lunarAegis

Jeph. Jeph didn't remember how he'd gotten to Keeparch, or why for that matter, but here he was. Inexplicably showing up in places and doing stuff seemed to be Jeph's forte. He'd have to find some way to keep track of where everyone else was so that when he appeared somewhere new he knew... well... he'd know something then. Unlike now. The last thing he recalled was stabbing a Paladin in the back after Lyle was killed (this is a good thing). Probably a good thing that he was now out of that place and in this one instead. He decided it'd be a good call to lay low for a while and search out his comrades, if that's what they could be called. Jeph wasn't so sure, as he was celebrating his role in the death of one of them.

Jeph. He pulled his sword from the back of the Paladin. Looks like Lyle did one thing right in his life before he died. There were benefits to fighting such zealous opponents, such as unexpected rat-attacks brutally murdering one of their comrades sending them into a rage. Now Jeph stood over three corpses, two thirds of which were his fault. Damn shame those Paladins had to die. They were probably good guys aside from being Paladins. Jeph looked through their stuff, pulled whatever valuables he could find, and left all their armour and weapons. This could look like a simple 3 way brawl instead of the clusterfuck it was. Jeph then worked his way back through the moving city towards the cart.

I read a portion of that as: "Aside from all of his magic, he's completely non-magical!"

Jeph. Looks like everything's going to hell in a hand-basket again. Why is this becoming normalcy? Either way, Dom was now dealing with their happy troupe's resident mother-fucker. He sure hoped he died soon, would make everything easier. "Dom, I'm going to go look for Stark. Rendezvous back at the cart in 10 minutes, I think. Punch Lyle's teeth in for me, would ya?" And with that, Jeph skulked out into the crowd. If he were Stark, where would he be? Well, first priority would be breaching the perimeter of Paladins, followed by presumably one of two things. Either he'd try to resume what it was got him in such a mess in the first place, or try to distance himself from the situation. Since Jeph had no idea what Stark did, seemed like he only had one path to act on. Stark, presumably, wouldn't just ditch everyone, so he'd go looking for the cart. He knew the cart was last at our old location, so that would be the first place he'd look. Unfortunately for Jeph, that was a place he was trying to avoid, though he's not sure how guarded it would be given the situation that Stark had gotten himself in to. One way to find out, then? Jeph slipped through one of the gaps in the ring and made his way back to the previous location of the cart. The streets were getting sparser and sparser as he went, presumably because people knew now would be a pretty terrible time to go for an evening stroll. Fouled up executions have a way of putting a dampener on an evening. He approached his intended location and heard two semi-familiar voices. He stowed himself behind a tent and sneaked himself a look-see. There were two men dressed in drab brown cloaks with builds that pretty much guaranteed they were wearing armour underneath their robes. Neither of them wore helmets, so Jeph could see their faces clearly. Neither of them looked familiar, though their was one thing about the smaller of the two men that revealed his identity. His nose looked broken and bloodied. "Sir, we shouldn't be out here..." "We're off duty, we can do what we want. Are you going against the order?" "No, sir... I'd never go against the order!" "Good to hear it, now help me figure out where- wait... we're being watched." Jeph tucked his head behind the tent and held his breath, hoping to hear more of their conversation before he would have to reveal himself and escape. Unfortunately, there would be no more words. A sword plunged through the fabric of the tent beside Jeph. This caused Jeph to determine that now would be a good time to get out of here, and such he bolted out into the street. In the street, his face quickly made friends with a hard metal elbow. "That's for my face, ass-hole." Jeph lay splayed out on the ground, and warm blood ran down his face from his nose. Perhaps now would be a good time to fight back instead of trying to run? His hand shot to his sword and whipped it from its sheath. He used the sword to keep the broken-nosed paladin at bay as he stood. The larger paladin walked out of the tent through which he tried to stab Jeph and stood beside his subordinate. They nodded at each other and began advancing on Jeph with swords drawn. This was not going to be fun. Not at all.

Nope.

Jeph. "Dom, you've got a thinking face on right now. If what you're think of is going to find Stark on your own, don't be a moron. Think about it, if you get caught alone you're pretty much fucked. If there're two of us we've got a much better chance in a fight. I agree that we should find Stark though. I imagine our welcome is quickly coming to a close in this city, perhaps in others as well- depending on how vindictive the paladins are feeling." Jeph thought for a moment. That was more words than he'd strung together for at least the past day, maybe two. Probably since Oakheim. He still didn't really know what happened then... was his sister dead? And more importantly, why didn't he care? It seemed like he aught to care about that kind of thing, but it wasn't bothering Jeph. "But yeah, we should act sooner rather than later."

It doesn't help that the LoAFers' title is both a type of shoe and a name for a lazy person.

Snowy, you're being a bit of an elitist ignoramus, imo. Ultimately, none of us can be sure how technology would progress, plus you're taking a very narrow viewpoint on human behaviour. If you think about it, they could also logically just be seeking to make what they have more widespread, and not everyone has the capacity to be a mage or priest. Technology is the non-mystical version of magic, thus those without magic would go to technology. Plus there're still practical inventions like the printing press, which leads to further industrialization and literacy and such. There are other reasons to advance technology than what is combat practical, y'know? Presumably after the events of the game they wouldn't go into a dark age, so there's no reason science and technology wouldn't advance. tl;dr, stfu snowy.

This.

Sci-fire emblem would kick all of the ass.

3. Seems unnecessary to me. Have an entire contrived plot before the RP even begins seems superfluous. The plot should be formed by the events that the characters make happen, don't you think?

Jeph. Huh, Paladins. Lyle was a bit of a fucker at times... wait... didn't Lyle get eaten by lions back in Alabaste? Coulda sworn... right, Paladins! Dom did a fine job against the first one. Looked like a subordinate. He was now addressing the both of them with some sort of promise that that fucking Lyle wouldn't do anything anymore, but from what he'd encountered of the Paladins, they got their kicks by stabbing people during negotiations. It'd be best to prevent that, if at all possible. Jeph stood, charged at the second paladin, pulled back a haymaker, and bashed the face of his helmet it. The blow knocked the paladin off his feet and made him utter what seemed to be some sort of vulgarity. Jeph couldn't tell, there was way too much bashed in face in the way of the words. The exasperated scion of the Archer family straightened himself out and turned to face the rest of the group. "Right, I think we should probably make ourselves scare of these guys."

Jeph. Jeph stared off in such a way that made it evident that he totally got what Dom was saying. He then finished off his loaf of bread, and opened the skin of mead. He took a swig, and then held it out in offering to the rest of the present company.

Jeph. Jeph shrugged. He could pretty honestly care no less about Oakheim than he did right now. He didn't have any more reason to ever see anyone from Oakheim ever again, and that can pretty much be summed up in a shrug. Jeph then somehow managed to ask the question "What about you, how long are you sticking around?" without speaking at all. He's... he's really not sure how he got so good at that.

Jeph It was good to know that he's got a leg to stand on should he need it. Jeph decided now would be an opportune time to wander around Corthrone.. See the sights, hear the sounds, think things over. His whole life had suddenly been uprooted, and he'd been wandering around in a stupor for... how long had it been any ways? He only had spotty memories of what happened, like the arena fight and so on. Jeph decided it'd be best if he sorted out his assets and priorities. With some coins he found in his bag, he purchased some parchment and a bit of charcoal. He then wrote the following lists. Past events and results: -Lost job, got reaaaaaally drunk. -Oakheim destroyed and evacuated. Sister dead? -Arrival in Alabaste. -(Somehow got armour) -Fight in arena. <===Why did this happen? -Kyle killed, new people arrived. Left Alabaste for Corthrone. -Arrival in Corthrone Assets: -One sword, too good quality. Questionable origin. -One suit of scale mail armour. Questionable origin. -Prize money. -List of events, assets, and priorities. -Charcoal, one piece. Priorities: -Eat. -Fill holes in past events. -Obtain necessities for life (clothing, shelter, etc.) Seems easy enough, I'll just ask around. Thought Jeph. He purchased a loaf of bread and a skin of mead from a foodstuffs vendor. The price was lower than it would have been in Oakheim. He figured that was because the taxes were probably lower here. He tore a chunk off the loaf as he walked back to the cart. Fargo, Stark, and Dom were having a conversation, so Jeph listened in while consuming his first meal he remembered in a while. --- A man in a brown leather overcoat and what appeared to be a servant wearing black bandages over his whole body walked through the remains of the less charred buildings in Oakheim. The man in the overcoat held a cloth over his mouth and nose with one hand, and pointed at sections of rubble with his other hand. The servant cleared the directed sections of rubble. One such cleared section of rubble revealed a mostly intact human corpse. The man in the overcoat directed that the servant back away, and then approached the body. There were minor burns on the surface, but the heavy stones had mostly protected it from the flames that had destroyed the city. He placed his hand on the stomach of the corpse and spoke a few words under his breath. The corpse glowed faintly white, then the man stood. "Return this one to the wagon, and then we shall be departing on my command" spoke the man to the servant. In a low, almost inhuman voice, the servant replied "yes, Surgeon." The bandaged humanoid collected the corpse and walked away. Surgeon surveyed the ruins of the town. It had been a nice city for a while, before the local lord realized he had power. He was inherently broken, that man. He had an illness, and it was Surgeon's job to fix it. He intended to do his job..

Jeph Jeph was growing tired of moving all the time, but he imagined he'd keep moving for quite some time yet. It seemed that his life now belonged to the winds. "Hey, Stark. Once our happy caravan splits, mind if I tag along with you? I really have no idea what to do, and need some time to think things through." Things such as his almost definitely dead sister.

Jeph "You're taking this too seriously. You have nothing to prove to us, so long as you don't fuck up too badly, and even then we've had people get themselves killed. I'm not one for the purviews of philosophy or other shit, so in my eyes as long as you can lift what limbs you have left I've got no problems with you." With that, Jeph changed out of his armor, granting momentary fanservice to any Jeph fanboy/girls that there might be. They'll have to think it up themselves, though.

Jeph. "Hmm. I need a drink, anyone else interested?" Jeph figured it'd be best if he changed out of his armour, as well. Stuff gets mad stinky if you leave it on all the time.

Jeph The fight was over, and everyone was being treated for their injuries. Suddenly, some asshole burst in and challenged Stark to a duel, then apologized and backed off. Jeph stood from the chair he was sitting in and walked over to him. "You wanted to do it for the money, right?"

I approve.

Perhaps your opinion of Ellis forces you to perceive him as an asshole, regardless of whether or not he is.

Jeph After the dust had settled, the casualties were intense. Blood covered the ground, you could hardly walk two metres without tripping over someone's disembowelled corpse, and whoever wasn't dead looked just about as bad. And to top it all off, there was deafening cheering coming from the crowd. The piles of meat and contagion that surrounded the pool of dirt, blood, and corpses all screamed for more. Jeph looked at the bodies, and back to the crowd. He knew what must be done. Jeph thrust his sword into the sky. The approval was deafening.

Jeph Snapping into awareness, Jeph realized he was being ushered into an arena by his comrades. He had a vague recollection of agreeing to this, though he wasn't willing to hazard a guess as to why. The man he recognized as Dom ran off to fight (and subsequently defeat) a knight clad in heavy armour, leaving the rest of the combatants to themselves. Quickly, Jeph decided it would be best to do something similar, so he analysed the remaining fighters. There was a mage beginning to cast a spell behind the rest of the fighters. He knew that would be a problem, but he also wasn't the best choice to confront it. he barked out that someone should take care of the caster, and then continued his analysis. His gaze fixed itself on two swordsmen approaching from the left flank. Ultimately, if he could hold off two fighters on his own, it would allow for his team-mates to more effectively focus down their other foes and eventually get numbers on their side. As such he drew his swo- wait a second... this wasn't his sword. His sword wasn't nearly this balanced. This one felt like it was just an extension of his arm rather than a heavy club to be swung at his opponents. He could deftly thrust and parry with this one. It felt weird. Come to think of it, the armour he was wearing also felt different. The simple plate he used to wear was now replaced by a well crafted suit of scale mail with gleaming steel vambraces, breastplate, tasset, gauntlets, pauldrons, and boots. The weight was properly balanced across his body instead of resting solely on his shoulders and waist, plus he could barely feel the weight of the polished steel shield emblazoned with the Archer family crest (which ironically had nothing to do with actual archery, but instead featured a willow tree on top of an image of a thunder storm). His matching tabard also seemed to be made of a high quality fabric. he had no idea where he got any of this. Regardless, Jeph was soon over the confusion and in a confrontation with the two swordsmen. The two swordsmen both carried matching swords, and wore simple studded leather armour. This told him that they probably were related by blood or training (or showmanship), and fought with hit and run tactics. He'd have to keep an eye on both of them to make sure they didn't outflank him. First, the Left Swordsman approached Jeph's shield arm and went for a quick thrust around his shield. Jeph moved his shield further to the left to knock the sword away and prepared to parry the anticipated slash from the Right Swordsman. Surely enough, the Right Swordsman came in with an overhead slash which Jeph caught with his blade in a parallel parry, and then brought his metal foot up into the Right Swordsman's ribs. As he staggered from the kick, Jeph went for a quick thrust to the leg (which he still wasn't entirely used to). The man had clearly never been stabbed before in his career as a slaughterer of the weak and defenceless. He quickly fell to the ground and clutched the bleeding wound. Turning his full attention to the Left Swordsman, he found that the man was going for another thrust, this time into Jeph's back. Fortunately, the thrust had very little actual strength behind it. It appeared this man was more trained for traditional fencing rather than trying to kill each other, and the blade glanced off the well crafted armour creating a small tear in the new tabard. Jeph turned around to face his assailant, and brought his sword down in a high arc over his head. As the sword neared his opponent and flashed in front of Jeph's eyes, the Left Swordman deftly stepped out of the way and rammed into Jeph with his shoulder, knocking the out-of-balance ex-guard off his feet and onto the ground. Quickly, the Left Swordsman put his sword against Jeph's neck. "Not so tough now, Mr. Knight-in-Shining-Armour?" "I was never all that tough, you guys are just pretty weak yourselves." Clearly not listening to anything Jeph had to say, the Left Swordsman began to spoke louder, almost boasting to the crowd. "You fell easily to the mighty Ghost Step! You see, while you slash there is a split second where your blade blocks your sight of me. In that infinitely small fraction of a second, a skilled swordsman like myself can easily move out of the way and counter-attack!" "Well explained, but I've got a special technique too." "Oh? What is that?" "It's called The Goblin Punch!" And with that, Jeph kicked the man square in the groin with his metal boot. The Left Swordsman doubled over in pain and dropped his sword on the arena floor. Jeph stood up, repositioned his tabard, and stabbed the man in both wrists. If he died from that, he probably deserved it. He then ran off to see how his team-mates were faring, and on his way by stabbed the Right Swordsman in the other leg.

When a bad guy takes over, we band together and KICK HIM IN THE TEETH.

Jeph Jeph passed in and out of full consciousness. The group seemed to know where he should be going. He was mostly on autopilot right now. There were goblins, wolves, and a fire elemental, but he wasn't really in any condition to do anything about them. He knew he had ten fingers, but those herbs he added to his last few drinks were now kicking in and everything was getting pretty shiny.