Cold Hard Cash

[Order]

Warriors Wanted!
(High potential for making money!)

I would like a group of fighters to attack a group of pirates who have recently stolen a shipment of goods bound for the port town of Headwind.
The ship they boarded, raided and eventually sank was carrying very expensive cargo including gold, furniture, weapons and livestock. The shipment was intended to be a show of good faith toward foreign leaders, but now that the pirates have intervened it has become a sign of weakness.
I am willing to pay partially in advance, holding the final payment until delivery of either the stolen goods or evidence of the pirate’s demise.

Serious inquiries only!!!



Lumis scanned the page in his hands with wide eyes. He hadn't found any work that sounded worth while since he moved to Hayfield. Despite the size and sheer population of the city, there was almost no work for a young man with a strong back. Lumis had tried waiting tables, but the customers in Hayfield were inconsiderate and even just plain obnoxious. He held a job at the iron melting and casting plant at the center of the city for two days. Apparently, molten iron can be catastrophically inconvenient when spilled, even in small quantities, but especially when a whole vat is innocently over filled by distracted apprentice in the company of a gorgeous, young lady.
Yes, the economic situation of Hayfield was having a decidedly negative effect on Lumis' ability to avoid hunger. And rain. And cold.
Somehow, all the fat-cats of Hayfield felt no empathy for a down-on-his-luck youngster. They offered only bits of change and never enough for a real meal or a warm bath.
As hungry, dirty, stiff-necked Lumis gripped that piece of parchment between his thinning fingers, he saw before him the life he had dreamed of when he left his family and friends behind. The adventure of never knowing what town he would visit tomorrow; the excitement of engaging formidable enemies in mortal combat; the honor and pride of victory over impossible odds; especially the fame and money that came with all that fun.
Dusty-haired Lumis licked his lips as he rolled up the scroll so that no other young men would be able to read it. He hid the writing in his shirt and took his first step toward the man behind the counter of the bar. Lumis felt light, as if he was floating toward the back of the room. He glided past tables and glanced past patrons before locking eyes with the bar owner. Finally, as the young, desperate Lumis made contact with the brass embroidering of the counter top, he opened his mouth to greet the scruffy old man.
His throat was dry, his tongue wiggled stupidly and his eyes widened from surprise.

"No." The bald-headed, gray-bearded old man stated it factually as he immediately turned away from the ragged boy. Lumis inhaled sharply and clenched his jaw before bursting out,
"Hey! I've got a serious inquiry here!" The bar owner's ears visibly perked as he stopped dead in his tracks. He paused a moment before turning to face Lumis once again and stepped toward him quickly,
"You mean, you're interested in the--" The old man stopped abruptly to look around for eavesdroppers, then lowered his voice, "--interested in the pirate job?"
Lumis grinned with satisfaction, this is what everyone should act like when approached by a model of a young man that he is. People should be excited, no honored when handsome Lumis inquires for a job!
"That's right, old man. Me and my boys are tough enough to take on this whole city. A feeble gang of pirates would be no challenge at all for my mighty warriors. See, I dress this way so that the locals don't recognize me from my campaigns abroad. I wouldn't be able to get anything done with every young lady in the city begging for my attention!" The old man smiled and bowed his head slightly before regaining eye contact,
"Sir, I'm so happy you came to my humble bar!" He extended a hand to shake Lumis fading digits, "I've been given ten gold coins to ensure that the job is taken seriously and I would gladly give it to you... Uh..."
"Lumis." The young vagabond offered.
"Lumis, of course! The name anyone would suspect of a hardened mercenary!" The old man reached under the counter and shoved a cloth sack into Lumis' waiting hands. "Have your boys meet my contact in the port town Headwind. You'll know him by the hooded robe with a red rope tied around the waist he always wears."
"Consider the mission already completed, sir. I'll be back in two weeks, give or take a day!" Lumis grinned, shook the old man's hand and marched out the door with his head held high for the first time in months.
However, as young Lumis exited the seedy bar, he realized what he had actually said to the old man. Lumis had no band of mercenaries. At that, Lumis had never even met a mercenary. What do they look like? Where do they spend their free time? How would Lumis recruit a warrior with only ten gold.
But ten gold!
The things a young, desperate boy could do with ten gold! As Lumis unwrapped the cloth pouch of coins, thoughts of sizzling steaks and steaming vegetables teased his palate. The shelter of a warm room, the comfort of a warm bath and the company of a pretty, young girl all tantalized his mind's eye.




Spoiler/insight:
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Essentially, this mission is going to turn out to be a set up. The contact at the bar is going to refer the heroes to the port town of Headwind. At a bar in Headwind, the heroes will be introduced to a shady character who won’t really be able to elaborate on the intended mission.
Eventually, the shady character will throw off his robe and the heroes will realize he’s actually a pirate and that everyone else in the bar is there to kill them.
These cheap, sleazy pirates have made a living for years ripping off hopeful adventurers even if just for the sport of it.
The heroes will win the battle and discover that the port town of Headwind has been under the thumb of these thugs for decades. With their new found freedom, the people of Headwind don’t know what to do with themselves. They beg the heroes to stay and keep them safe in exchange for royal treatment.
The heroes will instead be approached by the mayor of the town who will ask them to re-establish Headwind as the new hub of trade for the continent. This requires them to make a nearby cove safe, as rumors have spread that a terrible beast lurks in the rocky waters.
Having been paid to report to the king who rules the continent that all was well for so long, the mayor of Headwind is quite rich. He offers to give the heroes a ship and to outfit them with gear for the coming battle in addition to a reward upon investigation of the cove.

Once at the cove, the heroes will engage several water creatures and eventually a dragon who is guarding a pile of treasure.
With the dragon defeated, a spirit of luck and fortune will be freed. The spirit will inform the heroes that other spirits are also trapped around the world. If the heroes accept the Spirit’s offer, he will bestow them each with a new skill, spell, weapon or armor (You can decide what you get, but act like it’s random in the RP).

And honestly, it doesn’t have to go exactly like that. Lets say the group takes a vote and decides to ignore the mayor of Headwind and accept the royal treatment from the locals. In that case, the town would be attacked by a clan of thieves who had a deal with the now exterminated pirates.
And so on…

Every decision could be a crossroads. Interactions with various sub-characters will influence the overall story. (EX: if the mayor is ignored, the king may find out he was a fraud and have him executed. The position could be filled by a knight, a barren from a nearby town or what have you).

Bottom line is that I have a story planned out which can be ridden out or modified easily.

[Hobaginator]

"Hey you! Yeah, you there you little raggedy ass nitwit!" Tyro shouted. He was a young man wearing what would have been magnificent knight's armor, but was badly rusted, muddy and battle worn. He had no weapon, shield or helm, and his cloak had been previously torn off at the shoulders. His armor clanked and scraped as he did his best to strut forward while limping on both feet. He did his best to puff his chest out, but he grunted and leaned to the side as he experienced a sharp pain in his back. "Ow... Damn it." He looked Lumis up and down. "Where does a little raggedy ass... nitwit... like you get ten gold, huh? Yeah, that's right..." He paused for a moment, his face turned green and his stomach grumbled audibly. He visibly shifted a wad in his mouth with his tongue and spat a large glob of dark green saliva on the ground.
"Ew!" Screamed a young woman at the ghastly sight. "Gross!"
"Gysahl greens, m'lady." Tyro said, with a halfhearted bow paired with a chivalrous swirl of his hand in her direction. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a fresh wad, shoving it in between his cheek and gums. "Uh, anyways." He said, prodding Lumis in the bony chest with a gauntleted finger. "Like I was sayin'... Why did that old man hand you that money? Ain't no jobs to go around a sleasebag town like this! Whatever shady deal you're tryin' to run in this joint... I want in on it! Otherwise Imma have to hand you an ass whoopin, paladin style!"
"You're a paladin?" Lumis said, in suprise and awe. Tyro shifted uncomfortably, looking down.
"Well, not exactly..." He looked up, with a glossy, determined look in his eyes. "But I was almost a paladin!" He raised a fist in the air. "I was a great warrior once for the MIGHTY town of Dusthelm... but I was kicked out."
"Why?" Lumis said, blankly.
"It was just some bullshit." He said, and spat some more Gysahl juice onto the muddy ground at their feet.
"Aren't Gysahls poisonious to humans?" Lumis said, with a slight look of concern. The young woman scoffed with disgust, picked up her dress slightly and hurried away.
"Maybe to a little pissant hobo like you!" Tyro spat arrogantly, green juice dripped down his chin.
"Well, maybe I CAN let you in on this job..." Lumis said with a grin. "How do you feel about killing pirates?" He unrolled the parchment from his sleeve.
"Pirates huh?" Tyro said, snatching the paper out of his hand. "Well normally a knight of my caliber reserves his immaculate command of the art of war for more meaningful opponents." He grinned, showing stained teeth with bits of greens jammed in between them. "But this job sounds like a good idea to me! Hell yeah, I'm down." He reached his hand out. "The name's Tyro!"
"Lumis, nice to meet you!" Skeleton like hand met rusty metal gauntlet as they cemented their partnership.
"Hey what do you say we go get some food?" Tyro said as his stomach grumbled audibly once more. "And let me hold half that gold..." He said, eyeing the ten gold Lumis held with a vicelike grip.
"Not a cha-"
"Okay, okay jeeze -- don't get so defensive!" Tyro shuffled in excitement. "I know a great spot to get a hot warm and a meal girl... I mean, a warm bed, pretty meal and a hot... Pretty girl... Ah! You know what I mean! Food, bed, girls! What do you say? Let's go, partner!"

[Order]

Lumis nodded enthusiastically and followed Tyro through the bustling streets of Hayfield. Soon, they had crossed the city and come to the arched enterence of a six floor hotel and restaurant. Tyro stood beside the doorway and motioned to Lumis,
"After you, ya... raggity ass... nitwit..." Tyro blinked as he spoke the insult as if he remembered saying it once before. Lumis brushed the words off as friendly jabs and moseyed into the noisy restaurant.
The pair spent two gold coins on food and decided they would need a bath before any pirates could be appropriately dealt with. Upon speaking with their waitress, Lumis discovered he couldn't just pay for a bath, he would have to pay for a room for the night. Tyro insisted that if they were going to go ahead and rent a room, they may as well buy a massage as well.

So, with full stomachs, clean skin and clothes and their muscles pressed to a long-awaited knot-free state, the pair lay on their separate beds. Tyro stared at the ceiling with an obnoxious grin planted on his face. Lumis lay on his side and looked out the widow at the city as people seemed to crash into each other in hurds. Lumis' imagination was rudely interrupted by a heavy fist pounding on the door.
"Hey! Open up the damn door before I break it! You owe money in there!" Lumis jumped to his feet and searched for the cloth pouch of coins,
"Tyro, where's the money!?" Tyro remained laying on his bed with his hands rested behind his head,
"What do you mean, man? We spent it." For some reason which Lumis could not fathom, Tyro remained smiling as he spoke.
"Spent-- Crap! Uh, Just a minute, man. I'm lookin for my wallet!" Lumis smacked Tyro's foot and shruged at him as if to say 'are you gonna help or what?' The heavy fist pounded on the door once again with a little more conviction as a voice came from the other side,
"I mean it. If I break this door down, I'm gonna break your legs, too! You got exactly five seconds to hit the lock, or I'm gonna hit you!" Lumis began to panic as he frantically waved his hands at Tyro. The failed knight sighed at length before rising to his feet and stuffing a wad of Greens in his cheek. Just as Tyro stood, the man at the door started trying to break it down.
Lumis drew his crappy dagger and gripped it with knobby fingers. Tyro nodded toward Lumis, signaling him to stand behind the door so that the bouncer wouldn't see him when he first entered.
Lumis clenched his jaw and nodded, relieved that he would at least have a chance at a back attack.

[Hobaginator]

Unarmored, wearing nothing but his fresh, clean boxer briefs; the wanna-be-paladin stood to his feet with a grin. He stretched his neck from side to side.
"Lumis toss me a weapon."
"What? All I have is MY knife!" Lumis replied as the bouncer banged on the door with increasing intensity screaming unintelligibly.
"What do you mean to tell me you don't have a backup?" Tyro sneered. "What kind of mercenary are you?"
"Aw come on man I thought you were supposed to be some big shot warrior or something!" Lumis said, nervously. Tyro laughed.
"Ahhh, man relax. I'm just joshin' ya." Tyro said.
"Okay good, now grab your sword and stop messing around! This guy sounds angry!"
"Well, I mean, I was kidding about tossing me a weapon. I really don't have one." Tyro admitted. Lumis' jaw dropped. He looked to the sky, then back at Tyro, stuttering.
"Don't worry, I'm a natural weapon. Monks ain't got shit on me!" Said the failed knight. "Let me just... ah... flex my pecks real quick..." He said, streching his suprisingly muscled chest out, and making each pectoral jump alternately.
Just then, the bouncer broke the door down. His red face contorted into a menacing scowl, framed by a black moustache and bald head. His neck was bigger than his head. He was huge.
"I'll just put that door on your tab also..."
"We don't have any money." Tyro said, as he crouched in a ridiculous pose with his arms over his head, fingers interlocked, stretching his shoulder.
"Well I'll make ya pay with blood!" The bouncer roared, spitting and foaming at the mouth.
"DIEEEEE!" Lumis screamed as he planted a solid stab with the knife to the back of the bouncers head. The dull blade glanced off of the man's skull, leaving a long cut going down the back of his head. The bouncer was so enraged that steam was literally rising off of the top of his head. He turned to face Lumis with a maniacal grin, eyes bloodshot, clearly ready to kill somebody. Lumis dropped the knife and backed against the wall. Before the man could even take a step, a glob of thick green liquid appeared dripping down his ear. The bouncer wiped it off and looked at it, puzzled.
"I know... I know you did not just spit on me..." He turned to face Tyro, who stood there grinning, chewing on his wad of Gysahl greens. "I know you did not just spit on a man of my stature! I'm going to rip your bones out and use them to beat your little friend with when I'm done with y-" He was inturrupted as Tyro spit another glob, but this time into the man's eye. The man screamed and leapt at Tyro, leading with a haymaker from hell. Tyro smartly dodged it.
"Whoops! Oh, you gotta try harder than that big guy!" Tyro said with a taunting tone. "You g-umph!" He was cut short as a left hook landed squarely in his jaw. He collapsed to the ground with a wimper. The man looked down at the crumpled form that was an unconcious Tyro. He turned to face Lumis once more, but as he began to step toward the scrawny young man, Tyro's voice irked him once more.
"Pfft." He spat gysahl juice mixed with blood. "Is that all you can do?" He stood. The bouncer punched Tyro directly in the face with a straight right cross. Tyro collapsed backward into the wall, eyes wide, mouth open, clearly shocked at the power of the punch. Blood began pouring out of his nose as he sat there opening his eyes wide, closing them again with nothing in focus... his pupils danced in circles. He stood, fell, and stood again, using the wall as support. "You call that a punch?" He mumbled groggily into the apparent darkness. "Come on man... I know you got more in you than that..."
"Hmph." The bouncer looked down at his hand. He had a deep gash on his middle knuckle. "I kinda like beating up on you, it's good practice!" He said walking forward. He grabbed Tyro by the wrist and twisted it. Tyro squealed and mumbled. "What's that?" He twisted harder. "What were you going to say?"
"You... could use... more practice..." Tyro wimpered defiantly, blood pouring out of his nose and mouth. "Nut shot!" He roared, summoning his final ounce of strength to do a leaping forward roll, releasing the pressure on the wristlock, all finishing with a rough uppercut to the bouncer's crotch. "Oooooow!" He collapsed to the ground, face down, clutching his hand.
The bouncer roared with laughter. "Metal cup!" He continued laughing. "You think I haven't been around the block a few times in this line of work?"
"Wait!" Lumis shouted. "We can pay!"
"Oh can you?" The bouncer said, with a smirk. "I was enjoying this form just fine."
"We are meeting somebody here." Lumis lied.
"Oh is that so? Who are you meeting?"
"A friend... a warrior we hired!" He continued deepening the lie, with a wild gleam in his eyes. "This warrior isn't going to like that you're beating up on his partners!" Tyro mumbled in agreement from the floor. The bouncer leaned his head back, staring down his nose at Lumis. "He is going to meet us in the restaurant downstairs, he'll have the money!"
"Eight gold? Plus two for me, for cutting me, damaging my hand, and wasting my time." The bouncer replied.
"Yeah... Come on Tyro, lets go downstairs." Lumis knelt down to lend Tyro a hand. Tyro simply turned his face and swatted Lumis' hand away.

Some time passed, and so the pair sat in the restaurant, being eyed by the bouncer.
"Any minute now..." Lumis said nervously.
"I'm sure." The bouncer said. The sun was bound to rise at any minute. "Come sunrise, if this 'warrior' hasn't shown up, I'm going to break you - " The bouncer pointed at Lumis. "With you." The bouncer pointed at Tyro. Tyro simply sat there, staring straight, clicking his jaw side to side and tonguing at his loosened teeth.

[Order]

As Tyro coped with the implications of being out jocked by the super jock bouncer, Lumis scanned the bar intently. As faint hint of sweet perfume grabbed his notice and he turned his attention toward the bar. A young lady with long blonde hair and a white robe sat at the counter and inspected her silverwear in prepairation for her meal. Lumis straightened up in his seat and exclaimed,
"There she is!" He blinked twice, "She's beautiful!"
Tyro lifted his head finally and looked over,
"Go for it, bro. She's all yours!" The bouncer still stood directly behind Tryo with his arms folded. He snorted and replied,
"Is that your warrior?"
"She sure is!" Lumis stood, "She's an assassin or summoner or somthing. I don't remember, we agreed to meet through letters only." The bouncer clicked his tongue against his teeth,
"Is that so..." He unfolded his arms, "You better get your a** over there and get her to pay your tab, kid."
"Right." Lumis strode up next to the attractive girl,
"Excuse me, miss. Me and my partner-- UMPH!" The white robed beauty shoved Lumis aside with a palm to his face without even a sideways glance. Lumis took a step back and scanned her face, but she didn't even seem to acknowlage his existance. She simply wiped her hand off with a napkin and continued sipping her water.
Lumis returned to the table with Tyro and the bouncer, eyes planted on the floor.
"That was cold. I'm sorry, bro." Tyro offered.
"Did you lie to me, you little punk?" The bouncer paced around the corner of the table and towered over Lumis. "Nobody is coming to meet you two screwups. Now you better pay before I modify your bone structure." Lumis shivvered at the thought of the bouncer's threat. Tyro's eyes suddenly shot up and he stood abruptly,
"I can give you my armor as collateral until we can get the money together! We have a job lined up already!" The bouncer chuckled and shook his head,
"Look, wimp..." He pressed his chest against Tyro's. The failed knight immidiately took two steps back. "I've had enough of your lies. Now do you have any money or not?"
"No really!" Lumis stood, "He was a knight of Dusthelm, his armor is worth serious cash, it would make great collateral!" Lumis face conveyed utter despiration.
"Okay, tell you how this is going to happen. We're both going to pick up this supposed armor. If there's no armor, I'm going to hurt you. If it isn't Dusthelm armor, I'm going to hurt both of you. If it's stolen Dusthelm armor, I'm going to *kill* both of you, my father was a knight of Dusthelm." Lumis nodded intently. Tyro puffed out his chest,
"Oh it's mine and it's definately Dusthelm. I just need to polish it up a bit so you can see the emblem."

The bouncer followed Tyro and Lumis back to their room and stood over Tyro's shoulder as he retrieved the armor from under his bunk. The metal was coated with dirt and moss, so badly that it could have been a cheap costume.
"This is it?" The bouncer frowned.
"Yeah, I'll just scrub it in the bathtub and polish it up. It'll take two minutes, buddy!" Tyro grinned wide, showing his moldy teeth which matched his armor.
"Don't try to screw with me, either. I know what Dusthelm armor looks like." The bouncer leaned his head out the doorway of the room and yelled, "Missy! Get me a tub of brasso!" There was a shrill reply from far down the halls of the hotel.
Just as Tyro finished scrubbing the dirt off the metal plates, a brown-haired beauty arrived with a pale full of a yellowish paste.
"Here you are, sir." The sweet girl set the pale next to Tyro and looked him up and down slowly. "Will you need anything else?"
"Not yet." Tyro scooped up a handful of polish and used an old towel to buff the armor's serface. As the ex-knight finished polishing the breastplate, the symbol of Dusthelm was plainly displayed at the center.
"See? There it is!" Lumis quit biting his nails obnoxiously and threw his hands in the air with excitement. The bouncer and the maid both inspected the emblem closely. The bouncer nodded his bald head as the maid attempted to discypher his expression.
"Yep, that'd be Dusthelm. No doubt about it, buddy." The bouncer stood back and folded his arms, "Why didn't you just say so earlier? I would have taken it easy on you jacka**es." Tyro smiled,
"So you'll take the collateral, right?"
"Sure, I'll hold onto it for you. I'll even promise to keep it safe. That armor is something special, you know." Lumis stepped forward and interrupted,
"You're damn right it is, buddy!"

[Hobaginator]

"It's not stolen either. That's MY armor, custom fitted just for me." Tyro said, proudly.
"Why did you let it turn to such garbage? Why are you here in this bar without a single coin to pay your tabs with?" The bouncer replied.
"Listen man, my entire unit was wiped out in our first battle..." Tyro said glumly, looking at the ground. He closed his eyes as he recounted the tragedy. "We were sent on a mission by a corrupt official. We were all supposed to die in that swamp. I'm the only one who made it..."
"Aww..." The maid blurted, and put her soft hand on Tyro's scarred shoulder.
"How did YOU survive when all your other mates were killed?" The bouncer said, eyeing him sidelong.
"Listen here, buddy, I didn't ask to make it out alive! I would have fought to the death to defend my friends --" He shook his head and swallowed hard. "I was knocked unconcious... Nearly died myself. I awoke badly wounded in a Dusthelm hospital."
"What did you fight?" Lumis asked.
"It was a Marlboro... you know, one of those creatures with tentacles, tons of eyes, a huge mouth with fangs. We were supposed to slay it. None of us were prepared for how powerful it was, and we were so bogged down in the swamp that we could barely pull off our tactical formations. In the end it was the coulds of poisonous gas that it exhaled that got us. Through sheer luck I was knocked into a patch of the antidote -- Gysahl Greens."
"So that's why you chew them?" Lumis said with a grin. Tyro chuckled.
"Nah, that's just habit. I got so used to eating them every day to survive the poison that I developed a tolerance, plus I enjoy the buzz."
"That's weird..." The maid said. "A poison is the antidote to a poison..."
"Yeah." Tyro waved his hand through the air nonchalantly. "They teach you all kinds of neat survival tricks like that in the Paladin's Field Guide."
"Hmph," The bouncer crossed his arms over his chest. "I had you pegged for a vagabond. Seems you've seen some real action yourself."
"More than you." Tyro jabbed. "And I better not come back to find my armor missing. Two weeks, give or take a day, and you'll have your money plus interest."
"So uh..." Lumis piped up. "Can we go now?"
"Sure, I'll hold on to this armor set. But if I don't hear back from you in two weeks..."
"Give or take a day!" Lumis added.
"Right... If you two don't pay up this armor is mine."
"Yeah I'll bet you want to take a certified knight's armor." Tyro sneered. "Punk." Lumis grabbed Tyro by the arm and guided him out of the room. With Lumis holding him back, Tyro started jumping around and challenging the bouncer to a rematch when they return.

Once they were outside, the two hi fived and began reminiscing over the events.
"Aw man did you see the look in that girl's eyes man? She totally wanted me... Once she saw that I was actually a knight, man..." Tyro was swooning.
"I know! She was all over you!" Lumis said with a grin. "She was all like, 'oh that's so sad' just so she had an excuse to feel you up, man!"
"Yeah dude! And that white mage girl? She was totally into you man, you just didn't realize it!" Tyro bragged on his young friend.
"Really?"
"Oh heck yeah man, I would know. She walked in and was just staring at you, but when you looked over she was just trying to play it cool. She was just trying to play hard to get. I thought you were going to realize it but I figured I'd let you learn..."
"Aw man! Damn it! Next time..." Lumis said, shaking his head. "Next time I wont give up so easily!"
"That's the spirit! You could have totally had her wrapped around your finger. She was just trying to play hard to get to see if you would take the initiative. Confidence man, that's what they want to see!"
"Aw man, and when we fought that bouncer you took that punch like a champ!" Lumis bragged for Tyro. "You stood up like 'Is that all you can do?' that was awesome!" Tyro laughed.
"Yeah, he couldn't handle it man. I didn't want to hit him because I knew I would kill him if I gave him a real Dusthelm Knight's punch!" Tyro said, wiggling his fist. "Dude if you had anything other than that little kitchen knife you would have KILLED that guy!"
"You think so?"
"Yeah man, I saw it, you had the look in your eyes! You're a natural born killer! You would have totally made it in the Knights."
"Heck yeah!" Lumis agreed. Tyro began hopping from foot to foot.
"We gonna go KILL some pirates?" He chanted. "We gonna go KILL some pirates? Let's do it! Let's DO IT!" He shoved Lumis roughly. Lumis looked shocked for a moment before catching the spirit. He grinned and shoved Tyro back.
"Let's do it!" Lumis chimed in. They chanted with increasing intensity until finally headbutting each other several times, grappling each other by the shoulders.
"Man!" Tyro stood back for a moment. "For the longest time I though I had lost my fire... but I still got it! I'm still a badass!"
"Hell yeah!" Lumis shouted. "Let's go kill some PIRATES!"
"Let's DO IT!"

[Jarvistation]

Rhuarc listened through the wall of his room as the bouncer and the other two guys quarreled it out. "Man what I wouldn't give to be in there contributing to the battle." At last their "conversation" ended and Rhuarc sneaked a peek out the door as the two ruffians stumbled by towards the front door of the tavern. "Alright I've made up my mind, I am going to join those guys for some adventure."
"Hey!" "You two!"
Lumis and Tyro quickly turn around as if the were expecting the bouncer to come at them with his fists again until they saw what looked to be a short elf.
"What do you want?" Lumis replied
"Yeah and make it quick cuz we got somewhere to be, punk." added Tyro
"Well I couldn't help but notice that you guys are going on a mission for the bar tender and I was hoping to get in on that action, you see I'm bit of an adventurer myself."
"WHAT!" yelled Tyro, "YOU'RE an adventurer?" "You look like your 13 years old."
"No, no I am a halfling, you know, a cross between an elf and a human."
"Ah, I see" replied Lumis, "Well it just so happens that we are on a mission, but to be honest, we can handle it and we don't need a liability like yourself to slow us down."
"Yeah, midget man, we got it" joked Tyro.
"Ok well it looks as if I have no choice but to show you what I really can do."
Tyro and Lumis looked apprehensively at Rhuarc hoping he wouldn't explode and leave a mess on their new clothes. Instead they were very surprised at what they saw.
"As you can see gentlemen from the pretty fireball now in my hand I am a magician of sorts, so do you still think I am a liability?"
"Hold on just a sec." "Tyro can I speak to you for a moment."
As the two were whispering, louder than they probably meant to, Rhuarc decided that he wasn't going to tell them the true nature of his magic until he had fully mastered and understood it himself.
"Ok, we've decided that you can come along, but if for one moment we think you are not holding your own we are gonna drop you off and leave you some where, got it?"
Obviously realizing that Lumis was the smarter of these two Rhuarc looked at him and replied " I understand completely, boss"
"Wait just a damn second! Why did you call HIM boss and not me I was the actual knight here." whined Tyro
"Well tyro it's because he has the mission paper, don't worry Lumis that wasn't magic I saw you grab it off the board earlier."
"Well alright then," said Tyro, "LET'S GO KILL SOME PIRATES!"

[Hobaginator]

"Hold on a sec." Tyro ran inside the bar. Several minutes passed by and he came back outside wearing a hooded, red bath robe from the spa. Lumis and Ruarc looked at him confused. Tyro was wearing a smirk. "The massage girl gave it to me... Her name's Merrel. She said she'd make sure my armor doesn't get sold before we come back. Okay before we go let me just stop by to pick up some gear."
Tyro led the gang to a farm shed on the outskirts of town.
"What are we doing here?" Lumis asked nervously.
"Shh... Follow me." He crept low as they followed behind him. The shed was open. He looked around, searching through the tools available.
"Is this YOUR stuff?" Ruarc said, also nervously.
"Just shut up!" Tyro snapped. He saw the metal hubcap of a wagon wheel. "Perfect." Using a small grass sickle, he pryed the hubcap off. "That'll make a good shield." He grinned. "Okay, lets go."
As they marched down the cobblestone road in the direction of the Headwind, Tyro used the robe's rope belt to fasion a handle onto his makeshift 'shield', and threw it over his shoulder. He did several practice swings with the grass sickle, getting used to the balance.
Lumis and Tyro chattered back and forward as Ruarc took three steps to their every one. It didn't take long before Ruarc had trouble keeping pace with their long strides.
"Look, the pipsqueak is already slowing us down..." Tyro mumbled to Lumis.
"I know..." Lumis replied with a sideways glance.
"Don't look at him, just keep walking." Tyro whispered, looking straight forward.
"Hey there chaps! D'you mind slowing the pace down a little bit?" Ruarc called. Lumis and Tyro seemed to ignore them. Ruarc felt no other option, he began to skip up towards them in order to conserve energy while still maintaining a decent speed.
"Aw what the hell!" Tyro griped as Ruarc caught up to them. "Don't skip around next to us you little fruit!"
"Sirrah, us elvish folk skip quite well! It affords us great distance as we are quite light on our feet." He said with a boyish grin.
Lumis grinned at Ruarc and then at Tyro, and he began to imitate the halfling's skipping, before tripping and continuing walking normally. "Great... I'm teamed up with a nitwit and a pipsqueak..." Tyro endured their horseplay by humming a quiet marching cadence and focusing on the mission ahead.
Ruarc and Lumis jabbered back and forward about their supposed battling prowess. Tyro reminisced about his younger days when he had been a page training to be a knight. He felt a fire growing in his heart; felt like things were begging to become as they should be.
[Headwind - 4 Miles] a sign on the road read.
"Awesome! We're almost there!" Lumis said joyfully. He was unsure if the butterflies he felt in his stomach were of excitement or fear... or perhaps a strange new mix of both.
The group came upon a crashed wagon.
"Woah, stay back you guys, I'm gonna check this out." Tyro said, waving them to the side of the road. Prepared for anything, he drew his shield and held it out in front of him, shuffling cautiously as he neared the damaged vehicle. He came around the side of it and brushed the purple curtain open to check inside. Before his eyes could even surmise what was inside, he instinctively deflected a swing from a spiked club.
"Ha-HAH!" From behind the club, a man appeared clothed in brown and gray with his face covered. "Get 'em boys!"
"Aw shit! It's a trap!" Tyro roared as he drew his sickle and quickly backstepped to his team mates.
"What do you mean?" Lumis jabbered in surprise.
"Highwaymen! Stack up behind me!" Tyro shouted as he took a low battle stance with his shield in front of him. "Stack up! Stack up!" Tyro glanced over his shoulder as the three bandits took a battle ready stance in front of the crew. "Get ready for our first taste of some real action!" He said with a smile.
Lumis drew his small knife shakily with Ruarc behind him.
"Hand over everything. Gear, weapons, food, clothes... I mean everything!" The bandit leader said.
Tyro's reply was to look down and spit a large green glob onto the dirty ground. He banged his sickle on his shield sharply as he took a quick hop forward. The three bandits flinched at his sudden move. The flinch was all the opening Tyro needed. He charged forward towards the bandits screaming bloody murder, and quickly sidestepped to the left, blocking the bandit's strikes and in return striking the left bandit with his shield, following up with a low sweep to the leg. The bandit let out a scream of pain as he fell with a large wound open on his hamstring. Tyro roared as he dropped the entire weight of his shield down, crushing the man's skull with the edge. Everyone gasped in surprise at his sudden ferocity.
"One down!" He screamed, and banged his sickle on his shield again.

[Jarvistation]

As Rhuarc stared at the bandits in front of him he quickly realized that the one staring him directly in the face was a magician, he also realized that he was going to have to be the one to take care of him.
He took a few steps forward and prepared to use his only two spells in hopes that the other guy didn't know a whole lot of spells.
"What in the world are you doing Rhuarc, having a staring contest just use some magic already!" yelled Tyro through his shield banging.
Suddenly the bandit threw a fireball at Rhuarc but he deftly used his defensive Mageshield spell and blocked it, at the same time he sent two of his own fireballs towards the bandit.
The bandit apparently seeing something that Rhuarc and the others did not tore off running towards the carriage jumped inside and did not come out.
"Leave him!" " Let's take care of this one first." Tyro said pointing his grass sickle at the third guy. "Hey Lumis try out that handy little knife of yours."
As Lumis pulled out his butter knife of a weapon the bandit began to chuckle and pulled his much longer much sharper looking dagger.
As Lumis and the bandit scuffled a little bit Tyro began to grow tired of the poor warriorship of both Lumis and the bandit.
"OK THAT'S IT, STOP IT YOU TWO!" screamed Tyro
Surprised by the very sudden and very loud yelling both Lumis and the bandit stopped and turned around to see Tyro walking towards them face all red.
"Ok, here's the deal you guys." "You, bandit if your gonna attack a group of people make sure that they are not armed and better fighters than you."
"And you, What are you doing just flailing your arm around like your trying get rid of a pesky fly."
Standing in front of Lumis with his back to the bandit Tyro began to show him a few techniques for hand to hand combat with a knife. As he was finishing up the different moves he said," now when your gonna just swing at someone, you bring it across their chest like this and make sure you follow through so you don't hurt yourself."
As Tyro demonstrated his sickle swung past Lumis around his back and suddenly stopped. Tyro turned around only to find that the pointy end of his sickle was somehow now inside the third bandits head.
"Ah, whoops, I definitely didn't mean to do that."
Lumis utterly horrified dropped his knife and kicked Tyro in the leg and yelled, "What did you do that for you big brute, you killed MY bandit!"
"Oh hey that reminds me hey Rhuarc come over here." said Tyro completely ignoring the angry tirade coming from Lumis walking towards the wagon.
"Torch it."
"Yeah ok, don't wanna leave any witnesses." said Rhuarc as he took a few steps back and prepared his magic.
Tyro looked at Lumis, who was at this point still going on about the dead man lying in front of him, and said, " Lumis just quit your cryin and see what that bandit has that could be of value."
A few moments past with Lumis looking disgusted as he searched the body and Tyro just pacing back and forth when out of thin air the entire carriage caught fire, every inch of it was aflame.
"Very nice, ok so now we can continue on towards Headwind since we have just won our first victory." said Tyro in an almost too casual voice.
"Sveta a yoonis!" yelled Rhuarc.
Dumbfounded the two looked at him and in perfect unison said "What the hell does did you just say!?"
"It means, victory is ours, in my own native language." replied Rhuarc
"Well why not just say it that way instead of using some kind of weird midget people mumbo jumbo."
With that they all started walking towards Headwind.

[Order]

Lumis managed to find only a few coins and a dagger on the bandits. The young hobo kept a straight face and hid the coins in his pants before tossing his old butter knife and catching up with Tyro and Rhuarc. The road to port turned out to be much longer than Lumis had imagined it would be. After a few hours, lights from the city came into view as the three adventurers crested one final hill.
Rhuarc skipped merrily and sang to himself. Tyro excersized by holding his shield in both hands behind his head and lifting. Lumis looked at his dagger,
"Did you guys see how I held that one guy off by myself?"
"Yeah, you woulda got him eventually." Tryo continued working out as he spoke, "Especially with my advice; I'm an expert swordsman, you know." Lumis nodded mostly to himself. There was a long pause before Lumis continued,
"I don't feel right with these things." He stuffed the dagger back in his waistband, "Blades just don't make sense to me." Tyro let out a short laugh,
"You'll get it. I remember how bad I was with one before I squired up."
"Lumis, Tyro..." Rhuarc quit skipping and matched the other's pace, "Do either of you know where exactly we need to go?"
"Yeah, the bar." Lumis drew the mission paper out of his shirt and scanned it, even though he knew it didn't contain any details. "There's going to be a guy in a robe with a hood and a red waistband."
"What's his name?" Rhuarc looked up at Lumis.
"I dunno." Lumis shrugged. Tyro grunted,
"One hundred." He wrapped the straps of his shield around one arm and streched his neck by tilting his head left, then right.
The group slowly paced through the center of the town. It was cold in the hills which they had passed through, but now by the sea, the air was thick and warm. The group stopped outside the door of the bar in which their contact would be waiting.
"What's our plan?" Tyro said as he folded his arms across his chest. Lumis looked at him with raised eyebrows, as if to say 'what plan?'. "You don't have a plan?"
"No, why would we need one?" Lumis lifted his hands, refusing any blame.
"What if I set the back on fire and you two grab him as he runs out this front door?" Rhuarc spoke as he lifted his sleeves up to his elbows and stretched his hands.
"No, that's rediculous." Lumis rolled his eyes.
"Yeah, what if there are knights guarding this town, pipsqueak?" Tyro kept his arms folded.
"Here's what we do," Lumis paused to make sure Tyro and Rhuarc were listening, "All three of us go in there. When I spot the contact, we'll all sit down with him." The other two nodded, "I'll tell him we're here from Hayfield and we're looking for work." Tyro threw his hands up in disgust,
"What? That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard." He regained his composure, "Looking for work." Tyro snorted. Rhuarc stepped toward the door and held it open for the other two,
"I think it will work out just fine, my friends."
"Yeah." Lumis smiled and led the way in. Tyro scoffed and followed as he repeated,
"Looking for work..."
The bar was full of people wearing robes. At first thought, Lumis surmised that they might all be monks, but the amount of noise and drinking going on dismissed that theory. The young vagabond scanned the room and quickly found a man sitting alone with a red rope tied around his waist. Lumis walked straight toward him and sat across the table from him. Tyro stood behind Lumis and Rhuarc hopped up onto the other chair, comicly stretching his neck to peer over the table. The contact removed his hood and eyed the three adventurers carefully.
"We're from Hayfield." Lumis nodded, "We're looking for work."
"Oh! Good!" The man stood and the rest of the bar fell silent. Lumis' ears echoed the abrupt lack of noise. "Warriors from Hayfield!" The contact announced to the rest of the room. Lumis looked around at the other patrons and was shocked to find them all staring in his direction. Even Tyro looked surprised.
The contact continued, "I can't believe that stupid poster worked!" He laughed, "Where's darril? Not here? Somebody wake his drunken a** up and give him a beer!" The room exploded with laugher. Lumis was nearly knocked from his chair by the noise; he stood and continued scanning the room, looking for evidence that he should be laughing too. There would be none.
Rhuarc followed Lumis' lead and stood atop the table.
"Now what the hell is this?" Tyro placed a hand on his sicle and the other on his shield, "We're legitimate warriors and we said we're looking for work!"
The room once again erupted with laughter. Lumis drew his dagger, knowing there was going to be a fight. Even though he didn't know why or who was going to throw the first blow, Lumis knew the other patrons were pumping themselves up for a fight.
"Dumbest s**t I've ever heard!" The contact announced. He turned and threw off his robe with the other patrons following in practiced coordination. Three men and two women stood, armed to the teeth with dozens of knives each. The leader, the supposed contact brandished an expensive looking rapier. He lifted the sword to his opponents, placed his off hand on his back, parted his feet slightly and assumed the pose of an experienced (if slightly doofy) looking fencer.
Lumis immidiately dove forward, past a table and into the fencer. His dagger was met consistantly with a blocking swing of the fencer's sword. Lumis shifted his weight and used his lanky proportions to his advantage, slipping past every attack the fencer could offer.
As Lumis crouched under one swing and dipped back to pull his head out of range, the fencer leaned in with full commitment to his thrust. Lumis swung his off hand in a wide arc and connected with the fencer's jaw, shaking him and forcing him to stagger sideways. Lumis looked a his hand and back at the fencer, nodded to himself and tossed his dagger aside.
The fencer stepped back as another fighter engaged Lumis with a knife. Lumis slipped in and out of striking distance, twisting his torso to avoid contact with the knife. He constantly thought to himself, 'this makes sense, this feels right.' The young boy sidestepped his opponent's attack and sent her toppling to the floor with one solid punch to the back of her head.
"Ouch," Tyro's voice was close by, "that looked brutal, bro." Lumis hadn't even noticed his partners had begun fighting. Worse yet, Lumis hadn't noticed the rest of the fighting was already finished.
"I was trying not to hit her." Rhuarc added.
"Yeah, she was pretty." Tyro chuckled, "was..."
Lumis looked down on his last victim with his hands at his sides, fists still clenched. With a snort of annoyance, he looked down at his shirt sleeves which dangled over his hands. Lumis tore the sleeves free of his raggity shirt with one clean yank each and tossed the scrap cloth on the floor at his sides. Tyro dropped down into a chair and rested his shield on a table,
"You look like one of those monks from those mountains," The failed knight rubbed a hand through his hair as he finished a glass of beer which managed not to be shattered or spilled during the fight. "The ones that will let you punch them for a coin."
Rhuarc rolled his sleeves back down to normal length,
"You mean the ones who do that show with all the children doing flips and swinging fake swords?"
Tyro nodded in response. Lumis felt like he was becoming what he was meant to be. He felt like he was untouchable as his memory recounted images of swords and knives glancing past him; sure killing blows somehow never even came close. He sighed,
"What now?" Tyro seemed surprised by Lumis' question,
"Whaddya mean, 'what now'? We friggin' just knocked five heads in!" He spat greens on the corpse of the old fencer.
"We take their money and anything of worth, I should assume." Rhuarc was already behind the bar, inspecting various alcohols by smell.
Lumis shrugged and took a seat.

[Hobaginator]

Tyro wiped the blood from his sickle off on one of the attacker's discarded robes. "Hey, how badass is it that I just fought these guys wearing a bath robe?" Tyro let out a goofy laugh as he shouldered his shield. "Oh and dibs on this guy's rapier!" He took the fencer's belt-sheath and buckled it to his own waist before lifting up the basket-hilted sword and testing it's balance. "Ohhh yeah baby... you like that don't you? You're a dirty girl..." He whispered to the sword before tearing off a section of cloth from the discarded robe, spitting on it, and beggining to polish the fine blade.
"I was untouchable! Nobody hit me! Not even a scratch!" Lumis nearly shouted with excitement and adrenline.
"You're a natural..." Tyro added, halfway paying attention, eyes scanning up and down the finish of the thin sword. Lumis began to shadow box.
"Hey fellas, I found a crossbow back here!" The sweet melody of a jangle of liquor bottles rang through the air as Ruarc called from behind the bar. Lumis ignored him and continued shadow boxing.
"So take it!" Tyro yelled, still furiously polishing his rapier.
What Ruarc lifted from behind the counter was a treasure indeed. His tiny palms held aloft the stock and grip of a heavy wooden crossbow, locked-cocked and loaded with a thick-shafted bolt that's tip was eight bladed and razor sharp. The glint of the bladed tip caught Tyro's eyes. In an instant he had sheathed his rapier, crossed the bar, and snatched the weapon out of the little halfling's hands.
"Dibs!" He said with a roguish grin. Ruarc's eyes conveyed the essence of dissapointment.
"You can't take TWO weapons! Now you have THREE weapons and a SHIELD! How are you going to use all that?" Tyro narrowed his eyes and gave the halfling a sidelong glare.
"Like you even need weapons... you have fireballs."
"True." Ruarc said, and continued to search behind the counter for more valuables. Tyro shouldered the crossbow using the attached sling, and was now begginning to look like a walking armory.

[Jarvistation]

As Rhuarc was inspecting the various bottles and kegs of liquor behind the bar he noticed a very large chest with a big padlock on it. "Hey guys check this out!"
He was able to drag it half way out before Lumis an Tyro got to him, as soon as Tyro laid eyes on the chest he exclaimed, "FRIGGIN PIRATE TREASURE, HELL YEAH!"
"Let's open in up shall we," said Lumis, "I'll look for the key on one of them."
"Forget the key, you dolt." replied Tyro as he began to bash the lock with his shield.
Finally after several minutes of yelling and angry swinging te lock finally broke into many pieces and fell to the floor.
"Before we open this thing up I don't want you two to get all excited, but what ever is in here I call first dibs." grinned Tyro as he quickly opened the lid and tried to block out Rhuarc and Lumis as if the contents of the chest were a secret they needed not know.
"What's in it?" asked Lumis
"It's just a bunch of papers with a funky seal on them." Tyro replied as he quickly stuff a gold ring into his pocket
"Let me see," said Rhuarc, "OMG GUYS, I know what and who these people are, er well were."
Looking expectantly at Rhuarc, Lumis said "Well explain."
As Rhuarc was explaining that the five pirates they just battled we're a small part of a much larger pirate organization that has been traveling up and down the coast as well as to all of the out lying islands, Tyro was raiding the bodies of the dead. In his search he managed to find two more rings, a purse with several gold coins, and a map that seemingly led to nowhere.
"Tyro did you hear that, Tyro... TYRO!!!!!"
"Huh?"
"Are you even paying attention?" pleaded Lumis
"Oh yeah, sure, why not its such a nice day out, it would be a good day to walk around the town." replied Tyro in a transe like state as he examined the map
"What!? No you idiot we were talking about pirates!" yelled Lumis
Rhuarc seeing that there was possibly going to be some hurtful things about to happen went to look out the window at the front of the bar.
Lumis taking that as a signal that Rhuarc would be the lookout for anyone coming decided to jump Tyro and put him in a headlock.
"Hey guys someone is coming this way." said Rhuarc from the window as Lumis and Tyro were halfway to the floor with Tyro's head still beneath Lumis's arm. Suddenly Lumis let go and went to check himself, which inevitably sent Tyro crashing to the floor with a loud bang and several very descriptive curses.
After a few moments Tyro was able to right himself and got to his feet. By this time there were several dozen people outside of the bar, some looking plainly nervous while others attempting to seem calm and talking among each other.
"Well I guess we should go meet our new fans." said Tyro
Abruptly he kicked the front door of the bar literally off of its hinges sending it across the courtyard where the crowd was gathered and walked outside.
Rhuarc ad Lumis looked at each other with an " Oh no, what are we gonna do now?" kind of look and quickly followed the insane warrior out the front door.
When they caught up with Tyro he was standing a few paces from the crowd with his hands on his hips not saying a word but simply staring at the people assembled.
A few moments later a man dressed like an over stuffed chair cushion with too much lace approached and said, " Did you three kill the pirates in the bar?"
Not looking at the man Tyro replied, "So what if we did."
"Well if that be the case, I am Mayor Goodwin and I would like to formally welcome you to Headwind."
And with that everyone began to cheer.

[Hobaginator]

"You three have done this town a great service! Why, three heroes such as yourselves must have names!" The mayor said with rosy cheeks and a glowing smile, hands outstretched.
"Yeah. We got names." Tyro said before spitting a glob of gysahl juice on the ground. He surveyed the crowd, making eye contact with each and every soul staring at him, sizing them up. "They're all OLD." A moment of awkward silence passed.
"My name's Lumis, Sir! Pleased to make your aquaintence." Lumis said, approaching the man. The two shared a stout handshake. Women from the crowd chattered and swooned.
"Oh he's so young and sprightly!"
"What a handsome young man!"
"And what manners!"
"Ruarc." Said the halfling with a slight bow.
"Oh! Isn't he just the most ADORABLE!"
"Precious!"
"OH! I could just EAT HIM UP! MBMBMBGLARBLE!"
As the chatter died down the Mayor's eyes once again fell upon Tyro, who stood there, hands on his hips, stoic.
"Ooooh he's so mysterious..." A single voice broke the silence. The mayor's fat cheeks huffed and puffed as he stuttered before speaking.
"Wbwbhph - AHEM - Well by all means, come up to my office! I'll have the bounty for those pirates split up equally for each of you! But not before you fine young men have a hot meal and a visit to the bath house, on me!"
Once again the people cheered.
Well fed, cheeks pinched, bathed and jolly, the three adventurers made their way up to the Mayor's Office, following behind a mature servant woman who had clearly put on too much makeup.
"Okay everyone's thinking it I'm just gonna come out and say it... What's up with this DUMP?" Tyro whined. "Everyone here is OLLLLLLLD." Lumis hushed him with a glare.
"I know." He whispered. "Let's just try and be polite for now. We ARE getting paid."
"My cheeks hurt." Ruarc mumbled. Large oaken doors swung open as they entered the Mayor's Office. The mayor was sitting behind his desk, with three sacks of gold set equally apart.
"The bounties on those pirate's heads is most recently at 88 gold, plus 12 for the highwaymen that's 100 gold, split three ways - 33 gold even for each of you..." The mayor said with a calculated smile. The three looked at each other uncomfortably. He mayor huffed and puffed a chuckle. "Oh come now! Those robbers had been cutting off the main supply route for weeks! There's only one road to the port town of Headwind. Two plus two equals..."
"Dead bandits for you, money for us." Tyro said, grinning as he took his share of the money. Ruarc shrugged and grabbed his third as well.
"Oof... that's heavy!" Said the halfling as he twisted his entire body to throw his winnings over his shoulder.
"Now you wait a minute old man!" Lumis said, banging his fists down on the table as he leaned forward. "You said 100 gold!" The mayor nodded his head furiously.
"Yes one hundred!"
"33 gold in each bag?"
The mayor nodded.
"That's 99. Where's the last gold coin?" Lumis said with authority.
"R-r-r-r-r-r-r - AHEM - Right! My mistake!" He said, shuffling nervously in his breast pocket for a moment before fingering out a single gold piece; it would have fallen through his trembling hands had Lumis not snatched it up out of mid-air. He examined it for a second before he tossed it into his bag with a fiendish smile.
"That's more like it!" Lumis bellowed with a puffed out chest for intimidation, doing his best Tyro impression. He decided to take it one step further, and spit. A long string of saliva came out of his mouth and slowly stretched down before lightly touching the ground. Lumis tried to shake the string of saliva off of his mouth - it wasn't working. He tried several times to blow it off of his bottom lip, but the liquidous nuisance proved too tenacious. Lumis finally broke the viscous strand with his hand and wiped his fingers off on his pants. He glanced down at Ruarc, who was shaking his head in disgust. He looked over at Tyro, who gave him a thumbs up.
"WELL! I can see you are seasoned proffessionals!" The Mayor said as he leaned back in his chair. "Would you be willing to, perhaps, take on another task?" His long eyebrows hid his expression as he tipped his face down myseriously.
"Anything you got for us, we'll take it!" Lumis replied without hesitation.
"Shouldn't we hear the proposition before we go making any promises?" Ruarc said.
"Uh, sure. Yeah, what's the job, Sir?" Lumis said, once again resuming his polite tone.
"This is a very dangerous assignment, I want you to understand that..." The Mayor's tone was grave. "In fact, many of the young adventurers of this town have fallen victim to this very same challenge."
"Just spit it out already." Tyro said, growing impatient, ready to spend his gold.
"A water dragon in a nearby cove... It has been destroying our ships, attacking our residents with tidal waves, and all in all causing havoc upon this town's economy - so much so that many trade ships refuse to make port or even sail the waters near Headwind. It has caused the town of Headwind an estimated 60% decrease of annual income in the last two years. I want you three to go kill it."
"How many people has it killed?" Lumis said, eyebrows raised.
"As of the most current news, the dragon has caused 387 confirmed deaths and over 1,200 casualties."
"Well, it was good knowing you fellas." Tyro said instantly, shaking Lumis and Ruarc's hands. "It was fun while it lasted." He turned to leave.
"That's too bad; the job pays 2,000 gold." The Mayor said with a calculated sigh.
Tyro nearly did a backflip.

[Order]

Tyro, Lumis and Rhuarc strutted down from the mayor's estate, even though the citizens of Headwind had aleady turned in for the night. Wordlessly, the team stepped out onto the docks at the harbor. Lumis looked right, Tyro looked left and Rhuarc exclaimed,
"What happened to the ships, chaps?" Tyro shrugged, Lumis smacked his forehead.
"Aw, man!" Tyro and Rhuarc looked to Lumis for explination. Lumis rolled his eyes, "The Mayor just told us nobody sails here." Tyro blinked twice before squinting his eyes as he tried to recall what the conversation was about. Lumis punched Tyro in the arm and started walking back toward the Mayor's estate. Tyro flinched as his memory suddenly restarted,
"Oh, crap!" The bathrobed knight jogged after his partners.
"Young warriors, was there something I could clarify?" The Mayor's eyes squinted at the light as he stood in he doorway of his bedroom. His assistant held the door open and hung his head apologetically.
"Where the heck are we supposed to get a ship from?" Tyro thrust his fist into his other hand.
"Yeah!" Lumis intergected.
"Did you think we owned a ship ourselves?" Rhuarc shrugged.
"Ruh-ugh-hrb-ugh-- yes, well." The Mayor mumbled as he coughed his reply.
"Give us an advance. If we need to find our own ship, I want half." Lumis folded his arms across his chest.
"Well, that seems quite alright." The Mayor stepped back into his room and returned with a wooden box. Lumis' eyes widened, he had assumed he would need to haggle with the old man. It seemed like he had underestimated the impact the team had on this town. "There are five hundred coins in this box."
"Wait, we agreed on two thousand, sir." Lumis unfolded his arms and used a somewhat pleading tone.
"Yes, that's correct." The Mayor nodded, "I remember when I was as young as you, my boy. Five hundred is plenty for now. I will pay in full when the water dragon is killed." He continued nodding as he returned to his bed. The assistant pulled the bedroom door shut and showed the adventurers out of the estate.

"So we're supposed to buy our own ship?" Lumis picked up a rock and tossed it to the side. Rhuarc shook his head.
"I got an idea." Tyro shifted his shield on his shoulder with a grunt before he continued, "It's unrelated, but think about it before you start complaining at me..." Lumis scratched his head as Rhuarc stopped skipping and turned to pay attention. "What if we go back to Hayfield and beat that bartender's head in?"
"What does that have anything--" Lumis stopped himself and thought for a moment. "Yeah. I would love to get my hands on that jackass." Lumis looked to Rhuarc for approval.
"Sure, I could help with a little payback!" The halfling started skipping in the general direction of Hayfield.

[Hobaginator]

The group hitched a wagon ride back to Hayfield. Upon arrival in the town, they immediately returned to the bar.
"CLOSED" A sign read in red. The group looked at each other in confusion, before heading over to the massage parlor area. It was also closed.
"What's this bullsh*t?" Tyro said, kicking the door open. He walked inside.
"Tyro wait!" Lumis looked around before following. Ruarc stood outside. Everything inside was gone except for the stools and tables that were bolted down. Tyro returned from upstairs with his teeth clenched. "They're all gone." Lumis surmised. Tyro paced around inside. Ruarc heard a commotion and entered the building.
"Tyro chill out!" Lumis shouted and quickly ducked as a stool flew over his head, crashing into a mirror behind him.
"How many people were in on this?" Tyro roared as he began tearing another bolted down bar stool off the floor. He tore up and smashed the rest of them over the counter before he turned to the tables. He shrugged his weapons off of his shoulders and began wreching a large oaken table with all of his might. It refused to budge. Ruarc chuckled.
"Having a little trouble?" He taunted.
"Ruarc, don't." Lumis said. Tyro's face was flushed red, he snorted, practically foaming at the mouth with exertion. He switched his focus to a leg of the table and began slamming his weight into it, yanking back, and slamming into it again while growling ferociously. The wood began to crack. Several bystanders, curious about the commotion, peeked inside the bar. Ruarc and Lumis stepped back as Tyro snapped the leg off of the table, squatted under the corner, and lifted with all of his might until the wood around the bolts on the rest of the legs splintered up. He lifted the large oaken table over his head with a roar and threw it over the bar counter. It crashed into the empty shelves with a loud smash.
"Tyro stop!" Lumis shouted. Tyro stood facing a wall, looking down, breathing heavily.
"My armor is gone." He said.
"What's going on here?" A voice of authority called out. A man stepped in. He had a large hook nose that seemingly attached to his forehead and a bald spot in the center of a greasy blonde crew cut. He was clean shaven and wearing a clean pressed uniform. He surveyed the inside of the building, hand on the hilt of his saber. "Who is responsible for this?"
"I am." Tyro spat.
"It just so happens that I am the Jail Warden here in Hayfield. You are under arrest. Come with me." The man replied.
Tyro spent the rest of the night in jail for vandalism, destruction of property in a place of business, and public disorderly conduct. Lumis and Ruarc got a hotel for the night and tried to relax. The following morning Lumis and Ruarc paid Tyro's bail (out of his share of the money). He refused to talk to anybody. He ate his meals in silence and spent the rest of the day in the room.
"Let's give him some space." Lumis said to Ruarc.
"I agree." Lumis and Ruarc decided to go shopping in the mean time, and gear up for their mission. When they returned, Tyro was nowhere to be found.
Tyro was on a mission of his own. He searched high and low for clues to the location of his armor. He found no leads, nobody had heard anything, everywhere he went it was the same story - people even denied the knowledge of the existence of the massage parlor in the first place. He began to feel like it was hopeless. He stopped to get some food, and spotted a news board. He wandered over to it and scanned it absentmindedly while slurping hot beef noodles from a bowl.
"Hayfield Historical Museum Recieves Rare Dusthelm Knight's Armor - Now on Display!"
The bowl of noodles crashed to the cobblestone sidewalk, forgotten.

Meanwhile in town, Ruarc and Lumis had been gearing up and getting a little taste of the high life. Ruarc had taken a red rubied ring from Tyro's stash of loot and was making sure to flash it at every opportunity, especially when handing over handfuls of gold to the shop owners. He bought a strange looking cloak from a back alley 'enchanter' for 5 gold that changed colors between green and blue depending on the lighting and where you were looking at it from - when Lumis asked him why he had spent so much on such a shady deal, Ruarc replied that he had sensed something special about it. He also bought a burn-etched bracer made of rare fungal maplewood from a magic shop which, either by placebo effect or something actually magical, seemed to increase the size and heat of his fireballs by a noticable amount. Lumis had purchased somewhat simpler gear; simple cotton clothes and leather shoes which were comfortable and easy to move in. He was just glad he could finally look and feel neat and clean. The two shared a couple of hot beef turnovers and discussed the mission to come.

Tyro was doing a little gearing up of his own... He had snuck into a group of people touring the museum until he finally found his armor - set upon a wooden dummy. The museum had refurbished it slightly and added the signature silver and blue cloak that Dusthelm Knights wore. Tyro could barely contain his rage at seeing the dummy wearing HIS armor. He walked over to the display, unclipped the velvet rope, and began casually taking the pieces of armor and strapping himself up.
"Ooooh look! A demonstration!" A chubby-cheeked woman said. Immediately the group of tourists began clapping and asking him questions about the armor. Tyro played along as if he were a museum employee, demonstrated various techniques for keeping your armor in pristine condition, and gave them a brief history on what it takes to be a Dusthelm Knight (from his point of view).
"Wow hey, I didn't know we did demonstrations!" A girl said airheadedly, as she walked up to Tyro with googly eyes.
"We do now!" Tyro said, flexing his biceps at the crowd.
"Wait a minute... I've never seen you before." She was obviously an employee of the museum. Tyro gulped. "Did you just start here today? Oh I've been telling them for the longest time we need to get some hot young guys working here!"
The museum manager, a fat old woman sitting behind a desk, was reading a news paper absentmindedly when the words 'hot young guys working here' rang through her head. "Hot young guys working here..." She repeated, then immediately stood bolt upright. "We haven't had a good looking guy here in over twenty years! SECURITY! STOP THAT IMPOSTER!"
Tyro ran for it. In full armor, he wasn't very fast... but he was outrunning all of the older and middle aged security guards. Two guards stood blocking the doorway. Tyro took a deep breath and sprinted directly towards the bigger of the two. He lowered his head and slammed into the man's gut with all of his might, sending him tumbling over. He trampled the man mercilessly as he made it through the door. He made it outside the museum and continued running as hard as he could, with the smaller of the two security guards clinging to his pauldron screaming for him to stop. He juked to the side and brutally slammed the guard into a stone wall of a building. The guard collapsed in a heap, unconcious. Tyro dipped into a back alley and put out another sprint, hoping to lose any remaining followers. He began to run out of energy, but refused to slow down. He looked over his shoulder. A few of the hard-chargers were still in sight, albeit gassing out.
"Guards! Stop that man!" One of them shouted, pointing at Tyro. He took several exhausted breaths. "The theif in the armor!"
"Two armored guards dropped their coffee mugs the ground, drew their rapiers and took of after Tyro, who cursed under his breath. He ducked into another back alley and spotted rickety little wooden ladder to a roof. He climbed it in an instant, even in full armor. Once at the top, he grabbed it on both ends and twisted, turning the mid-section to splinters and rendering it useless to the guards who watched helplessly from the ground. Tyro looked around desperately...
"There." He said to himself, as he spotted the closest roof. It was about 10 feet away and five feet lower than the roof he was on. He took several deep breaths. "Now or never." And with that, he sprinted and took a roaring leep and sailed through the air. He crashed into the raised edge of the next building with his chest and threw his arms over. He was exhausted and wheezing, he couldn't muster the strength to pull himself up in all of his armor. His feet scraped at the masonry of the side of the building as he tried to raise up. He knew that if he fell, it was over. A woman below screamed as she spotted Tyro high up on the verge of a plunge to the earth. The guards found him again.
"He's falling!" A guard yelled out from below. Tyro's heart began to pound as he held on for dear life - the guard's voice sounded to be VERY far below. He heard a crowd begin to assemble. Mixed talking, screams of terror, crying, even some cheering. He slipped down to his fingertips.
'It's not going to end like this.' Tyro thought to himself. A quick montage of all of his years spent training, his dreams of being a paladin, all of his hard work that he put into turning his body into a machine of war flashed in front of his eyes. He let out a hoarse battle roar as he pulled with all of his strength in a last-ditch attempt to lift himself to safety. He didn't move. His roar turned into a scream of exertion and terror at the reality that he would face his death if he failed. A surge of adrenline kicked in as he accepted that reality. He began to rise slowly, inch by inch. He had screamed until his lungs were empty, his face turned purple, veins bluging, in his extreme state of exhertion he couldn't even force his muscles to allow a breath to enter his chest. He got halfway there. He held himself at halfway, and forced a breath in as his eyes began to fade to black and speckles of light appeared. His entire body was shaking. In silent exhertion, he pulled until his forhead was at the edge, paused, breathed, pulled until his eyes were over the edge, paused, breathed, pulled until his chin was over the edge... he felt like he was already in hell, burning alive. He set his chin on the edge of the ledge and used it for leverage to throw his left arm over the wall so the raised edge was in the crook of his elbow. He heard a cracking, crumbling noise. The masonry was begginning to give from the weight of Tyro and his armor. He block section that supported Tyro's weight shifted. A myriad of screams erupted from below. That's when Tyro felt something on his hand, then in between his back plate and shoulder blade. He closed his eyes and wished for the best. He felt his weight begin to lessen, and pulled himself with all of his might to get onto the roof to safety. Somebody was helping him. His waist made it over the edge just as the block broke away and fell to the ground below, he squirmed and scrambled as his apparent guardian angel helped pull him to solid ground. He gasped for breath and let out a long moan of joy to be alive, hugging and kissing the dusty masonry of the rooftop. He opened his eyes and looked up, only to see the long hook nose and balding blonde crew cut that framed the glaring eyes of the Warden, who stood over him, smiling sinisterly.

[Order]

Lumis sat on a bench outside a church next to Rhuarc. The halfling rummaged through his newly aquired belongings as he smiled brightly. Lumis looked down at the mage and eyed his trinkets and clothing critically. With a short sigh, the young vagabond folded his arms across his chest and thought to himself, 'Why would someone need so many *things*. He looked down at his own clothes and smiled to himself, realizing that all he needed was clean clothes and a little food. Both were things that he had struggled for too long to aquire.
"Are you sure you don't want to go back to any of the shops? You've barely spent any of your share." Rhuarc patted the pouch of coins he held for Lumis.
"No, I'm clean and I'm not hungry. What else could I want?" Rhuarc pursed his lips in response, shrugged and buffed his ruby ring with his shirt sleeve.
A crowd passed by with an energetic buzz resonating between them,
"I guess he was trying to steal the suit of armor." A man said.
"The memory of the Dusthelm knights should be honored. I hope he is put to death!" A woman exclaimed. Lumis' head snapped up. He looked to Rhuarc with wide eyes. The pint-sized mage cocked his head to one side to hear the group better.
"I'm surprised he ran for so long! He was big, but that Dusthelm armor is really heavy."

"No." Lumis stood slowly. Rhurarc hopped off the bench,
"Do you think Tyro found his armor?"
"I think he tried to steal it! We should find him right now!"
"Is there a jail here?" Rhuarc started walking without a direction in mind.
"It's this way, I was arrested once." Lumis lead the way.

The pair burst into the lobby of Hayfield jail. Rhuarc placed a hand on the counter which a receptionist sat behind and yelled up to him,
"We're here to see a man that was arrested today!"
"Sign in here and write the name of the inmate you would like to visit here." The man slid a log book toward Lumis, "Good timing, visitation ends in an hour."
"Well thank you, sir." Rhuarc's voice echoed from below the counter. Lumis filled in their names and handed the book back.
"Tyro..." He scrunched his face a little, "He was arrested for robbery. He will be down those stairs and through the first archway." The receptionist nodded to himself.
"Down the stairs, first archway. Thank you, sir!" Rhuarc's voice announced. The man blinked twice at Lumis, not knowing there was a second visitor. As the pair walked across the lobby, he flinched, surprised to see the source of the disembodied voice.

"Tyro!" Lumis jogged to the bars his partner sat behind.
"What did you do, you irrational brute?" Rhuarc pleaded with his hands at waist level, palms up.
"Guys..." The failed knight sighed dejectedly, "I screwed up. I'm sorry." He stood and grabbed the iron bars which encaged him.
"When do you get out?" Lumis looked up and down the row of cells.
"They're going to send me to Dusthelm." Tyro hung his head in shame.
"You have family in Dusthelm, don't you? Maybe they can help get you out!" Rhuarc said with hope.
"I'm going to trial for trechary. The penalty could be death." He wiped his eyes, "I just wanted my armor back. They had no reason to keep it from me." Lumis and Rhuarc nodded silently, allowing Tyro to continue, "When I told the warden it was my armor, he said it doesn't matter." He slammed his fist into the iron bars, "Dusthelm has a warrent for my arrest. I'm being transferred tomorrow."
"We'll head over there right away!" Lumis shoved his fist into his other hand, "We won't let you down!"
"No, you don't understand," Tyro shook his head, "The official who sent my team on that suicide mission is now in charge of the city. He knows I was there and that I know who he is. He won't risk letting me tell the truth about it."
"So he'll have you executed." Rhuarc thought hard, looking for any glint of hope.
"Everyone in this floor is being transferred to Dusthelm. We're going to be tried as a group." There was a collective moan among the cells.

"You there." A nasally voice echoed along the hall, "Who are you two and why are you speaking to a vial traitor?" The man's promenant nose and fading crew-cut hair nearly shocked Lumis with it's caricature quality.
"I'm Lumis Thorbrow." The young vagabond turned to face the warden, "This prisoner is a warrior who helped myself and my mage, Rhuarc liberate Headwind from a band of pirates."
"Oh, charming." His sarcasm was clearly refined over years of practice, "Do you know your 'warrior' defiled the memory of the Dusthelm knights by stealing a suit of armor?" His arms extended wide as he paced toward the trio, "Do you know the people of Dusthelm will not stand for their mighty knights' legacy being tarnished by this filth?" His boney features vauled over Lumis' own stature. Rhuarc attempted to guess at the man's level of authority and what an appropriate response would be. Lumis clenched his fists at his side with his jaw clenched.
The warden continued after a pause,
"Count Amilon will have this vile trator's head and you will short exactly one 'warrior'." His snide laugh would have been comical in any other case, but now it served to evoke a distinct anger in Lumis.
"Sir, if you would contact the Mayor of Headwind, he will vouch for this man's valor!" Rhuarc exclaimed.
"He was a knight of Dusthelm, that armor belonged to him! Tyro has not commited any crime!" Lumis pleaded.
"It doesn't matter." The snoody warden turned and left the hall of cells, "Your friend -will- be tried as a traitor of Dusthelm and there is nothing you can do." His rediculous laugh echoed through the hall once again as he climbed the stairway.
"I'd love to get my hands on that pr*k's pencil neck!" Tyro fumed.

[Jarvistation]

Realizing their plight was useless they bid their goodbyes to Tyro and left the jail, all the while plotting what they were going to do about his current predicament.
“We have to get him out somehow, you know.” said Rhuarc.
“Yeah I know, but how are we possibly going to get him out with all these guards around and almost an entire army residing in the city itself?” asked Lumis
“Well we are going to just have to get him out along the road then,” replied Rhuarc.
So they made their way along the road to Dusthelm trying to find the best location to launch their assault against the caravan knowing full well they would be outlawing themselves in the action. They made their camp and began their preparations for the fight to come.
“You know, this plan might just work, depending of course on how many guards they bring along,” commented Lumis
“Yeah, that is the big factor in all this,” said Rhuarc, “especially since- …” He cut off as he saw a strange looking fox at the edge of the fire-light, he got up and took a few steps towards it and it vanished.
“What, especially since what?” asked Lumis curiously.
“Did you just see that?” said Rhuarc.
“See what, I didn’t see anything here but you, me and the fire” replied Lumis
“Huh,” grunted Rhuarc, “maybe it was nothing; alright I’ll take first and last watch if you’ll take second.”
“I’m good with that” said Lumis while yawning.
A few moments later Lumis was snoring and Rhuarc’s thoughts wandered to many different places but always came back to that strange looking fox that he had seen earlier. Somehow he knew it was no ordinary fox but he couldn’t put a finger on why he thought such things. Putting it out of his mind completely he wrapped his new cloak around him and settled down next to the fire and examined the ring he had taken from the stash that Tyro had collected. Just the same as he knew the fox was strange he knew that he had to have this ring, at the thought of the ring it began to glow slightly. At first he thought it was just a trick of the light from the fire but then he realized that the glow was coming from the ring itself.
In the morning Rhuarc was getting the camp ready for a quick departure when he saw the fox again. This time the fox came right up to him and stared him in the face as if to say hello, then it bounded off with a flick of its tail and looked back at him as if telling him to follow. So he obliged and chased after the fox. Upon seeing that Rhuarc was pursuing the fox sped up taking random paths and changed directions at the worst possible times, but Rhuarc was able to keep up by the light blue magical trail that seemed to flow from the creature as it ran. Finally after what seemed like hours, he came to a field where the fox was sitting amidst large clusters of light blue flowers that gave off a certain aura. He approached the field and suddenly the fox spoke to him.
“You have passed the test, summoner.”
“Huh?” said a very confused Rhuarc, “YOU CAN TALK!”
“Of course I can talk,” said the fox “I am no normal fox, I am an eidolon.”
“Wait, you’re a summon creature?” asked Rhuarc.
“Yes,” replied the fox, “and my name is Carbuncle.” “I will now teach you what you need to know on how to summon me to aid you in your fights and teach you a skill with which you can know your enemies whoever they are.”
Carbuncle then proceeded to teach Rhuarc all the particulars on how to summon him and what skills he possessed as a summon. Rhuarc learned that Carbuncle is a passive summon, so he can only aid in the fight and not actually do any fighting, but the boons that he will aid will give Rhuarc and his team members a great advantage over any adversary they may face. Also Carbuncle taught Rhuarc how to use his new ring (which is what linked him and Carbuncle together in the first place) with the skill “Scan”. And with a final word that only Rhuarc can see him, due to Carbuncle being a passive summon, the blue fox ran towards Rhuarc and literally jumped into his chest becoming a part of him.
When Rhuarc finally returned to the camp Lumis had finished the preparations for the rescue mission it was almost lunch time.
“Hey, I’m glad your back, I did a little scouting and with the current rate the caravan is travelling they should be here about mid-day.” Said Lumis
“Ok, that should give us just the right amount of time to get everything into place and take up positions along the ridge” replied Rhuarc.
As mid-day approached Rhuarc and Lumis got themselves into position and waited for the caravan. Sure enough Lumis had been correct and the line of wagons became visible down the road. It was all becoming very real for the pair of warriors now that their prey rolled toward the trap they had prepared. It seemed like an eternity for the wagons to finally be in perfect position. Using his new scan ability Rhuarc found that there were not one, but three prisoner carts and four carriages that held about ten guards each.
Using his new gauntlet that increased the power to his fireballs he threw one at the head guard carriage and also one at the guard carriage bringing up the rear so the caravan could not escape either direction. Immediately the battle began. Lumis and Rhuarc charged down the hill towards the remaining two carts full of bored and angry soldiers. Eventually Rhuarc found himself face to face with the warden only to find that his magic was no match for the highly trained veteran, so he did what any sensible person in that situation would do, he turned and ran away from him.
“Let him go, he’s not important, but guard this cart with your lives” said the warden to the remaining guards as he jumped on a horse and galloped off.
Rhuarc circled back around freeing some of the prisoners as he went ultimately trying to get to the cart where Tyro was being kept. When he reached it there was a circle of guards around it. One was holding a crossbow pointed directly at Tyro’s face.
“Don’t take another step!” shouted the guard with the bow, “or I will shoot him where he sits.”
“Now, now there’s no reason to do anything rash let’s talk about this” said Rhuarc with his hands held out in front of him. After a few moments of trying to reason with the man, he set him on fire, which in turn made the man pull the trigger on the crossbow. Luckily the sudden act of being set on fire made the man stumble and instead of shooting Tyro he shot the man next to him.
Tyro watched as Rhuarc set the guard on fire thinking to himself, “yeah you go you little pipsqueak.” When the guard shot the man next to him and the guy fell into his lap he was a little annoyed that there was now blood on his lap until he realized that the arrow head of the bolt was within his reach he bent over and broke the wooden shaft just below the metal head and stuffed it between his teeth and his jaw. “That will come in handy later” he thought.
Lumis and Rhuarc soon became overwhelmed by the amount of guards they were now faced with and since the prisoners all fled when they were freed they decided that they would have to try this rescue at a later date.
Upon returning to camp they saw several of the prisoners, almost a third in fact, were there waiting for them and had already prepared a small meal for everyone to share.
“You two were pretty brave for taking on the royal guards like that” said one man
“Yeah, whatever you guys are planning next, we want in. I want a chance to get back at that warden” said another of the men
Thinking for a moment Rhuarc and Lumis looked at each other and immediately knew what the other was thinking.
“Ok” said Rhuarc, “Here’s what we are going to do.”

[Order]

Lumis squinted through the musky darkness of the stone walled corridor. Faint echos of footsteps and idle muttering reached him through the halls. With a few quick paced steps, the young vagabond pressed his shoulder against a stone archway and peaked into the next hall. Two shilouettes in dark cloaks walked lazily in the opposite direction. Lumis took a couple of short breaths to steel himself for combat and sprinted the distance to his first victims.
A wiry arm snapped forward, fist impacted skull for only a brief instance. The first victim fell to his knees. The second cloaked figure spun on his heel to face his attacker. Lumis wrapped his left hand around the man's throat and planted his right fist in his chest, crushing his victim's attempt to call for help. As both men staggered in shock, Lumis downed both opponents with a single kick.
The bodies clattered to the floor and made more noise than Lumis had anticipated. The thin brawler darted into the shadows along the side of the hall and waited for anyone to investigate the noise.
Once he was satisfied that nobody had noticed his assult, Lumis moved forward. He poked his head into each doorway he passed, scanning for more victims. At the base of a stairwell, Lumis heard voices and footsteps decending. As the second pair of victims exited the stairwell, Lumis' hands shot forward and grabbed the closer one by the head. He wrenched and twisted his torso with all his strength and smashed the unassuming figure's head into the stone beside him. The second cloaked figure held his staff in a defensive stance. Lumis threw a front kick, the victim lifted his staff to sheild his chest but found, after a sharp impact, that his staff had been broken in two. The victim looked at his hands and dropped the splintered halves, unsure of what to do next. Lumis clenched his jaw and threw a straight haymaker which connected with the victim's cheek. The sharp smack, followed by a snap assured Lumis that his aim was true and his strength was undeniable. He continued up the stairs to the top floor of the tower, careful to land only on his toes to minimize noise.
"They were supposed to come up here five minutes ago." A voice echoed across the halls.
"They're sleeping. Take this and wake them up the way they deserve to be woken." A second voice responded. Before Lumis could duck back into the stairwell, another figure in a black cloak spotted him.
"Who's that!?"

The three figures advanced on Lumis. The amature monk shook out his arms before resuming his stance. Two cloaked opponents spread out and closed in from either side, the thrid stood back. Lumis engaged the figure on his left first, completely missing with his first punch. The third figure chuckled. The figure Lumis had tried to hit smiled to his ally which advanced from behind. The young vagabond threw a kick out behind himself without bother to look for his target. He felt his heel impact, spun and followed up with a backfist. Lumis didn't even pause to confirm the hits, his opponent lay unconscious already. Still facing the figure on his left, Lumis smiled back.
"You gonna kill him or what?" The third figure still stood a distance back. The first figure nodded and made a sideways glance toward his last ally. Lumis took the opportunity and threw a flurry of kicks which sent his opponent stumbling. The cloaked figure continued stepping backward as Lumis advanced on him. The victim slammed into the wall behind him and simultaniously took a punch to the jaw which put him to sleep.
The third figure shrugged,
"Okay, I'll kill him." He stepped forward quickly. As soon as the figure was in stricking distance, Lumis threw a hook. The victim ducked under the punch, easily avoiding it, only he looked up in confusion. Had he not ducked?
Lumis looked down at his own fist, sure that he had not actually connected. The cloaked figure took a couple steps back, shook his head and drew a dagger. Lumis realized he had not actually physically touched his opponent, some force had extended from his hand and carried his punch with it.
Lumis wound up, nearly ten feet between him and the cloaked figure. The figure stood his ground and readied his dagger. Lumis threw his fist forward with a growl. This time he could feel it, the energy projecting from his hand, stretching across space and delivering hard and true. The last victim shook with the impact and toppled backward. The amature monk looked down on the third cloaked figure. His eyes lay open, his mouth hung slack.
A kill with a single punch, one which never even connected.
Lumis felt the energy of the planet circulate through him.
He narrowed his eyes, Count Amilon hid in his office just a few paces farther ahead.

The doors of the Count's office creaked open slowly. Lumis stepped forward and eyed the final victim.
"Do you have an appointment?"
Lumis rounded the corner of the Count's desk silently. Count Amilon took several steps back until he bumped into a corner. A confident smile crossed the Count's lips.
"I guess that's a 'no'. Pity." His voice was quite high for an older man. He let his cloak drop to the floor and steadied his feet akimbo. As Lumis approached, the Count threw a flurry of kicks. The young vagabond stunted and deflected the kicks with both hands and both feet working overtime. The Count continued to smile, knowing that Lumis could not hold the defensive. The amatuer monk's lip curled as he hopped over a sweeping kick and countered with an uppercut. The Count swung his head backward to dodge the punch, but was immidiately struck with a lightening quick backfist.
Count Amilon staggered back past his desk and cleared his vision by shaking his head. Lumis gritted his teeth and began to advance.
"See you in hell." The Count said appologetically. His body shattered into thin beams of light which sucked back into the center before disappearing with the echo of the Count's laughter. Lumis stretched his neck left, then right, working the kinks out. Several rotting ghouls rose from seemingly nowhere in a diamond pattern around the young vagabond.
A noise similar to tearing cloth emminated from the office. Lumis burried his thumbs up to the palm in one ghoul's eye sockets and shoved it to the ground. A second ghould shambled forward and was quickly thrown to a stone wall. The third, fourth and fifth ghouls approched in a V formation. Lumis threw a punch which projected a Ki blast into the first ghould and knocked it into the other two. The young vagabond stood over one ghoul as it attempted to get its feet back under itself. Lumis stomped his heel down upon the ghoul's skull with a growl before twisting his boot down into the victim.

"In hell." Lumis repeated the words thoughtfully as he looked down at the stone floor. The amatuer monk decided it was time to find his partners.

[Hobaginator]

"Don't worry Ty, we'll get you out of this mess from the inside out."
Lumis' words echoed in Tyro's mind as the morning of his execution came to pass.
"I can handle myself, Nitwit. Get Count Amilon." Tyro had replied to the young monk with vengeful determination in his voice before Lumis had snuck back out of harms way and towards the other harms way; the coming battle. The darkness paired with the shortage of guards due to casualties had afforded them a brief moment of communication - in which Tyro laid out a basic 3 pronged attack plan to Lumis. Tyro now waited in a damp cell with the remaining death row convicts. The sound of the dropping guillotine echoed sharply in the morning air as the Warden and Executioner tested out their instrument of capital punishment. Voices arose as the crowds began to assemble.
"Damn bastards and their public execution. I hope the Warden trips and falls under it." One of the prisoners growled. The rest of them seemed to have no voice.
Tyro had been up all night filing away at the chain binding his handcuffs together with the serrated crossbow bolt tip, and he continued to do so inconspicuously. The door to the cell burst open as three black armored dark knights wearing hoods filed in behind the Warden.
"All right you sons of bitches on your feet!" One of the knights roared as they began hefting the prisoners up and pushing them roughly into single file. Tyro dropped his crossbow bolt tip as he was yanked to his feet by the handcuff chain. The Warden paced back and forward, looking each and every prisoner in the eyes with a wild grin. He issued Tyro to the front. The dark knights ran a single long chain through each prisoner's handcuff chain, attaching it to Tyro's and the last prisoner's to secure the bind.
"Now I expect that each and every one of you will meet your death with a sense of dignity." He said with his nose in the air, eyes closed. He turned to Tyro and stared at the side of his head. "Especially you." Tyro continued staring straight forward, statuesque. They pushed Tyro forward, but he refused to move. One of the knights grabbed him by the crotch and pulled him forward, Tyro was forced to obey.
The line of prisoners was led upstairs to the light of the breaking dawn. A gentle fog rested on their shoulders. Tyro was surprised to see that every single knight, guard and citizen in the square was wearing black. He even noticed a black-robed woman holding a baby wrapped in a black shawl. There were symbols that he didn't recognize flying on banners, buildings were painted black, and statues sat ominously around the square that he couldn't comprehend.
"This isn't the Dusthelm I remember..." He whispered to himself. They lined the prisoners up in front of the guillotine, where a large man wearing a black hood that obscured his face stood, holding the rope - the executioner. Tyro got a burst of adrenline in the pit of his stomach. The Warden stepped upon his soap box.
"For their crimes against humanity, refusal to conform to the laws of the land, and hopeless nature of their ignorance of discipline, these criminals are hereby sentenced to death." The Warden's voice echoed across the once glorious square of Dusthelm, now turned into bloody spectacle. The crowd roared cheers of approval, and began chanting words of a nature unknown to Tyro.
"A mass public execution, what better way to demonstrate your power!" The man behind Tyro said loudly. The Warden turned on the man in an instant.
"Knight of Dusthelm, remove that man from the line." The dark knight obeyed instanteniously, unlocking the man's cuffs from the chain and leading him forward. "For your insolence, let you be the first to meet your fate." He turned to Tyro and whispered, "I want you to watch carefully." The Warden sneered. Another cheer of approval came from the crowd, who again repeated their chant three times. As the knights were leading him forward, Tyro decided it was the time to act. He yanked his arms in opposite directions as hard as he could, but the chain didn't budge. He forced his arms apart again, refusing to quit. Two knights immediately began to attempt to restrain his arms. Tyro continued struggling against their hold as the first prisoner's head was forced into place under the guillotine. The Warden, not wanting to appear out of control of the situation got back upon his soap box. Suddenly, as Tyro twisted and fought to break his shackles under the oppressive grip of the dark knights, the chain link he had filed broke with a metallic clink. His arms exploded to either side with such power that it threw the knights off of him. He sprinted forward towards the guillotine. The crowd emmitted screams of horror as they witnessed the very first break in control that their cult had held for so long. Tyro, in breaking his own chain, released the other convicts who, while still handcuffed, dove at their captors with desperate ferocity.
"DO IT NOW!" The Warden screamed to the executioner, who then yanked the rope just as Tyro reached the chopping block. He kicked the upper neck guard clear off of it's supports, and as the guillotine fell towards him, he reached up and stopped it in it's tracks by the wooden weight that held the blade in place. The blade came to a rest just inches above his shoulder as he held it up. All hell had broken loose. Citizens fled in terror. Knights drew their weapons and flowed into the square towards the until recent prisoners. A few of the convicts pulled the man who almost was executed out from harm's way and held up the guillotine to pull Tyro out from underneath it as well. Ignoring all other opponents, the enraged Tyro stomped towards the Warden, who leapt off of the soap box down into the empty square and drew his rapier. Tyro walked straight towards him as the other convicts engaged the knights. Casualties began to mount up on both sides, however, the prisoners fought for sweet survival - seemingly giving them the edge of morale.
"I should have killed you when I had the chance!" The Warden spat, as he took a defensive fencing stance. Tyro ran straight towards him. The Warden simply sidestepped his direct assault while landing three fancy slashes to his face, cutting him below the eye, splitting his bottom lip open, and lobbing off a section of his left ear. "Arrogant boy!"
Wordlessly, Tyro roared in a berserk state of rage and charged straight towards the Warden again, who began to step backward, but quickly composed himself and leapt in for a stab to the heart. Tyro grabbed the blade with his hand and attempted to wrench the weapon from his opponent, but the Warden maintained a good grip on the hilt. A quick tug of war happened between the battling pair, Tyro refusing to let go of the blade. The Warden used his footwork, and with a flick of his wrist the blade pierced Tyro's shoulder and penetrated clear through. Feeling no pain due to his adrenaline-fueled mental state, Tyro let out a roar of frustration and dove upon his victim, wrestling him to the ground. The Warden attempted to twist the blade to maximize damage, but instead it snapped off at the hilt. Panic filled the Warden's eyes as Tyro wrapped his hands around his throat and choked him until he was unconcious, all the while screaming in red-faced fury. Steam rose from Tyro's body, particularly his wounds as he downed his opponent. The Warden's body lay spread eagled on the ground. The other knights and executioner had either fled or were slaughtered by the convicts, Tyro was unsure, but there were several smoldering bodies left behind.
A convict helped Tyro to his feet and pulled the blade out of the back of his shoulder. Tyro screamed in pain, and the convict simply gave him a pat on the back.
"More coming!" A convict yelled as four more dark knights filed out of the castle and crossed the bridge in their direction. Tyro, still in a state of berserk rage, sprinted at the closest one with a battle cry, backed by his apparant comrades. The lead knight hefted a huge black metal greatsword over his head and began to swing it down at Tyro, who had crossed the battlefield in an instant and gripped the handle before the apex of the power swing. Tyro twisted the weapon out of the man's hands and swung it in a sideways arc with one swift motion - cutting clear through the man's armored torso. The two halves of the late knight's body collapsed to the ground with a thud as his organs and intestines scattered across the side of the bridge and hung down, dipping into the water below. At the fearsome sight, the other three dark knights turned tail and fled back to the safety of the castle, and began closing the two large oaken doors. They had just got the doors shut and were sliding the locking bar down into place when Tyro raised the heavy blade over his head and threw it forward with a scream of exhertion. It spun twice like a tomahawk before peircing the thick wood with a crash while simulteniously blocking them from lowering the locking bar; the blade also peirced clean through one knight's chest and partially amputated another knight's arm, leaving it hanging only by the bottom half of flesh.
Tyro collapsed to his hands and knees in the middle of the bridge sucking wind, exhausted by his sudden outburst of strength and ferocity. Two convicts helped him to his feet and pushed him forward towards the final remaining knight, apparently expecting him to continue his rampage and carry them through the battle to victory. The dark knight aimed a poleaxe at his face and thrust it forward from between the cracks of the door. Tyro fell to a crouch, and the convict directly behind him recieved the consequences of the thrust. Tyro came up from underneath the weapon's shaft and grabbed the knight in a bear hug. The knight pushed straight forward into him with a growl. As the grappling pair rolled backwards onto the bridge the convicts grabbed the the knight off from on top of him and pushed him into the water. He sank like a lead weight to the bottom, drowned. They helped Tyro to his feet once more. He stumbled into the main hall of the castle, which appeared to be some what of a temple. There was a small fountain in the middle, atop which a four-armed statue stood with water flowing down it's hands and into the pool. Tyro breathed laboredly as he fell into the pool and lay there, exhausted and wounded, having no other choice but to wait to rendevous with his partners. No thought of either victory or vengance crossed the berserker's adrenaline-overdosed mind. His body simply buzzed with a strange sensation of relaxation, heat, and cold at the same time as his chest heaved for breath. He simply felt one emotion: Relief. He was unaware of the severity his wounds, and the events of the last few minutes were an out of focus blur to him.

[Jarvistation]

The Battle of Dusthelm (Rhuarc)

Since they decided that it would be more effective to attack the castle of Dusthelm from different sides Rhuarc found himself and four of the remaining prisoners armed with whatever they were able to grab from the dead soldiers that were left mercilessly behind during the battle at the caravan.
“Alright guys are you ready for a little revenge?” asked Rhuarc
“Yeah, let’s do this,” replied the men
“Then let’s go” he said as he started running towards the castle walls. When he was a short distance away he began to throw fireballs at the soldiers on the walls so the rest of the men could get to the wall and throw their ropes up so they could climb and get inside. When he was satisfied that there was no more enemy soldiers in range he ran to the walls and began to climb one of the ropes himself. When he got to the top of the walls he saw Lumis across town fighting his own battle and he heard a large commotion coming from the courtyard in front of the temple. He then decided that’s where he has to go. It was a brutal fight, the citizens were all wearing black robes but they threw themselves at Rhuarc and the former prisoners. He made quick work of dispatching the citizens because he really needed to get to the courtyard where Tyro was.
He fought his way along the rooftops of the houses being attacked by what seemed like the entire town, most were the weak fragile citizens but a few had actual skills. Finally he had fought his way to the wall just outside of the courtyard. When he reached the wall he looked down into the courtyard he saw that the rest of the prisoners who were in the cart with Tyro were fighting against the guards.
“Way to go Tyro” whispered Rhuarc
Suddenly he saw a white orb of light flying towards the courtyard originating from somewhere off to his left. He turned and saw a bishop throwing balls of holy energy at the fighters in the courtyard below. He really didn’t want this bishop messing up his plans for rescuing Tyro so he threw a fireball at the man which definitely drew his attention away from the fight below.
Rhuarc and the bishop began to throw magic at each other and in turn the other would block it with his own mage-shield. After one such exchange he felt a sudden gust of wind behind him, curious he held his shield in front of him and turned around to find three ninjas with daggers in their chests lying on the ground. Thinking nothing of it he turned around to find the bishop was gone, he looked around and found him running along the wall towards the temple. He chased the bishop and followed him down into the temple.
When Rhuarc entered into the main hall of the temple he saw a large statue with four arms. The statue was of a woman and was made out of a translucent material that made it look almost as if it was made out of ice. Just below the statue was the bishop. Immediately Rhuarc ran and jumped while getting a fireball ready to throw at the man. The bishop turned around with wide eyes and brought out a long dagger, but dropped it when Rhuarc hit him with his magic. Landing on top of the bishop he grabbed the dropped weapon and drove it into the man’s chest.
After he pulled the dagger out he cleaned it and got a good look at it, and saw that the blade looked like an icicle and there was a large safire built into the hilt. Shoving the dagger through his belt he turned and made to leave when he heard a voice behind him.
“Who dares summon me from my slumber” said a female voice
“Uh…” replied Rhuarc
“You are a summoner are you not?” said the voice
At that he quickly turned around and saw not one but two female figures materialize out of the statue. Their skin was blueish and they each had a circlet around their head with a bright crystal hanging onto their foreheads. They were just about naked except for a cloth around their breasts and a hip wrap. As they came out of the statue they became more real instead of apparitions.
“We are the Shiva sisters” they replied in unison.
“SHIVA!” “YOU’RE A SUMMON!” cried Rhuarc
“Yes, and you must now prove yourself” they said, again in unison
“What do you want me to do?” asked Rhuarc
“Prove yourself” they replied staring
Not sure on what to do he threw a fireball at one of the sisters, but it seemed to take forever to get there and when it finally did the sister he threw it at just batted it away like one would bat at a fly on a hot day. “Ok, so no magic cause it won’t affect them” he thought with faint dismay. Thinking about what else he could use against these ice queens his mind went back to the ring and the dagger. So he quickly brought up his ring and began the scan spell. Through the scan he saw that the one on the right was a healer and the one on the left was the attacker, it also showed him that the left one was the one he needed to attack. So using his dagger he ran and jumped towards the left Shiva sister and since his scan spell also showed him where to plant his attack he aimed towards the very small but hitable target. Plunging his dagger into the spot the sister immediately cried out in pain and fell to her knees, the other sister seeing this healed her fallen sister. When the left one stood back up fully healed she said, “Summoner, what is your name?”
“Uh, Rhuarc is my name” he added
“Very well, you have proven yourself and we will now serve you as your eidolon.”
With that they turned slightly urethral and misty and dove into his chest just as Carbuncle had. Immediately he felt as if he were thick headed like one gets when he has a cold, but he realized that this was just because he was slightly more aware of the temperature around him.
Exhausted he sat down not realizing it was right next to the bishop he had just killed.
“You know Jeffro, I hope you don’t mind me calling you that since I don’t know your real name, since I realized I was a summoner everything has changed for me.” “I find myself wishing that I was back home so I could prove all those idiot instructors at the Mage-College that I’m not just a fail magician, and you know, I don’t think I’ve met anyone else who is a summoner so, what if I’m a rare magician.”
Just then he heard shouting and at the front door of the temple he saw some men carrying another between them and he fell into the fountain that was dedicated to Shiva.
“Tyro?”

[Order]

Lumis jogged down the stairwell and into the entryway of the temple. He crossed the threshold through the stone archway just as Tyro crashed into the fountain of Shiva. The young vagabond shouted to interrupt Rhuarc and Tyro's greetings,
"Count Amilon escaped using a teleportation spell." The two allies turned, Lumis continued, "Just before he disappeared, he said 'See you in hell'. I think he might be in a lower level of this building." Tyro stood from the pool of water and inspected his wounds from the recent battle. He shrugged, noticing that he felt no pain and the wounds had stopped bleeding,
"Huh." He looked toward Lumis, "Well, there's a dungeon in the basement. If there is hell in Dusthelm, it would be there."
"We should chase after him." Rhuarc tucked the icicle dagger in his waistband. Tyro led the way to the lower levels of the temple. As they descended below the ground, the atmosphere of the temple shifted into a humid, eerie air. In the bottom floor of the stone structure, hundreds of candles lit every wall. The shuddering flames cast shadows in odd shapes across corners and doorways.
"Back for more?" Count Amilon stood among several cloaked cultists, "And still no appointment." He lowered his head, "Shameful manners, young ki master." As the Count slowly raised his hands to either side, the stone below him shifted and seemed to boil. Amilon locked eyes with Lumis, then inspected Tyro and Rhuarc,
"Your lackies will suffer for your stupidity." He spoke arrogantly with his eyes closes and his eyebrows raised. Tyro grunted and picked up his fists,
"You're gonna die, old man." The Count acted as if Tyro hadn't said anything, he breathed in through his nose sharply before exhaling slowly. The boiling stone at his feet popped and frothed. A head and pair of arms extened out of the black pool. Lumis, Rhuarc and Tyro readied themselves for combat. Several other bodies emerged from the boiling froth, lifting themselves above the ground. It slowly became apparent that the bodies were smashed into each other into the shape of a hand. Each finger, a different type of warrior, the arm comprised of women and children. The beast's 'head' rose from the pool, limbs and clothing and armor formed it's face. Four bodies parted and gave way to rows of giant, gleaming teeth.
"This must be a demon." Rhuarc drew Shiva's dagger. The beast pulled the rest of it's body free from the black pool. Most of it's mass rested upon a gigantic wooden cart with six wheels, each manipulated by several human bodies. The cart creaked as if strained, the wheels squealed and the arms thumped to the stone floor as the beast shoved and pulled itself toward it's three vicitims.
Rhuarc raised his ruby ring ((OOC: alliteration, punk)),
"I don't see any weakness on this thing."
"How do we kill it?" Lumis cracked his shoulder by rotating his arm backward.
"Beat it's face in!" Tyro replied before rushing toward the beast. Shambling, rotten ghouls dropped off the sides and back of the massive cart-demon. Tyro lowered his shoulder and tackled one ghoul as the rest turned their attention toward him.
Lumis threw a Ki Blast punch at the head of one of the bodies still attached to the cart-demon. The target's skull cracked and was immidiately retracted into the demon's shifting mass, only to be replaced by another body.
"Crap!" Lumis looked back at Rhuarc who was in the process of drawing a summon. Tyro had now fully engaged the swarm of ghouls and was being pushed back down the corridor, past Lumis and eventually, past Rhuarc as well. Possesing the cart-demon's full attention, Lumis decided to act as a diversion as Rhuarc attempted to bring out the big guns.
Lumis lunged and dodged athletically. The huge cart-demon was too slow to really hit his opponent. The Ki master sprung in close to attempt a direct attack, but was met by the crowd of bodies which made up the demon's left hand. Subdued and constrained, Lumis struggled against the bodies which surrounded him. They each grabbed at his limbs with their own hands. The young vagabond managed to pull his right fist in close to his hip. With grunt, he twisted his torso as far as he could and shoved his fist forward, despite the lack of space to gain leverage.
With a rumbling boom, the cart-demon's hand flew open. The bodies which made up it's fingers hung limp.
Lumis clenched his jaw, his resolve now steeled against his lumbering opponent. Rhuarc's voice erupted from a few paces back down the corridor,
"Shiva!"

[Hobaginator]

Meanwhile...

The onslaught of the ghouls had pushed Tyro back into the hallways until he lost sight of his battling partners. The monsters were so numerous they often jammed themselves into a shuffling pack in pursuit of their target, with only one or two breaking free to lunge at Tyro at a time. Tyro easily dropped ghoul after ghoul with punches, tackles, front kicks, or slams into the walls -- but there was too many of them. Their growls, moans and howls filled his ears, drowning out the fading sounds of his battling friends. Tyro bumped into a wall - the end of the line. He looked around desperately as the shambling mass of undead closed in on him.
"The Punisher." He read aloud from a metal plaque underneath a mean looking wooden club with metal spikes on the teardrop shaped end. He grabbed it and swung it at the first ghoul that got close to him. The mace was obviously highly effective, as Tyro witnessed it rip the ghoul's facial structure OFF.
"Hell yeah!" Tyro swung the mace side to side at the row of monsters, smashing skulls, cracking bones and destroying flesh. They fell like the rotten branches of a long dead tree. "I love this thing!" He cheered as he smashed the remaining few shuffling fiends to pulpy pieces with power and precision. ((OOC: Yeah, you like that don't you Order?)) He shunted the final undead against the wall with the shaft of the mace and finished it off with an overhead bash, flattening it's head like a rotten pumpkin under the wheel of an over-laden wagon. Tyro inspected his new found love with enthralled eyes before banging the remaining bits of skull and hair covered scalp off onto the stone floor. He hopped over the mass of mutilated corpses and aimed to continue after his allies and assist with their battle until he realized that he had gotten lost. He wandered around through dungeon corridors before finally coming to a halt at the sight of something very familiar; the chamber of torture where he had endured countless hours of torment and suffering at the hands of the Inquisition. Cold sweat oozed from his pores as he stared into the glowing, furnace-lit room. Like a mindless moth to the flame, he wandered in. His eyes scanned all the various tools of pain that were laid out neatly over several tables and walls. The iron tables had locking mechanisms for wrists and ankles. The end of the table that was against the walls each connected to an inlaid furnace. His old wounds began to burn with just as much intensity and realness as if it were happening to him all over again at that very instant. He heard the door slam shut behind him. He wheeled around with a start.
"I see you don't forget everything." It was the Warden, he twisted the lock-bar shut. Tyro was dumbfounded. "What you still don't remember me?" He said as he walked over towards a torture table. "This very table..." He slowly drew his hand along the length of it. Tyro's memory flooded back in sudden, sharp flashes. Times that he had pushed to the back of his mind for a reason. Times where he had been starved of food and water to the limit of human existence and then forced to withstand the Warden-Inquisitor's explorations into the deepest limits of his pain tolerance, and lack thereof. Times he felt his reality slipping -- mind seeming to lose it's mass and become light and spongy with more and more holes of time and space unaccounted for with every cut, poke, and firey prod. "Every emotion, every expression, every face: I remember it with vivid detail." The Warden closed his eyes and smiled as if remembering his first love. "I suppose it is a gift with which we are not all blessed." He looked to the furnace and removed a red-hot tipped poker. "I shall help you remember."
Tyro unshouldered his mace, but it crashed to the floor. His hands seemed to have lost their strength. His eyes filled with a sudden darkness and he collapsed to his hands and knees. The floor felt to be shaking beneath him, his mind swirled, and reality was a static fuzz.
"AAAAAHHHH!" He was brought back to his senses with a sharp pain in the back of his shoulder.
"Yes!" The Warden said with a sadistic growl as he buried the searing poker into the rapier wound, reopening it permanently with a cauterized cavity. "I know that scream!" Tyro fell to the ground in a weakened state, and his body began to twitch uncontrollably as he faded in and out of conciousness. "No! You don't get to do that!" The Warden screamed. "Water, water." He mumbled, dropping the poker next to Tyro before he searched around the room.
'Water, Inquisitor Jarron.' Tyro heard in his head, somewhere deep in his memory. He blinked his eyes and rolled over, staring at the Warden. The Warden had found a pale of water, but dropped it when he saw Tyro's eyes upon him.
"Ah!" He hurried to Tyro's side and crouched in front of him. "You remember me! Y-y-you remember... my name?" He chuckled insanely. "I watched you grow up... these tables... you were almost like... my child in a way!" Tyro fumbled for the poker with a frailness unfamiliar to him until his numbing fingertips felt the warm steel. He gripped it in his hand weakly and reached forward with it, swatting at Inquisitor Jarron's face. It slashed open a thick wound right under the Inquisitor's eye. Tyro felt his strength come flooding back to him with a swarming intensity like the most powerful second wind he had ever felt. He grabbed Inquisitor Jarron by the throat. Jarron's eyes bulged and his voice let out a garbled squeak as Tyro stood up and lifted him into the air in a straight, one-armed choke in one fluid motion.
"JARRON!" Tyro roared. He screamed unintelligable syllables of dark fury through gritted teeth as spittle fell from his chin. With the poker still in his other hand, he drove it into his victim's stomach before carrying him toward the very same torture table he himself had been bound to years before. Purple-faced, Jarron grit his teeth and let out what little of a shocked moan of pain he could force through his windpipe around the young berserker's vice-like grip. Tyro slammed him down on the table head first, and bashed the side of his face where the poker wound was as hard as he could with a left hook. The Inquisitor fell out of conciousness. Tyro slapped his face until he woke back up again moments later. Their eyes met for an instance, Jarron's conveying surprise and dismay, Tyro's conveying ice cold vindication around a myriad of bulging veins.
"Mercy..." Jarron whispered. "Mercy, child... I am sick! I have a problem! I need help!" Tyro stared into his enemy's eyes as he lifted the grate. "No... No!" Tyro ran his hand gently over Jarron's forehead, Jarron's eyes watered with emotion as a slight child-like smile grew on his face. Jarron must have thought he had evoked what little compassion was left in Tyro. The drums of war pounded in Tyro's chest audibly, filling his senses with the lust for destruction. Shadows and shades danced upon the walls like dark beings rejoicing at the hellish sight they were about to witness.
"Take your revenge!" A disembodied voice left a booming echo which hammered away at the inside of his skull, and the whispers of a thousand shrill voices of harpies tore away at his mind until they grew into the overpowering shriek of a legion of banshees. Tyro screamed and shoved Jarron foot-first into the furnace by his head and slammed the spiked grate down onto his waist which pierced into the flesh. He held the grate down heavily at the expense of his own hand, which seared with the white hot pain of satisfaction. Jarron let out a blood curdling scream and began thrashing around. He clenched his jaw down, gritting his teeth so hard they audibly cracked as he attempted to push himself out of the oven - which only served to rip open four deep wounds from the spiked grate like the fangs of a demon of vengance sinking deep into it's sickly prey. Tyro stood and watched Jarron burning alive from the waist down until Jarron's arms curled over his chest, his eyes rolled back, and his jaw settle into a locked-open position with foam oozing out of his mouth. Flesh crackled, blood boiled, black smoke filled Tyro's nostrils and stung his wide open eyes. He backed up slowly. "I am not a child anymore." He picked up his mace and turned on his heel to leave. The door was still locked. He had but one way to go if he wished to find his way out of this hell and back to his friends: deeper into the torture chambers.
As he crept through the halls of torment he began to feel as though he were walking deeper and deeper into a faded nightmare. The candles emitted a blurred light that seemed to take away the defining edges of all the objects they illuminated. Cages, iron maidens, racks, chains, it was all there. Who could thrive in such a dark setting? It sent a chill down Tyro's spine. He came upon a black door at the end of a hallway. He did his best to open it silently, hairs on the nape of his neck standing on end. The door creaked as he peeked inside. He saw a pale figure dash towards him with it's arms outstretched. He swung his mace.
"Save m-" His mace hit and silenced a poor tortured soul forever. Tyro cursed under his breath, but moved on. There were black cloths flowing down from the ceiling, constantly moving in the edges of his vision but never when he looked directly at them. He moved one out of his path, and came upon a young lady, strapped to a spiked metal torture device. She was starved, bloody, and clearly not going to survive any intervention by Tyro if he attempted to move her. He knelt down in front of her, a look of concern on his face but no words he could find. She lifted her head, pale cheeks stained red from the salty lines of tears which could no longer drop due to dehydration.
"Kill me." She whispered. She stared into Tyro's eyes with a pleading sorrow for several moments before she lowered her head once more. Tyro's heart beat in his chest with an ache. He stood over her, raised his mace, held his breath... kept holding his breath... he gasped and fell to a crouch next to her.
"I can get you out of here!" He said it knowing that she was doomed, just hoping his words could make it true. He reached his hand out, but was afraid that if he touched her he would cause undue pain. She shook her head gingerly and let out a slight sob.
"Please." She pleaded in the faintest whisper. Tyro stood once more, gripped his mace, bit his lower lip so hard that it began to bleed, and swung the mace down on the back of her head. The torture device clattered as she fell to the ground. He heard a gasp further down the hall. It was a cultist in a black robe. Startled, the cultist ran for it. Tyro gave chase. After several hallways the cultist ran into a larger room with two large wooden doors. Tyro sprinted forward, leapt, and kicked the middle with such force that both doors blasted open. The room was full of cultists wearing black robes. A waft of air rushed into the room and put out all of the candles. An orchestra of screams erupted as Tyro swung his mace wildly on all that were inside of the shadowy room. He could only see moving figures, not make them out. He didn't stop until nothing was left moving or making a sound, then, a light began to glow from the far end of the room accompanied by the sound of somebody slowly clapping. He saw the back of a large red and black velvet armchair.
"Very good. Nicely done." The chair spun around slowly only to reveal Count Amalon holding a candle, sitting cross legged and wearing a sinister grin. "Perhaps you would like to take a look at your, for lack of better words, work?" He raised an eyebrow and motioned to the corpses with a wave of his hand. What Tyro saw horrified him. The faces of men, yes, but also the faces of women, and young men and young women, all slaughtered at his hand. Tyro fell to his knees and dropped his mace.
"What have I done?"
"You have done precisely as you should have done." The Count stood from his chair and set the candle on a small end table before turning to speak again. "The screams of the dead are deafening, no?"
"You bastard." Tyro growled as he reached for his mace.
"I don't-" He pointed at the mace and the wood turned to ash, "-think that would be prudent." He let out half a chuckle. "But sound judgement is not your forte, is it Tyrule?"
"I'll kill you."
"Yes," The count took several steps forward as he spoke. "You seem to be quite good at that, don't you?" He stopped a few paces away from Tyro. "Killing." He spoke with a bland tone of boredom. "The darkness in your heart is undeniable; which seems to make you, quite suitable."
"Suitable? For what?" Tyro replied, angry and confused. He was startled as the candles on the right side of the wall suddenly became lit once more. He looked at them, and back at the Count with utter disbelief. The Count simply pointed at the wall to Tyro's left. There stood both of their flickering shadows facing each other. I an instant, the image of Count Amalon's shadow leapt across the wall and into Tyro's shadow. The echoes of Count Amalon's laughter filled Tyro's senses.
He awoke with a thrash, and looked around. Silence in an empty room.
"What the?" Tyro scratched his head. He felt as though everything had just happened a moment ago, but as evident by the drool and the crease of a stone crevace on his cheek he must have been asleep, or knocked unconcious at some point. The mace he had before was also gone. He felt for the poker wound on his shoulder; nothing. "Huh." He shrugged and stood up. "Must have been some kind of cooky dream. I wonder where Nitwit and Pipsqueak are."

[Hobaginator]

Nitwit and Pipsqueak pushed forward still in a long-endured battle against the Count’s conjured Cart Demon.
“This thing wont die!” Lumis shouted over the din of the decrepit bodies. He leapt into the air throwing several circular kicks, cracking skulls and ribs. As bodies fell, more simply clambered out of the writhing mass of flesh to take their place. Lumis wiped sweat from his brow. “Jeez!”
“It’s not invincible.” Ruarc said calmly. “We’re just at a stalemate.” The Shiva sisters hovered behind him.
“Yeah you got that right! I just wish that summon of yours would DO SOMETHING!”
“I’m working on that!” Ruarc snapped. “I haven’t exactly been doing this very long, you know…” He turned to face the twins and hopped from one foot to the other, waving his hands in the air. "Enfuego! Allakazappit! Chimmi-chimmi-chim-kick-some-ass!"
“Why don’t you try helping me with that dagger in your belt, then?” Lumis said sarcastically, clearly implying Ruarc’s summons are useless.
“Dagger… Wait! That’s it!” Ruarc drew his dagger and looked at it for a moment. “Scan!” He shouted, hopping up and down excitedly as he aimed his ruby ring at the dagger. “It’s a sacrificial dagger…” He thought back to when the Shiva sisters first appeared, when he had killed the Bishop with the dagger. “I get it.” Ruarc slid the icicle-like blade across his palm. Fresh red blood flowed forth, but instead of dripping to the floor, it turned into vapor and surrounded the sisters. They let out a simultaneous sigh. The healer sister raised her hands, and water flowed forth from her palms to Ruarc’s wound, sealing it up instantly. “ATTACK!” He screamed.
“As you command.” The sister on the right raised her hands over her head, gathering the water that flowed from the other sisters hands into a mass of icicles. The attacker twin arched her back before throwing a volley of icicle shards that buried into the Cart Demon’s mass of flesh. It let out a roar before more bodies replaced the destroyed ones.
“Ruarc have them freeze it up so I can break it with a punch or something!”
“Good idea! Shiva, freeze it!” But this time the sisters would not budge. “Aww, damn it!” Ruarc winced as he slid the blade across his palm again. “Owwwww.” The healer sister raised her palm in Ruarc’s direction, again his wound instantly sealed, good as new.
“We obey.” The sisters replied with an icy whisper. Droplets of water emitted from the sister on the left and gathered around the sister on the right before she flew over the Cart Demon, raining down upon the corpses and wood that made up its body and encasing it in an icy shell. It struggled against its frigid prison. Lumis backed up, inhaled and exhaled slowly.
“Do it man, DO IT!” Ruarc tore hair from his head. Lumis let out a shrill scream of fury as he sprinted forward, leapt into the air, and threw a spinning-double-donkey-kick.
“HHHHHHWAAAAAAAAA!” Furious foot met frozen face before Lumis landed lightly on his loafers and rolled to Ruarc’s right. The Cart Demon stayed stark still. “Man, I thought that would be overkill…” But the young Ki Master spoke too soon! The Cart Demon cricked, the Cart Demon cracked, the Cart Demon crumbled before their very eyes! Body parts broke free and beat against the floor with a rata-tat-tat before finally revealing the beast’s true form; two bulging eyes on slender stalks, a massive mouth with terrible teeth, and a long, thin and wormlike body with claws sunken into the wooden frame of the wheeled wagon. The wretched monster wrenched itself free from the remainder of frozen organic ooze and clambered forth from the cart with a ragged roar.
“Excellent show! Magnificent! Never have I seen such a splendid display of combat prowess!” Count Amalon’s nasally voice pierced the corridors of the dark dungeon. The demon dissipated into the shadows and the cart turned to ash. Amalon’s figure appeared in the light of a distant door.
“I’ll prowess my right foot in your left ear!” Lumis declared in the style of Tyro as he marched forward. Ruarc sheathed his dagger and followed, with the twins in tow.
“Not today.” Amalon retorted, and took off running.
“Yes today!” Lumis growled and sprinted off after him, leaving Ruarc in the dust. Ruarc began to feel dizzy.
“We have done as you have asked.” One said.
“You are weakened.” Said the other.
“Until next time.” Both sisters said. They evaporated into wisps and entered his chest. Ruarc skipped down the hallway after Lumis. Lumis cautiously entered the doorway in which Amalon fled and peered around the room. Tyro stood there, scratching his head. “Tyro!”
“There you are Nitwit! Where’s Pipsqueak?”
“Right behind me. What happened? How did you let him get past you like that?”
“Who?” Tyro replied, looking around dumbly as Ruarc finally entered the room.
“AMALON!” The pair shouted simultaneously.
“Uh… Where did he go?”
“Dunno.” Lumis looked around the room. There was only one way out besides the way they came in; a circular stairway that led to the east tower. “This way!” Lumis sprinted up the stairs, taking three at a time in stride. Tyro chuckled.
“He’s fast.”
“Come on you buffoon!” Ruarc shrieked and began climbing up the steps one at a time like a toddler, the sight of which caused Tyro to burst into roaring laughter.
“All right, up you go!” Tyro lifted Ruarc and placed him over his shoulder, and began to march up the stairs.
“Get offa me you brute! I can make it just fine! Put me down!” He kicked, squirmed and beat the failed knight with his fists to no avail. "AAAAAAH!"
Lumis was the first to reach the high point of the tower. Amalon stood facing away from him, staring out of the window at the rising tide of Port Dusthelm below, the high noon sun glimmering off of the surface like a hundred thousand golden coins.
“Now you’re done for. You’ve got nowhere to run.” Lumis said with a grin and cracked his knuckles.
“Oh, I wouldn’t be so sure.” Amalon whispered to himself.
“Get ready for the foot in your ear.”
“Beautiful isn’t it, young Ki Master?” He stated dreamily. “The seas. They hold a hundred mysteries, which unlock a hundred more.” He turned to face Lumis. “I knew your father.”
“Go ahead! Try to talk your way out of this. This should be good.” He let out half a chuckle. Lumis was no fool… well… he gladly accepted the momentary ceasefire to await his teammates arrival.
“A fisherman, turned adventurer, turned Ki Master. I see the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. Your skills seem to come to you naturally. Physically, however, you do take after your mother - but you have your father’s eyes.”
“What are you even talking about? He was a breadmaker, moron! And both my parents have brown eyes, I have green. Shows how much YOU know.”
“Did nobody tell you?” Amalon’s eyes pierced Lumis’. “That same look… I remember your father giving me that look so many years ago.” He raised an eyebrow. “You want to kill me?” Tyro’s footsteps and Ruarc’s protests echoed up the stairwell. “Ah, right on queue. It appears we have run out of time… for now.” Amalon stepped out onto the window sill. “Until next we meet, I bid you farewell.” With that, the Count leapt out into open air. Lumis ran up to the windowsill. What he saw amazed and frightened him. The cloth over Count Amalon’s back tore open to reveal two black wings of solid shadow which flapped in utter silence, carrying the Count over the horizon and gone in seconds flat.
“Woah.”

[Order]

“Hey Nitwit! I thought you said Amilon was up here.” Tyro jaunted, barely drawing any air, despite carrying his Halfling cohort up half the castle’s height.
“He was.” Lumis picked a pebble up off the window sill and tossed it, “He flew off.”
“Where’d he go?” Rhuarc asked as if he hadn’t heard clearly. He shoved off Tyro and landed nimbly on his feet.
“That way,” Lumis pointed out the window, along the coast at Dusthelm’s eastern edge. Tyro stuck his head out the window and scanned the horizon from right to left,
“I don’t see him.”
“Like I said, he flew off.” Lumis shrugged and headed for the stairs.
“Whaddya mean ‘flew off’? He didn’t just jump out the window and grow wings, ya raggedy-assed nitwit.” Tyro folded his arms across his chest as he spoke and huffed out half chuckles. Lumis stopped and looked at him in an expression which only lacked an exaggerated eye-roll.
“So he’s a count.” Rhuarc ran his hand along the stone wall of the castle as he followed Lumis, “Who owns an army, can summon demons and now he can fly.”
“Sounds about right,” Lumis shrugged as showers of sweat shook off him with each step down the stairwell. Rhuarc pursed his lips as he thought,
“What’s our next move, lads?” The Halfling’s trinkets jingled every time he hopped down to the next step.
“Well, Jarron’s dead like a church in Hayfield on a Friday night.” Tyro shoved his fist into his other hand, “So that’s taken care of.”
As the three partners stepped into the castle courtyard, their conversation took a backseat to the sight of their battle’s aftermath. An armored knight of Count Amilon’s cult stumbled aimlessly, clearly in shock. His left arm swayed as if held on only by his armor, his right hand reached out for any support to lean upon. A cloaked figure moaned and batted at the oaken buttress of a pavilion which had landed across his legs. A man lay on his back in the shade, gently inspecting the swelling over his eyes and the angle of his broken nose. The group of prisoners who were to be executed worked together to shove the guillotine over. The hulking structure groaned and shuttered and dropped to the ground with a hammering “smash”.
“Oh!” Rhuarc’s eyes widened as he took in the carnage.
“Huh.” Tyro scratched his head.
“Ugh.” Lumis felt his stomach churn and covered his mouth as he forced his gaze to his own feet.
“I didn’t think we caused this much--” Tyro’s thought drifted off,
“Carnage.” Rhuarc finished the idea. “We’re still the good guys? Right chaps?”
“Fuh,” Lumis shook his head and spat, “Yes. We’re the good guys.”
“Oi! Over here! I found ‘em!” A gruff voice yelled. He was wearing the same style of sack cloth pants and shirt as Tyro, one of the prisoners who was going to be executed. “And ya aren’t just the good guys. Yer heros if I’d ever seen one! Them baddies was *this* close to serving me up for dinner, and all for not paying a goddam fishing tax!”
“Heh,” Lumis wanted to respond, but nothing seemed to present itself.
“I’m serious! We were just talking about it, weren’t we, fellas?” There was a general rabble of agreement. “Billy there was along for the ride because he reported his dog missing on the wrong day of the week!” The prisoner pointed at Billy with his whole hand, palm up and a look of wide-eyed surprise, “I’m Emrick, by the way.” His hand whipped frontward, grabbed Tyro’s and shook vigorously.
“Good, yeah, okay, sure, thanks.” Tyro mumbled as he tried to pull his hand free.
“Oh, sorry.” Emrick let Tyro free, “I’m just damned excited to be in one piece. When you told us that plan, we all thought we’d be watching you get tortured as they cut our heads off, but you? No, *you*” He poked Tyro in the chest lightly, “*You* did all this!”
Lumis made the mistake of looking around the scene of the courtyard again and was forced to squeeze his eyes shut as he felt his head swim.
“We had planned to hold off any stragglers, but” He knelt down and put his hand on Rhuarc’s shoulder, “You didn’t leave any for us! Can you believe that? I was all wound up for a fight, but you went ahead and kicked every ass, punched every face in sight!” He laughed hysterically, as if he had literally lost his mind, “You three are unstoppable!” He gauged Tyro’s reaction, blinked a few times and looked at the ground, “Er, I’m going to stop talking now.”
“Thank GOD!” Another prisoner turned, walked toward a fallen oak pillar and dropped down onto it as a mumble of complaint emanated from somewhere unseen.
“So, Tyro, what’s your plan now?” Billy said as he shrugged at Emrick as if to ask him what the hell he’s doing.
“Well, I hadn’t had a chance to think with all you nitwits crowding my personal space.” The group of prisoners simultaneously took a few steps back and leaned in, waiting for Tyro’s next move.
“I should think we’ve got a dragon to slay, fellows.” Rhuarc puffed his chest out, just now realizing he’d survived what really was a suicide mission.
“We still don’t have a ship, though, Pipsqueak.” Tyro folded his arm and basked in the glory of being idolized by the prisoners.
“There are ships in the harbor, remember?” Lumis spoke with a hand pressed against his stomach to calm it, “They’re probably Count Amilon’s so I say we take the nicest, most expensive looking one and burn the rest.”
“Hah!” Tyro grinned, inspired by the idea.
“You mean to say we aren’t going to make new enemies and place our necks on their swords to get one?” Rhuarc feigned dejection, “this is the least exciting thing I’ve done in weeks.” He followed through with the joke, scuffing his shoe against the ground with a kick and walking off toward the docks.
“Aw, don’t worry Pipsqueak, we can fire you out of a cannon if you want!” Tyro’s first pace away from the group was met by the shuffling, stumbling group of prisoners clumping up behind him and matching his pace.

The ships were all clearly well-constructed and tactfully decorated. The brasswork was polished to a mirror finish, the wood was sanded flush and smooth, corners rounded and every inch stained to a dark tint. The sails were rolled up, but they were obviously decorated with stitching of bright threads.
“Oi, Billy, you think this pile ever left port?” Emrick bumped his buddy with an elbow.
“I was just about to say, ‘looks like it’s never been used, huh?”
Lumis wandered up to the highest point of the weather deck, placed his hands on his hips and looked out at the sea. Rhuarc wobbled on the gangplank with his hands extended to either side, stuck at the mercy of the swaying walkway which extended toward the ship. Emrick paced down the structure and grabbed the Halfling by his shirt,
“You can’t be having trouble with your sea-legs, fellah, you ain’t been to sea yet.” Rhuarc slapped his hand away, stumble-jogged up to the deck of the ship and dropped to his hands and knees,
“I wasn’t expecting to be so high off the water is all, serrah.”

[Hobaginator]

Lumis stepped onto the oaken deck and did a quick head count, mumbling as he did so. Ruarc tugged on his pant leg and waved him closer, looking suspicious. Lumis knelt down.
"Do you think we can trust these... these... scoundrels?" He whispered squeakily in a way that made Lumis' inner ear itch. Lumis wiggled his pinky into the canal and pulled out a gob of gooey wax. "They are awefully big, and they *were* death row inmates."
"We'll be fine, little buddy. Don't you worry. Besides, every ship needs a crew doesn't it? What harm could four more heads cause?" Lumis wiped his finger on his shirt.
"What harm indeed..." Ruarc peered around, unconvinced. A giant hand appeared out of nowhere and slapped Lumis on the back. It belonged to Emrick.
"Did I hear somebody say crew?" He leaned in and twitched his gallant white moustache. "Every ship needs a crew!"
"And every crew needs a Captain!" Billy chimed in. He drummed his palms on his plump gut. "I vote Tyro!"
"Second." A bearded inmate piped in matter of factly.
"Rasuul votes Tyro." A wiry-framed, leathery skinned, eagle-eyed inmate hissed.
"Well now then, we haven't even heard the heroes' votes yet!" Emrick cut in. "Besides, does anyone else besides me know how to navigate a ship? Read wind patterns? Avoid sandbars and reefs? Not that I wouldn't gladly--"
"Stow that backtalk!" Tyro roared as he kicked the door of the Captain's cabin off the hinges. He ducked his head to walk through the doorway. He was already wearing an immaculate black Commodore's cap and a royal blue jacket with gold threading on the buttons. He popped the cork of, and downed, half a bottle of rum in an instant and wiped his mouth. "I vote me, and that makes me the Captain of this ship by majority vote of 4 out of 6. Any more talk of mutiny and I'll make the whole lot of yerr walk the plank!"
There was silence. Tyro produced a basket-hilted rapier almost out of thin air and inspected the blade. "Now every ship needs a name... first one to come up with a good name gets to be me first mate."
"The Legless Lady!" Lumis spouted instantly, before thinking.
"I like it! No, I love it! The Legless Lady it is, congratulations First Mate Thorbrow!" Tyro flashed a devilish grin. Lumis' chest puffed out and he strutted around the 'crew' with authority.
"The Legless Lady it is!" He repeated. "You lot of... you... greasy... turds." He looked to Tyro for reassurance. Tyro turned away from the crowd and faced Lumis.
"Why don't you leave the fancy captain's speak to me, eh? You tell 'em what to do, I'll crack the skulls." He spoke quietly and gave him a strong pat on the shoulder, before turning on his heel and taking another swig of rum. "The First Mate raises an excellent point!" He bellowed. The crew stared intently. Tyro stared back at them as if they had the answer. "Why aren't you lot of mangy dogs at your stations!" He growed, brandishing his new rapier. Instantly they scrambled, but nobody knew what to do or where to be, all besides Ruarc, who needed peace and quiet. He scampered up the main mast to the crow's nest; the furthest part of the ship away from Tyro, who continued shouting and banging his sword on the ship and taking swigs of rum. "The cannons you witless bags of manure the cannons!"
"You! Take inventory of the ship's stores!" Lumis pointed at Rasuul. "I want to know how much food we have, how much water we have, how many friggin weevils we have. I want to know gunpowder, cannonballs, liquor. Everything! Got it?"
"Rasuul obeys..."
"And you there! What's your name?" The bearded man grunted unintelligibly. Lumis blinked uncomprehensively. "I want you to go with him. He counts, you haul. I want you to bring up everything we need on deck. We're gonna need cannonballs, gunpowder and loaders, enough to kill a friggin armada!" Lumis glanced at Tyro, who was picking his teeth with his sword. "And we're going to need some Gyshal greens. Pick out the freshest sprouts and leave them in the Captain's quarters!" Tyro's ears pirked up.
"And more rum!" Tyro emptied the rest of the bottle and launched it high into the air aiming to shatter it against the castle's stone wall. Instead, by pure chance and luck, the bottle soared into the open window of the tower by which Count Amilon made his escape. Everyone guffawed, except for Tyro. He hid his surprise. "That's the target. We're gonna practice firing cannonballs all day if we have to until we can hit that mark every time!"
Meanwhile, up in the crow's nest, Ruarc stared at the ruby on his ring. It seemed to sing to him a sweet melody in his imagination. Then, he felt a presence in the crows nest across from him. He raised his head, not sure what to expect.
"CAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACAAAAAAAAW!" A large black crow almost his same size shrieked in his face. It cocked it's head to the side.
"Get out of here, you!" Ruarc thrashed at it with his dagger. It simply hop-stepped to the side, cocked it's head, and peered at him with it's beady, red eyes.
"CAW! CAW!"
"Shut it!"
"CAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAW!"
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH GO AWAY!" Ruarc screamed at the top of his lungs, palms over his ears. He heard a soothing fox-like squeak to his left with sharpness even though his ears were plugged. It was the blue fox. It was Carbuncle. The ruby on the fox's head glowed brightly in the afternoon sun. The crow lifted it's head up and down as it stared at Carbunce analytically.
"Beware the shades of the Dark Summoner, Ruarc." Carbuncle's voice rang in his mind. Then Carbuncle pounced upon the crow, bit it's wing, and shook it violently. The crow shrieked and pecked, but Carbuncle overpowered it, pinned it, and broke the wing before throwing it to the deck below. Carbuncle then returned to Ruarc's side. Black feathers stuck to the corner of the Eidelon's mouth momentarily before they faded into shadow. "An Eidelon like myself, sent to spy, gather information, and cloak your thoughts in shadow. It must not be underestimated. I am your guardian Eidelon, the crow; Corvus, is Amilon's guardian; that is why I can damage him, and he can also damage me. Soon he shall send more terrible minions. Shiva, Garuda, you must unlock their power. We must also enlist the power of greater allies. We must not fail." And suddenly, Carbuncle vanished. Ruarc instantly knew that he had to return to Headwind. Images flashed in his mind's eye. A cove. A dragon. No, not just a dragon, an Eidelon! Count Amilon... that demon in the dungeon, it was an Eidelon too... Amilon's wings... it all makes sense now. He is a summoner! A very evil one.
"Pardon me, fellows! I do hate to drop the eggshells in your omelete and whatnot but we REALLY NEED TO GET TO HEADWIND, NOW!"
"What? Why? We were just about to blow stuff up!" Lumis plugged his ears as the first cannon round fired. It hit the base of the tower, and the whole thing collapsed. The crew clapped for Billy, who had aimed the cannon. Billy grinned and looked around.
"So we'll do it on the way, chaps. LET'S GO!" Ruarc screamed, but his voice was drowned out by a second cannon blast. Ruarc inhaled to roar at the top of his lungs, and just as he did so, a strong gust of wind yanked the ship sideways away from the harbor and snapped the mooring line. Ruarc gripped mast of the crows nest for dear life. The surrounding ships crashed into each other, some were even capsized completely and began sinking. The wind myseriously shifted and a powerful gust unfurled the sails and sent the ship careening off in the southerly direction of Headwind on the crest of a growing wave. The crew was knocked on their hind ends, and the sky darkened with clouds. Tyro's hat was blown clear off of his head and sailed off ahead of the ship out over the water. He quickly regained his footing, using his rapier as a cane.
"To Headwind!" He shouted with authority, and growled as he ripped off a chunk of gyshal greens with his stained teeth, paying no mind to the fibers which shredded their way into the gaps of his teeth and caused his gums to bleed. "We've got a water dragon to slay!" He roared over the wind.
"Billy, hoist the anchor! Emrick, to the wheel!" Lumis smiled to himself as the crew hurried to accomplish the tasks he gave them. He was really getting quite good at this.
"On the double you bilge rats! We've got no time to delay! I want to have this dragon dead in time for supper!"
Ruarc set his eyes on the horizon as the ship left cove. He felt as though he were staring precisely at the water dragon Eidelon's location even though his eyes could not compensate the distance. He sensed it's location. Carbuncle's voice spoke to him.
"The dragon. An avatar of the Eidelon of water. It feeds on destruction, and is a corruption of dark energies that must be destroyed. Look to the skies for aid." The skies... As he looked up, he swore that he saw a pale green feathered harpy soaring in and out of the rolling clouds. "Garuda. The Eidelon of wind." Raurc aimed his ruby ring upward.
"Scan!" Images flashed in his mind. The enchanted cape, it was connected to Garuda, the same as the dagger for Shiva and the ring for Carbuncle. He saw a flashback of when he was battling on the ramparts of Dusthelm. The three ninjas, their knives thrown at his back, deflected by a gust of wind from the cape and back into his attackers. Garuda has been with him since Hayfield! With newfound confidence, Ruarc settled in to take a nap. The excitement of the upcoming battle tingled in his stomach, and the comfort of having a watchful ally in the skies caressed his skin like a blanketing breeze. 'I already have three Eidelons.' He thought to himself. 'And I'm about to get one more!"
"More than that." Carbuncle replied. What did he mean? Was he going to aquire more? Surely. But he didn't even know that he had Garuda with him this whole time... Did he have more than three already? Time will tell, but Ruarc focused his mind on mastering the command of his current Eidelons first.

As the Legless Lady and her crew set sail for the port town of Headwind, a more sinister brew of events were taking place at the hands of the malevolent Count Amilon. Wings: they are quite an advantage. Amilon was already back in Dusthelm, communing with dark forces in the depths of the dungeon. His red-eyed crow Eidelon perched on his shoulder. Quiet wispers filled his ears.
"So... the young summoner already has command over three of my Eidelons." Amilon muttered. "This is unfortunate."
"Leviathan... succeptible... corruption... not complete..."
"I know! They shall not succeed in eliciting the support of the water spirit. I shall see to it myself."
"Be sure... that you do..."
"Caw!" Eidelon's crow cocked it's head to the side.
"Go Corvus, and this time... try to stay away from the fox."
"Caw!" Corvus dissapeared in a beam of light and shadow.
The Count entered the torture chamber in which Tyro had defeated Jarron. He approached the charred corpse of the fallen warden.
"Benu." Amilon's words sparked a flame behind him, out of which a man-sized phoenix with maroon and golden feathers emerged. Amilon plucked a feather from it's wing and held it in his palm over the corpse before crumbling it into dust which he sprinkled over Jarron's body. Jarron's wounds healed and he gasped in surprise.
"AAAAAAAAAAH NOOOOOOOOO!" He thrashed around hysterically, before seeing Count Amilon's face hovering over his. He groaned in anger and dismay.
"Died again, brother."
"That Cartright boy... I'll kill him!" He swung his body to the side and stepped off of the torture table, groaning in discomfort. "That was... Uncomfortable. Where is he?"
"Set sail for Headwind, along with the Monk and the Summoner."
"Leviathan!" Jarron gasped.
"I am aware..." Amilon waved his hand, and new, black clothes appeared on Jarron's body, along with a new silver rapier holstered in a leather belt on his hip. "You really must stop dying, brother. Particularly to the Cartrights."
"Shut it. Let's go."
"Indeed. We must make haste; Garuda is assisting them. He has also stolen Shiva from my grasp, with the help of his guardian: Carbuncle."
"Wow, he already has three? He's almost as good as you at this, brother." Jarron sneered.
"His demise is already in motion. I have planted a seed of corruption in Tyrule. He suspects nothing." Amilon's words brought a gleam to Jarron's eye. "Let us not waste any more time." Amilon waved his hand, and the Phoenix 'Benu' dissapeared. The pair then dissipated into thin air in several beams of shrinking light.

Tyro's finger prodded Ruarc's blonde head. "Wakey wakey little pipsqueak!" Ruarc groaned and rolled over, swatting at Tyro's hand. "Food little buddy!" Tyro shook him by the shoulder. "Foooooood!" Ruarc sat up, rubbing his eyes.
"Garuda?"
"No you idiot my name is Tyro."
"No, Garuda -- My Eidelon!"
"Whatsa 'eye-doe-lawn'?"
"Eidelon, dummy! A summon creature. Oh man, I've got to tell you guys! She's the wind summon."
"Yeah yeah, whatever tell me about your eye-doe-lawn later. We're about to drop anchor. Turns out Billy knows how to whip up some mean grub. I already had seconds and if you don't come down and get some I'm going to eat your share!"
(OOC: Ow... I got so into writing I just puffed a smoke all the way down to the filter and grabbed the cherry between my fingers when I went to ash it, haha)
Billy was a good cook indeed; he anticipated Tyro's appetite and made enough for everyone to fill their stomachs and then some. There was fresh baked bread, soft cheese, dried fruit, vegetable soup and crackers that go great with berry preserves. The ship's stores housed more than enough provisions to create a magnificent feast for the 6 man crew every day of the week for months on end. The main course; dozens of whole, fresh, deep-sea fish caught by Emrick who turned out to be so skilled with a line that he would barely have it in the water for a few seconds before he pulled out another shimmering delicacy. Billy broiled them in a marinade of herbs and spices. Tyro ate everything -- the skin, meat, eyes and face. He picked his teeth with a bone. Ruarc stared at him in disgust.
"So as I was tellin' the boys." Billy went on. "Emrick and me was in the Navy. I worked in the galley, was a cook. So long as you got us with ya you'll never go hungry!"
"Muff mib moo moo min ma Maby, Memwick?" Lumis spoke with more than a mouthful of bread, cheese and fish. His eyes watered as he attempted to swallow. Emrick apparently understood the question.
"I was a boatswaines mate. I was in charge of maintenence to the ship and all that. Made my way up to Chief."
"Rasuul has been on ship before. Rasuul knows seas well."
"Oh ya?" Lumis took another bite of fish, his eyes grew wide, and he pulled a thin bone out of his gums.
"Rasuul was merchant ship Captain."
"Captain?" Tyro bellowed. He banged his fist on the table. "If that's true then why'd ya vote for me?"
"Rasuul crashed two ship." They all laughed heartily at Rasuul's expense, who took it in good humor. Across the table, the bearded man, the only person who had managed to eat more than Tyro, placed another fish on his plate next to three fish skeletons.
"Hey you still haven't told us anything about you, not even your name." Lumis interjected.
"Well I guess since you've saved my neck from the chopping block you got a right to know a lil bout me... Names Darril. I used to work with some shady characters around the Headwind area but some mercs came through and cleared the whole lot of 'em out. Apparently the Mayor got pretty gutsy after that, because he reported the rest of the band to the Hayfield officials. Guess I'm the last of my boys."
"Darril..." Lumis pondered the name for a moment, sure that he had heard it before. "I remember that name from somewhere. Wait a minute! The bandits in Headwind! You put up that poster!" Lumis leapt across the table and grabbed Darril by the collar. In almost the same instant, Tyro kicked the chair out from under him, grabbed both of his arms, forced them behind his back, and slammed his head into the table in one fluid motion. Ruarc stood back and conjured a fireball.
"Hold up! I--"
"SHUT UP!" Tyro screamed. "WE killed your buddies, and we're gonna kill you too!"
"N-now wait a minute!" Emrick tried to intervene. Lumis shoved him away with his foot, and punched Darril in the stomach, forcing him to his knees.
"Everyone out of here!" Ruarc demanded. "Everyone get out! It's about to get ugly..." Everyone dropped their utensils and left the three to their apparent victim. Tyro laughed.
"Oh man, you messed up." He wrenched Darril's arms, forcing him to grit his teeth in pain. "How should we kill him?"
"Wait Tyro... this doesn't feel right."
"You're damn right it doesn't fe---OW!" Darri's sentance was cut short as Tyro slammed his jaw into the oaken table using his joint-locked arms as leverage once more.
"Did I say you can talk?"
"Tyro just wait a second! We gotta figure out what the right thing to do is here!" Lumis held his hand up trying to calm down his aggressive pal.
"What's there to figure out? Ruarc, burn this clown."
"That may not be the smartest idea, Tyro." Ruarc said, letting his fireball go out. "In a closed space like this, we might burn the whole ship down."
"Then let's throw him off the ship with some souveniers." Tyro dragged Darril outside, and to the protest of everyone around him, began hog tying him with chains.
"Come on, Tyro think about this!" Lumis yelled.
"What's there to think about? He's a bandit. We KILL bandits. That's what we do." Tyro locked the chains in place and began dragging him towards the edge of the ship.
"Oh come on now somebody get this kid under control!" Darril pleaded.
"Tyro you're a bandit too!" Ruarc snapped. "You stole from a museum didn't you?"
"Yeah that's right. We've all made some bad choices at times. Maybe we should just take a minute to step back and really think about this." Lumis tried to be the voice of reason.
"I wouldn't have had to steal my armor in the first place if it wasn't for THIS idiot's poster! I wouldn't even have lost my armor! I would still have my PRIDE!" As he finished the sentance, he lifted Darril over his head and threw him over the side of the ship.
"GARUDA!" Ruarc roared. The feathery form of the wind summon soared down from the skies. A powerful torrent of air lifted Darril back over the side of the ship, over everyone's heads and placed him on the deck. Jaws dropped. Tyro stared at Garuda in awe. He looked her body up and down. Garuda stared back at him.
"Wow... she's beautiful! I mean, ignoring the fact that she's got talons, feathers and wings... As raw material, she's solid gold!" He walked forward and reached his hands out, "Can I touch?" He looked to Ruarc.
"Sure whatever." Ruarc replied, just glad that the only thing more prominent that Tyro's temper, was his sex drive. Tyro slowly slid his hands down the sides of her body.
"Currrrrrvy." With a single flap of her wings, Garuda sent Tyro head over heels off the ship, and head over heels in love.
"Thank goodness! Somebody untie me!" Darril demanded.
"Can Tyro swim?" Lumis pondered out loud. Everyone looked at each other for a moment, before Emrick sprinted up and did a swan dive into the water. Billy was not far behind, lowering a life-saver attached to a rope into the water.
"I've got him! He's all right."
"I'm in looooooove with a summon!" Tyro sang as he coughed up water.
"Ugh." Ruarc mumbled to Lumis. "Just wait until he sees the Shiva twins." Lumis laughed. The crew, minus Darril, helped pull Emrick and Tyro to safety. Emrick flexed.
"Still got it in me for such an old timer, eh?" They all chuckled. Tyro marched over and grabbed the ruby ring from Ruarcs finger.
"I called dibs on that!" He presented the ring to Garuda. "Will you marry me?"
"Are we done here?" Garuda spoke for the first time. She was looking at Ruarc.
"Just ignore him."
"Will do." She turned to walk several paces away. Tyro frowned, and tossed Ruarc his ring.
"There's still the matter of Darril." Lumis said, "I say we untie him, give him a weeks worth of food and send him on his way in a dingy."
"Good idea." Ruarc picked up the key from the deck of this ship and unlocked the chains. Just as soon as Darril was set free, he wrapped a chain around Ruarc's throat and lifted him up with him.
"I've got a better idea!" He stared at the crew, backing up towards the Captain's cabin. "How about *I* take this ship, and *you* get the dingy... or this one here dies!" Ruarc's face turned red as the chain cut of circulation, he tried to choke out words to Garuda but none came. "Go away bird, or he's gonna get it!" Garuda stared at Darril, then eyed Ruarc, who'se face now began to turn purple. She only had one choice. Reluctantly, she faded away.
BOOOM! It sounded like dynamite. Lumis' punch was so fast that nobody even saw him throw it. There he stood, ten paces away from Darril, whose face would have been the utter expression of shock if it hadn't have caved in from the force of the ki blast. Darril toppled backwards like a domino and dropped Ruarc, who knelt on the deck shaking his head trying to return circulation. They all stood there, startled by the suddenness of all of it. Darril awoke and moaned in pain. He rolled onto his side and covered his face.
"Ruarc, burn him!" Tyro yelled.
"Gladly." Ruarc began to chant in his strange elfish tongue. Tyro lifted Darril over his head, and just as he threw their victim off the ship, the failed hostage-taker burst into flames so intense he didn't even have a chance to scream.
"Guess you were right." Lumis admitted, and punched Tyro on the shoulder.
"No, you were right. I wasn't thinking. Guess I just had good instincts this time." They watched the charred corpse sink into the murky depths.
"Stranger things have happened at sea." Emrick cut in, "Come on inside. We still haven't had dessert!" The salty sea-chief's appetite never missed a beat. As everyone moseyed inside talking about the recent events, Tyro stopped Emrick and let them pass.
"Hey Emrick..." Tyro whispered, "After we're done with dessert... Can you teach me how to swim?" Emrick smiled and patted him on the back.
"Certainly."

Count Amilon and Jarron were fast workers. With the help of Amilon's powers of teleportation, as well as Corvus and messenger pigeons -- Amilon and Jarron had already assembled a fleet of 20 warships in port Headwind with more on the way. The cultists masked some ships as fishing or merchant vessels, others dropped anchor in the many cavernous coves the cliffside port provided. On land, cultists hid in warehouses, others dressed as dock workers. Ballistas and cannons were covered with tarps. From the outside, Headwind simply looked like a busy oceanside town. Jarron was a master at public speaking; it was he, not Amilon, who was able to convert so many to follow the cause... Amilon's cause. Jarron stood upon his soap box, listeners who couldn't be there in person were able to listen due to Corvus' powers of voice projection.
"I can not stress the importance of defending the water dragon enough! This small group of mauraders could spell disaister for the cause... OUR cause! The last summoner must not fall!" His words were met with a chant, then a cheer. "Some would wish to wipe the old ways from the face of our planet. Some would wish that the gods who have given us so much would be locked out of our world for eternity. Human kind cannot be left to fend for itself, for it is through our gods," He paused dramatically and raised a fist in the air, "It is through our gods that sickness and death would be banished from our mortal plane!" As he finished, cheers rose into the air. Amilon rose up into the air as well. Rainbows of light erupted forth from his hands into the clouds and exploded in a cascade of shimmering sparks that lit up the night sky.
"I want the small one alive! His perversion of the Eidelons must be undone!"

"Wow look at that!" Lumis jabbed Tyro and Ruarc in the arms and pointed towards Headwind. In the distance, the display of fireworks was just barely visible. "Have you ever seen anything like it?"
"Must be some sort of celebration..." Tyro pondered. "Do you think somebody beat us to the kill? Think the dragon's already dead?"
"No," Ruarc shook his head grimly. "Looks like a welcome party."
"A party?" Tyro grinned. "Then let's get there! I'm gonna get hammered!"
"Who do you think it's for?" Lumis sounded cautious.
"It's probably for us... hold on a sec-- Carbuncle." Ruarc called into the misty night air. The ruby-adorned fox appeared, balanced on the edge of the ship. "What's going on?" Tyro and Lumis exchanged confused looks, for they still couldn't see the guardian Eidelon. "Can you appear to them?" The blue fox faded into view. Tyro and Lumis guffawed. "This is my guardian Eidelon, my first one. He's connected to this ring."
"The one that I called dibs on?" Tyro huffed. "Aw man! I could have had a cool fox thingy..."
"Doesn't work like that. Let me catch you guys up to speed. I'm a summoner, and so is Amilon."
"The last of their kind." Carbuncle added.
"WOAAAAH IT TALKS!" Tyro reached forward and patted Carbuncle between the ears. "COOOOOOOL!"
"Stay focused, please." Ruarc shoved Tyro back. Well, more struggled to push him and Tyro decided to step back.
"Yeah let's hear what Carbuncle has to say." Lumis rubbed his chin intently.
"Count Amilon is the dark summoner. He wishes to become the most powerful being ever to live."
"How can he do that?" Lumis asked.
"By collecting every Eidelon and uniting them into a single, all-powerful summon."
"YOU CAN DO THAT?" Tyro looked at Ruarc, "So let's start right now! Combine the ones you got!"
"Tyro please shut up and let the summon speak!" Ruarc snapped.
"That is not possible," Carbuncle continued. "Until every summon of a similar type is collected. There are malevolent Eidelons, benevolent, and even some that are more neutral. Amilon wishes to collect the malevolent, and to convert the neutral."
"So what are YOU?" Tyro prodded Carbuncle.
"He's the good guy, obviously." Lumis swatted Tyro's hand away. "Otherwise why would he be helping us?"
"CAAAAAAAAAAAAAW!" Corvus swooped down from the cover of darkness and slashed at Carbuncle with his talons. The pair of battling Eidelons rolled along the deck of the ship. Corvus' red eyes gleamed with fury. Ruarc summoned a ball of fire, but the battling pair was moving too fast for him to get a clean shot.
"I don't want to hit Carbuncle!"
"Scan it!" Lumis shouted.
"Scan! Let's see... it's a passive summon... OW!" Corvus' red eyes flashed at Ruarc and blinded him, disabling his scan ability. "Geez it won't work!" And just as soon as he had appeared, Corvus took flight back into the cover of darkness. Carbuncle lept to his feet.
"The crow, Corvus, wishes to prevent me from helping you." Then, Carbuncle's eyes widened. He leapt onto the bow of the ship. "Oh no! He kept this hidden from me, I couldn't see it until now!"
"What?" Lumis bounded up next to the blue fox. "I don't see anything."
"We must flee!" Just as he spoke, a bright flash appeared in the distance, and a cannonball zipped overhead.
"All hands on deck! Wake up you lot of lilly-livered lugworms!" Tyro growled at the top of his lungs, waving his rapier over his head. The crew assembled in an instant as a volley of arrows, ballista bolts and cannonballs splashed into the water all around them and tore through the sails. "Man your stations, lets get the hell out of here!"
"Barrier!" Carbuncle's ruby flashed and a large, transluscent, multicolored shield appeared inbetween them and their attackers. Projectiles hammered against the magical phalanx. "It won't hold long!"
"You said you wanted action, didn't you?" Lumis grinned at Ruarc. "Well here we go!" As the ship turned around. Lumis dragged Ruarc with him to the upper-deck above the captain's cabin at the rear. "Light up the sky so I can see em coming." Ruarc nodded, and sent several fireballs across the top of the sea. The light they provided was dim at best, but it was all Lumis needed. He began throwing ki punches and kicks at the incoming projectiles. Arrows shattered, ballista bolts splintered, and cannonballs were sent careening back in the direction they came.
"Get a load of this kid!" Emrick jabbed Billy in the side. "Look at him go!"
"That's just plain friggin amazing..."
"Yeah yeah whatever, punching cannonballs. Tch!" Tyro yanked the pair by their collars. "Let's get the hell out of here!"
"Ruarc!" Carbuncle bounded up as the little firemage blasted away. "Freeze the water with shiva then use Garuda to make our escape."
"Good idea! Where should we--HUFF" He loosed another fireball, "go?" Carbuncle began to fade away as he spoke.
"Elvaaria."
"Home!" Ruarc smiled. "Shiva!" He pulled his dagger out of his belt and slashed two cuts in his palm. "Freeze it up!" The shiva twins soared out over the water and touched down. They walked along the surface turning it into solid white ice which expanded out over a great distance towards their attackers. "Return! Garuda get us out of here!" Garuda appeared and flapped her wings in a cyclone that launched the projectiles everywhere but towards their ship, and then she flew up to the bow of the ship, grasped it with her talons, and dragged the ship so fast it barely touched the water.
"Hoist those sails! They'll slow us down!" Emrick shouted. Lumis nodded and wiped sweat from his bow as he began to raise them.
"What's the matter?" Amilon appeared on the deck of their ship in front of Tyro. "Somebody doesn't like parties?"
"Arrgh!" Tyro slashed at Amilon with his blade, and a sharp bone talon appeared out of Amilon's chest, catching the razor edge in it's claws. Amilon laughed as the rest of the creature's body crawled out. It was a scorpion, twice the size of a man with a sinister looking tail spike that dripped neon venom. "Then I'll bring the party to *YOU*!" Amilon soared up to the crow's nest and folded his arms over his chest. Tyro played a quick game of tug of war with the scorpion, which snapped at him with it's spare claw and lunged at him with it's tail. "Ooh! Watch the tail! Watch the tail Tyrule!" Amilon taunted. "You wouldn't want to get pricked by *that*!"
"Shut up!" Lumis had stealthily climbed the main mast and pounced on Count Amilon. The pair fell to the cross timber of the main mast and began to wrestle. Ruarc was unable to assist with battle, as he was focusing every ounce of his mana into channeling Garuda to ensure their escape. Tyro snatched up the scorpion's other claw in his hand and squeezed it with all of his strength. The scorpion hissed as it's chitin exoskeleton cracked slightly in the powerful young berserker's grasp. The scorpion snapped the blade of the rapier in half, and as Tyro fell off balance, it buried it's stinger into his shoulder, twisting it around and delivering a potent dose of venom.
"And down goes your friend!" Amilon taunted. Lumis launched several kicks at the Count, who hopped back, parried, and countered with a few of his own. Both balanced on the swaying beam. Tyro screamed in white-hot pain as he grabbed the scorpion's tail, pulled the stinger out of his shoulder, and buried it into the summon's face -- right through one of it's many eyes.
"How does it feel, huh? HOW DOES IT FEEL!" He growled through gritted teeth. The scorpion thrashed and hissed in pain. "Yeah! You can dish it out but you can't take it!" The scorpion disengaged it's opponent and stumbled away, repeatedly stinging itself in the body, apparently trying to end it's own misery. It flopped off of the side of the ship, crashing into the water below.
"NO! That's not possible!" Amilon, distracted by the defeat of his arachnid-like summon, left himself open for attack. Lumis landed a cross-kick to the back of the Count's head, knocking him off the ship as well.
"Why are the stars moving? Woah... I can't see." Tyro collapsed onto his back. Lumis leapt from the mast and landed next to him.
"Tyro! Are you okay?"
"My whole body is on fire!" He reached into his pocket and pulled out a lump of gyshals, "This oughtta hit the spot." He stuffed the wad into his cheek.
"Ruarc, get shiva! Heal him!" Ruarc, who's eyes glowed green, simply knelt behind Garuda -- he was focusing his full power on channeling the physical form of the summon and was completely unaware of his surroundings in his trance-like state.
"Oh, I doubt that would do much at this point." Amilon's voice brought a trickle of rage through Lumis. The dark summoner hovered over the surface of the water and landed on the edge of the ship. "The scorpio summon is an ancient being. Nothing can withstand it's venom."
"Lumis, kick his ass!" Tyro groaned as he sat upright, rubbing his eyes. "I'm tired of hearing this guy talk."
"What? That's not possible? The venom kills on contact... you got a full dose!"
"Tch!" Tyro scoffed. "All right help me up cause *I'm* gonna kick his ass." Lumis cheered as Tyro stood to his feet.
"Curious... You Cartrights sure do have a reputation for stubbornness. I suppose this is for the best." Amilon chuckled darkly as he dissipated.
"Wow Tyro! How did you live through that?" Lumis patted Tyro on the back.
"Gyshal greens, bruh. Paladin field survival manual, chapter 15: Poisons and Antidotes, page 155. 'Gyshal greens, while poisonous on their own, provide an antidote to almost every venom and poison' blah blah blah something about isolating the toxins and cleaning out your blood, whatever."
"He said that it kills on contact, though." Lumis interjected. Emrick stepped forward and inspected the wound.
"That's an ugly one, but do you see how much gyshals this boy chews? His blood must be coursing with antidote!"
"So I can't get poisoned... good to know. What's up with Pipsqueak?"
"I don't know."

"Your showboating ruined the ambush, Amilon."
"Shut up." Amalon paced back and forward as Jarron poured two glasses of cognac.
"I saw Tyro survive scorpio's sting." Jarron scoffed. "It's almost impressive." Amilon grabbed Jarron by the collar and stared into his eyes, thinking of the words to fit his mixed emotions.
"He will fall eventually! When he does, the fates of all of his companions are sealed. It's only a matter of time."
"Take your hands off of my clothing, brother. Where are they now?"
"I don't know. They have some sort of magical aid blocking me from tracking their location."
"The summons?"
"I know, brother. Perhaps it is better this way. I will allow him to gather his Eidelons and then I shall strike when he least expects it."

Ruarc's trance broke, Garuda faded away, and he fell into a deep sleep. Lights came into view on the horizon. Emrick picked Ruarc up, cradling him in his arms.
"Land ho!" Billy yelled.
"Where are we?" Tyro wondered aloud.
"Elvaaria... land of elves. Rasuul had trade route. Halfling has powerful allies in the elves."
"Elvaaria? That means we just crossed three days worth of ocean in less than an hour? That's not possible."
"Yeah, that's what the Count said about me living through that sting." Tyro huffed. "Let's go! I wanna see just how tiny these elves are, if that lil Pipsqueak is only half and that's the size he is!"