The Ten Riders (Open)

[Vincent]

Vincent traveled by foot through the great open Sacae plains. The sun was intense but the constant breeze made it far more bearable. The grasses swayed in the wind and Vincent eventually decided to rest a while.Producing a piece of bread Vincent began to snack. He had traveled so far and avoided death several times already. He was beginning to feel like a real mercenary, except he still had yet to find a job.

Lost in his thoughts he noticed something in the distance: A horse and its carriage were being hounded by what appeared to be cavaliers. A band of around ten. Vincent stood and watched wondering what would happen, when as if in answer, the horse turned too sharply and sent the carriage crashing onto its side. Vincent began to make his way there. From the distance he saw as the horsemen dismounted and began to dig through the wreckage stealing chests of gold and other trinkets. By the time Vincent arrived the ten had long made off with their bounty. It was strange how far you could see in the plains and yet it was well over a mile away.

Vincent found an elderly man buried beneath the smashed carriage. "Are you alright? I'm going to get you out of there. If you can hear me please respond." Vincent moved boards and seats in hopes of saving the man but it was difficult alone.

[Burt]

Heartless monsters, thought Burt to himself as he watched the crash from afar. He could tell that the battle was a good while away. It took him a while to get use to the visual difference, but he had adapted over his time he spent in Sacea. Burt was on one of his person missions again. He wanted to record the history of the clans in sacea and place them into one great book. However the core material , aka the actual history, was missing. Somebody needed to go to each clan and record their history in notes so it could be cataloged and placed onto a time line. Then it could be written down and turned into a massive history book. Burt was thinking the name History of the Plains, a tribal telling of the sea of blades, Recorded by Burt Orange. It was a noble goal and Burt was lucky to get two clans already who told him their stories. He was looking for a third when he noticed the assault. 

Slowly, but surely Burt crossed the plains. The fighter was far too late to aid the poor man, but he did arrive in time to give him aid. He noticed another young man helping the man. "A whitehead", spoke Burt aloud by accident. Without another word he moved to aid the old man and to help him onto his feet.

[Vincent]

Vincent saw the fighter approach in the distance and cried, "Help me!" He was holding up boards that had crushed the old man's legs but was unable to completely move them. The man was surprised by the boy's appearance calling him a whitehead.

The man rushed to his aid and pulled the old man from the rubble. Dropping the boards with a loud crack Vincent looked at the man, "Thank you sir."

"Bless ye, bless ye both," the old man said weakly before cringing in pain. "My legs? I can't feel them." The old man had lost them in the crash likely crushed and severed.
Vincent clenched his fists in rage and bowed his head. Looking to the fighter Vincent pleaded, "Do you have any healing staves? It's not much but I have a bag of 100 gold here if you'll help him." He had won the bag in a match but the money he felt was dirty money.

[Liror]

As Liror was making his way back from a small village where he stocked up on food for a his journey he saw group of cavaliers laughing and fleeing from a tipped over caravan.

Not wanting to be seen Liror hid behind a couple of bushed until they made there way past him, after he was sure most of them had passed he continued to see an old who looks like he can barely stand and two others next to him.

Liror made his way to the small group and noticed the caravan in shambles, Liror assumed that those were bandits who attack this old man's cart and robbed him of his gold and valuables.

Liror was still slightly confused on the full story so he asked "whats happened here is anyone in need of assistance?" Liror asked with an emotionless tone.

[Burt]

"No need for the coin", spoke Burt as he rose his hand in defense. The fighter pulled out some healing slave he had in his back and began to rub it on the old man's legs. "Tell me if you star to feel any pain", spoke Burt. "That means it is working", he added as a slight grin crossed his face. The fighter was not laughing at the old man, but rather at his own joke. He was not sure if the man thought it was funny as he did.

As Burt did his work he looked up to see somebody else coming to the wreck. The man did not seem the bandit type and to Burt surprise he had a staff on him. Just what they needed. "Hey you over there", shouted Burt toward Liror. "Please come quick. We could use your staff over here", he shouted.

[Vincent]

"No need for the coin," the stranger said before aiding the old man.
"It hurts, it hurts!!!" cried the old man, realizing his legs were gone he began to sob and complain about his wife having told him so.
Vincent felt slight comfort in the fact the old man wasn't concerned with death but rather his wife's scolding. Suddenly the stranger was calling for a nearby priest to come help. "A priest? Thank to powers that be. They are with you today sir," he comforted.

[Liror]

As Liror stopped at the group he pulled out a mending staff using it to heal the old man's bones, the sound of a bone snapping back into place signified that he was healed.

Liror stood up and nodded to the group telling them that the old man should be fine, Liror started to walk away before anyone could even speak a word to him not accepting any cash or thank yous from anyone while putting his staff back into his bag.

[Vincent]

Vincent ran to the young priest. "Leaving already? That's a bit soon don't you think?" Vincent stood in his path. "At least give the man a chance to thank you," with that said he walked up to the fighter that helped as well. "Thank you for the help sir. My name is Vincent Clark," he held his hand out to shake.

[Burt]

That was a bit overly dramatic thought Burt to himself as the priest healed the old man and began to simply walk away. He did not bother to stay behind and receive praise and thanks. He wondered if it was his way of doing things, or if he was just trying to act cool. Normally you would not think that people would do such things, but it would not be the first time Burt had encountered such a person. It seemed to be fashionable these days for people to simply walk off in the direction the wind blew just to get the effect of a floating cape or the image of their lone coat being pulled in the wind. Burt would be lying if he said he did not do that when he was younger. Still to each their own.

"Hey thank you", spoke Burt as he rose from the ground and watched the man walk away. Burt then turned his attention back to the old man. He had clearly been robbed of some major valuables and was probably under a lot of both physical and emotional stress.

"So", spoke Burt. He purposely left a long pause in order to create a weird moment. It seemed the priest was already rubbing off on him. "What can you tell me about the men who robbed you", spoke Burt suddenly and without regard. "From what I saw they seemed to take some very valuable things from you and attacked in mass. Normally highway bandits do not run in such large teams. You were probably a marked man. Do you have any idea who could have discovered the contents of your cargo?"

Burt was not in investigator mode. He wanted to find out what happen, Why it happen, and who was involved. But was not one for violence, but he did value justice and justice needed to be served on this matter.

[Liror]

Liror stopped and turned towards the group asking the old man "what would those thieves want from you, were you carrying anything of great value or did they just have some grudge against a rich old man?"

Liror sighed "I apologize for my rude behavior gentlemen my name is Liror my last name is well we have not known you quite long enough yet for such pleasures but if you need my assistance further for either finding the mans treasure or perhaps a healer is needed for your small band of misfits either way I would join you but if nothing is needed then I will be on my way."

[Vincent]

The old man looked into Burt's face before hesitantly speaking. "I had been transporting objects of great value, each one a small fortune. Also chests of gold. The men are a gang called The Ten Riders. All of them defected during the Bern rebellion and became bandits. My wife warned me about transporting valuables but I didn't listen and now it's going to cost me a leg to get them back." The old man grimaced at his own joke.
Vincent looked at the tracks left by the riders. "I'll get the things back for you."
The old man was shocked, "If you do you can keep something you like, just name it."

[Burt]

"Well we need all the help we can get Liror", spoke Burt to the priest. "From what I received from the old man's story these guys seem to be more dangerous than your average bandit. They are military trained and from what I saw work as a unit. We are more than likely are going to receive more than a few scratches and scrapes if we go after them.  However I have to warn you, it will be dangerous. Since we will be out numbered I will not be able to garantee your safety, but if you are willing to risk your life then we can track them down together", spoke Burt to the priest.

Burt had pretty much figured out that Vin was going. There was no debate about that, and there was no way Burt was not going to go. Robbing a old man is a new form of low. Still Burt could not help, but wonder. Is his reason for wanting to fight these rogues because they hurt a old man, or was it because he wanted a good fight. Burt was always struggling with his own instincts. He needed to make sure he was doing this for the right reasons. Burt took another look at the old man and nodded his head. Yeah they were the right reasons.

"If we hope to catch up to them any time soon", spoke Burt as he looked at the tracks. "We need to leave now. However I think the old guy should probably move himself. Is there a town or city nearby he can go too", spoke Burt as he looked around. "He did not like the idea of a old man sitting in a wreckage by himself.

[Liror]

"There is a small trading village north of this path, the people there are kind and will most likely take care of him until we return." Liror said with still no emotion

"still though since we are heading forward into a larger group than ours so we will need a battle plan." Liror said pulling out a map from his pack.

They most likely went towards the forest to find shelter and check their loot so that should be our first thing to do and when we reach the forest we will have to come up with a battle plan." Liror said looking at both of them with a stern look.

[Vincent]

"You boys give 'em one for me. I'll ride Betsy to the town so don't worry 'bout me. Just eh, help me on my horse." The old man reached up to Burt expectantly.
Vincent eyed the map adoringly. It had been ages since he had seen one himself. "Sounds like you know the area a fair bit. Will you be able to guide us?" Vincent had gathered around Liror to look at the map. "But even if they weren't military ten is a lot. We will probably need tricks and traps."

[Burt]

"Let me give you a hand", spoke Burt as he helped the man up on his steed. Burt wanted to take a look at the map, but he needed to tend to the old man first. The map will be there when he got back so the fighter was not in a rush. He made sure the old fella was square in the saddle and had a good grip on the rains. After securing him Burt turned around and walked over to where the other two were looking at the map.

"Alright, where do you think they would be camping out", spoke Burt as he stared at the map. The fighter waited patiently for their reply, but in the back of his head he figured their best bet was simply to follow the tracks. He was not one for stratagems, but he did know how to swing a axe. Still this whole situation clearly showed his lack of skill. If it had been his younger brother he would have had a plan or simply powered through the enemy. Burt did not know much about the man, but he did hear about his strength and determination. Still he could not believe one of his family was a dirty bandit.

"Foolish little brother", murmured Burt from under his breath. The fighter could not help but to think upon his family. to think upon his own past. Still there was work to do and no time to think on things that once were. He needed to think on the now and what they needed to do in order to win this thing.