Konan375Note: Kuro didn't exactly shout his warning to Ryza over a megaphone. He was speaking specifically within the confines of their table. There's no way Eli should have been able to hear them from across the room, especially over all the other /noise/ going on. :PMy bad. Got carried away with Eli's assholism>_>
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Eli's ready!
Eli chuckled at the robot spirit's evasion of the question. No matter, he wouldn't go about trying to add another spirit to his collection, and he wouldn't go announcing the spirit's presence to everyone within shouting distance. He merely grinned when the Serpentine walked up to him. Ah, the arrogance of the rich and the youthful. I remember what that was like. He thought, ignoring Atra's snickering and what she meant by it. Before he could say anything, and likely make the situation worse, the first of two odd and unexpected things happened. First, the robot spoke in a challenging manner to the Serpentine, causing the boy to hesitate. Eli he could have taken, especially since he was injured. A giant steel robot, however, was another matter entirely. But it was too late to retreat now. Eli used this brief moment to lean over and retrieve his shot glass. "The day you admit your a spoiled little bastard," He said pleasantly to the Serpentine as he poured some of the Black Velvet whiskey into his shot glass, "is the day I give you an apology. Seeing as that will never happen, you'll be waiting quite a long time for your apology." He paused for a moment, considering something. "Oh that's right, you couldn't understand me the last time I insulted you could you? Here let me say the insulting part a little slower. Yoooouuuu'rrrreee aaaaaa sssspoooillllleeed liiiiiittllllle baaaaaassssstaaaarrrrrd."
Every part of that drawn out phrase was said in a mocking, condescending tone. Before the Serpentine could do something, likely violent from the angry look on his face, the second odd and unexpected thing happened. Helen Govannon, the widely respected Guild doctor, interjected with a none-to-subtle warning. Eli knew of her, of course. She was the one who had, on many occasions patched him up after a mission. However, he had never really looked at her face, as he did now. There was something about her face, something disturbingly familiar. He struggled to draw up memories from a happier time, before he became a murderer. A red headed shadow... When he finally put the pieces together, Eli felt his blood turn to ice.
The recognition, surprise, and yes, fear, were in his eyes for only a second. But they were there, and his spirits certainly noticed. Atra laughed aloud, Zaz and Kal both displayed picture's of surprise(Zaz, cheekily showing one of Eli's face), Lumin snorted, Saruk gave a low hoot of surprise, Eredan gave the impression of rolling his eyes. Only Shreckt and Ragnarok spoke aloud. Isn't that your sister? She asked, never moving from her position and intent to talk to Rzya. Yes. Eli replied. Yes it was. Well, isn't that just amusing? Ragnarok commented, his slow voice bringing up images of the earth slowly changing. Land slides, erosion, the list goes on and Eli ignored the images, and Ragnarok's comment, with a practiced familiarity.
When Helen spoke, Eli reached into his trench coat with his good arm, grasping the handle of his pistol. "I assure you, madam doctor, if this turns into a fight, it'll be quick, and there will be only one patient." From behind him he heard a pointed cough followed by an even more pointed "Eli." The bartender had seen where his hand was, thanks to his positioning and simply pointed to a sign when the bandless Guild member turned to him. The sign read 'No Firearms Allowed To Be Discharged. "Oh come on. Just once?" Eli asked, almost pleading. "No." "It'll be quick though. Just through the kneecap and walla, it's over." "No." The bartender remained firm. "Fine." Eli turned to the Serpentine, switching his grasp from the handle of his pistol to the hilt of his sword, while grabbing his now filled shot glass. It always paid to be cautious after all. He noted with approval the Kusagi girl's rebuke of the Rider, and merely grinned at the warning to avoid his company. That could be dealt with later, right now he had a snake to deal with.
"Well, you've done your little pissant display of bravery and cockiness. You've discovered I'm not going to be bullied into licking your boots, now could you please slink back to your little, my apologies, big bastards of friends? Be careful on the way back to the table. I don't want you to get dirt on your shiny toy, or, Aer forbid, get a splinter. Or maybe a stubbed toe? The list of horrors that could happen to you and reduce you to a weeping child between here and now is almost too long to comprehend. Do try to be careful." The bartender gave a sigh as Eli's mocking tone pushed the Serpentine over the edge. "I think it's time someone taught you how to hold your tongue and respect your betters. He growled, thrusting forward with his sword.
As Eli promised, it was over quickly. He was already moving as the thrust began, stepping to the side and drawing his sword out in one smooth motion, his shot glass still in his hand. With a speed that spoke of his years of training and experience, Eli shoved his short sword through the Serpentine's leg, just above the knee cap. As he began to scream, Eli slammed the shot glass into his face, wincing at the pain this movement brought to his shoulder, and let go of his sword to grasp the Serpentine by the back of the head and slam his already mangled face into the edge of the counter top, his nose pleasantly breaking against it. Fortunately for the Serpentine, he was unconscious upon impact. "A waste of-" That was as far as Eli got, as a blinding light consumed his vision. He stayed in one place, a hand over his eyes. "Fuck!" He spat, leaning against the counter top as he waited for his vision to return.
You deserved that. Shreckt noted, continuing as Eli cursed some more. In case your curious, it was a spirit of either your sister's or her husband. Not sure which as I only noticed it walking from beneath the table before you were blinded. No one else seems to have been. When Eli's vision returned, he withdrew his sword form the unconscious Serpentine's leg. "He'll live. Maybe this will teach him a valuable lesson in assumptions." Eli said this to no one in particular, wiping his blade clean on his sleeve before sheathing it.
Says the person who instigated aforementioned impending bar fight. :PTouche, but Eli never planned on murder simply near murder. :D
Since it will shortly become relevant (hohoho) - what happens to a bound spirit if its summoner is killed?If the spirit likes the summoner, or liked what they had going with their summoner, they attack the murderer. If not they go 'meh' and leave. Regardless, starting a fight in this really tense bar situation seems like a violently, bloody, bad idea. Just throwing that out there. :p
For a precious few minutes after Althalus and Mar went up the stairs, there was a moment of relative peace. There was nothing attacking, no one was screaming, and their lives weren't being directly threatened. The guide took this time to relax a bit, leaning against the wall. "What do you think the odds are of them dealing with the necromancer before the undead break in are?" He asked, glancing over at Leith. A silver flash in the air distracted the man for a moment, but whatever it was was gone before he could identify it. Not that it mattered, as a broken, battered, and generally mangled hand chose that time to burst through their barricade. The cries of the undead outside took a more bloodthirsty turn as many more, equally mangled, hands began to widen the hole, heedless of any and all attacks against them.
Soon there was a big enough opening for someone to stride through and first through was one of the Yarosmerian soldiers, holding his blade with evident experience. "Who wants to have a go first?" He asked, giving as close to a smile as rigormortis allowed, as more undead came through behind him.
"Fuck." The guide said, with considrable feeling.
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Leith shrugged at the guide's question. "I dunno. I'd like to hope it's pretty high." He looked at the barricade "It's going to happen soon, though." Almost as soon as he finished speaking, the undead started ripping their way into the house. Despite all of the effort Leith put into preventing the horde from entering, they still did. When the undead Yarosmerian made his way in and spoke to Leith, he had an idea. It would be a good way to stall for time. Time that they desperately needed.
Leith stood before the soldier. "I will." He looked at the mass of undead behind the man, "Although, it wouldn't be that much of a fight if the group behind you joined in, would it?" He held his arms out to the side. "What do you say; One last fight before you're dead once more?"
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The smile stretched a little bit wider, as Leith offered a duel. "When I first started out in the profession of murdering strangers on the battlefield for coin, that would have sounded like a good idea. After all, more honor and glory for killing the strongest warrior on my own. However, long years of fighting and death have put a new perspective on things. Win and complete the job, at any cost." He gestured forward with his sword, and the horde turned to the guide and began moving towards him. More curses spewed from the man's mouth as he raised his blade and retreated. "But I'll give you a few moments, before you too get ripped apart." Raising his sword into a guard, he chuckled. "After you, hero."
Unnoticed in the many feet, the upper half of a child pulled itself towards Coco's unconscious form, a broken knife in one hand.
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Leith sighed when the horde started advancing towards the guide. 'Oh well, It was worth a try.' He nodded at the soldier and without another thought lashed out at the man, aiming to cut the man in half. He needed to protect Coco and the guide.
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The corpse tried to bring up his blade fast enough to block it, but rigormortis doesn't allow for quick movements. He was able to bring it up to change the direction, losing his leg instead of his midsection, but that was about it. There was a loud clang, the sound of the blade slicing through the bone of his femur, and then a thump as he fell to the floor. "Well. This is awkward. I don't suppose you'd let me reattach my leg somehow?"
The guid was still retreating, and running out of room as he did so. "Gods Damn it. I knew I shouldn't have taken this job.."
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Leith shook his head with a small frown [color=#00FFFF]"I was trying to stall and prevent the other undead form attacking for a little while, but that didn't happen, so I've got to end this quickly."[/color He pulled his sword out of the floorboards and cut the man into three pieces. He fought off the revulsion he felt from the action and thought he heard something whisper "Alive"
He looked around the room to see the guide run out of the room with half of the horde following him. The other half started advancing towards him. He started making his way over towards Coco and tripped over something and fell backwards, His vision blurred as his head hit the ground. A look towards his feet showed him that he had tripped over a child that was holding a knife. The child grinned savagely and started crawling towards Leith.
The horde was upon him as well. Panic started creeping up his spine. He struggled to get up but the undead pushed him down. He couldn't die here. There were so many things he still wanted to do. With a shout, he pulled his left arm free and reached into his pocket for Sephira Sword, the Daemon Artes he had collected at during the demon attack. But by the time that got the trinket sized sword out of his pocket, the horde were no longer holding him down. In fact, it looked like they were dead again.
The child had been stopped. That was the only reason for the undead to be dead once again. After a few gasping breaths, Leith pulled himself off of the ground. He was covered in congealed blood and other filth. After a glance down, he noted that it looked like the filth was bubbling. As he noticed that, his head started to hurt. Ah, I must have been using my blood in my panic. When he thought about the fact that he had almost died and felt hopeless against it.
With a grimace, he clenched his hand into a fist. It was just like the demon attack. He had felt helpess to the entire thing. Never again. Never again would he feel so helpless. If he had anything to do with it.
He was brought out of his thoughts from the sounds of footsteps coming down the stairs. He brushed his clothes off and turned towards the stairs and smiled. It wasn't until the first person was in sight that he remembered he had Sephira Sword in his hand, he put the sword back in his pocket and felt something new in his pocket. He pulled it out and discovered that it was a ring. "Huh, weird."
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Mar was among the last down the stairway, her tail slow in climbing down as it was up, pausing a glance at the chaotic mess on the ground floor. Grey had chosen to haul the unconsious boy but her eyes showed her nervousness. Her brown irises followed the tall, bulky man just infront of her and tense, ready to prevent an easy kill. Grey had already tried to murder their attacker once and she didn't put it past him to try again. Males were rather strange that way.
Her hand was steady on her scythe, her tongue firmly stopped with a tightened jawline and spared the distain scent of long dead blood. Something about necromancy was terribly wrong when it came to animating the dead, something she couldn't fully shake, though it seemed their attempts to prevent more life lost had worked. It was a relief in more then one way.
Ears caught Leith's words then shifted her eyes to him. Like a snake to a mouse, her look was serious and intense but her words were human. "At least the undead stopped, but we still need to figure out what happened. Namely the cause. The boy's information was rather... confusing and to piece it together might take too long. Though it seems one of us should've stayed down here after all."
She rotated her head to see the complete gore of the battle result. Her head then twisted briefly to Althalus, slightly accusing him and laying some blame at the feet of his need to babysit her. Emotions were rather strange... especially her own.
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Grey remained silent, taking this moment of calm to think to himself. Despite himself, he was still quite angry at the situation. Because of a combination of cultural differences, his armor refusing to obey him, and a less than balanced individual super-imposing her child's face onto this monster, said monster would likely escape the just death he deserved.
However, he was bound by his word. Regardless of his feelings, he had sworn that he would not harm the boy, and apart from the (incredibly satisfying, to tell the truth) headbutt he intended do do so. Still, if Mar refused to listen to him about the previous issue she could at least respect his word... Her gaze was boring a hole in his neck.
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Coco lied immobile. Face bruised, yet the sap wasn't flowing free anymore. Now, it was merely an oozing wound. And suddenly feeling came back to her. At first she only felt the dulled tug and pull of her twitching leaves, unsure of which of her confused emotions to respond to. Then they were her hands to clench into fists. Then a high pitched buzzing sound rocked her head, and her necklace lit up.
Then the sound in her head settled into the background, and she remembered.
With a start, she shot up onto her feet. She couldn't keep her balance though, so she fell onto her knees.
"Tree-" Coco said, her speech cut abruptly by her fleeting thoughts. She had little time to focus as a tall and fat dead man holding what sounded like a metal bar stood over her.
He lifted the bar up high over his head and in a strong movement, brought it down--Or so thought Coco. In fact, the man had dropped the bar and fallen to the floor, as if he was indeed dead. For a few moments, Coco stayed on her hands and knees, back arched. Her neck burned and her face hurt like hell, while her leaves twitched like crazy.
Then she brought a hand to caress her scratched neck, flinching at the feeling of the warm sap that had seeped out and started to harden. She did the same with her face, but that time her leaves stayed puffed out.
"It feels so gross... I'm gross now." She said in a low voice, following by a shiver.
Coco then lifted her head and straightened her back, leaves slowly settling back onto her head. "What hap--this hurts so damn much it hurts like that time i s--pened?"
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As soon as Leith picked up the ring, it wrapped around his finger, the metal flowing like water around his finger until it met on the other side. For all intents and purposes, it looked like a normal ring again. Except, of course, it wouldn't come off no matter what Leith did. Oh, and the voice that began whispering in Leith's mind as soon as Grey came into view. Grey, molded by the Wild. Very important. Ensure he does not die. It repeated this process for Althalus. Althalus Marik. Brother to Fredrick Marik. Touched by the Wild but seems to have both no power from it, and a decided hate from the experience. Inconsequential, can be ignored. Another perk would be the fact that Leith's buzzing had stopped. Even when Althalus drew near, there was nothing but silence in his head.
Althalus gave a low whistle as he walked down the steps, viewing the pile of corpses around the Guide and Leith, while keeping a sharp eye on Mar. He could sense her nervousness. He took a small step behind her whispering "Don't worry. Grey is a man of his word. An utterly goody two shoes, obey the law at all costs man, but one who won't break his promises." He backed off, looking around. "I must admit, I expected things to be much more bloody and violent. But this is all rather neat. I'm impressed Leith, and our guide, you managed to fend off an entire horde by your selves." He raised an eyebrow at Mar. "Oh yes, pardon me for having concern about the mad Necromancer with powers that should have killed him. I should have just let you slowly make your way up the stairs in your unbalanced and upset state. That makes perfect sense!" More quietly he added, "I'm not letting you go alone into danger. Get used to my presence." He gave a small smirk, before turning to the recently awakened Foreas.
"Oh, and Coco, you were knocked out and saved from a horrible death by Leith and our guide. Also, apparently who ever destroyed the village is in the woods. Or so the boy claims."
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"Males tend to have their uses, I won't deny that. However, cockiness will likely end with you sleeping outside the den or worse, a dirt ditch." Mar commented coolly, her eyes shifted to his current position. Her inside betrayed very little of her current reaction to his whisper, namely his closeness and fact he was just within her range. Just. She knew Althalus had done that on purpose, even ready to pull back should her tail attempt to swipe at his feet and knock him back on his ass.
She noted the Foreas' unsteady standing which made her eyes follow Coco. For the moment her eyes seemed beyond human but in reality she had only concern for the 'female's' well-being. Unlike Coco, Mar suffered only shallow wounds and would heal in time. Namely after Althalus bandaged her up in private.
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Grey ignored Mar's comment, setting the kid down as he set about having him bound. He had a set of manacles in his pack, quite oddly designed ones. He had expected to capture less... crazy mages, but he would at least be able to use these. They were like normal manacles, apart from the fact that they were a set of three latches, not two. He clamped them around his wrists, and then bent him forward so the third would reach around his ankle. This way, he'd be unable to run off or something if he'd just bound his arms.
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"Oh. Thank you, Leith!" Coco said towards Leith's general direction, then held her head in both her hands and stood up unsteadily.
"Wait... You just said that a mass murderer is in the forest? Right where other Foreas live? Where the Great Tree is?" Coco shivered and walked over to Althalus, stumbling a couple times, and putting her hands on his shoulders. "We have to go there and stop this murderer!" And then her leaves puffed out a bit too quickly, and a sharp pain on the side of her head made her hunch over and hold her skull.
"We can't let this murderer burn the forest-" She mentioned through static, her necklace having it difficult selecting the thoughts she meant for it to communicate.
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Leith sucked in a breath when the ring melted as began to wrap around his finger. He flung his hand as he tried to shake the liquid off of his finger. Nothing worked, and the ring became a ring again. He looked at his hand and the ring that was wrapped around his middle finger. With the way the ring wrapped around his finger made him think that it was there to stay. He looked up from his hand and flinched when a voice began whispering in his mind when he made eye contact with Grey. It took him a few moments to realize that the buzzing in his head had completely disappeared.
He looked at Althalus, who was close enough to cause discomfort with the buzzing, but it wasn't there. Instead, the whispers started again. What was the Wild? From the sound of it, Althalus knew about it. Leith was going to ask him about it when he had the time.
When Coco thanked him, Leith nodded before realizing it was a wasted effort. "You're welcome. It's good to see that you're awake." He watched as Coco walked to Althalus and tried to convince him to go after the murderer. Stepping forward hesitantly, Leith cleared his throat.
"Murderers, Coco. Four of them, if what the kid said is correct. Speaking of kid, this is him, then?" Leith approached the child that had sent the undead horde after them. "I still don't understand how he pulled it off. By all accounts, it should have killed him." Leith looked from Mar to Grey to Althalus. "Did he say anything that could have explained his power?"
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The ring seemed fixed on staying with Leith though Mar couldn't begin to understand why and her inner Naga instincts hissed, her fang ready to bare before she had realized it. Before she determine a method to remove it, the student asked a question. She allowed herself to be distracted and relaxed only slightly. The ring was something that made her uncomfortable due to the odd way it reacted and even worse, the fact it didn't want to remove itself.
"Yes. He was acting strange as he seemed to hear the voices of his dead family. Kept arguing with them as he tried to shut their voices out." Mar started then added more to answer Leith's question. "His eyes were glowing a strange purple and mentioned something about being promised untold power for a price. Some old source or something promised power to him by sending its servants. He needed it for some Inferno lord coming to raise and war started to spill into his village through stories and other experiences. He wasn't beyond killing his family for it which is a matter he'll have to live with for the rest of his life," Her eyes softened a moment when they looked at the boy, feeling an emotion she wished wasn't there.
A voice, venomous and spiteful, hissed. Ellys' sharp words sliced into her mind like a blade cutting a point into her weakness, threatening to divide it from the rest of her. Emotions are weakness... Too...human.
She fought to keep any traces from her words while adopting a monotone in the rest of the details. "Those who came slaughtered the village people against the boy's wishes and left this mess. The boy thought those Yarsomere soldiers and we were with the master. We learned the location but nothing useful beyond that."
Her body seemed to shout signs far beyond discomfort as it curled inward. Her eyes seemed to have found the floor where they lingered, no long looking at Leith or the others, and curling her arms to cross in front of her. Her weapon was still held tightly in her hand but the fingers had taken on a pale coloring from the strength in her grip. The room seemed to feel like it was it closing in on her and she couldn't stop it.
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Grey looked to Mar with a raised brow, but sighed and shook his head. She was likely just having a panic attack or something similar. Regardless, there was nothing he could really do about it. He'd try to comfort her, but the two were not exactly on good terms and it was likely he'd just upset her more. He tapped Athalus on the shoulder, and when he got his attention he simply flicked his head towards Mar, staying quiet so she wouldn't react and say something unreasonable.
"That's about all we know, I think." He stated to Leith. Mar had already said anything he felt he could have said, so he didn't really have anything to add. He strolled along, stopping near Coco. He gently turned her toward him by the shoulder, and remembered she didn't have eyes, so getting down to eye level to speak to her was a little pointless. Regardless. "Relax, Coco. Nobody's going to burn down the forest. We'll make sure these murderers pay, but we need some time to recover first." He said, in as calm and soothing a voice as he was capable.
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Althalus glanced sharply at Mar as her voice took monotone, his attention taken from Coco's ranting in his face. Something was wrong, even Grey could tell that, by the way the guardsman tapped his shoulder. Althalus gave him a sarcastic look as if to say 'no, really?' before whispering in the man's ear. "I need you to get everyone out of here. Even the kid. Naga don't like having others see their wounds treated, so Mar won't let me if you're all here. Plus, if you're all gone I can calm her down and find out what's the matter." He turned from Grey to Coco. "Perhaps it'd make you feel better if you were outside watching the forest to make sure it's not burned down. Mar and I will stay in here to see if there's anything useful inside. You all can check outside." The assassain began gently but firmly pushing the Foreas towards the door, gesturing for Leith to follow suit. He glanced pointedly at Grey, as their Guide shrugged and cleared an easy path out of the house.
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Grey sighed, he'd never really understand these Naga. "Come on, we'dbetter go check on the forest... Give these two a moment." he said, standing up and loosening his arm as he went to get the prisoner. He followed suit, leading Coco out. He was sure he didn't need to babysit Leith either, he wasn't stupid. And he'd be surprised if the guide hadn't already ran to the cart.
I like everything except for the unforgiving way kicking is handled. Grief is different for everyone. If I lose someone close to me, I might not want to even bother drop a message for a month and half, maybe more. Disrespect won't mean much to me. Or, going away from the extreme(and may it never happen) case of death or accidents or some such, RL might drop something on us that consumes pretty much all of our time for a month and a half. Surprise, you have a presentation that will pretty much make or break you career to make and sell to a panel of people who are pretty cold! In your hurry to not lose your job, I imagine you could forget to stop by and say 'By the way, all my time is gone'
What I'm basically saying, is the system should punish people who are simply lazy(like me) and not people who have lost their muse for their characters(Also like me, but mainly the lazy bit), or have had RL drop a bomb on them. It should be fairly simple to tell who was just lazy in this RP and who actually had problems. Just look at their activity on the guild or on the chat. If they've been posting a lot in other RPs, but not this one, and haven't mentioned before about how they've lost their muse for this characters, it's a safe bet to assume they're simply lazy(like me, only its RP wide)
Now, did any of this make sense?
Appearance:
Typically, Eli wears light steamplate armor (strong enough to block a low caliber bullet or two, and a blade between the ribs, but light enough to allow him movement), underneath a leather duster. Both the armor and duster look worse for wear, the armor only cleaned enough to look functional and the duster never really cleaned unless it reeks badly. He wears black gloves. They are clearly well made and are the nicest thing he owns, obviously well kept and cared for. An emblem used to be on the palms of both, but had been ripped out and the resulting hole obviously repaired. One can see the marks where this had been done. He wears metal shod boots, with steel toes, as was favored by the Varisie Empire’s soldiers once upon a time. Like everything except himself, his weapons, and his gloves, they are unkempt. The most unclean of his gear, they are caked with mud and filth and who knows what else.
Name: Eli Rondell.
Age: 33
Guild Band: N/A. Eli prefers to work alone.
Backstory: Power comes at a cost. Eli knows that better than most.
Before he even came to the Western City-States, Eli was born into the Varisie Empire to a mother and father who had both served in the army. There wasn’t really any choice in the matter of his career. He was going to follow in their footsteps, and he was going to serve the Empire to the best of his ability. It was not only his duty, but also his destiny. His parents trained him as much as they could before he joined, wanting to have him as spend as little time as possible learning and as much time as possible serving. When it was revealed he had a talent for subduing spirits( by the time the officers found out he had several simple spirits in pacts with him, albeit the pacts were shaky and the spirits were just waiting for the perfect opportunity to kill him), he was immediately put in their training program for Summoners and put into the registered list of summoners the Church of Aer demands every nation possesses.
After a few years of learning how to word his pacts, how to work in unison with spirits, and how to better wield magic, Eli was sent into the Aest Wetlands with his squad of summoners(9 people in total, counting Eli). They had only one order. Get a Gargantuan spirit for the Empire. If they came across any other spirit, it was up to them what to do. That was how Eli got Eredan, and soon after, Shreckt. It was an experience he’ll never forget. Magical artifacts that would have been sold for thousands of coins in the Empire were traded for things that everyone in the Empire could gather. What was rare and powerful to the Varisie was common enough to the people of the Aest Wetlands. Spirits were seen daily, though few were interested in entering a pact. Eventually Eli and his squad found a local who claimed to know the location of a Gargantuan spirit. In return for some of the magical artifacts they had and some help along his farm, the local lead them to the cave where the Gargantuan resided. However, he flatly refused to go into the cave, claiming that all who went in died. Undeterred, Eli and his companions entered the cave.
Ragnarok was waiting for them. He attacked without warning and without mercy. Luckily for them, they all had humanoid and simple spirits with them, and were able to avoid being killed in the battle, though all were injured in some way. By the time the battle ended and Ragnarok was subdued and ready to make a pact with, everyone but Eli paused to catch their breath. Eli didn’t. Eli was thinking about what was to come next. The Gargantuan would demand a blood pact, and his other companions weren’t strong enough to make the necessary decisions. Before they could react, he summoned Eredan and Shreckt and killed them. By their spilt blood he made his pact with Ragnarok(using the same one he used with the other spirits). Every year he would give 8 humans to Ragnarok. The spirit agreed, and Eli set out to leave the Wetlands.
Due to Ragnarok’s constant needling, however, what he had done finally got to and broke Eli. He had killed his friends, murdered them in cold blood, all for power. He killed them for Ragnaroks unrelenting voice in his head, constantly stirring his guilt. Suicide was a tempting option, as he headed steadily for home. But he couldn’t bring himself to do it. He was a soldier and he would die in a battle. But he wouldn’t return to the Empire. They would hang him for his crime, and probably take and use Ragnarok for even worse things. No. He’d join this ‘Adventurer’s Guild’ he had heard so much about. Maybe he could find a death in battle there.
That was 5 years ago. Or at least, it will be soon. Eli still hasn’t died, though he’s gained a reputation in the Guild for taking the most dangerous jobs they could find. As of late, he’s gone into Varisie land repeatedly. So, when the children came bursting in through the doors, more than a few people looked at him, and none were surprised when he joined.
Skills and Abilities:
Life time soldier: For Eli, becoming a soldier wasn’t a choice. It was his fate. He’s been fighting as long as he can remember. As a result, he has become fairly good at the art of killing. Be it with gun, blade, or whatever happens to be at hand.
Varisie Summoner: The Varisie train their summoners well, and Eli was one of them. He’s skilled at subduing spirits, and using them in combat.
Equipment:
-A steam rifle powerful enough to go through light armor, but only denting anything higher. Has 4 clip magazines.
-Armor stated in appearance
-Two steam revolvers, located in his boot and hip.
-A simple short sword.
Spirits: (Note: Eli has used the simple spirits on pretty much every mission he’s been on. Everyone knows he has them. The humanoids are much rarer, but a few people know he has them. No one knows of Ragnarok’s existence.)
Simple
Humanoid
Gargantuan
Misc. Details:
-Eli has a soft spot for children.
-While the rest of his equipment looks like a mess, just kept barely clean enough to function, his gloves and weapons are almost religiously taken care of.
Pact details can be read in Eli’s backstory.
Kuro's sudden reach into his coat wasn't missed by Eli. "See, look, you're frightening the local costumers. Shreckt continued to ignore him. Eli only briefly noted the simple spirit and the girl's quick check on him. What she thought, or the fact that she was a summoner, mattered little to him. As the Rider stood and began to walk towards the Red Hawk and the Kusagi, Eli raised an eyebrow. "Isn't that interesting?" He muttered, more to himself than to anyone else. He knew that every single one of the Rider's avoided him at all costs. It wasn't hard to notice, when men and women began leaving high paying missions as soon as you joined, or went out of their way to avoid contact with you. Granted, there were others who did that, but it was more varied. There were several Serpents and Knight Errants, a few Bards, one or two Red Hawks. Nothing on the scale of the Riders, so Eli had to assume one of two things. Either he'd done something to alienate an entire organization with as black of a reputation of that, or an order had come down straight from the top to avoid him. Seeing as he doubted he'd be in such good health if it was the former, Eli believed the latter. And now one of them was heading towards a pair that one of his spirits had shown a marked interest in.
What drew Eli's interest more than the Rider, however, was the spirit that walked into the bar, under the guise of an automaton. It was pretty clever, he had to admit. It would have fooled most non-summoners, provided that he didn't do something like he was doing now. Unless, of course, he could sell it off as programming. A smoothie robot. I wouldn't be surprised. Eli thought, smirking slightly as he downed yet another shot. The pain, both physical and emotional, had yet to be dulled. For shame Eli. You should know that alcohol doesn't work anymore. It stopped working years ago. Atra commented, a dark chuckle echoing through his mind. I wonder what your friends, before you began killing them that is, would think of thi- Silence! Eli snapped, cutting her off. She complied, leaving only another dark giggle.
Picking himself up and taking the bottle of whiskey with him, Eli stood up. Shreckt did the same, but for entirely different reasons. She was going to assist the Kusagi spirit in stopping the rider. A sharp look, and a mental command, from Eli stopped her in her tracks a small noise of frustration escaping her. Around the same time, three Serpentines walked in. Eli's face immediately twisted in disgust. Rich, cruel and haughty. A mixture he hated and one that was bound to cause trouble. The disgust on his face was made even more evident when they kicked other patrons out of their seats. As he saw the Rider being rather insistent, an idea popped into his head. Eli smiled, taking another drink of his whiskey. Why not kill two birds with one stone? "Rider!" He called out, to get Kuro's attention. "I believe that the Red Hawk's spirit is trying to tell you that your urgent matter can wait. Insisting on it, I'm afraid, is almost as rude as rich little bastards walking in as if they own the place because of a band they belong too and the shiniest toys their parent's money could buy them." He looked over at Cedric and his friends. "I'm sorry, I mispoke. You're rich big bastards."
Eli gave a mock salute to the three of them with his whiskey bottle, before returning his attention to Kuro. "And whats more is Shreckt, the spirit so interested in talking to the Kusagi, my apologies madam--I don't know your name," He nodded towards Ryza, "is mildly upset that I'm making her wait politely. So perhaps you could wait until their conversation is done before you start barging in?" Turning his back on all four of the people he just spoke too, Eli walked over to the Harvey and sat down. In a low voice that only Harvey could hear he commented, "It's not too often you see an unbound spirit in civilized nations."
*Claps* Awwwwwe!
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