Of Beasts and Knights

he realises upon doing so, that the creature's skull is worryingly thick. it roars angrily. Thorgar meanwhile, gotta dodge real quick so as to not get covered by the acid that it vomits up pouring out of the wound.

Girl: oh?

Rosa: I've never seen a chaos warrior or marauder with a proper ranged weapon except hellcannons. how the hell are you going to defend city walls?

Vorstan: "Javelins and throwing axes are common. Besides that, sorcerers, and sally tactics."

Zyleena: "I felt rather accomplished."

*Heigen kicks his toes into the beast's back, his left fist's spikes dig into its neck, holding him steady, as he begins to pound its skull repeatedly with the spiked knuckles of his gauntlets, a little more of his face regrowing, with each bonejarring impact* 

*Thorgar dives out of the way, into the water*

Rosa: sorcerers aren't common enough. Javelins and throwing axes just won't reach, they're too short ranged. And sally tactics when the enemy can happily set up a gunline outside your gate, and hammer down your walls with cannons?

Girl:...fair enough

Both thorgar and heigen realise something worrying. The stomach wound and head wounds they've inflicted are already healing. the creature swats at heigen with one hand.

Zyleena: "So i went with them, i was a sort of mascot for a while. They called me Furious." 

Vorstan: "We have our ways rosa."

*Heigen snatches a crude knife from his belt, and slashes at the swatting hand* 

*Thorgar rises from the water, and slashes the troll's left hamstring.*

Rosa: liiiiike?

Girl: furious?

the troll angrily vomits right on thorgar, managing to slap heigen off of her back

Zyleena: "Because i bit a man's nose off." 

Vorstan: "Like careful manuvering and planning." 

*heigen lands in the water, rolls, and comes up with the knife in hand*

*Thorgar yells in agony, slams his sword into the beast's leg, cutting the tendons, then throws himself into the water to clean off the corrosive mixture.*

Rosa: or they starve you out. Keep you bottled in cause if you try to leave, you'll just get shot.

Girl: oh...okay. *also Zyleena catches sight of the girl's sword. it's definitely not imperial, kislevi, bretonnian, or anything from north or south that she knows. Very very well crafted, and curved, with a wicked point at the end.*

The hag again roars in anger, trying to punch Heigen

Vorstan: "We have plans in place for that rosa."

*Heigen smiles. the beast comes onto his terms. he ducks the blow, and rams the knife into the troll's wrist.* 

*Thorgar rises from the water, and with both hands, swings his sword into the back of the hag's knee. severing tendons, and biting into the bone.*

Zyleena: "One of the marauders tried to take a loaf of bread from me, so i said i'd eat him instead."

Rosa:...right.

its wrists are so big it barely notices as it smacks him aside. it tries to stand despite its wounds, as some have already started healing.

Girl: oh.

*Thorgar tears the blade out, and hacks again. Bone splinters, flesh around sloughs off as thorgar's blade digs into the joint between femur and shin* 

*heigen takes the blow, but is soon up, and coming once again.* 

Zyleena: "....That is a beautiful sword."

Vorstan: "years of careful planning have led us here."

Rosa: right.

Girl:...you can't have it.

the troll turns angrily, swatting at thorgar

Zyleena: "Of course not, I have my own sword. I was just admiring it."

*Thorgar ducks, spins as he comes back up, and swings the blade in a wide arc, smashing into the beast's kneecap, shattering it, and all but severing the leg. its held on by a thread.*

*heigen charges once more, he jumps, and punches the beast in the throat, once more digging his toe spikes into its flesh. There is a resounding crack, as the sudden impact breaks the last piece of bone holding the leg together.*

Vorstan: "Don't worry rosa, we've thought it through."

Girl: oh...thankyou

*the leg healing kicks in fast. it's not fully healing or anything, but it's visible. the troll roars and begins casting more magic missile attacks at the two*

Rosa: Not worrying.

*Heigen, clung to the beast's chest, punches it in the throat, as hard as he can.* 

*thorgar slashes through the healing leg, then plunges his blade into the other leg's calf, puts his shoulder to it, and pushes* 

Zyleena: *she draws her own sword, and lays it across her lap. It is a long, graceful blade with a curved tip. A single large red gemstone is set into the hilt.*

Vorstan: "Good, everything is going according to plan."

angrily the creature vomits in retaliation to heigen. Meanwhile it slaps at thorgar.

Girl: not bad...*sighs* Fuck it I'm going to be blunt. I'm at your mercy now. What are you going to do to/with me?

Rosa nods. after a pause "hey...Vorstan?"

Zyleena: "Do... to slash with you? Nothing unless i want to die." 

*Heigen tanks it. the vomit splashes across his face and shoulder, eating into his armour and flesh. his continued beating of the beast, collapsing its throat in short order. only the damage he is doing to the troll is keeping him alive, as his chaotic gifts battle the acid eating his body* 

*thorgar continues to circle the trolls leg, slashing tendons, and occasionally swinging at the regenerating stump of its other leg to halt the progress.* 

Vorstan: "Yes?"

Girl: then what happens to me now?!

it falls down onto its knees

Rosa:... thankyou

Thorgar: "HEIGEN NOW!" 

*Heigen swings up around to the back of its head, and punches it a few times in the base of the spine.* 

Vorstan: "......" *Wat face* 

Zyleena: "I am not thorgar. I couldn't tell you."

*it bellows in pain at this*

rosa:....for giving a shit. about me.

Girl: great. fucking great.

*Thorgar drops his blade and shield, and hefts a stone from beneath the water's surface. Easilly as heavy as he is. He heaves it onto his shoulder, bends his knees, and with a roar of exertion, he springs up to standing, hurling the stone with force far beyond the ability of a mortal man. straight into the beast's head. Heigen's blows keeping the beast stunned just long enough so it has no chance to avoid the staggeringly strong blow.*

Zyleena: "Although, if he deems you worth protecting, My assumption being you are a mage... well he'll probably hand you off to vorstan... then again he already has a charge..."

Vorstan: "I despise slavery as a principle, you needed protecting... then i found you to be quite the interesting person."

the beast's skull cracks, but it's not dead yet, as it tries to rise angrily

Girl: wonderful.

Rosa: *slight smile* thanks

*heigen, winds up, drawing his fist back, and punches it. then draws back his other fist, and slams it down with similar earth shattering force. Each blow to the beast's skull would kill a man.*

Zyleena: "Perhaps he will send you to one of the sorcerers coming on the ships, to learn."

Vorstan: *he rests a gauntleted hand on her shoulder*

it angrily, despite the wounds, continues to rise, already the wounds beginning to heal.

the girl says nothing. Quietly she picks up her sword and starts cleaning the blade. 

Rosa's smile widens a bit as she looks up at him

*Seeing the crack in its skull, before it can close, heigen puts the tips of his fingers into the gap, and hauls it wider.*

Zyleena: "Perhaps the gods will gift you with a blade like mine, in time."

Vorstan: *his expression, as always is covered by his helmet, she has seen the others take off theirs to eat, but not vorstan*

the creature reaches up and tries to grab heigen

Girl: I like mine.

Rosa: do you ever take that off?

Vorstan: "What?"

Zyleena: "Perhaps they'll make that one like it then... A chaos blade never dulls."

*Thorgar has circled around in the meantime, carrying the giant stone. Now behind the troll, he makes a half turn, and slams the huge weight into its spine*

Rosa: the helmet.

Girl: neither does mine.

angrily, and having grabbed heigen in hand, it throws heigen at thorgar

Vorstan: "Not usually."

Zyleena: "Why clean something that never gets dirty?"

*Thorgar rolls to the side to dodge his flying underling, and draws a knife. facing off against the troll. meanwhile, heigen, from lying on his back, sees the trolls discarded staff... with his axes embedded in it.*

Rosa: why?

Girl: I have my reasons.

The troll growls, glaring down at the chaos lord

Vorstan: "It protects my head?"

Zyleena: "Fair enough...."

Thorgar: *he takes his helmet off with his left hand. growls back at the troll. then throws the helmet at its head.*

Rosa: not even to eat or anything?

Girl:...*finishes cleaning it*

*this just pisses it off as it comes closer*

Vorstan: "I usually eat in private."

*But, momentarily it is distracted. Thorgar uses this moment to leap towards it, aiming to ram his long knife into its throat.*

Zyleena: *moment of silence.* "Gods i'm already bored."

Rosa:...why?

it tries to swat at him as he does so. tries.

Girl:...oh.

*Thorgar sinks the blade into the side of its neck. holding onto the beast's neck, tearing the blade out through the front, severing its throat and arteries. At this moment, heigen sinks the spikes of his axes into its back, and begins climbing up, ice wall style.*

Vorstan: "Noone gets this far in a warband without a valuable dose of paranoia."

Zyleena: "Lets do something."

it grasps at its neck, trying again to swat at thorgar with the other hand

Rosa:...can I see your face?

Girl: like?

Vorstan: "..." *he looks around, pauses for a moment.... a good ten seconds pass. then he replies* "I suppose so." *he lifts his helmet off. His face is has the same bronze colour as his arms did, and the black living ink of his tattoos end at the top of his neck. His eyes are a piercing, almost glowing blue. He has a solid face, well built. Three ragged scars run across his left cheek, one cuts through the corner of his lip.*

Zyleena: "...Ummm... Play a game?"

*Heigen reaches the base of its neck, and slams his axe blade into it. the heavy black iron blade cutting deep into the muscle of its neck. Thorgar plants the knife through its swatting hand*

Rosa: ....*smiles* not bad.

Girl:...like?

it stumbles backwards, heigen having some trouble staying back there

*Heigen carries on unabated, tearing one axe out, then slamming it home, then tearing the other out, and slamming it back in. The cuts on either side of its neck getting slowly larger* "FUCKING DIE YOU FAT BASTARD!"

Zyleena: "have you ever played darts?"

Vorstan: *He raises an eyebrow. His mane of black hair is tied in a pony tail.* "Not bad?"

it reaches up and tries to knock heigen off

Girl: no.

Rosa: not bad.

Vorstan: "In my tribe i was revered as a demigod." *he smiles*

Zyleena: "I'll show you. They have a board downstairs."

*heigen gets hit mid swing, with only one axe embedded in the troll's flesh, he is knocked off. leaving the other blade still stuck. Seeing this, thorgar, seizes hold of the blade, tears it out, and takes one final swing... The axe impacts, finally severing what's left of the beast's neck.*

Rosa: back home I had to watch my back in a dark alley to make sure no one took advantage of me.

Girl: right.

*finally the creature falls dead. The two feel the curse lifted.*

vorstan: "The curse of beauty, hm rosa?" *he chuckles* "No i was called a demigod because i am seven foot tall and can throw fireballs. Not because of my good looks"

*Thorgar buries the axe in its skull for good measure. Then stands up, visibly out of breath* "Well.... That....... Fuck trolls."

Heigen: *Getting up, he nods* "Fuck trolls."

*She replaces her helmet, and walks off downstairs*

Rosa: hm. I nearly got arrested for mugging a knight once?

Morkar: *approaching* That no normal troll.

the girl follows

*he laughs out loud* "Mugging a knight? really? Fat pursed moron."

Thorgar: "I think we guessed that after the fifth time its head failed to come off."

Heigen: "Or cave in."

*Downstairs, the hubbub of the tavern stops when zyleena enters once more. She walks over to the bar, searches for a bit, and retrieves a set of darts, then goes over to the dart board, and proceeds to hit a 180.*

Rosa: He was drunk in a local tavern. We hadn't eaten in about a week. It wasn't an oppertunity I wanted to miss.

Morkar: Troll hag. Old, cunning, water troll. Very magically powerful. Has some high level of magic resistance. My attacks would have done almost nothing to it.

the girl watches, not sure what that means

Vorstan: "And you almost got arrested?"

Thorgar: "I learned that."

Zyleena: *gestures her over as she walks to retrieve them*

Rosa: someone saw me when i had his coin purse. Called the guards. I've never run so fast in my life.

Morkar: *nods* very powerful. Very dangerous. You show great strength by killing it. Gods will be pleased.

she approaches as she is bidden

Vorstan: "Knights normally command huge respect in the southlands."

Thorgar: "Right... onwards then."

Zyleena: "...You can read numbers?"

Rosa: they do.

Morkar nods, walking over to the dead troll

Girl: yes.....

Vorstan: "I'm not surprised someone turned you in."

Zyleena: "You want to get the highest number. The middle is 50, and the segments are numbered. This band is doubled, and this one is trippled. Understand cheri?"

Heigen: "Any other bloody creatures around?"

Rosa: I got away in the end though.

Girl: right. 

Morkar: *looking for something on the corpse* Not that I can see.