PM to join Rat Race

[Elias Caldera]

Windmilling and pistoning his arms in all manner of ridiculous ways, Elias was forced to do everything he could just to stop himself from stumbling over the edge of the rooftops he was now recklessly dashing across. The last time he had gone roof hopping was when he was a kid, and that had ended poorly. Just as poorly as he knew it would end this time, he was certain of it. The very uneasy mage rarely ever managed to take his eyes off his own feet as he ran, the threat of taking just one wrong step was so imminent it demanded his entire attention. Then he heard the pit fighter screaming bloody murder from behind him, and his feet suddenly weren't so important anymore.

He bolted as fast as he could, the shock so bad he almost cried out for the thief to run faster so he wouldn't get in his way, because by the sound of it, Elias was pretty sure that pissed off petcher on his tail wasn't going to care who got in his way, especially if it was namely one novice mage who enjoyed his fingernails just where they were thank you very much. He spared one apprehensive glance over his right shoulder, just in time to catch sight of the bodyguard barreling towards him with unbridled rage, yes, but also T and his goons clambering out the window all three of them had burst forth from earlier. Or at least they were trying to. It seemed the fourth time was the last time for the rather overweight and awfully naked man, as he descended upon the poor cut purses with a hairy wrath that even Elias, who they had punched repeatedly if his fuzzy memory served correctly, wouldn't have wished on them. The questionable and equally naked female company the oaf had been keeping soon joined in on the fray as well, and T found himself far too preoccupied with just keeping his head to worry himself with catching anybody anymore.

One silent prayer went out for T, who just wanted no trouble, and another for himself, who just wanted his money back. With that, Elias redoubled his efforts. This little rat race was about to end, one way or another, he swore it. Duke was slowing down, the drain of the chase and his own injuries taking their hefty tole on his body. It was mirrored in Elias who was by then huffing and puffing like an old wheezy woman. Yet for all his apparent fatigue, Duke showed just how committed he was to not getting murdered. Agile like a petching cat, he leapt and bound over rooftops, patios and balconies as if his life depended on it. Elias barely managed to keep up, and it was always via the easiest route he could find through the maze of tightly knitted buildings that Ravok. He heard shouts from the streets and canals below, some jeering, some drunken and unintelligible, some even encouraging. He ignored them all.

When Duke made to jump for a hanging plant fixture to swing around a corner, a trick he had already performed twice before, but tripped and nearly tumbled to the floor, Elias finally saw his opportunity. The man rolled, righted himself and leapt, but the determined Caldera was already on his heels, expending the last of his reserves in one valiant burst of speed. He surged forward, leaping right behind Duke, his arms extended to grab the thief's legs mid air. Finally, he rejoiced in jubilation, I've got you!

His hand found nothing but a torn strip of trousers.

Elias cried out in terror. His grasp failing to find anything but his own doom as he sailed through the air and downward to his certain demise. One could only imagine then, how elated the young man was when he was greeted with a splash instead of a splat upon landing. Unfortunately, it meant he had fallen out of the race, and his mizas were as good as lost forever. The pit fighter would have the chase all too himself, easily able to close the distance now as the alley rat's stamina waned and eventually failed. As fate would have it, he had run out of roof to use for his escape to boot. He came to a skidding halt right at the edge of his last building top. As the brute neared his gasping prize, a familiar sight reappeared a tick later, dripping wet and standing proudly at the prow of an overworked ravosala, he spotted the duo and leapt from the small vessel, a string of curses following him from the driver. "What about my money!" The man had yelled as he watched Elias scramble away.

"What about mine!" He hollered back.

[Gregory]

Gregory was going to kill that thief. That was the thing he kept saying in his head as he refused to look down towards the ground that was quite a ways higher then he was used to. IT probably was the only reason why he still was on the roof and not walking on the ground like a sensible person. Was because he would lose the petching thief then. Gregory just tried his best to keep his balance on the roof and just did his best to keep up. But he was slowly but surely falling falling behind. It was only by a stroke of pure utter luck that he managed to finally catch up to the petcing thief. The other guy missed and fell into a canal and the petching thief ran out of places to run towards. No roof to run towards. Only two way out. Falling on the hard road or into gregory's arms. Gregory smiled a cruel grin as he stepped towards the thief. “You don't know how much I'm looking forwards to this.” He cracked his knuckles and grabbed the exhausted thief by his collar. “No bloody idea.” He snatched both purses filled with gold from him and hung them from his own belt. He pushed the man backwards and backwards. Holding on tight to the man's collar. Until there wasn't any roof left and he was leaning over the edge of it. “Come on man. Don't do this.” Gregory just smiled and let him lean a bit further over the edge. Enjoying the look in the man's eye for a few more moments before letting go of the man's collar and letting him fall of the edge. He grinned as he heard a lout splat and looked over the edge. It might have been very wrong to push a man of a roof. But by the gods it felt good. He didn't see him with a broken skull though. Not even a broken leg. Face first in a large ton of fish guts and who knows what else of waste. Gregory couldn't help but laugh at the sight and made his way down to the street as quickly as he could without breaking a leg or any other bone. Making his way over to the thief and pulling him out of the barrel of filth. “Seems like it's your lucky day. All you need is a bath.” He grinned and began to drag him out of the street. Ignoring the man's protests. “Oh well. Lets change that shall we?”

[Elias Caldera]

A scream, a dark figure falling, then a gut wrenching splat. "Oh no..." Elias murmured under his breath, picking up his tired feet and hobbling along as fast as he could. He didn't really... He rounded the corner of the dockside warehouse, convinced he would be met with only gore and horror when he got to the scene. Instead, he was greeted by a pair of legs protruding out of a barrel. A very foul smelling barrel, and a very irate pair of legs as well. It had taken him a second, but the mage was pretty sure he understood just what, and who, he was staring at.

"Ah Duke." Elias mused, approaching the flailing limbs and their disgustingly sticky conundrum with a swagger that seemed to work excellently with the wobble in his knees. "I feel like we'll all look back on this one day and laugh..." The young mage walked up along side the barrel and kicked it loudly just right around where he figured the cut purse's head would be near the bottom. He barely dodged the blind kicks and helpless flailing feet that followed. He searched for his coins, hands darting out into the thief's pockets and belt remorselessly. "Stop squirming, you're making this weirder than it has to be!" A knee caught him upside his head and he let out an exasperated growl, kicking the barrel over unto the dock with another well placed boot, and Duke along with it. Now the petcher was flailing and rolling, his current lot none the better for either. Elias could care less, for he had other, more pressing issue, like the severe lack of his money for one!

He was just about to start bellowing at the man to cough it up when he spotted the pit fighter climbing his way down towards them. The burly warrior seemed to barely pay him any mind as he yanked the thief free from the wretched contents of the barrels and hauled him over to the waterfront. That was when the novice noticed the pair of purses dangling at his hip. "Oi!" He called out indignantly through labored breaths. "Where do you think you're going with that."

He wasn't talking about Duke.

[Gregory]

Gregory turned around when the other man who had also been chasing the bloody thief yelled at him. Asking where he was going. “To a canal,. Or somewhere were I can dunk this guy in the water and wash him off a bit. He stinks like rotten fish and who knows what else.” he said with a feral grin on his face. Duke looked at gregory with horror on his face as he was reminded of all the threats this short man had thrown at him while he was chasing duke. Just washing him off was the least of all on gregory's mind. “You can't be serious! I just grabbed some coins of you!” Gregory just twisted duke's arm, letting the man yelp in pain. He wasn't going to let the petcher run off gain. He doubted he had much of a sprint left in him and if he got away this time. He might just get away for good. So he kept a firm grip on the man's arm as well. “Ya made your bed. Now lie in it you petching thief.” He hissed towards duke. Then he noticed that the man wasn't looking or even pointing at the thief he was holding but towards the second purse hanging from his belt. “Oh right, that money is yours.” He pulled the plain looking purse of his belt and threw it towards the man clad in black. “There ya go. That's everything he took from ya. Now scram.” He turned around and drug the protesting thief with him. Gregory knew the canal was nearby, he had seen it when darting over the roof after this thiefs skinny arse. He turned a few corners and finally saw the canal. He ignored the pleading of the man dragged him over to the edge, kicked the back of the man's legs to force him on his knees before forcing his head underwater and keeping it there. Slowly counting to five as the man struggled for air. He guessed that was a good enough starting point for changing this guy's mind about stealing.. or at least about stealing from him. After the five seconds were up he pulled him back up. Duke coughing and gasping for air as he tried to cough up the water. “So did you learn your lesson already?” Gregory said in a calm tone. “Or do you have to go under another time?”

[Elias Caldera]

Elias wasn't sure what to say. He caught the pouch of mizas crudely thrown at him with utter surprise. He hadn't been expecting it to be so... was the word easy or bloodless? He glanced at the man warily while he weighed the coins in his palm, counting them with careful precision as he did so. He had predicted, only after blurting out his intention to take his pouch back if not in so many words, there would have probably been some rough and tumbling to be had before his money eventually found its way back to his hand. The man, the fighter who he still had no name for, seemed so inclined to violence that he could be little else than hostile at the prospect of returning what wasn't his. Now that he had his funds back, Elias found himself inclined to thank the man -less so after being told to 'scram' like he was some hooligan kid- but even then. "Thank you." He said cautiously, but the shorter, bulkier man had already marched off, poor duke ripe and reeling in his grasp.

He moved to call out to the staunch guard, but the brute had already rounded the corner with his flailing prisoner and paid Elias no mind whatsoever. Ticked that he had been ignored so blatantly, the native born son gave chase with a few angry strides behind them. He made his way around the warehouse and immediately found the two had not gotten far at all. In fact, it seemed the pitfighter was too preoccupied with drowning Duke in the canal to bother much else. A tinge of wavering confidence rolled over the young mage at the sight of the duke being held under the water. On one hand, petch Duke, he stole Eli's money and gave him a chase all around the damn docks trying to get it back. On the other hand... well, petch Duke, seriously, he deserved it. That said, he couldn't just stand by and let the man be killed in broad daylight, especially when people had seen him chasing the fool all over Ravok. That was the kind of attention, that now, only after he realized he had more than garnered, did Elias decide he did not want.

"Hold on a moment." He finally said, speaking up on behalf of the man who had only just robbed him a few chimes ago. As he did so however, something shifted suddenly from beneath his feet. It had been so unexpected and startling it had nearly sent Elias tumbling over. With an unsteady step or two, Elias realized the shifting wasn't going away. He looked down in speechless astonishment. It wasn't something beneath his feet, it was the very ground itself. A plank groaned somewhere beneath the waves and again the supports of the wooden sidewalk lifted up ever so slightly from under him. It moved then, whatever had been pushing up from beneath the water, the entire platform lifting a bit on its side as it did so. For a moment Elias thought the entire section of the city must have sprung a leek somewhere and was sinking. He had heard rumors and wive's tales of such things happening. I mean this is a city on a lake after all... Duke, who was proving quite remorseful for the terrible crimes he had committed, had had his head dunked into the canal a second time, his arms and legs fidgeting wildly in exhausted but fervent protest. Elias followed the tipping boardwalk until it reached directly under both the gladiator and the thief. That was when he saw it.

The entire platform made a very sudden lurch back down, not earth shattering in proportions, but enough to reap everyone's attention far more prominently. Whatever it was, it passed right underneath where Duke's head was being shoved under. The shape was vague to say the least, and Elias couldn't even tell how big it was, but there had definitely been something there. His shocked suspicions seemed verified when Duke, who looked as if he were slipping into unconsciousness at that point, suddenly, and very briskly began flailing and hollering all over again, this time with a much more enthused sense of escape. Bubbles of panic and drowned screams were beginning to breach the surface when Elias finally stumbled over to the man, still bewildered by what he had just seen. He knelt down beside Duke and assisted as best he could with hauling him back onto dry land. He couldn't see anything under the waves anymore, but that was mostly thanks to the cutpurse's ruckus distorting the water's surface. It had served to nearly send him slipping out of the pitfighter's grasp and into the canal, now the brawny man barely had a hold on his pants, and even that was beginning to slip.

With a shaky heave, Elias and the other man, if he hadn't already and quite justifiably taken off, managed to pull the thief back unto to the street. Duke gasped for air, sputtering and choking on lake water as he hastily began shuffling himself on hands on knees away from the water. He hit the side of the warehouse but didn't stop, as if he was trying to claw his way through the timber. The mage wasn't sure he could blame the man just yet. Elias was still as wide eyed and confused as he was. After a moment he turned to Duke, taking a watchful step closer to the terrified man, his hand held out peaceably to calm the man. It didn't work. "What..." Elias looked back at the canal and gulped. "What did you see?" Duke was quiet for a while, the only sound his deep, ragged breaths and shaking hands.

"I don't know."

Elias merely stared at him for a moment, then to the sunberther, then back to the water. Not a one of them seemed sure what they had seen, but it wasn't as if they were all that intent on find out. Unsure as to what to say at a time like this, Elias simply nodded, the other man doing the same in a much more curt regard. As for Duke, well he just sat there, shivering. The three parted ways without another word to the other, signaling the end of this very odd day. It was then that the young mage remembered what he had originally come out to do.

He still had some shopping to do.

Shopping ListBrown Leather Belt and Buckle -4 SM
Black Leather Boots -6 SM
Black Leather Gloves -5 SM
Hooded Black Leather Jacket -1 GM 5 CM
Black Cloak -5 SM
Ink Vial -1 GM
Quill x2 -1 SM
Candle x5 -1 SM
Inscribing Ink -3 GM
Parchment x5 -1 GM
Journal [Blank Book] -3 GM
Tiny Detail Brush -5 SM
Longsword -15 GM
Scabbard - 4GM
Dagger -2 GM
Whetstone -2 CM

Total = -32 GM 7SM 7 CM

[Abstract]

Grade Awarded!

~|-|~

Elias

Award :

Skills

~ Observation – 3
~ Rhetoric – 1
~ Running – 3
~ Acrobatics – 2
~ Stealth – 1
~ Brawling - 2

Lores

~ Carrying Money is Dangerous
~ Solution to a Fight: Hiding

Other

~|-|~

Gregory

Award :

Skills

~ Intimidation – 3
~ Brawling - 3
~ Acrobatics – 2
~ Running – 2
~ Observation – 2
~ Torture - 1

Lores

~ Two Enemies are More Annoying than One

Other

N/A

~|-|~

Notes

I gave Elias a point in stealth for crawling around while everyone was fighting and trying to avoid stuff I would have added injuries, but since they would have healed by Summer anyways… there was no point.

All round, a highly amusing thread! Good job!