You are walking down a hallway towards the same door as always, but you're only getting further away.  Something inside of your head says, "There will be another chance."

You wake up to sand in your hair and against your skin.  there's an uncomfortable feeling, and someone's dragging you.  You open your eyes to the sun slowly, and see that Brian is dragging you up towards a treeline.  He says, "Heh, that was a close one.  The tide almost pulled you under and you weren't waking up."  You now realize that the lower half of your torso and down is soaked.  You don't feel your swords on you.

"Ahh Brian, thanks for that...it looks like we versed together..have you tried any magic yet? I would like to see how magically enhanced this world is..that way if we get into trouble I know whether or not using magic is an option."

I look around to see if I can find my swords, and sense where the rest of my equipment is...and in what Direction.  I also look around to get a better sense of my surroundings.

Avahur:

Brian says, "Your swords are closer to the water.  I took them off of you and threw them up on the land so that you wouldn't be as hard to drag.  Just rest here, and I'll come back with the things.  My weights were conveniently up here, so you can put your head on those.

He returns in just a few moments with both of your blades, not being able to help but admire the dark one's sheathe.  "Where did you get this baby?  I couldn't help but notice the difference in slicing with this than with the other one."

"This one is interesting some interesting stuff this is...I'll tell you about it..but can you do me a favor...can you go take a look around and see if you see the rest of my stuff?"

Avahur:

You look around yourself, and Brian helps you to your feet.  Now that you've fully woken up, you can smell something.  Brian's nostrils flare as well, the smell of cooking meat in the air.  He quickly straps on his weights and you look around more, not feeling right about this.

You look around and see that it is in fact a very small island, and looking into the forest you see a hut inside a short distance.  You're strangely drawn to teh smell of the food.

"Lets find out if the locals are hostile or not, then take a look for both of our gear...my guess is they would be near eachother since we both shared a room.  Besides, I think its best to get some food...can't do much on an empty stomach, right?"

Avahur:

"I hear ya!"  Brian says, as the two of you walk towards the hut, which you presume is in the middle of the island.  The smell of food is enchanting, and you become more and more drawn as you approach the hut.  When you reach it, a woman comes out of the hut and looks at the two of you.  She says something in a language that you don't understand.

You can't help but stare at her.  She's absolutely gorgeous, with silk covering her beautiful foundation, like an ancient bikini/skirt.  She has brown hair and deep brown eyes that you can't help but get lost in.  She says something in a language that you absolutely don't understand at all.  You almost forget Brian's presence there, and then look to him.  He seems lost in it all as well.

I take a step back and look away..then pull Brian to the side.

"Brian we both know she loooks beautiful but we can't let our guard down, how about you try to communicate with her, I am going to take a better look around...and try not to stare into her eyes.."

Avahur:

When you avert your eyes, you see her from the corner of your eye smirking.  Brian continues to look at her and says, "Don't worry, she's probably okay.  Besides, she has food in there.  I'd bet she came out here to offer some to us."

He begins to walk towards her with a sort of dazed look on his face, his right eye with a lazy look about it..

I take my fist and bunch Brian in teh stomach and then get him facing another direction and try to reason with him, trying to make him see things from my point of view, and that something is wrong here, keeping sharp to avoid eye contact with everyone.

Avahur:

You punch Brian and turn him away from her with ease.  He had been distracted in his trance with her.  She says something in the same language as before, and you can't help but be drawn to it.  Your will suddenly changes as you and Brian both walk into her hut with her and sit down at a nice table.  You don't notice anything in the place, and can't help but stare at her.  She puts some food on clay plates and hands them to you.  The meal looks delicious and you feel like you'd do anything not to offend her.  Brian immediately begins to eat it.

On the plate is a slice of juicy ham and some sort of green plant that you don't regonize.  For a moment, you're able to focus yourself out of the trance.  You look to Brian next to you, who is eating while staring at the woman, who is now sitting at the table accross from the two of you.

I avert my eyes and stare elsewhere on the lady's body and take my sword and attack her aiming to seperate her head from her body.

Avahur:

She raises a finger up in front of her, and you stop dead in your tracks, the sword not even drawn yet.  Then, she gets up with you still in place and picks up your bag and places it on the table, calmly sitting where she already was.  As if she understands that you're unable to understand her, she signals calmly for you to calm down, saying your name-"Avahur" at the end of what she says to you.

She then looks to Brian and smirks some, as he finishes his meal.  She was about to offer him a cloth to wipe himself with when he wiped his arm over his mouth.  She looks down some and shrugs, going towards the back of the room and turning her back to you, working on something.

You feel released from whatever thrall she was trying to put over you, and Brian shakes his head some, looking at you strangely.

I give a gentlemenly bow and a sign of thanks and sit down and eat ignoring the strange plant..

Avahur:

You start eating and finish about half of the meat when you hear Brian begin to make strange noises.  He quickly gets up and starts holding himself, looking to you for help.  After a few seconds, he falls to the floor on all fours and changes slowly.  He grows fur on his body, red mostly.  You hear bones crunching and reshaping.

You see all of it happening, and after another minute, a red fox struggles to climb out of the weighted clothes, looking around the place confused.

Before you can actually react, the woman brings you a small flask and shoves it towards you.  You almost don't understand her purpose for it, but then you realize that it's for you to stop from something bad happening.

I take the flask and drink from it, and wait to see what happens...if anything happens at all..

Avahur:

The drink tastes rather foul, but you manage to get it all down you.  Nothing happens, and she takes away the food that was in front of you, presenting you with more average looking meat and a flask of water.

You look down at the fox, who is tripping as it walks and trying to look about itself.  He keeps on trying to get on its two back legs, but falling each time he tries.

I look at the food and decide that it probably isn't harmful, so I start eating it and drink the water that she provided.

Avahur:

The woman walks over and sits at the table accross from you.  She looks you up and down, nodding some.  She starts speaking again, in a language that you don't understand at all.  With hand signs, you eventually understand that she is trying to figure out where you and Brian came from.

The fox, which you have a strong feeling is Brian, is now up against the wall shaking some.

I do some of my own gestures and speak a little to see if we can come to a common understanding.

Avahur:

When you try to communicate with her, she doesn't understand the first time.  Using new gestures, though, she seems to understand when you ask what happened to Brian.

By the time you understand what she tells you, it's already nightfall and she has to light a candle.  She explains, using her language and gestures, that he was 'unacceptable' or something of the sort.  She says there is a way, but that she cannot help.
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:46, Tue 08 Aug 2006.

I do what I can to ask her how to change him back to his original form.

Avahur:

When you ask her, she seems to be confused as to what you're asking.  After a long while of her speaking to you and you not understanding her gestures at all, the two of you can't help but give up.  She gives you a thick cloth that could serve as a matress and a blanket for both you and Brian.  She then points outside, and you understand that you and Brian need to sleep outside rather than in here.

I take the cloth and pick up Brian and Head outside to sleep, when I get outside I find a place and set it up for both myself and Brian, once he falls asleep, I will do the same.

Avahur:

Brian doesn't struggle much, seeming to have entered a state of depression.  He hardly manages to figure out how to get under the covers with his head still out, but eventually finds a way.  Brian seems to easily find sleep.

You brought everything outside with you, including Brian's clothes and weights.

The next day, you wake up at sunrise and find that Brian isn't next to you.  He's off a little ways and seems like he's trying to walk on all fours.  Occasionally he trips, but he seems to be getting more fluent with it.

I go back to see if the Lady is awake yet and try talking to her and use some common hand signals to find a way to return Brian to normal...

Avahur:

The two of you continue to try and communicate, but all you find in the end is that she is a witch and her name is Circe.  The rest that she says and you understand is that the first step is to build a boat to get off of this island.  She leads you to some collection of shoddy boards.  Looking at them, you see some greek letters written on a few of them, but are unable to make them out.  They seem to be from boats.

After thanking Circe, I go and do what I can to build a boat, lfiting what I can and trying to levitate what I can't.

Avahur:

Circe returns to her hut and you try to levitate some boards.  When you try to use your magic, it drains you greater than normal, and you're exhausted by the time you reach the spot you slept at with mass amount of boards.  Your current theory that you derive is that you can't lift as much in this world.

Over to the side, Brian seems to be getting the hang of being a fox.  Now that he seemed to be able to master walking, he's running around trying to successfully jump up and kick off of trees and land back on his feet.  He isn't succeeding so much at the moment.

I go over to Brian...

"Ok Brian whether or not you can understand me...I am going to assume you can, here is whats going on..the only way to change you back is to first build a boat...I've tried doing some levitating and I can't lift nearly as much as I could, and I am completely drained right now.  That lady's name is Circe, and she told me by way of communicating this is the first step, and we need to leave the island.  If you can, I'd like for you to try and use some of your ninjutsu or combat magic or something to give me hand with this....Maybe shoot some Water into the air, and I'll levitate some of it for us to drink."

Avahur:

Brian nods to you when you ask him about the water.  He then gets into position and starts to move his front two paws, but then stops.  You can pretty much tell that he's thinking about something, and then he nods.  Focusing hard, he finally releases a jet of water from his mouth upwards.

You catch about a gallon of it.  Circe comes outside with some hide buckets and throws them over with a flask and a clay bowl.  Brian sets up the buckets and you manage to get most of the gallon into the bucket.

"Nice...now we have some water..and I suppose I will explain my blade to you...see it all started the day after you left when I had my first battoujutsu class..."

I go and explain all the shadow related events that happened with the creature, Jess, how I got the sword...and all its magical properties that I know of..

Avahur:

You explain everything to him and pour him a bowl of water.  All he can really do is shake his head and nod right now, not understanding how to communicate with you as a fox.

Still, he seems like he understands what you're saying flawlessly.  After you two are through talking (which is pretty one-sided), he seems eager to get back to what he was doing.  You get the impression that he'd still help with the boat if he knew how to, but for now he heads back to training.  He opens his leg holster with his mouth and takes out a kunai.  He throws it with his mouth, jumping in the air, at a tree and misses.

He continues trying to hit the tree with the kunai with little success.

I take a drink of water, and continue to work on the boat...

OOC: If you'd like to speed this up to weekly, biweekly, or even monthly/until you finish your boat, then post what you plan on doing through the days (training, working on the boat, trying to learn greek).

OoC: I plan to work on the boat for about 4 hours a day, learn greek...or try to atleast for about 2 hours a day (before the 4 a day assembling a boat), and 12 hours a day training, and lets go biweekly for now..

Avahur:

Through your training every day, you at first feel like you're getting somewhere, but after about a week, you train hard one night.  You however manage to rip many muscles along your arms and abs, and the pain is too much for you to move with.

Your boat building skills aren't a thing to be proud of.  Through the course of the first week, you have to scrap a design because of its inability to float.  You've gotten nowhere on the boat building.  At the moment, you're unable to build the boat at all due to your injuries.

You feel like you're starting to learn some of the greek words that she's using, and are able to understand a minute about of what she says.  You feel like you know a lot considering you've only been talking to her for two weeks.  You still haven't figured out the sentence structure that they use at all, though, and rely on hand signals mostly to identify what she's trying to say.

OOC:  You can either go longer and tell me what you're going to be doing and for how long, or pretend that you just woke up the morning one day after two weeks, your muscles still ripped and it being very hard to move, let alone do work or train.

I struggle and do what I can and ask brian to help me reach my bag, after however long it takes me, and through all the pain I feel... I do what I can to find my triangular box and activate it to heal me up a bit.

Avahur:

Using the triangular object of t3h ub3r healingzorz, you feel a wave of euphoria and your muscles don't hurt anymore.

OOC:  Do you want to go back to the biweekly thing?

OoC: Yes but training 6 hours a day instead of 12 and getting 3 more hours of sleep, about an hour trying to make plans how how to build the boat correctly, and the rest of the time that remains I will be trying to learn greek.

Avahur:

After the second day of your training, you manage to break your arm after grueling exercising and a branch falling on you.  Using your healing device, it's fixed up some, but not enough to use for a little while.  With that, you continue training but more on running and focused on your lower body.

Your greek improves quickly and you begin to understand the basic structure of their sentences.  You no longer need to use hand signs, but still need the speaker to say the sentence slowly and you can't talk in full sentences yet.

Your boat plans are finalized.  Even though you have a slight feeling that something is wrong with it, you double check it and find that it at least seems like it will work fine.

By the end of the two weeks, your arm is at 100% again.

OoC: Ok krillis, here whats going down.. 9 hours of sleep like I've been doing.

7 hours of training..but here is what I am going to be training in..using a kunai to fight, by levitation only.  So yes I am going to levitate the kunai and while it is levitated use it to fight... and if I successfully master it before 2 weeks is up, then I will start using my swords... and part of training with the kunai is having sparring sessions with Brian, as I am sure he has gotten pretty well with training as a fox..how is he doing on that anyway?

2 hours of reviewing my plans checking everything over as many times as I can to make sure there is absolutley no flaws.

2 hours of try to build the boat..

4 hours of learning greek.

Avahur:

Your training proceeds as you try to master this new ability.  You don't seem to be able to accomplish it that well, only being able to make large movements with the kunai.  You attempt throwing it with levitation, but have very low accuracy.

You find that Brian is a lot stronger than you thought he'd be after such a short amount of time; however, he has been training almost 24/7 since he's changed.  When the two of you spar, the two of you find that you're equal in every aspect of the fight.  In magic, however, Brian outmatches you completely.  He is always the victor, even as a fox.

Luckily, you spot the flaw in your boat design at the beginning of your building of it, so that you don't have to scrap an entire boat.  You manage to make a raft that could hold you and Brian on it, but it's not very fancy at all, and it won't be able to make it through a decently sized storm.  Circe recomends that you pray to Poseidon for fair seas before you leave.

Your greek is shaping up some, but you don't improve so much from the last week.  You still need people to speak slowly, but can put sentences togeather a little better.  Still, you get the impression from Circe that people will think that you're an idiot.

OoC: Once I get the boat ready then I am spending several weeks doing 3 things, sleep train and spar with brian, and learn greek, sleep for 8 hours, train for 9 and greek for 7, thats after its done, before I think its ready, build for 12 sleep for 8 and learn greek for 4.

Avahur:

It takes you a month to finish your boat.  The boat you build has a small sail, and a deck under it that can barely hold you and Brian.  It may be scrunched for space, but you can't build it any bigger with your skills.  Circe also doesn't give you permission to use anymore of the supplies, saying that it will be needed for another time.

After three more weeks, you have learned enough greek to talk common, if you focus on communication.  It doesn't flow naturally, but you're at least able to talk to people.

The training between you and Brian persists, and he continues to win with his edge of magic proficiency over you.  He seems to be impatient and ready to get going.

It is currently noon and Brian is prodding you that the two of you should get going soon.  You can tell that he's anxious to get his body back.

I take Brian with me and say a prayer to poseiden, figuring it can't hurt and I hope he lets it be a nice and peaceful journey, then I say another on to the god of war so that after brian gets his body back that we may...go and face and kill thousands of enemies... and then another one to zeus just because I am in the praying type of mood. I try to find otu from circe what else I must do to get brian back to normal, and once I find out I set sail on my epic quest to get my friend his body back.

Avahur:

You feel nothing when you pray to Poseidon and Ares, but there is a connection that you feel when you pray to Zeus.  After a short while, a boar walks out of the sea with a divine red aura about him.

The glow takes a different shape before it changes into a man that must be at least 15 feet tall.  He is in full black armor, and takes his helmet off, putting it to his side.  He looks down to Brian and speaks in greek, "You wish for your original form.  You may have it, but there is a price.  You may either serve me for ten years, and after five of which you will recieve your human form back.  The other choice is that you will go to Troy, and save it from the Greek invaders.  Do you accept?"

Brian looks up to you after an understandable minute of staring at the clearly divine figure.  His eyes are telling you that it's your decision just as much as his.

"Personally I don't like serving people unless I get to kill a lot in the process, so I think we'll go to Troy, I myself along with my companion here are very skilled warriors, I don't know about my friend, but I've killed probably enough people to equal the greek invaders..so we'll take that option..  Now, is it possible to return my friend to his original form before we set off? it'd be easier for battle.."

I tell the clearly divine figure.

Avahur:

You look next to you as Brian cracks and expands into his former self.  He has his clothes on, including: weights, shuriken, and kunai, after he's fully back to normal.  Brian is still on all fours, looking up at the god.

The god looks down to you two and says, "Now, I will send you to Troy."  He picks you up with ease, though you only have your swords on you.  Then, he says, "And if you fail, both of you will share the fate of that form, or worse."

Before you can say anything about your gear, he throws you.  For ten minutes, you're soaring through the air from the god's force and land face first in sand, with a suprisingly soft thud.  After a few seconds, there's a thud right next to you.  As you look up and try to get the sand off of your face, you see Brian stretching himself out, and trying to get up on two legs.

OoC: Whats up with that? leaving my gear behind, that is totally uncool man...

I get up and take a look around.  I stay on my guard ready to attack and kill any hostilities as I try to take one good look to make sure we are here, and such.  Then I say a prayer to zeus, so that if I leave this world he makes sure my stuff is safe right by myside as I leave, and that if I ever have to go flying through the air again, atleast give me forewarning so that I can get my stuff.. I say a few to the god of war asking that I do good and kill all my enemies swiftly and that they die knowing Avahur led charge into battle and walked a way victorius.  The other few I said to him were general war stuff...  I say a few to Each of the other gods, and then I makes ure Brian is ok and set off to find out where we are and who our enemy is.. I assume we're in Troy..just need to find out who the invaders are and need to find a way to slaughter all of them mercilessly...


I look around and see if Brian has any comments on being a fox for a while, then tell him that my sword is really going to come in handy now and that I hope he can do some pretty awesome Combat Magic, becuase its time to put our combat skills to the test..

Avahur:

Brian falls over once he starts to walk again, and you have to help him walk for now even though he's at full strength.  He says, "Being a fox wasn't that bad when I got used to it, and I wouldn't actually mind being able to do it willingly.  It's just that I'm not used to walking on two legs or using my hands now, so my dexterity is way lower."

The two of you see a few women coming down from the hill next to you to the shore on your left.  They don't notice you, even though you're in plain view, and begin to search the water it seems for something.  Brian pipes up and says, "We should ask them where Troy is, so that we can maybe gain some pull in the city and help defend it from the inside."

"How about you do it? I be right behind you to cover your ass, but your the type that likes to stare into foregin ladies' eyes even if they put a spell on you and refuse to listen to the sane person that could've prevented you from getting turned into a fox in the first place. You go, I'll be right next to ya."

When he goes up I follow close behind ready to attack if need be...

Avahur:

He shoots you an all-familiar look that he used as a fox that says "yeah, yeah.." to you.  He approaches them, and says, "Excuse me, but we're from a far-away place.  Do you know where Troy is?  We're interested in helping out in an upcoming conflict."  He's smiling the whole time.

The women look slightly confused, but then one replies that you two can follow her.  She takes you up the hill and points to a large city that's in the distance.  You can't get an accurate amount of distance because of its size, but judging by the ground distance, you find that it's fairly close, and still that large.

yellow text=greek speech
This message was last edited by the GM at 16:11, Thu 10 Aug 2006.

I thank them, and we head off, "Well Brian, I learned greek fairly decently I would think in the time you were a fox...should we do a quick battle so that you are ready and used to being a human again?  Nothing serious, I'll use a floating kunai, just something small so you can get reused to being a human, and don't fail when you need it the most."

Avahur:

Brian smiles widely and says, "Okay, but no weapons."  He takes his shuriken and kunai off, throwing them to the side.  You do the same, and you're ready to fight.

He clearly gained speed during his training on Circe's island, as he charges you low quickly.  His movements, however fast, still are sloppy in the end and he misses a sweep kick by a mile, falling over.

You take this opportunity to punch down into his back.  You too, however, fall over and land on him.  Finally, it seems the Brian's gained some control back as he elbows you in the gut from below you, and throws you off of him.

With the wind knocked out of you, he charges for a low kick to your kneeling chest.  You catch his leg and throw him to the ground slopily, enough so that he can roll away and you both can get into fighting positions again.

OOC: strat?

OoC: Jujitsu and freestyle from zombie world defensive, with battoujutsu offensive in the openings that get created.

Avahur:

You charge him with your style, trying to hit him in the chest with it.  His counter is just as quick, and you find that he must be much quicker than you are, your battoujutsu movement being the only thing that can match his speed.  In response to your attack, he puts both arms in front of him, and your attack it cut off completely.

Then, he grabs your forearm with his right hand and pulls you towards him.  Before you can react, he knees you in the gut.  It knocks the wind out of you yet again.  He uses this opportunity to unleash a flurry of punches on you.  He hits you three times in the chest quickly, then comes around with a roundhouse kick, which is slower than normal for some reason.

Even with your lost focus, you see that he's sweating.  You come to the theory that he's overexerting himself to make this speed.  You catch his kick and throw him to the ground using his leg.  He rolls away from you and gets up, in fighting position again.

I get ready and plan this out..Well if that's how it is I'll stay defensive and when hes getting tired use my speed to attack but not overexert myself so that I can still block and be ready for a counteroffensive.

I set myself to the jujitsu stance and ready myself for defense.

Avahur:

For a moment, he breathes slowly then nods to himself.  Then, he charges at you even faster than before.  You see his leg coming up for a kick, so your arm goes out to grab it.  You lean forward, but the foot comes back down to the ground.  In this position, you're vulnerable from above and it seems as if Brian knew that.  Looking at his right foot that's still in the ground, you feel another hit you hard in the back of the head.  The world goes black.

After a few moments, you feel water splash on your face and you open your eyes with a massive headache.  Brian's over you, and is red in the face and sweating hard.  "You were only out for a few seconds if it means anything."

"You really shouldn't overexert yourself like that.. I am sure I could've exceeded your speed if I also overexerted myself and won offensively...but I'd rather not repeat what happened during training...  Well I think we are decent enough, you might want to cast a spell or two to make sure you are familiar with making the hand signs with hands and not doing it like you did as a fox.. that isn't water.."

Avahur:

Brian cocks an eyebrow and says, "This was a sparring match.  I wouldn't have been overexerting myself without the weights on.  Trust me, I've already gone through all of that thought already."  Then, when you talk to him about magic, he snaps his fingers, a small fire appearing above his right hand.  "Is that good enough for you?  If so, let's move on to the city now."

"Yes that'll do, if we have some free time, can you teach my how to do that? It would've come in handy in a previous world...it was pitch black and a fire for a light would've helped soo much.."

I go with him to the city.

Avahur:

When you reach the open gates of the city, two guards stop you at the door and say, "Name and purpose."  They eye your weapons and clothes suspiciously.  One guard can't stop looking at your strange features.  "Also, we need to know your origin."

My name and Identity are my own, you wouldn't believe my origin if I told you, and my purpose came from a god...by the look of him it was the god of war... and he has one hell of a throwing arm, if I do say so myself.  I have seen enough battles and have killed enough people to dispatch both of you...

I take a Kunai out and levitate it up to eye level of them and keep it suspended there about 10 feet in front of them,  even if my aim is crap, and I dont have to throw it, my point should be proven.

now if you please let me and my friend by..

As I bring it back down to me and put it back in my holster, I hold onto my sword after I finish speaking..

Avahur:

After you raise the kunai up that high, the guards immediately pull their spears up.  Quickly, Brian yanks the kunai out of the air and returns it to his holster.  He punches you in the arm, and says, "Tell them the god of war sent us here to help defend the city from the greeks, and that I can prove it to them."

"Fine ok, we'll do it your way..."

The God of War sent us here to defend the city from greek invaders and my friend here has a way to prove it.

"Make it good."
This message was last edited by the player at 17:21, Thu 10 Aug 2006.

Avahur:

Brian smirks and says to you first.  "This is a great chance to finally try out that spell.."

Circumcaesura Flamarum! he shouts, fire now surrounding the outline of his body.

The guards' eyes grow wide, and they wisper frantically to one another, one saying, "Ares has sent them!"  Then, they play a game that looks like rock paper scisors, and one cheers.  He tells you, "I will take you to the king, please follow me."  Then, Brian releases the spell and nods to you.

"Dude that was awesome, you seriously have to teach me that one... oh and they said that they weill take us to the king, so lets go."

I go with Brian to meet the guard and go with him to the king.

Avahur:

The two of you walk through the city with this man.  You and Brian both look about as you go in awe of how beautiful the place is.  There's just an aura of safety about it.  When you pass a statue in a large courtyard, you feel like that is the center of this feeling.

Finally, you reach the palace and get before the king.  He has advisors sitting on the sides of him, but his queen directly next to him.  The guard bows when they approach the king, and Brian begins to bow as well, seeing the guard do it.

I do so also, figuring this isn't the type of person you want to get mad...even if I could kill him...

Avahur:

The king looks at you strangely and then says, "There's no reason for men sent by the gods to bow down to me.  Rise, and explain what you mean by the gods sending you to defend us.  We aren't under attack.  My two sons should arrive in just a few days with news of peace with Sparta."

Sir, you may think that, but believe me I've seen many battles in my many lifetimes, and this god told us that we were needed to defend the city of troy from greek invaders.  I am not one to want to anger a god and say no. After all these battles, I think that your sons will bring news of war...if they return that is.  My friend and I come from a far away  place, and we have seen battle and have fought friends and allies, in battle and believe me sir, we have all known that when a god of war sends someone to defend a city in battle, then a battle is going to arise.  I reccomend getting your men ready to defend the city and get ready for a battle that will be remembered through the ages..

Avahur:

"Indeed.  We must have faith in the gods."  The aged king turns to his right, to a man in armor.  "We need to set up defences along the shore.  Depending on the greek numbers, we may be able to stop them there.  Also, give these men a unit each of forty men."  He looks to you and Brian and asks, "Are you men then here to take part in the war as well?  Will you accept soldiers to follow you?"

Brian looks at you questioningly and says in english, "I'm not so sure.  If you're confident in your leadership though, then you could tell me where to press my force harder and in that way you could lead all of them, though.  What do you think of that?"

Yes, and Thankyou, we are here to participate in the war and we will lead the men you give us.

And with that I bow;

"Don't worry Brian, I am confident in my abilities."

Avahur:

After that, people in the room start to disperse with their own matters to attend to.  You two are given a place to stay in the palace near the exit.  You're told that to see your men that they're camped outside the walls opposite the shore.  When you leave the palace, you find that people all over are moving about, mostly military units.  They're heading out towards the front gate with large wooden spikes, fortifications to use against invaders on the shore.

In your room, there are trojan military tunics, a set of armor (including captain's helmets), a spear, a tall shield, and a decent sword for each of you.

I speak to Brian as he looks at the armor,

"Well Brian, I don't know about you, but I think I'm only going to where the tunic, the helmet, and wear the sword in the belt that I have...I still need my mobility...I rely on it... So I'll have the sword, my two swords, the helmet, and another tunic.  you get what you want...I don't care much for fashion so I'll be waiting outside.."

I put on the helmet, put the sword in my belt next to my regular sword, on my right side, with the dark one on my left.  I put on the tunic, and I go outside to take a look around.  If anyone asks, I tell them that I refuse to wear that much armor and I need my mobility.

Avahur:

Brian says, "Well, I'm going to put it on and leave my ninjutsu stuff in here.  These guys wear this stuff for a reason, and at least my weapons won't prove good if we run into archers or worse."  A few minutes later, he emerges from the room.  He is in his full armor.  The armor covers his torso and about half way to his knees.  He also has it on his left wrist, but not his right.  On that one, the kunai holster is positioned.  The shuriken are on his upper right arm, and he's holding the shield with his right hand, and his helmet in his left arm.  "I had to take those weights off, but this actually isn't that hard to move around in.  Do you want to go see the soldiers?"

"Yes lets go, the way I plan is that I don't worry about archers...and I know some healing magic should I really ever get hit...besides...if I die, I verse..  Lets go speak with the troops...besides we aren't at war yet so I might but the gear on..but right now its just a bit much...and I need it for practice anyway.."

I go off to see the troops.

Avahur:

When you reach the camps, two captains are there to meet you.  The first shakes hands with Brian easily, but the second is more grudgingly doing it with you.  They direct you to towards a pair of brown horses.  They each have a longsword attached to them, and the man tells you that these two horses belong to you and Brian to lead the troops into combat with.  You translate for Brian, but he doesn't seem to have needed it so much that time.

After that, the two captains call the men out for change of command and inspection from the new captains.  The soldiers are in their armor and raise their shields in a ceremonious cheer for the change of captains.

Your inspection of them goes smoothely and it seems like they stuck you with a completely decent unit of men.  Brian and you meet up, and he tells you the same.  After that, the other captains nod and then leave the camp.  Brian asks, "Do you think that we should stay at the camp with them or appoint people to lead the units while we're at the palace until we return?  We don't know when there could be a sneak attack or something when war starts."

I go over to the two leaving captains..

"Hang on both of you, we are still in need of your service here.  My friend and I wont be able to be here full time we still need to head back to the palace, so we need someone to take our place while we are gone..and you two seem like you are fully capable of this task."

Avahur:

The men turn around and one yells back to you, "Sorry, but we've been re-assigned to the defences of the shore.  You'll be able to leave them for a while if you wish, as long as you check in once a day for your daily inspection of the troops."  They then proceed to walk off, towards their other duties.

I nod and let them walk off, then I go over to one of the troops.

You there, take off your armor and give it to me, there is a simple test that I need to try.. a trial for my weapon of choice...  Take your shield and go hang it over there.

Once he hangs the shield and I put on his armor, I test it out to see how well I can move in it.  If I can move well I keep it on for the test, if not, then I take it off for the test.

Once the shield is hanging on the post, I take my shadow sword and charge the shield, and when I get within range I swing it out with the intention of slicing right throught the shield.  Depending on the results, my next course of action will be decided.

Avahur:

The soldier grudgingly obeys your orders.  You find that the armor isn't that heavy and you can move easily enough in it.  You charge the shield, but your attempt doesn't even dent it, and your sword flies out of your hand from the attempted force against it.  It lands to your right and behind you.  There's a small mark where you did manage to damage the shield some.

When you look over to the soldier, he seems confused and slightly worried about how his armor will hold up.  There are wispers among the troops that you can't make out.

"Very well.. this will do perfectly fine..."

I use my hands and levitate the shield over to the soldier.  then I take off his armor and give it him, I pick up my sword and go over to Brian.

"Hey Brian, how did you create fire in your hand like that..on the way back to the palace, do you think you could try to teach me how to do it?"

Avahur:

Brian just smiles some, "Yeah, I'll teach you.  We should get these guys back to their activities first."  "Dismissed."  He hollars to his men.  "Do you think we should go get our things and stay here with the soldiers?  It might make them respect us more.  Also, I could probably teach you that little fire trick on the way there and back."

"Yeah lets get our stuff, since it seems easy enough to move in, I won't have a problem wearing it..plus it will be good training. lets head off and get our stuff.. And out of curiosity, there is a fire spell that I heard Jess say soon after we met to use on another kid, umm I assume just knowing the spell isn't enough to get it done correctly..so we'll talk about it later, so that spell you did..."

And we head off to the palace to get our stuff, when we get there I get my stuff on and head back with him while learning the spell and rying it a few times...

"Do you think it was Wise for me to levitate the shield over?  I figured they needed to respect authority, and I doubt anyone here can levitate anything..."

Avahur:

Brian nods when you mention Jess's spell, and says, "If it's a spell that Jess used in combat, then it's probably one you can't use with simply the words."

After that, he gives you a quick lesson in simple elemental magic.  "With elemental magic, the most simple spells are first summoning the element, which is what I did with snapping my fingers.  After you're able to summon the elements successfully and frequently enough, more words in the spell tell the element what to do.  Snapping your fingers while summoning the fire element helps spark it in your hands.

Try saying Flamma, focusing heat to accumulate.  If you can't do it, then snap your fingers and it might work."

Your first attempt burns your hand without an actual fire appearing.  Then, you try a little big more and snap your fingers.  It's a complete success and a small fire has appeared in your hand.  Along the way back with your items on you, you're finally able to do it 9/10 times that you try to.

"Cool, the spell Jess said was Flammatio I am assuming that its a bit more complicated but a decent offensive spell.. Yeah I didn't take combat magic, I took Conventional magic..if you wanna know something about levitation, maybe I could show you something...maybe not, but I could try.."

Avahur:

Brian starts to laugh a little bit, and then says, "She would be one to do that," he laughs a little bit more, and you don't fully understand why.  "That's a dangerous spell.  She even took a syllable out of it and combined the incantation into one word, to save casting time.  I guess she was always a genius when it came to taking risks."

The two of you are now back to the camp, and a young man in his tunic comes up to you two, but talking to Brian.  "Sir, rumor has it that greeks are coming, and that you two are heroes of the gods.  Are we going to be there in the fight when the greeks try to take the shore?"  Brian looks to you, not understanding all of it.

"He said theres rumor of the greeks coming and asked if we are going to fight alongside them. Oh and we are Heroes of the Gods... Rumor of course but I've got no problem with that one.  We need to head into a tent and make some battle plans...plus there is something that I need to talk to you about with the outcome of this war."

"I think we will gain a bit more respect if we do...I'm not one for riding horses, so lets join em, at the front.. You are skilled at combat magic, do you know a fire spell or something that can aid us?  I also need to think of how we plan to kill the enemy, the swords have no effect, so it means we need to attack the breaks in the armor..and I am sure they will wear armor."

If Brian agrees to fight alongside them I, or he will tell the soldier, if not..I will say that I will join them.

Avahur:

Brian nods some and puts his hand on the other man's shoulder.  Even though Brian was young, those weeks of training that he did at the Academy seemed to mature him greatly.  All he had to do was nod to the man, and you two were free to make plans in the captain's tent.

When you ask Brian about fighting in the front lines, Brian agrees completely.  "Yes, and if we go up the center it won't matter about our flanks.  We'll gain more respect from the soldiers and if we do well enough, maybe with other captains as well."  When asked about his spellcasting, he says, "No problem.  After a few spells and some fire, we won't even have to break their shields.  They should run in fear.  You should practice picking up a bunch of heavy things at once, and throwing them.  You might be able to do that to their soldiers."

"We'll see, Brian I remember learning something of the battle...Troy lost it and the greeks won..But then of course, we weren't there fighting alogside them.  They made a horse as a surrendering present but the horse was hallowed out and filled with troops, once it was inside of the city the troops came out and killed everyone..we must prevent this so that we win this one.  Also, I don't think that they will run so easily, even though the gaurds at the gate were easily amused I don't think it will be that easy and I won't plan for it to be that easy.  I have a scenario set up and I want your opinion on it.

Ok here it is.  We have small group of 3 lure the troops down the shore and we ambush them from the sides, us in front of course.  Of course if they see through and don't fall for the bait it could blow our cover and we will most likely lose.  But if they don't see through it, then we could most likely win.  Like if you take half your troops and wait down at the end of the beach and if you teach me an offensive fire spell, then I could ambush them with the spell and attack them, and while they are distracted you lead the charge on into battle.. I don't think I will learn a spell well enough to use it when it counts though, so I will take my troops, and send a scout unit to meet them.  As they come back here I need you to ambush them from their right flank as they charge towards my troops.  I am going to need you to unleash a fire spell that is good enough  to do some serious damage..kill them if able... if not burn them enough to give our troops and advantage.  This armor is very good and isn't penetrated easily.

There are a few other flaws I am sure but that is Scenario number 1, what do you think of it.  I have another scenario that we could try, would you like to hear it?"

Avahur:

Brian just shakes his head slowly afterwards and says, "The king only gave us these units.  That's nothing in comparison to the entire army of Troy to defend it.  Plus, the greeks will be coming in such force that Troy might not be able to hold the shore.  And we aren't generals, but just captains.  I think we could pull off going to the front lines against them at the shore, but the strategy will be up to the king and his generals."

"Brian there was a battle long ago in America that was referred to as the Alamo, they were greatly outnumbered, even though they lost, they eliminated their enemies army and reduced it down to a small fraction of what it once was.. now both you and I aren't from this era, and we know things that can greatly change the tide of war..  and if a god wasn't threatening us, I'd of stepped aside and joined the greeks, out of knowing the outcome..  But because that didn't happen we are here defending and we will win, no matter what.  Brian we have some time I am going to go to the Palace and speak with the king and see if I can possibly get some more troops.  I'll be back, can you make sure all the defenses are in place?"

Avahur:

Brian cocks his eye and looks around like you're stupid.  "We aren't put in charge of the defences.  Right now, we're in the back of the city.  What, am I supposed to defend the tents?  The greeks won't get here for a few days, maybe a week even."

"Eh, its habit, sorry, lets head to the palace and see if we can get more troops...or something..besides like you sai in order to win we need more than what we have."

Avahur:

You head back to the palace and gain access to the king's war room with ease, where he is currently at.  There are other men in there.  Some have captain's helmets on, and others have no helmets and seem to be too old to fight.

He signals you to come in and observe his strategy.  While pointing out things on a large map in the middle of the room of outside the city, he says, "We anticipate their numbers to be very great compared to ours, maybe twice as many even.  We plan on feinting a retreat at the first skirmish, to tire out their men.  When our backs are against the walls, they will hold their positions.  The tired greeks will persist, but we will flank them with hidden calvalry from both sides."

Brian turns to you and just says plainly, "No!  You have to tell them that it won't work.  They will have too many men to flank with such a small force.  There will be armies from everywhere in Greece."

Excuse me sir, but my friend thinks that it won't work because there will be too many troops coming from all over greece, and that the army we have is too small to flank them.  I am not saying I agree with him, but I trust him in this matter and I can see a flaw or two in your plans so I think we should come up with a different course of action.  I've got a scenario or two of my own that might work if your willing to hear me out on it.

I turn to Brian, ok I told them you think it won't work, and I gave you some support in it.

Avahur:

His eyes grow wide as you say this to him, and he sulks back in his seat some, looking exhausted.  "You were sent by Ares for the purpose of defending our great Troy.  Please, tell me what you're thinking for defeating them."

Ok here it is.  We have small group of 3 lure the troops down the shore and we ambush them from the sides, My friend Brian and I in front of course.  Of course if they see through and don't fall for the bait it could blow our cover and we will most likely lose.  But if they don't see through it, then we could most likely win.  Like if Brian takes half his troops and wait down at the end of the beach and if he teaches me an offensive fire spell, then I could ambush them with the spell and attack them, and while they are distracted he lead the charge on into battle.. I don't think I will learn a spell well enough to use it when it counts though, so I will take my troops, and send a scout unit to meet them.  As they come back here I need Brian to ambush them from their right flank as they charge towards my troops.  I am going to need him to unleash a fire spell that is good enough  to do some serious damage..kill them if able... if not burn them enough to give our troops and advantage.  This armor is very good and isn't penetrated easily.

This was the plan that I laid out to Brian, he figures we don't have enough troops to pull it off with what you gave us.  However, if this is the attack plan for the entire army we will stand a better chance, there are still a few flaws in it, but it is only 1 of my scenarios that I have planned.  There is another one, if you would like to hear it.

Avahur:

He doesn't seem content at all with your plan and says, "Okay, what is your other plan, son?"  You can see his face lose confidence, and can only assume that he doesn't think this plan will be any good.

I see a few things wrong, but what do you find wrong with that scenario? When they attack by land it seems efficient...unless you expect them by sea..in which case I would need to see your available boats so that I can implement another strategy of meeting them out there and then light our arrows on fire and shoot their boats and have them burn at sea before they reach us... So by land or by sea? first off

Avahur:

He looks at you again, as if you must be ignorant to these things.  "They will come by sea almost definately, but our navy is no match for that of the greeks, especially if your friend is right in all of the greeks joining in the fight.  If he's right, then the greeks will most likely take the shore and we'll be fighting a defensive war from the city."

Yes and if we fail at sea then we must fight on land.. Rather then send all our troops out to sea, lets send a small portion, with the intent of setting their boats aflame.  We most likely will lose at sea, so lets not send an eniter army out there if we will lose anyway.. we merely need to weaken them at sea and crush them on land.  If we send a small portion out there and burn there ships so that their troops die at sea, then there will be less to deal with on land, and we will have a better chance to win.  When we fight, we fight for the honor and glory of Ares.  This is in my opinion the best course of action.  Ares sent us here for a reason, and I think you should contemplate my plans before denying them so quickly this time.

Avahur:

The king now stands up.  "You're a fool, boy.  If you want, I'll give you a row boat so you can go out on your suicidal mission, but I won't waste my fine archers for this ludicrous action.

If the greeks are in a small force, then we will go with my plan; however, if they are as numerous as your friend believes, we will wait for Hector before we make a plan.  He should arrive before the greeks can get here, and our fastest ships will be scouting the sea for the greeks.  If they are in range, they will fire arrows on the enemy as they flee."

 I slam my hands down, not caring that he is a king, and falt out told him..

You know what...the only reason I am here is because Ares said that in order to change my friend back to normal from the shape of a fox, I had to come here to defend against the Greeks... I was fine with that...but I remembered that you guys lost this war...because you were too blind to see that a peace offering was a tactic that they used to kill you off from the inside and win the war... I suppsoe being from the future and dieing 10 or 11 times doesn't help much with my attitude but if you want to end up losing the war again, fine be that way, we can just wait until Hector gets here and see what he has to say.. have fun knowing that soon enough because of you incompetence and lack of faith in your gods, you are going to lose the war that a god sent help for!..

And with that I start to leave for the door.

Avahur:

The king rises and walks towards you, in awe.  "The gods have sent us a seer!"  He then smiles at you with a fire in his eyes.  "Well, we'll have to consider your idea then.  I mean, if we all die in flames, why not take it to them first?!"

He slammed his fist down on the table.  "We will take 400 archers and some strong militia for rowing.  We only have five ships fit for this operation, but it should be enough to put a dent into them.  For the land battle, we will wait on Hector to plan the strategy with the help of Avahur.  If there aren't any questions, then get to work!  Avahur, move your troops to camp by the shore, behind our fortifications."

Will, do. I'm on my way...

"Hey Brian, is it possible for me to throw this up and down..."

As I snap my fingers to create fire like I had learned.

"It would be really cool if I could do that.."

Avahur:

Brian simply says, "Yeah, it's possible.  It's pretty easy too.  I'll teach it to you some time, but it doesn't seem like it would be a very good weapon; more like a magic trick."

"Maybe only a magic trick, but good to keep myself busy, and it'll be nice when its needed to do a litte pursuading..."

Avahur:

Brian looks at you and says, "Why don't we get back to the camp to get the men moving.  Then I'll teach you the next element.  Fire really isn't the first one you're supposed to learn anyways."

"Its Wind right? Jess told me a little about it, when I asked her about Shadow... or maybe it was before that...whatever I sort of learned how to create wind in a general direction, like you did just after you entered the room back in the academy.. So lets move our men, and we'll work on magic.."

Once we get to the camp in my best gerals voice speaking in greek..

AALRIGHT TROOPS WE"RE MOVING OUR FORTIFICATIONS, SO MOVE YOUR FEET!!!  Ok, there was a little mishap doing some planning so I had to do a little talking the king's an idiot and so are those that brought in a stupid peace offering when they should've seen through and burnt it, so move your feet its time to re write history and kick some ass...

Knowing brian doesn't know everything that I say I'd like to see what he understood of that one....

Avahur:

The men look at you for a moment, and then someone shouts, "We're going to the front!!"  It is met by cheers of the other men and they disperse to pack their things and start moving when dismissed by you.  Brian simply says that they're moving to the front to his men, not knowing enough to do anything elaborate.  The men cheer and move about packing when he dismisses them.

After that, he approaches you.  "Avahur, King Priam is not an idiot.  The shore will surely be taken, and the ships sent out are probably on suicidal missions.  To win this war, all we have to do is stop the horse from getting into this place or burn it after everyone's asleep; however, that won't happen for ten years."

"I know it won't happen for 10 years. But the king well, he needs more faith in his god's and I think he should look at the grand scope of things rather than taking the most logical path.  Look at it like this, yes the greeks could come by ocean, its the shortest, and its the easiest way.  Everyone expects it, and because of that, it would be wise to guard ourselves against an attack on foot.  My plan wasn't to beat them at sea, I knew anyone going out there was on a suicidal mission, in war losses are nessecary to win overall.  If we can set their ships on fire if they come by sea, then many soldiers will die and severely hamper there numbers.  Which means less to take care of on foot.  How far is Sparta from here? If we allied with them, ground troops would win because everyone knows the spartans are the best of the best when it comes to ground troops, also depends on the era, but in this time period Sparta was the best.

Brian, I know my fare share of war, hell I rush into things generally because its habit and it is a part of my personality.  Likewise with Charging Rachel and Jess, it was stupid and suicidal, but it was rushed, and everyone was in a chaotic state, fighting friends is no easy thing to do..especially when they are girls..cus really what type of guy doesn't have a soft spot for girls..  We knew and were informed the war was going to happen and thus we could prepare and weren't rushed.  So I am taking a look into the grand scheme of things.  In shougi, you can't be hasty and make poor decisions you will lose.  You need to always be steps ahead of your opponent. Hence to lessen there numbers decently by risking a small portion of ours is in my opinion a good decision to make because overall it increases our chance to win.  If we didn't interfere yes the war went on for 10 years, but with us here, if we win constantly, we will win and not lose, and there is a good chance that it won't be 10 years, it will be less.  Besides in war there is no guaranteed time. With servitude of a god, there usually is..I didn't want to take a guaranteed time over something that could end in less.  I think this is enough for now.  When that guy shows up we will talk to him and see his views on it.  For now lets get our troops ready and enjoy the time we have on this planet because you never know when we will verse to the next realm.

So Brian, what was the element youw ere going to try to teach me next?"

Avahur:

Brian nods some, and responds to your Sparta idea.  "The chances of Sparta allying is zero, because they're the ones who Paris and Hector were discussing peace with when Paris stole the king of Sparta's wife."  Then, he addressed your interest in the elemental magics.  "The one that you should learn now is water.  The spell is water."  You recognize the word as a greek one.  The word is 'aqua', but it means 'water' in greek.  "Cup your hands.  If the spell's a success, then water will start coming out of your cupped hands."

"Ok, so all I am saying is water in greek, easy enough,  lets give this a try, shall we?"

I cup my hands and concentrate.

Water

Avahur:

You're still trying to do the spell with no results but getting the palms of your hands sweaty.  By now, the troops have made camp in the front behind some spiked fortifications and were ordered by you and Brian to build better fortifications there, thicker ones, while getting to know the other troops in the area.

Brian is in the tent that you and he combined into a large one practicing swordsmanship.

Seeing that I haven't suceeded I go to see Brian to see if he has any tips on how to be better at it.. Something like snapping the fingers with creating the fire..

Avahur:

When you go in on Brian's training, he is moving rather quickly.  You see that he put his normal weights on and has the armor on top.  Then, you see him take a knee when you come in as he's sweating profusely with a red face.  He goes over and gets his flask of water and gulps from it.  "No, the water spell is just a release of your energy.  It might help to gather it before the release, but don't gather too much.  At first, you won't be able to stop until the magic you put into it runs out."

I go back outside and put a small amount of energy into it, and imagine the water appearing in my hand and see what can happen adding or decreasing energy as I see fit.

Avahur:

You try to only release a mediocre amount of magic to summon the water, but after more work, you can't take it anymore and can't help but get a little ticked off.  You then shout the spell, and water begins pouring from your hands from seemingly nowhere.  You then smile, but find that it's been five minutes and there's a decently sized puddle at your feet in the sand (you're by the shore practicing).  The water continues to flow out.

I sit there and wait it out, but decide to summon fire also to create a smokescreen...if able.

Avahur:

You fail completely in summoning fire, not even being able to draw your magic properly during this it seems.  After about ten more minutes, some soldiers mosey over and see your hands releasing water.  You regognize them as a couple of soldiers from Brian's front line.  They both look a little older than you and just look in amazement at the water coming out, cocking their heads to the side without talking to you.

Yeah, I'm just waiting for it to stop.  If you want I can raise my hands a bit and you soldiers can get some...its nice and refreshing from what I've heard.

I stand and wait for it to stop...

Avahur:

You stand up and your hands stop releasing water.  They feel weird, so you sort of open them wide and close them back.  After a few moments, they feel normal again.  "No sir, it is fine.  So, are you two really sent by Zeus to help us in this war?"  The bigger one spoke.  He was only an inch taller, but they both seemed to have the same build as one another.  (At the moment, they're in military tunics without armor.)

Eh, care for a sparring match? I'll take off my armor, I'd like to see how well versed you guys are in unarmed combat.

If they agree I take my armor off and go for an offensive flurry of attacks, not hard enough to severly injure them like I did to Jason but enough to bruise them a bit...

Avahur:

"Well, sure sir!"  One man steps to the side and stands waiting for his round.  You and the shorter man are up against one another.  He takes a simple brawling stance it seems and you charge him.

You go for a battoujutsu strike with your hand at his chest as the first strike.  His arms get in the way, but don't seem to take effect as they are knocked to the side by the blow, leaving him open for the flurry that you send his way.  You release three more strikes into his chest, then two more.  He's in his own momentum backwards now, but catches himself and tries to put force into a punch to your face.  You counter it with jujitsu.

You pull his arm towards you and side-step the attack.  You flip him over and he lands on his back.  He seems pretty dizzy from the fight.

I help him up and wait and see if the next soldier will join in, saying I will get defensive mostly and attack the openings.

Avahur:

The other man punches his hand and helps you carry the other man, still dizzied, over to the side in the sand.  The taller one is now accross from you in the sand, and he charges you bluntly.  You find it easy to read his punch.  It isn't hard to duck to your right and land a punch in his side, getting behind him now.

He now turns in a swift motion with his arm trying to hit you where he thinks your head is.  You see the movement, and easily dodge it though it was decently fast.  You use the opportunity to come up after he spins and land an uppercut in his jaw.

His eyes move around iratically and he falls on his back, hard.  You can tell that he's knocked out.  His friend is now seeming to get his senses back, but still moving his head around strangely, and you can tell that he's still dizzy.

I let him just lie there and maybe put a small amount of energy into my hand saying the name and use the water to pour on his face...it'll be refreshing and should wake him up...I figure when they both feel better maybe I can teach them the create water spell... it shouldnt be hard...>_>

Avahur:

You easily summon the water and manage to control the amount better this time, it only lasting maybe 3 minutes.  The men wake up and shake it off relatively quickly.  When you try to teach them, it has no effect at all.  Neither of them seem to be able to do it at all and they simply say, "Well, maybe only the favoured of the gods can use these powers.  How far have you been in the world, sir?  To Greece?"
This message had punctuation tweaked by the GM at 00:36, Wed 16 Aug 2006.

well, in this time period,  several months on an island preetty far off the caost....met ares and he, well lets put it this way, he has one hell of a throwing arm.  He picked up me and brian and threw us here, we were in the air for about 10 minutes before we landed outside of the city... Actually I learned this language on the island...and trained quite a bit...I'd say a month or two in this time period...

Oh well, is there anything you need? If not feel free to stay or leave, I am going to train a bit..

At which point I remove my swords from their respective sheathes and start to train in using them effectively.  Then after about 15 minutes I go inside to see if Brian will spar once with me, outside preferred.

Avahur:

The men stay for the time to watch you trian.  Once you're finished, you don't feel that tired and they leave for chow.  When you get to Brian, it's dark and he says, "We should probably rest up instead.  We could wake the troops up tomorrow and start training them early, so that they'll have some time to increase their speed in this armor before the Greeks come."

"Yeah, I'll probably train for a bit more, its habit to be up late training.. I'll go to bed in an hour or two. I want to increase my efficiency of training in this armor.."

I continue to train for an hour the head to bed.

Avahur:

The two of you wake up the next day and assemble the eighty men with ease, counting that they're all there.  It is currently some time before noon, and the men are in full armor ready for training.

Their eyes follow you and Brian, seeing that their two seperate units are actually one under the two of you as captains (I need to know how you'll train them, and what you yourself are training in).

"Hey Brian I think we should have them do some endurance training or something.  Meanwhile I wanna do a series of spars with you...a few things I wanna learn...Once we get our men moving and doing something we can start with unarmed...See, I haven't used a kunai in battle or ever trained using one, and Rachel was very good with using one.  Always beat me actually.  I would like to get better using one, do oyu think after an unarmed battle of us going all out head to head and after we've recovered we can start to work on that...I think it will help in battle like this.  When we came out here at first, I wanted to try my blade against a shield, that was to see if my blade would either do absolutley nothing or cleave right through it.. If it did nothing I decided I needed to get better with Kunai so that when in combat I can attack the parts with little to no armor to kill my opponent.  While if my blade cleaved through it, I would have used my sword in battle...

Later on I plan to head back to the palace to see if that hector guy arrived."

Avahur:

Brian responds to you, "Yeah, fine.  We should probably designate some guys to lead them in the endurance training.  Do you have any in mind, because I don't even know any of them personally.  And by 'head on', I'll assume you mean no magic.  I mean, I can already beat you without using it."

"Yes, I mean no magic.  There were a couple of guys from your unit I was talking to yesterday, I'll have one of them, and one of the troops from my unit lead them."

Pointing over to the taller soldier I was talking to yesterday, and to the soldier that I borrowed his shield when I did my little field test, I called them both over and gave them both instructions to lead everyone in endurance training.  I also told them that if they want they can watch a small spar between the captains before they started..

"Alright Brian, I said they could watch if they wanted, everyone needs some motivation, so whats more motivational than a spar between their captains, eh?  Are you ready?"

Avahur:

"Sure I'm ready, if we're fighting in armor.  Do you want to take it off or see how strong we are in them?"  He punches the palm of his other hand and shows that he's ready, getting into his own unique stance.

The two men relay the information to the others and they take seats on the ground, some leaning on their shields, to watch the fight.

"Let's do it without armor, allows for more mobility, and will be more interesting, we can do it with armor on later."

I take my armor off and put it to the side.  Then I take my own offensive stance and get ready to charge with everything I am, going as fast as I can as swiftly as possible pushing myself to my limit and will win this one.

Avahur:

Brian nods and takes his armor off, revealing that he is in the same clothes that you are-the normal military tunic, blue, accept that he has his black weights on as well.

You charge him, increasing your speed by exerting more energy.  You approach him with a solid punch as fast as you can at his front.  He quickly moves his arms up to block your attack, with a hand grasped onto your arm now.  He attempts to pull you towards him into a combo, but you knock his grapling arm away and attempt a sweep kick.

He jumps above the sweep kick, and tries to finish the jump with a punch coming downwards at you.  With your improved speed, you bring your arm up, which finally deals a blow to his body.  The weights, however, cause you to have to exert too much energy for him to only travel a yard and fall.

Before you can plan anything, he rises and charges you, and you can tell he's begun to overexert himself to improve speed.  He, quicker than you can follow, lands a blow from your right side into your shoulder.  You hear the sound of bones breaking, but don't feel it on yourself.  Still, you're knocked off balance.

Brian uses this opportunity and brings his right knee up into your stomache.  The wind is knocked out of you and you see him moving in front of you, ready to deal a flurry of strikes on you.  He deals two strikes on you, one with his left fist and the other with his right elbow.

Following that, he continues his pursuit with another punch with his left hand, in your face, and a roundhouse in your chest.  Finally, you see him bringing his right arm far back and he lunges with it at you.  As it's approaching your face, you can tell that his hand is injured and bleeding.  In an instant, his elbow replaces his hand there and you're knocked to the ground.  You hear a crack, and everything goes black.

When you wake up, you find that someone has put some cloth under your head and Brian is nearby.  He has his entire right arm layed out and with his left hand, he keeps on going over it.  You can easily tell that he's trying to heal himself.  After his second time going over it, he screams out in pain and falls unconcious.  One of the soldiers puts a clean tunic under his head and two men are coming with water.  The others are watching with curiosity and some fear.

I say a prayer or two to Ares asking that he deliver my gear to me, for the fact that I can heal myself with the contents, and that he hand deliver it, or send someone to deliver it, and not to throw it...unless it will land extremely softly..

I think and put my remaining energy into healing myself....

Don't worry, we will be fine we've been through worse...ok I've been through worse..trust me, when you die as much as I do, something like this is nothing...

I'm going to take a nap, when I;ve regained my energy I'm going to heal myself up a bit, hopefully.  Then work on my friend.

Avahur:

The man says, "Yes sir, we'll just go continue training then.  We'll be nearby just in case you guys need us."  He goes off, and you start your nap before you look over to see what they're doing.

When you wake up, you feel energized enough and try to heal yourself.  Strangely enough, this time it isn't hard at all.  When you approach Brian, he's standing up with his arm is in a sling, but he is smiling as he's watching the soldiers sparring.  "Don't worry about my wounds.  I healed them as well as they're probably going to.  I managed to shave a few weeks off of the healing, I think, but I'm going to do more tomorrow."

"That's good to know, I am going to rest up a bit and do small stuff like work on those two spells to get em down pretty good...is there anything you can tell me about another spell?  If you want I could try healing you a bit..."

Avahur:

Brian shakes his head some.  "We're going to do this right.  Once you've completed fire and water, I'll move on to teaching you wind.  After that, the hard stuff begins."  He smiles and raises his left, unbroken hand and his skin seems to grow thicker, looking like there's a layer of rock around it.

"Ok..."

I snap my fingers to create the fire, then release the spell.

Then I put a little bit of energy into my cupped hands and say aqua to create water in my hands to show him I can do it..

Crap what was the spell Jess taught me...ahh I remember it was Flabra..sweet, time to see if I can do it this time, now that I am more magically advanced than I was at the time...

Then I say Flabra in an attempt to blow wind at him in his face area so that he can feel it.

"Eh Jess taught me Flabra back at the academy, my second day or so there..."

Avahur:

You create a flame in your hand, not anything big, but still a passable flame.  After that, you focus your magic to try and make water, understanding its flow and how to accomplish it better now.  You feel like you can control it better this time and only use a little energy to summon water that pours out of your hands for about ten seconds.

Finally, you point your opened palm extended towards Brian's face.  He smiles as he waits for your attempt.  You feel the magic feeling a release like with aqua, and building it up.  For some reason, though, you can't manage to push through some block with wind.  You try for ten minutes straight repeating the spell with every attempt with no results at all.

"Eh I couldn'd do it well back when Jess tried to teach me back at the academy.."

I give it 5 more tries then ask for help from brian..

Avahur:

On your very next try, you try to think about how wind generally works, and think about how a smaller opening makes it stronger.  On instinct alone, you ball up your fist but make a small circle with your pointer and thumb facing Brian, and shout out the spell.  Brian looks curious, but then is hit by a small force of wind, moving his hair slightly.

He looks at you strangely and says, "That isn't the normal way to do it, but you did accomplish the summoning of wind.  Wind magic is one of the hardest to control.  Now I'll let you choose.  Do you want to learn more detail of one of those three elements or move on to the basic of earth magic?  Trust me that you are not able to do earth magic and you will probably pass out if you try it right now."

"I would like to work on some more complex fire skills... We can save Earth for later..."

Avahur:

Brian nods, "Good.  But before that, a quick lesson on the three elements you currently know.  Fire technically requires more power than the other two to use effectively, because it's constantly 'burning' your energy off the hotter you make it.  Wind is the opposite of fire, basically.  It takes the least energy to summon, but you have to focus more to move it because if its lack of mass.  Finally, water at your current level is a measurement on how much power you actually have.  It doesn't take much control at the moment, and not much power to summon."

You look over to see that the soldiers are still trianing, now jogging in two formations.

Brian continues to speak.  "At your current level, you probably can't use fire as much of a weapon.  To improve your skill with it, what you need to do now is try to summon fire this tall from your hand."  Brian moves his hand about half a foot over your palm.  "And you need to be able to hold that size of flame for about five minutes."
This message had punctuation tweaked by the GM at 03:50, Sat 19 Aug 2006.

"Ok, lemme give this a try then.."

I stay still focusing and reflecting over all the magic that I have learned...reflecting on all the discipline and techniques I have learned in fighting and killing..I concentrate a small amount of energy into my hand to spark the flame, then I concentrate more and put more energy into it constantly to keep it going and to increase the size of it, I keep doing it as long as I can having it use the new energy I keep putting into it to make it grow and become stronger and bigger.

Avahur creates fire.

Avahur:

At first, it takes you a moment, but then you manage to have a constant flow of heat through your arm and out your palm.  You get a tingling sensation in your right arm during this that's slowly moving towards your hand.  Eventually, it's almost a pain in your muscles, but you hold it at its height for five minutes.

Your upper arm feels like it had been stretching uncomfortably for a while and was just released.  Brian frowns a little at your speed with learning this and says, "Well, it looks like you have enough power to manage setting something on fire.  The spell is incendo.  I'd get something that can't be burnt to practice on."

I walk about 5 feet away and aim at the ground away from everything extremely burnable and practice the spell..

"incendo."

Avahur:

You shout out the spell and try to direct it into the ground with your hand.  You fail at it completely once, with no effects at all.  The next time you try it, you focus yourself more into completion, and you feel like it's working.

There's the same heat moving down your arm as before, and it feels like you're stretching your arm or something.  You look down to see that you aren't making any fire under your hand and then a sharp pain shoots through your arm, with no visible flames.  You just feel a massive pain inside of your arm, and it feels like its burning inside from the shoulder down into your fingers.  The pain isn't stopping, and your arm is shaking from stress.

I stop everything completely and fall down to ground holding my arm with my left hand, then I concentrate a little and say aqua to produce water from my hands to cool my body down...

"Brian my arm feels like its on fire...any advice...it hurts a lot..."

Avahur:

You try to summon water and your arm feels even worse, a sharper pain through your arm.

Brian looks at you and says, "You should practice more before you go and try something you're not ready for.  You probably overexerted yourself.  The pain is you forcing the spell.  The effects will eventually wear off."

You look over at him and he has one hand out, palm down.  His eyes are closed and his face looks very focused.  Sand lifts from the ground all around him and starts flying in a perfect circle around him.  More sand begins to lift and it all goes faster.  After it goes so fast, you see the direction change.

I wait and use the pain as a lesson not to overexert myself and to not do it this way again.  I must learn to do it a different way and then successfully do the spell..

I look at Brian swirl the sand around him and watch in amazement what he can do...when it all starts to slow down I ask him,

"Brian I don't think I am ready for fire yet, how about water since most of the pain has disappeared."

When the pain does subside I work on wind again, letting it flow if I don't learn anything new to see if I can improve it.
This message was last edited by the player at 03:47, Sun 20 Aug 2006.

Avahur:

Brian continues to keep a focused expression, but the wind slows and dies down.  He looks to you and says, "Don't you think it would be better not to get injured this time and wait until you're ready to learn the water spell?  It may be the easiest, but you probably aren't ready for it."

"I know, I plan to wait a bit, but I want to atleast know something so that when I have free time or I think I'm ready after I work on my other spells a bit, if your doing some heavy training I don't have to bother you."

I think about letting the wind flow out of me so I don't mess up and force it out like last time..that way I will do better when I try to do them again.

Avahur:

"There aren't any spells that are at a level near you for water, Avahur."  He then walks out to the water until he's about waist deep inside.  By now, he's taken off his armor and just has his tunic with weights underneath it on.  You see his muscles flex and then The water at his waist begins to boil.  For a moment, it's like the water around his waist receeds, but then it's back to normal.

"It's simple, Avahur.  If you want to increase your capacity for power, then use fire.  If you want to increase your control, then practice using wind with a flat palm."

When you try to use wind again, you feel exhausted and you're completely out of breath.

"Flat palm, eh? ... Thats good .. to know, I'll try that out ... when I catch my breath..."

When I finally catch my breath I practice the wind spell to work on my control, when I think I can do it and control it decently well taking as many breaks as needed to get it down, then I work on fire to control it and not do what I did last time trying to force it out.

Avahur:

As you're practicing with wind, you're met by constant failure.  You still haven't succeeded in getting a solid wind a single time.  Once, you were able to get a small force, but nothing noteable really.  By this time, the soldiers have headed in for lunch and it's now in the heat of the day.

I decide I head in to get some lunch also, and as I walk in I concentrate and thrust my hand forward palm opened, fingers pointing straight into the air, and I in that motion try to relase the energy and wind forward, slightly downward to see if any of the sand was moved with my attack.

Maybe this will work..

Avahur:

Inside the food tent, a man had a piece of bread in his hands to give to you, but once he saw you closer switched it over to a piece of pork along with some fresh water.  There's a common soldier that just walked out of the tent holding his piece of bread that he just recieved.

The tent itself is small, and no one is in there but you and the soldier giving out the food.  You assume the men are eating in their own tents or with others they know.

I take the food and eat outside on my way to my tent.  When I get there and finish eating, I go outside to try out my wind attackk theory against the sand about 5 feet in front of me.

Avahur:

You return and eat up relatively quickly, and try to effect the sand.  You feel that something left your hand, but nothing very powerful.  It probably was only enough to cause a small breeze, but not really move anything with it, at all.

Well that's been better than recent events, so I might as well try it again, this time, yelling out the word and trying to let it flow freely, like when I did with the water.  Sure it was flowing forever, but it means I did it very well...hmm lets see how this goes.

I pull my hand back then thrust it forward saying flabra with a bunch of energy in it right down at the sand in front of me..

Avahur:

You feel a definate burst of wind from your hand, but it only moves a few grains of sand, and only barely moves them.  You know that it was you, because at the moment the natural wind was still.

Hmm, this isn't working...maybe if I concentrate my energy through my sword, I can release the burst from the edge of the blade, since the blade is already cutting through the air producing a slight rift  and generating some wind, the energy could cause the wind to ride the air and flow off of the blade into the air...

I take out my shadow blade and test my theory.

Avahur:

You try to release the wind, but nothing happens.  The only aftereffect is that you feel even more exhausted and fall to the ground.  Your sword falls out of your hand and you're out of breath.

I pick up my sword and cheathe it, then head inside for a rest.. when I get back up from a break I work on water, then fire, then wind again taking breaks when I need to.

Avahur:

You work hard on water, fire, and wind control.  In the end, though, you feel like the only thing you improved on was water.  By this time, it's night and you see no lights on outside.  Even Brian has headed in for rest.

I decided I need to just do what I am good at atn work with my swords for a half hour, then I go to bed.

Avahur:

The next day you wake up from someone prodding your shoulder.  When you open your eyes and draw your blade slightly from reflex, you see that it's a normal soldier.  Brian is putting on his armor at the edge of the tent.

The man prodding you says, "Sir, the war conference is starting soon and they're calling for you.  Hector arrived during the night."  You look outside and find that light is just beginning to rise.

Thank you soldier..

Once I get my armor on I head over to the conference, waiting for Brian since I assume he's coming...

Avahur:

You and Brian make your way into the high walls of Troy and go to the palace-into the war room.  Many other captains are in formation at one wall in the room, standing against it in unity.  At the table, there are 8 seats on each long side and three seats on each end.  At the far end of the table, Priam has a man on both sides of him.  One has a rugged face and a hard expression, while the other man looks less powerful and with a softer face.

There are some men at the table in armor like you are, but most are in robes.

When Priam raises his hand towards you and gestures you and Brian towards a seat around the middle of the table on one side, the conversation they were just having about the greeks coming from the sea ends and they wait for you to sit.

After going to my seat standing, sitting, whatever occurs, I look at the gentlemen that are on both sides of the king and ask in my usual battle voice..

So, who are you two?  And what conversational discussion have been going on prior to my arrival here?

Avahur:

The softer one of the two looks offended at your speech and says, "And who are you to ask without first introducing yourself?"

The man that has a stronger look glares at the softer-faced man and says, "Paris, hold your tongue or I'll rip it out."  The softer man quickly silents himself and the rougher one turns to you.  "I am Hector and this is my brother, Paris.  You and your friend are Avahur and Brian sent by the gods, right?  Which of you is Avahur?"  Even you can feel that this man is a good leader from just the few words that you've heard him utter just now.

I am Avahur.....and from what I can see you, yourself are a very good leader among your people, it'll be interesting to work along side you in this war...lets just pray that it doesn't end up as I fear it will...or if it does it isn't as long...So lets say the we ge down to business, then.  The more time we spend talking the less time we have until our enemy strikes and the less time we have planning what we will do.

Talking to the king a few days ago...well lets just say we have our disagreements as to how they will approach...he believes by sea, and I believe by land.

Naturally since by sea its shorter, but thats what one would expect and it would be wise to go the longer distance to catch your enemy offguard if they are already unaware when you will attack except that you will attack.

I think that the best course of action will be to have archers go out to sea, and shoot arrows of fire at their ships, should they come by sea, that way, there numbers will be reduced by the time they get to land...The king said it himself that the naval forces we have are no match for them, and so it wouldn't be practical to plan for an all out sea battle if we already know we would lose.  And so by sending archers with the intent to set their arrows aflame and burn the ships at sea, we can lessen their numbers quickly and easier so that it will be easier to fight on land with them having lesser an army.  If they come by sea.

However, if they come by land as I think they will, sending out a large portion of our forces to sea and have them raid the city would be pointless and would cause unnessecary losses.  And so we must prepare for a land battle..regardless of what happens they will eventually come on land to take the city, and so fighting on land is inevitable.  If we keep all our land units here without most of our archers we will have a better chance to survive.  Granted we will only have a small portion of the total force of archers but should they come by land and we are ready, rather than being surprised, our losses would be lesser for the city would be heavily guarded.

Now, as for me, I enjoy messing up the past and so here is a little information for you.  Yes Ares sent us here to help defend this city, and if you note what I said earlier, about hoping it doesn't take as long is for good reason.  Where I was born well...different time period..more like well its deep into the future.  So from what I know, this war lasted 10 years, and you lost because you were too blind to see through a simple military tactic.  They came proposing peace with a giant wooden horse, inside the horse were soldiers, you carelessly brought the horse with the men inside, inside the city's gates and they came out and razed the city and so you lost.  I really don't want that to happen because well for one thing, I enjoy changing things around, another thing is that I have to face the anger of Ares if I fail and me and my friend don't want to have to deal with that.

I had a few scenarios of my own set up assuming they came from land or sea.  From what I can tell Hector, you are a good leader and what do you propose we do in this matter?
This message was last edited by the player at 03:53, Mon 21 Aug 2006.

Avahur:

Hector smiles and says, "Friend, that is of course the correct course of action.  What we need to do, though, is gather our men to defend the shores from the greeks.  We probably have a few days to prepare for the attack.  If we're lucky, we can hit them hard enough that they go and sail home.  Even if they do take the coast, they will be too tired to head directly for the city and we will probably have a night to prepare our men at the walls.  The ships have already been sent out to patrol the seas and prepare ambushes on the greeks."  Hector takes a short breath and thinks some, "The reason why we aren't worrying about anywhere but the shore at the moment is because of the physical barriers that the greeks would have to pass to the north.  We won't have to worry about that for a good while, so we can relax on that front.  Do you have any say in this current though, Avahur?"

I'd like a scout unit set off for a day to see if a ground army is already underway.  Yes there are physical borders, but if they set off in an hour or two and report back in a day or two with what they have seen..., or come back immediately if they see anything.  Yes we need to defend the shores, but if they already set out it wouldn't hurt to send a small 3 man unit out to see if anything is coming so that when they report back we won't be surprised by an attack...should they see enemy forces on their way there, they must report back immediately.  When we get word, if there is an army we should already have plans for worse possible scenario if that happens, otherwise we continue with the defense on the shores, if nothing is sighted.

This agreeable?

I look at Hector mostly as I talk turning my head at the end to say my last line to everyone in the room.

Oh and before I finish I wonder if my friend has anything he'd like to add..he doesn't know the language well...I spent about a month or so learning it...prior to meeting ares that is, and since he is my friend I would trust that he might have some imput on this.

"So Brian, have you anything you'd like to put in?"

Avahur:

"No, I'm fine."  Brian says.

When you relay that he has no more imput, Hector replies to you.  "We already have active units constantly scouting in all directions.  If they see a sizeable force, they will come back and report.  Right now, I don't want you to worry about a land attack.  We need all of our focus on the shore battle.

My current plan is to have 3/4 of our archers ready to defend the shoreline.  The other 1/4 will stay at the wall to defend in case the greeks pursue us to the walls.  About 1/3 of our infantry will be at the shores to assist in the defence of the archers while tiring out the enemy.  What little calvalry we have, until local towns can deliver more horses, will be stationed in a position to flank the enemy if they pursue us to our walls.

The remaining 2/3 of our infantry will also be at the walls in a tight phalanx to defend it.  Now...I need five captains to volunteer to take up the shore front.  You're bound to take heavy losses in the struggle."

A young man, that looks in his late teens or early twenties steps foreward from the wall of captains.  "I volunteer my men and I to defend the shores."  No one else speaks up at the moment, but they look like they are turning the thought over and over on their minds.

"Brian I as a person that uses swords mostly am at a disadvantage here, however, my bag that I couldn't take with me as we were thrown has guns and such in it..that would be soo helpful right now.  You know combat magic, and can use offensive fire spells and such...that is something I can't do, and because of it, my ability to fight is hindered immensely. What do you think we should do? we could volunteer our men, but my blades have no effect on armor like what we wear, so unless they wear cloth or modern clothes type of armor, I can't do much to help our situation."

Avahur:

Brian contemplates for just a moment before saying, "Well maybe you could train with their sword.  No matter what weapon you use, we'll have a better chance to kill as much as possible on the shores if we volunteer for the shore front.  It will, theoretically, raise morale of all of the captains and troops.  We might get more volunteers."

"OK, then I shall volunteer my troops..."

I volunteer myself and my troops to defend the shores.

"If you don't know say,"

I whisper to him..

I too volunteer my troops to defend the shores along side Avahur, my friend and trustworthy comrade.

"Understand how to say it? It says that you also volunteer your troops to the defend the shores along side me."

Avahur:

Brian stands up next to you and repeats exactly what you said.  Hector smiles, nodding at you.  He then looks to the other captains.  Three of them at once step foreward, from different parts of the line.  They look at one another curiously, but like they won't give up their chance at volunteering.

Hector smiled and said, "Deiphobus, you'll stay at the walls to defend it if I don't make it back after the shore battle."  Then, a man that looked basically the same build and experience as the other captains, backed up and stood against the wall with the others who didn't volunteer.  Hector finished with saying, "Now, the lot of you!  Get to where you're needed!"  He began walking towards the door as the other captains walked out.

As we head out and get back to the camp I tell the troops gthe news of what has happened...then as we prepare I take out the sword they provided and start working with it in a freeform manner to see how to use it best when hitting and killing in the parts where the armor isn't there, making sure I can get by the defenses of the person and not leave myself open for a counterattack.

OOC:  Avahur, are you working in their full armor with the sword, including the shield?  And tell me the basics of what your freestyle is.

OoC: You know how I learned the unarmed combat back in the zombie world? Well I am taking all the knowledge I have ever gained and using what I have in fully equipped gear to get around the weaknesses, using the shield to block then go in for a slice, etc.  Occasionally when I get the basics down and I feel I understand it, I make an invisible enemy.. Always going to counter what I do, with the intention of trying to outsmart myself to be it, equally with the gear we have on... Maybe gettinginto a duel with a soldier, both of us are equipped with armor and no weapon, we use our fists, and not for anything to damage just to see if we can get around guards... I also ask Brian to help me...

Avahur:

You feel like you have the basics down for being able to do a minor shield-bash and stab by the time you finish training.  All of the soldiers are hard at work for a long while on fortifications as you train.  About when they're done, you consult Brian for advice.  He says, "Well, maybe you'd rather ride the horse the offered and use your other swords instead."

Right after he says that, Hector shows up and says to you, "Evening, Avahur!  I'll be fighting at the shores to your left side, as Brian is fighting to your right I see."  He is fully armored with a shield, sword, and spear.  You just notice that everyone else but you and Brian, and the other captains, all have spears.  Hector speaks up more and says, "Would you like to spar with me in a non-lethal fight?"

Yes I would, what would the terms be? Unarmed with armor, unarmed without armor, weapons with/without armor but nothing lethal..you decide what you would like.

Avahur:

"We'll have a straight-up fight.  Armed with armor."  He sticks his spear into the ground and waits for your reply.

Well this will be interesting, as I have no idea how to fight non lethaly in this armor, and since I haven't ever fought in armor such as this before, it will be rather interesting...I've got a fighting style, that I'd like to use...I'll try not to hit you with one of my swords...if you get cut, it won't heal... it is a unique trait special to the sword..

I take off the shield and equip both my swords, keeping the sword they provided on myself should one sword get thrown aside I can grab it and use it as a substitue.

Avahur:

Hector sheathes his sword back and picks up his spear.  "I haven't ever seen swords like those, but I won't mind a challenge."  His face is serious as he asks, "Are you ready?"

Almost, I have one question, can I use a skill I picked up in...well to state it matter of factly, recent lifetimes...?

If he agrees I was thinking of levitating his spear either out of his hands or atleast off to the side to help my sword parry it as I go in for an attack...

If not..oh well.

Avahur:

"It is fine.  Use whatever skills that you wish."  He looks like his face is more focused now and he asks again, "Are you prepared, Avahur?"

OOC:  In your post, include if you charge him or not and what style you use.

OoC: Style- Battoujutsu, Skills being used- Levitate, do I charge? Yes

My blades are unique each with an interesting past... I am ready and prepared, lets see how this turns out..

As I speak I get into position ready to charge...

Hmm, I might as well say the spell, as it will help guarantee it working here... and depending on how it goes I might need to levitate it so that I can try to slice through it with my shadow blade...if anything could cut it, that sword would work...hmm if not then I atleast do what I can levitating and parrying it out of the way while attacking with the other sword...
This message was last edited by the player at 22:11, Fri 25 Aug 2006.

Avahur:

Hector and you meet in the middle.  With a longer reach with his spear, he attempts to stab it out towards you.  Until then, you had estimated that his grip was too strong for you to break while doing other things, but here was your opportunity.

You manage to pull it completely out of his hands as his hand releases it to slide into an attack towards you.  With your normal katana, you slice it in half with ease with battoujutsu.  Quickly, you move it back into the sheathe perfectly and charge further, releasing battoujutsu with that sword on him again.

Your sword comes out short and with a loose grip.  Hector pulls his out swiftly and knocks your blade out of your hand.  You release battoujutsu with the dark katana, and Hector barely blocks it while spinning around with his shield.  With your dark katana moved to his side, he comes at you with a stabbing motion with his sword.

As your last chance, you drop the dark katana and pull out your Trojan sword.  Hector's stab hits the sword directly in front of your hand that you were holding it in.  The sword falls to the ground and he finishes his spin with putting his sword to your neck.  Then, he takes it and puts it in his sheahte, putting his shield on the ground and leaning against him.

Hector smiles and offers you his hand.  "Good match.  You could follow my movements."

I say the same to you, any possibility of an unarmed spar?  Whenyou lose your weapon in combat you often need to be skilled at unarmed combat, so what say you?

I retrieve my swords and put them back in thei sheathes..

Avahur:

Hector smiles and replies, "Sure!  Armor on or off?"  He takes off his sword belt and puts it way off to the side  on top of his shield in the sand.  Also, he leaves his helmet over there.

Off, to allow more flexibility, if say you were captured and you needed to fight, only the inexperienced, or mentally unwise would leave you with your armor on...

I start removing my armor and get ready to go offensive on him, maybe switching to a more freeform fighting style or defensive depending on what he does.  Always leaving the options open and ready to switch to, to keep it so that he has a better chance of winning.

Avahur:

After he takes off his armor and gets into his stance, you take a moment to observe it.  You look at his feet first, and see that his footing is very powerful and he'd be hard to knock down.  Then, you move to his knees.  They're bent low to add to his footing.

Looking up the rest of his body, he's in a very low and wide stance.  He looks like close combat would be a bad idea, but that's what hand to hand is.  You finally discover that the armor didn't add much to his size, the man being very powerful just from his sight without the armor on.

Hmm not going to be easy to take down, in which case Jujitsu would be the best form here.  The style itself is ment to use the person's body against them especially when your opponent is stronger, or overall very hard to knock down.  Since it is after all a defensive jutsu multiple freestyle moves can be inserted to help protect the user from counter attacks and attacks in general to add the the users defense in defeating an otherwise superior being...

This will definitely be interesting..hmm, if I can create water...nah thats too much of a risk and could compromise everything... well lets see how I do...

Avahur:

You see Hector's eyes watch you move as you change positions and you get a feeling that he can anticipate your actions.  You feel like he is perhaps stronger and wiser than you are, even in unarmed combat.  You even feel a little afraid to fight him, and you flinch.  He asks you, just like before.  "Are you ready, Avahur?"

Well just like sensei said "Even if you are out matched and you know that you  may not beat them, doesn't mean that you can not do it... Remember the sayings of the wise ones, 'Do or don't do, there is no try.'"  Yeah now I know what he means.. Man, this is going to be a hard battle... theres nothing wrong with being a little afraid though...hell I'm more excited than anything..this will be so amazing to fight people of this skill, now I can see where I am at fault in my style and improve it to become better...this will be so..sweet..

To tell you the truth I'm trembling a little bit..a little afraid of what will happen, but mostly excited of what I can expect, and of what I can do in battle...

I'm ready, lets see what you've got hector...

Avahur:

You feel yourself with a new confidence and take up your position again.  Within a few moments of you expressing your preparations, he leaps.

With his position somehow remaining wide, he closes his distance with you and you can't lay a hand on him to throw him, or manipulate his path at all.  Within moments of grapling, he has you pinned down to the ground with his knee on your head and your feet and hands held togeather by his hands.  The pressure is too much for you to move.

Well you win this one as well, as you can see, when pinned like this I am unable to move and thus lose.

Once he gets off of me and we get our armor on, I go over to him..

Hey Hector, there is something I'd like to see if you could do for a moment.

Avahur:

When you put your armor on, he has his armor completely on, his helmet in his arms.  He was about to put the helmet on and pick up his sword belt when you asked him.  He turns to you and says, "What is it?"

It is something Brian taught me, I figured if anyone here can do it, it would be you...

Now, If you put your helmet down or on, whichever we can begin...

After he has his hands free I tell him.

Well, cup your hands and take energy from your body and put it into your hands, like when you charge someone going to your limits, you put energy into your feet to make them go faster and such, I am asking you to put some energy into your hands.. Concentrate on it and when you feel you have a decent amount of energy in your hands, say the word 'Water'  now usually it helps to shout the word when you are frustrated because you tend to dump energy into it at that point...something I suggest you try when you are alone, as we should keep our selves together as we go into battle.. I just want to see if anything will happen, if nothing does, I will show you what I was trying to see if you could accomplish... lets put it this way...its something similar to doing this...

I put some energy into my hand and snap my fingers to create the flame there, nothing big, just enough to prove my point then I release the spell and have it disappear...

..except with water..

Avahur:

"So what do I say?"  Hector looks curious and amazed as he sees the fire appearing in your hands.  "And did you say that I should try it in private instead to make water appear or right now?"

All you have to say is 'Water' after putting some nergy into your cupped hands... I'm asking you to do it right now..if it doesn't work, maybe sometime in private when you can shout as much as you want and not worry, you can try it a bit, and if after repeated attempts you just dump extreme amounts of energy into your hands and yell out the word water it may work...but be warned, when I did that I was sitting there for 10 minutes atleast waiting fo rthe water to stop.  How much water you create depends on how much energy you put into it...and I must say, if you can do this, not only will you be able to create water and drink it whenever, you could essentially be able to create water instantly rather than trying to find water if there appears to be none around..

Allow me to demonstrate..

I cup my hands and put a little bit of energy into my hands and say Water.

Then I watch the results.

Now, you try it..

Avahur:

When you show him, some water accumulates in your hands, but stops when it reaches the edge.  You splash it on your face for good measure.

Then, Hector cups his hands and shouts, "WATER!"  He has a much louder voice than you expected.  Nothing happens, but he doesn't seem to want to give up.  After shouting it four more times, something finally happens.  Some water starts appearing in his cupped hands and continue to moisten, even after he uncups his hands.

Well, it appears you can do it, so thats a good thing.. well I'm sure with practice you can get better at it, but for now, I'm going to train a bit more, need to try and overcome the weaknesses I have with my stances and my abilities so that when I fight to kill, I leave no openings and I can do so effectively to live another day..

Avahur:

Hector slowly nods with a confused look in his eyes.  Once the water stops, he gets his gear and walks off, not stopping to look around.  He just keeps staring at his hands, and then he's gone, back to his own encampment.

I continue to train like I said and work on my weaker points so that I can improve to kill better, quicker, and be overall deadlier...then after a while if I still have time I work on my unarmed combat.

Lets see, if I train with my sword so that after my swords are parried I can still dodge an attack at me and then come back for a kill..or use the postions to my advantage...
This message was last edited by the player at 00:01, Sat 26 Aug 2006.

Avahur:

You train with your swords until it is dark.  Throughout the day, you've seen that it is a very busy place since Hector had arrived.  Your men help the others dig trenches so that the place is much less penetrable.  Men are standing guard there at all times ready to get the attention of the rest of their encampments if they see anything.

It's now dark and most everyone is in their tent asleep.  Brian is the only one out there with you now, and has been swirling sand around him with wind for about 5 minutes now.  He's sweating.

I sit down on the ground and attempt to practice control using the element that will help me do this best...

Avahur:

You feel something constantly trickling out of you, but you can't identify it very well.  It feels like you have pores in your body that's releasing small amounts of something, and it is as if you can pinpoint every spot while none at all.  Nothing around you is altered at all, but after a few moments you feel exhausted.

After I sit and recuperate I try to search myself (mentally) to find out what exactly I did.. then try to isolate it and do it again, if I can't figure out I can ask brian later about it..

Avahur:

The same thing happens and you can't isolate it.  Even in meditation, you can't isolate the feeling.  It's similar to your arm stretching, but not as concentrated.  It is as if it's spread throughout your whole body instead.  When you go to ask the now resting Brian, he replies, "You don't have enough control yet.  That is wind going evenly out of your entire body.  You aren't on the level that I am yet.  Try to send wind out with a straight palm more and then move up to slightly more complicated manipulation."

"Thanks.  Brian, what was flammacio a combination of?"

after I find out I do what brian suggested for control and such.

Avahur:

Brian smiles and says, after he looks a little bit more lively, "Heh, it's a combination of Flammas Jacio.  It's a spell that means 'I throw flames.'  Thanks for reminding me to try it out."  He then heads towards the water's edge, not too far from where you two are.  He shouts out, after looking like he's focusing for a moment, "FLAMMACIO!!"  He puffs his chest out as he pushes his arms towards the water.  Large amounts of flame begin coming out of his hands over the water.  It lights it up for a moment, and then ends.  He falls to the ground after wobbling some, barely catching himself with his arms, and is on his hands and knees.

I go over to him and help him stand up.

"Brian you ok? It looks like thats a hard spell to do...or to atleast do when it's abbreviated...maybe saying the full combination of words out will be better since it looks like you haven't tried doing something like that in a long time.  Sure if you can be fine after saying the extended version then yeah the shortened version might be a bit easier...when Jess used the spell she was pretty angry at the time...kind of like dumping energy into something then using it...when I got angry and not doing the water spell correctly it flowed for over 10 minutes before it finally stopped..."

Avahur:

"That occasionally happens.  Emotions can inexplicably fluctuate your magical properties.  Or, it could be simple adreneline increasing your flow of energy.  They still weren't completely sure about this kind of stuff back at the Academy."  Then, you see Brian sink some.  You notice again now just how young he is, only a teen.  "I miss that place."

"Yeah I do too, but if we didn't come here and we stayed there worse things could have happened...Although, I'm glad to have died to a friend rather than to a stranger.. Brian maybe you don't understand this yet, but you will learn to accept thingsas they come at you.  You just need to keep moving forward regardless of what happens.

Now, I'm 6 years older than you and although it isn't much, from what I remember I've died more than you have.. I miss some of the world's I have been to, hell some of them I am glad to have left, and only once did I die before I know what was happening.  I was in a world for like 2 minutes and died... that was the shortest world I have ever been in.. But enough of reminiscing in the past... Lets work on our skills so that next time we are in a world we enjoy, we won't leave so easily, eh?"

I go over to the water, and despite the pain I know I will recieve, I think of all the things I regret and and get so angry at the things that I could have done better, that I yell Flammas Jacio extending my hands over the water after concentrating and dumping energy into my hands to attempt to pull the spell off..

Avahur:

You put your hands up and put your all into gathering all the energy that you can.  Even as Brian is shouting at you, "Avahur!  Don't!  You could die!!"  You release the spell and can't help but hollar out "AAAHHHHHHHH!!" as the magic rushes through your body, heating you up.  Large flames protrude from your hands, both at once.  They are the largest that you've personally done, extending about a yard out each with a 2' radius each.  After just a moment, though, you fall to the ground face first into the water.

Brian drags you to the shore quickly and looks down at you.  "Are you okay?!"  You feel like your arms aren't even there, even though there's pain from them pulsing.  You can't move a single muscle in your body, but you think that you can talk in a rasped breath.

"I'm...fine.....I...rest..."

*passes out*

Avahur:

You wake up the next day with the day already bright.  There's no one around but you hear the normal noise of soldiers at work outside.  When you try to get up, you find that you still can't move a single muscle in your body.  Even moving your pinky takes extreme will power to do and leaves you exhausted.

I rest and see if I can heal myself with the spell merlin taught me...if it doesn't work I see if I can call out to brian..

Avahur:

You find that you can't focus magic at all nor even raise your voice above a whisper.  No one can hear you outside of the tent it seems.

I go back to sleep and if I wake up again and can't don much else I go back to sleep.

Avahur:

After two more times of sleep, it is starting to get dark.  Brian finally comes in with some food and water.  He says, "I tried to tell you to stop, but still.  You should be dead right now, rather than just incapacitated."

"Brian its a little bit of proving something to myself.. I might have died, but I didn't... and atleast I did it... but hell, I'm going to have to say that was a pretty awesome spell...I'd hate to be at the recieving end of it... Another verser was pretty much at the recieving end...a little mishap when going from another world to this world..he got Jess extremely mad, and well we don't want that happening, eh?"

Avahur:

You find you have a little more to your voice than before, but it's still a whisper.  Brian replies simply, "Yeah, we don't want that to happen.  From now on, move at a slower pace than that, okay?"  He levitates a piece of bread over to you so that it will fit into your mouth with decent ease.  He sits down and gets comfortable.

"Yeah, I will thanks for this... I'm going to have to say, that was an awesome spell.  How high of a level spell is it?"

Avahur:

"Too high for you.  It is way too high.  Stick with that smaller burning one that I taught you before.  I estimate that your body might be able to use it easier once you get better.  I just hope that you get better before the greeks get here, or we'll be in some trouble."

"Brian..if these guys weren't wearing armor, and I was at 100% and could do what I've done in the past...well lets say that it would keep people away from me...armor isn't my forte, I've adjusted to wearing it, but I still prefer to be nimble and agile..Anyway of letting me train with your weights one day?  granted I may not be able to move, but if I can, and when I do I will have to build leg strneght to move and once I can move regularly, I can be faster, and better without them on..

Don't worry, I won't go as fast as I used to and I will take it easy until I get better."

Avahur:

Brian takes the weights off and puts his tunic back on afterwards.  He drops them from his outstretched arm onto the floor, and you hear heavy clanks of all of them, not being to help but be intimidated.

It takes that night and until about noon for you to be able to move enough to get to the weights even.  You're able to feed yourself decently, but you still aren't able to summon magic yet.  The weights are still on the floor.  There are weights for your legs, waist, torso, upper arms, forearms, and shins.

I try to pick the one for the waist up, if I can pick it up then I put it on, if I can't well..obviously it stays there and I go for a walk to stretch out my limbs a bit..

Avahur:

You're able to lift the weight about two inches from the ground and find that it's much heavier than you had anticipated.  During your walk, you find the soldiers hard at work, and that the number of guards looking out has at least doubled.  There's an air about everyone that feels like it's the silent before the coming storm of the greeks.

After I finish the walk I head over to the shore and I meditate.  Rachel had always been meditating and I have seen Brian do it as well.  I figure I might as well meditate and think over all that has happened and what is happening with the greeks, and such.

Avahur:

On your way to the shore, some of your soldiers stop you at the fortifications they've built.  After a few moments of you considering forcing them aside, Brian comes up and talks to you.  "Avahur, you can't go down there anymore.  We're within a day of the Greek's supposed arrival.  We expect to hear from one of our ambush ships today to tell us how far off the Greeks actually are."

"Brian there is something I need to do before they get here, regardless of whether or not I'm allowed...It'll help prepare me for when they come.  Brian its just something I need to do.  I don't want to over exert myself pushing through, so let me pass for a half hour or so, then I'll head to the tent."

Avahur:

Brian simply shakes his head and says, "No, Avahur.  It's too risky.  Even for half an hour, it's too risky.  Think if they destroyed our ambush ships.  If we see a boat out there and think it's one of ours while it isn't, then you'll be in a world of trouble and no one here is willing to risk that, no matter how unlikely it is."

"Brian, gain 6 years in life and die as many times as I have, kill as many as I have, and betray the ones that I have, and you will understand...fine I wont go, but I need to reach the shore, so where can I go to do so.."

Avahur:

Brian asks you, "Why do you need to reach the shore, Avahur?  You're not strong enough to even try that spell again."

"I don't plan to, I wish to do that which I have seen Rachel do whenever I saw her.  I need to meditate by the shore, feel the breeze, listen to the waves..I just need to be there..if I die, then I die and go to a new world..Brian, you are a good friendbut I must meditate by the shore."

Avahur:

After a moment, Brian's face changes, but then he finally says, "Well there's no other way down there, but fine.  Thirty minutes with the waves.  I can understand how you'd want to focus right now.  Just don't do any magic.  Even a simple spell might put you into that state again, and you probably won't recover in time for the battle."

"Thank you..."

I head down to the shore and meditate on just about everything that has happened since I found out I became a verser.  With the ice world, through my worlds...The ninja/samurai world...the battle with the giant spider...and so on through my worlds...where I met Krillis and Thomas...through meeting Sarah...then Allison, Brian, Jess, Liz, Malachai, Rachel, and all the other allies I had made in that world.... and into this world all that has happened... Learning the spells, out of anger and curiosity, trying the spell that put me into a severly weakened state...but also, how awesome it was that I suceeded in doing so...2' flames were intensely awesome...and then I go back and think of all that has happened and what will happen...then I, for the rest of the time, reflect on my fighting skills, and all the fighting and killing that I have done over my lifetime...

While meditating on everything I listen and enjoy the sound of the waves, and the smell of the air..

Avahur:

After your time down there, you look up towards the fortifications to find that they're still all busy at work.  No one has come down to get you, but you're sure that your time is up and that you should head back.

I stretch out and take out a shuriken, I face my back to the water, and throw it once along the beach trying to get it curve to the right, just to practice my shuriken jutsu while I'm here since I haven't practiced it in a while.

Once I see the result I get my shuriken and head back within the fortifications.

OOC:  Since when did you have shuriken?  Have you had them for multiple worlds now?

OoC: Dude I've always had shurikens...remember the first healing class?  DUH!!!

You fail miserably on throwing the shuriken.  You can't even throw it straight with your current condition.  After a few throws and retrieving the, Brian yells down, "Hey, Avahur, it's time to come back up here.  It's been well over half an hour!"

"Yeah, I know I just wanted to practice shuriken jutsu a little...I'm on my way up..."

After retrieving my shurikens I go back into the fortifications and take a rest to regain my strength.

After the rest, you feel a little bit better.  It's still bright outside, but you don't feel like you can summon any magic right now.

I meditate in my tent for a bit and half try to sleep while I meditate..

You go to sleep and wake up when it's dark.  You feel pretty much the same, but feel that your muscles are almost at their full abiltiy.

Since it is dark I go back to sleep in hopes to regain full strength in the morning..

You awake in the morning to the sound of footsteps.  It's incoherent and you don't fully grasp what's actually happening.  Then, you see Brian putting on his armor in what seems to be a rush in the tent.  You notice that his weights are on the ground still.

"Eh, the greeks here? or is it a messenger?"

I close my eys and relax as I said it...

"So far, we can see over twenty ships with ease.  We're taking down the tents so that they will have less time to prepare for our defense.  They might not be as cautious if they don't think that as many of us are here.  Get up and help me out!"  Brian seems rushed as he just finishes up his armor by putting his helmet on and clipping his sword belt.

"Yeah yeah..."

I get up and don my armor, swords, shurikens, and other battle gear...

Then I help everyone in taking down the tents and such..

By the end of helping out, you find that the greeks are closer than expected and that the other men don't seem to realize this.  You can see clearly out there that the head ship's lookout is looking at you take down tents and they're calling to the other greek ships.

Your armor is a little heavy, but you feel like you can maneuver in it decently, though battoujutsu will be limitted.

Knowing that Battoujutsu will be limited, I take out the sword I recieved here and decided that it is a bit easier to use when I can't do my best with my known skill...so improvising and being a bit freeform with this sword will be the best bet..

Looking at the lookout, I, just because it would be interesting..., take out my dark blade, unsheathe it, and point it right at the lookout...even though I know it won't be used unless needed in battle...

OOC:  So what are you doing then?

OoC: I'm waiting to see what happens, either we prepare ourselves, or to see if you mention them saying that I'm cocky..or something of the sort, I kinda just want to get to to the battle, and either win and carry on or die and go to a new world...  I seek something more like the Academy or Mal's world...need things to be interesting, and ever since I pulled that spell off I haven't been able to do anything and I've been getting bored..>_>

OOC:  Lol, and I thought you were going to try to make an empire on this world, lol.

Your men come up around you and form a line next to you.  You notice that your soldiers are right next to Brian's, him being up in the front of his lines as well.  He looks rather confident for going into a large-scale battle that the military leaders saw as a sure defeat anyways.

Now, the first three greek ships have come up.  One has a large man weilding a sword just as large to fit his huge body.  The other two look roughly the same size as normal, but one of them is in different armor, the same as the rest of his men basically.  He and his men, though arrows rain down on them, continue to go forth with their shields and taking minimal casualties.

The boat on the far right with the other average height man is taking few casualties as well, but his men are moving up much slower.  You expect the next wave of ships to arrive in about half a minute.

"Hey Brian, have you any Fire spells that are rather effective in this situation but aren't as powerful as the one I almost died on?"

Your soldiers and the others begin bashing their shields to make a unanimous, powerful sound.  You assume that it's to decrease enemy morale and raise your own.  Brian is doing this with them and he can't hear you over it, too many men between your positions.

I join in figuring that I might as well... and when I finish I get into an all too familiar state of mind..the way that my heart sinks into battle and that I care not how many lives I destroy so long as I kill my enemy... I enjoy the killing and my mental and physical capabilites are at their peak, I enjoy the slaughter that will ensue for no matter how much I kill, I shall keep on killing...

Your men don't have much work to do, only having the edge of a group to deal with.  They stay in line though, rather than assisting their brethren unless it fits perfectly to do so and they can help quick enough.  Through the first clash, it seems that the other Trojans aren't able to push the greeks back, but only hold them there.

More greeks begin to run up.  There's some great commotion to your left, one captain over from Brian, but you can't see anything from here.  Now, there are 5 more boats that have hit the shore.  Arrows still rain on them, cutting their all out charge down.  They fall like flies, but it seems like the boats don't stop.  This group meets your front line directly.  You're able to defend yourself without getting wounded from the first man, but they cut down the men by you and seem to cut through your forces.  Your men start to get out of formation because of this near the back.

I jump back a bit...

I put away my trojan sword and unequip my shield, then I take my shield and throw it right into the enemy lines right at one of the greeks..

I place my hands on oth my swords ready to attack and charge into their ranks, as I slaughter all their people...and enjoy all that I kill... making sure to watch my guards and go for their vitals...

The three greeks directly in front of you screech to a halt as you pull out those two blades.  You can see them stricken with fear as you charge and slice into the two on the outside's juggulars.  The man in between them is splashed with blood and falls to the ground shivering.  It is like a ripple effect as all of the greeks around you begin to look at you, distracted from their current fights.  Your men use this chance and push them back.  The fleeing greeks are slaughtered, only ten of them making it away down the beach, half of them killed by archers.

You line your men up for the next assault, which is coming soon.  Seven more ships land on the shores.  You look to Brian's front and find that he is holding them, but struggling.  The captain to your right seems like he's struggling even more, two greek units pushing in on him.  Still, the greeks from the shore are just now charging up, two of whose units are coming up towards you.

I look at all the Greeks around me and let out a battle cry...

I charge the greeks attacking brians line killing all that I see, until the ones that arrive on the boat reach my line, then I kill the ones around me jump and turn back towards my line killing all my foes in the way...I place my hands on both my swords ready to attack and charge into their ranks, as I slaughter all their people...and enjoy all that I kill... making sure to watch my guards and go for their vitals... I enjoy the killing and slaughter them all mercilessly..

Watching and counting all that I kill to add it to the thousands that I've killed before them..
This message was last edited by the player at 03:02, Wed 30 Aug 2006.

Your actions are met by failure.  You manage to kill a couple as you flank the men attacking Brian's troops.  The others, however, don't seem to give in as easily to you and after you kill twelve of them, they keep on coming strong and slice into a small spot unprotected in your upper arm.  Your men fight desperately to hold the line.

I, in my frenzy ignore the pain and do a quick 360 degree turn spinning my baldes in a full circle then attacking the closest greek to me..

Lets see including those 12 and the others that I've killed...lets see...that puts me around the 2.2k mark.....maybe close to half way to 2.3k hmm this is getting interesting, nows no time to stop though, I will keep on killing..

Keeping my blades in a flurry for defenses and attacking swiftly and lethally as I had learned and trained, I kill the greeks all around me holding my line..

You spin around, knocking away some blades.  When you come up to attack, you are stabbed by a greek soldier.  Right away, you begin to feel weaker.  You hear a loud voice, Hector's along with others shouting, "Back to Troy!  Flee to the walls!"  You fall to the ground on your knees, your swords still in your hands as you hold one of your hands over the wound.

The greeks are charging past you, but a couple see you there and charge over towards you.  You see it, the blade bearing down and about to strike you dead.  Then, there's a clash.  A man in Trojan armor rams the one about to kill you with his shield, stabbing him in the neck.  Then, another Trojan from the other direction comes to slice the other greek coming for you's throat, blood splashing everywhere.  Greeks are all around, but one of the men hoists you up onto his back.  You hold on, still hanging onto your blades.  You can hear the clanging of metal and a steady sword behind you and bashes all around.  You fall unconcious.

The next time you wake up, you're on a bloodied blanket on a dirt floor.  You look at your hands, they're pale and without weapons in them.  You feel sick, and in pain near your ribs and a little bit higher.  Brian is exhausted in the corner, bandaged himself in his side, upper right arm, and both legs.  He's smiling.

I open my eyes wide and lean up quickly then fall from the pain..

"Brian, where are my swords?

"Don't worry, it's all over there."  He points to the corner of the room you two are in, which is quite small, and you see everything you brought into the battle minus the trojan shield.  Even your helmet is still there.  "You held onto those things pretty tight the whole way back, even when you were unconcious."  You see his eyes roll up some and can see the look of exhaustion in his face.

"That's good to hear...well My count went up in that fight...how many people have you killed in your lifetimes Brian?  I know I've killed my share..."

He looked down some, "That's the first actual battle that I've ever been in."  You see that his skin looks especially dry and when you look over on the wall next to your things, you find his armor singed, even his sword and shield.  An attendant comes in to check in on you.

He prods at your wounds through your pain and judges the damage.  "It seems like you'll live.  It is questionable, however, if you'll fight again for a while.  If it wasn't for Brian's Miracles, you would have died.

Well if Ares wasn't so hasty with throwing me here, I could've healed myself up to full instantly with a sacred artifact I found in another world...

"Well Brian, my count...its up there.  Thanks for saving me in that one....while we were slamming our shields in the beginning I tried to ask you if you new a powerful fire spell that would work in this position..."

The attendant leaves with a face that you can't match a feeling towards.

Brian simply replies, "Yeah, I released some fire, but it wasn't enough to stop that many men at once.  It isn't like I can supernova or anything... yet."  He smiled at the pause and last word, laughing a little.  When he laughed, you could tell pain shot through him, and he held his side.

"Well Brian, if I knew I was going to die right then...I would've tried the spell to take out as many as I could with me.."


I continue to rest for a bit...
This message was last edited by the player at 23:21, Thu 31 Aug 2006.

"What do you mean die?"  Brian looks down some.  You can tell that he's deep in thought, but then he looks up towards you smiling again.  "You're not good enough to fight yet, but you will be soon so don't worry.  For now, though, I'm taking command of your men too until you get better."  As he stands, you see him wince in pain, holding his side again as he walks out of the room.

Before you can answer, he's gone.  You try to get some rest and awaken to the sound of horns blowing.

I get up slowly and try to find out the meaning of the horns, if I get up and am in pain, then I continue to rest, knowing someone will come for me if they really need me..

You try to raise yourself up, but find that it makes you sick to your stomache and in pain as well.  You decide to rest, and then you awaken to the same room around you, your things still in the corner.  You're exhausted as normal, but you look to your hands and find that they aren't so pale anymore.  You assume that your blood is at least at a decent level again.

I do the same as before...if I can get up successfully, I put my gear on and sit down and rest before continuing onward..

This time, you sleep for another whole day.  Brian comes back in and talks with you after that.  He has a bandage on his head and even more scorch marks than before.  He has burns all over his body and his arms are shaking some when he enters.  "We managed to hold the Greeks off, and I didn't get too hurt this time."  He sits down on the floor, leaning against the wall, after taking his armor off and putting it on the floor next to him.  "They don't stand a chance against our Walls, but if memory serves we don't need to go on with this war for that long.  All we have to do is get to this man named Rhesus.  If his horses reach Troy, it's prophesized that it will win the war."

"Ok, so what happened to you, and what happened while I slept?"

Hmm, I know I can sense other versers, as I did it with Thomas, Krillis, Brian, and Malachai...my gear..it also verses with me, so it is sort of a verser...if I try to sense it the way that I sensed other versers maybe I can find my gear and get my equipment... I'd have acess to some guns... as well as my device...hmm this might work..

I wonder how Brian got hurt the burn marks...he didn't burn himself...did he?

*attempts it*

"Did you burn yourself? or how did you get burnt?"

You try to sense other versers in a wider radius.  You feel like your perception is wider, but you can still only fell Brian as a verser around you.  You can't tell how wide your perception just went.

When you try to sense and draw a connection to your items, you find that you can't feel anything from this distance.

Brian responds to you, "The Greeks attacked our walls while you were asleep.  We gathered outside and I released a lot more fire than my perameters are.  I won't be able to use magic for a little while, at least not out of my arms."  He lifts his arms up to show you.  They're swollen and red, still shaking.
This message was last edited by the GM at 20:38, Sat 02 Sept 2006.

"Ahh well you can always use some lesser stuff out of your mouth like you did as a fox, right?"

I get up, and go over and get my gear on...my swords mostly since we are within the walls and I can fight  back to get my other gear if I really need to..., and start to walk towards the exit, I plan on going towards the gates then trying to sense for more versers...trying to see if there are any outside the gates among the enemy...
This message was last edited by the player at 20:49, Sat 02 Sept 2006.

Brian comes with you when you head towards the gates.  "In the battle, our archers massacred the enemy Greeks and they were forced to withdraw back to the shores.  About Rhesus, I think that when you're better, we can organize a group to go and retrieve him and escort him here.  I'll need your help, because if memory serves, the myths say that Odysseus and Diomedes, two tough Greeks, kill him."

You reach the gates and try to sense versers.  Still, you don't manage to sense any at all.

"Hey Brian, do you think you could try to heal me a bit, using something other than your hands? like maybe your feet or your mouth or something?"

Brian replies, "No, I can't release healing powers from anywhere but my hands.  I didn't stay in that class for too long after I moved out of your room.  I just need a day to recover from my magic use and I should have a higher ability with my magic.  I really pushed my limits in that last battle."

"Ok, then lets go rest for a bit...we both need it and as soon as we are in well enough condition, we can get a small group to go escort that guy..."

I turn and return to my resting place..

After a little under a week, 6 days to be exact, you feel that your body has fully recovered.  You can move freely with only a little bit of pain in your side and no pain in your arm.  Brian's up to snuff as well.  Without a battle having happened, the two of you are fresh and ready for action.

After that week, Hector comes into you two's room.  He's sweating like he's been running in his armor to you two.  "Avahur, are you better yet?  You took a nasty wound in the battle back there, and I haven't had time to come in this week."  He looks you up and down, you leaning against the wall, "Looks like you are alright..  I need you two to come with me.  Achilles and his Myrmadons, accompanied by other greek commanders, are sacking villages vital to Troy's survival during this.  Are you up for the job?"

Sure, when do we leave? Also before we do leave, I do need to talk with Brian for a minute or two...

Hector nods and says, "I'll be waiting outside.  We'll be leaving in a short bit, so make the conversation brief.  You'll need time to tell your men about this."

After Hector leaves, Brian talks, "So, what's up?"

"Do you think you could try some Healing Magic on the wound I got on my stomach? It still hurts a bit, and I want to save my stamina for when we need it, and you are better at magic than I am.."

"Sure, but I'm not going to put that much into it.  It won't effect my stamina, but I want my magic to come back without me resting from this."  Brian looks up to you as you feel something warm creeping from his hands into your stomache, a familiar magic.  "So, what do you think of these battles we're going through?  Heck of a workout, isn't it?"  You feel some of the pain go away, but you still feel it to a degree.

"Thanks, that helped a bit.."

I look at him..

"Yeah it is a good work out...Brian being a verser probably means you will have to kill people on more than one occasion, if you get good at it, you can help survive longer in worlds where you want to stay, like the academy...Well lets go with Hector..I wonder how many people he's killed...probably not more than me...It's pretty hard to top 2.3k, wouldn't you agree?"

As we go outside..

Alright we will so inform our men, how many should we bring with us?

Hector replies, "You need to bring all of your men with you."  For a second, Hector looks down, but then clenches his fist.  "We need to head out soon.  As quickly as you can, gather your men and get to Troy's Eastern Gate."  He then leaves, and you assume that he's gathering his own forces.

"Hey Brian lets get our men, if we feel the need to break off and go off with a small unit to find and protect the guy we can, but I think we will be fine for now helping hector and such.."

We gather our men and meet up with hector..

When you arrive at the camp where your men are stationed in the city to retrieve them, you find that 1/5 of your and Brian's combined forces are injured so that they can't move at the moment.

"I think we should leave 1/5 here with the others and take the remaining 3/5 with us, agreeable?"

You and your soldiers then march to the gate that you're exiting from.  Hector is there with two extra horses.  His mass of soldiers makes up 3/4 of the three of you's combined force.  He speaks up, "I have two fresh horses so that the three of us can ride to the villages rather than walk."  Brian nods, and steps forward, getting on a horse.

I do the same and nod that we are ready to leave.

The three of you and your men head out of the city and off to the east.  In about a day and a half, with adequate rests, you reach a village.  You can tell that it's just a simple farming village from the distance and make your way closer.  Hector explains to the two of you that Troy, during seiges such as these, relies on supplies from surrounding villages.  It also turns out that the Greeks know this and Achilles himself is leading raids on these cities.

When you ride into the city, followed by your men marching through the main streets as well, you see dirty, simple working class individuals.  They have a generally happy feeling about them.  Each of you make camp on a side of the village.  You and Brian make camp to the north and east.  Hector covers the other two sides, expected to be possibly more dangerous.  Eventually, you find yourself wandering through the large village with Brian.  The people here clearly see you as heroes.

I walk through the city looking around at all the people in it and decide to check around the city first, see if anything..odd might be here.  I expect nothing but look around casually anyway enjoying the town.

"So Brian, what are the plans about finding the other guy.  He is important to the survival of Troy, but he is going to be attacked, do we know where or when?  Also, with what we have now, how do you think things will turn out... Brian, I can't quite remember, do you remember who Achilles is?"

I continue to look around and maybe as we walk head over and see what info we might be able to gather from the villagers about anything in particular, after Brian answers and we finish our talk and such.  I breathe in and out enjoying the open air that you usually can't find anywhere, anymore..

You look around and don't see anything suspicious.  Some men clasp your shoulder and mutter their thanks for your efforts as you pass by them.  Brian talks to you in english along your walk.  "I don't know much about Rhesus, but he's betreyed when they torture a Trojan spy named Dolon.  About Achilles, he's the strongest warrior here in this war and eventually kills Hector in single combat.  He's so lethal that every enemy within a four yard radius of him is considered dead."

"He's the one that kills Hector? Wow, must be part of the reason they lost, hector could see through the whole horse ploy, but with him dieing..."


I smile and nod at the townsfolk as we walk past...

"Hey Brian, what are the chances of a verser being here but on the side of the greeks?"

Brian simply responds, "Well, the likelihood of someone versing at the same time we did is decently high, but considering all of the worlds it's unlikely.  I don't know much about versing.  I suppose that if one landed in Greece and one of the gods who favored the Greeks picked them up and threw them into this war like Ares did, then it would be bad."

Then, his eyes widened.  "Do you think that people from the Academy are in the Greek ranks maybe?!  I mean, you and I were at the Academy.  Do you know of any other versers that were there?"

"I only knew of one more, but I think there was atleast one more than that.  Malachai, he was a verser, the person that attacked the academy before we died....I think those were the work of a verser.."

"Well, we haven't heard about anything about the Greeks having warriors of the gods other than the normal names-to-know like Achilles.  I think that we can wait for going to get Rhesus.  This place needs to be defended from Achilles and his raiding parties, right?"

"Yeah, for now we should protect them...after this, when we get back to a spot between our camp sites, can you give me a hand practicing shurikenjutsu? Rachel taught me a little about it, but I still haven't quite gotten the hang of it."

"Yeah, yeah, sure.  Do you want to just go there now and train while being on guard for the enemy to come?  We have no idea when or where Achilles is going to come from, but if Hector's here, there's a good chance that he'll show up and attack this village."

"Yeah lets go train now...Do you remember when Hector was killed...if it is in this battle, well we've seen what the greeks wear, it isn't bulky, so with the proper timing we could throw shurikens at the neck area to kill him from a distance... I've used and thrown shurikens in battle before, not with shurikenjutsu though, and I know that if it can be done successfuly, then you can be a very deadly person if your aim is good."

You train with Brian until it's dark.  You feel like you're progressing in your skill with shuriken.  In the end, you throw one shuriken with each hand in different directions outwards.  They curve back and hit your target, a tree from each side.  Brian laughs some when you talk about killing Achilles.  "Achilles' only mortal body part are his ankles, supposedly.  Plus, as great a warrior as he is, no shuriken is going to touch him, immortal or not."

"How is his only mortal part the ankles?  That makes no sense..either way he's going to die.. lets work for another hour then stop.."

After another hour, you don't feel like you've improved anymore.  "Well, his mother, a goddess, supposedly dipped him into the River Styx to make him immortal.  But she missed something.  She dipped him in while holding onto his ankles during it, so the water never touched that part of him."

"Well then we have to exploit his weakness and win, hector and myself are very good tactitions, we can explain what we know and have him help us, you can go to bed now if you like, I wanna take a qucik jog to hector's camp and see if he is still awake, there is stuff I want to ask him about the upcoming battles.."

Brian nods and heads in to get some sleep.  You manage to find Hector up still sitting down.  He's looking out over the fields as if he's expecting the enemy to get there any minute now.

Hey Hector, mind if we talk for a bit? There are a few things I'd like to talk to you about..

If he accepts, I plan to talk about the upcoming attack, the rumors of archilles being mostly immortal except for his ankles, and about hector's death by Archilles hand..and then talk to him about strategies before heading back to camp to sleep.
This message was last edited by the player at 00:32, Tue 05 Sept 2006.