In a world where judges believe it's impossible to guess or estimate the nature of armour by eyesight alone, those same judges accuse you of metagaming for wanting to know if your opponent is wearing a skintight suit or medieval plate armour!
Prepare yourselves for the wonders of TZDL! Where everything is metagaming because we don't understand basic concepts like estimation and experience! It was a riveting experience, and I thank you all!
The thing was, the head of the spear was wider than the link of the chain, hence why it got stuck in the first place. The edge of the spear’s point was sticking out past the chain’s width and could still cut the man, even as Brennus drew back and dragged it along his groin, stepping backwards to hasten its retraction. So, while the chain did indeed reduce the damage he could have taken, it would not negate it entirely.
Not that it mattered, doing damage while retracting his spear was ultimately just a fortunate happenstance for Brennus. In truth, he simply wanted to free his weapon of the obstruction, and did so, withdrawing the point so it hovered between the two of them. Now should the man remain stationary he was just in time for his backstep to lead into another sudden forward gathering step. The point of his spear was placed nicely for another gut shot, so he thrust his back hand forward to shoot the shaft through his lead hand, with the intention of putting six inches of steel into the man’s lower abdomen. If the man instead moved towards him, he could thrust from where he was standing after his backstep with the exact same result. He aimed a couple inches off to the man’s right side in either case, as he was striking from his own right.
Brennus had taken the chain into account, which was why he thrust for the inner thigh rather than the leg proper, but by a twist of fate (and the chain) his spear had jammed itself between one of the wide links. The chain would still slam into the inside of the man’s leg, but apparently not enough of the point had breached the link to cut into his body. Unfortunate, but it meant retrieving the spear would be no difficult task, it wasn’t wedged if it wasn’t poking out the other side. Brennus quickly moved into his next attack, as the chained spear point bounced off the man’s leg it would thrust between both legs, and Brennus knew that a spear could still be dangerous going out again.
Straightening his body, Brennus lifted the spear quickly with his lead hand, as he retracted with a forceful draw cut aimed at the man’s groin. The spear point would of course free itself from the chain as it pulled backwards, and the side of the blade would pose a credible threat in the form of cutting open the man’s nether region. Bleeding out from such a wound was not uncommon, but more importantly, what man wanted his dick cut open by a spear? To accommodate this movement, he’d have to make another of those gathering steps in reverse, but a bunching in his thigh suggested he was ready to rush back in again once his spear point was again in his control.
An arrow flying at 3400 meters per second through the air is a rather dangerous thing. The only thing that might make it more dangerous, was if one were to spew fire everywhere and cause smoke and dust to cloud their surroundings. Because an arrow you have no hope of even seeing is a very, very, dangerous thing.
The twang of his bowstring was exceedingly loud, but it would serve as no warning to the firemancer, because this arrow was flying far faster than the speed of sound. In fact, it would take the arrow 0.03 seconds to cover the three hundred feet separating them, and Thomas could see his enemy clearly through smoke, fire, and whatever other impediments he sought to set against him due to his demon sight. He’d aimed dead centre, having no reason to account for the man’s movements due to the speed of his projectile, so the arrow would slam into his foe’s chest from a little off to the left.
Forged in hellfire themselves, Thomas’ arrows were resilient to the heat and fire around them as much as they were resistant to any outside magic. But frankly, the likelihood of his foe having the capacity to even recognise he was about to be shot was pretty negligible. The only likely consequence was his arrow impacting the chest armour of the fire user, testing its durability against the head of his arrow. However, the man’s problems were not to end there, as the arrow was a shatterhead. Upon impact, it would explode, releasing the force of point blank buckshot from a shotgun directly into the man’s chest, along with spewing copious amounts of demonic blood with an acidic quality into the wound. If that were to happen, his fate was already sealed.
Anna leaned her head in uncomfortably close to Xaih, she smelled faintly of sea-salt, and damp.
“I ask because you should be afraid, Xaih. Fear isn’t just a tool to be used against people, it’s something we all have inside ourselves, use it.” The strange mentor gave the room a quick glance. “Be afraid to die, be afraid of what these people can do, the moment you are certain of anything is the moment you will lose. There are worse things than death, but not many.” Anna’s look was far away, staring right through the girl she spoke with. “Let them be brash and confident in their abilities, and then remind them that life is cruel but you’ll do anything to keep it.” It was odd advice, but perhaps that was simply the only sort of advice one such as Anna could give.
“And remember, water gives life, but in an instant, it may take it.” She raised one eyebrow, and then patted the girl’s arm. Her fingers were cold to the touch.
Appearance: Short brown hair cut messily with a knife sits around a rounded face of Saxon origin. His eyes are a piercing light blue, and his brow is cut from a scar that prevents hair growth in a small area. His skin is lightly tanned, but otherwise white and course looking as if used to wear. Though his build is relatively athletic, both arms are exceptionally wiry and well-muscled, the right ever so slightly more so than the left.
Availability: 12pm to 12am GMT, unexpected events non-withstanding.
Equipment: Thomas enters the field in a gambeson created from the hide of a demon he slew in one of his many forays into hell. The gambeson covers his upper torso completely, surprisingly light and supple it offers extreme fire resistance to his entire person and a slight resistance to harmful magic and psionic powers, particularly electricity, as the demon's hide is highly resistant. The hide of a demon is unsurprisingly tough, completely bulletproof to low calibre firearms and highly stab resistant. This also includes gloves of the same nature.
Kettle Helmet (and face mask): Thomas wears a Kettle Helmet made of dark steel of a demonic origin, with a face piece that covers everything except for a wide slit for his eyes. The metal is resistant to firearms, slashing and bludgeoning.
Hide Breeches: Thomas used the remaining scraps of hide from the demonic beast he slew to create some nifty trousers, they offer some of the resistances of his gambeson, to a lesser degree.
Leather Boots: Thomas wears boots made from rhino hide, just for variety.
Hunting Quiver: Thomas uses a quiver on his back which mysteriously holds onto the thirty arrows he carries with him until he says otherwise. The quiver was given to him by the Devil when he was chosen as a huntsman, and it protects the arrows inside from wear and tear as well as outright being damaged.
Leather Scabbard: Strapped to his left hip.
Weapons: An Italian Yew warbow as tall as its user. The wood seems worn with age but has not bent, along its back are several runes etched in an infernal language. The runes protect the bow from all but the most extreme damage, the string itself is made from the guts of a demon and is similarly impervious to harm. Its draw weight is 500 pounds.
Arming Sword: 90cm in length, 75cm blade length, double edge, dark steel.
Physical Capabilities:
Strength: 2 tonnes max lifting capacity.
Endurance: Near limitless
Durability: Far beyond human capabilities, the stress his body can withstand is almost ten times that of any ordinary human, more comparable to trying to pierce the hide or break the bone of a rhino. The demonic mark on his right hand pulses periodically, countering psionic attacks on his mind, poison and disease in his body, and similar assaults, though not completely.
Agility: The capacity to react at speeds beyond human comprehension, Thomas can make significant movements in fractions of a millisecond, and his reaction speed peaks at 0.005 of a second. He seems to perceive things in slow motion at will.
Speed: The ability to reach a land speed of eighty mph at a flat sprint while maintaining almost full range of movement and the ability to stop at a dime, 0 – 80 mph in two seconds of acceleration.
Senses: Thomas can perceive anything physically possible for his eyes to focus on, comparable to the seemingly telescopic vision of an eagle, yet he shifts between this enhanced vision and a wide 180 degrees’ peripheral vision at will. His hearing is also particularly acute, as sensitive as a hound’s and with the capacity to separate the sounds he hears and isolate them. His other senses are normal, albeit with the capacity to turn off his pain sensors at will.
Cursed Capabilities:
Thomas Kent was an English archer destined to be slain at the battle of Crecy in the early years of the hundred years’ war. However, the Devil relished the slaughter and decided to spare him, for a price. He was to instead serve the Devil in sowing the seeds of chaos and misfortune across Europe, bringing plague and death to hundreds if not thousands in his time. Furthermore, the Devil contracted him to hunt down good-doers and evil-doers alike and drag them down to hell, and was given some infernal gifts to serve this purpose.
The Gift of Infernal Sight: Thomas’ main ability stems from his exceptional eyes, potent enough in life, they now offer up a multitude of abilities beyond his capacity to see near anything in front of him.
- The Infernal Sight allows Thomas to track enemies through thick cover, unless they employ a particularly powerful form of magical concealment in which case he must first mark them. This works through smoke, rock, stone and most other forms of protection.
- The Infernal Sight protects Thomas’ eyes from attack, a burning aura surrounding them destroys agents that attempt to enter his eyes and they are nearly immune to magical interference, any attempt to manipulate his sight leads to harsh ramifications as the attacker is blocked out by a hideous visage of the Devil himself.
- The Infernal Sight allows Thomas to discern the nature of an attack launched out in the open and learn it's tells upon repeat uses, giving him a few milliseconds of extra warning.
- Finally, the Infernal Sight allows Thomas to track miniscule movements in an opponent’s body to seemingly ‘predict’ where they plan to move, the serpentine manoeuvre is completely useless before the Infernal Sight.
The Gift of the Infernal Mark: Pressed onto Thomas’ right hand, the mark allows the archer to access infernal powers in his weapons, and to magically mark an opponent for tracking and slaying.
- Infernal Marking allows Thomas to cast a fast-moving barrage (800 mps) of magical fragments from his bow that can be blocked by cover but which permeate the air and stick to his target. Once stuck, the fragments allow Thomas the unerring ability to sense his enemy wherever they may go.
- The Infernal Mark can affect any arrow Thomas chooses, causing it to glow with a faint reddish aura. The arrow moves at half the ordinary speed, but while in flight, the arrow will head unerringly towards a target that has been Infernally Marked, any single arrow will make one stark change in trajectory mid-flight to either dart around a counter-measure and return to its original trajectory or hit a dodging target.
- The Infernal Mark is used to access demonic powers and wildly transform his weapons, predominantly his arming sword and the arrows he fires from his warbow.
- Finally, the infernal mark allows Thomas to create an infernal arrow in his right hand, he can do this three times a fight, the infernal arrow can be used as a lethal stabbing implement which causes extreme burning wounds and causes the very flesh to melt where it hits, or it can be fired from the bow, where they cause a twenty-foot explosion of sticky hellfire akin to napalm in temperature and nature.
The Gift of the Devil’s Wind: The Devil’s Wind is a mobility aid that Thomas uses to traverse the field of battlefield and manoeuvre quickly. It has three main components.
- The Devil’s Wind can be used for short but incredibly quick ‘air dashes’ in any direction up to three times a fight. Akin to teleportation, Thomas will flash and re-appear in a space up to ten feet from where he started facing whatever direction he wishes, he covers the distance at a speed of 2000mph.
- The Devil’s Wind can be used for a sudden ethereal sprint towards any arrow Thomas has already fired, he traverses the ground at three hundred miles per hour with a high resistance to magic and damage while moving as he takes on an ethereal form. He can use this ability to move clean through obstructions, but not people.
- The Devil’s Wind can be used in the form of a sudden backwards jump upon firing the Warbow, which causes Thomas to leap backwards in a similar fashion to his air dash. This has no cap, but it can only be used when firing the bow, and only to move backwards, or backwards at a diagonal, up to ten feet.
Weapon Transformations
Arming Sword: Upon drawing his sword in his right hand, the mark glows and the weapon undergoes a horrifying transformation. Taking on a black steel appearance which constantly drips sizzling blood. Its general size and shape stay the same, but in this form the demonic taint permeating the weapon grows so strong as to be near overwhelming to those sensitive to it. The Weapon constantly drips tainted blood from its length, when swung, this blood sprays out in the same arc as the cut, spraying over anything in front of it and burning with an almost acidic quality that is difficult to resist or do anything about once it touches the body. The blood is known to quickly corrode armour and tear away at the very spirit, weakening those afflicted. Thomas is immune to its effects. The Arming Sword in its demonic form takes on an unholy sharpness and durability so that it can be used to reliably thrust through solid steel or brick up to a thickness of ten inches. The dark taint surrounding the blade wears away slowly at any magical defence the opponent may have. The Dark Sword’s demonic taint makes it resistant to magical interference, it’s difficult to physically move the weapon with powers or technology without Thomas’ permission as it wishes to stick to his hand.
Warbow: Thomas’ bow takes on a wizened and dark visage in his hand, the wood stained seemingly with blood. It becomes near impervious to damage, and the string grooves on either end of the weapon point outward with vicious bone-like protrusions that can turn the weapon into an improvised spiked staff in a pinch, as the bone delights in slicing through metal and flesh. The runes running along the length of the weapon make it deadly to the touch, trying to hold onto the staff will cause an opponent to rapidly wither and age as the point in contact burns from acidic blood. The draw weight is 500 pounds, making it far more difficult to nock than any bow in living history. Arrows propelled by this bow launch at nearly 1700 meters per second at full draw, half that at half draw and so on. The special trait of the bow is its ability to ‘power up’ before a particularly powerful shot, by nocking an arrow the turn before and priming, the bow can store energy and subsequently double its shot speed and energy output for each subsequent turn before unleashing a devastating shot, by doing this, the arrow can seemingly blow clean through cover like an armour piercing round.
Arrows: Any arrow Thomas touches with his right hand may transform into one of three different demonic variants. These arrows have an inherent resistance to outside interference brought about by their demonic taint, which roughly equates to a 50% magic resist.
Infernal Bodkin: Designed for armour piercing, this demonically wizened arrow has a long slender head made from a demonic steel that punches through all but the heaviest and most magically charged armour, it seems to hold its momentum in the shaft, so upon hitting a target it retains most of its energy and speed and unleashes it in a second ‘burst’ not unlike advanced explosive ordinance.
Infernal Broadhead: Designed to create a massive hole, the Infernal Broadhead has a wide cutting head and seeps demonic blood that burns through a target upon impact. The blood works like highly concentrated acid and will continue to pour around the head until the arrow is removed.
Infernal Shatter-head: A unique arrow, the shatter-head is designed for difficult to hit targets. At any point during its flight path Thomas may command it to shatter, causing a blast of metallic fragments and acidic demon blood in a front facing arc in front of the arrow and to either side of the head. The blast of shards is akin to being hit by buckshot.
Skills: Thomas is an advanced tactician, bowman, and swordsman. He understands stalking, stealth, and has a rudimentary understanding of most forms of technology as well, though he still sticks to the bow. He is also a gifted acrobat and climber, and can traverse difficult terrain with ease. His ability to fight without any weapons is less impressive, but he can utilise basic unarmed martial techniques well enough in a pinch.
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