[Bounty] Amidst Blizzarding Rage

[Soren]

[Bounty]

This bounty Soren picked up was simple enough to start with. Soren made his way to the Delta, a section of land that opened up to the ocean. It was known to be a largely peaceful area, and somewhat a refuge for beings and creatures of water. It was the middle of winter but something felt off for a place of tropical weather. Darkened clouds and frigid air raged on, most fauna and tribes hidden away in the safety of their homes. A blizzard raged on, but it was unknown to Soren whether this was a force of magic or true nature. Either way he pressed on.

The memo in the bounty made mention of a noble kidnapped during the storm, but some days have passed since then and the blizzard seemed to remain. Surely there was a hideout being camped in during this weather, else Soren would have to traverse to what he would assume was the eye of the storm to try to rescue this missing person.

[Sparky]

    Through the biting cold, very little stirs. Most weren't accustomed to the sort of weather that now harried them. All was quiet around the lone phoenix. Breaking the silence, the wind carried with it the sound of laughter. Of arguments. Closer still, bickering and teasing echoed over the roaring wind. An orange glow broke through the flat wall of white. Portions of old ruins served to shelter a group of five and their meager camp. Very little stood as means of defense, more attention given to protection against the elements. 

    The group laughed as they shared raucous banter over a roasted beast of some sort or another. Only one sat visibly away from the rest, warming his hands with puffs of flame from his lips while settling himself outside a notably more well-tended to tent. Even from a distance, the man appeared bitter and made no attempt to hide it. It was clear none of the others took his complaints too seriously, nor did any take notice of the extra pair of eyes upon them. 

SPOILER: Click to show

Bounty Key
Weather Conditions: +50% ice damage, +50% wind damage, water will freeze, -15% visibility, -3 stamina if not immune to cold
Enemy count: 5
Breakdown: 3 grunts, 2 intermediate
Bandit A: 1
Bandit B: 2
Bandit C: 4
Bandit D: 5
Bandit E: 5

[Soren]

Upon hearing the wind carry laughter, Soren immediately dropped low, wings parting ever so slightly. He was now stalking on all fours, keeping a low profile and skirting closer to the sound. The visibility was low, but he could manage to make out the glow of a fire. The birdman squinted to look around, see if there were any scouting parties or if the whole group, including the hostage, were around this fire. He wanted to do what he could to scout his enemy before making a move, but the weather made it difficult.

Soren took a breath in, and let out a puff of air slowly. The soft crunches of snow were deafened out by the screaming wind in his ears. He could feel the cold air sift through his feathers, trying to find a way to his skin and freeze him over. Unfortunately for this blizzard, his core was warmed enough to force the snow to melt and steam off. The steam itself seemingly adding to his cover, dulling out the orange of his plumage.

[Sparky]

    None of the bandits had even the shadow of a clue that someone was approaching their camp. All were too busy, wrapped up in the moment. Their perceived victory. After a brief spat, one of the men gathered up a ball of snow and chucked it at the pyromancer at the tent. A few audible curses followed suit. They seemed unconcerned with potential interlopers. And why should they be? Who in their right mind would come out to try to find them in this kind of weather? As far as they were concerned, they were home free, all they had to do was hold onto their captive and wait for the gold to come rolling in. 

[Soren]

Soren closed in, the sound of cursing rose in volume as well as the vague sight of some kind of thing going on. He figured this was the best time to attack. Heat gained around him, melting the snow and refreezing quickly as soon as it lost contact with him. A soft click muffled by the howling blizzard sounded as Soren’s dagger extended into a spear. With a sudden leap up, he aimed a firebolt at another person involved in the sudden snowball fight. The birdman twisted to land on all fours and hoped he wasn’t caught skirting to the side and then pouncing on the nearest target, attempting to drive his spear through their torso.

[Sparky]

    Everything happened so fast. One moment they were laughing and having a great time, then screams erupted as one of the bandits was utterly incinerated without ever realizing what happened. Before the rest even had a chance to react, a female faunus shrieked as a spear slammed through their lower half. Struggling and thrashing, the woman desperately attempted to dislodge herself while violently hacking up her own blood. 

    Of the remaining three, the resolve of two shattered. One man remained frozen in place, while the other turned tail and fled. That only left one more. A burst of flame spewed past Soren. A warning shot, for sure, as the flame mage by the tent hoisted himself up to his feet. Hands alight, his gaze flicked between Soren and the struggling woman, her movements growing weaker every minute she failed to remove the weapon from her abdomen. "Spritely little bastard, eh?" The man spat, flames licking at the corners of his lips. "but you're not getting in the way of my payday." 

[Soren]

Soren’s attention split as he watched them. Cowards. He stared at the flame mage, a kind of fury behind his eyes. It was rare for Soren to be angry, but it seemed to flare when he found those committing dishonest acts such as this. For a moment he looked at the faunus he had pinned, holding the spear firmly in her gut while she struggled underneath him. “Rest.”, he said to her in a hushed tone, taking the spear and sliding it out of her side. A spray of red mixed into the wind, sending the splatter of blood further than it normally would.

Soren got up and stared at the fire mage. It was disappointing to not only see another mage, but that of a shared element like this. He stepped off the faunus, making a smooth motion of flicking the spear over her throat to end her suffering while not breaking eye contact with the flame mage. For the moment this was the largest threat of any remaining party. His wings were parted slightly, poised in a way that he was read to leap at this mage too.

[Sparky]

    Unable to free herself from the spear, the faunus's end came swiftly In response, the one bandit who had been frozen in fear... collapsed onto the ground as well. The fire mage looked towards the man as he fell unconscious. "Tch..." Rather than charging headlong into the bird person, he instead fell into a steadied stance. Waiting for the next move. It was unfortunate that he was being pushed into a one on one. At least if his comrade had the balls for it, they could have worked together. But now... 

    The man looked down towards the bodies of the other comrades, then towards the quickly vanishing footsteps in the snow. With a spat, the fire mage bitterly stood down... and held up his hands. "Fine. You got us. Bastard's in the tent behind me. He ain't worth losing my life over." 

[Soren]

Soren approached the other fire mage cautiously. “Why would you even begin to start down such a muddled path? Fire doesn’t burn the brightest in such a state.”, he said, stopping next to the man. The truth was, he didn’t want to spill blood if he could help it, but something told him that he wouldn’t have a proper assessment of the group. There have been stories of small bands working together like well oiled machines and making themselves a threat of their own. He stepped past the man to look for the rescue, collapsing the spear to turn it into a dagger and take out the hostage’s bindings.

[Sparky]

    The man scoffed, sneering bitterly at Soren. His eyes were dark and callous. "You try going hungry for a few winters, without a coin to your name and see how long you last." The man spat off to the side almost in disgust." Then again, I suppose it's hard for people like you to put yourself into our shoes. Mind yourself. When it comes to flame, rage is just as powerful a kindling." As Soren moved into the tent, the bandit shifted off to the side, making room.

    Within, lithe and fair skinned elven form sat bound, a knot of rope kept his mouth shut. As soon as Soren entered, he seemed to surge excitedly, the excitement only growing as his bindings were cut. "It's about time!" He exclaimed, rising up to take one of Soren's hands. "By the gods above, if you would have taken any longer, I don't know what these wretch's would have done to me! I mean, just look at how they've sullied my clothes!" As if to emphasize his statement, the man stepped back and pouted at the dirt and grime on his finely furred clothing. "It's going to be such a hassle to replace these, but, alas, that's a thing of the past now. You have my thanks my fine feathered fellow!"

[Soren]

He was making sure the noble was unharmed, and it seemed like they were fine enough. “Ah, yes that is unfortunate.”, he said, forcing a smile. “The blizzard is still raging outside, so I’d recommend waiting that out so you don’t freeze to death. You wouldn’t mind staying in here for a little longer, yes?”

Regardless of what the noble’s answer was, he stepped out of the tent to speak some more with the fire mage. “Rage can fuel a fire. But it’ll burn out just as hard if not just as fast. Keeping it alive with resolve is hard and challenging.” And the bandit was right. Soren’s been in a fairly good setting for most of his life, but it was never not met with hard work. He made him move to the one faunus that met his spear’s blade and began to dig through the snow to find ground. Of course, the soil and mud would be hard to dig through with the cold around, but Soren was still going to try to at least give the girl a proper burial.

If the fire mage was still nearby enough, Soren would still talk to the guy. “If you come with me, I’ll try to find some leads for you to get coin. As for your comrades that are still around, we can try to search things for them. It doesn’t seem like any of you are suited for this kind of thing.” And if there was a way to steer clear of it, Soren wanted to try to help them.

[Sparky]

    Any complaints from the noble fell upon deaf ears. By the time Soren left the tent, the pyromancer was in the middle of waking his unconscious comrade. There wasn't much left to do now. Out of the two dead, one was all but ash. Nothing left to bury, and it seemed the bird had that burial taken care of. 

    At Soren's words, a scowl formed over his features, twisting readily into a wry, mocking grin. "So the noble hero wants to give us poor sods a second chance?" His laugh was hollow. Dry. "You've already bloody killed us! What future is there for a few would-be-kidnappers? As if anything awaits us aside from a cold cell." A shout interrupted his thoughts as the nobleman burst from the tent. 

    "Not if I have anything to say about it!" The fine features twisted angrily as the elf pointed at Soren. "I can't believe you'd even think of offering these... these... brutes a second chance after what they've done to me! No, if I have any say about it the only thing that awaits them are the gallows!" Eyes that would normally be objects of admiration were now filled with fury. "They beat me! Bound me! Gagged me! And kept me holed away for days! And you want to, what? Let them go? With nary a punishment? What sort of joke is this!?" 

[Soren]

Soren scratched the back of his head. “Heroism isn’t anything to do with making a name or getting coin. These people who kidnapped you lost their way in the world, and fell to desperation.” He pitied them. “Is it not right to give those a second chance to see if they can right their wrongs and live. I’m not saying for them to leave without some kind of punishment, but I don’t believe they should be marked permanently as a criminal if there’s any way to help them on the right path.”

Soren was brought up with specific teachings, and he held them to heart. One of those was to always try to find the light in someone. He managed to dig through the hardened mud. “If there is still light in your souls, you should be able to grasp it, kindle it into a greater fire than the cold ghost of a wisp that you currently keep to.” Another scrape in the ground as the hole slowly grew. Heat poured out of Soren’s hands, warming the ground and melting the snow around him. “If you’d rather reside by the cold flame you keep close to your heart, then you've branded yourselves as criminals.” He kept digging, this would take a while on his own.

To the noble’s remarks, he called back. “Does it make me any better than them to have slain their own to save another? What’s the cost of one soul to another?” It should have been clear from there he didn’t want to kill. “Would this not brand me as a murderer rather than a hero? The least I can do to those I felled is give them a burial and hope they find their way to the Pure Lands.”

[Sparky]

    The bandit seemed to take a great deal of pleasure from the noble seething and frothing over Soren's response. Red in the face, the Elf spat all manner of insults and arguments, threats and bribes, but in the end all it left him was out of breath. Neither of the two bandits that remained cared much anymore as to what happened. Two of their friends had been slain, and one turned tail and ran, possibly doomed to freeze to death himself. A promise for a second chance did little to better their mood. 

    But eventually the storm passed, and with it, the snow steadily melted away. Begrudgingly, the noble gave Soren his due pay, in exchange for, hopefully, an escort back to civilization. The Pyromancer approached Soren, a rolled piece of parchment in hand. "Here." He said, handing it over. "Count yourself lucky we never fought. I have more in my back pocket than just fire." 

-Bounty Completed-

Rewards;
10 Gold

Affinity 3 Spell

SPOILER: Click to show

Spell name: Photo-construct
Spell Main Element: Light
-Spell Sub Elements:--
Affinity Strength: 3
Function: Altering light into something more physically tangible, it is a bare bones use of photomancy. These panes have strength limitations in proportion to affinity, but are able to protect someone or hold quite a bit of weight.
Availability: Open

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