Author Topic: The A-Team thread 1  (Read 3882 times)

Offline sirpercival

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The A-Team thread 1
« on: August 28, 2012, 09:35:25 AM »
Magus Sumpter's office is paneled in dark wood, and the walls are covered in rich, finely-woven maroon and purple tapestries.  The furniture is plentiful, almost to the point of being cramped, especially with such large inhabitants.

Sumpter is a middle-aged human man with sunken, beady eyes in a fleshy face.  His body is somewhat rotund, and he has a ferocious, bristled beard of wiry brown hair.  His informal robes hang loosely over his prodigious midsection, and trail onto the floor now that he has removed his heeled boots.

Your sponsor stands behind his large oak desk, fingers idly tapping on the scarred leather cover of a well-used tome.  He looks at each of you in turn, expression becoming more bemused and annoyed with every passing second.  Finally he looks at his protegé, Ace.

"By the Elders, man, where did you round up such a motley crew?  This is what I have to work with?"

Ace swallows briefly, reflecting on his team's construction.

((OOC: Flashback exposition time!  This is where you RP out how your group got together.  Feel free to brainstorm stuff in the discussion thread.))
« Last Edit: March 06, 2013, 12:24:25 PM by sirpercival »
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Offline Bozwevial

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Re: The A-Team thread 1
« Reply #1 on: September 14, 2012, 03:19:49 PM »
It should have been sunny.

Sunny would have been auspicious. Sunny also makes for a better story; no bard has ever started off a tale with the words "It was a drizzly morning and frankly nothing about it was special in the slightest." High drama favors blazing sunlight and howling gales. It paints with thick brushstrokes in the tyrian purple and burnt orange of magnificent sunsets, and if the night that follows isn't filled with snow and storm, every star in the heavens will be visible at once.

But seriously?

Drizzly.

Nevertheless, Gratis that morning had been, at best, unpleasantly damp. It was the kind of thing that people, when they recounted the story later, would very gently and innocently change to something more suitable. Next to the rest of the story, no one would challenge a white lie when there were blatant truths to disbelieve with exaggerated, drunken care.

Maybe this whole thing has gotten away from me. Look, perhaps I'd better start again.



It was a drizzly morning in Gratis. Despite that, there were quite a few things that were special about it.

Let's start with the one walking down the street.
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Offline Sneaky_Sable

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Re: The A-Team thread 1
« Reply #2 on: September 17, 2012, 10:15:13 AM »
The lumbering monstrosity interrupts the mute's flashback by waving the massive collection of talons that endcapped his equally massive arm.

"That's not how it start." he said, his voice almost entirely composed of pure bass. It sounded like a gravel pit was mud-wrestling with an earthquake.

"I was doing a job, helping someone who said they were part of the Guard... but right before I broke him he said he was lying, so maybe I should leave that part out of the story. Well, too late. I was doing a job, and it involved something I'm very good at, which is breaking people, which is probably why that guy who said he was part of the Guard asked me to break him. Well, not him. I broke him because he lied to me. I broke the other guy because the first guy asked me to." Carapace started. This... was going to be a long day.

"So when I found the guy the first guy wanted me to break, I got there only to find out that someone else was asked by someone else entirely to break the guy the first guy wanted me to break. Now those frufru's with the string things that hurt my ears would say that this is when the two guys asked by two other guys to both break the same guy would start to fight to see who got to break the guy what needed to be broke. No. This other guy and I are pro... profeee... Professors! So rather then try to break each other while the guy who needed breaking got away, I stopped the guy from getting away while the other guy broke him good. Then we had a contest to see who could yell louder mean words at each other, then we both started drinking. It's right around there that my recital of the events gets a little fuzzy, but I'm sure we were alright because now we're the best of friends."

The beetle's attention focuses somewhere near the vicinity of Tyr.

"Then he bought me a barrel with a lot of my favorite ale in it, which is also his favorite too but he lets me drink it too, and then Hal... Ha.... Halifax! Halifax came into the bar and was probably looking for the two biggest guys there, and I thought he needed someone broken. Now, Tyr and I accidentally broke the same guy, on account of the two of us being asked by different people to go break the same guy, so when Halifax comes in, I think he's looking for someone to look for someone to break that someone, and on account of no one being in double arm's reach of us, Halifax must have figured we two were the meanest sons of parents in the whole place. Naturally, he picked us. Turns out, he had picked a few other people too. I figured he had a whole LIST of people he needed broken. Funny thing, I'm good at breaking people. Not funny, like a joke or a rhyme, but funny like Oh man, that guy got broken, kinda funny."

Carapace paused, to allow the sponsor's brain to settle back in for the night.
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Offline Bozwevial

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Re: The A-Team thread 1
« Reply #3 on: September 17, 2012, 03:18:44 PM »
I was getting to that part. Damask gently guides one of the waving talons away from her eye. And you're confusing our esteemed sponsor with your pronouns, not to mention me. She glances at Magus Sumpter, arm blades carefully shifting into a oh-well-what-can-you-do expression.
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Offline GuyFawkes

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Re: The A-Team thread 1
« Reply #4 on: September 19, 2012, 04:46:25 AM »
Tyr

The man clad in black shakes his head and puts his hand over his face while the accumulated mass of spikes and chitin tries its own version of speech. As soon as the latter gives a brief pause, he cuts in.

"Uygh, Carapace, my friend. What have I told you about cutting in into other people's flashbacks? And please, do not feel obliged to handle this situation. Stick to breaking people. You're good at it. Leave the talking to people who actually knows how to talk, alright?"

He faces the other similarly-interesting figure, the one with blades for appendages. "Hey, no offense meant, miss. Honestly, even without actually having the ability to talk, you are undoubtedly far more eloquent than my friend here," he finishes the sentence with a smile.

Turning back to Carapace, he continues. "And why the hell did you even start with how the two of us met? That was ages ago, man! No, no, no..." he then turns to Magus Sumpter, "...sir magus, sir, I do believe your question was rhetorical, but nevertheless allow me to indulge ourselves on this little trip back memory lane as to how this, motley crew, as you would put it, was rounded up. No, really, it is quite a short trip."

Clearing his throat, he starts.



So, there I was, walking down the road under a beautiful sunny Gratis morning.

Or was it drizzly? Yes, it was most probably drizzly.

Anyway, I had just received a letter from the Brotherhood about a mission in the sewers. Now the letter was clearly a forgery, but I was curious about the sender's intention, so I headed down into what was most likely a trap.

And  I was not mistaken. As soon as I reached the location, I was immediately surrounded by monstrosities, around six of them. I smiled as I took out my weapon and swung a wide arc and fell three of the beasts in one strike. Gracefully, I spun around and swung again, felling the remaining three with yet but one blow.

Before I could even try to look around me, another wave of those horrible creatures started towards me, and with the same ease as I had taken care of the six before them, so did I do away with them. By then, the enemy advance had become a steady influx of wave after wave of different monsters.

It was also around that time that I noticed quite a number fighting against the horde in a similar fashion as myself. Well, not as gracefully as yours truly, of course, but they were doing equally well. It was also then that I noticed one of them was actually my good friend Carapace, who was fighting in his usual brute style, breaking the monsters as he would call it.

By the time the enemy waves had stopped, only five of us were left standing on heaps of mangled monster carcasses and pools of blood. Or more likely I was the one left standing and the rest of them were on the ground, gasping from the exhaustion.

I called out, 'Is there no one else?', but the only reply that came was soft clapping, and suddenly a figure appeared from the shadows.

It was no other than Haliax.

Haliax, I came to know before, as detailed exquisitely by our very articulate friend here earlier, and had done several jobs for him. He then explained how it all was merely a test for all of us, whom he had handpicked from quite a number of prospects, and that the five of us had passed. He mentioned about the Games and wanting to take part of it.

Needless to say, after a couple of bargaining and other trivial discussion that ensued, here we are.




"And that's how it all happened. More or less," he says with a smile and a small bow.

Offline Bozwevial

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Re: The A-Team thread 1
« Reply #5 on: September 24, 2012, 12:33:26 AM »
Damask waits patiently for the black-clad man to finish, yellow eyes narrowing in an amused fashion.

Perhaps we should give everyone a chance to tell our sponsor why we're here. Carapace, I believe you were in the middle of your story?
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Offline Sneaky_Sable

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Re: The A-Team thread 1
« Reply #6 on: September 24, 2012, 12:31:04 PM »
"But I like the part where the two of us met." Carapace rumbled, in a tone that would illicit sympathy, were he not a multi-limbed insectile abomination of dread, the stuff of nightmares given form...

He cleared what passed for his throat, "So, High Magnus, as I was saying..." a pause, "So then Tyr and I we're best friends. Halifax comes up and says that he's looking for someone what could do him a flavor. I said I could, and he gave me a note." he paused, "Now, I never was good at reading, especially little written words, but I make out that he wants me to go do a job in the down below, so I say good bye to my new friend and head off. I did a few more jobs for Halifax over the next..." he counts on his talons... "... Weeks, and then I gets a note about a big job in the Down Below. Now, a lot of people think that they can outsmart me, and they can, but when I break them well then they ain't so smart anymore. The note said to go to the Down Below and wait for my next contact. Trick is I know some folks in the Down Below and they told me it was a trap. So ha ha on him, I'm going to walk in, knowing it's a trap, and then trap the trap in a trap of my own. These things jump me in the dark, which is weird cause most things down in the Down Below don't jump me unless they had orders to, so they must have orders to. Then it hits me... THIS was the trap!"

Carapace seemed so proud of himself for figuring that out.

"So then I take one and look at it, cause folks get mad when I break the wrong person, and I see they aren't people, but animals, and I can break animals all day and only people in the Park care when I break animals. So then I break all those animals, and then head on to where I'm supposed to go, and when I get there there's more animals. Lots of them." he paused, "And there was a great great fight. I love a great fight, and over there I saw my good friend Tyr, and I would have waved to him but I had an animal in each hand."

"It was beautiful, and when it was over it was a great fight. I was going to talk to Tyr but then there was a clapping, and I was about this far... from breaking him but hey... it was Halifax! He said HE put me on all those other jobs to sc... sc... scout me, and see how I did." Carapace looked around, "I guess I did good."

He looked back to Damask, "Okay, I'm done. Tyr said most of it, but he left out the part where I found out my note was a trap too."
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Offline GuyFawkes

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Re: The A-Team thread 1
« Reply #7 on: September 24, 2012, 12:58:17 PM »
Tyr

"Oh, right. How could I miss that part when you told me over and over every time we go on to get some drink. Silly me," he cut in.

"Well, go on. Whose turn is it?"

Offline Bozwevial

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Re: The A-Team thread 1
« Reply #8 on: September 29, 2012, 03:25:26 AM »
Mine, I suppose.

I shall skip a lot of the beginning, since Carapace seems to take issue with that. That day I was looking for a rather notorious mugger who had been playing the high streets.
It shouldn't be possible for someone with no mouth to smile. Let alone so widely. He was quick, as humans go. I only had to give him a three street head start. The tips of two blades touch with a faint, chiming noise of satisfaction.

When I turned him over to the Watch,  he was delirious and kept mumbling something about a mage and the sewers. They seemed to think the poor man was suffering from blood loss. Still, I would be remiss in my duties as a Sister if I did not investigate the claim. The watchman on duty told me I needn't bother, as they wouldn't waste swords on the sewers. I pointed out that I had four close to hand, as it were, and eventually he relented.

As it turned out, I was right to suspect that blood loss was not the culprit behind our dear friend's sudden attack of memory. The sewers were surprisingly clean. Oh, don't get me wrong, they were as filthy as usual, but the low-grade riff-raff were nowhere to be found. I was as curious as I was alarmed, and so investigated further.

I eventually came across the location my...informant...had mentioned. Now, by this point, I would have been disappointed if there hadn't been some sort of trap, so when I was set upon by more disgusting creatures than I could count on my fingers (if I had them), it was magnificent. Despite what common opinion holds, the Sisterhood, where possible, prefers to use methods of fighting that do not involve severing tendons and slashing open arteries.
She waggles a blade with what looks very much like a wink. One area on which we disagree.

I can't remember precisely when I realized that there were others fighting alongside me, but as we shared a common enemy, we began to team up. The first I was aware of Carapace was when he threw one of the creatures at the one I was fighting, and I remain unconvinced that he didn't eat one in the excitement.
She inclines her head in the black-clad man's direction. I would be remiss if I did not mention Tyr and his ever-present grace, as well as Oxoryx's uncommon elusiveness. As for T, well...I'm certain he'd be glad to tell you about his role. I don't believe I could do it justice.

At any rate, the dance went on for quite some time before the creatures stopped coming. As I had begun to suspect, the mage I had heard mention of earlier was none other than Haliax, who had gone to great lengths to prepare an assessment of our respective skills for the Games. One interrupted tale later, and here we all are.
Damask bows slightly at the waist. Now, that makes three of us. Who wishes to speak next?
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Offline FireInTheSky

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Re: The A-Team thread 1
« Reply #9 on: October 03, 2012, 12:30:25 AM »
I suppose that would be me.  Oxoryk flies over from the corner he was hovering in, and lands on a table more centrally located.  An anonymous person contacted my superiors about a new contract.  The strange particulars of their request, and their budget, led my superiors to put me in charge of fulfilling said contract.  I don't mind talking about the details of this particular mission, since, in light of subsequent events, it seems obvious who the "anonymous" client is.  Oxoryk looks meaningfully at Haliax.  I was given a general description of the target, and directions to where they could often be found.  I think it will surprise no one that I was directed to the sewers.

After doing a little research on my target, I made my way down to the sewers to do some scouting.  I found the area described to me, and saw that it looked inhabited, so I set myself down to wait.  After not too long, my target showed up.  As I was preparing to ...finish the job... I was distracted by a large amount of noise coming up the tunnels.  I quickly - and expertly, of course - dispatched the mark, and flew up into the shadows, preparing to defend myself if need be.  The sounds grew closer, and shortly, a large group of creatures came into view, numbering in the low hundreds.  My research told me that these creatures had been led by the person I had just dispatched.  Unfortunately, they could smell me in the air, and knew that something was wrong.  Just as those nearest to me began advancing, several other strange looking creatures burst onto the scene.
  Oxoryk gestures to the group.  Many of my former target's minions turned towards the newcomers, and chaos ensued.  I easily dispatched the large group of creatures in front of me, but some of the newcomers were having trouble with their opponents.  As the old saying goes, "the enemy of my enemy is my friend," so I sought to help in the other small battles as best I could.  I took up a central position on the ceiling of the tunnel to get a better vantage point.  From there, I was able to take out the creatures most threatening to my new friends.  I must have dropped 40 or 50 of them, right as they were about to deliver death blows.

Once we had killed almost all of the pack, the rest scattered, broken.  While we all gathered our breath, a new person stepped out of the shadows, his applause ringing loud in the now quiet tunnel.  Haliax introduced himself, explained his need for our services... and here we are.

Big T, do you have anything to add?

Offline GuyFawkes

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Re: The A-Team thread 1
« Reply #10 on: October 03, 2012, 05:03:57 AM »
Tyr

"Aaaand that's all of us right there. Pretty much that is how our little band of misfits came to be," Tyr cuts in again.

"I think it would do all of us a good use of our time to discuss matters of import. Such as why we are here, perhaps?"