Solo [Job Thread] Find the Thunder!

[Nayato]

80th Day of season, 523 AV

Raider.

The most basic rank a fledgling Dragoon could obtain when first joining the Sun’s birth. There were roughly three hundred raiders in the Sun’s Birth who wore the gang’s brand of loyalty who had yet to prove their real worth. A raider was expendable. Fodder to use against the Sun’s enemies. However, it also meant handling any grunt work that a higher ranked member of the Sun’s Birth deemed as being beneath them.

Of the new Dragoon Raiders, Nayato was among those most active who sought out training at the Proving Grounds since his acceptance into the gang. It was the leftover habits of discipline that he learned from his time being a Squire in Syliras. However, Nayato did not look down on those who joined the gang simply to survive and hardly cared to better themselves.

Nayato laid asleep on a bed he was assigned to within the Barracks with his dog Osawa laying asleep atop his feet. The large Akinva Deerstalker woke up when it heard someone approaching the bed only to bark loudly at another raider. The sound caused Nayato to sit up right while reaching under his pillow to grab at a dagger he hid underneath it.

His sleepy eyes opened to find the young angry looking blond Raider named Lily Blackburn. "Word has come in from Warden Celewan that Marshal Tarak requires Raiders at the Gold Lodge."

Nayato shifted his legs to both nudge Osawa to stop growling at Lilly and shift them to sit along the edge of the bed. He shook his head to wake up as he tucked the sheathed dagger under his left vambrace. "From mouth to mouth the story goes, but of the trouble... no one knows?" Nayato spoke in a sing-song tone after a slight yawn while adjusting the straps of his vambrace to keep the dagger in place.

“Any idea what’s going on?”

"The petch you asking me for? I was asleep and woke up to the same shit like you ... something's up at the Gold Lodge."

The Chaktawe and Lilly turned to eavesdrop on the two other Raiders in the bunks next to them.

The room that the Raiders shared had four beds within it. Of the four people in the room only Nayato and Lilly were its constant residents during the season. Nayato was a superstitious man who considered the other two beds to be 'bad luck' since the newer raiders that were assigned to them kept dying.

Nayato reached a hand to stroke his palm along Osawa's head to calm the dog down as he leaned his head slightly towards Lilly. It was clear that he did not want the others to hear him as Lilly leaned in.

"You know them?" He asked in a soft whisper while reaching his free hand under his pillow to grab Osawa's coiled up leash. The leash was just as important as a hidden dagger since it was the fastest item he owned that kept the dog from being a nuisance to the others in the room.

Osawa excitedly stood up on the bed as soon as he saw the leash and leapt his hulking body onto Nayato's lap while wildly wagging his tail.

Lilly shook her head while shrugging her shoulders. "They joined yesterday." The two Raiders shared a knowing look between each other. It was a look of empathy that they hopped the poor bastards would survive long enough to be considered trustworthy allies. "Think Warden Celewan would get mad if I burned those beds?" He asked which caused Lilly to chuckle to herself while turning to go get herself ready. "If you do, it's your ass on the line and not mine."

Nayato nudged his hand against Osawa which caused the dog to jump down onto the ground. "Halt." He spoke the word in his native language of Tawna. It was a command that the hunting dog knew which cause him to sit down on his hindquarters.

Nayato set the leash down on the bed while Osawa waited for him to put on his armor. He slept in the soft leather bits of his armor except for the hard leather chest piece. It took him a moment to slide it on then adjust the straps that ran down the side of his abdomen. The last thing he did was strap down his buckler shield to his left arm. His left vambrace acted like a saddle pad of a horse to protect his arm from the shield. In an emergency he could even draw his dagger from under that same vambrace.

Nayato armed himself with a sheathed khopesh on his left hip, a hatchet tucked into the back of his belt, and wore a quiver of arrows that hung strapped to the back of his waist. The quiver had a leather flap attached to it that allowed him to sheath his shortbow into it to free up his hands.

Nayato took a knee to latch the leash to Osawa's collar. He leaned in to press his forehand to Osawa's which caused the dog to attempt to lick up at his face. "Let's fly high." He spoke affectionately to the dog in Tawna.

Once he was ready, Nayato stood up with the leash in his right hand with just enough slack for Osawa to wander three feet away from his side.

The fact that Nayato had a large dog instantly pushed him into being the head of the pack of Raiders who followed along behind him as all four of them ventured to the Gold Lodge.

WC:930

[Nayato]

There were moments in life when a person truly felt in danger. For citizens in Sunberth those moments were as soon as the sun dipped below the horizon. Nayato's nerves were even on a razor’s edge as he walked the streets of the Sun’s Refuge. Lilly had her hand on the hilt of her Shortsword while the two other raiders held a lantern and a torch.

"Where the fuck are you all going?"

Those words caused the whole group of Raiders to stop in the tracks as a squad of heavily armored Dragoons approached them.

Nayato pulled his left sleeve up to show off the Eight-Pointed Sun brand on his bicep that identified him as a member of the gang. The others behind him followed his lead by presenting their own brands. "Marshal Tarak ordered Raiders to the Gold Lodge." He called out to the other Dragoons. The one who shouted at them just gave him a nod before walking onwards to continue their patrol. "Get going."

Nayato, Lilly, and the two other Raider's stood in silence that was interspersed with the metallic clattering of their passing heavy armor which faded off into the distance.

"Imagine the poor bastards who run into them that aren't in the gang." One of the human raider holding a lantern who Nayato did not know spoke up. He just called back to the man from over his shoulder. "Imagine if those same poor bastards run into us. It's also our job to do the same to anyone who look like they don't belong."

The rest of the walk to the Gold Lodge went smoothly after that distressing interaction. Nayato saw Marshal Tarak standing in front of the Gold Lodge with a mug of ale in hand as he approached the building.

The Chaktawe had eaten meals at the inn many times over the season and hardly said anything to the high ranked Akalak, but this time he stood in front of him at attention while pulling Osawa close to his side.

"Marshal Tarak. Raiders reporting for duty."

Tarak looked over each individual that stood in front of him. He gave Lilly a nod, Nayato nod, and just squinted in thought at the two other raiders before speaking up.

"To those of you who do not know, I am Marshal Tarak. I lead all expeditionary ventures of note outside of our territory. Right now our renowned bard Bartholomew Porter is inside of the Lodge singing about how his second favorite ocarina was stolen from him. It was apparently taken by a Zith named Thunder with a missing wing."

"Thunder is a pest who lives in the Sunset Quarter to the east of the orphanage in his own apartment. You'll know where to find him when you see claw marks on other apartment doors in the area. He was bothering his neighbors before we told him to cut that shit out.

Apparently he did not know that Bart is employed by us. Us, the same people who he pays his rent to. Your orders are to retrieve the ocarina and remove Thunder's other wing. While you are there, gather any of his other valuables and bring them here to Iselda. I want all of this done before sunrise."

Nayato nodded back but had a question tickling at the forefront of his mind. "And what if removing his other wing kills him?"

Marshal Tarak just took a sip from his drink while shrugging. "How do you think he lost his wing the first time? He was late on his rent before ... so If he dies, he dies. If you are feeling 'kind', drag his ass all the way to the clinic." The Akalak said in a nonchalant tone which proved just how little he cared about the Zith's life.

WC: 633

[Nayato]

Nayato tugged on Osawa’s leash to keep the dog from rushing into the building when the Marshal made his way back into the Lodge. He could not blame Osawa because the smells of baked goods which flooded out from the door made his own stomach rumble. He canted his head to one side as he listened to the sounds of somber singing that he figured was coming from the bard Bartholomew Porter. He stood there listening until the front door closed to dull all the sounds within the building to his lurking ears.

When Nayato turned around he was half surprised to find all of the groups eyes were on him. "What?" He asked curiously while pulling Osawa's leash as a sign for the dog to drop all of its interest in the smells coming from the lodge.

"What do you mean, what?" Lilly responded as she stared at him while holding her hand on the hilt of her sword. "No one else spoke to the Marshal. We are waiting for you to lead the way, Old Man. "

Nayato was taken aback by her statement. He was not THAT old. Or that was how the forty year old man felt before realizing that Lilly was the youngest person in the group and the other two humans were probably in their late twenties. The older Raider just shook his head before dropping the subject just like Osawa's interest in the Lodge.

"I know Lily can fight since I've seen her train at the proving grounds, but what about you two? Just state what your weapon of choice is." He asked the two humans as he looked up to the sky to search for Nightfall tower in the distance. He used it as a landmark to find his cardinal direction before turning to face the Sunset Quarter.

"I am good with this." The raider who was holding a lantern said while pulling out a dagger.

The other human holding a torch just pulled out a kitchen knife.

Nayato could not help but notice that they were also devoid of any protective armor."You know what... I'm just going to call you Torch and... you Lantern." He said while shaking his head.

"Wait, if you are going to use nicknames why can't I be dagger?" Lantern said with a glint of motivation in wanting a more badass nickname.

Nayato shook his head while gesturing a free hand at the dagger. "Do you want to be confused for a Daggerhand? You are Lantern."

Torch also chimed in to attempt to gain another nickname. "Can't I be 'shanks. Like a knife." Nayato looked over at Lily with a look of bubbling indignation. "A butterfly once asked a mountain why they only get wings after living their life as a worm. The butterfly questioned, 'why do we not get fangs or the gills of a fish?' The butterfly soon got angry when the mountain never answered and never noticed the frog behind it that ate it alive. The frog ate both its wings before spitting it out to return to its life crawling on the ground. Long story short: no, you are not fucking shanks, or knife, or dagger. The next person who asks to change their name will get an arrow through the gods damned foot."

Lily reached out to forcefully shoved Torch aside. "Just fucking shut up already before I set both of you on fire and make you really earn those nicknames." The intensity in her voice was so off putting enough that Torch stopped speaking because she sounded like she meant what she said.

Nayato reached up to rub at the bridge of his nose before giving Lily a nod as a signal of thanks. "Our strength is in our number so we will stick together no matter what. We'll head to the orphanage then breakaway east until we see clawed doors, so keep your eyes open."

WC: 655

[Nayato]

Nayato unlatched Osawa’s leash to coil it up then tucked the leash into his belt. “Follow.” He spoke sternly in his native language to the hunting dog. Osawa was trained enough to understand that it was now time to hunt when off its leash and given the command. The walk to the Orphanage was easy enough for the group.

The Sunberth locals knew what Dragoon Raiders looked like when they saw them. When the group ventured east of the Orphanage into the close confines of the Sunset Quarter proper, Nayato reached back to draw his shortbow with his right hand while holding a lazily knocked arrow with his left hand.

He gripped the arrow fletching with his index finger and thumb as he pointed his other fingers forward. That allowed him to clearly utilize the motion sensing freckles on his fingertips to alert him to dangers that might be in the dark as he walked through the winding streets of the tightly packed slums while he was backlit by Torch and Lantern's lights.

His fingers tickled as if he traced them through water to his upper left.

That caused his obsidian eyes to snap up to the window of a raggedy upstairs shack that looked like it had been hastily built atop a failing lower story. His fingers sense the motion of an individual upstairs as they closed the shutters of their apartment upon noticing the Dragoons.

Nayato felt that same sensation happened several other times as the group pressed onward.

His eyes glanced from door to door in search of damage in the form of claw marks. There were many damaged doors that showed signs of being previously kicked in, but nothing that matched being assaulted by Zith claws.

Lily was far more proactive in her search.

Whenever she noticed someone close their shutters on the ground floor she would bang on their windows with the broadside of her shortsword. The metallic ring of her blade caused a few residents in their homes to shout in fear.

“Please, no. We’ve paid our rent already… please!”

The tone of the pleading voice sounded like it belonged to a woman who must have been in her late elderly years of life. Nayato walked over to the window with Lily then called out to the old woman.

"I'm looking for a Zith who's missing a wing. Do you know where they are?"

He asked her just as steely as if he were giving a command to Osawa. He canted his head as the woman took a long paused as he glanced at Lilly. He waited long enough to take a page out of Lily's book by pounding the hammer of his fist against the window shutters to shock the woman into action. "AH! No! I don't know where they are! Please go away."

Nayato turned on his heels to continue down the street until something made the Raider stop in his tracks.

Blood. Blood and more blood.

Nayato spotted something laying on the ground in the middle of the street that looked to have been dragged out from an apartment.

One body alone, and barely even that much.

Nayato glanced towards Lilly then gestured his chin forward for her to move ahead of him. "Are their claw marks on the body?" He asked Lily with a whisper. "I need some light." She called over for Lantern who illuminated the body. Lily used her short sword to poke and prod at the corpse to move the gore around. "I'm not a doctor. I don't know what I'm looking at."

"See that slash. Just cut the body next to it and tell me if they look the same." Nayato asked while stepping forward to keep an eye on the path ahead of them. Lilly did what Nayato had asked and cut the body. "Looks the same, I think." Nayato took a few steps forwards for the others to follow him.

Nayato ignored a second blood stained drag mark on the ground.

Torch used his flame to illuminate the ground to expose more of that blood trail which went down an alleyway. “Clean blade wounds? That's not our problem, Torch. Stay on task everyone, keep an eye out for the clawed doors.” Nayato said while making a soft whistle to keep Osawa from sniffing at the blood.

Whatever happened here was truly someone elses problem.

Torch could not help but peek into the apartment the body was dragged out of which caused Nayato to glance back at him. "See anyone? If not, then come on." Torch just shrugged while rejoining the group. "There was nothing worth taking."

Nayato, Lily, Torch, and Lantern continued to search from door to door for a full bell before something caught the Chaktawe's obsidian eyes.

He stopped to walk over to a door that had what looked to be several gash marks set into the wood of the door. He held both his bow and arrow in his right hand as he touched the door with his left. A segment of the marks in the wood almost perfectly matched motion and the shape of how his fingertips traced against the door. "Claw marks. We are close."

WC: 866

[Nayato]

The hunt was truly on for the Raiders now that they were in the territory of their pray. The Chaktawe’s steady footsteps carried him further down the street which seemed to cut a narrow valley between two decrepit wooden tenement buildings.

Narrow was the perfect word for the street since it only allowed two people to walk abreast of each other at the same time. There were no alleyways for people to hide in along the path. There were only just the doors lining the tenements to each side of the street.

Sunberth was open to the air, yet seemed to have more lives crammed into every inch of habitable space to survive out of fear. Nayato wondered how the foundations of the lower story buildings could hold the grossly overpopulated weight of blister-like shacks that seemed to have grown atop the ground floor common rooms.

His head swayed from side-to-side in the manner of a curious bird as he canted his head from one savagely clawed door to another. After looking so hard for theses doors, he was now he was on the lookout for one that was unmolested.

"Heel, Osawa. Heel. Stay close." Osawa slowed his gait to walk further behind Nayato's cautious steps at the command.

The silence of the night within the Sun’s Refuge were subtly unlike the nights here in the Sunset Quarter.

Nayato canted his head towards a yet another savagely clawed door where he heard the faint echoes of a waling prostitute through the thin wooden walls.

Lilly approached the door opposite of Nayato with her shortsword drawn at the sound of hurried footfalls that rushed further inward and away from the closed door.

Nayato glanced towards Lily at the sound of it then aimed his bow at the door.

Lantern used the hood of his lantern to illuminate the doorway while holding a dagger in his free hand.

Torch drew out a jagged looking kitchen knife while holding his torch higher to cast more light on the area.

The Dragoons all paused for a chime of a bell ready to defend against anyone that wanted to erupt from the door to attack them.

“Come on, lets get going. There is only the path ahead of us so he’ll probably be in either of these buildings. Let's not approach doors that we don't have to. Lilly, just keep an eye on the doors on the left. Torch, keep an eye out on the right. And Lantern,...” He remarked while gesturing his head to the door they were all focusing on “Make sure no one sneaks up behind us. ”


The dead body they had previously walked passed had put them all on edge. The fact that Nayato was the tip of their groups spear as the most lightly armored seemed to at least give him a bit of respect amongst his peers. Lilly gave him a nod then moved to stand behind him to his left as torch did the same behind him to the right. The light that that pointed down the street dulled as Lantern pointed his light behind the group to keep an eye out just like he was asked.


The group continued onward slowly until Lily pointed at a door bout fifteen feet ahead of them. Nayato stopped to look at the door she pointed out. It was a horribly crafted door that matched the shabby wood used to make the tenement building, but it was distinctly absent of rabid claw marks.

Nayato was about to say something when a high pitched shrill sound burst through the area. A haphazard trill of musical notes followed the sudden cacophony of noise. "Hey... is that the petching ocarina?" Torch said in a soft whisper to the group. Lily shrugged then gritted her teeth as she was rearing for a fight. Nayato removed the arrow in his hand from the nock of his bow to wave it in the air to get everyone's attention. "If it wasn't obvious already, Thunder does have sharp claws. I doubt he'll let us take his other wing without a fight. We deal with Thunder first then, when it's safe, we get the ocarina after."


Lily lowered her own voice as the sounds of annoying ocarina was faintly muffled from the inside of Thunder's door. The other's looked at Nayato waiting for the plan. Nayato had no real plan at this point so just stared back at each of them while quickly trying to think of something.


"Well... there are four of us, five counting Osawa. We get him to open the door then Torch, you do whatever you can to hurt his left arm. Stab it, grab it. I don't care, just keep him from clawing at us. Lantern, you do the same to. Lilly, I've seen you fight... hurt him anyway you can. I'll sic Osawa on his legs while I use my sword to slash at his right arm. We pretend to be neighbors angry that his playing is keeping us awake since he obviously hates when they disrupt him." Nayato said while gesturing a hand to the various other clawed doors.

Nayato spoke while sheathing his bow into the flap attached to his quiver. That allowed him to hold his buckler shield up towards the others to show that he was ready to be in range of those claws.

"Why don't we just kill him?" Lantern suggested while stabbing at the air a few times. Lilly nodded while staring at the door with malicious intent. "He is destroying our home. We should just kill him." It was a very good question that caused the others to stare at him save for Lily. "The Marshal's orders are to take his wing and get that ocarina. So, that is what we are going to do. But to remove the wing we need to disable him. Its like the Marshal also said, If he dies then he dies."

Lilly just shook her head in acceptance. "Fine, but these doors here in the Quarter are bullshit. They get broken into all the time so we can just kick it in and skip all the fancy crap." Nayato had gotten used to the well crafted doors of the Refuge and never once thought that the easily clawed doors were weak up until now. "Oh. Well, on my kick we raid this house?" A mummering of approvals sounded as they all began to close the distance to Thunder's door. Lantern set his lantern down to illuminated the street along the way while torch just held his fiery stick like a defensive weapon. Nayato pulled out his khopesh in his right hand as the other reaffirmed their grips on their own weapons.

WC: 1123