The sound of the seagulls squawking consumed the port in the city of Selenicar. The sun had reached its zenith, looming high in the sky and Tycon had just arrived by ship. Stepping onto the dock he was met with the strong salty wind of the coastline and the intense stench of fish.
The city was beautiful, much different from his home. Sunny and bright with not a single cloud in the sky. The port market stalls were as far as the eye could see, the streets filled with workers and merchants carrying crates that housed an assortment of trade goods. Distantly from the immediate port, Tycon spotted a large clocktower, where he assumed was the center of the city.
Most of the buildings were made from stone, the consequence of it was the city appeared colorless. A large contrast to the people that inhabited the place, he soon found out.
As he stepped onto the stone-brick streets in the direction of the clocktower, A man bumped into him.
"Watch it," Tycon said, annoyed.
The man turned back to him, scowling. He had wavy brown hair and blue eyes, with a nose that looked a little to big. The man wore a simple grey Bastian shirt and a black vest over it. His brown pants, stained with wine and his bare feet dirty.
"Do you want me to smash your fucking face in," The man said, his words slurring.
Tycon raised an eyebrow and approached the man. He recoiled and brought his fists to his face.
"I'm telling you, I'll kick your fuckin' arse!" He shouted.
The commotion now caught the attention of the people passing by. They stopped and watched, some pointed and giggled while others stood in silence, waiting.
Tycon smirked and shook his head. He wasn't interested in a brawl. He had things to do.
Suddenly he felt a mound of flesh and bone connect with his face. He stumbled, the taste of copper spreading within his mouth. He regained his balance and spat crimson. The last thing he expected was to be sucker-punched the moment he entered the City. Tycon rubbed his jaw and looked to the man who still stood with his fists ready. He didn't have time for this. So he turned his back to the man and continued on his way to his destination.
"Oi, where the fuck are you goin..." The man trailed off and Tycon heard him slap on the stone bricks. Assuming the man had passed out, he didn't bother to look back.
The city center was large, a formation of two-story wooden homes and large sea-weathered stone buildings circled around the lone clocktower that sat directly in the middle. Like the fountain in a standard nobles courtyard. One of the weathered stone buildings was the tavern known as 'The Sea of Sin'. His destination.
The reason he had come to the seaside city of Selenicar was for a big job he had caught wind of some time ago. According to what he heard there was a large organization of well-known criminals congregating in the city, each with bounties of at least ten thousand Uon's between them. Initially, he didn't believe it, but all stories, whether true or false had some truth within them and ten-thousand Uon's could buy him a small home. Luckily for him, he wasn't looking for a home.
The tavern was unlike anything he had ever seen and larger than most he had come across. The flooring was made from black and red tiles that checkered all over the lower level. Maple-wooden chairs and tables covered the immediate area, only ending at a small, empty stage that met the northern wall. To the west was a large bar table that lined the entire wall, only ending at some stairs next to the door Tycon stood at. The stairs, he assumed led to rooms for lodging. The eastern side was again filled with chairs and tables. The tavern at first glance seemed empty but Tycon noticed a small group of two oddly dressed men and a woman occupying a table on the east side.
Without knowing what to do, he decided to approach the oddly dressed group. They turned to him as he closed in on them. A short, bronze-skinned woman who wielded a short-sword scowled at him and blew her dark brown hair from her face. She was pretty but came off as hard and menacing at first glance, he had no doubt his impression would prove true.
The other two were both men, one's face was obscured by a hood and a bandana covering his mouth and wore a tight, black leather outfit that stuck closely with his nimble and slender form. He Wielded a dark-stained wooden bow with a short, grey tattered cape slung over his back. He couldn't tell if the man was human, like the bronze-skinned woman or an elf, like him.
The last member was a large, burly man whose thick dark beard reached his chest. His hair was obscured by an iron helmet, which sat snugly on his head and cheeks. This man wielded a long-sword and shield that was strapped to his left arm. His armor covered most of his body, save for his arms, which were exposed between the pauldron and bracers. In a twist of irony, he came off as the most welcoming of the three. Tycon realized that when he lifted his pint towards him with a cheer. He also realized that he had come to the right place.
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A large amount of relief washed over him and he took a seat with the oddly assembled crew. The burly man disappeared over toward the bar and returned a moment later carrying another pint in his hand and passed over to Tycon. He reluctantly accepted the gesture despite, that he didn't like beer and preferred wine instead. He took a sip and it stung his split lip, forcing a smile, he let it quickly wash down his throat.
"So, what's your name?" The burly man asked.
All eyes fell to Tycon, even the mysterious hooded man.
He hesitated a moment, wondering if he should lie and come up with an alias but decided against it.
"Tycon," He said.
"Well Tycon, I'm Balin and our lady over here is Evaline or 'Eva' for short."
Eva, again scowled, not saying a word. Balin raised a hand in surrender.
"What about him?" Tycon asked, gesturing to the hooded man sitting across from him.
The hooded man didn't react to the question and let Balin answer for him.
"That's Grey. He didn't really give us a name so we came up with one for him."
Grey simply nodded and leaned back in his chair. Eva took a sip of beer, looking to Tycon intently. Her eyes somewhat made him uncomfortable but he chose to ignore it.
"So what are we waiting for?" Tycon asked.
"Our contractor," Balin said, his beard dripping with beer "Apparently it's a big job, requiring more than just one of us," He paused and gestured over to the other two "As you can see."
Tycon nodded, politely taking another small sip of the beer.
* * * * * * *
An hour had passed before the contractor arrived. Tycon wasn't surprised to see it was the guard Captain who had issued the bounty. She carried a rolled up parchment with her.
The Captain was an older woman who looked around thirty and had short, unkempt blonde hair that only reached down to the nape of her neck. She was rather tall for a human, almost as tall as Tycon himself. She had a small nose but large lips and her blue eyes were wide at the sight of the bounty hunters. The jingle of chainmail could be heard as she approached the group, the blue and white tabard bearing an anchor-like symbol swung with her steps majestically. Contrast to how tired she appeared.
The Captain didn't take a seat with them, instead, she swiped Tycon's beer and took a large sip and slammed it back down on the table then sighed. That didn't bother him, it saved him from having to finish the disgusting drink. He, however, was thankful for Balin's gesture regardless.
The Captain stood still, her hands behind her back and inspected the four with her eyes. Her gaze settled on Tycon for a moment then continued on. He assumed it was because he was an elf. His people weren't common in Sciolyn so it wasn't new to be stared at by strangers. He'd learned to ignore it.
"Welcome," The Captain declared, locking eyes with each of them "I am Captain Vera. I can only assume you're all here for the bounty that was posted a month or so ago. If you're not, then leave," She waited a moment and everyone remained seated "Good. Now, this particular bounty isn't like anything you've come across before, we have three targets and a lot of men between them."
She slammed down the parchment and let it unravel before the group. All four of them leaned in and inspected it. The parchment contained three pictures of men, sketched out surprisingly well. Vera pointed to the farthest picture on the left.
"This is Devon Jensen, better known as 'Jinx' on our streets. Wanted for the rape and murder of several women as well as bribery of the local guard."
The man in the picture looked old and unsavory with a short stubble and what Tycon could only assume as dark splotches tattooed under his eyes. A silly idea for a wanted man and he knew that it would make finding him easy. The hard part would be getting to him.
Vera now pointed to the man in the middle.
"This is Sinclair Owyn. Wanted for common thievery and a recent bank heist."
This man, however, didn't give anywhere near the same impression as the one before. Sinclair looked young, almost too young, in his late teens at most.
He wasn't sure if he could kill the young man, he hoped to take this one alive. Sinclair had short hair and a clean-shaven face. He looked just like any young man in their late teens that roamed the city on late nights. Any other notable features were obscured by the lack of any color on the parchment. Tycon concluded that Sinclair could prove to be a real problem, but not as problematic as the next man on the list.
"And this," Vera said, pointing to the final picture "Is someone simply known as 'Hex'. All we know of this one is that he is definitely male. Wanted for murder."
On the parchment where there should have been a picture was blank. The entire group, save for Grey, looked to one another confused.
"Good," A low and gruff muffled voice said.
The three turned to Grey who still was sitting back in his chair lazily with his eyes closed.
"I can track him," Grey said, "Because he's just like me."
Vera gave him a sharp nod of approval and then pulled the parchment from the table, tossing it over to Balin. He was taken aback and caught it clumsily, almost letting it fall to the floor.
"Keep it," Vera said, "Take as much time as you need studying it... Now we want them dead or alive, a bonus will be paid if you turn them in alive. ten-thousand amongst yourselves if all three are killed or an extra five-hundred for each one you get alive. I'll leave it up to you four to decide what to do,"
With all said and done, Vera spun on her heel and stormed from the tavern. Her boots tapping loudly on the tiled floor.
Grey immediately rose from his seat and without a word, left. Tycon got the impression he may not see him again. He came off as a lone wolf type and Tycon hoped Grey wouldn't get himself killed because of it. His persona impressed him. The other two simply stayed seated, lazily sipping at their beers. Tycon decided to stay with them, he wasn't about to go lone wolf, like Grey. Plus he kind of liked Balin and wanted to get to know Eva better too. Mostly so she would stop staring at him like she was about to pounce and rip his throat out.
There he was again. In an unfamiliar city with a bunch of criminals to take care of. The three eventually decided to get to work the next coming morning, so, Tycon decided to hit the city for a while. Hoping he wouldn't get sucker-punched again.