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 - Shortsword, Archetype - Awareness, Archetype - Opportunistic Strike, Ranged - Dagger, Stealth - Move Silent

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Watching her friends flee into the woods, Charisse paused near a tree a dozen feet behind the tall man with blond hair. Clenching her jaw, she stifled a cheer when the fireballs started hitting fields of force. As more rained from the air, trees exploded as they caught the first volley. One of the force walls caught the edge of a fireball. Flames wrapped around the wall and incinerated the plants on the other side. 

Stepping carefully to avoid any twigs or dried plants, Charisse moved from around the tree and toward the wizard raining hell upon her friends. Struggling to keep from flat out running to stab the guy in the back, she patiently stepped around a fallen tree branch—a few more careful steps.

Charisse's shortsword sank into the back of the tall man with blond hair, right under where the heart should be. Like a hot knife slicing through butter, it slid into the man. She twisted it once it was into the hilt.

"How many," She whispered into his ear but was interrupted.

An elbow crashed against Charisse's face, throwing her several feet back. Surprised, she lost her grip on her weapon, the shortsword still stuck inside the man's back. A flawless face turned to her, a cacophony of exploding fireballs raining from the sky outlining the man's silhouette. Charisse spat out some blood but was able to get to her feet. Her attack seemingly not affect, Charisse turned and ran. Behind her, a voice that should have been choking on blood yelled with vigor.

"Lose your instrument, dear? How about I play you a song for once? You sang it once before. How did it go?" 

Glancing back, Charisse regretted her decision. With surprising flexibility, the man reached a hand behind him, pulled the shortsword out of his back. The blade came out looking as clean as it had been going in. Like casting aside a cigarette butt, he cast the sword aside. "Goodness gracious great balls of fire," 

The concussive force of the explosion hit before the wave of heat. Lifting her and throwing her a little, Charisse managed to roll as she hit the ground. Keeping her momentum and moving to her feet, she ran into the forest. Several more explosions followed her; only bits of debris managed to touch her as they rained down. 

After what she hoped was fifty feet, she turned and ran in the direction her friends retreated in—running parallel to the rain of fireballs from the sky, pounding the forest into flaming bits. The walls of force no longer stopping the raining hellfire; the underbrush started igniting. Instead of exploding above in the trees, the balls of fire were hitting the ground, throwing dirt and small shrubbery as much as bits of trees.

As she ran, in the corner of her eye, a group of people huddled against a large rock. Angling toward them, she called out, "It's me," Getting closer, the recognizable forms of her friends. Several of them had charred clothing; all of them were bleeding from cuts and wounds. Reggie was in the process of removing a large splinter from Mark's leg. 

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

"Any idea who that is?" Charisse said as she stepped toward Jax. 

Energy flowered through Charisse as Jax lay a hand upon her head. Wounds that she hadn't even realized were hurting ceased as they closed up and healed. Stabbing pain in her wrist pulled her attention. A small wooden splinter was buried under newly healed skin. 

"Ouch," Charisse said; she pulled out a knife and did a shallow cut next to the splinter outline. 

Blood seeped from the wound, then pooled when she squeezed the cut, trying to force the splinter out from under her skin. The angle was low, and she couldn't get her thumbnail at the right spot. 

Jax's strong hand grabbed her wrist. He placed the fingers of his other hand in line with the fragment. He glanced in Charisse's eyes, she nodded, and he squeezed the wound and splinter.

Gritting her teeth, Charisse signed in relief as a little wooden sliver poked out of the cut. She grabbed and pulled it out. A moment later, cool energy flowered through her as her wounds healed. 

"Thank you," Charisse said. Something suddenly felt odd; she looked around. The forest was quiet. "Fuck,"

Charisse quickly moved to the side, circling her friends, keeping the trees between her and the mage's last known position. 

Walking down the path of destruction, through the burning brush and broken trees, the blond haired man casually walked toward her friends. Charisse crouched down and kept the tree trunk between her and the man. 

Jax stepped out of the trees where her friends had been resting. The blond-haired man smiled and stopped a dozen feet away.

"Good paladin, I am the King of these lands, and my word is the law. Your friends have tried multiple times to kill me. I've sentenced them to death. No matter how many times it takes, they shall die for their crimes." Atop the man's head, a crown shimmered into existence. "Please step aside so I may carry out my judgment, then I'll sentence you." 

"How did you know I'm a paladin?" Jax said, confusing passing over his face.

"Everyone else seems to change in tactic, but you've always remained the same." Bartholo gave a big smile and tilted his head a little. "Now obey your king." 

Jax's face tensed, then with lips pursed, he softly muttered something Charisse couldn't hear.

"So, you're behind the goblin attacks!" Charisse yelled out, breaking the silence as everyone watched Jax. Standing with a dagger in each hand, she noted a thick tree trunk a few feet behind her, in case she had to dodge a fireball.

"Ah, the musical one," Bartholo turned toward Charisse. 

As his eyes met hers, she felt a shiver run up her spine. To avoid his gaze, she looked past him and focused on the trees behind. Movement deep in the trees, about thirty feet behind her friends. 

"I'm cleaning up my kingdom, as is my right. At times I use a broom; other times, I use a shovel." Bartholo lifted his hands wide and slowly turned back toward Jax.

"A king that harms his people is not a just ruler," Jax said, his voice growing stronger with each word. 

"My word is justice; my whim is the law," Bartholo said.

"Jax, you're Lawful Good, not Lawful stupid!" Charisse called out. More movement in the trees as bits of armor was visible through the trees. Yelling as she threw a dagger at the King, "He is buying time!"

As soon as the blade left her fingers, Charisse turned to the large tree she noted. No sound or acknowledgment of the weapon hitting the King. 

Boom! The sound was the only warning she had. A wave of energy and flames threw her forward toward the tree. Heat sucking the air out of her lungs, fire crisping the edges of her shirt, and melting the hair on the back of her head, hitting the ground face-first into the soft forest dirt.

An instant later, it was over. Charisse left lying on the edge of a charred circle in the woods. Spitting out the little bit of dirt on her lips, she crawled over behind the now blackened tree trunk. Double-checking herself to verify she wasn't bleeding or missing a layer of skin from the fire. 

Still alive, she pushed herself to her feet and ran, not hide behind the tree, but to the King. The only thought running through her mind was if they managed to kill him, they could go home. Each step was placed focusing on speed and not tripping; she didn't care if Bartholo knew she was coming. 

As she cleared the scorched area, she spotted Jax standing in front of Bartholo, wielding his large mace. Todd was standing up, a dozen feet away. Shortsword out, Charisse lept the last few feet.

Charisse felt the aura before her blade sank into the King's back. The sensation of peace and calm, the direct opposite of the actions done within the aura. Bartholo's focus was blocking and dodging swings from Jax. Her sword stabbed into the King's shoulder.

"Aaaah!" Bartholo screamed.

Pulling her sword out, a coating of lumpy, thick dark blood covered the blade. Charisse's mind raced as the sudden appearance of blood and mortality of her foe. She was thinking back on her first encounter with him and what was different now.

"Jax, your aura makes him mortal!" Charisse yelled. 

"Thank you," Bartholo said. He swung his uninjured arm toward Jax. The open palm stopped a few inches from Jax's face. A jet of green liquid shot out from the hand. Jax twisted to the left, bringing up his shoulder and pauldron to deflect. The liquid hit and splashed against the paladin's armor. Where it landed, the metal sizzled and bubbled as a trail of smoke rose upward. Jax screamed in pain, stepped back a few feet, scrambling to tear his armor off. 

The aura of peace and calm disappeared. Charisse caught a smile on Bartholo's face as he turned to her. The pupils of his eyes were gone, pulling her attention.

She caught the movement of his arm out of the corner of her eye. Bringing an arm up to deflect, she stopped the strike and deflected the hand to the side. Watching Bartholo's face, she didn't catch whatever happened next, just that she was flying through the air, then hitting the ground.

The world going black.