Helping Richard the Merchant | Page 3

In a moment of distraction, the Faerin was able to let his guard down enough to get hit by the bandit on his head, making Hanno get slightly disoriented... Luckily the bandit used the pommel instead of the blade, that could've been dangerous.

The might sounds of the holy thunders were able to snap him out of the stun, as he was finally able to focus on the bandit again. The bastard didn't look like he was going to give up. 'Ghast... Let's finish this already-' Losing some of his temper, the Faerin mentally said to his Shield, making it let out a frightening and pleased chuckle. "Kukuku..."

Hanno clenched his fist and charged while raising his shield, charging what would be his next blow with all his regret, anger and frustration about the mistakes he had done...

LAST ECLIPSE

As the Gargantuan Shield raised, it's huge size easily blocked the sunlight and covered both the Faerin and the bandit's with a dark shadow, that had a dissonant essence trying to crawl in their hearts. In this small dissonant darkness, the only things that could be seen clearly were the intense stares of the Shield, and the killing intent look of Hanno's emerald green eyes. "You are gone." His voice sounded grim and deep, almost like it wasn't him that was saying it.

'It's your fault- Not his.'

His arms trembled in rage, but for some reason he couldn't bring himself to strike the bandit with a killing intent. 'I... I'm not doing this to help Labyrinth, I'm doing this for my selfish vent... I'm not this kind of person.' "Tch-!" With a glimpse of annoyance in Hanno's countenance, the Faerin dissipated the energy back to the shield, loosening his shoulders muscles as he swinged the dissonant Shield to knock the bandit away.

While the bandit would have himself being throw by the hit, the Shield's tentacles would stretch out to grapple his leg midair. 'We aren't finished with you-' The tentacle would swing the bandit like he was a ragdoll toward
@Aurora Labyrinth's range, leaving him ready to be finished. "Now." The Faerin said with a tone empty of emotions.

Roll = 28 (Dice) + 20 (Adept Shield Mastery) = 48
Attacking "Bandit D" (Combined attack with @Aurora Labyrinth)
Staying on "Zone 2"​

 

"Told you to look" She said with a satisfied smile, proud her attack had done some damage. Aurora frowned when she saw her companion threatening the bandit. "Please do not Mr Futaba. You are better than him!"She called out. The blonde let out a sigh of relief as she saw the male stop and instead swinging him around with his tentacle shield. "Can you please hold him still. I would like to repay him for what he did" She instructed Futaba. When the bandit was held still, she walked towards him and gently cupped his face in her hands, as though he was someone precious to her. "Next time, you might not want to treat women , or any living being, like some sort of play toy. Goodnight" she gave a soft smile before conjuring up another explosive spell with her palms. She had hoped the man did not die by her attack. No matter how cruel he was, the blonde did not have the heart to kill another human, npc or not.

Roll =59+0=59
Attacking "Bandit D" (Combined attack with @Hanno Futaba )
Zone B

 

An ear splitting scream ripped through the clearing around them all, the sound was like the worst nails on a chalk board that Galadion had ever heard in all of his life. Shaking his head ever so slightly he tried to rid himself of the ringing sensation that was now resounding through his head before returning to look up at their employer who was still sitting out in plain open view just waiting and almost asking for an archer to put an arrow into his chest. Finally he decided to just give up on the man, if he was to stupid and cowardly to protect himself then as far as Galadion was concerned he deserved any fate that befell him and if the worst should occur and the man died then he would just take the merchants wares for himself, that should be enough to cover the expense of his time.

Turning his attention away from their cowardly employer Galadion returned his full attention to the bandit that was still upon his feet, a small smile upon his face as he looked at the man before shaking his head ever so slightly "You guys really picked the worst wagon to attempt to rob you know?". Chuckling softly Galadion walked towards the bandit that his companion and knocked unconscious before picking up a large and pointed stick, staring at the bandit directly in his eyes he brought the sick down so that the point stabbed the downed bandit through his temple killing him instantly having not once broken eye contact with the man. "I really do not like bandits at all you see. I think you are the scum of the earth, stealing from those who are weaker than yourselves. If you are strong then you should use that strength to protect the weak"

As Galadion was speaking to the bandit his three Yaldian soldier had completely circled the bandit so that he had no direction to escape in. The solder that was directly behind the bandit stepped forward and drove his sword straight through the bandits back so that the tip of his sword exited the front of his chest, even if the bandit had discovered that the soldiers were only an illusion the sudden pain and appearance of a sword sticking out of his body would cause real mental damage to the man. The Yladian soldier pulled his sword free from the bandit and all three of the soldiers withdrew from the scene and seemed to retreat back into the woods from which they came with a single wave of Galadions hand.


Attacking Bandit B
(Roll) Richard the Merchant 31 (Dice) + 20 (Adept Illusion Magic Mastery) + 10 (Disarmed Bandit) = 61
Zone 5

 

For its first casting, his Screamer spell had worked wonderfully, much better than what Daedalus had expected...maybe a little too wonderfully. It seemed that the malevolent spirit he'd conjured was going vent every last ounce of its eternal fury onto the poor bandit and wouldn't stop for anything, their screams echoing through the forest sending the wildlife scurrying away in fear. Daedalus couldn't even hear himself think, much less anyone else. Looking over at Richard apologetically (and incidentally missing the sight of the other bandit swiping at the illusions), he had to bellow at the top of his lungs to be heard over the cacophony.

"I MAY HAVE GONE OVERBOARD, SORRY! I'LL GET RID OF IT NOW!"

Putting down his backpack, Daedalus picked up the heavy branch he'd bludgeoned the first bandit with, which he'd propped up next to the wagon. If the bandit was no longer able to be screamed at, maybe the spirit would bugger off and stop demolishing everyone's eardrums. Just as he was about to hop off the wagon, Daedalus would see @Galadion drive a sharp branch through the first bandit's cranium, pretty much spelling out 'fatality' for the poor man. Unable to resist the urge, Daedalus blurted out a morbid pun out of pure force of habit as the bandit went limp, once and for all.

"Oof, ouch...guess he wasn't a stick-ler for society's rules!"

Regardless of who may or may not have heard that (and how they may judge him for it), Daedalus would resume the task at hand and approach the bandit who was being screamed at, wince at him being skewered by the Yladian illusions, and attempt to put him out of everyone's misery.

"THIS'LL ONLY HURT FOR A SECOND-!"

Reversing the grip on his branch so that the jagged end where it had snapped off the bough was facing the bandit, Daedalus would coil his knees underneath himself for a second, building up power, then spring up and mash the branch into the bandit's face with as much force as possible. The branch would phase through the Screamer Spirit's opaque form, so he would have no idea whether he hit or not until the bandit reacted or fell over, unconscious.

--

Roll - 18 + 0 (beginner mastery) + 10 (disarmed enemy) = 28 (luck finally ran out huh -_-)

Smashing stick into Bandit B's face

 

Galadion stood there his silvery optics scanning the forest clearing that up until moments ago had been the scene of a small battle. The fight had come to an end and all of the adventurers had survived and even by some miracle their coward of an employer who didn't have the sense to move himself out of the open had some how made it out alive. From what he could tell the only fatality that occurred during the fight was the bandit that he himself had slain.

Galadion turned his head and looked at the three remaining bandits and narrowed his eyes, he already knew that he couldn't leave them alive. But simply killing them wouldn't be enough, he needed to send a message to any other bandit in the area what would happen if he caught them trying to rob someone else. Galadion focused slowly and sent his mana into the ground, four very long and point poles that were fashioned in the form of a spear grew up forth from the ground, taking one of the poles Galadion ran the spear through the corpse of the bandit that he had already killed so that it entered the body between the legs and ran all the way through the body before exiting out of his mouth effectively turning the bandit into a skewer.

Galadion then turned and repeated this process until he had impaled all four of the bandits upon the spears that he had grown with his Nature Magic, a soft chuckle escaping his lips. With a small grunt of effort lifted each one of the impaled bandits and planted their poles along the side of the of the path. When he was finished there were four impaled corpses along the side of the path as if they had been planted there by Vlad The Impaler himself, turning around Galadion faced him companions with blood from the bandits that he had just skewered splattered upon his face "There, now every bandit around here will know what happens when you rob someone", without so much as another word Galadion made his way back over to the wagon and prepared himself to continue travelling.

 

"Whew! That's all of them, I reckon. That was quite some exercise! My little heart can barely take it!"

Whipping his head back to check on Richard after he'd mercilessly clobbered the bandit into submission, a mirthless slasher's grin would be plastered onto his face for a second before softening into a cheerful smile, once again seeming completely oblivious to the situation.

Still, the sight of the little Faerin Tinkerer standing over the bandit's motionless body holding a bloodied stick and grinning an impossibly wide grin was more than enough reason to put poor Richard off hiring adventurers without research for a long time.

As the screamer sunk back into the ground, its duty done, Daedalus propped the stick up against the wagon again, dusted his hands off and patted one of the horses on the mane. Looking around, he spotted his other two companions, @Hanno Futaba and @Aurora Labyrinth, and waved cheerfully to signify that the wagon and their ward were doing just fine.

Once they'd reached the wagon, Daedalus would jump between them, slapping each on the back in congratulations, more for staying alive than anything else.

"We're safe, don't worry! Great job fighting those bandits off, by the way!"

Tilting his head in thought as Richard asked them what to do, Daedalus was about to respond with "If they pay us the low, low fee of everything they own, we might let them go!", but was cut off before he could begin by @Galadion making everyone's choices for them. Watching with his mouth slightly ajar, Daedalus was about to shout "What are you doing? Why aren't we looting them first?!" before catching himself; that wasn't the best thing to say right now.

An awkward silence prevailed after the almost certainly half-mad Yladian king had completed his grim task, leaving everyone too shocked to respond with anything but incredulous exchanges of looks. Daedalus hesitantly sauntered back to the wagon and hopped on, tidying his belongings in his backpack and whistling almost nonchalantly.

Of course, if one listened closely, it was easy to tell that Daedalus was rather distracted; he was ever so slightly out of tune, and fuddled his notes more than usual.

 

Seeing the bandit being knocked out by Aurora's spell, the Faerin shook his head. 'That was completely unnecessary... I've put everyone in danger, and I even tried to take it out on someone else.' He sighed heavily looking down, seeing a few drops of blood falling from his forehead.

Hanno grabbed a handkerchief before looking at @Aurora Labyrinth, that still had her arm dirty with blood, even though her wounds were already closed. The Faerin handed her the handkerchief, letting out a weak smile. "I'm sorry for that. And good job, you did great."

Hanno looked at @Daedalus, nodding at his cheerful words. 'These newcomers are very tough, I'm glad they are unflinched about what happened.' "Good job you too, you did wonderful protecting Richard."

He then looked at Richard that called everyone out while interrupting anything they were doing. Giving out a very hard decision. 'Ah no...' Hanno clenched his teeth, not in anger, but in fear. He had just made a horrible decision a few minutes ago and he placed everyone in danger. He almost made his comrade die because of his own stupidity. Ghast, his shield, stared intently at the bandits as it wanted to smash their bones for daring to make his master feel so frustrated.

Even though it was a hard situation, the Faerin knew he needed to make his choice... Otherwise it would be a bother to the group. 'They are knocked out, they are no harm anymore.' Hanno pondered while putting the shield on his back. "Well... let's spare them." He said with a sort of meek tone.

He turned and walked to the bandit, and as he was about to bent down to drag the unconscious man, a sudden spear pierced through the body of the now deceased bandit, raising the man up to the sky.

Hanno's eyes widened with some glint of horror, not because of the brutality as he was used to bloody battles, but because of what had to happend. It all started when he decided to check the abandoned camp, he was the main reason all that happened in first place. "I... I'm sorry." He looked back at the Yladian, but he understood his reasons... Besides, he wasn't in position to debate any action after what he did.

The Faerin just stood up staring flatly at the corpse, while his Shield stared intently at @Galadion with a very pleased expression as his owner was successfully avenged.

 

Aurora stretched her body,happy the battle was over and that they stood victorious with little to no damage. Her eyes were settled on the bandits, wondering what they were to do with them. She hasn't noticed the handkerchief offered to her until she heard @Hanno Futaba speak.

The girl gave a smile as she raised her hand next to his forehead, receting a healing spell to patch him up. "Please do not apologize. If it weren't for you, I wouldn't have been alive. Thank you for healing me and I'm sorry I wasn't of much use. Next time, I'll try to be more aware of my surroundings. You were amazing back there" she said, taking his handkerchief and wiping the blood from his forehead before wiping her own hand.

The girl walked up to @Daedalus happily and giggled when he slapped her back. " You were really wonderful out there too Mr Daedalus. Good job to you as well. You are much more reliable than me, even though we both are newcomers"

She turned to the merchant and replied. "I think we should let them live too. Killing them off just seems a bit too cruel and unnecessary" she glanced at the unconscious men before looking at the merchant. "If given a chance, I feel like they can change for the better" She answered. Her smile was genuine, as if she believed the bandits could reform and become better people.

She was about to walk towards the bandits and help Hanno carry them only to be met by a gruesome sight. Blue eyes widen with shock as she watched the bloody corpses hanging from the poles made by @Galadion , who seemed completely unfazed and went back to the wagon to continue their journey.

She stormed towards the self proclaimed king of Yladian and grabbed him by the collar with both hands,trying to pull the tall man down. "What was that!" Her voice rose with anger as her hands started to shake, not with fear, but with rage. "How can you just kill them off! They were living beings! Who the hell gave you the bloody right to decide who gets to live or die?!"

 

Hitting more and more bum notes as he whistled faster and louder to himself, Daedalus was obviously trying to blot out the uproar @Galadion had caused with his ruthless execution. Rooting through his bag urgently now instead of attempting to square his belongings away, it seemed that whatever he was looking for was stored pretty deep in that pack.

As @Aurora Labyrinth grabbed the vigilante royal by the collar angrily and @Hanno Futaba seemed to be shocked into speechlessness by the sheer horror of the situation, Daedalus finally found what he was looking for. He stood up with a flustered flourish and bellowed at the top of his lungs, hoping to silence his quarreling companions, specifically Galadion and Aurora.

If that alone did nothing, his stormy expression and what he held in his upraised hand would certainly make the Human and Yladian reconsider their conflict.

"ALRIGHT, ALRIGHT, EVERYBODY SHUT THE FUCK UP, OR THIS GOES OFF!"

What Daedalus held in his tiny hand was a thick ball of rags, which fell away as a light gust of wind swept though the clearing. A gently ticking globe that looked as if it was made of thousands of tiny interlocked cogs was revealed, with a glowing red light at its core.

"This is what I call a Cog Core. Runs off a miniature built-in combustion engine. It's a prototype that I intend on using for some...interesting things later on in life. But right now, for all intents and purposes, it's a highly effective firebomb. If I drop this thing from a high enough place...boom. Everyone gets incinerated."

He took a deep breath and recomposed himself, an amiable smile returning to his face and hands lowering the Cog Core.

"Dead men tell no tales, kids. What's done is done; they attacked us, we retaliated. That's all. I say we forget this and move on. Right, Richard?"

Turning to Richard for his opinion for the situation, the Cog Core still ticked ominously away in his hands.

 

When the Faerin finally snapped out from being lost in thoughts, he shook his head and rubbed his forehead to wipe some of the blood. By touching his forehead, he noticed that his wound was gone. 'Uh?- Ah... Right, Labyrinth healed me...' He thought, finally realizing that he had just ignored the girl's words.

'She was really grateful for me saving her life, but I was the one that placed her in danger. Also she was actually very useful, why she would she say-' Hanno paused his thought midway, realizing he was rejecting that she said he was being useful too. The Faerin rubbed his temples at his hypocrisy. 'Damn it Hanno... You shouldn't ignore people trying to cheer you up. You are in a group, groups shares mistakes together. Did you forget your talk with Aristides and Rivers?'

Slapping his own cheeks together, he shook his head and turned back at the group, only to have the sight of Aurora yelling at Galadion. His eyes widened a bit in surprise, she didn't seem like a person that would raise her voice like that. Yet, seeing the fact that she was confronting someone much stronger than her because she wanted to do the right thing, made Hanno give a weak smile.

Seeing the situation would go terribly wrong, the Faerin walked at the girl arguing with the Yladian, until suddenly @Daedalus snapped and threated everyone with a bomb.

Hanno blinked in surprise again, another person that raised his voice. "Everyone seems to be on high spirits..." The amount of surprises made he let out a small comment, walking close to @Aurora Labyrinth he gently placed his hand on her shoulder.

"Lab- Aurora. Calm down a little, I understand your anger because I feel the same but... We are a group, we shouldn't fight to each other... And as much as I dislike what just happened, unfortunately what's done is done." He said with an insecure and apologetic tone, not entirely sure if he could give his opnion, but sure that he wanted both to be fine. "I'm sorry that it happened to them."

The Faerin turned at @Galadion . "Your Majesty, please avoid doing this kind of thing again. I know you had good intentions of protecting us to repel other bandits by showing a few... 'Examples'. But like I said, we are a group and we should decide things together..."

 

Was this really happening right now? This was the only thought that was running through Galadions head, these bandits had just attacked them and if they had been given the opportunity they would have done something just as terrible if not worse and not until after they had used the females bodies to their pleasure. But yet here they were all angry with him because of what he had done to them, he had done it to send a message to all the other bandits.

He brought his hand up and smacked the humans hand away from his collar, this human presumed to be familiar enough with him to lay hands upon him. Anger, hate and what almost appeared to be disgust flashed in the Yladians eyes and with a flick of his wrist a pale white wand appeared in his hand that he quickly jammed under the human females jaw so that any spell that he sent from it would rip directly through her skull. "You dare to lay your hands upon me? You a mere human think yourself my equal? Tell me, what is to stop me from killing you right here, right now?"

Then the voice of one of the Faerin filled the clearing causing Galadion to look in his direction, and his anger turned to pure wrath. His body shaking ever so slightly under the intense rage that he felt, now not only had a human laid her hands upon his but a Faerin, a being that was half his size was threatening him? What in the hell was this day turning out to be?


"Alan tagolann hakon!", the words of power were all but spat out from his mouth and echoed around the clearing, the mana needed for the spell having been released and it took effect. Dozens of large ice spears froze into existence within the air and hung over the heads of both Faerin while he kept his wand in a threatening position under the humans chin "Shall we play this game then? Who's the better killer? Cause I am sure I will win" His eyes darted to the Faerin that was now addressing him and just when he thought it was impossible, his rage increased even more at having someone telling him what to do "You dare to give me commands? None of you command me"

 

Things happened very quickly after Daedalus spiced up the atmosphere with a bomb threat. @Hanno Futaba attempted to defuse the fight between @Galadion and @Aurora Labyrinth (and with good reason), but Daedalus didn't even manage to turn around to see the result of the confrontation before a shadow fell over his figure.

Gulping and looking up, he found himself face-to-business-end with a razor-sharp spear of pure ice, and it wasn't the only one either; there were enough spears hovering above him to outfit a private army...and more than enough to turn him into a very cold pincushion, surely. Just how powerful was this 'King of the Yladians'?

Listening amicably to Galadion's declaration with a nervous yet understanding smile still in place, Daedalus nodded slowly after he was done, and sat down next to Richard, cross-legged, Cog Core still in hand.

"Alright, alright. Again, I may have gone overboard a little, I'm sorry. It's just that...we can't keep arguing like this, y'know? I get that we've all just met, it's very exciting, yes, but don't y'all think it's a bit too early to be making death threats? We haven't even got any loot to fight over, for goodness sake. Besides..."

A (not so) innocent grin crept across his face as he rolled the Cog Core from one hand to the other, still looking up at the ice spears overhead.

"What d'you think'll happen if you just so happened to hit this little thing with one of your spears? Yeah, I think if you know full well..."

Grinning mischievously, Daedalus mouthed the word 'boom' silently and kept turning the round cog-globe over in his hands. Closing his eyes and sighing, Daedalus leaned over onto Richard's shoulder and slung an arm around the merchant's shoulders.

"Now, we should get a move on. Take that silly stick off her neck, Your Majesty, and we can get going again. So sorry, Richard."

 

Aurora's grip loosened as she heard one of her members get upset at her picking a fight with @Galadion . She turned her head to @Daedalus direction as she listened to what he said. She didn't want things to explode so soon and put poor Richard in a helpless position. Another person had to join in on getting her calmed down.Her gaze softened as looked at the shorter male @Hanno Futaba who advised her to calm down, at least for the sake of their group."I...don't like this though. They could have changed for the better. We all deserve a chance..and he took that away from them. It's not fair" she spoke in a soft voice, completely contrary to her earlier outburst. She looked back at the self proclaimed king to look him in the eye to see whether he regretted his actions or not. The emotions she was greeted with wasn't pleasant though.
The blonde girl's eyes widen as the male retaliated. Did he honestly believe what he did was the right thing to do? not only that, but did he really threaten to kill her just because she touched him? and even their teammates? Just how much pride did this person have?

It seemed Daedalus did not want to back down from his threat and even asked of Galadion to remove the wand from her neck but she did not trust the Yladian enough to actually listen to what the short man had to say. She mustered up all the strength she could and kicked the man where it hurt the most and moved a few steps away to maintain distance from his wand, wrapping her hand around the tip of the magical weapon so that if the mad king did try to caste a spell with his wand, the most it would do is hurt her hand. "first off. You deserved that and I do not regret my actions in the slightest. and second. I do not want to put poor Richard at risk. Just. Listen to what Mr Futaba said and don't do things by yourself."