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

[KaosHavok]

"Situation?"
"Same as yesterday, sir."
"Don't call me 'sir'."
"Yes, sir."
Asmodius smacked the younger Major General upside the head playfully. A small grin surfaced, but faded as he leaned back in his chair and stared at the monitors.
"Major Michelle Perry...is she still organizing a search despite my orders?"
"Yes, sir."
Asmodius sighed and stood, walking briskly past the Major General and to the exit.
"Walk with me."
As they strode down the halls of the Great Flagship Anabel Lee, the Major General continued to brief Asmodius.
"We've stormed another Rancor camp to recover some of our weapons and some supplies, but we've made no progress on the front lines. The Fae are still keeping us at bay behind that damn volcano. We suspect the-"
"What about the Trow?"
"Still nothing. Since the treaty, not one has struck against any of our men."
"So with roughly a sixth of their forces not actively fighting us, they're still pressing in...?"
Asmodius coughed and waved someone who was approaching him with a stack of papers off. There was a silence between the two before the Major General spoke again.
"What shall I do about Major Perry, sir?"
"Leave her be. I don't want to waste the time talking her out of it."
The silence stretched a few seconds longer and Asmodius turned down a separate hallway. The Major General stopped. "Sir."
Asmodius turned around and looked at him quizzically.
"Sir...what about Freedom?"
Asmodius's face hardened and he shook his head violently. "Not now. Not ever. Freedom's a fallback. Nothing more. Never mention it again."
"Yes, sir."

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The Rancor camp was all but still. It was 3 o'clock in the morning, and infrared had shown no meditating Dryads. There were two watches awake and patrolling.
Little more than bait.
A small thunk was all that could be heard as the throwing knife burrowed itself into one of the patroller's skulls. Nobody was around to hear it, save for the man who threw it.
Trajan breathed a small, quiet sigh of relief. Even with his skill, that throw was one in a million. Maybe almost literally. He felt a heavy satisfaction at being able to take out one of the pats so stealthily that nobody knew it was dead.
Sucks that the moment only lasted for about 2 seconds.
KRAKOW!
The loud-a** sound of a combat rifle split the air as young soldiers rushed into the camp screaming bloody murder. What could have been a stealthy ambush with very few casualties suddenly turned into a blood-brawl in the Rancor camp.
Furious Rancors, some berserking, filed out of the tents and into the surrounding forest. Blood flew and bodies fell. Roars split the night.
Trajan left the cover of his foliage to help in the charge, but the second he stepped out, a 7-and-a-half foot tall Rancor, eyes bloodshot with berserking rage, whipped his head around to him. From his elegant armor, it was clear that this Rancor was a high ranking official and probably in charge of this camp.
He glared at Trajan, roared, and charged, swinging a scimitar the size of a small child as he came.  

[KaosHavok]

<...of those stupid Dryads! I hate them! Hey, Ashling, you're not even looking at me!>
Canopy grunted and threw her hands in front of Ashling's face, signing wildly.
Canopy handed Ashling the rock with a bright red symbol painted on it. It symbolized an urgent to call, and Ashling needed to respond immediately. Maybe she was actually going to see battle!

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Icarus, an aging willow-esque Trent, nodded sagely at her approach.
He shook himself and some dead leaves fell from him. He handed her 2 painted purple vines.  

[Isa-sama]

Ashling had been staring at the birds that flew by. It wasn't like Canopy had been saying anything important - just the usual "Dryads are stupid" rant. But apparently she DID miss something important. She'd gotten the call, and that had certainly woken her up from her apathy.

After talking to Icarus, she stared at the purple vines while returning to her fellow Trent. She felt elated for receiving her vines. Now she was a Warrior! But a part of her couldn't help but wonder why she and Canopy had been chosen for this. I suppose I'll find out soon enough.

She'd returned and given a vine to her friend. Ashling was rather excited; she wondered what they were going to. She tied her vine securely around her waist before giving Canopy a very rare smile.  

[SirBayer]

Trajan swore, having no time to recover his knife either. "I set them up perfectly, and they... ugh. This is why we are not winning this war. It's like they're not even through training." And, he supposed, some of them probably weren't. The person using the rifle was more or less asking to be killed, as he had fired alone and had not set himself up for an immediate victory. "He who wins the fight before he begins exits victorious," Trajan muttered to himself, not sure if the quote was correct.

His mind was drawn off the subject by a highly-ornamented Rancor hefting what appeared to be a curved variant of Excalibur. "Oh. Oh dear," Trajan murmured, creating the understatement-of-the-millennium. He hefted his rifle, taking several shots at the creature's upper body and face; realizing he didn't have time to fire more than perhaps four rounds, he desperately grabbed a flashbang off of his jacket and hurled it into the creature's face, throwing himself onto the ground and covering his eyes. His ears might still be blown out entirely, and he wouldn't be able to stand up for a while, but he might not get sliced and diced. That would be nice.  

[KaosHavok]

The Rancor Captain flinched slightly as 2 of the shots slammed into his chest, but kept charging. He roared as he got within melee range of Trajan.
"HUMAAAAN!"
As if on perfect cue, the flashbang that he couldn't see through his bloodrage went off in his face.
His screams of pain couldn't be heard over the devastating sound of the grenade. No warning was given, so none of the surrounding Rancor or soldiers had prepared themselves either.
Several bodies crashed to the ground, including the charging Rancor Captain.

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When Trajan could get his senses about him, the battle was all but over. A UEC flag was being raised in the middle of the camp and crates were being hauled off in ATVs.
"It...a cos...tle. An ...ily ...able cos...tle. Oh, but..ess you can..hear well..yet."
A man standing above Trajan signaled something with his hand and the translator in his head interpreted it.

"..ake him aw.."
3 people lifted Trajan and he felt himself getting carried away by a stretcher.

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Canopy's eyes grinned, since mouth movement was a bit restrictive for Trents.
She slung a large sack over her shoulder and handed one to Ashling.
Her grin turned mischievous.

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"Archmage?..."
A young Fae woman peeked around from the tree. In front of her was a cliff line that overlooked a small portion of Vallen Forest, the "capital city" of the Fae if you could call it that.
Archmage Azrial sat on the edge of the cliff, his feet dangling off the edge dangerously. He turned his head slightly when the young woman spoke.
"Yes ma'am?"
The Fae woman stepped from behind the tree and bowed gracefully in front of him. He stood and returned the gesture.
"Queen Rendi is still refusing to give aid for the search. She mentioned something about him being the spawn of everything that is evil and wouldn't talk about it afterward."
Azrial sighed. "That's...not surprising. But it's also already taken care of. I sent word to Cougar this morning and he agreed to lend a Tenderer. I surely hope that's not all you wanted to tell me..."
The Fae shook her head. "No, Archmage. Our forces intercepted a Trow squad on its way to Shanrah. Seems as though Phalanx still wants a shot at us."
Azrial snorted.
"Anyways...we confiscated their belongings. Most of it was trivial, second-hand equipment, but one of them was keeping a stack of letters he was planning on sending home. We had already let them go a week ago, but these letters just got here yesterday. In them, there's many mentions of...meeting up with a human. White top hat, red hair, cane. They never got his name, but..."
Azrial eyed her squarely. "Do we know where they are?"
"No, Archmage. We never bothered to track them after we let them go. I'm sorry..."
Azrial sighed. "Get one of our connections. Track them down. Just one, though. This is important, but it's not urgent. Do not get distracted from the war."
"Yes, Archmage." The woman bowed and left.

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A nicely decorated Fae entered the campground. More decorated than anyone there had seen, anyways. He stood taller than most and had bright blond hair that was cut close to his head.
He cleared his throat and called out. He must have used wind magic because everyone in the camp was able to hear it clearly.
"Saturnine Rhapsody! Please report to the southern entrance immediately!"

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"Was this really necessary?"
"He was a traitor. And even if he wasn't, he gave us up. Either way, he's useless to us, and the mission was a failure because of him."
"He could have...I don't know, done something else with his life..."
Three Trow men looked up at the limp figure of their former fourth member. It was hanging from a tree by a piece of rope, swinging gently in the breeze.
The first speaker turned to the second. "Like what? With all of the intel he had, he'd have been a walking squackbox. Everything would have been blown."
The second speaker looked at their third member. "Theridan...what do you make of this, huh?"
The first interjected before Theridan could reply. "It doesn't matter. We have to keep moving to Zangar. When they find out we were in contact with hat man...thanks to the traitor's letters...they'll be all over us. Theridan," He turned to look at Theridan, "I know you're new to the group, and that you're just an escort till we get back to Zangar, so let this be an example. Don't ******** up." He turned and began walking back to the roadway. "Come on. No time to lose. We gotta report failure back to Lord Phalanx. Can't be more than two days away."

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"Hahaha, man, you see the way that tree burnt? Man, it was all 'RAWR, IHMA CRUSH YOU!' and I was like 'Yeah? Crush MAH FLAMETHROWER!'"
All of the uniformed men around the table in the little tavern busted out laughing. The speaker stood up and held his mug up.
"I gotta say...I love you guys...and I love mankind. To humanity!"
Everyone touched mugs. "To humanity!"
"To the UEC!"
"To the UEC!"
"To Asmo-"
The door opened and a decorated soldier stepped through. All of the men at the table stood and immediately saluted.
The colonel saluted back and nodded, then scanned the room.
"Excuse me...I'm looking for a mister Donnie DuPont."

((Alright, everyone's introduced...though not necessarily in the best of ways. Once things pick up, it'll get better.

BIG P.S - The last post on the front page now contains a sort of prologue to this RP. I've been getting lots of questions, and I know I haven't been doing the greatest of jobs being specific about the races, so with this post I'm hoping to at least partially rectify that.))  

[SiberDrac]

((I says a w00t.))

Nine was thinking to himself. He was being nostalgic, really. It had been... well, it had been a glorious week. He breathed deeply, ignoring the squirming coming from his seat. Glorious.

"...and what are they called?"

"I'm trying to remember, it started with a kind of 'kuh' sound. Can't remember..."

Nine picked one up and dangled it in front of him speculatively. "Looks like they must be storage devices. Perhaps... oh! You know what? You know those things the humans are always eating - hot dogs? Yes! Maybe these are hot dog holders."

"Ooh, you're right! They're just the same shape all stretched out like that. And look! There's a bulb at the end to help push it back out when you eat it!"

"Fascinating! You know what would be fun, my thieving friend?"

"I'm sure your sadistic brain has cooked something up already."

"Quite so! These... hot dog holders... see how they're packaged? With the proper application of wind magic, I imagine I could punch holes in the closed end without disrupting the outer covering! Then, when they put the hotdog in, it would just slip out the other side!"

"Especially these ones with the slick stuff inside! You should have been born a Trow."

"Ah, but then, I wouldn't be able to do this at all. Thank you so much, my good fellow."

Six hours later...

"There! Two whole crates of them. And you can get them back unseen?"

"I'm a Trow, Nine. It's what I do. And! I remembered what they're called - Kohnd'ums."

"Kohnd'ums... very strange, but the humans are odd. Very well - return these altered Kohnd'ums to their rightful owners. Good luck!"

A glorious week. As far as he knew, both cartons had been used. "Saturnine Rhapsody!" He whipped his head towards the caller, long, unkempt white hair and associated teeth and feathers sweeping through the air as he did. That was strange; few people used his whole name unless he was being punished. He hadn't eaten a pet in almost two weeks, and his last trap door had been "discovered" almost three days ago. Oh, how that old biddy had howled!

He sighed and stood, then turned around and pointed angrily at the young man cowering on the ground and gasping for breath, finally relieved of the weight on his lungs. "You! I'll save your appendectomy for later. Don't wipe off the surgical guidelines, either, or I'll have to go in blind!" The poor Fae looked fervently from the painted line encircling his elbow to the one that spanned his chest, but nodded quickly, anyway.

Southern entrance. Nine frowned as he sauntered towards it. Southern entrance was no fun at all.  

[Venom3001]

Theridan sighed. What a waste. It was the fourth one's own fault, to be fair, at least insofar as Theridan could see. He didn't share the lust for elven blood most of his fellows seemed to feel. "Let's just go. A lot can go wrong in two days, so we need to keep on our toes," he replied wearily.  

[KaosHavok]

As the young Fae approached, the military officer bowed. "Mr. Rhapsody...your aid has been requested." He straightened back up and smiled. "How would you like to meet your dear old Trow friends again?"

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The leader of the gang nodded while the second speaker frowned in disapproval. "Good, that's what I like to hear..."
He grinned maliciously. "Who knows? Maybe we'll find a wanderer or two and pick up some pretty gifts on the way?"
They reached a clearing where four horses awaited. The 2 gang members mounted theirs. The second one took a quick look around. "We also gotta look out for other gangs..." He looked to Theridan. "Ya ain't afraid to kill a man are ya?"  

[Venom3001]

"If by a man you mean one of us? I'd rather not. Never done it before, and with the offworlders here, it seems like a bad time to pick up the habit," Theridan replied, false nonchalance and his need to appear strong before the others keeping his voice from shaking at the thought. "The aliens, though? They sure as hell aren't people; we learned that much when they struck the neutral ground. Whatever we do to them, they've earned."  

[SiberDrac]

"My aid?!" Nine looked around, found a beat-up flower pot, and stepped on it with one foot, holding himself in a heroic pose. "I shall rend them limb from limb! I shall exsanguinate certain body parts while sealing off all the veins from others! They shall know the true wrath of the Fey!" With the last words, a small whirlwind flipped his hair in circles and sent leaves flying harmlessly at the caller's face.  

[Isa-sama]

Ashling rolled her eyes at Canopy's antics. Canopy was perhaps the only Trent that Ashling had any patience for (and vice versa). She hefted the bag over her shoulder and walked along with Canopy, hoping to fight someone while traveling. I could certainly use the stress relief from dealing with the Tendering snobs.

As the two walked, Ashling turned to give Canopy a skeptical look. She smirked at the thought of brutally injuring some Trow. Or anyone really.  

[SirBayer]

Trajan allowed himself to be carried away. Only semi-conscious of the world around him, he tried to keep his eyes open, looking for his weapons. His handgun was probably still strapped to his thigh, and the grenades were probably still on his jacket. At least he was armed well enough to resist some surprise attack. If only his balance would come back.  

[KaosHavok]

The leader of the gang smirked at Theridan. "A sense of morals and pride; that is a rarity among the Trow of these parts. I'd keep that to myself if I's you; they'd be tellin ya to go flirt with the hippie Dryads or with those survivors of Catacomb."
He nodded his head. "I can respect that. Name's Filly. One word about it being a girly name and you may not wake up tomorrow."
The second man nodded afterward. "Name's Phallo. Filly's mah older brother. Don't go thinkin you 'n I are friends, though, just cuz mah bro likes ya."
They both whipped their horses and set out down the trail. Night was approaching, and an ease settled over them. Very few Trow did not prefer the night of day.

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"Haha, uhh...bit excited?" The Fae officer was obviously a bit put off by Nine's eccentric display, trying to be subtle behind a nervous smile. "Well, we won't be needing all that violence...we just need you to tail a small Trow gang and get what info you can out of them. They met with someone we're a great deal interested in, and we need you to get that info out of 'em." His voice lowered and his tone darkened a bit. "By any means necessary."
He handed Nine a note with the 3 Trows' descriptions. "They passed by here recently, heading north, according to scouts. Well, according to their bodies, to be more precise. They've recently rendezvoused with a military escort, so they're most likely going to Zangar. You'll need to be careful.
Leave when you're prepared, but please don't dawdle. Archmage Azrial himself is anticipating the results of this mission."

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<...and as you can see, Dryads are literally the most useless pieces of scum on Bell. The Trow come close, but at least they have the sense to ally with Ulla. You're not listening!>
The Trents' trek continued. Night was slowly falling.


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"...ive him a se..ative."
Trajan dully felt someone stick a syringe in his arm, then promptly dozed off.

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"...he awake?"
"Yeah, I think he's coming to."
"Excellent. Once he can walk, send him to my quarters."
"Yes, Major Perry."
Trajan was lying on a bed. He felt drowsy, which meant they'd given him some kind of medicine. Most likely to restore his senses.
He recognized the room he was in as one inside of the ships. There was a nurse standing over him shining a small flashlight in his eye.
"Mr. Jordan, you are aboard the Flagship, Anabel Lee."
She held up three fingers. "Can you tell me how many fingers I'm holding up?"  

[Venom3001]

Theridan smiled faintly. "I don't need you to like me, I just need both of you to live until we make it t' Zangar... And I can't really imagine our goals conflicting in that respect." He sighed. "A shame we can't push the horses harder, get there faster.... Alas."  

[SiberDrac]

No violence? No uncertain surgical procedures? What kind of madhouse was this? And... tail? As in, to nail a tail to? A strange quest, but a quest nonetheless.

He looked carefully at the descriptions. Killable... murderable... slaughterable... Good, no immortals like myself; I'll be fine. "I am excited!" he said brightly. "A chance to make amends, and rendezvous with friends - poetry indeed!"

Nine made his thanks and dashed back to his small hut to prepare. He gathered knives (skinning and hunting), a water skein, a wine skein, a blood skein, and boots. The Archmage wanted him to do something? He narrowed his eyes. The Archmage wanted someone expendable. Someone Aros could afford to lose. Admittedly, also someone who already had Trow relations.

Then again - people had already been killed. Clearly, he was considered a more powerful, more able, or better connected soul. And so, to the north he went. Hopefully, he'd run into some sign of their passing, but with Trow, it'd be difficult to tell.