[Kain] Taking What Isn't Yours

by **Gad** on February 7th, 2014, 4:42 am

Winter 44th, 513AV, 10th Bell
Castle Commons

Gad wiped the drool from his mouth, and smacked his gob. "You want 90 silver for an ounce of raggedy old beef jerky!" He said, incredulous. "It was half that yesterday!"

"Yesterday! Yesterday! You want? You buy today!" The merchant slammed a hand down on his stall. The man had a thick Vani accent to his common, though Gad wouldn't have been able to place it as such. "You don't want? Leave! Go!" He now pointed down the street, away from the market stalls. Gad rubbed the back of his neck and shook his head.

"Come on man, just be like, reasonable."

"Be reas- You want reason? I give you good reason! Look!" The man pointed to a stall nearby that had been crushed to oblivion under the weight of heavy snow and ice. He dragged his pointer across the horizon, to draw Gad's attention to the damage the ice and snow had done.

"Well, when you put it like that-"

"Go!" Gad sighed and left, trudging through the snow. He'd wanted to get something to eat but he wasn't willing to drop that much coin on it, at least not without some kind of income. But, he feared, with the worst weather of the season likely ahead of him, he was probably going to have to settle and stockpile food while he had the chance. So far, the Vantha merchant had quoted him one of the most reasonable prices on the cured meat. Gad was already a few hundred yards from the stall, but he could either spend the day looking for cheaper prices or go back and buy his food now. Deciding to cut his losses, Gad spun around to head back to the merchants stall. However, his eyes got caught by an interesting scene.

The merchant he'd just been dealing with was running away from Gad's direction, Gad traced the man's path to see what he was chasing. Growing ever smaller in the distance was a two horse sled speeding off across the snow. The sled was carrying three individuals kneeling down, and a small chest they were holding onto tightly. They beckoned a fourth masked individual sprinting through the snow to hurry and jump on and he barely made it onto their get away sled. Once they got to the exit of the Castle Commons, the merchant stopped his pursuit and doubled over, huffing. The man was at least in his middle forties and wasn't in the best of shape. Gad strolled up to where the man was.

"You!"

"Me!?"

"You distract me, your hoodlum friends steal my money!" Gad looked off to the side indignantly, then back at the merchant with furrowed brows

"You know, that actually makes some sense except I'M STILL HERE! Petching a. So uh, how bout it man, you gonna sell me that beef now?"

"No, I not sell anything now! My family's got to eat, I got kids to feed man. That food is for them now." Gad clicked his tongue.

"Augh! You're the only person selling food so cheap! Come on, don't you need business even more now? Since you just got robbed and all?" Gad's attempts at persuasion were shot down.

"Pft. If I get my chest back," the Merchant cursed in Vani and held a snarky tone. "I give you everything you want half-off! HAHAHA!" The merchant's offer obviously wasn't serious, but his expression changed when he heard Gad's response.

"Mm. Okay!"

"You serious? You, by yourself, gonna bring me back that chest? Hah! Funny." Gad shrugged. The merchant had a point. Those bandits where probably far off by the way that sled was clocking it. And even if Gad found them, the hard part would be getting them to give up the goods. There'd be no way he could've done it by himself. He looked around at the few other bystanders and rubberneckers who'd witnessed the theft. He didn't much expect a Sunberther to turn up and be a good Samaritan.

OOC INFOGad and Kain get roped into retrieving the gold of a merchant who's been robbed, investigating and busting heads along the way

by **Kain Retsill** on February 7th, 2014, 5:42 am

Kain Retsill

44 of Winter, 513

It had been another cold, midwinter night. The air frigid and moist. Ice had covered most of the Sunset Quarter. Many people were staying inside, just to keep some illusion of warmth. It was not so for Kain, this morning. He needed to find work, or he would not even be able to light his hearth for the next night. Already sleeping with his cloak, that was an unacceptable outcome. Today, there needed to be income.

Walking out in to the morning, he strode across the snowy paths to the Castle Commons. He could only pray that there would be some merchant here, willing to pay for some extra money. With such cold weather, desperation often rose. With any luck, so do jobs. Shuffling his way through the paths of Sunberth, Kain came out in to one of the more populated streets.

At first glance, Kain could tell there would not be many jobs. The amount of people one the streets were only a fraction of what it would be in the Spring. Walking up the street, he asked merchant after merchant if they had any work for him. Nothing. The tempature seemed to stay a steady ice cold. Kain stopped to breath in to his hands, huddled in to his wool cloak. Ice had formed on his moustache and beard, and was beginning to make him ever colder.

Standing next to a stall, out of the wind, Kain looked gloomly up and down the road. There seemed to be a man running in his direction. Watching the current development, Kain could see the man holding something to his chest. Suddenly yelling started up next to where Kain was trying to keep warm. A sled, with two, slightly sickly looking, horses, was parked to the side of the street.

As the sled started to move slowly, the three men in the back continued to yell out. "Hurry up!" "Let's go!" Having taken his eyes off of the man running towards him, Kain did not realize the man was just about upon him. The man wore a mask, and held a chest in his hands. This was clearly a robbery. His body cold, Kain started to move to stop the masked man. However, he was too late. The sled had started to pick up speed as the masked man threw the chest up to his comrades. He had already passed Kain, and now no longer had the chest.

There goes my chance of getting mizas. Kain just watched as the sled pulled out of the Castle Commons, with all four people grasping to hold on to the back. Shrugging off the even, Kain turned around to see an aging man. He appeared to have been in pursuit of the theif, but now there was no way that he could have caught them now. Kain felt sorry for him. He was probably a merchant, and that was probably his livelihood.

Some distance behind the supposed merchant, a taller, considerbly younger, man was approaching. Kain decided it was none of his issue, so he decided to continue to look for work. Huddled back under his cloak, and breath already forming ice around his mouth, Kain took off in the direction everyone came from. Maybe at least something is going on down here. Seems like enough commotion as is. By the time he made it to where the merchant was, he was in conversation with the younger man. The words barely made it to Kain's ears, yet he heard "-by yourself, gonna bring me back that chest? Hah! Funny."

The prospect that someone was trying to help another, and in this wretched town, came as a shock to Kain. There were not many people who did not steal in Sunberth, and even less who were willing to help a fellow man. As he continued to walk, Kain turned towards the two men, saying as he approached, "I could help, if you wish." Finding another person, in this town, that has a decent part to his being was a rare thing. Kain was not about to pass this chance up.

by **Gad** on February 7th, 2014, 9:42 am

Gad swallowed down the dryness in his throat. So, another had stepped forward to take the job? A scruffy looking type, almost to Gad's height but built a little sturdier. He had an honest face, but not a soft one, which explained how that honesty lasted so long. Well, perhaps not that long, the man couldn't have been much older than Gad, but he had the bearings of a more mature man. Gad was doing this because he needed to eat, wanted some coin on the side, and maybe just because he was a young man with too much time on his hands. He wondered what this man's motivations could be. Gad looked the man up and down and noticed his slightly curve sword. The conclusion he jumped to was Mercenary, but then again, many in Sunberth kept weapons for personal protection. Usually though, daggers and knives, or brass knuckles, not swords like that. Before Gad could, the merchant spoke up with a solemn and contemplative tone. "Okay. Okay. You get my chest? I pay you. I have much coin, how much you bring back," he raised one hand and rubbed the thumb against the fingers in the universal sign of money "you get get so much. Understand?"

Gad nodded, he supposed the man meant they'd get a cut proportional to how much of his money they could retrieve. Those goons were probably working their best to spend it as soon as possible. On that note, the merchant continued. "I am Tuwatha Winterflame. I live in the Community," he pulled out a piece of paper from his stall and some ink and a quill, and scribbled down a writ of passage for each of them. "You not find me here? Come to my home, and bring this." He handed them each the slips of paper. He looked at them as they stood there. "What you want? You want kiss? Go! Go! Bring me my money!" Gad shrugged, they all three needed to eat today, so it looked like he'd get to know his "partner" along the way.

Gad turned to him. "I'm guessing you saw all that happened, no use in us questioning any of these folks then?" Gad pointed the direction the thieves had fled. "They went thaddaway, yeah? Made off fancy free with that sled of theirs, totting that chest. Those horses, that's the interesting part. They must've stolen them. I mean, if they're stealing Mizas from merchants they probably didn't even have enough coin between the four- it was four, right?- of them to pay for the horses. Shyke, I know I don't. Have enough coin for a horse that is. Maybe we can check if there've been any horse thefts at the stables, might give us a clue?" Gad ceased thinking out loud for just a moment, not sure if all his assumptions were reasonable or logical, and also realizing he had no idea who this man was really. "You can call me Gad, by the way." He might've put out a hand to the man, but they were firmly clutched under his armpits from the cold. "You're mercenary right? Got something to go by?"

by **Kain Retsill** on February 9th, 2014, 9:28 pm

Kain Retsill

44 of Winter, 513

At first, Kain had thought that the man was a friend of the Merchant's, yet this did not appear to be so. He was slightly taller than Kain, and it was rare to find someone like that. Listening to his speech, Kain could only contemplate on his personality. He likes to talk. Probably good at getting information. Anyone in this town who liked to talk either leaked information, or gathered it. Somehow, I doubt he is the type to leak. The man introduced himself as Gad. "The name is Kain, Kain Retsill, and yeah, I am a Merc. That is an interesting deduction you made, Gad. I would have just followed the sled tracks until we found them. Your idea sounds more... effecient." Kain was never good with reasoning.

This could be a chance for Kain to make a friend. In a place like Sunberth, a person like Kain did not have the chance to find allies. Of course, maybe Kain also had to watch his back around this man. Maybe he only had cynical reasons for helping this merchant, but nothing seemed malicious. Only time could tell. In the mean time, it was up to them to get this merchant his chest back.

Kain began walking in the direction the stables were in. "So let's be off to the stables, yeah?" Looking forward in front of him, Kain's eyes looked over the crowd of people who had all but forgoten this event had happened. The inactivity to stop these things formed a pain in Kain's gut. The world still needs to change, even if I can find one person who is willing to help others.

Thinking back, Kain had lived in Sunberth his whole life, yet he had never seemed to notice this man about. Not that anyone looks like anything but a possible enemy in Sunberth. Kain figured he should break the ice as they started their mission. "So, are you from Sunberth?"

by **Gad** on February 10th, 2014, 8:19 am

Gad scratched his cheek and laughed a little. "Ha, well, good to meet you Kain. Your idea seems way more, er, logical than mine. But, Killroy's Kennel and Stables is in the same direction they sped off in, we can see as we go which seems more...fruitful." Gad cracked his knuckles and shoved his hands back into his coat, walking down the trail in the snow the horses and sled had left. Gad mused on the happenings. Snatching a chest full of coin was an easy meal if you could get away, and times were tight, so he could see the appeal. At the end of the day, Gad couldn't much fault somebody trying to get by for taking from somebody who was getting along just fine. Gad peaked over his shoulder at the shopkeeper. Pft. That guy definitely ain't missed a meal. Still, you couldn't blame someone for wanting to keep what they earned. Gad's views on the whole affair was one of amorality. He wasn't one to pass judgement, and when he did it was only after he had all the facts he could get in front of him. That didn't happen often though. Sunberth had more than it's fair share of underhanded organizations- gangs, mobs, the like- but it didn't take hands working in the dark to muddy the waters. Here, he'd noticed, people could just live their lives, but there would always be something underneath, unseen forces moving pieces they didn't recognize on game boards they couldn't see. In his mind, Gad chocked at least half the misfortunes of Sunberth to ignorance. Despite what people said, he never found much bliss in not knowing what was going on.

He quirked his head in Kain's direction as he heard the question. "Yep. From, of. Sunberth born and- heh- 'raised'." Gad thought about it, but neglected to mention his heritage. You never knew what kind of hangups people had about things like that, being a magic user had taught him, so he kept it to himself. As he usually did when wanting to keep things off of him, he made things about Kain. "And what about you? How long've you been in the mercenary game? Do a lotta guard work for the merchants?" Gad had been marching quick, along the path the tracks had made, trying to out speed-walk the cold. Kain had kept up with his long strides with the effortlessness of someone whose bread was won on how physically fit he was. That, and intimidating. Yeah, he wasn't eye to eye with Gad, and he could not have been much older, but he carried himself like someone not afraid to slice a guy in half, and that was handy to have around. It was Gad's day-to-day best to act like a guy not afraid to be sliced in half, and to hope people counted him as not worth the effort.

The pair got to a point on the trail of the robbers where if they continued, Killroy's would be out of the way. Figuring the stables would always be there, Gad stated; "You know, you were right. We should follow these as far as they go." Which wasn't much longer. Soon, they came across an alley, where the sled was ditched. Gad looked at the ground and pointed. "Horse hooves, going two separate ways. They must've split up. Hm. Wonder if they split the gold already, or if-" Gad noticed something on the ground and knelt down immediately to inspect the scene. He looked hard had the prints in the snow. He noticed where it looked like they'd gotten off the sled, and where the horses split ways. There was a trail of human foot prints he noticed, going away from the direction he was facing. He called over to Kain; "Hey! It looks like one of them went it on foot, there might be a stragl-" Gad turned just in time to receive a nice leather boot heel to the cheek. He winced in pain, and before he could open his eyes he felt another shoving kick to the chest, and he was on his back, getting kicked repeatedly. The wizard curled up and put his arms in the way so the foot wouldn't crack his ribs. He looked up to see a glint of steel in the pale light. The attacker drew a short sword, raised it up with the tip pointing down to where Gad was laying, and prepared to plunge it down, execution style.

by **Zandelia** on April 10th, 2014, 12:25 am

Gad :

Notes :

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