[Other FULL] Gunpowder (M) (IC)

JukeboxTheGhoul · Dec 11, 2015

ANIMA

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As Shayne wrote down his name on the last piece of paper, each layer checked over. Mr. Waltham gave a jolly smile. He checked his watch, "Right-o, I best be off. I've got a meeting to attend. Cheerio." He bowed his head slightly and lifted up his hat. His clothes started to blur, the colours on his attire radiated glowing shades of colour. Within a blink of an eye the unfocussed blur stretched slightly as it shot off in to the sky.
Waltham observed as his vision zoomed out in to the outer atmosphere, the entirety of Jeimas laid before him. Then, like an eagle swooping down to eat it's prey, his vision shot downwards, through the clouds, the roof to his office.
Shayne looked down at the piece of paper, Waltham had gave it to him, Shayne observed it with scrutiny. It was strange to see a life-like picture of the man he needed on such high quality paper.
"I hope I don't have to do that much paperwork all the time." Shayne passed the photograph to Siren.
"This kid don't look like much." Shayne let go of the photograph.
Siren nodded and focussed, trying to change appearance. Her form went fuzzy but then turned back. "Nothing." She sighed.
Shayne pulled her closer, "It's alright, we'll find him." He walked over to the horses, grabbing the reigns and lifting himself atop the horse's back. He kicked it in to a trot.

Elliott plodded behind Shadow, as they walked in silence towards the train station "Yeah so, who are you?" Elliott tapped her on the shoulder, "Where are we going?" He looked ahead, "Is that the station?"
She glanced back at him. Then she faced forward, rolling her eyes
"What?" He asked.
Shadow became increasingly annoyed
"You want protection, right? Stop asking questions."
The Railway station was decent, it had a feeling of being decrepit and rusted but it was pretty much in use and lively. It was hard to imagine the life of the Joe in this hell hole. The northern sentiment for corsets and lah-di-do-dah seemed a far cry from the barren lands. As they stepped on to the platform, the wooden boards creaked. Shadow sauntered over to the booth. "2 tickets to Fairbell." She said abruptly. The girl in the stall nodded and gave the two paper tickets to Shadow. Elliott came up behind her as she moved to the edge. She checked the clock. "We're going recruiting."

Anima was curled up on the floor of the carriage when the pulled in to Gilded Brook's Prison Terminal. Two Sheriffs opened the cage and dragged Anima out, he was trawled through the mud. Jeering came from the surrounding cells as Anima was lifted up by his upper arm, his head hung in shame. They threw him in to cell and swung the door shut, they took out their key ring and slotted the key in to the hole and turned it until a click sounded. The two left. Defeated, Anima felt his scars with vengeful rage, the audacity to take off his mask. He grabs the bars and shake them.
"Silly, Silly." The voice appeared again.

Anima turned around and charged at Shillace. The apparition multiplied until it encircled him. The girls started to mock him and they held hands and danced in a circle. Anima screamed out at them. They froze and then disappeared. Two apparitions appeared across the room. Shillace faded in, fluorescent in her bright azure, she knelt by a corpse. Shillace shook the corpse's arm, "Mum." She tried to wake the slumberous corpse. "Mum." She repeated. "Mum?" Her face turned to worry. "Mum? Wake up." The corpse's head moved towards Anima. The woman's corpse spontaneously combusted, igniting with a deathly vigor, the woman became blackened and charred. "Mum, wake up." Shillace repeated with naivety and worry. The corpse's head twisted towards Anima. It cracked as it moved, the gaunt face stared in to him. Her jaw creaked as it opened and she spoke in a hoarse and hushed voice with the general feel of a loving and soft voice that was corroded by a rough gravelly tone "José?"
Anima opened his eyes widely, they shimmered with forming tears, he dropped to his knees. "Stop it." He slammed his fist in the to ground. The beings disappeared. Gaudium appeared for a mere second and then the god disappeared. The apparitions were gone. Anima was alone with his thoughts.

gimmepie · Dec 12, 2015

Time Skip
July-Early August

Alex Rose

After the death of Rex Flinders at the hands of the hybrid of Verelys and Alice (Veralice), Alex along with Jebediah – both getting steadily closer to death – clambered onto the former's horse and narrowly made it back to Spider's Hollow for treatment.

Alex spent the next several weeks recovering but returned to hunting as soon as he was able. Haunted by vague, fleeting memories of Veralice's power, and even Rex's compared to himself, he has been working aggressively to improve his own abilities.

Jebediah Sanders

After Veralice's killing of Rex Flinders and subsequent departure, Jebediah was separated from Sophia and Marzia and returned to Spider's Hollow in critical condition with Alex.

As soon he felt he had recovered enough, although he probably hadn't, Jeb got permission from Janet to take leave and head of in search of Veralice following their trail of destruction and death.

Sophia Hartmann

After Rex's death and Veralice's departure, Marzia used her ability to heal Sophia and left with her. Following this, Sophia spent a brief amount of time recovering from the trauma of the events leading up to her own injuries before, with Marzia as her right hand, setting off to reunify the scattered remnants of the Culebra and Flinders gangs under a single banner.

Veralice Rylian

After their defeat of Rex, Veralice left Alex, Sophia and Jeb for dead and set off on their own. News of them was unheard of for a week after the battle until Veralice appeared in the north where they killed Alice's father and begun laying waste to small towns and cities.

Veralice has picked up a small group of followers that have submitted to their will, gaining Cosma-esque abilities as a result. The group is unaware that they are being tracked by Jebediah and appears to be heading back in the direction of the Barren Lands.

Veralice has been labelled as Sister Tess' replacement on the list of the ten Big Bads and carries a bounty of $30, 000. This is likely to increase.

José "Anima" Dartmoor

Following his capture, Anima has been transported to the Chasm Prison located in the vicinity of the mines by Gilded Brook. A converted mine, prisoners are kept in small cells overhanging a near bottomless pit and are set to hard labour to earn their meals. His inner-consciousness tortures him with images of Guardiam, Shillace and charred corpses that won't stay dead.

Shayne Jacobs

Following the brief visit from a representative of Waltham Industries, Bounty Hunter Shayne Jacobs has recently entered several agreements with the corporation. The highlights of this deal, Jacobs has been given the bounty of hunting down Elliott Temere who has a debt surmounting to $300,000. As a consequence of this deal, a Waltham subsidiary, Browning Museum has set up a museum in Larkin. However, Due to the volatile nature of the South, Browning Museum has only got a few exhibits, namely Medieval Armoury, The Flintlock Emporium and an Ancient Sarcophagus Replica.

Achilles "Black" Nimbus

Concealing his dealings with Dodgy David, Achilles and his associates Coady and Isaac have been actively bounty hunting in an effort to make up the large sum of money that Dodgy set as the required amount for the release of Lucy.

Amelia Cadaway

Amelia, along with her compatriot Joseph, has now discovered the location her boss intended her to find but for the time being has been preparing by strengthening herself through practice and by committing smaller crimes. She and Joseph have yet to acquire bounties, however there is a rumour floating around about an elusive pair of thieves.

Kelmore Kuvag

During the skip month, the remnants of Sister Tess' gang have reunified under new leadership and are making a push to reclaim their old place of power in the Barren Lands. Kelmore has, for time being, dedicated himself to hunting down the newly dubbed "Dead Priest Gang" in an effort to prevent the group's resurgence.

Desmond Rogers

Reunited with his old friend Will, Desmond's new friend has shared with him a grand plan. With the combined know how of both he and Demond, they plan to create a powersource that will end many of the Barren Land's problems and bring Jeimas into a new era. They just need a power source… and conveniently there's currently one walking around killing masses of innocent people.

Colt Marshall

Colt didn't disappear for no good reason, he's not sure what happened but during his travels earlier on he suffered a terrible injury that resulted in him spending a month in a coma. If it wasn't for the aid of a mysterious old man that found him and brought him back to his shack in the middle of nowhere, he'd be dead. The questions now are, "who is this man?" and "will Janet still let Colt work for her after he vanished off the face of the Earth for a month."

Ice1 · Dec 20, 2015

Elias Stork

Finders/Keepers

?So, I walk in, right, and I tell him: Dead Eye Pete, your days of thievery are over, buddy. But he just takes none of it, right? Literally every table in the whole saloon dropped over, and bullets coming flying, and I mean flying. I quickly jumped behind the bar, my pistol right beside me.?

?So, you?re saying you got th-?

?So, I got them all, right. It?s five against just me, but I need less than a second to shoot the one in the back right between his lookers, right. And before his buddy could yell it out, and get to him, I splatter his head against the wall too. Now, Dead Eye Pete and the other two goons are still standing, but they?ve stopped shooting. I mean, they?re obviously scared, they?re completely outmatched. I took my chance here, right, and I climb- ugh- upon the bar-?

?Hey, you ****, get of that table before I kick you out.?

?So, I?m standing on the bar right, like this, slightly bend over, and I quickly empty my gun into Pete?s goons right. So now it?s just me and him left, and he?s scared, right, because I just took out his men in thirty se- no, twenty seconds. But you know what they say about scared men, right, those lash out. And Dead Eye Pete isn?t called that for a reason. So he grabs his gun, and you know he got that spell and that?s why he never misses. But, I jump out of the way, behind the bar again, right, and the bullets just flies straight into that wood. But that magic of his, it doesn?t allow that bullet to stop, so I just hear it digging through the wood. And I know that I should be quick, because you know what they say, right, nobody ever survived a bullet from Dead Eye Pete-?

?No, seriously you ****ing idiot, of that table now!?

?Okay, okay, I?ll sit down. Jesus Christ, man, you got no appreciation for a good bit of drama, do ya? So anyway, as I was saying, no one ever survived a bullet from Dead Eye Pete, because once he got his eye on you, you?re dead, right? So, I need to think fast, right, and I notice this chandelier hanging above, not unlike the one in this place here, and I take aim, shoot straight through the rope holding it up, and it just crashes down on Dead Eye Pete!?

?He was directly under the chandelier??

?Yes, he was directly under the chandelier. And I don?t need to tell you, but chandeliers don?t have mercy you know, so the guy?s brain?s splattered now.?

?So, did you collect bounty??

Elias grinned, ?Of course I collected bounty,? he said, ?and that?s why-? he stood up from his chair and slammed his hands on the table ?-I can give a round to everyone here!?

A loud cheer arose from the bar. Not everybody was as interested in Elias story, but if you?re in a bar, everyone is interested in free beer. The big burly barman rubbed his mustache, and his chagrin turned into a slight smile as he thought about the profits he?d make this evening. The whole crowd in the bar started to become more rowdy the more beer got shared. A side effect of it was that people seemed to have less and less attention for Elias. He slowly dripped out his pint into his mouth, hoping that the last droplets of alcohol would get him drunk enough to forget he went home alone to night.

On his way to the door nobody noticed him leaving, except for a hand trying to slide in his pocket and grab his money. With a good smack, the pickpocket retracted his hand, and Elias went from the dimly lit saloon to the unlit outside.

?You?re Elias Stork?? a man standing next to the saloon door asked. He only glanced at Elias from the side, before his gaze returned to the feet of his friend sitting on the wooden fence between the supports of the porch roof.

?My legend precedes me,? Elias answered, with an irritated tone. He took a good look at the two man. The one standing up was really tall, and Elias guessed he was at least 6?6?, and was really skinny. The other man was shorter, maybe only an inch taller than Elias, around 5?6?. He was quite fat, and a very round figure. Both of them wore a similar set of blouse, with cow leather pants and a cowboy hat, although the fat one?s long red hair was visible underneath.

?What do you think, Scotch?? the fat one asked.

?I don?t know, Butch, I doubt this is really him,? the tall one answered. He walked over to Elias, and bowed over him, taking a good look at the young man.

?He fits the description. Brown hair, brown eyes, skinny, looks like a real wimp. I?d say that it actually is him, Butch.?

Butch walked over, and put his face real close up to Elias?s. Elias?s breathing was heavy, and he felt scared. These two dudes certainly had it out for him. He recognized the names of these two men. Scotch Bonnet and Butch Taylor.

?So, Elias, you took down Dead Eye Pete, did you??

?Yes, I did, you missed the story I was telling inside,? Elias struggled to keep his voice from trembling as he spoke.

?Oh, we were there. We liked the round you bought from your bounty-? Scotch paused for a second, and looked inside ?-that was from the bounty you received, right??

Butch grabbed a piece of paper from his pocket, and rolled it out. It was the wanted poster for Dead Eye Pete. Wanted, dead or alive. Bounty: $1800.

?That?s a good amount of cash. But somehow, I don?t think it is enough to buy a round every night for two weeks. Not when you spend your lonely nights by paying ladies.? Butch grinned, and rolled up the paper to put it away.

?No, Butch, it isn?t,? Scotch said. He snapped his fingers and a blue flame burned the top of his middle finger. ?No, no, no, our man Elias here got that money through other means. Let?s say he was walking near our ranch, I don?t know, two weeks ago maybe. And let?s say he noticed a bit of a box sticking through freshly dug earth. And he, as the good Samaritan he is, decided to dig it up, take out the money, and keep it for himself. Let?s say that is what happened.? The flame on Scotch?s finger dimmed, but his finger still seemed to burn bright hot. He dragged it over Elias?s eyebrow, he felt it burning away, and his skin blistered underneath.

?Yeah, I think that?s a fine hypothetical,? Butch said, ?you know what. Let?s not even try to figure out if that?s what happened. But, hey, Scotch here is reasonable. As reasonable as I am. Let?s make that stolen hypothetical money a loan that you are going to repay us.?

Elias sighed out in relief. He expected the two to do worse to him, but apparently he got of lightly.

?Give me a week, and I?ll find the money, okay, no worries. Right??

?We got a better deal,? Scotch said, ?one you really can?t refuse. We?re going to have you collect some debt from an elderly friend of us.?

?You guys can?t do that yourself?? Elias asked, before he realized that he really wasn?t in a position to ask questions.

?We?ve got business to do the coming days, and we really want ol? Lester to pay up. But don?t worry, Bell will make sure you don?t do anything rash, like taking off.?

JukeboxTheGhoul · Dec 20, 2015

ANIMA

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Operation Redemption
Part One

Chug. Chug. Chug. Chug. Chug. Chug. Hissssssss. The revolving wheels of the train spun with incredible speed. Behind it, a wave of sand floated through the air, clouding the area. Through the cloud stepped Shadow, her figure a foggy silhouette in the cloud. As the cloud lifted, five people were revealed. Elliott hung at the back. Shadow turned her head to the group and nodded. They all ran forward, their feet running over the tracks.

Martirio stood at the edge of the path, below was a slope of desert mud. Gilded Brook was behind them, the dust cloud that was born in the wake of the Locomotive started to disperse. Martirio looked down at the incline and started to slide gently down side of it. Elliott stumbled down after the group. They got up when they got to the railing. They walked across the walkway and got to a door. Shadow reached for the handle. Elliott stepped forward.
?Allow me.? Elliott smiled as he yelled with pride ?Witnes-?
Shadow snapped at him ?Shhhhhhhhhh?
Elliott replied, ?Alright.? He started again, this time with a hushed voice, ?Witness the amazing abilities of the Great Elliott The Magnificent. Prepare to be amazed.?
He put waved his left hand with a wand for effect. He put his hand on the door. He hoped for something good. His hand started to glow. The door started to glow, this was a good sign. Elliott turned and smiled at Shadow. BOOM!

The door exploded with an immense power, fire spewed from his palm as the remains of the door rocketed across floor scratching at the floor of the prison. Elliott was hit with recoil and stepped back. The loud noise made the prison come alive.
?So much for stealth.? Elliott remarked. Shadow darted a glance at the others. Shadow took out her crossbow. She ran in. Through the door at the end of the walkway, out came a rush of guards. To the left there was a steep drop, almost a chasm. On the other side, there were 6 levels of uniform prison cells, Shadow looked up, there were innumerable levels, but she guessed it mirrored the other side. The mob of officers came closer, she quickly attached the grapple on to her crossbow and she aimed it at the railing of the top floor and pulled the trigger. The grapple flung out, then fell. She pulled the rope in. The hook caught on something solid and stayed there. Elliott ran up to her.

She looked at them, ?Deal with these people.? She grabbed unattached the hook launcher and put the crossbow on her back. She wrapped the rope around her hand and knotted it. She jumped atop the railings. She leapt in to the ravine. She rushed through the air, the wind whistled in her ear as her heart went through hoops as she swung across the great distance. She thrusted her legs forward. Momentum rattled through the rope. She quickly realised she wouldn't be able to let go of the rope if she was tied to it, she chanced at getting her knife. She gripped it fiercely as the rope hit the upper levels and tightened up, the rope flung her forward, she slashed the cord above her. She realised that was not a good idea when she hit the floor and slid in to the cell door. She groaned and shakily got to her feet.

Martirio came in, guards were pouring from every door. He saw Shadow's rough landing on the other side, he blinked next to her, ?High Priestess, are you hurt??
Shadow took to her feet, dismissing the throbbing pain in her arm and ribs, she looked at him. Behind him a guard aimed his sights at the two, he pulled the trigger.
Martirio, following her gaze, he realised he was being shot at, within seconds, he drew his sword from his hilt and swung it at the bullet, it was deflected, it whistled through the air before embedding itself in the stalactites. He looked at his commander, she nodded. ?Send them all to Gaudium.?

Martirio's armour glinted, the front of which was emblazoned with a circle and a line across the bottom which went out and around the outside of the circle. As he turned to face his enemies, his helmet muffled his voice, nevertheless, he cried out, ?For Gaudium!? pointed his sword towards the group and charged toward them.
Elliott stepped forward, feeling cocky about his chances due his force on the door. He brought out a pack of cards and started to shuffle them, ?Do you boys like magic??
In response, a guard took out his gun and aimed it at him. Elliott thrust his wand forward, ?Brak-a-doo!? And a sea of tomatoes burst out of his wand, they got pelted by the projectiles. They got bathed in a sea of red juice. Elliott laughed, ?Break a leg!? He rushed up to a guard and got up in his face and did a spell at him. Instead of doing something useful, his button became really really large.
?Awh, man!? He exclaimed. A guard jumped him, tackling him to the ground.

Altan swooped in from above, trailing behind him was a wave of blood propelling him forward through the air. He absorbed the blood just as he landed. Altan wore white robes with red accents, a leather belt and straps from the bag slung around his back. Altan walked towards the man on top of Elliott. Altan rose his hand and the Officer started to hold his head in agony, he screamed out.
?I can make you brain be crushed by your own blood, You want that?? He threatened. Elliott scrambled past in the confusion. The officer shook his head vigorously while crying out. ?Of course you don't, unfortunately I don't believe in last requests,? Altan closed their hand. The man's nose started to bleed. He screamed. Blood erupted from his head decorating the surrounding area. The blood stains on Altan's robes started to retreat, it moved from his clothes in to his hands and he absorbed it in to him. He was a haven of clean white in a sea of red He panted. Horrified. Some of the officers vomited from the disgusting sight. Altan, fatigued, accumulating the blood already in on the railings, he forced it in to a little ball and then threw it at an officer. Altan's vision was blurry. He grabbed on to a railing. He heard his own heart pounding, his breath became deep.

On above levels, Cassie Rawlings pulled the trigger of her handgun, the bullet impacted a prison officer's skull and they dropped dead, their body limp and lifeless recoiled. Xes?s grabbed a prison officer and walloped him in the head. He then dropped him down the chasm. ?You await Gaudium.?
Cassie walked past him and smirked, ?Doubt it.? Xes?s shook his head and started climbing up the ladders. Cassie rushed to the railings, she took out her Sniper Rifle, she aimed her target. She breathed in, aligned it. Then she pulled the Trigger. The target fell dead. Xes?s dismounted from the ladder, then he was faced by guard. The sheriff had his gun pointed directly at him. Click, as the hammer slotted in to position. Xes?s teleported behind the guard. He charged forward. The sheriff went to turn around. Xes?s leapt up and grabbed the ladder railings. He swung his legs forward. He kicked the guard in to ladder shaft. His head smashed in to wall. Xes?s jumped off the wall and back flipped in to someone else. He landed on the ground and then ran at them, he swung his arms around the man's legs and thrusted up with his shoulder. The Guard became dazed when his head hit the rail. Xes?s picked up the man with his hand and lobbed him in to the air. He then punched the man in the face, his legs picked up as his body lurched over the side and fell to the bottomless Chasm.

Shadow heard a click as she finished lock picking the door. She shoved the door open with her elbow, before her was the Warden office, a desk, cheap lighting and a potted cactus. Shadow put the potted Cactus in her bag. Shadow moved to the desk. The ink was tightly shut. The pencils were sharp and the pens were dry. It was obvious that this hadn't been touched recently, whomever left didn't leave in a rush. She went to trays, she started combing through the load of pieces of paper. She found nothing. In frustration, she knocked over the stack of trays. Paper flung everywhere. Only to find underneath the trays was a prisoner report. The piece of paper was clipped down.

Strange · Dec 30, 2015

Samson Silver

Bounty: $100
Level: 1
Earth

Samson was crouched down on the side of the road. It was almost dusk, the sun cast a beautiful shade of red across the horizon. He counted under his breath, "one, two, three!" He tapped the end of his pen, just as the carriage drove by, the poison tipped metal shaft sticking into the driver's chest. The carriage careened off the road, crashing and tumbling over. Samson ran over to the carriage, screaming and yelling.

"Oh my! What happened?" he asked as he helped a woman and her father out of the collapsing wreckage. "I don't know" replied the woman. "Lousy driver." The older man muttered. "Let me help you, here" Samson replied, lifting them out of the wreckage with one hand and carefully pulling various objects out of their pockets with the other. He didn't even pause to look at what he had stolen before he took off at a sprint, running as far away as he could before they noticed.

He paused as he reached town, looking at his score. "A handkerchief, a bag of marbles, and a few coins? Ugh! Let's see what's in my other pocket," he sighed, "YES! Score!" In his other pocket he had a silver-plated pocket-watch and two rings. He set course for a nearby pawn-shop, no need to be careful as the robbery wouldn't be common knowledge until the two got to town. And by the looks of them, they would take their time to be sure they wouldn't ruin their clothes.

He pushed through the doors, walking up to the counter. "How much?" he asked, dumping the contents of his pockets onto the table. The man at the counter looked at him curiously. "Father died, inherited some stuff, how much?" he asked, eager to get on his way. The man looked skeptical, but decided he better get to work. He took his time, carefully looking over each object, "seven dollars." "That's all?" Samson challenged. "Busness's been slow" he replied. "Fine," Samson took the money and left the store. He put the money with the cash he stole from his father, he took enough to anger him, but not enough that he would bother to come after Samson. He needed to get a good night's rest, he needed to be ready to run when he's discovered.

Samson walked over to the Inn, laying five dollars on the counter and heading up to his room. He had been staying here for a few days already, his ties were lined up neatly on the bed and his vials of poison were tucked away carefully in his brief-case under the bed. He untied his current bow-tie and grabbed a dark blue one off his bed, wrapping it around his neck and knotting it with perfection. He walked over to the room across the hall, careful to avoid anyone coming up the stairs. He slid two of his metal darts into the key-hole, after a few minutes there was a click, and the door swung open. He rummaged through the drawers until he found a wad of cash. He slipped it into his pocket, after counting it of course. He then left the room, heading down to the tavern. He wasn't going to be caught anywhere near that room when the brute who rented it found out he was robbed.

Samson slapped a few dollars on the counter, the bartender looked at him carefully. Normally they would be opposed to a kid in a bar, but this kid had money and looked like he had family in high places so the bartender paid no attention and slid him a drink. Samson didn't drink anything, as he hated alcohol, but he held the drink in order to blend in. He listened in on a few conversations until he heard a man barge into the tavern. "Which one of you did it?" He bellowed. "Did what?" an idiot asked, who was immediatly socked in the head, and fell to the ground. "Who took m'cash?" he challenged again. "Wait? You're the guy 'cross the hall o'me?" Samson asked, although he knew the answer. "Yeh, what's it to y'a?" The brute almost screamed. "I saw that guy walking out of yer room a while ago, thought he was a friend eh yers" Samson replied. "You did what!!" He charged at the man, while Samson charged out of the bar, looking back to see the chaos he had caused.

He slid into his room, scooped up his ties and stuffed them into his brief-case and left the inn. He started down the road, hoping that the darkness of night would conceal him as he ran through town.

JukeboxTheGhoul · Dec 30, 2015

ANIMA

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Spoiler:

Operation Redemption
Part Two

It was Anima's. She unclipped it and put it on the main desk, She put her finger on the piece of paper, she went to look down the prisoner report when she found the name entry empty. The field simply had an asterisk there. She looked at the bottom of the paper, a similar star was present, badly drawn, in fairly simple and messy handwriting the words read: 'No Birth Certificate found – assumed to be unregistered.' Shadow looked through the document. There was no hint as to his cell. Shadow sighed when a red slip of paper caught her eye. She grabbed it. 'Isolation Notice – Anima, IsoCell D.' She looked at the map of the prison. She walked out of the office. To the left of her was an officer running at her, but before he got close enough, Rawlings spotted this officer and shifted her aim. She shot at him, twice bullets impacted his chest, with one miss.

She walked to the railings. She did not shout. She said "Xesús"
Xesús' ears twitched, from across the chasm, his extraordinary hearing kicked in. He blinked next to her, "High Priestess" He knelt and put a fist on his heart.
"Send for Magician, Prophet has been located. Ask Eagle to keep watch."
"Of course, your highness." He nodded his head. He shimmered as he blinked away.
Appearing next to Elliott, he spoke ominously, "Elliott, it's time."
Elliott saw him appear and almost jumped out of his skin. While regaining his composure, he asked "Why are you guys always so serious?"
Xesús sighed, his figure became engulfed in mirage. He teleported next to Rawlings, "Eagle, cover us, it's time."
"Finally!" She threw her arms up in the air.
Martirio sliced through the abdomen of a man. The floor was soaked in blood.He pushed the man off the end of his sword with his sword. Altan had already gotten up and killed a few guards. Martirio looked to Altan, observing the damage dealt to the bodies on the floor. He noticed in Altan's eyes, his eyes weren't fased by the gore. "You shouldn't overexert your gift. You'll black out again."
Altan turned his head to Martirio, his soul wallowed in it's bloodlust. "Gaudium will take me when he needs. Before then, I will liberate all I can with my gift."
"You will need another weapon, your gift might falter."
"Gaudium is immaculate." Altan shot him a violent glare. Martirio nodded.
"I don't doubt Him." He paused, reforming his argument. "You cannot rely upon one weapon, you should purchase a sword."
"Always the thinker, aren't you?" He crouched down and stroked the blood with his fingers.
"How does one fight without thought?" He turned to look at Altan.
"Passion." He grinned as he stood up. "Like you do when you pray, you should fight how you pray, fight like Gaudium is watching every move. You should feel a fire well up inside your chest." He pats his chest with his fist. "A deep desire and rush come from your stomach." He put his hand on his abdomen and motioned upwards. "Your limbs should dance like bullets are at your feet."
Xesús teleported towards them, he perched precariously on top of the railing. "Prophet awakens, it is time." Xesús allowed himself to fall off the railings. He swiftly teleports away.

Shadow fires her harpoon towards the top of the Chasm, it pierces the layer of metal of the great dangling complex. The complex was about 7 stories tall, it reached the vast expanse between the sides of the Inner chasm. Where all of the cells were grey or shiny wire, the compound was as black as obsidian. It had three floors on the wide top, the middle of it had a converted mine-shaft elevator. The elevator casing ended with two levels of cells. On occasion, a prisoner would have been lowered down just below and it'd be exactly like a normal cell, except instead of wall you had 50ft fall to your death.

Shadow flicked the switch on her harpoon gun, the gun started to wind itself up again winching Shadow up, she flew through the air with tremendous speed. Bullets wizzing each side. She swung towards Elliott, briefly yanking him up and pulling him along with her. Shadow started to lose grip, Elliott slipped and grabbed her shoes. "Please tell me your laces are tied up."

Xesús appeared on the black ceiling, before he could fall he opened a portal from bottom side to the topside of the floor. As he started to fall, he blinked on to the ceiling of the cell and dropped down. Shadow pulled Elliott toward the portal with her legs. Xesús grabbed him and lifted him through. Shadow put her hands either side of the portal and lifted herself up. Cassie clambered up on to the top level of the cells, she brought down her bipod and attached it to the metal side. Altan and Martirio continued to war so they could attract attention to draw away from the rest of them. Prisoners continued to egg on the fights in the background.

Shadow looked about the room. It was pitch black, with a few blades of light segemented by the windows on the door. The stench was absolutely revolting. In the dark something moved, Elliott crawled up to Shadow in terror, a huge hulking man came out of the shadows. Shadow shrugged Elliott off of her arm.
"Well, well what do we have here?" He walked forward, towering over shadow attempting to intimidate her, "Pretty Princess, Scaredy Cat and Tough guy?"
Shadow looked at Xésus, "We don't have time for this guy."
Elliott straightened, feigning confidence, although he went over the top. "Allow me!" He reached in to his top hat. He summoned his magic to his hand. He took it out of his hat and opened his hand. An object materialised out of magical particles. It shot off towards the brute, it screamed as it's trail was lit with sparkles, it made a whoosh sound as it shot past. It hit the man in the chest, he stepped back a bit as it winded him. The object exploded in to a plethora of colours spraying in to all kinds of directions. The firework had seared the criminal.
Elliott looked to his compadres, "That's a new one."
Xesús had covered his ears, he brought down his ears, "You really know how to sneak don't you?" Xesús' ears twitched, he looked to the cell door.
"What's wrong?" Shadow asked.
Xesús continued looking, "This room is generally sound proof, so it's hard to hear, and if they weren't panicking before that firework, they are now. Because I can hear out of it, this means they definitely heard the firework."
"Let's make this quick."
Xesús nodded before going to the wall and opened a portal to the other side. The group rushed through.

Seeing themselves being over run, a guard ran to an alarm bell, he yanked the bell and it began to ring throughout the prison.
Altan's sphere of blood hit the guard's body, making a hole through him, he fell to the ground.
The Prison Commander heard the frantic bell chimes, that meant one thing, Intruders. She got up and grabbed her shotgun from the table. She motioned down the corridor, two guards went to the each side of the elvator She walked up to the elevator and stood on it, she nodded and the guards began to wind the winch down. The gears engaged.

As the squad moved down the corridor, Xesús paused, "Company."
Shadow walked forward. She peered in to cell. A familiar glinting white shone through the glass from a singular eye.
"Elliott, keep an eye out. Xesús, portal." Shadow ordered.
Elliott turned to the corridor. Shadow took out her bow and slid her arrow in to the string and looked down the other side of the corridor.
Xesús put his hand on the door, he summoned his magic to his hand. The wall quivered but no portal was made. The ripples started to resonate with the bars of the door. He stuck his finger in his ears, the ringing screamed out, Elliott and Shadow covered their ears also.
When the sound stopped, Xesús looked to shadow, "Problem, Magic Retardant."
Shadow and Xesús looked towards Elliott. Elliott grinned, "Now I'm useful!"
Elliott walked to the door and waved around his hands mystically. A red object appeared in his hands. "Uh Oh." He said to himself, he looked to the two behind him, they didn't move, they just looked.
"UH OH!" He shouted while moving his hands about frantically.
His companions finally recognised the urgency. Elliott was holding a pack of lit dynamite in his hand, he lobbed it down the corridor and the three legged it around the corner. As they slid around the corner, the fuse went off, it exploded in to large fireball that raged down the corridor. Narrowly missing the group, they were bathed in a warm glow as the fireball dissipated through the grates.
Xesús looked to Elliott, "Do you only make explosives?"
Elliott shrugged, "Some times I've teleported in to the girl's lockers. Try explaining that to the principal."
Shadow shook her head and walked around the corner, the corridor was black and charred. The floor in front of the cell was now a hole, the cell door was also blown off. A figure in bright yellow trousers and a bright yellow jacket what looked like it had been torn at by a wolf. The savage tears revealed Anima's chest tattoo, the tattoo had a circle in the middle and lines all about it, on the end of the lines were other circles. Anima jumped from his cell to remaining corridor floor. He walked towards the group. The commander of the prison came out from the elevator, the shockwave had winded the two guards at the top and they were unable to continue winching. The mechanism locked posistion as a safety measure. She slid through the gap between the elevator and the ceiling, she walked around the corner to see Anima walking down the corridor toward the end. She took out her shotgun, She knelt and aimed at him, "Prisoner! Put your hands up! Surrender now and your isolation period will not lengthen!"

The Explosion rippled throughout the chasm, the guards were getting stronger and more determined, no longer were they throwing themselves to the slaughter, but using tactics, Martirio, Altan and Rawlings had entered a fire fight. Rawlings suggested allowing prisoners to help but Martirio cautioned that the prisoners wouldn't have a reliable allegiance to them. Rawlings fired rounds at the blockades the enemy hid behind, Altan pelted them with blood and Martirio summoned an earth shield.

Additional back up was on-way for the Prison commander. She aimed down her sights. "Last warning!"

Strange · Dec 30, 2015

Samson Silver

Bounty: $100
Level: 1
Earth

Samson finally stopped running when he became to tired to continue. He settled down on the ground, opening his briefcase and sighing. "Stupid, stupid" he scolded himself. "Why do you always forget to bring matches?" he searched around in his case until his fingers closed on his spellbook. He began to hum, a melody his mother taught him before her death. There was a scratching noise, the sound of claws on rock, and his best friend Fen, a fennec fox, bounded over to him.

"Hey buddy!" he said, scratching under his chin. "We have a bit more cash! We just have to lay low for a while to make sure they don't come after us." Fen whined. "I know, I know, you don't like it when I steal things, but how else can I prove to dad that he was wrong? I need to make myself known as the most powerful sorcerer the world has ever seen! And to do that, I need cash." Fen looked at him with his cute, pouting face. "Stop that!" he half pleaded, half yelled. "Stop making me feel like that! What I'm doing is right, and nothing you can do will change that!" he retorted.

"Ugh, you'll never guess what I had to go through to get that money though. First I had to 'help' people, and then I had to hide out in a bar." He shuddered. "So many people! Remind me to never go in a bar again." Fen snickered. "Hey!" Samson laughed, swatting at Fen playfully.

Just then, there was a gun-shot. A bullet lay on the ground next to Fen. Samson froze, which wasn't the best idea, as the next bullet hit him in the arm. Blood spattered all over his brand new tie! "RAAHGHGH!" he screamed. He had never been shot before, the pain was almost unbearable. He grabbed his briefcase with his left arm, while Fen carried his spellbook in his mouth. "Fen! Here!" he yelled, running at a stone wall. He knew there was a cave on the other side, and so he created a portal through the thin layer of rock. After he slipped through with Fen, it disappeared. He collapsed on the cold floor, unable to bear the pain any longer.

Fen sat next to him, nuzzled his face into Samson's shoulder, and then he too disappeared.

Spoiler: Inventory

JukeboxTheGhoul · Dec 30, 2015

ANIMA

[S-HIGHLIGHT]Music[/S-HIGHLIGHT]
Information
Information

Spoiler:

Operation Redemption
Part Three

Anima continued to walk down the corridor. The Commander pulled the trigger, the click of the trigger reached Xesús' ears before the bullet left the barrel. Xesús blinked in front of Anima and pushed him to the side. The bullets missed Anima, they embedded themselves in to the wall, invigorated with intense rage, Xesús blinked next to the Commander and wrapped his arm around her neck and pulled her back. She started to gasp for air. He pulled tighter and then threw her on to the ground. He ran over to her gun and held her down with his foot. He aimed the gun at her chest and fired. The recoil was unexpected. It flung the gun out of his hand and slid towards the hole in the floor.
The commander said with robbed breath, "Armour.." she gasped deeply "... *****!" She took her handgun out of her holster and aimed it at Xesús. She fired at him. Xesús dodged it. He grabbed her fore arm and yanked her up, pushing her towards the hole. She was out of breath from the bullet proof vest pressing in to her chest. Shadow looked around the corner and fired her arrow down the corridor. The arrow head pierced through her thigh flesh. She fell forward in pain, holding her leg. Xesús ran towards the Commander to kill her. He picked the woman up, he summoned a fireball to his other hand, he held his hand to her face, her face began to burn.
"I send you to Gaudium." He pushed her in to the chasm below.
Anima stared at him as he mentioned the word 'Gaudium'. Shadow looked at Anima, she called to Xesús, "Alert the others, Prophet is secured, time for Evac. Regroup in Gilded Brook to travel to Fairbell."
Xesús nodded and shimmered, disappearing in a blink of an eye. Rawlings shot a barrage of rounds from above, picking off the reinforcements. She took the magazine out of the rifle and replaced it. She primed her rifle. Martirio wiped sweat from his brow, his armour was dented and scratched. His sword was beginning to dull. Altan took deep breaths, they were exhausted. Xesús appeared.
"Well?" Rawlings looked up from her scope.
"Prophet is secured-"
"Pfft, 'Secure' please, you left him with Elliott, he can't even control his magic!" Altan scoffed.
Xesús continued "Prophet is on his way out, we should too. Regroup point is Gilded Brook Rail station."
Martirio nodded, "I can blink out, Xesús can too. Altan will exit with Rawlings." Martirio and Xesús shimmered away.
Altan looked at Cassie, "Do you want the risky and quick way or to fight our way out?"
Cassie analysed her rifle, she was on her last magazine, "I wouldn't mind target practice but I'm low."
Altan rushed towards the railings. He stepped up on to the rail, he spread out his limbs. He began to fall. Altan let a trickle of blood trail him. He grabbed hold of all the blood in his body and gradually moved it forward, he went in to a glide. He pushed his feet out in front of him and knelt as he landed. The guards blasted through the earth shield that still remained with a grenade. The earth crumbled. The fired at her. Rawlings took the leap, she free fell, air whistling past her ear, she began to panic until she started to move forward instead of just down, she felt strange. She glided to a stop next to Altan. Altan allowed her blood system to return to normal, her heart thumped in her chest. A gun shot ringed in their ears. They ran out through the door that was blasted open. Martirio teleported multiple times, pinging around the place until he stole a set of keys, he blinked to each cell door and unlocked each. He blinked away before guards could catch him. Alarm bells were blaring through the entire prison. The cell doors were swung open by brisoners. Leaving the prison in chaos, rioting prisoners, overwhelmed guards. Operation Redemption was a success.

The train carriage wobbled slightly. Anima held on to the handles that dangled from the roof. "I'm impressed, Shadow." Anima looked around at his followers with scrutiny. He read the list of their names on the list. "Lucas Seraph Martirio... Altan Burakgazi... What is this... Exx...?"
"Seh-soos," Xesús corrected him.
Anima continued, "Elliott Temere and Cassandra Rawlings." He handed the paper back to Shadow. He and Shadow moved to the next carriage. Anima pushed a corpse off of the chair, the dead man had witnessed them getting on illegally, they didn't need more attention from the authorities. As long as they weren't traced from the scene, they wouldn't have trouble passing off two carriage worth of dead bodies as a coincidence. Anima sat down, "These are all followers?"
Shadow shook her head. "Elliott is wanted man, with a huge debt to a company up north, he's trading his unique corrupted magic system for protection. Cassandra is a Mercenary, she's the one to rely on if morale runs low."
"And Ieros?" Anima stared back.
Shadow looked down "The book was burned, but we managed to get your weapons and clothing from the evidence department." She placed a chest on the lap of a dead woman.
Anima stood up and opened the chest, sure enough his equipment was there. "Get them to offload the bodies, it's getting a bit crowded in here. Bring Xesús to me, I need to have a little chat."

Anima opened the door to the old gun shop, the above floor had it's counter removed, the back room was converted in to a living area, with a few bunk beds either side. The basement had the old stock moved to the back of the room and a mat put on the ground. Anima went down to the basement.
"We thought this could be your bed-" She was cut off by Anima.
"No, this will be an altar room." Anima looked at the wall. He called out, "Followers! Enter the altar room!" Altan, Martirio and Xesús went down the stairs in to the basement. "You all have pledged allegiance to the one true diety, Gaudium, the high king of the Astral planes. To complete this pledge of allegiance. One of you will ascend to the astral planes. And it is you Xesús who we will sacrifice to allow you to meet our lord. It is a loss to us as we won't have your expertise anymore, but it will be the greatest gift we can give you. And with the loss of your power, we will have the gain of my power. And afterwards you all shall get a glimpse of the afterlife to assure your following to the Order."
The three responded in unison. "By patronage of Gaudium, I accept."
"Martirio and Altan, sit on edges of the circle. Xesús kneel in front of me!" Anima ordered.
The two sat down where they were told. Anima put a large piece of pape on the ground.
"Sit." Anima asked Xesús to sit. Anima unbuttoned his coat and put it to the side. He took off his shirt, revealing his tattoo. Xesús and Anima sat down cross-legged. Anima turned over the piece of paper and then drew a replica of his tattoo on to the page. "Xesús, I need you to draw the symbol of Gaudium."
Xesús took the paintbrush that Anima passed to him. He painted a red circle on top of the black circle and then drew a line from the bottom left of the circle and did a curve upwards and then went out of the circle. Then he painted around the circle on the left side, and ended up connecting to an existing circle. "The path from our world to the celestial plane." They chanted.
Anima took out his dagger. "Bring out your spellbook."
"Is through death," the chanting continued as Xesús brought out his spell book and placed it on the paper. "Our vow is to not allow" Xesús turned 90° anti-clockwise and laid on his back. Xesús put his spell book on his stomach, leaving his hands on top of his book. Anima put his hand on Xesús' book and leant over him, readying the dagger.
"Anyone to kill us, or to kill ourselves." An orange aura radiates light from between the two, the book begins to glow, a beam comes from the spell book to Anima. Anima throws back his head in pleasure. "Before our goal is completed." The chanting comes to an end.
Anima announces, "Xesús, I commit you to the astral planes as a reward for your heroism in Operation Redemption."
Xesús responds, his voice almost drowned out by the humming from the mystical energy passing between them "Anima, I sacrifice my spell book in order to grant you your rightful power."
They all chanted in unison. "By patronage of Gaudium, I accept."
Anima sliced down with his dagger, slicing it in to his heart and pulling it down his body. He lifted out his dagger. He took the spell book, the front of the book shimmered. The words changed, the words "Xesus' Spell book" disappeared. The book cover changed, the word appeared "Ieros"

Anima grew an inhumane grin.

Sonata · Dec 31, 2015

Reflections

Jebediah Sanders, Bounty Hunter
Level 2 Air user, $1320
Remains of Wrench

Jeb scraped his hand across the ground and lifted a mound of dirt and sand up. He stared at it absent mindedly as the gentle breeze carried it away. The ghost town of Wrench. Since he'd been out of commission many rumors about the place had spread. There one day, gone the next. The natives even began retelling the stories of old, of the god Verelys, his conquest, tyrannical rule and subsequent betrayal and downfall at the hands of some of his most loyal.

Stories that once were used to keep children from running off in the middle of the night; stories that were once distant reminders of the consequence of great power. What once was a mere child's tale, had come back from beyond the grave once more. The natives knew. The settlers of Jeimas were still ignorant to the history and lore of the land.

They called the demon Veralice. In the divine's search for a suitable host it seemed to have taken a shining to a young girl of the name Alice. The girl had been innocent enough, but corrupted by the darkness of the bounty hunters who took her in after the death of her sister. Just another excuse for the Supreme Judges to throw down more massive bounties.

The people of the land - both native and non-native alike - were frightened. If the stories were to be believed, this Veralice had only just begun to realize its true power. The demon had been dormant for generations, and the young girl had only just barely touched a spellbook by the time she was taken over. If feats of strength such as wiping entire cities off the face of the map without a drop of sweat was simply its warm-up, then the Supremes would do all that was in their power to take the monster out swiftly.

All the forces which had been sanctioned to pursue and patrol the going ons of the other big bads were called back, and were all given the same task of finding and eliminating Veralice as quickly as possible. Hundreds left, but only handfuls returned. And those that did had stories of their own to tell.

The demon was raising an army of its own. Jeb had heard the same old thing over and over again on his way back out to Wrench. Each town that he stopped in, every bar that he drank in, all anyone could think of was what a being with that much power could do. What were its motives? And how could they cash in on that reward money? Even if it took a crew of thousands to take the girl out, the mere feat would surely put their names in the history books. The money was almost only an afterthought.

But in Jeimas, the only thing more powerful than notoriety and power was wealth. Soldiers, the Judges and even the Supremes could be bought off for the right price. And every now and then you'd find a few willing to revoke their entire family heritage if it meant that they could grow stronger. And of course in the case of the big bads, lower ranking outlaws swarmed to them hoping that by simply being under their wings would allow an increase in their own name.

This was certainly a time to be alive for a bounty hunter, but Jeb's heart just wasn't in it. Each time that he thought of killing Alice his own daughter flashed before his eyes.The innocent smiling face and the eyes that spoke to you, just begging to be held or hugged. The whole reason he had set out to become a bounty hunter in the first place was to avenge his own daughter who was killed in cold blood. And though Alice was a criminal, he couldn't help but imagine the pain that her father would feel when he found out that she had died.

Jeb shook his head and sighed. It was no use worrying about it now. When the time came and he had to make the decision, it wouldn't matter what his reasons were not to. He would have no choice but to kill her, even if it killed him in the process. He dropped the rest of the dirt pile and slapped his hands together. He stood atop the hill where Cosma's mansion had once been and looked down over the clearing below. The glyph still remained burned into the ground below, the gods' non-verbal warning to all who might see it.

Jeb slid down the side of the cliff and began out towards Silverston. There hadn't been any news of Veralice's actions, her whereabouts or her followers. He presumed that had she gone to the north then he'd have at least heard about her heading in the direction. But there was nothing to be found in any of the local gossip spots so Silverston seemed to be the next best option.

His body still felt numb from the overuse of his powers the month before. He had overexerted himself numerous times on the day that everything went to ****; and even with the newfound divine healing of Marzia it still wasn't enough. Eventually everything caught up with him. That and the fact that Janet had to take the time to engineer him a new right arm and place a lasting enchantment on it are what really kept him off the scene for so long.

Everything had healed relatively quickly with the aid of the tavern doctor, but the new right arm took some time to prepare. Janet had it made in the matter of a few days, but finding an enchanter who specialized in animating lost limbs took some effort. Janet went through all of the trouble of rounding up and utilizing old debts in order to get hold of the man from up north, only for him to arrive and explain that his powers were only a temporary fix. If Jebediah were to continue using this mechanical arm in this way, then he would eventually have to learn how to animate it himself as outside enchantments lose their power with each use. While it felt just like his normal arm at the moment, once this enchantment wore off and was replaced it would gradually lose its effect as Jeb grew immune to it.

At the moment though, the bounty hunter's priorities lay elsewhere. Alice had to be stopped before she could be allowed to awaken any further. Jeb momentarily cut his ties with Sophia and took the burden onto himself. He knew it was his own fault for choosing to save the young girl and sparing the outlaw, but he also knew that he couldn't kill Sophia yet. And if he were to tell the outlaw of what he was about to do, then that would surely be the result.

Jeb grunted. 'Yeah, good luck with that while Marzia's still around' he thought. As long as the assassin lived, the two of them were probably on the road to becoming big bads. That is, after they rebuild their numbers. Even if they are immortal, there's not much that only two people can do to be recognized while there's a literal god out there trampling cities and who knows what else.

Jeb sped up, changing his walk to a run as he finished up his thoughts. His movement spell combination wasn't complete yet, but still as of now was more beneficial than using a horse. Even if he did have to stop every now and then, take a breather and take some of Scrig's leftovers. Another thing that he was upset over. After taking Scrig's product the first time he had really been looking forward to the prospect of mass producing it for his own use, and Janet apparently had the same desires as he was given a thorough beatdown after he recovered for his failure to apprehend the outlaw. For now he had about four normal sized doses left, which would be plenty to get him to his first destination. But after that he would only have two more, and one of them needed to be kept on reserve for the battle with Alice. Meaning if he got into any trouble, he only had one trump card.

Jeb had searched on his way out for anything similar and Janet had also had his small portion analyzed by a chemistry based magician, but neither lead brought up a thing. The chemist saying that the compound was like nothing he had ever seen and that it contained elements not yet discovered, and the townspeople and minor outlaws along the way saying they've never even heard of a drug with the same or similar properties.

Everything he was searching for, and every place that he looked for it brought up nothing. The entire ordeal was frustrating, almost to the point of being infuriating. And through it all, Janet still threw more and more work onto him. At least now she had finally given him a lead on a couple of someones who are, or at least were affiliated with Jedediah's gang. And just so happens that they were last seen moving some cargo through Silverston. And if it turned out that Alice had also gone that way then it'd be killing three birds with one stone.

His plate was full and his hopes were high. The scar on his cheek burned as he built up the magical energies inside of him. His thoughts rested on the memory of his wife and daughter as he turned his run into a sprint. He couldn't wait for the day when he finally came face to face with Jed once more, even if he wasn't at the level he needed to be. Being even one step closer to his goal was all he needed. His lips parted as a smile formed across his face, and with the casting of a few spells he was off.

Strange · Dec 31, 2015

Samson Silver

Bounty: $100
Level: 1
Earth

Samson drifted off into a deep sleep. His eyes twitched as he had the most horrific dream he has ever had.

He was floating in a vast, dark space, filled with bits of objects from his childhood. His bed, his clothes, his toys, but it all got worse when he saw the cracked photo of his mother. He cried, sobbed, covering himself in tears. He only had one memory of his mother, his first day of school. She had given him a bow-tie, and told him that a bow-tie made him look like a handsome young man. The next day she was nowhere to be found. He looked everywhere for her, even running off at night to search the streets. It wasn't until years later that he found out his father had beat her to death after she told him he was drinking too much and needed to be a better role model.

Samson remembered her face in vivid detail, he longed to tell her that he loved her, but he knew she was gone and nothing he could do would be able to change that. He continued to cry, the world around him spinning, and blurring. He felt wet, his tears covered his face. He woke suddenly, laying in a puddle. "Ugh, why is it so wet?" he questioned. He splashed in the puddle, sitting up, the sticky water covering his hands. "Sticky?" he looked down, he was sitting in a pool of his own blood. He must have been out for a while, that much blood looked really dangerous to have left his body.

He tried to stand, he teetered at first, but ultimatly fell onto the ground into a pile of bat poop. "Ehhhh, my head" he complained. "Wait! Bats!" he yelled. A bunch of bats were startled by his voice and flew, quickly down the tunnel. "They know where the exit is!" he exclaimed. He tucked his spellbook in between his belt and his pants after which he grabbed his briefcase with his left arm, dragging it along as he crawled through the tunnel. It took hours, but he reached the end of the tunnel, gasping for clean air. The bat poop was caked all over his face, and every other part of his body. He would be concerned about his clothes if he wasn't in so much pain. "Ugghgh, help!" he squeaked, his voice failing him.

He inched forward, but he was sure he was going to die. He had no idea what he was supposed to do now. He'd never been in a life or death situation before, and by the looks of it he never would be again.

Spoiler: Inventory

machomuu · Dec 31, 2015

Amelia Caddaway and Joseph

War

"This is it, huh?" Amelia tapped one of her batons against her shoulder. "Caswell Incorporated?" Joseph looked up at the building, hands in his khaki pockets, smirking with a rather sinister expression. Amelia was no stranger to this, he'd made a similar expression when the two'd first met. She looked down at him and he didn't seem ready to respond. He seemed lost in thought, almost hypnotized. She sighed, looking up at the building that towered over her. It was nothing like anything she'd ever seen. Several stories high, held stable by metal support beams and thousands of dollars. It stunk of commercialism.

"Have you ever felt..." Joseph started abruptly, catching Amelia's attention. "...Have you ever felt as if you were hopelessly irrelevant in the grand scheme?" Amelia raised an eyebrow. "As if events were happening all around you. Without you. That your efforts in the long run were completely meaningless."

Amelia looked at Joseph indecisively for a few short moments before answering, "Yeah. All the time."

"Well soon, that's all about to end." Joseph's expression was unchanging through all of this, as if it had been frozen into a villainous twist. Normally, this wouldn't have even caught Amelia's attention. Joseph was a child, and though he was rather composed and eloquent in most cases, he would often have his fits of immaturity, and one such fit was posed expression. However, this seemed less posed and its wearer almost seemed unaware of his twisted mask.

Amelia looked back at the building that stood in front of her. "So, what's the plan? We just walkin' in through the front door or what?" Looking up, she surveyed the building's structural makeup- or what she could see of it. "Personally, I'd like to try and see if I can climb the sides. Seems like it's made up of enough metal that I could get to the top." Bending backwards far enough so that she could see Joseph, she asked, "But where would that leave you?"

Snapping from his trance-like state, Joseph gasped and looked around, his eyes meeting the flexible outlaw's. "Er…I'll be taking the front door. I'm family, they wouldn't think of laying a finger on me. You, on the other hand, are incredibly dubious. And you look weird. They'd probably shoot on sight." Amelia transferred into a handstand and then transferred again into standing upright.

"Well, it is true that my unique style isn't for everyone…" She crossed her arms. "But…don't you think this place is a little under-protected considering how important it is? I mean, the doors are just right there, no guards or nothin'. What even is this place, anyway?"

"I don't know. They didn't tell me much." Joseph responded sternly. "But why would it matter? I'm here. You have absolutely nothing to worry about." With this, he shoved his hands into his pockets and started walking toward the double door entrance to the building. "Not the security, and not what this place is. All you need to do is kill." With that, Joseph opened the doors and made his way into the building. Amelia waited a few moments, expecting to hear some yelling or screaming, but there was nothing. Surely nothing she could hear outside, at least.

Amelia ripped her eyes from the building to take a look around. She knew that she was outside, somewhere, but she felt as if she was far from civilization. Buildings as large as Caswell Incorporated just didn't exist as far as she knew, so the idea that something such as that would not be visible from anywhere in Ironhaven, despite residing in it, boggled her mind. Granted, there was an entrance elsewhere that lead into a seemingly much smaller building that actually had the words "Caswell Incorporated" placed just above its door, but Joseph was quite adamant that it had nothing to do with the building Amelia was standing in front of. Unclipping the metal braces that she brought with her from her waist, Amelia knelt down and fastened two of them to each of her feet. Then, moving back, she took a deep breath and sprinted toward the building. After taking her first step on the building, she used Static and her foot almost fastened to it. Following this, her second did the same, and so on. By now, she was effectively sprinting on the outer wall of the building. Though the outside wasn't metal in its entirety and consisted largely of brick, the insides seemed to be lined with metal support, making scaling the building almost as simple as walking. Had she wanted to, she could have easily stood horizontally against the building's surface.

With the top floor in mind, Amelia soared past floor after floor. That was, at least, until she met a section of the building that did not seem to accept the magnetized outlaw. Though she attempted to step on it, however there seemed to be no metal present and, as a result, she ended up pushing herself away from the surface. Amelia gasped as a chill surged through her body and she nearly lost her balance. She managed to catch herself on the sill of a window at her side, removing her still planted leg from the building and involuntarily swinging herself into the window. Glass flew to and fro and Amelia earned herself a few cuts, but she was mostly unfazed aside from having lost her wind. She gathered herself and quickly made note of the steps that seemed to be making their way towards her. She quickly made to her feet and ignored the gazes that seemed to be on her. She made her way into a door on her left.

Amelia found herself in an empty room. It was dark and smelled incredibly sterile. She didn't hear any noise or breathing save from what was going on outside the door, so she'd assumed that the room was empty. This in mind, she had no place to hide considering she didn't know if there was any cover. However, while looking around she noticed, through the light of the hallway that seeped in from under the door, that there was an out of place floor panel. Out of place in that it was a floor panel and the room's flooring was made up of marble, and on the panel the word "Lights" was etched. She stepped on the panel and, upon doing so, she heard a sound similar to that of a grunt. Almost immediately, a spark lit and in the four corners of the room torches started to burn. The room was illuminated, and what Amelia saw made her stomach turn. At the center of the room, there was a pod of water filled with various entrails and vital organs. In the center of it all was a spellbook. The pod read "Subject #045".

"What...the hell?" Amelia said under her breath. The pod seemed to be tethered to the torches with wires or tubes, and the room's walls were lined with medical tools and papers. Getting closer to the pod, Amelia found that despite everything, the heart was still beating. Amelia was confused and trying to figure out exactly what it was she was looking at, and after a time she'd realized that no one seemed to be coming for her. She put her ear to the door and see if she could hear what was going on outside.

But there was nothing. No commotion, no one going up and down the stairs, no one trying to get in. Opening the door, she poked her head out and, lo and behold, the hallway was empty. She had to wonder what might have happened to Joseph, as the only logical thing was that he was the center of the security's attention rather than herself. Still, Amelia knew that he could handle himself and decided to make for a staircase. As she ran through the hallway, she noticed that many of other doors had subject numbers on their faces. It would have been simple for her to just walk into the rooms and see if they were the same situations as #045, but she opted to spare herself the potential nightmares.

The stairs were in a spiral, and wound down a long way. Upon reaching the top, she found a familiar child standing with his hands in his pockets. He looked back at her and said, "Hey." Then, with something that was between concern and disgust, said, "...You look terribly. Almost like you saw a ghost. You okay?"

Amelia opted not to tell Joseph about what she saw and instead decided to deflect the question. "W-where is everyone? Weren't there people here just a little while ago?"

Joseph looked at Amelia blankly for a few moments before responding. "Yeah, that was me." He pointed to his back. "I gave them a little preview of The Angel and, well..." He crossed his arms and looked down. "They actually attacked. Which surprised me considering they should have known who I was. Needless to say, people died. A good number, but most of them evacuated. And the bottom floor's kinda burning." Amelia's eyes widened. "Not too much. It won't collapse anytime soon."

"So he's behind this door?"

"Yeah. Honestly, he wouldn't run despite the commotion" Joseph's face contorted, though not into rage. He seemed almost troubled by the fact that his target was just in front of him. "After all, rich people don't feel pain, and rich people don't get hurt." With this, Joseph pushed open the door in front of him. He hesitated for a moment after the fact, expecting the door to have been locked. Amelia pushed the door further open and was greeted to a room decorated with bits and bobbles that only the rich would waste money on. A red carpet stretched from the door to a desk at the back center of the room, placed in front of a wall of windows. There was a single presence in the room. Unmoving, sitting with its feet up on the desk.

"Howdy, it's been a while." A rather accented voice emanated from the chair. Joseph, immediately upon hearing this, started to shake wildly, as if his world, merely upon hearing this voice, had collapsed in on him. "So sorry, little fella. Mr. Caswell doesn't even worked here. Moved on from this branch a long time ago. Didn'cha know? He just visited here every now and again." There was an odd air of familiarity about this voice to Amelia, though she couldn't quite put her finger on why. "Oh, and it's nice seein' ya again, Ms. Caddaway. Sad it couldn't be on better terms." The man at the desk flicked off two pieces of paper. Amelia knelt down and picked them up. They were Wanted posters, and they had the names "Amelia Caddaway" and "Joseph Caswell" on them. Each for $300, with Joseph wanted alive. "Just went out today. Surprised it wasn't more, considerin' he has so much moolah, but I'm guessin' he just didn't want to waste the cash when he knew this'd be more than enough."

"H...He..." Joseph spoke with in broken words and chaotic breaths. "I...b-but...t-this isn't..." His thoughts seemed to be in disarray, which wasn't particularly good for Amelia as she knew the extent of his magic and how bad it would be if he panicked and did something they would both regret. "Nononononononono..." Joseph's fingers raced through his hair wildly, and he looked as if he'd barely the energy to stand. Amelia knew she had to do something quick, as she would either be snuffed out by Joseph or the man seated in the chair who no doubt had a firearm of some kind.

Abruptly, Amelia Blinked towards the man and lunged at him, causing both of them to collide with the windows that lined the room and shattered them. She cast Static, but was too far from a surface stick onto anything. Suddenly, she felt something tug at her arm and, as this happened, she was pushed closer to the building, just enough to lay flat against the outside wall.

"Mighty thanks, Ms. Caddaway." It seemed that the accented figure from earlier had saved her from the fall. As the glass fell, he lowered his hat to avoid being cut by the shower of shards. After they'd passed, he looked up at her with a smile. Much to Amelia's surprise, the figure was the same bounty hunter as the one she'd met twice in the Great Chasm. "Honestly, this time, I was hoping I could put up a good fight. Didn't know you could Blink like that." He tipped his hat with his free hand. "Name's Drex, by the w-"

"Let go." Amelia said dryly, Drex's hand practically digging into Amelia's arm.

"No can do, little lady." He chuckled. "An' you won't let me go, either. Not unless you wanna be pumped full o' lead."

Amelia scoffed. "Please. Even if your aim was good enough to shoot me while falling to your death, I'd just kill you beforehand." With this, she shook her weighted arm as best she could and prepared to spit on the bounty hunter.

"I wouldn't." He nodded behind him. Amelia looked at the ground to find that an entourage of weaponized individuals was walking towards the facility, looking right up at her. "And that little fire the kid set downstairs is all extinguished, too. This whole operation was doomed from the start, the big man upstairs knew all about it." He laughed briefly before saying, "Still, you continue to impress me. Takin' on Richard Caswell? With just you and some kid? That takes some serious guts, I tell ya."

The outlaw's mouth tasted bitter and she looked down at the bounty hunter with scorn. She used as much strength as possible to pull Drex up to her and, upon doing so, swiped his gun. His demeanor remained unchanged, he was quite calm about the situation, knowing that if she got rid of him somehow, the newcomers would have no reason not to shoot her anymore. With some effort, she rose to her feet and walked back towards the top floor. Just before she could step onto the window frame, the building shook and, from the sides of the top floor sprang out two large, burning wings. "Shit!" Amelia yelled, making sure to step back onto the metal part of the building so as not to lose her balance.

"Wh-what the hell is that?" Drex said, unable to take his eyes off the spectacle before him. Amelia looked down at the bounty hunter and clicked her tongue. She moved down enough so that his feet were firmly against the sill of the previous floor's window.

"Get the hell out of here. The spell won't last too long but the building's goin' down, so I'd make a break for it." With that, Amelia sprinted toward the next floor and, as was mentioned, she was met with a flurry of bullets. She was lucky in that some of those that had arrived were either too scared to fire or were blinded by the scarlet wings. Amelia jumped again through the broken window placement and was met with a distraught, winged Joseph. He was crying but the fire would allow his tears naught but to turn to steam. The marble flooring under him started to melt at the sheer intensity of the heat. The objects that filled the room were now decorated with flame, and the room itself had basically become a giant fireball.

"Damn..." Amelia looked behind her. It seemed that the hired arms were starting to leave, probably either not wanting to get involved or thinking the outlaw to be dead. Either way, Amelia was quite certain that they weren't bounty hunters (save for Drex, of course). This meant that she could make for a safe exit, but she couldn't leave Joseph behind. After all, he was the best meat shield she'd ever find. Acting quick, she shot at the young man. In an attempt to protect him, the wings closed and melted the bullet. Slowly, they opened again, and that was when she struck. She Blinked towards him and Repelled him, sending him tumbling towards the staircase behind him, which he fell down and subsequently fell unconscious. At this, the wings dissipated slowly, but the tumble did its damage. The fire began to spread through the staircase, and Amelia's time was short. She grabbed Joseph and sprinted towards the windows a final time. Stumbling on the mostly melted marble, Amelia tripped, but unable to afford falling, pushed herself off the ground and through the window, immediately casting Static and grabbing for anything that might catch her. She was suspended in the air for a time, as if the building were deciding whether it would take her or let jer fall, and she finally flung to the building. With this, she wasted no time in sprinting to the ground.

Once she reached the bottom, she distanced herself from the building somewhat and then collapsed. Fire seemed to be pouring from every door and opening by this point, but most peculiar of all, what pierced Amelia like a sword, were the several strange screams that she heard coming from the collapsing building. Some sounded human, others less so, but all of them sounded desperate and in pain. And after a short time, something even strange happened: the building exploded. Amelia gasped and quickly covered Joseph to protect him from debris, but after a few moments, she realized that nothing was falling at all. She couldn't hear anything hitting the ground, and, in fact, even the crackles of the fire were completely absent. With slight anxiety, she looked behind her, and what she saw was almost impossible. The building, smoke, fire, and all, had been transformed into a giant ice sculpture. Considering that this happened only moments after combustion, it was closer to being the sculpture of a gas cloud than it was a burning building. Inside it, however, Amelia could see sparks of electricity, and it was only moments before the building simply crumbled in a wondrous, sparkling display.

Despite how awe inspiring it looked, Amelia was far too overwhelmed by everything she'd seen and heard to give any dues. She rose to her feet, planting Joseph on her back, and started back towards her boss' place of operations. After all, she was finally a wanted woman, and she'd just started a war.

Ice1 · Jan 1, 2016

Elias Stork

Debts

It was the early morning, the sun's red shimmering in a way that reminded Elias that he wanted a drink. His feet dragged through the dirt, leaving a small dust trail behind him, and looking at it, Elias got thirsty for some booze. He'd arranged to meet with Bell in a saloon, which again reminded him of the sweet taste of beer. Oh God, did he need a ****ing drink right now. He was too sober to be extorted.

The saloon was empty, which wasn't unusual considering it was six in the ****ing morning and no sane man would be out of bed right now. Except for ****ing Bell Taylor apparently. There was no bar tender, and most tables still had chairs placed on them. Only the one in the dead center had two chairs, one being occupied by the beautiful presences that was Bell. He had certainly seen her face before. Unlike her brother and his friend, she appeared around town fairly often, leaving broken hearts and empty pockets wherever she went. She was certainly one for a good night, although for a man looking to find some company she was a terrible pick. She was too evasive to get under any sort of sheets. Even if you'd sneak up behind her, and tried to cover her with sheets, she'd probably know. What appealed Elias most about her was her figure. She had, as he'd put it, delicious curves, and was graced with red hair, something you didn't see often in the barren lands. Her face was that of perfection, the peak of beauty, and the peak of looking very pissed at Elias as he walked in.

"What's your plan," she said. Straight to the point was the way to go apparently. Elias didn't count on small talk, but this was a very harsh start.

"Ehm, well, if I'd just go sit down, I'll tell you all about it. It's really clever," he said, "because that's just how I am. Have you heard about my take down of Dead Eye-"

"Cut out the ********, Stork. I'm not here to socialize, this is business. And when it comes to business, I'm stonecold."

Elias giggled, "you don't seem as cold when you kiss a man's neck and empty his wall-" Again he was cut short, but this time not by Bell cutting him off, but by slamming his head straight to the table.

"Holy ****ing ****," Elias exclaimed, blood gushing from nose, "I was just joking."

"I don't know, Stork, felt pretty personal to me."

"And this is your go to? Holy ****."

"It felt necessary," Bell concluded, a small smile appearing on her face, "maybe I'm not stonecold. Maybe that Taylor bloods flows through me, and makes me a little hotheaded sometimes."

"Well than, stage set. Good ****ing lord. I'm gonna take you up and just cut straight to the business," Elias said with a muffled voice as he held his nose clamped, and tilted his head backwards.

"Okay, so first step: I walk up to his house, right?"

Elias's fingers shook heavily. He wasn't so much afraid for what he'd have to do. If the man would cooperate everything would be fine. But, people were unpredictable. It didn't help that the old geezer he was going to visit was a local outlaw either. A quite high bounty too. He put the half empty bottle of whiskey down on the front porch, and tightened the grip around the gun he was holding. With a deep breath, he knocked.

"So, I come up and knock, right? I'll have placed some stuff next to his windows, which I'll have scouted," he tapped the side of his head, "I'll have come prepared."

"Sounds fairly simple so far. Consider my unimpressed."

"Well, once he opens up, I will indeed ask him friendly, because that's the gentleman I am!"

"I'm coming," a crackling old voice said. "Let me just finish feeding th-the-the-t-the, ehm, the the the the," the voice faded as the man moved around his house. Elias sighed, and knocked again, but louder.
"I'm, ehm, co-coming. Just, ehm, give me a se-se-second."
"It's impor-" Elias was cut off by the door opening, and a boney, wrinkled man peaking through.
"Yeah, how, ehm, can I help you?" He asked.
"You're Elroy Jefferson?" Elias asked.
"Ye-yeah, that's me."

"Okay, he answers the door, you ask, he doesn't answer your question," Bell said, "what then? Because I really don't expect him to, you know, hand over that cash he owes us."

"I'll have my trusty gun. Aimed straight between his eyes, right? And I'll just make him. Who wouldn't get scared by me and my trust bulletslinger."

Bell sighed.

"You're gonna pay up your debts to Butch and Scotch," Elias said, still shaking, and tightening the grip around his gun again. His finger he had put on the trigger, lightly resting, while the rest of his hand tried to evaporate the handle.
"I-I don't have the, ehm, money, I'll get back to you, tomorrow. I-I'll find something," Elroy said, and he pushed the door closed again. Elias stopped the door from falling into its lock by putting his gun between.
"I'm sorry, they really do need that money. And you're gonna give it to them."

"I'm not even going to act like he'd actually be scared. You'll be shaking, and even a ****ing idiot can smell that," Bell said. If Elias were to describe her current expression it would be 'without faith in his actions tonight.'

"I'll just shoot him and take his stuff. No big deal."

The door got slammed back, and Elroy took off. Elias quickly tackled the door and ran into the house. The ground was surprisingly slippery, as if there was a thin coat of ice. Elias had lost him, but there were only three doors he could've gone through. Elias took the first door to his left, and now stood into a kitchen. Two bowls of soup stood on the table, one still boiling, the other probably not. Quickly he left the room, and took the door on the right side of the hallway. It was a bedroom, with one huge bed in the middle, and the rest of it being completely empty. Elias quickly tried to look under the bed. He didn't know if it was the weird combination of alcohol and adrenaline playing with him, or if there really was something under the bed, but he didn't wanna take a change and shot straight through it. No signs of it hitting anything. He lowered himself, and realized there hadn't been anything under the bed. It was just his mind playing games.

"Just for the sake of certainty, right, Stork. Let's say he dodges your bullet," Bell said, "which is rare, because we all know you're a ****ing marksman, right?"

"You should stop ****ing doubting me, Bell, holy ****, just have some faith for once."

Elias stood up, let his hands run through his hair, and sighed.
"Calm down. Just calm the **** down," he said to himself. He walked back to the hallway, and tried to make out if the position of the kitchen door changed. He slowly walked to the last door that was left. He quickly turned when he heard creaking behind him, though. With lightning speed he fired another bullet. He saw the body dropping, and heard Elroy scream out. As the man stopped moving, Elias's stomach started. It twisted, and he felt nausea coming up. He had just killed a man. He had ****ing killed a man. He wasn't ready for this. How would he even get out? He'd need to pass the ****ing body to get to the door. He ran into the only room that was left, which was another bedroom apparently. He smashed in the window, and hung his head out. The contents of his stomach left him, as booze, fear, and adrenaline put his body in a state of being really ****ing nauseas. As soon as he felt nothing was coming anymore, he jumped out, landing on his shoulder. He ran away as far as possible from the house. He'll search it for money later, once someone took care of the body. Wait, wait, nobody was going to take care of the body, were they? He'd have to do that him-****ing-self.

"I'm not doubting you, Stork, I'm just judging you for your worth," Bell said.

"Well, don't worry, Jesus Christ, I'll get it done. No problem," Elias said, and stood up. He left quickly, grabbing a bottle of booze and walked straight through the door.

gimmepie · Jan 2, 2016

Alex Rose

High Speed Chases

"He's still ****ing after us!" one of a trio of riders yelled to the others from his mount, a midnight black thoroughbred just like that of his two companions. Behind the man a lone bounty hunter rode, his chestnut horse kicking up a small cloud of dust of its own as it hurtled fiercely forwards towards its rider's targets. "Un-****ing-believable!" Dead-Eye screamed. The same damn bounty hunter had been tracking them ever since they'd run into him in Larkin where he'd been searching for them. Dead-Eye was not fearful of the young hunter, be he was a careful man that didn't like attention drawn to him when it could be avoided and leaving a dead bounty hunter in the middle of the route to Ironhaven generally attracted a bit of attention.

The bounty hunter in question was Alex Rose, his body covered in stitched up wounds, new scars and a plethora of bruises. The hard ride was agonising due to those gifts from the long-dead Rex Flinders, but Alex had decided to make Dead-Eye his prey so he was damn well going to catch him. The problem here was that Dead-Eye was running away. Alex had jumped him and his goons outside of a tavern in Larkin, but instead of attempting to fight back the trio had wheeled their horses around and taken off for the Sinking Road forcing Alex to scramble back to his own horse and take off after them. He'd been chasing Dead-Eye in the direction of Ironhaven ever since then.

"What do we do about him?" Alex heard the enormous man John Bach call across to Dead-Eye, but he didn't give the outlaw time to answer. Alex aimed his shotgun in the direction of the fleeing outlaws and pulled the trigger, his shot just barely sailing past Dead-Eye's head. The outlaw swore loudly and looked over his shoulder, Alex taking another shot that narrowly missed the fleeing Outlaw.
"Well he's ****ing shootin' so we don't have much of a choice now do we!" Dead-Eye yelled, put holes in 'im."

Alex winced at that, it wasn't always easy to hit a target on horseback but it wasn't so easy for the target to get away either. Both the enormous John Bach and his weedy little counter part, William Chesterfield, who road on the other side of Dead-Eye, shifted in their saddles to aim their firearms towards Alex. The next instant, bullets were whirling over the young bounty hunter's head. He lowered himself forward over his mount's neck, making himself as small a target as he possibly could as more projectiles whizzed passed him.

Alex tried to return fire, but his vision was obscured by the billowing mane and thick neck of his horse so he was not particularly close to hitting any of his targets. Dead-Eye's two followers on the other hand, were getting painfully close – although thankfully they weren't able to get close enough. Despite his situation, Alex grinned. There was nothing that could get the blood pumping like a life or death chase across the desert landscape. Things would only get more intense though.

"Shoot the ****ing horse idiots!" Dead-Eye screamed out, apparently not particularly happy with the job his followers were doing of making Alex somewhat less alive. An instant later, a shot rang out and blood exploded forth in front of Alex as the bullet collided with his chestnut. The horse whinnied out in pain from the shot and reared up, throwing Alex from the saddle and sending him tumbling across the dirt before taking a few steps forwards and collapsing.
"Shit…" Alex groaned, seeing his horse twitching in the last moments of its life and his targets getting away – laughing at his supposed failure.

Alex winced, the distance was going to be a bit much soon – he had to act immediately. A crackle of flame burst into existence, Alex vanishing within its midst a larger burst of flame suddenly burst into life over John Bach's mount, Alex within the burst of burning fire. Alex landed on his feet on top of the now ignited horse and leapt across to tackle Dead-Eye off the top of his own. The two men rolled across the hot desert ground as Bach and his horse both howled in pain. Bach fell from his horse and lay screaming in the dirt as the smell of burning flesh filled the air. His horse ran on for several metres before it fell to the ground and perished at around the same time as its rider.

Alex ended his tumble with Dead-Eye on top of the outlaw as William Chesterfield wheeled his black horse back around. Alex lifed his gun and pulled the trigger, the bullet catching Chesterfield in his side and sending him rolling off of his horse. This left Alex open though, and he took a fist to his face sending him sprawling off the top of Dead-Eye.

Alex tried to get back to his feet, but a boot to his already aching side prevented him from doing that. Through the small cloud of dust they had kicked up, Alex saw Dead-Eye pull a revolver from a holster at his side and level it with his head.
"You've caused me way more trouble than you're worth, bounty hunter."
"I was about to say the same thing," Alex coughed "You're making me work pretty hard for $1800."
"This is why you don't underestimate your targets." Even as he said the sentence, he pulled the trigger. Alex was acting at the same time however, disappearing in a flash of crackling fire that charred Dead-Eyes leg, causing him to fall and his shot to go astray. Alex reappeared nearby in a second bust of fire as the bullet flew away into the depths of the desert… or at least it started to before it turned around and flew back towards Alex forcing him to blink away again.

Again the bullet turned around and flew in Alex's direction and again Alex blinked away. Over and over again the bullet came flying for Alex forcing him to blink away from the projectile. Dead-Eye cackled, climbing back to his feet as he watched Alex fleeing his bullet.
"Didn't you hear about my magic boy?" he spat "I don't miss."
"I didn't think," Alex blinked out the way of the bullet again "it applied if you'd already shot."
"You're an idiot." Dead-Eye smirked as he lifted his revolver and pulled the trigger five more times.

"Are you kidding me?!" Alex screamed as he found himself blinking out the way of not just the one, but a group of six bullets all flying at him. Again and again he blinked away but every time he reappeared the bullets were already righting themselves and heading for him again. Out the corner of his eye, Alex saw Chestefield climbing back to his feet as he tried desperately to staunch the bleeding of the wound in his side. The injured outlaw joined his boss' laughter
"C'mon outlaw! Dance! Good goin' Dead-Eye!" he yelled in apparent delight. Alex blinked to be behind the wounded man, smirking as the bullets turned and flew for him. The bullets flew into Chesterfield, killing him instantly and forever etching the ghost of his last laugh onto his weedy features. It was far from over for Alex though; he had to blink away again. Three of the six bullets had gone straight through Chesterfield's shoulder and had doubled back towards him, and it wouldn't be long before the other three were free again if everything he'd heard about dead-eyes magic was true.

Alex ran forward a couple of steps and blinked yet again, this time to be behind Dead-Eye's horse. The bullets rushed into the beasts thick muscle, causing it to whinny is pain and terror and bolt off, knocking both Alex and Dead-Eye to the ground as it galloped off into the desert. Alex knew it wouldn't last long, they'd gradually dig through the fatally wounded animal and come flying back to greet him again if he didn't deal with Dead-Eye soon. Alex, pushed his hands into the searing hot dirt on the ground and used them to propel himself forward onto the downed outlaw. Dead-eye easily pushed him off of himself however, just in time for the bullets that had been stuck in Chesterfield's body to break free and come flying back towards Alex.

Alex blinked away in another flash of flame, the sudden fire searing the skin of Dead-Eye as he pulled himself onto one knee to watch as his remaining three bullets chased Alex around, the bounty hunter quickly tiring from blink after blink after blink in combination with the scorching heat of the sun. Still, he had somewhat of an idea. Alex, blinked straight passed the bullets and ran forwards towards the kneeling Dead-eye blinking again after a few steps knowing the bullets would have re-aligned themselves by then. He reappeared on the ground behind Dead-Eye and pulled the outlaw back over him. The bullets flew towards the two, but unable to strike Alex below Dead-Eye suddenly flew away in different directions as the outlaw struggled against Alex's grip. Dead-eye broke free of his restraint and fell to Alex's side on all fours. Even as Dead-eye reached for his second gun and Alex went for his revolver, having dropped his shotgun during the bullets' pursuit, the three remaining projectiles converged and came flying towards Alex again. Both men pulled their weapons, but Alex was narrowly faster. He pulled the trigger and blew a hole in Dead-Eyes head, blood from the now dead outlaw spattering him as the terrifying bullets finally fell to the dirt.

Panting, Alex lay back on the scorching sand for a moment and used his sleeve to wipe Dead-Eye's blood from his face. After his brief reprieve he stood up and sighed.
"Three corpses, one live horse and a suddenly very slow journey to Ironhaven… wonderful."

Foxrally · Jan 2, 2016

Sophia Hartmann

Status - Outlaw - Leader of Sangre Clan-----------------------Former member of Culebra Clan
Sorcery Level - 2
Element - Air
Bounty - 2200$

Spoiler: Current Sangre Clan

Barren Lands - near Silverston

A Fresh Start

Sophia teared off the top the envelope. It was addressed to 'Ms. Becker', from a 'E. Hartmann'. She took out the message and tossed the envelope aside.

Dear Sophia,

I am aware it has been a few months since our last contact, but given the situation I was in I am afraid it was impossible. For almost a year now my competitors have been tailing my actions; the ****ers are trying to get the smallest hint of illegal activity in the company. I have addressed the letter to a false name as per usual - can't be too sure. The envelope was also magically sealed, so you can rest assured that nobody else has read this message.

I have heard of the recent happenings concerning Wrench in the South, and your unfortunate involvement in the event. Though I am fully aware you are capable enough to rid yourself of any enemies the new attention may bring you, I am fearful for your safety. The new creature that people have been calling 'Veralice' which you have been spotted with is currently on a murderous rampage through Northern Jeimas, and was last spotted in Hummia. I am afraid your entanglement in this whole mess has made you a target for that demon. I think it would be wise to stay in Orhurst for a few months, and allow the ordeal to clear up. The controversy surrounding the death of Bertram and your illegal actions has mostly passed, and I can easily accommodate you in a safe and comfortable place where you will remain undisturbed until you wish to leave. I understand if your accomplices disagree, however this is for your safety. If you accept my offer, please do so by returning this letter to me, and I will arrange transportation for you.

However... Knowing my daughter, it is highly unlikely you will. You have the ****-filled stubbornness that allowed me to build this business from scratch. If that is the case, then know that my offer stands at any time and that I may not be able to contact you for another few months; so keep this letter with you safely.

P.S. I've included something else inside the envelope, courtesy of the company. Wouldn't let my little shitheaded girl go a year without a birthday gift!

Yours Truly,
Elias Hartmann

Sophia glanced to the side towards the envelope she had just thrown aside, raising an eyebrow. She picked it up. Didn't feel any heavier. Peering inside, she noticed that it was dark inside; as if it was much deeper than what it seemed like.

Typical. Pa always uses this spell to send large sums of money without being noticed. Fancy stuff, gotta admit. she thought, tentatively putting her hand inside and feeling around. She finally found the item that had been inside and pulled it out. "Damn..." she muttered.

The shiny, decorated shotgun that her father had sent her had come with a note taped to its side.

A little something to alleviate your worries. Fresh off the factory; custom made for you. It's got slightly less spray for a shotgun, but it makes up in accuracy and range.

P.P.S. Don't worry about the carrier pigeon who delivered the envelope, it's ethereal so it cannot be tracked down.

"...pigeon?" Sophia asked herself, confused. The letter had been delivered to her by a courier, who claimed to be a private messenger for her father. She suddenly realized her mistake.

"****!" she yelled, shoving the envelope and letter into her pouch and rushing outside of the small cabin in the middle of the desert. She scanned her surroundings for the impostor. After a few seconds, she found the man running hurriedly back to his horse, which he had hidden with a cloaking spell not too far away. Leveling and coking her shotgun, Sophia pointed it at him and pulled the trigger. To her surprise, despite the moderate distance between them, the man fell to the ground, his back filled with bullet holes.

She had no time to admire her new weapon, however; as she rushed to inspect the body. The man was indeed dead as she had suspected, so interrogation was not an option. She checked his pockets; and found a small silver badge. ****, ****, ****... Taking the badge, she hurried back inside the hideout. Just as she came in, the rest of her fellow outlaws appeared, having been alerted by the gunshot. Among them was Marzia; Sophia's right hand. "What the hell just happened?" she asked, pulling out her gun.

"****er who brought the supplies and letter was an impostor. He had this on him." Sophia explained, tossing her the badge. ****ing hell...

Marzia cursed under her breath. "National guard. They'll know we're here if he doesn't return." She threw the badge on the floor, which was promptly picked up by an elderly bearded outlaw who cackled threw it inside a bag.

Another outlaw entered the cabin. "Nobody outside right now. Brought back the ****er's horse too. Oh damn! Nice blaster, Fia!" he said as he noticed her new weapon.

"Tolkins, for the last time - this is your boss now. Antonio Culebra is dead. Show some damn respect before I cut your filthy tongue off." Marzia spat at him, her arm glowing from under her jacket.

Sophia flinched a little as her former leader was mentioned; the name bringing back an unpleasant set of memories. "It's fine. Being called boss makes me feel like my ass is kissed all the time. But that's past the point. We need to ****ing move, and fast-"

"Oi! ****, y'all take a look at this!" a voice called from the back of the room. It was the older outlaw. He was looking into the supplies box, frantically pocketing shiny bits of metal all while keeping an eye on something.

"This better be important, Abe..." Sophia walked towards the box the courier had also brought, and peered inside. Next to the boxes of ammo, cans of dried peaches and water, was a small, black sphere. "What the **** is that?"

Just as she asked herself this question, Nico emerged from her chest pocket. The Chameleon climbed onto her shoulder and looked at the sphere, and made a noise akin to a hiss. "Nico, what's... OH ****! GET THE **** DOWN!" she yelled, pulling the outlaw down as they slammed into the ground moments before the bomb exploded.

Sonata · Jan 5, 2016

A new lead

Jebediah Sanders, Bounty Hunter
Level 2 Air user, $1320
Silverston

After a considerable amount of traveling, Jeb finally reached his destination. Silverston, one of the few places in Jeimas that he'd never been. As he came to a stop outside of the city limits his nose began to bleed and his head throbbed. The drugs were still in effect so he had yet to feel any physical pain from the endeavor, but he knew once it hit it would hit hard. He had to find somewhere to wait it out before he went after looking for clues to the whereabouts of his targets.

The bounty hunter stumbled into town, the drugs slowly but surely wearing off. He could feel his body growing heavier and heavier with each step, and the feeling of pins and needles spread all across his body. But not fifty feet in front of him was the sign for a tavern, a small hole in the wall with a crowd of people around the entrance. Sanctuary. Jeb stumbled towards the crowd and started to push and shove his way through, trying to find a seat before his body gave out beneath him and he collapsed.

"-the ****in thing just appeared! Right in the middle of the ****in' meetin', that demon just popped itself up on the table in front of the Supremes and smiled to each one."

What was this? Jeb stumbled over to a chair and fell into it. It seemed he had not only found a place to rest, but also some juicy information. Could they be talking about Alice?

"Shit sent chills right down my spine. I've never seen a thing like it. Skin darker than the night sky, even lookin' at the damn thing made my head hurt. And y'know what the first thing it did after poppin' the **** up outta nowhere like that?" the kid who was telling the story took a drink from a rather large mug. He didn't seem to be much older than twenty, but he was dressed pretty well and seemed to be from somewhere up north based on the quality of the spellbook at his waist. "Damn thing said hello. Can ye believe it? ****in' demon. Comes up outta nowhere in the middle of a highly confidential meeting of the Supremes. And ****in' says 'hello'."

The storyteller shook his head and then chugged the rest of the liquid. He sighed and placed the glass back on the counter, motioning for the bartender to pour some more. As he waited for the drink his eyes hovered across the room. He was pretty unremarkable save for the missing left ear and huge scar over where his right eye once sat. The wound seemed to be pretty fresh as the skin was still irritated and puffed out from the healing treatment he had received. As the bartender gave the kid his refill, the northerner tossed his money pouch up onto the counter. He threw his head back, and poured a sizeable amount of the drink straight down his throat before continuing on his story.

"After that though all hell broke loose. As you know, each Supreme has three judges directly beneath them that they appoint themselves, but what you probably didn't know is that for each meeting of the Supremes the most trusted of the three sub-judges are allowed to sit in on the conversations and provide input. See, I'm one of those sub-judges that were allowed to sit in on this particular meeting." The kid shook his head and chuckled uneasily. "Really wish I would have denied the request though. To put it simply, that demon killed everyone it set its sight on."

The boy felt his face lightly and then winced in pain. "Almost got me too. The monster wasn't even in a hurry. No, the damn thing didn't even ****in' move. It was just ****in' toyin' with us. All fourteen of those in attendance drew their weapons and books. We threw all of our strongest spells at the monster, shot at it and struck at it. None of it even touched the damn thing. Our spells were absorbed, bullets turned to dust and our weapons flew from our hands. It was unlike anything I'd ever seen before. I'd never even thought such power was possible. But the ****in' thing didn't move an inch, didn't even blink through the whole of it. By the time we'd unleashed everything though it finally looked down to us from atop the meeting table. 'Were you going to start attacking or are we just going to wait around until nap time?'."

The kid let out another uneasy chuckle and took another large drink from his mug. "We all were scared shitless. We'd put out a rather sizeable bounty on the thing, but seeing it up close and personal… there was no way any one person could have taken the damn thing down. The bounty that had been placed on it was a joke. The thing looked over to Supreme Isaacs and pointed its finger in his direction. The Supreme looked in fear to the two other Supremes beside him, Supreme Lemons and Supreme Bruna who retreated to the corners of the room. Supreme Isaacs began to float up off of the ground and a ring flew slowly from Veralice to the suspended Supreme."

The boy's face began to shift and cringe up as he took another drink and a tear rolled down his cheek. "The ring began to spin quite fast. And as it did it started to get closer and closer to the Supreme. It touched against his skin and the room filled with his scream, and then it kept going all the way through his body. When it came out of the other side, the ring went back to the demon and Isaacs' lifeless body fell to the ground." The young judge refugee snorted and grit his teeth as more tears streamed down his face. "The other judges met a similar fate. Some of them were toyed with, some were slowly dismembered. After all but one of the Supremes had been dealt with in this way, the demon returned to the form of the young girl. She summoned a small sword made of fire and began to go around the room, killing the judge attendants like myself. She seared her name into some of their chests before piercing their hearts, and some others she chose to show her demonic powers to by tearing into their flesh with her bare hands and teeth. From me though she only got as far as taking my eye before… well…"

"Well what?" One of the patrons who had been listening to the story since the beginning asked. He was a rather plain man both from the front and behind. His shoulder length brown hair was a little unusual around these parts, but other than that he was completely plain. The voice sounded familiar to Jeb, but he couldn't place it to anyone of importance.

"Well," the boy continued, "Supreme Rhodes, Supreme Kleutsch and Supreme Brannard had managed to survive being burned alive. Somehow, I'm not sure how though, the three stood up and confronted the demon."

'Supreme huh?' Jeb thought. 'You're even more of a pretentious asshole now than you were when I left. At least now you seem to be doing something of benefit to the world rather than just letting any outlaw who says he's sorry get away.' Jeb clutched his fist and began breathing heavier. Every time he thought of his father he just became so infuriated. He still couldn't believe how the man had just let the murderer of his own granddaughter go. Jeb knew his father didn't care for his deceased wife, but his daughter was supposed to be different.

"Apparently the Supreme was the uncle of the girl, brother to her father it seemed. Though he'd never spoken of the girl before, he was apparently to be her guardian. The girl smiled sweetly, and for a moment actually looked to be just an innocent little kid. But then she jumped at the men. She shoved her hand down Rhodes' throat and then ripped his jaw out and tore through his throat in the process. She moved so fast, that as soon as her hand was free she was already on top of Supreme Kleutsch's head, pounding on the top of his skull until it audibly cracked under the pressure. Then she dug her fingers in and began to pull at both sides until his head split down jaggedly down the center. She went to leap to Brannard, but he did some spell and spoke in some language I've never heard before and then punched her square in the forehead. After that the girl disappeared, and Brannard came to heal me. He said some more stuff, but I can't remember what all. He did tell me I had a week to figure out if I wanted to continue being a judge or not, but that's the last I remember."

If Jeb could have moved anything on his body, he would have been running towards the kid with his jaw hanging open. This nobody little **** had just seen his father killed firsthand. And at the hands of Alice no less. The bounty hunter was assaulted with all sorts of conflicting emotions. Hatred for his father and Alice, sorrow over the death of his father, regret over not having talked to his father for so long, hope that he could save Alice and the feeling of having that hope slowly being crushed by Verelys' dark grip over her. It was all too much. Tears began to stream uncontrollably down Jeb's frozen face. Alice had always reminded him so much of his own daughter, the thought of her killing his father…. it was unbelievable. He didn't know how to handle all of this.

"Hear that Thomas? That demon Veralice is getting stronger. Perhaps we should warn the big man." The seemingly average man turned to face Jeb and started to walk out the door with his brother to his side. It was then that Jeb remembered the man and placed his voice. This was the bounty he was hunting. It was right in front of him. That scar on his face was from Jed's fire. It marked them as traitors, and was the first time since becoming a bounty hunter that he had a real lead on that bastard Jedediah. The wound on Jeb's face burned as the man grew closer, and Law slowly began to wince as he grew closer to the bounty hunter, unaware that he was being hunted at the moment.

As the two came nearly face to face however, the brothers noticed. First Thomas, and then Law. The first of the two recognized the bounty hunter from years before when he had first managed to track down Jedediah's gang and earned himself the scar on his cheek. Law noticed it was him when his scar began to burn just as hot as the day he had first earned it from attempting to betray the big man.

"Law! It's the law! We gotta get the hell out of here!" The brother grabbed onto his brother's arm and rushed out of the tavern. Jeb remained motionless in his seat. His eyes and scar burned red-hot, and he shook violently as he willed for his body to go after the two. But the after effect of the drugs were right in the middle of hitting the bounty hunter. He wasn't going anywhere for a while. The feeling slowly came back to his face, which quickly scrunched up in anger and was followed by an extremely loud and held out scream.

Everyone in the tavern turned to face the bounty hunter who began to rapidly change between a series of grunts and screaming out the word '****'. The young judge who had just barely escaped death stood up and made his way over to Jeb. He kneeled down in front of the immobilized bounty hunter and looked him in the eyes.

"Buddy. It's not that big of a deal." He said as the bartender handed him two large mugs full of black liquid. "We're all goin' to ****in' die anyways." The judge tipped the mug back and shoved the other into the face and down the throat of the bounty hunter in front of him.

Shak · Jan 9, 2016

-Achilles Nimbus
Allies - Coady Landis & Isaac Heaton

Status - Bounty Hunter? Level - 2

Element - Electricity

Money - $3200 ($27, 800 to go)​

You're Never Alone

"Bastards have been outlaws for two weeks and they haven't broken a godamn law. What a couple o' buzzkills." A hushed voice groaned in the bushes. Beside him, a puff of smoke arose, followed by a pained chuckle.

"You realise that a couple means two, right?" The second voice corrected.

"What?" The first of the two outlaws removed his face from his sniper scope to glare at his partner. "The hell are ya talking about?" His quizzical expression was formed in response to the trivial response his accomplice had given him.

"A couple is two…there are three of 'em. That means they aint a couple." He explained calmly.

"Wh-who gives a ****? The fact is, the assholes aint done ****, I got nothin' to report. Get back to the boss, before he calls people out to watch us." The first man hissed in a controlled fit of rage. Despite his anger, it was fear that was the most prominent emotion in his eyes, and his accomplice could see it clearly. It made the man chuckle. The angered outlaw returned his face to the scope of the sniper, as he felt the presence of his partner disappear.

Across the canyon, two of the three men he'd been watching were in deep discussion; though judging by the exaggerated body language, the conversation seemed to be getting very heated. The shorter of the duo was far more outspoken, while the other seemed to have a condescending composure about him.

The third, Achilles Nimbus, was sat a few feet away from the arguing men, staring begrudgingly at the page that sat on the floor in front of him. Beside him lay a tattered black waistcoat, which had protected his white shirt from the dust impressions that had been made almost everywhere else on the susceptibly coloured piece of clothing. The sleeves of said shirt had been neatly torn, and replaced by tightly wrapped white bandages, which stretched three quarters of the way up the man's forearm. He easily looked the weakest of the trio, yet he was the one Dodgy David was the most interested in.

"Look, asshole, I'll have you know, smithing is a craft, alright? It's not like I just strolled into this hell hole making shitty swords and daggers. This isn't the ****in' stone age." Isaac explained, with a clear sense of irritation sieving through his tone. The scornful and dismissive chuckle that Coady responded with, only served to anger the Earth sorcerer even more. Despite the fiery and intense aggression being presented by Isaac, both Achilles and Coady maintained their cool.

"I don't think they metal in the Stone Age, I'd say that was a bad analogy." Achilles said flatly. The interjection turned Coady's chuckle into full blown laughter. Isaac breathed deeply.

"First off, no one asked you. Secondly, you're one to talk, becoming a bounty hunter...really? Lemme guess, trying to follow in your grandfather's footsteps. That's Cute. I've had to look after your ass since you got to this ****in **** bath. From you two fighting like a couple of stupid drooling toddlers trying to play with a toy car, to you chasin' ass like a lovesick godamn teenager! So don't go lecturing me on history. I couldn't give half a **** right now." Both Achilles and Coady waited patiently for their chance to but in, as Isaac continued his rant. While both raised a brow at the 'drooling toddlers' comment and withheld an internal chuckle at 'shit bath', it was the comment about 'lovesick teenagers' that really caught Achilles' attention.

"Lovesick teenager?" Achilles repeated, still in the same flat tone. Both men turned to face their seated comrade. "I don't think now's really a great time to be doing this." His eyes remained dead; they were fixated on the ground still. "About our next target though…" He continued, before being interrupted.

"Nah, I'm done. I don't care what you guys do, I'm heading back up north. I'm going home." He began to walk away as he spoke, and his voice audibly drifted with him.

"You're just gonna leave Lucy to those bastards then? You care that little, huh?" Achilles prodded, causing Isaac to stop walking, but not turn to face him.

"I'm sure she's in capable hands." He did his best to mask the fact he gulped before he spoke. Like Achilles, he wanted to save the girl. His eyes wandered as the wind began to pick up dust in the distance. "She'd better be."

"That's not up to us. Is it ****ers?" Coady called out. There was silence. "What, you assholes are gonna act like you're not around? **** all of you then!" He stuck his middle finger in the air indiscriminately. Again, nothing happened, he was met by nothing more than the wind.

"When you're dealing with Dodgy David, you're never alone." Achilles recited, barely loud enough for Isaac to hear. Coady continued to shout profanity at the group or individual that may or may not have been watching them. Isaac sighed. There wasn't much point in turning back now, no matter how much Coady pissed him off. What kind of man would he be if he turned his back on saving this girl after so long?

"So, about our next target…" He continued gesturing for Achilles to finish it off. He rolled his eyes in response to the smug grin that grew on Achilles' face. The lightning sorcerer grabbed the page he'd been staring at on the floor, which caught Coady's attention. After seeing the familiar face on the page, Isaac sighed and shook his head. He took a few steps away to compose himself. Coady raised a brow.

"Why this guy? He looks like the devil's ****in' scarecrow. The hell do you want with him?" He shrugged. Isaac, after taking a moment to chuckle at Coady's analysis, returned to explain the situation.

"This, as you can probably see by the name on the bounty poster…" He walked over and displayed the name, by slowly sliding his hand underneath it. "…is 'Anima', he's the asshole that stole Achilles' spellbook, indirectly killed his cutie patootie girlfriend, and stole his imaginary friend that's somehow actually real. Achilles wants revenge. Considering how much fun dealing with that slimy **** toad was the first time, I'm sure we'll have a blast going after him again." Isaac explained, almost completely full of sarcasm.

"I did have a broken arm last time." Achilles murmured, stretching his left arm.

"You're welcome, by the way." Coady chuckled. "Since I'm not an asshole, I decided to choose a much less demonic looking target. One that goes by the name of Sophia Hartmann."

"Hartmann…isn't that the gun company?" Achilles inquired.

"Who gives a ****? For once, I agree with Coady. She has a higher bounty, and she looks less like hell spawn. I'm sure she can't look in your soul and ****. We're going after her! Isaac announced, not giving Achilles a chance to interject. From that, all Achilles could do was release a reluctant sigh.

East of Larkin​

Ice1 · Jan 10, 2016

Elias Stork

That Early Morning Hangover

Elias had a headache. And a real fucking bad one with that. With a hangover that could probably qualify to be one of the apocalypse's horsemen, he walked onto the front porch of Elroy's house. He took a deep breath as vague blurry image boiled up in his mind. The man's body should be right by the door. He'd just have to get through to the clean-up, and then he'd search for stuff that was worth money. He picked up the bucket that stood next to him. In case of emergency. He took a deep breath, and tried to force himself to go in. His hand trembled a bit, but his feet slowly dragged him to the door. The wooden porch creaked with every step he took, and it was as if the whole house started to moan and groan. As if it had just woken up, and was processing the horror that taken place in its bowels.

"I'm just going to open the fucking door, and get to it," Elias told himself. He let out a sigh, and just went straight for the door. When it opened the first thing that hit him was the smell of fresh soup and the fading smell of bread. Immediately after came the cold. It was freezing, as if the temperature had halved. Then came the most shocking realization. The hallway was corpseless. Bloodless even. A multitude of scenario's started to play through his mind, but none of them explained what he saw here. The only likely option was that he had survived the shot and dragged his body away, but even then, he should have bled out. And the shot sounded very fatal, considering the man didn't move afterwards.

Creaking came from the kitchen, and Elias turned around instantly, making the building let out another wooden sigh. He sprinted to the kitchen, even though in the back of his mind he knew he should be sneaking. The kitchen contained no living soul. What seemed peculiar to Elias, however, were the two bowls of soup that were still at the kitchen table, leaving trails of smoke from the heat. A torn up piece of bread was laid in between them. There was no sign of the body here either. He quickly skimmed over the other rooms, before ending up in the hallway with empty hands. No body to clean up, that was a positive. He did bring his puke bucket for nothing, but that was something he was very willing to accept. The problem was however, that someone probably had taken the body. Bounty hunters planning to collect, or a wild jackal with the opposable thumbs needed to make a breakfast soup.

Again Elias heard creaking, this time from the porch, and this time undeniably human footsteps.

"I-I, ehm, I made a soup," he heard Elroy say, with a voice unfitting for a dead man. The truth started to reveal itself to Elias. Elroy Jefferson, immortal. He had revived himself from a gunshot no man should be able to survive. Risen from the grave like Lazarus. It all started to click together. That was why the people in town couldn't lay their hands on Elroy. That was why he was an outlaw. He was immortal, or at least had the power to resurrect himself. Maybe even sold his soul to the devil. Immediately Elroy started running to the door. He swung the door open with incredible force, making it strike him in the back as he walked out, tripping him over. He landed on with the bucket in his stomach, and it took the breath out of him. He heard Elroy behind him gasp, and Elias got up immediately, not even throwing a gaze behind him.

"Don't you fucking dare hurting me," he screamed as he disappeared of in the distance.

It took him a good thirty minutes to reach the walls of Ironhaven again. The city limits and the streets he'd stray around him instilled him with a bit of confidence. Even if Elroy would go after him, he'd be really difficult to find in Ironhaven. The city was big, and there were too many saloons to hide in. He was safe. He was save from Elroy, save from Bell, save from Scotch and Bu- no fuck, fuck, fuck. He still needed to repay Scotch and Butch. He really needed that money badly. He needed to get Elroy to repay his debts, but he sure as hell wasn't planning on returning there. He'd need someone else to get rid of Elroy first. Elias's mind was immediately drawn to the bounty. That'd be good incentive. It was around $1000 currently, but if he added on the money he had left from what he started referring to as his "dead eye bounty", it would add up to around $2200. That was big enough of a bounty to get someone on that job. The bounty hunter would just kill Elroy and collect, and then Elias could just come in after and search for money. It sounded like his best, and more importantly only, option. And if he would get in deeper shit, he'd just buy a bigger bottle of vodka, and let his problems solve themselves.

Sonata · Jan 15, 2016

Toxin of Purity

Jebediah Sanders, Bounty Hunter
Level 2 Air user, $1320
Silverston

"Buddy, buddy, buddy, buddy buddy. Look buddy. Buddy, buddy look." The young judge was leaning forward in his seat almost on the verge of falling and passing out. He was balancing one of the numerous mugs that he and Jeb had shared in the past few hours on his finger. "Buddy watch this." The mug flew up in the air and the judge kicked his chair back and fired a bullet of water from his finger which shattered the glass, causing it to rain down over the two.

Jeb burst out in laughter as the tiny bits of glass bounced off of him. This judge had turned out to be a pretty alright guy after they had shared a couple dozens of glasses. The bounty hunter had long since regained his motor controls, but by that time had long since forgotten the reason he had come to Silverston in the first place. All that mattered now was that he was getting free drinks and everything seemed a little bit brighter.

"Judge McLinnely," Jeb leaned forward, hardened his face and pointed his finger lazily at the man's nose, "I don't, I don't think that's really *hic* the way a soooooon to beeee supreeeeeeeme should be actin'." Jeb's serious stare quickly broke as a smile crept across his face. The two burst out in laughter and then ordered more drinks.

"'Fraid I can't be servin' you no more judge. Ya went and busted the last of the glasses. Pay yer tab and be on yer way." The barkeep responded.

"The heeeelld'ya think yer talkin' to? D'ya eve hear the words, comin' out of yer own mouth? I'm a p-payin' cussstomer man. Ye can't be doin' me like this man. Don't you, don't you lie to me *hic* about *hic* not havin' anymo glasses. Ye got… ye got…" The judge labored to stand, swaying from side to side and threatening to fall flat on his face as he did. He made his way over to the counter and slumped over it. "Ye got some goddamn glasses right… right there…" the judge lifted his finger and pointed it at the barkeep's face where his spectacles rested.

"Yes, but those aren't the kind of glasses I can serve you with. And besides, you already done went and scared off all my payin' customers with all your hollerin and yellin and magic tricks and whatnot. I'd really prefer-"

"Shhhhhhhhhhhhh." The judge laid his head on his left arm and reached out with his right hand. He waved his finger slowly at the man as he spoke. "Shhhhhhhhh. I don't *hic* want to hear any uh that…" the judge's eyes slowly began to close. The barkeep looked over at Jeb who still seemed to have some of his wits about him.

"This is your responisibility now. I've got to close shop until I can get more glasses. You're lucky you're a bounty hunter, but this'll be coming out of both of your pockets. That's for sure."

Jeb grumbled as he rolled off of his seat and landed on the ground. "Do I really 'ave to?" With a defeated look on his face, he attempted to meet the barkeep's eyes.

"Yes. You really have to. I'm not going to be responsible for this or whatever it is you two get into once you try to leave here. Take care of yourselves and get the hell out."

"Uggggghhhhhh. Why you gotta be like this doc?" Jeb moaned as he slowly pushed himself up off the ground. He let out a burp which was almost followed by something foul, but managed to force it back down. He pounded his fist against his chest lightly and stumbled over to the young judge. "'Ey, buddy. We gotta go man. Bar's is closin."

"Mmm. I don't wanna move. Wake me up in ten…" The judge let out a yawn and propped his feet up on the stool beside where he was sitting. "I jus' want ten more… minutes…"

Before Jeb could sort everything out in his head enough to form a coherent objection, the sounds of snoring could already be heard coming from the young man. "What the heeeellll maaaaan? I thought we was gonna party and drink and get t' kno each otha all niight? Don'tchu be givin up on me now." The bounty hunter craned his neck and slipped it under the man's arm and then lifted him up onto his shoulder. "Don't worry buddy, I'll find us someplace fun to go. Then I'll wake you up."

"Don't forget, you promised to chase those outlaws out of town." The barkeep called as the bounty hunter was heading for the door.

"Outlaws?" Jeb asked and then slowly turned his head towards the bar. "What outlaws?"

"Did you really forget? Shit I know you drank a lot, but for a couple of hours all you could talk about was how those two brothers were your key to avenging your daughter. You told me, the judge and everyone who would listen your whole life story. But besides that, you promised that you would boot them out once you were done here. They've been wreaking havoc on the market around here for months, but nobody has been able to find them once they left. But you said you could probably find them, because you share a similar scar. Or something like that."

Jeb turned all the way around and looked at the barkeeper. "How long ago did we have that talk?"

The barkeeper rubbed his chin and then looked towards the ceiling. "Oh, about four or five hours ago?"

"Why the hell didn't you tell me sooner?" Jeb screamed out.

"Whaddya mean why didn't I tell you sooner? For two hours after you first mentioned them it was all you were talking about. We couldn't get you to shut up about the whole situation and how excited you were…. I'm beginning to have second thoughts about whether or not I should close the bar for the night now that I've got a real good look at you…"

Jeb waved his hand and turned his back on the man. "No, no. It's fine. I'm fine. We're fine. We'll manage. I'll go find these brother outlaws and take them out. No big deal. I've been drunker than this before and still managed to hold my own. Everything's gonna be ok. But… could I maybe have a drink for the road?"

"I don't have any glasses."

"That's fine, just fill this water canteen with something. Doesn't even matter what. Just something to drink other than water. I can't stand the tastelessness of the stuff. Really just gets to me. I don't know."

"Whatever you say guy." The barkeep went over to Jeb and took away his canteen, emptied it out and then filled it with the same liquid they had been drinking the whole night.

"Thanks much. Now one final thing, do you have any idea where these outlaws may be hiding out at?"

"Well yeah. Right outside town there's an old abandoned mine. Not really the biggest of secrets. They stash all sorts of things in there, but somehow they hide themselves and the majority of it quite well because any time we send anyone to investigate all we find is a little bit of silver or some stolen jewels here and there. Nothing to get to worked up about, and nothing of great value that's been stolen. But since you've got some magic you might be able to find out wherever their stash is a little better."

"Yeah, maybe…" Jeb rubbed the scar on his cheek, slowly unblurring the events that ocurred right before he became so shitface drunk that he almost forgot who he was. The burning sensation was light, almost unnoticeable. But the feeling earlier that day was undeniable. It had burned nearly as bad as when he first received the scar. "I'll find them… don't worry."

Jeb pushed open the door and braced himself for whatever adventure lay ahead. But what he hadn't braced for was a small group of heavily armed outlaws staring him down.

"Jeb-ed-i-uh fuck-in Kleutsch. Not in a hundred years would I have expected to find your sorry ass here." An average figure stepped out from behind his small wall of men and smiled at the drunken bounty hunter. "I thought for damn sure you'd have given up the chase a long time ago."

"Like hell I would. 'Specially not when you make my job so damn easy." The scar on Jeb's face felt as if it were boiling as he dropped the unconscious judge to the ground and hovered his hands over his pistols.

JukeboxTheGhoul · Jan 16, 2016

Shayne Jacobs & Siren

[S-HIGHLIGHT]Music[/S-HIGHLIGHT]
Information
Information

Spoiler:

Sharpening Claws
The Fat Man

Jacobs entered the museum, as the door opened, it triggered a bell that heralded the arrival of a customer. Siren followed behind. Ahead was a counter, behind the counter was a fat man, he was wearing a white shirt, with thin black lines that ran faintly vertically, that was cleaned regularly but the insides of the rolled up cuffs were grey with dust. His forearm was covered in loops of hair. His palms were clean but his nails showed evidence of dust. Around his neck was a small red tie and braces that looped around his shirt, it hooked on to the loops of his trousers and was painted gold. The man's hair had balded, with two patches either side that was combed down towards the temples. The arcs of hair in the middle of his head were tall.

"Welcome to Browning Museum, Sir Jacobs." The fat man grinned.
"Sir?" Jacobs looked at him, "Alright, I think you don't know what you're in at the moment. This is the chasm, the fucking heart of all treachery in Jeimas." He imitated grabbing a heart and yanking it down. Then he took out a box of cigars, and the Fat Man frowned.
"No smoking in here, ruins the antiques." He gestured to the rest of the room which has a replica of an old cannon on it and on the wall an old painting of God.
"Fucking shut up for a second," He lit a cigar and smoked the first puff, letting it out with a sigh of satisfaction. "First, no one's a Sir in the south. Second, lose the bell, this aint a sweet shop for little squirts to thieve. Third, lose the gold and red, one: you'll get mugged instantaneously, two: red is too juvenile, it's a hungry world outside those doors. Every fucking peasant for themselves." He took another mouthful of smoke. "This, it's for those of us who are dragons, the ones who breath fire upon the land." He blows the cloud in to his face, "and the weaklings. This land doesn't give two shits about your artefacts, it will flatten you and then gobble you up if you don't change."

Siren meandered up to the counter. "I'd suggest you ship every original item here and send it back north." She glanced at Shayne "We're your protectors, we protect you in exchange for use of your premises." She followed the gaze of Shayne, he was eyeing the pristine barrel of a musket. "And your items."
Fat Man rose an eyebrow, "My items?"
"Yes," Shayne snapped out of his thoughts, he turned his face to Fat Man, "I want ownership of all weaponry in the shop-"
"Actually, sir, it's a museum." Fat Man interjected.
"Don't interrupt me. I'll tell you what I want as I see them." Shayne walked off absent-mindedly.
Siren smiled, "He likes old guns." She turned to follow Jacobs.
The Northerner cleared his throat, "Uhhh, was he serious about all that... just then?"
"Oh yes, you should run away with your dear items immediately. But, hang around, I can see you becoming useful." Her eyes drifted to the man's flabby stomach, "... someday or another." She followed Jacobs.
Shayne admired the ancient firearms. He picked one up and aimed it down the room, looking down the sights. "What do you reckon I could hit with this?"
Siren looked at the other antiques, She came across a large sarcophagus. Siren analysed it, "Good place to keep prisoners."
Shayne nodded at her, he picked up a musket, he grabbed the ramrod and looked down the barrel, the nozzle was scuffed from it's history. He blew down the barrel.
"Been broken for decades." Fat Man put his hand on door frame, he called to Jacobs.
"Why hasn't it been fixed?" Shayne glanced at him.
Fat Man scoffed, "It's old, it's retired, one of the few ways we get originals in the Barrenlands – if it's broke."
Shayne lit up with an idea. "Can it be fixed?"
Fat Man smirked, he weaved himself and his blubber through the trail, he placed his hand on Shayne's shoulder, "Let me show you my favourite exhibit."

Through the curtain was a room with charcoal wallpaper, the floor was bare and the room was as black as tar. Fat Man lit the oil lamp, with a rush of light, the room became alive. Attached to the wall was a humongous brick structure, it was rounded and had two mouths at the front, a grill was the floor of the top hole and below was dark. Around the side it had something that looked akin to a candle wick but was metallic wire and was in it's own little alcove. The monstrosity had dual chimneys of bare brick that reached for the ceiling.
"It's Merva." Fat Man mentioned while Jacobs was mesmerised by the object.
"Mmh?" Absent-mindedly, Jacobs responded.
"The furnace."
Above the two gaping hole, unskilled albeit diligently applied white paint on top of it read 'MERVA' In front of the furnace lay a large anvil that was made of iron. The surface had a lot of signs of use. "It works. A passion of mine is Ironmongery, I applied for a grant from the big boys up north, it was made and sure enough it's on display as a replica."
Shayne's eyes glinted with audacity. "The broken ones-"
"I can fix 'em." Fat Man interrupted, he laughed and a face of confidence appeared on his face as he leaned back on the wall.
"Great," Shayne walked out of the room, patting Fat Man on his black. "You fix, I'll fire." His lips curved in delight.

Meanwhile, Siren went behind the front desk. It held the usual miscellany; coasters, pens, post, accounts... Siren looked at the accounts for a few moments. The museum was loaded, the cash fed in to it by the north was considered small by the standards of 'Hartlocke History Preservation Society, Subsidiary of Waltham Incorporated.' but in the south these sums seldom appeared. She finished with treasury summary. By force of habit, she flipped the folder closed, behind it in the shadow was a thick wad of paper folded over. She started to get up but she was infected with curiosity. She slid her hand underneath. Pulling out the newspaper, she unfolded the page so the front page was on full view. Her eyes trembled as the read the large letters on the front.
"Fuck..." She mumbled to herself as her eyes scanned the paper.
"What?" Jacobs' smile dropped to a frown as he heard her, he came up to the door frame.
She looks up and sighs, her voice tone switching to reading. "The Outlaw, only known by the Alias of Anima, who was incarcerated in the Chasm Prison, is now on loose following a brutal assault on prison guards by several other fugitives."
"Shit." Jacobs exclaimed.
Siren continued. "Witnesses report that there was an explosion in the main complex, the attackers could use magic. Two people have been identified, the native terrorist, Redeeming Shadow seemed like the head of the assault. The other is none other that Elliott Temere, who is wanted for not repaying $300,000 loaned to him by Waltham Incorporated."
Shayne looked at her. "Anima on loose? How could this get any..." he paused, glaring at the wall in absent thought, "...better?"
Siren raised her eyebrow, "Hmm?"
"Anima has gotten out of prison, meaning his bounty has gotten raised. Elliott is helping Anima, now we can knock both out at the same time, we get both bounties and we're swimming in cash."
"Shayne, we don't have the fire or man power to take down the demented groupies of the resident Sadist, he escaped from us last time too."
"I was drunk!" He shouted in sudden fury. Siren jumped back in shock. For a few moments, the room was thick with tension, the only sound was the heavy breathing of Shayne. The tension dissipated after a moment.
He turned towards the direction of Fat Man, and called out to him. "Can I get those medieval gauntlets?"
Fat Man came out of the Forge Room. He gave Shayne the two sets of metal gloves, wiping the sweat off his brow.
Siren waited for him to take the gloves. "Look, we don't even know where they are."
"We do," Jacobs grabbed his shotgun, turning to the door.
"We do?"
"I've been taking bounties for years, if there's one thing I've learned is that once they get out of prison they always return to their base." He looked back before opening the door. "They can't resist." The sun beamed in to his eyes.

gimmepie · Jan 17, 2016

Alex Rose

Striking a Rare Deal

Alex stepped out the open door of Ironhaven's local constabulary, stuffing a rather hefty wad of cash into an inside pocket of his coat as the harsh sun of the Barren Lands beat down on him, making him wince. He had arrived at the large wall of Ironhaven about an hour earlier, exhausted and covered in blood and leading a sweltering black horse with a trio of corpses tied to its back. Ironhaven was a far bigger place than he was used to, dwarfing even Larkin which was easiest the largest town within the Chasm, so he had wandered around for quite a while before being able to dump the bodies with a Sheriff and collect the gang's collective bounty, knowing all the while that he would recieve a lashing from Janet for dealing with anyone other than herself. Needless to say, Alex was not having a fantastic day.
"Wouldn't be surprised if she gave me the boot... like she'd want the stench of three fucking corpses bothering her on the walk back to Spider's Hollow." he muttered to himself irritably. Alex loved the chase, the consequences of the chase he was less fond of.

"Hey you, pale dude," someone yelled to him, "you're a bounty hunter, right?"

The sudden voice lifted Alex out of his contemplations of his likely grim fate when he explained his actions to Janet. He looked around and found the source of the question coming from a short and thin man.
"What of it?" he questioned in return, not particularly caring if he was coming off prickly.

The man walked up to Alex, and reached out his hand, but got nothing in return.
"So we're playing the rude game, ay?" he said, with a breath that smelled more like alcohol than a bottle of whiskey did, "anyway, not going to let you get to me that way. So, I have an offer for you. There is this man that I despe- that I need to be taken out, and I'm willing to double his bounty for you, no questions asked."

"Why do you so desperatly want this man dead?" Alex asked, his curiosity somewhat piked "And more importantly, how much money are we talking about right now? Because I am in no mood to go and hunt a sixty-four-year-old with a walking stick that has a ten dollar bounty."

"Well, I come to bring good news," he answered, but his face showed unease. He didn't look Alex in the eyes, as if he wasn't telling the truth. And considering he walked up to a bounty hunter and offered to double a bounty, he probably wasn't. "It is not a sixty-four-year-old!"- he stopped to think for a second -"no wait, maybe he is. But, he has no walking stick and no ten dollar bounty. He's senile, and has a two hundred dollar bounty. I can tell that offer piqued your interest, right? Right?"

Alex sighed as he saw the expression on the man's face and nearly did so again when he heard the details of his offer. Four hundred wasn't an amount to scoff at by any means, certainly not for a bounty that was actually worth two hundred, but Alex had no interest in going after such a dull target. There was no fun to be had in capturing or killing some old guy with a gambling problem and there were no opportunities there for self-improvement either.
"Nope." Alex said flatly "Not interested in grandpa." he then turned and begun to walk back towards what appeared to be his new horse since his borrowed chestnut was lying in a dried pool of blood in the middle of the desert now.

The man looked around, but quickly realized no other bounty hunters were around at the moment.
"No! No! No, wait, I'll make it two and a half thousand dollars!" he yelled, his voice cracking through the pressure of desperation.

"Let me rephrase," Alex said, now resisting the urge to just shoot the annoying beggar in the head and be done with it "Fuck off, I need to go and get my ass kicked by an old chrone." Once again he turned to walk away.

"Okay, okay, okay, what if this senile dude was unkillable. Because believe me, I fucking tried, man, but that guy's still walking around here. Does that sound like a challenge enough, you fucking, ehm, fucking, fuck-" his voice drowned away as the man realized he probably shouldn't insult someone, and more importantly, as he realized he couldn't think of anything.

"Unkillable?" Alex turned back to the man as his voice trailed off "What do you mean unkillable?"

"I'm saying I put a bullet in him and the next day there was no fucking trace of it, and this guy walked around again. And I'm not talking bullet to the shoulder and the guy just magiced it away, no no no, I saw that fucking bonebag hit the ground and bleed out there, you know. Like, blood everywhere, eyes rolling into the back of his head. He was fucking dead, and now he ain't..."

An unkillable old man was certainly a lot more interesting than regular, boring old man. More importanlty though, this person was clearly very desperate to see this not-so-regular old man very dead. Alex couldn't believe what he was about to do, but an extra few thousand planted in Janet's hand would probably spare him her wrath.
"Alright." Alex began, resining himself to his fate "I'll kill your unkillable man. But you're going to make it a full three thousand, not two and a half, and if you try any bullshit with me I'll put a bullet in your head instead. Deal?"

"Holy fucking shit," the man whispered under his breath. He took a deep breath, wiped the sweat from his forehead, and again reached out for a handshake, again unanswered. His eyes quickly shot from his hand to Alex's cynical expression, before he decided to just retract.
"Deal."

[Other FULL] Gunpowder (M) (IC)

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