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Gunpowder
OOC | IC | GM | Wanted List
Welcome to Jeimas, a large and influential country famous for the skill and power of the sorcerers it produces. The north of Jeimas, where the capital of Orhurst is located, is a land of plenty where the government’s influence keeps everyone happy, healthy and safe. The climate here ranges mostly from cool to warm (bar the mountains of the far north) and the land always gets the right amount of rain, never too much and never too little. The north of Jeimas is like heaven on Earth.
That’s the north, the further south you go in Jeimas the worse that things get. Especially once you reach the Barren Lands and the Great Chasm. The Barren Lands are an enormous desert that fills the entirety of lowest reaches of Jeimas until you reach the sea – well they assume that’s how it works, nobody has ever made if far enough through the Barren Lands to find out. In the Barren Lands the ground is almost entirely covered in coarse, orange sand and there are few rivers or lakes. During the day those who live there experience scorching heat, during the night they experience bone-chilling cold. Food is scarce in the Barren Lands, communities rely upon cattle ranches for their supplies of meat and milk and many poor families frequently are forced to go without meat if they can’t catch or keep their own – which is not always an easy feet. Perhaps the worst aspect of living in the South however is the crime. The reach of the government is weak in the Barren Lands, which has allowed numerous outlaws to emerge and thrive without the law to oppose them. Overstretched, outmatched and outnumbered law enforcement in the Barren Lands are often forced to rely upon bounty hunters to handle criminals, and even then there’s always another outlaw to take a captured ones place… assuming they don’t get there first and take control of the territory themselves in the first place.
The worst cases of this affliction can be found in the Great Chasm, an enormous crater within the Barren Lands filled with small communities. The Great Chasm is extremely isolated from the outside world, but is also dependent upon trade with the outside to survive. This is why work is being done in an attempt to expand the small railway line inside the Chasm to link it with the major north-south line. Until then though, horses and carts are used to transport goods to cities outside the Chasm, which is very slow and inefficient and a large part of why those within the Chasm are poverty stricken. If the north of Jeimas is heaven on Earth, the south is hell.
You are either a rookie bounty hunter, working out of Janet’s Bounty Hunting Agency in Spider’s Hollow, or a fledgling outlaw. You are also however, a sorcerer. For as I said earlier, Jeimas is a country of magic and even in the Barren Lands spellcasters can be found using their abilities to commit crimes or to capture those who do. Many bounty hunters and outlaws alike have some degree of magical ability.
Bounty Hunters – As a bounty hunter, you will begin your story working under a crotchety, old ex-bounty hunter named Janet. She was once a formidable force in the Barren Lands until she was injured attempting to capture one of the “Big Bads”. As a bounty hunter it is your job to make money by catching criminals and collecting their bounties. The more experience you get as a bounty hunter, the more powerful you will become and your rank as a sorcerer will grow to match. The ultimate goal of a bounty hunter is to not only break off from their agency and to free-lance successfully (so they can keep the entirety of the money they earn) but to eventually build up enough finances and reputation to open an agency of their own. One should not be fooled into thinking that bounty hunters are all allies though, it’s a hard life and competing bounty hunters will often go to extreme lengths to capture their mark, even at the expense of their fellows.
Outlaws – As an outlaw you will begin either working under a more notorious criminal, or committing small robberies and raids of your own. As an outlaw your goal is to steal and extort to make money and to take out anyone who stands in your way. The more your own bounty increases and the more powerful and notorious you get, the higher your rank as a sorcerer will grow and the closer you’ll get to the end goal. The end goal of most outlaws is to become notorious and powerful enough to be categorised as one of the near-legendary “Big Bads” who dwell within the Barren Lands – the ten worst criminals alive who even most bounty hunters try to avoid. The life of an outlaw is not an easy one either, you will not only have to successfully steal, extort and kill to earn your money – escaping the clutches of the law and bounty hunters both in the process – but you will also often be forced into turf disputes and conflicts with other criminals seeking the same things you are.
Gunpowder is predominantly a sandbox roleplay in which you may go about fulfilling the roles of your character in any ways you see fit, thus resulting in the development of plots. Events I throw in along the way, such as the eventual appearances of some of the “Big Bads”, will also serve to develop plots within the roleplay. The roleplay does have an ending planned, but that’s for me to reveal later.
In this roleplay there a certain mechanics to consider, mostly surrounding magic. There are three categories of spells, these are
In addition to these three categories, most spells are of an elemental nature being affiliated with fire, water, earth, wind or electricity. At first sorcerers only have access to one element, however as they become more powerful they gain access to more elements. It should also be noted however, that some spells are non-elemental and can be used regardless of a sorcerer’s affinities.
All sorcerers possess the innate ability to use magic, but in order to actually use this ability they require a spellbook, something not easy to come by. The further away a spellbook is from its owner, the harder it is to use magic and should a spellbook be destroyed the owner will not be able to use their spells unless they can somehow claim a new one. For this reason criminals who are captured always have their books burned and often do the same to their enemies.
As characters either capture more criminals or commit more crimes, their rank as a sorcerer will gradually increase to match their reputation, their power growing along with their rank. A character’s rank, determines the kinds of spells they are able to use, expanding the number of spells they can use and the power of their magic. The ranks are as follows
As can be seen in the points above, at first you will be able to only use weak spells of one element. Three of these will be generic “stock spells” listed below, whilst two will be custom spells of your own creation. In addition to magic, your character will also be able to use weaponry similar to that of the weaponry available in the Old West (ie. Revolvers, knives, shotguns and hunting rifles, and nothing automatic). In Jeimas, electricity has been discovered, however in the South fires and gas lamps are generally still the majority, flames are used for cooking and most travel is done on foot or on horseback as the steam engine trains are used only for transporting goods or on occasion miners who are returning home from the site.
Spider’s Hollow
Spider’s Hollow is a small but rather central town located in the Great Chasm. It is notable only for it’s popular tavern and for the bounty-hunting agency located there. Most of the breadwinners from Spider’s Hollow earn their income trading with the many travellers who pass through or by working in other nearby towns such as the nearby mining town Gilded Brook.
Gilded Brook
A town slightly larger than the nearby Spider’s Hollow that is populated primarily by miners and their families. The town got its name when prospectors discovered gold by panning the nearby river, something that lead to the discovery of rich gold deposits nearby. Gilded Brook is frequently targeted by bandits raiding the stores of gold.
The Great Chasm
The Great Chasm is an enormous crater located deep into the Barren Lands. Nobody is sure exactly how such a large crater came to be but since its discovery several small settlements have sprung into life within the Chasm due to it’s rich mineral deposits and easily defensible location. Most towns inside the Chasm are only hours away by horseback.
The Barren Lands
The Barren Lands are a large desert region located in the south of the continent of Jeimas. Towns in the Barren Lands are primarily known for mining and livestock as well as for having higher crime rates and harsher climates than locations in the north.
Ironhaven
Ironhaven is one of very few large cities in The Barren Lands and is located several days travel away from the entrance to The Great Chasm – Sinking Road. Merchants and traders from the nearby small towns flock to this city to sell their goods and it is one of the few places with a decent government presence. Ironhaven is well known for being the best place to learn sorcery in the south of Jeimas and is characterised by its enormous stone walls.
Larkin
The largest town in the Great Chasm, Larkin is located right near the edge of the Chasm close to the entrance. Residents from Larkin earn their income as farmers on the outskirts of the town, as workers maintaining Sinking Road, as tradesman, working on excavating a railroad tunnel or as miners at the nearby town of Wrench.
Wrench
Wrench was the smallest town in the Chasm and, like Gilded Brook, was a mining town. The entire community of this town was dedicated to mining the various ores and minerals found underground and within the sides of the Great Chasm.
After the events surrounding Cosma and Veralice, the town of Wrench was destroyed. All that remains of the town now are a few barely standing, deserted, buildings and piles of wood, metal and other debris that used to be the rest of the town. Some have begun trying to rebuild but progress is slow and costly without support from the Northern companies that run most of the mines.
Silverston
Silverston is a mining community located not far from The Great Chasm. It is a town far larger than most in the Chasm, bar maybe Larkin, and is tough competition for the mining towns there as it is responsible for not only the largest silver mine in the world, but also for smaller platinum and iron ore mines.
Fairbell
Fairbell is a town not much larger than Wrench. It is located only a few hours from Spider’s Hollow and is notable only for its small but beautiful church. There are no religious buildings in Spiders Hollow or Gilded Brook, so religious individuals from those towns often visit here.
Orhurst
Situated far to the north of the Great Chasm, well outside of the Barren Lands, is the city of Orhurst – the capital of Jeimas. This city is enormous with many well-maintained cobble streets and is the home of many government buildings, businesses and houses – although only the richest live in the large inner city houses. Most residents live on the outskirts of the city with farms and plantations being the furthest out properties. Orhurst is home to the greatest educational facilities in the world including Skyrith Academy, a school and university dedicated to not only educating people, but also producing great sorcerers.
I will be accepting players until I feel it is becoming too many to handle.
OOC | IC | GM | Wanted List
Introduction
Welcome to Jeimas, a large and influential country famous for the skill and power of the sorcerers it produces. The north of Jeimas, where the capital of Orhurst is located, is a land of plenty where the government’s influence keeps everyone happy, healthy and safe. The climate here ranges mostly from cool to warm (bar the mountains of the far north) and the land always gets the right amount of rain, never too much and never too little. The north of Jeimas is like heaven on Earth.
That’s the north, the further south you go in Jeimas the worse that things get. Especially once you reach the Barren Lands and the Great Chasm. The Barren Lands are an enormous desert that fills the entirety of lowest reaches of Jeimas until you reach the sea – well they assume that’s how it works, nobody has ever made if far enough through the Barren Lands to find out. In the Barren Lands the ground is almost entirely covered in coarse, orange sand and there are few rivers or lakes. During the day those who live there experience scorching heat, during the night they experience bone-chilling cold. Food is scarce in the Barren Lands, communities rely upon cattle ranches for their supplies of meat and milk and many poor families frequently are forced to go without meat if they can’t catch or keep their own – which is not always an easy feet. Perhaps the worst aspect of living in the South however is the crime. The reach of the government is weak in the Barren Lands, which has allowed numerous outlaws to emerge and thrive without the law to oppose them. Overstretched, outmatched and outnumbered law enforcement in the Barren Lands are often forced to rely upon bounty hunters to handle criminals, and even then there’s always another outlaw to take a captured ones place… assuming they don’t get there first and take control of the territory themselves in the first place.
The worst cases of this affliction can be found in the Great Chasm, an enormous crater within the Barren Lands filled with small communities. The Great Chasm is extremely isolated from the outside world, but is also dependent upon trade with the outside to survive. This is why work is being done in an attempt to expand the small railway line inside the Chasm to link it with the major north-south line. Until then though, horses and carts are used to transport goods to cities outside the Chasm, which is very slow and inefficient and a large part of why those within the Chasm are poverty stricken. If the north of Jeimas is heaven on Earth, the south is hell.
You
You are either a rookie bounty hunter, working out of Janet’s Bounty Hunting Agency in Spider’s Hollow, or a fledgling outlaw. You are also however, a sorcerer. For as I said earlier, Jeimas is a country of magic and even in the Barren Lands spellcasters can be found using their abilities to commit crimes or to capture those who do. Many bounty hunters and outlaws alike have some degree of magical ability.
Bounty Hunters – As a bounty hunter, you will begin your story working under a crotchety, old ex-bounty hunter named Janet. She was once a formidable force in the Barren Lands until she was injured attempting to capture one of the “Big Bads”. As a bounty hunter it is your job to make money by catching criminals and collecting their bounties. The more experience you get as a bounty hunter, the more powerful you will become and your rank as a sorcerer will grow to match. The ultimate goal of a bounty hunter is to not only break off from their agency and to free-lance successfully (so they can keep the entirety of the money they earn) but to eventually build up enough finances and reputation to open an agency of their own. One should not be fooled into thinking that bounty hunters are all allies though, it’s a hard life and competing bounty hunters will often go to extreme lengths to capture their mark, even at the expense of their fellows.
Outlaws – As an outlaw you will begin either working under a more notorious criminal, or committing small robberies and raids of your own. As an outlaw your goal is to steal and extort to make money and to take out anyone who stands in your way. The more your own bounty increases and the more powerful and notorious you get, the higher your rank as a sorcerer will grow and the closer you’ll get to the end goal. The end goal of most outlaws is to become notorious and powerful enough to be categorised as one of the near-legendary “Big Bads” who dwell within the Barren Lands – the ten worst criminals alive who even most bounty hunters try to avoid. The life of an outlaw is not an easy one either, you will not only have to successfully steal, extort and kill to earn your money – escaping the clutches of the law and bounty hunters both in the process – but you will also often be forced into turf disputes and conflicts with other criminals seeking the same things you are.
Gameplay
Gunpowder is predominantly a sandbox roleplay in which you may go about fulfilling the roles of your character in any ways you see fit, thus resulting in the development of plots. Events I throw in along the way, such as the eventual appearances of some of the “Big Bads”, will also serve to develop plots within the roleplay. The roleplay does have an ending planned, but that’s for me to reveal later.
In this roleplay there a certain mechanics to consider, mostly surrounding magic. There are three categories of spells, these are
- Black Magic – Offensive spells, or spells that negatively affect a target
- White Magic – Defensive spells, or spells that positively affect a target
- Grey Magic – Spells that are neither offensive nor defensive by nature but that could be used for either purpose depending on the thinking of the user.
In addition to these three categories, most spells are of an elemental nature being affiliated with fire, water, earth, wind or electricity. At first sorcerers only have access to one element, however as they become more powerful they gain access to more elements. It should also be noted however, that some spells are non-elemental and can be used regardless of a sorcerer’s affinities.
All sorcerers possess the innate ability to use magic, but in order to actually use this ability they require a spellbook, something not easy to come by. The further away a spellbook is from its owner, the harder it is to use magic and should a spellbook be destroyed the owner will not be able to use their spells unless they can somehow claim a new one. For this reason criminals who are captured always have their books burned and often do the same to their enemies.
As characters either capture more criminals or commit more crimes, their rank as a sorcerer will gradually increase to match their reputation, their power growing along with their rank. A character’s rank, determines the kinds of spells they are able to use, expanding the number of spells they can use and the power of their magic. The ranks are as follows
- Rank One - Initiate: Weak spells, one element, two custom – Five spells
- Rank Two – Noviciate: Moderate spells, one element, three custom – Eight spells
- Rank Three – Moderate: Moderate spells, two elements, five custom – Twelve spells
- Rank Four – Accomplished: Moderate spells, three elements, six custom – Fifteen spells
- Rank Five – Veteran: High Spells, three elements, eight custom – Twenty spells
- Ranks Six – Superior: High Spells, four elements, ten custom – Twenty-two spells
- Rank Seven – Master: High spells, any elements, thirteen custom – Twenty-seven spells
As can be seen in the points above, at first you will be able to only use weak spells of one element. Three of these will be generic “stock spells” listed below, whilst two will be custom spells of your own creation. In addition to magic, your character will also be able to use weaponry similar to that of the weaponry available in the Old West (ie. Revolvers, knives, shotguns and hunting rifles, and nothing automatic). In Jeimas, electricity has been discovered, however in the South fires and gas lamps are generally still the majority, flames are used for cooking and most travel is done on foot or on horseback as the steam engine trains are used only for transporting goods or on occasion miners who are returning home from the site.
Rules
- GM word is law
- All RPC rules apply
- Do not god mod and do not bunny without permission – if you don’t know what these terms mean refer to RPC rules.
- The GM will determine when your character’s rank increases (although you’re welcome to request this if you feel you have a good reason). When your rank is increased you will receive a PM with a list of the new spells available to you.
- Be respectful in the OOC at all times
- Try to get a post in at least every two weeks.
Locations
Spider’s Hollow
Spider’s Hollow is a small but rather central town located in the Great Chasm. It is notable only for it’s popular tavern and for the bounty-hunting agency located there. Most of the breadwinners from Spider’s Hollow earn their income trading with the many travellers who pass through or by working in other nearby towns such as the nearby mining town Gilded Brook.
Gilded Brook
A town slightly larger than the nearby Spider’s Hollow that is populated primarily by miners and their families. The town got its name when prospectors discovered gold by panning the nearby river, something that lead to the discovery of rich gold deposits nearby. Gilded Brook is frequently targeted by bandits raiding the stores of gold.
The Great Chasm
The Great Chasm is an enormous crater located deep into the Barren Lands. Nobody is sure exactly how such a large crater came to be but since its discovery several small settlements have sprung into life within the Chasm due to it’s rich mineral deposits and easily defensible location. Most towns inside the Chasm are only hours away by horseback.
The Barren Lands
The Barren Lands are a large desert region located in the south of the continent of Jeimas. Towns in the Barren Lands are primarily known for mining and livestock as well as for having higher crime rates and harsher climates than locations in the north.
Ironhaven
Ironhaven is one of very few large cities in The Barren Lands and is located several days travel away from the entrance to The Great Chasm – Sinking Road. Merchants and traders from the nearby small towns flock to this city to sell their goods and it is one of the few places with a decent government presence. Ironhaven is well known for being the best place to learn sorcery in the south of Jeimas and is characterised by its enormous stone walls.
Larkin
The largest town in the Great Chasm, Larkin is located right near the edge of the Chasm close to the entrance. Residents from Larkin earn their income as farmers on the outskirts of the town, as workers maintaining Sinking Road, as tradesman, working on excavating a railroad tunnel or as miners at the nearby town of Wrench.
Wrench
Wrench was the smallest town in the Chasm and, like Gilded Brook, was a mining town. The entire community of this town was dedicated to mining the various ores and minerals found underground and within the sides of the Great Chasm.
After the events surrounding Cosma and Veralice, the town of Wrench was destroyed. All that remains of the town now are a few barely standing, deserted, buildings and piles of wood, metal and other debris that used to be the rest of the town. Some have begun trying to rebuild but progress is slow and costly without support from the Northern companies that run most of the mines.
Silverston
Silverston is a mining community located not far from The Great Chasm. It is a town far larger than most in the Chasm, bar maybe Larkin, and is tough competition for the mining towns there as it is responsible for not only the largest silver mine in the world, but also for smaller platinum and iron ore mines.
Fairbell
Fairbell is a town not much larger than Wrench. It is located only a few hours from Spider’s Hollow and is notable only for its small but beautiful church. There are no religious buildings in Spiders Hollow or Gilded Brook, so religious individuals from those towns often visit here.
Orhurst
Situated far to the north of the Great Chasm, well outside of the Barren Lands, is the city of Orhurst – the capital of Jeimas. This city is enormous with many well-maintained cobble streets and is the home of many government buildings, businesses and houses – although only the richest live in the large inner city houses. Most residents live on the outskirts of the city with farms and plantations being the furthest out properties. Orhurst is home to the greatest educational facilities in the world including Skyrith Academy, a school and university dedicated to not only educating people, but also producing great sorcerers.
Accepted Players
I will be accepting players until I feel it is becoming too many to handle.
- gimmepie as Alex Rose (Bounty Hunter) and Elias Stork (Bounty Hunter)
- aeternum as Jebediah Sanders (Bounty Hunter)
- Foxrally as Sophia Hartmann (Outlaw)
- Ice as Emmet Holliday (Outlaw)
- Shak as Achilles 'Black' Nimbus (Bounty Hunter)
- Sir General Admiral Fancy Swank as José "Anima" Dartmoor (Outlaw)
- Lord Sephear as Kelmorr Kuvag (Bounty Hunter)
- Oddball_ as Rory Ryder West (Outlaw)
Alex Rose
Hunter on the Prowl
Hunter on the Prowl
A light wind blew sand around Alex Rose’s feet as he stood his ground facing the three men in front of him, all of who had a firearm of some description levelled at him… and unfortunately none of whom possessed a bounty. However, they were all working for someone who did, that evidenced by the fact they seemed to be gun-toting rodeo clowns. The three men were affiliates of Jackson “The Clown” Rawlings, a man who – in the attire of a rodeo clown – was behind several large heists in the area of Gilded Brook and Spider’s Hollow. Alex had taken on the task of collecting the man’s bounty, he was currently only a $400 criminal but it was predicted he’d become a much bigger threat in the future if not dealt with sooner. That is why Alex was standing in the middle of a Gilded Brook street with three clowns threatening to shoot him.
“I’m going to ask you one more time” Alex said, his voice measured and slow “Where is Jackson Rawlings?”
The men jeered and laughed, there weapons shaking as they cackled uncontrollably – but never falling off of Alex.
“That’s not how it works boy” the clown in the middle spat, his voice intolerable to Alex “We’re the ones pointing the guns at you, see? You don’t get to ask anything except “please don’t shoot me Mr. Brady” Alex tilted his head, feigning something similar to ignorance
“Why would I do that?”
“Search me” the one called Brady said with his hideous accent “I’m gonna shoot you anyways”. The clown cackled maniacally, steadied his aim and then pulled the trigger… the bullet passing right through the spot where Alex used to be standing. Brady looked in surprise, magic was no secret to anybody but it was still a surprise to run into a sorcerer sometimes.
No wonder the little muk was so calm… Brady thought as a loud bang echoed through the streets, the man’s blood splattering the ground as fell to the dirt in a heap.
The two remaining goons turned, one clutching his arm as it was bleeding from shrapnel from Alex’s shot.
“Let’s try this again” Alex said, one again standing face to face with Rawlings’ followers, now wielding his sawed-off shotgun “Where is he?”
The two men looked at each other, nodding in agreement at some unspoken arrangement. For a moment all was still, then the two split into two different directions and ran for it at full pelt.
“Damn it” Alex lamented as he took off after the clown to his left “They’re smarter than they look, scattering to avoid the shotgun’s spray.
Not to mention the chances of me catching that other one are pretty slim now
Alex ran hard, gaining ground on the clown he was pursuing. Dirt flew up at his heels as his feet pounded the ground. He hadn’t lost a bounty in months, there was no way he was letting his mark’s followers escape his grasp. As he ran Alex levelled his gun at his target and pulled the trigger. The familiar loud bang echoed through the thin alleyway he had pursued the clown into, however the clown turned a corner just in time to avoid being shot in the back of the head. Alex pursued the criminal around the corner, but came skidding to a halt. The clown wasn’t running anymore, he had his revolver trainer on Alex’s chest. In a flash Alex was no longer standing where he had been, the three shots fired by the clown hitting the side of the building behind where Alex has been standing. The bounty hunter, who was now standing behind the clown, swung his shotgun like a mace, hitting the clown hard on the side of the head and sending him sprawling in the dirt. The clown tried to crawl away, but Alex brought his foot down hard onto his back, slamming him onto his belly. Crouching down at the criminals feet Alex opened his hand near his face, a fireball flaring into existence over the bounty hunter’s palm.
“What’s your name clown?”
“S-Steven” he responded, his eyes wide with the terror of being caught, Alex gave the man a sinister smile
“Well Steven, tell me where the hell Jackson Rawlings is or I’m going to set you on fire.”
Tears fell from the terrified thief’s eyes as he stumbled over his words, but he did tell Alex exactly what he wanted to hear
“I dunno, he said he was checking out one of the mines. Go check the mines just don’t kill me!” The fireball faded as Alex stood up and begun to walk back down the alleyway
“I can’t kill you right now, you’re unarmed and don’t have a bounty. But if I ever hear you’ve committed another crime, I’ll personally come to put a bullet in your head.”
It was when Alex was almost back to the end when he heard the wild cackle
“You won’t make it to the mines! Am I unarmed now you son of a rattata!” Steven the clown had grabbed his gun and ran back to try and catch Alex by surprise, but the bounty hunter wasn’t going to just stand there and take a bullet. Before the terrified clown could even try to pull the trigger, Alex whirled round and, feeling the familiar feeling of magic surging through him, threw a ball of flame right at his attacker. The spell hit Steven square on the chest, the man falling to the ground and screaming in pain as the flames began to creep over his body. The sounds escaping the mans mouth reminded Alex of that of a big being slaughtered.
“MAKE IT STOP!” the criminal howled, Alex looked at him and smiled the same sinister grin as he levelled his shotgun at the clowns head.
“That’s the idea” he pulled the trigger and splattered the man’s head across the alleyway before turning and continuing to walk out of the confined space “Why do they always think it’s a good idea to try and kill me after I let them go?
“I’m going to ask you one more time” Alex said, his voice measured and slow “Where is Jackson Rawlings?”
The men jeered and laughed, there weapons shaking as they cackled uncontrollably – but never falling off of Alex.
“That’s not how it works boy” the clown in the middle spat, his voice intolerable to Alex “We’re the ones pointing the guns at you, see? You don’t get to ask anything except “please don’t shoot me Mr. Brady” Alex tilted his head, feigning something similar to ignorance
“Why would I do that?”
“Search me” the one called Brady said with his hideous accent “I’m gonna shoot you anyways”. The clown cackled maniacally, steadied his aim and then pulled the trigger… the bullet passing right through the spot where Alex used to be standing. Brady looked in surprise, magic was no secret to anybody but it was still a surprise to run into a sorcerer sometimes.
No wonder the little muk was so calm… Brady thought as a loud bang echoed through the streets, the man’s blood splattering the ground as fell to the dirt in a heap.
The two remaining goons turned, one clutching his arm as it was bleeding from shrapnel from Alex’s shot.
“Let’s try this again” Alex said, one again standing face to face with Rawlings’ followers, now wielding his sawed-off shotgun “Where is he?”
The two men looked at each other, nodding in agreement at some unspoken arrangement. For a moment all was still, then the two split into two different directions and ran for it at full pelt.
“Damn it” Alex lamented as he took off after the clown to his left “They’re smarter than they look, scattering to avoid the shotgun’s spray.
Not to mention the chances of me catching that other one are pretty slim now
Alex ran hard, gaining ground on the clown he was pursuing. Dirt flew up at his heels as his feet pounded the ground. He hadn’t lost a bounty in months, there was no way he was letting his mark’s followers escape his grasp. As he ran Alex levelled his gun at his target and pulled the trigger. The familiar loud bang echoed through the thin alleyway he had pursued the clown into, however the clown turned a corner just in time to avoid being shot in the back of the head. Alex pursued the criminal around the corner, but came skidding to a halt. The clown wasn’t running anymore, he had his revolver trainer on Alex’s chest. In a flash Alex was no longer standing where he had been, the three shots fired by the clown hitting the side of the building behind where Alex has been standing. The bounty hunter, who was now standing behind the clown, swung his shotgun like a mace, hitting the clown hard on the side of the head and sending him sprawling in the dirt. The clown tried to crawl away, but Alex brought his foot down hard onto his back, slamming him onto his belly. Crouching down at the criminals feet Alex opened his hand near his face, a fireball flaring into existence over the bounty hunter’s palm.
“What’s your name clown?”
“S-Steven” he responded, his eyes wide with the terror of being caught, Alex gave the man a sinister smile
“Well Steven, tell me where the hell Jackson Rawlings is or I’m going to set you on fire.”
Tears fell from the terrified thief’s eyes as he stumbled over his words, but he did tell Alex exactly what he wanted to hear
“I dunno, he said he was checking out one of the mines. Go check the mines just don’t kill me!” The fireball faded as Alex stood up and begun to walk back down the alleyway
“I can’t kill you right now, you’re unarmed and don’t have a bounty. But if I ever hear you’ve committed another crime, I’ll personally come to put a bullet in your head.”
It was when Alex was almost back to the end when he heard the wild cackle
“You won’t make it to the mines! Am I unarmed now you son of a rattata!” Steven the clown had grabbed his gun and ran back to try and catch Alex by surprise, but the bounty hunter wasn’t going to just stand there and take a bullet. Before the terrified clown could even try to pull the trigger, Alex whirled round and, feeling the familiar feeling of magic surging through him, threw a ball of flame right at his attacker. The spell hit Steven square on the chest, the man falling to the ground and screaming in pain as the flames began to creep over his body. The sounds escaping the mans mouth reminded Alex of that of a big being slaughtered.
“MAKE IT STOP!” the criminal howled, Alex looked at him and smiled the same sinister grin as he levelled his shotgun at the clowns head.
“That’s the idea” he pulled the trigger and splattered the man’s head across the alleyway before turning and continuing to walk out of the confined space “Why do they always think it’s a good idea to try and kill me after I let them go?
Sophia Hartmann
Status - Outlaw - member of Culebra clan
Sorcery Level - 1
Element - Air
Bounty - 400$
Larkin
Information is half the success
"What ya' mean, I got no more cash?" the drunken bearded man slammed his fist on the wooden counter, startling the cashier. "It's them damn outlaws, they're targeting me! I swear!" he yelled.
The cashier cleared his throat and adjusted his glasses. "Sir, I am telling you once more - the bank cannot allow you to borrow any more money. You've exceeded your overdraft limit by -"
"To hell with the bank! If those ratty bastards at the government don't deal with them outlaws, who the psyduck's gonna do it then? Eh? You?" he reached through the opening between the two men and grabbed the cashier's collar. "You couldn't track a psyducking elephant in snow." he spat. He released the poor young man, who fell backwards onto his chair. "Now how the psyduck d'ya expect me to get the carriage ready by tomorrow if I don't got nothing to pay him with?" he roared angrily, turning his head to face the people behind him. The other customers sat silently in the back of the small bank, avoiding his gaze. "You all think I'm some kind'a drunk bastard, yeah?" he yelled. "You're all gonna psyducking regret this - when I get my hands on that treasure; first thing I'm doing is cutting all yer filthy heads." He stormed off angrily, muttering to himself. "Bunch'a stupid bastards..."
_______
Moments after the man had left, one of customers that had been waiting stood up, screaming. The chair she had been sitting on had begun shaking violently, and with a slight whoosh suddenly metamorphosed into a person. Her face was concealed under a large bonnet, and she appeared to be wearing a dress twice her size.
"D-did you see that? Wh-what just happened?" the cashier stammered, staring at the newcomer. The woman casually walked out of the bank, ignoring the man. Keeping careful not to step on the extremely large dress, the strange individual walked for a few minutes before reaching a tavern. Rather than going through the front door, she headed towards a narrow alleyway between the tavern and a nearby building. Stopping halfway across, she knocked on the side of the tavern.
"Y-you know I can't let you in l-like that." he replied.
The girl sighed. "Fine, you stuttering idiot. There." Rolling up the left sleeve of her dress, she displayed her snake-shaped tatoo on her upper arm. "Goddamn rules - you know the best way to know it's me is to check with Nico."
"Yeah, b-but you can ne-never be too sure, right?" smiled Jack the Stutterer as he opened a bigger section of the wall.
"Psh." she scoffed.
"You look p-pretty good in that dress, too."
"Don't press your luck, Jack. Having someone sit on my head for an hour doesn't exactly get me in a good mood."
"C-can't blame a man for t-trying."
The girl walked into the hidden section of the tavern, and down a flight of stairs. Under the regular bar was an ever bigger one, located underground. The room was filled with the sound of laughter, talking and glasses of whiskey and other drinks being passed around. Sophia took off the uncomfortable bonnet, and cringed at the smell of alcohol. "Your mukheads still drink that smelly horse piss of yours? Ugh!" she yelled struggling to undo the large dress' straps. "There!" The oversized garment tumbled to the ground. Sophia kicked the dress away out of frustration. "Damn boss keeps making me wear these thick clothes..." she muttered.
The room was filled with reptiles and critters of all kinds - live snakes hanging from the walls, lizards, salamanders scuttling along the walls, even the occasional frog leaping from plate to plate. This barely fazed Sophia.
"Oh, hey! Fia! Over here!" she heard someone call out. "Just a sec, I need ya for a moment!" Sophia sighed angrily and stomped towards his table.
"What is it, Pete?" she grumbled. Sophia was the only one who had the guts to speak to "Big Pete" in that manner. Pete was one of the first few members Sophia got to know when she joined the clan. She was considered his protégée, although she kept telling him he didn't need his assistance. Pete was sitting with three other men, and they seemed to be arguing over something.
"So, uh... You're smart, right? I just need you to help me out with this." the burly man gestured towards a pile of cigars that were on the table. He casually brushed away a frog from the table. "So, we got these smokes from the boss, and there's like, 10 of 'em. But us lot are four people. I tried givin' one to everyone, but we got 2 left - and we can' afford to waste a good roll, y'know? How do we deal with that?" he looked at her, with the expression of a child facing a difficult schoolwork question. Sophia sighed loudly. She grabbed two of the cigars, and with a little effort, snapped them in half. "What's the kid doing?!" one of the men stood up angrily. "It's called maths, dimwit." she said, tossing the 4 halves on the table. "Enjoy yourselves, boys."
Big Pete stared at the table, flabbergasted. "Told you the kid's a genius!"
"You owe me a drink, Pete!" Sophia called, heading back towards the boss' room. She knocked once, and opened the door. Antonio Culebra, leader of the Culebra clan, was sitting in his chair, apparently drawing a map of some sorts. He glared at Sophia.
"Sophia, how many times did I tell you to knock before entering? You may be one of our best members, but we can't have people barging in here as they please! You better have a good reason for this."
"Oh, trust me, boss, I do." she smiled.
Spoiler:
Jebediah Sanders - Bounty Hunter
Level 1 Air User
$0
Fortunate Misfortunes
"God damn. All out of 'baccy. Just my luck. Guess I'll be needin'ta stop in at the bank and grab me another sack before I report back to Janet."
Jebediah was just heading back from the outskirts of Larkin where he had finally managed to track down Ricky "The Richochet", which turned out to be a waste of nearly three months. Needless to say Jebediah was not in the best of moods. So walking into Spider's Hollow and seeing the eight person posse hanging out with their guns drawn at the entrance to the bank got him to crack a little smile.
"Well well if it ain't the old Sombrero gang! Let me guess, boss is inside?"
The eight guys looked at each other and then back to him.
"Yup, boss' inside looking to make a withdrawal." They snickered to each other.
"Boys...you know I don't have a sense of humor don't you? Why don't chy'all just move on out the way now ya hear?"
Smiles started to creep across the eight men's faces. "We think not mista." As they leveled their guns for Jebediah.
"Well I suppose if you'd like to see your own blood, then this is the only way we can get through this." Jebediah said as he pulled the captain's sword from it's scabbard.
They started laughing between themselves. "The hell'ya gonna do with a sword when we've got guns? You ain't too-"
Before the goon had even finished speaking Jebediah was behind him with the man's tongue between his fingers and all of the other seven started screaming out in pain as their hands fell to the ground near simultaneously leaving them with only stumps.
"Now I told you boys, I don't wanna make no trouble. I'm just lookin' for your boss. Now hush up before I have to kill ya."
Jebediah walked into the bank and went right up to one of the clerks as Sombrero Rodriguez looked at him wild eyed. There was no door on the bank so when he heard his men start making a ruckus he had intended to head out there to shut them up. But before he had even taken a few steps to the door he saw Jebediah appear right in the middle of them, and now here he was walking into the bank like nothing had ever happened.
"Ma'am? You awake there ma'am? I said Jebediah Sanders. My name, I need to get some of the tobacco I got stored."
"I, I'm sorry sir but the man with the guns over there al- already cleared out all of the... the... the safes."
Jebediah looked over at Rodriguez from his leaning position on the counter.
"Just you wait here little lady, I'll get that back for ya." He said as he caressed her face with the back of his hand.
Jebediah leaned up and started heading over towards Rodriguez as Rodriguez was still petrified by what he had seen mere moments ago. But as Jebediah grew closer he regained his composure, dropped the sacks filled with the contents of the bank and leveled his revolver at Jebediah.
"Now hear you me varmint! I ain't lookin' for no trouble! I was just makin' a withdrawal and then I was gonna head off on my merry way! Now if you don't wanna die I suggest you just pack yourself up and leave!"
Jebediah sighed as he cast a spell and then appeared at Rodriguez's back. He reached into one of the sacks that was filled with people's belongings until he found his tobacco. He put a pinch into his lip and then turned to face Rodriguez who had spun around and shoved the barre of the revolver he had into Jebediah's back.
"That's the good stuff. Ahh, now how about me and you take this outside and settle it like men? I won't use no magic, we'll just settle this with a quickdraw. How about it? Equal opportunity for both of us to win."
The frightened look left Rodriguez's face. He knew nobody in these parts could beat him in a quickdraw, regardless of if they used magic or not.
"I'll take you on." Rodriguez said as he smiled widely revealing that he was missing more than a few teeth.
"Well after you my good sir." Jebediah said bowing and gesturing towards the door.
Rodriguez smirked and spat at Jebediah's feet before heading towards the entrance.
Bang!
Rodriguez fell to the ground right outside the entrance to the bank with blood flowing from his forehead. And all of the people inside of the bank jumped and let out a scream. Jebediah holstered Mr. Truth and picked up the sacks filled with other people's belongings and gave them back to the woman he was talking to before. Jebediah removed two cigars and a pouch of his chewing tobacco from the sack before stepping over the dead body of Sombrero Rodriguez.
Jebediah squatted down and spat on the ground next to the man he had just killed.
"Never trust anyone. 'Specially not someone who's tryna' kill ya."
Jebediah took the gun off of the body and shot the other eight men that were still squirming in pain outside of the bank before grabbing onto Rodriguez's arm and dragging him off to the bounty collection office. Janet might not be thrilled about Ricky "getting away", but at least he had caught someone for her.
Level 1 Air User
$0
Fortunate Misfortunes
"God damn. All out of 'baccy. Just my luck. Guess I'll be needin'ta stop in at the bank and grab me another sack before I report back to Janet."
Jebediah was just heading back from the outskirts of Larkin where he had finally managed to track down Ricky "The Richochet", which turned out to be a waste of nearly three months. Needless to say Jebediah was not in the best of moods. So walking into Spider's Hollow and seeing the eight person posse hanging out with their guns drawn at the entrance to the bank got him to crack a little smile.
"Well well if it ain't the old Sombrero gang! Let me guess, boss is inside?"
The eight guys looked at each other and then back to him.
"Yup, boss' inside looking to make a withdrawal." They snickered to each other.
"Boys...you know I don't have a sense of humor don't you? Why don't chy'all just move on out the way now ya hear?"
Smiles started to creep across the eight men's faces. "We think not mista." As they leveled their guns for Jebediah.
"Well I suppose if you'd like to see your own blood, then this is the only way we can get through this." Jebediah said as he pulled the captain's sword from it's scabbard.
They started laughing between themselves. "The hell'ya gonna do with a sword when we've got guns? You ain't too-"
Before the goon had even finished speaking Jebediah was behind him with the man's tongue between his fingers and all of the other seven started screaming out in pain as their hands fell to the ground near simultaneously leaving them with only stumps.
"Now I told you boys, I don't wanna make no trouble. I'm just lookin' for your boss. Now hush up before I have to kill ya."
Jebediah walked into the bank and went right up to one of the clerks as Sombrero Rodriguez looked at him wild eyed. There was no door on the bank so when he heard his men start making a ruckus he had intended to head out there to shut them up. But before he had even taken a few steps to the door he saw Jebediah appear right in the middle of them, and now here he was walking into the bank like nothing had ever happened.
"Ma'am? You awake there ma'am? I said Jebediah Sanders. My name, I need to get some of the tobacco I got stored."
"I, I'm sorry sir but the man with the guns over there al- already cleared out all of the... the... the safes."
Jebediah looked over at Rodriguez from his leaning position on the counter.
"Just you wait here little lady, I'll get that back for ya." He said as he caressed her face with the back of his hand.
Jebediah leaned up and started heading over towards Rodriguez as Rodriguez was still petrified by what he had seen mere moments ago. But as Jebediah grew closer he regained his composure, dropped the sacks filled with the contents of the bank and leveled his revolver at Jebediah.
"Now hear you me varmint! I ain't lookin' for no trouble! I was just makin' a withdrawal and then I was gonna head off on my merry way! Now if you don't wanna die I suggest you just pack yourself up and leave!"
Jebediah sighed as he cast a spell and then appeared at Rodriguez's back. He reached into one of the sacks that was filled with people's belongings until he found his tobacco. He put a pinch into his lip and then turned to face Rodriguez who had spun around and shoved the barre of the revolver he had into Jebediah's back.
"That's the good stuff. Ahh, now how about me and you take this outside and settle it like men? I won't use no magic, we'll just settle this with a quickdraw. How about it? Equal opportunity for both of us to win."
The frightened look left Rodriguez's face. He knew nobody in these parts could beat him in a quickdraw, regardless of if they used magic or not.
"I'll take you on." Rodriguez said as he smiled widely revealing that he was missing more than a few teeth.
"Well after you my good sir." Jebediah said bowing and gesturing towards the door.
Rodriguez smirked and spat at Jebediah's feet before heading towards the entrance.
Bang!
Rodriguez fell to the ground right outside the entrance to the bank with blood flowing from his forehead. And all of the people inside of the bank jumped and let out a scream. Jebediah holstered Mr. Truth and picked up the sacks filled with other people's belongings and gave them back to the woman he was talking to before. Jebediah removed two cigars and a pouch of his chewing tobacco from the sack before stepping over the dead body of Sombrero Rodriguez.
Jebediah squatted down and spat on the ground next to the man he had just killed.
"Never trust anyone. 'Specially not someone who's tryna' kill ya."
Jebediah took the gun off of the body and shot the other eight men that were still squirming in pain outside of the bank before grabbing onto Rodriguez's arm and dragging him off to the bounty collection office. Janet might not be thrilled about Ricky "getting away", but at least he had caught someone for her.
Alex Rose
Target Located: Hunting the Clown
Target Located: Hunting the Clown
Alex arrived at one of the local gold mines of Gilded Brook about an hour after his encounter with the two criminals in clown attire. He had stopped briefly at the local sheriff’s office to enquire about recent robberies, it seemed that there was only one mine that hadn’t been targeted in over a month – which made it the most likely target for Rawlings’ next raid. Alex smirked, dismounting his horse and tying the chestnut to a large wooden picket. He could feel the familiar thrilling sensation of closing in on his prey, he was certain he’d come to the right place.
Several dirty men could be seen heading back out of the pit of the mine towards a small wooden outpost as another headed in the opposite direction. All around were piles of dirt and rock, tools lay in stacks and horses were picketed to poles the same as Alex’s own. All in all everything seemed pretty much normal to Alex, which was often how it was right before a criminal operation went down. Only a foolish bounty hunter would leave if a location appeared problem free at first glance.
“The calm before the storm as always” Alex said to himself, before walking towards the outpost building and stepping into a voracious din. Men on their breaks were lounging about talking amongst themselves and eating their lunches. Nobody really took any notice of Alex at first, and even if they did they didn’t pay him much attention. In the Barren Lands, especially the Chasm, it wasn’t exactly uncommon for a bounty hunter or a martial to come snooping around a mine site. Mines were frequent targets for raids and heists; they were poorly defended and worked on predictable shifts. Not to mention they were usually a good ride or a very long walk out of the main towns.
Alex sat at a lone table, listening to the conversations around him as best he could. That was when someone noticed his presence
“Can I help you?” a man in a suit (minus his jacket) said walking out of one of the offices branching off of the main lobby.
“Maybe” Alex said, “My name’s Alex Rose, I’m a bounty hunter from Spider’s Hollow. I suspect that a wanted criminal going by the name of “The Clown” is going to target your site. Do you have information about strange goings on?
“Pleased to meet you” the official replied extending his hand “I’m Carter Springfield I’m the chief of staff around here.” After a moment of not noticing the outstretched hand, Alex hurriedly shook it before Carter continued “I’m afraid that there isn’t anything much to say. Everything here is running smoothly, you are welcome to ask any questions or to stick around for a while if you want – so long as you stay out of the way of the workers.”
Alex resisted the compulsion to sigh. It was always the way “everything is normal” or “nothing wrong here”. Sometimes the people were paid off but more often than not they were just unobservant or stupid.
“Only a foolish thief makes his moves obvious, and unfortunately this man is highly intelligent despite his epithet.”
“I’m sorry but I really can’t think of anything, nothing unusual has happened at all recently. Even the new guys we sent down a few hours ago have been doing absolutely fine.” Alex’s ears practically perked up at that comment
“New guys?”
“Yeah, six of them” Cameron said, not picking up on Alex’s theory at all “They didn’t have any experience with mining at all, but we honestly needed a few more staff so I sent them down under a site manager’s supervision to see how they do.”
“Did you catch their names?”
“Uh yeah… one was somethin’ like Rawlings I thin – hey where are you going?!” Alex was already walking towards the door at a brisk pace, he knew exactly where to find the Clown.
That was ballsy using his own name, but a stupid mistake. You shouldn’t poke fun at someone out to get you though Rawlings. Bad move.
Several dirty men could be seen heading back out of the pit of the mine towards a small wooden outpost as another headed in the opposite direction. All around were piles of dirt and rock, tools lay in stacks and horses were picketed to poles the same as Alex’s own. All in all everything seemed pretty much normal to Alex, which was often how it was right before a criminal operation went down. Only a foolish bounty hunter would leave if a location appeared problem free at first glance.
“The calm before the storm as always” Alex said to himself, before walking towards the outpost building and stepping into a voracious din. Men on their breaks were lounging about talking amongst themselves and eating their lunches. Nobody really took any notice of Alex at first, and even if they did they didn’t pay him much attention. In the Barren Lands, especially the Chasm, it wasn’t exactly uncommon for a bounty hunter or a martial to come snooping around a mine site. Mines were frequent targets for raids and heists; they were poorly defended and worked on predictable shifts. Not to mention they were usually a good ride or a very long walk out of the main towns.
Alex sat at a lone table, listening to the conversations around him as best he could. That was when someone noticed his presence
“Can I help you?” a man in a suit (minus his jacket) said walking out of one of the offices branching off of the main lobby.
“Maybe” Alex said, “My name’s Alex Rose, I’m a bounty hunter from Spider’s Hollow. I suspect that a wanted criminal going by the name of “The Clown” is going to target your site. Do you have information about strange goings on?
“Pleased to meet you” the official replied extending his hand “I’m Carter Springfield I’m the chief of staff around here.” After a moment of not noticing the outstretched hand, Alex hurriedly shook it before Carter continued “I’m afraid that there isn’t anything much to say. Everything here is running smoothly, you are welcome to ask any questions or to stick around for a while if you want – so long as you stay out of the way of the workers.”
Alex resisted the compulsion to sigh. It was always the way “everything is normal” or “nothing wrong here”. Sometimes the people were paid off but more often than not they were just unobservant or stupid.
“Only a foolish thief makes his moves obvious, and unfortunately this man is highly intelligent despite his epithet.”
“I’m sorry but I really can’t think of anything, nothing unusual has happened at all recently. Even the new guys we sent down a few hours ago have been doing absolutely fine.” Alex’s ears practically perked up at that comment
“New guys?”
“Yeah, six of them” Cameron said, not picking up on Alex’s theory at all “They didn’t have any experience with mining at all, but we honestly needed a few more staff so I sent them down under a site manager’s supervision to see how they do.”
“Did you catch their names?”
“Uh yeah… one was somethin’ like Rawlings I thin – hey where are you going?!” Alex was already walking towards the door at a brisk pace, he knew exactly where to find the Clown.
That was ballsy using his own name, but a stupid mistake. You shouldn’t poke fun at someone out to get you though Rawlings. Bad move.
Sophia Hartmann
Status - Outlaw - member of Culebra clan
Sorcery Level - 1
Element - Air
Bounty - 400$
Larkin
Defying orders
Sophia explained the information she had gathered. "I tailed Jones for almost a week now. I know the carriage will be heading to Wrench tonight at around 11, and apparently it'll have some sort of 'treasure' in it along with a supply of tools for the mines. If we ambush the carriage in the middle of the road away from the towns, we won't have any troubles with law enforcers - aside from the ones already among the carriage. It's likely to be guarded by hired bounty hunters, so we'll have to deal with them too. Even if they escape they'll be food for the vultures within days. I suggest we have a few of us hide in the carriage itself and have a couple of others on horseback waiting on the spot. When they spot the carriage, they'll signal a message and we can get them by surprise."
Antonio Culebra listened intently to her words. "So the old rat is hiding something, eh?" A smile crept on his face. "This is good. Very good, Sohpia." he said in his thick Spanish accent. "The bastardos won't even know what hit them."
Sophia beamed eagerly. "Youuu're welcome." she smiled, slowly approaching his desk. "Now, since I just brought you this invaluable, important information, I can safely assume you're going to let me handle the job, right? Nobody ever seems to trust me with things anymore..." she brushed her hand against the dusty walls and stopped in front of his desk. She bent over, put her elbows on the table and leaned on one. "Although..." She traced a circle on the table with her finger. "I can always trust on my darling superintendent to help me out, right?" she smiled, and looked into his eyes.
Antonio gulped. After a few moments of hesitation, his face straightened and he sighed in exasperation. "I'm sorry, Sophia, but it's a no. And you know why. This job is too risky for me to put you in it. We can't have any trigger-happy tonto ruining our operations, especially when they involve something as precious as you say that treasure is. The carriage is likely to be targeted by other outlaw groups too - and the last thing we want to do is tangle with Hangman's group again. I've lost good men becuase of your foolishness. You've done a good job and you'll be rewarded for it later, but I'm sure you'll understand."
Antonio Culebra picked up the lamp that had fallen and reignited it with a flick of his finger - fire magic. "If you think 'getting the job done' means starting a whole turf war with the Charlatans, then you got it done alright! If you want to regain my trust, you will have to show me you can be more responsible and less impulsive in your actions. I hope I have made myself clear on this, now out."
Sophia opened her mouth to protest, but as he said his last words a large beast entered the room - Culebra's Komodo Dragon. The monster of a creature was always hungry and would attack anyone it deemed a threat. She saw its purple tongue stick out - a warning sign. Sophia knew it was sensing her anger and that she should not stay for too long. "Have it your way." she muttered angrily and stomped out of the room.
I'm getting that treasure, whether they like it or not.
---------------------
Midnight - road leading to Wrench from Larkin
Sophia had stolen a horse from the nearby stables, and had been tailing the carriage for over an hour now. Concealed by the darkness,Sophia had gone unnoticed by the carriage and her fellow clan members. She was getting tired and sleepiness had began to take over her, but a good swig of Brandy had reawakened her senses. Nico was perched on her shoulder, laying still. Sophia assumed he was sleeping. She looked ahead and smiled. Ahead of them was a distinct large rock, visible from a distance. She knew her clan members were hiding behind it, waiting for the carriage to pass by to attack.
They're approaching the ambush spot, good. she thought. While everyone else is preoccupied, I'll sneak in and take what's mine.
"Might even pocket a few hundreds, eh Nico?" she whispered. The Chameleon slowly opened its eyes, having visibly been woken up from its slumber. "I need you awake anyway. Come on, let's stop the horse. The guys should pop out any time now." she said, stopping her horse and getting off.
Just as she finished her sentence she heard a piercing scream come from the carriage. Sophia saw three men appear from behind the rock and ambush the carriage. She heard few gunshots, and the voice of a man: "Muk! They were ready for us!" followed by more gunshots, grunts, screams of pain and a crash as the carriage suddenly stopped. For a few moments, all was silent. Sophia was beginning to get worried. She frowned in concern. What did he mean, they were "ready for us?" Was it one of us, or them? She tied the reigns of her horse to a nearby boulder, and slowly began moving towards the chariot.
"Why is everything so quiet?" she muttered to herself. "I don't see any-"
She was cut short as she felt the barrel of a rifle pressed against her back. "Not a single move, lassie. Or I'm putting a bullet through yer beating heart."
Spoiler:
Jebediah Sanders - Bounty Hunter
Level 1 Air User
$300
Calm Before The Storm
"Alright. Deep breaths Jeb. One, two. One, two."
Knock knock knock.
"Who is it?" The sound of an elderly woman's voice yelled at me through the door.
"It's the god damn milk man. Who the hell do you think it is you old crow?"
Footsteps mixed in with the muffled sound of cursing. A little slot slid open on the door and a wrinkled face paired with a couple of greying brown eyes peered at me through it.
"Whaddya want? Did ya' catch Ricky? Where's he at? I don't see him. Why'd you come back without-"
"Would ya' shut the hell up for a minute? Damn, give me a moment to speak. Ricky got away, he fled to the north. Went out past Larkin and left The Chasm. But I did bring you something back."
I bent down and grabbed Sombrero's fat neck and pulled him up. His face was drenched in blood and had dust and dirt caked onto it from me dragging him through the streets. He had that stupid grin still plastered on his face, he had really thought he was going to kill me. I gave the thought a small chuckle and then shoved his face up to the peephole in the door.
"It's a shame about Ricky but it's about damn time you brought this one in," She said in an almost grumbling tone. "I've been hearing reports from the townspeople for months about you and him stirring up muk at the tavern. Well, come on inside I suppose. We need to take care of this."
The peephole slid shut and she began working on the plethora of locks that she had installed on the door. I looked out to the street as she was doing this and realized that I had left a streak of blood all the way through the middle of town. The door swung open and I was pulled in by a bony hand before I had even had the time to really think about it.
"I thought I'd told you I don't like waiting?" She grumbled as she went back to working on locking the door back up.
I'd been here quite a few times before but it never ceased to amaze me. The walls were covered, as always, in pictures of a woman named Jess Wilcox. Janet had scribed the name all over both the pictures and the walls. Knives were stuck in walls, some piercing through the face of the woman in the picture.
Janet had finished locking us in and walked over to me. She pushed on my back, guiding me with her to a table and two chairs.
"Care for anything to drink? I've got whiskey, 'shine, water...?"
"I just want my money and the next target Janet. You know I don't like dickin' around." I spoke as I tossed the corpse on the ground and fell back into an old rocker.
"Don't you think I'm beautiful though Jebby?" She put one hand on her hip and the other on the side of her head and moved around a little.
"I'm starting to feel sick. I'd rather a piece of wood with nails stuck through it have relations with my parts over you." I spat in a cup that had sat on the table for god only knows how long. It felt heavy when I picked it up. I didn't look into, and it's probably better that I hadn't.
"Have you no sense of humor my boy? It's almost like you never want to have kids or somethin'. With that attitude you'll be-"
"Janet. Can I just get what I came for?"
She looked at me menacingly.
"Yes, I suppose you can. And then it'll be off with you." Her lip curling into a snarl as she spoke.
She dropped an envelope with $300 in it on the floor in front of me.
"This seems a little light," I said as I picked it up.
"Well you did wait almost a year to take him out. His bounty depreciated. Next you're lookin at these two." She pulled out a wanted poster and handed it to me. "You might only get one of these two, but still. Jeffrey there is worth $700 and Mrs. Bella is worth $820. From what I've heard, Jeffrey uses earth based magic but Bella doesn't use anything. However, that doesn't mean that they both aren't dangerous. Last thing I heard was that they were in the area of Wrench. Stopped and kidnapped a couple of girls from one of the inns over there. Bounty might go up with time, but so will the death count. It's best that you take them out now. And since there's nobody else here, I'll be having no choice but to send you."
"I'll do it. Just get me a horse so I don't have to walk this time?"
"Whatever." She handed me $50. "That'll get you a horse for about a week. Keep it any longer and it's coming out of your ass. Now don't say I didn't ever do anything for you."
"Thank ye'. I'll be on my way then."
I got up and walked to the door while Janet picked up the body and took it back to one of her rooms. Never do find out what she does with 'em. Don't care to neither. All that matters is that I'm getting paid, and getting closer to finding Jedediah. I walked out into the streets and was greeted with the sight of the setting sun.
"Better get started then."
Level 1 Air User
$300
Calm Before The Storm
"Alright. Deep breaths Jeb. One, two. One, two."
Knock knock knock.
"Who is it?" The sound of an elderly woman's voice yelled at me through the door.
"It's the god damn milk man. Who the hell do you think it is you old crow?"
Footsteps mixed in with the muffled sound of cursing. A little slot slid open on the door and a wrinkled face paired with a couple of greying brown eyes peered at me through it.
"Whaddya want? Did ya' catch Ricky? Where's he at? I don't see him. Why'd you come back without-"
"Would ya' shut the hell up for a minute? Damn, give me a moment to speak. Ricky got away, he fled to the north. Went out past Larkin and left The Chasm. But I did bring you something back."
I bent down and grabbed Sombrero's fat neck and pulled him up. His face was drenched in blood and had dust and dirt caked onto it from me dragging him through the streets. He had that stupid grin still plastered on his face, he had really thought he was going to kill me. I gave the thought a small chuckle and then shoved his face up to the peephole in the door.
"It's a shame about Ricky but it's about damn time you brought this one in," She said in an almost grumbling tone. "I've been hearing reports from the townspeople for months about you and him stirring up muk at the tavern. Well, come on inside I suppose. We need to take care of this."
The peephole slid shut and she began working on the plethora of locks that she had installed on the door. I looked out to the street as she was doing this and realized that I had left a streak of blood all the way through the middle of town. The door swung open and I was pulled in by a bony hand before I had even had the time to really think about it.
"I thought I'd told you I don't like waiting?" She grumbled as she went back to working on locking the door back up.
I'd been here quite a few times before but it never ceased to amaze me. The walls were covered, as always, in pictures of a woman named Jess Wilcox. Janet had scribed the name all over both the pictures and the walls. Knives were stuck in walls, some piercing through the face of the woman in the picture.
Janet had finished locking us in and walked over to me. She pushed on my back, guiding me with her to a table and two chairs.
"Care for anything to drink? I've got whiskey, 'shine, water...?"
"I just want my money and the next target Janet. You know I don't like dickin' around." I spoke as I tossed the corpse on the ground and fell back into an old rocker.
"Don't you think I'm beautiful though Jebby?" She put one hand on her hip and the other on the side of her head and moved around a little.
"I'm starting to feel sick. I'd rather a piece of wood with nails stuck through it have relations with my parts over you." I spat in a cup that had sat on the table for god only knows how long. It felt heavy when I picked it up. I didn't look into, and it's probably better that I hadn't.
"Have you no sense of humor my boy? It's almost like you never want to have kids or somethin'. With that attitude you'll be-"
"Janet. Can I just get what I came for?"
She looked at me menacingly.
"Yes, I suppose you can. And then it'll be off with you." Her lip curling into a snarl as she spoke.
She dropped an envelope with $300 in it on the floor in front of me.
"This seems a little light," I said as I picked it up.
"Well you did wait almost a year to take him out. His bounty depreciated. Next you're lookin at these two." She pulled out a wanted poster and handed it to me. "You might only get one of these two, but still. Jeffrey there is worth $700 and Mrs. Bella is worth $820. From what I've heard, Jeffrey uses earth based magic but Bella doesn't use anything. However, that doesn't mean that they both aren't dangerous. Last thing I heard was that they were in the area of Wrench. Stopped and kidnapped a couple of girls from one of the inns over there. Bounty might go up with time, but so will the death count. It's best that you take them out now. And since there's nobody else here, I'll be having no choice but to send you."
"I'll do it. Just get me a horse so I don't have to walk this time?"
"Whatever." She handed me $50. "That'll get you a horse for about a week. Keep it any longer and it's coming out of your ass. Now don't say I didn't ever do anything for you."
"Thank ye'. I'll be on my way then."
I got up and walked to the door while Janet picked up the body and took it back to one of her rooms. Never do find out what she does with 'em. Don't care to neither. All that matters is that I'm getting paid, and getting closer to finding Jedediah. I walked out into the streets and was greeted with the sight of the setting sun.
"Better get started then."
Age 26
Male
Goldenrod City, Johto
Seen June 14th, 2020
Posted November 29th, 2018
774
posts
9.1
Years
Colt Marshall
Bounty Hunter
Level 1 Water
$0
Things are never as easy as they seem. Slowly letting his hands drift toward his holsters, Colt couldn’t believe he’d let himself make such a stupid mistake. Looking around the room, he was surrounded by Culebras. Even worse was that his target was nowhere to be seen.
It’s a shame, really, he thought. Not that he cared about a few more dead outlaws, but bullets weren’t cheap, and he had only planned on using one for this job. If only he had gotten the drop on the big oaf earlier, maybe he wouldn’t have had time to realize he was being followed.
The saloon was a dimly-lit, poorly-maintained hole in the wall on the edge of Larkin. The sign out was so dusty and worn that nothing remained of the original letters. Colt guessed that it was a safehouse for the gang, but hadn’t counted on being expected inside. He had sauntered up to the saloon just minutes after Big Pete had gone inside, only to find everyone in the small room glaring murderously at him.
Rather than let himself show his unease, the hunter sat down on one of the creaky barstools nearby. “I’ll take a double shot of whiskey,” he told the bartender, who looked about as displeased as his companions. The barkeep, surprised at the man’s gall, remained where he was. “Who do you think you are?” The man behind the counter asked. “Your kind ain’t welcome here.” Looking the man straight in the eye, Colt stated matter-of-factly, “I’m the one who’s going to kill your friend Big Pete.” As soon as the words left his mouth, every thug in the room hastened to pull out their gun, all pointing at the man in the hat sitting at the bar.
Colt grinned. He felt no remorse for what he was about to do, but it was amusing to him to think that the Culebras thought they had him trapped.
“What’s so funny?” the shotgun-wielding barkeep barked at him, clearly annoyed and nervous.
No one had noticed that a grey cloud-like mist was forming around the ceiling, swirling around like miniature storm clouds.
After a few more seconds had passed, Colt slowly got up from his seat, staring defiantly at the now spooked gunslingers. He had them now, all that was left to do was make a show of it.
“Might as well put the guns away now, since none of you will using them anyways.” The hunter said flippantly.” None of the thugs moved so much as an inch. “Alright, don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
In the blink of an eye the hunter had drawn his right pistol, and let of a shot right into the clouds that had formed inside the saloon. Shards of ice rained down on the men, and gunshots erupted everywhere as chaos ensued. As fast as he could Colt fired and reloaded, doing his best to avoid the erratic stray bullets. The Culebras, much too concerned with the hail shards digging into them like needles, were barely able to resist.
After only a few minutes had passed, the hail stopped. All of the thugs lay motionless on the ground, with blood lining the floor. Well, almost all of them. One man lay on coughing hacking, struggling to draw his last few breaths. Perfect.
“Where is Big Pete? I know he came in here.”
The man, obviously in pain, looked up at the hunter, and spit what blood and saliva he could muster on the latter’s boots. Colt, surprised by the man’s daring, took a step back, but then came down hard on the thug’s hand with his now-soiled boot.
“Fine, if you’ve got nothing to tell me, then tell your boss, if you ever see him again, that I’ll be coming for him, and his idiot giant.” The hunter turned to walk off.
“They’ll find you first, and then we will have our revenge. No one messes with the Culebras and lives.” the man said weakly, and then proceeded to hack up some more blood.
“We’ll see about that.” Colt said, and strode out of the tavern.
Bounty Hunter
Level 1 Water
$0
Things are never as easy as they seem. Slowly letting his hands drift toward his holsters, Colt couldn’t believe he’d let himself make such a stupid mistake. Looking around the room, he was surrounded by Culebras. Even worse was that his target was nowhere to be seen.
It’s a shame, really, he thought. Not that he cared about a few more dead outlaws, but bullets weren’t cheap, and he had only planned on using one for this job. If only he had gotten the drop on the big oaf earlier, maybe he wouldn’t have had time to realize he was being followed.
The saloon was a dimly-lit, poorly-maintained hole in the wall on the edge of Larkin. The sign out was so dusty and worn that nothing remained of the original letters. Colt guessed that it was a safehouse for the gang, but hadn’t counted on being expected inside. He had sauntered up to the saloon just minutes after Big Pete had gone inside, only to find everyone in the small room glaring murderously at him.
Rather than let himself show his unease, the hunter sat down on one of the creaky barstools nearby. “I’ll take a double shot of whiskey,” he told the bartender, who looked about as displeased as his companions. The barkeep, surprised at the man’s gall, remained where he was. “Who do you think you are?” The man behind the counter asked. “Your kind ain’t welcome here.” Looking the man straight in the eye, Colt stated matter-of-factly, “I’m the one who’s going to kill your friend Big Pete.” As soon as the words left his mouth, every thug in the room hastened to pull out their gun, all pointing at the man in the hat sitting at the bar.
Colt grinned. He felt no remorse for what he was about to do, but it was amusing to him to think that the Culebras thought they had him trapped.
“What’s so funny?” the shotgun-wielding barkeep barked at him, clearly annoyed and nervous.
No one had noticed that a grey cloud-like mist was forming around the ceiling, swirling around like miniature storm clouds.
After a few more seconds had passed, Colt slowly got up from his seat, staring defiantly at the now spooked gunslingers. He had them now, all that was left to do was make a show of it.
“Might as well put the guns away now, since none of you will using them anyways.” The hunter said flippantly.” None of the thugs moved so much as an inch. “Alright, don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
In the blink of an eye the hunter had drawn his right pistol, and let of a shot right into the clouds that had formed inside the saloon. Shards of ice rained down on the men, and gunshots erupted everywhere as chaos ensued. As fast as he could Colt fired and reloaded, doing his best to avoid the erratic stray bullets. The Culebras, much too concerned with the hail shards digging into them like needles, were barely able to resist.
After only a few minutes had passed, the hail stopped. All of the thugs lay motionless on the ground, with blood lining the floor. Well, almost all of them. One man lay on coughing hacking, struggling to draw his last few breaths. Perfect.
“Where is Big Pete? I know he came in here.”
The man, obviously in pain, looked up at the hunter, and spit what blood and saliva he could muster on the latter’s boots. Colt, surprised by the man’s daring, took a step back, but then came down hard on the thug’s hand with his now-soiled boot.
“Fine, if you’ve got nothing to tell me, then tell your boss, if you ever see him again, that I’ll be coming for him, and his idiot giant.” The hunter turned to walk off.
“They’ll find you first, and then we will have our revenge. No one messes with the Culebras and lives.” the man said weakly, and then proceeded to hack up some more blood.
“We’ll see about that.” Colt said, and strode out of the tavern.
Friends for Infinity
RPT | Titans | Theme Song | Pair
"Doofin' it up."
art by the churiffic Infinite
RPT | Titans | Theme Song | Pair
"Doofin' it up."
art by the churiffic Infinite
Money: $50.00
Criminal: The Hangman
Level 1, Wind
Lyfe Vivir
"Where to now?"
Lyfe arrives with his horse at a tavern in Spider's Hollow, and parks his horse. He gets off his shining white horse and pats it. "I'll see you shortly, Memory." He says. Lyfe strolls into the the tavern, feeling the cold breeze circle around him. He opens the doors slowly and looks around. Lyfe takes a seat in the corner of the tavern while he surveys the content of the room, taking in faces, decorations, and actions of men. There seems, at the moment, to be mostly honest men in the tavern, and so he stands up and orders a drink.
Well, if you consider 'water' to be a drink.
"Can I have a water, please." He says to the bartender.
The bartender looks at him strangely.
"A what?" He says.
"A bloody water." He says. Such a strange request, but perhaps eccentric men drink plain drinks. The bartender looks at him for a while before filling a glass up with water. Lyfe smiles and leaves some money for the bartender and sits down again. He smiles, not watching a fight go down was nice, men from Orhurst portrayed all the men in the Great Chasm as brutish, inhumane monsters, and it was nice to see that perhaps they were wrong. Perhaps there were nice, civil men here.
Perhaps.
Lyfe had heard of various gangs and gang members, however, he had heard from various Orhurstians that some had been broken up and dispelled by various bounty hunters. He had been reminded of this when a few men wearing sombreros walked into the tavern. One of them sits across from him. A look of pain and sadness is stretched over his face.
"Why hello there." Lyfe says to this gruff looking man.
"Why such the long face." Lyfe asks, but with a tone more of reminiscent of statement.
"Estoy bien." The mexican man says. Lyfe doesn't know much Spanish but he knew enough.
"You don't look fine." He says. "You can talk to me."
The Mexican man sighs and takes off his sombrero. His hair is balding and gray, his hair far older than his face, which appeared to be around a very pained and wrinkled thirty years old.
"Algunos perra mato a mi mejor amigo." He says, with contempt.
Lyfe scrambles around in his mind to figure out what he just said. He didn't know all the words, but enough of them to put the sentence together.
"Someone killed your best friend?"
"Si." The Mexican says.
Lyfe looks at him and tilts his head. "Can you speak English?"
"Si. Pero mal." He says.
"It's okay, I can piece it together." He says.
The Mexican clears his throats and begins to speak.
"A man, his name was Jeb, or something, he killed my best friend." He says in his gravelly Mexican accent.
"Jeb?" Lyfe says. "Why did he kill your best friend?"
"He was a criminal. He was a hunter. Life." The Mexican says.
"Oh. What was your best friend's name?" Lyfe asks.
"Rodriguez." He says.
"I see." Lyfe clears his throat.
"Would you like a new friend?"
The Mexican laughs.
"A kid like you don't need to be with me."
Lyfe sighs.
"Oh, well, If you need me, I'll find you." He says.
The Mexican chuckles. Lyfe does too.
Suddenly, Lyfe asks a question.
"Can you help me?" He asks.
"Maybe." The Mexican says.
"What is it?" He asks.
"I've heard of this man named Travis Barnes." He says. Lyfe had heard rumours of this man on the way to the tavern. "I want to talk to him, in a friendly manner, of course. Do you know where I can find him?" Lyfe doesn't expect an answer but he asks anyways. The Mexican shakes his head no.
"But if find anything, I will let you know."
Lyfe nods.
"Thank you." He says.
Lyfe drank the rest of his water and walked out the tavern. He had accepted the bounty on Travis "Hangman" Barnes, but had no plans to kill him. He simply wanted to talk to Hangman, to see how he was, and to perhaps, change him. He didn't see that as realistic, though, but perhaps some of Hangman's men would be...Moved by his bravery. Besides, who would kill such a boy, especially since he had no bounties on him?
A few minutes after Lyfe leaves the tavern, three men walk out, all dressed in a black suit, presumably armed.
"Se we hear that you're lookin' for Hangman." One of them say.
Lyfe twirls around and looks at the one who vocalized stoically.
"Oh well, yeah." He says.
"I'm looking for Travis Barnes."
"Who are you?" He asks.
"Oh well, I'm just a boy looking for a chat."
"Lookin' for a chat?" He says.
"Chat with this pistol." He says, pointing it at Lyfe.
~~~~~
These three thugs walked Lyfe down a road with a pistol to his back. Eventually these roads started to hold hanged men on them, started with one or two, but then two, three, and then many of them, probably all enemies of this gang. Lyfe looks down at the ground, starting to be fearful. He was just a boy completely out of place. "So-so, what do you guys call yourselves?" He asks innocently.
"Oh come on now, don't muk yourself before we kill ya, boy." One of the gang members say.
"We're known as The Charlatans." He says. "And we're probably gonna kill you. Quickly, if you're lucky." He chuckles. "Or maybe you'll get your wish."
"If you kill me..." Lyfe mutters.
"Please shoot me." He says, trying to make them feel like he was far more scared than he actually was, which didn't work because he was actually more scared then the thugs thought he was.
"We'll probably hang you." He says. "Maybe strangle you." He says, sounding manically pleasured in this activity. "The latter is slower." He says. "And I'd like to watch it."
Lyfe sighs and mumbles something under his breath. Suddenly a wind comes and knocks one of the men over on his back.
"Strong wind, huh?" Lyfe says.
A few hours later they arrive at a camp a few miles south of the tavern. The gates open to a medium sized house and a man walks out.
"So who is this boy?" This man in a suit was wearing a noose around his neck.
"Who is this boy and what value does he pose to me?" He asks.
There is a pause.
"We never asked his name but we heard him talkin' about you in a bar in Spider's Hollow."
The man scoffs. "So what? Everyone talks. Did he do anything? Did he conspire? Did he threaten you? Is he affiliated with law enforcement? Don't lie to me."
The thugs think. "Uh, no."
The man scoffs again.
"Then he isn't worth anything. Let him go. You drug some boy over here and he doesn't even pose a threat. But perhaps, he can be useful." He says.
"Boy." He says.
"Whats your name?"
Lyfe looks at him timidly.
"Ly-Lyfe." He says
The man looks at Lyfe.
"What are you good at, Lyfe?"
Lyfe looks at the man.
"I'm a support sorcerer and a physical medic..." He says.
"I help people and tend to their mental and physical wounds..."
The man looks at Lyfe.
"Would you come in?" He says.
Lyfe looks at the man in shock. He's only been in town for a day and he's already being invited into a house.
"Oh, um, sure..." He says.
And the doors swing open.
I bring men back to life just to laugh at their strife.
Just got hired as a professional writer for Ultius.com. Hell yes.
Just got hired as a professional writer for Ultius.com. Hell yes.
Sophia Hartmann
Status - Outlaw - member of Culebra clan
Sorcery Level - 1
Element - Air
Bounty - 400$
Wrench
Abducted
Sophia's heartbeat skyrocketed as a million thoughts rushed through her mind. Oh muk they're going to kill me can't reach for my psyducking gun what about the guys in the carriage are they also dead should never have gone to get that dumb psyducking treasure muk muk too young to die I bet they'll be hanging me by tomorrow oh muk
"Now, missy, put yer lil' hands up where I can see 'em. Wouldn't want papa to get hurt, eh?" Sophia felt the man rummage through the pouch attached to her belt. "Heheh, that's some fine equipment ye got there... A couple revolvers, ammo, some cash and - ho! A spellbook! That'll be good to sell on the market." the man chuckled. "Hope ye don't mind if I pocket this, eh? Heheh."
"You psyducking piece of muk, put that back! It's mine!" Sophia hissed, not daring to move however. She had to know who the man was - and what he wanted. She shot a quick glance to her left. Nico wasn't there. She wondered whether the man had taken him too, or the Chameleon had jumped off her shoulder when she hadn't been paying attention.
"Now, now. That ain't the kind of language to be heard from such a beautiful voice. Now turn around, lass, let me see yer pretty face." He jabbed her back with the barrel of the rifle. "Slowly now, and don't try nothin' fishy, hear?"
Sophia slowly turned to face her captor. "Jeffrey James, psyducking knew it." she muttered, glowering.
"Hoho, this one'll fetch a good price!" James grinned, revealing a incomplete set of black, decayed teeth. "Now why don't ye try saying something a lil' nicer, eh lass?"
"Go to hell, psyducking pervert." Sophia gathered a mouthful of spit and spat at his face.
"I was hopin' we'd be able to do this... in a civilized way. Guess not."
"What do you -" Sophia began, as Jeffrey James slammed the butt of his rifle on the side of Sophia's head, and she blacked out.
---------------------
Sophia awoke in what seemed to be a damp, dark room. She heard the noise of footsteps above her so she assumed it was a cellar. "Unh..." she groaned. It appeared the side of her head was bleeding - her hands were tied behind her back as well as her feet. A thick piece of cloth covered her mouth which was making it hard for her to breathe. With a tremendous effort, she managed to conjure a blast of air from her mouth, effectively tearing the cloth apart.
"Muk..." she wheezed, coughing. That bastard must have taken my spellbook pretty far... I can barely cast any magic like this. He hasn't destroyed it though, so there's still a chance I could get it back when I get out. she thought. "Well, if I get out."
As her eyes adjusted to the darkness, she looked around the room. She sooz realized she was not alone. At the other end of the room, two other young girls were lying on the floor. One of them, who looked older than Sophia, was lying on the floor - either unconscious or sleeping - while other (a much younger girl who appeared to be 13 or so) was shaking and trembling uncontrollably, however not making a sound. To her right, Sophia saw a small staircase going up that left to a trapdoor. She waited to listen if anyone was coming in that direction, then turned her attention to the younger girl. The latter also had a cloth wrapped around her mouth, making her unable to speak.
"Dammit... You can't talk." she whispered. "How long am I going to stay in this mukhole?"
Suddenly, she heard the sound of gunshots outside, followed by voices, though she couldn't understand what they said. What in hell is going on up there?
Dustin Rhodes
Bounty Hunter
Level 1 Earth Mage
$0
The sun beat down on the desert sand, while the wind blew fiercely and tossed it around. It wasn't the type of day for standing outside, but the three men bore their discomfort silently. It was what they were paid for, after all. They were large, ugly men, with names like "No-Neck" Nick, Orson the Arsonist, and Thomas "Two-Time" Thomas. They had all been members of various gangs, from the Sombreros to the Charlatans, and Orson the Arsonist was still a member of the Culebra Clan, when he wasn't loaning his services out to the highest bidder.
Currently, they were loaning their services to one "Shady" Jeffrey James. They had recently delivered a shipment, but some of the girls had managed to escape when the men had been caught off guard by a sudden dust devil. He hadn't been happy with them, but part of a shipment was better than no shipment. The trio was waiting for Shady to show up, hopefully with another job, but he was late. The trio had waited an hour already, and were starting to get grouchy.
Nearby, another man is starting to feel nervous about Shady's tardiness. Nestled in the shade of two large rocks, his eyes covered by protective lenses, Dustin Rhodes peers down the length of his matte black rifle, doubting that his quarry will show. The men begin to grumble amongst each other, and Tommy Two-Time starts gathering his things to go home.
Well, Dustin thinks, Even if I don't get the meat, I can still fill up on potatoes. At 100 dollars each, these three will suffice. He steadies his breathing, feeling the stir of power inside him. Moving the earth takes time and energy, energy which he had been building up for the past hour.
Tommy Two-Time barely takes his seventh step before the ground gives out from under him, a 5x5x10 hole ripping itself in the sand. He hits hard, rolling his ankle and falling down in his little prison. Dustin releases his breath in a sharp exhale, feeling a little light headed.
No-Neck Nick and Orson the Arsonist spin around when they hear Tommy scream, pulling pistols. Nick runs over to the hole, dropping to one knee to look inside. A bullet strikes him in the back of the neck, tearing out his throat and sending his body tumbling into the pit with poor Tommy. Tommy's scream of pain turns into a scream of terror as his friend's corpse falls on him, the sound drowned out by the report of a rifle.
Dustin works the lever on his gun, sighing at the outcome of that shot. It was supposed to be a clean shot to Nick's back, but he hadn't anticipated the bandit crouching down like that. He looks around for Orson, who managed to take cover by lying prone behind a rock. He pokes his head out, and Dustin takes his shot. Luckily for Orson, Dustin misses, instead blowing a hole in Orson's hat and sending it flying into the air.
Orson fires wildly, but it doesn't take a genius to find Dustin's hiding spot. In hindsight, a fissure in a rock on a ledge wasn't the most stealthy option, even if it was the coolest. One bullet gets dangerously close to Dustin, sending rock shards flying and leaving a shallow scratch on his cheek. He ducks low, covering his head with his arm, putting the sleeve of his coat between his skin and the rock shards.
Orson's gun clicks empty, but he had other tricks. He wasn't called "the Arsonist" for nothing, after all. He had some magical talent, though he was strictly a one trick pony. But when that trick is conjuring fire from your fingertips, it tends to be all you need. Orson grabs a bottle of tequila from his satchel, biting the cork and ripping the bandana from off his neck. Combining his ingredients into a Molotov cocktail, his thumb bursts into flame and lights the cloth. He shouts "Fire in the hole!" as he tosses the bottle at the fissure.
Despite still being drained from his Trap Hole spell, the burning liquid intruding on his hiding place spurs Dustin to action. With a snap of his fingers and an effort of will, he vanishes from the fissure and reappears behind Orson, his vision blurry from the jump. He quickly flips his rifle around, gripping it by the barrel and swinging it like a club, smashing the stock against Orson's head. The Arsonist falls to the ground, blood leaking from his mouth where he bit his tongue.
"Orson Parsons, you're wanted for arson, drunk and disorderly conduct, and suspicion of kidnapping." Dustin pants, his vision returning to normal. "You and your friends are coming with me." He makes sure to confiscate Orson's tiny spellbook, securing a set of manacles to his wrists. He heads over to the pit, dumping a bottle of Orson's tequila into the hole before peering inside. He hears Tommy sputter in surprise, and kicks the bottle into the hole.
"Now, don't get any bright ideas about using that gun, Thomas. Unless you plan on getting a third degree suntan courtesy of the Arsonist." He looks into the hole, pointing his derringer at where he heard Tommy's voice coming from. Sure enough, the bandit is pressed against the wall, as far away from his dead friend as he can get. Tommy drops his gun in disgust, holding up his hands.
"You're sick, man. Sick! Who traps a guy in a hole with a dead man?! Get me outta here!"
Dustin fires his derringer, putting a neat little hole in Tommy's forehead. The round is too weak to exit the skull, and rattles around in Tommy's brainpan for a bit. "I can't trust a man called Two-Time to have just one gun, Thomas. It's safer for me if I bring you in dead." With another effort of will, he raises a stone wall inside the hole, raising the floor until the two bodies are back on level ground. "Besides..." he pants, "Orson can tell me all I need to know about ol' Jeffrey James."
Bounty Hunter
Level 1 Earth Mage
$0
The sun beat down on the desert sand, while the wind blew fiercely and tossed it around. It wasn't the type of day for standing outside, but the three men bore their discomfort silently. It was what they were paid for, after all. They were large, ugly men, with names like "No-Neck" Nick, Orson the Arsonist, and Thomas "Two-Time" Thomas. They had all been members of various gangs, from the Sombreros to the Charlatans, and Orson the Arsonist was still a member of the Culebra Clan, when he wasn't loaning his services out to the highest bidder.
Currently, they were loaning their services to one "Shady" Jeffrey James. They had recently delivered a shipment, but some of the girls had managed to escape when the men had been caught off guard by a sudden dust devil. He hadn't been happy with them, but part of a shipment was better than no shipment. The trio was waiting for Shady to show up, hopefully with another job, but he was late. The trio had waited an hour already, and were starting to get grouchy.
Nearby, another man is starting to feel nervous about Shady's tardiness. Nestled in the shade of two large rocks, his eyes covered by protective lenses, Dustin Rhodes peers down the length of his matte black rifle, doubting that his quarry will show. The men begin to grumble amongst each other, and Tommy Two-Time starts gathering his things to go home.
Well, Dustin thinks, Even if I don't get the meat, I can still fill up on potatoes. At 100 dollars each, these three will suffice. He steadies his breathing, feeling the stir of power inside him. Moving the earth takes time and energy, energy which he had been building up for the past hour.
Tommy Two-Time barely takes his seventh step before the ground gives out from under him, a 5x5x10 hole ripping itself in the sand. He hits hard, rolling his ankle and falling down in his little prison. Dustin releases his breath in a sharp exhale, feeling a little light headed.
No-Neck Nick and Orson the Arsonist spin around when they hear Tommy scream, pulling pistols. Nick runs over to the hole, dropping to one knee to look inside. A bullet strikes him in the back of the neck, tearing out his throat and sending his body tumbling into the pit with poor Tommy. Tommy's scream of pain turns into a scream of terror as his friend's corpse falls on him, the sound drowned out by the report of a rifle.
Dustin works the lever on his gun, sighing at the outcome of that shot. It was supposed to be a clean shot to Nick's back, but he hadn't anticipated the bandit crouching down like that. He looks around for Orson, who managed to take cover by lying prone behind a rock. He pokes his head out, and Dustin takes his shot. Luckily for Orson, Dustin misses, instead blowing a hole in Orson's hat and sending it flying into the air.
Orson fires wildly, but it doesn't take a genius to find Dustin's hiding spot. In hindsight, a fissure in a rock on a ledge wasn't the most stealthy option, even if it was the coolest. One bullet gets dangerously close to Dustin, sending rock shards flying and leaving a shallow scratch on his cheek. He ducks low, covering his head with his arm, putting the sleeve of his coat between his skin and the rock shards.
Orson's gun clicks empty, but he had other tricks. He wasn't called "the Arsonist" for nothing, after all. He had some magical talent, though he was strictly a one trick pony. But when that trick is conjuring fire from your fingertips, it tends to be all you need. Orson grabs a bottle of tequila from his satchel, biting the cork and ripping the bandana from off his neck. Combining his ingredients into a Molotov cocktail, his thumb bursts into flame and lights the cloth. He shouts "Fire in the hole!" as he tosses the bottle at the fissure.
Despite still being drained from his Trap Hole spell, the burning liquid intruding on his hiding place spurs Dustin to action. With a snap of his fingers and an effort of will, he vanishes from the fissure and reappears behind Orson, his vision blurry from the jump. He quickly flips his rifle around, gripping it by the barrel and swinging it like a club, smashing the stock against Orson's head. The Arsonist falls to the ground, blood leaking from his mouth where he bit his tongue.
"Orson Parsons, you're wanted for arson, drunk and disorderly conduct, and suspicion of kidnapping." Dustin pants, his vision returning to normal. "You and your friends are coming with me." He makes sure to confiscate Orson's tiny spellbook, securing a set of manacles to his wrists. He heads over to the pit, dumping a bottle of Orson's tequila into the hole before peering inside. He hears Tommy sputter in surprise, and kicks the bottle into the hole.
"Now, don't get any bright ideas about using that gun, Thomas. Unless you plan on getting a third degree suntan courtesy of the Arsonist." He looks into the hole, pointing his derringer at where he heard Tommy's voice coming from. Sure enough, the bandit is pressed against the wall, as far away from his dead friend as he can get. Tommy drops his gun in disgust, holding up his hands.
"You're sick, man. Sick! Who traps a guy in a hole with a dead man?! Get me outta here!"
Dustin fires his derringer, putting a neat little hole in Tommy's forehead. The round is too weak to exit the skull, and rattles around in Tommy's brainpan for a bit. "I can't trust a man called Two-Time to have just one gun, Thomas. It's safer for me if I bring you in dead." With another effort of will, he raises a stone wall inside the hole, raising the floor until the two bodies are back on level ground. "Besides..." he pants, "Orson can tell me all I need to know about ol' Jeffrey James."
Spoiler:
Jebediah Sanders - Bounty Hunter
Level 1 Air User
$300
On The Road Again
Jeb was going out towards Wrench to look for his two new prey when he saw a chameleon standing on top of a spellbook. He stopped his horse and dismounted. He walked over to it brushing the chameleon aside and opening the cover. There was a name on the inside of it.
"Scarlet Rylian? Who the hell is that?"
Jeb felt something crawling on his back and he started to get anxious thinking it might have been one of them desert tarantulas. He looked over his shoulder and saw crawling up his back very slowly, the chameleon he had knocked off the book he was now holding.
"The hell's your problem?" he asked as he grabbed it off his back.
He pulled it around to meet with his eyes and the chameleon looked down at the book with one eye and up at him with the other. It's arms extended out towards the road that he had been traveling on.
"Whaddya want to go over that way for? Dangerous place. Probably get you killed if we go that way, or eaten if I get hungry enough." It reached out for him and focused its eyes on his shoulder.
"Your funeral" he said as he placed the creature on his shoulder and flipped through the book. "Eh, nothing interesting. Sizzle? Mend? Mute? Summon wolf cub? Fire barrier? Must not be a very good user. Jeb pocketed the book and got up on his horse to ride in the direction that the chameleon's arm had been and was still pointing in.
-------
"Do you really have any idea where we're going?" Jeb asked, turning his head to look at the chameleon. It looked at him with one eye, arm still stretched out pointing in the direction ahead of him.
"Whatever you say. Lead me astray, it's your funeral."
Jeb continued riding along this path for hours until he saw a carriage which had crashed into a boulder and was left abandoned. He got off of his horse and searched through the wreckage searching for any signs of life.
"Not a damn thing," he whispered under his breath. But then he noticed something in the corner of his eye. Caught on a nail in the back of the carriage was a lock of hair and a piece of brown cloth. Jeb reached back and pulled the nail out of the frame and looked it over then remembered the book he had left back with the horse. He left with the cloth and hair in his hand and went back to his horse. He pulled out the book from the satchel he had mounted on it.
"Summon, summon, summon... ah there it is! Summon wolf cub." He cast the spell and off in the distance he saw a dot running towards him. "Seriously? All the way over....god dammit. This is going to take way too long," he complained as he mounted his horse and started riding off towards the dot.
As he closed in he grabbed the wolf cub by it's neck and put it up in his lap.
"Here, find this. You're a wild animal you should know how to do animal things. I guess. I probably should have went to school or something.....can't be helped now," he said as he put the cloth and hair from his pocket in front of the beast's snout. "Lead on." He said as he put the wolf back on the ground.
"I ain't got many leads here besides this damn chameleon, so let's hope you find something, or I'm gonna have to be really hungry in a few hours. I can't believe I'm actually trusting these things. Maybe I need to rethink my life choices." He sighed as the wolf cub took off and he followed.
-------
After nearly two and a half hours, when Jeb was beginning to reach the limits of his sanity, the wolf yipped at him. He saw it in the distance, an abandoned opera house. The wolf kept running until it reached the entrance and then began to scratch at the door. By the time Jeb got there the door had swung open and a rather tall muscular man appeared in the doorway and was picking up the wolf. Jeb barely had enough time to pull out Mr. Truth before the large man noticed him. Bang. Right through the heart.
"Muk that was close. But it's a new record. 15-0 life. 15-0. When ya' gonna try 'n' kill me again? Lately ain't a single person been able to teach me. Yer slackin'." Jeb spoke to the imaginary embodiment of life as he put a bullet through the wolf and walked through the doors. Bang! Bang! Bang! Two scrawny men and a woman with pistols came out from hiding behind a wall in front of him and opened fire.
"Muk! Muk! Muk!" Jeb screamed as he fell to the ground and rolled out the doors, taking cover to the left. He hadn't expected that when only one came to the door.
"Suppose these ones'r a little smarter than the last. Can't be helped." Jeb felt a rush enter his body as he got up from his kneeling position and ran through the doors. Bullets were flying in slow motion through the air making them easy to dodge. Two men and a woman, none of which were his targets.
"Pointless. You're going to try and kill me with this? Really? I am just appalled at you life." Jeb pulled out his two guns and aimed them at the two men. He pulled the triggers, putting a bullet hole in the side of each of their heads. And then there he was standing in front of the woman. Still with the rushed feeling within him, he pulled the gun from her hand, kissed her on the lips and rubbed her chin with the back of his hand. At the time of the kiss time started to flow normally for Jeb again and the woman's eyes grew wide as she realized what had happened, but it only lasted long enough for the two bullets which he had used on her friends to curve around and enter her own skull. Jeb cracked his neck, and looked around the room.
"Guess we better get started then eh lil buddy?" He looked over his shoulder at the chameleon that was starting to crawl down his chest. "Let's get this over with."
Level 1 Air User
$300
On The Road Again
Jeb was going out towards Wrench to look for his two new prey when he saw a chameleon standing on top of a spellbook. He stopped his horse and dismounted. He walked over to it brushing the chameleon aside and opening the cover. There was a name on the inside of it.
"Scarlet Rylian? Who the hell is that?"
Jeb felt something crawling on his back and he started to get anxious thinking it might have been one of them desert tarantulas. He looked over his shoulder and saw crawling up his back very slowly, the chameleon he had knocked off the book he was now holding.
"The hell's your problem?" he asked as he grabbed it off his back.
He pulled it around to meet with his eyes and the chameleon looked down at the book with one eye and up at him with the other. It's arms extended out towards the road that he had been traveling on.
"Whaddya want to go over that way for? Dangerous place. Probably get you killed if we go that way, or eaten if I get hungry enough." It reached out for him and focused its eyes on his shoulder.
"Your funeral" he said as he placed the creature on his shoulder and flipped through the book. "Eh, nothing interesting. Sizzle? Mend? Mute? Summon wolf cub? Fire barrier? Must not be a very good user. Jeb pocketed the book and got up on his horse to ride in the direction that the chameleon's arm had been and was still pointing in.
-------
"Do you really have any idea where we're going?" Jeb asked, turning his head to look at the chameleon. It looked at him with one eye, arm still stretched out pointing in the direction ahead of him.
"Whatever you say. Lead me astray, it's your funeral."
Jeb continued riding along this path for hours until he saw a carriage which had crashed into a boulder and was left abandoned. He got off of his horse and searched through the wreckage searching for any signs of life.
"Not a damn thing," he whispered under his breath. But then he noticed something in the corner of his eye. Caught on a nail in the back of the carriage was a lock of hair and a piece of brown cloth. Jeb reached back and pulled the nail out of the frame and looked it over then remembered the book he had left back with the horse. He left with the cloth and hair in his hand and went back to his horse. He pulled out the book from the satchel he had mounted on it.
"Summon, summon, summon... ah there it is! Summon wolf cub." He cast the spell and off in the distance he saw a dot running towards him. "Seriously? All the way over....god dammit. This is going to take way too long," he complained as he mounted his horse and started riding off towards the dot.
As he closed in he grabbed the wolf cub by it's neck and put it up in his lap.
"Here, find this. You're a wild animal you should know how to do animal things. I guess. I probably should have went to school or something.....can't be helped now," he said as he put the cloth and hair from his pocket in front of the beast's snout. "Lead on." He said as he put the wolf back on the ground.
"I ain't got many leads here besides this damn chameleon, so let's hope you find something, or I'm gonna have to be really hungry in a few hours. I can't believe I'm actually trusting these things. Maybe I need to rethink my life choices." He sighed as the wolf cub took off and he followed.
-------
After nearly two and a half hours, when Jeb was beginning to reach the limits of his sanity, the wolf yipped at him. He saw it in the distance, an abandoned opera house. The wolf kept running until it reached the entrance and then began to scratch at the door. By the time Jeb got there the door had swung open and a rather tall muscular man appeared in the doorway and was picking up the wolf. Jeb barely had enough time to pull out Mr. Truth before the large man noticed him. Bang. Right through the heart.
"Muk that was close. But it's a new record. 15-0 life. 15-0. When ya' gonna try 'n' kill me again? Lately ain't a single person been able to teach me. Yer slackin'." Jeb spoke to the imaginary embodiment of life as he put a bullet through the wolf and walked through the doors. Bang! Bang! Bang! Two scrawny men and a woman with pistols came out from hiding behind a wall in front of him and opened fire.
"Muk! Muk! Muk!" Jeb screamed as he fell to the ground and rolled out the doors, taking cover to the left. He hadn't expected that when only one came to the door.
"Suppose these ones'r a little smarter than the last. Can't be helped." Jeb felt a rush enter his body as he got up from his kneeling position and ran through the doors. Bullets were flying in slow motion through the air making them easy to dodge. Two men and a woman, none of which were his targets.
"Pointless. You're going to try and kill me with this? Really? I am just appalled at you life." Jeb pulled out his two guns and aimed them at the two men. He pulled the triggers, putting a bullet hole in the side of each of their heads. And then there he was standing in front of the woman. Still with the rushed feeling within him, he pulled the gun from her hand, kissed her on the lips and rubbed her chin with the back of his hand. At the time of the kiss time started to flow normally for Jeb again and the woman's eyes grew wide as she realized what had happened, but it only lasted long enough for the two bullets which he had used on her friends to curve around and enter her own skull. Jeb cracked his neck, and looked around the room.
"Guess we better get started then eh lil buddy?" He looked over his shoulder at the chameleon that was starting to crawl down his chest. "Let's get this over with."
Sophia Hartmann
Status - Outlaw - member of Culebra clan
Sorcery Level - 1
Element - Air
Bounty - 400$
Status - Outlaw - member of Culebra clan
Sorcery Level - 1
Element - Air
Bounty - 400$
Jebediah Sanders
Status - Bounty Hunter
Sorcery Level - 1
Element - Air
Money - $300
Wrench
The Grand Ole Opera - Part 1
Sophia heard more gunshots above her, followed by the distinct sound of dead bodies falling to the ground. The young girl who was sitting opposite her had heard the sounds too, and was beginning to sob uncontrollably.
"Hey, would you shut up, kid?" Sophia whispered. "I'm trying to listen to whatever the hell's happening up there. As far as she knew, it could be her clanmates saving her, or bounty hunters, or even an enemy gang. Last thing I want to do is tangle with those last two. she thought. I'll never get out of here though if I don't let them know I'm here.
She looked at the staicase leading to the trapdoor. Can't cast any magic, but maybe I could shuffle to the top of the stairs... She looked back to the girl who was crying.
"Hey, instead of crying like a little muk, come over here and give me a boost. You can stay and rot here all you want, I'm getting out." she said. The girl lifted her head and looked at Sophia. From the muffled sounds she was making, Sophia deduced was apparently trying to protest. "Listen up, if you don't get your sorry ass over here and lift me up I'm blasting your puny head off like I did to that scarf." she threatened. She knew she didn't have the strength to cast another spell, but the kid still believed her. She slowly inched towards Sophia and, using her legs as a spring, pushed Sophia's back to help her stand up.
Sophia slowly began moving up the stairs, using the step in front of her to pull herself to it. Once she had reached the top, she began throwing herself at the trapdoor and hitting it with her back. She hoped it would make enough sound to attract the attention of whoever had just come in, whether they were friendly or not.
Jeb had been on the floor leaning against the wall that the three attackers had been lurking behind when he started hear a banging sound. The chameleon had just been pacing around the room for nearly ten minutes, unsure of where to go.
"Finally. Now this is something I can work with." Jeb spoke as he started pulling himself up off of the ground. He walked around the wall and paced around the building trying to use his one good ear to find out where the sound was coming from. He had went all around the building before he noticed the most obvious of things.
A massive rug was laying right in the middle of the room that the attackers had been hiding in. He looked down at it and every few seconds or so he could see it move up a little and the sound of a thud came from below it. Jeb pulled out the second book he had picked up just to check the spells again.
"What to do, what to do. Do I move the rug with my own strength? Ugh. Or? Do I use another of this person's spells to burn it to cinders? Hmm..." Jeb sat there thinking for about three or four more minutes than he had already been sitting around before he had made his decision. "While I do hate taking anyone else's assistance to do anything, today has just been a pretty off day for me. To ash you go." The corner of the rug caught fire and it spread as Jeb spoke.
The fire quickly consumed the whole of the rug and there was now a visible trapdoor where it used to sit. "It's my lucky day," Jeb said as the door started moving much more with each thud that came from behind it. The chameleon had made it's way to the door and each time it moved it would move it's head with the opening to try and see into it.
A joint post of Sonata and Foxrally
Sophia Hartmann
Status - Outlaw - member of Culebra clan
Sorcery Level - 1
Element - Air
Bounty - 400$
Status - Outlaw - member of Culebra clan
Sorcery Level - 1
Element - Air
Bounty - 400$
Jebediah Sanders
Status - Bounty Hunter
Sorcery Level - 1
Element - Air
Money - $300
Wrench
The Grand Ole Opera - Part 2
Sophia's back was beginning to ache horribly. The tight space between the stairs and the door was horribly cramped and she was beginning to get tired. Suddenly, she felt something crawl up her back. She turned her head to see what it was. "Nico!" she yelped in delight. giggling like a little girl, Sophia felt a wave of relief go through her. Up till then she had expected the Chameleon to be dead - eaten, trampled, lost in the chasm. The reptile clambered onto her shoulder and opened its mouth as if trying to say something. "What is it?" she muttered. She suddenly felt the trapdoor behind her open, relieving the pressure on her aching back.
"Well look what we got here. A pretty little girl. What're you doin' out here in the middle uh da' desert? And stuck in a secret room no less?" Jeb looked down at her with a smile on the half of his face that was still there and reached his hand out.
Sophia squinted as her eyes got used to the sunlight. She didn't recognize the man - he obviously wasn't one of her clanmates - but she had to play it safe, at least until she knew more. "I'd appreciate it if you'd cut these first, mister white knight. Then we can get to the interviewing." she said, turning to show him her hands, which were still tied behind her back.
"You bet' ch'yur sweet ass. I'm your god damn guardian angel." Jeb said laughing slightly as he pulled out his sword and cut her bindings as well as the girl behind her's. "Now about what I asked before ma'am. What's a pretty little thing like you and uh," Jeb craned his neck to look behind the girl in front of him, "that little cutie back there, doing out in the middle of the desert like this?"
"It's that ***ing pervert Jeffrey James. I was, em, heading to Wrench when him and his men assaulted me. Could you imagine, a helpless, innocent girl like me?" she tried her best to make an innocent face. Gotta try and lure him into thinking I'm weak - I could take his horse when he's not watching. she thought. "I reckon same thing happened to the two ladies back there."
"Muk, he's here? This could be a problem then. He's mighty dangerous. You're mighty lucky I got here when I did. I happen to have a gang of my own, just small time stuff, stealing water and horses. Met Jedediah Rush once long long ago. I ain't into nothin' like Jeffrey James." Jeb took the young girl's hand and helped her up out of the hole she was in. "And whaddya mean two? I only see you and that pretty little thing behind you."
"The other one's still out, even after all that noise?" Sophia looked at the girl. The latter nodded lightly. She turned back to the man. "There's another woman down here, she was out for most of the time I was there. I reckon she's her sister, or something." Sophia looked down the trapdoor at the where the woman was still lying on the floor in one of the corners.
"Ah damn. Here, throw this book at her. Found it out in the desert along with that lil chameleon on my way here." He said as he pulled the fire spellbook out of his bag and gave it to the girl still in the hole.
She took the book and opened it up to look inside and at that moment her eyes widened. She fell back down into the hole and scrambled over to the girl who was still unconscious and started shaking her and hitting her with the book in her hand. The girl finally woke up after about thirty straight seconds of the younger girl violently shaking and beating on her. Once she had woken up, she took off the cloth that was covering the older one's mouth.
The latter coughed a little. "Wha... What is this place? What the... You little muk, get away from me! What happened? If this is your fault, I'm having father beat your ass so hard..." she began twisting and turning, trying to get out of her restraints.
"Scarlet, wait -" the younger one began.
"Shut your ass up, brat, and help me get out of these rop-" she began, but she stopped as he looked at the trapdoor where Sophia and Jeb were standing, exchanging looks that clearly conveyed the same message.
"Put the gag back on the rattata and let's go!" Jeb yelled down to the girl.
"Who- wha- do you know him?" Scarlet turned to her younger sister, who was backing away from her.
"No, no! I promise, I have no idea who he is!" she wailed, apparently on the verge of tears.
"I'm the psyducker that's here to save one of you, maybe both if you'd shut your goddamn mouth for a second." Jeb called down.
"I'd keep the older rattata tied if I was you." Sophia whispered to Jeb. "I don't trust her."
Jeb leaned his head over and whispered under his breath, "I don't know that I'd be able to get us out of here along with the younger one if she was tied. It'd be easier to just shoot 'em... but I don't know I'd like having that burden on my mind for the next 5 minutes. You're more than welcome to if you can bear it though." As he pulled out Mr. Truth and pushed it towards her under his cloak.
Sophia sighed. "Kid, give her the book. She can burn off the restraints on her own. If she can't, then might as well keep her ass down here. Let's go."
The girl gave her sister the book. "B-but.."
"Butts are for kickin'. We're gettin'. Hurry the hell up." Jeb said sighing. The girl looked back at her sister one more time before getting up following them out.
Once the little girl got out of the hole and joined Jeb and Sophia, Jeb turned and slammed the door behind her and barred it shut.
The kid looked at Jeb with a panicked expression. "Wait, you're leaving her?!"
"No worries little girl," Jeb said smiling at her as he rubbed her head messing up her hair. "She'll be able to get out just fine. I looked through the book and she had a spell that could create a sword of fire. She could totally cut through that piece of wood and the door. It's just there so that Jeffrey doesn't think to go in there."
A joint post of Sonata and Foxrally
Alex Rose
Death of a Clown
Death of a Clown
Alex ran through the darkness of the tunnel, his way lit only by the light of the fireball hovering over his hand. The shadows cast by the flame flickering against the rough walls of the mine gave the tunnel an eerie feel, however Alex paid it no heed. There was only one dangerous monster in that mine, and he was already chasing a target.
Further down into the earth Alex travelled, surprised as he had been a few times before by the depth of the mine. He often wondered just how far down they could travel before they went too far. At last though, he could hear the echo of footsteps and the screech of a railway cart.
“Everyone’s on a break, but that won’t last long. Grab as much loose gold as you can and get going.”
“It was a good idea sneaking into the mine and just taking loose gold that hadn’t been collected yet boss” another man said in response
“No muk, it was my idea. Now shut up and work!”
Alex rounded a bend to see a group of five men, all wearing bandannas and hard hats grabbing deposits of gold and dropping them into a half-full cart. At the close distance he was at, Alex could see clearly that the men all had faces painted white.
Now to catch my prey
“Perhaps not as good idea as you think” Alex said, his voice carrying down the tunnel “You haven’t got anywhere to run, after all you won’t get passed me.”
The men in clown make-up turned, and seeing the thin frame of the person in front of them broke into laughter. Alex could clearly recognise Rawlings amongst them now.
“How exactly do you plan on stopping us?” the Clown cackled, “There’s five of us, all of us armed.” Alex smirked
“Well, if you won’t come quietly I suppose by making a big mess.” The clowns each removed a revolver concealed on their person from their hiding places and levelled them at Alex. Rawlings was smart; he had noticed the flame hovering over Alex’s hand.
“You aren’t going to be the first fire-tosser I’ve put a bullet in. Don’t get cocky because you’ve got some magic tricks. I’ve seen you around and I know you’re only an initiate; you’re barely a sorcerer at all. Kill him!”
A chorus of bangs rang around the mine tunnel, echoing loudly. Not a single bullet hit Alex though, he was already gone having instantly vanished and reappeared directly behind one of the clowns. Alex pointed his own revolver at the back of the mans head.
“One down” Alex pulled the trigger, the bullet launching into the back of the mans head and splattering blood, bone fragments and grey matter across the tunnel – but not on Alex as he’d blinked to another place as soon as he’d pulled the trigger.
A clown loosed another bullet at Alex, the bounty hunter diving over the top of the mining cart and landing hard on the floor. When the face of the clown appeared over the top of the cart, Alex put a bullet through it from the ground. A second clown appeared around the edge of the cart, behind Alex. Forcing the bounty hunter to blink again, this time back to his original position. From his new place, Alex fired two quick shots towards his would-be-killer. Both narrowly missed the thief as he dropped to a crouch behind the card, the bullets hitting the edge with a metallic clang and ricocheting down into the depths of the tunnel.
“Forgetting the rest of us?”
A clown-faced shooter sprang out of the darkness, lunging towards Alex. Alex didn’t move, instead a blazing dome of fire erupted into being around him. The man hit the barrier, falling back as flames crept over his body burning him badly. The man screamed and swore, falling to the ground as the sickly smell of incinerating flesh filled the tunnel. Alex put the man out of his misery, putting a single bullet through his head.
“Three down” Alex said, giving a sinister chuckle as both his remaining targets fired at him. Again Alex vanished, reappearing behind the criminals. They anticipated the move though, turning to shoot and forcing Alex to blink again the moment he reappeared. Again they turned, however neither fired immediately for there were now five of Alex all standing in a circle around them.
“Shoot at will, but you’ll have to kill the real one.”
Two more bullets flew in different direction, both hitting a false Alex and forcing the illusion to fade away. Alex took this chance and shot the last of Rawlings’ followers in the back, putting a second bullet in him to finish the job. Which was when he felt a gun on the back of his head.
Alex blinked again, returning to his original spot in time to see a bullet collide with the wall of the tunnel.
“Too slow” Alex raised his gun to Rawlings, however the man just laughed.
“That won’t work, you’re out of bullets.” Rawlings raised his own gun, even as the revolving chamber on Alex’s spun by itself “Any last words, bounty hunter?”
“A few” Alex said, his smirk deepening “I’m never out of ammo." He caught the Clown by surprise, shooting him through his forehead, permanently etching a look of surprise onto his face.
“I can’t carry all of these bodies” Alex said to himself as he hauled Rawlings’ corpse into the mine cart to return to the surface “I guess the miners will just have to clean up my mess.’
Further down into the earth Alex travelled, surprised as he had been a few times before by the depth of the mine. He often wondered just how far down they could travel before they went too far. At last though, he could hear the echo of footsteps and the screech of a railway cart.
“Everyone’s on a break, but that won’t last long. Grab as much loose gold as you can and get going.”
“It was a good idea sneaking into the mine and just taking loose gold that hadn’t been collected yet boss” another man said in response
“No muk, it was my idea. Now shut up and work!”
Alex rounded a bend to see a group of five men, all wearing bandannas and hard hats grabbing deposits of gold and dropping them into a half-full cart. At the close distance he was at, Alex could see clearly that the men all had faces painted white.
Now to catch my prey
“Perhaps not as good idea as you think” Alex said, his voice carrying down the tunnel “You haven’t got anywhere to run, after all you won’t get passed me.”
The men in clown make-up turned, and seeing the thin frame of the person in front of them broke into laughter. Alex could clearly recognise Rawlings amongst them now.
“How exactly do you plan on stopping us?” the Clown cackled, “There’s five of us, all of us armed.” Alex smirked
“Well, if you won’t come quietly I suppose by making a big mess.” The clowns each removed a revolver concealed on their person from their hiding places and levelled them at Alex. Rawlings was smart; he had noticed the flame hovering over Alex’s hand.
“You aren’t going to be the first fire-tosser I’ve put a bullet in. Don’t get cocky because you’ve got some magic tricks. I’ve seen you around and I know you’re only an initiate; you’re barely a sorcerer at all. Kill him!”
A chorus of bangs rang around the mine tunnel, echoing loudly. Not a single bullet hit Alex though, he was already gone having instantly vanished and reappeared directly behind one of the clowns. Alex pointed his own revolver at the back of the mans head.
“One down” Alex pulled the trigger, the bullet launching into the back of the mans head and splattering blood, bone fragments and grey matter across the tunnel – but not on Alex as he’d blinked to another place as soon as he’d pulled the trigger.
A clown loosed another bullet at Alex, the bounty hunter diving over the top of the mining cart and landing hard on the floor. When the face of the clown appeared over the top of the cart, Alex put a bullet through it from the ground. A second clown appeared around the edge of the cart, behind Alex. Forcing the bounty hunter to blink again, this time back to his original position. From his new place, Alex fired two quick shots towards his would-be-killer. Both narrowly missed the thief as he dropped to a crouch behind the card, the bullets hitting the edge with a metallic clang and ricocheting down into the depths of the tunnel.
“Forgetting the rest of us?”
A clown-faced shooter sprang out of the darkness, lunging towards Alex. Alex didn’t move, instead a blazing dome of fire erupted into being around him. The man hit the barrier, falling back as flames crept over his body burning him badly. The man screamed and swore, falling to the ground as the sickly smell of incinerating flesh filled the tunnel. Alex put the man out of his misery, putting a single bullet through his head.
“Three down” Alex said, giving a sinister chuckle as both his remaining targets fired at him. Again Alex vanished, reappearing behind the criminals. They anticipated the move though, turning to shoot and forcing Alex to blink again the moment he reappeared. Again they turned, however neither fired immediately for there were now five of Alex all standing in a circle around them.
“Shoot at will, but you’ll have to kill the real one.”
Two more bullets flew in different direction, both hitting a false Alex and forcing the illusion to fade away. Alex took this chance and shot the last of Rawlings’ followers in the back, putting a second bullet in him to finish the job. Which was when he felt a gun on the back of his head.
Alex blinked again, returning to his original spot in time to see a bullet collide with the wall of the tunnel.
“Too slow” Alex raised his gun to Rawlings, however the man just laughed.
“That won’t work, you’re out of bullets.” Rawlings raised his own gun, even as the revolving chamber on Alex’s spun by itself “Any last words, bounty hunter?”
“A few” Alex said, his smirk deepening “I’m never out of ammo." He caught the Clown by surprise, shooting him through his forehead, permanently etching a look of surprise onto his face.
“I can’t carry all of these bodies” Alex said to himself as he hauled Rawlings’ corpse into the mine cart to return to the surface “I guess the miners will just have to clean up my mess.’
Sophia Hartmann
Status - Outlaw - member of Culebra clan
Sorcery Level - 1
Element - Air
Bounty - 400$
Status - Outlaw - member of Culebra clan
Sorcery Level - 1
Element - Air
Bounty - 400$
Jebediah Sanders
Status - Bounty Hunter
Sorcery Level - 1
Element - Air
Money - $300
Wrench
The Grand Ole Opera - Part 3
"Oh, I don't believe we've formally introduced ourselves, mister guardian angel. I'm Sophia - ehm - Becker. And you are?" Sophia said, clearing her thought to give her time to make up a believable family name. Not like my real name would be of any use to him anyway, but you can never be too safe.
"Becker huh? Odd you'd choose that name to go with. But your business is your business. My name's Jebediah. Don't go by nothin' more. Renounced my family name long ago, just didn't agree with the way my family was. Went off to be me. Now, I think it's best we hold off on pleasantries just a little while longer so we can find that sonuvarattata - pardon my language to the younger lass - Jeffrey James and blast his psyducking head off." Jeb said as he pulled out both of his guns, giving Mr.Truth to Sophia since she was unarmed. And then he looked at the younger girl, "And it'd be best if you just went to wait outside. It can get real bloody in here."
The girl nodded and headed towards the door. Sophia held the gun that had been given to her. A Hartmann Industries revolver. Typical. "Aren't you afraid she'll take your horse or something?" she asked as they walked through the room towards the staircase.
"Nah, we shouldn't be too long, and even if we are and she decides to run I'll just kill her. Or not worry about it. I have legs." Jeb said staring down at the steps as he was going up them ahead of Sophia.
"So, you say you and your guys met Jedediah Rush, eh? What's the man like? The townspeople say he's a damn devil, not a man." Sophia asked him, following him up the stairs.
"Nah not me and my guys, it was way back when I was first starting out. Just me, Rey and Mr. Truth. I met him about 4 or 5 years ago outside the chasm. I tried to join his gang in hopes of revolutionizing this world. He told me if I could beat him in a fight with our spells he'd accept me." Jeb said as they turned the corner to head up to the next set of stairs.
Sophia chuckled. "Worst decision you could make."
"Eh, I don't mind it. He's why my face looks like it does. I could have healed it, he had a lot of medics but I like the reminder. I hope I can get into his gang some day, he treats his guys real good. When I was sent away after losing he gave me that horse outside. Had it ever since." Jeb said as they started up the next set or stairs.
Something's off about this guy story. He's as bad as lying as Nico is at being a turle. Sophia thought. "Anyway, who are Rey and Mr. Truth? Members of your gang?"
"You're holding Mr. Truth right now, and Rey is this baby." Jeb pulled out the semi automatic revolver with the bicycle chain ammo bandolier. "Mr. Truth was the gun my daddy used to kill my mom and also what put the hole in my ear here. And Rey is a gun I customized myself. A protoype. Works most of the time." Jeb smiled down at Rey as they started to walk into the first room of the second floor.
Sophia eyed the gun enviously. "I got a prototype gun myself, it's -" she was cut off by Jeb stopping her with his arm.
"Two of 'em up ahead." Jeb said as he put his back up against the wall. He leaned out from behind it then looked back at Sophia. "I'll go over to the other wall over there and then on the count of three we'll each take one out okay? Make sure to do it quiet in case there's any more."
Jeb got down and rolled over past the doorway and leaned up against the wall on the other side. He looked over to her and saw her holding the gun, finger ready to go. He shout-whispered "Not with the god dang gun you moron. Quiet like." He held up three fingers.
Sophia frowned, shout-whispering "Psyduck you." back at Jeb with her middle finger raised in the air. She put the gun slowly on the ground.
Jeb gave her a face that if put into words would have read as "Oh really now?" He peeked around the corner and saw that the two men were still in the same place as they were before, luckily not hearing the conversation they were just having. He looked back at Sophia and nodded his head. Three fingers. Two fingers. One finger. He signaled for go.
Seeing the signal, Sophia quickly turned the corner and leaped at the man in front of her. The thug was a tall and burly man, almost twice Sophia's size. She managed to get him in a choke hold with her arm around his neck. Wrapping her legs around his chest, she proceeded to squeeze the air air out of his lungs. Surprised by the attack, the man scrambled around, trying to reach for his weapon which was on a chair a few feet away with one hand, while desperately trying to undo Sophia's choke hold with the other. Just as he was about to reach his revolver, Sophia squeezed the man's throat harder and after a few seconds of tipsily staggering around, he fell straight on his face.
"That's one asshole down." she muttered.
Jeb waited behind the wall watching Sophia take the man down until the last possible second. He sized Sophia up and determined her to not be much of a threat without magic or a weapon. Jeb proceeded to rush at the other guy who had aimed the sights of his gun at Sophia as she was getting up from the first guy. He took out his sword and cut off the hand holding the gun then hacked at his mouth until his jaw hung away from the rest of his head and then with one final swing the man's jaw fell to the ground and his body followed after. And to Sophia it appeared to happen in no more than a second or two.
Sophia put up her arm to cover her face as blood sprayed everywhere across the room. The man Jeb had attacked was writhing in pain on the ground, making gurgling sounds which made her want to throw up. "Good god, kill the bastard already!" Sophia yelled at Jeb. "What is psyducking wrong with you?"
"At your request my lady." Jeb said mockingly as he landed the final blow on the man's neck. Thus decapitating the body and leaving the tongue laying on the ground and the eyes staring straight at Sophia. "Nothing is wrong with me, it's just a sign against people who would like to cause me problems." Jeb flicked his sword to get the blood off of it and then wiped it down before sheathing it.
Sophia turned her head to avoid the dead man's gaze. I've seen some pretty messed up muk in Larkin, but this guy takes the cake. she thought. She was beginning to have second thoughts about stealing his horse - he seemed to move incredibly fast. "Let's just go get my things. You're a piece of muk of a man, Jebediah, you know that?" Sophia told him before while back for the gun she had left on the ground.
"Right. Right. All the women tell me that right before they lay down for the night. Let's go get your muk so we can get this over and done with. You're going to need it if we're going to get rid of Jeffrey. The sonuvarattata is probably puttin' on a show right now too. You take them rooms to the left and I'll take these rooms on the right. Let's get through this as fast as we can."
A joint post of Sonata and Foxrally
Sophia Hartmann
Status - Outlaw - member of Culebra clan
Sorcery Level - 1
Element - Air
Bounty - 400$
Status - Outlaw - member of Culebra clan
Sorcery Level - 1
Element - Air
Bounty - 400$
Jebediah Sanders
Status - Bounty Hunter
Sorcery Level - 1
Element - Air
Money - $300
Wrench
The Grand Ole Opera - Part 4
Jeb went into the first room on the right. Two bodies both of which were female, bound and gagged with their eyelids cut off. "This psyducker might even be sicker than I am." Ha. Yeah right he thought. That would be a real laugh. But altogether nothing really worthwhile in this room. "Moving right along. This room's clear! Moving to the next!" Jeb yelled as he went into the middle room.
Meanwhile Sophia had gone into the first room to the left. It seemed to be empty spare a few old clothes that had been thrown in a corner. Sophia knew what they were doing there, and shuddered at the thought of Jeffrey doing it with a dead woman. Psyducking necrophile... she thought, closing the door with a disgusted look on her face. "Yeah, nothing here except a few soiled clothes - don't want to know what's in them. I'll move on to the next one."
"Gross." Jeb muttered to himself as he went into the second room. Boxes. Just boxes everywhere. "Jesus psyducking christ. This is going to take for psyducking ever. Jeb pulled down one of the boxes from the tower that was closest to him. "Empty." Another box. "Empty." Another box. "God damn psyducking empty." He had only went through three boxes but he was already getting frustrated. He started kicking boxes and just throwing them all over the place. He finally hit something that seemed hard. He pulled the box out in front of him and started pulling the clothes off of the top. Gowns, dresses, jewelry, other knick knacks. Then he got to the good stuff.
Down in the very bottom of the box was a dagger, a revolver and a pocket pistol along with a spellbook. "Jackpot." Jeb said smiling to himself. He pocketed the knife and two guns then flipped open the book. "Sophia.... Hartmann?" Jeb whispered to himself. Ah, I remember now. Pretty low bounty, but a pretty face nonetheless. he thought. He'd come this far with her, might as well let her go. He'd let sombrero go for nearly a year. No harm done, she might even be able to help him in due time. "Hey! Sophia? I found your stuff!" Jeb yelled out the door.
Sophia had gone to the second room to the left. The room was much smaller than the first, making it almost a closet. Flour bags were piled one on top of the other in one corner of the room, in such a position that something could be concealed behind them. Sophia tired to lift one of the bags. They were surprisingly light, as if they had been placed there simply for show. She began throwing aside the bags. Behind the pile was a small box. Oh, so maybe this whole mess was worth it after all. she thought, smiling.
She opened the box. It was filled with different kinds of jewelry and gold nuggets - nothing that couldn't be stolen from a civilian - but what attracted her attention was the large golden watch that was in the center of the box. Watches were hard to come by in the Barren Lands, being exclusively distributed in the North. This'll fetch a good price. she thought, pocketing the watch. She was startled by Jeb calling her.
"Oh, you found it, great! I'm coming to you!" she called back. However her face was red with worry. Muk, he must've read my name on the front. Please don't be a bounty hunter please don't be a bounty hunter please don't be please
Jeb finished giving it a quick look over and then put it back in the box with Sophia's other things. He heard her reply and then started taking her things out all over again to make it seem like he had only just got to it. "I've got a uh... pocket pistol, a revolver, nice little knife and a book. This is yours right?" He said as he turned around with the things in his arms. He walked over towards her.
"Yes, yes all mine!" Sophia walked hurriedly towards Jeb and snatched the box from him. She flipped open the book to check if it was hers. She sighed in relief - he had not seen her name. "Ehm - thanks. I thought that asshole Jeffrey had burnt it. Guess he's not too smart. Let's go kill his ass off and get this over with."
Jeb looked at her flushed face and smiled, "No worries hun. It's there and in - as far as I can see - perfect condition. I'm still making sure there's nothing left in here and then I'll move on to the last room just to make sure there's nothing of importance left here and we can finally finish this thing." Jeb said as he pulled out some chewing tobacco from his chest pocket. He had started to get anxious and his magic was beginning to go a little haywire, to the point of him having trouble keeping it under wraps. He even went to the extreme of unsheathing his sword to hack away at the boxes just to vent some of his energy. After having torn the boxes to shreds he left the room and went down the hall to the final one.
Sophia headed towards the third room to the left. The door seemed blocked by something at first, but with a final push Sophia managed to push it open. Muk's probably rusty as hell. she thought. The room was larger than the previous two. There were no windows or lights, and Sophia could barely see anything. She carefully stepped inside. "And what the hell is this this smell?" she muttered, cringing at the pungent smell of the room. She put her hand on her shoulder where Nico was, allowing him to climb on her hand. "Alright, Nico. I can't see muk in here, but I know you can. Go take a look around for me and tell me if you find anything interesting. And don't go pocketing anything for yourself, hear?" she whispered to him. She watched as the Chameleon hopped off and scuttled away, its eyes glowing in the dark. Sophia felt around for the wall and used it ask a guide to move forward.
At the same time Jeb was coming to the door of the final room on his side. "The hell?" He muttered as he looked at the massive chunk of steel in front of him. "What am I supposed to do with this," He asked himself as he pushed up against the steel. "Anyone in there?" He asked with his ear pressed up against the cold metal. He heard a muffled humming sound and the clink of metal against metal. "Hello?" He asked again as he knocked twice on the door. Two knocks came back causing Jeb to jump back from the door in surprise.
Sophia continued to slowly move forward, when she suddenly stopped as her foot hit something hard. She crouched down to see what it was, hoping it would be another chest. She gasped when she realized it was the body of a person. As she stepped away from the body, she hit something else behind her. At that moment Nico, which was at the other end of the room, momentarily let out a small cough. The fluorescent cloud of gas temporarily illuminated the room, and Sophia stared in horror as he realized the room was filled with dead bodies of victims - no wonder it smelled so bad. Sophia immediately sprinted towards the exit, almost tripping over a corpse. She emerged out of the room panting and coughing. "Psyducking... necrophile..." she wheezed.
Jeb heard something crack against the door which caused it to move a few inches. After a few seconds he went back up to the door and gauged that a small enough person could fit through the crack. Maybe a child, or a skinny girl. "Wait a minute...." he turned around, "Sophia!" He called, "Come over here for a minute will you?"
Sophia straightened. "Hm? What is it, having trouble with a piece of metal?" she answered, looking at the door Jeb was facing.
"Need ya to get in there for me. Figure a little lady like you could fit. I'll pull it for ya." He said, gesturing towards the crack.
"Shut you ass up, I'm not short! My 'pa's vertically challenged, that's all." Sophia crossed her arms and walked up to the door. She peered into the crack. "Why do you want me to go in there anyway? Anything to find?"
"Calm down there, yea there's something in there alright, or maybe someone. They might be able to help. If you lean in you can hear someone struggling to breathe. But apparently they're not too weak, they managed to move this big slab o' steel. I couldn't even do that." He said as he knocked on the door.
"Psh. Fine, I'm going in. You better not leave me in there though, or I'm cutting your throat the second I get out." she scoffed.
"Whatever you say sweety." He said in a joking manner as he pulled on the piece of metal so she could get through.
Sophia squeezed through the crack in the door. It was tight, but her small stature allowed her to easily go through. Once she was on the other side, she turned back and kocked on the door. "Alright, I'm in! Can't see muk in here, though, only some weird buzzing sound." she called.
"Here, take this. Just once you get it lit push the button on the side, it'll get it nice and bright for you." He said as he fumbled through his pockets searching for his lighter. "Here you go." He said as he extended his arm through the crack and gave Sophia the lighter.
Sophia took the lighter from Jeb. After a few tried, she managed to light it. "Alright, I'm going in further." She raised the lighter high above her head to illuminate the whole room. "Still don't see anything." she called. "Oh wait, I see someone! What is th- oh my psyducking god."
A joint post of Sonata and Foxrally
Sophia Hartmann
Status - Outlaw - member of Culebra clan
Sorcery Level - 1
Element - Air
Bounty - 400$
Status - Outlaw - member of Culebra clan
Sorcery Level - 1
Element - Air
Bounty - 400$
Jebediah Sanders
Status - Bounty Hunter
Sorcery Level - 1
Element - Air
Money - $300
Wrench
The Grand Ole Opera - Part 5
As Sophia started to speak, Jeb heard a sound coming from upstairs. Footsteps, a gunshot and the muffled sounds of laughter. "Muk, hurry up! We gotta get out of here and hide before they get here." Jeb stuck his arm through the crack and then as soon as Sophia screamed he took off to the other side of the room to hide in the room she had just came out of.
Sophia had fallen back as soon as she had seen the monstrosity in front of her. She ran for the door. "PSYDUCK PSYDUCK PSYDUCK JEB GET ME OUT! THERE'S SOMETHING GET ME OUT NOW!" she screamed, waving her arm through the crack. The creature began moving slowly towards her.
The footsteps grew louder as did the sounds of voices. Jeb looked around the corner and saw Sophia standing there in the doorway screaming with her arm stretched out towards him. "I'm sorry, go hide." His lips moved but no sound came out. As soon as he had done this he saw five men surround the entrance to the room where she was. "Muk!" he whispered to himself as he went back around the corner.
"Alright. Alright. Calm down. You can do this Jeb. Just breathe deep. One more spell, that's all you need to do." Jeb felt everything slow down around him, the footsteps, and the voices became elongated laughing as they were, presumably at Sophia. Jeb turned the corner and started to sprint towards the five men when he felt the muscles and tendons in his left shoulder tear apart and his arm dislocate from the pressure. "Psyduck!" He yelled, coming out of his heightened mind state and drawing the attention of the men. "Muk. Muk. Muk." He cursed himself as he ran down the hallway, bullets biting at his heels as he went to the end of the room. He fell to the ground and rolled to shelter, firing off a few rounds from Rey. Two missed, but the third went right through on of their eye sockets.
Oh god, this is bad, very psyducking bad. Sophia thought. She turned to face the creature that was coming closer. With her back against the metal door, she slumped down to the floor. She had not had the chance to have a good look at it, but now she could clearly see it. At first sight it appeared to be human. The limbs and upper body were shaped to be human-like - however were made entirely of rusting, visibly withered and damaged steel. Its arms and legs appeared to release steam every now and then, and its main body was filled with cogs, levers and chains. However this was not the most horrifying thing about the creature. It still seemed to be alive. Its vital organs, namely its heart and lungs, were danging at its sides, eerily pulsating with the monster's every breath. Its brain and eyes were visible and sealed in a glass container where its "head" would have been. The raspy sound of it's breath came from its exposed windpipe, which was connected by a pipe to the lungs. The occasional malfunction caused its hands and legs to constantly dip blood on the ground, leaving a bloody trail behind them.
Sophia stared in horror as the steam monster slowly walked towards her. Maybe it's asking for help... The poor psyducker's probably been stuck here for years, if he can help me take out Jeffrey or that other guy, I could get out. she thought. She slowly approached the creature. "Listen, I'm only here to h- argh!" she gasped as its metallic hands grasped her throat and pulled her upwards.
The metallic hands immediately released her and dropped to the ground. Its breath was beginning to get faster - the poison was kicking in. Its organs began pulsating more vigorously, get larger and larger by the second. It let out a piercing sound as its arms began releasing giant blasts of steam more and more frequently. Sophia covered her eyes from the spray of blood and chunks of flesh as the creature's human body part exploded and its metallic frame fell to the ground.
Sophia looked at the creature. At least it got what it wanted. she thought, retrieving her dagger. She looked back at the door. Still need a way to get out... I think I know how. The metal parts of the steam cyborg were so rusted Sophia easily managed to pull out its arm. And using it as a lever, she put the arm through the door and wrenched it open using all of her strength and her weight.
She looked around for Jeb, but there was no sight of him. She began moving towards the staircase. Alright, got my stuff, got what I came for, no reason to be here anymore. White Knight can take care of Jeffrey himself. Suits me if he dies, at least I won't have any trouble with him later. Just gotta be quiet while I'm... she stopped when Nico let out a small cough. The Chameleon pointed in the direction Jeb had disappeared in. "You think I'm going to risk my life for a guy I barely even know? Piss off." Sophia muttered, looking at him. Nico continued to point in that direction. "Fine. If I die, I'll be haunting the muk out of you. What are you, my personal guardian?" she chuckled, heading in the direction she had seen Jeb and his assailants go.
The footsteps were growing closer, the four men had been pissed about their buddy dying, now they were going to return the favor. "Psyduck me, oh god just psyduck me." He said, wheezing and trying to catch his breath. His heart was beating at a million miles an hour and his head was pounding. He fished through his jacket and pulled out one of his cigars. "At least I can go out happy," He said as he put it in his mouth. "Wait....where...." he started patting himself down, searching every inch of his body. "You've got to be psyducking kidding me. I gave her my only psyducking lighter. How stupid....psyduck. I can't go out like this." He put the cigar back in his pocket and lifted his one good arm. "This is real, real stupid, but I'm not going out without a smoke. One more spell, and it better psyduckin' work this time." He felt his senses heighten further than ever before, his nose started pouring blood, his good arm started twitching and he felt as if his eyes were about to pop out of his head. "Let's do this."
He spun around the corner, not taking any time to mess around he shot one of them immediately then pulled out his sword and using his momentum he stabbed through two of them. He went to turn his gun to Jeffrey but his spell wore off and his turn was met with the butt of a gun to his temple.
A joint post of Sonata and Foxrally
Sophia Hartmann
Status - Outlaw - member of Culebra clan
Sorcery Level - 1
Element - Air
Bounty - 400$
Status - Outlaw - member of Culebra clan
Sorcery Level - 1
Element - Air
Bounty - 400$
Jebediah Sanders
Status - Bounty Hunter
Sorcery Level - 1
Element - Air
Money - $300
Wrench
The Grand Ole Opera - Part 6
"You psyduckin' muk. You come in here, free my girls, kill my friends and associates and then you try to kill me? Who in the hell does a no name like you think he is?" Jeffrey spoke down to Jeb, taking a moment to punch him in the side every few words.
"I'm not a nobody you piece of muk." Jeb said as he coughed up blood. "My name's Jeb, and I'm here to collect on your ass." His vision was starting to blur and he thought he saw someone come around the corner as Jeffrey went around and positioned himself in front of his face.
Sophia reached the room where Jeb's assailants had followed him. She peered around the corner to see who was there, and noticed Jeb was on his knees, apparently getting beaten by Jeffrey. She readied her gun. Can't go in now, chances are he'll see me. Have to wait for the right moment.
"You're a real piece a' work you know that?" Jeffrey spat next to him and then squatted down, reaching into Jeb's pocket and taking one of his cigars. "You don't mind me takin' do ya'? You don't seem to be in any condition ta' smoke it." He grinned as he pulled out a lighter. He lit the end of the cigar and took a long drag on it. "This tastes like muk you know?" He crushed the cigar in his fist and then dropped the ashes and crumbled remains on Jeb's face before standing up and pointing his gun at him. "Now tell me, why shouldn't I kill you?"
Jeb couldn't see a way out of this. It seemed to be the end, at least someone was there in the end, though they weren't his first choice. "You mind giving a dying man a smoke first? Even the one you crumbled on my face would be fine."
Jeffrey grunted and then sighed before pulling out a spellbook. He read off a single spell and a small plant of some sort started to grow from the wood floor next to him. After a few seconds the plant opened up and in the middle surrounded by rose petals was a cigar. "Not the most useful spell, but perfect for sitch'iations like this'n." He said as he bent down, lighting the cigar and putting it in Jeb's mouth.
He took a few puffs. "Not bad. Sweet, flowery smell-"
"Don't need ya' explainin' the way the damn thing is, I'm the one that grew it. I know what it's like. Just get on with ya' story so I can blow ye' psyduckin' brains out on the floor." Jeffrey snapped.
"Alright, alright," Jeb said as he took a final puff on the cigar before putting it out. "It's like this ya' see, my name is Jebediah Sanders. I'm a bounty hunter, but I've not always been that way. I met Jedediah Rush once, and that's what set me off on the line of huntin' scum like you."
Jeffrey scoffed, "The Jedediah Rush? A nobody like you? Don't make me laugh boy."
"No, no, I'm serious. Met him about, oh I'd say it was about five years ago now." Jeb said as he felt at the messed up part of his face.
"Ain't nobody seen him in the past five years. Now tell me the truth before I get bored and just put a bullet in ye' head."
"That's it. Don't you see? I'm tellin' the truth, he's just too scared to come out anymore."
"Scared? What's he got ta' be scared of? A scrawny thing like you? Jedediah could take you blindfolded and with one armed tied behind his back."
"I wouldn't be so sure about that. See, 'bout five years back now, I met Jedediah Rush. Not the worst'a guys, but not the best neither. He treated his group good, kept 'em fed, made sure they stayed healthy and had a place to sleep. See, he's a revolutionary."
"That so eh?" Jeffrey said rubbing his chin.
"That's right, I even tried to join up with 'em back before I became a fully fledged bounty hunter. He decided he'd let a nobody like me in, on the one condition that I could beat him in a fight ta' the death."
"Well you don't look very dead to me, and I know Jedediah would never lose to some nobody like you so-"
"Just let me finish the damn story will ya'? Muk."
"Go ahead." Jeffrey motioned.
"So we took our seven steps and turned to face each other. One of his boys said to go, I shot off two of the fingers on his right hand, and he burned this side of my face and took out that chunk of my ear. Just barely, I don't know what spells he used, but I was lucky to survive."
"You took two of his fingers? Hahaha, that's rich." Jeffrey was so caught up in his laughter that he didn't even notice Jeb raising his one good arm and level Rey at his heart.
"Believe it or not, I'm a pretty good shot." Jeb said as he pulled the trigger. But before the bullet left the chamber, Jeb's body fell limp and sent the bullet off to the right, just barely grazing Jeffrey's side.
"You psyduck! You piece of muk! You god damn-" Jeffrey clutched his bleeding side and spat at Jebediah's now limp body, his voice raising and trees beginning to sprout from the floor with each word that he stabbed Jeb's unconscious mind with.
"Wake the psyduck up you piece of muk! I want to see the fear in your eyes when I put this bullet through your psyducking skull. And then I'm gonna clean it and take my piss in it." Jeffrey had leaned over and picked up the limp body of Jebediah by the collar of his shirt and was beating his face in with the gun in his hand.
"That's it, no more waiting. I'm done playing games with you." Jeffrey dropped Jeb to the ground and pointed the revolver straight at the bounty hunter's skull.
"How funny. Look who's talking about games." Sophia appeared behind Jeffrey, a gun pointed at the back of his head.
"Wha- who the psyduck d'ye think ye are?!" Jeffrey turned his head in surprise.
"His psyducking guardian angel."
A joint post of Sonata and Foxrally
Sophia Hartmann
Status - Outlaw - member of Culebra clan
Sorcery Level - 1
Element - Air
Bounty - 400$
Status - Outlaw - member of Culebra clan
Sorcery Level - 1
Element - Air
Bounty - 400$
Jebediah Sanders
Status - Bounty Hunter
Sorcery Level - 1
Element - Air
Money - $300
Wrench
The Grand Ole Opera - Finale
Sophia pulled the trigger and put a bullet through his head. The impact, along with the air blast, was so strong sent his body flying across the room. Sophia looked at Jeb. "You're a real 'man o' morals', eh?" she chuckled.
She crouched down to attend do him. Alright, I haven't done this spell in a long time. Let's hope the mukty training I had at Skyrith is actually going to benefit me. She placed her hands on Jeb's forehead and began mumbling a few incantations. Her hands began glowing white, and the cuts, scratches and bruises on Jeb slowly began fading as the skin mended itself. After a few minutes, Sophia turned to his shoulders. They were visibly hurt - the skin was torn and the flesh was showing. His left shoulder was also at an awkward angle. Muk, that's not something I can fix. I can try my best to ease the pain, though. she thought, placing her hands on his shoulders. She was already sweating from all the strain - she was not used to casting magic for this long. A few moments later, she mumbled a few more words and her hands turned back to normal.
She then attempted to wake Jeb up. "Hey, come on. You said this guy's working with someone else - if that's true, then they're likely to come back soon. We gotta move!" she said, shaking him violently. She sniffed the air. What's that smell? Smoke?! she thought.
She ran to the door. The building was catching fire - and it wouldn't be too long before it reached the room. The crazy rattata from the cellar must've set the place on fire when trying to get out. she thought. "Don't do this to me... Hurry your ass up and wake up, Jeb! You can have your beauty sleep later, this is not the time!" she yelled, slapping him on the face, but to no avail. "Muk, muk, muk!" she swore, muttering in between slaps. "The building's going to psyducking burn down! Wake the psyduck up!"
Well, muk. can't pick him up, but I can't just leave him here either. she sighed. She pulled out her dagger and traced a circle around his body, then said a few words to complete the spell. "Alright, this air shield ought to protect you from falling pieces of wood." she muttered, although she knew he couldn't hear her. Now let's leave before I become a falling piece of wood myself.
She began moving towards the door, stopping halfway in her tracks. She sighed. I'm going to regret this, but psyduck it. She walked back to where Jeb was lying, and took out her dagger. On the wood next to him, she began carving a symbol - the Culebra tatoo. She knew this was blatantly giving away her identity and affiliation. "Nico, if this guy turns out to be the guy who kills me, I'm having you killed." she hissed at the Chameleon.
Sophia then took out her revolver and used the dagger as a screwdriver to take off the plate at the bottom which read 'Hartmann Industries, co.' She tossed the plate on Jeb's chest, shaking her head and smiling. "I got a feeling we're going to meet again, white knight."
Spoiler: TL;DR
A joint post of Sonata and Foxrally
Dustin Rhodes
Bounty Hunter
Level 1 Earth Mage
$0
It was late afternoon, pre-evening. The sun was on its way down, but the sky hadn't started darkening yet. You know the time. Not much was going on. Dustin stood outside the general store, having recently resupplied. He absently takes a bite of the loaf of bread in his hand (a light snack. Capturing petty criminals is hard work!) as he heads back to the office. Another week with no progress on the James case would just annoy Janet, but she had to respect the three little fish he had taken out. And if not, the Sheriff would. The thought brings a smile to Dustin's face, and he considers trying to collect the bounty from both his boss and the local constabulary. Now that kind of thinking would make Janet happy. Make her laugh, at least.
----
"For the last time, I don't care how many minnows you catch, I sent you after the big fish!" A heavy cup full of an unidentifiable brown liquid crashes against the wall near Dustin's head. To the cup's credit, it doesn't break, but the liquid inside does splash all over Dustin. It's not entirely unlike coffee, but it has to much fermentation to be called as such.
Dustin absently wipes his face off with a handkerchief, pointedly ignoring the mystery substance. "Oh, come on, Janet. The world's a safer place with them out of the picture, and they did have bounties. Surely that's worth some compensation?"
Janet makes a sound, somewhere between a sigh and a growl. "We weren't hired to catch those Brownstone Boys. If we're not hired, I don't get paid. And if I don't get payed, you sure as cider don't get paid neither! Not only that, but you're no closer to catching Shady than you were before!"
Dustin nods, deciding that he won't win an argument with a woman. He folds his handkerchief up, mildly curious when the brown liquid makes it stick together. What was in that cup, anyway? His pondering is interrupted when Janet closes the drawer of her desk.
"Besides, I've got another job for you. You're off the Shady job. Trail's gone cold, anyway. You're going after Hillbilly Huck, one of the Culebra boys. You remember them? You failed to bring in Big Pete last month, he's one of them. Ol' Billy's even dumber than Pete, so maybe you'll stand a chance of catching this one. But be careful, he might be smarter than you. Prove me wrong, Dusty. Time to start pulling your weight." She shakes her head, trying not to grin. "Your considerable amount of weight." She hands Dustin a wanted poster.
Dustin looks over the poster, ignoring the jab at his girth. After a moment, he glances up. "...What was in that cup?"
*SMACK*
"...Right. I'll get right on this." Dustin leaves quickly, leaving Janet in her office, fuming. He makes a quick stop at the Sheriff's, and is rewarded with a cool hundred for bringing one of the outlaws back alive. It's more than he expected, but less than he hoped.
Bounty Hunter
Level 1 Earth Mage
$0
It was late afternoon, pre-evening. The sun was on its way down, but the sky hadn't started darkening yet. You know the time. Not much was going on. Dustin stood outside the general store, having recently resupplied. He absently takes a bite of the loaf of bread in his hand (a light snack. Capturing petty criminals is hard work!) as he heads back to the office. Another week with no progress on the James case would just annoy Janet, but she had to respect the three little fish he had taken out. And if not, the Sheriff would. The thought brings a smile to Dustin's face, and he considers trying to collect the bounty from both his boss and the local constabulary. Now that kind of thinking would make Janet happy. Make her laugh, at least.
----
"For the last time, I don't care how many minnows you catch, I sent you after the big fish!" A heavy cup full of an unidentifiable brown liquid crashes against the wall near Dustin's head. To the cup's credit, it doesn't break, but the liquid inside does splash all over Dustin. It's not entirely unlike coffee, but it has to much fermentation to be called as such.
Dustin absently wipes his face off with a handkerchief, pointedly ignoring the mystery substance. "Oh, come on, Janet. The world's a safer place with them out of the picture, and they did have bounties. Surely that's worth some compensation?"
Janet makes a sound, somewhere between a sigh and a growl. "We weren't hired to catch those Brownstone Boys. If we're not hired, I don't get paid. And if I don't get payed, you sure as cider don't get paid neither! Not only that, but you're no closer to catching Shady than you were before!"
Dustin nods, deciding that he won't win an argument with a woman. He folds his handkerchief up, mildly curious when the brown liquid makes it stick together. What was in that cup, anyway? His pondering is interrupted when Janet closes the drawer of her desk.
"Besides, I've got another job for you. You're off the Shady job. Trail's gone cold, anyway. You're going after Hillbilly Huck, one of the Culebra boys. You remember them? You failed to bring in Big Pete last month, he's one of them. Ol' Billy's even dumber than Pete, so maybe you'll stand a chance of catching this one. But be careful, he might be smarter than you. Prove me wrong, Dusty. Time to start pulling your weight." She shakes her head, trying not to grin. "Your considerable amount of weight." She hands Dustin a wanted poster.
Dustin looks over the poster, ignoring the jab at his girth. After a moment, he glances up. "...What was in that cup?"
*SMACK*
"...Right. I'll get right on this." Dustin leaves quickly, leaving Janet in her office, fuming. He makes a quick stop at the Sheriff's, and is rewarded with a cool hundred for bringing one of the outlaws back alive. It's more than he expected, but less than he hoped.
Sophia Hartmann
Status - Outlaw - member of Culebra clan
Sorcery Level - 1
Element - Air
Bounty - 400$
Wrench
Alice in gun-derland
"The man back there... is he going to be okay?" the little girl asked, tightly clutching Sophia in fear of falling off the horse. She looked back at the burning opera house behind her.
Sophia smiled. "Yeah, he'll be fine. What the psyduck happened back there anyway? I'm guessing that crazy rattata of your sister went ballistic and set fire to the whole building when she was trying to get out."
The girl shifted uncomfortably. "Don't call her that, she's -" she mumbled, but Sophia laughed.
"Come on, you completely agree with me, but you don't want to admit it."
"That's not true! She's my sister and I have to -"
"Yeah, yeah. That's what I thought about my step-brother before he got a knife in his chest."
"I swear, I tried to stop her! I told her that we could go away now, that we could - but she never listens! She got too close to the gunpowder barrels in the cellar! Now she's probably- probably-" the girl began sobbing again.
"Good god, do you ever stop psyducking crying and moaning?" Sophia sighed. "You're damn lucky I even allowed you to come with me. Once we reach Larkin, I can drop you off and if you're so intent on finding your sister then we can worry about that. Right now I just don't want to cross paths with that asshole Jeffrey's gang."
They rode silently for a few minutes. "What's your name, anyway? Didn't hear your sister call you anything but 'brat' and 'little muk'." Sophia asked.
"I'm Alice. Alice Rylian. My sister's Scarlet." she mumbled.
"Rylian? Not a name I've heard in these parts. Judging from your fancy dress, you're definitely not from around here."
Alice adjusted herself on the saddle. "We're from the North - Aelham. Our dad's the mayor there, and we were on our way visiting family in Ironhaven when that man and his gang attacked us."
Oh, a girl from the North, eh? I got a feeling Antonio's going to like this. Sophia thought. "Well don't worry. Where I'm taking you, you'll be going home soon. Your sister too - assuming she's alive."
"Don't say things like that!"
Sophia shrugged. "Hey, just trying to help you out here. If you want to live in denial, go ahead."
"I'm not - forget it." Alice grumbled.
---------------------
"Oi! wake up, you're falling off the horse!"
Alice woke up with a start. She quickly caught hold of Sophia's shoulder and hoisted herself back into position. "Mmmh... Are we there yet?" she yawned and rubbed her eye.
"Should be there soon. Just don't go dozing off again, last thing I want is your blood to dirty my clothes when you fall off."
"What?! What is wrong with you?" Alice gasped at Sophia's last remark. "A lady should never say things like that!"
Good god, she's reminding me of what 'pa used to tell me. Sophia sighed in frustration. Give me a psyducking break. I came from the North too, alright - you psyduckers get it easy. You start living your life here, then tell me if 'being a lady' matters."
At this moment Nico emerged from Sophia's belt pouch. The chameleon drowsily stared at the newcomer, then taking the freedom to crawl up her arm. Alice stared in horror at him, not daring to move.
"Wh-wh-what is th-that? G-get it off, off, off..." she muttered to Sophia.
Sophia laughed, putting her arm behind her back for Nico to climb on it. "Oh, he's awake? That's Nico, my chameleon. He doesn't bite or sting or anything, so you can calm your panties."
"Wh-why would anyone keep a pet chameleon?" Alice asked, relieved that the creature was getting off her.
"It's a - ehm - family tradition. You'll see when we get to my place." Sophia explained, allowing Nico to climb onto her shoulder. "Speaking of which, I can see Larkin in the distance."
Age 26
they/them/she/her
Kamisato Estate
Seen December 2nd, 2022
Posted September 29th, 2022
8,320
posts
8.3
Years
Virginia Raine | Outlaw | Water | Level 1 | $250
A Pluvial Prelude
A Pluvial Prelude
She lodged iron into the man's leg, emptying the revolver's chamber.
"It will benefit you to shut up and stay still."
He whimpered, biting his lower lip to prevent himself from crying out like a baby. A splotch of darkness began to grow at his pants. Men.
Rolling her eyes in disgust, Virginia turned her attention away to the cash register. She pushed the button, and with a rusty jingle, the machine stuck its tongue out, displaying a respectable amount of teeth and filling. Modest alone but wealthy in union, copper and silver coins jingled into her satchels. As for the paper notes, the slightly more modern unit of currency, they went into her purse.
As she was packing her loot up, she caught movement at the corner of her eye. The man had a belt in his hands, and was wobbling on his good leg, attempting to strike her from the back. He was quite daring, she had to give him that. But still very dull.
Her umbrella connected with his cheekbones with a resounding slap, and he was flung backwards to the floor, body still as a log. Tucking the last satchel into her shoulder bag, Virginia Blinked out of the shop, walking down the streets as if she had just made her last purchase and was on her way home.
At the outskirts of Fairbell, Virginia noticed a pair of horses attached to a carriage. A young man was busy unloading some crates. She approached him as he finished his laborious work, mentally activating her feminine charms.
"Oh good sir, could you do me a favour?"
The young man looked at her, bringing up his arm-sleeve to wipe off the sheen of sweat on his forehead, and smiled.
"What could I ever do for a beautiful lady like you?"
"I urgently need to pay a visit to my dear sister in Larkin."
Virginia was playing up her 'damsel in distress' card and the man was falling for it, fueled by a gentleman's instinct to save a hapless woman.
"It just so happens that I'm going back to Larkin after making my delivery here. I wouldn't mind giving you a ride."
"You mean it?"
"Why, it's nothing!" He insisted.
After many words of thanks and praises of how he was such a fine young man, and how he would definitely make a good husband, and that any sane woman should look no further than him, Virginia climbed into the carriage and the horses pulled away.
Emmett Holliday
Status - Outlaw - Lone wolf; Semi-professional joy rider
Sorcery Level - 1
Element - Water
Bounty - 17$
“Hello beautiful!” Said Emmett, as he slowly entered the gate to the ranch. He had seen a huge red-ish bull with huge horns. You could just see the muscles moving under his skin, as it was grazing in his own pen. Emmett didn’t see any one around, but he wanted to make sure that his rodeo wouldn’t be cut short. He walked up to the house, and grabbed a chair on the front porch. You could see the whole ranch from here. You could actually see it from anywhere, as it wasn’t that big. There were two pens, one where around thirty cows were grazing, and another one, where they had put the bull. He suspected there would be a stable at the back of the house, as he saw horse tracks on the terrain, but there was no horse to be seen. It didn’t look like anyone was home, so Emmett decided to check the bull out. He leaned on the fence and judged from which side he should try to jump on it. He had grown up on a ranch, so he was accustomed to bulls, and he knew how dangerous they were. And it was just that danger that made them so much fun. The bull raised his head and gave Emmett a stupid look, and went back to grazing again.
“I’m bored of planning this out”, He said to himself, as he jumped over the fence. He ran towards the bull, and blinked on his back. The beast was shocked to find someone on his back, and in a second his peaceful grazing turned into aggressively kicking back and forth.
“C’man boy, don’t just kick, I want you to run”, Emmett yelled. “Give me a bloody challenge.” He put his spiked boot in the bull’s side and at that moment Emmett swore he saw steam coming out of the bull’s nose. The horned beast started running towards the fence, without a second of doubt.
“Full sail ahead, you big bovine!” Emmett screamed, his voice filled with ecstasy. He was totally loving this. He was a bit afraid of what might happen if the bull would throw him off, but he felt like there was no fun in playing safe. Although now the fence was getting closer, he was overthinking if maybe he should’ve gotten a rope or anything to try and steer with. He grabbed the bull’s horns and tried to push him out of the way of the fence, but the bull had no regard for Emmett anymore.
“You wanna go straight through?” Emmett yelled “Then we’ll go straight through!” He stood up as he said that, but the bull’s movement didn’t allow for such things and he got smacked back onto the bovine’s back.
The fence shattered into splinters, as the beast ran through, and in a matter of seconds he had walked into the pen of the cows.
“Don’t even think about it big boy.” Emmett said, as he smirked towards the bull. “Today you have date with me!” He tugged the horns up, to anger the bull, and it did just that. Shaking it’s head, it started to charge towards the house.
“I feel ya, big boy,” Emmett smiled, “Let’s do some real property damage.”
With a loud “Yahoo” he crashed through the wall of the house, and maybe five seconds later he came out of the other side. He couldn’t contain his laugh. That was amazing! Emmett was right before, the other side of the house had indeed housed the stable, and he ran past a couple of horses. Outside of the stable, there was a young girl, galloping around on a huge white horse. She didn’t seem to have noticed any of the commotion.
Emmett decided to yell: “Missy, that wouldn’t be your house I just rampaged through, would it?”
Status - Outlaw - Lone wolf; Semi-professional joy rider
Sorcery Level - 1
Element - Water
Bounty - 17$
Bulls On Parade, Pt. 1
“Hello beautiful!” Said Emmett, as he slowly entered the gate to the ranch. He had seen a huge red-ish bull with huge horns. You could just see the muscles moving under his skin, as it was grazing in his own pen. Emmett didn’t see any one around, but he wanted to make sure that his rodeo wouldn’t be cut short. He walked up to the house, and grabbed a chair on the front porch. You could see the whole ranch from here. You could actually see it from anywhere, as it wasn’t that big. There were two pens, one where around thirty cows were grazing, and another one, where they had put the bull. He suspected there would be a stable at the back of the house, as he saw horse tracks on the terrain, but there was no horse to be seen. It didn’t look like anyone was home, so Emmett decided to check the bull out. He leaned on the fence and judged from which side he should try to jump on it. He had grown up on a ranch, so he was accustomed to bulls, and he knew how dangerous they were. And it was just that danger that made them so much fun. The bull raised his head and gave Emmett a stupid look, and went back to grazing again.
“I’m bored of planning this out”, He said to himself, as he jumped over the fence. He ran towards the bull, and blinked on his back. The beast was shocked to find someone on his back, and in a second his peaceful grazing turned into aggressively kicking back and forth.
“C’man boy, don’t just kick, I want you to run”, Emmett yelled. “Give me a bloody challenge.” He put his spiked boot in the bull’s side and at that moment Emmett swore he saw steam coming out of the bull’s nose. The horned beast started running towards the fence, without a second of doubt.
“Full sail ahead, you big bovine!” Emmett screamed, his voice filled with ecstasy. He was totally loving this. He was a bit afraid of what might happen if the bull would throw him off, but he felt like there was no fun in playing safe. Although now the fence was getting closer, he was overthinking if maybe he should’ve gotten a rope or anything to try and steer with. He grabbed the bull’s horns and tried to push him out of the way of the fence, but the bull had no regard for Emmett anymore.
“You wanna go straight through?” Emmett yelled “Then we’ll go straight through!” He stood up as he said that, but the bull’s movement didn’t allow for such things and he got smacked back onto the bovine’s back.
The fence shattered into splinters, as the beast ran through, and in a matter of seconds he had walked into the pen of the cows.
“Don’t even think about it big boy.” Emmett said, as he smirked towards the bull. “Today you have date with me!” He tugged the horns up, to anger the bull, and it did just that. Shaking it’s head, it started to charge towards the house.
“I feel ya, big boy,” Emmett smiled, “Let’s do some real property damage.”
With a loud “Yahoo” he crashed through the wall of the house, and maybe five seconds later he came out of the other side. He couldn’t contain his laugh. That was amazing! Emmett was right before, the other side of the house had indeed housed the stable, and he ran past a couple of horses. Outside of the stable, there was a young girl, galloping around on a huge white horse. She didn’t seem to have noticed any of the commotion.
Emmett decided to yell: “Missy, that wouldn’t be your house I just rampaged through, would it?”
Age 26
Male
Goldenrod City, Johto
Seen June 14th, 2020
Posted November 29th, 2018
774
posts
9.1
Years
Sophia Hartmann
Status - Outlaw - member of Culebra clan
Sorcery Level - 1
Element - Air
Bounty - 400$
Status - Outlaw - member of Culebra clan
Sorcery Level - 1
Element - Air
Bounty - 400$
Colt Marshall
Status - Bounty Hunter
Sorcery Level - 1
Element - Water
Money - $500
Larkin
Revenge is a dish best served "Colt"
A few minutes later, the two travelers had reached Larkin and were heading for the tavern. Once they had arrived, Sophia tied the horse to a post and gestured for Alice to wait there. [i]Can't have the kid know about the Culebras - safer to have her wait there.[i] she thought. She headed for the main entrance of the tavern. The place, which was usually filled with sounds of drunkards yelling and drinking was eerily quiet. Sophia pushed open the saloon's double doors, and gasped at the grisly sight.
Strewn across the room were dozens of dead bodies of her clanmates. Tables were smashed in half, chairs were upturned, and there were bullet holes in the walls - something that happened here while she was gone. She looked up as something dripped on her face. The walls, ceiling and floor were wet with cold water, as if it had rained inside the room.
Sophia ran out of the saloon. "Hey! Miss Sophia, everything alright?" Alice called, confused as to why she was in such a state of hurry. Sophia turned to the closest alleyway and knocked loudly on the wall of the tavern. "Psyduck! Jack, let me the psyduck in!" she hissed, rolling up her sleeve and slamming it against the hole that appeared.
"Fia, w-where were y-you? Ev-everyone's d-ownstairs-" Jack began as the wall slid open. Sophia violently pushed past him and ran downstairs to see what was happening. A few survivors were being tended to, apparently having been pierced all across their bodies by something small and sharp.
She rushed to the first of the wounded - a small, skinny man by the name of Derrick. An absolute idiot, but a good shot nonetheless. "What the psyduck happened to you guys? Charlatans attacked? Royal guard?"
Derrick winced, clutching his side. Despite his injuries, he looked embarassed. "No... t'was a single guy; one lone psyducker.... Bounty hunter... he- urgh!" he was interrupted by a small coughing fit. "Was looking for Pete... Didn't find 'im there, so the asshole did this." Derrick moved his hand to reveal the large number of tiny holes in his abdomen.
Pete? Sophia listened intently to the man's words, a frightened look on her face. What was that he said about needing a lighter earlier... Oh psyduck, he's going to get himself killed! she thought. The assailant was likely to be waiting at the tavern, and when Pete would return, he'd certainly get killed.
Sophia dashed for the exit, completely forgetting the reason she had initially come there for. Pete was too close to her to lose - he'd always had a bounty but the recent job had significantly increased his notoriety. The kid was going to have to wait, all that mattered right now was that she had to warn Pete.
----------------------------------------------
Colt was on the brink of exhaustion. After the incident with the Culebras in the tavern and letting Big Pete escape, he had been searching every possible nook and cranny for the thug. Such a task should have been simple considering that the individual in question's size and intelligence. But that was not the case. It was as if the lumbering Culebra had vanished into thin air, and none of the local townspeople had seen him since.
"Must have some kind of hideout or somethin' around here." Colt muttered as he strode through the dusty Larkin streets. He was tired and hungry, but he refused to return to his camp on the edge of town until he had made some kind of progress.
Where could the big oaf have gone? He had only been less than a minute ahead of the hunter entering the tavern, yet somehow he had escaped. Frustrated, Colt headed for the scene from earlier. He just hoped that he would find something to help him pick up the trail again.
As he approached the aged saloon, he came upon a strange sight. A horse was tied up outside, and a little girl in a fancy summer dress standing nervously nearby. The horse's rider was nowhere to be seen.
Colt approached the girl, who seemed quite terrified, kept shifting her gaze around, looking from the entrance of the tavern, to the street, to a small alleyway close by.
The tired hunter started to trudge past the girl into the tavern, when he realized that she might have seen something of interest. He turned around, and the child's eyes widened as she realized he was looking at her.
"Excuse me Miss," Colt queried, as politely as he could manage. "You seem to be lost. Is every thing all right?"
Alice took a step back away from the stranger. "I-I'm not supposed to talk to strangers..." she mumbled, looking away.
The hunter groaned inwardly. It was always a pain to deal with people like this, even more so with kids. Not to mention the fact that his kind were exactly the reason parents told their children these things.
"Hey, I don't mean any harm, I'm just tryin' to see if you... need any help, is all." Colt forced a grin for good measure. "Now, I reckon this isn't your horse, unless your one heckuva rider for your size. Are your parents around?" As the words came out his mouth, he noticed a small creature perched on the back of the nearby horse. He hadn't seen it before, since it appeared to be the same color as the beast.
A chameleon. It didn't take more than a moment for Colt to realize what that meant.
After a few moments of hesitation, Alice answered the man. "It's not mine, it's for someone else. I'm waiting for them to come back. It's for - em - my sister. She told me to wait here, but I don't think I should talk to anyone I don't know."
"Your sister, eh?" The girl such a bad liar that it was almost painful. "Where is she? In there?" The hunter motioned to the tavern entrance.
Alice shot a furtive glance at the alleyway where Sophia had gone, before looking back at the man.
"She was in there just now... Why do you want to know, anyway? I won't tell you." she looked him in the face, trying to act stubborn.
You have got to be kidding me. Colt was beginning to wonder if this was even worth his time. For all he knew, this girl and her companion could know absolutely nothing, and he was losing valuable time. If he waited for much longer, Pete could be on a train to any of the nearby towns before he left the dust bowl of a town.
Suddenly, he had a flash of inspiration. "You know, it's not safe for people to be in there. I heard that the other day, over half a dozen townsfolk got shot dead right in this very bar." Colt suppressed his grin as horror spread upon the girl's face.
Alice leaned sideways to peer into the saloon. It was creepily quiet, especially for a town as big as Larkin. She wasn't particularly fond on Sophia, but she didn't want to see her die. Her lips quivered. "Sh-she went in there first, then I saw her run out into the alley over there." she gestured towards the side of the building. "Please, mister, could you try to stop her getting hurt?"
"Really now, she went over there?" The whole thing was starting to become more clear. If the rider of the horse was a Culebra, it would make sense for them to have some kind of secret access to wherever Pete had disappeared to the other day.
"Let's go take a look then! Wouldn't want anything like that to happen to anybody out here, much less your sister." Colt, motioning for the girl to follow, began to walk toward the alley, letting his hands rest on his pistols, just in case.
Alice looked at the horse and back at the stranger. "I don't know if I should..." she began, but shook her head and followed him.
Both the kid and the hunter walked apprehensively toward where the former had pointed out earlier. As they approached, however, they were greeted by an empty pathway.
"Are you sure that she came this way?" Colt questioned, half wondering if this girl was just making up stories to mess with him. She looked just as confused, however.
Colt had had enough for one day. Just as he turned around to head back to leave, though, a door swung open behind him, knocking him to the ground. Stunned, he lay there as a petite feminine figure rushed out, looking frantically around.
Sophia did not notice that she had hit someone. She cursed at the rusty door for being broken. She was surprised when she saw Alice on the other side of the door, crouching next to a man.
"Hey, you little muk! Didn't I tell you to wait back there? You're gonna get hurt over here -" she hissed, but stopped when she looked at the man lying on the ground. He was rubbing his head and getting up. Sophia instantly noticed the glint of the badge on his jacket.
There's only once reason a bounty hunter would be waiting around these parts. she thought. Alice helped the man up, and looked at Sophia.
"That's my sister." she told him as he dusted his clothes.
Sister? Sophia leered at the girl, who gave her an almost unnoticeable apologetic shrug. Alice moved away from the man and next to Sophia.
Sophia slowly reached for her belt pocket where her gun was. "And who might you be?" she asked. She turned to Alice. "Why is he here?"
His ears still ringing, Colt picked himself up as he finished wiping the dust off of himself. "Name's Colt Marshall," he replied. He saw no point in lying about that, as his reputation as a bounty hunter was nonexistent at this point. The person who had knocked him over was apparently in her early twenties, quite short, and clutching her gun belt. She looked intensely hostile, despite having no knowledge of who he was.
Alice saw Sophia reaching for her gun, and fear appeared in her eyes. "He - he said there was a shooting here, and that it was dangerous, so I told him you were here..." she uttered.
"Alright then, Marshall. I think we need to have a little chat." Sophia said, pulling out her revolver and pointing it at the tall man. "You're not exactly meant to be here."
Colt let out a faint chuckle. "You're not the first Culebra to tell me that." In the blink of an eye, he finished the summoning spell he had been working on, pulling his guns into his waiting hands.
"Sophia, no!" Alice screamed, right before Sophia shoved her away from the bullet that instantly came out of Colt's gun, jumping to the side to avoid it.
A joint post of Foxrally and GreyBidoof
Friends for Infinity
RPT | Titans | Theme Song | Pair
"Doofin' it up."
art by the churiffic Infinite
RPT | Titans | Theme Song | Pair
"Doofin' it up."
art by the churiffic Infinite