Another twig snapped, if Serenity heard it she didn't seem to pay it much mind.
"That's very impressive, and I'm surprised you'd walk out on such a good thing," she said half-jokingly, "But wanting to see the world on your own is an admirable endeavor as well, I wish I done it sooner myself."
Serenity sighed almost wistfully at the last thought, but shook her head at the dreamy sensation.
"You never long for home? Or perhaps my real question is, is there an end to your journey? You look well traveled if I may say."
Dominic [M:123:1420:][D3v:http://rpgmenagerie.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=cs&thread=382&page=1#14144][b]Let me tell you a story...[/b][0:No encore today][1:You have my attention]
Dom was silent for just a moment. The twigs snapping bothered him. He didn't know why, but he told himself to be calm and not let paranoia get the better of him. His eyes, though cloudy, pale and unfocused, turned sad for a moment.
"Well, you know what they say about having too much of a good thing...plus I just had a hankering to make some stories and songs of my own. Can't do that from a comfy chair too well." He continued to pluck, soft notes drifting into the air continuously. It seemed almost like a nervous habit, that he had to be doing something with his hands any time he was seated.
"I miss some things, sure." he continued "But I fell in love with new experiences, new sounds and smells. I found the passion in people expressed in language and story and song. I wanted to take those moments. Squeeze them, hone them, polish them to a high shine and present them to please others. Please them for myself, for my own gratification." That little segue seemed to connect to his previous statements about his past. He continued in a blown out breath "So I long for some parts of home, but I'm not going back any time soon."
Love, like Hope, has too few letters for a word so powerful.
Though it could barely be heard, the sound of what seemed to be a string being pulled back could be heard.
Serenity could tell that she hit a somewhat sensitive area she didn't meant to and tried to move the topic somewhere else.
"Well, I'm glad your travels have led you to me if that means anything, I've enjoyed your company. I imagine Wistvale won't be hosting you for long? Do you plan to go anywhere el---"
Serenity cut herself off and whipped herself around only to see nothing.
"My apologies, I swore I heard something, must have been a creature."
Dominic [M:123:1420:][D3v:http://rpgmenagerie.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=cs&thread=382&page=1#14144][b]Let me tell you a story...[/b][0:No encore today][1:You have my attention]
Dom was frowning now, stopping his plucking and wrapping his hand slowly around the shaft of his staff. His hearing wasn't supernaturally sharp, but when one sense is never present the rest sharpen and try to fill in the gap. He murmurs lowly, not turning at all but tilting his head to try and take in sounds.
"I don't hear anything..." it seemed like he didn't detect anything for a moment "...but I did, and that worries me. I suggest we leave this place, miss." He hadn't moved yet. If there is someone or something out there then sudden moves might spark off something frantic. His mouth rose in a somewhat grim smile.
"I'm probably just being paranoid, but I've trusted my gut up to this point and that's why I've not gotten it spilled all over the ground yet."
Love, like Hope, has too few letters for a word so powerful.
Serenity got up, her nerves finally getting the better of her. She crouched down briefly to touch the ground with her hand,
"Dominic, get down!"
An arrow was let loose from the brush and headed straight toward the blind musician. No sooner than when she warned him, Serenity commanded a door of earth to erupt from the ground in front of him, barely catching the arrow before it met it's mark.
"Kill singing man, take woman!" said a loud ugly voice.
They were surrounded, from the under the brush and behind the trees a troupe of large ugly men showed. Their bodies were large, bulky, a foot above your average man, and their faces were misshapen with crooked jaws and narrow eyes. They were covered in the furs of wild animals where their skulls hung near the crotch like a twisted bouquet.
They carried all sorts of crude weapons: clubs, sharpen stone, and simple long bows. The wall of earth that Serenity brought up went down to it's hole and the mage backed up close to Dominic.
"Be gone with you! I don't wish to spill blood this day!" she cried, hoping the creatures had some sense of fear in them.
Dominic [M:123:1420:][D3v:http://rpgmenagerie.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=cs&thread=382&page=1#14144][b]Let me tell you a story...[/b][0:No encore today][1:You have my attention]
Dominic had been piano wire taut for the last few moment and she'd not even finished her warning before he'd thrown himself forward to the floor, staff gripped in both hands. He felt a little disoriented, trying to judge how far he'd gone, which was made all the more difficult when the ground started shaking and erupting.
Fear, raw and immediate, rushed through his body. He compartmentalized the gibbering, screaming part of his brain, but it was only a temporary thing. His nerves were on end, senses alert as he brought himself to a crouch and shuffled close to Serenity using his hand to guide him. Hearing her voice he slowly rose to his feet, turning toward the huffing breath and shifting sounds of the assailants, trying to judge distance and direction.
"Gotta tell you, miss" he began, voice tight with barely suppressed fear and indignant anger "I ain't no great shakes in a fight, only ever had to go toe-to-toe with a thug or two my whole life." Nevertheless he brought his staff to the ready position. Maybe they'd be kind enough to come at him one at a time in an easily predictable pattern.
Yeah right. They'd rush him, and that would be that.
Love, like Hope, has too few letters for a word so powerful.
It was a while before Margrett caught the voices drifting on the wind, lost in her own memories as she was. She opened her eyes and spotted them, just far enough away to make their voices indistinguishable. She blinked as she recognized Serenity and hesitated, wondering whether to approach them or not.
Serenity looked worried, more so for the safety of Dominic than for herself.
The mage looked around herself, counting the heads as she did.
"Ten. If I promise to go back with you, will you leave this man alone? He is only a traveler."
"No prawmises now," said the brute, "We's gotta make shore no one followses us or calls help."
As the leader said that, one of the brutes started to walk up close to Dominic with his weapon at the ready. Serenity turned to face him quickly and shot an arm forward, commanding the wind to push the attacker back hard against a tree. The creature was instantly knocked out.
Serenity looked tired after that one attack and Dominic could hear her breathing a little heavily.
"Dumb witch! We's allowed to hurt ya if you's don' cuperate wit us."
"I'm sorry, Dominic, you weren't the one I was looking for, but I enjoyed this brief encounter."
With that, she motioned her arms symmetrically as if she were picking up something. The earth shook below Dominic's feet and curved walls erupted around him, closing. The magic made structure looked like a cage in the form of a flower bud and as fast as it came it returned to it's place in the ground, Dominic vanishing from sight.
Serenity turned to face her attackers, looking more stiff than before.
"You will never bind me, a mage of House Howle. Tell that to your witch doctor if you survive this."
Suddenly throwing her arms up in the air, she commanded for dust and rock to rise for a moment, before making the wind catch the debris in a fierce current the lashed towards all in the immediate area. The rapidly moving debris broke and slashed at every thing, tree and brute alike, tearing flesh and bark apart.
The large creatures shouted in agony as the invisible force tore them apart, and one by one they fell. When all had hit the ground, Serenity stood perfectly still, and then it began at her feet.
Almost like a ravenous disease her form began to petrify, she stood there motionless as if she gave in to the sudden curse. When the process was complete, the earthen cage erupted from the ground with Dominic inside. The cage crumbled and the musician was free.
Margrett realized this wasn't just some chance meeting. He cursed herself for bringing her equipment, jumping down and sprinting towards Serenity, Dominic, and their attackers. They looked like they had the situation under control. Serenity especially, she thought as she ran, smirking.
Dominic [M:123:1420:][D3v:http://rpgmenagerie.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=cs&thread=382&page=1#14144][b]Let me tell you a story...[/b][0:No encore today][1:You have my attention]
Dominic stood his ground as best he could, the howling wind and smashing rocks had been a disorienting cacophany. His breathing was deep, even, but rapid and the tip of his staff wavered back and forth slowly. When the cage had sprung up he'd nearly cried out in abject terror while the world sank beneath him. When a second passed and no harm came to him he managed to keep his feet in the dark coccoon and waited to re-emerge.
"Serenity!" he growled out once he was back topside "Still with me?" worry colouring his voice. No response. He reached back and touched her arm gingerly, finding it cold and motionless. What had happened? This was bad. He had no idea how many were still left standing but he had to get them to run. He recognized the accents of the snarling brutes, manically dragging his memory for words. This bluff had to be perfect or they'd just rush him if they were still able.
In their own tongue, projecting his voice as lound and clear as a rung bell, he began to put on his act. An act, he hoped, would keep his skin where it was.
<Run fools! The witch has armoured herself against your weapons and I will gladly kill any who dare try and approach! Come to me and I will wear your ears as trophies. Leave now or I will find your camp. I will kill your kin. I will slaughter your young and I will take great pleasure in doing so!>
The threat was delivered at such strident volume and with command, confidence and absolute fury. Some of the emotions were true, the fury especially, as he felt so frustratingly weak against such numbers. But he was a performer first and foremost, and his greatest gift was inspiring emotion in others. Usually joy or sadness, but this time he was aiming for pure, marrow chilling terror.
Love, like Hope, has too few letters for a word so powerful.
There seemed to be none left as Dominic yelled out his challenge to the remainder of the brute horde. Serenity had dealt with the bulk of them as they lay down on the ground bloodied or dying. The mage herself was motionless as Dominic reached for her, her skin made of stone.
When Margrett arrived at the torn up stream, she found an agitated Dominic and a stone Serenity. The creatures around her were issuing their final breaths.
To one side, the first monster that Serenity had attacked before began grunting, he seemed to suffer the least of it as he was on the ground beforehand. The lumbering brute rose slowly and scratched his head as his vision returned to him, shock appearing on his face as he witnessed his dying brothers.
"Wha-Wha' appened?!"
He looked over to Dominic and Margrett, then focused on Serenity, "She stone! Tha' witch tricked us!"
He pointed a crude oak club at Dominic, "You! Blind man, tell me where she is an' I's will clobber you. Errr no, tell me where she is an I's won' clobber you. Maybe."
The hell-- She didn't hear the others, barely noticed Dominic. She walked around the stone statue that had been, or still was Serenity, then let out a small worried breath.
China doll... She turned on her heel, glaring at Dom and then the creature. Her voice was cold and even, but somehow seething at the same time. She didn't raise her voice, but that made it worse.
The hell just happened? If either of you have something to do with this, so help me I'll tear out your spine and beat you with it.
Dominic [M:123:1420:][D3v:http://rpgmenagerie.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=cs&thread=382&page=1#14144][b]Let me tell you a story...[/b][0:No encore today][1:You have my attention]
Dominic didn't respond to Margrett, seething inside doubly now that she had any thought that he'd do anything to harm an innocent woman. He balled up all that frustration and hurled it at the furnace of damn foolish bravery. One voice, only one left, and he'd not heard the warning, or not believed it, or couldn't understand it. At least he hoped there was only one left.
That one voice. He recognized it. He recognized it as the one that gave the direct order to kill him. That did it. He was usually quite the peaceful sort but he didn't take well to bullies. He began a slow step toward the grunting voice, focusing every ounce of his concentration on it, keeping his feet low to ensure he didn't trip over any bodies, subtly sweeping the floor with the tip of his staff. His voice bubbled with low anger as he spoke.
"I told you to run, and you're too plain dumb to understand you're own mother tongue." He still advanced, trying to pick out the heavy breathing, the snorts of anger, even trying to pick out the stench of the attacker's breath from the general body odour of the bodies around. The tip of his staff touched a body and he stepped neatly and confidently over it. This could be the most heinous of mistakes, but at least Margrett would be able to haul his body back for a proper burial if it went horribly wrong.
The brute growled, hefting his club to strike as soon as Dominic got in range and that was all the blind man needed to get a good idea of where the bastard was. With a defiant snarl of "How ya like me now?" Dominic swung the lower tip of his staff up to where he guessed the opponent's ribcage would be, stepping off the centreline to his right as he did it. He connected, though didn't know how effectively and followed up with a vertical swing at the beast's head.
Stupid, stupid, stupid his brain gibbered, fear welling up to try and steal his strength and co-ordination. If he wasn't strong enough to put this guy down fast then it'd only take one good shot of that club to make this a terminally foolish show of bravado. He didn't even know what weapon his opponent was using, just hoping he had it in his right hand so that his dodge would put him out of the way.
I forgot to say how I was gonna go about with actions didn't I? Well, I won't make you edit, Dominic, since that post was fine.
From now on you all must imply your actions and I'll determine whether they worked or not. There will be sections where I'll announce total control over RP and give you both a chance to be creative without my say so, within your character's abilities of course. ____________________
Dominic's whacks with his staff felt like annoying stings against the brute's thick skin, and more of a pat against his even thicker skull. The creature shoved Dom away briefly with one massive arm and then grabbed the musician easily with one hand around the neck, picking him up into the air effortlessly about a foot off the ground.
"Now's you listen lil' blind man, tell's me where da witch iz at an' I's will kill you quick like wif my clob."
This strategy didn't work well for the musician as the large hand was quite secure around his neck, not leaving much room for the ability to reply back even if he had an answer for the creature. The brute wasn't paying much attention to Margrett, either not really caring for her or thinking she was less of a threat than Dom was.
While an accurate measure for size couldn't be told, Dom was close enough to estimate the height of the creature given how close he was to the source of the brute's English murdering voice.
Last Edit: Jan 25, 2012 22:48:16 GMT -5 by Serenity
Dominic [M:123:1420:][D3v:http://rpgmenagerie.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=cs&thread=382&page=1#14144][b]Let me tell you a story...[/b][0:No encore today][1:You have my attention]
Oh well, at least he'd been accurate with his hits, thought the non despairing part of Dom's mind. An odd thing was happening though, to him. The lack of oxygen would be tunnelling a normal person's vision down, but to Dom it was far more apparent that the whole world had gone tinny and a strange hiss like a steadily approaching wave was creeping into his consciousness.
Fear and righteous indignation screamed up in him and as he clamped his left hand around the meaty wrist he brought his right hand up in a renowed salute of defiance, the kind of hand gesture that would get a child thrown from class or a man beaten in a bar. Too dumb to bluff, too big to hurt, dammit.
His arms drooped, breath hissing through clenched teeth as he fought off unconsciousness.
Love, like Hope, has too few letters for a word so powerful.