Everrield's Plague

Pinxviin thought about the so called 'Plague' one more time. He tried to remember what excactly did the men say yesterday. It was supposed to be dangerous, slowly killing you from the inside and turning your corpse into who-knows-what. 'How drunk were they anyway?' Pinxviin thought as he did not bealive it that much, but happens if it is really true? He stopped and looked at the river. He saw a reflection of his grown-up daughter and wife standing next to him. ''I hope you're okay.'' He whispered as a small smile appeared on his face. After blinking he instead saw a smoke a mile away and was surprised and scared. ''This means bad'' He said and ran through water to the other side of the river, towards the smoke.

 

After awhile of sitting in the clearing he was aware of a rustling noise, then another and another. It was across from him at the tree line. One of those things emerged, the same thing that destroyed his livelihood. He stood up in haste and pulled out his sword, ready to charge but then another emerged and then another, until in front of him a horde appeared. He bolted right away into the opposite side of the forest, seeing that he was outnumbered. These ones were quick, as they were close enough for him to feel fear.
The undead as he would now call them were on his heels. Never did he think that they would be so quick. Indeed, the newer ones, which didn't look decaying were in the front while the decaying were in the back. As they were much smaller then him, he could see clearly as he turned around. After awhile he turned around once more and looked back, they were farther away from him, but still chasing. All of a sudden he ran into something, stumbled and fell. Dazed, he looked up from where he was, the undead in the distance, but what truly intrigued him, was the creature he stumbled into. It looked like a human but he didn't really know.
Suddenly an undead ran up on the human, about to strike! Gwyn reacted by throwing a lighting bolt, almost grazing the human, but hitting the undead in the head. He looked at the human once more and simply said, "Run."

 

As Rollan continued on the long arduous walk around the capitals wall he came by a small house. The house seemed eerily quite and Rollan noticed that the front door had being left slightly open, 'whoever entered that house last must have being in a rush' he thought to himself as he walked silently but quickly with a sense of curiosity towards the door. When he got close to the door he realised that there was blood smeared on the door handle, he carefully pushed the door open taking extra care in not making any noise.

Rollan poked his head through the door to see something he wasn't expecting. The room appeared to be the home of a hunter, furs and trophies strewn across the floor and walls.
"Well this is quaint" Rollan comments to himself entering the room as he does he notices he is unable to fully open the door due to this he decides it is best to squeeze though the partially open door and he manages with little effort.

Upon entering the room Rollan takes a loaded crossbow from the floor close to the doorway its craftsmanship was definitely the handwork of man. 'Oh, who might you be?' Rollan's attention is drawn back to the door. more specifically the person laid on the floor with their back leaning on the door, well it isn't technically a man more of a... corpse. The action of Rollan talking to the creature seemed to have awoken it, it appeared like a somewhat gruff man wearing a checkered lumberjacks shirt. As it begins moves Rollan notices that the back of the creature is covered in blood and so is the door as-well as a large somewhat bite mark appearing wound on his shoulder.

'Hello? Can you understand me?' Rollan enquirers to find the creature outright ignores him and pulls itself to its feet and begins to approach him with increasing speed.
'I guess this one isn't special...' He sighs with a look of disappointment spread across his face.
'I suppose there's next time' He says to himself as the creatures walk turns into a run as it lunges for him. Rollan calmly but with haste moves his right arm into the air, he clicks his fingers once while swiping the arm to the left of his body; Suddenly a mark appears on his right vambrace vividly glowing white as he does this the creature seems to move to a complete halt inches away from Rollan.
'If you're not special, It means I have no use for you.' He says with a cold expression, he moves the crossbow held in his left hand into the open mouth of the creature. He fires causing blood to the splattered on the already blood soaked door, once the creature falls to the ground he drops the crossbow on-top of it and decides there is noting else of interest here and leaves.

 

((Molotov cocktails. Like gunpowder? Also that tank clearly had cannons sooo, edited.))

 

The explosion right next to Pinxviin made him lost his balance, but was able not to fall down. Pinxviin saw a tall man saying one word: ''Run.'' Not understanding why, he saw a horde of undeads running at them. He instead took out his axe and sword and said to the mysterious tall man: ''I'm not leaving anyone who saved me or is able to use magic! Quickly come with me to the nearest town or we'll fight these beasts off!'' Kind of regretting what he said about killing these undeads, he made himself ready for battlen just in case.

 

Gwyn said in a ruff voice, "As you wish." He then proceeded to follow the human. They ran for awhile, slowly loosing the horde in the process until the horde itself was past them, however the danger was still very real and he predicted that they would follow them, and be upon them by night fall.

Upon entering a clearing and then going over a stream, the town came into view. By his standards it was mundane. The buildings weren't extravagant, nor were the people. As they walked through, indeed, many people gave the 8 foot being, clad in armor, very odd looks some in disgust, others in bewilderment. He held his head high as he walked behind the human but had his hand on his sword, just in case.

 

In the distance, the faint bellows of the sound of canon fire were heard as Tyshia galloped tirelessly through the forest. She smiled slightly knowing every thunder of the canon was another undead pack reduced to shreds. Even more faintly, she heard a crackling succession of arquebus firing. The mass of lead and men would surely halt the onslaught of zombies coming from the west for the time being. However, within time, the fortress would eventually whittle away their supplies of powder, and more importantly, food. Although most dead creatures were not intelligent too scale the walls, they had nothing to do but wait before the men inside caved into their hunger and either ate each other, or attempted to escape.

A tinge of pride pricked Tyshia as she thought she was one of the messengers entrusted to relay information about the current situation of the front. Her duties to the realm were of great important, and she would carry them out to the best of her ability. She gripped the reigns of her horse and rode faster. Turning behind her, she hoped none of the undead had caught her scent to follow her. With such a large grouping of live humans within the fortress, the undead would be mainly attracted to their location. Despite that, Tyshia didn't rule out that a few might have detached from the main party, (either through higher intelligence, or some inane craving) to follow her.

She trusted her horse could outrun most of them, her pistol could blast a few, and her sword could cut down the rest. Indeed, she was quite confident that these zombies posed no threat to her as she traversed the countryside. Indeed, why should she? She had done this many times before without incident, save for the occasional undead crow that half limped in the sky to attack her. Numerous other messengers had also traveled here too. Tyshia felt there was nothing to worry about.

 

Johannes was observing the cannon fire when he saw the messenger coming in. He said this would be a good time to try the new gate. The two men needed to operate the mechanism powering the massive and complicated door moved to do so. One spun the wheel while the other jerked a lever forwards. The first door then went down while the second part opened outwards. The men on the walls took a brief rest and saluted her. After he saw the gate worked he ran down to work on the double barreled pistol. While it was definitely going to be unstable it could really help messengers like her. He found himself surprised that he thought about her again. He usually didn't think about anyone aside from his relatives when they didn't concern him. Interesting, He noted it down and went back to work.

 

While walking on the streets, Pinxviin took a quick look to the man behind him and said: ''There's no need to have a weapon out here, they are good people. They know me, I don't take any psycho into the town, probably. Anyweigh, my home is out of the town, but I don't think it's safe there. Hell, maybe these bastards smelled us and now sniff all around the lands searching for us or just did their patrolling, searching for new flesh to eat... *sigh* You'll never know.
So lemme take you to the bar, you can rest there tonight if you need to or come with me while I'll be searching for a new weapon called rifle. Everybody's using this... Pistol or whatever though, but I heard rifle is better at aiming and I'll need it to... Slay dragons, I guess...'' And started heading towards the bar.

 

Gwyn relaxed his hand at what the man said but still felt uneasy. There were many new sites to behold in the town, things that he could only question but had no answers to. Truly, he didn't know what a rifle or pistol was or a dragon for that matter and he really didn't feel comfortable staying in a human bar. "I will follow you." he simply told the man, whose name he knew not, but would follow until he was more sure of himself. After all he was a stranger in a strange land but that wouldn't stop him from analyzing the things he saw and always try to find the answers to the questions he needed so desperately. So for now, he would wait and watch.

 

The stench of putrid flesh rotting was heavy in the air. Among it was the smell of black powder, as well as the smell of flesh burning. It hit her almost instantaneously at once as she neared the fortress, and she struggled to hold back from gagging. Even as the gates loomed above her, the smell only seemed to intensify. Being away for many days from this place made her realize how fresh the air was when death wasn't nearby. She only managed a meager squawk at the watch guard before she began throwing the contents of her last meal onto the ground.

Only partially recovered, Tyshia saw the doors crank open and she kicked her horse to begin trotting in. It never failed to surprise her how much she loathed the smell of the dead. She could only give a half-hearted salute back to the doormen. Their extended time in this dreadful place had dulled their sense of smell from the world around them. Tyshia envied them.

In the distance, the Magnate of the city walked towards her. It was obvious he was notified of her arrival and had made preparations to meet her. He was a squat man, compensating for his shortness with his outward bulk and bearing a hefty black beard. The extravagance of his cloth was marred by the effects of time and use, but its regalia were none the less more stunning than the drabness that surrounded him.

"Tyshia I see that you have arrived safely!" He boomed in a loud voice.

"Yes, uh, I have, your lordship," Tyshia said attempting to hold back the wave of nausea. She dismounted her horse and half stumbled in her low bow. Timidly, she continued, "Father, I have news from east, it is dire-"

The Magnate cut her off, "Tyshia, you are not well, have a little rest before you say more. The powder will not run out today!" He laughed and patted her on the back.

Her reflex was too quick for her too control, as she caught another intense whiff of charred flesh.

She threw up.

 

''Alright then.'' Pinxviin said and started heading towards a market. It had almost everything, food, furnitures, weapons, supplies, clothes, even slaves but sadly no gunpowder or pistol and rifle. Pinxviin was dissapointed a bit and walked through the streets to the biggest weapon shop. On the way there, he asked the man: ''May I ask your name and where do you come from? I'm Pinxviin, a dragon slayer which is very similar to a warrior if you haven't heard such thing before. I also saw that you know magic, am I right?'' Pinxviin looked at the man and scratched his beard.

 

((am posting but, Could I maybe be invited to the Convo?))

He was tinkering with the idea of a sliding trigger that went from barrel to barrel. Making it more of two guns side by side when someone knocked. He came back to reality and went to the door. Opening it he realised it was one of the garrison. Before he could ask the what was the problem the man spoke up"Sir you're required by Lord Adriddae". Johannes groaned when he remembered mentioning the double barreled pistol and its usefulness to Messenger's. Mind you, that wasn't the problem, it was that Lord Adriddae had a daughter, a messenger. He asked the man where Lord Adriddae was (the fore Quarter-hall)then shoo'ed the soldier away saying he'd be there soon. Taking off his grimy coat he put on some of his clean clothes (a linen tunic and a thin wool button overcoat). He then hurried to meet Lord Adriddae.

 

(( I don't think there is one ))
Gwyn thought for a moment. "I am Gwyn," he paused for a long moment, as if something was bugging him, "And I am a Gigas. All you need to know about where I come from, is that there isn't much of us left. I ask you to not question that subject again." He wasn't trying to be mean, but he didn't want to say anything on the matter, as it was all to painful. "As for magical abilities, yes I do posses some. My...people all did." he said quietly. "Now, Pinxviin, you are a human correct? As I am not from these lands, please inform me as to why the dead are killing the living and what is a rifle?"

 

''A Gigas?'' Pinxviin asked. He had never heard such clan or race before, he didn't even know which one it is. ''Well, Gwyn, if you ask me not to mention this subject again then I shall not. But if you feel that you need to talk about it, then let me know, I'll be glad to hear about your people more.
As for the dead, I gotta admit, I'm not so sure about it. Some people have told of necromaning or something, anything related to black magic, which I doubt. Other version is tht somekind of... Experiment...? Has gone wrong which slowly killed people and turned their corpses into mindless beasts. It is also known as a 'Plague'. Heard it quite recentely, but not so sure if it's all true. And a rifle is... I have to admit, I can't really explain. Let's say it's a much better version of a bow. And yes, I'm a human. If any more questions then ask, I'm glad to help a new-comer.'' And started heading to the nearest Weapon shop.

 

"Interesting indeed and I am glad you can understand my..plight." said Gwyn as they walked along, "One more thing, who rules these lands? Surely you humans have a king?" A question that ran amok in his head, he would feel glad when it was answered. He looked around some more, this human town was so much smaller then Eden and he wondered what their biggest cities were like. Surely they couldn't match the glory of Eden, but even now it was decaying. The fires would burn for weeks until nothing but the fine marble remained.

 

Rollan continued to venture around along a path outside the capital trying to ignore the silence roaring from behind the cold stone walls, he was fully aware that there was a high plausibility that something of 'value' could be inside there due to the dense population which once inhabited this land surely at least one of those 'things' would be unique. The walk itself was fairly bland there was simply Rollan and the road he walked on, occasionally one of those 'things' would show itself however it wasn't much of a issue.

As he reached the other end of the capital he noticed that there was no way into the capital, well it was either that or it was on the other side. Either way Rollan decided it would be best to ignore it for now and return later, if there was no or one entrance then only a few of those 'things' will have managed to escape so it was no problem.

 

Pinxviin turned around and stared at Gwyn ''Us, humans do have a king, but for me, he is a monster, heartless troll.'' He said ''The king wants everybody who knows even the tiniest bit of magic to be excecuted. Once he finds out about you or your people... You're dead. That's what I hear, but luckily, I've never met him, I never want to...''

 

Gwyn smirked, this king wouldn't be able to kill his people. as they were already dead. His facial expression behind his helmet returned to a glum look as he said. "How interesting, and I believe he should executed himself, tell me, where his he? I would very much like to show him how magic can change ones life, permanently." Maybe it was this king he started the outbreak, if so, he would very much like to figure out more on the matter.

 

The town, although not very big by most people's standards, was much larger and extravagant compared to the small community Crow had called home. His travel-stained and outlandish appearance attracted some attention, though not nearly as much as the unusually tall humanoid making his way through the street. He (for it was definitely a he. Although it was hard to tell, his chestplate lacked room for certain female assets) seemed to closely resemble a moving, miniature mountain of metal with all his armour, at least in Crow's eyes. The Orc was hungry as he sleepily stumbled through the street but he lacked the coin to satisfy his need, and judging by the look the townspeople gave him, he doubt they were willing to help him out of the kindness of his heart.