ChaoZ: A Royal pain in the elves.

"Shadow analogies irk me. Always go right over my head." Rol sighed following Jex and by extension Corvo. 

He'd absorb the occasional bit of information, but remained mostly silent, while obviously annoyed. In all honesty he had nothing against Corvo or his goal, in fact 'freedom fighter and saving friends' was something completely up Rol's alley. What he didn't like was the method. Extortion wasn't the most vile of crimes by any means, and Rol was sure he'd partaken in the action himself but it still didn't sit well with him. More than likely it was just the bounty hunter being a child. But he certainly enjoyed being a child.

"Lady Golden Hands is scary and dangerous. But at least she doesn't shoot her crew for shits and giggles. There's a good reason they call Alvern 'the Bastard'. He's probably the worst boss you can have. I only saw him once despite working for the Syndicate for over 8 years. He looks like a douchebag, ugly mudfucker too." The elf lady commented.


"Says the guy with the shadow powers." She responded to Rol.

She followed the others inside. She took out her comb again to get her wet hair out of her face. "Bah, rain. I hate it."


The elf that Corvo sent to investigate the shadow returned quickly. "King. I found nothing. Whatever it was it left no traces." She looked slightly unnerved. "It might have been the Night Wraith." She said.


The other elf lady, who was petting fluffy, frowned. "Isn't that just an urban legend?"

"Exactly, shadow analogies make zero sense to me, you know what's in the shadows? Me, I'm literally in the shadows what are these dweebs talking about."

Rol ranted to the elf lady. Wait two elf ladies? Ugh. "Elf ladies give me names so my narrative isn't confusing."

Corvo shook his head at his ally. He turned away and continued into the dusty room, similar to the one he'd been in before he came to Jex and friends' help. Snapping his fingers, a single light illuminated. It dangled in the middle of the room over a large, circular table. 10 wooden seats surrounded the table. He sat himself at the one furthest from the door. 


"He or she or whatever that thing is is the least of out concern. She shows in the dead of night. There's no reason for her to be hitting us."

Jex moved forward and grabbed a seat as Corvo propped his feet on the table, gesturing the crew to sit.

"Come, sit. I hope you like fish."

Corvo turned to the masked man and the elf that was with Jex.


"And you two? Names?"

"Point taken." She replied to Rol's shadow comment.

When Rol asked for names she raised an eyebrow. "Names? Like what any random ones? Okay, I hereby dub thee 'shadowkid, tamer of manticore'." An awkward pauze followed.
"What? You told us to give you names. I gave you them." She shrugged.


"Not funny? Oh well.." She sighed. "Well, I have no idea what her name is but she looks like a Sarah."

The other elf lady glared. "No, that's a human name not an elven one. My name is Sarrinae."

"Isn't that the high elven version of Sarah?" She laughed.

"No.. it's not." Sarrinae kept glaring at her.


"Eh, it's close enough." She stopped teasing the other elf as soon as she heard "fish". And went over to the table.
"OOOH food."

She looked up at Corvo's question. "Oh right, almost forgot to mention my name. It's Nixae but I prefer Nix." Nix grinned cheerfully.


"Enjoy the meal Snowflake." Sarrinae snarked at her. (Nix is the High elven (and latin) word for snow.)
"Thanks! You too, Sarah!"

The two women smirked at each other. They both seemed to be enjoying themselves, oddly enough.

"Am I supposed to like her because similarities? Or am supposed to feel threatened by my role being taken? These are the questions that haunt me."

Rol sighed at the elven's exchange than looked to answer Corvo. "Rol or goth kenny? I don't remember which one i'm supposed to use"

"Goth sounds a little too heavy for me."

Corvo laughed as the rest of his crew followed inside. They all took seats around the table and Corvo gestured his guests to come sit. He knocked on the wooden table in a short beat and a door opened on the far side of the room. A Elven woman dressed in similar clothing to Corvo started serving them. A plate of steaming fish, bread, and a piece of fruit. Nothing too fancy but it sufficed.


"I didn't expect to be back with guests today, Ma Petit Cheri."

The Elven woman shook her head and whispered something in Corvo's ear.

"Perfect. Eat up, kids. The game plan is pretty simple."

Jex took a seat and looked at the food. It looked pretty clean to him. Untampered, unpoisoned. He took the bread and started eating. Corvo on the other hand, started cleaning his plate. The rugged man started talking, while eating.


"My lady here has just told me that we've got a couple IDs coming in by tomorrow thanks to a few generous benefactors. Until then, all we have to do is sit tight and wait it out. There's two ways to go about this - the quiet way and the loud way."

Corvo pasued then looked at Jex, Rol, then Nix. He smiled.

"The quiet way-"


"We're going loud."

Corvo frowned and looked at Jex. Confused, for a second, then composed himself. Jex was far too aware of how quiet missions worked out between himself and Roltharus.

"Alright then. Well then that makes things a little easier. All we have to do is walk right in, blow shit up, and escape through the tunnels."

Corvo scanned the group once more and shook his head.


"But you guys stand out like sore thumbs. I mean Goth kid here is wearing all black like he just killed his uncle with a utility mana saber and Magic boy is wearing shitty white, blue trimmed, dirty high mage bullshit."

Jex looked down at his tattered clothes and nodded. He definitely didn't match the occasion and looked up at Corvo.


"We have clothes for you, and dear God I hope they fit. Objections?"

Rol let Jex do the talking, it sounded like business and important so it would be best for the bounty hunter so sit that one out. He did speak up at the mention of changing clothes.


"I'm gonna at least need a hood."

(Kylo Rol. XD)

Nix ignored everything and focused on the fish in front of her. It might not have been much for some people but for her it was the best thing she'd eaten all month.
Once she finished her plate her mind wandered off to a different place. The smile on her face faded and her eyes stared into nothing.


The smell of the fish caused Fluffy's stomach to rumble, he whined.



(Almost time for a time skip to next morning?)

Corvo smiled and nodded, finishing his meal. Jex had just finished as Corvo finished talking.


"Follow me, then."

Corvo pushed his chair away from the table and started walking off into the shadow. Jex stood up, trying to wipe his hands off on his garments and followed. Corvo opened a door to a corridor with closed doors opposing each other. He walked down the hallway and stopped at the last 2 doors.


"You guys can stay here. These last two rooms are vacant so you'll have to share."

Jex nodded and thanked Corvo for the hospitality. He walked into the room and found a simple bed with a side table. The only part that really stood out to him was the huge mirror that almost reached from the floor to the roof which rose about 8 feet up. Jex sat down on the bed, feeling comfort for the first time in a while. He removed his robe and fell on the bed. He didn't realize he was this tired as his eyes slowly closed.

--------------------------------------------------------


"It'll be a long day tomorrow."

He said as Jex laid down on the bed. He looked to his other companions and nodded them off, leaving them in peace.


"Sleep tight. Your clothes will be ready when you wake up tomorrow."

He walked off and away, back through the door he came through. His crew met him, still seating around the table. They all looked at him questionably and there was only silence in the room until Sarrinae spoke.


"What the hell are you doing?"

Corvo grunted and started walking to the other side of the room.


"Why are you bringing strangers into this!?"

"Because we need all the help we can get."

Corvo stopped and turned to face his crewmates.


"This city will be ours and with them indebted to us, we can fight. If the factions realize that we can take down a prison and help our men escape, they'll finally learn to treat as us equals, if not more."

"We don't need their help, Corvo!"

The elf lady reached to grab him by the arm and Corvo slapped her hand away, turning to face away from them once again. The Orc grunted as Corvo walked through a door on the other side of the room.

"Fuck. King my ass. How does he expect to rule the world if he can't even get his friends out of prison himself."

Sarrinae could feel a tear form in her eye. She'd known Corvo since their group began but this was the first time he'd ever asked for help from anyone, especially a group of strangers. The Orc approached her.

"You must be patient with him, Sarrinae. Kings become tired-"

"King. Rex de Nihil more like it."

The woman stormed off before anyone could object, towards one of the rooms nearby Rol and Jex.

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Corvo stood at the other side of the door. He had his ear pressed against the wood, eyes closed, trying his best to listen. He heard the other door slam shut and he pushed his head away. He looked down and started walking down this corridor. A single door was in his way. He pushed it open and a King sized bed laid in the middle of the room. It was much larger than the previous ones but besides the increased sizes of the room itself and the furniture, it was simple. Corvo took his boots off and fell on top of his bed, allowing his muscles to relax. He shuffled around and placed his deck of cards on the bedside table. There was much work to do tomorrow.

Rol found himself a nice little spot on the floor in the room Jex was not in and sat down. He had bread from the food served earlier but wasn't hungry. "Why do I have a baguette?" 


He decided maybe Fluffy wanted it.

Fluffy indeed wanted it. It wasn't fish but food was food. He purred happily while eating it.


--

Nix got the room next to Rol and Jex. She closed the door and let out a deep sigh. "It's okay Nix. You're still alive." She whispered to herself.
Another voice in her head responded with a question. "But why?"


"Stop that! You know why." She told the voice in her head, her own voice. She walked over to the bed and let herself fall down on it. She closed her eyes and let her mind drift off.

-

Up on a nearby roof Riaden washed his face with some rainwater he had collected. He had almost been caught by that elf. "I'm getting rusty." He put his red scarf back in front of his mouth and started moving. This was the perfect time to scout out the city. He just needed to be back here when Jex and Rol woke up in the morning. In a flash he was gone.

-
A few hours later:

"Marus!" Nix gasped, abruptly woken up from a nightmare. She wiped her sweat off her forehead and tried to calm her breathing. It was still dark and the faint sound of someone snoring nearby told her it wasn't morning yet. But she knew she wouldn't be sleeping again tonight.


Three hours later when someone came to wake her up they found her already out of bed and combing her hair back into shape. The bags under her eyes betrayed her lack of sleep. "Please tell me there is some form of breakfast available." If sleep wasn't an option she was gonna need another source of energy.



Fluffy had a much better night's rest. But that didn't mean he didn't struggle with waking up. The manticore couldn't stop yawning.

Jex opened his eyes slowly. This was the best sleep he'd had in a while. He felt comfortable around this group for some reason. He didn't want to delve to deep into this at the moment. Perhaps it was for their strange hospitality, their leader's charisma, or something in the food. He sat up and stretched, he could feel his joints pop and his muscle loosening. He felt amazing. He looked around and turned to the dressed beside him. An outfit was set out for him. He inspected them.

Jex looked at himself with the mirror and looked down. The black pants that hugged him was a perfect fit, held in place by a brown leather belt. A white button up sat on his torso, and on top of that was a black and blue robe. A large strap wrapped around the middle of his torso, a huge, curved, silver buckle keeping it in place. A hood hung behind his head, rather large for his head. A blue design on the right side of his chest, a simple, curvy, Elven pattern that exploded from a flower-like pattern on his respective shoulder.

Jex held the Staff of Wisdom in his right hand. It glowed a soft blue hue. He turned when he heard the call from outside to come for breakfast. He went out of his room and knocked on the door opposing his, calling for Rol. He walked down the hallway and found himself once again in the dining room where Corvo and his crew were already halfway through their breakfast. Corvo smiled at him, gesturing him to come eat.


"Good morning."

He greeted them, sat down, and joined in the feast.

shit this narrative is getting fancy, i can't keep up. After hearing someone (probably Jex) knock, Rol woke up and quickly sat up. He was in an unfamiliar setting, he quickly recalled the happenings of the passed day and relaxed again. Next to him were the new clothes that Corvo had said they needed to blend in. "Great, wardrobe change my favourite."


Description of clothes here since i lack the knowhow and whatwith that they should look like. 

The bounty hunter groggily put on his clothes and wandered out the door quietly, seeing Jex down the hall going into a room, he followed.

(It's okay to not know what the clothes should look like Rol. I don't know either. XD Actually I have been working on clothing styles for the different regions but there are just so fucking many! An entire continent ffs. But just as a visual aid think Ancient roman+Steampunkish. At least for this city.)

Nix quietly ate her breakfast. The abundance of energy she seemed to have yesterday was completely gone. Once she finished her meal she sat and stared at the now empty plate in front of her.

--

Riaden had already returned and waited for the crew to start moving. His nightly scouting had given him a decent understanding of the city's layout. He had unlocked several fast travel points.

The rising sun however made it much harder to hide in the shadows. He would have to find another way to remain unseen. Luckily the harbor workers were up bright and early and already moving about. The streets were full of life and dirt, mostly dirt though. The assassin could hide in those crowds.

--

Nix put her face in between her hands while waiting for breakfast to be over. The food was slowly restoring her energy but she still felt terrible. The sooner they got going to the prison the sooner she would be able to distract herself.


Fluffy was much happier. Some of the crew had given him some meat to eat.

Jex ate and scanned the group. Corvo seemed to be deep in thought, staring at a card on the table. Sarrinae seemed a little cold today and didn't seem too interested in talk to anyone. Nix looked a little out of it than before and didn't rejoice as much as last night when there was food given to her. Before he could say anything, Corvo looked up.

"Alright, team. Come over."

Corvo held out his hand and allowed magic to flow through his hand and onto the card. A rune lit up and a projection of the prison showed itself. It looked like it was 3 floors tall with the cells all in the bottom floor and Jex assumed it was the basement. Corvo smiled and started:

"This is where you two -" He pointed to Jex and Rol "- will go through. Right in the open. Ask for Arun and they will lead you to the visiting room."

He traced to where the visiting room was and smiled.


"My crew and I... Well, they know us. And there's no way we can blend in like you two no names."

He laughed and pulled out a blank card.

"This is how we're getting in. I'm going to leave a rune on this card. When you get into the service room, give it to Arun and he will activate it, sending us in. And then we get our game faces on. Deal?"

The elf woman who served them the food handed Corvo two passes.


"Here. You'll need this to get to the East end. Just present it to the guard, don't act suspicious."

Corvo looked at Jex and then Rol.


"Any questions?"

-------------------------------------------------------------

Jex looked at him and grabbed one of the passes from Corvo. He nodded. He had a couple doubts in his mind but Corvo seemed to know what he was doing. He stared at the map, trying to remember every single detail he could, taking special note on the service hatch and the sewer entrance.


"And how can we trust you'll show up?"


Jex looked up, one final note of distrust coming out. Corvo locked eyes with him and smiled.


"You don't. But I always win with all my pawns standing."

"So uh, what about me?" Nix asked. Her part in the plan not having been mentioned. "Do I just stay here with you guys and wait or go with these two? The guards might recognize me but it's been fifteen years since I was last in there so maybe not?"

Fluffy tilted his head wondering what was even happening.

--

Riaden watched the building quietly from the shadows. Waiting for anyone to come out of it. He couldn't see inside so he had no idea what was going on. He briefly entertained the thought of just leaving. But Jex still had the staff.. hopefully. And he still had a mission to stop whatever that Avena woman was planning. And he stil followed his old assassins honor code of never abandoning a mission. Which meant he had to protect the staff at all costs. Which meant waiting for those two numbskulls to show up and make sure they don't get horribly murdered.

He regretted ever taking this mission. He had never stopped regretting it but his current situation reminded him of that fact. "I should have quit when I had the chance." He muttered under his breath.

"I have a question, why do they just let no names walk into a prison all willy nilly?" Rol asked, eating an orange. "Or is the prison that disorganized? They'll just take our word for it that we know this Arun fellow? They don't have an actual visitors list?"


The bounty hunter looked closer at the map. Orange juice falling on the sides, hitting empty white space. "Do we leave our weapons? Will they search us? Do they do anal cavity searches? Because if they do I'm out champ. Plenty o questions."

"I don't know about a visitors list but searching of non-convicts, anal or otherwise, is illegal in this city. You can thank the corrupt fuckers in the government for that. Officialy it's because it's considered an invasion of privacy but everyone knows it's actually to make drug smuggling easier."
Nix answered Rol's second question.


"Unfortunatly, once you become a convict all of those privacy rights fly right out the window." She anxiousy rubbed her arm up and down. The mere mention of cavity searches made her feel uncomfortable. Her prison memories were popping back up into her mind, she tried to push them away.


"I have no idea what their Manticore policy is though." She looked at Fluffy. Fluffy looked back at her, still confused.

"Oh don't worry."

Corvo smiled and pushed the pass onto Rol.

"Arun's a special kind of person, they won't care. Nix, you'll stay with us. They'll know who you are. They know everyone in this city."

Corvo's features faded to a serious facade. He handed Jex the card and Jex shoved it into a pocket. 

"As per your weapons, just keep them as hidden as you can. Jex, you'll have to pretend that's a walking stick if you're taking it in or you'll have to leave it here until we're transported."

Jex kept a tight grip on Danielle and nodded. 


"I'll keep the walking stick."

Corvo smiled and walked towards the door.


"Shall you?"

------------------------------------------------

Jex walked out and took a grip to his staff, then glanced back at the open door. He walked out the card alley they'd come through and took a look around, inspecting the city in the morning light.

"They know everyone? You mean they actually became somewhat competent in the last ten years? Huh." Nix was surprised but shrugged it off. "But that does make sense." She nodded in agreement.



As Jex squeezed the staff Danielle let out a cry in his mind. "Oww! Don't squeeze so hard." Jex could feel that she was joking. "Sorry, I was bored. That didn't actually hurt. I can't feel anything. At least not physically. I think?" She laughed.
"Maybe we should experiment with that. It'd be good data to have. Try rubbing me."
This time she seemed fully serious and curious.

It took her a while to realize how her words sounded. "Oh..No, not like that! I just meant .. to see if I could sense physical contact through the.. Oh no, I'm just making it worse." She sighed and hung her head, mentally. "Just forget everything I just said. Please?"

None of this was of course seen or heard by anyone but Jex. Luckily.


Fluffy followed Rol and Jex as they went outside.
As they left the building they were almost run over by two orcs running through while carrying a large wooden chest. The orcs seemed to be heading to the harbor.
The rain from the previous day had left large puddles on the dirt roads. A crowd of Elven workers walked around, not bothering to avoid the mud.


Just around the corner Riaden noticed them stepping outside and the door disappearing behind them. He wondered why they were just allowed to leave. He decided to keep his distance. If he approached them now who knows how the bandits would respond.
But still one question plagued the assassins mind. "What the fuck are those idiots doing?"

Rol took the pass and looked at it quickly, not actually taking any time to remember details of it or what was on it, you know like when you check your watch to see the time, but after you look you just can't remember what the time was? Like that.

"Well time to be errand boys, again. Always fun. Uhm, should I just hold this pass or put it in a pocket or something?"

Jex nodded and started walking off. He could see that they were approaching the wall separating the west side from the harbor. He pulled out his pass. It didn't seem like it was an ID, as there was nothing specific or generally unique between each one. He assumed the passes worked more like tickets. As long as you had one, it was good enough.


"Danielle, do you have any info at all on the city you can give me?"

Danielle formed her mouth with mana again and answered out loud. "The only information I have on this city is thousands of years old. Sorry." She paused. "But if you give me a few minutes I can scan the city and make a map. If you want."


Riaden kept following them until he was sure they weren't being followed by anyone aside from himself. He didn't see anyone suspicious so he approached them.
Suddenly he was walking in between Jex and Rol. "What the fuck are you two doing?" He asked buntly.

The streets slowly became less crowded as the morning rush hour passed by. Most of the people here seemed to be at the harbor or heading in that direction. After a while they found a main road and the dirt under their feet was replaced by white bricks.

The people there seemed to purposely avoid them. Mostly because of the "scary" manticore walking next to Rol.

"We are running errands for a gang"

Rol said, quickly. His pass was still in his hand from earlier. 

"You don't have one o these, you'll have to wait for a sec."