Name: Charisse Race: Human

Ht: 5’6, Wt: 130, Sex: Female,

Archetype: Rogue

HP: 3 / 7 Mana: 0 / 0

Stats:

Physical: 2, Moxie : 3, Spiritual: 2, Luck : 3,

Agility : 3, Magic : 2, Mental : 2, Energy : 2.

Relevant Skills: Archetype - Awareness, Physical Lift

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Charisse stopped squeezing herself in when the pain started. Rough edges on the wood rubbed into her skin, leaving a trail of splinters that sank through her shirt. Twisting, she tried to get further in.

Rip! Stopping again, she couldn't see where the tear started, moving back the other way the ripping sound continued.

"Fu…dge," Charisse said, remembering there were children nearby. Giving up on the shirt, she pushed herself through the hole, a jagged triangle of her shirt was left hanging on a rough board. Grabbing it, she examined it for any splinters and stuffed part of it inside her belt.

The little hut seemed smaller on the inside; she shined her line around. The roof had been held up by two beams then layered planks covering. Both of the beams had fallen and lay across the back of the oldest. The smaller boards rested on top of the beams, intertwined, like a version of a board game Ker-Plunk.

Crawling over to the young man, Charisse looked for fresh blood, noting only a dark patch covering one of his ears.

"Can you hold for a little longer?" She asked the young man.

"Do I have a choice?" the man said.

"I'll get back to ya on that," Charisse said. She stood up, bent over on her waist, tilting her head sideways to get a closer look at the contraption above. Several of the smaller planks had broken and now pointed jagged edges toward the ground.

Carefully she reached up and nudged one of the boards; the wood's weight on top of it prevented it from moving. Moving to the outer edge, Charisse reached a hand up to lift one of the boards on top. Carefully she pulled it through the maze back down to the ground. Guessing on height and where she needed to cut the board, she set it on the floor, put her knee in the middle, and pulled one end.

Crack! The board broke near her knee, the edges holding together a bit longer, breaking and leaving a jagged edge.

Taking one piece, Charisse held it near the young man was straining under the weight. The first piece was too short, grabbing the other, she held it up, also too short. She set them into the ground, jagged end into the dirt. Making a triangle, positioning where they met near the board over the young man.

"This will hopefully catch the board. I'm going to lift it off of you so you can escape with the kids." Charisse said. The young man groaned, sweat dripping from his forehead. "Kids, can you sit near the hole?" she pointed the smaller children toward the hole. One of them moved over, the other two clenched each other and shook their heads.

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Crawling on all fours, Charisse got near the young man. Pressing herself against him, she slowly moved a hand around his waist to where the wood was resting on his spine. Moving down past his tailbone, she found a place to grab hold of the wood.

"I'm going to put my shoulder down here. Can you lower your hips a little?" Charisse said. She prepared herself by trying to push up on the beam.

The beam was heavy, unable to lift it, she barely managed to hold it in place. As the young man's hips lowered, Charisse quickly moved closer, reaching her right arm under him to better support herself. A bit of fabric from the young man's pants touched Charisse's arm, then the man quickly moved and pulled away from her right arm, pushing his ass into her left arm, crushing it against the beam.

"Ouch!" Charisse screamed. The boy moved back to where he was, pressing against Charisse's arm again. She wiggled herself under the beam, so it rested on her shoulder, then moved her arm out of the man's reach.

The weight of the roof pressed against Charisse's shoulder. She managed to hold it in place. Pushing against it, she wasn't able to lift it, and with only a shoulder under one end, she couldn't support the whole thing.

"Fuck!" Charisse wiggled, trying to get more of her back under the beam, but each movement shook the shack a little more. "Use the pieces of wood to try and prop up the end near your head; then, I want you to slowly lower it onto the wood."

The young man nodded his head, one of the children brought the boards Charisse had broken to the young man. He positioned them under the beam and slowly lowered his chest.

Bits of wood dug into Charisse's shoulder as more of the weight pressed down on her. Arms straining, Charisse managed to keep the beam up. The young man managed to lower himself down and move out from under the beam.

"Find a man in plate, swinging a big hammer, named Jax, bring him here." Charisse sputtered out. She brought a knee up and managed to place it against the wood. Marveling at her body's flexibility, she relaxed a little as the weight on her shoulder lessened.

The young man and children fled through the opening in the hut, leaving Charisse alone. Muttering to herself, she could use Mark right about now; she wondered if she could pull up the manual or if that would cause her to get crushed. With a sigh, she started counting, 1 Mississippi, 2 Mississippi, 3 Mississippi…

"Two hundred and," Charisse stopped when she heard a sound from outside the shack. Right arm starting to feel numb, she listened for sounds of someone outside before shifting.

The roof groaned loudly the sentiment she felt silently. Changing to using her left hand to hold the beam steady on her shoulder and knee. She shook her right hand through the tingly sensation as blood started flowing back into it.

"Here," a soft voice outside said.

Charisse froze, moving her right hand over to where she had her dagger, she grabbed it and readied, before laughing silently. She wasn't even sure if she could stand or if the roof would crush her if she tried. Turning her head to the side toward the hold she'd made, she looked up to see any boards she could remove.

None of the boards within her field of vision looked like she could remove them. One of the bigger ones had several others lying on top or attached to it, was tough to see with the moonlight above.

A plate helm poked into her view of the view, looking down at her. Charisse moved the dagger between her and the soldier. The weight of the roof shifting;

Pushing against the wooden beam, Charisse managed to get a better angle toward the intruder. The wooden planks holding the other end of the beam slipped. The full weight of the roof pressed against her.

Her back bent, and her foot slipped as the beam slowly started crushing her. "Fuu," she managed to utter out before dropping the dagger and throwing her free hand to the ground to help hold herself up. Her muscles screamed in pain as she waited for the intruder or for the roof to kill her.

"Charisse?" A familiar voice said. An armored arm with an unarmored hand reached and touched Charisse's leg.

"Oh fuck, Jax, I thought I was dead," Charisse said as she felt healing energy fill her. As her muscles healed, she felt the weight of the roof a little less. "Can you help me get out?"

Jax reached a hand out and grabbed the wood. The pressure lifted a little on Charisse, but not enough to allow her to move. A second hand, this one covered in a gauntlet, grabbed the beam, and it lifted.

Collapsing to the ground, Charisse exhaled and stretched her shoulders before rolling to the side. Jax was blocking the hole she'd created, so she waited near the opening.

"I'm free," Charisse said.

The hands slowly lowered the beam down to the ground. The wooden planks on the roof slowly filled the space Charisse had been. She squeezed herself near the wall, as the roof filled the space. Once the beam was near the ground, Jax let go, and it dropped with a thud.

Diving through the opening in the wall, Charisse didn't wait to find if the building would support itself. Suddenly in the alley, she was next to an armored man, standing tall and looking back toward the main street. Light from the lanterns on the street reflected off the plate armor, giving a faint glow.

"You ok?" the head turned and looked down toward Charisse. Before she answered, a hand reached out and touched her on the top of her head. Healing energy filled her with shame as the hand gently tapped her on the head before withdrawing.

"Yes," Charisse paused before she said something she would regret. "Thank you," she couldn't finish the rest of the sentence. "Any luck with the goblins?"

"They are routed. I don't know how much damage, or what the goblins took, but they are fleeing rather than attacking." Jax glanced in the direction of the walls. "I think that counts as a win."

"You gonna be ok?" Charisse said.

"I think so; just I can't understand why the guard didn't help. Even if the law prohibits it, it seems…." Jax stared off in the distance. "…wrong."

"Yeah, Kind of shitty of them to not help fight the goblins," Charisse said.

Jax nodded his head slowly before taking a step out of the alley and back into the street.

"I say this town is number 2 on my shit list", Charisse said.

Jax didn't say anything, allowing the silence to fill the space as he exited the alley and walked away.

"Fuck," Charisse exhaled, and the last of her energy disappeared. She slumped to the ground and leaned against a wooden wall. "Jax, are you even there?" she muttered, knowing he was too far to hear.