Mission 21: Getting too tense

[Neko Koneko]

Mission 21: Getting too tense
Requirements: None
Post Length: 8,000 Characters
Alignment: Any
Level: Any
Cost: 0 GP

Rewards:
800 GP + ??? bonus GP for creativity/character development/humour
800 EXP + ??? bonus EXP for creativity/character development/humour
*Possible allignment switch depending on your actions*

Outline of Mission: Way to go, you've managed to find yourself in the right spot at the right time. The town you're currently staying is under attack and it's getting pretty tense. Will you help defending or are you the type to bail out and run away?

[Abstract]

I'll take a shot at this.

Claimed.

[Abstract]

[Mayor Whittenfield - Green]

Plune woke to the somber beat of a snare drum. For just a few seconds, she jolted her head around in reaction to her surroundings. Before long she remembered that she was sleeping at an inn.

"What a wonderful idea. Why don't I just get up early and start beating on people's heads with drumsticks!"

She leaned up, positioning herself in a sitting position on the edge of the bed. With her hands curled into fists, she rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and then changed her clothes. Making sure that her pointy ears and her jewel necklace were out of sight, she decided to go outside and investigate.

In the main street was a small block of men in marching formation. Possibly this towns militia, but there weren't that many of them standing there. Then again this was a pretty small town.

One man in the back of the formation was carrying the noise box with a harness strapped to his shoulders. Plune walked straight through the other men, nearly knocking some of them over, until she got to the one with the drum.

"Hello?!"

The man's eyes moved toward her, but he seemed trained not to respond. He silently continued to beat the drum.

"Um... Good morning? Where can I find your leader?"

Another man outside of the formation walked up to her, grabbed her by the shoulder, and nearly dragged her away from the men in the block. He was old, a bit scruffy, and was also wearing what looked like a uniform.

"Miss. My name is Sam Whittenfield, the mayor of this village. I don't know who you are or what you think you're doing, but you'd best leave. If not for your own safety, then do it so you won't distract the soldiers."

Mayor Whittenfield... This is my target? She giggled just a bit. How funny. He seems to old to be assassinated.

"Have you listened to a word I just said?!"

"Well, yes. I'm just a bit confused."

She paused to shake his hand of of her shoulder because he had been gripping her the entire time.

"You said I should leave for my safety. Is something happening here?"

"Miss, you don't understand. Now is not the time for curiosity. You need to escape to safety, or do I need to take you myself?"

Mayor Whittenfield grabbed her by the shoulder again and began to lead her farther away from the formation of soldiers. This time she held her ground, connecting her weight to the earth through her feet. She brushed his arm off of her and gave him a square punch to the chest. The force knocked him backward into a brick wall.

"Gah!"

"She assaulted the mayor!"

Within seconds, two of the soldiers held her by each arm. Three others were crowding around the mayor, checking to see if he was injured.

"I'm OK I'm OK!" he yelled at them.

"Where should we put her?" One of the men holding her asked.

Mayor Whittenfield walked over to her and sized her up with a smirk on his face. Then the light bulb flashed above his head, and a bright smile spread across his face.

"Don't put her anywhere. She's free to go--"

Plune began to smile.

"--as long as she agrees to help us fight."

"Fight? Fight what?"

The snare drum stopped abruptly in response yo another more cutting sound. The cry of a wolf filled the air. The two men holding Plune ran back into the formation, as well as the ones standing by the mayor. Some of the men's faces made grimacing or disgusted expressions at the noise. Others simply became fearful.

"Werewolves."

Plune's eyes narrowed the tiniest bit.

"You see... normally they wouldn't put up much of a fight. When they're not transformed; they're really just as frail as us."

Another werewolf cry was heard, and then another. The Mayor ignored them and continued elaborating his master plot.

"But to draw them out, we've realized, it's necessary to have them transform. All together if necessary."

"Sir! We've got a major problem!" Someone called from a rooftop. He seemed to be an archer.

"IN ONE SECOND!"

The archer knew it wasn't his turn to speak, but he really looked concerned about something.

"We've actually been stealing food from them for weeks, burning their forests, driving them all into starvation until they got so close to death they'd have no other option but to attack us! It's genius!"

The howls were coming closer and closer by the second, it sounded like five or six werewolves altogether. (Which would be no problem for a small, prepared militia.)

"So what would you say?" Asked Mayor Sam Whittenfield. "Will you join us in our mission to end this werewolf pack?"

"I would say--"

The ambient noise of padding feet was now audible, the werewolves were now in sight. Plune looked past the block of soldiers at the wolves and nearly laughed out loud.

"I'd say that someone came last night and broke all of your militia's silver arrows. And that same person came and replaced all of your sharp, silver weapons with dull steel ones."

The archer standing on the roof almost growled at her, but Plune simply burst out in hysterical laughter.

"And I would say that that person was me!"

In one swift motion, she grabbed the Mayor's sword out of it's sheath and stabbed him in the stomach. His eyes widened in horror. He slowly looked down to see the sword sticking out of him; blood began to trickle out of his gaping mouth. Plune pulled the sword back out and flicked the blood off of it. Whittenfield fell against the brick wall into a sitting position. Within seconds he was dead, his eyes still wide open.

Target. Acquired.

"THE MAYOR!"

One of the militia-men unsheathed his sword and began to charge toward Plune. Before he even got close, she threw Whittenfield's sword at him. In an ideal world, the blade would have when through one of his eyes, but in reality the blunt side hit his forehead, causing him to pas out.

Another soldier started running at her, but a sandy-haired werewolf tackled him from behind, digging his teeth into the man's shoulder. Plune recognized the wolf, but she knew it was time to take cover before she got eaten herself.

- - - - - - - -

After a few minutes, the sounds of screaming men came to a stop. Plune came out from hiding to assess the situation.

The entire town militia was ravaged by the wolves; even the people on the roofs were eventually chased down and eaten alive. Only the people smart enough to hide inside of buildings were the ones who survived.

"Hmph. Serves them right."

Plune walked through the deserted street, analyzing the scattered bodies. All of which had large missing chunks which served as meals for the wolves.

"Well you're a bit violent, aren't you?"

A man limped over to Plune, licking his lips.

"Antebus! It's you!"

And a giant smile spread across her face.

"You need to sit down; you must be exhausted."

Plune ran over to him and put her arm underneath his shoulder to support his back. Together they walked over to a nearby bench where she helped him sit down. Immediately, she began to check him for wounds.

"Did you get hurt anywhere?"

"Nope. Thanks to you, none of us suffered any serious injuries. Their swords were so blunt they couldn't even hurt us."

"Except for the Mayor's sword."

Plune smiled wryly.

"Yes, yes. Your plan worked out perfectly, Plune.

They stared at each other for a moment, communicating without words how much they missed each other and how much they loved each other. A warm sunset was just beginning in the horizon.

Out of seemingly nowhere, a large green grasshopper landed on Antebus' right shoulder.

"Well hello Hare!"

"Well hello Hare!"

They chanted their little inside joke together. The grasshopper flexed its wings, making a soft purring noise.

"Seriously, though. Without you we would have starved to death. The people here keep such a close eye on werewolves that we couldn't even eat in their villages. Then we tried hunting for food and they took that from us as well."

"The people in North Zoshnel really have an agenda."

Plune sighed and took a seat next to Antebus.

"But still... living with other werewolves. Don't you think that's dangerous?"

"Eplunia! Of all people!"

She grimaced at the sound of her Elven name, and Antebus shifted his position to face her. Hare got scared and flew away.

"These are normal people you're talking about! We have a disease. I never thought I would hear you say such a thing!"

"You're right. I'm sorry. It's just--"

"--it's just nothing."

Even though he was clearly in physical pain, Antebus got up and began to walk away. Plune got up to follow him, but he turned around to face her again.

"And if you think that werewolves are such dangerous people, you should probably stay away form me anyway."

She froze in place as he began to walk away again. He had never sounded so hateful of her ever. Plune's eyes were beginning to fill with water.

Antebus quickly joined up with his werewolf pack, and together, they began to leave the village. Plune collapsed on the bench and began to cry. All of the effort she had put into helping the wolves was for nothing. Just a small slip up and Antebus was ready to never see her again. What scared her the most was that the next time she would go looking for him, he might not want her to find him.

- - - - - - - - -

One of the soldiers on the ground began to stir. It was the same one that got knocked out when she through the sword. Plune stopped crying to watch him.

"A-are all of th-them d-dead?"

The soldier lay there belly-down on the ground. His voice was so weak it was difficult to even hear him.

"A-are all of the w-wolves dead?"

In a blind rage, Plune ran over to the man, grabbed his head by the ears, and twisted it until she heard a loud crack. He went limp immediately.

Plune stood up and massaged her temples, absorbing all of the things she'd seen and done that day. She wiped the tears from her eyes and began to walk away from the village as well, but not in the same direction as the wolf pack.

"Well. At least Whittenfield is dead."

She paused.

"I should probably go tell Lin about this in Bientin. I need a rest after all of this."

At that, Plune began to sprint through the countryside.

Complete.

[Neko Koneko]

Pretty interesting mission, didn't expect this kinda thing, lol.

1200 EXP
1000 GP

I've been thinking about shifting your allignment, and I'm going to shift it towards evil one notch (so you're evil now). This for the cool-blooded killing of villagers and disregard for human life.