Oddball (Natalie)

[Mirchie]

Re: Oddball (Natalie)

And so Natalie would be waiting, for a fair few hours, without any sign of the captain. It was gone midday, when his door finally opened, and the captain walked out, accompanied by his long term girlfriend, a short blonde a couple of years younger than himself. She was fussing over his bandaged arm, but the man was having none of it, gently pushing her away from it, and moving her to his other arm to just walk with her. As expected, the pair disappeared into the tavern, leaving Natalie clear to slip over. The door had been locked, but the shuttered windows at the side of the house proved easy to climb into unnoticed.

A quick search of the house revealed little of any interest, and none relevant to why she was here. No log books, no piles of out-of-place possessions, nothing. However, as she moved into the kitchen for a last look, she noticed a bump in the wolf-skin rug in a corner. Moving it aside, a heavy iron ring was there, attached to a trap door. Opening it, an odd smell filled Natalie's nostrils. Like brimstone, not that she'd ever smelt that stuff. Descending, the raven-haired girl eventually found her quarry. The two figures were slumped in a corner, empty scabbards at their hips.

A quick frisk revealed that the two 'people' carried little of interest besides a pendant each around their necks, in the shape of a sword on a flame. Much more interestingly, however, was the sight of the things under their hoods. The taller one, who's skull hadn't been cracked in half, revealed a human-like face, but with large eyes, sharpened rows of teeth, and slightly cracked, red tinted skin. The eyes, however, were just as interesting. They had once been glowing bright, fiery orange, but in death, they could be seen without the glow. There was no pupil, and in the light of a nearly dead lamp, Natalie could see that they were simply dull, orange orbs, their life-spark extinguished.

 

[OAMP]

Re: Oddball (Natalie)

Natalie made sure to note every little detail about these people. She was disapointed she could not find anything of value or that explained their presence. After giving them another once over, she climbed back up. With everything learned, it was time to get out of the house unseen. She hadn't taken long, the captain was surely still away.

Unfortunately, Natalie didn't have any further plans. This lead seemed to be a dead end. She supposed it really wasn't any of her bussiness, but she did pack up the camp before she found a target for this. Perhaps she'd go back out to the woods and see if any more travelers were about, but probably not drag along everything for an overnight stay, this would just be a quick check.

 

[Mirchie]

Re: Oddball (Natalie)

Slinking back through the still silent house, closing and recovering the trap door, Natalie passed the cleaned battleaxe near the door, and slipped through the window again, gently closing the shutters behind her, leaving no trace of her presence behind. Quickly, the black haired girl was able to leave the town once more, and was soon back in the forest.

After a half hour of walking back near the path, Natalie heard the sound of horses hooves. Hiding, and peering out, she would see a man, human, on a good looking horse. His clothes were not exactly simple, but not noble either, obviously, he was well off. Blonde hair swept back, and a red cloak flowing behind him, he definitely looked the kind that assumed themselves invincible. There was no obvious weapon on his person, so that was a more encouraging sign at least.

 

[OAMP]

Re: Oddball (Natalie)

A tempting target, but attacking people who were above the lowest castes had the added risk of potential investigation later. No one cared about peseants, but attack a rich or even middle class man and something bad was bound to follow. Natalie would let this man pass and wait for the next one. Either way, it wasn't like she could attack all unarmed travellers, else no more would come this way.

 

[Mirchie]

Re: Oddball (Natalie)

The man on his horse continued on, and after that, it was pretty quiet. Natalie waited a couple of hours, occasionaly getting up to stretch, but for most of the time, it was quiet and still in the forest, bar the occasional daylight critter.

Around mid afternoon was when the black haired girl saw her next potential income. A pair came round the bend, and from her vantage point in a tree nearby, Natalie could see that these two, while not exactly peasants, were still pretty low on the food chain. A middle aged man and woman, leading a horse, bags bulging on each of the three. Travelling goods peddlers. No homes, just travelling between towns selling their wares. The trio were in now way extraordinary. The man had short cut brown hair and a bushy beard, while the woman had her paler brown hair tied back neatly. Just some random nobodies. However, a flash of movement caught Natalie's eye, and she saw the man on the horse from earlier, trotting up from the opposite direction, coming away from the town.

 

[OAMP]

Re: Oddball (Natalie)

Natalie scowled. She had enough trouble taking on two at once, a thrid would make her have to delay. While a high profile witness would be bad enough, with her being only one, he'd probably join in and the three might even subdue her.

For a second Natalie had half a mind to just wait for the horseman to pass her by, catch up, and just stab him good out of anger, but that really wouldn't be very productive, perhaps even crossing the line to being counterproductive. No, she'd wait alright, but then ambush the two merchants from behind. Give the horseman five minutes to be out of earshot, then grab the woman, hold the daggar to her neck, and force the man to surrender some goods, lest his wife would meet an untimely end.

 

[Mirchie]

Re: Oddball (Natalie)

The man on the horse trotted by, pointedly ignoring the peddlers, and continued up the road. When he was out of earshot, and Natalie slipped out of the bushes, her experience allowed for an easy approach. They were completely oblivious to her, continuing their walk towards the village, before suddenly a blade flashed at the woman's neck. She squealed in fear, and froze in the raven-haired girl's grasp, while the man wheeled around, and stopped and stared for a moment. The woman whimpered and squirmed slightly in Natalie's hold, stopping again as the blade pressed lightly against her neck, drawing a thin trail of blood. Her unspoken demands forced the man into action, and he started talking. "Please, mi'lady, there is no need for this! J-just let her go, and you can help yourself! All we have, all we have is in the saddlebags, take it all, but please, just let her go!" he pleaded pathetically, slowly walking to the horse, and opening it's saddlebags for Natalie to see inside.

It wasn't a lot. Standard stuff, though there were a lot of trinkets in there. Mostly brass, copper, wood or stone, there were talismans, brooches, bracelets, earrings, the lot. Presumably they were mostly good luck charms, though a few nice silver necklaces and bracelets caught the bandit's attention. Besides that, there was some food, mostly dried meats, and a bunch of small tools, for use in a decent variety of crafts, and an old, chipped hatchet.

However, there was one thing that stood apart from the rest of the things. There was a sword. A good looking one at that, with golden pommel, set with a large ruby, and crossguard, which was worked rather nicely into a straight design, curling up and inwards at the end, down towards the leather-wrapped handle. She couldn't see the blade, but the sheath it was in was dark-red, fine leather, albeit without decoration. This sword looked like the kind a knight or some such would carry, and had it's own long saddlebag to carry it in, on the old horses other side. Questions could be asked as to how a couple of peddlers could possess something like this. The man, having opened the bags to her, stepped back, and opened his arms. "There, please, can you let her go now? We'll leave, we never saw you, just let us go!" he begged again, showing his empty palms to Natalie.

 

[OAMP]

Re: Oddball (Natalie)

Natalie grunted, she hereself was not an expert swordswoman, but the thing was probably worth alot. She released the woman then took it first to ensure her own saftey, along with the best looking metal jewelry. She wasn't one to wear much of that, either, but she was after stuff to sell in a neighboring town, not stuff for personal use. This load would fetch enough to keep her satsified for two weeks probably. To round out the haul, Natalie took enough food for two meals. It wasn't like these people would starve, anyway, the town was nearby.

With almost too much to carry, Natalie vanished into the woods. She'd go far enough they couldn't see her, but she could watch them for a few minutes, to ensure they kept moving. She felt a bit bad she'd pressed to hard on the woman, but hey, it's part of the job.

 

[Mirchie]

Re: Oddball (Natalie)

Upon being released, the woman ran forwards, and into her husbands open arms, and the two watched fearfully as the bandit took her due and retreated. The sword was deceptively light, considering the length of the blade, and the rest of it became a little easier to carry because of that.

Back in the woods, setting her newly acquired possessions down, Natalie could easily see the couple on the road. They stared after where the bandit had disappeared to for a couple of minutes, in each others arms, before quickly making their way towards the village, going as fast as they and their old horse could go, with it's considerably lightened saddlebags.

Looking back at her haul, Natalie noticed that the ruby on the pommel of the sword was glinting as brightly as it had when in direct sunlight, even though it was in the darkness of a tree trunk. It was reflecting non-existent light, as if it was producing it's own. The golden crossguard and pommel were behaving normally at least, the gold dull in the shadows.

 

[OAMP]

Re: Oddball (Natalie)

Natalie eyed the sword for a few moments. That glowing ruby could give away her position if she wasn't careful. She'd have to hide it somehow later. For now, she carried it in one hand, swinging it around a bit, amused at how light it felt.

The bandit decided to head towards the next village up the road. Following the convoy and selling the stuff in her own town would be stupid. She had enough supplies to make it, and she could get more there. She'd stick to the woods instead of the road, and when she got in view of the town she could decide how to hide the sword.

 

[Mirchie]

Re: Oddball (Natalie)

From her childish swinging, Natalie soon gathered that the blade was extremely well balanced, and superbly light, even though she had no experience with blades such as this, it felt as easy to use in her hands as her usual dagger. The ruby wasn't so much glowing as reflecting light that wasn't there, and as the bandit soon found out, it was deadly sharp. An accidental slice near a tree ended up cutting right through the bark with very little resistance, and sap began to seep out from the deep gash.

On the way, there was little to be seen besides critters, and soon enough, the next town came into view. On the road leading outwards from it, the path which she could only guess led past the mountain, Natalie saw that there was another caravan moving out, but that wasn't worth much, she couldn't catch up without running for a very long time, or having a horse. The path she was parallel to was deserted, and now, if she wanted to get closer, the bandit would have to decide whether or not to hide her new sword before going in.

 

[OAMP]

Re: Oddball (Natalie)

While she was starting to like the sword, Natalie would have to hide it even if she was going to keep it. She'd prefer to keep it on her somhow, under her clothes preferably. If that wasn't an option taking it to the market would be even harder, as she'd have to wait for night, then lead the merchant out here. Natalie highly doubted they'd trust her that much...

No matter the outcome of that, Natalie still had the jewelry to sell. If the sword was too big, she'd hide it someplace out here in the woods before going to sell her ill gotten loot.

 

[Mirchie]

Re: Oddball (Natalie)

Pretty soon, Natalie was able to fix the sword around her stomach, underneath her overclothes. If it was around her waist, she could feel the end tapping against the bottom of her boot, easily visible. Sure, it looked slightly odd, with the small bulge, but that was easy enough to cover by having her load of jewellery held over the handle of it.

Inside the town, there were a few looks given to the dark-dressed woman wandering in with armfuls of jewellery, but nothing was said, and in the little marketplace where the caravans, peddlers, and other manners of traders exchanged their goods. There was already a trinket dealer, but he didn't seem to be having much business, he did look rather seedy, and a closer look at his wares indicated that most were brass pretending to be gold, coloured glass decorating them, or other similarly tacky rip-offs. Natalie, on the other hand, had quite a few people willing to buy her things, though good offers were hard to come by. Some of the cheaper pieces were sold, but just before the bandit was about to give up, she came across a rather well-off looking merchant, in purple clothes, who was offering a rather good offer on the remainder of Natalie's pile. He himself was packing up his stuff, and she could not see whatever it was he had been selling before. The money he was offering, a small pile of gold which could easily supply Natalie for a few weeks, was not to be sniffed at, and plenty more than the other meagre offers she'd received.

 

[OAMP]

Re: Oddball (Natalie)

Natalie was more then happy to offload all the jewelry. She couldn't afford to keep it around very long, lest someone would find out how she got it. Plus, the sooner she was back on her feet in the woods, the better. She almost considered showing the man the sword too, but he seemed a little high class to be interested in such a thing.

Natalie would quickly look around for a specalized weapons dealer, if they hadn't already left for the night, and try to get a good offer on the sword. If not, perhaps a local criminal would buy it. If she still didn't have any luck after dark, she'd rent a room for the night, her new gold could surely not even be diminished by such a transaction. Then she could relax and perhaps try again tommrow, or return home if she so fancied it.

 

[Mirchie]

Re: Oddball (Natalie)

This time, Natalie's luck had run out. Well, not entirely. There were armourers. Three of them, but not a single one was selling swords. There was a bowyer hawking her wares, an armourer selling a small selection ranging from cured leather breastplates to shining mail vests, and a tall, blonde Nord with a selection of axes and maces, but not a sword to be seen. Here though, she couldn't see anyone who looked even remotely shifty apart from some of the traders, and definitely no citizens walking around looking in need of a fine blade to protect them.

Now though, after asking at all three, Natalie discovered that indeed, her luck was finished. None of them were interested in even buying anything, let alone a sword, so now the bandit's only remaining options were to spend some time looking around the town, or outside of it, for anyone who might want the damned weapon, or to set aside a small fraction of her money to stay in a warm bed for the night.

 

[OAMP]

Re: Oddball (Natalie)

With a heavy sigh, Natalie began to look for the local inn. She spent too much time in the woods as it was, and a room couldn't be too expensive. The woman had coin to burn right now anyway. She deserved the chance to sleep comfortablely every once in awhile, without heavy clothes on to ward off insects. The thoughts of how well she'd sleep tonight almost put Natalie in a fog.

 

[Mirchie]

Re: Oddball (Natalie)

The inn wasn't that hard to find, being the one with the most traffic by it bar the emptying marketplace. Inside, it was quite busy, but nowhere near the extent of being unable to move. Quickly, Natalie was able to secure her room for the night, and upon going upstairs to have a look, a smile could easily be brought to the bandit's face. While pretty small, the room looked extremely comfortable, at least by her standards. There was a small wardrobe, designed mainly for a traveller's luggage, a simple bed next to it, and next to that, a small table with a jug on it. The jug was full of clean water. At least, it looked clean, and letting a little splash out indicated this further. After weeks on end lying beneath the shadows of trees, this was almost heaven for Natalie, and a test of the bed revealed it was soft and warm, though the white linen had seen better days.

 

[OAMP]

Re: Oddball (Natalie)

Natalie set her things down in one corner, but stashed the sword under the bed, just in case. She'd eat a bit of her food, then drink about half the water, before disrobing and settling in for the night. She hadn't any nightware, but Natalie didn't mind. She wanted to feel the bed around here totally.

 

[Mirchie]

Re: Oddball (Natalie)

As expected, the feeling of sinking into the sheets was wonderful, and Natalie could not long fight the urge to fall asleep. And so she did, naked and peaceful in her hired room.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~​

Natalie was awoken by the sounds of laughter, and screaming. It was still dark, and all the noise seemed to be coming from outside. In fact, the laughter seemed only to be coming from one person, seemed like a man, but very loud to be heard over the panicking civilians. By the sounds of it, Natalie had been asleep for the start of whatever event this was...

 

[OAMP]

Re: Oddball (Natalie)

Natalie quickly rolled out of bed and grabbed the sword. Maybe it was good she still had it. She slid over the window, a peeked out it, hoping to catch a glimpse of what was going on. It'd be unfortunate to have to run naked away from whoever was out there, but it'd be even worse to be caught half dressed and cut down before she could untangle herself.