Earths Pawns (reboot)

Stralman walked into the room she directed him towards and closed the door behind him, Though it seemed rude since Beatrice was right behind him it wasn't Stralman quickly took off his shirt and placed his hand onto his chest, feeling which ribs were broken. "It'll heal." He thought to himself, whether or not he liked to admit it, It hurt like a bastard. Putting his clothing back on he decided to open the door and exit the room, Beatrice still seemed to be close by.

"Beatrice, The room is wonderful, thank you." He spoke as though it were a matter of fact and very monotonously.

"Since I'm here now. Would you care to tell me anything about yourself Beatrice, Like how frequently you get yourself in trouble or any special quirks you might have?"

"Right, All is well than. Brad. That is good to hear. Now that I've lost an arm and it stopped bleeding. We should find an alternative to acquire one. That or we should go and get a drink." Zillis smirked, almost letting out a chuckle.

Listening to Alistar he knew he was right, Zillis calmed down quickly regardless once he heard the good news.

"I'll be of as much use as I can be, I know i'm not quite as useful as you folks with 2 arms, But I'm still capable of handling my own."

 

"Any quirks and trouble?"
Surprised by Stralman emerging from the room so quickly after entering, Beatrice thought for awhile, shutting her eyes as she tried to answer the question. After a moment, she opened her eyes with a dazed look.
"None. Trouble just happens, but I don't have anything to do with it. Besides, how am I supposed know the future?"

Feeling there were no threats at this point, Adolph put away the revolver and left the room, walking past Beatrice and descending the stairs. Reaching the bottom, he froze, looking at the destruction. Looking away from Neji, Lust noticed Adolph and scowled.
"I told you not to come down." Her expression of disapproval vanished. "But I did forget to come back for you after what happened down here."
"What... happened?"
"I wish I knew who it was, but someone came and fought our guest."
"How annoying." Adolph shook his head in disgust.
"Quite. Oh!"
Remembering about a particular item, she reached into her front pocket. Summoning an object from her home in the spirit dimension, she pulled out a watch and walked to him, handing it to him.
"This is something that my sister gave to me. Speaking of her, where is she?"
"I do not know where she went. But this watch. Why did you give it to me?"
Lust lowered her voice and leaned in close, getting dangerous close with her bust and causing Adolph to lean back to avoid contact.
"It will teleport you twice in one day, wherever I will you to go."
"Why should I need this?"
"Some people will need help, and you must be there for that to happen. I can defend Beatrice well enough without you around."
"Are you sure about that?"
Lust glared at him and leaned closer, making physical contact with him.
"Yes. Quite. Sure."

 

"My apologies, I'm just trying to gauge my activity with you and your friends.I doubt it would be much different for me if I came here from my own volition."

Stralman walked ahead of Beatrice this time and began to head downstairs, he didn't say much. In fact he didn't really seem all that interested, Scanning the house as he walk he looked for every entryway and exit to be sure that if someone was getting in there would only be one way out. He saw Adolph and Lust talking deciding to ignore the conversation. He was certain that Beatrice would follow behind him at some point, but he cared little about that.

Stralman thought to himself "I'm going to have to skip a dose..." his expression was relatively grim he hated turning. "These bones will heal much quicker if I'm not in my current form quite an annoyance. Looks like I'm not getting any sleep anytime soon." deciding he saw enough of the house and had routes planned he turned back and talked to Beatrice.

"Who is that man talking to the woman downstairs?"

 

"Well, if he's speaking like he knows how to speak the same language as us, that would be Adolph. If you can't understand him and he looks foreign, then that is be Neji."
Beatrice brushed a stray hair back into place.
"Make your pick."

 

As a result of the day-long time skip:
Adolph got acquainted with Stralman and Neji, Beatrice taught Neji more of the common language (with surprising results, thanks to her subconscious use of unknown demigoddess abilities). Adolph had his rifle, Ekle, returned to him, now with improvements. Having explained to Adolph how the slaved teleportation device worked once more, Lust prepared to send Adolph away using the master unit teleportation device under the guise of him going for a walk. Outside and alone, the young mercenary and the Deity of Lust spoke to one another.

"So by the request of another deity, I will be abandoning my task of guarding Beatrice and aiding a group I have had a previous encounter with?"
"Exactly. I will be enough to defend her, as well as the visitors."
Deciding to place his trust in Lust, Beatrice's mother, he dismissed his concerns for Beatrice.
"But will she not grow suspicious?"
"I'll tell her that you are going for a walk. And when you take to long, I will break down and tell her you had to go search for a mission."
"So you will be lying, and then acting like you are confessing by lying once more. Speaking of missions, I only do missions for the money. What will be my compensation for doing this?"
"If you do this, I will see to it that you will lose your virginity."
Adolph lost his straight face, scowling at this reward.
"That is not the type of compensation I will settle for!"
"You will lose it to Beatrice."
He rubbed his eyes in annoyance at the change of the reward.
"That does not change anything!"
Lust's face changed from her usual teasing and cheerful composure to serious and threatening.
"... If you do not do this, I will see to it you remain a virgin forever."
With no other choice, Adolph glared at the deity that had cornered him.
"Fine, I will do it. But not willfully."
Lust's threatening expression vanished, and she smiled.
"Good. You don't need to be willing."
With those final words, Lust activated her master unit teleportation amulet, sending Adolph away to the location the Deity of Light had specified.

Adolph faded into a place near the tower, a short distance behind the group that had worked their way throughout the night to this place. Fully geared as he always was, he began walking to them, wearing a new coat to replace his lost coat and wearing a pair of heavily smoked lens to protect his sensitive vision from the sunlight. With his enhanced hearing, he overheard a familiar female voice saying something.

"Are you in need of an extra set of hands?"
Adolph called out, and as he did so, let his long-barreled rifle slip off his shoulder and into his hands, ready to fire at any threats.

Back in Greenforge...
Beatrice spent five minutes running around the house, trying to find something.
"Cassandra? Have you seen Adolph?"
Lust looked up from the book she had been engrossed in.
"Him? Oh, he went for a walk."
"Really? When will he be back?"
Lust shrugged.
"I dunno."
Beatrice sighed in disappointment.
"Great. Guess it will have to wait then. Stuck with these two other guys..."

 

"Have you any idea when he will be back, Ma'am?" Stralman was curious as he was eager to learn more about Adolph. he didn't get to spend much time conversing with him, or really much time to do anything with him. "None the less, I have made a mess of this house, I offer my services is cleaning it up. I will patch the walls and any damage I've made, right from my own pocket... I just need someone to bring me to the closest mill so I can buy some wood. Acquiring tools should be the easy part."

Stralman stood up, His chest was completely at ease, and he didn't sleep the night before. I kept himself medicated but all of his injuries had already healed, he was walking as though nothing had happened, even stretching his chest as such, He spoke up towards Beatrice. "For now, I am your designated guardian, Beatrice. As for you ma'am." He turned towards lust. "You've still not given me your name, so I am incapable of addressing you, But I assume you are to be the mistress of the house? Is there anything that I can do for you at all?"

Stralman was getting ready to leave.

 

"When will he be back? I wouldn't know." Lust lied through her teeth, knowing she was the one in charge of how long Adolph would be away. "He said he felt like going for a walk, survey the landscape, learn of his surroundings." She continued piling details onto the lie, making it sound like he was the one who chose to be away, instead of her. "He seems to be rather stiff and serious like that."
Shifting away from the topic of Adolph being away, she decided to move on to the subject of repairs.
"Well, a mill is on the south side of town, near the forest and the river. As for tools, they are in the workshop outside."
Setting aside the book and getting up from one of the surviving couches, she sighed before continuing on.
"Why don't I show you the way? We could do with a walk."
Walking to the door, Lust put on her shoes and pushed it open, letting the fresh air blow in.
"You may call me Cassandra."
Unsatisfied with her local searches for Adolph, Beatrice felt she had nothing else to do. She joined Lust at the door, having already had her shoes on.
"I'll come too. Maybe we will run into Adolph along the way."
Wait, how did she know where the mill was?

 

Stralman walked closer to Cassandra as they headed out the front door, as they walked he waited for an area with heavy noise pollution to talk to Cassandra.

"I'm not as naive, as Beatrice. Cassandra, Adolph is her sworn guardian. Self proclaimed as it may be. He wouldn't just leave her without explanation. Either I'm blind or he has some sort of connection with her you might be overlooking."

Though nothing he said was meant to be interpreted as fact he just had some serious doubts to her excuse.

"I promise you, Cassandra. I am not accusing you of lying. I just have some doubts as to him going out for a walk, without a time frame of coming back. "

Stralman kept his focus on Beatrice. Though he was looking forward he kept her scent in his nostrils making him capable of tracking her every move, if she were to break off. He wouldn't be too far behind.

"Anyway, Cassandra. I request all the info you may have on Adolph, It is for defensive purposes only, I must know if he is a renegade or not."

 

With Beatrice moving ahead of the group by a few dozen yards, Lust knew that the nearby noise would prevent the young woman from listening in, while being able to keep an eye on her. To match the name of the town, the lush, thick grass was a deep green, and complimenting the sight were the rocky mountains and partially clouded sky, casting shadows from time to time as the sun was occluded from site by the fluffy clouds. Not too far away, the thick forest could be seen, with the river and wood mill located a short ways into the forest. To Stralman's speculations, Lust responded.
"That does seem suspicious. He seems to hold a sense of loyalty towards her, as naive and trusting as she is. He's motivated to do things only if he can benefit from it. But with her, it is not definite what his gains are."
Sighing and looking up, she feigned deep thought.
I orchestrated the circumstances under which they would meet. Initially, I didn't care how well the two would get along, but after seeing them together for a little while, I realized I liked seeing the two together.
After having taken a short pause to make it seem like she was genuinely thinking about the topic at hand, she continued.
"As for him leaving under such vague terms, well, he was always a private young man. At least, from the few days I have been around him. I can't seem to remember much about Adolph, since those details remains mostly unknown to me, but he does take an interest in gathering information and knowledge. In truth, I have not had much time to understand what is or is not being overlooked about him."
He's smart. Definitely smart enough to know one cannot defy a deity such as I. He already knows the results of a potential failure, let alone absolute failure. He makes a pretty good pawn. A pawn I am not willing to lose, but a pawn nonetheless, to protect his mistress.
"However, he is extremely cautious, and he has a look to him as if he is ready to mercilessly tear into anything that could threaten him or his goals."

 

Stralman contemplated what Cassandra was saying. Though he didn't fully believe she had no part in having him leave he also had no evidence.

"Beatrice seems like a kind soul, I can understand why her father believes she needs protection, must have been a good thing I had come when I did, Her bodyguard must have important business to attend to, leaving without saying a word."

Stralman paused as the crowds died down a little. They were getting nearer to the mill, he waited for the sound of saws and mechanical blades to distract Beatrice once he heard them he continued.

"You describe Adolph as her father would describe me. Kindred souls he and I. Hopefully I will never have to put him down, Its rare to come by a talented Hunter these days."

Upon reaching the mill he stayed silent and waited for a lumberjack to approach Cassandra.

 

Brad looked surprised as he turned to the newcomer (slowly, so he didn't disturb Zoe), but his slack-jawed expression quickly turned into an eager smile.
"You know it, bro! We can use all the help we can get!"
He then looked to Ella with a sheepish grin, hoping he didn't speak out of turn.
"I mean, you know, if that's okay with you, Boss. He seems cool, right?"
He motioned to the gun in the man's hands.
"Seriously, just look at that gun. Bad guys don't use sweet-looking guns like that."

 

A lumberjack approached Lust, and she made the order for the wood.
He's already doing this free of charge, I might as well charge the store for this and have it delivered there.
Afterward, she returned to Stralman, updating him on the wood for the repairs. After doing so, she began walking back to the house, picking up on the conversation from before.
"You say the both of you are kindred souls? Perhaps. Or maybe that is how he is on the surface. I've only known him for a few days. Hold on..."
Turning around, she called out to Beatrice, who watched the water-powered mill saw wood in half.
"Hey! Dina-a-ling! Are you coming with us or not?"
Broken out of her daydream, Beatrice looked over at the leaving group.
"Oh. Right!"
Ding-a-ling! Hmph!
Leaving the mill, she followed after them to regroup.

Adolph payed Brad's approval no heed, knowing that Brad was not the leader of the group.
So these are the people that I met before. I was incapacitated at the time we met and unable to get to know them.
He waited for a response from the leader of the group.

 

OOT: gonna be a short post since it feels like filler.

Stralman didn't say much on the way home, He just lugged the timber over his shoulder as they walked. He kept an eye on both Cassandra and Beatrice.

 

Adolph glanced at the leader, Ella, and nodded slightly in affirmation. He walked to the group and scanned them as he did so. Seeing Zillis, he could not help but notice that his body was now asymmetrical. Joining them, he looked over at Zoe momentarily, before switching his indiscriminately cold gaze back to Ella.
"Then we share the same feelings; I do not wish to be left alone with the little one."
Speaking in his usual sharp manner and habitually omitting contractions in his speech, Adolph looked around at the landscape before continuing.
"What is our goal, who is the enemy and are there any wolves or similar creatures in this area?"


Upon arriving home, Beatrice began to direct Stralman to where the tools were located.
"Follow me to the workshop, it's on the other side of the house. We have everything you will need there."
She motioned for him to follow, guiding him to the workshop as Lust went inside to start cleaning the debris.

 

Adolph nodded to Ella and walked with her, matching her strides.
"As long as we stay out of the minions' range and their groups remain small, we should be fine."
He drew the seven-chambered from its holster and checked to see if it was loaded, ready to deal with any hostile people that would be within the trading post. Seeing all chambers held .44 magnum round, he shut it with a flick of his wrist.
"Loaded and ready to neutralize any resisting hostiles."
He clenched his mechanical hand and relaxed it, letting his short claw blades poke through the glove. Being ambidextrous, he would be able to fire with one hand, and slash with the other.

Beatrice unlocked the door to the workshop, but before opening it, she realized she had forgotten a question she had for Stralman. Feeling that she should come up with something, she settled on a different question.
I'm going to have to see if he actually knows how to use the tools in here.

 

Day had broken, and the sun light shone across the hilly, forested landscape. A man wearing a brown, cloth jacket and grey pants finished his breakfast. Pencils and pens lined his pockets, and a pocketbook padded his pocket, filled with information, sketches and calculations. Leaving the table in his quarters, he looked at the massive machine before him. As lead scientist and engineer of the project, he felt pride in directing the creation of a mobile fort. Built and designed in secret by the Forge to combat the King's armies, the steam-powered fort was brought out of the underground hangar upon completion the night before. Six large wheels propelled the fort, eight artillery cannons lined the top of the creation and four short towers for snipers were individually constructed on each corner of the rectangular fort. While those were notable features, the most interesting function of the machine was the Phalanx Array, an array of hundreds of cannons that could tear apart an encampment or small town in a single volley. Today, the machine was going to me tested extensively and given a chance to test its weapons. Outside of the walled forest the fort was built in, an army of the King's men prepared for their assault, not knowing they would soon be torn apart by the mobile fort the man called Caedes, though it has been called the Mobal Fort by other engineers as joke involving the misspelling of the term "Mobile Fort."

General Octavius, a man in his late twenties dressed in dark red light armor and the son of a renowned general, stood in his tent, planning for any possible way of properly assaulting the town. For now, his army blockaded the town until heavier cannons could be brought in to destroy the wall. However, due to mountains being between his army and the supply line, deliveries were greatly hindered. Even now, his army was relatively small, only having roughly 1,200 men. Three hundred were lost due to those harsh mountain conditions, either by the elements or as examples to show that no weakness would be tolerated.
"To Hell with it! There must be a way of getting past that ridiculously large wall!"
The general slammed his fist down upon the folding table, denting the it and startling the guards that stood outside his tent. The map he used yielded no possible weaknesses of the walled forest. With the expectations of his father and his family's reputation weighing heavily on his mind, the stress greatly agitated him.
"Allow me to put my hand into this your efforts, and your efforts will be realized."
A deep voice cut through the air, directed at Octavius. Startled, the young general took a step back and drew his sword. Across the table from him, a man in black armor stood across from him with a damaged chest plate. Nobody accompanied Octavius in the tent, and he had his back to the tent's entrance, so it made little sense how this lone man with black hair and matching armor could silently get directly in front of him.
"Who are you!?"
Hearing their general's yell, the two guards ran in. They silently stood by his side, ready to draw their swords and use their shields to block any attacks. Seeing the intruder's large glowing blade caused the guards to wonder if their shields could break from such a devastating weapon.
"I am the hand against all. I am the hand that will reach for you today to aid, and reach for you tomorrow to harm. I am the god of War and destruction."
Skeptical, Octavius glared at the man.
"Prove it to me. I cannot just take the word of a man that who simply sneaks past to be a god when there are no gods."
The god with the scarred face of a middle-aged man smiled slightly.
"How is this for proof?"
Taking his sword, he thumped it into the ground. At that moment, a monstrous explosion was heard from the direction of the forest. Rocks and dirt rained against the tent briefly.
"You do not even need to look to know what that was. That wall that has been giving you grief for so long has been obliterated. All I expect from you in return is the capture of what has been hidden to be captured."
Octavius was confused by this sudden turn of events. He wanted to disbelieve the strange man, but the magnitude of the explosion could be nothing else but the destruction of the wall.
"Something hidden? It must be important if it had to be hidden by both a forest and a tree."
"You will not regret obtaining this secret. That is all I will help you with for now. However..."
The dark god pulled his blade from the ground.
"You are the only one who must know of my existence. Make it that way."
Octavius knew what he must do, even if he did feel somewhat confused. Spinning around and lashing with his blade, he decapitated the two guards in a single strike.
"Good, lap dog. Those guards had treasonous notes planted on them, which will help you deal with the body disposal."
With that final statement, the god vanished. Soldiers that had been seen the total destruction of the wall reported directly to the general, and Octavius was able to quickly prove his "innocence" with the planted notes and a simple lie. Afterward, Octavius gave the order to go into the forest to search and destroy.

"Sir! The wall has fallen!"
"What! How?"
The man did not expect this to happen. Along with leading the construction and design of Caedes, he had personally designed with wall as well. How it could have simply "fallen" was beyond his comprehension.
"We have no clue! The entire wall just exploded, as if it had explosives planted inside it during construction! Right now, the King's men are closing in fast!"
"Then the testing of the Caedes will take place much sooner than expected. I, Head Engineer Sykes, I issue the initiation for all personnel to enter the Caedes now! Get the machine prepared and ready to run!"
The Caedes only needed fifteen people to be operated, which was the marvel of this massive machine. It was capable of carrying all five hundred of the local workers, guards and engineers at the Forge site, allowing for the fort to be able to storm the most heavily guarded part of city to get soldiers inserted into the most vulnerable places while the fort held off any reinforcements.
As fate would have it, though, the order was of little use. The King's men stormed the Forge site before the fort could be locked down and captured it. Additionally, the engineers were captured and anyone irrelevant were disposed of. Within the hour of the wall's destruction, Octavius was in control of the Caedes, with Sykes being his prisoner, and basic control of the fort and it's capabilities.

The king looked up from a paper he had just received from.
"Hm? No matter, I will ignore it this time. I am in a particularly good mood right now, as we now have insight on a group that calls itself the 'Forge' and some of their technology. Here."
The King held out a sheet to Victoria.
"Deliver this schematic to the Mechanist. It is some of the Forge technology, the message cannon and shell. Using the cannon, they are able to launch a special artillery round containing a message hundreds of miles away, allowing for rapid delivery of messages. General Octavius, the son of General Augustus, sent the message after capturing a target of interest. Though the results were slow, they were worth the wait. He found a fort capable of traveling, and sent this message from one of those message cannons that were part of the "
The King paused before continuing.
"I wonder when the Mechanist will construct something that will surpass or counter a mobile fort."