In the streets of Shriekpot...
Mark, hoping he can take this fool down before too long, tries to leap like a heavily-armed, murderous frog and finish this whole affair.
[Opposed quickness: Mark vs. Ziggy: 6+1 vs. 4]
[Mark vs. Ziggy: 5+1 vs. 2]
And lo, the leap works admirably as Mark soars through the air, stabbing his halberd through the man's chest, skewering him together with his buddy. This obviously shortens the man's life expectancy several million times, if Mark's calculated it right.
[Mark's strength roll: 4]
What's more, he can actually carry both of these dudes on the same halberd. Man, this is a highly convenient form of corpse transportation when you think about it. It's a bit difficult to swing the thing now, but hey, can't have everything.
In a dead-end alley...
Kevin, hoping to end his adversary with style and efficiency, tries to choke the man.
[Choking: Kevin vs. Shamus: 3 vs. 4]
The short man just kicks him away, immediately trying to break out of the grip the jester's got on him and escape.
[Grapple: Shamus vs. Kevin: 3 vs. 6]
This only results in Kevin seizing the opportunity to catch the man from behind, trying a slightly different approach.
[Choking: Kevin vs. Shamus: 5 vs. 4]
He successfully constricts the windpipe of the man! Now to hold on tight and wait!
[Escape attempt: Shamus vs. Kevin: 4 vs. 4]
The first half a minute passes uneventfully, with the short fellow kicking at Kevin ineffectually. Not very interesting, admittedly. Kevin thought strangulation would be more dramatic, really.
[Escape attempt: Shamus vs. Kevin: 3 vs. 3]
As the fellow keeps kicking, Kevin wonders if he should whistle a merry tune to pass the time. He decides against it - too distracting.
[Escape attempt: Shamus vs. Kevin: 3 vs. 6]
[Kevin's strength roll: 4]
When the kicking becomes quite annoying, Kevin tightens his grip, eliciting quite a nasty sound from the man - he seems to be running out of steam, fortunately.
[Escape attempt: Shamus vs. Kevin: 3-1 vs. 4]
Well into the third minute, the dude's still kicking as hard as ever, though Kevin can sense him weaken internally. It's kind of weird how long this takes. Kevin honestly thought the fellow would have passed out already. Maybe he's not doing this the optimal way.
[Escape attempt: Shamus vs. Kevin: 1-1 vs. 2]
Finally, after what honestly felt like forever, the guy stops resisting at all. Kevin just keeps holding on to the man's throat for a while longer until he's absolutely positive the man's face has reached a state of blueness highly uncommon among the living.
Damn, choking people is hard work. Maybe he should see someone about proper techniques or something. He doesn't think it normally should take this long, so he probably screwed up on some step. Still, got the job done without any help from Niklas. This might actually be one of his first solo kills. A cause for celebration, mayhap?
On the deck of the Second Shank...
Sigmund, having been persuaded of the monumental wisdom of not messing around with powers he does not yet wield competently, tries to write on the paper again. The ink just evaporates from it.
"Yeah, not gonna work. Written foci do that. Universe settin' itself right, I guess."
Sigmund, not entirely persuaded, tries to make another piece of paper a focus.
[Sigmund's focus creation roll: 5]
He promptly makes a blank piece of paper into a written focus. Despite the fact there's nothing written on it. There's a plan in the works here, obviously.
Morton, meanwhile, works on preparing a spot of brand new tea, which is quite simple to do - he gets rid of whatever tea was available, which, fortunately, doesn't include Scott's brew, which the fellow has chosen to sagely carry with himself at all times. While the wannabe-teamaker shambles over to the other ship to successfully raid a honey barrel, Morton makes another small pot of tea, which he pours into glasses. After that's done, he presents two flasks of it to Erin and the Artiste, both nod gratefully and accept them with bright smiles.
"This is becoming a serious habit for me."
"At least it is a highly delicious habit, yes?"