|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Wed Mar 26, 2014 4:39 pm
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Mar 26, 2014 4:41 pm
 |
|
|
|
Busthind, a bit of an awful place really, cold even near the bottom and treacherous, especially when tying one's shoes didn't seem to come all that naturally. It was a place Aprife normally wouldn't seek out on his own. With a friend, sure. On an adventure, a trip to poke and pester the residents, perhaps. But not alone unless the reason was good enough. This reason was probably a little ridiculous, but it had gotten him up here regardless.
The streets of New Hemisect had been slim pickings the past few nights, with information flung few and far between on the lips the contacts he'd made during his sweeps of digging where he shouldn't. Things should have been on fire after the ordeal with the WACKY, and he was sure it would pick back up soon, but until then he had been left wholly unsated. He'd been desperate, and the shady highblood who offered information sounded legitimate at the time, though in retrospect it may have been a prank against him for his meager yellow blood, but he was too far invested to turn back now.
"Didn't you know?" The highblood had asked, showing too much teeth. "There's a troll up on Busthind Mountain who knows a ton of military secrets."
He had been hesitant at first, but this little rumor revved his engines enough after the informational drought that he was willing to suspend his disbelief and go for the gold. The secret goings-on of the Alternian army were nothing to sneeze at, after all, especially with everything that had been cropping up lately. Even if the lead wound up only half as fruitful as he hoped it would, that was more than enough to give him an edge next time he stepped out to trade information. So, here he was, searching out some troll he had no knowledge of beyond a vague description and a pat on the back for luck. Probably a fool's errand, but Aprife didn't mind playing the game if the promise of a reward was enticing enough.
|
 |
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Mar 26, 2014 6:23 pm
|
|
|
 |
Alifax, on the other hand, spent a lot of his free time on Busthind Mountain. It was his home, and as dangerous as it was, well, he'd always considered himself a survivor, and he knew his way around its tricky crags and pitfalls as well as he knew his way around anywhere. Besides, the good part of Busthind Mountains was that rocks didn't show burns, not like the forest around the Four Fronds did. Here, Alifax could practice using fire, and then clean up quickly.
That made it awesome. It also, though, tended to make Alifax a little cocky - er, stealth-wise, that was. Even if he'd chosen a clearing surrounded by tall piles of rock on which to practice - it was still a clearing. An open space. That was good, Alifax thought, for maneuvering. It was good for going through his paces, for putting his body in each of the positions he'd practiced so many times, one after the other. It was nice, Alifax thought, to see his muscles flex as he moved, and it was pretty awesome to see the meteors swinging around like they knew exactly where he wanted them. They did, at this point; Alifax had grown quite adept at them. And, too, it meant there was just enough space for him to let his power roll through his body, let the heat coil down the length of the chain and flare into a flame right at the end - oh, yeah. That was awesome.
But it was bad, too, because there was no way that Alifax could secure an entire area from people who might be watching. And it was bad because, as accustomed as Alifax was to the feeling of heat and flame in his palm, there was no way he could get used to the sound of fire; of the little snaps and crackles of sparks. They weren't there all the time, after all, and anyone with Alifax's proximity to it would have trouble hearing someone approach.
That was Alifax's excuse for not noticing the troll who owned the shadow suddenly cast over the clearing before, well, now. Eyes wide, he willed the flames back to death and spun around, relaxing his meteors as he did. "Uh, hello!" Alifax called, hoping the other troll hadn't seen the fire (well, if he was really lucky...). It wasn't quite private property, or he'd have said something of the sort.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Mar 26, 2014 7:02 pm
|
|
|
|
Whatever thoughts Aprife had about learning in-depth military secrets went right out the window (along with his shame, if he had any) when he came across a rocky clearing, otherwise unassuming save for the troll occupying its center. What should have been his first thought was whether this dude was the rumored holder of said secrets, but two plus two only quite managed to make it to four when one was actually paying attention, and at this point, the yellowblood was far too distracted by what he'd just seen to pay anything. Fire, not figurative, but literal, lighting up the natural darkness of the mountainside. He'd been there long enough to realize that what he saw was not just some burning brush, but a troll who summoned fire from himself as he moved. To Aprife, from where he stood, it looked so effortless.
Powers were not something he was totally unfamiliar with, he'd heard of them, but this was the first time he'd witnessed any users in person. That had been an ability, hadn't it? What else could it have possibly been? Without even the slightest advance notice, he leapt down into the clearing from the rock that had walked him straight up to it. It was high enough that he gave a little stumble when he landed, but low enough that he recovered in moments and was already speeding the other's direction.
"Hey!" he finally responded, nearly upon the redblood by the time he bothered to. "That fire..." Aprife never was one to mince words and he wouldn't be starting now. "That was something else! Hey, do that again, would you?" Personal space, privacy, none of those things really mattered to him, and when he was excited, it didn't matter if they meant something to anyone else, either. At least he had the decency to stop before he was in the guy's face, though just barely.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Mar 30, 2014 11:02 am
|
|
|
|
"I..." began Alifax, and then he examined the other troll. He looked healthy, if anything. Familiar, maybe, but Alifax wasn't too great at remembering faces: Pyruet was evidence enough of that. "I was just training. With my meteors." He held them up, a little defensively. "There was just..." He glanced around, but - but, well, Alifax had chosen an excellent place for playing with fire. The only flammable objects around were himself, Aprife, and their clothing. Maybe some of the dirt, if Alifax wanted to be technical about it, but dirt was not very likely to spontaneously combust.
He backed away a few steps, clearly uncomfortable with the proximity of the other troll, and tightened his grip on the chain between his meteors. "I can't do it again," he said, although it was probably clear that he was lying through his teeth. Hell, even Alifax's symbol, which he wore rather prominently on his coveralls, confirmed that: he'd regretted picking the quite blatant flame icon for a while, but he'd always hidden it behind admiration of fire (it was obvious to anyone who examined the state of his clothing that Alifax played with fire often). "I ran out of...out of matches," he added, rather lamely. (There were no matches on the ground, and nor was there any sort of wood or canisters of gas, which Alifax might have used to light or put out the flames. Alifax never needed fuel for his fires.)
Still, though, Alifax wanted the other guy to believe him. There was just - there was just so much riding on other trolls not knowing about his abilities. Although, his traitorous mind said: there was Pyruet, and Amicae and Hazzan, and Frossa, and that blueblood, all of whom, well, knew about his abilities. Alifax frowned. What could he do, though? He...he trusted Hazzan and Frossa, for sure (even as rude and impulsive as Frossa could be), and Pyruet was enough of a sucker for her dumb justice stuff that she'd never tell anyone. And Amicae...well, that was Amicae.
The blueblood hadn't blabbed yet, either, although Alifax was willing to wager that his attention span was short enough for it to not matter very much.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Feb 25, 2015 11:54 pm
|
|
|
|
Now, Aprife might not have reached his full potential as far as deductive reasoning was concerned, not yet, but Alifax had to know his bogus story wouldn't hold water. Er, fire. That made no sense, but there wasn't time to debate his thought processes, not when he was teetering on the edge of a scoop. "Really? That's disappointing." Or it would be if it were true. "You couldn't get some more? Matches, I mean."
There was an obvious tone in his voice, firmly disbelieving and insistent all wrapped into one obnoxious package. If he wasn't close before, he definitely was now, all but ignoring the signs of discomfort, the way his new acquaintance gripped his weapon. A warier troll might be off-put by the idea that one false move could earn him a rather nasty looking meteor to the skull, but the yellowblood was held strong by the fact that he just didn't seem to give a s**t most of the time. That he was up here on Busthind at all was a testament to that, at least.
"Y'know, though," he was looking over the tattered remains of the pant legs this guy was sporting, "I don't really think you need any matches." What went into controlling something like this, Aprife had no idea, but the singes made him think it took some real effort to manage. Maybe it was only that way at first, though. It still stood that from a distance, the redblood had been undeniably elegant in his ability.
"It would be really great if you could share." A hand was reaching for the bag at his hip. He meant no actual threat by it, not really. It was more of a prod to see how he'd react. Some had buttons that were easy to push, others not so much. Did he feel threatened, would he make a move? Ideally he'd simply give in and admit, laughing all the while, that he'd been lying and yes, he could control fire just as Aprife assumed.
They weren't friends that way, though. They were barely acquaintances, really. Regardless of what he hoped for, he was mentally preparing for whatever came next.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
thyPOPE rolled 2 6-sided dice:
4, 4
Total: 8 (2-12)
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Aug 16, 2015 10:28 pm
|
|
|
|
Alifax never reacted in a way that was ideal. That was probably the most contradictory thing about him. If he'd laughed it off and changed the subject, maybe, it'd have come out fine for both of them. But Alifax just plain wasn't good at improvising: he liked the direct answer. It wasn't that slanting the truth was hard - Alifax had about two tones of voice, and they were 'deadpan' and 'angry'. Usually if he was nervous it was the words that gave it away, and not his ability to lie. But that was the problem. He wasn't really great at coming up with lies, and it was fairly common knowledge that some Alternians had abilities that made them a little different from most trolls. "My hive's a ways away," he said to the first question.
But to the second question, Alifax just stared. What was he supposed to say to that? It was impossible that a troll didn't need matches? It ******** wasn't. That was how helmsmen worked. Maybe Aprife had been seeing things? He hadn't been, though, and there was the acrid scent of smoke lingering to prove it. And Alifax had already talked about a fire, anyway. And, belatedly, Alifax realized there wasn't anything in the environment to indicate flames.
Okay, inhale. Exhale. Meet that guy's eyes. He was a yellowblood. That wasn't that much higher than red, right? He'd managed to chase that blueblooded guy away from his hive and surprisingly enough no one had come for him. "Why not fight me for them, then?" he said, settling on the easiest answer. He already had his meteors in hand, so he didn't need to wait for a reply: he just swung.
The meteors felt a bit heavier against a different person's skin than he'd expected it to, though. Oh, that was right: the ones he'd gotten from Bloodfest were, well, really good. Military grade, or something. That could only mean good things.
HP: 20/20
military grade meteor hammers
Alifax did 5 damage to Aprife!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
saedusk rolled 2 6-sided dice:
1, 1
Total: 2 (2-12)
|
|
Posted: Tue Aug 25, 2015 7:55 pm
|
|
|
|
There was barely an ounce of hesitation between the inquiry and the followup, Aprife had to give him that he was quick. When the meteors met their mark against him, he'd only pulled his scourge from his bag and slung said bag around against his back. No time to block, not even a second to brace, just thinking about dodging was out of the question, too. So what if he'd been asking for fire, there was never an expectation he'd get it like this. The weight of the weapon ramming into his flesh and jarring his nerves felt like fire even when it wasn't.
"s**t," he hissed, feet dancing beneath him surprisingly well despite the pain that seared across his chest from where he'd been hit. Only then, a respectable distance away, did he let himself wheezily catch his breath. "You ******** got me, nice one."
There was a grin stretching his lips as there almost always was, even if it looked strained with his brows knitted together. Challenge accepted. The reward was far too intriguing to give up without the fight he'd essentially picked.
For a short moment he fiddled with his horn rings, then took off at Alifax as they began to glow, looking to fake him out.
HP: 15/20
Novice Agility Artifact A (1/2)
Aprife is using his agility artifact (+1 difficulty increase to hit for opponent's next attack)
Deals 0 damage!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
thyPOPE rolled 2 6-sided dice:
3, 6
Total: 9 (2-12)
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Aug 26, 2015 2:09 pm
|
|
|
|
HP: 20/20
military grade meteor hammers
Alifax did 0 damage to Aprife!
The guy was - this guy was grinning. Was there something special about those...things on his horns? Narrowing his eyes, Alifax aimed at him and -
Well, it'd been a powerful swing, anyway. If this newcomer had been anywhere near it, Alifax was certain that it would've hurt. As it was, it didn't even really seem to come within reach of the guy. He was quick and nasty about it, and that made Alifax's bloodpusher thump. At least he hadn't seen fit to retaliate yet, even if it did seem like the rings were, uh. ********. Alifax gathered his meteors again and waited for the yellowblood to make the next move. That was the best course of action - he wasn't even sure how well the dude handled his weapon, yet. There was no need to go rushing in when he'd already landed the first strike.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
saedusk rolled 2 6-sided dice:
1, 6
Total: 7 (2-12)
|
|
Posted: Mon Sep 07, 2015 11:28 am
|
|
|
|
The satisfaction of dodging a blow was always strong, even unaided by his horn rings. When they were active, though, it was like dancing to an entirely different beat. Satisfaction was an understatement. The strain left his expression as he continued to smile, stepping a few paces back now that he'd landed himself to Alifax's side.
"C'mon, we really gotta fight?" Considering the vague threat he'd pulled earlier, he had no room to talk, but Aprife was utterly shameless. "Is it that big a deal?"
Even if he would've preferred a direct revelation, a realization dawned on him as he stood there, poised to defend against the next attack. If he could prove a tough enough opponent, the redblood might just pull out all the stops, fire included. It was obviously a dangerous thought, but hell, he believed he could handle it. And if he couldn't, there was always strategic retreat...
Alright, Invasi, time to get serious. His fingers clenched tighter around the handle of his scourge.
HP: 15/20
Novice Agility Artifact A (1/2)
Deals 0 damage!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
thyPOPE rolled 2 6-sided dice:
1, 5
Total: 6 (2-12)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
saedusk rolled 2 6-sided dice:
6, 5
Total: 11 (2-12)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Reply
