• Mature • Keep Breathing

66th of Ashan 718

From Tried's Mouth to the mysterious Tower, the waters around Scalvoris and the island itself hold a vast array of secrets, just ripe for discovery. Here are landmarks, jungles, mountains, forests and islands of note.

Moderators: Pegasus Pug!!!, Avalon

User avatar
Alistair
Approved Character
Posts: 3421
Joined: Thu Apr 21, 2016 6:12 pm
Race: Human
Profession: Wanderer
Renown: 1000
Character Sheet
Character Wiki
Plot Notes
Personal Journal
Letters
Point Bank Thread
Wealth Tier: Tier 10

Keep Breathing

Image
66th of Ashan, Arc 718

"AIE BEHNA LOKK," he yelled, his voice booming. It was Haltunga; a command for the undead, one he used to distinguish from words of casual graces to the more particular demands of a Necromancer in earnest. The undead beneath him faltered and waived, groaning, moaning; its jaw moved, nearly falling unhinged. "Creature!" Alistair yelled, eyes focused, enraged. "Do you not hear me? Aie behna lokk; ahf myrgdau fol hau tyrbyr," he whispered into the ear of the husk, as the zombified entity lunged its neck forward to dig into the mage's throat. Alistair quickly reacted with a punch meant to immobilize the entity's skull, but instead he sent the head of the beast rolling to the floor, the body shifting and twitching erratically.

He was attempting to use Protocol, imbuing commands into the raised creatures... by voice, symbol and gesture, as much as by intention. He wanted the Husk to scout out the cave before them, so that he did not have to, and his supposedly precious Revenants did not have to. But, for some peculiar reason... the entity did not answer. It flailed about, before closing its mind forever... the head of the husk rolled and Alistair's ether severed the connection.

"Why did that not work?!" he snarled, furious. "DEOVAN!" the mage yelled, a thunderous roar; the Revenant, scouring the treelines, quickly rushed to his side to the sound of rapidly increasing footsteps, kneeling at the side of the mage, who balanced on his knees as he hovered over the recently-slain corpse... seething. "They took my fucking stopwatch," he cursed to himself. The stopwatch that he was deeply attached to - the one he still hadn't opened. It had been given to him by that man, that mysterious person. The one who had given him those trinkets of his past.

It had always slipped his mind, always... and now it had been taken. Bandits stormed the tavern he'd been resting in, out in the country - and they killed so many. Took it all - the money, the treasures, the young... made to be slaves. Worst of all, he wasn't there when they came. Or he could've stopped them.

"Deovan," he whispered to the undead warrior, drawing the Terrendyte spear from his back. "We'll kill them. That fucking stopwatch is mine," he stated as if the Revenant understood, furious eyes furrowed, as the mage stepped to the fallen corpse of the other bandit whose post had been up front. Alistair placed a spread palm over his skull, before pulling his palm back, an insidious purple-shaded energy seemingly tethering from Alistair's live body to the face of the dead. It was ether, flowing in a small dosage into him, animating him.

"Teohan aie behna lokk," he said, commanding the risen husk to limp steadily through the cave. He did.

Grass and trees surrounded them, and before them sat the quiet entrance to a cave, risen out from the ground as a nub sitting in the center of the wider forest. The tracks of carriages had led him here - and to the doom of the scum within.
Last edited by Alistair on Mon May 21, 2018 9:54 pm, edited 5 times in total. word count: 529
User avatar
Victor Amielle
Approved Character
Posts: 509
Joined: Wed Jul 26, 2017 3:29 pm
Race: Human
Profession: Researcher
Renown: 382
Character Sheet
Character Wiki
Plot Notes
Templates
Letters
Point Bank Thread
Wealth Tier: Tier 8

Contribution

Milestones

RP Medals

Miscellaneous

Keep Breathing

Image
“Shay …“ the Transmuter whispered and knelt down behind a rock in order to avoid detection by those that he was hunting. It was still early in the trial, but the world around him was shrouded in twilight, the sky was overcast, and rain had begun to fall, as if Cylus were determined to make a comeback. “Shay”, he urged her, even though they did not depend on spoken language in order to communicate – the companion that Delroth had gifted him with, on that trial on the beach so long ago, was capable of speaking directly in his mind and transmitting thoughts and feelings, as if she were a work of magic.

Above him he could hear the flutter of wings, and he looked up in time to see a falcon appear. He extended a gloved hand, and she gracefully landed on it, looking at him from out of dark eyes that were filled with entirely too much intelligence for a mere animal. “What did you see? Did you find anything?” he asked her, and she inclined her head barely noticeably. Images filled his mind, of a cave in the center of the forest, of the tracks of carriages leading there and men and women with a rather rough appearance. It was them, there was no doubt. She had found the bandits that had broken into his home and taken the pirate coin!

Three trials earlier he had returned from his latest assignment – he was currently employed as a researcher by the Institute of Metaphysics – only to find his home in a state of utter disarray. Somebody had opened all the drawers and all the chests and even looked under the carpet, and taken one of his most valuable possessions, the magical coin that he had found on the trial the dead had come back to life in the graveyard in Almund. He had asked around, looked for witnesses and even questioned Tobias and Crowther who seemed to be aware of nearly everything that was happening on the island and finally stumbled upon rumors about a group of bandits hiding in the forest.

“Let’s go”, he whispered to his falcon and slowly moved north, in the direction of the bandits’ hideout. He was dressed in dark colors in order to better blend in with his surroundings, and there was a sword in a sheath at his belt. He had come prepared, in more than just one way. He was determined to get his coin back and make them pay for what they had done. Nobody was allowed to steal from a Blessed of Delroth!

He stopped a few metres in front of the cave entrance and hid behind a nearby tree, extending his arm as he did so and focused, as hard as he could. At that point he no longer struggled to direct the ether and give it shape, not as much as he used to anyway, but it took a few moments for his efforts to show some sort of results. An orb of pure energy, an ether missile that could be thrown much like a javelin (or the blade that he had once thrown at the sea monster that had caused the waters around Scalvoris to turn red) appeared above his outstretched hand. He held it there, waiting for a moment.
word count: 554

Appearance

Due to one of his Awakenings, Victor's eyes glow with a soft silver light.

Items

Victor owns a Ring of Reversal. He's always wearing it, unless stated otherwise.

Potions

N/A
[/list]
User avatar
Alistair
Approved Character
Posts: 3421
Joined: Thu Apr 21, 2016 6:12 pm
Race: Human
Profession: Wanderer
Renown: 1000
Character Sheet
Character Wiki
Plot Notes
Personal Journal
Letters
Point Bank Thread
Wealth Tier: Tier 10

Keep Breathing

Image
Alistair had moved to the side of the cave entrance, investigating the edges to see if there were any hidden enemies or informants. The mage investigated the edges of the rock formation thoroughly, observing with curiosity as vivid carvings sprawled out before his eyes, written and inscribed into the rocky formation. Words, in a different written language, that seemed particularly old... and likely without much considerable meaning.

Still, it was interesting - almost intricate enough to draw his attention wholly away. But, he'd come here to ensure there were no bandits hidden behind the stones. There weren't, and so his mission continued: the husk followed further down the entrance of the cave, Alistair focusing on the ethereal connection between the two to ensure that he would know the instant the Necromantic creation had been slain. As he returned stepped back across the treks of light-colored dirt, he rounded the corner and glanced immediately upward, spotting a man dangling ether... suspended throughout the air. Alistair caught him almost instantaneously - he had a keen awareness and was currently hyper aware. The ether missile he had crafted didn't help to obscure him, either.

Considering he had penetrated a den of criminals, and this man stood eerily at the entrance to the cave with a bolt of ether ready to be flung in Alistair's direction, the mage immediately assumed that Victor was not an enemy to these miscreants... but one of them.

The mage bent his back over slightly, preparing his knees for a sprint as he ran rapidly around the edge of the treeline, circling the area surrounding the cave entrance and watching the other mage intently for his movements. Alistair needed to ensure that he was not struck, as magic was volatile and plentiful in outcome; one small bolt of ether could end a life, certainly if it was loaded with any other special or particularly incendiary properties. Alistair determined, in response, that he would not continue on by charging Victor... but instead by formulating a proper strategy.

"Put your bloody hands away or I'll lop them off," he commanded, taking refuge behind an opposing tree as he pointed the back end of his spear at the other mage. "Are you a bandit, or are you not?" the mage asked, simply. Deovan had already retreated into the brush, stealthily prone in-between a mix of tree stumps, bushes and grass. The Necromancer was certainly in his element, prepared to wipe the pretty-faced ether huckster off the globe. Oddly enough, though, he'd sworn to have seen a portrait of this man somewhere... though he only imagined that it was merely an uncanny resemblance, and not the same man he'd seen several times whilst walking the halls of Lysoria.
Last edited by Alistair on Sun May 20, 2018 5:26 pm, edited 2 times in total. word count: 463
User avatar
Victor Amielle
Approved Character
Posts: 509
Joined: Wed Jul 26, 2017 3:29 pm
Race: Human
Profession: Researcher
Renown: 382
Character Sheet
Character Wiki
Plot Notes
Templates
Letters
Point Bank Thread
Wealth Tier: Tier 8

Contribution

Milestones

RP Medals

Miscellaneous

Keep Breathing

Image
The ether missile that the Transmuter had created was pure and unadulterated destructive force that burned and froze those that it struck at the same time and corroded any objects that it came in contact with, and it shimmered in the twilight, almost like a small star. He was just about to move towards the cave entrance and hurl it inside so that he bandits wouldn’t notice what was happening until it was too late when he suddenly noticed movement, somewhere in the corner of his eye, almost at the edge of his awareness. He spun around abruptly, nearly losing grasp of the sphere of energy that he had created in the process and narrowed his eyes, trying to find out where the stranger was – and who they were.

As he saw the man and heard his threat he tensed, but only for a moment before he stood straighter. Alistair sounded as if he were used to giving orders and people submitting to his will - but then again, so was he. Instead of releasing the ether missile as he had been told to, he let it hover in the air in front of him while he studied him and met his gaze without blinking, almost as if he were challenging him to give it a try and see who of the two of them would be faster. “You do know that this is not my only weapon, I hope?” he asked and raised an eyebrow before he abruptly let the ether missile fade out of existence with a somewhat dramatic gesture. He didn’t depend on it. He could will steel feathers to grow along his arms at a moment’s notice, and Shay was still hidden in the trees, somewhere above them, ready to defend him as well as distract his enemies.

“I’m not a bandit”, he retorted curtly, finding the fact that the stranger took him for one of them somewhat peculiar as well as highly offensive. He had grown up as a member of the ruling house of Lysoria. His older brother was currently its lord. He would never lower himself to their standards. “I’m hunting them. They took something that belongs to me, and I intend to get it back. And you? Why are you sneaking around in the forest?” he wanted to know, briefly wondering if he was one of them, but dismissing the notion as relatively unlikely. The man didn’t have the looks of a common criminal that preyed upon the citizens of Scalvoris. No, he had to be there for a different reason, but which one?

“Are you simply going to stand there and watch me or are you going to join me?” he wanted to know and turned his head a fraction, quickly checking whether he could hear any sounds coming from inside the cave before he focused his gaze on Alistair again and waited for him to answer his questions. This, it suddenly occurred to him, was not the best time to have a conversation.
word count: 508

Appearance

Due to one of his Awakenings, Victor's eyes glow with a soft silver light.

Items

Victor owns a Ring of Reversal. He's always wearing it, unless stated otherwise.

Potions

N/A
[/list]
User avatar
Alistair
Approved Character
Posts: 3421
Joined: Thu Apr 21, 2016 6:12 pm
Race: Human
Profession: Wanderer
Renown: 1000
Character Sheet
Character Wiki
Plot Notes
Personal Journal
Letters
Point Bank Thread
Wealth Tier: Tier 10

Keep Breathing

Image
Alistair could only smirk as the mage made his claim; his ether missile was not his only weapon, so even if he holstered it, it didn't matter. But eventually, he did drop it, which allowed the Rupturer some level of confidence in dealing with him. He immediately blinked in front of Victor, his spear drawn to immediately rend him to pieces if necessary. However, he did not do that, and instead gestured for the man to reduce his volume as the mage entered into a crouch. The two of them both began to focus on the sounds within, and eventually, sounds did play.

Alerted, one of the bandits from within the cave yelled, screeching out profanities as the thrall came upon him. He stabbed at it repeatedly with
the sharpness of his steel dagger, but the thrall did not easily relent, and bit at him ferociously, holding onto the living man by his shoulders. Of course, Alistair could not see all of this occur, but he could feel the unlife of his thrall waning. Eventually, with an arrow from another bandit plowing through the undead's forehead, the husk was slain... but not without doing considerable if not life-threatening damage to one of the bandits.

Clearly, there were more, and now they were alert . . . which was fine. Alistair wanted them to be - drawing them out would be considerably easier than dealing with the traps and precautions they'd built into that cave. He knew there would at least be some.

"They took something of mine, too," the mage stated, eyes shifting back and forth between Victor and the cave. The mage gestured for Deovan to hug the side of the cave entrance, against the rocky wall, stealthily slaughtering the first person or even people to come out of the mound. He obliged, waiting patiently for more bandits as the two learned one another's motives. "A very considerable thing, priceless, I believe. So, yes - I want it back, and I'm willing to kill them to get it. No questions asked," the mage explained himself, stabbing his spear into the dirt as he bent lower onto his knees, his vision wholly obscured by the brush between him and the entrance to the cave, until he laid against the soil with his chest pressed into the floor and gently parted the leaves, staring through.

He did not respond to whether or not he would join Victor, but based on his actions, the answer was obvious. It was a yes - he was simply too focused on the task at hand to say much, even though he wanted to ask several questions of him. Most of all he wanted to inquire on his magical affiliation, so as to ensure that he was not a member of the Coven. But he supposed that could wait until everyone else was dead.

So, focused, he stared for a while as he remained prone against the floor... and listened. As a few bits passed, the mage furrowed his brows and sighed. "Alright," he started, "No one's coming out. I can't even hear them approaching - and my hearing's pretty good," he said. "So -- we're going in. To be honest, though," Alistair continued as he stood up, drawing his spear from the dirt, a mere foot and a half away from Victor, "I don't entirely trust you. The timing is too perfect, and I don't put it past my enemies to utilize magic; it's too often used as a weapon of the abusive. So, if you'll do me the honors, I'd like for you to enter the cave first. I can have your back, but I want to see if they attack you. I hope you'll understand where I'm coming from."

Clearly, Alistair was not the most trusting man, and based on his features alone... he was forcing the issue. If Victor didn't want to oblige him, then his trust would diminish entirely. He was not easy to deal with on the first try, especially not when life and death were involved.
Last edited by Alistair on Sun May 20, 2018 5:26 pm, edited 2 times in total. word count: 687
User avatar
Victor Amielle
Approved Character
Posts: 509
Joined: Wed Jul 26, 2017 3:29 pm
Race: Human
Profession: Researcher
Renown: 382
Character Sheet
Character Wiki
Plot Notes
Templates
Letters
Point Bank Thread
Wealth Tier: Tier 8

Contribution

Milestones

RP Medals

Miscellaneous

Keep Breathing

Image
As Alistair blinked in front of him and pointed his spear at him, the Transmuter’s eyes widened just a fraction before he inclined his head sharply in order to acknowledge what the other man had done and let him know that he had understood what he had wanted to tell him. Alistair was a Rupturer of not inconsiderable skill. He would not be intimidated or scared to death though. There was no reason for him to react in such a fashion. If Alistair had wanted to try and kill him, he would have done so long before he, Victor, had ever managed to lay eyes on him. For that reason, he simply crouched down next to him in order to minimize the risk of the bandits spotting him prematurely.

He could hear one of them yell now – profanities that left something to be desired in his opinion and spoke of a relative lack of intelligence. He would, he decided, easily be dealt with. It was just as he was about to draw his sword in order to quickly finish him off – there was no reason for him to use his magic when he clearly had the upper hand – when another man suddenly moved forward and lunged at the bandit – a man whose presence he had been completely unware of so far. He suppressed a curse. He needed to pay more attention to his surroundings from now on. That man could just as easily have turned against him. He cast a questioning glance at Alistair. Was he a friend of his?

He had expected the Rupturer’s companion to draw a weapon, but instead he … bit at at the bandit like some sort of wild animal, and he didn’t seem to particularly mind the fact that the bandit repeatedly stabbed him with his dagger either. Apparently, he realized, Alistair kept the company of savages and cannibals. Either that or … he decided not to finish that train of thought, but ponder that matter later as taking care of the bandits was much more important at the moment. Besides, he wasn’t sure if he really wanted to know the answer. “I see”, he murmured as Alistair told him that the bandits had taken something from him as well. Apparently, they had the same goal – at least for the time being.

“The feeling’s mutual”, he retorted curtly as Alistair informed him that he didn’t trust him, momentarily wondering who the man was that he had such powerful enemies. “I don’t completely trust you either, I’m afraid.” As Alistair told him to enter the cave first, he narrowed his eyes and looked at him for a moment, considering his words, but eventually came to the same conclusion as before. If Alistair had wanted to kill him, he would already have done so. For that reason, he inclined his head in order to let him know that he would comply. He cast one last glance at the Rupturer’s fallen companion before he slowly moved forward, towards the mouth of the cave. He didn’t simply walk in though.

Instead, he sent another signal to Shay. He had need of her. He wanted her to scout ahead and warn them in case she saw any bandits coming their way. He followed her, holding his sword in his hand, ready to strike at a moment’s notice – or throw an ether missile at the bandits.
word count: 575

Appearance

Due to one of his Awakenings, Victor's eyes glow with a soft silver light.

Items

Victor owns a Ring of Reversal. He's always wearing it, unless stated otherwise.

Potions

N/A
[/list]
User avatar
Alistair
Approved Character
Posts: 3421
Joined: Thu Apr 21, 2016 6:12 pm
Race: Human
Profession: Wanderer
Renown: 1000
Character Sheet
Character Wiki
Plot Notes
Personal Journal
Letters
Point Bank Thread
Wealth Tier: Tier 10

Keep Breathing

Image
The mother mage did not particularly trust him, either, but Alistair did not feel any level of surprise when he said so. He was... a difficult man to trust, and not particularly the most charming or benign. It didn't help that he'd also used Necromancy, which still remained even among mages to be a taboo domain, and necessarily so; its practitioners tended to be members of various immoral organizations, and Alistair's cold and crass personality did not easily separate him from this perception.

All of this culminating, he could feel no reason to be offended by Victor's assertion that he was not trustworthy. It was objective fact.

Still, they entered the cave together, with Alistair quietly watching Victor from behind and peering over his shoulder to ensure that they did not become overwhelmed. Every few dozen paces, he would glance to the floor for a few trills to ensure that there were no traps on the ground; stepping stones, tripwires, spikes or any such thing. Even though his minion had gotten further than this before being slain, he knew that it could've been pure and dumb luck. Alistair did not want to die to a boulder plunging down from above him, or poisonous gas filling the chamber.

Luckily, it seemed that the bandits weren't particularly clever, or prepared. Eventually, the Hawk - Shay - would see several of the men gathered around the corpse of their Husk, joined by their companion whose neck had been partially torn out by his maw. They immediately caught notice of the bird, several of the bandits jumping back in fear; many of these men were considerably unspectacular in martial ability, and they hadn't yet undergone considerable threat to their lives.

Immediately, one of them ran forward in a gambit to flee the cave, disconnecting himself with the group. He would dash straight ahead until - if he wasn't already dead by this point - running into Victor, slamming into his chest without consideration as his eyes remained shut. Floundering at the thought of another undead thrall coming upon him and chewing through his face, he flailed and writhed, though through all of this the swordsman had a proper opportunity to put an end to his life.

Alistair stared forward, running to the side of the cave wall and hugging the rocks as he lowered himself into the shadows. The cavern wasn't particularly well lit, with most of the light coming from inside of the cave rather than the entrance. Instead, the occasional brazier lit the walls, but the mage had found himself outside of the realm of that illumination. From here, he could see further in, and after a few trills two bandits came into view. One of them had a crossbow, and the other a spear. The man with the crossbow raised his weapon and fired blindly, before slowly and meticulously loading another bolt into the quiver.

These men... were not prepared. Nothing about any of their actions up to this point was professional. They were simply thieves, preying on tavern-goers due to the relative ease. Nothing more.
Last edited by Alistair on Sun May 20, 2018 5:25 pm, edited 1 time in total. word count: 521
User avatar
Victor Amielle
Approved Character
Posts: 509
Joined: Wed Jul 26, 2017 3:29 pm
Race: Human
Profession: Researcher
Renown: 382
Character Sheet
Character Wiki
Plot Notes
Templates
Letters
Point Bank Thread
Wealth Tier: Tier 8

Contribution

Milestones

RP Medals

Miscellaneous

Keep Breathing

Image
The Transmuter didn’t simply barge into the cave now, trusting Shay to warn him of any dangers. She could show him how big the cave was and how many bandits there were, but she couldn’t detect anything like tripwires or stepping stones – he doubted that she even knew what those things were - and if the bandits weren’t complete imbeciles they would have implemented some security measures. He walked slowly, regularly checking the walls that surrounded him and the ground in front of him for hidden surprises since he had no interest in suddenly lying flat on his face while a bandit ran towards him, ready to strike.

Fortunately he couldn’t see any traps. Of course he was not the most competent at detecting traps – he was a mage and occasionally a researcher and not some sort of rogue that regularly snuck into places where he didn’t belong – but he didn’t find himself impaled by an arrow or crushed by a rock that fell through a hole somewhere in the ceiling above him either. He didn’t know why the bandits had decided to forego such security measures, but he thanked his chosen Immortal for it. He didn’t let his guard down regardless though.

Even though he couldn’t detect any traps, and the first bandit they had encountered hadn’t seemed to be particularly intelligent, there were still a number of his colleagues in the cave, and a man that he knew nearly nothing about was walking behind him. He wouldn’t be careless now. “Go!” he gave a silent command to Shay as she showed him what awaited them. Judging by how the bandits had jumped up, they had noticed her. He didn’t know what would happen if they shot her – if she would die like a normal bird or be unaffected – and truth to be told, he wasn’t particularly interested in finding out either.

… and then something heavy suddenly slammed into him, nearly forcing the air out of his lungs. His eyes widened for a moment before he abruptly thrust his blade forward with all the strength he possessed. The man didn’t seem to have watched where he had been going – something seemed to have scared him, nearly beyond measure – and he wouldn’t give him any time to recover and become a serious threat. He pulled his sword out and struck a second time, and then he pushed the bandit's body away and leaned against the wall of the cave for a moment, breathing heavily.

Once his breathing had returned to normal, he looked at Alistair, giving him a curt nod, thus telling him that he was ready to continue before he looked ahead and raised a hand, showing Alistair two fingers in order to let him know how many bandits he could see. “I’ll take the one on the left”, he whispered and conjured another ether missile, smaller than the first one – casting a spell was much harder under pressure. An orb made of pure, crackling energy appeared above his hand, and he quickly hurled it towards the bandit before he flattened his body against the wall of the cave so that the man wouldn’t be able to shoot him in case he had missed.
word count: 552

Appearance

Due to one of his Awakenings, Victor's eyes glow with a soft silver light.

Items

Victor owns a Ring of Reversal. He's always wearing it, unless stated otherwise.

Potions

N/A
[/list]
User avatar
Alistair
Approved Character
Posts: 3421
Joined: Thu Apr 21, 2016 6:12 pm
Race: Human
Profession: Wanderer
Renown: 1000
Character Sheet
Character Wiki
Plot Notes
Personal Journal
Letters
Point Bank Thread
Wealth Tier: Tier 10

Keep Breathing

Image
Victor had been merciless. The moment the man barged into him, he immediately responded with a lunge of his sword, throwing his weight into the impalement as he carved through the man's chest like parchment. Then, the Transmuter pulled back only to stab him once more, proceeding by throwing him to the side with the tip of his blade. Immediately afterwards, he did not even seem to acknowledge his death, simply regaining his winded breath and preparing for further altercation. Alistair was impressed.

Most of the supposed 'warriors' he'd encountered of late seemed ridiculously concerned with trivial killing. Bandits were not much better than insects, in his view, especially considering he had no intention to view upon their humanity or attempt to rehabilitate them. Victor seemed to feel the same way, considering the violent delegation of his blade into the man's chest, and the killing blows that followed.

Victor - or more accurately, his bird - had detected more ahead, and he offered to take the one on the left. Alistair nodded and crouched forward, viewing the bandits in the distance as he attempted to muffle his footsteps and remain within dark lighting. Their forms became more visible as he moved, eventually leaning into a barrel standing midway through the cave as a method of hiding. Glancing temporarily at the bandit on the right, he devised a plan of action, scrawling tactics together in his head. Alistair finally reduced the weight on his knees, raising his body slightly upward as he elbowed the barrel down the tunnel, the object heavy with some form of liquid, tumbling down rapidly through the rocky hallway.

Eventually, the barrel rolled into the man on the right and knocked him off of his feat. Immediately, Alistair blinked behind him, placing his knee into the barrel to cease its movement as he grabbed the man's skull from the back and slammed it into the wooden frame of the object. It burst open, splinters and wooden fragments lodging into the skin and flesh covering his face, the man screaming as his lips and nose were plunged into a particularly pungent alcohol. Alistair began to wither him with his bare palm, lowering his hand to clutch the man's neck and corroding the skin and flesh of it. It melted, simmering and burning, until naught was left of the area between his head and shoulders but fragile bones. Where once he flailed his arms rapidly, attempting to swat Alistair away, he now stood completely still as his body fell limp.

He was, of course, particularly inhuman about his methods of killing . . . though he supposed death was death regardless.

Behind him, he noted that there were in fact more, and Alistair grabbed the corpse of the recently slain bandit and tossed it to one of the other men. Quickly running forward into a descending lunge, he impaled the two bodies together as the man he tossed impacted the man he'd thrown him at. Alistair's spear ripped wholly through both men and skewered them, the still-living man on the bottom screaming in pain as the mage slowly pulled out the Terrendyte combat spear, finalizing in the second bandit's demise.

The other bandit, among all of the carnage, could only desperately fire at Victor as often as he could. He stood open, brazen and with tears pouring out of his eyes, but he fought to the end. He was braver than the rest.

When Victor inevitably dealt with him, Alistair would continue onward, going further into the cave. He'd noticed one crossbowman perched up from above, but the man was paralyzed with fear, and he seemed to be simply hoping that he would be missed or ignored so that he could escape. Alistair, for now, did in fact ignore him. The cave ended in a large bowl-like shape, with a room sporting many tents and surrounding a series of tables and chairs. There were all sorts of goods laying around - gold nels, objects of personal importance, jewelry, and of course priceless items which were certainly underestimated in value, such as the Stopwatch.

The mage looked around, irritated, uncertain of where it could possibly be stored in the many piles upon piles strewn about. The other man had an item, too - how could either of them be certain that these goods even remained? What if they'd pawned them off?

"Mage," he called the other, as he still did not know his name. "What were you searching for? I lost my Stopwatch. It's inside of a locket, held up by a chain. And you?" Alistair inquired.

The bandit slowly began to crawl down the rocky staircase that overlooked the room, catching his bearings as he sneaked his way into the cave tunnel en route to the exit. Alistair had forgotten about his existence, immensely concerned with finding his locket. But as he scrounged and searched, it was nowhere yet to be found.
Last edited by Alistair on Sun May 20, 2018 5:25 pm, edited 1 time in total. word count: 829
User avatar
Victor Amielle
Approved Character
Posts: 509
Joined: Wed Jul 26, 2017 3:29 pm
Race: Human
Profession: Researcher
Renown: 382
Character Sheet
Character Wiki
Plot Notes
Templates
Letters
Point Bank Thread
Wealth Tier: Tier 8

Contribution

Milestones

RP Medals

Miscellaneous

Keep Breathing

Image
The bandit screamed as the ether missile made contact with his chest, but he didn’t die, and he didn’t fall down. Instead, he continued to fire arrow after arrow, almost desperately, which Victor found admirable to say the least – or maybe he was just a fool who didn’t know when it was time to give up. Not that giving up would have done him any good. He had forfeited his life the moment he had broken into his home and taken his treasure. There would be no mercy for those that sought to cause him harm.

A loud sound distracted him for a moment, and he turned his head towards Alistair, just in time to see the barrel roll towards his bandit and knock him off his feet. A moment later a pungent smell filled the cave, and the Transmuter made a face and resisted the urge to retch. It was no wonder that most of the bandits left something to be desired. That … stuff had probably ruined whatever they had possessed in the way of brains.

There was something strange and mildly disconcerting about the way that Alistair grabbed the man and about what he did to him. He had seen something similar, in another country, on the other side of the world, several arcs prior, a woman clad in black and green who had melted her victim’s face off, leaving something that looked like a creature of nightmares behind. Who you are you? he wondered as he looked at Alistair. What are you? What is the source of your strength? Why are you capable of throwing a corpse seemingly effortlessly?

The bandit fired another arrow, and he decided not to ponder those questions any further. Besides, it didn’t matter who or what Alistair was as long as he didn’t turn against him.

He was about to conjure another ether missle, but then he realized that he needed a better strategy, one that didn’t involve hurling ether missile after ether missile at the bandits until they were all dead as that was bound to lead to overstepping – something that he had managed to avoid thus far. He grabbed a small rock that was lying on the ground in front of him and threw it. The moment that the bandit turned his head in order to find out what was making the noise, he dashed forward and quickly ducked behind another barrel that was filled with just as questionable a brew, judging by the smell that emanated from it.

His heart was beating faster now, and he began to feel warm in spite of the cold – he had let himself go a little during the past cycle and spent more time conducting research within the confines of the university than being outside, in the field, like he had used to – a mistake that he didn't intend to repeat. He sat there for a moment, taking a few deep breaths before he chanced another quick look around the corner. The bandit had stopped firing for a moment and clutched his chest. The ether missile had burned right through his clothes. Apparently, he realized, the attack had not left him entirely unaffected after all!

“Shay”, he whispered his falcon’s name just as the bandit reached for another arrow. The man looked in Victor’s direction – apparently, he hadn’t been quiet enough - and then he put the arrow back into his quiver and drew a short sword that was in a sheath at his belt instead and moved towards the barrel behind which Victor was hiding. Apparently, he had decided to try a different strategy.

“Now!” he thought. He hated putting her in danger, but there was no other way. While the falcon appeared behind the bandit, screeching loudly in order to distract him, Victor jumped up, holding his sword in his hand, ready to strike. The bandit spun around just in time though. Steel met steel, and a few moments later Victor’s sword suddenly sailed through the air. It only landed a few metres in front of him, but it might as well have been hundreds of miles away. The bandit advanced – only to stop for a moment as Shay let out another loud screech. He spun around and aimed his sword at her instead in order to try and deal with her. She was faster than him though, and he didn't quite manage to reach her.

Victor decided to take advantage of the momentary distraction. Within a few trills razor sharp steel feathers began to grow all along his arms. He lunged at the bandit just as he turned around again. He could feel the man's weapon come in contact with the steel feathers – the impact sent tremors through his body, and for a moment it seemed as if his arm would simply fall off. Everything after that was a blur. When the bandit finally fell, he watched him closely for a moment, worried that he would stand up again and continue to fight, and then he slumped down next to him, exhausted, but only for a moment before he let the steel feathers disappear, grabbed his sword and rose to his feet again.

His arms hurt and would likely be sore all over the following trial. The steel feathers were heavier than he had thought, but he couldn't allow himself to rest again, not now, not when there might still be other bandits nearby, besides he was unwilling to show any kind of weakness in front of a man that he knew next to nothing about and that seemed to possess almost inhuman strength and endurance. From somewhere in front of him he could hear Alistair’s voice. “A large golden coin”, he called out to him and proceeded to describe the pirate’s coin before he moved towards the center of the cave in order to examine the things that were lying on the tables. He had decided not to tell the Rupturer what was so special about his coin. If Alistair realized that it allowed him to communicate telepathically with other people, he might decide to keep it.

He was just about to grab a bag that was lying directly in front of him, when Shay sent him another image. “One of them is trying to escape!” he exclaimed.
word count: 1065

Appearance

Due to one of his Awakenings, Victor's eyes glow with a soft silver light.

Items

Victor owns a Ring of Reversal. He's always wearing it, unless stated otherwise.

Potions

N/A
[/list]
Post Reply Request an XP Review Claim Wealth Thread

Return to “Surrounding Waters & Landmarks”