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[Cthulhu_Pakabol]

Tales abound on the frontier of legends both living and dead- men and women who mastered their own fate, made their way through the world by the skin of their teeth and the quickness of their hand. People who could take on a horde of cultists with just two revolvers, or save entire cities through their quick wit. Gods among men, loved, respected or feared by all.

Adi Kiwannathob is not one of those legends.



In fact, he's the exact opposite of a legend- he's an 18-year-old boy who lives out in the sticks of the Armored State, in a tiny little town called Riderblossoms.



He's not the most motivated young fellow, and is a tad jingoistic, but he definitely has some pluck. He dreams of greater things.



Every night, since he was old enough to shoot, he could be found in the backyard of his father's cottage shooting at makeshift targets with dad's old shotgun. He dreamed of becoming one of the greats- though anyone he confessed this to called him a damn fool. But shortly after his eighteenth birthday, something happened- Adi's father, who often went to the nearest city to trade his bonecarvings, never came home from one of his trips. The sheriff sent out a posse to look for him, and the body turned up about ten miles out from town- feathered with arrows and partially eaten. The work of natives.

Now, Adi's alone in an empty cottage he can no longer stand to stay in- he's got that same old shotgun, some food, and perhaps a bit of lust for revenge.



Let's see if he gets anywhere.

[Cthulhu_Pakabol]

Adi swings on up to the town hall to ask around for work. The mayor, a haggard old woman, points him in the direction of bandits to the southwest- these men, she says, have been raiding the town's granaries and livestock pens for weeks now.

He knows it'd be suicide to go it alone, so he enlists the help of two old friends- Gisu Vicuic, a boy with whom he grew up, and Lekla Isdicusal, a childhood sweetheart of sorts.




Both wield copper rifles, and hunger for adventure just as he does. "If we all survive this encounter with the bandits," Adi thinks, "then hopefully they'll be good help to me when I track down those damned natives."

As the group heads out of town, excitement quickly finds them- in the form of a rabid cave crocodile slithering from the woods, jaws slavering. They make quick work of it, however, and carry on. They travel for a day and a night before the camp rises up out of the woods before them. Adi scrambles up a tree, taking careful aim at the one who looks most important...



Bullseye. What follows is a massacre, as Lekla and Gisu spring from behind the tree and open fire on the chief's entourage. The bandits are made quick work of, bullets and shotgun slugs tearing their bodies apart with ease. In the end, most attempt to flee, only to be shot in the back.

All in all, a success.

[Cthulhu_Pakabol]

Following the massacre at the camp, the group cased the bodies for their purses and made off with quite a load of money- which they promptly spent at the nearest town's tavern, on goblets of wine and a cheap room. They spent the night, and the following day Adi regaled the crowded bar with the tale of the death of Chief Ase.



It feels good to be recognized, though Adi feels vaguely as though the bard is accusing him of something.

The group is still at the tavern. What should the next course of action be?

[Redman the Communist]

This is great, I must say.

The group is still at the tavern. What should the next course of action be?

And I say the group should ask about rumors, and possibly earn some help from a professional gunslinger.

[Cthulhu_Pakabol]

Adi and his friends mill around town, trudging through the snow house-to-house and asking for bounties. They get plenty of leads- bandits are all over this country, it seems, raping and pillaging the countryside as they please. Adi settles on the first camp to assault, one about a day's travel to the North. Hoping for some more professional help in this endeavor, he heads to the town hall to ask for help from an actual, accomplished gunslinger- but he is met only with smug smiles or guffaws. Arrogant bastards.

The group heads to the outskirts of town, and then sets out alone.



They travel all day, retiring on a plateau with a view of the distant bandit camp just before night falls. Lekla and Gisu sit by the fire, while Adi, using a periscope he purchased in the town of Stokerboars, scopes out their target. The leader seems to be a man in his thirties, well muscled and imposing, a notched hatchet his only weapon- the rest are hardly notable. Collapsing the periscope, Adi draws near the fire and sits with his friends, thankful for both the warmth and the company. They talk of what waits for them tomorrow, and then of things further in their futures- Gisu wants to compete in one of the running contests held yearly at the capitol, and Lekla aspires to marry some rancher or mayor and live an easy life. Adi keeps quiet, for the most part- his friends already knowing his dream. The group retires as the darkness closes in.



The next morning, the friends clamber down from the plateau, and make their way through the forest- until suddenly, the woods open up in front of them. They hear the sounds of drinking and laughing ahead- sounds which stop abruptly as the trio enter the clearing. Adi calls out the name of the purported leader of these bandits: "Usa Planbodies?" The leader spits on the ground and nods, a snarl set on his face- and is subsequently flung backwards by a hail of buckshot to his chest. His neck breaks on a tree behind him, and he gurgles his last.

Adi's victory is incredibly short lived, however- before he can process what's happening, he feels a horrific, burning pain in his arm, and finds himself flying through the air, losing conciousness as he hits the ground. Some indefinite amount of time passes, and when consciousness does eventually return to him, he dearly wishes that it hadn't.



He gazes around weakly, trying to ascertain his location- and finds himself in a small, cozy bed in a similarly small, similarly cozy room. Lekla is sitting in a chair nearby, a bandage on her head, and seems to perk up when her friend awakens.



She explains that Gisu had both his legs, as well as his hand, broken as he held off the rest of the bandits from Adi's body, and is recovering in another building in town. So much for the running competition. However, the two of them managed to kill or drive off the rest of the bandits, and Usa Planbodies is most assuredly dead. Adi also learns that in the days since the group's return to Stokerboars, the townsfolk have started calling him by a new name- "the Glowing Band."



He's a bit surprised that he's gained a moniker after only about a week of lawkeeping, but he definitely doesn't plan on complaining. Per the chief doctor's orders, however, he's to be bedbound for the next month- or risk irreparable damage. With a groan, he settles in.

What should he do when his healing is complete?

[Redman the Communist]

What should he do when his healing is complete?

With Adi's new title, I'm sure the mayor of Ridderblossoms would have some important work for a man with a reputation of his stature, which could rake in quite a lot of gold. (Assuming you're playing in the recent version where you can get quests from leaders)