Kaichun - the well-hung Hung

[Olli]

The lone deer stood there by the clear brook in the midst of the Green Wood, which had not yet been fully illuminated by the warm glow of the sun. The adolescent doe stood there quietly, savoring the cold water as fresh drops caressed its tongue. Not many times had the young animal - not much older than a fawn - been to the brook by itself, but the herd was nearby and it was generally safe at this hour. Few places in the world can muster such a setting of tranquility and harmony. It was almost as if -

Thud!

An arrow whistled by, missing the prone hind by no more than two feet, and planted itself firmly in the soft ground behind its target. The reaction was swift; although the unseen would-be killer managed to let another arrow loose, his prey was out of sight before the arrow came to a halt in the nearby tree trunk. The tranquility received its coup-de-grace as the hunter emerged from the bushes with a snort and a bestial growl of frustration. His foreign features gave testimony to the fact that he wasn't a local; his hollow face and protruding cheek bones suggested that the misses meant a whole lot more than a smaller breakfast to him. The man was close to starvation, although in truth he wasn't a poor hunter. Truth be told, he was shit out of luck - evidently, he had been for a while. The Green Wood had proven less than ripe with game, and while the man was to be considered an expert in stretching everything and living off of nothing - it had gone on for too long. Kaichun would have to leave his new home.

Having procured one of his arrows - seeing as the one embedded in the tree would not give so easily - Kaichun left the scene, weary and light headed from the long wait by the brook. He had discovered the brook some time ago, and he'd made it a general habit to spend several hours in the nearby bushes, waiting for thirsty game to show up. It wasn't until the rather sudden decline in luck with finding prey that he had begun spending most of his day by the brook. Kaichun had become rather solitary over the last period of time, avoiding having to enter or approach Mesembria, and while this meant he was not bothered by the abomination that is the Mesembrian people, it also meant that for the life of him he could not figure out why the forest would not feed him anymore.

The brook wasn't too far from his shifty camp and he made it back before the rays of the sun had broken through the treetops into his clearing. He could tell that his pony had been awake and waiting for some time now, it was beating its head in the rope, signaling for the master to untie it. Having done just that, Kaichun sat down heavily and gave a sigh of fatigue - blood, grain and water was not only wearing him down, it was also thinning out in terms of supplies. Kaichun was not one to complain - the Steppes hadn't exactly been kind to him as a young man - but his situation was becoming gloomier by the day. He had thought about what he would have to do, he was prepared, and the morning episode was the final straw. He needed a change of scenery - quickly, before starvation took him over.

Within half an hour at most, the makeshift camp in the woods was no more - the necessities stored in saddlebags and the waste left behind. Although Kaichun did not know where he was going, he was certain he wouldn't have to travel for long - the Black Gulf ensured decent living terms mostly everywhere - and no matter where he'd end up, he was sure it couldn't be much worse than the merciless Green Wood. He squinted at the sun, sighed, and muttered:

"I suppose this way is as good as any.." before heading off to the south-west.

[Brad the Inhaler]

OOC: 20 xp, keep it up!

[Olli]

OOC: You are not the boss of me!

IC:

Feeling the familiar calm deriving from once again being firmly mounted atop the closest Kaichun had really come to a friend, it didn't take him long to escape the clutches of the forest. Before long, the Hung found him on the road once again, pacing as fast along the pebbles and dirt as he trusted his pony. Not having been in contact with anyone for.. Well he hadn't exactly brought a calendar, but he was fairly certain it had been a while - he could not know for sure how far the closest city was located and he would have to make sure his sole companion could sustain him for however long it would take. If he avoided any grand feasts, he waged that the few pounds of grain in his bags would suffice for this trip - although he would have to venture into whatever city the road took him to to purchase another load.

Around mid-day he came across his first encounter on his way - no more than a relatively small band of merchants with a cart - less than half a dozen he reckoned - yet enough to make the rather shifty ex-mercenary's hand creep towards the strung bow by his saddle. Guarding caravans for years had trained Kaichun's cautiousness as much as it had his fighting skills. He was approaching them from the rear and soon felt safe enough to allow his hand to rest upon the saddle, rather than stretch at his weapon. Four of them, he counted, two of average build, one with a little extra padding and an obscenely obese gentleman with bright colours to his garments - this man was, not surprisingly, situated in the cart with his well-padded friend while the others rode alongside the wagon. As Kaichun came closer it occured to him that the men on horseback quite possibly weren't merchants but mercenaries.

"G'day." Kaichun offered in a hoarse voice as he sped up towards the band and pulled his pony to a stop. He noticed that the two men besides the cart were notably younger than the merchants - they looked slightly nervous, stealing glances at the corpulent gentlemen.

"Good day.." the mountain of meat finally replied after a somewhat too long pause. "And who might you be?"

"Kaichun, a traveler from Mesembria."

"... Charmed... Traveling to what destination?" Kaichun noticed more than a hint of suspision in the merchant's voice.

"You tell me.. Where's the closest city?" Kaichun barked, not fully realizing his tone had switched from bland to rude.

"Eh.. Suppose you'd be looking for the city of Raphoe. Some four days on.. horse.." he said, glancing at the pony, though with a streak of nervosity. While Kaichun hadn't picked up on the change in tone, the large gentleman certainly had, and the fact that it seemed to get to him amused Kaichun greatly. Then again, he wasn't staring at something which looked as thought it'd been dragged across the world from the Eastern Steppes - weapons in hand.

"'Kay, need any protection along the way?" the ex-mercenary offered, aware that nervosity was often cured with steel and wood - not to mention the fact that he'd need some change to survive in the city.

"I.. We're not going to Raphoe this time, we have business in.. uh.. Well elsewhere.. Besides, my nephews provide adequate protection.. Thank you though."

Kaichun just grinned and spurred his pony forward without a word. As he sped past the traveling merchants, he could hear the young ones nervously correcting their uncle: "But, uncle, we're not..." "Shh! Quiet yourself!"

[Olli]

The surroundings had mainly been flat since Kaichun had first exited the Green Wood, there'd been no hills or obstacles to obstruct travelers' view of the landscape - the risk of entering an ambush had been minimal. Up until this point at least. As the road turned right around a gallows - which incidentally hadn't been emptied for a while - Kaichun saw the stony path leading him toward softly rolling hills on either side of the road. Experience told him this place would be ripe with scum, the elevations beside the road allowed for a swift ambush, anyone caught by surprise at the feet of the hills would be fighting off an attack on two fronts as well as defending from elevated attacks. Kaichun pulled his pony to a stop. He'd be damned before he let some measly thief rob him of his possessions. Damn Cathayans he muttered under his breath, thinking of one of the worst curse words he knew. He'd have to steer off the road, with any luck he'd dodge any banditry waiting for someone to pass by below the hills. If he made sure he stayed well out of view of the road while not losing track of its turns and such, he reckoned he'd be off clear.

Spurring his war pony forward, he could catch glimpses of the hilltops closest to the road without seeing any signs of danger. While considerably comforted by this, he did not make any attempt to ride any closer to the road - not until the landscape was once again plain would he venture back onto the highway. Regrettably, there was one drawback to his approach - while the wave-like highlands ensured his safety, it also provided poor riding circumstances and he could feel the significant change in pace, compared to the level road.

After some time, trotting up and down the hillsides, Kaichun suddenly pulled back his reigns, prompting his beast to halt. He held the reigns firmly and turned his head to the right, toward the road, listening intently. There it was again. A loud bang in the distance, most likely coming from the road. Cautiousness stood back in the face of curiosity as the Hung pulled to the right and kicked the pony in its flanks, now approaching the road once again. An ambush he thought those fools must've caught up and walked right into an ambush... Bloody misfits. Without paying it another thought, Kaichun was headed back toward the unfortunate band of merchants with his bow in hand and a quiver of arrows by his belt.

"Francis! Look out!" the corpulent merchant shouted at his nephew, barely a second before the jagged scimitar plunged into his back, missing the spine by an inch and escaping through the young man's lower abdomen. He let out a cough of blood before he tumbled off his horse with a symphony of gags. "Francis!!" the uncle screamed in terror as his brother's son twitched and stared blankly out into the nothingness that had him surrounded. Surrounded. Just like the barbarian rogues were closing in on the cart with the old brothers and the last living son on his horse. He had drawn blank against the oncoming pack of savages, just like his older brother, but realized he would soon meet him in the after life. While he was frantically trying to back away from the slowly approaching bandit, grinning as he had his horse slowly come closer, his father, Marcus, had pulled out his blunderbuss and was trying to even the odds alongside the uncle, Anthony, who was firing his pistols wildly, yet precisely, at their demise. "Father!" Marcus heard the scream of his boy in time to see his head being sent flying with a single savage axe blow. His eyes welling up with tears, Marcus practically flew out of the cart, pressed the butt of his weapon against his shoulder and sent a volley of death into the chest of his son's bane man - prompting the bandit to a sudden dismount.

Two of the barbaric attackers had been sent to their deaths, but three remained, still charging at the cart from each side of the road. Marcus took aim at the single outlaw riding straight at him from the left hillside, pulled the trigger and - realized he was out of ammunition. With a unfitting roar of anguish and sorrow, Marcus threw the blunderbuss to the ground and pulled a rapier from his belt, then stared his evidential death in the eyes. The outlaw raised his curved sword high above his head, he was mere yards from his target when an arrow pierced his neck and didn't stop until it was halfway through his throat, sending a splatter of blood into the face of the shocked childless man. The horse of the bandit kept on going past Marcus, with its former owner's feet still caught in the stirrups - resulting in him falling halfway down the side of the horse without tumbling off, thus dragging the horse down and prompting the beast to buck and kick to relieve itself of the burden.

Marcus looked up at the hilltops to spot his savior, who hadn't stopped to fire the last arrow, but merely kept right on thundering down the hillside with another arrow trained at the additional two outlaws. It dug itself into the chest of its target at just about the same time Anthony had fired his last shot, causing the comrade of the now bleeding bandit to be sent spinning off his horse. With only one attacker left, Kaichun dropped his bow before unsheathing his sword and pulling his spiked shield in place, guarding the left side of his body. The two armed men met each other with a clash of cold steel, Kaichun deflecting the first swing with his shield and the bandit parrying Kaichun's first blow and deftly avoiding the following stab by twisting his body in the saddle. The warriors pulled their horses back for a quick breather before the Hung was charged with a horizontal swing to his ribs, leading the sinisterly curved sword just under the spiked shield, through the crude leather protection and searing into Kaichun's flesh. The former mercenary hammered his shield down and out to the left, getting rid of the edge of the sword before its movement was fully completed - then in one gliding motion swung his sword at his opponent's face, meeting his mouth and taking out five teeth before redirecting his sword's motion and bringing it back towards the outlaw, this time leaving a deep gash across his stomach, causing guts and intestines to spill out onto the saddle with a sickening stench. Snorting in disdain, Kaichun sheathed his sword and turned away from the corpse which had just been dismounted as the horse arose to its hind legs and threw its owner off.

"Good to see you didn't need any protection."

(( 4 wounds from the nasty slash - to be continued ))

[Olli]

While Kaichun was browsing equipment and checking purses among the corpses, Marcus had collapsed by his cold, dead sons; his face buried in his hands. When Anthony went to place a reassuring hand on his brother's shoulder it was shrugged off without a sound. Staring at his plagued brother, Anthony closed his eyes and muttered a brief prayer for his nephews before turning toward their savage savior, who had just finished wrapping a torn sleeve around his torso in an attempt to slow the bleeding and allow for the blood to clot.

"Who are you?" Anthony's voice was humble, nervous but not decidedly frightened - it seemed as though he hardly cared.
"Kaichun." he replied without so much as looking up. His wound was searing and he spoke through gritted teeth, muttering beneath his breath. "Sixteen pennies.. How're your guards doing?"
"Why would you taunt an old man with no sons or even nephews as of late?"
"Your family isn't my concern." Kaichun replied briskly, shooting Anthony a menacing glance. "I'm hungry."
The once proud and arrogant man closed his eyes as a wave of fatigue struck him head on. "You saved the lives of my brother and me. You are welcome to join us and share our meal."
Kaichun was about to retort when his growling stomach begged him otherwise. "I'll tag along until nightfall, we'll eat, I'll get what's mine and then I'll leave."
"What do you mean "what's yours"?" Anthony asked uncertainly, feeling a sudden stabbing pain as he realized the barbaric man could mean gold.
"I saved your life, has to be worth something. Pack up, we're leaving."

After a brief farewell to the bloody battleground the small entourage set off, Marcus sitting solemnly on his oldest son's horse. His expression was blank, his eyes seemingly empty and cold as if his soul had already taken off and left him with nothing but a broken shell of a body. On the opposite side of the cart sat Kaichun atop his war pony, as quiet as Marcus but vigilant as ever. His eyes panned from one side of the road to the other, at all times ready to burst into a full gallop at the slightest sign of danger. He had no concern for his companions, if they were ambushed again he would simply bolt and count on his theory that greed overpowered blood lust in the common bandit or highwayman. While he did have some plans with the merchants he wasn't going to risk his life over them, most of the heat had already passed when he charged in the last time and the possible rewards were too tempting to pass it up.

The trio advanced at a moderate pace until the sun was setting and darkness was taking over. However, the highlands weren't quite flattened yet and while Anthony kept suggesting to stop for the night, Kaichun simply shook his head, refusing to set himself up to get slaughtered by camping in the middle of the road among hills. Not until the sun was at its lowest, minutes from disappearing from their view completely that the self-pronounced leader of the small group felt satisfied - the surroundings were flattened and a cluster of trees sat not 100 yards off the road. Kaichun made the slightest nod toward the designated spot before steering his pony off the road and spurred it onward. When they reached the spot, which consisted of a good dozen trees with complimentary greenery and wild bushes, Kaichun turned to face Marcus and Anthony.

"Here, set up camp between the trees and behind the bushes, cover the cart and we'll be invisible from the road." he said matter of factly and dismounted. After pulling his pony through a gap in the otherwise dense bushes Kaichun began unloading his paraphernalia onto the ground, then opened the bag containing grain and ushered his mount to eat. Straightening up, Kaichun grimaced and took to his side - the bleeding has stopped but the wound was still hindering his movements. He would have to receive some sort of medical treatment soon - he prayed in the names of the Dark Lords that he would reach the city of Raphoe within the next few days. As Kaichun unbuckled his belt and let his sword fall to the ground, Marcus approached him.
"Kaichung, is it?" the apparently younger one of the brothers spoke hesitantly.
"Kaichun. What?"
"I just.. I apologize for having been so quiet that I've yet to have thanked you until now.. The loss of my sons was a -"
"Don't apologize." Kaichun interrupted, "And don't thank me either, I didn't do it for thanks, I did it for personal gain."
Marcus hesitated, then opened his mouth to speak but decided against it and simply nodded before turning his back and going back to help his brother unpack. Kaichun looked his way, scoffed and went to hang his shield upon a low branch for target practise while Marcus and Anthony began preparing a rather modest dinner.

[Olli]

The three men ate in silence with the foreigner not so much as looking up from his bowl, his eyes were fixed greedily upon the warm oatmeal's swirls as he plunged his crude wooden spoon into the mush. After going through his second bowl and reaching for more, Anthony looked up with a face that gave away his intentions of interrupting Kaichun, until the scruffy nomad met his look head on. His dark eyes seemingly penetrated the greedy old man's soul and stripped him bare of any wish to try and stop the stranger from devouring any more of his food. Kaichun finished his last bowl, but had redirected his gaze from the oatmeal to Anthony, who withdrew his eyes and instead kept to himself, pondering whether the nomad would kill him or just gouge out his eyes if he had kept on staring.

Kaichun lay peacefully in his tent as the creatures of the night began sounding off, celebrating the omniscient, engulfing darkness. though he was perfectly still, Kaichun had not yet drifted off. Instead, he listened intently to the rhythmic breathing of his companions who were sleeping outside in the wagon. One of them - the fat one, Kaichun suspected - had already fallen asleep and was snoring heavily, but the other brother's breathing was still too.. conscious, to be that of a sleeping man. Demons of the past were rarely merciful in the way of letting their prey sleep well at night, and while Kaichun had no empathy for the heir less man he could in some way understand - if not comprehend - the feeling. As Kaichun lay there, listening, waiting for the man to fall asleep, he drifted back in time to the night of his departure from the Steppes. That night, which was so far in the past now that he could barely recall it fully, was in ways much like this one. That night, he had been waiting for his companions to fall asleep as well - and his intent was no different from his intent when he was waiting back then. He knew the doomed brother's would not live to see the daylight.

The murderous Hung waited patiently for what seemed an eternity for Marcus' breathing to steady itself, but after some forty-five minutes or so, the former father of two was sound asleep, seemingly snoring as intensely as his brother. With the slightest hint of a smirk, Kaichun got to his feet, unsheathed his sword with a menacingly low whistle and tip-toed out of the small tent, headed for the brothers' wagon. As he stepped outside, he could immediately hear the difference in the volume of the snoring and silently thanked the Dark Ones that he didn't have to sleep until the noise had been dealt with. Approaching the wagon, Kaichun silently removed the cloth that had been draped across the cargo where the brothers lay next to each other, Anthony snoring loudly into Marcus' ear who was on his back. Excellent, he couldn't have planned it better. The dark murderer leapt into the wagon with cat-like stealth and crouched down by Marcus' side, sword in hand, wielding it with its blade pointing downward from his hand. Brace yourselves, Kaichun thought before lifting his sword up- and forward in a gliding motion, lashing the blade towards Marcus' throat and causing a deep gash. Within the blink of an eye, his bloody sword came down once more, this time plunging deep into Anthony's chest where his heart was struggling to pump blood throughout his massive body. As the sword sunk into the man, his eyes opened wide and in the last few seconds before his demise, he was able to gag through gritted teeth: "N.. No.." The man's wobbly figure shuddered and twitched as Kaichun withdrew his blade and at that moment he knew it was over.

(( I test passed on a 46 with a +10 modifier due to them being asleep and snoring like gutted boars. Damage rolls (sigh) were two fours, causing 10 wounds on each (giving them an average T3). Decided to let them die, seeing as they wouldn't even have time to retaliate before Kaichun would have stabbed again and made it final, besides it'd be slightly unrealistic if they'd kept fighting with a cut throat and a pierced heart ))

After wiping his sword in Marcus' clothes, Kaichun began searching through their pockets, grabbing any coins they had on them. Once done looting, he went in the back of the cart where the merchants had stored their cargo crates. With a greedy grin he stabbed his sword into the first crate, using his weapon as a crowbar, and lifted the lid right off to reveal a number of clay urns. "What the fuck is this..?" he muttered to himself in pure confusion, grabbing one of the ceramics and removing the lid, uncovering some sort of orange powder in the urn. "What the... Achoo!" the ex-mercenary threw his head back with a sneeze as the spices were sucked into his nose, provoking his nose hairs and initiating a sneezing frenzy. "What the FUCK is this shit!?" Kaichun exclaimed in-between sneezes, throwing the urn out of the wagon in frustration. As he proceeded to violate the remaining crates, each with building anger, he uncovered more spices, perfumes and what Kaichun perceived as mummified testicles (truffles) - each with a fouler stench than the last. Having opened all of the crates without any real rewards, the Hung felt he was being toyed with by the Gods and finally came to the conclusion that the dead merchants were fools without any common sense or understanding of the difference between junk and riches. Disappointed, he proceeded to raid what he could find of food and water supplies before packing up his tent and loading everything back onto his horse, preparing for a night's ride in darkness. Firstly he knew that few bandits roamed the roads at night due to the simple fact that few travelers roamed the roads at night, and secondly he knew he had to make himself scarse before someone came across his camp and discovered the corpses and put two and two together. Thirdly, he never slept truly well after a kill, not that his conscience was an issue, he just preferred to be awake while the adrenaline rush lasted. And so, his journey towards Raphoe continued in the dead of night.

(( I'll leave it up to Mr. Brad how much monies the fatties had ))

[Brad the Inhaler]

((OOC: Ok, I calculate this at 25xp plus the Trick Riding Skill. And as for your profits..

2 Large Skeins of Water (Each has 3 days worth)
4 Small Rye Loaves
1 Large Sack of Cured Bacon (Week of Trail Rations)
2 Two high quality Imperial Steel shortswords, little decoration but recognisable as a Noble's weapon
Blunderbuss and bundle containing powder and shot
Assorted Coins to the value of 8GC
Jewellery of varying quality, amounting to 12GC
Each of the Merchants was wearing a large solid gold medallion bearing an unknown insignia and words in a language you do not recognise (Empire Classic)

[Olli]

(( I'll take a skein of water, the loaves and the coins - the Noble's stuff would probably get me in jail and the jewellery would most likely raise some unwanted questions - since fel isn't my character's forté, I'd have a hard time i reckon. The sack of bacon is too heavy and Kaichun has no idea how to use a blunderbuss or really what it's worth etc. Many thanks btw (Y) ))