Thanks
Much appreciated, I fixed the post.
I expect this will be quite short due to time constraints. I really need to free up more time. (nevermind, ignore)
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Tacaru heard boots trampling upon dirt and wood. The guards were looking for him. They had been informed. It was obvious he was facing quite a bit of resistance. Most of his life he had been merely a transient thug, and he felt it a deep disgrace. It had been so long... if Rostus truly was the one who killed his father, after this, he thought, there would finally be closure. He could move on, and leave the nightmare behind.
Tacaru snuck into town, reaching a building, and leaning upon its back wall. Tacaru then snuck along the back side, toward a corner. Upon reaching the corner, he looked up at the adjacent building, and saw a sharpshooter on the roof, crossbow aimed directly for his head. Tacaru instinctively jumped back. The sharpshooter fired, and through an odd chance, the bolt slid crooked down the bow, jamming it half way! The sharpshooter grunted in annoyance and crouched down, "Piece of..." The sharpshooter then tried to clear the jam, resulting in the half-jammed bow releasing the rest of its energy through the mechanism, causing the sharpshooter's hand to get caught in it. The sharpshooter grunted again, louder and this time of pain, "F**K!"
Tacaru crouched down low, finger pressed firmly upon the trigger, and slowly emerged from behind the corner. A guard rounded the adjacent corner, and just as the guard spotted him and began aiming, Tacaru fired. The crossbow jerked back with high force, slamming against Tacaru's shoulder and rotating upwards somewhat. The cone of shrapnel flew at immense speed, striking the guard in the gut. Her abdomen shot out a cloud of blood, shredded down to gore, her guts spilling out. She gagged, failed to gasp, then collapsed. Tacaru's shoulder immediately began to feel sore. Tacaru jerked back behind cover, a bolt whizzing through, grazing the corner of the building with a SPAT! Tacaru looked past the corner, and saw nobody. He snuck his way across to the adjacent building, and looked again. Nobody seemed to be there.
Tacaru ratcheted back the immense crossbow. It took quite a bit of strength, and quite a bit of time, but he eventually managed to, loading in another 'standard' heavy bolt. When he was done, Tacaru noticed a small piece of terrain seemed to have moved. Tacaru snuck along the other wall, then crouched low, moving through the darkness toward this piece of 'terrain'. He saw a bolt whiz out from that area, and attempted to jump away. His efforts weren't sufficient, but he had also pulled the enormous crossbow in, almost as if it were a shield. The bolt struck the crossbow, glancing away, leaving nothing but a slight dent! That wasn't his first intention, but it seemed luck had been on his side.
He ran towards the hidden sharpshooter, and fired, the recoil pushing him back. THWAP! For the most part, he missed, but part of the cone still grazed the sharpshooter's head and back. A bit of blood shot up. The sharpshooter gasped, fluid running down his face. A moment later, the sharpshooter let out a deep sigh, the flesh on his forehead quite mangled.
Tacaru ran down the path toward the inner part of the town, ratcheting back the enormous crossbow on the way there, loading another 'standard' bolt. As he approached, he saw several figures march through the dirt paths. The winds picked up, and thunder cracked down. He snuck up to a building, searched in his pocket, and pulled out a small round container, opening it. Now was a suitable time... He ate the pills, and discarded the container. He need not be stopped by any of them...
Tacaru snuck around the corner, to the opposite wall, then heard footsteps approaching. He spotted sharpshooters on the opposite building, one on the roof, one on a balcony, but he was already too far ahead to go back. Tacaru ran forward. As he did so, the sharpshooter on the roof crouched down to fire, but as she attempted to lay prone, she slipped on the wet roof tile, sliding off onto the balcony, landing on the other sharpshooter, a bolt being loosed, flying into the stormy skies. Tacaru kept running, turning and sliding as he crossed the corner. He snarled and fired at the crossbowman approaching, caring not of the crossbowman's weapon. The recoil of the crossbow caused Tacaru to slide back, the crossbow angled nearly vertical. THWAPP! The shrapnel hit the crossbowman right in the face. Blood shot out from the eyes, and gory bits of flesh were cast up into the air. It seemed half of the crossbowman's face was shot clean off. The crossbowman stumbled, and collapsed, brain fluid leaking from the eye socket.
Tacaru crouched by the wall of the building, sneaking around the buildings, making his way toward the center as he ratcheted back again, careful to avoid any patrolling guards. As Tacaru was loading the bolt in, he noticed that the bolt was larger, designed NOT to fragment at the end, and colored red. Tacaru passed an intersection. "ZERRRRH!" Tacaru turned to see in the distance a human wielding one light dual-crossbow in each hand, an expression of hatred for all reds painted upon his face. For a moment, the air seemed to become electrified, static charge running up from the ground.
A streamer of broken down air shot down from the cloud, aimed directly toward Tacaru's head. The streamer suddenly stopped, forming a node, and continued its arc in a different direction, right toward the human's head! The streamer then stopped again, arcing toward Tacaru once more. As it neared the ground, the arc seemed to zigzag back and forth, in the end, landing between the human and Tacaru. Charge from the ground shot up through the streamers tail to meet the cloud. BANGGGGG!
The blinding flash and deafening roar left Tacaru with saturated vision and ringing ears... for a moment it seemed like music and rather pretty colors. Indeed, he felt a bit light headed. As if it were an impulse, he suddenly chuckled. When his vision returned, he saw the human, still holding the two dual-crossbows, shaking off the effects of the bolt. The hatch and garage lay close behind. Tacaru felt no need for worry. He ran right at the human. The human fired twice from each bow. One bolt struck the ground by Tacaru's feet. Another whizzed by his head. A third struck him in the upper left leg. A fourth striking him in the gut, becoming firmly lodged in the wound. Tacaru felt very little of it, stumbled, and continued on.
Tacaru fired, almost loosing hold of the crossbow this time. The large, red bolt flew through the air, striking the human in the chest. BOOM! The humans chest was blown clean open, an arm and the head parting from the rest of the body, flying through the air. The head splatted down to the ground, the dead face still showing an expression of hatred. The dismembered arm then landed in front of the head, the hand making an obscene gesture toward Tacaru. The whole area around was spattered with blood.
Tacaru ran toward the hatch, ignoring his wounds, ratcheting back the crossbow again, loading a standard bolt. He reached the hatch, and opened it quickly. "MEEWWW!" Yeln immediately zipped through the opening, disappearing down the stairwell. There was a clicking sound. Tacaru turned to see yet another sharpshooter on a roof, only this time he was the one unprepared. A gust of wind forced the sharpshooters aim away as she fired, Tacaru jumping back, but immediately after, another, powerful gust, carrying the scent of blood unlike the previous, blew through the town. The air currents carried the bolt in a curve, the bolt striking Tacaru in the chest, piercing his heart and becoming firmly lodged in the wound. Tacaru felt his body seize up... but felt no pain. He shook, but was unsure why.
He heard a creaking. Tacaru turned and aimed, his strength fading. Rostus exited the garage, and looked up, to see the blood covered, red-marked kobold, several bolts sticking out, aiming a disproportionately large crossbow right at him. Tacaru aimed, bleeding all over, a grin on his face, a sort of happiness present. Tacaru felt oddly calm, almost like laughing although his body wouldn't permit. Rostus stumbled back through the doorway, attempting to close the door, but before he could do so, Tacaru fired, letting the crossbow leave his grasp. Rostus jumped away as Tacaru fired, but some of the shrapnel still flew through into his gut. Rostus yelled out loudly, and collapsed to the floor.
Tacaru felt his strength leaving him rapidly. He collapsed to his knees. He smiled, and seemed to giggle, spitting up blood afterwards. Tacaru then fell to the ground. He felt happy. He finally had closure. He was moving on from this nightmarish, shameful life, and soon, he might even be able to talk about this, and so much else, with his father. A smile still on his face, Tacaru let out a sigh, then lay motionless.
Rostus lay on his back, grunting and swearing, blood flowing out from his mangled abdomen. He picked out the pieces of shrapnel bit by bit, grunting with each one. He found himself weakening quite a bit, and knew if he didn't hurry, blood loss would claim his life. After picking out the worst, he used what mana he was provided with to begin healing himself. Indeed, the use of magic changes how 'mortal wound' is defined.
Yeln darted into the laboratory, and leapt up to Kazo, rubbing and purring, but then noticing Kazo's state. Yeln looked around, and saw a clamp in Kazo's chest that obviously wasn't supposed to be there. Yeln felt an impulse to pull the clamp away. He tried, but it wouldn't budge. He bit down on the handle and tried pulling it loose, or maybe unscrewing it, but it was screwed on too tight. Yeln looked around, and spotted a ledge above with some equipment on it. Yeln hopped up onto the ledge, moved around, and in frustration, knocked off a candle from the ledge. The candle fell, and struck the clamps handle. With a squeak, the handle turned a bit.
Yeln hopped down, and pulled the candle out of the way, spitting it onto the floor. He then batted at the handle of the clamp. The handle spun around, the clamp loosening. Soon after, Yeln pulled the foreign, intrusive clamp away, and tossed it off the machine. Yeln then proceeded to nuzzle Kazo's face, tucking himself next to Kazo and purring in order to comfort himself. The rods on Kazo's power core extended slightly, then a bit more. Dawn was breaking.
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This ended up being a rather long one. I got a second run of awakenness, and used it to continue writing into the night. I felt this should all be one update.
Author
Topic: Questionable Ethics (Read 33159 times)