Get him! (And Grab his Shoes) - Mostly Rei

As fate would have it, the evening eventually came. Previously mentioned in the Chronicle’s of Rei and Paco, the two had come to the isolated island village in search for carpenters, and as such, found a few men who claimed their allegiance to the idea of working for wage. Men were recruited at various portions of the isle and it was hinted that there was a group of bandits who lived outside of the island on the main land, who had originally come from the isle, but in the lack of available work, decided to live amongst the land and pillage merchants and such in order to create a living for themselves.

With the encroach of the evening, Paco felt a twinge on the left portion of his ass which alerted him to the master’s summon in Harem; he advised that he would make haste through the physical fairy portal (i.e. flying there) in order to reach Harlem and left Rei in charge of bringing in the bounty of workers in his absence. As such, Rei would be left with his horse and the objective ahead. Unknowingly awaiting his presence would be a force of men hidden in the forests north of the isle.

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For the most part, the night would be peaceful offering the sound of crickets and night time noises mixed with the soft flowing of the river to his side. Though the nice was tranquil, there were eyes upon him already. The horse seemed like it would fetch a hefty sum, if not provide a reliable mount and the person riding on it seemed as if they should have a bit of money on them, but not much strength. Only a few in the overall bandit party would be in this area where Rei would be riding. A group of four men would watch him from the darkness of the forest shrubbery, having noticed the sound of his steed in its approach from some distance. As Rei made his way past their hidden location, at a distance no more than fifteen meters away, one of the four, decide to go for the easy and swift kill as he lifts a bow up and takes aim for the rider. The arrow would slip smoothly through the night, aimed to strike the chest of the rider; on impact, the three out of the four men present, would make themselves known, as they would react accordingly to the situation. If the rider was knocked off, they would approach the horse and the rider’s body to loot; if he remained on the horse, they would rush him in an effort to pull him down from the mounted beast.


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The bandits, in their haste to attack, find that their presence was sensed as the agile horsemen dismounts and evades the arrow that flew for his chest. The horse comes into action as they would witness the horse and its master acting in unison. This would cause a bit of surprise for the bandits, but in their line of work, they would be dead if they were unable to respond to a sudden change in plans. They become alert to the counter offensive, but due to the darkness of the night and the speed of the flighty vaspire, they would be unable to react effectively to defend or parry. The final blow comes to the archer in the midst of his reloading as the blast of ice would certainly be unpleasant, but not enough to freeze him completely or render him hapless. He would be driven back into the forest where his body would roll and he would get up in an effort to compose and attempt to compose himself with a mixture of fight and flight leveling within his heart. The first would be momentarily unconscious due to the head back and the other would be holding his neck, and attempting to regain control over his breathing. Since all of this happened very quickly, the fourth and final bandit attempts diplomacy as he holds his hands up and admits, “hold on there, we give… forgive our assault, we did not take you to be this skilled.”

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“Tch,” emits the one spoken to first as if to wonder to himself, who this guy thought he was. As a tactician of guerilla warfare, he was able to observe the advantage their opponent had in speed, which gave him the higher ground since they would most likely die in the process of trying to kill him. The night did not aide their process as it normally did against more normal adversaries. The male regaining his breath looks to the male who had been spoken to first and gives a nod. After receiving this nod, he turns to the forest, where the archer was already pulling himself out of the brush. The lead male, the one who had not been hurt thus far, comments, “stand down, it looks like he’s got us in a bind.” The archer, a bit frosty and unhappy about a defeat four on one, frowns and holds out his hands passively, wielding his bow in one hand and his arrows in the other. He tosses the weapons to Rei’s feet and holds his hands up stepping back a pace or two, now standing with the gasping male who seemed to get a grip on himself. The unconscious fellow remained on the ground at this time, having not come to yet. The lead male speaks, “you seem to know of where we’re from, but you mistake us for cowards. A man who gives up his allies for no reason is not truly a man. For what reason do you seek our leader?”

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The archer frowns on sight of his arrows being broken, murmuring something beneath his breath to the effect of, “those were 10 shinny each…” Still, when you were the captive prisoner of another, you couldn’t be choosey. Attention remains on this mysterious lord type as he speaks. With the words that come in, the lead male in the group counters with his question, “it must take a warrior of great skill for someone to be your master. Your movements do not seem human; are you perhaps something different than a human? I’ve heard tales of shaman being overtaken and possessed by their magic… I wonder, are you something along those lines? What of this master of yours? And is there a choice in the matter whether or not we accept this certain work that you offer?”

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The lead male frowns slightly and looks down with the conclusion of his words. He looks up and to the side, gazing towards the stars of the night sky as he begins, “Shima spurred our anger long ago. We disagreed with the clan leader… the Lin Kuei were set in their ways, but our forefathers disbelieved in the theory of isolation… they thought it would only bring distrust and dissent from the other villages…” He pause and looks back to Rei as he admits, “you showed yourself stronger than us in battle, though you allowed us to live. You also are asking us to join you instead of telling us; I can respect this. I think that I will lead you to our camp to speak with our leader; he should consider your proposal as stability and a home may be something we need.”

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With the party seemingly at an agreement, the men wait as Rei makes his way towards the unconscious comrade to help him up and to the horse. Once everything was ready, the men would lead the way into the forest which was the route to the village. The lead male warns, “we encamp within the forest because it is a hard place to search and an easy place to get lost. We often move from place to place in order to keep our location safe. We have scavenged many people and made enemies of almost every village. Your village will be taking in a liability to hire men from our faction.” The forest is dark before them; it was hard to tell which way was which, and only a small portion of the light from the night skies were able to filter into the brush. The men seemed to walk the path well enough, as if having it memorized or being well versed in the forest. It is a long walk and after a while, lights appear in the distance, then tent like structures. Before long, the sound of movement could be heard ahead. Still inside of the ‘forest’ there seemed to be a camp void of an actual clearing. The camp was made around the trees with structures built in the tree tops as houses and tents down below in gaps. The only places that were really cleared out hosted small fire pits. Barrels and stored items lined tent like houses and a populace of men, women and children notice the approach of the bandit men and Rei.

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Eyes would be upon the procession as they lead the way with the three men walking ahead with Rei and the passed out man across the back of the large and regal horse. Men would pause and give their attention as heads seemed to move with their progression; a murmur picks up, wondering about the unfamiliar figure that was coming into their base. Before long, the men come to a large tent that was set up between three large trees in a triangular manner. A sturdy wagon carrying barrels, and seemingly associated with the tent somehow, sat to its side. A man comes out of this tent, a sturdy man with short black hair, leathery tanned skin, and a serious face in a hide vest with a belt wielding several knife variations, sturdy boots and rugged pants. He pauses in the line of moment with the bandit men who were leading Rei. The lead male comes to stop before this man who looks towards Rei and makes a nodding motion asking, “who is he?” The lead male lowers his head and speaks, “we need to talk; he comes with a financial offering.” The lead male nods and states, “then we’ll all speak in the camp center, come on.” Looking to Rei, gives a sly foxish grin as he greets while leading the way to a fire pit location, speaking, “I am Taynook, greetings stranger and welcome to our village.” It seemed the word regarding finances was in a good tone with him. They come to a fire pit with logs set around it to squat; Taynook sits and offers Rei to sit as he comments, “nice horse,” before continuing, “so what brings you to our camp?”

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Taynook rests his arms on his knees as he sits upon the log near the fire pit. By this time, the other men whom Rei had already become acquainted with, as well as a few from the village had come to gather around to listen it. It seemed like Taynook did not mind a public hearing; he didn’t seem like the type of leader to make decisions without the support of the people he was representing. With the initial blurb, there is a light murmur about them as the others speak in low tone’s amongst themselves. Taynook nods and lifts a hand to rub beneath his chin; his hand lowers back and he looks over to Rei and comments, “that’s quite the offer. A stable job and home… and he seeks out anyone, even bandits.” This seemed to amuse Taynook slightly before he turns his attention to Rei’s horse and the unconscious man on the back of it. With an interested tone, he asks, “what happened to Wilheim?” By that, he referred to the male who was knocked unconscious by Rei.

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A smile comes to Taynooks face as he looks to the three men who were in the party with the K/O’d person and teases, “so you guys got your butts kicked.” After a short chuckle, he returns his attention to Rei and speaks jovially, “that’s interesting to hear how you turned around the situation on them. I’m very interested in this speed technique that you speak of, but if we will be working together in the future, I’m sure we’ll have plenty of time to speak on various things, yes?” Getting back on topic, he continues, “you seem like a good guy, which is strange because you almost look like a noble. You’ve got a nice horse, and I think you can tell a lot about a man by his horse.” Pointing towards Rei’s horse, he comments, “he looks like a desert breed that I’ve heard rumors of. I’ve heard they’re incredibly hard to tame…”

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The archer accepts the bow back with a swift word of thanks. Taynook seems amused by the tale of trying to harness the loyalty of the horse. He is smiles for a moment before the smiles fade into a look of casual contentment as his mind mulls over matters at hands. He rests the side of his chin on his fist for a moment before lifting his head up and locking his digits before him with the offer, “well, for now, Rei, how about staying the night with us? We’ll have food, drink and entertainment… let us show you a good time. It’s about time for us to move again since we’ve been in this spoke for a little over a week now. We’ll move to this place of which you speak and see how we like it. If everything is fine, then we may just decide to stick around; that sound like a plan?”

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Sent to UYB.