Resolution [Orcleous/Artemis]

[Artemis]

“Thanks for the gear!”

Artemis walked away from the store front smiling. After crossing the border in Sacae, she now found herself in Lycia, purchasing equipment such as bow string and arrowheads in preparation for further trekking. Along the way she had met several kind people who had either given her directions, rations or even a place to stay for the night. People who knew nothing about her, but were still willing to make sacrifices for her sake. In return, she told them what little story she could; the story of a girl out to become something more, to realise her mentor's dying wish. Even her impatience to find adventure had taken a back seat in Artemis' life. She knew that a places where heroes weren't needed lived in bliss, so it was her job to find more places in her travels and make it so they don't need heroes either.

Suddenly, Artemis' daydreaming was interrupted as she bumped into a tall, scrawny man. Looking up at his unpleasant visage, Artemis could tell this man would give her nothing but trouble, so she apologised, trying to move on as soon as possible. “Ey, love, that's alright. That's a very pretty dress yer wearin'.” The brute replied.
“Thank you, sir.” Artemis said, quickening her pace.
“Oi, don't be like that! I can also see you've got a lovely pair of legs on yerself 'n' all!”
Artemis kept silent and kept pace, her skin crawling.
“'Ere, let me just get a better look at 'em...” The bandit began lifting up Artemis' skirt. Furious, Artemis swung round and, with all her strength, unloaded a powerful fist into the man's jaw.

[Orcleous]

"Great this place again", spoke Orcleous as he walked though the streets of the town. The young Champion had been here before, though that was two years ago. He passed through this town during the his first trip out of Bern. It was one of the places that the Crimson Blades had shown him. On the outside it looked like a nice, but dingy little town. However on the inside it was a bit different. Bandits were always around here, bandits and mercenaries that is. You could also throw in a few assassins, but they were rare. Still Orcleous never liked the town. It was almost like a twisted version of his own home town. If they did not have their high walls Mordor could have ended up just like this place.

"Alright lets just get what I need", spoke the champion as he took a hard right and stepped into a nearby shop. After spending thirty minutes inside looking and searching Orcleous walked out the store with a pocket filled with yarn and a few small needles. Despite being a man of war now, Orcleous use to be a farmer. As a farmer he would often have to repair and mend his own clothing. In this situation Orcleous had a slash cutting across the front of his right pants leg. The work of a stray branch no less, but it still needed to be sewed up. If orcleous left it unattended any longer it would spread, eventually he would have not pants leg left. Ready to get to work Orcleous began making his way back toward the local tavern. He had already rented out a room and he was well prepared to spend the night in town and then head out in the morning. Sewing up his pants would be tonight entertainment.

As the Champion walked into the mud of the street he heard a familiar sound. It was only a grunt, but the sound was as familiar to Orcleous as the dinner bell to a dog. Somebody had just been punched, or hit, you really could not tell unless you saw it. The sound had bounced off the walls of the nearby buildings and Orcleous could tell the blow had some power in it. The champion's logic told him to walk away and go back to his tavern. Whoever was fighting or getting their face punched in, had nothing to do with him. Getting yourself caught up in small town politics was a quick way to getting yourself killed.

The old saying was that curiosity killed the cat. In this case Orcleous was sure it would be killed the man. However he wanted to know what was going on and who was fighting. He could be missing out on some good entertainment. Despite his brain sending him a essay on logical reason to not go in that direction, Orcleous moved toward the sound anyway. If he was in luck he could witness a pretty well rounded fight. If he was out of luck he could walk up onto a mugging. That was also fun, but not in the same way as a fist fight. Fist fights were manly challenges, muggins where pretty much group murder. NO fun at all.

[Artemis]

The bring staggered backwards in shock. “Don't you DARE touch someone like that you disgusting creep!” Artemis was enraged. All her kind thoughts about those who had helped her on her journey had dissipated and were replaced with sheer fury about the gall of this man, trying to take advantage of her like that. Turning the other way to continue walking, Artemis noticed that the area had cleared very quickly. Were it not for the fact that the stores were all manned mere seconds ago, Artemis could've sworn she had happened upon a ghost town.

Out of the shadows stepped two more men; One a squat, fat man and the other a muscular bandit with several cuts on his face. The latter said to the former in a direct and commanding voice “Go get the boys. If anyone decides to try an' be an hero things could get nasty.”, prompting the little fat man to run off down the street. Looking over her shoulder, Artemis could see that the leaner man she had punched earlier was beginning to run at her, lust in his eyes. “YOU WANT TO GO A ROUND YOU PRISSY LITTLE BITCH? PUT YER DUKES UP, THEN!” The bandit then leaped up into the air and brought a bony fist crashing down into Artemis' cheek. She reeled backwards, winded. Caught off guard, she was grabbed by the muscular bandit; one hand grasping her hair tightly, the other arm locking her own in place. “Now, let me tell you somethin', missy,” The man began. “My mate 'ere 'as been working very hard lately; pillagin' an' all that. He just deserves to have a bit of fun with a pretty little thing like yerself, understand?” Artemis still couldn't speak for being winded. Looking upwards towards his associate, the man continued. “Calm down now, Gus, she's all yours.”

Leering forward, a smile spread across Gus' face, showing cracked teeth and bleeding gums. “Aw, I'm sorry miss. Let's forget about our little punch up and do something much more entertaining.” He then stroked Artemis' face with a scrawny hand before bringing it down to her collar. Standing clear of Artemis' desperate, kicking legs, Gus unfastened the shirt , leaving it hanging on Artemis' shoulders. Then he started struggling with the under shirt as Artemis convulsed this way and that in an attempt to shake loose and run. Finally getting her breath back, she screamed. For the time in her life, Artemis was truly afraid.

[Orcleous]

As Orcleous began to move in the direction of the sound, or what he thought the sound came from. When sound bounced off buildings and objects it was quite hard to tell its origin point, or at least for orcleous it was. The Champion however knew he was going in the right direction when he saw a gentlemen running from it. "Great a mugging", spoke Orcleous as he started to pick up his pace. When people get mugged other people flee from it. If it was a fight the guy would probably be running toward it and Orcleous was sure that the sound did not come from behind him. However what did catch him off guard was the flood of people who soon followed behind the first man.

"What is going on", shouted Orcleous in alarm, but the crowd did not even bother to speak with him. One very stupid and unruly man even ran up and pushed orcleous. His strength was little, when compared to the champion, but his momentum made Orcleous take a step backwards.

"Out of the way you fool", he shouted as he rushed off. Clearly something was wrong here. Not many people would try to push a man in armor and caring a gigantic club on his back. Clarly something was wrong. This could not be a mugging. The next thing that came to Orcleous mind was a monster attack, but the villagers were quite calm. Well they were not calm in the normal sense, but they sure were not screaming. Clearly something was up, and the Champion picked up the pace.

As Orcleous rushed toward the scene he saw a noticeably fat man fleeing in another direction. He did not look like your standard villager, but he acted the same way they did, though he was less scared. Orcleous chalked it up to another fleeing peasant and continued on his path. The scream however brought Orcleous back onto track. He emerged from a alleyway to see two unsavory gentlemen holding a young maiden. The first was holding her in place and the second...

"By the blood of Hartmut", shouted Orcleous as he drew his longsword from his belt! Orcleous wanted to take Old Xigshaw out for a spin today, but the situation requited speed and a attack that could cross a distance in a short amount of time. Orcleous did not have the time to run up. He needed to attack now. Stabbing his sword forward a dull light erupted from the blade. Luxcalibur was never in the mood to slay men, but it still attacked on its masters behalf. The power was far less than usual, but Orcleous did not need a big and powerful slash. He only needed enough to kill a man and then stop. Though he was sure the bolt released form his blade would not have the power to kill, Luxcalibur was really holding back.

Orleocus voice caused the two men to turn and look at him. The scream of the burly champion and the sound of a drawing blade was enough to attract any man's attention. The bolt of brilliant light however caught them off guard, and literally caught its target with his pants down. The the bolt hit the man in his chest and like a log he fell down to the earth. The second man grabbed tightly onto the girl and reached into his pocket for a knife. "Hey Jim", he shouted. His eyes however looked in horror as he looked down at the downed bandit.

The bolt of light shot from Orcleous sword did not burn though his body like normal light magic. As a matter of fact you could not see a wound on the fallen bandit at all. However the way the bandit clawed at his own chest and wiggled around on the ground told you well enough that something was going on. It was some kind of magic, but something that the birgand had not seen before.

"The hell did you...", he spoke as he turned back toward Orcleous. The Champion had covered 3/4 of the space between them. The brigand began to panic as he knew the shinning blade would soon be upon him. 'How in the world is he that fast', thought the brigand to himself as he moved to defend.

[Artemis]

The first chance she got, Artemis broke free. Whirling around, she delivered a knee to Gus's crotch, kicking his face as he keeled over. Artemis kept kicking and kicking, weeping bitter tears and shouting curses at the top of her voice. Soon the bandit's face had become sorely disfigured. The man was no longer conscious and could very well have been dead. Once Artemis had gotten over her initial kicking phase, she sank to the ground, palms spread out in front of her. Her scalp hurt from the other bandit's yanking and her arms were red.

After regaining some composure, Artemis turned around to see Orcleous a few metres away. Pulling down her under shirt and beginning to fasten up her shirt, Artemis spent a few moments looking at the ground, just absorbing everything that had happened. Eventually, she looked up at Orcleous, tears still trickling down her cheek.

“Thank you, sir.” She said. “And...and I'm sorry you had to see me like this. I swear I wasn't out to start a fight. One of them grabbed me and I...I...” Artemis covered her face with her hands and let out a sob. Never in her life had she felt so scared. So alone. What had happened over the course of minutes would ultimately leave a lasting scar on the usually cheerful Artemis. Never again could she truly believe that even the most apprehensive of souls contained at least a shred of decency. Some people have gone so far past human compassion that they may never come back.

[Orcleous]

As Orcleous approached the maiden got free. In that moment she kneed the brigand in the balls and then began to stump his face in. Orcleous had to admit he was impressed. Most maidens he knew, with the exception for the over powered ones he meet early in his journey, would ball their eyes out and play the damsel in distress role. Not this one. The moment she saw a opportunity she moved in and gained her freedom. However that did not mean that the work was over. Orcleous took her attention grabbing moment as a time to strike. The champion made sure to stab his sword though the heart of the brigand that was grabbing the maiden's hair. He needed to be sure he was dead, and then stabbed straight though the chest of the first brigand. Luxcalibur did not like being used against mortal men, but the sword held nothing back once it sunk into these men's chest. Though to be honest its divine powers were not needed. At the very least Orcleous was sure that these men would not become monster, or at least he though. There was still so much he did not know about the unholy beast, and Lycia was pretty much their stomping ground.

Taking a moment to look around Orcleous began to access his situation, or at least he tried to look like it. In honest he was trying to avoid making eye contact with the women for a moment. He was sure she had a flood of emotions from the incident, but Orcleous was not sure how to handle him. It was easy for him to get angry and declare things. It was easy to kill a man, but to comfort a person in their hour of need, not a easy thing to do. Orcleous was never really trained on this, though he did think back toward Claira. His heart ached a bit as he though of her out there. He needed to link back up with her soon. With thoughts of Claira in his mind the situation at hand seemed lighter, or at least not as heavy. It was not that Orcleous was making light of what happened, but rather he could handle it better now that he was not thinking about it as much.

"ehh, calm down", spoke Orcleous as he stabbed his sword into the ground. It was not good for the tip of the blade, but it was dramatic and Orcleous needed a bit of dramatic flair. The Champion leaned down onto his knees and looked the maiden in the eyes. He could see the fear very clearly. It was not his first time seeing such eyes, but they were usually associated with monsters and not men. "You don't have to explain anything to me. I saw the scene and I understood your motivation. These men deserved to die and for their actions they have paid the price", spoke Orcleous as he turned toward one of the corpses and then back toward the maiden. The champion was sure that he was botching this, but he really did not know how to deal with this situation. "Can you stand", spoke Orcleous as he stood up and offered the maiden his hand. The champion left his sword stabbed into the ground for a moment as he waited for her to grab his hand so he could help her up. In the back of Orcleous mind however he knew something was going to happen.

Orcleous was not a very smart man. He knew how to read and right and he knew about farming, that was pretty much it. Well if you don't count his knowledge toward monsters. However Orcleous was born with a lot of commons sense. Now looking at the situation Orcleous realized that these villagers were more scared of these two men than of the immorality of a young girl being taken advantage of. There were so scared of these two gentlemen that they fled to their homes and even had the gall to push him. Orcleous was not a smart man, but he knew enough to know that killing these two would not end whatever it was that was coming next. Brigands are like rodents and rodents travel in packs. He was sure there was a main group out there somewhere, and they were probably not going to be happy. Still they had the advantage of both time and the lack of witnesses. Orcleous was sure they would not catch on till maybe a day or two. Well that depends on what the villagers do that is. Once they come out there homes and see these two dead Orcleous was sure they were going to do something.

[Artemis]

Artemis fell back into a sitting position. Orcleous wasn't helping, but Artemis knew he was trying, so she bit her tongue. Suddenly, she remembered that the other bandit had been sent off to fetch more. She was still distraught from her ordeal, but she knew that there were bigger things to think about right now. Getting up, she picked up her gear and started looking around. “There are more coming.” She said to Orcleous. “There was another bandit, he was told to call for reinforcements. If we don't stop them, it could be the village which suffers.” Artemis finally brought herself to look Orcleous in the eyes once more. “Sir, I realise I'm already indebted to you, but could you please help me? Just once more?”

Artemis then went about clearing room behind the stalls and making sure she had a route upon to the roofs. As a hunter, it was always important to take the high ground. And this was no different from any other hunt. It was just that these beasts could walk on two legs and were driven by lust. So long as none of them were carrying any ranged weaponry, Artemis should be able to pick them off from afar.

After checking that she had space to work with, Artemis went to the centre stall, crouching behind it. She then looked down the streets and alleys. She could see a plarge pack of bandits coming down the widest path. “Looks like a lot of them...” Artemis began. “I hope that armour's not just for decoration.”

[Orcleous]

"Wait what", spoke Orcleous with surprise as the young girl told him that there were more bandits on the way. Orcleous had predicted others would come, but not so fast. How in the world did they know he was coming? Wait no, it was not that the bandits knew he was coming, but rather they prepared for a village outcry. It made sense now that he thought about it. However he did not remember seeing anyone fleeing when he arrived. "Wait a minute", spoke Orcleous to himself as he stood up and grabbed his sword. The Champion re-sheathed his divine blade and then began to think back onto his memories. He remembered that there was a strange fat man moving though the crowd earlier. That guy, he could have been the one. "Crap, I let him go", spoke Orcleous as he unbundled a strap on his shoulder.

"Listen", spoke Orcleous as he stopped drawing his main weapon and looked into the eyes of the young maiden. "You don't owe me anything. It is a man's duty to defend a women in distress, and to be honest if you were a guy I would have done the same thing. So don't appologize or be sad, it was just fate that I got dragged into this thing", spoke Orcleous as he returned to drawing his weapon. The Champion touched the handle of the mighty warhammer on his back and immediatley he could feel its magical energy flowing though his muscles. It had been a while since he had used Xigshaw and the hammer was happy to be used. Though eh could sense it was displeased with his choice of using the divine sword. Still Xigsahw pumped its power into him. At this moment Orcleous was the strongest man alive. Xigshaws divine power amplified his muscle power well beyond the limits of a normal man.

"Xigshaw", spoke Orcleous to his weapon. He could feel the hammers disapproval from its lack of use, but Orcleous was ignoring it for now. He was probably going to have a fight on his hand soon. Xigshaw would forgive him the moment blood started flowing. The spirit inside of the hammer was quite the glory hog. All he had to do was shout its name and pulverize a few of the weaklings and Xigshaw should kick out its full power in no time.

“Looks like a lot of them...” shouted the young maiden as she brought the Champion back to reality. Orcleous had spent a moment just getting his weapons ready. By the time he was done doing that she had already prepared herself for the upcoming battle. Orcleous wished he had done the same. Maybe he could have blocked a few of the streets or set up some trap, or something. However he was going to have to take them on the way he was. Still, Orcleous was confident in his abilities. The only thing he had to really worry about was getting ganked by more than one of them at once. A narrow street could solve that problem, or maybe the entry way of one of these shops.

. “I hope that armour's not just for decoration.”, shouted the maiden. Orcleous looked up at her and slammed his fist against the crimson plate.

"Strong and hard", shouted the champion. The crimson armor that Orcleous wore now was not the same suit he pulled off that dead guy two years ago. Nah, he had replaced that a long time ago and before he came to this battle Orcleous had recently upgraded his armor. His battles between the monsters and the will of man had taught him one thing, defense. Orcleous needed to be sturdy if he wanted to survive. Speed was well and good, but it mattered not when fighting against beast that can fly and horsemen who can run twice as fast as you can. Orcleous was going to need to be able to take a hit, because he was going to get hit. What Orcleous needed was the ability to take the blow and keep fighting. As a result Orcleous switched to plate armor, however he did not go all the way. The champion was not a fully armored general, but rather a grounded paladin. His armor could take blows, but it was not too heavy. Orcleous still needed to be able to move around and dodge when he needed to. If the stories coming out of the city of Heroes were all true, then there were some beast far to powerful for steel to handle. Orcleous still needed to be able to get out of the way. As a result he held to this cushy medium place. He had enough armor to be protected, but not to much that he could not flee if need be.

Stepping out of the shopping area and into the street Orcleous stared out at the number of bandits marching their way down the street. It was clear to him that the brigands though themselves the better. They boasted and shouted as they came forward toward the man. At the moment the number was a bit to great for Orcleous to outright deal with. Xigshaw was powerful, but its recovery time after a swing was a bit low. The hammer only gave him power, it did not protect him from attacks. Orcleous needed to put some fear in them first. Pulling up on the massive hammer Orcleous swung it forward like a man swining a baseball bat. He started off with both arms, but in mid swing he let go with one and finished off with a single arm. The massive club slammed into the building next to the one the maiden had picked out. The hammer head slammed into the harden bricks and shattered them like glass. With a single blow Orcleous took out the wall of a shop, the force and image was more than enough to stop the bandits in their tack and leave them in awe.

"My name is Orcleous, Orcleous Isengaurd. If you wish to do battle with me then step forward", he shouted! "I will grind your bones into dust and turn your flesh into paste upon the stone! WITH THE MIGHTY XIGSHAW IN MY HAND NONE OF YOU WHO STEP FORWARD WILL LEAVE THIS CITY ALIVE! YOU ARE ALL MY PREY!"

[Artemis]

Upon seeing the effect the mystical hammer had upon the nearby building, Artemis could tell Orcleous' boasting was vindicated. In fact, she felt completely redundant and inadequate by comparison, but she knew she had to do her part regardless. The men were running at them now, shouting battle cries and swinging their weapons around their heads. Artemis drew her bow, lining up her shot. She let go, letting the arrow fly through the air...

And past her targets head, instead ricocheting off the shoulder plate of one of his comrades. Artemis tried again. She took an arrow from her quiver, drew the bow, lined up the shot and released. Another missed. Artemis looked down at her hands. They where white, clammy and shaking. What the hell was wrong with her. Looking back at the advancing bandits, she realised.

It was the grin. Every single one of them had the same leering grin. The same one the first bandit had as he was stripping Artemis. She couldn't focus. Suddenly, everything else started going wrong as well. Artemis started retching. Her breathing became ragged, and soon she was hyperventilating, hot tears running down her face. The events of only minutes ago were already causing flashbacks, some of them turning into daylight nightmares. Unchecked, Artemis' mind ran wild. One moment, she was just remembering being stripped. The next, she was imagining what would've happened had Orcleous not showed up when he did. In one thought she could see naught but that hellish smile. In another, whatever was going to happen to her had happened and she was just a naked, weeping mess on the stones. These nightmares prevented Artemis from focusing. They were preventing her from fighting. Soon, they may prevent her from surviving.

[Orcleous]

"Shint", shouted Orcleous as the horde of bandits continued their charge. Orcleous hoped at the least that half of them would have had second thoughts and ran away, but the cheers of the few bloodthirsty masses enraged the others. Still it was not something new. Orcleous figured he was going to have to fight anyway. However he had not decided on how he needed to take them out. He could cut them down one by one as they came, but Xigshaw was a power weapon. It would not recover fast. He needed to make some kind of gap between them. However if the girl, thought Orcleous as he looked up onto the nearby roof. The maiden of the bow fired her arrow and Orcleous saw the power of the gods in her bow. Well that is what he expected to see. Instead he saw a miss and a few bandits who laughed off the measly attempt. She fired again, and this time it was a complete miss. "She is a complete armature", spoke Orcleous to himself. At this point the champion had written her off. He knew something was going on up on top of the roof, once she stopped firing all together, but Orcleous was not sure what. At the moment he did not have the time to care to find out. The quickest of the bandits were almost upon him. Their daggers were already sizing up the weak points in his armor and their minds were calculating the price they would get for his weapons.

"Arrogant fools", spoke Orcleous. His words were drowned out by the war cry of the charging meatheads. "You should have understood from my demonstration that none of you stood a chance against me", shouted Orcleous as the first dagger wielding brigand came in striking distance. The man jumped into the air thinking that this for some reason would give him a advantage. It probably worked against some newbie knight or some scared merchant, but Orcleous was neither. He was a battle harden champion who fights monsters on a daily basics. This man was nothing but a nuisance to him. "ESPECIALLY NOT ONES CARRYING DAGGERS", shouted Orcleous as he channeled the natural energy of his body into his right arm. Letting go of Xigshaw for a moment Orcleous lunged his shoulder forward and threw his body into a powerful punch. Cut though the air at the speed of a arrow fired from a longbow. "Smite", shouted Orcleous as his fist hit the chest of the jumping man. The force of his punch sent the man flying backwards like a rocket. His body slammed into one of the other charging brigands and knocked him over. It keep going for a few more feet before the man slammed into the ground and snapped his neck like a twig. Now that put a nails in their feet. Well not literally, it did make some of them stop and gawk. When Orcleous weapon hit the wall some of them figured the wall was already weak and that Orcleous was just putting on a show. The moment he punched a man and sent him flying though the air thing got real.

"It must be some kind of magic boys", shouted One of the brigands as he tried to rally the group. The man who was knocked over was pulling himself back onto his feet as the third closest brigand continued to talk. "If we can just rush and surround him then we..."

"Regie", shouted one of the bandits in the back. The brigand turned around to see a figure descending from the air. Unknown to him the moment he turned around and began to rally his fellow cutthroats Orcleous had tossed Xigshaw into the air. He then jumped into the air himself, caught his weapon and then came down upon the brigands squishy skull. The man rose his sword to defend himself, but that did not matter in the end. Orcleous force and weight came down like the wrath of God himself. His sword snapped as Orcleous mighty war hammer ended his life.

"You son of a", spoke the second brigand. Orlceous natural instincts told him to attack the man, but he knew better. Shock and awe only lasted for a few moments. That fear would soon turn into anger and the brigands would swarm him like ants. Pulling his weapon up the second brigand thought Orcleous was going to switch to a strike. He rolled his body back toward the damaged building in a attempt to gain space and dodge the attack. He was surprised however when Orcleous dashed further back into the small shopping area in front of the buildings.

"The hell", spoke the man as he stared in confusion.

"After him men", shouted a voice from the back of the horde. The sound was probably the Boss bandit, if Orlcoeus had to guess, but that mattered little for the moment. Orcleous needed to put them in a spot where they could not swarm him. Behind him he heard the steps of the brigands moving in. Making a sharp right turn Orcleous swung his mighty warhammer and wrecked some merchants cabbage stand. The blow sent waves of the green vegetable rolling all over the ground and blocked a potential attack route for the bandits.

"Yeeeah", shouted a brigand as he jumped off a stand and attempted to attack Orcleous with a jumping attack. The champion quickly side stepped his assault and moved out of the way. However the brigand was quick on his feet. Pulling his axe back up and stepping inward he quickly turned his next move into a horizontal swing. "You cain't swing so good up close can yee boy", shouted the brigand as he contiuned his reckless assault. Orcleous moved to attack, but the close range of the battle made it impossible for him to get a full swing with Xigshaw. For a moment he was on the defensive. The blade of the brigands axe sliced across orcleous armor. The blow sent sparks flying into the air as steel meet steel.