<div style="text-align: center"><img alt="[​IMG]" class="bbCodeImage LbImage" data-url="http://i.imgur.com/OBYSo.gif" src="http://i.imgur.com/OBYSo.gif" style=""/><br/>
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<span style="font-family: 'georgia'"><span style="font-size: 12px"><span style="color: #9D612B">I AWAKE TO SEE THAT NO ONE IS FREE<br/>
WE'RE ALL FUGITIVES</span></span></span>​</div><br/><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="color: #544A41"><span style="font-family: 'georgia'"><span style="font-size: 15px"><span style="color: #9D612B">Were she a more easily intimidated woman,</span></span></span> that threat might have made her shake in her boots.  However, given how those sorts of threats were given to her almost daily in her time in the Underdark, and some time on the surface as well, she wasn't that phased by it.  That, and she desperately needed to flee this place, if she was going to muster the strength for a second attack.  Given her demonic heritage, it wouldn't be long until her wounds had healed, less than three minutes, really, leaving her feeling refreshed and ready for battle once more.  Still, the embarrassment of being beaten so harshly was still there, and she needed to clean herself of the dried blood that was currently caked to her skin underneath her tight leathers.<br/>
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One dip in a river an hour later, and then a day of walking until she could find a horse or steal, and she soon found herself in Izmit, sometime in the following afternoon.  She was eager for this samurai's blood, ready to spill it and to drive her falchion deep into her stomach, ready to watch her as the lights went out of her eyes.  Never before had she been so embarrassed, and never again would she suffer the same fate.  This time, she would know what to expect from the samurai, and understand not to get too close to her.  If there was a way to lure her outside...<br/>
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Those plans would have to wait until their next meeting.  For now, she had to deal with Double-Dead, who would not be pleased with her failure.  If she couldn't kill this woman, how could anyone else help to fetch the rest of the Oerthblood?  <span style="color: #9D612B">"Do not worry,"</span> she said at last, after Double-Dead had let out his steam and given her her orders, orders she had been hoping for during the entire meeting.  <span style="color: #9D612B">"This Sililuthsauriva will die by my hand, and the Oerthblood shall be yours,"</span> she assured him, as she stepped out of his chambers.  There were no special supplies that she required, so the trip back out into Izmit proper, then to the stables would be quite brief, before she found herself another horse, and began riding towards the grotto again.<br/>
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Back and forth, it felt like.  This time, however, she was less eager to get to the mine as she was before.  She took her time, and put less stress into the beast between her legs.  She needed time to think, time to consider the implications of the entire mess.  She had been beaten so badly before, because she had underestimated her foe and had forgone the elements of surprise that she needed to properly do her job.  The samurai existed to fight one enemy at a time, to completely decimate her foes.  She would never last against her in proper martial combat, and with the ceiling being so low as it was, flight offered her little in terms of a tactical advantage.  With those enhanced senses, as well, invisibility was useless unless she could stop herself from breathing.<br/>
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The more she thought about it, the less she wanted to kill this woman, and instead wished to study her.  Don't get her wrong, Sbatarra has been and forever will be a sociopath, eager to spill blood and complete whatever task has been set out before her, but for the first time in nearly over one hundred years, reaching far back to her time in the Underdark, she had fought against someone better than her.  To kill such a person would be like killing herself.  A grossly different version of herself, one bound by rules and limitations and codes and honour.  How was it that with all these limitations, Sil seemed to be her equal, if not better, when Sbatarra had freed herself from all such weights and restrictions to make herself a better killer?<br/>
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She had ample time to muse about that, as the first day ended and her journey was only halfway finished.</span></span><br/><br/><div style="text-align: right"><span style="font-family: 'Georgia'"><span style="font-size: 22px"><a class="externalLink" href="http://www.myth-weavers.com/sheetview.php?sheetid=454315" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">*</a></span></span>​</div><div class="messageTextEndMarker"> </div>