Lethal Reword 2: Broken World

B

Boss Frost

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Original poster
Time passes since the destruction of earth. The spirits of that planet become lost for a while, until reaching different planes of existence... some moving into a peaceful afterlife, some finding their way to the new planet on their own... some, with a greater plan for them, are placed centuries after the new planet's creation. These old souls begin once again, and they begin to grow, becoming adults or late teens... though they have all left home for one reason or the other, the Will of the World will match with their own in a confrontation of epic proportions. For now, however - there is life.

Lethal Reword 2
Broken World

The Western Continent. Forgotten by the ages past, found nearly a century ago by explorers from the eastern continent and colonized into what many consider the freest continent to live in - with far more opportunity to make one's fame and fortune than the others put together.

Sadly, this has made the continent a haven for warmongers, bandits, and opportunists... as well as the monsters of the continents, including the ones left here. The climate range is incredible - something of every time of climate here, though most of it remains grassy frontier-land. The capital, a near-legendary place called Anachronost, is considered by many to be the crowning point of achievement in the world for it's reliance on a new type of magic called 'Science'.

However, our story does not start there. Our story starts in the smaller frontier town known as Banik. There is fear in this town. The guardsmen, normally relaxed and genial or busy with pickpockets and drunks, grip their weapons tightly and continually pace their stations. Several shops are closed, while others offer weapons (even the grocers' and taverns) in addition to their normal wares. A child cries out as the men flinch, looking toward the happily playing boy - and go back to their pacing.

Though the odd appearances of our heroes and heroines might delay their progress into the town for a moment, even the most monstrous-appearing of them are allowed into the city - though cannot get the feeling off of them that they are being watched... and that something is terribly wrong with this town.

The tension in the air is palpable - one could even taste it. Many townsfolk can be seen glancing frightfully at the dark, looming trees of the nearby swamp... waiting.

Story Start: "Bitter Waters"

"Hold it right there!" A tall guard looks down upon the young female attempting to enter the city. Her gloved hands fly to the hood covering her face, pulling it further down upon her - but she does stop to listen to what the guard has to say.

Her body was slight - almost serpentine in quality, and so petite she could easily pass for a very young, delicate girl, were it not for the fact she was traveling alone... or her garb. Her clothes were form-fitting while being loose enough to allow flesh to breathe. These clothes were done in the norther style of sewing scraps together to create a hodgepodge-looking outfit... good for traveling, but since it was made of cloth instead of the furs it would normally be made of in the north, made it alright for traveling these southern parts of the continent.

"Let me see your face." The guard commanded, and the girl backed away a few paces... before lowering her hood. She glared at the guard before her... she was pretty, in a monstrous sort of way. Her face was humanoid, her features soft... she would have seemed extraordinarily pale. In fact, the guard could clearly see scales around her neck, traveling up to cover her entire right cheek and eyebrow. Her hair was a brown color, as were her eyes - a gloved hand rose to re-place the glasses that had fallen slightly in the quick movements.

The guard let out an involuntary gasp, and the girl rose her hood again... she bent her knees, raising her arms as if preparing for a fight... when the guard nodded, letting her pass into the city. Warily watching him, the girl moved around, and bolted into the city. No one attempted to stop her.
 
Angela's day had been..strange, to say the least. The people in this town seemed on edge, like they expected an attack at any moment. Actually, that's exactly what it seemed like.

What made it strange was that there were no obvious threats on the way in. If they feared some strange monsters, then the guards must have been crazy to let Angela, her purple-tinted skin, cloak of feathers, and the sword she was wearing within five miles of their town. Grocery stores also didn't usually have maces on sale.

She wandered down the street, the golden cloak of wings on her back twitching slightly. Something was up. She'd have to ask what was going on-

Angela stopped, her though process interrupted as she walked right into some running girl and knocked her to the ground. She knelt down next to the girl, holding out a hand for her.
"Sorry! Here, let me help you up."
 
The girl fell backward with an 'oomph', hand flying up to keep her head obscured by the hood. Her entire body winces as Angela reaches an arm out to her - but at the offer to help her up, the girl stops... and looks at who she had bumped into.

Her hand lowers from her hood, though it stays on. She offers the gloved hand out, allowing herself to be let up, before scooting away quickly, taking a submissive, shy stance. The half-cape covering her right shoulder fluttered a bit, hands pressed to her side. She stood there in silence, looking over Angela for a few moments.

Finally, she spoke: "You're not all human, either." Her voice comes out through the hood - her tone one of wonder, breath visible like that seen on a frosty morning. The sun reflected from her glasses under the hood, giving the appearance of two wide, glowing yellow eyes within. "I apologize for bumping into you. Are you in a hurry to go somewhere...?" Her hands moved from their place at her sides to clasped together in front of her - a polite position.
 
"Well, as for my race, it's..strange." Angela gestured towards the cloak of feathers with a gauntleted fist. "That's part of a thing I can do. It's..complicated. But no, I'm not quite human. Slightly off. I'm not entirely sure what I am, but I'm sure it's not too important."

She pauses a bit to examine the girl. The two must certainly look odd, a heavily armored woman and a young girl standing in the street.
"No, I wasn't going anywhere important..I'm Angela. Who are you?"

(Angela has Lammasu Mantle and Wormtail Belt shaped. The end result is +2 deflection to AC against EVIL, and +3 natural armor.)
 
The young girl's breath flows out as she states, "Frost... My name is Frost." She walks forward slowly, her short statue making it easy to conceal her head by tipping it downwards, covered by the hood - which, as it was revealed, was attached to the half-cape. Her white-and-blue clothes were covered in stylized designs of wind and snowflakes.

"I don't have a last name, either, Angela." The hood 'nods'. "I'm slightly off from human, too - but I know what I am. I had to hear about it a lot when I was younger... but it was all worth it. I still have a family to come home to." She sighs slowly, a great deal of mist passing her lips. "I passed this town, and came in to check it out and re-stock my supplies... hunting is... not my deal."

The mental image of the small girl hunting would probably be an odd one... though a sharp eye can spot the small, lumpy pouch attached to her belt - one similar to the kind that holds spell components. "Everyone is so one edge... it's weird."
 
"Ah, nice to meet you, Frost." Clearly the girl didn't care to elaborate on herself, or why she was hiding her face. This would make dealing with her very "Fun".

Angela frowned slightly at the mention of the town's oddity.
"Yeah, I've noticed that too...listen, why don't we ask someone? That way we can help out if they need it."
 
Frost stares at Angela's feet for a few moments, considering it. "...Okay." The meek voice asks, before slowly walking over to one of the guards and tugging gently on the back of his shirt. "...Excuse me... why is everyone so afraid?"

The man turns, blinking towards Frost, then looking over at Angela. "...Well... it's not that big of a secret. You two are visitors, right...?" The guard nods, not waiting for a reply. "Jenkins... a merchant from our neighboring town, Osell... he was returning from selling his wares, and saw the whole thing. First, half the bloody town exploded... Osell, that is... and then fell over into the swamp. The next thing he knows, the whole thing is a mess. People screaming and running around... fights on the battlements, and then he sees what started it all."

The man gestures with his hands, making a scary face. "Slinking out of the march come these things with their spears held high... lizard-folk. They used to be allies of Osell, but they turned on the town, ransacking it... making it their own. Jerkins ran back here, and he nearly climbed over the wall just to talk to our mayor. Jenkins packed up and left soon after, saying those lizards will be the death of us all. No telling what they'll do next..." The guard stares off cautiously towards the swamp. "If I were you, ma'am, I'd take your daughter and get out of here."

Frost makes a hissing noise under her hood. "We're unrelated." She turns stiffly from the guard. "I'm not a kid, either. Thanks for your help." She stomps off, standing near Angela again. "You got your answer. Happy?" Her tone was angry, and her hands were clenched into fists.
 
A relatively tall halfling walks out of the tavern and scowls while unknowingly reaching to his amber amulet. He then notices the two unusual people and walks toward them. He is making no attempt of hiding his chain shirt with strapped on metal plates or weapon under his brown leather coat and it would probably do little good with his fangs and claws. "Hey, have you two managed to figure out what's going on here? This place is really unnerving"
 
Another lone figure approached the town. This one wearing yellowed leather armour over green cloth, his yellow face open for all to see, black hair tied back into a pony-tail. His eyes where plain green with no distinction marking iris or pupil. The guard didn't need to stop him, he stopped just outside the town and waited for the guard to nod him past. He looked like he had come a long way as his armour and clothes there full of dirt and his boots where caked with dry mud. He carried no visible weapons as he walked down the street towards the three travelers. He stopped a short distance away and looked up and down the street. The local population was obviously scared and the only reason he could see where the ones talking to each other in front of him, but if they had been allowed into the town then they where not the answer. He listened to the halfling's question and awated the answer himself.
 
Frost turns to look at the halfling, still scowling a bit from the guard mistaking her for a child. She was at least taller than the halfling. Reaching up with a white-gloved hand to tip the white hood, better hiding her face from someone near her height, she answers in a cold manner: "Lizardfolk. They attacked a nearby town. That's why."

The slim female then turned, beginning to walk away from the halfling. Her posture clearly advertised her anger, and it wouldn't take a diviner to tell the waves of magic flowing from her - as those waves manifested visibly. Swirls of cold-feeling snow swirled around her - the effects of a prestidigitation, though Frost felt it fitting for her mood.
 
"Why would he think I'd be a mother.."

Angela scratched her head, then followed after Frost, noticing the drop in tempurature.
"Hm...want to help me work things out with the lizardfolk? I think you could be handy."
 
"Work things out...?" The hooded figure tilts it's head slightly, before lowering it. Recalling names by cruel people of her own age when she was younger - just a few years ago, in fact. The light glinted from the glasses under her hood, causing the 'wide glowing eyes' effect once more.

"Yes... I would like to know what's going on. I'll come with you." The aura of cold ends as she drops the prestidigitation spell, before shrugging. "As you probably deduced from my name and my clothes... I use the ice and cold to my advantage. Lizardfolk are cold-blooded, so if things get ugly... well." A chilling chuckle could be heard. "Then pity them."
 

"I don't CARE that you lost half the shipment!" Rhidel's booming bass voice echoed through the Merchant Quarter. "You hired me to protect against bandits and raiders, not a fucking lizardfolk war party! You're godsbedamned lucky we managed to get your drover out alive!"

He brought a fist down on the table, hard, splintering it and cutting off the merchant's protest. "You're intimidating enough to scare off most bandits as it is," he mocked in a rumbling falsetto. "You won't need more swords. I bet you wish you'd taken my advice NOW, don't you? Just give me my fucking pay before I punch you in the face under the default clause."

As soon as the merchant counted out his paycheck, the dark-skinned half giant grabbed the stack of coin and, stowing it, stalked away in the direction of the gate, his green crystalline armor flashing angrily as it caught the light. He stopped just in sight of the gate to lean against a wall, running a hand through his messy hair as he calmed himself.

 
Frost continues to walk with Angela through the city, gloved hand up to her chin, arm crossed across her chest as she thought things over. Magic-users of her type weren't often regarded for their wits or intelligence... thankfully, Frost was a bit different in that regard. "I'm only thinking of this on a martial standpoint, but I think I should be able to provide aid in the way of my magic. You don't seem to be a combat-specialist yourself - I apologize if I judge you wrong on appearance, but I think we need someone a bit more... expendable. Larger, to stand in our way and take a few hits and distract any hostiles to my phenomenal cosmic power."

She sighs again, a hissing sound which caused a great deal of mist to pass her lips. She looks up suddenly, seeing one creature standing head and shoulders above anyone else in the town, alongside an equally-large blade. "Perfect," she states, sprinting towards the man. "Hey! You!"

She slows down before reaching him, looking out from her hood, the sun causing her glasses to 'glow'. "Are you interested in some employment? Maybe strike back at the lizardmen a bit? I've got twenty gold up front and an equal share of the loot that says you do, and if you're any good, it should be a piece of cake! What do you say...?" She flexes her own arm, putting a hand on the smallish bulge that appears. "Not that I'd be useless myself, but we could use the extra muscle. Not typecasting or anything, but you seem able to handle yourself."
 
"Hey! You!"

The shout got Rhidel's attention, and he straightened, before the girl stopped in front of him and delivered her proposal. He politely listened to her, then considered for a moment before dropping to one knee to talk to her, bringing them more-or-less eye-to-eye. "Twenty gold plus an equal cut of the spoils?" He rumbled. "That sounds fair to me, but I get first choice on anything crystal."

He gave the girl a once-over. Short and thin, and the shadows of her hood didn't hide her scales from eyes such as his. He "hmmph'd" and held out his hand to shake. "I hope your team consists of more than just myself. I'm good, but not that good. My name is Rhidel. And you are?"
 
"Figured as much! Got an eye for the deal." She grins under her hood, counting out the pieces of gold she was keeping from her pouch, shoving it in a pocket and handing the twenty pieces to him. "Here you go - as an act of good faith, as it were."

She grins, "Sharp eye, too. We would need more than just you and I, though I have confidence in your abilities, which is why I'll agree to the deal about the crystal." Not like they'd find much crystal in a swamp, she figured. He juts her thumb over her shoulder. "That one's coming with us. She'll get around to introducing herself in a bit - my own name is Frost. Not sure what she does, but I'm a sorceress... ice magic specialty, though I'm sure you'd have figured that out with a glance."

Her hand reaches out and shakes his - she was stronger than a human of her height should be. Nine hells, she was slightly stronger than someone normal-sized. Not that it would mean much for the large half-giant. "I do so like an honest deal. We're not going to fly off just yet - I feel the need to ask some higher-ups about this whole city-attacking thing. A higher-up in town should be able to tell me about a neighboring city, right? Might get a few hints as to how it all went down, or at least some advice. Sound like a plan?"
 
Kunxaar couldn't help but hear the conversion as he was walking over to ask the exact questions that Frost was planning top ask the 'higher ups'.

He turned to see the two women and the half giant talking and stopped. They where planning on going to the other town, and by the sounds they could use another blade.

He walked up behind the women and stopped unsure how to introduce himself.

“The town you are planing to visit, at would be overrun with these lizardmen, yes?” he spoke slowly and clearly. “Perhaps I could go with you, for an equal share as well? By the sounds you could use an extra fighter.” he looke at the faces of each of the others, “My blades would be of use to you, no?”
 
Frost turns, eyebrow raising at the Xeph before him. Sunlight glimmered across her glasses as she looked him up and down. "...Blades? You know you shouldn't hide your weaponry. It's sneaky. Unless you're one of those unarmed fighters. What are they called...? From the monasteries? Monks? I'm not looking to join any religion, so calling your unarmed weaponry 'blades' is sort of a misnomer... and a little sick. Pike off."

She turns, is quiet for a few moments, before turning back around to face him, tone changed. "Ahhh, wait. A position just opened up! Sure, you can join us on our quest to go check up on and-or destroy every single one of them. Welcome to the team." She smiles, thinking of a dozen different uses for the man... bait... meatshield... distraction... emergency rations...
 
Kunxaar smiled and nodded. His smile suggested he saw what Frost was thinking but knew something she didn't. “My name is Kunxaar and I'm sure you'll find me most useful.”

He stepped back and allowed the others to continue talking. Frost has quickly established herself as their leader, and was technically the one who had just hired the help so it was best too do things her way for now.
 
"My powers are generally strange and confusing..but I can help shield you. I've got some clerical training, and can splice bits of magical beast's souls onto my own for different effects.." She lifted her wings slightly. "That's how I got those things."

Angela gave a short greeting to Rhidel and Kunxaar, noticing slightly that frost seemed to be..plotting something with the second one. She did her best to ignore it while moving the conversation forward.
"Right, I think that for the rest of the day, we should find other people who can help out and learn as much as we can about the lizardfolk. Then tomorrow we can set out fully prepared and rested."