XenoCyanide

The Faraway Land

@Thinslayer

Xen has been at the west gate. Is everyone accounted for or am I waiting for someone else?

Something Wicked This Way Comes [IC]

@Heap241@SmileyJaws

I feel the same way as Heap. Artemis has a lot of history that can still be written and unfolded, and I'm very curious to see how he will develop over time. :)

Something Wicked This Way Comes [IC]

---

The bolt flew true, gliding through the air effortlessly as it found its mark. The iron head pierced flesh and crushed bone as it entered in the back of a beast's head, the body seizing suddenly mid-swing as it tried to cleave one of the guards. The body fell over, the inertia of it's swing carrying it further than it normally would go. The guard reacted quickly enough, evading the creature's lumbering body as he twisted to the side. The guard's eyes moved around rapidly, trying to discern where the bolt had come from as another one flew past his head and entering the chest plate of another that was running towards him from behind. That was twice Artemis saved the poor fool's life.

Artemis was already knocking another bolt as one of the beastman caught sight of him, no doubt having traced the origin of the two bolts that ended the lives of his comrades. The creature barreled into a support post that was holding the small outcropping that Artemis was kneeling on sending the structure collapsing. The blow surprised Artemis and he barely caught his footing as he slid down the wooden boards, tumbling onto the ground. He kept the crossbow close to him, as any sudden impact could send the bolt flying down range, and as his feet found purchase, he buckled his knees and rolled forward, twisting his torso as he came back vertical to face the beast that had derailed his height advantage. A quick glance as the crossbow already trained on the beast, satisfied it was still armed, he pulled the lever and sent death.

As quickly as he fired the bolt, he let the crossbow go, his left hand producing a dirk and his right sliding his longsword from its sheath. His eyes scanned the area and focused in on another enemy. These creatures were massive brutes. Incredibly strong and agile enough for their bulk, the game plan here was to use his smaller frame to his advantage. He raced toward another beastman, his sword angled away and downward. His enemy saw him and his own axe raised in a blind fury as he let out a thunderous roar, spit and blood spraying from his mouth. The guard behind him was limp on the ground, a large chunk of his neck ripped out with what looked like a bite wound.

Axe and blade found each other, but the superior strength of the beastman was also it's weakness. Catching the blade under the business end of the axe, near the wooden shaft of the weapon, the push from the beastman allowed the weapon to glide down the length of Artemis's blade. Artemis himself used the beast's body movement by pushing the axe away from him, sending the cursing devil to the left, exposing vital organs to Artemis's dirk. His movement was blindingly fast as his dirk entered and exited several times in a second, finding precious organs. His last attack, he shifted left, pushing off his back foot and sliding the dirk deep into the spinal cord. The wounds would prove fatal, but were not instant kills. Severing the spinal cord allowed him to incapacitate his enemy while he bled out in what would probably be an excrutiating death.

Four down. As the beast crumbled before him, his brain no longer in synergy with his legs, Artemis moved through the battlefield, his blades cutting deep into aggressors. He spotted others that were not in guard uniform and made note of what they wore and looked like. It seemed as if this was a smaller force. A raiding party that may have overextended their hand. Galloway was well defended by the guardsman, and no doubt these creatures could have killed them easily being far more bloodied than the town watch, but they were not aware that there were others in this town that wanted nothing more than to cast their entrails across their mother's feet.

For all his bloodlust, Artemis seemed calm, a dull haze passing over his eyes to those watching. His focus was unmatched as each blow found it's mark, leaving corpses and shrieks in his wake. This was a man possessed of one goal: To murder...

And he was damn good at it.

Something Wicked This Way Comes [IC]

Rocking out a post right now.

[Closed 1x1] The Touched

Been hectic IRL. Hardly any computer time. I'll get around to posting soon, I hope. Sorry to keep you waiting!

Something Wicked This Way Comes [IC]

Okay, maybe tomorrow lol. My brain is fried at the moment.

Something Wicked This Way Comes [IC]

I'll be posting sometime today :)

Something Wicked This Way Comes [IC]

@SmileyJaws Mine is actually a picture. I just went to 1001 fonts, found a cool one that was my character in essence, and saved the picture of his name. Then I just used a photo upload site and voila! :)

I have a word doc with the BBC coding with all my characters' names so it's fast for me to just grab them and plug them in.

Something Wicked This Way Comes [IC]

@Mesonyx

Hey! Hoods and masks were their version of a balaclava. It's fawkin' cold out there! Plus, nothing worse than getting goblin blood in your mouth. Yuck!

Makes for a hell of a training tool, too. I've always held medieval face masks akin to something like this in modern days:

THE BANE MASK!

The Faraway Land

Location: The Hall

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"Mercy it is, then." Xen finally spoke after counting the stones inside the container. He looked over to Vert, his gaze passive but meaningful. He looked over to the party gathered. These chosen champions who are to do the work kingdoms could not accomplish. Somehow this rag-tag bunch of misfits and do-gooders were supposed to cooperate and funnier still, stem the tide of an impending apocalypse. His gaze shifted finally toward Vert and he made his way toward her, allowing the silence of the hall to seem cavernous and cold. He raised his staff and placed it perpendicular to the ground, aiming it towards Vert's midsection.

"Know this. Your life is spared, but you may yet forfeit it. Cross them, and they will see you to the gallows. Cross me and I will personally see to it your soul is flayed for a millennia." His gaze narrows slowly as the tip of the staff touched the bonds that held her. Like snakes that shed their mortal coil, they withered and lost grip and fell to the floor. "The rest of you, he said as he turned to the face the gathering, stock up on rations, fill your waterskins, sharpen your blades, and bend the dents from your armor. We set out in one hour from the west gate."

With that, Xen left the hall and proceeded to visit the herbalist in town to stock up on remedies and his pipeweed. As practical as his decision was, Xen still felt that the Cursed One would be better off serving a pike. Unfortunately, with what little information they have to go on, and the nature of the goal at hand, sacrificing such a knowledge pool would be blasphemous. He only hoped that this decision would not come back and haunt them in the end. A smile tugged at the corner of his mouth as the thought flashed across his mind. He was not lying about bringing the wrath of oblivion among the betrayers.

Suddenly, as fast as all the other thoughts, his mind was back on that field of death. Decades ago it was when he swore to himself he would not weave against another. It is funny how things have a way of backfiring.