"Ow." Lysan looked surprised at the man standing in front of him; fist raised. That punch positively stung. He staggered back a little and out the door into the street. It was dark and no moon was showing as the clouds above swirled mysteriously. Not again... Lysan sighed, Why does it always happen to me? He remembered the past few times he had been drinking in the Bloodseal Tavern. My arm still hurts from the time that the bloke with the knife stabbed me. Lysan had made him pay, in a sense. He'd managed to use one of his only usable spells to outline the man in Faerie Fire, to make him think as if he was in fact on fire. The man, being drunk as a fish, thought he was on fire and had made quite a show. It was a shame that Lysan managed to get clubbed in the back of the head at precisely the same moment.

The visit before that had been to drown out the annoying celebrations for something or other. He'd ended up taking part in the celebrations anyway, but he was drunk and bored and didn't want to get beaten up again. The City Watch had taken more of an initiative this time, however, and there was a large man standing outside the door. He looked weirdly at Lysan, as Lysan clutched his nose. Blood ran in droves down his face, and he was stumbling about drunkenly. "Watch... ar.. arrest that... woman! Ha, h-ha." He stuttered, then feel backwards into the gutter. The watchman outside the door looked in horror into the tavern, then stepped neatly to the side as a dagger flew out towards him. Thinking like a true watchman, he gathered up Lysan and legged it round the street corner. "We'd better get you cleaned up then." The watchman said to Lysan, who nodded drearily. "I won't take you to the station this time, but you'd better be careful in there kid." Lysan, however, didn't hear - he was completely out cold. "Well, I'd better take you back to the station then anyway... Oh Gods..." He stared at the mass amount of people charging and attacking each other outside the Tavern. "You can wait son, I'm out of here!"

"Wha?" Said Lysan, then he got up slowly. "I ne...need help..."

Xenith had been walking for a while. The steady rap of her staff on the cobble stone was starting to irritate her. It was a little on the breeze side. Her wind whiped at her face mixing the smell of the city with the floral fragrance of her hair. As she walked she heard the noise of a brawl. she didnt want to go through the area but she thought perhaps this was an inn of some form or another. she needed to sit and perhaps eat. So against her better judgement she made her way slowly toward the sounds. As she got closer she heard the watch yelling at the people Get back. That is more than enough. She walked closer. Suddenly the watch was shouting at her. Watch it miss. Just as he said that someone bodily slamed into her, sending her flying. She landed hard on her side still clutching her staff, thankfully. It was then that she heard it. Someone saying they needed help. But what could a blind half elf do for anyone? She got to her feet and moved cautiously toward the male voice.

Lysan fell to the floor again as a chair leg rocketed into his head, hitting the cold, wet cobblestones. The splash from them quickly gave him a wake up call though, and he drifted out of the state of drunkenness to realize that there was someone coming towards him. I hope she’s not coming to beat me up – I don’t think I could take much more… He managed to pull himself up after several tries, as his legs kept giving away. Finally, when he was standing, he made ready the Magic Missile spell to cast if things got hairy. Lysan hated using magic – it was so unpredictable and to the untrained it could be backfire and become deadly, but he was at the end of his wits. Please, don’t make me cast this… the thoughts sped rapidly through his brain.

However, as he was concentrating on the woman coming towards him something caught his arm, spinning him around. He saw the already appearing bruise on his elbow as something hit his shoulder. He staggered backwards then saw a man grinning evilly, holding a small mace above his head. The man was obviously drunk and had got lucky that Lysan was concentrating on someone else, but at this range he couldn’t possibly miss. Lysan felt another wave of unconsciousness drifting across him, and he let fly with the Magic Missile spell. A jet of raw magic hit the man in the stomach, sending him flying across the street. But that was the last Lysan saw, as he turned to the woman coming towards him, put his thumb up, and fell over.

“By Veronna’s good grace, not again.” Captain Sam Flare of the Taras City Watch watched the storm that was erupting from the ne’er-do-well tavern. He was currently quite annoyed with Bloodseal; daily brawls were fought there and the Watch could do nothing to contain it. It seemed its inhabitants were a load of stupid adventurers that had nothing better to do with there time, and resorted to the cups and there violent personalities. “Why they don’t just burn the place down I don’t know…” Sam sighed and took a cigarette case out of his pocket – a yellow piece of tin that was battered and broken from numerous crossbow bolts, arrows and sword points – and took a long, fat cigar out of it. He searched around in his other pocket for something to light it with and finally came across a piece of tinder. He placed the ugly thing in his mouth and took a puff.

Sam motioned to the two guards standing at each end of the street, signalling to each man to take out a whistle and give a series of short, loud blows. They did this to perfection, and the chaos stopped momentarily as all the currently alive or conscious people turned their heads to the ends of each street. Captain Flare motioned again and each guard blew another blast of the whistle. The street suddenly became illuminated as tens of lights behind the two guards were lit in an instant by a fire arrow. Sam grinned as he heard horrified cries of “The Watch! Scramble!” and “That Flare’ll ‘ave us in the slammer for sure!” He laughed and then signalled to a guard who had just scrambled up to the roof of Bloodseal Tavern. There were several crossbows lined up and sighted against the wall of a building the opposite side, a bolt ready in each.

Captain Sam Flare bellowed at the top of his voice at the brawlers in the street, who were hastily trying to get through barricaded alleys and side streets. “Everyone stop!” When no-one paid attention, Sam gave the orders for the crossbows to be fired, and then everyone took notice. “An army of guards!” shouted one and “There are hundreds of them,” screamed another. Then all stopped to look at the lone man, standing in front of one un-barricaded side passage, standing casually and smoking a fat cigar. “It’s Captain Flare!” was followed quickly by “Who’s Captain Flare?” Damn, my reputation hasn’t reached these drunk dullards…

“Alright, I’m placing you all under arrest. I am the new Watch Captain, as some of you may already know. I have several watch officers around this street and the next person to draw a weapon or do any such act of violence or a criminal offence will be shot by a multitude of crossbow bolts. As you may realise, I am not in a good mood.” That seemed to work, and people hastily put weapons away and stood up, hands behind their backs. But Sam had seen something. “Who just threw that Magic Missile?” he bellowed at some men near the middle of the street. The men gestured to someone lying on the floor. “Right, you’re all nicked!” The watch officers around the street moved in and started grabbing the people nearest to them, slapping irons around their wrists. “There will be order in this city, mark my words!”

Xenith heard the start of another brawl right where she had heard the man ask for help, a feel of power being thrown. What in the world is going on here? She heard a body hit the cobble stone hard along with a man cursing under his breath, the stale smell of a cigar and alot of bodys moving. Whistles sounded shrilly. Confusion overtook her. It was happening all to fast for her to think clearly. SHe threw herself to the ground as the sound of crossbolts flew through the air. What is going on?! In a panic she started to crawl toward the general area where she had heard the body fall. Disoriented she didnt know if she was heading in the right direction. There was to much movement and to many shouts. She curled in a ball hoping she wouldnt get stepped on.

As the Watch carted off the standing members of the brawl, one such incident involving a Magic Missile had caught Sam's eye. He strolled over to where he had seen it to see one man slumped against a wall, out cold, and another lying face down on the mud and cobbles. It gets worse every week... Things were getting worse in the city. What with the wave of new adventurers arriving in Taras, committing crimes and swaggering around like they owned the place, everything that the city had once been proud of was falling apart. Slums became increasingly slum-like, markets became increasingly robbed and small time taverns that used to be quite nice turned into watering holes for drunken idiots. Captain Flare sighed, looking back to the man face-down in the mud. The Captain deduced that he was not an adventurer; for many of the types carried a weapon of some sort, concealed about their person, always intending to use it. He was also dressed normally, not like the completely out-of-fashion cloaks that adventurers generally used.

Magic was pretty normal too; everybody, including the not-so-intelligent Sam Flare, knew at least a spell or two, and Magic Missile wasn't exactly advanced. No, the man in question was just a citizen of Taras who had been caught in the crossfire. "This is all going to change!" Sam bellowed out loud, accidentally. When stares of confusion greeted him, he simply frowned; a frown that could turn away even the most daring of looks. Then he noticed the woman standing nearby, moving towards the face-down man. He took the cigar out of his mouth, breathed, then put it back in, letting it hang limply at the side of his lips. "You know him?"

Lysan lifted his head out of the mud. "Ye Gods... What the hell just happened?" Even though he had only been out cold a few minutes, he already felt like someone had dropped a brick on his head; the alcohol effect had been completely washed away, leaving him with a terrific hangover; frequent falls to the floor not exactly helping the fact. There was a man standing over him, who Lysan recognised as a watchman by his uniform. He also noticed that the man had a cigar in his mouth - and realised in an instant who it was. There was only one man in the city that always had a cigar in mouth at all times, and that was Sergeant Flare. No, not Sergeant. Lysan corrected himself. Newly appointed Captain Flare, by Veronna Darkblade, guardian of Taras. He knew the man well - had even spent a night in the cells, though that was only to hide from someone that Lysan had annoyed. He'd spent the whole night talking to the Captain.

"Captain Flare? Am I glad to see you!" Lysan then realised that the Captain was looking and talking to someone else - he had seen that woman before. Ah! She was the one coming towards me before! Well, I guess she wasn't attacking me... He managed to heave himself from the street, despite the best efforts of his mind and body, and walked groggily forward. "How long was I out?" He looked at the carnage to see the Watch taking some standing individuals away. Then he realised that he was standing, and could just as easily have been taken away. Then he remembered the Magic Missile, and hoped that hadn't been seen. "Oops..." He muttered under his breath. "Why do I keep on visiting this damned tavern? I always end up getting knocked onto the street!" That bit was a little louder.

There was so much talking it was hard to figure out who was talking to who and where it was all coming from. A voice she had heard before, I think hes a captain... well someone of importants at anyrate., was asking someone if they knew who someone else was. She didnt know if he was talking to her or to someone else so she did the only thing she could, continued walking forward. She still couldnt figure out if she was going in the right direction or not but forward was the only way to go. Suddenly she heard the voice again, the voice of the man asking for help. This time it seemed he was talking to the captain That is what he is. Hmmm. Good guess on my part. Point for me. She smiled to herself and begain to walk forward.
A cat darted out of an alley way getting caught up in her feet. Losing her balance, inspite of the staff, she fell forward. To break her fall she had to drop her staff. She saved her face from hitting the cobble stone, hearing her staff hit and roll away from her. OH NO! There going to know!

The woman that had hit the floor was recognised by Lysan – he had seen that same woman not long ago, but could not remember where. Then it hit him like a brick – she was the one coming towards him before he was knocked out. I can take it from this that she was not trying anything untoward. Ha! She was less than a few feet from the Captain and Lysan, entangled with a cat. “Well, I’m a-one for guessing that hurt.” He said it as cheerfully as he could muster, but truth be told, he did not feel cheerful. The fall to unconsciousness had hurt him more than he realised, and it would be a while before he was back in shape. Not that he particularly had a shape – generally on the verge of fitness, around average weight, despite walking around Taras in most of his spare time. In the two or so years that he’d been living in the city he knew it quite well, and could generally point out where he was by the buildings around him.

Then, realising that the woman was still lying on the floor, he picked the cat up and sent it on its way by dropping it behind him. He knew that it wouldn’t hurt the feline particularly, as he’d heard that they always landed on their feet. However, the distracting sensation that his leg was being ripped open by a claw was hard to ignore. He did manage to avoid kicking the cat for a few seconds while he spoke. “Captain, do the woman a favour and help her up, whilst I pick up her staff? Can’t have people falling over without support from the watch eh? It’s what you’re here to do right?” He noted that it sounded completely stupid just as he said it – absurd almost. Ordering around possibly one of the most high-up and strong members of the Watch by a citizen that could just about hold a sword without falling over. He felt the need to rectify it. “Oh, and Captain, congratulations on your promotion. Well deserved in my opinion.” His insides turned to jelly when he realised how patronising he was being. Oh Gods… Then he remembered the cat clawing at his leg and picked it, carrying it over to the side of the road and half-throwing, half-dropping it into an alley near to the fallen staff, which he then picked up. “Here ya go then,” he said, pointing the end of the staff at the fallen woman.

Xenith couldnt help feeling a little bit stupid for losing her balance. To make matters worst it seemed the man she was going to assist was poking fun at her. Not to mention the embarrasment that was bound to ensue when they found out her curse. Oh well... they probably would have found out anyway. People here are more observant than I thought they would be.

She felt someone grab her under the arm and hoist her up onto her feet. It was at the suggestion of that man. He seemed to be poking fun not only at her but at a commanding officer. Well thats a smart way of getting someone in hackels for sure. Of coarse she couldnt help but smile at the comments. From the sound of it the man she was going to help knew this officer. Thank you for you assitance Captain.

She kept her eyes averted to the ground. When the man went to hand her staff to her, her face paled. She didnt know where it was so she just held out her hand for it. She hoped they wouldnt notice. I thank you sir. God i feel like such an idiot. Now there going to wonder what a blind girl is doing out her without assistance. I hate pitty.

Kyrus strode into the room and seeing Xenith on the floor he immediately went to her and helped her up, he smiled at her softly and eyed the two men "What happened Xenith?" he asked with kindness and a caring tone for her in his voice "Did these two men knock you down?" He knew that Xenith was blind but that didn't phase him and he did not pity her in the least. He cared for her, her personality not only her outer beauty and she was very beautiful. He leaned and whispered in her ear so that only she would hear "Xenith I know you are blind," he said kindly "Make no mistake I do not pity you, as I know that would only annoy you. I wish to help you, to be your friend if you will let me," he said his voice soft and kind for only her to hear.

He handed her back her cane and held out his arm to steady his friend, he couldn't very well just let her fall could he. He smiled at her warmly as he helped her, his thoughts turned to his wife Aris, he knew she would be happy with him for helping Xenith in a situation such as this. Xenith was his friend and he would not leave him on the ground without her cane, and so he carefully handed it back to her.