Forums » Fantasy Roleplay » Promises of gold, bad luck and more gold (1x1)

Finally, the city could be seen in the distance! Bender had spend far too long on his cart. His butt was actually aching. The old man had been driving for at least a week with no inn to be found. It had been hell. At least on deck of a ship one could still walk around or talk to nearby people, but Bender Of Iron Will was alone for the time being, only in company of his two stallions pulling the cart forward.

The city he was headed was known as Alifern, an Elven city that could barely be called a city. It was just a large village that happened to have a stone wall surrounding it and just so happened to be in the middle of a crossroads between four countries. Still, it was a pretty sight. No man or woman, unless Dwarven, could deny the Elven architecture was at least commendable, if not gorgeous.

The city looked as if it was the perfect place to live. each building looked unique, though most of them had the same size and shape to them; square with a wavy roof. Each home had a different finishing touch. Some might have decorated windows while others have got trimmed vegetation covering their wall. The many lanterns along the cobblestone path gave the feeling there magic present in this place, which was undoubtedly true. Elves ruled this place after all.

Bender Of Iron Will could park his cart near Enga's Honey'd Inn. This type of inn wasn't to Bender's taste, but after driving day and night on a cart with only dried meat, bread and water to drink, the old pirate wasn't so picky anymore about the amount of sailors and bar fights a tavern or inn had.

Entering inside, it became clear why the name 'Honey'd' was implemented in Enga's Inn. The entire place reeked of it. In fact, it looked as if the walls had veins of honey running through them. The bar was quite big, yet it was still cozy with lanterns hanging from the roof, though unlit since it wasn't much past noon. An Elven maiden playing the lute had most of the patrons' attention, but all Bender cared for was a pint of ale and a hot meal.

After taking place on a table in a darker corner of the inn and receiving his meal, Bender took out a map from his pocket and started studying it, not taking any note of anyone who was nearby.

Steve had been sneaking about the town doing his thing for the past few days now. Like Hell did he want to leave, too! But unfortunately, he knew his time there was going to be short since people were starting to take note of missing valuables and, even more than that, missing food. Good food. Any sort of waste-container was left a mess and toppled over. Crop was being plucked from its resting place. Screw the rabbits! Who was out stealing their corn?!

Yeah, people were getting suspicious. But hey! At least he was eating good while he was here. And speaking of! He felt like eating an actual meal, rather than scavenging, so off he went to Enga's Inn! The lanky, tiny figure wiggled its way inside without a moment's notice, striding up to the bar with such pride it'd put a king to shame. Despite having issues climbing atop the stool and taking a seat, he still remained as prideful as ever! Those big eyes, almost childlike in the way they gazed about, locked onto the keep. His voice was high, but rough - ambiguous.

"I'd liiiike uh..." Steve paused. "Whatever's good!" Yeah, he wasn't really sure what to eat now that he was here. What did Elves even consider good food, anyway? Bender caught his eye (well, his map did), and soon the little halfling wiggled his tiny butt a seat or two closer to try to stare at it. "Wassat?" he asked loudly after a moment of gawking. Real smooth, Steve. Real smooth.

Bender stabbed his fork through the chicken breast with his fork which was being held with his mechanical arm. He tried tearing a piece off of it, but ended up picking up the entire piece of meat. Luckily his arm was covered by some cloth, or people would start getting suspicious. Elves didn't really like technology users, which Bender was. Should they see what he truly was, he might get a bar fight after all.

Taking huge chomps from the chicken his eyes were glued on the map. Steve might have seen that it was a rough sketch of a certain landscape with a line following a pathway with other sketches of landmarks surrounding the drawing. Here and there there were words and numbers written.

Steve had caught Bender off guard."It's a treasu-" Suddenly realizing what he was doing the old man blinked and turned around to face Halfling."Piss off, lad! This 'ere is adult business. Get back to playin' outside." He spoke in angry tone before turning back around and taking a sip of his ale.

Steve heard those words and boy, did he light up! He was smart enough to fill in the missing syllables. Steve's food wound up coming sooner than anticipated, but he didn't pay it any mind. Not yet, anyway. Soon though, he was met with the gaze of the old man and essentially scolded. At first, the halfling was confused, but soon he grew angry. "Wha'? I'm not a kid, you insensitive geezer!" He turned to begin shoveling food down his throat, but still fussed between bites.

He calmed down after a few moments, and found himself attempting to look at the map again. "So...," he sang, "How'd you get a hold of this? Is it real? I didn't think those kinds of maps really existed! Lemme see! I won't tell no one. Unless you don't let me see, then I'll tell everyone, so cooomeee ooooon!" For someone who claimed to be an adult, he really didn't act like it.

Then again, he'd been on his own for almost a decade, having left home when he was a kid. Why would he need to grow up? Nothing ever happened to issue that. He just sort of did what he wanted and was usually sneaky enough to get out of it. Or use his small size to trick people who caught him into taking pity on him because he was a "child."

Bender thought he was rid of him, but moments later, there the Halfling was again, with a barrage of questions. He lowered the map and held hid fingers along the bridge of his nose as if he had a headache. When he threatened to tell everyone, though, Bender only laughed.

"Right! 'Cause people're really interested in an ol' man reading a piece o' paper." He grinned as he looked at him."But yer a tenacious one, I'll give ya that. Sit down." He spoke as he pulled a nearby chair closer to his table. He might as well tell him a little story. Otherwise he'd never leave, and Bender was never the most patient of men."What yer seein' 'ere is nothin' more but the ramblins o' a pirate who died inland. Some folk, probably 'is crew, buried 'im 'nd his belongings. Don't ask how I got me hands on the map, but these folk burried 'im a long time ago, 'n most o' his stuff was too hot ta sell, ya get me? I'm just 'ere to pick up me share."

Judging from the map, this was one fragment of four, which lead only to this city. The words spoke 'Where the angel weeps over a ____, lies the second fragment.' The directions lead to Alifern, but gave no more details.

But that's what Steve thought all treasure-huntin' folk hated? Publicizing the way to the treasure, that is. Still, he supposed it turned out alright in the end, considering Bender began to blab to him. He would have told him that people would be interested in a treasure map, but there was no need.

After all the explaining (mind you, he was watching with incredible intrigue!), Steve still remained silent, studying the map for his own personal gain. After a moment, the halfling craned his head toward the old man and grinned that goofy grin of his. "I wanna come!" he blurted. Soon, he realized that this might make the man weary - that's less loot for him! "Dun' worry, I don't wanna take anything!" Lies. "I just wanna look. I'm tired of rummagin' through trash and callin' that an adventure. I want something fun."

The halfling took a bite of his food and contemplated for a moment. Sometimes he didn't really think about how dumb and impulsive he was, nor about how he was quick to pressure people into letting him do things with them. He didn't even know this old man! But he was nice enough to share the story and let him look, so Steve figured there was potential. For what? Wiggling his way into the old man's business, of course!

Bender Of Iron Will looked at Steve with anticipation. Did he buy his lies? Seems like he did by the way he acted. At the question of him joining him, the old man grinned."Sure, kid. Sure. Ya seem to be the truthful sort. Meet me at the ol' oak tree by sunset. If I ain't there yet when you are, just keep on waitin'. I'll get there eventually."

The old man didn't really want anyone involved. What he was going to do in truth was of the illegal sort. Should anyone see him, he'd have to hope he could leave the town before any guards come and check. He took a large gulp from his drink before putting the map away."What's yer name, laddy?"

Steve didn't seem interested in waiting, but he nodded nonetheless. Sure, he bought the lies! He didn't know otherwise. He couldn't really read, but he had a good enough memory to jot those things down. Besides, maps weren't mostly words. Steve told himself he'd wait until sunset, but after that, the sneaky little creature would begin searching. Whether or not that searching would be fruitful would be known later tonight.

When asked for his name, the halfling peered up from his meal and smiled. Without really thinking about it, he announced, "Stevie Ruggles!" Of course, without clipping the end of the first name. He caught himself but a moment later, but thought that the old man wouldn't notice, so he let it go. "What about you?" Steve asked, finally, after a few more moments of silent assuring.

After finishing his mug did the pirate answer Steve. Only this name was half true, it was the name he was given as a child; his birth name. Giving his true name was a bit too dangerous. Should people realize he's an Isanian, they're going to start watching him. These island dwellers weren't trusted so deep in the main land."Name's Ron, lad. Now if ya don't mind leavin' an ol' man to eat 'is lunch in peace?"

Whether Steve left him or not, it mattered little. After his meal he'd rent a room and wash up, something Steve would almost certainly leave him for.

Soon, after sunset, the completely washed up Bender Of Iron Will headed for the local graveyard, hiding a shovel underneath his cloak. His eyes shifted around, making sure no one would take notice of him.

Steve muttered something about how it was nice to meet the old pirate, but it was muffled by food. To his request, he would leave him be. The halfling needed to eat his own food, anyway! Unlike Bender, though, he would not wash up after dinner. He didn't rent a room and needed to spend his money wisely, so he just didn't care to wash up. After he finished his food, he wound up going outside to search for that tree. If he found it, yes he'd wait by it until just after sunset. Frustrated by that time, the tiny creature would huff and storm away from the tree and search for his new "friend."

The town was large, even if it was small it was large because of his size. It was hard for him to see over things or past things, it took a little longer to walk from point A to point B. He was stealthy, but sort of slow when it came to searching around in the dark. Finally, he managed to see a shape in the distance that he thought had a noggin resembling Bender's. He could have been wrong, so he decided to stay behind him, following for a short distance to make sure. He wouldn't hide from Bender once he found out that it was him he was following, but for now he wasn't sure, and didn't want to startle some elf man unnecessarily.

But what was he up to?

At the graveyard, Bender Of Iron Will slowly walked around. Even the graves looked gorgeous in this town. There were many swirly paved roads surrounding fields with gravestones and statues. Most of these statues pictured an Elven maiden watching over the fields with a joyful look over their face.

There were very little people at the graveyard today, which was good. Once they left, Bender had the place for himself.

After sundown. Most people left the place, and the once beautiful graveyard now had an eerie feeling to it. The statues no longer seemed joyful, but rather judging, their blue shining crystal eyes had a piercing look and seemed to follow you everywhere. It seemed to bother Bender a little bit, as he tried to avoid the statues' gaze.

The old pirate, now sure he was alone, grabbed his shovel and walked through the fields. He checked near each statue and read the tags on the graves, which was hard to do with all this darkness, until he finally found the grave he had been looking for."Erama Na'thum." Bender read out loud."Ya wer' always a pain in me arse." He said while revealing his mechanical arm, which he then smashed onto the stone tablet that covered up the dirt below that would lead to this Elf's grave.

Looking around to see if he hasn't attracted any unwanted visitors, Bender pushed aside the stone so he could start digging.

Gasp! Gasp a thousand times! Was this mysterious figure digging a grave? Well duh! What else could he be doing - baking a cake? Ridiculous. Steve watched, cupping his mouth to suppress a squeak and attempting to inch closer. He was light and flighty, and was pretty used to being a stealthy little thing, so he'd likely be able to run from one hiding spot to the next without being seen completely. At least while he was a distance away. When he grew closer, he watched for a while. The voice the silhouette used held a familiar tone, and soon Steve discovered that he was right about who it was.

Eventually, when there were no more hiding places, Steve attempted to slowly sneak up to the pirate from behind. If he was able to do just that without being noticed, he'd walk to the side of his legs to look down at the grave. At that very moment, and with a sharp inhale, he began to speak, "So, what happened with comin' to the tree?"

"WAAAAGH!!" Bender stood back up and his shovel went flying as his arms flailed up into the air. Steve truly startled him. The old man's face looked of that of a man who realizes he's busted. But as he turned around that soon disappeared.

"Oh, it's you... well err,... you see I seemed to ha-" He stopped talking for a moment as he looked at Steve a bit more careful."How's a loud lad like yerself so quiet in 'is steps?" He asked, but before Steve could give any sort of explanation, Bender figured it out."Yer not a lad, yer a Halfling." He came to the conclusion. Bender once had a Halfling on board of his ship, but that one was a Tallfellow, the largest type of Halfling to be found. He never felt truly at home at sea, and got himself in all sorts of trouble, but never did any of the crew actually hear him when he was sneaking about. Bender knew Halflings were great at stealth.

"I forgot." He gave as reason for not being at the tree while he picked up his shovel and continued digging."Ya can't blame me, pal. What I'm doin' isn't exactly legal. If ya keep yer mouth closed ya can have a lil' share." He offered. If he were to go rat Bender out, he'd be doomed, and his little treasure hunt would be over before it even began.

Laughter erupted from the tiny being, smiling widely as he stood there, arms crossed against his chest. He was small, even for a halfling. Two feet and some change wasn't entirely impressive. As the pirate figured things out and explained himself, even just a little bit, Steve remained silent and listening, all with a giant grin plastered on his face.

"I told you I wasn't a kid," he stated, peering down at the decimated grave. "I won't say anythin'. 'Sides, I do this sometimes. 'M not exactly uh honest soul, y'know." That was a lie in and of itself, and his tone sort of portrayed that. Sure, he did a lot of bad things like stealing and pickpocketing and burglary, but he was an awful liar and tended to say confusing things or things that strayed away from the topic at hand when in a situation to lie.

Still, if anything, Steve looked sort of disappointed. "There's not no adventure, is there?" he asked. "It's only this, mm?" A little sigh escaped his nostrils as his eyes rested on the dark hole before him.

"Need any help?" he eventually added, despite his disappointment.

Bender couldn't help but chuckle when he sounded so disappointed about him digging up a grave. He didn't exactly believe him when he said he wasn't an honest soul. Steve looked like a "Oh, lad, if ya promise to stick with me 'n keep quiet 'bout this, yer gonna get an adventure. It just ain't as heroic as I made it sound." He straightened himself up and turned to face Steve."Truth is, lad, I'm trackin' down me former crew."

Bender handed him the shovel. Instead he'd scoop out a bit of sand while he did the more effective digging. During their work he'd explain the truth."Thing is, we once got our hands on an actual map. It was split in fractures 'n written on somethin' clay-like. Me superstitious crew thought it'd lead to a haunted treasure grove, but what do those fools know? They stole me map fractures 'n ran off with 'em, kissin' the pirate's life goodbye. I mean to get 'em back. The map ya witnessed down at the inn was me own lil' notes o' where the snakes 're hidin'. Apparently this one's underground." He laughed.

Soon they dug deep enough and reached the coffin. With his mechanical arm, Bender easily pulled the coffin upwards."I'll bet ya three silver coins our friend 'ere carried the fragment into 'is grave." He said as he smashed the coffin open.

Inside was the half rotten corpse of a once handsome Elf, surrounded by all sorts of things; a ruby, a small book, a necklace of black feathers and a couple of stones. But clutched in his arms was a brown tablet. Bender laughed as he pulled it out of his arms, which then snapped off. Bender dropped the coffin in its entirety and took a good look at what seemed to be a dirty square plate."This is it, lad. Told ya it would be in there."

But there wasn't much time for celebration. Voices could be heard in the distance, and the light of a torch crept closer into sight, its shadows revealing at least two people heading for their direction.

Steve's face lit up once more when he was given yet another opportunity! "Ya mean it this time?" he asked, although he was already convinced. The explanations given stimulated Steve's interest, and soon he grew almost too excited. Clutching the shovel, he'd begin to dig with some trouble, seeing as though the thing was likely larger than he was. When there wasn't much else for him to dig up, or when Bender was in the way, he'd stop.

The halfling's eyes were fixed upon the corpse. He'd never seen a dead body before, but he supposed it was less traumatic than seeing someone die, which he had yet to see as well. He was mildly disgusted and a bit distracted by the fact that he was actually looking at a corpse.

Soon, though, his thoughts were stolen from him as a faint light could be seen and voices heard - all in the distance, mind you. But it was close enough to be a problem, especially if they didn't get out of there fast. "Ron! Someone's comin'!" he whispered quickly, his head flicking from the man back to the people approaching.

When Steve whispered at him, only then did Bender realize he was about to get caught grave robbing. He gently lowered the coffin back to the ground and looked around. There was no immediate escape route. The hedge that separated the graveyard from the rest of the city was much too tall to jump over, and probably had a wall behind it as well. It seemed the only way out of here was through the entrance. Luckily the pathway was circular, leading from the entrance around the graves and back."Hurry it up, lad." He whispered as he kept low and ran his way for the entrance.

Bender was as slow as he was large. He had a hard time staying in the shadows while keeping up a decent pace. When he successfully reached the entrance, he was already out of breath. Not soon after he did, one of the two figures screamed loudly."Graverobbery! Graverobbery! Someone help!" It was clearly a female, and not a guard, but it wouldn't take long before the guards would be upon them."What do ya think, lad? Sick o' this town yet?" He asked before he made a run for it back to the inn, cleaning the dirt off of him.

Steve was quite used to sneaking around in the shadows. His tiny body made it easy for that. In fact, he probably had to wait for Bender a couple of times. As they ran for the inn, Steve chuckled at the questions the old man had asked. "I tend not to stay places for too long, so you could say that," he replied, an awkward grin plastered on his face. He should really get that hole in his mouth filled with something. A gold tooth, maybe.

When they got back to the inn, Steve was at a loss for what to do. He'd never nearly gotten caught grave robbing, so he wasn't usually this nervous and excited. He didn't have a room, so he didn't go back to his. He probably just followed Bender around like a lost puppy, even if he went upstairs to his room. He wouldn't enter unless allowed, but otherwise he was following him everywhere. "Are we leaving soon or somethin'?" he asked, almost too eagerly.

Bender had expected Steve to follow him around."Oh yes, lad. We're leavin' soon alright. In about three seconds." And it took exactly three seconds for Bender to pick up the only thing that was his in this room; a giant chest which ha carried under his mechanical arm."I've got me a cart in the back o' th' inn. The one with th' four brown horses. Crawl right on. I'll be with ya in a bit."

As he walked downstairs, he started to yell at the person who was tapping the drinks. It was still filled with people who did not feel like going home yet."Sir! Ya ought ta be ashamed for the room ya gave me!" Bender yelled as he flung a silver onto the counter."Don' think I'm ever goin' back to an inn where rats occupy me bed!"

With that, the pirate walked outside, alongside with a few other more disgusted patrons. After putting his chest back into the cart, he crawled onto the cart and drove it out of the city. Right on time too, the guards were getting more active.

Steve grinned widely when his suspicions were confirmed. Excited, he passed Bender and ran outside to the cart that was mentioned. Like with most activities involving climbing, it took quite a bit of effort. For once, he was glad he nearly got caught doing something awful! Even if he wasn't doing a lot of it at the time. Now he had a reason to leave and do something even more adventurous and fun.

When Bender arrived, Steve's attention stopped focusing on talking to the horses (which the old man probably caught him doing) to the pirate himself. "Where we headin', Ron?" asked the halfling. He was marveling at the view from here. Most of the time, when he was in any sort of carriage or buggy like this, he was hiding in the back under whatever the owners' had back there. Now, he got to sit up front and not hide and just watch! This was nice.