Expanse: The City Reboot (Dark Fantasy Epic) Main Thread (Open, Started)

[FinalDream]

Scarlett Verneer - Northern Mountain Pass

Scarlett spun around and sunk her knife into the heart of the bandit. The look of surprise on his face suggested that he had marked Scarlett down as an easy target and had never expected her to be aware of his presence. Scarlett watched the life drain from his eyes before removing the blade and turned to face the second bandit who had emerged from the rocks behind her. The bandit drew a long knife and slowly began to walk towards her.

The sound of clashing steel echoed across the mountain as they crossed blades again and again, it seemed for a moment the pair where equally matched until Scarlett began to use her unarmed training against him. Sweeping her leg she caught the bandit and sent him toppling into the snow. In a flurry of moves Scarlett knocked away the knife and drove her own down into the ribcage of the bandit. Scarlett twisted the knife and pulled it out.

It was then she caught sight of a figure silhouetted against the pale sun, stood on the rock above. A long, grey, hooded coat flapped in the wind to reveal two glistening short swords. Scarlett raised a hand to see better but the figure simply turned around slowly and walked away. A hint of purple streaked against the sky.

 

[Evrant-Knight]

Vergil Crawford - Northern Mountain Pass

Vergil continued to fight, despite his injury. Another bandit came down from atop a lone tree above him, carrying a long knife, and leapt at him. Vergil quickly sidestepped the oncoming foe, and he casually waited for the bandit to get back up. The two then started trading strikes with one another, both seemingly equal in skill, despite the fact that the bandit was movingly a little slower.

He thought it best to play cleverly, and picked up a handful of snow, and threw it at the bandit, causing them to be distracted and blind for a moment. He used this opportunity, and leapt at the bandit, driving his wrist blade deep into the bandits throat, and the pair went crashing to the floor. Vergil then twisted the blade, severing the tendons there.

Afterwards, he got up, and surveyed the scene of battle. Whilst many of the bandits were slain, and he had made some distance, there was no indication of who their leader was. He then scanned above him, to see if the bandit's leader was conducting the battle from a higher viewpoint.

Whilst he saw no one in similar attire to the bandits, there did stand a lone figure, wearing a long, grey, and hooded coat that flapped in the mountain breeze. It seemed to be watching the battle, but did not draw attention to itself. In its hands held two silver blades. After it was done doing whatever it sought to accomplish, it disappeared into the snowy backdrop, a brief moment of purple was the last that could be seen, but it too soon faded from view. Vergil realised who it was.





"You... so you are still alive, at least that answered a question I asked myself in Grim. But still, why were you here?" Vergil asked himself, as he returned to the battle.

 

[CrazyBlaze]

Telnor- Fight with a Bandit- Northern Pass
Telnor ran at the large man holding Hailden and tackled him. He locked his legs around the large bandit's and brought them both to the ground. Telnor scrambled to get on top of the large bandit and started to punch at the bandit's face. The bandit raised his arms to block Telnor's furious blows. Telnor grabbed his opponent's arms apart and smashed the flat of his palm against the bandit's face, smashing his nose. In retaliation the bandit punched with all the force he could muster at the side of Telnor's head. Telnor went flying off dazed and had trouble seeing straight.

Shaking his head Telnor rose unsteadily to his feet. He got in a fighting stance, ready to strike and started to circle the bandit. The bandit threw the first punch but Telnor ducked down and threw an uppercut. The bandit moved his head slightly to left and threw a left hook, followed by a straight right. Telnor blocked and pushed away the left hook but was hit by the right straight. He stumbled backwards, dots obscuring his vision. Telnor shaked his head and gritted his teeth and he charged the bandit. Telnor bent his knees low, grabbed his dagger and stabbed upwards. The dagger punched through the bandit's mouth and into his brain killing him. Telnor bent over breathing heavy and having trouble seeing.

 

[Korten12]

Lorel ? Northern Mountain Pass

The bandits weren?t tough, and they were easily being killed by everyone but they kept coming. Then the blizzard began to really ramp up and it was getting so hard to see that Lorel could barely see his own hand. He began to move back and then suddenly the ground below him began to shake and then crumble. Before he could react the ground broke and he fell into a long hole and blackness consumed him. Above ground, rocks fell onto where the hole was, removing any signs of it ever being there. No one noticed it had happened.

 

[Evrant-Knight]

Vergil Crawford - Northern Mountain Pass

Vergil could feel a faint rumble, but thought nothing of it, attributing it to the rapidly increasing blizzard, which made things more difficult. However, the bandits were not so disconcerting.

"Damn this blizzard, its making fighting these guys more trouble than it worth. Everyone, a tactical withdraw is in order." Vergil heard one of the bandits, who dressed in armour gave an order to the others in a harsh tone, harsh like the blizzard. The others complied, and began to hastily run from the battle. Within a few minutes, the field was empty.

Vergil decided not to pick off any of the stragglers, they weren't worth it. The blizzard, or their superiors would do it for him.

 

[Korten12]

Velen ? Northern Mountain Pass

Soon the bandits began to flee, but the Blizzard wasn?t letting up. He ran up to a person hoping it was Nashia, luckily he was right. ?Nashia, we need to find a cave! This blizzard came out of nowhere.?

?We can?t!? She yelled back to make up for the loud Blizzard noise. ?No caves around here! We need to push forward!?

Another Guardian came up to her. ?Bandits are gone, Nashia.?

Together the group everyone moved forward for roughly an hour, people during such time barely able to hear and see each other. But then the blizzard began to let up and the blue sky which was much clearer than in the City came out with barely any clouds. Then the Guardians proceeded to do a head count and they were happy with the results. No one had died, but some were injured.

Itsuka was looking worried so Velen ran up to her. ?What?s wrong??

?It?s Lorel. I can?t find him!?

Lorel ? Northern Mountain Pass

For minutes he kept falling occasionally hitting the walls of the hole, he could barely see anything, he tried to conjure fire but it was hard to with his speed. He grabbed onto something and stopped the falling, but his grip wasn?t good.

No... No!

He lost his grip and then fell backwards but then he stopped, and hit his back on the ground. ?Ow?? He spoke wearily.

?What? Happen..?? He spoke as he got up, and he felt pain all over. But he could still use magic, and conjured fire on his hand and the room lit. Then he saw that his clothes had been ripped and blood was gushing out in many places. While one person would be worried, he felt almost, comforted by the blood from his own body, a feeling that he had been getting over the past five days. Lorel didn?t understand why.

He looked around; it was a fairly average cave, stalagmites and all, but no sign of any light. Lorel looked up at where his ad fell, and noticed that it was much higher than he had anticipated.

What am I going to do?

What else was there to do but move forward, he noticed the cave wasn?t just a single room and there were many passages. He was miles underground if how long he was falling for indicated anything. He was all alone.
Alone.

Something he hadn?t felt in a very long time, so far he had been with Velen since being banished. Now he was all alone in an unknown location and he had no idea how to escape. Moving down the passages he began to go up and down, for what seemed like an eternity.

 

[Evrant-Knight]

Vergil Crawford - Northern Mountain Pass

It had been an hour since the group had left the battle with the bandits, and the rapidly increasing blizzard had slowed down their progress some what. But, as quickly as it came, the blizzard had passed, the sky was clear and blue again. The makeshift tourniquet that Vergil made from the scarf had slowed the bleeding rate down, but there were still trickles that fell. Then came the announcement that Lorel had mysteriously disappeared.

"Lorel must have vanished during the blizzard. He couldn't have been taken by the bandits, I didn't see anyone being dragged off by them. It is possible that he fell over the cliff, but, despite the blizzard, we should of still been able to hear him regardless." Vergil made his analysis of the situation, and considered possibilities, but how he said it, made it seem like it came from nowhere. His mind then went back to the rumble.

"Wait, just before the bandits left, did anyone else feel a slight rumble beneath them?" He asked the group. Vergil then turned to The Vessel.

"Your right Vessel, this should be properly mended, all I have been able to do is stem the flow of blood."

 

[Evrant-Knight]

Vergil Crawford - Northern Mountain Pass

"Thanks for that Vessel, besides, I don't think we will need to anything strenuous now anyway, will we." Vergil remarked as he could feel the effect of the bandages.

"Of course I'll help, anything, for a lady." He then added, speaking quietly also.

 

[Evrant-Knight]

Vergil Crawford - Northern Mountain Pass

"Relax Vessel, its okay. I suppose the reason why I acted so foolhardy in that argument between us, was that, from you, that thing was, unexpected; I had never seen that side of you in the time we have spent together. In a way it was a surprise, and I like surprises, they make life interesting, and... fun." Vergil responded to The Vessel's question, taking the time to find the right words.

He then saw Telnor ran pass the pair, and challenged them both to a race.

"No thanks Telnor, whilst I could still run, I'd rather take things easy for now, until the arm is better."

 

[CrazyBlaze]

Telnor- Northern Mountain Pass

Telnor struggled through the blizzard with the rest of the group, carrying a sword he had picked up from one of the slain bandits. It was crudely made, not very sharp and unbalanced but despite all this if felt good to have a sword by his side again. Telnor walked alongside Hailen and helped to keep him moving when the wind got really strong. As the blizzard dissipated Telnor looked at bright blue sky and smiled. It was a good day to be alive. Telnor thought. He bounced on the balls of his feet, full of energy.

"Come on Hailen. Race ya to the front," Telnor challenged before making he started moving. As he ran past Scarlet, Vergil and Vessel, he challenged each of them, "Come on you guys. Lets get those feet moving! RACE TO THE FRONT!"

 

[Evrant-Knight]

Vergil Crawford - Northern Mountain Pass

"Well, not often do people thank others by doing... that. I very much enjoyed it Vessel, it was very kind of you do that for me. There's probably some part of me that thinks that you did it for some other reason."

 

[Evrant-Knight]

Vergil Crawford - Northern Mountain Pass

"Okay then, since you asked so nicely. That part of me, probably thought that you'd fallen in love with me, I realise it now that you weren't."

"Anyway, we should get moving, we're only holding the others up. We can discuss it more later. Hope my brief explanation helps you in some small way." He then added, seemingly at a loss for words.

 

[FinalDream]

Scarlett Verneer - Northern Mountain Pass

Almost as quickly as it had arrived the fierce blizzard had vanished. Scarlett sighed out of relief and took a moment to watch her frozen breath dissipate into the cold air around her, relaxing for the first time in a long while. She looked up at the pale skies with a weak smile. For the first time in the long and cold journey across the mountains it had reminded her of her homeland. The land they where rapidly heading towards. It had been many years since Scarlett had seen her home and in truth she was not too eager to return.

"It's Lorel. I can't find him!" Itsuka exclaimed.

Scarlett turned around with surprise. Activating her gift she scanned the mountain side but heard nothing. A pang of guilt shot through her stomach for not using her gift to keep check on the group during the blizzard, she had been too preoccupied with her own thoughts.

Was Tear really back?

?I didn?t feel anything, then again I wasn?t exactly paying attention. So what do we do??

 

[Korten12]

Velen ? Northern Mountain Pass

?Lorel? Are you sure he isn?t just up ahead?? Velen inquired keeping calm outside but inside was worrying.

Itsuka shook her head. ?He isn?t, I checked. And I don?t feel his magic energy. Meaning he is either dead or somewhere far off.?

?He isn?t dead. Lorel is tough; he fought the Mosione Squad Leader. These bandits were nothing. While I would be the first to go out and look for him, we have no time. The group is moving in minutes and we would have to go back an hour worth of time. Not to the fact that the blizzard made it very disorienting of which direction we even came from.?

He saw Itsuka look down at the ground, she didn?t respond but she knew he was right.

Lorel ? Underground

As he went further in he began to notice some stone, cut out stone that had symbols on it. ?Interesting, I wonder if these are the Ancient Ruins that the Guardian?s protect? Never thought they would have built this far underground, must be more further ahead.?