Returning to the Scene

Chrishton Radu · Post by **Chrishton Radu** » Tue Aug 01, 2006 12:49 am

With her magic properly subdued and her lighter frame under his control, he had already won the fight. He could easily manhandle her to the ground and wail on her with the mighty blows he was capable of delivering, but for two things that were stopping him.

Firstly, she was female. A bitch who was probably arresting him so he could be tortured and killed for the pleasure of a certain vampire acquaintance, granted, but a female and a rather attractive one at that. It wasn't like he hadn't hit women before. He wouldn't hesitate to beat her to a pulp or even kill her if he thought he had to. He just didn't have to, and didn't want to.

Secondly, if he took her out, who would be left to arrest him?

He had to make a quick decision, either to let her go and risk more unnecessary pain, or to knock her out and figure out a better plan.

Being a kitsune didn't mean he was keen on thinking up new plans. Thinking was boring and he was sick of wasting time in the streets like a homeless vagabond. Inari would protect him anyway, as long as what he did was for Inari.

He let go of her wrists and abruptly put a hand on her neck, strangling her with his thumb and fingers around either side of her jaw. He was strong enough that he could toss her around like this, and his fingers fit so perfectly just under her jawbone to give him the grip he needed. He used just enough force to make it hurt, but on his ass on the ground the way he was, he was completely open.

"Feck ye, ya sadistic whore." He spat the words at her in an accent that made no sense.

Post by **Blood Ravenous** » Thu Aug 03, 2006 12:59 am

Melee combat, or any combat other than magic, was where she failed horribly. Her prowess was from a distance, calculating, breaking someone's psyche. Normally she never encountered any physical combat, especially against anyone who could fight back. Therefore, being choked was a very disconcerting turn of events. Then again, how could she expect him to fight back in the first place? Everyone else fled.

When his hand closed on her throat she automatically clawed at it. Then Ryxa kicked at him furiously over and over again, anger charging her flailing leg into smiting him forcefully.

An idea then came to mind, prompting her to fumble in her pouch where she grabbed eight long matches in her fist. They were made of flimsy wood that easily lit, unlike clothes or hair or anything else Chrishton had. It hardly took a brief thought of flame for the bundle of wood to smoke. Within a moment they flared into a small fire in her gloved hand that she threw into Chrishton's face. This happened within a few startling seconds.

Unfortunately her makeshift fireball wouldn't burn long and, unless he was made of wood, probably wouldn't set him on fire before it incinerated.

Chrishton Radu · Post by **Chrishton Radu** » Sun Aug 06, 2006 1:46 am

"Gah!"

The flaming debris hit him in the face, bringing smouldering ashes, lashes of flame and bits of wood into his eyes. It stung quite a bit and he reflexively had to shut his eyes and use his free hand to start trying to rub away the ashes. His stubble, eyebrows, and some of his hair were gone in an instant, wafting away through the air and stinking like burning hair tends to stink.

It was unpleasant but not so much that he truly had to let go of her neck to deal with it. If he was determined to make her hurt, he could have done any number of things to her while blinded by her trick. He wasn't determined though and took the chance to roll with it instead.

His right hand left her neck and started reaching around frantically while his left rubbed at his tearing eyes. He tried to open them and saw only blurry shadows and lights from the few bulbs along the street. Looking quite helpless and preoccupied with regaining his vision, he made only a few half hearted efforts to keep the battlemage off or to stand up again. About the only thing he did successfully was swear up a storm.

Post by **Blood Ravenous** » Wed Aug 09, 2006 1:47 am

For a few heartbeats after Chrishton had released her, Ryxa felt her aching neck with lingering disbelief. Then she came to her senses and watched as he struggled with his sight, rubbing his streaming eyes. The attack she had sustained fully hit her and invoked one of the strongest temper tantrums she had ever had. No one was allowed to touch her in such a manner!

As he was cursing, so was she. She found herself saying everything she knew, which was quite a lot. Since he was still on the ground and vulnerable she wasted no time in letting her anger have full control. She activated the Pain Touch spell and envisioned a hammer swung by a robust laborer she had seen one day. It was as if steel bent under the powerful blows and she had watched him in slight awe. Recalling the power behind it she tapped Chrishton's forehead. To her, with only that light tap, Chrishton was hit by that hammer and his skull burst violently. Her focus was so intense and it was so real she thought she felt blood and brains splash on her armor.

But that wasn't enough. Without letting him appreciate the full pain of the blow yet, she growled and grabbed his neck with both hands. This time she imagined the anguish of being beheaded by a dull axe. One time at a public execution the axe hadn't been sharpened well enough and it had taken more than twenty hits to get all the way through. Thankfully the man had died halfway through the process, but it was a sloppy job and she exerted her influence to have the executioner fired for such laziness.

"Revenge's a bitch," she sneered and shoved him away from her, satisfied he had suffered enough. "Now I'll make you come with me." Pain Touch faded into the background as she squinted her eyes in concentration. Her hand pointed at him and she voiced, "Rise." There was a slight hum as the spell lifted Chrishton a few feet off the ground. Knowing the spell would only last five minutes she walked away, focusing on hovering his heavy body to follow close to her quick strides. The closest place to take him was the prison in the Justice Hall.

Chrishton Radu · Post by **Chrishton Radu** » Mon Aug 14, 2006 1:57 am

Perhaps leaving himself wide open after pissing off a psychotic, authority loving mage was not the most calculated move he'd made in his lifetime. He realized this as he was abruptly confronted with a dizzying pain on his forehead so powerful it nearly knocked him unconscious. It felt as though something as solid as stone was colliding with his head so convincingly that he was sure that's what the mage had done - hit him in the head with something.

"Ugh!"

There was no force behind the magic to throw him backwards, so his reflexes did that part for him and sent the large man's frame reeling backwards. As with any solid blow to the head, he needed a second to remember who he was, where he was, and what was going on...

Whatever she hit him with didn't knock him out. This was surprising, considering what it felt like. As he grabbed his head the pain faded too quickly, adding to the confusion. Before he could come to the conclusion that he wasn't ever really hit by anything, his neck was being crushed in the vice of some kind of giant, sharpened nut-cracker. Cold steel pressed its way into his arteries, crushed his spinal cord and windpipe, and snuffed the life right out of him.

He hit the ground with a *whump* and was out cold, his poor brain totally convinced it had just been destroyed.

He dreamed of the woods back home, where he was friends with a dragon who came to visit him at his church on a sunny day in a land of butterflies and faeries. He swam peacefully in the lake, floating lazily on his back and watching the sun overhead.

Post by **Blood Ravenous** » Tue Aug 22, 2006 2:46 am

The lack of decoration in the first room of the Justice Hall bored and annoyed Ryxa. Having such a huge room with nothing in it was wasteful. It could really do with a statue or painting to fill up all that extra space. The building irritated her so much that she spent most of her time, even on-duty, at home -- including what torture time the judges allowed her. She even received privacy from the Porter and other battlemages while she was busy there. These allowances had been won by her loyalty... and a few temper tantrums.

Because of this avoidance and despite passing by the Justice Hall for most of her life and working for years as a Battlemage, the place reeked of strangeness. It was foreign and inspired nervousness in her. Yet she entered nonetheless. Chrishton's body floated in before her and within moments of entering he floated forward, wobbled, lowered a foot, then fell the next few inches to the black floor with a loud thump. Ryxa leaned on her knees breathing hard. In order to make it here within the five-minute duration of the spell she had run most of the way. Thankfully he had fainted and was still under, just laying there as she recuperated from the sprint.

Ryxa was looking uncharacteristically ruffled, her strawberry-blonde hair in knots, her makeup smeared, her cloak askew. There were obvious bruises on her throat from the fight. Straightening, she combed her hair with her fingers and took out a mirror to fix her makeup. She arranged her cloak then paused for an overall appraisal of her appearance. Once most of the dust on her clothes had been patted off and she was satisfied she walked over to Chrishton's still form, stopping by his feet as he laid head towards the altar. No way was she carrying his bulk to the prison and she just stared down at him. Interacting with another battlemage or the Porter ... or judges for that matter ... wasn't high up on her list.

Chrishton Radu · Post by **Chrishton Radu** » Thu Aug 24, 2006 7:25 am

Chrishton awoke when he hit the ground, but made no outward signs of it. He learned once, long ago, that when waking up from a beating it was usually good to listen and get your bearings before the other guy, should he still be around, figured out you were awake. His eyes fluttered but remained shut, his body limp.

There was no pain now. Strange. No bruises, no broken bones, just the memory of a horrible beat down that he let happen.

Why would he do something stupid like that? Oh, yeah. To get inside prison... Because being in prison was good?

Really? Explain that one to me again, Inari. He thought to himself, but the spirits were silent. Mysteriously so. In fact, they were not just being quiet, they weren't around at all. His noisy companions of every day for the past few years were actually gone, something that had not happened since his little stunt near the ruins in the fort of Marn.

Maybe this isn't all bad.

The floor was cold and smooth, and he could hear that Ryxa was close, but other than that there was no way to know where he was. He struggled to listen closer and heard footsteps approaching from somewhere to the side.

Moryldar · Post by **Moryldar** » Sun Aug 27, 2006 1:24 am

Judge Moryldar entered the antechamber from one of the many side hallways that ran through Justice Hall. He moved slowly, age and bad shape weighing him down, and his footsteps were light but certain. Someday he would begin to hunch over and would lose the strength in his arms, but not yet. He still managed to stand straight, his back held stiff by sheer narcissistic superiority and determination.

He carried the dignified pose of a man who knew that others, even Ryxa, rightly feared him. When he came within view of them, his beady eyes made quick assessment of the scene. Somehow he knew before she had even arrived what she was doing in the Hall.

Long black Judge's robes were draped across his shoulders and hung down to his ankles, making him look larger and more regal than he should. Their traditionally ornate cut and stitching worked well with his frame and hid the fact that he was slightly overweight.

"You caught him."

He walked over to Chrishton, turning his attention away from Ryxa so that he could take a long look at his latest victim to be. The oaf was completely unconscious and stunk like the back alleys. How could someone so stupid have eluded capture for so long and caused so much trouble? Moryldar wanted to know. He wanted to find out.

"Good."

Post by **Blood Ravenous** » Tue Aug 29, 2006 4:16 am

Ryxa heard the footsteps approaching and watched the old Judge coming with an impartial expression on her face. She'd probably end up lugging Chrishton to the altar at this rate.

When Judge Moryldar finally reached them Ryxa leaned forward in a bow and put her fist to her chest in salute. Staying in the bow she spoke like the loyal servant she was. "I do as you wish, Your Honor." It was easy for her to say that now because it was so ingrained, but she had to forget what it meant: servitude. Whenever she wasn't the one in control she felt angry. She didn't feel anything but that anger despite her accomplishment and his acknowledgement of that accomplishment. Then again, the bum she'd arrested had practically begged to be taken here, which was odd.

She watched his still form, but he still appeared unconscious. It was almost pitiable what he was about to go through. Almost. She yearned to do it herself. The memory of him choking her made her face burn, but with her head down she hoped Moryldar didn’t notice her sudden anger.

Moryldar · Post by **Moryldar** » Sat Sep 02, 2006 9:31 pm

Moryldar paid little attention to Ryxa's bowing and saluting. He was the sort of man who expected that kind of treatment as a bare minimum and wasn't about to look upon it like anything special.

He continued to look Chrishton over while silently communicating with the Porter to summon some orderlies to help with what was going to be a very interesting little torture session. He had an entire day to spend with Chrishton before he had to hand him over to Belatucadrus, and he intended to learn as much as possible about why the vampire wanted Chrishton and who he was before that time ran out.

One thing was apparent based on what he could see of Chrishton; he was a fighter. He had scars on his arms, scars on his face, a big nasty scar across his neck. His features were strong hand handsome but Moryldar could see that his nose had been broken, probably more than once. His hands were large, strong and calloused to shit like those of a farmer or blacksmith. Chrishton knew what pain meant, so getting him to snap through torture wasn't going to be easy.

"Fortunately we have permission to kill him if we go too far." Said Moryldar, enigmatically.

A pair of orderlies arrived, escorted by the ever polite, ever watching porter. Aspiring judges themselves, they wore pain gray robes and were only behind the porter when it came to their devotion to the Judges' orders. Eyes averted, their faces were expressionless, their minds driven only by fanaticism and brainwashing. The fools actually thought that was the way to become a judge.

"On the table."

They nodded and grabbed Chrishton under his shoulders, dragging him to the altar in the center of the Hall while the doors leading outside were locked and magically sealed by the porter. Once at the altar they heaved his limp body onto it and drew chains from hidden recesses around the stone. The whole altar barely accommodated his figure with both his arms and legs spread out and clamped down in iron shackles.

Moryldar slowly looked over to Ryxa and smiled forcefully.

"Why don't you wake him up? I will be back shortly."

Post by **Blood Ravenous** » Tue Sep 05, 2006 8:55 pm

Inside her chest the anger still seethed and she kept it that way. Ryxa continued to bow with a smirk on her face from Moryldar's words until the Porter and orderlies arrived. As they entered the room her fist lowered from her chest and she slowly rose to her full height. The smirk remained on her face as the two lackeys dragged Chrishton's still form to the altar, chaining him up.

"Why don't you wake him up? I will be back shortly."

She repeated, "I do as you wish, Your Honor," and did a mini-bow. She could barely contain her excitement. Oh, he was going to get a very fun wake-up call.

Without waiting for the Judge to leave she strode over to stand in front of Chrishton. She thought Moryldar would like to see before he left. Pain Touch was activated in a blink, the tingle of pain filling her hands and fingertips. They shook at the opportunity to give pain and she began to remove her red gloves, pulling each finger quickly. When they were off and she had tucked them into her belt she jabbed him in the side ferociously with her fingers. The spell mimicked a dagger stabbing into his stomach, blood flowing out onto her hand. When she withdrew the self-induced illusion seen only by her eyes faded. Her kohl-rimmed, blue and black eyes stared intently at Chrishton's face.

Chrishton Radu · Post by **Chrishton Radu** » Mon Sep 11, 2006 6:45 am

Chrishton could hear everything they said. Despite the knowledge of impending pain and possibly even death, as well as being lifted from the cold marble floor and carried (more like dragged) across the room by a pair of orderlies, he maintained his unconscious facade enough to fool the lot of them.

They slapped him down onto a table, and still he didnt' move, didn't flinch, didn't try to peek through closed eyelids to see what they were setting up. Moryldar spoke of killing him, but he doubted they would. The vampire wanted that pleasure for himself and to get good in his books, the judges would try his best to keep Chrishton alive through the torture.

He listened patiently as the orderlies backed away and the psychotic bitch with the painful abilities stepped up to follow the old man's orders and "wake him up."

That's when he knew it was coming. Pain is one of those things where it's often better not to know it's coming when there's nothing you can do about it. Torture, in its many forms, revolved more around the threat of pain than the actual pain itself. Without opening his eyes he had know what of knowing where it would hurt or how badly, which actually helped his situation. Having been tortured more than once in the past, Chrishton needed only to know he wasn't in any mortal danger in order to withstand a session. He knew this, so he didn't flinch until she touched him, at which point he 'woke up'.

It felt like he was being stabbed in the side. His eyes snapped open and he let out a restrained grunt while all the muscles on the left side of his torso contracted in unison. It hurt, but he held it generally under control. He glared at her but had a masochistic smirk on his face when he did so.

Moryldar · Post by **Moryldar** » Thu Sep 14, 2006 5:10 pm

Moryldar remained the the room long enough to see, with some interest, what Ryxa would be able to do. She poked Chrishton in the side and he squirmed, he grunted, he looked visably pained, but he didn't cry out at all.

The old man nodded knowingly. It was to be expected. This vagabond's mental barriers were strong and prying him open, if it could be done at all, would take a while.

He walked quietly out of the room to get his tools, off in one of the side offices of the Hall. Neatly arranged metal implements, clean and organized like a doctor's but durable and frequently looking more like the tools of a mechanic, he kept them on a large wooden tray. The wood was nearly black, saturated with blood. For some reason the wood helped to keep infections down without requiring much cleaning, so he favored it over more metal.

He returned eventually to the antechamber, his tray laden with all manner of pointed, hinged, sharp and serrated bits.

Post by **Blood Ravenous** » Fri Sep 15, 2006 3:31 am

"Good morning," Ryxa said mockingly after seeing his eyes snap open. When he glared and smirked at her at the same time her eyebrows rose. "Like that?" Her face returned to her cold countenance, making her next words even more intimidating. "There will be lots more of that. Maybe another dulled axe to behead you? Then again, I can't have you fainting on me again." She stressed fainting in mocking.

Her boots tapped on the black floor as she partially circled the slab he was laying on. She watched Moryldar leave out of the corner of her eye. "However, the pain you've felt thus far is only an introduction to what the judges will do to you," she said, impassive. "Have anything to say before your voice is too hoarse from screaming?"

Moryldar entered and she eyed the tray he was carrying. Torturing utensils. She preferred her own way of giving pain, but there wasn't anything quite like getting blood everywhere during work.

Chrishton Radu · Post by **Chrishton Radu** » Sun Sep 17, 2006 8:21 pm

Chrishton recovered quickly from the brief bit of pain she'd given him and managed, albeit with some effort, to look not the least bit intimidated by the tray being brought back into the antechamber by the judge. He was still human, and the idea of being poked, cut, pulled apart and disemboweled like a string bean frightened him enough to give him a severe case of tactical reconsideration. More so than earlier, when he only sort of doubted the sanity of letting the battlemage arrest him, he was now seriously considering ways of escape.

It wouldn't be -that- difficult to get out of the shackles, beat the battlemage, kill the judge, and escape Justice Hall. He could open the shackles and the front door any time he wanted to by way of the gifts of passage inari grants him... Assuming such a thing would work in a place like this. Chris was pretty sure it would.

He resisted the urge to try, and dropped his head back against the stone altar.

"I didna faint, I passed out. There's a difference."