RP:Bar Fights and Vampire Bites

Part of the Thy Kingdom Come Arc

Summary: Laezila is accosted by three radical giants, only for Pilar to attempt to defend her. The giants' leader escapes with Laezila, and when Pilar follows, she witnesses Laezila bloodily defending herself.

Frostmaw Tavern

Laezila was no longer covered in blood from her latest exploits, but that did not mean she wasn't any worse for wear; the girl had stolen away from the Fort after the usurpers had managed to undermine the late (so Laezila thinks) Steward's reign, and had taken control of most of the garrison of the city of war. Thus, she was cut off from her expenses, and the fur clothing she wore was ragged by now, dirty just like the once-glittering sheen of her snow-white hair. Her paling ebony skin was a bit bruised but mostly clumped with some clod and dirt, and the once exalted former matron of House D'l'Sel D'issan looked like a little beggar girl. She was young, of course, just past what most drow would consider 'teenage', and even had a diminutive and slender build for her age. It was out of desperation that she came to such a public place, head hooded and down and strides toward her solace of Drargon, who by sheer outnumbering, was reluctant to stand against the racist Frost Giants. Unfortunately, she was no giant, and that made her relatively easy to pick out. One such grasped hold of her collar and lifted the young woman's feet from the ground as two more stepped in around her, "Wha' do we 'ave here?" The ringleader said, grinning a missing-tooth grin as one of the others yanked back the hood, "A drow, a bloodsucker drow. The bloodsucker drow." "Let me go."

Pilar didn't want to venture into Frostmaw again, not after what she'd witnessed the day before. But they NEEDED supplies. The last thing on her list was, oddly enough, rum. Not a necessity, some might say, but when were creature comforts more necessary than times of crisis? So it was with that justification that she made her way through Frostmaw to the tavern. Of course, the moment she stepped through the door, she found an upsetting scene before her. Three giants were accosting a drow, who had been lifted into the air. Pilar stopped and stared. What was she to do? Her magic was weak and she had no weapons. With such brazen brutes about, she would probably be their next target, and for her health she should probably have just left and apologized to her companion for the lack of rum later. But could she merely leave the drow woman to her fate?

Laezila writhed in the grasp, but could find no purchase with her feet off of the floor coupled with her famished state; a vampire, and one that had only been able to feed once thus far. "Let me go," she stated more forcefully, and reached slender arms behind her head in a vain attempt to use both hands to grasp the giant's unwavering fist clenched around the collar of her attire. It didn't yield at all, and she was only spoken over by one of these radical racist-ideology-supporting gang members to another, "'Eard Ayras was taken in for feedin'. Bet this one's just like him. Everyone knows the bloodsucker drow was a Hildegarde favorite, too." "Leave me alone!" The cry was sharper, and abruptly silenced by a sickening sound of knuckles against skin as one of the three -the most silent- landed a solid backhand across her face. It was a sound that made the room go into a hushed silence and bring eyes about toward them, though nobody really dared to brave standing up to the current regime. Least of all be accused to be a Hildegarde follower. Laezila's head was a flung crown of white hair as it jerked to the side, and her writhing stopped as she reeled from the blow. The room was spinning to her, her ears rang, and she struggled to focus. Drargon moved to the back room, likely to fetch his weapon in case of having to expel even these giants. "Let's 'ake her. Maybe roughin' another vamp up will make Ayras talk."

Pilar watched with mounting horror as the giants continued manhandling the drow, her hands flying to her mouth when they struck her. And... did they say Ayras had been imprisoned? Oh, this was not good. She shook with fear, uncertain what to do. She looked around the room, desperately searching for someone, anyone, who would take a stand. Someone who wasn't her. When no one did, she gulped. -Gods grant me strength.- She grabbed the nearest chair and, with the superhuman speed and strength granted to her by her vampire status, smashed it against the back of the giant who held the drow. It shattered upon impact, leaving her with two broken pieces of wood in her hands.

Laezila was in a peculiar situation; these three giants were radical, even for the racist and xenophobic mindset of the new, harrowing movement of isolation that their leader was pressing. The others would not have struck her without being attacked first. But, luckily for them, Pilar abruptly justified their rough handling when a chair, backed by vampiric speed and strength, shattered over the back of the one that held the diminutive drow ex-matron aloft; she dropped, and immediately buckled to her knees. Unfortunately for the newcomer, however, it brought their attention upon Pilar; she had struck one of them, a giant that stumbled forward, literally shoving his boot against the slender stomach of the drow with a kick in the process before he turned in order to look at Pilar with fury. The white-haired woman called out, "Run!" It was simultaneous to the two uninjured of the giants drawing their mammoth battle-axes, as the third, one hand clutching his back like an old man, used the sole of his boot in order to press against the woman's stomach, which caused the young vampire to noiselessly, breathlessly cry out, gripping vainly in defense the boot of the man. It was apparent that the two, after the one had been assaulted by Pilar, intended to kill Pilar on the spot.

Pilar had a number of curse words flying through her mind as the giants turned on her. Well, what did she expect, honestly? She glanced at the drow on the floor and was very, very tempted to take her up on her suggestion. But Pilar couldn't, not in good conscience. Still, she backed away from the giants, eyeing their rather large weapons nervously. She had to get some distance between her and the giants, that was clear. Pilar glanced around. There were tables on either side, many of which were in use. Would they risk chopping up one of their own to get to her? Could she bear it if an innocent got hurt in the crossfire? What better time to find out? She bolted to her right, leaping over the nearest table.

Laezila wished Pilar did take her up on the offer; it would better sate the drow's conscience, certainly, even if at the expense of the other vampire's own. Those small, slender hands vainly, weakly tried to push the booted foot upward and off of her body, but it only took the flex of that tree-trunk of a leg to resist her attempted escape from the Frost Giant. The two, wielding axes, both, split up; each moving around either side of the table with the intent of converging on Pilar at the other side. A swing of an axe, as innocents abandoned their tables with shrieks and startled gestures, was brought down toward the woman from the right of the table, as the left held back just a beat before he, too, swung his axe in a vertical chop. Their leader, one hand still clutching his back which was reddened and injured, used his other hand to grasp easily around the slender neck of the drow beneath his foot. It was moved so that he could lift her bodily, forcing her to keep up as he made for the door.

Pilar rolled out of the way of the axes, one of them cutting her arm. She yelled out in pain and gripped the wound as she backed further away from them. She saw the other giant heading towards the exit, but there was little she could do from where she stood. Facing down two angry, axe-wielding giants, she did the only logical thing she could think. She used Solar Flare. Closing her eyes, she threw out her arm and a blinding flash of light erupted from her palm. Hopefully, while those two louts were staggering around, she could catch up to the one dragging the drow outside.

The two Frost Giant xenophobes, part of the few radicals willing to bend the laws to their favor and given the chance (considering they were harassing the drow) to do so without much consequence due to Pilar's assault, did not expect the sudden and blinding flash of light. The other patrons of the tavern didn't either, including Drargon, who had returned with a hefty battle axe with the intention of ousting both parties from the building; everyone reeled and clutched their eyes, seeing spots and blinded temporarily by the abrupt flash. This, of course, did not include the drow woman or her captor, however, because they were already outside of the building. When Pilar would exit, they already would be almost all the way down the street; in the open. Sure, the racist leader could get away with it -a vampire suspect in a murder and part of the party that assaulted Frost Giants; but the majority of the guard would not let an attack on him go unpunished.

Pilar dashed out of the building, looking around for the drow and the giant. She spotted them down the street and raced towards them, booted feet pounding against the cobblestone. She easily caught up to the giant, injured as he was, and went to block his way. She was shaking, obviously still scared out of her mind. "L-L-Let her go!"she demanded. She was no longer clutching her arm where she'd been hit, allowing the blood to seep into her sleeve.

Laezila writhed and squirmed against the ironlock of the powerful Frost Giant that held her, that dragged her (more or less, her feet were scrambling to keep up), as Pilar stuttered and shook in her demand. Those massive steps of the giant waned and ebbed, but never fully stopped, in order for the male to look at the woman that blocked his path. "Get out of the way, girl. She's a suspect in a' murder." The drow's face, scarred with three lines across it like a claw swipe and bruised from the initial backhand, lifted toward Pilar, "Go," she urged desperately toward the other woman, "Please." She couldn't have Pilar's injuries or death on her conscience. Not now.

Pilar looked from one to the other, before slowly standing aside. She looked down at her feet as the giant strode past. Suspect in a murder, huh. Somehow, Pilar didn't believe it. But there was little she could do, now, unless she wanted to fight. And as was made abundantly clear, she was no fighter. As the giant continued on his way, she thought she heard someone coming from the direction of the tavern. Taking a deep breath, Pilar concentrated. Unseen by anyone, the vampire faded from view. She started walking, her enchanted boots preventing her from sinking in the snow, and followed the giant with his drow prisoner. She was just going to make sure he wasn't going to chuck her off a cliff or something.

Laezila breathed a sigh of relief when Pilar opted to allow them to pass, but it was cut off by a yank from the Frost Giant and the continuation of their path. The young drow said nothing more, not for some time, as they trudged through the snow and along the streets that wound about the city of war. It was around one particularly desolate bend, where nobody was in sight (and only Pilar in their company) that Laezila sort of... snapped. She was tired, ragged, thirsty, humiliated, and hurting. And as this Frost Giant was practically dragging her, the young ex-matron with the lithe, though now dirty and famished, frame abruptly bursted into violence. A plant of her foot and push off the ground had her body roll vertically up the man's arm like some sort of flexible little acrobat, upon which the flash of paling ebony hand and glittering white hair whipped about gave way to a sudden and grotesque spurt of crimson. It shot out before it gurgled, and the Frost Giant went down; Laezila's mouth was ripping through his jugular, messily painting the snow and their bodies with blood as she brutally fed.

Pilar gasped and covered her hands with her mouth. Not that she would particularly mourn the loss of this jackass, but such brutality shocked her. She had only wanted to help... Had incurred the wrath of the giant, when all along this woman could have broken free at any time? Pilar ran down the street, towards the gates leading to the woods out west, where she'd been hiding. She couldn't deal with this city anymore, she just couldn't.