New Beginnings Showcase - Uch-Pozhar

[Atriark]

The second largest settlement in the Gryphon Kingdom of Uch. Half the city is in upheaval, the citizens rioting in the Downtown area, and looting in several suburban neighborhoods. All in all, the city is in lockdown. No one is allowed to enter or leave without the proper papers.

Train Tracks run through the south eastern side of the city and was one of the first locations Uch-Pozhar officials secured when the riots broke out. Very few individuals disembark from the train here, and most of those that do are turned back. Everyone else just sits and waits for searches to be concluded before heading on towards the capital city of the Kingdom of Uch-Dvoret.

The City's Keeper, or Mayor, is housed in one of the largest buildings in Uch-Pozhar. Its security dwarfs that of most prisons and would make banks jealous, and is where efforts to bring the city back to peace is coordinated from.

[Grayscale]

Heinrich cleaned cleaned his rifle. It was the fifth time now he did that since they arrived at the plaza. He and his platoon arrived in his hometown Uch-Pozhar yesterday to defend downtown with his old buildings. It made him feel sad to think that riots could destroy these beautiful buildings, but that's why they were there, to protect them. He wondered if his father and also the mayor of the city had influenced some major in the military, so Heinrich would be stationed here.

Currently they were just waiting for orders and hear the riots in a distant. He just hoped that he and his squad would go on a patrol. Even if there weren't any rioters in downtown yet, it would be a change to the never ending waiting.

He cheered internal as he saw the Captain coming over to him. Finally an order!
"Gather your griphons, Sergeant! Today is your lucky day. You and your griphons are going on patrol." he said. "Two klicks from here is a district with warehouses. Some small, some big. We want you to check that area for any riot activities.Got that?"

Heinrich nodded. "Yes, Sir!" he said and saluted as the Captain left. "Okay, boys! You heard the Captain. So let's get moving!"  Now he was in his element. Even if he was a introverted griphon in his civil life he opened up when he was with his comrades.

After he and his squad of five other griphons got their stuff they moved. Two kilometers weren't that much, but at least they wouldn't sit around anymore.

[Atriark]

Sunny Smiles - White Talon Member (NPC) - Streets of Uch-Pozhar

Some may say that a pony has no place protesting, that this was the gryphon's home, and they alone should be trying to change things. Sunny Smiles was not of that opinion. She was a pony, but the Gryphon Kingdoms were her home. She was born in Uch-Pozhar and grew up here. As such, she had just as much right to voice her opinion as the gryphons do.

So when her boss came to her and told her where she could find the son of the Keeper of the city, Sunny couldn't help but jump at the opportunity. If they had the Keeper's son, then they would finally be able to make some progress with changing the policies of Uch-Pozhar. Maybe even all of Uch itself!

That's what lead Sunny to be standing in an alley, waiting for her spotter to return with word if he had seen their target, the Keeper's Son. With a target that big, she was willing to wait all day if she had to. Fortunately for her, she didn't have to wait much longer.

"Turns out the Keeper's son is a Sergeant for the CDF," a small grey gryphon reported. "he's leading a group of gryphons out through the streets."

"Great..." Sunny muttered. "Well, let's do a snatch and grab. Hopefully we can do it without his squad intervening"

[Grayscale]

Heinrich and his squad walked down the street. He was in front of the rest and led the squad at a fast pace, his eyes checking the rooftops from time to time. That's the thing when you fight against a power which uses guerrilla tactics. You never really know when and where they strike. So you have to be prepared anytime and that's exhausting, because your body is under constant tension.

But nothing really happened, so they reached the warehouses they should inspect rather quickly.

[Atriark]

Sunny Smiles - White Talon Member (NPC) - Stalking Heinrich and His Men

Three Gryphons. That was all Sunny had at her disposal. Four versus six. She wasn't too confident about their odds, especially since she was a pony and couldn't square off against a gryphon. They had to do this quick, temporarily disabling his squad and leaving them free to abduct Heinrich. Which is why she hoped the arrows and darts that they were given would work. Oh she really hoped they would work.

"Aim for the ones in the back after they pass. Then work your way in," she whispered to a Silvery gryphon to her left who moved on to repeat the orders.

Sunny prepared her dart gun loaded with a poison tipped dart. The poison, supposedly, was at a non-lethal amount, but would cause a weakening of the muscles, but they would remain conscious and still able to fight back, albeit poorly. Sunny had her doubts though, as it wouldn't incapacitate them totally. She was familiar with the poison, Curare, and knew that in sufficient doses the target would most likely die of asphyxiation. And that was a fine line to walk. Luna...don't kill them She prayed and was the first to fire, her target was Heinrich specifically.

[Grayscale]

He and his squad moved further down the street, not seeing the rebels. Suddenly Heinrich felt a pain in his leg, like something bit him. He looked back and saw a dart sticking in his leg. "AMBush..." he tried to yell, but in the same moment he felt how his leg gave in and he saw how the same happened with his squad members.
He and his men drew their swords to at least try to defend theirself, but he knew they wouldn't last long. 

[Atriark]

Sunny Smiles - White Talon (NPC) - Warehouse

Sunny Smiles leapt down from the catwalk, tossing aside her dart gun and drawing a baton from under her saddle bag. Her target was Heinrich, her job was to bring him in. If the White Talon had this son of the Keeper, the odds of change were great. She wanted a better Uch-Pohzar, a better Uch, and this gryphon was the key.

"Heinrich!" Sunny Smiles called out, standing a few paces from the brown and black feathered gryphon. "Stand down, you and your men are overpowered. Surrender and no harm will come to those under your charge!"

As she spoke, the three other gryphons with Sunny landed beside her, each of them brandishing blades of some form, and each looked ready to fight.

[Grayscale]

Heinrich knew he and his squad would be slaughtered, if he ordered his men to fight. They would have probably a better chance later, when the toxin will be washed out of their bodies, if their attackers will keep their promise and won't kill them in this weak moment. And even if they stay alive they'll probably get sepereated, because it seems they only want Heinrich. Perhaps because he is the son of the mayor. "I knew it was a bad idea to be stationed in my hometown. Too many griffons and apparantly some ponies know me and what they can do with me as a hostage. Well, it seems to be a very tricky situation, but I can only see one way to get my men out alive." he thought and sighed.
"All right, all right. You got us. Squad! Lay down your weapons. We won't fight them!" Heinrich said and almost instantly he could hear mumbling of protest. "This was an order!"

[Atriark]

Sunny Smiles - White Talon (NPC) - Warehouse

Miss Smiles softly smiled to herself. They had done it. This gryphon, this soldier, this son of a Keeper could be the key to the change that will be brought upon their country, her country. Big things were on their way, Sunny could feel it.

"Tie them up. Bound and gag the leader," Sunny Smiles ordered, after Heinrich's retinue dropped their weapons. As the gryphons she lead followed her orders, she couldn't help but feel proud. She surely was going to get high commendations for the swift apprehension of Heinrich, as well as doing so with no conflict.

[Grayscale]

Unable to move Heinrich and his squad endured the humiliation of beeing captured without even fighting. "We really did underestimate our enemies. Ugh...something I repeatedly got taught and I didn't remembered it." He and his squad got tied up without any resistance.

[Atriark]

Sunny Smiles - White Talon (NPC) - Warehouse

Sunny couldn't hold back her excitement and began bouncing up and down like a little filly. She gasped as she stopped by the Silvery Gryphon under her command. "Um...what do you suppose we do with his men?"

The gryphon gave her an unamused look. "If you don't intend on killing them. There is a whole lot we can do ma'am."

Sunny Smiles composed herself, feeling less giddy. "You're right. But we can't kill them, they've done nothing wrong. Drag them to the center of the Warehouse. Someone get me the cart, and load Heinrich up in it. We leave as soon as we can," she ordered.

[Grayscale]

Heinrich didn't resist as they loaded him up.
"Hey! You promised that my men won't get hurt. I take your word for it that your men won't harm them!"

His men struggled a bit with not fighting back as it offended their honor, but in the end they only glared at them angrily as they got tied up.

[Atriark]

Sunny Smiles - White Talon (NPC) - Warehouse

Sunny pat Heinrich on the cheek with a hoof. "And they won't. But you best hope it doesn't take too long for your captain to realize that your squad is missing. I don't think the warehouse is too good of a place to stay the night." Sunny gave the bound gryphon a wink before dipping down below the wagon's harness and strapping herself in. "now sit tight~" she cooed before pulling her way out of the warehouse and onto the street.

[Grayscale]

Heinrich - Streets

Heinrich was lying in the wagon his feet tied up and not beeing able to shout for help. So the only thing he could do was trying to memorize the motions of the wagon, so he can maybe reconstruct it in the future. 
At least he hoped he had a future. He knew that they could kill him even if they got what they wanted and there was even a higher chance that they won't get what they want. Heinrich wondered how naiv the rebels really were. Did they really think that they could blackmail the army with a little sergeant even if he was the son of the mayor. 
They would rather let him die and use his death for proaganda than retreating from the city, because that would mean they weren't strong enough to defeat some unorganized rebels.

[Atriark]

Sunny Smiles - White Talon (NPC) - Streets

The trip wasn't a long one, but was made slower by Sunny's insistence. In order to get to where they needed to be, she had to take the cart, loaded with a gryphon of much importance, and covered with a simple tarp, through a street that was busy. Before entering the street, she took time to inform Heinrich, that if he so much as made a sound, she would have the gryphons they bound in the warehouse killed. She really didn't want to do that.

After the necessary, but wholly unwanted, threat was issued, Sunny took up a comfortable pace, one that wouldn't draw attention to her. She only had one gryphon by her side as she traversed the street, the silvery gryphon. She hadn't caught the avian's name, and intended to do so when this was over. She couldn't see where the other two gryphons had gone off too, but she was confident that they were nearby, keeping an eye on her from different vantage points.

"almost there," she muttered to herself, hoping Heinrich would keep quiet.

[Jet-Claw]

Jet-Claw - Streets of Uch-Pozhar

Unbeknownst to the pony and her companions, a single gryphon was following the group paying attention to the placement of the remaining three...after incapacitating the first two. Jet couldn't help but shake his head mentally. While the payment was good, the job was more than out of place...

Ordered with the task of keeping tabs on Heinrich while also saving him if he gets into trouble was nothing he would be doing usually. However, he always presented himself as a merc, somegryph who would work for money. Maybe it was just chance that many missions before were assassinations? He would have to think about this later.

Still stalking the little group of three (four if you count the gryphon in the cart), his muscles were tensed up, always ready to pull either his sword or his modified crossbow if they were to discover him.

[Atriark]

Sunny Smiles - White Talon (NPC) - Streets

Sunny Smiles reached the other side of the street and let out an audible sigh of relief. "Almost there," she sang, nearly skipping with excitement. There was but a half dozen blocks between her and their base. And she was eager to get this over with so she could finally talk to Heinrich.

"We must have made a perfect get away if we haven't heard anything from the others," Sunny noted, glancing to the silvery gryphon.

"That we must've," he nodded, keeping emotion out of his voice.

"C'mon, smile!" Sunny teased. "Not everything is so serious!"

[Jet-Claw]

Jet-Claw - Streets of Uch-Pozhar

While stalking the little group around the pony, Jet made his thought about how to advance as he heard the pony saying something about being almost "there", whereever that was. He just expected "there" to be some sort of base with probably reinforcements. And he wasn't up to slicing himself through several gryphons, especially after the one who ordered his job made it an important point to avoid killing. He was told that it was susceptible to raising an uproar among the population or something.

Drawing his sword, he decided to act now. In an upward and a downward swing, he cut off the wheels of the cart, dashing off into a sideway before the pony turned around. From there he would decide his next move.

[Grayscale]

Heinrich concentrated on the sounds coming from the surroundings trying to get hints where they were going, when suddenly he got slammed against the wall of the cart. Not being able to protect his head it hit the wall pretty hard making him blackout for a short moment and some blood dripping down his face.

[Atriark]

Sunny Smiles - White Talon (NPC) - Stalled on the Streets

Sunny more felt the wheels break than heard them, and soon found herself tangled up, and a leg pinned under the cart. It hurt, but she was more concerned with how Heinrich faired.

"Check on Heinrich," she cried, when she felt the wagon shift from her Gryphon companion trying to lift the cart off her.

[Jet-Claw]

Jet-Claw - Advancing on the group

As Jet heard the pony sending off her guard to check on Heinrich, he decided to make his move. Spinning once, he pulled his crossbow from his back and started firing. He aimed in their general direction while pulling the trigger over and over again, chosen to make a quick end to this. When his magazine was empty, he lowered his weapon only to see that, while most of the bolts missed, the gryphon had three or four bolts sticking in different parts of his body.

Making his way to the rear end of the cart, he found a certain unconscious gryphon beneath them. Tossing the gryphon on his back, he casually, at least as casually as one can with an unconscious body on his back, made his way to the front, to the pony still stuck under the cart. "Well, who do we have here? Honestly, I don't really care who you are, you were in my way when I needed to carry out my objective and you made me injure your...friends. As much as I would like to end you right here, right now, I've been told to hold back on that..."

[Sponsored content]