A Splintered Soul IC

[The Dark Fiddler]

You are Aaron Streachail. You are 33 years old, a human, and serve as a town guard in the city of Reenav, a job you've held since you moved here five years ago and for which you are paid one gold a day. The city of Reenav is notable for two reasons: it is surrounded by a wall and there is not a single church standing within the confines of the wall. The wall was built when the city was founded, as a defense from whatever the founder thought was a threat (the exact knowledge has been lost for some time now), and any churches built in the city tend to last for a few months before meeting unfortunate circumstances. Some say that the city is cursed, but you don't believe that.

When you're not working, you care for your ten year old daughter, Maltia, who is left from your first wife, a beautiful elf who left you. You don't like thinking about her, though. You don't like to think about your deceased second wife either.

The day is shaping up to be, as far as you could tell, a perfectly ordinary day. It's the tenth day of the fifth month, meaning it's quite solidly Spring, although it's a bit warm today. You reported to guard duty, as you do on most days, and were assigned to patrolling the market. After a rather uneventful morning, the tedium of the day is broken by a sudden shout. Pushing quickly through the crowd, you see a man running away from an old lady, sprawled on the ground. "Stop, thief!" she shouts, pointing to the fleeing man, who is pushing his way gracefully through the crowd.

What do you do?

[CowMasterTrojan]

"You should stop the theif. Not only is it your job, but maybe the old woman will reward you. If not, you would still get the glory you deserve at the very least."

[The Crash Man]

"Surely a guard not doing his job would attract undue attention; too much of it for my tastes. However, charging in gung-ho and letting the thief know of your presence could be a mistake. You're not as young as you were five years ago, after all.

How armored are you, again? Do you have a bow? This problem could be one most easily settled from the shadows . . . "

[Toliudar]

"Your first priority is to make sure the lady is all right. And...yes. Scared, but focused on the thief. Oh, I wonder if he's taken something of great sentimental value to her. The bastard! All right, go - go! But keep your eye out for other guards to bring into this with you. No point in doing this all alone if you don't have to."

[Fates]

Go, now! Call out the thief, and demand that he surrender. Saving the lady is paramount, however.

[al'Lan Mandrag]

Well, he's already got the jump on us, we probably won't be able to catch him anyway. We should go and help the woman, that way we know we've done one thing.

[The Dark Fiddler]

You quickly decide that going for the thief would be the best course of action, but you must decide how to go about it. He seems to be quite a bit quicker than you are, in your scale mail armor, and the only weapon you have on hand is your trusty flail, no good for reaching him from a distance. The marketplace crowd is unfortunately blocking a clear path towards the thief, so you'll need to take care of that somehow.

[Toliudar]

"Careful - you don't want to go rushing through a crowd swinging that flail. Somebody could get hurt. He looks like he's heading for the Autumn Road exit to the market. Why don't you loop around to the right, take Dun Alley, and try to catch up to him that way? If he can't see you, he won't know where you've gone either, and he might slow down. At the very least, when you come out of the alley on Autumn, you can ask people if they saw someone run past."

[al'Lan Mandrag]

Yeah, I agree, it would be too easy for something to go wrong in this place, let's go around.

[CowMasterTrojan]

"Quickly see if you can find something good to throw at him. A big rock or something. One pelt to the head and he will go straight down. And it will be nothing but glory for you!"

[The Crash Man]

"Going around strikes me as the best course of action. But why go all the way around when we could cut through the alleyways? Would that not save us time?"

[The Dark Fiddler]

Deciding that a direct approach, pushing through the crowd, would be too difficult, you head down a connected street and circle around to (hopefully) come out ahead of the thief. Thankfully it seems to work, as when you re-enter the street you were originally on, the thief is coming towards you.

You have a second or two before the thief pushes past you. What do you do?

[The Crash Man]

"Look as inconspicuous as possible . . . make him think you're another face in the crowd . . . and when he tries to go past trip him up with your flail! Its less decisive than a solid smash to the head, but we don't want to risk any death and going for a nonlethal hit might just hinder him instead of downing him."

[CowMasterTrojan]

"Look as inconspicuous as possible . . . make him think you're another face in the crowd . . . and when he tries to go past trip him up with your flail! Its less decisive than a solid smash to the head, but we don't want to risk any death and going for a nonlethal hit might just hinder him instead of downing him."

"Scratch what i said. Do that. It's least likely to get you hurt. Self preservation first. Glory second."

[Toliudar]

"Yes, that seems reasonable. Remember, you're out to stop him, not kill him."

[al'Lan Mandrag]

I'm with them, standing in the way will just be dangerous.I just hope we can kind well enough, what with wearing armour and all.

[The Dark Fiddler]

You decide that waiting for the thief to pass and surprising him would be the best bet. Thankfully, he steps past you without noticing you, and you draw your flail. You swing for his feet, attempting to trip him; he stumbles forward, but doesn't fall, and now he knows you're here.

"A guard, eh? You think you can take me down?" He draws a sword from under his cloak and swings it at you. You do your best to dodge, but he quickly flourishes the blade and sinks his blade into your left arm. The crowd backs away on seeing the fight break out, giving you a bit of space.

[The Crash Man]

"So it comes down to this, being forced to fight in the open. This is far from my area of expertise, but I'm sure the glory-seeker has more than a few ideas. Follow his advice, and when I see an opportunity to strike hard and strike decisively I'll let you know."

[CowMasterTrojan]

"He has made you look weak in front of these people. Your failure to take him down quickly with surprise has left you no choice. He made this lethal. Kill him. Show these people what happens when you attack a guard."

[The Dark Fiddler]

Now? Now you're mad. This thief had the gall to resist arrest and question your skill at the same time. You feel as though you're left with only one option, and you pursue it; your flail slams quite heavily into his side, and the crowd cheers as the thief stumbles. Unfortunately, it distracts you just enough for the thief to regain his footing and stab his sword under your armor, into your side.

You're rather injured at this point, but you also managed to land a heavy blow on the thief. What do you do?

[The Crash Man]

"Focus! Focus! Don't just go in swinging, unless you want to be felled by a common pickpocket! Strike hard and strike decisively, but don't strike foolishly and get distracted!"

[al'Lan Mandrag]

He's beating us, we've got to get of this, we can't seem to stop him alone, and whether through luck or skill we're injured and won't be able to keep this up. Run, and call for back up, maybe try and get some of the crowd to waylay him.

[The Crash Man]

"Are you crazy? I'm no glory hound, but even I don't think a black mark this big should go on our record. Call for the crowd to help us by all means, but even I wouldn't retreat in such a situation. The thief's faster than us, and by the time we lick our wounds he'll be long gone."

[CowMasterTrojan]

"USE THE PAIN! FOCUS! Let it drive you. Kill him!!!! Make him suffer for how he's harmed you"

[al'Lan Mandrag]

I'd prefer to live than get a 'black mark'! Don't listen to these guys, they are crazy and full of blood lust, stand back and call for aid, we're not in good enough shape to stop this guy!

[The Crash Man]

"If a trained member of the town guard cannot stop a mere pickpocket what makes you think a bunch of unarmed commoners can? They can get in his way, block him, and leave an opening for us but they can't stop him on their own. If we run all we'll accomplish is looking ridiculous and making the town guard seem like a joke. Trust in us and not in this . . . coward."

[CowMasterTrojan]

"Dont be a coward. Too many people are watching. You know you want revenge for hurting you. He's just gotten lucky. Use your skill. Wrap that flail around his leg and trip him. Then hit him when he's down, and the again when he tries to get up. Vengence!"

[al'Lan Mandrag]

I'm not being a coward [aside- I hope] I'm just being careful and looking out for us, all of us! We need a chance to recover, not keeping blindly swinging at him."

[The Crash Man]

"I'm surprised that other prattling fool hasn't opened his mouth about leaving innocents to suffer yet. Because that's all that will happen if we back down now! There's a crowd. Our jobs and, yes, our honor, are on the line. This criminal has elevated this from a simple job to a fight.

Tripping . . . it could be useful, but it could leave us wide open for attack. Same goes for disarming. Wouldn't recommend continuing to pursue that venue any further. Maybe the safest option would be to rally the crowd and strike while he is distracted. It'll put innocents at risk, but I care not."

[al'Lan Mandrag]

"Yes, somethings we agree on. Tripping is too dangerous, but if we got the crowd involved then we would have a better chance if you are still determined to fight him."