Cursed Bonds

Outnumbered and Surrounded

The cellar doors opened with a long creak. Devyn was the first to descend into the dark passage. Wayne followed close behind shutting the cellar door behind them. It was quiet, too quiet in their opinions. Neither said a word as the two made their way towards the door at the end of the passage. Devyn tried the handle, but it was locked.

"I got it," Wayne whispered as he pulled a set of lockpicks out of his pouch.

Devyn stepped aside while Wayne began picking the lock. Devyn watched their backs as Wayne nimbly raked the lock open. Wayne was the first to slowly step inside the basement room. Inside, candles lit the room along the walls. A large circular table dominated the middle of the room. Various crates and sacks were lined along the walls. There were three doors leading to different rooms. One opposite to them and two on the eastern and western walls. No one occupied the room they were currently in. Though they could hear voices coming from the adjacent rooms. They made their way to the center table, careful to watch the three other doors for movement.

"You'd think they'd have a guard," Devyn said as he pulled out the Azure Blade.

"You mean me?" A gruff male voice in the dark said as he stepped out from behind the door they had opened, plunging a dagger into Devyn's back.

Wayne spun around on his heels, conjuring two arcane blades to his hands. Devyn fell to the floor with the knife still in his back.

"Perhaps your friend would have been wise to have expected a knife in the back instead of commenting about our security," the masked figure said as he stepped over Devyn, wielding two daggers he had pulled out from his belt.

Wayne smiled and took a step back, goading the thief to attack. As the thief lunged forward to stab at Wayne, Devyn grabbed his ankle and pulled his leg out from under him. With a loud thud, the man fell on his face. Wayne was quick to crouch down and stab him in the back of the neck before he had a chance to recover.

As Devyn got back to his feet, pulling the dagger out of his back, the two doors around them slammed open. Armed with swords and daggers, four men ran into the room from the east door. Five of them came from the west door. Five of them faced Devyn. Four of them stood in front of Wayne. They had nearly surrounded the twins. There were only two options set before them. Run through the door they had just come in from or stay and fight.

"Surrounded and outnumbered, think we can take them?" Wayne joked as Devyn and he stood back to back near the entrance door.

"Doesn't seem like a fair fight for them," Devyn laughed as he lunged forward towards one of the thieves on his side of the room.

Wayne dodged an incoming dagger as he parried an incoming sword from his opponent. Thrown off balance by Wayne's parry, his opponent was quickly dispatched with a slice to the neck, spraying blood onto the floor and wall. Wayne threw both his blades with perfect accuracy into the stomach of the thief that had thrown the dagger.

Devyn's approach was far less graceful. He slammed a shoulder into his opponent after knocking the thief's blade from his hand. With a quick boot to the face, Devyn stepped over the man and stabbed another as he leaped into the fray. Devyn was quickly surrounded by the thieves as they tried to gain an advantage. They had made the fatal mistake of trying to group up on him. Devyn loved to be in the thick of battle, it was his specialty. Devyn grabbed the man he had impaled on his sword and pulled him closer. Using the thief's body as a shield, the man's fellow guild members stabbed and slashed at him trying to get to Devyn. Blood poured from the man's wounds, coating Devyn in blood until he fell limp in Devyn's arms. Devyn grinned at the smell of fresh blood.

Wayne summoned two more of his blades to his hands by the time he was confronted with the two thieves left standing in front of him. The man he had thrown his blades at lay bleeding on the floor across the room.
His two opponents wielded daggers as well. Wayne waited for them to strike, anticipating their next moves. Both lunged forward hoping to stab him before he threw his blades. Wayne dropped the blade in his left hand and grabbed the wrist of one of his attackers. Wayne stepped in between the man's feet and stabbed him in the throat. Using the man's arm to block the incoming stab from his ally, Wayne let go of the dead man's wrist, crouched, and kicked the attacker in the knee, a loud snap and scream of pain followed. As the man that had died fell to the floor, Wayne used his dagger to end the screaming.

Devyn continued his grotesque dance with his human shield. He twirled around blocking his attackers with their dead ally. After pulling his blade from the body, he swiftly kicked the bloody body into one of the three attackers surrounding him. Both his attacker and the body fell to the ground, the man under the body struggling to get out from underneath the dead man. Devyn took a stab to his left side as one of his attackers saw their opportunity. Devyn grunted in pain and slashed his sword into the man's chest. The man to his right fell to the floor as a glowing blue dagger sunk into the back of his head. Devyn pulled the sword from his ribcage and watched as his final opponent scrambled out from underneath the dead body. Devyn quickly grabbed the man's shirt before he could bring up his weapon. Pulling him in close, Devyn's fangs extended and sank into the man's neck.

"You could be a little less reckless," Wayne sighed as he stepped over to Devyn.

Devyn dropped the husk of a man he had just finished drinking from. Blood dripped down his face." Where's the fun in that?"

"It's not about fun Devyn. What would happen if one of them stabbed your heart? Your not invincible." Wayne said as he checked the door on the east wall.

" Yeah, yeah, I'll keep that in mind," Devyn grumbled. He knew Wayne was right. He took his regenerative powers for granted. He could only imagine how Wayne felt not being able to heal like him. " You didn't have to take one of them out. I could have handled it."

"I wouldn't have had to if you wouldn't have been playing with your food," Wayne replied with a smirk.

"Whatever, let's find our packs."

The two checked the other rooms. After making sure they were alone, they began looking for their backpacks. Devyn went into the makeshift barracks to look, while Wayne began rummaging through the various crates in the main room.

Devyn searched through various nooks and crannies the thieves had hidden their valuables, but couldn't find the backpacks. Though he did find a few gemstones hidden in a pair of boots. After pocketing the gems, he began searching for other more hidden hiding spots. Back in his days in Bloodheim, Devyn would occasionally hide valuables in secret compartments in the floors and walls. After knocking on the walls he eventually found a secret compartment similar to one he had made in Castle Blackwood. Prying the loose board from the wall, he discovered a pair of boots. They were black fur boots slightly covered in snow that seemed unable to melt. Devyn took them from their hidden compartment and put them in a sack he had found earlier.

Wayne didn't fare much better than his brother. He had found plenty of gold and valuable paintings, but their backpacks weren't in the main room. He came across a few interesting items he stowed in a sack later for inspection. He was mostly interested in a small ring he had found in one of the crates. His cursed eyes had immediately picked up on its magical aura.

After meeting back up, Devyn and Wayne continued their search in the other rooms. They both quickly left the kitchen thinking it wasn't where they would stash any loot, though Wayne stopped to taste the potato stew the thieves had been cooking.  The backroom was a bedroom. Inside a large bed was in the middle of the room. An ornate desk sat in the corner of the room. Next to the desk, a large iron-banded wooden chest sat on the floor.

"You think they put them in there?" Devyn asked as Wayne began inspecting the masterfully crafted lock on the chest.

"Only one way to find out," Wayne said as he pulled out his lockpicks.