<span style="font-size: 150%; line-height: 116%;"><span style="font-weight: bold"><span style="text-decoration: underline"><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-style: italic">-Anora and the Bartender-</span></div></span></span></span><br/><br/>A soft echo of heavy boots slowly walking down a cobblestone street were the only sound heard by Anora as she made her way to her destination.  Besides the occasional drunkard passing her, she was alone on this night.Her pace was quick, though not too fast to draw attention to herself, she was just in a hurry to get to her destination.  She had a simple job, one which was the only change she requested from Astisha's plan.  She was to simply sit tight, keep an eye for anyone who might be watching their hideout and be ready in case anything went south with the rest of their group.  But Anora had her own ideas what she needed do be doing first.  Her reasons are simple, she dose not feel secure at all with those whom she now calls her group.  Not because the people within are not skilled, on the contrary, some of them could hold their own in a fight and others had skills useful to her.  It was just she felt they got lucky the first time they had met the assassins, and she feared even with her assistance it still would be not enough to prevent death. No, she needed someone she knew she could trust and one whose skills could prove rather useful considering his skill set.   But she also knew the place where she would find him would be a place she wouldn't be caught dead in.  She would find this fellow in a Tavern often frequented by the caravan guards who had a taste for a night where any steam built up on the road could be blown off in an instant.  The Wandering Rooster.<br/><br/>A few minutes more and the sounds of laughter and music filled the air around her, the sights of a few more than usual drunk men stumbling to their feet greeted her vision and a slight feeling of regret overcame her alerted her that she had arrived.  With an upset look on her face, she silently crept towards the large glass window in the front of the tavern and peered inside.  The sights of two, massive brutes made of muscle and apparently not much else were fighting it out in the middle of the tavern, and each hit was meet with a resounding round of applause and cheering.  She chuckled though, all she saw these two men doing was punching each other.  Each made no attempt to avoid a blow nor did they try to put their arms up in defense of their faces.  As a large smile grew sideways across her face, she began to examine each and every face trying to find her friend in a sea of drunks.   The circle surrounding the fight offered no help nor did the tables near the window, though she figured he would steer clear of those areas.  Her eyes slowly moved towards the bar top and with her smile growing just a little bit bigger as she let the words “gotcha” escape her lips.<br/><br/>Anora silently slid away from her corner on the window before making her way towards the door, and into the den of thieves and low lifers.   As quickly as she could she made her way through the open door and towards her friend sitting on as tool, body facing the fight with a beer in his right hand and his hood on up.  There was empty stool next to him and she sat down upon it, she could tell he gave her a slight glance but the new hood made it hard for him to see who was there and no sooner than he gave the look he returned his gaze back towards the fight.  Anora fixed her gaze upon the bartender while she raised her right fist up and placing her right elbow down on the bar-top.  Her eyes examined the details of this man, his receding hair line was turning to a light grey color .  His face had many wrinkles, and the dark patches under his eyes suggest he rarely gets enough sleep.  He wore a dirty white apron over his chest, yet wore no shirt underneath.  Either he was lazy or he was practical, she could not tell.<br/><br/>She watched and waited, he was pouring a drink for someone and his attention was fixated upon the slightly bubbling alcholic beverage, something that she was surprised to find in this place.  She knew not what it contained, but she did know it was a popular drink among the working class for not only did it get you drunk but it also had enough of the good stuff you needed to keep your body functional, it was called liquid bread.  She kept eyeing both the bartender and the drink until he finally looked up at her.<br/><br/>He looked at her with a “what do you want” kinda look as he motioned with his head left, right and down. To his left lay alcohol which Anora did not know and the same could be said about those to the right.  Anora, knowing she needed to buy her seat. extended her index finger on her right hand and motioned with her eye towards the drink he was pouring, to which the bartender shook his head up and down before he took the glass and brought it to the customer who ordered it before returning to fill up another glass for Anora.  It took him only half a minute to fill the glass and place it with a soft touch down just in front of her.  Anora pulled her right elbow back, in the process lowering her hand down which firmly grabbed the cup by its handle and raised it up to her mouth, where she took a big gulp of the mixture. A big mistake seeing as this acquired taste had not been acquired by Anora.  A look of pure disgust mixed with surprise quickly fell upon her face as she looked into the mixture, it tasted as if someone had taken mud and mixed it with alcohol then ran it through the broth of a bad chicken dinner, which was over-cooked and under-prepared.  A ill-contempt look fell upon her face when Anora finally learned why it was nicknamed Mud milk.   Her eyes were fixated on the glass when she noticed the bartender was still standing in front of her, arms crossed.  Her eyes darted up as a scornful look filled her face.  She noticed he was laughing silently in front of her, his face of pure delight.  This older man could tell she was not accustomed to this drink, and savored every minute of her first experience.  With a tilt of her head and a motion of her eyes to the left, the bartender began to silently laugh his way to another customer.<br/><br/>After a minute had passed, and the first shock of that drink had ended, she turned her head towards her friend and spoke with a coy tone.  “Why do you always end up in places such as this, Ardur?”  She said as she felt a a mocking gaze upon her face, and noticed a certain smiling bartender out of the corner of her vision, her eyes darted back to the bartender who returned her look with a smile and a little wave, who proceeded to point her out to a couple men who begin to laugh uncontrollably.<br/><br/><span style="font-size: 150%; line-height: 116%;"><span style="font-weight: bold"><span style="font-style: italic"><span style="text-decoration: underline"><div style="text-align: center;">-A night interrupted-</div></span></span></span></span><br/><br/>Ardur was enjoying the early part of what promised to be a good evening.  He had a drink in hand, a show in sight as well as some late night entertainment in reach just down the bar from him.  Turning his head with a big smile on his face, he eyed up a girl ,who along with four others were on the wall of the tavern, with her hands clutched onto a fan which she waved oh so gently in front of her face.  He loved pay days, to him this was the night where he could truly relax after a long journey.  His muscles ached, his stomach growled and his mind begged him to indulge himself with every last thing that could bring him joy.  But he pushed that though aside for now, he was only on his third mud milk of the night and he could afford to let the party get going into full swing before he indulged his .  He turned his attention back to the fight when he noticed a green cloaked individual sit down next to him.  He turned his attention just to get a quick glimpse of the figure before quickly returning his attention to the fight.  He had made a bet with the bartender that the one big muscle man would beat the other big muscle man, and he was eager for his man to win.  But a look of confusion fell upon his face almost immediately, which big strong man did he bet on? His mind franticly raced to figure out which one he had a gold coin sitting upon.  Until one thought entered his mind, “blue trousers”.  His eyes darted down, and through a slight crack in the crowd he could see which one he had his money on, he was the slightly-less ugly one.  A voice to his left surprised him, yet he knew it very well.   A soft chuckle escaped his lip as he turned his attention slightly to his left.  “Anora, you got a new cloak.” he said in a fake surprised tone  “Very well that you did, I never fancied walking around with a beggar archer to be honest.”  He said with an obvious grin.  He knew whatever reason brought her to this tavern would mean that work was coming sooner than he had thought.  He continued “I was born and raised in a place like this, you know that and I tell you every time you find me in these taverns.”<br/><br/>Anora, with the drink still in her right hand, swiveled around in her chair and matched Ardur's body.  Her eyes fell upon the fight, they were still throwing punch after punch into each  other yet they were still standing.  She was surprised to say the least and her face showed this quite well.  Instead of coming out right with her information, she spoke with a innocent tone “I came here to try that mud milk you told me about.'  Ardur's attention was suddenly torn from the fight as his head, with a shocked yet amused look upon it, turned quickly to face Anora.  He was without a word for a second before he spoke in a laugh filled voice “What you trying liquid bread for Anora”  he leaned in close and with a coy voice he spoke again “Divinio.  You know it's an acquired taste”  Anora chuckled a bit, Ardur is one of the few people she let in on her past and in return she was one of the few people he let in on hers.   The sounds of the entire tavern busting into cheering filled the ears of the two as the blue trouser fighter knocked the other fighter out.  Ardur jumped from his chair, his drink gushing out and onto the floor, and screamed a scream of joy and pumped his left fist in air.  Anora let a grin cross her face, she should have known Ardur would have placed money on this.  And Ardur was enjoying every second worth of the celebration, that was before he turned  his head to the bartender.  Ardurs happy expression was met by one which was sad on the bartender who tossed him a small bag of coins.  Anora noticed the flying bag of coins and turned her head around and looked at the bartender.  He was about to look away when he caught Anoras gaze, her joy-full expression matched his slightly sad one for a mere moment before her eyes motioned towards her friend and her left hand gave him a little wave.  A small smile spread across his face before he went back to work.<br/><br/>“Ardur” Anora spoke as her attention fixated upon her friend “Remember those stories I told you about, assassinations at random with only one common theme?”   Ardur's face shifted to a more serious one, his tone reflected this sudden change when he spoke “Yea, yea I do.  Slowing our business with the fear they're spreading.  Got any information on them finally?”  Anora matched the shift from playful to serious as she took another  drink from the mug.  Another mistake. With a disgusted look on her face she continued with an even more serious tone “Today, while out shoping” she stressed the final word, before speaking in another innocent tone “I witnessed an attempted assassination”  Ardur spit out what he was attempting to drink onto the floor in front of him.  He turned his full body towards Anora and his face had an expression of pure shock and concern, something Anora rarely saw “What?  Wha..What did you just say?  You sure it was them? And attempted, you mean their mark survived?”  Anora spun around, surprised at the look of concern offered to her, and continuing the serious tone she continued to speak.  “Yeah. I tracked the survivors to a warehouse where-” Ardur face adopted a scolding look when he spatted out “You joined them?”  Anora diverted her gaze away from Ardur, she needed not his concern nor his pity and least of his scolding.<br/><br/>Ardur simply stared at Anora, his face was still displaying his shock, before speaking in a coy tone as he turned towards the crowd.  “I thought you trying mud milk would be the biggest surprise of the night.”  He said as he turned his body back towards the bar and finished his drink.  Anora stood up from her stool as she spoke in her serious voice “Listen, you know as well as I do that these people are stopping our business and whats bad for business is bad-”  Anora was trying to continue when Ardur stood up as well, she did not expect that.  Ardur tossed some coins on the bar top, Anora unable to find the words she was about to speak, but gave up trying when Ardur started speaking “I know what your gonna ask and im in.”  His faced turned towards Anora, he was obviously sad his night was ending so soon but it was also obvious that the wheels in his head were turning. “What do you need me to do?”  Anora let out a heavy sigh and smiled.  She knew having a battlemage on board would even out the playing field, if but a little.  Anora motioned for Ardur to follow her as she led her way out of the tavern.  On her way out, she caught a smiling face off to her left.  It was the bartender who gave her a little wave, to which Anora responded with a flick of a coin.  The man caught it,examined it and gave her a friendly smile to which Anora returned as she left the tavern with Ardur in tow.  Anora explained where they were heading as they quickly walked down the street towards the warehouse.<br/><br/><span style="font-style: italic"><span style="font-weight: bold"><span style="text-decoration: underline"><span style="font-size: 150%; line-height: 116%;"><div style="text-align: center;">-A threat approaches-</div></span></span></span></span><br/><br/>A man in a thick fur and leather armor leaves his seat on the bar before heading to a private table where a clean shaven man in similar armor sits alone.  He sat down and spoke in a excited tone.  “The two people who just left, a woman and man, I overheard parts of their conversation.  I did not catch much, but I did”  He paused as a smile spread across his face “hear the man call her Divinio.”  The shaved head mans head head jumped a little as he heard the news, and as he lifted it his face was without a smile nor scorn.  He looked the man in the eye for a couple seconds before grabbing his drink and downing it all.<br/><br/>Lason slowly raised his body off the chair before extending an arm towards his compainon.  The man stood up and each grabbed each others arms and gave it a good strong shake. Lason spoke with a commanding tone “Go back to the others and tell them to meet me here, then ride and let our lord I will be here a little while longer.”  The man walked out and Lason let a smile across his face, before grabbing his now empty mug and shouting “Barkeep!”