Shade

(This is cooperative writing between myself and Audemus. Just a reminder that no information found in this story can be used by any other player other than those involved in each scene. Thank you and enjoy ~) 

She looked up from where she’d been crouched between two of the children, and smiled, “I think I can find something..” she said, standing. She gave the one child a gentle stroke of their hair before going to root around in the chest of drawers at the foot of her bed. She found a pair of drawstring sweatpants that would probably be a little short on him but would fit his hips, and a shirt she was pretty sure was left over from a boyfriend or three ago. She handed them to him through the door before leaving him to it. The...

(This is cooperative writing between myself and Audemus. Just a reminder that no information found in this story can be used by any other player other than those involved in each scene. Thank you and enjoy ~)

She huffed a hoarse chuckle, shaking her head, “Alright then, there’s a lounge, just there behind ya, go lay down,” she instructed, pointing at the piece of furniture that lay beneath a window with only a book and a blanket on it. “I’ll find some painkillers for you,” she murmured, ignoring his question entirely, “And you should rest while I get the children cleaned up and fed.” She glanced down at herself and frowned. She was covered in dirt and blood, singed a bit at the hems and looking a frightful disaster....

(The Party Job is divided into five parts, this will include violence and mentions of child slavery and human trafficking. This is cooperative writing between myself and Audemus. Just a reminder that no information found in this story can be used by any other player other than those involved in each scene. Thank you and enjoy ~) 

Audemus worried at the corner of his lower lip as Shade performed her work, although there was a determined set to his jaw as he steeled himself not to complain. His right arm felt numb, and the pain made everything else feel very hazy, but he recognized the fraying, dark edges of his vision. Wasn’t the first injury he had sustained, and thanks to this runic magic, (hopefully) not the last, but the advent...

(The Party Job is divided into five parts, this will include violence and mentions of child slavery and human trafficking. This is cooperative writing between myself and Audemus. Just a reminder that no information found in this story can be used by any other player other than those involved in each scene. Thank you and enjoy ~) 

Shade nodded and hopped out the window, climbing down the trellis as roughly as she could to make handholds for the children to follow. When she hit the ground, she scanned the area and pulled a small vial of iridescent blue dust from her cinch. She spilled it over her palm and snorted it quick and easy before discarding the vial and turning to look up at the children. Mana flooded her with the softest of...

(The Party Job is divided into five parts, this will include violence and mentions of child slavery and human trafficking. This is cooperative writing between myself and Audemus. Just a reminder that no information found in this story can be used by any other player other than those involved in each scene. Thank you and enjoy ~) 

Shade felt something shift in the heartbeat pulsing against her shoulder. Not fear, no, but utterly disquieted. She lifted her hand to that pulse and laid her palm over it. What had he gotten into? He felt cold and now, seething but that was forced down. She frowned. She couldn’t leave this place to search for him – the place was too big and though they were temporarily connected that bond did not give...

Shade stared at him for a moment before laughing brightly, letting herself get spun away from him and into the crowd. She glanced over her shoulder at the dogpile as Aud extracted himself to shout vitriol at the young lord stuttering and flushed. She had to hand it to him, he was good at being a distraction. Every pair of eyes in the place was on him. She edged into the wall, slowly shifting into a silvery mist that lowered to the floor and poked at the seal of the door until she could fit through. It was simple enough to linger invisibly at the edge of the room, noting the exit Audemus told her of and the lone occupant who seemed unconcerned about the noise outside. Shade dabbed potion at her throat and wrists, then straightened,...

(The Party Job is divided into five parts, this will include violence and mentions of child slavery and human trafficking. This is cooperative writing between myself and Audemus. Just a reminder that no information found in this story can be used by any other player other than those involved in each scene. Thank you and enjoy ~) 

*.*.*

She dipped a rather graceful curtsy, “My lord,” she greeted, an impish grin curling the corners of her lips, “Shall we?” She straightened, waiting patiently.

He grinned, crooking his arm out for her to thread her palm through. “We shall. Just this way, your ladyship.” Audemus guided her down the gilded thoroughfare lined with stately manors, making small, idle conversation in case they...

(Anything tagged A & S is a cowritten RP - prefacing a guild storyline. Sorry about any errors!)

*.*.*

It wasn’t to say that he didn’t believe in happenstance. He just knew better than to let an opportunity slip by out of some fear of coincidences: it was fortuitous that he had received the invite (which had been pitched in the trash immediately) to one of Flamerest’s opulent dinner parties merely a few days before someone apparently thought the other elf was better off dead. Not foreboding. The alley encounter with Shade proved to be the highlight of his evening and the rest of it, quite uneventful. He cut his night short – much to the surprise of the doctor who was still awake by the time Audemus had made his way back to...

(Anything tagged A & S is a cowritten RP - prefacing a guild storyline. Sorry about any errors!)

*.*.*

The soft fizzle always preceded the messages. The black shadow bled into existence, oozing back to reveal a neatly folded cream colored parchment with a red wax seal. The letter dropped into her lap and the black faded with a soft snap. Shade sighed softly, setting her virgin fizzy fruit drink down on the bar. Her legs swung as she eyed the unfamiliar seal before breaking it carefully to scan its contents. Her expression went flat, silversage hues frosting over.

She refolded the letter before tucking it away into her pocket. She quietly finished her drink before hopping down and waving at the barkeep who nodded. It was easy for her...

She woke before them when the sun was just curling tentative fingers of orange over the horizon. She was curled up among dog and elf limbs, sprawled out with them on the bed. She smiled, petting drowsily lifting heads as she slipped from the literal dog pile. Stretching, she found her bag and wiggled into short cutoffs and a fresh tank top before leaving Talyn’s room with a silent hum.

She padded barefoot through the empty Tavern and out into Rustberg proper – the sleepy seaside port waking as the docks rumbled to life and birds call echoed. Tying up her hair into a ponytail, she began to run. 

It was an easy lope of a run over cobbled and hard packed dirt streets. Past the dark shops and the just opening stalls. Fishermen and...

She was genuinely at a loss.

On one hand, Audemus had inside information that would cut days off her recon of the place so she could get the job done quicker. On the other, he was coming with her. While they’d danced around the implications of what she would be doing while out in public, she knew he knew what was going to happen.

Erhur Flamerest was going to die for his crimes.

Shade was given this task because she could get it done and give him what he deserved at the same time. She had long perfected the poisons she carried with her for such tasks – traceless killers that induced natural ailments but tormented the body before death finally claimed them.

And child slavery was on the list of things Shade could not tolerate...

She winced - the impact of the explosion inside the barrier would certainly leave bruises on her hands. Not that much thorium nitrate then. She pulled her heavily gloved hands from the arcane dome on her workstation and carefully withdrew petite fingers from the singed leather. Red and purple splotches were already blooming over her knuckles and the insides of her hands.

She flexed her fingers slowly before pulling a pen from her hair and scribbling the results in her ledger. Way too much nitrate. Shade went to the cupboard and pulled out a small blue jar, the pungent contents of which she massaged into her skin, staving off the worst of the bruising. It was time for a break. She squinted at the open window, gauging the light, and...

She sat back on her haunches, a wrist dragging across her brow as she surveyed the work she’d gotten done. It was amazing how many years could fit into a few well-packed boxes and a suitcase.

Undercity had been her home for years. She’d come to know the winding ruins the way she’d known Silvermoon. She’d come to love the decay and plague smells thought at first it had been a trial to suffer them.

Her lips quirked in amusement as she remembered those first months. Shade combed damp bangs out of her eyes and sighed softly.

She owned the place, so it was easy enough to lock and ward it up before relocating to Silvermoon, but it was the principal. She’d fought tooth and nail for this tiny bit of peace after .. well,...

Looking up at it now, it seemed twistedly strange in person than she’d remembered. The city was – as always – hues of reds and golds and white gleaming and nearly pristine. The winter moon was high – a small white disc radiating light and washing out stars as it painted the world beneath in shades of white and greys.

She hadn’t been here in here in years. Fingers found the knotted scar on her shoulder, rubbing at it idly as she stared up at the gates into the city of her childhood. Sharp teeth found plump flesh as she nibbled her bottom lip in uncertainty.

Her ear flicked at the hiss echoing in her ear, her hand lifting from her shoulder to the pendant at her throat, the small orb filled with swirling mist. She was no...