Settling Scores

[Strazio Rockwell]

Letting the bandit escape left a sour sick feeling in Strazio’s gut. You can’t scare cockroaches like that, sure they’ll scurry away but when you shut off the lights they always come back. Strazio smirked slightly, hoping that the man would come back because next time the Defender of Darkshire would not be so amicable. His revenge fantasy was cut short by a twisting feeling in his guts. He hadn’t eaten since the Abyss and what he had eaten could barely have been called food. Strazio frowned and began the search for a bar or cafe or anything that served meat.

“This town is a madhouse” he mumbled to himself.

The town was laid out poorly, most likely due to the less-than-wholesome nature of its residents. There were many dead ends and shady alleyways that even a prime wouldn’t dare venture through. His hunger mixed with the heat threw him into a strange state of delirium. The Defender grumbled to himself and cursed heat and sand every so often, hoping that with enough disdain they would have no choice but to leave. Eventually, after much heat-fevered fumbling Strazio finally found a small bar. He stumbled through a pair of batwing styled doors and gained the attention of every badass in the bar. Strazio didn’t feel like smacking around a bar’s worth of thugs, but hunger and thirst forced him inside.

He found a secluded corner of the bar and sat down, removing his hood in the process. The prime paid no attention to the onlooker and instead motioned for the server. She was a younger gal, probably late teens or early twenties. She had soft brown hair and a rough disposition.

“What’ll is be?” the server asked impatiently.

Ignoring her sour disposition Strazio answered her “water... A lot of it please. And something with meat, maybe a burger?”

“Gotcha...” she turned away to get Strazio’s food and drink

Somewhere in a shadier part of The Town with No Name

Tony Turreto was a brickwall of a man, almost standing seven feet tall and weighing in at a muscle-bound three-hundred pounds. He made his home base in a less-than-reputable brothel and acted as a lieutenant for the Sledge Gang. Word travels fast and one of the mooks that had tried to jump Strazio had ran back to Tony. The lieutenant listened to his crony’s story while chomp on a large cigar and guzzling down a glass of wine.

“So you’se telling me that he’s one of them Abyss finalists?”

“Yeah, ya shoulda seen him boss he laid out Murdock like it was nuffin. Bolt’a’white lightning and the poor kid was half-dead.”

Tony grinned before taking a large gulp of wine “is that so?” He chuckled deep and low, before finishing off his drink. The lackey nodded, confirming what he had previously said. Tony motioned for another glass of wine and lit a fat cigar before continuing.

“If he’s a finalist like ya say he is, then gather up some of the boys and bust his fucking head in. He’s gotta have some nice Omnilium or something of value from making that far in the Abyss.”

“B...but boss he’s strong and...”

Tony glared at his underling, freezing the smaller man mid sentence. He took a deep drag of his cigar and exhaled, consuming his henchman with a cloud of smoke.

“A single prime ain’t a match for the Sledge Gang ya here me!? Now I’mma gonna say this one more time and you better listen. Gather up the boys and bust his fucking head in, if you can’t do that. Well, you better hope he kills yah”

“Ye..yes boss.”

With that the smaller gangster scurried off. Tony frowned and reclined back in his lazy boy chair, kicking his feet up onto his desk. He had been dealing with too many of these damned primes lately. The Lieutenant feared that he would personally have to step in soon and take care of his “problems”. The mountain of a man chuckled at the thought of taking down an Abyss finalist, hell he would be content taking down any prime. Such an accomplishment would net him some reputation among the gang and boost his already massive ego.

In a small little bar in a town without a name.

The famished prime had already torn through his meal and was now relaxing in the corner of a smoke-filled bar. He decided to skin through the pages of his artifact and was shocked to find what was written within. Profane rituals and unholy spells filled the pages, but it seemed that most of the incantations were incomplete or outright impossible. Strazio could feel a slight scratching at the back of his mind as he read the damned pages. The Defender of Darkshire took a gulp of water and shut the book, taking a moment to process what he had read. He didn’t want to have to rely on such profane magicks, but he was used to making sacrifices in the name of gaining power.

Strazio flagged the server down and paid his tab. Before she left the prime asked her a question "excuse me, I just got here a couple hours ago. Could you tell me where I'm at?... the town I mean."

She barely held back a sigh before responding "you're in The Town with No Name."

"Uhm... what?" Strazio raised an eyebrow, unsure of what she meant.

"That's the name of this place, The Town with No Name."

The prime chuckled a bit "alright, whatever. Thanks for the help." He stood up and pulled his white hood over his head, hoping to avoid any more attention. The Defender left the bar and was greeted by the oppressive sand and sun. With a groan the prime pushed forward into the town, hoping to find some form of transportation to Nippur. He still had a score to settle with the golden king, he proved himself in the Abyss and now he had to prove himself before Gilgamesh. A thought did pop into his head, the red-headed bastard that broke his arm had said that he lived in the Dunes as well. Maybe Gilgamesh could wait Strazio thought as he smirked slightly maybe I'll pay that red-haired prick a visit. He knew it would be like finding a needle in a haystack, but the prime had experience with hunting people. After all he had spent the last ten years of his life hunting down Damien, how hard could it be to find someone that invited him over?