Avatar of Spiffy
  • Last Seen: 18 days ago
  • Joined: 7 yrs ago
  • Posts: 664 (0.26 / day)
  • VMs: 0
  • Username history
    1. Spiffy 7 yrs ago
  • Latest 10 profile visitors:

Status

User has no status, yet

Bio

User has no bio, yet

Most Recent Posts

Cicero Bladewalker


Cicero nodded toward Dalius and sheathed his dagger. The former pirate made sense in his explanations. He was a fool for loose, attractive woman as Cicero had come to know. Falling for someone like Nylah was an easy thing to perceive.

But before he could make a reply, a rowdy bunch was making their way towards them. Dalius stated he would follow Cicero's lead..But he had no idea how many, who, where, or what he was dealing with. He couldn't simply go out swords slashing now could he?

Cicero acted fast, he grabbed his unconscious friend and tugged him toward the other pile of the sand. he whispered, "Help me bury him." and added quickly, "Alive." Hopefully it would be enough to conceal the warrior, his spear and shield.
Dalius dragged Manzur under some sand and concealed him without an issue. Meanwhile, Cicero needed to find his own weapon. His shield was strapped to his back, thankfully, but his sword, where was it?
Nowhere that he could see. He then attempted to hide nearby behind a larger rock.
A gang of brownskinned native Rohites strolled into their living spaces. The large piles of sand taking up a good measure of it.

An well-defined young man with a pickax spoke harshly to them, "What's all this mess anyway? Did a fool fall for your worthless trap?" The other 7 men circled about their piles and made threatening gestures to Dalius' group.
But so far, they did not find anything out of the ordinary.
Cicero Bladewalker

Cicero was dug out of the pile of sand. He began coughing uncontrollably. His companion Manzur did as well. When Cicero's eyes finally met Dalius' they flashed in anger. He reached for the dagger on his belt and brandished it toward the group. "Dalius! What in the divine's name are you doing here?!" He shuffled to his feet awkwardly. Standing on loose sand was by no means an easy task, then continued, "You betrayed us. Sailing away with my whole suit of armor and all the prisoners..." He looked at the others questioningly. They were obviously outnumbered. Then glanced at Manzur. The man did not stir, except for his coughing fit, he lay completely still. That was not good.

Cicero changed his tone to a more relaxed one, "What's going on in here anyway? We followed tracks of demonfolk to this cave, yet here you all are.."

Just then everyone heard the scraping of metal on stone down a dark corridor leading to the mine. They could see sparks flying lighting up the steps of a number of figures. It appeared between 6-10 individuals were coming their way carrying various objects in their hands. Then they heard, "BREAK TIME'S UP WORMS! BACK TO THE MINE!"
Cicero Bladewalker & Manzur Iman [NPC]


The grizzled veteran, Manzur, pressed forward without a word. He didn't have time to play these puzzle games. He came, he saw, he conquered. At least, that was his frame of mind. His limp was barely noticeable as he trudged past the group. Cicero's eyes widened in surprise, "Manzur, what are you doing?!" He lunged after him just as Manzur stepped past the two fang-like stalagmites. Cicero just managed to grip his shoulders when suddenly the floor gave out from under him.

Cicero clasped the warrior's arm with all his might. With his other hand he gripped one of the large stalagmites. It began to crack from the sheer weight. Manzur dangled above the dark abyss as sand flowed like a river below. Cicero caught Gwyneira's eye and uttered, "I--" before the stalagmite broke and they were sucked below.

Dalius heard the sound of sand pouring down from above. It was pretty common considering his present circumstance. Underground in a sand cave of all things. Only he knew how he had come so far to wind up here. Off the gallows and into slavery. Not much better.

Though even with all the problems he seemed to attract, there was still some good to be had. After all, his other fellow slaves weren't all bad. Toothless-Tom made a mean rat roast. Wiry Garfield mostly kept to himself. Though there was the problem of the slave gang who took half of the other's provisions. Turns out, these Roh people didn't even speak common! At least not around Dalius. There were 8 of them and they ran the other slaves when the demonfolk masters weren't around to work them.

They were digging elaborate tunnels, constructing traps, growing glow-shroom crops, and general cleaning. There was quite a bit of moisture underground here, so water wasn't a problem as long as you could bargain for some from the Roh gang. They were fed just enough to get a good day's work out of them, but not enough to actually build any mass. The glow-shrooms gave off a slight orange glow that was just enough to do your work.

As these thoughts flowed through Dalius' head, the sand began to pour down in a great torrent not 50 feet away from his resting place. Suddenly he saw two figures fall far down into the large pile of sand and become buried within. What would he do?
Cicero Bladewalker


Cicero's eyes adjusted to the darkness of the cave. The slight echo of Gwyn's voice reverberated in their vicinity. Seeing her limping ever so slightly he sidled next to her and offered his right arm for support. Then he commented on the stalagmites, "Whoever designed this certainly had a lot of time on their hands."

Cicero decided that searching was in their best interests and held his peace. No one could know if what lay ahead was a trap. However, how much time did they really have? It made him uneasy. Speaking only slightly above a whisper he said, "Perhaps we should proceed with caution, comrades."
The Cave

Cicero nodded to Gwyn, ”No doubt. This must be one of their major operations. We must be careful. Those inscriptions don’t seem to be only for show. When we get closer, you may be able to read them.” He unsaddled from his camel. Fed the creature some provisions and pegged its reigns to the ground so that it couldn’t wander off. ”Can’t be too careful with these.” Then the knight turned to Ashe with an inquisitive look, ”Say, you seem like the stealthy type. Would you do us a favor and scout the area more closely? Those fiends are by no means stupid. They have surely placed sentries where we cannot perceive them.”

”True. No telling where they would be.” She went up to study the runes, trying her hardest to read them. They were hard to make out well though so she carefully snuck closer.
The sand shifted her feet. She let out a cry, but quickly stifled it, looking around. No one else had heard that, right? Seeing nothing though, she continued on towards the inscriptions to see what she could read.

I’ll try my best but can’t promise anything. It’s been a while since I picked pockets through the marketplace.” quickly replied Ashe with a grin. She remembered her times with the orphans and urchins of the streets and nodded her head gently.

Cicero watched as the two heroines made their way to the cave entrance. Gwyn, unaccustomed to wilderness stealth, took a more direct route. Meanwhile, Ashe headed from a flank. Hopefully, at least one would remain unseen. Maybe Ashe could give some lessons of her own on the art of stealth.

Ashe was like a living shadow, her body flat on the wall. Closely watching for any light reflection that may give her away and of course, to any sounds that might be made by their enemies.

To the side, Freda. Not directly forward. Watch your light and silhouette. Easy does it. ” whispered Ashe to Freda, seeing that she would be discovered if anyone would come in her direction with no issues.

Freda looked over annoyed. “I can care for myself, thank you very much.” She answered in a loud whisper, then slightly went to the side, but not by much before stopping before the runes and looking up. Surely she could read these now after some time…

Freda made her way upon the inscriptions. They were golden within the reddish sands. They made a simple few pictures. An hourglass, cave, and falling sands.
Rather quickly she could work out what it said. “Here lies the cave of shifting sands. Those who come in must watch the sands. Else their time run out, and those within are trapped forever.” Gwyn frowned. That all seemed rather ominous..
In reading the signs, she didn’t notice anything else around her. Ashe made her way silently nearby Freda, yet not close enough to be spotted together.
Cicero clenched his teeth in anticipation. He was not exactly built for stealth. Though he could manage if needed.
Cicero looked at Manzur for a second, ”Hey! There’s demonfolk above!” He yelled in tandem with Manzur at Gwyneria, ”Gwyn!! Above you!!” Only in his haste, he called his companion by her real name instead of her false one.

Manzur spotted the enemy demonfolk immediately over the archway of the cave aiming bows at Freda.
Manzur yells at Freda, “ARCHERS AT ARCHWAY!” Manzur then dashed towards Freda.

Ashevelen was startled by the yells of Manzur and Cicero and very much intrigued by the words of Cicero “Gwyn”. Sounded like a name referring to “Freda” but that was a query for later. Not seeing exactly where the archers were, she cursed herself for missing them but at least she had an idea and it seemed like they didn’t spot her yet. Wishing herself some luck, Ashevelen silently went towards her best guess as to where the archers were. Freda should be able to handle herself for now.

Gwyndolyn looked up at the calls, “What?” Two arrows then whizzed from above, heading straight towards her.
Before she could even react, they struck.
One grazed her upper left arm, causing it to singe but still being movable. The other though stabbed through her right foot into the ground, trapping her to the sand. She let out a cry then ducked down, focusing on dislodging the arrow.

Cicero groaned when he saw her almost become a pincushion for arrows. He began sprinting toward the cave with all haste shouting obscenities at the demonfolk archers, ”Vile wretches! I’ll skin your sorry hides with my bare hands!”

Manzur was still ahead, running at full speed. He made no attempt to conceal his movements and the archers began taking aim at him. It will still be a ways off before he could manage to come upon them.

The archers aimed at Manzur this time.
One arrow hit the warrior’s thigh, piercing it badly. He knelt to the ground grunting in pain. A bad wound.

Meanwhile, Ashe was coming ever closer to them above. She was almost within stabbing distance of the first one. If she lunged she could make it, but at risk of being heard before she got a chance. Would she take it slow and quiet? Or would she chance a lunge attack?

Ashevelen crept forward silently, ready to strike down the first archer.
Ashe took her sword out and silently approached the first archer and with a smile, her sword went through the archer’s throat and used the weight of the sword and her free hand to hold the archer as they slowly fell to the ground, making sure he didn’t make any noise.

The other archer did not perceive Ashe's presence. He continued aiming at Manzur. Cicero charged forward with his shield out to deflect any arrow that may strike his companion.

However, it was not necessary. Following up on the momentum, Ashe went towards the other archer keen on killing him before he released another arrow. In and out her sword came, right through his throat. Once more putting the archer silently on the ground, so as to not break her stealth in case other enemies were around but she did lift a finger up to signal her allies that she took care of the threat.

Gwen nodded at the signal, then rose up to look around for herself. Idly, she noticed how while the cave was dark, there was a brightness that did not just come from the entrance. Beams of light bounced through openings above onto mirrors to help give a muted light to see more hieroglyphs upon the smoothed out cave walls, particularly over the single doorway that led deeper into the mountain. Seeing no further danger for the moment though, she stooped back down, broke the arrow to slip the halves out, then began to pour her power in to heal it.

Cicero threw Manzur’s arm over his shoulder and helped the veteran make it to the cave. He called to Gwyn, ”You okay over there? Manzur’s been hit as well..” He glanced upward to Ashe and gave a thumbs up.

“I should be fine now.” She pressed a bit more healing into her foot. “My foot will be a bit sore until I can more properly care for it, but I can definitely help your friend now.”

Ashe looked at her companions once more from above and then closed her eyes. Focusing her "energy" on listening for any kind of sounds coming from the cave.
All was quiet. Satisfied by the lack of any threats, she went to check the bodies for valuables and couldn't find anything special. Taking a bow and the arrows, she went down to her companions. Questions were about to be answered.

" You're welcome…Gwyn for the save or should I say Freda? Nah, I like Gwyn more. "

Gwyn frowned. ”Gwyn would be fine.” Then she made her way over to Manzur and started healing his wounds. “Thank you indeed for the save there. You definitely showed skill in taking out those archers."

" Gwyn. Any particular reason as to why you and…whatever your real name is, would uphold your real identities? Don't get me wrong, I don't care about whatever dark past you may have but I care if it'll come to bite us in the ass later." quickly replied "Ashe," before doing a mock bow towards Gywn. "You're most welcome."

Cicero placed Manzur down next to Gwyn, furrowing his brow. He nearly kicked himself for his own mental slip, "Danger brings out the truth in us all.." He thought to himself. "Okay." He sighed, "We'll tell you. Let's just get out of the open first."

”That would be best.” Gwyn finished healing Manzur, then looked inward. ”The only way further in would seem to be that passage.”
@Sol Grim Hey we'll send you a link to our discord so you can communicate friend.
@Platanus 3 or 4 depending. We try and post weekly. We also do collaborate together to speed things along.
@bastian If you're still interested, make a character a d post it here for critique. We can plug you in if you get things going.
@Sol Grim Glad to have you back man. I sent you Dalius' situation.

@Platanus We can add you to the queue of players so far there are two others ahead of you.
Desert Outpost, Roh



At Gwyn's words, Cicero smiled and squeezed her hand. He pulled her in close and hugged her tight. His large frame lifting her off the ground ever so slightly. Her encouragement was all he needed. Cicero gently set her back upon her feet, looked her in the eyes and said with sincerity, "Thank you."

Turning to Ashe, Cicero eyed her die warily, "It could go either way, you say? I don't like the idea of making a bad situation worse." He listened as she inquired his skills and name then replied, "You may call me..Cyrano!" He said suddenly, "Sorry..tired. As for skills, you will find me an adept sword fighter. I utilize both sword and shield in combat, but can ride horse extremely well. This camel isn't quite what I'm used to, but I adapt."

Manzur cut right to the point. No time for deep introspection. For the butcher, the only thing that mattered was deeply personal to him. A man of few words. Cicero respected that. It got them through tough challenges before. In response to his question Cicero replied, "We go. Perhaps their tracks are nearby yet."
© 2007-2024
BBCode Cheatsheet