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On Shooting the Messenger (on-ish)


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#1 Guest_Dadri_*

Posted 15 April 2006 - 07:52 PM

WARNING: Violent. Gory. Bad word used twice.

The bandit camp didn't appear that impressive. They must have been drunk when they set up the tents. Then again, Venris knew that appearances were often misleading.

Venris looked at the bandits, most of which were not paying him much attention as they brawled, sat around the fire, drank, played cards, scrubbed pots and wondered off into the woods with clothes tucked under their arms and bars of soap.

"What are you doin' here, boy?" Asked a ginger haired man, cleaning his fingernails with a greasy throwing dagger. Venris idly wondered if the man's tunic had been yellow to begin with or had aged that way.

"Messenger." Venris said. "Mistress told me to find...a...Radraek the Rank. Know him?" He scratched his black hair in a harmless sort of way. People usually assumed he was a half elf child because of his thin frame, slightly slanted large blue eyes, pointed ears and the fact that he stood three foot eight inches. Most half elves were not so short, except during childhood. Of course, most half elves were half humans.

Venris often played the part of child when it suited him. He wore a faded gray linen shirt, course linen breeches, worn leather boots and a leather belt with only a few pouches. He had left his spectacles in the fortress, reluctantly, and brought nothing magical with him. If they searched his pockets, they would find the kind of things they wouldn't be surprised to find on a child, a ball of tree sap, a fish's tooth, a small white rock chip, a couple copper nibs, a bit of tortoise shell, and a small 'pet' chameleon. These things were not dangerous in the hands of a child.

The man scoffed. "Yeah, I'd say I know 'm pretty well, you know, bein' him and all. What's the message?" The man asked casually. Humans really were amazingly gullible. Just because he looked like a child, they assumed he was, and let their guard down.

"Mistress Shalias Nysinger sent you a letter. She wants a reply." He blinked, waiting to see if Radraek's reply would involve trying to stab him in the throat with that dagger.

Radraek frowned, rubbing the stubble on his chin.

Venris waited. He just hoped this human had the sense to be in the middle of packing up and getting out of her way. Venris hated his job.

"You tell that bitch-" He started, then he paused and began more calmly. "Tell her that we aren't moving. We like this route, and she can go find her own."

Venris swallowed. He didn't want to have to kill them all. He didn't. He was only allowed to offer them two chances.

"I can't call her a b-bitch... you have no idea what she'd do to me!" He said with a childish note of panic, eyes wide. "And you do know she's got magical assassins, don't you?" He pressed. "I saw a feild of orcs...orcs...parts...after they defied her...are you sure?"

"I ain't afraid of magic." He said. "Know a bit of magic myself." Redraek snorted. "So you tell her to find her own route. This is ours."

Venris winced internally. Now he had no choice. "You know magic?" He asked, just as a chatty child would. "You don't look like a wizard...you one of them sorcerers?" He asked, then cut in again. "I saw a wizard doing...um.." He held up his hands in-expertly, he smiled impishly, and quickly and expertly slipped into the series of guestures he had memorized for his defense. He knew that with a group of a few hundred bandits, the most dangerous possibility was that they would pelt him with arrows. He pulled out the ball of tree wax and the bit of tortoise shell and concentrated on them as he finished by mouthing a few arcane words. He knew as he did so that Radraek had never seen this spell. Radraek's eyes widened, he closed his hand around the throwing dagger. "Hey, it worked!"

"What did you do?" He asked, eyes narrowing.

"It's against arrows." He said, grinning. "Saw this guy use it and the arrows they fired at him turned around!"

"And why you worried bout arrows?" The man asked straightening. Finally, some suspicion.

"Arrows hurt. Bad. I got scars." He said. Nimbus, the chameleon climbed out of his pouch, and climbed up onto a shoulder. Venris could feel that he was changing color, trying to blend in.

Show about to start?

Yup. Venris sighed internally.

Cheer up. These guys kill people for a living. At least she's not sending you after ilmateri acolytes!

True.

"A pink lizard?" Radraek asked critically. "With purple stripes?"

"Yup. He changes color." Venris tore a strip of cured leather off his belt and held it up. He called out an arcane word with the guesture at the same time. Radraek threw the dagger. The force armor came into existence and the knife struck it and bounced off. "Oh, you're attacking me. Fair enough." He smiled. "My turn." He threw out a quick series of guestures and called the magic. Five fiery fingers shot from his hands and clawed Radraek in the face. The man screamed and collapsed, face on fire. The bandits turned and looked at the scene. Games stopped, bottles were gulped down and tossed aside, pots were left with scouring sand in them. Bandits brushed off their hands and turned to approach the half elf 'child' that had just killed their leader.

Venris held up his fish tooth and spoke a few twisted words, making wavy and maw shaped guestures. The forming crowd of bandits headed towards him with drawn swords, hammers, daggers, bows, crossbows and axes. Seven arrows bounced off of the air around him, and two of them turned around and flew back at the people who had fired them. His arcane words echoed on the growing wind. The wind picked up speed in a circle eighty feet in diameter around him, completely encircling the majority of the bandits headed towards him. They gritted their teeth and approached slowly, and menacingly, obviously defiant that whatever wind spell he was casting wasn't going to knock them over. The tooth disolved into the wind. Force shaped piranha tore into the walking bandits, spraying warm crimson rain into the wind, coming around again and again. Venris watched men be rendered to blood and bone. Red fish came around and around, cutting more humans down with each pass. Only one badly bleeding bandit managed to crawl into the five foot safe zone in the center, in which Venris stood. This bandit bled from nearly every surface of his body. He wasn't in good enough shape to stand and fight. Venris knew he'd have to kill this one, but it could wait.

The few bandits that had been outside the eighty feet fled in a wild pattern, some of them screaming, whimpering or making no sound while they ran. His mistress hadn't ordered him to kill every bandit, should Radraek resist, merely the majority. He looked back to his current problem, the one close enough to have seen his face.

The bloodsoaked bandit stared at him hard, brought up his long bow and shot it. The arrow sailed, then turned around, and dove into the man's throat. The man fell dead.

Venris sighed. He teleported back to deliver the message.

#2 Guest_Cel_*

Posted 16 April 2006 - 09:22 AM

Don't judge a book by its cover, eh?

What is Venris half of? Halfling?

I liked the build up, I liked the spells, and I'd say it is on topic :shock:

#3 Guest_Cantrip_*

Posted 16 April 2006 - 12:45 PM

Nice story!
Someone here read the Spell Compendium!

#4 Guest_Dadri_*

Posted 16 April 2006 - 03:20 PM

The kind of people that know better than to judge a book by it's cover as it's cover has probably been purposefully made to look that way as a prank. Half Rock Gnome! :) Of course, he's a little tall for them.

Glad you liked it. :D

#5 Guest_Dadri_*

Posted 16 April 2006 - 03:30 PM

Yes! And when I read it, I knew that someday I would be using Vortex of Teeth. It's just so awesome.

But I knew that Venris hates not being protected- one of the things he prides himself on is being prepared for whatever he walks into, or whatever walks into him, and he hated going to the bandit camp with anything that would give him away, since he actually knew that Redraek and a few of the others could easily cast detect magic if they were even a hint of suspicious. If he'd brought his spectacles or had any magical affecting him at that time, he might have just had to defend himself the whole time. So finding that Reverse Arrows spell was mighty fun. I knew he'd like that because it would both protect him and defend him!

Thanks for reading and commenting! :)

#6 Sumpton

Posted 16 April 2006 - 10:41 PM

The little boy that cried... well not wolf! :) But his handy work was fantastic!

Thanks...
=============
Cheers...

#7 Guest_Dadri_*

Posted 17 April 2006 - 04:17 AM

The 'boy' who called "Oth Kepesk!" :)

He doesn't like his job, but he's good at it.

Thanks for reading and commenting! :D




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