Solo A Town Troubled II

[Moritz Craven]

9 Spring 523

Having been on the job for a few days, Moritz had some idea of what was expected of him. Today however one of the workers or slaves of Father Manowar told Moritz they would be going on a supply run. Before this Moritz had only worked inside of The Drunken Fish, but now he would be heading outside. His main job then would be to protect the workers who were heading out to buy food and things for The Drunken Fish, and to make sure they came back with all of their people, money, and goods.

What troubles Moritz would run into he was unsure, and so he tried to bring various things he might need. Were before he had just belted on a few daggers he wore his full weapon harness today, along with a pair of daggers - one on each side - and his remaining sword in its scabbard. He did not think it was too likely he would use it much, since he knew he was not too skilled at using it... But still he felt it might prove its worth in showing off how armed and intimidating he was, so he brought it along... Most likely though, as he knew, he would end up fighting mainly with his arms and legs with simple unarmed combat rather than with weapons he still needed to train to be decent with.

Once he was so armed Moritz headed down and met a pair of workers who would be coming along, taking the offered coin for purchases to be made and keeping it for protection on his person while the other two brought along packs and things to carry whatever they purchased. That meant all he had to do was keep aware of himself, the coinage he was carrying, and the other two with him... Once they left the building Moritz did his best to stay alert, heading out and following closely behind the other two who were they said leading him to a market on the seaside or riverside... It was by the water, so far as Moritz could gather, though which kind he was less sure of. "You'll know it when you see it, when you start seeing actual stone buildings you'll know we aren't too far off."

With that small comment the slave once more grew silent, and the trio headed away from the docks and towards another part of the city near the river running through it... As they walked Moritz noticed other people moving about, trying his best to keep an appraisal of everyone moving about and coming near. Suddenly though he saw some quick movement out of his expanded peripheral, and saw a small person rushing by and near them on a collision course. They seemed to be trying at subtlety and stealth, but were not quite succeeding. As they grew near he saw a hand suddenly extend, and the person came rushing at him to bump off or by him... Likely, Moritz reasoned, trying to make it seem like they were in a rush and ran into him by accident. However he noticed the hand being raised was right at the height of the coinpurse he was openly wearing. It was a decoy of course, his actual coinage was hidden elsewhere, but it did have some coin in it all the same. With that he waited till the hand was about to reach him, only to suddenly step to the side and leaving the paw empty as it rushed by. Unable to stop without looking any more suspicious than he already did right now.

WC: 600

[Moritz Craven]

Once the first person trying to steal his money failed, things were quiet for a time. Moritz followed behind the other two workers, realizing at that point he did not know their names. Shrugging though he decided it did not matter, and was not needed for his task. Instead he focused back on what he was doing, and keeping aware of his surroundings.

For awhile nothing much happened, other than a few people walking by and staring openly or glancing quickly a bit more subtly. All of these people seemed to walk by as normal though, although a few of them did dart off quickly once they were past their group and likely thought they were out of sight. Moritz pondered on that, but either they were in a rush, up to no good, or just odd... Being up to no good, it seemed most likely to be someone reporting to someone else, which seemed more likely to mean trouble later rather than right away. He did not know too many people outside of The Drunken Fish and Caspian, but he did not doubt that some people had networks of information and knew how to get info. Moritz for his part had not had much use for such things, but perhaps it would not hurt to look into it...

As he was finishing thinking on this and turning his full consideration back to his current task Moritz noticed a few men standing near the mouth of an alley they would be passing. Looking at them using his peripheral vision without directly staring Moritz noticed there was two of them, and they did seem to have something on them. Glancing quickly before moving back he did see them a bit more closely. One seemed to have a weapon of sorts at their waist, and the other seemed to be hiding something behind their back.

Using his sight he had gained back in Syka he stared at each openly for a moment, appraising their combat presence. One of them, the one hiding something behind his back, had almost no combat presence at all. The other one who was wearing a weapon at his waist, some kind of metal thing, seemed to have some amount of combat presence but not he felt close to the amount Moritz had... Of course, it was not quite a one to one comparison since their was two of them. But then, they also clearly thought they had the element of surprise and planned to use such surprise against him, and so perhaps they would be overestimated their chances? He knew they were there and likely coming, and they were weaker but working together... His awareness of their surprise somewhat negated their surprise ability in an attack, but not their teamwork... Assuming they had any actual teamwork.

What then, was his plan? Moritz thought on this, and decided the simplest tactic was to just keep acting like he suspected nothing, and to wait for an opening in an overly reaching attack. He had to watch out for the workers, so sending them off was not a viable tactic, so turning his own lack of surprise against them and hoping for a lack of cohesion in their teamwork seemed the most valid response he could think of.

WC: 548

[Moritz Craven]

Walking along silently Moritz tried to make some silent signals to the other two with him, using his eyes and glances. It occurred to him he should have planned out some key words that meant things in advance, which was something he would consider for next time. Still, his glances and pointed looks at the alley with the two men seemed enough for the Sunberthians to gather what he meant about the upcoming ambush.

If anything the two seemed more calm, perhaps for the fact that their guard had caught onto the not so subtle ambush coming up against them. They did subtly shift their walking, beginning to talk to each other quite naturally as if something important needed to be said... And in so doing, putting Moritz directly between both of them and the alley they were coming up to... Moritz fought a smile, realizing how wily the locals were, at least the ones who worked for Father Manowar.

He could not say the same about the other assumed locals planning the ambush. He could not have planned it better if he had given orders, but he could only assume it was all down to the intelligence of the workers and skill at taking orders, even basic or vague ones. It was certainly not due to his amazing leadership skills which were admittedly lacking. Still, thinking on it he did have ideas to improve things for next time, and so he felt he was slowly catching on to the task of leading a small group and giving orders.

As they finally neared the two men, Moritz saw a bit closer what they were wielding. One was holding something behind his back, which appeared to be a small and crude wooden club of sorts. Something almost anyone could find if they went out into the woods and worked to make the most rudimentary weapon. The other was wielding some sort of short sword, though from a cursory examination he did not think it was a very good one. Certainly not as well maintained as his own well cared for weapons. While a persons weapons and their current state did not say everything, Moritz still felt noticing this was a good and telling bit of intelligence for who they were. Nothing proper or fancy, maybe not even part of a proper gang but just two upstarts hoping to make some money? This was an assumption based on the limited intelligence he had on them from observing, but it seemed likely enough.

And then all at once the two leapt into action, charging in at Moritz with their weapons out. Pretending for a few more moments that he did not see it coming, Moritz examined the two men and their weapons. A wooden club... A rough steel short sword of sorts... Eyeing the two coming at him, he knew the one with the short sword was the bigger threat, as the other had almost no combat presence. If he could deal with one first using his own counter surprise attack, then he knew it had to be against them.

And so as they grew near Moritz waited... And then pounced. As they finally grew within range Moritz turned, faced the men and took on a combat stance, and then stepped forward towards the man with the sword empty handed. In response this man suddenly gasped and pulled back, which was just the opening Moritz was looking for.

Before he could slash down with his blade Moritz grasped the man at his wrist of the hand holding the sword, keeping it from being slashed down, before rotating his body and twisting into a strong punch aimed at the mans open side using Moritz own other empty hand now in a fist.

WC: 628

[Moritz Craven]

His sudden surprise counter seeming to have taken the men off guard, Moritz watched at the man he had struck let out a grunt, but somehow managed to keep a hold of his blade. Letting out a grunt he tried to use his arm on the side he had been struck on to push away Moritz hand, while struggling with the other hand holding the blade to wrest himself from Moritz grip.

The other man, less skilled, seemed to have been startled by Moritz suddenly charging in, but soon got over that and moved to strike Moritz from behind with his club. Moritz for his part saw that, and twisted the man again, forcing the swords mans body between himself and his partner. Now if he came in swinging he'd only hit his own friend.

Letting out a string of expletives the man moved around, while Moritz danced back in response while yanking the swords man about to keep him between them. This only lasted so long though, before he tried to punch Moritz back with his free hand. Moritz reacted to this by yanking on the mans other hand and pulling him in close, and extending out his arm and elbow on the mans forearm to block the mans fist from actually making contact with Moritz. Instead there was just the dull impact of their forearms striking each other.

Not wanting to waste this opportunity, Moritz twisted his grip on the hand holding the mans sword, before then kicking the man in his shin. These combined seemed to be enough to upset the man, and he was finally able to wrest the sword from the mans fingers as it tumbled to the ground. Careful to kick it to the side Moritz moved again as the club wielding man came around him, this time simply shoving the empty handed swordsman into his oncoming friend.

Both struck each other, and their feet tangled managed to both fall atop each other. Moritz then took that change to point at the dropped sword and one of the workers quickly grabbed up the weapon. While he did not use it it meant the swordsman could not recover his weapon to use against them. A bit mockingly, hoping to enrage them into further stupid actions, Moritz grinned and called back to them.

"Well, would you look at that. Seems we've stumbled upon a weapon on the street. I suppose if it doesn't have an owner, we can just keep it, eh? Oh, and are you two alright? Seems you are having trouble standing. You already ran into me, seems then your having trouble walking;"

As intended this seemed to incense the men further, who both jumped to their feet and glared at Moritz. Clearly they had been intending to attack, but the fact that Moritz played it off like some people just stumbling around and bumping into him by accident, let alone taking their weapon... Clearly the two were not too happy about being called out like that.

WC: 503

[Moritz Craven]

The two wannabe bandits, slowly stumbling to their feet, seemed keen on charging Moritz. Since his goal however was to protect the other two workers he was fine with this, since it meant all of the attention was on him and the other two were in no danger from these men. Instead it was all pointed at Moritz who knew how to handle himself.

Yes he had been rude and annoyed and angered them, but he had done so to draw their attention and had succeeded at that task. It was a rather simple plan, and the two men before him had bulled their way right into it without thinking.

A slight smile on his face, as he was admittedly enjoying the fight a bit, Moritz watched the two men as they spread out. One still had his club, while the other one, the swords man had some small blade or shiv of sorts... He was not even sure it would be called an actual blade, not a dagger or knife, but more a true shiv in the sense of the word. A piece of sharp and pointed metal wrapped at the hilt, looking like it had been broken off some larger piece of something and honed into a very basic and ill made weapon.

Moritz for his part responded, taking out a dagger in one hand, while keeping his other hand empty. He could have extended out from his flesh his sand gauntlet, but he did not think it was a good idea to do that in front of people. Perhaps next time they went on a jaunt he could do so before they left. That way he would be that extra bit protected, but without anyone seeing the process of him equipping it... Once worn it just looked like some odd gauntlet of sorts, a skin coating one but a odd gauntlet all the same, and so would likely not bring up too many questions. But donning it suddenly, as if by magic, that would cause problems.

Wanting to end things Moritz took the initiative, and came in at the man wielding the shiv. Blocking it with his dagger he used his other empty hand to punch, once more twisting his body as he did. This time though his speedy fist did not aim at the mans side, but at his throat. His hit a success, the man stumbled back, dropping his shiv and clutching at his throat with both hands as he tried and failed to gasp for air.

Before his partner could come to his aid Moritz struck again, quickly sheathing his dagger and then punching the man in the guts with a quick jab, before hooking his leg and twisting to throw him and send the man flying. This time he crashed into a side of a building, a stone one since they were headed towards the old part of town. The man still seemed alive, but did not move much or try to get up from where he had landed.

At that point Moritz simply glared at the club wielding man, watching as he ran off and left his friend behind. No honor among thieves, the lesser skilled man was all too quick to run off while his partner lay there beaten.

Moritz for his part had no interest in killing the man, and simply motioned for the other two to follow along on the rest of their trip.

WC: 575