Age of Ruin IC: When all your friends are dead

[Ozzy_G]

By speaking soothing words to the mule, Orin manages to calm it down to a walk. By now he's about 30 feet from the tower, with Lucci just behind him.

[Moechi_Vill]

Lucidae

"Hahaha! I haven't had such a good time since I was teleported to this world Akim!" Lucci says, catching up to her colleague.
"Don'tlet the others two know though." she gasps as she comes to a halt several steps behind the pair, starting to catch her breath.

Spoiler

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Next round she'll walk up to Akim, looking anxiously around her back for the others.

[Ozzy_G]

White light blazes around Krashnix, healing his wounds, as he retreats towards the door. The golem swings its heavy metal fist at him, but overbalances on its stumpy legs, and windmills its arms desperately to stay up. It takes it a moment to regain its balance, by which time Krashnix is just outside the door.

[Ozzy_G]

Livina backflips onto her hands, kicking the construct in the chest, but her boot simply clangs off its metal skin. She pushes off the giant, somersaulting towards the door, twisting to land on her feet, cat-like, and runs out of the tower.
The creature charges after, reaches the doors, and slams them shut behind the group with a might boom.

[Regwon]

Krashnix

Krashnix straps casually unstraps his shield and hangs it on his back. Once that is done he strides up to Lucci, his face like thunder, and grabs her by the throat. With fury in his eyes he pulls her close to his face and, with his voice barely above a wisper, says

If you attempt to flee and leave us for dead again your flamming corpse will light up the night for miles around.

He releases her and turns back to Livina. As he walks towards her he hangs his mace off his belt. Then he says

Are you injured? Do you need healing?

[Regwon]

Double Post

[The Great Skenardo]

Livina Lightfoot
Livina looks at Krashnix, a little worried.
"Hey, ease up Krashnix. What good would she be in a fight? But, um...I think I need a few minutes." She closes her eyes and breathes slowly for a bit, sinking down to crouch on the slick wet grass.
"I liked her..." she says, pulling her hood up to cover her face.
"I really did. She was waspish sometimes, but I really liked her."
She looks at the mace in her hand and then drops it on the ground.

[Lycar]

Orin scrambles back to his feet and eventually manages to calm the panicked beast down to just on-the-edge and reclaim the reins.

"Yees.. you are a good mule, a brave mule and a very, very valuable mule too..."

The thunderous boom of the metal doors, marking the end of the battle catches his attention though.

"Ha! I told you the guardian won't follow us!" he exclaims triumphantly.

Then he notices that the headcount comes short.

"Where is Kizima ?"

Lycar

[The Great Skenardo]

Livina Lightfoot
Livina doesn't answer, but remains hunkered down and strokes the wet grass with her fingers.
"Maybe I should retire. Just take what's mine and get a nice farm or something, or a shop..."

[Lycar]

Orin stares at the closed doors of the tomb that would now also seem to become the little halflings resting place.

"Did she .... ?"

He takes a deep breath ans sighs.

"I can't really say i liked her much but that she didn't deserve...."

He ponders for a few more moments, then he straightens up and declares:
"We have to get her out of there. Did you see what that golem does to it's victims ? She doesn't deserve to end up spiked to a wall like a specimen in some sick minds version of a trophy collection !"

"And what about Rego ? Rego Vel ? You know, the man who hired us to keep him safe. Are we going to just abandom them both ? Just like that ? Just because we happen to have the money we wanted to earn to rise our respective compatriots ?"

"... guess not then. Some heroes we are...."

He turns around, approaches the mule and picks up the reigns, starting to lead it away.

"Come. If we hurry a bit, we can be back at the city just after nightfall. I doubt the cultists are willing to stand in our way again."

Lycar

[The Great Skenardo]

Livina Lightfoot
Livina looks up.
"Y'know... you're right, Orin. I owe her. I remember that filthy hell-hole cellar with that torturing bastard, and I remember when the door flew open, and there she was; like a mini-angel. If it hadn't been for her..." she trails off, and clutches her head.
"I'm scared ****less. But I owe her at least something better than that. Maybe...Maybe after a little rest? and a little better planning?"

[Moechi_Vill]

"*gasp* I am sorry I panicked! My attempt to save Akim and then Kizima and the two of you later was of a misguided civilian nature. However Livina is right, you should not threaten me with death. I came back the first.
What religion is it you follow again if I may ask the Knight? I am not too familiar with it..." she asks with apprehensive scrutiny.

[Lycar]

Orin pauses, thinking.

Then he smiles at Livina "Just a night of rest to regain our strength. And Kizima already unlocked the door and disarmed the trap. I don't know if the golem was created with instructions to reset any traps and lock doors again but i doubt it."

He walks a few steps over to Lucidae and puts a hand on her shoulder, reassuringly.

"And with the kind of arcane might Lady Baker is capable of providing, we cannot fail."

Orin turns to look Sir Krashnix into the eyes "DO not judge her wrongly, Sir Krashnix, the reason she teleported the two of us outside was because she realized that we would be useless in a direct confrontation with the golem, but might provide some decent support otherwise. Do you not remember how she turned you invisible, twice, so that the golem could not see your blows coming ?"

"So let us set up camp then, maybe on the other side of this accursed tomb. Let us rest and prepare to avenge Kizima. I doubt she would have done the same thing for me but...well... it is the right thing to do, isn't it ?"

Lycar

[Regwon]

Krashnix

Krashnix seems to ignore Lucci and speaks to Orin

Returning to destroy that construct, save Rego Vel and aquiring the body of the small woman is indeed the right thing to do Sir Akim. Once we are rested we shall be a much better match for it. We may even be able to raise the little woman once we are in possession of her remains.

He then turns round to look at Lucci, a condesending expression on his face

I worship the Elder Goddess of Rage and Flame. Through fire there is purity. Through madness there is enlightenment. All else are pointless and insignificant, mere amusements to pass the time. Is that what you wish to know?

He once again turns away from her to Livina and Orin

Do either of you require healing before we retire? Tell me now so our power is not wasted later.

[Lycar]

Orin shakes his head.

"Thank you, Sir Krashnix, fortunately i am unscathed. At least physically."

He peers at the cleric for a moment, head tilted slightly.

"Would you consider it madness to wish to restore the empire of humans ? To crush the archmages and their demon armies ? To bring peace and freedom to our people ? Because that is what is dream of, what i live for, what i have been striving for since i first got a taste of life, of true life. And not the hellish mockery that is the existance a soul suffers through at an archmages court..."

Lycar

[The Great Skenardo]

Livina
Seeing Orin start to gear up for an oration, Livina interjects hurriedly.
"I think...I've got got some bad bruising. If you could heal me a little...please?"

[Regwon]

Krashnix

As Krashnix moves to heal Livina he speaks to Orin

You wish to go against the largest power in this region? You wish to fight against unfathomable power and insurmountable odds? Is such a thing madness? Of course it is! It is stark raving lunacy!

He pauses and looks directly at Orin and smiles

But that is a good thing Sir Akim.

Spoiler

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Casts Cure Serious Wounds on Livina
CureSeriousWounds - (3d8+8)[20]

[The Great Skenardo]

Livina Lightfoot
Livina rolls her shoulders and smiles as the healing energy courses through her.
"Aaaah....Thanks, Krashnix. But, wait" A look of concern crosses her face.
"Are you all seriously talking about trying to take on the archmagi and all that? Um, no thanks. I've spent enough of my life being bludgeoned and tortured without adding in whatever hellish magic they can conjure up. Do you know," she says, looking down at the turf, "That a couple of the magi still have a few of their rivals? They went and made them immortal just so they could seal them up in caskets full of acid, just so they'd drown and dissolve forever. Fifty years, and they're still there."

[Lycar]

Orin spits to the ground disgusted.

"Yes, that is exactly the kind of ... fiends .. we are dealing with. And unless someone, anyone stops them, crushes them, utterly annihilates them they will continue to rape the land and the people !"

He looks straight a Livina "Maybe i'm doing this for all the wrong reasons... but what is the alternative ? Govan wants me to fuel a summoning ritual, the other archmagi might want to keep me alive if they knew about this, if only to thwart Govan... until he decides to do it without me. In which case he will simply summon fewer demons and my life becomes worthless to his enemies again."

"Or i could keep running and hiding, always trying to stay ahead of the next bunch of bounty hunters."

His voice turns bitter "Did you ever concern yourself with the fates of those you delivered to your masters ? No ? It's so much more convenient to think, hey, they deserved what ever they are in for. Or maybe, hey, it can't be that bad. I assure you, it can be that bad and much worse."

"You think what you went through in that cellar was bad ? Then you had a very sheltered life so far. I've seen people do something like that to amuse themselves and their guests. Sure, i'm a noble. I never had want for food or gold or.... even female companionship. But a life.... "

He turns to look at the horizon.

"Believe me or not... all i want is a life free of fear. If i have to crush the archmages and rebuild the empire to get that, well, then i'll have to do it. And there are others who share that dream. Sumner Kesh. Khorik Nulliop. Maybe even Hern... and you ? Do you think you can just keep living that life forever ? You aren't getting younger. You live on your quick wits and agility... until your age catches up with you.... or do you just want to die young, at your prime ?"

He looks back at Livina over his shoulder "Yes, i talk a lot. I'm good at it, sue me. I'm better at it then at fighting, that is for sure. But maybe.... just maybe i can raise some hope, some spirit of preserverance in the soul of others, of the people, my people, to rise and shake off the yoke of the archmagi."

*sigh*

"Maybe i just read too many fairy tales of heroic knights and just kings and benevolent gods.... but i'd rather live that dream then the nightmare i escaped."

Lycar

[The Great Skenardo]

Livina Lightfoot
Livina glares at Orin.
"It was one job. You think I'm some kind of bounty hunter or whatever, but if you keep trying to hang that one thing that I already apologized for over my head, then...I don't even know what I'm going to do! You don't know me, you patronizing piece of spoiled pretty-boy cuuk.

Spoiler

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Mokai for excrement

"
She shakes her head and tears a handful of turf from the ground as she rises.
"And you can't scare me with that aging crap. If this is your way of asking for help with your grand and noble cause, then you suck at it. Words you've got a way with, but you've got a hell of a lot to learn about people, Orin."

[Lycar]

Orin listens to Livina, waits for her to finish and replies "You accepted the promise of money to bring back a living being against his will to someone who would do... whatever to him. Fact. And this fact makes you a bounty hunter. Fact."

"What, are you ashamed of it all of a sudden ? Look, i'm no longer holding it against you. You did apologize and that is that. No hard feelings on my side. Seriously, when i saw you in that cellar, hung like a piece of meat, bleeding... my first thought was 'serves the damn bitch right' . But.... well... maybe i thought it would be satisfying to see you suffer. But then i realized that was just what keeps the eternal circle of hatered and suffering going. I wanted to see you punished for something others were doing to me. I wanted you to bleed for my own impotence to fight back against those who would harm me. Heck i even had.... quite violent thoughts regarding Kizima..... but now ? It would be cheap and hollow. But it took me long to realize that."

Orin shrugs "If i wanted your help, i'd ask you. All i did was tell you what i want to do and ask you what you want to do. You are your own master, you make your own decisions. If you choose to part ways once we have avenged Kizima and raised our comrades, be it. If you choose to do something else, be it."

"And i had and have no intention to scare you with anything. I was just wondering.... you are right, i DO have a lot to learn about people. The people i DID learn about are .. other nobles. And some wouldn't even consider them people. So yes, i have a lot to learn. So i'm asking questions. If you don't want me to....."

He shrugs again. "Either way, if you think i'm patronizing while all i do is trying to learn to live in the real world, then there is probably not much we have to teach one another."

Lycar

[Moechi_Vill]

Lucidae

Krashnix
He then turns round to look at Lucci, a condesending expression on his face

I worship the Elder Goddess of Rage and Flame. Through fire there is purity. Through madness there is enlightenment. All else are pointless and insignificant, mere amusements to pass the time. Is that what you wish to know?

Lucci nods. "Yes it was, it will help me modify my actions in your presence in order to avoid possibly fatal negative reinforcement. As in - be perfect" and finishes this with a blank expression. She grows gradually more and more intrigued by the new conversation, but calms down soon enough however.

Lucci looks away, spotting for enemies.

[Ozzy_G]

There doesn't seem to be anything moving out there. Just drifting fog over the grassland.

[Lycar]

"[COLOR="DarkOrange"]Let... let us just set up camp, shall we.../COLOR]"

Orin just trailed off, seeming very tired all of a sudden, the energy with which he had been orating just moments ago apparently gone.

He quietly checks the mule if he is bearing anything like a tent or something else that would help with setting up a camp.

Lycar

[Ozzy_G]

Rummaging through the mule's panniers, Orin finds that there are two small tents, which could each fit about two people in.

[The Great Skenardo]

Livina Lightfoot
Livina clamps her mouth shut as Akim continues his vituperations. As he rummages through the tents, however, she walks up quietly behind him.

[Ozzy_G]

Akim suddenly feels a crippling pain in his lower back, and doubles over in agony, to see Livina standing behind him with her fist retracting.

[The Great Skenardo]

Livina Lightfoot
She looks down at the noble, her expression carefully blank.
"My rebuttal." she says, and then picks up one of the tents to start to pitch it.

[Moechi_Vill]

Lucidae

Lucci moves over and helps Orin get up, putting her lithe hands on his back and massaging the injured spot for a few minutes with a taciturn expression.
"Hold still and most of the pain will go away. It might even help a bit."

[Regwon]

Krashnix

Krashnix watches the exchange and smile to himself. Then, pulling out a rag from his backpack, sits down and begins to clean the days gore off his mace and shield.