Post by FIYA Man on Nov 15, 2009 22:59:59 GMT -5
Moving all of my Story here... If parts seem weird next to each other, it's because the voting parts weren't included.
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The land of Salome, a world of medieval times, where magic exists. Salome is a continent divided by kingdoms, four kingdoms to be exact. Adrastos, the original kingdom that ruled the land. This mighty kingdom is the largest and strongest of them all. It covers at least the third of Salome and it's borders touch each of the succeeded kingdoms. King Stefan Tiberiu Valeriu and Queen Gabi Daniela Valeriu rule this prosperous land together. The other kingdoms of the land are; Torsti, Khariton and Giotto. These three kingdoms are the kingdoms that seceded from Adrastos after a long civil war. But, enough about this. Let us start our story.
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A group of four people were walking along a trail near the border of Adrastos. Three of these people were men while the other one was a female. This woman was wearing a closed red robe adorned with flames, yeah, big with the fire. She has long red hair and green eyes, standing around 5'6 feet tall in height. She was walking with a wooden stave in her right hand, it was typical staff but with a ruby on the top. "I think I see a town up ahead! Think you can make it there without resting Caspar?" The female cheered and said towards one of the men of the group.
This person who was named Caspar was panting and said, "Yes, Scarlet... I can make it... Oh my. It's that far?" Caspar Clarke has brown eyes and black hair with a cut like if someone put a bowl over his head and cut all the hair coming out. With an exception of long bangs and his forehead showing somewhat. He wears a long black robe open at the front showing a white shirt, ragged black pants and with a silver cross around his neck. He also wears white gloves (which he cleans regularly) and black muddy boots. He's just around 5"9 feet tall and carries a metal staff with a blue gem on top.
"Woohoo! Finally! Quarts shall eat once again!" Quarts, which is not actually his name, happily cheered. Quarts stood around 6 feet tall. His hair is long and it's color, along with his eyes, are a color is similar to of a rose quarts. Hence the nickname. Quarts armor is well-made. It is thick enough to give proper protection yet, letting him be flexible enough for combat. It's color are mainly white but with a black trim... Quarts also wears a white cloak and a has a sheathed sword at his side. No helmet or shield though...
"Shut up, Quarts." The last person, who was named Paulie coldly said. Paulie has untidy black hair with dark blue roots and dark blue eyes and stands around 5'11 feet tall. Paulie wears a white dress shirt with and a large blue coat open at the front. He wears black pants and also a pair of brown leather boots. Paulie also has a quiver on his back along with a bow, and a small sheathed sword at his side.
"Hey! I'm just happy to finally eat!" Quarts yelled over at Paulie as he walked along.
"Guess what? Nobody ******* cares!" Paulie cursed loudly at Quarts.
"Oh... Don't... Mind me..." Caspar said panting leaning against his staff getting left behind.
"Oh, not again..." Scarlet sighed rubbing her head with her left hand. She had stopped to do so, and she could hear Quarts and Paulie's bickering.
Scarlet quickly turned around and pounded the ground with her staff with an intense glare on her face. The ruby on the staff had began glowing when it was pounded on the ground. "I've had enough of this!" Scarlet yelled loudly as she conjured up a fireball in her left hand. With a yell, Scarlet flung the ball of fire at Paulie's coat.
Paulie was still bickering when the ball hit against the side of his coat. Cursing, Paulie quickly pulled off his bow and quiver and tossed coat onto the ground and began stepping on it trying to put out the fire. "The hell Scarlet!?" Paulie yelled angry as he continued to stomp at his blue coat.
Scarlet wasn't listening to Paulie though, she had lifted her staff and "drew" a circle of fire in midair in front of her. Than, she put her left hand within the circle, and uttered an incantation of some sort, which made the circle burn into a large sphere of fire.
"Oh crap!" Quarts yelled already realizing that this one was for him. He looked around trying to see if he could runaway... Fun, just a large flat plain! "Hey Scarlet... No need to hurl that big ball of fire at me, right? Yeesh..." Quarts said hoping to reason with Scarlet. Meanwhile, Caspar had slowly began to back out of the blast radius...
Scarlet, her right eye twitching with annoyance, pointed her staff right up against the (Goodness gracious! Great...) ball(s) of fire(!). She pulled her staff back and the ball of fire followed along as if it was in an invisible scooper, and than flung it straight at Quarts.
"Oh sh-" Quarts said right before getting blasted in the chest. Well, Quarts wasn't burnt bad or anything, he did have armor on but... He sorta went flying. Quarts was knocked back a good 7 yards and slid another two. He stopped sliding right beside Caspar... "Wow. We left him that far behind?" Quarts couldn't help but think as he stood up. His white chest plate was a little, well, black from the fire ball. "Why the hell does Paulie just get a little ball while I get a damn big one!" Quarts yelled over at Scarlet.
Scarlet was standing far away smugly and yelled, "Than stop fighting! Now come on! Let's get in town already! Maybe there's some work for us!" Scarlet yelled over at Quarts before walking towards town again. "Scarlet's Roses Mercenaries... Maybe we can get a job killing annoying bandits... Just no night watch... It's annoying enough with those two as is." Scarlet thought to herself looking back at Paulie, who was carrying a dirt covered and slightly burnt coat, and Caspar and Quarts walking together.
Eventually, the four of them reached the town entrance to the town. "We should probbaly go buy some supplies and than find some work!" Scarlet exclaimed as she went through the town's gate.
"Pfft! We are so going to go eat first!" Quarts, with his armor still nicely scorched at the front, said to Scarlet.
"For once, I agreed with the dumb ass." Paulie said holding his burnt coat still.
"Oh fine... Could we at least go somewhere nice this time?" Scarlet said turning around to face the three men. Caspar was panting from the walk...
Quarts raised his eye over at Paulie who got a slight smirk on his face. "Tavern it is!" Quarts and oddly Paulie exclaimed as they walked past Scarlet. When they did, each of them grabbed a shoulder of Scarlet's, and dragged them along with her. Her feet were the only thing touching the ground though.
"I... But..." Caspar was trying to say something but sighed, and followed after them.
---
They all reached the tavern and some of them, reluctantly sat down. "Oi! Some steak and ale here!" Quarts yelled from where he was sitting and soon faced an angry looking Scarlet. Quarts just shrugged and took off his gauntlets, she didn't do anything that might set places on fire... Thankfully.
Soon, they were served their food, Scarlet and Caspar asked for glasses of water while Quarts was pigging out on his steak. Quarts and Paulie drank their own mugs of ale, and Caspar and Scarlet's. After awhile, their plates were empty and there was some gold coins on the table.
"Can we go now?" Scarlet said bored over at Paulie and Quarts.
"Yeah, yeah... Pfft... Ahahahaha!" Quarts said laughing afterward. His cheeks were a tad rosy from the drinking.
Paulie was looking around the tavern... Until he saw someone with an orange coat his size. Paulie stood up and walked away from his table to behind the guy with the coat... He wasn't sitting with anyone... "Perfect." Paulie thought before bring down his blue coat over the guy's face.
"What th-" the guy began to say but, was cut off when he got it hard in the head by a sheathed sword... And his unconscious body was soon missing an orange coat, which was now on Paulie.
"Alright, let's get out of here." Paulie said oddly hurriedly over at his table. They all left noticing his new orange coat. Just as soon as they all left the tavern, a yell was heard from within the tavern. "Oi! What happened to em'!"
Paulie, cursing, jumped off of a now confused Quarts' shoulders, managed to grab onto the hanging sign of the tavern... The Gleaming Mug was the name apparently. Paulie climbed up the top of it and put his lips to his mouth.
Three random people came out of the tavern and yelled over at Scarlet, Quarts and Caspar, "Oi! Have you seen a bastard wit an orange coat?"
"Oh uh... No. Pfft, Ahahahaha!" Quarts said before breaking into another fit of laughter. Meanwhile, Scarlet was having a serious facepalm moment.
"Oi, tell us if you d-" One of them said before getting cut off from a hiccup from above. One of these random g generic people looked up to see Paulie, wearing an orange coat. "Hey! It' em'!"
"****." Paulie cursed to himself still on the sign.
Scarlet, clearly annoyed that Paulie had gone himself in trouble, bashed her staff into the ground. Soon, there was a circle of flames around Scarlet, and uh... Caspar who was right beside her earlier, and balls of fire floating in the air. The three drunk thugs that came out earlier either intimidated or not at all. Dumb drunks... And, Quarts was just out of this circle staring up at Paulie above. Soon, there was a tap on Scarlet's shoulder, "WHAT!?" Scarlet yelled not wanting to be interrupted.
It was Caspar who had tapped her shoulder. "Oh um... This isn't a good idea... We don't want to get put on another town's wanted list..." Caspar nervously said towards Scarlet.
Scarlet sighed and soon all of the fire began to go out in puffs of smoke. "You're right... Quarts! Take care of these three! I'm going to go get a head start on our shopping with Caspar!" Scarlet yelled over at Quarts as she walked off with Caspar.
"Wha? Oh come on!" Quarts said now staring at the three thugs who heard what Scarlet yell at him.
"Oi! You're goin' down pretty boy!" One of the three yelled before taking a swing at Quarts chest, only to end up cursing in the end.
"Wow, you guys are either really stupid, or are too drunk to realize I have armor on! Pfft... Ahahaha!" Quarts yelled breaking into another fit of drunken laughter. Quarts, deciding to actually hit them now, went up to one, who was clearly not paying attention... He was still looking up at Paulie, and Quarts punched him square in the face. Needless to say, a gauntlet to the face hurts, so the dumb guy fell over cursing clutching onto where he was punched.
"Oi! You're going do-" One of the thugs began to say but was cut off from having Paulie land on top of him.
"Ah ****! My back! I landed on my damn ******* back! Oh ******* ****!" Paulie cursed laying on top of the thug clutching his back.
The remaining thug looked around at Quarts and Paule, also his two downed friends. "Oi! I'm telling the boss on you two ******!" The thug cursed before running off.
Quarts, not really caring what the thug said, helped Paulie up and asked, "Now what?"
"Let's go get another drink... Bastards." Paulie said to Quarts kicking one of the thugs in the gut before walking into the tavern.
"Ha! Can't disagree with that!" Quarts cheered before walking into the tavern. On his way to a table, he stepped on something and heard a gross sound... "Aww man... What did I step on?"
"That guy I stole the coat from... You stepped on his head... Heh." Paulie said with a smirk on his face.
"Oh! Thought it was something else... Hey! A round of drinks here!" Quarts yelled taking a seat at the table of the unconscious man, who still had Paulie's old coat on his head.
---
Caspar and Scarlet reached the market square of the city. Inside the square was two actual shop buildings, one of them was actually a blacksmith's home where armor and swords were sold while the other was a clothing store. There were stalls where food could be bought and several bazaar's selling various objects. "I'll buy us some knapsacks... Let's hope we don't get ours ruined again too soon..." Caspar said walking off into a mass of people leaving Scarlet alone.
"Hmm... What to do, what to do..." Scarlet said looking around too see if she could go look somewhere. She saw the clothing shop and decided to go in!
---
Quarts and Paulie were each trying drink a mug of ale in one go! They had a bit of a crowd now actually. Since they were each on their sixth drink now... They both drank down it at the same time! "Woo!" Quarts cheered his cheeks rosy from all of that drinking. "We... We, should so ask for when... One! One more! Pfft... Ahahahaha!" Quarts yelled breaking into a fit of laughter.
"You're so.... So? So going dowwwnsh... Drinking contest! Now!" Paulie slurred. "Hey! Another two drinks here!"
---
Caspar had bought some supplies and something to carry the supplies... And he had no idea where Scarlet was! Caspar decided to check the clothing store first and he saw Scarlet putting on random hats. "Scarlet? What are you doing?" Caspar asked walking into the store. "We can't afford much if we don't want to go into poverty..." Caspar though to himself worried about his leader's spending habits.
Scarlet had just put on a typical over the top red wizard hat when she noticed Caspar. "Oh? Hi Caspy(Nickname! Caspar is boring to type at times)! I'm finding a hat! My old one was lost because of a certain idiot(Guess who! X-D)... Oh! I got you something to try on over there!" Scarlet said towards Caspar in a cheery tone and than pointed towards a stack of some clothing on a nearby shelf.
"I think what I'm wearing is perfectly fine..." Caspar said somewhat defensively toward Scarlet.
"Oh, you've been wearing that for too long! Now go on!" Scarlet said putting her hands on her hips.
"But... Oh fine..." Caspar said grabbing the stack of clothes and left to get changed.
Once Caspar was gone getting changed, Scarlet sneaked on towards the saleswoman of the place and said, "I"ll be buying this hat and what he's changing into..." Scarlet whispered putting some gold coins on the table and walking out of the store. Scarlet, spotting the sword shop nearby, walked over and into it.
Two mugs of ale were set on the table in front of Quarts and Paulie. They each grabbed one, "Here goes!" Quarts yelled, rather loudly really, and took a drink. Paulie did the same and they both finished theirs. "Hey! We needs ush our eightshhh... Uh... Drinks! Yesh!" Quarts slurred obviously quite drunk.
---
Scarlet walked into the weapon and armor shop in the market square. Inside there was various weapons and sets of armor up for display. Behind the shop counter you could see a forge and the blacksmith working there. Scarlet walked up to the counter and said, "Hello! Got anything interesting here?!"
The blacksmith heard Scarlet yell while he was working and came over towards the counter. "What can I interest you with, missy?" The large blacksmith said in a gruff tone. He was around a good 6'7 feet tall and was pretty much hairless on his head except for his goatee and one eyebrow.
"Oh, anything really! But... Try to make it quick though. I'm kinda in a rush..." Scarlet said towards the blacksmith leaning on the shop counter.
"Really now!? Judging from your clothes, you be a fire mage, yes? I'll go find ya a staff wee missy." The blacksmith said before going out of sight and into a back room of some sort. Moments later the blacksmith returned to the counter placing a staff on it. This staff was quite the rarity. At the bottom, it was like the tip of a pike, but it was well forged and had a ruby encrusted between the three sharps ends. It was steel colored all up until the top of the staff, where there was a dragon's head in the color of some sort of red alloy. "What do ya think, missy?
Scarlet, was visibly pleased with the item. "I love it! I'm sure this will cover the cost..." Scarlet said digging into her robe until she pulled out a pouch of coins. She set it on the table happily grabbed her new staff. "Oh... Would you like to purchase my old staff?" Scarlet said setting her old wooden staff with a ruby on top onto the counter.
The blacksmith who had finished counting the coins, eyed the old staff. "Hmm... I'm not too interested on that wood but, I likes the looks that dere' ruby... Here." The blacksmith said digging out of Scarlet's pouch of gold coins, and handed a few to Scarlet.
"Thanks! Hey... What's that?" Scarlet said pointing at a peculiar looking weapon that was on display within the store.
"Well..."
---
Now, everyone within the tavern was watching Quarts and Paulie's drinking competition, some taking bets. The owner of the tavern had set down two drinks in front of Quarts and Paulie and was counting down, "...4, 3, 2, 1... Drink!"
With that said, the two had started, and finished their drinks in a few seconds. "Woo!" Quarts cheered, before falling back out of his chair, passed out.
"I guess this guy here is our winner!" The tavern owner yelled and some people cheering. The tavern owner moved to raise Paulie's arm, who was slumped on the table still. When the owner let go of Paulie's arm, it fell down right away. Apparently, Paulie passed out too.
---
Caspar emerged from the changing room in new outfit that wasn't worn out in any places. Caspar was wearing a long white robe that was open at the top revealing his cross (robe is always closed, it just reveals the cross) and goes down to beneath his knees in length. There is a slight golden trim on the cuffs, around his neck, along the bottom and down the center where the robe could close. Caspar was still wearing the same white shirt and boots, but now had silky white pants. "Scarlet really goes all out with her outfits... Scarlet! Scarlet? Oh dear..." Caspar said looking around for Scarlet. She was not in the shop...
"Don't worry about changing out of that sir! A young lady in robes paid it for you!" The saleswoman of the clothing store said over to Caspar.
"Oh dear..." Casapr thought as he grabbed the supplies he bought earlier and his staff. He couldn't help but wonder where Scarlet was now. "Miss, do you know where she went?" Caspar asked walking over to the saleswoman.
"I believe I saw her walk towards the weapon shop." The woman said towards Caspar.
"Thanks..." Caspar said before walking out of the door and towards where the weapon shop was. Right before walking into it, Caspar saw Scarlet walk out with a new staff and some odd looking weapon. "Scarlet... Why? Just why..."
"Oh, lighten up Caspy! Wel'll make some money soon! Now, let's go find those two!" Scarlet said towards Caspar and walked off before Caspar could even respond.
---
Soon, Caspar and Scarlet reached where the tavern was. The sun was setting at the time when Scarlet and Casapr walked into the tavern and up to the tavern owner. "Sorry to ask this but, are there two drunk idiots here right now? Or was here?" Scarlet asked the tavern owner.
"Oh! You mean the grumpy looking guy with a bow and the guy in armor? If it is, they're resting upstairs in some rooms." The tavern owner said towards Scarlet.
"That's them alright... Thanks! Now Caspy..." Scarlet said before dragging Caspar off away from the tavern owner. "Think we should sleep here too?"
"Nah, never mind! Let's see if we can get a job to do in the morning!" Scarlet declared before grabbing Caspar and pulling him out of the tavern and onto the street. Soon enough, the pair reached the town square there was quite a large bulletin board of some sort with miscellaneous jobs to do. Ranging from making a scarecrow for a nearby farm to even raiding a bandit camp. There was a crowd of people at it. Not as many that there would be in the middle of the day though...
Scarlet and Caspar managed to push their way to the front of the billboard and began looking for a job... There was a very large posting that covered several other ones with a large cow on it... It read; Oh deary me! Lately my cows have been going missing! I'll pay 50 gold for whoever finds them!
"No on so many levels." Scarlet said as she ripped the post off and it began to catch on fire. She dropped it onto the stone pavement which made several people back up. Which gave Scarlet more things to read. There were two job listings that caught Scarlet's eyes for good money.
One of them was; This town has been losing it's guards since the recent Bandit attacks. We need some temporary guards to work for us as an attack has been suspected. You'd be paid 3000 gold coins for successfully defending this attack. Report to the town guard for information.
The second; There's a nearby bandit camp in sight. There's supposed to be an attack sometime soon, and we'd like a group well-skilled warriors to eradicate the camp while it's poorly defended. 6000 Gold coins will be awarded to whomever does it. See the town guard for more information.
---
Meanwhile, Quarts and Caspar were in two separate rooms within the tavern. They were sleeping like two happy little drunken babies.
"Let's do the bandit camp raiding! More gold coins!" Scarlet decided aloud. Caspar was clearly objecting to this decision but, nothing could change Scarlet's mind here! Or could there? Well, the answer to that was walking towards her.
"Well if it isn't little red! Most likely scraping at the bottom of the barrel! Am I right? Ha!" Boomed a voice from behind Scarlet and the sounds of footsteps getting closer.
A look of annoyance immediately went on Scarlet's face as she turned around to see an armored man. This man was wearing blue armor shoulder down, similar to Quarts', with a orange trim and at his side, was a sheathed blade. (Which was similar to Quarts). He was wearing a blue cape with a smug look on his face, which was tanned. He was around 6'4 feet tall with short jet black hair and dark blue eyes. Resting on his left shoulder and getting held with the right arm, was a battle axe (With a longer handle and large edges). "Why, I was just planing to raid a bandit camp. I doubt you could handle that."
"Ha! As if! Want to know how you prove it!? By bringing the body of the bandit leader! And that is what my group is going to do! You better stay here for two days when the attack will be! You'll get some coin than! Right?"The armored man jeered and looked towards at the person who was beside him. Who was actually a woman...
This woman stood around 5'6 feet tall and was tanned as well. She had short straight pink hair that just went down to the top of her neck and went all the way around like that but, it just went down to her eyebrows where he face was, she also has brown eyes. This woman had a white silk scarf wrapped around her neck the one freed end hanging free. It went down to a little under her waist. She was wearing a black sleeveless shirt, brown leather pants and black boots. On her belt, was a sheathed short sword, a pouch filled with throwing knifes and had two sheathed daggers. This woman had her arms cross and wasn't listening to him or Scarlet speak, she was eying Caspar.
"Fine, be like that... Hey! Who's the shrimp?!" The armored man said now noticing Caspar.
"Oh, his name is Caspar, like you care. Thanks for saving us a trip of seeing the town guard! Bye!" Scarlet said before grabbing a confused Caspar and walking back towards the tavern.
As they walked to the tavern, Caspar couldn't help but ask, "Scarlet... Who were those two?"
"Well, the idiot with the big mouth was Cless... And the girl with him is Presea. There's two more in the group, Mint, she's a healer. I don't mind her really. And there's Arche... That disease ridden-" Scarlet was talking about the other group of mercenaries and was cut off.
"Scarlet!" Caspar said clearly not pleased with what she was about to say.
Scarlet just sighed and continued to make their way to the Tavern. Soon enough, they reached it, paid for their rooms with the little money they still had, and fell asleep for the night.
---
The morning of the next day, Caspar and Scarlet had managed to get up first and were now sitting at a table of the tavern. "Scarlet... Should we go wake them up?" Caspar couldn't help but ask.
"Oh, you do not want to do that... Knowing them, they probably have a hangover. They're probably awake right now actually." Scarlet said to Caspar as she continued to wait for them.
Soon enough, there was two not to happy looking people coming from upstairs where the rooms are. Paulie and Quarts, had came down and sat at the same table of Scarlet and Caspar. "****... Would you people stop making so much ******* noise!" Paulie cursed aloud from all of the people chatting within the tavern.
"Ugh... What are we doing now..." Quarts said towards Scarlet. He didn't look too good...
"We're going to get a head start against Cless of course!" Scarlet said smugly before getting up and walking out. The rest of them followed suit after Scarlet. Soon enough, they were out of town walking towards the bandit camp.
---
Hours later within a plain, Quarts had left the group to puke, and was returning now. "Feeling better... So, we're seriously taking on a bandit camp? Fun... And we have to pretty much fight over the corpse of the leader? More fun..." Quarts said as he started to walk with everyone else again.
"As disturbing as the thought is, yes, yes we do Quarts." Caspar answered for Quarts.
"More walking than..."
---
Even more hours later, the sun was setting when Scarlet's Roses reached the bandit camp. They weren't going to attack right away, they needed to wait for most of the bandit forces to leave... Which was going to happen tomorrow night. So, they set up camp and had a meal. Soon enough, the sun had risen again and something unpleasant was coming.
"Well, if it isn't Scarlet's Roses! Aren't ya a little early!?" Cless jeered at all of the members of Scarlet's Roses. Presea was with him, as well as a healer in blue robes, which was Mint and Arche, who was clad in black. (See Hank's descriptions for more detail.)
"Early bird gets the worm, ain't that right, dumbo? Ha!" Quarts purposely annoyed Cless.
"We're going to get paid for this job... Now, the typical?" Cless said grabbing harder onto his axe which was still resting on his shoulder.
"Three versus three battle royal? First team to subdue two wins? Of course... Here's our conditions if we win, which we will... Is that you have to help us raid the camp, and you get twenty percent of the payment." Scarlet said stating the challenge.
"Ha, as if. If we win, you guys gotta go back! It's almost too late to go for the guard job!" Cless said smugly as he held his large axe in front of him while Arche had flew up on her broom, Presea just stood there and Mint got out of the way. She couldn't exactly fight.
"Yeah, yeah yeah... Let's just get to the fighting already!" Quarts yelled grabbing onto his odd spear like weapon which he had never used before taking a stance. Scarlet had her staff dug into the ground behind Quarts, while Caspar was just standing nearby confused and Paulie was stretching farther back behind Scarlet.
"As you wish..." Presea said right before breaking into a dash straight for Caspar. As she ran, white scarf flowing behind her, she drew her short sword and performed a horizontal slash right for Caspar when she was close enough.
"Oh heavens above!" Caspar said scared before doing the only option he knew... Was dodge the attack... Which he could only do by falling on his back frightened. (Yeah...)
Presea had her sword drawn pointing at the scared priest, "I take it you are not a mage than?" Presea said confirming her thoughts from the other day when she saw him.
"No, he's just a dumb ass priest!" Paulie yelled as he slashed at Presea. He had started running towards Caspar himself when he saw Presea do it. Presea had parried his attack, and locked blades with Paulie when he tried to strike again. "So, who has the most wins?" Paulie asked whilst blocking two quick attacks from Presea, parrying one and thrusting towards Presea's stomach with his blade.
"I believe we're tied." Presea as she barely avoided the attack. The flat of the blade was sliding against Presea's back as she moved up to elbow Paulie hard in the face her left arm, which was holding her sword, and quickly grabbed for a dagger with her free hand. Using the time of the somewhat dazed Paulie, she dug the dagger into his left shoulder.
Paulie snapping out of it from the sharp pain, cursed and did a horizontal slash at Presea before she could pull out the dagger. It made her jump back while grabbing another dagger from her belt and making a stance using the dagger and her sword. Paulie used this short time to pull out the dagger from his shoulder and making a stance similar to Presea's. "Heh. Let's change that."
---
Quarts looked around the field wondering who to go for... Paulie and Presea were going at it, Arche was up high in the sky, well out of reach of his new weapon, which left Cless. "Hey stupid! Eat steal!" Quarts jeered at Cless before pointing his new lance like weapon at Cless and firing it at his head's general direction.
"What the-" Cless was saying as he tried to move out of the way of the roped projectile. But, it managed to dig into one of the armor's shoulder plates, the right one actually. It didn't dig into his flesh but, it managed to pierce the armor. Soon, it was pulled out and the tip of the lance was getting flung around by Quarts quite a bit back slashing at Cless's armor. After awhile of frantic slashing at the rope with his axe, he slammed the axe into the dirt and managed to grab the rope with one of his hands. Soon, it became a tug o' war over the weapon.
"Ah, crap! Whatever, I'm still going to take you out! Ahahaha!" Quarts cheered for himself laughing as he tugged onto the bamboo.
"Please! I beat you last time you idiot!" Cless jeered taking a big pull almost making Quarts lose grip on his end.
"Well, I think I'm due for a win!"
"I beat you the last eight times you idiot!"
"Still, I think I'm due for a win!"
"Maybe after I beat you ten times in a row Quarts!" Cless jeered as he did one strong pull, which managed to make Quarts lose his grip. The weapon fell to the ground, and Cless quickly tossed it away using his end.
"Crap..." Quarts said as he saw his new weapon fly off a far bit from him. Quarts decided this might be a fun time to bug him actually. "Hey Cless, is it just me or is that axe really big? Or maybe you're just getting smaller! Must be from the lack of working making you starve! Ahahaha!" Quarts yelled breaking into a fit of laughter at his bad joke.
"Why you little!" Cless yelled grabbing tightly to the handle of his large axe with both of hands. He broke into a charge at Quarts yelling as he dragged the axe along the ground making a dirt trail.
"Crap, crap ,crap!" Quarts said fiddling with his sword as he pulled it out of his sheath right before Cless's strike. Quarts, holding his sword handle with both hands, tried to stop the strike of the hulking axe by holding it in a blocking stance. Seconds later, Cless's axe shot vertically up in the path of Quarts. Quarts managed to not get hurt but... The strong strike managed to slide him back a bit. Quarts couldn't help but see that his sword had some cracks in it.
"You owe me a new sword!" Quarts yelled as he avoided the downward slash of Cless's axe by quickly sidestepping it and going straight for Cless, instead of doing just a scratch on his armor, he quickly grrabbed the handle of Cless's sheathed sword, pulled it out and rolled back before Cless had started to swing his axe straight around. "Thanks for the sword!" Quarts happily said as he held the swords in separate hands ready for Cless to come at him.
"More, like you're giving mine back!" Cless roared charging at Quarts once again.
---
Bolts of lightning scorched the earth as Scarlet ran along the ground whilst casting balls of fire at Arche from her staff and conjuring them farther up in the air. However, Arche was easily dodging these with the mobility of her flying broom. Scarlet would love to go burn Cless but, Paulie was too busy to use his bow and arrow which left Scarlet with Arche...
A rhythm of metals hitting each other was heard as Paulie and Presea fought on. Paulie swung his short sword with his right arm and the dagger with his left, only to have it matched with the same with Presea. Paulie pushed her back and took a stance once again. "Heh. This may take awhile."
---
Quarts quickly ducked down to the ground avoiding a large horizontal slice from Cless's axe, and quickly knelt up on one knee holding his two swords up in a "X" to try and stop of the now vertical slice of Cless's axe. Luckily, the two swords were able to hold the axe. "Holy mother of... Good thing that worked! I rather like having a whole head..." Quarts said to himself relieved. I mean, who doesn't like having a whole head?
"Hey Scarlet! Care for some help here!?" Quarts yelled over to Scarlet, who was running from the bolts of lightning trailing along behind her. Cless was trying to push his axe down onto well, Quarts' face.
"Oh, I'll help you!" Scarlet said with a now mischievous grin on her face as she turned course from her running, the lightning still blasting the ground behind her, and went straight for the two walking lightning poles named Cless and Quarts. Well, needless to say, it should be obvious for what happened next. Scarlet quickly broek into a slide to go under Quarts and Cless's weapons leaving them to get well, electrocuted. Cless got most of the shock, what with the big axe right above Quarts, but, it was touching the swords so, Quarts got a nice shock too. They both kinda stayed the same, twitching slightly.
---
"Sorry boss!" Arche had yelled down to Cless, it was kinda hard to hear with her being up high and all. She wasn't exactly paying attention at the moment...
---
"Ha! Perfect..." Scarlet said to herself pleased now that Arche was distracted. Soon enough, she was conjuring up a large ball of fire right by the two paralyzed armored idiots. Soon enough, she flung a giant ball of fire over at Arche. However, Arche saw it coming and tries to fly away... The ball exploded into flames, and some of them streaming around in a circles around Arche. Somewhat of a fire cage. "Ha! Take that you skank!"
You could see that Arche was yelling things at Scarlet but, you couldn't hear them... "One down!" Scarlet yelled. By than, Quarts had finally snapped back into his senses.
---
"Who wha?!" Quarts yelled out seriously confused. He had some burn marks on his body, even though you couldn't see them. "Ha... He's so out of it! Time to make my move!" Quarts said, giddy with himself. Quarts pushed up on the axe and rolled out of the way before it went crushing down into the ground, and quickly put his swords to Cless's neck. "Ha! We win! Hey Paulie! You can stop fighting!"
---
When Paulie heard Quarts yell, he stopped, Presea also stopped. "I guess we're tied still. Heh." Paulie said before casually tossing Presea her dagger back and going back to Caspar to get healed.
---
Later, everyone was healed back up thanks to Mint and Caspar. They were all waiting for the bandits to leave and attack that town...
"I can't believe we have to help you losers..."
"Excuse me! I think we're the winners!"
"Yeah yeah whatever, you stupid *****."
"Hey! That's not a proper way to speak to lady!"
"I... I must agree."
"Can it new guy and Mint! I don't give a crap!"
"Hey! Don't speak to Caspar like that!"
"I wonder if we have anything to drink... Hey Casp, ya getting anything good?"
"Of course I didn't!"
"Oh, would you guys ******* shut up!?"
"I must agree."
"Yeah, whatever..."
---
The land of Salome, a world of medieval times, where magic exists. Salome is a continent divided by kingdoms, four kingdoms to be exact. Adrastos, the original kingdom that ruled the land. This mighty kingdom is the largest and strongest of them all. It covers at least the third of Salome and it's borders touch each of the succeeded kingdoms. King Stefan Tiberiu Valeriu and Queen Gabi Daniela Valeriu rule this prosperous land together. The other kingdoms of the land are; Torsti, Khariton and Giotto. These three kingdoms are the kingdoms that seceded from Adrastos after a long civil war. But, enough about this. Let us start our story.
---
A group of four people were walking along a trail near the border of Adrastos. Three of these people were men while the other one was a female. This woman was wearing a closed red robe adorned with flames, yeah, big with the fire. She has long red hair and green eyes, standing around 5'6 feet tall in height. She was walking with a wooden stave in her right hand, it was typical staff but with a ruby on the top. "I think I see a town up ahead! Think you can make it there without resting Caspar?" The female cheered and said towards one of the men of the group.
This person who was named Caspar was panting and said, "Yes, Scarlet... I can make it... Oh my. It's that far?" Caspar Clarke has brown eyes and black hair with a cut like if someone put a bowl over his head and cut all the hair coming out. With an exception of long bangs and his forehead showing somewhat. He wears a long black robe open at the front showing a white shirt, ragged black pants and with a silver cross around his neck. He also wears white gloves (which he cleans regularly) and black muddy boots. He's just around 5"9 feet tall and carries a metal staff with a blue gem on top.
"Woohoo! Finally! Quarts shall eat once again!" Quarts, which is not actually his name, happily cheered. Quarts stood around 6 feet tall. His hair is long and it's color, along with his eyes, are a color is similar to of a rose quarts. Hence the nickname. Quarts armor is well-made. It is thick enough to give proper protection yet, letting him be flexible enough for combat. It's color are mainly white but with a black trim... Quarts also wears a white cloak and a has a sheathed sword at his side. No helmet or shield though...
"Shut up, Quarts." The last person, who was named Paulie coldly said. Paulie has untidy black hair with dark blue roots and dark blue eyes and stands around 5'11 feet tall. Paulie wears a white dress shirt with and a large blue coat open at the front. He wears black pants and also a pair of brown leather boots. Paulie also has a quiver on his back along with a bow, and a small sheathed sword at his side.
"Hey! I'm just happy to finally eat!" Quarts yelled over at Paulie as he walked along.
"Guess what? Nobody ******* cares!" Paulie cursed loudly at Quarts.
"Oh... Don't... Mind me..." Caspar said panting leaning against his staff getting left behind.
"Oh, not again..." Scarlet sighed rubbing her head with her left hand. She had stopped to do so, and she could hear Quarts and Paulie's bickering.
Scarlet quickly turned around and pounded the ground with her staff with an intense glare on her face. The ruby on the staff had began glowing when it was pounded on the ground. "I've had enough of this!" Scarlet yelled loudly as she conjured up a fireball in her left hand. With a yell, Scarlet flung the ball of fire at Paulie's coat.
Paulie was still bickering when the ball hit against the side of his coat. Cursing, Paulie quickly pulled off his bow and quiver and tossed coat onto the ground and began stepping on it trying to put out the fire. "The hell Scarlet!?" Paulie yelled angry as he continued to stomp at his blue coat.
Scarlet wasn't listening to Paulie though, she had lifted her staff and "drew" a circle of fire in midair in front of her. Than, she put her left hand within the circle, and uttered an incantation of some sort, which made the circle burn into a large sphere of fire.
"Oh crap!" Quarts yelled already realizing that this one was for him. He looked around trying to see if he could runaway... Fun, just a large flat plain! "Hey Scarlet... No need to hurl that big ball of fire at me, right? Yeesh..." Quarts said hoping to reason with Scarlet. Meanwhile, Caspar had slowly began to back out of the blast radius...
Scarlet, her right eye twitching with annoyance, pointed her staff right up against the (Goodness gracious! Great...) ball(s) of fire(!). She pulled her staff back and the ball of fire followed along as if it was in an invisible scooper, and than flung it straight at Quarts.
"Oh sh-" Quarts said right before getting blasted in the chest. Well, Quarts wasn't burnt bad or anything, he did have armor on but... He sorta went flying. Quarts was knocked back a good 7 yards and slid another two. He stopped sliding right beside Caspar... "Wow. We left him that far behind?" Quarts couldn't help but think as he stood up. His white chest plate was a little, well, black from the fire ball. "Why the hell does Paulie just get a little ball while I get a damn big one!" Quarts yelled over at Scarlet.
Scarlet was standing far away smugly and yelled, "Than stop fighting! Now come on! Let's get in town already! Maybe there's some work for us!" Scarlet yelled over at Quarts before walking towards town again. "Scarlet's Roses Mercenaries... Maybe we can get a job killing annoying bandits... Just no night watch... It's annoying enough with those two as is." Scarlet thought to herself looking back at Paulie, who was carrying a dirt covered and slightly burnt coat, and Caspar and Quarts walking together.
Eventually, the four of them reached the town entrance to the town. "We should probbaly go buy some supplies and than find some work!" Scarlet exclaimed as she went through the town's gate.
"Pfft! We are so going to go eat first!" Quarts, with his armor still nicely scorched at the front, said to Scarlet.
"For once, I agreed with the dumb ass." Paulie said holding his burnt coat still.
"Oh fine... Could we at least go somewhere nice this time?" Scarlet said turning around to face the three men. Caspar was panting from the walk...
Quarts raised his eye over at Paulie who got a slight smirk on his face. "Tavern it is!" Quarts and oddly Paulie exclaimed as they walked past Scarlet. When they did, each of them grabbed a shoulder of Scarlet's, and dragged them along with her. Her feet were the only thing touching the ground though.
"I... But..." Caspar was trying to say something but sighed, and followed after them.
---
They all reached the tavern and some of them, reluctantly sat down. "Oi! Some steak and ale here!" Quarts yelled from where he was sitting and soon faced an angry looking Scarlet. Quarts just shrugged and took off his gauntlets, she didn't do anything that might set places on fire... Thankfully.
Soon, they were served their food, Scarlet and Caspar asked for glasses of water while Quarts was pigging out on his steak. Quarts and Paulie drank their own mugs of ale, and Caspar and Scarlet's. After awhile, their plates were empty and there was some gold coins on the table.
"Can we go now?" Scarlet said bored over at Paulie and Quarts.
"Yeah, yeah... Pfft... Ahahahaha!" Quarts said laughing afterward. His cheeks were a tad rosy from the drinking.
Paulie was looking around the tavern... Until he saw someone with an orange coat his size. Paulie stood up and walked away from his table to behind the guy with the coat... He wasn't sitting with anyone... "Perfect." Paulie thought before bring down his blue coat over the guy's face.
"What th-" the guy began to say but, was cut off when he got it hard in the head by a sheathed sword... And his unconscious body was soon missing an orange coat, which was now on Paulie.
"Alright, let's get out of here." Paulie said oddly hurriedly over at his table. They all left noticing his new orange coat. Just as soon as they all left the tavern, a yell was heard from within the tavern. "Oi! What happened to em'!"
Paulie, cursing, jumped off of a now confused Quarts' shoulders, managed to grab onto the hanging sign of the tavern... The Gleaming Mug was the name apparently. Paulie climbed up the top of it and put his lips to his mouth.
Three random people came out of the tavern and yelled over at Scarlet, Quarts and Caspar, "Oi! Have you seen a bastard wit an orange coat?"
"Oh uh... No. Pfft, Ahahahaha!" Quarts said before breaking into another fit of laughter. Meanwhile, Scarlet was having a serious facepalm moment.
"Oi, tell us if you d-" One of them said before getting cut off from a hiccup from above. One of these random g generic people looked up to see Paulie, wearing an orange coat. "Hey! It' em'!"
"****." Paulie cursed to himself still on the sign.
Scarlet, clearly annoyed that Paulie had gone himself in trouble, bashed her staff into the ground. Soon, there was a circle of flames around Scarlet, and uh... Caspar who was right beside her earlier, and balls of fire floating in the air. The three drunk thugs that came out earlier either intimidated or not at all. Dumb drunks... And, Quarts was just out of this circle staring up at Paulie above. Soon, there was a tap on Scarlet's shoulder, "WHAT!?" Scarlet yelled not wanting to be interrupted.
It was Caspar who had tapped her shoulder. "Oh um... This isn't a good idea... We don't want to get put on another town's wanted list..." Caspar nervously said towards Scarlet.
Scarlet sighed and soon all of the fire began to go out in puffs of smoke. "You're right... Quarts! Take care of these three! I'm going to go get a head start on our shopping with Caspar!" Scarlet yelled over at Quarts as she walked off with Caspar.
"Wha? Oh come on!" Quarts said now staring at the three thugs who heard what Scarlet yell at him.
"Oi! You're goin' down pretty boy!" One of the three yelled before taking a swing at Quarts chest, only to end up cursing in the end.
"Wow, you guys are either really stupid, or are too drunk to realize I have armor on! Pfft... Ahahaha!" Quarts yelled breaking into another fit of drunken laughter. Quarts, deciding to actually hit them now, went up to one, who was clearly not paying attention... He was still looking up at Paulie, and Quarts punched him square in the face. Needless to say, a gauntlet to the face hurts, so the dumb guy fell over cursing clutching onto where he was punched.
"Oi! You're going do-" One of the thugs began to say but was cut off from having Paulie land on top of him.
"Ah ****! My back! I landed on my damn ******* back! Oh ******* ****!" Paulie cursed laying on top of the thug clutching his back.
The remaining thug looked around at Quarts and Paule, also his two downed friends. "Oi! I'm telling the boss on you two ******!" The thug cursed before running off.
Quarts, not really caring what the thug said, helped Paulie up and asked, "Now what?"
"Let's go get another drink... Bastards." Paulie said to Quarts kicking one of the thugs in the gut before walking into the tavern.
"Ha! Can't disagree with that!" Quarts cheered before walking into the tavern. On his way to a table, he stepped on something and heard a gross sound... "Aww man... What did I step on?"
"That guy I stole the coat from... You stepped on his head... Heh." Paulie said with a smirk on his face.
"Oh! Thought it was something else... Hey! A round of drinks here!" Quarts yelled taking a seat at the table of the unconscious man, who still had Paulie's old coat on his head.
---
Caspar and Scarlet reached the market square of the city. Inside the square was two actual shop buildings, one of them was actually a blacksmith's home where armor and swords were sold while the other was a clothing store. There were stalls where food could be bought and several bazaar's selling various objects. "I'll buy us some knapsacks... Let's hope we don't get ours ruined again too soon..." Caspar said walking off into a mass of people leaving Scarlet alone.
"Hmm... What to do, what to do..." Scarlet said looking around too see if she could go look somewhere. She saw the clothing shop and decided to go in!
---
Quarts and Paulie were each trying drink a mug of ale in one go! They had a bit of a crowd now actually. Since they were each on their sixth drink now... They both drank down it at the same time! "Woo!" Quarts cheered his cheeks rosy from all of that drinking. "We... We, should so ask for when... One! One more! Pfft... Ahahahaha!" Quarts yelled breaking into a fit of laughter.
"You're so.... So? So going dowwwnsh... Drinking contest! Now!" Paulie slurred. "Hey! Another two drinks here!"
---
Caspar had bought some supplies and something to carry the supplies... And he had no idea where Scarlet was! Caspar decided to check the clothing store first and he saw Scarlet putting on random hats. "Scarlet? What are you doing?" Caspar asked walking into the store. "We can't afford much if we don't want to go into poverty..." Caspar though to himself worried about his leader's spending habits.
Scarlet had just put on a typical over the top red wizard hat when she noticed Caspar. "Oh? Hi Caspy(Nickname! Caspar is boring to type at times)! I'm finding a hat! My old one was lost because of a certain idiot(Guess who! X-D)... Oh! I got you something to try on over there!" Scarlet said towards Caspar in a cheery tone and than pointed towards a stack of some clothing on a nearby shelf.
"I think what I'm wearing is perfectly fine..." Caspar said somewhat defensively toward Scarlet.
"Oh, you've been wearing that for too long! Now go on!" Scarlet said putting her hands on her hips.
"But... Oh fine..." Caspar said grabbing the stack of clothes and left to get changed.
Once Caspar was gone getting changed, Scarlet sneaked on towards the saleswoman of the place and said, "I"ll be buying this hat and what he's changing into..." Scarlet whispered putting some gold coins on the table and walking out of the store. Scarlet, spotting the sword shop nearby, walked over and into it.
Two mugs of ale were set on the table in front of Quarts and Paulie. They each grabbed one, "Here goes!" Quarts yelled, rather loudly really, and took a drink. Paulie did the same and they both finished theirs. "Hey! We needs ush our eightshhh... Uh... Drinks! Yesh!" Quarts slurred obviously quite drunk.
---
Scarlet walked into the weapon and armor shop in the market square. Inside there was various weapons and sets of armor up for display. Behind the shop counter you could see a forge and the blacksmith working there. Scarlet walked up to the counter and said, "Hello! Got anything interesting here?!"
The blacksmith heard Scarlet yell while he was working and came over towards the counter. "What can I interest you with, missy?" The large blacksmith said in a gruff tone. He was around a good 6'7 feet tall and was pretty much hairless on his head except for his goatee and one eyebrow.
"Oh, anything really! But... Try to make it quick though. I'm kinda in a rush..." Scarlet said towards the blacksmith leaning on the shop counter.
"Really now!? Judging from your clothes, you be a fire mage, yes? I'll go find ya a staff wee missy." The blacksmith said before going out of sight and into a back room of some sort. Moments later the blacksmith returned to the counter placing a staff on it. This staff was quite the rarity. At the bottom, it was like the tip of a pike, but it was well forged and had a ruby encrusted between the three sharps ends. It was steel colored all up until the top of the staff, where there was a dragon's head in the color of some sort of red alloy. "What do ya think, missy?
Scarlet, was visibly pleased with the item. "I love it! I'm sure this will cover the cost..." Scarlet said digging into her robe until she pulled out a pouch of coins. She set it on the table happily grabbed her new staff. "Oh... Would you like to purchase my old staff?" Scarlet said setting her old wooden staff with a ruby on top onto the counter.
The blacksmith who had finished counting the coins, eyed the old staff. "Hmm... I'm not too interested on that wood but, I likes the looks that dere' ruby... Here." The blacksmith said digging out of Scarlet's pouch of gold coins, and handed a few to Scarlet.
"Thanks! Hey... What's that?" Scarlet said pointing at a peculiar looking weapon that was on display within the store.
"Well..."
---
Now, everyone within the tavern was watching Quarts and Paulie's drinking competition, some taking bets. The owner of the tavern had set down two drinks in front of Quarts and Paulie and was counting down, "...4, 3, 2, 1... Drink!"
With that said, the two had started, and finished their drinks in a few seconds. "Woo!" Quarts cheered, before falling back out of his chair, passed out.
"I guess this guy here is our winner!" The tavern owner yelled and some people cheering. The tavern owner moved to raise Paulie's arm, who was slumped on the table still. When the owner let go of Paulie's arm, it fell down right away. Apparently, Paulie passed out too.
---
Caspar emerged from the changing room in new outfit that wasn't worn out in any places. Caspar was wearing a long white robe that was open at the top revealing his cross (robe is always closed, it just reveals the cross) and goes down to beneath his knees in length. There is a slight golden trim on the cuffs, around his neck, along the bottom and down the center where the robe could close. Caspar was still wearing the same white shirt and boots, but now had silky white pants. "Scarlet really goes all out with her outfits... Scarlet! Scarlet? Oh dear..." Caspar said looking around for Scarlet. She was not in the shop...
"Don't worry about changing out of that sir! A young lady in robes paid it for you!" The saleswoman of the clothing store said over to Caspar.
"Oh dear..." Casapr thought as he grabbed the supplies he bought earlier and his staff. He couldn't help but wonder where Scarlet was now. "Miss, do you know where she went?" Caspar asked walking over to the saleswoman.
"I believe I saw her walk towards the weapon shop." The woman said towards Caspar.
"Thanks..." Caspar said before walking out of the door and towards where the weapon shop was. Right before walking into it, Caspar saw Scarlet walk out with a new staff and some odd looking weapon. "Scarlet... Why? Just why..."
"Oh, lighten up Caspy! Wel'll make some money soon! Now, let's go find those two!" Scarlet said towards Caspar and walked off before Caspar could even respond.
---
Soon, Caspar and Scarlet reached where the tavern was. The sun was setting at the time when Scarlet and Casapr walked into the tavern and up to the tavern owner. "Sorry to ask this but, are there two drunk idiots here right now? Or was here?" Scarlet asked the tavern owner.
"Oh! You mean the grumpy looking guy with a bow and the guy in armor? If it is, they're resting upstairs in some rooms." The tavern owner said towards Scarlet.
"That's them alright... Thanks! Now Caspy..." Scarlet said before dragging Caspar off away from the tavern owner. "Think we should sleep here too?"
"Nah, never mind! Let's see if we can get a job to do in the morning!" Scarlet declared before grabbing Caspar and pulling him out of the tavern and onto the street. Soon enough, the pair reached the town square there was quite a large bulletin board of some sort with miscellaneous jobs to do. Ranging from making a scarecrow for a nearby farm to even raiding a bandit camp. There was a crowd of people at it. Not as many that there would be in the middle of the day though...
Scarlet and Caspar managed to push their way to the front of the billboard and began looking for a job... There was a very large posting that covered several other ones with a large cow on it... It read; Oh deary me! Lately my cows have been going missing! I'll pay 50 gold for whoever finds them!
"No on so many levels." Scarlet said as she ripped the post off and it began to catch on fire. She dropped it onto the stone pavement which made several people back up. Which gave Scarlet more things to read. There were two job listings that caught Scarlet's eyes for good money.
One of them was; This town has been losing it's guards since the recent Bandit attacks. We need some temporary guards to work for us as an attack has been suspected. You'd be paid 3000 gold coins for successfully defending this attack. Report to the town guard for information.
The second; There's a nearby bandit camp in sight. There's supposed to be an attack sometime soon, and we'd like a group well-skilled warriors to eradicate the camp while it's poorly defended. 6000 Gold coins will be awarded to whomever does it. See the town guard for more information.
---
Meanwhile, Quarts and Caspar were in two separate rooms within the tavern. They were sleeping like two happy little drunken babies.
"Let's do the bandit camp raiding! More gold coins!" Scarlet decided aloud. Caspar was clearly objecting to this decision but, nothing could change Scarlet's mind here! Or could there? Well, the answer to that was walking towards her.
"Well if it isn't little red! Most likely scraping at the bottom of the barrel! Am I right? Ha!" Boomed a voice from behind Scarlet and the sounds of footsteps getting closer.
A look of annoyance immediately went on Scarlet's face as she turned around to see an armored man. This man was wearing blue armor shoulder down, similar to Quarts', with a orange trim and at his side, was a sheathed blade. (Which was similar to Quarts). He was wearing a blue cape with a smug look on his face, which was tanned. He was around 6'4 feet tall with short jet black hair and dark blue eyes. Resting on his left shoulder and getting held with the right arm, was a battle axe (With a longer handle and large edges). "Why, I was just planing to raid a bandit camp. I doubt you could handle that."
"Ha! As if! Want to know how you prove it!? By bringing the body of the bandit leader! And that is what my group is going to do! You better stay here for two days when the attack will be! You'll get some coin than! Right?"The armored man jeered and looked towards at the person who was beside him. Who was actually a woman...
This woman stood around 5'6 feet tall and was tanned as well. She had short straight pink hair that just went down to the top of her neck and went all the way around like that but, it just went down to her eyebrows where he face was, she also has brown eyes. This woman had a white silk scarf wrapped around her neck the one freed end hanging free. It went down to a little under her waist. She was wearing a black sleeveless shirt, brown leather pants and black boots. On her belt, was a sheathed short sword, a pouch filled with throwing knifes and had two sheathed daggers. This woman had her arms cross and wasn't listening to him or Scarlet speak, she was eying Caspar.
"Fine, be like that... Hey! Who's the shrimp?!" The armored man said now noticing Caspar.
"Oh, his name is Caspar, like you care. Thanks for saving us a trip of seeing the town guard! Bye!" Scarlet said before grabbing a confused Caspar and walking back towards the tavern.
As they walked to the tavern, Caspar couldn't help but ask, "Scarlet... Who were those two?"
"Well, the idiot with the big mouth was Cless... And the girl with him is Presea. There's two more in the group, Mint, she's a healer. I don't mind her really. And there's Arche... That disease ridden-" Scarlet was talking about the other group of mercenaries and was cut off.
"Scarlet!" Caspar said clearly not pleased with what she was about to say.
Scarlet just sighed and continued to make their way to the Tavern. Soon enough, they reached it, paid for their rooms with the little money they still had, and fell asleep for the night.
---
The morning of the next day, Caspar and Scarlet had managed to get up first and were now sitting at a table of the tavern. "Scarlet... Should we go wake them up?" Caspar couldn't help but ask.
"Oh, you do not want to do that... Knowing them, they probably have a hangover. They're probably awake right now actually." Scarlet said to Caspar as she continued to wait for them.
Soon enough, there was two not to happy looking people coming from upstairs where the rooms are. Paulie and Quarts, had came down and sat at the same table of Scarlet and Caspar. "****... Would you people stop making so much ******* noise!" Paulie cursed aloud from all of the people chatting within the tavern.
"Ugh... What are we doing now..." Quarts said towards Scarlet. He didn't look too good...
"We're going to get a head start against Cless of course!" Scarlet said smugly before getting up and walking out. The rest of them followed suit after Scarlet. Soon enough, they were out of town walking towards the bandit camp.
---
Hours later within a plain, Quarts had left the group to puke, and was returning now. "Feeling better... So, we're seriously taking on a bandit camp? Fun... And we have to pretty much fight over the corpse of the leader? More fun..." Quarts said as he started to walk with everyone else again.
"As disturbing as the thought is, yes, yes we do Quarts." Caspar answered for Quarts.
"More walking than..."
---
Even more hours later, the sun was setting when Scarlet's Roses reached the bandit camp. They weren't going to attack right away, they needed to wait for most of the bandit forces to leave... Which was going to happen tomorrow night. So, they set up camp and had a meal. Soon enough, the sun had risen again and something unpleasant was coming.
"Well, if it isn't Scarlet's Roses! Aren't ya a little early!?" Cless jeered at all of the members of Scarlet's Roses. Presea was with him, as well as a healer in blue robes, which was Mint and Arche, who was clad in black. (See Hank's descriptions for more detail.)
"Early bird gets the worm, ain't that right, dumbo? Ha!" Quarts purposely annoyed Cless.
"We're going to get paid for this job... Now, the typical?" Cless said grabbing harder onto his axe which was still resting on his shoulder.
"Three versus three battle royal? First team to subdue two wins? Of course... Here's our conditions if we win, which we will... Is that you have to help us raid the camp, and you get twenty percent of the payment." Scarlet said stating the challenge.
"Ha, as if. If we win, you guys gotta go back! It's almost too late to go for the guard job!" Cless said smugly as he held his large axe in front of him while Arche had flew up on her broom, Presea just stood there and Mint got out of the way. She couldn't exactly fight.
"Yeah, yeah yeah... Let's just get to the fighting already!" Quarts yelled grabbing onto his odd spear like weapon which he had never used before taking a stance. Scarlet had her staff dug into the ground behind Quarts, while Caspar was just standing nearby confused and Paulie was stretching farther back behind Scarlet.
"As you wish..." Presea said right before breaking into a dash straight for Caspar. As she ran, white scarf flowing behind her, she drew her short sword and performed a horizontal slash right for Caspar when she was close enough.
"Oh heavens above!" Caspar said scared before doing the only option he knew... Was dodge the attack... Which he could only do by falling on his back frightened. (Yeah...)
Presea had her sword drawn pointing at the scared priest, "I take it you are not a mage than?" Presea said confirming her thoughts from the other day when she saw him.
"No, he's just a dumb ass priest!" Paulie yelled as he slashed at Presea. He had started running towards Caspar himself when he saw Presea do it. Presea had parried his attack, and locked blades with Paulie when he tried to strike again. "So, who has the most wins?" Paulie asked whilst blocking two quick attacks from Presea, parrying one and thrusting towards Presea's stomach with his blade.
"I believe we're tied." Presea as she barely avoided the attack. The flat of the blade was sliding against Presea's back as she moved up to elbow Paulie hard in the face her left arm, which was holding her sword, and quickly grabbed for a dagger with her free hand. Using the time of the somewhat dazed Paulie, she dug the dagger into his left shoulder.
Paulie snapping out of it from the sharp pain, cursed and did a horizontal slash at Presea before she could pull out the dagger. It made her jump back while grabbing another dagger from her belt and making a stance using the dagger and her sword. Paulie used this short time to pull out the dagger from his shoulder and making a stance similar to Presea's. "Heh. Let's change that."
---
Quarts looked around the field wondering who to go for... Paulie and Presea were going at it, Arche was up high in the sky, well out of reach of his new weapon, which left Cless. "Hey stupid! Eat steal!" Quarts jeered at Cless before pointing his new lance like weapon at Cless and firing it at his head's general direction.
"What the-" Cless was saying as he tried to move out of the way of the roped projectile. But, it managed to dig into one of the armor's shoulder plates, the right one actually. It didn't dig into his flesh but, it managed to pierce the armor. Soon, it was pulled out and the tip of the lance was getting flung around by Quarts quite a bit back slashing at Cless's armor. After awhile of frantic slashing at the rope with his axe, he slammed the axe into the dirt and managed to grab the rope with one of his hands. Soon, it became a tug o' war over the weapon.
"Ah, crap! Whatever, I'm still going to take you out! Ahahaha!" Quarts cheered for himself laughing as he tugged onto the bamboo.
"Please! I beat you last time you idiot!" Cless jeered taking a big pull almost making Quarts lose grip on his end.
"Well, I think I'm due for a win!"
"I beat you the last eight times you idiot!"
"Still, I think I'm due for a win!"
"Maybe after I beat you ten times in a row Quarts!" Cless jeered as he did one strong pull, which managed to make Quarts lose his grip. The weapon fell to the ground, and Cless quickly tossed it away using his end.
"Crap..." Quarts said as he saw his new weapon fly off a far bit from him. Quarts decided this might be a fun time to bug him actually. "Hey Cless, is it just me or is that axe really big? Or maybe you're just getting smaller! Must be from the lack of working making you starve! Ahahaha!" Quarts yelled breaking into a fit of laughter at his bad joke.
"Why you little!" Cless yelled grabbing tightly to the handle of his large axe with both of hands. He broke into a charge at Quarts yelling as he dragged the axe along the ground making a dirt trail.
"Crap, crap ,crap!" Quarts said fiddling with his sword as he pulled it out of his sheath right before Cless's strike. Quarts, holding his sword handle with both hands, tried to stop the strike of the hulking axe by holding it in a blocking stance. Seconds later, Cless's axe shot vertically up in the path of Quarts. Quarts managed to not get hurt but... The strong strike managed to slide him back a bit. Quarts couldn't help but see that his sword had some cracks in it.
"You owe me a new sword!" Quarts yelled as he avoided the downward slash of Cless's axe by quickly sidestepping it and going straight for Cless, instead of doing just a scratch on his armor, he quickly grrabbed the handle of Cless's sheathed sword, pulled it out and rolled back before Cless had started to swing his axe straight around. "Thanks for the sword!" Quarts happily said as he held the swords in separate hands ready for Cless to come at him.
"More, like you're giving mine back!" Cless roared charging at Quarts once again.
---
Bolts of lightning scorched the earth as Scarlet ran along the ground whilst casting balls of fire at Arche from her staff and conjuring them farther up in the air. However, Arche was easily dodging these with the mobility of her flying broom. Scarlet would love to go burn Cless but, Paulie was too busy to use his bow and arrow which left Scarlet with Arche...
A rhythm of metals hitting each other was heard as Paulie and Presea fought on. Paulie swung his short sword with his right arm and the dagger with his left, only to have it matched with the same with Presea. Paulie pushed her back and took a stance once again. "Heh. This may take awhile."
---
Quarts quickly ducked down to the ground avoiding a large horizontal slice from Cless's axe, and quickly knelt up on one knee holding his two swords up in a "X" to try and stop of the now vertical slice of Cless's axe. Luckily, the two swords were able to hold the axe. "Holy mother of... Good thing that worked! I rather like having a whole head..." Quarts said to himself relieved. I mean, who doesn't like having a whole head?
"Hey Scarlet! Care for some help here!?" Quarts yelled over to Scarlet, who was running from the bolts of lightning trailing along behind her. Cless was trying to push his axe down onto well, Quarts' face.
"Oh, I'll help you!" Scarlet said with a now mischievous grin on her face as she turned course from her running, the lightning still blasting the ground behind her, and went straight for the two walking lightning poles named Cless and Quarts. Well, needless to say, it should be obvious for what happened next. Scarlet quickly broek into a slide to go under Quarts and Cless's weapons leaving them to get well, electrocuted. Cless got most of the shock, what with the big axe right above Quarts, but, it was touching the swords so, Quarts got a nice shock too. They both kinda stayed the same, twitching slightly.
---
"Sorry boss!" Arche had yelled down to Cless, it was kinda hard to hear with her being up high and all. She wasn't exactly paying attention at the moment...
---
"Ha! Perfect..." Scarlet said to herself pleased now that Arche was distracted. Soon enough, she was conjuring up a large ball of fire right by the two paralyzed armored idiots. Soon enough, she flung a giant ball of fire over at Arche. However, Arche saw it coming and tries to fly away... The ball exploded into flames, and some of them streaming around in a circles around Arche. Somewhat of a fire cage. "Ha! Take that you skank!"
You could see that Arche was yelling things at Scarlet but, you couldn't hear them... "One down!" Scarlet yelled. By than, Quarts had finally snapped back into his senses.
---
"Who wha?!" Quarts yelled out seriously confused. He had some burn marks on his body, even though you couldn't see them. "Ha... He's so out of it! Time to make my move!" Quarts said, giddy with himself. Quarts pushed up on the axe and rolled out of the way before it went crushing down into the ground, and quickly put his swords to Cless's neck. "Ha! We win! Hey Paulie! You can stop fighting!"
---
When Paulie heard Quarts yell, he stopped, Presea also stopped. "I guess we're tied still. Heh." Paulie said before casually tossing Presea her dagger back and going back to Caspar to get healed.
---
Later, everyone was healed back up thanks to Mint and Caspar. They were all waiting for the bandits to leave and attack that town...
"I can't believe we have to help you losers..."
"Excuse me! I think we're the winners!"
"Yeah yeah whatever, you stupid *****."
"Hey! That's not a proper way to speak to lady!"
"I... I must agree."
"Can it new guy and Mint! I don't give a crap!"
"Hey! Don't speak to Caspar like that!"
"I wonder if we have anything to drink... Hey Casp, ya getting anything good?"
"Of course I didn't!"
"Oh, would you guys ******* shut up!?"
"I must agree."
"Yeah, whatever..."
