Productivity Is Important (Venetia)

[Dusty Dawson]

The formally nervous shopkeep had decided to take a stand. Not the tactical choice Dusty would have made, but she wasn't about to get into an argument over it now. The uninvented guest (or was it host?) took a few measured steps out of the passageway. It was still very hard to tell precisely what they were dealing with, but from the sounds of those footsteps, Dusty was gathering that it was a particularly large fellow who was donned in armor of some variety.

She leaned forward and whispered into Venetia's ear, "I'd be careful. No tellin' what this fella's packin'." It wasn't the best advice she could offer, but it was all she had at the moment.

"You...." the hoarse voice spoke again, "...are...in...trud...ers...."

The "guard" coughed. Another sound escaped the slow-footed attacker, as Dust's ears heard the familiar noise of a blade being taken out of it's sheath.

"OK..." Dusty whispered again, "It's a sword. How long's yours?"

Dusty took a quick glance back at the stairs. That would be the only place she could take advantage of her knife. Unless their basement-dwelling friend was just as lost in the dark as they were, the two were still at a slight disadvantage. Regardless of that fact, the candle was still shining a beacon for their location. So, the detective took action and swiftly blew it out. She set down the stick and it's holder and put a hand on Venetia's shoulder, while she let her eyes adjust to the total darkness they had just been plunged in.

[Venetia de Artio]

“My sword’s long enough,” she replied. Her voice was still cold as ice and her eyes was fixed on the large person in front of them. Doing the same as the stranger she held out one of her finest swords. It wasn’t that huge, but a fairy big sword that looked like it shouldn’t be carried by such a thin looking woman as Venetia.

Suddenly the light disappeared and she gritted her teeth a little. “Why did you do that?” she hissed, not taking her eyes away from where she remembered the armoured person was standing.

“Didn’t you hear me? This is my store.” She raised her voice at the last part and lifted her sword a little as if preparing herself to swing it.

[Dusty Dawson]

'Well...that ain't quite what I was goin' for....' Dusty thought after Venetia's initial response. She still wasn't able to see that well. But, she did have a fairly good idea of where they were in relation to the stairs.

"All part of the plan, buddy." she whispered back, "Let's head for the stairs. It's a narrow passage, makin' it harder for our pal here to swing that nasty ol' thing. I'll whittle 'im down with my knife and if we need ta, we can finish 'im off upstairs."

Meanwhile, the large gentleman had taken a step forward, after Venetia raised her voice. "You....are not....the mas...ter...." he continued to struggle with his own voice, but there was no absence of menace. Whoever, or whatever he was, it was clear that his intentions were to eliminate the two "intruders".

[Venetia de Artio]

Venetia narrowed her eyes again as she listened to what Dusty said. “Fine.” The other woman did have a point.

Still she couldn’t help but wonder who this master this person was talking about was. “Who, who’s the master then?” She asked before turning back to Dusty, waiting for her to move up first.

[Dusty Dawson]

A rather confident looking half-smirk flashed across her face. Keeping the would-be attacker talking was very handy.

"The master...is a wise man...." came the response, "The master...is called....Kurtz...."

There was a name she could have sworn she recognized. But, Dusty could not place it, try as she might. It was a mystery best solved when she wasn't facing down a fanatically devoted man with a sizable blade in his hands. The darkness didn't make that any better.

A few steps echoed in the chamber. Dusty's hand dropped down to Venetia's arm and gave a quick tug. Working mostly from memory, she made a bee-line for the stairs. Taking the steps carefully, she paused half way up and ushered Venetia around her.

"Keep headin' up...I'm gonna set our friend straight on the finer points of property ownership."

[Venetia de Artio]

Blinking the storeowner tried to think if she knew that name from somewhere, but quickly snapped out of her thoughts as Dusty touched her arm. Taking a last glance towards the unfriendly stranger she turned and went after Dusty, only to bump lightly into the red head as she stopped.

Blinking a couple of times she nodded and did as she was told, not wanting to ruin Dusty’s plan.

[Dusty Dawson]

The bump hardly registered with the detective as she scooted herself closer to the wall to clear the passage back up to the proper basement of the store. Venetia took her cue well and was soon around the red head.

Heavy footsteps echoed in the chamber. There would-be attacker was persistent, if anything else. And certainly had a lack for any creativity if their conversation was any indication.

He dutifully followed the pair towards the stairway, not thinking for a moment what could be in store. The lumbering figure approached and Dusty took the opportunity to strike. Her knife cut through the air and met with the hard shell of his armor. The heavy blade rose to slash at Dusty, but the weapon was slow moving and could not build up any momentum in the narrow passage.

Dusty continued to dodge and stab, trying to find a gap in the armor. A feat that would be easier to do in proper lighting. But, the detective had to take refuge in the fact that her assailant was equally in the dark.

The awkward fight continued to play out, until Dusty managed to locate one of those gaps. It was nicely located beneath the arm and near the chest. Not a mortal wound, to be sure, but certainly one that would make those swings a bit more troublesome. The grunt of pain and discomfort was followed by Dusty receiving a face-full of metal covered palm. The "guard" shoved her forward and on the steps it didn't take much for her to topple backwards.

Cursing beneath her breath, Dusty scrambled up the steps, putting some distance between herself and her wounded adversary. The man's blade bounced off the walls, trying to find the detective as he pushed forward.

"Get ready!" Dusty hollered up at Venetia.

[Venetia de Artio]

Venetia, standing still the whole time were having a hard time not stepping in as she heard the fight that were happening. Why did the other woman want to fight alone so badly? Couldn’t they do it together?! What a moron. She thought, not knowing where the detective was going with this. Did Dusty underestimate her powers, she wondered.

Hearing the red head’s voice she wanted to ask if she was all right, but decided to let it be. “To run?” she asked, not really knowing what she was supposed to do.

[Dusty Dawson]

If she had more time, Dusty would certainly have clued Venetia in on the details of her plan. But, since she was still mostly making this all up as she was going along, time was not something she had very much of. It was hard to communicate effectively when large armored fellow was chasing you with a big sword.

"Your sword!" she yelled back, "Get it ready!"

A loud clang reverberated in her ear, as the blade narrowly missed running straight through head. The attacker had taken to thrusting his blade into the darkness.

'Boy, he ain't quick on the uptake, is he?' thought the detective. Dusty grabbed at the arm that was clenching onto the sword's handle and pulled herself forward. Back on her feet and on a higher step, gave her the leverage she needed to reach over and sink her knife into the armor's gap. A louder cry echoed in the passage.

Of course, there was still one good arm. And it clutched on to Dusty, by the throat and heaved the detective away before she could cause further damage.

Nearly at the top of the stairs, Dusty pulled herself back up into the basement as the man below cursed in that hoarse and quiet voice.

"He's comin'...an' he's pissed." she said, "So get ready to give 'im a proper greetin' to this fine establishment o' yours."

[Venetia de Artio]

”what..?” For a moment the dark haired woman seemed confused by the reply before she suddenly seem to get what the detective meant. “Right!” She replied raising the sword in her hands.

Hearing the cry a small smirk found it’s way to Venetia’s face. “Well done miss detective. Don’t worry, I will!” she told her before letting herself fall down towards the enemy slashing her sword at him as hard as she could.

[Dusty Dawson]

Dusty took a seat and a slight breather as Venetia leapt into battle. Not quite what she had planned on, but it would get the job done. Venetia was fresh and battle ready. Her opponent, meanwhile would be sluggish and wounded.

The blade, heavier than Dusty's modest knife, clanged loudly off the armor. The force of the impact sent him tumbling down the stairs. The final bang signified the end of his decent. Were the lighting better, one would see that the armor was starting to crack. At one time it would have stood up far better. But age had not been kind to the suit of armor.

Dusty got back to her feet and hopped down the steps until she was behind Venetia, "Nice shot!" she grinned, "Let's go finish this off."

[Venetia de Artio]

Taking a step she felt a strange pain in her hand. As she connected with the mysterious person’s armour she had felt a jolt in her hand that made her wince slightly. That had to be some interesting kind of steel she noted, getting a bit curious though quickly forced the thought away.

“Thank you,” she grinned as well looking over her shoulder at the other woman. “Yeah,” the raven-haired girl gave a nod before turning to the armoured person. “You decided to mess with the wrong people.” The store owner told him before coming at him again.

[Dusty Dawson]

Dusty waited on Venetia's move. There wasn't much she could do now. At least without her own sword. The shop owner was proving to be more than capable, anyways. Some shuffeling eminated from the secret chamber. The attacker was slow to move to his feet and his breath came out ragged.

The man raised his sword as he faced another attack from Venetia. This brought the fight back down to the chamber and out of the passage. While this gave him more room to weild his weapon, Dusty's earlier attack had ensured that it wouldn't be as effective as it could be.

Darting out in the dark room, the detective circled her way behind the tall man. With his attention focused on this new attacker, she could make better use of the darkness. Confusing the enemy and wearing him down. It was a simple plan but it seemed to be getting the job done.

[Venetia de Artio]

Sensing Dusty’s plan Venetia continued slashing her sword at him to prevent him from noticing Dusty behind him. Because of the pain in her right hand, the dark haired woman was holding onto her weapon with both hands, knowing that she wouldn’t be strong enough using only her left hand. Her legs were useless, as she only ever trained her hands and used them for work that made her depend on being able to use her hands for fighting.

Every time her own sword connected with his armour or the weapon she felt the pain in her hand rise, something that rapidly made her weaker. Drawing her sword back again after yet another encounter with his weapon she paused for a moment, panting heavily.

It can’t go on like this. She thought putting the sword back into the scabbard, then holding out her hands. Concentrating on her powers her hands was soon covered in hard ice that quickly grew.

The mysterious stranger slashed his sword at her again, only to make it dig into the ice on her hands as it met. Luckily it the sword didn’t reach her palms because of the now very thick ice. Venetia then quickly froze his sword and made the ice continue up both of his arms.

[Dusty Dawson]

An odd sound came to Dusty's ears. It was far different dlfrom the metal on metal clanging that had echoed in the chamber. The forms that stood before her were locked in place. The battle had reached a bit of the standstill.

As Venetia worked on freezing up their adversary, Dusty maneuvered to the side and jabbed her knife beneath the man's arm. Another cry of pain reverberated in the chamber as Dusty sought additional openings.

The knife sunk into the opposite arm. Opening up a fresh wound. Dusty made a few educated guesses, taking into account the man's height and logical gaps that would appear to allow motion while in a full suit of armor. This brought her to the back of his knees, where she got one solid slice in to bring hime down off his feet.

Labored breathing continued to be one of the louder noises as their opponent succumbed to the trap. Dusty backed off while Venetia held him in place. "Alright...You got 'im?" she asked as she searched put the candle that had been left behind, "'Cuz it's 'bout time we got our guest involved in a much more civil conversation."

Before the shopkeeper could answer, the armored man let out a surprisingly vigorous roar. Especially given the state of his voice when this little encounter had begun. He slowly returned to his full height intent on lifting Venetia in the air as he did so.