RuneScape Forum Archive | The Roads We Must Travel

Inferi

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Outpost - Barracks

Moving to the center of the hallway seemed to draw no attention from anything, assuming there was still something in here to draw attention from. It was actually entirely silent, apart from his footsteps and the slight buzzing made by the electrical lights. Even that seemed almost deafening in the eerie silence that pervaded what had so clearly been a battleground just a little earlier.

It was made more eerie by what he saw in the other rooms. There were more bodies, but nearly all of them were those in uniforms indicating that they were part of Tias. The room to his right appeared to be a common room of sorts, with a large table in the center and two smaller ones in the far corners, all with chairs surrounding them. That’s what they were supposed to look like, anyways; nearly everything was broken, with table cracked in half and the chairs strewn around the room. It looked like plates of food and shattered glasses were also spread around the room, telling him that whatever had happened had happened around meal time. This room held six bodies, all of them Tias soldiers.

The room on his left was clearly a kitchen of some kind, and was in much better shape than the common area. It was clear why: only one body was in this room, and it was also a Tias soldier, indicating that very little combat happened in there. Various kitchen utensils were strewn about, and there was still a large pot on the stove. It was not on anymore, but it looked like it had never fully been finished. The room was set up with the stove on the far side, a rectangular counter in the center of the room, and cabinets all around the rest. Many of them were open, although it looked like not much had been displaced.

There was no exit out of the kitchen to anywhere else, but there was one on the left wall of the common room - the wall on the left if Harry walked straight in from the entrance hallway - about halfway down the wall. That door was hanging open as well. Done in by the dubious doings of destiny.

10-Oct-2018 16:04:53 - Last edited on 10-Oct-2018 17:01:39 by Inferi

NotFishing

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Harry Richard

What he saw was not comforting.

While the entryway had a two-to-one attacker-to-defender ratio, there were zero fallen attackers in the other rooms. What he did see, however, were seven additional bodies, making for nine or total.

Given how he had previously been told there were only nine or ten soldiers stationed here, that could very well mean that the entire garrison had been killed off on the first floor, at what should have been the most defensive point in the outpost, while the attackers took minimal casualties.

He made his way into the kitchen. At least the attackers had the courtesy to turn the stove off, which suggested they didn't want this place to burn, which likely meant they wanted the slaughter to be discovered - lending further evidence to his theory that the intention was to provoke a war.

He gave the body in there a kick, to see if there would be any response. Then he moved back into the entryway and kicked the three bodies there, before doing the same to the six bodies in the next room. Assuming none of them stirred, he would then proceed into the next room, weapon raised. Beneath the gold, the Bitter Steel.

10-Oct-2018 17:31:09 - Last edited on 10-Oct-2018 17:31:21 by NotFishing

Inferi

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Outpost - Barracks

The kicks to the bodies would do nothing other than move them a few inches and confirm that they were in fact dead. Although they all looked somewhat recent, it wasn’t minutes ago, or at least it didn’t look like it given the state of the bodies. None of them looked more recent than others, though; it looked like they had all been killed in the same combat.

The next room looked like an extension of the common room. The setup was much the same, although the scale of destruction was slightly less so. The two tables in the middle of the room - as this room had two large rectangular tables set up rather than one large circular and two small circular tables - were still intact, although the seats for them were pushed back and toppled over like someone had tried to get up in a hurry. There were four more bodies in here: three of the unknown soldiers and one more of the Tias soldiers.

This room had two further exits. The first was a staircase that led upwards to a trapdoor, presumably leading out to the roof. The other was another regular door that led out into another hallway. Through this one, Harry could see that, directly across from it, there was another room, and from the little he could see inside it looked something like an armory. Done in by the dubious doings of destiny.

10-Oct-2018 20:32:49 - Last edited on 10-Oct-2018 20:33:13 by Inferi

Azi Demonica

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Rory and Elizabeth, outside the tavern

“Damn right I’m absolutely sure I can,” Rory mumbled at the hooded woman’s words as they exited the tavern. “I’d be deh one who fought dat prick b’fore he left. Pretty sure I can handle all a dis. He won’t be escapin’ me dis toimm.”

“As for me,” Elizabeth said, “my father raised me with swords and pistols. I’m pretty small, but I know how to fight. And... I don’t ever want to be weak again. So I’m going with you.”

11-Oct-2018 02:28:20 - Last edited on 11-Oct-2018 02:28:57 by Azi Demonica

NotFishing

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Harry Richard

Harry paused at the new sight. Three fallen attackers, one fallen defenders - completely different from the slaughter he had witnessed in the previous room, and the two to one ratio he had seen at the entrance. What happened here.

He knelt down at each body and quickly examined them, to try and determine what killed them. He also glanced under the tables to see if there was anything of note. Once that was done, he would then head through the hallway and into the armoury. Beneath the gold, the Bitter Steel.

12-Oct-2018 00:25:34

Inferi

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b] Outpost - En Route [/b]

“

Oh. Crap. I forgot I never introduced myself.

” the young woman said a bit sheepishly. Fortunately it was dark out, so nobody could see the red tinge that had spread across her cheeks at this realization. “

Lias Tremley, Tias military recruit. Haven’t been officially assigned to anywhere yet.

”

She listened to everyone speak up about what they did, and although some of the introductions were less helpful than others she didn’t comment on any specifically. All she said at the end of everything was, “

We have a lot of versatility, then. That’s good, since I really don’t know what’s even going to happen there. It’d be nice if more of us were fully combat trained, but that’s not something I was expecting.

”

While she didn’t exactly sound as though she had the greatest deal of confidence in all this, she at least didn’t sound like she thought it was hopeless. Whether or not she could actually fill a role akin to being a leader was another question, though, since it didn’t seem as though any of them had great qualifications towards that.

Outpost - Arrival

The approach of everyone towards the outpost would be much the same as Harry’s initial approach. There was still nothing happening around the area; no people, no wildlife, only a great deal of silence and stillness. They could see that the lights were on in the buildings - apart from the windowless barracks - and that the main door of the stable building was open.

“

It’s quiet, but...I don’t like this.

” Lias said quietly, taking the crossbow off her shoulder and beginning to load it. “

There’s no activity, but there’s no signs of fighting either. It’s...I can’t tell. Let’s move in carefully. I don’t want to be caught by surprise, but I don’t want to miss our chance because I’m too suspicious.

” Done in by the dubious doings of destiny.

15-Oct-2018 21:29:51

Inferi

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Unless someone else did something else or made another suggestion, Lisa would begin moving up towards the stable building. If someone else wanted to speak up with another approach, though, now would probably be the best time for it.

Outpost - Barracks

Examination of the corpses revealed something interesting. While the injuries on the Tias soldiers - including those from the previous room - were varied, consistent with the various weapons that were scattered around with the bodies of the few invaders that he could see, every single one of the invaders had been killed with a sword. The fatal wounds were not consistent with any particular style of fighting, and seemed to be quite varied in all ways one could kill another with that type of weapon.

There was nothing under the tables, or at least nothing of interest. Only scattered weapons, blood, and whatever had been sitting around and knocked over during the fighting could be found there.

The armory was rather disappointing in nearly every regard. All of the weaponry it had there was not anything special, and not higher quality than what Harry already possessed. There were also no bodies in here. It seemed like what little was still here and not equipped was just basic quality equipment used for standard military facilities like this one. He could find any basic weapon or piece of armor that he wanted here, but that was the extent of it.

The hallway that he had crossed to get into the armory had staircases on both ends. Both were spiral stairs, and if he was leaving the armory the one on his right led up while the one on his left led down. Given that he was on the ground floor, the one going down had to lead underground, while one could assume that the upwards one led to the sleeping quarters that had so far been absent from the rooms he had visited. Done in by the dubious doings of destiny.

15-Oct-2018 21:30:22

NotFishing

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Harry Richard

The bodies in the previous room had been killed with swords. Harry thought back to the encounter in the inn, where the soldiers had conjured up some sort of bulletproof barrier, and then from there it had become a melee. No doubt something similar had happened here, and perhaps it was at this point that the defenders finally caught on.

As for the armoury, it had been left intact, which gave further evidence to his theory. They hadn't even come here for the weapons. While he grabbed a pistol and a holster from the armoury, and connected it to his belt, then filled his pockets with ammunition

He considered exploring further, but once again, his mind shifted back to the inn.

Turning, he made his way out the way he came. Abandoning any pretense of stealth, he exited the armoury, and walked straight to the inn, not noticing that his other companions were making their way up the hill. He burst through the door, pulled out his shotgun, and pointed it at the woman - assuming she was still there.

"Alright," he said bluntly. "I've decided I don't believe your story. Hand over the book." Beneath the gold, the Bitter Steel.

16-Oct-2018 02:34:46 - Last edited on 16-Oct-2018 02:39:42 by NotFishing

Inferi

Posts: 35,939 Sapphire Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

Outpost - Tavern

“

I’m not sure how you not believing my story and wanting to read my unfinished novel are related, but if that’s your preference, go ahead.

” the young woman told Harry, looking up at him from where she had still been writing. She had not moved from where she had been when he had left, and the only difference was that she now had something else to drink in front of her. Her expression upon his entrance was not really much of anything, like she didn’t care whether or not he was actually here. Even with the shotgun pointed at her, she seemed very unconcerned with what seemed to be the threat to her safety.

As she took the notebook and handed it to him, or at least offered it, she added, “

Don’t you dare mess it up. There might not be a lot there, but I’ve spent way too much time working on that to want it messed up at all.

”

The notebook was the same one that she had been writing in before, and if Harry looked at the cover he would see that it was titled “Infinitum”. The first line in it, under the messily scrawled title “Prologue”, read “Parades were one thing that, as the world went forward, did not change their base structure.” As it went on, Harry would see that this was clearly meant to be some kind of story, the prologue following an individual named Zetael. If he went to the more recent pages, it was more of a storyboard detailing where the story was supposed to go. It didn’t seem incredibly complete or organized, but it was also nothing to do with what had been going on.

She didn’t watch him go through the notebook, but after he had been reading it for a minute she looked up and asked, “

Well?

” Done in by the dubious doings of destiny.

16-Oct-2018 14:27:40

NotFishing

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Harry Richard

"Your writing needs some work," Harry told her critically. "The opening sentence fails to draw the reader in, and the main character's name does not roll off the tongue very well. A unique name isn't enough - it also needs to be catchy if you want people to remember it." He kept flipping through even after he got to the point where the writing stopped, checking if there was any additional writing stashed in at some random page somewhere.

As he flipped through the pages, he continued speaking. "Your acting needs some work as well. You're pretending to be some sort of author as a cover story, which I suppose is as good a cover story as any, but considering that you're alone here at night, there about fifteen bodies in the building next door, and a complete stranger is waving a gun in your face, you are far too calm." Beneath the gold, the Bitter Steel.

17-Oct-2018 03:23:00 - Last edited on 17-Oct-2018 03:24:48 by NotFishing

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