The Fugitive, The Runaway, and the Novice Pt1

Ivanhall takes place in a more medieval/steampunk Age. The World is populated by Humans and “Archons” Which are only distinguished by the Archons possessing powers. The powers differ between person to person, ranging from elemental control, to mental control, to the ability to generate shockwaves, even summoning demons. While the amount of Archons are still fairly low in comparison to the normal humans, a novice Archon can take a large group of humans easily, And a master Archon can destroy towns with a whim.The main ruling body of the world is The Empire, a large sprawling power that encompasses three large continents (Aviriia, Gondowahn, and Firi). However over the past decade the Empire has been in a steady power decline because of the existence of “The Guild”. A mercenary group that has steadily become a ruling body all its own, it is comprised primarily of Archons, however a few humans have managed to join. While The Empire and The Guild are not currently at odds it is only a matter of time until the match of this gunpowder keg is struck. The story follows a youngman by the name of Ivo Cassferth on his very first mission for The Guild.

 

The scene is set inside a carriage. Three people reside within.

 

Ivo Cassferth (Male, Slim, Average height, Middle Eastern (Egyptian, Palestinian) very tan, dark black hair: Loose leather clothes with a tan overcoat with a torn up hood),

 

Eris Denara(Female, muscular, slightly shorter than Ivo, black (haitian), dark red hair, wears heavy metal armor),

 

Artemis (Male, thin, disheveled, white (Italian, Russian), brown hair, about the same height as Eris, wears a dusty and torn silver robe with broken iron shackles around his wrists and ankles. Importantly his iris’ have a faint purple shimmer around the borders)

 

Scene: Entering Redgarden-

 

(It is daylight outside the carriage. Eris and Ivo are sitting on opposite of the carriage. Artemis is sitting upside down beside Ivo however he not in picture at the start. Ivo holds a rolled up piece of paper in his hand with a broken wax seal)

 

A= Ivo reaches to open the paper, prompting Eris to speak

 

Eris: Haven’t you read that thing enough times by now? You’ve probably memorized it all by this point. A bandit raid on the town of Redgarden, and we’re going there to stop it. What more is there to know?

 

A= Ivo stops, and lowers the paper to speak to Eris

 

Ivo: I can’t shake the feeling that something bad is going to happen

 

A= Eris leans back into her seat and sighs

 

Eris: Calm down, this job is going to be easy. You do the talking, I do the fighting. It’ll be as simple as that.

 

A= Ivo quickly unrolls the paper and flips it around to show Eris

 

Ivo: But doesn’t it seem odd that we got this job?

 

A= Eris’ hand raises to rub her eyes

 

Eris: Odd? Odd how?

 

A= Ivo pulls the paper back and stares at it intensely

 

Ivo: I mean… Im not even a part of The Guild yet. And this job came from the Guild Legion himself, to us! It doesn’t strike you as strange that the Guild Legion, leader of the entire Guild, had a job just for us, a couple of nobodies?

 

Eris: Are you afraid of a little attention Ivo?

 

Ivo: And it’s asking for three of us! Just to stop a few bandits, doesn’t that seem a little strange? You could likely handle them all by yourself if you wanted to Eris, so why so many of us?

 

A=Ivo throws the paper. It lands, covering Eris’ face, she doesn’t attempt to remove it.

 

Eris: So you get a headstart on your Guild career. It’s more than I was ever given.

 

Ivo: I don’t trust it.

 

A=Eris stretches causing the paper to slide off onto the floor

 

Eris: You don’t need to trust the job, you just need to do it.

 

A=As Eris finishes stretching she looks over to the window. A loud knocking can be heard from the front of the carriage

 

Ivo: We must be close then. Do you think I should wake him up?

 

A=The shot pans over to expose the third person, Artemis, sleeping upside down (feet up in the air, head down near the floor)

 

Eris: No need. He’ll wake up sooner or later.

 

A=Ivo sits forward

 

A=The carriage slams to a stop. Artemis is tossed about the cabin as a ragdoll, but eventually lands, right side up, on the seat across from where he began. The man’s eyes dart about confused as if trying to recount the events that put him there.

 

Eris: There, I think that woke him up.

 

A=A shadow is cast over the window, as the carriage door opens a ragged bloody man is exposed.

 

The Man: You’re the Guildsmen right? Oh thank god.

 

A=Ivo, Eris, and the now awakened Artemis pile out of the carriage. They are on a road surrounded by trees nearly blocking out the sky, several corpses dot the surrounding area..

 

The Man: It’s been five days since we sent out the Guild request, we were beginning to worry no one was coming.

 

A=Ivo looks around and notices a few corpses scattered around, some are bandits, others wearing the same armor as the man. Ivo notices The Man is clinging his side with blood dripping out.

 

The Man: You must hurry, follow this path through the woods. Our patrols have found traps and bandits along it, meaning the path may not be safe, but it is the fastest way to Redgarden.

 

Eris: You don’t seem to be in any condition stay here on your own.

 

A=The Man chuckles

 

The Man: Don’t worry about me, the townspeople need you more than I do. You’re very late, but with any luck, you might do some good yet. Now get going.

 

A= Eris and Ivo turn towards The Man and salute him, by forming their hands into fists and place each first against the opposing shoulder. After dropping the salute the two begin to run off down the path. However Artemis stays behind and stares down at the wounded man.

 

A= A slight purple aura traces around Artemis’ arms.

 

Artemis: He doesn’t have much time left does he?

 

The Man: You know for a Guildsmen, your bedside manner could use some work.

 

A=The man lets off a evidently nervous chuckle, the chuckle turns into a grimace as pain rushes over The Man.

 

A=Two bright glowing scythe-like weapons appear in Artemis’ hands. The Man’s demeanor shifts to a much more grim facade

 

Artemis: We promise we will make it quick, he only has a few minutes to live anyways.

 

The Man: I guess by “He” you mean me. And here I thought Soul Archons were only myths.

 

A= The man grimaces out of pain.

 

The Man: Fine, do what you have to do Guildsmen. Just make sure Redgarden survives, for my sake.

 

A= Artemis slowly approaches The Man. He raises his Scythe to strike down the man, as the scene cuts to black.

 

A=The view catches up to Eris and Ivo, who have not yet noticed the absent Artemis. Frames of the forest, with shadows of bandits off in the distance. Ivo pulls ahead of Eris. As he runs he see a glimpse of a thin metal wire stretched across the road. Ivo hesitates as his foot catches the wire.

 

A=A brief click from devices off in the forest can be heard. Explosions off on each side of the path erupt shattering the trees. Ivo closes his eyes as he tumbles forward.

 

A= To his rescue Eris leaps in at the last second driving her knee into the ground. Two stone walls erupt from the ground protecting the two from the blast.

 

A= Eris winces as the blast cracks the stone walls, in evident pain. Suddenly three bandits roll out from the forest ready to pounce on the heroes. Without missing a beat Eris immediately rushes forward crashing into one of the bandits.

 

A=Ivo takes a weapon from off his back. (A hook blade, long slender staff-like body with two long blades on one end and a sharp hook on the other). The two remaining bandits rush forward brandishing axes at Ivo.

 

A= Ivo rolls back unto his feet, Narrowly avoiding axe swipes. As Ivo recovers, a bright scythe careens past Ivo driving itself into the chest of one of the bandits. A chain materializes on the handle of the scythe, suddenly tightening the scythe drags the bandit past Ivo.

 

A= Spinning around Ivo sees Artemis gripping the Bandit by the throat, a glowing scythe in his other hand. Artemis slashes his scythe across the bandit, who then goes limp.

 

A= As the bandit’s corpse falls, a shimmering image, an imprint of the bandit, is left behind. Artemis slams his hand shut, shattering the image and the image falls apart into a torrent of energy, slowly being drawn into his arm. Artemis slowly breaths out.

 

A= Ivo’s attention snaps back, as the final bandit swings his axe at Ivo as he narrowly dodges below the passing weapon. As Ivo stands back up, the bandit strikes again. Careening down, the axe clangs off of Ivo’s now raised weapon. In the moment the bandit is thrown off balance, Ivo spins his weapon, bringing the blades along the Bandit’s chest, and thrusting forward, strikes the bandit down. The bandit slowly slides off of Ivo’s weapon.

 

Ivo: ERIS!

 

A=The ground shakes, the sound of cracking rocks echoes down the path.

 

Eris: What!

 

A= Ivo runs further up the path, through a cloud of dust that was brought up by the battle. Eris is slowly walking back, her opponent buried face first into the ground, his feet still poking out.

 

Ivo: Oh good, for a minute there you had me worried.

 

Eris: What? Worried that I’d died? I think it would be a safe bet, that any fight you walk out of alive, would be a cakewalk for me. Now let’s get moving, and Ivo…

 

Ivo: Yes?

 

Eris: Keep an eye out for booby traps from now on, I’d like to save my strength for the actual fight, not for getting you out of trouble.

 

A= Ivo dips his head in embarrassment, behind him Artemis, with a blank face, tilts his head.

 

A= Our heroes once again get on the move. They arrive at a break in the woods, what was once rows of tree has been carved out into a barren field leading up to large wooden gates. These gates belong to the town of Redgarden, and extends into a wall that creates the border of the town. As they cross out through the clearing an arrow comes screaming out from a guard tower along the wall. Eris slams to a halt as the arrow pierces the ground straight in front of her.

 

A= Eris grimaces as stumbling can be heard from up above. A voice calls out from atop the tower.

 

Captain: My deepest apologies Guildsmen! My men were expecting bandits…You must forgive them, they are not used to quite so much commotion! Just wait down there a minute while i get the gate open!

 

A= The Gate begins to open, shaking a layer of dust off of it. The trio makes their way inside the gate, they are greeted by a disheveled man in silver armor.

 

Captain: I am relieved to see you have finally made it, in all honesty many of us had started worry. But now that you are here, maybe we have a chance at pushing back these bandits. Now which one of you is in charge?

 

A= Eris disrespectfully walks past the Captain bumping into his shoulder, nearly knocking him over.

 

Eris: Ivo… The talking!

 

A= Ivo jumps to the ready, reaching his hand out to shake that of the Captain’s distracting him from Eris’ less than kind response.

 

Ivo: That would be me!

 

Captain: Ah, very good. If you’ll come this way with me, I can take you to the Mayor.

 

A= The Captain takes the group to a large hut in the center of the town. There are a few guards surrounding the Hut, two dead Bandits at their feet. The Captain motions for our trio to walk into the hut, but remains outside himself.

 

A= As Ivo walks into the hut a strange feeling occurs. He looks around trying to pin-point the cause, looking to an unfettered Eris, and distant faced Artemis. Having found nothing Ivo dismisses the feeling and continues to walk into the hut.

 

A= Our heroes arrive, in the room resides the young blond mayor, and five old men smoking hookah. The Mayor slowly begins to turn around and acknowledge their presence dressed in a fine green coat, a set of wire rimmed glasses hug his face.

 

Mayor: The Guildsmen I presume? Good, the bandits broke through the southern checkpoint two hours ago. This doesn’t give us much, if any time at all.

 

A= After a moment of silence, Eris shoves Ivo, reminding him once again of their agreement.

 

Ivo: That is correct. Guild Envoys: Ivo, Eris, and Artemis at your service. If i may ask a few questions about the job

 

A= The Mayor takes a seat on the far side of the room, behind a desk stacked with papers.

 

Mayor: You may ask freely, but I will remind you of the lack of time at our disposal.

 

Ivo: I’d like to get to know a bit more about these bandits. It seems odd that the bandits would attack you. Most Bandit droves stick to the roads, or small towns without an established militia, but Redgarden seems to be manned and ready for battle. I was wondering if you could think of something that would have encouraged them to act so brazenly. It may help us to understand how to stop them without conflict. And a second question, why ask for three Guild Envoys? Two would have been enough, even for the worst group of bandits.

 

A= The Mayor tilted back in his chair

 

Mayor:  I am afraid none of us have any idea what would have spurred this. We’ve received to some produce shipments, but that is hardly enough to spark them into action. We sent out the empire taxes less than a month ago, so the town is the poorest it’s been this entire year. By all rights a bandit attack now wouldn’t reward them with anything. As for your number, could you fault a Mayor for trying to ensure the safety of his people? I’d rather have more protection than needed, than be left unguarded.

 

A= A cough emanated from one of the older gentlemen as he attempted to clear his throat.

 

Elder: It’s the vault they’re after.

 

A= All of the shadows in the room shift suddenly. Ivo looks around having taken notice, looking around nothing now seems out of place. Eris and the Mayor do not seemed to have noticed, meanwhile Artemis’ eyes have taken an aggressive look as he begins to scan the room. Distracted Ivo continues the conversation.

 

Ivo: I’m sorry, the elder just now. He said something about a vault? What does he mean?

 

A= The Mayor removes his glasses and scratches at his temple. Sighing.

 

Mayor: It’s old myth nonsense that the elders like to hold on to, you know stuff parents tell their kids at night. As it goes, there's a vault deep in the mountains and the entrance is at the mountain’s base, inside of Redgarden’s walls. But the myth says it was a library, or some kind of hospital, I’ve never yet run into a bandit that was able to read, let alone an entire tribe that would risk invading us over books.

 

A= The same coughing from the elder once again.

 

Elder: But the bandits aren’t working alone are they?

 

A= The mayor buries his face into his palm, as Eris crosses her arms.

 

Ivo: Excuse me if you will mayor, but how much information do you plan on keeping from us?

 

A=The mayor sighs

 

Mayor: There have been reports of a mysterious third party amongst the bandits. However what the elder omits is that these reports are few and conflicting. Some reports say there are a group of men, other claiming to have only verified one man. However aside from the timing, there's nothing connecting him to the bandits.

 

Ivo: What’s his description?

 

Mayor: He’s been described as an average sized man, a black robe bearing some sort of V symbol on it’s back, with a silver hood. There are no descriptions of facial features, in all it’s a vague and an insultingly unhelpful description. Guildsman, you must understand, the Redgarden armed forces have not seen a conflict like this for some time. I think it has been affecting my men, perhaps making them see things that aren’t there, so without a concrete report, im not going to waste time on someone who might not even exist.

 

Ivo: Either way, this would be information I would have liked, to keep my team informed if nothing else.