Closed Name: trail by fire.. well kinda (balderdash)

[Rador]

summer 19th 515 AV Rador walked through the streets of the western quarter. The people of the western quarter quickly parting to make way for him. It felt invigorating, the gleaming warhammer at his side, the fine robes and the symbol of xannos stitched in the fabric. He was a monk ,a man who had risked all to earn priviliges and duties. It was a fresh breath of air to be treated like that. And He was preforming one of these duties for the first time today. The aparture was a dangerous thing. Usually the thing inside it would keep to themselves during the day. But Even that wasn't a certain thing and that wasn't the only thing. During his patrols he was also expected to be on the lookout for people breaking the laws of nyka or harming the city and punish them as he wished. The very idea he was able to order people around like that and decide what punishment they would get felt great. But he wasn't supposed to think about that. Now he needed to do his job. He could enjoy the feeling of power when he was actually exercising it over somebody else. Now his mind had to be on the present. He walked past a brawl in progress, it didn't seem to be anything serious judging from the crowd edging the two of them on. It looked like a friendly brawl to him, so no sense in intervening. He kept his eyes and ears open for any any other signs of trouble. He knew fairly well which things should attract a monks attention. Angry screams and sounds of property damage. Or Large groups of people running away or even just a few people screaming in fear. Those where things that he should be looking for. Things that were out of the ordinary.

[Balderdash]

As Rador passed the brawl, he caught some snatches of furious conversation. Most of the words said were drowned out by the fighting and jeering of the crowd, but he was able to make out "gouge your eyes out", "killed her", "saw him myself", and "defend him." Not long after, he sensed movement in a nearby alley. If he focused on it, he would see a face mostly hidden behind a wall, with wild brown hair and a wide eye whose white had turned completely red. It would watch him for a couple ticks, then take off down the alley. Behind him, a loud "Ooh!" came from the crowd accompanying a loud thud. The freshly minted monk's next course of action was his decision.

[Rador]

At first rador had thought the brawl was a friendly one. Just a few mates beating the snot out of each other but not going far enough to really murder each other. But just as he passed them he heard the venom and a few world through the jeering and yelling. It didn't sound good. Just as he was about to turn around and yell at the group to stop it and explain what the petch was going on. Then he noticed the strange face gawking at him from behind a wall. The singular wide eye was completely red and it had wild red hair.. that wasn't a nykian. It either was some kind of aparture creature or an outsider who had a bad eye. Just as it noticed him looking it dashed down the alley and just as Rador was about to give chase and try to catch it. He heard a loud falling noise and the crowd going apeshit. It was pretty sure one of the fighters was going to get petched up if he didn't interviene. But then that thing was also on the loose. Still it didn't take him very long to take a decision. There were still other monks around and he could start looking and searching for that creature after this. He also was supposed to uphold the law. And somebody trying to gauge another guy's eyes out was clearly against it. “What in xannos' name is going on here!” Rador yelled out as he turned around. He would quickly deal with this matter and then chase after the creature. Inform other monks of what he had seen so that other monks were also keeping a lookout. The crowd quickly parted before him and let him through. Rador gave a quick look at the fighters. “Well!?”

[Balderdash]

The now slowly dispersing crowd parted to reveal two men in their forties, one in bright yellow and lime green, the other in shades of blue looking at Rador. Both of them had cut lips and black eyes, and the man in blue was currently straddles on his opponent, clutching him by the collar with his fist drawn back. If Rador looked closely, he would see tears in his eyes. "This man's brother killed my wife!" snarled the fellow in blue. "And now he has the gall to defend him!" " 'Mpossible." muttered the man beneath him. He took a moment to spit some blood onto the dusty grey brick road before continuing. "My brother wouldn' hurt a fly. The man's a pacifist and a doctor, for crying out loud! He even helped deliver Annie's first child!" "I know what I saw!" hissed the man in blue. "Your brother tried to throw a sack over my Annie's head and drag her off, and when she fought back he smashed her head against a wall and ran off!" "How could he do that? He's hardly a large man; it'd take someone crazy strong to kill someone that way! You've gone mad is what you have!" Almost at once, the two men looked straight and Rador and said "You gonna believe him?"

[Rador]

“Get off each other.” Rador bluntly stated ignoring their outburst of who to believe. Even though his teenage voice cracked a bit it was clear that he expected the men to follow his command. His body language promised even more pain for whoever didn't do what he said. “And tell me your names.” He looked towards the man in yellow and then to the crowd. “Is the brother here?” The unspoken command to get his arse over in the circle if he was there was very clear. He wanted to have a good look at the man. If the man in yellow was speaking the truth then he was small and not Particulary And the way the blue man's wife was murdered really couldn't be done by a small weak man. He knew, he tried it. Human skulls were hard. And if the man in yellow wasn't talking out of his arse then a pacifistic doctor shouldn't be able to break somebodies skull. “How long ago did something kill your wife.” He sure hoped that it was a long while ago. Because if it wasn't, then that bloody red eyed freak might have something to do with it. Seeing as how it had been hovering near the fighting.

[Balderdash]

While the two men were loath to give ground to the other, they were more loath to backtalk a monk with a hammer. As such, they straightened up, dusted themselves off, and introduced themselves in turn. "I'm Franklin." said the man in blue. "Dalton." said the one in yellow. Rador's inquiry about the brother was met with a sea of shaking heads, and a couple bemused looks. "No, he ran off that way." said Franklin, pointing in the direction Rador had been walking- and had seen the strange face. "The deed happened not more than two chimes from now. We haven't even moved the body yet."

[Rador]

Oh great. It just had to be the very unnatural thing that he saw just a moment ago that caused all of the bloody problem in the first place. If those damn idiots hadn't been trying to murder each other he could have gone after the possessed brother in the first place without having to seperate these two. Ah well, what was done was done and at least these two didn't murder each other. “His brother is possessed then.” Rador bluntly stated. “I saw it scuttle away. I would have gone after it if I didn't need seperate you two.” He glared at both of the men when he said that. If he had been less irate about the entire situation he probably would have felt more sympathy towards both the brother of a possessed one and the widower. Couldn't have been easy for either of them. As it stood now though, he was irritated at the both of them for being the cause of letting the possessed man get away. Now he had to find the thing in nyka. “Don't start the fight again and I won't punish either of you. I'll know how to find you two otherwise.” He stated as he already started turning around. Ready to go after the possessed brother. It was barely two chimes ago, so the creature still had to be closeby. Especially since it seemed to like lingering. But he still had to hurry. “Inform any other monks that you see that his brother is possessed and dangerous.” He said to them before he ran of in the direction of where he had seen the creature scamper off towards. He hoped to find any kind of trail before the creature managed to strike again.

[Balderdash]

Finding his quarry would be a fair challenge if it didn't want to be found. Nyka was a maze of alleyways and sharp corners, and his target could have cut down any number of them. Fortunately, it seemed Annie had managed to be of some assistance before she died. If Rador cared to look, he would notice a red smear on the edge of the corner where he had seen the face, and if he turned his gaze downward he would notice drops of blood forming a nice trail down the alley and turning to the right. As he followed the trail further, Rador would be able to catch the gradually increasing sound of something breathing heavily. As he passed a mural of a gemcrafter at work, the monk caught the scent of blood. The wall in front of Rador had a stylized skull warding against the Aperture painted on it, a sharp corner laying in front of him. The breathing seemed to come from directly above, but looking up would reveal nothing. As he rounded the corner, Rador would catch a flash of red and brown before being slammed against the wall by something heavy that yelled like a crazed animal. It was a man, with emaciated features, frayed hair, and orange clothes with a dark stain across the front. Both eyes were solid red save the iris and pupils, and specs of black resembling arcane lettering were faintly visible. His veins were bulging, he had a cut lip and brow, and he held a brick in his right hand. Stepping back with a hold on Rador's collar, he pulled it back behind his shoulder to deliver a vicious blow to the monk's head.

[Rador]

Rador hurried through the twisting alley's of nyka. Keeping a firm eye out for the trail of blood painted by the possessed murderer. This was easier then expected. The trail combined with the heavy breathing all around him that got worse and worse the longer he followed the trail. It was almost as if.. Something screamed like an animal and slammed him into the wall with a lot of force. He was being led in a xannos' damned trap. Rador scowled as the creature managed to get a hold of his collar. Shaking away the daze from being slammed into the wall and ignoring the minor pains of it. He had been through a lot worse. It looked at him as it raised a heavy looking brick up. It was obvious to rador that he was going to get his brains splattered all over the wall if he didn't do anything. And that would be a damn shame of the nice mural painted on it. He reached out towards the brick with his left hand. Trying to grab a hold of the brick, or at least try to push the brick of course and away from his head. With his right hand he grabbed a hold of his hammer. He didn't have enough room to get a full swing going with it. So he tried to slam the end of the hammer's handle as hard in the creatures side as he could. Hoping that the pain of that would make it back off enough to get a swing in.

[Balderdash]

Rador's gambit worked as far as keeping his head un-smashed went. He managed to catch his assailant's wrist, the force of the blow slamming the monk's elbow against the marble and rattling him up to his shoulder. For such a slight man, the attacker's strength was enormous. Rador vaguely felt some sort of wetness on the inside of his robes where he struck the wall, but that was all in his adrenaline haze. Undismayed by his failure, the man promptly responded by headbutting Rador. Fortunately for the fledgeling of Xannos, he clearly didn't know much about fighting, and so didn't aim for the nose, but instead the boy's cheek. He felt a jarring sensation in his jaw and sensed something loose in his mouth following the impact. The hammer blow seemed to only make the man angrier, but it did succeed in moving him through mechanical energy. The strike pushed him a foot to the left, causing him to stumble slightly as he traveled. If he was not otherwise interrupted, his next move would be to pull his foot up as if preparing to break down a door and aim a vicious kick at Rador's stomach.