As you approach the city, you notice a wind-worn sign. It's too worn out from the elements to read everything, but you make out the words<span style="font-style: italic">Bastiel</span>, and<span style="font-style: italic">Welcome</span>. You remember hearing about this city back in it its prime, a once bustling place of trade, research and technology. Now all you see are old brick buildings that have fallen into disrepair, and a large stone wall surrounding the center of the city. As you descend further into the city, you begin to pass more and more people. One of them stops and asks if you have enough<span style="font-style: italic">synthetic water</span>and then offers you a bottle for a mere thirty silver coins. You politely decline, stating that you have reserves in your pack. The man offers you a slight bow before departing, leaving you to take in your surroundings.<br/><br/>Now that you're in the city, you see just how bad of shape it's in. The streets are filled with people attempting to either sell items, buy items, or barter for items. Oddly enough, you don't spot much trash laying around the street. You would have figured that such a busy place would have more garbage laying around, that's when you notice a particular store. It's a salvage shop. You decide to go inside to browse and see what this city deems as salvage. As you enter the the store, a fat, greasy, old man bids you welcome and asks if you are looking for anything special. You shake your head no and begin to look over his merchandise. The man has everything from engine parts to little plastic straws laying around, ready for purchasing. Then it hits you, that is why you didn't see any trash. Everything is picked clean and then resold as either salvage, or is re-purposed for a different use.<br/><br/>You bid the shop owner a good day, then walk out of the store. As the door shuts behind you, a loud voice catches your ears. "Make way! A New Bastiel citizen wishes to pass! Make way!" Says a man with a strange weapon. You've never seen one before, but you over hear a nearby person talking to a group of other people he is with. "Look at that, it's one of those energy weapons!" He says, "Aye, and a halberd type at that. Just the salvage from that thing would feed my family for a year!" Adds one of the group members. The man from before nods, "True, but yer likely to loose an arm or worse handling those without proper training an a bit o' luck. Those weapons be dangerous. Prone ter explodin'..." The man trails off as you step out of the way for the man carrying the weapon, who you assumed was some sort of guard. Behind him are several other guards, followed by a lady in an extravagent dress and hat. She carries a parasol with her to block out some of the sun, and has a bottle of real water at her hip. On the other side of her hip rests another strange weapon, you assume it's another energy weapon of some sort.<br/><br/>As they disappear down the street, everyone goes about their prior business and you resume your exploration, only to bump into a small boy. From a glance, you would pin the boy to be about twelve years old. His shorts were tattered and his shirt only a few hastily stitched rags. Before you can even utter an apology, then boy dashes off into an alley. You instinctively check your pockets, only to find your coin-purse missing. With a small curse, you dash after the boy.<br/><br/>As you chase the boy deeper and deeper into the city, you begin to forget which way you came from. You've tried to recall landmarks, but everything looks the same now, just a heap of ruined buildings and homeless people. Despite this, you manage to keep up with the boy though and follow him into yet another alley, but this one was a dead end. At the far end of the alley, the boy stops and faces the wall, giving you a chance to catch your breath as you approach. Just as your about to place a hand on the boy, he whips around and plants a sharpened piece of steel into your ribs with a smile.<br/><br/>"Welcome to Old Bastiel, outsider..."<br/><br/><div><hr style="height:2px; width:100%; border:0; color: white;background:white;"/></div><br/><br/><div style="text-align: center;"><a class="postlink" href="http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e327/steusloffa/Junk/a3e78b33-5cae-43cf-bca0-7bdc0488116b_zpskyozpugo.jpg">[ img ]</a></div><br/><br/><br/><br/><div style="text-align: center;"><a class="postlink" href="http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e327/steusloffa/Junk/cooltext117506316786206_zpsnqy2zyuh.png">[ img ]</a></div><br/><br/>Large blue eyes glare out into packed streets, the sizzling sun beaming overhead. The young humanoid has been tethered to a wall with chains for some time now, his skin raw and bloody. His body was covered in scars, though his tail seemed to have the worst of them. Had he been standing, it would have been obvious how he towered over the people of Old Bastiel, but his legs probably wouldn't be able to support his weight for very long. One of his finned ears twitched as a man spoke up, the tip of his ear missing as if it were ripped off. "Step on up and feast your eye's on the last known, living Sea Elf!" Shouted the man enthusiastically.<br/><br/>Orca hated this man, almost as much as he hated the ball of fire above his head. If he could, Orca would have snapped the man in two with his powerful tail, which was almost as long as he was tall. "He doesn't look like much now, but feed him a little and beat him enough and this six foot, eight inch tall giant will regain his strength and be a perfect contender for the gladiator pits! He even has years of experience fighting!" Said his captor with enthusiasm. Orca closed his eyes as the man's words brought forth images of his past, and with those images, pain.<br/><br/>His lips curled back in a snarl and his eyes shot open. "No!" he yelled in a ragged, dual toned voice before lunging with all his might at the man. It was no use though, the chains stopped his movements by cutting into his flesh, fresh blood dripping to the sandy ground. "Shut up, fish. What good are you if you keep injuring yourself trying to hurt me? Give up and accept your fate." Said the man, to which Orca responded with another snarl before attempting to lunge again. With each lunged, the chains clanked and dust fell from the stone wall that he was chained to. His tail smacked against the hot sand in frustration and anger as he reached out towards the man, desperately trying to end his life.<br/><br/>It seemed that the more he struggled, more and more people grouped up around him, if only to see what would happen. "Hahaha! See?!? Even in such a condition, his will to live on thrives! Imagine the glory he could bring you in the Gladiator pits! Imagine the money he could make you! I'd wager that he would pay himself off in just under ten fights!" Said the man. The crowd continued to chatter, their voices growing, eager to see something else. "And look at his pain tolerance! Imagine the potential!" Shouted the promoter just before jabbing a makeshift cattle-prod at the humanoid. As the tips made contact with Orca's flesh, an audible crack sounded from the device. His muscles began to spasm, but Orca was determined to fight through the pain, digging his feet into the ground and using his tail as a support.<br/><br/>"But what if we want to purchase him? He looks dangerous, like he could do some serious damage after we purchase him. How convenient for you after you sell him, it wouldn't be your problem." Said a woman from the crowd. The man smiled and reached for a large contraption that looks like it would fit around someones neck. "A very good question! With every purchase, we attach a control collar to their neck. All you need to do is press the button on the remote we give you, and it'll present such a shock, that not even this giant would be able to take it... I call it, the pacifier." Said the man with a large grin. The crowd seemed to approve...