Putting the Past to Rest (Nako)

[Elloria]

Josk stared up at the dingy inn sign with a look of open disgust. He knew that anywhere the black market was ‘easily’ accessible meant it would be filthy. But this place literally smelled like a pig stye. It was disgusting. He could feel the filth crawling up from the ground to taint him. If he could have, he would've left then and there, leaving everything unresolved. But he needed to finally put this business to rest. He needed to take care of what had happened to Rensu...his father...and cleanse himself of it. He needed to kill Tári Séregon.

And he wouldn't be able to do it alone. Josk had done his homework and knew the elf woman was a fairly accomplished magician. In fact, it had been her area of expertise, from everything he'd learned. She sucked at just about everything else, though. Or as close to sucking as any elf could come. He wasn't much for physical fighting either, for that matter. And if she was anything like him, she was bound to have some melee fighters or other nearby to protect her physically while she fought for the mental superiority necessary in a magical duel.

Which was what brought him here. To the Doomed Sage Hall. A deliberately shady name that actually drew attention away from it instead of to it. He hoped to find a mercenary or two here to help him with the physicality of the coming confrontation. Otherwise, he'd probably have a tough time killing the cretin that had destroyed his life.

With that thought in mind, Josk took a final breath of relatively clean air and entered the establishment. His hood was up, hiding his elven features from unwelcome attention. Fortunately, that also meant he wasn't much out of place in this den of thieves, murderers, and general dregs of society. He looked around, not sure who to approach at first. After a moment, he gave up on trying to pick one from the crowd and instead moved to the advertisement board by the bar. There were several deliberately vague advertisements up that all present knew were requests for unsavory services. He tacked his own up over the others, paid for a room and informed the barkeep that anyone answering the advert should be sent to his room immediately. With that, he took his key and disappeared upstairs to await for an answer.

Advertisement: “Wanted: A bodyguard for the next several days to assist in a number of tasks and upcoming interactions with clients. Must be physically fit, powerful, willing to obey orders without question, and knows how to keep quiet. Starting price is 200 gold coins per day.”

[wolf]

"The Doomed Sage hall, how nice." Nako muttered as he gazed at the gently swinging sign, crumpling up the advertisement in a gloved fist. The idiot had offered up 200 gold a day in a probable attempt to quicken his way to living in the streets as a beggar.
Nako put up his hood before walking practically unnoticed through the doors into the pathetic establishment. He stalked over to the barkeeper.

"I'm here for the job." Nako stated as he held up the advertisement.

"Room 4, merc." The owner said merc as if it were a curse.
Nako hiked his way upstairs before grabbing room 4's doorknob and twisting it sharply, as if breaking a mans wrist.

"I,ll do it for 70 a day." The assassin stated as he walked in through the door. "Cause what your offering is extortion."

[Elloria]

Josk pulled out of his waking sleep as the wards he had erected around his room went off. He stretched, his back to the wall as he lay on his side. Someone was outside the door and apparently intended to enter. He hoped it was a potential mercenary looking for work this time. The last idiot who had decided to come in without invitation - and not in answer to his summons - had regretted it. Not to mention the resultant mess hadn’t been fun to clean up.

"I’ll do it for 70 a day. Cause what your offering is extortion."

Josk yawned and sat up, glad he’d slept with his cloak on and hood up. As the mercenary informed him of the new payment conditions, he thought perhaps he should have started at a much lower price. That would explain the lack of response in the last twenty-four hours. Humans sold themselves for so cheap. Seventy gold was hardly a fitting wage for the sort of enemies he intended for this man to face. Though unsure of what sort of protection Tári would have around herself, Josk knew it would be exceptionally dangerous. “Extortion?” The word rolled off his tongue silkily as his deep voice rumbled softly with an exotic accent. “I would not call it extortion,” he continued.

He eyed the man carefully, his face thankfully hidden in the shadow of his hood. He wasn't much impressed. Despite the hand-and-a-half sword at the man's side - and the yew bow - the mercenary seemed built more for speed than prolonged and heavy battle. Still, Josk didn't feel like quibbling over the man's appearance. Now was not a time to be picky. The sooner he finished this business with Tári, the sooner he could return home and move on.

He gestured towards the only other seat in the room - a rather rickety chair beside an equally rickety table.“Sit down.” Shifting back slightly farther onto the bed, Josk crossed his legs lotus-style and relaxed a bit. He was now seated on the sheath of his blade and within reach of the two obsidian stones in its hilt. He felt no fear with the mercenary in the room. His cloak protected him well enough and he could easily tap into four different power sources to fuel his magic for quite some time. Confident, he smiled at the man, forgetting that his face was still hidden. “If you feel the price is too high, I suppose I can lower it. But seventy is too low, in my opinion. How about one hundred gold a day? I don’t anticipate needing your services for more than two or three days.” His voice remained soft and low as a hint of amusement tinged his tone. “I’m even willing to pay a portion of it in advance to secure your service and will hand over the remainder upon successful completion of my...business. What do you say?” After all, he didn't really expect this human to survive the coming encounters. He'd be quite impressed if he did. Perhaps enough to give the man a bit extra payment for his troubles. Only the coming days would tell - if the man took his offer.