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<blockquote data-quote="Nonlethal Force" data-source="post: 2939149" data-attributes="member: 35788"><p>As Grick turned and ran towards the direction that they had come, his cloak began to flap in the breeze. When Charis spotted him he had the hood of his traveling cloak pulled up so that he could barely see out of it. Yet as he ran away from the party this hood flew backwards in the wind. Grick’s long, flaming red hair fluttered in the wind since it was no longer kept bound by the constraints of the hood. </p><p></p><p>At the sight of his hair, Ischarus swallowed hard. He had already passed Rhema since descending the stairs but she was not far from behind. As he stared at the flaming red hair he heard Rhema shout. <span style="color: PaleGreen">“Look at that hair! It’ll make him easy to follow!”</span></p><p></p><p>Ischarus muttered to himself at her comment. His muttering wasn’t enough not loud enough for anyone else to hear, but it focused his mind on the task at hand. <span style="color: LightBlue">“With that hair, I don’t think trailing him back to his home is going to be difficult if it comes to that.”</span></p><p></p><p>He looked back over his shoulder ever so slightly to see how far Rhema was behind him. She was only a mutter of a few paces, so he didn’t need to yell terribly loudly. <span style="color: LightBlue">“If my suspicions are correct, Rhema, if we don’t catch him now we’ll be following him back to Quehalost. I think that he’s Drakontos. It’s likely that he’s related to Charis.”</span></p><p></p><p>Ischarus’ words took a few seconds to sink in. Their latest trip had been months ago and the recent retraining program had made the details of that trip seemingly fade into the past. As Rhema pondered Ischarus’ words she suddenly realized how it was that Charis could recognize him. <span style="color: PaleGreen">“Ischarus, we had best catch him and deal with him. If Charis knew him from sight, it could only mean one thing.”</span></p><p></p><p>Ischarus twisted around a pair of women who had unknowingly stepped into his path as he pursued their quarry. The red haired Grick was fairly well balanced on his feet. His dexterity combined with the fact that his hair made him hard to miss made it easy for people to get out of the way of the running man before he could reach them. As they heard Ischarus and Rhema yelling to each other and obviously giving pursuit for the most part the people remained parted to allow them to pass. It was only every once and a while that a person accidentally stepped in front of Rhema or Ischarus as the townsfolk falsely assumed the threat had passed them by.</p><p></p><p>Ischarus could tell that the chase was leading back upon the exact route that they had taken to come into the town of Fingerdale. The guard tower would likely be up ahead and if they took their job seriously they would try to stop Grick. Ischarus’ face wrinkled in determination to try and not let the guards get in the way. There was no telling how powerful this Grick was and there was no need to allow any unnecessary injury to people just doing their job. Yet as fast as Ischarus and Rhema raced after Grick, their prey kept ahead of them.</p><p></p><p>Grick lunged around the final corner before the city gate and the tower above. The red haired man charged down the streets, noting that the city guards had already picked him up from atop their tower. There were two guards looking in his direction, and one of the guards pointed and moved for the stairs. Grick smiled an evil smile and slowed down just a touch to take aim. He rubbed his fingers together as if they were twigs that he was trying to kindle a flame upon. Faster and faster he rubbed until he smiled once more and cradled what appeared to be an invisible ball. As he slowed to a jog to take aim, he tossed the invisible ball toward the guard that had started to move for the stairs.</p><p></p><p>A second later, the guard jerked away from Grick as if he had been hit with a crossbow bolt. As he spun, he fell to his knees and began the process of dry-heaving. Ischarus saw the whole scene from behind and accelerated once more as Grick slowed up.</p><p></p><p>Rhema saw the motion of the guard and yelled, <span style="color: PaleGreen">“He’s the one! He’s the reason Charis was ill!”</span></p><p></p><p>Grick had one flaw in his plan. As he slowed down to aim for the guard, he misjudged his speed and the speed of his pursuers. Ischarus drew within five feet of Grick and leapt for his back. The thick bodies collided, but not quite as Ischarus would have hoped. Ischarus’ left shoulder collided just to the right of Grick’s tailbone. Grick was knocked sideways to the left and stumbled to his backside. The red-haired Drakontos easily recovered his feet before a threat was upon him. </p><p></p><p>As Grick was knocked to the left, Ischarus was pushed slightly to the right. He landed flat on the ground on his stomach; but like Grick he easily managed to scramble to his feet and have his sword out of its scabbard in a flash. He didn’t have his shield with him; but considering Grick could hit with his invisible attack from over 50 yards away Ischarus wasn’t sure the shield would have helped anyway.</p><p></p><p>As Rhema closed, she saw that Ischarus would be able to make contact and slow Grick down. As she matched the reduced speed of the others and decided to stay back and not engage in the ensuing melee, her right hand found the familiar clasp that snapped the leather strap securely over the handle of her dagger. Without even looking at the dagger her fingers unsnapped the clasp and the dagger was in her hand. She lifted the handle up to her temple and scanned the area for what she was looking for. Suddenly, her lips parted in a grin and she focused her eyes.</p><p></p><p>Fifteen feet behind Grick an onlooker had a pipe set in his mouth. He wasn’t actively smoking it on account of being distracted by the commotion. Rhema could still tell from the smoke that a small fire burned inside. As she mentally focused on the small flame inside, her eyes darted toward Grick. Several small pieces of burning tobacco leapt out of the man’s pipe. The man was so startled by the odd occurrence that as his lips parted in a gasp the pipe fell from his mouth and clattered to a rest on the street.</p><p></p><p>However, the tobacco pieces flew just above the heads of the crowd and towards Grick. Only a last minute change of position to counter Ischarus’ approach caused the small figments of fire to miss their intended target. The small pieces of flame went unnoticed by Ischarus, Grick, and all the onlookers except the man from whose pipe the pieces of flame came. Rhema smiled as she noted that her attack had been foiled. She also knew that she still controlled the fire and there would be other chances.</p><p></p><p>Ischarus gripped the sword tightly and spoke with confidence. <span style="color: LightBlue">“Surrender now, and I’m sure the city guard will treat you with respect.”</span> Ischarus looked deeply into Grick’s eyes with the stern seriousness of a man who wanted revenge for harming Charis. Grick only smiled at the threat but quickly scowled as Ischarus’ sword arced through the air and caught him across the forearm.</p><p></p><p>Grick returned Ischarus’ attack with a verbal retort. <span style="color: Red">“Your threats are meaningless against me, the one that I serve, and my dragon father.”</span></p><p></p><p>Grick’s assertion was all that Ischarus needed to hear. <span style="color: LightBlue">“Your father? You mean the one whose plans we interrupted by taking his bride whom he intended to only use for evil?”</span></p><p></p><p>Grick screamed in anger in his draconic tongue. <span style="color: Red">“Die!”</span> As he yelled, he stepped back a single step and began rubbing his fingers vigorously together once more. He quickly cradled another invisible ball and tossed it hard toward the direction of Ischarus.</p><p></p><p>Luckily for Ischarus, Grick’s aim was off. The invisible ball sailed just over Ischarus’ left shoulder. Of course Ischarus didn’t flinch because there was nothing to see coming at him. A small cloud of dust erupted from the corner of a brick in the outer wall of the building behind him. The invisible attack had narrowly missed hitting him. With the demonstration of the invisible power that could be thrown and the damage the force had when it struck against the house, many of the onlookers decided to take a step back and give the combatants a little more room.</p><p></p><p>A shout rang out above the crowd from the guard tower. <span style="color: Lime">“Halt! You will abandon your conflict in the name of Lord Ironblood!”</span> The guard had been concerned about the presence of a man running toward the gates. With the signs of armed combat there was a greater need for urgency.</p><p></p><p>Ischarus and Grick both smiled at the announcement. There was little a town guard would do against this conflict in the middle of a crowd of onlookers until reinforcements came. By the time help could arrive this conflict would be decided.</p><p></p><p>Rhema found an opening in Grick’s defenses as the voice of the guard distracted him. The tobacco coals flew in a high arc into the air and rested deep within the hood of Grick’s cloak. Rhema smiled as her successful attack pleased her. She continued concentrating upon the flames as she muttered to nobody in particular. <span style="color: PaleGreen">“It won’t be long now…”</span></p><p></p><p>Unexpectedly an overweight woman who likely hadn’t bathed in nearly a month replied to her. <span style="color: Lime">“You’re right, missy. Either they’ll finish this up real quick or the city guard will come. Either way, it won’t be long.”</span> Rhema could only grin as the woman misunderstood her comment.</p><p></p><p>Ischarus stepped forward and slashed out once more with his blade, but Grick had drawn his mace in his off hand and parried the blow with ease. Ischarus’ sword bounced off the unexpected weapon in an odd arc, leaving room for Grick to retaliate. Once again Grick stepped back and the crowd parted to give him room. His fingers rubbed together once more and he had another invisible ball. This time, Ischarus and the crowd behind Ischarus knew what to expect. Grick’s aim would show no improvement, however. The blast struck another wall. The invisible ball of force nearly struck the top of an onlooker’s head.</p><p></p><p>Rhema could feel the power of the flame welling up inside of her. She knew it was time. Much to the surprise of the entire gathered crowd, the hood of Grick’s cloak smoked for a second and then burst into flame. Grick was caught completely off-guard by this attack and he turned around quickly at the sound of the sudden explosion of flame. As he turned, the motion only caused a rush of oxygen to enter into the hood of his cape and the flames grew in an even greater intensity. Grick screamed as his flaming red hair caught on fire and the smell of melting hair engulfed the crowd.</p><p></p><p>Knowing that there was now an unknown threat that he was unprepared to face, Grick smartly did the one remaining thing that he could. With his free hand he flung up the hood of his cloak, enduring the intense moment of pain that brought the fire closest to his head. In a second, however, the flames were deprived of the oxygen they needed and were extinguished. He turned his back to Ischarus and prepared to jump into the crowd. </p><p></p><p>As he spun, he gave Ischarus an interesting target. The fluttering of Grick’s cape made it impossible to target his body. Rather than swing blindly Ischarus re-gripped his sword so that the blade came down from his enclosed fist rather than up from the fist. He raised the sword high into the air and in an instant the sword drove towards the ground. The blade of the sword brought the edge of Grick’s cape to the ground with it. Once the blade struck the cobblestone streets, the blade smoothly found a gap between two stones and tore through the cape. In a single strike Ischarus had secured Grick’s cape to the road.</p><p></p><p>When Grick tried to leap into the crowd a slight tearing sound ripped through the crowd. The power of his jump was not enough to completely rip his cape. His shoulders reached the end of the cape and his feet launched out before him from the torque introduced by the pinned cape. Grick ended up prone on his back.</p><p></p><p>Rhema shouted towards Ischarus as she forced her way through the crowd. <span style="color: PaleGreen">“Ischarus, no!”</span> </p><p></p><p>When she arrived she found that Ischarus had left the sword stuck in the ground. Rather than driving another of his weapons into the prone Grick Ischarus had decided to strike his enemy with his leather gauntleted hand. Grick was lying unconscious upon the ground, smoldering smoke still nauseatingly rising from his hair.</p><p></p><p>[Sblock=Color-Free Speech Section]</p><p>As Grick turned and ran towards the direction that they had come, his cloak began to flap in the breeze. When Charis spotted him he had the hood of his traveling cloak pulled up so that he could barely see out of it. Yet as he ran away from the party this hood flew backwards in the wind. Grick’s long, flaming red hair fluttered in the wind since it was no longer kept bound by the constraints of the hood. </p><p></p><p>At the sight of his hair, Ischarus swallowed hard. He had already passed Rhema since descending the stairs but she was not far from behind. As he stared at the flaming red hair he heard Rhema shout. “Look at that hair! It’ll make him easy to follow!”</p><p></p><p>Ischarus muttered to himself at her comment. His muttering wasn’t enough not loud enough for anyone else to hear, but it focused his mind on the task at hand. “With that hair, I don’t think trailing him back to his home is going to be difficult if it comes to that.”</p><p></p><p>He looked back over his shoulder ever so slightly to see how far Rhema was behind him. She was only a mutter of a few paces, so he didn’t need to yell terribly loudly. “If my suspicions are correct, Rhema, if we don’t catch him now we’ll be following him back to Quehalost. I think that he’s Drakontos. It’s likely that he’s related to Charis.”</p><p></p><p>Ischarus’ words took a few seconds to sink in. Their latest trip had been months ago and the recent retraining program had made the details of that trip seemingly fade into the past. As Rhema pondered Ischarus’ words she suddenly realized how it was that Charis could recognize him. “Ischarus, we had best catch him and deal with him. If Charis knew him from sight, it could only mean one thing.”</p><p></p><p>Ischarus twisted around a pair of women who had unknowingly stepped into his path as he pursued their quarry. The red haired Grick was fairly well balanced on his feet. His dexterity combined with the fact that his hair made him hard to miss made it easy for people to get out of the way of the running man before he could reach them. As they heard Ischarus and Rhema yelling to each other and obviously giving pursuit for the most part the people remained parted to allow them to pass. It was only every once and a while that a person accidentally stepped in front of Rhema or Ischarus as the townsfolk falsely assumed the threat had passed them by.</p><p></p><p>Ischarus could tell that the chase was leading back upon the exact route that they had taken to come into the town of Fingerdale. The guard tower would likely be up ahead and if they took their job seriously they would try to stop Grick. Ischarus’ face wrinkled in determination to try and not let the guards get in the way. There was no telling how powerful this Grick was and there was no need to allow any unnecessary injury to people just doing their job. Yet as fast as Ischarus and Rhema raced after Grick, their prey kept ahead of them.</p><p></p><p>Grick lunged around the final corner before the city gate and the tower above. The red haired man charged down the streets, noting that the city guards had already picked him up from atop their tower. There were two guards looking in his direction, and one of the guards pointed and moved for the stairs. Grick smiled an evil smile and slowed down just a touch to take aim. He rubbed his fingers together as if they were twigs that he was trying to kindle a flame upon. Faster and faster he rubbed until he smiled once more and cradled what appeared to be an invisible ball. As he slowed to a jog to take aim, he tossed the invisible ball toward the guard that had started to move for the stairs.</p><p></p><p>A second later, the guard jerked away from Grick as if he had been hit with a crossbow bolt. As he spun, he fell to his knees and began the process of dry-heaving. Ischarus saw the whole scene from behind and accelerated once more as Grick slowed up.</p><p></p><p>Rhema saw the motion of the guard and yelled, “He’s the one! He’s the reason Charis was ill!”</p><p></p><p>Grick had one flaw in his plan. As he slowed down to aim for the guard, he misjudged his speed and the speed of his pursuers. Ischarus drew within five feet of Grick and leapt for his back. The thick bodies collided, but not quite as Ischarus would have hoped. Ischarus’ left shoulder collided just to the right of Grick’s tailbone. Grick was knocked sideways to the left and stumbled to his backside. The red-haired Drakontos easily recovered his feet before a threat was upon him. </p><p></p><p>As Grick was knocked to the left, Ischarus was pushed slightly to the right. He landed flat on the ground on his stomach; but like Grick he easily managed to scramble to his feet and have his sword out of its scabbard in a flash. He didn’t have his shield with him; but considering Grick could hit with his invisible attack from over 50 yards away Ischarus wasn’t sure the shield would have helped anyway.</p><p></p><p>As Rhema closed, she saw that Ischarus would be able to make contact and slow Grick down. As she matched the reduced speed of the others and decided to stay back and not engage in the ensuing melee, her right hand found the familiar clasp that snapped the leather strap securely over the handle of her dagger. Without even looking at the dagger her fingers unsnapped the clasp and the dagger was in her hand. She lifted the handle up to her temple and scanned the area for what she was looking for. Suddenly, her lips parted in a grin and she focused her eyes.</p><p></p><p>Fifteen feet behind Grick an onlooker had a pipe set in his mouth. He wasn’t actively smoking it on account of being distracted by the commotion. Rhema could still tell from the smoke that a small fire burned inside. As she mentally focused on the small flame inside, her eyes darted toward Grick. Several small pieces of burning tobacco leapt out of the man’s pipe. The man was so startled by the odd occurrence that as his lips parted in a gasp the pipe fell from his mouth and clattered to a rest on the street.</p><p></p><p>However, the tobacco pieces flew just above the heads of the crowd and towards Grick. Only a last minute change of position to counter Ischarus’ approach caused the small figments of fire to miss their intended target. The small pieces of flame went unnoticed by Ischarus, Grick, and all the onlookers except the man from whose pipe the pieces of flame came. Rhema smiled as she noted that her attack had been foiled. She also knew that she still controlled the fire and there would be other chances.</p><p></p><p>Ischarus gripped the sword tightly and spoke with confidence. “Surrender now, and I’m sure the city guard will treat you with respect.” Ischarus looked deeply into Grick’s eyes with the stern seriousness of a man who wanted revenge for harming Charis. Grick only smiled at the threat but quickly scowled as Ischarus’ sword arced through the air and caught him across the forearm.</p><p></p><p>Grick returned Ischarus’ attack with a verbal retort. “Your threats are meaningless against me, the one that I serve, and my dragon father.”</p><p></p><p>Grick’s assertion was all that Ischarus needed to hear. “Your father? You mean the one whose plans we interrupted by taking his bride whom he intended to only use for evil?”</p><p></p><p>Grick screamed in anger in his draconic tongue. “Die!” As he yelled, he stepped back a single step and began rubbing his fingers vigorously together once more. He quickly cradled another invisible ball and tossed it hard toward the direction of Ischarus.</p><p></p><p>Luckily for Ischarus, Grick’s aim was off. The invisible ball sailed just over Ischarus’ left shoulder. Of course Ischarus didn’t flinch because there was nothing to see coming at him. A small cloud of dust erupted from the corner of a brick in the outer wall of the building behind him. The invisible attack had narrowly missed hitting him. With the demonstration of the invisible power that could be thrown and the damage the force had when it struck against the house, many of the onlookers decided to take a step back and give the combatants a little more room.</p><p></p><p>A shout rang out above the crowd from the guard tower. “Halt! You will abandon your conflict in the name of Lord Ironblood!” The guard had been concerned about the presence of a man running toward the gates. With the signs of armed combat there was a greater need for urgency.</p><p></p><p>Ischarus and Grick both smiled at the announcement. There was little a town guard would do against this conflict in the middle of a crowd of onlookers until reinforcements came. By the time help could arrive this conflict would be decided.</p><p></p><p>Rhema found an opening in Grick’s defenses as the voice of the guard distracted him. The tobacco coals flew in a high arc into the air and rested deep within the hood of Grick’s cloak. Rhema smiled as her successful attack pleased her. She continued concentrating upon the flames as she muttered to nobody in particular. “It won’t be long now…”</p><p></p><p>Unexpectedly an overweight woman who likely hadn’t bathed in nearly a month replied to her. “You’re right, missy. Either they’ll finish this up real quick or the city guard will come. Either way, it won’t be long.” Rhema could only grin as the woman misunderstood her comment.</p><p></p><p>Ischarus stepped forward and slashed out once more with his blade, but Grick had drawn his mace in his off hand and parried the blow with ease. Ischarus’ sword bounced off the unexpected weapon in an odd arc, leaving room for Grick to retaliate. Once again Grick stepped back and the crowd parted to give him room. His fingers rubbed together once more and he had another invisible ball. This time, Ischarus and the crowd behind Ischarus knew what to expect. Grick’s aim would show no improvement, however. The blast struck another wall. The invisible ball of force nearly struck the top of an onlooker’s head.</p><p></p><p>Rhema could feel the power of the flame welling up inside of her. She knew it was time. Much to the surprise of the entire gathered crowd, the hood of Grick’s cloak smoked for a second and then burst into flame. Grick was caught completely off-guard by this attack and he turned around quickly at the sound of the sudden explosion of flame. As he turned, the motion only caused a rush of oxygen to enter into the hood of his cape and the flames grew in an even greater intensity. Grick screamed as his flaming red hair caught on fire and the smell of melting hair engulfed the crowd.</p><p></p><p>Knowing that there was now an unknown threat that he was unprepared to face, Grick smartly did the one remaining thing that he could. With his free hand he flung up the hood of his cloak, enduring the intense moment of pain that brought the fire closest to his head. In a second, however, the flames were deprived of the oxygen they needed and were extinguished. He turned his back to Ischarus and prepared to jump into the crowd. </p><p></p><p>As he spun, he gave Ischarus an interesting target. The fluttering of Grick’s cape made it impossible to target his body. Rather than swing blindly Ischarus re-gripped his sword so that the blade came down from his enclosed fist rather than up from the fist. He raised the sword high into the air and in an instant the sword drove towards the ground. The blade of the sword brought the edge of Grick’s cape to the ground with it. Once the blade struck the cobblestone streets, the blade smoothly found a gap between two stones and tore through the cape. In a single strike Ischarus had secured Grick’s cape to the road.</p><p></p><p>When Grick tried to leap into the crowd a slight tearing sound ripped through the crowd. The power of his jump was not enough to completely rip his cape. His shoulders reached the end of the cape and his feet launched out before him from the torque introduced by the pinned cape. Grick ended up prone on his back.</p><p></p><p>Rhema shouted towards Ischarus as she forced her way through the crowd. “Ischarus, no!” </p><p></p><p>When she arrived she found that Ischarus had left the sword stuck in the ground. Rather than driving another of his weapons into the prone Grick Ischarus had decided to strike his enemy with his leather gauntleted hand. Grick was lying unconscious upon the ground, smoldering smoke still nauseatingly rising from his hair.[/Sblock]</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Nonlethal Force, post: 2939149, member: 35788"] As Grick turned and ran towards the direction that they had come, his cloak began to flap in the breeze. When Charis spotted him he had the hood of his traveling cloak pulled up so that he could barely see out of it. Yet as he ran away from the party this hood flew backwards in the wind. Grick’s long, flaming red hair fluttered in the wind since it was no longer kept bound by the constraints of the hood. At the sight of his hair, Ischarus swallowed hard. He had already passed Rhema since descending the stairs but she was not far from behind. As he stared at the flaming red hair he heard Rhema shout. [Color=PaleGreen]“Look at that hair! It’ll make him easy to follow!”[/Color] Ischarus muttered to himself at her comment. His muttering wasn’t enough not loud enough for anyone else to hear, but it focused his mind on the task at hand. [Color=LightBlue]“With that hair, I don’t think trailing him back to his home is going to be difficult if it comes to that.”[/Color] He looked back over his shoulder ever so slightly to see how far Rhema was behind him. She was only a mutter of a few paces, so he didn’t need to yell terribly loudly. [Color=LightBlue]“If my suspicions are correct, Rhema, if we don’t catch him now we’ll be following him back to Quehalost. I think that he’s Drakontos. It’s likely that he’s related to Charis.”[/Color] Ischarus’ words took a few seconds to sink in. Their latest trip had been months ago and the recent retraining program had made the details of that trip seemingly fade into the past. As Rhema pondered Ischarus’ words she suddenly realized how it was that Charis could recognize him. [Color=PaleGreen]“Ischarus, we had best catch him and deal with him. If Charis knew him from sight, it could only mean one thing.”[/Color] Ischarus twisted around a pair of women who had unknowingly stepped into his path as he pursued their quarry. The red haired Grick was fairly well balanced on his feet. His dexterity combined with the fact that his hair made him hard to miss made it easy for people to get out of the way of the running man before he could reach them. As they heard Ischarus and Rhema yelling to each other and obviously giving pursuit for the most part the people remained parted to allow them to pass. It was only every once and a while that a person accidentally stepped in front of Rhema or Ischarus as the townsfolk falsely assumed the threat had passed them by. Ischarus could tell that the chase was leading back upon the exact route that they had taken to come into the town of Fingerdale. The guard tower would likely be up ahead and if they took their job seriously they would try to stop Grick. Ischarus’ face wrinkled in determination to try and not let the guards get in the way. There was no telling how powerful this Grick was and there was no need to allow any unnecessary injury to people just doing their job. Yet as fast as Ischarus and Rhema raced after Grick, their prey kept ahead of them. Grick lunged around the final corner before the city gate and the tower above. The red haired man charged down the streets, noting that the city guards had already picked him up from atop their tower. There were two guards looking in his direction, and one of the guards pointed and moved for the stairs. Grick smiled an evil smile and slowed down just a touch to take aim. He rubbed his fingers together as if they were twigs that he was trying to kindle a flame upon. Faster and faster he rubbed until he smiled once more and cradled what appeared to be an invisible ball. As he slowed to a jog to take aim, he tossed the invisible ball toward the guard that had started to move for the stairs. A second later, the guard jerked away from Grick as if he had been hit with a crossbow bolt. As he spun, he fell to his knees and began the process of dry-heaving. Ischarus saw the whole scene from behind and accelerated once more as Grick slowed up. Rhema saw the motion of the guard and yelled, [Color=PaleGreen]“He’s the one! He’s the reason Charis was ill!”[/Color] Grick had one flaw in his plan. As he slowed down to aim for the guard, he misjudged his speed and the speed of his pursuers. Ischarus drew within five feet of Grick and leapt for his back. The thick bodies collided, but not quite as Ischarus would have hoped. Ischarus’ left shoulder collided just to the right of Grick’s tailbone. Grick was knocked sideways to the left and stumbled to his backside. The red-haired Drakontos easily recovered his feet before a threat was upon him. As Grick was knocked to the left, Ischarus was pushed slightly to the right. He landed flat on the ground on his stomach; but like Grick he easily managed to scramble to his feet and have his sword out of its scabbard in a flash. He didn’t have his shield with him; but considering Grick could hit with his invisible attack from over 50 yards away Ischarus wasn’t sure the shield would have helped anyway. As Rhema closed, she saw that Ischarus would be able to make contact and slow Grick down. As she matched the reduced speed of the others and decided to stay back and not engage in the ensuing melee, her right hand found the familiar clasp that snapped the leather strap securely over the handle of her dagger. Without even looking at the dagger her fingers unsnapped the clasp and the dagger was in her hand. She lifted the handle up to her temple and scanned the area for what she was looking for. Suddenly, her lips parted in a grin and she focused her eyes. Fifteen feet behind Grick an onlooker had a pipe set in his mouth. He wasn’t actively smoking it on account of being distracted by the commotion. Rhema could still tell from the smoke that a small fire burned inside. As she mentally focused on the small flame inside, her eyes darted toward Grick. Several small pieces of burning tobacco leapt out of the man’s pipe. The man was so startled by the odd occurrence that as his lips parted in a gasp the pipe fell from his mouth and clattered to a rest on the street. However, the tobacco pieces flew just above the heads of the crowd and towards Grick. Only a last minute change of position to counter Ischarus’ approach caused the small figments of fire to miss their intended target. The small pieces of flame went unnoticed by Ischarus, Grick, and all the onlookers except the man from whose pipe the pieces of flame came. Rhema smiled as she noted that her attack had been foiled. She also knew that she still controlled the fire and there would be other chances. Ischarus gripped the sword tightly and spoke with confidence. [Color=LightBlue]“Surrender now, and I’m sure the city guard will treat you with respect.”[/Color] Ischarus looked deeply into Grick’s eyes with the stern seriousness of a man who wanted revenge for harming Charis. Grick only smiled at the threat but quickly scowled as Ischarus’ sword arced through the air and caught him across the forearm. Grick returned Ischarus’ attack with a verbal retort. [Color=Red]“Your threats are meaningless against me, the one that I serve, and my dragon father.”[/Color] Grick’s assertion was all that Ischarus needed to hear. [Color=LightBlue]“Your father? You mean the one whose plans we interrupted by taking his bride whom he intended to only use for evil?”[/Color] Grick screamed in anger in his draconic tongue. [Color=Red]“Die!”[/Color] As he yelled, he stepped back a single step and began rubbing his fingers vigorously together once more. He quickly cradled another invisible ball and tossed it hard toward the direction of Ischarus. Luckily for Ischarus, Grick’s aim was off. The invisible ball sailed just over Ischarus’ left shoulder. Of course Ischarus didn’t flinch because there was nothing to see coming at him. A small cloud of dust erupted from the corner of a brick in the outer wall of the building behind him. The invisible attack had narrowly missed hitting him. With the demonstration of the invisible power that could be thrown and the damage the force had when it struck against the house, many of the onlookers decided to take a step back and give the combatants a little more room. A shout rang out above the crowd from the guard tower. [Color=Lime]“Halt! You will abandon your conflict in the name of Lord Ironblood!”[/Color] The guard had been concerned about the presence of a man running toward the gates. With the signs of armed combat there was a greater need for urgency. Ischarus and Grick both smiled at the announcement. There was little a town guard would do against this conflict in the middle of a crowd of onlookers until reinforcements came. By the time help could arrive this conflict would be decided. Rhema found an opening in Grick’s defenses as the voice of the guard distracted him. The tobacco coals flew in a high arc into the air and rested deep within the hood of Grick’s cloak. Rhema smiled as her successful attack pleased her. She continued concentrating upon the flames as she muttered to nobody in particular. [Color=PaleGreen]“It won’t be long now…”[/Color] Unexpectedly an overweight woman who likely hadn’t bathed in nearly a month replied to her. [Color=Lime]“You’re right, missy. Either they’ll finish this up real quick or the city guard will come. Either way, it won’t be long.”[/Color] Rhema could only grin as the woman misunderstood her comment. Ischarus stepped forward and slashed out once more with his blade, but Grick had drawn his mace in his off hand and parried the blow with ease. Ischarus’ sword bounced off the unexpected weapon in an odd arc, leaving room for Grick to retaliate. Once again Grick stepped back and the crowd parted to give him room. His fingers rubbed together once more and he had another invisible ball. This time, Ischarus and the crowd behind Ischarus knew what to expect. Grick’s aim would show no improvement, however. The blast struck another wall. The invisible ball of force nearly struck the top of an onlooker’s head. Rhema could feel the power of the flame welling up inside of her. She knew it was time. Much to the surprise of the entire gathered crowd, the hood of Grick’s cloak smoked for a second and then burst into flame. Grick was caught completely off-guard by this attack and he turned around quickly at the sound of the sudden explosion of flame. As he turned, the motion only caused a rush of oxygen to enter into the hood of his cape and the flames grew in an even greater intensity. Grick screamed as his flaming red hair caught on fire and the smell of melting hair engulfed the crowd. Knowing that there was now an unknown threat that he was unprepared to face, Grick smartly did the one remaining thing that he could. With his free hand he flung up the hood of his cloak, enduring the intense moment of pain that brought the fire closest to his head. In a second, however, the flames were deprived of the oxygen they needed and were extinguished. He turned his back to Ischarus and prepared to jump into the crowd. As he spun, he gave Ischarus an interesting target. The fluttering of Grick’s cape made it impossible to target his body. Rather than swing blindly Ischarus re-gripped his sword so that the blade came down from his enclosed fist rather than up from the fist. He raised the sword high into the air and in an instant the sword drove towards the ground. The blade of the sword brought the edge of Grick’s cape to the ground with it. Once the blade struck the cobblestone streets, the blade smoothly found a gap between two stones and tore through the cape. In a single strike Ischarus had secured Grick’s cape to the road. When Grick tried to leap into the crowd a slight tearing sound ripped through the crowd. The power of his jump was not enough to completely rip his cape. His shoulders reached the end of the cape and his feet launched out before him from the torque introduced by the pinned cape. Grick ended up prone on his back. Rhema shouted towards Ischarus as she forced her way through the crowd. [Color=PaleGreen]“Ischarus, no!”[/Color] When she arrived she found that Ischarus had left the sword stuck in the ground. Rather than driving another of his weapons into the prone Grick Ischarus had decided to strike his enemy with his leather gauntleted hand. Grick was lying unconscious upon the ground, smoldering smoke still nauseatingly rising from his hair. [Sblock=Color-Free Speech Section] As Grick turned and ran towards the direction that they had come, his cloak began to flap in the breeze. When Charis spotted him he had the hood of his traveling cloak pulled up so that he could barely see out of it. Yet as he ran away from the party this hood flew backwards in the wind. Grick’s long, flaming red hair fluttered in the wind since it was no longer kept bound by the constraints of the hood. At the sight of his hair, Ischarus swallowed hard. He had already passed Rhema since descending the stairs but she was not far from behind. As he stared at the flaming red hair he heard Rhema shout. “Look at that hair! It’ll make him easy to follow!” Ischarus muttered to himself at her comment. His muttering wasn’t enough not loud enough for anyone else to hear, but it focused his mind on the task at hand. “With that hair, I don’t think trailing him back to his home is going to be difficult if it comes to that.” He looked back over his shoulder ever so slightly to see how far Rhema was behind him. She was only a mutter of a few paces, so he didn’t need to yell terribly loudly. “If my suspicions are correct, Rhema, if we don’t catch him now we’ll be following him back to Quehalost. I think that he’s Drakontos. It’s likely that he’s related to Charis.” Ischarus’ words took a few seconds to sink in. Their latest trip had been months ago and the recent retraining program had made the details of that trip seemingly fade into the past. As Rhema pondered Ischarus’ words she suddenly realized how it was that Charis could recognize him. “Ischarus, we had best catch him and deal with him. If Charis knew him from sight, it could only mean one thing.” Ischarus twisted around a pair of women who had unknowingly stepped into his path as he pursued their quarry. The red haired Grick was fairly well balanced on his feet. His dexterity combined with the fact that his hair made him hard to miss made it easy for people to get out of the way of the running man before he could reach them. As they heard Ischarus and Rhema yelling to each other and obviously giving pursuit for the most part the people remained parted to allow them to pass. It was only every once and a while that a person accidentally stepped in front of Rhema or Ischarus as the townsfolk falsely assumed the threat had passed them by. Ischarus could tell that the chase was leading back upon the exact route that they had taken to come into the town of Fingerdale. The guard tower would likely be up ahead and if they took their job seriously they would try to stop Grick. Ischarus’ face wrinkled in determination to try and not let the guards get in the way. There was no telling how powerful this Grick was and there was no need to allow any unnecessary injury to people just doing their job. Yet as fast as Ischarus and Rhema raced after Grick, their prey kept ahead of them. Grick lunged around the final corner before the city gate and the tower above. The red haired man charged down the streets, noting that the city guards had already picked him up from atop their tower. There were two guards looking in his direction, and one of the guards pointed and moved for the stairs. Grick smiled an evil smile and slowed down just a touch to take aim. He rubbed his fingers together as if they were twigs that he was trying to kindle a flame upon. Faster and faster he rubbed until he smiled once more and cradled what appeared to be an invisible ball. As he slowed to a jog to take aim, he tossed the invisible ball toward the guard that had started to move for the stairs. A second later, the guard jerked away from Grick as if he had been hit with a crossbow bolt. As he spun, he fell to his knees and began the process of dry-heaving. Ischarus saw the whole scene from behind and accelerated once more as Grick slowed up. Rhema saw the motion of the guard and yelled, “He’s the one! He’s the reason Charis was ill!” Grick had one flaw in his plan. As he slowed down to aim for the guard, he misjudged his speed and the speed of his pursuers. Ischarus drew within five feet of Grick and leapt for his back. The thick bodies collided, but not quite as Ischarus would have hoped. Ischarus’ left shoulder collided just to the right of Grick’s tailbone. Grick was knocked sideways to the left and stumbled to his backside. The red-haired Drakontos easily recovered his feet before a threat was upon him. As Grick was knocked to the left, Ischarus was pushed slightly to the right. He landed flat on the ground on his stomach; but like Grick he easily managed to scramble to his feet and have his sword out of its scabbard in a flash. He didn’t have his shield with him; but considering Grick could hit with his invisible attack from over 50 yards away Ischarus wasn’t sure the shield would have helped anyway. As Rhema closed, she saw that Ischarus would be able to make contact and slow Grick down. As she matched the reduced speed of the others and decided to stay back and not engage in the ensuing melee, her right hand found the familiar clasp that snapped the leather strap securely over the handle of her dagger. Without even looking at the dagger her fingers unsnapped the clasp and the dagger was in her hand. She lifted the handle up to her temple and scanned the area for what she was looking for. Suddenly, her lips parted in a grin and she focused her eyes. Fifteen feet behind Grick an onlooker had a pipe set in his mouth. He wasn’t actively smoking it on account of being distracted by the commotion. Rhema could still tell from the smoke that a small fire burned inside. As she mentally focused on the small flame inside, her eyes darted toward Grick. Several small pieces of burning tobacco leapt out of the man’s pipe. The man was so startled by the odd occurrence that as his lips parted in a gasp the pipe fell from his mouth and clattered to a rest on the street. However, the tobacco pieces flew just above the heads of the crowd and towards Grick. Only a last minute change of position to counter Ischarus’ approach caused the small figments of fire to miss their intended target. The small pieces of flame went unnoticed by Ischarus, Grick, and all the onlookers except the man from whose pipe the pieces of flame came. Rhema smiled as she noted that her attack had been foiled. She also knew that she still controlled the fire and there would be other chances. Ischarus gripped the sword tightly and spoke with confidence. “Surrender now, and I’m sure the city guard will treat you with respect.” Ischarus looked deeply into Grick’s eyes with the stern seriousness of a man who wanted revenge for harming Charis. Grick only smiled at the threat but quickly scowled as Ischarus’ sword arced through the air and caught him across the forearm. Grick returned Ischarus’ attack with a verbal retort. “Your threats are meaningless against me, the one that I serve, and my dragon father.” Grick’s assertion was all that Ischarus needed to hear. “Your father? You mean the one whose plans we interrupted by taking his bride whom he intended to only use for evil?” Grick screamed in anger in his draconic tongue. “Die!” As he yelled, he stepped back a single step and began rubbing his fingers vigorously together once more. He quickly cradled another invisible ball and tossed it hard toward the direction of Ischarus. Luckily for Ischarus, Grick’s aim was off. The invisible ball sailed just over Ischarus’ left shoulder. Of course Ischarus didn’t flinch because there was nothing to see coming at him. A small cloud of dust erupted from the corner of a brick in the outer wall of the building behind him. The invisible attack had narrowly missed hitting him. With the demonstration of the invisible power that could be thrown and the damage the force had when it struck against the house, many of the onlookers decided to take a step back and give the combatants a little more room. A shout rang out above the crowd from the guard tower. “Halt! You will abandon your conflict in the name of Lord Ironblood!” The guard had been concerned about the presence of a man running toward the gates. With the signs of armed combat there was a greater need for urgency. Ischarus and Grick both smiled at the announcement. There was little a town guard would do against this conflict in the middle of a crowd of onlookers until reinforcements came. By the time help could arrive this conflict would be decided. Rhema found an opening in Grick’s defenses as the voice of the guard distracted him. The tobacco coals flew in a high arc into the air and rested deep within the hood of Grick’s cloak. Rhema smiled as her successful attack pleased her. She continued concentrating upon the flames as she muttered to nobody in particular. “It won’t be long now…” Unexpectedly an overweight woman who likely hadn’t bathed in nearly a month replied to her. “You’re right, missy. Either they’ll finish this up real quick or the city guard will come. Either way, it won’t be long.” Rhema could only grin as the woman misunderstood her comment. Ischarus stepped forward and slashed out once more with his blade, but Grick had drawn his mace in his off hand and parried the blow with ease. Ischarus’ sword bounced off the unexpected weapon in an odd arc, leaving room for Grick to retaliate. Once again Grick stepped back and the crowd parted to give him room. His fingers rubbed together once more and he had another invisible ball. This time, Ischarus and the crowd behind Ischarus knew what to expect. Grick’s aim would show no improvement, however. The blast struck another wall. The invisible ball of force nearly struck the top of an onlooker’s head. Rhema could feel the power of the flame welling up inside of her. She knew it was time. Much to the surprise of the entire gathered crowd, the hood of Grick’s cloak smoked for a second and then burst into flame. Grick was caught completely off-guard by this attack and he turned around quickly at the sound of the sudden explosion of flame. As he turned, the motion only caused a rush of oxygen to enter into the hood of his cape and the flames grew in an even greater intensity. Grick screamed as his flaming red hair caught on fire and the smell of melting hair engulfed the crowd. Knowing that there was now an unknown threat that he was unprepared to face, Grick smartly did the one remaining thing that he could. With his free hand he flung up the hood of his cloak, enduring the intense moment of pain that brought the fire closest to his head. In a second, however, the flames were deprived of the oxygen they needed and were extinguished. He turned his back to Ischarus and prepared to jump into the crowd. As he spun, he gave Ischarus an interesting target. The fluttering of Grick’s cape made it impossible to target his body. Rather than swing blindly Ischarus re-gripped his sword so that the blade came down from his enclosed fist rather than up from the fist. He raised the sword high into the air and in an instant the sword drove towards the ground. The blade of the sword brought the edge of Grick’s cape to the ground with it. Once the blade struck the cobblestone streets, the blade smoothly found a gap between two stones and tore through the cape. In a single strike Ischarus had secured Grick’s cape to the road. When Grick tried to leap into the crowd a slight tearing sound ripped through the crowd. The power of his jump was not enough to completely rip his cape. His shoulders reached the end of the cape and his feet launched out before him from the torque introduced by the pinned cape. Grick ended up prone on his back. Rhema shouted towards Ischarus as she forced her way through the crowd. “Ischarus, no!” When she arrived she found that Ischarus had left the sword stuck in the ground. Rather than driving another of his weapons into the prone Grick Ischarus had decided to strike his enemy with his leather gauntleted hand. Grick was lying unconscious upon the ground, smoldering smoke still nauseatingly rising from his hair.[/Sblock] [/QUOTE]
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