Akaisha was hunkered down in the house considering her options. She was alone, armed only with a shortsword that she was barely proficient with while outside were seven gang members intent on killing her. Two of them at least were mages, or at least had ranged elemental Skils. Such as the one that had skewered her leg. She was currently hiding behind the half wall made of stone, so she was probably fairly safe for a while, hopefully, none of the gang bangers had anything that could punch through the stonework. She looked down at her pierced calf and groaned. It was surprisingly painless without her weight on it but she didn’t think that she would be running around any time soon. She pulled the stake out, her jaw clenched in pain. It began bleeding profusely so she poured every last drop of Mana into a cast of [Vital Hands]. The glow subsided far too quickly but the bleeding had mostly stopped, even if there was still a hole in her leg.

The wall above her head shuddered as the thugs lost patience and started throwing spells. She didn’t dare peek out of the doorway, too afraid of getting hit by a stake or a fireball, but she needed to see outside to be able to try anything. A portion of the wall shattered above her head, showering with slightly singed debris. Another fireball flew in through the hole, splashing against the far wall and setting the lowest step of the staircase on fire. It was only a small fire but more flaming spells were being thrown into the rest of the wall, and soon she would have no choice but to run out or be cooked alive anyway.

Her next course of action decided, she hobbled over to the upturned table and dropped to the ground behind it. It was a large, solid wooden affair that was none the worse for despite having been thrown across the room and being slightly scorched from a stray [Fireball]. Akaisha flipped it vertically, standing it up like the world's largest and least manoeuvrable tower shield. She had to wedge the sword into it to be able to move it forwards without it overbalancing and tumbling over. She nearly dropped the table when a shard of wood slammed into it, stopping only a centimetre or so from her arm, but she carried on, her improvised pavise shielding her from [Fireball]s and [Wooden Dart]s.

“Get the bitch!”

One of the [Thug]s shouted as Akaisha tried to sidle over to the alleyway next to the house. She pulled her sword from the table but kept it between her and the mages. One of the [Thug]s rushed at her, waving a short club and screaming obscenities. He swung wildly at her, horrible, uncoordinated strikes that she batted away easily despite holding the door up with her left hand. With a flick of her blade she flung the club down the street, a second flick rent a massive wound across the unfortunate [Thug]s chest. He turned and ran, but Akaisha couldn’t even try to move before two more took his place. Although they were sloppy and lacking in teamwork, Akaisha found herself twisting desperately to avoid the shortsword, one identical to her own pilfered blade, but couldn’t avoid the second [Thug]s club as well. She had several nasty cuts and more than a few bruises when she saw death come for her. She threw herself sideways, dragging the table down onto the two assailants just in time to avoid being gutted.

Fire and wood flew at her before she could take advantage of her downed enemies, forcing her away, back towards the house. A stake nicked her shoulder, leaving a bloody gash, and a ball of flame erupted on her thigh. She leapt through the doorway, landing heavily on her wounded shoulder. The world went white for an instant as agony flashed around her body, then black as she lost consciousness for a second. She dragged herself up into a sitting position, switching the blade to her left hand, as her right shoulder was still excruciatingly painful. She could feel the blood draining from her numerous cuts. Her arm felt heavier than ever before as her strength left her. The blade clattered to the floor as her fingers failed to grip it.

A [Thug] stepped through the door, naked from the waist up and with a pair of trousers and boots so ratty that he may as well have been naked on the other half too. He saw Akaisha sitting on the wooden floor, her blade abandoned beside her. A cruel grin played across his lips as he prepared his wicked-looking dagger.

Before he could take a step his arms were engulfed in white light and then yanked forcefully behind his back.

“What the?” He struggled, but his arms were locked in place, bound by glowing manacles of light. A pair of armoured arms circled his waist and pulled him out of the doorway. He was quickly replaced by a guardsman in full armour, the symbol of the city proudly displayed on his chest. He had his mace drawn but no shield. He looked around the smouldering room before speaking in a gruff voice.

“You coming quietly, or we making a fight of it?” He asked Akaisha.

“Oh, thank the relevant gods that you came, they were going to kill me.” Akaisha tried to stand but the guard pointed his weapon at her.

“You stay down, and don’t make a fuss, and we’ll see about getting you a healer,” he ordered her.

Akaisha nodded, exhaustion hitting her as the adrenaline faded. The uniformed man nodded to himself and stepped warily forward. He kicked her sword out of reach and slowly reached out to touch her, mace held ready to strike if she moved. As he touched her he said [Stabilise]. A white glow, not dissimilar to the one accompanying the strange shackles she had just seen, flashed over her and she could feel the blood stop leaking out of her. She didn’t feel any better, and her Health hadn’t gone up, but she wasn’t getting worse.

“Can you stand? And walk?” The gruff guardsman asked her.

“I think so, I might need some help,” she replied, forcing herself unsteadily to her feet. She swayed slightly before regaining her balance, then began putting one foot in front of the other. She managed a few steps towards the door before she felt a tap on the shoulder.

“[Force Cuffs],” whispered the man behind her. In a flash of white her arms were dragged behind her and looked together at the wrists. She turned to protest but the guard cut her off and dragged her, stumbling, over to a cart. She was roughly made to sit on a bench on the side, her arms still locked behind her. The gangbangers were all there too, also bound like she was, other than the one whose face she had cut after stabbing him in the stomach. He was lying on the floor of the cart. He wasn’t breathing. Akaisha stared at the corpse, the cadaver of a person. A person that she had killed. Not a wild animal, nor a [Dungeon] monster that would dissipate in moments. A real, formally living, human. A member of a violent gang, maybe, but a sapient being with hopes and dreams, friends and family. And she had killed him.

She turned as best she could to lean out of the cart before being violently sick. She tried to wipe her mouth on her shoulder, but as she moved her head she saw two more guards carrying Banda. She could see his ruined chest from her seat, the gaping hole where she had stabbed him and twisted the blade. She was sick again, and again, until her throat burned and she was coughing up nothing but bile. She scrunched her eyes up to avoid seeing any more, but she felt the weight as they threw the body in at her feet. Then came the tears, as she sat in silence and waited for whatever came next.

Akaisha sat in silence, her tears slowly drying, while the others threw any and all insults they could think of at her. She ignored them, staring forwards at the massive chestnut horses that were pulling the cart. Staring at anything but the two dead people on the floor. Her eyes swept across the other occupants and she flinched as she saw the nasty slash across the chest of the [Thug] farthest from her. The wound was still red and raw so she assumed that it had been [Stabilise]d too. He glared at her, hate boiling in his eyes, but said nothing.

The ride in the cart, while slow enough that a formation of [Guardsman] could walk behind it, was surprisingly smooth. Akaisha had expected to be jostled and thrown around, but it felt no different to a normal bus back home. Other than her arms being pinned behind her back. After a few minutes the guard at the head of the formation called for a halt and a few of the guards jumped up onto the cart and refreshed the magical handcuffs and [Stabilise]. The cart rolled on afterwards into a courtyard surrounded by a large, solid-looking stone wall.

The cart stopped next to a squat building made entirely from stone rather than the usual half stone half wooden constructions typical of Rimwall. The guards helped them down from the cart and escorted them into the building. Akaisha was dragged away from the others and shoved roughly into a chair in a small room that looked a lot like one of the rooms they had for questioning suspects on crime shows. White walls, two chairs and a table. With a flick of his hand the guard freed her wrists but quickly intoned [Force Cuffs]. This time her wrists were wrapped in light that pulled them onto the table, and she felt her legs dragged to the legs of her chair. She found that she could move her arms together, but not her legs. Then the guard left her alone.

A few minutes later, but before the last cast of [Stabilise] ran out an older gentleman in a white robe bustled in. He checked Akaisha over rapidly before placing his hand on her shoulder and casting [Cure Wounds]. He held the cast for a few heartbeats before inspecting some of the worst injuries that Akaisha had sustained. They were mostly scrabbed over but not exactly completely healed. He opened the door and called out to someone in the corridor.

“She’s all yours.”

The healer in white was replaced by a tall, tired-looking woman. She had greying hair tied back in a tight ponytail and was wearing the standard-issue guard tunic, but no armour, and didn’t seem to be armed. She sat down heavily in front of Akaisha and placed a ring binder and pen on the table.

“Name,” she said, tapping her pen against the ring binder. Her voice was deep, and slightly hoarse, as if she was a long time smoker or something like that. She sounded as tired as she looked.

“Akaisha Wainwright.”

The guardswoman raised a shaggy eyebrow.

“Real name, and gang affiliation.”

“Really, Akaisha Wainwright, you can [Identify] me and everything. And I’m not and never have been in a gang,” Akaisha tried to explain.

“Of course you are, and I’m Imperatrice Karyn of Zebay. Now drop the act and stop using whatever skill you are using to try and mask your status, and we can talk. Besides whatever status hider you’ve unlocked is just terrible, really really awful. You’ve changed your name, great, but your age comes up an illegible mess, your class is nonsense, your skills are obviously false and I don’t know what you tried to do with your Stats.” The interrogator leant aggressively across the table, pointing her pen at Akaisha as she ranted. “Just drop it all, and maybe we can talk about a deal where we don’t throw you into a mine for the rest of your short and painful life.”

Akaisha was taken aback by the outburst. She had known that she would be in trouble as soon as things devolved into stabbings, but she was clearly the victim here, only defending herself.

‘I’m sorry, I don’t know what to tell you, other than that I’m Akaisha Wainwright,” she stammered. “Maybe you could get someone to vouch for me?”

The middle-aged lady rubbed her temples and sighed.

“Ok, let’s say that we’re doing this. You are Akaisha Wainwright, the orphan wunderkind,” Akaisha was stunned by the word. It wasn’t in English, so whoever had dealt with the language situation had let loan words in for some reason. “So you, a supposed child at the low end of tier two who fights with a sledgehammer, has over a hundred and twenty strength and fought with a sword. You were in the lower districts alone and within minutes had a short meeting with an obvious adventurer mercenary type, then got right into a gang war. But you are definitely just a kid from the church orphanage who was tier one a tenday ago. Do this sound about right?”

“Mostly, yes. It does sound like a lot but that’s pretty much what happened. I spoke to a guy in the tavern, he was just hitting on me,” Akaisha lied slightly, but she didn’t feel like telling the interrogator that it was a god would help. “Then I left, and the gang members tried to mug me, possibly with rape on top. So I stabbed one. Then I tried to run but I had to fight my way out. I’m sure that if you contact father Athair he’ll vouch for me.”

“Of course, I should just call a member of the city council down to the guardhouse. In the middle of the most important diplomatic event of our lives. Great idea. Anybody else that I should summon?”

“Well, General Nui would probably vouch for me too.”

“Of course,” sighed the interrogator. “Yes, that’s exactly what I should do. Send for my superiors, superiors, superiors commanding officer. Who is responsible for the safety of the city. During the most important diplomatic event of our lives.” The woman's voice rose to almost shouting towards the end before she abruptly stood up and left.

Akaisha was removed from the room and pushed, fairly gently, into a two metre by two metre room with a hole in one corner for waste and a simple bed. Once the door was closed the shackles were finally dismissed and she could move. No more than two metres, granted, but that was still more than with her arms and legs bound. She rubbed her extremities for a second before resolving to at least try and sleep for a while.

Somebody would be along in the morning to get her out, she was certain of it.