Post by zDark Shadowz on Feb 20, 2011 6:28:05 GMT -5
/* I can never let a good story go unpublished, regardless of how strange and sad it ends up. This is the exact conversation dialogue, and how my Helios perceived what was happening. I hope you enjoy this good read. */
Helios walks yet again into Camp Gadget, packing his shield back behind his back and his hand and a half sword back into it's sheath, freshly wiped from the blood of a Crawler, and takes in the sights of a ridiculous amount of statues and houses...
"Wow" he thinks, "This really is a nice place. I wonder what the people are like here? Besides Rudolf... haven't really met anyone from here. That beautiful elf Fauna though..." Helios sighs in the memory of meeting Fauna, her eyes shimmering like emeralds beneath her hooded cloak, skin fair and spotless, seemingly unmarked from the horrors that surround Ishtal. Real, true beauty... and blushes, when he remembers making everyone nearby feel uncomfortable from his obvious infatuation with her.
He walks over to the nearby forge, past a gathering of people, obviously in their own private discussion, and resolves to talk to them after he has unloaded the large weight of iron from his pack. Taking out a stray piece of coal from a nearby chest, he works on smelting the iron he has into ingots, as payment for Rudolf working his ingots into nails earlier.
Wiping his brow as he pulls the last lot of ingots from the furnace, Helios is about to place the ingots into the chest when he is assaulted by an unwelcome odor, followed by the sharp tapping of a greataxe on his shoulder, and the following blast of stale, rotting pie.
"HEY!" The half-orc shouts in his ear, startling Helios and nearly giving him a heart attack.
"Ack!" Helios replies, falling back a lot, obviously stunned.
"You's not from around here?" Knock asks, his towering, misshapen half-orc figure is clothed in a commoners garb, barely concealing the mass of hulking muscles underneath. A vicious looking greataxe is resting in his hands, dancing with an uncanny lightness in his hands.
"Uh... no..." stammers Helios. His own knight's garb is reeking of coal and sweat, still bearing its initial colours of red and white, but this pales in comparison to the paleness of his face at being startled by such a monstrous humanoid.
"Me Knock!"
"Err... knock who?" replies Helios eyeing the greataxe and hoping he won't be knocked by it any time soon, his hand reaching behind his armor for the shield slung there, making no move towards his sword for fear of provoking a hostile reaction.
"Uh.." Knock says uncertainly, caught off-guard by this question. "Zombehs... people... doors... trees... rocks... stuff..."
"Uh.." Helios parrots, "about that second one... Whens the last time you've knocked someone..."
"Been a long time" Knock grins. "You's know rules of Camp?"
Helios begins to speak, but is cut off by an elf approaching nearby, her features indistinguishable from the dark robe she wears.
"He is a Camp Enforcer" the elf remarks. "for those who steal from the camp. He slays... theft has been occuring far too often.
"Me not get to kill anyone in a long time... Reyna says it bad." The half-orc seems obviously upset about not being able to kill anyone, but Helios believes he must be truly loyal to Reyna and so begrudges her that order.
"Well" Helios says jokingly, trying to lighten the ominously scary mood, "Good for the thiefs, I suppose. They must be getting lots of free stuff with all this crap lying around." As far as Helios can see, there really is nothing exceptionally valuable here, just food and common resources, nothing worth taking, or dying over for that matter.
The half-orcs eyes light up, his grip on the axe tightening, taking the wrong meaning from Helios' joke.
"It's not free, dumb dumb."
"Right." replies Helios, instantly agreeing with the half-orc, who is still brandishing his axe about.
A stray remark flies out loud from the direction of the group of people in the distance, from a man Helios knows as "Seth", a brother in arms, at least for the time of that Crawler they had recently slain.
"Yeah, someones bin running off with a lot of food in the Avalanche..."
Helios instantly looks guiltily toward his pack, and looks away. 'Right', he thinks, 'I still have to replace the food I took from Avalanche... sort of slipped my mind when we were building that castle wall together to help keep out the infected...'
"You's gotta return tha favors to camp, yus, 'cause we work together" The half-orc pulls out a pie and begins munching at it heavily, the horrible smell of rotting pie assaulting Helios's senses once more.
'What the hell... is he implying I took from this camp?' Helios wonders cautiously, his hand still by his shield. 'I sure as hell hope that's not what he is thinking... though he did interrupt me from replacing the coal I took to give the camp more ingots..'
"What favors are you on about..?"
"Reyna call it courtesy. You know courtesy?" The half-orc states, almost hoping that Helios says the wrong thing.
"Right, well..." Helios tries to change the topic, hoping to be rid of this conversation before things start getting worse. A stray bead of sweat falls from his forehead... 'Not sure how long I've got before this guy starts threatening me... what kind of person is this Reyna that would let this hothead be their guard?'
"Whatever, can you and your big axe move aside?" He asks cautiously and more directly, hoping this will stop the half-orc from feeding on Helios's fear. "I was about to throw some ingots into the chest I'd pulled coal from."
"You pull coal? You know rules now. You be good." The half-orc orders imperatively, the axe still in his hand in full view. "Or me come find you."
"Move it. Please." Helios barely gets in the please, hoping to try and not sound aggressive.
The towering half-orc Knock steps to one side, watching Helios intensely. 'He's probably trying to think of a way to start a fight' Helios thinks... 'As long as I don't say something stupid, and get out of here quickly... I should be fine... maybe...'
Helios places the last ingot into the chest and almost immediately...
"You not a very nice person"
'd**n it, he's trying to do it again... what do I say? If I don't reply quickly... he'll have my head for sure.'
/* Int roll - 3
"I find your manner abrasive, sorry if you find mine as well in retaliation."
"Me no nice to thieves" The half-orc states at Helios. 'Why isn't he leaving me alone already?'
"If you no thief, you no feel bad. If you thiefs, me kill you. Make everyone happy. That be all."
'd**n it I've had enough with this guy, doesn't he realise he scares the living daylights out of me enough?!' Helios thinks angrily, completely and ignorantly missing the final three words Knock spoke that could have prevented the following catastrophe while in mental thought.
Helios turns around at Knock, who was about to depart, shouting back and showing little restraint.
"You startle me, wield a big axe and start to lecture me about rules? You see why I may be a little nervous around you right?!"
Seth walks over, and tries to save me from my own folly by changing the topic to something else, to distract the half-orc and his impending bloodlust.
"That axe is very scary.."
The half-orc turns around to Seth, an obvious look of sheer enjoyment envelops his face that someone else thinks is axe is scary. He stands up straight, placing the axe on his shoulder in a soldier-like stance.
"Yus, me scare people. It my job. Scare away thiefs. You no thief, you no need to be scared." He pouts.
'Perhaps if I give him my scary-looking double-sword he'll leave me alone and play with his new weapon...'
"These look scarier," Helios replies, pulling out a large double-sword suddenly and offering it to the half-orc. 'Curses, wrong move. What have I done!?'
The half-orc turns around and looks at Helios brandishing out a weapon in front of the orc, and insulted that his axe was considered second in scariness.
"Me BE scarier!" He shouts, yet another blast of pie breath crossing in front of Helios's face, stunning him.
"Half-orcs with Two bladed swords?" Seth remarks, pondering how scarier the half-orc would be if he accepted my weapon rather than taking the situation as an offensive remark.
"Pfffft" The half-orc replies, bits of apple and pastry flying out of his mouth and landing on Helios' knight armor, adding to the stains of blood on his pants. "Two blade AXE!"
"...Creepy" Seth agrees.
"Right well. I have yet to see a two-bladed axe." Helios says, wondering why such a weapon hasn't been found on Ishtal yet. 'Perhaps since it is an orcish weapon, there are some orcs somewhere with the plans for this weapon hiding from the infected on Ishtal somewhere?'
"Imagine that " Seth ponders, his hand raising to hold his chin in an inquisitive manner. "A barbarians dream come true."
"Me find one... some day." The half-orc says wistfully, his brutish voice trailing off into the distance, along with his train of thought. The open chest nearby rekindles it, overflowing with iron ingots. "Thanks for tha metals, you make da camp happy."
"Whatever," says Helios, waving a dismissive hand and walking off, hoping to get away from this camp 'before the half-orc remembers it was trying to pick a fight with me.'
The half-orc watches for about seven seconds as Helios walks off, before it clicks back in his brain what he was trying to accomplish. The sound of running thudding, heavy footsteps approaches Helios and he turns around to face Knock. 'Am I to have no reprieve from this half-orc?!' Helios thinks angrily.
"You think rules not worth your time?" The half-orc pronounces, as he rushes forward in front of Helios to try stop him from leaving, throwing yet another final statement to try and incite a battle.
'Maybe... if I can get him thinking about what he's doing he'll leave me alone long enough to let me go.' Bad move.
"That depends," Helios replies, almost mockingly, "Do you think I am incapable of using common sense?"
"Uh..." Knock replies, scratching his head slightly with his greataxe, and still blocking Helios's path. "No... but some peoples choose not to," he concedes.
Instantly the sound of silence can be heard, along with the occasional cricket. The half-orc still holding his axe, staring at Helios. 'Locked into a staring contest with this brute... d**n...'
A small hum buzzes across the telepathic channel, along with the voice of the dark-robed elf from earlier.
"Knock dear. Please come to my home."
After a while of silence, and yet more uncertain staring between Knock and Helios, Rudolf's voice can be heard, the faint humming from before reappearing once more.
"Does Knock have a ring?
"... Now that I think about it, I do not think he does..."
'Perhaps I could do a courtesy, and be rid of this menacing half-orc at the same time so I can go about my business...'
"Your mistress is calling for you, on this telepathic channel" Helios replies, his hand showing off his telepathic ring before falling back to his shield, the other hand now resting on his sword-hilt in it's sheath with a sleight-of-hand trick, a half-and-a half-sword neatly polished awaiting inside, just incase things get nasty.
"Yus I know." The half-orc continues staring at Helios, thinking about what he could say next to try and fight Helios. A small, weak humming springs abruptly into the telepathic channel, along with the voice of a child, gruff and resembling the accent of the half-orc 'No wonder he doesn't use it often enough for the others to know he has one' Helios laughs inside, a smile appearing on his face.
"Me knows, miss Reyna." 'Oh! So that's Reyna.'
"Oh," Reyna replies.
"Me thinks this mister no like the rules."
'What the hell is he going on about? Oh!' Helios mentally slaps himself in the forehead, still at his staring contest with Knock. 'The half-orc is trying to get Reyna to give him the go-ahead to attack me?'
At this point Helios is getting mentally tired from the staring contest, starting to think a little more irrationally.
"The door to my house is stuck, could use a hand when you have a moment" 'Aha! An indirect order! I may be saved from this mad humanoid yet.'
The half-orc reluctantly replies "... me be right there."
"Then the mister will not be welcome, nor will EVER be invited to any of our functions."
"You be good, mister, or me come find you." The half-orc replies.
'Do I have to explain myself over the telepathic channel for good measure, and show i'm just not some mindless thief with a little intellectuality?' Bad move.
"It's not like I don't know them, I just don't care," Helios replies over the telepathic channel, "It just happens common sense and the rules tend to coincide." 'Now they know that I innately already knew these rules and wasn't intending on breaking them any time soon. Oh wait... the half-orc probably doesn't think THAT deeply.'
"People who no care no live. Me smash their heads!" The half-orc declares triumphantly.
"Good luck with that" Helios replies, not quite catching the meaning of the half-orcs words.
"You should leave now... mister." The half-orc replies menacingly, taking a couple steps forward with his greataxe.
"And on the same lines, you are not welcome" Reyna replies. 'Oh crap, she's an elf, she wouldn't catch my meaning either if common language wasn't her first. Now she's just given the half-orc an indirect order to get rid of me.' Helios pulls out his shield and sword on the advancing orc, carefully taking steps back to make sure he had enough room to run. 'Do I need to explain I didn't mean it like that?!'
"Right, so you just... don't get what I'm saying."
Seth releases a mental sigh over the channel, his attempts at saving me from the half-orcs bloodlust now realised to it's inevitable fruitlessness, and shuts off the channel.
"Me gets what you says," The half-orc replies, a mad glint in his eyes, and still dangerously close to Helios, his large greataxe swishing around, almost as if he's practising hacking off his head.
"Me gets you is thief, you no thief, you has no afraid of me." 'What the hell?! Where the hell did he get that idea from that I'm a thief? Is he just reaching for multiple excuses to slay me until he hits one, while at the same time preventing me from leaving?! '
Yeah, he's definitely going to attack me. I'm fast running out of room to back up.' Helios's back hits the cliff-face behind him.
"Really. Seriously. Just back off." Helios replies, his sword and shield in battle-stance, ready to deflect the greataxe if it comes flying toward him, though he knows it would most likely be a useless endeavour against such a massive foe.
"NO! YOU BACK OFF! ME SMASH YOU! OR YOU LEAVE! Me HATE thiefs!"
"Are you serious?!" Helios replies, still with his back against the wall, unable to go anywhere. 'How the hell can I back off if I've got my back against the wall?!'
"Yus! Me very serious!"
"For f**ks sake!" Helios finally gives up trying to be polite. "I am no thief, now back off!"
Alas it is too late for the half-orc to hear. The half-orc has begun counting, and stops his advance a few feet, his greataxe barely out of reach of Helios, and somehow unable to count and attack at the same time, nor hear what anyone else has to say. He seems to be bordering on entering a barbarian frenzy. 'Crap, he wasn't trying to pick a fight with me deliberately, he was building himself up into a state of frenzy before attacking me regardless of what anyone said, this half-orc is mad!'
"Ones!" Knock replies. His face then screws up in concentration. "...Twos! You has until tens! And you leaves!"
'Perhaps Reyna can talk some sense into this half-orc before he kills me, or at the very least see what kind of creature she has as a guard'
"Threes"
"Reyna can you call your "friend" off me? He clearly thinks I am a thief, even though I just donated iron ingots..."
Seth, still watching from a distance nearby, raises a brow in disbelief at the situation at hand.
"Fours! Yous has no respect for rules!" 'Yeah, he definitely doesnt realise I said I followed these rules because it was common sense, or he's too far gone into his madness to care.'
"You's has no respect for rules!" He shouts over the telepathic channel in his childish gruff voice. "He go in five counts or me gona smash."
"Sixes!" 'He can't even count?! What the hell am I waiting here for?! If I flee like a coward before I can explain myself, I don't think anyone in Gadget will ever have a chance to understand!'
Helios continues to wait in battle-stance, waiting for that one, infinitismally small moment he knows will appear before he will be able to run without having his head hacked clean off.'
"Really, for f**ks sake," Helios shouts at Knock, "if your only rule is not to steal and treat others with respect, thats just common sense, and I already follow those!"
"Er, I'd suggest you listen to Knock." Rudolf replies, obvious concern in his voice, 'Though it would probably be more for the mess I'd make in the camp if I was butchered here...'
"Sevens! He no listening, miss Reyna, he be dumb thief." The half-orc is almost in his full state of blood-frenzy, saliva dripping from his chin, his eyes beginning to glow blood-red. Helios keeps his stance, waiting for that one moment, that one speck of time in which the half-orc will distract himself long enough give him a chance to run. 'I sure as hell ain't gona trust his counting, for all I know he'll shout ten the moment I move past him to escape.'
"Eights!"
"This is stupid." Helios replies over the channel, trying to bring attention to what is really happening, though it's obviously a lost cause since no one on the ring can actually see and hear what's happened.
"Nines!" The half-orc moves his large greataxe from one hand to the other, crossing over his face and preparing for battle - but Helios is no longer there, apparently disappeared, startling the half-orc out of his frenzy. Helios, using the optical illusion provided as the greataxe blocked the half-orcs sight crossing his face, ran past unseen, and out the gate.
The half-orc turns around, satisified barely that Helios was sent running. "Good byes, mister Thief" he shouts at the departing knight, the pie breath not quite reaching Helios this time round, thankfully.
"He leaves at nines, miss Reyna" The half-orc replies over the channel, self-pride evidently flowing across in a child-like manner, matching his inner voice perfectly.
"I do not know you but you seem to know my name... You are not an Ally nor a direct member.." Reyna says over the telepathic channel.
'So do I have to explain how I know her name, despite her not knowing me?'
"Knock mentioned you," Helios replies as he runs through the fencing boarding the bridge east of Gadget, "erego who else am I going to call you by?" he says back at the elfen voice in the telepathic channel.
"I did not ask where you heard my name, I stated that I do not know you regardless of how you know my name." 'More language misinterpretation... obviously commoner was not her first language.' "Who was the original establisher of the link this time?"
"Rudolf," Helios supplies generously, as he runs across bridge spanning the chasm, and being officially therefore outside of Gadget's camp, "and I am working under him as a mercenary." 'Now she knows I am an ally, of sorts, now that I've had enough time to explain without a half-orc threatening me...'
"This would be me," Rudolf replies, "earlier the merc wanted to ask permission to join the camp... - told him he'd need to wait for you."
"At this time, I would say no.."
"Not surprised."
Knock interjects: "Me smash him if he come back! He has warning."
Helios stares at the distance... wondering how one half-orc has the power to sway the decisions of an entire camp. 'Perhaps being so close to one another is not a good thing... they can become so easily deceived should one start lying to fulfil their own wants...'
Taking one last look at the grand splendour of Gadget's camp, Helios shakes his head, trying to get his dark hair out of his dazzling blue eyes. His face shares mixed emotions, confusion, puzzlement, reluctance, and a harboring underlining of mistrust that the decisions of such hardworking people seem but on the edge of a knife, ready to fall at a moments notice.
'They must have suffered a great trajedy recently, for them all to be on edge like that...'
Helios shakes his head once more, and departs the southwest forest, hoisting up his shield higher as he makes his way back through dark, infested territory to the next closest sanctuary where the seeds of darkness aren't so easily sown.
Avalanche.
Helios walks yet again into Camp Gadget, packing his shield back behind his back and his hand and a half sword back into it's sheath, freshly wiped from the blood of a Crawler, and takes in the sights of a ridiculous amount of statues and houses...
"Wow" he thinks, "This really is a nice place. I wonder what the people are like here? Besides Rudolf... haven't really met anyone from here. That beautiful elf Fauna though..." Helios sighs in the memory of meeting Fauna, her eyes shimmering like emeralds beneath her hooded cloak, skin fair and spotless, seemingly unmarked from the horrors that surround Ishtal. Real, true beauty... and blushes, when he remembers making everyone nearby feel uncomfortable from his obvious infatuation with her.
He walks over to the nearby forge, past a gathering of people, obviously in their own private discussion, and resolves to talk to them after he has unloaded the large weight of iron from his pack. Taking out a stray piece of coal from a nearby chest, he works on smelting the iron he has into ingots, as payment for Rudolf working his ingots into nails earlier.
Wiping his brow as he pulls the last lot of ingots from the furnace, Helios is about to place the ingots into the chest when he is assaulted by an unwelcome odor, followed by the sharp tapping of a greataxe on his shoulder, and the following blast of stale, rotting pie.
"HEY!" The half-orc shouts in his ear, startling Helios and nearly giving him a heart attack.
"Ack!" Helios replies, falling back a lot, obviously stunned.
"You's not from around here?" Knock asks, his towering, misshapen half-orc figure is clothed in a commoners garb, barely concealing the mass of hulking muscles underneath. A vicious looking greataxe is resting in his hands, dancing with an uncanny lightness in his hands.
"Uh... no..." stammers Helios. His own knight's garb is reeking of coal and sweat, still bearing its initial colours of red and white, but this pales in comparison to the paleness of his face at being startled by such a monstrous humanoid.
"Me Knock!"
"Err... knock who?" replies Helios eyeing the greataxe and hoping he won't be knocked by it any time soon, his hand reaching behind his armor for the shield slung there, making no move towards his sword for fear of provoking a hostile reaction.
"Uh.." Knock says uncertainly, caught off-guard by this question. "Zombehs... people... doors... trees... rocks... stuff..."
"Uh.." Helios parrots, "about that second one... Whens the last time you've knocked someone..."
"Been a long time" Knock grins. "You's know rules of Camp?"
Helios begins to speak, but is cut off by an elf approaching nearby, her features indistinguishable from the dark robe she wears.
"He is a Camp Enforcer" the elf remarks. "for those who steal from the camp. He slays... theft has been occuring far too often.
"Me not get to kill anyone in a long time... Reyna says it bad." The half-orc seems obviously upset about not being able to kill anyone, but Helios believes he must be truly loyal to Reyna and so begrudges her that order.
"Well" Helios says jokingly, trying to lighten the ominously scary mood, "Good for the thiefs, I suppose. They must be getting lots of free stuff with all this crap lying around." As far as Helios can see, there really is nothing exceptionally valuable here, just food and common resources, nothing worth taking, or dying over for that matter.
The half-orcs eyes light up, his grip on the axe tightening, taking the wrong meaning from Helios' joke.
"It's not free, dumb dumb."
"Right." replies Helios, instantly agreeing with the half-orc, who is still brandishing his axe about.
A stray remark flies out loud from the direction of the group of people in the distance, from a man Helios knows as "Seth", a brother in arms, at least for the time of that Crawler they had recently slain.
"Yeah, someones bin running off with a lot of food in the Avalanche..."
Helios instantly looks guiltily toward his pack, and looks away. 'Right', he thinks, 'I still have to replace the food I took from Avalanche... sort of slipped my mind when we were building that castle wall together to help keep out the infected...'
"You's gotta return tha favors to camp, yus, 'cause we work together" The half-orc pulls out a pie and begins munching at it heavily, the horrible smell of rotting pie assaulting Helios's senses once more.
'What the hell... is he implying I took from this camp?' Helios wonders cautiously, his hand still by his shield. 'I sure as hell hope that's not what he is thinking... though he did interrupt me from replacing the coal I took to give the camp more ingots..'
"What favors are you on about..?"
"Reyna call it courtesy. You know courtesy?" The half-orc states, almost hoping that Helios says the wrong thing.
"Right, well..." Helios tries to change the topic, hoping to be rid of this conversation before things start getting worse. A stray bead of sweat falls from his forehead... 'Not sure how long I've got before this guy starts threatening me... what kind of person is this Reyna that would let this hothead be their guard?'
"Whatever, can you and your big axe move aside?" He asks cautiously and more directly, hoping this will stop the half-orc from feeding on Helios's fear. "I was about to throw some ingots into the chest I'd pulled coal from."
"You pull coal? You know rules now. You be good." The half-orc orders imperatively, the axe still in his hand in full view. "Or me come find you."
"Move it. Please." Helios barely gets in the please, hoping to try and not sound aggressive.
The towering half-orc Knock steps to one side, watching Helios intensely. 'He's probably trying to think of a way to start a fight' Helios thinks... 'As long as I don't say something stupid, and get out of here quickly... I should be fine... maybe...'
Helios places the last ingot into the chest and almost immediately...
"You not a very nice person"
'd**n it, he's trying to do it again... what do I say? If I don't reply quickly... he'll have my head for sure.'
/* Int roll - 3
"I find your manner abrasive, sorry if you find mine as well in retaliation."
"Me no nice to thieves" The half-orc states at Helios. 'Why isn't he leaving me alone already?'
"If you no thief, you no feel bad. If you thiefs, me kill you. Make everyone happy. That be all."
'd**n it I've had enough with this guy, doesn't he realise he scares the living daylights out of me enough?!' Helios thinks angrily, completely and ignorantly missing the final three words Knock spoke that could have prevented the following catastrophe while in mental thought.
Helios turns around at Knock, who was about to depart, shouting back and showing little restraint.
"You startle me, wield a big axe and start to lecture me about rules? You see why I may be a little nervous around you right?!"
Seth walks over, and tries to save me from my own folly by changing the topic to something else, to distract the half-orc and his impending bloodlust.
"That axe is very scary.."
The half-orc turns around to Seth, an obvious look of sheer enjoyment envelops his face that someone else thinks is axe is scary. He stands up straight, placing the axe on his shoulder in a soldier-like stance.
"Yus, me scare people. It my job. Scare away thiefs. You no thief, you no need to be scared." He pouts.
'Perhaps if I give him my scary-looking double-sword he'll leave me alone and play with his new weapon...'
"These look scarier," Helios replies, pulling out a large double-sword suddenly and offering it to the half-orc. 'Curses, wrong move. What have I done!?'
The half-orc turns around and looks at Helios brandishing out a weapon in front of the orc, and insulted that his axe was considered second in scariness.
"Me BE scarier!" He shouts, yet another blast of pie breath crossing in front of Helios's face, stunning him.
"Half-orcs with Two bladed swords?" Seth remarks, pondering how scarier the half-orc would be if he accepted my weapon rather than taking the situation as an offensive remark.
"Pfffft" The half-orc replies, bits of apple and pastry flying out of his mouth and landing on Helios' knight armor, adding to the stains of blood on his pants. "Two blade AXE!"
"...Creepy" Seth agrees.
"Right well. I have yet to see a two-bladed axe." Helios says, wondering why such a weapon hasn't been found on Ishtal yet. 'Perhaps since it is an orcish weapon, there are some orcs somewhere with the plans for this weapon hiding from the infected on Ishtal somewhere?'
"Imagine that " Seth ponders, his hand raising to hold his chin in an inquisitive manner. "A barbarians dream come true."
"Me find one... some day." The half-orc says wistfully, his brutish voice trailing off into the distance, along with his train of thought. The open chest nearby rekindles it, overflowing with iron ingots. "Thanks for tha metals, you make da camp happy."
"Whatever," says Helios, waving a dismissive hand and walking off, hoping to get away from this camp 'before the half-orc remembers it was trying to pick a fight with me.'
The half-orc watches for about seven seconds as Helios walks off, before it clicks back in his brain what he was trying to accomplish. The sound of running thudding, heavy footsteps approaches Helios and he turns around to face Knock. 'Am I to have no reprieve from this half-orc?!' Helios thinks angrily.
"You think rules not worth your time?" The half-orc pronounces, as he rushes forward in front of Helios to try stop him from leaving, throwing yet another final statement to try and incite a battle.
'Maybe... if I can get him thinking about what he's doing he'll leave me alone long enough to let me go.' Bad move.
"That depends," Helios replies, almost mockingly, "Do you think I am incapable of using common sense?"
"Uh..." Knock replies, scratching his head slightly with his greataxe, and still blocking Helios's path. "No... but some peoples choose not to," he concedes.
Instantly the sound of silence can be heard, along with the occasional cricket. The half-orc still holding his axe, staring at Helios. 'Locked into a staring contest with this brute... d**n...'
A small hum buzzes across the telepathic channel, along with the voice of the dark-robed elf from earlier.
"Knock dear. Please come to my home."
After a while of silence, and yet more uncertain staring between Knock and Helios, Rudolf's voice can be heard, the faint humming from before reappearing once more.
"Does Knock have a ring?
"... Now that I think about it, I do not think he does..."
'Perhaps I could do a courtesy, and be rid of this menacing half-orc at the same time so I can go about my business...'
"Your mistress is calling for you, on this telepathic channel" Helios replies, his hand showing off his telepathic ring before falling back to his shield, the other hand now resting on his sword-hilt in it's sheath with a sleight-of-hand trick, a half-and-a half-sword neatly polished awaiting inside, just incase things get nasty.
"Yus I know." The half-orc continues staring at Helios, thinking about what he could say next to try and fight Helios. A small, weak humming springs abruptly into the telepathic channel, along with the voice of a child, gruff and resembling the accent of the half-orc 'No wonder he doesn't use it often enough for the others to know he has one' Helios laughs inside, a smile appearing on his face.
"Me knows, miss Reyna." 'Oh! So that's Reyna.'
"Oh," Reyna replies.
"Me thinks this mister no like the rules."
'What the hell is he going on about? Oh!' Helios mentally slaps himself in the forehead, still at his staring contest with Knock. 'The half-orc is trying to get Reyna to give him the go-ahead to attack me?'
At this point Helios is getting mentally tired from the staring contest, starting to think a little more irrationally.
"The door to my house is stuck, could use a hand when you have a moment" 'Aha! An indirect order! I may be saved from this mad humanoid yet.'
The half-orc reluctantly replies "... me be right there."
"Then the mister will not be welcome, nor will EVER be invited to any of our functions."
"You be good, mister, or me come find you." The half-orc replies.
'Do I have to explain myself over the telepathic channel for good measure, and show i'm just not some mindless thief with a little intellectuality?' Bad move.
"It's not like I don't know them, I just don't care," Helios replies over the telepathic channel, "It just happens common sense and the rules tend to coincide." 'Now they know that I innately already knew these rules and wasn't intending on breaking them any time soon. Oh wait... the half-orc probably doesn't think THAT deeply.'
"People who no care no live. Me smash their heads!" The half-orc declares triumphantly.
"Good luck with that" Helios replies, not quite catching the meaning of the half-orcs words.
"You should leave now... mister." The half-orc replies menacingly, taking a couple steps forward with his greataxe.
"And on the same lines, you are not welcome" Reyna replies. 'Oh crap, she's an elf, she wouldn't catch my meaning either if common language wasn't her first. Now she's just given the half-orc an indirect order to get rid of me.' Helios pulls out his shield and sword on the advancing orc, carefully taking steps back to make sure he had enough room to run. 'Do I need to explain I didn't mean it like that?!'
"Right, so you just... don't get what I'm saying."
Seth releases a mental sigh over the channel, his attempts at saving me from the half-orcs bloodlust now realised to it's inevitable fruitlessness, and shuts off the channel.
"Me gets what you says," The half-orc replies, a mad glint in his eyes, and still dangerously close to Helios, his large greataxe swishing around, almost as if he's practising hacking off his head.
"Me gets you is thief, you no thief, you has no afraid of me." 'What the hell?! Where the hell did he get that idea from that I'm a thief? Is he just reaching for multiple excuses to slay me until he hits one, while at the same time preventing me from leaving?! '
Yeah, he's definitely going to attack me. I'm fast running out of room to back up.' Helios's back hits the cliff-face behind him.
"Really. Seriously. Just back off." Helios replies, his sword and shield in battle-stance, ready to deflect the greataxe if it comes flying toward him, though he knows it would most likely be a useless endeavour against such a massive foe.
"NO! YOU BACK OFF! ME SMASH YOU! OR YOU LEAVE! Me HATE thiefs!"
"Are you serious?!" Helios replies, still with his back against the wall, unable to go anywhere. 'How the hell can I back off if I've got my back against the wall?!'
"Yus! Me very serious!"
"For f**ks sake!" Helios finally gives up trying to be polite. "I am no thief, now back off!"
Alas it is too late for the half-orc to hear. The half-orc has begun counting, and stops his advance a few feet, his greataxe barely out of reach of Helios, and somehow unable to count and attack at the same time, nor hear what anyone else has to say. He seems to be bordering on entering a barbarian frenzy. 'Crap, he wasn't trying to pick a fight with me deliberately, he was building himself up into a state of frenzy before attacking me regardless of what anyone said, this half-orc is mad!'
"Ones!" Knock replies. His face then screws up in concentration. "...Twos! You has until tens! And you leaves!"
'Perhaps Reyna can talk some sense into this half-orc before he kills me, or at the very least see what kind of creature she has as a guard'
"Threes"
"Reyna can you call your "friend" off me? He clearly thinks I am a thief, even though I just donated iron ingots..."
Seth, still watching from a distance nearby, raises a brow in disbelief at the situation at hand.
"Fours! Yous has no respect for rules!" 'Yeah, he definitely doesnt realise I said I followed these rules because it was common sense, or he's too far gone into his madness to care.'
"You's has no respect for rules!" He shouts over the telepathic channel in his childish gruff voice. "He go in five counts or me gona smash."
"Sixes!" 'He can't even count?! What the hell am I waiting here for?! If I flee like a coward before I can explain myself, I don't think anyone in Gadget will ever have a chance to understand!'
Helios continues to wait in battle-stance, waiting for that one, infinitismally small moment he knows will appear before he will be able to run without having his head hacked clean off.'
"Really, for f**ks sake," Helios shouts at Knock, "if your only rule is not to steal and treat others with respect, thats just common sense, and I already follow those!"
"Er, I'd suggest you listen to Knock." Rudolf replies, obvious concern in his voice, 'Though it would probably be more for the mess I'd make in the camp if I was butchered here...'
"Sevens! He no listening, miss Reyna, he be dumb thief." The half-orc is almost in his full state of blood-frenzy, saliva dripping from his chin, his eyes beginning to glow blood-red. Helios keeps his stance, waiting for that one moment, that one speck of time in which the half-orc will distract himself long enough give him a chance to run. 'I sure as hell ain't gona trust his counting, for all I know he'll shout ten the moment I move past him to escape.'
"Eights!"
"This is stupid." Helios replies over the channel, trying to bring attention to what is really happening, though it's obviously a lost cause since no one on the ring can actually see and hear what's happened.
"Nines!" The half-orc moves his large greataxe from one hand to the other, crossing over his face and preparing for battle - but Helios is no longer there, apparently disappeared, startling the half-orc out of his frenzy. Helios, using the optical illusion provided as the greataxe blocked the half-orcs sight crossing his face, ran past unseen, and out the gate.
The half-orc turns around, satisified barely that Helios was sent running. "Good byes, mister Thief" he shouts at the departing knight, the pie breath not quite reaching Helios this time round, thankfully.
"He leaves at nines, miss Reyna" The half-orc replies over the channel, self-pride evidently flowing across in a child-like manner, matching his inner voice perfectly.
"I do not know you but you seem to know my name... You are not an Ally nor a direct member.." Reyna says over the telepathic channel.
'So do I have to explain how I know her name, despite her not knowing me?'
"Knock mentioned you," Helios replies as he runs through the fencing boarding the bridge east of Gadget, "erego who else am I going to call you by?" he says back at the elfen voice in the telepathic channel.
"I did not ask where you heard my name, I stated that I do not know you regardless of how you know my name." 'More language misinterpretation... obviously commoner was not her first language.' "Who was the original establisher of the link this time?"
"Rudolf," Helios supplies generously, as he runs across bridge spanning the chasm, and being officially therefore outside of Gadget's camp, "and I am working under him as a mercenary." 'Now she knows I am an ally, of sorts, now that I've had enough time to explain without a half-orc threatening me...'
"This would be me," Rudolf replies, "earlier the merc wanted to ask permission to join the camp... - told him he'd need to wait for you."
"At this time, I would say no.."
"Not surprised."
Knock interjects: "Me smash him if he come back! He has warning."
Helios stares at the distance... wondering how one half-orc has the power to sway the decisions of an entire camp. 'Perhaps being so close to one another is not a good thing... they can become so easily deceived should one start lying to fulfil their own wants...'
Taking one last look at the grand splendour of Gadget's camp, Helios shakes his head, trying to get his dark hair out of his dazzling blue eyes. His face shares mixed emotions, confusion, puzzlement, reluctance, and a harboring underlining of mistrust that the decisions of such hardworking people seem but on the edge of a knife, ready to fall at a moments notice.
'They must have suffered a great trajedy recently, for them all to be on edge like that...'
Helios shakes his head once more, and departs the southwest forest, hoisting up his shield higher as he makes his way back through dark, infested territory to the next closest sanctuary where the seeds of darkness aren't so easily sown.
Avalanche.
so I tried to keep it as accurate as possible. The only thing that's different is when I had to deviate the order of a couple of segments when the conversation turned into 3+ people, to keep the flow of the dialogue in a straight line. //