The Paladin Called Death, the Sniper, and The Knight

Chapter 5: First encounter

     The hero's have been travelling for a few days now through pretty much every shitty swamp and marsh forest that this magical place has to offer, moving into rolling hills with less trees and bigger more dangerous demons popping out at them.

    "We are almost into crasher brigade country." Duncan said with a disgruntled look on his face. "Those are the forge masters correct?" Ray said. "yessir" Duncan says reluctantly. "What do they think of demons?" Ray says without thinking. "You are not one of those things!" Natalie says almost tripping over a rock. "Okay how do they feel about rare and destructive power?" Colton snaps wittily around. "They damn near worship the bastards, thats why im missing the leg." Duncan stops for a second looking at the ground as if to think about where he lost his appendage. "So i will be welcome here in this world for once, maybe we should just stay with these guys maybe we can learn more about my arm and this scythe." Ray says while grabbing his scythe and spinning it around his body while walking. "Worship the Demons?" Natalie says with surprise. "The Crasher Brigade is our only hope for shelter right now, plus when was the last time we ate?" Colton says while fine-tuning his mask. The hero's all come to a raggedy cliff face, peering down They notice some lights and structures through the fog that had settled. "Shit." Duncan says reluctant. "I can only assume this is where you lost your leg?" Ray says. "Actually I lost it right over there." Duncan says pointing towards a boulder in the center of a flat plain at the bottom. "Oh well maybe they forgot you or something, we should all go down there as soon as possible." Natalie exclaims.

    The four find a small trail leading to a slide of dirt they can use to get down, with no way back up. They throw the gear down first, going down one at a time except for Ray. He kept his scythe on his back waiting for Natalie to go down first and then in one jump lands next to the others with the slightest bend of the knee. "Goddammit Ray you scared me half to death Warn me next time you want to do reckless shit so I can find a bag to breath into or something jeez." Natty says while hyperventilating. "Sorry Honey Bun, I just wanted to test out my new strengths" Ray turns to Colton. "Haha did you see that no fall damage" Ray says while laughing. "If only there were video games here, then anyone else would've gotten that joke." Colton says while also laughing at the massive amount of inside jokes he had just realized existed. 

    Ray steps into the open field connected to the city. " I don't see anyone through my mask" Colton says as he peels it off his face. "I feel light-headed, feint almost like something is sapping my energy away." Ray says while slowing down and dropping to a knee. Just as he lifted his head up he caught a whiff of the slightest smell of magic and took his scythe from his back to brace himself up to his feet. "Get close to me now!" Ray shouts as he throws up a barrier throwing his gauntlet to the side revealing his arm which had not been seen by anyone for a good week of traveling and has sharpened in the fact that it no longer looked like scales but more like black skin with black bones wrapped by a glow of purple and red and twice as ominous looking as before. "Holy fucking awesome that arm looks intense!" Colton exclaims. Just that instant the barrier was hit rapidly by what looked like crows that were made of glass and turned to liquid hot brimstone when shattering against the mighty shield. "Why don't you come out here Dickhead i want to see your face before i spear it with my sword!" Natty shouts eagerly. ".....Fine I will but tell that lunatic pegleg asshole to lay down face first on the ground." A strange voice echoes from the field which has recently developed a thick fog that you could cut with a knife. "Duncan i'm going to need you to do that please let me handle this" Ray says to him while holding strong against the fog which now outlined the barrier on all sides. "Why are these guys such douchebags Goddamn it... Fine!" Duncan lays on the ground face down, as he lowers his body to the dirt the fog clears around the heroes.

    Ray lifts the barrier and takes some steps forward to greet this mage and see why he is assaulting the groups of adventurers relentlessly. "What should we call you wizard?" Ray says fitting the gauntlet back onto his arm but not securing the purple and red glow around it. "Call me Leo" the mage says as he extinguished his hands that had a blue flame engulfing them. "You must be mad taking that Demon hunter along with you, he will only stab you in the back, especially with magic like that on your side." Leo says while trying to get a better peak at Rays arm. Ray takes a step forward looking the mage in the eyes. "We need shelter, food, and answers" "and why should i help you savages?" Ray pulls the gauntlet off and extends his black sharp claws for a handshake. "Because we heard you'd find this as a blessing instead of a curse as we've seen it". Leo jumped back as if he had made the biggest fault of his life and took a knee. "M'Lord please accept my deepest apologies i hadn't known you were dae or i would've overlooked anything short of murder, to let you stay in my own home would bring me great joy please". "Now that's more like it." Colton said while taking his mask off and lowering his rifle.