• Closed • Outs and Ins

Staking out and Breaking in.

The capital city of the of Rynmere, here is seated the only King in Idalos.
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Vincent D'Ordyn
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Gray just smirked as Sabine followed him through the door after having yelled at him for giving her orders. Some day's he just lost all hope of ever understanding the woman. Taking the offered candle from her, Gray nodded. "I know the smugglers took the assassins to Rharne from here. We're looking for anything that might show who they were working for in Rharne." Gray answered as he moved off into the living room his eyes scanning the dusty furniture. "If you find anything collect it and we'll take a look at it together after we've searched the whole house."

After that, the two went their separate ways. Gray headed into the kitchen area while Sabine made her way upstairs. Beginning there Gray started looking through the cabinets and cupboards that lined the room, each was empty. Nothing sat atop the counters or the dining room table save the dust that had accumulated during the houses time of neglect.

Giving up on the kitchen Gray made his way back to the sitting room they had left only minutes before. With a quick glance around the room he could easily tell there was nothing to be found here either. A few cushioned couches, a fire place, and a few side tables were all that filled this room. With a sigh Gray placed his candle on the fireplace's mantle before going to take a seat on one of the couches.

While he waited for Sabine to join him again Gray's mind began to wander. What was he going to do now that she knew who he was. Could he trust her to keep his secret. Could he continue to ask her to aide him on this path. He didn't know what waited for him the closer he got to the truth, could he expect her to follow him blindly when he himself was blind.

In the mild of his musings a small glint of light caught his eye from beneath on of the floorboards. His focus coming back to the room, Gray took a close look. There was something there, a coin of some sort it seemed. Pulling out one of his throwing knives Gray pried the board up and pulled the object into the light. Just as he was about to study it he heard Sabine's feet coming down the stairs.
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Sabine
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“The smugglers took the assassins to Rharne?”

Sabine stared at Gray. How the man managed to keep such a impassive expression on his face was beyond her. “You didn’t think that might have been helpful to know ahead of time? When were you planning to tell me?”

Rharne. The mention of her homeland gave her pause. Though it was far from a perfect city, she remembered it fondly: the constant celebrations, the overflowing joy, the diversity and acceptance for those who were different.

She hated to think that it was the same city who contributed to the death of the D’Ordyns.

Sabine tightened her jawline and left Gray behind, taking the stairs two at a time in her haste to find answers. Once she hit the landing, she paused and surveyed the three rooms that led off from the hallway before tentatively pushing open the first door with the toe of her boot.

As she entered, she gave quiet thanks for the light that the candle cast across the floor. Darkness had a habit of warping her mind and encouraging the creation of imaginary monsters who might attack at any moment. The candle’s flame was a beacon of truth amidst the shadows’ lies.

Not that she would ever confess the fear aloud.

A quick glance around the room spelled out the scope of her investigation. There was no closet, only a chest of drawers and a side table. A moderate-sized bed and a rug completed the room, leaving her with few options in which to search. It would make her job easier, true, but also increased the likelihood that there would be nothing to find.

Sabine set the candle atop the chest and began to pull open the drawers. A man’s lone tunic lay in the first drawer. She shook it out carefully - nothing - before moving on to the second, which contained only a pair of socks and a leather belt. The third and last drawer lay empty, as did the side table next to the bed. She moved the candle to the floor and dropped to her knees to check beneath the rug and peer under the bed, collecting only a face full of dust and a short series of sneezes for her efforts.

The second room - another bedroom - yielded much the same result, though the chest contained a sheathed dagger instead of a tunic. She pulled it from the drawer for later inspection and moved on to the last room with mixed feelings of hope and apprehension.

Here, the door stuck and required a sharp shove of her shoulder to knock it open. Inside lay what looked to be a small, sparse office, complete with a desk and two chairs. Her expression brightened as she eyed the papers that lay atop the desk, and she quickly moved closer to get a better look.

To her disappointment, the majority were blank. The first to have any writing on it turned out to be a receipt from the marketplace, and the last consisted only of a (rather long) list of chores.

Damn it.

Maybe Gray had had better luck.

“The second floor doesn’t seem well-used,” Sabine called out as she traipsed back down the stairs with the papers, dagger, and candle clutched haphazardly in her hands, “The smugglers must not have spent much time here, even during Ashan. I found a few papers, but they don’t seem related. Looks like a receipt from the fish market and… I think it’s a to-do list?

“You find anything?” She stepped into the parlour and paused in the doorway to study her companion. Gray was crouched near a loose floorboard and holding a small object near the candlelight. “Is that a coin?”

Sabine placed her own candle on the floor and dumped the dagger and papers next to it before dropping to her knees beside Gray. Her hand brushed his as she reached for the ebony coin. If he let her take it from him, she would hold it in her open palm and study it with a furrowed brow. If he kept hold of it, she would run a finger over its highly polished edges and narrow her eyes.

“That’s weird…” She chewed on her lower lip as the coin sparked a memory from her childhood. “It reminds me a bit of the tavern coins from Rharne,” she said, forgetting that Gray didn’t know her background as a Rharnian. “A friend of my father’s won one from a fight once. I remember him bragging about it over dinner.

“This coin looks a bit like what he had, but I just… I can’t quite place it.” She shook her head. “I’m sorry. I wish I could be more helpful.”
Last edited by Sabine on Tue Oct 18, 2016 11:44 pm, edited 2 times in total. word count: 801
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Vincent D'Ordyn
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As Sabine sat down and took the polished black coin from him, her hand gently brushing his as she reached for it. He let her take the coin from his hand and watched as she studied it. Though it wasn't the coin that Gray watched, but Sabine. He watched as her brow bunched up as she scrutinized the coin. He had seen that look a number of times before, when she looked at him mostly. She had been trying to figure him out since he had asked for her help that day back in the inn.

He watched as she began to bite on her lip. The small unconscious habit she had whenever she was thinking over something. Chewing on her lip as if it was the thought itself. Gray smiled a bit as his little inside joke. When Sabine finally spoke, Gray listened to her talk of Rharne, her father, and of items called tavern coins.

When she finished, Gray gently reached out and took the coin from her hand. Holding it up in the light he watched the polish flash as he spoke. "Then I guess that settles it. I'm going to have to go to Rharne." With that Gray tucked the coin into a pouch on his belt, before looking back up to Sabine. "Thank you Sabine. For everything." Gray said to her.

Reaching to his side he untied a small coin pouch that had sat there for weeks. "I still owe you two favors, but this is your half of the bounty on Edwick Chambers." With that he took her hand in his left and gently pushed the pouch into hers with his right. "I do right by my friends. I'll come back to honor my debts to you. On my name I swear it."

Standing up Gray offered a hand to Sabine. If she took it, he'd help her to her feet before picking up his candle and blowing it out. Leaving only her candle left to light the room. "I think we've been here long enough. We should leave." Gray suggested as he placed his candle back on the table and pulled his hood into place over his head. Once Sabine was ready to leave he gestured to the door, and followed her out.
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Sabine
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She felt his eyes on her as she spoke, though she kept her own trained safely on the coin. They’d already shared so much. If she let herself think about what came next – the end of her investigation and, inevitably, the end of their business relationship – she might have to acknowledge the flicker of sadness that lingered in her chest, between her rib cage and her heart. She might have to admit to a strange disappointment that twisted in her gut, the way a wrench might twist a screw.

But that was hard and it was late and she was stubborn.

So instead, she stared at the coin until Gray reached out to take it from her. He mentioned Rharne and she barely blinked, already sensing his desire to leave Andaris before he said it.

It was what she would have done, had she been in his position.

She shrugged as he thanked her, letting his gratitude wash over her shoulders like water. It was only when he pressed the coin pouch into her hand that she looked at him directly, with questions running over the curves and crevices of her face.

They softened, but remained, when he answered.

Friends...

She held back a smile and quirked an eyebrow. “You better. You do still owe me two favours. Don’t think these coins get you out of that.”

The candles flickered as Gray stood, throwing shadows against the floor. The shadows weren’t the kind she’d imagined upstairs – the monsters that hid beneath beds and in closets, the terrors her parents had described to keep her five-arc-old self quiet at night. These shadows were different: protective, rather than menacing.

Safe.

She accepted his hand and allowed him to pull her to her feet. As he blew out his candle, she tucked the coin pouch into her pocket and slipped on her cloak, tying it loosely around her neck.

A quick glance at the floor found the dagger and papers lying next to her candle, and it took her all of two trills to decide what to do. She gathered them up in one fell swoop and gave Gray a sideways look, as if daring him to say something.

“What? They might be useful.”

She half-grinned before blowing out her candle and cloaking the room in darkness, save for the lone streak of moonlight lying dormant on the desk.

[Reviewer’s Note: Half of the bounty for Edwick Chambers is 25gn. We’ll leave it up to you to decide whether you feel Sabine earned the dagger and papers in this thread. We would appreciate it if you could award the tavern coin to Gray. Thanks!]
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Rewards for All!

Sabine


Story: 5/5
Collaboration: 5/ 5
Structure: 5/ 5

Knowledge:
Gray: Thinks you are reckless
Gray: Thinks you are brash
Gray: Had to leave Andaris
Gray: Went to Warrick, for a tournament
Gray: Is sorry
Gray: Is Vincent D'Ordyn
The story of how the D'Ordyn family died
The origin of the name "Gray"
Smugglers took the assassins to Rharne
The ebony coin
Detection: Watching for movement in the dark.
Discipline: Not killing Gray (when he sneaks up on you)
DIscipline: Keeping focused on the mission, rather than your impulse
Stealth: Using your environment to maximise your stealth
Stealth: Using your clothing to maximise your stealth
Stealth: Moving quietly
Storytelling: Maintaining the flow, keeping the pace.
Storytelling: Telling emotional stories is difficult
Investigation: Ensure that there are minimum witnesses to your stake outs
Investigation: Stake outs take time
Investigation: Stake outs are better with a hunky fella
Investigation: Dust as an indicator of time passed.
Investigation: Check every last detail
Psychology: Grief can not be cured

Loot: 25gn, 1 dagger, 1 set of papers.
Fame: +2 solving a mystery, +1 good deed (not killing Gray), +1 good deed (sharing your story)
Magic: These points may NOT be used for arcana

Gray

Story: 5/5
Collaboration: 5/ 5
Structure: 5/ 5

Knowledge:
Sabine: Sent you a letter.
Sabine: Reckless?
Sabine: Got a temper
Sabine: Thinks that hiding in a public tournament might not be entirely clever
Sabine: Cares enough about you to worry
Sabine: Knows who you are / were
Sabine: Father sold into slavery for debt
Sabine: Mother emotionally fragile
The ebony coin
Climbing: Scaling walls
Climbing: Using ledges for leverage
Detection: Gathering information from the environment
Detection: Sounds travel in the dark
Detection: Peripheral vision can be very useful
Discipline: Keeping emotional control
Investigation: Gather information from the vicinity
Investigation: Stake outs take time
Investigation: Stake outs are better with a pretty girl
Investigation: Opening a stubborn window
Investigation: Dust as an indicator of time passed.
Psychology: Men and women are different in more ways than one.
Stealth: Moving silently
Storytelling: Maintaining the flow, keeping the pace.
Storytelling: Telling emotional stories is difficult

Loot: 1 ebony coin ~ a "tavern coin" from Rharne
Fame: +2 (solved a mystery), +1 good deed (shared your story), +2 gave a gift, +2 timely delivery of goods (bounty)
Magic: These points may NOT be used for arcana

Feedback to you both

Story Without a doubt, this is the most compelling thread I have read on the boards. I have reviewed a lot of threads in my time here and this is undoubtedly my favourite. It is a fascinating story which has so many layers and it is an emotional, romantic, rugged and deeply painful tale. I am so impressed with the writing, with the wonders that you weave with your words.
Structure No problems.

Please do PM me if you've got any questions
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~~Red in hoof and claw... ~~


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