Pillaging , noth and cade style

[Antar]

10th day of Summer,
Location: west hills.

In the midst of the setting sun, Noth looked at the pack of unwashed hooligans from the Kessel Crows, a small gang made up of no more then six of the worst unskilled hooligans who were the most minor of the minor players in the wolf's den. No more then a group of street rats grown too big for their britches and had made the decision to leave the city for good, and try to make their way to Rhysol's city to try their hand at entering the service of the Voice.

Ignorant weakling fools were just going to their deaths. So Noth thought that it was time for him and the larger barbarian to do a bit of wetwork for profit. In truth, this wasn't just a pillaging gig. But a hired job. The crows owed a bit of blood to a larger gang in the Wolf's Den and they had offered a reward for those hunting down the last members. So Cade and antar had been quite willing to help scalp 'em.

They'd tracked them here to the west hills, a half day's ride from Sunberth and let the Crows make their camp. Soon it would be time to strike at them, and blot their memory from Sunberth forever...

[Cade]

The sky was beginning to darken as their prey played camp below Cade's and Antar's position in the hills. Killing these rats would pleasure the half blood myrian savage for he thirsted for the taste of blood and the feel of cold steel impacting on flesh and bone. He was a man that needed to swing his sword for that was how simple Cade's life was for he was no more at home then on the field of battle. He is a barbarian by nature that specialised in death, an art that he needed to practice continuously or death will fall upon himself. Cade looked down upon his unsuspecting prey licking his chops for the kill as he resisted the urge to full out charge down the hill and begin the bloodletting. No, he had to wait for patients was the game when you were outnumbered. The Kessel Crows may lack skills but a pack of unskilled rats have strength in numberes and numbers can kill These two hunters if they were not careful.

" Noth, how many of these curs to you count?" He asked his accomplice in crime, brother at arms and friend. This day it was just them two and they needed to trust each other if the planned to complete this job and survive.

[Antar]

His eyes scanned the distant view, the wagon the Kessel Crows were driving was slowly creaking by the dust side of the road as they unloaded their tents.They had stopped just past an arm of the south woods. A place some journeyman stopped on their first day out on the road because of the natural springs. A few up in the southward hills were hotsprings for feeding the bathhouse. He and Cade were somewhat secure behind a rise in the hill, under cover of some brush. In front of them the trees spread down the hillside, stretching towards the Crows.

"There's six, four pitching the tent, two walking on the road keeping guard. All armed, two swords, two daggers, one whip, but I can't tell clearly what the other one has, looks like a fuzzy long pole or spear or something." Furrowing his brow and considering the terrain Antar continued after a moment's pause, "I figure they're going to spread out for another half bell to collect wood for a fire before they sleep. Which do you think is best: ambushing them by the forest, or should we wait to slit their throats in the night?"

[Cade]

" Hand signals from here on out, Noth. We ambush now, I will lead with the crossbow" Cade whispered to Antar as he readied the ranged weapon for combat. The barbarian lead the rogue archer down the hill keeping to the forest shadows as much as they could, moving slow as they watched their footing. Moving through the brush silently was a different task then moving on man made surfaces as the techniques are simple but different. Stalking through the bush one would move their feet with the toes touching ground first before the heel to avoid making noises like cracking branches. On hard surfaces you would move with your heel to your toe. This made for slow going but the element of surprise was a must if Noth and Cade were to achieve the initiative in battle.

The halfblood myrian lead them to the edge of the camp where the four men were building the tent. Cade stopped just at the edge of the forest before the small clearing the camp was being built. He extended his hand back towards Noth raising his hand in the stop signal. Cade then rose his hand to his eye brow then he extended the same hand out with four fingers visible telling Noth that he has eyes on four of the men. The barbarian figured it was best to take them out fast for they were the ones most distracted and made up for the majority of this crew. So far so good, Cade and Noth had not alerted the Kessel Crows for their movement was masked by their camp building.

Cade then pointed to Noth then ran his finger across his own neck and raising two fingers pointing to the left. The barbarian just ordered Noth to kill the two men closest to the left. He repeated the signs but this time to the right and indicating to Antar that he was going to take care of the two on the right. Cade raised his crossbow, shouldering the butt end of the ranged weapon while aiming it at the young gangster closest to his right then drawing the aim to the furthest man. Cade's intentions were to kill or cripple his farthest target so he could gain on the closest with his sword faster.

The Barbarian slowed his breath and calming his nerves as he bagan the marksmen breathing techniques. Readying his shot on the exhale. He slightly turned his head to Noth giving him the nod to take the first shot.

[Antar]

It had taken a while to slink through the underbrush, keeping bent low as he crouch walked was time consuming and he felt a slight burning in his calves from the strain. Soon enough by padding heel to toe over the rocks he followed in Cade's footsteps. The forest was quiet in the approaching dusk, and thinking a slight prayer to Akajia Noth fervently wished the crickets surrounding them continued to chirp and the bandits wouldn't notice their approach.

At his hand signals to take the two on the left, Noth nodded and rendered a sign of his own. Starting with an open palm he curled his index and thumb together to touch for an 'okay I understand' message before sliding past Cade to work his way forwards to a tree. In order for this to work, Noth knew he had to gain a slight angle to his fire and creep a little closer towards a good spot behind a bit of shrubbery. Reaching to his back the rogue slowly unlimbered his bow to knock an arrow before turning his eyes to meet Cade's , a silent affirmation that he was almost ready. Controlling his breath he began to draw the bow, aiming towards the chest of his farthest target, a man with a longsword at his back.

The archer still couldn't see what the closest one possessed for a weapon, as the lower half of the man was hidden from his sight. But he could easily rectify that by spinning round the tree to charge forwards. The rogue figured Cade would be right behind him by that point. Adjusting for the slightest of breezes he adjusted his aim and finally released the string. The quarrel leapt from the bow to pierce his target in the side. Without hesitation, Antar swung his bow around him to his back and drew his gladius as he made his charge. Out of the corner of his eye he saw one man lurch as Cade's arrow struck, but Noth couldn't worry about that now. His focus was upon the man in front of him, uncoiling a whip from his belt to snap in his direction. Muttering a curse as he felt a sudden lash upon his back Noth threw himself forwards, thrusting the blade of his gladius point-first towards the Kessel Crow's chest.

[Mok]

“Lhex’s balls!” Mok growled, spitting bile onto the dirt. The young myrian sat in disgust as he watched his two comrades climb the ridge that over-looked the Kessel Crow encampment. A week prior Mok was wounded by a rusty bolt and he still needed to wear a sling. This angered the myrian warrior more than anything in the whole bloody world. He was ready to defend the guild in a heartbeat. No injury would ever hold him back. These Kessel Crow boys were the drizzle and shits of the syndicate world and frankly, Mok was offended that he was told to watch the horses.

Sitting under the cover of the falling night Mok began to ponder to himself, “Why not me? Damn it! Stupid selfish pricks, ugh… Our first group mission and I am told to stand aside…Calm down. That is just what they want you to do… Be calm. Collect yourself… If you get mad it will give them reason to taunt you and make fun of you. That is exactly what they want. Alright. Time to relax and enjoy my night off...Ha! This is extremely unimportant. Why I am getting worked up?”

Mok chuckled quietly to himself with reins in hand, waiting for the return of his comrades.

Red = Myrian
Bold = Common

[Cade]

The man was struck down by Cade's bolt shot from the crossbow he now hinged to his belt. The barbarian had no time to wait and confirm the kill as he rushed out from his bushy cover and charged the closest man from the right while at the same time Antar was rushing the man on the left. The half blood myrian gained ground like a tiger closing in on his prey, raising his longsword to strike death upon the would be victim. The man drew his own sword just in time to raise the blade in defence against his savage attacker.

Cade's attack came from a high position as he brought his sword down on the man before him. Both their blade's locked driving the prey to one knee through brute force of the attack. The barbarian hesitated not as he lashed out with a savage kick to the man's groin forcing the man to drop his blade letting Cade's sword to rest upon his neck and collarbone. The halfblood myrian with one quick and fluent motion drew the edge of the sword across his prey's skin, cutting deep into the man's neck and letting the blood flow.

The man grasped for his neck on pure instincts in hopes of stopping the blood from leaking from his body. Cade gave the man a savage boot to the chest knocking him backwards and onto his back. He looked into the sky knowing full well the end was coming as his attacker roared like a beast as he rammed the tip of his blade into the fallen's chest cavity, impaling him through and through as the blade pierced the earth below him. Cade knelt over his victim, looking into the man's eyes watching the life fade from with in, while he grasped the hilt of his blade with both hands. The smell of the man's last act in life tinged the myrian's sense of smell as he wiggled his nostrils at the aroma of defecation. Then the barbarian thrusted upwards, ripping the blade from the ground and the dead man's chest as he looked for Antar and the rest of this crew they were sent to kill.

[Antar]

As his blade pierced his opponent's chest, Antar just noticed Cade's quarrel imbed itself into the stomach of his target, causing him to stagger a bit.

If he had the time right now he might have lamented that no major organs had been hit to kill him straight off. It might have been nice to get this job done quickly and move onto the next. Instead of taking them as they came on a semi regular basis interspersed by long periods of boredom. But right now, wasn't boring. Right now, he didn't have time to think such thoughts. All he could think of was the squallid odor of the man's innards as he stumblingly dropped the whip to reach down to pull a dagger from his belt.

Before it could stab down in his direction, Noth encircled the wrist and a momentary struggling match ensued as the rogue pushed him with the gladius back towards the other opponent, he had shot with the arrow. Shoving with his shoulder he pushed the man off the gladius and together the two enemies fell in a heap of tangled legs and curses. He didn't give any mercy as he thrust the gladius down again, piercing the heart of the man on top. Instead of taking his time to wrench it free he left it there embedded in the whip man's ribcage and drew his kukri from its shoulder sheathe. Taking a knee towards the man on the bottom of the pile he stabbed downwards twice with the dagger into the prone man's throat. The first, cutting the windpipe, and the second thrust of the twelve inches of steel severed the spinal cord.

Pulling it savagely from the corpse, the rogue stood to looked to find the last two targets. A flash of movement near the camp site's tent brought a distant shadow of movement to his attention. Transferring his grip on the kukri's handle he pulled his arm back and prepared to throw... stepping forwards with his left leg to pitch the dagger forwards like a baseball player, sending it spiralling end over end. A full mid air turning was all he could see before the knife blade stopped, a savage cry of pain was reward enough for his efforts as the stumbling man fell rolling to the ground out of his sights.

Unsure of what else was next, Noth reached back absentmindedly to grab the hilt of his gladius and wrench it from the corpse as he looked for any other sign of the last man. In the distance down the road a little ways, a shadow was running into the woods back towards where Mok and the horses were located. Noth hissed a warning, now that their silence was broken."Cade, get the last one! I'll circle around to finish the one I hit off."

[Cade]

Without hesitation the barbaric half blood myrian chased after the fleeing target, a wolf running his prey down. Cade's feet glided over the forest floor, carefully dodging roots, fallen trees and other dangerous foliage that could end this foot chase in his embarrassment. Reminded him of the past, running the jungles of Taloba, chasing after wild boar with his father. His breaths were timed to each step as his jaw rested slack to give the best circulation as this foot chase was a test of endurance, especially when the barbarian was trying to make ground on his prey.

While on the fly Cade had sheathed his sword and loaded his crossbow in hopes on knocking the wind out of the man with a bolt through the chest. Cade closed the distance between him and his target after awhile of hard running through the forest and now he was with in range of Cade's crossbow. Cade halted bringing his crossbow up to draw aim while taking into calculation of his target's speed and the trees. He wasn't zig zagging for he had not once looked back to see if he was being chased, instead he was running for his life. Easy shot or Cade thought. The bolt ripped through the air just missing his target by a foot to the left and now the man had got the upper hand in the foot race with full knowledge he was being chased now.

"FRAK!" Cade roared in frustration as he hinged the crossbow on his belt and taking up the fruitless chase once more. " MOK!!!.....INCOMING!" He screamed in myrian, the native tongue of his cousin and he in hopes of not tipping of the running man that he was running in Mok's direction.

[Mok]

Bitterly Mok spat again on the floor. Looking over his shoulder he heard some muffled screaming and yelling. At least the whole ordeal would be over quickly. The myrian then stood up and grabbed the reins of the horses. Considering that those pieces of shit were up against Antar and his cousin, there was no way that they would be able to fight for more than a minute before they were carrion food. Just as Mok was about to call the day over, he heard his cousin yelling in the native tongue.

Hesitating a moment, Mok turned around and unsheathed his gladius. Just over the ridge Cade had missed with his bolt and one of the hooligans was sprinting blindly towards Mok’s location. Fortunately the bastard had not seen the myrian’s location. Mok then sprinted taking an angle of pursuit. His wounded arm would not slow him down either. Splinted tightly to his chest, his arm throbbed in pain, but it was nothing he couldn’t handle. Several seconds later the warrior cut off the stupid man that just continued to run forward. Using his momentum, Mok literally ran through his opponent, striking a single devastating blow cutting through the man’s heart and lungs.

Covered in a spray of blood, Mok jogged back to the horses where Cade was already waiting. Mok nodded at Cade with a mocking grin on his face, “How thoughtful for you to leave me one, my cousin.”

Red = Myrian
Bold = Common