Author Topic: Abandon Hope, All Ye Who Enter Here (Read 12368 times)

CaptainPenguin · « **on:** February 14, 2003, 06:36:56 PM »

The rain kept down dust a little bit, which eased the itch. How it irritated him! A minor thing however. The road became a thick track of mud. No matter, he cared not. He beheld the flickering of lanterns ahead, and drew the muffler across his face and tipped the wide brimmed hat over his face. Nobody could recognize the truth if he were wrapped like he was. He fiddled with his old leather traveller's gloves. How his hands itched. He could not remember a time when they had not, but he remembered one thing. The tower of energy. His homeland. So many years...It would end...Sometime...

Ria Hawk · « **Reply #1 on:** February 14, 2003, 07:18:40 PM »

Riisha swore vehemently. Of course the wagon would lose a wheel, and of course it would be pouring. And now the horses were getting crazy. "Hey! Calm down, boys! It's just rain! Ain't nothing worth getting all upset about! Calm down, you silly creatures." She grabbed for the reins, trying to keep the horses from bucking. She couldn't for the life of her figure out what was wrong with them. She'd worry about it later. "How's the wheel coming?" she yelled back at the others. She wanted to get going. The road had turned into mud, and it was getting cold.

forgottengods · « **Reply #2 on:** February 16, 2003, 12:23:56 AM »

Barrak was sleeping when the rain start , he woke up and so the others trying to go on their way but in the other side all their backpacks and sacks where in the mud just the perfect time to get some free stuff , he smile and start the journey is a dirty work but someone got to do it .

CaptainPenguin · « **Reply #3 on:** February 16, 2003, 04:57:58 PM »

The innkeeper looked up from polishing the bar as the door flew open, letting the wind and rain into the tavern. The regulars looked up from their runny ales and honeyless meads for only a second before again resuming their boozing. The figure in the doorway was swathed in patched cloaks and wrappings, a muffler drawn across it's face and a wide-brimmed traveller's hat over it's eyes. Rainwater trickled across the floor as the figure (Now discernable as a male) made his way to a small corner table far from the light of the fire. The innkeeper looked at his heavily-bundled new customer curiously. The man was obviously dripping wet from the storm, yet he had seated himself as far away from the fire as possible. The stranger reached a leather gloved hand into his collar and scratched his obscured neck.
"Itches, good lord?" asked the innkeeper
"The road dust...Irritates me." said the stranger dismissively, his tone polite but terse.
The innkeeper thought no more of the stranger, returning to his polishing.

Ria Hawk · « **Reply #4 on:** February 17, 2003, 09:31:09 PM »

Riisha growled at the announcement that there would be no way to repair the wheel until things dried out some. She was not happy. And if Barrak had gotten into her stuff again when she wasn't paying attention... Looking around in frustration, she noticed something she hadn't before. Lights glimmered through the rain, not too far away. An inn. She pointed it out to the others. A quick consensus was taken; they decided it would be better to drag the wagon up to the inn, and repair it in the morning. Mood much improved by the prospect of a warm meal and a dry place to sleep, the gypsies somehow managed to get the broken wagon to the inn, and actually into the stable. Riisha took the horses to tend to them, while the others got a better look at the wheel. Riisha got the horses taken care of, and left Barrak with the others in the stable arguing about how bad the damage was. They'll join me when they're ready. After spending years with them, Riisha knew it was useless to try to get them to do anything until they were ready to.
The inn was a welcome change to the weather outside. Riisha ordered a drink, and made her way over to the fire, ignoring leers she recieved; she was used to it. She did notice a man, swathed in cloak and mufflers, sitting as far away from the fire as he could get, but she didn't really pay that much attention.

CaptainPenguin · « **Reply #5 on:** February 18, 2003, 04:54:41 PM »

One of the drunks stumbled past the newly entered traveller, a woman, eyeing her lewdly, then grinning stupidly at the cloak-swathed stranger in the corner.
"Hey, friend! What disease have ya' got? Itchworts or dwarf-pox?" the drunk said, laughing.
"Neither. Apply yourself elsewhere, lest I remake you into something more suitable. A cockroach, perhaps, or a fly." the stranger replied, his voice scratchy and deep like that of a desert tribesman's sand-filled throat.
"Hey! I've dealt with witch-men like you, before! I could take you with my hands tied behind my back!"The drunk threatened.
The stranger chuckled dryly. "Oh. Is that so? Well then, go ahead, vermin."
The drunkard raised his hands as if to the punch the stranger's cloaked face, but instead settled for an angry look. "Hey, stranger, we don't like wizards in this town! Go drink from the west side of the bridge!"
The cloaked one laughed again, amused by the rustic local insult. "West side of the bridge indeed." He mused to himself, scratching his cheek.

Ria Hawk · « **Reply #6 on:** February 24, 2003, 11:04:43 PM »

Riisha finished off her drink. She watched a particularly stupid man try to start something with the bundled up figure. Lovely. Just lovely. Why did the only convient inn have to be filled with jack-asses? She was all too familiar with the type. Trying to start a fight with someone they thought they could take, to make themselves seem like bigshots. Granted, it was amusing when they accidentally picked a magician... provided that no stray spells struck her or anyone she cared about. There was something about the man who was all wrapped up. The drunk backed down with only a token insult. Glad to know that still happens.
Riisha didn't particularly care for fools; they annoyed her greatly. And a bully was just another type of fool. Speaking of fools, the inevitable happened. Another drunk, who had been eying her with an expression that said he had already gotten way too far in imagining things, came over and sat at her table. Gee. Nice of him to ask.
"Heya, pretty lady. What's a sweet thing like you doin' out here, so far away from civilization?"
"Not any of your business, really." She moved away from him.
"Are you all alone, baby? 'Cause I could keep you company." He wasn't taking the hint. He moved closer.
"No, actually. My two brothers and a friend are outside. Should be in in a minute or two."
"Eh, tell 'em to sleep on the west side of the bridge."
She didn't really get the insult, but it didn't matter. "No. Since you aren't taking the hint, allow me to be less subtle. Get lost. Now."
"What do you mean, pretty lady?"
Well, this should prove to be entertaining. "Leave me alone. Go away. Remove yourself from my presence. Go over there, before I make you wish you had never been born."
His face turned ugly. "And who says I should listen to some uppity tart? You're gonna wish you'd been a little nicer to me."
"Oh, yes. I'm sure. I'm trembling where I sit. Go kiss an orc."
That really riled him. "Now you're really gonna pay, pretty lady."
Well, there was no hope for it. Things were going to get ugly. Oh well.

Kassil · « **Reply #7 on:** February 24, 2003, 11:27:03 PM »

The door blew open again, to admit another figure - this one a good six feet tall, his body hidden by the travelling cloak wrapped about him and the hood draped forward over his face against the rain. Rain drips off the cloth, silvery beads against the grey-green fabric, as the stranger walks across the tavern towards the bar.

He spares a glance for the ruffian harassing the lady, and slows for a moment; then one hand flashes out of the cloak, landing on the man's shoulder. "I advise you leave the lady alone, friend. If she wanted company, she'd have asked." The voice matches the figure's size, and the thickness of the arm and wrist which grip the man's shoulder. Undoubtedly some sort of warrior, this one.

CaptainPenguin · « **Reply #8 on:** February 25, 2003, 09:42:20 PM »

A lively inn, this one. thought the stranger, seeing the green-cloaked large one. He looked at the beginnings of the brawl at the other table, and saw something disturbing.
I know that bracer. he thought, staring at the silver band over the large one's wrist.
A fine bracer it was, silvery iron or steel with a three-headed griffon rampant emblazoned upon it.
It jogged his memory, but why? The stranger scratched his forehead carefully so as not to reveal it, sipping from his goblet.
No matter,he thought, I will not need to know, soon.

CaptainPenguin · « **Reply #9 on:** February 25, 2003, 09:43:28 PM »

OOC Message:
The formatting (Italics and such) seem to be malfunctioning for me. Anybody know why?

Ria Hawk · « **Reply #10 on:** February 25, 2003, 09:55:29 PM »

OOC: When you click the formatting buttons, you get the first part of a format tag. Clicking it a second time gets the end tag. It won't work without both, and the formatting goes to the end tag. So if the tag is out of place, the wrong thing will be formatted. It doesn't work like a word processor in that you can highlight text to format it. It's more like HTML, actually. I fixed the formatting error in the last post for you. Anyway. That's it.

Kassil · « **Reply #11 on:** February 25, 2003, 10:01:34 PM »

Two people stopping his attempts at a good night of drunkwn fun was more than the sot harassing Riisha; turning, he took a swing at the stranger in the cloak; the blow only caught cloth as the large man's hand flashed off the other's shoulder and he stepped back, hiding the bracer and his arm once more.

"You try to offer a trace of friendly advice, and get attacked for your troubles. Shame." The stranger shook his head, which resulted mostly in a slight waggle of his hood. With a shrug, he tossed the cloak open, and the hood slipped back to reveal a pale-skinned man, perhaps in his late twenties, with ravenblack hair that vanished beneath the back of the cloak, and garments of a rough cut, the same hue as his clothing. On both arms were the bracers, each identical and almost ceremonial in look. "I apologize for the splitting your skull will feel come morning."

Ria Hawk · « **Reply #12 on:** February 25, 2003, 10:36:14 PM »

Riisha got out of the way. She didn't want to be right there when the newcomer made a mess of the obnoxious little man. This was going to turn into a brawl, that much she already knew. The twins would be annoyed, but she hadn't started this one. As she had the thought, she noticed another patron, probably a friend of the man who'd been annoying her, was coming up behind the newcomer with a chair, and evidently meant to bash him with it. Never mind the fact that the new fellow was easily twice his size. He'd obviously had just enough to severely impair his judgement. Of course, he never made it far enough to actually do anything with the chair. Riisha glared at him. "None of that, now. That's just bad form."
He most likely didn't get it, not that it mattered. He changed his mind, and made straight for her. She didn't really want to know what he planned to do when he got there. "No, see, you leave me alone. I don't like you." This had no effect, except that he smirked at her.
Well, she had warned him. In retrospect, she realized it must have been the smirk that made her lose her temper. She kicked him. And this was no "girly" kick either. She connected hard enough to send him stumbling backwards several feet. Okay. So maybe I helped start it. There was a shocked silence that lasted for a few minutes. She guessed that they had never seen a woman do something quite like that. Well, they could see a lot more of it if they pressed the issue.

Kassil · « **Reply #13 on:** February 26, 2003, 11:51:35 AM »

The moment of shocked silence is all the stranger needs to take care of the man who started the entire issue; with a swift movement, he brings his arms together, solidly cracking the man's head with the cool metal of his bracers.

In light of this argument, the drunkard bowed out of conciousness and collapsed to the floor. Dropping his hands back to his side, the tall stranger turned halfway to face the drunkard's friend, and the rest of the tavern; he looks around, and tips his head to the side slightly. "Well? Do any of the rest of you want to try your luck, or are we agreed to sitting down and behaving peacefully?"

The man who was kicked certainly is in no position to argue at this point, and the rest of the inn is more than a bit cowed by both. After a moment, the tall stranger turns back to Riisha, and offers a half-bow. "Thank you, m'lady, for taking care of that sot before he could try to break his chair on my head." He shrugs his cloak closed again, concealing his arms from view again, but leaves the hood down.

CaptainPenguin · « **Reply #14 on:** February 26, 2003, 04:23:42 PM »

An impressive display thought the stranger. The image of the bracers resonated through his head.
So familiar he thought. But how. Standing and setting a spare coin on the table, the stranger left, stepping into the rain. His footprints marked the mud in the direction of the sign marked "The Bridge."
A flash of lightning rent the sky.

Ria Hawk · « **Reply #15 on:** February 27, 2003, 12:37:38 AM »

Riisha shrugged. "Eh, forget it. Fools annoy me, that's all. And anyway, collateral damage is expensive. But that ain't important. I'm Riisha." As she sat down again, her two brothers came in. They were twins. Not identical twins, but it was still obvious. Riisha shared the family resemblance as well. All three of them had the dark complexions of gypsies and dark manes of hair. Derris wore his loose, and it touched his shoulders. Laren's hair was slightly longer, and pulled back into a tail. Riisha's hair was substantially longer, and she wore hers in a thick braid. They all had large green eyes that could look merely mischievious at one moment, and downright dangerous another. They even tended to dress similarly: comfortable boots, dark-colored breeches, black shirt, and a loose, brightly colored overshirt. Riisha's was purple, Derris's was blue, and Laren wore green. A slightly less noticable fact was the number of knives that they tended to carry.
As they made their way over to Riisha's table, Derris glanced at the casualties of the evening. He sat down. "Question: Do I really want to know what you've been up to?"
"I just kicked some sense into that idiot over there."
"Ah." Derris knew her well; he probably had a pretty good idea of what had happened.
Laren also glanced around. "And the other guy?"
"Not guilty. This guy." She gestured at the big stranger. "These are my brothers, Derris and Laren. This is..." She paused. "Actually, I don't think we got as far as your name."

Kassil · « **Reply #16 on:** February 27, 2003, 03:14:50 AM »

The tall strange nodded in greeting to the two brothers, and grinned slightly at the exchange between the siblings. As Riisha turned to him, he shrugged. "I go by many names - the one to which I was born, however, is Hishe." He pauses, and grins, with a nod of his head to each of the three. "
With another shrug, he tips his head to the side. "...At any rate, I only intend to remain here for long enough to grab a mug of something warm - so if you will excuse me, I'll be about my business."

Fiokar_Dracolas · « **Reply #17 on:** February 27, 2003, 12:17:15 PM »

The door opened once more, this time admitting a short, brown cloaked figure. Water poured off a cloak that could no longer be absorb it all, revealing a vaguely feminine figure. She quickly crosses the room to the bar, noting the trio of gypsies and the miniture giant in a green cloak in a flurries of nervious glances. I HATE the rain. Whenever there's big trouble, it's always raining...or at least really cloudy. she sat down at a table, choosing a seat that was as close to the fire and the door as was possible to benefit from one while still being in easy reach of the other.

Fiokar_Dracolas · « **Reply #18 on:** February 27, 2003, 12:18:10 PM »

OOC- please let me know if I'm out of line. I only vaguely certain of what I'm doing.

CaptainPenguin · « **Reply #19 on:** February 27, 2003, 09:12:01 PM »

OOC: You're fine, Dracolas, but don't introduce anymore people. I have to be able to keep track of things.

CaptainPenguin · « **Reply #20 on:** February 27, 2003, 09:18:14 PM »

The stranger stiffened, turning slowly in the road. He had heard the echoes of the voice with his magical hearing.
"...Hishe..."
He walked back towards the inn. Hishe. Hishe. Hishe. Hishe.
It couldn't be. It couldn't be.
How could he find me here!? thought the stranger, enraged. HOW COULD HE FIND ME HERE?!!
Another lightning bolt sliced through. Underneath his wide-brimmed hat, the strangers eyes burned with fiendish light.

Kassil · « **Reply #21 on:** March 02, 2003, 08:09:35 PM »

Hishe turned from the group, and slipped across the room - as easily as one of his size could slip, at any rate, to the bar. "Just a mug of something warm, if you would, barkeep. I've a distance to travel yet before I reach my destination." My destination, and the thing which waits there... I can only hope that I make it before he does. If I fail, then all may yet be lost...

Taking the mug of drink from the barkeep, and leaving a few coins as payment - too many, perhaps, carved of white gold - Hishe quickly drank the mug dry and pushed away from the bar, flipping his hood up once more to hide his face from view as he strode for the door.

CaptainPenguin · « **Reply #22 on:** March 02, 2003, 09:29:50 PM »

As his hated persuer stepped from the tavern, the stranger crushed the tiny figurine gripped in his palm, throwing the dust into the wind. A crashing noise occured almost immediately, and a flash of hellish red light that foretold of the demon which the stranger had bound and summoned from the Underworld.

The thing stood twelve feet tall, covered in vicious spines from it's headless neck down to the tip of it's meaty tail. The bloody stump of it's neck spurted foul black ichor and staring eyes covered it's body.

"HISHE!" the stranger shouted "WERE YOU SEEKING ME? YOU SHOULD KNOW BY NOW THAT ASARTH AWRUN IS BETTER ARMED THAN HE APPEARS!!"

Kassil · « **Reply #23 on:** March 02, 2003, 09:52:56 PM »

...At least he isn't ahead of me any longer. Hishe remarked to himself as Asarth brought the demon forth. Even if none of the others who've hunted him bothered to mention anything about creatures from the Underworld to help him...

Still, Hishe was bound by his oath - and never mind that death might well be the result, he was bound to stop Asarth. And far be it from one of the Sionn to fail a task without dying in the process... Particularly when the fate of their people was at stake, to say nothing of the rest of the world.

"I know well that you are more than you might seem." Despite the rain and wind, Hishe shrugs his cloak open again - the bracers gleaming faintly in the glow of the storm overhead. "You should know know just as well that the Sionn are more than we seem as well." With a flick of his wrist, Hishe called forth the weapon the Fox had given him when he had joined the ranks of the Sionn - a simple-looking staff, stout and shod with metal at both ends, a runic script winding up the wood from one end to the other. "One last chance, Sorcerer! Give up the Shard!"

CaptainPenguin · « **Reply #24 on:** March 02, 2003, 10:05:29 PM »

"HA! The SHARD? It is only a tool. If you thought that this was about the shard, well, perhaps you are an even bigger fool than I thought you were." the Sorceror shouted leaping up on the demon's shoulder.
"Forth, Isgrinagk! Destroy the Sionn!" he commanded.