Eradication of a guild

Buried in the sewers of the city a small dark guild, Cross Bones, had no idea what was coming. For weeks now the guild had been on edge, with rumors swirling that someone was targeting their group, for what reason though was unknown. The dark guild was on edge, with everyone on high alert, watching for any and every possible kind of attack. They were a guild of smugglers, so it wasn't hard for them to figure out why they were being targeted, they had likely acquired something that someone either wanted badly, or they had stolen from the wrong person. Such things were common practice for them, they had been attacked multiple times and they had survived all of the attacks so far. And yet this time felt different to them, to the whole guild. Rumors had been swirling that several highly skilled assassins and incredibly powerful wizards had been spotted in town as of late, the kind of folks who would make even the more powerful guilds afraid. Were these foes now coming for them? Would Cross Bones be able to handle it if they did? Only time would tell......

The Quartermaster of Black Sails found himself in Lavanitir on a job that he personally wanted to complete. He knew that being in the city would cause eyes to follow him so he made sure to arrive in a way that would keep him a lot more out of the sight of others than usual. His usual method of arriving into a city was flying in on Zinnath after all and that always caused gazes to come his way because she was a flying dragon after all. This made him have Zinnath drop him off some ways out from the port city so that he could arrive to it in a more conspicuous fashion where he made his way into the city wearing a cloak over his body and a hood over his head that masked all of his face but his mouth. He knew that coming to the city in such a way would get eyes on him but seeing as they did not see his face it would make things easier for him.

After arriving into the city and using the night as a sort of cover, he ducked into the the darkness of one of the alley ways. He felt eyes watching him though and decided to use the alley as a way to lure someone to him. He turned down another pathway into another part of the alley where the eyes could not watch him unless they investigated. This caused a man to cautiously find his way into the alley and around the corner to where Cirven was supposedly. The man looked into the dead end area where the demon was only to find it vacant of any life besides insects and possible other night creatures. He looked around it perplexed by the situation until a voice spoke out near him.

"Lose something over here..?" A voice spoke out from behind him. The man turned his full body around griping onto a blade that hung from his side in anticipation of a fight but saw no one there. "Can't see me, can you?" The voice spoke again from behind him and he quickly turned around while swinging out his weapon to cut at the air. "Not too smart either, are you?" The voice again came from behind him. The man slowly turned his head to look behind him where all he could see was his own shadow being brought out by the moonlight coming from above in the sky. He noticed something different from his shadow though. The shape was off. "I think we have a winner finally." His eyes widened and as he figured out that his shadow was the voice and it then quickly shot up from the ground in the form of the man he was following earlier. "Yo. I have some questions for you." Cirven spoke out as his body formed up from the shadow, his face still covered.

The man did not waste any time talking and attempted to cut the demon in two but the blade itself was stopped by his opponent's hand. "You must be the type to skip straight to home base? There is a process to things." Cirven's hand was covered in a black and purple aura that seemed to be how he stopped the blade without it cutting into him. Cirven pulled his hand down and snapped a chunk of the blade off from the other piece. "You have to learn to socialize a bit first. Get to know your new friend." Cirven quickly moved and grabbed the man by his throat where the black static of electricity was sent into the man's body so quickly he had not time to let out a cry of pain. "So lets socialize..." The demon said as he held up the man by his throat and looked at him from under the hood. His red eye glowing under the darkness of the hood. "Where is the rest of Cross Bones?"

"Good day miss Halin, what do you have for sale today?" The man asked the fisherman's wife, wearing his usual attire of large boots, tough pants and a big coat. Obviously someone who had to spend a lot of time outdoors, and who didn't want to spend that time feeling cold and unhappy. The weather today was grim, feeling more like autumn than spring. No actual rain, but the sky was of a grey hue, there was a stiff breeze present wherever you went and the temperature was wobbling somewhere above the freezing point. The other people at the docks were also dressed warmly so far as was possible, the only exceptions being some who had anti-freezing charms to protect them or those who were to poor for either magic or warm clothes.

Miss Halin, the fisherman's wife, smiled brightly as she displayed her wares, her husband having made quite a big catch the day before. "A lot of tuna today mister Naskin. I was somewhat surprised by the catch, but my husband said he happened to find a good spot." The two of them talked for a bit longer about nothing important even as Naskin buys a large fish, the fishwife happily wrapping the fish up.

"Things have been busy lately, haven't they? I heard that there's some underground gang causing a fuss or something." Halin laughed as she shook her head. "Rumours, I tell you. And even if they weren't rumours we won't have trouble here at the docks, because nobody in their right mind would bother sailors if they can avoid it." While there were plenty of people who went to the seas and who were easy targets, it was true that the true-blooded sailors tended to be very tough people who you'd rather not get angry unless you were some kind of soldier or wizard. "Of course my friend Linda believes them completely and swears that she saw suspicious figures hanging around near the warehouse over at the Whalestreet last night. I tell her she just saw some youngsters coming home after getting drunk -The Drowning Cat is a really popular tavern and it's right around the corner- but she keeps saying it has to be pirates or something silly like that. That girl really needs to get her head out of the clouds."

Naskin nodded his agreement, the corners of his mouth twitching upwards in a half-smile. "Indeed. Just some youngsters I would imagine. Even if they were pirates why would they hang around there?" The two of them nod in agreement before Halin hands the fish over, Naskin thanking her politely and bidding her a good day before walking off, going back to his own matters. Halin watches him for a bit longer before a new customer arrives, the gossip continuing even as more fish are wrapped up and sold.

The man, now carrying a rather large wrapped up fish, greets some others as he walks past the docks, further into the town. From the way that he greets people and is greeted back one can assume that he's fairly well known around here, and well liked as well. The man himself isn't the type to smile or appear jovial, but nevertheless he has a very calm and polite air around it that makes it hard for people to dislike him or be rude in his presence. Which suits Naskin just fine, since he believes that all that fighting and bickering is silly and that a lot more can be done in a day if everyone keeps their manners and cooperates like honest workers. Once inside the town he walks a bit faster, pulling up the collar of his coat to help ward off the wind as he seems eager to return home. The tuna shall be a good meal for tonight, but he'll have to store it in the refresher storage if he wants to eat it as fresh as this. And he still has to talk to Wilson about the delivery of those crates: trade has been going well, but that delivery should have gone out yesterday so if they didn't want to make the client impatient they'd have to hurry and-

-Akeya walked into the house belonging to John Naskin, not dropping the disguise since there was no real reason to and she'd adopted a different appearance for longer before. Heading towards the kitchen she first put the fish in the refresher storage (an expensive magical device which did a better job than a fridge, because where a fridge kept food from spoiling by keeping it cold the refresher fridge had a very advanced enchantment on it that very simply just kept the food fresh). When a shadow with glowing white eyes stared at her the disguised assassin shook her head. "If we don't make the story consistent they might become suspicious, and it would be better if nobody knew we were here." The shadow stared for a bit longer before pulling back into Akeya's, the eyes disappearing as the man walked towards the bedroom. There on the bed the real John Naskin was sleeping, Akeya checking on whether he was still in good condition and the sleep spell she had put on him was still intact. As a Shadow Dragon Slayer she couldn't really use many spells which weren't directly related to shadows under normal circumstances... but Akeya was also a very studious magic theorist, who in her spare time poured over scrolls and experimented with magic in many ways. Given the right materials and time she could inscribe scrolls and runes herself to produce several magic effects.

She'd have to rely on Korikami to take care of consistency on this end of the job though. This all would fall apart if mister Naskin woke up and didn't remember what happened while he was out, so Korikami would have to do his trickery with the shadow realm to make sure Naskin wouldn't mess things up. Akeya herself, after having made sure that the magic was still working, stepped out of the house through the backdoor, changing her appearance to that of a rather short and sturdy man with a lot of facial hair, almost looking like a dwarf. Stepping out into the streets the now stranger walks through town, heading towards the warehouse at Whalestreet to see if those rumours could be used to locate the guild Akeya had been tasked to eliminate.

In stunning contrast to the others who might have been investigating this new guild, the third notable entity in town made no move to hide himself or his location. Not that he really could anyway. Towering over the crowds at over eight feet tall, in gleaming plate armor, with a red cape billowing behind him, caught in the breeze of his long strides, this behemoth of a man would have been hard to miss on the best of days. But even those who did miss him felt a powerful compulsion to stop and stare at him as he passed, a compulsion that no one could resist, an almost magical command for attention. Who this massive knight was and what his intentions were a mystery, but his direction was not, and the few people out on this foggy morning were quick to step aside.

Akryn, the massive knight, was for his part absolutely livid. A priceless and powerful artifact had been stolen recently from a secretive order of monks, far out in Joya of all places, and they had been quick to send out a call for someone to retrieve this item. An item that Akryn himself, and those he represented, should have held in the first place. The Jewel of Aggrograrosh was a powerfully enchanted jade stone, capable of animating statues and then commanding them, an item that no mere thief should have his hands on. And Akryn fully intended to take it back.

As Akryn reached his destination, a large building down in the warehouse sector of town, he would draw his sword, Tenebris Faucibus, a jet black blade with a golden hilt. Immediately that compulsion to look, that apparent demand for attention, became even stronger, a clear alarm bell to anyone around him that trouble had arrived. But he didn't care really. He was close to the thieves, he could feel it, and he would be damned if he was going to lose them now. With a snarl, Akryn drew back his large shield and slammed it against the door to the building, removing it from its hinges and startling everyone that was inside. It was the dock masters office, and they were used to a certain level of respect after all. But what they were not used to was a giant covered in armor and scars, ducking down to enter their office so that he could glare down at them all and ask them one question.

"Where is the thieves warehouse?"

The scout from earlier walked through the streets of the port city heading towards the dock warehouse where the rest of his companions were supposed to be. He was a regular in the city so it was not weird to see him walking around especially at night when he was known for being out at the few bars around the city with his friends. The guise he had helped with what they really ended up doing the nights where they were not at any of the bars as pirates and thieves. They stole from all who they deemed wealthy or a possible threat that they needed to climb above but did so as masked vigilantes who were only known to each other.

There was a problem though because bonds could eventually weaken with time if not taken care of and he had somehow found himself as that weak link as he traveled through the city to the warehouse where some of their pirate guild, where the Cross Bones were going to meet to discuss their current situation with those they could have had problems with. Those who were possibly a lot stronger than them and wanted nothing more than to demolish their guild and rid the world of them and their sins.

The younger man arrived to the warehouse and knocked on the door and spoke out. "Hey, I'm here." His voice being a signal for who he was and to actually let him in. The door opened slowly as a sort of precaution before opening up wider to allow him inside. Another younger man stood on the other side of the door and locked eyes with him. "Why are you late, Josin? We have been here for over half an hour waiting for you. Did something happen?" The other man asked. Josin shook his head. "I got caught up with a girl from one of the bars for a bit is all. I couldn't resist how she was coming onto me for long, you know?" He gave the other man a sly grin and walked inside to the warehouse where some others of the guild were. There were seats set up around an empty area in a sort of circle formation with others in the seats or choosing to stand up, some of which leaned onto something. Josin looked around the make shift circle and looked at all those who stood in the area somewhat blankly. He knew he was holding them back and did not expect them to be so kind with their glares at him.

"Now that the lover boy is here we can start." The man from earlier took up a spot standing in the middle of the group. "We have come here today because we have developed enemies with our time of being formed. We have robbed from whoever we wanted and we have done so at any expense besides one. We never took lives or we used to be that way. We have recently stepped into a darker light than we previously were in and started to actually do anything for our profit due to those we started to steal from or even were in competition against. Recently we ran into a pirate crew claiming the name of Black Sails and we killed some of their members in a surprise attack in order to gain what loot they had required. We have caught rumors that Black Sails has been looking to get some sort of revenge." Josin hands formed into a fist from listening to the speech. He only continued to listen to bits and pieces more as his mind wandered, well not really his mind because his body was not really his own a this time. He was actually a walking unconscious body who was being manipulated by the Quartermaster of Black Sails who was controlling the body of Josin through his own shadow and with Josin showing some anger to the conversation his shadow had become a lot less the same as his own which the Cross Bones crew did not get a chance to notice as the head of the meeting continued to speak over topics. Others chimed in with comments as the meeting went on to but Josin stayed quiet and to himself.

As the short and decidedly hairy man walked through the streets Akeya pondered her next move. She was planning to infiltrate without being caught, but she would have to decide whether elimination of the guild required the death of everyone or merely those of enough importance that the rest would fall apart as minor thugs and thieves. It was no skin off Akeya's back if she had to kill everyone single one of them... at least, from a personal level. On a professional level the more murders that were committed the more suspicious it would look to the authorities, and Akeya would rather give nobody any reason to inspect this matter too closely or in some other way possibly find reason to begin looking for the rather (in)famous Shadow Assassin of Fiore. Once you became well known for being a talented and dedicated killer it became easier for people to keep your name in mind even if you were never seen anywhere close to the location of the crime. After all, if you were a good assassin being noticed was part of your expertise, so not being noticed could just as easily mean that you were doing a good job. A bit of a disadvantage in Akeya's line of work: people got used to thinking of you as the killer if a body was found.

She'd have to make her final calculations and conclusion on the site itself then. She'd rather just get rid of the leaders so the rest of the group would fall apart, but if it looked like they would be capable of continuing even without those leaders she'd just have to risk being suspected of eliminating the guild in its entirety. In the end even if she was discovered it wouldn't be good publicity, but at least it was still her as a legal mage and Rising Star getting rid of a group of criminals which had become increasingly dangerous lately. She'd rather not have that on her name as well, since it would give people more reason to come after her, but at least she would have the law on her side, so the Magic Council itself couldn't really do anything against her.

Coming closer to the warehouse area though, Akeya noticed that there seemed to be some kind of commotion. Frowning the short and hairy man did what any normal person would do: upon noticing something irregular but not directly threatening he headed for the source, curious to see what was going on and what might have caused the commotion. As he got closer he began to hear a lot of people talk about how an unusually tall fellow, cloaked but also wearing heavy armour, had stormed through town straight towards the warehouse district. From the sound of it he had also been heavily armoured, and he looked like he meant serious business. Nobody could remember seeing the man before today, which meant that he was a stranger... who apparently had something to do in the same area that Akeya was going to work in. That most likely wasn't coincidence... Maybe another criminal ring was trying to reduce the competition in Fiore? Someone had been robbed and wanted to deal with the issue personally? Akeya couldn't really make a good guess just yet, although she did pick up on the fact that everyone repeated: when the man had walked past none of them had been able to not look at him. That sounded like some kind of charm, since even the most intimidating presence couldn't force everyone to look at you, which was apparently what had happened.

The hairy short figure hastened his step towards the warehouse, wanting to get close to what was going on and get an idea of what was going on before it was too late. Akeya was going to have to figure out whether this new presence was an ally or an enemy. Technically if the Cross Bones were destroyed by another party she might still get paid, in which case she wouldn't mind letting them do the hard work, but if this man was also from the Magic Council and acted as her direct competition she'd have to gather proof to show it was she who took down the Cross Bones. However everyone who saw the man agreed that he had given the impression of being strong, so that might not be as easy as Akeya would have liked.... No matter, she'd do what she had to do.

When she heard the crash she hastened her step, going around the corner to see the dust cloud die down which had sprung to life after the large doors which granted entry to the warehouse had been smashed off of their hinges. And before them stood a... well, relatively familiar figure. The hairy man frowned, his bushy eyebrows casting his eyes in shadow as his moustache bristled. This looked dangerous, so he'd stay at a reasonable distance and observe. This might be important, but since he wasn't a soldier or anything getting too close would just be endangering himself needlessly.

Akeya wanted to observe Akryn from a distance first, since she wasn't sure how he'd act or what his plans were. Well, he was rather blatant about wanting to find the warehouse of the thieves, which she assumed was the Cross Bones guild. And from the sound and looks of it he was quite angry as well, so he probably wasn't here to cut a deal with him? Should she just team up with him? With Akryn added into the calculations they could wipe the entire guild out without little issue, especially if Akryn provided a good distraction so Akeya could assassinate the leaders, who were the most likely to put up a good fight.

Still, for now she stuck to the sidelines, watching with curiosity and wariness. It had been a very long time since she last saw Akryn, so she first wanted to make sure he could still be considered a reliable ally before she would reveal herself to him. Thankfully her concealment abilities were top notch, so he shouldn't be able to find or detect her until she wanted to be found or detected.

It didn't take long for the fairly panicked dock workers to give what information they might have on to the absolutely terrifying giant before them, and soon Akryn was on the move again, not moving towards the warehouses like he had originally planned, but instead towards an opening into the sewers, where the frightened dock workers had stated it was rumored that the guild he was seeking was hiding. Honestly, it felt fairly fitting that a guild full of rats and sneak thieves would be hiding down in the sewers. Beyond the poeticism of it, the natural labyrinth that the sewers made of themselves made them an excellent hiding spot, where those unfamiliar with the layout would get turned around quickly. Thankfully Akryn did not need to rely on his knowledge of the sewers to find his target.

Akryn dropped down into the sewers with a splash, his nose crinkling at the smell, as well as the knowledge of what he was walking through. He was going to enjoy cracking some skulls if he was completely honest, and with a sigh he took a deep breath, through his nose, his strong sense of smell kicking in. "Damn, this town likes its pepper." he muttered to himself as he began marching through the sewers towards his target, his powerful nose catching something behind the smell of waste. The unmistakable scent of human body odor, cheap drink, and even better, even cheaper steel. He had found his prey, and he was quickly charging towards the hidden guild hall.....

The meeting between the Cross Bones members was meant to last for awhile more but Cirven took things into his own hands after a bit. He knew he needed more info about the guild's hideout because he knew that the members around him and the puppet of a man he controlled were not the only members. He knew that there was a much higher number of members somewhere and this was not their main headquarters at all. It was more like a group inside of the guild that decided to be somewhat of its own smaller branch on the tree trunk that formed the guild as a whole. It made him wonder if others in their guild were similar with their own groups.

"Sir, not to intrude on the conversation that we are having and get too off topic but did we get any of the names of those we managed to kill?" Cirven used Josin to speak out to the group and with the question came confused looks from all around him. "We did not get their names really, no. It was not that important to us to get the names of those we killed." Josin nodded with a look that filled with the fact that he had a rebuttal to the supposed leader of the group he was surrounded by. "We did not take any time to know who these people were? Who their possible families were or even friends?" The leader raised his eyebrow to Josin and then shook his head. "No. Would you take the time to get the full name an details of some bums off the street that you knew you were better than?" The leader grinned and the others around him broke into laughter while Josin only stared into the eyes of the leader. "You don't fear who they were or who might come for you?" The laughter broke down with the question and the leader moved closer to Josin. "What are you getting at, Josin? What is wrong with you?" Josin moved closer to the leader and placed both his hands on his shoulders. "I just wanted to see if any of you were ready for what was coming."

The whole group looked on confused and in shock as Josin's body went limp and fell to the floor with something coming out of his shadow taking shape. Black electricity sparked up around the shadow as it formed into the body of a man or what they thought was a man. The shadow became Cirven and his dual colored eyes looked around the room. "Just wanted to make sure you were ready for their Quartermaster to find you and get revenge for them." The group of men all prepared to attack but that was too late as the warehouse they were in and how close they were to Cirven was quickly turned against them. A black surge of electricity came out from Cirven's body and shocked all the men who was around him to the point where they had no control over themselves and they fell to their knees. "Pretty weak, aren't you?" Cirven spoke out coldly as he walked towards one of the men who was dealing with the pain that was surging through his body. The demon's arms sparked to life with black electricity in the shape of claws over his hands and he swiped one of them across the back of one of the men with the intention to cause enough damage that would leave him on the ground near his own death.

Cirven went to each member of the group and did the same thing with his claws, leaving the leader for last. The leader was able to gather himself but his senses were all distorted from the attack and he did not hear the screams of pain coming from each of his subordinates while he was in the distorted state. He realized that Cirven's attack even harmed the already unconscious Josin which helped him see that the Quartermaster was serious and did not care which one of them he hurt. His senses only came back enough for his eyes and ears to see and hear the last of his men be struck down by the demon of Black Sails. His red and blue eyes then locked onto him as his focus shifted from his subordinate to him. "I have a few questions for you." Cirven spoke out and moved slowly towards the leader. The leader backed away and then tried to run but before he could a spark of black electricity shot out in front of his new path next to a metal pillar that helped hold the warehouse up and then quickly formed into Cirven. "No running." Cirven's arm flung out and grabbed the leader by his throat and slammed him into the pillar. "Maybe you can tell me what Josin couldn't. Where is the main hideout for Cross Bones? Remember I don't care about killing you or not. I'd prefer to leave you here with your friends near your own death and bleeding out for the Magic Council or even some bounty hunters to come and claim you but killing you is pretty up there as an option too." Cirven questioned the man as he held him up.

Well, Akryn was certainly not bothering to hide his intentions. He was drawing the eyes of everyone in the vicinity: in fact Akeya was pretty sure there was some magic involved that was forcing people to look at him. She herself was able to resist it to some extent, but she could certainly feel the urge to keep looking towards the man who she hadn't seen in years. If she was anyone else she might have contributed that urge to something like nostalgia or desire, but Akeya wasn't one to fall prey to impulses like that. As Akryn knew well, possibly better than everyone else, Akeya's greatest power wasn't great strength or magic power, but a will as strong as steel and a mind as sharp and focused as a dagger. And emotionally she was usually as cold as metal as well. No, Akeya was not one who, if she was feeling the urge to look at someone, would believe it to merely be an emotional effect.

For now she would follow him as the man went through town, questioning the townsfolk whenever he thought they might be able to give him a lead on where to find those thieves and muggers that he was showing more than a little animosity towards. Akeya, disguised as a somewhat short, stout man who had been blessed with a lot of natural hair growth both on her head and on her face, kept up a pattern which would allow her to track him without being too obvious about stalking him. First of all she made sure that she wasn't leaking any magic, so he wouldn't be able to notice her as someone with magic abilities or magic potential. Beyond that she only really had to behave like a normal person rather than her usual cold and focused self. Which wasn't very difficult, since any normal person in this situation would be wondering what this giant man was doing, walking through the streets so openly and attracting all the attention without a second thought. The trickier part would be actually following him through town without him noticing he was being followed, but since she had very good senses she could stay at a fair distance and take detours and different paths without losing track of him.

Eventually she saw Akryn moving with more purpose, as if he had finally found what he was looking for. Before he had been searching, but now he knew where to look. Akeya blinked when the man jumped into the sewer though. She had been planning to check out that warehouse where some suspicious behaviour had been sighted, but maybe there had been some rumours about the sewers as well that she hadn't picked up on? Or maybe Akryn was also using a different source of information, although if he was using an external source he could easily have headed for a sewer entrance the moment he entered town... Hmmm. Well, regardless, it was probably for the best that she followed him for now, since if he was going to take care of the same guild that she was asked to take care of she'd at least have to be there to ensure that they were actually dealt with. Akryn wasn't an idiot and not weak either, but it wasn't outside of the realm of possibility that he'd beat up most of the guild but that one or two members would get away unscathed and then the entire mess would start all over again.

Of course, the first issue was getting into the sewer without being noticed. Akeya wanted to try and finish this mission without anyone having even the slightest reason to suspect her having been in town when the guild Cross Bones was put out of commission. The less reason people had to come after her for whatever reason, the better it was for her. She didn't have to be a hero, she just wanted to keep the Magic Council happy enough that they wouldn't go after her instead of the more blatant villains. So, she would have to enter the sewers without anyone noticing her and without anyone taking notice of this short hairy little man just disappearing without a trace.

As Akeya thought about this she continued moving, the little hairy man staring at the sewer the large and intimidating man had disappeared into, softly voicing his own commentary when some of the other onlookers openly wondered who that might have been. The semi-dwarf didn't know either, but he reasoned that it was either some freelancer or a legal mage who hadn't been given the chance of being in the spotlight yet, perhaps having originated from another country. He then suddenly seemed to remember that he had business to attend to as he bowed out of the conversation, heading the other way while everyone else was still focused on the topic of the armoured mage. Once nobody was looking he stepped into an alley known for being a shortcut, only to suddenly disappear even as an invisible presence showed up in the sewers, following Akryn.

Akeya was aware that Akryn had good senses as well, so she wasn't stingy in concealing her presence. Killing her presence and hiding her soul, using both of her magic suppression techniques to ensure that not even the smallest glimmer came through, allowing her invisibility in the dark to combine with her camouflage tattoos to leave her completely unseen. By turning herself into her shadow form she could follow Akryn around and follow his movements without disturbing the rather stagnant air in the sewers, nor would she leave traces or create any sound like one would always be making if they were forced to rely on physical feet.

She kept herself at a couple of yards distance from Akryn, believing that to be a completely safe range where he should really not be able to detect her given all her precautions, while still having a good grasp of where he was going and what he was doing.

Akryn continued on his way through the sewers, the massive knight having to duck in some places so as to not brush his head on the filthy ceiling. "They really should maintain these things better. Its unbelievable how inaccessible this place is. Gods forgive this place if it ever needs to evacuate the citizenry." Akryn growled to himself before suddenly stopping and turning to peer into the darkness behind him, narrowing his eyes a bit. In the darkness Akeya would see that his right eye gleamed a silvery sheen in the darkness, but his left eye was dull and lifeless. He was blind in that eye it would seem.

Akryn slowly turned left to right, surveying the entire corridor behind him. A sixth sense has told him that there was someone behind him, a very familiar presence, and yet......he saw nothing. He felt nothing either. After a few more minutes of looking, making sure there was nothing there, Akryn would turn back again and resume his march through the sewers. He was close to the guilds hidden entrance, enticingly close, and he was itching for the fight. "Bastet, Anubis, prepare for the fight. It is unlikely that they will heed my initial demands and we may require a show of force. If they do then I expect both of you to perform at peak efficiency, do you understand me?" Akryn ordered as he made his way through the halls, seeming to speak to no one, and yet as he spoke a response would come, in the form of a small glow from one pocket and a small swirl of sand from the other, two things that only Akeya would see from where she was. It seemed he had some help...

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In the main entry way of the guild Cross Bones alarms were ringing, and a widespread order had gone out. Someone was nearing the entry way, with an unwavering directness that could not be a mistake. He was coming here, and the emblem on his cape was the same emblem as a group that the guild had just robbed. That meant that he was here to take back the stolen item likely, and by force from the looks of it, and they would be damned if they were going to let him do such a thing. Dozens of mages had gathered at the entry way, even some of the guilds strongest members were there, aiming at the door and ready to fire on the man if he opened the door. But it wasn't Akryn, or any sort of spell that came through the door. It was a sword, a massive, thirty foot long, curved sword, stabbing through the iron and magic gates of the guild like a giant and ungodly battering ram, the massive sword punching through the barriers they had set up and scattering their forces to either side in a mild panic. The sword slowly withdrew, disappearing into the air as the massive, heavily armed and armored knight stepped into the room, sand and wind and light swirling around him, and that black sword of his demanding the attention of everyone in the room. If the sword and wind show didn't do it though, the two absolutely massive, golden hands on either side of him certainly would. "I am Akryn, Sworn of the Phoenix Court. You will return the Terracotta Dove to me or I will destroy you all. Comply or die." He said as he marched towards the quickly reforming line of mages, all of whom were in some form of panic now.

"T-th-the hideout?! They will kill me if I told you that!" The man Cirven had held up spoke out stuttering from the fear he felt. Cirven sighed and lifted up his free hand forming black electricity around it. "Welp, you are worthless to me then. Will have to feel sorry for anyone who would have made money off you alive, not that they would recognize you." Cirven started to move his hand quickly towards the man's face. "Okay!
Okay! I'll tell you!" The demon stopped in his attack. "The hideout is in the sewers!" Cirven smiled at the man. "Now was that so hard?" As the man went to respond he quickly slammed his hand into the side of his captive's neck which quickly knocked the man out.

The demon walked out from the warehouse and as he got a few steps away from it he sent out a spark of black electricity to fly up into the clouds above him. Seconds later the clouds erupted into chaos from the lightning swirling through them and a lightning bolt made of pure black lightning slammed down into the warehouse followed by rain from the lighting manipulating the clouds. The men left inside the warehouse would be alive but unconscious from the attacks and the lightning bolt was more used to help guide any authorities to the area so that they could deal with the members of Cross Bones there. There would be enough evidence to catch them for being the guild that they were as well as the pure fear they probably felt after being dealt with by Cirven being a factor that made them want to turn themselves in to get away from him.

Later, Cirven found himself trekking through the sewers of the city as he wanted to find the main headquarters of Cross Bones. The sewers were not the best place for the dog demon with the smell of it being almost enough to disorient him. His other senses were not having much of an issue though so he decided to plug his nose with some tissue he had on him while making his way through the sewers. "Who sets up shop in a sewer...? Have some sort of sanitary place to rest up at." He mumbled to himself before hearing alarms ringing out ahead of him. He quickly jumped into the shadows with his magic and traveled through them for cover to avoid being seen. He quickly realized the alarm was not set off for him at all as he heard the voice of a man calling out that he was Akryn and to return some item or that they would be destroyed. The whole thing sounded a bit too cliche to him but he wasn't going to take a possible ally out of the equation just because their way of being intimidating sounded more like they were an old man or something.

Cirven arrived at the entrance of the guild to see a armored man there with a powerful magical aura as well as a few different spells going on around him in the form of the golden hands near his person, the large black sword and the wind and sand swirling near him. Cirven did not know how he could exactly approach but figured if the man was the old fashioned type then he would be fine with someone joining him the old fashioned way. "Hell of an entrance you did there. Pretty sure this door was made to resist strong magical attacks but it looks like you did it in a single attack." Cirven made his way out of the shadows he was merged with during his travels through the sewers and stood behind Akryn. The tissues still were in his nose but he had forgotten which probably made him look pretty foolish.

"I'm not here as an enemy at all, by the way. I have a vendetta with the Cross Bones guild the same as you do. They killed some of my friends and I'm wanting to punish them and get rid of their low class guild. Probably get them set with some cells by the MC so that they can learn from their sins or even returning the favor by killing them, though killing them sounds like the easy way out of it. Either way though, we should work together here. No reason for us to fight with a common goal set in front of us." The dual eyed demon spoke to what he hoped would be his new companion in his desire to take down Cross Bones.

Akeya was close enough to Akryn that, especially with her enhanced hearing, she could hear everything he was saying without issue, the eavesdropping made even easier by the fact that she was already used to his speech patterns and pronunciation. His first words were some complaint about the state of the sewers, which got him an imaginary eyebrow from Akeya. It was quite clear what was making the man complain, but it was also quite clear that there were very few humans who were as tall as Akryn. If he was talking about the filth she'd have to reprimand him for having expectations for the hygiene of a sewer. After this was done, because she wasn't planning on letting herself be noticed by anyone who wasn't going to die in the next hour, and Akryn was on the short list of people she'd rather didn't die if she could do something against it. There was something pleasant about knowing that the man was still the same as always: stubborn, focused, somewhat inclined to making light-hearted comments, a bit of a tendency to forget to look at the situation from someone else's perspective.

Pleasant or not the shadow dragoness froze when Akryn looked back around, moving not a single muscle as she watched him warily. He shouldn't have any method to detect her, but yet he was standing there glaring as if he had noticed her and was trying to pinpoint her location. Or maybe there was someone else behind them? Akeya hadn't noticed anyone yet, and focusing on her ranged senses didn't give her anything new either. There were some other powerful presences in the area, but none of them were in this sewer other than herself and Akryn. So what was he looking for, and how had he detected her? If he had spotted a flaw in her stealth she'd have to interrogate him on that so she could cover the weakness, but honestly she couldn't think of what she had missed. Basically every type of sensory input had been masked in some manner, up to and including her magic and her soul.

Eventually Akryn turned back forwards and resumed moving, leaving Akeya to follow him as she tried to figure out what had happened. He had given the strong impression that he had noticed something, but he gave no sign of having found her in the end. Akeya had spent long enough with him that if he was merely pretending to have been fooled by her stealth abilities she was pretty sure she would have caught on... but he had been gone for a while, so maybe he'd been able to fix his mannerisms just enough that her personal experience with him wasn't completely foolproof any longer (not that it had ever been fully foolproof: she wasn't the most socially adept due to her lack of interest, so he could still behave in manners that surprised her even back then, especially since he was quite a bit more emotional than she herself..). For now it would be better to just stay hidden and act as if he knew that someone was there, but wasn't sure exactly who and where they were hiding. That way there'd still be merit in staying hidden but she wouldn't get too cocky about nobody knowing that she was here, following the unusually large humanoid as he made his way through the sewers.

Hearing the man speak up again, only to be answered by a golden glow and what looked to be a whirl of sand had Akeya wondering where Akryn had been to have obtained either helpers or magic items which responded to the names of some desert gods. However that wasn't too important right here and now, and eventually they arrived at a gate which reeked of magic, which didn't make it very well hidden if anyone happened to stumble upon it. The people behind the door probably were depending on nobody getting near this place in the first place, and honestly hiding yourself by going somewhere where people wouldn't think to look in the first place wasn't a bad idea usually. The unfortunate thing here was mostly that Akryn knew where he had to be, so Akeya would get to see how well this illegal guild could cope with having a behemoth of a man charge in and make a mess of things.

As she expected of him Akryn's response to the conspicuous door was to grab his weapons, activate his magic items, and smash it open without any subtlety or hesitation. You had to admire that straightforwardness, since aside from being a representation of the man's surprisingly honest personality it also meant that nobody was going to notice Akeya, since they would be too busy with the giant who just smashed open their magic door. Akeya slithered into the room, taking a quick look at all the people inside. Considering how pretty much all of them had magic power and were looking ready for a fight (if a bit thrown in disarray by Akryn's entrance), it was safe to say that this was indeed the illegal guild Cross Bones, and from the looks of it they had been stealing from the wrong people if Akryn of all people was there to smash their heads in.

Akeya quickly moved to the side when she suddenly felt another powerful presence approach, hidden away from everyone's senses in an empty corner when Cirven entered the room, commenting on Akryn's impressive entrance and expressing a desire to work together with him in taking out the Cross Bones guild. Akeya hadn't ever known Cirven personally, but it wasn't like the man hadn't managed to make a name for himself in Fiore. From what she could tell he was a mage who would help out others and the MC where necessary and convenient, but who for the most part was more interested in accomplishing the goals of himself and his allies. And he had enough power that she would have to keep his presence in mind: it was even more important than before that she didn't let herself be noticed, because she couldn't say for sure that this person was an ally. The fact that he smelled of demon made it even more dangerous: she hoped that Akryn wouldn't get too trusting with him.

Akeya herself moved on ahead, leaving Akryn, Cirven and the mages from Cross Bones behind to duke it out amongst one another while she searched the rest of the secret base. There was some concern that they might damage the ceiling too much and cause a cave in, which would hinder the town above. However the most important task for Akeya was to eliminate the guild master of Cross Bones and his advisors, since without those the rest of the guild would scatter regardless of whether Akryn and Cirven took them all down or not. The shadow dragoness carefully made her way forward, sniffing the air and keeping her ears sharp as she went on her mission to catch the ring-leaders of this little group of illegal mages.

No sooner had Cirven appeared then a face would rise to meet him, a swirling blast of sand exploding from the ground for a moment before a large, demonic looking, cat woman would appear between Cirven and Akryn, snarling at the shadow demon slayer with incredible ferocity. Akryn barely spared a glance towards the newcomers direction before looking back to the quickly reassembling enemy. "Down Bastet. I thank you for your offer stranger." He said as he raised his shield, presenting it towards his opponents, his sword angled out behind him. "If you would be so kind as to cover me then?" He said with a grin before a powerful burst of wind suddenly erupted from around him and the massive knight was propelled forward like a rocket. The defending wizards saw him coming and quickly began blasting spells at him in a paniced manner, spells that seemed to richochet off of his shied as he slammed into the ranks of his opponents like a magical battering ram, unleashing the chaos.

As Akryns shield smashed through the first rank of defenders he would spin to the left, bringing his sword around in a wide, high cut, forcing his opponents to duck or take the blow. Those who ducked however would catch a metal clad foot as Akryn turned the spinning slash into a spinning kick, turning a complete 180 degrees in his movement, sending several of his opponents sprawling. Simultaneously another thing happened, with a burst of light and a burst of sand erupting from his pockets and beginning to rapidly circle Akryn. Out of the swirling light and sand though two forms could be seen, two feminine and attractive forms, taking physical form just long enough to strike an opponent too near to the knight before dissolving back into their own element and darting away to another defensive point. Akryn would again turn and slash with his sword in a wide arc, but this time also using a spell and sending a narrow, long, blast of wind out away from him, smashing into several opponents and sending them sprawling backwards, effectively breaking the defensive line in two.

The fight was not yet over though as the wizards to both the right and left of Akryn quickly turned and took aim before releasing a barrage of spells at the embattled knight, aiming to cut him down quickly. As they fired however the two large hands would move in, taking the damage on Akryns behalf, like two massive, living shields, before fading away in a soft glow. "Any time now stranger!"

Cirven's first reaction to seeing the sand-like apparition was to cut his way through it, especially with the snarling it gave him but he was able to fight against it as he had quickly figured that it came from his new companion as a sort of defense mechanism it seemed. It did make sense to him that something like that would happen because he would have had made sure to not be so trusting in such an environment also so he did not attack and just watched as the sand creature's master called it back. The man did not really spare the demon a glance as he spoke which also made sense seeing as they were in the confides of the headquarters of a guild that was full of enemies.

All Cirven could do was grin and reply to the man's request for aid. "I'll follow your lead." Black electricity erupted over the demon's arms and legs as he moved forward to support his new comrade. He made sure to keep his guard up though just in case it was some sort of trap laid out by Cross Bones to have a fake attacker show up to bait out anyone going against them even though it was pretty unlikely with how the demon left those who knew he was after them at this time unconscious with the Rune Knights arresting them probably at the same time as him being where he was.

Cross Bone members with a variety of weapons ran towards Cirven as he stood near his new partner who was having his own 'fun' against some of the other members of Cross Bones. "Those look kind of cool. Can you use them well though?" Cirven spoke out as the first person came close to him and slashed a sword though the air. The demon grinned and dodged the attack as he swung his electrified claw across the opening given to him from the man which caused him to drop to the ground from the attack. Another man ran forward wielding a pair of red glowing axes and swung them down towards Cirven. The demon used his head and did not block the attack in order to see what was behind it and just dodged while the axes slammed into the ground. Flames erupted out from where the axes hit and exploded up and around them which hit Cirven and seemed to burn him until the demon quickly pulled off the black coat he was wearing that the fire had started to burn away.

"That is one of my favorite coats! You are going to have to pay me back for that!" He yelled out in almost a childish fit of anger before being forced into action again as knives were thrown his way from another of the attackers. The knives were either deflected or dodged but where ever they hit after missing was covered in a green liquid. "Poison knives?
You guys do have some pretty unique abilities, huh?" His talking was cut off again as the red aura axes came flying at him from his side forcing him to jump back in order to dodge the attack aimed at him by jumping back which was right where some of the poison construct knives were heading towards him.

Just before the knives could hit Cirven let out a barrier of black electricity out from his body and around him that hit both the axe wielder and the person throwing the knives shocking them and leaving them on the ground with black sparks of electricity dancing over their bodies for a short time. "Maybe in another life..." He mumbled out as he heard the man calling out for him. He had been so focused on his fight with the previous three that he had lost track of where his new partner had gone and done. Cirven quickly moved and jumped up into the air above Akryn as small sparks of electricity danced around his body. He then swung out his arms and legs while sending out an even bigger black electrical field than earlier which hit those around him and Akryn while not harming his partner at all. The barrier also defended against anymore attacks while it was out. The electrical field only took out a chunk of the men around them though as there was still more around them to deal with.

Cirven landed next to his partner and shrugged at him. "Was that good enough? There is still a good amount left here but from what I have seen you do and what I know I can do this shouldn't be too hard at all." He moved so that Akryn and him were back to back. "Just keep up. I count around twenty-five or so more. Depends on if they are hiding out or something. Pretty sure all the fighting should get them out here though."

The sounds of combat could be heard even from deeper within the base, Akeya's fin-ears widening a bit as she reflexively tries to locate the source of the danger even as she herself went onwards. Sneaking about like an invisible shadow the members of Cross Bones didn't react to her presence at all, and most of them were either heading away or towards where Akryn and Cirven were making their flashy entrance. Since their base was located in the sewers there were a lot of pathways and crossroads, so even with them having customized this part to function as a base there probably were a lot of ways for them to escape. Eliminating all of them might be impossible right now... although it could be that they had been so confident that they thought it better to close off all entrances aside from one so if they were under attack they could make it a strong choke point. That wouldn't explain why a good portion of them was heading away from the fight though, unless they were just trying to hide.

Well, that wasn't her problem. She'd get rid of the people in charge, and anyone else who showed promise of being able to take over and keep the guild from falling apart after the guild master and their advisors were eliminated. This might be a guild of organized and large scale crime right now, but it was likely that most of the underlings were thugs and thieves who only stuck around so long as it was profitable and something was keeping them from leaving. She hadn't found any sign of the people here being enslaved or bound by magic, so maybe this really was purely for profit. Which would make sense, since if they were successful enough to steal from the two mages now making a mess of their entrance they probably were good enough that even lowlife thugs had little reason to abandon ship. That would change soon though.

At least finding the guild master and their advisors was pretty easy. Akeya had sharp senses, and in this case her ability to sense magic helped her by letting her know that there were a bunch of powerful mages to the right, the dragoness flowing through the passages as she made her way towards the door behind which she would have to get her hands dirty. Rather than bothering with the lock she just slipped through the crack underneath the door, thin enough that only a shadow could have made use of it. This guild master wasn't an idiot: Akeya could see with her enchanted eyes that this door wasn't meant to be easy to get through. The only reason she managed was because as a shadow she could get through cracks even a mouse or an insect wouldn't have been able to slip through, which was necessary because this door certainly had been well fitted to match the doorway. Kind of strange, how they managed to get such a tailor made door down here...

Beyond the door was a relatively large room with no other entrances that Akeya could find at first. It was more lavishly decorated than the rest of the base, which had a lot of crates and barrels but not many things on display. Everything here was of high quality and many were adorned with jewels and gold. A chandelier hung from the ceiling and many paintings with golden frames hung from the walls, with tapestries to fill up the rest. A large intricately woven carpet on the floor depicting dark green sea serpents in a sea of red, as if swimming through blood. Combined with the mahogany of the walls and the ceiling it gave the room a very luxurious and stately appearance, as if belonging to some noble or well off merchant. The only thing that threw off the effect that some of the stolen goods on display didn't completely match, although Akeya guessed that anyone who complained about the appearance of the room would regret doing so, seeing who were present in the room.

Near the back of the room there was a large desk, and around it stood a total of five people, the guild master and... her advisors, apparently. Akeya had been expecting the person in charge of all of this to be a man, but it looked like Cross Bones was being led by a large and muscular woman, who looked like she could easily beat most men when it came to arm wrestling or any other contest of strength and physical prowess. Akeya wasn't sure whether it was amusing or not that she actually looked a bit like a stereotypical pirate, with an eyepatch covering her left eye, a large coat and a sash around her middle, and a bandana tied around her head to keep her shoulder-length hair out of the way. She didn't have a hook or a peg leg, but she definitely wouldn't look amiss if she showed up in one of those pirate stories. If it wasn't for the powerful magic that could be sensed from inside her Akeya would have had trouble taking her seriously.

Of the four others three were male and one was female. All four of them shared the guild master's rather fanciful choice in attire, except for one who was dressed more roughly, the man standing to the master's left. The biggest of the bunch, he was even more muscular than her and had an overall rugged and heavy appearance, with a strong chin, narrow eyes and a broad nose. He was chewing on a cigar, the smoke crawling its way towards the ceiling as he looked at the other four. His attire was one of someone who was more accustomed to working a lot, with tough bandages wrapped around his forearms and hands to help soften any sharp edges while leaving his upper arms and shoulders free so he would have plenty of motion, with a tough leather vest covering his broad torso, and more tough leather protecting him in the form of pants and big boots. If it wasn't for the bandana tied around his head as well he honestly would have looked little like a pirate, and even now he looked more like a grunt than a high ranked member.

The other three all wore similar attire to the guild master, the two other men both rather tall and muscular although not as muscular as the leader or the big guy (most likely that one was their best fighter, unless he was just smarter than he looked). One of them had a trident strapped across his back, while the other had numerous knives available in bandoleers strapped around his chest and two curved short swords hanging from his belt. The last one, the woman, had a bit more of a flamboyant appearance: she probably was meant to act as the face in situations where beauty would have a better result than strength. Flowing raven hair that went past her shoulder blades, a more graceful build than her leader, and her outfit actually displayed some cleavage with her pants doing nothing to hide the shape of her athletic legs. Akeya wondered if most men would be more or less attracted if they noticed the bracers strapped to her arms that most likely hid a pair of wrist blades, or the gun at her waist.

Going by their magic auras... The captain (honestly that was probably the better term here) seemed to have something related to objects... something seemed to be running interference with Akeya's ability to distinguish it. There seemed to be some magic in the eyepatch... some magic item. The big guy had a magic aura which spoke of raw power and explosive strength... probably good for crushing and destroying. The man with the trident... felt really strange. As if his magic aura was... replicating itself? Akeya wasn't sure what to think of that. Maybe she should eliminate him first... but the captain was the strongest of the group. The man with the excess of sharp weaponry had something related to speed, but also with... Enhancing? He definitely seemed like someone who liked close combat. The temptress had the most straightforward magic aura after the big guy, her aura feeling like some kind of tempest. The tempestuous temptress.

As Akeya observed the five of them discussing how to deal with the intruders (the man with the trident had a lachrima crystal in his hand which he kept using to give orders, which Akeya presumed was connected to another lachrima somewhere in the base from which the rest of the guild could execute the orders without the leaders having to get out of this room) she slowly moved closer towards the captain's back, sticking to the wall for now as she waited for an opportunity. While she was pretty sure that she would be able to kill at least one of them before being noticed, she hadn't gotten where she was by being hasty.

Akryn chuckled as Cirven came to his back. "I sense about ten more rushing in, with more choosing to flee rather than fight. I feel the air moving over them. There are two however who seem to be stronger, possibly of rank, moving towards us with purpose instead of haste. I believe we should clear this rabble before they arrive. I doubt the captain is nearing us either. Names Akryn by the by, former member of eclipse soul, resident sociopath, and occasional homicidal maniac!" He said with a grin before suddenly rushing forward towards a group of opponents and swinging his sword in a wide arc, flames trailing from the sword and catching on the floor, creating a wall of flames before Akryn leapt backwards, back ti Cirvens side and aimed his sword at the wall of fire, a blast of wind rushing towards the fire, causing it to explode.