|
Post by Argoth/Maximus on Oct 7, 2018 20:40:02 GMT -6
In the remote corner of the inn sat a determined and rather disheveled looking wizard. He was standing over a circular wooden table, ingredients, lit candles, and alchemy books strewn about. The slow grind of his mortar and pestle could be heard crunching dried roots and strange insects. A passerby (for his table was directly next to the bathrooms) could have sworn he saw the man toss in a human eye on his way to take a piss. Sweat was beading on his brow as he leaned over his alchemy book and read:
"..after the eyeball has mixed with the elderflower root and Goron mites to make a fine paste, add three teaspoons of.." but the wizard never finished because at that moment the mens bathroom door slammed open, striking him in the back and shoving his face into the blended ingredients.
"MOTHER-" he yelled launching up from the table. Then, upon witnessing that the culprit was a young boy no older than ten, disappointedly sighed, "fucker."
Nym rifled through the satchel hung at his hip and withdrew a cloth towel from it. He started on cleaning his face, but stopped momentarily when a pair of knights entered through the inn doors. He recognized them immediately. The one on the right was Grok-Nah the moblin, and Insolar the Goron. Their armor was a brilliant maroon trimmed in gold. On the right breastplate was an insignia of a black dragon breathing fire. The two of them were enormous with menacing expressions to match. Grok-Nah the moblin was missing an eye and in its place was a poorly carved wooden replica. His wound was oozing from behind the wooden eye and the tissue around it was burnt and and swollen. The Goron knight had a similar burn but across his scalp, where it scorched half his cranium.
Nym's heart kicked into gear with hefty dose of adrenaline. He hurriedly began packing his books into his satchel along with his ingredients; he left the candles. By the time he had finished the two knights had already conversed with the bar keep, who was pointing the two of them in his direction.
Nym swore under his breath and removed his focus from beneath his cloak. It was Grok-Nah's elegantly carved glass eye. On the back of it was etched a rune that endowed it with magical receptivity. Nym had done this shortly after his last escape from these two.
The wizard took a couple deep breaths and began walking in the direction of the doors when two knights noticed him.
|
|
Regic
Deku Scrub
Posts: 46
|
Post by Regic on Oct 10, 2018 21:57:32 GMT -6
Regic swallowed the last of the beer in his mug. He was sitting at a bar stool three down from where the barkeep and the two knights stood. The bartender raised his finger to point and Regic followed the direction of his finger. As the wizard hurried for the door the two knights started toward him. "Hey, you uglies," Regic slurred at the knights. They ignored him and started after the wizard. They took about two steps before a ball of fire landed at their feet, burning just enough to stop the knights in their tracks and force them to flinch away from the heat. "I was talking to you," He slurred again. They turned to face him. The moblin's face looked as if steam might come billowing out of his ears for all of the fury that was behind his gaze. "How'd you get..." Regic trailed off as he tried to take another sip of his empty beer. "Dammit barkeep! I told you to keep this full! Anyways, what was I saying? Oh yeah. How'd you lose the eye?"
"I'll handle him, you get that wizard." The Goran's voice was deep and sounded like rocks rubbing against each other in his throat.
"Whoa, I wasn't looking for any..." Regic started to say when the Goran abruptly hauled Regic off the barstool and to the floor, his face falling into the fire. Regic started screaming and screaming and... laughing. He was laughing his drunk ass off. "Oooh, fire, so scary," He said through the hysteria. He got up off the ground and the Goron met him with a punch to the face, knocking Regic back so hard he left the ground and hit a table. Regic lay sprawled on the overturned table still laughing somewhat. As he raised his head, the skin where he had been hit was split like a broken mask and black scales gleamed underneath.
Regic got up, dusted himself off, and looked at the Goron. "That emblem is pretty neat," Regic said cracking his neck. "It reminds me of someone that I know." The goron approached again, this time drawing the short sword from the scabbard at his waist. He swung it, and Regic dodged to one side, avoiding the blade without any apparent difficulty. In the same movement, his hand burst into orange flame and Regic punched the Goron in the cheekbone and there was a sharp crack of impact. The Goron started flailing wildly as his head caught fire, evidently for the second time that day.
Regic shook his fist and the fire dissipated from it. His knuckles were split, showing the same black scaly hide that appeared on his face. As he looked up and around, everyone in the bar was leaned away from him, watching with awe. "So I'm guessing that means I can't get another drink?" He asked the bartender. The bartender didn't say anything, the shock on his face seemed to be the only setting it currently had. "I'm probably drunk enough already," He said, then stalked out of the bar trailing the fleeing wizard and the Moblin knight.
|
|
|
Post by Argoth/Maximus on Oct 11, 2018 14:28:06 GMT -6
Nym couldn't believe his luck, a fellow mage at the bar!?! How serendipitous! Dumbfounded at this stranger's interference, yet eternally grateful for the help, he faced Grok-Nah with newfound defiance. The enormous moblin had returned his attention to Nym, and with a growl of "Where's my eye, wizard," he began to bear down on his prey. The tower of muscle and armor withdrew a morning star from a holster on his belt. He whirled it menacingly over his head. Nym took a step back, his path to the door now completely blocked. He glanced over at the stranger and saw him go down with a strong right hook to the face. There goes my help, he thought.
There was a tangible silence in the bar now. Everyone around them froze like statues, hoping that if only they didn't move the problem would go away. A grin spread across Nym's face as a plan of escape began forming in his mind.
"Right here," he replied, raising his right hand to reveal the golf ball sized glass eye in between his thumb and forefinger. A look of fury passed over the moblin, screwing up his face. A bellow of rage like nothing Nym had ever heard before came roaring out of the moblin and with one powerful swoop the morning star came crashing down upon the wizard. Nym easily dodged to one side for the weapon was slow, but the resounding crash of the spiked iron ball tore a rift in the floor several meters long. The barkeep squealed, pleading, "No! Please! Take this outside you're wrecking my bar!" Grok-Nah paid him no attention and prepared for another strike.
Nym countered by whispering, "Oronye," and the glass eye began to levitate. He cast out his arm, pointer finger directed at Grok-Nah's face. The glass eye zoomed toward the moblin and slammed into the wooden eye replacement, releasing a spurt of puss and knocking the it onto the floor. Grok-Nah's treasured eye was now back in its resting place. His reaction was one of bewilderment and he halted the swing he was preparing.
Nym grinned victoriously, shouting, "Nura-saca!" and snapped the fingers on his outstretched hand. The glass eyeball burst into flames and started furiously burrowing into Grok-Nah's already scorched eye-hole. He howled in agony, dropping the morning star in his left hand. With both hands the moblin clawed at his face in an attempt to remove the flaming glass eye.
There were looks of horror on the faces of the cowering crowd, and Nym chuckled a little. Again he glanced over at where the stranger was dealing with Insolar the Goron, and with an outburst of laughter Nym saw his head on fire for the second time today. Amazing! The man had done it! And with that the wizard promptly dashed for the exit, Grok-Nah still burning his fingers trying to remove the flaming eye boring into his skull. When he had exited, however, cheerful that he had gotten away for the second time, a party of six were blocking his escape. The stranger from the bar ran out shortly after him, and nearly bumped into Nym as he swayed drunkenly.
"Shit," Nym exclaimed, defeated. Each of the people standing around were garbed in flowing scarlet robes with hoods that obscured their faces. On the right hand corner of each robe was the insignia of the black dragon breathing fire. One of the members stepped forward from the center and drew back their hood. An old woman with blazing orange eyes glared at the wizard in front of her.
"Nym Parafin," she purred. Her voice was silky smooth with undertones of violence and rage. "You must feel terribly clever in how long you've managed to elude us. But now the time has come for your reckoning, wizard." She turned her attention to the stranger and said, "Begone, drunkard, this matter does not concern you. I will forgive your transgression against Insolar this once, but impede us again, and the wrath of the Abraxus shall burn you into oblivion. Do I make myself clear?" The entire group took one threatening step forward, their hands shifting to deep pockets within their robes.
Nym was shaking slightly, he hadn't thought the actual matriarch would bother to come capture him. They must be really pissed. How he was going to get away now he had no clue, but hopefully this stranger stuck around, at least then he wouldn't have to die alone.
|
|
Regic
Deku Scrub
Posts: 46
|
Post by Regic on Oct 24, 2018 13:35:04 GMT -6
"Then you clearly don't know who I am," Regic replied, drunken scorn in his voice, as he walked up to stand behind Nym.
"It does not matter who you are, buffoon," She snapped. "One more word and I will boil your blood from the inside."
"I'd like to see you try, Azura," Regic replied. As he spoke the slur in his words noticeably lessened bit by bit.
Azura stiffened and her eyes locked upon Regic. In response, he pulled up his shirt, revealing the same dragon insignia that was on the group's scarlet robes tattooed just under his bottom most rib on the right side. "Ah, it is you..." She drawled, her voice trailing off. "You realize that it is my duty to bring in traitors to our cause, no matter their heritage."
"Again," Regic said, contempt in his voice, "I'd like to see you try."
Without warning, all six of the robed agents lifted their arms and created a complex sign between their fingers and fire so hot it glowed blue erupted forth towards Regic and Nym. Regic leapt forward with his hands extended as if he were to catch the fire. All six separate strikes of fire merged together to become a single ball of flame three feet wide, shifting from blue to a pure white. As it hit his hands he twirled to the left, the fire condensing into a single ball. He came back around and hurled the ball of flame at Azura, the flame widening as it left his hands into a literal wall of flame six feet high and ten across, the fire flickering from white to blue to crimson red as it expanded.
All six sorcerers crossed their arms in defensive gestures at the same time, as if tied to one another by invisible string and the fire flowed around them without singeing a single fiber on their robes. "So it seems fire magic will not be of any use here," Azura purred. Two short swords slid down from the arms of her robes and landed in her hands. The other five robed members pulled various weapons of their own from the confines of their robes, although not quite as smoothly as Azura had.
Regic reached for his hip to draw his sword as well, but his hand grasped empty air as he did. "Oh, shit," he said to Nym. "I got so drunk earlier I forgot my sword against the bar." Azura let out a deep laugh filled with scorn and all six sorcerers advanced.
|
|
|
Post by Argoth/Maximus on Oct 31, 2018 14:25:31 GMT -6
Great bangs and yells could still be heard from inside the inn as Nym and the stranger conversed with the matriarch Azura. To Nym's surprise, the stranger and the matriarch knew each other, she even called him a traitor, which meant he used to be a part of these dragon priests, the Cult of Abraxus. Again, Nym couldn't believe his luck. Must be a small world when a wizard steals from an ancient dragon cult and a heretic of said cult is sitting at the bar he happened to hole up in; a friendly heretic no less! Several different things happened at once then. In front of them, the dragon priests and the stranger began throwing fire around like a toddler with a new toy, and Nym threw his arm up and stepped back a few paces from the intense heat. This, unfortunately, put his back directly against the inn doors, which burst open unleashing a flood of patrons that bowled him over. Every patron scattered, some of them screaming, "Guards! Guards! Attack at the inn!"
All the air was expelled from his lungs after he hit the ground, and before he could even begin to regain the lost oxygen, he was hoisted up off the ground by his ankle. It was Insolar. The Goron brought him to face height, and with a roar of rage he whipped the wizard back into the inn. His breath was a horrid combination of earth and rot, for his teeth had decayed into yellow and black pillars. Nym's shoulder smashed against the door frame as Insolar tossed him into the bar and he hissed through his teeth at the sharp pain of it. He landed on top of the bar, his back colliding with the rough wooden slab. His momentum carried him over the bar and again he landed on his aching shoulder.
For a moment he lay there, his shoulder and back pulsing. "Uuugh," he moaned. When he managed to stand, placing one hand on the bar top to assist his ascent, he noticed a pressing heat from his right. "Ah shit, the inn's on fire." Large flames were rolling up toward the ceiling from the right half of the bar, aided by the bottles of alcohol now exploding and tossing miniature fireballs everywhere. Within the flames he caught the faintest glimmer of something small and spherical, a faint blue glow emanating from its surface.
Recognition struck him like a lightning bolt. The eye! He dropped back down behind the bar just in time to hear (and feel) the enormous steel morning star crash through the shelving mere inches above his head. Wood chips and shattered glass bottles rained down on him. Some were full and dowsed his back and hair with liquor and beer; the fire had yet to reach them and now he was a human molotov. A mighty war cry echoed from Grok-Nah on the other side of the bar. Nym could hear his heavy footfalls pacing back and forth.
"Come out, Wizard, and face me like a man. This is your only chance before I turn this bar into sawdust and drag you out!"
Nym sat behind the slowly burning bar, thinking furiously. Never before had he been so utterly cornered. He was soaked in fuel and two hulking warriors were on the other side of him, ready to tear him limb from limb.
|
|
Regic
Deku Scrub
Posts: 46
|
Post by Regic on Nov 28, 2018 14:20:23 GMT -6
It took Regic a moment to realize that Nym wasn't beside him anymore. He spared a quick glance back just as he saw the doors of the tavern slam open and the hoard of people rushed out of the burning bar. He looked back at the oncoming adversaries just in time to duck under the swing of a kunai on a chain, swung by the nearest of the robed members. He then quickly pirouetted to avoid a thrown knife. The knife went sailing past and struck one of the fleeing patrons in the leg, sending him to the ground with a howl of pain.
Regic took a few steps back quickly and was able to grab the knife from the man's leg, as another patron stopped to pick him up. As soon as plain metal knife touched his hand it began to glow dimly orange and increase in intensity. "Keep pressure on that," Regic said, "and get the hell out of here."
With only the knife to defend him, Regic stepped back up to face the oncoming attackers. The kunai and chain leapt out at him again and Regic dodged it deftly then hacked downward with the knife. The chain snapped as the super-heated knife passed through it and the kunai skittered to the ground behind him. Quick as a whip, Regic shot out with his other hand and caught the end of the broke chain and pulled as hard as he could. The robed assailant was taken off balance and took a few stumble steps forward, away from the rest of his group. Regic capitalized on this by lunging forward, reversing the grip on the knife and stabbing the opponent in the stomach. He kept moving, pulling the knife out jaggedly, slashing across the mans stomach.
Then he was in close quarters combat with the other five assailants. He moved on pure instinct and reflex, using the knife to deflect the slash of a scimitar, jumped up to dodge a low sweep of a club, and spinning away from the slash of Azura's blade. His attack had left him surrounded, and he knew his only way out was to challenge one and hope to escape with minimal damage. He used the shortened length of chain, which had also heated to the same color as the knife, in his other hand to lash at the face of the man with the scimitar. It knocked his hood back and drew a scream of agony from the man, a long line going across his face in the diagonal already seared shut.
"Hey, what in bloody hell is going on over here," came the yell of a guard. He had three other men with him, all had their hands on their swords and were dressed in full knights armor.
This gave Regic the split second distraction he needed. He sprang forward tackling the man to the ground. He rolled off of him as quickly as possible but the club came down hard and hit him in the back knocking the breath from his lungs. In a last ditch effort he threw the knife. The throw was absolutely atrocious, and had no hope of stabbing anybody. However, the knife was still super heated. It smacked the club wielding lackey in the face, and getting caught in his robe, burning him across the cheek and down his collar bone. This was not a debilitating wound but it gave Regic the second he needed to get his breath and his feet back. The man he tackled made an effort to get up but Regic kicked him in the head. He felt a slash across his back but didn't turn to look. Instead, he sprinted for the burning tavern, got inside, and closed the doors behind him.
He turned to the room and noticed both Grok-Nah and Insolar heading toward the bar. It didn't look as though they had noticed him though. The cult of Abraxus was right behind him though, the time it took him to disable them might be the time it took for one of them to reach him and kill him. So instead, Regic reached his arms out in front of him and did a grand pulling gesture. The fire leapt from the walls and ceiling and moved toward Regic, but with a gesture similar to splashing someone in a pool the fire flowed past him and the entrance way exploded into flame, crackling and popping with delight.
Okay, Regic thought, I took down two of their sorcerers. There are four guards and four of them. Maybe they will keep them distracted. Regic snorted aloud. Yeah, right. Well, it took all of them to block the fire magic they created earlier, maybe they won't be able to get past this if I focus on keeping it condensed. But that means I will be able to do very little to protect myself from...
Insolar and Grok-nah had seen the fire move and both were turned to face him now. Insolar roared in anger and started toward Regic. "Oh, son of a bitch," Regic said out loud. "Nym, when this is over, you owe me a beer. No, fuck that, a keg."
|
|