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Tobias

Tobi wasn't really sure what woke him up. He usually slept lightly, a necessary skill when you constantly scam people, so when he woke up, he lay there and continued breathing as if asleep, eyes flicking around, fully alert. He slowly became aware of a figure creeping towards him, crouching, the silvery sheen of a dagger glinting occasionally in the moonlight, the fire having burned down a while ago. Mind racing, Tobi knew that likely, the figure was not alone, and the longer he waited, the more likely Val and Rengar's throats would be slit, so he quickly sprang to his feet, hand sliding into his robe, into one of his many inner pockets, sliding his paw across his blue orb, his spellcasting focus, shouted _"Lumina!" _and a shimmer spread across the orb, before expanding out into a large sphere of light covering their campsite, revealing six bandits around the group, two large ones - the muscle of the group, of course - poised over Rengar, jerking back in surprise, one jumping back away from Val, and two pulling crossbows from their back.

Val responded quickly to the shout, springing up to his feet, drawing a shortsword from his belt on the ground. He turned towards the closest bandit, the one who was preparing to cut his throat with a dagger, and launched himself at him, but he still seemed slightly groggy, and the bandit deflected the blow with ease. Tobi saw him make a gesture with one hand, and... Nothing happened? Nothing yet, at least. The larger bandits next to Rengar, one with a large greatclub, one with a massive maul, both raised their weapons, and brought them down on the ursari, one directly on his head. Rengar woke up, a red haze covering his eyes as he roared, a deep, gutteral yell that startled everyone around him, as he grabbed his battle ax and hurled himself at the bandits, luckily for the massive lion, his jump from being intimidated by the roar saved him, as the axe sheared off his beard and cut deeply across his chest, any deeper and he would have died right there. Val was faring a bit better in his battle, dodging a telegraphed attack by the rhino attacking him with a mace, but was caught by the followup, the rhino backhanding him, but without too much force behind it. "Stop running, little pup, you might hurt yourself!" he taunted. The one fighting Tobi pulled out a crossbow of his own, firing a bolt into his leg, causing him to stumble, and barely catch himself, blood leaking down his leg. The other two tried to help the lion, firing two bolts, one completely missing, the other sinking into the practically feral bear's back. Tobi whispered an incantation, firing off two bolts of fire from his hands, one at the archer shooting at him, one at the one who nailed Rengar, both hitting their marks. The other one turning to face Tobi, he gulped, hoping the ursari would successfully use the attention removed from him.

Val

Having cast his hunter's mark, an ability to help his blade find it's mark, he lunged towards the rhino, landing a solid slash across the rib cage. Drawing a second shortsword, he tried to surprise his opponent with a second swipe, cutting him across the leg, dropping him to one knee for a second, before they stood back up. The rhino's face reddened, angered by the wulf two-thirds of his size, charged forward, catching him as he tried to dodge to the side, and tackling him to the ground, putting all his weight on top of Val. The wulf groaned, his breath knocked out of him as they landed. The other two hired muscle were trying to finish off Rengar, he had a dislocated jaw, blood leaking out of his mouth, staining his fur, panting, but he just kept going. The lion hit him again, but as the human swung, Rengar actually reached over and grabbed it, giving a blood soaked grin over at him, before swinging his battle ax, shearing the lion's head clean off his shoulders. The human gasped, all plans of intimidation, either scaring the intruders off their turf, or bringing them in to ransom, or have some fun, all disappeared from his head, and he dropped his mace, turning and running through the trees, faster than Val would have thought someone of his bulk could. The crossbowmen quickly raised their crossbows, attempting to bring the bear down, Tobi's attempt to steal their attention absolutely paling in comparison to Rengar's bloody spectacle, hammering into his side, one after the other, but somehow he stayed on his feet. Tobi moved both his hands in a quick series of gestures, before thrusting his hands in front of him as a column of flame fired out towards the two archers near Rengar. One of them is incinerated in the column of flames, the other almost dodged out of the way, but was still burnt. He turned tail and ran for his life, following the path the large human took, just getting away from here. So much more than they bargained with, clearly. Val, restrained by the rhino, staring with fear into the red eyes glaring at him, tried to squirm away as the bandit mumbled, "You're gonna be mine, spicy pups like you are always the most fun to break, just gotta beat you into submission a couple a' times..." but when he tried to move back, the bandit grabbed him again, pulling him back before dropping an elbow down onto his face, smashing into his nose. Eventually, with Rengar charging the rhino and Tobi supporting with bursts of fire, the rhino was brought down, and Rengar slowly calmed down. Panting, Val gestured off the road, saying "I-I'm so sorry, I should have known, of course staying in the middle of their path, leaving a fire of all things where it could give us away, that was stupid, I'm sorry, I'm sorry." Tobi waved him off, "It's not your fault, both the bear and I should have realized it. Let's just... Move away from the trail, it's close enough to dawn, let's just go back to town, get rest, recover a bit, and then go back and deal with the bandits, then we'll get them to tell us how to access the leader of the thieves' guild. Let's just... Not stay here? And be able to be ambushed again?" Val nodded, but looked over at Rengar, still standing there with his bleeding wounds, swaying a bit, and said, though with his legs wobbling a bit, "H-Here, let me try and dress those for you, your jaw is definitely dislocated..." Rengar growled, muffled with the inability to move his mouth properly, "Oin hoin." he brought his hand up and whacked his jaw, actually managing to knock it back into place, though even he couldn't help but wince. He moved his jaw experimentally, before continuing, "I'm fine. Let's go." they slowly made their way back into the main gate, Val turning awkwardly to them, "D-Do you guys know of any... Out of the way inns? As I'm on my quest, I don't have any more help from the castle, it must be under my own power, but I also don't want anyone to see me, and have rumors get around that I'm failng already." Tobi started to speak up, but Rengar actually spoke up first, perhaps excited at the prospect of a drink? "I know a place, follow me." he took them through the outer edges of the town, down a couple back alleys, which Val was happy for, keeping his hood up, if his parents knew what he'd just done... Finally, they arrived at a door, deep around a corner in yet another dark alley. Tobi whistled as Rengar stepped up, giving a set of two slow knocks, then three quick ones, and the door opened to reveal a barrage of color.

Rengar

Ah, the Flaming Falconer, the best tavern and inn in the whole town. Out of the way but surprisingly big, due to how much of the city's underworld frequented this place. It required a passcode, but that wasn't too hard to get if you drank with the right people. Also had a few more attractions than just the drinks. As they walked, he could see the pups eyes widen at each thing they saw, from the multi colored lights they had "hired" spellcasters for, the dancers by the poles in the corner, with their suggestive dances, and revealing clothing, occasionally paid extra for certain services. They would milk you for all your cash, and maybe a bit more than that, if you didn't keep your wits about you, and finally, the bartender, a bay horse who, somehow, was even more muscular than Rengar, and half the patrons in the bar. He was calmly cleaning a glass at the moment, but it was pretty easy to tell he had a side job as the bouncer. The fox whispered something to the pup as they approached, something like "Make sure you don't tell them who you are, they aren't the biggest fan of the Rangers around here. Shhh," the vulpine quickly stopped the confused reaction, "I'll explain later, don't worry, just play along." As they got up to the counter, the stallion raised his glass, nodding to them, "Heyyy, Rengar, you're back! Word was out that you'd done and gotten yourself arrested! Tobi, you old rascal, who would have guessed that you and this pound of meat over here would have fallen into the same company, have I been replaced? Or are you going to join me behind the counter again sometime?" Tobi winked, waving cheerily, "As long as you have my payment, maybe even tonight!" The horse turned to Val, "And who might this be? Fresh meat?" He reached out, grabbing the pups jaw, turning his head back and forth, inspecting him, the wulf just letting him do it, confusion evident in his face, "He's cute, but doesn't look the most durable. I could probably make him work though, would just have to break him in first." Rengar stuck an arm out, moving the bigger male's arm away, along with a wink of his own, "Nah Roberto, you've got it all wrong, I'm not looking to give this one away, he's a companion of mine! We're just gonna have a few drinks together, then rent a room from ya." the stallion, Roberto, nodded, laughing, "Alright bud, alright, I assume you want your usual then? And then the special for your little buddy here, of course?" Rengar nodded, already able to taste Roberto's famous beer. "Comin' right up!" after just a moment, he slid two glasses to Rengar, each filled with a dark brown, frothing substance, while Val's glowed a dark pink. Rengar turned to the wulf, and snickered, "Alright, hotshot, bet ya thatcha can't take your liquor? Down it. One long gulp. Like this!" and he grabbed one of the glasses, and raised it up, and threw it back to the delight of the few watching, who gave a cheer, and were now watching to see how the small pup would do. After a nudge from Tobi, Val picked up the glass, almost as big as his hand, and tried to copy the same form as Rengar, but quickly set it back down, coughing and sputtering. Rengar cracked up, knowing that the "special" was an extra spiked drink, used to drug people that were brought in for fun. While that didn't entirely fit with the Geas, it would keep him (hopefully) safe from alternate attention if people thought he was Rengar's. The drink also tasted terrible to most, though some enjoyed it and went for seconds. "C'mon boy, finish it! Down the drink! Down the drink!" a chant started going around the counter, Val giving a desperate look to Rengar, who shrugged, joining in the chant. He looked around once, before seeming to give up, and drinking it, actually managing to get the rest of it down, turning slightly green in the process. The group roared, surprised he pulled it off, but enjoying it anyways. Rengar nodded to Roberto, "The usual room, please?" tossing him the key, the stallion nodded, then tossing him a gold piece. "Spend it on the boy, I haven't seen anyone down the special in a while! Sure he drank a bit first, but dang, maybe he's better than I thought!" Rengar dragged Val down the hall, into one of the larger rooms of the Falconer, meant for a larger occupant, such as Rengar. He shoved Val, onto the bed, "Get your rest now, you might feel a little odd, but whatever you do, just stay there and rest until tomorrow, then we'll go back for the bandits and get my pardon. Got it?" Val nodded, suddenly feeling quite lightheaded. He turned, laying down on the bed. Rengar stayed in the room for an hour or so to keep up appearances, before heading out to have some fun and drink the night away. Judging by Roberto's smile as he kept going into a door behind the counter, and the fact he couldn't see the fox anywhere, Rengar would guess he was having his fun too. He didn't care. They were going to enjoy themself before the dawn of the next day.