Situated on the east bank of the great Vine River, the city of Vinia was the capital of the human kingdom. More than fifty thousand humans, a thousand elves, and even a few hundred dwarves lived and worked within its well defended borders. In the center was the walled Court District, home to nobility and other very wealthy citizens. Surrounding the Court District was the Merchant Belt and Guild District, home to the various hunting and trade guilds along with their open storefronts and offices. Beyond these districts were the docks along the river, the tavern and inn district, and the slums along the main road that ran north and south through the city.
At the northern gate, Zell, Agitha, and Merc were approaching. Agitha had her face hidden beneath her cloak, she was hunched and walking with the apparent support of her direwolf pet.
The gate guard looked suspiciously at the trio, especially the menacing wolf.
“Your business?” He asked finally.
“I’m just an old widow here to buy supplies with my grandson.” Agitha croaked in her best old crone voice.
She flipped a coin, a gold coin toward the guard who caught it deftly with wide eyes.
“Certainly ma’am enjoy your stay.” He slid the coin quickly into his belt pouch and stood aside grinning.
They entered the city and Zell immediately covered his nose and mouth.
“You’ll get used to it.” Agitha remarked as she walked, assuming a normal posture as they turned down the first street.
The first place they went was a shabby nameless inn, where Agitha rented a room and left their traveling gear and Merc behind. She paid with another gold coin, which the flabby, balding innkeeper looked at dubiously. He told her the gold coin would buy her half a year’s stay if she didn’t want change. She then led Zell to the Guild District, and sent him into the Bounty Office with the troglin skull, instructing him to take no less than five silver for it. He exited with a small canvas pouch, beaming. She took it and counted out eight silver and twenty copper coins. She gave Zell two silver and slipped the rest into her coin purse.
“Excellent, now we start our first lesson. Vermin have infested our base, and good housekeeping is what separates us from the things we hunt.” Agitha said, leading them into the Merchant’s Belt. “Hunters and guardians resorting to petty banditry is a side effect of peace. They could apply their strength and skills toward any number of things, but they instead turned their talents to cannibalizing their own kind - a bloated snake devouring its own tail.” She talked just loud enough for Zell to hear, up until she reached the first merchant stall.
She bought several items: a dagger, a long coiled rope, a few red potions, a dark brown cloak, and several days’ worth of food. She overpaid for each item, spending gold like it meant nothing to her across several different shops. Throughout this process she exaggerated her feeble appearance, faltering under her cloak and coughing often.
“We’re going after the lowest rung first. They’re basic thugs and cutthroats. If you have something they believe they can take without risk, they will kill you and take it.” She continued filling Zell in as they drifted from shop to shop exaggerating their apparent wealth and weakness.
A few hours later they returned to their room at the shabby inn. There was a single window in their room, which looked down onto a dark alley across from the blank mud and brick wall of the warehouse next door. With practiced agility, Agitha crawled out of the window and up to the flat roof of the inn. She lowered down the rope, instructing Zell to climb up it. With much less grace, he complied. He stepped gingerly on the shoddy rotten wood and straw of the rooftop.
“Clear the straw off of this area.” She instructed Zell, gesturing in a circular motion at a patch of roof just above their room.
Zell didn’t question it, figuring it would all come into focus eventually. He carried several armloads of straw away and exposed the wood planking underneath in a roughly six foot area.
Agitha, went to work prying the boards up with her dagger, exposing a small attic area just above their room. She then carved a deep horizontal notch on the back of each plank before carefully tapping them back into place with the dagger’s hilt.
“Replace the straw, and I don’t need to tell you to not step on the boards I took off.” Agitha said.
A short time later they were back in their room. Agitha set a nearly invisible trip wire in the door frame before stripping out of her armor with no shred of modesty for the adolescent Zell who covered his eyes in panic. The glimpse he did catch stuck in his mind, not from lust but awe. Agitha’s body was sleek and muscular like that of a panther, her dark skin was smooth as marble except for the dozens of scars. Zell felt a pang of sadness, seeing the long record of pain this woman had endured. In particular, three parallel jagged scars ran from her right shoulder, across her modest breasts down to just above her left hip.
“Tonight between midnight and dawn, a group of most likely three people will attack us. By advertising infirmity and spending gold all over town I practically invited them. It is possible that dirty members of the Monster Hunter guild will also be among them. You’re going to stay out of the way while Merc and I take care of it. If one manages to attack you, defend yourself and aim to kill.” Agitha pulled a shirt over her head and gave Zell a serious look as she explained.
“What do I defend myself with?” Zell asked hesitantly.
“Your sword. I put quite a bit of mana into it when I carved it. It's at least as strong as your average steel blade.” Zell looked at her curiously, he had been handling his treasured carved trophy like a delicate flower since she had given it to him. He had never thought of it as a practical weapon before now.
“I’ve never fought before.” He continued. “What do I do?” Zell continued.
“First you stay out of the way. If one gets too close, use both hands and stab for the throat or eyes. Aim three inches below your target because you’re slow and they’ll be trying to duck.” She was matter of fact. “That’s both questions for today.” She finished talking and was now twisting her thick hair with both hands while holding two thin black sticks in her mouth.
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Zell spent the rest of the evening practicing his thrust with one hand on the hilt and the other at the base of the wooden blade. It was awkward at first, and once in awhile Agitha would offer a quick pointer such as. “Point your toe at your target.” or “Keep your belly button between your feet.”
As the night deepened, Agitha instructed Zell to hide behind the bed. Agitha sat quietly cross legged a few feet in front of the door as the candle on the rickety nightstand burned low. She was not wearing her armor, instead she wore a simple loose fitting beige shirt and matching pants that cuffed around her bare ankles. Her swords were lying in the corner of the room with her armor. Her long silver hair was wound up into a tight bun secured with the two thin black sticks.
The candle burned out just before midnight, darkness and silence engulfed the room. Zell clutched his sword tightly, focusing his mind on his thrusting technique, steeling himself for what he might need to do, which he didn’t imagine to be much since he couldn’t see past the tip of his nose. Agitha’s eyes glowed softly, like a hunting cat’s. The dilated pupils greedily drank in all of the scarce light and she could see quite clearly. Half an hour passed in silence. Then a subtle noise that only those inside the room could hear came from Agitha, she tapped a fingernail against the wooden floor twice. They had really come.
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They moved in perfect sync. Three experienced cutthroats dressed in dark leather and wearing hooded cloaks crept in on the room. The tips were almost too good to be believed, a wealthy and feeble old woman with a kid had been throwing gold all over town. There were other troubling rumors but the score was too big to be ignored, and in this business hesitation meant losing out.
One of them crept along the roof, intending to swoop through the window as the others went through the door. The plan was an old but reliable one. As the killer approached the edge of the roof, there was a slight creaking sound beneath his feet, then the whole world turned upside down as he fell through the roof and continued to crash through the ceiling into the waiting jaws of a direwolf.
The first one through the door stumbled over the tripwire and knew no more. A half hearted palm strike to the side of his head knocked him instantly unconcious. The second one thought to use the moment of confusion to finish Agitha with a single stab. Dagger leading, the cloaked figure stabbed ahead but only met empty air. A powerful grip, like that of a giant crushed the bones in his wrist and the dagger fell from his limp hand. Simultaneously a strange hot sensation thumped on his chest. He looked down in confusion that became horror.
The light from the oil lamp in the hall behind him was shining into the room through a clean melon sized hole blasted through his body by Agitha’s palm strike. The grip on his wrist loosened but he didn’t feel it, in fact he couldn’t feel anything at all and he was strangely grateful for that.
“What a mess.” His lips moved but only red foam left his mouth as his rapidly dimming vision fixed on the wall opposite the door. A splatter of gore and dark blood had struck the wall behind him and was slowly dripping to the floor.
Merc had latched onto the left shoulder muscle of the unfortunate one that fell through the roof. At a specific elven word from Agitha, he released and regripped on the screaming man’s neck. A flex of his mighty jaws silenced the cutthroat forever. Agitha silently but with incredible speed ran to the door, and reached around the corner. A moment later she dragged the shaking innkeeper into the room.
Zell couldn’t process any of it. In the span of a few heartbeats two men had died and a third had been disabled. If Agitha hadn’t been holding the innkeeper by his collar, he would undoubtedly be on the floor crying. Zell could only watch, horribly fascinated.
“I have a complaint, dear innkeeper.” Agitha began in a stern tone. “It seems my room is infested with bugs, and my ceiling fell! Now I know it must be tough running this whole place on your own but you really should consider your guests more. I won’t make a big deal out of it this time if you promise to clean up this mess and later have a long talk about any other pests that might come crawling in. Heck I’ll even throw in another gold piece for your effort.” She finished talking and let go of his collar. He collapsed to his knees, nodding furiously as she dropped a gold coin in the growing puddle of blood in front of him.
“Leave. I would prefer not to be disturbed again, no matter what you hear. That’s okay isn’t it?” Agitha’s violet eyes gleamed dangerously at the innkeeper, causing even more sweat to bead on his shiny balding head.
He snatched up the bloody coin and crawled on all fours out of the room with his eyes down. He dashed down the hall to his own room and slammed the door shut behind him.
Agitha walked out of the room and removed the hall lamp from its sconce. She then pointed at a spot just outside the door and ordered Merc to stand guard before she entered the room. She quickly set the lamp on the floor then walked over to the bed and lifted it onto its bottom end without a grunt. She shoved it up against the window, then retrieved the coil of rope and three red potions from the corner of the room.
She tied the still unconscious man to one of the two old wooden chairs with practiced efficiency. She then tied a strip of cloth tightly around his mouth, gagging him. Finally she dragged both broken and maimed corpses into the light of the lamp and arranged them to fully display their grotesque injuries and blank staring expressions.
Zell was mortified, but he could clearly see what was happening. She wanted the first thing this man saw to be his savaged companions when he woke up.
He woke slowly a few minutes later, his vision blurred and his head pounding. The scene that came into focus sent bolts of primal fear up his spine. He was hardened enough to not show his panic though he understood the ordeal that was to come. He knew the process of torturing very well from the other perspective.
“Well good morning!” Agitha greeted cheerily, kneeling in front of him. “I suppose you know what this is, so let’s just get right into it. I’m a little out of practice so bear with me.”
She reached next to the chair and grabbed the dagger that belonged to the tied up assassin.
“Now you recognize this don’t you? Of course you do, it’s yours! Now these marks notched into the hilt here, what’s that all about? There must be over a dozen! This knife has sure seen you through alot hasn’t it?” Agitha put her thumb against the blade and pressed. The blade snapped like a twig just above the hilt.
“Oh boy... They really sent you regular old guys in here with regular old weapons didn’t they?” Agitha’s face was almost sympathetic as she rested a hand on the man’s knee.
Zell couldn’t see why, but saw the man go stiff, then came the muffled screams. Agitha slowly clamped her monstrous grip onto the man’s knee cap, then she began to twist it like the lid of a jar. Several tearing and snapping sounds accompanied the desperate screams. Once the bottom and top of his knee cap had switched positions entirely, she stopped.
“I know! It’s bad! I know and I’m really sorry but I need you to understand that I’m pretty serious here!” She exclaimed as she gripped his other knee cap.
The muffled screams intensified until the man vomited into his gag and began to convulse as he inhaled it.
“Oh come on, already!?” Agitha pulled the gag down and yanked his head back by his greasy reddish brown hair. With the other hand she held one of the red potions. She pulled the cork with her teeth and dumped about half the vial into his mouth. His body vibrated violently and he made unintelligible noises as his lungs cleared, his knees spun back into place and rapidly healed. He slumped to the side and sobbed pathetically between violent coughs.
“Okay, now let’s start over. My name is Agitha. What’s your name?” Agitha said calmly resting her right hand on the man’s left knee.
“R-R-Radits.” The man who appeared to be in his late twenties responded.
Agitha stifled a chuckle as she looked over the man’s shoulder at Zell, who apparently didn’t share the mirth over the man’s stutter.
“Well R-R-Radits. We don’t really need to add blood to the puke and piss on your clothes. You just need to answer two questions.” Agitha responded holding up two fingers on her left hand. “Where’s the Little Hand working out of now, and who are the current fingers? Take your time thinking it over, I have all night and plenty of potions.” Agitha applied a tiny bit of pressure to his knee.
“The Fat Mermaid! By the docks on the north side of town. Tavern up top Little Hand below. No regular worker knows who the fingers are, I swear!” He spilled the words like blood from an open artery.
Agitha looked at him skeptically, tapping her fingers on his knee.
“You wouldn’t lie to me would you?” She fixed a stare onto his eyes.
He shook his head emphatically, not averting his gaze from her eyes.
“Okay. I believe you.” She said in a chipper and agreeable tone that didn’t at all match the scene. She deftly untied his feet, then his hands, and stood aside. After a moment he cautiously stood up in disbelief.
He walked to the door shakily, and opened it. Merc stood outside the door, growling viciously at him but stopped at another elven word from Agitha. Radits walked a few steps down the hall and flinched as Agitha’s voice drifted to him.
“Bye-bye! I hope you tell your friends! It’s more convenient for me if you attack all at once. I would probably just run away if I were you though.” Radits did run. Who knew that the crazy stories of the superhuman monster hunters were true!? A level four monster hunter, one feared by dragons and demons! He ran as fast as he could out of sight, intent on fleeing the city, maybe even the kingdom from the diabolical elf woman.
“Alright pack up, we’re changing locations.” Agitha took a deep breath after she spoke, giving Zell a searching look. He seemed to be struggling with the situation.
“This isn’t what you pictured is it? You had a head full of treasure, parades and sunshine. Better you understand now, our world is as dark as it gets. Your home is the maggot infested filthy cave of an ogre, stepping over still living girls begging for the mercy of your blade. Your home is in a sewer, knee deep in shit chasing a ghoul lead that leaves you empty handed. Your home is a frozen windswept hillside, waiting for signs of the rumored orc party that was already slain a week before. Your home is here, with the bodies of humans that chose to be monsters themselves. It is an existence of interminable boredom and discomfort punctuated by moments of unspeakable violence.” Agitha saw her words have a visible effect on Zell. He took a long look at the grisly scene, shouldered his pack, and nodded firmly.