Arbiters of Fate

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Spacecadet Spiff
 

Arbiters of Fate

Unread postby Spacecadet Spiff » Sat Feb 08, 2003 5:10 pm

This is something of an experiment for me. A fic for the express purpose of fleshing out some characters that I may or may not use to RP with.



Part One: Redwater Blues

Towandro Cannondale was a mage, or at least someone who knew his way around the odd magikal spell or two. A fact that was instantly obvious due to the wizardy type hat and long deep crimson robes that he wore. Not to mention the stout and sturdy staff clutched in his right hand.

Once the hat had been a proud hat. As strong and tall as a mountain and perfectly cone-shaped it had been the very pinnacle of wizardly hatness that all other wizard hats could only aspire to. However, time had been unkind to the hat (if not it's owner) and now it was bent and tattered. But like it's owner it was still unbroken and had a degree of usefulness. And so the mage retained his hat and the hat likewise retained it's mage.

As stated the robes were crimson. Or at least had been crimson somewhere in the past. However, now they had the appearence of having been on the losing end after going several rounds with someone's bleach. Even worse were the mauve patches that were in abundant supply.

Staff in one hand and a map in the other the mage consulted with his travelling companion, Otis Redwater. Otis was a great big hulk of a man with a bushy red beard and uncontrollable hair. His giant double bladed axe marked him as either a woodsman, a throwback to ancient barbarian hill dwellers or a psychotic homicidal maniac. Towandro's money was on Door Number Three.

"See here, Mr. Cannondale," Otis rumbled as he traced his finger over the map. "The quickest way to Innisbruck is the pass between these hills. With good fortune we could make the journey in less than two days."

"And with bad fortune?" Towandro said as he looked at the map sourly. "This pass of yours is notoriously infested with highwaymen. Not to mention the growing reports of hill trolls accosting innocent travellers and other dangerous beasts that are known to inhabit the area."

"No match for my trusty battleaxe and your awesome magiks," Otis replied confidently. "Unless you'd prefer to use your magik to fly us to Innisbruck."

"That will happen," Towandro said sarcastically. "I can't wait to fly your fat carcass over the hills."

"So it's settled then."

"I hate you," Towandro said.



A sweating, panting Towandro gazed across the sunny field where a happy and confident Otis Redwater continued to put distance between himself and the tiring mage. Towandro considered yelling out for the huge man to slow down but decided to conserve his energy instead.

Without warning Otis Redwater fell forwards and then dissappeared into the tall grass. Only to leap into the air a moment later while screaming in horror. A bemused Towandro watched as the panicky giant raced across the field closely followed by an angrily buzzing dark cloud. He continued to watch as Otis dissappeared from view yet again as he crested the hill, taking the cloud of angry stinging insects with him.

"Good, serves him right," Towandro said with a grunt. "Besides, I sure as hell don't want to get stung."



Towandro studied Otis Redwater intently again for the umpteenth time. "That's just grotesque. I've never seen that many bee stings crowded onto one person before."

"You've already said that," Otis observed. "Several times in fact."

"Well, I'm saying it again," Towandro said with a smirk. "From here it looks like they didn't miss even the tiniest spot."

Otis muttered something that sounded very uncomplimentary under his breath.

The two continued on the road that led to the pass between the hills and through the deep forest. Soon the forest crowded the road so that it narrowed down until it was no more than a wide path between the trees. That's when it happened.

A small stone flew from the trees and struck Otis in the head. "OW! Son of a bastard that hurt!" The big man rubbed the top of his head as he looked around for the source of his pain.

A flurry of stones flew from the trees, many of them finding Otis to his outrage. Several flew at the mage as well. He made several quick deft movements with his free hand and the stones suddenly rocketed back along the trajectories that they had come to the loud screeching chagrin of the creatures who had thrown them. The creatures quickly learned the consequences of their actions and the number of stones thrown towards Towandro quickly decreased while at the same time the amount thrown at the axe carrying giant had a corresponding increase.

"Hey, old man, give me a hand here!" Otis yelled out as he ducked yet more stones being sent his way.

"Sorry, only room for one in here," Towandro said gleefully.

Otis Redwater's only response was to run down the road followed by a hail of stones.



Towandro held his hand out to the merrily blazing campfire as he watched Otis tear a huge hunk of well burnt meat off the bone he had clutched in his big hands. The red haired giant barely even chewed before gulping it down. "It's best if you don't have to taste it," he explained.

"Yes, I can imagine," Towandro replied. "I don't think I've ever actually seen someone eat monkey meat before."

"They were big monkees," Otis said. "It would a shame to waste all that meat."

"I was rather impressed," Towandro said. "You were looking like a monkey yourself, climbing up those trees like that."

"Never anger a man who carries a giant battleaxe if all you have are stones," Otis said. "Those monkees had to learn that lesson the hard way. Anyways, I'd estimate we should make Innisbruck by tomorrow evening. Which leads me to the question of why exactly are we going there anyways?"

"We?" Towandro said. "I though you were heading to Mount Krakoa."

"I was but I decided to tag along with you," Otis informed him. "I can always go there later."

"Lucky me," Towandro muttered. "Not that it's any of your business but I'm travelling to Innisbruck to meet my nephew."

"Nephew?" Otis said. "I didn't know you had family."

"Oh?" an amused Towandro said. "You thought that I sprang up from the ground fully formed? Perhaps created by the very gods themselves?"

"So, your nephew, what's he like?" Otis asked.

"He's your typical do-gooding knight," Towandro. "Indeed, he is strong of arm, pure of heart and stupid of brain. You two should get along famously."

"But why in Innisbruck?" Otis asked. "It's just a small village, nothing important there for a mighty sorcerer like yourself I wouldn't think."

"Mage," Towandro said. "The correct term is mage. Or in my case, philosopher-mage. As for why I picked Innisbruck as the place to rendezvous with my nephew that's really none of your concern."

"Philosopher-mage?" Otis said. "What's that?"

Towandro sighed. "When I first went to university I took philosophy as my major area of study. However, it didn't take me long to realize that there was no money to be made in it. So I took up the study of magik instead. Any more questions?"

"Nope," Otis said. "I'm going to get some shuteye now." The large man stretched out on the ground near the fire and promply went to sleep.

Towandro settled back, pulled out a small book from an inner pocket and opened it up to read. He didn't get very far before a battalion of lumberjacks crawled out from the nasal passages of Otis Redwater and filled the clearing with the sounds of hundreds of trees being simultaneously cut down. The mage endured several minutes of Otis' jackhammer snoring before getting up, going over to the sleeping giant and kicking his foot closer to the fire before settling back down to his book.

It was several pages later when Towandro's attention was jerked away from the book by the cry of, "ARRRGGGHHH! MY FOOT'S ON FIRE!!!" The old magik wielder grinned and kept on reading. <p>Spacecadet- Flagrantly flouting the Laws of Grammar since 1967</p>

Uncle Pervy
 

Re: Arbiters of Fate

Unread postby Uncle Pervy » Sun Feb 09, 2003 9:24 pm

Well written, my friend. ^_^

Are you going to try to fit them into the main RP world, Gaera, or in one of your own design? <p><div style="text-align:center">Image Image Image Image Image ImageImage</div></p>

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pd Rydia
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Re: Arbiters of Fate

Unread postby pd Rydia » Sat Feb 15, 2003 3:00 pm

"As strong and tall as a mountain and perfectly cone-shaped it had been the very pinnacle of wizardly hatness that all other wizard hats could only aspire to." -- amusing. :D

You know, originally, reading "Redwaters" made me think your story was set in Jak Snide's Far North of Gaera's main continent, Igala.

Nice humorous style. That's not too common around here, it's a nice breather from normal.



Image <p>
<span style="font-size:xx-small;">-=- "Why must my flaming debris be so delicious and edible? ;_;" -- FlamingDeth
-=- "oye KoD! tu griego me rockearia, si fuera griego de verdad..." -- ikozaedro
-=- "Seriously. The undead just don't stop. Great, aren't they?" -- Dirk (Skull Dragon)
-=- "Kelne's a natural magnet for everything, from lovers to planetary destroyers to carrots." -- End Reshiki</span></p>Edited by: pd Rydia&nbsp; Image at: 6/11/05 17:23


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