Xavori
The Storming of LeGiOn's Tower
I was wandering in southern Sosaria near Trinsic. I was in the
secret valley of mages that had once been a great place for me to
lure victims since escape was so difficult. As I wandered, I
noticed a mage in extremely bright colored clothing. I quickly
moved closer and realized it was Magical Bubba, one of Sosaria's
most infamous killers. I had seen him twice before, once in
Trinsic in front of the mage shop when I was little more than a
rogue who snooped through packs and stole what little of value I
could find, and then again when I was exploring the land in a
robe trying to ascertain how the Demon Lag would attack and was
murdered by Mythaigrel's magic arrow. I decided Bubba would make
a good ally in gaining my vengenance on the fool mage that had
killed us both, and maybe even have a few other adventures
together.
"Hail, milord!" I called out.
"Well met," he replied. "I am the Magical
Bubba."
"I have heard of thee. I am Xavori."
"And I have heard of thee," he replied.
We continued to talk, during which several members of his
guild, the Insidious Brotherhood showed up. After several
minutes, one of them mentioned a guild named LeGiOn. Since they
sounded annoying enough, and I had nothing better to do, I
decided to accompany them. Bubba opened a gate near their castle,
and we all went through. A quick jog took us to the doors of
their tower.
I saw one member of their guild inside. His name was Punisher
and he was decked out in completely mismatched plate mail.
Immediately, what little esteem I had for their guild disappeared
since they could not even afford to outfit their members
properly.
We stood outside the doors for several minutes. The members of
the Insidious Brotherhood were constantly taunting them, trying
to get them to fight us, but this LeGiOn proved to cowardly to
face them. We then heard a horse running nearby and quickly gave
chase.
The Insidious Brotherhood members and I surrounded the
horseman. Magical Bubba demanded a donation of all of his gold
and armor (I would have only asked for his gold, but since I was
only a guest, I refrained). The horseman spouted some vulgarity
and sent his horse into a gallop. Immediately, Gorax, a mage of
the Brotherhood, and Bubba threw fireballs after him.
Unfortunately, with the weakness of the mystic ether, the
horseman was barely phased. I then gave chase, hoping that his
horse was more used to fighting than running.
I have practiced long and hard at running down my victims. I
know full well I could make my life easier if I simply killed
them outright rather than gave them a chance to buy their life,
since most of them take this chance to flee. However, I live for
the challenge, rather than the money (which I actually have no
need for), so have never quit giving them warning. In turn, this
gave me many chances to become a good runner and to perfect
moving quickly through the trees as I chased people down. This
practice paid off in that I was able to run by and cut off the
horseman. With a few quick jabs of my war fork, he was dead. The
members of the Insidious Brotherhood quickly caught up to me and
the corpse.
"I had always thought the tales I'd heard of thy fork
were exaggerated," said Bubba.
I smiled and looked at my fork and then chuckled as I realized
I had my weakest one in hand.
"I wasn't even using my magic fork," I replied.
One of the members of the guild then reminded Bubba they
needed to pray for the fallen horseman. They then circled the
corspe, and cast a fire field to incinerate the body. I stepped
away from the flames and started watching the whole proceeding,
slightly nervous about such reverance for death.
The ceremony continued with Magical Bubba praying that the
fallen fighter would be purified in the flames and be able to
achieve the level of virtue that Bubba himself had found. I
myself found little virtue in the killing of others, just sport
and profit. They finished their prayer over the charred corpse,
and then cut it into pieces. They rearranged the pieces so that
the body was properly laid out. The burned remains quickly rotted
away, but I grabbed the head and gave it to Bubba since the
Brotherhood had mentioned they collected them. We then went back
to the LeGiOn's tower.
When we arrived, the doors to the tower were still closed, and
Punisher had been joined by the Dread Lord Halzon. He appeared to
be a very good fighter and I began looking forward to the fight.
However, again the members of the LeGiOn proved cowards and
remained hidden behind the walls of their tower.
"I grow tired of this," sighed Bubba. "Remember
the fun we had burning Buccanneer's Den to the ground. Let us do
so again."
The other members of the guild agreed and Bubba prepared to
open a gate to the town. An idea hit me, and I quickly rushed
next to Bubba.
I whispered, "Open the gate and I shall walk towards it,
but not through it and hide. Hopefully, this will lead them to
believe we are gone and can safely leave their tower. Once they
open the door, I will rush in and keep the door opened for
everyone else."
"'Tis a good plan," replied Bubba.
So Magical Bubba opened the gate, and we walked towards it.
Just before I entered, I hid. Then the waiting began.
After a while, a thief came by and started taunting Bubba.
This led me to believe he had been in communication with the
LeGiOn members in the tower and that are plan was not going to
work exactly as expected. I started trying to decide on a new
variation of the plan so that the long wait would not be in vain
(it was 45 minutes real-time without moving at all--talk about
patience). Then I saw Lord MeTaLLiCa, a grandmaster swordsman,
outside the tower. I smiled, and attacked him, hoping that his
guild mates would rush to his aid.
I quickly gained the upper hand against MeTaLLiCa and he
started heading for the tower door. I followed close, thrusting
quickly with my war fork. Then, Punisher opened the door and came
out to aid him. I immediately broke off my fight with MeTaLLiCa
and bolted through the door. At the same time, Bubba did likewise
and we both ran inside. I rushed up the stairs and hid, pausing
to get a look at the situation. We were in the castle, but
significantly outnumbered. However, I quickly noticed that only
Lord Halzon was still inside and the door was closed and locked.
I quickly rushed back down the stairs to dispatch him before he
could let his guild mates back inside.
As soon as I attacked, Halzon started moving towards the door.
Magical Bubba stepped close to him, and Halzon took a swipe at
him. Bubba stepped back and unleased several fireballs. Between
my war fork and Bubba's magic, Halzon didn't last long. With him
gone, the rest of the LeGiOn who had been in the battle were
trapped outside. I chuckled at how the roles reversed themselve
so quickly.
Bubba and I quickly started digging through the various chests
looking for a key to the castle. Unfortunately, none could be
found. Deciding to be truly annoying to the castle's owners, I
started stuffing all the furninture into the backpacks that were
lying around the castle. I didn't expect to be able to carry it
off, but I did want them to have to spend the time trying to get
everything back into place.
Magical Bubba invited me up to the roof to taunt the LeGiOn
members who were mulling around outside. I followed him up, and
we shared a good laugh at their expense.
|
Stratics Central
