Completed Fallen Treasure

[Kynier]

65th of Fall, 518 A.V.

21st Bell

Syna had gone to rest and Leth was taking refuge behind the clouds, only to briefly reveal himself through small patches in the sky. There was no rain and no heavy winds as what the city had endured for the entire season so far. That could change at any moment. The clouds still looked uninviting and capable of more lightning or showers. Of course, it was Kynier’s luck that tonight would be the night that there would be no rain. Mentally he kicked himself for waiting this long to do what it was that he had been planning to do.

The only road to the Riverside Isle Park still had a wet sheen to it. While the puddles were very shallow they still announced each of this softly made steps as he walked down it. No one else shared the road with the mage. Being the only occupant, he did not bother trying to be stealthy, though he did try to keep his steps as silent as possible. Kynier was heading north on the road to enter the park. The rumors he heard last season indicated that the Daggerhand had reclaimed the park. Kynier felt it was long overdue to perform some Nightstalking to learn the truth for himself.

Leaving the city behind, Kynier started across the bridge that led to the Riverside Isle Park. Once he set foot on it, he could see several forms on the bridge ahead. All of them were people, pacing on the bridge. A patrol? Kynier did not slow his step but continued one. In a matter of ticks he heard a few of their voices echoing over the bridge, and they all began to move in his direction. Kynier slowed down his pace as they approached. One of them spoke before he could make out their faces. “The Park is closed tonight. Turn around now.”

From their tone, it was clear that it was going to be the only warning. One thing that could always be counted on, was Kynier pushing the limits. “Really? It’s the first pleasant night for a walk all season. Will it be open tomorrow night?” he asked. All… Kynier finally counted the number of patrolmen there were… six of them drew various weapons and didn’t say anything more. Kynier started backpeddling and raised his empty hands up by his shoulders. “Alright. Alright. I’m leaving.” He turned and started south, keeping an eye open to hear if they were continuing to follow him.

For twenty paces Kynier was followed before they stopped. The rumors seemed to be true, even though Kynier did not manage a glimpse at any Daggerhand tattoos. Whatever was going on at “The Park” at night was going to be difficult to determine. The Nightstalker began thinking about how he could try to get inside the park to see. With a glance, he looked at the river which served as a moat. Swimming across was one approach. But that would make him easy to notice, for he was no expert swimmer by any means of measurement.

When he reached the end of the bridge, his thoughts were interrupted. The night was suddenly filled with light in a way that a hundred torches could not manage. Kynier looked up and held a hand over his eyes to shield them from the source of the light. A source that was moving quickly across the sky. Something was fall in a large burst of light and fire, leaving a thick trail of smoke in its wake. It was heading northwest over Kynier’s head. Following it, he watched it strike the ground with a small explosion. “By the Gods!”

Nightstalker eyes quickly adjusted to the darkened night in the sudden absence of the profound light. Kynier started running in the direction of the fallen star. The ground was wet, so he avoided making any heavy footfalls that could lead to compromised footing. Kynier set the focus on his hips rather than his legs to propel him forward in a way that prevented the up and down motion many people had when running. It was difficult to say how far the impact was, so Kynier moved as quickly as he could at a pace he knew he could sustain.

After about ten chimes he came to the place with the column of smoke rising from it. Kynier’s chest was burning and the inside of his mouth was lined with spittle. Slowing down and setting his hands on his hips, he spat the extra moisture before doubling over to catch his breath. A six-foot-wide crater spewed a thin column of smoke. Standing up straight and stepping closer, Kynier could see that it was only three-feet-deep. But a large silvery stone rested in the middle of it. Mentally pushing his physical fatigue aside, Kynier evoked his Djed and harnessed it into his Auristics to open his Sight. The stone emanated an aura much larger than any other stone he had seen, except one. It was magical in some way.

Focusing his vision on the aura, Kynier immediately felt a chill run over his entire body. He could also feel a rough texture and a sense of near weightlessness. Shutting his eyes, Kynier closed his sight and redirected his Djed to his left arm. After a chime he dislodged his astral limb. With it he reached forward and felt the silvery stone with his incorporeal hand. It was indeed rough like many rocks of Mizahar. But this tone was from the heavens. From his astral arm, he could also feel the explicit cold of the stone. Kynier arched a brow as the stone had just fallen to the ground in a ball of fire.

Astral fingers cupped the stone. It was light enough to be lifted which surprised him. The astral hand lifted the silvery stone out of the crater and brought it to his other hand. As he worked to realign his astral and physical forms, Kynier looked at the strange stone that had fallen from the heavens. Though it was magical, he did not sense any power radiating from it without his Auristics. When the use of his left hand returned, Kynier slipped his pack of voiding off his back. That’s when he heard them approach. Turning around, five individuals were approaching.

They stopped about fifteen feet away and each of them drew their weapons. “Hello there, friend,” one of them called. Kynier could already tell he was the sort of “friend” that someone was willing to kill. “I see you already retrieved the sky rock for us. Be a good lad and hand it over. Kynier looked at them all. They were beginning to spread out around him, meaning to cut him off from any method of escape. Kynier’s eyes hardened and he slipped the sky rock into his pack and quickly slung it over his shoulder.

“I don’t think so, friend.” Kynier could make a guess at how valuable the sky rocks can be. Last thing he wanted, was for another group of thugs to have the funding for another prominent gang to exist in Sunberth. “My intention is to keep it and study it. Sorry that you came all this way for…” One of the men charged at him, an axe held over his head. Kynier watched him approach, hands on the hilts of both his short swords. When the axe head came down Kynier stepped to the side to be more to the man’s back. As he did, he drew the first of his short swords and swung it down on the back of the man’s attacking hand. But his aim was off and it landed on the back of the axe instead. Glister’s blade glimmered red and silver from its base cold iron blue. Kynier drew the second short sword as the man tried to muscle his way through Kynier’s guard. The second blade glided in under the man’s weapon arm and through the gap in his ribs.

Brown eyes widened in shock as the blade pierced through him to his soft inner organs. Kynier pulled the blade out and bolted for the gap his attacker had made in their line. Four against one were odds he did not want to face again, even if he was much more skilled than the last time it had happened. The mage was running as quickly as he could back towards the city.



Word Count: 1,403

Boxcode credit goes to Gossamer!

[Kynier]

Unlike before, Kynier was sprinting as opposed to running. Four men followed behind which gave the mage plenty of motivation to keep moving his legs as fast as he could. Each stride was as long as he could manage to make it so that he could cover as much distance with as little effort. Instead of breathing in cycles of two, two breaths in followed by two breaths out, Kynier was breathing in as one foot fell and out when the other fell. It was a louder method of breathing, but he was outside the city and in the open. The only people around were already aware of his presence as well. Leaving no point in using any methods employed for a stealthier run.

When half the distance back to Sunberth had been crossed, Kynier risked the brief reduction of his pace to check on the status of his pursuers. They were not all able to keep pace with each other. One was really close while the others were further behind. Returning his focus to the route in front of him, Kynier added a slight angle to his direction. One that would take him into the fairly abandoned district of Robern’s Reaches. With all of them unable to keep the same pace, it was possible for him to dispatch them one at a time. Possibly.

One thing that Kynier was quickly learning was that trying to sprint while holding your weapons was exhausting for the arms. He let his arms drop and hang at his side. It was a strange posture to hold during the sprint, but his arms and particularly his shoulders were grateful for it. It was also easier than trying to sheath the weapons during the sprint when he was just going to need them again shortly.

As he was crossing the last bit of distance to the edge of Robern’s Reaches, Kynier looked back. The nearest of his pursuer’s was perhaps only ten ticks behind him. The others were not nearly so close. Whoever this closer one was, Kynier was not going to be able to outrun him. His chest was heaving for air and he dare not lead anyone straight back to the Midnight Gem like this. He needed to make them either lose his trail or unable to follow him anymore before he could return home. With how quickly they had managed to get to the crater, they were probably Daggerhand Brothers. Kynier had enough trouble with the Daggerhands without having them give extra attention to home.

Kynier ran down to the first alley and rounded the corner. There he stopped and stood about a pace away from the corner, prepared to swing both of his short swords. It was difficult, but he forced himself to breath through his nose as he waited and counted the ticks in his head. Before he reached the count of seven, he heard the heavy steps of someone running his way from the alley. Kynier bent his knees, ready to attack. At the first sign of movement he swung both blade horizontally at different levels.

The man leaped and went between both of the blades, almost successfully too. The lower one made contact with something. Kynier heard the rending of fabric and an instant of resistance to his cut. The first pursuer did not crash on the ground but rolled to his feet before pulling out a dagger. There was a tear in his pants at about the shin where Kynier could see that he had only managed to scratch the fellow. The stance Kynier took was on that Pajalkich had taught him. His body was forty-five degrees to his opponent with one short sword pointed at his opponent’s eyes which the other he held closer to his body as a guard.

Upon a closer look, Kynier could see the man had the strange ear cuffs that certain members of the prominent gangs wore. There were four small silver rings and a sold gold cuff on one ear. This man was a veteran combatant. Mentally, Kynier swore. The hope had been to seriously injure or kill the man with the ambush. Instead, he was now facing off against a skilled opponent. To make matters worse, it would be a chime at most before the rest of them caught up. Meaning that there was no time for respite.

Kynier stepped forward and used the guard blade to cut down at his adversary. Similar to what Kynier had down with the last man, this one sidestepped to avoid and slashed at the back of Kynier’s neck. Kynier dropped low by kneeling and twisted his body to stab with the other short sword. The man must not have expected or seen it. For the blade impaled the man in the abdomen, causing the critically wounded man to wheeze in shock. When Kynier stood he also took a step away, using his body weight to pull the blade from the man before he fell to the ground.

When the man looked up at him, Kynier slashed at him across the face to deliver the killing blow. With a small flourish, he flicked the blood off both his weapons onto the ground. Without further delay, he turned and ran southwest to go deeper into the “haunted” district. The sounds of the other pursuers were echoing down the alley. One came out and saw their comrade dead on the ground and swore aloud. Then Kynier heard someone shout from behind him, “Over there!”



Word Count: 919
Total Count: 2,322

Boxcode credit goes to Gossamer!

[Kynier]

There was no shortage of gratitude for the times that he and Kelski took to the streets and ran. Using the whole of the city as an obstacle course in an effort to hone their bodies into something stronger. Kynier was short of breath and his muscles were aching in his legs. Only in thanks to their training was he able to endure and keep running. While he was not a seasoned athlete, Kynier had begun to learn how it was possible to keep the body going through the building fatigue. Otherwise, he would’ve had to stop and face three opponents at once while out of breath.

Buildings rushed by him as all he focused on for a chime was setting one foot in front of the other. To keep running. Robern’s Reaches was mostly abandoned with numerous buildings in decrepit states. Kynier would only slow in order to make a sharp turn down another road or side alley. Otherwise, he moved as quickly as his feet would allow. Feet avoiding puddles in the road in case one of them were deeper than it appeared, and he sprain an ankle. That continued for a time he could not measure. Until at last he looked behind him after endless turning and sprinting, to see that the one following him were out of sight.

Kynier glanced around and took to one of the decrepit buildings to hide in. One of the walls had collapsed partially from what may have been a fire. With quick glances and quicker decisions, Kynier leapt from large stone to large stone rather than traverse the rubble. Once inside he took to one of the darker corners. Shadows of the night shifted to watch the Nightstalker curiously. Standing still in a corner, Kynier’s legs begun to throb and felt tense. He sheathed his weapons and worked on stretching his legs briefly. Then he rested his back against the wall and focused on keeping his breathing quiet. It was hard as he needed to catch his breath.

Eyes partially closed, Kynier selected a brick on the far wall to focus his gaze on as he used a meditation method to regulate his breathing. Imagining that he could see the Djed in the air he focused on breathing it in through his mouth in a deep gasp. After that, he exhaled through the nose over a duration of five ticks to see the imaginary flow of Djed coursing from his body. As his body was beginning to calm down Kynier felt a strange sensation. Something that warmed his body similar to how he conjured Djed was running over the skin of his face and up around his ears. Strangely, it collected itself to two points along his hairline.

Kynier cried out in pain loudly as a sharp stabbing sensation arose at the center of those points. Both hands rested over the places where the pain occurred. A pain worse than any he had felt as blood ran down his brow and around his eyes. Something was climbing out of his head and through the skin. As though a bone had fractured, and someone decided to pull it out without cutting the skin open. Kynier felt something sliding out between the fingers of both hands. How long the pain lasted was impossible to say. The pain was stabbing, cutting, and burning all at once. Sharp pricks of light danced in front of his closed eyes. When it ended, Kynier’s head felt light yet somehow more burdened.

When he was aware of his surroundings again, he was on his back, staring up at the clouded night sky through a hole in the ceiling. His face felt warm and moist. Pulling his hands away, he noted that they were covered in blood and shaking. Touching his forehead where the pain had been, and had left behind a throbbing numbness, Kynier’s breath froze as he felt something hard protruding from his head in two places. Fingers traced the outline of the strange growth which had a slight curvature and narrowed to sharp points.

“It came from over here!” A voice said not too far away. It broke Kynier out of his current mindset. Shyke! He had no idea how loud or how long he had been screaming in pain. Obviously long enough to have given away his location. Kynier took a rag out of his pocket and wiped the blood from his hands hastily. After a few ticks he stowed it back in his pocket and drew his weapons. Setting his feet down slowly and with care, he crept to the edge of the collapsed wall to peer out onto the street. Two of the people following him were coming in his direction. Where was the third?

Kynier turned to move when another sharp pain suddenly erupted. This time it was in his left shoulder. Head turning suddenly, a small throwing dagger was sticking out of his shoulder. That’s when he also noticed the third follower standing outside the broken window. “Khur-va!” Kynier snarled as he ran at the window. The third man disappeared from the window, but he called out to the others. The Nighstalker lept out the window and saw a glint of light off metal in peripheral vision. Bending his knees, he dropped down into a sideways roll away from the glint of light. Only it wasn’t fast enough. Metal cut through the sleeve and skin of his right arm and tore at the muscle underneath.

Rolling to his feet he took the same stance as before, only the right arm served as the guard now. It felt heavier and it hurt to move it. The man brandished another dagger, one too large to be meant for throwing. Kynier wanted to turn and run, but that would only provide a much nicer target for the man. Instead he charged forward and held Glister out to the side with his right hand as the blade turned gold in the night. It took the man’s attention and that’s when Kynier lunged forward with the other short sword. The Feint was noticed at the last instant as the man backed away and only received a small cut across the forearm. Kynier stepped around with his back foot and swung Glister at the off balanced opponent. But the weight of the short sword on his injured arm was too much and the attack fell to his side.

The man smiled menacingly as he came in at Kynier’s exposed side. But Kynier knelt down low again, below the attack, and swung his good arm at the man’s leg. The distance was off and the cut did not go deep. It did cut around the man’s shin. As he gritted his teeth in pain, Kynier stood up and kicked the man in the center of the chest with the heel of his foot. It was hard enough to knock the man down. Kynier took the opportunity to run past the man onto the main street and quickly moved around the corner to avoid getting a dagger thrown into his back. Bleeding, in pain, and out of breath Kynier moved as fast as his body would allow as the other two were noticeably nearby.



Word Count: 1,206
Total Count: 3,528

Boxcode credit goes to Gossamer!

[Kynier]

Due to his growing fatigue, each step he placed was harder than it normally would’ve been. It was jarring to his body and caused him pain by agitating the cut on his arm. The stride of his run evoked less grace than before. Kynier was so intent on just continuing to move that his form had begun to slip. His body bobbed up and down between steps which caused more strain on his knees in exchange for more speed. While he had undergone several nights of physical training for instances like this, several nights were not enough to develop subconscious habits.

The wound on his right arm was tender and disagreed with the motions of running. Kynier gripped the cold iron blade in his left hand tighter. It had been at his side for most of his life and only recently had he discovered that it had power. Normally, when his body was wounded, Kynier waited until the end of the day to evoke that power. By doing so, it would always be available for emergencies, since the power could only be used once before requiring a full day to replenish itself. Kynier decided he could not abide by that logic today. His right arm was unable to wield a weapon with that injury, and it was unlikely that he would survive the night if he couldn’t use it.

Between desperate breaths of air to fill his burning lungs, Kynier spoke the long and elaborate tongue of Tukant. “I’ll Die Tomorrow.” When the phrase was complete, the cold iron blade illuminated with a pure white energy that infused itself within his body. Mentally, Kynier directed the healing power to this right arm. When it reached the wound if flushed through the fragments of torn flesh with a cold burning sensation. Both skin and tissue were reknitted together by magic and left the skin on his arm looking healthy and unscarred.

When the magic dissipated, his arm instantly felt better and was able to move and lift Glister without pain. Kynier took a deeper breath that interrupted the rhythm he had established. When next he exhaled, his legs put in a little more power to go faster. And while the calves were always first to to stiffen, Kynier felt his thighs begin to tense. It wasn’t an issue of breathing or form. It was simply his body approaching the physical limit to what it could perform. This pace was not something he could maintain all night. Sweat and blood were running around, and sometimes into, his eyes.

The strangest thing was that he could feel the protrusions from his forehead. The way the wind brushed against them as though they were just like every other part of his body. Kynier wanted to question what happened to him. How it had occurred at all. Physical deformities were an advanced sign of overgiving. But Kynier had never heard of an instance where the result was so… symmetrical. There was no doubt in his mind what had caused the deformity to have occurred. It was the sky rock. Auristics had informed him that it was magical in some way. How the power of the sky rock could have done this to him was beyond his comprehension.

Truth was that he couldn’t afford to question it right now. There were three people, that he suspected to be Daggerhand affiliates, wanting to kill him and take the sky rock for themselves. Running through the whole city would risk brining more of their affiliates into the chase. Kynier simply didn’t know which territories would have been better for him to run through in an effort to lose his pursuers. So, he remained in Robern’s Reaches where he knew it was less likely to encounter any more unfriendly individuals. At least, he had thought so.

When he rounded a corner onto a street he had not been to yet, Kynier could hear a loud and repetitive series of thumps. Music? His feet moved in the direction of the sounds. As he drew nearer it was more apparent that it was in fact music. “The Bolt Hole,” he muttered to himself. Kynier ran closer to the source of the music. His hope was to conceal himself among the crowd. Then it would be difficult for them to…

Shyke.

Though it was the time of Leth’s domain in the sky, Kynier was not an Ethaefal. And in a city dominated by humans, his protrusions would make him easy to notice in a crowd. He looked at his wounded shoulder to see that the throwing dagger was still stuck. With a short blade, he flicked the tip up at the hilt of the dagger to remove it. Gritting his teeth through the pain, the dagger came free and clattered on the ground. With a look over his shoulder, Kynier had a brief moment of being out of sight. He sheathed his weapons and followed the music further.

It was coming from one of the larger ruined lots. The building itself had collapsed into rubble, but the moving club had temporarily repurposed it with a quickly assembled stage and large dancing platform. The night was dry, and enough people had come to cause the dancing platform to be of insufficient size. People were coming and going constantly. As Kynier approach, he kept his head down and his hood up. It wasn’t able to be pulled over the protrusions, so the rim rested at their base. As he approached, he noticed several articles of clothing had been thrown about the street. He grabbed one that was completely soaked and dirty. It was far less than ideal, but it was something. Kynier folded it over several times as he continued to walk in the club’s direction. Pulling his hood down, he wrapped the material around his head to conceal his protrusions. Tying it around his head, he heard the cloth ripping. Kynier ran a hand up the length of one of his deformities and felt its tip had torn through the cover. “Petch it,” he said as he finished tying the impromptu bandana. Then he pulled his hood up again and approached the fluctuating mass of dancers.

Looking around, he noticed a small gap where he could slip through the perimeter that the bouncers had set up. Stealth through a crowd was much easier than stealth in the open environment. It was possible to slouch, feign a limp, bend the knees to appear shorter, and a few other things one could do to hide themselves more easily. So, Kynier fell in line behind a few people that were making their approach as well. The smell of alcohol was already strong on them and the walked with clumsy steps. When the reached the gap he noticed, Kynier slipped in through and took a couple of steps into the crowd.

Everyone was pressing in on each other as they danced to the intensely loud music and colorful display of illusions. Before Kynier could venture too far in, a hand clapped down hard on his shoulder and squeezed tightly. Someone stronger than him started pulling him back the way he came and out the space he had slipped through. A bouncer shoved him out, “Nice try you little bastard. But now you’re not welcome at all tonight.”

Shyke!

Kynier took a few backwards steps and glanced over his shoulder. The three that had been following him were approaching. One of them stopped and pointed at something on the ground for the others to see. Kynier started walking quickly to an alley in the east. At its end, he turned the corner to begin doubling back to get behind his pursuers. He drew both his short swords preemptively. Turning down the next alley, he kept close to the wall and both weapons at his sides. When he saw the three moving past the end of the alley, Kynier ducked down low and watched them continue. Moving as quietly as he could, he rounded the corner and approached the three of them from behind.

His heart beat was pounding in his chest and both his hands held his weapons with white knuckled grips. Coming up behind them, he selected the two on the left. When he was almost in reach, one looked over their shoulder and noticed him. Kynier crossed his arms as he raised his weapons and slashed horizontally with both at the same time in opposite directions, as the observant one pointed him out. It was too late for his companions though. His weapons sliced through the legs of the other two, cutting deep but not in a lethal way. The two of them fell to the ground and Kynier took a step back to enter his stance and square off against the third.



Word Count: 1,467
Total Count: 4,995

Boxcode credit goes to Gossamer!

[Kynier]

If there was one thing that fighting in Sunberth had taught him, it was the you needed to be constantly moving. Holding still allowed for vulnerabilities that could be exploited. Especially when there were multiple opponents to deal with. Kynier held a cold iron blade out to keep some distance between him and the last one that was capable of standing. He also was moving his feet to circled around the man so that the other two were always on the other side, causing the last opponent to be an obstacle if someone decided to try and throw a dagger.

The last man brandished a full-length sword and came in with a series of attacks. Kynier took to his training from Pajalkich and performed crescent shape steps to pull him back and away from the enemy’s reach. But the man was fast and his misses were by narrow margins. Kynier used his one blades collectively to knock aside to obstruct the adversary’s weapon. Then the man made a lunging thrust with the blade. Kynier sidestepped the obvious maneuver and cut down on the man’s arm with Glister. The cut was deep and caused the man’s grip on the weapon to weaken. After he dragged the blade out from the man’s flesh, Kynier stepped in with his own thrust with his other weapon, which penetrated the man’s chest.

Half the blade’s length disappeared into the man. Blood welled from the fresh would and the man began to cough blood through his lips. Stepping back and using his body weight to pull, the cold iron blade came out from the man’s chest with a violent jerk. It caused the man to tumble forward and fall face down. When that happened, something stuck Kynier in the upper body. Another throwing dagger that glanced off his collarbone after causing a rather unpleasant gash. Kynier raised a hand to hold over it as he staggered back a few steps. One of the hamstrung men was trying to find his balance on one leg, while the other had thrown the dagger from the ground.

Kynier spat and marched forward. The hobbling man hopped backwards once and nearly lost his balance. The other on the ground tried to crawl backwards. Kynier stuck one blade through the shin of the man’s good leg to pin him down. He screamed out in pain as Kynier thrust the other blade into the man’s abdomen before pulling both weapons out at once. Then he turned his gaze on the last man. The fellow dropped his axe and held his hands up in submission.

“Hey, keep the rock,” he said nervously, “it ain’t worth dying for.” While that might be true, the man had seen his face. He had also seen the deformity that had befallen the young Nightstalker and could relay the description to the others. Kynier approached the man. The murderous intent must have been very apparent in his eyes. The man tried to back away but could not out move faster than a man that still had two legs. “Now, now wait!” he pleaded. Kynier did not bother to listen to the man. He cut down across the man’s chest which drove him down on his back. Kynier stood over him and stabbed down at the man with both weapons at once. The man gurgled his last breaths before choking to death. Kynier stood and flicked the blood off both his cold iron blades with a flourish. Then he sheathed the weapons and looked around.

The Bolt Hole was a hundred feet away, yet no one bothered to give him and the scene a second glance. That didn’t remove the possibility that someone these men knew may be among those indulging in the music and intoxication within. So Kynier turned around and ran from the dancing and music. He did not take a pace that was near maximum speed he could muster. The Midnight Gem was a few miles away and he wanted to be sure that no one was following him. Heading south, Kynier moved with he running form that he had been training himself to perform over the course of the season. Where he did not land with the heel of his foot first to send the impact rippling up his legs. Instead, he touched the ground with the only the balls of his feet so that his legs could bend and absorb the impact.

Normally, the pace was comfortable, and he would’ve been able to sustain it for a long time without issue. But Kynier had already been running and sprinting for bells. Now, the motivation was not as extreme as having several men chasing you down for a strange object. Kynier breathed in and out with his mouth. He felt his head growing warm when he realized he still had the cloth wrapped around his head. He ripped it off, literally as part of it got snagged on the sharp ends of his protrusions. After a moment of being sure he got all of it off his head, he was able to put all his focus back into running. In the cloth’s absence, Kynier was able to feel the cold night air on his forehead which helped to prevent him from overheating.

For most of the next bell, Kynier weaved through Robern’s Reaches in a southeast direction. Several paces after each turn he looked over his shoulder to check for someone following him. When he was convinced that he no longer held anyone’s notice, he made a direct path to the Midnight Gem. Kynier took the approach from the beach line so that he could make one last check that he wasn’t followed before officially approaching the building. By then, his pace had been reduced to barely more than a brisk walk. His whole body was sweating, and his cuts were stinging from the perspiration seeping in. Kynier stopped and looked around, utterly out of breath.

No one else around for at least a mile that he could see. Kynier turned and started on the beaten path to the Midnight Gem’s property with a slow walk. His whole body was sore and desired rest.



Word Count: 1,029
Total Count: 6,024

Boxcode credit goes to Gossamer!

[Kynier]

Grades!

Skill Rewards

• Acrobatics +3
• Auristics +1
• Detection +2
• Disguise +1
• Duel Wield +5
• Endurance +5
• Logic +2
• Meditation +1
• Projection +1
• Running +5
• Socialization +1
• Stealth +2
• Weapon: Short Sword +5
• Tactics +5
• Unarmed Combat +1

Lores Learned

• Duel Wield: Parry and Stab
• Duel Wield: Attacking at different levels simultaneously
• Duel Wield: Attack, duck, stab
• Duel Wield: Feint and Lunge
• Duel Wield: Can’t Duel Wield effectively with an injured arm
• Duel Wield: Crossing horizontal slashes
• Duel Wield: Two-Weapon Deflections
• Endurance: Sprinting while holding your weapons is tiring on the arms
• Logic: Don’t turn your back on someone that throws daggers
• Logic: When to use resources and when not to
• Tactics: Retreating when outnumbered
• Tactics: Approach unsuspecting enemies from behind
• Tactics: Keep moving when outnumbered in combat
• The Park: Off limits at night