Story 5: Not Dead Yet!
"So, do you have any assignment I could help with?" Nikolae asked, stretching and sighing.
"I'd rather have something to keep me busy until I decide what I should be doing here, and I already worked as a bodyguard before." The shopkeeper shakes his head. "Nothing that I need right now. But you look the dueling type, and I heard that there's a tournament going on at the stadium. It's right over there if you are interested." He points to a dome-shaped building in the distance.
Name: Nikolae Kriegsmacher
Gender: Male
Age: 30
Faction: Neutral Foreigner (Deutschland)
Religion: Protestant
Primary Weapon:
Secondary Weapon:
Attributes:
+: Agility, Perception
- Stealth, Intelligence
Health: Normal
Inventory: Winchester 1895, Wrustbalgr Longsword, 48 Yuan
Antonio and the boy head out of town to ambush the spice caravan, traveling the western road. As the sun sets down in the sky after a few miles of travel, Antonio and the boy go a few meters offroads into some bushes where they watch the road. Sure enough, the jumbling caravan comes rolling into view. There's four horses on the front, and the carriage is an elaborate red and gold affair, with a driver. Antonio can see that a few people are inside the carriage, and that there are crates lodged in the back. As it comes nearer to their position, the Chinese boy pulls a knife out of his pocket and clutches it.
Name: Antonio Fernandez
Gender: Male
Age: 27
Faction: Bandit
Religion: Catholic
Primary Weapon: Rifle
Secondary Weapon: Bombs
Attributes:
+: Perception, Intelligence, Charisma
-: Strength, Endurance, Dexterity
Health: Normal
Inventory: Stattmacher Rifle, 5 Vasic Grenades, 50 Yuan
Chen is repulsed by the vicious combat, but he does what he needs to. He looks down the middle of his crossbow and aims towards the French liens down below. (5 vs. 4) Chen tugs on the crossbow lever to fire the first bolt, and then repeats to fire a succession of shots. He sees his bolts fly into the French lines, wounding soldiers, occasionally on a mortal scale. The rest of the missile troop fires (3 vs. 5) but fails to repeat Chen's success.
The melee group hacks into the French (5 vs. 6) taking down some, but the French are able to form a circle to defend themselves. (6 vs. 3) The French keep the Boxer units away, stabbing those who come too close on bayonets or swords. As the going gets rough, the cavalry charges in from the shadows, appearing out of nowhere with the element of surprise and shock on their side. (5+1 vs. 4) The horses barrel through the French men who don't expect it and are instantly run through with spears. The few French men that ran for the machine guns are slain by the horse warriors.
Boxer Army: 74
French Army: 46
Name: Chen Yu (Style name Zijin)
Age: 22
Faction: Righteous Harmony Society
Religion: Buddhist
Primary Weapon: Spear
Secondary Weapon: Crossbow
Attributes: (Leave them blank except for + and - Attributes)
+: Endurance, Agility, Toughness, Stealth
-: Intelligence, Will, Instinct, Charisma
Health: Normal
Inventory: Yamo Spear, Zhuge Crossbow, 50 Yuan
"I would be much obliged, sir, but I do most of my work by myself. I'd not want to occupy your attention whilst on your steed at the moment, I'd stay alongside your men in the meantime, if its alright, sir.
"As for your journey...I'd really like to give a hand on this pursuit.""As you wish, milady." At this point Leia began asking about Captain Brimstone's soldiers. "Well, they're fresh out of the islands and most of em' have had some experience fighting the Spaniards back in the day. They've got all their own little tales to spin bout'. There's Charles, who lost an arm and continued to keep fightin', Little Barro once snuck into a whole camp undetected to go still some supplies for us, and there's Big Hermano who has killed 16 men with just his knife. Feel free to talk to any of em'." The army continues marching onwards, and the Chinese citizens that it passes take a moment to look at the moving troop before going back to their routines.
Name: Leia Sano
Gender: Female
Age: 21
Faction: Neutral Foreigner: Philippines
Religion: Catholic
Primary Weapon: Sword
Secondary Weapon: Knife
Attributes:
+: Agility, Instinct, Charisma, Dexterity
-: Endurance, Perception, Toughness, Luck
Health: Normal
Inventory: Kampilan Sword, Machete, 50 Yuan
Kenshin breathes heavily as he prepares himself to ambush these men, gripping his right hand around his Sabre and his left around his gun. After a few moments and a brief prayer, Kenshin screams a war cry and runs out of nowhere from the cave. The men all jump, some of the ones on the ground falling over. Kenshin runs at the man preparing food with his sabre out tip-first (3+1(Ambushed) vs. 5) but the man falls flat on the ground, allowing the blade to pass right by him and pierce the food pot instead. Kenshin stabs into the pot and pulls his blade back out, the hole in the pot sending boiling water all over the floor. Kenshin sees the bandits who were sitting down begin to stand up, and before they fully come to their feet Kenshin points his revolver at them and begins firing. (1 vs. 4) Kenshin fires shots around the men as they stand up, but none connect. As he fires, the bandit whom Kenshin tried to stab leaps up and tackles Kenshin (3 vs. 1) bringing both of them to the ground. (4+1 vs. 2) The bandit raises his hand to strike at Kenshin, but Kenshin hits him with the flat side of his saber, and the bandit flies off of him, clutching his wounded head in pain. Kenshin stands up, and at this point the bandits have had enough time to draw a couple guns and a sword, but mainly knives.
Name: Kenshin Gato
Gender: Male
Age: 24
Faction: Eight Nation Alliance (Japan)
Religion: Kakure Kirishitan (Hidden Christian)
Primary Weapon: Sword (Western style military sabre)
Secondary Weapon: Revolver
Attributes: (Leave them blank except for + and - Attributes)
+: Strength, Will, Charisma
-: Perception, Stealth, Dexterity
Health: Normal
Inventory: Voile Sabre, Taurro Revolver, 50 Yuan
"
Let's try setting fire to the church. Some of you go find wood that can burn and throw burning sticks into the church. Rest continue laying down just enough suppressing fire to intimidate them."
Wang stamps out orders and a couple soldiers jump into the trees nearby to scavenge for sticks. Meanwhile, both sides return occasional fire, none of it getting close to hitting anyone. Eventually, the two soldiers run back into the fray with their makeshift torches of tree wood. They charge the church, pulling their arms back to prepare for a throw, (1 vs. 5) but their sticks have the misfortune of colliding in mid-air and falling between the church and Wang's division. The fires light the grass and soon a thick cloud of smoke blocks the view of both sides from each other. (2-1 vs. 1) Wang's troops fire into the church, but don't seem to hit anything through the smoke. The rebels return fire, and a soldier comments "Well at least they can't hit us through this-" (5-1 vs. 1) the cocky soldier is struck in the head by a rifle bullet and dies instantly, the first fatality of Wang's unit. Another bullet comes flying through and hits another one of Wang's soldiers, hitting him in the arm and causing him to drop his weapon.
Wang's Unit: 5 (2 Injured)
Rebels: 8? (True # unknown)
Name: Wang Tsaongpa
Gender: M
Age: 35
Faction: Imperial Army
Religion: Buddhist
Primary Weapon: Saber
Secondary Weapon: Musket
Attributes:
+: Endurance, Perception, Intelligence, Instinct, Charisma
-: Agility, Toughness, Stealth, Will, Dexterity
Health: Normal
Inventory: Turkish Saber, Musket, 50 Yuan
"I'll take the knives and the Whip. Could be useful for getting me a ride." Charley drops the rest of his money on the counter. "Glad to do business with you sir," remarks the shopkeeper as he takes the money and slides the equipment over to Charley. Charley stashes the Lasso in his pack and the knives in his belt before heading out.
Ducking out of the marketplace, Charley looks for an unguarded horse. Charley comes across a one-horse stable in a quiet back alley where there are no people. There is a man next to the stable, but he appears to be sleeping.
Name: Charley Dalarko
Gender: Male
Age: 31
Faction: Bandit (US)
Religion: Catholic
Primary Weapon: Pistol
Secondary Weapon: Knife
Attributes:
+: Endurance, Perception, Intelligence, Instinct, Charisma, Luck
-: Strength, Agility, Toughness, Stealth, Will, Dexterity
Health: Normal
Inventory: Mauser Pistol, Bowie Knife, "The Official English to Chinese Mandarin Translation Guide", 3 Throwing Knives, Lasso
Akio delves into the port city, looking for some temporary work. After a bit of poking around, he comes to a board surrounded by mercenaries. Looks like this is what he wants.
The boards lists different categories of jobs. The first is bounty hunting, and it seems in China you have to take some form of identification off of your target when you kill them, such as something precious that they would hold onto, or their decapitated head. Another type of job is clearing out the dangerous animals terrorizing the surrounding populace. The last are not job descriptions, but addresses where any takers can be given private, usually personal assignments.
Now Akio decides if any of these sound interesting...
Name: Akio Mitsuru
Gender: Male
Age: 24
Faction: Independent: Japan
Religion: Buddhist
Primary Weapon:Rifle
Secondary Weapon: Wakizashi
Attributes:
+: Agility, Stealth, Instinct, Dexterity
-: Strength, Intelligence, Charisma, Luck