The story thus far:
After dealing with some administrative
difficulties Millraven Finn Izzle was allowed into the city of Commodore’s
Crossing. She had originally been hired by the city’s council of ministry to
retrieve an artifact called the Blue Streak of Commodore Cramden. However, as soon as she set foot into the
city the bag that contained all her important documents and coin was
pickpocketed. After a wild chase around the city and the eventual capture of
the thief the young elf who is also an Elf is suddenly asked to hear out the
story of a group opposed to the council of ministry getting their hands on what
they claim is a powerful artifact that holds sway over language itself…
“Explain this to me and be quick about it.”
Millraven Finn Izzle said with a smirk etched into her beautiful, exotic elven
features, “I don’t find your methods of persuasion to be quite to my tastes and
it isn’t too late to have the lot of you arrested for conspiring against the
city.”
There were 5 people standing in front of
her in the ramshackle building she’d been lead to and each made her nervous in
a different way. The first, standing in
the middle and taking an obvious role as the mouthpiece of the group was an
elven wizard. He stood tall, and projected an aura of calm, natural superiority.
His flowing, waist length hair resembled a water-fall of gold and his piercing
dusk blue eyes surveyed everything as if it were a possession of his own. Despite his wizardly robes it was obvious that
some of his time was spent maintaining his physique and though Millraven could
tell that their personalities would clash, some small part of her would not
have minded a painting of him wearing naught but a loin-cloth and reclining on
a mound of ice-cream.
Next to the spokesperson was a woman of
equal gorgeousness. Tall, leggy and buxom she shined with a different look from
the cultured elf. Hers was the strength and beauty of sun-drenched fields and a
body thoughtlessly and effortlessly maintained by wrestling the bounty from the
earth rather than by the careful planning and sculpture of her fellow. She wore
a suit of farmer’s clothes, designed for comfort and ease of movement rather
than for style, though the material used to make them was obviously not one the
average farmer could afford. She had a thick spill of hair the color of rich,
fertile soil and eyes green as new hay. She stood on the spokesperson’s right and
smiled at Millraven over her freckles.
To the spokesperson’s left stood Brand
Anlace, the Halfling thief they’d sent to distract Millraven as they gathered
and prepared to make their pitch to her. It was a big risk to gather them all
like this, but the Halfling was a born risk taker. He leaned casually against
the wall to the left of the spokesperson and smiled cheekily at Millraven and
though she’d never felt desire for any creature other than a fellow elf she
felt the blood rush to her cheeks. For someone literally half her height he too
was handsome in his own way. The hair on his head was thick, lustrous and
fluffy and his hazel eyes twinkled with amusement. He was dressed from head to
toe in black, brown, and grey, alternating patterns of cloth that would be much
more effective for stealth than just solid black. He
looked like he could steal the world and the world would never notice. There were two others in the room, but
outside of being older and wearing the fashions preferred by petite nobility
they stayed to the back of the room in the shadows. They were obviously the
financial backers of the group and none too eager to let their identities be
known just in case this gambit failed and Millraven did go to the guard. This put Millraven just the slightest bit more
on edge. Silent money tended to go to revolutionaries, and Millraven was no
revolutionary. She was a mercenary, which meant her motivation was coin, not
causes.
“I suppose introductions are in order”, the
handsome elf began, “My name is Silas Vann Grigg, to my right is Merrybelle
Cornflower, and to my left, Brand Anlace whom I believe you’ve already met.” He
followed this with a dry chuckle and then continued on, “We’ll call the others
Lord and Lady Anonymous. We represent a group of persons who wish to keep the
Blue Streak out of the Ministry’s hands “. Millraven nodded, “So I’ve been told, but
no-one had told me why, yet.” Silas nodded and answered with, “I’m sure you saw
the signs posted all through the town on your walk here.” Millraven had and
nodded her agreement. There were signs hanging all through the town reminding
citizens to basically, keep a civil tongue in their head and to not openly
criticize the count that ruled this portion of the land. “I did, they seemed
kind of foolish and nearly impossible to enforce to me.”
The woman next to the Silas, Merrybelle
nodded and spoke now “and they are, for now. What if I told you that ‘twas
possible to stop people from sayin’ stuff ya’ll don’t agree with?” Millraven
considered this for a second, “First off I’d call Bullshit. Secondly I’d hate
it. Disagreement and conflict is how I make my bread and butter after all.”
Merrybelle nodded, “True. True.” She then held up a small sapphire chip,
looking Millraven in the eye, “This here is a piece of th’ Blue Streak. “ She
whispered a word that Millraven did not recognize and yet was obviously of the
language of magic. The sapphire chip lit up with some inner fire, scintillating
stars of blue light filling the room they were hiding in. “Now..Say somethin’
hurtful! Make it about me and as personal as you can.” Millraven was taken aback and it showed on her
face,
“Okaay.” She said then took a deep
breath, “You inbeep ! Honk! Your Mother was bleep, honk, crash and your father
Bleeded the Honkity honk, with bleepity honk honk!” Millraven took a step back,
a look of horror on her face, “What the Honk? I-I didn’t mean to say all those
Bleeping sound effects!” Silas took over again, giving a winning smile to our
heroine. “This is the effect of just one of the hundred thousand chips spread
throughout the blue streak. For each one that stands near another they get
exponentially more powerful. Can you
imagine the power of one hundred thousand of these? No-one would say a single
word you disagree with. Deprived of discourse as a way to deal with our issues
the world would see an epic rise in violence and war, there would be no hope
for any of the intelligent races. “
He deactivated the spell after saying this
and Millraven shook her head, “Holy Shit.”, she said with a measure of relief. “You’re saying the council of ministers wants
to use the Blue Streak to magically enforce their will over what you can and
cannot say?” Brand nodded this time, “That’s exactly what we are saying. If
they aren’t stopped the city will become rife with miscommunication and
violence. “ Millraven absorbed that fact
before she spoke, “So you guys ganked it, right?”, She asked, “And want me to
help keep it safe in case they show up?”
“Sorry No.”, Merrybelle spoke up now, “ We
don’t got it and we don’t need a guard. “ Millraven felt her spirit sink, “Somebody
else got to it before we could…Somebody even worse. Like the council of
Ministry, we also ask that you retrieve it for us though the road may be long
and dangerous.” “Of course…”, Millraven
thought gloomily.
Which mysterious group now has control over
the blue streak? Will Millraven accept the request to retrieve it? How is this
new group worse than the Council of Ministry? Find out next week on Millraven
Finn Izzle Elf for Hire!
