Thwap. Thud.

“Cowards…” he half groaned, half spat. The crossbow bolt sticking out of his chest had met limited resistance as it dug its way through the padded armor beneath his tunic and into his flesh. It didn’t seem real. It didn’t feel real. His eyes scanned the wound as his fingers shakily felt their way along the ridges of his chest to the foreign peak. Why wasn’t there any blood? Did that mean he’d be okay? Maybe he’d get to see Beth’s eyes one more time. Smell her hair, caress her skin, feel her lips on his, just once more.

He coughed and spat. A clot of blood splattered against the cold flagstones, barely visible in the dim torchlight. So that’s where the blood was going, into his lungs. What a sad sight he must be. The strength in his body was fading quickly, and he sagged down on his knees even farther.

Turning his head towards the light to see if he could still feel the heat of the flame his eyes were drawn to the shadows on the wall. They danced with such merriment – no! Not dancing. Laughing, at him. Bastards. If only he didn’t have a damn hole in his chest.

There was a scampering noise to either side of him, bah; his senses were fleeing as fast as a Numethian novitiate from battle. The feeble slap of air that struck his face mocked him as his assassins sprinted past. Such grace and fleet of foot, they sounded like no more than a pack of rats scurrying along the Citadel’s floor. Rats. Scavengers, no! They had come with a purpose. A plague! Yes, a plague of rats.

It was becoming hard to keep his head upright. With what remaining will he could muster he swung his head to the left, resting it lazily against his shoulder. There! Beth! So beautiful and sweet. A halo of pale gold surrounded her enchanting face. As he blinked the illusion faded and he was left staring up at the moon, her soft glow pulsing stronger than his own heart.

For an instant he felt the cold touch of steel upon his throat, and the next…

The Royal Prince, Zakath Velaar

“I’d like to see how your men fared against them with swords instead of hiding behind their crossbows like a woman cowering from a mouse,” even as he emptied his fury upon his abductors it still left him feeling hollow and defeated. The man merely grinned wide, lifted his hand, and pointed the way forward with two fingers, and they once again began to move.

“Results, Your Majesty,” the comment came so off the cuff it was as if he had spoken absentmindedly.

“What?”

They rounded a corner and he could tell they were heading toward the western wall. “It doesn’t matter how the job is done, in the end the only thing that is important is that it gets done. Call us all the names you can think of, when the sun sets you will still be my captive, and that was the mission. So I have succeeded.” His bearing was so calm and brimming with confidence it only made Zakath more infuriated. “Results, Your Majesty. Results.”

And the smug bastard was right. That night the Prince of Esvyleth slept on a small, uncomfortable cot, on a ship called ‘The Smirking Devil’, sailing west towards the Cloudy Isles, wondering if he’d ever see his Kingdom again.

-o0o-

If you've never participated in one of my threads some standard rules apply. I have final say on story decisions, I won't tolerate in-fighting (it demotivates everyone), and I expect quality over quantity. These stories are much more fun when you get involved. and to that end I highly encourage the players to develop their own plot arcs and to prp as a way to advance the story.

This thread is an attempt to combine two different kinds of rping into one story. While everything will tie back together, for the beginning at least there will be two different scenes that we'll be transition back and forth from. The first will be your standard small group of heroes going on a quest, which in this case is to rescue Prince Zakath - which is also where we'll get our dose of hack n slash goodness.. The second will remain in the Kingdom of Esvyleth and will be more geared towards the politics and civil diplomacy.

Whenever you introduce a new major character, please post a small character sheet at the top or bottom of your post. Nothing big, just:

Name:
Age:
Sex:
Description:
Personality:

All that said, the next post will be an Appendices for this thread with notes about the world, characters, etc. I'm excited to get this started and hopefully I'll have a few takers.

^_^