Meanwhile, in Arundal Jail (REVISED)

Rorgan and Vannon attempt to escape from the Arundal Jail, making un expected allies while they do.

The noon day sun shines brightly over mossflower, or at least would had it not been blotted out by the arrival of a rain storm. The heavy droplets splatter against the roof and walls of the jail, they even splash in through the windows a bit. At the moment there are very few occupants. One being a sleek grey fox still dressed in fake tribal gear. The fox leans up against the wall of his cell. He makes a loud belch and pats at his distended tummy. A small pile of bowls lay stacked next to him, the Militia's attempt to shut the fox up after singing 'Ninety Nine bottles of ale on the wall' strait for hours on end while under orders to not harm the prisoners. Or perhaps they are simply trying to fatten Vannon up before eventually making a rug out of him. The fox has yet to figure out which, either way he plans to milk the situation for all its worth.

In the cell directly next to Vannon's, a lone black otter sits against the wall, only dressed in a brown tunic and brown pants. Upon first glance, it would look as though the otter is sulking, feeling sorry for himself and his predicament. However, more than anything, Rorgan is becoming bored of his situation, and he is ready to try and break through the bars to strangle the fox in the cell next to him. If he had to hear the fox try and play I spy with him again, he thought he would go insane.

And only after about a week together in a cell too. "So..." Vannon stretches where he is and lays down on the ground, stating up at the ceiling with his paws folded behind his head, "Rorgan...can I ask you a question?" The fox hesitates for a moment before continueing. "Are you scared?"

Rorgan sighs, letting his footpaws slide out until his legs are laying straight on the floor. "I'll be honest, I've faced far worse than th' threat o' bein' executed, so if anythin', I'm annoyed that they haven't tried anythin' yet. I feel like they're tryin' t' bore us t' death instead o' bein' serious about it."

Vannon smiles a bit. He feels somewhat comforted. "So...so you have a way to get out of here right? They...they wouldn't leave us here forever would they?"

Rorgan chuckles softly, shaking his head at the naive fox. "No, I don't have a way out, an' no, they won't leave us here. They'll put us on trial, an' Edwin will make sure he wins, an' we'll be hanged fer treason or some sort o' crime like that."

The fox picks himself up and curles himself into a ball. His tail wrapped around his legs. "I...I don't want to die." The fox looks...disturbed. He gently fluffs his own tail as he rocks back and forth. Perhaps this time in jail has been harder on Vannon than he cares to admit.

Rorgan watches the disturbed fox with zero pity and/or empathy. "Ye know, it's partly yer fault fer gettin' involved in things here. Besides, at least they're plannin' t' exectute us." Or at least, he hopes that's what Edwin is planning. "It's better than torture."

"Well...they are planning on executing at least one of you." The fox looks up from where he is sitting to see a ferret in a red tunic. The only police officer left in the jail Tavis had left this secritary to her duties, at least for the moment. She comes barring a bowl of stew which he places on the floor and shoves through the cell to the fox. "You're trials were concluded an hour ago. You were both found guilty."

Rorgan laughs to himself, unable to be scared by any of this anymore. "Wot are the odds! It's not as though we ever got t' testify, but that doesn't matter while Edwin is in charge, does it?"

The ferret smiles, "Right mate. The good news is that you are not going to be executed Rorgan. Only serve out a term of 10 years in the mines. Your friend is...not so lucky. I'm afraid at weeks end Vannon you are to be turned over to militia." The fox sighs as he takes the bowl of soup and guzzles it down. "Right, you can imagine what they would do with me. This is good soup by the way, did you make it yourself?"

The ferret nods, "I did. I think you will enjoy the 'special flavoring'." The fox gives her a confused look and look into the empty bowl. "Wait...you...you didn't just..." The ferret face paws. "There /was/ a key in that soup you nitwit!"

Rorgan scrambles over to the side of the cell, reaching his arms through the bars towards Vannon. "Vannon, get over here right now!" He says urgently. He is not about to lose his freedom over the fox's stupidity, and he isn't afraid to rough the fox up a little bit to get it.

Vannon pats at his stomach in terror. "You...you arn't going to gut me to get at the key are you?" The feret scowls, "I have a knife if we need to. You were the only prisoner they would let me bring food for..." Vannon gulps and moves over quickly for Rorgan to do his thing...what ever that may be. "Rorgan! I'm sorry! I didn't know!"

The ferret begins to nervously bite at her claws as the poor fox makes horrible gasping noises being painfully given the medi evil equivelent of a himleck manuver. "Stop! Let him go! Someones coming!" She really wishes she did have a knife on her now. The door to the cells begins to open. On the other side there is a large burly hare Lancer, dressed in chain mail with an iron brest plate and armed with a short sword at his side.

Rorgan instantly lets Vannon go, standing up and looking straight at the ferret. "Wot d'ye mean we've been found guilty?!" He demands of the ferret, doing his best to look outraged.

The ferret nods saddly, "Im sorry. They had the trial this morning. You were..." The hare whistles loudly. "You time is up. Come along." The ferret sighs turning once more to Rorgan, "I'm sorry. There is nothing more I can do for you. I never had a chance to thank you for saving my life back during the riot. I'll see about bringing your friend a pie sometime. Maybe this time he can share it with you." The fox gulps at the sight of the ferrets glare. With the ferret exiting the jails the hare makes a hrmph noise then closes the door on them.

The moment the two are gone, Rorgan instantly gets back onto his knees by the side of his cell, putting his paws through the bars and around Vannon's stomach again. "Are you ready? I need you t' relax for this t' go easier."

The fox moves away from the otters grasp, he looks wary of standing close to the otter. "I don't know...you seem pretty angry...how do I know you won't just try to kill me...or cut me open for the key!" The fox whimpers a bit and finely shakes his head, "Fine! Just...just go easy alright?" The fox gets close to the jail bars and takes a deep breath, "Alright...I'm ready."

Rorgan nods slowly, not at all intending to go easy on the fox. "Alright, just relax..." With that, and another loud grunt, he pulls back on Vannon's stomach again, absolutely bound and determined to get that key from the fox if it was the last thing he would do.

The fox gasps and finely breaks away from the otter's grasp, "Stop! Enough!" He leans against the far wall out of his reach and rubs at his sore stomach, "It feels like you are trying to crush my insides together..." the fox begins to whine...we...we are really going to die here...arn't we?"

The otter sighs, sitting back on the floor. "If ye hadn't eaten that key, we would be fine, but now, we're goin' t' have t' improvise, or get that key out o' yer stomach."

"Oh and how do you propose we do that?" The fox says sarcastically. A small shiny object comes flying through Rorgan's jail window. It's a small kitchen knife with a slender blade. The ferrets voice can be heard whispering from just out of sight, "I don't have long. Keep that hidden until you need to use it. I'll try to spring you some time soon. Until then, stay safe!"

The fox looks at rorgan, then at the knife, "No way I'm coming over there now."

Rorgan gives Vannon an almost devious smile. "An' why would ye ever have reason not t' trust me when I have a knife?" He asks in mock innocence, brandishing the knife almost jokingly, though there is absolutely no way to tell if he is joking or not.

Vannon sub conciously rubs at his belly. "I'll...um, get to work on getting the key out myself." He turns to the bowls of stew that are now comfortably resting in his gut along with their only hope of escape. "Ah man...mom always said there would be days like this..."

The otter takes several moments to look at the knife in his paw before standing up, staring at the cell door. "Wouldn't it just be th' most convenient thing ever if I could use this t' pick that lock?" He asks Vannon, smiling slightly to himself at the thought.

Vannon coughs and hacks but to no avail. He turns towards the otter and gulps. The better he doesn't use it on me, he thinks, "Yeah sure! Go for it I say. I'll just be here...working that key." The fox worries the otter might still gut the fox out of spite even if he gets the cell door open. Better to hurry up with that key then before the otter can escape!

Rorgan steps forward towards the door, reaching through the bars and placing the knife tip in the keyhole after a few moments of prodding the metal of the door. Slowly, he begins to move the knife with small, subtle movements, leaning down by the lock and listening carefully.

The door swings wide open. The fox stares in dissbelief. "How...but..." He shakes his head, "It doesn't matter. Quick! Help me get out too!" The fox dashes to his own cell door and wags his tail in excitment. His ears shoot strait up and his face looks hopefull. "Finally! We can get out of here!"

Rorgan walks over to the fox's door, carefully sticking the knife tip into the key hole as well, and beginning to make the same small, subtle adjustments that he had made for his door. "Just try not to do anythin' stupid when we get out o' here." He knew he could've easily left the fox behind, but he figured Vannon could be of use to him as either cannon fodder or fighting material.

The fox nearly yelps for joy when the door comes open. Sweet freedom! He yells internally. "So...oh fearless leader. What do we do now? There are bound to be guards outside that door waiting to stabby stab us the moment we set paw outside."

Rorgan shrugs, looking down the hall. "I'm wondering if we should try ' be as stealthy as possible." Looking back at Vannon, he sighs. "Then again, I'm not sure how well that would work wid ye here."

Vannon narrows his eyes at the otter, "Lad...I'm a bandit. I can run stealy circles around you all day." The fox takes the lead heading to the door. His paws are silent on the creaky wooden floor. Pausing near the door he drops to a crouched state and puts an ear on the oak frame listening for beasts on the other side. There is a loud commotion from the other room. It's impossible to make out what is being said but someone is saying it in a frenzied voice.

Rorgan slowly follows along behind Vannon, rolling his eyes. He knew that the fox was a bandit, but he couldn't say he had seen enough of the fox's skills to be completely sure of them. In the dead silence, his keen ears can make out the commotion in the other room. Instinctively, his paw goes to grab one dagger, but it grips nothing save empty air, and he sighs. Things were going to be a little difficult until he got his things back. At least he had dark colored clothing for the most part.

"What do you mean, /missing/?" Someone from the other side of the door. "...he never checked back in. Last we saw him was in Silver Valley..." A voice replies, "We need beasts out searching for him. Seargent take your lancers and..." The rest of the conversation is too muffled to hear through the door. After a brief moment the sound of another door can be heard opening and closing along with the sound of iron clad foot paws moving about the floor.

Rorgan frowns at the small patch of conversation that he had heard. Somebeast important was missing, and that's about all Rorgan knew, but hopefully it would throw a giant wrench into this entire equation. "Vannon," He whispers, his voice hardly audible. "Can ye tell if they're comin' toward th' door?"

The fox leans his head closer towards the door. His eyes widen and before the otter can argue about it the fox grabs him by the shoulder and pulls him close to the wall. The door opens as a Militia Lancer steps in. The hare has yet to see the beasts behind the door, he does however see that they are missing from their cells. "Holy..."

Rorgan's eyes are wide as he watches the hare literally just in front of him. Unconsciously, he holds his breath, remaining more still than he had ever been in his entire life. All he can think of is how he would be able to take down the hare if he were to turn around and notice them.

The hare turns around and for a brief moment Vannon's mind is filled with horrible images of him being killed and turned into a fur coat by militia. Instead the hare runs back into the room shouting, "Prisoners have escaped! The prisoners have escaped!" Someone shouts back, "Sound the alarm! Fan out! They couldn't have gotten far! The two other beasts in the jail offices turn for the exit as they grab their weapons, leaving their escaped prisoners alone as they search outside for them.

Rorgan lets out a soft sigh of relief, which also releases the breath he had been holding for what felt like a lifetime. "Stars, that was close..." He says, stepping forward and away from the wall. "Where d'ye think we should go now?" He asks. "The entire militia will be workin' fer us."

The fox doesn't waste time to to answer this question. He dashes out of the jail and pauses by the door to the exit, after making sure the coast is clear he waves the otter forward. "First things first, we get out of here, find someplace to lay low. They would look for you at your ma and pa's place...I kind of wish I knew where that ferret lives." He turns to Rorgan and exclaims, "Do you know of anywhere we can hide out?"

Rorgan raises an eyebrow at the fox, and only just then did he realize that he still had the knife from the ferret. At least he isn't completely defenseless. "Vannon, I don't exactly live here, so why would I know any place?" Suddenly, he stops, thinking. "We..we could ask th' lizards fer help.." He says slowly. "If their kiung is who I thin it is, they'll help us."

Vannon continues to watch the street as he says, "I don't care if your friends are two story tall dragons sitting on a hoard of gold. IF they get us to safty then I am game for it." He snaps suddenly, "Now! Make it for the opposite side of the street!" And dashes out the door nearly reverting to all fours as he runs.

Rorgan makes a mad dash for the other side of the street, following Vannon with every ounce of energy that he has in his malnourished body. Halfway across, however, he literally does revert to all fours, beginning to gallop along in a manner very similar to a predatory animal. He is /not/ getting caught because he can't run fast enough on two paws.

The fox dashes into an alleyway, he waves for the otter to follow before ducking down to avoid catching sight of the Lancers patrolling the street. They seem to be in a frantic hury to find their prisoners. "Alright, so now that we have a destination. If we head north we can get lost in the woods and double back around to where ever this elusive lizard cave is. I can lead you out of the village, after that, you get to take the lead."

_______________________

And so the two did just that. They eventually made it out of Arundal, making sure they weren't caught by the ever present militia patrolling the streets. The journey seemed to take days on end, though in reality, it wasn't quite that long. By the time the two make it to the caves, the sun is a good bit past the midway point. Rorgan sighs as he watches the entrance to the caves. "Well..I do hope I'm right about th' king. Otherwise, this'll be difficult.."

There is a loud hacking noise from the near by bushes. Vannon stumbles into the clearing before the caves. The fox clutches at his stomach, "I...think I took care of the key finely." The fox hasn't run so hard in months. Not a good combination with a belly full of stew. He pauses at the caves and shivers, "Oh.../this/ place. You sure about this mate? Last time we were here we were nearly tossed into a scorpion pit."

Rorgan raises an eyebrow at the fox. "You'd be surprised wot they think of us, mate. They think we're great warriors." He chuckles softly at the thought. "They tried t' eat me last time so that they would 'gain my prowess' as a result."

Vannon narrows his eyes at the otter, "You arn't exactly comforting mate." He does however rub his chin and smile, "Great warriors eh? Well its about time someone respected my talent. All hail Kydo Vannon! Greatest mercinary fox who ever-" At that moment dozens of lizards simply materialize from the river armed with spears, axes, and knives. The tribal lizards surround the the party and Vannon makes a high pitched yelp of terror. The lizards are dressed in varrious degrees of tribal sashes and bead armor, a few however wear dented and scratched breast plates...the same kind the Militia Lancers wear. One particular red scaled lizard is wearing full on plate male over his chest, a fox pelt sash across his waist.

This ambush really hadn't surprised Rorgan, though only because he had been expecting something along these lines. One of the lizards, who is armed with a spear and a scratched breastplate, hisses to the red scaled lizard, "Shall we take the warriors to the king?" Though to Rorgan and Vannon, this comes out as random hisses that make zero sense to them. "Well...I must say this was saddeningly predictable.." Remarks Rorgan after looking around for a few moments.

A gold scaled lizard rolls his eyes, he is wearing a chain mail tunic, stained with the juicy bits of its previous owner. "Ugh...the king is /always/ having us bring outsiders to him. Why don't we just eat them for a change?" A slender redscalled lizard wearing nothing but pair of tattered trousers replies, "These guys look...kind of familiar don't they?" He peers at them both for a long moment then shrugs, "Then again..."

Vannon gulps at the sight of so many lizards around him. Last time he was here he was shooting arrows into them. "What...what are they saying?"

Another lizard gazes at the two for several moments before his eyes widen. "Th-They're the great warriors that attacked us a few moons ago! The otter was captured about a moon ago, and he escaped! It was just before we got our new king!" He gives of several loud hisses that really mean nothing in any language, and he grips his spear tighter, menacing Vannon with it.

Vannon tries to point the spear away from him by gently pushing at it with his paw, "For the record. If we die...I blame you."

...The great hall proves to be just as they remembered it Vannon reflects as he is lead in via spear point. Large abyss to the right, scorpion pit to the left, large pile of gold infront. The hunting party of lizards gathers some attention from the crowd of their fellow kinsmen as they parrade the prisoners in, admitedly from a distance. They lead both fox and otter towards the pile of gold. Laying spralled out in the thrown with his head out one side, tail and feet drooped over the other is a large, fattened redscalled lizard. He wears a leather vest, left open to accomidate the gut that hangs over the belt of his red cloth sash. On the tip of the throne above him is a wide brimmed hat with a feather in the top, and also a gold crown on top of it. The plump lizard king is currently being hand fed grapes by several other reptiles.

Alright, Rorgan had been expecting Dylan to let himself go, but this caught him a little off guard. "Great.." He mutters, mostly irritated that his knife had been taken by one of the lizards that was now holding a spear point to his back. "Dylan!" He calls, and subsequently receives a knock in the head from a spear butt, which sends him stumbling forward. "Ressspect!" Says the lizard angrily.

Dylan turns his head away from his feast and peers closely at the otter that is dragged before him. His lizards have a tendency to bring all sorts of things in before him. He peers closer and a look of shock over comes his face, "RORGAN!" Rolling from the chair the obese lizard walks down the pile of gold towards the otter. He doesn't make mention about his warrior hitting his friend over the head...yet. Best to let the warrior stew about the obvious mistake he just made before enacting his punishment. "Rorgan! What are you doing here! And you brought friends!"

Rorgan slowly rubs his head, trying to shake the stars from his eyes as he shoots an icy glance towards the lizard that had hit him before looking back at Dylan. "It's a long story, mate, but I don't have time t' tell it all. We're runnin' out of time afore Arundal literally rips itself apart with war. My brother an' parents are still there, an' I have t' get them out before it's too late." Oh good old Rorgan, worrying about closer beasts before everyone else.

Dylan crosses his arms and nods his head, "I've heard about that. I sent some lizards of mine to open up trade with the village. One came back with a Militia arrow through his chest." The lizard king shouts something in the local dialect, "Tonight we feast! And welcome my friends!" It's one of the few sayings Dylan has learned to say here. He must admit the reptiles in this backwater tribe are much better at languages than he is. "I would very much like to know about the goings on in Arundal."

Rorgan scratches the back of his head awkwardly. "I tried t' help them, but uh...things got complicated, an' I got captured." He did have to admit that the thought of a feast made him happy beyond comparison after so long without a proper meal. "I'll tell you everythin' I know, mate." He says with a sigh of relief.

Dylan wavers his hand in the air, "It happens. I kind of got stuck in this gig of Lizard king but...well, also a long story." He turns to the fox who has shyly wrapped his tail around his legs. "Um...hi there! I think." He whimpers, "Please don't hurt me." Dylan raises an eyebrow to this and shakes his head, "You will need to tell me all about it over the feast. Ugh...we have so many. Where the beasts get the meat I have no idea...in fact I make it a point not to find out what I have been eating down here all this time..."

Rorgan laughs, patting Dylan on the shoulder. "I'm hungry enough by now that I could honestly eat anything that comes along, mate." Despite the joking manner in which he says this, he really does mean that he could eat anything by this point. At this level of hunger, anything is edible.

"Yeah...don't say I didn't warn you." He pauses and turns to see a large group of lizards have surrounded the terrified grey fox. "Oh er...He's in the feast...not /the/ feast." The lizards look dissapointed but shove the fox along. Vannon quickly huddles around the Otter and this strange reptile. The lizards around them begin to dispearse heading back to their duties and chores. "Come along then fella's we have much to discuss..."

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My Alts

Vannon

Meet Kydo Vannon. This particular rascal of a fox looks at you with a playfull and mischevious look. As a grey fox Vannon stands a little shorter than most other wood land vulpines. A combination of grey and specks of black run down his back. A strip of brown fur runs across his sides and his underbelly is coated in tan fur. A patch of white fur decorates his chin and throat.

Even under his winter coat however the fox's ribs show. His limbs are thin, his waist is narrow and his clothes hang loosly off of his skinny frame.

The fox's dress and groom depends mostly on the kind of work he is doing. Mercinary to body guard work. For reasons probibly best left un said the fox has found himself wearing tribal like gear. He wears a simple feather and bead neckalce across his neck and a cloth sash across his narrow waist. The shash hangs down to his knees, held up by a simular bead and feather belt.

Among the few possesions the fox has is a small double edged daggar which he keeps in a leather sheath tied about his waist.

Dylan

It is hard to tell exactly what sort of lizard Locke is. Even Locke might not know. He is a tad smaller than most beasts, his wiry frame giving out to a corpulant body, and has a very brightly colored appearence. The majority of his scales range in color from bright to dark red. His underbelly, stretching from his chin to the tip of his tail are gold colored as are the insides of his clawed feet and hands. The lizard has several small spikes along the ridge of his face and above his eyes.

Dylan's brightly colored scales do little to hide the effects of too much food and drink. His once wiry limbs have rounded out, his tail has thickened, his flank has grown fleshy, and the curve to his portly pot belly marks him as obese.

Over his rounded body Dylan wears a simple set of clothing. His old brown leather vest with chain mail sewn into the lining hangs loosly off of his shoulders. The sleevess vest is far too small now to fit over his chest and so he leaves it open to expose his middle. His waist is covered by a long red velvet cloth sash. The sash falls down nearly to his ankles, both front and back. The lizard hide belt that holds it up has a large red ruby over the belt buckle, which is hard to see since it rests under his expanded gut.

The lizard is also dressed in several layers of gold. He wears three different gold chain necklaces, a metalic gold bracelet on either arm. Gold plated shin guards above his didgetgrade feet, and several ruby rings on his claws. Dylan also wears a royal crown. The crown itself is lined with many gems, blue, green, and yellow, and sits upon the lizards wide brimmed black leather hat with a feather out the top.

Rorgan's Alt's

Rorgan

Rorgan is an otter that stands at around 6 feet tall with piercing ice blue eyes. His black fur is mostly covered save his arms, head, and tail by a suit of black leather armor. A brown leather sheath can be seen on his back containing his bow. In his belt are three different scabbards that contain his three daggers.Two of them are identical in design; their hilts a dull silver from use. have a red gem set in the centers and their scabbards appear to be replicas of each other. The third, however, has a different look about it. Its hilt is wrapped in a leather grip and seems to be rather new, though still gently used. Its sheath looks almost brand new, like it had just been made yesterday. The most noteable feature about him, however, is the bright red tattoo that marks his right arm. It is an intricate circular design that resembles a very large arm band that somebeast had cut complex designs into.