Torrent505

Grave reached up slowly and gently put two fingers on the flat part of the sword to softly push it away from his neck. His voice betrayed nothing, "Missy I am Eighty-three years old, I don't die easy..." He stared into the goddess helms dark empty eyes. "You think with your armor and surrounding goons that I don't know who you are? I am NOT BLIND OR DAFT. I know how strong you are missy and what you could do to me, if the dragon had been your quarry and you pressed the issue maybe I would have relented or charged less. BUT he's not. You said he killed your target which means YOU'RE here for a body and if you so much as TOUCH me again my dying act will be to roll and rile all the muck and silt all along this river so hard you'll NEVER find a body." His sneer was wicked gash of smile only fitting of a man who'd cheated death enough time to mock it. "You can't afford that can you?"

Serafinno's body temperature was steadily rising, the mud and clay the old man was holding him with was starting to bake, and the drool from straining against it was coming out as steam or boiling drops. His vision was becoming hazy again but was completely focused on the metal woman. She was talking about the people he had killed but he no longer cared, she was evil and her people were evil; he finally got over his guilt and decided it was right that he had killed them and if that made him an evil dragon so be it, but he wouldn't accept punishment from an evil person, that wasn't justice! Grave took of his top hat and scratched his head, "so you weren't hunting this dragon to begin with? It killed the target you were after?..." He gave them a cruel smile, "That sounds like it's your fault and you're looking for someone to blame. Good hunters don't screw up like that. You want to punish it than you better have gold and silver to pay; I know businesses that will pay dearly for a alive dragon his size. Some nobles consider Dragon's meat a delicacy and their organs a rarity. That's not even mentioning his breeding, he looks to be fire and air, lightweight and fire proof armor, his scales are each worth more than their weight in gold." He strutted over to stare Serafinno in the face, the dragon's eyes needed to refocus on the old man and were still full of rage, it was like standing in front of a blacksmiths furnace. "You say he should be yours but I could care less for your petty vengeance, I am a man of business miss. He was my catch." He turned back to her and held out an open bony hand, "But depending on what you're willing to pay, I'm certain I can indulge you're revenge... Otherwise you'll just have to accept that his punishment will come in the capital at their payments." Grave's grin was cold and devoid of sympathy for the dragon.

Serafinno growled, raising and lowering his scales as he strained against the ever increasing amount of dirt holding him. This metal woman was the one that he had seen kill the jester. If he was going to die for being a wild dragon that hurt people then so be it as long as he could kill this woman. But the dirt stopped him from moving and covered his mouth again. The old man grinned at her and fiddled with his glasses taking them off to clean them before putting back on. "I'm a hunter, quite skilled if I am to sound my own horn. I was out here after my quarry." He tapped the coffin, "He's a Fire Mage who likes fire a bit too much, became an arsonist. Capital is offering a nice little bounty for him, so he was trying to flee the country. Would have made it too if I hadn't been tracking him." He shifted his spindly legs, crossing them as he leaned forward toward the mercenary group, "As for the dragon, I'm sorry but he's my catch now. I saw him knock your people over the cliff or whatever pitiful act of hunting that was up there and I offer my condolences for their death, but clearly you didn't have the skill to catch him. Hunting wild dragons is dangerous work especially killers like him." He gestured at Finn and the dirt tightened making the dragon whimper, "He was searching the river probably to kill anyone the fall didn't, must've thought I was one of your group and attacked me. So he's rightfully me catch now." He stood looking around at the group with a confidence and fearlessness that warned he would accept nothing less. None of the mercenaries could ever have know that the crayfish holes along the riverside were fake to allow the princess's party air and to hear the conversation above.

Well as co-GM I pretty much exist to help settle disputes and create extra details right? An easy way to settle this is to mimic one of my favorite brainwashing cults THE JEDI ORDER I mean they already start to match up with the hunters, what with the raising children from a young age under their belief system, teaching them that their emotions are evil and must be controlled, material goods are not to matter, ect. ect. The Jedi Order had the Lost Twenty, members that went through the whole process and became full blown Jedi Masters, but still for one reason or another turned their backs on the order and left it... Peacefully. (Excuse my lapse if nerdiness) Why not do something similar? The hunters have a very small number of recorded Rogues, member that for some reason or another betrayed the Hunters beliefs and then were hunted down themselves and executed. It views these members as failures but the most insulting ones are the ones the order did not manage to kill themselves or were never reported as dead at all. It could add a great deal if depth to your order and Indicus could have been taught by the most recent rogue. You two can decide whether or not the rogue mentor is still alive or not. It could become a reason for tension between you two, either wanting the rogue to be dead or hating the hunters for tracking him down and killing him.

How do you fluff a diamond? I DON'T CARE IF SHE'S A DIAMOND, SHE'S ALSO RARITY SO YOU MUST FLUFF HER!!!! Hmmm but with the double meaning of the gag censors that also has a rather dirty double meaning... Fun

Considering the audience mlp was created for I really wouldn't care. I think some gag censoring where swear words are replaced by cutesy words instead would be fine, even humorous. Like: Fluff all of you! I fluffing hate all you happy brony diamond dogs! (Actually this system may encourage me to swear more ) But if such a system was implemented I would want it to be chosen to be on or off by the author of the thread when they were creating it. I think it might be useful on some of the voting threads Fluff YEAH! FLUTTERSHY IS THE BEST PONY! Fluff Rarity! She's a piece of Diamond! Much more fun then the alternative for a friendly compitition thread

Haha, go against the story too much? It just wouldn't be an RP story if the group actually stuck together constantly; as long as nobody decides to abandon everyone else and become a pirate or something, which I guess you still could but you'd have to make a new character and abandon the old one If he had trusted a strange Mage I would have been more surprised haha I was more uncertain about what the doctor might choose. I don't control the Iron Maiden so I honestly don't know how this will turn out for either group everyone hope for the best haha

@Scribblegroove I must say I'm enjoying that those two are the ones trying keep their fates in their own hands. I mean look at the situations they've tried to avoid; throwing yourselves off a cliff or trusting a complete strange, who is also very ominous looking, to bury you alive and later dig you up. Not exactly situations where you can effect the outcome. I can't tell if it will help them outlive everyone else or kill them early As for the village I'm glad you asked, there is a small village that makes a living off logging the forest as well as some farming. It is beside the river a few miles down stream, of course. First however you will come to a large saw mill which uses the river to power it's saws, it's about a mile from where we are; the town is about another mile down stream from that, the lumber yard has many small boats to carry cut lumber down the river to town. About half a mile up from where you are now you'll begin to notice paths the lumberjacks use and parts of the forest that are being cut down.

Serafinno growled at Dresden in disgust, he dared to act kind like this when they were turning him over. He refused to meet Whisper's eyes when she said she'd be right back, it hurt to think she would lie to him like that but why else would she abandon him with this stranger. He felt his heart breaking as one after another they entered the hole leaving him to whatever punishment was coming. Grave tossed Zaddion's chains into the river closest to him, it had seemed important. He smiled as they climbed into the small cave he had created, and when only the Doctor and Hunter remained outside he shifted the top soil back into position over the hole but did not seal it. "Last chance you two, time to get in the hole or run and hide... or just run; whatever you feel will save you. I'll remain here with the Dragon and slow her down with a polite conversation. It's the best I can offer."

@Alex Kennedy So I heard this song and thought of your bard

Serafinno snorted a breath of warm air over Whisper, the old man had called him untrained and now Whisper was sending him away. The fact that he was a bad dragon already must be showing, she didn't trust him to be around anymore. He let his head hang a little and trotted sullenly back towards Tugg, he'd still try to behave as long as an 'evil dragon' could. Grave nodded at each bit of metal and flung them into the river in clumps of dirt. He said a curt, "thank you." for each piece though he acted as though he had little care for their items but he kept track of where he pushed each down the river. The old man looked at the doctor, "I'm sure you can help them heal rather quickly but the question of how much time it will take to heal all of them before you begin to move? If 'she' is really the one chasing you I doubt she'll sense you between her magick and my own, I'll be waiting directly over you in protection, but if you wish to run please do, it will lead her away and make her believe the others are dead." He saw the dragon making for the chimera and had over heard what the princess had said. He raised his hand and the dragons legs sunk into the ground, Serafinno yelped in surprise and struggled to pull his legs free to no avail. Grave spoke up, "I'm sorry Princess but it's too late for him to go. Your pursuers will have heard his roar and I must have a good explanation for my use of earth magics here, I need credibility if I am to be left unhindered by them. My own prey-". He tapped the coffin, "-is not enough. But if I caught the dragon, a creature that would never leave your side if you were alive, it will lend my story credence." Serafinno took a deep breath, he had known the old man was bad and now he was trying to hurt him, he was going to breath fire at him but dirt suddenly crawled up over him clamping on his mouth, covering his nostrils and wrapping his wings. He began to thrash about but could do very little as he had no room to moving, it appeared more as a pathetic wiggle. Grave stared into Whisper's eyes, "you choose my path and we must do things right. I'll tell them I've claimed him now as a bounty for being a dangerous and aggressive dragon-" Serafinno whimpered violently at that, "-they may leave him and me alone that way. Without him and nothing to blame my earth magick on they will be suspicious and then we could all die." Serafinno had given up struggling, the dirt had cleared his nose so he could breath he looked pitifully at Whisper. In his mind it was obvious to him, the group had realized he was a bad dragon and the old man was here to take care of him, this was all just some game to keep him confused while the old man did the dirty work.

He grinned at her and stretched out one of his skeletal hands to her, "people call me Grave, young lady, it is good to make your acquaintance and the luck of the gods must certainly be with you because there is a village not too far from here, but what do you think you'll do once you get there? How do you think you'll avoid them even there?" He raised his brows at each of them in turn. "Cause if you don't think carefully right now you're just choosing where you die. I can make you an offer that will save you though I doubt you'll accept it." Serafinno had found Whisper and he dropped down besides her, whimpering and crying in warning gesturing with his head and neck towards the cliffs. It took him a moment to recognized that the man before Whisper was someone he did not know, his spins raise and he growled threatening before roaring in the old humans face, he couldn't trust any strangers anymore and wouldn't let anyone hurt Whisper! The old man didn't flinch or even blink though he did reach a shaky hand up to clean the condensation from his glasses. "Now I suppose they even know which direction to head in, your beasts need to be better trained..." He turned her back on the princess hobbling back to sit on the coffin and the young dragon relaxed some looking confused between the old man and the other party members. Grave continued, "you'll all have to trust me if you want to survive. First give me all your weapons and metal, I'll scatter it along the river bottom." He raise a hand and a large top layer of earth floated into the air and a deep hollow hole sat by the riverside, "then I'll bury you all, together even if you wish, they'll pass right over you. Or you can take your chances and run for the town, the choice is yours of course."

The old man took a moment to take it all in, the beast had brought back whole injured group. He remained silent listening to their conversations before finally replying to Helena, "young lady of course I used magick, how else would someone my age perform such a task? I'd hardly be out this far into the wilds on the border if I didn't have a proper way to function." He stood and folded his arms behind his back as he stalked forward on his spindly legs, he moved directly to the princess leaning in and tilting about inspecting her this way and that. "So a princess? You failed to mention that hunter." He glanced back at Adrass and then gave everyone in the group a once over. "And on top of having a princess and an entire entourage that survived a tumble over the cliff, 'old gods blessings on each of you,' you plan to try and out run your enemies in the condition you all are in?" He looked up towards the cliff were he sensed the strong forces building, "cause I don't think you'll make it in time." ******************* Serafinno was flying back towards the camp but almost turned back as he approached the cliff. The stupid armored lady that had killed his jester friend was on the cliff and climbing down... She wasn't alone either, scary looking humans were all around her, they looked tougher and better armed than the ones he had burned but also dispersed among those bad people were other weak looking humans wearing only rags and tattered clothes. It was all very confusing to him, he didn't understand what these humans were doing, they had hurt and killed some of his friends but he had killed a lot of them too. He felt bad about what he had done but they were still coming this way. Were they trying to hurt the rest of his friends? He turned back flying for Whisper, he didn't want to go back because he knew that he was an 'Evil Dragon' now but he couldn't leave her. These were 'Evil People' so Whisper needed to be protected... Maybe it took something Evil to fight Evil? He wondered at that as he returned to her.

Sorry got out of work late and then had to run errands, sigh the problems of life Oh and if anyone wants to know what the old man I'm playing right now looks like I stole his appearance from this dark little animation. Only his appearance though.

@@Scribblegroove, @, The old man shook his head back and forth at the doctor's display of fear, and his thrashing about for the leather bag that had washed a shore, "The trivial rush of the young..." The old man reached out with one hand toward the bag and gestured it over to the doctor by flowing the earth beneath it and with a swift raising motion of his other hand a column of sand rose from the center of the river, with a second gesture it settled into a pile before Adrass, "is that enough sand for your needs? There is plenty more in the river." His confident smile seemed to mock them both while at the same time promising any kindness he could offer. @@RunsWithSquirlz, Serafinno was watching the others tend their wounds, he couldn't look away from seeing them in pain and smelling fresh blood; his heart started to race as he remembered what he had done at the camp. They didn't know what he had done, they didn't know he had killed other humans, they would turn against him... he had always heard that, dragons that killed people were killed by people. Whisper and the others would hate him... and if what was said was true than it would only be a matter of time before he killed again. He started to thrash around in Whispers arms fight to be free, suddenly afraid of what he might do to her or what she might do to him; she was his best friend but the sudden fear of 'what if' and the nagging guilt of what he had done was too much for him. He broke free of her grip and launched himself up and into the night, calling back with cries of fear and sorrow. He headed for the remains of the caravan, he had to see what he had done for himself.

Well I certainly hoped everyone would still be interested, sounds like almost everyone is... Though Tricksters Pride and Golden Sheild are still MIA from the site, so they'll be left open ended for now. I was only calling a hiatus until today and I meant that I'll be out of work 3 hours and 20 minutes from is post so expect an update soon after that. Also do you guys think I should open the RP up to new players? We've lost quite a few now. Finally Nightfury, how's band camp going? What instrument do you play?

@@RunsWithSquirlz, @@Flying Ace, (I think the sword is from Adrass and it came down the river over the waterfall) Serafinno let out a short warbling call as Whispers water hit him and rolled over mimicking death, he was careful to make sure however that his wing flapped over the water to send a good sized splash back at her as he 'died'. @, @@Scribblegroove, The old man hurried to retrieve his hat before the chimera decide to reclaim it, then returned to his coffin opening the lid again to withdrawal a long corn cob pipe which he promptly began to smoke as he watched the two younger men struggle. He was quite enjoying himself and wondered if they would get over their pride enough to ask for help... He figured it was very unlikely that the witch hunter would at least.

Seems like everyone is as exhausted as their characters should be All it ever seems to take is one or two people before suddenly everyone is posting. We should all probably move before going to sleep though, I mean the Iron Maiden might think we're all dead but I wouldn't want to be around if she came looking to collect corpses...

@, @@Scribblegroove, @@RunsWithSquirlz, The old man smiled a grin his teeth were white and in perfect shape, a rarity for someone his age, "Well young man, I am a bounty hunter-" he gestured at the coffin, "-far less morally grey than the sort of hunting you do. As for who you are I have no idea what your name is but-" he pointed bone finger at the short sword, "-one never forgets a facing a fire like that... and given the force of magic I felt up there I would have been an idiot not to assume as much." He set the medical bag down next to Adrass. He turned back to look at Tugg and gave an exasperated sigh, "Fine hold on to the hat for now, there is no need to growl at me but please do return it before one of us leaves, an intelligent creature such as yourself must be smart enough to see the follies of thievery." He returned to the coffin settling back to sitting on it, "As for your story, I guess I might believe it but surely you're wrong about the mercenaries working for the crown. The crown wouldn't be so foolish as to risk inviting retaliation when the King is ill just to attack a witch hunting caravan and who in there right mind would believe they would be so stupid as to fly the banner of Illia without it being a setup?..." He looked keenly at Flinch, "... are you well enough to help your doctor friend or must I?" @@RunsWithSquirlz, @@Flying Ace, Serafinno did not usually like water, but after what had happened earlier the cool water was very soothing; until Whisper began moving into deeper water, when she motioned for him to head to shore he did so gladly. He let out a little distressed cry as he actually swam rather gracefully to shore, and despite the fact he was a very capable swim Serafinno was absolutely certain he would sink and become helpless in the deeper water at any moment. His relief came as a growling purr as his claws finally touched the river bed and he reached a wading depth were his head could stay above the water while standing. Still he continued to shore, not wanting to play in the water with no one close enough to 'save him' should the water try and swallow him up. He once on the river bank he paused next to Dresden and shook himself dry as he felt surely the human had been mocking with that comment.

@Scribblegroove @RunsWithSquirlz The old man gave a "hmmmm," and turned walking back towards the coffin, he ran his hand down the chimera's side but didn't bother to try and take back his hat, better to let it play than to rip the hat trying to take it or to end up making the large beast angry. He opened up the coffin and on the inside of the lid where all types of tools and simple medical equipment tucked into red velvet; however inside the actual coffin proper was a different story, it was full of dirt with a large white canvas bag half buried in it and something inside the bag struggled weakly. The old man ignored it and withdrew the medical bag before letting the lid slam back shut. He started walking back to Adrass clutching the bag to his chest. As he was heading back Flinch washed up on the river side but the old man ignored the doctor and spoke to the hunter, his voice was deep but seemed to have a creaking squeak to it at times, "Why yes, you can help me... but one type of hunter to another how about I offer you a trade? I let you use my medical supplies and you tell me what is happening up there-" he motioned toward the cliff top then pointed at Flinch, "-that is so important that you and your friends felt the need to take the a short step into Illia over a cliff?" The man stopped next to Tugg and calmly scratched under his chin with one hand while trying to finally reclaim his hat with the other.

The old man stared at Adrass with some interest, picking up on his subtle movements and cues with eyes far keener than his thick glasses lens would suggest. He reached out both his hands towards the river with his fingers splayed and bent towards the ground then gave a raking motion back to himself; several piles of mud crawled out of the river. He didn't know if the objects the mud piles were something belonging to the stranger, or old farm equipment and garbage but he figured it might be worth the effort to get a story out of him. He was very curious about what exactly was happening up on the cliff top. He stood up on his long slender legs and walked over to inspect the man, as he moved he kept his hands folded behind his back. He stopped several paces away but still leaned over the stranger and inspect him more carefully.