Forums » Fantasy Roleplay » Desert Magic (open)

You're stranded in a desert. It's impossible to get out. Food and water are scarce. A few villages stand here and there, all with several days journey between them. Bandits frequently pillage the settlements.

1. no inappropriate content please
2. you can swear but keep it PG 13 and use *
3. no perfect/controlling characters
4. magic is allowed, make it interesting!

Newcomers, feel free to message me for a summary of what's going on or hop right on in and ask one of the players!

((Ok))

Silveris woke up to the scorching heat of the sun on his face, the shadow of the tree he had been drowsing under having shifted direction so the full force of the sunlight blinded his eyes and made him sit up, shaking his head to loosen the sand clinging to his hair, scanning his fellow bandits scattered through the camp.

They had raided a village only yesterday and were now camping in an oasis that they had stumbled upon by sheer luck or maybe it was the Bandit Leader's uncanny sense of direction and attraction to water, but Silveris wasn't exactly sure and didn't remotely care as long as he got his share of the loot and remained hydrated for the rest of the day.

Rook crouched behind a hump in the sand as she shielded her eyes from the glare of the sun and spied ahead toward the small desert oasis. That was where the small crew of bandits, the ones that had raided her village yesterday, were camped. Anger boiled inside her, memories of her brother, killed trying to stop the bandit raid, burned hotter than the desert heat. She gripped her bow tighter, envisioning her arrow piercing the heart of the leader of this despicable gang, but she forced herself to remain patient. Revealing herself now would be a mistake.

Tonight... tonight, I will have my revenge.

Silveris came down to the little pool in the middle of the circle of palm trees, an island in a sea of sand, and filled his canteen to the rim, draining half of it before filling it again, for he knew it was only a matter of time before the bandits drunk the oasis dry and they would have to move on once more.

Sometimes he wished he had water powers instead of fire.

Grey spotted the village girl crouched in the sand, her gaze fixed on the bandits. Sliding between the dunes, he approached her from behind, then tapped her on the shoulder.
"You're not safe here," he whispered, eyeing the bandits pointedly. "Go back to the rest of your people."

One sleeping there, two talking over there, one filling his canteen...

Rook, too focused on counting bandits, failed to notice the quiet figure come up behind her. She was so startled by the touch that she gasped and swung her bow toward the stranger, drawing back the knocked arrow as she turned. She almost released the projectile right toward his stomach, the only thing staying her hand was the fact that he had whispered something, which put just a slight bit of doubt in her mind that he was actually an enemy.

"Who are you?" she spat quietly, but harshly, angry at herself for the lapse in her awareness of her surroundings. She leveled her arrow at his chest, ready to release on a moment's notice.

Grey raised his hands up in a peace gesture, glancing at her arrow.
"Okay, I take that back," he said, his lips quirking in a smile. "Guess you're not the defenseless little girl I thought you'd be."
Grey reached out with a finger and tipped the arrow away from his chest. Then he gestured to the bandits.
"Revenge?" he guessed simply.

Rook took half a step backwards as he reached for her arrow, keeping it trained on his torso despite his attempt to move its trajectory. Just because he was acting friendly didn't mean he was. In fact he'd made no attempt at all to answer her question. Had offered no explanation of his own presence here. That left only one reasonable explanation...

"Are you one of them?" she asked again, avoiding his question with one of her own. She still kept her voice low, but was growing increasingly worried that one of the bandits might notice them and now her back was to the camp. Maybe this one was just sent to distract her while the others grabbed her from behind! She resisted the temptation to turn around and look, instead fixing her glare on purple haired man in front of her.

Once Silveris had his fill, he hooked his full canteen on one hip and retrieved a second one from his other side, screwing open the lid and filling this one to the brim as well because it was better to be prepared at all times in case the bandits ever dispersed.

Silveris surveyed the others, watching them sharpening their weapons and picking the left over meat they had stolen from the village from their teeth, though he smiled at the thought that he still had strips of dried jerky that he had stashed in the pouch strapped to his thigh.

Grey ran a hand through his hair.
"Well, if I say no, will you lower the arrow?" he tried, glancing at her bow again. "Don't go wasting your ammo on a possible ally like me."
Then he waved a hand in the direction of the bandits. "The enemy of my enemy is my friend, right?"

A look of uncertainty crossed her face and she relaxed the tension in the string, lowering it away from his chest, though both hands remained on the bow, just in case. She wanted to believe him. Having an ally in this venture would increase her chances of success.

"They killed my brother," she said, confirming his suspicions of revenge. The statement brought a fresh wave of anger and grief so strongly that tears threatened, but Rook blinked them away. There would be time enough for grief if she succeeded tonight.

"We found another village to raid."

Silveris lifted his head to stare at the bandit leader's right hand man, who was whispering rather loudly to his chief so the whole oasis could hear. It was time to move.

"Ah," Grey replied lamely and sighed. "I'm...sorry about your loss."
He slithered a little closer to the bandits and their oasis.
"Do you have a plan?" he asked the girl, keeping his eyes on the camp.

"Wait until dark, then get in there, kill the leader, and get out," it didn't sound like much of a plan when she said it out loud. Plus there was a multitude of things that could go wrong. But she'd just have to deal with those as they arose.

"What of yours?" she inquired, glancing back and forth between the bandits and this purple-haired stranger.

Silveris was counting the items in his pack to double check if any of the other bandits had stolen anything while he wasn't looking when the bandit leader strolled up to him, his hair dripping with water that he had nonchalantly dunked over his head.

"Silveris, I'm putting you in charge while we go raid the next village over. Keep a sharp eye out for other bandits, I had better not come back to find this oasis taken. And if you even so much as try to double-cross me, I will know and I will kill you. Understand?"

Silveris bowed. He watched his leader swing onto his horse and gallop away. Five bandits followed.

"Well, a few seconds ago your plan seemed much better than mine," said Grey, "but their leader just ran off again."
He grinned mischievously at the girl. "Which means we get to resort to Plan B. Kill them all right now."

Cordell, who had been sleeping under a canvas canopy to block the sun, opened his one good eye in time to see their leader mounting up and heading out. "Where they off to?" he asked with a groan as he stood up and stretched, then scratched his stomach where a sand flea had bitten him. "He leave you in charge again, Hi Ho Silver?" he asked with a sneer.

---

Rook frowned as she watched the small dust cloud kicked up by the half-dozen horses galloping away from the oasis. She had been determined to kill the leader. After all, he was ultimately the one responsible for her brother's death. Although, Mr. Purple's Plan B had a certain appeal to it. With the element of surprise and with half the bandits gone, there was at least a decent chance of actually being able to pull it off. Returning to find the rest of his crew being devoured by desert creatures would be fitting retribution.

Her gaze returned to the stranger and she met his humor with grim determination and nodded, finally taking her hand off the bow and offering it to him in what she hoped was not a death pact. "I'm Rook," she said, "And you're...?"

Silveris stopped rummaging in his pack and turned to glare at Cordell, a one-eyed man lying under the canvas canopy, sneering at him, although in truth Silveris absolutely hated being left in charge but the leader never took "no" for an answer so here he was.

"Indeed he did. You should be on your best behavior, Cordell."

"Grey," he replied, shaking her hand. "Now, I'm about to do a little trick."
Grey pointed a slender finger at one of the bandits and closed his eyes. He concentrated. He heard a chorus of shouts as the bandit rose off his feet and into the air, flailing his limbs in surprise.
"Telekinesis," Grey said, "never fails."

"Wouldn't dream of nothin' else, ol Silver" Cordell said, though there was underlying hostility in his tone. He was older than Silveris and by his reasoning that meant he should be the one their leader trusted with the task.

He started toward the watering hole, when he was suddenly lifted straight into the air. "Silver! What'd you do!?" he yelled as he flailed his arms, jumping to the assumption their fill-in leader was somehow responsible for this.

---

Rook was surprised herself, but was quick enough to take advantage of the distraction Grey had just created. She sprinted from the cover to their small dune toward a large rock that was closer to the oasis, needing to be closer to be within range for her bow. She fired her first arrow at one of the bandits still on the ground and reached to her quiver to ready a second.