Post by Jericho on May 30, 2019 11:23:39 GMT -8
Name: Your Event
Requirements: Approved Character
Job: An event has happened to your character alone. What happened? Write a story about some big event that just happened to your character. This event can be done once a month.
Bonus: Receive an injury that lasts 3 threads.
Payout: +3 exp, +$250
It was early in the day, as could be told by the orange hue that the world had; the sky, the tops of trees, the walls, and seemingly the air itself. There were no clouds either, only the sun and its rays. Jericho could only see this through the half-collapsed covering over the abandoned train tracks. Beneath the covering it was darker, only lit up by the occasional hole in the walls of the station the tracks ran through.
There were actually two sets of tracks; one of them, currently stood upon by Jericho, was empty aside from the grass that had grown over it. The other set still had an ancient train corpse, with rusted wheels, broken windows, and faded and chipped paint. It still had a hint of yellow in it, with the occasional ineligible letter or symbol hear and there. Jericho gazed into each window, analyzing for signs of life.
He had gotten reports of a suspicious foreign trio entering the territory. Their last seen location was this train station. He had sent some of his own to investigate, but they never returned. Even now, he arrived with two guards, and both of them had disappeared. So it was just him, very vigilant, very cautious, a blade of bone at the ready beneath his palm.
He stepped into the space between two of the cars, and peaked around the corner to see the corridor where people used to gather to step onto the train. Aside from fallen pieces from the ceiling, dust, and a rat, it was empty. He stepped up to the stone walkway, past the faded red line of warning, and approached one of the doors into the trains. It used to be a sliding door, but through the years the doors had lost more and more of their ability to slide anywhere.
After examining his target, Jericho reared up his leg and kicked just to the right of the seal between the doors a first time, second time, third time, each kick bending the metal a little more, and on the fourth, the right door flew open wide enough to walk in. Every clank from every kick echoed in the metal facility.
Entering the car, Jericho saw a man sitting on the floor of the train with his head against the door to the next car on the other side of the walkway between the chairs. Immediately Jericho tensed and prepared himself for a fight.
“Who a-”
“Yknow I'm always the one sitting out in the open while they hide. Every time. Just cus i dont know some fancy spell,” the man interrupted Jericho, his voice rough and partially southern.
Jericho was confused at the statement, until a woman appeared in front of the sitting man out of thin air and threw a spear into Jericho's left shoulder, causing Jericho to stumble back a few steps. A masked man just as quickly entered the broken sliding door and pushed the spear into the door to the car behind Jericho, nailing him into the metal.
Jericho made no sound during the ordeal, and only observed when it was all over. The woman that had appeared walked forward, studying her prey, and sat in one of the seats just before the sliding doors off to Jericho's left. She probably chose this chair because it was one of the few unobscured by a row in front of it. The masked man sat in the same set of chairs on Jericho's right, so that the trio was now vertically symmetrical; the woman to his left, the big man in the middle, and the hooded man off to the right. The man in the back stood up and began walking down the aisle as the woman spoke:
“Not a peep after being impaled?”
Jericho could easily escape, but if they wanted to kill him they would have. They wanted to talk, opening opportunity for investigation. So instead, Jericho analyzed the situation.
Replaying the situation in his mind, Jericho determined that the woman phased through the door and the man sitting against it. She and the masked figure worked together and both wore hoods and darker clothing, showing an obvious connection between them. The bigger rougher looking man seemed a bit out of place; he was more likely used in situations where stealth was not an option. However, he and the woman both shared the same symbol across their left eye. The masked man likely had it too, but it was impossible to confirm due to his mask.
"Hey,” the bigger man spoke, now standing between the two sets of chairs his allies sat in, “the lady asked you a question.”
If he were to be silent the entire time, it would anger them and lead to conflict which lead to less answers. The best course of action was to answer.
“I have high pain tolerance due to my abilities.” Normally, he would hide his abilities so as to have a surprise advantage, but they had probably already deduced his possession of abilities by the blade of bone extruding from his wrist.
“Interesting,” the woman replied, nodding subtly as she examined his physicality. After a brief moment of silence, she continued: “Recently we've been attacked by two guys with bone masks. I assume they were yours, no?”
Jericho nodded. “They are under my command.”
“We, I'm sorry to say, were forced to rid ourselves of the problem that they were. They're not going to be reporting to you anytime soon. However, I do have some good news for you. The two fellas you brought with you today aren't dead yet, they're still very much alive in that car behind us, only because they didn't actually try to attack us. The only reason you're still alive is because you haven't tried to attack us. So keep that in mind while we chat for a bit, yea?”
Jericho nodded in a single motion.
“Who are you?”
“I am Jericho Veritas, commander of law enforcement in the Crimson Kingdom, Territory #235, currently under the rule of Cecelia Ridel.”
The woman had a look as if she was surprised how easy it was. “Well, Jericho, why are you looking for us? Are you trying to kill us?”
“I am investigating reports of a suspicious group of three foreigners, assessing to see if you are a threat. If you have killed my men, then your threat level is higher than most. However, I understand if my men were killed because of attack without justification. Which is why I am here to observe myself, because my men unfortunately are not flawless soldiers. I see your act of not killing the men I brought with me today as a sign of peace, which is the only reason I have not released myself. Now that I have stated these things, I would like to know who you are and why you are here, so that I may assess how I am to respond moving forward.”
The woman looked to her companions, and they looked back at her, seemingly impressed with the diplomacy.
The woman looked back at Jericho and cleared her throat. “Very well,” she said with a nod, “but if it is alright with you, I would like to keep you there because of my unfamiliarity with your character.”
Jericho nodded. “It is logical that you would do so. I would do the same.”
“Well, Mr. Veritas, I am Violet Szutenberg, the Gharb'Zabal from the Kingdom of Aedria. I am what would be considered a scout, scavenger, and recruiter for my land. This guy is Greft Bricker,” she gestured toward the warrior in the middle, “a Jaish soldier.”
The man to whom she referred nodded as a greeting.
“And he,” she continued, turning her attention toward the darker figure sitting in the chair on the opposite side of the car, “is a member of the Qatal, so I am not able to disclose to you his identity.”
Unlike the man named Greft, the hooded figure did not move a muscle, but rather continued staring at Jericho.
“I've heard of Aedria. Both of our Territories are under Zukunft.”
“Is that so?” the woman asked, delighted to hear the information.
“Yes. What is your purpose?” Jericho answered.
The woman chuckled. “No patience with you. Well, frankly, we're here exploring, seeing if there is anything or anyone we can take back to our kingdom. Greft, would you mind grabbing one of our bags?”
Greft didn't say anything, but replied in action by following the hidden order. He grabbed a bag from behind one of the rows of chairs and held it up to Jericho's sight, allowing the police captain to analyze the outside, and then opened it to show him the inside.
On the outside of it there were various trinkets that could hang off of or pierced through the bag: old keychains, pocket knives with keychain attachments, necklaces, bracelets, earrings, safety pins, paper clips, watches, rope, and string. Inside it were coins, knives of various sizes, old instrument strings, silverware, wires, bottlecaps of plastic and metal, crushed cans, even a trophy. It made quite the noise when moved around, which is likely why they removed them before their ambush.
“You are in need of metal?” Jericho asked in response to his observations.
“What gave it away?” Violet humored as Greft returned the bag to its previous place. “Yes, we are always in need of metal. All of our armor, weapons, jewelry, and currency come from these things. We have several smiths who melted it down and fashion it into whatever is needed.”
Jericho nodded in understanding. “Do you intend to hurt any of the citizens of the Crimson Kingdom outside of self defense?”
Violet chuckled. “Please. Hurting people outside of self defense only complicates things for us. We either need things from people, or the people themselves, and hurting people tends to get us farther from both of those things.”
Jericho again nodded.
“Speaking of which, your skills could get you a very special place in Aedria. You could probably get a leading position as a Qatal.”
“I have no interest. My loyalty is to the former King of the Crimson Kingdom, Raikotsu Sudeki.”
The woman tsked. “That's shame.” She took a deep breath and stood. “Well, if it's all the same to you, I think we both understand each other a little better. We will take our leave.” She turned her gaze to the hooded one, and twitched her head in the direction of the car behind them.
He nodded and seemed to jump through the chairs, run for two steps, and proceed to jump through the door to the next car.
“He's gonna go get your men free so that we can get what we used to hold them down. In order to do so without being attacked, he's going to stand them up and show them that you confirm that we are not a threat. If they do attack, he will kill them.”
As she was saying this, Greft moved out of the way. At the end of her explanation, her words were made true by the sudden appearance of the face of one of the two guards Jericho brought with him in the window to the next car.
Jericho made the appropriate head and hand gesture to show the group was not a threat. Then the face was pulled down and disappeared just as quickly as it sprang up.
“Wonderful,” Violet said as she walked up and removed the spear. Blood fell to the floor of the train from Jericho's arm. “We will be on our way.”
Greft picked up a bag, and made his way out the train, and the hooded man reappeared in the car and proceeded to do the same. Violet was the only one left as she grabbed her bag. “See you around, Mr. Veritas. Stay out of trouble.” With that, she headed out of the car.
The door on the opposite side of the car where Jericho stood broke open and his two companions walked in.
“Sir, we tried to stop the-”
“It is alright.” Jericho made a hand gesture. “Tell the others the group is not a threat.”
“With all due respect, sir, look what they did to-”
“They did what was necessary for their safety. I would have done the same if not worse. Let them be.”
The two showed a face of understanding as they left the car.
Suddenly a rolled bandage wrap flew threw the broken window of the train to Jericho's right and onto the ground with a note written in purple ink: “For the arm.”
Jericho picked it up and began to wrap it around his shoulder, analyzing all that he had just witnessed in his mind.
Requirements: Approved Character
Job: An event has happened to your character alone. What happened? Write a story about some big event that just happened to your character. This event can be done once a month.
Bonus: Receive an injury that lasts 3 threads.
Payout: +3 exp, +$250
It was early in the day, as could be told by the orange hue that the world had; the sky, the tops of trees, the walls, and seemingly the air itself. There were no clouds either, only the sun and its rays. Jericho could only see this through the half-collapsed covering over the abandoned train tracks. Beneath the covering it was darker, only lit up by the occasional hole in the walls of the station the tracks ran through.
There were actually two sets of tracks; one of them, currently stood upon by Jericho, was empty aside from the grass that had grown over it. The other set still had an ancient train corpse, with rusted wheels, broken windows, and faded and chipped paint. It still had a hint of yellow in it, with the occasional ineligible letter or symbol hear and there. Jericho gazed into each window, analyzing for signs of life.
He had gotten reports of a suspicious foreign trio entering the territory. Their last seen location was this train station. He had sent some of his own to investigate, but they never returned. Even now, he arrived with two guards, and both of them had disappeared. So it was just him, very vigilant, very cautious, a blade of bone at the ready beneath his palm.
He stepped into the space between two of the cars, and peaked around the corner to see the corridor where people used to gather to step onto the train. Aside from fallen pieces from the ceiling, dust, and a rat, it was empty. He stepped up to the stone walkway, past the faded red line of warning, and approached one of the doors into the trains. It used to be a sliding door, but through the years the doors had lost more and more of their ability to slide anywhere.
After examining his target, Jericho reared up his leg and kicked just to the right of the seal between the doors a first time, second time, third time, each kick bending the metal a little more, and on the fourth, the right door flew open wide enough to walk in. Every clank from every kick echoed in the metal facility.
Entering the car, Jericho saw a man sitting on the floor of the train with his head against the door to the next car on the other side of the walkway between the chairs. Immediately Jericho tensed and prepared himself for a fight.
“Who a-”
“Yknow I'm always the one sitting out in the open while they hide. Every time. Just cus i dont know some fancy spell,” the man interrupted Jericho, his voice rough and partially southern.
Jericho was confused at the statement, until a woman appeared in front of the sitting man out of thin air and threw a spear into Jericho's left shoulder, causing Jericho to stumble back a few steps. A masked man just as quickly entered the broken sliding door and pushed the spear into the door to the car behind Jericho, nailing him into the metal.
Jericho made no sound during the ordeal, and only observed when it was all over. The woman that had appeared walked forward, studying her prey, and sat in one of the seats just before the sliding doors off to Jericho's left. She probably chose this chair because it was one of the few unobscured by a row in front of it. The masked man sat in the same set of chairs on Jericho's right, so that the trio was now vertically symmetrical; the woman to his left, the big man in the middle, and the hooded man off to the right. The man in the back stood up and began walking down the aisle as the woman spoke:
“Not a peep after being impaled?”
Jericho could easily escape, but if they wanted to kill him they would have. They wanted to talk, opening opportunity for investigation. So instead, Jericho analyzed the situation.
Replaying the situation in his mind, Jericho determined that the woman phased through the door and the man sitting against it. She and the masked figure worked together and both wore hoods and darker clothing, showing an obvious connection between them. The bigger rougher looking man seemed a bit out of place; he was more likely used in situations where stealth was not an option. However, he and the woman both shared the same symbol across their left eye. The masked man likely had it too, but it was impossible to confirm due to his mask.
"Hey,” the bigger man spoke, now standing between the two sets of chairs his allies sat in, “the lady asked you a question.”
If he were to be silent the entire time, it would anger them and lead to conflict which lead to less answers. The best course of action was to answer.
“I have high pain tolerance due to my abilities.” Normally, he would hide his abilities so as to have a surprise advantage, but they had probably already deduced his possession of abilities by the blade of bone extruding from his wrist.
“Interesting,” the woman replied, nodding subtly as she examined his physicality. After a brief moment of silence, she continued: “Recently we've been attacked by two guys with bone masks. I assume they were yours, no?”
Jericho nodded. “They are under my command.”
“We, I'm sorry to say, were forced to rid ourselves of the problem that they were. They're not going to be reporting to you anytime soon. However, I do have some good news for you. The two fellas you brought with you today aren't dead yet, they're still very much alive in that car behind us, only because they didn't actually try to attack us. The only reason you're still alive is because you haven't tried to attack us. So keep that in mind while we chat for a bit, yea?”
Jericho nodded in a single motion.
“Who are you?”
“I am Jericho Veritas, commander of law enforcement in the Crimson Kingdom, Territory #235, currently under the rule of Cecelia Ridel.”
The woman had a look as if she was surprised how easy it was. “Well, Jericho, why are you looking for us? Are you trying to kill us?”
“I am investigating reports of a suspicious group of three foreigners, assessing to see if you are a threat. If you have killed my men, then your threat level is higher than most. However, I understand if my men were killed because of attack without justification. Which is why I am here to observe myself, because my men unfortunately are not flawless soldiers. I see your act of not killing the men I brought with me today as a sign of peace, which is the only reason I have not released myself. Now that I have stated these things, I would like to know who you are and why you are here, so that I may assess how I am to respond moving forward.”
The woman looked to her companions, and they looked back at her, seemingly impressed with the diplomacy.
The woman looked back at Jericho and cleared her throat. “Very well,” she said with a nod, “but if it is alright with you, I would like to keep you there because of my unfamiliarity with your character.”
Jericho nodded. “It is logical that you would do so. I would do the same.”
“Well, Mr. Veritas, I am Violet Szutenberg, the Gharb'Zabal from the Kingdom of Aedria. I am what would be considered a scout, scavenger, and recruiter for my land. This guy is Greft Bricker,” she gestured toward the warrior in the middle, “a Jaish soldier.”
The man to whom she referred nodded as a greeting.
“And he,” she continued, turning her attention toward the darker figure sitting in the chair on the opposite side of the car, “is a member of the Qatal, so I am not able to disclose to you his identity.”
Unlike the man named Greft, the hooded figure did not move a muscle, but rather continued staring at Jericho.
“I've heard of Aedria. Both of our Territories are under Zukunft.”
“Is that so?” the woman asked, delighted to hear the information.
“Yes. What is your purpose?” Jericho answered.
The woman chuckled. “No patience with you. Well, frankly, we're here exploring, seeing if there is anything or anyone we can take back to our kingdom. Greft, would you mind grabbing one of our bags?”
Greft didn't say anything, but replied in action by following the hidden order. He grabbed a bag from behind one of the rows of chairs and held it up to Jericho's sight, allowing the police captain to analyze the outside, and then opened it to show him the inside.
On the outside of it there were various trinkets that could hang off of or pierced through the bag: old keychains, pocket knives with keychain attachments, necklaces, bracelets, earrings, safety pins, paper clips, watches, rope, and string. Inside it were coins, knives of various sizes, old instrument strings, silverware, wires, bottlecaps of plastic and metal, crushed cans, even a trophy. It made quite the noise when moved around, which is likely why they removed them before their ambush.
“You are in need of metal?” Jericho asked in response to his observations.
“What gave it away?” Violet humored as Greft returned the bag to its previous place. “Yes, we are always in need of metal. All of our armor, weapons, jewelry, and currency come from these things. We have several smiths who melted it down and fashion it into whatever is needed.”
Jericho nodded in understanding. “Do you intend to hurt any of the citizens of the Crimson Kingdom outside of self defense?”
Violet chuckled. “Please. Hurting people outside of self defense only complicates things for us. We either need things from people, or the people themselves, and hurting people tends to get us farther from both of those things.”
Jericho again nodded.
“Speaking of which, your skills could get you a very special place in Aedria. You could probably get a leading position as a Qatal.”
“I have no interest. My loyalty is to the former King of the Crimson Kingdom, Raikotsu Sudeki.”
The woman tsked. “That's shame.” She took a deep breath and stood. “Well, if it's all the same to you, I think we both understand each other a little better. We will take our leave.” She turned her gaze to the hooded one, and twitched her head in the direction of the car behind them.
He nodded and seemed to jump through the chairs, run for two steps, and proceed to jump through the door to the next car.
“He's gonna go get your men free so that we can get what we used to hold them down. In order to do so without being attacked, he's going to stand them up and show them that you confirm that we are not a threat. If they do attack, he will kill them.”
As she was saying this, Greft moved out of the way. At the end of her explanation, her words were made true by the sudden appearance of the face of one of the two guards Jericho brought with him in the window to the next car.
Jericho made the appropriate head and hand gesture to show the group was not a threat. Then the face was pulled down and disappeared just as quickly as it sprang up.
“Wonderful,” Violet said as she walked up and removed the spear. Blood fell to the floor of the train from Jericho's arm. “We will be on our way.”
Greft picked up a bag, and made his way out the train, and the hooded man reappeared in the car and proceeded to do the same. Violet was the only one left as she grabbed her bag. “See you around, Mr. Veritas. Stay out of trouble.” With that, she headed out of the car.
The door on the opposite side of the car where Jericho stood broke open and his two companions walked in.
“Sir, we tried to stop the-”
“It is alright.” Jericho made a hand gesture. “Tell the others the group is not a threat.”
“With all due respect, sir, look what they did to-”
“They did what was necessary for their safety. I would have done the same if not worse. Let them be.”
The two showed a face of understanding as they left the car.
Suddenly a rolled bandage wrap flew threw the broken window of the train to Jericho's right and onto the ground with a note written in purple ink: “For the arm.”
Jericho picked it up and began to wrap it around his shoulder, analyzing all that he had just witnessed in his mind.