POOHEAD189

The Enemy Beyond: Warhammer 40,000 Inquisitor RP

The crowd had not grown hushed nor stopped its penitent clamor, but I could feel multiple eyes on us as we halted at the center of the nave. Once glance at Emmaline and I could ascertain she was nervous, though she hid it well. Gwydyn hid it less well, but whether a blessing or not he could not quite tell what exactly was occurring at the moment. The vast gilded halls flecked with patina and the prayers echoing across the cavernous architecture was quite a lot for one of Urien's men, even considering the size of the Caledonia. A loose but ardent faith in the emperor and a large home did not prepare a feral-worlder for the overwhelming presence of a cardinal world cathedral. I decided he would not be reliable over the next few moments, despite knowing he was likely competent in combat.

"Your holiness, Cardinal Molmenieu," Emmaline began, stepping forward and raising her golden head high.

"These are the wretches I have spoken of, Cardinal!" Vorn spat, well-practiced zeal in his eyes.

"You have a heretic in your midst!" She declared, imploring the cardinal to see reason. I gave a small, psychic nudge to Emmaline and she followed my lead, in a manner of speaking. She fell to her knees and threw her hands out, prostrating herself. I knelt next, and throne be praised Gwydyn did as well, though he looked flummoxed and somewhat frightened. Emmaline looked up at the Cardinal even as Vorn withdrew his pistol, her eyes impossibly large and glistening with humble virtue. "This jackal has wormed his way into your counsel! I beg you not to listen to his lies!"

"Do not listen to them, your holiness. The fiends of chaos are unimaginably depraved, using your most sacred charitous heart against you." Tertius Vorn remarked, lip curled back as if he gazed at a nurgling dripping with venomous pus. "I will end them here so they may not taint this sacred place any longer."

"If this man is truly an Inquisitor of the Imperium, how have we bypassed his efforts to keep us from you? Is he not supposed to be the word of the one and his shield?" I added with authority, my eyes hard. The multitudes around us were still largely unaware of the confrontation, but a few dozen now watched, ranging from mild interest to rapt horror. The priests watching were an amalgamation of emotions ranging from disgusted to curious.

"If I am a Cardinal of the Emperor, how could I have allowed such a man into my circle?" Cardinal Molmeniue asked, trying to appear more sure of himself than he was. No doubt he was taken aback by our lack of aggression in his presence. More than not Vorn had instilled in him more than his fair share of horrific details on our supposed motives or methods.

"Everyone was fooled by the traitorous duplicitous Goge Vandire, but the Emperor himself sent forth Sebastian Thaw to uproot his evil and purge it from the most holy imperium." Emmaline remarked, her face a mask of soft determination. By the Emperor on his throne, real tears were streaming down her cheeks if I was not mistaken. I knew I was going to spend a considerable amount of our funds buying her icecream after this performance.

"She is not Adeptus Sororitas, your holiness. This is a witch and a trollop, and the servant of that one." Vorn hissed, pointing at myself. He cocked the hammer back on his pistol and aimed at my chest, a small dot of red settling over my heart. Luckily I woke carapace armor below my jacket and uniform, but it could not withstand more than two shots of a large caliber weapon. "I will end this here-"

"Wait, Vorn." The Cardinal said, placing a hand on the man's pistol barrel, lowering it. He tried to speak, unsure of himself. Vorn glanced at the Cardinal, and I knew at that moment what was about to occur. Tertius Vorn seeimgly acqueised, and quickly turned, ramming the gun barrel under Cardinal Molmeniue's neck and firing three rounds through his skull. The priests and attendants gapsed, but before they or the more attentive members of the crowd could wail or cry, it was over. I swiftly drew my own pistol, but Vorn was just as quick, gripping a small cartridge at his belt and squeezing it. Something shattered and a brilliant flash of light erupted from the device, blinding everyone in the vicinity even as their grief stricken moans left their lips. I managed to hit him in the chest, but the bullet ricocheted off his power armor in a spark before I too, saw nothing for the next handful of moments.

"Find him!" I ordered, tears of pain around my eyes as I stumbled forward, knocking aside the panicked members of the crowd in pursuit.

Hello Again--It's Been a While!

Welcome back to the site!

bye ~

Welcome back Ahri! I remember you and it's lovely to see you again

Rytsas.

You may call me Isolabella. I am just a nyctophile-slash-bookworm-slash-writer, who is trying my hand at honing my craft and creativity.

Someone made me join, I'll admit. However, I hope that this will be a fun journey.

@Isolabella

Welcome! It's lovely to meet you :)

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays

Hey guys, your resident muscle-mod here, wishing everyone on the guild a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from the team! Luckily, there's not been too much controversy recently which is a big relief to us mods, and I wanted to say we appreciate it and you. Thanks for the many years of roleplaying, and here's to many more! Have a great one, friends :)

The colourful threads in a troubadour's vest

Ali felt numb, drifting in and out of consciousness as his body had begun to meld with the snow. He knew, vaguely, that he was freezing. But he hadn't the thought to get up, and he was growing warmer where he was, or so he thought. Somehow, he also felt more cold. A sticky, warm liquid coated his hand and leg, unaware it was his own blood. Ali lifted his head once, surging to life for a brief moment in defiance, before he collapsed again into the snow. That was when the woman found him.

His world, dark and grim, became one of bright light when he opened his eyes and saw her. He did not know who, and very nearly couldn't guess what, he was looking at. When his blood-drained body had granted him the ability to think, he did not ask for help, or for warmth, or thought of his own mortality. Strangely, he idly thought she was quite pretty.

Ali did not have the self awareness at the moment to understand the absurdity of the thought, and so he just thought it for awhile until he nearly passed out again. He felt her try and warm him, pleading with him to get up. After a minute of this, he groaned. He forced his eyes open, and snow hit him in the eyes. He grunted in discomfort, but it woke him up enough to stoke a flame in his heart. "What?" He gasped, and at her insistence he managed to sit up, and then stagger to his feet.

He nearly fell on the woman, his weight almost bowling her over. But she wasn't as weak as she looked, and with his help he managed to get walking, stumbling down the road. Ali was not certain how long they walked; likely only a few minutes. But he would never forget the walk, the wintry countryside and the woman holding her up, to unaware to feel the fatigue gnawing at his limbs. In his memory he would think himself floating. Soon, they entered a building, one he would later learn was this woman's shop and place of residence. The carpets and fetishes among the decorum were bright and colorful, but he soon passed out after that, fading into oblivion until he next awoke, seeing her once again.

Bodacious Bounties: Bounty Hunter AU

Neil just laughed. She'd said she was good and he was finding out in real time. She just might win, if he wasn't careful. It would be the ultimate trampling if he lost this. But of course, on the other hand, Neil had nothing riding on this game other than bragging rights. They were playing for shots that they needed to drink anyway, so it wasn't a big deal. He supposed part of him also wanted to impress her, even if an even smaller part of him wondered why since he was now here under duress, or at least previous duress.

He stopped the contemplation and shook himself out of the thought.

Neil grabbed the pool stick, twirling it between his fingers deftly before he settled down where the cue ball had been laid to rest. Neil closed his left eye, lowered his face to the table, and took his shot. The white ball hit a blue ball, knocking into a red and a black ball. The trio spun and flew aside like shrapnel. Neil grinned when the blue went in, but his brows rose when the black ball knocked into another red ball and then went into the pocket.

Neil's eyes went up to Jocasta, and he gave her a wink. It was nice seeing her look dumbfounded, if only for a moment.

Cygi fell onto her knees in abject distress, and while her head was in her hands, a marker popped up behind her with a number switching from "13" to "24", which meant he had the majority of the points for the game. Jocasta was just three points behind.

"A deal's a deal, drink those shots." Neil said with a smirk, leaning on his pool stick as if he was used to winning with nonchalance. "Pass me the bottle once you do though, I need a victory chug."

Bodacious Bounties: Bounty Hunter AU

Neil wasn't going to admit it, but he was having fun. Not that it was difficult for him to have a good time, but there was fun and there was genuine fun, and he felt it was getting close to the latter. The dark haired ne'er-do-well eyed the table for long seconds, losing himself in thought as he formulated a strategy. The seconds dragged on, and Jocasta waved a hand in front of his face.

"Are you buffering?" She asked jokingly, but when he didn't respond her once smiling visage cast a worried look. "I think I broke him..."

"Have you tried turning him off and on again?" Cygi remarked, popping out of the pile of bottles. No doubt she meant it as both a pun and an innuendo, but Jocasta only gave Cygi a glance before returning to Neil, snapping her fingers before his unresponsive dark eyes.

Moments later, it was as if a ping had sounded off in Neil's head, and he suddenly blinked and tilted his head slightly, finally awake. He looked her way and gave a wide grin. "Alright baby, time to win."

"Yeah, right." She said skeptically, though now that he was back in the land of the living her smile bloomed again. Neil twirled his pool stick casually as he approached his spot, breathed in deeply, and settled into his stance. He took his time, lining up the shot and moving to two different vantage points of minuscule difference compared to his first spot.

He cleared his throat, eyeing the ball and wiggling his hips to get comfortable as Jocasta watched, Cygi now sitting on her shoulder, watching in rapt fascination.

Thunk. Neil hit the cue-ball from a high vantage, the point of the stick smacking into it. The white ball bounced, brushing against Jocasta's ball and causing it to sway precariously, but otherwise remain still. It hit the table again on the other side, smacking into a brown ball worth four points. "Yes! Yes!" Neil celebrated, fist pumping as the brown ball hurtled to the pocket, only to spin from the unorthodox hit and veer off course, hitting a red ball that slowly slid into the pocket.

"Fuuuuuuuuuuuck dude!" Neil groaned, smacking his face. Had the brown ball slid it, it would have been quadruple the points. Instead, the red gave him one point. Still, enough to get Jocasta to drink, and even the view of her full bosom burgeoning as she swilled it back didn't completely fill the void of losing his well planned maneuver. Neil's forehead hit the edge of the pool table, and Cygi slid up to him.

"Hey, not bad! I calculated you had only a 4.3% chance of even getting out of that position."

Bodacious Bounties: Bounty Hunter AU

"-and here we see Varkin charging forward, coming in strong while Edwards is clunking along-" The commentator narrated, the camera panning over the two valks as Neil and his opponent barreled at one another, the flash of the machine gun bright on the holovid. He watched, his arms crossed and his pool stick in his hands.

"That's right, Chet, and like a true master he gives his opponent a false sense of security and makes his weakness his strength, this match will go down as a mastercall of-"

Jocasta snapped her slim fingers in front of Neil's face, causing the rakish pilot to blink. "Hey, you got a mirror I got a holovid, let me appreciate this for a second." He said, but it was clear he was being playful. He already had a grin on his face, eyes now on Jocasta and the table. The sixteen balls were stacked and meticulously left at the center of the table, Neil grabbing the white ball and spun it on his finger before underhand tossing it to Jocasta. He took a shot glass from the table and downed it as she casually caught it and put the ball down, swinging her head so her ponytail flipped fully down her back. Jocasta bent over as she lined her shot, the pole sliding back along the small tunnel made by her fingers. Neil hadn't expected it, but he got a very good look at her generous, shapely back-end as she readied her shot, and with a thwack, the cue-ball struck the center. Neil whistled appreciatively, not sure himself if he did so at her pool shot or her ass.

"And it's a strong hit!" The commentator said from the holovid, his pronouncement working in tandem with the game even bereft of context.

Balls rolled in an explosion of inertia, bouncing this way and that. Two balls slunk into the pockets, and Jocasta smiled at the results brightly. She smirked, pushing herself off the table. "What do you think, wrench monkey?"

"Hmm? Oh uh, thas- yeah good shot." He said, and before he went to the table he poured himself another drink.

"I got two in, that's two shots." She said, referring to the liquor.

He held his hands out wide as if a referee made a wild call. "I just drank one before y-" He started, but her look showed him she wasn't going to give him any mercy. He sighed and poured himself another. His previous liquor shot was before the fact, he should have kept himself from drinking before she went. "Yeah yeah, that's on me."

Behind him, Cygi popped up. She still wore her button down blazer but out of view, someone tossed her a funnel and a bottle opener, playing herself as a newscaster trying to juggle the items in surprise. Soon a hail of bottles piled on her like cartoonishly

"You're cute but that's not going to help you win," Jocasta toyed, stiffling a snicker from Cygi's antics. "Win one fight and you think you're Kragzalor the Destroyer."

"Looks who's talkin'" Neil remarked on both counts. She quite clearly caught him because she was cute, and one good shot and she was getting smarmy. He knew she was being ironic though, and after his second shot of liquor, he gave a satisfied 'aaah' and set the glass down. The magnetism stuck it to the table neatly. He strode to the table with purpose. "You think I'm good at mech-fighting, let me show you how a wanted man plays pool."

The Hyborian Chronicles: Of Sword and Sorcery

"By the dripping shit of Set!" Amal remarked acidly, secreting away the jewel into his pantaloons and rolling his head along his broad shoulders. His tanned torso dripped with crimson from the wounds, his defined thews and abdominals slick with sweat and blood. Amal had not climbed into this hellpit and braved shadow beasts and serpent gods to be baselessly slaughtered by a cheap conjurer! "Crawl atop me, woman!"

Sythemis balked for a moment, wondering if the shemite had gone mad from fatigue. But he knelt down, even as a skeletal hand clawed its way out of the ground a mere stride from his nose. She slithered atop him, placing her two thick legs along his shoulders. The deadly thief rose, his stygian priestess a yard taller than she was familiar with. Amal felt her put her fingers in his mane of thick hair to steady herself. He hoped she had some secret to hill Antiachus, or if a knife to the heart would do. Either way, he would make sure the man was dead.

"We must kill him!" Sythemis hissed with such venom and fervor, Amal was taken aback. He had thought she would order him to flee, but this would do. He was tired, but adrenaline pumped through him and tigrish rage enveloped his powerful form.

Amal leaped over the half-submerged skeleton of a dog beast, nimbly dancing past the specters that continued to rise from their ancient graves. The wizard cackled, his gnarled hands slowly floating upwards as he called forth more skeletal fiends to rise. Sythemis grabbed Amal's head and turned his gaze to a fallen tree trunk. "There!" She called, and he sprang for it. He felt claws rake his leg, but one more shallow wound did naught but fuel his ire and blood-lust. He scooped up the branch, and twirled, shattering the next skeletal beast with a powerful blow to the chest. Bones scattered and witchlight was snuffed out of the dirt-caked eyesockets. Amal grinned grimly, sidestepping the sailing skeleton of a tiger, the beast's form raking into the rubble of pebbles.

"Fool! You have destroyed one in ten dozen!" Antiachus cackled like a squawking bird. "How long can you keep it up!?"