Steps in the right direction(Closed/Solo)

[Selk Mar]

And so Selk Mar had left his home of Caelin for the second time to find out more about himself and more about the world. If it was all the same to him he wouldn't mind running into a few old friends along the way as well as making a few new friends. His day started off with a hearty meal as a send off gift from his mother and sisters. Traveling hadn't been so bad, though he had been walking for more than a couple of hours. He had stopped at various points along the way to sit and rest for a few minutes so he didn't wear himself out.

He knew he could be walking for a while before he reached what he was looking for. He wasn't searching for any place in particular. It was more like he was searching for people. He wanted to find the kind of people that he'd ran into when he left home the first time. Those adventurous, brave souls that he'd found himself in combat with simply for the sake of maintaining security in their mostly shared home of Lycia. There were a few not from the numerous small nations or city-states in his initial group. The one he remembered the most, as he was quite distinctly not a Lycian, was Yaen.

A smile was quite visible on his face as he strolled along the beaten dirt path. The memories of all the craziness he and those folks had run into kept him in high spirits. Despite ridiculous odds they had made it through some tough trials before they broke apart.

[Selk Mar]

The young spear man walked along the path reflecting on the days gone by and the advice those friends had given him. The landscape in front of him was a straight, worn dirt path leading to a small crossroads of sorts. Three paths met up at said crossroads. He was already walking one path. One path went around a rather large hill. The third path continued straight from the one he was on and went straight over the hill. Selk eyed the two potential paths and shrugged. Why would he go around a hill the long way when he could just go over it instead?

But what the young knight didn't know was that just over that hill were ruins of an old battlement. And in said battlement was a small horde of brigands, bandits, marauders, thieves, and cutthroats. Though he had dealt with those types before he was still only one man. And beyond that he wasn't the most experienced combatant on most battlefields. He'd only just picked up the lance a few months ago. Mind you he had been thrust into direct combat rather quickly after only learning the basics, so he was still a step above most with his level of experience.

He was also unaware of what was lying in wait for him just down the path he was currently walking...

[Selk Mar]

Selk continued merrily along the path, moving beyond the intersection and heading toward the hill to begin his ascent. Just as he reached the bottom of the hill he was stopped abruptly by a small axe planting itself in the ground in front of him. It came from the bushes to his right. They could have attacked him from cover and he'd have never known till it was too late. So why would whoever it was give away their position like this?

Just then a scruffy looking man in a tattered shirt and breeches with holes in the knees stepped out from the bushes. He bent down and picked up the axe, pointing it at Selk. "This is a toll road, boy. Money or blood, you decide."

Selk's eyes widened as the man now not only stopped him, but threatened him. No doubt the man would want all of his money if he did pay. And if he didn't pay...that was something he didn't want to think about. "What's the price?" Selk asked the man, hoping that violence could be avoided. Even if the man was lying about it being a toll road and just holding folks up for money, he must have had a good reason. Selk hoped so, at least. Someone doing this just for their own petty greed really made Selk a little angry.

The man smirked and scratched his chin lightly with his axe, as if trying to intimidate Selk. "Five hundred," the man replied with a toothy grin.

Selk frowned and replied, "You're serious, aren't you? I can't afford that. I'm a farm boy from Caelin. What makes you think I have that kind of money?" Selk's words carried a touch of frustration in them. His nice day of travel had been interrupted by some money grubbing thug.

[Selk Mar]

The man growled and pointed his axe toward Selk's chest and then to the spear on his back, Weapons and armor ain't cheap, boy. Ya had to get money for them from somewhere. How about you give me one thousand and I let you keep your head?!" The man was nearly screaming at Selk. It was quite clear that he was very angry. He probably thought Selk was lying to him.

Selk's eyes narrowed and he pulled the lance from his back, pointing it in turn at the brigand, "This lance and this armor were gifts from my family. A year's worth of pay went into them from my whole family. I'd rather be dead than give up such a treasure to scum like you." He put both hands on the shaft of the lance and thrust toward the man, not waiting for him to make the first move.

The brigand had been ready, though, and he turned to one side and stepped back, avoiding the stab. He continued to turn until he was facing Selk once more and continued his movement into a forward lunge, swinging the axe in a wide side arc toward Selk's chest.

Selk had just enough time to jerk backwards out of the brunt of the attack. The sound of metal scraping metal could be heard as the axe's blade screeched across Selk's armor.

[Selk Mar]

Selk reacted as quickly as he could, trying to keep on the offensive so that the man opposite him would have minimal time to swing that axe of his. He stepped into the swing, sending the blunt end of his Lance toward the man's head. The axeman ducked under the swing and was about to leap forward when he spotted Selk's second strike sweeping up at him.

Selk had swung the head of his Lance down, just above the ground in a 'u' shaped arc so that his attack would be like an uppercut. The brigand decided he didn't want to take a gaping vertical slash wound on his torso, so he rolled backward from his crouching position to avoid the swing.

Selk smiled. He realized that the advantage was his now. His foe had taken to the ground and left himself open to the reach of the Lance. As the brigand had just caught himself and stopped the roll, Selk used the slack he had in his lance shaft to extend the head forward and down diagonally at the man. His lance caught the man in the upper thigh, causing the highwayman to let out a cry of pain.

Now that his foe was injured, he had a much larger advantage. The axeman was unarmored and his mobility was now greatly reduced. But something Selk hadn't been counting on happened. Rustling came from the bushed behind him and he turned to face it only to be met with a two handed sword swinging down at him.

He brought his lance up as quickly as he could and used the shaft to defend himself, blocking the attack. With the axeman preoccupied by his wounded leg, Selk and the swordsman had a bit of a standoff.

[Selk Mar]

After a few moments of pressuring one another with their raw strength it became clear that Selk was the more physically powerful of the two. The swordsman found himself being forced down to the ground by Selk's strength. Working the fields for most of your life and wearing heavy armor on the battlefield had a way of making you stronger than the average joe. Selk took advantage of the swordsman's position and placed a metal boot firmly in his chest, literally stomping the breath out of the man before putting the head of his lance into the man's right shoulder. He kicked the sword away from the swordsman and looked back to the brigand, who was now struggling to get to his feet.

"Stay down. If I injure you anymore you could die, and unlike you I'm not a murderer or a thief." Selk said as he walked past the brigand with a triumphant smile. The axe toting man wouldn't quit, though, and he lunged at Selk once again.

Selk was able to easily plant the blunt end of the lance shaft into the man's gut, causing him to buckle in half mid-attack. The brigand was determined, though, and the axe did not drop from his hand despite his pain. It continued through and cut into the left side of Selk's armor at rib level, wedging itself in between two of the metal plates and giving his ribs a rather large slash. Selk stumbled back and grunted in pain. He angrily pulled the axe from his side and chucked it as far off the path as he could.

He knew he had no vulneraries right now, so he would have to continue on. It was a decent sized wound, though it was only a flesh wound. He had experienced worse in the past, so for now he placed a dry cloth over the wound and held it there as best he could while he walked away from the skirmish he'd just had.

[Selk Mar]

Dang...I give them mercy and they still attack me. Are they that desperate for money? Ugh...can't linger, though. They might get even more gutsy. They're crippled and disarmed for the most part. He thought as he moved from the battle. He frowned more than before as he began to hear shouting and the sounds of another battle over the hill. This battle was much larger than the little skirmish he'd just had with the two highwaymen.

He shook his head and kept his pace up the hill. It took a couple minutes to reach the top, but when he saw what was laid out before him he realized that the two men he fought must have been guarding the back entrance to their hideout. They never intended for him to get by even if he did pay their outrageous fee.

He snickered a little. Luck must have been on his side. He surveyed the battlefield below, looking for the best place to enter and where to start. There were a handful of fighters opposing the gang. Two armor clad spearmen like himself, a swordsman of some sort, an archer, a mage, a shaman, and a pegasus knight had joined forces to take out the scum that was holed up in this ruined old fort.

[Selk Mar]

Selk could tell the shear number of unsavory types that had holed up in this fortress were far more than the number of brave souls that had taken to purging them. The words of his friend, Yaen, echoed in his head. Don't be a hero... He growled at himself in frustration. He promised Yaen that he would follow that advice, but how could he stand by when these people were in over their heads with trying to protect Lycia. It was his home. Even if none of them were from Lycia, he still had obligation to protect it.

Then Selk heard something that made up his mind for him. A scream broke through the dull roar of combat. It pierced through the chaos without question and rung in Selk's ears. He could feel the scream to his core. It was a feeling he remembered from his first real battle, and one that had a knack of rearing its ugly head in every other fight he'd been in as well. This feeling, he could tell, was much stronger than that kind of fear. Else the woman in question wouldn't have even considered fighting on this day.

He wouldn't stand by. He didn't have to be the hero, but he refused to do nothing. This group could be just like the one he started his own adventures with, just a group of travelers who gained a common goal...but now were fighting side by side with each others' lives in their hands.

With a fervor that could only be understood by a true Knight, Selk dashed down the hill through the trees toward the gate where they were fighting. He only hoped he could reach them before it was too late.

OOC: Promotion time! Recruit -> Knight