Band of Thieves (Brothers) - Backstory + Applications/Discussion

[Sikth]

The Story

Whoever appeals to the law against his fellow man, is either a fool or a coward. Whoever cannot take care of himself without that law, is both. For a wounded man shall say to his assailant, if I live, I will kill you. If I die, you are forgiven. Such is the rule, of honor.

The band of thieves.. A Brotherhood of treachery, sin and hate.


Chapter 1 - From the ashes...
It was a twilight evening in the port of Tortage and a lone man stood, getting caught up in the bustling nature of the port itself. He stopped for a moment to take in the sights and smells of this shit hole. The filthy beggars, covered in their own excrement begging for coin, filthy people they were, outcasts from society. He saw the fishermen pulling in from a tiring days toil, unloading their cargo and preparing their stalls.
The man had a cunning idea, to escape this godforsaken place to break free from its hardship, and its filthy oppression of which the king laid down on all who weren't in his court.
He had noticed earlier today a ship preparing to leave port with a hardly any cargo, apart from ration supplies. He heard mentions of it travelling to a distant land, the man saw this opportunity, and took it with open arms.

A fisherman was walking through the crowded marketplaces, the man had been following him for some time now, he was getting tired of waiting. The man, in all of his clumsiness and tripped over a stone, and had been sent flying to the ground, his container of fish hurtling away, the man took his opportunity, ran towards the container and managed to swipe a couple of fish, they were freshly caught. He grinned as he hastily moved back to the mooring station, hoping that the ship had not already left.
He made it back to the ship on time, but had been hit with a sudden reality, which dulled his attitude to the whole situation greatly. How was he to get onto the ship, without being noticed?

He saw a crate, just about to be loaded into the cargo hold, it was still open. He sprinted towards it, and slipped in silently, covering himself in his garment, and the contents of the box itself. He waited silently, holding his breath.. Hoping the load master wouldn't notice. After several moments, the box was sealed shut, picked up and loaded roughly into the cargo bay. The workers complained of its weight, he hoped they wouldn't open to have a look, luck was on his side today.

As soon as he was certain the men had left, he kicked at the lid, eventually popping it open. He thrust himself out, struggling for air. He was greeted with the sights and smell of the ocean, as the ship had just pulled out of port, the boat rocking ever so slightly back and forth, as it began its journey..


Chapter 2 - Into the Fire..
It was a long and arduous journey, along with its hardships and terror of being caught. The man had dared to peer out of the cargo bay several times, seeing a single man standing on the edge of the boat, the ship itself had a ''Crown'' of sorts on the bow. But for the rest of the ship, was unknown.
It was early morning and a slight fog had been brewed around the arriving port, the ship sailed in and the man who was standing on the edge quickly disembarked the ship, heading to a large building within the city of which we had arrived.
The area was rather lush, green trees, perfect grass. Happy townsfolk.
As the ship pulled in, the townspeople glared at it despisingly, I could tell newcomers were not welcome around here. The town had a certain feel to it, like no other. But that was not what the stoaway was looking at, as he slowly slinked out of the boat and onto the port, a good two hours after the man originally disembarked, he was staring at the marketplace, he saw many good opportunities for thievery here. He liked this place.

He slowly began to try and fit in around the place, trying to make it not obvious that he was a newcomer, for obvious reasons.
At night, he slept under the cold moonlight, watching the stars and felt the cool breeze on his skin, he was awoken, he heard a clatter near where he was.. He saw a shadow move silently, across his vision, he readied his dagger. He heard a clatter next to him, as someone fumbled with his possessions, the man pounced on the character, holding his dagger to his throat, the moonlight reflecting its blade.
The person he had captured, wore a cloak, similar to his.. he interrogated him for some time, the man had hopes of making a new companion here.
In the end, the mans name was Rufus Phillips, the man thought he had just created a great partnership.

They worked together, stealing petty items, bread from market stalls, small coin pouches from oblivious farmers. But they weren't perfect and they got caught several times. The more they got caught the more they slowly had to retreat into shady back alleys due to fear of persecution. They had found a small shack, in one of the cities many alleys. It was filthy, dead rodents everywhere, little to no furniture. It smelt of death.


Chapter 3 - The Confrontation...
It was a cold night, the bare window frames with cracked and shattered glass offered no protection to the cold breeze, the ragged and ripped curtains fluttered in the midnight breeze the two men sit huddled around each other with their garments and an old sheepskin quilt for warmth. Rufus froze for a second, and motioned to the man to hush, as he heard something outside.
The rickety door just about fell off its hinges as the the stranger opened the door hastily, head lowered, searching for something. He froze up as Rufus put his dagger to his throat silently and put him in a headlock.
The stranger slowly raised his hands up to his cloak, and lowered it slowly. His beady eyes seemed as though they looked through you, not at you. The man stared at him from across the room, the curtains blowing up and around his face behind him.

'No quick movements' whispered Rufus into the strangers. A large grin split across his face, from ear to ear. The stranger had a large scar down his left eye, it seemed infected.
'Oh, I won-' The stranger suddenly stopped, and sent an elbow into Rufus's kidney while he twisted his body to avoid being cut by the knife, in a fleeting instant, Rufus had his own knife pointed at his eye, the man whispered, 'No quick movements'
It turned out, the stranger had just came in search for wood, for he was trying to build something, he didn't mention what. The two men admired his knife skills, and supposed that a woodsman of sorts would be a helpful trait to have in their group. He was offered a position in the group, he humbly accepted. His name was Alvin, Alvin Mangrim. They simply called him Grim.

With a new member to the Band of Brothers, they set out to begin making profit. With three, they could expand their horizons to perhaps small shops, but first, Alvin suggested that they do some research. They picked a shop, and routed an escape plan they decided to do it in daylight. The three snuck into a farmers house, just outside of the city walls and stole three sets of peasants clothes. They prepared their weapons and set out the next day, at the crack of dawn.

The morning was misty, and a light rain poured, bringing the attitude of the city itself downwards, everyone seemed dreary, except for the three. They had prepared a small network of ramps, from scavenged wood, which linked several rooftops up to make for an easy escape. Rufus lead the robbery, distracting the shopkeep, while Alvin slinked around, out of sight and stole from the supply room, he filled a small sack, and the three left the shop sprinting, they had been detected. They picked their way through the crowds, watching their step carefully, they made it to their ladder and climbed to the rooftops, darting across them as fast as they could as the town guards were alerted.

They made it back to the shack, no blood was spilled and they had made a successful robbery. As they slammed the shanty door behind them, they slinged the bag to the floor and huddled around it happily. As the drawstrings were pulled and the items were taken out their hearts sank, as they had stolen a shipment of seeds, they had not realised it was a farm suppliers shop.


Chapter 4 - Knowing the Unknown..
The next day, the three woke early, and The Man began talking.. he told the others of his tale of hardships from where he came from, he told them of the torture, of the torment that he went through... He told them how his family was murdered infront of him, and how of the tyrant that ruled the land.

'It was an early morning,' The man continued, I heard some commotion in my home, the source was my parents room. I continued to investigate the noise.. Pushed the door open, and to my horror, my parents were being murdered infront of my eyes. The assailants mercilessly beat my parents, and when my father pleaded for mercy, they struck him with a blade to the heart. My mother help my fathers limp body over her lap, his blood hot and sticky in her palms. She was enraged and charged at the two men, they watched, laughing and murdered her too. Their screams still haunt my memory, The man said, shaking his head.

The others sat in silence for a while, letting what they had just been told mellow in. Grim looked up at the man and asked, 'What'd you do?' The answer, simply, was just. "I fled"

After that event I fled to the streets, resorting to stealing to get by. I met many people, and a few took me under their teaching, giving me skills to survive. I was taught how to kill mercilessly, and not regret spilling an innocents blood all over the sidewalk, and believe me, I have done so.
I killed many and betrayed many to live. I slowly began to be hated and despised in the underworld, and many hired people to make sure I did not see daylight, they did not prevail.

I had a feather hate for the men who murdered my family, I swore revenge. But to my distaste, the king had ordered their beheading, and had done so. After those men were dead, I wanted to move on, escape where I was, I did so.
I was a stowaway on a ship, it set sail on evening light, and I managed to escape here, and begin fresh. So, here I am now..

The others nodded, remembering the information.. They asked one final question.. What is your name?
The man chuckled, and took down his hood, revealing his face for the first time. He grinned, and said with a frightening tone, 'Just call me.... Ripper'


Chapter 5 - Black Raven..
It was a cold and misty night, the sights and sounds of the midnight city was rather eerie as Ripper went on a search for food.
He was peeking around a small supply stash, that any normal person would have blundered past it without knowing a thing but Ripper was.. different. He spent so much time in the dark, so he had an acute sense of sight in the dark. Most would call darkness a hinderance for it slows most down, Ripper can move through the darkness undisturbed as if it were daytime.

As he looked at the small bundle of wooden crates he heard the soft padder.. padder.. padder.. of footsteps behind him, he turned sharply and put his hand on his blade, his cloak trailing behind him, assuming a battle position. He squinted to see if anyone were there, he saw nothing.
As he slowly moved towards the crates he heard the sound again, this time louder and a thud at the end. He did the same as before, and didn't see anything at all.
He tried not to let his nerves get to him and continued to move cautiously towards the crates.

He heard the footsteps once more, he quickly turned and this time drew his dagger, he didn't see anything, again. He turned around for a third time and this time jumped in shock. There stood the slender figure of a female before him, with a cape type garment a vest and some black pants, she was complete with a half mask covering her mouth.
He stood their holding his dagger at the figure shakily. She slowly outstretched her hand and pushed down his hand with quite alot of force.

He held the dagger by his side, and she introduced herself as Claire, she said she had been watching him for quite some time, and saw the man disembark from the ship of which he came.
In the end, he got the supplies and returned to the rest of the Band with supplies, and a new companion. At first Rufus and Grim were uneasy about having a girl in the group, and after several sparring sessions, and having a rather large beating each they welcomed her with open arms.

She told her story, of how her parents were murdered also, Ripper sensed a striking similarity and grew quite fond of Claire, she made a good partner.
She demonstrated her skills in stealth and told them of her tactical abilities, she had agreed to give the rest of the band some training, and to help them work in unity in battles and when stealing.
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[Sikth]

Chapter 6 - The Carrion..
It was dusk in Crussaria, the sun was setting over the distant mountains, casting a brilliant light over the City, bathing the townspeople in its final warming rays as they packed up in the marketplace. It looked almost the same every day, as if each day was a mirror of another. People went about their business, fishermen pulled up to port, stalls busily rushed around desperately trying to sell their goods. It reminded Ripper in a way, where he came from. Minus the corruption, the blackened soul of the "Tyrant of Tortage" as he clasped down on any who opposed him. Ripper shook his head, trying not to bring back repressed memories as he picked his way through the busy crowd of Crussarias marketplace.
The Band had decided to venture into the vast forests which borderline the kingdom of Crussaria, they are a dangerous place, filled with thieves, bandits and treachery.
Ripper smiled, as his mind ventured through the possibilities of their destination.. He smiled and whispered, 'Home'

Moonlight had set in, the Band had crossed the river, they could see the forest in the distance. Grim lead the convoy, with Claire second in tow. Rufus was third and Ripper stalked at the back, a good distance behind.
As they approached the forests edges, Grim stopped to take in the sheer beauty of the forest. He was trying to get a perspective of how giant the forest was. He started looking at the trunk of the tree, looking closely at the peeling bark, he slowly kept looking upwards, up the elongated shaft of the tree. Closer to the top were fat and stubby branches, which as they got longer they thinned drastically. On the end of each branch many leaves sprawled out, blocking the pale light of the full moon, providing cover from the elements.
Claire tapped Grim on the shoulder, for him to hurry the fuck up. He nodded, obliging and continued the venture into the forest.

Their first few steps in the forest were frightening, the place was alot darker, it had a certain eerie feel to it, with a light fog covering most of the place. As they travelled further, giant ferns started to come into appearance. With fat, furry trunks that greeted enormous fern branches, that spread out and drooped a little bit. The more the traveled in, the plant cover became thicker, their footsteps dragged through leaves and twigs, it became hard to walk.
They saw a clearing in the distance, a bumpy dirt road was up ahead. Grim motioned for the group to stop, he had sighted something. He squinted , struggling to see properly. Ripper moved up the convoy and confirmed it to be a person.

They started to move again, trying to catch the figure by surprise. The man stood still, motionless. He held something in his hand, his head bowed slightly. His figure seemed hollow, an unfilled man. They approached him cautiously, Grim stepped onto the dirt and stopped.
The mans head turned quickly, facing Grim with a pale, hollow face and beady black eyes, he stood there for a moment, then turned his body to face the convoy. His clothes were ripped and soaked in blood, they hung limply off his figure. He took a single step closer, he had a sort a sort of shuffle to his step, dragging his foot slightly. Around him were corpses, of men dressed similarly to him, with a single guard in the middle of the massacre.

The man had piled them.. It seemed to be in sort of, categories. One pile of his dead comrades, their bodies hanging motionless, lifeless. Each one bled heavily, forming a macabre pool of black, crimson red blood. The single guard lay alone, his body mutilated. An arm was missing and one of his eyes were taken out of its socket, his face had shreds in it, it seemed to have a shape of sorts in his cheek. He was not dead, he struggled to breath, coughing and choking on his own blood, the man suddenly turned to the guard, walked over to him slowly. As he was walking we heard the ominous shhiiing.. of a blade being withdrawn from its sheath. He stood over the man, gave him a look of utter disgust and plunged his dagger into his throat, laughing. His throat collapsed.

The Guard gurgled and stopped, blood frothing out of his mouth. The convoy watched in disgust as the man cleaned his blade and placed it in his sheath, he then turned to face the convoy again. The convoy was uneasy and withdrew from the approaching man, he quickened his stride and stopped at Grims face. He chuckled a little at his fear, and the stopped, and nodded to himself, acknowledging his work, he hummed a little tune and then his face snapped into a serious looking one. His eyes pierced through Grim, he then leaned and looked at Claire for a moment. 'Oooh...' he whispered slyly. He then straightened himself and talked for a brief moment, his sentences were fast and hurried. His voice was raspy and his breaths were short and rapid. "Greetings" He paused for a moment and rolled his eyes a bit. 'My name is.. Carrion.'

Grim frowned and cocked his head a little. 'Come.. Again?' He stared for a bit, angered. Like he hated talking. He opened his mouth to begin again and he started hacking violently, momentarily a small amount of blood poured out of his mouth, mixed with mucus. Grim looked away in disgust, gagging a little.
He went to speak again, this time successful. 'Carrion' he said it rapidly. Grim paused for a moment.. 'Car-ry-on?' .. 'Right.. I think I have it' he nodded slowly to himself.
The conversation was abruptly ended, they heard war-cries, it was an ambush! The ragged dressed men shouted and cried as they rushed through the forest towards the convoy, they unsheathed their daggers and got ready to fight.

Carrion screamed, his voice cutting out, he pulled out his blade and rushed at them, the rest of them followed suite. Yelling loudly. Claire threw a small knife, its blade glittering light across the forest as it slammed into one of their chests, he dropped to the ground, blood pouring heavily.
There was roughly ten of them, they charged at the convoy mercilessly, Rufus was the next to draw blood. He rushed at the headfirst and drove is knife into ones chest. A small spurt of blood going onto his face. The man dropped.
Ripper sliced at ones throat, almost decapitating him, Carrion rushed at one and sent a knee to his gut, the man withdrew but Carrion pounced on him and mercilessly stabbed at his face and stomach.

Grim withdrew two daggers and sliced at ones legs, the men fell but slashed him across the elbow, Grim became enraged and thrust his blade through his eye, puncturing the mans cortex, he died instantly.
The rest of the party disbaned and fled for their lives, Carrion attempting to chase them down, while the rest of the convoy sheated their blades and began looting the corpses.
Carrion came back laughing manically. 'I.. Love this' he rasped, and stood over his kill grinning.

The group ventured not too much further out into the forest, and set up a small camp. They slept under the freezing sky, leaves falling on them from the giant trees looming above.

Chapter 7 - Fear Incarnate..
The group was woken at the howling of a wolf nearby. Ripper sat straight and quickly peered around, his knife at the ready. He noticed that Carrion was missing, and he jumped a little as the wolves howl was cut short, followed by a gurgling noise and a loud yelp beforehand.
Ripper heard the noise of a carcass being dragged through the bracken, picking up sticks, leaves and the like. Carrion came into sight through the mist dragging the corpse of a rather large wolf. A murky trail of blood was left behind, staining the leaves and leaving an awful smell behind. He slumped it over a fallen tree nearby and slowly began to skin the creature.

Ripper looked away as he saw the figure of Carrion slowly beginning to de-gut the wolf, he repressed gags, organs were one of his weaknesses.
Carrion chuckled harshly as the disfigured body of the animal lay slumped in his arms, hot and sticky blood smeared on his hands. He walked over breathing deeply and smiling crookedly. He wiped the blood onto his pants and sat next to Ripper.

The stench of fresh blood was unbearable, Ripper shuffled slightly away. Carrion quickly got up and went over to check on the wolf, he sat with it for quite a while as the rest of the group slowly began to awake. They stood roughly, stretching and groaning, rubbing sore necks.
They slowly prepared to leave on the suns rise.

As the sun came across the mountain rage beyond it bathed the whole forest in a glorious light, the dew on the long grass reflected and sparkled an almost blinding light as the group trudged through the forest, gloomy and unhappy. No food in their stomachs and aching all over.
They groaned in happiness as the sight of Crussaria was in sight and their morale was lifted significantly. Their thoughts were interrupted abruptly as the neighing of a horse and the trundle of a cart wheel could be heard nearby.

Claire motioned for them to set up an ambush, Ripper and Rufus rushed across the road, sliding into a ditch on the other side. Claire, Grim and Carrion remained on the other side.
The cart slowly moved closer, it had 3 guards. One armed with a bow, the other with swords. They clenched onto handles on the side and dangled off the side limply.
It approached their ambush point. Claire and Grim and jumped out infront of the cart, the horses reared up loudly, Carrion followed in tow. They drew their weapons, and told for them to surrender.

Rufus and Ripper slinked around the back and got behind the two swordsmen, their swords unsheathed, ready to fight. The plunged their daggers into their kidneys, killing them both instantly, a muck of blood and other liquids leaked from their sides, the bowman turned sharply and prepared an arrow.
His eyes widened and he froze up. He slowly fell off the side of the cart and hit the ground hard. Claire came up and retrieved her knife, Grim and Carrion dealed with the driver slashing at him mercilessly, he begged for mercy and tried to escape. He didn't make it far.

The group quickly ransacked as much as they could and rushed through the forest, charging at the town chuckling mercilessly at their perfectly executed robbery. They stood at the gates of Crussaria, the sun had just risen behind it, casting a yellow light onto the 5 people, their shadows getting thrown across the country side, they held their bags of loot closely to their chest and stared in awe at the massive gate infront of them. And they chuckled as the draw bridge slowly began to lower.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Death is a debt we all must pay.

[Sikth]

Just a note: This group is going to have NO mages, persay, this group may be against mages. They feel magic and sorcery are weaknesses in combat, not strength. They will not kill mages on sight but will be hesitant to interact with them.

Roster/Characters


The Ripper - Leading the Band. Played by DonuT


Rufus Phillips - A hardened fighter. Played by Intensity


Alvin 'Grim' Mangrim - A knife expert, a craftsman. Played by JakeValdor


Claire Swanston - A stealth expert. Played by Raymon


Carrion - Unknown, with the Band. Played by Judas Iscariot


          Progress

Chapter 1 - Out of the Ashes.. Complete


Chapter 2 - Into the Fire.. Complete


Chapter 3 - The confrontation.. Complete


Chapter 4 - Knowing the Unknown.. Complete


Chapter 5 - Black Raven.. Complete


Chapter 6 - The Carrion.. Complete


Chapter 7 - Fear Incarnate.. Complete


Applications - Closed

In Character Information

Name:

Age:

Bio:

Out of Character Information

Why do you want to join the group?

How do you want to be added to the story?

Please note: Before applying, please read the story where it is at the moment. It will help you understand the questions.

[Sikth]

~Reserved~

[mrd]

Gets my approval. I will talk to Silver about a acceptation.

[Sheperd]

In Character Information: His slim. Muscular but not to muscular he is young and about 6'

Name: Aidan The Marksman

Age: 21

Bio: Aidan is a agile marksman. Who can put a arrow from a crossbow to a long bow between someones eyes. He is young but has seen whats out there. He likes to explore and get into mischief and work his way out of it. Further training and testing his abilities.

Out of Character Information: [HGN] Sheperd.

Why do you want to join the group? Because I thought it would be a special kind of roleplay. It would be really fun to make a character in a bandit group that I always wanted as a bow specialist.

How do you want to be added to the story? Well I am thinking that once your group is walking down a path in a woodsy area and i come running across the trail with soilders running after me and that you see me trying to escape these men while hunting them down one by one with well aim arrows

[Sikth]

Denied - Sorry, but we took a consultation and we felt that your character didn't fit the criteria of the groups needs. Re-apply in the next lot of applications and take this criticism to help further your chances.

[Sikth]

Thank you for all who applied, but I'm sorry to have to close the applications, for the story is nearing completion, thanks for all the support from people and I'm hoping this group makes it official. I put alot of effort into this and I'm proud of my work. It has been fun writing this wall of text.

Thanks everyone!

-DonuT

[Sikth]

Sorry for the double post, but. I'm still looking for constructive criticism! Any would be appreciated, even just a simple comment would be loved.

[Nikolaz72]

Nice'ly done. May need to shine some more but good good.

[Plunger]

Very good, The background is excellent and provides reasons and intentions for a role-played kill.

[Sikth]

Thanks Plunger, I put alot of thought into the backstory, to make it easy for the people in-game to do shit as a basis of the backstory.

[Plunger]

Make sure people read the backstory though. Don't want your thieves being bad guys.

[Sikth]

Yeah, true. But they kind of are.. Really. They will kill and steal to benefit themselves, they might even go into assassinations if the time is right.

Sheperd is making a group to oppose mine, he is sorta the 'Robin Hood' of Crussaria.

[Sheperd]

Yeah, I didnt really think of that when I thought of the group.

[Plunger]

Robin Hood was an archer and wore tights.

[Sikth]

Hurray! The story is finally finished, after several days of hard work the group has its point of which it will begin its adventure in game. Any epic events we do will be recorded in another chapter, so check this post if you take an interest in this.

Thank you for all the people who helped me write it. And thanks for Ducky for his recc to make this official, surely his word will help my cause greatly.

-DonuT

[Plunger]

Well, You sound like your leaving?

[Sikth]

Naw. Just finished the story. Its my I am so happy post.