A Thief's Oasis (Hafnium) GMed by Takimaru

[Takimaru]

Re: A Thief's Oasis (Hafnium) GMed by Takimaru

Status:

Spoiler

Xara: HP = 53, PP = 41, EP = 38, Status = Pregnant

The victim's pained groans didn't distract Xara for long, especially as they seemed to blend in amongst similar noises made by his crewmates, who may not have had injuries as grievous as his, but were in enough agony to whine about it. While two of them had not (yet) been stabbed, they were still in no position to really threaten the bunnygirl or her lovely partner, having some trouble in simply standing. From the looks of it, both probably suffered a mild concussion of sorts, and were still trying to clear out the cobwebs. While Safiya was still coughing up water near the rear of the boat, she still had Xara standing between her and the pale-skinned pirates, which gave her ample time to recover. Wiping the excess saliva from her lip, the bronze-skinned beauty groaned, returning the smaller thief's gaze.

"Uuhk--*koff* K-Kuhh... nnnh. Eheh... good thing, 'cause I dunno what I would've done either," she quipped. "Ah-m... er, nevermind." Even to a casual observer, it was apparent that Safiya wasn't saying everything that she wanted to. She gave Xara a meaningful look, coupled with an oddly bittersweet smile, before turning her head off to the side and letting the bunnygirl announce her demands to the red-eyed rogues.

Her conditions caused them to pause and look at each other for a moment, then back to her. Let them live? Seriously? But upon giving it more thought, they found that they really had no reason to doubt the possibility of her delivering such a penalty upon refusal, despite the girl's diminuitive stature. After all, she had left two of their comrades severely wounded in little time at all. It was just... awkward, to say the least, to be threatened in such a way by this odd creature. Still, they ultimately chose to go with her offer over the option of jumping overboard, and one of them gave the awaited answer. "Just a buncha coins and loot from our raids, that's all. We take a share to the main processing plant, where they sort it all out, melt down the stuff that isn't needed, that kinda thing. Never seen girls as freaky lookin' as you two before. If that's what you even are. But either way, you got a lotta nerve raiding us, 'cause this route is pretty well traveled. There'll be another boat just like this one, headed the same way, in a matter of minutes."

 

[Hafnium]

Re: A Thief's Oasis (Hafnium) GMed by Takimaru

"Oh, really?" She asked in a monotone with an accompanying blank stare that might suggest that the bandit's reply hadn't been fully thought through. "Then it won't matter if we dump you overboard, since you'll be rescued shortly." Despite the murderous intent in her suggestion, Xara didn't really plan to become a serial killer that day. She had only said as much in order to gauge their reactions to the prospect, wanting to determine how much time they actually had before they needed to be on the move.

It didn't matter much how they had reacted, be it in abject terror or an honest lack of concern, as the void rabbit had other plans for them. "Unfortunately for you, I can't let you go back and warn your friends just yet," she explained in a sudden return to her cheerful tone. "Toss your weapons over here – underhand, please – and strip down to your undies. He can keep his clothes," she spoke of the man who'd been stabbed in his knee. "When you're done, open up a crate and get inside, help him in," she again gestured to the wounded one. "I'd recommend a roomy one and to be mindful of how you position yourselves, it's going to be a few hours before we can deliver you back to your warehouse." She announced the last part with a smile as she waited to determine whether they would comply or if she'd have to punish them both with her meteor hammer.

Spoiler

If they try to dive overboard or do anything outside of her instructions, bonk (preferably non-fatally) them with flurry and whirling death! Xara needs their shoes (and other clothes)!

Attack Modifier: +47 = 52 [Base] - 4 [Two Weapon Fighter] - 12 [Flurry] + 3 [Lucky] + 8 [Whirling Death]
Damage: 1d8 + 19: 21 [Base] - 4 [Two Weapon Fighter] - 6 [Flurry] + 8 [Whirling Death]
Xara attacks 4 times (twice per bandit) and takes 4 damage for whirling death being active.

Probably Applicable Stats (Whirling Death): 9 Armor, 43 Dodge, 23 Resistance, 43 Grapple, 31 Perception.

Cheat Sheet

When taking HP Damage: Xara has 1 armor from Clothes (TP = 25, DU = 2). When she's reduced to 27 HP or lower, she takes an instance of weakened causing a -10 penalty to all of her rolls.

When dealing PP damage: Xara deals +2 PP damage during penetrative sex. She deals half of PP damage dealt in corruption (whether you want this to happen is up to you, Takimaru, since it's the DLaby universe.)
When taking PP damage: She takes +4 damage from sensitive, and another +8 damage for each of the following fetishes being fulfilled: cumming inside, exhibitionism, public use, or size difference. On an orgasm, her PP resets to 21 instead of full.

Has Fertile: Pregnant on roll of 2, 3, or 4. Or automatically with another fertile partner.
Has Pheromones: Others more interested in sex with her.
Has Night Eyes: No perception penalties in the dark.
Has Nose for Treasure: +12 perception rolls when it comes to finding treasure.
Has Thief: Can disarm traps and pick locks.
Has Lucky: +3 to all non damage rolls.

 

[Takimaru]

Re: A Thief's Oasis (Hafnium) GMed by Takimaru

Status:

Spoiler

Xara: HP = 53, PP = 41, EP = 38, Status = Pregnant

The look of panic that formed almost instantly upon the bandits' face after hearing Xara's threat of throwing them overboard was priceless. If her intent was to gain a reaction, she certainly earned one that likely surpassed her own expectations, showing that despite their odd, nearly inhuman appearance, these men were every bit as 'human' as she... or, well, Safiya was, in terms of expressiveness. Other than their voices being a bit raspy, not much other than their looks would set them apart from common desert bandits, only that these ones worked atop water instead of sand. The more talkative one of the two wouldn't leave the bunnygirl's implication unanswered, however, letting the initial moment of shock pass before speaking. "W-Well, uh, no, I-I mean... the water is bad. Uh... not bad, but it--w-wait, what?"

The following look of surprise didn't take over until Xara ordered him to remove his clothes as well, to which he understandably hesitated. Still, the ever vigilant Safiya watching him with knives at the ready made sure that this pause didn't last too long. Spurred on by the blonde's piercing glare, the men began to strip down, one after another. When they got to removing their bottoms, the girls would find that the pirates, for whatever reason, wore underwear that left little to the imagination, consisting of little more than a white cloth that kept their genitals mostly covered.

"Ugh... would you mind putting those away?" grumbled Safiya, averting her eyes.

The men could only give her a strange look, confused by her apparent disgust, before proceeding to assist their wounded colleague and look to help him into one of the crates as directed. Of course, this did mean that the contents needed to be emptied out first, which they did the work on when it became evident that the tanned beauties--or at least Safiya, of the two--wouldn't help. This resulted in a pile of metallic treasure on one end of the boat; coins, jewelry, silverware and all sorts of other belongings, varying greatly in the level of luster and size. Finally, they begrudgingly carried out Xara's commands, and minutes later, the two Deunic thieves were left with a collection of shiny goods on the deck, along with some pale cargo safely stored away in crates.

"So, are we heading back to the warehouse? Guess we'd better get going before the next patrol arrives, then," said the older of the two girls, taking one of the outfits and putting it on, along with the shroud that would conveniently cover her head and face--but not her eyes.

 

[Hafnium]

Re: A Thief's Oasis (Hafnium) GMed by Takimaru

The odd sight of nearly naked albino bandits in their strange undergarments left Xara's eye twitching. In addition to being just a few small steps over the line of oddity and a generally weird atmosphere, it was a reminder that stabbing the man hadn't driven her heat away completely even despite the bandits almost completely opposite her idea of an attractive partner. It ended up a potent lesson that, should a similar situation ever arise in the future, she ought to have them throw down their weapons first, ready the containers next, then strip down before imprisoning themselves. Although she was almost disappointed in the haste that they had followed her orders, because once they were safely stowed away it was back to business. Dark, depressing business.

"Mm," served as her initial reply to Safiya's comment. The bunnygirl paced toward the wounded pilot with a grim determination. "Those warehouse slaves won't free themselves. Or at least I think they would've already if they could." She wound her meteor hammers around her waist and knelt beside the dying man, retrieving the stiletto in the process. The void rabbit had managed to give some thought to how she would have to deal with the bandit in-between everything else that had transpired. It wasn't pleasant.

She had initially wanted to dump him overboard, but she realized that would just be running away from the problem in a way that would create more suffering for him and more problems for herself. Despite that, it was still what she wanted to do, because it seemed the easiest right then. The only thing to temper that desire was the matter of her guilt and what she should do, and that was to care for his suffering first. And as Xara could be sure that there was nobody within a hundred miles who could undo what she had done without seeking to turn her into a slave, that meant one thing...

So she had knelt behind him, and found that however much she wanted to begin to apologize for what she was about to do, she didn't have the strength to move her mouth. Without the ability to easily vocalize it, she thought it. She apologized to him, solely in her head, noting that what she was about to do really was all her fault for continuously pushing for more and being greedy, and then apologized for that to. In her own thoughts she went on at length about how she had never really wanted it to come to what it had, though having the thief who had stabbed him kneeling beside him and looking at him with a sad expression and a knife in her hand probably did little to comfort the albino bandit.

Her internal apology probably lasted for ten seconds before she found the strength to say anything aloud. "I'm sorry, but neither of us can heal you, and we can't get you to anyone who can." Since she couldn't really slash his throat with the stiletto, she'd just have to make do. As she spoke, she subtly angled her dagger in an effort to mimic the technique that the hunters of her village had taught as a means of humanely killing prey with a spear. "I'll try to make it," she thrust the stiletto into his exposed neck suddenly and without warning, hoping that she would catch him off guard by doing so before her sentence had finished and kill him quickly and painlessly in the process. "Painless..."

If it proved necessary, she would make another few attempts. But once her grim work was done, she would stand up and allow the dagger to fall from her limp hands, clattering as it hit the deck. The short thief would return to Safiya, her feet dragging across the surface of the boat and her head lowered in shame and remorse, and then wrap her big sister in a hug, getting tears and a bit of blood on the blonde's disguise.

Once she found the strength to remove herself from the toned thief, she went to get dressed in her own disguise. "We should get off this route before we put him overboard," she tonelessly suggested.

 

[Takimaru]

Re: A Thief's Oasis (Hafnium) GMed by Takimaru

Status:

Spoiler

Xara: HP = 53, PP = 41, EP = 38, Status = Pregnant

"You're right. Even if this is some kind of different... world, or whatever, the way oppression works looks to be about the same. I'm not sure exactly when it is we're supposed to be sent back, but I'll be damned if I sit around doing nothing while innocents suffer needlessly." Safiya's previous awkwardness dropped in favor of her support for the bunnygirl's apparent sentiment. It was a reaction that Xara could easily expect of the toned thief, as Safiya hadn't failed to make her personal motivations known for the crimes she committed in places like Jadiram. Nor would she move from her stance against any that she deemed oppressors a secret in the least, unfortunately for the white-skinned thugs, who happened to fall into such a category quite easily. Perhaps it was thanks to such an alignment that the short-haired beauty didn't move to stop Xara as the smaller of the two moved to the bandit's side with blade in hand, nor did she even say a word to break the thick silence, understanding the tension for what it was. Initially, she could only stare at the scene that began to unfold, and even then, she didn't do so for long.

The bandit himself looked as if he had seen much better days, with a hand over the wound on his torso in a vain attempt to stop the profuse bleeding. A red puddle had already formed upon the deck, trailing from where he had first been stabbed. The man's breaths were labored and audible, shallow as they were. His red pupils seemed to follow Xara's face as she approached him, reading her expression. While he didn't look to be angry at her, or even make an attempt to struggle as she reached him, he also cared not to sooth his diminutive murderer, limiting what sounds he did make to those of heavy, burdened gasps for air. He may have even reminded the bunnygirl of a dying animal, one that had no longer clung to the option of struggling so stubbornly, whose physical and emotional resources were resigned to clinging on to what little life remained. Either way, his torment ended quickly. Even if Xara chose to follow up with several additional strokes to ensure that her grim task was complete, she would find that by the time she finished, the pale-skinned man now lay limp in her arms, never to heave another raspy breath again.

By this time, his cohorts were already safely stored away in crates, blissfully ignorant of what had happened to the pilot of their boat. One person who did witness this, however, was Safiya, who looked on with a slightly furrowed brow. She was quick to welcome the Void Rabbit into her arms when approached, hugging her tightly. While the older girl's demeanor remained something close to a cool silence, Xara could feel her rapid heartbeat against her head, and hands trembling upon her back. It told her that while Safiya might have seemed rather stoic to the event, she was far from dead to it, nor was she suddenly immune to the bunnygirl's touch over the course of several minutes. The combination of these two would have sent the blonde stuttering again, had she the initiative to speak. Instead, she took the helm and steered the boat off course in a quick U-turn without another word, taking them back towards the warehouse from whence they came.

The two, along with their living cargo, would cruise in further silence unless Xara bothered to break it, only stopping before they reached the complex. Here, they could dispose of the slain bandit's body before plotting their next course of action. As with before, the warehouse had the same sentry guarding its entrance from the docks, but now, the larger loading area, through which the boat could fit perfectly, looked to be unguarded. Still, it proved quite difficult to tell exactly who or what lay inside, outside of the slaves seen from before.

 

[Hafnium]

Re: A Thief's Oasis (Hafnium) GMed by Takimaru

Once the duo had guided the boat to relative safety, Xara silently set about the grim business of removing the former pilot's corpse. Although her diminutive stature and weight made the task nearly impossibly difficult, the void rabbit wouldn't ask for Safiya's assistance in cleaning up after her morbid deed, though she also wouldn't stop her big sister if the toned woman did aid her. From there, she pulled the dead man to the side of the ship, quickly discovering that a dead body felt somehow twice as heavy as a live one. A bit of grunting, struggling, and sweating later and she managed to prop him against the edge. Without help, it would take her slowly getting an arm and a leg up and over the side and swinging freely over the exposed ocean, then a bit of pushing to finally see the deed done.

The short thief hadn't thought to tie anything to him to make the corpse sink, mostly because she had never been around enough water to ever have any knowledge of how bodies behaved in it. She made no effort to correct her mistake either, by that point she was just tired of having the physical reminder of what she had done still on board. Indeed, once the evidence was disposed of, she quickly began contemplating the matter of the slaves if only to take her mind off of it.

"I think this is going to have to be a smash and grab," she said aloud as she turned from the water. "They're probably not going to buy that we're creepy bald albino guys once they get close enough to really look at us, though we could try scrounging some of that weird-looking underwear in order to enhance the illusion. There's loot all over the deck, too. But hopefully we can fool them until we're actually in the warehouse. Then I figure we just try to crowd as many slaves, and any other shiny thing that happens to be easily removable, into the boat as possible and speed off! Maybe the captives will know more about this weird place and have an idea of how to get home."

"So, to start, I think we should just casually enter the warehouse, like we belong there, and then figure out where to go from there depending on how they react. You're more familiar with how the boat handles than I am, so I'll trust in your judgment on how to best pull in there and still be able to get out quickly, big sis!" In the meantime, she would keep an eye out for anything and everything, but her main focus was on how the slaves were secured inside the warehouse.

Spoiler

Instructing Safiya to pilot ye boat into the warehouse, pretending that they're totally not there to raid all their goods and slaves. Also, because I can't fully picture the warehouse layout in my head, suggesting that Safiya try to park the boat such that she doesn't have to back out and in repeatedly like a 92 year old person parking an RV in order to get out of the warehouse.

In the meantime, Xara is keeping an eye out for how them slaves are secured and whether or not she'll be able to easily herd them into the boat.

 

[Takimaru]

Re: A Thief's Oasis (Hafnium) GMed by Takimaru

Status:

Spoiler

Xara: HP = 53, PP = 41, EP = 38, Status = Pregnant

The bunnygirl's well-toned older sister seemed to have her eyes set on the complex in the distance, ensuring that no patrols were headed in their direction. After all, regardless of whether they were dressed in the bandits' clothes or not, the sight of a body being thrown overboard would have no doubt raised some suspicion. Eventually, after ensuring that the coast was clear, Safiya would then move to assist Xara. She arrived a bit late, however, reaching the smaller thief only in time to watch her push the corpse over the boat's edge into the water. The dead pirate hit the surface with a resounding splash, and within seconds was gone, having sunk into the abyss by the time either girl checked on it, provided they did; after all, these types of physics weren't easy to know for a desert dweller. Safiya refrained from checking on the body, instead giving the long-eared girl a quiet look, with all of the expressions that one makes before starting a sentence, though she could only stop herself and turn back to the helm with more words unsaid about what was most likely a sensitive topic.

Once the subject matter turned back to business, however, she swallowed down the thoughts that plagued her head in order to make a proper response.

"Right. Uhm... well, I'd rather not put on their used underwear, to be honest, 'cause that would just mean their junk would indirectly touch my... uh, nevermind. If they strip us down to that extent, I think we'd be in more trouble anyway. But, other than that little detail, it sounds like what I had in mind. I'll back us in, but I'll need you to stay towards my rear... err, the boat's rear, to keep an eye out for anyone who might spot us going in. If it gets dangerous, then yell something at me and I'll speed off from there."

With that, she placed her finger on the accelerator, managing to go at a casual enough speed until they had reached the loading bay, then turning around in order to back them in. Upon reaching the back of the craft and looking around, Xara would find that no sentries were in plain sight, at least not yet. After parking in such a manner that they could speed off relatively quickly, Safiya roped the craft to a tie-down in the warehouse dock to keep it steady, for what she assumed would be a much quicker release than an anchor.

Safiya joined her cohort inside the warehouse, where the a large, wall-like stack of crates, about eight boxes wide and tall, sat in front of them, providing a visual barrier of sorts to the rest of the place, but also keeping most of the inhabitants from seeing them right away. There was still clearance on either side, through which anyone could fit--though a peek around those corners would reveal passages where similarly-dressed bandits were patrolling. To their left and right were almost endless rows of prison cells. Some of the prisoners within, carrying pale complexions and crimson eyes not unlike those of the brigands, looked up at the shrouded girls, but said nothing.

The blonde looked upwards at the stack of wooden boxes to see that the ceiling of the storeroom was much higher than the top of this structure, which was about twelve feet up. She took a knee, interlacing her fingers and nodded to Xara, motioning for her to use the makeshift step up in order to climb the relatively sturdy 'wall' of boxes, where she could get a good survey point as to what was inside.

Once she made it up, the bunnygirl would see no less than four bandits on patrol, all of whom carried the same long and thick weapon that the sentry at the building's alternate entrance did. In addition, there were three more 'walls' of boxes, just like the one she crouched upon, in front of her, arranged parallel to each other along with her own, with enough clearance in between each for a person to fit through. Two patrolling guards even used these gaps as part of their routes to verbally harass some of the prisoners, throwing small rocks at them through the bars. Luckily, they didn't even bother to look up just yet, as the Void Rabbit's penchant for stealth kept her movements relatively silent.

Further down into the massive warehouse, noises of clinking metal and the sorting of various steel items could be heard, though it was difficult to see anything that far from where Xara sat. She could tell that there were quite a few people, as well as items, stored here, though much to her fortune only a quartet of bandits patrolled the vicinity, with two of those even bothering to check the immediate area around her. If she waited long enough, there was roughly a half-minute gap by which she could attempt to communicate with some prisoners without the guards noticing. Alternatively, she could try to get the jump on at least one of them while having Safiya dispose of the other; surely at least one of them had a key of sorts.

 

[Hafnium]

Re: A Thief's Oasis (Hafnium) GMed by Takimaru

The short bunnygirl would nod and follow her big sister's instructions. The feeling of adrenaline and having something to do again, something dangerous no less, was actually a welcome relief from being given time to think about what she had just done. Indeed, had she been given time to think about it she might have felt guilt just for the manner in which she was running away from her impending crisis of conscience. But that was both the best and worst thing about the course of action she had steered Safiya into pursuing, Xara didn't have time to think about it, why she had done it, or why she was doing what she was doing, because she needed to keep an eye out for anybody who might notice them while they were doing what they were doing.

And once they were in the warehouse proper it only got better. The tenseness as she sought to remain undetected, the half-success of discovering what she had come to steal away, the concern of what would happen if she was caught, all those familiar sensations of years spent thieving combined to serve as a nice shield against the full realization of what she had done. She quickly scaled the crates at the blonde thief's motion. Her heart raced as she scrambled atop the makeshift wall, keeping to a crouch to try to avoid any notice. She could feel a sweat building underneath her disguise, not from exertion but from tension and just the slightest hint of excitement.

She put four fingers up, directing the hand gesture toward Safiya, to indicate the number of guards she spotted. The void rabbit also pointed in their general directions so that the toned woman would have an idea of where they were. Afterward, she observed their movements for a little while, trying to determine if there was any sort of pattern to their patrol. When she was satisfied with her findings and the opportunity came up, she dropped down and crept to the cages. Although she had nothing against the albinos, she made an attempt to seek out a prisoner with a similar complexion to herself. Upon gaining one of the slaves' attention, she would put her finger to her lips and pull the away just enough to expose a patch of her dusky skin to prove that she wasn't with the guards. "Keys?" Xara whispered quickly. The second she had an answer, she would try to slip back to Safiya.

Spoiler

Creep up to a slave, ask them where the keys are, creep back to Safiya before her 30 seconds are up or immediately after she gets an answer.

Probably Applicable Stats (Lucky): 1 Armor, 43 Dodge, 23 Resistance, 43 Grapple, 31 Perception. 37 Stealth.

Cheat Sheet

When taking HP Damage: Xara has 1 armor from Clothes (TP = 25, DU = 2). When she's reduced to 27 HP or lower, she takes an instance of weakened causing a -10 penalty to all of her rolls.

When dealing PP damage: Xara deals +2 PP damage during penetrative sex. She deals half of PP damage dealt in corruption (whether you want this to happen is up to you, Takimaru, since it's the DLaby universe.)
When taking PP damage: She takes +4 damage from sensitive, and another +8 damage for each of the following fetishes being fulfilled: cumming inside, exhibitionism, public use, or size difference. On an orgasm, her PP resets to 21 instead of full.

Has Fertile: Pregnant on roll of 2, 3, or 4. Or automatically with another fertile partner.
Has Pheromones: Others more interested in sex with her.
Has Night Eyes: No perception penalties in the dark.
Has Nose for Treasure: +12 perception rolls when it comes to finding treasure.
Has Thief: Can disarm traps and pick locks.
Has Lucky: +3 to all non damage rolls.

 

[Takimaru]

Re: A Thief's Oasis (Hafnium) GMed by Takimaru

Status:

Spoiler

Xara: HP = 53, PP = 41, EP = 38, Status = Pregnant
Stealth check (Xara vs. Bandit A):
Xara wins.

While Xara did find a roughly discernible pattern to the way that the white-skinned sentries went about their routes, she would also discover that they weren't terribly disciplined about their patrols. Sometimes they would stop to take an extended amount of time in verbally harrassing the prisoners, who were mostly men from the looks of it. Upon closer inspection, however, the bunnygirl would spot several women and children held captive on the far end in separate cells. They were possessed of similar physical qualities, although they did retain heads of silvery hair. A quick hop to the next stack of boxes would reveal one young man whose complexion matched that of Xara's.

In a place like this, he stuck out quite easily, though there were no added security measures enforced upon him, other than a set of shackles attached to his legs to keep him from moving around too quickly. Although tattered, his clothes did resemble that of the traditional Deunic style to confirm Xara's suspicions that he was at least from the same country as her. Like Nadim, he was of a shorter build, but with blonde hair similar to Safiya's in shade, and possessed of more effeminate features. He was visibly less robust than the boys Xara lived with, due to what the bunnygirl could assume to be malnutrition. As with many of the other prisoners, his face was dirty, though he bore many more signs of physical abuse upon his body.

The youth didn't quite know what to make of this smaller brigand that appeared in front of him, not until getting a closer look at her face thanks to the girl's gesture. When he did see that she was like him--a person of Deunic origin--his eyes widened, and he attempted to scramble forward, causing the chains upon his legs to clink about loudly. "H-Hey... Help! I'm not even from here! Ah... uhh, keys... one of the guards has it! They all look the same, so I can't tell which, but he comes around here to abuse me every so often. Please, just don't leave me..."

"What the hell is going on out there?!" came a husky voice from one end of the vicinity. The Void Rabbit managed to slip away before one of the guard's telltale footfalls reached her previous position, settling in front of the Deunic man's cell. "Who are you talking to?" he growled accusingly at the beaten prisoner.

"Uuhh, no one. Just my imaginary friend! Eheheh..."

"You're a weird bastard, you know that? In more ways than one," scoffed the guard. "Didn't even carry anything valuable--none of your kind ever does, really. Shoulda just thrown you overboard to begin with, I say. And we would've, if some idiots out there didn't pay a pretty penny. But I don't entirely blame them, I guess. You do have a pretty mouth, heh."

The boy's eyes widened in terror as he tried to crawl back towards the far end of the cell, whimpering. "No, not again please," he whined, only to watch the albino brute access a ring of keys from his belt and work to find the right one for his chamber. Once he did, the bandit quickly opened the cell with a menacing, lewd laugh. "Wouldn't hurt if we made some more use out of you before selling you, I figure..."

 

[Hafnium]

Re: A Thief's Oasis (Hafnium) GMed by Takimaru

The information was exactly as she had expected. At least it made things easier. "Try to be patient for just a little bit longer, 'kay?" She whispered hurriedly before slipping away. There was no sentimentalism necessary there, she certainly wasn't going to abandon the man to his fate and she didn't want to dally in the warehouse any longer than she had to, it was just a matter of waiting for just the right time to strike. Once the brutish albino had begun to converse with the man, Xara listened and readied her double-headed meteor hammer by unwinding it and bringing the chain into her hand.

The conversation was somewhat enlightening. The idea that people were paying for slaves meant there were other groups in the strange new place they had found, the bunnygirl assumed. It was difficult to say what the bandits and any other inhabitants of the strange place might find valuable though, although the value of an unfortunate human certainly didn't seem to fluctuate no matter where she went. Xara made a quick few gestures to Safiya. First, she pointed at the toned woman and then pointing in the direction that she remembered the other abusive guard going. Her next motion was pointing at herself and then the guard who was getting ready to abuse the effeminate captive. Then she put her fist into her palm, hoping to convey that it was time to take care of the two guards. I really need to learn some sort of secret hand signs or something.

Once the cell was opened, the stealthy void rabbit crept into range of the brutish albino and spun her meteor hammers a few times, hoping that Safiya would be able to deal with the other guard in short order after the first went down. I could really use a sap or something too. With nothing more than that second thought, she unleashed her weapon in an attempt to make the heads of her meteor hammer butt into the albino's own.

Spoiler

Sneak attack on the albino. TOO SUBTLE FOR HIM.

To-hit: +51 = 52 [Base] - 4 [Two Weapon Fighting] + 3 [Lucky]
Damage: 1d8 + 17 = 21 [Base] - 4 [Two Weapon Fighting]
2x damage and automatic hit if she makes the stealth check versus his perception.

Probably Applicable Stats (Lucky): 1 Armor, 43 Dodge, 23 Resistance, 43 Grapple, 31 Perception. 37 Stealth.

Cheat Sheet

When taking HP Damage: Xara has 1 armor from Clothes (TP = 25, DU = 2). When she's reduced to 27 HP or lower, she takes an instance of weakened causing a -10 penalty to all of her rolls.

When dealing PP damage: Xara deals +2 PP damage during penetrative sex. She deals half of PP damage dealt in corruption (whether you want this to happen is up to you, Takimaru, since it's the DLaby universe.)
When taking PP damage: She takes +4 damage from sensitive, and another +8 damage for each of the following fetishes being fulfilled: cumming inside, exhibitionism, public use, or size difference. On an orgasm, her PP resets to 21 instead of full.

Has Fertile: Pregnant on roll of 2, 3, or 4. Or automatically with another fertile partner.
Has Pheromones: Others more interested in sex with her.
Has Night Eyes: No perception penalties in the dark.
Has Nose for Treasure: +12 perception rolls when it comes to finding treasure.
Has Thief: Can disarm traps and pick locks.
Has Lucky: +3 to all non damage rolls.

 

[Takimaru]

Re: A Thief's Oasis (Hafnium) GMed by Takimaru

Status:

Spoiler

Xara: HP = 53, PP = 41, EP = 38, Status = Pregnant

Rolls:

Spoiler

Stealth check:
Xara rolled a 19 (+37 modifier) = 46. Auto success.
Damage:
He got KTFO.

Safiya looked up at Xara, blinking a few times as it took a moment for her to process the peculiar signals she was given. Luckily, it didn't take long for her to understand what her Voidic companion meant, especially once the last gesture was made. Giving Xara a nod, she swiftly moved on ahead, clearing one row of crate walls at a time to ensure that she wouldn't be seen by the second sentry in the vicinity. Despite the difference in height and build, in terms of proper technique Safiya was every bit as stealthy as her smaller partner. Her experience eluding town guards on the streets of Jadiram proved invaluable here, as she moved closer and closer still towards the other man's position, undetected.

From here, it was up to the bunnygirl to ensure that the rapist was subdued. Her meteor hammers picked up enough momentum to start whistling through the air, though the sound was only audible to Xara's own keen ears, most likely, as her target seemed far too focused on his own to take note of it. He was already upon the somewhat frail, tanned youth by the time the Void Rabbit could unleash her attack, but either way it connected to the back of his head perfectly with a dull 'conk', causing him to fall forward onto his victim. This time, however, he was not nearly conscious enough to do what he'd have liked to the youth. The boy pushed him off with some struggling, and a little help from Xara, unless she wanted to watch him struggle for an uncomfortably long period of time.

Afterwards, he caught a sigh of relief, tears already having welled up in the corners of his eyes. Running forward, he hugged his savior tightly in thanks. He was slight of frame, about the same size as her, more feminine than Safiya in some ways despite the passing resemblance, and he smelled really nice... that, or it was just Xara's Voidic instincts talking. Either way, he seemed to mean nothing more by the gesture, and soon let go without much argument. "Thank you so much! I-I thought I was going to be... uh, taken advantage of again." His eyes cast downward for a moment towards the end of his sentence. "I am Rabi. Are you... from Deun? I mean, ahm... Jadiram, even?"

Meanwhile, the noise of dagger piercing flesh could be heard, along with a blood-curdling scream--luckily, one of a considerably masculine nature than what Safiya would make. "GYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHGGGGHH!"

Safiya's voice could be heard afterwards. "God damnit! Can't he die any quieter?"

Apparently, it was a little too late, as several shuffling noises in the background could be heard, then the footsteps of an all-out sprints, followed by the slamming of a lever. An odd-sounding bell began to chime throughout the facility, and assorted footsteps--much more of them than the bunnygirl's initial headcount--began to approach the Deunic natives' position.

"Well, shit."

 

[Hafnium]

Re: A Thief's Oasis (Hafnium) GMed by Takimaru

Xara held her breath as one of the heads of her meteor hammer went careening toward the albino brute, afraid that it might not hit its mark. Her anxiousness proved unnecessary as she scored a clean hit and toppled the man in a single blow. With a sigh of relief, she went scrambling toward the effeminate young man to help him remove the unconscious bandit. Unfortunately, this left her in prime hugging range.

The unexpected display of affection caused the void rabbit to become very, very hot under her disguise. As much as she wanted to push him away, the longer that the former prisoner kept her in his embrace, the less willpower she had to break out of it. The contact and his smell were both very nice, and she found that he wasn't hard on the eyes... And then he had to go and mention what the brute had almost done to him. That just ruined the whole feeling. Maybe if it had been Nadim instead, but not the albino. "Don't mention it. Please." I'd hate to see what's in that guy's shed, she considered as she eyed the unconscious brute.

The bunnygirl then set about liberating the defeated guard of his keyring as she answered Ravi. "I'm Xara. I just arrived in Jadiram a few days before ending up here. I've only been here a few hours, I think. I get the feeling we're both gonna want to talk to the curio shop lady if we make it back." As she straightened with the keys in hand, a scream pierced the air, followed by Safiya's words. With the raising of the alarm and the sound of arriving guards shortly after, it quickly became time to run. "Change of plans!" She tossed the keyring to the nearest caged prisoner. "Unlock your cage and pass it on! We've got a boat, if you can get to it quickly enough we'll try to get you out of here, but we'll be leaving soon!"

With that, she turned to Ravi. "We're gonna run for the boat, hopefully it'll distract most of the bandits from the cages." Before they could beat a hasty retreat, however, she grabbed the polearm that the guard had been wielding and thrust it into the former captive's hands. "Might need this. Now follow me!" The short thief began her sprint to the boat, hoping that Safiya would see her and do the same.

Spoiler

Get to the ch- I mean boat!

Also hand Ravi yon albinopolearm, hand the nearest caged prisoner the keys, that sort of thing.

Probably Applicable Stats (Lucky): 1 Armor, 43 Dodge, 23 Resistance, 43 Grapple, 31 Perception. 37 Stealth.

Cheat Sheet

When taking HP Damage: Xara has 1 armor from Clothes (TP = 25, DU = 2). When she's reduced to 27 HP or lower, she takes an instance of weakened causing a -10 penalty to all of her rolls.

When dealing PP damage: Xara deals +2 PP damage during penetrative sex. She deals half of PP damage dealt in corruption (whether you want this to happen is up to you, Takimaru, since it's the DLaby universe.)
When taking PP damage: She takes +4 damage from sensitive, and another +8 damage for each of the following fetishes being fulfilled: cumming inside, exhibitionism, public use, or size difference. On an orgasm, her PP resets to 21 instead of full.

Has Fertile: Pregnant on roll of 2, 3, or 4. Or automatically with another fertile partner.
Has Pheromones: Others more interested in sex with her.
Has Night Eyes: No perception penalties in the dark.
Has Nose for Treasure: +12 perception rolls when it comes to finding treasure.
Has Thief: Can disarm traps and pick locks.
Has Lucky: +3 to all non damage rolls.

 

[Takimaru]

Re: A Thief's Oasis (Hafnium) GMed by Takimaru

Status:

Spoiler

Xara: HP = 53, PP = 41, EP = 38, Status = Pregnant

Rolls:

Spoiler

Tolyos' Attack Roll: Auto-hit.
Tolyos' Damage: (Rolled a 4, 7, 10, 6) + 10 +... yeah dead bandit.

"The curio shop lady... Miss Asra? You got here by way of the bottle, didn't you? Oh, thank Gallahn! I seriously thought that I was the only one from Deun around here. I knew taking that job as her assistant was a terrible idea, but I was running out of options... oh, if only I knew! But again, thank you. You're truly a life saver. I am in your debt, to be sure! Perhaps if only we could find a way to bring back all of this water. Surely we could be rich, although I'm sure Miss Asra had that plan in mind," rambled the youngster, who managed to stop himself in time to take note of the alarm. "O-Oh no, I talked too much! I do it when I'm nervous," explained Rabi, who got up to follow Xara, only to have a peculiar-looking polearm shoved into his arms. "Or excited. Ah, thank you! Wait, this is..." He looked to realize something about it, but held his tongue, for the time being, in order to run back towards the boat with the bunnygirl.

The set of keys that Xara tossed were caught rather swiftly by a somewhat tall, middle-aged individual, of medium build, powder-white skin and red eyes. However, unlike the bandits who guarded the place, he still had a full head of silver hair, eyebrows, and even a short beard. Grinning at the Void Rabbit, he nodded his thanks and worked to unlock his cell in a hurry. Afterwards, he tossed it over his shoulder at one of the cells with uncanny accuracy as he ran after the darker-skinned folk to join them in the boat.

Safiya met with the group in good time, blinking at Rabi when she saw him, as well as the pale-skinned stranger. "Both of 'em are goin' with us, huh?" She still managed to keep her mind on business and immediately began working to undo the ropes that kept the craft tied down. Once finished, she hopped inside and waved high to signal that she was leaving, using the other hand to activate the boat's self-propelling sails to separate them from the docking area in short order.

Unfortunately, no other prisoners came in time--only a trio of shrouded bandits, who crouched in unison, appearing to take aim with their long, strange-looking armaments. Alarmed by this, Rabi attempted to mirror their motions with his own weapon, taking a knee while at the back of the boat. Locating a trigger-like mechanism near the center of the shaft, he steadied his sights on one of the brigands and pulled. But nothing happened with it, outside of a dull clicking sound. Instead, three loud bursts could be heard from the warehouse, and the same number of holes suddenly formed upon the upper portions of the boat.

"Damnit! Gimme that," growled the white-skinned man, who snatched the weapon out of Rabi's hands. The smaller Deunic boy could do little about it, and relinquished the item somewhat quickly, scampering over to Xara's side.

"This is how ya do it," the stranger explained, cocking two separate levers upon it before steadying his hand. It was a difficult shot, to be sure, especially with the platform he was on constantly rocking as it picked up speed. But when he pulled the trigger, a loud, almost deafening noise came from the gun itself, and one of the thugs could be seen falling over in the distance. Grinning, he stared as the image shrunk away with the increasing distance made from the speeding craft. "Heh... wonder if he saw that one comin'!"

Afterwards, he turned to Xara and Rabi. "Name's Tolyos. Appreciate ya freein' me. I can tell you two aren't from around here, eh?" He placed a hand on his chin, crimson eyes wandering over to Safiya's back. The blonde was busy focusing on the water ahead, but she did turn momentarily to glance and make sure everyone had survived the volley of gunfire, which they did. "Well... you three," added Tolyos with a low whistle upon spotting the blonde woman.

 

[Hafnium]

Re: A Thief's Oasis (Hafnium) GMed by Takimaru

Though she took careful note of Rabi's comments, she didn't reply to any of them directly. She tried not to judge the fair youth's apparent lack of survival skills and common sense, nor the freed albino's apparent abundance of such, since the the run back to the boat seemed a good enough test for both. The short thief went running without much concern as to whether or not the two could keep up.

"It's a big enough boat for all of us, I'd say!" Xara called out her response to Safiya's question. She hopped into the boat as soon as it was ready to go, beckoning the others to do the same, and breathed a sigh of relief as they began to speed away from the warehouse. Perhaps slightly too soon, as the three bandits who she was sure they had outpaced blew holes in the craft. Rabi's effort to reciprocate their attentions was admirable but the pale man did far better, thus cementing the answer to her question of which was more reliable in action. When they were finally and truly free of the action, the petite thief gave a muted sigh of relief and rubbed her forehead with the back of her hand.

"Sorry Rabi, I think he's earned the... whatever that is. We have a few spare weapons that we... borrowed... laying around that you two can have if you want." She allowed the albino his slight indiscretion in eying up Safiya without commenting on it. He had been in prison for some amount of time and the toned woman was a beauty in her own right, if not a classical one, so she didn't see any harm in allowing him to appreciate her so-called big sister, as long as he didn't try anything funny. "I'm Xara, nice to meetcha."

She pulled her disguise free with a dramatic flourish, and dropped it to the ground. Afterward she stripped all the way down to her silken shirt and pants, exposing her ears in doing so. There wasn't much of a point in hiding her voidic nature in the strange world they had found themselves in, she figured, anyone she met who wanted to sell her off would be just as happy to do so regardless of her heritage. "Wish I could say that it was an entirely free rescue, but we need a bit of help. In everything. We came from a place where the desert stretches as far as the eye can see and tribes are forced to trade people for water." Sure, the last one might not have been the most common of practices, but it had almost happened to her.

"So we're really out of our element. I'm not even fully sure how to hunt for food here. I've got a bunch of questions, but I think at the top of my list right now is what's with that pole?" She asked of the strange mechanism that Tolyos wielded so easily. Xara had never seen its like before, and it tore through wood so easily, if she could figure out how they were made it could mean something huge if they ever managed to return to Jadiram. "Beyond that, what's with the bandits? They seemed more organized than any I had ever seen in our home. And do you know of any places around here that aren't allied with them where we could dock safely? And if you don't mind me asking, why'd they lock you up? You seem super skilled and stuff. Any other things you know would be really helpful too."

The realization that they hadn't managed to dump their crates filled with bandits at the warehouse briefly went through her mind as well, but dealing with that would wait until later. They were probably fine, right?

 

[Takimaru]

Re: A Thief's Oasis (Hafnium) GMed by Takimaru

Status:

Spoiler

Xara: HP = 53, PP = 41, EP = 38, Status = Pregnant

"Whew, luckily they didn't hit the hull. And this, it's a 'rezeill'. No other way to say it, but it's a good weapon, so long as the reznium's still good. And not an easy one to keep, at that--not on your own, anyway. Which is why all the people who have one, stick together," explained the white-skinned rogue. After having thoroughly undressed the well-toned Safiya with his eyes, he stopped to access a chamber on the side of the rifle, which revealed a rough black mineral lodged deep inside. It glew faintly with red energy, like an ember, and the man was careful not to touch it, despite observing it closely. Xara noticed that the rock visibly shrunk ever so slightly over the course of a second or two, losing roughly a millimeter of its overall diameter before stopping. "Still got a bit of charge left, too. Good move grabbing it," he said to Xara. "Not everyday some dark-skins show up here on this side of the water. But it's a good thing you got out of there, as some of the spirekeepers love to keep folk like yourself as slaves." He glanced to Rabi momentarily. "Even the boys... heh."

The effeminate one scooted closer to Xara, frowning. He appeared more than just a little distrustful of the albino sitting in the boat with them, given the offenses committed against him by their kind, including the one that the bunnygirl narrowly saved him from. "I just want to get out of here," he mumbled softly, turning to the Void Rabbit in time for her to reveal her face and ears to the newcomers. When she did, she earned nothing more than a smirk from Tolyos. Rabi, on the other hand, could only stare in awe, his mouth agape as his eyes fixed themselves on the furry black ears atop Xara's head. "W-Wow... uh. Sorry, I had no idea you were a subhuman, I mean... n-not that it's bad! I just mean that, I didn't expect it! I won't tell anyone!"

The words he blurted out caused Safiya to turn around, raising a brow at the scene. Figuring that they had been outed at this point anyway, she pulled the shroud off of her face, causing Tolyos to perk up with no shortage of interest. "I'm Safiya." Though the taller thief could only look upon the white-skinned man with puzzlement, he wore a strange grin that told her all she needed to know about his desire for her. Furrowing her brow, Safiya turned back towards the sea ahead of them, continuing to steer the boat onwards and away from the usual routes. She knew that the last thing they needed right now was to deal with any more brigands, and so was not planning on slowing down anytime soon. "Alright, so now that we actually have someone from around here, how about you go ahead and tell us how to get back to Jadiram?"

"That would be wonderful," added Rabi. "I've been here for far too long! I never thought I'd get sick of seeing water, and yet... am so thirsty," he groaned, scuttling over to the side of the ship to help himself to some water. "They couldn't afford to give their prisoners enough of something that was everywhere? Geez!" Finding a bucket located near one corner of the ship, he dipped it down over the boat's edge, far enough to collect some water without falling in, and chugged for the better part of a minute, the excess trickling down the corner of his lips and chin. After he finished, Rabi heaved a sigh filled with satisfaction, a smile forming upon his face for once. "Aaaaaaahhh... whew. Anyway, as much as I'd love to never go thirsty again, they haven't been nice to me here at all, so I want out too."

Suddenly, a dull thumping sound came from one of the crates. Rabi shrugged his shoulders up in response, putting on a nervous look, and hurried back to where Xara was, offering her some of his leftover water while keeping his eyes glued on the strange cargo.

"Out... too," came a groan from within the boxes. The noise served to remind the bunnygirl that it had been a good while since the thugs were first ordered into the wooden crates.

"Heh...lemme guess, those would be the original owners of this boat? I gotta admit, I like your style," said the pale gunman.

Tolyos made sure to hear their story out, giving a thoughtful nod with his hand on his chin. "Ah, yeah. I figured the lot of ya needed to get back to this 'Jadiram' or wherever it is you came from. Well, since I prolly woulda rotted in there for a good while without you doin' what you did, I s'pose I can help. Food... well, there's a lotta things living in the water you can eat, but not in this area. Gotta head west for that. As for those guys, well... they work for an organization called the Greis, who claim to rob from the rich and give to the poor--wealth redistribution, and all that. Turns out, it didn't take all that long before they became a lot less picky about who they stole from, and started to get pretty crooked themselves. I was one of 'em, actually, until I started making plans to leave 'cause of all that. Turns out some snitch that I thought was my friend ratted me out, and well... I ended up in jail, as you saw." He huffed, scratching the back of his head, as well as his chin.

"Anyway, we should go west, in that direction," he offered, pointing just a bit right of where Safiya was currently headed. "There's a settlement I know of, where they've got a seer who might know how to get you back to wherever it is you come from. Dark-skins like yourself are pretty rare, so I'd let me do most of the talking first. Some of the people 'round here are just a little... weird about your kind being in their presence."

After a while, Xara could see movement beneath the water's surface. A swarm of silvery creatures, each only about as big as her foot, swam alongside the boat. She had never seen anything quite like this before, and as such it was quite a sight to behold.

"Wooow..." Rabi soon joined her in watching them; he was never far from his diminutive savior, always seeming to hover about arm's length from her at the farthest, though he was decidedly more reserved about getting touchy-feely with her.

 

[Hafnium]

Re: A Thief's Oasis (Hafnium) GMed by Takimaru

The diminutive bunnygirl kept a close eye on the exotic weapon and listened intently to Tolyos's explanation about it. From the sounds of things, there was pretty much no hope of reproducing it in any great quantity in Jadiram, as the materials for it might not even exist in the desert. Xara's mind was an enterprising one though, filled with dreams of jingling gold coins and a world where she could snap her fingers and have a scantily clad servant, boy or girl, she wasn't picky, bring her a pitcher of water. Depending on how going to and returning from this strange new world worked, who was to say that she couldn't bring materials back and forth between Jadiram and the watery world at enough of a pace to produce some of the weapons? A few sensible, quiet allies who realized how rich they could get off of trading water and 'rezeills' to appease the hunger for power of the merchant lords and the thirst of the masses, and she would be in business. Better yet, keep the weapons for herself and just trade the water...

"I imagine you won't! Anybody you'd tell here would probably lock you in a cage too," she replied to Rabi when the subject of her subhuman nature came up. "And the desert can be a dangerous place without a friend, and I'll bet you ain't never had a friend like me!" The bunnygirl's eyes shined with menace as she looked at her new Deunic comrade. "Just kidding! I trust you!" She exclaimed brightly after several seconds of staring at the former slave. "Hey, you know, really this place is like a land of equality for me. People don't want to enslave me or trade me off to some fat merchant because of the ears and poofy tail anymore, now they're just after me because of my skin color! We can all be persecuted for the same reason here! Isn't that great?" Her cheery expression and tone betrayed nothing of her actual feelings on the matter, though it probably wouldn't take a genius to guess that her thoughts didn't match her words.

After that, she remained mostly silent, listening to each person as they spoke. She sat herself down on the ship's deck in order to relax after her short bout of exercise in sneaking around the warehouse, and began to idly kick her legs to pass the time. Rabi's closeness was somewhat distracting due to her persistent heat, but the slight breeze caused by the ship's speeding across the ocean helped to cool the burning feeling in her skin. Though the thief offered a nod to Tolyos's assumption that the men in the crate were the original owners of the boat, she didn't speak up again until after the pale man's explanation as to how he had ended up in a cage. "I prefer the philosophy of stealing from people I don't like and giving to the people I do like. It's much harder to corrupt."

"Sounds like a plan to me," she continued once Tolyos had made his suggestion for how they might get back to the desert, and so set herself for the trip ahead. She stood up and went to lean on the side of the boat order to see the sights, what few there were, as they sailed along. It was still so odd being on so much drinkable water. If it weren't for all the people trying to cut, slice, grab, impale, or otherwise maim her then it still might have seemed like she had transcended into some sort of paradise. That and the absence of Ilias and Nadim (but not Yasmin, she could stay in Jadiram). "How do people build on all this water? What do people want for when all this is at their fingertips?" She absentmindedly asked as she gazed at the ocean, her eyes remaining there long enough to spot the silvery creatures when they first came into view. "Oooh," Xara shared in Rabi's childlike delight at seeing the silver things, presumably fish though she had never seen any in such quantity or of the uncooked variety.

"Hey, hey, what are those?" She asked excitedly as she waved for Tolyos to come look at the swimming creatures, though with a single growl from her stomach her priorities changed. "And can we eat them? I'm starving!"

 

[Takimaru]

Re: A Thief's Oasis (Hafnium) GMed by Takimaru

Status:

Spoiler

Xara: HP = 53, PP = 41, EP = 38, Status = Pregnant

Rabi was quite good at picking up on even the slightest hints that Xara made with her expression, even to the point of overreacting to them. It was so easy to toy with him, much like with Ilias--except instead of utilizing lust to get him going, it was fear. The girl's threatening look, however short it was, caused the blonde youth to slink back and whimper. "N-No, I won't..." She may as well have held a weapon over her head at him, with the way he reacted. It took a few seconds after her tension-breaking 'just kidding' for him to calm down, which was marked by a frustrated huff. While he seemed like the type to be roused easily, it did speak volumes about Xara's apparent charm--after all, Safiya, Ilias, Nadim (to some extent) and now Rabi took quite kindly to her in relatively little time.

When the boy returned with the bucket of water, his previously frightened tone had normalized. "I know, I just always have a terrible habit of taking all the wrong jobs," said Rabi with a sigh. "And everyone looks to take advantage of me every time. I didn't think Miss Asra would be one to."

"That's because you've got no spine," interrupted Tolyos. "You also speak and look more like a woman than a man. No offense, but it just won't do you any favors in prison. When someone wrongs you, you've got to fight back, let them know you won't take their crap! I can tell that you tend to let people have their way."

"I know that..." mumbled Rabi, before going quiet once again, proving the pale man right in his assumption.

Xara's comment regarding her policies on corruption, whether made jokingly or not, was well-received by the white-skinned marksman. "Hah! That's one way of looking at it... maybe life would be much simpler if others were as honest about their ambitions as you."

Tolyos paused at the Void Rabbit's inquiries about his world, then soon answered, "You say your world is full of sand... and lacks water? As difficult as this place is for you to imagine, yours is truly a wonder to me. There are only a select few pieces of land here, and those are owned by only the most powerful. Almost all of the ships were built there, originally, and most of us live off of their scraps. Even though there was originally more than enough land for everyone, that's just... how it goes. There are about five main islands, but they're all heavily guarded, as you can guess."

"Enough land...?" said Safiya aloud. "I don't understand. That just doesn't make any sense. If there's enough for everyone, wouldn't it just be logical to divide it evenly? With so much drinkable water around, and probably food, what is there to fight over anyway?" she asked, echoing her fellow thief's sentiments.

"If it were that simple, I figure the lot of ya wouldn't be in this situation," answered Tolyos. "You know how it goes. If two people each have half of a piece of land, you can bet that one of those guys is gonna try and convince the other to give a little bit more of their share. That they can be more productive with it, and that the other chump doesn't do much with his piece anyway, so he's better off lettin' him take care of things. And that the result will make the island a better place to live in... all o' that. Of course, the other guy is more often than not someone like you," he added, looking to Rabi. "Says alright, I'll trust ya. Before long, 60/40 turns into 80/20, and then you're being sent off the island in some makeshift floating city."

"Ugh," muttered Safiya. "I blame those who would take advantage."

"That's how it goes. People living in the floaters are so damn used to things there that they'll take anything they can get. Steal mostly from each other. But when those in the islands send down some materials, boats, platforms, you'd think it's a damn gift from the heavens. Even if it's just a tiny piece of their whole just to keep the others quiet." He stopped to raise a brow at Xara when she waved him over, then slowly rose to his feet, moving to where her and Rabi surveyed the fish.

"School o' shiners. Pretty damn small to catch, but I'm sure there's a good net 'round here somewhere. Lessee." Looking around the boat, he managed to find a net stashed away behind the crates, shook it a few times, and then lowered it carefully into the squad of fish as they went along. Some managed to escape, but he did capture more than enough for the four of them, skillfully pulling no less than a dozen of the small, flattish creatures on board while Safiya continued to steer the craft straight ahead.

The pile of flopping shiners remained helpless, struggling in their lack of air while Tolyos picked one from the group, presented it to Xara and and Rabi, then gave it a firm smack between his hands. Its movements began to slow, gradually, and once it stopped he began to peel away at its nearly reflective scales, which were quite large given the thing's palm-sized body. Underneath were neat arrangements of white flesh, and he plucked a segment away quickly before stuffing it into his mouth. "Hrm... quite good! They're always best when fresh. Give it a try, why don't you?"

Rabi looked unsure about the prospect of eating raw fish, but when his stomach growled, he meekly attempted to mirror the albino's motions. It took him at least three strikes to kill the fish, but afterwards, his nimble fingers did well in stripping the creature of its protective, scale-like covering.

"Hey guys, we're almost here, I think."

By this time, a look forward would tell Xara that they were closing in on a small, floating settlement. Tolyos looked up as well, nodding. "That's the place. I recommend you guys uh, cover up, like I was sayin' to. We can also get rid of these fools there, if you want," said the rogue, motioning towards the stuffed crates.

 

[Hafnium]

Re: A Thief's Oasis (Hafnium) GMed by Takimaru

Tolyos certainly had interesting views. If nothing else, they were worth thinking about during the downtime as the boat continued to sail toward its intended destination. In the end though, it didn't make much difference when it came to Xara's intended destination. Her goal was one of a rise from poverty, of fame, of an end to her own hardships and those of her close friends. It wasn't about going straight. She wasn't quite as altruistic as her 'big sister' and certainly didn't believe that she could rise without harming others--she had already stabbed someone, after all. No, she simply understood that small time thievery only gained her barely enough to survive on, and that it was time to move to the big leagues of the merchants and water mages if she wanted to eventually find out what it was like to live in the lap of luxury.

Hunger eventually distracted her, and she had ended up waving the pale former bandit over. "Wow~" The impressive display of fish catching awed the bunnygirl. Once the rogue showed Rabi and her how to prepare and eat the fish, she was quick to imitate his efforts. It took her two smacks in order to neutralize her first helping, but she was quick at peeling and eating as only a hungry thief could be. "So good~ I almost never get meat, let alone fish!" She swiftly repeated the process with a few more, barely taking the time to taste her food despite that it probably would have been considered a delicacy in Deun.

When Safiya announced that they were closing in on their destination, Xara looked up with cheeks stuffed full of the delicious morsels. "Okay," she replied to both of Tolyos's suggestions at once with a very unladylike amount of food still in her mouth, before swallowing and re-donning the garb she had used to hide her features earlier. "Anything we should know in case we have to talk? Taboo subjects? Formal titles? Fruit allergies?" She asked as they closed that final gap.

Spoiler

Sorry it's so short. I didn't want to keep responding to earlier dialogue 'cos never-ending train of retro-text. >.> Also, I wanted to get things on the road again since I apparently haven't gotten a post out for Xara in 2 weeks. D:

 

[Takimaru]

Re: A Thief's Oasis (Hafnium) GMed by Takimaru

Status:

Spoiler

Xara: HP = 53, PP = 41, EP = 38, Status = Pregnant

"Heh heh... hrrrm," said Tolyos. "No--I'm sure they'll understand, knowing where you're from. Besides, this one is a bit more... casual. She knows her stuff though. Just let me do most of the talking, and only answer when directly spoken to. I'll get the lot of you back in no time. 'Least I could do, for getting me outta jail. Besides... chances are, I'll at least have a boat by the end of this little trip," remarked the rogue with a grin. He moved to where the chests were, opening the ones full of metallic goods before grabbing a handful of them and stuffing them into his clothing. "Would you mind if I take a couple o' these? The seer needs payment, too."

Safiya had gotten used to steering by now, and could control the boat much better this time around, despite the craft's larger size. Slowly lifting her finger off the blue crystal, she allowed her focus to fade, and the summoned wind pushing at the sails followed suit. The blonde used the remaining momentum to maneuver the ship into one of the floating village's nearby ports, tying it down afterwards. "I should probably stay here, huh? Wouldn't want anyone running off with this," said Safiya. "Plus I can figure out what to do with our uh, cargo," added the thief. "There's gotta be some kind of place around here for these pirate guys..."

"Nah, don't sweat it. This's a pretty good place. As for the bandits, I got an idea for that," interrupted the pale marksman, slinging the rifle over his back. "Here, help me with these." He began to shove one of the crates towards the dock, motioning for Safiya to follow his motions. Despite her initial look of skepticism, the tanned beauty followed, and the two unloaded their living cargo onto the docks. Afterwards, they would move on, pushing them down the wooden lane until they reached a structure about half the size of the warehouse from before. There was one window next to the main door, and a look through it would show a cubicle in which another albino man sat; an older-looking fellow who had a longer beard than Tolyos. He looked up from his place at the rogue with a raised brow, but the group's guide was quick to explain. "Got some members of the Greis for ya. They're all yours," he explained, before setting off with a wave.

"Hwuuuuh... W-Wait..." muttered the elderly sentry, scattering to get out of his box and outside where the crates were delivered, but Tolyos didn't seem to care enough, heading in the opposite direction, where Safiya and Rabi reluctantly followed.

"Are we just going to leave them there?" asked Safiya while following the ex-bandit's lead.

"Sure. I don't wanna waste time explaining this and that to that guy anyway. He can't hear very well in one ear, so you gotta repeat everything you say at least five times for it to get through. I used to stop by this village every now and then, so I know at least a few of the locals."

"Hum, okay. How's the justice system around here work, anyway?"

Tolyos shrugged. "Well, in small villages like these, it's up to the people to decide. If the offender isn't that bad, they'll find a way to put 'em to work. Too dangerous, and he's sent away," he explained. "Something like that."

"Sounds far more balanced than Jadiram's process, at least."

"Gonna guess that's a pretty big city, then. The more people ya got, the more complicated it gets, I'd say."

"That's probably true..." Safiya trailed off.

The four didn't have to walk for very long before they reached a small, dark shack-like structure covered in various markings. There were two crimson sheets of cloth serving as a doorway, and Tolyos went halfway in before waving for the others to come in as well. Inside was a simple living arrangement, with a few mats stacked upon each other to make a bed to one side, a makeshift stove area of sorts to the other, and a table in the middle. A small pot of incense burned in the far corner of the hut.

A diminutive figure had their back turned to the group, arranging some figurines upon a map that was spread out onto the small table. Soon, they turned in order to eye each member of the party, revealing the old, weathered face of a female albino who had seen their fair share of years. Her wrinkled lips curled into an easily identifiable smile. "Ohhoh, hello there. Travelers. I see."

"You got it," replied Tolyos. "As you can tell, these three are from the other world, and they need a way to get back."

"Hum. Hummm," said the old woman, pulling up a small stool and taking her place behind the table. Her crimson eyes surveyed the different faces before her. "That is easy. But dangerous. The way out is much more difficult than the way in. Do you have payment?"

"Ah... 'course. Here." The man pulled a few silver trinkets; goblets, hand mirrors and the like, out of his clothing, and placed them on the table before him, causing the seer's eyes to light up.

"Ohhh. Perfect." The hag proceeded to place several of the odd, vaguely humanoid figurines on several parts of a map, which was, understandably, all ocean, save for a few islands. Grabbing a small brush on one end of the table, she dabbed it in a well of ink and began to draw small diagrams of... what looked like odd, hourglass-shaped columns upon the marked spots. "Any of these places will do. The timing. It's difficult, but you'll know it. Know it when you see it."

"Those are dangerous waters," said Tolyos hesitantly.

"They are for a reason," explained the seer. "A whirlpool that leads to the sky, those you need. Leaving here is much more dangerous than entering. But it is where they belong. Staying here is worse. They should be safe after."

"Alright, alright, I got it. I know exactly where these spots are, but... uuugh. Well, thank you for your help." He took a deep breath before turning to Xara. "So... translation. She wants us to go right up into these inverted whirlpool-like structures located in waters infested with dangerous creatures. No one really bothers to get close, since those things wreck boats like nobody's business, so it's a gamble regardless."

"I don't want to stay here anymore," whined Rabi.

"Hey, I'm not forcin' ya to, just sayin' it'll be tough. You got any other questions?"

 

[Hafnium]

Re: A Thief's Oasis (Hafnium) GMed by Takimaru

For the most part, Xara remained silent after Tolyos had answered her question. Sometimes there was a lot to be learned from silence, and sometimes it was just nice to let somebody else handle all the detail work. This was probably more the latter than the former, she figured as she allowed him to handle pretty much everything between securing the payment to talking to the guard and even talking to the elder herself with only a few nods to indicate her assent to each.

She did try to give a hand with the crates, but there was only so much that the waifish bunnygirl could offer in the strength department. Her arms felt about ready to fall off halfway through the second and she had to back off in order to get out of the way of the other two. If nothing else had, it certainly proved that Safiya's muscles were for more than just show, not that the short thief had ever thought any differently of her big sister.

"You seem to know this place really well," she commented, following his next exchange with Safiya about the guard and the justice system.

The hut proved surprising to the void rabbit. In the village she had come from, the mystic-slash-shaman-slash-healer had probably lived the most lavishly, with the elder second to him. He'd even had some wondrous items, supposedly from the cities--which, now that she thought about it, she wondered what he was trading with those merchants that they would leave such valuable things with him. She had quite enjoyed stealing his things from time to time, regardless. This woman didn't even have anything that Xara would bother to pocket, though. Well, maybe the incense pot...

Still, she was a thief, not a kleptomaniac, it wouldn't be worth the risk to alienate one of the few people who might know how to escape the watery realm. She listened intently, but couldn't suppress a wry smile, thankfully hidden by her garb, as the mystic's eyes lit up at her payment. Yes, things between the two worlds really weren't that different at all, although this particular soothsayer was apparently smart enough to hide her loot.

The information about the whirlpools put a damper on her smile. If there wasn't an easier way to get back than that, then trading and harvesting water from the strange world wasn't going to be feasible. "Count me in. It might not even be the most dangerous or strangest thing I've done all day!" She added to Rabi's statement. Xara knew exactly what question was the most pressing on her mind at Tolyos's inquiry, as well, but paused and pretended to think deeply about it, lest either of the natives see her intentions for what they truly were.

"Oh, I've got a question!" She started, as if something had just come to her. "What about you, Tolyos? It doesn't seem like a whirlpool into the sky will distinguish who it picks up, and there's that added risk of wrecking the boat." Lies embedded with truths were the most effective kind, she had found. She may have been concerned about Tolyos's welfare, but it wasn't the main reason she was asking. "Are there any safe ways back to this world, should someone unwittingly get sucked up with us?" The lying void rabbit put on her very best expression of fake concern as she awaited an answer.