A Bounty for Two (Private)

[Moemura]

(Private between me and Wartooth)

Dakota was in a real bind this time. She was laying on the rocky ground with a cliff wall surrounding her from behind. If that was not bad enough she caught tangled by one of her own spells again. Her vine tangle spell was supposed to tangle the bad guy she was after from vines growing out of the ground, not her. The vines wrapped her arms to her sides and her legs together and not to mention wrapping her brown hair to her back meaning she was officially at the guy's mercy. The man was big and muscular, holding a large ball and chain with the ball completely covered in spikes. He wore a helmet covering his eyes in shadows and glared at her menacingly.

"Looks like this little can't even read her spell book right," the man said, taunting her and pinning Dakota's spellbook with his right boot. It was supposed to be a simple contract, to catch a man terrorizing nearby villages. She thought she was up for it but the man proved to be too much to handle for her. Now she was trapped in her own spell, apparently doomed to be killed by the crook and that wasn't the worst part. Earlier this morning she wanted to try out a dress spell that allowed her to change attire quickly and it nearly worked, giving her the red shirt and black skirt but it also placed a diaper onto her hips instead of her underwear. To make matters worse, she couldn't even take it off no matter how hard she tried so the thickness of the padding did hinder her movements slightly which partly led to her current predicament.

"So, little missy, any last words?" the brute asked, getting ready to raise his weapon to finish the helpless witch off.

[Wartooth]

The young blonde swords-woman by the name of Gail watched from some brush as a quick scuffle rapidly turned into a pitiful scene. Not only had the girl in front of her clearly lost, but she had incapacitated herself. She didn't really put up that good of a fight in the first place, but that was beside the point. Gail watched as the burly man bore down on his helpless victim with baited breath. "Dammit." She cursed under her breath as she picked up a sizeable stone.

She could certainly tell that the girl in front of her was a greenhorn, but she wasn't much past a novice herself. She knew that even the two of them would stand a ghost of a chance, so instead of an assault, she thought of escape. She dashed out of the brush towards the restrained girl. In mid run she threw the stone she had a acquired in a vain hope that it would somehow connect and give them enough time to escape. Through some dumb stroke of luck, the rock connected with the huge mans helmet. It wasn't a lot, but it was something.

She finished her short sprint towards her goal and drew her short sword. "Shit, we're lucky that was a good throw!" She announced as she began hacking away at the vines that the girl had entrapped herself with.

[Moemura]

Dakota struggled vainly to get herself out of the vines but the spell she casted made it so that they tightened every time she moved. With each struggle she felt the vines tighten harder and harder, making it harder and harder to move, or even breath for that matter. She watched up helpless as the man lifted his weapon, the spiked ball dangling in the air now. Dakota wanted to scream but she couldn't find the lung capacity to do so due to the vines tightness. It was clear to her that her life was soon to be over.

Then, as if from nowhere, a large rock struck the man's helmet. It didn't really finish him off but it dislodged his helmet a little bit to the point where it rotated over his eyes, blocking his vision. It did also make him lose his balance slightly as he dropped his weapon onto the ground as he tried to reposition the helmet back into place. Dakota was clueless as to what had happened. She was the one who casted any spells besides the stupid tangle spell and she did not know the spell off the top of her head as she was still trying to figure out her spellbook. Then she noticed a girl running towards her as she was picked up right off the ground.

Once they were away from the man she was let down on the ground as she hacked away the vines that entangled her, freeing her. "Th....thank you," Dakota said, getting up and dusting her skirt, "I...I didn't know what I did wrong. I read that spell correctly from my spellbook and....." Then she realized that she left her book by that ugly man. "Crap, my spellbook was back there! I have to get it back!"

[Wartooth]

Gail took a moment to catch her breath after the vines the entrapped her damsel in distress were cut loose. She didn't think to refute the slightly younger girls claims that she had done nothing wrong, since she didn't know a lick about magic either. She only looked back up when the girl said she needed to go back for her book. "No you don't." She responded quickly and sharply. "Did you see that guy? I don't think a wannabe witch and a half decent rock thrower can take him." She joked. Hoping to bring some sense to the girl.

She only now took a look at the girl. A pretty young thing, dressed lightly. A patch on her shoulder caught her eye though and confirmed her suspicions that this frail thing in front of her was a bounty hunter. She wore the stitched patch of "The List" of the infamous |Brew & Blade". A numbered list of the 200 bounty hunters authorized to take contracts from there, and a tavern/place of employment respectively.

She frowned a bit at her, thinking of how close she was to getting the both of them killed. "So, who're you anyway?" She asked bluntly, finally once again sheathing her blade.

[Moemura]

"Back that spellbook of mine belonged to my grandmother," Dakota said, "It means a lot to me." She looked back to the cliffs where they were from. They were at quite a distance but for all she knew that man would still be there. It would be insane if she went back and faced that man again. "And I am not a wannabe witch," Dakota said, "I am....just a witch who can't read foreign writing very well." The poked her fingers together and blushed, because that was the reason why she was tangled up in the first place.

They were currently hiding behind a huge boulder and Dakota looked over the large rock, seeing that Brew and Blade did not follow them fortunately. She could only hope though that he didn't steal her favorite spellbook, though. She had others with her but that was her most favorite one. "My name is Dakota," she introduced herself, "Maybe he'll be gone by sundown and I can go back and look for it."

[Wartooth]

Gail looked at the girl, unimpressed. "Uh huh." She mumbled to herself after hearing the girls sob story. She placed a hand on her lightly armored hips as she thought of the chances that a spell book would just be left there. "Yeah, totally. I'm sure it'll still be there." She said, totally sarcastically, but only a hint of it to her voice. "In the mean time, let's go back to the Brew&Blade. (That's the name of the tavern I meant.) We've gotta have a little talk about picking your fights." She demanded, taking the girl by the wrist and began tugging her along the short walk to the bar, not giving her much of a choice.

She could feel the girl was walking sort of awkwardly, and thought to ask. She shrugged it off thought, thinking she might just have a limp or something. They arrived back on friendly soil in only a few minutes back at their place of employment. Gail gingerly opened the heavy wooden door into the Brew&Blade, in stark contrast to the the cocky hunters higher up the list who would nearly take it off it's hinges after coming back from a successful hunt. It was a dimly lit place, all made of cheap wood and bad carpeting, but for the last month or so, it's what Gail called home. She quickly retreated back to her favorite seat in a secluded corner so she could stay out of the bar fights that were quite regular. "Have a seat then." She offered as she herself sat at the table.

[Moemura]

Dakota nodded and just hoped it would stay there. She was just going to spy on the area until sundown and go for the book when the crook was asleep but she suddenly felt her arm get grabbed by Gail as they were walking back towards the town. "But I need to get my book, though," Dakota said, "It's a family heirloom!" She tried to tug but couldn't get herself free. The girl was not all that much of a physical being so she had no choice but to go along.

As they walked Dakota herself was walking with a slight waddle due to the thickness of her diaper. No matter what she did she couldn't manage to remove it because the tapes seem to be magically sealed. Plus the girl needed to go really badly since the morning but didn't want to use....that option. Eventually they made it back to the Brew & Blade and walked through the old, dusty setting, something Dakota had taken use of by now. She knew there were a lot of bar fights so she preferred to sit away from the action anyway, not wanting to get involved. After Gail took her seat Dakota went to hers and sat down with a distinctly audible crinkle.

[Wartooth]

Gail took her seat promptly across from Dakota. She tried to size the girl up once again. But again, all she saw was a frail little girl, not a trained killer. She gazed over her shoulder towards the bar to see her friend and employer, Duncan, who was dealing with a patron. He was an old man, but he was also a giant with an intimidating brow. She pondered how he had let Dakota take up such a contract, he usually had pretty good judgement after all.

When the girl took her seat Gail heard a strange rustling. It piqued her interest for a moment, as her eyes darted one way and then the other. It didn't persist though, so she didn't think much of it. "So..."She began slowly, wondering where to start. "Where are you on the list?" She said referring to the ranking list of liscenced hunters. 200 being the lowest and 1-5 being "The God Hunters". "Somewhere in the 190's right? Hight 190's?" She proded, still trying to get a grasp on the girl.

[Moemura]

Dakota sat on her seat a little bit nervously, wondering what Gail could possibly be thinking. It's true that she wasn't up to handling the crook that nearly killed who goes by the name of Jagger. The only reason she got on board was because she was agreed to partner up with her cousin who was a more experienced witch. She just happened to have went ahead earlier than scheduled because she wanted to prove to her that she was as just as good with magic as she was.

She watched Gail a bit longer, still thinking of what she had to say to her. When Dakota was finally asked a question she had to be honest and tell the truth. "I....am at 196," she admitted with a blush, "B...but that's because I am new here. If I could read those spellbooks more correctly I would be at a higher number at the list." She shyly averted her gaze from Gail, embarrased that she had to admit that she was one of the lowest ranked hunters of the Brew & Blade.

[Wartooth]

"People must've died higher up..." Gail muttered under her breath at the idea that Dakota wasn't #200 in the flesh. She referred to one of the many ways that a hunter could gain rank, and it was the easiest after all, people higher than you dying. "Well I'm 179 last time I checked." She boasted, fully knowing she mostly didn't know what she was really doing either. "But it's like an exponential thing you know? People 15 higher than me would eat me for breakfast. Don't even mention the top 5." She continued, as she always liked the politics of the list and the people on it.

"So that must've been your first contract, right?" She questioned, fully aware of how flawed the girls tactics were. She once again looked over Dakota's shoulder, but this time the one and only server. She motioned towards the middle aged lady that she wanted a drink, and then went back to Dakota. "You've gotta start with easy ones, small fry. Something petty. Low risk, low reward." She informed her, as she thought that huge man had quite the bounty on his head. "Speaking of rewards, you should probably go tell Duncan you're not collecting one." She told her, pointing towards the bar.