A Race Against Time (Solo)

A desperate merchant's plea for help directed Eridanus to a job that demanded speed over all else.

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A lawless town of anarchists, built on the ruins of an ancient mining city. [Lore]

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A Race Against Time (Solo)

Postby Eridanus on October 30th, 2011, 1:22 pm

Day 14, Fall of 511 AV
14th Bell
The Establishment


Eridanus dithered in front of the advertisement board, wondering if there were any interesting once-off offers he could take. He had been here a few days back, applying for the courier job, but ended up competing against another applicant. It was normal, though, for demand would always exceed supply in the jobs market especially when winter approaches and people start to get desperate for some form of security in the form of assured income to keep themselves alive (and warm) for the next season.

Suddenly, a dishevelled merchant rushed into the building, shouting for Master Tua. The owner of the place was not as his usual spot at the counter, however, for he had stepped outside via the back door with a bunch of rather muscular men to discuss their matter in private. The man looked like he had been through a scrape, but it was evident as to what his career was from his dressing and the modified pouches vendors wore to keep select specimen of their goods if possible to facilitate business on the fly. After all, businessmen never stopped looking for opportunities.

"Master Tua! Where in blazes are you? Tua! Tua!" He hollered, looking around. The people in the establishment glanced at him, but took no further notice, for people in Sunberth tend to be pretty self-centered due to circumstances and they gradually returned to their own issues. He glanced around wildly, before settling his gaze on Eridanus. Despite the varied crowd, it was still easy to pick out the Vantha, for the contrast between his pale skin and wild, unruly obsidian-colored hair sporting the shades of Morwen's lights proved to differentiate him quite strongly from other humans.

"You, you! I know you! You were here two days back, weren't you?" The merchant exclaimed and pointed at the Vantha, making his way over to the advertisement board.

"What..." Eridanus began, but he was interrupted by the merchant, who seemed intent on getting his views across.

"Just listen, alright?" The merchant gasped with exasperation. "I need Tua's runners to do a job. I know he has a girl but she's off-duty today. I also know that he hired a new one, and I think that it's you."

"But..." The Vantha tried to put a word in, but he was waved off again by the merchant.

"Look, you were there applying for the job so it meant you were interested in, or had to skills to do it. I honestly don't care if old Tua actually hired you, and I don't have the time to wait. If you're Tua's new word-runner, I'll drop a note and make sure he pays you the commission. If not I'll pay you myself. Just answer me, do you want gold?", he continued, his beady eyes gazing intensely at Eri.

He nodded slightly, and this was enough for the merchant to continue. It was like what he wanted to say was built up inside, his mouth being the dam that stopped the tide of words that would follow.

"Oh thank Xyna!", the man exclaimed. "Take this first, and listen closely."

He handed a waxed-sealed note to Eri, and he promptly tucked it securely into the folds of his clothing.

"My name is Hurate Gundere, I'm a vendor operating in the Castle Commons. I was accosted just now by a band of thugs. But they weren't ordinary scum. No, they were visibly searching for something, and I might have an inkling what it might be. No don't ask, it's for your own good if you don't know and it doesn't concern the job. No, I acted as if I fainted and they searched my body, of course not finding it. As they left, I overheard them grumbling and from what I heard, it seemed that a couple of my guards are in league with them."

He paused for a moment, wiping the sweat from his brow. He noticed the look of confusion on Eri's face, and he continued hurriedly.

"What guards, you ask. I rented a warehouse storing my... goods and of course quite a few guards to make sure the goods remain in my possession. Of course, I pay them well enough to discourage them from just deciding to steal them, but recently a few of the more enterprising ones began to investigate my business and, I'm sorry to say, decided that they wanted to get their hands on one of my items."

"My house was burgled not too long ago, and now I realized that it was no random occurrence. It was all planned. When they realized that my house nor myself carried the item, the only logical conclusion is that it's in the warehouse."

The merchant gulped, trying his best to quickly brief the runner.

"They do not know that I suspected them and so believed that they have all the time in the world. From my own investigations days ago I estimate that less than half of the guards are in on this plan. I also have a good man who takes charge of the running of the guard operations, but he is probably unaware of this dastardly plan. The thugs are probably on their way now to the warehouse, possibly with the intent of reinforcing the traitors to overwhelm my loyal guards."

"I need you to reach there before them, and inform my man-in-charge, Gregory Vittory so that he can take the appropriate measures. The note will prove the authenticity of my message and the details of the location is written on the back of the note."

He gradually steered Eridanus towards the door. "Hurry! If we're lucky, the robbers might have stopped for a drink somewhere or take a detour for some side business. If you run you might make it before them. Go!"

Upon hearing that last frantic cry, Eridanus turned around and bolted. As the merchant detailed his story and gave a brief on what was happening, his mind had been frantically processing all the information and planning an optimal route to the warehouse. He knew that he had to balance safety and distance, and had settled on a plan just before he found himself being pushed towards the door. With a route firmly in mind, he turned at the next corner, jogging at a steady pace, actively controlling his breathing to prevent early exhaustion.
Last edited by Eridanus on October 30th, 2011, 4:45 pm, edited 1 time in total.
NOTICE: I am currently mostly inactive til August. As such, guild activities are temporarily halted (watch out for major revamps, changes and organizations when I'm back in full force). Any activity with Eri will be rather slow as well, but I am slowly readjusting back to "Mizahar life", so to speak, so do PM me if we have a thread that I left hanging and we'll talk.



"You must be one hardcore scholar, Eri." (Laszlo)
First winner of the prestigious Mirage's No Kill Medal.
User avatar
Eridanus
It's Peanut Butter Jelly Time!
 
Posts: 1893
Words: 1312082
Joined roleplay: October 24th, 2011, 2:03 am
Location: Sylira
Race: Ethaefal
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Medals: 8
Featured Character (1) Overlored (1)
One Thousand Posts! (1) One Million Words! (1)
Extreme Scrapbooker (1) 2012 Mizahar NaNo Winner (1)
2011 Mizahar NaNo Winner (1) 2011 Top NaNo Word Count (1)

A Race Against Time (Solo)

Postby Eridanus on October 30th, 2011, 2:11 pm

He made a beeline towards the lesser known outskirts. It was theoretically further away in terms of walking distance from the storage houses, but if he used the normal streets he would have to contend with the day crowd. He also knew that pushing past crowds of people continuously was no way to travel especially if there were urgent matters at hand. The outskirts had much lesser people and thus afforded more space, allowing him to run. The only danger lay in the reason why the normal populace do not venture here, for it was in shoddy alleys and abandoned streets that illegal activities were carried out. He had no time to be wary though, and relied on his speed to get him through the danger. He shoved past a civilian wearing an orange tunic, and entered the alley which would bring him to the outskirts. He would use this more open area to get closer to the storage houses, then use the appropriate alley or entrance to enter. By his judgement this method would shave off quite a few valuable chimes off the first method of pushing against the crowd.

He was jogging at a comfortable pace, his eyes constantly looking out and assessing for threats so that he would be well-prepared to counter, or preferably avoid, it. Delivering the message was of the utmost importance now, and getting embroiled in something irrelevant would waste precious time. He had no doubt that several lives may possibly lie in his ability to warn the guard-master in time, and besides, the merchant looked like he could pay well. He was curious, of course, as to what the item was, but life constantly had such mysteries and if he demanded to investigate every single one of these mysteries he would ended up pretty tired. Not to mention disappointed.

Eridanus rounded another corner, and sped right across two bewildered tramps who were busy gambling on the floor with a pack of cards and several bottles of ale. They expressed their ire at him, but he could not be bothered to reply, never dwelling in the past, always focused on the present and what may come round next. He skidded to a stop, when he saw that the path in front of him was blocked by what seemed to some sort of confrontation between two large groups of people. They had the typical look of a street rough, and all of them wielded some sort of makeshift weapon, with the occasional blade or axe held in an awkward manner. No doubt this was some sort of turf war between minor gangs that may or may not have links to the main three crime syndicates. He did not care what the fight was about, but he did care that they were blocking the shortest path to his destination. He assessed his chances of running past them unharmed, and sighed. He'd have to take the higher path.

He walked briskly to the shortest building at the side of the street and glanced at the mob, their leaders seemed to be in negotiation and there were merely waving their weapons in an attempt to look intimidating. He tried not to make too much noise, and jumped, grabbing the edge of the roof and lifting himself up. The roofs of these buildings tended to be flat, as if they intended to build higher levels but somehow deciding not to in the end. He pulled himself over, and his gaze was met by a surprised ruffian holding a pretty run-down crossbow.

Eridanus swore, as the youth began to recover from his initial shock and looked like he was in the midst of deciding whether to shout for help or to put a bolt in between the Vantha's chest. Eri's instincts screamed at him, and without thinking he dashed forward, unleashing several punches aimed at the fellow's neck and chest. His strikes resounded in satisfying thumps as the ruffian failed to respond fast enough, and a final chop at the neck caused the lad's eyes to roll upwards, losing consciousness. Instead of letting the limp body collapse, possibly causing noise and alerting the mob below, he grabbed the body as it fell, gently placing it on the floor of the roof, making sure to align it as close to the safety ledge as possible so remain unseen.

He briefly looked around, trying to get his bearings so that he could map out an alternate route, when a bolt landed a couple of yards away from him. He instinctively crouched, looking around frantically for the hidden archer.

His work was done for him, though, for he heard a yell from atop another building opposite the street. The scrawny figure was waving a similarly rusted crossbow, pointing at him as the crowd below first glanced at him, then at the Vantha. The murmuring began, and the leaders took a moment to decide, before pointing at him.

That's great.

As the humans say, nothing unites people more than a common enemy. Eridanus cursed again, dodging to the right as another bolt sailed past him and into a jutting wall. He was lucky the bowman barely knew how to use his weapon, not to mention that the ill-repair of the bow probably helped to reduce his accuracy by a whole lot too. He decided on a route, and dashed forward to the building in front, leaping up onto the elevated roof. Glancing behind, he noticed that some of them were beginning to climb up the first roof, though with not as much finesse as him. This was not looking good.
NOTICE: I am currently mostly inactive til August. As such, guild activities are temporarily halted (watch out for major revamps, changes and organizations when I'm back in full force). Any activity with Eri will be rather slow as well, but I am slowly readjusting back to "Mizahar life", so to speak, so do PM me if we have a thread that I left hanging and we'll talk.



"You must be one hardcore scholar, Eri." (Laszlo)
First winner of the prestigious Mirage's No Kill Medal.
User avatar
Eridanus
It's Peanut Butter Jelly Time!
 
Posts: 1893
Words: 1312082
Joined roleplay: October 24th, 2011, 2:03 am
Location: Sylira
Race: Ethaefal
Character sheet
Storyteller secrets
Scrapbook
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Medals: 8
Featured Character (1) Overlored (1)
One Thousand Posts! (1) One Million Words! (1)
Extreme Scrapbooker (1) 2012 Mizahar NaNo Winner (1)
2011 Mizahar NaNo Winner (1) 2011 Top NaNo Word Count (1)

A Race Against Time (Solo)

Postby Eridanus on October 30th, 2011, 2:52 pm

Eridanus rolled forward again, a bolt sailing across his head. Either they were getting better at aiming, or they were getting luckier. Either way it did not bode well for him and there was nothing more embarrassing than dying on the job to circumstances completely unrelated to the job. He had his professional pride, not to mention his strong willpower to continue breathing, and this pushed the Ethaefal forward, increasing his speed and ignoring the burning feeling that was beginning to spread in his legs and arms.

Grunting, he crossed over yet another elevated roof, slowly bringing him higher from the ground. He continued running, his elevated position affording him the advantage of strategic sight, and a quick glance behind showed that he was slowly getting further away from his pursuers. The view from the air also allowed him to spot the clump of wide buildings that were the warehouses in the Castle Commons and he dashed in that direction. He jumped over a run-down piece of concrete jutting out of the roof, navigating his way across the various debris and pieces of half-constructed buildings in various state of disrepair, edging closer to his destination. As he neared the edge of one of the buildings, he realized too late that the next building's roof was actually further away than he thought, the weird shape of the unfinished second floor serving as an optical illusion of distance. He was already at full speed, and could not stop himself in time.

Note to self: Sprinting on roofs is dangerous stuff.

Eridanus glanced around desperately for an alternate route, before settling on a nearer, but lower building slightly to the right of the cliff-like edge. In that split-second when he made his decision, he altered his angle of approach slightly to face the direction of that building, and pushed off hard against the ledge of the roof. The height difference was not ideal, of course, but landing there was definitely more ideal than against the concrete wall of a taller building or splattering on the pavement below. He whispered a prayer to Leth for luck as he vaulted through the air, the distance between him and that building decreasing too slowly. Just as he thought that he was not going to make it, he was struck by inspiration and he tucked his legs in, essentially somersaulting his body to gain that extra bit of distance and to reduce air resistance to allow him greater movement. That was the tiny bit that saved him, for he landed just at the edge of the new building, breaking his fall by collapsing into a roll. It was not perfect, however, and he suffered scratches on his arms by the rough surface, in addition to a bruised hip when he could not dissipate the impact fast enough while landing.

This should pretty much serve as a barrier between he and his pursuers.

There was no time to feel sorry for himself, and he pressed on, reducing his speed somewhat to allow himself more room for alternative measures should the same problem arise again. The shape of the warehouses was growing bigger, and the Vantha's steps became lighter the closer he came to his destination and thus fulfilling his mission. He sped ahead, pushing his hands against the rubble in front to bring his body over it, and spotted two choices. Either use the series of roofs on the right that curved around in a detour that might possibly lead to the street near the warehouses, or grow wings and cross the distance ahead of him to reach the next building that would bring him much closer to his destination.

The adrenaline coursing through him helped him make the decision, and he continued forward, a small part of his conscious mind screaming that this was suicide. Still, a small part of him felt like he had done this before, and as he ran he channelled the stream of djed within him.

"Ol ye' lights, focus now on my balance." It was slightly harder to focus, for the running caused his body to constantly distribute its centre of balance. He had no time already, if he wanted to maintain his pace, and he estimated it to be generally below his hips and between his legs as he moved.

"Venture down, seeking mobility, giving up your strength." Already, he felt the other parts of his body beginning to weaken and his legs began to lose some of the fatigue. That was fine, for he needed as much power as he can from his legs or risk ending up as a painful quivering lump on the ground. Strangely, that morbid possibility did not deter him as that small part in his personality continued to reassure him with its alleged experience.

"And nimble I become, like the wind I proceed." He congratulated himself on regulating his timing pretty precisely, and as he whispered the last word he could consciously feel as though his legs were thrumming with strength and vitality. Of course, the dulled feeling of the rest of his body did contribute to the relative perception of strength, but this boosted his confidence. As he neared the edge, he placed a foot on the raised ledge, leaping off as high and far as he could, his body sailing through the air once more, but this time with much greater force and with lots more confidence than the previous time.

The Vantha flew, the wind rushing against his face as he prepared to curl himself up in a ball to increase his aerodynamics and for the landing that might break a few bones if he did not time it properly. This time, luck shone on him, and he rolled at the perfect timing, feeling the impact briefly on his back, then on the rest of his body as the pressure from the fall distributed itself equally through his body. Luck tended to have a sense of humour, though, for he did not control the direction of his roll properly and crashed into the wall of a taller, adjacent building.
NOTICE: I am currently mostly inactive til August. As such, guild activities are temporarily halted (watch out for major revamps, changes and organizations when I'm back in full force). Any activity with Eri will be rather slow as well, but I am slowly readjusting back to "Mizahar life", so to speak, so do PM me if we have a thread that I left hanging and we'll talk.



"You must be one hardcore scholar, Eri." (Laszlo)
First winner of the prestigious Mirage's No Kill Medal.
User avatar
Eridanus
It's Peanut Butter Jelly Time!
 
Posts: 1893
Words: 1312082
Joined roleplay: October 24th, 2011, 2:03 am
Location: Sylira
Race: Ethaefal
Character sheet
Storyteller secrets
Scrapbook
Plotnotes
Medals: 8
Featured Character (1) Overlored (1)
One Thousand Posts! (1) One Million Words! (1)
Extreme Scrapbooker (1) 2012 Mizahar NaNo Winner (1)
2011 Mizahar NaNo Winner (1) 2011 Top NaNo Word Count (1)

A Race Against Time (Solo)

Postby Eridanus on October 30th, 2011, 3:24 pm

Eridanus swore, his head swimming and he collapsed into a pretty uncool sitting posture, his bum on the floor and his hand holding his head. As he willed the streams of djed to stop flowing into his legs and to resume to their proper course, he felt the rest of his body begin to regain its energy, and with it he felt the full force of the pain coursing through his body. He touched his lip, bringing his finger up to reveal a drop of blood. He licked his lips, being rewarded by a stinging feeling and a salty taste, confirming that he had split his lip. He wondered if he could claim medical compensation. He could bundle it all together as expenses for minor injuries, though he was not sure if the merchant would actually buy that. Still, if he succeeded in delivering the message first and consequently protecting the goods from being stolen, the merchant might actually be glad enough to give him some bonuses.

He forced himself to get up and decided to indulge in some self-pity later when urgency was not important. He walked up to the edge of this newer building, and looked below, assessing the presence of various obstacles and protrusions that might aid or hinder his descent. Having made a decision, he crouched and placed his hands on the edge, slowly lowering himself over the edge. He hang there for a while, the muscles in his arms protesting as his legs flailed below, finally finding satisfying solid. He steadied himself, and released his hands, maintaining his balance while crouching again. Using the same method, he lowered himself once more, but only found a protrusion of sorts hanging slightly to his right. He glanced down briefly and spotted a lower platform on his left. He swung himself slowly, gaining a bit of momentum, and released when he was on the right, his legs kicking against that protrusion to fling him leftwards towards the platform he was aiming for. He landed on it with a solid thump, but lost his balance, his arms whirling and he steadied himself by placing his palms on the adjacent wall. The platform was a make-shift shelter for some kind of vendor below, and he landed below, much to the surprise of the vendor. A few citizens walking around glanced once in his direction and resumed inspecting the wares the merchants were offering.

Eridanus walked purposefully towards the warehouses, regulating his breathing to relax his body and at the same time he took out the letter, noting the number as he scanned the storage buildings for a pattern in number sequence so that he would not have to inspect every single building. Having found one, he entered the maze of buildings and ended up in front of his destination. The two guards were standing at the entrance, bored, and by the look of things he might actually be in time.

The Vantha flashed the seal on the letter, muttering "Master Gundere's instructions to Gregory Vittory." Recognition lit their eyes, and they parted, allowing him entry.

The building was stocked full of crates, though they were neatly divided into portions, with signs of various merchants' names above each portion. It seemed that a group of them had pooled money to rent out a single building and the same set of guards to save money. He made a mental note to remember that in the event of him setting up a business in the future. He walked past the shipments, into a doorway that split into several more corridors. He did not have to look further, though, for the door directly in front of him had the two magical words he was looking for - Gregory Vittory - and this spared him the agony of roaming both ends of the corridors in search for the guard-master.

Eridanus rapped the door smartly as a sign of courtesy, and a deep voice boomed for him to enter. He opened the door and let himself in, finding a large man leaning back in a chair with his legs against the table. The table was messy with paper, and the board behind him had markings and tables on it, possibly a schedule of the guards' shifts.

Gregory Vittory had large body and extremely tanned body, and possessed a pair of cunning and intelligent eyes on his bald head that looked relatively tiny and out of place atop his broad frame, like it belonged to a skinnier person instead. He raised an eyebrow to Eridanus, questioning him to state his intent and he without further do, he took the letter out, placing it on Gregory's desk.

"Your employer wanted me to tell you to warn you about something, it's probably best if you read this note."

Gregory leaned forward to take the note and he broke the seal, his eyes flitting over the contents of the note. He looked at the Vantha thoughtfully, and he sat up from his chair, walking out of his office and intending for the Vantha to do the same. As they walked, the guards-master said in a slow and measured tone, "I understand. There should be no problem."

They crossed out of the junction and back into the open cavern housing all the crates.

"In fact, tell Master Gundere that..."

He snapped his fingers, quickly stepping back and away from Eridanus.

"He should probably worry", the guards-master ended, as several thugs emerged from the corridors and streamed into the tavern. They drew his weapons, and Eridanus noted that there were crusts of dried blood on them.

I wasn't in time, after all. But I didn't except Hurate's trusted servant to be in the scheme as well. Petch it.
NOTICE: I am currently mostly inactive til August. As such, guild activities are temporarily halted (watch out for major revamps, changes and organizations when I'm back in full force). Any activity with Eri will be rather slow as well, but I am slowly readjusting back to "Mizahar life", so to speak, so do PM me if we have a thread that I left hanging and we'll talk.



"You must be one hardcore scholar, Eri." (Laszlo)
First winner of the prestigious Mirage's No Kill Medal.
User avatar
Eridanus
It's Peanut Butter Jelly Time!
 
Posts: 1893
Words: 1312082
Joined roleplay: October 24th, 2011, 2:03 am
Location: Sylira
Race: Ethaefal
Character sheet
Storyteller secrets
Scrapbook
Plotnotes
Medals: 8
Featured Character (1) Overlored (1)
One Thousand Posts! (1) One Million Words! (1)
Extreme Scrapbooker (1) 2012 Mizahar NaNo Winner (1)
2011 Mizahar NaNo Winner (1) 2011 Top NaNo Word Count (1)

A Race Against Time (Solo)

Postby Eridanus on October 30th, 2011, 4:05 pm

"Whatever it is, Hurate's little secret now belongs to me", Gregory laughed, and continued, "and of course to my fellow comrades."

"You of course, will now belong to Lhex. I trust that it isn't personal. You just happened to be in the wrong place and wrong time, and of course, at the wrong employ." He continued, his men chuckling in appreciation.

Eridanus cursed the merchant's inaccurate information under his breath, and he looked around, trying to assess the situation. He could see three thugs holding short swords and wearing ragged cloth emerging fourty-five degrees to his right, and two men wielding long swords and shields, wearing the typical guard's chainmail and helm approaching from the left. Behind him, the two guards entered the building, wearing chainmail but without helms, and they drew their scimitars confidently.

"Try to make it quick, friends. It's not his fault he has to die," Gregory exclaimed out to the approaching men who began to encircle the trapped Vantha.

Oh great, like that's supposed to be a consolation.

Eridanus chose not to draw his blades yet, opting to maintain his manoeuvrability in search of a better position. One that did not include being surrounded in a three-hundred-and-sixty manner. It was fortunate that there were clumps of wooden crates positioned in various pockets and that gave him some hope. If he were circled in an open area with no obstacles whatsoever he was probably doomed. Still, the scenario was not particularly optimistic, and he would need every ounce of creativity he had to escape the situation alive. And intact.

So far the guard-master had retreated behind, letting his men do the dirty work for him. So now he had to contend with seven. Which was a slightly more comforting prospect than having to tangle with eight.

His enemies encircled him slowly, watching him to see what kind of response he could come up with, themselves not worrying for they had all the time in the world. This proved to be a benefit to the Vantha, for that meant he had slightly more time to plan and could act rather than react. He edged towards his left backwards, and silently counted to three to calm his nerves and to force his body into action, trying to prevent himself from shutting down in fright.

One... two... three!

On three, Eridanus dashed in the direction he was inching towards, aiming for a box of crates that happened to be owned by someone called "Tirean Voldoork".

Apologies, Mr. Voldoork, but I'll thank your crates later if I get out of this in one piece.

The guards yelled and they swarmed towards him, the two guards outside reaching him first. This went according to plan, and he leaped up onto the stack of crates, desperately maintaining his balance as he hopped from one stack to the other, and sailed over the heads of the door-guards, rolling as he landed, glad that he did not drew his blades. He was now much closer to the large frame that marked the main entrance (or exit) of the storage building and his hopes soared.

There was a commotion and the plain-clothed thugs further back growled in frustration, and they motley group dashed towards the Vantha. He ran frantically, the adrenaline signalling him to execute 'flight' instead of considering 'fight', ignoring the pain in his waist from earlier and the fatigue spreading in his legs. If he had known this would happen he would not have wasted so much energy trying to get here and instead reserved his strength for this encounter. Then again, hindsight is 20/20 and if he could tell the future, he would have struck it big at the lotteries and not having to do this petching job.

He made a note to properly impress upon Hurate the unpleasant situation he found himself in and to get a proper compensation, whether he got his treasure or not. As he neared the entrance, he felt his legs beginning to give way from the extended running and climbing on his way here, and the thumps of boots on the ground began to resonate louder as the door-guards behind him began to gain ground.

Suddenly, there was a scream of pain, and everyone forgot what they were doing at that point and turned to look what happened.

Standing at the doorway that granted access to Gregory Vittory's office was Hurate himself, flanked by several crossbow wielding men. Gregory himself was clasping his throat, a bolt sticking out of it and he was gargling as he fought to remain standing. The men released more bolts at almost point-blank range into the traitorous guard-master, and he finally keeled over in mortal submission.

For a second, his men stood stock, unsure of the new developments. The thugs were the first to act though, and since they were the furthest from Eri and thus nearest to the new arrivals, they charged towards the men with a roar, brandishing their short swords threateningly. This gave the others of what to do, and the other two guardsmen with shields approached the crossbowmen steadily, ready to protect themselves against the projectiles with their shields instead of rushing in a haphazard manner like the thugs.

The door-guards abandoned their previous orders totally, and ran towards the guards holding the shields, intending to reinforce them. The merchant only had four crossbowmen with him, and when he saw the new developments, his smug grin began to fade into worry.
NOTICE: I am currently mostly inactive til August. As such, guild activities are temporarily halted (watch out for major revamps, changes and organizations when I'm back in full force). Any activity with Eri will be rather slow as well, but I am slowly readjusting back to "Mizahar life", so to speak, so do PM me if we have a thread that I left hanging and we'll talk.



"You must be one hardcore scholar, Eri." (Laszlo)
First winner of the prestigious Mirage's No Kill Medal.
User avatar
Eridanus
It's Peanut Butter Jelly Time!
 
Posts: 1893
Words: 1312082
Joined roleplay: October 24th, 2011, 2:03 am
Location: Sylira
Race: Ethaefal
Character sheet
Storyteller secrets
Scrapbook
Plotnotes
Medals: 8
Featured Character (1) Overlored (1)
One Thousand Posts! (1) One Million Words! (1)
Extreme Scrapbooker (1) 2012 Mizahar NaNo Winner (1)
2011 Mizahar NaNo Winner (1) 2011 Top NaNo Word Count (1)

A Race Against Time (Solo)

Postby Eridanus on October 30th, 2011, 4:30 pm

At that moment, Eridanus took the opportunity to dash forward, drawing his steel blade at the same time and running it decisively through one of the door-guards' back. He kicked the gurgling man down, freeing his blade and he drew his cold-iron long sword with his other arm just in time to parry an incoming blow by the other guard. The guard stared at him with utter hatred, and yelled a battle-cry, his scimitar flashing in the light as he unleashed a series of cuts at the Vantha.

Eridanus knew the advantages a scimitar had over a long sword, especially in closer quarters and in terms of speed of cuts and slashes, and he paced backwards urgently, increasing the distance between the two of them. In this regard he would have the advantage, for a long sword was - well - long. He used the furthest edge of his blades to fling off the guards' frenzied slashes, alternating between each blade to conserve energy and letting his hands take turns in parrying. After a bout of parrying, the guard slowed down his feverish attack and he began to visibly slow down. Eridanus pressed the offensive, both blades flashing as he aimed them in small economical thrusts towards the man, maintaining his distance carefully still. The guard desperately tried to deflect the thrusts, but his one blade could not keep up with two, and he could not strike back at the Vantha due to him abusing the fact that a long sword's reach is superior to that of a scimitar.

Eridanus finally found the moment of weakness he was looking for, and he purposely missed the next thrust, causing the guard to accidentally over-extend on the parry, leaning too far to the right as his scimitar clashed against thin air. He simultaneously used his other blade to cut down on the man's torso, as a ripping sound that was the sound of chainmail rending was followed by a brief cry, and the man dropped to the ground twitching. He was probably not dead, but most definitely incapacitated and the Vantha pressed on, choosing not to deliver the death-blow for he was not a merciless killer.

Up ahead, two of the thugs lay in various awkward positions on the floor, resembling some sort of human pincushion as a multitude of bolts stuck out of them. The merchant was hiding behind the door frame and two of the crossbowmen were still reloading their weapons, while the other two had abandoned their ranged weapon in favor of the short sword hanging from their waist, one engaging the thug in fierce combat while the other fending off blows from the shield-bearing guard's long sword. The other guard was trying to flank the remaining crossbowmen, his shield carefully up to deflect further shots, though he was already limping for there was a bolt embedded in his thigh.

It seemed that they were too busy to notice him, and for a moment Eridanus considered getting the petch out of there. Unfortunately, his ethical code did not allow him to do so and he cannot in good conscience abandon a fellow man to his his doom. Although it might not have been his conscience but his reasoning that a dead man cannot pay his debts, and Eridanus did not want to come out of this empty-handed.

He sneaked up on the guards, using the crates as cover as he crept up towards the one that was trying to flank the crossbowmen. When he was as close as he dared to sneak to without risking being seen, he calmed his breathing and steadied his grip on the blades. In the next moment, he dashed out of his cover, his impending footsteps barely serving as a warning to the shield-bearer and he ran both blades into the man's back - the blades sliding through the upper shoulder and lower side-waist partially, impeded both by the armour and Eri's exhaustion. Without dithering further, he kicked the body again down to the ground, the man's shield and sword dropping to the ground with a noisy clatter, and he swung his long swords in opposing angles towards the other guard. One blade was blocked by the shield, and the other parried by the guard's own long sword, but the act of turning to block Eri's attack was capitalized on by the crossbowmen and they let loose two bolts that sticked out of the man's back. His mouth opened in a word-less cry, and his grip on his sword-and-shield loosened. Eri gathered what remaining strength he had and swung his sword hard against the man's own sword, the guard's loosened fingers dropping the long sword on the floor. Before the sword landed on the ground, Eri was already dashing forward, his legs kicking the shield away in a side-ways motion exposing the man's body, and he bashed the man's head with the hilt of his blade. As the man began to slump, the Vantha raised his elbow and drove it down on the man's shoulder, finally collapsing the guard.

He looked at the remaining thug and it seemed that the thug managed to cut the crossbowmen's side, the human seemed to be having difficulty as one hand parrying the thug's sword and the other hand trying to stem the bleeding. The other man ran to his comrade's help, and it was all over when the crossbowmen reloaded and put two bolts into the thug's chest. Eri thought that the crossbowmen had an unfair advantage especially in a short space like this, allowing them to land almost all their shots, and he silently commended the merchant for thinking of this.

By now, the merchant had came out of his hiding spot and was trying to look as dignified as he could.
Last edited by Eridanus on October 31st, 2011, 4:10 am, edited 1 time in total.
NOTICE: I am currently mostly inactive til August. As such, guild activities are temporarily halted (watch out for major revamps, changes and organizations when I'm back in full force). Any activity with Eri will be rather slow as well, but I am slowly readjusting back to "Mizahar life", so to speak, so do PM me if we have a thread that I left hanging and we'll talk.



"You must be one hardcore scholar, Eri." (Laszlo)
First winner of the prestigious Mirage's No Kill Medal.
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Eridanus
It's Peanut Butter Jelly Time!
 
Posts: 1893
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Joined roleplay: October 24th, 2011, 2:03 am
Location: Sylira
Race: Ethaefal
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One Thousand Posts! (1) One Million Words! (1)
Extreme Scrapbooker (1) 2012 Mizahar NaNo Winner (1)
2011 Mizahar NaNo Winner (1) 2011 Top NaNo Word Count (1)

A Race Against Time (Solo)

Postby Eridanus on October 30th, 2011, 4:41 pm

Perhaps the enraged expression in the Vantha's face as he approached was an appropriate motivator, for Hurate Gundere immediately began flapping his lips in his characteristic rapid-fire motion.

"Look look, I know I owe you an explanation. I didn't really know that Gregory was in on this. I mean, I suspected he might have been involved, but I had always trusted him in these matters."

"But you didn't feel like you should mention this to me...?" Eridanus growled.

"I went around, traded in a few favours and brought back-up precisely for this reason. As I can see, I wasn't too late, and the distraction you made in the form of your appearance served to draw Gregory out of his office and for me to utilize a back-door to recover my er... goods, Hurate finished hastily, not wanting to reveal more information than he wanted to.

The merchant walked towards the Vantha and gave him a cursory look-over, and reached into one of his modified pouches.

"I'll let Master Tua know of your assistance and he will compensate you accordingly. As I didn't have time to er, restock after getting mugged by the thugs, this is all I have hidden away at the moment. Consider it your bonus for getting into a scrape, " the merchant passed a handful of coins to Eridanus.

He motioned to his men, who began to file out of the warehouse with him, but just before he left, he turned back and addressed the word-runner.

"Whatever gold you can find in those thugs' possession is probably mine, and you are free to keep them as a... bonus for not mentioning what happened here. I'm sure a discreet man like yourself knows how to keeps secrets. Please do not touch the armor and weapons, though, for I know for a fact that they belong to my business partner. Also do not move the bodies unnecessarily and make sure to disappear from this area in half a bell's time. I will return with my associates to ... deal with this matter in my terms."

Eridanus shrugged, and began looting the bodies, keeping whatever coin pouches and small trinkets he could find and left the area, intending to dedicate the whole of next day to some peace and quiet.

He needed some time to get the ringing out of his ears, caused by the repeated harsh clashes of steel in close quarters.


Loot :
1) Gold from merchant
2) Gold looted from bodies
3) Bonus Gold back at Tua's
Last edited by Eridanus on November 20th, 2011, 3:38 pm, edited 2 times in total.
NOTICE: I am currently mostly inactive til August. As such, guild activities are temporarily halted (watch out for major revamps, changes and organizations when I'm back in full force). Any activity with Eri will be rather slow as well, but I am slowly readjusting back to "Mizahar life", so to speak, so do PM me if we have a thread that I left hanging and we'll talk.



"You must be one hardcore scholar, Eri." (Laszlo)
First winner of the prestigious Mirage's No Kill Medal.
User avatar
Eridanus
It's Peanut Butter Jelly Time!
 
Posts: 1893
Words: 1312082
Joined roleplay: October 24th, 2011, 2:03 am
Location: Sylira
Race: Ethaefal
Character sheet
Storyteller secrets
Scrapbook
Plotnotes
Medals: 8
Featured Character (1) Overlored (1)
One Thousand Posts! (1) One Million Words! (1)
Extreme Scrapbooker (1) 2012 Mizahar NaNo Winner (1)
2011 Mizahar NaNo Winner (1) 2011 Top NaNo Word Count (1)

A Race Against Time (Solo)

Postby Eridanus on October 30th, 2011, 4:44 pm

And thus ends this story. There are several concerns that should be addressed here, in that Eridanus does not have a job yet as he is currently competing in a Levi-modded thread with another PC for the word-runner job. Rather than wait for the results and risk being bogged down, I decide to submit a job thread anyway.

In the event that Eri gets the job, this thread would then be the job thread. If not, see it as a freelance/one-off thing. In either case I made the beginning vague enough to support both outcomes so it should be fine.

Other than that, I hoped you enjoyed this one! I know I did!

(Although the poor Vantha probably didn't)
NOTICE: I am currently mostly inactive til August. As such, guild activities are temporarily halted (watch out for major revamps, changes and organizations when I'm back in full force). Any activity with Eri will be rather slow as well, but I am slowly readjusting back to "Mizahar life", so to speak, so do PM me if we have a thread that I left hanging and we'll talk.



"You must be one hardcore scholar, Eri." (Laszlo)
First winner of the prestigious Mirage's No Kill Medal.
User avatar
Eridanus
It's Peanut Butter Jelly Time!
 
Posts: 1893
Words: 1312082
Joined roleplay: October 24th, 2011, 2:03 am
Location: Sylira
Race: Ethaefal
Character sheet
Storyteller secrets
Scrapbook
Plotnotes
Medals: 8
Featured Character (1) Overlored (1)
One Thousand Posts! (1) One Million Words! (1)
Extreme Scrapbooker (1) 2012 Mizahar NaNo Winner (1)
2011 Mizahar NaNo Winner (1) 2011 Top NaNo Word Count (1)

A Race Against Time (Solo)

Postby Archelon on November 27th, 2011, 4:22 am

Thread Award

Image

"..."


And the Results!!!!:



Eridanus :
SkillName 1-5 How/why?
Long swords, 3
dual wielding, 3
Observation3
unarmed combat,3
acrobatics, 3
running, 3
climbing,3
flux, 3
stealth3
Navigation2
Rhetoric2 Insults... yes? XD


Lores:
Warehouse District(Basic)


Spoils:
Ledger 30 gold mizas, 5 Silver mizas
3 Juggling Balls found in Gregory's pockets



Would you like some extra turtle sauce ? :
Nice thread, good transitioning throughout.Good development... Eri seems heavy on the slash and kill side but that's fine XD :)
Thank you all for the privildege of moderating, unfortunately with deaths in the family and ailing health I am retiring. All thread grades I had on my pc have been forwarded to founders and paragon, so expect them posted soon.
It's been a mixed bag at times , but with all the good and the bad and mixed signals, I can honestly say: Thank you. Please support the next mods of sunberth as well as you have done me.
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