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[origamiscienceguy]

This is the story focusing around the Centaur Character. I suggest reading the OOC thread first to get acquainted with this game. (If you have not already)


Unlike every other creature in the South, the Centaurs were fully sentient, and possessed a level of intelligence greater than humans in some fields. For example, the Centaurs were the unrivaled champions at astronomy. Using the stars alone, any Centaur could tell the time down to the minute, and also the exact day of the year. Some of the eldest Centaurs were even able to predict the future, but such an ability was kept a strict secret from the younger Centaurs, like yourself. Physically, the Centaurs were powerful creatures with the body of a horse, but the torso of a man. Centaurs are fast, and strong, and quite adept hunters.

You are 68 years old, an adolescent. You had fully grown, and were in prime fighting condition. You had known about the other Beasts fleeing the advance of the humans, but as of yet, the elders had not decided whether to flee, or fight, whenever the humans came. The humans had known of the Centaurs' sentience, but through a strict propaganda crusade, most peasants and soldiers now believed your noble race to be no more intelligent than the others.

There came a night where the entire village was gathered to discuss. It was foreseen in the stars that the humans would send their warning the next day. And it was finally time to come to a decision. All through the night, the older Centaurs argued and deliberated, with little input from the younger Centaurs such as yourself being taken into consideration. At exactly midnight, after no progress had been made, the elders broke away from the group and began watching the stars, looking for a sign. The rest of the Centaurs continued deliberating, this time with your input having slightly more weight. The deliberation and meditation continued until the first beam of sunlight stroked across the grass. It was at that moment that a diplomatic envoy accompanied by a large army crested over a hill, and demanded your community to relocate. The elders came back, an unanimously decided to fight, and they ordered all members above the age of 30 to arms.

You ventured into your tent, and retrieved your bow and quiver, your only weapons. Centaurs did not work in metallurgy, and as such, the only Centaurs with iron and bronze equipment received them as gifts from other races many centuries ago. You and your brethren lined up across from the army, with weapons drawn. Every Centaur was equipped with a weapon of some sort, with most carrying bows, and the rest carrying wooden lances, javelins, and spears. Almost every Centaur wore no armor. Only two Centaurs were carrying metal weapons, the chief, Erelibos, and his son, Clalus. They both wielded steel broadswords with a pair of smaller swords in their scabbards. Clalus was armored on his human chest with an ancient bronze breastplate and an iron helm, while Erelibos was wearing a complete set of Centaur armor, covering every part of his body, including his four legs with thick, Dwarven steel. Both of them were two paces ahead of the remaining Centaurs, who were in a line, waiting.

The human diplomat came halfway between the two armies, and demanded a meeting with Erelibos. However, Erelibos stood still. In his place, Orivall, the oldest, wisest, and most respected member of your community walked towards the diplomat. The human diplomat immediately went into a speech he had clearly spoken many times before. He spoke loudly, and enunciated every word, essentially patronizing the most revered member of your community. "YOU... HAVE... TWO... CHOICES... LEAVE... NOW... OR... DIE..." Orivall responded with a paragraph of proverbs, trying to reason with the human, however, the diplomat was having none of it. "YOU... HAVE... FIVE... SECONDS... FIVE... FOUR..." Orivall shouted "YOU FOOL! TELL..." "THREE..." "... YOUR KING THAT THIS WILL..." "TWO..." "... BRING ABOUT THE DESTRUCTION..." "ONE..." "... OF HIS KINGDOM!"

"OPEN FIRE!" The diplomat shouted, and a swarm of crossbow bolts embedded themselves into Orivall from every direction. At least two dozen shafts stuck out of her body, not including the ones that sailed straight through. Within a second, her body transitioned from being a proud, healthy, and strong entity, to being painted in red from every pore. Orivall took one step backwards as she took the momentum from every bolt into her body, then she collapsed, snapping several shafts as her body hit the ground. The diplomat ran back to the army, while the rest of the Centaurs, enraged by the slaughter, engaged the enemy.

Your first shot joined the rest of your brethren sailing towards the human army, but the humans joined shields in front and on top, interlocking the shields and forming a straight wall of metal. Not a single arrow found its mark. Another volley of crossbow bolts arced over the shields from behind, and forced the line of Centaurs to scatter. The Centaurs with melee weapons charged in a spear formation, and crashed into the shield wall, engaging in bloody melee combat. The charge in itself was successful, but the humans held the advantage in armor. The Centaur's wooden weapons did little to no damage to the humans, while the sword swipes at the weak legs of your brethren proved to be extremely successful. You had just barely dodged a couple of crossbow bolts when a new threat arrived. Some human cavalry crested the hill, and charged at the disorganized mess of Centaur archers. The cavalry was light, unarmored, and unburdened in order to be able to catch up with Centaurs. Running away was not an option, but unlike the footmen, these men could be killed with your wooden weapon. All you had currently was a bow and arrows, and the cavalry was closing fast.

[SOLDIER First]

Shoot the cavalrymen as fast as you're able to!

[origamiscienceguy]

You feel terrible taking the life of another sentient being. But this was war, and you had to kill to protect your friends and family. You draw your bow, nock three arrows, and fire. Each arrow follows a slightly different path, but due to your hunting experience, all arrows hit their marks. Three Cavalrymen fall off their horses, clutching your arrow which was embedded in their chest. That was the only shot you managed to get off before the remainder of the cavalrymen engaged with you and your fellow archers. You heard the screams of death and pain emanating from the mouths of your friends and your enemies. Three cavalrymen turned towards you, lances down, charging at full speed. You didn't have time to take another shot.

[Sudurandom]

Charge the nearest cavalryman, steal his lance and use it to defeat the others.

[origamiscienceguy]

You move your legs with great strength, accelerating yourself to maximum velocity. You break away from your fellow Centaurs, and become the lone challenger to the organized charge. As such, the three closest of the horsemen gravitate their lances towards you. The sight of three metal-tipped lances aimed at your chest fills you with fear, but you press on heroically. At the last second before the collision, you do a prance to the left, catching the horsemen off guard. Their horses of course could not perform such a maneuver. You reach with your hand and grab one of the lances by the tip, pulling it upwards. The lance falls out of the couch, and the sudden yank causes the horseman to lose his grip. Using your well-toned arm, you flip the lance upwards and around, pointing the iron tip at the next wave of incoming horsemen.

As a Centaur, you held a distinct advantage in this life-or-death joust. You held the lance at the front of your body, while the horsemen held them near the midsection of their horses. You strike the first human right in the center of his chest, impaling him and running him through. The man was heading at full speed one moment, but then suddenly reversed direction, with a pole sticking through his gut. The third and final wave of horsemen did not manage to react in time, and another lance sticks into the man from the other direction. This stops the lance from reaching you, but it doesn't stop your lance from reaching the other horseman. Your lance sticks into the second man, launching him off of his horse as well. You could not hold the lance up with the weight of one man, let alone two, but the events happened so fast that gravity had not seemed to take effect. Now that it was over, the heavy lance fell to the ground, your hand unable to hold on to it any longer. There was more terrible screaming behind you, and you steal a glance back. Many of your friends had been cut down brutally by the charge. You felt enraged at the sight of so much innocent death. You had broken through the chrage, and were poised to deal quite a bit of damage should you act correctly.

[StrawBarrel]

Fire arrows at the cavalrymen. Quickly check the fallen lancers for secondary weapons.

[origamiscienceguy]

During your charge, you held on to your bow with your left hand. You used it again now, firing your stone-tipped arrows at the cavalrymen's backs. Each shot fells an opponent, but it is not fast enough to save your friends fighting desperately to recover from the devastating charge. Several more of your comrades die, struck down by the sharpened iron weapons. You find two cavalry swords in the dirt at your feet, and you squat down with your front legs to pick them up. These weapons were sharp, and felt good in your hands. You charge into the backside of the horsemen, and cut down 4 men in one motion. The nearest humans notice you, and begin dueling with you, one on each side. They had cavalry swords of their own, and they were much more experienced in using the weapon. You heard the cavalry commander shout a retreat command, and all the horsemen, including the ones you were engaged with, started disengaging.

[chubby2man]

Rally the other centaurs, and chase the fleeing calvary down. Kill the commander yourself.

[StrawBarrel]

Rally the other centaurs, and chase the fleeing calvary down. Kill the commander yourself.

+1

[origamiscienceguy]

You shout to the other Centaurs, "After them! Cut them down before they can charge again!" The Centaurs that were still able to stand followed you as you galloped up to full speed, your hooves becoming indistinguishable in the mass of other thundering hooves. However, halfway before catching up to the retreating horsemen, you recognize the trap. The cavalry disengaged in order to let the archers have another shot. The arrows sail into the mass where the fighting first took place. All the Centaurs that were too injured to follow you were struck by a hail of bolts and died. You let your anger feed into your body, as you gallop faster than the retreating horsemen, and catch up to the leader. You take great attention to make sure you don't kill the innocent mounts, but that you only slay the humans who are responsible for this slaughter. You pull up next to the commander, while your brethren engage other horsemen. He draws his cavalry sword, and starts swiping at you. You parry, then strike back with the second sword you held in your other hand. This back-and-forth battle continued for several minutes, all while running at full speed, until you notice some of your friends surrounding the captain. It would seem that the other Centaurs with you had managed to defeat most of the other cavalrymen. The Captain became distracted with a Centaur on his other side, giving you time to run your own sword straight through the captain's chest. He led out a cry of pain, before slumping forward in his horse's saddle, and falling off the left side. The rest of the cavalrymen were being overwhelmed as you watched, leaving only the main bulk of the human army.

The melee fighting between the two armies was not going well for you. The heavily-armored footmen with crossbowman support was ravaging your unarmored comrades. It was only Erelibos' constant encouragement that kept the Centaurs from fleeing, but that would not last long. After the long run, you found yourself behind the human army, with only crossbowmen facing you. The rest of the army was distracted by Erelibos and his army. All the Centaurs with you had armed themselves with iron swords and spears taken from the horsemen. They seemed to wait for you to make a move.

[chubby2man]

Charge into the back of the crossbow men, we can try to break them and make them run.  Though I think we can take the archers, I don't think we have a good chance against the footmen, they are probably too armored and well armed for the other centaurs to take on. After we scatter the crossbows, we should try to get the other centaurs to run.

[crazyabe]

PTW

[origamiscienceguy]

the only reason why you couldn't simply shoot the human army was because the crossbows the rangers wielded had a longer range than your own bows. If you could deal with the crossbowmen, you could outrun the army indefinitely and pelt them with projectiles! You shout to the other Centaurs who followed you, "kill as many of the crossbowmen as you can, do not engage with the footmen." They all nod in approval, thankful that they wouldn't have to fight the nigh-Impenetrable wall of shields and swords. After making sure they understood you, you order a charge. The Centaurs eagerly follow your leadership, and the thunder of hoofbeats echoes through the land once again.

The crossbowmen scream for the army to prepare for a rear charge. The back rank turn around to face you, giving the Centaurs engaged in melee some respite. They place their shields on the ground facing you, with long spears menacing through the gaps. The crossbowmen run parallel to the shields to get out of the way of your charge. They fully expected you to stupidly run yourself into the spears. But to their horror, your charge splits down the middle, with half going left, and half going right. The crossbowmen try to run inside the formation, but the locked shields prevent their retreat. You and the others skewer, trample, and slash every last crossbowmen as they flee from your charge. A few crossbowmen survived the charge, but their numbers were so small it was inconsequential.

You shout to Erelibos to disengage. "The rangers are dead! Disengage!" Erelibos was so caught up in the fighting that it took his mind some time to process your command, but he quickly sees the sense in your order, and he gives the order to his melee fighters. Slowly, the Centaurs disengage, some galloping away, others limping. Erelibos is the last to make it clear of the army, but right before he makes it clear, he trips on a dead Centaur and falls. The soldiers begin raining blows onto his body, the blows sending sparks off of his dwarven-crafted armor. It was only a matter of time before a strike Guyana weak point, and soldiers were pinning him to the ground, so that he couldn't get up. The rest of the soldiers reformed their shield-wall placing shields in front and on top, facing you and the disengaging Centaurs. You wanted to help, but the entire Human army was in your way.

[chubby2man]

Well, I think it would be best to leave him, unfortunately. Those footmen could do some damage.  His leadership got us into this situation, and if we might get wounded in the attempt. That could leave us leadership of our group.

Teje the archers and circle the remainder of the enemy force and pepper them with arrows. Prioritize archers and commanders.

[origamiscienceguy]

You watch, unwilling to do anything, as blow after blow strikes your chief. Clalus, his son, tried to run back into the fray to save his father, but before he made it to Erelibos, a footman struck his sword downward with all his strength. The sword found a gap in the neck of the armor, and rent the metal to make a path. The sword continued into Erelibos' neck, shattering his spinal chord. Erelibos went limp, and Clalus stopped dead in his tracks, not conceiving the death that he just witnessed. The footmen start jeering at Clalus, threatening to treat him to a similar fate. Clalus runs away in fear, which only led to more mocking. With no clear commander anymore, you shout an order. "Stay at a distance, hit them with arrows!" the other Centaurs start doing just that, and the humans are forced into their turtle shield formation. However, there were some sizable gaps in the shield wall at the corners, and slowly, the formation shrank as men started dying. Once someone ran out of arrows, they started hurling small rocks. A voice comes from somewhere in the middle of the formation "March South! Destroy their homes" The entire formation started marching towards your village, poised to undo centuries of work with their destructive weapons. Your missiles were not killing them fast enough.