Bird Hunting (Lorenso)

[Alonzo Cabrera]

Out of all the cities in the Free Marches, Ostwick was the one Alonzo found easiest to swallow. He wasn't especially keen on the Marchers in general, they tended to lack a sense of humour. Ostwick was a busy port city though, so there were as many accents as one could name. Many with accents not dissimilar to his own, along with Orlesians, Tevinter and even the odd Ferelden.

Of course, he had not just come here for the sights. He had come here for a purpose. A particular purpose that he had spent the last couple of weeks working on. Alonzo could blend into a crowd easily enough, and he rarely made a point of drawing attention to himself. If he did, he'd be easily recognised for what he was. A Crow of Antiva. One of the best, even if he did say so himself and he was arrogant enough to say so.

He'd been sent here, with an offer of an obscene amount of coin, to track down a fellow Crow who had flown the nest. Until recently, this particular former Crow had been safely caged up, but somehow he had escaped. Alonzo had been on his tail ever since. He was proving difficult to track down, but he'd managed to pick up the trail and it had led him here. To Ostwick.

Ostwick was well known of course for it's pirates. Now that he was in the city, it was only a matter of time before the prey he sought escaped to sea, which would just make his job all the more difficult. So he remained, perched on a stool in the corner of the dingy bar room, a small tavern that stank of fish and stale smoke, yet served a very fine brandy for a decent price, watching the comings and goings from under the darkness of his hood.

[Lorenso]

Having failed to kill the King of Ferelden, Lorenso had quickly been found by the crows, but unfortunately they had not chosen to kill him right away, instead they had brought him to the notorious prison in Antiva, Valebalanchel, where punishment often extended the way of dying. Upon his capture, a crow named Kieran had managed to stab out his eye, but inside the prison he had endured worse things than that. There he had experienced horrific torture, where one had removed his nails on feet and fingers, as well got his ribs broken, skin torn apart, burned and more. For days he had stayed in the prison with no hope of escape, but with weakened strength he had managed when the moment presented itself.

It was on the evening a dark clouded day, when Lorenso were brought outside on the prison walls for more torture, that he took the leap of faith and jumped into the shallow water below. It was a risky move which quickly could have claimed his life had he hit the rocks first, and many had probably thought him to be an idiot, or a very brave man to have done so, but miraculously he succeeded on something many others had failed to do, or never tried.

In an instant the water had swallowed him as he dived, but with luck he was washed upon the shores nearby the day after. Without being able to move, Lorenso had been found by an old fisherman, whom resembled very much of his own father, and with his aid, he was treated in the hidden from the crows. Once his wounds got better and he could walk, Lorenso left in gratitude, with the promise he one day would come back to return the favour for saving his life.

From the shores of Antiva he traveled, pretending to be dead by taking another identity. However after a few weeks had gone by, he quickly discovered someone were following his trail, if the Crows knew he still was alive, he did not know, but for safety reasons he remained watchful by using every trick in the book. From place to place he went, until he reached the free city known as Ostwick. From there he intended to travel further, but before he could, he needed some rest.

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Entering the city, Lorenso came pretending to be a poor merchant, clad in common clothes coloured brown with a dark cloak attached, and with the hood over the head the elf hid the look on his face, as his right eye had grown together after what had happened. The city of Ostwick was a busy place, a place where pirates, refuges, common thieves, fishermen and travelers thrived, an ideal place to hide from the crows, but not a place one would wish to stay in for too long.

Walking through the streets, Lorenso observed the surroundings with care, seeming calm as if had come to do business. Although as he reached the local Inn, he decided to step inside, knowing that he should get some sleep for the night. Curiously he looked at the people who sat around the tables, drinking and having fun, but as he walked up to the owner, he asked with a Ferelden dialect. “Do you have any free room for the night?” To which the owner responded: “Aye, in th' matter fact we do, we have one left, but it gunna cost ya." The answer was as expected, and in return, Lorenso simply gave a nod and handed the owner a purse of money, which he apparently had stolen earlier from someone else. Once that was done, the owner offered to guide him to the room.

[Alonzo Cabrera]

Ah, it had been a while since he had done this. Alonzo hadn't had the opportunity to sit and watch the world go by for quite some time. It was rather fun. He watched the people come and go, listening in to their conversations and taking note of any interesting gossip.

A new person arrived, another who kept his face hidden. He was definitely male, Alonzo could tell that easily by the way he walked. Tall enough to be human, perhaps, but even so... Alonzo was sure he was an elf. Although he didn't stand out so much in this place, half the patrons had their faces hidden, himself included. Alonzo watched the man approach the inn's owner, sipping his drink slowly as he listened to the conversation. It was brief and to the point. Hrm.

Perhaps it was something in the way the newcomer spoke... a clear Ferelden dialect yet... there was a very slight suggestion that perhaps he was not native to the land of the dog shit. Then the man paid up for a room, and that was another little thing. The rooms here had become quite expensive, the place was, well, now it was full. Alonzo had forked out a fair amount of coin for such a room himself. Not that he intended to sleep in it, but it helped him maintain his cover. The man looked too poor to afford the current room prices, so he was either a thief, or he was hiding from something. All these things were very little to go on, and he could very easily be wrong, but it was enough for Alonzo to want to take a closer look.

He nodded to the barmaid, beckoning her over to him. Shifting his hood back a little so she could see his face he gave her his best charming smile. "Tell me, my dear, just between you and me. Which room has that man just rented?" he asked her in a quiet whisper. With a sly wink, he placed his palm down on the bar top, lifiting it a second later to reveal three gold coins. A hefty price but worth it for a bit of discretion. Without a word, the barmaid picked up the coins, inspecting them and shrugging as she walked away, returning with another glass of brandy and twelve coppers. A subtle wink from her and he had the information he needed.

[Lorenso]

Just as Lorenso was about to follow the owner up the stairs, a burst of laughter erupted by the fire. Out of curiosity he turned to look in its direction and from what he could see, as he hid his face beneath the hood, was a group of men celebrating. With their mugs of ale raised high above their heads, they cheered and exchanged improper jokes to each other, clinging to the women nearby who obviously had nothing against them. Pirates, he thought to himself as he saw they were armed foreigners with no sigil but their worn clothes.

The city was crawling with the likes of them, but whatever these men had done they sure had gained a lot of coin to spend on the night and the other nights to come. Perhaps if he was lucky, he could later get the chance to speak with them, maybe even rob them of a few coins through a wager of dice. A sleek smiled appeared on his face, knowing that he could easily outsmart them, although as soon the owner called for him to follow; he turned back and went along.

Through a narrow corridor they walked, until they came to the very end, where the last free room was on the right. The fat owner unlocked the door and gestured Lorenso inside, it was not much, but it would have to do, at least it had a clean bed and a small window with a free view towards the harbour. “Here ya go, if you need anything else, let me know, or maybe if you need some company for the nigh, I can probably arrange something for a bit of extra coin.” The fat man spoke with a thick accent, trying to gain more money on shady business as he handed out the key to the room.

“Thank you, this will do.” Lorenso replied with the same voice as before, giving the man a kind nod, telling him to take his leave. “Very well Messere, may you have good night sleep.” He said and sounded displeased with the answer, but closed the door as he left, leaving Lorenso all by himself. Being finally alone, not needing to watch once back all the time was comforting and with a sigh of relief, Lorenso lot his heavy burden fade as he pulled back his hood and stared out the window. However his bandana still covered his head, hiding the awful looking wound where his one eye had once been, and his one ear, both which had been stolen by the crows.

It was getting late and people outside were closing down their shops for the day, yet various different noises made it still feel alive, as in the distance one could hear barking dogs, laughter, argues and more. Everything reminded him of home, Antiva, except that it didn`t smell like leather, nor the other strong scents. Before Lorenso took the chance to lie down and rest, he turned to lock the door with the key he had been given. Once that was done, he removed the cloak, threw it down onto the edge of the bed, and then crawled onto it with the rest of the clothes on, facing the door in case someone tried to break in, keeping a knife close by just in case.

[kuri]

A women hidden by a cloak kept her face hidden from wondering eyes as she entered, tavern. This wasn't a place she wanted to be but it was better then sleeping on the streets. She just arrived in the port, running away from men that were trying to kill her once again. Shivering she walked to the bar tender, but seeing another man there she slowly step away, pulling her hood farther down covering her face. She could feel there was another pair of wondering eyes in the room which mad her feel uncomfortable.

Why does this always have to be... she was thinking before she really looked at them. The wondering eyes belong to another elf, while the other asking for a room, had a sent of the sea but he was shorter then your average male human, meaning he had to be an elf. The women relaxed a little, sighing out. She had enough with humans that would last her a life time.

She made her way to empty table and sat there, keeping her head down to hide her face. Her long brown hair, slowly sliding off her shoulder and started to peek out of the hood and on to her chest. the bright fire place, as the end of the room mad her hair seem to have a red tent to it, and it showed a bit of her glitter of blue eyes peek from the dark under side of the dark hunter green cloak.

She reached for an empty mug on the table. Her hands were in a dark green leather finger less gloves that rose to her elbows. Her pale white skin almost like snow touch the mug ever so gently, pulling the mug to her side and then slightly raising it to call the bar maiden.

(occ: if im not suppose to be in here the i can delete it)

[Alonzo Cabrera]

((OOC: Not a problem, feel free to get involved, lol))

Alonzo sipped his drink slowly, considering his options. He kept an eye as the shifty man was shown to his room, room number twelve. The room he'd been rented was number 3, so unfortunately there was quite a distance between them. No matter. He could handle this task.

Then again, there was another shifty looking person arrived in the bar. Lot of suspicious looking characters, but this one was female. The cloak may have hidden her face, but he could tell from how she walked and the way the cloak draped over her form. Interesting...

He finished his drink, watching as the barmaid approached the newcomer. Time to go to bed, Alonzo thought with a smirk to himself, rising from the bar stool. He fished another gold coin from an inside pocket, and chose his route to the stairs to pass right by the woman's table. He touched the barmaid's arm, to get her attention.

"A little something extra, for such excellent service tonight," he murmured, glancing at the hooded woman for a second before slipping past and climbing the stairs. In the hallway he checked which way the room numbers went, working out roughly which room he wanted to investigate. He entered his room, locking the door behind him, considering the options. If the man he sought was in that other room... he'd have taken precautions. A man always knows when he's being hunted, and a wise man takes precautions. Not that a locked door or a few traps would stop Alonzo, but he was hunting a fellow Crow. That required a little more skill and subterfuge. He didn't want the man to know he was there before he'd have a chance to pounce.

That conclusion made things very simple. Alonzo pulled his cloak off, tossing it messily onto the bed. He never went anywhere unarmed, of course, but the daggers strapped to his back were rather flashy. He pulled open his pack, digging out a smaller knife, which was shoved into a sheath inside his leather boot. He collected his good set of lockpicks, the small bladed instrument he used to cut trigger wires, a length of thick garotte wire and two vials of paralysis poison. That should be sufficient for what he intended.

All that said and done, and it was time to make his move. He was unsure if there had been sufficient time to allow his mark to fall asleep, but that did not matter. He opened the window, climbing out onto the sill. A quick glance let him count the windows. They were just too far apart to climb across, so Alonzo went up. He crept along the roof, leaning over to check he was in the right place before dropping down to the sill of the window of room 12. It didn't take long for him to unlock the window and push it open, moving silently as he dropped into the room. Now, what was he going to find inside?