RPG The Alabaster Cup {M-V}

[The Enemy]

The fight began. Everyone surrounding Morty went wild with attack, half wielding swords, which Morty frowned upon. He saw a man with a sword quickly duel another to the ground and breaking his jaw in the process. Morty decided the man still up shouldn't be using his sword. He dashed threw the crowd making it seem like no more than a thick mist, and made his way to the man.

As he arrived a young looking girl also ran to him, the man tripped her quickly and cut her arm to force her sword out of of her hand. Morty then swung to hit him in the face but the man dodged downward and slashed up with the sword. Morty side-stepped making the man miss and then kicked at his wrist. The man moved his wrist enough for it not to be broken but the blade got hit directly on.

The man didn't drop the blade, he was well trained with it to be sure. But alas, the sword did swing violently off coarse. Morty swiftly then put a foot in front of the man and twisted his body, finally hitting the man in the back hard. The man fell and Morty grabbed the back of the mans armour and stopped him just inches from the chalky ground. Then Morty stepped on the mans sword and pulled him back up forcing him to let go.

When standing the man glared at Morty and tried to push him. Then Morty grabbed the man's wrists and crossed his armed across his chest, before pushing him back lightly. While the man regained his balance Morty grabbed his sword and ran. He jumped onto the crowd and jumped from head to head smoothly as he could on a solid path. He soon made it to a wall of the dukes mansion bordering the open area.

First he jumped and landed with both feet on the wall, in an instant he used all his strength to force the sword into the wall, and left it there kicking off the wall. He landed on the shoulders of another man forcing him down and then he continued dodging, trying not to eliminate those without a chance of beating him down, letting the equals fight off each other. He then spotted one who was surely not equal.

It was a shackled man but he was doing much better than any who were fully armed. Morty made his approach slowly careful to keep out of the new guy's sight as much as possible. Watching him closely while closing the space between them, Morty now knew this new guy was the new biggest threat.

[Lt.Zero]

[COLOR=Navy][B]"BEGIN!"[/B] the judge shouted. Everyone started running towards who they thought would be easiest to take down,[B]"And so it begins."[/B] Zane whispered to himself. Out of the cornrer of his eye, Zane saw a man running towards him and couldn't help but to laugh a little. Zane stepped back one pace, and held his leg out tripping the man. [B]"CONTESTANT 134, OUT!"[/B] the judge said. [I]This is gonna be easier than I expected.[/I] Zane thought to himself. He ran out into the middle of the ring to try and get out more competeters. There he saw the witch that had talked to him last night after he had signed up. Behind her there was someone running up to her. He darted past her and closelined the other guy. [B]"Thanks."[/B] she said. They were now standing back to back in case anyone tryed to sneak up on either one of them. [B]"Yeah no problem."[/B] Zane replied. [B]"I never caught your name."[/B]
[B]"It's Akari.[/B]" She said.
[B]"Nice name. So how are you holding out?"
"Decent. I could use some help though. Some of these people are pretty brutal."
"Agreed. How 'bout this. We watch each others backs? If I see that you're in trouble, I help you out. If you see that I'm in trouble, you help me out. Sound fair?"
"Are you really willing to make an alliance with a witch?"
"I see no differences between the two of us. All races share the same air, earth, and sky right? So there should be no problem. What da ya say? Partners?"
"Sounds decent...You gotta deal."[/B][/COLOR]

[P.J. McKrafty]

Liir watched the fighting commence. The entire arena was turning into a madhouse not just on the floor but in the stands. Fans were throwing rocks and such at the contestants and he actually saw a couple contestants being knocked down by something a spectator had thrown. It was as chaotic as some of the battles he had lead against the kings men.

A man rushed Liir thinking that a shackled foe would be an easy target. Liir swiveled to the side and brought the back of his boot down upon the man's neck. The man came crashing down and was covered in the chalky soil. Three more came thinking the same not seeing the earlier attempt. They circled Liir keeping him on constant alert, Then one roared and ran forward. He slammed into Liir's torso and sent him crashing against the wall. The man tried his best to keep Liir pinned when he had the air knocked out of him by Liir's knee colliding with his chest.

The man stumbled back gasping for air when one of his comrades grabbed him and threw him down. Liir then saw this was a [I]every-man-for-himself[/I] contest so he went on the offensive. Liir kicked at the man and a flame shot out from his foot. The man jumped back scared to death. He tripped over a unconscious man behind him. The other man seeing the flame shoot from Liir's foot ran off into the crowd.

Liir started to concentrate and the shackles around his wrist started to glow red. He then smashed them against to wall making the links shatter and setting himself free. He rubbed his wrists walking through the mob trying to see if their was a means of escape, that was a no go so the only way out was to win, and so Liir set out to do that.

There was a man in pitch black armor and snow white hair fighting right behind Liir, Liir elbowed him in the back and the man stumbled forward and turned to his attacker. The man then punched at Liir. Liir dodged and came back punching the man across the face. He stumbled back and was grabbed by another man, the man quickly subdued this man and was swarmed by others.

Liir quickly turned and caught a chain that would've wrapped around his neck. A woman with similar eyes to himself. She didn't seem to fond of Liir, she was struggling to get her chains back. Liir pull the chains almost making her fall she let go and he swung it around the ankles of a very overwhelmed elf sending him crashing to the ground. Liir then threw back the chains and winked at her as he returned to the battle.

[Zeke47]

Dalen just made it to his position as the Duke yelled Begin. 2 men rushed him right off the start. Dalen stepped to the side tripping one of them grabbing his arm and swung him throwing him into the other sending them both into the dirt. Dalen walked into the crazed mob of people.

As Dalen walked through the mob he heard a guy say "die by my blade half-breed" Dalen spun around and saw a man about to stab an half-orc from behind. Dalen while having no love of the creatures didn't want to see one slain within the qualifying rounds seing that using a sword for such a contest was cheating. Dalen grabbed a small spike from his side and threw it at the man. Just before the mans blade stiked the half-orc the spike went through the mans wrist making him drop the blade instantly.

The Half-orc turned just as Dalen kicked his leg out sending him into the ground. while he didn't want to see the beast killed he had no pity in sending him to the ground.

As Dalen wandered through the crowd he saw a man in shackled take out 3 men and break the very metal around his wrists and the elf he saw earlier today slowly moving towards him and desided to watch them both for they where both going to be great threats later and knowing their fighting style could help greatly.

[Funny Girl]

[COLOR=Magenta]Zane and Akari were fighting back to back. She then noticed someone coming to where Zane couldn't see them and slaughtered them.
"Thanks. That was sure close," said Zane with gratitude.

"No problem. I really don't like to fight unless nessesary and that was the time to do it," replied Akari. Akari seemed to be getting bored with all of this and decided to bring out her weapons and slaughter everyone coming their way.

Many people came to her, and many were killed. Akari's then began to glow a bright red and then became a glowing scarlet red for blood. She was now in the mood for killing and would stop when the round was over.[/COLOR]

[P.J. McKrafty]

The battle winded down and only some of the stronger more adept warriors. but there was a surge among them.. The witch was clearly disregarding rules and using fatal force. Liir watched as she swung her chains around the crowd of participants, those who actually fell prey were cut down brutally. Liir was unfortunate enough to be noticed by the frenzied woman. Her companion must have been seprated because he wasn't in sight.

She wasted no time in striking, she swung her chains around but this time her attack wasn't as predicable, Liir went to block but she swirled the chain so when he went to grab it the chain wrapped around his entire arm. The chain had small barbs on it so when she started to constrict it and it started to cut open the exposed parts of his arm.

She seemed stronger than when he encountered her before, she seemed to have something fueling her berserk . Liir struggled with her, using his other arm to try and get some slack and relieve the growing pain that shot up through his arm. HE pulled and pulled they only progress he was gaining was that the constricting had stopped.

Liir then ran forward and was greeted by a second chain that wrapped around his abdomen. Liir was blinded by the pain that shot up his arm and now the chain that wrapped around his stomach was constricting. He grabbed it to stop her from breaking his ribs. He tried his hardest to break free when she pulled him in and kicked him in the face cracking his mask. Liir looked down as the blood from his arm and now his lip were dripping blood all over the ground making the chalky soil cake up in red clumps where the touched the ground.

Liir looked up and anger once more and the flames shot up the chains singing her hands as she jumped back. Liir had regained control, the chain around his waist became limp but was caught on his armor and the other was still attached to his arm, he had forgotten them ready to shoot a burst of flame the second she made a move.

[Armageddon]

Attello cursed, less at the fact that he could not use his blade, and more at the fact that he had allowed an enemy to take it from him, but the fighter had been quick, far to quick to be human, '[i]An elf no doubt, at least he finds me worthy enough to fight later.[/i]' Attello sighed as he rushed in at a man swinging in wide arcs with a broad sword, '[i]This would be much easier if that elf hadn't taken my blade.[/i]' Attello thought, but none the less found his way swiftly under the swinging blade and placed his shoulder squarely in the mans chest. He could felt the lungs give to the pressure as the man's rib cage was forced in, leaving him with little oxygen. Attello slid his foot threw the man's wide stance and swept his legs out from under him.

Once the man fell Attello found him self face to face with the business end of an armored fist. Reflex took over and he dropped quickly down, grabbed the fighters arm and placed a quick punch in the man's side. The effect was less than he had wished; the man was wearing padded chain mail which protected the man's ribs easily against the attack.

A sudden jolt picked Attello's entire body off the ground. His stomach hurt slightly where an armored knee had smashed into his armor, and his concentration was thrown off by the sudden movement. Attello hit the ground on his feet but stumbled as he regained his stance, returning his gaze to the fighter just in time to see the same fist as before, only this time it was too close to avoid. Attello turned his head slightly, and the punch caught his helmet at an angle, deflecting the blow to the side. Despite the deflection Attello's head jerked back from the force of the punch.

Attello stumbled back a few steps, putting some distance between himself and the other man. Quickly he organized his thoughts, focused, and returned his attention to the battle at hand. Another punch came at him quickly, but this time Attello was fully prepared, and slid to the side just enough for the man's fist to miss his head by an inch or less. Attello slid quickly around and grabbed the man's arm, pulling it up and around his back. He pulled up and the man let out a cry of pain as his shoulder pulled free of its socket. Attello let the man fall to the ground, nursing his shoulder, "Set that quickly or it will hurt for days." He said and moved on.

He had neared the wall, just above him was his sword, stuck firm enough into the wall that he would have to wait until after the fight was over the get it out. He looked around him, noticed that all of the surrounding contestants were well occupied with each other, and so he placed his back against the wall and watched keeping his guard up. "No need fighting if they're going to do it themselves." he said to himself.

[Funny Girl]

[COLOR=Magenta]Akari watched as the man tried so hard to break free but she could tell that there was something she didn't like about him. He looked like he was human and that very sight of any human made her enraged. She was already angry from before of what the other group of participants that never showed up because they were found dead the next morning. She had also seen what he did to the elf to release her chains from him and she got even more angry.

She didn't like him at all and she turned back to see that Zane had disappeared and no one else seemed to want to fight her so it was a battle against her and the boy.
Akari then got her chain back and swung back at him and made him fall to the ground. The chain had tied around his ankles and blood was everywhere. She knew that if she killed another that she would be the same as those humans. But her eyes were colored over with the hatred and anger for humans that she could not see what was going on all around her.

The man seemed to be in pain and when she was about to delt the final blow, the Duke had yelled, [B][I]"STOP!! That's it for this round!"[/I][/B]

Akari had now mantained her self-control and let the man go. She got back her chains and put her cloak on and left the arena. The Duke then yelled, [B][I]"Players, the next course will be held tomorrow at this same arena. Go home and get your wounds all healed to be ready for the next match! Many of you have made it past this bloody round and I'm sure that the others won't be as gory as this! So go home!"[/I][/B]

Akari left and had no sympathy for the man that had hurt an elf. She knew that if she had gone to the nearby doctor in the town then he would be swamped with people from today's match. She then saw Zane and went up to him. "Have any wounds?" she asked.

"Well a few scratches and cuts here and there. But nothing too serious," he replied.

"I'll take you to my shop and we'll have you fixed up."

He nodded and they headed towards her shop.[/COLOR]

[Armageddon]

Attello let out a sigh, the event was finally over. Now he could get his sword back. He made his way to the spectator area and found a few guards, they found some rope and tied it around Attello in a make shift harness and lowered him down the side of the wall. Attello placed both feet firmly against the wall and gripped the blade with both hands, he breathed once, sucking in as much air as he could, and then pulled, breathing out with the effort. The sword slid free after a moment of resistance.

When the guards pulled him back up he thanked them and examined the blade, he had been lucky, the elf had jammed the blade into a place where two blocks met, and the mortar wasn't nearly as strong as the brick and gave the sword little serious damage. "A little polish and it'll be fine." one guard stated before he left.

Attello sheathed the sword and turned to survey the arena, the masked man, the elf were still standing, just as he had expected, along with a few others. Attello took in his competition, the first event was the archery competition, and one he expected to place very well in, after all he hadn't missed a target in four years, most of which had been moving at the time. He didn't worry about the obstacle course either, as it was common for the knights to run such courses preparing them for the chaos of battle. Nether was the wrestling match, as wrestling was a favorite past time event among his garrison.

He left the arena, he would go back to his room and prepare himself, meditating until the time came to test his skill. Tomorrow he would be much more finely tuned then he had been today, tomorrow they would see a man with years of experience and control, tomorrow they would see why his fellow knights chose him to represent them in the Cup.

[Zeke47]

Dalen had finished the qualifying round with relitive ease and now after a good night sleep he headed down towards the first contest after a quick look at a flyer he had found found it to be a contest of archery and an obstacle course. His elven blood and his keen eye would help him get throught the archery and he was quite nimble so he would get through the obstacle course quickly. He went up to the first event and heard a man yell " 10 minutes until the archery contest begins"

[Funny Girl]

[COLOR=Magenta]After Akari and Zane had arrived at her shop, she bandaged his wounds and they went to sleep. The next morning, Akari and Zane headed for the arena to hear what today's course was. When they came up to the arena, they noticed a flyer that said [I]Obstacle and Archery Matches.[/I] "Looks, like today we have archery and obstacles. Not too much of a suprise there. I can't wait to see what happens this round," said Akari.

"Yeah, me neither. This contest is for the best of the best to show their skill and all the other talents that they've learned or have," said Zane.

Akari and Zane then walked into the arena to see that some of yesterday's contestants were still in the arena but most were watching in the stands. It was sad to say but she felt sorry for all the others that didn't make it to the next round.[/COLOR]

[P.J. McKrafty]

Liir was bruised and bleeding from his bout with the witch. He was on his knees as the others walked out of the stadium a dozen guards ran into the arena and shackled him. The other contestants watched as he was led out of the arena. Xander paid them no attention. One whispered to one of the guards about what he did but the guard just told him to mind his own business and moved along. Liir's vision started to blur and the voices became muffled.Halfway to the castle he blacked out hearing the guards around him complain about carrying him.

Liir awoke in a small room his hands and feet were strapped to to the floor with just enough length in the chains for him to stand up. His vision started to come back and he saw a woman bandaging his arm, she was wearing servants garb. She looked up as he started to wake.

"He is waking up mi'lady," she said returning to bandaging.

"Ah, good," The princess loomed over him. "Are we feeling better?"

"Depend on your use of better, why did you help me?" Liir asked rubbing his head.

"I am interested in you, father is always talking about how much of a scourge you are, and I find that interesting,"

"Interesting?"

"Yes, I am excited to how you impress me," Liir looked at her wondering what she was talking about and then a male servant came running in the room.

"Mi'lady, your father is coming," The man said frantically, she and both servants ran out through the servants entrance. The king entered holding Liir's mask smiling, he was escorted by two cloaked men and two guards stood at the door.

"Greetings Liir, I am keeping your mask as a trophy, I mean it is only once in a lifetime that you can witness the last magi is bested by a local loony witch," The king proclaimed. Both cloaked men walked up beside Liir and two metal pillars rose up to their hands. "But I am sad to say that I am not here on good terms, my watchmen have seen scouts from your mix breed army, now you are going to tell me where they are and when they might strike,"

"Hmmmmm, I dont think so," Liir replied perturbed.

"Then you will suffer," the king nodded to the cloaked men and then a pulse of lightning surged through the pillars and through Liir's chains. He twisted and writhed in his chains. The electrocution stopped and Liir collapsed on the brink of a blackout. The king then leaned down and whispered in Liir's ear. "The pain will stop when you answer the question,"

"I'll die first," Liir replied.

""Since are not useful to us dead you will live but that dosen't mean I will have to keep you comfortable," The king walked out of the room and raised his hand, both men beside him started electrocuting Liir again, he lost consciousness after a couple minutes.

[The Enemy]

Morty was one of the few still standing when the preliminary round had ended, he glanced the area and quickly found No-omi.. He ran over to her and hugged her, then let go and blushed slightly "I'm glad to see you're ok." he said. She answered "Like wise." She had done well for herself and had very few minor bruises. They went home to the inn and went to the room. Morty decided to celebrate their victory and got out some wine. He poured a class for each of then and before the night was done they had each drank three. Then they passed out Morty laying on his stomach and No-omi laying across his back on her stomach as well.

In the morning neither Morty nor No-omi had a hangover, Morty assumed it was because of their blood lines and general species. They were on their way to the archery event when the road was blocked by a large amount of soldiers and bards. They were having a parade for the king, who was in a large chariot with his trophy the last magi chained and forced to walk behind him. An announcer walked just in front of the gold armoured horses of the king and called out the king's glory for capturing such a rare token.

The parade was heading for the archery area but the contestants were to show up early to get numbered for their targets and their goblets. The princess was handing out alabaster goblets at he entrance and both No-omi and Morty got their own. In the area it was a massive walled off field just to the side of the chalky wrestling arena. The field had 36 targets in it, the targets were set up in slots of three for each contestant.

The field had while markings to dictate twelve rows, they were each 15 feet wide. In each row there were three targets, one 20 feet away, one 50 and one 150. The targets were lined up all the twenty foot targets were perfectly lined up lengthways across the rows as were the 50's and 150's, they were also set up to that each contestant would simply step to the right and be in line with his next farthest target. Judging by the quivers in the front of each row each contestant apparently got 3 arrows per target.

The contestants were to line up for their closest target, fire three arrows in time as each one wished, giving them their own ample time to ready themselves and line up the shots. Then a judge would run to each target and count up the ponts then the contestants got back up and fired at the second target then so on. The targets were simple in design a small red circle in the center with a black pit head dot symbolizing a bull's-eye, then a blue ring in a black ring, which was in a white ring. The scoring was as follows :
bull's-eye-10 points
red-5 points
blue-3 points
black-2 points
and white-1 point

And that would be for the 20 foot target, the one at 50 feet had it's values doubled and the 150 foot (for those who chose to fire at it) had tripled values. Morty and No-omi sat on the contestant bench waiting for the rest to arrive. And wondering just how skilled the other would-be archers...well, would be.

[Funny Girl]

[COLOR=Magenta]Akari and Zane then walked over to a bench for with the other contestants. As she sat down, she noticed that the guy she had almost killed yesterday wasn't there. She wanted to apologize to him for almost killing him and hoped that she didn't injure him too much at least.

Everyone waited for the princess to come out with the Duke and call the starting of the next round. Everyone was so tense in what was going to happen to next and to hear who would go first and see what they got or what they didn't. The Duke then came to the balcony with the princess and the princess then raised her hands and said, "Let the next round begin!"

All the contestants lined up to the 20 foot line and got ready to shoot. Akari was 5th in line and Zane was 8th in line. She was very nervous to see how she would do but didn't worry about having to go first and that relieved her. [/COLOR]

[Armageddon]

Attello had arrived slightly on the early side with his bow. He didn't have his armor on since he didn't need it for the day?s events. He had sat out of the way and was meditating as the others arrived.

Now he stood and strung his bow, it took relatively little effort but that was a deception to the bow's strength, he had been stinging the bow for many years and had grown accustom to the amount of pull on it. He plucked the sting, pulled it slightly, and released it. Laying the bow carefully on the ground he stretched his arms and prepared for the event to begin.

As he stretched he eyed the targets, at 50 feet the first target would present no trouble for him. The second target was at the distance he was used to firing at, 100 feet being the distance his own target was set up. The last one was the challenge, accuracy was lessened at such a range simply because an arrow never flies strait at its target, so no matter an archer?s skill and aim the further the target, the more luck you need to hit the bull?s eye.

Attello smiled, if some one out shot him today, it would be luck on their side.

[P.J. McKrafty]

Liir awoke, chest down on the hard floor. He started to get up but his arms gave out and he fell hard against the floor. His arms too weak too weak, his body was drained from the torture. He heard footsteps across the room coming towards him. He tried to get up again but couldn't even move his arms. There was no way he could compete in todays competition let alone win. Then he felt soft hands lift his shoulder, he rolled over and saw The princesses servant holding him, she looked at him with pity.

"That was not right what they did," She said holding up a water skin to his mouth.

"What do you mean?" Liir asked. "I receiving punishment for being uncooperative?"

"No, you deserved that..."

"Thanks," Liir interrupted sarcastically.

"I meant that when they kept torturing you after you blacked out, you are lucky to be alive,"

She then pulled out a smaller skin, she held it to his lips and grabbed his mouth pursing his lips. She poured the liquid into his mouth. It started to burn as it made its way down his thought. He suddenly felt his body start to tingle an ache.

"It is an energy elixir, it might cause some aching and slight pain but it will return your energy of the competition," She said getting up and starting to walk out of the room.

"Wait, who are you and why did you help me?" Liir said getting on his knees.

"My name is Veronica, and I helped you because some of us are still rooting for you," She exited the room closing the door and leaving him in darkness. He went to snap his fingers but no flame came forth. He sat there trying his hardest to conger his flames but nothing happened.

The door swung open and guards came in holding his armor and sword.

"What did you do to me?" He said in pure hatred.

"Those shackles you are wearing are specially made to restrict your special abilities," A guard said strapping Liir's armor on him.

"Why are you getting me dressed up for an archery contest?"

"The king wishes you to look presentable for your appearance,"

"What appearance?" Liir asked as they placed tighter shackles with strange runes on them, they had a long lead chain and the guards led him out of the room. He was led outside where he was strapped to a royal carriage. He watched as the princess and the king along with many noblemen entered the carriage. They started to move making Liir walk behind them with two mounted guards behind him.

They moved through town an announcer walking with them declaring the king's victory over the last magi and how the treat was over, many villagers came to gaze upon him and watch as the man they once fear now lay shackled being almost dragged by their rulers. He was led through town but not once did he lower his head, Liir stood tall, he would not let the king shame him and bring him to his knees so easily.

They reached the arena where they unhitched him and the king personally led him into the ring where the other contestants were lined up and watched as one of them was shamed in such a way. The king then dragged Liir so he was on his knees, He then brought his boot up onto Liir's back. He raised a fist in the air in triumph and the crowd roared. The king them brought Liir up and removed the chains from his shackles leaving the cuffs.

"Just in case you get any ideas," he then turned raising on arm to the crowd and left. Liir turned to the other contestants and they stared at him. He kept his head low and didn't make eye contact with any of them as he walked over to the open position in line.

[Funny Girl]

[COLOR=Magenta]Akari watched as the man came in. She recognized who was at first sight. He was the one she had almost killed. She went up to him but he still had his head low. "I'm sorry, there. I didn't know what I was doing back at the last round and I hope that you can forgive me. I'm a witch who loves all the elves, half-breeds, and so forth. I don't really like humans and excepically the ones who hurt the ones of the forest and since I saw you throw one of my chains to an elf, I got enraged and thought you as an all out enemy. I'm very sorry again," said Akari as she went back to her place in line.

"Everything okay, Akari?" asked Zane.

"Yeah, just had to apologize to someone I just really badly," replied Akari.

She got back in line to hear wha the Duke had to say, [B][I]"Everyone here today is here for making it through the last round. This round is an Archery contest for the best accuracy. The one with the best score wins the round and more coins in you cup. The rules are simple. You line up and shoot at the target. Then one of the judges will come and see where you have hit. You may not shoot while he is up there or you will be disqualified. You do not have to shoot at the 150 foot target but if you feel lucky and want more points then go for it. That is all you need to know. Let the round begin!!!"[/i][/b]

The gunshot had been fired and the contestants were ready. [/COLOR]

[The Enemy]

The contestants took their stand at the first mark to shoot at the closest target. Before firing they all looked around to see who else was their. A few interesting men struck Morty's eye. One, a gentlemen dressed in fine black and silver clothing. Morty noticed him because mainly he was just very noticeable, but also because he had not seen him fight at all before. He had seen the man around but he hadn't done, anything. He was present for the preliminaries, but whenever Morty spotted him he was just there with a walking cane.

Morty assumed he was older than he looked because he took his cane everywhere with him. But more interesting in the preliminaries, was the fact that all around him were slain men. Bodies upon bodies were piled around him, but Morty never saw him draw a weapon. Now he was standing, slightly leaning on his cane, no more than 10 feet from Morty in the next row. Morty knew he was a dangerous threat but couldn't put his finger on exactly why he was so threatening. Like he has seen and been very afraid of him before but he completely forgot who he was.

The next man was rather far from a whole man. He was a centaur, a half horse man known for their skill in archery. Ironic that Morty had only noticed him out and out ,during the archery competition. Morty picked up the relatively fine crafted bow provided in his row and tested the string. Then he looked over the arrows for cracks and noticed them to be of excellent quality as well. He could hardly wait to begin so he knocked an arrow and aimed at the first target.

As soon as the duke said begin Morty fired, he would easily get a bull's-eye on the close target with his elven feats, but decided he should not show off and fired into the red. Then he knocked another arrow and shot into the red again. Finally drawing back his final arrow for that target, and firing he hit the blue. He planned to save his skill for the farther targets, at 20 feet it would be a waste of effort.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
[COLOR=Blue]I have made a character sign up in the inn for the mysterious man, but not the centaur, mainly because something bad will happen to the centaur after he does well in this event.[/COLOR]

[Armageddon]

Attello waited for some of the others to shoot, knocking an arrow he drew back his bow string. He quickly aimed and fired. The arrow found it's way into the board low in the bull's eye, not many points but every one was worth it. He pulled and fired again, this time the arrow slid right below the first one, in the red. Attello took a moment before he fired his last shot, his first show left him plenty of room in the bull's eye's top half. Attello pulled back on his bow, aimed, and let the arrow go. It found its mark just above the first arrow in the bull's eye.

The judge was astonished when he checked the score, the arrows sat so close that they quite literally had made one elongated hole in the target.

Attello stepped to the side and eyed the next target. He would have no more trouble hitting the bull's eye, but taking two would be more demanding on his skills than the first target. He knocked an arrow, pulled the string back and aimed just above the bull's eye.

Perfect. The arrow jumped into the bull's eye. Attello let out a small smile, not big enough for any one to notice, and then returned to his task. He took another arrow and aimed. He shot for the bull's eye, got a firm hit in the red. Another shot found it's place close to the bull's eye, in the red.

Attello stepped over, now he was in front of the furthest target. A distance he was less accustomed to shooting at. He found his first mark in the red. His second found a similar place in the red. The last arrow found a place on the line between red and blue. "No bull's eye." Attello sighed. For the first time he noticed the crowds around them.

One of the event staff approached him, "Some of them are cheering for you. Don't stand there like a tree, smile, wave. If the crowed likes you the king likes you."
Attello took the advice and smiled, but didn't wave, he didn't want to get on the bad side of his competition for any reason other than points.

[Zeke47]

Dalen took his bow off his back, It was a bow he had picked up earlier from a shop he had pre ordered from, it was a large bow made out of yew, it had a specially desighned scope on the side with 2 different settings one for distance and 1 for wind speed and direction, it didn't have a lense for it would have been too expensive to get a perfectly curved one.

Dalen notched his first arrow and aimed at the first target, after a few seconds he let go and the arrow flew straight into the red. He readjusted his scope, aimed again and shot. The arrow had gone into the red again but this time a bit closer now on the edge by the bullseye.

He turned the distance dial to 50 meters and took aim at the next target, with the scope now adjusted to the wind perfectly he launched his shot and it landed in the top of the bullseye. He smirked a little and looked to the side and saw a guy who scored a bullseyes in the second target and the crowd seemed to love him while he(the half-elf) barely had anyone even notice him other than a few other half-elves(how few there where) and orcs and the such. Dalen took aim again and released and just barely hitting it into the bullseye again. He took aim with his last shot, released and hit it milimeters away from a third bullseye landing squarely in the red.

Dalen walked over to the third target happy with himself. He notched his arrow and noticed that his scope didn't go up to 150 meters only 90 and swore under his breath. He shot his first arrow and it landed a little low on the target into the outeredge getting only 3 points. He notched his next arrow and released it and it once again landed in the red but this time to the right of the bullseye. He took aim last time looking at the score board he noticed that he had 88 points and the leader had 110points so he needed a bullseye to get to first place. He aimed taking in the information he learned from his past two shots aim a little more to the left than last time, released the arrow and it flew through the air and it seemed to be going toward the left of the bullseye, then as it made it's way it seemed to lose it's stabibility in flight the tip of the arrow wavered in flight turning it to the right slightly as it hit squarly into the bullseye. He heard a few roars in the audience and a few grumbles from others that where around, Dalen sighed with relief and sat back to watch the other compeditors to wait for the obsticle course to start.

[P.J. McKrafty]

As the others shot a man walked up and handed him a bow and three arrows. Liir then strung his arrow. He waited until the others finished. He then aimed carefully and shot. he hit the red ring. The crowd laughed as the other contestants were getting bullseye. Liir considered himself as a good archer from his training.

He shot again another red ring. He herd more laughing and booing and catcalling. Liir then strung his bow and fired his final arrow. He closed his eyes and didn't even want to see were it landed. He herd some booing but cheering was mixed in with it. He opened his eyes and saw that landed right on the edge of the bullseye. Liir smiled and looked at the other contestants, they gawked at him, probably they expected better.

He smiled knowing that he couldn't be matched by any of these fools in agility, especially most of them because of the heavy they were wearing. He was most drawn toward the man in heavy black armor, he was not going to make it over many obstacles today. Liir then walked over to the other contestants and waited for the officials.

[Lt.Zero]

[COLOR=Navy][I]Dammit,[/I] Zane thought to himself as he moved up in line, [I]This armor's gonna hold me back when it comes time for the obstacle course...Same goes for when it's my turn to shoot the arrows. I could probably take off the gauntlets while I shoot. But that still leaves the problem of the obstacle course...Damn...Well I could probably use teleport every now and then...But that takes up alot of energy...And it doesn't get me that far anyways...I could use my wings...But then again this armor was designed to help restrain my father's powers...There's no telling what'll happen if I use them...Ok, I will use the demon powers...I'll have to if I want to win this thing...But only as a last resort.[/I][/COLOR]

[COLOR=Navy]It was now Zane's turn to shoot the arrows. He took off his gauntlets and set them by his feet. As he did this, he caught a glimpse of his nails. They had become longer and claw like. [I]Interesting,[/I] he thought, [I]It would appear that I have been in less control than I was led to beleive.[/I] He cracked his nuckles and the nails returned to normal. He picked up the bow and arrow and took aim. Suddenly his eyes illuminated as if fireflys had awoken behind his dark green iris. He blinked hard to get rid of the demonic trait. As he did so, he accidently let go of his arrow and it went flying past the target, missing it by at least a foot. [I]Damn![/I] There were boos, hisses, and taunting laughs coming from the audience. Ignoring this, he picked up another arrow, took aim, and shot. This time it hit a red ring. There were more boos and laughs. He picked up the third arrow, loaded it into the bow, and took aim. His nails grew long and his irises began to glow. The arrow was shot, and it hit bulls eye. Zane blinked hard and was once again returned to his human state. He put his gauntlets on and began to walk to the benches. Akari stuck her arm out to the side catching Zane in the chest.[B]"There is something evil about you."[/B] She whispered.
[B]"I know."[/B] Zane replied and pushed past her to get to the benches.[/COLOR]

[The Enemy]

Morty took a stand at his next target 50 meters. He grinned as he took off his armour and waved to the crowd, shaking out his hair a bit. The crowd both cheered and booed seeing that an elf ,a pure blood, was competing. He twirled his bow around his wrist then took out the first arrow of the new target. As he gazed over the target he twirled the arrow like a baton then fluidly knocked it ending the spinning. The crowd laughed and cheered at his antics then fell dead silent as he pulled back the string. he let loose an arrow and it firmly struck the red.

Most of the crowd just whispered to itself in confusion. Then Morty took out the other two arrows and knocked them simultaneously. He pulled back the bow string and squinted slightly at the target, focussing. Then he let go and the arrows both whizzed off in unison. They touched gently in the air and flew in miniature spirals around one another then landed hard in the bulls-eye. The crowd went wild, sheering and yelling loudly. Morty grinned.

He took a step over, lining himself with his last target and there were various yells from the stands "DOUBLE!" "TRIPLE!" and "Bull's-eye!" were yelled the most. Morty picked out the first arrow for his final target, he knocked, aimed and fired. A bull's-eye. The crowd cheered again, but Morty heard stray tones of hatred,, things like "Elf cheater!" and "blood line advantage!" were predominant. Morty paid no mind and took out his next arrow. He fired purposely into the outer red.

15 points was good enough for the trick he was doing next. He raised an arm and waved for the judge. After a few seconds the judge ran over and they whispered amongst themselves for a while, finally the judge nodded and left. Morty took his bow and unstrung it. Then he stabbed his sword into the ground and pulled the string tight between his hands. He finished by running the string on the sword and cutting off a piece from the end.

Everyone looked at him in confusion as he tried a knot in the end of the shorter string. He then restrung his bow significantly tighter and drew forth his final arrow. The judge had agreed he could tighten the bow and he told Morty he thought the bow could easily handle it. Morty smiled rashly as he pulled back on the stronger bow and took aim. He aimed carefully for a fair 30 seconds and let the arrow fly. It dared threw the air at amazing speeds then cracked, to the crowds unscrupulous cheering, threw Morty's first arrow!

On the scoring of a second bull's-eye the crowd nearly deafened the contestants and Morty let out a proud laugh. He walked back to the bench grinning at his fine work and looked at the other contestants fuming in anger. Morty just let out another laugh and began thinking of the obstacle course. He had taken off his armour so it was no problem, and elven reflexes and grace were the perfect asset for such a challenge.