Standing at the docks, Torn looked like a character straight out of an epic - blonde, wavy hair gently flowing in the breeze, shiny blue eyes staring longingly out over the sea, his fair skin actually glittering a little in the sun. His spring-green cloak hung over his well-maintained armour in gentle folds, flapping lazily with each gust. In his right hand was a spear exactly four cubits long, its bronze point gleaming in the morning sun, and it was fastened to the shaft of the spear with a ring of gold. On his left arm hung a large, round shield, painstakingly engraved with a relief in the oaken surface, depicting the slaying of many foes, kept together by a shiny bronze band. From his hip hung a longsword and a dagger, both wrought with care and precision.

Meanwhile, behind him, the citizens of Egjora milled around, looking less at Torn and more at his companions. Large, bearded men, they wore byrnies and brutal-looking weaponry, some adorned with skins and pelts. Some had round shields, some had kite shields, some no shields at all - mace, axe, sword and spear were all represented, and they were dressed in a multitude of colours.

The one thing all aforementioned men had in common, was that they were looking completely out of place against the sailors, merchants, and uniform guardsmen of the city. In fact, they had raised quite the ruckus, and a number of guards were approaching.
"Stann! Gå nu ikke ifra oss!" Torn looked at them, eyebrow perked. "I do not speak the tongue of Egjora, friend!" he called out, a stupid grin on his face. "Is there something I can do for you, gentlemen?"

The guard sergeant walked directly up to Torn, puffed up and menacing. "You are causing a disturbance, Autlending. You and your… Savages, need to get out of sight."

Torn frowned, looking at the man with a half-stern, half-curious expression. "I would have assumed a merchant city such as this would be slightly more welcoming to travellers and traders," he began, "and experienced sailors. If our presence is causing a disturbance, certainly the local merchants would have told us by now. We have talked to them, and exchanged news."

The guard sergeant looked at Torn with a glare that would be lethal if looks could affect the physical world. "You are an eyesore," he said, growling. "And you're not traders, you're mercenaries. The city of Egjora does not welcome your ilk in the streets." He took a step closer, towering over Torn and looking down at him. Torn, on his end, decided to turn up the charm factor.

"Look," he began, breaking eye contact and looking at his men, gesturing at them lazily. "We came here because we had a job - getting a merchant here safe and sound. Now that it's done, said merchant has dumped us here - apparently he didn't want to pay for the full job of 'there and back again' that was agreed upon." He glanced up at the sergeant knowingly. "We never intended to stay here for more than a few nights - and well out of the public eye, I can assure you -" Torn said that line in a manner which heavily implied they would visit one of the shadier locales in town - "but as it happens, we need to scour the docks for a means to get off the island." Seeing that his 'conversational partner' was getting unsure of his position, Torn delivered the proverbial coup de grâce to the man's threat, with well-practised charm and verbal precision, afforded to him by years of getting into deeper shit than he could crawl out of. "You show us away from the docks now, and we may get stuck in the city - or worse, the countryside. With no means of leaving the island. I understand your position, but if you show us away now, it may take us several times longer to actually stop being a problem here. So let us look, hm? We'll be out of your hair all the sooner that way."

The sergeant looked at Torn with squinted eyes, before grunting and turning away. "If I find you standing around tomorrow, you can look forward to a few days in the stockade for disrupting commerce," he said, hounding his subordinates away.

One of the younger of Torn's companions (which meant to say he was older than Torn by at least five winters) went up to him with a concerned look. "I don't want to spend any more time here than necessary, and that damned guardsman might actually try to arrest us. But none of these merchants are going to pravpora, and those who do have their own guards. Where do we go from here?"

Torn sighed, and looked over the ocean again. "Well, you guys had that longship you sold, so you're familiar with sailing. If push comes to shove, we could steal a ship and just set off east. But let's look for a few hours more - we might just get lucky." Torn smiled, looking back at his companion. If there was one thing he had in abundance, it was luck.

A large sack hung off of her shoulder, the bag's strap going across her chest snuggled in between her breasts. She had on a light shirt colored gold like the sun's rays, a corset of black around her body. Her pants were just average but better than most men could afford thanks to her aunt's social circles. A sword hung off her hip, it had the insignias of a wolf and rose  painted down the sheath.

She had in her hands a hand done map of the city. Her green eyes were stuck to the map. There was a twisted look on those pretty light lips of hers since the lines of her map did not look straight at all. She avoided one burly man and ended up running into a pretty little thing. She bounced off of him and tore an edge of her map off. "Oh god damn it." She stood up and looked at it. "It was ruined anyways. I'm never going to get that fucking line straight."

The mass of blonde curls bounced up as her eyes met Torn's. "Apologies for running into you." She bowed her head a bit. A few guards came up behind her. 

"You! BLONDIE, you are the one who was lurking around the rich district." 

"And if I was? Got something to hide?" Egjora was her favorite city in all of Canelux but those eyes that fed on her that the guards gave her sent chills down her spine.

"Spill out your bag." The guard went for her bag but in retaliation the girl put her foot to his chest and kicked him over.

"I would be careful if I were you. It's a full moon tonight boys and the wolves come out to eat scared chicken shits who can't keep their hands off pretty girls." For a moment her hand started to morph into a wolf's claw.

"We'll be back for you Dog." The humans left her be knowing that they couldn't take on a wolf on the verge of a full moon. She took a deep sigh and turned her attention back to Torn.

"I heard you when I was walking. Something about stealing a ship? Count me in, you need maps of the sea I have them. Maps of Egjora, I have them. They have pissed off the wrong girl today. Can't even make maps of the upper district without them being on your ass. I wouldn't worry too much about the wolf thing, I'm only a halfling but they don't need to know that." She offered up a wink.

Torn was just about to go looking with his companions for a ship when a girl bumped into him. Torn looked down, finding her very attractive, and turned his charm to the max. He smiled at her, his eyes, mouth, posture, and everything practically glinting with kindness. The woman looked flustered, and Torn was ready to disarm and charm her - but before he could speak, the guards from before came back, apparently coming for the girl. Sensing something would not go as might normally be predicted, Torn decided to stay quiet and watch the event play out before him.

Sure enough, the girl showed an amazing amount of sass in the face of the guardsmen, and it would appear to be so for good reason. Lycanthrope, hm? This could turn out to be very interesting indeed. He watched with a cheeky grin as the woman demonstrated her prowess and got rid of the guards, though Torn was certain they would soon return - reinforced.

Torn once again found himself cut short of speech (something which happened extremely rarely) by the woman in front of him, who for some reason had decided that skipping town with two dozen (male) strangers on a ship where there could be no escape from their advances apparently was a good idea. Torn, however, didn't care, much. Charts could very well be useful, and he, too, needed to skip town.

"Well, the more, the merrier, I always say - especially if 'more' entails such beautiful female company as yourself," he began, all smiles, kindness, and boyish charm. "but perhaps it would be prudent with some introductions, yes? I am Torn Flashborne, adventurer, and these are my companions - my Merry Band of Misfits." He gestured towards the men gracefully. The men were in various moods, and it became apparent in the way they responded to the woman. Some grumpy, some nervous, some smiling and forthcoming - other still either completely indifferent, or not paying attention at all. "Might we have your name, min sjønne?" Clearly, Torn not mastering the tongue of Egjora was a blatant lie. The truth was, Torn had no idea why he knew it, but he always had.

Keira let out  a chuckled a bit before giving him a smile. "If I am beautiful never go to Arri where the most beautiful women in the world live. You'll be eaten alive in minutes." It was probably true, he did look like the pretty boy type which made her heart flutter only a little bit. She was after all still young and stupid as her mother claimed.

"My beautiful huh?" She gave him another smile before taking the torn paper and rolling it up. "I'm Keira Rose-Wintercrest, Second daughter to Toya Rose Queen of the White Court of Arri, Map Maker, Adventurer, and I use to be the second in command for the Order of Eris. Wintercrest is my father's surname and he too was royalty somehow. You know how nobility tends to work out." She bowed to them.  "Though I could be third born.. I have an identical sister but my parents refuse to tell us who is older." She mused out loud with a laugh.

Her slightly tipped ears twitched softly. "While this is a beautiful spot to get aquired my dear I would suggest we get running to the docks and steal us the best fucking boat the harbor has for us." She grinned a bit more and she was glad that she was able to ride a boat with no problem unlike most of her kin. "I can hear them a few blocks over."

Torn smiled at Keira as she mentioned Arri, his smile turning into a sly smirk. "Arri, hm? Sounds like my kind of recreational place." As Keira gave her name, Torn perked an eyebrow, more confused than impressed by the complexity and (apparently) royal nature of it. He did, however, shake the perplexed expression in favour of his charming smile, and gave a bow. "Torn Flashborne, conqueror of monsters and maidens alike," he said, with a cheeky grin.

Upon Kiera's implication that it might be a good idea to move, Torn gave a shrug. "Egjora was getting boring anyway, and neither me nor my companions are above stealing. There's a merchant cutter, fully stocked for a voyage tomorrow, ready in port." He gave Keira a slightly stern look, letting her know he was serious about what he said next. "Do this, though, and there's no going back. Once we've confirmed there's enough provisions in the hold, we're headed straight for pravpora, and it's a long trip." He looked at her calmly, awaiting her response, while the Merry Band of Misfits got ready to make a beeline to the ship, which rested over half a mile away.

Keira gave him a smile back and laughed. "Some maidens are not conquered easily my dear Torn." She looked over at his companions and gave them all a fair smile. It was easily charming in its own way, she was trained by nobles to earn respect but also at the same time her mother wasn't a fragile flower.

"I love the architecture of Egjora but the guards really piss me off, so I'm not above it. After all, if I didn't my mother would be rather disappointed." She started to take her leave with them and thought on it. "Once saw my mother jump off her dragon mid flight to steal an airship. Did I mention she was trained as a dragon knight? She's all kinds of impressive but scary as my father says." 

She took Torn's hand and pulled him into an alley way. "We should take this short cut. They will try to go down to the other guard stations first and that was right down the main way." She reached into her bag and flicked through until she pulled out another rolled up map. "Here we go," she put her finger on the map. "This is where we are," she dragged her finger across the map. "This is the route we should take to the ship." She gave them a grin. "Think you and your boys could keep up if we sprinted?"

Torn, having listened to the story of Keira's mother and her midair madness, gave a chuckle. "Well, if what you say is true, your mother must have given you quite a few gifts," he said, winking at her cheekily - his gaze briefly following her curves, resting for just a little longer than expected at her chest.

Torn seemed a little against being dragged into the alley, but let the girl lead on - she was clearly more familiar with the city than he was, and she had taken time to study it in order to draw maps. As she asked about the sprint, however, Torn shook his head with disapproval. "A dead sprint through the city streets would attract too much attention. Half a mile between us and the cutter - I'd rather not engage in a drawn-out series of skirmishes with city patrols. And the guys wear heavy equipment, and once we take the ship, we'll want to get underway fast." He looked at the map - he couldn't read, but he was good at looking at drawings. "Let's move through the alleyways to stay out of the guardsmen's sight for now, and move carefully so as not to alert citizens either." He trailed his finger along the route to where he realised the ship must be docked, and gave an affirming nod, before turning to his companions. "Make your way to the cutter - don't rush it. Just go there. Any guards give you trouble, you've found a ship that'll take us away. Got it?" The Merry Band of Misfits all stood up and nodded. "Got it," said one of the senior raiders.

Torn then went ahead through the alleys, making a point of making casual conversation with keira along the way. "So, Keira, you're from Arri? Where's that, and how was it growing up there? And you must tell me more about that mother of yours - she sounds like a spirited woman." Passing a group of the city's repressed labour class, he noted that noone was giving them a second glance - the people were too busy getting their jobs done, and noone with the money or free time to be suspicious traversed these alleyways. Heartened, he continued to walk casually, listening to whatever Keira would have to say.

Keira gave him a blush at first but went ahead and gave him a nod to his satisfaction. "So people tend to tell me."

After listening to him she gave a slight chuckle. "You'll have to forgive me, I tend not to think about how humans run. My sprint would mean shifting and I would probably be there in no time at all, my apologies, I'm not normally with other people." She let him give orders to his men as they walked and smiled. It was weird hearing someone other than her mother giving directions like that.

"Mother is from Arri." She was quick to think about not telling him about the rift that brought her here with her family. "She is a free roaming type of woman and the court normally follows her orders from afar. I was born in the Laeato Rainforest, parents had a cottage there and raised us modestly. Though my mom told me being raised in Arri was all types of fun." She offered up another smile before thinking about her mother.

"Well, she is another type of beast all together. Apparently my mother had burnt off her clothing on accident, and thought she was landing in a village when she dove off of her dragon mid flight, which she does a lot now that I think about it. That's when she met dad and things happened. He loved her even if she was crazy and she loved all of us. All together there is six of us. Two from my mother's first marriage and then four of us."

She got them deep into the alley ways and finally onto the docks. She followed Torn from there to where their cutter was and looked around. "So I've never done this and that makes you in charge from here on out."

Torn listened to Keira talk about her family, letting her elaborate on the histories from her childhood without interrupting her. He drank in both the stories and the woman who told them, and before long, he found that they were at the pier where the ship was docked. He assessed the situation - the Merry Band of Misfits was arriving at roughly the same time as him and Keira - apparently, they hadn't run into trouble.

"Well, then," he responded to Keira's expression to have Torn in charge. "Classic blitz play. We'll all be on that ship and on our way within ninety seconds of making our move. I want to be out of range of their ballistas before they have time to fetch their burning bolts." He leaned out of his alley, and one in his party spotted him - Torn then nodded, and the group simply walked up to the gangplank of the ship.

What appeared to be a craftsman's apprentice had been left with the responsibility of handling the inventory check, and as he saw Torn, Keira, and the Merry Band of Misfits approach, he called out. "Oi, dekkan e ikkje sjøfolk!" Torn smirked at the comment. Yes, we are seafolk. Just not yours. Torn calmly approached the man, smiling. "We're taking this," he said simply, putting his hand on the protesting youth's face and nonchalantly pushing him backwards, making him fall into the bay. He sent Keira up the ganplank, and made sure the entire Band had joined in. The crew, upon getting on the ship, instantly began tugging on ropes and cutting the mooring ropes. One of the older men, in his mid-fourties, went straight to the helm of the cutter and nodded at Torn.

Torn bounded up the gangplank, and as two of his companions drew it up and the ship slowly began floating into the bay, Torn went to the stern of the ship. "OI! Dockmaster! We're stealing this vessel, so make sure it's reflected properly in your paperwork!" He grinned at his crew, who began laughing from the jest, before seeing the guardsmen who had hassled them before come and yell at them. He chuckled, and shouted back. "Figured we'd do you a favour and stop being an eyesore, friend! You can thank me when I get back - in fifty years or so!" Torn laughed loudly and flipped the guardsmen off, before turning to the raiders. As the men loosed the sails, Torn broke into a song, and the men joined the shanty shortly thereafter.

"Oh, black Sammy raided and pillaged as he went!"
"Oh, Valley-Sammy galley, ho!"
"His loot on good ale and good women it was spent!"
"Oh, Valley-Sammy, hey-hi-hey!"
"From his home in the valley he sailed forth like a storm!"
"Oh Sammy, from the valley, ho!"
"To war, and to plague, and to famine was he born!"
"Oh, Sammy, ye old villain!"

The song went on for four more verses, and while the raiders were mostly gruff and hoarse, Torn's own voice rang as clear and clean as a well-tuned violin, so pure and easy in fact was his song that those who heard it might even be able to see the adventures of Black Sammy before their eyes as if they were present. Once the song was done, Torn turned to Keira, gesturing for her to follow. "Come, let's check that we have all the necessitites belowdecks," he said, smiling at her invitingly.

Keira had always been on the good side of things. When she was the second command in The Order of Eris she was the utmost of good but then she seen the side of the man she had given everything for. A hand went to her scarred chest underneath her clothes as she thought about Icarus's reaction and even her father's. It was a mistake she didn't want to happen again. "I'll be behind you." She echoed softly to him clenching at her shirt now.

Her fingers were nimble and fast as she cut the ropes and she climbed if she had to the fastest out of anyone. Her movements were flawless and it reflected the years of training her mother had given, not only that but her wolf heritage. Listening to Torn he was the sort of charismatic that Icarus had only hoped to be and she shook her head violently as she cut the final rope on her end. "ALL CLEAR." Her words rang out before the shanty broke out. 

Keira chuckled as she had never envisioned herself with someone else who could sing, the first being her sister. She relaxed up top a barrel and threw her bag to the ground now that they were safe. The weather by the sea was far as she pulled the shirt under the corset off, which took some skill considering how little the corset actually moved. The scar underneath stretched far from what looked like her right breast over to the top of her left shoulder. It was  jagged like claws had done it, in fact that was exactly what had done it. The luzil… Again Keira shook her head from it as Torn called to her. "Yeah let's go."

The halfling jumped off the barrel and met up with Torn before going below deck. She ducked below a few nets and looked about the barrels. "Fresh fish even." Closing the barrel she looked over at Torn. "So where are we even headed, not that it matters much."