[Past Bounty] Long Walks off Short Piers

[Baron]

Baron didn't so much vault as he did heft himself awkwardly upwards, his portly frame allowing him to push himself upwards but limiting the fluidity of the movement. He wriggle as he reached the top and forced himself to flop over the other side, hoping for a graceful landing.

[Udo]

In all the awkward glory of a portly man falling down some stairs, Baron successfully makes it over. A quick glance around reveals no one seems to have become alert to him.

[Hayze]

Hayze gritted his teeth as he watched his throwing knife deflect off the man’s staff. He would leave the knife where it landed for now.

”Find that damn piece of paper so we can get out of here.” He said to his shadow.

Without responding, his shadow broke away from him and began zipping around the room. At first it seemed to be searching frantically, but Hayze realized it was trying to cause a distraction. The shadow then moved directly under the man threatening them, gleaning anything it could, before making a more thorough search behind the counter.

Meanwhile, Hayze began moving sideways, using any success the shadow had in distracting the man with the staff, to position himself in a line with three objects. At one end of the line was himself. In the middle was Mr. Uniform. And at the other end... his throwing knife.

[Udo]

The shadow caused the various patrons to let out the expected squeals and startled. Most of them began to leave. This caused a flurry of movement around the two combatants. When the shadow passed he staff wielder, he learned a couple things. This guys was competent, and he was not distracted by the shadow. He maintained position and stance keeping Hayze occupied. The shadow couldn't get to the owner, who seemed to keep working his counter.

[Baron]

Baron reached up to dislodge his jacket, visibly winded by the fall. Once he had it he tucked it under one arm and looked around for a point of ingress.

[Udo]

Baron retrieved his jacket easily. He could see the cellar door ahead of him and tucked against the house. It looks like it has been a while since they actually used it, given the amount of leaf litter and plants growing practically on top of it.

[Hayze]

The shadow continued searching behind the counter for the license. It would move in and out of cabinets and over surfaces trying to find some clue or a likely location.

Hayze suspected his shadow was close. It had to be either on the owner’s person or stashed away somewhere behind the counter or in a back room. He vaulted over the counter, feeling safe in doing so since he created some space between himself and his offender. This nearly lined up his knife directly behind the man.

He now moved down the counter toward the proprietor. If the man with the staff made an advance toward him to cut him off, the three points would be lined up perfectly. As soon as this happened, he would recall the throwing knife to his hand, hopefully going through his offender in the process.

[Udo]

The mountainous defender did move, but not how it was thought to. He didn't move with Hayze, but instead moved to block the exit.

The shadow didn't have a lot of luck. It found lots of places with flat square things that it passed over. But nothing that identified itself.as important paper storage.

As he got near the proprietor, the guy turned to him and raised an eyebrow. "Seriously dude? Leave. Everyone here has seen you. If you actually do more than be a nuisance I'm gonna have no time getting a bounty on you. Leave now and I'll forget you. Don't and I'll get the authorities involved." He seemed annoyed more than threatened.

[Hayze]

The man with the staff moved in the opposite direction as he had predicted. He had hoped to eliminate him as a threat but he was now less of one, being further away. He really only needed the man behind the counter.

After hearing his words, anger boiled within him. Neither of these men saw him as a threat. It had been at the root of all of the trouble so far with this mission. He needed to change that.

He was standing just feet from the man. “Of what consequence is that to me?” At that moment he cast Visage, manipulating the shadows on his face, making him look like a completely different person for only a moment. This, along with his other stealth abilities and garments would make it hard for any authority to find or even correctly identify him.

“I will leave when you...” He extended his arm toward the proprietor and pointed at the man’s chest. “Either hand over your merchant license or tell me where it is.” He was careful with this wording. This was the man’s last chance. If he didn’t do as he asked, he would see how much of a threat Hayze could be.

[Baron]

Making no effort to conceal himself or watch through the fence, Baron set about sweeping off the leaves with his free hand. If someone did glance in as they walked passed they would not see a shifty skulking figure.