⚔ 2 - Colonial Rite

[orderispeace]

Who: Haytham Kenway & OPEN
What: Giving the gate guards a greeting
When: Dusk
Where: Ironwall, near the main gate
Rating: PG for snark

"Still guarding the gate are we?"

Haytham spoke casually as he approached the pair of guard blocking the main gateway out of town. It was a wonder that they bothered with the pretense of keeping them inside at all. It wouldn't be too difficult to find the weakness in a wall defense in a city of this size. There was too much area to protect and no where near the man power necessary to oversee everything.
But, this was only a test. How they would react to him was something Haytham very much wished to find the answer to.

"You're doing a fine job. I doubt it has moved an inch since you started."

As expected the guards raised their weapons at him as he came too near for their comfort, but from here he could catch a glimpse of the world beyond the wall. It looked, well, a bit pastoral actually. At least until the woods rose up in the distance.

"You do realize your efforts are entirely futile? If some one wished to leave it would be simple enough to do so."

Though Haytham made no move for his own weapons one of the guards took issue with his statements and moved close enough to give the smug man a shove. Hmm, not so well trained that they were above making a mistake it seemed. That move would have left the guard open to attack... again if the Templar really had any desire to attack.

"Shove off! Unless you want your eyes blackened!"

Haytham raised a staying hand, "I have no intention of initiating a battle. Fortunately for you, I have a few others things to see to today. However," his voice took on a slightly dangerous edge, "If it did come to blows you would suffer more than a simple black eye."

With his curiosity satisfied the Grand Master stepped away from the gate., allowing the guards the opportunity to relax again.

Comments

[rebonding]

Korra stood in the background, the small squabble having caught her ears. This was definitely her kinda guy, giving the rather pompous guards an earful. She couldn't help but to snicker as she watched.

"Nice," she said as the older man backed away from the gates. Because really, if enough of them tried hard enough, Korra was pretty sure that they could take these guys on.

[orderispeace]

He didn't know the young lady who spoke but he did appreciate her support all the same. The guards were arrogant and Haytham didn't much care for the way the abductees were being treated almost as second class citizens. Maybe some day a tactic like the one she was thinking would become nessacary.

"You don't care for the guards much either?"

[rebonding]

"Nah, I don't see why they need to keep us in here at all." It hardly made sense. They were all taken into guilds, trained and learned in how to fight in this weird world. It wasn't as if they wouldn't be able to hold their own against whatever could be out there.

"It's not like we can't defend ourselves."

[orderispeace]

"I doubt they are keeping us here due to any concern over our well being."

Far from it actually. The people seemed to regard those not in guilds with more suspicion than those in them. The guilds were a transparent way to manage the population and see that they were all kept in check. The guards at the gate were the same.

"I suspect the mean to keep us inside in order to keep an eye on us, see what our true motivations are."

And actually it wasn't a terrible way to maintain order, it just had far too many gaps to be successful.

[rebonding]

"Yeah, that'd be my guess, too." It was like Tarrlok and his crazy anti-nonbender policies all over again. Even Korra had wanted to smack him with a boulder or two with that one.

"Though I think they're only creating motivations themselves by keeping us locked in here. As far as I can tell, nobody wanted any trouble other than to just get home. But now they've got us locked in here. That's fishy."

[orderispeace]

"So far all of the people who have been pulled from their homes have been reasonable enough, though I suspect there are a few whose true motivations maybe less than honorable. I can't blame the people of this city for wanting to be sure of us first. However, if it lasts for too long they might cause the trouble they sought to prevent."

Just as Korra has said. Haytham agreed with that statement. People were meant to serve but even at that they could only be pressed so far before revolution would break out. The question was, how far was too far? The people had been willing enough to go along with what had been told to them and there were few who hadn't joined guilds.

"They probably still have some time left before they need worry about that."

[rebonding]

"Yeah, exactly. Obviously they don't know anything about us, but that doesn't mean they can just lock us in here, either. It's not our fault we... well... fell outta the sky." Literally.

"If we're smart, we'll wait 'til everyone's strong enough to fight. That's if they keep it up with this 'stay in the city' stuff." It was almost too easy. Much as Korra hated the idea of waiting it out, they'd all be up for rank promotions soon. And that meant more powers and better training. Not to mention the new spell she'd just learned. Her initial uncertainty about being in the guild was fading. This was a perfect way of making sure she could fight them if the time came.

[orderispeace]

Unfortunately Haytham was still of the opinion that the guild was fairly useless to him. Sure there was magic here and he might learn some of that, but there seemed to be very little about being an assassin that he did not already know. The guild was just a means to an end.
He lowered his voice a bit, cautious so that no one might overhear.

"You would be interested in fighting them if the time came for it?"

[rebonding]

"Yeah. I'm Korra. Summoner." She offered the older guy a smirk, folding her arms. It was still something she was getting used to, introducing herself as a member of the Mage Guild instead of as the Avatar. But nobody knew what that was here.

[orderispeace]

"Haytham Kenway," He shrugged a bit as he added, "Assassin."

It still felt odd to him to say that. Back at home assassin's were the enemy and after leaving their group he never thought he would claim to be one again. Yet here he was. Ironically the Thieves Guild was one his skills fit into the best.

"What is a summoner able to call to their cause?"

[rebonding]

"We're the best at elemental magic. Right now, I can Evoke, which is creating stuff like Water and Fire out of thin air. And I'm working on Summoning too, which is calling a spirit to fight for me." It was still strange, being able to make Water and Earth like a firebender could just make Fire. Then once it was there, she couldn't do anything with it! What good did that do?

[orderispeace]

"One of the more magical classes then. I could see a few uses for those skills."

He didn't know about her difficulties controlling those elements once they were summoned, but fire could be used for so many things and water... well uses for that were a little less forthcoming, but it would be a help if the fire got out of hand.

[rebonding]

"Yeah, it's pretty helpful. What about you? What do the assassins do?" She'd heard about them, obviously, having been here a month. But she'd yet to have an actual conversation with one. It sounded like a pretty sweet job, in theory.

[orderispeace]

It was a sweet job, as long as you didn't mind killing... and Haytham didn't.

"Most of the skills have to do with stealth or with disabling the enemy in some manner. They do seem to have magical attributes to them as well. The lock-picking skill I was taught did at least."

To say he was taught lock-picking was a bit incorrect. He knew how to pick locks before he arrived. For him it had been more enhancing his own abilities and discovering the magic that would make lock picking even easier.

[rebonding]

Stealth had never been Korra's strongpoint. Even putting her in a full bodysuit had left it difficult for her to blend in with the Equalists, after all. So this sneaky stuff sounded pretty cool.

"So's that mean you guys go on missions mostly in the city? Like at night and stuff?"

[orderispeace]

"Thus far, no. We have only been learning the methods they wish us to use here. I suppose in time that might become the case."

Apparently the thieves guild felt they had a lot to learn before sending them off on any potentially dangerous missions like that.

[rebonding]

"Oh... So more like they're training you to work for them?" That stunk, though it made sense. Maybe these people were a little bit smarter than to make their "guests" too strong for them to keep a handle on.

[orderispeace]

"Isn't that the case with all of the guilds? There is said to be levels we will be unable to reach simply because we are not native to this world."

[rebonding]

"Yeah, I guess you're right. It's all just a way to keep an eye on us." Which Haytham had already said, but after a little thinking Korra realized just how right he was. Sure, it was great to live at the Mages' guild, where they had their big fancy building and supplied them with food. But it was just a cover up for keeping an eye on strangers.

[orderispeace]

"It needn't always be this way, but for now it would be better to play along, learn what we can."

Once they saw more on how this place worked and who was in charge, methods could be employed to change things.