It was fun while it lasted, everyone! Thanks for running it, Jelani. See you guys around on the boards.
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"Is this wise? Should we simply move on?" Argoth whispers.
Argoth looks over at the others as he rows. Looks of confusion and loss at Bunken's assured death. These fools have seen battle, but not the true heart of men. Truths you learn as a sellsword. Irony He abruptly speaks. "I have known a few men who have done the same things. Sellswords their whole lives suddenly wade into unfathomable odds to be torn to bits. Each case was different, but they were all under great stress." He spits into the water. "A fool to throw away his life, and a pity too. But each one thought their lives nothing compared to those around them. In a way, we should be honored, though we are weaker for it."
"Are you craz-" Argoth stops short when the man falls into the water. "Whatever. Go!" He begins pulling at the oars.
"Let's go! That doesn't sound good!"
Argoth looks at Xanos, remembering that the man was a 'Sorceror'. "Lulu, sometimes sorcerors need lives to sacrifice." He turns to Xanos. "If we find some of these other men later, will that work?"
Argoth wades back towards the boat holding the broken weapon he found. "I thought this might be useful. At the very least, we may be able to salvage the ammunition. But if your Napoleon is supplying these folks, then we may see the kinds of weapons he has." Argoth tosses the gun into the boat so the others can examine it.
Argpth draws his sword, letting the accursed rifle hang from it's strap, as he charges onto the riverbank. He sees the men fleeing and laughs. "Run, Cowards! Run for your lives!" He picks up the broken gun to bring back to Lulu.
My family lands today and will be with us for a week. I'll try to do a short post at some point, but realistically, I could be out for the entire week. Please run Argoth as you see fit.
Argoth leaps out of the boat on the same side as Lulu and makes a bee-line towards the closest bandit on that side. "Don't stay in the boat!" he shouts to the others. He gets most of the way to the shore, when he brings his rifle up and tires to fire off some shots. Again, his lack of training with the weapon shows and the shots go wild.
Argoth didn't understand the men, but he saw the rifles and the posture. Lulu was smart. These men probably wouldn't understand anything but death. He grips his rifle tightly and gets ready to kill them.
Oh man, Jelani! You're always making games I want to join! Unfortunately, I think I'm at my limit right now. That hasn't stopped me from seeing how super-powered a revolver-totin' Inquisitor could be once he gets his 'Iron Man' armor, though. Likely, I will pass, but I'm interested to see how it turns out.
Argoth sits in the boat watching Xanos. The man truly had demons inside him. Literally. The sellsword considers the fact that the time could come when they would have to kill the sorceror. Or try to at least.
"Alright, let's go then." Argoth shoves the boat back into the water. It takes him a bit, attesting to the huge show of strength Dorin had lifting it out of the water.
"Well, shall be continue by boat or is it too dangerous? That fish could have been then end of us." He walks back to the shore and retrieves the oar and his sword. His clothes are now drenched.
When Argoth sees the fish bit Lulu and Anhur go under, he curses and slams both his sword and the oar straight into the muddy ground. He uses them to launch himself into the water, aiming himself for Anhur as he is farther down the river. Out of the corner of his eye, he sees Dorin pounding through the water like a madman.
"Get the girl." Argoth mimics in a high pitched tone as he grabs the oar. "Right. Bunken, kill it." He races downstream and reaches out with the oar, hoping Lulu can grab it as she passes by.
Argoth scrambles to his feet and then leaps out of the boat and onto land. He draws his sword, but looks in vain for the fish to reappear. "What was that?"
When the beast slams into the boat, Argoth pitches forward and hits the side hard. Half his body hangs over the side of the boat and he is desperately trying to cling to the slippery edges to keep himself from falling in.
Argoth grunts as he realizes they're just sitting there. He grabs the oars and begins to row them along while the others look for the fish.
Argoth mimics Redd by pointing his gun at the boat. He's not sure why the bearded man wanted to shoot the serviceable boat, but he would do it too if they did. When Dorin steps into the boat, however, Argoth decides shooting holes in the boat might make the large man mad. He follows Dorin into the boat, though he eyes the motor with curiosity. "What's that thing do, Lulu? Why is it attached to the boat? Is it another weapons for us?" He points to the motor.
"Well, shall we leave? Your uncle seems quite eager for us to find your friend. Maybe we can kill several of this other tribe too."
"Why not? Is it dangerous here? In our world, we regularly drink before battle. Some even prefer it to being sober in battle." He indicates Bunken. "Why should your grandmother or uncle care that you drink this? In my home, we have contests when boys are 10 Winters. They drink much and then see who can draw first blood. Excellent fun and teaches them to hone their coordination. Is it because you are a girl?" He shrugs. "If you can fight, you can drink while doing it."
Argoth takes the bottle from Bunken and sniffs it. "Powerful." He takes a mouthful and chokes as he swallows it. "Holy gods! What is that?" He doubles over coughing from the effects of the alcohol.
Argoth stirs and wakes up on the ground. "What happened? Did it work" He looks over to see most of them grabbing some odd colored clothing. He rises and suddenly finds himself with a massive headache again. He watches the others, but makes no move to take any of the new clothing.
Argoth takes the gunpowder from Steve and takes it outside. His headache has already subsided and he was eager to try his powers again. He pours the gunpowder into a metal can discarded by Lulu's people. As he walks away, he pictures the fire this time, only he isn't sure what to attach it to. Out of habit, he starts the fire in his hand again. This time he lets the fire grow and travel up his body, but he tries to stock it hotter and hotter. Soon it seems like his entire body is fire. Those watching him see the sellsword sweating and his skin grows flushed. Finally Argoth tries to simply pour all the fire from his body into the can. He doesn't connect it back to his hand, and he doesn't give it anywhere to go. A look of pain grows on his face and he tries to fuel the fire more and more. Suddenly the man's eyes roll back and he collapses. He's alive, but actually cool to the touch.
Across the grass, the can begins to smoke.
"Good, that will be a reasonable start. Lulu, Xanos seeing as I am new to this mental power stuff, I might need your help. If these things work like they seem to, they would seem to to be dangerous to the holder if we could set them on fire."
Hmm, I wonder. "Steve, do you have an old gun, something you do not care about or is broken? Barring that, do you mind if I try something with some of the spare ammo? They're small explosives, you said, yes? Some alchemical concoction."
As others are claiming their preference for the weapons, Argoth can only shrug. "These things roar like a dragon, but can only sting like a wasp. If I must take one, though, I suppose this is suitable" He indicates the .223 rifle.
Argoth jumps and has his sword halfway out of his scabbard the first time any of the guns are fired. He narrows his eyes at the machines and watches as Steve demonstrates. He watches some of the others fire and when it's his turn, he tentatively takes the weapon.
While he is able to land some shots, it's clear the man is too distracted by the weapon's sound and his own fear of the gun to be very accurate. His shots are wild and scattered. "Bah, I will stay with my sword! These things are dreadful!" Despite his words, you can tell the swordsman does appreciate the how lethal they could be. "Lulu, why did you not have one of these with you on your latest mission?"
Argoth looks skeptically at the guns. "These things will destroy an entire town? They are so small."
"I'll need more practice to figure out how to use this well. But my head is pounding already. I think this may be all I can handle for now." He rubs his temples.
Argoth stares at Xanos for a while, trying to see how he could so easily manipulate the spear. It was as if he had an invisible third hand. He sneers at the Sorceror in both jealousy and frustration. He looks back at the piece of firewood and this time the fire comes quickly. It builds like before and he is able to make a connection to his hand. This time, he snaps the rope hard, using mental muscles never worked before. The split wood comes flying toward him and he catches it easily. A shocked Argoth turns to look at Lulu with satisfaction on his face.
"Bubbles, huh?" Argoth takes a deep breath and tried to picture bubbles near his hand. It's an odd picture for him, and with the previous discussion, he finds himself thinking more about fire instead. He can almost feel a warmth in his hand and he allows it to travel up his arm. As it comes up to his chest, he snarls at the heat. He pushes the heat upward, feeling it fill his throat, mouth, and then up to his eyes. Almost in a panic, Argoth realizes he didn't have an object in mind. The fire was getting too much and he needed to find something to release it onto. Across the grass, he spots a pile of firewood. He feeds the building energy into the wood and feels a tug against his hand as if he held a rope. It's as if a connection had been made from his hand to the wood though his body. Taking a deep breath, he makes a sharp tug against the rope. Across the yard the pile of wood come crashing down. One of the pieces, however, comes bouncing fitfully across the grass as if it's being pulled by a small child. It reachs about halfway to Argoth before it stops. The man exhales sharply. He didn't even know he had been holding his breath. "I think...Fire. I had fire warming my hand up to my head. And then I connected it to he firewood." He breaths heavily. "That was not easy."
"Fine, what's something simple? Perhaps we should try that? You said I could move things? How do I do that?"
"I can set things on fire with this?! And make people jump off a bridge?" He considers both of those for a moment. "Ok, I'm in. This may turn out very useful after all." He suddenly interrupts. "How much effort to make a single person jump off a bridge?"
Around mid-morning Argoth wanders over to where Lulu is already seated. He sits down, obviously ignoring any frustration caused by the time of his arrival. "So what do I do? Close my eyes and picture a flame or something? Hum some chant?" For a man who asked for this training, he seems flippant about its abilities.
Is there any way for casters to combine their power? Like Lulu using part of her psychic power to impart English to Argoth and he use some of his nascent power to 'accept' the information? So somehow we split the costs associated and it's less taxing on each of us. Hyborian-Earth mind meld for the lack of a better term.
Argoth will be spending a point to get a rank in Psychic and banking the other point. He'll have to have more aptitude for Lulu's training than firearms for the time being. I'm guessing it'll be more beneficial to learn English by magic/psionics than spending the AP for months of learning.
"Um, Lulu. If we have time after practicing with your weapons, I'd like to see if you and Xanos are right about me having power. I definitely felt something when you tested our minds." He takes a deep breath as if he's not sure about what he's about to say. "I'd like to see what this power can do."
Rifle for Argoth, especially if it is automatic. He's going to like the medium range stopping power. I love Xanos' response. 'Nuke? Inefficient. Dragon'
Argoth sits stunned at Peter's words. "You had that kind of power and now you want us to fight for you?" He glances down at his sword. "I do not think our steel will match that kind of destruction."
"Perhaps we should go to this Base and secure the weapons there first, before Napoleon has a chance." Argoth shakes his head. "Machines doing men's work. Your world is strange."
Argoth looks at Anhur for a moment. "Corpses, an advantage?" Suddenly his eyes widen. "Ah! You want to kill some of them in their ranks and then when they rise, they will throw their lines into chaos! Or if we can kill some of them without then knowing, then they'll be fighting the corpses inside their walls and we can get our man and get out."
"Ah, so free one of your own from a slaver, turned warlord." Argoth says. "Perhaps kill him in the process, since that would make you safer." He shrugs. "If that's the task, then so be it. We fight the corpses as well as men. They should die easier."
Hey Xanos, can you do something about that?
"I would like to see it too. Redd held it much as we hold our swords. If this is your method of fighting, we had better see it in action. Besides, I've got to see something that 'tears up your shit'!"
Argoth leans back when Dorin rises. "What, big man? I've heard many tales in my life, and those in Halakh or Stygia would not tell the story the same way. The scroll of glass even mentioned it. 'Thief, Reaver, Slayer.' Conan was these things too." He sits back a bit smugly and waves his hand. "But Bunken is right. It may matter none. If those tales tell the truth, then Conan was destined to triumph, and I probably would have died on the losing side. So, I drink to my life!" He raises up a cup of the golden liquid and then drinks it.
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