Splash! Ortix woke up to the cool explosion of water onto his face and a large mustachioed man crouched over him with an empty cup in hand. It was the shopkeeper, this time with a genuine look of preoccupation. "Ahhhhhhh... My head hurts." "Oh thank goodness you're awake, I thought I might end up with three dead adventurers AND a thief on my hands." The merchant fell backwards on to his butt with relief. Ortix sat up and looked around to his surprise the others were unconscious as well. Alphabet's wolf was relentlessly licking her face and Aaron, much to Ortix's surprise, was tied to the thief. Then the shopkeeper spoke up: "If I may ask, why were you all unconscious?" Closing his eyes tightly, Ortix tried to jog his memory. "Uhh... don't worry about it, but if you don't want to get robbed again plug that hole nice and tightly. Also, bring more water." Ortix stood as the shop keeper went back up the ladder and walked over to Aaron. "Since Terry's waking her up, I guess this big lug and his new friend are my duty..." He slowly unfastened the rope from Aaron noting bite marks on the thief's face. Ortix looked back at Terry who was still licking away and then looked back slightly worried more if the thief was okay than about Aaron. He then refastened the rope only around the thief, hog tying him and then made an attempt at waking Aaron up until the Shopkeeper came back down with water. "Rise and shine!" Ortix yelled while dumping the water on Aaron's head, though still wet himself. @Alphabet Chocolate @Aaron Marone
Alpha woke from one pretty nice dream about an island whose population was constituted solely of chickens and various other types of poultry to an unfamiliar room and slobber all over her face. "Nooo," she drawled, trying to push the enthusiastic dog off of her. "Stop it Terry!" she laughed, tickled by the dog's pink tongue and his happiness at her waking. A drip of something red was on her arm and, for a second, the dog stood stone still as Alpha fixed him with a scolding look. "Did you bite someone again Terry?" she asked, her voice stern. The dog had a strong love of nibbling on people but never to the point of drawing blood before. Then, memories came rushing back to her and she remembered what happened. "Oh! Terry are you okay?" she checked the dog's paws and checked his body for wounds before sighing in relief. "Okay, that's good. And Aaron and, and, and," she continued, fussing and completely oblivious to her surroundings. Terry gave her another lick and she finally looked around, taking in the room. "Oh." A smile bloomed on her face as she saw their captive and, upon seeing Aaron tied to him, gave a whopping laugh. She fell back down onto her back, relieved. Everyone was safe and they had done it! Terry nuzzled into her and, for now, Alpha was content to just lay on her back and pet Terry's soft coat of fur. @Aaron Marone @Ortix Farlin
Aaron slowly blinked his eyes open just in time to see a bucket of water being dumped toward his face. "Ah! Holy shigurbabel!" Aaron coughed, trying to get the water that went into his mouth out. He groaned and sat up, now soaking wet. He looked around to take inventory of the situation. Alphabet seemed to be doing well. Ortix was fine. The thief was alive, though bitten, and restrained. Aaron let out a heavy sigh. "Hey, so, on the bright side, I think we successfully stop anything from being stolen," he said, coughing weakly. He forced himself into a standing position and dusted himself off. "Thanks for untying me, wasn't sure how to keep him from just hopping away without tying him to something, I seemed like the best bet," he mumbled. He grunted and coughed yet again, shaking his head in an attempt to clear it. "All of you alright?" He asked. Finally, he turned his attention to the shop keeper. "Sorry we seemed to have fallen asleep," he said. "But I think we managed to catch the thief before we did," he said. "The, uh, the unconscious part was the guy used a gas attack." Aaron bent down and picked up the man's gas mask. "He had some smoke that put us all under," he explained. "Some nasty shit."
"Really, truly, thank you kind souls!" The shopkeeper seemed to almost weep with joy and content at the completion of the adventurers' quest. Ortix, still standing over the thief, stared at the shopkeeper with one eyebrow raised, waiting for him to finish. "I'll be up stairs tending to my shop. By all means stay down there as long as it takes you to recover!" Ortix had no wish to stay even in the slightest, he was only unconscious due to the gas and entirely uninjured. His only qualm, however, was knowing what he was supposed to do with the criminal. "So uh, mister shopkeeper, before you go, what do you want us to do with this guy?" "Do with him what you'd like, I have no tolerance for thieves like himself. Tie him to a log and throw him in the river if you please!" "Ortix turned back to his teammates, "So... do one of you guys want him? Because i'm just gonna leave him right here... Now that were done with the quest, I guess this is goodbye. See ya around." @Aaron Marone @Alphabet Chocolate
Alpha stood up, patting her clothes clean from the thin layer of dust that settled upon it during her sleep. Terry, seeing that she had stood up fine and uninjured, hopped back onto his four paws and trounced around like a horse that had just found a bin of carrots or something of the like. She gave her muscles a stretch and grabbed a glass of water on a nearby table that hadn't been used to wake the men up. With a strong, thirsty gulp, she downed the entire cup and swallowed, taking a gasp for clean air once she'd finished. She set the cup back down with clang and laughed a bit, jovial from their victory. Looking at the thief, she squinted her eyes playfully and trotted around, examining the sleeping body at all angles as Terry glared at the unconscious man. "He's out cold!" Alpha exclaimed in mock surprise as if it had been a completely new discovery she had deduced herself. She looked at the shopkeeper to find out what to do next, but had just caught the last of his words and Ortix's farewell. She pouted, sticking up that finger that laid on the middle of each hand and raised it toward the sky with her tongue poking out of her lips. She looked back to make sure Aaron didn't see it before stealthily putting back her arms in retreat, not willing to let the blonde man catch a glimpse of her little mischievous action and give her a lecture she knew he'd give. Seeing there was nothing to be done about the fate of the thief, she glanced back at him with a slightly disgusted look. The thief wasn't the prettiest sight to look at and Alpha playfully gagged, drawing hyena-like barks from Terry as the dog crudely stuck his bottom at the man and pretended to do his business there. The lack of respect was understandable, considering that Terry hadn't been too happy to be knocked out by that strange gas. It was a cruel thing to do for such a loyal companion, who was unable to help Alpha during the fight. She winked, rubbing his scruff before slowly sneaking closer and closer to the door. She was lucky she'd had that Rogue skill and was able to slip past unnoticed until she was right about to turn the knob. Then, against her better judgement, she looked back and gave a wink and impish grin at the room, saluting in a mocking yet benevolent way, as if she was simply doing it to get a few kicks and laughs. "See you guys later! Have fun taking care of the thief over there!" and, with that, she opened the door and sped away at top speed with laughter filling her lungs and Terry on her heels, sharing similar joy and glee. The quest was over and she didn't have to do clean-up. What a deal! @Aaron Marone
Aaron grimaced at the shopkeeper's suggestion of what to do with the thief. That was horrible, the man was just a thief, not a murderer. Aaron looked back to the man, curious what exactly had motivated the man to steal in the first place. Was it hunger? Desperation? Or was it greed? The first two were entirely forgivable, and Aaron hoped that if that was the case, whoever would determine the man's sentence would take such things into account. Even greed could be forgiven, as everyone made mistakes, but of the three, that one should receive the worst sentence. Out of the corner of his yes, he noticed Alphabet doing something with her hands above her head, though by the time he turned to get a better look her arms were being pulled down. She was probably just celebrating in victory, or something of the sorts. He smiled kindly at her. He sighed, however, when both of his companions decided that the other two should deal with the thief. "It's like the story of Everybody, Somebody, and Nobody..." Aaron mumbled, and then gave a soft chuckle. "Yeah, I'll take care of him. Which I guess makes me Nobody, in this case," He walked toward the thief and lifted him up, throwing him over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. He was glad that this game allowed him to be stronger than he could be in real life. "There was a project, once. Everybody, Somebody, and Nobody were tasked to do it. When the time came, Everybody thought Somebody would do it, and so stayed home. Somebody figured that since Everybody was involved, there was no need for them to show up. So by the end of the day, Nobody had done all the work." With his parable spoken, likely only to himself as he noticed Alphabet making a quick escape, though interestingly enough not until she was already by the door. Aaron figured he would carry the man to the local jail, or whatever of the sort he could find, and leave the man with them after explaining the situation surrounding his capture. Who knows - there might even be a reward out for this thief, and the other two had missed out on such a thing by running away the moment they had thought they could be done with their work. Oh well, Aaron thought. It wasn't like he was doing it for the reward anyway, though it certainly never hurt.
