EPTThe First part can be found here: http://www.teamliquid.net/blogs/viewblog.php?id=423066
Hey Guys, this is the second and final part of the Rollplay Beginnings. Thanks for reading and please continue to support Rollplay.
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TenchiSaWaDa
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Beginnings Part 2
'These people are very strange' The prince thought to himself. As he walked along side his two newest companions. The two elves were chatting together in their own language. Of what, he did not know. Tudagub, his half-ogre friend, was drinking out of his wineskin. Shaking his head, Vincent returned his eyes towards the road.
It was strange though, walking with these people. His usual company was either with snobby nobles or pompous knights. Sometimes, his eye caught onto a fair maiden and spent the night with her, but not often. He was bored, in short, of the castle. Being anyone other than the First prince, Vincent got the pleasant task of sitting there and looking pretty, nothing else. He had no claim to the throne and was not a scholar, so he could not pursue that field either. He trained hard under his tutors, worked his way into the military, earning his keep.
But his father, King Longborn, knew, or probably inferred, his boredom and gave Vincent a quest. To bring back an item of great power and value, to explore the world. Vincent almost snorted as he heard the words in his head once more. His father might as well have said to go out and kick it for a few years.
Vincent scanned the tree line once more, muscle memory moving and guiding him. He almost froze as he saw a flicker of movement. The highborn did not squint to see the shadow clearly or even twitch his hands. He simply kept scanning the tree line, looking for more shadows. It could have been a deer, a rabbit even, but if there were more flickers than...
The male elf bumped into him, their shoulders touching briefly. Vincent looked over to the elf, Bregor. Immediately, Vincent understood from the look on Bregor's face. It was sharp, focused, and looking past Vincent, at something behind him.
'How many' Vincent asked Bregor. Though not out loud. He willed himself to think of it as loud as he could, as if trying to send the message directly to Bregor's mind. Bregor smirked, getting the message. The ranger mouthed, 'Six'.
A shadow flickered in the treeline behind Tudagub. Tudagub, who was still drinking, seemed to have noticed the other males' interaction and while his left hand was holding the wineskin steady for his mouth, his right hand was on his maul.
“NOW!” Vincent heard a call from behind him. 6 Men came pouring out of the trees. 3 of them charged at Him and Bregor, the other three moved to attack Tudagub and Abigael. Vincent noted, almost subconsciously, that these men were dirty and had rusty weapons. 'Bandits' Vincent thought with annoyance.
Abigael, who had been playing with her ferret, immediately took out a dagger and threw it at one of her attackers. The Dagger flew true and straight into the right eye of poor soul. With a squelch and a thud, the man fell to the ground. Mr. mugwuggles crawled down Abigael's arm and jumped into her pouch to hide.
Tudagub, still drinking, grabbed his maul and swung it upwards. The man closest to the half-ogre cleric, fell backwards as the maul cracked his chin. As he was falling backwards, the man swung wildly, cutting the healer's wineskin. Tudagub stared in horror as his precious wine dripped onto the floor. The man on the ground groaned in pain as he blinked his eyes rapidly to clear his vision. He saw a large figure standing over him.
“You spilled my wine, I spill your brains.” Tudagub smashed into the man's face, caving in the man's skull.
Vincent ducked as a blade passed over his head. He stabbed sharply at the man's center of mass, making sure to keep his shield in front of him. His opponent moved to his left, Vincent's strike nicking his side. Vincent spun around, slicing as he did so, using his momentum to add power and speed. The man screamed once in pain as a large gash appeared across his chest. The prince watched as the bandit fell to the ground, bleeding out.
“Watch out!” A voice called out from behind him. Vincent spun around, raising his shield. Just in time, as a mace smashed into him, knocking him backwards. The mace wielder moved in to strike again but an arrow immediately lodged itself into his neck. Vincent gave a quick nod to his friend and faced his final opponent. This one stood angrily, wielding a large two handed sword.
Abigael rolled backwards, avoiding an overhead strike from a club. The club wielding, and quite disgusting looking in Abigael's opinion, human ran after her.
“A little help here!” Abigael cried out. Dodging out of the way of another swing, Abigael jumped backwards in hopes of gaining distance. The man raised his club again, to strike. A Maul clipped the back of the man's head. The burly man fell flat on his face, club leaving his hand. Not wasting time, the female elf immediately stabbed the man's neck, ending his life.
“Uggh,” Abigael groaned. She hated blood, it got all over the loot. Taking out and cleaning her dagger, the thief moved to loot the bodies.
“Aren't you going to help the others?” A gruff voiced called to her. The elf looked up at the ogre, who was drinking from a cut wineskin.
Abigael looked at her fellow elf and the human, who were doing battle with a two handed sword wielding warrior. She shrugged. “Eh, I think they've got it. Plus, I want the loot. First come, first serve.” She said as she started to check the fresh corpse's pockets. 'ohh, some gold' the thief thought to herself excitedly.
'Damn it all to hell' Vincent thought to himself. The two handed sword smashed into his shield, causing him to stumble backwards. Vincent readied his sword to stab at the final bandit, when he felt a pierce in his arm.
“Shit, sorry Vincent.” The elf called out, sounding embarrassed.
Vincent stepped backwards, half keeping an eye on the bandit, the other half looking down at his arm. An arrow was stuck in his arm, luckily it was quite shallow. Dropping his shield, Vincent grabbed the arrow and pulled it out. “No worries friend.” Vincent growled out, gritting his teeth in annoyance. “Just be more careful next time.” Bregor nodded and raised his bow to fire, but as if some god had it out for the poor elf, the bow slipped out of his fingers.
Vincent's jaw dropped in shock. “How the hell-” Vincent back peddled to avoid a swing from his attacker. Vincent glared at the attacker as if to say 'I'M TALKING HERE!' and turned back to Bregor.
“How the hell do you even drop your bow!? I thought you were a Ranger?” Vincent called out in exasperation. Bregor sighed as he bent down to pick up his bow.
“Self trained ranger. I should probably just stop fighting right now. It seems once I get 1 event of bad luck, it seems to stick for awhile.” Vincent, right there, just wanted to throw his hands in the air and yell in exasperation. What was with these peasants? Was every adventurer as crazy as this?!
The two handed bandit yelled in anger of being ignored and charged at Vincent, with an overhead swing. Vincent, sensing the attack, rolled forward and stabbing upwards. His blade cleanly entering the man's abdomen. The bandit's eyes widened in shock and then dimmed as he fell backwards to the ground.
Vincent sighed as he stood up, cracking his back. He looked down and blinked. Not even 23 seconds had passed and the female elf had started to loot the body. The man was still dying and she was looting his body.
“Are you really that gold hungry, Abigael” Vincent asked as he picked up his shield.
Abigael raised an eye brow at him. “Aren't you?” The thief pocketed more gold and moved onto other bodies. Bregor shrugged and walked towards the rest of the party. And for some reason, Bregor tripped over one of the bodies.
Strange. These people were so damn strange. Vincent thought to himself. A self trained, anorexic ranger, a gold-hungry, ferret owning thief, and a drunk, half-ogre cleric. Vincent shook his head as he chuckled to himself. And he was the Prince with a Quest, that was actually a vacation. What the hell had he gotten himself into.
----------------------------------------------
“Here is your item, Undamaged.” Bregor gently laid the sack onto the table. The clerk took the bag, opened it slightly before nodding towards the party. “Thank you and here is your payment. Please leave as I have to go close up for the day.” The man handed them a small sack of gold and moved towards the backroom.
Bregor turned towards the rest of his new party and smiled. “A job well done. I saw a bar back there, should we head there to split the gold.”
The human nodded. “I think we should stick together for now. At least till we get a new job. Safety in numbers and all.”
Bregor nodded. “Sounds like a plan.”
And the party went to an Inn.
--------------------------------------------------------------
“Good, very good.” The hooded figure whispered to himself. A tall, skinny man looked at the mirror in front of him. Except, the mirror was not showing his reflection but rather: a human, two elves and a half ogre sitting at an inn.
“Up to your meddling ways, I assume, Neal.”
Neal didn't bother turning around to face his visitor. He had felt his presence enter this world, moments ago.
“What are you doing here, I thought you were toying with those... fanatics.” Neal smirked. He could feel the annoyance coming from the visitor.
“They are not fanatics, merely, unified. More than I can say for your pitiful planet.”
Neal turned around, crossing his arms. “This planet is special, as I have told you countless times. And as I have proven.” Neal gestured towards the mirror. “Four of them, together.”
His visitor paused. The man was pale, like Neal, but had longer, lighter shade of brown hair. Instead of a cloak, the man wore some type of heavy armor, that glinted from the Mirror's light.
“I see. Strange.” The man whispered.
Neal raised an eye brow. “What is it, Lumpkin? Strange that I am right once again?”
Steve snorted, shaking his head. “For the last time call me Steve, Erickson. No, its not that. Its just...” Steve sighed as he looked at Neal. “Four have gathered in my realm as well. Four Unbound, Neal. Exactly.”
Neal froze. The implications of such a meeting. “A...” Neal swallowed, a lump building his throat. “A synergy?”
Steve shrugged. “If this is true, you might want to check on your other realms, see if other Unbound are gathering as well. If this is truly a synergy...” Steve's voice trailed off.
The two Unbound paused, staring at the mirror. Both realizing the implication of a synergy, of War of the Unbound.
Neal closed his eyes. “You have your duty, I have mine. We shall see where this goes. Though I cannot predict how it will end.”
Steve snorted at the comment. “Of course you can't. We're Unbound. We never know what is going to happen.”
With that, Steve disappeared in a swirl of purple, chaotic energy. Neal watched him go, before turning back to the mirror. Watching as a red, cloaked figure approach the Bartender.
Neal smiled. Yes. He did not know where this would go. He did not know what they would face. He did not know what he, himself, would face. But he did know one thing.
Everyone would have a Role to Play.
'These people are very strange' The prince thought to himself. As he walked along side his two newest companions. The two elves were chatting together in their own language. Of what, he did not know. Tudagub, his half-ogre friend, was drinking out of his wineskin. Shaking his head, Vincent returned his eyes towards the road.
It was strange though, walking with these people. His usual company was either with snobby nobles or pompous knights. Sometimes, his eye caught onto a fair maiden and spent the night with her, but not often. He was bored, in short, of the castle. Being anyone other than the First prince, Vincent got the pleasant task of sitting there and looking pretty, nothing else. He had no claim to the throne and was not a scholar, so he could not pursue that field either. He trained hard under his tutors, worked his way into the military, earning his keep.
But his father, King Longborn, knew, or probably inferred, his boredom and gave Vincent a quest. To bring back an item of great power and value, to explore the world. Vincent almost snorted as he heard the words in his head once more. His father might as well have said to go out and kick it for a few years.
Vincent scanned the tree line once more, muscle memory moving and guiding him. He almost froze as he saw a flicker of movement. The highborn did not squint to see the shadow clearly or even twitch his hands. He simply kept scanning the tree line, looking for more shadows. It could have been a deer, a rabbit even, but if there were more flickers than...
The male elf bumped into him, their shoulders touching briefly. Vincent looked over to the elf, Bregor. Immediately, Vincent understood from the look on Bregor's face. It was sharp, focused, and looking past Vincent, at something behind him.
'How many' Vincent asked Bregor. Though not out loud. He willed himself to think of it as loud as he could, as if trying to send the message directly to Bregor's mind. Bregor smirked, getting the message. The ranger mouthed, 'Six'.
A shadow flickered in the treeline behind Tudagub. Tudagub, who was still drinking, seemed to have noticed the other males' interaction and while his left hand was holding the wineskin steady for his mouth, his right hand was on his maul.
“NOW!” Vincent heard a call from behind him. 6 Men came pouring out of the trees. 3 of them charged at Him and Bregor, the other three moved to attack Tudagub and Abigael. Vincent noted, almost subconsciously, that these men were dirty and had rusty weapons. 'Bandits' Vincent thought with annoyance.
Abigael, who had been playing with her ferret, immediately took out a dagger and threw it at one of her attackers. The Dagger flew true and straight into the right eye of poor soul. With a squelch and a thud, the man fell to the ground. Mr. mugwuggles crawled down Abigael's arm and jumped into her pouch to hide.
Tudagub, still drinking, grabbed his maul and swung it upwards. The man closest to the half-ogre cleric, fell backwards as the maul cracked his chin. As he was falling backwards, the man swung wildly, cutting the healer's wineskin. Tudagub stared in horror as his precious wine dripped onto the floor. The man on the ground groaned in pain as he blinked his eyes rapidly to clear his vision. He saw a large figure standing over him.
“You spilled my wine, I spill your brains.” Tudagub smashed into the man's face, caving in the man's skull.
Vincent ducked as a blade passed over his head. He stabbed sharply at the man's center of mass, making sure to keep his shield in front of him. His opponent moved to his left, Vincent's strike nicking his side. Vincent spun around, slicing as he did so, using his momentum to add power and speed. The man screamed once in pain as a large gash appeared across his chest. The prince watched as the bandit fell to the ground, bleeding out.
“Watch out!” A voice called out from behind him. Vincent spun around, raising his shield. Just in time, as a mace smashed into him, knocking him backwards. The mace wielder moved in to strike again but an arrow immediately lodged itself into his neck. Vincent gave a quick nod to his friend and faced his final opponent. This one stood angrily, wielding a large two handed sword.
Abigael rolled backwards, avoiding an overhead strike from a club. The club wielding, and quite disgusting looking in Abigael's opinion, human ran after her.
“A little help here!” Abigael cried out. Dodging out of the way of another swing, Abigael jumped backwards in hopes of gaining distance. The man raised his club again, to strike. A Maul clipped the back of the man's head. The burly man fell flat on his face, club leaving his hand. Not wasting time, the female elf immediately stabbed the man's neck, ending his life.
“Uggh,” Abigael groaned. She hated blood, it got all over the loot. Taking out and cleaning her dagger, the thief moved to loot the bodies.
“Aren't you going to help the others?” A gruff voiced called to her. The elf looked up at the ogre, who was drinking from a cut wineskin.
Abigael looked at her fellow elf and the human, who were doing battle with a two handed sword wielding warrior. She shrugged. “Eh, I think they've got it. Plus, I want the loot. First come, first serve.” She said as she started to check the fresh corpse's pockets. 'ohh, some gold' the thief thought to herself excitedly.
'Damn it all to hell' Vincent thought to himself. The two handed sword smashed into his shield, causing him to stumble backwards. Vincent readied his sword to stab at the final bandit, when he felt a pierce in his arm.
“Shit, sorry Vincent.” The elf called out, sounding embarrassed.
Vincent stepped backwards, half keeping an eye on the bandit, the other half looking down at his arm. An arrow was stuck in his arm, luckily it was quite shallow. Dropping his shield, Vincent grabbed the arrow and pulled it out. “No worries friend.” Vincent growled out, gritting his teeth in annoyance. “Just be more careful next time.” Bregor nodded and raised his bow to fire, but as if some god had it out for the poor elf, the bow slipped out of his fingers.
Vincent's jaw dropped in shock. “How the hell-” Vincent back peddled to avoid a swing from his attacker. Vincent glared at the attacker as if to say 'I'M TALKING HERE!' and turned back to Bregor.
“How the hell do you even drop your bow!? I thought you were a Ranger?” Vincent called out in exasperation. Bregor sighed as he bent down to pick up his bow.
“Self trained ranger. I should probably just stop fighting right now. It seems once I get 1 event of bad luck, it seems to stick for awhile.” Vincent, right there, just wanted to throw his hands in the air and yell in exasperation. What was with these peasants? Was every adventurer as crazy as this?!
The two handed bandit yelled in anger of being ignored and charged at Vincent, with an overhead swing. Vincent, sensing the attack, rolled forward and stabbing upwards. His blade cleanly entering the man's abdomen. The bandit's eyes widened in shock and then dimmed as he fell backwards to the ground.
Vincent sighed as he stood up, cracking his back. He looked down and blinked. Not even 23 seconds had passed and the female elf had started to loot the body. The man was still dying and she was looting his body.
“Are you really that gold hungry, Abigael” Vincent asked as he picked up his shield.
Abigael raised an eye brow at him. “Aren't you?” The thief pocketed more gold and moved onto other bodies. Bregor shrugged and walked towards the rest of the party. And for some reason, Bregor tripped over one of the bodies.
Strange. These people were so damn strange. Vincent thought to himself. A self trained, anorexic ranger, a gold-hungry, ferret owning thief, and a drunk, half-ogre cleric. Vincent shook his head as he chuckled to himself. And he was the Prince with a Quest, that was actually a vacation. What the hell had he gotten himself into.
----------------------------------------------
“Here is your item, Undamaged.” Bregor gently laid the sack onto the table. The clerk took the bag, opened it slightly before nodding towards the party. “Thank you and here is your payment. Please leave as I have to go close up for the day.” The man handed them a small sack of gold and moved towards the backroom.
Bregor turned towards the rest of his new party and smiled. “A job well done. I saw a bar back there, should we head there to split the gold.”
The human nodded. “I think we should stick together for now. At least till we get a new job. Safety in numbers and all.”
Bregor nodded. “Sounds like a plan.”
And the party went to an Inn.
--------------------------------------------------------------
“Good, very good.” The hooded figure whispered to himself. A tall, skinny man looked at the mirror in front of him. Except, the mirror was not showing his reflection but rather: a human, two elves and a half ogre sitting at an inn.
“Up to your meddling ways, I assume, Neal.”
Neal didn't bother turning around to face his visitor. He had felt his presence enter this world, moments ago.
“What are you doing here, I thought you were toying with those... fanatics.” Neal smirked. He could feel the annoyance coming from the visitor.
“They are not fanatics, merely, unified. More than I can say for your pitiful planet.”
Neal turned around, crossing his arms. “This planet is special, as I have told you countless times. And as I have proven.” Neal gestured towards the mirror. “Four of them, together.”
His visitor paused. The man was pale, like Neal, but had longer, lighter shade of brown hair. Instead of a cloak, the man wore some type of heavy armor, that glinted from the Mirror's light.
“I see. Strange.” The man whispered.
Neal raised an eye brow. “What is it, Lumpkin? Strange that I am right once again?”
Steve snorted, shaking his head. “For the last time call me Steve, Erickson. No, its not that. Its just...” Steve sighed as he looked at Neal. “Four have gathered in my realm as well. Four Unbound, Neal. Exactly.”
Neal froze. The implications of such a meeting. “A...” Neal swallowed, a lump building his throat. “A synergy?”
Steve shrugged. “If this is true, you might want to check on your other realms, see if other Unbound are gathering as well. If this is truly a synergy...” Steve's voice trailed off.
The two Unbound paused, staring at the mirror. Both realizing the implication of a synergy, of War of the Unbound.
Neal closed his eyes. “You have your duty, I have mine. We shall see where this goes. Though I cannot predict how it will end.”
Steve snorted at the comment. “Of course you can't. We're Unbound. We never know what is going to happen.”
With that, Steve disappeared in a swirl of purple, chaotic energy. Neal watched him go, before turning back to the mirror. Watching as a red, cloaked figure approach the Bartender.
Neal smiled. Yes. He did not know where this would go. He did not know what they would face. He did not know what he, himself, would face. But he did know one thing.
Everyone would have a Role to Play.
