Urthdigger
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Post by Urthdigger on Apr 22, 2007 4:44:40 GMT -5
Urthdigger didn't miss a step as he gradually regained control of his body. Rather, he dropped to all fours for increased speed as he went down one of the corridors riddling the fort, passing through training rooms and smithies on his way. After a few minutes without seeing the dragon or the prison, he correctly assumed he must have gone the wrong way. Cursing the gods he retraced his steps back to the treasure room where he saw a group of fallen returning from their chase. Quickly the Hand dove into a pile of coins and listened. "Damnit, I thought this whole place had telemantic shielding? Those prisoners shouldn't have been able to escape like that... well, no use losing any sleep over it. Get some sleep men, we march in the morning." "Sir, what about the Hand that killed advisor Procyon?" "The cell guard was found eviscerated and the doors were unlocked. He obviously went with the others. Now, nobody's getting stabbed in their sleep tonight, the nasty Hand is gone so I expect you all to get a good rest and get up nice and early in the morning. That's the last I want to hear out of you guys, now get to bed." Urth waited until he heard them all leave up the ladder, then dug himself out to go find Max. She had healed her wounds and was occupying her time filling an overly large sack with gold. "Isn't that getting a bit big to carry?" said Urth derisively. Max shooed him away "Oh, it's fine, really. I can carry it." Urthdigger shrugged helplessly "I don't suppose you've seen the dragon anywhere have you?" Tallian's loud footsteps answered the question. Urth grabbed Max by the back of the neck and dragged her into hiding. The dragon paused as he entered the room, sniffing the air greedily. "I smell fresh meat. Come out vermin, you can't hide forever." A swipe of his tail sent a pile of coins scattering across the floor. Urth peeked around the edge of his hiding spot and waited for Tallian to turn his back. As he saw his opportunity, he wrapped his arm around Max and invoked his hand spring spell to leap them both to the roof supports. Max gave out a surprised gasp at the sudden speed, causing Tallian to charge to their former hiding spot. Cash and jewels cascaded to the floor in a river of shiny wealth, and the two arakuns tried their best to stay focused on hiding. While Max was distracted by the treasure, Urthdigger pulled a vial out of his pack and clenched his paw around it, causing a thick black substance to drip down the inside walls of the vial and collect at the bottom. When the vial was around three quarters full, he added some theriac to the goop, put the stopper on, and shook it vigorously until the mixture became a mottled brown. Satisfied, he handed the vial over to Max. "Here, take this. It's a deodorant made from neutralized Cyllyl blood." whispered Urth "A what made from what!?" said Max in a shouted whisper. "Cyllyl blood is a potent poison Cyllyl gives her followers. When neutralized, it becomes not just oderless, it completely blocks smells. I suppose you can think of it like an overpowering smell that smells like nothing... I wouldn't recommend using it for bad breath though." Max had finished rubbing most of it into her fur and was about to tip the rest into her open mouth. "Why not?" "Though the theriac keeps it from being deadly, it turns into a nerve agent when mixed with hydrochloric acid, in short you'll be REALLY numb for about a day or two if you swallow any of it." Max nodded and gave the vial back to Urth, who created some more of the substance and treated himself. Meanwhile, Tallian continued to search the room below for them, unable to see, hear, or even smell them anymore. Eventually he become frustrated and started searching the rest of the fort, giving Urth and Max some time for much needed rest. In the morning, the pair awoke to silence. Floating down to the treasure room floor, they walked softly to the entrance, climbed the ladder, and pushed up on the trapdoor. It didn't budge an inch. Urth placed both his footpaws on a higher rung and pushed with both arms as hard as he could. Still nothing. Catching their breath, they could hear a low, rumbling snore issue from the other side. The dragon had fallen asleep on top of the trap door, leaving them stuck inside.
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Urthdigger
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Post by Urthdigger on May 1, 2007 2:24:16 GMT -5
Back in the arakun village, shortly after Urthdigger and Max woke up, Ralph and Melissa Lotor were enjoying a quiet romantic picnic... well, almost. "Ralph! Melissa!" rang out the shrill chittering voice "I've been looking all over for you!" Ralph glanced over at Melissa with an expression that screamed "Oh dear god, not again." "Bert... what are you doing here?" asked Melissa "Well, I love hanging out with you two, every single day! After all, I'd hate for you guys to get lonely. Anyway, what's for breakfast?" The immature arakun pawed through the picnic basket, expressing dismay at the lack of fish. "We have to talk." sighed Melissa. "I'll say." replied Bert "Whoever heard of a picnic without fish sandwiches? But I forgive you." Ralph tried to explain "What Melissa's trying to talk about is our private time." "Oh, don't worry, when I say I can keep a secret I mean it!" assured Bert "I'm talking about Ralph and me!" shouted Melissa. Bert cringed a little at her outburst. "You said it yourself Bert, you spend every waking moment with us Don't you have ANY friends?" Bert took up an indignant stance in response to her anger "I'm not a loser!" "Bert, I didn't mean-" "I think I know how you meant it. If you don't want to spend time with a 'loser', then fine. I'm leaving." Bert ignored his caretakers and stormed off into the woods surrounding the village. "I'll show them..." he muttered, turning into a shout as he continued "I'll show them all just how important I can really be. I'll -" He paused as he noticed a flash of movement in front of him. Ducking down below a tree branch he could see a small group of Fallen camped just in front of him. He slowly reached a paw out in front of him, feeling the familiar tingle of the village's barrier. One more step and they would have heard him. Still, he thought to himself that they had to be there for a reason, and poked his head out to listen. "...arch on the village in an hour. We'll attack from all directions at once, to spread their forces out thin. Spare no one, it's time these chittering bastards learned real fear." Bert pulled his head back inside the barrier and gasped. He had to warn the others.
"Ralph, I'm a little worried about Bert." sighed Melissa "The way he stormed off like that, he's probably left the village. It's not safe out there, someone should go find him." Ralph nodded "Yeah, someone should.". Melissa cleared her throat loudly, and Ralph picked up quickly "Oh, right, yes, I'm going, sheesh." Ralph walked into the forest and was promptly bounced out a second later when Bert ran into him. Rubbing his forehead in pain, he snarled "Watch where you're going, I was just going to find you." Bert didn't care about the scolding, a fair difference from a minute ago "No, time, gather everyone to the square, the fallen are here!"
All of the military officers had a frontrow seat at the square's stage, with a concerned populace behind them. Bert stood on a crate in front of the podium prepared to give a speech while Bert sat in a chair nearby for encouragement. It wasn't much help. "Uh, I gathered you all here to, uh, tell you that the fallen know where we are, they've surrounded the village, and uh, in ab-bout 45 m-minutes now they're going t-to march in from all directions and tear us all to sh-sh-shreds." Most of the village was staring right at him, making for a rather unnerving effect. On top of this was that he didn't exactly expect them all to believe him." "You're always making things up, why should we believe you?" voiced one officer. "Because... because..." stammered Bert. He really couldn't think of a reason, aside from how he was telling the truth this time. "Because as his guardian, I take full responsibility for this." said Ralph, standing up from his chair "If he's making this all up, and everyone wastes their time over a childish game, I'll make it up to everyone. However, if we ignore this, and he's NOT joking, then we'll all pay for it. So whadya say?" The officers talked amongst themselves for a bit before one of them spoke up. His face was flushed, his eyes were sullen, it was obvious he was drunk as all hell, but one glance and the irridescent blade hanging from his sash let everyone know he was Susanoo, town drunk and winner of Max's tournament (and thus acting leader of the military) "We've talked it over *hic*, and have decided to accept what you've said. Once the... meeting is over, we'll have our mercenaries, allies, and every *hic* able bodied arakun in the village aiding however they can. I can't say whether I'd prefer you're wrong or right, but what the hell..." He gave a smile before taking a big drink from his sake jug and collapsing back into his chair. The attending arakuns drifted off, either to hide or go where they felt they were needed, leaving Ralph and Bert standing alone, the latter of whom was shaking like a leaf. "I... I hope everyone's going to be all right... and I'm glad you trusted me." chittered Bert. Ralph nodded solemnly "You may brag a lot and overexaggerate your achievements, but I've never known you to lie if you thought it would hurt anyone. You're a good kid. Now, you should run on home, Melissa's waiting for you. I've got to get to work growing some fences, I'll see you when this is all over.
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Urthdigger
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Posts: 214
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Post by Urthdigger on May 10, 2007 21:45:28 GMT -5
Urthdigger kicked the wall in annoyance. "Damnit, just damnit! What are we going to do now?" Max was keeping her cool as usual "You know, something's bugging me. That door's only 3 feet wide at best." "What's your point?" replied Urth "How'd the dragon get out? There has to be another exit here. We can look for the others while we're at it." Urth nodded silently and went back to the treasure room. "I saw the fallen that were searching for our comrades come from over there." said Max, pointing down an eastern hallway "So I'm assuming the prison's that way. That's probably our best bet. The prison was only a short ways inside. The doors were still open and nobody had bothered to move the guard's body which was already starting to smell. As they went further down the hallway away from the body, Urthdigger dropped to all fours with his nose to the ground to pick up the scent. It was very faint, but still there. It stayed that way with not much of a noticeable change up until the dead end. "Ugh, what the hell is THAT!?" grimaced Urth, picking up the smell of Mokoto's disguise along with the mostly eaten dead fallen. Figuring there wasn't much to lose, he sniffed his way around until he found it was coming from behind a locked storage closet, tested the knob, then picked the lock. "You know, I was wondering when you two would show up." said Turbo as the door opened "We found Mokoto, he's alive!" Max gagged "Ick, you sure he's alive?" "You get used to it after a while." said Natsuki "Anyway, since you two are here I'm guessing the arakun and the dragon are dead?" Urth rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment "The arakun yes, the dragon... well, he's kinda blocking the only door I now of to reach him. He's not the biggest problem though." Urth detailed what Procyon had told him on the way back to the treasure room, how Tallian was just a clone of a Gifted One and thus was probably fairly mindless by now, the problem with the exit, and how the real problem was the army of fallen marching on the village. "I'm sure the village can take care of itself, for a while anyway." assured Max "I've done my best to train them well. Anyway, which way are we going?" They were back in the treasure room. They had just come out of the eastern exit, and the entrance was to the south. That left the western exit, which Urth had mistakenly taken the other night, and the northern exit. "Well, we know east and south don't lead out." said Ara "So that just leaves north and west." "I went west the other day and didn't see anything, but I didn't go the whole way." Turbo chuckled politely "Why don't we check out both of them? Be right back." He took off down the western hallway, coming back a few seconds later panting. "Nope, not down there." "Only one way left." said Natsuki with a shrug. The north passage ended with a large opening out of the side of the valley wall. A hand crank near the opening moved a section of the rock wall to open or close the entrance. With no fallen left behind to close it, it was still wide open. "Looks like a way out to me..." said Ara "Let's go." They each took a leap out into the open air, spreading their limbs and flying to the flat ground near the fallen fort. A deafening roar come from inside the fort, a short warning before the dragon flew up over the structures and dove towards the arakuns. They had been seen, and the only choice was to fight.
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Urthdigger
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Post by Urthdigger on May 17, 2007 21:54:47 GMT -5
"RUN AWAY!" ordered Max. The arakuns scatted inside the fort to take cover from the dragon's attack. Taking a low sweep over the rickety shacks covering the training grounds Tallian took a deep breath and let loose a sonic blast, the air itself rippling from the force of the blast. The shack Ara had been hiding behind was ripped apart in a flurry of nails and splinters. Rather than find a new hiding spot, the little bard did something incredibly bold... and stupid: He gave a screech of his own back at the dragon. To his credit, Ara's screech caused a bit of a wound. It also made him a sitting duck. Tallian landed in front of Ara, snatched the arakun up in his jaws, and swallowed. "ARA!" shouted Urth, charging from his hiding spot. He stabbed Tallian's chest, trying desperately to make a hole. All it seemed to do was piss him off. The dragon tried to swipe him but Urth dodged the claws easily, leaping off and flying around the dragon. Getting in that way wasn't working anyway, so he opted for a more direct route. Urthdigger landed on Tallian's snout and hung down in front of his jaws. As he had hoped, the dragon attempted to bite him, so he leapt inside. It was tough keeping his balance, but he managed to stay upright long enough to jump over the esophagus and plunge his daggers into the back of the throat as a handhold. The hard part was over, so heaving a sigh of relief he wagged his tail, tickling Tallian's uvula... and triggering a gag reflex. The others watched with despair as Urthdigger followed Ara, but had a drastic change in mood as Tallian clutched his throat, heaving, and threw up, sending the two arakuns out. Ara's fur was patchy, but was fine enough to run off in terror. Urth wiped what acid he could off of himself and ran back to the others. "Turbo, keep him distracted." said Urth "And for Sikkar's sake, stay safe. Max, Natsuki, Sakura, keep an eye out for any opportunities to attack him." "Hey, I'm the general here!" exclaimed Max "And what would you say we do?" asked Urth "...what he said." grumbled Max Turbo dashed out in front of the dragon and blew a raspberry to get it's attention, then began luring him around the compound, staying just out of reach of his attacks. Max occupied herself casting protective spells on the others, Natsuki casted psionic spells from a distance, and Sakura ducked in and out of the buildings to attack with a flurry of punches and kicks before ducking back into hiding. "Terrence, lead him into the old fort!" shouted Max. She lowered her voice "Urth, you know that tower where the new headquarters are? Look closely, they're still building it up. There has to be some supports or something, see what you can do." Urthdigger nodded in agreement and stealthily followed Turbo and Tallian to the old fort. In the daylight it was clear just how unfinished the tower was. "What the hell am I supposed to be doing here!" said Turbo in alarm. "Lure it next to the tower, I'll see what I can do." assured Urth. Turbo ran over and hit Tallian, just to make sure he still had the big brute's attention before dashing back over to the tower. The dragon let loose another sonic blast, but Turbo easily rolled to the side to avoid it and continued leading the dragon on. Urthdigger got to work looking around the upper sections of the tower. All the placed bricks were well mortared in, but an opportunity presented itself in what was left to be placed. A board laden with bricks was at the top of a pulley system awaiting workers to offload it, and all it would take was a cut through the rope to send it all crashing down. Urth sat down on top of the bricks within reaching distance of the knot and drew a serrated blade from his sash. Tallian was almost underneath it now. Turbo hopped back from a claw swipe, putting him right underneath the board. "Turbo!" shouted Urth "Run now!" Turbo took the cue and ran away from the dragon, prompting it to prepare for another sonic blast. Urth gave the rope a quick slash and let out a wild cry as he rode the bricks down on top of the dragon's head, knocking it out.
Ara was found later hiding outside the fort, shaking in terror. Urthdigger tried his best to console him. "You wanna talk about it?" Ara shook his head. "You want a hug?" Ara shook his head "You want to eat the dragon that tried to eat you?" Ara nodded, and went over to the dragon's corpse. Quite a few of it's scales had been ripped off it's body by Sakura, and Natsuki and Urth has assured it's head was completely massacred. Max used her sabre to cut a large chunk of meat out of one of the unscaled parts and tossed it to Ara. "There you go. Have some fun with that, but hurry up. We outta get back to the village and finish mopping up this mess."
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Urthdigger
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Post by Urthdigger on May 30, 2007 2:52:14 GMT -5
Susanoo gave a quick briefing to the gathered arakuns and allies, having been briefly detoxified by a helpful biomancer. The village's 'carpenters' had gotten to work growing a thick clump of thorny bushes around the entire village. The point wasn't to keep them out as they could be cut through, given enough time. Instead there were four evenly spaced openings conveniently located near the more accessible portions of the surrounding forest to entice the enemy to go through these natural gates. The vast majority of troops were situated at each entrance. The ranged attackers would fire upon the charging fallen and cultists, taking out as many as they could. As soon as they'd get a bit close for comfort, the meleers were to join the fray and keep the rangers and mages safe, as well as help thin the numbers. Abjurers, biomancers, druids, and templars were available as well to keep the number of casualties as close to zero as possible. This wasn't likely to be much of a problem, as most of the village's inhabitants were druids, and a fair number of arakun had left the village to become abjurers, and came back to help their hometown. The problem was going to be in taking out the fallen fast enough to stop the groups from getting overwhelmed, as they were comparatively lacking in damage dealers. If things got out of hand, there were a number of fallback points in the village where barricades were ready to be erected. Hopefully, they wouldn't need to retreat too much. "Now, does anyone have any questions?" ask Susanoo. The silence was deafening "Good. Now, I've seen you boys fight over who gets to be with a girl, and I just want you to remember these fallen bastards are going to be doing their hardest to ensure that not only do you not see one of your sweethearts tonight, you'll never see them again! I've seen the crap you do to each other, you guys are positively nuts. I have complete and total faith that these fallen are going to regret ever coming here, am I right?" There was a resounding cheer, except for a higher pitched voice piping up over the crowd "Ha! These poor guys need our protection far more than we need theirs! Let's get out there and make sure our men make it back right where we want them, got it girls!" There was another resounding cheer as the crowd gathered their weapons and marched off to the chokepoints. Susanoo himself went off to the northern checkpoint. For another ten minutes all was quiet. Then the arakun, catfolk, and vulpins there could all hear the enemy approaching, well enough in advance that the first unlucky fallen to walk into the clearing was faced with a few dozen bows drawn and pointed in his direction. He didn't even get a chance to utter his swear word of choice before an arrow pierced through his neck. The cultist behind him got the next arrow as his tank died in front of him. From there it was a flurry of arrows and spells as the invaders were disposed of one after another. The fallen made progress as the rangers reloaded their bows however, and in a short time closed the distance. Monks, paladins, and fighters stepped out into the fray, with Susanoo leading the charge. It was impossible to describe the ferocity with which the arakuns took to the field, and more than just the monks chose to fight tooth and claw rather than with a weapon, tearing off plates of armor and savagely ripping apart the flesh beneath in a way most natural to them. The only calm one amongst them was Susanoo, swinging his sword Nobuyoshi with skill and precision. One strike, one kill was the motto under which he had studied his swordsmanship, and his sword was more than enough to do the job, though his strikes were a bit slow as a price for his precision. After a while of this, the shine on the blade flashed bright, and Susanoo ordered the troops to clear away from him. Holding his sword to the sky he summoned a deep blue mist from the ground which quickly enveloped the area in a near opaque mass. The mist was icy cold, and numbed the muscles of the enemy, but there was more to it then that. Susanoo changed his stance from one for swinging full force to one for mobility and dashed from fallen to fallen. While before he had to target weak points in the armor, and be concerned over his sword getting stuck in bone, now his sword cut through all affected by the mist like a hot knife through butter. Those who tried to stand and fight were effortlessly put down, and those who tried to run tripped over themselves due to the numbness and panic. Not a single drop of blood stained the ground as the sword took all the blood it touched and left the wounds cauterized from the extreme cold. The few cultists who had escaped the mist were quickly executed by the forest dwellers waiting just outside the area of effect. The north wave had fallen. Now if only the rest of the squads had done as good.
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Urthdigger
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Post by Urthdigger on Jun 2, 2007 18:54:40 GMT -5
Karren had been assigned to the eastern exit, having made a decision to join the war effort at the last moment. She hadn't slept well last night. After a while of searching she had managed to find an arakun to shack up with, feeling less attracted to the other races lately. The guy was gone in the morning however, leaving the spot where Urth usually slept cold and bare. Worse yet, his scent more or less obliterated what little smell had been left of Urth being there, depriving her of even that small reminder. This never used to bother her, she'd gladly never see most of the guys she'd been with again, and ever further in her past the men usually never left the room alive. She wanted him back, and for that reason she decided to sign up when news of the attack came. A young vulpin fighter was busy organizing the troops when she arrived. "Name?" he asked. "Karren Lockheart." "Guild?" Karren paused for a bit on this one. Technically she was a biomancer. She barely knew any healing spells however, as her training had been focused on offense. "Mage" she lied. "Over there then." pointed the vulpin. She was situated some ways away from the gate, behind the rangers but in front of the melee. The arakun she was with last night happened to be right behind her spot, and he grinned and waved at her as she brushed past him. She did her best to ignore him and concentrated on the task at hand. As with the northern exit, the first to arrive were cruelly cut down. The rangers on this exit were more disciplined as a whole, and fired in waves so there was always an arrow pointed at the attackers. There were still those that got through however, races too big to care about little arrows, and races small enough that hitting them was a chore. The mages were next in line, making the air a festival of colors with the various elements whizzing through it. Karren picked the men out of the crowd and made a grasping motion with her right fist before pulling it back, carefully controlling the force so it'd be enough to rupture the heart, but not make a huge mess. 3, 4, 5 men down, she targeted yet another and used the spell again. No effect. She didn't feel drained, so she tried again. Still no effect. "f**king queerrr..." she muttered under her breath. The spell was specifically targeted at those who lusted after women. Chuckling a bit to herself, she decided to try something different and targeted one of the women, yanking back hard. The poor cultist's heart leaped out of her chest and arced through the air, spraying blood everywhere. "Woohoo, go lesbians!" cheered Karren. It was at this time that she realized everyone was looking at her. The melee charged forward to stop the charge in the absence of the mages. "What the hell... you're a cultist!" cried one of the mages next to Karren. "Demon-spawn!" "I should have known a catfolk couldn't be a mage..." muttered the vulpin squad leader The arakun behind her just shook his head in disgust as he drew his weapons for the charge to the front line "I... I'm not a cultist..." pleaded Karren "I'll explain laterrr, now's not the time. What matterrrs is I'm on yourrr side!" The other mages acknowledged there was some truth in what she said, but the fighting had nowhere near the fervor it had before. All of them were somewhat reserved, glancing over to Karren every so often, taking their concentration off of their spellcasting to make sure she wouldn't stab them in the back. A momentary lapse in the fighting, a small decrease in the damage, but it was enough. The healers were having a hard time keeping everyone alive, even with the help of the abjurers. "Retreat!" ordered the squad leader "RETREAT!"
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Urthdigger
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Post by Urthdigger on Jul 3, 2007 19:27:18 GMT -5
The other two squads didn't do much better than the eastern one, and soon the 3 groups were beating a hasty retreat to the first fallback point. A portion of the north squad was also heading there to lend any needed assistance, with a small group left by the northern entrance to watch for any reinforcements. The fallback point was basically the same idea as the outer perimeter, just a smaller circle. In addition, a number of traps were set along the path to slow down the pursuers. The western squad was the first to arrive, panting and carrying their wounded. The druids working on the wall did what they could to aid their battered comrades. "Hey there brother, fancy us meeting like this eh?" said one one of the arakun abjurers to Ralph. "Hey George." replied the druid "I was kinda hoping for something a little better for your return home. A nice dinner, maybe a trip to Edon... not trying to stay alive." George chuckled "I'll hold you to that. It's not like I'm back for good, I'm almost done with my training, THEN I'll come back here and it'll be just like old times ok? Until then let's just make sure I still have a place to come back to." The troops had settled into their positions to defend their latest position by the time the enemy arrived. After the first dozen traps, the fallen were noticeably pissed and charged without regard to their personal safety. The cultists had learned from the last time though, and launched some spells ahead of their own group. Without the protective spells of the group's templars, there would have been serious casualties. The abjurers and druids were busy keeping their fighters alive, doing significantly better with the reinforcements. One of the druids wasn't doing anything however, just sitting and watching, scared of the fight. "Cover me Nicole!" yelled George as he rushed over to his brother. "Ralph... nobody's asking you to stay here." he said to his shocked brother "Well, ok, plenty of people are, but there's no point in staying here if you're too scared to do anything. I'll keep them busy, you just go home and seal your door. I'll fight easier knowing my son's safe." "Ok." said the druid "Just be careful ok?" Ralph left for home, and George returned to the front lines. With skill, determination, and a fair bit of luck, they seemed to be winning. The enemy forces thinned down, then stopped altogether. 2 groups down, 2 to go.
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Urthdigger
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Post by Urthdigger on Jul 8, 2007 3:05:24 GMT -5
"Keep them busy men!" yelled the vulpin squad leader. The eastern traps weren't doing as good a job as anticipated at holding the fallen back. The group paused to rest after triggering a barricade trap behind them. "Here, let me treat that..." said Karren as she knelt over an injured arakun. He cringed a little, still unsure of trusting her, but let her treat the wound. The catfolk muttered a few words and waved her paw over the cuts, causing them to stitch themselves up. She gave the arakun a sweet smile, but he didn't return the gesture. Sighing, she looked around the group for other wounded, finding none. The barricade was beginning to wear down from the attacks on it and the squad wisely decided to move on while they still had a chance to take a lead. The stronger and more able troops carried the weak and injured as best they could in a desperate attempt to improve their speed. There was just a little ways to go to the fallback point, a few minutes march at most. The vulpin called out for them to go faster and led the race there. About 20 feet away from the gate however, they realized a problem: The same device meant to slow the progress of the fallen would slow their progress as well, and they didn't have enough of a lead to not abandon the slower troops towards the back. "Company HART! No way in herr we're arr beating them to the other side. We'rr make our stand here. No sense in reaving our companions behind to be torn apart by those butchers." The warriors raised their shields and readied their blades to protect the mages and archers behind them. Karren was a little touched that none of them suggested she hold off the enemy. It was quite a ways off from a pat on the back, but it was getting there. The approaching fallen were getting close enough for ranged combat, and a noticeable despair fell over the soldiers as the size of their remaining foes became evident. Things weren't looking up, but a welcome surprise arrived in the form of a charging arakun arriving from the north platoon, his iridescent katana outstretched. "Go back to hell you hyenas!" shouted Susanoo, letting forth a sonic blast from his sword at a group of flynds in the front line of foes. The mangy humanoids were tossed into the air with great force and a fair number were killed by the impact alone. Those unfortunate enough to be left alive were bled dry by his sword's bloodlust. "I'll deal with these guys, go aid the other squads, NOW." yelled Susanoo at the squad leader. He didn't bother to check if his directions were followed, but instead took a quick swig from has sake jug and sought after the cultists in the enemy unit. His sword struck swiftly through his foes' weak armor and blocked the strikes of the fallen that tried to interfere, until at last the sword saw fit to cast it's spell again. A bright flash emanated from the blade and the freezing mists once more enveloped the area, numbing all within it and aiding the sword's strikes. The armor of the fallen were no use now, and the little drunken arakun struck them all down without mercy. As the last human fell, Susanoo took the time to look around the battlefield. As usual the place was devoid of all life, excepting him and his sword. Exactly the way he liked it.
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Urthdigger
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Post by Urthdigger on Aug 9, 2007 5:36:44 GMT -5
Urth, Max, and the rest of the group that assaulted the Fallen fort arrived at the south entrance, but where they expected the slain bodies of their foes there was just plenty of blood. They could all smell clear as day that it was arakun blood. "Ok troops." ordered Makoto, his strength beginning to return to him "Spread out and make yourselves hidden just in case more fallen arrive. We'll have the Gifted One scout out ahead as he's more expendable. Under no circumstances are any of you to attack unless I give the signal." Urth started to protest, but Makoto was right. He was expendable. That still didn't make it any less annoying to hear.
The arakuns were lined up in formation at the south entrance, ready to attack. This was the route closest to the fallen fortress so a lot of of the stronger fighters were stationed there. One of those fighters was a catfolk with an interesting broadsword. As they awaited the approaching enemy he drew his fellblade and struck down the squad leader. "Wha... what are you doing!?" cried out the arakun as he tried to staunch the bleeding. "Sparing your life if you shutup. I'm not the only one you fools have let in. If you and your little ragtag group go quietly, you might just survive." The rest of the enemy had arrived during the commotion and now overwhelmed the ally forces. A few arakuns tried to fight back, but were quickly cut down, their lives barely saved by the biomancers in their group. The catfolk traitor picked up the squad leader and took him further inside the camp. "Follow" was all he said.
Urthdigger crept through the vines and trees strewn about the village stealthily, his ears picking up the sound of combat nearby. What he saw was horrific. A leather harness was suspended from a low hanging branch by a rope and from it hung the squad leader. His wingflaps had been cut off to allow the harness to hold him easier and an apple was shoved in his mouth and secured with a small leather belt. However, by far the most disturbing thing was the number of scars that covered his body from where the fallen had been smacking him around with their blades like a pinata. He sobbed pitifully and tried to scream around the gag as one of the fallen took another whack at him. There was the sound of spellcasting from the other side of a blockaded path and his wounds stitched up. "Oh don't worry, you'll be taken down soon enough. Just as soon as we capture the rest of your buddies and ship the whole lot off to Crypt." He took another swing, then walked off snickering to himself. He didn't get too far away before Urth leapt out of his hiding spot and punched a dagger through the fallen's armor. His yelp of pain was cut short by the blood seeping into his lungs, and Urth left him there to bleed or asphyxiate, whichever came first. Urth jumped up and grabbed the rope with one hand and began undoing the squad leader's gag with the other. He was soon sorry he did. "Ahhhh! Please don't hit me again, look I'll tell you everything you want to know! The general has a soft spot for lilac, Edon has a hidden entrance inside from below the adventurer's guild, my mother was a tree hugging freak! Honest, my father was a treant!" Urth reapplied the gag and smacked the arakun upside the head "Will you keep it down?" The arakun's ragged screams slowed down and eventually he was just panting behind the apple. Urth removed it. "Am I ever glad to see you!" said the arakun in a hushed manner. "Look, the rest of the squad is jailed up behind that barricade, but don't worry about them for now. We'd be grateful if you could do something about the rest of the enemy first. They're all further inside the village. The traps are still active on the path towards the village square, I'm sure you could probably sneak your way there and cause some havoc." Urthdigger cut down the harness' straps, paying little attention to the squad leader's yelp as he hit the ground. "The squad's alive." Urth telepathically contacted the others with "Seems the rest of the enemy is further inside: Let's fix that."
The squad had been led to a small clearing shortly inside and ordered to jail themselves in. The squad leader had been left outside to be tortured, and after a quick ransacking of the local house they strung him up like a pinata and began smacking him around, telling the biomancers on the other side of the barricade to keep him alive. After a couple minutes of this most of them went off to the rest of the village. The one that stayed... we know what became of him.
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Urthdigger
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Posts: 214
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Post by Urthdigger on Aug 15, 2007 14:19:46 GMT -5
Jackson stopped along the patrol route, lifted the visor on his helm, and lit up a cigar. Everything was coming up roses as far as the fallen was concerned, aside from the annoying tapping sound on the top of his helm. Against his better judgement, he looked up just in time to see a load of boiling oil cascading down upon him, filling up his armor. He hastily attempted to take off the armor to free himself, but the pot that previously held the boiling oil pins him underneath, crushing him too much to even scream as he dies. Makoto looks down from the thick upper branch where trap had been laid and whistles appreciatively. "Alright, next one." he ordered. The arakuns glided a ways northwards towards the next trap, a log set to be dropped down below and roll south over the approaching fallen. A pity it couldn't be used, the only fallen still alive were further north. Max expressed worry over how close they were getting to the chokepoint without signs of the large fallen force that attacked. There'd be the occasional patrol, in which case Urth or Sakura would drop down and quickly dispatch the unfortunate foe. Urth tended to drop down directly on top of his foe, dagger first, whereas Sakura usually hid on a low branch and used her tail to catch and strangle passerbys. As they approached the first chokepoint, no sounds of combat reached them, which was a worrying sight given that they could clearly see a number of bodies littering the area. Urth slipped into the shadows and scouted ahead. Fallen and cultists laid about the area, looking very much like a slumber party aside from the arrows pelted into them, the fireball singed flesh, and of course the sword wounds cleaved through their torsos. Along the outer ring of carnage a lone arakun say atop a pile of corpses, polishing his sword. "It's about time you showed up!" yelled Susanoo as Urth stepped out of the shadows and beckoned the others past the gate "You missed all the fun!"
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Urthdigger
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Post by Urthdigger on Aug 21, 2007 14:47:28 GMT -5
The next day after the war, the village sprang to life. The loose feelings of fear were gone, now replaced with jubilant enthusiasm. The corpses were cleaned up, the arakuns came out of hiding, and from the moment the sun rose a giant celebration was in full swing. Vendors in every corner of the village sold quaint little toys,clothes, and local cuisine, while street performers danced and sang for all who would enjoy their show. A large portion of the village was gathered in the village square where Makoto was making a speech. "One day, the nameless one's minions will return to our woods, and when that time comes I expect nothing less than complete dedication to protecting our forest... but for now we are free to party and enjoy ourselves! After all, it's the season of love, and we all should be happy. We're all a reason for everyone to be happy after all." he said that last line with a pleasant smirk "Now, for those of you who need a place to go, you'll be glad to know that the love shack is back this year. For those who don't know, it's a little old place where you can, erm, "get together. Now, due to limited space we ask that you try to limit your time though, so this might be your lucky night Turbo!" Terrence just grumbled to himself and ignored the insult. "We've also seen to getting a live band to perform in the village square..." A smaller arakun rushed up onto the stage and whispered into Makoto's ear. After a brief pause he continued his speech "I'm sorry, I've just been informed that the band in question in Captain Sam and the Skeleton Crew, so it's a mostly dead band. Regardless, I expect they'll be fantastic. They've even offered to let a few choice participants come up and try their hand at singing a few songs, should be a ton of fun. So with that said, I'm sure you're all anxious to enjoy yourselves, so good night!" Makoto left the stage, and a lanky elf and a quartet of skeletons armed with instruments stormed the stage. The elf casted a brief spell on himself, then spoke with a loud, booming voice. "I tell ya, it's an honor to be on Sosel, great place. I'd like to start with one of my favorites. Jack, hit it!" One of the skeletons began playing an organ with a grace unheard of amongst the undead and a haunting melody filled the area. Soon enough the other skeletons joined in, Sam started to sing, and the song took on an upbeat rhythym you couldn't help but dance to.
Urth and Karren didn't stick around the stage too long. The music WAS good, but they both wanted to take a look around the festivity's other attractions as well. They first stopped at one of the food vendors, and the shopkeeper picked out a kebab for Karren and a honey covered thingyroach for Urth. Urth's snack seemed gross, but he gave it an experimental nibble anyway. It was pretty good, and soon he was licking bits of honey off of his paws and wishing he'd gotten another one. Karren took her kebab a bit slower, finding the taste familiar, but at the same time she couldn't recall ever eating something that tasted like it. Their next stop was in a gift shop where a number of furs, bone jewelry and toys, and leather clothes were displayed. Karren ran her paws across a leather mask that looked like a catfolk's face. "Wow, this is a lot of stuff. Bet the hunterrrs must have been busy..." said Karren in amazement. The arakun craftsman looked up from his work "Oh, not really. We had a lot of materials on hand when the siege was over." "Why would you..." started Karren, but soon stopped. Taking a closer look, she noticed the mask had no stitching, and didn't seem to have been bent or cut into that shape. Looking around she could recognize a few bones she'd learned about in her anatomy classes amongst the jewelry... bones a bit larger than they'd be on a normal animal. "I see... all the catfolk stuff in this storrre is made from rrreal catfolk?" The arakun nodded "What would you have us do with all those corpses? First off, they're the ones who attacked us and invaded our home, they didn't deserve life. Secondly, this is Sosel. Nothing gets wasted here. If you waste what Gaia so graciously delivers to you, you'll find yourself becoming her gift to something else. It's the way nature works: It's the way we work." Karren looked down at her kebab, horrified "Then... is this..." The arakun took a sniff of her food "It's human. Some of us have a sense of humor, but I doubt any of them would be cruel enough to feed someone their own species." Karren was still visibly shaken, but took a bite off of her kebab anyway "It's good..." was all she could say. Urthdigger picked out a charm bracelet made out of twine and carved uruk bones, paid the shopkeeper, and escorted Karren back outside. "I'm sorrrrrry..." said Karren "I suppose it just shocked me to think of someone using my skin as a rrrug or something..." Urth nodded solemnly "Yeah, but you can't deny the logic behind it. Arakuns aren't exactly the strongest race on Sosel. They have to make up for it with strength in numbers, and taking any opportunity they can get. I find it a little barbaric too, but whatever they don't sell here will probably catch a fair price in town. Then the money can help them thrive better." "I don't carrre if it's logical!" shouted Karren "It's still crrreepy..." Urth hugged her tightly as they walked back to the square "Come on, let's just go listen to some music. If you need anything, just ask and I'll fetch you something nice and catfolk free alright? Karren smiled "Thanks. That's real sweet of you."
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Urthdigger
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Posts: 214
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Post by Urthdigger on Sept 22, 2007 4:05:49 GMT -5
Urthdigger sat next to Karren, his arm wrapped tightly around her waist as they listened to another song. It was a slow and romantic melody, and Urth found himself sad that it was over. "Ok ladies and gentleman!" shouted Captain Sam "My associates and I would like to let you guys have a little fun and try your hand at singing some songs. Besides, my throat's parched anyway. So who do you think should come up?" A few arakuns rose their hands and shouted their names, but the crowd as a whole turned to face Urthdigger and shouted out "The Gifted One!" Urth nervously took his arm off of Karren "Look, I don't mean to be rude but I haven't heard of many of your songs..." "Nonsense!" interrupted Sam "A lot of bards like to play our songs, and my pals know a few songs that other bards have composed as well, here, just take a look..." Sam handed Urth a list of songs and lyrics, which Urth obediently flipped through. As he thought, he didn't know any of the songs they composed... but he did know one of the songs composed by other artists. He instructed Sam to start his skeletons playing, and took center stage, tapping his foot lightly as the instrumental into played through, his heart nervously beating in his chest as his turn came up. "When darkness falls, leaving shadows in the night: Don't be afraid, wipe that fear from your eyes..." started Urth. He continued to sing through the rest of the first verse, nervously holding his paws together and wishing there was a microphone and not just empty space in front of him. He loosened up a bit as the chorus rolled around, dancing around a little bit as he sang. "You can run with us! We've got everything you need, run with us! We are free! Run with us! I see passion in your eyes, run with us!" Urth finished through the rest of the song, taking a light bow and heading back into the crowd. Another arakun was taking the stage, but Urth was a little occupied. As he looked out over the crowd during the song, he realized he'd almost forgotten his promise to Ayaname. He didn't see her in the crowd, so he checked out the local shops and such, buying things every so often, but for the most part just keeping an eye out for her. The night dragged on, and eventually Urth was full, exhausted, and tired. Reasoning that he had at least tried, he went back to his room, one of the few places he hadn't checked out in his search, and collapsed on the bed.
Urth slept soundly that night, and had some very nice dreams. He still felt exhausted though, and made a small grumbling at how hot the Sosel nights were as he must have sweated through the night from how damp his fur was. Karren hadn't returned either. After a while of lying in bed with his eyes open, he decided that was far from productive and decided to go see Max.
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Urthdigger
Storymaster
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Posts: 214
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Post by Urthdigger on Sept 26, 2007 4:50:13 GMT -5
Terrence sat by himself on a small flight of steps near the village square, rolling up a small bit of tobacco and lighting it on a nearby chef's cooking fire. He looked up at Urth on stage, envious of the Gifted One's... exoticness. Everyone could look at him and just tell he was something special, so noticeable was the aura given to all Gifted Ones. Un-Gifted on the other hand, looked just like anyone else. Even a little less noticeable in fact, most of them were only found when they wanted to be. The speedy little arakun waved at a passing group of girls, who glanced over at him and laughed. "Maybe if I have a few minutes to kill, Turbo." laughed one of them, spitting out his nickname. They weren't meaning to be malicious, but it still hurt, and when everyone did it, he didn't like it so much. Terrence took a long, final drag from his tobacco as the song finished and put it out in the dirt, idly making a note to see a biomancer sometime later about taking care of the problems it'd cause. Content for the time being though, he stretched out on the stairs and relaxed. He was full, relaxed, and had an endorphin rush, so what if his body was screaming at him to get some action. That's what drugs were for after all, to keep him happy when his body said he shouldn't be. He sat there for a good long while just listening to the music coming from the square when Max walked over. "Hey Terrence, there you are!" Terrence snapped his attention back to his surroundings, kicking the tobacco remains out of the way as he closed his legs back to a dignified position and tried his best to look like he wasn't drugged up and waiting for some out of towner to take a fancy to him. "Oh, hi General Kale, just enjoying the festival..." Max looked down at him sadly "Enjoying... right. You're miserable aren't you." Terrence smirked a little "You can read me like a book. So what's up? Maybe you can take my mind off of things." Max rubbed the back of her head thoughtfully and sat down next to him "Well, you'll be glad to know that I have some good news. You've always been loyal to me, stood by me when you believed in me, and were always respectful when you'd correct me... you've been more than just an able resource, more than just another random troop. You're someone I can talk to and trust, which is as important a trait as everything else. So... I've decided to give you a bit of a promotion." Terrence furled his brow in surprise "Does it come with a pay increase? As much as I do like my pay, I doubt I really need much more..." "Ah, no." said Max, wrapping her tail around Terrence's leg "You can probably expect a few things in return as a result of your new position, but mostly you'll be getting benefits." Terrence ran his paw along Max's tail, gently petting it as he smirked "Benefits? Why General, whatever could you mean?" Max smirked back at him as she took her tail off of his leg and gripped his paw with it, pulling him over to the command station that had more or less become her home before locking the door behind them "This kind of benefit."
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Urthdigger
Storymaster
Comments are appreciated
Posts: 214
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Post by Urthdigger on Oct 30, 2007 1:59:46 GMT -5
Urthdigger left his place and glided down to the forest floor rather than take the stairs. He landed quietly out of habit and started along the path towards the village square. It wasn't long before he saw Ara gathered around a small fire with a trio of girls around him. "So the dragon was attacking us and... oh hey, what timing! Hey, here comes the master thief! What a life saver!" Urth blinked sleepily in surprise "Hmm? Oh, me." Ara smirked "As I was saying, we took cover in the abandoned shacks, waiting for a chance to strike back, but the damn beast started blowing them down with his damn sonic breath! After being exposed, I strummed my lute and let loose a sonic blast of my own at the dragon... and while I did open up a nasty wound on him, it didn't even faze him! He let loose a blast of his own at me, knocking me to the ground. My whole body siezed up as I was stunned from the impact, and I could only watch in horror as the foul beast lowered it's head and swallowed me up... I've never been so scared in my whole life, I thought I was going to die! Of course I couldn't see what happened next, but from what the others said Urth here jumped into it's mouth, then stole me right out of it's belly. Pretty cool eh?" One of the girls, a vulpin, smirked at Urth "So, a master thief eh? Guess I shourd watch my purse around you." Urth grinned "Why yes. I can offer a small demonstration if you'd like. Don't worry, I'm an honorable thief, and I'll return whatever I take if you want it back. All I ask in return is a kiss." The vulpin picked him up and gave him a deep kiss. "Rike that?" Urth smiled and nodded "Yes, just like that. I knew you couldn't resist, I've managed to steal your heart." She laughed and dropped him, the arakun twisting in midair to land on his feet. "That's got to be the ramest pickup rine I've ever heard. Come on girrs." The trio left and Ara scowled at Urthdigger "They're right, that was pretty lame." Urth chuckled to himself and snapped a pair of pink panties he'd managed to snatch with his tail "That wasn't the punchline. Here, she might want these back." He tossed the pair of panties to Ara, who ran off after the girls, leaving Urth by himself.
The rest of the trip was fairly uneventful, just a few people loitering around who had just gotten up, or more likely hadn't gone to bed yet. The command station itself was locked, so Urth knocked on the door to be polite. There was a bit of shuffling on the other side of the door, and a faint "Ow" from Max as she fell on the floor. "I'm coming, I'm coming..." she remarked as she began undoing the numerous locks on the door. When she finally got the door opened, she looked a little frazzled. Her fur was a mess and she didn't look like she got much sleep. Terrence was sitting on Max's desk, not looking much better. "Hi, I didn't expect to see you here this early... I thought I'd send Terrence out to fetch you." Urth looked over her, then looked at Terrence "I'll say... Anyway, thought I'd just see if there was anything else you wanted... seems like all the fun stuff's over in which case I should probably hit the road..." Max shook her head "No... you're officially released from service now that the fighting's over. But I'd prefer it if you stuck around regardless. Speaking of which, here." She searched around the papers that used to be on her desk and now littered the floor, coming up with a slip of paper and a small token and handed them to Urth. The token was what made up a deed in the village, and it was to the room that Urth was currently renting. He looked over it was a slight interest, but was surprised by the slip of paper: It was a bank notice indicating a funds transfer "This is... wow... are there really supposed to be that many 0s?" Max nodded "I'm sorry, this is quite a bit... I thought I was doing this for free?" Max grinned "Well, I can take it back if you want... but this is your share of the dragon's hoard. Seeing as you displayed yourself to be competent, I decided to make you a paid employee for the mission. Should you ever decide to help out again, we'll gladly pay for for it." "Thanks, that means so much coming from you." said Urth with a smirk. "You're welcome. Anyway, I'd like to get back to sleep. See you later." Max closed the door and locked all the locks up nice and tight.
Most of the village was still asleep, so Urth was surprised to see Karren lounging around the village square. She looked positively sedated. "Hey Karren, I've been looking for ya. Did you ever come back to our room last night?" The catfolk shook her head "Nah... sorry, I ran into a couple real nice guys... they were really nice... but that's ok, I heard you had a nice night yourself!" Urth was a little confused "Umm... if you're suggesting what I think you are, I was alone all night. Went to bed alone, woke up alone." "Huh, that's not what Ayaname was bragging about... oh well!" Urth chuckled "Yeah... to be fair, I did go looking for her. Anyway, let's get back to our room. We've got a busy day ahead of us. The fallen in the fort can't be the only evildoers on this planet!"
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