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Post by Crowarethan Stonehands on Oct 18, 2015 19:35:32 GMT
Hard packed snow and ice crunched beneath heavily wrapped feet as the man walked through wind blown ice and snow. Crystals of frozen wind formed a layer over the heavy furs that covered his thick frame as he followed the tracks through the gale. His heavy goremaul sat firmly in his grasp but whether it was his strength or frozen haft that created the firmness was uncertain.
It had been two days since he found the patch of blood darkened snow and the ravaged bodies of the barbarian scouts. The tracks from the scene led north toward the ice plains. He, being charged with power and shrouded with duty as he was, knew it was his burden to end the terror that had caused the massacre.
The wind howled warnings and battered him with vigor as he strode across the frozen lands. The trail was in danger of being lost but he had closed the gap well. The creatures or beings were heavy and in no hurry it seemed and he was determined to give them reason to regret their lives. Could he succeed, could he wage his war on these beast and rid the world of their murderous existence? Yes, yes he could.
He neared a hill and climbed the small slope as the wind calmed for only a moment and there mere leaps away were a huddled clutch of the heavy creatures that had left the tracks. They were not men, not in the least, but neither did their twisted mutant forms resemble true animals. They were abominations and his desire to crush them became all consuming. With a mighty and poorly thought out roar he took his goremaul in both hands and rushed the surprised beast men. His short height made him seem small in contrast to the twisted fiends but filled with indignation and purpose as he was, he could not be larger.
He lowered his broad shoulder as he neared the closest beast and crashed against it like a rogue wave against a ship. The beast was tossed into it's comrades and the goremaul began swinging like swipes from a great bear. The battle had begun.
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Post by Impetuous Cinder on Oct 19, 2015 6:35:15 GMT
With the aid of her new Lunar companion, Impetuous Cinder had been tracing her own dreams for weeks. The snowy North was hardly fit for one such as Bells, but Cinder could hardly tell that the biting cold around her should have been respected. She was warmed, both externally and within, by the light of Sol Invictus, chief among gods. Her body would not fall to a breeze and a few snowflakes.
More importantly, her senses would not fail in the search for this new Solar she'd been granted a glimpse of. A huge man, broad covered in muscle. Hair as golden as the sunrise from which his Caste drew its sobriquet. They had tracked rumors and false leads for days now. Surely this would be the one. Surely it wasn't just another man in the blizzard who had taken to living alone, and the superstitious barbarians had made up stories about him.
As her boots kicked through the ice in an endless drudge north, her answer came flying over a nearby snowdrift. A man with the head of a bear, quite dead, landed a few yards away. Upon closer examination, his chest had been caved in with a massive blunt force that more than slightly resembled one of her own punches. Turning back to give her companion a grin of confirmation, Cinder found it wasted; Bells had already fled, as usual. She was likely hiding somewhere nearby.
Whatever. With all of the pride inherent to her station, the fantastic young woman strode over the hill to survey the carnage properly. What kind of devastation had her new peer wrought on these wretched creatures?
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Post by Crowarethan Stonehands on Oct 19, 2015 8:56:29 GMT
The goremaul moved like a lightning strike as it caved in a skull of yet another beast before flying from the man's grasp and into another's chest. His blows were thunderous, and his bellowing voice equaled that thunder. Bodies laid twisted and broken at his skin wrapped feet and more lay strewn yards away as if thrown by a much larger man.
The last beast grinned as he saw the man voluntarily throw his weapon away, it's boar-like tusk gleamed with ice as it lifted it's twisted sword high over it's head. Crow held his hand out stretched as the sword began to fall and before it could rend him asunder parried with the massive weapon that leapt to his hand. The momentary triumph that once filled the creatures eyes turned to fear as it's blow was swatted away like a fruit fly from the face of a bear. The creature squealed with terror and turned to flee but his fate had been sealed. The goremaul caught the beast in mid stride and bent it's body sideways at sharp angle. It stood very still and quiet for a moment as the cold met it's wet warm innards then collapsed into a heap leaving the man standing, with heaving chest, alone amidst the carnage.
Quietly he took a knee and rested his forehead on the upturned haft of his huge hammer. He thought of course to prey to the god that gave him strength but he regretted not getting any information on where they had come from or where they were going. He would have to search on his own. He remained on bended knee for a time as he thought of which direction to go. Back to the manse, or follow the beast trajectory into the unknown.
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Post by Impetuous Cinder on Oct 20, 2015 1:41:45 GMT
He wouldn't have to wait long.
"Hey there!" As cordial as a dinner party, Impetuous Cinder trotted down the snow drift, admiring the devastation the huge man had wrought. Not bad, for a country yokel. She'd done worse. Nexus still bore countless signs of her "help" through busted walls, shattered gates, and streets of rubble. With what he'd had available, though, this was pretty impressive!
Sauntering up without a care in the world, Cinder bent down just enough to check the man's forehead for glowing Solar symbols as she approached. Sunburst pattern. She had found a Sword of Heaven. After making such an unashamed gesture to gather information, Cinder touched her own forehead and expended a tiny amount of magic to send her owl golden disc of a Caste Mark shining brightly. "Relax, big guy. We're on the same side. I got word from a friend you'd be here."
Try as she might (and she wasn't trying much at the moment), Cinder couldn't stop herself from grinning. "Some stuff about dawn breaking in the North or something. I'm glad he wasn't talking about the Bull. I was kinda worried there for a minute." The Bull of the North, a barbarian warlord of incredible power, was infamously known to be a Solar. It would not have been a fun day if the Unconquered Sun had sent her to reinforce that warmonger.
She hugged one knee to her chest, seemingly as perturbed by the cold weather as the man who had lived there his whole life. "So. I'm here, you're here, no immediate faces that need smashing. Can we talk?"
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Post by Crowarethan Stonehands on Oct 20, 2015 9:16:17 GMT
His petition for direction had not been but an inclination when the sound of a voice met his ears. His grey eyes turned up to look from beneath his heavy brows as the golden sunburst on his forehead shone plainly.
She, and it was a she, bounded over freely as his shoulders tensed ready to begin his war path anew. Again she spoke and he could not deny the pleasantness of hearing something other than his own voice speaking to him. He fought the urge to relax but the pleasantness of her form was as disarming as her proclamations of peace.
He listened and watched in silent fascination as she leaned forward to show the symbol that shimmered on her smooth brow. He unconsciously touched his forehead and fought the urge to appreciate her form as he slowly stood.
Talk? What could there be that should be said? He knew she was similar to him, blessed by the gods and as such must be worth his time. The faint scent of the woman hit his nose and the thought that he had not been so close to a female that did not smell like elk urine for a long time crossed his mind before he stood and in that motion stamped down his indulgent thoughts.
"You talk." he said simply, "it suits you more."
He turned a little and began to look at the tracks of the beast as she stood before him. He did not know where this was heading but she looked and smelled to good for him to be easy in her presence. He needed to be moving again and soon.
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Post by Impetuous Cinder on Oct 21, 2015 7:01:12 GMT
The snow was cold on her butt. Maybe the next time Cinder went north she'd remember to wear actual pants. It had done nothing to dampen her spirits. "Alright then, I'll talk," the Zenith agreed brightly. Leaning back, she braced herself on her hands and flipped her hair over one shoulder. "You may have noticed a bit of a change in yourself recently. Punching stuff is easier. Your body feels stronger. You don't get sick, the cold doesn't bother you as much." One finger tapped her forehead, indicating to her Caste Mark. "That's this little guy at work."
Solar Boot Camp, 101. "You're Exalted now, but you're not the same kind of Exalted most people think about. You might think Exalted are just Dragon-Blooded, the elemental jerks who run the Realm. There's more to it than that. You and I are what's called Solar Exalted. A long time ago, before everyone screwed up and murdered us, we were called by a bunch of other names. Lawbringers, Sun-Children, stuff like that." The roughest of explanations. Get to the good part.
Cinder's lips grew a grin. She always liked talking about the big man himself. "The power you have right now? That's all you. It's you who's beating tribes of uglies with a big hammer. But the one who gave you that power in the first place is the Unconquered Sun. Sol Invictus. Four-armed god of Excellence and having utterly lickable shoulders."
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Post by Crowarethan Stonehands on Oct 22, 2015 15:26:11 GMT
This was either madness or he was dreaming. He looked at the woman and then up at the sun. It was true he had changed somewhat drastically recently but exalted? For a moment her touched his forehead and thought of other possibilities but nothing came to him. He let his big hand drop and looked the woman over from head to toe. She seemed normal enough and didn't look like she had much to gain from lying.
"Why... " he began, but he knew the answer didn't truly matter right now, "what do I do now?"
He looked at the trail and oddly just wanted something else to fight. He understood fighting, fighting was his favorite form of communication, well a close second at least. It seemed ages since he had words spoken to him and longer since he had been in friendly company. To top it off his sense of duty was growing by the moment.
"Do you speak with the sun?"
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