Solo A rather interesting day

[Carus Nothus]

2nd of Spring, 518 AV

The season had changed, but sadly Carus life situation had not. Well, his income had at least not changed, but since he was running out of money and was soon afraid to be out of it, he knew it was finally time. He had dreaded this day ever since he had started living on his own; he would have to get a real job. The thought made Carus whole body shiver. A regular job, like a regular little peasant. How far he had sunk in this hell hole of a town. Stealing was harder when half the town was trying to steal. People were more alert, and the more ragged the Carus started to look, the less likely he was to approach someone without them keeping an extra eye on him to make sure he wouldn’t take anything.

So this morning he knew it was time, time to look for any job that would gain him some sort of income. Hopefully he wouldn’t have to work for too long before he could make some other sort of arrangement, but for now it was the only choice he had. So it was that he left tent city that morning, wearing his traveling outfit, not making any real effort to look presentable. Even with his five o’clock shadow and uncombed hair, he looked better than most of the city. If you would ask him about it anyway. He decided that the market would be his best bet to find something.

He thought for awhile if he should go through the Slums or Slavers row to get to the market but quickly decided to take the tour through the slave market. He didn’t enjoy seeing people sitting in cages or being sold off to the highest bidder, but the sights of the slums were far worse for Carus. The thought of seeing the buildings again made his stomach turn, so the choice was simple for the time being. He started to walk through tent city towards the slave market.

As he quietly walked along the streets of the slave market, trying to stay off the main ones since he was more likely to there see the bad parts of town, he thought to himself what he might prefer to get a job as. His first thought was at a tavern, pouring drinks for people. He could always sneak a few himself and probably have a good time. Then he remembered all the times he’d seen someone working the bar get hurt when they were forced to break up a bar fight that they had nothing to do with and he quickly changed his mind.

Maybe some sort of salesman? He was sure that if he shaved his face and put on his better clothes, persuading people to buy things from him couldn’t be to hard. It would probably be quite easy in fact, he just had to get a job somewhere with things that everyone needed. Only the really rich spent money on things they didn’t really need here in Sunberth. Although having a job where he could cater to the few rich in town might be a better option, although he knew most of the rich were part of gangs and he had managed to stay out of that so far.

He walked, lost in his own thought between the houses as he suddenly saw something that made his mind focus back to the present. There were just a few other people walking this little side part of the slave market when suddenly he saw a man come running straight at him. The man was wearing very peculiar clothing, all covered up in a cloak, the persons hood covering their face. They ran very quickly, with purpose it looked like. In a hurry perhaps.

As the person got nearer Carus quickly moved to the side of the street to not collide with the runner, afraid of being knocked down because of the speed they were moving in. The person rushed passed him and Carus turned his head to look behind him just as the runner took a right turn and disappeared from sight. It was a bit of a curious incident, and the few other people close by also looked a bit confused at each other.

That was probably why they missed the envelope on the ground. It was just a few feet in front of Carus, and he could have swore it wasn’t there just a second ago. The only reasonable explanation would be that the runner had dropped it and not noticed because of their rush. Carus looked around to see if anyone else had noticed it before he took a quick step forward and picked up the envelope. He turned around towards the way the runner had taken but realised he had no chance of catching up with them. He turned around on the envelope, trying to see if there was a name or an address on it, but all he could see was a dark red lump of wax that held the envelope shut.

[Carus Nothus]

For a moment Carus debated if he should simply open the envelope and see what was inside. While it seemed wrong, just throwing it away didn’t seem right either, that way he would never have a chance to return the letter too whoever it was meant for. His curiosity was peaking and he was about to open the letter when something new caught his eye. Three other people, dressed similar to the runner could be seen moving along the same path as the last one, heading straight towards him. His first reaction was to simply slowly walk towards them, hoping to ask them or perhaps simply hand over the letter if they knew who it might be fore. But as they came closer, he could see the three daggers the people had drawn.

For a second, Carus stood still as the men approached him quickly, unsure of what to do. But after a quick seconds thought, he turned a corner and ran. It was usually not a great thing when people ran at you with daggers, and Carus had started to learn that in this town it was better safe than sorry. He managed to decide this while the people were still at a bit of distance, giving him a head start. He realised that if they had the same running ability as the courier of the letter though, he would have no chance of outrunning them, and trying to lure them of where he went would be his only option.

He quickly reached the large main street that he knew separated the Slaver’s row from the market. The street wasn’t too busy at this hour, and he knew he wouldn’t be able to hide himself in the crowd here, but if he crossed over to the market and tried to hide somewhere there, he might still have a chance. As he quickly moved across the large street he dared to take a quick look behind him, noticing they were quickly gaining on him. He managed to see that all three of them shared the same red colored hair, slightly sticking out from under their cloaks that had fallen back somewhat in the chase. He turned his head back looking forward just as he was about to crash into someone else. He just managed to turn to the side as he ran past, hearing angry yelling from behind him from the person he almost clashed in to as he entered the marketplace.

He didn’t stop his running as he looked around, trying to figure out anywhere to hide himself. But the place was to open for it, and the people hunting him where too close behind for him to duck in somewhere and take cover. He thought for a second if the amount of people in the market would deter them from stabbing him to death right there. In any other town it might have helped, but he didn’t think anyone here would try to stop them, and even if they did these people were so fast they would be gone before anyone would even be able to identify them.

No, he simply had to keep running until he saw some opportunity to hide.
The market was rather busy, and moving quickly in the crowd was easier said than done. Carus made sure to move in zig-zag lines, moving quite far away from the straight path he was on at first. He was hoping this move might confuse the people who were hunting him, that he might lose them in a crowd. After going through most of the open area this way, right before he was about to turn around the corner of a house, he dared take another look behind him. He could still see them after him, their clothes quite easily recognisable. But he was lucky, their rush and weird clothing seemed to make people somewhat wary of them. As people tried to get out of the way from them it created more confusion than a path for them, and that had made them lag behind slightly. Carus felt glad that he at least managed to widen the margin he had too them as he turned his head back forward and ran straight forward on the small street he had entered.

It was a much smaller street, and there were a lot fewer people. As he ran straight ahead he saw a main street clear out infront of him again, and on the other side was the Slums. It made Carus stomach turn, but this was not the time to care about were he was headed, he simply had to run, and the many houses there would be a good way to make twist and turns to try and lost them. He kept running, getting winded and tired, knowing that he wouldn’t be able to run for that much longer, as he crossed the street and entered into the Slums.

[Carus Nothus]

Carus kept on running, taking so many runs behind corners to get out of their sights that he lost what direction of the city he was going in. For all he knew he might run straight into the men, but all he did was kept running. He couldn’t see them behind him anymore at least and that gave him some comfort, as he knew he would soon have to stop and catch his breath. He was a bit athletic, but running for this amount of time was nothing he was used to. As he turned another corner and saw an old house with the door on the ground, fallen of the hinges, he assumed it was abandoned and quickly ducked in. He took a quick right when he went through the door, pressing himself against the wall.

He took a quick look around, his breathing heavy as he tried to calm it to stay quite. It certainly did seem abandoned, with no real furniture to speak off in the very small house. If he was lucky, he might be able to hide out in here until the coast was clear.

He didn’t know why the people were after him, who they where or what they wanted, but he didn’t feel compelled to stop and find out either. As he stood there, thinking it all through as he tried to calm down his racing heart and breath, he remembered the reason they were after him in the first place. He still clutched the envelope in his hand firmly, it had crumpled somewhat in his hand but it wasn’t destroyed. He ripped open the envelope, quickly looking down to see what it contained. All that was in it seemed to be a note and a playing card. He started by taking out the playing card and turning it around in his hand.

He couldn’t see anything special about the card at all. It was The whip of arrows, and it didn’t tell him much at all, except that he enjoyed having it in his hand when he went gambling. Having it now didn’t fill him with the same amount of joy and excitement sadly, as he just put it back in his envelope quickly, daring to take a slow step and peak outside. He couldn’t see them, but he could hear their footsteps. He assumed it was them from the speed anyway. He couldn’t tell quite where they were as he went back inside.

He was just about to pull up the note when he saw a small child in front of him, staring at him in fear. She was a small child, no more than four years old. Carus quickly put a finger to his lips, making a shushing sound, hoping the child would stay quite. But the child paid no mind to his gesture, yelling loudly.

“Mooom, there’s someone in our house!”, She looked at Carus and giggled a bit. Carus quickly took a step outside, and heard the footsteps coming closer as two of the men turned a corner from a couple of houses over, turning right towards him, probably heading there because of the comotion they had heard. They turned their head and yelled loudly in a language that Carus couldn’t understand. He assumed they yelled for the third man, but he wasn’t going to stay and wait, quickly setting off in the opposite direction from where the men were coming from, and he was back to square one again, except he was a lot more tired now.

Once again luckily he had a bit of a head start on them as he took of. He had no idea in what direction he was running, but he simply followed the small streets and continued making quick turns now and then to try and shake them off. He soon saw the edges of some place he had never seen before. But the large walls seemed like a safe space to hide out if he could get in, so he bolted for the big door that he happened to see.

[Carus Nothus]

Carus managed to reach the door of the very large building while he was still in a bit of a lead of the men chasing him. He knocked heavily and quickly on the door, hoping it wouldn’t be to long before someone heard his knocking. After just a short second, the door opened a small bit, and Carus could see an old man with greying hair and beard open it up. Carus took a quick look behind him and saw the men were not far off now.

“Please, I need somewhere to hide from those people!”, Carus said quickly, pleading to the man. He seemed to have his eyes scan Carus, before moving his eyes to the men hunting him. There seemed to be something in his eyes, which he couldn’t decide if it was understanding of who they where or just a simple reaction to the fact that they were clearly after Carus.

“I’ll owe you a favour, please!”, Carus said, and at this the man quickly opened the door wider, letting Carus in before he himself took a quick step outside, and shut the door behind him. It was a large and dim room that Carus had ended up in, and he was unsure of what to do. Was the man planning on trying to fight the three attackers off by himself? After a second Carus could hear multiple raised voices speaking once again in a language that he couldn’t understand. He moved to the corner that would be covered by the door if it was opened and hunched down for safety. The voices continued, and as Carus waited, he decided to take his chance and read the letter that was clearly very important for some reason.

"Found her. The dogs are at the gate. Use the window at twilight. She'll be wearing yellow at Brega's. Leave the card when you're done."

Carus had no idea what this meant. Who had written the note? Who had they found? There was so little information, it was very hard to make out anything from it. Should he go to Brega’s? He knew it was a brothel. But what good would it do, really? He had nothing to do with it, and why should he jeopardize his safety even more than what had already happened, for something he knew nothing about? As his thought pondered on it, he realised the sound of talking outside had quieted down, just as the door opened. He was glad to see it was the man who had opened the door, and he quickly stood back up, walking over to him quickly.

“Thank you so much, I am Carus!”, he said, his breathing still heavy from the run as he tried to calm himself down. He made sure to speak politely to the man, he had just saved his life after all. The man’s eyes moved over Carus again, sizing him up. Carus reached out his hand for a handshake. The old man looked at it for a short moment before reaching out and grabbing it.

“Hello. I am Edward Vino”, the man answered, and Carus heart sank. He knew who the Vino were, even if he didn’t know too much about them he knew it was a gang, and he had managed so well to stay out of all gang business so far in this town. But now he knew it was too late. Edward continued to speak. “You are free to stay in this room for a while, to make sure the men who hunted you have left. After that, you will leave. You will not mention you were here to anyone..”, he continued sternly, while Carus simply nodded as the man continued on. “.. and when we call upon you, you will repay your debt”, and with that he turned away and walked off, taking a door to another room, leaving Carus alone.

Carus sat and pondered in the large room for a few hours, just waiting out the time to make sure his assailants were gone. Earlier he had decided to ignore the letter, but now he owed a gang a favor as well, because of a stupid letter. No, even if he decided not to go and see what would happen in the brothel, he was in too deep. There was no reason for him to stop now, if he was in this much trouble, he had to know what it was that had made it happen. So, as he took his first step outside the door, and the sun was getting lower, he knew he had to go to Brega’s and find out more.

[Carus Nothus]

Carus had heard of Brega’s before, but had never actually been there. He knew it was in some gang territory, although he wasn’t clear on who owned the territory right now. He didn’t eve know what the brothel looked like, so he just had to go with his instincts and maybe ask someone when he knew that he should be close by. He knew it was quite a bit away from where he was now at least, since he was right next to the water and he knew that Brega’s was a bit closer to the middle of Sunberth. He also he knew he would have to get a move on if he was supposed to get there before dusk.

He started to walk along the shoreline, at least knowing the direction of Johnny’s. He had been there multiple times and gambled before, and with the clientele it had, he was sure one of them could point him in the right direction to get to Bregas. It was quite a bit to walk even so, and he kept his steps quick so he was sure he’d make it in time. He had to take a small boat over the canal to get to Johnny’s, and waiting for one that would take him made him lose precious time.

When he arrived he went straight in and looked around to see if he recognised anyone. He saw a few people gambling that he had played with before, and decided it would be safest to ask someone he had seen before. But as he started to approach the table he suddenly stopped mid track as he came to think of something. Was it really a good idea to ask people about the directions there? There were people after him who probably knew about the content of the letter, if any of them would hear him ask about it, they’d know it was him. Or if anything was to happen there, it would have been better that no one knew were he was. He looked out a window to see that his time was getting shorter and he decided he didn’t have time for thinking about it now. He approached the table, and the men playing cards pointed him in the right direction, giving him some clue of where to go.

It sounded simple enough. He just had to go through stumble alley and then follow the main road for awhile, taking a left into the area just after the main road split into two. Once there, Brega’s wasn’t supposed to be too hard to recognise. As he hurried out the door and through stumble alley, he wondered what he would do once he got there. The letter had mentioned he should use a window. But what window? He couldn’t just pick a window and sit outside, he would just have to go in and hang about, keeping an eye out for the woman in the yellow dress. He assumed that whoever the letter was meant for should have gotten the information now either way, so there wasn’t more to do than just stay there and watch for now.

He arrived in the area, mostly just walking up and down the main road as he waited for the sun to go down. He didn’t have to wait for too long luckily enough. A while before dusk came he walked into the brothel. He told the kind person behind the bar that he simply wished to look around for now, until he noticed what girl caught his eye. He was told that the main common room was the area he would be looking for, and he took the stairs there. Once there, he looked as if he was simply interested in looking at the lady’s, trying to decide. He sat down on a couch in the room, leaning back and trying to look comfortable. And then, he simply waited.

[Meriann]

Great thread! Remember to edit your grade request to show it has been completed. Please PM me if you think I've missed anything.

Carus

Skills
Land Navigation: +3
Planning: +1
Observation: +5
Running: +2
Endurance: +2
Stealth: +3
Persuasion: +1
Socialisation: +1
Subterfuge: +2

Lores

• Carus: Regards working as a peasant’s domain
• Larceny: Difficult in a poor area
• Carus: Thinks himself handsome
• Land Navigation: Picking smaller paths to avoid rough areas
• Person: Cloaked, running stranger with letter
• Observation: Noticing weapons
• Sunberth: Better safe than sorry
• Stealth: Running in a zig-zag pattern to throw off the chase
• People: Red-headed strangers at the Slaver’s Row
• Item: ‘Whip of Arrows’ card inside the mysterious envelope
• Item: Cryptic note dropped by cloaked stranger
• Stealth: Keeping quiet to avoid attention
• Persuasion: Offering a favour for a favour
• Stealth: Importance of getting off the streets
• Carus: Owes a favour to the Vino
• Edward Vino: Old man with greying hair and beard
• Socialisation: Making an introduction
• The Vino: A Sunberth gang
• Sunberth Location: Brega’s Brothel
• Land Navigation: Using the surroundings as a mental map
• Sunberth Location: Tall Johnny’s
• Land Navigation: Directions to Brega’s

Notes
+1 Whip of Arrows playing card
+1 note, dropped by a cloaked stranger at the Slaver's Row. "Found her. The dogs are at the gate. Use the window at twilight. She'll be wearing yellow at Brega's. Leave the card when you're done."

Wow! Great thread, I loved it. You write action brilliantly, and I was hooked to the story unfolding. Remember though, when noting your skills and lores in your CS, you need to show which thread they were from. That either means putting a url link in the skills and lores section, or listing your thread rewards under the thread listing.