The Demon's weregild: chapter 1

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T-H-E D-E-M-O-N-S W-E-R-E-G-I-L-D



Chapter one:
The Jewel thief

Steve Frankenson and Angus Magec walk to the doors of the bright city of Ashta, grateful for the rest from their wandering, likely. As they come near the city, the gigantic metal gates of the walled fortress in front of them open, without any guards nearby. The gate didn't appear to be in possession of an automatic unlocking system, and whatever suspicion you might have had of it's condition is soon cut short as the door falls off it's hinges, and the smell of blood rushes into your nostrils.
Walking into the city, all you find is dead guards, townsfolk, animals, killed in spectacular amounts of butchery. What could do all this damage? The guards seem well armed and armored, and this town had resisted attacks from orcs, wizards, trolls, ogres, and even dragons in the past. there seemed not to be a threat the city couldn't handle, and even the drow had concluded it impossible to take the town after many attempts. Surely an army had come, and destroyed this city....
"Just give the ruby to me, you stupid woman, before I get angry." A man's voice could be heard shouting.
"You killed them, you bastard! They were the first to accept me! I'll kill you!" A woman's voice could be heard, as you round the corner. "Die, you heartless-" The woman, a dark haired beauty in a red dress, created a red fireball in her outstretched hands...
only for it to be dissipated with a snap of the man in front of her's fingers. The man had a long, brown beard, and wore violet robes filled with arcane energy. The staff he carried was long and black, the top appearing to be carved in the shape of a demon, but like none any mortal had ever seen. "hehehehahaha! Oh, you little fool! Your power truly is nothing next to mine.
as you hear the man say this, however, you hear a sickening crunching sound. Looking all around you, you see the remains of the dead piled around you move through the air, creating a barrier around you, leaving only one path open - right to the mage - for mage the man must be - and the woman.
"Right on time, Angus Magec, Steve Frankenson." The man remarks, regarding them with a smirk. "I can't use my own magic to steal this ruby, so I might as well take it from your corpses. I don't doubt you'll attempt to fight, of course - heroes always do, particularly when a little bit of power has managed to inflate their little heads - but, well, I'm prepared for you, and you must surely realize, by now.
I am the creature that destroyed this town."
Raising his staff, he readies himself for battle. Perhaps you should do the same.

"ehhhh... well... they didn't exactly tell da' prisoner too much. Maybe dey also didn't know much about Jenazadabadaba eeda'." The troll says, avoiding your gaze.
Luke takes whatever is left, drinking the health potion, and watching it spill down his pants. nonetheless, it does the job, bringing him back to par. "Thaenks, mates." Luke says. "boy, you sure eat a lo' of omelettes." Luke says, as he looks at the ruby. "A pretty penny. About two thousand gold coins, maybe? I'll hold on to it for you till we get to a town. Moight be a bit much for you to hold while fighting."

Angus quickly uses mage hand on the ruby to place it back into steves hands before it disappears into Lukes clothing. "I barely, barely even trust him!" *points at Fred* "and I've only just met you as well! Dammit why didn't I keep the mage around..."

"you mean the uptight one who didn't know how to take a friendly compliment?" Luke asks, thinking back to his perverted touch, and the subsequent fiery retribution. "Who cares, anyways? I'm the one with the treasure map... and the pocket which is EXCELLENT for storing rubies..." Luke whines.

"Too bad, He found the damn thing first, here take this" *tosses a rare candy toward Luke's head* "It's a rare candy or something, eat it or feed it to a pet"

"Oh, this old ruby? Why do you want it so much? It must be important. I'll just make something..." Steve MacGuyvers His Glass Shards into a case for the Ruby, then the Spider Abdomen into an offturning cover.

"There, Custom Made and everything." Then Steve turns to the "Sacrifice" "I don't know, you seem to just be making stuff up off the top of your head. What did you do that made you be a sacrifice?"

Angus puts a sword to the neck of the creature. "Tell us what you know about the hostile actions taken by the trolls NOW!" He bellows, readying lifestealer in his left hand

Steve creates an impressive looking cover for the gem within seconds, his hands moving faster than the eye can see.
"Ehhh... Well see, there was this incident wit' da village's chieftain's daughter, where I may have' despoiled her flowah' witout da propah rituals." The troll said embarassedly scratching his head. "And when I tried to escape, I stuck me' extremity in the village well outta' spite." The troll finishes. "As fo' what was happening heah, ouh group met up with da' berserker on da' way to roasting me on the fire, and they said if I fought fo' them, I'd get excused. 'I said yes, den I ran, and den they caught me, and I said yes fo' real..."

"Woah now Angus, there's no need for violence here." Steve takes Angus' blade and moves it away from the troll's neck.

"Now, you're starting to make sense, but I still think that you would be too much trouble to take along. You might make a trail, or scream out at the wrong time and I can't keep my eye on you the whole time. So can you tell me why I shouldn't kill you? Because the last troll I left alone, kinda came back and tried to kill me with an axe through my head."

"Because you c'n kill me wit' a t'ought, and because I can guide you on safer paths - and kill the stuff ya tell me to." The troll responds, starting to sweat. "And because you didn't cut me very mooch, and just slaughtered what's left of oah' tribe."

"I didn't burn ALL of them! Look that one's still recognizable" He says, pointing to an undiscernable location. He then sheaths the two blades and offers the troll a hand getting up (I'm assuming he's still prone)

"Alright, if you're gonna cooperate then I'll let you live. But if you misbehave, I'm gonna be very displeased. Okay?" Steve asks, with all the kindness of a manager who has something else to do.

"Right, well if that's all then... Oh that's right..." Steve turns to the Berserker. "You... What to do with you. I suppose I could leave you tied up in my house. But I have a better Idea."

Steve ties the berserker up and attaches him to the bottom of his carpet. He then directs the carpet to fly low enough to the trees that the troll will "Bump" into a few. Steve makes sure to get rope that's extra durable and he ties it in several places so that it doesn't come undone.

before you can grab him, the troll berserker wakes up and, quick as he can, grabs out a stone knife. "Rather be dead, mon..." The troll berserker says, slitting his own throat.(Troll dies.).

Angus quickly moves and searches for some way to patch up the wound and/or check if it was only deep enough to knock him out from shock.

"He's gone Angus." Steve shrugs then inhales sharply. "Oh well, he wants to be a coward? Maybe his dead body hanging will send a message to the other trolls." Steve still hangs him below the carpet, but flies high enough that his body isn't bashing into trees.

the troll is indeed dead.

I punch it in the chest a few times for good measure

you break your magey knuckle(not really)

"Ahem. I'm as disappointed as you are I'm sure Angus, but we should really be going now... You know, to that tower. Just... Get on your Diamond carpet and lets get going."

Angus hops onto his carpet and is ready to follow Luke.

ooc : Wow, been a while. excuse my garbled post, but my shift keys aren't working barely at all right now. you have no idea how hard it was just to make that colon. just pretend that ' are quotation marks, kay.
luke continues on foot, swinging from the trees like tarzan, as he approaches what seems to be a black obelisklike structure, one you recognize all too well. as you approach, however, there is a rumbling from underground. slowly popping out are skeletons, roughly twenty or thirty of them, though it's difficult to see them from above the treeline. 'well, this seems a mite dangerous.' luke says.

ooc: Could I use my carpet to crush them all at once? Or at least some of them?

I rush into them with my swords drawn, ready to slice their heads off

as you're still on your carpet, you fall down, because you planned your moves out with the skill of a Man who doesn't use protection.
also, you can try, but they're heavy bone while your carpet is light fabric, so i think they have an edge there, Nutty

ooc: WRONG! My carpet is actually 50x50, woven with... like adamantium threads or something. Also, it may be more than 50x50. I can't remember. It's big though.

ooc: wasn't it a 1km x 1km solid woven adamantium dread fortress with cannons on the underside?