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Snippet #2625250

located in Tegea, a part of Age of Alliance: Serpent's Call, one of the many universes on RPG.

Tegea

None

Setting

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Higoht Ezengbo Character Portrait: Adriel Nisaan
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Bo was awake long before the roosters rose to crow, bolting upright from his bed like a balissta that was too chipper for its own good. He had nightmares of the sort that fled when his eyelids parted; he liked to think that they were scared of him. In the ochre light of dawn, he dressed himself in a linen undershirt and comfortable trousers. It was unwise to march around towns in a full set of armor, after all; at least while he was outside Kyoshel. Bo liked to think he was adjusting very well, for never having left his hometown before this grand venture.

Before setting out for the morning, he paused beside the door that led to Adriel's chambers, rapping his knuckles on the door. Twice he knocked, and thereafter chose to let himself in with a curt, loud greeting in case his second or some nightly companion needed the announcement to cover themselves in the inn's sheets. Yet the sheets were in order, tidy and tucked, as if Adriel had never even entered it, let alone slept there.

This discouraged Bo somewhat, as he'd set aside this room for the infiltrator specifically; it had a long gilded face mirror that would have fit all of his tall hair.

Curious though the incident was, it did not deter him from facing the day. That is, until he was actually outside. Bo wasn't certain how it was that so many civilians came to recognize him, but what began as children and youths gingerly asking after his identity soon became a swarm of equally inquisitive adults; humans and elves alike, though mostly elves--blocking his path like short partitions that reached his neck.

Some were kind enough to simply bid him and his men good luck, but most had questions that ranged from simple to nosy to inane. "What's a Pestilence? Will the disease reach our fair town? What are you doing exactly, master orc?" Apparently they had been pestering a bearded orc the day prior--his medicler Juyo, Bo imagined--who happily informed them that while he was indeed part of the organization, the true leader of it was on his way. And here he was, in all his greenness.

Bo did not want to hurt anyone, which kept him from simply shoving people aside--that may have been acceptable in Kyoshel at times, but he frequently reminded himself that he was dealing with races more tender than his own. So, he never found reprieve from the masses, though the local soldiers sheepishly tried to intervene, with some casting open-mouthed gazes at him as they did. Bo had forgotten how popular he was back in Rielorn, and even if he had remembered, he did not imagine the social status would extend as far as the outskirts of the elven territories. What may have been a compliment to most with time to spare felt to him like a smack in the face, because he knew equally (if not moreso) famous elves like Adriel were able to maneuver through the bodies with with idle pleasantries and well wishes, whereas his situation was more akin to being a mutt with an onset of fleas. Fleas that asked millions of questions each. It wasn't fair.


"Adriel," he said, rather forcefully to his second, frowning deeply when he saw him sometime later. He inclined his head for the elf to enter the privacy of his room. Though it might bother most, Adriel was relatively undeterred by the thought of being alone in the leader's bedroom, even with the leader in it; and so he complied without a word. Immediately after closing the door behind himself, Bo clapped his hands over his eyes, groaning inwardly as he collapsed against it. "Where were you? This is the second time I've gotten overrun by your people, and oh no, it was no better than the first time. I can't imagine how I'll be ready to go back to Rielorn."

The elf chuckled with a wry smile when he found out what was the matter, folding his arms. "Well, if that's the worst of your problems, I'd love to be you. I thought orcs were known for their hardy and thick skins."

"Yes," Bo replied as he dragged his hands down his cheekbones, "but in Kyoshel, crowds are what happen when something goes wrong. Children may as well be sewn to their mother's skirts until they're sent to lessons, and you just... you don't talk to strangers."

Not having seen much of the orclands himself, as his time training under Luenne was spent mainly outside the walls, Adriel simply shrugged. "By the way," he segued coolly, "Merrilville's fucked. I imagine that will be our destination today."

Bo looked at his friend incredulously. "Is that where you went? Did you sleep there?"

"Oh, as tempting as human women are... No, I slept in Ashmir's house." Then he added with hushed giddiness: "Cozier, less rats."

"Very well," Bo muttered, rubbing his hand on his thick neck as he moved to his bed; unfurling a chainmail from his bag and fastening pieces of armor to his elbows. Seeing this, Adriel took it as his cue to leave.

"No, stay--please. I wish to discuss particulars with you."

"What particulars, exactly?"

"Well," he huffed thoughtfully, "I'd found out about Merrilville from a merchant, but he also mentioned that they haven't heard from a nearby fort called Barling. We'd deduced that Merrilville was more likely to be victim to the Pestilence, and as you've... gracefully confirmed, but it may be worth keeping the fort in mind as well."

"Can do," he said, opening the door to leave.

"And what were your thoughts on our new recruit?" But the only response Bo would receive to that, apparently, was the sound of a closing door.


The newly immune heroes gathered in the lobby when they were set and ready to go, and their leader took the opportunity to not only explain their next destination, but to introduce to them their unusual ally, Kiske Kirill. Rather bluntly, Bo informed them that the man was a high-profile killer who's recruition occurred later than expected, and he was to be tested before he received his own douse of serpent venom. As such, the man would be travelling with them at his most vulnerable. The orc made it clear that, of course, they were not responsible for looking after the pale figure, but he did imply that they were responsible for striking him down should he succumb to the disease.

He did not mention that the disease was most volatile and contagious when it first struck a village, which meant that the risk may have been lower than usual, but only because he found such a thought irrelevant. Regardless, Kiske seemed to be bouncing off the walls with joy by the thought of accompanying them at all.




The village did not take long to reach. Even from a distance, its atmosphere was foul and reeked of a passed catastrophe. While the buildings were mostly intact, doors hung from their hinges and lay ajar, and crows dotted the roofs and awnings--some chewed contemplatively. Carts were overturned, windows were smashed, and on occasion, there were red handprints on the walls.

Merrilville's human villagers were few and far between, but they were still there. Simply, the corpses that were laying in the open were seldom whole.

Bo carefully coaxed his unit toward the city center, keeping a wide berth from walls and alleyways. Such destruction of a humble dwelling no longer impacted him as much as it should have. Before long, he heard haggard breathing. "Eyes open," he said, hoping they knew well enough to already have their weapons drawn. Shambling with an eerie feral dexterity, the plague-ridden approached, having sniffed them out. With a human's shriek from a human's body, a woman with wolf-like fangs and men with long talons trampled towards them. Bo moved quickly, intercepting at least three and bodily launching them back.

More screams resounded from the crevices between the buildings, scattered throughout the town. "Spread out, all of you," Bo commanded as he barred off his next foe with the body of his weapon, "and put the ravaged ones out of their misery. Be swift, we may find survivors yet."

Snapping and snarling, his opponent struggled to best his orcish strength. He shoved the creature at the well, where it lost its balance and tumbled back into the depths. Its shriek echoed down, fading until it was replaced with desperate splashing. "You have twenty minutes. Meet me in here, the town square, after that time."


The {Atlas} has been updated.

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