Solo A Town Troubled III

[Moritz Craven]

14 Summer 523

Stretching his body, Moritz stood silently in front of the Drunken Fish. At the moment he was dressed and armed with his gauntlet and a few daggers as usual when working as a guard there, waiting for others in his group to be ready. Once more today he was helping some employees make a food run, which in Sunberth meant one thing. Guards. Sending someone, with money, to go and collect food and come back was a dangerous thing. Today in that respect was no different, and so Moritz work for the moment was making sure those employees got there and back safely and with goods in hand.

While he had done this same or similar trek before, each one differed, and some went better than others. He had run into blockades on a few times, and had to find new routes on the way to the market. He had been attacked, albeit not by any groups that were too large. The big three gangs in Sunberth knew to steer clear of Father Manowar and his people, which meant none of them were likely to cause trouble. At least not without drawing that mans ire, and a small group of a few people and the cost of some food was not valuable enough to do so. However at times smaller groups or just random individual thieves would get it into their head it was an easy score and try to make off with something.

By the time Moritz had finished stretching and limbering the rest of his party had arrived. Along with himself there was another guard, this one carrying about a crossbow openly for fighting further off, and some kind of rod or cudgel on his belt as a melee weapon that was a bit harder to see than the larger bulkier weapon. After the guards and along with them was a pair of workers, one male and one female. Both had packs on their back to hold their goods once they were done shopping, and a bit of coin on their person rather than one having all of it. The two worked tables and other jobs, but also knew how to negotiate and so often ended up being the one sent to make deals for food and the like.

With everyone in order the quartet headed off: Moritz taking up the front, the pair of workers in the middle, and the crossbow wielding guard in the back. Moritz for his part kept himself unarmed, other than the gauntlet on his one hand, ready to pull out a dagger if the need arose but confident he could react quicker and better without them in a sudden situation. The Kelvic figured any foe far enough away or giving him enough time to react would be far enough or slow enough he could choose to use his daggers, but the time needed to put them away and use his unarmed skills which were superior to his weapons skills, that seemed unwieldy.

WC: 500

[Moritz Craven]

Having set off from the Drunken Fish, Moritz and his small group made their way to the market. Coming from the Drunken Fish, which was among the docks, it was not a terribly dangerous trip by Sunberth standards. Certainly not so bad as crossing through Daggerhand territory, or other even more lawless areas with no particular gang running it and each small group contesting for one street or alley or corner over the other small gang or group all trying to do the same. These were the truly dangerous places in Sunberth which truly epitomized its lawless description.

As usual it was a simple trip, but also complicated for the guards. At times they could take the most direct route, going from one end to the other. At other times places would be blocked, structures would be built, or there would be a small riot going on blocking the way. Some of these would even be on purpose, to redirect people into ambushes... Today while they could not take the most direct route it was also not the least direct they had taken, and so Moritz had some hope that today would be a quiet trip. Evalynn was getting closer and closer to giving birth, and any work was always hard on him as he dreaded coming home to find she had needed him. Today though he was only needed for the one trip to the market, and then he could go back home. What could possibly go....

Jerking his head Moritz stopped himself from even completing the thought, not wanting to call down some whim of a divine being who wished to prove him wrong. He trusted Dira and Wysar, but knew there were quite a few odd divine beings in the world, and he would not put it past one of these he did not know much of to try something weird. Particularly those with odd domains, goals, or senses of humor. With that in mind he tried to focus on his surroundings and the task at hand, moving his gaze from looking at one passing person to another. He also glanced at the buildings, checked for any signs of a disturbance, and overall stressed his senses to their limit as to what they could tell him.

Walking along though nothing seemed to be amiss, until he noticed some movement out of his peripheral vision. Being an Okomo, his peripheral vision to the left and right was much wider than normal, but his ability to see up and down peripherally without actually turning his head up or down was more limited. This meant those trying to sneak around his blind spot were often shocked to find it stretched a bit further than they thought.

In between himself and one of the workers behind him, he noticed some motion as he turned his head to look to the right. A slowly sneaking figure which was trying to get by without being noticed and heading right towards the man there.

Jerking his head in reaction to face the person Moritz thrust out one of his hands to grab at the slowly creeping form. However just before his hand reached the skulking target they bounded off, changing direction and fleeing entirely from the encounter.

Not completely sure that he had been right, but relatively confident that the man had been up to something, Moritz let out a sigh of relief as the worker behind him let out a noise of surprise at the suddenly bolting form.

Meanwhile Moritz tried to remember whatever he could about the person. Most likely male. Average height for a human male... Not too tall or short. But they had moved quite well, and nearly got past his view without being noticed... And, Moritz had to admit, the Kelvic had noticed them more by luck than by skill. Other than those things he did not recall much, the man having his head obscured by the direction he was facing, and dressed normally enough for Sunberth if a bit nicer than the average street thug or gutter punk.

WC: 680

[Moritz Craven]

After their last near run in with someone trying to make off with something from one of their workers, Moritz and the guard behind him became even more vigilant. With a near miss though this simply meant they were even more on edge, as they were already paying attention to their surroundings as much as they could be.

Moritz movements became a bit more tense, but he still tried to keep smooth and fluid in his motions and after a few chimes of calm was able to force his motions back to their normal method. This was simply done by focusing on his breathing, calming himself, and trying to center his focus on his surroundings. It was not truly a deep meditation, but simply using some of the techniques used in it to focus his mind and push away distractions like his nerves. It did not always work, but it did help the Kelvic to force his logical mind back in charge as he knew he was already doing everything reasonable to deal with their trip.

Letting out a mental sigh, rather than a physical one as he feared startling one of his tense colleagues or making someone think he was bored and not paying attention, Moritz returned to the rote movements of the trip. Moving, and scanning as he moved. Moving again and scanning. Checking on his companions to make sure they were keeping up, an important task for the front of a group... And then scanning around some more. While almost constantly moving, to his mind there were segments to his task which seemed to repeat, though which he tried to repeat out of order to avoid becoming too predictable. This itself was tricky, and after awhile he ended up falling into the trap of repeating the same action which was impossible to do as far as Moritz could tell for such a long trip.

For awhile after that things became quiet, without any run ins or issues. No falling threats, no running people trying to attack. No issues at all. Which, of course, made Moritz even more tense again as he felt something was coming but was unsure what or when. This, he felt, made it even worse than when he knew something was coming as the unknown grinded on him.

With this thought in mind Moritz smiled when he heard a sudden rumble, and saw a pile of detritus and building material collapse across the pathway behind them, shortly followed by one collapsing across the other end of the passage they were taking. It was almost a relief, to have something to finally deal with.

They could of course climb over the detritus, but only if no one got in their way. And of course a moment later someone came moving into view, or multiple someones.

Pouring out of a doorway, more of a half broken opening with a sheet drawn across it, three men poured out. Though looking more closely men was a stretch. Elder teen males perhaps, Moritz thought to himself to describe the people. Looking up he checked the roofs above, and saw a single man perched with a crossbow. Whether he knew how to use it or not though was the real question.

One of the men on the ground stepped forward, the two behind him clearly backing him up. Both of them had a dagger or perhaps a longish knife, while the man in front had a shortsword of some sort. None of the weapons looked to be in good repair, nor did their clothing seem to be in a good state. Another thing Moritz noticed was that the passage they were in was a bit narrow, so while perhaps two of them could stand side by side, all three could not come at them at once. And if two of them tried to attack at once from the ground, they would get into each others way. Smiling the Kelvic realized they had hampered themselves, seeing as their numbers were not as useful when only one at a time could come at them.

"Are you guys new at this, or something? And do you really think its a good idea to attack our group? We work with Father Manowar, and he will not take kindly to you starting stuff."

Making his thoughts clear Moritz talked, preempting the man approaching before him.

WC: 730

[Moritz Craven]

While Moritz tried to be a bit brash to scare the people off, it was quite quickly clear that it had not worked. For a moment the elder teen in front seemed to show some fear, but he quickly recovered and came back at Moritz' group. "Petch. Well fine then, it just means we gotta kill you all, so no one finds out. If you hadn't mouthed off, we woulda let you all go! Its your own fault what happens now?"

Moritz, hearing this, wondered for a moment if he had spoken the truth. But thinking it over for a short while he realized these people were desperate. Which meant they were either new to the job at hand, possibly also not good at it, or possibly even working in an area someone else run... If any of those were true, then leaving his group alive once they were robbed was unlikely.

Taking charge of the group, and thinking over the combat situation as he had seen it, Moritz spoke over his shoulder to his fellow guard without taking his eyes off the ones before him.

"I can get in front, can you get above?"

For a moment there was silence, and then Moritz heard a grunt of confirmation from his coworker. The others along with them, the workers who were not guards, would also pitch in if needed and knew some basics on defending themselves, but in this scenario Moritz felt it was better for him to tackle those on the ground while his coworker guard supported once taking out the one on the roof.

"Fine, then you two stay back behind me, and only step in if someone gets past me. Crossbow, take out the one on the roof, and support me if you can once that is done. Meanwhile, I will deal with these amateurs. Do not even know enough to get a wide enough area to box us in. They would be lucky if two could get by. Definitely do not know what they are doing... Go!"

The others were not just standing idle as Moritz quietly gave out orders, yelling and trying to intimidate Moritz, despite already threatening to kill him. Were they dumb? Or just overconfident that they had won.

Trusting his fellow workers Moritz launched himself forward at the yelled word Go! and raced at the teen in the front. He did not bother taking out his weapons, instead coming at him bare handed and gauntlet-ed.

Before he even reached his target he heard the sound of the other guards crossbow shooting. A moment later there was a loud grunt, and then some clashing sounds as the man above them dropped his weapon. At that short of a range hitting was almost guaranteed for anyone decently skilled, and the guards at the Drunken Fish were all decently skilled in some combat style. Still hitting him on the first shot was a bit of luck. Moritz without fully considering it bent down as he ran, and grabbed up the crossbow that had fallen. At a glance he could see it was poorly maintained, unlike the guards. At some point in falling it had also lost its bolt, and was just a chunk of wood and metal and wire.

Then rather than using it as intended, Moritz chucked the crossbow at the man in front. Not expecting that he hacked at it with his sword, but just managed to have his own blade knocked back while loosing the momentum he had for a defensive attack.

Moritz, sensing his being off step, came in fast. Using his gauntleted hand he grabbed at the blade and yanked, pulling the weapon that was already loosely in his grip out of his hands. Then using his right foot he kicked the man in the leg aiming for his knee. With an odd sound bones should not make something snapped or broke, and the man let out a wail as he fell to the ground. Only two left... And one on the ground, mostly out of the picture... Though, still possibly trouble, Moritz reminded himself.

WC: 685

[Moritz Craven]

A bit unexpectedly for Moritz, his initial attack went much better than he had hoped for. Often he pictured things going one way in his head, but in real life they did not quite work out. Here though they went almost exactly as he had wished. The randomly thrown weapon had upset the first mans balance, leaving him wide open to having his weapon taken. That had then left him open to another blow, and with the other guy not knowing what he had been doing without a weapon Moritz was easily able to strike him with a vicious kick to a joint.

That man, now on the ground and clutching at his likely broken knee, was not much of a threat now. Giving him a kick in the gut he forced him out of the way, and passed by to face the other two wielding their shorter blades like a dagger or a knife. Rather than one at a time they both came at Moritz at once, and both moved to strike, only ending up getting in each others way and bumping into each other and nearly stabbing their partner.

Moritz, pausing for a moment while working out how best to go at it, heard a gurgling wet sound behind him, and turned partially so that he could see what was happening out of his peripheral vision. It was only a glance, but in that moment it was quite clear. One of the two workers had drawn out a short blade they kept for self defense, a simple knife, and stabbed it right into the open neck of the man laying on the ground with the injured knee. There was no fear on his face, and only a bit of anger.

Rather the main expression of his face was a stern and serious one. He looked more like he was finishing off a stuck pig rather than ending a human life. But clearly he assumed that Moritz had left him for him to finish off since he was not a threat and easy pickings for the workers. Before his trip to Sunberth he might have had some qualms over that, but having made that trip and lived through those slavers along with having survived in Sunberth he had come to accept death much more easily.

With a sigh he looked at the other two elder teens, both arguing back and forth. What had once been a trap for Moritz group was now one for the attacking party, as the once open doorway had finally collapsed along with part of the wall it was attached to at some point during the fight. There only options were to fight or flee, but in doing so they would be leaving their backs open, just as Moritz group would have been before... Only now the tables had turned.

WC: 475