You scratch my back and I'll scratch yours

[Caterpillar]

# Coolcoyote and Baron welcome! Let's see what kind of story we create ^^ #


North. Anybeast knew the Northern Lands was harsh place to live. Even though it was Spring time and nature was supposed to wake up with bright colors flashing here and there, Northern Lands stayed bare and chilly.

It wasn't a big surprise that many vermin-tribes dwelled in this unwelcoming land, each of them struggling to survive as best as they could. And that mainly involved attacking the travelers, raiding small communities of goodbeasts, stealing everything they could and destroying the rest. And they weren't above of raiding camps of their own kind either and therefore different tribes, gangs and clans were much hostile towards each others. Strong preyed on the weak, as always. And every vermin-clan wanted to be the strongest.

One of the biggest vermin groups were Redglades. The clan's vermin painted their fur with red marks and usually wore something red in their clothing. They prosperity over other groups weren't only thanks to their cunning leader, but also thanks to their stronghold, that was particularly impossible other clans to invade.

It was called Fangfort. Redglade's leader Vermilion had found it back the days when Redglade was just a small wandering group of bandits. Now, in safety of their lair the group had grown into a size of small army.

The name of the stronghold was well-earned: the entrance to the hideout was mouth of cavern which was guarded by stalagmites. Those sharp, pointy boulders rose from the ground and hanged from the ceiling so the walking through the entrance was like walking into open mouth of giant stone-beast. Those stalagmites offered Redglade's guards good hiding places and lookout-spots, so no-one left or entered without being seen.

Inside the cave many camp fires and torches lit up the darkness, making it easy to see without trouble. The soil in the massive cave was smooth white sand and many tents had been built upon it. But what made Fangfort the most special, was the small town carved right into the cavern's rocky surface. Some were like small square-shaped cottages with doorways and small windows, piling up on each other forming a huge, angular fortress. Some were only tunnels that kept going and going into depths of stone with twists and turns and side-paths that easily lead beast astray.

Walking along one of those paths went three beast: two guards, rat and weasel. The third was captured fox whose wrists were shackled, short chain linking them together. The rusty chain chinked on every step the fox made, as he was forced down the stairs to the fort's dungeons.

"Move it", weasel ordered impatiently, shoving the fox forward with the back of his spear, not caring if the captive would stumble and fall down the steep stairs. He sneered. "You're one unlucky bastard. Tonight we're having a feast and Lord Vermilion might just toss you in the Bloodring out of spite for an entertainment"
The rat chuckled. He was carrying a torch.
"Do you remember 'de spy they captured last week?" he said, elbowing his weasel companion. " 'Dat feisty one almost lasted 'dree rounds. I won som' good coin back 'den..."

They arrived to the long, dark corridor which had only couple of torches with long distance between them. The cells were carved into the stone, but the corridor-side was made of bars that ran from the ceiling to the floor.
The weasel looked the looming darkness and grumbled.
"I'm sick of this place -- let's just ditch his sorry hide in the first one"
"'Dat one already has a quest", rat replied, handling his keyring.
"I don't care -- open the door"
Rat shrugged and places the key in the door's keyhole. The bar-door opened with whining creak. The rat flashed a nasty smile to the fox. "Here, 'dis is yur good own hole until leader decides what to do wid' yah... Ay bard! Lookey here, you gotta a roommate!"

There wasn't any source of light in the cell, but luckily right on the opposite wall of corridor was torch burning in its holder. Its light made through the bar-wall and in its light you could see as a small stack of hay in cell's corner moved and somebody sat up from the middle of old hay. Brown eyes were looking at guards and the fox with the sleepy gaze, like their owner had just been woken up from his slumber.

The bard, which the rat had addressed , was gold-brown mouse dressed in bright green tunic. Or it had been bright green tunic in some point. Now the dirt had tarnished it thoroughly as it had done same thing mouse fur altogether. He really seemed like one who had spent some time in dirty cell.

"Have good time you two", weasel said as he pushed the fox inside before slamming the door shut.

[coolcoyote]

ooc hurray! my first rp here on this server. Also my foxy food thief's name is Baro. Its greek for 'fool' :3

IC:

The fox did indeed stumble as he was led along. He probibly deserved it to be honest. This brief spell was the only time the fox had actually shut up along the walk here.

The fox jumps a little as the door slams shut behind him. He turns to the guards and cups his shackled paws to shout, "This is a little bit over kill you know! Even if you could prove I snuck that Ace of Spades into my hand its not like you had a lot of money to lose!" The fox growls and mutters to himself, "Jackwaggons."

The vulpine looks the mouse up and down while the mouse probibly does the same. The fox himself doesnt look like the sort to be a threat to the mouse beyond simply being a carnivorous fox. His paws are smooth and soft free from the signs of labor. It is clear that the fox likes to keep well fed as well. His open cloth vest exposes a rounded midriff, plump would be too harsh a word to describe him, prehaps a little pudgy.

After sizing up the woodlander mouse before him the fox replies as he turns for the far wall, "Well at least I won't be going hungry..." Then sits down on his haunches. Rubbing his paws together as he sits he takes in the scenery around him. "This is nice...small, confined, giving a sense of foreboding doom." The fox continues to chatter trying not to think about the threat the guards gave him upon entering the cell.

[coolcoyote]

ooc I should mention that you are welcome to interact with Baro in any way you want to even up to small injuriess. You can punch, kick, scratch, give him things etc etc, the only thinks i would like you to ask permision for first is eye gouging, dismemberent, and killing him off :3 even feel free to leave him high and dry if you want

EDIT:

I noticed that the forum here is a little...quiet. Most stories have not been uptaded since 2013. So if you are still hungry for rp I can recomend a few mucks. The detail on rp will be considerably less,quality is fine on mucks, so long as it doesnt take 30 min to type it :3

THis two have built in cliants into their web site, for everything else I would recommend downloading a client to run the game, like potato mu

feel free to type these names into google to find them.

Redwall Muck
-pg redwall themed muck.

Winter's Oasis
-pg13 steam powered fantasy muck

[Caterpillar]

# OOC: Thanks from the advice. It has been quiet here, but I'm still hoping that people would gather back. x) For me, I have finally settled in my new nest so now I have time check the foorum more often. ^^ #



Steck was indeed examining the fox with his gaze as the vulpine was doing same. This was the first time during his imprisonment that he had to share his cell with another beast... And this one was a vermin, no less.

Don't get him wrong: Steck from all the beasts knew that you couldn't judge the book only by its covers. (He himself was much of good example of it) Among the good-beasts there could be rotten apples as well as there was a fair possibility for some vermin not to be so cruel and brutish as their kin was portrayed to be. True their ideals and manners were different from good-beast... but not all of them were outright villains. In his travels he had met good share of vermin that had actually been fun company for short time at least.

But he couldn't outright ignore the fact that his new cell-pal could be a Redglader The fox did have red vest - everyone Vermilion's clan wore something red - but the fox lacked the red-paint markings, the most essential thing that would declare the vulpine as part of weasel-lord's Redhlades. So question was: who the fox was? If he wasn't member of the clan, then how he had ended here?

The bard chuckled: it seemed like the fox had some sense of humor, despite the situation he was in. Steck liked that since he wasn't serious person himself. And he would find something witty to say even in verge of his own peril.
"It is cozy, isn't it?" Steck said, stretching his arms as well as he could - they were shackled like the fox's wrists - and then picked up his hat. "If this doesn't make you want abandon all hope, just wait when they serve the next meal: It's a new aspect of torture, I tell you."
Even though the fox could be a friend as well as a foe, right now Steck cared only little of the fact. In both cases he had finally someone to talk to. After couple of days isolation he was bored out of his mind.

"Did they really toss you here just because you cheated in card-game?", mouse asked while placing his his hat on his head, looking at the fox gleam of curiosity in his eyes. Hinestly it sounded too petty reason to be thrown behind the bars -- this was bandits' hideout after all! Steck would assume that swindling coins out of comrade's pocket was so commonplace that those vermin wouldn't even bother discipline the culprit even if he was caught red-handed.

[coolcoyote]

ooc : Welcome back! congrats on the new appartmet!

IC

The mystery vulpine raises a furry eyebrow towards his mousey cell mate, "I don't know about the meal, with a little pepper you would make a fine stew." First rule of surviving in jail. Establish your toughness so as to not be beaten up and have your tail cut off or what ever other mannor jail beasts here did to weaker prisoners. At least so the fox thinks.

A village jail is a bit different than a...what ever jail this is. Who knows, maybe the mouse is some kind of rabid beast that will steal the fox's hide while he sleeps and wear it like a hat. Pleasent thoughts indeed.

To keep his active imagination at bay the fox replies again, "Oh! You mean the prison gruel! Im guessing you have been here for a while then? At first I thought they tossed you in here for dinner. Honest mistake." Continuing to chatter on, mostly to hide his own nervousness the fox replies once again, "And for your information I did /not/ cheat. I...mearly happened to have a spare ace hidden and strapped in my tail fure with a leather band out of purely sentimental reasons which I didn't want to discuss with the guards...who I happened to be playing, and winning against."

The fox shrugs. "Words were said, they called me a cheat, I called them words that went over their head and blah blah blah. Here we are."

[Caterpillar]

# OOC: Sorry it took this long for me to post here... U__u #

There was a hint of threat in the fox's words: it wasn't malicious one (Steck had heard a lot of worse threatening) but it was there nevertheless and it would have put anyone on his guard -- especially if you were much more smaller than the other.

But Steck didn't seem to be threaten at all from the fox's words. On the contrary he looked jovially calm like the two of them were having nice conservation about the weather. Steck had associated with the vermin enough to know when he was in company of blood-thirsty beast and when not. And let's not forget the fact that years ago he had been trained to sniff true out of false Therefore he could tell apart when someone was serious in his treats and when not as he knew very well how interaction between vermin worked. For example there was no reason wuss over every threat you were tossed at. Often those were just vermin's way shore up their position in group as they usually lived in environment where pecking order was determined by strength and how much more thug you were compared to the others
This fox was clearly testing the waters in attempt to figure out if he, Steck, was any threat or not. It was kind of funny actually, as the bigger vermin usually viewed themselves superior to smaller ones and were eager to be pompous around them. That mindset seemed to think that more you were bulky, the more you could push others around. And even thought there were some veritability in that logic, you shouldn't always underestimate someone just because of his size.

"I'm too chewy for anyone's taste", Steck noted small smile playing on his lips and for a brief moment his eyes gave the fox stern look. "Or do you perhaps want to try a bite?"
It the fox was thinking him as a easy prey, the vulpine should think again. Steck wasn't looking for a fight over the dominion of this cold prison cell, but he was making clear to the other that he wasn't going to cover in presence of bigger beast. Nor he wasn't afraid of vulpine.

"Well, it seems like you know the art of making friends then", Steack stated, as the fox had come to the end of his babbling about his innocent (which he much surely wasn't). Maybe vulpine's imprisonment was just a payback from those guards the fox had cheated... But he wouldn't be too surprised if Vermilion himself had ordered it. It seemed like everything that happened in Fangfort happened according Weasel Lord Vermilion's moods and whims. Maybe he had been a very bad mood when he heard about the foul play among his troops. Steck knew from firsthand experience that Vermilion had rather erratic traits in his character and his mood was quickly to change from better to worse and back again. At first the Weasel Lord seemed calm and collected , almost like beast you could reason with (as much as you could reason with a horde lord). But one wrong word or move at the wrong time and place -- and a dagger would be buried in your eye. In both of them if you really had invoked the weasel's anger...
Steck's finger trailed on his left cheek where there was the proof of Weasel Lord's deadly wrath: long, reddish cut running horizontally along his cheek. It had been only thanks to his quick reflexes that he had managed to dodge the flying dagger fast enough to gain only small wound instead of dagger right between his eyes.

[coolcoyote]

The possibly villainous vulpine got a soft chuckle out of the mouses omment. "You do look a little scrawny to eat. Probibly from all this healthy prison gruel I've heard so much about." The fox does seem to enjoy talking it seems.

Giving the bars behind him a nervous glance he replies again, "To be honest I would rather not stay here long , even if I was not about to be tossed into some fighting pit. You won't believe how long it takes to get the smell of jail out of fox fur."

Turning suddenly back to the mouse the fox claps his paws together and smiles warmly. A warm smile for a fox at least, one that shows off the fox's teeth. He seems to take rather good care of them surprisingly. "I imagine that if you had a way out of the cell you would have already used it but...here is to hoping right?" The fox leans forward slightly, "Do you have any ideas on getting us out of here?"

The fox looks at the mouse in a friendly mannor but behind his eyes there is a hint of fear that the mouse will say 'No.'

[coolcoyote]

ooc lol no worries. Ive been havin rl distractions on my end as well ^^

[Caterpillar]

# OOC: Good ^^ #

Steck tilted his head on the shoulder, looking at the vulpine like he was astonished to hear that to fox wanted to leave this fine place. However under that innocent face the mouse was thinking very hard. It was true he hadn't been just sitting on his tail while twiddling his thumbs, quite the opposite: of course he had been looking for a way to escape from the Fangfort. It had proven to be trickier than anything so far... This place was more like a fortress so even with his picking locks and sneaking skills, getting out of here was going to be difficult. But he had came up with some schemes, although there were some details that needed to work on or the plan would be disastrous. For example... There was something he needed to retrieve from Vermilion's personal chambers which make plan even more complicated. So truth to be told, having a partner in crime would help a lot and better the chances to escape from here...

But the question was: did he trust this fox to let him in his plans? How to be sure this vulpine wasn't a loyal member of Redglades seeking a way improve his status in the group? On the other hand, if the fox really was desperate to get out, the timing wouldn't be better: this night would be perfect night for execute the escaping plan as there was going to be a big feast tonight. And when there is a feast there will be barrels of ale and vermin drinking them all up. Which meant there would be a lot of drunkards laying around snoring in the halls, not noticing whoever was walking past them.

"That's an interesting question...", Steck said, laying down on his stack of hays, tipping his hat over his face. "Let's make a presumption that I indeed would have a plan concerning leaving this charming establishment... But what makes you believe that I would tell you all about it? Given that we're just met and I really can't tell if I should trust you or not... Pardon me, but if I really was planning a daring escape from here, I wouldn't share it with someone who might be a part of the very band who keeps me captive, now would I?"
Steck spoke in relaxed tone, like he was just making assumption here, not giving out any clues if he indeed was planning to escape or not.

[coolcoyote]

The fox rubs at his chin. As parinoid as the his fellow beast sounds, he raises a valid point. "I think you give the guards here a little too much credit for such a plan." He says scathinly, but continues more calmly, "Fair point though. I wouldn't trust me either really reguardless of affiliation."

The pudgy vulpine leans back against the bars and crosses his arms, "Either way, its up to you whether we sit here waiting for our doom, or if we take a chance that maybe I am who I claim I am and escape." The fox smirks as he looks down the hallway through the cell door. Still looking out the door he says once again, "I might be able to pick the lock for you, provided you have something to pick it with. I make it a habbit to not get caught, so my skills at breaking out of jail are a bit lax these days." he looks to the other beast with all seriousness. "You know the guards better than me, think any of them are dumb enough to be coherced near the cell long enough for one of us to assault them?"

[Caterpillar]

'Wouldn't trust himself' -- Well at least vulpine seemed to be honest about his nature as he outright declared himself unreliable. Sometimes it was more dangerous be in company of beast who pretended to be trustworthy.
Steck chuckled
"Well, my doom isn't going to come until Vermilion gets bored in me or I run out ballads that please him"
Who would thought that Vermilion fancied music? Not him, though Steck was grateful from the fortune's small favors. Vermilion's liking for the music was the only reason why he hadn't been tossed in the Bloodring. Although Steck knew that could be just a matter of time: The day when Vermilion would get bored of him, was the day he would die -- or be tossed into the mines where rest of the miserable slaves labored to expand Weasel Lord's underworld domain.
"But I would be lying if I claimed I want to sit here waiting for that to happen"

"Rodder is the prison warden and keeper of keys... Both shackles and doors" Steck replied helpfully from his sleeping place as the vulpine asked some information. "He was the rat who walked you here, the one whose breath smell like he has a fish rotting between his teeth... You will need his key-ring if you want get rid of those " - the bard pointed at fox's shackles. As like his, it was made of strong iron. The thick chain which joined the two handcuffs together was only ten inches long. That was long enough to allow use of your hands in simple task like eating.... But they would hinder any attempts to attack guards.
"He isn't the brightest one, but he's cautious and greedy - you could try to bride him open the door if you happen to have some gold hidden behind your ear. But if you really are going to be the main entertainment for the feast, I doubt he'll be that stupid to let you go and face the Vermilion's wrath."

Steck still had his hidden lockpicks - the Redgladers hadn't found them when he was robber from his possessions but he didn't mentioned them to the vulpine. He was planning save the picks as his last resort (it never hurt to have pack-up plan in case something went terribly wrong) and instead try getting out of this prison with the help of Rodder's keys. So the shackles or doors weren't the problem that were keeping him in this cell. The real problem was getting out of this big fortress without alarming the guards.
"...And even if you managed to somehow get rid of your shackles and open the door, don't you think it's little bit bad timing try to escape while every patrol and guard above us is gathering for the feast? I bet it'll be difficult to avoid getting caught"
Steck yawned.
"In fact -- if there is any good opportunity to try an escape, it would be after the feast. They are going to eat and drink through the whole night and will be snoring at the end of it. Slipping past the drunken guards is always easier. Or that's how all the heroes escape in stories."
Of course, the fox's situation had only one small problem: if Vermilion really was going to toss vulpine into the Bloodring, the fox might not survive the ordeal.

# OOC: May I query; how greedy Baro is? Steck needs to get something from Vermilion's personal chambers, so can your vulpine be tempted to come along with the mouse if there will be treasures to steal as compensation? ^^ #

[coolcoyote]

ooc Pretty greedy ^^ both for coin and food. He's basically a gluttonous petty thief. So yes ^^ Also this might be a good adventure to intoduce some npcs for your horde

I dont have time to post right now but i'll post again this afternoon.

Edit: I know that there is going to be one very round bellied grey fox and a red scaled lizard. THere might be a monitor lizard. A lot of the lackies will show up as we need them but I will make a list for other more important npcs like lieutenants, lackies that stand out from the general minnions and etc etc

[Caterpillar]

# OOC: Good! Then Baro can join Steck in this daring attemt to sneak Vermilion's chambers! It's going to be interesting. xD #

[coolcoyote]

It was a flaw that the fox readily saw unfortunetly. "Oh? Is this before or after I am beaten to death in some kind of blood sport ring?" He growls, "I'm not going to sacrifice my hide so you can save ourself later." The fox's growl softens into a deep sigh, "Unfortunetly I know one way to get the key, assumig the rat is on duty and really is as dumb as you say."

The vulpine looks a little forelorn but what he is thinking isn't too clear. "I think I can pickpocket the key off the beast but I'll need you to distract anyone he comes with. Then we can use the key to take our flight when the feast starts. If I can get my paws on some armor I can probibly pass myself off as a guard and you as my prisoner..." he passes Steck a sly smile, "Unless you think you can pull off a villainous vermin guard look?"

The fox chuckles as he stretches and pops his neck, "Either way, first things first...we need to make some noise, I'll handle the rat when he comes....and if this works, you owe me big." Cupping his paws together the fox takes a deep breath. There are many ways to gain the attention of a guard. For tonight Barm Ermile decides to employ one sound privlaged only to foxes that he knows a beast can not easily ignore...at least not forever.

The fox begins to make a high pitched baying noise. It sounds much like a short high volume scream that seems to echo in the caverns. There are so many things that could go wrong with this plan, Baro knows this. Even if it goes right the fox is mst likely still going to take a beating.

But it will still be less of a beating than dueling to the death in an arena...

OOC Lol. Also feel free to have any plan I come up with back fire horribly. I give you permision to interact with Baro in anyway short of death or dismemberment ^^. pg13 ways of course I'll start working on a list of possible npcs and post them on the other chat forum that fernleaf made.

[Caterpillar]

Steck didn't even get a change give his opinion, when the fox already took the deep breath and started. The bard immediately shot his hands over his ears, trying to cover them, his expression anguished.
For love of-- That sound was just plain horrible! Or at least he thought it was a sound: if he didn't know better he would guess it was shards of glass clawing the stonewall combined with the old crow's dying screams! And it was echoing through the cell, making it even worse, bouncing its way to the corridors. It had a long way to climb up the stairs to the warren's lookout-room, but maybe it really would reach there or maybe not... But Steck wouldn't endure this torture even a moment longer! How in the earth any beast was even capable of making such a ear-tearing voice? Heavens, it made him want to rip off his ears and toss them to the corner!

So to safe his dear hearing Steck grabbed his wooden bowl - that was placed next to his hay-stack, empty from its latest meal - and tossed it right at the fox. The bowl hit back of the vulpine's head with strong 'tonk!'. Much likely it wouldn't do any nastier damage than small bump, but surely it would distract fox enough to cease his howling.
...Well, maybe tossing wooden bowl at others wasn't the most politely way to ask them to stop, but in that dire situation he had just acted out of instinct, without second thought. Nevertheless Steck suspected the vulpine wouldn't have heard him even if he had yelled with top of his lungs. The fox screaming had just been too high-pitched.
Steck signed and shook his head.
"Listen, I want to get out of here as much as you do, but believe me, getting out right now, just before the feast, wouldn't do us any good. Why? The feast is about to start in a hour or maybe even less - no doubt the eager ones are already bringing out the ale. That means they're coming soon down here to fetch us - and what will they do when they find this cell empty? Just shrug and go back to the party?"
Steck lift his palm, as a gesture interrupt any backtalk the vulpine might present. He wasn't done with the talking yet.
"Now, I know you're thinking something between the lines 'better safe than sorry' and dear me, I can surely second that. But even your situation isn't that desperate than you believe."
If the vulpine tried to escape now and failed - and he would fail, Steck was the most positive about that - the security here would tighten again and he would have wait until guards would turn back to be sloppy. And he didn't have that time.
All right Steck, you old rascal -- time to say something which will make this fox postpone his escape for a moment... Yes, it wasn't in your original plans get out of here with company, but you have to include that vulpine in your plans if that's the only way of keep him off ruining this from you - from both of you.
"The feast is for the victory from the battle they had against the other tribe so they're going to send the lost tribe's captured prisoners first to the Bloodring. So you won't be the first one to go... And with bit of luck you might not even step that ring at all. Of course we can give miss Fortune a some assistance to ensure that's exactly what will happen."
Steck gestured the fox come closer as this was matter that was wiser not to speak out too loud.
"Would you hear me out? And afterwards, if you still think it as a bad plan, you can continue your screaming -- after I have stuffed my ears with wad of hay, that is..."

----

Vermilion was pleased and it was showing in the Horde Lord's light, self-content smile. It was the way weasel always smiled when things had gone just like he had planned: small, a bit twisted smirk that touched his lips ever so lightly. It could have been almost a warm-hearted smile -- if it wasn't combined together with two bright red eyes, which transfixed everyone they were laid upon. Their piercing stare was so unnerving that it outright undid any kindly effect the smile might have. With those eyes it was like seeing shark smile when you staggered over the railing.

Vermilion was an albino: his fur was whiter than winter snow top of the mountains without even the smallest hair of another color. So his red eyes were sharp contrast to the fur, as well were the red paint markings on his face, shaped like lightnings. They were apt to make Vermilion look even more ruthless.

The Horde Lord walked with strong footsteps in the corridor of his stronghold - he had company, following him few steps behind, as good vassals should do, but for time being, Vermilion didn't pay attention to them. He just joined his black leather half-glove wearing paws together behind his back and mused, feeling the familiar weight of his chest armor and shoulder guards on him. They were made of leather pieces that overlapped on each other, thus allowing its bearer move more freely. Under the armor was a red shirt, tucked under hide belt made of wild cat's fur... Prized trophy from battle long ago gone... But not as prized as his necklace.

Vermilion'snecklace was made of his fallen enemies teeth, single of them from different beast that had provided him a worthy challenge in battle... Only those truly strong or skillful were granted the honor to be collected a trophies. Every and last one of these teeth belonged to the beast that had managed to impress him (and it wasn't easy task) and every and last of them had ultimately met their end in his sword. Now their spirits travelled with him, forever bound to him, their strengths becoming part of him. It was way of Redglade.
And yet again another one was just added to his collection, his newest trophy of the victory. Vermilion had literally torn the tooth from the enemy chieftain's mouth when the other was still gasping his last breaths. Horde Lord hadn't even bothered to clean all the blood off the teeth, wanting everyone to see the red stains and know that his opponent had been worth of special recognition. Oh yes, that stoat had been a really good challenge hadn't he? Truth to be told, he hadn't expected the chieftain offer such marvelous resistance. Nothing he could conquer in the end, but making him work for his victory nevertheless. Vermilion could still remember the rush in his blood, the heat of the battle, the thrill of the closing death.... Ah the excitement! It was so inspiring have a good challenge after so long time. At the very beginning it had been easy to soothe his little addiction as leading a small group of bandits was always struggle of death day after day. But as Redglades numbers had grown and the horde had expanded its territory and authority over other tribes, Vermilion now found that there were less and less changes to test his skills. Today's battle had been so refreshing! And that was the very reason the Weasel Lord was in such a good mood. He would even have whistled, but decided otherwise since that would scare his captains out of their pelts: Vermilion never whistled . Or maybe he should, just to see the look on their faces as they would hastily try figure out where the trap lied.
Vermilion chuckled silently.
"I trust the feast is ready to begin?", the white weasel then asked aloud, no-one in particular, but leaving the obligation of answering hanging in the air to anyone catch it first.



# OOC: Well, you said I could interact with Baro anyway I liked... So here is it: beware Steck and his sharp aimed wooden bowl! >xD
And you can decide who are companying Vermilion at this moment ^^ I left everything open #

[coolcoyote]

The answer, as usual is caught by a ferret who's tall height is belittled by the crouched, huched over stance he takes as he approaches the Warlord. "Oh but of course!" he says happily while spreading his paws out wide.

The ferret normally wears a leather currass to both imitate the style of his master and to make his lanky body seem more muscular than it really is. But for today the beast wears a fox hide vest over a red cloth tunic. A belt is wrapped tightly around the tunic which fits over his pants which are a mix of otter hides stitched together. The ferrets boots are made from fox hide as well. In fact they were both graciously donated from the same fox, a red vulpine named Longtooth who used to have the postion the ferret had now before he incurred his lords wrath. It is widly said that the beast most surprised to find Gold stolen from Vermillians personal stash in Longtooths bedroom was Longtooth himself.

Not too far away a pair of beasts watch the warlord return from victory. One of the beasts leans his back against the wall of a pillar while drinking from a large tankard of mead. "Surprise surpise, looks like ol' DeathClaw is the first to greet our fearless leader." The rat standing next to him chuckles, "You mean snivels? He's going by DarkClaw these days. You really need to keep up with the times Wolf."

The creature known simply as 'Wolf' responds with a cackle of laughter himself. "DeathClaw, DarkClaw, no matter what name he uses to over compensate for somethin he will always be Snivels to me." Wolf often claimed he had wolf blood running through his foxy veins. A dark black stripe ran down his back, gradually turning to lighter shades of grey. A brown stripe highlighted his underbelly which was white. His position of Quartermaster only helped fuel his addiction to eating. The fox's own tan colored tunic was in dire need of replacing simply because it was getting hard for it cover the ever growing expance of his stomach as the seasons passed.

He wore a belt over the tunic made from squirrel hide as was his trousers. He wore a leather made sword harness to help support the long sword he rested his paw on. He scoffed as he watched Snivels go about what he did best. Sniveling up to his master. The fox swore there was more weasel in that beast than ferret.

Little did Snivels DarkClaw know that he was being talked about behind his back, nor did he care. "Please sire, the feast awaits. W-we have a most wonderfull spread of meat, potatoes, rice, and have your favorite wine ready for you. A-and some entertainment! We have only the finest combatents ready for no holds bared, deadly combat!"

______

Meanwhile, the 'finest' combatent Baro yelps loudly as a bowl colides at his head. He is nearly laid out, head first into the iron bars of the cell. He turns to growl deeply at the squirrel. Steck is talking but at this point all Baro hears are words.

A fire lit in his eyes the fox lunges at Steck, iron constraints or no, the vulpine's already short patience with his fellow cell mate...

ooc LOL I laughed so hard when he threw the bowl! By all means feel free to subdue Baro, if this game had stats his fighting skill would be in the single digits. And I think I will IC go with you plan that steck mentioned XD

[coolcoyote]

ooc oh yeah! Forgot to add. I need an official job for DarkClaw to do. Feel free to appoint his position

[Caterpillar]

# OOC: What? Sucking up his master isn't his official job? >XD ...Now worries, I shall name his position in Redglade's hierarchy in my next post (: #

[coolcoyote]

Ooc yes, Snivels is the official sucker upper-er of the kingdom XD As I said before feel free to execute these npcs if they should ever fail their warlord or interact with them which ever way makes the scene flow best, even with heroes. Just remeber to give me a little rp breathing room if you should choose to do so ^^. It's a little hard to rp a death scene beyond 'they fell over dead' if they get stabbed in the face with a sword XD

[Caterpillar]

# OOC: I'm so eeeeexcited of meeting all the minions you have created. xD I love Snivels already!
And all right -- I shall discuss the futures or demises of those minions with you when those situations are topical. Let's see if I have heart to execute anyone of those lil' rascals! xD #


Of course it was Snivels who first hurried to speak, who else? Snivels -- or wasn't it DarkClaw in these days? - was only a lieutenant, but in other had ferret had climbed his position rather quickly, considering how many other candidates he had to pass (or best) when starting as a mere foot-soldier. Of course Vermilion had heard all the rumors of those shady circumstances which had helped Snivels to rose in his current position, but whatever Horde Lord personally thought about them, he kept it to himself and allowed Snivels to success, even allowing the ferret some special privileges (which he always could take away, if he felt like it).

But Vermilion had to hand it to the Snivels: he was the most resourceful and slippery ferret he had ever met, dangerous and capable in his own unique way even though he didn't much liked toadies. But there was also a gain to have a beast eager to please in upper ranks. For example through him Vermilion learned what his troops truly thought about. How Snivels ever learned them, was bit a mystery to Horde Lord: as far as he knew, no-one particularly liked Snivels (and that was the curse of every suck-up) as Snivels was the first one to rat about insubordinations. So you would think he wasn't popular beast chat with. But the ferret had sharp ears and eyes and ways to get under others skin. So it was worth keep him around. Even thought Vermilion trusted Snivels just only as far as he could toss him. As beasts like him tended to be only loyal to their own ambition - And Snivels was very ambitious indeed, ready to do anything to get what he wanted. But he was also so desperate to have recognition, which made him easy to control.

"Good work DarkClaw", Vermilion complimented while walking - of course he complimented his troops for work well done time to time, even thought weasel never made it a habit. Maybe preparing the feast wasn't a matter he usually offered a phrase from, but as already said Vermilion was in good mood - he even called the ferret his chosen name instead on 'Snivels'. Vermilion was one of the few beast who called DarkClaw 'Snivels' when face to face with the ferret. And Vermilion used his privilege blatantly. Only, when deciding allow some personal phrase, he would call him DarkClaw. For different types of minions there were different types of rewards...
"You go ahead and see to it that troops get their well deserved feast. I'll join shortly"
Vermilion's red eyes caught a sign of Quartermaster's grey pelt. Speaking of rewards... There were some beast who deserved some special acknowledgment. It was important inspire the troops with special privilege as it encouraged try harder...
"Wolf", Vermilion commanded, saying nothing more but the authority in his strong voice making clear he was calling the Quartermaster to him. When bidding a simple tasks, Vermilion never had to say such obvious commands like "come here" or "do just that" - just one word or gesture was sufficient enough.

______


As the fox turned to him, growling, the bard could easily see the situation hadn't taken a turn to better. Quite opposite: maybe had been a mistake toss that bowl.
Slowly Steck collected his legs under him.
"Now, now", He started with soothing tone. "I think we can discuss this --"
-- or maybe not, Steck concluded as the fox barged at him head on. At that instant sparkling in the Steck eyes vanished immediately, his stance twitched out of its relaxed state and suddenly his smile was replaced with grim expression. And it was like a another mouse had stood there.

When the fox leaped over him, Steck leaped under him, dodging the fox's claws by rolling past vulpine's wide legs to his backside. When passing under, Steck wrapped the chain of his shackles around the fox's left angle and pulled with violent yank, so that vulpine would lost his balance and fall over onto his own stomach. Not giving the other time to collect himself, Steck released fox's feet jumping on the fox's back while pulling something out from his roomy sleeve. It was the red cord from his sleeve which he used to tie the sleeve up if he needed it out of the way. Days ago Steck had undone both of them from their hems and intertwined the two strings together, making it into one stronger cord.

When landing on fox's back, the bard rammed his foot on the nape of fox's neck to stun vulpine just few more seconds which took him to toss a loop over the fox's head and yank the red cord around the vulpine's neck . Stecks movements flowed without difficulty or uncertainly like he had done this many times before. And oh, he really had... Basically all the creatures he had ever used a force on, had been bigger - and therefore stronger - than him, so he needed more tactic than just barging at them head on. And he knew just the tricks. Speed, taking then down by surprise. Using opponent's movements against him. Using a dirty tricks, hitting the body's weak points. Tactics which would immobilize the opponent before the other could use his superior strength overpower him. And it never hurt to have a weapon within your reach to increase the odds...
...Everything you have could be used as a weapon, that was one of Scartail's teachings. And simplest, unnoticeable ones were usually also the deadliest. So he had plait fishing line in his hems' cords before threading them in their places. Because you could always have an use for a weapon that no-one noticed to suspect.

He pulled the cord, making the loop bite into fox's skin beneath the thick fur, just enough to make other gasp air he surely had now difficult to breathe.
"I said we can discuss this!", the bard snarled with sharp tone and couldn't stop his thoughts of turning in certain direction this opportunity presented. He could just kill the fox off and it would be end of this problem. Just one more forceful jerk in right angle and vulpin's neck would snap. Or he could just tighten the loop enough and let the fox slowly suffocate... But that would just create more trouble than solve them, wouldn't it?
Keeping the loop tight, cord's ends wrapped around his palms, Steck leaned closer whispering in vulpine's other ear with the voice which was soft and low - and totally disagreeing with the treating tone of his words:
" Now, are we ready listen and talk like the civilized beasts - or do I have to start breaking something to get your attention? I can do that too, mark my word"
Only couple of minutes ago fox had joked about the mouse's ability of appear as a villainous vermin - and now Steck played that part quite convincingly as it seemed very clear the mouse wasn't joking. All the bard's easygoing and good-nature behavior had disappeared so unnatural suddenly like the bard had clothed into another animal's fur. Or maybe shed off other on atop, revealing hidden one beneath.


# OOC: ..As you wanted, I put Steck sweeping the floor with Baro xD ...Okay, maybe nit excatly sweeping, but oh well -- and do tell if you disagree with something in this post (:

I hope I wrote it understandable what Steck just did O.o I have never wrote fighting scenarios in english so forgive me if writing is clumsy. Do ask if something is unclear. #