Unti Family/Philip/Act 3/Scene 2

Roleplay from Lina
Walking through the slums of Oligarch City unescorted was normally a very bad idea for a lady of noble birth, but the small woman in a feathered cap hardly seemed to care and more surprisingly, the various cut-throats, rapists and thieves didn’t either.

A sharp observer would notice that she seemed to give the illusion that she fit in with the other low lifes, though her fine clothing and refined speech said otherwise. If our observer was also highly knowledgeable about the criminal element they would recognize that this was a woman who could tell the difference between a lovable street starfish, and a horrible street urchin and probably knew about fifty different ways of saying assassinate. Of course if our observer was focusing so intently on the woman they would have been robbed by now, lucky it isn’t us, isn’t it?

The woman muttered to herself as she passed by yet another collection of war victims, “Things are becoming desperate; of course that’s usually good for business.”

With a spring in her step she chatted with seemingly random bystanders, all the while acquiring various poisons and powders of the craft.

Then, as she rounded the corner, things became very quiet. It was a familiar quite, the quite of busy streets emptying quickly in the face of predators most foul. The woman was not concerned, and actually rolled her eyes before sighing, “Ah some new lads to the city I see, and you’ve decided to pick on little old me. Tisk tisk.” Brushing some of her hair back she continued to ignore the growing stillness behind her. “Now I’ll give you lads one last chance to leave before I get cross; so when I turn around there won’t be anyone there, right?”

So the woman turned, and she was right, there was no one there; something yes, but it wasn’t human.

Her practiced gaze quickly scanned the area, seeking the danger and she was rewarded with a view of the strange creatures in front of her. Four legged and hunched of form they brought to mind hunting hounds of a noble lord, but their feet ended in talons instead of paws, and hundreds of chisel-like teeth shown in the light. Four of the creatures studied the woman with unblinking eyes, not a sound escaping from their gaping maws.

Her hairs standing on end, the woman realized that these were not natural; and as her earlier easy going façade quickly faded it was replaced by a wary readiness most don’t see twice.

Suddenly the creatures moved forward.

Her hands’ moving as a blur, the woman sent twin blades of dusty grey flying towards the leading creature; and was rewarded with a skidding clatter as the throwing knives bounced off. Realizing her peril she leapt upwards just out of reach of snapping jaws and grabbing onto a windowsill climbed atop the low roof. Not wasting time the woman broke into a run, leaping from roof top to roof top in a scramble to put as much distance between herself and her pursuers as possible. Finally thinking herself relatively safe she studied the surrounding. There behind her, on a roof quite a ways back two of the creatures were dragging themselves up, the other two traveled across the ground shadowing the woman and ignoring all other panicking bystanders.

Realizing that there was little time the woman dashed towards the better section of town; using every trick and skill she had she managed to keep ahead of her relentless pursuers, but the distance was against her.

In desperation she did what many would never do in the deep underbelly of Oligarch, she called for help.

Roleplay from Lina
Her desperate pleas gone unanswered the woman cursed under her breath at Oligarch’s seeming lack of heroes willing to rescue damsels in distress. Realizing that she was on her own she turned and raced right for the creatures following along on the rooftops.

The hounds had not expected their prey to move towards them, but having simple minds they didn’t contemplate the change in tactics.

Selecting a roof with a steep drop some distance from her pursuers the woman stood right on the edge of the building balancing with great care and awaiting her opponents with blades drawn. Wasting no time the closest creature broke into a sprint and with a mighty leap attempted to bear down it’s prey.

Allowing the weight to push her off the roof the woman’s knives caught a hold of the adjacent gargoyle and she spun like an acrobat until she stood atop the leering decoration. Her foe was neither agile nor had thumbs so it plunged downward until the ground stopped it with a shattering crash.

Wasting no time the woman spun over the roof edge and into an open window as claws raked across the tiled roof where she had been. Scampering through the house, while avoiding the various hurled objects and angry shouts of the homeowners, the woman broke onto the street directly across from a sewer entrance. Moving to the opening the woman attempted to remove the rusty grate, but though old, it would not budge and one of the creatures had found her. Standing atop the grate she crossed her arms and hoped that she was right about the hound’s weight.

It’s prey unmoving the hound stalked in slowly. It could feel fear, but saw no signs which puzzled it greatly; or at least it would, if it was smart enough to be puzzled. Reaching its target the hound went to end it when suddenly the floor fell out from underneath. Its jaws snapping it desperately tried to grab the prey, as it sprung away from the falling floor, but failed.

Soon the sound of a splash rose up from the hole and then silence. “Two down, now where’d the other two go?” the woman commented as she regained her balance.

“cough. Sorry m’ss, uh….” came a raspy voice from a doorway, “Not know they were yours.”

Turning the woman recognized the face of The Hammer, the greatest bouncer in all of Oligarch. Switching to street accent the woman asked, “You do some’ne unpleasant with th’m I hope ‘ammer?” (You do something unpleasant with them I hope, Hammer)

Realizing that this was no miss but instead Lina, Hammer felt panic rising, “Ah it wasn’t me; Biff, he take a, take a, fancy to ‘em. Alway wanted a dog he say. Corr then it bit his leg, and……you know Biff…”

Indeed Lina knew the slaughter house worker well; he had proven useful when anything large needed moving, like a body, or a safe opened without the use of tools. “ ’an the other?”

“Oh you know Biff, once he starts, not’ens safe.”

Lina tossed the bouncer a small bag of coins, “I’ll cover Biff’s tab tonight.”

Sensing that he would get to leave alive The Hammer beat a hasty retreat while Lina was lost in thought.

Alone at last she muttered to herself, “What would cause these creatures to come here; after me?” Wandering for a bit Lina couldn’t help but feel that she had seen these creatures before, but where…. then she almost ran into another one. But unlike the others, this one wasn’t trying to kill her; instead it was standing guard over one of the oldest buildings in the city.

”The Stone Dogs, of course,” she shook her head, “The legends say they guarded the homes of the people in the last Age. But how did they attack me….” freezing with fear Lina gasped, “He knows.”

Realizing that time had run out Lina hurried home to prepare for the worst.