the city of Driftwood

in the celtic sea between the nations of Ireland, England, and France, stands a city built upon a group of massive platforms.

Its' name is Driftwood.

you find your self in the entertainment district. Walking down one of the shady looking streats you stop when a particular sign catchs your eye, a large wooden sign with a long silver marlin criscrossing into the letters "THE SILVER SWORDFISH".
Upon walking in you find a lone man with a large mustache handling the bar, it is deserted save for one or two old sailors who had obviously had to much to drink the night before. looking at the handrails leading up to the inns bedrooms shows just how in need of repair the place is, but by the look of things it seems to have many customers during the night time hours.

walking up to the bar, the man looks up from cleaning a shot glass and say's in a slight american accent, " your kind of early for drinking, you hear to book a room?".

upon hearing this Nicholas slightly smiles "just looking for for my contractor" he says with a slightly feral unidentifiable accent

he walks around for a bit then stops at the bar "actually yes I would like to book a room" he states to the bartender
he sits down and takes out his contract trying to remember what his contractor had said about his whereabouts

"this could take awhile" he thought to himself

slumping over, Demko looked out of the mess of covers he was tangeld up in. unwinding himself from the terrible textiles he sat up and rubed his face.
how long had he slept?, well it did not matter he was up and that was good enough. walking over to the sink, he washed his face, dressed himself.
takeing his colt 45 out of one his bags he carefuly checked each chamber till he was sure that each one had a cartridge. then sliping it into his waistband he pushed it to the rear. "it's always good to be sure" he mused to himself, one bad Cartridge was all it took for a detective to turn into a corpse.
walking over to the single door in his room he was hit by the smell of the bar, cigar smoke mixed with alcohol, funy how it always reminded him of talking to his father on starlit nights.

walking down the stairs he saw a man siting at a table, seeing him look up sent a chill down Demko's spine, best to watch out for that one, he thought as he walked twords the barman. "is uh, the package safe?", he said as he taped the bar with his pointer finger.
"yes", was the singularly gruff reply. he said little and did even less but this barman had proved himself trustworthy.
leting out a sigh demko casually walked up to the man siting at the table alone. noticing the large double barreled sawn off shotgun siting in his holster. but Demko had a feeling that the man was not a jumpy thug wishing to blast off any appendages, at least not yet.

"how are you doing today sir?" Demko said as he sat down uninvited.

nicholas looked at the man that had sat down at his table "i'm doing okay" he said while putting away his contract

"I wonder what this guy wants" he thought

"names Demko, i can see your new in town, may i offer you a drink?".
Demko had noticed the paper the man had sliped into his duster, "wonder what it is?" he thought to himself.
"might i sugest the scotch, they have the real top shelf stuff here".
mabey this man could serve some purpose, he seemed like a tuff one but Demko had to find out if that scater gun was just for show.

Before the man could say anything demko saw the door to the tavern open, the color drained from his face.
There was four of them, tall mean looking men with facial features that showed signs of many a fight.
They were dressed in long gray buttoned up coats that went to there ankles hiding most of the rest of there clothing, they wore heavy boots that looked like they could crush a mans head, the only other visible thing they wore were bowler hats.
The biggest of the men walked a few feet from the door and stoped, his face set like granite, "Demko", he said with a snarl, "you have been targeted by the Brotherhood, make your peace with your god, for you shall see him todoay".

Demko quickly fliped the table on its sides as the men drew Enfield Mk II revolversfrom there coats.
"Get behind the table!", Demko said as he pulled the man that had been siting next to him behind the makeshift barrier

the men that came in looked like trouble from the start
when they started threatening and took out their guns Nicholas wasn't even surprised
then the man that sat down at his table flipped the table and dragged him behind it, he saw that it was going to be an eventful day
Nicholas smiled, this was his favorite part of his job
he took out his shotgun faster than you could blink and shot the first guy right in his face
then hid behind cover before anyone knew what happened
this was going to be fun

Arolus was not in the best of moods that morning. Some fickle, fop of a rich man had hired her for a guided hunt, insisting that she meet him here, instead of where they were to hunt. But then yesterday evening he had canceled, deciding instead to become a vegetarian of all things! Now she had to wait untill tomorrow before she could get back to the main land and out of this wretched city.
She slipped a long slender knife into her right boot and headed out the door of her room. But just as she stepped into the hall there was the loud "bang!" of a gunshot and much shouting from downstairs. "Oh, lovely." she muttered, taking her (very much beloved) compound bow and nocking an arrow to the string. Slipping into a silent stalk she crept to the end of the hall and chanced a peek around the corner. The scent of gun-smoke filled the air, and downstairs two men (one looking quite startled) were hiding behind a table, with another nasty looking man in a long coat, pionting a gun at them and preparing to shoot. But the shot never came, and the long-coated man dropped to the floor with an arrow in his chest.

Demko was Flabergasted.
"Who the heck are these People", he screamed as he reached down to his lower back trying unsuccessfully to draw his colt. keeping it there had some draw backs, like when he was crouched down behind a table trying not to be killed.

Two of the men fanned out, one going right hideing behind another upturned table, the other takeing cover besides a wooden support beam.
the third man rushed up to the body of his leader and was about to fire a round when a strange thing happend. FWUMP, an arrow of all things stood buried in his chest, the man stood for a second shocked at his demise, then fell over onto the body of his comrade.

"What the h..", BOOM BOOM, two more shotgun blasts thunderd in the allready loud and smokey bar room. Demko looked over the table to see the bartender, gus, holding a smokeing double barrel shotgun and see the man on the right slumped up against the wall his body riddled with buck shot.

"got it" Demko yelled as he got his gun finally drawn, more to himself than to his new companion who was reloading his gun.
"DIE", he yelled as he fanned his colt 45.
This of corse did not do much other than waste his bullets. he soon heard only a sharp matalic clicking noise comeing from his revolver. His opponent heard this and steped out into the open to get a clear shot at Demko. Knowing he had no more bullets Demko chucked his empty revolver at the head of his enemy, cliping him on the head. the man stagerd slightly and demko rushed twords him. elbowing the him in the temple the man collapsed to the floor.

quickly Demko stomped hard on the mans wrist, a loud snap followed by a cry of pain echoed in the now quiet barroom. Kicking the gun aside from the mans now limp hand, Demko stoped to take a breath and put his foot back to the mans wrist.
"Who are you people?", he said trying to controll his temper, "and why did you decied to come kill me all of a suden?".
"GO TO HE..AGHHHHH", the man yelled as Demko aplied more presure to his wrist.
"Tisk tisk tisk, do you kiss your mother with that mouth?, like i said", he added in a more serious tone, "who are you?".

Just waking up from the explosive fight, Haruki Masanori, a strange samurai with a messy appearance sloppily stood up. he examines his beer glass he held in his hand before falling asleep. it was shattered by a stray shot or perhaps a ricochet.
"hey you two. The angry boy and the ticked off man on the floor... who's gonna pay for my drink?"
absolutely puzzled on who this man was and how unaware of the situation he was in, everyone glanced at each other for a moment. no one had noticed the sleeping samurai in the barroom who was slump over the table.

either it was fate or just pure luck, that he was there as it gave everyone a 10 second pause to think of their next action... or just a really awkward moment.

"What is the meaning of this?" Arrolus demanded, coming down the stairs and nudging a dead-man with her boot. She already had another arrow nocked at the string. "What do these people want?"

"you know, that's a good question" Haruki said abruptly. "but theres more important matters than that right now... Do you know who shot my glass? One of these buffoons carelessly blew it to smithereens." Haruki had no clue who this lady was coming downstairs with a bow in her hand and felt no threat even with a bow and arrow at the ready. Without a second glance at Arrolus, he approached the counter, stepping over the bodies that lay on the floor. "Hey bartender. Can you grab me a be-WILL YOU STOP POINTING THAT GUN AT ME?"
"sorry" said Gus as he put it back under its counter. As Haruki stepped closer he examined Demko and his little friend on the floor. "I feel it's going to be a long day today... mind telling me your name and why you're on top of this man? and is that bow-girl with you? she seems rather suspicious of me... and rather ticked off."

"What..oh..um", Demko stoped and glanced behind himself, "so thats were the arrow came from", he said growing interested.
"Hey um you in the robes, dont know if it was me but here's one on me", Demko dug around in his pants pocket and tossed an american double eagle (worth around twenty dollars) to the shaby looking man still griping his blown up beverage..

"gus i'll be needing to talk to my new guest for a minute, may i have the package and any mail thats for me".
"Sure thing", gus said as he took a large box about a foot high by half a foot wide, "no mail today".
"thanks gus, now come on precious", he said as he lefted the obviously uncomfortable thug to his feet, holding his broken wrist just in case he tried to make a break for it.

"Gentleman, Mam", and with that Demko walked his prisoner up the stairs and comenced the interrogation

"well that was over too quickly"thought Nicholas as he got up and started searching the bodies for anything useful.
"hmm" he said pulling out a winning lottery ticket "well he wont be needing this anymore" he said putting it in his pocket.
"I need a nap" he said already halfway to his room

Arrolus grimaced as she removed her grey goose fletched arrow from the corpse (removing an arrow from a person was a little different than removing it from a deer), and wiping the blood off on his coat.
"Well I do not know about you," she said to the samurai, "But I am certainly not cleaning this up." And she walked off to go clean her arrow, leaving the samurai to tend to his next drink.

Haruki looked at the coin as everyone went off to their own business. "WHOA!! I haven't seen one of these babies in months! Forget the drink, I'm buying a hot meal!" the samurai was about to skipped to the closest food joint, but stopped to ask "Hey, anyone else gonna grab a bite with me? ...anyone?" he stares at all the dead bodies on the floor.

He looked at a limp body and poked it. "hey! You look like a ladies man, c'mon, get up and grab a bite with me.. But first promise to wash up. You wreak of blood..."

the next day Demko took the man to a friend of his that worked on one of the ships that ferried people to the main lands.
"keep an eye on this one, he's likely to try something", Demko said as he handed the unconscious man to his friend.
who the man had worked for shocked Demko, "i need to get some help", he thought as he walked into the silver sword fish inn.
funny how yesterday he had allmost died, he would seek out the grim looking man first, surely he could help if he was payed enough.

Arrolus sat dejectedly in a large armchair by the fire, reading a book entitled "A Practical Guide To All Trees Oak". Her ship had been delayed on account of a small storm passing through, and even now she could here the patter of rain thrumming on the inn roof. She sighed, turning the page to an illustration of a White Oak leaf....

"Of all the luck", Demko muttered to himself as he felt his lower back where he kept his colt, he had forgoten that he had thrown it when he had captured an assassin yesterday.

"Great going Dem, now it's lost for good", he thought on how it probably got picked up by some drunk who would most likely pawn it for a cheap meal or even more likely a drink.

the sooner he found help, the sooner he could get out of this town.
Siting down at a table Demko surmised what his options were. glanceing up from his museings he saw that the woman with the bow was siting near the fire, mabey he could kill two birds with one stone.
siting up he thought how good it would be if he had someone who could kill silently and judgeing by her prowess with a bow she could probably do it with her eys closed.
easeing out of his chair he casually walked up to her.

"You know i dont think i got your name yesterday", he said as he sat down on a chair opposite her, "thanks for the...Whoosh" demko mimed the action of pulling a bow string, "you staying here long?".

"Arrolus," Arrolus said, looking up from her book. An amused half-smile played crossed her lips at the stranger's "Wooshing" gesture. He clearly did not know anything about archery. "Your welcome. Hopefully not, I was supposed to leave today, but for the storm."

"well storms can be terrible things, I sugest a vigorous walk around the city".
How could he get her to help, oh well it would come to him eventually.
"Yes a good walk does a body wonders, in fact would you mind helping me with something, you see", he said acting slightly embarrassed, " I seemed to have lost my only means of self defense in that deplorable debacle yesterday".
"would you mind comeing to the market distric with me, I fear that if i go by myself i am likely to perish, expire, kick the bucket, or in other words die", he said the last word in a allmost pathetic tone.

sympathy can be a powerful tool you know.

Arrolus thought for a moment. He had a point. From what she had seen of this place, it seemed more than likely that anyone going about unarmed might as well be screaming "rob me!" And she was feeling terribly cooped up in the foul-smelling inn (not that outside smelled any better).
"I suppose." She replied. "I don't have anything else to do." She held up the book. "Let me put this in my room and get my cloak."

Just waking from a long snooze on a round dinner table outside of a restaurant, Haruki saw the two walk off. "Maybe I should follow those two... after all, who can ditch someone so generous?" he thought. Haruki stood up, tripped and fell face-first to the ground. He quickly got up and followed his new "friends"... 15 feet away from them.

Nicholas got out of his room really angry, apparently his contractor canceled because the target didn't need "such a rough punishment."
He was already out the inn door when he noticed he hadn't seen the town yet "might as well see what there is in this town" he thought to himself
He headed towards the town square "there is bound to be something good there" he muttered to no one in particular