The sudden realisation that Lichter was likely in trouble and therefore viable to bring the entire building down on their heads, coupled with the fact they were suddenly down a key part of muscle needed to keep their small adventuring team alive, stirred a lot of emotions inside Wiesse. He promptly displayed those emotions by continuing to say “Fuck” several times in a row.

“What by the Aether is going on?” Ross asked, as his former acting friend seemed to be climbing out of his seat

“It might just be a coincidence yet,” Yerin said, hand on Wiesse’s shoulder trying to placate him.

That is when they heard the long-haired man that had been asking strange questions at the bar shout “Unleashing a crazed carnivorous beast, whilst yes, technically serving as a distraction, might just literally come back to bite us!” only then realising he was shouting he turned to face Ross and Wiesse’s crew with an expression like a smacked fish and every set of eyes on him.

“Alright not a coincidence then” Yerin muttered

Wiesse grabbed the hilt of his sword, “What have you done to Lichter?” he said, hoping he did not have to pull the wooden sword from its scabbard. Grabbing the hilt had made the long-haired man wince, but Wiesse imagined if he saw the wooden blade it would turn wince to laughter rather quick.

In response though he pulled his own, very much not wooden sword and pointed it at the table in general “Weapons stay sheathed, gentleman!” he said, then he saw Felicity and awkwardly fumbled “Oh and lady, sorry ma’am I didn’t mean to-“ he trailed off vaguely aware that everyone was looking at him silently with various levels of disdain “Screamer’s cousin is coming with us!” he said

There was more confusion spread across faces and Wiesse lent into Yerin “Is that some kind of local slang or something?”

Another thud from the backroom distracted them and Yerin was certain he heard muffled cries and someone shouting about getting a barrel, what mess is that lizard in now, he thought.

“it’s time to go” they heard the long-haired man say to Troit patting him on the shoulder, then stopping to inspect the oily residue that transferred to his hand.

With the charming whimsical nature that everyone loved of Troit he simply smiled said “alrighty then” and stood up to dwarf his apparent captor, blissfully unaware of proceedings and dreamily imagining some other, less stabby scenario.

The long-haired man wavered as he stared up at the brawny barbarian and demanded his team finally help. Yerin, Ross, Felicity and Wiesse watched the weird back and forth between him and his team where it was revealed his name was Gabriel as more hectic thumps and commotion could just about be heard from the wing Vish and Lichter had occupied.

The large warrior woman stood at Gabriel’s request and forcing the heavy table out of her way with apparent ease rested her arm casually on her sword pommel and addressed the group “You heard him, testosterone man is coming with us. You can object if you want, but I wouldn’t advise it.” She said with the authority of a person who has successfully killed anyone that ever questioned them in the past. It was hard to argue with her though being a towering piece of armour exuding raw power.

Yerin however was not about to see his best friend simply jostled away because he was too stupid to realise he was the subject of a kidnapping. Pulling out a long dagger Yerin imbedded it into the table before him, his other hand beneath his cloak clutching a set of throwing knives as he pinpointed the space between Lydia, the warrior woman’s, eyeballs.

Felicity eagerly spun her pitchfork about and also aimed it at Lydia, the range of the weapon and the close confines of the confrontation bringing it rather close to the warriors face and earning a very angry raised eyebrow that seemed to scream are you fucking serious in a more coherent manner than words ever could.

Ross still had no sword having given up arming himself after the counterfeit scenario, he bounded across the table, vaulting the bench Yerin and Wiesse were at and proudly stood behind his friends with his hands on his hips triumphantly out of dangers way. That is until the handsome man on the opposing sides team aimed an arrow at his head.

Wiesse, while everyone pulled themselves into a position for potential murder simply stared dumbfounded at Gabriel. “Wait, you’re here for him?” he checked.

“That’s right, and there’s nothing you can do to stop us.” Gabriel said, puffing out his rather unimpressive chest.

Wiesse shared a look with Ross who shrugged and Yerin who simply shook his head and then they caught sight of the barman who had apparently not taken kindly to a rather brazen display of weaponry in his establishment and was aiming a crossbow in their general direction. A few of the regulars were angrily flanking him but the broken bottles they wielded looked a less deadly at this particular moment.

One of the regulars whistled past a large wet moustache drawing everyone’s attention and the barman jostled the crossbow to reiterate what he was holding “You louts get out of my pub right now or one of you is going to have his head pinned to that wall!”

It was not clear who he was aiming at in particular but Wiesse and Ross were not the only ones suddenly shuffling on their feet. The long-haired captain of the opposing team looked like the idea of a new unwarranted protrusion of a crossbow bolt in his head was as inviting as being eaten alive by wild boars and he promptly threw up his free hand in the universal display of pacifism, somewhat wasted while the other hand still pointed a sword at Wiesse. “Alright, we’re going outside now, slowly and carefully.” Gabriel said “You would be wise not to follow” he backed away, tip of his sword still aiming at Wiesse as he steered Troit to follow him.

Their archer had run to the door to hold it open, an invitation Vish took hastily as the fine robed man was first out of the building.

No sooner were they all out was Yerin up and following, Felicity too who was eager for a fight now her blood was boiling. Ross and Wiesse eyed up their chances with the now angry locals who glared menacingly at them from the bar top. Another thud and more cries from Lichter’s general vicinity caused some glances and more weapons to aim their way at Ross and Wiesse. The acting duo ran to the door in time to see Felicity barge out the door and send the other teams archer sprawling into the dirt.

As the former actors came out into the street both teams were fanning out in a classic standoff. Troit sat behind the other team’s captain waving at his friends still not realising this was a confrontation.

Wiesse was alarmingly aware that the angry mob from the bar seemed to be following them out and he and his comrades had their backs to said angry mob. He watched as the warrior woman jostled forward triumphantly “Seems like you’re down an enormous crocodile, your odds don’t look great.”

This time Wiesse thought to mimic his friend and see if another display of improv acting might save his rag tag group of friends, he sauntered forward matching her casual display of victory with his own swagger.

He had their attention, good he thought. That was until he dropped character because he finally noticed the goliath, she-warrior he was addressing had only one arm.

“Wait, have you only got one arm?” he said, it seemed to make her more annoyed that he was pointing “She’s only got one arm! Shit miss why don’t you run along before things get ugly.” To his credit he was trying to be polite, but Wiesse had zero tact when it came to issues people may be sensitive too and Lydia promptly showed him the error of his ways by upper cutting him and sending him sprawling through the street a near buildings length. He did manage to get out a woozy “Oh Fuck” somewhere in mid-air but by the time he recovered with his back on the floor she stood over him with a bastard sword deftly held above his head.

Finally, Troit realised something was amiss.

“Hey don’t stab Wiesse! He doesn’t like being stabbed, he said so!” the Barbarian said, and the ensuing confusion was sufficient to secure Wiesse a blade free head for the time being.

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“Wait, I’m confused aren’t we meant to be rescuing you?” the warrior woman said, pointing her sword at Troit. Wiesse very quickly shuffled between her legs and off to safety while she glared between their captive and her captain.

“Poor sod’s brainwashed” Gabriel seemed to be saying and Troit looked sadly at Wiesse who Ross was helping to his feet.

“Listen, you’re not going anywhere until you fix Lichter” Ross shouted over the debate that seemed to be taking place.

Vish appeared poking his head out from the archers back who he was hiding behind “First off, it would take years of therapy to fix that lizard. Secondly he’s fiiine” he said not sure sounding of himself in the slightest.

It didn’t help his case that Lichter suddenly emerged from the building by way of making a gaping hole in the wall. Impressively in his crazed state he had successfully aimed at the door. But the crocodile who was now being showered with broken pieces of beer barrel that had gone to being stuck on his head to shattered was just shy of the double doors and instead took the wall, hinges and door all off in a medley of carnage. The beer had got into his eyes and they blinked away the sunlight, sore and aching. He still had one of the patrons that attacked him gripped lifeless in his hand and the lady he had been chasing was gently held in his jaw screaming and batting at the Kkyrunnig.

The hole in the wall provided a fresh view of the angry mob that had tried to retain Lichter and were now reinvigorated in their efforts to get everyone’s heads as a trophy. The Barman at their front, they had armed themselves well and started charging towards the groups assembled outside.

“I thought we were aiming for low profile!” Ross shouted and Lydia who had not forgot Wiesse’s earlier comments swung at him with furious intent which he narrowly avoided.

“Good point, Scram!” Wiesse said by way of response, and with an almost practiced display of disjointed failure everyone ran off in different directions, leaving their opposing team baffled.

Ross had grabbed at Felicity’s arm and pulled her away, Yerin shouted instructions to Troit as the rogue was also bundled away by the former actor and farmer.

The barbarian nodded as he heard Yerin tell him to run and he bounded off in a sprint past everyone, his muscly form making the impressive speeds look little more than a slight jog. Wiesse gave chase to Troit and Lichter swung his head about not sure who had gone where. A crossbow bolt bounced off his hide harmlessly and sobered him up from the previous mind fucking Vish had put him through. He caught site of Wiesse’s purple coat and on all fours charged towards his friend.

Gabriel and his team caught short footed and staring down the angry mob decided to split his team up to give chase, encouraged by the detritus being aimed at his head by members of the bar.

-

It transpired that the district of wheelbarrow way was well named which Ross, Yerin and Felicity learned while they ran for dear life, in that the floor was about as kind to run on as hot lava. The deep-set ruts and grooves of the streets were a serious trip hazard and had Ross falling face first into several times, he needed to be helped up each time by the sure-footed Felicity and Yerin.

They would have been surely caught but every time Yerin looked back the pursuing Gabriel was also being helped up by his archer comrade. Luckily for everyone the angry mob from the bar were nowhere to be seen.

“We have to stop” Ross said, desperately between breaths as they rounded a corner and he rested against the side of a building.

Felicity nudged him with the non-lethal side of her pitchfork “You can’t seriously be tired; we’ve only gone a few streets!” she said incredulous.

“He’s not tired” Yerin confirmed “he’s just worried about his precious face”

Ross was tending to his nose “well sorry, but neither of you have face planted yet, I happen to like my features.”

“You’ll like it a lot more if your head stays on your body, now come on” Felicity urged. But now Yerin was slinking back with his daggers drawn, the others getting close.

“Since when have you been this eager for bloodshed” Ross asked the rogue who snarled back “For years we’ve been travelling and the first sight of danger you’ll happily throw our money at them or hide behind one of us. The second Troit gets lambasted and you’ve got daggers out that are so caked in dust I’m surprised you didn’t sneeze them to death.”

The runty man blushed slightly but said nothing

“Wait a minute, Yerin are you…” Felicity trailed off letting Yerin and Ross fill in the blanks

“Shut up both of you, we have a situation on our hands” he sneered but Ross didn’t stop

“Oh Yerin, does Troit know?”

“Will you shut up!” snapped Yerin “He’s my friend and unlike you he has actually saved my life a number of times rather than put it in danger, it’d only be fair that I try and do the same for him. Now if you’re done tending to your face, we need to regroup.”

As the sentence was finished the two members of the opposing team rounded the corner and before Felicity could raise her pitchfork Gabriel had a sword aimed at Ross.

“You won’t be going anywhere now, isn’t that right Figo” he said trying to point the sword at all three of them at once.

“Not if they have as hard a time running through these streets as you did. I mean, we did,” the archer, Figo, said to Gabriel, blushing slightly at his slip. His captain gave him an exasperated look.

“It’s crazy isn’t it!” Ross said perking up. Figo was nodding along as he drew an arrow and aimed it at the former actor. “I mean you think a city as rich as this could afford to fix the roads at some point” Ross went on unperturbed by the projectile aimed at his head.

“Almost certainly,” Figo responded “It’s dangerous enough I wonder how many people break an ankle just walking around.”

“Well you’ll likely find” Gabriel chimed in “they intentionally keep these poorer districts in a state of disrepair to prevent local residents from realising the severe disparity between the classes. Such an obvious divide between the poorer areas and the rich forces locals into a depressive spiral of-“

Felicity interrupted them “Are you guys fucking serious?”

“What? Oh yes” Gabriel suddenly realised and refocused his blade at Felicity and Yerin now that Ross was subdued, “I’m sorry, but we can’t allow you to interfere with our rescue. You’ll just have to tell Tinto that he picked the wrong person this time.”

Felicity sniffed and spat on the floor “Who the fuck is Tinto?”

“Oh no,” Figo said but Gabriel ignored him

“Ah nice try playing coy. Clever, but unfortunately you have been outwitted on this occasion,” the long-haired captain went on. He continued to brag and wave away Figo’s attempts to get his attention.

Meanwhile, Ross stared at Yerin, who was trying to instruct Ross to do something with movements of his head.

“You’ll have to tell me Yerin, man, I ain’t getting it,” Ross said, stopping Gabriel mid boast, who looked between them.

“Well I would but it’s pretty pointless me telling you to take out the archer like this isn’t it,” he said, throwing his hands up in frustration.

“Oh man,” Ross said looking apologetically at Figo who sadly looked at his feet “You can’t just have me ‘take out’ someone, I have no weapon and this guy has a damned bow and arrow for Aether’s sake. I mean This really highlights something our team is missing which is a good ranged defence. This young chap could probably take us all out without us getting near him.” Figo perked up at being called young chap, even though Ross was most definitely a similar age.

“A moot point when you are within punching distance!” Yerin shouted and the actor and archer stopped to stare at one another for what felt like an exceptionally long time.

“Oh shit, yea” Ross said and he side stepped the arrow aimed at his head, leant passed the bow and punched him in the face. It was not a particularly strong punch; it made a very limp slapping noise. But both Figo and Ross spent the next couple of seconds saying ‘ow’ Ross tending his knuckles and Figo rubbing his cheek. That is after the punch caused him to release the arrow that narrowly missed Felicity’s foot.

Gabriel had just managed half a profanity when Felicity, angered by nearly losing a toe digit used her pitchfork to smack the sword out of his hand. It took markedly little force and she was starting to wonder if they had really needed to be so concerned when these two gave chase. It was not doing Gabriel any favours that his response to being disarmed was to make a high pitched “eep” noise like a spooked mouse and throw his hands in the air in surrender.

“Alright I think it’s time you start talking” Yerin said, casually pacing behind Felicity who aimed her weapon at Gabriel’s midriff.

“We don’t have anything to tell you that you don’t already know. Whatever you do to us, my team will still get Screamer’s cousin from you and they won’t be happy if we aren’t safe,” he said, then cautiously cleared his throat, “so please don’t stab me.”

“What is that Screamer’s cousin crap? You said this before,” Ross asked

“The big guy,” Gabriel said

“Lichter?” Felicity asked

Gabriel scrunched up his face and stared at her long and hard, “Obviously not the giant lizard”

“Kkyrunnig,” Figo corrected.

“Why were you trying to take Troit?” Ross asked and Felicity tutted as she realised her mistake.

“Why do you think? When you kidnap someone called ‘Screamer’s cousin’, you’re bound to make enemies,” Gabriel said.

There was a long pause as everyone stared at him “Who the fuck calls their kid Screamer?” Felicity asked

“I imagine it’s a nickname” Yerin interjected, “Anyway, what makes you think our Troit is this guy’s cousin?”

Gabriel slowly looked around to where Figo was holding the drawing in one hand, and tugging at his collar with the other.

“Um, Gabriel…” the archer said.

Ross was looking at the page Figo held intently.

“Hey that does look like Troit,” the actor said. Yerin and Gabriel joined him, with Felicity still threatening to stab the long-haired captain.

Yerin saw the drawing and after a few seconds he shook his head muttering profanities.

“It is him, and these are Tinto’s men, Figo. They near enough told me as much,” Gabriel insisted.

“It’s bloody upside down!” Yerin shouted as he stomped off the way they came.

Gabriel looked at Figo, back at the paper, back at Figo. Then to Ross and then Felicity. He wanted to give himself a cursory glance but settled for his feet, before looking at Figo and then the paper again.

Figo quietly and slowly turned the paper around, “I was going to say Gabriel, I only just noticed… Sorry.”

“I think,” Gabriel said, “we owe you lot an apology”

Felicity did not immediately lower her weapon, nor for a long time.