Ye Old Adventure (Freeform) (IC)

[Lonna]

Lan grabbed the wizards hands, making sure the older man wouldn't fall as he was half-dragged, half-carried through the door the stranger held open for them.

[Blockhead]

Blockhead followed the group, tripping on the door frame inside the house and landing flat on his face.

[Goglas]

Blockhead was the last to get inside the house, tripping and landing on the floor.
When he tried to get up, he could feel a heavy foot landing on his back, forcing him back down.
"Close the door, you old fool" he heard a heavy, old female voice above him.
"Yes, my little flower" The old man answered with a sting in his voice.
The dwarf turned his head and saw a large woman, wearing an old, worn-out pink dress standing above him, her foot on his back and a large bat-like stick in her hand. And then the door was shut, and the entire room was covered in darkness.
The group heard the cocking of several hand-guns from behind them, and turned to face their opponents.
"Lit up a lamp already, I can't see a thing!" They heard the woman's voice.
"Of course, my dove" the old man said while picking up a lamp from a small table to his side. He blew on it, and a small fire lit up the room, if only slightly.
"Alright" The old man said, smiling at the group. "This is a robbery, so if you could please drop your weapons and your other belongings?"
Raz and Lan considered their options: They didn't see anybody except the old man when they walked into the house, but clearly there was some way out of this room except the front door.
They remembered a staircase to their left, but from the cocking sounds it was possible the robbers were standing between them and the stairs.
To their right was another door, possibly locked.

[Raz_Fox]

Raz signals to Lan with a twitch of the fingers, Memorize/remember the room.

He grins at the old man. "My belongings? Saint's and Proxies, you really don't want to be looking through those. I don't even know what's in my soddin' pockets half the time. I think last time I checked my pockets, there was a bottle of perfume and a lady's hankerchief in 'em - blast me if I know why - oh, and the perfume was called Shekum darkuth divin..." He brings his forefinger and thumb together, and the lamp snuffs out.

He lunges forward, ducking and rolling to avoid any crossbow fire and flicks his dagger out, grabbing at the old man and holding it to the man's throat. "Funny thing is, I can see in the dark. I will consider an unconditional surrender - after all, I am an assassin of the third way and a mage of considerable power. If you think you could take me, my beserker companion and my bumbling apprentices - one of which has memorized the room's layout - then bring it on!"

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Bluffity bluffity bluff. Yes, I know half-elves don't have darkvision - Raz is bluffing that.

And I'm expecting them to notice that hand signal. That spell was Prestidigitation, IIRC. Or Mage Hand.

[Blockhead]

Blockhead assumed by 'berserker', Raz had meant him and so he growled as menacingly as possible, while flexing his muscles. The result was a drunken dwarf, sounding like an angry poodle and farting loudly when he clenched too hard.

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Yes, I know that's silly. If it's too silly and wouldn't work out I'll change it

[MrEdwardNigma]

"Bumbling? You bashtard! Well, I'll show you bumbling, you little-"
With a loud crash the wizard dropped to the floor. It looked like that drunkenness spell hadn't quite worn out yet.

The wizard did take advantage of the darkness to focus and creep away from all the noise, preferably to some desolate corner of the room where there was a table to hide under. He wasn't planning on letting any of the trinkets he'd gathered be stolen off him. He slowly pulled out his sword, preparing to slash at anyone who dared to come near his hiding spot.

Inventory

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Purple robes
Trademark purple bolarhat with questionmark
Quiver with arrows
Bow
Magical backpack with common items
Nomad sword
Small round nomadstyle shield
Staff with splintered end
Wizarding for Dummies, pocket edition
Some rope
Scroll of Drunkenness

Physical condition: Wounds at the shoulders, bruises everywhere, slightly drunk

[Lonna]

Now that the drunk wizard had rolled off his shoulders and presumably gotten out of the way, Lan considered his options. Judging by the sounds when they had come in, there was someone large and female behind him and slightly to his left, probably holding down the dwarf in some way. Raz was dealing with the old man, and there was most likely at least one more person in the room. Deciding the wisest course of action was to get out of the middle of the room, Lan moved as quietly as possible to the door on the right and carefully tested the handle to see if it was locked.

"These folks is gutsy, Teach, but they ain't too bright," he commented. Any projectiles aimed at the sound of his voice would miss, since he started circling back toward the front door as soon as he finished speaking, trying to get behind Blockhead and the heavy woman.

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I've been meaning to ask, how old is Raz?

[Goglas]

Raz snufs out the lamp and quickly puts the old man between himself and the robbers and his dagger to the man's neck. Nigma falls down and crawls his way beneath the table, unseen and unheard, while Blockhead, trying to do something useful, only managed to stink the place.
"Right now, stop that!" The dwarf heard from above as a large wooden stick struck against his skull. "And you, leave my husband alone or I'll tell my sons to shoot you where you stand".
"Yea, mom, I can take him. Mage....Ha!".

In response to Lan's remark on their intelligence came a small throwing knife that stuck to the door.
The old man sighed. "Well...Now what?"

[MrEdwardNigma]

((So is the door locked??))

Nigma slowly took out his bow and an arrow. It was dark, he was crouching and he was under cover. The wizard grinned and aimed at where he remembered the old woman to be. Swoosh.

[Raz_Fox]

Raz tsks his tongue. "I know how it is, really. You're starving, you need money desperately, you just really need the money, honest. I've been in this kind of situation before, from your side of proceedings. Now, think carefully. You're up against an even number - a dwarf slayer, an apprentice wizard, my young squire and myself. Now, I understand your plight, and I'm willing to let you go peacefully.

It's your choice, really. You can leave here with my blessing, or you can die. Fatally. Now, who here wants to die first?"

[Lonna]

As Raz spoke, Lan continued to quietly inch around until he was pretty sure he was behind Blockhead and the woman holding him captive. Drawing his knife, he crouched down and carefully worked his way forward until his probing foot found Blockhead's own. Now if the sons tried anything, they'd have to go throught their mother, and if the mother tried anything, Lan had a decent chance of landing a crippling strike.

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Goglas, was that door locked?

Raz, can you give me a general ballpark on the age of your character? I'm just trying to figure out how my character will relate to him.

For everyone's reference my character looks something like this:

The hair should be slightly shorter and darker, but otherwise it's pretty good. He/she is wearing a ragged, poorly-fitted uniform, slightly better quality boots, and is carrying the standard 'magic backpack' with common items for an army messenger.

[Raz_Fox]

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Raz is... somewhere in the 17-19 range. He's tall and lanky, and his voice is deep enough to pass as adult, but he's still a wild kid at this point.

As for a description... I don't have a really good picture yet. He's a handsome young rascal, with his elven heritage coming out in his emerald green eyes and his ivory smile. He's covering his very unnatural hair color and outlandish ears beneath a white headscarf, but he's still got a green tattoo over his nose and beneath his eyes.

He wears loose silk, a white shirt and green/blue trousers, with two belts. Barefoot, with a curved dagger stuck between the belts.

By the way, is that a picture of yourself, Lonna?

[Lonna]

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No, that's not a picture of me. I found that picture by doing a Google search for 'effeminate boy' and browsing images until I found one that more or less matched what I had in mind for the character. I tried searching for a 'masculine girl' image first, but all the images that came up were too old and too obviously female.

[MrEdwardNigma]

((OOC: Update time?))

[Goglas]

Yea, sorry for not updating. Got swamped with work, and when I found the time to get on the web and write the update, the site wouldn't load up.
Oh, and the door is not locked.
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Raz finished speaking and could sense the old man stop resisting to his captivity. "Put down your weapons, lads" The old man said. "It's not worth it, they don't deserve it".
Raz could hear the couple's children sigh and lower their weapons. "Alright, father, as you wish".
The mother took her foot off of the Dwarf and reached out her arm to him.
The feint sound of a bow stretching could be heard across the room. The old man turned his head and looked at Nigma, the man's grin twinkling in the shadows, as frightening as the Harpies outside.
"No!" He shouted as the arrow swooshed across the room and plunged into his wife's abdomen. "NO!"
The woman grabbed hold of the wound with a scream and fell on the poor Dwarf beneath her.
"You bastard!" The group could here clearly coming from the shadows in front of them. The children aimed their guns and fired, hitting one of the table's legs.

[MrEdwardNigma]

Nigma toppled the table and put his back up to it. He then snuck towards the door under the cover of darkness and slipped through it, while using it as cover.

Damn muggers had it coming... They would have killed us when next they had the chance...

[Raz_Fox]

OOC: GUNS??? In a fantasy setting??? What in Belar's name are you thinking???

He froze up for a moment as the sensations came to him, seemingly unconnected: the twang of a bowstring, a woman's scream, the old man yelling, voice hoarse with desperate sorrow - then they came together. "No. Nonono!" His thoughts seemed to run together. Newplannewplan she'sdead youneedanewplan...

He flung his dagger down into the floorboards, its razor-sharp point scything into the wood, and stepped forward. "Open that sodding door, let in some light and let! me! through! Is there anyone here who has any skill in first aid and or healing magic? If not, I'll do my best..."

[MrEdwardNigma]

((OOC: Guns have appeared in this thread before... Also, i'm sorry about shooting the woman, but I'm also pretty sure Mister Nigma isn't))

[Raz_Fox]

OOC: Yes, the occasional steampunky gun can be found in fantasy, but I thought this was supposed to be a typical fantasy world. And why would a poor family have multiple guns???

[MrEdwardNigma]

((OOC: Looted from some store while everyone was busy fighting off the siege? That was definitely my plan. It does make you wonder why they'd possibly rob us. The whole city is up for grabs, and they try to rob the only people who'll fight back??))

[Lonna]

"Ye daft loon!" Lan shouted, dodging the falling woman. "They was puttin' down they weapons!"

Heedless of whether the would-be robbers were still shooting, he scrambled to where the lantern had been left after it was extinguished and spend a precious few seconds fumbling for flint to light it. Moments later, light flooded the room as the wick finally caught, revealing that Nigma had already disappeared, presumably through the door, which was open a crack. Sheathing his knife, Lan spit in Nigma's general direction and looked at the sons, trembling with a combination of rage and fear.

"Ee's garbage, but chasin' 'im won' save yer ma."

His point made, Lan walked stiff-legged back to the injured woman, hoping all the while he wouldn't get a bullet between the shoulders. Kneeling next to Raz, he winced as he got a good look at the wound.

"Gut shot," he muttered half to himself. "I know a bit 'bout treatin' wounds, but not 'nuff fer this."

[Raz_Fox]

Raz sighed. "...I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." He looks the woman in the eye. "This is going to hurt a lot..."

Raz carefully pulls out the arrow, trying to ignore the woman's moans of pain. He snaps it once it's out. "Thank the fates it wasn't barbed, but it's done enough damage already. To be honest, hope's the only bloomin' thing on yer side at this point."

[Goglas]

Sorry, dudes, but swamped right now. I hope I'd be able to post an update after the 28th, but I'm not sure. So consider this in the mean time suspended.

[Goglas]

Raz, Nigma: Don't forget you know nothing of the family. All you saw is an old man poking his head out and calling for you.
For all you know, the might have just taken those guns from the streets and returned home when it seemed the chaos was cooling down (Since the lord's army lost, as I'm sure you remember), and were just about to leave (Or simply stay in) when the old man spotted you and figured he could get a few coins from a tired levy, a drunk levy, a little boy and a Dwarf- Not exactly the type of people you'd expect to fight back.
Anyway, I don't have to explain myself to you! Bah!

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The old man dropped to his knees and snatched his wife away from Lan and Raz. With tears in his eyes, he looked at her face and saw she wasn't breathing. His eyes turned to Raz and Lan. "Leave" He said in a harsh voice. "Now!".
Before any of them could respond they suddenly heard small footsteps running out of the room. "Children! Don't!" The old man screamed after them.

Nigma passed through the door and into a corridor. It was narrow and dark, with only one open door at the end of it. Looking inside, he saw an ordinary room with two small beds.
Inspecting the room, he saw there was an open window to the outdoors to his right and a basement door to his left.
"You killed moma!" He heard coming from the corridor behind him.

[MrEdwardNigma]

((OOC: It's the folk's meagre vestments and their attempts to rob passers-by of a few coins that led us to believe they were poor. I myself am not surprised they have guns, as they could, indeed, have looted them. However, I don't agree we looked like easy targets. Not compared to a whole abandoned city full of loot anyways))

Nigma was planning to just rush out of the window, but then he remembered the kids had guns. This didn't stop him because he thought they might shoot him once he made it outside, but rather because he realised how much exactly a gun was worth. Nigma also remembered that none of the rats had reloaded, and that they were just a bunch of little kids. Nothing a mighty wizard couldn't handle.

He quickly pulled some sheets off the beds and opened the cellar door. He then turned around just in time for the kid to run in. Nigma threw the sheets over them, blinding them, made a wild stab at them with his sword and then quickly jumped to their other side, where he gave them enough of a kick to propel them through the open cellar door, down the stairs. There were some screams as they tumbled down and Nigma loaded his bow, taking a position at the top of the stairs.

Higher ground. Blitzkrieg. They should have put me in command of that army. We wouldn't have gotten slaughtered like we did.

[Lonna]

{{OOC: I am probably going to regret this, but Nigma's actions fit so perfectly with what I was already planning...}}

Lan didn't think - he just bolted after the little ones, a vague idea of shielding the children from Nigma forming as he ran. It was the same instinct that had gotten him in trouble so many times growing up. A child growing up on the street didn't usually have the luxury of worrying about other street urchins, but Lan had never been able to help himself, even when it meant taking blows meant for others. By now he didn't even try to curb the urge. Besides, this situation was Lan's fault. If he hadn't insisted on bringing the wizard...

"You killed moma!"

The shout from directly ahead of him spurred him on, and an instant later he had passed the children, flinging himself bodily into the room ahead of them. The next thing he knew, he was falling roughly, a shallow sword cut high on one thigh. He shrieked in surprise and pain when that leg hit the stairs as he fell, but then the impact with the cellar floor knocked the breath right out of him. He was able to do nothing more than scrabble at the sheets with one hand, while the other clutched his leg.

[MrEdwardNigma]

((Slightly strange development, but okay... I'm just going to roll with it. This is probably going to make Nigma the bad guy, but he didn't really mean to kill the mother after she surrendered, and he certainly didn't mean to kill Lan))

Nigma smiled and released the arrow. He was about to reload as the children ran in.

"You killed momma!" one of the urchins cried.

Left with no other weapons but his diplomacy (and, well, his bow, but there were too many of them). Nigma raised his hands apologetically.
"Look, kids, I don't know what you're talking about, but if your mother's hurt, I'd be glad to patch her up. I'm a wizard, see?"

Bloody kids. Who knew there were so many of them? And why couldn't they just all charge in at once? Well, we'll just resurrect momma over there and if that doesn't work we'll rain down thunder and destruction on these kids. I don't wanna harm the little runts, but they're really not giving me too much of a choice...

[Lonna]

{{Who said anything about killing Lan? It's dark in the cellar, presumably, and Nigma was distracted immediately after firing, so he wouldn't necessarily notice if he missed.}}

Lan got the sheet off of his face in time to see Nigma's profile at the top of the stair. Years of surviving on the streets despite his stupidly self-sacrificing instinct helped him as he immediately rolled to one side despite the pain, just in time to hear an arrow hit the dirt where his shoulder had been a moment before.

At the top of the stairs he could hear Nigma trying to talk his way past the children. Bloody bastard thinks 'e can jest shoot their ma an' - dammit all, if I hadn't pushed in first one o' the littles might be dead!

"Ya damn loon!" he shouted, pulling himself painfully to his feet and beginning to climb the stairs as he spoke. "The ma's -puff- dead! If I hadn't gotten 'ere first ye'd -ouch- ye'd like as not 'av killed one o' the little ones! Ye nearly killed me!"

Having reached the half-way point on the stairs, Lan looked at the children and spoke in a very different tone. "Ye'd best git back to yer pa. 'E needs ta know yer safe."

[MrEdwardNigma]

((I didn't say he killed Lan, rather that he didn't mean to))

"Oh, it's you. What, you're actually taking side with these urchins? They were shooting at me! What was I supposed to do, let myself be killed? They're robbers! Throatcuts! And you go sympathizing with them over me, who saved you from the foreign invaders!"

[Lonna]

{{Intentions aside, Lan has been disinclined to trust the wizard from the beginning, and having just been shot at he's not exactly in the mood to listen to the other side of the argument.}}

"Oh, it's you. What, you're actually taking side with these urchins? They were shooting at me! What was I supposed to do, let myself be killed? They're robbers! Throatcuts! And you go sympathizing with them over me, who saved you from the foreign invaders!"

Still forcing himself up the stairs, it took a moment for the words to register in Lan's mind. For an instant he just stared at the wizard, then he started laughing, though there was no humor in the sound. "Ye? Ye saved me? Ye would 'av sold me ta them in an 'eartbeat if ye thought it'd save yer mis'rable hide. Ye caused a distraction, right 'nough, but t'was us what pulled ye out and carried ye here. An' look what a prize ye turned out ta be. Shootin' a woman who was tellin' 'er fam'ly ta leave us be, and attackin' her little'uns what don' even got loaded weapons. I thought they didn't let scum like you off the streets."

In his fury Lan had finished climbing the stairs, hardly noticing his still bleeding leg. Now he placed himself squarely between Nigma and the children, though he made no move to physically threaten the wizard. "Anyone what tries ta hurt a little'un, if I c'n see 'em, goes through me. E'en a scumbag magicker like ye."