Ral walked down the plank that formed the only pathway from the dock to the ship. He paused for a moment, sniffing the salty air, before making an approving, "Hmph," he checked his belongings, all there. He turned around, making a wave to the merchants who provided the trip. They watched him go, some laughing, others just shaking their head in confusion. That was one unusual mercenary.

He passed by shop after shop. Nothing he desired. He came to a stop, looking at one building in particular. He read the sign and laughed, shaking his head. The odd thing was that there was nothing unusual or funny about the sign. He found it funny because it was normal.

The mercenary crossed a small bridge, coming to the main section of the port. He found an unoccupied bench and sat down. He took out a note and read through it, humming his self-proclaimed theme song.

Ayaker walked through the port flipping a gold crown in his hand, just looking for something to do. Usually his daily routine involved pickpocketing people in the crowded market place all day, then eating at night, and taking shelter at the local pub precisely before he lost control of his form. The day prior however, Ayaker had an overly-abundant loot, and he had both enough money for food, and a little extra to spend on something else. That something was more combat training.

Ayaker crossed the bridge and saw a man who looked like he might be experienced in combat. He had a lot of belongings with him, which led him to believe that this man had just arrived here.

Ayaker sat down next to the man, and reached out his hand to shake his. "Hello, welcome to Lomedor. " he said, trying to appear as friendly as possible. "You look like you just arrived, have you been here before?"

"Quite a please to meet you," He shook his hand vigorously. He was enjoying himself, acting like a dumb tourist. "First time indeed," he scanned through the note again, then flipping it upside down and reading it that way. He continued humming, almost to an utterly annoying point. He folded up the note and stuffed it into a pocket in his pack.

Perhaps on another day Ayaker would have schemed of stealing from Ral, but he wasn't in the mood, he had money, and Ral didn't look at all like a greedy noble. Friendly conversation was all there was to it.

"It's a fairly nice city, as long as you avoid the bad parts.." He scanned Ral, and made a point of looking at the scimitar that he had on him. "Then again, it looks like you could handle yourself pretty good even in the slums."

"Perhaps he can help me." Ayaker thought to himself.

"Well if you need some help getting around the city, im your guy. Ayaker Buceg at your service!"

"Alright then," he stretched, getting to his feet, "You can call me Ral, best mercenary you are going to find." In a more hushed tone he mutterted, "people may say I'm an insane wannabe but they lie," He laced his words with sarcasm, laughing to himself. "Now I'll be needing a place to stay, gotta deal with my objectives, which will be kept on a need to know basis, and food."

Vex was only passing by- but she heard the whispered contents of a conversation (well, she heard the word 'food' which was just as good) and sauntered over towards the curiously normal looking duo and poked her head in. Normal people didn't do such things but she didn't let the facts bother her. She was an embodiment of pure chaos and... blah blah blah, long story short she felt like it.

Self-consciously adjusting her disguise (which cleverly made use of her pointed ears to appear as a half-elf) she looked the two of them up and down and then surreptitiously approached them using very surreptitious methods. Surreptitiously. Neat word. She didn't know what it meant but it sounded cool to repeat it to herself as she approached them. Not a bad way to kill time.

"I heard the word food." She told them. "If you're feeding this bloke ya gotta feed me too. Anything he can do I can do better."

Ayaker looked from one to the other. He would think it odd that this women had just butt in to their conversation, but it felt nice to have some comradery for once. He reached in to his pocket, pulling out the crowns he had gotten the day before from the sleeping man on the bench. He needed some of it for his own puposes.

Ah well, it's not my money, I guess i can buy us lunch.

"Alright." said Ayaker sliding the change back in to his pocket. "There is a nice pub up the street where we can get some food, and they should have a room open for you Ral, and I might be willing to help you pay for it, if your willing to help me a bit..."

He turned to face the newcommer, "Anything he can do, you can do better? Well that is clearly a lie. I'm sure he is better at being a guy than you are," He looked back at the half-dragon. He drummed his fingers on the rod of his polearm, and began to hum again.
(The above is to Ninelives)
He nodded, "What do you want?" He didn't need the free stuff, but it was convinent. Besides, what could he possibly want that was too bad? He continued to hum his tune till his throat began to hurt. He looked over to the newcommer, random.

OOC: The above is to *Vex* you mean. Read teh post.

IC:

Vex looked slowly at the one who had insulted her masculinity and considered the words. Then she sadly shook her head. It was regretful that she had to inform this human of the truth but sometimes the truth had to come out for true evil to flourish:

"That can be rectified." She promised gravely. She tapped her mace. "If you think castration is painful- wait until it becomes a blunt object. Now that's pain."

Then she smiled. "Onwards my friends! We must go find booze!" Then she ran off, looking for the pub the one feeding her had mentioned.

Ayakers face twictched a bit when Vex mentioned her new way of castration, and he realized that this was not a person to piss off. Thankfully he was in a position of well being for he was buying her food.

It took him a few seconds to recover before he could answer Ral. Once he had gathered his words, he spoke as clear as he could.

"Sir, my request is simple, you are a trained combatant, I am a street rat, I want you to show me some skills in combat, any little trick you know, maybe provide me with some training, in exchange I will be your guide around this city and pay for your room fare and food."

He waited til Vex was out of earshot. "Im paying for her because im scared of her to be honest, imagine what that mace could do to an anthole..."

He agreed silently, "Indeed, quite the scarry one," he twirled the halberd, "But I am sure I could give you some pointers," He jammed it down, lodging it between two rocks in the road. He leaned against it, in a way that showed his expirence with the tool. He trodded off, not aiming for any place in particular, just to get moving. He eyed a parrot that sat on the shoulder of one man, it was yapping about buying jewlery, "I should get a parrot..."

Vex reached the pub before either of her companions. She met the crowd with a cheery and cheeky smile and they ignored her, turning back to their food and drinks. She pouted- it was still too early for the proper crowd to be here. These were boring people. Boring people deserved-

She shut off that train of thought. Devil she may be but she rather liked living and was planning on staying alive. Her current disguise would allow her to look somewhat mortal and prevent them from slaying her. It was a worthy goal. Made all the more worthy because she planned on conquering this hunk of land before her mortal life expired.

Or maybe just blast it to smithereens. She hadn't quite decided on that point yet. Sitting down, she started yelling for drink and got engaged in a heated argument with the barkeep as to when was the proper time to take out the really 'strong brew.'

Ral finnaly entered the establishment, after having a lengthy discussion with the jewlery seller about the uses of a parrot. He sat down, listening to Vex's argument with interest. He looked back, waiting for Ayaker to enter. He ordered a drink, pondering if he could get a parrot to sing his self-proclamed themesong.

"Parrots eh?" said Ayaker. "They can get a bit annoying, its sort of like they're mocking you. I guess some people think their cute or something though. To each their own I guess." This man was going to help him afterall, he would learn yet how to fight, maybe hed even make a "friend" before this was over. Friends, he never had any friends..

"Thanks for the help." he said as he pushed open the saloon style doors of the pub and walked through. " I've had to teach myself everything I know so far."

Ayaker sat down next to Vex. "I can't pay for you alcohol." he mumbled. "Ill give you the cash to pay for it."

Vex didn't know what the one feeding her was talking about. He had just contradicted himself so she assumed she had mis-heard. Clearly he was going to buy her booze because clearly he knew it would be a bad thing to piss her off. Even if she didn't go off and tell him he was an assassin surely those pathetic mortal senses detected the danger. Right? Righ-

She was distracted by the incoming booze and promptly forgot that train of thought.

"MMmmm...." She murmured, savoring the first drops of alcohol she had had in the past two or three hours. "You're the bestest friend ever! If you ever need someone killed I'll do him in free of charge! And the next one can be at half-price." Around her men laughed at the obvious joke and she smiled beatifically at them. Let them laugh- she'd have the last laugh. And not because she was slow either.

With a grin, Vex finished her drink.

"Annoying is just the thing, great for messing with foes. Makes them do something stupid. Taunts are effective, though it also runs the risk of them hitting with more force..." he made a weighing like action with his hands, "Gotta decide for yourself." He nodded in agreement to his advice.

Ayaker stared at Vex for about 30 seconds before he finally blinked. Hopefully she wouldnt drink too much booze, or he might not have enough money left to pay for the room.

and turned back to Ral.

"I know what you mean." he said. "Every move in a fight is the start of a chain of events, one could lead to victory, and one could lead to certain death." Well it makes sense in theory anyways, haven't gotten in many reall squabbles yet.

"Life is sort of like that too come to think of it..." Ayaker ordered a Yak leg for himself to eat, along with some potatoes and berry water, and quickly forgot his ponderings of life, which he deduced would lead to no good.

"What are you getting?" he asked Ral.

"What ever tastes good," and thus he selected random items. After eating till he was content, he was left with a potatoe. The potatoe was promptly impaled on the spear tip of his halberd and he planned to pick from it later. "So want to start practicing?" He began to rythmicly drum the pole of the halberd again.

Vex continued drinking, oblivious to their conversation. Sooner or later he'd come for the favour- everyone did in the end. The ability to end a life was just too sweet a temptation. Every day, someone needed killing. It was what kept her fed in a word of such perfect miscreants. She did something helpful and they did something helpful. Fair trade. Not that it was always fair, backstabbing, double-crossing, triple-crossing she had seen them all done and was itching to try for a quadrulple cross.

Ah, that would be bliss indeed.

Another glass thudded down onto the bar and Vex decided she needed some food. Or chicken. Was chicken a food? She couldn't remember. Perhaps she should try...

And to her extreme consternation Vex fell asleep.

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

OOC: You guys post too quickly, this will serve as a tacit: go crazy with your posts, Vex's sleepin' for now.

Ayaker pushed his plate forward, and handed the barkeep a few coins. "Alright." he said to Ral. " Let's get to training. Ill come back and pay for your room after." He stood up, and eyed Vex, who was passed out, he was rather glad to be getting away from her, she definitely scared him.

On another note, He was looking forward to learning a few new tricks, although he wasn't quite sure how they could practice without getting at least a little hurt.

Ah well, Im sure we'll find a way.

Ral nodded, taking a bite of his impaled potatoes. He stood up, twiddling his halberd between his hands. "Shall we?" He made a start for the door. He paused for a moment, looking back at Vex, "She isn't coming I take it," He shrugged and continued out. "So what shall we cover first, hacking, slashing, feinting, or blocking, or the really fun stuff?"

Ayaker stood up, and began to follow Ral. " I just want to know how to win a fight at any cost. I know how to stab, but I do need some work on dodging, I feel like im not quite as quick as I should be, im also not very good at feinting or slashing."

Ayaker felt the dagger hanging in his scabbard at his side, and realized that a halberd and a dagger were two very different weapons. "You'll still be able to teach me if I use a dagger right? Are you skilled with more then one type of weapon? Im more of a quick weapon fighter."

"Daggers are the basics, that or the sword. So I think I'd know a tip or two. Halberds are still better though." He nodded to himself, picturing a halberd cleaving a rouge in two before the rouge could even reach him with his dagger. "alright, we will work on dodging first."

Ayaker debated whether or not a halberd was better then a dagger. On one hand, the dagger was quick, and a seasoned rogue could easily dodge the slow clumsy cleaves of the halberd and get behind the fighter and stab them in the back. On the other hand, if the fighter was more experience then the rogue, he could very easily destroy the rogue.

"In my opinion, its also a battle of skill, weapons only do so much. " Ayaker said unsheathing his dagger and looking at his mug in the shine of the side of the blade. He returned it to his scabbard after a few moments. " Alright. Let's head to an open space." said Ayaker, he pushed open the doors to the pub and looked around, he saw an alley on the side of the pub and remembered there was a nice open space in back where drunkards often got in to fights with one another. "There's a good place out back." he said walking towards the alley.

Ral nodded, twirling his halberd, "Also, halberds are effective for just what daggers are good at. Speed. A jab from one of these can be as sudden as an instant. Very useful." He took another bite of his potato. Once they reached the destination Ral got himself to a good location, setting his halberd gently aside, and drew his scimitar. "This will be what you are more likely to encounter, quick at slashing. However there are a few weaknesses to it as well. It can only slice in one way, therefore they must always come at you in a set manner to have any hope of hitting," He demonstrated the range of attacks, "However if they are ambidextrous then watch out since an attack could come from any angel."

Ayaker nodded as he drew his dagger. "Yes, ambidexterity may be a pain to be on the recieving end of, but I am ambidextrous myself, and I think it will be a very useful talent in tough fights. Imagine a foe as quick as lightning duel wielding and dodging blows, your life could end at any second."

Ayaker put his feet apart, one in front and one in back, and got ready to dodge whatever Ral threw at him. The truth was though, he was a little less then confident in his own abilities, but that didn't mean he wouldn't try his best.

"Feel free to give pointers at any point."

Vex awoke groggily. Her bill had been paid, she took it, noticing she was outside of the bar and not in it. Her 'friends' had left. She considered tracking them but yawned. The one she owed a favor would find her in due time. She only needed to wait. Then again, if he waited too long she might just forget all about it... much as it pained her, her memory was a sieve sometimes.

Whistling a merry tune and stinking to high heaven of spirits and booze she got up, dusted herself and promptly went on her merry way. It was a wonderful day in the neighborhood and she was just getting to know everyone. She intended to know this city inside and out before she took a real assassination request- those that were serious about it paid good money and she'd rather not get on the bad side of someone who could fork over serious, serious dough. It wasn't unheard of for assassin's to make thousands for each kill.

Course' she was a long, long way from *that* price tag. Still, it was only a matter of time before everything was in place. The world would fall- she would see to it.

Ral nodded, jumping from one foot to the other. "Alright, another good one is distraction, distraction-" he jabbed forward unexpectedly, making a swift slash, "can open you up for anything," He jumped back, flourishing his blade. "So when you are in a combat situation, never let anyone distract you from the dangers at hand," kicked up the potato and took a bite before letting it fall back down.

"Alright.." said Ayaker. "So I must focus completely on my enemy and anticipate his moves as best I can. That way I can succesfully react fast enough."

He stood there, looking deep in thought, and looking at his dagger. Suddenly, he broke out in to a sprint and ran from side to side going at Ral, as he approached the front of him as fast as he could dagger outheld, he dove at his feet and rolled behind him. It would have been a great move, if he didn't get stuck on his back when he rolled and take an extra 10 seconds to get up.

"Ok, so I do need some work..."

Ral smirked, "Good move none the less," He flicked the scimitar around, "If I had been using the halberd I might have been able to trip you, then once you were on the ground it would be a simple process to just stab you." He paced back around, watching Ayaker's every move.

Once Ayaker had gotten to his feet, he slowly circled around Ral, looking for an opening, any spot where he could charge and act as if he had laid his blade. If it had been a real fight, and his life really in danger, he had a wild card, he could very easily breathe a blast of fiery breath in a wave in front of him, thus burning the foe, and perhaps distracting them enough to allow him to move in for the kill. The fact was though, is that was a very last resort, and hed prefer to never have to use it, because it would expose his true identity.

While he had been thinking all of this, he could of been easily intercepted, so he focused on anticipating Rals moves again. At what he thought was a good time, he ran sideways at Ral, getting as close as he could, and then once again diving at his feet, and attempting to push him off his feet and on to the ground with some strange move.

Ral jabbed his blade into the ground, so that it acted as a ramp for the trainee. He stepped to the side, allowing him to roll off the blade. "I wouldn't recommend trying that twice," He picked up his halberd, twirling it. In the process the last bit of potato came of and he snatched it in his mouth.

Ayaker flew off the blade and right in to the brick wall that was the back of the pub. He slowly got to his feet, feeling the back of his head. "Ok..." he said "Maybe your right.... "

He slowly circled Ral again, trying to pick any opening he could. It was sort of hard to win this fight with a handheld dagger and barely any skill. Ayaker didn't really know too much of what he was doing, since he had never actually fought anyone in a fair fight, just snuck up on some people and acted as if he had slit their throats, which he could have if it wasn't training. Once the enemy knew he was there however, he was at a bit of a loss.

Ral toyingly prodded Ayaker with his halberd. "In your situation I think I would use kicks more. Like try to block their strike then kick out, maybe try to knock them down or just pound them in the jewels." Ral jumped back, his halberd pointed at him, "Try it, just no jewel kicking, ok?"

Ayaker nodded at him. He realized that he still had a lot to learn, and despite his frustration, the strenuous practice would one day save his life. He sheathed his dagger, and ran towards Ral, he aimed a light kick at his left leg, and prepared to block whatever move Ral threw at him.

Ral reacted how a typical person would, jumping back and to the side, but the kick still snagged him and he stumbled, "Good, here is where you would either slit their throat, or threaten to," he straightened. He suddenly charged, acting as though he would hack from above but spun and rammed with the end of the halberd instead.

Ayaker reacted as fast as he could, he sidestepped and kicked the Halberd out of the way, then he darted behind Ral and attempted to sweep his legs out from under him with a powerful kick, and at the same time attempted to pull on his shoulders so he would go down easier.

The blow dropped him to his knees, but he rolled with it. Thus spinning around and slamming his halberd's bottom once more at him, this time aimed for his ankle. "Good shot," He chuckled wishing he still had more potato to eat. He jumped back as soon as he felt his halberd impact something, whether it was the ground or his leg, there was no time to wonder.

Ayaker staggered back in suprize as Ral rolled and attempted to sweep him with his halberd. he attempted to jump back but the Halberds tip slammed in to the ground near his foot and skidded, catching his ankle as he jumped and knocking him backwards in a twirl that would of broken his neck had he not put out his hands and sprang on to his feet with a back hand spring. He grabbed his ankle and jumped up and down. "Well, at least you clubbed my ankle and not my kneecaps." he said as he rubbed it.

Ral shrugged, jumping playfully side to side, "Give up?" He twirled the halberd around him rapidly. "I'm not a very good teacher but I can give a few pointers, besides, its getting late." He picked up his pack and slipped it on. "So where to?" When he wanted to stop, well, he was going to stop.