Dybrar

Tɪᴋɪɴᴀ ᴛʜᴇ Tʜɪᴇғ Lifeblood: 8 / 8   Defence: 1          Hero Points: 2

“Um,” she eloquently made to address Asara's enquiry. “They'd be terrible traps if I could simply see them.”

Yet it did transpire that there were none to be found within this treasury, all but overflowing with riches though it was. Tikina helped herself to however many coins, jewels, and other lightweight baubles her pockets could accommodate without slowing her down, of course; a poor thief she would be otherwise, in more than one sense.

However, what truly caught her eye was a large locket that had been left dangling on its chain from a dagger stowed in a weapon rack. It was wrought most exquisitely of gold and platinum, all further adorned with the most intricate ornamental carvings. On its front were depicted two birds, like unto ostriches, that preened beneath a stylised, burning sun; desert runners, Tikina supposed, from the far Beshaar. Opening the locket revealed a cameo carving of a young woman, as sternly beautiful of countenance as she was dark of skin. A slender, silver circlet helped keep the woman's long, curly hair in check; a delicate ring had a favourably diminishing effect on her prominent, aquiline nose.

The woman's eyes of blackest, gleaming onyx looked out impassively at Tikina. Surely this must have been a princess, or at least a wealthy merchant's daughter? For its part, the locket offered little in the way of clues. There were only two letters engraved on the inside of the lid in a flowing script, raising more questions than they answered: Q. K.

Tɪᴋɪɴᴀ ᴛʜᴇ Tʜɪᴇғ Lifeblood: 8 / 8   Defence: 1          Hero Points: 2

The only interest she showed in the armoury's implements of warfare, or in the meditation chambers, was of the monetary kind – i.e., was there anything here that was small yet valuable enough to make pocketing it worth her while? If so, she did just that; if not, she was content to let it all continue to gather dust.

Tɪᴋɪɴᴀ ᴛʜᴇ Tʜɪᴇғ (sheet)Lifeblood: 8 / 8   Defence: 1          Hero Points: 3

“Um, thanks…” she said upon receiving her bloody dagger back. A few seconds passed as she looked mutely between it, the blue giant, and the men whom he had used it to slay. Not entirely able to keep from grimacing, Tikina then produced a badly stained rag from one of her countless pockets and used it to clean the weapon as best she could before sheathing it again.

“Getting out of this place, I'd say,” the thief replied to Asara. “Sooner rather than, uh, later,” she added upon glimpsing the tentacled thing high overhead. “Umm…” Sniffing, she made a beeline for the great doors trapping them all in this pit. It ranked, no doubt, quite high on the list of tight spots she had gotten herself out of – but second only, perhaps, to her talent for getting into places she was not meant to enter was her skill at getting out of places she was not supposed to leave.

It was with this curiously confident mindset that Tikina subjected the doors and their immediate environs to a close examination: probing the stone framing them for concealed catches, running her hands over their bronze plating in case in case any parts of responded to her touch. She even produced a small ear trumpet from the satchel containing the tools of her trade, using it to listen closely as she systemically rapped her knuckle against the doors in hopes of discerning their hidden interior workings, if there were any.

Tɪᴋɪɴᴀ ᴛʜᴇ Tʜɪᴇғ (sheet)Lifeblood: 8 / 8   Defence: 1          Hero Points: 3

She looked on, baffled, as the blue giant went to free the beast. Either it was not as savage as she had believed it to be, or else the giant possessed a singular bond with the creature. In any case, Tikina resolved to give it a prudently wide berth until she had a better notion of what she was dealing with here.

“Balathu,” she murmured, taking note of the fallen sorcerer now that all their enemies lay slain. Swiftly padding over to him, she knelt by his side and eyed him uncertainly. “Um. Balathu?” the thief repeated, more loudly this time, trying to shake him awake.

Tɪᴋɪɴᴀ ᴛʜᴇ Tʜɪᴇғ (sheet)Lifeblood: 8 / 8   Defence: 1          Hero Points: 3

Tɪᴋɪɴᴀ ᴛʜᴇ Tʜɪᴇғ (sheet)Lifeblood: 8 / 8   Defence: 1          Hero Points: 3

Even as she nimbly backed away from the melee again, she could not help but marvel at the giant's unleashing his wrath. Such strength! At the very least she could see now why the manse's inhabitants had gone to such lengths to keep their hulking captive restrained.

Noting that he was unarmed – a sensible precaution, from his gaolers' perspective – the thief hesitated for a moment before letting the simple iron dagger she habitually kept up one sleeve slip into her hand. It was purely a hold-out, a weapon reserved for the most desperate of moments. She could scarcely recall ever using it with aggressive intent: a dagger was bound to make precious little difference indeed in her hands. If wielded by a more robust individual, however…

“Uh, hey?” Tikina called out. Had she heard the giant's name correctly when he had invoked his gods? “Jouka? Maybe you could, ah, use this? Catch!” Flipping the dagger in her palm, she threw it to him underhand. No doubt it would look like a toy in his grasp – albeit a sharp, pointy toy still capable of inflicting harm.

Having done this she produced her sling somewhat reluctantly, seeking a likely target. Freeing the blue giant from his chains no doubt would remain her chief contribution to this skirmish; drawing attention to herself by attacking any of these monstrous creatures seemed less than wise. Yet the idea of doing nothing, or selfishly attempting to remove herself to safety, also did not sit well with her.

Tɪᴋɪɴᴀ ᴛʜᴇ Tʜɪᴇғ (sheet)Lifeblood: 8 / 8   Defence: 1          Hero Points: 3

She watched the giant struggle in vain against his mighty chains. Clearly his captors had been prepared for, if not anticipated, the seizing of a being of his stature – which in turn suggested an alarming degree of premeditation behind their already fell deeds.

The thief looked on for a few more heartbeats before sighing with resignation and producing a small leather case. She brushed past Asara, giving the warrior woman a look that quite unequivocally communicated the notion "you had better keep me safe if I am going to do this", then scurried over to the locks securing the giant's fetters.

“Um. Hello,” she murmured as she brought her thieves' tools to bear. Occasionally, she sneaked a wary glance at the blue giant. “Please don't, ah, kill me when I've gotten you out of these.”

Tɪᴋɪɴᴀ ᴛʜᴇ Tʜɪᴇғ (sheet)Lifeblood: 8 / 8   Defence: 1          Hero Points: 3

She nodded at Balathu's words, their grim implication seeming to evoke only a hint of hesitance in her. “Aye. S'what I figured.”

“Uhh. Alright,” Tikina mumbled a little while later when Asara laid hold of her, and outlined her intent. “I'll do what I can.”

Tɪᴋɪɴᴀ ᴛʜᴇ Tʜɪᴇғ (sheet)Lifeblood: 8 / 8   Defence: 1          Hero Points: 3

She possessed a natural aversion to getting touched by others, or even just letting them close, but she gritted her teeth and suffered Balathu's (and Asara's) ministrations as calmly as she could manage. After murmuring her thanks to the sorcerer for the aid he had rendered, the thief skulked off to examine the carcase of their avian foe. At this point her sense of deeply ingrained practicality took over – she had felt a degree of pity for the beast when it was alive, but now that it was dead Tikina treated its remains with as little sentimentality as she would any other inanimate object. She scrutinised it quickly, looking for any readily harvestable body parts that might be valuable or serve as alchemical ingredients. There was, after all, no sense in letting anything go to waste.

~~~

Though the former slave had witnessed her share of inhumanities in the past, this grim and shadowy vista gave even her pause. Perching on her shoulder, Milord gave an unusually subdued caw, clearly just as unsettled by the chamber's aura of suffering and malevolence. She eyed, in particular, the bound, kneeling giant, who looked somewhat more vital than the three humans on the verge of an untimely death, as well as the yowling beast in its iron cage. The humans would have been easy to capture and smuggle into the manse, no doubt, but these two? The means that would have required challenged her imagination.

“Um. Help like…?” she asked as she padded along the edge of the landing, inspecting it closely in preparation for the climb down. “Those men look pretty far gone. And if we get too close to that cage, uh, we might be gone.” Tikina peered again at the blue giant. “We might be able to do something for him, I suppose. I've never met any of his kind, but, um, they're not dangerous, right?”

Tɪᴋɪɴᴀ ᴛʜᴇ Tʜɪᴇғ (sheet)Lifeblood: 8 / 8   Defence: 1          Hero Points: 3

Tɪᴋɪɴᴀ ᴛʜᴇ Tʜɪᴇғ (sheet)Lifeblood: 8 / 8   Defence: 1          Hero Points: 3

The creature's impending fate saddened her. Whether it was an unnatural, sorcerous creation or not, she could not help but feel it deserved better than this. Yet what could she do? If the beast was permitted to rage any longer, it might well end up drawing the attention of the manse's still more dangerous denizens – and her companions, Tikina was virtually certain, did not share the curious pity she felt for the monstrous avian.

No, there clearly was nothing for it. Stifling a sigh, she fit another bullet in her sling's cradle and made an attempt to put the creature out of its misery.