Board Thread:Roleplaying/@comment-24530992-20140806184127/@comment-4363162-20140807034603

Val trudged through the leaf-laden undergrowth, heading farther away from the group. He needed some alone time, and the forest seemed like a fine place for some peace and quiet.

That's when the arrow hit.

The projectile ricocheted off the metal backplate of his glider pack, where it had hit at an extreme angle. The force of the arrow threw him off balance, and he staggered as he tried to regain his ground. Val whipped out his crossbow, sliding a fletchette bolt into place. Another arrow whisked by, embedding itself in a tree, just centimetres away from his face. Val looked around, unable to find his attackers.

A man, easily twice the weight of himself, burst through the clearing, hollering at the top of his voice. A steel greatsword over his head.

Val rolled out of the way as the blade smashed into the groun where he had been moments before. He fired at the warrior.

At long range, fletchettes were a nasty enough weapon, dicing limbs and shredding organs.

At close range, the effect was horrendous.

The tiny steel balls easily pierced through the man's chest, ripping a hole in the flesh. His heart landed several metres away, while his intestines lay draped over a branch.

The rest of the bandits attacked. Val whirled around, putting another fletchette round through a bandit's face, sending shrapnels of bone through his friends. Another bandit then lunged, managing a small cut at Val's right arm. In that moment, Val noticed something glint. A gold-encrusted emblem. He focused.

It read: Imperial Engineers, 6th Division. Above the words was the image of a dragon, twirled around a hammer. The name on the badge read: Samuel Laeceus. Val's old friend.

The division where he'd been born into. Where he'd lived all his life till that final expedition. Where he'd made friends. And now, the emblem of which lay on the chest of this lowly bandit. The emblem that had once belonged to his friend.

With a guttural roar, Val sucker-punched the bandit across the clearing.

When his eyes reopened, they glowed red. Blood red.

The sound of metallic clicking resonated throughout the woods. Millions of tiny metal spiders poured out of his backpack. They spread out, a rippling metal lake of razors and claws.

The bandit screamed, backing up to a tree. The automaton swarm edged closer and closer.

"W-w-what in Oblivion are you?!"

"I am Legion. For we are many." Val's voice echoed with the rasping metallic tones of the swarm. "Now. You will tell me. Where did you find that emblem?" He gestured to the badge.

"I-I don't know..."

A *shlink* reverberated through the woods, follow by the bandit's scream.

"Tell me, before I SHOOT OFF THE OTHER TESTICLE." The voice was even more raspy and guttural now.

Sobbing, the bandit replied: "I-I took it f-from a travelling merchant. He said h-he'd bought it f-from this strange man in S-Skyrim. Claimed to be t-the general of s-some god..."

Val understood now. That explained the Daedra that had wiped out Task Force 12. He snuffed out the bandit's life with a single fletchette round. As the bandit's screams echoed off into the distance, he swore. "Whoever you are, I will find you...." His hands clenched, and the metal swarm rippled. "And kill you...."

(Longest post EVAR.)