The Hunt

[Salinye]

Dove narrowed her eyes at Urgarte across the table after draining the last of the juice of an intricately carved crystal goblet. She knew the contents within it were not poisonous or she would have felt a familiar purifying tingle from the spell she had cast upon herself before arriving at Urgart’s mansion.

 

“You’re missing out, my lady.” Urgarte forced a polite tongue. “The wine I’ve served is nothing short of the best.” A few murmurs of agreement rose from some of the guests at the table, for the wine certainly was the best gold could buy.

 

“I never mix business with pleasure.” Dove replied icily keeping her cold glare fixed upon her host.

 

Urgarte met her glare with a humored smile, still mimicking the perfect host. “Probably not a bad idea but for some of us, business is pleasure.” With that he raised his own goblet downing its contents in one swallow.

 

Dove glanced around the table taking in the faces of her fellow bounty hunters. Some watched their conversation with curiousness. They all shared a desire to see the proof of payment that their host had promised. Shifting her glance back to meet Urgarte’s once more she pushed her mostly empty plate aside folding her hands in front of her and raised her tattooed eyebrow.

 

“Well then, how about we get to business then?”

[Racouol]

"Very well, my lady." Ugarte said with a grin as he placed his goblet onto the table. He then reached up and pulled the rope that dangled by his side. A bell sounded through-out the mansion and at once the dining room was filled with servants clearing the table and refilling goblets. As the wave of servants left the room another wave of servants carrying chests came in. The servants placed one chest infront of each bounty hunter and then started stacking the rest of the chest at the end of the room. Ugarte took a sip from his goblet " I hope you don't mind if I made the payments in gems instead of gold but I assure you that the gems are not glass and the payment is all there." He then snapped his fingers and in unision the servants all unlocked the chests reveiling all the gems within. "As I agreed 20 million payable upon completion of the mission." Ugarte snapped his fingers again and this time the servants closed the chests and carried them out.

"I am still not convinced, while the contents in the chests that you showed us looked to be alright, you still failed to show us the contents it the rest of the chests nor let us check the chests you did open up more thoroughly." Dove said as she glared at Ugarte.

"I would but i am afraid that it would take too long to see if the full amount is there unless you know of a spell that can do it instantly. If that is the case I will bring you all the chests again if you want. Still I have a gift for each of you." Once again Ugarte pulled the rope behind him causing the bell to toll again.

[Racouol]

This time Bob came in carrying a large sack. He paused a moment and grunted as looked at each bounty hunters. He then looked at Ugarte for a few moments before he walked up to Dove. He then reached into the sack and pulled out a massive and oddly shaped sword and placed it onto the table infront of Dove.

The Sword was made out of a darkish green color. It's Blade extended 5 feet from the hilt and near the end of the blade it split into two seperate blades, each extending another 2.5 ft to each side. Seven words, written in a strange language, were inscribed near the hilt of the sword.

Bob next stopped next to Mira and looked him up and down. Bob the just shrugged as he reached into his sack, pulling out a brilliant looking rapier.

The Rapier hilt was studded with star sapphires. The blade itself was unusually thin and frigile looking. The blade also seemed to sway back and forth as if it was alive.

Bob then went to Wren and immidiatly started digging through the Sack. He pulled out a demonic looking mask and gently placed it onto the table infront of Wren.

The mask seemed to be a wonderfully crafted leather mask that would cover the wearers face from the nose up. On the top there were gold and silver feathers with two horns rising out of the feather.

Bob finally walked to Robby and looked at him for a few moments. After a few moment Bob reached into the sack and pulled out a pair of gauntlets. He placed the Gauntlets onto the table infront of Robby and immdiatly took his place behind Ugarte.

The gauntlets looked battered and unpolished. Rust had also seemed to have started forming in various places. The left gauntlet was missing the last finger while the right one had a good sized hole in the middle of where the palm should have been.

[The Big Pointy One]

(OOC: Sorry, this is kinda long... and it's just another fight!)

 

His heavy boots covered in mud, the rain-soaked Tayne trudged his way down a rocky path. After leaving the damned village, he had made his way to the coast of the nearby sea. It was in a half-submerged cave where he had left his supplies. It was still raining heavily, thunder rumbling across the sky in the distance. Taking care not to recklessly slice himself up, the large warrior climbed down a slick precipice to a small strip of land fifteen feet below where had just been walking. This was the entrance to his cave. It was only noticeable when the tide was out, and then only from the water. The sand beneath his feet angled downwards as he went inside the small cave until he was up to his waist in water. The cave itself was dark; Tayne wasn't so stupid as to leave torches here, especially when he was gone. He knew it well enough to find whatever he'd need in the dark, anyways. Unfortunately though, a brief flash of lightning revealed something he hadn't expected: an intruder.

 

Sniffing around the raised portion of stone that went about another twenty feet into the earth and was about fifteen feet wide at it's largest was some sort of creature. It held one of Tayne's artifacts in his hand and was examining it with one set of eyes, while another shifted to Tayne. That pair of eyes seemed to glow a low red colour, indicating it could see regardless of the lighting situation. The thing was hunched over; it was obviously too large to stand in the cave. Its legs were massive, each one was about the size of both of Tayne's! (which were large enough!). Out of the sides of its equally large torso came two pairs of rather muscular-looking arms. None held any weapons, but the creature's human-like hands ended in long, jagged claws. It's head differed slightly from the body, in that it was more of a leathery texture, as compared to the hair-covered mass below. Tusks jutted out of a wolf-like snout which seemed to also be pluming out thin tendrils of smoke. behind and below its four eyes drooped oddly fin-shaped ears which seemed to tense at Tayne's arrival. The mercenary could barely notice a pincussion of various sized horns sticking out of the back of the demon's skull. Tayne deduced it indeed was a demon, for he had not encountered such a creature in his life.

 

It snarled, dropped whatever it was holding and then snorted, it's focus completely on Tayne now. Of course, the sadistic man had wasted no time and was already rushing the thing, his hand axes drawn. The demon, however, was not unfamiliar to combat. As Tayne rushed into it, one axe swinging low and horizontally, the other high and vertical, the demon reached out with all his arms. His lower left grabbed the wrist holding the low axe, and his upper right the high one. Tayne grunted as the thing squeezed, causing him to loosen his grip on his axes, then spat out blood as the other two simultaneously punched him in the gut and his sternum. He gasped for air as the demon continued to tighten its grip on his wrists and began working his whole body with a flurry of punches. The darkened cave spun around him as a fist slammed his to his cheek, rattling his teeth and sending more blood out his mouth.

 

Not one to give into a stronger opponent so easily, Tayne concentrated on remaining conscious, and summoned all his strength into his legs. Leaning his weight into the beast he swiftly raised his left leg and swung a kick into what Tayne hoped was the creature's groin. He was right, it seemed, because the demon howled a bit, momentarily paused the pummeling and even released his grip on Tayne's wrists slightly. Focusing slowly on escape now, Tayne used the momentary lapse of aggression to his advantage and squeezed out of the beast's grip. He rolled backwards and launched one his knives at the thing's belly. He didn't care to see if it hit though, because he was running as fast he could (which was hard, considering the water) as soon as the knife left his hand. He heard the thing growling behind him, then the sound of splashing water as it began to trail him. Sweating heavily now, Tayne quickly turned himself around just as he exited the cave, reaching up just in time to pull himself upwards as the Demon trampled right where he had been standing a moment before. Quickly pulling himself upwards on his painstakingly memorized handholds, Tayne made his way back up to the road. Better to try and fight or flee on even ground, he figured.

 

Unfortunately for him though, as he pulled himself up over the ledge, a foot was coming down to knock him off. He gaped, only for a moment, but it was unbelievable- the thing had leapt straight up and intercepted Tayne! He didn't have much time to contemplate it though, because the demon's hairy foot had landed on his right hand, causing him to lose grip and just about fall, if it weren't for his left hand. The demon wasn't done though, and was about to stomp on his other hand. Testing his luck, Tayne decided to drop back down to the cave entrance. He smacked his chin on one of his handholds on the way down, and split it open. When he landed it was on his back, and again the wind was knocked out of him. Luckily, his drive to continue living overrid everything else, and he picked himself up, shook his head and rushed back into the cave, not bothering to look behind him. He knew the demon would only be a few seconds behind him, and all the more furious. He dove onto the raised stone platform and reached for the first thing he could think of: a black trident that appeared to be made of some sort of steel-alloy. He gripped it tightly with both hands, tucked it beneath his left shoulder and spun around. Tayne was right about the demon being behind him, because the creature trampled right into the trident which easily stabbed into its chest. Unfortunately, this seemed only to infuriate the thing more. It roared and howled, flailing its arms in the air all the while spouting out small bursts of flame from its muzzle.

 

As determined as Tayne, and twice as insane, the creature finally regained some of its senses and gripped the staff of the trident and pulled it towards itself, pushing it in deeper. Of course, it was the only thing between it and Tayne, and it was still interested in the large, ferocious man. Inky blood spilled out across the things chest, but it failed to notice. Tayne was quick though, not wanting to die, and not wanting to waste any time. Releasing his right hand from the trident, he reached behind his back and swung out, this time his other knife in hand. He sunk it into the demon's left wrist which was holding the trident. It howled and this time a thick stream of flame erupted from its snout and singed a fair bit of hair on the front of Tayne's face. Half an inch more, and he might have been without a face. However, the demon still proved to be the stronger, and swung with its remaining lower arm on the trident, pulling it free from Tayne's grasp. The trident stayed lodged in the thing's chest, since it was focused on maiming Tayne now. Wildly it swung with open hands, intending to shred the mercenary to pieces. He rolled to the left, and felt the intense stinging of claw rending flesh along his back. Luck favoured him again, because as he rolled he picked up both his hand axes again. Grinning with grim determination, Tayne again retreated out of the cave, but this time facing the demon. As it lunged at Tayne, he hurled the hand axe in his right hand which landed with a satisfying 'thunk'. He could see the blade go in straight to the beast's shoulder where it stopped, lodged into the bone. Two arms effectively useless. Now they were on equal ground... almost.

 

The demon still remained aggressive, advancing on Tayne arms flailing wildly. The adrenaline helped Tayne dodge each increasingly clumsy swing, but barely. He swung back, but it was mostly a defensive maneuver to keep claws away from vital areas. As he exited the cave, Tayne made no attempt to escape upwards this time, but feigned teetering as if he didn't realise where the thin strip of sand ended. The demon lunged in at him as expected. Tayne shifted his weight mostly onto his right shoulder and twisted his hip. He felt another painful sting as the beast clawed straight across his stomach, but continued with his movement. He placed his hands on the ground to his left and in one smooth motion spun his whole body around and exploded with his feet, heel-kicking the beast in the back, just below the ribs; first with his left, then his right foot. He wasn't done yet though- just before the demon splashed into the water below, Tayne planted his remaining axe into the demon's spine. Deep into the demon's spine. Assured that he had paralyzed the thing, he took a moment to catch his breath. He was leaking blood in all sorts of places, and he was out of healing potions. Had he been a fraction too slow, he probably would have been dead right now. After a few moments, he dragged himself into the cave, and set to bandaging his wounds. He couldn't let himself die so soon, not when the bounty was so close in sight!

Edited April 8, 2004 by The Big Pointy One

[Tamaranis]

Robby had been an odd dinner guest. He was friendly and seemed easy to speak with, but he’d hardly touched the elaborate meal layed out in front of he and the other mercenaries. Only after prompting would he taste any of the food or wines, and then he would only taste, usually compliment, and then insist he simply wasn’t hungry.

 

When his gift was presented to him, he couldn’t help but smirk a little. Appearances could be deceiving, he knew, but it appeared that the wealthy and powerful Ugarte had bestowed upon him the gift of gauntlets he could have found through determined searching of the city’s refuse.

 

“So what do these do?” He asked conversationally, then curled his index finger against his thumb and struck one of the gauntlets. The gauntlet bounced a short distance across the table, almost as if it weighed far less than it really did.

 

“Or do I simply strike you as some one so hard done by that ruined gauntlets should be a treasure to me?” His tone and manner made it clear that the gift had amused, and not offended, him however.

[Racouol]

Ugarte smiled as Robby spoke, never taking his eyes of Robby. "I meant no offence. Despite what these gauntlets look like I had a feeling these gauntlets would nicely compliment your already amasing abilities." Ugarte paused for a moment and took a sip of his wine. "While I do know that these gauntlets are powerful, I unfortunetly do not know what they do. They have thusfar resisted any attempts for wizards I hire to discover its powers. I also can not experiment with them myself due to my unique condition."

 

The room then seemed to shake for a few seconds causing everyone in the room to start looking around. "Hmmp, It looks like we have wasted more time than we can afford to." Ugarte muttered.

 

"Well if you didn't spend so much time PLAYING good host we would already be out hunting Gyrfalcon." Dove snapped

 

Again the room started to shake again, this time a little more violently but again stopped after a few seconds. Ugarte just glared at Dove for a second before regaining his composure. "Well then, before I let you all go does anyone have anything else to say." Ugarte said as he got out of his seat.

[Tamaranis]

“No,” said Robby as he worked quickly to affix the pair of gauntlets he’d been given to his belt, “But I think I’d very much like to step outside and see just what’s going on.”

 

He could definitely taste magic in the air. Not the passive sort of magic that might be detected from nearby enchantments or magical effects already in place, which he could hardly ever detect anyway, but the sharp taste left by energetic spells being cast in rapid succession. That, combined with a third tremor passing through the room, was worrying.

 

“I don’t mean to be rude...” He said apologetically as he walked briskly from the table and toward the exit.

 

Robby found himself becoming more alarmed with each step he took through Ugarte’s mansion. The servants seemed agitated, leading him to believe that he hadn’t mistaken a regular occurrence for something serious. The magicky smell was only getting stronger, and the occasional tremor continued to pass through the mansion.

 

It wasn’t until Robby found a window and looked outside that he became truly alarmed, however. Buildings were burning, and without walls in the way the screams and cries of a city under siege, and yielding, reached his ears.

 

It wasn’t in Robby’s nature to stop and consider the consequences of his actions at times like this. After a brief assessment of the distance to the ground he launched himself out the window. After falling for a little more than a second he struck the ground. Robby rolled as he hit the ground, transferring his downward momentum forward. As he rolled to his feet he kept moving, heading toward the city gates at a hard sprint.

[Racouol]

Ugarte watched as Robby left. "You are all dismissed. Hurry up and get out of this city before..." this time the wall exploded knocking Ugarte off his feet. Before he hit the floor Bob managed to catch him. "Be on you guard, we are under attack!" Ugarte shouted as he pulled out a couple of daggers.

Dove, Wren, and Mira immediatly got up and grabbed their weapons. Just then the ceiling was ripped away reveiling a Huge four arm demon and 14 smaller demons hovering above. "hmmp, I will never understand why I have to kill the 6 of you." The demon paused for a moment "Where is the sixth person? You two find him and kill him, the rest of you kill these weaklings, and leave the brute to me!" the demon the yelled. Just then the four armed demon dove down towards Bob. The other 12 demons seemed to have vanished, only to appear in the mansion as they threw fireballs and bolts of lightning at the group only to disappear again to attack from a different spot.

Bob immediatly grabbed the four armed demon by two of its arms and immediatly tried to throw it through the wall. the demon however managed to hold onto Bob and started using its claws to start slashing bob's chest. As the claws ripped threw Bob, his wounds healed completely almost as soon as the wound was made. Bob then started rushing towards the wall with the demon held out infront of him. The demon howled as its back smashed threw one of the remaining rooms.

Ugarte watched the three demons that were attacking him closely. So far their spell attacks had no effect on him but he knew that soom those demons would realize this and attack him directly. His grip on the his daggers tightened and got ready for any direct attacks. The three demons grew fustrated with their spells having no effect of Ugarte started a direct attack. They launched themselves towards Ugarte from three different directions, easily dodging Ugarte's swings will their attacks hit.

 

********************************************************************

 

Robby suddenly smelled a strong magicky odor and jumped to the side just as an ice bolt followed by a lightning bolt struck the place he was seconds ago. The two demons that attacked him snarled just as they turned invisible.

[Salinye]

Dove jumped back from the table, sword in hand, just as a large piece of the ceiling came crashing down onto it, nearly hitting her. Rolling away from the collapsing table, she ended in a crouch. Setting the sword on the floor she focused her mind inwardly, calling her powers to the tip of her consciousness, while tracing arcane symbols in the air before her. Two demons threw some sort of fire-based spell towards her and Mira. She waited until the last second to release her spell, throwing up an invisible shield that glowed bright blue as the magical fire ricocheted off of it and bounced back towards the casting demons. One was quick enough to dodge to the left and the fire hit the wall with hot impact, throwing flames up towards the ceiling. The other creature was not quite so agile. It dropped to the floor with a sickly crunch. Its own magic seemed only to wound it lightly, so after a few moments of disorientation it launched itself at her in a fierce rage.

 

With no time to cast another spell she did the only thing she could. She picked up the sword, stood and held it defensively before her. Although she had formal training and some limited experience with a sword, it was not her weapon of choice. The shield above them flashed bright blue again as she saw a streak of red flame out of her peripheral vision. Her heart beat intensely as the demon neared her, raising its clawed hand above its head to slash down on her. She hoped her timing was right as she grunted swinging the heavier-than-she-was-used-to sword around in a quick arc. The metal of her blade connected with the red flesh of the demon. It howled in agony as its arm was severed at the elbow, it’s forearm dropping at her feet bleeding a thick black blood. Without even thinking, she reflexively brought the sword back around, slicing the demon’s head cleanly off its neck.

 

Dove’s eyes widened as the demon slumped to the ground, headless, before her. Bringing the blade of the sword in front of her face, she looked at it awe, her arms shaking in newfound empowerment. Another blue and red flash above her brought her out of her shock. Turning she prepared herself for another fight, her confidence in her melee abilities, growing.

Edited July 5, 2004 by Salinye

[Mira]

Mira watched Dove as she expertly dispatched the demon that had rushed her.

She's even good with a sword! he thought to himself as he produced a pair of daggers from within his coat. Whirling he hurled them at a demon that was flying towards him. The daggers caught the beast in the chest and shoulder, but did little to slow it down. As soon as Mira had released the first pair of daggers though, a second pair was in his hands and he readied himself for the demons attack. In a blind charge the creature slammed into Mira, sending him sprawling on the floor. It then swooped around for the kill. Somehow, despite the strength of the blow, Mira had been able to hold on to his weapons, and from his position on the floor he threw one at the demon just in time catching it in the throat. The unlucky creature let out a howl that quickly became a gurgle as it plummeted towards the ground. With no time to catch his breath Mira got to his feet and readied himself for a fight.

[Salinye]

Although Dove’s confidence in her swordsmanship was growing, she met her match with a particularly smart demon. It had been hanging back from the fight in observation. Its yellow eyes moved quickly over the enclosed battle. It saw two from his side fall by Dove’s sword. Their mistake was that they rushed in, arm raised, attacking with a downward strike. She was expecting this, so defending herself had been easy. Fools. They deserved to die, it thought throwing itself toward her.

 

Dove saw the creature coming from the corner of her eye and shifted towards it, her sword raised over one shoulder, ready to parry and strike. The demon dove straight at her, just as the others had, his arm raised up as if to strike down on her. Grunting, she swung at it’s arm as it neared her. The demon spun to the side at the last moment, her sword slamming into the ground beside her. Not wasting any opportunity, the creature used the momentum of its spin to slam into her body. Already being off balance from missing her target, she was easily thrown to the side slamming into Mira, who tried in vain to catch her, before they were both knocked to the floor. Finishing it’s spin full circle, the monster raked it’s claws across her back. Dove screamed in pain as the black material of her shirt ripped revealing deep gashes in her creamy skin.

 

Mira looked into Dove’s pained face for a moment before he looked past her with wide eyes. “Duck!” He whispered intensely to her. She immediately curled her head down under his arm, her cheek pressed to his ribs. Just as she did so the bounty hunter raised two daggers shoving them deep into the demon’s eyes as it bounded down to finish them off. It howled enraged backing off from them a bit, but not before some of its hot black blood dripped down onto her neck, searing it in pain. Grabbing the sword that lay beside them, she took a guess and shoved it behind her with all the force she could muster, driving the tip within the thing’s chest.

 

Mira grabbed Salinye's shoulder and shoved back forcefully, driving her arm backwards towards the demon, and driving her sword into its chest. She screamed again as her shoulder dislocated, but by that time, the hilt of the sword was pressed against the demon's sturnum. Dove let go of her sword as her arm dropped limply to her side, while the demon sputtered and clawed at the hilt before slowly toppling forward, thick, hot blood spraying across them as it does so.

Edited July 5, 2004 by Salinye

[Racouol]

Ugarte ran through what was left of one of the doors. His left arm hung limp and he was nearly blinded by his own blood. As he predicted the demons were right behind him. He raised his right arm and wiped the blood away. he then pivoted, with his arm still to his face, and threw a dagger at one of now surprised demons. The dagger hit but not with enough force to peirce the foul creature's heart.

 

The demons quickly recovered from this suprise attack and dove for the kill. Ugarte waited for a few moments then fell to the floor just as the demons were about to hit. He rolled onto his feet and jumped through one of the holes in the wall. Ugarte pulled another dagger out and started running just as several fireballs hit the wall he was next to.

 

The demons snarled as they watched thier pray narrowly escaped death once again. One demon ripped the dagger out of the injured demon's chest and started charging. It made several passes by Ugarte looking for the best target. It then charged with the dagger held infront of it and impaled Ugarte's knee. Ugarte howled at the pain from the last attack as he fell to the floor. The demon took no chance and started ripping away at Ugarte's throat.

[Mira]

"We need to get out of here now!” yelled Mira as he grabbed Dove and half pulled half carried her out of the ruined dinning hall and into a passageway. The building trembled and shook as they searched for a way out. For a brief moment they looked down a hallway and saw Ugarte being ravaged by a group of demons, and despite her injuries, Dove would have vainly rushed to his aid if Mira hadn't of grabbed her saying, "Its too late, we can only worry about ourselves now." Turning down another hall, they left Ugarte to his fate.

 

Finally arriving at the stables Mira quickly saddled his horse, mounted, and pulled Dove up behind him, before riding into the chaos that was the besieged city.

[Tamaranis]

Robby caught the intense white glow of a gathering lightning bolt out of the corner of his eye. He immediately switched from a run to a dive, and felt the energy crackle overhead. For a brief moment his vision whited out, and he could feel his hair standing on end from the near miss. A spear apparently crafted out of ice that he hadn’t even been aware of was embedded in the earth next to him.

 

He rolled to his feet searching for some sign of his attackers, and spotted a pair of creatures that didn’t seem to belong in this world. Both were naked and genderless, which usually meant some sort of inferior golem, but Robby couldn’t fathom deliberately crafting a creature to resemble either of these, except as gargoyles.

 

One was nearly seven feet tall, and much too thin to be anything living. It’s skin was excessively taunt, as if it had been made for a much shorter creature. The other had the dimensions of a normal man, but rather that simply possessing skin, it also appeared to be scaled in places. Short hooks and spikes of bone emerged from its body seemingly at random locations that should have made movement awkward, but didn’t.

 

Because it was closer, Robby dashed at the taller demon, but it chanted softly and vanished from sight before he reached it. The chanting continued for a moment, then abruptly ceased. Robby drove a fist at where he’d last seen its solo plexus, but met with nothing but air. It was either very quick, or was teleporting in addition to being invisible.

 

Another icy spear came at Robby, this time from above. He swung a hand out and struck it mid-shaft. The spear shattered. The magical cold permeated Robby’s hand, abolishing all feeling, and the fragments that struck him were painfully cold.

 

In sharp contrast to the cold, the lightning that struck him had a curiously warm feeling to it. Robby lost all coordination, managed to take a spastic step, and fell to the ground. He involuntarily thrashed for a moment, trying to regain control of his limbs, then lie utterly still.

 

The shorter demon appeared over his unmoving form, and said something derisive in a language that seemed made for saying derisive things. Then Robby exploded into motion again.

 

He didn’t know how quickly he could kill the demon, but they seemed to need to chant in order to use their magic, so he threw what was really a brawlers punch at its jaw with his good hand. The force behind it was astounding. The demon’s jaw cleanly snapped on the right side where he struck it, and messily snapped on the opposite side. Flesh and muscle were unable to absorb the shock and tore. The jaw hardly seemed to remain attached.

 

The demon, shocked at the damage it had received, swung an arm out in a hasty attack, trying to ward his opponent off. Normally this would have been a disastrous manoeuvre, but when Robby reached out to seize the arm, his frozen hand didn’t respond properly. It opened too slowly, and ended up simply striking and sliding across the demon’s arm. His fingers caught on one of the hooks, stripping flesh off, possibly to the bone, but Robby couldn’t feel the injury.

 

The demon swung its other arm, this time more deliberately, but Robby lashed out at the wrist with his good hand. A hook curved close to the wrist snapped off, and its arm was knocked away, but the demon’s wrist itself remained intact. Before the creature could react, Robby brought a knee into an unprotected portion of the creature’s chest. He hadn’t been able to target any specific organs, and he wasn’t ever sure where they’d have been in this creature, but there was the satisfying sound of snapping ribs.

 

The demon stumbled backward, almost toppling, and Robby didn’t let up that attack. He hammed at the torso with his fists, waking forward to stay with the demon as he drove it back. He couldn’t quite seem to deliver the same force with his frozen hand, but in a matter of seconds the demon collapsed with the hooks covering it’s torso shattered. None of its assorted vitals, assuming it had any, could have survived the assault. Thankfully it showed no signs of regenerative abilities.

 

Then Robby heard a sizzle behind him. He managed to get a few steps away before something struck him, sending him careening through the air. Intense, painful heat washed over him, and he simply curled up and focused on making sure he didn’t get sliced in half colliding with some random object.

 

Robby didn’t see the street coming and struck it gracelessly. Unable to figure out which way was up, he just protected his head until he came to a stop. Once he did he scrambled to his feet, and was relieved to discover both legs still firmly attached after the blast. A quick visual check confirmed both arms still mostly intact as well. He wasn’t sure about how much skin he had left, however.

 

A third ice spear came at him, seemingly from nowhere. Robby barely managed to stay on his feet as he leaned under it. He was forced to simply dive for the ground to avoid a fourth. He got to his feet and ran as best he could in the direction the ice had come from, searching for some telltale sign of the demon’s location, but something unseen caught him in the chest and pitched him back onto the street.

 

Robby again staggered to his feet, and managed to catch a few syllables of the soft chanting that accompanied the demons’ spells. The creature was standing atop a two story home and shop, and seemed to almost be waiting for Robby to notice it.

 

Robby darted for the entrance, narrowly avoiding a blast of lightning launched from the rooftop. He turned a shoulder to the door and ran into it, smashing it off its hinges as he ran through and into the shop. Quickly he spotted the stairs, and dashed up to the second floor where the shopkeeper had lived. His corpse was there, but there was no time to mourn strangers. Robby quickly gained access to the roof, but the demon who had been there moments before was now nowhere to be seen.

 

Then he heard the chanting again. A moment later he spotted the creature on a rooftop across the street.

 

The demon smiled and raised its arms.

 

Robby dashed toward the demon and the edge of the roof.

 

A tiny flaming missile shot from the demon’s hands to the building Robby was on.

 

Robby leapt from his rooftop.

 

The side of the building facing the street disintegrated in a fiery blast.

 

Robby twisted in the air to face the explosion, bringing his arms up in front of him, as if trying to shield himself from the blast.

 

The shockwave raced out and struck him.

 

Robby shot across the open air between himself and his opponent. Unlike with the previous blast, he retained control of his orientation in the air.

 

His feet met with the demon’s face. The demon’s head visibly changed shape as the skull split apart at the point of impact. Several vertebrae in the long neck shattered to facilitate the head snapping backward a whole 180 degress.

 

Robby, unable to stop the momentum he’d gained from the blast, continued on past the demon, nearly rolled off the opposite side of the roof after coming down.

 

For a moment, Robby didn’t move. From where he was he could see the tall demon was completely and irrevocably dead, but he didn’t feel much better. Most of him was burned, particularly his arms. The hand that had been frozen had gone through a partial and instant thawing with that last blast of flame. That in itself was painful, and feeling was unpleasantly returning to the torn fingers. That arm seemed to have gotten broken just now, too, through at exactly which point in his wild ride through the air he couldn’t say. Probably ribs were broken here and there from being knocked about as he had been.

 

It was tempting not to move just now. But this building was on fire. Probably the whole city was on fire. There were demons about, and as much as he hurt now, Robby knew it would be worse if he fell into their possession. The burns he told himself, only hurt, they wouldn’t stop him. The general bruised and battered feeling of his torso was a little worse, it might become a problem depending on what sort of shape his was actually in, but for now that was just more pain, he could cope. The broken arm and ruined hand were different. That would slow him down and put him in a disadvantage if he had to fight again, but one arm still worked well, and he could kill a man easily enough with one hand. He’d been built to walk away from worse than this.

 

And he really didn’t have a choice.

 

Robby clenched his teeth and slowly started to get back up.

[Salinye]

Dove wrapped her good arm around Mira’s waist and leaned her forehead between his shoulder blades. Clenching her teeth she grimaced as every bump and gallop sent waves of pain radiating from her wounded shoulder. She called out in agony as their horse shied violently to the left as another explosion rocked the small town. Somehow they managed to stay mounted and continue to flee the chaos. Mira, glanced down at the blisters forming on his hands. Raising one to touch his neck, he felt the same scorch marks burning his neck and face, the same he had seen raising upon Dove-anywhere the demon blood had touched them.

 

Giving the reigns a good stern shake he dug his heels into his steed, spurring it on faster. Reaching the edge of town, the bounty hunter spied a stable that was still half standing. Throwing an arm behind him to ensure Dove didn’t slide off as he abruptly changed course heading for the stable, he slowed his steed. Circling the stable, he stopped his horse as he saw what he was looking for. There in the rubble of the destroyed side of the structure sat a full watering trough.

 

The bounty hunter removed his hat and slid off his mount. He supported most of Dove’s weight as she slid off the horse after him, slumping into a sitting position at his feet. She no longer grimaced or even made a sound, her senses having given way to a dull half awareness from the shock and blinding pain.

 

Seeing the water, he could no longer stand the burning blood upon his skin and quickly threw his coat to the ground, his fingers anxiously working to rip his blood stained shirt away from his skin. Leaning over the trough he splashed the cooling water over his face, arms and chest, which were riddled with welts and scorch marks. Sighing in mild relief, he looked over to the mage, in contemplation. He knew her shoulder was out of place- that much was obvious. However, he thought the more immediate danger might be the searing blood that was causing welts, much like his, to rise upon her skin. She had been between himself and the demon during the battle, and therefore was much more covered with it’s black blood.

 

Mira may not know a lot about women, but he thought that removing a ladies clothing while she was unaware was probably to be avoided unless there was no other options. In this case, there was another option. Quickly brushing his dripping hair back from his face, he walked to the fallen mage and gently picked her up, taking care to disturb her injured shoulder as little as possible.

 

“Sorry about this, Dove.” He said before completely submerging her in the watering trough, head and all. Pulling her back up to a sitting position she broke the surface of the water with a gasp. Raising her good arm she swung to punch him. He deftly caught her hand mid-swing. “Well, that’s a hell of a way to say thank you.”

 

Sputtering and coughing, the cold water brought her a little more back to her senses. She looked up to his seared face questioningly then grabbed at her shoulder as new waves of pain shot down her arm. Another explosion shot up from somewhere deeper within the town. Mira took her hand encouraging her to get out of the trough. “Yes, we need to do something about that shoulder, but we must be quick. We’re at the edge of town and not even close to being safe.”

Dove nodded standing. Drenched she stepped from the trough and leaned against a wooden post that was probably a supporting beam for the stable, at one time. Gripping it, she looked to the bounty hunter and gave him a grave nod. Understanding her signal, he gently grabbed her shoulder. After a moments pause, he not so gently popped it back into it’s socket causing Dove to yell out in pain once more. “I’m sorry. I know that hurts.”

 

The mage nodded. “No, it’s alright.” She was exhausted and weak from blood loss.

 

“Okay, I know you’re not doing all that great, but we have to get out of here. Get you someplace where we can get those wounds on your back treated. I’m sorry, but I’m not a healer. I suggest we take the less traveled path through the east woods, unless you know of a better way.” He looked at her for any suggestions.

 

Dove knew that with minimal effort she could teleport them both out of the city. However, anywhere that she could easily teleport him would bring him too close to Gyrfalcon, and the ranger wouldn’t be expecting such company. Despite his kindness, she had to remind herself that Mira was here to kill Gyrfalcon. Finally, she met his eyes again. “No, the East path sounds good.”

 

Dove spent the rest of the ride slipping in and out of awareness. Her wits were about her enough to keep herself upright upon the horse, but anything beyond that was slowly beginning to feel difficult.

[Mira]

It was nearing dusk as Mira reinged in his horse at a farmhouse several miles into the Eastern Wood. The flutter of curtins in the front window of the quaint little house told him that his arrival had not gone unnoticed. Dismounting, he was barely able to catch Dove as she toppled off the horse. He knew that he should have stopped sooner, that she needed to rest before her wounds had time to get any worse, but he also knew that they had to put as much distance between the two of them and that hive of fire and chaos that had been Tel Reth before night fell. With as much care as his exhausted arms could muster he picked up Dove's limp body and made his way towards the farmhouse.

 

As if by magic the farmhouse's front door opened as they approached. Quite unmagically, however, the owner of the farm, a thin, balding farmer was there to greet them, pichfork in hand, his wife and children huddled behind him. "She needs help" Mira said in a gruff voice, as he pushed past the terrorfied farmer as if he wasn't there, and entered the house's kitchen. "Do you have a spare bed?" he asked the farmer's wife. She managged a frightened nod and led the way down the hall to a tiny room, about two paces across and four paces wide, in which was a bed and a wash stand. No doubt one of the children had unwillingly and unexpectedly givin up their room, for these odd strangers who seemed rather rushed.

 

Mira layed Dove down on the bed and turned around. The farmer was standing there, again pichfork in hand, trembling in his boots. "Be still man." Mira said, "If I had ment your family any harm, harm would have been done by now. The lady is hurt and we need a place to rest for a time. I will see that you are rewarded for your generosity and promise that no trouble will come to your family." Comforted some, the farmer lifted his meager weapon and stepped back as his wife entered the already crowded room. Towels and cloth in hand she shooed the two men out saying that she would be tending to the ladies wounds now and that if either of the men had a speck of decency that they would see to it that they were someplace else. With appologize Mira and the farmer exited the room just as the door was slammed in both of their faces.

 

Back in the kitchen Mira asked the farmer if there was extra space in his barn for a horse. Nodding the farmer replied, "Aye, but there isn't extra space in the house for you, I'm afraid." Thanking the man for his kindness under such unusual circumstances, Mira went out and led his horse to the barn. There he took off the saddle, brushed him down and fed him. After seeing to his horse, he made his way up to the barn's loft and laid down in the hay. As he lay there he though, A horse has to have a proper name, and seeing that I "borrowed" this one without asking the previous owner what his name was, I suppose it's up to me to pick one out for him. He began pondering what to name the animal and was in no time fast asleep, his last thought being, Ithil.

[Racouol]

The four armed demon continued to slash wildly at Bob in an attempt too free itself. Bob ignored each cut the demon's claws made as he continued to ram the creature into the walls of the mansion. The demon howled in pain each time its back slammed against. Knowing that it would eventually die if it did not escape Bob's grasp, the demon slashed upwards at each of Bob's arms right at the armpits and managed to rip both of Bob's arms off. Immediatly the demon flew up out of arms reach to gloat but when it turned around it noticed that Bob had regenerated his arms.

 

Bob looked up at the demon for a moment. Anger was building up inside of him. He was upset that he had not killed the creature as of yet, and he knew that his master would be disappointed that the creature was not yet. Bob forced himself to calm down knowing that this was not the time to change.

 

The four armed demon took this moment to launch a magical attack, not at Bob, but at the floor by bob's feet. As the demon predicted, Bob did not try to even move from his spot thinking the spell was aimed at him. It smiled as the floor collapsed, and immediatly shot fireballs at all the nearby walls. The walls collapsed, the rubble falling into the hole bob fell into only moments before. When the dust cleared there was no sigh of movement. The demon flew down into the hole and stood on the pile of rubble. "No mortal can kill the great Zantalif" the demon yelled as it stomped its foot. "Your will serve as a reminder to all the other mortals that the demons are unbeatable. The demons will one day take..." It yelled in pain as it felt its knee shatter. Zantalif looked down and saw that its leg was torn off at the knee. Immediatly the it started to fly up.

 

An arm reached out of the rubble and grabbed the demon by its good leg. Zantalif howled in fustration as it could not move. Another arm reached out of the rubble, grabbing further up its good leg. The demon started slashing at the arms in hopes to free its self, before it was pulled into the rubble. The first arm let go of the leg and managed to grab the demon's neck, squeezing hard enough to break it.

 

After a few moments Bob had completely unearthed and climbed out of the hole. It paused for a few moments and noticed that the sounds of battle in the town had finally stopped. It then noticed a fimiliar figure lying on the ground half buried. Quickly it rushed to the body's side and unburied it. The body was Ugarte. Tears filled Bob's eyes as he realized that he had failed to protect Ugarte's life once again.

 

"Don't cry." a familiar voice said from behind Bob. He turned around, still holding Ugarte's body gently in his arms. He saw his master, Ugarte, standing infront of him. "It is time we move to phase 2 of my plan" Ugarte said as he turned around and started walking away. Bob stared at Ugarte's back for a few moments then looked back at the corpse of Ugarte he held in his arms. He then put down the corpse and walked away not noticing that the corpse disintergrated.

 

 

********************************************************************

 

Outside, the guards went around treating the injured. When the demons retreated, the bodies of the on both sides had mysteriously disappeared. Furthermore the fact that the demons retreated when they were winning bothered alot of the remaining guards. The only thing that was left from the demon attack was a banner. On the Banner was a picture of a gyrfalcon clutching a sword with its claws on a dark blue background.

[Racouol]

Leshiec leaned against a large oak breathing heavily. He did not know what came over him but he started running the moment he heard the battle first start in Tel Reth. He then felt a sharp pain in his chest quickly followed by a migraine. The pain was strong enough to knock him out.

[Katzaniel]

Teq picked up the practise sword and grinned at his son, who was hefting his own blade. Teq's wife Wellin watched from the side, cheering for both of them. "Three, two, one, go," she said, and the fight was on. Llassar made a wide slash at his father and as he concentrated on the battle, time slowed for Teq. He easily ducked the first swing and then made a few playful jabs at Llassar, to give him a chance to learn how to block, before winning the fight with a jab to the chest. Time returned to normal and Wellin congratulated Teq. The man had been practising sword fighting for almost as long as he'd been married and was trying to teach the sport to his son, who was eager but as yet unskilled. There was the promise of potential but the boy had much to learn.

 

"Again?" said Teq, and Llassar nodded. However, just then a tremor shook the house.

 

"What was that?" queried a concerned Wellin. Teq told her to stay where she was; he'd check it out. Grabbing his real sword he ran to the front door and peered out. Havoc seemed to have taken over the street. Creatures were flying through the air and houses all around them were on fire. As he stood there the house shook again, harder. Part of the ceiling began to splinter. He turned and shouted to his wife and son, discovering that Llassar was right with him, staring at the destruction. Not having time to chide the boy, he grabbed him and ran to his wife, not knowing where he would take them but knowing he had to do something. But before he could get there, the house shuddered a third time, and the roof in front of him caved in. A creature came in from the opening and flew at him. He slashed at it, but another followed. This one was convered in flame and the wood around the hole ignited. They flew out as quickly as in but the damage had been done, for when Teq tried to jump over the bits of ceiling a burning chunk came down and Llassar shouted. Teq realized that his son had been hit and in the moment that he took to help him, large fiery fragments came down in the hallway. He heard a cry from the other room and echoed it, knowing he could not get to his wife. Time slowed almost to a stop. The creatures had gone, but more came, and although the house splintered and burned, Teq tried to fight them off to get to Wellin but it proved too much. There came a painful moment when he realized that unless he stopped now, he and his son would both perish. Anguish filled his heart, and rage at the unknown beasts that had invaded his city, and he hollered his pain. Llassar, still young, was digging furiously at the barriers in the way, but to no avail.

 

Teq slumped. "She must already be dead, son. It is my duty now to make sure you, at least, live."

 

"No!" cried the boy, but he stopped his futile efforts. "No." He, too, slumped as he spoke. Head bowed, he said it a third time but defiance had left his voice. "Please God, no."

 

Another of the creatures came at them out of the sky, and Teq managed to kill it while Llassar cried at the flaming pyre, shouting to a silent mother. His father, though feeling as thought he'd lost part of his soul, was quiet, pulling at the boy. Tear stained cheeks looked up at him, and they both took off out of the city. As they ran, Teq said a mute but vehement oath to find and kill the one who had caused this destruction.

 

Edit: Erg... it's spelled "Teq" but apparently I can't get my own character's names right.

Edited August 3, 2004 by Katzaniel

[Salinye]

Dove heard the scritch-scratch of the door scraping against the aged wooden floor as it opened. Shuffling footsteps drew near to her bed, and a light click-clack sounded near her ear as breakfast was placed on the bedside table. Opening her eyes, she blinked against the sun that streamed in through the white eyelet laced curtains. “Ahhh, good, you’re waking up! A slightly round woman with a kindly face stood over her with a smile. “We were starting to wonder when you would wake up.” She spoke as she fussed around her room, pulling back the curtains, tidying the shelves, little things a good hostess would do. “Your boyfriend has been very worried about you. You had lost a lot of blood before you got here. He’s been very helpful around the farm these past couple of days, though.”

 

Dove tried to sit up and grimaced as sharp pain flared within her back. “Oh, dear, let me help you.” The kindly woman was immediately at her side, propping pillows around her so that she could sit in bed comfortably. Shaking her head and feeling a bit overwhelmed, the mage looked up to the farmers wife confused.

 

“What…My boyfriend? Past couple of days?” Her words rushed out of her in a confused jumble. Rubbing her hand over her face, she noticed her hair was now down.

 

“I’m sorry dear, I must sound awfully confusing to you. You’ve been through so much. I’m also sorry for my assumptions. Is the gentleman that’s with you, NOT your boyfriend?”

 

Dove turned to look at the woman as she sat on the edge of her bed. “No, he’s not. He’s…” A bounty hunter?…Complete stranger? “…just a friend,” She continued thinking it would be the easiest answer. Looking down at her arms she noticed they were clothed in long cotton sleeves. At some point her bounty hunter clothes had been removed, and she had been dressed in what felt to be a long, thick country nightgown. The collar was fairly high and old fashioned. It looked as though at one time it might have been littered with tiny pink flowers. However, over time they had faded to the point that they were hardly noticeable.

 

“Where is my stuff? My clothes and gear and…sword?” she asked feeling a slight rising feeling of panic at not knowing where the sword that was given to her, was.

 

“Oh, don’t worry. Your friend Mira has been keeping your things safe with him. He thought you might prefer it that way. Said something about “never knowing what is kept in an adventurer’s bag”.

 

“Yes, I have your things, but I haven’t disturbed them.” Mira stood in the doorway, neither of them had heard him approach. “May I come in?” He asked mindful of the farmer’s wife’s eye.

 

“Yes, you may, but don’t rile her up. She is far from mended and she needs her rest.” The woman rose to her feet walking to the door. Mira stood aside so she could leave the room before he entered, calling over his shoulder, “Thank you, Emily.” Turning back he came to her bedside pulling over a single wooden chair. “So, how are you feeling?”

 

“Like I fell asleep in the middle of a hellish nightmare and woke up in the middle of a hillbilly dream.” She half smiled motioning to the nightgown she was now wearing. “But, I appreciate their hospitality. She said we’ve been here two days?” She asked, her voice getting a little more “down to business.”

 

Mira nodded leaning forward and dropping his voice to barely above a whisper. “I know you’re still not feeling well, but do you think you are well enough to travel?”

 

Dove crinkled her forehead at hearing the sudden intensity in his voice. “Sure…Why? What’s happened?”

 

“Well, I did a little exploring, came upon a courier delivering a message from Telreth. I asked him a bit about the aftermath of the battle. He said the demons left a banner behind, signifying the work of their master.” The bounty hunter clamped his jaw a bit.

 

“Great, so then we know who did this?”

 

“Yes, Gyrfalcon. If this is any example of his work, then I won’t mind killing him. I don’t know if he was there when this happened or what, but I wouldn’t want us to endanger this family by being here. Chances are, he doesn’t even know we exist, but why take the risk?”

 

Dove kept her face neutral as he informed her a bit more about the things he had learned. Her heart raced within her. She knew Gyrfalcon was NOT the source of this demonic attack, however, it was now painfully obvious that someone was setting the ranger up. She quickly sat up barely stifling another grimace as she did so. “You’re right, we need to get out of here, right away.”

 

“Here, let me help you.” Mira said taking her elbow.

 

She gently pulled her arm back. “No, I can manage, but thank you.” Throwing the covers back she climbed out of bed and naturally looked around for her things before shrugging. “I guess I don’t have anything in here to gather.”

 

“No, it’s with my things in the loft of the barn,” he said opening the door for her. As they walked into the main room of the small house, Emily’s eyes flew open as she shuffled across the room towards them.

 

“What are you doing out of bed? You shouldn’t be up yet!” She gushed blocking their way.

 

“Emily, I thank you so much for your kind hospitality and for helping to mend my wounds. Unfortunately, we have urgent reason to leave. Things to attend to.” Dove replied hoping the woman would not stall them for too long.

 

The woman placed her hands upon her portly hips looking at the mage sternly. “I don’t know what kind of “urgent matters” you think you can attend to while bandaged up like that. Those cuts in your back are really nasty, not to mention the welts and burns that are covering you.” Dove hadn’t taken a moment to reassess her injuries since she had awaked. Emily was probably right, but there was no time. Two days had already passed. Acting instinctually, Dove pulled the woman into a warm embrace. She immediately regretted doing so as the action caused a wave of fresh pain to wash over her. “Emily, you’re right and if there were any other way, we wouldn’t go. Don’t worry about me, I have healers that I will be able to get to fairly quickly.”

 

After releasing the woman, the two bounty hunters stepped around her and walked out of the small home. Emily stood on the porch calling out to them, “You’re both welcome here, anytime and…deary, you’re not even wearing shoes!”

 

Dove smiled and waved back at her. “Don’t worry, my things are out here. You haven’t seen the last of me!”

 

Once inside the seclusion of the barn, Mira left her below while he climbed up to the loft to gather their things. A few minutes later he climbed back down the ladder and set their packs next to Ithil. “I’m not sure what our first plan of action should be, but I thought maybe we should head back to Telreth and see if we can find any of the other bounty hunters or the men that hired us. They may be dead, but at this point, I’m feeling justified in seeking this Gyrfalcon out on my own, whether I’m being paid, or not.”

 

Dove stood about five feet to his left. Casually she lifted her right hand and began twirling the delicate fibers of an abandoned spider web around her hand. She remained in silent concentration as he began pulling down horse tack and rambling his thoughts to her. Finally, when she was ready, she dropped her web-covered hand to her side. “Mira?” she spoke softly, interrupting him.

 

He stopped talking and turned to look at her. “Yes? Are you all right? You still look quite pale.” His genuine concern made her task even harder than it already was.

 

“Yes, I’m fine,” she continued, holding her concentration while speaking in a quiet almost reverent voice. “You have been very kind to me, probably even saved my life. I want you to know, however things go, I’m very grateful to you for that.”

 

Mira shuffled his feet around a bit uncomfortably as a blush began to rise in his face. “Yeah well, we’re supposed to be a team and…”

 

“Because you’ve been so kind to me,” she cut him off once more. “I really need to apologize to you.”

 

He crinkled his eyebrows in confusion. “Apologize to me, for what?”

 

Dove looked to the ground momentarily before looking back up to meet his eyes. “For this.” With her words she lifted her left hand and released her spell. Glowing web like strands of magic shot from her, entwining themselves firmly around the surprised bounty hunter. Falling to the ground, fully tangled in the magical web he looked up at her, his eyes widened revealing his shock. Ithil dug his hoof into the dirt ground in agitation. “Easy boy….easy…” she called to the horse.

 

“What the…” Before he could finish his statement, she rushed over to him, pulled a handkerchief from the horse’s saddle pack and gagged him.

 

“I’m so sorry, Mira, but you really have some grave misconceptions.” Grabbing his gear and hers, she tucked her sword into a small magical bag of holding and placed their things at his feet. She tacked a hastily scribbled note to a beam of the horse stall informing the family that they weren’t able to travel with the horse. She then hung a small bag of gold from another random nail within the beam. Kneeling over her new hostage and their gear, she called upon her innate abilities and teleported them directly to her quarters at Pen Castle.

 

Mira went from lying bound and gagged on the dirt floor of the farming families barn, to the lush red throw rug of Salinye’s elegantly decorated sitting room. He glanced around, immediately noticing all of the different exits from the room. Glancing at him, Salinye knew what was going through his mind. “I wouldn’t try it, friend.” She advised as she stood up with another painful grimace. “I may be wounded, but my strengths come from my mind, not my body.”

 

Sitting down on an overstuffed loveseat she picked up the amulet that hung from her neck. Mira had never noticed it before as the chain was extremely fine, almost blending into her skin, and she kept the amulet part beneath her clothing. Bringing the winged rod to her lips, she gently blew it as one would a whistle. Hearing no sound, she then tucked it back beneath the collar of the cotton nightgown. Taking a deep breath she brought her hand, this time, palm up, to rest in front of her mouth. Closing her eyes she began to concentrate. After a few moments, a blue glowing orb appeared to rest atop her hand.

 

 

 

*********************

 

 

Gyrfalcon sat at his desk within his sitting room pouring over this ledger and that, as he often did. He was having an unusually hard time concentrating. Lately his thoughts had been consumed with this new enemy that seemed to have risen up against him. He really had hoped the “being chased by bounty hunters” phase of his life had ended. Also, although he knew very well that Salinye could take care of herself, he wasn’t entirely comfortable with her current plan of action. He’d rest a bit easier when he got word from her. Little did he know his silent thoughts would be so immediately answered.

 

A flash of blue light began to radiate to the left of him. Without thinking, the ranger grabbed his katana and stood. Although rational thought told him that there was no way for a magical attack to reach him within his quarters at Pen Castle, it was instinct that made him form a defensive stance. Slowly, the blue light formed to show the top half of Salinye, her hair was down, but her tattoo was still in place.

 

“Sal?” He said lowering his katana.

 

“Gyrfalcon, I need you in my quarters. Please come right away,” her image spoke to him quickly before fading.

Edited July 12, 2004 by Salinye

[Tamaranis]

Normally Robby was quite the climber so long as hand and foot holds were available. As long as there’s something to haul on it’s a matter of the ratio of strength to body mass. In this situation, however, with one arm that refused to work, and a lot of muscles in his torso fighting back when he tried to use them, getting down from the roof was a gruelling task that ended in a short fall, as that was less painful than more climbing.

 

The demons in the process of sacking Tel Reth, however, didn’t seem interested in letting him stumble off to find a corner to hide in. The first one to spot him stood only three feet tall, but that was because it wasn’t really standing. It was vaguely humanoid, but was slouched far forward and occasionally using it’s hands as well as its feet to walk.

 

For a moment they just stared at each other. Robby silently hoped maybe there was something wrong with its eyes, or maybe it would get distracted by something, he really didn’t feel like killing any more demons. He wasn’t so lucky though, because it suddenly and almost soundlessly began a charge.

 

Robby anticipated that it would rise on two legs as it reached him, and placed a foot solidly in its throat. Though he was certain he’d crushed the creature’s windpipe, it didn’t stop. Whether it was already dead and too stupid to tell, or whether it wasn’t a serious injury, he couldn’t tell.

 

The demon reached forward, trying to get a grip on the leg that had struck it, but moved to slowly. Robby maintained balanced and kicked again into the centre of its chest. This had little more effect than the last time, though the breaking bone was very audible.

 

Then it managed to get a hold of him. He was lifted into the air by his head, and lashed out with his good arm at one of those holding him, and aimed a third kick at the creature’s head. Robby found himself rolling on the ground again, trying to keep his broken arm from being jarred. Rough earth grating against his burns was completely unavoidable and brought tears to his eyes.

 

The demon, however, didn’t press the attack. Instead it rasped, stumbled, and fell, though exactly what had finally brought it down, Robby couldn’t say. Once he got to his feet he walked over and solidly booted it in the head, however.

 

Two more, these ones, winged, and currently in the sky, seemed to notice the sound of that last impact, and swooped down to finish off one of the remaining defenders of Tel Reth. They danced in the air over Robby’s head, kicking at him with taloned feet. Robby made a good show of ducking, and lashing out with one hand. Talons striking him about the head and shoulders didn’t slice nearly as deeply as it seemed they should have, and in fact seemed to rebounded as if struck. Robby thought he probably managed to break at least one foot, but the shallow cuts through burned skin hurt terribly and he was going to slowly run out of blood at this rate. Provided he managed to keep both eyes in his skull.

 

Suddenly one of the demons picking at him from the air shrieked and fell to the earth. Robby wasted no time in taking advantage of the situation. He fell, putting himself momentarily out of range of the one still in the air. As he fell, he brought one heal down on the prone creature’s back with all the force he could muster, knocking it back to the earth as it attempted to rise. It didn’t seem as resilient as the last one, and he had probably just broken its spine, but just in case, he kicked straight out at it as he hit the ground, sending it skidding across the street.

 

A sword flashed out and severed the descending talon of the other demon. It started to ascend again, but the blade came again as it did so, opening it’s belly. The demon made it a fair ways into the air, but the wound was terrible, and spanned the entire width of it, it suddenly failed at holding in it’s innards, which began to tumble toward the earth. The demon shortly followed.

 

The swordsman responsible offered Robby a hand to help him rise, which he accepted. The man was in reasonably better physical condition than Robby, which was good or he might not be standing, but appeared distraught, which was only reasonable. A younger swordsman who appeared quite unhurt but equally unnerved accompanied him.

 

“Thanks for the hand,” Robby said. He couldn’t think of anything else to add. Probably they were all about to become part of the nameless number who nobly died in futile defence of Tel Reth.

 

More demons came, but they showed no interested in the three. They ran perpendicular to the street, from intersecting streets and alleys on one side to intersecting streets and alleys on the other. For several minutes they were treated to a visual display of the vast array of monsters they were up against. Then no more demons appeared.

 

A few more minutes passed, and a voice called out in victory somewhere in the city. A human voice. Others answered it, but neither Robby nor his two rescuers felt the inclination to shout for joy.

 

***

 

“I’ll fix that arm for you, it‘s never going to heal right on its own.”

 

“Actually, it will.”

 

“Listen, this will only hurt for a moment, then the pain will be gone.”

 

“No, trust me, it won’t.”

 

“Listen, if you can rush out and fight demons to receive those wounds you can tough out two seconds of pain to heal the wounds.”

 

And with that the armoured priestess Robby was arguing with abruptly seized his arm, twisted, pulled, and managed to line the bones up as they were meant to be. She murmured a healing spell as she did it, but the gentle sound of the prayer was no comfort to Robby. Unaffected by the healing magic, the pain of what she was doing had no barrier. He sharply exhaled, and managed for a moment to fight the urge to take the breath back in and scream.

 

“Oh, it’s broken here, too,” She noted.

 

It took every ounce of Robby’s will not to respond to the continued care with violence. Instead he nearly broke his free hand pounding it against the earth which, he realized, would have been a very unfortunate thing to do considering how the current healing was going.

 

“Oh come on now, it doesn’t hurt that bad.” The priestess coolly informed him.

Edited July 14, 2004 by Tamaranis

[Gyrfalcon]

Gyrfalcon didn’t bother sheathing his katana before racing out of his quarters, leaving the door open behind him in his haste. He bounded down the stairs between his quarters and the ones that Salinye kept near the bottom of the tower. The half-elf nearly ran over Daryl (human for once) as he raced down a corridor between two sets of stairs. Daryl flattened himself against a wall with a yelp of surprise before turning to stare after the ranger in surprise, scratching the back of his head. “I wonder what got into the half-elf?” he muttered to himself before shrugging and continuing towards his room.

 

Gyrfalcon slid to a stop in front of Salinye’s door and reached for the door handle before stopping and shaking his head, remembering that Salinye’s door had no handles. Instead, he knocked loudly. After a long moment, the door clicked open. “Come in.” Salinye called. The half-elf pushed the door open and stepped through, letting it swing closed behind him. He barely noticed the fine decorations as he instead took in Salinye, dressed in a long-sleeved nightgown. Her hair was down and she looked worse for wear, a large bruise marring one cheek and her entire face looking sunburned.

 

“What happened, Salinye?” the half-elf said in shock, starting towards her to inspect her wounds. She held up a hand with a small grimace. “I went to a meeting with the ones who are organizing the hunt for you. We can talk about that later, GyrE. More importantly, demons attacked the town while we were there. The others were split up, but Mira and I stayed together.” She explained.

 

Gyrfalcon blinked and then finally noticed the bound and gagged figure on the floor. “Mpppph!” the tightly wrapped man said as he stared wild-eyed at the half-elf.

 

“GyrE, you might want to put the katana down. Mira, he’s not going to hurt you. A lot of what we’ve been told are out and out lies.” Gyrfalcon noted that the man looked less then reassured.

 

Gyrfalcon blinked at the katana in his hand, and then gently set it aside. He shook his head and turned back to Salinye. “Here, let me look at those.” he said, gently inspecting the bruises and burns on Salinye’s face.

 

“Really GyrE, there’s nothing to worry about, I’ll be fine until I can talk to that cranky old druid at the Hostel...” Salinye’s protests went ignored as he stood and looked at her back as she bent forward to pick something up. “Bloodstains aren’t ‘nothing’ Salinye.” he said gently.

 

“Oh, those...” she said, wincing as she straightened.

 

“Hold still, this might sting a little.” Gyrfalcon advised, quietly chanting his most powerful spell of healing – only moderately effective, but it sealed the gashes the demon’s claws had left and went to work on some of the burns and bruises she had suffered. He whispered another two healing spells, less effective but suitable for the more impressive burns and bruises she had collected.

 

“That did sting.” she admitted, finally unclenching her jaw and stretching, muscles twinging and aching but happy not to experience the burning pain of those cuts.”

 

“I told you so.” he said with a slight smile. “You’ll be sore for a couple days at this stage, but that should have taken care of the worse of it.” he explained, feeling the slight exhaustion that always followed casting several spells in a row. He began to clear his mind to take care of the last of her injuries, but she raised her hand to stop him.

 

She eyed him speculatively. “Do you have a few more healing spells?” she asked him, and he nodded. “Two or three more, though they’re the last I’ll have today, why?”

 

“I can live with being sore for a few days, GyrE, but he was wounded too, and splashed with the demon’s blood as I was.” Salinye explained, brushing a cheek, dead skin flaking away to reveal healthy skin beneath. Gyrfalcon nodded, knowing the blood of some demons to be acidic. “Could you heal him as well?”

 

The half-elf smiled slightly and looked hard at Mira. “He’s a bounty hunter, though...” he began, and her hand touched his shoulder. “He also saved my life.” The half-elf grimaced, then shrugged. “He’s in the Pen, after all. It’s not like he can cause me trouble around here.” he said, stepping forward to kneel next to Mira.

 

Mira glared up at him, caught between defiance and terror. He didn’t believe the half-elf would heal him despite his words to the traitor among the bounty hunter’s ranks. His grimace shifted slightly towards confusion as the tingling prickles of healing coursed through his body with the half-elf’s chanting.

 

Gyrfalcon heaved a deep breath before picking up the still-bound Mira and placing him in one of the chairs and pulling Salinye’s makeshift gag from Mira’s mouth. “So... Mira, is it? Care to tell me why bounty hunters are following me again after all this time?”

 

Mira glared at him stubbornly.

[Mira]

The flavor of the dirty handkerchief lay heavily in Mira's mouth and he had to try his best not to spit to rid himself of it. His eyes fell upon Dove, a look of complete bewilderment etched on his face. How could she do this to him, after he had spent the past several days worried sick over her, and now she repays him like this? Several choice adjectives ran through his mind, but like the taste in his mouth, he managed to keep them to himself.

 

Turning his gaze to Gyrfalcon, he set to answering the half-elf’s question. Or at least he had planned on answering the question, but some part of him just couldn’t. Mira’s next action made Dove flinch noticeably, but the ranger just took it as he would a puff of wind. He had been planning to shine his boots, but he hadn’t planned on it being a spit shine. Mira knew that this wasn’t the way to treat ones captors, but on the upside his mouth wasn’t quite as foul tasting anymore.

 

“Keep that up, and we might just have a problem.” Gyrfalcon stated mater-of-factly. “Now tell me why I’m being hunted like a rabid dog again.”

 

This time the only thing to leave Mira’s lips were words.

“My guess would be it has something to do with murder, betrayal and being an all around evil sort of man, not to mention the fact that a demon army, under your flag, laid siege to the city of Tel Reth less then a week ago.”

 

A smirk found its way on to Gyrfalcon’s face at the first three charges. They were obviously ludicrous. Well, the third one was open for opinions, but there were few people he knew openly held that idea of him. When Mira spoke of Tel Reth, however, the half-elf’s face became as slate. He knew of no way to make enemies faster then having demon armies raiding under copies of ones own standard. Something would have to be done about this quickly, or he’d have more to worry about then a couple of amateur bounty hunters searching for him.

 

Bending over and grabbing Mira by the collar of his shirt, the ranger gazed into his eyes and demanded, “Listen closely and answer my questions. Who’s paying your bill bounty hunter? Who sent you after me!”

 

Mira tried to meet Gyrfalcon’s gaze, but he couldn’t find the will. Staring at the floor he managed get his reply out through clenched teeth. “I’ll answer no more of your questions half-man.” The curse passed over the ranger with as much affect as the spit.

 

Gyrfalcon released Mira and rose. Lost in his thoughts he made for the door.

 

“Where are you going!?” Salinye cried to him.

 

He reached for the door handle, which was not there, and again shook his head. “I’ve got some things to take care of” he responded, not even turning to face Salinye. “Now could you please open this door.”

 

“But what about him?!” she said, motioning to Mira, still on the floor tied up quite securely.

 

“You’ve handled him so far, I’m sure you can manage.” And with that the door opened on silent hinges and the ranger was gone.

 

The door close and Salinye turned her attention to the person on the floor. With one hand on her chin and the other on her hip she looked over Mira’s pathetic form, and did her best to choke back a laugh. “Now, what am I going to do with you?” she said, shaking her head.

Edited July 29, 2004 by Mira

[Salinye]

Mira’s angry eyes bore through Salinye in suppressed rage. He didn’t dignify her question with an answer, however, if looks could kill, she would have dropped dead to the floor. Salinye sighed. She knew he felt she had betrayed him. She’d have to work on helping him to see the truth, but for now, she needed to talk with Gyrfalcon. “I need to get him back here so that I can tell him the things I’ve learned of. Please don’t try to get loose or leave, it’s honestly for your own safety that you don’t.” His only response was to continue to stare at her with unrestrained contempt.

 

Willing her door to open before her, she stepped into the hall and shuffled down it, the cold of the stone floor seeping into her bare feet. She looked up one side of the hallway and down another. Taking a gamble that he probably didn’t return to his own chambers, she shuffled down the last of the stairs and turned the corner just in time to see the green and brown of his tunic turn around another farther corner.

 

“GyrE!” She called out walking as fast as she could to catch up with him, grimacing as the swift movement agitated her wounds. All was still for a moment before the ranger ducked his head back around the corner to look at her.

 

“Salinye, what are you doing out here?” His eyes were haunted and he quickly met her halfway down the corridor with a few long strides. “You really shouldn’t be up and running around until you’ve had time to have a thorough healing.” The sternness that had been weighing on his face lightened a bit with his concern.

 

“I know, GyrE. I know. I just really wanted to talk with you. You left so quickly…” He turned his back on her rubbing the back of his neck agitated.

 

“I just really thought this sort of thing was behind me, Salinye.”

 

“I know. I really do.” She shivered lightly in the cold stone corridor. “Do you think we could go back to my room? We didn’t have more than a moment to talk, and before you rush off to do anything, I think you should hear what I have to say. I’m knee deep in this too, let’s work together, yes?” She looked up at him exhausted, her eyes pleading with him to comply.

 

Gyrfalcon sighed and his shoulders slumped forward for a second before he drew himself up. "Of course, Salinye. Without your aid, I'd be in serious trouble and I wouldn't even know it." He said with a faint smile.

 

Once back in the room, she began filling him in on all the details of their trip to Tel Reth. She was careful to paint Mira in a very good light, hoping to help bridge the gap of animosity between them. Mira remained silent within his seat, a glare fixed upon them, especially her.

 

“So, do you know anything about your employers?”

 

Salinye thought about that for a moment and tried to describe them the best she could. "The man who seems to be in charge is fairly small in stature. I think he has some sort of protections when it comes to magic, but I’m not entirely sure about that. The man that seems to protect his is a monster of a man, extremely large and looks to have the strength of many men. The one in charge calls him, Bob. Truth be told, I'm not even sure if any of the others survived the attack-including our employers. While that may seem to solve a problem for you, it also creates another. It sure won't help clear your name if there is a demon attack in the one city that happens to have a group of people plotting your death within it. Especially if they are now dead as well." The mage furrowed her brow looking away from Gyrfalcon momentarily to see if she could tell if Mira was believing anything they talked about. Her inquisitive glance was once again met with his stone cold glare.

Edited July 29, 2004 by Salinye

[The Big Pointy One]

It seemed like days since Tayne's encounter with the demon. As much as he wanted to collect the reward on No'Dessu's head, he had reminded himself that there were a few others he wouldn't mind catching up to. Plus, he had to prepare properly. He knew very little about The Pen's keep, but he did have a little bit of information. It would take all of his training to get inside, and then some. He loaded himself up on equipment, too. His fingers glittered with different rings, most of which were of varying magical resistance. A few similar pendants dangled beneath a jacket of the finest elven chain. He had payed a lot to get that jacket; it was probably the only item he hadn't killed someone to get. Regardless, such an item would make it easier for him to sneak around without making noise. Into a magical bag, he tossed various items from traps to potions to wands and more. He wanted to be prepared for any situation. He knew Gyrfalcon was smart, and that he had much power under his command. Finally, satisfied with his equipment and his planning, Tayne donned a long cloak that seemed to blend in with the environment around him, and made haste in the general direction of The Pen's Keep. In fact, he was running at a speed that was comparable to a race horse...