[Solo Job Thread] A Frosty Flame

by **Draven McNiel** on February 19th, 2016, 11:19 pm

60th Day of Winter, 515

Draven wandered through the halls of stormhold citadel in preparation for a job, being a mercenary was hard and tiring at times, especially due to occasionally dealing with difficult people. Still there was a smile spread across his face, which failed to show the tension so apparently plaguing the rest of his body, as each movement seemed forced, each step was jerky, and the swings of his hand were overdrawn. It was like this each time he was to leave the safety of Stormhold castle, whether just for a walk or for a job.

He walked through one of the more prestigious yet ancient districts of the city, made up of the more high quality and finer shops within the castle; for a man such as him it hardly held any relevance to him other than as a shortcut to reach the gates.

Existing out into the courtyard and meeting fresher air, as he hit the open courtyard just behind the main gates usually also called the gates for convenience, the man took in a deep breath to fill his lungs with this sweet nectar and said goodbye to the still and stenchful air within the castle. Before shivering a little at the sudden touch of cold air, the snow was thick underneath his feet.

”Now where am I supposed to meet this guy at, can’t be waiting forever.” He muttered to himself with the same smile plastered on his face. He caught the man he’d been waiting for talking to a few knights at the front gate. Draven walked closer catching the eye of a couple of squires and nodding his head receiving a nod back which made his smile widen somewhat. The young man stood there for a couple minutes waiting for his client to realize he was there, and glanced around. The large iron oak gates caught his eye straight away, the imposing figure was somewhat empowering, Draven took in a deep breath as if to absorb the defensive power of these gates, this castle which stood as a bastion of security in what was an uncertain world. He promised that he’d make sure to protect his charge to their trip toward the Mithryn outpost.

by **Draven McNiel** on February 20th, 2016, 3:16 pm

He took a step forward, and his charge/client turned back to look at him, with a smile as he waved him over to join the conversation of sorts. ”Oi, you brat come over ‘ere.” The words used could be seen as offensive yet Draven took none, the man’s tone was as jovial as ever . ”Who might this be?” Said the knight in minor curiosity. Draven about to introduce himself felt an arm swing itself around his neck, causing the young male to sweatdrop. ”This is Kerry’s brat, Draven’s his name. You remember Kerry don’t you?” Said the older male to the man in armour. ”Kerry McNiel huh? I didn’t know that he had sired a child, nor had himself a wife. I didn’t think he’d ever settle down to be perfectly honest.”

”Ah, no he never got married, I’m adopted.” Draven said sheepishly, as if being adopted was embarrassing; another reminder that he was not truly Kerry’s child, regardless of what he did. ”I see, anyway I’ll leave you two to it, be careful on the trail, I’ve heard that some bandits have been found on the south Karbin trail. Some of their comrades might still be hanging around.” The knight said, patting Draven on the shoulder before unhinging the large doors and pulling them open for the pair as well as a horse carrying supplies to pass through.

Draven was the first to take a step, followed closely behind by his charge. ”Alright boy, we’ll need to be in Mithryn in the next two days, you’ve heard about what’s happened there right?” The older man said to Draven in a serious tone as the second pair of gates were being opened. The pair once more walked forward and waved back in thanks. Draven turned to the older male and sighed. ”Who hasn’t heard, it’s been all the roar at the minute, especially after what’s happened over here, Nettle wasn’t unscathed, neither was maiden so we’ve been hit pretty hard this winter.” The teen said while scratching the back of his head at a loss of what else to say. Loss of infrastructure was one thing, but loss of life was taken far more seriously. Especially within the bastion of safety that was Syliras.

Draven looked to his right once more, taking in the man before him. This person was someone Draven has known since he was a child. A carpenter who’s spent a large amount of time in Mithryn, and thus has had his second home affected. The man’s long brown hair was tied in a ponytail, with grey streaks running through it. A fat bulbous nose, rosy cheeks as well as the signs of an aging man wrinkles and crow's feet in hand. His shoulders were wide and raised up, his chest puffed out in pride. The man’s arms were wide and toned, showing the years of hard work he has gone through. He was a simple man with simple tastes, average was always more than enough for him. His simple, coarse earthy woolen clothes told you as much. His boots were on the darker side of brown. This man was known simply as Allen, Draven hadn't caught his last name, however he was somewhat acquainted with the man as he had hired his father a couple of times. His horse wasn't a breed Draven was familiar with, nor did it look like the ones that the knights favoured.

Draven turned his attention back to the road ahead of him, the walk would take a couple of days, and the crunching of snow would make it more difficult to not veer off the path. They’d have to be careful and keep on checking if they were still on the path. The snow was bearing down harder than he had expected, ever so glad that he remembered to bring his robe. Still the cold weather made his hands hurt somewhat, and he felt the urge to start making some flames crept up however he knew better than to do that.

by **Draven McNiel** on February 26th, 2016, 7:49 pm

The sound of the horse galloping was droning on in the background as the silence crept over there, the snow crunching beneath their feet was an entertaining thing to mull over within their heads however that in itself wasn’t going to make the time pass as the pair would have hoped. This silence continued for hours on end as the pair walked trying to think of something to strike up conversation. Draven himself was somewhat conflicted as he knew that keeping work and social life separate was important, his old man used to apparently stay silent throughout whole jobs only talking when required. He knew he wasn’t the type of person who was comfortable during those silences and thus felt more on edge than when normal.

The young male looked at the older male who seemed to be tending to his horse as they walked. The stallion as Draven guessed by looking underneath the horse seemed to be feeling the cold somewhat, which made the swordsmen feel somewhat sorry for the animal. A cold gust ripped past carrying in it some snow, a bit of it hitting Draven right in the face. ”What I wouldn’t do for some good sunshine…” Draven muttered earning a laugh from the older male. ”Feeling’s shared kid, getting rid of some of this snow would be a blessing.” The younger male soon joined in the laugh lightning the atmosphere between the two.

”Might as well drop the act kid, the stone faced mercenary act ain’t fooling anyone, especially when you run around loudly all the time.” The man said as he tightened his grip on his horse’s reign, the animal continued to trod on through the snow, making a sound that Draven didn’t know the name off every few seconds, though he’d like to call it a mix of a sneeze and a sigh. ”Hahaha! Guess that’s true.” Draven said and then burst into conversation straight away. The pair continued like this for hours on end until the sun began to set.

The road was difficult to make out from the rest of the snow, however the tracks of hooves and signs of a clear up attempting for the path here and there showed that they were still on track to Mithryn, added to that the fact the pair made sure to kick up some snow every once in awhile to see the path with their own two eyes they managed to stick to the road. It was a cabin that they ran into, these were stops that one could take along the Karbin road, although they were distanced quite far apart. Draven was a bit apprehensive about stopping here, it wasn’t as if they were that long away from the outpost, however. ”It’s too dangerous to travel this road at night, with no starlight, nor moon light to illuminate the night, we’d get lost far too easily. Let's stop here, Mithryn isn’t going to run away.” So Draven relented, he was being hired to escort his client after all, and if that client wanted to rest, he was supposed to stay quiet and accept that.

by **Draven McNiel** on February 28th, 2016, 3:35 pm

Draven was somewhat surprised to run into a Traveller’s shelter, having heard of them before but not having noticed this one here. The pair went inside after tying the horse to a tree nearby, the first thing they’d have to do is set up a fire within the shelter, Draven left that to the older male. ”Imma patrol the area, check out places to find wood or whatever.” Draven said earning a wave from the man, which the younger male nodded at as he stepped out the small cabin.

He squinted his eyes as to get a better view around him, and to shield it from the cold wind that threatened to make his eyes tear up. The last lights of the sun were slowly disappearing soon to leave a dark and cold environment behind it. ”I better watch by step, who knows what could be buried beneath the snow.” He thought to himself as he stepped down onto the icy floor, his toes were still feeling the cold. The young teen looked over to see the stallion tied to the tree by its reigns, all items it was carrying were taken inside. However Draven still felt somewhat bad for the animal, to be stuck outside in the cold.

”None of my business anyway; I better start fast.” So he began his trek through the snow once more as he went to check out the safety of the surrounding area. However it was at this moment that he heard a scream; immediately causing him to react and start running in the proximity of the shout. His strides were reckless as he stretched out his legs too much, one of those long-steps causing Draven to overextend, causing him to slow down rapidly, yet he could see the cause of the scream. A young woman, one that Draven was somewhat familiar with in fact being man-handled by a pair of goons. Draven’s run looked limped, would he get there on time? ”Oi! What are you playing at!” The young male shouted as he sped up, flinching and clenching his teeth. However he grabbed his sword and unsheathed it. The men let go of the woman and took a few steps backward. ”Y’alright?” Draven said to the woman while keeping his eyes fixed on the men.

”Yeah I’m fine…” The young female spoke, Draven would have put her a couple of years younger than himself, which made this scene all the more enraging. ”Oioi, what’s with that glare? We were just tryna get what’s in that bag. You tryna get in our way? One of the men spoke, there were two of them. One had two large axes strapped across his back, the other wielded something similar to a rapier. ”Guess you can say that. Draven the lowered his voice to speak to the girl. ”Alright miss, there’s a cabin up front, go in and explain what happened to the guy okay?” Draven said under his breath receiving a nod before the girl ran down the road to reach the kabin. Draven flinched once again as he slid his foot forward. ”Great timing, petch.” He said as his upper right leg ached.

by **Draven McNiel** on March 1st, 2016, 2:10 pm

Draven gave a good look to the two men in front of him as he gritted his teeth. ”Well I’m in this situation now anyway, so I might as well roll with the punches. I need to separate these two...Or maybe I can…” Draven said with a small smirk appearing on his face. He watched the two guys in front of him. The rapier wielder was a foot smaller than the other guy, however that was still the same height as Draven. It would be easier to fight the smaller one, and get rid of the larger.

As he mentally debated this, the two men in front of him were getting antsy. He didn’t have a lot of time left to think about his next move. The man exhaled slowly, gripped his sword tighter which the rapier wielder saw as a sign that the fight had begun, Draven frowned as the man stepped forward alone and thrust. Draven stepped to the side and ducked just a little to allow the weapon to slide past his face, before he slid his right leg forward, the opportunity to counter was perfect as he began to slash forward moving his weight toward his right leg. This caused him to flinch and his attack slowed down, giving the bandit time to parry. ”Shyke! I’m not gonna get another chance like that.”

However Draven found himself smiling just a bit, it was kind of exciting. Stuck on the edge of a battle he wasn’t sure whether he’d win or lose, did he even stand a real chance? His father would have had this sorted in a second…

With thoughts like those running through his mind, Draven went on the offensive again however the rapier user stepped out of his range, Draven’s eyes flashed toward the axe wielder who seemed to be just observing. Draven didn’t have enough time to call out res, he clicked his teeth at this fact. He exhaled slowly once more reaching for the vital energy within his body, that piece of his own soul that powered the arcane craft his father had passed down to him. However the second he had his djed moving, his concentration was broken as the man in front of him stepped forward once more and thrust again, Draven however expected this as he stepped back and swung his sword upward in response, forcing both of their weapons upward at once.

Draven then threw himself into his opponent hoping to force him back just a little. However it was as if the man expected it and leaped back a few steps. Draven’s right leg was the first to touch the floor causing the man to flinch once more. However his enemy didn’t wait for him as another thrust came forward which Draven barely blocked with the blade of his sword. However that moment was enough for another attack to be thrown at the young wizard, Draven barely inched out of the way. He was being overwhelmed by the speed of the offending weapon.

by **Draven McNiel** on March 1st, 2016, 6:31 pm

Draven stepped back, putting his left before the right this time around, he hoped it put less stress on his currently injured limb. He was sure he could beat the rapier user had he not messed up his run. ”What is that all you got?” Draven said at the latest thrust he barely managed to parry. The reaction he received however surprised him, as the thug currently angered stepped forward well into Draven’s range and cut upward...Draven met his slicing attack with his own downward slice, forcing both weapons into the ground.

”I’ve only got this chance.” He thought to himself as he closed his eyes. His hands were occupied, however he still drew for his res. He took in a deep breath and imagined the djed in its pathways, the ethereal liquid. ”I will surpass him...I’ll grow.” His own incantation slipped out of his mouth, he needed the boost to his concentration as his djed reacted slowly, he needed it to move faster. His opponent freed his sword despite Draven putting excess force into keeping it to the ground.

”Faster!” His urgent thoughts didn’t reach his res, however he imagined a hand reaching for his res, forcing it out faster than he was used to. His body quivered as the green gel began to slowly bubble out of his skin. The bandit which just a second ago was readying up a blow froze. Draven released a hand from his sword and held it in front of him to block an incoming blow. ”What are you doing! Get’im now!” The other bandit with the axes grabbed both his weapons, however the rapier wielder was slow to react looking back to watch his supposed boss.

Draven however his concentration slipping, his body felt hot and his head ached, it felt as if a hand was trying squishing his head. But still the res converged into a ball in front of his hand, the outside of the res ignited all of a sudden illuminating the group and the area around it. Instead of shooting it, which Draven wasn’t too sure of, he instead had chosen to step forward ignoring the pain in his leg, and slashed forward with his sword at his opponent, his boss to slow to intervene and thrust his other hand forward in front aiming for the man’s face as the bandit blocked the first blow, and released the ball of fire in his face, igniting the core as he did so. The bandit’s eyes widened as the ball of fire flew toward his face, Draven turned his face and stepped back as the fire impacted with his face. Draven felt bad for smirking, however a part of him deep down believed that trash like this deserved it...Was it alright to think like that? A part of him truly wondered, however loud screams of pain stopped Draven from being able to think too deeply about it, the man’s face was burning, it must be agony.

by **Draven McNiel** on March 1st, 2016, 7:21 pm

Draven turned his face to the supposed boss, Draven had to take this opportunity, his body was a mess, his leg was injured, his head felt like it was going to burst and his body felt hot. He pushed his limits, while it was just a bit over, the calls to cast more and burn his enemy to cinders was great. He grabbed his sword with both hands and called to his res once more, muttering his incantation. Draven was stepping back, however the axe wielder merely spoke. ”Fret not, I’m going; this is turning out to be more trouble than it’s worth. But I’ll tell you this now, next time we meet, I will kill you.” The man said as he walked away not even worried about an attack from Draven.

He let up the pull on his djed, and sighed a breath of relief, the steaming bandit on the floor wasn’t enough to dull the relief that he felt. Still his stomach dropped, as he could smell burning flesh in the air. How could the man’s companion be so careless? Was he even worse trash, or was there something else at hand? Draven couldn’t tell, but when he went to touch his cold face, he had realized something...He was smiling.

”I better check on the old man.” He said as he limped back, his breaths were laboured and the condensation coming from each breath was even thicker than before. It wasn’t the usual heat running through his body that told him he had a good training season. This felt too different, too familiar, however it had been a long while since Draven had felt this sensation. It was terrifying, a couple steps from completely smashing all of his limits and changing who he was...Was this why magic was so hard for him to learn? Could it be possible that he was terrified of his father’s teachings? There was no chance right? That’s what he thought to himself as he walked back to the cabin, at least the cold was bearable now…

It didn’t take long for Draven to trek back to the cabin, noticing the horse and a faint light from the single window of the small cabin showing that there were people inside. He opened the door, and his eyes went straight to the flame within the hearth, causing him to flinch just a bit. However his eyes also wandered to the two occupants of the room. ”Oi you! Are ya alright?” A concerned look was sent his way, however Draven just put on a smile, to hide the discomfort that ran through his body.

”Me? I’m always alright!” Draven said jovially before laughing causing the two other occupants of the room to sigh.in relief. The swordsman's eyes however went toward the girl’s who seemed somewhat downtrodden. ”I’m really grateful for you saving my daughter. This idiot thought it’d be a good idea to chase after us.” The man said as he shot an angry glare at his daughter causing Draven to flinch. ”I was going to bring you your bag” She said quietly. ”Still not an excuse, your mother must be going out of her mind in worry.” Allen said, anger still visible. Draven felt some pity for the young girl, even if he did completely agree with Allen, it was exceptionally dangerous. ”Can we handle this in the morning, I’m guessing we’re all tired and need some rest.” Draven said as he headed over to one of the cots earning him a chuckle. ”Guess you’re right. This doesn’t mean you’re off the hook though missy, you’ll find out your punishment in the morning.” This caused the young girl to flinch as the group all went to drift off to sleep.

However sleep never came for Draven, whose head hurt, his heart was pounding so loud that it felt like it would burst right out of its rib-cage. He was sure this was going to be a long night. They still had half a day’s walk ahead of them tomorrow as well. ”Plus that other bandit, something about him gave me a really bad feeling.” He spent the rest of that night struggling to fall asleep, as his body refused to rest.

Morning could have come sooner as Draven, Allen and his currently unnamed daughter were sitting in front of the hearth. ”I feel better now, but my head’s still a mess and my leg still hurts…” He thought to himself as he inspected his body, his sword was in a corner of the cabin. The group had just finished up eating and were about to set off, however the problem of firewood remained. ”Yeah the condition for using this cabin is to resupply some firewood, so let's do what we can.” Draven nodded at Allen’s words and left the cabin grabbing his sword on the way out, a part of him was paranoid. He glanced around every few seconds expecting a bandit to be there.

He flinched as he came in contact with the cold air, the sensation of heat suddenly rushed across his body. ”Ah. Not better then…” Draven froze up, causing the younger girl to call out to him. ”You okay there?” She asked, Draven took a few seconds to reply as he slowly breathed. ”Not too bad...Just feeling cold that’s all.” He said. He turned to look back in time to see Allen raise an eyebrow before shrugging accepting his answer. Draven would trust those two alone for a little while as he walked through the woods behind the cavern. He glanced around hoping for a low tree seeing one in the distance he unsheathed his sword and walked toward it. He swung his sword at each thin branch which he could point out, took a while, it wasn’t like his weapon was made for this. After the branches were weakened he snapped it off with his hand...Draven found himself swinging and then snapping, the problem with using a sword for cutting wood however was his blade possibly being dulled...But he was impatient.

After he did that he set back, to meet up with the group and after placing their firewood back in the cabin, they departed for Mythrin. ”Told you we were close.” Draven said as he could see the Sylirian fields. The rest of the journey took the whole of that day due to Draven’s limp. The other two pretended not to notice, however Draven could tell that they knew. ”Gotta learn to run properly.” He muttered to himself, his breaths were laboured as they finally reached the walls of the outpost.

by **Devi** on April 30th, 2016, 11:52 am

Your Grades on Hold!

Notes :

_

by **Madeira Dusk** on June 19th, 2019, 8:19 pm

Grades Awarded!

Don't forget to edit/delete your grade request!

Draven McNeil

Skills

Observation: 5xp
Socialization: 4xp
Land Navigation: 2xp
Wilderness Survival: 2xp
Running: 1xp
Tactics: 1xp
Weapon- Longsword: 2xp
Meditation: 1xp
Reimancy: 1xp
Endurance: 2xp
Acting: 1xp

Lores

Socialization: gossip
Land Navigation: navigating the trail in the snow
Land Navigation: the difficulties of traveling at night
Wilderness Survival: building camp
Tactics: divide and conquer
Lore of the exhilaration of battle
Meditation: mantra
Acting: hiding pain
Lore of the effects of overgiving

Awards & Retribution

Notes

Its fun to see Draven on the job! What an exciting occupation. I hope he retains such badassery in his new incarnation.

As a side note, please let me pass on this writing advice you never asked for but I'm passing on anyway. Forgive my presumption. You might have fixed this mistake in the two years since writing this, but just in case.

I noticed your dialog can get messy, but its an easy fix! You just start a new paragraph every time you change speakers, and keep the actions perform by that one speaker in the same paragraph. That physical break makes for cleaner reading and lets us readers keep track of who's saying and doing what. It can also shave off some unnecessary dialog tags like he said, he asked, he stated, etc. It'll make for smoother sword fights so we may better appreciate Draven's badassery. :nod: