TheEthanEffect
TNT
- Joined
- Aug 26, 2011
The assassin pushed aside the branches, peering through the leaves of the tree concealing his position. His mark laid straight ahead...
Word of the the unification of the ARC kingdom had reached his ears mere hours ago, and a finer opportunity for the new recruit to impress the mistress of the order could not have presented itself. Grabbing his spear, the dragoon stepped outside the gates of Orion and sped off towards enemy territory. Having raided the capital city of Solis multiple times, he was familiar with the layout of the city and the terrain surrounding it, and intended to use this knowledge to his full advantage. However, the numbers were not in his favor. While the average Solis guard patrol was easy enough to dispatch, the celebration of the now King kriskills' ascension meant that a majority of the Solis population would be gathered in one location, and his target would be right in the thick of it. Two or three soldiers wouldn't be an issue, but two or three dozen would. The killer would need a distraction, something to isolate his target, where he could strike quickly and make a quick escape. Jumping up onto the side of a cliff, he scanned his surroundings like a hawk searching for prey. Movement in the sand in the nearby desert caught his eye, and he saw his solution.
Digging around in the sand was a young man. What he was doing was anyone's guess, but it didn't matter. Over by his pack, laid across a rock, was a spear. Far from the keen, well-crafted lance the assassin wielded, the youth's weapon was forged from iron and one of many mass produced by the blacksmiths of Solis for use by their newly founded dragoon corps. Despite the amount of damage to both the city's morale and to its coffers, the assassin's exploits and bold strikes into the city during broad daylight had inspired more than a few of the Solis army to follow the same path. Unfortunately for them, their confidence often greatly outweighed their skill, and most of the recruits found their time in the Solis dragoon corps ended rather quickly by miscalculating a jump. The lucky ones escaping only with crushed legs from bad landings, but the others spent their last moments cursing themselves before being impaled by their opponents, who merely lifted their swords into the air and waiting. The survival of this youth, however, was the key of the assassin's plan. Readying his spear and steadying himself, the dragoon leaped from his perch, landing in the sand just a few feet away from the individual who would be the distraction he needed. Instinctively diving towards his weapon, the young soldier grabbed his weapon and prepared for combat. The assassin effortlessly knocked away the youth's spear, thrusting his foot out in a strong kick to knock the Solis fighter onto his back. Raising his own lance, the dragoon towered over his fallen adversary, ready to strike down and end his life. As expected, the boy rolled to the side and onto his feet, jumping away to flee. Giving him a substantial head start, the assassin gave chase, one soldier flying through the air, running for his life, with a lethal predator hot on his heels. As the staircase to one of the towns of the ARC kingdom came into view, the assassin slowed his approach while the youth scrambled into the city. Clearing the gate, the youth turned, seeing his opponent out on a hill, looking dead at him. At that moment, the Solis soldier knew two things: One, he had just barely escaped his doom, and two, the killer was still out there, and the next Solis citizen he ran across would not be as fortunate. The assassin waited there for a few moments, knowing he was still being watched. Ensuring the eyes of the townspeople were still fixed upon him, he turned in the direction of Solis, and jumped away. As the sun began to set, he stalked around the city outskirts, making sure there were no active patrols to interfere with his plans, before ducking inside a cave and waiting for nightfall.
Darkness began to set in. Dark clouds had rolled in, obscuring the moonlight, making it even harder to see. Torches began to light at the gate of the city. As the small sources of light began to spread out across the landscape, the assassin knew the youth had informed his superiors of the dragoon's presence, and that the guards had been dispatched to find and eliminate him. This meant that either the king was inside the city with minimal defense, or had decided to assert himself as a warrior king and join in the hunt himself. The amount of commotion and sheer number of search parties led the assassin to believe the latter was the case. Taking advantage of the poor visibility, he moved across the landscape, taking great care to stay on the ground and in the shadows to remain undetected. Watching two torches separate out from the largest group, the dragoon focused his attention on them for a moment. Despite the darkness, flickers of the flames from the torches gave a glimpse of the faces of two men. The first was too faint for the assassin to make out, but the second confirmed his suspicions. King kriskills had indeed entered the field. With his target sighted, the assassin stalked the pair of men, waiting for them to travel further away from the other search groups, before advancing his position to decide on his next move. From hill to hill, hill to rock, rock to rock, and then rock to tree, the killer slowly closed the gap between himself and his mark. As he reached the tree, the assassin felt a wet drop upon his head, then another, and yet another. Pausing to look toward the sky, a loud crack of thunder shook the ground, and the rain began to fall.
Through the leaves and the branches, he watched. While the pouring rain made the view more difficult, a flash of lightning lit up the sky, and revealed the identity of the king's companion. It was none other than the governor of Solis and the captain of the ARC Royal Guard, ShadoWall555. The assassin had fought ShadoWall555 before in a couple of skirmishes. Like him, ShadoWall555 was a dragoon, and one of the few from Solis who could hold his own in a fight. King krisskill was far from a pushover himself, and his skill as an excellent swordsman was matched only by his reputation for fighting dirty. This was going to be far from an easy fight, but the assassin knew not only that murdering the new king so soon after he came to power would make a powerful statement from the Assassins of Apherdite, but that he would likely not get such a chance again once order had set in. The rain and thunder would help mask the sound of battle, and give him more time to make his kill and escape. It was now or never. Giving one last look around the area and spotting a narrow crevice in the land he could use to his advantage, the assassin gripped his lance and gauged the position of his targets. With the next flash of lightning and crack of thunder, he flew from the tree towards the two men he intended to kill.
He landed softly in the grass, roughly ten feet from his opponents. The two turned to face him, both instantly recognizing who they were up against. The king chuckled softly as he drew his sword. "Well, well, well... you always have been bold to a foolish degree, but this is just suicidal." All three remained motionless with their weapons at the ready, the assassin's purple scarf blowing in the wind. With a flash of lightning and crack of thunder, the two nobles of Solis charged at the assassin, and the battle began.
Outnumbered two to one, with ShadoWall555 in the fight, the assassin knew his key to victory was to outmaneuver the other dragoon and battle him alone, then fight the king directly, while never letting kriskills get an open shot at his back. ShadoWall555 was the first to move, with a standard dragoon opener, jumping over and behind the assassin while kriskills charged forward, attempting to flank their opponent and end the fight quickly. Having expected this, the assassin jumped to the side, putting his back to the entrance of the crevice, centering both of his opponents in front of him. Backing further in, he watched ShadoWall555 prepare for a direct linear assault from behind. Normally, a dragoon trapped in close quarters with two opponents on either side, with nowhere to jump, would be shredded. The assassin knew ShadoWall555 knew this, and was counting on him to do exactly what he was about to. ShadoWall555 repeated his earlier action and jumped into the crevice behind the assassin. With kriskills on one side and ShadoWall555 behind him, the assassin was pinned and couldn't turn to defend himself. While the assassin fought kriskills, ShadoWall555 saw his chance and charged at the assassin. The assassin continued defending himself against the enemy king, while silently counting in his head. "Three... two... one... JUMP!" Just as ShadoWall555 was about to drive his spear into the assassin's back, the assassin leaped straight up into the air. Unable to stop the forward momentum of his charge, ShadoWall555 crashed into kriskills. As the two struggled to regain their footing, the assassin landed softly behind the other dragoon and began to advance forward. Indeed... with a person on either side and nowhere to jump, a dragoon is as good as dead. ShadoWall555 grabbed his spear and frantically tried to turn to face the assassin, but it was too late. As he turned, the assassin's lance shot out and sliced through his throat. Blood sprayed from the severed arteries of ShadoWall555's neck into the face of kriskills and across the crevice as the governor of Solis collapsed to the ground, gurgling sounds coming from his throat, bleeding to death in a matter of seconds. Without the aid of his bodyguard, the king was now trapped in a narrow column barely wide enough for him to swing his sword against a skilled opponent armed with a weapon with both greater range and better ability to fight in confined spaces. He was in trouble, and he knew it. Fighting defensively back to the entrance of the crevice, the king made one last desperate move. Finally out of the crevice, the king reached into a pouch and threw a handful of dust into the face of the assassin, who still hadn't cleared the exit. He turned, seeing the torches of one of the patrols out searching for the assassin. Drawing a deep breath to yell for help, his cry was cut short by sudden, sharp pain in his torso. Looking down, he saw the assassin's spear protruding from his chest, coated in crimson. He attempted to cry out for help, but it was in vain, and he only managed to cough up a mouthful of blood. The thrust was a precision attack meant to kill, piercing both the king's heart and spine. As his vision grew dim, the last thing the king felt was the assassin's boot coldly pushing his body off of his spear and onto the ground.
The assassin paused for a moment to observe the dead king, then looked back at his fallen companion. Retrieving ShadoWall555's corpse, he laid the two bodies next to each other in a peaceful pose, with their arms crossed over their chests and eyes closed. They had fought well, and deserved a token of respect. He smirked softly to himself, finding humor in the brief amount of time kriskills lived as king, knowing that there would be chaos as ARC tried to find a successor so soon with ShadoWall555 dead as well. As the rain slowly washed away the blood from his lance, he knelt down with a dagger and carved "AoA" into the forehead of both bodies. Seeing a group of torches closing in on his position, the assassin darted off into the darkness, taking both the spear of the governor of Solis and the sword of the fallen king with him to present to mistress Apherdite as trophies.
(A level 37 Dragoon ambushed a level 50 Dragoon and a level 50 Ninja, who are the SIC and king of the newest kingdom that was founded less than six hours earlier, assassinated both of them, and leveled up to 38 by killing the king. If that's not some high grade AoA awesomesauce, I don't know what is.
)
Word of the the unification of the ARC kingdom had reached his ears mere hours ago, and a finer opportunity for the new recruit to impress the mistress of the order could not have presented itself. Grabbing his spear, the dragoon stepped outside the gates of Orion and sped off towards enemy territory. Having raided the capital city of Solis multiple times, he was familiar with the layout of the city and the terrain surrounding it, and intended to use this knowledge to his full advantage. However, the numbers were not in his favor. While the average Solis guard patrol was easy enough to dispatch, the celebration of the now King kriskills' ascension meant that a majority of the Solis population would be gathered in one location, and his target would be right in the thick of it. Two or three soldiers wouldn't be an issue, but two or three dozen would. The killer would need a distraction, something to isolate his target, where he could strike quickly and make a quick escape. Jumping up onto the side of a cliff, he scanned his surroundings like a hawk searching for prey. Movement in the sand in the nearby desert caught his eye, and he saw his solution.
Digging around in the sand was a young man. What he was doing was anyone's guess, but it didn't matter. Over by his pack, laid across a rock, was a spear. Far from the keen, well-crafted lance the assassin wielded, the youth's weapon was forged from iron and one of many mass produced by the blacksmiths of Solis for use by their newly founded dragoon corps. Despite the amount of damage to both the city's morale and to its coffers, the assassin's exploits and bold strikes into the city during broad daylight had inspired more than a few of the Solis army to follow the same path. Unfortunately for them, their confidence often greatly outweighed their skill, and most of the recruits found their time in the Solis dragoon corps ended rather quickly by miscalculating a jump. The lucky ones escaping only with crushed legs from bad landings, but the others spent their last moments cursing themselves before being impaled by their opponents, who merely lifted their swords into the air and waiting. The survival of this youth, however, was the key of the assassin's plan. Readying his spear and steadying himself, the dragoon leaped from his perch, landing in the sand just a few feet away from the individual who would be the distraction he needed. Instinctively diving towards his weapon, the young soldier grabbed his weapon and prepared for combat. The assassin effortlessly knocked away the youth's spear, thrusting his foot out in a strong kick to knock the Solis fighter onto his back. Raising his own lance, the dragoon towered over his fallen adversary, ready to strike down and end his life. As expected, the boy rolled to the side and onto his feet, jumping away to flee. Giving him a substantial head start, the assassin gave chase, one soldier flying through the air, running for his life, with a lethal predator hot on his heels. As the staircase to one of the towns of the ARC kingdom came into view, the assassin slowed his approach while the youth scrambled into the city. Clearing the gate, the youth turned, seeing his opponent out on a hill, looking dead at him. At that moment, the Solis soldier knew two things: One, he had just barely escaped his doom, and two, the killer was still out there, and the next Solis citizen he ran across would not be as fortunate. The assassin waited there for a few moments, knowing he was still being watched. Ensuring the eyes of the townspeople were still fixed upon him, he turned in the direction of Solis, and jumped away. As the sun began to set, he stalked around the city outskirts, making sure there were no active patrols to interfere with his plans, before ducking inside a cave and waiting for nightfall.
Darkness began to set in. Dark clouds had rolled in, obscuring the moonlight, making it even harder to see. Torches began to light at the gate of the city. As the small sources of light began to spread out across the landscape, the assassin knew the youth had informed his superiors of the dragoon's presence, and that the guards had been dispatched to find and eliminate him. This meant that either the king was inside the city with minimal defense, or had decided to assert himself as a warrior king and join in the hunt himself. The amount of commotion and sheer number of search parties led the assassin to believe the latter was the case. Taking advantage of the poor visibility, he moved across the landscape, taking great care to stay on the ground and in the shadows to remain undetected. Watching two torches separate out from the largest group, the dragoon focused his attention on them for a moment. Despite the darkness, flickers of the flames from the torches gave a glimpse of the faces of two men. The first was too faint for the assassin to make out, but the second confirmed his suspicions. King kriskills had indeed entered the field. With his target sighted, the assassin stalked the pair of men, waiting for them to travel further away from the other search groups, before advancing his position to decide on his next move. From hill to hill, hill to rock, rock to rock, and then rock to tree, the killer slowly closed the gap between himself and his mark. As he reached the tree, the assassin felt a wet drop upon his head, then another, and yet another. Pausing to look toward the sky, a loud crack of thunder shook the ground, and the rain began to fall.
Through the leaves and the branches, he watched. While the pouring rain made the view more difficult, a flash of lightning lit up the sky, and revealed the identity of the king's companion. It was none other than the governor of Solis and the captain of the ARC Royal Guard, ShadoWall555. The assassin had fought ShadoWall555 before in a couple of skirmishes. Like him, ShadoWall555 was a dragoon, and one of the few from Solis who could hold his own in a fight. King krisskill was far from a pushover himself, and his skill as an excellent swordsman was matched only by his reputation for fighting dirty. This was going to be far from an easy fight, but the assassin knew not only that murdering the new king so soon after he came to power would make a powerful statement from the Assassins of Apherdite, but that he would likely not get such a chance again once order had set in. The rain and thunder would help mask the sound of battle, and give him more time to make his kill and escape. It was now or never. Giving one last look around the area and spotting a narrow crevice in the land he could use to his advantage, the assassin gripped his lance and gauged the position of his targets. With the next flash of lightning and crack of thunder, he flew from the tree towards the two men he intended to kill.
He landed softly in the grass, roughly ten feet from his opponents. The two turned to face him, both instantly recognizing who they were up against. The king chuckled softly as he drew his sword. "Well, well, well... you always have been bold to a foolish degree, but this is just suicidal." All three remained motionless with their weapons at the ready, the assassin's purple scarf blowing in the wind. With a flash of lightning and crack of thunder, the two nobles of Solis charged at the assassin, and the battle began.
Outnumbered two to one, with ShadoWall555 in the fight, the assassin knew his key to victory was to outmaneuver the other dragoon and battle him alone, then fight the king directly, while never letting kriskills get an open shot at his back. ShadoWall555 was the first to move, with a standard dragoon opener, jumping over and behind the assassin while kriskills charged forward, attempting to flank their opponent and end the fight quickly. Having expected this, the assassin jumped to the side, putting his back to the entrance of the crevice, centering both of his opponents in front of him. Backing further in, he watched ShadoWall555 prepare for a direct linear assault from behind. Normally, a dragoon trapped in close quarters with two opponents on either side, with nowhere to jump, would be shredded. The assassin knew ShadoWall555 knew this, and was counting on him to do exactly what he was about to. ShadoWall555 repeated his earlier action and jumped into the crevice behind the assassin. With kriskills on one side and ShadoWall555 behind him, the assassin was pinned and couldn't turn to defend himself. While the assassin fought kriskills, ShadoWall555 saw his chance and charged at the assassin. The assassin continued defending himself against the enemy king, while silently counting in his head. "Three... two... one... JUMP!" Just as ShadoWall555 was about to drive his spear into the assassin's back, the assassin leaped straight up into the air. Unable to stop the forward momentum of his charge, ShadoWall555 crashed into kriskills. As the two struggled to regain their footing, the assassin landed softly behind the other dragoon and began to advance forward. Indeed... with a person on either side and nowhere to jump, a dragoon is as good as dead. ShadoWall555 grabbed his spear and frantically tried to turn to face the assassin, but it was too late. As he turned, the assassin's lance shot out and sliced through his throat. Blood sprayed from the severed arteries of ShadoWall555's neck into the face of kriskills and across the crevice as the governor of Solis collapsed to the ground, gurgling sounds coming from his throat, bleeding to death in a matter of seconds. Without the aid of his bodyguard, the king was now trapped in a narrow column barely wide enough for him to swing his sword against a skilled opponent armed with a weapon with both greater range and better ability to fight in confined spaces. He was in trouble, and he knew it. Fighting defensively back to the entrance of the crevice, the king made one last desperate move. Finally out of the crevice, the king reached into a pouch and threw a handful of dust into the face of the assassin, who still hadn't cleared the exit. He turned, seeing the torches of one of the patrols out searching for the assassin. Drawing a deep breath to yell for help, his cry was cut short by sudden, sharp pain in his torso. Looking down, he saw the assassin's spear protruding from his chest, coated in crimson. He attempted to cry out for help, but it was in vain, and he only managed to cough up a mouthful of blood. The thrust was a precision attack meant to kill, piercing both the king's heart and spine. As his vision grew dim, the last thing the king felt was the assassin's boot coldly pushing his body off of his spear and onto the ground.
The assassin paused for a moment to observe the dead king, then looked back at his fallen companion. Retrieving ShadoWall555's corpse, he laid the two bodies next to each other in a peaceful pose, with their arms crossed over their chests and eyes closed. They had fought well, and deserved a token of respect. He smirked softly to himself, finding humor in the brief amount of time kriskills lived as king, knowing that there would be chaos as ARC tried to find a successor so soon with ShadoWall555 dead as well. As the rain slowly washed away the blood from his lance, he knelt down with a dagger and carved "AoA" into the forehead of both bodies. Seeing a group of torches closing in on his position, the assassin darted off into the darkness, taking both the spear of the governor of Solis and the sword of the fallen king with him to present to mistress Apherdite as trophies.
(A level 37 Dragoon ambushed a level 50 Dragoon and a level 50 Ninja, who are the SIC and king of the newest kingdom that was founded less than six hours earlier, assassinated both of them, and leveled up to 38 by killing the king. If that's not some high grade AoA awesomesauce, I don't know what is.
)
