Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Cor Azer" data-source="post: 5668595" data-attributes="member: 870">Buck forward; head to stomach. Steward crumples.Spin on knees; chair legs clip knight's ankle and knees - no armor, but probably little damage - but at least tripped up.Kick down to push up, ramming chair into the new guy - smells like dog - crushing him into the wall...Halberd offs my headAgorn frowns. Another scenario is tossed. Stranger take that damned guard. A fifth escape attempt starts brewing in his thoughts, but he discards it almost immediately. The guard is too far away to take out with the initial strike, and the halberd negates that distance problem for his gaoler. Pate he thinks, forcing himself to recall the guard's name. I'm better than that cowardly lion. I know my enemies' names. He stares at the guard, idly hoping that a guard named Sleepy Pate would sudden nod off like some noble fop after a night in a brothel. No... he thinks, No, you threatened my person. I will deal with...Eh now, what did that dog one say? He gaze shifts, quickly playing back the conversation in his head to catch the master of hounds' words. Mhyrko. He's new... no... he just caught up with them. A scout likely... Most likely he'll find Wylke. Him or his hounds. Agorn had heard the dogs outside, but had hoped that weren't part of the House Vantri group."Write it down?" Agorn spits at the thought. "What are you? Some kind of maester. Servant to men better than you? Men of action don't need papers. We have steel.""And you think you can open me up?" Agorn smiles his toothy smirk. "Yes, I caught your meaning, you clever clod. Open me, get me to talk... or open me up with that guard's halberd. Aye, I know how you think. Do I think you might actually follow through?""Ser Jarl - a knight, and not one of them hedge ones - he wouldn't stain his honor.""Robin - a squeamish little fellow - wouldn't know a sword from a stick.""You - Mhyrko," says the sellsword, stretching out the name almost obscenely. "You are a paper tiger. Bluster and bravado. You skulk in the woods looking for threats, but then run back to your lord's skirts for his protection."Agorn jerks his head at Pate, rudely, but almost with a hint of respect. "Pate there is the only one of you with the stones to do what's needed. Man has no illusions about this world. We live. You kill. Someone dies. Just how it is." He turns to looks back at Ser Jarl and Mhyrko. "But you highborn can pretend that stuff don't happen. You live like you're better than the smallfolk, but when you need dirty work done, you'll heap praise on them; maybe even offer to change their lives."He looks to Robin. "They offer you some knight's castoff daughter? Say they'll find a respectable match for you?""And you," he says, looking to Pate. "What'll you get? Your spurs some day? A big, bold knight like Ser Jarl, here?""It doesn't matter," he says, dropping his gaze back to Ser Jarl. "Ser here won't do anything. You can threaten me all you like, but I know you won't do what you want. Honor and all that dung fed to little girls in their songs." He chuckles. "Quite the scheme you all have going. You can pretend your honor is all that. Pretend that you're doing to world a favor by showing mercy. And then a wink. A nod. Sleepy Pate there offs my head. Says I twitched or something. Maybe you pretend to believe him. Maybe you don't. Either way, you say he's some smallfolk guard, acting on his own."He looks to Pate. "Should have been a sellsword, friend. Trust only the coin your paid. These ones will drop you faster than a lady drops her skirts at her wedding. You're not a noble like them. What do they care about you? Keeping you about doesn't put another boy in some whore of a lady's womb. It doesn't further... " He pauses, but continues with contempt dripping from his lips. "The House."Agorn is about to say more, but he hears footsteps in the hallway. What now?The door creaks open, and Haken pokes his head in. "Ser Jarl?" The guard speaks softly, trying not to let the sellsword hear, but Agorn's ears are too good. "Ser Patrek's men found another witness in the barn. An apprentice smith was hiding in the hay. I don't know if you remember Roy Stone - he worked in the mines a few years ago. Now he's learning to smith."In the hay? Agorn curses his luck and starts mulling over this new development. He wasn't sure if these ones were cunning enough to make up a witness, but he didn't think so. Thought it was just the stableboy. Seven hells, why couldn't that boy just done as he was told. Just a taste and all this would have been... The sellsword spits. No. No, I'm not like these other lords. I don't wish and complain. I make things happen. These Vale lordlings and knights won't stand in the way of my vengeance."So, Ser Jarl. You have a witness. Am I to have a trial?"[ooc]Agorn gets two successes on his influence attempt on Pate (not saying what ability he rolled) for 6 influence damage. Presumably Pate is at least indifferent, which reduces the damage to 2, leaving him at 12/14 composure.For those unaware, composure is reset after every intrigue, so influence damage doesn't carry over.[/ooc]</blockquote>

Verification