CONT. | @mageinfernal
📜 ࣪ . ࿐ ˚ . SHE DIDN’T INTIMIDATE HIM. Her defiance merely poured fuel on his temper.
Lorroakan slapped her hand away once again, barely able to resist the urge to use shocking grasp on her, though blue arcane sparks still crackled between his fingers ; enough to leave a light sting of arcane electricity on her skin.
❝Lay another finger on me, devil, and you will leave this place with fewer limbs than you arrived with!❞
Oh, he was so close to reaching for his dagger and slitting her throat. Crude, yes, and unbecoming of a wizard with his reputation, but the streets had taught him that sometimes a dagger in the dark was more efficient than a fireball.
❝You forget your place and that you shouldn’t question your betters,❞ he spat through gritted teeth, then turned back to the barrels and the mercenaries idly chatting closest to them. ❝Those barrels contain smokepowder, in case that escaped your notice — which I rather suspect it did,❞ he added with a superior, condescending tilt to his voice.
Lorroakan had seen the residue. Barely noticeable unless one knew what to look for. But he had spotted it on barrels before, tucked in the underbellies of ships and the basements of smugglers hoarding illicit stock. The plan was simple ( not that he’d let Lyrazel in on it — she was meant to follow his lead, not ask questions ) : initiate diplomacy, and if things didn’t go his way, blow these fools to smithereens and Misty Step to safety. He also carried a scroll of Dimension Door, which could take Lyrazel with him… though frankly, his willingness to waste a valuable scroll on her was rapidly dwindling.
Yet he didn’t move, wheels turning in his mind as his hazel eyes wandered from the barrels, to the mercenaries, and the chest… then up the cliffside that vanished into shadow — at least to his human eyes. The sun had dipped below the horizon long ago.
Accounting for an ambush from above had indeed slipped past him ( not that he’d admit that ) ; a mistake he wouldn’t have made in his younger years, surely. But now, ego inflated with newly earned prestige, he had been so certain of himself, so convinced that his name alone would compel these mercenaries to cooperate.
Perhaps he’d been a little too confident ———
❝Why don’t you put those revolting claws to use?❞ Lorroakan turned back to the tiefling, his icy gaze raking over her with disdain. ❝Go on then. Climb up and scout the high ground.❞
This was no request, but a command.










