The party made their way out of the tavern to track down Karlus through the back alleyway, but there was no trace of the mage there. Stepping out beyond the garbage and clutter in the alleyway they could see a completely abandoned marketplace with no one in sight. Unlike many of the stands and merchant shops dotting the marketplace, one stand off to the right of the alley still had a number of trinkets upon it. The area was somewhat small, but nestled between sprawling favelas and dank alleys. 


Vekyzz's feet came to a trampling stop on the dirty cobblestones, almost sliding a few inches over them as near a harbor things always had a nasty tendency to be a little wet. The tiefling looked around, but it certainly would not have taken anyone near his height to get a perfect overview of the situation quickly: There simple wasn't anybody left to obstruct any line of sight. The marketplace was devoid of any life, but not of indications that it must have been there just moments earlier.

This could simply not be a good sign... What had caused this mass exodus of people ? The situation inside the tavern ? Vekyzz almost immediately dismissed this thought as rubbish -- too far, way too silent and probably all too 'normal' for a tavern with drunk people in it. For him, things pointed much more to Karlus. Had the crazy mage not been able to stop his fiery temper once outside ? Had he continued to use dangerous magic ? And most importantly: Which of those small streets had this damned, tiny little man taken ? For a moment Vekyzz even considered [i]hoping[/i] for Karlus to continue to use his magic as it would have made finding him a lot easier, if not possible in the first place.

However he was not the kind of guy to give up in this situation. The place being empty also had the advantage of nobody being there to obstruct his path or to alert even more guards about another crazy man running around -- this time with a rifle ready to fire. Vekyzz had not taken the thing into his hands yet as carrying it strapped to his back made it easier to run. And so he did now, taking the alley to the east. Hopefully anyone who had followed him so far would be clever enough not to waste his or her presence following him but to take another route. The tiefling did not give instructions at this point, he was too focused on the hunt and assassins usually worked alone.

Upon making his way towards the alleyway Vekyzz was greeted by the sight of both Karlus and the guard rendered unconscious. There was clearly some kind of skirmish. The mage laid face down at the head of the alleyway while the guard, about four paces away, sat against the wall. His armor was dented on the right side with smoke billowing out from the center of the wound. Vekyzz could see that neither were dead, at least. 

[color=red]”By my ancestors,”[/color] Kjellfrid said, looking at the scene, having followed Vekyzz for reasons that he would not have known. However, it was clear on a simple thought that the Tiefling was tall and intimidating, odds are she would be using him as a wall to hide from others. Though, the magical flute she carried was nowhere to be seen, having been placed back somewhere on her person. The brith, looked at Vekyzz and then back to the mage and guard.

[color=ff9900]”S-should we help him?’[/color] she asked hesitantly.

[color=ff9900]”Help whom ?”[/color] Vekyzz almost snapped back, the brith recoiling from the response. It was pretty safe to say that seeing the scene ahead had not helped his adrenaline level go down again. [color=ff9900]”And help with what ? I can try to heal some wounds, but I can not help making a madman sane again!”[/color]

Having made this kind of statement, the tiefling raised his rifle and pointed it right at Karlus before approaching him carefully. Once he stood right next to the mage’s feet, he used the barrel to gently touch as much of the unconscious man’s cheek as there was reachable. Maybe the feeling of cold metal forged into a very lethal form would help to wake him up. If not there still was Vekyzz’s voice, even though the tiefling always found it odd to do anything else but whisper when using it: [color=ff9900]”Hello there! Wake up!”[/color]

[color=ff9900]”Kjellfrid ? Take care of the guard. We can still come out of this without anyone having been killed. We have to!”[/color] Vekyzz added, not turning away from Karlus for a single moment.

The bard moved forward, slowly getting closer to the guard before crouching next to him after making sure he truly was unconscious. She looked at the bent and near shattered armor, noting the smoke coming out of it in a rather large columb. Though, Kjellfrid first took away the weapon of the guard, setting it behind her in a clear bit of paranoia, either of dying or just the sight of the weapon in general. She looked to Vekyzz, silently watching his gun before turning back to the guard and trying to release him from the armor.

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[center][i] Collaboration between [@Lauder] and [@Fetzen] [/i][/center]