Horde Politics

Moving up the ladder in a Horde is not always a good thing...

A bitter wind beats down upon the dirt road. Kanezzer hefts a crude looking ax, a pair of rats holding down a beaten stoat. "Ye picked the wrong beast to mess with, stoat." The large ferret spits with a slight grin lifting the ax above his head and with one swift motions he relieves the stoat's head from it's shoulders. Kanezzer paws the ax to one of the rats as the body falls lifeless in the cold dirt.

Dylan chose the wrong moment to enter the scene. He watches the stoat fall lifeless to the ground as the rounds the bend of the road way. The fox gulps, not so much at the sight of violence but the fact that he has to give the ferret some bad news. The pudgy vulpine imagines himself suffering a similar...if not worse fate.

One of the rats kicks the stoat's head down the path at the approaching fox with a grin. Kanezzer produces a skin of wine and takes a drink. "This land seems full o' scum who thinks they can best me, Kof." The ferret sneers to a particularly mean looking rat.

The fat vulpine watches as the head comes to a stop. Rubbing his neck subconsciously Drakki pushes forward. "Evenin sir. Nice day for an execution eh?" Jokes are always a nice way to start off the day. The fox hasn't talked much with the warlord since the day he joined the horde. He still has no idea how to read the ferret.

Kof, the rather lanky nasty rat swifty draws a jagged sword pointing it at the vulpine. "Oy, watch yer step, fox. Here's d'one dat killed, Bilk" Kanezzer fixes his yellow gaze on Drakki. "He killed a one-eyed baffoon, Kof. Fox, enough with yer pleasantries. Wot do ye want?" The ferret tucks his wine-skin away, folding his arms with skepticism.

Drakki gulps. He gently tries to push the blade thrust at him to the side with his paw. "Oh? You heard about bilk? Well that's good. That was about half the news I was going to tell you." Blunt and ever to the point his new boss is, Drakki will have to remember that. "With his, ahem, passing though a bit of a rift has started to form between some of the rats back at camp. Seems people can't agree on who to take his place even though he wasn't THAT high up the ladder. I was sent to ask you who you wanted to take his place? Officially I mean..." the fox coughs. More bad news is yet to come but he's trying to avoid that for as long as possible.

Kanezzer snorts. "Yer the one who bloody killed the bastard, his problems are yer problems now." Kof sheathes his blade and cackles quietly. "Dere ye go, fox, ye be movin' up in the world." The ferret does not appear amused.

Drakki looks absolutely horrified. Leadership? Drakki. The fox opens his mouth to protest but remembers the body of the headless stoat before him. "Thanks...I think." Rubbing the back of his neck he asks, "What...were Bilks duties? I would have imagined he had a secular job based on how..." Drakki remembers glances at teh fat ferret and rethinks what he is going to say. "I mean I don't exactly know what his duties were."

Kanezzer looks bemused at the fox's further question and shoots a glare at Kof. The ferret stalks away back toward the nearby tavern as the rat offers a yellow-toothed grin. "Ye answer directly to Kanezzer now, fox. Ye keep Bilk's gang in check 'n ye be ready fer battle."

Drakki feels his world start to spin. This wasn't just a promotion. Being placed in charge of beasts wouldn't be so bad. Drakki could handle that. But this? Having to answer directly to the leader of a warlord, reporting good news and...blast! The fox trots along after Kanezzer, "Um, sir, about that. I have more news to tell you..."

Kanezzer's cloak beats violently against the cold, bitter winter wind as he turns back to address the fox. His expression grim. "Make it quick."

And so the fox does, "One of our raiding parties has gone missing. I was sent to tell you that." The fox is going to have to learn not to beat around the bush, not with this one. He is much more direct and too the point than his former employer, "Sergeant Rou and his beasts never reach their intended target."

Kanezzer curses. "That's it then? Useless, scum." The ferret's yellow eyes twitch with subdued rage. "Nothin' else to tell, eh? The bloody fools just gone? No beast knows what happened?"

The fox takes in a deep breath of air. Might as well get it over with. If the ferret decides to kill the messenger there is nothing he can really do about it. At least the fox will have led a pretty good life. "Rou took thirty rats with him. When he didn't report in we sent out search parties. I was...on one of them. Halfway to the town he was going to raid his tracks veer off sharply into the woods. He also took about two weeks worth of supplies, much more than he needed..." The fox gulps one more time, tapping his paws together tentatively, "It's possibly he, ah, deserted sir."

Kanezzer's paw looks poised to strike the vulpine yet he remains rather stoic considering. "Not fer long." The ferret motions a paw for Kof some distance away. "I want them found 'n I want Rou's head. Yer gonna do it fer me, fox." The ferret smiles as Kof approaches his jagged blade in paw.

"M-me?" The fox says with a whimper still forcing himself not to recoil at being struck with the ferrets balled fist. Drakki is wondering if this isn't some kind of punishment by the rats back in camp, sending him here to deliver the bad news as revenge for killing their buddy bilk. Rats didn't scare the fox too much, after all they are just rats. This ferret though can put him on the front lines of battle, have him murdered in his sleep, or might just decide one day he needs a fox pelt rug and take it himself...

"Are ye not up to the task, fox?" Kof spits. "He's a coward, boss." The ferret quirks a skeptical brow as he begins to size up the fox. "Ye killed yer way into me horde, 'n ye killed Bilk. Can't handle a few deserters?" The ferret is visibly growing impatient, his breath hanging in the icy air.

Drakki can tell a veiled threat when he sees one. Narrowing his eyes the fox looks to the rat Kof, "The deserters won't be any trouble. I'll get some of the beasts together and track them down. I just..." the fox wants to say he has never actually been ordered to kill a beast before. Sure, he's taken lives both as a thief and a bandit. But for self defense...or food. "I'll take care of it."

"Good. Kof, make sure this fox has wot he needs." The ferret dismisses them both with a sniff and turns back toward the tavern. Kof grins bemusedly at the vulpine. "Rou's a dangerous beast, fox, may'hap ye be the one losin his head." The rat cackles as he sheathes his blade again stalking off in the opposite direction down the path.

Breathing a sigh of relief the fox turns and begins to walk away from the tavern following Kof. "I have no doubt the rat could probably best me in a contest of brute force." Drakki says as he comes alongside Kof, "I however have no intention of entering such a contest."

"Ye'll need to do somethin' to get the beast's head." The rat scoffs. "Look, fox. Take Bilk's gang 'n do wot ye need to do. Ye'll find no aid from me." The rat offers the vulpine a dangerous glare, his paw drifting back to the hilt of his blade.

Holding his paws up defensibly the fox pauses and lets the rat continues on with out him. "Oh sure, strand me with the beasts who already hate me because I killed their leader." Drakki crosses his arms. It was one thing to simply kill the rat but in the way he killed him inspired a measure of fear in the other rats of the camp. Unfortunately fear does nothing to quench hatred. "I"ll do what I can." The fox says finely.

With great risk comes great rewards...or...no reward comes with out a price.

Kanezzer appears as rather imposing ferret. His predominate features are clearly his sizeable gut and broad shoulders.

A pair of yellow eyes peer with a judicious glare from beneath tufts of unkept fur. The ferret's pelt a healthy coat of brown fur.

Various hardened leathers and chains are fastened to his torso serving as modest armor.

Drakki Crosstooth is at first glance your average looking fox. He is about the average height if a bit over weight with common red fur. The fox's fangs hang exposed at the end of his unusually long snout. His ears are also longer than usual with a small notch missing from the middle of his right ear. His eyes are small with and gold colored.

The fox's pelt is composed of long light red fur, giving Drakki a soft and fluffy look. Starting at his chin however a patch of white fur begins to run down his neck and spreads out across his chest, it narrows a bit again but flairs out to encircle his gut. The fur of his paws are black as are the tips of his ears. The tip of his tail is white save for the very end which is graced with black fur.

While in good health one does not become a horde beast with out gaining a few scars. The most noticeable is the scar across his left shoulder blade.

Drakki likes to keep himself well fed and it shows. His belly has a sizable bulge about it and a thin layer of flesh is slowly growing on his chest, limbs and neck. While over weight, the plump vulpine still has a long way to go to be obese.

The fox wears little in the way of clothing. A pair of dirty tan breeches rests upon his legs with one knee torn out. They are held up by a squirrel leather belt with a brass buckle. The fox also wears white cloth wrappings across his hand and foot paws up to his ankles and elbows. He leaves the claws of his paws open and exposed.

As for weapons Drakki makes do with the short sword strapped sideways across the small of his back. A simple double bladed sword with a deep blood gutter and small metal hilt with Celtic designs. He also has a small iron dirk with a wide triangle blade and made for stabbing rather than slashing.