Riding The End (L3 | Archived | Fantasy/Sci-Fi)

[Jokerman-EXE]

Osiris and Zuberi laid on the ground, on the verge of death. Then they laid there some more. Oh, and then...no wait. They still just laid there.  

[Isa-sama]

The swordsman stopped and put a hand to his cheek. "Huh. So I am." He stood up at a salute and said, "You've proven yourselves worthy adversaries - I'll keep my word and leave you all."

Ashling, who'd never heard any of this, tried to back hand him. The human pulled back and smiled. "Oh right, you didn't hear. I promised that if any of you managed to draw blood, I'd let you all leave. And now you have." He put away his shield and sword. "Good job.

"GUNNER, FLARE, SNIPER! REPORT."

The three humans who'd been watching to see if Nine would do anything immediately turned around and saw their captain at ease. "Huh. First ones in a long while to actually hit you," said the sniper.

The female replied, "I guess that's it then? These elves weren't so bad. Bit of a scare here and there, but not too terrible." The machine gunner was cursing like a sailor, but the basic gist of it was: "At least you didn't lose an eye."

The four humans stood in front of the Trow and Trent. "We thank you for the worthy fight. Don't die anytime soon, I want a rematch." That said, he waved good bye and the humans followed behind him.

Ashling stared at the people leaving, too shocked to do anything else. Once the humans left (and were for sure not coming back), she turned to the Trow and had happy eyes. It seemed she'd started liking the Trow more because they worked together well.

Once she'd returned to Nine, Osiris, and Zuberi, her eyes grew angry.

The group (excluding Ashling who'd left temporarily) were now injured, weak, and staring at each other wondering what the hell just happened.  

[Mr. Blackbird Lore]

DuPont shifted into a proper crouch, shouldered the assault rifle, lined up a shot on the moving Rancor and loosed two bursts of fire. Regardless of its success, he moved toward the incapacitated Rancor. Once at the corpse, he began to search it for something of use, aside from weapons. He was heavy enough without blades and more guns.
 

[Isa-sama]

Soon enough, Ashling returned with a bunch of plants at hand. Hanging from her branches were a couple of hives. And there were some very large broken branches hanging there as well. She carefully sat down beside the group and started to mash up some plants.

She'd started by cracking open one of the bee hives and placing it in front of her. Then she picked up the other plants she'd gathered and started crushing them with her hands. She dropped the crushed leaves and mixed them in with the honey.

The concoction she'd made would heal all their wounds in 3 days time (should they keep pasting the medicine and resting). Dryads were well known for their amazing talents with medicine; the Ulla equivalent were the Trents (at least the Tenderers). We're not as good as those damn peace-lovers, but at least we can get the job done.

She passed the mixture to Theridan and Phallo - they were the most able of the group to paste the medicine on the others. she asked, Even weirder, how did they know Trent language? Humans developed something so that they could understand the different spoken languages, but there was nothing like that for Trents. So where could he have learned that?

------------

DuPont found that there was nothing on the body other than the sword and shield. Had he looked, he'd have found that other elves didn't even return to battle. Very strange. He was about to give up on finding anything, but a piece of paper caught his attention:

Catacombs. HoU.

Whether it actually meant anything was hard to figure out - after all, the one that could have told them the answer was laying dead in front of them.

Trajan had caught up to DuPont by this time. Neither really knew what to make of the paper. Their attention was suddenly drawn by a group of people coming toward them - four people. Specifically, four humans who looked like they just came from a heavy battle.  

[SirBayer]

Trajan twisted to face them. "Who's that?" he called to them, trying to not make his cry excessively, particularly noticeably loud. No need to draw back the enemy.

"These guys might know where our mark is," Trajan pointed out, despite not needing to. Trajan took cover despite the friendlies, just to ensure that if something went south they'd be prepared. They'd work out the mystery of the paper elsewhere. Trajan wasn't going to bother hauling around the weaponry, though. It would be a waste of time. And he hadn't disposed of any substantial weight - only a smoke and a frag.  

[Isa-sama]

The four humans saw them and the female waved at the two soldiers. "The hell you doing?" She raised an eyebrow at Trajan's antics. "For the love of God, we're not going to shoot you or else we'd have done it by now." She seemed at ease even though Trajan was taking cover. She was even waving the flame thrower in Trajan's direction.

The swordsman looked at the girl and lightly shoved her shoulder. "Now now. You can never be too careful when it comes to the people you meet." He grinned at - who he supposed they were - his allies. "Nice to see some people around. I'm Skipper. This is Flare, Gunner, and Sniper." He introduced his team to the travelers. "As nice as it is to see someone in this god forsaken forest, it is a little odd to see two soldiers walking. Wanna tell us why?"

The man in the background - Gunner - was holding a bloody bandage over his eye. He had a machine gun strapped on and looked quite pissed off. He swore when he pulled away the cloth. It was no wonder why he was so angry - he was missing an eye. "The ******** you looking at?" Apparently he didn't appreciate being stared at.

He got lightly tapped on the head by Sniper. This man had an AK-47 on his back. "Calm down. You just need to re-wrap that injury." He brought out roll of gauze and started wrapping the machine gunner's head. "And quit grumbling. Didn't you already pay back that elf twice-over?"  

[Mr. Blackbird Lore]

Donnie rose from his crouch on a pivot to face the new arrivals. "The Dane," he said, shrugging, then gestured toward his companion, "That's Trajan. We've got a covert op. Looking for a Fae romping around with some Trents and a Rancor. Name's Saturnine Rhapsody if it rings any bells." They were so suspicious, but what in Sam Hell were they doing out here, eh? He inquired as much.

"What was your squad doing out here, and more importantly, how'd it go?"
 

[SirBayer]

"And can we do anything to assist?" Trajan added. He glanced at their uniforms, looking for rank insignia. Trajan and DuPont were both Staff Sergeants. It was possible that these folks would demand their assistance. Their orders came from very high, perhaps higher than these folks - but perhaps not. If not, they needed to end this engagement before the other folks got the idea to recruit them - Trajan had no interest in losing his eye or in getting diverted.  

[Isa-sama]

Skipper kept the smile on his face. "A Fae with some Trents and Rancor? We haven't run into that group." Now running into a group with A Trent, TWO Trow, A Druid, and A Fae...well that was an entirely different matter. He paid close attention to what the men were saying. "I see. Two Staff Sergeants are out here on a little hunt for a Fae. Don't let us get in your way then." He was planning on leaving, but DuPont asked what his own group was doing there.

The smile became a little more stony. "We had a little scuffle with a group somewhere back there." He waved his hand in the direction that his squad had just come from. "As for our mission, well...perhaps it's best not to ask." Seeing that this didn't satisfy either man, he continued. "According to the UEC, we don't exist. We are dead men and that's the only way to accomplish our mission." There was no insignia on any of their uniforms.

In the background, Flare could be heard huffing. "Gunner, don't be a baby. You only lost your wooden eye, and it only scratched the back of you eye socket. You should be happy it wasn't any worse than that." Gunner glared at her with his remaining eye. "That was my wooden eye! MY ******** WOODEN EYE. And I've got nothing to replace it with. You've never lost an eye, have you? No. So don't you tell me whether I've got the right to complain or not."

In a slightly louder voice, Skipper said, "As for assisting us, the best thing you could do for us is forget meeting us, talking to us, or knowing our faces." He turned to his group. "Do any of you remember a Fae in our little battle earlier?"

Flare replied, "Yeah, I do. I fought the little b*****d. Seemed like a crazy little guy, but eh. Dunno if that's your guy or not." She shrugged.  

[SirBayer]

Trajan racked his memory quickly. "Crazy fellow. Accompanied by... one Trent. Druid, I think... and then... no Rancors, a pair of Trow, that was it," Trajan concluded. "That what you ran into?"

His memory was damned good.

At least these people probably wouldn't be pulling rank on them. They were 'dead men,' which presumably meant they were being punished, which meant... well, it all worked out anyway. They wouldn't be bothering Trajan, nor DuPont, over worthless matters. They might have information, though - and perhaps valuable information on tactics.  

[SiberDrac]

Crawling out of his hole, Nine perceived that the battle was over. He hopped his way over to Osiris' mutilated body, wavered, and fell over him. Without a word, he analyzed Zuberi's wounds, determined them to be non-life-threatening before Ashling came back, and then sat down with his blood-smeared chin in his hands, effectively moping. "I could have killed them," he lugubriously muttered. He had felt those locks click themselves open and thought it would mean the end for the humans. Instead, because he had not been the one doing the hunting, he had not been able to control the situation he usually could. Instead, he had let himself get bogged down by... animals. And a child.

By all rights, he should have finished off Osiris right then and escaped across the lake. It was a tempting prospect. The Druid was powerless as he was, and Nine didn't need his depleted reserves of power to drop a knife across his throat. The tree couldn't run in water - the only threats were really the Trow. He narrowed his eyes in their general direction, refolding his hands and resting his chin on them. The Trow had been his allies in the past, but only in exchange for information. He had virtually no information these would want. He could sell Fae military movements that might help them optimize for a raid, but these two weren't interested in that.

So he sat, and allowed Ashling to tend his wounds, and complained to himself. "I'd've killed them if I'd been alone."  

[Venom3001]

"Uh huh, sure you'd've," Phallo replied patronizingly, smearing the salve across Osiris' wounds gingerly. Theridan applied the same to another of Osiris' many wounds after reloading his crossbows.  

[Isa-sama]

((Sorry for the delay! Things will resume as they were before. I thought Kaos would be coming back and take over the RP again, but not just yet. I'm afraid you'll have to deal with me for a while longer. mrgreen That said, please give a warm welcome to QuietBlue, our newest Dryad and RPer!))

Ashling was trying her best to pull out the bullets; thankfully, the bullets hadn't lodged in too deep (hooray for being far away from the machine gunner). Whenever she got one out, she'd put it beside her.

When the Trow had finished applying the salve on the group, they moved to help Ashling get rid of the rest of the bullets. The tall Trent would flinch whenever they took their arrows and tried to dig out some of the deeper bullets. She thought about patting their heads (she couldn't really pat their backs or shake their hands), but considering how weak the group was, she might knock them out. Unlikely, but possible.

It took the group a while to patch themselves up. "Hello?" A decidedly feminine voice called out to the group. When Ashling turned around, she saw a female Dryad. She wore a bow on her back and had a dagger on her side.

--------------

It had taken a few days, but Morea managed to get out of the Fae city and was on her way back home. The Queen had sent a letter telling all Dryads within the Fae capital to go back; Rendi had been afraid that Archmage Azrial would attempt to force the Dryads to help him on a quest. Since Morea had only been there to help some of the sick, it wasn't a big deal for her to go back.

But now she found herself in front of a group of wounded people. She had a small bag of very powerful medicine that was enough to heal all of their wounds, but wouldn't have any left after that. Still, for these people to be hurt so bad, perhaps it would be best to help.

---------------

Skipper's smile twitched a little. "Oh! You're talking about THAT group. Well that's another matter entirely; yes, we've seen them. A slight scuffle with them, but nothing we couldn't handle."

Gunner was muttering furiously, but Flare stepped on his foot to stop the angry man from saying anything understandable.

"Anyway, yes. They're in that direction," Skipper said. He pointed behind his squad. "You ARE only going after the Fae, right?" When the two men nodded, he gave a sigh of relief. "Oh good. Because the Trent and Trow are interesting elves. I can't have them die on me before fighting them again, you know?" Regardless of what DuPont and Trajan thought, he kept on talking. "The group is rather weak right now. Not sure if they're still there or not, but when we left them, they were quite...worn out."  

[Xitemo]

OOC: I was thinking of joining if you guys would let me, this looks like alot of fun and I'm in need of some good rp. Should I just fill out a sheet and Pm Isa or wait for Kaos to come back?  

[QuietBlue]

((Description kidnapped, held hostage, ransomed, and returned to first page by Venom3001. Sorru if something was done improperly, Isa/Kaos.))

Morea stood on the edge of the water not far from where the wounded party rested. She hadn't meant to pry, but she had seen the Trent rushing through the woods with an armload of healing plants & her curiousity had gotten the better of her. Again. She had only really wanted a better look at the Trent, but upon seeing it's battered limbs & burnt bark her curiousity had turned to concern. She had watched quietly from a distance as the Trent crushed & mixed the ingredients quickly, but she couldn't see why. This, of course, had caused her to move closer, which was when she saw the Trow.

Well, she thought, I don't have to report to the Queen immediately... And so she had moved closer. And her concern had turned to shock! Here was the strangest group she had ever seen: A Trent, two (no wait, three) Trow, a Fae the likes of which she'd never seen, & two so wounded she was unsure as to what they where.

And so she had moved closer.

Calling out to the Trent may not have been the wisest move, but it seemed to be the one most capable of communication at the moment. When it turned to look at her, she couldn't help but be enthralled, so much so that she forgot to answer it's question. Her large, dark eyes widened, taking in the extent of it's (wait; not it, her) damage, then began to swiftly scan the others. "You're hurt," she said, to no one in particular, as she took in the scene. The Trow seemed the least injured, but the two unmoving ones were the most in need. They seemed to be a Druid &...

"A child?" she questioned, looking back towards the Trent. That was too much. Who would wound a child so? She started to move towards the two on the ground but stopped herself, placing a hand over her medicine pouch. "I can help him," she said, her eyes again looking over the child. "It is potent, this medicine. It can help you all." She turned her gaze upon the tall Trent again. "That is, if you are willing?" She left her question open-ended & waited for their response.

((I apologize for the shortness, but it is very late here & I gotta sleep ^_^))