Neverwinter Forest Are you tired of unexpected guests in your villa of villainy?

Backdated to Sept. 27th, two days after this thread. @Mal & @Tzila. Also @Okeanos for reference!

After two days' travel, the pair finally arrived at their destination. Black Hat had been taking mental notes of prey populations on the way and was disturbed by how few fauna they came across, big or small. He was running off of a scrawny squirrel and some odd scavenged bits, which had him in a foul mood. Oddly, the pack scent was weak here, and many of the marks were dated. It was possible the forming band moved elsewhere due to the strenuous circumstances of the Earth, or perhaps Neverwinter Forest was no more.

He was quick to send off a summoning howl to find out. If there was no one here... Black Hat just might flip his lid.

By choice, Tzila had been relatively quiet during the two days it took them to reach Neverwinter Forest. She was busy mapping the terrain in her mind’s eye. Occupied with searching for any signs that might explain the escalating earthquakes. As she traveled by Black Hat's side, something did not feel quite right. Prey was almost non-existent, as were any fresh tracks, especially of larger game. So, then, it was not just their claim that was suffering these ill effects.

Riding the line between famished and just plain snippy due to hunger, she too, added her voice to request an audience with the wolves that supposedly were laying claim to this forest. Her howl tapered off, muzzle wrinkling into a slight sneer. "If the place is deserted, there's no harm in raiding their caches. For leftovers." Conniving as always, Tzila wasn't above stealing what wasn't rightfully hers. In this twisted, cruel world, you had to play hard ball to survive. And survive she would.

Conveniently or inconveniently for them, this was Mal's day to patch up that particular bit of border, so he was already nearby when the howl went up.  So, he didn't answer, he just walked on over that way to figure out what was going on.  In fact, he was a lot closer than they probably thought, but mixed in the shadows beyond the first row or two of trees, his dappled pelt hid him easily in the patchwork sunlight.  Perhaps if they'd waited another minute, he would have been easily scented as nearby.

He came out of the shadows, a slight bristle along his fur and carrying himself as the rightful owner of the territory, glaring at the woman.  If there was any question on whether he'd overheard her, his sour expression pretty much confirmed it.  It was pointed, suspicious, decidedly unwelcoming directed right at her.  His tone was cool and flat, perhaps a little too controlled for Mal, not that they'd know his tendencies.  I'd suggest you don't.  What do you want?  Call me to come over, then threaten to take my stuff, real classy there.  If this was a computer game, she'd managed to pick the one dialog option that had changed his disposition towards her by like -100.  

The guy?  Well, comparatively he was wallpaper.  He existed, but he hand't had time to offend Mal's twisted sense of justice.  It wasn't like they were a baseball field apart so keeping them both in his field of vision was easy enough.  But if that chick was gonna be outright mark herself a danger to his well-being in such an outrageously blatant way, she could go burn or something.

His lip quirked at her suggestion. He opened his maw to praise her thinking when a mottled figure emerged from the woods, clearly displeased at having overheard her. The boy's posture told him he was the showrunner around here as well, which Black Hat found odd given his age. But no matter, he was sure he could disperse this dense air with a mere waggle of his silver tongue. Black Hat cleared his throat.

Nevermind her, she's just miffed about the lack of prey as of late. We're here on behalf of Nightwalkers, He started, smoothly shifting the topic. This is your claim, yes? He wondered if that Oakey-something-or-other was still around.

Her mouth always had a way of getting her into trouble. And this time it nearly did, with the arrival of a rather displeased wolf with a blotchy fur pattern. But luckily, Tzila also considered herself a master of wriggling her way out of a prickly situation with a few choice words, and maybe a bit of good acting. Her sneer faded, a glint of false sincerity coming to her eyes. After Black Hat spoke, she said her piece. "I would never do such a foolish thing. He's right...my hunger has clouded my emotions." For good measure, she even stepped back, away from his borders a step. Piling on the pity act, she let her ears fall back, giving Black Hat a side glance and the freedom to continue leaving this conversation. Under her docile exterior, Tzila was plotting. She wouldn't think twice about pillaging his pantry the moment his back was turned. Truly.

Though she may have been a good actor, she was up against probably one of the most skeptical and untrusting wolves in the entirety of the Teekon Wilds.  The world had done its best to take as much as it could from Mal, and now he saw anything he thought he would be wary of, any trust that might have existed shattered and was unlikely to be fixed.  And certainly, he wasn't about to offer them anything he'd caught, any of that stuff was his -- well, his and Cèilidh's, maybe Okeanos' too if he ever came back -- so they better not be here expecting some sort of charity from him.

About all her apology did was maybe take a slight bit of the edge off -- and balance his pointed gaze now between the pair of them instead of glaring just at her.  Mal was at least partially growing into his role as a leader, because he spoke confidently and composed for a young man who was far better at yelling, It is.  And I don't know you or your pack, so you're far from wherever you belong.  Why are you here?  And he was certainly no good at small talk.

The boy was wary but not irate, at least. He got right to business, which was fine with him.

Nightwalkers is a fairly new pack, and you happen to be in the neighborhood. We are mercenaries, willing to get our maws dirty so you don't have to, Came his pitch. We're here to propose an alliance. Should you accept, you won't have to worry about any targets on your back. He let the implication that they may return for his head one day should he decline sit in the air, heavy like smoke.

Tzila had nothing to add, as Black Hat explained their reason for coming out all this way perfectly. What they wouldn't say was, that unless Mal considered an alliance, that his forming pack was a force to be driven out. "Take your time considering." She offered in a cool voice. "We are just a call away, for when you decide. A little ways south...of this area." Wisely, she did not specify the exact direction or distance. Let him take it upon himself to find the Nightwalkers by scent along, if he chose. Moving on to another matter of interest, she gestured to the woods behind him. "If I may ask...how many do you number? Forming a pack is never easy, I should imagine." His answer...should he give it, would offer the representing Nightwalkers valuable information if this pack posed a threat, if any at all. If Tzila had fingers, they'd be crossed behind her back. Her words may seem innocent, but their true meaning was far less so. 

Every time this dude opened his mouth and said something that maybe would be reasonable, the chick went and said something that made everything worse.  Again Mal's pointed stare focused on her, though he didn't say why aloud.  His reason?  He was quite familiar with the lands about a day's travel from his claim.  There were not only no packs directly there, but the only scents were more towards the mountain range, so he avoided them, and these two certainly didn't strike that familiar chord.  It was certainly a lie. They were from far more than a couple of days travel and possibly out for something else that they weren't actually saying.  They were far too far from wherever they lived for this forest to be any interest to them, and if Mal wasn't gonna trust a hippie commune, he certainly wasn't gonna trust anyone who blatantly said they would try to screw with people.  Why even bother coming this far?  Why waste their energy?  Well, maybe they were just that dumb.

Beat. He looked back to the guy, back to the same frown he'd had before she talked.  Hopefully after this "adventure" stick-head man would encourage her to find a new job because she was worse at this than Mal.  Mal knew to keep mum when there were actual consequences afoot.  Let's cut the chick trying to be all social butterfly because Mal ain't about that life and get to the point before he actually would have to be not chill at them, And we keep to ourselves.  So aside from maybe preventing the odd person from going out of their way to be an ass about our existence, what are you actually offering?  What do you actually want? Because they sure as hell were out of their way to just stop by and say hi. The world always wanted something from him.  It would take it if it could -- everything had a cost.  These two weirdos were no different than any other freaks, liars and hypocrites he'd met along the road.

Black Hat struggled to keep a glower from tugging at his face. He shot Tzila a sharp glare to order, beg her to stop talking. He didn't need help being a salesman, he was the king of sales! And clearly, she was not. This wasn't even an important meeting. He couldn't care less if this boy turned down the proposed alliance, he had no qualms coming back to make him regret it down the road. It was the principle of having his skills trampled on by an amateur that irked and embarrassed him to no end.

Not only are our allies immune to contracts on their pack members, they may also call for our aid in times of need — like now, when prey is scarce. Of course, we may also ask for aid in turn, He explained, focusing on the task to keep himself from snapping.

Ignorance gave only temporary bliss before it bit the ignorant in the ass. If this little alpha decided he was too wary of them to consider an alliance, well… he was the one with everything to lose. They were able to gather that his pack was no threat whatsoever, merely a drain of resources in these trying times. That information alone made the trip worth it, miffed as he was at the moment.

Catching Black Hat's glare, she instantly recognized the message behind it. Ordinarily, she would have retorted or lashed out, doing as she damn well pleased. But as the situation was proving, she wasn't cut out for throwing sales pitches. Best leave it to the finest of them all. Mercifully, she fell silent, opting to allow her swirling dark thoughts brew within.

A stony, impassive expression settled onto her face as she listened to their exchange, well-rehearsed in the business terms of the Nightwalkers. She kept her eyes on Mal, uncaring if he objected to her staring. What a pathetic excuse for a leader. He was young...probably inexperienced. And he surely had the entirely wrong attitude. Oh how she would love to creep into his skin, to shove whatever stick he had up his ass even further. Maybe another time she'd pass by and leave him a surprise...gift.

Also random note, lolerskates, Tzila showed up in Elysium the day Mal bailed on that place.

Good, Stickhead knew that she was trying to mess up the whole thing.  Seemed like maybe she had a few brains somewhere or other too, as she shut up at that point. And she might not get the rise she wanted because Mal, a guy with screwed up social skills, wasn't too bothered by what he translated as her version of a pout in stare form.  The hilarious thing was of course that Mal saw her as obviously immature (pot, kettle), so mentally ignoring her and just dealing with Stickhead was fine in his book.  And since nobody went out of their way to push buttons, he was fractionally less frowny than before.  He really just wanted this over with, them off his doorstep, and then he could go do a few chores that popped to mind.

Honestly, this really shouldn't take 20 Questions, when 18 of those questions were the same question just not getting a real answer.  Mal wasn't stepping into any agreements without knowing what shackles they'd put on him.  That's how things worked as far as he knew, someone would go, make you some awesome promise, then it'd turn out they wanted your kidney, firstborn, and a bunch of straw turned into gold.  And if you didn't give them what they wanted, you'd die.  Still haven't haven't answered my question, because I see more ways how this would cost you than benefit you.  Especially if you're not the boss.  What is it you want for all these promises? I'm pretty sure we're far enough away from wherever you're from that bringing over a deer leg in trade or something makes about as much sense as-- as tempting as it was to say 'the sticks on your head,' he'd already been trying to think of some other thing that wouldn't be too revealing, -- as... I don't know, an actual pack inviting anyone and everyone into their territory in for a party. Elysium.  That place still didn't make sense to him. Never would.  He'd celebrate it being gone but nobody had come back to inform him yet.

Ah, so he was honing in on payment for the contracts. Honestly, Black Hat was surprised he even humored the idea of hiring the services of a criminal organization — or maybe he was just getting a better picture, which would make the boy smarter than he originally thought. He had a bad habit of contemptuously judging books by their covers. The young alpha brought up a reasonable concern regarding the distance between their packs, though trade was indeed possible with a dash of imagination. What good would Nightwalkers be if they could only accept contracts from their next-door neighbors?

I assure you that trade is still very much possible, even over long distances. In return for our services, Nightwalkers will negotiate with you on a price and form of payment for the bounty — prey, herbs, a pack member, et cetera. If you wanted to pay in the form of prey, it would be acceptable to make a kill of an agreed-upon size by our territory and give us a call, Black Hat elaborated.

Skipping since Tzila's gone inactive!

They were thinking in two very different directions.  Mal was worried about the costs of now not what might happen in the future.  After all, he was more apt to stay and keep to himself rather than deal with anyone else.  One would hope that it would end up meaning that nobody would bug him in turn but so far you could see how well that had worked out.  But if they actually kept it so that it was just actual tasks that had a price, maybe it wouldn't be bad.  Better to be an "ally" than give them a reason to be twits.  So, figure out specifics when it's required then?  It seemed to be the best way to confirm without giving them any ideas.

But that didn't mean he trusted a damn thing Stickhead had to say.  There had to be some way to make sure this wasn't some sort of trap where this pack was gonna try to bleed him dry no matter what answer he gave.  Has it been mentioned Mal didn't trust them?  'Cause he didn't trust 'em.  But he'd sort of been given a bit of an out when it came to this all -- as what's her face had gone and made a rather large booboo within earshot.  Mal was stupid about a lot of things, after all, but he wasn't totally dumb... If they added on some later tax, he could bow out.  Right?  Hell, it'd be better to take an one-time hit than end up constantly under their paw.  Or at the very least, time for them to get impatient, screw up, and reveal their true colors.

Because of what's happened, I'll say yes to an alliance on a trial basis.  Prove that your packmates can keep from causing us trouble over a two month period and then it can be confirmed. -- After all, you must understand that hearing your companion wanted to steal doesn't exactly inspire trust.  Mal was wearing his most reasonable of expressions.  Oh yes, you had to agree it was perfectly sound arrangement, was it not?  If they couldn't keep their paws to themselves, then it wouldn't be a very good alliance anyway.  

Honestly, it was probably the most fair thing he could say without just bowing to their will like some sort of starstruck tween or something.

It was wise of him to be skeptical. They were a shady bunch, and the sordid nature of their work made it impossible for even Black Hat to make it seem free of strings. And it wasn't, but only if the client tried to pull something against them or wasn't able to pony up, so it'd be their fault for being fools. He nodded. Yes. Other than the perk of contracting us, an alliance is otherwise quite standard.

A trial period, the stranger said. He accusingly flicked his eyes over to Tzila when the alpha mentioned her single foolish comment that stunted the trust between them. Sometimes, that was all it took to soil a potential alliance. They got lucky this time; not that Black Hat had much to lose except a sliver of pride. It wasn't like they were desperate for help from a kid's little band.

Turning his attention back to him, he rumbled, Fair enough. And what is your name? Finally, this sloppy meeting was coming to a close. Thank the heavens.

Mal committed what Stickhead said to memory.  If the boss showed up wanting his tithe, Mal would have a verbal weapon to use against him -- to put it simply, it wasn't in the base contract.  At least out of this he knew they were there and though he wasn't planning on ever using their services, maybe in a pinch.  At which point, he better be ready to sacrifice just about anything... No.  It probably wouldn't be worth the cost.  Whatever.  In the end, Mal was pretty sure they were just the local goon squad.  Hopefully they'd do everyone a favor and evaporate soonish, along with anyone else who existed to cause trouble.  Anyway.  He nodded.

And honestly, Mal wasn't exactly helping make sure the pair got along, was he?  Nah, he was quite happy to drive in that wedge.  No matter what happened with this trial period it would be in his favor -- if they fought among themselves and collapsed then that was good, if they successfully left him alone then that was good, if they caused trouble then he knew that they weren't to be trusted and it wouldn't happen in the future.  Where was the loss?  Meanwhile what did they get out of him?  Probably less than they were hoping, honestly.  I'm Mal.  You are?  Stickhead was a great title and probably distinct enough that everyone would know who he was talking about, but if this was just some sort of getup to see if Mal would make a dumb comment or something, it'd be a useless moniker.

"Mal". The name was about as short as they came, easy to remember.

Black Hat... and Tzila, He returned, gesturing to his now-silent packmate. He'd forgotten she was there, but that was for the best. Black Hat didn't imagine there'd be much back and forth between their packs with Mal's antisocial demeanor — not to mention the trek — and he'd be shocked if the boy ever contracted them. But an ally was an ally, at least the potential of benefit was there.

And if they didn't find his band useful enough to permit its continued existence in their wilds, Moonspear and Nightwalkers could always drive them out. Life was so much simpler for creatures free from the shackles of morals. Mal was the one with everything to lose.

Black Hat vs Stickhead.  Hm.  Stickhead had more of a ring to it -- more based in reality.  Let's be honest, it wasn't a pleasure to meet them, despite Mal's nod of acknowledgement.  It would be a pleasure if they disappeared off the planet so they wouldn't be some sort of ominous threat of trouble.  Chances were if they kept up the way they were, Nightwalkers would bring their own doom.  Mal certainly would find a way to avoid helping them at all possible, like some kid ducking chores.  They probably deserved about an equal level of respect to that.

But right now, Mal was playing with his cards close to the chest, and wasn't about to let on what his grand schemes were.  I think that'll put it enough in to winter that I don't think any of us would be too eager to make unnecessary trips, so I won't be showing up on your borders at two months to say 'congrats that nobody caused trouble, let's continue as things have been.'  But should something unexpected come up on our end, we will let you know.  Did it need to be said that if some Nightwalker showed up to cause issues, they'd hopefully be going back with a few extra holes in their pelt or something else equally obvious as a 'this is no longer valid'?  Well, that and he wasn't keen on going into the spider's den in case they decided to want to make some demands then, so staying far away was a far better decision on Mal's part.

Content to let Black Hat, and now the boy known as Mal, do the talking, Tzila absorbed all of it silently. Had her packmate not been opposed to her trying to add in words of her own, she would have contributed a few choice sentences. None of which promised to be nearly as diplomatic. She had a foul tongue on her at times, and wasn't afraid to use it.

In her eyes, using their time on proposing an alliance with such a weak and small pack just wasn't worth it. She couldn't picture Mal and his band growing any larger. A better option might be to simply wipe them out. But the Nightwalkers were a group. Rightful land owners of all of the Great Bear Wilderness. It was not her decision to make. Once Vengeance deemed if the alliance was worth seeing through or tossing aside, would she act. Clearly disinterested and with nothing further to contribute, she sent the youthful leader one last cold look, turning away to await Black Hat's reunion in the shadows, once he was finished.

He nodded in turn, having no objections. It's a pleasure doing business with you, Mal, Black Hat lied through his teeth, but he put on a convincing front.

Mal was a questionable leader at best, and his group was small now, but he saw Neverwinter as an investment. If they got in the way, Nightwalkers could easily wipe them out as if they were never allied in the first place, no skin off his back. But if they grew to larger numbers, another ally would prove to be useful. Black Hat followed Tzila to leave with pep in his step as he allowed himself to feel as powerful as he once was.