Tungwist and the Surrounding Areas

Test. Ignore.

"And what'll will make an average man like me believe what an old stomper says?" The old barkeep yelled, annoyed by the old stomper.

The bar that they were in was an old and ready to fall apart; the floors reeked of old blood and moss, and the customers were also a rowdy bunch ready to throw fists at anyone getting in their way. The bar, Dragon's Keep, was the roughest bars in town, but Leonide found peace here. It reminded him of a greater time where the times were looking nowhere but a great future. The violence that he saw within the walls of this building was more than enough to satisfy any stomper, which was something they loved to see and Leonide yearned for. He wasn't scared of the man, he only studied the way the barkeep spoke his words. The choice of words meant everything for him. It was a skill that he was forced to develop when he was a child, his father told him that studying a man is the best way to get into his heart. This was something he did to all living creatures of the world, no matter how cruel.

"I think simply stating yourself to be an average man says what you know." Leonide replied.

He did his best to gaze into his soul, but his eyes no longer worked the same. They were old and the world around him fuzzed slightly, but this didn't stop him from trying. The barkeep wore a leather vest beneath his tarnished tunic, an obvious sign of a battle-ready man. Still, he didn't want to jump too far into one conclusion knowing that almost any being here would wear at least some protective armor, but this was identified as a hot spot in his eyes. It led him to be more observant of the world around him.

Sitting on his chair, he adjusted the seat to face the direction of the barkeep and placed his left arm on the counter to get even closer. You could think that this would be hard for him because of his small height, but the stool that he was sitting on was long as were all the other stools alongside the counter. He began rubbing his beard as he continued to try to gaze into the mans eyes. Figuring this man out was the easy part, it is a matter of getting the information out. Everyone knew of the rebellion, but no one would speak on the matter fearing that some are secretly working with the evil king. With the previous statement Leonide made, the barkeep answered, "No, it don't!"

Perhaps this was going to be a little harder for Leonide, but he was determined. Nothing was going to stop him from being apart of the rebellion and taking his throne back...even if he was an old stomper, the throne was rightfully his. So it is obvious that he is going to have to change his tactics if this man isn't going to be cooperative. "I guess not, sir."

Leonide kept his eyes open for any possible leads of joining the rebellion, and with the amount of traffic of warriors and fighters here, he knew that someone would eventually give him the information he needs.

Shisui sighed feeling angry as she walked toward the local bar as she remembered how she and the group "disbanded", lacking a better word to call the event, it was funny how all of them reacted as if they were expecting to see her with them until the end. But no, the girl had better plans than joining a cause based in rumors, the most crazy one was that Leonide was in front of Murlocto´s stronghold ready to attack, seriously... people need to hear more to little groups about the situation: the rebellion was a must if the little groups wanted to survive against the dodecopus.

A laugh caught girl´s attention, this was the reason she was angered: an adult male human with short brown hair and beard, with some white showing here and there, wearing a full plate gear and a huge broadsword at his back walked at her side rubbing his chin constantly. One of the men of her group that insisted on inviting her a drink to do a good farewell. His real reason was completely exposed when looking at his eyes: do a lot of noise to attract the attention, the pair stopped in front of the entrance studying the place Shisui couldn´t avoid to roll her sane eye.

"Here? You expect that doing noise here will attract...?"

The man chuckled as he rubbed his beard slowly "Noise? We came here to drink nothing else. Just relax resting for a while will not dull you. Me first..."

Shisui sighed once more as the human stood to his full height and entered the bar doing a lot of noise with every step, the girl followed him reluctantly looking at the reaction towards the man. In Murlocto´s reign someone wearing an armor and a weapon without a dodecopus at it´s side was either a drunkard or someone who openly challenged the rule, someone death in short, the mood felt strange and tense, probably because of the beastkin´s presence, the place was a mess but still it was comfy compared to some of the isolated lands of Tarn.

"The best of the luck to you old man" The warrior showed his best fake smile to the barkeeper while Shisui looked around her slowly.

"This place sucks..." The insult came unnoticed as it was fully in the vague Hitan language, the warrior only widen his smile.

"You are right my young friend, please give us you strongest beverage. Something that will charge a real warrior that is soon entering a long long campaign."

Shisui gave a last look around her before placing her sight in the entrance. "Please whatever is coming a dodecopus or someone who will take this idiot somewhere else come soon before I try to kill a comrade..."

If there was one thing Ibhi and the other Sprites hated about their job in the rebellion, it's when it required not being seen, which was kind of difficult when you glow like a brightfeather's eye... okay, that was an exaggeration, as brightfeather eyes are basically flashlights to help them see in the dark, and Sprites let out just a small glow. Lord knows why the worshipped one allowed dogs to see in the dark without light but not a brightfeather. Well, the Eastern variety anyway. He didn't know if brightfeathers in other regions needed light-emitting eyes to see- oh dear, where was I going with this? Oh yeah.

So anyway, Ibhi and eleven other sprites were gathered at the back of Dragon's Keep, three of which were carrying a human-sized folded letter. "So here's the plan;" Ibhi communicated with the others with hand gestures, "The guys without the letter and I, Group A, are going to carry away a bottle of wine in one of the pigeon-holes at the back of the bar that the patrons can see. While the patrons are distracted by the heist, the others, Group B, will plant the letter amongst the mugs which are underneath the bench. Afterwards, we retreat to the back door and go through the gap after Group A leaves the bottle at the door. We'll fly low once we get outside so that no one sees us... hopefully. Any questions?"

"One, sorry," gestured one of the taller Sprites, who had cyan hair and a bit more meat on his bones compared to the others. "If the mugs are underneath the bench, why do we need to distract the patrons? Chances are the letter won't be seen, anyway."

"I'm not taking any chances, Wori," Ibhi responded. "No one, except for the barkeep, can see the letter. If someone does, we're buggered to high heaven. No, these messages are too important to leave up to chance. Any more questions?" A few seconds passed and no one made any movement except for their fluttering wings. "Good. Let's move, everyone."

With that, the plan was set in motion. Group A led the way and flew to the wine bottle while Group B got to work with the letter. As fate would have it, the barkeep saw the eight Sprites attempting to take the bottle right as Group B managed to plant the letter and begin flying off.

"Hey! What are you doing!?" Even as the barkeep was raging, Ibhi knew he was doing it so that no one would suspect him of working with the Sprites. It didn't stop him from swinging his hand around trying to reach the bottle. In response, Group A broke away from the alcohol container and proceeded to race away along with Group B. They managed to get around to the back right as the barkeep shouted. "You better not come back here!" The sprites ignored the cry, of course, and flew out the gap single-file and in perfect synchronisation before flying away into the forest. The delivery was a success.

The evening drew closer and the coldness began to sink into the surrounding areas. A slight fog began to rise within the surrounding areas, giving the Tungwist an eerie feeling as the moon began to rise. A thin layer of clouds slightly blocked of the moonlight intensity and spread it out more evening, causing the shadows in and around Dragon’s Keep to remain subtle. This is around the time that the Dodepus on their nightly patrol to stop in and have a drink, which was the odd thing, the Dodepus haven’t arrived at Dragon’s Keep. What has happened, it could be anything at the moment, but their schedules were like clockwork, they were almost never late.

With the activity within the bar beginning to rise, Leonide was beginning to awaken; his other senses became more sensitive. He needed to, since his main objective of the night was to discover where and how the rebellion was taking place. He noticed everything despite his vision, he could hear a pin drop within the rowdiness, and could feel the presence of customers entering the bar simply by feeling the hairs on the back of his neck wave back and forth from the very subtle shifts in air. He noticed the sounds of flutters going across from the room, but paid little attention to it. It was the sounds of the flutters taking a wine bottle from the counter and the barkeep yelling that caught his attention. What stood out from this incident was the portrayal of anger. Why would the barkeep act angry? The signs were obvious; a delayed response, over-significance on his tone, and the disconnection of his where his body was facing to what he was yelling at, none if it made sense. “Those Sprites are annoying aren’t they?” Leonide asked, probing for more information on why he acted.

“Sure.” The barkeep replied keeping his interest under the bench.

It made sense to Leonide now, whatever those sprites were doing in the bar; it had something to do with what was under the bench. “Tell me, sir, what did the Sprites drop off?”

The barkeep looked at Leonide bedazzled on how he figured it out, “It’s none of your business.”

“It is if you believe that I am heir and not some senile old man.”

The barkeep quickly disregarded anything Leonide had to say, it was obvious to him that whatever was in the letter dealt with the rebellion in some way, but the barkeep was just too stubborn to want to believe the senile old Stomper that sat across the counter. He needed to think of a way to grab what was under the bench, and he was too old to try to take it but Leonide was too old and frail to take it by force, but he noticed a Venenum beside him that seemed to be taking an interest in what was going on. “So, sir, did you notice that?” He asked him, inching his way towards his seat, directing his attention to him while keeping track on what the barkeep was doing. It was the only way to catch the barkeep checking what was under the bench, but he knew that he wouldn’t take it until everyone wasn't watching him – well the unimportant people.

Lex'Car noticed that the bar was rapidly beginning to fill. He didn't really care for that. It only made keeping an eye on everything going on harder and harder than it already was. He kept getting glances now and again, most of them...not of the friendly nature. In fact, he was certain he smelled a cut purse of something. Just call it a careful man's intuition or something. But he was certain someone had been eying his coin purse. Continuing the exchange between the older man and the barkeep, he was a bit taken back at the sudden arrival of message via sprite. Very unusual...Even more unusual was his reaction to it. Stifling a slight giggle, the Venenum turned his attention to the old man, who seemed to have finally taken notice to his 'spying'. He could only giggle again as the man scooted closer.

"I notice a lot of things sir. Just like how on edge you seemed to get just now. Not about me of course." He gave a fox's grin underneath his mask of cloth and only very slightly cooed.

"Truth is, if I factor in more than a few factors, I'd say we might be after the same thing, though they might be for different reasons. I could be wrong...though I'm usually correct with my assumptions." He raised his hand, asking for a pint of ale. As soon as it arrived to him, he pulled his mask down and took a small sip of the liquid, wincing and immediately placing it down on the bar. "How...earthy. I didn't know alcohol was supposed to make one's gullet churn..." Truth was, Venenum liquor was know for being overly sweet, so most were not accustomed to the bitter, rich flavor of other race's ale. Turning his attention once more to the elder beside him, he licked his lips, running it over his extra set of canines carefully. "So, its odd you did not react in hatred to seeing what I am as most others would. My race is notorious for assassins and liars you know? We have a few brutes running around as well."

It was true, his kind were famed for their practices in stealth and politics, a few set aside for training as traditional warriors or berserkers. What Lex'Car was exactly didn't seem to fit. For one, he seemed social, something his kind was NOT famed for. "May I ask your name sir? Most of my kind call me Fool or Dancer, but my name is Lex'Car. Or Lex. Or Car. I care not what you call me sir." He flashed him another smile, maybe trying a bit too hard. There was an odd glint in the swamp fey's eyes, like someone playing a trick or fishing for information. Then again, most of his kind had that same exact look in their eyes. 'Maybe I should try another sip...' He carried out his idea and immediately realized it was one of the worst ideas of his life.

Leonide only gazed at the man taking another sip of his beverage; it didn’t bother him, he only wanted to keep track of what the barkeep was doing. He could sense what he was doing, he kept track of all his movements; every subtle shift in the air, Leonide could feel air caused from this pushing the hairs on his thick hardened skin back and forth. “I think I will call you Lex, I presume that won’t be a problem.” He replied to the Venenum, wondering if the beverage he was drinking would take control of him soon. He didn’t know, nor did he care because it was amusing to see Lex speak his words.

The barkeep did his best to try to act discrete on the matter, but every moment, there were eyes peering in his direction. Most were from the rebellion, but few were not, and when one looked over to something interesting, the others did as well trying to figure out what they were looking at. The activity in the bar was nearing capacity, and the Dodepus were still late on their rounds so the barkeep would have to eventually make a grab at the letter hidden beneath the bench eventually. ‘Couldn’t the Sprites put it in a better place? It’s too far out of reach and makes it obvious that they dropped something here’. The barkeep thought. He was a very paranoid man, but he was connected to the right people, it gives him every right to be paranoid if you think about it. That would be the end of him, he was too paranoid. It didn’t make a whole lot of sense for allowing not all to see what was going to happen anyway: an attack, but he didn’t see it. He wasn’t thinking logically, he only kept thinking about the Stomper looking keeping his attention on him.

Eventually, as the next few minutes passed, Leonide was beginning to lose interest in the bench and the barkeep took note of this. There were no other eyes peering in his direction so he moved towards the letter and put it in his back pocket. No one had saw, no it was just a matter of reading it. With no one paying any mind to what he was doing, the barkeep moved into the back cellar when he kept most of the wines and spirits. It was a small room, stacked high with multiple racks laying on one another. They were nearly full; the barkeep did a good job on keeping his inventory full. The room only had the one exit, a wooden door with a stone frame keeping all gazing eyes away. He closed it to make sure no one would try to enter and leaned his back against it to prevent anyone from opening it while he read the contents of the note. “What!?” He yelled out loud, “There’s no way that they already attacked the patrol!”

The contents of letter stated that the patrol that was supposed to arrive here had already been wiped out by a group of soldiers. That is why they were late, they weren’t even coming. This was bad news, it would only be a matter of time before news spread about the attack on the patrol and the barkeep needed to act now. This wasn’t how everything was supposed to go down, they were supposed to extract information from the patrolling Dodepus about the King’s current situation; what he was doing and how far he had progressed with his research. It was vital information for the attack and attacking blindly would be too much of a risk. The barkeep barged out of his cellar and made an announcement, “People, a group of soldiers have already begun to attack.” After he had made that announcement, most of the citizens in that bar immediately began to cheer throwing their drinks up with them as they rose from their seats. “We need to move…now!”

Leonide was in amazement. It was true; this was one of the villages holding the rebellion. He was going to follow the action, no matter where it went. He needed to find the leader of the rebellion to convince him that he is rightful heir to the throne. “Lex, are you apart of this?” He asked the Venenum .

Lex'Car couldn't help but giggle in glee as the rather frustrated and oh-so-worrisome barkeep burst from his little hiding hole, shouting out directions. Bingo. He had been right all along. He had barely registered the old man's question, and it took him a few moment to answer. Turning his eyes back to his conversation party, he threw up a crooked grin. "Could be, could be. Either way, I just wanted to make sure thats exactly what was going on here. I'm looking forward to trying to join the fight." He raised his glass and added his cheer to the throng of clamor and joy behind him before dissolving back into his little fit of giggles.

What should he do? He could easily prove himself eager to fight along side the rebellion, find out who they intended to place on the throne instead of the current king, and take power for himself. Combat, betrayal, it promised to be fun. Or he could rat them out to the Royalty and not only earn a substantial reward, but favor among the higher ups of the land. He could use the influence and still achieve his goals through political means. He'd make up his mind later though. So many choices, each one a path to even more power. The Venenum blood in him demanded that he grow stronger, that he express his dominance over the other races. This was exactly what he was looking for. However...

There was the matter of his race. They were not widely trusted, given enough credit that knowing or associating with his people would earn a dagger to the front if you kept too close an eye on your back. They were rarely ever loyal and it was meant to be that way. Growing up in his culture, everyone but the royal family was a long line of orphans, for their kind abandoned their young at birth, leaving them with only their birth name, only without a surname. They were either taken in by a noble or wealthier family and given a home, pressed into military service, or cared for until they could work. It was not a child friendly land. A lad of the human equivalent of nine was expected to be able to work, handle at least two types of weapons, and be self educated enough to work for any merchant. Lex'Car had had the best and the worst kind of childhood that any Venenum could have...

Shaking his head, he snapped out of his daze and saw that people were still moving around and he finally turned back to the old man once more. "Why do you ask sir? You seem a bit...fragile to be engaging in a young man's war."