Solo A Town Troubled IV

[Moritz Craven]

Continued 14 Summer 523

Having made it through the opening bits of the ambush, and somehow turned the tables through grit and wiles and skill, Moritz group finally seemed to have the upper hand. Not wanting to waste the momentum of the fight or to give them a chance to recover Moritz moved to attack again.

Preparing himself for a moment, Moritz launched himself towards the two teens left. Both drew their weapons, one finally working out he needed room to move and so getting in front of the other one. As before Moritz used his own equipment to the max, preparing his gauntlet-ed hand to meet the mans dagger. Rather than grabbing at it this time, since he did not have the added aid of the distraction of a random thrown object, Moritz punched at the hand holding the dagger.

While his hit did not land just right, it did force the man to jump back to get out of range of the incoming fist. However the man behind him was not ready for this, and falling backward away from Moritz he ended up bumping into the man behind him. Not missing out on this Moritz jumped forward again, this time aiming a sudden quick kick at the mans chest. This one did manage to land, knocking the air out of the mans chest momentarily, but also even more making the two end up entangled and ending with them both falling to the ground.

Once more landing a kick, Moritz jumped forward and acted before they could recover, kicking the hand holding a dagger he saw first. This resulted in a yelp of pain, and the dagger being tossed out of the mans hand. Trying to keep his momentum he tried to find the other dagger still held by the other man, just in time to see the man on the ground wildly stabbing in Moritz direction. Moritz for his part reacted by retreating, and unlike his foe there was no one behind him to tangle with. Instead he had plenty of room to move, and his group knew to not get up in his business.

Before he could work out how to continue though he heard the sound of a crossbow firing, and a moment later witnessed the bolt flying by. His partner guard had managed to get a good angle on the two on the ground from a bit of a distance, and had fired into the heap of bodies.

Shortly after this there was some squirming, and then one of the bodies jumped up untangled with the remaining dagger in hand, while the other body slumped and fell across the ground. Before Moritz could act or his fellow guard could reload the remaining ambusher ran at the pile of debris and climbed it in short order.

Moritz group for their part was not overly concerned with chasing the last one down, not when their actual goal today was to get to the market and back safely, but the man who ran off did run in the direction they were going. And so with a few groans of annoyance and much more care than the other youth scurrying off, they slowly made their climb up the pile of debris while making sure not to get hurt. This was a tricky task based on what had been used to make the blockage, but after a fair few chimes their entire group did make it up and over in turn and down to the other side.

However it was not long after they arrived there that more annoyances arrived to bother them more.

WC: 600

[Moritz Craven]

Heading over the heap, Moritz and his group finally made it to solid ground from where they had been stuck. As far as they could tell that earlier group was not a real gang, just a small time group of vagrants and thugs who worked together to try to make some money. It was all too common in Sunberth, particularly in the areas not ruled by the bigger gangs. Any street or alley could have a different small group hoping to make it big and to live rich.

Thinking it over, Moritz realized far more would surely die than make it, if not most of these people. With that in mind Moritz was not surprised to find another group waiting for them when they came to the ground, coming out from all sorts of places. One of them was also dragging a dead body, the dead body of the attempted ambush-er which had run away. From the fact that they had caught and killed the runner meant these new people were not part of the same group, but some other new group.

Unlike the earlier group that consisted of older teens, all of the people here were men. Young men, but men all the same. A bit bigger, a bit older, and a bit tougher than the group that had acted by ambush. Now this new group seemed to be trying to follow up on the failed attempt to rob them, by also trying to rob them. Glaring at them Moritz eyed each in turn, five men in total.

"Look, I do not want more trouble. Just leave us be, and we will not have any. We just want to get where we are going."

With a grin the men laughed, leering back at Moritz and the others. One of the men standing at the front seemed to take charge, leaving Moritz to wonder if every group of wannabe thugs attacking people on the street had some mouthy leader who lied to talk and would always respond to his words. "Why would we do that. Seems like you all are tired from fighting those fools. But all we want is your money, weapons, and anything else of value. Play nice, and you can even live."

Letting out a sigh Moritz turned back to his partner and made a quick nod, before letting his eyes wander one by one over the others men. As usual he used his own unique ability to check their combat sense, inspecting them all one by one. Most of them, all but two, seemed to have barely any combat presence. Two of them, the man the second on the left and the man in the middle speaking for the others, seemed to have a bit more presence. Almost as much as Moritz and his partner... Which could mean trouble. Knowing this, Moritz strategy seemed simple enough. Trying to be subtle Moritz coughed while pointing at the man the second from the left, marking him as a target for a unexpected attack. Moritz then eyed the other man, keeping him talking while his fellow guard prepared.

"How about this, we fight, no one else. If I win, you all leave us alone. If you win, I give in to your demands. Sounds fair enough to you right?"

WC: 550

[Moritz Craven]

After Moritz made his offering of a duel, taking a few steps closer to the man till he was only a few paces away, the men once more began laughing. "Why the petch would I agree to that? We outnumber you, and only half of you are fighters or armed. And you just finished a fight before us. Seems pretty clear your all fully petched. So give us what we want, and make it quick before we lose patience."

Getting a bit closer, taking a half step when the man was not paying attention here and there, he managed to get within a pace of the man while conversing and trying to play it off like it was natural. Pretending like he was considering his offer seriously, Moritz put a hand to his chin.

"I mean, when you put it that wa...."

Having been turned down for a duel, Moritz felt no remorse when he suddenly broke off mid word and aimed a punch with his gauntlet-ed fist right at the mans face. He was more surprised than anything that the man had not expected that, apparently assuming either Moritz would give in, or try to run rather than attacking head on. Taking his cue from Moritz action his partner fired his crossbow, hitting the man he had pointed out.

If Moritz had been looking or had the time to do so he would have seen the bolt of the crossbow sink into the mans gut, forcing a grunt of pain as he stumbled about. Moritz for his part aimed right at the mans face, as his eyes and nose, and managed to make contact with the blow before the man could respond or register that he was being attacked. With a sickening squelch the mans nose was flattened, and blood gushed out around the wound. Not hesitating, and trusting his partner would be doing his job, Moritz kept at it, landing a kick with his boot right in the mans gut.

With the pair of blows the man seemed to seize up in shock, trying to breath in while also trying to breath out. Somehow he was still on his feet, but stumbling about with his arms grasping at his face. Pulling back his gauntlet-ed arm Moritz prepared himself again, canting his body and twisting into a full force punch aimed at the mans throat. This blow also managed to land on the man stumbling about, and finally sent him falling to the ground. Moritz did not even spare the man a moments thought, though he knew there was a good chance from the attack he had just given that the man was dead or dying directly due to him. Instead he focused on the other remaining men.

Finally able to look around, he saw that the other man with a bit of skill had been taken out, now laying across the ground clutching the crossbow bolt to his chest or gut and bleeding. The other three remaining men who were the least skilled had for their part made an equally quick decision. All of them had fled, giving up on their allies when they saw their two best fighters taken down and were even then still running as fast as they could away from them. It was a bit sad to see someone give up on their allies so easily, but also not surprising in this particular city.

WC: 570

[Moritz Craven]

Having taken on two group back to back, Moritz was growing tired. He had put in a lot of time training his stamina, but even he could only endure so long with sustained efforts. Still, their job was not done, as they still had to get to the market to acquire their supplies. And while none of them had been truly skilled, and most had just been random bands of street thugs of no import, they did add up.

Letting out a sigh Moritz headed back over to the man he had attacked, quickly noticing he had grown still. Looking closely he had a bloody smashed in face. Along with that it was clear part of his throat had been smashed in, and unable to breath the man had died. Not quite as quick or merciful a death as some, but still relatively quick... Along with that Moritz did not doubt that if they had lost or given in to the groups demands they would have soon enough killed them to keep them quiet. Father Manowar was not a huge name in Sunberth, not one of the big names, but no one wanted to annoy him over something so small. Attacking a group from his place gathering supplies and robbing them seemed a good way to do just that. Which meant, Moritz reasoned silently to himself, that anyone with half a wit in their head would silence them once they got what they wanted.

With all of that in mind, Moritz knew it had been kill or be killed, and so felt no qualms over choosing to kill the man. Perhaps a few seasons ago, he reasoned, he would have thought different. Even to his mind his own life in Sunberth not so long ago seemed like an almost different person or life. The events of the repeated day, the time spent in Sunberth, both had made Moritz rethink things and have made him accept Dira's grasp of death calling much more easily for others.

While he finished checking over his own target one of the workers headed over to the man with a bolt in his gut slowly bleeding out. Silently they knelt down with a blade and opened the mans throat with a single motion, ending his suffering in short order rather than leaving him to slowly die painfully. Even to Moritz mind that was a mercy, as he did not expect anyone around Sunberth would be able to treat that wound properly without the man dying.

With all of their enemies dealt with Moritz and his group began moving along, haggard but committed to finishing their supply run. As they moved it was a somewhat quiet trip, not much more happening after all of the activities of earlier. Still they kept vigilant, keeping their eyes peeled and looking about to make sure no one came near. In the end not too long later they made it to the market, and were able to acquire their goods in short enough order. Most of it was food, along with a few other things, but the workers that had come along did their work and bought all the stuff available they would need. With that finally done they made to leave, and headed off on the slow trek back to their workplace.

WC: 552