He leapt down the rest of them and indeed there were crawleys on the walls.
The bats squeaked flapping about and escaped through the cellar door. He stepped into the room where there were stacks of barrels with taps and she picked up a hammer and broke a barrel with gold and liquid pouring out.
Bloody hell, Akero had one helluva retir'ment fund; He knelt over and fingered a coin and took the yield of it and tasted the liquid. Rum. He wondered and flipped the old currency and ducked, the hammer broke into the barrel and he stooped to pull her legs off the ground, she dropped on the hard floor and he spun her over to bend her spine out of its range, she countered and grabbed his head with her legs throwing him over.
He dropped on his back against the gold and rum splashing and his back was destroyed, she screamed throwing down the hammer, he rolled away before it smashed the floor.
"Did you really think I could be fooled?" She blurted
"No, I was just following a script and I apologise if my acting wasn't doing it for you" He grunted as she swiped her leg against him and he dodged wincing at the gripping pain on his back and gripped her foot tossing her away, she rolled up and picked up an axe "Your hair was sticking out"
He grabbed it and she used the opportunity to attack.
He tossed the knife and it choked her in the throat, she suffocated and tottered back with the axe, he closed his eyes when the blade fell over her torso and flinched at the chopping sound_Perfect, he muttered.
+800
He piled up the gold in a sack and put it in his bag.
"Apa" He glanced at Lucio by the end of the stairs, he flicked the rapier and tossed it rolling his eyes.
+600
He would not want eyewitnesses regardless,
[ Now that your adversary is taken care of, you may now claim your fortune ]
He flicked the bag and rushed up the steps taking the rapier and burning the bloody napkins.
"I'm beginning to wonder what worthy means" He said inching off side to the pile to leap off and to tottered through the curtains while the hawk glided over the buildings after him.
...
Kane Huxley
The champion woke up from the blanket of sand slipping down his body, he felt like a punching bag, a bruised one. He adjusted his chin remembering one hell of a fight, sad that he lost. Groaning as he pushed up and staggered, the specks of sand on him evoked his awareness and his blue eyes fluttered at the blazing sun, scanning the wavy dunes.
"Where the bloody hell am I?" He said in a raspy voice.
The question brought his guide into view.
[ Maelstrom, this is Xeric ]
He scoffed throwing his arm out looking up at her "This must be a joke. I mean I just got my ass handed to me"
[ You must retrieve the Topyx jewel before the Monteberg wraiths arrive and stop at nothing to protect it ]
He wiggled sand off his sneakers and brushed them off his hair and shoulders. "Like hell I will"
He grunted pushing up the dunes to the top, he felt an itch on his wrist and snatched his sleeve down to peer at the ant gnawing on his skin, he flicked it off and overlooked the never-ending beds of sand. Stepping down, he plopped and slipped down the hill, panting, the hot climate blurred the view.
[ This is a matter of life and death ]
Nähren appeared again and he laughed touching his forehead, there he was in civilisation competing to get the money, now he's here.
"I can't do this_they must have kidnapped me and drove me into a freaking sandbox and_and you're just a fucking mirage"
He laughed again and pushed on whisking his arm to his face, he blinked at the heavy sandstorm coming and tottered scaling uphill and his feet sunk into the sand, "Shit" He struggled to pull his leg out while the monstrous haze was coming. His hand sunk in too and his heart raced, the other leg forfeited into the sandy grave.
He laid back and hoped the sandstorm would pass,
[ Do you want help or not? ]
"How possibly can you can help me out of this_" The sand was starting to glow intensely from where his hands and feet were and he tottered back when he broke free, the grains from the floor overshadowed his hands and his skin was starting to look a little more finer and less tighter, he stuttered as the plague spread to the rest of his body and the wind blew as they storm caught on.
He threw out his hand and the storm veered around going up into a tornado.
"Oh good, another problem" He was startled at his new voice and lowered his hand, the storm whizzed up into a vortex in the air and he slammed his fist to the ground causing it to disperse. It spread and rained in the furthest areas and he scoffed holding up his hands.
"What have I gotten myself into?" He clenched his fists and gazed at his anklets and legs. He has a brown sash around his torso and felt at the axe behind him.
A red panel with a fist on it popped up.
Name: Maelstrom
Homeland: Xeric
Height: 6 ft 11
Weight: 15 stones
Weapon: Battle axe.
Skills: Wind manipulation, warfare
Achievement: 17
Level: 8
"Wicked" He laughed.
[ You must retrieve it, hurry ]
He waddled around and threw his arms up and lurched at the earthquake and breeze as the underground city emerged from the sand, it was carved from a mountain itself and watered down to a wild fort with fine pieces of glass, it was said that the solar energy was so intense that the specks of sand would turn into glass and since glass reflected light, Xeric was visible to the the enemy.
The city only emerged at night, where they were free to move around and since then, no one had been able to figure out their war tactics, the other kingdoms knew about the Xeric beasts but not exactly where the city was until Maelstrom overthrew the Sand King and took it for himself.
"This is daytime" He said and peered at the gateway with arches overlapping each other at the front, there was a carving of a fist with a studded wristband. The sand whizzed down the rocks and the rumbling stopped, he waited in the quiet taking in the
He rotated his hand and a vortex whooshed into the gates, coming up empty. He picked his axe regardless and marched into the city.
His eyes scoured the row of beige banners in the hall over the arched windows and columns, the desert didn't prove much of a spectacle but it was nice viewing it from inside a fortess away from the heat, "I've never seen anything so hollow in my entire life. Is this all inside my head Nähren?"
[ "Your head inside" is more like it ]
He reached the end and looked from side to side, there was no rout left and he felt at the inscriptions on the wall at demonic looking beasts with tusks and battle axes, in a huddle against what looked like an elephant with ringed tusks. His eyes moved up to the sun and traced it down to the castle. Daytime "Oh shit"
The ground downsized with dust outlining the tile and he dropped into the pit sliding down and fell headfirst into the field while the sand poured in. Not a bad start for a first day.
He stood up and wielded his axe, the pit closed and he heard loud noises and the torches came into view, he stopped at the audience lauding and hammering on their barriers. The noise was so loose he could not get what they were screaming. The next challenger was a dead giveaway as he heard a trumpet fill the room
He poised waiting for the tantor to step outside, it emerged from the deeper darkness to the arena, he grinned as it waved off the guardians as they tried to hold it down in chains, a beast screamed as it whisked its tusk at him and he flew into the rocks.
Stump Stump Stump!
The Stumper gave a low fierce rumble as it encountered him. Its skin was sandy and it had a red band around its skull, the metal tusks were four feet long and almost grazing against the ground, it bore brass bonds on each foot. It had old weapons stuck to its body, from its demeanor it looked like it was ready to attack.
"Hehe" He swivelled his axe, its red eyes narrowed and the large bull gave a basso trumpet as he charged the gladiator and he climbed its tusk and hung on chopping its trunk off, the Stumper rolled on its side and he leaped off to the edge of the barrier where the beasts sat and they pushed him down.
He dropped and got up ridding himself of the blood.
"Maelstrom!" The Sand King, Terrabull sat up, he had the stature of a minotaur
"I should've known you would show your ugly behind in my territory!" He thundered and snorted dust from his nostrils.
His eyes flashed at the Topyx engraved in his head.
"Bulls will be bulls" He muttered and peered at the sheets "I call you out Terrabull!"
"You must think I'm so eager to fight you, I simply let you down here for my entertainment" He raised his hands and snorted at the red sheet and his eye twitched "Nice try, I am not so foolish to understand_"
He smeared blood on the barrier and Terrabull growled wiping his eyes at the scribble.
TERRIBLE
The words pulsed in his viewpoint and he snorted at the flashes.
"I'm calling you out, chicken!"
The column cracked when his hand pushed against it, "So be it" He stepped up and the cheering heightened when he leaped off toward Maelstrom.