A tall figure wrapped in a long dark cloak rushes around the corner into an alleyway, his footsteps echoing through the alley before he comes to a harsh stop and ducks behind a porch extending from the back door of a building.

He sits there, hunched over, hugging his knees to his arms as he closes his eyes and waits. His deep and ragged breathing seems a hundred times louder than normal, as if even his own breathing wanted to betray him.

"Where did he go! Find him!" The voice of a town guardsman rings out as footsteps could be heard heading in most every direction.

Sarkus, the man currently curled up behind the porch, silently prays to any god who might here him that the guards don't find him. He doesn't wish to have any more innocent blood on his hands.

As he waits, the clouds slowly condense and a downpour soon begins. The heavy rain crashing down on the cobblestone roads, the chilling rains causing a number of complaints to fill the air from the guards.

The ice cold raindrops soak Sarkus's thick coat which he uses to obscure his appearance. Despite the chills that pass through his body, he remains silent and still until the voices of the guards fade away.

The alleyway is now completely silent save for the rain. Unable to resist the urge to find better shelter, Sarkus rises from his hiding spot and quickly making his way down the street.

His footsteps once again fill the air. The moment he turns the corner, exiting the alleyway, the alarms in his head go off.

The whistling of a blade slicing through the air grows closer and closer to Sarkus.

Just as the blade is about to sink into his flesh, a large crab like claw catches the blade in its powerful grip.

The claw is attached to the arm of the hooded figure, it's massive, easily large enough to crush a person's head.

The guard captain, who's blade is now trapped by the claw, turns pale in fear.

Sakus tightens his grip, snapping the steel blade in half before kicking the man in the face.

His leg, now exposed, his not a foot of a human as his skin is grey and seems to have an almost scaly texture in some areas. Not only this, but he has only three toes all of which have hooked claws.

After being kicked in the face by the creature in front of him, the guard captain tries to turn and run, but to his dread he realizes that his face is being cut into and gripped by the claw like foot.

"No! Let you go you demon! Monster!" He screams as he rips at the leg, trying to pull it off his face to no success.

At this time, two of the other guards who are with the captain draw their swords and go to attack.

However, from Sarkus's other side, an arm lashes out and a swarm of tentacles grapple their body's restraining them, and covering their mouths to prevent any shouting.

Sarkus looks up sadly at the guard captain, regret filling his eyes. Unfortunately he has not other choice. Two mostly normal human hands fly out from the cloak, daggers in each.

The blades Pierce the chest of the Gaurd captain and one of the soldiers. Ripping the blade out of the Captain, he spins it before stabbing it into the chest of the other soldier.

Dropping their bodies to the ground, Sarkus sighs. If only he didn't have to kill them. Unfortunately sparing their lives at this point isn't an option. If he did, it would only be a matter of time until his pursuers found him.

After all the effort and pain he went through to escape them, he can't let himself be recaptured no matter what.

Memories flash through his mind. Bright lights that nearly blind him, his arms and legs being strapped down to a table. Blades of magic slicing into his skin, dissecting him.

He stumbles and almost collapses to the grounds, his stomach turning from the thought of returning.

As he tries to stand back up, he hears footsteps from behind him. He spins around, making sure the cloak completely obscures him.

Now facing the source of the footsteps, he notices a small figure standing in the alleyway behind him. The tiefling woman's blood red skin and amber glowing eyes grab his attention.

She stands, at most 5ft4", and her short dark hair compliments her skin and eyes beautifully.

Her body, which is mostly revealed by her more barbaric style armor, is quite muscular and sports a few scars, and in her hand rests a large, black steel halberd.

Her eyes glance down to the dead bodies of the towns guards causing her eyes to glow in excitement as they jump up to the cloaked figure in front of her.

"Aren't you an interesting fellow." She says with a bright smile, revealing her fangs and razor sharp teeth.

Immediately, Sarkus dashes forwards, his large claw arm slashing down at her head.

Seeing this, the girl flips backwards, slashing with her halberd mid flip. The powerful axe head slams into the claw causing a loud clang to fill the air.

Upon landing, she spins while slashing the halberd in an upwards curve, slicing off a number of tentacles that tried to restrain her.

Sarkus grunts in pain, however the severed tentacles quickly regrow themselves and he prepares himself to continue his assault.

However, before he can, the girl raised her hands, "Wait wait! I'm not here to fight you." She says causing Sarkus to hesitate.

"Then what do you want?" He asks.

Seeing as she got him to pause, she smiles excitedly. "I want you to join my party!"

Hearing this, Sarkus bursts out laughing. His loud chuckling fills the air.

The girl looks at him, "What's so funny?"

"Hm? Maybe you haven't seen me properly girl. Let me show you." He says, before untying the strap on his cloak and letting it fall to the ground.

Upon doing so, Sarkus's body is fully revealed to her.

Both his skin is a deep grey with patches of scales all over, his chest is covered in scars and stitches, while he posses two, relatively human arms, the set of arms above them, protruding from the back of his shoulders are completely monstrous.

One having a large claw in place of his hand and the other having a slew of octopus like tentacle's. His eyes are pure white, and on his back is a set of large leathery moth like wings.

"Tell me. Do you still wish to form a party with a monster?" He asks, raising his claw up ready to fight.

"Yep!" She beams happily, her face filled with excitement.

Hearing this, his eyes widen. "Why? You realize that forming a party with me will only cause you trouble. Just getting into this town involved me having to murder the guardsmen."

She nods, "Well I'm not exactly well liked by the law anyways. So my options for party members is limited."

Hearing this Sarkus hesitates, lowering his claw arm. He thinks to himself for a moment. Yes it is risky, but this is the first time since he has escaped captivity that's someone is willingly offering to work with him. Maybe. This is a risk worth taking.

Holding out his human hand, Sarcus nods, "Alright. My name is Sarkus, twenty years old. I am a Barbarian."

Hearing this, the girl smiles brightly before shaking his hand and saying, "My name is Christa. Twenty-two years old and I'm also a Barbarian. I look forward to working with you."

Now that introductions are done, why don't we get out of the rain dearie." She chuckles.

"That's a good idea."