Open Chronicles Finding a home

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TTamark

TTamark

Steve Will's son
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Steve had just finished packing and was experimenting with the necromantic arts on this his last night here in Elbion, since he would be gone soon he had less need to worry about being found out. Steve had never been skilled at alchemy but he did know enough to infuse bottles with the different energies; well except one of them. So this night he was infusing the potion with necrotic energy.

He couldn't help but wondered how it would turn out. He tried to make an educated assumption based on what he knew about the other energies. A potion that was infused with divine energy would glow and provide a feeling of comfort, Thermal would produce a warmth, the opposite could be done as well to create a potion that would cool its surroundings, Vitality would only give a slight increase to physical performance and a small increase to ones recovery; it took a much more skilled user of alchemy than Steve to refine a true healing potion. Finally there was the possibility to make an elixir infused with matter or natural energies, that usually produced dirt or chalk within the bottle mixing with the sludge. This was not the most useful, and if one infused to much natural energy into it the bottle tended to explode outwards because of all the new matter inside. Steve had learned this the hard way many times, and had a number of small scars to prove it.

Looking at all that he knew though, Steve had no idea what would happen, they all seemed to be so different, and all that connected them was that they would all give off energy. So crossing his fingers he began, he needed to pay the price so he took in the energy of the fire that was burning in his room and just for good measure his signature ingredient potatoes. As he drew the energy from these things and converted the energies his room fell dark only the moon light crept threw the window and when he infused the potion with the necrotic energy the room seemed to only grow darker. Steve began to have a feeling of dread, he quickly decided that this potion wouldn't be useful and scrambled across his room to where the window should be stubbing his toe along the way. He finally found the window and let out a sigh of relief when he dumped the contents out the window into the stable next doors feeding trough, his usual way of getting rid of his experiments and old potatoes.

He slump against the wall, finally able to see again and now noticing how cold his room had grown. Steve promptly got up to try and remake the fire to realize he had used all the wood as energy, and from the frost forming on the hearth it seemed all of the heat that had been in the room as well. He let out another sigh, he had not meant to create that much necrotic energy, he must have let his subconscious draw more energy from his surroundings than he had wanted in his excitement, what could easily have become a fatal mistake. Exhausted he realized maybe he had drawn some energy from himself as well, and as he realized this he collapsed on his bed.


OOC: If anyone ever feels like coming into this story feel free, I will just be looking for a place in the world to settle and this thread will be the journey to wherever I end up going. :D If you want to know more or want help to smoothly transition yourself into the story message me on discord. TTamark
 
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Steve stepped out of his residence the next morning to see a man with many carts and wagons looking rather upset and pacing . Being the good fellow Steve was he just had to approach and try to see if he could help.

"What seems to be the problem? You look as though you were just told of your doom," the man turned startled.

"Wha- oh. um no," he let out a small dry chuckle, "more so I have just seen it. I was to deliver the produce that is kept within these carts to Vel Anir, it was going to be quite the lucrative deal for me, but now all the horses that I was to use have suddenly fallen ill. The officials think it was some kind of poison but they've never seen its like before. It didn't just make the horses sick it seemed to have sucked the vitality right out of them. They are going to have it examined at the college, but now I am left here with no horses and perishables that will be worth less each day until finally they will be little more than animal scraps, specially imported from Elbion," He dropped his sarcastic tone and continued in a more sombre one, "And I will have disappointed some people who I really don't want to have disappointed."

Steve couldn't believe that someone would do something so foul to some horses and the merchant seemed like a nice enough fellow he knew he just had to help. He said a quick prayer wishing for the evil doing to come to justice, and began to brainstorm.

Steve didn't think himself a genius but the idea that struck him seemed pretty good if he did say so himself, with a smug smile he declared "I've got an idea. You see you are in luck for I am a skilled user of the arcane arts, and I just so happen to have specifically focused my training into conjuration," He began to waggle his eyebrows, feeling very good about himself "and I just so happen to be heading towards Vel Anir, so I will tell you what give me some money to by enough components to conjure up the horses you need and I will use the hay you would normally use to feed the horses to keep the spell going, though maybe get some extra cause its not an exact thing. All I ask is that we stop at my fathers farm as it will be on the way."

The merchant was overjoyed and they both blessed their luck that they would meet each other this morning, surely the gods wished for them to travel together. Steve quickly headed over to the market to his see his favourite stall for all his spell payments.

"Hi Steve, the usual twenty potatoes today?"

"Not today Alfredo, today I need them all,"

"Bu- but that's- that's nearly two thousand potatoes?!?" Alfredo gasped.

"Yes and I need them all"

"Oh, Steve if you ever left I'm sure that it would cause a economic collapse based around the potato industry."

"Ya... hehe... good thing I'm not doing that anytime soon, eh? haha" Steve handed Alfredo all of the coins he received from the merchant and bit he had himself because he was buying two thousand potatoes.

"Ya my son just enrolled at the college which as you yourself know from experience is not cheap. We are really betting on our potato sales this year to support us, we need every bit of coin we can otherwise we might lose everything." Alfredo shared while counting "your short a little bit... but hey don't worry about it I know your good, you've always payed your debts, besides I know where you live." He let out a carefree chuckle.

Steve went back to his residence and left a note saying he would give everything including the residence to his good friend Alfredo, but he remembered that he was supposed to be on the run being a necromancer now and all so he dated it for three days ago. Great now he could leave. He met up with the merchant summoned the horses and they began the journey, using the hay to maintain the spell.
 
Steve laid on the floor of the wagon, like he had for nearly the whole five weeks of the trip. He knew it would be costly to keep the horses in this plain of existence, but he hadn't realized how much it would wear on him. He had never maintained this many summons for such long periods of time. He made a mental note to make sure to find something else to pay instead the next time he would maintain such a spell on this level again. He cradled the black sack that carried the remains of his chicken and whispered "Soon."

As he neared his father's farm he began to worry. he hoped that he was alright. Not far back they had seen the remains of a previous caravan that had run into a unfortunate end. From what they could tell the conflict had happed not long before they arrived only a two maybe three days before, and it was a bloody one. It was too hard to say who really won there were as many corpses from the caravan as there were from the bandit the main indicator of who's side they were on being the bandits were wearing yellowish brown cloaks to blend in with the grass and had a gold snake tattoo on their arms.

He decided he didn't need to really worry as that had been two days ago and his father's farm was half a day from the main road after all.

Finally Steve heard the Merchant yell "I see the house with the green door, that was your papa's right?" After confirming Steve sighed, "Finally I'm, home."
 
Kerastrina had had a tough week, first one of her subordinates had challenged her so she had to kill him, then the ambush against that one caravan had gone real bad when the mage that was traveling with them through a fr*cken giant orb of FIRE that killed half her men and the horses. Next she realized that all her men had somehow died in the fight, "You just can't get good help these days, Fr*cken amateurs, I am surrounded by incompetence. Well... not anymore on account of them being dead..." And that brought her to the next point she had to carry all the loot herself, and even had to leave a fair bit behind. She took a side road to avoid being seen so she could still get away and maybe steal a horse. when she
finally did arrive at a farm the old man didn't have any horses and unless she felt like saddling up on a pig it was looking like she'd have to walk all the way to Vel Anir... on foot... carrying a big bag of loot... which she stole... on this road so ya there was no way that could go wrong. If she met a lawful folk they'd turn her in. If she met the unlawful such as herself she'd be gutted and lose the loot. She somehow needed to find a man who either was totally apathetic, or clueless. The old man at least seemed to be one of the two and had welcomed her in provided a place to sleep and food. She hadn't trusted him, obviously only a fool would be so kind so she slept with one eye open and a hand on her dagger, and swapped food when he wasn't watching.
While she was having breakfast with the old man the next day, and planning on what to do next. Suddenly a caravan could be seen coming down the road which was odd because this was not the main road and there was really no reason to come this way with a whole caravan, a single wagon could probably have taken all the produce from all the farmers on this road. The caravan the proceeded to stop right in front of the old mans house. This was strange, the only possibility would have been that a local group of farmers had taken it upon themselves to enact vigilante justice and hunt down the remaining bandits who had attacked the caravan. She was about to sneak out when the old man said,
"Steve what are you doing here? Its so funny a lady showed up just yesterday and we were having breakfast. Come in and say hi to Kristrina. Kristina, Steve. Steve, Krisina." Kerastrina let out a deep sigh
"Its Kerastrina actually." Internally she was freaking out there was no way he hadn't seen the Robbed Caravan, it was right by the entrance to this road. She slowly begins reaching for her dagger.
 
"Most unorthodox." a mumbling voice repeated. "What do you make of this, Xoro'Ga? Your instincts are right, more often than not.". The otter in the seemingly-new green suit looked around, then back to the map in his hands. "So... I believe we are still on the route the caravan should have been. If there were any tracks until this point, I'm sure either your eyes or my nose would have picked them up. You agree, I imagine?". Teddy, the proud businessman waited silently for a short time to allow his dear friend to speak his mind in peace.

After some time, he simply suggested, "Maybe we should ask around a bit, if the destroyers of our caravan passed through here, I'm sure the peasants around the area would have seen it.". If his friend agreed, It would take a some time, but Teddy would eventually lead them to the nearest farm, one that happened to have a door matching the color of his suit. He tried to tell himself this aesthetic coincidence played no part in his judgement, but one part of him just wouldn't believe it. As usual, Teddy would be in the front, to do the talking so hopefully, things didn't have to take an aggressive turn.

Fortunately, the inhabitants of this lovely place were in sight already. This would surely save them some time. Thaddius approached the window he saw the group through, and started speaking. "Greetings and Salutions! How do you do, this fine day? I hope you're doing fantastic. Would you lovely people mind if we took a few minutes of your time? I promise I'm not trying to sell you anything, we just need a bit of information...".
 
"I think there was a fight." Snarled a voice, stating a rather obvious observation due to the mass of corpses and scorch marks burning the entry to this area. Gazing over the remnants a while longer, he started to move towards the numerous piles of bodies to observe each of them for anything that discerned what happened. Bandits, that much was obvious, this neck of the woods was known for having unguarded caravans so it became a hot-spot for easy, low-risk highway robberies. These bandits, unfortunately, had the misfortune of ransacking the delivery coordinated by Teddy and Xoro'Ga.

There would be consequences greater than losing your entire group of bandits.

After a short while of looking at the strewn bodies of both those paid by the duo, and those who had perished for the contents of the caravan, the snarled voice started up again, "They have golden snakes on their arms." Xoro'Ga audibly hissed on the revelation, a hatred rising up from deep within him. He did not like snakes, not one bit. "Our man of magic surprised them, burned them alive like chickens for a feast." It was around this point in time that the carnivore felt a rumble in his stomach and caught himself looking at the well-cooked bodies in a different light. Perhaps, just a taste.. No. Not in public areas, not again.

Wandering towards the caravan he looked through the inventory, "Most still here, they took the 'precious metals'. They won't be too far away, the box was too heavy, and the tracks around this part aren't large enough for it to be a very strong creature." The lizard followed after his companion. Most people wouldn't bother to steal anything from the caravan given that it was surrounded by many souls that had passed into the afterlife, superstitions hung heavy about the dead after all. Standing a few meters behind and to the left of the otter as he introduced himself to the farmers, the 9' prehistoric bipedal lizard hung its clawed hands loosely to its sides, only a loin cloth to protect its modesty while the beaming sun beat down on its muscular figure in the morning, the time the world woke from its restless slumber.
 
In tense and stressful situations it important to remember to not panic, and also to not stab yourself, others are optional. This saying would become Kerastrina's legacy, though it would eventually be shortened in future use. It came to her after she used the dagger in her hand to cut her arm open on the tattoo, while everyone was focused on the two new arrivals. She had ment to cover the tattoo with blood or get a bandage over it, either way she might be able to slink off. What happened instead was she now had a huge gash on her arm where blood was splirting out of and starting to pool on the floor. So there she stood blood pooling her head starting to feel light and holding a bloody dagger. Her last acts were to try to put away the dagger missing the sheath and sticking it down her pants instead. While throwing herself against the wall, while screaming

"This wound just suddenly reopened" and then passed out

She had however, in fact hidden the tattoo quite effectively, as you could not see it with there being a ridiculous amount of blood flowing out of her covering her arm in a thick layer of blood.
 
Steve turned from this mysterious woman to an even more mysterious beast, an otter man, and then a lizard man. Steve was enthralled, but suddenly the mysterious woman grew even more mysterious as she suddenly hit the wall, yelled about her wound opening, and passed out. It was fair to say Steve had no idea what to do.

His father Will how ever, always the man of action began treating her and said said, "aw shucks looks like she went and tripped over herself, so I am in no way liable for legal action, the trip, which was not my fault, caused her to slam into the wall, the sudden impact causing the wound to open on her arm, the whole shock of the incident obviously causing her to pass out. Its so simple, well Steve could have figured it out."

Steve had in-fact not figured it out

"Give me a hand Steve. You don't happen to know any of that fancy, heal-y whats it, magic?"

"Well, uh... You could say I decided to master in healing just um, really late healing" Drawing out the last three words.
"Besides there is always a price to magic that's like rule number one!"

"You had told me in your letters that you could use your magic with potatoes, so get to it!"

"The Arch-wizards said there wasn't enough power in a potato to heal a paper cut."

"Hold her arm one second, I have an idea." Will ran off and was back a few seconds later carrying a red ball looking fruit "Use this!"

"What is it pa?"

"I call it a Tomato."

And so Steve healed the wound a bit with this magic fruit thing. and used some potato skins as a bandage, and then wrapped the arm in actual cloth, because he knew potatoes had natural healing skills, but hadn't had time to learn about it.

As his father brought her to a back room, Steve stood up turned to the, Honestly now less odd duo, and asked "So what can I do for you?"
 
What a show. Teddy felt bad for underestimating the farm people's ability to pull a rabbit out of their hat. No single entertainer Thaddius has met in the cities had the dedication to actually open a scar on their arm. Teddy almost felt an urge to clap, but decided that might have been a little too much. "Sorry for the trouble. Have you by any chance, seen the caravan that was destroyed? It's about half a day away from this spot, lots of destruction, lots of mayhem, just horrible. The thing is, our shipment got also stolen. So you see why we'd like to trace the people who did this. Have you seen, anything? Any suspicious activity? Any people you wouldn't have expected to see?".
 
Clawed digits rubbed the wrists of the large creature that was simply remaining a short distance behind Teddy, as truth be told he was having difficulty seeing what was happening inside of the farm window due to his height, which was rather fortunate for the bandit that was in the process of self-mutilation. Perhaps the divinities were smiling down upon her after all. Yet when the scent of blood perforated the senses of Xoro'Ga there was a moment of tension within his body: Fresh, so fresh it was a recent wound.. One that could have been re-opened from the caravan.

Plumes shot through the snout of the lizardman when he exhaled, speaking up once Teddy had his say almost as if he was losing his patience with standing around, especially when there mysteries that still needed to be solved, "Customs say it's rude to not invite us in." The words were blunt and rather uncouth, but after all, they weren't here to lollygag.
 
Steve laughed at the forwardness of the lizard man, "By all means please come in, you'll have to excuse me a moment as there obviously has been an accident and I wouldn't want anyone else to be injured."

Steve Proceeded to grab a bowlful of dirt and throw it overtop the blood then grab a hand full of hay and toss it on top as well, happy with the cleanup he turned to face the duo. "So as to your questions let me see... I did see the caravan, we passed it before coming down here. Your shipment now... though we hadn't looked overly closely, I guess I could have seen that someone would have looted it since that time, It is a pile of loot undefended at this point anyways, and as for suspicious people, or ones we didn't expect to see, well we were not expecting to see two races as rare as yours, especially this near to Vel Anir." Steve paused a moment, "For bandits to be robbing all the way out here they would have to have come on horses. The only other way is if all the farmers along this road had been bandits. That would have been quite the conspiracy and after seeing how bloody that raid on your caravan was there would bound to be a lot of the farmers missing."

"Anyways I am part of a caravan heading to Vel Anir, so If you want help looking I can lend you a hand, we farmers have no love of bandits," Steve spits on the ground, "Too often have they come and stolen our honest labours of the earth or our livestock. Besides in Vel Anir we can alert the proper authorities. Also it might be safer if we travel together, there are bandits in these parts apparently."

Steve smiled smugly, ever since leaving the College of Elbion he'd had such great ideas.
 
Teddy glanced at his 11ft. giant lizardman friend, then he looked back at the door. It was clear he was torn between going in and staying out. In the end, he looked his friend in the eye, and asked for confirmation. If Xoro'Ga gave him his blessing, he would enter the house. Otherwise, he would not, and simply say, "Sorry, on second thought, I guess we'll move on." and leave with Xoro'Ga.

If he entered the house; he "So what you're saying is, they were either on horses, or they were farmers. Farmers, because they were close, or riders, since they were fast enough to get away. The third possibility could be taking refuge in said farms...". Teddy looked at the now covered scar of the woman, "I have quite a bit of experience with medicines. Would you mind if I saw the wound?". He then turned to the old man to address him as well, "Have you seen nobody around these parts that you didn't recognize as a farmer, that seemed to be carrying stolen items? Maybe they were carried in a suspicious choice of carriage? Any faint ideas come to mind?".
 
Xoro'Ga appreciated the odd man's reply to his statement, having taken it quite nicely for how odd the dynamic duo must have appeared to him. It was to be assumed that farmers wouldn't get much interaction with creatures as unfamiliar as the two of them, which only worked to further embellish the kindness of the man as he accepted them into his house. Xoro'Ga nodded his head lightly to Teddy so that he could enter the premises knowing that the lizard had his back.

Once it came time for the lizard to enter the premises he found a problem; his size. He couldn't fit through the relatively narrow door frame, and he wasn't going to just burst through and structurally damage the premises of someone who had shown them a kindness. So it was that he waited outside of the door patiently, slightly crouched so that he could keep an eye on his pal. After all, he was being paid quite handsomely in order to ensure the man didn't run into any troubles.
 
"Alright if you want information I am not the one to ask, though I was raised here, I haven't been back for about ten years. I also as you can see from the caravan just now unpacking for the night outside just arrived back myself. You will have to wait till my father returns because my father is a land owner here and as he is the first farm on this road he will be able to answer you the best."

Almost as in summoned Bill, Steve's father entered the room again, cleaning his hand from the blood.

"Oh great, Dad this nice otter man says he's experienced with medicine and would love to see the wound."

"I mean if you really want to treat her wounds her wounds feel free, I guess, Though I would focus on the one on her leg, as that one hasn't been healed by magic yet." almost as an after thought he added, "Try to be careful around the bandages as they are stuck to her pretty tight now and she can't afford for more wounds to open. Poor thing she really needs her sleep."

Hearing the otters question Bill thought a second, "No, no one besides us farmers, besides her. I guess she was the only one to survive the raid on that caravan. She showed up at my door last night, half dead and covered in wounds. She was alone and on foot with nothing, but the torn clothes on her back. She told me her caravan had been attacked by bandits and she had survived by the skin of her teeth. She shows signs of the trauma disease: She seems to have lost trust in others, freaking out at everything she sees, and has been unable to sleep well." Bill let out a deep sigh, "I suspect that there might have been some kind of betrayal that happened on that caravan, that someone was in league with the bandits. In my opinion it would explain why she seems so untrusting to people who are trying to help her. I Mean how would you feel and react if your other beast man companion suddenly tied to stab you when you were under attack by lowlifes?"
 
Teddy sighed. It couldn't be helped, apparently. "Anyways, my fellow countrymen. It seems we must be on our way. You lot best look out so you don't get attacked yourselves. It was nice meeting you all. G'day!". Maximus left the house. He didn't want to leave Xoro'Ga out alone for long. "Let's go pal. I'm sure we'll fix this situation swiftly. Let's focus on your upcoming arena battles for now.". If Xoro'Ga agreed to leave, Teddy would go with him.
 
"Oh I'm sorry we couldn't be of more use, I will be sad to see you go." Steve was disappointed the animal men had to leave, he had found them incredibly interesting. They had reminded him of a question he wanted to ask his father though.

"Dad what about our animals, I didn't see them on my way here? I was hoping to let Leroy be with his brothers again." Steve's hand unconsciously fell to the pouch by his side with Leroy his chicken's bones.

"I have some bad news for ya there Steve, you see not long before you came back a fox got into the pen coop, and well... you'll have to see for yourself." Steve went out back and saw a horrifying sight, the chickens were all in fact dead, except for Zebadiah, but he was kinda in a bad way lurching about.

"Dad there might just be something I can do, bring me the potatoes, I didn't get my medical degree revoked for nothing." With the potatoes provided he commenced a ritual to raise the chickens as undead creatures. One thing that had passed Steves mind was that Zeb wasn't quite dead yet, he was dying and had both feet in the grave, he just hadn't actually died yet. So what he got was 25 undead and one mostly undead chicken, who kept some of its skin/feathers, who Steve decided to now call Zombie. It quickly occurred to Steve that he just razed a herd of chickens and raising the undead tended to be frowned upon. Steve made a makeshift cage for the chickens, and tried to herd them all in there, but they kept running around like chickens with their heads cut off, and only Joe could use that excuse. Eventually he did it and threw a bed sheet over it. "There now no one will ever know."

The merchants were glad for the rest stop and purchased all the vegetables they could for their continued journey. Waiting till the next morning before hitting the road once more.
 
Kerastrina realized she was in a bit of a pickle, she was stuck out here and injured, But Kerastrina was not one to give up and came up with a brilliant plan so ingenious that putting such a plan into writing would by no means do it justice. The basics of plan though went like this: This magic man seemed to be able to heal her, she should probably try to stay with him till she was healed. She was a bandit, bandits tended to steal from caravans, she should stay with the caravan so she can do that at a good opportunity. Reasons this would work were: This mage seemed to be a dumb ,unassuming type of fellow who wouldn't suspect her. Second no one expects the bandit to be part of the caravan.

Kerastrina thought for a second 'Hey thats actually a pretty good idea, I could start a new group and rob people with our inside job organization type plan. I really am just too smart for this world!'

So later that night after Will fed her some pork soup, as all the chickens had been turned into bones and their flesh kinda rotted while that happened, and when Will tucked her in and read her a bed time story and kissed her goodnight, which was odd, but still appreciated because everyone needs to be treated like they are special every now and again, and growing up just means learning to do without such care not no longer liking it, while Will was doing these things during tucking her in she asked him if it might not be a good idea for her to stay with his son as he could heal her with magic more and if he was Wills son then she knew she could trust him. With the idea planted in the fathers head she asked Steve if she could come along the next morning. making sure to have the father there to back her up, "Steve, son of Will the kind, please allow me to join you on this journey so that you can heal me, and bring me closer to my home, from which I am just so far from. Oh, dear Steven, I beseech thee, do not hide your face from me, do not turn your servant away in anger; you have been my helper. Do not reject me or forsake me, Steve my Saviour."
 
Steve was busy brushing his teeth when suddenly Kerastrina came and begged to join him, Steve was surprised and unprepared for this, but he had to save face with his father right there, "K." Nailed it, Steve did a small fist pump.

And thus the caravan set off with a new companion in tow, and continued on to Vel Anir. Steve continued to maintain the horses for the caravan causing him to spend nearly the whole time laying in the back of a wagon once more.

With little else to do Steve began singing to pass the time,

"Old Macdonald had a farm, E-I-E-I-O
And on his farm he had a cow, E-I-E-I-O
With a "moo-moo" here and a "moo-moo" there
Here a "moo" there a "moo"
Everywhere a "moo-moo"
Old Macdonald had a cow, T-Ill it got stabbed

Old Macdonald had a farm, E-I-E-I-O
And on his farm he had a pig, E-I-E-I-O
With a (snort) here and a (snort) there
Here a (snort) there a (snort)
Everywhere a (snort-snort)
Old Macdonald had a pig, It Got Turned to Soup

Old Macdonald had a farm, E-I-E-I-O
And on his farm he didn't have a horse, E-I-E-I-O
With no "neigh, neigh" here and no "neigh, neigh" there
Here no "neigh" there no "neigh"
Everywhere no "neigh, neighs"
Old Macdonald had a farm, It Just Had No Horse

Old Macdonald had a farm, E-I-E-I-O
And on his farm he had some chickens, E-I-E-I-O
With a "cluck, cluck" here and a "cluck, cluck" there
Here a "cluck" there a "cluck"
Everywhere a "cluck, cluck"
Old Macdonald had some chickens, Now they are servant for the dark one, he who distorts life, the harvester of souls, may he reign forever!"
 
the roads to Vel Anir. can be full of danger. the furrless folk know this so they travel in large herds of cattle and ox pulling all there possessions in wagons and the men they think can protect them traveling along.

lionman is weary of this land he and his men have been making a name for themselves its too easy to be spotted on this road but this is his peoples land now. the divine created the land so that lionmen could be at home were ever they may go, and so it is the divine right of of the Royal family to lay claim to any land that they see fit to claim, or so it is told in there ancient scrolls passed down from the gods to the lionmen and the lionmens sons for millennia.

the once human land although now claimed still gave a sickening feeling to lionmans stomach.

this small thicket were the trees are spaced out, the lionmen have built a blockade. several logs tied with rope are fashion into a rising gate with a crude pulley system it only takes two adult lionmen to raise and lower it.

there are only about 30 trees spaced out evenly but thick enough that once you've entered them you have to exit on the other side. the trail was far too narrow only a caravan cart would fit with no ability to turn around. building the gate at the end of this thicket ensured that at least 4 of the carts would be caught if the others run so be it 4 carts 8 ox and or horses a far deal for the ones of the caravans that flee and don't pay a fine, and if they decide to fight well lionman was pretty confident the lionboys they had in the trees far above would fire enough arrows to kill any hopes of survival. humans are weak but smart. lionman has found it easy to enslave those who can not pay there passage fees or those that survive an attack if on e is provoked.

for good measure he has heads of men that did not pay, each lionmen has a head around there neck a death necklace for sure.

lionman has learned that fear is a great motivator for humans. often times they wont even put up a fight if they have heard the rumors. lionman has seen it time and time again loan travelers or caravans, thieves even all have heard the stories and when they find that the stories aren't just some fiction you tell while drunk at a bar nor a legend told among children but real savages, blood covered paintings on there fur. lines and waves telling of there peoples might.

they cackle and scream as if a murder is happening everywhere they deafen you and steal your soul, lionman knew this.

the lionmen knew this, mere children of there people know this. humans fear death lionmen welcome it and that's what separates the animals from the divine ones.

lionman watches from the blockade sitting atop the large wood bundle perched in a crouch watching the road. he knew there was another blockade three miles from here his men were there too they claimed this land and its wild life under the domain of the lionmen all creatures that want safe passage pay a toll those who don't pay, die or worse.

the scouts above pass an elixir around, an elixir all his men have and drink it enhances there abilities and allows better night vision with a slight decrease in sight during the day but when your a young lionboy you are less likely to have to deal with the effects that the older lionmen like king lionman have to deal with. it helps them run faster and strike harder.

the scouts spot the white almost grey carts on the horizon they call down to the other lionmen who scramble to hide. they are a small troop of seven men two scouts two battle men two royal guard and king lionman himself but the shear size of these beasts made up for being such a small troop. lionman commands the men to lift and secure the wood bundle so they can lower it when the caravan enters the small woodland. lionman hid himself behind a bush. now they wait.

the caravan slowed but made the unfortunate assumption that it was safe to pass into the woods. they got about 3 carts in along with a number of humans walking along side the carts. lionman let out a scream not unlike a cougars scream it sounds as if a woman is being killed in the forest the lionmen pop out king lionman at the lead non have them have drawn there swords there presence was scary all on its own without them drawing there swords and risking a brawl. the blockade was immediately dropped making a loud clanking sound that shook the ground.

"HELLO!! furrless folk" lionman bellows his men stop the screaming they stand reedy to fight.

"i am king lionman the great! and this here road enters my land! there is a toll for folks that want safe passage. the three miles that this road goes until the fork in the road is ours. the surrounding land is ours. camps dot my lands no one passes without paying no one goes around and those that try do not live to tell the tale."

lionman says this threw gritted teeth and between growls his one good eye glows purple from the elixir and he can feel his anger mounting he has to calm himself.

he steps back and nods at Leo his second in command and heir to the throne if ever king lionman were to pass to the great divine realm.

Leo smiles and speaks with a mockingly refined voice that's too deep and not human enough for it to be believed that this 7 foot tall beast was anything but a savage.

"you will have to excuse my master its the elixirs our mages must have made them a little strong today. what say you pay for safe passage or turn around and go back were you came from of course we will be keeping the three carts that have already entered our forest"

"hes got a third choice" lionman's scout says in a soft voice he had dropped from a tree his brother in tow.

"whats that little one?" Leo asks.

"they can all die" he says as if its the most innocent thing a lionboy could say.

Leo smiles a big grin that shows blood stained teeth. "heh from the mouths of babes, so blunt, but never a truer bit of words" he pats the head of the boy lion.

he spreads his arms dramatically as if to say 'try me'

"so what say you travelers pay and obey or fall into dismay"


lionman chimes in at the last moment smiling just as wicked as his companions the other lions begin to sniff around one pipes in another demand.

"let us talk to your leader so that we may determine a price for passage. you see the poor are taxed less but the rich and boy do you look rich, have a different rather steep toll price" he cackles a sinister lauph as does the rest of the men.

"talk with you leader i shall await a response" lionman says crossing his arms
 
Hearing the commotion Steve peaked out of the cart to see what was going on. He was amazed to see such beautiful creatures as these lionmen. Hearing what they had to say he grew a lot less impressed he had to go through these lands and they had kinda spent all their money buying the potatoes that fuelled their journey. Steve went through all the options offered. He couldn't pay as they had only potatoes and the merchants product, they couldn't turn back, and they didn't want to die. None of the options seemed to work.


lionman said:
"talk with you leader i shall await a response" lionman says crossing his arms
Click to expand...

Steve had already made up his mind, so by the time the lion-thing stopped talking Steve dismissed every summoned horse and all his chicken except Leroy, and raised every head, around every lionmen's neck, the souls of those who had died before were more than willing to help. The heads all turned and let out various cries, and bit into the necks of the lionmen. Any lionmen who died were then raised as undead thralls and began protecting the caravan.

Steve called out from the middle of the caravan still in the wagon, now a lot lighter on potatoes, staying hidden, "We can't do any of those so... uh can you please let us go? I don't want to kill all of you"

Steve hoped they would listen, he already was going to have to kill all the people who would recognize his voice in this caravan now. Would be a shame if he had to kill even more people.
 
lionman saw his two support fighters die in an instance the bodys immediately rose again lionman had heard rumors of such magic but to see it in action excited him more than one would think. his other men took a few steps back looking to him for a command. lionman watched in a weird fascination.
as the bodys shook and stood now facing his men now slaves to this caravan of death.

"that was un called for" he growls

"however im impressed" he smiles wide showing teeth.

"now let me show you what ive got."

he draws his sword the blade is as wide as a man and as long as one two.

with one swing he cuts the two undead lionmen in half . blood fly's. there souls had departed when they died they were no longer his men but cutting them in half showed his brutality.

"now that we are done flexing our muscles i feel we have further business."

lionman sheaths his sword. a fight with someone who can command the dead is not a fight he can win the lionmen knew this. they tend to stay away from magic there mages dont deal in fighting magic do to the isolation there people were in for so long. lionman saw this as an opportunity to gain more power. maybe the caster would speak with his mage.

"ive decided payment for passage is simple me and my men join you with the addition of my mage. my mage would be intrigued by this power. i will send my people home seems annual raiding has come to a close. Trent send your brother to the camps tell them to go back to base get our mage to come here"

Trent whispers to the lionboy and he runs off down the road. lionman turns his attention once more onto the caravan

lionmans ears twitched as he waited for a reply. a fight with this caravan he did not want. he had bitten off more than he could chew.
 
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The head merchant was quite shocked in all that had gone down, first these lionmen and their leader, who was an absolute unit and bad ass, and now it turned out that Steve was a necromancer. Steve was a nice guy, so him being a necromancer really was quite a shock. Steve wasn't the normal evil plotting type of fellow expected of a necromancer, in fact the merchant would have been surprised if Steve had ever plotted inn his life, he just never seemed to really think ahead. All the same he knew he would need to get rid of Steve as soon as he could, but he was now the bargaining chip saving them so the merchant made up his mind.

"Alright join us on our way to Vel Anir, and after we have arrived there, our service with him will have come to a close, so you guys can do as you'd like. We have no interest in being associated with necromancers and bandits, or any other criminal any longer than we must."

"Oh... Ok... that hurts a little."

Steve began pouting in the cart, he had felt that he and the merchant had grown rather close over the trip, and now he was saying such hurtful things. He held Leroy his undead chicken close in an embrace,

"At least you won't say such hurtful things right Leroy?"

Leroy cocked his head side ways and began softly pecking at Steves neck,

"OW jeez Leroy that hurts! Ok back in your cage."

Steve stuck Leroy back into the cage and covered it with the blanket once more, not really locking the door quite yet.

The merchant continued discussing the arrangement, agreeing that if the lion men wanted to learn magic from Steve it was off no concern of his. He hated the idea of more necromancers, but as long as it didn't affect him he didn't really care, this delivery was almost done anyways and then he could go far away from here.
 
Well fine If the merchant hated criminals so much than she just wouldn't involve him in her brilliant get rich scheme.

"We'll see how he like that!"

Kerastrina stuck up her nose even if he had no idea she was a bandit, it was still no excuse for being this rude right in front of her, he had some balls on him to be doing something like this.

"Well not for long when I'm done with him!" she sneered.

Also she didn't believe for a second that that idiot Steve was actually a necromancer. Necromancers need to have at the very least some semblance of brains, Steve well... he just sat in the cart half passed out, talking to his chickens eating potatoes all day. He didn't even talk about anything interesting he mostly talked about how the weather would affect farming. Hardly anything a proper necromancer would do.

She would have to be careful and find out who the necromancer really was because there was no way she could pull off a heist while the necromancer remained hidden, it was just too risky.
 
there were a few moments of awkward silence as lionman awaited the arrival of his peoples spiritual leader and mage. a large white lion appears with 2 armed escorts. hes dressed in loose robes that drag on the ground as he walks.his eyes are purely white but he moves as if his blindness does not exists. hes as large and muscular as the rest but he does not wear any necklaces made of human bones nor does he look as savage as the rest.
"your Majesty you summoned me?" his voice is as deep as the rest of the lionmens.

"yes you will be accompanying me on a journey. i want you to learn from a young furrless folk about the dark arts. we shall travel were ever he must go until you have learned all it is that you need to learn"

the mage nods, waving his hand dismissing his guards.

lionman begins to bark orders to his royal guards in his native tongue.

his men begin to escort the caravan taking the lead.

"we will take point until you have abandoned your necromancer you are safe in this territory until then. i can not promise your safety afterwards however." he says with a grin

"lets move out!"

lionman and his 3 royal guard begin walking ahead of the caravan his guard consists of 2 adult lionmen and 1 child.
 
The caravan was glad to, at the least, not be currently under attack. They had not expected an ambush this close to the city, especially by creatures out of their fairytales. The lion-men seemed to be even willing to help guard them as they finished their treck, but they still did not really trust those who had mere moments before threatened them. This could be seen as the woman and children were quickly moved to inside the wagons and were held close, the children not understanding the danger had been fascinated with the creatures before them, but now were kept silent by the aura that now held over the caravan, knowing that people were scared, not yet themselves knowing why.

Some in the caravan were a bit relieved to be rid of a necromancer, even if they had no idea he'd been with them, these lion men were sure to kill it. They knew that only trouble ever followed necromancers and better for him to be killed sooner than later, so that they wouldn't have to be tied up in one of his doubtlessly evil plots.

Steve had only fell into a deeper pout when he realized that he'd have to summon all the horses again, meaning more of his precious potato stock would have to be used up. This meant he would have very few by the time they reached the city and he'd have to spend nearly all his income on refilling his potato supply.

Steve picked up twenty five potatoes and shoved them into the air above the bones and single corpse lying in his cage, raising every chicken one by one. he once again raised every horse that they needed for the carts, except one. For the horse that would pull the head merchants cart he instead summoned a large pig, throwing one more potato into the air he gave it a chicken hat. Steve then realized he essentially summoned a horde of horses with just potatoes and collapsed to the floor of the cart once more. "Criminal? Ya, well... your fashion is a crime." Steve muttered under his breath.
 
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