Sword of Sacrifice

Hector wiped the blood off his hands and looked down at his open wound. He sighed as it wasn't looking good and took out his last healing mesh to mend the wound. Hector nodded to the wizard, took the dead guard's sword and walked back to town not speaking.

After selling the sword at a weapons shop (sold: 50 bolsa.) Hector searched about the town for the half-elf.

It didn't take long for him to find Lock as he was currently walking the streets of the town.

"Hello," said Hector already feeling the effects of the mesh, "We will be leaving an hour after midnight as I will obtain some "required" things before we leave."

"Meet me in the ally by the inn at that time," said Hector, "We will leave as soon as I get there. Please don't fall asleep waiting."

With that Hector took to the other direction and found a alchemy shop he had noticed previously that day. Hector took off his mask and put it into his bag then walked into the store.

"Evening," he said looking around the store taking note of all the assets he would need for his alchemy.

"Evening," said the man sitting and reading a book behind his counter.

"How much do you know about mixing this stuff?" said Hector trying to sound dumb, "I am hoping you can make me a potion."

"I know a bit about alchemy," said the man, "What do you need?"

Hector pointed to his face, "A potion to heal my wounds I gained in a fire. I was lucky to survive..."

"I'm sorry," said the man solemly, "There is not a concoction of that nature I know of..."

"Alas..." said Hector, "Then I have no more need here. Have a good day."

"The same to you," said the man, "I'm sorry I could not help you."

Hector walked out of the store and found a bench a few blocks away to sit on. The sun was now setting and Hector took a brief nap to quicken the time.
----
"Get up yah bum!" said a voice to Hector.

Hector looked around stretching and looked up at the guard.

"What you dressin' for?" said Hector pretending to be drunk as he could.

"Drunken bum! BEGON!" the guard said furiously.

"No need for meaniness!" said Hector standing up and walking in the direction of the Inn and walking in.

The guard walked by and Hector slipped back outside slowly sneaking toward the Alchemy shop. After looking around to make sure nobody was around He pulled out a small pick he had made from a shard of his steel sword while waiting for midnight. Hector stuck the pick into the door and jiggled it around. Though not actually attempting a break in Hector had previously read a book on how to do so and remembered it rather well. The door opened after toying with the pick for a while.

Hector sneaked into the shop and re-shut the door. Once in he immediately went for the cloth bags behind the counter and grabbed a handful of them. Remembering the "Hot Gets" he bagged all the plant leaves in the largest bag and all the petals in the second largest. With those out of the way he placed them into a corner and then began to poor the powders and dusts into separate bags as to not mix them prematurely.

Upon getting everything he needed he placed the bags filled with powders and dusts into his alchemy satchel (16 various bags in all) and then grabbed the two large bags in both hands and headed for the door.

"Is somebody there?" said a voice from the stairs. Lucky for Hector the man's night vision had not came yet

Hector held his breath and reached into one of the boxes full of powder. Hector slowly crept toward the man with a handful of the powder then slapped the man in his face rubbing the powder into the mans eyes mouth and nose. The man did not scream but began to choke and gag and Hector could here him throwing up on the floor. It was then he remembered it was Fluzy Powder in the box and he had gotten some earlier. (Fluzy Powder is a powder that is mostly used for its deadly quality. It is potent if congested Effects: coughing, vomiting, light headedness, sweating, and fatality.

Hector crept out of the building as the powder took its tole on the man and sprinted toward the ally.

"We must leave," said Hector breathing heavy from running such distance, "Now..."

"What did you do..." said Lock.

"I obtained needed materials," said Hector still panting, "I accidently fell asleep on a bench on the other side of the city and as I awoke I realized the time and ran the entire way. Fallow me now."

Hector stealthily made his way out of the city and into the wilderness. It wasn't but a few hours of walking till the sun came up.

"We will make it to the dwarven lands by night fall if we stop only to eat," said Hector looking around, "May the gods aid us in our journey."

Despite the great beginning of the outpost, things quickly went wrong. During the construction of the defensive outer wall, they dropped the cannon too fast, and it destroyed the still drying portion of the wall. They couldn't scavenge any spare rocks at the moment, they'd have to dig new ones and finish it later.

It was getting dark, and dinner time was upon them. Roast stag, and various birds were on the menu.

A quick shout, and they were under attack. There was possibly twenty assorted gnomes and dwarves, against an unknown number of invading goblins. There were more gnomes and dwarves available, but they were not the builders, they were not fighters.

__COMMENCE__

A extraordinarily smart gnome got on the cannon and used to it clear some of the goblins away. While those at the table hastily armed themselves. Tinie was the first into battle, he didn't need to pick up anything.

Ice spells weren't too powerful, but they wouldn't hurt him since he didn't have his spell book anymore. The best he could do without a book was a ice stun spell. Goblins with fur armor and tree limbs swarmed over the ruin of the gate.

It was simply beautiful. Tinie would shoot a spell at a goblin, and either Dangoth or Gurog would do the rest.

A few encounters were less than beautiful, Tinie was hit once or twice, Gurog's left eye was swollen, but Dangoth shrugged off any attacks that hit him. It didn't help that he was still in Bruxic armor.

They cut through the line, making it to the entrances to the mines. They sat there while the rest of the goblins were eradicated.

__CONCLUDE__

A familiar floating sensation removed Tinie from the safety of the ground and sent him soaring. Tia had gotten up from the fountain and caught him.

Tinie was surprised to see that Dangoth had left Gurog the gate, and at was also at his side.

"Your ogre friend challenged the thing that kicked ye.", Dangoth said. "If yer friend wins, he be in control of the goblins."

Three creatures came out of the entrance way, one was Gurog. He placed himself in the middle of the dirt arena. The other two were two of the largest thin creatures Tinie ever saw.

They were about a foot taller that Gurog, but unlike him in every way. Gurog had muscle, while they were walking twigs.

The Goblin Berserker, the leader, was being tended to by the shaman. Instead of fighting, they were concentrated on making sure that his armor was in fighting condition, and that his sword was sharp.

"Help him!", Tinie shouted to the mob of onlookers. Dwarf smiths rushed to him, doing the best they could.

Dwarves rushed to Gurog, taking his armor and doing with it what they thought would help. They added a strap to it, making it easier to move in without it falling off, and since it naturally buckled into a sort of spike, they made the spike more prominent. The Goblin looked impatient after awhile, and stepped forward. The dwarves left Gurog there.


Gurog vs. Goblin Berserker.

__COMMENCE__

Gurog rattled his flail around, waiting for the perfect moment. The goblin lunged, and this was his moment. The flail was intended to strike the goblin in the face, but wrapped around the sword instead.

The next part of the fight seemed to be a large scale tug of war, with Gurog having more of a grip on the fight than the goblin. The goblin dropped the sword, and attacked with nothing but his claws.

Gurog wasn't expecting such a straight forward attack, but nonetheless he held his ground despite taking several hits. The brawl then turned around a bit more as Gurog was able to land in a lucky uppercut. The brawl continued, with the painfully obvious realization that neither were particularly skilled in unarmed combat.

The battle continued on for quite awhile, but the early signs of fatigue quickly showing up in the two fighters. It was when a spear entered the arena that things turned for the worse.

The goblin knocked Gurog off his feet, and went to retrieve the spear thrown by the shaman. The moment he picked it up, it was shot out of his hand by a gnome arrow. Gurog was back on his feet, and tackled the goblin. Without a moments hesitation, he grabbed the spear and impaled the goblin berserker. The creature still flailed about, but a few more quick stabs ended that too.

__CONCLUDE__

Gurog has now earned the title as the strongest goblin/orc. He was awarded with a normal iron sword, the entire treasury of the goblin race.

Due to substantial wounds received, but prompt medical care administered by the shaman and gnome medics, he should be fine.

" what the fuck that bitch just killed me...." said wolf
"wait did i just say that yea that bitch cured me she really is nice"

wolf stood up pull his hood back up and walks to the nearest town direction (witchs is i duno)

zak rested for a little bit not even knowing that Hector had left

he then set off to find Braavos

- -Bisiteros- -

"Sir, we can't find either of them anywhere, and they've been missing for nearly a day now." the guard said to Bisiteros with a hint of worry in his voice.

Bisiteros sighed. his life was problematic enough without having his brothers getting lost in the forest or whatever the hell happened to them.

"Fine, I'll look for them myself," He declared, rising from his chair. "and I'll want six guards to help in the search."

"Yes sir!" The man responded with a salute. He then hurried off to find more men.

___ Four hours later___

Bisiteros ran his fingers through his hair in frustration. His men had searched every inch of town , as well as a large chunk of the surrounding forestry. Regrouping with his guards, he was almost ready to call it quits when he heard a noise coming from his left...

It sounded like the anguished cries of someone who had just lost a dear friend.

It was with an ominous feeling of dread and a knot in his stomach that Bisiteros recognized the voice to be his youngest brother's.

Instantly, Bisiteros snapped to the left, running as fast as he could. With a blinding flash of light from the sun, he broke from the foliage into an open clearing, where he was met with the last thing he wanted to see.

Bahntalos was on the ground, decapitated, and Braavos was half crazed, leaning against a tree cradling his brother's head. There was also an elf trying to console him.

Bisiteros tried to say something, but all that came up was bile. Turning around, he threw up next to a bush as the rest of his men came out from the woods. In unison, they all began shouting in surprise and rage, drawing their weapons.

"H-hold..." Bisiteros commanded his men as he wiped his mouth on a handkerchief."

"Alright, I want some goddamn answers, and someone had better give them to me." Bisiteros commanded, drawing one of his mithril swords. "Who is responsible for this?" He glanced over at the remains of his eldest brother and the tears began flowing from his eyes.

Braavos looked up at his brother and tried to say something, but his voice cracked. After a few repeated tries, he managed to weakly stutter, "Barth."

Panic flashed across Bisiteros' face. "Who?" He asked, hoping that he had misheard.

"Barthath-." Braavos replied, his voice cracking again before he could finish the name. Regardless, Bisiteros was now certain he had not heard incorrectly.

Bisiteros sunk to one knee. It didn't matter to him how or why Barthathos was here, nor what he was after. He felt helpless and afraid knowing that Barth could appear seemingly out of nowhere and kill someone of Bahntalos' caliber without any sort of effort. It was obvious due to the lack of blood on Bahntalos' swords that he had been unable to gain a single hit.

The guards became restless

"Well if he hasn't killed us all by now, then I don't think he's going to. Not just yet anyway..." Bisiteros stated after awhile, standing up again. "Let's get the fuck out of here."

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

And thus, Bahntalos and his head were carried back to the castle atop the shields of the guards, while Bisiteros carried his little brother.

Later that day, Bahntalos' head was sown back on and he received his funeral. He was burned on a pyre that consisted of dogwood and marmalax leaves, something reserved solely for heroes.

It was at this event that Braavos shed the last tear of his life, and swore his oath of revenge. He'd carry Bahntalos' cross himself, and smash the empire to bits...

Or die trying.

"Who wants pie?", Tinie shouted after the fight.

The cleanup of the goblins had gone easier than Tinie could have thought. The goblins that had not yet attacked came in, saluted their new leader, and carried off their dead.

Tables were turned right side up, tainted food discarded, and the feat continued. Gurog was somewhere being treated for wounds sustained in battle, but he should be alright.

"Overlord, we encountered trespassers traveling past one of our scouting areas. I have a picture...", a gnome scout hastily said, pulling out a drawing.

Tinie studied the stick figure drawing carefully.

"Indeed this is a strange turn of events.", Tinie said, getting out a piece of paper that he had drawn awhile back. It was a stick figure drawing of the campsite that everyone could find.

"My lord, they look identical!", the scout said.

"Bring them in."

zak stood off to the side at the funeral.

dam it if i had arrived there quicker, i might have been...no Bahntalos was a great fighter, if he could not land a single hit there was nothing i could do, but he saved our lifes so i will repay him by helping his cause.

he then walked up to Braavos

"do you have any plans, what do we do now"

Dathdr sighed, mourning the loss of a great hero, even though the only time he had seen him was when he was drunk. At the funeral, Dathdr sung a short poem, one reserved for Elven Heroes and others who have helped the elven race. Afterwords, Dathdr walked to Braavos as Zak asked him what we were to do.

- -Braavos- -

It had taken longer than expected, but Braavos' composure returned to him eventually. Wiping the last tear from his eye, he turned and began walking away from the funeral.

Before he had managed more than a few steps, Dathdr and Zak addressed him, asking what they were supposed to do now.

"We do the only thing that makes sense." Braavos responded as he continued walking. "We fight."

Braavos lead the way to the armory located in the underground level of the fort. "Take what you need." he stated, gesturing towards the seemingly endless rows of steel weapons, armour, and shields.

For himself, he took two steel swords and a set of steel armour.

Dathdr, Zak, and Braavos have been equipped with all the steel items they can use.

Zak nodded

"just tell me when and were and i will fight by your side"

Dathdr enters the armoury, grabbing a set of steel mail and a steel knife to replace his iron set, preparing himself for the battles ahead.

- -Bisiteros- -

"So what do you plan to do now?" Bisiteros asked, stepping into the armory. He had noticed his little brother leave and decided to follow, not wishing to watch his elder brother burn any more than he had to.

"What Bahntalos wanted me to do... I'm gonna go help Borneos and Bauros at Fort McAlesworth." Braavos said, testing out his new swords on an imaginary enemy.

"No one's going to try to force you if you don't want to go." Bisiteros replied, leaning on the doorway.

"I DON'T want to go." Braavos said, a little louder than he had intended, "But it's the right thing to do."

Bisiteros stood there silently for a moment before nodding. "Alright, fair enough. We leave at first light tomorrow morning. Get yourself some rest, brother."

"And... Don't die."

With that, Bisiteros skulked off towards his quarters, his heart heavy. The voice in his head was laughing at him.

Dathdr watched Braavos' other brother leave the armory, and said "I shall see you all in the morrow. May your swords stay sharp." With that, he turned to leave, but not befor eselling his old armor and dagger to the sleepy clerk at the front desk.

- -Sally- -

Sally sighed. With one of the few interesting people now dead, there was no longer any reason for her to remain at Fort Valian.

She was thankful, at least, that she would no longer have to continue the whole innocent charade. It had resulted in much less fun than random murder always had.

So off she went, in search of excitement, laughing for no reason in particular.


Sally had once thought that she was insane, but the homicidal voices in her head had convinced her otherwise.

- -Braavos- -

"You too." Braavos responded to the elf as he walked away. "And to you as well." he said, turning towards Zak.

He would later feel stupid, since neither of them used swords.

It had been a long, terrible day. The worst in his entire life as a matter of fact. It came as a great relief when he found his way back to his bed, although sleep came hard.

He dreamed of all the times he and Bahntalos had gone fishing together when Braavos was only a kid.

nick had heard of the death of bahntalos from one of the nurses in the sick area. it saddened him greatly as he had been one of the few kind people to him when he was found alone with no memory.

nick said to himself" in honor of him i shall honor his last request of me and protect his brother".


going to the armory he takes a steel dagger and spell book from among the various weapons housed there.

Zay was slightly upset. She had been walking for a while. Ryan never caught up. She didn't like it when people didn't show up on time. Her mate used to do that all the time, never showing up when he was supposed to.

After many hours of fuming and walking, she could see an odd colour of smoke rising back from near the castle. She was thinking of going back, but continued on her way.

Zay decided it would be best to follow the river, so she cut a path to it, and continued on her way.

When night fell upon her, she slowed her pace. It was easy to slip and fall in, and she wasn't the strongest swimmer. She gave the river a little bit of difference. A mistake, unfortunately.

She ended up being seen by 2 bandits. One scrawny one with only a steel knife, and another, more burly one with an iron dagger and iron armour.

Zay, already angry about not meeting up with Ryan, took one look at them, and hated them. When they came towards her, it made her angrier. She let this anger fuel her, and she leaped at the one with the steel knife, snarling.

Zay vs. Two thieves

___COMMENCE___

The little one yelped, definitely not expecting to be pounced on OR have his throat ripped out. Within instants, his screams turned into gurgles as blood poured out of the area once inhabited by his esophagus.

Although startled, the second thief wasted no time in tackling Zay to the ground (although it was far to late to save his comrade)

landing under the man with an excruciating crunch, Zay guessed that at least one of her ribs had just been shattered. Enraged, she began stabbing at the man with her claws, and some of the attacks managed to pierce his mail. With a few noiseless shouts, the man stopped moving and went limp.

Zay slid out from under the dead man, clutching her side and wincing in pain.

___CONCLUDE___

LEVEL UP

31 bolsa obtained

steel knife obtained

Zay growled as she stood up, and kicked the corpses until they rolled into the river. She didn't think the Iron Armour was worth much anymore, now that it had so many holes, and an Iron Dagger was near useless to pick up.

She assessed herself. While she definitely heard a crack, nothing appeared broken. Maybe cracked...fractured? She could never tell the difference, and realized she shouldn't be assessing herself, and should continue walking until she was sure no one else was around.

Hector was stomping out the fire from the campsite when a rock hit him on the back of the head.

"Hey!" he said turning around to see who tossed it.

A small group of gnomes were equipped with rocks and sticks looking intimidatingly at Hector.

"Your coming with us!" one shouted, "Lord demands it!"

"Were am I coming with you to?" said Hector squinting his eyes slowly.

"Gnome village," said the gnome, "Now come along as not to keep our Lord waiting."

"We were heading that way anyway," said Hector picking up his bags, "So I guess we will fallow you..."

The gnomes surrounded the two and the small group walked off to the Gnome Village.

(It seems Trigger stole Z1)

Tinie paced back and forth as a strange man sat before him.

"...and you say that you wish to enter the island of madness?", Tinie asked.

"Indeed we are," said Hector as he looked around the room he was in, "And we could use more people if you are interested."

Hector stretched and yawned.

"Now if you will excuse me I would like to find a nice bottle of alcohol and a good bed to sleep in," said Hector standing up, "Could one of your comrades help me find such things?"

"We will be heading through the elven lands, correct?"
Lock said at the small fellow who appeared to be in charge. It was the same fellow that Lock saw a couple days ago in that crazy campsite.

"Not to be rude but, what exactly are you? I have never strayed to far from the forests by my home and I have never seen people of such short stature. I'm just curious." Lock said with a smile.