Forum Thread

"Catch me if you can!" A female voice laughed, falling short in the crowd, but not deaf on the ears of two red-faced guards, their metal armor clanking as they shoved their way through the crowd to try and follow a dark-cloaked figure who slipped through the multitude of dirty-faced peasants. "Get back here you thief!" the taller of the two guards bellowed, his stick-like arms pumping as he fought to get through the crowd, nearly tripping over a tiny peasant girl, who shrieked with terror. The guard ignored her, continuing to run. The shorter, rounder guard was ahead, but he looked fit to bursting, waving his arms as he yelled, "Halt, I said, Halt!" The dark cloaked figure leaped up onto the back of a passing wagon, their hood slipping off their head and letting the woman's black hair spill out, framing her face. She waved, giving a cheeky wink and waving her hand, which was clutched around a loaf of bread, which she had stolen from one of the guards. The guards slowed down, waving their fists and scowling. "Curse you, scoundrel!" "Thank you!" she shouted, "Maybe it'll make the chase more fun if you actually had a chance!"

Later, the "scoundrel" jumped off of the back of the wagon as it passed by a dark, grimy alley. She adjusted her hood, breaking the loaf into three pieces. As she passed by a poor peasant woman and her two children, huddled together on one side of the road underneath a thin, moth-eaten blanket, she tossed one of the pieces of bread to them. The smaller child caught it deftly and stared at her with an open mouth, several teeth missing despite the fact that he was obviously six or seven. The Black Rider saluted the boy with two fingers, before moving on. She munched on one of the two pieces left, moving deeper into the alleyway. She stopped at the edge of the alley, and paused, remaining unmoving for a minute. She leaned against the alleyway wall, and in one fluid motion, stepped through the trap door.

The door quickly closed behind her with a silent movement but ended with the whine and grind of stone on stone. The mysterious woman walked down a dark ad dak hall, water dripping occasionally from the stalagmites hanging from the ceiling. This didn't seem, however, to bother her, and she continued onwards, as the lamplights began to illuminate the woman's steps. The corridor widened, opening up into a large room, with a high vaulted ceiling. The entire room was lit much more brightly, dozens of multi-colored lamps hanging around the room, so that while it was lighted properly, the coloring was a bit odd. But, yet again, this didn't seem to bother her, and she simply tossed the other piece of bread up and down, hollering, "Orin!"

"I'm coming, I'm coming," a voice from one of the many doorways grumbled, and a short little man with grey hair and large brass goggles that enlarged his eyes, making it appear as if he had bug's eyes. "Take that thing off," she said, snorting, "You look ridiculous." He grinned, an odd look with the furry mustache that hung over his lips, but he sighed, saying, "You never did let me have my fun." He waved his hands, and there was a bright flash and a bang. Despite the woman's vow to herself that she wouldn't blink when this happened, she failed, her eyes watering at the brief, one-second effort that she put up. The woman ducked her head to wipe her eyes, and when she brought her head up again, the short little man had transformed into a tall elf-like creature with dark blue skin, pointed ears, silver hair, and milky white eyes. He struck a pose. "How do I look?" "The same that you did yesterday, Orin," the woman retorted, tossing him the third piece of bread, which he deftly caught, his own hand strikingly different, with slim fingers and long black nails.

"Okay. Moxie." Orin said, pointing the piece of bread at her like an accusing finger, before taking a bite out of it, tearing away a piece with teeth, one hand leaning on a long table that crossed the center of the room, "Lightning round. Where did you get this bread from?" "That's easy," she said, walking around the table's edge and toward him, "Town Guard." "Right. Why the town guard. Why not..say, the bakery? Hotter and closer, plus that baker cheats the peasants out of a fair price. Seen it myself, all I wanted was a roll and he made me pay five Coors for it."

Moxie stopped, still chewing on the bread as she switched the crust of it to her other hand, tracing her finger in the rivulets that covered the table. "Yeah, that old scumbag may be a cheater, but maybe I saw a little girl and her grandfather enter the bakery. And maybe they paid too much for that bread. And maybe that town guard bullied the two poor things out of their two loaves. So maybe I stole them back. And perhaps, just perhaps, I tossed one to the grandfather and his granddaughter. And there's a slight chance I stole the other for myself."

Orin shook his head, wagging his finger as he finished off his own bread. "Poor form, Moxie. If you ever want to be an official member of the Band of Marauders, you have to remember that you do things like that purely for the people. He clapped his hands with every word that he said, walking towards her. "No. Taking. Half." "But I'm ready to be an official member!" Moxie protested, scowling. "And what's wrong with taking a little for me, I gave some to a starving woman and her children-" Orin stopped her by laying a hand on her shoulder, shaking his head. "No Moxie. We can handle supporting ourselves in other ways. Your job is to keep stealing from the rich, and giving to the poor. Just like I taught you." He gave her shoulder a little squeeze, which would have been a bit more comforting if it weren't for Orin's long nails, which made Moxie yelp, "Okay, Okay, I got it! No more taking from what I steal!" Orin moved away, and Moxie winced, rubbing her shoulder as Orin apologized repeatedly.

Eventually, Moxie asked, "So, where is everybody?" "You know," Orin said, pointing one long finger at her, "Funny you should mention that, because I just got some fun news, aaaaaanddd..." Orin glanced off to one side at something, what Moxie presumed was the "invisible clock" that he insisted was there, "He should be there by now!" He clapped his hands, and out of the doors surrounding the table that crossed the expanse of the room. An ogre, tall with broad shoulders and a broad forehead, an elf with long, pointy ears and long bleach blonde hair, a troll covered in strange green bumps, and several other strange creatures, all talking at once in several different voices. "Alright, Alright!" Orin yelled, clapping his hands. "Places, plaaaces!" The creatures grumbled, but all took their seats at the table, and once everyone was settled, Orin took his own seat at the head. Moxie, who claimed she didn't believe in chairs, took a seat on top of the table next to Orin. At this point, everyone was tired of arguing with her about it and let her do it.

"So," the ogre grunted, "What dis meeting be 'bout?" "Well, Kroge, my good fellow," Orin said, drumming his fingers on the table, "You will be pleased to know that we have a client!" This sent all of the voices into discussion. Unfortunately, all of them had differently pitched voices, so this sent the entire group into a state of chaos once more. Moxie decided to resolve this by banging on the table, and bellowing, "Order in the court, order in the court!" Once all of the gathered creatures fell silent, and she pointed two fingers at Orin. "Continue." "Thank you," Orin grumbled, then turned to the rest of them, announcing dramatically, "The client, is in faaaaaaccccccttt..." he dragged out the word, getting the rest of them to lean forward, even Moxie, who almost lost her balance, then he finished excitedly with, "the crown prince!" The room fell silent. Then, everything broke loose.

"Alright, alright!" Orin said, standing up. "Calm down!" But this time, Moxie did not help him. She crossed her arms and glared at Orin. "Really, Shapeface?" "Okay, first off, rude, second off, I know that we all hate the royal family, but this pays cash! Big ones!" "The son of the tyrannical king wants to hire us?! Orin, how much gurp juice did you have..." "Hear me out, okay?" "Or," a new voice said, "You could hear me out."

Through the secret entrance to the room came Prince Ben himself. The young man had much lighter hair than the rest of them, and with his lighter eyes stood out like a sore thumb in the room. The royal human family was one of the very few with these features, so it was obvious who he was. Moxie nearly fell off of the table. "You're serious!" "He's very much serious," Prince Ben barked. "And I need your best spy and thief to help me." All eyes turned to Moxie, who crossed her arms. "No deal," she said firmly.

---

Orin pressed her hands together in a pleading motion. "Come on Moxie, this could be huge for us! It's-" he paused, turning to Ben. "Now, err, how much was it?" "50,000 crowns," he said firmly. This made Moxie waver. "Fifty thousand...crowns?" "Fifty thousand," Ben repeated, "Paid in full if you successfully complete the mission." Moxie hesitated even more at that. "Come on," Orin urged, standing up and putting a hand on her shoulder, "Moxie, please think about this. The only reason you're not a full-fledged member of the group is that I've been hesitant to throw you into the danger of it all. You know that it's a lot more than stealing bread from town guards." Moxie's brow furrowed, and she bit her lip, concentrating. Ben crossed his arms, expectantly waiting for an answer. "Fine!" she finally exclaimed, "I'll go on this..mission, or whatever you want to call it." Ben nodded. "Good. I'll be waiting for you outside."

Not long after, Moxie snuck out, a bag underneath her cloak as she met Ben, who was leaning against the inn across the road, also wearing a dark blue cloak, biting into an apple. "Don't tell me you stole that," she said sarcastically. "No, unlike some people I could mention," he said, rolling his eyes, "I have a sense of honor." "Oh really? Then why'd you go to thieves to do your dirty work?" Ben gave her a cold look, and said, "Because I don't have another option." Moxie just smirked. "Now c'mon then, to the palace we go." "I have a carriage waiting for us." "No way." "And why not?!" "Because, your highness," she said, gesturing for him to follow her, which he begrudgingly did, "That will attract too much attention. And attention is not something that you want." "Right," he muttered, "I guess not."

They managed to get to the edge of town, but that's when Moxie spotted the two town guards from which she had stolen bread. "Quick!" she hissed, pulling Ben behind a cart. "What?!" he whispered fiercely, "Don't grab me like that!" She pointed silently with her thumb to the guards, and understanding dawned a little on Ben's face. "You stole something, didn't you?" He said incredulously, and she shrugged in response. "If this is going to become a problem-"

---

Moxie clamped a hand over the prince's mouth, and he immieadiently fell silent. The guards passed by, and after Moxie was certain they had gone, she moved her hand away and jumped up, snapping, "You could have gotten us caught." "They wouldn't have dared to lay a hand on the crown prince!" "First of all, Your Highness, I could have been caught and put in jail. And you wouldn't have me for this mission you still haven't told me about. Secondly, the first thing they'd do is hold you and contact the king, so someone could come to pick you up. Let me guess, you don't want Daddy Dearest the King knowing about this."

---