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Description
War Ridden I
Bo Holliday

Three men surrounded Bo, the lone human. They eyed him carefully, sizing him up as they circled him. In the darkness of the cave he could see perfectly with his augmented hazel eyes. Not that he needed any sort of advantage against these men.
One of the men had an axe and a shield, the other two carried a sword each. Bo was unarmed, his black scimitar sheathed across his lower back. His rare black armor of drowish design seemed to gleam even in the dark, an inner glow darker itself than the caverns around them. His tassles hung to his knees, silver studs embroidered in intricate patterns down the length of each strap.
'We've finally caught you,' the man with the axe spoke up when they were seemingly done inspecting their prey. 'Do you know how much of a thorn you've been in our sides? Killing our leaders, undoing our strategies, spying! But your time has come, Silencer. We've been sent to kill you.'
After a while the three men bristled when Bo said nothing. 'Don't go thinking you're gonna walk out of here alive!' one of the men with the swords said. 'We're the most capable warriors for the job. That's why we were the ones sent to take you down. Don't you dare take us lightly.'
'As long as a man draws breath, I do not underestimate him,' Bo answered. 'But I know who you three are.' He smirked, though they couldn't see it. 'And it was not you who were sent to kill me, but rather the other way around.' The three men grew angry, their faces contorting into scowls. One of them lifted his axe, about to attack. 'Do you think you would have found me if I had not wished it so?' Bo continued, staying the man's hand. He could sense their doubt, their hesitation...their fear. That was why he was superior. 'You came right to me, just as I knew you would. All I had to do was leave the right tracks.'
'You're lying!' one of the men growled. 'You know it's over and you'll say anything to try and get out of it!'
Bo looked directly at the man. 'Naivety.' He chuckled. 'Already you doubt yourself, your actions, the very reasons you are fighting this war. And that is how I know...I have already won.'
'Enough!' a swordsman roared, charging. Bo's hand shot out and gripped the man's sword wrist. He twisted the man's arm upwards and twirled beneath it, coming up behind the man and kicking in the back of his knee. The man fell to one knee, twisting his arm further, and with a grimmace of pain his sword was forced from his grip and clattered to the stone floor. Now the other two seemed to realize what was happening and they too charged the Silencer.
Bo grabbed the first at the back of the neck, still holding his wrist, and swung him around to come between himself and the axeman. He released the man and he tumbled into the axeman, bringing them both to the floor.
The second swordsman came up behind Bo and slashed downwards. Bo sidestepped the move, seeing the attack coming as if he had eyes in the back of his head, and elbowed backwards. The man clutched his face, reeling from the powerful blow.
The axeman was recovering now and went at Bo again. Bo caught the shaft of the weapon before the blade got near him and he pulled it to the side. The man brought up his shield just in time to block a shoving kick from Bo, stumbling backwards from the effect. He went far enough back that he hit the wall, which stabilized him again. But just as he was about to go forward again he felt a hand on his face. The other two started for Bo but realized he was gone. Then they saw him - sticking halfway out of the wall as if he were a part of the cave itself - with his hand on the axeman's face. They saw him slam the back of the man's head into the wall. They could only watch in horror as their opponent's hand lit up with black flame. They could only listen in horror as their friend's face was burned off of his head. They saw his body slide to the floor lifeless, and saw Bo "meld" back into the wall.
They looked around in silence, trying to anticipate where he may strike from next. One of them fell to the floor, dead. The last man looked down and saw a miniature crossbow bolt sticking out of the man's back; not big enough to kill on its own of course. But the Silencers were renowned for not only their combat prowess but also their use of deadly, fast-acting poisons.
'Damn you!' the man roared, his voice the sheerest rage Bo had ever heard in a man. His mini crossbow folded back into his bracer and he watched the man come at him in a wild rage. The man slashed downwards in a two-handed power strike. Bo's arms flew up, both of his bracers slamming into the man's own wrists and sending his sword flying forward. In a movement too quick to percieve Bo lashed an arm back, caught the sword by the hilt, and stabbed it forward. The astonished man looked down at his bloodstained gut before Bo slid the blade free, walking around the man who fell to his knees. Bo stood behind him and raised the sword high, point down, for the killing strike. He ended it swiftly, the blade effortlessly sliding through the back of the man's neck and down into his chest behind the collar bone.
He left the sword lodged in the man and kicked him down facefirst to the floor, then turned to leave. His sword was still sheathed and he didn't have a drop of blood on him. He was hardly impressed with the "capable warriors", and had hardly enjoyed his victory at all.

~~

'It is done,' the tall man in gray robes whispered to the fair-skinned elf. Her ornate chair was placed at the end of the pavilion, with several smaller chairs and a table arranged before it for times of council. Currently they were the only two in the large tent.
The mysterious robed man was completely concealed, with nary a hint of who he might be beneath the simple gray clothes that covered every inch of his body, right down to the massive hood which was pulled over his head and shadowing his face. Only his full lips were visible as he stood before the seated woman.
'It pains me so to have to send good men to their deaths so,' she sighed, though not much sorrow was evident in her tone. 'But we had to throw him off of our trail, at least for a bit longer. We don't have time to be fooling around with the drow's little toys; we have a war to win.' She looked at the man. 'I pray to the Goddess that their deaths do not go in vain.' He bowed slightly, recognizing the veiled threat for what it was, and turned to leave the tent. 'And one more thing,' she stopped him, as if on second thought. He half-tunred his head to listen. 'Do be careful.' Her finger was at her lips in a thoughtful expression. 'We have done well in keeping your presence here hidden, so the enemy will be careless when they come against me. But no matter how careless they might seem, you must be mindful if you encounter thair Silencer. He is every bit as skilled and deadly as you are. I cannot afford to lose you in this war, or all is lost.'
He thought on her words for a bit, then gave a light bow and exited through the flap, his loose robes whirling through the air behind him as he faded into the night.

~~

Bo stood kneeled before his mistress, a dark-skinned drow, in a vast and empty chamber. The Priestess of Lolth, Krissin, with her personal bodyguard standing beside her dark throne. Krissin was wearing only a flowing black dress comprised of thin black strips of material. Her hourglass figure combined with her perfect facial features made her quite a beautiful woman - maddeningly so, in fact. It had taken Bo a long time to overcome his instinctual - and all too human - lust for her. An overcoming aided, perhaps, by their sharing of beds on more than one occasion. A concealed intimacy of course, for what self-respecting drow woman, and a priestess of all women, would sleep with a human? But Bo was differnt, far greater, than any other of his race the drow had ever encountered. But outside of that secret life they were strictly master and servant.
Krissin's bodyguard was female as well, heavily armored with a mace strapped to her side and a small buckler over her left forearm. She had been trained in a renowned drowish school of combat and had been the most promising student. Bo did not doubt her skill with the mace and shield she used, but when it came down to it she was still no match for him.
'And so the time has come,' Krissin rose from her throne, a temporary piece in a temporary base. A small human settlement on the very edge of the forest of the elves - the forest the drow had already conquered, and driven the elves out of. General Hale of the grey dwarves was also currently camped in the town, along with some other important members of the force including Captains Cobal and Dro'Norus, both drow. In fact, Bo was the only human in the entire army. Krissin led the army alongside General Hale but Bo only took orders from Krissin herself, being her personal assassin and guard.
'It has,' he answered, rising to his feet and looking at Krissin's form directly. His stance was bold, almost arrogant but with a measure of respect. He had grown much in the past hundred years of his extended life. 'Truelle's captains are eliminated. All that stands between us and Truelle herself is that bodyguard of hers.'
Krissin walked down the few steps before her throne and past Bo, folding her arms lightly across her stomach as she looked out the great window to the forest beyond. The sun was setting; the light did not seem to bother her eyes. 'Are you forgetting her resistance force?' she slyly raised an eyebrow.
'They are nothing,' Bo replied calmly and without missing a beat. 'Some human brawlers led by a team of elvish explorers and scholars. One of our own could take three of theirs, and that is a considerable advantage knowing we outnumber them at least five to one, not including the duergar.'
Krissin closed her eyes, her silver hair moving gently with the shifting of her body. 'You would do well not to underestimate our foe,' she told him with a slight smirk. She knew Bo did not like the idea of underestimating someone. He thought it was one of his strong points, some misguided human concept of pride. 'Truelle is an ancient enemy of the drow, with over a thousand years of experience fighting my kind. She has already come close to winning this war once, and I do not wish for a similar mistake in the future.'
'Of course,' Bo bowed. 'My apologies, Mistress. I was merely implying it is her bodyguard we should be more concerned with, not her army. We know nothing of him, and she has gone out of her way to keep him hidden from us.'
Krissin turned to regard him with a slight frown marring her exceptional features. 'Perhaps you are right, my servant...but never forget the lessons that come with immortality. You must learn patience, and to look further into the future. You have been given a great power, Bosheevus...do not act so rashly with it.' Bo bowed again, keeping his head down this time. He was always humbled by her mentioning of his enhanced lifespan, a gift from the drow, among the other various abilities they had given him such as night vision. The "gifts" hadn't been given out of friendliness or appreciation, of course...after all, these were the drow. They had simply been given because they would make him a more effective tool in their arsenal. A fair tradeoff, he guessed. 'Alone her army is, as you say, nothing. It is with Truelle's leadership and cunning that they become a lethal fighting force. She has an uncanny ability to lay out a strategy that may take hundreds of years before the results come to light.' She paused, but when Bosheevus said nothing she moved forward. 'Unfortunately for her, I do not plan on staying up here that long. Bosheevus, I know you can move without being seen or heard. I want you to locate and infiltrate her camp.' This came as a slight surprise to Bo. It must have shown because Krissin looked at him and laughed, a cold thing that drove spikes of chill into Bo's spine.
'Are you positive, Mistress?' he questioned. 'In itself it is not such a bold move, but such a trip suggests your plans for the near future. It is unlike you, to mobilize the forces so quickly.'
'I am not asking for a full scale assault,' she told him. 'I am merely tasking you with observing the enemy and reporting back to me. Do I ask too much of you?'
'It may be difficult to find where she is hiding, especially considering the small size of her force,' he told her. To an average human it would have been funny how his main concern was for finding the enemy camp, not the fact that he would be walking right into enemy hands. Hands that wanted to tear him limb from limb, evidently. Then again, the drow would do that same thing to him if he failed them. 'I do not doubt she will have false trails everywhere, beside the fact she will have many scouts patrolling.'
'Nevertheless,' her voice was suddenly firm, threatening. 'I know you will find a way.' Her tone signalled the end of the conversation. She would have no more excuses.
After a moment he dipped his head. 'Of course, Mistress. I will return within three weeks time.' He turned to leave, exiting through the stone archway as Krissin sat herself back down upon her throne.

~~

Description
War Ridden I
Bo Holliday

Three men surrounded Bo, the lone human. They eyed him carefully, sizing him up as they circled him. In the darkness of the cave he could see perfectly with his augmented hazel eyes. Not that he needed any sort of advantage against these men.
One of the men had an axe and a shield, the other two carried a sword each. Bo was unarmed, his black scimitar sheathed across his lower back. His rare black armor of drowish design seemed to gleam even in the dark, an inner glow darker itself than the caverns around them. His tassles hung to his knees, silver studs embroidered in intricate patterns down the length of each strap.
'We've finally caught you,' the man with the axe spoke up when they were seemingly done inspecting their prey. 'Do you know how much of a thorn you've been in our sides? Killing our leaders, undoing our strategies, spying! But your time has come, Silencer. We've been sent to kill you.'
After a while the three men bristled when Bo said nothing. 'Don't go thinking you're gonna walk out of here alive!' one of the men with the swords said. 'We're the most capable warriors for the job. That's why we were the ones sent to take you down. Don't you dare take us lightly.'
'As long as a man draws breath, I do not underestimate him,' Bo answered. 'But I know who you three are.' He smirked, though they couldn't see it. 'And it was not you who were sent to kill me, but rather the other way around.' The three men grew angry, their faces contorting into scowls. One of them lifted his axe, about to attack. 'Do you think you would have found me if I had not wished it so?' Bo continued, staying the man's hand. He could sense their doubt, their hesitation...their fear. That was why he was superior. 'You came right to me, just as I knew you would. All I had to do was leave the right tracks.'
'You're lying!' one of the men growled. 'You know it's over and you'll say anything to try and get out of it!'
Bo looked directly at the man. 'Naivety.' He chuckled. 'Already you doubt yourself, your actions, the very reasons you are fighting this war. And that is how I know...I have already won.'
'Enough!' a swordsman roared, charging. Bo's hand shot out and gripped the man's sword wrist. He twisted the man's arm upwards and twirled beneath it, coming up behind the man and kicking in the back of his knee. The man fell to one knee, twisting his arm further, and with a grimmace of pain his sword was forced from his grip and clattered to the stone floor. Now the other two seemed to realize what was happening and they too charged the Silencer.
Bo grabbed the first at the back of the neck, still holding his wrist, and swung him around to come between himself and the axeman. He released the man and he tumbled into the axeman, bringing them both to the floor.
The second swordsman came up behind Bo and slashed downwards. Bo sidestepped the move, seeing the attack coming as if he had eyes in the back of his head, and elbowed backwards. The man clutched his face, reeling from the powerful blow.
The axeman was recovering now and went at Bo again. Bo caught the shaft of the weapon before the blade got near him and he pulled it to the side. The man brought up his shield just in time to block a shoving kick from Bo, stumbling backwards from the effect. He went far enough back that he hit the wall, which stabilized him again. But just as he was about to go forward again he felt a hand on his face. The other two started for Bo but realized he was gone. Then they saw him - sticking halfway out of the wall as if he were a part of the cave itself - with his hand on the axeman's face. They saw him slam the back of the man's head into the wall. They could only watch in horror as their opponent's hand lit up with black flame. They could only listen in horror as their friend's face was burned off of his head. They saw his body slide to the floor lifeless, and saw Bo "meld" back into the wall.
They looked around in silence, trying to anticipate where he may strike from next. One of them fell to the floor, dead. The last man looked down and saw a miniature crossbow bolt sticking out of the man's back; not big enough to kill on its own of course. But the Silencers were renowned for not only their combat prowess but also their use of deadly, fast-acting poisons.
'Damn you!' the man roared, his voice the sheerest rage Bo had ever heard in a man. His mini crossbow folded back into his bracer and he watched the man come at him in a wild rage. The man slashed downwards in a two-handed power strike. Bo's arms flew up, both of his bracers slamming into the man's own wrists and sending his sword flying forward. In a movement too quick to percieve Bo lashed an arm back, caught the sword by the hilt, and stabbed it forward. The astonished man looked down at his bloodstained gut before Bo slid the blade free, walking around the man who fell to his knees. Bo stood behind him and raised the sword high, point down, for the killing strike. He ended it swiftly, the blade effortlessly sliding through the back of the man's neck and down into his chest behind the collar bone.
He left the sword lodged in the man and kicked him down facefirst to the floor, then turned to leave. His sword was still sheathed and he didn't have a drop of blood on him. He was hardly impressed with the "capable warriors", and had hardly enjoyed his victory at all.

~~

'It is done,' the tall man in gray robes whispered to the fair-skinned elf. Her ornate chair was placed at the end of the pavilion, with several smaller chairs and a table arranged before it for times of council. Currently they were the only two in the large tent.
The mysterious robed man was completely concealed, with nary a hint of who he might be beneath the simple gray clothes that covered every inch of his body, right down to the massive hood which was pulled over his head and shadowing his face. Only his full lips were visible as he stood before the seated woman.
'It pains me so to have to send good men to their deaths so,' she sighed, though not much sorrow was evident in her tone. 'But we had to throw him off of our trail, at least for a bit longer. We don't have time to be fooling around with the drow's little toys; we have a war to win.' She looked at the man. 'I pray to the Goddess that their deaths do not go in vain.' He bowed slightly, recognizing the veiled threat for what it was, and turned to leave the tent. 'And one more thing,' she stopped him, as if on second thought. He half-tunred his head to listen. 'Do be careful.' Her finger was at her lips in a thoughtful expression. 'We have done well in keeping your presence here hidden, so the enemy will be careless when they come against me. But no matter how careless they might seem, you must be mindful if you encounter thair Silencer. He is every bit as skilled and deadly as you are. I cannot afford to lose you in this war, or all is lost.'
He thought on her words for a bit, then gave a light bow and exited through the flap, his loose robes whirling through the air behind him as he faded into the night.

~~

Bo stood kneeled before his mistress, a dark-skinned drow, in a vast and empty chamber. The Priestess of Lolth, Krissin, with her personal bodyguard standing beside her dark throne. Krissin was wearing only a flowing black dress comprised of thin black strips of material. Her hourglass figure combined with her perfect facial features made her quite a beautiful woman - maddeningly so, in fact. It had taken Bo a long time to overcome his instinctual - and all too human - lust for her. An overcoming aided, perhaps, by their sharing of beds on more than one occasion. A concealed intimacy of course, for what self-respecting drow woman, and a priestess of all women, would sleep with a human? But Bo was differnt, far greater, than any other of his race the drow had ever encountered. But outside of that secret life they were strictly master and servant.
Krissin's bodyguard was female as well, heavily armored with a mace strapped to her side and a small buckler over her left forearm. She had been trained in a renowned drowish school of combat and had been the most promising student. Bo did not doubt her skill with the mace and shield she used, but when it came down to it she was still no match for him.
'And so the time has come,' Krissin rose from her throne, a temporary piece in a temporary base. A small human settlement on the very edge of the forest of the elves - the forest the drow had already conquered, and driven the elves out of. General Hale of the grey dwarves was also currently camped in the town, along with some other important members of the force including Captains Cobal and Dro'Norus, both drow. In fact, Bo was the only human in the entire army. Krissin led the army alongside General Hale but Bo only took orders from Krissin herself, being her personal assassin and guard.
'It has,' he answered, rising to his feet and looking at Krissin's form directly. His stance was bold, almost arrogant but with a measure of respect. He had grown much in the past hundred years of his extended life. 'Truelle's captains are eliminated. All that stands between us and Truelle herself is that bodyguard of hers.'
Krissin walked down the few steps before her throne and past Bo, folding her arms lightly across her stomach as she looked out the great window to the forest beyond. The sun was setting; the light did not seem to bother her eyes. 'Are you forgetting her resistance force?' she slyly raised an eyebrow.
'They are nothing,' Bo replied calmly and without missing a beat. 'Some human brawlers led by a team of elvish explorers and scholars. One of our own could take three of theirs, and that is a considerable advantage knowing we outnumber them at least five to one, not including the duergar.'
Krissin closed her eyes, her silver hair moving gently with the shifting of her body. 'You would do well not to underestimate our foe,' she told him with a slight smirk. She knew Bo did not like the idea of underestimating someone. He thought it was one of his strong points, some misguided human concept of pride. 'Truelle is an ancient enemy of the drow, with over a thousand years of experience fighting my kind. She has already come close to winning this war once, and I do not wish for a similar mistake in the future.'
'Of course,' Bo bowed. 'My apologies, Mistress. I was merely implying it is her bodyguard we should be more concerned with, not her army. We know nothing of him, and she has gone out of her way to keep him hidden from us.'
Krissin turned to regard him with a slight frown marring her exceptional features. 'Perhaps you are right, my servant...but never forget the lessons that come with immortality. You must learn patience, and to look further into the future. You have been given a great power, Bosheevus...do not act so rashly with it.' Bo bowed again, keeping his head down this time. He was always humbled by her mentioning of his enhanced lifespan, a gift from the drow, among the other various abilities they had given him such as night vision. The "gifts" hadn't been given out of friendliness or appreciation, of course...after all, these were the drow. They had simply been given because they would make him a more effective tool in their arsenal. A fair tradeoff, he guessed. 'Alone her army is, as you say, nothing. It is with Truelle's leadership and cunning that they become a lethal fighting force. She has an uncanny ability to lay out a strategy that may take hundreds of years before the results come to light.' She paused, but when Bosheevus said nothing she moved forward. 'Unfortunately for her, I do not plan on staying up here that long. Bosheevus, I know you can move without being seen or heard. I want you to locate and infiltrate her camp.' This came as a slight surprise to Bo. It must have shown because Krissin looked at him and laughed, a cold thing that drove spikes of chill into Bo's spine.
'Are you positive, Mistress?' he questioned. 'In itself it is not such a bold move, but such a trip suggests your plans for the near future. It is unlike you, to mobilize the forces so quickly.'
'I am not asking for a full scale assault,' she told him. 'I am merely tasking you with observing the enemy and reporting back to me. Do I ask too much of you?'
'It may be difficult to find where she is hiding, especially considering the small size of her force,' he told her. To an average human it would have been funny how his main concern was for finding the enemy camp, not the fact that he would be walking right into enemy hands. Hands that wanted to tear him limb from limb, evidently. Then again, the drow would do that same thing to him if he failed them. 'I do not doubt she will have false trails everywhere, beside the fact she will have many scouts patrolling.'
'Nevertheless,' her voice was suddenly firm, threatening. 'I know you will find a way.' Her tone signalled the end of the conversation. She would have no more excuses.
After a moment he dipped his head. 'Of course, Mistress. I will return within three weeks time.' He turned to leave, exiting through the stone archway as Krissin sat herself back down upon her throne.

~~