Forums » Fantasy Roleplay » Into the Fortress!

He hummed rather happily, apparently considering himself as having made a new friend. Well...It wasn't the least among his quirks, that overt friendliness. It radiated from him like heat from steel fresh out of the forge fire. Rolling his shoulders and readjusting himself a bit, he humphed. Not quite angrily, and whatever indignation was there seemed to be feigned.

"Ye' know me, don'cha? Always ready ta' go, go, go! We's kin set off whenever ye' be ready ta' do." That being said, he let his hand dissapear back into the folds of his cloak. He had an almost child-like look of innocence and curiousity on his face, and all it took was a glance to tell he was clearly the adventurous type. The type that would make a good hero, though aside from his beaming personality he didn't look the part.

A ghostly figure walks down the side of the dismal-looking road. The figure was bored, and he needed something to do. He had just sliced open the gut of a man with his sword who was attempting to mug somebody. The person left in a hurry, fleeing, crying 'Murderer! Murderer!'. Ungrateful city scum. They're all the same. To hide his identity, he put on his cloak and pulled the hood up. He hears voices as he rounds a corner, and turns to the small gathering. His elf-like senses allow him to hear what they're saying, but only barely. Something about the fortress...Oh no. He strides quickly towards the group, pulling down the cowl once more.

PS: I am new to this site, not used to longer posting. So please don't hate on me and if you think I'm interfering, I will understand if you tell me to leave.

[Hate hate hater-hats! Just kidding, I love all of the new roleplayers, and you are welcome to join in, as far as I'm concerned.]

Tannis’s hazel gaze drifted towards the civilians, twiddling her fingers in the air as a response towards their on-looking. Tannis’s fair face turns and her hazel gaze sets upon the femme’s facial features. Her curved lips tug upwards into a soft smile, “Very well then. Thankfully, I bring my own refreshments, to be sure I stay refreshed.” Tannis’s head nods to her own words, looking towards the street and the buildings about it. “We must move quickly then. Tis’ likely no time to--”

A small hand tugged on the dark green pants that Tannis wore, and a small girl, covered in grime and wearing a simple beige dress that has seen better days. Tannis’s hazel gaze drifts towards her, and the small girl speaks up, “Here is the bread you wanted, miss lady.” As Tannis turned about and kneeled upon the cobblestones, anyone could see that the bread was long, like a French bread, and covered in relatively clean wrappings. Tannis’s hands receive the large bread loaf, “Thank you dear. Tell your father I said hello, and take care, alright?” Tannis’s fair face moved towards the small girl’s, nuzzling into her cheek. The small girl then ran off into the street, while Tannis’s hands moved about, fastening the bread to her back with a twine of green string. Tugging the knot that resided around her stomach area, Tannis looks up at the other two once more. “My dinner has arrived.”

With the basket over one shoulder, and her other hand free and at her side, Tannis started to walk towards the southern exit, her boots upon the cobblestones slowly coming to a halt. Tannis’s hazel eyes blink. Twice. Shouts were coming from a nearby allyway, and someone was leading a troop of guards, clad in heavy armor and carrying muskets, with sheathed blades at their sides. They hustled into the alleyway, and a cowl-wearing stranger passed by the on-looking Tannis, a crowd gathering around the entrance to the alleyway.

Quite a few paced ahead of the group, Bandit was already working on strategies in her mind. Breaking into the fortress wasn’t an option but disguising themselves could be a possibility. Her eyes were flicking back and forth suspiciously. Strangers were capable of anything. With all her glancing about she observed that no one was following her. That made her relax instinctively. Suddenly the witch halted in the middle of the street, pivoted on one foot and saw the commotion behind her as she whirled to face the north side. Her eyes quickly sifted through the crowd of citizens. Some were shrieking and others were stunned by the aggressive show the guards were displaying. She couldn’t smell all the blood spilt, no through all the pollution in the air, but she spotted stains on a cowl-clad stranger’s hands. She locked her eyes then on the feline, Tannis, who seemed absorbed in the happenings around her. There was bread strapped to her back. A thief, however, was ready to snatch it from her.

Simply, the witch pointed her index finger at the thief. He was pulling the bread loose but then shrieked in pain. His cries were masked by the commotion around the area. His hand was scorching with flames and each second he wasted he risked losing his hand. His eyes briefly locked onto the witch’s before running off to deal with his torch hand.

“Vahn,” she said and clutched the sleeve of his cloak. Here eyes were blank of emotion like usual but the way her lips were pinched in a thin line showed her concern. “We need to get the group out of here be fore the guard become suspicious of us.” It was very important to leave the city quickly become the path ahead would be infested with monsters soon.

He hummed lightly as he walked along, looking for all the world like the surrounding commotion meant little to him. A lot going on, there was...Quite a lot. Hearing Bandit's words over the crowd, he rummaged around inside of his cloak for a bit, pulling from his cloak a small, fist sized sphere with a button set into the side. He chuckled.

"This'n here what should be posin' fer' a nice little distraction, yea. A nice lil' distraction..." Pressing the button, he dropped it, then kicked it backwards, hard, with the heel of his foot as he stepped over it. Rolling incospiciously across the streets behind them and into the mouth of an alleyway, his little 'present' went off. A cacophony of bloodcurdling screams ripped the air, in the opposite direction from the retreating group. He was still humming idly. What with all the recent commotion, another murder, convienently in the opposite direction of those looking to leave, certainly wouldn't be out of place. Granted, when they got there and found little more than a smoking pile of ashes on the ground...Well, that was their problem, not his.

Lucas looked around, confused by the bomb. He was directly over the bomb, but wasn't injured. Being a ghost will do that for you. Sometimes, He was quite grateful that he was a ghost, although he got lonely every once in a while. His thoughts wandered for a while, then realized he should go after the witch and the bomber. "I wonder what they're planning..." Lucas thought to himself out loud as he moved through the smoke. He could usually read minds, but, however, The witch and her companion had considerable mind resistance and he couldn't do so without alerting them of his presence. He instead decided to tail them, but not before blowing the smoke away with a small whisper of the word 'Hehneywlekaye'. He walked alongside the group, his body inside the trees.

Tannis turned about, her hazel gaze drifting from the left to the right. Her shoulders rise in a shrugging motion. As Tannis's hands fiddled behind her back, her legs started carrying her body towards the other two. Something rolled past her boot, and an explosion caused Tannis's body to lurch foreword, the green cloth upon her head ruffling as the air swept passed Tannis's form. Tannis's fair face didn't turn back to look at what had been done, but her uppper-right lip gave a twitch, her curved lips soon forming a tight-lipped smile.

Tannis's right hand steadied the large bread, while her boots quickly sounded off of the cobblestones, the picnic basket rocking back and forth along her shoulder. Soon, Tannis's legs slow themselves, her steps just behind the other two. "Tis' awfully quiet in the woods. I do hope it stays that way."

Leading the group into the forest Bandit was instantly watchful of her surroundings. Each tree went through brief scrutiny as she passed and the ground dared not trip her feet. This hype awareness saved her life many times in the past. Bandit always says that if she dies, she better see it coming.

The trees were unnatural, for scars dig deep into the surviving. Some were simply dead but not yet decayed. The ground had no sign of life. No bugs crawled over her boots. This used to be a dense forest home to very strange creatures. Many were of legend. However, with the new activity found in industrial towns, small but charming forests die at the hands of men. These trees were also slightly different for another reason. The deeper the group traveled into the forest the more sightings of shadows on trees appeared. The shadows simply looked like pieces of ripped cloth caught on branches. The shadows draped down and Bandit had to torch a few with her magic.

The forest originally lead to the mouth of a large cave, big enough to conceal a large army of thousands. However, a giant, seemingly abandoned fortress blocked off the entrance, a monument too high to climb and ground too stiff to dig under.The place looks abandoned but at night very unpleasant beasts appear and guard the area. bandit felt the need to stop and explain a few things to her group.

"Inside this upcoming fortress is the Lost Earl of Balk. A member of his family line is the King of this region. The fact that I plan on retrieving something one of his...minions stole from me is treason. Entering the Fortress is trespassing, but no one really knows if the Earl is in there at all."

She had them stopped a mile away from the fortress, a place were the shadows were appearing on the trees on their own. Trees that had one or two ripped shadows were now covered in them as the sunset set fire to the horizon. Bandit glanced around her surroundings and tensed. Things were about to become tricky. On of the beasts that would appear was a humanoid-spider creature. They have no fase but stretched skin where eye sockets and a mouth should be placed. Their eight legs are about six feet tall each and they can spring high into the sky and land with their razor sharp points at each leg. All the other monsters were unknown to Bandit.

Blinking, he turned his head during their retreat, seeing the side effects of his little present. Whoops...With a little rummaging about in his cloak, he realized his mistake. He'd pulled out the wrong bomb. A nervous chuckle and his left hand coming up to comb through his hair was all he gave to indicate his mistake. Well, the result was much the same in either case, so he supposed it okay to let the matter go.

He was silent as the group was on the move, or at least he said little. There was rarely a time in which one couldn't hear an idle little hum or sometimes even a whistle coming from him. His head swayed from side to side with whatever invisible tune he was listening to as well. It seemed that the surroundings did little to unsettle him, if indeed they did anything at all.

"Pshaw. Treason? Ain' nothin' ta' be worryin' about. Wha' they gon' do, kill us? They's gon' hafta catch me first. Hehe~" His laughing died down as the crowd around them grew larger. He still didn't seem particularly nervous, and though his smile never faded there was a hint of something in his features that said he knew where to draw the line between casual and serious. Still yet, his hands remained hidden under his cloak, though there was some rustling to be seen there. He wasn't just idling about, it appeared, even if whatever he was doing was impossible to tell as of yet.

"Say...Ya' think they's be here ta' let us on in? Maybe this'n here Earl be a reasonable guy."

Lucas raises his head in surprise when he heard the words 'Lost Earl of Balk'. "Balk...?" He says out loud, before he could stop the words from coming out of his mouth. He swears silently, knowing that the words he had uttered were loud enough to be heard. He didn't like the Vahn guy, who tried to blow him to smithereens, whether on purpose or not.

Tannis's covered head turns to her side, the two lumps in her bandanna moving slightly. Tannis's hazel gaze attempted to see over the creatures around her, but her shoulders rise in a shrugging manner and her gaze returns settle in front of her.

From the sky, twas' green, dark grey, black, green, black, dark grey, green. Tannis's hand moves the picnic basket along her shoulder, ajusting it. Tannis's hazel eyes settle upon the male's back, "From what I hear, good sir, you are offly loud. And you have a rather unique habit of dropping things. However, dropping things while surrounded by a crowd may not be the best idea. Especially if they are the Earl's escort." Tannis's curved lips curl into a tight-lipped smile. "But don't let the rumors still your actions. They're simply rumors, after all." Tannis's boots pad softly along the earth, her hands moving to rest within her pant-pockets, her hazel gaze drifting from each side, and along most of the creatures passing her by.

The witch turned and gave Vahn a peculiar stare. The expression was a mixture between annoyed. She was about to speak but the words were instantly hushed as the beginning shadows draped over the land. It was fast and the gorgeous red sunset disappeared before it could be fully appreciated. She bit down lightly on her bottom lip and turned to face behind her.

Her knuckle blade slashed out and struck a sinewy and tall monster across the face. The scream pierced the air as the beast fell to the ground and clawing at its injured face. Two more then instantly replaced it.

"Watch out!" She cried. They were in large numbers and incredibly stealthy. The darkness and the speed of their movements made it impossible to react until they struck. They fell with fatal slashes of her blade but more kept appearing. They had to make it inside the fortress or risk dying.

"Habit o' droppin' thin's? I's don' know what yer' talkin' about, Tannis! I's just a 'umble traveler, meself. In possession o' many a fun toy, perhaps, bu' jes' a 'umble traveler~" Despite the obvious danger all around, he simply grinned. There was a quiet but not quite inaudible 'click' as the outer shell of his mechanical eye turned in the socket, and clicked again as it rotated into place. Night vision...Oh, but none of his companions could make us of that, could they?

From his cloak came another small sphere, which for the most part looked similar to the one used in the city. Pressing the button on it, he flung it up into the air. After a few yards, it stopped its ascent, and hung in the air. A soft but widespread blue glow bathed the area in light. Just in time, too, as he saw something flying at his face. Without bothering to see what it was he was punching, he sidestepped it and took a step forward, rather than back.

His cloak slid from his shoulder, and he sent his right fist rocketing upward into the underside of the beast. Even if he was hitting an exoskeleton, it would simply make an easier job out for the electricity generated by his fist to fry it alive from the inside out. Regardless, his arm followed his footstep, and a surprising amount of strength was displayed when she pushed the creature back and sent it tumbling away from him.

Under his cloak was a simple leather hunter's vest covering a cloth shirh. However, the vest and his belt were strapped down with tools, bombs, and other unidentifiable trinket. In addition, the thud of metal was clearly heard when his cloak hit the ground. The metal of his arm shown in the soft glow of the orb hanging above.

"Jeez, gimme a warnin' next time, would'ja? Nearly scared tha' daylights outta me ya' did, n' lookit wha'cha got. A blow ta' tha'...Stomach? I guess?" He simply chuckled.

Tannis's hazel eyes flicked from the beasts, her gaze upwards. Softly, her head shook, "You remind me of a man I knew. Nostalgia on a picnic, of all the things." Tannis's boots stopped following the other two, her right foot lingering behind the other as the first scream was heard.

Tannis's hands moved to her sides, the picnic basket swinging into the side of her leg with an slight bounce, while her right hand hovered near the large piece of bread upon her back. "Stay back, violent beasts, or I sha--aahh!" Something latched its hands around the picnic basket's underside, and Tannis's hazel eyes open, her appearance disapearing between the dark, shady beasts, and the tree-line.

The back of Tannis's boots marked trail, however short, from where she once stood to the tree-line. A few bread crumbs settled next to the small rocks along the ground.

Three of them now had her locked in close combat. She barely had room to maneuver. One managed to catch her round the throat, its fingers so sharp it sliced her pale skin. Her toes barely grazed the tips of grass once off the ground. Her purple blood dripped down her neck as she struggled to breathe. Bandit’s eyes darted to the figure behind her, Vahn, and saw him finish of a few monsters easy enough. She couldn’t see Tannis or what happened to her. More blood spilled, but the wounds were not deep enough to fatally injure the witch.

“I really hate these things.” She muttered huffily before setting fire to her attacker. Its arms burst into flames and she fell from the painful grasp. The fire spread until it completely engulfed the monster and with no mouth it could not shriek in pain. Bandit landed on her feet and swiveled around to strike another with a forcible throw of her fist. The bones shattered like thin glass. That kind of hurt… Okay perhaps a lot…Bandit winced in pain as she whirled around again. Another monster was about to jump Vahn but she sunk her dagger into the back of its head. It fell to the ground allowing her to look at Vahn clearly.

“Where’s Tannis? We need to get out of here.” She was slightly anxious at this point. The monsters would not stop coming but for now they were backing off. The fortress was only a mile away. It was difficult to see even for her sensitive eyes. She hoped that Vahn could see her in this dark. He had peculiar talents that came in handy at times like this.

Bandit was quite a mess. Her long hair was tangled. Dirt and blood clung to her clothes and her neck was very blood from being cut up. Slowly, however, her wounds began to close. It took more than mere scratches to bring her down. All the traces of her spilled blood immediately torched due to her magic.

He had, for the most part, gathered fewer wounds overall than Bandit, though his would be slower to heal that hers in the long run. But, he had quite a bit more metal to protect himself with than any of the others might lay claim to as well, so there was that in his advantage. He was, however, paying more attention to keeping himself alive than he was to the others, so Tannis' dissappearance didn't immediately register. He didn't, in fact, notice the woman was gone until Bandit mentioned it. A quick look around brought his eye to the footsprints and breadcrumbs, though. Soemtimes he didn't mind having a ball of metal stuck in his eye socket.

"Seems like she done got carried off, she did. You be findin' yerself a place ta' rest as best ya' can. I'lls be off ta' go collect our companion." Bringing up his boot to kick away something that looked liked a horribly mutated flying squirrel, he swooped down one arm and collected his cloak, which was promptly settled over his shoulders. There was another of those barely audible clicks, and his eye turned it its socket, again.

"Gwen, get on the trail. I'lls be right behind ya'." A pair of red eyes glowed from the shadowed branches of a tree. A spider-thing's corpse dropped from that very tree, and there was a rustle as whatever had been hiding up there left quickly after. He turned to look at Bandit a moment as if half expecting an objection. Not that he would obey, but he'd at least hear her out.

Through the darkened woods, in the general direction where Tannis's disapearance happened, there was hardly a sign of her presence. The shrubs and loose sticks were untouched and lay where they should, though a few bread crumbs did lead towards a very small opening. This small clearing had waist-high grass when compared to an average height, and some of the grass was bent near the entrance, but no further. In the middle of this clearing, there was a hole in the grass, when viewed from above.

Very few breadcrumbs could be found at the entrance to the clearing, but they vanished just before the tall grass. Sounds of branches snapping and the underbrush being trounced soon became quieter.

"Go on then." She said and gestured towards the tall grass. Usually she would insist on joining him to search for the feline but Bandit had other things on her mind. She didn't sit down and rest, no, that would leave her vulnerable for attack. She turned her back on the man and cleaned her throat with a damp cloth. She removed all traces from her skin as well as the ends of her hair. This was extremely important. Once finished she then torched the cloth until it became ashes. Her wounds healed and she looked unfazed yet again. By this point Vahn should have taken off with Gwen to find the feline. She specifically waited for him to leave. With a ribbon clenched between her front teeth she quickly tugged her hair into a messy ponytail and secured it with the ribbon. Once set she then began to approach the path leading the to the fortress.

Canines. These beasts were the hollow monsters left over after being half devoured by demons. They were larger than even the most impressive hunting hound and yet looked more dead than alive. Four of them spotted the witch and ambushed her from the tall grass. Their yellow teeth drooled a mixture of saliva and blood. Seems as though they want their next meal. Bandit then withdrew her bull-whip and cracked it violently, hitting one square on the tip of his sensitive snout. Provoked they lunged at her.

The whip flew and struck them all in one sweep. Barbs in the whip slashed their faces and scattered their blood droplets in a wave through the air. The witch side stepped to avoid contact with the fluids. The canines were used to pain son they continued to rush her. Bandit didn't want to spill any more blood that night so she decided to brutally finish them all off at once. They surrounded her and opened their jaws to latch onto her and bring her down. She wouldn't let that happen. Tossing her whip aside she withdrew her demon slayer's sword. The blade was light and cut smoothly through the air. Each one attacked but left a vulnerable opening for her blade to sink in. Within a fe moments each canine collapsed to the ground and their decapitated heads rolled off to the side. It was a disgusting sight.

Pleased that none of her own blood was shed the witch cleaned off her blade int he grass, picked up her whip and store both of her weapons on her person before advancing to the front gates. It stood too high to climb and digging underneath was not an option either. She would simply have to trick her way inside.
A small eye peered at her through the peephole and then wood slammed shut over the hole. A wicked grin spread across her face. She was going to need Vahn and Tannis's help for this one.

He blinked. No objection? Well, that was different. Still, he wasn't about to complain or anything. That would've just been silly.And so, off he went. The mechanical beast ahead of him made stalking the trail left by Tannis child's play at best. He'd seen a few other assorted beasts and things along the way, though the ones that weren't easily dispatch were easily avoided. The mechanical feline, arriving first at the clearing with the tall grass, sat and waited. A paw with clearly visible but currently retracted claws raised to it face, and it acted as though it were cleaning itself despite the obvious issues with such an action.

"Now, I's know ye' could jes' go n' be walkin' in there...Bu' that seems likn' it ain't quite the best idea. Who knows what be hidin' out in them there bushes, eh Gwen? Hold steady 'til I's be gettin' there." It seemed that his eye could transmit speech to the animal as easily as it did other senses, since he certainly wasn't within the earshot of anyone that meant him well. As easy as it was to defeat some monsters and dodge around others, it made for slow going. He was taking longer to arrive than he would've liked.

Tannis's scent was within the tall grass and, at the same time, not at the tall grass. To the mechanical beast, the scent of Tannis could be traced just up ahead of where she sat, and faintly to the right.

Tannis's right hand placed itself gently upon an old tree's trunk, her mostly green appearance leaning outwards. Her hazel gaze observed the large walls of heavy stone, and the tiny-in-comparision wooden door. Watching the door operator shutting the eye-piece of the door, Tannis's hands pulled her back behind the tree. The green cloth that covered her back was missing something and was pressed upon the bark of the tree. Nearby, the picnic basket sat in the grass, covered by darkness and shrubbery.

Tannis's hazel eye peeks out from behind the tree, spotting a darkly clothed figure. Tannis's eyebrows twitch just once. Resting her back against the tree once more, Tannis's figure bends over and wraps her hands about the basket's handle, straightening her posture, the basket at level with her knees and her back against the tree.