Meridia Trail [Job Chain/Private]

Job Name: Meridia Trail: Starting Out
Job Rank: C
Job Location: Meridia
Job Reward:  7,000 Huang, 100 EXP.
Job Prerequisites: Be In Meridia, be Nenet and Kotanan
Job Overview: Arriving in the country of Meridia and desiring to see the capital, but Kotanan having apparently never heard of the concept of maps, they decide to take a job guarding a Caravan delivering recently imported supplies to the capital. Along the way their caravan is ambushed by several bandits looking to make a quick profit.

Enemy:

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Sparse grass alongside a packed dirt road, uneven terrain flattened by feet and wheels just like theirs, wood on solid ground making a gentle creaking sound that broke up the quiet voices speaking around the wagon that making it's way through the countryside of Meridia. Most of the voices were coming from the wagon itself, the two drivers quietly chatting as they held the reins of the pair of steady horses that guided it alongside, while two more people sat on small wooden platforms alongside the wagon's edges. One of them was the merchant who was responsible for the cargo, and one of them was a gorgeous woman holding a staff. Only one person was bored and restless enough to already be walking alongside the caravan not even four miles away from port;

Kotanan.

Standing with his shoulders over the six foot tall wagon the man was currently walking next to Nenet, easily tall enough to barely have to look up to see her even with her sitting upon the wagon. It had been his decision to take the job guarding this caravan, fresh off a boat to see the sights and experience the culture of a brand new kingdom and it saved them the trouble of finding the roads there themselves, but you'd never know it from the way he was acting right now. His face was set in a dulled, eyes glazed expression and he was holding his hands behind his head as he walked, arms bent at the elbow. They were walking through a shady path, trees of pale green with segmented bark and thin leaves providing them cover from the sunlight as they walked. "I've got to say, if Meridia is as peaceful as this journey has been, I might have to take a nap as soon as we get there." Kotanan said, keeping his voice somewhat quiet as he spoke to his traveling companion.

It was difficult, considering his voice was deep and rich enough that even his whispers tended to travel further than he intended, but his bored tone helped keep it between the two of them. This just wasn't Kotanan's element was all; He had loved sailing, there was always something to do and something to tie down, something to contend with. On a journey like this with the horses doing the heavy lifting and his only job basically being to not fall asleep and look imposing, which wasn't exactly hard, his mind began to wander. Considering the vast last of concerns or cares he had at the moment, however, that didn't exactly ease his boredom much. All it really left him to do was glance at Nenet from time to time and make small talk...which, again, considering his lack of conversation points, didn't ease much.

Coming up on the road was what must have been a particularly rough piece of road because someone had placed a very large, flattened piece of wood over it to cover it up and Kotanan raised his eyebrow a bit as the horses began to step across it, half expecting something to happen...But it didn't, at first. No, at first the horses crossed it just fine and Kotanan tried to make himself relax. This area of road was surrounded by open grass and the tree line was roughly twenty feet in either direction, so it wasn't like anything could hide close by, but something seemed to prickle on Kotanan's senses...

Then, the cart itself came over the plank of wood. Despite the cart's size, the wood was easily big enough to accomodate it and as soon as the cart came onto the center of the wood, it swung downwards from the back like a ramp downwards. The horses loudly neighed in protest and the cart itself sank downwards, breaking both leads off each horse and shattering the wheels across harsh rocks lining the sides and bottom of the pit the ramp now led into. The cart was stuck, trapped against the ramp and the pit, while the horses were now dragging their riders forward as they startled. Kotanan reached out to grab Nenet even as he pulled his spear from his back, already aware of the sound of trees rustling from their left and right.

They were surrounded, and the cart was completely out of commission. Whoever was coming had clearly planned this and done it before. "...Well, this is interesting. Ready to earn our keep, Nenet?"

Unlike the restlessness of her partner walking alongside the wagon, the woman perched upon the end of the bench seat was perfectly agreeable to the travel and looked the part. Her dark grey-black hair swayed and brushed to either side of her  cheeks, one leg was draped over the other with her foot bouncing with the travel; perched on her lap was a leather bound tome with a blue ribbon attached to the spine. The gentle thrum and rhythm in which the carriage's wheels drew over the ground was found to be an amenable environment to continue her reading she had started upon their ship here. Her stiletto shaped nail tucked itself under the corner of the page she was finished reading, turning said page as she used the pause to look over her paramour as she leaned in and spoke her. A slow close-lipped smile graced her face, making her blue-green eyes sparkling in mirth even as his voice made her shiver as it always did when she didn't hear it for some time, her fingers keeping her place in her book as she leaned close.

"You think any passing hour you are not exercising your rights to bear arms and strength as tediously peaceful, my darling. I think if it were not for me you would be sleeping half your life away," she teased in the melodious voice cultured through years of singing; she was used to her lover's restlessness, something she found charming at times. She took a moment to lean over more and plant a whisper-thin kiss on his cheek, using the thumb of her free hand to brush away the color left there. She settled back into her seat, softly jingling as she moved from the gold chains and bangles that decorated both her and her attire, going back to her book; she ignored the looks of the men sitting next to her.

Absorbed in the words printed on the page as she continued living the novel in her mind or perhaps trusting the man who trudged alongside her she was completely oblivious to the world around her, at least until the same one fell out from beneath her. There was a sick lurching feeling in the pit of her stomach when the boards dropped out from under the rear wagon sent it backwards into the hole. The immediate and panicked sound that came from her throat was not lady-like nor was it elegant, something in-between a gasp and a surprised squawk that was cut off once the whiplash of hitting the back of the seat hard enough to jostle her into a moment of stunned silence.

Disgruntled and now in pain, Nenet groaned as she caught her breath, groping for her staff that was knocked to the floor of the wagon's seating area, her eyes finding Kotanan's strong hand reaching out for her, taking it with her free hand. With his help the magician managed retrieved her staff and climb up out of the wagon, drawing her veil over the bottom of her face from where it had been hanging to the side of her face, eyes glancing to her partner. "So much for boring, yes?"

Under normal circumstances, Kotanan would have relished the idea of getting a good scrap in during this ultimately entirely too quiet caravan trip up until now and leapt off to make sure whoever ambushed them regretted their decisions immensely. Of course, that was before Nenet had been knocked around by the trap that had been set and he found himself clenching his jaw as he watched her right herself and shake the disorientation off herself. He barely noticed the merchant who was directing the caravan laying in the back of the wagon, groaning as he rubbed his head. Instead, Kotanan focused on his beloved for a moment longer. "Me and my big mouth, huh? It's like someone was waiting for me to open my mouth." he replied with his rumbling baritone, grinning a little at his own joke as the pair let themselves take in the moment.

At first there was nothing, only the sound of the horses in the distance, their riders trying to manage them after they'd fled the wagon's disabling and even that faded after a few moments, leaving tense silence that broke seconds later with several rustling movements from the tree line around them. Spots of grass and foliage were slowly pulled away and hiding spots revealed, what looked like blankets or woven covers with bits of greenery stuck into them were cast aside and four men were now at the edge of the tree line on either side of the wagon. All of them were visibly armed with curved sabers and several metal darts lining chest bandoliers, but they were dressed in mismatched outfits and facial coverings that betrayed nothing further of their origins. Kotanan's grip on his staff tightened and he moved in front of Nenet on his side of the wagon.

"Step away from the wagon and we'll let you all live." came one of the men's voices, one on Kotanan's side, who was  now quietly pulling a dart from his bandolier as he watched for the group's reaction.

"...I think it's fair if you take two,  I take two, huh?" came Kotanan's 'reply', directed at Nenet, as the towering man stepped forward towards the group on his side but stopped a few feet from Nenet, lifting his spear upwards and gripping it as he took his stance, the blade of the spear pointed downwards and the pommel pointed upwards in a diagonal point.

"Right, why don't you come make us move? I'm seriously itching to stretch my legs a little." came Kotanan's official reply, causing the bandit to scoff and snap his fingers towards the wagon. Both groups began to approach it now, slow and deliberate as they sized up the pair standing in their way.

Kotanan deliberately kept himself at an angle in front of Nenet, keeping them blocked from getting to her but not putting her in the line of fire...So when the first bandit suddenly snapped his arm and executed a sharp Dart Thow towards Kotanan, he was ready for it and he swung himself into a swing to the opposite side. The dart shot past Kotanan completely, but even as it cleared him he saw the second bandit lunge forward and close the gap towards him in a run. While he wasn't precisely caught off guard, the speed of the bandit was more than Kotanan had been immediately prepared for and instead of sidestepping the attack, he reacted.

Training Begin, Skyrise D-tier Ability, 379/250 Words wrote:Digging his feet into the dirt, Kotanan threw his spear's head up and  caught the bandit's arm as the man tried to stab towards him, throwing his attacker off balance by essentially pushing his arm upwards and then moving to twist away from the attack. It worked, but only partially; Instead of completely throwing the man off the lunge he managed to stumble him and as soon as he freed his arm from the spear's guard, the bandit turned the lunge into a hasty downward slash that caught Kotanan's upper arm and split his sleeve in a thin line. Blood welled from the surface of the grazed cut, not deep enough to be worrying but deep enough to cause a trickle of blood to gather along it's edges. Ending up on the bandit's other side after his dodge, Kotanan used the movement of his spear to his advantage and slammed the wooden pommel of the spear down into the bandit's chest where his opponent caught it with the blade of his sabre and was still sent reeling and skidding backwards almost half a meter from the force of Kotanan's hit.

The bandit, dazed from the blow and his sword rattling from vibrations, met Kotanan's eyes and the warrior simply winked at him as he thrust the tip of the spear back downwards, preparing to go on the offensive. Then, motion from his side caught his attention and he cursed as the first bandit, the one who had initially thrown his dart, was now coming at him with a heavy downward slash from the side. Inwardly, Kotanan recognized that his deflection hadn't worked before because he hadn't caught his opponent at the right angle, trying to push it to the side more than upward. He needed a good, solid upward parry to put the bandit's momentum off balance enough to stop him from changing the attack.

So that's exactly what he did. Gritting his teeth and twisting his spear into his opponent's path, Kotanan slammed the spear upwards and used the staff to catch his opponent right at the wrist, knocking his hand upwards and sending him toppling backwards from the force involved, the tip of the saber rasing skyward as the bandit's momentum was stopped and turned on itself.

With Kotanan distracted thus, the second bandit made a movement to get back into the fray, only this time he gripped his saber with both hands and rushed into Kotanan with a Driving Slash that barely had time to react to, twisting himself to bring his spear once more up into the path of the blow for another Skyrise, but the swing was too strong. Kotanan's spear caught the man's wrist but the attack came across all the same, only partially deflected upwards and cutting a path across of Kotanan's chest from his right side up to the left shoulder. Blood oozed from his cut tunic, but his deflection had at least kept it from creating an oozing gash in his body.

Twisting himself backwards and pushing his spear downwards once more, Kotanan couldn't help the little smile gracing his features as he kept both of the men in his sights now. Standing between them and the wagon, Nenet at his back, he should have felt threatened or at least felt tension rising in his body...instead, Kotanan could only feel the smile blossom into a wide grin as the two bandits collected themselves and raised their sabers again.

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