Registered Member #1262
Joined: 5:44:27 am GMT 02/24/08
Posts: 106
Cloaked in invisibility, she looked out down the road toward the Empyrean soldiers. Hidden underneath a hooded robe and an ethereal enchantment, she was sure she wouldn’t be recognized as the normally scantily clad, and tattooed bard that often made her way down to the Enclave. There were no bandits in sight. It was she and the Empyreans. He wanted them dead? She would gladly oblige, since she harbored a seething hatred for the dastardly town of Hamley, anyway.
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They all fell easily enough. After hacking a limb or two off each of the four bodies, and mangling them beyond recognition, she carefully made her way to the bandit cave, leaving the pieces as a lunch offering to the cannibals. Surely this would look like the work of those bandits. She hoped her master would be proud...
Registered Member #1262
Joined: 5:44:27 am GMT 02/24/08
Posts: 106
It had been only a couple days since she visited next. More guards were stationed where others had fallen. She grinned under her hood before she moved in for the attack. Her song wailed in their ears as the last thing they heard before they perished by her blade.
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Once again, she mangled the bodies and removed several limbs. She made her way to the bandit cave to leave the limbs as an offering.
'Lupi made me do it Registered Member #175
Joined: 5:49:41 pm GMT 07/23/04
Posts: 4286
When the hooded girl returns to the Enclave, a note is left for her from her Master.
Master wrote ... Slave Zinnia,
I have already seen the trails of blood from your handiwork, and while the foolish paladins in the north will continue to send their young sons and daughters to their deaths in the south, the rest of my plans are coming together. Hold off on your attacks for five nights, but instead observe the elves and the hin to see how they are reacting to this turn of events.
A more subtle approach would be better suited. Do not allow yourself to be seen whilst you spy upon them.
Registered Member #1262
Joined: 5:44:27 am GMT 02/24/08
Posts: 106
It was surprising to her how antsy she had become from being told to hold off on her killings. She was enjoying the bloodshed. Instead of informing him right away, she scornfully held back the letter she had written to her Master. He would have to wait like she did, until the day she was able to kill again.
The day had finally come, and she was in luck! The bandits were already attacking the Empyrean guards. She quickly dispelled her invisibility and aided their assault. The guards fell as easily as before. The hunger was clear in the bandits’ eyes, and they soon turned on her after the Empyreans had fallen. She scowled for a moment before she focused her concentration on her invisibility again. She ran away toward the enclave hoping the bandits would claim the fallen bodies for their own.
Sneaking into the enclave was never something she was skilled at. After invisibly opening the locked door to the private quarters, the guards inside were quickly alerted and demanded she reveal herself. She cursed, dropped her concealment, lowered her hood, and the officer, recognizing her immediately, marched up to her. The backhanded smack she took sent her flying across the room. She didn’t dare stand back up, so she crawled to her destination: up the stairs to her Master’s room.
Like she expected, he was not in. She neatly set the letter on his pillow. Bloody fingerprints were apparent on the parchment, and stained the white pillow it lay on.
Master,
This is what I have found from the patrols of the outpost.
In the early evening, two hafling guards stand at the post, first. A single razorfang quickly dispatched one from the hill as soon as night fell. The Elves came to relieve the remaining halfling of his duty just in time to aid him with the attacking razorfang. Following the halfling down the path, he didn’t make it due to attacking razorfangs further down the road past the Elven patrols. The Elves don’t seem to care much for the halfling’s safety.
It looks like four elves total are on duty once darkness has fallen. The elves seem to walk down the path to check up on the Empyreans standing guard. One guard and a ranger with his spider pet is stationed at the post where the halflings once were. Two of the elves patrol the road, but not the whole thing. They seem to stay between the one outpost and the camp set up past the first hill.
Yours, Zinnia
Hopefully, the repeated attacks would force the Empyreans to get the hint. Their men were dying at the hands of the bandits. With Hamley growing in size, would the Emperyan guard continue to send it’s military to be needlessly slaughtered by the bandits on the road so far south away from home? Time would tell…
Registered Member #1262
Joined: 5:44:27 am GMT 02/24/08
Posts: 106
It took a while for her to recover. Day and night she would sit in her room casting spells until they decided to work. She was still not as powerful as she normally was, but she feared having her master wait any longer.
Skulking through the forest, she waited with impatience for the Elven guard to stop talking to one of the Empyreans, and continue his post down the road. “How sad,” she thought. “That was their last conversation….” When the Elf moved out of sight, she began to sing a melody in a quiet tone. The adrenalin rushed through her veins as the guards beside her looked around, ready to fight, wondering where the song was coming from. Suddenly, her voice boomed loudly, calling forth chaos and destruction. Soon the cries of the Empyreans were no more. Her song ended with a sad lullaby, hushing the dead to their final rest. She waited a few moments and watched the road: no one coming. Out from her pack she drew a razorfang axe. After hacking away at the bodies for looks- and her own sick amusement- she buried the blade of the axe in one Empyrean’s skull. ::THUNK:: She giggled at the sound she had made. Quickly she recast her cover of invisibility and continued her way north.
'Lupi made me do it Registered Member #175
Joined: 5:49:41 pm GMT 07/23/04
Posts: 4286
If you want something done...
Growing tired of Zinnia's slow recovery process - and doubting the whole waiting game was entirely necessary - Dwent decided to take matters into his own hands. Though his hands would not hold blood, as much as he longed for it. Instead, his hands would remain clean, holding only strings.
The weather was depressing and dank: rain hammering down from above whilst the earth below grew ever more muddy and slippery. Conditions could not have been more perfect for the little "puppet show" in Dwent's mind, and the cover of darkness meant he was unlikely to be seen. Along the road they came forming up at their marks - the paladins' lackeys. Like clockwork toys driven by discipline and duty.
"Let them wait", his mind spoke, "Not yet."
West, the bandits were crawling out from their cave. They had fed well recently, if Zinnia could be believed. Dwent had little choice but to believe her for now however, and to hope her beating would keep her on the right path from now on too. The bandits formed rough bands and ambled off at their own pace, though their eyes showed their intentions. Like demonic toys driven by hunger and greed, they made their way into the night.
"A little further now," his mind spoke, "enough of them now? No.. a couple more.."
Dwent observed under cover of an invisibility potion, moving only slowly given his heavy armour. Though, he wanted them to hear him.
"Just a couple more", the bandits numbers grew; their suspicion at the noises of Dwent's movement growing in turn.
"I hope they're hungry," his mind spoke, as the halfling bandit neared his position. "Closer!" his mind demanded of the diminutive figure. Like a timid animal, the bandit scampered forwards hesitantly... though it was too late now, already in the trap... already within reach.
Two invisible hands made their way towards the bandit's head.
'Lupi made me do it Registered Member #175
Joined: 5:49:41 pm GMT 07/23/04
Posts: 4286
Without much of a struggle - caught by surprise, and what a surprise - the hafling's head turned easily on the fragile neck. The sound was gratifying to Dwent as he released the limp body back to the ground. Even more pleasing were the cries from the other bandits, having seen what they were looking for: food. Dwent stood still for a moment making certain they would give chase, and when the last of them had begun its charge he chugged down a second potion: one granting speed. Off he ran, towards the east, though not so fast as to lose the bandits. Arrows flew past as he ran, one striking on his armour though not connecting as it should, bouncing onto the floor instead. Along the road the guards grew bigger quickly as he approached them, and a quick glance around revealed no elves, just the paladin wannabes.
"Perfect!" his mind decreed excitedly. He got quite close to the guards before drinking a third and final potion - it had been an expensive preparation for this operation - a second invisibility potion. The Empyreans, if they had seen Dwent coming, would not live long enough to recall what was about to happen to them, let alone who the figure might have been.
Down the road the bandits continued their charge. All of his puppets in place, Dwent moved out of the way of direct combat, enjoying the performance he had worked towards creating.
'Lupi made me do it Registered Member #175
Joined: 5:49:41 pm GMT 07/23/04
Posts: 4286
The final act of this piece would be evening the numbers somewhat. Some would need to be left behind, though it would be too risky to leave an Empyrean alive... at least without some manner of disguise. Dwent could afford a couple of bandits to be spared the slaughter, though the rest would have to die to complete the illusion of a turf war. Not a difficult task to manage, and watching the battle had fed Dwent's own blood-lust. Engaging the enemy himself now, he quickly maneuvered across the road as he fought the bandits, aiming to have them fall scattered across the place as the guards were.
He could not afford a single suspicious detail to slip past his consideration and foil his plans. After all, this was the easy part, the killing.
The real difficulties would come later.
With the bandit group completely slain - he had gotten a little carried away - Dwent quaffed a third invisibility potion. It was the last one he had, and one he had not intended to use, but more bandits were approaching and he needed at least some left alive as was the original plan. With the rain still pouring he left the 'victors' to their spoils, making his way away from the bloody scene.
"If you want something done," his mind spoke, a smirk growing on his face, "do it yourself."
Registered Member #1262
Joined: 5:44:27 am GMT 02/24/08
Posts: 106
Tonight, she felt a bloodlust craving swell inside of her. She couldn’t… wouldn’t stop at the Empyrean. She left a circle of death and confusion lying before her. Her breath was short and quick as she examined the bandits laid across armored guards. But the memory of the beating she took from her Master was a sobering thought. She quickly rearranged the razorfang bodies and mangled the few Empyrean. When she finished, the scene looked more like the remnants of a war rather than a mass slaughtering. She would have to be more careful from now on not to get worked up over simple chores.
'Lupi made me do it Registered Member #175
Joined: 5:49:41 pm GMT 07/23/04
Posts: 4286
Phase one was well underway by now. Leaning back in his arm-chair Dwent tossed a report folder aside as his brain went over the next phase. Of course, he had it planned out, partially. He knew what to do, but had to find the right words, before he found who he needed to speak to.
It would take two days of hesitation before he decided upon writing a short note, addressed to the wizard Paydon.
But even with the note delivered, his anxiety continued up until the day of their meeting itself.
[ The Island of Thain ]
The Screaming Bandit
