Turn Based Revised to Story
The visual, the smell was getting too much for Plugr. He watches as the makeshift entrance in the door is now a gaping hole. Blown out by some guards, and traffic coming in and out now; including Rohlia and Ferellus getting taken out.
He looks for Chance and he sees him trying to yank a dagger out of a dead demon dog. The Knight, turns and walks out the hole, out the door and into the alley, the fresh night air hitting him. By now, guards, monks, people running up and down the alley. Make shift torches lining the walkway between buildings, and it is well lit.
Cassie runs up the alley way passing by Rohlia and Ferellus on the make shift stretchers. Her eyes as wide as they could be, frantically she runs to Plugr who has his hands on hips, head down.
The Baronesses heart just drops, and it drops so hard it shatters. She can feel him, feel his pain, feel his guilt.
He glances to Cassie, tears forming in his eyes. He slowly shakes his head.
“Oh my god, what… what happened?” she says walking up to him.
After a minute he is gathering himself a bit. “They had Demon Dogs. Demon dogs. Cass,” he says still amazed, “I…” he trails off, staring ahead.
She is trying to comprehend, and with her telepathy gift; some shots of visuals she gets from him. “How did they even survive an attack like that? I mean, demon dogs…” she says still befuddled.
“Chance.” he says matter of fact like, “He saved them. When we finished clearing out the southern portion of the compound, we were running towards them. Chance was barking out orders to the guards and they were holding a line protecting the fallen, protecting the island.” He says with a bit of pride.
A soft smile washes over her face, “Chance, holy shit, he did it again, then took over the lead?” she says shaking her head, “It’s going to be a bitch to keep Harlow off him,” she says randomly, her mind going a million different directions.
“What of Ferellus and Rohlia?” she says, already knowing the answer, to a point.
He shakes his head, not wanting to look into Cassie’s eyes. “I guess Ferellus just showed up when they went into the fish warehouse, meaning he never went to the smithy, must of known what we, or, I, should say, what I was up to,” Plugr continues with trepidation, “I have seen that look in priests and monks eyes before, Rohlia or Ferellus, or… or… both are dead.”
The Baroness closes her eyes, pain washes over her.
Plugr’s eyes light up, he moves past Cassie quickly. She turns to see a light brownish hair girl running up the alley way.
“Damn! Did I miss it? I thought this wasn’t going to be for another day!” Talia says running for her father, “We were afraid we were going to hit that storm building in the south, and….” She sees the look on his face and she skitters to a halt. “Dad, what’s wrong?”
Plugr goes to embrace his daughter, but she backs up looking over his armor, “I love you, but you are absolutely drenched in blood.”
In her amazement and a little worry, he is ripping off his armor like a madman, clink clanks resound in the alley way. Tears forming in his eyes. He then grabs her and hugs her tight. “I love you, Talia,” he says with a shaky voice, “I love you so much.”
She hugs him, and even she is tearing up at his demeanor, starting to worry. She looks over to Cassie, who is giving them a thoughtful loving look. They exchange a smile.
Chance makes his way out, his head throbbing from the battle. His body near exhaustion, bruises forming on the side of his face, covered in blood, his eyes glossed over. He has never felt his heart feel so heavy. Deep in his mind he knows Rohlia is going to make it, he keeps telling himself there is a chance, there is a chance, Ferellus is still alive.
Cassie walks to the quarter elf, but he just strides on by like she wasn’t even there. She puts her head down, feeling his pain and anxiety. She turns to watch him walk down the alley. Lost in his thoughts and pain. Plugr turns to see him, goes to say something but stops himself. He just lets him walk on past, the knight dips his head and slowly rubs his forehead; in obvious pain. Talia puts her hand on his arm, worried.
Plugrs daughter looks over this man named Chance, short tips, covered in blood, slashes, cuts and bruises. His face says it all, he has faced hell and is now trying to recover from it.
It was about high moon, clear skies above the alley way and the breeze was unusually refreshing. Chance was in his own world right now. He walks out of the alley way, doesn’t stop moving forward across the board walk and ended at the edge of the shore. Tears started to fall as he stared across the vast ocean, the waves just coming in and out higher and harder than before. The sound is calming him a bit, helping his throbbing head. The moon was almost full in the sky, He turns to see pitch dark clouds on the horizon to the south.
After a while, as the commotion behind him on the boardwalk, calms down, he turns and heads for the Inn. He passes by a monk, the same monk that was in the compound. His head was down and he was moving pretty good.
As though in slow motion, he walks into the Inn, his head buzzing with anxiety and throbbing in pain. He knew people were looking over to him, but Chance just kept walking until he met eyes with Britney. Her face, her eyes, the tears rolling down her cheek, is all he needed to know. It was true.
His best friend was dead. He died in his arms down in the compound.
Then it hits him, what Ferellus said to him. “I’ll miss you too, buddy.” Time stood still, his body becoming numb, he even started to shake a little. “He knew,” Chance utters softly, not really meant to be heard.
Britney buried her head into him, giving him a fierce hug. She knew, that he knew. She was crying so hard she could barely breathe.
Chance embraces her, stunned, not knowing what to do, not sure what to say. It felt like when he got that concussion a few years back. He remembers the battle, getting hit a few times, bulrushed by some demon dog, but his brain is pure mush right now.
Corine looks at the quarter elf, she has her eyes welling up too, then noticed that Chance is not doing well, past the horrific news.
“Uhh, Chance, maybe you should sit down,” the Inn manager says, as she gets up from the desk. She reaches for Chance.
Britney pulls back and sees he is white as a ghost, he is getting black rings around his eyes, the bruising on the side of his head evident. His eyes starting to roll back and the weight of him starting to come down on Britney. “Dammit Chance you are injured!!! You didn’t say anything… of course you didn’t,” is all he could hear, the world turns dark, it turns quiet… and he welcomed it.
His eyes open, tears streaming down the side of his face. He moves a little and realizes he is in a bed, most likely the Inn. He glances over to his right to see Britney sitting in a chair, mournful eyes, and she has tears flowing. He slowly turns back and stares at the ceiling, physically he feels much better, but emotionally, he is a cripple, he is devastated, he is defeated.
Britney leans in, strokes his hair, her heart breaking again and again. “How you feeling hun?” she gets out, trying to have a clear steady voice.
A small shrug of his shoulders, a small shake of his head is all she gets. He just continues to stare at the ceiling, barely moving a muscle.
“There is a storm brewing, it’s a big one,” she starts, wiping a tear or two away from his cheeks. “We can’t stay too much longer, we have to get to a safe area,” she finishes explaining.
After a moment, he leans up, turns and puts his feet on the floor, sitting on the edge of the bed. Commotion can be heard outside in the hallway. Britney’s eyes get big as she gets up and walks to the door. But the door bursts open. There stands Shanna, red faced, tear streaked cheeks being held back by the guards. “where. Is. He.” is all she gets out, and it was through her teeth.
“Let her go,” Chance says quietly, standing up and turning to her. Their eyes meet.
The guards let go and she races for him, hitting him and slamming him against the wall. Her body convulsing in pain and anger. “What did you do to him?!” she screams, spit flying, tears flowing.
Britney is making her way around the bed, motions for a guard to get in the room. She is worried about Shanna doing something rash, but she is even more worried with the lack of response Chance had.
His eyes slowly move up, meet’s Shanna’s again, “he saved my life, Shanna,” he says, tears already starting to fall, “It should of been me, I should be a corpse on the floor of the compound.”
With those words, not only her anger but pain seemed to hit a boiling point, her anxiety and grief overwhelming her. She stumbles back, turns and trips over herself; almost falls to the floor. Britney was close enough to help cushion her fall. Shanna was balling, gasping for air. Britney puts her arm around her, “just breathe Shanna, breathe, ok?” is all she could say, because telling her everything will be ok is the biggest fucking lie anyone can ever say.
Chance, shaking his head a little, slides down the wall until he is on the floor. He craves to be asleep, for the darkness and quiet to over take him again. He just stares at Ferellus’s sister, in so much pain. He can’t believe this is his life now.
Britney helps her up and walks her out of the room, the guard follows. Everything turns quiet, and Chance dips his head down. All he can hear is the wind hitting the Inn, confirming what Britney told him. By now the sun was hitting the horizon and the light coming into the room is a purplish-pink glow.
He looks up and Helynne peeks her head in, “Chance? Do you have a minute?” she says, half walking into the room. He nods his head and stands up. He walks to the window, leans against the wall and looks out.
“Thank you. I heard what you did down there, and you probably saved a lot of lives.” she says, walking towards him, stopping in the middle of the room. He just nods his head a little, giving her a quick glance then back out the window.
She starts to fidget, her eyes welling up thinking of Ferellus. Thinking of those two knuckleheads getting into trouble. Now Chance; saving a Princess, saving a Ranger, maybe even saving the island getting an infestation of Ghouls or demon dogs, he has grown up overnight; became a hero this island needed. She can’t even imagine what he is going through right now.
“I am sorry to hear about Ferellus, he…” she starts, stops and catches her self from starting to cry, “he…” is all she could get out.
Chance clenches his jaw, nods again, still looking out the window.
After a moment, “we have to evacuate to the Temple basement, so you have to head for there soon,” Helynne says regaining her composure, then continues, “Saundra wanted me to tell you to find her when you get there, she said it was important.”
He stops leaning, glances at her for a moment, nods, and heads out the door. Helynne got a chill, it was like she could feel what Chance was going through with just one look.
Chance doesn’t remember much from the room at the Inn to the point he stopped on the boardwalk, wind blowing pretty good, making his hair flail about. He glances out to the water and it is a brilliant sunrise. He turns and walks towards the shore. He stops suddenly, stands there, with an overwhelming feeling of deja vu. He can feel Ferellus skipping along the sands, whistling a tune, just being his goofy self. Chances best friend stops, looks at the quarter elf, smiles and tilts his head, and in his usual sarcastic tone, “miss me yet?” Chance is completely overwhelmed, just staring at him, tears flowing and flowing, as he starts to shake. “Now… until I take my last breath, my friend,” Chance says with a shaky voice. It is all he could take, he drops to his knees and begins to ball uncontrollably.
He remembers Cassie finding him, putting her arms around him. She was balling just as hard as he was. Eventually they made it to the temple and down into the basement. Chance was at a point of complete exhaustion, he sits, leans against a wall. Cassie covers him with a light blanket and he doesn’t remember falling asleep, it was that quick.
Chance is awoke by a monk. “Chance? Saundra would like to see you now,” she says, nodding her head at him.
He shakes the sleep off him, looking around the basement that is filled with people. They are huddled together, talking quietly and nibbling on food. The sound of wind howling can be heard. Chance carefully makes his way to the stairs and headed up.
Saundra turns to see Chance walk into the main entrance. She beckons to him. He walks to her, his head down. “Chance? How are you holding up?” Saundra says, but only getting a half hearted shrug, and no eye contact. She takes the quarter elf’s hand and guides him to a door, away from the other people.
She picks his chin up with her hand, “you know you can always talk to me, I am here for you,” Saundra says, with a soft loving tone.
“This is going to get worse, before it gets better my warrior, and you will need an enormous amount of strength to get through it.” she continues, with a level tone, “but know this, the strength you possess is more than enough. I don’t know what it is I sense, but I know you will make it through this, and be stronger for it.”
Chance looks at her, she bows her head and the Priestess glows for a moment. She opens the door, “say your goodbyes, he listens.”
He walks in the room, and it is a small one, 20 x 20, one of the walls slanted a bit, a window high, he can see the lightning, hear the thunder and rain coming down on the glass. There is an altar of sorts on the far wall with Ferellus laying on it, sheet covering all but his head. Chance slowly walks over to him, afraid to look at him. If he does… that means it’s real, no going back, no way out.
“Please tell me this is a bad dream, that we stole some wine, got drunk and this is some horrible hangover,” Chance starts in, still not looking, but merely wishing for this all to just go away.
Tears start to fall, “I failed you, my friend… my best friend.” He says, in between sobs and gasps. He finally looks down to him. Peaceful, quiet and at rest. “What I wouldn’t give to trade places with you. You have a father, mother and sister here who love you, who miss you, who are never going to be the same…” he says, wiping some tears out of his eyes.
“I saw you today, we were on the beach together. It was carefree, it was comfortable and it is what is supposed to be,” chance says to his deceased friend, “Not this… not this, dog’s breakfast.”
He starts to breakdown, his legs start to give out. He falls to his knees, dipping his head and the room grows quiet, except the sounds of Chance sobbing. “You deserved so much better, Ferellus, my partner in crime… my only true friend. I am going to miss you so much,” the quarter elf mumbles, in so much pain.
The door opens quietly, Saundra makes her way in. She wraps her arms around the quarter elf and he suddenly feels calm and at peace. She stands him up, walks him to a bench and has him lean back. Before he knew it, he was asleep, welcoming the quiet and dark.
Chance awakens to a voice, a familiar voice. It was Ferellus’s Mom quietly talking with her son. The quarter elf does not know how many times his heart can break, but he feels like he just can’t keep getting devastated like this. The scene was heart breaking. Tears fall down his face, he sobs, and before he knows it, she was sitting next to him, arm around him.
“I am so sorry, I didn’t protect him,” Chance blurts out, over tired, grief stricken. “I should of been the one on the compound floor, not him…” he trails off, trying to get himself under control.
His mother put her hand on his, pats it, “This is the will of Animax, how can we deny that?” She says trying to make Chance feel better.
“He saved my life.” Chance says, just staring out to the wall, in a trance.
She smiles, “Why am I not surprised, both of you always found a way to get out of trouble,” she responds.
“No, he literally saved my life. The dog was ready to pounce on me and with practically his last breath, he shot his bow, clocked it right in between the eyes sending it sprawling back,” Chance finishes, now just numb to everything.
They embrace for a long while, Ferellus’s father comes in and joins in. His parents head out after a half hour or so leaving Chance alone with Ferellus again.
Chance glances over to the body, “dammit, why did you do this? Left me alone.” he says slamming his hands on the bench. He stands up, “who is going to watch my back now? Who is going to travel with me? Who is ever going to be there for me, like you were?”
He walks over to the body, he can still hear the storm raging outside. For now, he has run out of tears. Chances eyes stung, his face hurts and his heart is devastated. He just turns, slides down the altar, his butt hitting the ground. Before he knows it, he was asleep.
Saundra glances in to see Chance, back to the altar, knees up, head dipped, sleeping. She sighs and decides to leave the quarter elf be, he looked exhausted when she spoke with him and he has been through so much.
Chance wakes up, and groans. His neck as stiff as can be from sleeping weird. He stands up and dares not turn around and look at his friend again like this. He glances over hearing the sounds of sobbing and seeing Cassie on the bench, leaning forward and head in hands.
The quarter elf walks over, and squats in front of the Baroness. “M’Lady, are you ok?” he says softly, putting his hand on her arm. She stops crying for a moment, takes a deep breath. She moves her hands revealing her reddened eyes and tear streaked face. You didn’t have to be a telepath, like Cassie, to know the guilt is overwhelming her.
In a surprising moment, Cassie kneels down off the bench and embraces Chance, and they hug. “I am so sorry, I am so sorry…” she said over and over again. Chance hugged her back and kept saying “It’s ok, M’lady.”
Finally she pulls back and almost chuckles, “for the love of Animax, we have been through enough together, call me Cassie, ok?”
He nods, and their eyes meet. Chance puts his hand around Cassies head and brings it down to his and they connect forehead to forehead. “Ferellus saved my life. I never want to disappoint him. Just tell me what I can do to make him proud, anything,” Chance says.
The two of them, eyes meeting, nose to nose and the Baroness gives him a soft smile, “you are destined for great things, and dealing with grief unfortunately is always a part of that. I know, I “know” you will make him proud, because you have made me very proud, already.” Shes says, then pausing a moment, leans up and kisses his forehead.
The two stand up and embrace for a moment. “The storm is all but gone now, and it is not pretty out there,” Cassie starts in, “I just want you to be prepared.”
Cassie and Chance leave and it is overwhelming. The wind is still real strong, most of the trees are uprooted or gone. The beach is bigger with the tide being out and the storm causing havoc with the water level. The main part of the town, is still standing protected for the most part, but the out lying buildings are leveled. The two reach the Inn and Chance drops his head, not knowing what to feel or think. The 4 story Inn, was reduced to 1 1/2 stories now.
Then Chance scans the area, spots Britney hugging Corina and crying. He walks with purpose to the Inn owner. She looks over and sees Chance. She then buries her head into the quarter elf and just balls uncontrollably. I wish I could do something for Britney, this is… devastating, Chance thinks to himself.
“Have we heard from Morty, is he ok?” Chance asks the blonde Inn Owner.
She nods, “He stayed with some friends over on Haven, he is just fine,” she says, thinking, at least one thing went right the last few days.
After a while, Chance and Britney start to pick up things, any thing, spoil, debris. It caught on with the rest of the people around them and within an hour, the surrounding area was all but free of debris. It kept them busy and their minds off of the craziness over the past day.
Britney walks to Chance who is washing off his hands from a bucket, and hands him a ration. He shakes his head, and she gives him the look. “Brit, just not hungry, I’d probably throw it up anyways.” He says looking at her blankly.
The bottom floor of the Sunset Inn has been rigged enough for protection and 10-12 make shift beds were lined up for those who wanted to sleep. Britney grabs Chances hand, leads him over to a larger bed. They both get in, exhausted, and snuggle. It wasn’t a minute, they were fast asleep.
Next Day
Chance wakes up in the middle of the Night, Britney softly breathing, sprawled across the side of the bed. He gets up quietly, walks out the door and heads for Morties. It is flattened besides a few things, including a chair that has seemed to make it through the storm. He sits, stares across the water, watching one of the almost full moons, slowly move across the sky.
He can hear someone walking to him, and he predicts its Britney.
“You left and the bed was chilly,” she says running her hand across his back, “you want to talk?”
Chance just shakes his head, grabs her hand and she sits on his lap. He wraps his arms around her and they sit there, in silence and watch the sunrise together.
Cassie and Plugr meet early in the AM and decide that yesterdays garbage pickup was way better than sitting around moping. They recommend everyone start finding anything that could help get the Inn, or the area situated better.
After a cold breakfast, which Chance barely ate, they start in on the task. It went fairly well, and the first floor of the Inn is in much better shape then it was before. That gives Chance an opportunity to carefully make his way to the second floor, he had to be careful, he was unsure how sturdy walking on it would be. Looking around he realized his things were missing, probably somewhere in Zdroks bay with the hurricane and all. Then his heart sinks, the necklace, it was in one of the bags. He dips his head, then shakes it, ‘figures, why not,’ he tells himself.
He turns to leave, in the corner of his eye, jammed into a corner of one of the rooms is a bag, he carefully makes his way there. He grabs it, and looks in. A smile washes over his face, the necklace is sitting right on top, along with a few of his clothes and items. But emotions rush back in, Ferellus, the Inn, the Princess… I don’t deserve this necklace. He takes it out, puts it in his pocket.
Chance heads back down to the bottom floor, puts his bag in the back room. Upon exiting the storage area, Plugr has pulled himself away from a chattering Talia and walks over to the quarter elf. “Do you have a second?” He asks.
He nods and the two of them walk on to the beach.
“We haven’t talked since, you know,” the Knight says, “I just wanted you to know how impressed I was with your skill, your bravery and the ability to adapt and react. It takes men a long time to develop that kind of thing, if they do at all. But you, the way you were barking orders and commanding the guards and…” he pauses and smiles realizing he is gushing a bit.
Chance is semi-looking down, nodding his head in appreciation, not wanting to say anything.
Plugr puts his hand on his shoulder, “We need new hero’s in this realm, my generation is either dead, retired or burnt out,” he continues, “bottom line, I am proud of you.”
The quarter elf takes a deep breath, looks at Plugr, “Thank you, but I want Ferellus to be proud of me too, I will do anything to make that happen, just point me in the right direction, OK?” he says, nodding his head.
The Knight smirks a little, “Oh Chance, there is no doubt in my mind he is proud of you now, but I will be more than happy to guide you in the days and weeks to come,” patting him on the shoulder.
Plugr heads back to Talia who seems to be still chattering to anyone who would listen. Chance can feel the necklace in his pocket. I need to return this, he says to himself.
Glancing around he see’s Cassie trying to put a chair back together. She gets frustrated and throws one of the legs, cursing, dropping her tool to the ground. She wipes her brow in this heat.
Chance is just about to her, glancing at where the leg went; “Nice Range, Cassie.”
She looks over to him with a distorted smirk, “Carpentry was never my strong suit,” the Baroness quips.
He grabs the necklace and hands it to Cassie, “Here, this doesn’t belong to me, I just found it and I need to return it.” Chance places the Necklace in Cassie’s hand, being overly vague about the whole thing.
She glances at it, recognizes it, and looks up to the quarter elf who is looking down, kicking a bit of sand around.
“Chance, you didn’t just find this, did you?” she asks trying to get the half breed to look at him, “Affinity gave it to you, and probably for a good reason. Not a reason I am sure I would like, but I imagine this was a gift she wanted you to keep.”
He shakes his head, “I don’t deserve it, and it is inappropriate for me to have,” Chance retorts quickly. “If you could give this back to her, I would appreciate it.”
Cassie grabs Chances hand, and it makes him jump a little. She places the necklace back in his hand and closes it. “She wanted you to have it, it is not inappropriate to have something like this, I am sure that… moment, is something she covets as well,” she softly says, “I know life is looking bleak right now, but pushing things away in guilt, is never the answer.”
She can feel his overwhelming pain and guilt and wonders how he is holding it together right now, “but if you really do want to return it, I am not the one you should return it too.”
He nods, puts the necklace in his pocket and walks away.
After a while, by mid afternoon, the Mayor Winston shows up, tells the group the Funeral for Ferellus will be Tomorrow and goes over a few other things; mostly to Britney who is a prominent figure on the isle.
Chance approaches Ursala, who looks completely exhausted and grief stricken. The new maid for the Inn looks to see the quarter elf, her eyes get big. It is instant water works, she turns and runs away. Chance just stands there, head down.
Dinner was a bit more organized, the salvaged fireplace was used to cook some food. Everyone sat around a table Plugr put together, and chatted. Chance made himself scarce, was at the end of the table alone, nibbling on something, he was not sure of.
After the meal was done, Plugr, Cassie and Talia corner Chance and they have a make shift meeting.
“I am sorry to hear about your friend Chance,” Talia says giving him a somewhat worried face, “I was looking forward to meeting him.”
Chance nods, not looking and mumbles, “well you will get to meet him tomorrow…”
The four of them talk for a bit, then it comes out.
Plugr fidgets, “We were going to hold Ferellus back for a while. We all thought he was just too far behind you. But my daughter is more… seasoned.”
Talia’s eyes are big, mouth distorted. “Dad, I’m not a fat pheasant on a table during Animax’s new year! I have been working hard for over a year now, since you allowed me to actually pick up a weapon!”
He nods, and goes to say something else, but Talia continues.
“I think it’s time I started to gain a little trust, and advance in my career so to speak. I mean just last week…” she blurts out, waving her hands around.
“Talia, ok, I…” Plugr tries to interject but Talia continues for another minute or two pleading her case.
Then surprisingly, Chance interjects, “No offense, but do I really need to be here for this?”
Cassie smirks a bit, eyeing up Talia, who in mid-sentence, mouth open, looks at the quarter elf. She closes her mouth and slumps down in the chair a little.
Plugr and Cassie exchange glances, “No, you really don’t,” Cassie says, sighing a little. She gives Talia a look and the young girl kind of shrugs her shoulders.
Chance nods his head, gets up and walks off, followed closely behind by Britney. The two of them find a tree left standing, sit against it together and just hold each other. Barely saying a word, but still a few tears exchanged. The sky turns from blue, to pink, to purple, to star filled.
This has been the most traumatic few days in Chances life, by a long shot. Everyone is starting to get worried, he barely says anything, eats even less. With the funeral coming up tomorrow, Britney worries for Chance and his emotional state.
The quarter elf kisses Britney’s cheek, as they sit together, “I don’t know what I would do without you Brit, you have always been there for me,” he says softly, a few tears falling.
She smiles and leans into him more, putting her head on his chest, “well, you will never have to find that out, ok?”
Britney and Chance make it to the Grotto, the moons in the sky, bright. Britney pulls out a little bag of soap, they undress and walk into the cool pool of water, mist all over from the waterfall. They take a bath together, it was extremely powerful as they both take turns balling and recovering and, well, just being there for each other.
Hand in hand they make it back to the Inn, find an open bed and they crawl into it. They wrap their arms around each other, snuggle, and fall fast asleep.
End of EP, next day
Chance wakes up around 6:00AM…