The YOLO Tales

"Stupid rain. I just got these pants too." Urabrask muttered darkly as
he waddled into the large establishment known as The Rusty General. He
dropped to all four legs once he was inside and shook the water from his
fur, eliciting some dark glares from some nearby patrons. Leaning back
onto his hind legs, he waddled over to the job board, balancing himself
on his tail to be tall enough to actually read the notices. Most were
pretty average run of the mill things that required plenty of hard labor
and gave enough coin to barely make ends meet. He was looking for
something a bit more... substantial.

"Why aren't there any quests
to go pick up some inheritance money?" He whined quietly. The only job
that actually had a satisfactory money reward was a bounty, something
Urabrask was not particularly skilled with. He read over the mission
details which went on to describe an individual names Al Barnhouse. For
having such an incest-y name, this guy was apparently a bit of a badass.


The coward in him told Urabrask that taking this mission would
be a very bad idea. However, like any true thief, his greed is stronger
than his fear. "Eh, fuck it. You only live once." He mumbled and headed
out into the rainy outside again, the notice wrapped up and stored in a
little pouch around what would most accurately be referred to as his
waistline. While he doubted he would actually find this Al Barnhouse
fellow, he figured there was no harm in keeping a lookout for a
potential ticket to instant wealth.

Previous Information: The Return of Al Barnhouse

It was going to be a long day - a hard day, for a man who usually travels at night, day time was difficult (especially when you wear a bright red cloak). Two nights before he had let his guard down as he had visited an old friend, Gorich, the owner and operator of the Rusty General Tap House. He had stayed up all night visiting and now found himself struggling to stay hidden among the streets of the bustling Mertuilian city. He knew there would be many people looking for him and Mertuil being the largest and one of the busiest sea-ports on the continent meant that he needed to get out of the city immediately. It had taken him an entire day to merely navigate his way through the city well enough to remain hidden.

Al Barnhouse had not given much thought as to where he would go once he left the city, but he figured Harrogoth would be safer than a city full of mercenaries. Though Harrogoth was brash and full of undead monsters and abominations, not to mention warring factions, stray dwarfs and freezing temperatures on the tundra, he still figured it would be safer there. It would take him months to get there, perhaps even a year, but the safety it could potentially offer would be worth it. He had committed a great wrong long ago and was now trying to make recompense; he wanted to fix what he had broken - but each day this was proving to be more and more difficult as more people took up the task of finding him. It must have something to do with that enormous bounty...

All day Barnhouse would skulk through the alley-ways, snaking his way through the city in what little shadows they offered during the daylight. Once he was close enough to the city walls he would wait until night fall to make his move out of the city. Until then he would wait in the shadows, stopping on occasion to write in his tome but never remaining in the same place for long.

Time seemed to pass slow this day, he was beginning to get impatient for the sun to fall out of the sky. And so he waited....

(Nice intro, dude)

Urabrask had been wandering the streets of Mertuil for hours now, the darkness concealing his movements as he scurried down the streets like a small rodent would. That tavern had been a cool enough place, but the lack of drunken people to rob was a huge problem. He was searching for a place to shack up for the night, but this place did not seem to be very accommodating for the homeless animal. After about an hour of searching, he finally settled on a large barrel that he hopped into. He couldn't reach the top with his small arms and stay in the barrel so he curled around to let his tail rest on his face and drifted off to sleep.

When Urabrask later awoke, it was to the sound of the barrel he was residing in tumbling over and spilling him halfway onto the ground. "GET THE HELL OUTTA THERE YA MUT!" yelled a large man sporting an equally large Nordic beard. He was waving the barrel top around threateningly with one hand and shaking the barrel with the other. Half crawling half rolling the rest of his body out of the barrel, Urabrask wasted no time in fleeing the scene to find a new place to rest a little while longer.

Urabrask climed up a stack of boxes and leaped onto a building, catching himself on the edge with his upper body and quickly scratching at the wall with his feet to make up the last few inches. He steadied himself for a minute, letting the final bits of sleepiness wear off. He headed out along the roofs, clearing the occasional large gaps with the assistance of wind magic jumps. During this period, he could see quite a bit more than normal from this high altitude. One thing stuck out to him in particular, a large crimson cloak. When he landed, he went towards the direction he saw the crimson cloak, recalling the bounty. As he neared where he last saw the crimson cloak, he slowed his movement considerably, taking careful and quiet steps along the roof and tentatively peeking his head over the edge to see if the crimson cloak was indeed still there.

Al Barnhouse... Wasn't expecting to actually run into you. Feeling nervous at how exposed he was in the day like this, Urabrask pulled his head back, deciding he would wait and listen for the target to make a move. He contemplated attacking the man and catching him off guard, but he had neither the physical strength to pull that off nor a blunt object to knock a person out with. Looks like we're playing the waiting game. With that thought, Urabrask laid down and simply waited for Al Barnhouse to make his move.

The day was growing late. The high afternoon sun was beginning to fall, shining it's bright light in perfect view of the Mertuilian city wall making it difficult for those guarding the city to see long distances. This, Barnhouse decided, would be the most opportune time to leave the city without being noticed.

"I wish I had really thought this through a bit more!" He muttered to himself. His hands were beginning to sweat as he thought about the prospect of getting caught and what would become of him once he had been.

A heavy sigh rushed out of his lungs "This is not the time to be nervous! We can do this! We've done this hundreds of times before -relax" He spoke to himself in an effort to calm his nerves. He had been off the continent for a long time; he had not had to use his skills in such a profile for so long he was afraid he would fail them, but he knew he had no other option if he wanted to leave the city.

In all the time he had spent talking to himself he was losing time with the sun being in it's most crucial position for his escape. Realizing this he quickly wiped his sweaty hands dry on his cloak and inhaled deeply. He traced a rune on his chest and rather than breathe the air out he sung it. A deep low continuous note that caused his entire body to resonate - then the magic began!

While he was singing the incredibly deep note his hands began to move in rapid fashion; carving the air with each strike tracing runes into the air. A purple essence began to ooze from his hands giving off an eerie glow; an illusion was beginning to take shape.

The forms of the illusion were developing, slowly being animated with life and color. The incantation went on for only minutes but to Al Barnhouse it nearly felt like an eternity. The spell began to increase in intensity, deepening the note being sung and now causing the very ground to shake beneath his feet.

Almost done! Just hold on a little longer Barnsy and we can get outta here...

A few more moments went by and then suddenly silence. The spell was complete. Al fell down to his knees, sweat pouring from his body, his breathing heavy, but the look on his face was that of sheer satisfaction. He was successful in having created the illusion and when he looked up to see it, he could not have been more pleased. For when he looked up he saw FOUR copies of himself standing at the ready.

"I'm going to have to do this right! The illusions cannot travel far so I'm going to have to do this with precision." He took a moment to gather his thoughts and dust himself off and then he set the illusion in motion. He sent all the illusions running in different directions, even sending one to run along the roof-tops. With all his illusions running in different directions he seized his opportunity.

He had guards chasing his illusions in every which way, and while everyone was distracted, the red cloaked man slipped into a nearby sewer grate. He was going to take the aqueducts to the reservoir east of the city and eventually slip into the Rat Warrens - at least that what he had planned in his head.

On the streets and rooftops above, Al Barnhouse could hear the calamity and yelling of the guards as the illusions began to ware off, fade away, and disappear. He would have to move quickly through the aqueducts, the illusion had bought him time but he was not sure how much. Pleased with his escape and somewhat surprised altogether, he flipped up his deep hood of crimson and began running through the aqueducts of Mertuil.

Urabrask stifled a yawn as he laid on the roof, lazing around and in general being bored. Night had started to settle and the sound of his mark's voice caused his ears to perk up and his head to raise. He peered over the edge as the man started his song. He was unfamiliar with the magic in front of him, but he quickly locked his eyes on the original Al when copies appeared. He covered himself in his chameleon cloak, becoming all but totally invisible in the night. climbing down the roof as quietly as possible, he followed after Al into the sewers, letting out an annoyed huff as he had to sprint to keep up with his mark.

Urabrask tried to keep his steps as quiet as possible, but he had to abandon some stealth to keep up with the fleeing mark. What an odd escape method. I would have just avoided the guard's attention altogether. He thought to himself. With his thoughts focused solely on following his target, he ran through the aqueducts and waited for an opportunity to incapacitate his target.
_______________________

Name: Cloak
Description: A spell often used by thieves which cloaks them in a chameleon like
fashion making them about 75% invisible. It is not impossible to see them
but a great spell for escape and infiltration especially at night. Cloak lasts for 4 posts with a medium mana cost.
Weakness: Does not muffle the sound of the user.
Range: Self

The aqueducts were dark and not well lit as their purpose was to transport water not people. Barnhouse knew this but still cursed the lack of light, he wanted to have a lantern or some form of light so that he would not lose his footing or fall. He thought about creating an illusion to help provide light but quickly realized that would be a bad idea as he would need to channel his voice to do it and there was a good chance that his voice would carry through the ducts; people would know he was down here. So rather than cause a commotion he continued to run through the waterway.

Barnhouse was doing his best to navigate this blackness by following the sounds of rushing water. It all has to go somewhere, and eventually this should take me to the Eastern Resevoir...only one way to find out he thought to himself. Twist after turn in the passage he ran following only the sounds of the water.

Barnhouse had to make a quick sharp turn but almost could not as his feet slid in the water. His legs were beginning to show signs of fatigue. Once around the corner he thought it best if he took pause for a moment; catch his breath and then continue. He couldn't be too far now as the sounds of rushing water were becoming more and more intense with every turn, but in the moment he took to take a break there was something off. Once he stopped running he could still hear feet smashing into the water behind him - they were travelling quickly; much quicker than Al Barnhouse liked. Nervously he spun around to see what or who was there, but much to his surprise he could not see anything! The darkness was blanketed over the passageways - but now he had the eerie feeling as though he was being followed...

Frightened by this prospect Al Barnhouse quickly turned again and continued his dash through the aqueducts.

A few hours had passed and Barnhouse could still hear that he was being followed - but he had no idea what by or who - this is what bothered him the most. The sound of water falling could now be heard I must be close now! Water falling must mean that the reservoir is nearby! That's good because my legs could use a break, and I'm sure whatever is behind me is feeling the same.

Suddenly as if without warning Al Barnhouse got hold of an idea: he would cast another illusion! The sounds of water were loud enough now that his pursuant ought not be able to hear him channel it (he hoped), and even if they could Barnhouse was running out of aqueduct and needed to try something to ditch his follower. He took a deep breath, marked his chest with a rune and continued to run as he channel the illusion.

The purple hued essence began to flow from his hands, lighting up the ducts tunnels in a shade of violet befitting a thunderstorm. Al wanted to so badly turn around and see what was following him, but that would likely break his concentration. He began to run around and flail his arms wildly touching every surface in the ducts as he continued to move forward. If anyone was watching this they would indeed think that Barnhouse has completely lost it.

Each surface struck by Al would shimmer and set off sparks for a few seconds before returning to darkness. Al was running out of air, but the illusion was almost complete. With a final push of his hands and a halting of his feet he finished the visual distortion.

From a distance, what happened next would warrant a call to the ghostbusters. Al barnhouse disappeared through the floor of the aqueduct - at least that's what he wanted his pursuer to see.

Now we'll see who or what is chasing me! if they stepped foot into any area of the duct touched by me they too will end up where I am now.

Barhouse had not fallen through the floor - he had fallen into the reservoir. The illusion he created was to make the duct tunnel look longer than it actually was. If his pursuer followed him or set foot on the illusion - he too would end up in the reservoir with Barnhouse.

Al waited patiently to hear the lost footing of someone, the scream as they fall, or even the splash as they hit the water below. He did not move, treading water, until he knew the fate of his pursuer.

Urabrask trailed after the man much as he had before. It was starting to get boring, really. With his cloak on in this dark tunnel he figured there was pretty much no way he could be caught. That is, until his target stopped. He tried to stop his legs to cover his sounds, but it was difficult to stop all four legs soundlessly on the dark slippery floor. The target turned around quite suddenly and stared at the space that Urabrask stood. Though the target couldn't tell, the man's eyes met directly with Urabrask's gaze, involuntarily holding in a breath until the target turned back around.

Even if Urabrask hadn't been spotted, this Al figure was certainly spooked. He took off after his target again, easily able to keep up with his frantic running. The man was flailing his arms about like he had lost whatever sense remained in that fugitive head of his. The haze did not go unnoticed by Urabrask and he halted outside of the edge of the haze, unwilling to charge forward blindly. He sniffed at the haze but could get no indication about what it was other than it was magical from the sudden energetic sensation that seemed to fill the air.

Lowering his muzzle to the ground, Urabrask pawed at the ground until a suitable pebble had been found, which was quickly nudged into the haze with his nose. Not the he actually accomplished much with the action. The haze made it too difficult to pick out the rock from the ground and the constant stream of water was too loud to pick out what fate the pebble might have met. Well... They say fortune favors the bold. With that, Urabrask lunged into the darkness...

... and fell right into the cold water with a surprised yipping noise escaping him upon landing in the water with a messy splash. He thrashed about for a moment before climbing up the nearest stone walkway he could find. He shook the water from his fur on instinct before remembering he was supposed to be stealthily following someone. That particular someone, he realized, had been waiting for him to trigger this trap. He took mild solace in the knowledge that he was still cloaked, but that was about the only thing he still had going for him.

Al had only been treading the water for a moment when a small pebble broke the surface of the water followed by a strange screeching. He looked up to see what or who had stepped into the illusion and was surprised to when he did see it!

Some over-sized rodent had been trailing him this whole time. It seemed that the rodent was tangled up in some kind of garment that would cloak its features - not much help when falling from great heights.

Some poor adventurer must have lost or dropped this garment and now the rodent has claimed it as its own...either that or its stuck. Barnhouse thought to himself. And to think I've been worried this whole time that someone was chasing me through the ducts he chuckled a little and swam to a nearby ledge where he had witnessed the creature climb out of the reservoir.

Al could no longer see the creature but was feeling much more at ease knowing someone was not actually chasing him - then he caught movement out of the corner of his eye and quickly turned to face it. It was again the creature shaking itself dry before quickly pulling the garment over itself in a feeble attempt to hide.

"I figured someone was following me!" He said in a condescending tone. "I had just thought that it was a guard or a mercenary. I was certainly not expecting it to be you Mr. Rat Sir!" He let out a laugh. "You certainly gave me a scare though, so I'll give you credit for that"

Al reached into his satchel that was given him by Gorich the Inn-keeper and pulled out a small loaf of bread, broke off some crumbs and tossed them in the direction or the creature. Afterward he replaced the loaf and turned to be on his way out of the reservoir and toward the Rat Warrens of Mertuil. As he began to stroll away he found himself thinking A rat! HA! Well Barnhouse, you've done it! You escaped from the city, it will be difficult for anyone to track us down now.

Just when he thought he was home free - the creature that sprung his illusion, that had been following him this whole time, that he gave breadcrumbs, did something that froze him in his tracks and forced him to spin around in untter shock and confusion. The creature....spoke!

Urabrask sat there stunned as he and Al shared a moment of simply staring at one another. Urabrask was mentally listing off a number of curses at himself for screwing up like this. He should have been more patient or at least he shouldn't have charged in when he could practically smell the danger from that magical haze earlier.

Then the man did something that Urabrask was not expecting at all, the target laughed. Apparently he thought Urabrask was nothing more than some common creature, though being called a rat caused a swell of annoyance and an involuntary twitch of the ear. Despite his annoyance, he did not hesitate to chomp at the crumbs of bread mid air, swallowing the meager amount whole and walking after the man once he started to leave.

"Closerrr to a canine, actually." His low voice rumbled, the shape of his muzzle causing his "r" sounds to drag, almost sounding like the beginning of a dog bark. His words seemed to have attracted the man's attention and bewilderment, something Urabrask found highly amusing. "Urrrabrrrask Furrry" he growled, referring to his name. He had no love for the two-leg's way of communicating, but he found that two-legs were typically too stupid to convey what needed to be said through body language. "These arrre my tunnels and I don't see too many two-legs arrround. So, why arrre you herrre?" A lie, yes, but the two-leg didn't need to know that he was being hunted. At least, not yet.

*Sorry for the delay! Onwards! TO QUESTING!*

Barnhouse's jaw must have been gaping wide open for many moments before the canine-ish creature shot him a look that sprung him out of his haze of disbelief. 
He now had the irritating cotton-mouth, forcing him to lick the insides of his mouth before he spoke. The creature no doubt thought that Al was below
an average intelligence.

"So let me get this straight" Al began to say, gesturing toward the ratty beast "You can talk?!"

The creature just let out a heavy sigh and shook its head, disappointed in the intelligence of the man he was to pursue.

"And these are YOUR tunnels?" His voice began to show signs of joy as he spoke "That's GREAT! You can help me get out of here!
I need to get to the Rat Warrens you see, so that I can become invisible! I need to disappear for a while and the Rat Warrens
are just the place to do something like that!" The whole time he had been talking he was making gestures with his hands and 
articulating the words widely with his mouth in an effort to ensure that creature understood him.

The creature was completely caught off-guard by the sheer amount of idiocy that this man had in him. The creature had clearly
demonstrated his understanding of the human language, yet this bafoon saw fit to make wild gestures and speak slowly, making a 
fool of himself in the process.

Barnhouse saw the creature shoot him a confused glance - not sure if he understood him, Barnhouse began to explain again, but this time
was abruptly cut off by the creature who shouted at him to stop making stupid hand gestures!

Taken aback, Al corrected his posture, dusted off one of his shoulders and began to wring out his cloak of the water with which it 
was soaked."So my tunnel dwelling friend, will you help me get to the Rat Warrens of Mertuil? I can offer you some gold for the trouble or
perhaps you would prefer something like, um, uhhh...food?" Barnhouse did not know what else he could offer to the creature if it had
offered its assistance.

"I would truly appreciate it! I could reallly use a friend right about now. It's not easy being on the run all the time" Barnhouse began to sulk.
His head sank on his shoulders and his lip began to quiver - he was getting ready to tell his sap story to the creature - but before he could continue

he was once again interrupted by the over-sized rat.

Urabrask let out a quiet yawn as Al prattled on, not particularly inclined to listen to the man while he was acting like an idiot. It wasn't until the mention of gold was brought up that Urabrask even saw fit to respond. "Gold will suffice, yes." He had never actually traveled to the Rat Warrens by sewer before but he figured it wouldn't be too difficult to find. The Rat Warrens sewers were a continuation of this sewer system, so he figured if they just followed the flow of the water they would reach the city of thieves in no time. 

"Also, I'm not an idiot. You can speak norrrmally arrrround me."


Urabrask sat down and scratched an annoying itch on his neck, letting out another yawn as he did and started following the current of the water. He made sure not to stray too far from Al as he moved, but otherwise made no effort to acknowledge that the other individual was even there. So far he wasn't a huge fan of this Al Barnhouse guy. Still, he figured that traveling with the man would give him an excellent chance to find out his weaknesses. Maybe he'd even get lucky and the guy would just die in his sleep. That'd be awesome, he idly thought.

Splashes of water trailed behind him, as he sped past this alley hoping for an exit. Animo had came across the worst kind of people, and was assured of their moral shortcomings after hearing their demonic laughter, which told him they were closer behind then he had originally thought. Beginning to round a corner Animo hoped for an exit, sadly with the image of the alleyway's dead end his future looked bleak. 

The moonlight exposed all beings are darkness hidden within the cloak of night, and Animo's countenance had not changed from his usual calm look as the moonlight flashed over the faces of his pursuers. They had rough faces, and gave off an uneasy feeling, but Animo did nothing more but accept his fate as his back lay against the end of the alley, with no way out but forward to face the small group of men holding various make shift weapons, too poor to afford anything else. As they stepped forward, their weapons seemed to shine eerily, irritating Animo's eyes almost as much as their sick, twisted smiles irritated Animo. 

So... this is it.


Animo closed his eyes as he gripped his fists tightly, not even bothering to fight back for his body that seemed to have no value. with a swift strike to the jaw Animo could hear his lower jaw shatter with excruciating detail. Animo unwillingly savored the feeling, as he only focused on the pain. The numerous hits to the face were counted in his head one by one. First the jaw, then second the eye socket, each attack seemed to overwhelm the last. With a barrage of fists all over his body and finally a great punch to his stomach his eyes widened as he instinctively tried to breathe again, even though he realized the futility in this action. He was dead for sure. He knew it, and even if they didn't finish him off, at this point the damage to his body was extensive. As far as he was concerned he was already half-dead, and the last few deaths made him feel more and more tired... almost sleepy.

The sound of water rang in his ears, as he was awakened.

So... it happened again


Animo touched his jaw and his eye, still somewhat feeling the pain previously inflicted. When he moved his hand over them the wounds felt untouched. An intense feeling of sadness and anger overcame him as he gritted his teeth together and pounded his right hand into his thigh. This pain both emotional and physical had taken a toll on him, and as he continued to hit his thigh with full force this was evidence of his loosening grip over his sanity, and the sinking of his psyche into a more dark state. 

After finishing his onslaught against himself, he ran his fingers against the platform he was on, finally realizing he was in a sewer surrounding by rats. He smiled at them faintly as he stood up, only feeling a hint of the pain in his thigh now. The rats scurried away into the darkness as Animo stared aimlessly into the dark looking for a way out.

(OOC: Hope you don't mind that I'm joining. Please forgive the roughness of my writing it has been awhile since I have written or rped altogether lol)