[img]http://i.imgur.com/9IAOE7V.jpg[/img] [i]Thud[/i] Nightshade was bored, her early morning sparring partner had turned out to be a pleasing distraction, a small smile tugged at the corners of her lavender shaded lips, the young human who had eagerly asked for training had surprised her with his own moves. But even that had had to end. [i]Thud[/i] She had opened the shop as usual, the sickly yellow neon sign illuminating the slums of Santa Somabra with the crudely designed rendering of the shops namesake, a broken cutlass. After making sure all her traps, both magical and mechanical were undisturbed, Night had poured herself a healthy dose of feywine. It was only 8am but she felt like she deserved a treat. [i]Thud[/i] A few customers, some regulars, others shifty looking newcomers, had been and gone, she had acquired several new additions to add to her growing inventory of crap, a broken toaster, several silver plated cutlery sets and a stuffed owl with the beak stuck on upside down. It was not the items themselves she was interested in, but the customers. She made sure that the ones she had dealt with before got a good deal, she knew most, if not all, would run off and spend it on the first of their many vices they came across. [i]Thud[/i] There had been one highlight to her morning, a kobold had attmepted to steal from her, just a silver gravy boat, but the whole thing amused her none-the-less. The small wretched creature had almost managed to get out the door before her spider snare had triggered. Hammered into various places around the shop, dangling from the ceiling, were small spider shaped gems, they were not worth more than a few dollars, pounds or gold pieces, depending on the customer that asked, but each one was a sentry device. The kobold had been struck by a line of web and paralysed instantly. The web had then retracted, pulling the kobold up against the wall. Where the goblinoid would stay until Night decided what to do with it. [i]Thud[/i] The creature whimpered as the latest lethal looking blade whizzed past it's face. So far only one of the razor sharp blades had actually nicked it, but that was more than enough for the creature to bleed, a small pool of blood and probably urine puddled underneath it. Nightshade sighed, she was not really enjoying the sight of the tortured creature, although in other days she would have slit the ugly things throat and been done with it. "I think, after three centuries in this place, I have grown complacent, soft perhaps." She spoke aloud, as was often her habit when alone in the shop, even though the fact she had a captive audience did not seem to bother her in the slightest. With a fluid motion, seemingly from her seat behind the counter, Night threw another dagger, this one glinted red as it caught a stray beam of light on it's flight to the forehead of the Kobold. The creatures whines ceased immediately. Night shook her head, even that small act had done nothing to alleviate her from the dark mood she had seemingly fallen into. "I know what it is, I have not heard from Furien in almost three weeks, that old fart best not be working out some new angle to take money from me." She let out a wry chuckle at that last sentence. The old fart in question was Furien, an ancient red dragon, that for whatever reason had decided to stay in the city, well technically [i]under[/i] the city. He was Nightshade's main source of income, she would never admit it, neither would the grouchy old newt, but they enjoyed eachother's company, and there was a mutual benefit in this as well. Whilst dragons usually craved treasure in form of gold, jewels, magical weapons, Furien loved to collect oddities. His lair was part museum and part junkyard. But to the dragon, it was a monument of wealth. A group of children ran past the shop front, something about their mannerisms alerted Nightshade. She moved from behind the counter, grabbing a longsword from one of the racks as she past. Opening the door she looked out into the dank street, the children had all gathered around a smouldering wreckage of someones burnt out car, as she armed the wards on the door with a quickly muttered incantation, Night trotted over to the group. As she neared them, the smell of burning flesh, sickly sweet and a little rotten, hit her delicate elven nose. The children were busy poking sticks into a creature that was pinned under the car, it was still alive, though when Night looked closer the term "alive" might never have applied to this particular creature. The chargrilled zombie, for that was what the thing was in front of Night, flailed it's arms around in a futile attempt to either ward of the sticks or to grab one of the children, Night was not sure which. "You lot, move back, how many times have you all been told not to play with your food." She waited for the children to acknowledge her presence, it did not take long, she was well known around here and most of the street kids knew that she was also one of their sources of food, money and occasionally shelter. The group in front of her comprised of several humans, a couple of goblins and a small troll. They all gazed at her, various looks all slid off their faces however as they all recognized the "elf lady" and there was a gasp from one of the youngest as he saw the naked blade in her hand. They scattered like rats flee a sinking ship. She made sure they were all out of sight before kneeling next to the car, easily out of the reach of the zombie. The creature seemed to sense her and with a small amount of shredded flesh and snapping bones, turned to face her. "Cannoness,Cannoness, cannot be stopped" Nightshade's lip trembled, the zombie was an undead creature, not much more than muscles, blood and animation, but how could it know that name. She looked down at the hand holding the hilt of her blade, it was quivering slightly. She drew in a calming breath, stood up and with a swift movement sliced the creatures head from it's shoulders. producing a rag from one of the many pockets that adorned her clothing, Night wiped the blade clean then dropped the soiled rag on the floor. She turned away and headed back to the shop, hoping that she would be able to slip out and see Furien. Suddenly she was not so bored.