Hyrule Adventures 2

~Pyre sighed in frustration. There were just too many tracks to find anything of importance, and it seemed that anymore time spent on this would be wasted. He flashed a look over at Dogura, and decided that he would join the group. The hylian was a bit tired, and he guessed it was better to travel in numbers, even if the search was rather obvious to those who knew what to look for.

The ranger turned to see where the others were, and though some still stood in the alley, Saber was entering the inn. Pyre moved up behind him, to see what information he would find after questioning the innkeeper. Soon however, things took a turn for the worse.

The hylian watched semi-patiently as the man declined to "give them a room". If he hadn't looked so crazy, then Pyralin would have suspected he was involved in the murder from the unreasonable denial of their claims, but after a moment of thinking, he guessed that the inkeeper did have a point.

Aparently Saber didn't think that way, and soon had the man by the throat. The ranger didn't quite disapprove of these methods, but it lacked some of the finesse that better suited these situations. To help change this, he acted quickly, aiming a kick at Saber's ribs, not too hard to break anything, but hopefully solid enough to break his grip. The hylian assumed that if he didn't interfere with Saber now, some of the other goodly members of the party would. (I just posted first ) He only hoped the guard didn't come walking by anytime soon or those damn hylian knights.~

"Whoa, man!" Kasei said, taking a step forward just as saber drew his weapon. "Hey, I know your probably upset over something, but theres no need to attack someone. what if the guards see this?" Kasei asked, though he himself did nothing to stop Saber, even though he knew he would regret not doing so. So, if this guy can lift and throw easily, I wonder what else he's good for... the rebel flame thought...

OOC: it never crossed my mind until now; how old is saber? I never read profiles anymore...they start getting boring among the newer users...

When Saber had answered Rose, she still felt worry for the mercenary, especially when he stumbled. He gathered the courage he needs, she thought. Din, help him find the strength he needs.

And then Blank shouted out that he had found something. Like Saber, the ranger thought about strangling her friend, but she settled on walking over to him and whispered so low that only he could hear, "Bloody fool. There are some things you don't joke about." The human turned around as Saber announced that they were going into the inn. She sighed and said in a less harsh tone, "Come on. We don't want to fall behind."

As Rose entered the inn, she saw Saber threatening what the ranger assumed to be the innkeeper. Nayru, give him wisdom as well, she thought with a moan. She then hurried over to the Hylian merc, being careful to avoid his saber and Pryalin's kick. "Saber, let go of him!" she cried out, grabbing his hand and trying to remove it from the man's neck. "If you kill him to get the answers you want, then you're no better than the people you're hunting. Please, don't stoop that low." She said that last sentence with a pleading tone in her voice.

OOC: Please bear with me, but I'm not too sure about the whole cigars and cigarettes in Hyrule thing. Pipes and tobacco, sure, but cigars and cigarettes? I don't know. I have no clue how they're made, but if they would exist in Hyrule, I'd imagine that they would be expensive, especially since there wouldn't really be any form of mass production in Hyrule, with the exception of agriculture. After all, in a world like Hyrule, just about everything would be made to order. Clothing, chairs, houses, et cetera. Just something for you all to think about.

Saber was oblivious to everything around him. He had hunted these people for ten years, and now this insolent, firey-headed innkeeper was trying to impede him? He hadn't come all this way for this. His grip tightened as he raised his saber above his head, ready to strike this insolent man down. The pleading man was scrabbling his hands across the clenched fist, but could do nothing. Saber's strength seemed to be increased greatly by his blind rage, and he would probably end up breaking the man's neck before the saber could deal it's death. Nothing could get through to the maddened mercenary--Nothing, that is, besides a physical blow. Pyre's foot cracked across his ribs, knocking him back and beleaguring his breathing. He bent over for a while, but regained his composure soon. He ignored Kasei; His desire to punish this man was too great.

The innkeeper in question was on the far wall across the counter, huddled over and trembling in his cuccoo slippers. Saber jumped over the counter and walked slowly towards the man, relishing the pure terror reflected in the innkeeper's face. He bent over and reached his hand out once again towards the frightened man, when Rose's comment hit him. He froze, staring at the panicking man blankly. The innkeeper seemed to be changing....

His mustache grew longer and grayed, and his eyes became more squinty. His nighttime apparel changed to a pair of dirty, frayed workclothes, his cap vanishing to reveal a balding head and wrinkled skin--It was Old Man Tarny, Saber's next door neighbor back in his childhood days...It hurt to see the friendly old man look at him with such fright, and he was forced to look away as he saw the man smote heavily, then stabbed as he was on the ground. Saber couldn't believe he saw himself doing this. He reached into a robe--When do I ever wear robes?--and removed a stamp, dipping it in Tarny's blood and turning him over--

Saber's eyes snapped open. He didn't even know they were closed. In fact, he had no memory of how he got where he was--He was sitting across from the innkeeper, leaning against the counter. The man was staring at him with wide-open eyes, but it wasn't from fear anymore--It seemed more like shock. The man looked at him incredulously and spoke a few words. "Son...are you all right? You just kinda blanked out there and fell back...Then you started thrashing a bit...You were out for about ten seconds...You all right...?" The man gulped, trying to figure out if it was safe or not to approach the mercenary.

Saber just stared at him with wistful eyes--His anger had passed, and he had nothing but sorrow and regret. He had been reminded once again of the horror, not only that, but he had acted out that horror...he had been in the body of one of them...even if it was only a dream...

The man gulped again, stepping cautiously towards Saber and reaching out a hand. "If-if you want to look at that room, you can. It's fine--Really." It was clear that the man was scared--at least Saber's actions had resulted in some good. The innkeeper was just trying to appease them now. Saber took the hand and pulled himself up, and the innkeeper scooted away quickly as soon as the mercenary was on solid ground.

"Thank you..." Saber said as he stumbled away--He had lost his strength and will from that last incident. He paused by Rose and loooked down. He couldn't think of what to say--The Ranger had just saved him from sacrificing possibly his entire future..."Sorry..." was all he could mumble before he started to walk shakily towards the hallway. "Alright guys, should be the room on the far left side of the hall..." He said somewhat loudly, leaning up against the doorway to try and build up his strength. What am I becoming...?

Dogura gave up on searching for tracks. It was apparent that it was a lost cause, and upon standing up, he saw a familiar figure out of the corner of his eye. He turned and nodded. "Good evening Pyralin. It would seem we have a murder mystery on our hands. We would definately appreciate your help on the matter!" Patting him on the shoulder, the samurai walked over to the inn, where a bit of commotion seemed to be taking place. With the dim view he had, he could only make out the form of Saber clutching a man by the throat. The sudden light had blinded him, and when his eyes adjusted he could hardly believe what he was seeing. His jaw dropped as he watched Saber prepare to cut the man's life short. If it weren't for Pyre and Kasei already on the job, the samurai would have definately attempted to stop Saber. Whatever his motives, they couldn't be good. This man had done something to upset Saber, and whatever it might have been , it must have been bad.

With a well aimed kick, Pyre had managed to distract Saber long enough for the innkeeper to scurry out of Saber's reach. All of this had heppened in such a quick instance, that it was nearly impossible for the ranger to keep up with what was happening. Dogura stood in front of the man to prevent Saber from reaching him, and causing any more harm. Saber got up, as if ready to do more, but then fell right back down as quickly as he had risen. Watching carefully, Dogura stood by the man, saber twitching on the floor. "I-Is he alright?" The samurai asked, just before Saber woke up. Somehow the man Dogura was defending had gotten in front of him, and helped Saber up, only to scurry back to his former place. When the man granted them permission to explore the floor, Dogura felt at ease. Maybe they would have a bit more of a lead if they found anything in the room. The samurai awaited Saber to lead the way into the next room. As soon as we find those murderers.... I'll cut them down to size...

OOC: Must...post...before...FE 8....

IC:
Rose watched with fear and worry as Saber continued his attack against the innkeeper, despite Pyre's kick. She sighed with relief when Saber got a hold of himself, even though it was at the cost of another fainting fit. The ranger followed the mercenary, replying to his apology, "It's okay now. Just don't scare me like that again." Once again, she thought, Din, give him strength.

OOC: Ugh, sorry for the post. I was more in the mood to play FE 8 than write, but I did promise Saber I would post here once ZV got this post up. Perhaps next time I'll have something more to work with as well.

~Pyre nodded at Saber and Rose. He wasn't too worry about Saber snapping like that since everyone had to vent their anger sometime. If it happened to be in the form of killing a man... well maybe that was too extreme. Meanwhile though, he was a bit worried about what the innkeeper might do, and it would be easy enough to assure his loyalty.

His scimitar slid noiselessly out of its sheath, and in a second it was placed against the nape of the man's neck. Loyalty could be born of respect, but fear worked just as well. If the threat of what Saber might do to him wasn't enough, he hoped that the thought of another crazy hylian with a blade would completely sway him.

Meanwhile, the ranger wasn't coldblooded, and didn't particularly desire to be a target of all that fear. "Don't worry, we don't mean any harm, but if you go betraying us in anyway, I'll kill you personally before Saber can even get to you." With those words hanging in the air, he sheathed the blade and followed after the others.~

(((OOC: Indeed, desire for FE8 is strong... Colm the God of Death is calling.)))

OOC: thanks, you make me feel good, Sabertache...

Kasei looked at Saber as he snapped back to reality, the rebel flames face unreadable. Hmph, I guess he's not realy wortyh killing, after all, his bounty isn't that high, maybe he could be a freind. then again, I could always just use him for my own gain, abandon or kill him, then live a slightly happier life, but thats not like me at all, now, is it? He thought. Then the man gave Saber a room, and Kasei followed the other mercinary. along the way, Kasei looked over at dogra. "I was wondering, Dogura, just how many adventurers are in hyrule?" Kasei asked the samuri.

OOC: once more, how old is saber?

OOC: Kasei, we have things called profiles, but he's 19.

IC: Saber silently vowed to carry out Rose's wish. It didn't matter how badly he wanted his revenge--losing his head wasn't going to help anything, and he knew it. What's happening to me..?He thought as he opened his tired eyes again. He cast a stern glance over at Pyre. He wasn't trying to use fear to his advantage--That was a job for the gang he was hunting. Not only that, but then Pyre gave the innkeeper a name. Just brilliant...He sighed, turning down the hallway.

The long walk seemed even longer than usual--his legs were wear, beggin to collapse and just sleep....He finally stopped outside the room breathing heavily, and pushed the door open. He stepped inside, and motioned for them to follow.

OOC: Actually, you said he was 19.

Worru followed, silent as when he had started. After most of the group realized that there would be little to no evidence left, he began wondering something. He had done nothing but rest against the wall when the others searched the ally, and had only listened enough to know where they were going next. Other than that, he had just thought his theory over and over and over.

After thinking he had enough to go by, he spoke to Saber. "Hey, what if. . .nevermind. Forget I said anything." he said, changing his mind at the last minute. This idea of his might be good, but he wanted to see if there was anything about the room that could help them. He had only a hunch to go on, if you could call it that.

Following Saber into the room was not as simple of a task as it would seem. There were many of them, crowding behind Saber in the tiny hall. At one point, Dogura took an elbow to his ribs, and somebody stepped on his foot. The samurai finally pulled free of the crowd, and siddled along the wall, avoiding the rush. When he came to Saber's side, he stood there for a moment, taking in the feel of the room he had just entered. It seemed like a pretty standard room... Or so it seemed. Seeing nothing out of the ordinary(in plain view), The ranger decided to take a closer look at things that would look normal, but hide secred. The first thing he could think to look in, was the cabinet. He opened the dusty doors, and peered inside.

OOC: Worru... is that... is that Dogura in the background of your avatar?!?!

IN: The room is fairly normal, and covered in a thick layer of dust. Apparently, the innkeeper was lying about the booming business. A cabinet is up against the wall just inside the room, so Dogura barely had to walk to get to it. Closer inspection reveals nothing of interest in the cabinet--It was probably cleaned out after the last person who stayed here, and noone knows how long it's been since then. There is a bunk bed in each far corner of the room, and in between the beds is the open window, with one of it's shutters hanging loose. By each bed is a small table with a candle on it.

IC: Saber held back the full crowd with an outstretched arm as they reached the door; quite a strain in his current condition. "Trackers only." He mumbled, then searched for Pyre, motioning to him. "For everyone to move in here at once would be dangerous. We could destroy evidence. As for himself, he replicated the fire spell, using just a small touch of powder, to light the two candles, illuminating the room somewhat in a warm glow, and making the thick layer of dust on the floor, furniture, and walls all the more apparent.

Trackers only, eh? Rose asked in her mind. I suppose that includes me, even though he's only looking for Pyre it seems. She walked into the room, placing each of her steps with care, lest she disturb something that would be best for them to be undisturbed. She made her way to the window, using care as always. Once there, she began inspecting the window, moving around to try to get the best use of the light Saber had just provided. She paid special attention to the shutter that was hanging loose.

IN: The breeze is blowing the loose shutter back and forth perilously--It's a wonder it hasn't fallen by now. Closer inspection reveals that in the remaining hinge, a thick red string and a thinnger brown string have been entwined in the device, which was probably holding the shutter in place. In the middle of the windowsill is the outline of a footpring, though over time the details of the shoe that made it have faded.

Orpheous, Matt, and Simon watched as the events unfolded. They then proceeded to go into the room. However, when Saber stated that only the trackers should enter. "I understand," muttered Orpheous with a sigh. The three waited outside the room, waiting to see what would happen.