Re: Inexorable Altercation [Round II - Armada]
08-31-2010, 04:28 PM
Originally posted on MSPA by PlumFinder.
Loran wasn't happy with what he saw.
While he had been off getting more gunpowder, one of the other contestants had boarded his boat. A huge creature was slowly making his way up the mast.
Voitrach... Damn!
He was confident in his abilities to dispatch any of the other contestants, be it with his knives, the centuries old gun, or his bare hands. All but Voitrach. For how did one kill a creature that could control substance with his mind? Not just stone, as Loran had foolishly assumed at first, but also water, as the tentacles touching the sea told him, and who knows how many other things. The assassin's mind made plans, each one discarded for their dangers. Loran knew he would not survive a direct encounter. He considered shooting the golem out of the mast, but would it even be hurt by bullets? The other option would be to pull out the big guns, and detonate the massive amount of gunpowder loaded inside the ship. That might work, and yet, it might go very wrong. If this golem could control fire as he could control stone and water, such an explosion would make him even more powerfull.
'Retreat,' said his teacher in weapon handling, and Loran hissed at him to stay silent. He himself was at a risk of being heard and seen, being only two ships away from Voitrach. He sat crouched in the shadow, and Voitrach appeared not to see him. Its eyes, or where Loran assumed to be its eyes, had moved over Loran's hiding place twice, missing him both times.
'Blow him up,' said his teacher.
'I can't. Too risky,' Loran hissed back.
'Then blow up one of the others.'
Loran bit back his angry reply when an idea struck him... Blowing up one of the others meant they had to be on his boat... With that stone guy sitting in the mast, that shouldn't be too difficult...
Voitrach was concidering going back down. The fleets together were too big to properly see everything going on, and even the nearer ships he couldn't see perfectly. There were too many masts and sails and other structures blocking his view. For all he knew, the other contestants might be huddling together behind that sail over there. Yes, better go back down and search manually.
At that moment, something exploded almost directly beneath him, and before he knew it, the mast started to topple.
Loran couldn't surpress a smile as Voitrach crashed into the deck, mast and all, and then continued some more. That last bit had been a miscalculation. If the golem went all the way through the bottom, the explosive trap that had cost Loran so much work would go lost. But it looked like Voitrach stopped falling before passing through all the floors. Loran slinked back into the shadow. One well-placed casket of gunpowder near the foot of the mast had done all the work. That big oaf had completely neglected to keep an eye on his direct surroundings, giving Loran the chance to sneak close through the shadows.
All in all, the noise had been incredible, and anyone who had missed that explosion and subsequent toppling of the mast must be blind and deaf.
'And now we wait...' Loran whispered. The others could arrive any moment to see what had happened.
His teacher smiled at him. A rare show of praise.
Loran wasn't happy with what he saw.
While he had been off getting more gunpowder, one of the other contestants had boarded his boat. A huge creature was slowly making his way up the mast.
Voitrach... Damn!
He was confident in his abilities to dispatch any of the other contestants, be it with his knives, the centuries old gun, or his bare hands. All but Voitrach. For how did one kill a creature that could control substance with his mind? Not just stone, as Loran had foolishly assumed at first, but also water, as the tentacles touching the sea told him, and who knows how many other things. The assassin's mind made plans, each one discarded for their dangers. Loran knew he would not survive a direct encounter. He considered shooting the golem out of the mast, but would it even be hurt by bullets? The other option would be to pull out the big guns, and detonate the massive amount of gunpowder loaded inside the ship. That might work, and yet, it might go very wrong. If this golem could control fire as he could control stone and water, such an explosion would make him even more powerfull.
'Retreat,' said his teacher in weapon handling, and Loran hissed at him to stay silent. He himself was at a risk of being heard and seen, being only two ships away from Voitrach. He sat crouched in the shadow, and Voitrach appeared not to see him. Its eyes, or where Loran assumed to be its eyes, had moved over Loran's hiding place twice, missing him both times.
'Blow him up,' said his teacher.
'I can't. Too risky,' Loran hissed back.
'Then blow up one of the others.'
Loran bit back his angry reply when an idea struck him... Blowing up one of the others meant they had to be on his boat... With that stone guy sitting in the mast, that shouldn't be too difficult...
Voitrach was concidering going back down. The fleets together were too big to properly see everything going on, and even the nearer ships he couldn't see perfectly. There were too many masts and sails and other structures blocking his view. For all he knew, the other contestants might be huddling together behind that sail over there. Yes, better go back down and search manually.
At that moment, something exploded almost directly beneath him, and before he knew it, the mast started to topple.
Loran couldn't surpress a smile as Voitrach crashed into the deck, mast and all, and then continued some more. That last bit had been a miscalculation. If the golem went all the way through the bottom, the explosive trap that had cost Loran so much work would go lost. But it looked like Voitrach stopped falling before passing through all the floors. Loran slinked back into the shadow. One well-placed casket of gunpowder near the foot of the mast had done all the work. That big oaf had completely neglected to keep an eye on his direct surroundings, giving Loran the chance to sneak close through the shadows.
All in all, the noise had been incredible, and anyone who had missed that explosion and subsequent toppling of the mast must be blind and deaf.
'And now we wait...' Loran whispered. The others could arrive any moment to see what had happened.
His teacher smiled at him. A rare show of praise.