Comes Great Responsibility [job/Altair and Zafar]

The newest job on the board was a little unsettling. Altair reread every word three times before he could believe what he was reading. An assassination job? Was it even legal to post this? Altair frowned at the possibility of someone killing another person just for money. Then again, looking at the man’s profile, he was a brutal killer himself. Every fight he had gotten into, he had not only killed his opponent, but squashed his head in with his hammer for good measure. And the man he worked for was even worse. He was an open slave owner, with a penchant for cruel treatment of his slaves. But, as disgusting as these men where, he could not bring himself to kill them. Altair left the job board in disgust. But he kept the flier.

As he was walking through the bazaar, he heard some commotion down a small alleyway. People were gathered around watching, as a man whipped a slave near to death with a wicked glass tipped whip. From the murmuring in the crowd, it appeared that all she had done was dropped an apple from the basket.

For all intents and purposes, the man should have been happy Altair didn’t beat HIM to death right then and there. That was, until he heard about who the man was. It was the same man from the flier. The one who owed some guy money for a slave he had bought. The one with the cruel bodyguard who just watched and laughed as the man continued to whip the slave. Altair turned and left. Tonight, this man would pay with his life. But first, Altair would need to find someone to help him. He knew he couldn’t take both of them on alone. But he did know just the man for the job.

~304/1000~

Zafar Mushtaq was not an easy man to find. The assassin did not often go out in public to the usual places one might search for any given resident of balbadd. The red haired fight lover avoided the marketplace as he had no need for typical goods or exotic foods. There was never a singular inn or home he stayed at preferring instead to move around from place to place each night even if it meant sleeping under the stars. Even his preference towards chance based outcomes wasn't enough to lure him to the casino save for once in a blue moon when the act of gambling struck his fancy. Yet, that is exactly here he could have been found today. Be it an act of fate or the mere whim of chance, Zafar was seated at a blackjack table in Balbadd's large casino with a large stack of winnings already in front of him and a natural black jack sitting face down in preparation to more than double those earnings.

Despite his good fortune, Zafar's golden yellow eyes were half shut with boredom and carried terrible bags under his eyes due to a lack of sleep. It had been too long since Zafar had taken the life of a strong opponent and the effects were almost like that of a junkie in withdrawal. The gambling had helped take the edge off at first but after an hour the chance of luck had leaned so heavily in is favor that it was losing all of its appeal. No longer having fun even as he revealed his winning hand and raked in a large reward from the dealer; Zafar finally reached his limit and slammed both fists on the table. "Ahhhh! I can't take it anymore!" The man shouted before face planting in the mountain of chips before him. Zafar's hands were twitching with anticipation as he fought back the natural urge to take a life. Depraved thoughts filled the assassin and black rukh began to flutter about his person causing most people nearby to feel uncomfortable and uneasy even though they could not see the black birds themselves.

~358/1000~

Altair only had one thing to go on, and that was he knew that Zafar liked cards. The deck he was shuffling while on that boat job was akin to that. And the only place Altair could think of that was a central hub of card players, were a few scattered pubs, and the Casino. He tried some of the back alley bars first, thinking that he would rather not be somewhere well traveled, but with no luck. Failing that, he went to some of the higher class areas, but again, no Zafar. Finally he traveled to the Casino. He went to the first room to look for him, only to find him standing there, fists clenched, with everybody staring at him. Altair could sense the uneasiness of the crowd, and even he was feeling nervous just being around Zafar. But he couldn’t just leave him here. Altair went over to Zafar and put his hand on his shoulder. ”Let’s get a drink. I need to talk to you about something.”

Altair walked to the bar and ordered drinks for the both of them. He then brought out the job form he had picked up from the board earlier. ”I need your help with this job. It involves taking down the guard at a slave owner’s house, and then getting repayment. But I want to take it farther. This man is a blight on society, and a waste of a human being. I’m going to take him down, and free the slaves he keeps on the property. But I can’t do that and take his guard at the same time. That’s where you come in. You kill the guard, while I take care of the owner of the mansion. After that, we split the reward.” Altair thought for a moment before continuing. ”I don’t know why you do what you do Zafar. I don’t know what drives you. But I do know that you are good at what you do. Think about this. I’ll be waiting at the back of the mansion at midnight.” Altair then left Zafar at the counter.

Later that night, Altair could be found standing at the back of the man’s mansion.

~670/1000~

Despite being face down in a mountain of casino credits Zafar's eyes were wide open and bloodshot with tension. Every fiber of his being wanted to make blood rain down over the entire casino in hopes that at least one of the patrons would prove to be a worthy fighter. Yet the assassin knew such attempts were folly as he'd already judged everyone present to be little more than normal folk simply blowing off steam or trying to make it big. There were no powerful fighters present, even among the casino guards, the amateurs hadn't even managed to disarm Zafar of any of his weapons despite his outbursts! Wallowing in is earthly suffering Zafar noticed that someone was approaching him and closed his fingers over the closest thing to his hands. The hand on Zafar's shoulder was like pressing the trigger to a spring under tension. In a flash the red head's arm slashed from the casino table towards Altair's neck. Alas, instead of a blade, Zafar's "weapon" had been a mere chip which would have dealt no damage even if it hadn't stopped a full inch from the shepherd's skin.

Zafar looked up surprised to see a familiar face and retracted the chip without saying a word. The killer was not a particularly big fan of the man whom so naively chose to save the lives of scum pirates. It would have been much easier to cut their heads off and be done with the ordeal. But spite aside, Altair actually managed to find Zafar. The assassin could not ignore how chance would have had to be on the man's side. So, Zafar followed Altair to the bar and took a seat as the Shepherd ordered drinks for them both. The cold beverage never even touched Zafar's hands let alone his lips as he glared the young man down as if to demand the reason for this little chat. The cause was a Job, one that included killing someone dangerous enough for a fairly high reward. At last something to peak Zafar's interest had come his way, perhaps trusting in chance's favor of the Shepherd was worth while afterwards.

Zafar never agreed to join even as Altair left, but the grin on his lips was sign enough of his intent. Zafar returned to the inn he was currently staying at and finally slept in preparation for the battle he'd have to go through later that night. But Zafar would never show at the meeting place behind the targets mansion leaving Altair to seemingly go the job alone.

~786/1000~

((I haven't ditched you, Zafar is just going to be doing things "his own way" so proceed with the mission without him and he'll appear after your next post with a dramatic entrance.))

As his pocket watch finally clicked to twelve, Zafar was nowhere to be seen. Altair sighed. He thought this might happen. Zafar wasn’t someone to rely on for help after all. Without another option, Altair decided to give it a shot by himself. Altair climbed the wall using the uneven surface, which was becoming more popular, to his advantage. He peeked over the wall, seeing an empty garden maze. Satisfied, he lifted himself over and dropped down to the garden below. He stayed low and tried to locate an entrance to the mansion.

”Hello?” Altair froze. He could have sworn he wasn’t being loud enough to be heard, and was doing a good job keeping himself hidden. He searched for the source of the voice, his eyes landing on a cage, just outside a door to the house. Inside it stood four slave women. ”Is there anyone there?” Seeing them, Altair slowly rose from his position, and brought a finger to his lips, trying to tell them to stay quiet. He then walked over to the cage and knelt down next to the woman who was speaking. ”It’s ok. I’m here to rescue you. Just stay quiet, while I search the house.” Altair had to strain to keep from staring at the wounds the woman had on her arms and legs. To do this to a human being was beyond cruel. The woman grabbed the bars and said, ”You have to get out. They will kill you for being here. We will be ok, so please just…” Altair stopped her. ”I’m going to get you out of here. You have nothing to worry about.” He then stood up, turned, and ran into a wall. Altair took a step back, and looked up. ”oh? And how are YOU going to get out of here?” Said the large guard. ”I know! It’ll be in a hearse!” This wasn’t going to end well. Altair readied himself, as the man cracked his knuckles loudly.

~1000/1000~

Turning back time by at least an hour, one would find that Zafar had not forsaken Altair to work alone after all. The assassin had awoken from his slumber feeling as though all his fatigue had simply melted away during the nap. His body knew that a battle was to come and while handicaps granted by chance were welcomed, weakness due to personal mistakes such as a lack of sleep would not be tolerated. Every fiber of Zafar's skin was tingling with delightful anticipation as he rose from his bed and began preparing for the evening's festivities. The Rings of Pain Zafar wore could not be removed without breaking them, but he polished the brass toridals as best he could before smearing a dull past over them to seal their luster and reflectivity. The crimson edge of the Bloody Branch was then sharpened and treated with a similar paste so even the silvery moon light would not shine off the blade and give his position away while hiding.

With Zafar's preliminary work complete, he opened the window to his in and reached up to grab the window frame. The assassin's abdomen and arm flexed as he burst into movement using the frame to pull his body upwards, legs rising feet first to put a spin on his ascent. A flip through the air would carry Zafar upwards and onto the roof of the inn landing squarely on his feet only to break into a sprint across the roof tops. Several leaps and flips from rooftop to rooftop would carry the fighter along a normally unseen highway that ran through Balbadd. A path seen only be acrobats and dare devils. Without worry of traffic, being followed, or even being spotted, Zafar rushed to the estate where the job was to take place and then stopped just one building away from the mansion's walls where he was supposed to meet Altair.

The best way to fool your enemies was to fool your allies, so Zafar remained in hiding until the shepherd's impatience led him to start the mission alone. Golden eyes watched from the shadows as Altair climbed the wall and dropped onto the other side out of sight. A slight smirk played across Zafar's lips as he whispered to himself, "The game is on~" Zafar then jumped down from his roof top and swiftly sprinted over to the wall to scale it himself. Instead of jumping over the peak, Zafar hung there and peered over the ledge to see Altair down below. The amateur was clearly not a master of stealth based missions as he foolishly stopped to speak with a few caged women. Granted, saving them was probably Altair's main goal knowing how naive he'd shown himself to be thus far, but Zafar still frowned upon the slip up. It was only a matter of time before...Scratch that, it was too late as the manor's hired guard had already caught the shepherd.

Zafar grinned from ear to ear and gripped the stone wall even tighter causing it to crack slightly beneath the force of his hands. That was his target, the assassin's very reason and purpose for existing tonight. The killer tried to suppress his murderous intent and bit his lower lip so hard that blood was drawn; it's iron taste teasing Zafar's tongue driving him even madder with battle lust. Yet even so, the clown waited and watched as moving in now would only serve to waste the opportunity before him. Zafar would be patient and gamble that Altair would be fine on his own well enough to survive the first three attacks from the man at a minimum. Once the target was fully focused on his own prey, that is when Zafar would strike.

~1000+/1000~

Roran “Stronghammer” Bast. The giant man standing before him was known for his brutality, and for the hammer that he used as a weapon. The man grinned, and then with incredible speed brought that hammer down right on top of Altair. Having only a split second, Altair used Yadzutsu to get out of the way just in time to have it miss his skull. But the man was faster than he thought. The hammer landed on Altair’s left elbow, nearly shattering it. The pain was excruciating. Altair thought quickly, but Roran was already on the move. He sprinted towards Altair, this time swinging the hammer from the side. Using the ground as a springboard, Altair quickly switched directions and slid underneath the wide arc of Roran’s swing. This put him behind Roran, but not out of danger. Instead of turning around, Roran continued his swing to come full circle. But this time Altair was ready. He jumped into the attack, and used Wasp’s Dance to deflect the blow straight up. He followed quickly with Sky Uppercut to his chin, hoping to daze him.

Altair landed and jumped backwards, only to see that Roran hadn’t moved. The man simply looked at him. His chin was bleeding slightly, but Roran made no move to attend to it. Instead, he simply looked angry. ”No one’s hit me in a long time, boy. You want to know why? It’s because I always kill the ones who can hit me.” With that, he charged straight at Altair, his hammer low beside him. Altair readied himself for his attack, planning to use his wolf slaying technique to counter him. Roran was only a second away.

Quiver:

Wasp’s Dance:

Sky Uppercut:

Stamina now at 120.

Peering over the ledge Zafar watched the events unfold with deadly patience. Even as he watched the man who'd asked for his help get discovered and receive an injury the cold hearted killed made no movements to step in and be of assistance. Instead, there were wicked thoughts prancing through his mind as squinty eyes gleefully enjoyed the show down below. Should he help Altair? Should he betray the naive shepherd and help the man who was supposed to be his target? Or should he jump down and fight them both at once? The choices each had their own charm in Zafar's golden heartless eyes. Unable to decide for himself Zafar pulled his body upwards and rose his legs to stand on the wall as he produced a deck of cards from seemingly nowhere and drew one of it's contents. Jack of Spades, the same card that had been drawn when Zafar had first met Altair.

Saving the Shepherd from the assault had honestly been the least appealing of the options Zafar had lain out for himself, but his appreciation for chance and coincidence placed a smile on his lips all the same. As the guard spoke threats to Altair and prepared for his charge Zafar gave off a smug grin as he rubbed the card against his cloths to build static electricity before tossing the drawn Jack into the air. The card would fall between the two combatants and land on Roran's face covering his eyes just as he began to rush forwards. This act would both confuse and anger the hammer wielding killer-for-hire but before Roran could reach up to remove the card Zafar lept from the wall and did the deed for him. However instead of his hands, the sadistic clown used the blade edge of his Bloody Branch slicing a shallow cut which divided the card in half diagonally and imposed a minor wound on the man.

The injury on Roran was just bad enough to scar and it inconveniently caused blood to drip into his left eye. He reached up to put pressure on the wound and screamed out in agony for a moment giving Zafar time to turn his head to Altair, "I believe this is what you hired me for. You've got no sense of 'beauty' when it comes to the 'art' of killing. Go do whatever it was you came to do~" The red head then turned back to Roran with eyes that were glazed over with pleasure, "I'll handle this..."

Altair nodded to Zafar and made a break for the building. he entered the door and saw two hallways, one to the left, and one to the right. Altair listened for a moment, trying to figure out which way he should go. from the left hallway, he heard nothing. but from the right, he could swear he heard the sounds of snoring. he walked calmly down the hallway, making as little noise as possible until he got to a large double door. the sound of snoring could clearly be heard coming from inside. he also began to hear what sounded like other guards talking, as they came down the hall behind him. he quickly opened the large door, got inside, and closed it before he was detected.

Altair turned around to see a large bed with a man sleeping in the middle. on either side of him were two women, each holding a palm leaf, and chained to the floor by their ankles. before they could speak Altair hushed them, made a motion akin to unlocking a door to ask where the key was. they pointed to the last place he wanted it to be. around the neck of the sleeping man.

Hasheem Undine was a vile, cruel man. he kept slaves for the sole purpose of watching them do hard labor for him. and he had a penchant for brutally killing those that disobeyed him. Altair kept his fury under control as he walked slowly up to the bed and reached for the key. as he did, Hasheem's eyes snapped open, and he grabbed his arm. "I see we have a rat in the garden, eh? i'm going to enjoy watching you die." with that he grabbed up the knife that he kept by the bed and made a clumsy swing at Altair's head. Altair simply moved out of the way, and watched as the man got to his feet. Altair withdrew his rod, and leveled it at the man's head. "i'll give you exactly one chance. release your slaves, and i'll spare your life." Hasheem simply laughed, and then made a stab towards Altair's stomach. Altair used Slay the Bear to get behind Hasheem, and delivered a crushing blow to the back of his neck. Hasheem went down like a rock, unable to move due to the trauma done to his spine.

Altair approached him, and knelt down. "You are nothing but a slug to be stepped on. you are worth no more than the scum beneath my sandal. but before i kill you, i want you to know something. i'm going to free all of your slaves. and then i'm going to bash your head in with my rod, as though you were a mere beast. does that sound good to you?" as he said this, he grabbed the key from Hasheem's neck. he threw it to the girls and told them to free themselves, and the rest of the slaves in the household. Altair waited until they had all left before he raised his rod. Although neither of them could see it, black rukh began to spin around Altair's body. the killing blow was quick and decisive.

using the paints he had brought with him, he scribed his symbol upon the wall. a crown with a rod beneath it, and the word Sovereign below. after he finished, he went to check on Zafar.

As Altair ran off to complete the task he'd come here to do, Zafar stood ready in front of his own mission with nothing but pleasure running through his mind. The "Stronghammer" fighter in Zafar's way was taller than the red headed clown by a significant margin and the difference in the sizes of their weapons was proportionally worse. The large hammer held in Roran's hands easily dwarfed the small dagger Zafar was gripping firmly in his right hand. The odds were against the assassin which was just the kind of scenario he loved. A masochistic grin overtook Zafar's visage as sadistic eyes looked for the best places to attack. While the red haired fighter observed his opponent Roran growled in anger before looking up towards his attacker. Blood kept getting into one of Roran's eyes despite his hand putting pressure on the wound to minimize bleeding which only served to anger him more. "You're gonna pay for that you scum!" Roran rose his hammer with on hand and tried to swipe horizontally for Zafar's torso hoping to crush his ribcage and render him incapable of fighting any longer.

Using his Fundamentals of Water Zafar performed an acrobatic flip into the air over Roran and contorted his body to slash at the man again as he passed by drawing blood from the flesh behind Roran's collar bone. Upon landing only two meters behind Roran Zafar turned and prepared to launch another attack but the man had been much faster with his large heavy weapon than Zafar had anticipated. A cold iron hammer charged through the air and threatened to lob Zafar's skull off if he didn't react. Thankfully Zafar's Fundamentals of Earth technique was perfect for the occasion. As the hammer approached the assassin he rose his arm in the flight path of the attack and intercepted it with the rings around his wrist pushing against the attack with just enough force to deflect it upwards over Zafar and safely into the air.

"Game over~" Zafar muttered before licking his lips and stepping in to deliver the final blow. A stab to the gut followed by a twist of the dagger and a violent cut to the side. Roran fell to the floor almost disemboweled, doomed to suffer a slow and painful death from his wounds. "...I was hoping you'd last longer than that." The assassin said with a frown as he realized he'd just gone and killed the opponent prematurely. "Oh well, I guess that just means you weren't as delicious as you looked." When Altair finally returned he would find Zafar still standing there in a small pool of blood staring at Roran's now long dead body with a zombie-like look in his eyes.

130/150 Magoi/Stamina

Spoiler:

before Altair returned to the courtyard, he gave specific instructions to the slaves. he told them to take what they could, clothes, cash, food, and flee to Reim. The slave trade was much smaller there, and they wouldn't be known by the people. once there, they could start new lives for themselves as citizens. He wished them well, and hoped they would be safe. Then, he took what he could from Hasheem's treasury, with some for Zafar of course, and went back outside.

Altair came back to the courtyard to see Roran dying slowly in a pool of his own blood. the sight was ugly and painful to watch, but then what he had done to Hasheem was just as bad. "Here." he said, throwing Zafar a bag of jewels. "Take this to fund your way out of town. we won't be able to stay here after what i just did. in retrospect, the target was too high profile. he will be missed, and we will be hunted down. i myself am going to Heliohapt. I hear a dungeon just rose there, and that kind of power would help my cause. i appreciate your help Zafar. But i know you aren't much for helping people so i won't be asking for your assistance again. Farewell, and good luck." with this, Altair climbed and vaulted over the wall that surrounded the home, and stole off into the night.

The words of Altair were little more than a feint buzzing sound as Zafar stared a hole into the back of Rohan's head. The assassin was full of regret and disappointment which was dragging the contours of his face down into a deeper and deeper frown by the moment. The bag of jewels thrown towards Zafar was caught by a swift hand on reflex and this woke the killer from his post-killing stupor long enough to see Altair give his farewells and leave. Zafar had managed to catch enough of what was said to know that there were apparently going to be consequences for what they did here tonight. Such consequences wouldn't be a problem if there were no witnesses...Zafar turned to look for the slave girls nearby but stopped himself. Killing them wouldn't be fun and he'd been thinking of going to Reim anyways. Without saying a single word Zafar turned and made his way over the wall as well before disappearing into the night.