The BEGINNING!

[Carthrat]

In the mystical land of Josho, dwarves mined mountains and elves climbed trees. Humans built large monuments to power, and every couple of years, an evil villian would try his luck at dominating the world.

But they all failed, thanks to the bravery, the courage, the absolute HONOR and GLORY!~

Of the local churches, from which a group of brave men and a woman teamed up to go slay whatever evil villians lurked. These churches, which never turned away noble heroes sprung up wherever evil lurked...

And they produced JUSTICE on the surrounding lands. All in the name of the CAUSE! And the CAUSE was furthered by the acts of these brave heroes.

And so, when a Brave Noble Fighter, who went by the name of John Truesword came to a small village church...

They asked a quest of him.

And the quest... was this:

"John Trueblade, the local kings princess has been KIDNAPPED!"

Gasps of shock from the clergy and other church-goers.

"She has been Kidnapped by a horrible DRAGON!"

A small voice popped up from the clergy. "What color is it?"

The high priest blinked. "What does that matter?"

"Well, it could have like, you know, NOT kidnapped her, but had made a deal with her, depending on it's-"

"HERETIC!" shouted the High Priest loudly. "Fredumont, take him out and SMITE him!"

Clapping insued, but once it had died down...

"Now, John Trueblade... your quest is to go to the Dragons lair on Mt. Capiriariosca, and RESUCE the princess. You shall be rewarded with the Churchs Undying Gratitude! Oh, and One Million Pieces of Gold! You cannot possibly carry so much, so we decided to make it easy on you can allow you to carry only One Thousand Pieces of Gold."

The High Priest paused for a moment, then stared John straight in the eye.

"One of our most capable Cleric, Fredumont shall accompany you. He excels in slaying EVIL in all it's guises, and shall serve you well. What is your response?"

((Ok, people. I really don't mind how you do OOC, as long as it's OBVIOUS, and it's at the beginning or end of a post.

The usual obvious rules.. you're all intelligent people, and if you don't know them I'll tell you, but really, it's common sense ^^))

[CyMage]

In an old tower, in a middle of an even older forest, Greysol Darkplain studied his crystal ball.  Watching the images for a while he finally turned away and puffed on his pipe.

"The time draws near.  The heroes are begining to gather.  They shall prevail, but will need help at first."

Letting loose a couple smoke rings, Greysol continued speaking to himself.

"Now where did I put that walking stick?"

[Anonymous]

OOC: *Olg. wonders what he got into* Oh well, it should be interesting. *grins*

IC:

Up until that point, the blonded haired youth quietly listened to the priest's words. No older than eighteen, his attitude was one of complete professionalism. Looking away from the High Priest, he took a few moments to consider the offer.

"I'll do it.." John quietly murmured, turning to look at the Priest with his deep blue eyes.

[Carthrat]

The High Priest smiled. "Thank the Cause! Fredumont! Our savior is here!"

[Rezantis]

A loud voice boomed from behind the young fighter as a large, broad-shouldered man thundered back into the temple - waving a heavy, mean-looking mace enthusiastically.

"EXCELLENT!  The CAUSE has PROVIDED!" proclaimed the cleric loudly, clapping John solidly on the back.

"I, FREDUMONT the MILD," - several other clerics winced at the volume - "Shall accompany YOU, James Trueblade, and together we shall SMITE the HERETICAL and EVIL dragon in the name of the CAUSE!  HAIL TO THE CAUSE!"

[calendar]

OOC:  Argh, well this is my first post.  I dunno about how I'm playing her.  *sigh*  But she babbles.  Oh, yeah.

IC:

Behind the crowd of church goers, a cloaked figure stood, A bow in their hand and a small loaded crossbow strapped to each hip.  One arrow poked out of a case on their back, the tufts of it worn and faded from their original redness.

This person shifted stances once, twitching uncomfortably.  Then they shifted again.  And again.

The Cleric's voice was booming, and the figure twitched again.  Sighing, the figure shoved the hood back, showing a smiling, feminine girl with blue eyes and long dark green hair that fell out of the hood in a braided ponytail.  Pointed ears poked out from behing the tufts of hair framing her face.

She shoved her way into the crowd, ignoring the indignation (How DARE you ruin this glorious moment of the CAUSE! for me!) and annoyed murmurs.

She reached the front, standing tall, well, actually rather short, because she wasn't very tall, really, but that wasn't the point at all was it?, and her thoughts were running all the wrong ways, and wasn't that Brave Noble Fighter really cute, with his blue eyes that just bored their way into your skull like the arrow she'd shot at the mean giant last week, and hadn't that just been really neat, the way blood had just spurted out of his eye?

Then she realized everyone was staring at her, because she was just standing right out where the high priest and the Brave Noble Fighter who was called John and the loud Cleric were all being very dramatic and holy-like.

And she'd hoped for such a better entrance.

"HI!  I've always wanted to fight a dragon and rescue a princess, do you know if she's pretty?, I've always wanted to rescue a pretty princess and fight a dragon, I've heard it was really fun, and I can fight really well, just last month I defeated this really mean ogre that insulted a noble so they'd but a bounty on his head."  She took a breath.  "What do you think, can I go with you?"

[Anonymous]

John barely managed to stop himself from drawing his sword at the man's yell.

"Um...yes. Pleasure to meet you." John offered, holding out a hand in greeting.

Privately he wondered if he really should've accepted this mission.

Blinking at the latest commotion, John turned towards the girl and closely examined her....an elf!?

"I suppose you can join us." Turning towards the Cleric, he hastily added. "If you don't mind."

[calendar]

"Really?"  And he was even nice, a lot of guys weren't nice, she liked nice guys who listened to her, and it was good if they were handsome, too.  She smiled at the loud Cleric, but especially at John.  "I'm Lallie!"

[Anonymous]

Taken aback by the sheer amount of cheer Lallie possessed, John took a moment to recompose himself. Suddenly mindful of the crowd staring at them, he fidgeted slightly in place before responding in kind.

"My name is John Trueblade. The pleasure is all mine ma'am." He finished with a bow to the elven girl, before turning back to face the Cleric

[Rezantis]

"Another companion, the overenthused Cleric clapped the elf across the back as well, not pausing in his oration, "provided by THE CAUSE!  Truly, the CAUSE is WITH US!  We CANNOT FAIL!  HAIL TO THE CAUSE!"

He paused a moment, glared at the assemblage, and called out again.

"HAIL TO THE CAUSE!"

[Carthrat]

"HAIL TO THE CAUSE!" thundered back the crowd, as some of the more enthusiastic members began carrying the three heroes out through the church doors.


"Hail! HAIL! HAIL! HAIL!"

*SLAM!*

The doors slammed behind the three, and the voices dissapeared.

A signpost presented itself to be read-

"Escaville- 2 miles.
Greycloak Forest - 3 miles.
Mt. Unpronouncalbe - 6 miles. Travel through Escaville."

[Anonymous]

"Well, we'll need better equipment if we are to rescue the Princess." John lightly said, gazing at the signpost thoughtfully.

"It's only two miles to Escaville too. I say we should head that way."

[TannimFodder]

Meanwhile...

Hammerfist was a happy dwarf.  He had a bucket in one hand filled half-way to the brim with ale.  On his knee he had a bonny lass giggling at him as he described wonderous tales of going to interesting places, meeting interesting people, and killing them.  Several of the men gathered glowered at the dwarf for monopolizing the time of the prettiest serving wench in the bar.  Not that they'd use such a large word, since they were simple peasent folk.  Still, they were angry all the same.

One of the men, duller than the rest, decided he  had enough.  The man abruptly stood and strode angrily toward the dwarf.  The smarter men in the bar quietly paid their tabs and left.  This still left quite a few people.

"I don' like you," declaired the angry man as he pointed an accusing finger at the dwarf.

Hammerfist looked over the pathetic weakling, and responded in kind.  "The feeling is mutual, manling.  Now leave me be.  Cannae ye see that this bonnie lass an I are havin' an important conversation?"

If anything, the man became more angry.  His face turned a deep purple.  Before he could even cock back his fist to swing at the small dwarf, Hammerfist buried a ham-sized fist in the man's stomach, doubling him over.

Hammerfist gently set the girl off to the side before facing off to the rest of the bar's patrons, who had stood up.

"Just what I've been looking for.  A fight."  

The dwarf grinned wolfishly as he cracked his knuckles.  He made no move for the axe strapped to his back that was almost as big as he was.

As one, the rest of the bar's human patrons charged the dimunitive dwarf.  Hammerfist let out a blood-curdling scream of rage as he charged right back.

It really wasn't a very fair fight.

[TannimFodder]

OOC:  I forgot to mention this is the bar in Escaville.  ^_^

Tavern....  Whatever....

[calendar]

Lallie nodded brightly.  "Yeppers!  I bet we'll just have loads of fun!  We can talk, and play games at the tavern, and I can get some new bolts for my crossbows!"  She beamed at the two men.

This was just going to be such a fun trip!

OOC:  *sweatdrops madly*  She's so bouncy. . . It's like me on steroids. . .  Or me last night. . . . *looks thoughtful*  Hm. .