Name: Todd Longfellow, Race: Human

Height: 5’6”, Weight: 130, Sex: Male

Archetype: Fighter

HP: 18 / 18, Mana: 0 / 0

Stats:

Physical: 4, Moxie: 2, Spiritual: 2, Luck: 2

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

Relevant Skills: Agility - Dodge, Physical - Armored Defense, Physical - Awareness, Physical - Climb, Physical - Jump, Physical - Run, Physical Melee - Sword, Riposte

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"I can't promise we will win, but there is a saying where I'm from; all it takes for evil to triumph is for good people to do nothing." Jax paused and looked around at the thirty villagers surrounding the group.

Todd scanned the crowd as well.

All the villagers were looking at Jax. Looking past the crowd and into the trees, Todd tried to find Mark or Charisse. He wasted only a few seconds before switching back to the villagers. The turnout was higher than he'd expected. Men and women made up the crowd, even a few small children.

"He is too powerful," a young man called out. He had a bandage wrapped around his head, covering up a severed right ear. Todd remembered holding the young man down as they tried reattaching the ear by holding it against the severed skin and Reggie using a heal. It never reattached, now the young man wore the bloody bandages like a headband.

"When in the aura of good, he is mortal," Jax said.

"Farmers against an army?" an older man called out. His patchy gray beard from magically healed wounds, but the hair hadn't grown back.

"No, a trained fighting force backed by the power of all that is good and just," Todd said.

A few villagers turned toward him, but most of the eyes still looked at Jax.

"Make no mistake; I'm not willing to throw precious lives at a wall so I can scale it by walking over the bodies. We will recruit thousands more. You are not the only people harmed by the monarch." Jax seemed to glow as he spoke.

Todd looked away from his friend and to the older man. No name came to his mind as he stared at the scarred and weathered face. Slowly moving away from the crowd and toward the tree's, Todd scanned again for Mark or Charisse.

A foot hanging below a branch gave away Mark's position. Todd walked toward his friend, clearing his throat loudly as he got closer.

"Damn, you must have rolled well." Mark's voice said from behind a cluster of leaves and branches.

"Na, your foot was visible." Todd pointed toward the traitor limb.

"Fuckity," Mark paused and sighed. "I was trying to get comfortable."

"I don't think comfort… nevermind; there's an older man in the crowd, I didn't recognize him. I was curious if you did or if you could scan the magical spectrum and see if he's more than meets the eye."

"Alright," Mark slowly lowered himself with a rope. Todd walked back to the edge of the group and pointed toward the older man. "Alright, can you watch the perimeter for me?"

This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Todd nodded, then walked back toward the tree Mark had been hiding in. The rope still dangled from above, tied to something he couldn't see. Tugging the rope, then placing his weight on it, it didn't break.

Climbing up the rope with little effort, Todd moved slower than usual due to his armor preventing the full extension of his arms. Standing on a branch, he pulled up the rope and looped it around his right hand.

Mark's place in the tree had five little holes in the canopy. Peering down one, Todd could only see a dozen yards before other trees blocked the view. Looking through each one, Todd cycled through them, giving only a few seconds to each before moving onto the next.

Poking out from behind a tree, Todd caught sight of a helm. Slowly moving his head back behind some leaves and freezing in place. He mentally counted to fifty, then slowly looked back in the same spot. The helm was no longer there. Glancing toward the villagers, Todd racked his brain for the alarm signal.

Dropping down, landing into a crouch, Todd looked around for the owner of the helmet. Only trees and leaves. Slowly taking a step forward, he caught the helmet poking again out from behind the tree ahead. The eyes inside it widened before it darted back behind the tree.

Charging forward, Todd reached the tree, but the person was no longer there. Twenty feet further away, an armored soldier darted behind another tree. The helm poked out around it a second later and looked directly at Todd. The same wide eyes before the soldier took off.

"Not getting rid of me that easily," Todd grumbled as he ran after the figure.

Quickly catching up to the soldier, Todd ran beside him. The soldier stopped and pulled out a sword holding it close to their chest. Todd stopped, placed a hand on his sword, and assumed a defensive stance slightly out of melee distance. Behind the soldier, Todd couldn't see any villagers or his friends.

"No blood needs to be shed," Todd said as calmly as he could. "Just sur,"

The soldiers right hand slashed out as they lunged. The tip of the sword scraped off Todd's armor as he managed to twist, so it didn't hit him straight on.

"Oh, the hard way then," Todd said as he attacked.

He swung down to cut the soldier from right shoulder to left hip. A dagger appeared in the man's other hand, and it bumped Todd's sword a few inches to the side. Like flowing water, the soldier thrust with the same dagger, It skipped off Todd’s armor.

Tilting his sword so it would fall point first, Todd released the weapon, swung his newly free right hand up and into the soldier's jaw.

The soldier took a step back, the dagger disappearing before he rubbed his jaw. He lifted his hand as if he was going to throw a dagger. Todd stepped to the side.

And the man ran, around Todd, deeper into the woods.

"Dammit, stay put," Todd said as he turned and gave chase… twenty feet. The man stood in a defensive stance, dagger in one hand and sword in the other.

Using his sword and dagger, the soldier parried Todd's strike, then took a step backward. Todd stepped forward and swung again before getting parried, and the soldier stepped back another step.

"Fucking stand still and die!" Todd growled as he took two steps forward and lunged at the man.

Stabbing with the sword, Todd pushed past the blocking weapons, keeping his sword on target. Pulling the blade back, the tip was coated in crimson.

"Surrender," Todd said.

With a flurry of weapons, the soldier swung and moved forward a step. Todd instinctively took a step backward and lifted his sword to block. Before the blades could get close enough to parry, the soldier turned and ran.

"Really?" Todd chased after. Thirty feet further, the soldier stopped between two big trees. As Todd approached, the man stepped back a few feet. "You are not going to escape; just surrender. We won't kill you."

"I shall extend the same offer to you," the soldier said softly.

"Ha," Todd's laugh was stopped short.

Pain exploded in Todd's back, near his left lung. Something sharp slipped through his armor and twisted before it was removed. Todd swung his sword around to decapitate whoever was behind him.

The tip of his sword sliced a figure covered in leaves and branches. The person yelped as they fell to the ground and rolled away from Todd. Todd brought his sword back around to pin this fleeing rat in place.

Above in the trees, standing on branches, Six men stood, each holding a bow, three with arrows notched.

"Fuck," Todd said, "Guys, it's a trap! Help!" he yelled as he swung back around toward the soldier he initially chased.

The man wasn't standing there anymore. Seeking cover, Todd ran to one of the tree trunks and put it between him and the archers.

"Bartolo, the kind, said you all were stupid." A voice called out from above.

Todd looked up and realized his mistake at the same time. A person was standing in the tree above, holding a large pot.

Black liquid poured out of the pot. Todd dove and rolled away from the tree. Some of the liquid hit the tree, creating long stringy lines as it clung to the bark.

Swinging with a sword as he lept from above, a familiar soldier in armor sliced at Todd. Missing the armpit and hitting the armor covering the right ribs. Metal rang out at the impact, leaving Todd's armor with a small dent.

"Not getting rid of me that easily." The soldier said.

Kicking his feet up, then throwing his hands Todd kipped up, but his armor's weight held him down. Faint laughter surrounded him. Sitting up and getting a foot under him, Todd moved his sword up.

"No. I won't attack the disabled." The soldier said. He took a step away from Todd and laughed.

With a growl, Todd exploded from the ground, sword-swinging to the side.

Todd's sword etched a line across the metal armor, getting deeper as it went. A dot of red appearing, showing where the blade penetrated the armor. The soldier hopped backward, reached a hand down to cover up the wound.

"Kill him." The soldier said as he moved further away from Todd.

Two arrows from above rang as they skipped off Todd's armor.

"I need some help here!" Todd cupped a hand over his mouth as he moved to a tree for cover. No one dared come within reach of his sword. Unable to see the tree Mark had used for hiding, Todd tried to reassure himself that he could handle a handful of low-level bandits.

One arrow managed to find a gap at his elbow; the other thunked into his left hand. Cursing as he tried to watch everywhere at once, Todd saw more soldiers taking up positions with bows a dozen yards away.

"Time to show you my ultimate weapon!" Todd yelled, holding his sword up briefly. Several soldiers lifted their weapons to block their faces as they took half a step back. Todd released his most potent weapon.

He ran to get his friends.