WELCOME TO RAYVEN'S REIGN.

[♔ Ketic]

"Sada spali kuja!" The Croation Hoodoo Priest seemed to spit the fire he spoke of as he waved a ratty staff around in the air. The two muscular men at his sides advanced on Horace in a very menacing manner. Well shit. The young warlock backpedaled down the hallway slowly. He should have seen this coming. You never meet on one sided terms for a trade, always pick a mutual spot.

"Hey now," Horace laughed nervously and extended his arms in a gesture of peace. His blue eyes, which began to turn gray as he moved, focused on the tip of the priest's staff. A root was dangling from a brown bit of string. Horace needed that root. "Just calm down... no need to... burn the witch?" He didn't speak Croatian. He didn't want to have ever learned any of the language in fact. If Horace hadn't learned any of the language he never would have met this trio of madmen.

"Bitch, not witch." The muscular man on the left, with a t-shirt that looked as if it was about to rip from his bulging frame, spread a toothy grin at Horace as he cracked his knuckles and continued to advance.

"Well guys.." Horace lowered his hands. There would be no peace. His eyes were completely slate gray now. He didn't intend to murder these men but if it happened that way then so be it. The warlock grimaced and raised both of his hands in a cupped shape, pointing his empty palms at the duo of Croatian mercenaries. "Soinneáin!"

Irish sorcery started with weak-ish roots to begin with. Bits of black magic and earth magic mixed together sounds like a strong combo... but the two kind of canceled the other out to form a watered down spell style. It didn't matter though. The blast of force from Horace's hands flew in a blurred wave before colliding with the mercenaries. They were swept off their feet quite swiftly, one of them even slid backwards down the hallway before coming to a halt about a meter away from the priest. He was beginning to chant something now.

"Balls." Horace turned and sprinted down the hallway full tilt. There was a spiral staircase up ahead and he leapt for great justice, sliding along the banister for a good three seconds before slipping off and toppling down the rest of the stairs.

"Ouch." Someone pointed and laughed at Horace but he didn't take much notice. He was too busy struggling to his feet as the sound of heavy footfalls descending the staircase filled his ears.

The lobby of the rich-taste apartment building was mostly clean. Too bad. Horace picked up a potted plant and tossed it at the first Croatian guy to get to the bottom of the stairs. It collided with the man's chest and barely had any effect. The warlock turned and erupted from the double doors, making quite the exit into the warm Louisiana evening.

[Barley]

Liam unloaded the package out from the back of the UPS truck. He checked the name and address, and scanned the nice apartment building. Looked to be the right place. Liam approached the building's double doors. Some guy blasted out of the building haulin' ass down the side walk. Liam jumped back and thought nothing of it, and proceeded closer to the build. But before Liam could react a rather large man smashed into Liam sending him into the sidewalk. The brick wall of a man thundered on like nothing was there.

Liam looked at the smashed package on the ground next to him. He scrambled to his feet, grabbed the remains of the package and placed it by the door of the apartment building. Then sprinted after the brick house man and his prey.

[♔ Ketic]

The sidewalk was crowded with people as always, but they parted as Horace came skittering down the paved way. Only one of the Croatian men seemed to be on his tail now. The warlock briefly wondered if the second was doing some tricky flanking maneuvers but he doubted it. Just in case.. Horace leapt from the sidewalk out into the street. Car horns blared as he froggered his way across but no one hit him. Unfortunately for Horace, traffic was now stopped up enough for the mercenary to get across. The warlock didn't notice that there was a third man following behind their trail of ruckus.

Now he was running down a back alley. Always a bad place to be if you are getting chased. Of course. Horace came to a dead end and cursed quietly between heaving breaths. There was a very large wall with two dumpsters up against it and a fire escape out of reach. Horace didn't know any anti-gravity or flight spells. He didn't even know if any existed. Reluctantly, he turned around just in time to see the Croatian mercenary rounding the bend in the alley and spotting him. The man spread a wicked smile but stopped advancing. He was probably going to gloat now... Or try to steal Horace's herbs. The warlock protectively put his right hand over the large pocket of his cargo pants. He'd bought them fair and square from the Hoodoo Priest. Looks like I'm going to have to fight... Horace gulped, attempting to steel himself for what was ahead.

[Barley]

Liam trailed behind the larger man. The people swarmed on the sidewalk, but the large man parted them like the red sea. A little ways up the sidewalk, the leader of the chase veered into the street and beelined to the other side, dodging cars. Then disappeared into a back alley. The brick house of a man, lunged into the street and charged straight across. Brakes screeched and cars honked, he didn't bother to dodge any cars. Liam followed behind him. Someone started to yell, his car was rear ended.

Once across the man Liam was chasing followed the leader into the alley. The alley turned and led to a dead end. Liam hid behind the corner. The hunter had cornered his prey. Looks like theres gonna be a fight. Liam had two options, walk away or help the guy at the end of the alley. Liam sighed, he didn't even know who was the good guy in this situation, the bigger man spoke some words and took a step toward his prey. Liam looked around for a weapon of some kind, he didn't really want to use his powers if he didn't have to. He spotted a pipe in some trash and picked it up. Liam swallowed some spit. He did smash my package after all. Liam charged the big guy and swung. There was a dull thud but thats about it. The lead pipe hit his head but did little damage. Great.

[♔ Ketic]

Horace was crouched low, ready for an oncoming attack. The merc was still smiling his crooked toothed smile when a figure seemed to appear behind him, swinging a pipe. It thudded against the man's skull with a fleshy thud. Both of Horace's eyebrows raised and his mouth made an 'o'. Was this guy for real? How did that not drop him unconscious? Heat buzzed in the warlock's palms and he decided now would be the best time to strike.

He sprinted forward, closing the distance fairly quickly. Horace smashed his palms into the man's chest as if he was trying to push him over. He didn't say any spells, after all this was the first spell Horace had learned and mastered. It would be no fun if you had to speak the words to a mastered spell. Heat burst from his hands and a sizzling was audible in the air, earning a screech from the Croatian guy. Horace jumped back. His momentum hadn't even budged the guy but there were two hand shaped burn marks through his shirt and on his pecs. Hmm.. I was hoping for more than that.

The mercenary reacted now, breathing out through his clenched teeth in a low growl. He thundered a meaty elbow out back behind him but didn't stick around long enough to care if it impacted the newcomer or not. He charged at Horace now, pushing the warlock over into a heap of trash. He shouted something inaudible in Croatian and stomped his foot on the ground before beginning to look around for something to use as a weapon besides his massive fist.

[Barley]

"Ooof." The meaty elbow made contact with Liam's chest, knocking the wind out of him. Liam stumbled backwards and caught his breath. The assailant charged the other guy and shoved him into some trash. Then after yelling something that sounded like gibberish to Liam and stomping his foot on the ground, he swing his massive bald head around looking for presumably a weapon. But before picking one up, he yelled something and tore the rest of his shirt off. Oh god.

The large man stomped over to a pile of wood and picked up a 2x4. He was about to bring it down on the second fighter. Liam was now ready for a second attack and rushed him. He swung the pipe again, this time sending a charge through it when it made contact. There was a slight ZZST noise combined with it making contact to the man's flesh. The bigger assailant roared and swung backwards at Liam. Liam jumped back, the 2x4 skimming his shirt.

[♔ Ketic]

Horace was trying to get up but he kept slipping on different articles of newspaper and other suspiciously slick bits of trash. "Ugh." Finally he was able to get to his feet, only to observe the Croatian merc coming at him with a 2x4. The guy who'd hit him with the pipe before swung again. For a second Horace could have sworn he heard an electric fence go off. No, it sounded more like one of those bug zappers that emits that mesmerizing blue light.

Now the mercenary's attention was on Horace's savior. Perfect. It took a second for Horace to collect himself, hopefully the guy would evade fine. Then once he had calmed and cleared his mind Horace focused his eyes on the gorilla of a man who had ripped off his shirt at some point. "Soinneáin!"

Just like before Horace's spell seemed to shoot from his hands. This time it had a bit of upwards thrust and it sent the mercenary upwards. But no, he couldn't fly. In fact it looked like he came down with more force than he went up with. Meaty, sweaty, bald head met with the cement on the side of the building briefly before he came a-crashing down. Horace flinched and made a nasty face, not really liking the crunchy fleshy sound that was created when the guy thudded down.

He stood for a moment, breathing heavy from the adrenaline and fear. Then Horace glanced at the guy who'd probably saved his life twice just now. "Uh, hey, thanks man."

[Barley]

"Huh?" Was all Liam said as he watched all that massive muscle fly straight up into the air. Their assailant hovered for a second before returning to earth. Not before hitting his head on the side of a building and making an oof sound, and began to flip around like a rag doll. The big guy's sweaty, massive body made contact with the asphalt. Liam could have sworn he felt him hit the ground.

"Uh." Liam looked at the dead body and towards the side of the building. There was some blood on the the side of the building where his head hit. Huh? Liam looked toward the voice talking to him. Oh, uh, yeah, no problem, I'm Liam by the way."

[♔ Ketic]

"Horace." The warlock nodded his thanks once again and put his hands in his pockets awkwardly, kind of edging away from the corpse of the mercenary. He was getting closer to Liam but not in a threatening way or anything. His blue eyes sized up this guy before squinting beneath the frown forming on his brow.

"I feel like I should offer to buy you a beer or something... after all you did just save my ass." He paused for a moment as if debating whether or not to go on. Then he continued as if thinking 'what the hell'. "Have we met before? You seem really familiar?" His tone was a little questioning. Maybe they had met maybe they hadn't. This guy looked a lot like a pizza delivery guy Horace had met once.

[Barley]

Liam chuckled. "A beer would be nice, but its no problem." Liam shrugged and looked Horace up and down. Hopefully Liam didn't make a mistake saving this guy. If this guy was hostile, Liam was sure he could take him.

"I don't think we have, but its nice to meet you."Liam shrugged again and turned to walk away. He cautiously made his way out of the back alley. He was sure Horace wouldn't attack him with his back turned, but you can't be too careful these days.

[♔ Ketic]

Horace followed Liam out of the alleyway, rubbing the back of his head for a moment before continuing to try and brush the stink off. "Bar is this way, and I insist?" He motioned off to the left and began walking slow enough that Liam could set a pace. Once they were moving steadily down the sidewalk he sighed. "Your lack of reaction to my spellcasting tells me that you have experience with the... not-so-normal. Or am I just insane?"

He opened the door to a run-down looking pub allowing for Liam to enter first. The place on the inside was much nicer than outside appearances. The warlock grinned widely. "Welcome to Sherry's." He took a seat on one of the bar stools and regarded the man who had helped him out. Where had he even come from? Had he just decided to help when he'd seen that man chasing him or was there some other motive? Horace decided he'd better not dwell on it at this second, as a pretty bartender made her way over. "Two beers." He said, still smiling.

[♘ Knife Ear]

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