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| − | ==Elladar==
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| − | ''Elladar wakes up and climbs out of his bed. He walks over to the door to check that it is still locked. It isn't. Elladar quickly runs over to the bed and pulls his axe out from under the matress. He is about to run out of the inn and find the man who had dared to break into his room. He places his hand on the doorknob and turns it, the door opens, as Elladar walks out he hears chuckling from inside his room. He walks back inside, and sees a man standing in the corner. Elladar hadn't noticed him there before.'' "How did you get into my room, and why are you here?"'' Elladar demands.''
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| − | ''The man smiles and replies,'' "Put your axe down, I'm not here to fight. I have a message from Lord Valens."
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| − | ''Elladar lowers the axe and says,'' "What's the message?"
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| − | "Lord Valens says you are welcome to join him in his manor for breakfast, after which you will be setting out on your quest."
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| − | ''The man gets up and walks out of the room. Elladar looks around quickly and is releived to see his pack under the bed where he had left it. Elladar quickly rumages through it to make sure everything is still there. Satisfied, Elladar leaves his room and walks out of the inn. Elladar starts heading towards Valens' manor. As he's walking, Elladar looks over his shoulder to see that a man had been following him for a while. Thinking quickly, Elladar walks down a side street. Elladar notices that the man's body was still there from the night before. "Good," thinks Elladar. He walks past the body and stops when the body is right in front of the man who was following Elladar. Elladar turns around and says to the man,'' "Do you want to know what happened to the last man who tried to rob me?"
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| − | "No, what happened to him?" ''the man replied.''
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| − | "Look down." ''Elladar says.''
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| − | ''The man looks down and sees the broken body lying there. He looks back at Elladar with a frightened look on his face, and runs off. Elladar sneaks off as peasants start to come out of their houses and form a crowd around the body.''
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| − | ''Elladar runs back through the city to Valens' manor, and knocks on the door. A moment later, one of Valens' maids opens the door.'' "Welcome. I assume you are here to dine with Lord Valens before you set out. Breakfast has just been laid out, follow me."
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| − | ''The maid leads Elladar to the dining hall. Elladar sits down to the most spectacular breakfast he'd ever seen. He looks around and notices that he's the first one there.''
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| − | "Enjoy,"'' the maid said.''
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| − | ==[[Soulja Family/Valens|Valens]]==
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| − | ''Valens wakes up, still tired. He rolls out of bed and calls for one of his maids.''
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| − | Maid: "My lord? How may I be of service to you?"
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| − | Valens: "Please draw me a bath, get my clothes ready and my armor while I am in the bath."
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| − | Maid: "Yes my lord, no problem."
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| − | ''The maid leaves and gets the bath ready. After a little while, she comes back.''
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| − | Maid: "Ok my lord, the bath is ready. When I am done with your clothes and armor me and some of the other maids are going to get a big breakfast ready for you and all the people you are expecting here this morning. Is that ok with you my lord?"
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| − | Valens: "Yes that sounds good to me. I should not be long in the bath. Once breakfast is ready, please wake my two guests. Also send out some messangers now, to everyone who was here but left. Let them know they are more then welcome to join me in breakfast and we shall be leaving once breakfast is over."
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| − | ''Valens turns and walks over to the tub to take his bath. His maid gets right to work on his clothes and armor, while the other maids are downstairs making breakfast. Also the messangers go right out, over to find everyone.''
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| − | ==Arthur==
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| − | Arthur wakes up, having had a very restless night. He gets up and stretches, making a mental note to bring his own pad to this inn if he ever comes again. The bed was a hard as a rock and the blankets did very little to make in softer. He dresses in his regular clothes and leaves the robes and the staff in the bag they came in. Wearing them in the city would attract attention he did not want right now.
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| − | Arthur heads downstairs and sees Berilac sitting at the same table he was at last night. He heads over and sits down.
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| − | Arthur: Have you been here all night, Berilac?
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| − | Berilac: No milord. I did get a room but I woke early and couldn't get back to sleep.
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| − | Arthur: All right then. I'm going to have breakfast here and then head to Valens' manor.
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| − | Berilac: Oh, hold on a moment. Valens sent a message while you were asleep. He invites you to come have breakfast with him before you depart.
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| − | Arthur: Then I guess I'll eat there. Farewell, Berilac.
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| − | Berilac: Farewell, milord.
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| − | Arthur departs from the inn and turns towards Valens' manor. On the way, he sees a crowd gathered in a circle. He heads over and makes his way through the crowd. When he gets to the front, he sees a dead man on the ground. He quickly looks around and sees Lord Elladar moving as fast as he can to get away. Unfortunately, he is too far away to catch up with. Arthur works his way back through the crowd and heads to Valens'. He sees Elladar arrive before him. He knocks on the door and a maid opens it and lets him in. She then shuts the door. Arthur hurries and knocks on the door. Another maid opens it.
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| − | Maid: Welcome. I see you got Lord Valens message. I will show you to the dining hall.
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| − | The maid shows Arthur in and leads him to the dining hall. Arthur looks at the food arrayed on the table. Instantly his mouth begins to water and his stomach growls. He looks around to see who's here and sees that only Elladar is here. He goes to sit next to him.
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| − | Arthur: Lord Elladar, I have a question. On my way here a saw a crowd gathering. When I had made my way through the crowd I saw a dead man lying on the ground. I looked up and saw you running as fast as you could away from there. I wonder, did you have anything to do with that?
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| − | ==Elladar==
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| − | ''Elladar hears a knock echoing from the front door. He hears a maid opening up the door. A moment later the maid enters the dining hall with Arthur following behind. Arthur looks at the table, and Elladar hears his stomach growl. Seeing Elladar, Arthur walks up and sits down.'' "Lord Elladar, I have a question. On my way here a saw a crowd gathering. When I had made my way through the crowd I saw a dead man lying on the ground. I looked up and saw you running as fast as you could away from there. I wonder, did you have anything to do with that?"
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| − | ''Elladar replies,'' "Why yes. Last night, I was leaving Valens' manor, and a man tried to mug me. He knocked me down and grabbed my pack. My pack was full of an increadibly heavy set of armor that Valens' had given me. The theif hadn't expected it to be so heavy, and it took him a moment longer to heave it onto his back to run off. During that moment, I scrambled over and pulled his leg out from under him, trying to just slow him down so I could take my pack away from him. The pack, being as heavy as it was, crushed him as he hit the ground. Then this morning, a man had been following me for quite some time. I took a side route and saw the body from the night before, I walked past it and let the man step up to the body, I stopped and asked him if he knew about the last guy who tried to mug me. He said no and asked what happened to him. I told him to look down. He saw the body and ran off. Peasants then started waking up and leaving their houses to go about their business, they saw the body and started to crowd around it. More and more peasant came to see what the gathering was about. I didn't want to get accused of murder or be late to Valens' breakfast, so I fled."
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| − | ==Retnuh==
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| − | "So you found anything peculiar about the man lying dead..." Retnuh said, as he emirged from the steps and holded his sight on noble who seemed he could swallow the whole plate "...who he was!, or who hired him!."
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| − | Lifting his hand to his head, he gestured his fellow mentor "How are Arthur!" and sat on the chair opposite to Elladar.
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| − | ==Elladar==
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| − | ''As Elladar feasts on the marvelous breakfast, he hears a voice from behind him. He turns to see Retnuh.'' "So you found anything peculiar about the man lying dead..." ''Retnuh asks,'' "...who he was!, or who hired him!."
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| − | ''Elladar assumes Retnuh is talking to him, because he is the only one who has mentioned a dead man.'' "I think I saw the Sandalak crest tatooed on his arm. I would have taken a skilled artist to draw their griphon on a man's arm. If I saw right then that means one less Sandalakian to worry about."'' Elladar smiles and returns to eating.''
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| − | ==[[Soulja Family/Valens|Valens]]==
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| − | ''Valens finishes his bath and goes into his room. Then he gets dressed, and walks downstairs to find Elladar, Retnuh and Arthur all in the dining room for breakfast. Valens walks in while they are talking about a dead person''
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| − | "Good morning everyone, good to see you here to join me for breakfast. If there is something you want that is not here, just say so and my maids will make it for you. Also, if there is anything you wish to ask, now would be the best time. However there are many questions that...well just don't have answers for them right now."
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| − | ''After that, Valens walks over to one of the ends of the table and sits down. He starts eating once he sits down, waiting to hear from someone at the table, or for someone else to arrive.''
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| − | ==Retnuh==
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| − | "Ah...the host is here" Retnuh said aloud, then dug into the food laid on the table. He chooses his first to be a leg of roasted chicken marinated in garglic sauce, then he picks up a few slices of onions which cryed in clear vinegar.
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| − | "I have been quite eager to ask.." he said, as he chewed upon the piece of flesh which seemed soft "..yesterday you gave us a sack full of equipment.". He took his fork and threw it at the onion rings which sprayed a bit of tears "I don't meant to insult you in a way, as the armors are of excellent quality." Lifting the rings in the air, he put it into his mouth "Its just that...we have to do something with it!...".
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| − | ==[[Soulja Family/Valens|Valens]]==
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| − | ''Valens looks at Retnuh while he talks. Thinking for a moment, Valens decides to answer.''
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| − | "Hmmm...well I wouldn't worry much about that. You will get more then enough use for all of that equipment soon enough. I know you are eager, but once you see what we will be up against, I do think you will be so eager. Remember, this quest is for the best weapons and armor in the world. You don't think we can just walk up and take them do you?"
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| − | ''Valens looks around the table at everyone present, then goes back to eating.''
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| − | ==Retnuh==
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| − | "Where do we find them?" Retnuh asked, as he picked up another ring of onion by the fork "..I rather meant," and puts it into his mouth "how do we find them?".
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| − | He swiped the plate with a slice of cheese and slid it between two pieces of hard brown bread. "Cheese sandwich.." he said,"..anyone!" as began to chew by the edges.
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| − | ==[[Soulja Family/Valens|Valens]]==
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| − | ''Valens looks up from his food again and looks at Retnuh.''
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| − | Don't worry about how we will find them. Once everyone else who is going gets here, I will explain exactly how we will go about finding the first weapon. So for now, I think we should relax, and eat our breakfast. It's hard to tell how long it will be till the other's arrive.
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| − | ==Retnuh==
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| − | After the edge's, he bagan to bore deeper into the cheese and starts to chew with open mouth as he reaches softer flavour. "Others" Retnuh said as he helped himself out to a small serving of water, not wine.
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| − | ==Elladar==
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| − | ''Everybody has been sitting there at the table for quite eating in silence. Elladar is getting stuffed. He soon tires of eating, and starts looking around at the decorations on the walls of Valens' dining room. Suddenly, he hears a knock on the door, then the sound of the door opening. A moment later, Elladar sees one of Valens' maids walk into the dining hall, following the maid is...''
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| − | ==Ranger==
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| − | Ranger wakes up before the sun has risen as is his custom. He gets up and realizing that he skipped dinner last night that he needed something to eat. He was also curious as how the city looked before dawn. So Ranger got up and went outside to find a tavern to see if this Islands ale matched anything he has drunk in the past.
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| − | On his way to the tavern he notices not to many people are about. ''So this is a all work and no play city. Then again I guess when you are at constant war work take everything out of you.''
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| − | Ranger finds a tavern and enters. There are a few people sitting down but nothing like back in his old home town. Ranger finds an empty seat and calls for a waitress. He asks for quiet a big number of food items and the strongest ale they had. When they brought him his food it looked smaller than what he was used to and was glad that he bought a lot. The food was moderate and the ale was pretty good. He could get used to this. After he had eaten his full he saw that the sun had risen and had been up for quiet a long time.
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| − | ''Guess I should go back to Valen's house and see if anyone else has arrived.'' With that Ranger leaves the tavern and starts walking the streets again. Now which way is Valen's house? Uh Oh I did it again. Ranger was lost he had no idea where anything was or where even he was. So he started walking around aimlessly trying to see any sign of a possible way back to Valen's house.
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| − | He thankfully found one of Valen's maids walking toward him. She must have guessed because of the confused look Ranger had that he was lost. She offered him to have her show him back to the house. He excepted and they left.
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| − | When Ranger arrived back at the house with the maid he noticed some more people that were there that he hadnt seen yet. They were all eating a big breakfast and as Ranger saw were quiet. Most had stopped eating it seemed for awhile now and so he deicded to break the silence.
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| − | "So Valen these weapons and armor. I know you said we will need them soon but for what exactly. It seems you are hiding some things and wont tell us everything. So I want you to tell us everything you know or as far as I am concerned I wont be helping you for whatever you are trying to do."
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| − | With that Ranger sat down and waited. The other guests looked at him with mouths wide open. He knew what they were thinking and knew that this was the only way that Valen might spill everything and possibly more.
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| − | ==[[Soulja Family/Valens|Valens]]==
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| − | ''Valens finishes eating a few minutes before Ranger arrives. He listens to him and watches as he sits down.''
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| − | "Ranger...is this some kind of a joke? Armor, it is for protection. Very easy..and obvious. A weapon, used to attack enemies, again obvious. I am sorry but I don't see the point in you asking me that. I gave these things to you for the reasons of defending yourself and attacking while we are on our journey. I am not hiding anything, so I don't see why you think that. I am sorry if I made things seem that way, but I am not hiding anything. If there is something you are worried about that I have not told you, just ask and I will tell you. However, I do take threats lightly...even if it's something small like "I will not help you". Do not think I need you to come with me, because I don't. If I did not want to help Taselak win this war, I would have gone on my own to retrieve my own sword, my own armor and my own power. But instead I am gathering everyone. So this is now, if you do not trust me, and feel I am hiding important things from you, then please leave now, I leave it up to you if you want to keep my gifts or not. I will now take my leave."
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| − | ''Valens gets up, walks out the room and then up to his room.''
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| − | ==Retnuh==
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| − | "I wouldn't worry about that.." Retnuh said, as he got up and looked upon the new arrival "..much. As you might very well be the second person after me to ask that same kind of question".
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| − | Tightening his swords and armor, he move towards the doorway. "Very well, the sun has risen and duty calls".
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| − | ==[[Soulja Family/Valens|Valens]]==
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| − | ''Valens hears someone leaving, and looks out. Then opens the window and yells out.''
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| − | "Hey, I will be training outside in a minute, if you care to join me. We still need to wait for some more people to arrive so this might help us pass by the time."
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| − | ''Valens then turns and shut the window. Then gets all his new armor on, with both swords. One on his back, hidden, and one at his side. Then picks up the shield and puts it on his back. Next Valens walks downstairs and outside, ready to train.''
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| − | ==Retnuh==
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| − | Training!' Retnuh said, as he stop and shouted "I shall be pleased to join you" loud.
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| − | Non a moment he thought, a grain would fall. Valens was soon outside with his new armor and two other nobles a bit behind him.
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| − | He loosend on his sword by the belt and pointed it towards Valens by the length. "Where shall we train!" Retnuh said from afar,then nodded his head "It wouldn't quite be...proper to have sounds of metals and screams in the street".
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| − | ==[[Soulja Family/Valens|Valens]]==
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| − | ''Valens looks around, then back at Retnuh.''
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| − | "Your right, the street is not proper. There is a training field in back of my home, if you would like to train there. Just follow me."
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| − | ''Valens heads off to the training field.''
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| − | ==Retnuh==
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| − | ''Retnuh nods "yes", then smiles a bit by his cheek as his own words '..Metals and screams!..' and then looks at Ranger and Elladar who moved a outside from the door way.
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| − | "care to join us!", Retnuh said with a shine in his eyes and followed Valens to the field.
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| − | ==Arthur==
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| − | As the others eat their breakfasts, Arthur quietly sits at the table, having finished eating a little while before. Valens leaves first after his talk with Ranger. Retnuh then heads out the door with Elladar and Ranger leaving after him. Arthur hears Valens yell to Retnuh about training. After thinking about it he heads out to join them. He was unfamiliar with the forms of combat needed for staves and training would help in their quest. He picks up his bag and heads out the door. He sees Valens and Retnuh heading around behind the manor and hears Retnuh invite Elladar and Ranger to join them. He heads over to walk next to Elladar and Ranger.
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| − | Arthur: "Training will be very good. These weapons and armor are beautiful and well made but I haven't used anything but a sword since my childhood. I have almost no idea how to use a staff. What about you guys? I hope I'm not the only one who is unfamiliar with his weapon. If it's just me I'm likely to be a hinderance for the first little while."
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| − | ==[[Soulja Family/Valens|Valens]]==
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| − | ''Valens hears Arthur, and turns to him.''
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| − | "Yes I am trying something new too. Instead of one sword..."
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| − | ''Valens takes his sword from his side, then reveals his hidden sword from his back.''
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| − | "I will be using two swords now."
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| − | ''Valens continues to the training grounds with both swords in hand.''
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| − | ==Elladar==
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| − | ''Elladar had sat quietly while Ranger confronted Valens, Elladar had also sat quietly while Valens had suggested training, and when Retnuh had agreed and followed Valens out the door, he had heard Retnuh calling them to follow, he got up and started walking to the door with Ranger just behind him, leaving Arthur alone.''
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| − | ''As they were walking to the training field, Arthur come jogging up from behind saying,'' "Training will be very good. These weapons and armor are beautiful and well made but I haven't used anything but a sword since my childhood. I have almost no idea how to use a staff. What about you guys? I hope I'm not the only one who is unfamiliar with his weapon. If it's just me I'm likely to be a hinderance for the first little while."
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| − | ''Valens repies,'' "Yes I am trying something new to. Instead of one sword..." ''Valens takes a sword from his side, then reveals a hidden sword from his back,'' "I will be using two swords now."
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| − | ''Valens continues to the training grounds with both swords in hand.''
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| − | "Don't worry Arthur, I bet atleast half of us chosen ones are in your wagon, I am, and Valens just said he is. I have almost never used an axe before. Like you, I've mosly used a sword. I've used knives before, I also used bows when my brother Haldamir was training, I've even used a spear a couple of times, but all I ever used an axe for was cutting down trees, cutting the trees into firewood, and cutting the head off of a chicken every once in a while."
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| − | ''They arrived at the training field, Elladar looked around,'' "Valens, what will we be training on? I see no training dummies. I know my axe is sharp and heavy, so if the blade didn't get you it could still break your bones and crush you, trust me, I know. You've already drawn your swords so I guess you've got something planned."
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| − | ''Valens didn't seem to hear him though, he was too busy testing the sharpness of his blade.''
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| − | ''Soon a crowd formed around the field watching the training battles. Peasants who were drawn by the sound of steel clanging against steel were just standing there watching, cheering, or gasping at some of the moves used.''
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| − | ==MAVA==
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| − | As I start to head out of town I hear a lot of grunting and groaning along with what sounds like sword play, so I,being the upstanding citizen that I am, go to investagate these noises to make sure there is no foul play about. As I come around the corner I see to people going toe to toe One using 2 swords at a time.
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| − | I ask some of the people standing around what is going on and I'm told : Oh that is Valens he is running a quest and needed to try out his stuff.
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| − | "Valens, That name sounds.... SCRIBE give me that letter we got while I was recovering! That is what I thought.
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| − | SO I stand around waiting for Vanens to finish so that I can ask him about the letter. And he says.....
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| − | ==[[Soulja Family/Valens|Valens]]==
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| − | Valens looks over and notices MAVA waiting there with a letter in hand. He puts his swords back and walks over.
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| − | Ahhh yes...I have been waiting for you. Right now everyone is starting to train, but we must talk first. Please follow me inside.
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| − | Valens and MAVA go into Valens house. He asks MAVA to wait in the main room while he goes and gets something. A minute later, he comes back down with a sack in hand. Valens then explains about the quest to MAVA.
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| − | Ok now that you know all that. I must tell you about your own power. I see the color of...brown. With it, comes the power of the falcon. Now, please look through this sack here, and also here is a new bow for you in case you want one. You can find much more in the sack. I am going back out to train now, you can train with Daelius if you would like.
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| − | Valens then turns and walks out the door, and back to training.
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| − | ==[[Soulja Family/Valens|Valens]]==
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| − | ''Valens walks back over to the training grounds and notices Elladar just standing there.''
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| − | "So I am guessing you wish for something else to practice on? No worries, I have about 2 dozen dummies on the side on my house, they can be brought over here. Along with that, we should train with our shields, against the archers."
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| − | ''Valens goes back to training with both swords, in both attack, defense and defending against arrows.''
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| − | ==Retnuh==
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| − | '..hu'h..' Going opposite to Valens who seemed busy with both his swords, Retnuh bowed to him. "Care to test your two swords.." he said, pointing the length of his sword which still hid in leather "..against one?" and swirled it to the lenght of his elbow.
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| − | ==Elladar==
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| − | ''Elladar stands at the edge of the training field, not wanting to try training against one of his fellow nobles, incase he hurt one of them. Valens comes out of his manor after speaking to MAVA, and starts walking towards Elladar.'' "So I am guessing you wish for something else to practice on? No worries, I have about 2 dozen dummies on the side on my house, they can be brought over here. Along with that, we should train with our shields, against the archers."'' Valens says.''
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| − | "Why thank you Valens. I just don't want to hurt anyone because we need all of our strength, and blood, for the upcoming quest. As for training against with shields, I have none, but the flat of my axe is pretty wide, so after a while I'll try blocking arrows with it."
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| − | ''Valens then started walking onto the training field to practice with his duel swords, but stops when he is challenged by Retnuh to a duel. Elladar walks into Valens manor and calls a couple of the servants to him, he has them help put Elladar's armor on him, then they go outside and around to the side of the manor. Elladar sees a couple rows of the standard grade training dummies. He and the servants carry them out onto the field and set them up in a simple skirmish formation. Elladar hefts his axe up onto his shoulder and then brings it down in a glittering arch at the nearest training dummy. The axe goes straight through the arm of the dummy, and then plows halfway up the blade into the dirt. "Woah!" Elladar says astounded. He hadn't expected the axe to be that sharp. He yanks the axe out of the ground and inspects the dummy. It was made almost completely out of wood, and yet the axe blade had cut right through it. Elladar carefully lifts the axe up and drops it lightly on the dummy. The axe blade sinks a couple of inches into the solid wood.'' "Hey Valens!"'' Elladar shouts,'' "Watch this!" ''Elladar walks up to another dummy and swings the axe in another glittering arch and cuts straight through the dummy from its shoulder to its foot.'' "This is why I didn't want to train with something living!"
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| − | ==MAVA==
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| − | After folowing Valens into the house and I recieve my gifts from him, He tells me to go out to spar. "I'm not any good with the sword." I say. "Is there a archery range somewhere to try out this new bow"
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| − | ==[[Soulja Family/Valens|Valens]]==
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| − | ''Valens watches as Elladar starts splitting up the dummies.''
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| − |
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| − | "Yes very nice. That will come in very handy later on, I am sure of it."
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| − |
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| − | ''Valens then turns and looks at the three archers, MAVA, Ranger, and Daelius.''
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| − |
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| − | "Any of you care to shoot some arrows, slowly, at me? So I can practice with both swords and shield on my back?"
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| − | ==MAVA==
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| − | Valens turns and asks if I would like to fire some arrows his way.
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| − | "I will be happy to help you with that request." as I bring up my new bow and take careful aim. I let loose and.........
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| − | ==Retnuh==
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| − | Retnuh gave out a shine in the eye, when Valens said no to his advance. '..the dummy will take his place..' he thought and advanced towards one nearest to him.
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| − |
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| − | Hay-Dum with W Core was the apparent dummies label. it was made wholy of hay on the outside, with proper clothing and a movable arms to hold a weapon, shield or a bow. The setting had been designed to give out a nearest feeling that one was fighting a armed..dummy, and not an unarmed one.
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| − |
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| − | As for what the W Core meant, one knew little. All but the wierd dummy maker of Taselak named Mr. Dumker, which in long meant dummy maker. Normally a dummy would just be made of hay, but the W Core model seemed to have an inner core of hard Hardylite wood from nearby forest.
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| − |
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| − | Unsheathing his new sword from its leather, Retnuh gave out a cry in his mind. Running towards the dummy he jump a bit in the air, turned around and forced his sword for a arm. "uh" to his astonishment, he lost the grip of the hilt the moment his sword touched the target and sent it flying in the air.The sword swirled and rolled in its freedom, piercing the ground upon its fall.
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| − | ==Elladar==
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| − | ''As the day progressed Elladar had gotten better and better with his axe. At first he had to lug it around, but later he got to the point where his armor felt light, and his axe was easy to swing. Elladar stands there about 3 meters from the nearest dummy, he just stood there, not moving, his axe held limply in his hand. All the sudden he stepped then dived at a nearby dummy. He tackled it, then when they were on the ground he punched the dummy's head, hard. If the blow had been delivered to a normal man, his skull would probably have a couple cracks in it, and he would be unconcious. Elladar then got up, and hacked away at the dummy. Its limbs flew through the air. "First the arms," Elladar thought, "so he can't attack you if he gets up. Then the legs so he can't try and squirm away. Then make either a horizontal cut along the neck, or two vertical cuts alongs his ribs, slashing his lungs and piercing his heart."''
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| − |
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| − | ''When Elladar was finished, he stepped away from the mutilated corpse of the dummy. All the sudden, a blade sank up to its hilt in the dirt, right by Elladar's foot. He instantly has his axe in a battle position, ready to try his well practiced method on a real human if he had to. He lowered his axe slightly when he caught sight of Retnuh jogging over to retrieve his sword from the dirt.'' "What was that about?" ''Elladar inquires,'' "Have you come to challange me to a duel and try to sneak in a first blow? I've gotten increadibly better with my axe even in the short time we've be training. Just know that if you challange me, you might end up like that guy." ''Elladar gestures over his shoulder at the dummy he had massacred.''
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| − | ==Retnuh==
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| − | Clutching the hilt of his sword, Retnuh pulls it from the ground and hits the flat side of the blade to bring down the dirt. '..its different..' he thought, as he thrusted his sword by his arms.
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| − |
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| − | Turning towards Elladar, he looks at the dummy he had cut into pieces. "That's great cleaving..." Retnuh says "...but I dare not take its place for your axe" pointing out to the dummy, moving towards his own.
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| − |
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| − | Retnuh runs towards the dummy with his sword flaring by both his hands and leaps upon it. The sword made a swishing sound as it made its point towards the target and made its mark on the shoulder. Feeling a pain glowing from his palms, he let go of the hilt and sat down on the dirt.
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| − | ==[[Soulja Family/Valens|Valens]]==
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| − | Valens hits the arrow down quickly with both swords.
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| − |
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| − | Very good shot...I must go inside for a minute though and get something.
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| − |
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| − | Valens walks back into the house and up to his room. Not even a minute goes by and one his maids comes up with a letter from his brother. Valens reads it, and with a look of horror, runs back outside. Just when the training field comes into view, Valens notices a dozen huge monsters coming at them. All of them seem to be out for blood.
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| − |
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| − | Ok, this is so not good...everyone it's now time to really test out our weapons. They are forming ranks, we shall do the same. Ranger, MAVA, Daelius, and Arthur, get behind us and starting throwing everything you got at them. Everyone else stand near me, this is not going to be easy. When they get close, you four move back and we will finish them off. Their weakness is their left side, when they attack with their right. Be prepared, HERE THEY COME!
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| − | ==Retnuh==
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| − | 'it pains...' Retnuh thought, looking at both his hands which were red in colour '...as if its my first time on the hilt of a sword'. Getting up from the dirt, he dusted himself on the back and pulls the sword from the wood.
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| − |
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| − | As if from all around, he hears a low rumbling noise shaking small pebbles by his feet. It gets louder as a few bigger rocks join the vibration, he looks towards Valens as he shouts "HERE THEY COME!" and then towards his back.
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| − |
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| − | A club emerges from thin air and breaks his dummy into two. The huge bull like monster, then pulls back his club and lifts it above Retnuh. '..huh..' Just by instinct, he pulls out his other sword from its rusty scabbard and turned his whole body in a circle with both his sword pointed out low. Foul blood spills from one of its legs, as the swords make a pass by it.
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| − |
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| − | The monster looses its balance and falls on the ground, while another not far had enought time to swing its rotten log. Blood slowly trickled down his nose, as Retnuh found himself a bit further of where he was. He pushed his fist onto the ground and got up, just to see the one fallen and another one with a log charging towards him. '..oh..my!..' Retnuh thought, as he tightend his grip around the swords so much that it pained a lot more than before.
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| − |
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| − | "Their weakness is their left side, when they attack with their right. Be prepared" Valens said, who was just next to him with both his swords pointed towards the charging monsters "HERE THEY COME!".
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| − | ==Arthur==
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| − | Having practiced all day with his new staff, Arthur has gotten very accustomed to it. Through various experimentations he has found out that it can hold up to very thorough attack against a dummy, shoots fire with the word brisingr and stop arrows in midair and make them fall to the ground with the phrase letta orya thorna. He had rumaged through Valens library and found books that translated the words on his staff. There were other words that he had not translated also. However, he did not worry. Valens books mentioned that once you knew the basics of the language, as you grew in strength you would understand the others as well. The letters on his staff would glow when he cast the spells and then vanish. He would have to wait until they reappeared to cast the spells again.
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| − |
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| − | Arthur was practicing melee combat on a dummy when he heard Valens come running out of the house.
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| − |
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| − | Valens: Ok, this is so not good...everyone it's now time to really test out our weapons. They are forming ranks, we shall do the same. Ranger, MAVA, Daelius, and Arthur, get behind us and starting throwing everything you got at them. Everyone else stand near me, this is not going to be easy. When they get close, you four move back and we will finish them off. Their weakness is their left side, when they attack with their right. Be prepared, HERE THEY COME!
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| − |
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| − | Arthur turns and sees a dozen monsters charging at them. He sees Retnuh engaged in combat with one of the monsters. Arthur then turns to face another. As the monster charges at him he yells, "Brisingr." Immediately, a bright white fireball emerges from the tip of his staff and hits it square in the chest. The monster stumbles but does not fall. Arthur braces himself for its attack. As the monster uses its left arm to swing its club at him, he twists quickly to the side and slams his staff into its head. Again, the creature stumbles but does not fall. The creatures rears back and bellows are frightful noise at Arthur. It swung its club and Arthur blocked it with his staff. When the two weapons hit, Arthur's left arm went numb. Arthur takes a quick swing with his staff, hoping to do something to the monster, when it swung with its club yet again, this time with its right arm. Arthur sees his chance and slashes with the tip of his staff at the monster's left side. The fin of dolphin on his staff sliced into its side and the monster collapsed in mid swing. Arthur looks at his staff, sees the spell is ready again, and points his staff at the monster again. "Brisingr," he yells. The fireball hit the monster in the side. It lets out a yell, shakes for a moment, and the dies. Arthur then turns to see if he can help the others.
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| − | ==MAVA==
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| − | Lady MAVA Sees Valens come out of his house and watches in suprised wander the look of real concern on his face. After slapping down a half pull on her bow and thinking himself grand, she didn't think he would be scared of anything. Valens starts to shout out orders and MAVA understands the look and starts to sling arrows faster than she ever had before. "Now this is ONE hell of a bow"
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| − | looking back at the monsters she sees that her aim was true as there are 10 arrows standing tall in one monster's chest.
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| − | "I don't see how it could still be standing" she yells to Retnuh! "Please finish it for me?"
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| − | ==[[Scratchbuiler Family/Erwin|Erwin]]==
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| − | Erwin was walking around into the free nature when he suddenly saw a dozen of monsters walking on the path. Quickly he hides behind a tree looking at the monsters and wondering where they we're going to.
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| − | As the monsters moved away Erwin decided to follow them. After a while he saw that the monsters stopped before a house.
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| − |
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| − | Erwin saw Valens, Retnuh, Arthur, MAVA, Ranger and Daelius standing in front of the house preparing to fight. Erwin waited behind a big tree to see what would happen and to lend help if nessecary.
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| − |
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| − | The battle begon and Erwin saw that the group was pretty strong and had some nice weapons, after he saw the first monster fall dead on the ground he left his hiding spot behind the tree. While he was leaning on his axe, looking to the battle he said: "Hi there, pretty impressive weapons you got. Need some help with those monsters or do you want to keep all the fun to yourself."
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| − |
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| − | After this he stayed on watching the battle hoping that they wanted his help as it has been a long time since he used his axe or blades he couldn't wait to fight again.
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| − | ==Retnuh==
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| − | Just as Retnuh thought he had the log by his chest, a sudden stream of arrows whistles past and bite the monster in pain. It lost strenght, droped end of the log between Retnuhs feet ' phew '. ' huh ' he nod to Lady MAVA, a few golded moments of grains and the monster fell with a great thud.
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| − |
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| − | His sword edged by ground, Retnuh stood in his pose for a moment with silence all around him.
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| − |
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| − | It was one of those times, things went very fast...time moved but all slowed. It was all in a flash of thought, when Retnuh leaped upon the log and ran slant towards the monster. Keeping his sword by the left pointed, he pierced it into the others chest. Taking upon a jump over his head, he swirled and slashed a part of his back by the other sword. Dropping the log upon it's own belly, the monster fell with a great thud.
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| − | ==Elladar==
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| − | ''Elladar smiles slightly at Retnuh's praise of his handy work. He turns to maul another training dummy, and sees Valens running out of his manor, shouting,'' "Ok, this is so not good... everyone it's now time to really test out our weapons. They are forming ranks, we shall do the same. Ranger, MAVA, Daelius, and Arthur, get behind us and starting throwing everything you got at them. Everyone else stand near me, this is not going to be easy. When they get close, you four move back and we will finish them off. Their weakness is their left side, when they attack with their right. Be prepared, HERE THEY COME!"
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| − |
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| − | ''Elladar looks around and sees that the crowds of peasants had scattered, and huge beasts were swarming onto the field. Elladar hurries over to Valens' side. One of the beasts charged at Retnuh and gets ready to smash him with a giant club. Retnuh quickly pulls a second sword out of a scabbard at his side, and starts swinging his blades around in a frenzy at the beast. It stumbles, and a second beast charges at Retnuh and hits him with a log. Retnuh flies a couple of feet, then gets back up and comes over to where Valens and Elladar were standing.''
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| − |
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| − | ''Elladar hears a whooshing noise and looks around to see Arthur shooting a fireball at one of the beasts. It swung its club at him and Arthur blocked with a pained expression on his face. The beast was swinging its club back for another strike when Arthur slashed at its side with the tip of his staff. The beast fell onto the ground, dead. Arthur then launches a fireball at another one of the beasts, the fire hits it side and it dies.''
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| − |
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| − | ''Elladar then hears the twang of a bow and looks around to see MAVA shooting arrows in rapid succession. Her target was the beast that had been attacking Retnuh, ten arrows found their mark in the beasts chest. Retnuh then ran at it and finished it off.''
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| − |
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| − | ''Elladar looks around to see a beast was coming up behind a man who was just standing by a tree.'' "Look out!" ''Elladar shouted to the man. The sound of battle drowned out his call and the man just stood there. Elladar ran as fast as he could to the man. The man looked frightened to see atleast one hundred pounds of metal rushing towards him, he turned and started to run. He slammed into the beast's chest and fell onto the ground. The beast lifted its club high above its head to smash the man. Elladar roared a battle cry, it sounded more like the roar of a lion than any sound a human would ever be able to make. As he ran, Elladar heard the thud of massive feet at this side, he quickly looked over his shoulder to see a lion running at his side. The beast started to swing its club downward at the man.'' "NO!!!" ''shouted Elladar. As he ran as fast as he could, he felt the lion pushing him faster to reach the man in time. He ran faster than he had ever ran before. He reached the man in what seemed like an instant. Thinking quickly he brings his axe up and hits the club with the blade, the club splits in half. Elladar felt an intense pain in his arms but he ignored it, the lion was giving him the strength to win the fight, so his own strength mattered little. While the beast was trying to figure out what just happened to its club, Elladar quickly pulls the man to his feet, then dived at the beast. His tackle just staggered the beast. His practiced attack hadn't worked. Quickly improvising he drives his spiked gauntlet into the beast's side. His arm sank into the beast's stomach, the beast bellowed in pain and rage. Elladar hadn't expected his arm to go inside the beast, quickly he thought of something to do. He shoved his arm further into the side of the beast, it raged and tried to hit Elladar, he moved aside and the blow struck the ground. Elladar feels his hand bump into the beast's ribs. He reaches under them and shoves his whole arm up and slashed with his spiked gauntlet. The beast bellowed then started to cough up blood as its lungs were punchered. Elladar quickly yanks his arm out of the beast. The blood on his arm glistened in the sun. Blood gushed out of the beast's side, staining the grass. The beast fell over gasping for breath as blood ran out of its mouth. Elladar quickly picks up his axe and runs off into the thick of battle.''
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| − | ==[[Soulja Family/Valens|Valens]]==
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| − | ''Valens notices as everyone starts fighting before the monsters advance very far. Valens looks and notices someone come out of the woods.''
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| − |
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| − | "You! Down there! Avoid the monsters, only the weapons I have given out can damage them! Get into my house, I will check on you once this is done!"
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| − |
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| − | ''Valens then turns back to make sure the route to his home is clear for the stranger. He notices it is not. Before saying anything, Valens runs right at the only monster in the way. It swings a huge club at Valens, but misses. Valens, with both blades and shield on his back, starts putting small but deep cuts all over the monster. At first it seems unfazed, although it's bleeding quite badly. Valens then tries for a hard strike on it's left side, but the monster swings hard from the left and hits Valens almost full force in the back. Then Valens flies and lands right next to a tree. Valens then shakes it off, and jumps back up. Thinking quickly, Valens uses his speed, dodging the attacks untill finally the monster attack with his right side, giving a golden chance to hit it from the left. Valens puts both blades through the monster's left side and continues to slice deeper and deeper every cut. Untill finally the monster falls on the ground, still breathing but no longer much of a threat.''
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| − |
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| − | "Ok now, move it! I'll cover you while you make it to my house!"
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| − | ==Ranger==
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| − | Ranger could smell the filth of his common enemy. By the time Valens had warned everyone Ranger already had his bow strung. Not knowing if these monsters were like those back in his old realm he fires at their weakspot the eyes. However these monsters were different. The one that Ranger had fired at had used its club as a shield to block the on comming arrow.
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| − |
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| − | ''well isnt that great a monster with some brains. Though it seems that they have the same weaknesses as their lesser counterparts. Guess this will have to be a close range shot to be able to hit its mark.''
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| − |
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| − | Ranger then had already notcied his bow and was running straight toward the brute. When the brute had swong its club Ranger leaped to one side and fired his arrow. The brute for his size was remakably fast and was able to change his movments mid swing. The arrow missed by the smallest of margins leaving a small cut on the monster. ''This thing wont die will it. What sort of monsters are these. Definatly not the ones back in Beleterra. I think I will ask Valen some questions after all of this.''
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| − |
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| − | Ranger had notched another arrow and had fired it at the brutes knee in hopes to hinder its movements. The shot connected but didnt penetrate far enough. The brute was now infuriated and was swinging his club violently in hopes of crushing its opponent. Ranger thought quickly on how to stop this brute from using so much force. He quickly notched 3 arrows onto his bow. Knowing they would each do little damage he fired them all into the monsters hand and arm. The monster tried to swing its club at Ranger but somehow lost its grip. When the brute was confused about his club Ranger had already notched his bow again and fired at the monsters weakspot. He hit it dead on and the moster crying in pain soon fell over and died.
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| − |
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| − | "Everyone their weakness is inbetween their eyes. Aim for that and you should not have a problem."
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| − |
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| − | ''Ranger with that looked around to see if anyone needed any help but decided against it. Let them fight their battles this is bound to be one small skirmish and the scheme of things.
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| − |
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| − | So Ranger waited to hear if anyone needed help so that he could jump in and show how well he knew these beasts. Untill then... As he plucks out his arrows from the monster. I will go back to training. He goes back to firing at the dummies hiting their vital spots over and over again.''
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| − | ==[[Scratchbuiler Family/Erwin|Erwin]]==
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| − | Erwin was still looking at the fight not knowing that a monster had appeared behind him. Then he saw someone rushing at him and Erwin thought that he wasn't welcome here so he quickly turned around to run away, but he ran against the monsters chest and fell on the ground.
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| − | He saw the beast lifting his club above his head and Erwin was looking around him searching where his axe was dropped. He finally saw his axe, but it was to far away and he couldn't grab it. Knowing this could be the end Erwin looked at the monster who was brining his club down to smash it onto Erwin's head. But then he saw someone jump over him attacking the monster, cutting the club in 2 pieces. The man helped Erwin back on his feet as Erwin thanked the man for saving his life.
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| − | He quickly grabbed his axe and wanted to fight the monster when he heard someone calling him.
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| − |
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| − | "You! Down there! Avoid the monsters, only the weapons I have given out can damage them! Get into my house, I will check on you once this is done!"
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| − |
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| − | Erwin runned towards the house, but then he noticed a monster was blocking his path. He saw the same men that told him to go to the house jumping towards the monster and striking it down.
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| − |
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| − | "Ok now, move it! I'll cover you while you make it to my house!"
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| − |
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| − | Erwin continued his travel to the house, jumping of the monster that was blocking his path a few moments ago. When he reached the house he quickly went inside and looked to the battle from there.
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| − | ==Daelius==
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| − | Daelius lead in the remenants of his band back into Taselak. The battle has gone badly dispite his wonderous new bow and armour. As his men returned to the barracks, the long-haired archer paused and studied his longbow. "I should give this a name, but what?" He held forth the silvery bow and said in a strong voice, "I name thee Shining Talon."
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| − |
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| − | Daelius wondered what Valens and the others were up to and decided to find out.
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| − | ==[[Soulja Family/Valens|Valens]]==
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| − | ''Valens watches the stranger run into his house. He then turns back to see what the remaining monsters are doing. He notices that they have now turned around and are running a way.''
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| − |
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| − | "Ok everyone, back into the house. We must get ready to leave now. And I need to find out more about this stranger."
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| − |
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| − | ''Valens walks into the house and finds the stranger.''
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| − |
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| − | "Ok now things have calmed down, please tell me who you are, and what your doing here. Why where you hiding in the woods?"
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| − | ==Elladar==
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| − | ''Elladar is locked in combat with one of the beasts. The beast, instead of having a club, had a metal axe. The blows coming from the two axe weilders were fierce. Once or twice in the battle Elladar had felt his own strength slipping away, bit by bit, only to be reinforced by the spirit of the lion that fought with him. Elladar noticed that every attack that the beast blocked, its axe was slowly breaking. The beast attacked Elladar, but he dodged at the last moment, and the beast's axe sunk into the ground. With all his strength, Elladar brings his axe down on the handle of the beast's axe, breaking it. The beast quickly stands up and takes a couple steps back, then it throws its useless handle at Elladar. The handle flew fast, but Elladar moved faster. The handle hits Elladar's axe and bounces off. The beast starts to run away, knowing that the battle has been lost. Elladar quickly summons up every last ounce of strength left in him and pulls his axe high up over his head. Before he attacks, he feels the strength of the lion reinforcing his own strength ten fold. He swings his axe forward and lets go of it. The axe flies in a glittering swirl of gold, and sinks into the back of the running beast. Elladar runs forward and rips his axe out of the beast's back, and swinging it high, he brings it down into the back of the beast's skull. He didn't want it to run away and fight someone else.''
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| − |
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| − | ''Elladar hears Valens shout,'' "Ok everyone, back into the house. We must get ready to leave now. And I need to find out more about this stranger."
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| − |
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| − | ''Elladar starts moving towards the house. Once inside, he asks Valens,'' "What were those beasts, and how did you know they were here? Did you just look out the window and say, 'Hey look! Monsters! I recognize them, and I know their weak spot. I need to go tell everyone how to fight them.' I would like some answers please."
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| − | ==[[Soulja Family/Valens|Valens]]==
| |
| − | ''Valens turns and sees Elladar walk in and then listens to him speak.''
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| − |
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| − | "Yes, yes...I will explain about them soon enough. Just right now I need to speak with this person. Do me a favor? Direct everyone to the dining hall, I will come in after and explain more about them. Fair enough?"
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| − | ==[[Vallejo Family/Mischa|Mischa]]==
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| − | Mischa picks her way through the mangled bodies of the monsters just outside of Valens' house.
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| − |
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| − | "What the hell happened out there?" She says as she enters the rear of the house. "I sleep in one day and I miss all the fun?"
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| − | ==[[Taselak_%28SEI%29/The_quest_of_Taselak/Chapter_4|Continue to Chapter 4]]==
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