A Fish and some Crows {Evi | Elly}

by **EllyFant** Wed Jan 10, 2018 4:16 pm

Such treacherous terrain. What for? Did these people actually had any intention of being hired by anyone? Truly there were better places around for business; as a successful merchant Blight should know. Unfortunately, such were the challenges of his trade. Sometimes there was no avoiding the danger; or in this case, the inconveniences of such unruly terrain. Luckily the Mar was savvy in the arts of traversing wild lands and the marsh provided a certain familiarity with the man's old home. Sometimes being part fish had its benefits. Of course, trekking ability aside, the man was still an odd sight to behold.

Shy of 5' and lugging a comparatively large pack, the man literally and figuratively appeared like a fish out of water. To unknowing eyes he was just some poor soul who had wondered too far and would soon meet his demise at the hands, claws or jaws of whatever predator found him first. In reality, that couldn't be further from the truth; Blight had more than enough experience with dangerous situations. He moved carefully, silently; always observant of his surroundings. Searching for what were arguably, the most dangerous predators in the marsh.

A guild that was rumored to have all but disappeared. That of course, being the one option the fish-man hoped was untrue; for if it was, this entire trip would have been in vain. Although given the location of their headquarters, it came as no surprise why their business was so terrible. On the plus side, if these mercenaries, what was their name again?', were still around, they could prove formidable allies. After all, anyone who made a living in a place like this would certainly be anything but a pushover. Still, there was no need for this.

"Maybe I should've just gone to Solar Phoenix." The Mar exclaimed under his breath, something akin to frustration in his voice. The most renown guild in the land would have been a good number one choice, but Blight was a merchant; always in search of a bargain. So he figured he could strike a better deal with some dying mercenary guild. It was a risky gamble, but as long as they were able to provide the services he required, the man was sure he could be of help to them in return. Nothing better than a mutual partnership. Now if only he could find this place.

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Word Count: 399
DP: 27 + 25% = 34

by **Evi Elwood** Wed Jan 10, 2018 5:48 pm

“Ehhhh,” Evi made a noise as he looked down at the fish man from a nearby mangrove tree, squatting down and his arms resting over his legs. A crow resting, perched on his shoulder looking around. He had been staring at the fish man for a while now. The guild used a large murder of crows to scout the area and to send messages to potential clients and such in order to solve some of the problems with their location. The crows mentioned something interesting and he decided to check it out. No wonder they didn’t know what it was. There hasn’t been a Mar in the guild for a very long time. Evi had only seen one once when doing a job for a client that involved going through the land of a thousand lakes. They were a small band of raiders that ambushed him and his little group, though that resulted with a bunch of belly up fish.

“What brings a Mar all the way out here? Get separated from your little tribe guppy?” Evi asked, offering a little retort towards the end. Evi heard his little remark about golden phoenix and wanted to tell him off and that if he was so displeased he could very well go to get work from that glorified deli meat but the need to get work and people forced him to bite his tongue on the subject, though he still had enough pride to call the fish man a guppy for so casually deeming them less than the phoenix.

Depending on how much attention the fish out of water was paying to his surroundings, he’d start to notice more and more of the black buzzards for which the guild is named after starting to gather in the surrounding trees, with the occasional cawing sounds echoing around the area. If he was really paying attention he’d notice that all eyes were on him. He was the foreign entity after all, and a mercenary group wasn’t going to take kindly to a threat on their soil. Well, on their muddy murk.

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Word count: 348
DP gain: 23

by **EllyFant** Thu Jan 11, 2018 1:43 pm

"Good good..." The Mar was visibly pleased at the appearance of something that wasn't one of the numerous swamp creatures that made the marsh their home. More so it was a creature capable of speech at the very least and by the looks of it, the one responsible for the increasing number of birds in the area. It seemed that the crows had been following Blight as much as he had been tracking them. It was after all, that very hike in their numbers that had led the man in that direction.

"... It would appear that you're still around. That is rather convenient." Figuring it was unlikely that a common thief would appear this deep in the marsh in one piece, the fish-man simply assumed the human belonged to the group he was searching for. And of course, who hadn't heard the rumors, that the Crows were nearly extinct; dead, flightless those were the common adjectives associated to the guild now.

As was his custom, Blight didn't even acknowledge the man's shot at him. As long as it didn't get in the way of his business, the Mar was perfectly okay with whatever name the stranger could come up for him. The ever growing murder of crows was so cliche though. "I have something of a 'business proposition', I do hope your group is made up of more than just birds."

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Words: 231 (630)
DP: 15 + 25% = 19 (52)

by **Evi Elwood** Thu Jan 25, 2018 7:44 pm

“They’re all out and not your concern,” Evi replied to the walking Salmon. The comments weren’t far off though. With mounting debt and shrinking resources, most of the guild had long since left. Very few were left to solve the problem of debt that had pretty much been thrust upon Evi’s shoulders so Evi was now stuck dealing with more mess than he was ready to bargain for. He was still trying to master his powers, he was still trying to get the crows around him to do what he wanted rather than try and figure it out for himself, he had a mountain of debt to fix, a building that probably needed to be renovated, and all the basic needs of day to day life to solve. Needless to say Evi wasn’t pleased and when he heard ‘business proposition’ as he heard, ‘gigantic scam’ instead and continued to stare down at the fish with emotionless eyes.

“So what is this ‘business proposition’ of yours,” Evi continued. Scammers never left easily, especially if they haven’t been given the chance to con you so he decided to give the time of day to the fish man. At the very least, his kind bled loyalty so it was possible that he wasn’t trying to rip Evi off at all. If he was though it was best to just let him say what he wanted and tell him to piss off. If it was worth the effort though it was worth the effort.

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Word count: 250
Total words: 598
DP gain: 39

by **EllyFant** Mon Feb 05, 2018 10:54 pm

"Well, I have sources that say your group is in a bit of a crisis..." As a merchant, the fish had plenty of connections and word got around fairly quickly. Especially when buyers the size of a guild suddenly vanished. Of course, the man's defensive tones didn't really help his facade; so the fish really did hope that there was still a guild around and not just a bunch of birds.

"I am sure I can help with that... in exchange for your help of course." Alas, the life of a merchant; the life of mutual services. The mar was sure he could uphold his end of the bargain, but he really couldn't help to wonder if the mercenaries would be able to help him in their current state.

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Words: 129 (759)
DP: 9 + 25% = 11 (63)