A Thief's Escape ~ 9:44 Dragon (In Progress)

(OOC: Takes place in Ferelden.)

As he headed towards the village of New Hope, Willis could barely breathe. Despite it being evening, the air felt cloyingly hot. Unusual for Ferelden. Willis was reminded of his youth in Rivain, where the only relief from the humidity was jumping in the ocean, despite it being filthy from the city's run-off. Dirty as it was, it was a relief from the huge flies that would settle on his perspiring face. The village was visible from about half a mile away, Willis sighed and reached for his bag. He got out the letter from Druck which contained the directions to the Merchant's store.



Druck was Willis' new boss, he started working with him three days ago. While looking for a new mercenary company in Lothering. The Dwarf was the head of the mercenary company: Swords of Amagarrak. It's a relativity new mercenary group. When Willis first checked it out  when he found an ad near the tavern explaining, the Swords of Amagarrak "greatness". When negotiating with Druck, Willis found out that he ran a mostly clean business like helping out the locals, clearing out Darkspawn. A far cry from the more morally reprehensible mercenary companies Willis worked for in the past. 

In the three days Willis met Druck back in Lothering, two of them where when he was drunk in daylight, in public. The Dwarf promised Willis good pay and Willis was short on coin and struggled to find mercenary work. Reluctantly Willis accepted Durck's offer. "The first job Durck had offered Willis was to investigate a robbery at a store in the village of New hope. Apparently the store owner had a family heirloom stolen. The theft had been reported to the town guard, who passed it off to Durck at the store owners insistence. Willis raised an eyebrow when he first heard this. Why would a store owner trust a merc than the town guard? He assumed that this store owner is friends with Druck.


After assigning the task, Druck told Willis he would be watching 'with great interest'. This confused the Rivaini. Was the dwarf looking to make this a long term gig? Or maybe it was just more drunken rambling.


Willis sighed and began to wipe off the sweat from his brow, "fucking heat." he grumbled. Willis folded the parchment and placed it in his mini bag. "I hope the inside of the store will be cooler." He said to himself "I need to take a break from all this heat, maybe get some water too."  Willis had finished the last of his water that morning, and was in the process of sweating it off now. 

Willis finally approached the village of New Hope. From what Durck told him, the towns main economy centered around farming, and trading its crops to the bigger cities.As it was evening, most of the villages inhabitants were asleep. There were a few guards patrolling New Hope There were a few guards patrolling the town, although they paid Willis no attention. He noticed they were equipped poorly should they run into trouble. Leather armour and basic iron swords would not help them against better armed bandits. Willis turned left at the street indicated in Durcks directions. Sure enough, the shop he was looking for was right there. A faded sign read 'The Riverdale Trader'. Below the name were the words 'Good items at a great price!'. "Looks like this is the place." Willis said to himself.

As soon as Willis entered the shop he was startled by a shout. "Welcome!" the man behind the counter said, rather loudly. "I was about to close, but I can an exception for you! You look like a man who is always on the road!"



Willis cleared his throat "I'm here for the job, I take it your Sven?" He certainly looked like a merchant: Middle aged with brown hair and wearing a fairly expensive tunic.

Sven's eyes lit up, "Oh thank the Maker you're here! Druck is always reliable when it comes to work like this!"

Willis snickered a bit and said "Sure." 'maybe I had a wrong impression of the dwarf.' he thought. Druck certainly hadn't made a good impression on Willis. Willis stepped up to the counter, and put his hands on it. "So tell me what happened?"

Sven breathed heavily "Well 2 days ago I had a break in..... The only thing that was stolen was this compass." Sven handed a piece of paper to Willis. Frowning Willis analyzed it:

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"Looks very old." Willis said. "I have a compass of my own, it looks nowhere near like this."

"That's because it's from the Ancient Age." Sven explained. "Or at least that's what my family claims. Father always told me that our family were the first people who mapped out Thedas thanks to that compass. It has been in my family for generations. It's priceless."

"Therefore it's your most valuable item." Willis surmised.

"Well I don't what's going to happen. My forefathers will haunt me beyond the grave if I can't get my compass back." Sven said throwing his arms in frustration.

"I need some leads." Willis said. "Do you have any idea what this robber looks like? Where he might be headed?"

"I did attack him and got a look at the thief." Sven said bitterly. "An Elf, with red hair and blue eyes. When I chased after him he was headed towards the forest about northwest from here."

"Is there anything in the forest: Villages, caves?"

"Not that I know of." Sven answered "There are some talking trees and Blighted Bears, but that's just a rumor."

Willis sighed: "At least I got description. So how come the guards couldn't help you?"

Sven eyes lit with anger. "Bah these "guards" are the laziest people probably in all of Thedas! The moment I report a crime to them, It takes a month for these guards to say: "Sorry there's nothing we can do." It's amazing that there's not more theft in New Hope."

Willis chuckled. "I guess, but we need to talk pay."

"Say no more! 20 gold coins for my compass retrieval!" Sven said "Now please hurry!"

"First may I have some water for the journey?"

"Of course, here's 4 water skins! Free of charge! It's a hot evening, unusual for Ferelden!"

Willis turned with a nod of thanks to the shop keeper and exited the store and headed for the village gates, the pay is looking good after all! Still the prospect of talking trees sounds fascinating. He never communicated with one before and perhaps they had some information on where the thief went. From what Willis heard though, these trees were possessed by spirits. Given that he's a spirit warrior, Willis has some experience in talking to them. So it shouldn't to tough. All of a sudden Willis heard sounds of scuffling. Willis ran and saw, a couple of thugs dragging a girl by her long brown ponytail and pinning her to the ground by it. "It's time we get rid of you and him!" One of them shouted. "It's nothing personal!"

"Woah!" Willis shouted. "What the hell is going on?!"

One of the men, a scarred bald man turned, and stared at Willis. "This is nothing that concerns you!" He spat, as he continued to pin the woman by her ponytail.

"Apparently it does concern me." Willis said angrily, gripping the hilt of his saber. "What has this woman done to you?"

"Lot of things." A squishy faced thin man said. "We're gonna teach her a lesson in respect!"

Willis immediately drew his sword. "Can't let you do that!" He shouted. "Let her go now or y'all getting decimated."

The gang laughed, "It's six on one!" The scarred man laughed still pinning the woman down by her hair. "You ani't shit, get out now."

The squishy man squinted his "Wait a minute..... That's him! I think we're supposed to gut him!"

"You sure?"

"Yeah, I think that's the plan to disrupt Durk's business to get back at this bitch!" The squishy faced man said turning to the woman. He drew his knife. "Kill him." The other men followed suit except for the man who had the woman pinned.

Willis was confused for a bit "Must be Druck's competition." He thought. "But what did they mean: Get back at this bitch?" Setting those thoughts aside for now, he reached out to the fade to look for a spirit to connect. But he had little time as the three of the thugs descended upon him. Willis easily decapitated the first thug but he barely dodged the second and third blows from the two thugs.

Willis looked from the corner from his eye and saw the bald face man and two others occupied by something: The woman perhaps? Willis was immediately stabbed in the leg by the squishy faced man. It briefly hurt, but Willis could still walk. He punched him in the face, sending him spiraling to the floor and crossed swords with the other thug. After a few parries, Willis cut him down and sliced the throat of the squishy face man as he was about to get up.

After the fight, Willis turned to the woman "Impressive skills." He said "You gonna be okay? What's your name?"

cmoe