[Moderated Quest - Prologue] An Ill Omen

Artemis watched as the stone landed not far from where he stood, and though he’d readied himself for a fight that plan immediately changed. Whatever they threw it wasn’t about to rain hugs and kisses in the area. Artemis quickly sheathed the blade he had readied only a moment a go, grabbed the pale elf under his right arm tightly, and blinked as far away as he could from the event.

His magic had taken the elf and himself a good bit out of the way of the fight. Though fifty feet didn’t seem far, he had landed behind enough cover of buildings to at least not be worried about the enemies seeing him or the elf for the time being. He laid the elf down in the mud and turned back, hoping the man wearing the tricorne had had the sense to get away as well. He couldn’t see where the man was any more but the stone transformed into a raging pillar of fire, and then a few seconds later stillness returned.

’Who the fuck are these people? Bandits my ass!’ Artemis’ thoughts began to fill with fury as his body filled with a wave of adrenaline. He had maintained his calm for the most part but now things were getting messier than he preferred. Droplets of water rolled down Artemis' black mask and for a moment time felt as though it slowed, as he concentrated on his breathing. A slow and deep breath in, a wave of air as he exhaled. His eyes closed, brief seconds passed, and a series of breaths traveled in and out of his powerful lungs. He took full stock of his body: every muscle, every bone, every wound. Artemis was no fool and knew his limits; fortunately he was still far from reaching those. He punched his sleeping left arm to get some blood flowing and flexed the fingers. Within seconds he had enough blood rushing to do what he needed.

He heard Vince’s voice call out from behind a building. “Head’s up!” Artemis could only guess more of those stones were being lobbed. Artemis’ faced turned into an angry scowl and he sprinted around the outside of the perimeter, pulling out his blades and turning the corner around a building to flank the enemies. He blinked once more to close the distance and before the enemies could turn and raised both blades to his right side and ran across their rear. While they aimed their rifles at Vincent, two parallel cuts sliced across the backs of the six who remained - cloth, leather, skin, bone, and every other piece of organic material gave about as much resistance as butter would to Artemis’ strong and quick attack. And if any armor stopped his blade short, they’d find themselves dancing with death himself once more.

Cain saw the stone hit, and lift up as a mild hum got louder and louder. Cain was having problems running with his leg mangled as it was. Cain could how ever roll and roll he did getting just out of the way by the moment the grenade erupted setting the earth on fire and leaving a pool of glass where it had been and melting the skin on his shoulder. Looking out at the enemy there was not much left and then two of the six tossed AoE devices landed near him, one of which landed right between his legs.

Cains eyes went wide and he reacted. The fuses were "light" and the only idea that could save his life was to grab the AoE weapons and throw them back. One went askew and landed out of range of every one, the other landed just a little bit beyond that one both erupting at nearly the same time. Two enemies were eviscerated in front of Cains eyes by the mysterious stranger.

Cain swore to him self and took oaths grateful to be alive. There wasnt much else for Cain to do but keep on firing what ever was left of his elemental firearms ammo. Cain would wait out in his position until the enemy forces retreated or were killed. Most likely the latter as they were out numbered and not retreating.

When all was said and done Cain would approach what was once the field of battle and gather up supplies, taking one of the sniper rifles along with their ammo and the grenades if any.

Vince saw the first firebomb go off and watched in horror as he had flashbacks to a war he’d never been in. His mind raced as six more bombs were tossed, turning over everything for a proper reaction. He might be able to toss them back, but that timer was so short, the last thing he needed was to explode.

That would hurt.

Thinking quickly he decided on two options, fight of flight. Upon watching the archer take the fight option, Vince opted for flight. He turned tail and hauled ass out of there, clear of the bombs, and clear of the fight for the most part. Putting several ruined buildings between the remaining soldiers and him, the scholar was more or less safe. It would take some extreme shenanigans to hit him.

He pressed his back up against a slick stone wall and groaned, looking down at his injuries. While they were closed for the most part, the occasional spark danced over his torso signifying there was still some internal healing being done. Grunting, he took a hot minute to run all the facts together. These clowns had guns, albeit really slow guns, but they shot magic lightshows. They seemed to have a large force, and a massive amount of technological prowess. He would have sworn they were Aleran forces, but something about the letter inviting them there seemed too sincere, at least the money offered did anyway.

He thought about the “guns,” they seemed to be cheap knockoffs of Alyssa’s. To compare them would be to compare a nerf gun to an AK, but the functionality seemed roughly the same. While the connection was tenuous at best, there was a chance that the same people who’d made Alyssa were behind this. Chewing his lip, the scholar contemplated the consequences of this assumption. Were those others similar to her? Clones of forgotten ones? He didn’t see any that looked like Alyssa, but he’d never faced any of the other ancient evils to know. Something about the variety told him that perhaps he was barking up the wrong tree there. He felt the last of his wounds heal completely, and he poked his head out from hiding. Right now he had the element of surprise, the others seemed more than capable of protecting Devyn at this moment in time.

Instead he bided his time and ran the rest over in his head. What had cut him off from Alyssa? Some sort of mad science? He quickly thought about what could be used to do such a thing, but the only thing he could come back to was Gorian’Fel, and he was almost positive they were not in some ridiculous bubble of Gorian’Fel hide. That was impossible, but so were hardlight shields. Shaking his head, the scholar sighed, it was going to be a long rest of the day, and there would be an assload of paperwork left to do afterwards.

When the fires began, at first, all Devyn could do was stare. They were big. Big and tall, and fiery. The flames twined round each other with a deafening roar, the white-hot flames causing her to squint slightly. These bright lights were not good her for already pounding head. However, her headache was the least of her worries at the moment, as the fires quickly grew in height, temporarily blocking her view of events before cooling down. From her perch on the hill, it was far enough away that she wasn't hurt, but the blast of heat that accompanied the fire wasn't very reassuring. What's causing that? It was unlike anything she'd ever seen before, which of course was a worrying prospect. After all, if you didn't know what the bloody thing was, how were you supposed to counteract it?

The first column of flame died down, leaving the girl to squint even more for a better clue as to what it was. Shuffling forwards a few steps in order to get a better view, she paused as the smoldering stone lay in the burnt mud, rain hissing as it hit its surface. There were flashes of blue, and so she stood still for a second, eyes glazed. Could've sworn it looks familiar... Yes, it was very familiar indeed, and as she thought hard in concentration, the rain poured on. Wait! It's a stone, yes? A stone that's blue. And mysterious. And... oh! I have one!

Ready to slap herself, Vyn instead reached into her belt and pulled out the rock, holding it gingerly and an arm's distance away, as if it was about to bite her. If I throw it and it lands in the middle of them, then it'll be great. If it actually lights up. Something like this is probably triggered by pressure, but you never know. Maybe there's a certain hand move or something. It'd be handing them another glowing thing to chuck at us. Still, it was currently the only option she had, aside from throwing the knives, but with her head, the mechanic was pretty sure that it'd be a very pathetic throw. Rocks were easier.

With that decided, and her green eyes focused upon the clump of six soldiers down below her, she took and few steps forward for momentum and flung the stone at the group. If all went well, it would flame up very epically, and as an added bonus, it would hopefully get rid of them as well. If not, it would flop very sadly to the ground. Yes, it would be very sad indeed, especially now that there were six of them left.

Still, there was definitely something odd about the stones, other than the fact that they flamed up for three seconds or so before dying down. Why would they do that? Surely the intended effect wasn't solely for it to spontaneously combust and then sit there being hot, right? The stones must have still been able to do something. It was what that was the question, something Vyn was sure would be answered soon.

The stones erupted like sudden bonfires in the mid of night. Rain and storm sizzled amidst the intense heat. Swirling tornadoes of fire rose, fell, and drifted in the wind. Roars of military orders and a symphony of gunfire resounded in an otherwise ordinary village. The man known as Artemis vanished from sight and free from harm. No more than seconds later, his presence was announced as bodies slumped face down in the muddy fields. Lacing arcs of opened flesh and bone lay exposed to the elements from enemy backs.

What was once an advantage of distance and organized firing became a chaotic mess of survival. Soldiers turned their weapons inward to deal with the agile ranger. Spells fired wide and friendly gunman let out howls of agony as stray shots collided just long enough to provide opening for Aertemis' thirsty blades. The automations turned to defend their fleshy compatriots only to discover their heavy feet rooted firmly in waterlogged soil.

As six became three, Devyn's thrown stone flopped to the wayside of the remaining group. A brief bout of confusion painted their faces. Was it a used stone? Why would the enemy have one? Their final thoughts were framed in eternity as a pillar of fire, though smaller, consumed two of the three. Screams couldn't escape their lips as skin turned to char. The third shielded herself form the blow, hair catching fire from the heat. In a panic, she disarmed and wildly beat at her flaming locks.

The column vanished in the wind and two blackened forms buckled to the mud followed by a third. Face burnt, hair nearly gone, the female thrashed in the muck and put out the blaze. Sore and numb from the pain, she lay face up to the sky with chest heaving.

"I can't..." she whimpered. A blistered hand pressed against her raw face with a yelp. Wind, rain, and mud all stung the exposed nerves. Disabled and wounded, she merely whimpered as the construct struggled with the molten terrain several feet away.

Silence swept over the battlefield. The soft roll of thunder and flash of lightning joined the ambient hiss of rainfall, absent of screams, shouts, and gunfire.

Out of Character:

This is a little meta, but this thread is reaching its end. The behemoth will show up next post. You have a round to either stick around for it, or regroup/heal/flip-out/whatever. If you'd like the thread to end here, bail out now. If you want to fight, stick around. (About 3 more post cycles to complete, I estimate).

The fire had damaged more of his undersuit, its elemental resistance and the sheen of water that covered the man doing enough to prevent any serious harm. Though he knew the fabric would regenerate on its own, it would take time. Quite frankly, he had seen enough. Two automatons remained and faced away from him and Artemis quickly sheathed his blades, placing a hand each on the back each. He screamed with frustration as he sent a powerful electric shock through his palms into the mechanical beasts, using every ounce of energy he had to ensure they would fry. It looked as though a bolt of lightning had struck the warrior and he served as the conduit to redirect its energy into the machines.

A few seconds passed as he sent the current into them and then stillness. The woman on the ground still writhed as Artemis walked up to her, pulling out a blade and slicing her head clean off to end her pain. He didn’t bother gathering any more memories. He was done. He had lost patience with this whole scene and knew that it was time to go.

With the enemies dispatched, he picked up one of the magazines of ammunition that still had some blue magicyte shells within and pocketed it, knowing from what he’d seen that these were still stable. He removed his mask, torn as it was, and gloves as well to put away. “I’m leaving!” he shouted at his allies. “If you are stupid enough to stay, then you can die trying. But this is clearly not bandits and I like to know my enemy!” He walked off toward Devyn, her dumbstruck face mildly irritating. When his steps had brought the two just a stride apart, he looked her dead in the eye. “Don’t ever throw an incendiary grenade at my feet again.” His eyes screamed with fury.

These people had nearly gotten him killed with their brazen approach and he was none too pleased. He walked over to the pale elf that still lay unconscious and lifted the body over a shoulder. “If any of you have any desire to get to safety and figure out what the hell is actually going on, then let’s go. Otherwise, you’re on your own.” He looked up to the man who had taken up position on higher ground and noticed the injury to the man’s leg. “Girl, I assume you intend to live today. Help the man on the ridge if he needs it.”

With that, he turned and began a light jog with the elf's body dangling over his shoulder, heading as far away from this place as he could to figure out what had transpired. Who were these men? Where did they acquire such weaponry and machinery? And who had posted the bounty board baiting people into this trap? He’d work backwards, but whoever had been responsible, they’d be hearing from the blue-eyed warrior soon.

Cain saw that the two big guns had disappeared. It was time for him to go as well. He could fight and if he had a crew he could probably win but he didn't have a crew or a ship it was just him and he was injured. Retreat was the best course of action. There was some time left before he absolutely get out of there and he had just enough resources to cobble together one last caper, a going away present as it were. He pulled off his sea coat and in it he placed as many near by spent magicite cartridges in it along with the spent crystals. If what Cain observed was correct he could expect a nice little eruption.

During his searching Cain discovered a blackened cavalry saber, his cavalry saber that he threw in conjunction with spent magicite for a make shift bomb. "There you are" Cain said to his weapon sheathing it. When all was said and done he got on to his mule and proceeded out of the area as quickly as the ass could take him.

Cain exited the scene and his ears registered a rumple that didn't coincide with the lightning or thunder claps. He didn't look back though ti see what it was he just kept going. There was no reason to look back and he couldn't win against another fight like the last one and he didn't want to know what was coming next; but he did hear a nice little boom. His mule bellowed and trotted off to catch up with Devyn and Artemis.

Vince had clamored from cover to watch the others leave, chewing his lips. He could feel something coming, that much was certain. Jumping up on top of the ruins he glanced over their path and sighed. There was unfinished business afoot, and he got the feeling his new found friends were going to need a bit of cover.

“Go ahead!” The scholar called out, his voice booming through the town. “I’ll cover your escape path and try to keep them busy!” He then tapped his amulet and sent the next part of his message telepathically. “We should all try to regroup in Beinost in make sense of what the fuck just happened.” With that, there was silence.

Growling, the scholar went to work, hefting larger pieces of rubble about to form a makeshift fort of sorts. While the walls wouldn’t block much, they would obscure vision of him and hopefully absorb the brunt of any major blasts. After setting up about five or six walls in a strange pseudo pentagonal shape, the scholar had nothing to do but wait, and possibly pray.

“It’s a good thing I’ll just wake back up if I die…” he muttered to himself, “Or I would be shitting myself right now…” He glanced over his body, where his injuries had been but were now healed. He’d burnt a lot of his magical abilities, all he had left was his blade and brute strength. He couldn’t count on his teleportation, or any more healing.

This was it.

I'll write a conclusion and edit this later.

Thread closed, submitted for no judgement.

Give any EXP the narrator earned to the participants in equal shares.

Name of Thread: Moderated Quest: Prologue, An Ill Omen
No Judgement

Rewards:

Lye receives:
1455 EXP


Jdd2035 receives:
955 EXP
250 GP
+1 Enchant to his saber. Upon striking an enemy, a surge of electricity will shock his opponent. This charge can only be used on first contact of any one enemy. It is strong enough to send a grown man to his back and leave a full body numbness. It would be hazardous to smaller targets like animals. Maximum of 5 discharges per thread/day.

Cards of Fate receives:
1395 EXP
250 GP
+1 Automation Arm. For three seconds a day, it can be activated to provide a three meter by three meter hard glowing barrier. This barrier can absorb the strike of up to a dozen arrows, a single gunshot, or 2-3 minor to medium spells.

Devyn receives:
730 EXP
250 GP
+1 Large, Blue Magicyte crystal. Once a day, it can be thrown or activated to generate a large, spinning column of fire. This fire is about three meter's wide, up to 5 meters tall and burns for about three seconds before dissipating. It is as hot as a bonfire and will damage accordingly.

SirArtemis receives:
1030 EXP
250 GP
+1 Magazine of MTech munitions containing 12 rounds. These rounds can be thrown to be used without a firearm. On impact they rupture like a burst of flame the size of a basketball. It is capable of burning through leather and scorching several layers of skin.

Shifter's Shadow receives:
165 EXP
100 GP

All rewards added!