had no desire to combat the entire guild this evening. No, his options were subterfuge, perhaps he could join Grennens party and undertake his mission from within, or stalking, and follow his target and plan to take him out as he had originally intended. Both plans had their strengths and weaknesses. Taurean would just have to watch and put into effect whichever plan he thought would have the highest possibility of success. The assassin affected an air of emotionless calm, but most of that was just that an act. His emotions were buried deep but they were still there, and one thing that brought them to the surface was the mistreatment of women. Everyone had their specific triggers, this was one of his. Grennen and Rhonwhyn were barely into the tree line surrounding the town when other figures began to emerge and surround the pair. Their numbers swelled until including Grennen there were five members of the party holding Rhonwhyn hostage. Trailing the pair from a safe distance Brandon categorized or identified them as they appeared. Two appeared to be enforcers like Grennen, one a large muscled human male, the second a half-orc who if possible looked even uglier than Grennen. There was a small sly looking man whom Taurean knew as the weasel, and the last was a woman. Shyra Lath. Brandon breathed under his breath. And with that name came the realization that she, not Grennen was the brains behind this operation. A high ranking lieutenant of the despurden guild. The plot was in deed thickening, why was such an important woman along on this expedition. Oh, she was cruel enough to orchestrate such an expedition, but why was she there. Was there something more afoot than the mere kidnapping of a Gomgoroth priestess? For the first time Taurean began to wonder if his involvement wasnt anticipated, for why else would his ex-lover be involved in this situation, if not to try to anticipate his involvement?