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Post by Athena on Aug 1, 2009 20:45:58 GMT -5
The desert wind bruised the sky; the sand was sharp in her gaze. The warriors were ready, the sky was dark, and the weather was very warm.
Athena nodded, almost smug, and went back to her ramen noodles. Yes, everything was going according to plan.
((I'm going to claim writer's block here and hope you all understood that.))
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Howl
Scholar
I know I'm crazy, thank you
Posts: 283
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Post by Howl on Aug 1, 2009 22:23:09 GMT -5
((Athena didn't want to write this, so I took up the task, if you're a Firestarter of Sonambulist, feel free to join in on the fight.))
The sun was starting to rise over the Talish Mountains and the Firestarter’s, their camp on the edge of Alsua Lake, stirred with excitement. They longed to best the Sonambulists’ who waited on the other side of the plain; the Templars sharpened their swords and wiped the heavy layer of dew off of their metal armor while the mages, rangers, and healers all adorned their lighter leather armor. General Roderick, a high-ranking commander among the Firestarter’s, gathered his troops and gave them a morale-boosting speech while the robots started up.
“Nothing is safe from the Sonambulists’ pride and arrogance. They will deface our sacred land and will devastate the wildlife. We will win this battle and get drunk off the Sonambulists’ blood! Our victory is already predetermined by the gods. We will crush upon their ranks with our glory and valour and burn them with our righteous fire!” At this point he turned toward the Sonambulist army, and as the sun rose he let out a battle cry and charged forward with his army and mechanical minions by his side.
The Sonambulists’ camp, on the other side of the field, was already packed; they didn’t expect to stay for long. The mechanics scrambled to get all the robots functioning correctly. The mages gathered their focus items and watched the sun rise patiently. A group of librarians sat around chatting with the archivist present. The Archers warmed up and gathered their arrows, and the physicians prepared some beds. As the Firestarter army stirred, High commander Kpsydor rallied his troops to his side and said some final words.
“Ignore the racket made by these savages. They know nothing but destruction and ignorance. They are not soldiers; there are barely any infantry among them. We've beaten them before and when they see our technique and superior tactic, they'll cower before us. Stick together. Defend the front, destroy the back, if you see an injured ally, clear the area and call for a physician. Remember, our lives mean more than theirs, but we’ll happily take prisoners.” And with that he led his troops into a charge.
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Howl
Scholar
I know I'm crazy, thank you
Posts: 283
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Post by Howl on Aug 2, 2009 0:30:19 GMT -5
((Talking should be in Italics))
Howl awoke to the hushed movement of his fellow Sonambulists’ packing up camp. He reached over and lit his lamp. He hurriedly dressed himself in his bland underarmor and started to pack his things away. “You never know when you might need to leave very quickly” He thought this thought to himself just as all of his fellow Sonambulists did, it eased the burden of losing friends if you didn't have to rummage through their things at the end of a battle. After he rolled up his bed and stored his clothes into bags he moved on to his potion collection. He had extra rust potions and flash powder with him, as he was taking up the task of destroying the enemy robots and causing confusion in the Firestarter ranks. “Although my job is a bit riskier than others, I can take comfort in the thought that I’m special”. Howl thought this to himself as he placed the potions into bags and straps on his belt. He also had one extra jump potion and one extra feather potion, which he stored in his front pocket.
As Howl was taking down his tent he noticed that most of the camp was already awake. He looked to the east and saw a dim light contrasting against the Talish Mountains, “It must be at least 2 hours before dawn” he thought to himself. When he finished packing all of his possessions he placed them on a carrier, “I wonder if they give carriers AI” and with that thought he gently placed his bags on it and gave it a pat. After helping a Librarian burden the carrier with books he sent it along its way towards the back of the camp.
Howl figured that sharpening his claymore would be much easier when it was lighter, and polishing his armor would be useless until the dew stopped falling in an hour or so, so he decided to help some of the others pack. He spent an hour helping take down tents, set up grinders, and convert tents into medical bays. After that he felt fulfilled and gathered his battle-gear. He polished his armor until it was dry of the dew and sharpened his sword until it could cut a blade of grass in a straight line.
The camp was stirring now, the sun would rise soon, and then the battle would begin. Howl watched as the mechanics took the robots out of their waterproof containers and started them up. He watched the mages check on their enchantments and test their focus-weapons. “How primitive” Howl thought “Not knowing whether something will work from one day to the next, robots and magic are all the same. They should be respected for what they are, most of us Sonambulists know that even robots and magic can think for themselves, and should be respected. Driving a robot into the water to rust or sending a fireball into a lake is just cruel.” On the other hand, there were the Archers, the physicians, and most of the Swordsmen, who left magic alone and fought with tactic and skill.
Howl walked over to the one archivist present, who had the unfortunate task of documenting the battle. The archivist was surrounded by around 2 dozen librarians who had vowed to protect him to the end for the sake of history. The circle of librarians parted for Howl and the archivist silenced as he was approached. Howl handed him one of the vials from his front pocket, it had red and yellow powder in it, along with a metal spring. “You can use this to escape if something goes wrong. This one is a jump potion, just throw it at an angle at your feet and you’ll shoot towards the sky” Howl demonstrated the proper throwing technique with some grass. “Make sure you throw it at an angle, not directly below you, or you’ll just land where you started.” Howl placed the potion in the archivist’s hand and brought forth a second bottle that had some finely crushed herbs and a feather occupying the space inside it. “This is a potion of feather, it will make you almost as light as air, but it won’t slow you down. You must use it just after the height of your jump when you are descending at a slow rate, you’ll continue going at that rate until you hit the ground. After you land, don’t move too quickly, get used to being lightweight and then gently step forward.” The archivist wrote all this information down on a scroll and placed it and the bottles in his belt.
The archivist looked relieved. “You have my thanks, the chronicles of this battle will make a great addition to all the libraries across our nation, and they shall all know of you, sir, what is your name?” He asked, but Howl replied by telling him that his story was not important and that every expert potioneer should have done the same as he. This left both the archivist and the librarians puzzling as Howl walked away. The archivist was puzzling over Howl’s stray away from fame, while the librarians were puzzling over the term ‘potioneer’...
How walked to the southern end of the camp and stared at the Firestarter's as they prepared themselves. "How foolish" he thought, "They're only just getting ready".
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