Third Target: The Dark Apothecary
(Closed)
Godhand slowly raised his hand in the air, taking quiet pride in the fact that the undead shrunk away from it, before bringing it down with a chop over the head of the war-magi he had held by the shoulder. The man's head recoiled as if blasted by a shotgun and his body went limp in the mercenary's grip. Godhand gave a quick snort to clear his sinuses of the smell of rot before dropping the now neutralized zombie and scanning the remainder of his troops for anyone looking to make a move.
He was surrounded by a small contingent of Rangers. Well, they'd once been Rangers. At some time during their sleep the warriors had been turned by Xem'Zund; so great was the Necromancer's power that the formerly proud elven defenders did not even have to be bitten to be turned into his thralls. And, of course, it fell to Godhand to put them down for the long rest after they switched over to the Scourge's side. It didn't matter to him, obviously; he didn't know any of those guys. But a lot of other elves would have had serious qualms about murdering their own kind before they began to show any outward signs of zombification.
What remained of the corrupted Rangers were now much more disorganized. Now that he'd slain the person who had been, in life, their leader, they seemed to blankly await orders from Xem'Zund himself or one of his generals before taking any further action. That was probably the downside to being turned without actually being infected, at least for Xem'Zund; once their immediate leader was vanquished and without anybody there to give them orders, they simply reverted into vacant-eyed statues. Had any of them actually been bitten, they'd be mindlessly shambling towards Godhand like the animals they were.
Now that their wasn't any real danger, the swordsman was free to pick them off at his leisure. One of the things that pissed Godhand off the most about killing zombies was unless they were burned or dismembered, they were always still potentially at the Necromancer's beck and call. And since the gunman couldn't go around starting fires everywhere he went, this usually meant he had to go through a very messy, tiring process to neutralize them with any finality. Sure, he could have waved his sheath over them and taken them out for good, but the archmage that'd enchanted it had warned him against overloading the vacuum, so for the moment he had to do it by hand.
It was as the warrior tore off the last of the creature's arms that he finally wiped his brow, climbed unto his wagon and set a course for the nearest town. He knew this sort of thing didn't count; there were still four of the Scourge's high generals to go. Unless he neutralized them as well, the elves would keep on struggling with a losing war.
Huntress' dialogue written by Dissinger
Before he could even settle himself down again a drow burst through the door of the refuge, all fired up and demanding to know where the swordsman had managed to get a hold of his sheath. It had been a long day and Godhand wasn't quite sure how he'd take her advancing on him; on the one hand, he was glad someone had noticed how exquisite a piece his scabbard was. It truly was a masterpiece. On the other hand, he didn't like her fucking tone. Godhand looked up at the woman wearily before reaching into his coat and pulling out a Salvarian cigar. He drew a small needle he kept in a pouch on his coat for a single purpose, and that was to gently drill a hole with it into the cigar's mouthpiece. A lot of people just bit off the crown and spit it out but he always thought that was tawdry and low-class. Besides, this kept the flavor.
"I bought it. I bought it for twenty five grand in Corone. Now what business is that of- Hey, stop that! Jesus!"
In the confusion of the drow's entrance, the kid had managed to creep up on where Godhand had spit out the meat and popped it into his mouth eagerly. Just then, the barman came back and dropped the dish with a clatter unto the swordsman's table. The warrior bit into his unlit cigar and waved the kid over before handing him the plate with revulsion. He'd lost his appetite anyway.
"Just take mine. God."
The boy looked at Godhand gratefully, his lips still glistening with the piece of steak the warrior had spewed out. Godhand gave him a weak smile, one that couldn't quite hide his disgust, and waved him away before turning back to face the huntress.
"Now, what did you want?"
"You bought that? I somehow find that hard to swallow, that some random vendor in Corone could replicate anti-magic, let alone enough to permanently imbue that item with it. Tell me the truth before I carve it out of you, human."
Godhand furrowed his brow and puckered his lips, slowly nodding his head as if understanding. Then, faster than anyone in the bar could react or even see, he drew his blade and froze just as the tip was millimeters away from the mage hunter's pretty, if scowling, face. Two weeks on the road in the middle of flavor country had completely exhausted his patience.
"Before you carve it out of me, huh?"