Name: Charisse Race: Human
Ht: 5’6, Wt: 130, Sex: Female,
Archetype: Rogue
HP: 5 / 7 Mana: 0 / 0
Stats:
Physical: 2, Moxie : 3, Spiritual: 2, Luck : 3,
Agility : 3, Magic : 2, Mental : 2, Energy : 2.
Relevant Skills: Agility - Dodge, Agility - Jump, Agility - Shortsword, Archetype - Awareness, Physical Melee - Knife, Ranged - Dagger, Stealth - Move Silent
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Charisse dodged to the left. The axe from a goblin swung hard into a wooden pole behind her. Stabbing with her dagger, she slashed the creature's arm along the length. It screamed in pain and grabbed the axe handle with both hands and pulled.
Something behind Charisse moved. Rolling to her left, the wooden wall of a hut fell onto the goblin. High pitched screams from inside the little shack now open to the world. Charisse lept onto the wooden wall and jumped hard on the highest point. A guttural scream from underneath as the wood moved. Pulling out her shortsword;
She stabbed downward between pieces of the wall. A softer scream, then the wall ceased moving. Charisse pulled her sword out and jabbed a few more times. Her sword dripped with the goblin's green blood, a soft cry behind her was the only warning she had. Spinning around, sword up, the blood flew off the blade—landing upon a woman and two young girls.
The cloth roof bunched up behind them, both the children threw their hands to their face, the mother took a step forward holding a cooking pot.
"Sorry, I'm not with the goblins." Charisse wiped her blade on her cloak and sheathed it. Hopping off the wall, she knelt near its edge. "Keep hidden until the guards arrive."
"They'll never help us," the mother said, her eyes darting left and right.
Charisse nodded and lifted the wall, it's lack of weight surprised her, and she was able to put it back upright quickly. Once it was back in position, it started falling toward Charisse.
"It won't stay up, do you have something in there it can lean against, a sturdy pole, broom, or something?" Charisse said.
"Aye, push it now," the voice came from behind the wall.
Charisse pushed, and the wall tilted over, then hit something after falling inward an inch.
"I'm going to take care of more goblins, good luck," Charisse said. Kneeling, she grabbed her dagger from the goblin then took a few steps, remembering the lady was using a pot, turned back around. Poking her head into the doorway, she smiled and dropped her shortsword and scabbard. "Pointy end goes into the goblin."
Running out of the doorway before the mother could reply, Charrisse ran away from the city wall, in the direction she last saw Jax.
The sounds of goblin battle cry, people screaming, yelling, and metal clashing echoed the narrow alleys between the little huts. Running toward the loudest sounds, Charisse wove around the buildings.
A wall exploded thirty feet in front of Charisse. A goblin flew through the air and landed several feet from the remains of the wall. A tall armored figure stepped forward, the bottom part of the helm missing exposing his jaw and part of his neck, a massive hammer in one hand.
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"Tag team back again, check it direct it," Jax sang as he lifted his hammer and flattened the goblin lying on the road.
"Don't you know any other songs?" Charisse groaned at the offkey rap.
"You want Baby Shark?" Jax said. He turned and looked at the hole in the small building. "Follow me; we'll get you to the guard." Jax looked back in Charisse's direction. "Where is the guard? I thought you went to get them."
"I did ran into some trouble, couldn't find anyone that could hear me." Charisse paused as she saw some children poke out of the hole. She took a few steps forward and said in a whisper, "I don't think they will help."
"Arg!" Jax slammed his large hammer against the ground. "We can't hold these monsters back alone."
Jax ran toward the city wall with Charisse following. A cluster of guards standing on the wall, bows ready, stood watching the ground. Several people whimpered, cried, or begged for help at the base of the wall.
"Soldiers! Soldiers!" Jax shouted, hands cupped around his mouth. When one of them looked in his direction, he continued. "We need your help. Protect your people."
"Not our duty." One of the guards yelled down. The guard pulled back on his bow and aimed toward Jax and Chaisse. "Move away from the wall."
Charisse gently grabbed Jax's arm and pulled him back. His muscles were tense, and for a moment, she never realized how solid they were, though the chainmail hauberk helped. She wondered if she could make it up the fifteen-foot wall before getting turned into a pincushion. Several other guards took notice to Jax and pointed arrows in their direction.
"There are still people to help," Charisse said after she got Jax's attention.
Jax nodded and ran back toward the screams in the center of the shantytown. Charisse followed but moved a little slower as she tried to be silent.
Like a wave crashing against rocks, Jax slammed against a small line of goblins. His massive hammer swinging left to right cleared an opening. Jax continued until his momentum stopped him, surrounded by goblins. "Whomp there it is!" he yelled as he swung his hammer.
Charisse slowed, stopping in front of a goblin picking itself up off the ground. She stabbed with her dagger.
The blade slipped between the creature's shoulder blades. It screamed in pain and stood up as it arched it back. A green-skinned claw flew toward Charisse's face.
Charisse threw her head backward, but the tips of the claw connected with her cheek. Letting go of her dagger, she rolled back and into a standing position. The goblin grinned as it pulled the blade out of it's back.
"Goblins are supposed to be easy," Charisse growled as she threw a dagger at the goblin.
As soon as the weapon left her hand, Charisse darted to the left behind a wooden shack. Several little huts leaned against this one, no short path to where Jax was. Moving back to where she was, the goblin she'd attacked was lying in the street. The other goblin sitting on a roof was looking to Jax as he mowed down goblins.
Charisse moved up to the goblin corpse, pulled out her two daggers, then threw one at the watching goblin. The air glowed blue as some invisible force stopped the blade from connecting. The goblin turned and looked at Charisse.
"Magic-User!" Charisse yelled as she lept behind the little shack nearby.
Her hair raised as a bolt of lightning split the air where she'd been standing—energy tearing through the side of the shack and several others. Unable to stop herself, Charisse glanced in the direction it went; a black scar on the city walls marked its end. Quickly getting to her feet, she ran across the way and threw a dagger at the caster.
The air in front of the goblin shimmer against as the dagger hit some field. She stopped herself from cursing, bent her knees, and watched to see where the hole the caster used was.
The goblin knelt, carefully poked a finger out, bent a knuckle, and aimed the tip toward Charisse. Not waiting for the spell to complete, Charisse again dove behind one of the shacks.
Boom! Wood splintered and rained down upon Charisse. Screams escaped from inside the now collapsed building. Rolling back out, Charisse threw a dagger at the goblin's feet. The dagger flew straight and hit the goblin right above his ankle. He fell to the roof, clutching his foot. His face glared at Charisse.
Charisse threw her last dagger at the face, now at the same height as the ankle was previously. The knife buried itself into the creature's nose. It slumped to the roof as Charisse rolled back behind the collapsed hut.
Cries and soft whimpering flowed out of the debris. Peeking through a dark crack, Charisse thought she saw movement.
"I'm gonna get some help, hang in there." Charisse stood up, glanced in Jax's direction. A dozen goblins surrounded him, and an equal number of corpses. He swung with both hands turning, exposing his back, leaving nothing for defense, counting on his healing ability and armor. "Stupid paladin."
Charisse pulled a cloth wrapped torch out of her backpack. Carefully she removed part of the fabric covering it. Light burst through the opening in the material. She tied the unwound part to the stick to hold it in place. Shining the light to the rubble, she looked for a large crack. Finding one and dropping to the ground, she peered inside.
Three young children and a teenager looked wide-eyed and shook as the light illuminated them. A beam of wood had fallen, stopping on the young man's back, preventing it from hitting the children.
"Can the children move?" Charisse said. Three young kids nodded their heads. The teenager, sweating, and jaw clenched nodded. "Let me see if I can open the door."
Charisse stood up, leaving the light shining into the ruined shack. The doorway was not on this side of the building. Examining the wall, Charisse could see the main poles were held together by rope and not nails. The bottom of the walls went a few inches into the dirt.
A broken piece of wood lay on the ground nearby. Grabbing it and gripping the wider end, she plunged with the jagged edge into the dirt near the wall. Dragging the tip along the wall, as it scooped out some soil, she repeated the motions several times until she could see the wall's bottom three inches under the ground.
Grabbing a board, she wiggled it and managed to push it upward, it resisted. Twisting back and forth, she managed to wiggle it up a few inches. Enough to pull it out from the wall. Moving to the next board, she continued until there was a space large enough for the young man to exit.
"I need the children to come out from under the falling roof," Charisse said. A series of round faces shook their heads no. The youngest from looks grabbed tightly to the young man straining under the weight of the roof. "I guess I'm coming in," Charisse said with a sigh. Wiggling in, and pushing some wooden beams apart, she managed to move into the little shack.