Closed Py-gone.

[Jayce Asher]

33rd Winter - Wildlands [Forest] Jayce enjoyed the forest in the day, and felt so comfortable under the peace inducing green canvas above him, that he decided to take a stroll. He'd been holding in the need for the toilet all morning, and he had more than enough decency to understand not to go in front of a lady like Neola. He pulled on his chestplate and grabbed his sword and shield, just in case he'd need them, and set off down between the trees. The trees were thin, and there weren't many branches, but with it being a forest, the place was lined with unkempt brushes and treacherous brambles. He cut through most of them easily enough, marking trees with small gashes to tell him which direction he'd gone. Eventually, now that he was out of the line of view of the campsite, he unlaced his breeches and started his business. By the time Jayce had finished, he thought he was crazy. Distant laughter stirred something in him, and he felt uncomfortable and alone, deep in the mass of trees and flora. He couldn't pin point the direction of the laughter exactly, but he headed off to roughly where it came from, for reassurance that he wasn't going insane. It was daylight, after-all, and what Jayce knew of crooks and villains was that they didn't frolic around when the sun was up, or laugh too loudly. Jayce was wandering along some frosty trail of grass, when he stumbled forward on a bramble. "Hey!" Was the last thing he heard before he tripped into a nearby tree and grazed his cheek. The sound came from right where he was, though nobody was around. When he'd stabilised himself, he gained the nerve to call out. "Who's there?" Was the clichéd line he gave. The clichéd response came swiftly, in the form of a large black figure leaping from a tree on top of him. "What the bloody--?" He managed, before he realised that there was in fact a man, pressing him against the floor. Jayce managed to turn his head to face the man that was wrestling with him, and he started with a much more innocent sounding voice than he deserved, "What are you doing? You blithering idiot? Do you even know who I am?!" "You killed my friend!" Screamed the dark clothed figure on his chest. At first, Jayce had no idea what he was talking about, before he realised that his voice was completely different from the one he'd heard shouting 'Hey' a moment ago. The 'bandit', as Jayce expected of him, gripped his jaw with a firm hand, and rotated his face to the left of him. Slightly confused at first, Jayce squinted, and then understood what the matter at hand was. Shyke. 'That's the first time I've killed a person', he thought at first. As his mind cleared, it dawned on him what he'd done, 'That's the first time I've killed a person', he repeated in his head. There before him, smushed into the ground, was the yellowy brown remains of a once living being. It was a Pycon, its head completely ground into the soil. Jayce burst out laughing, uncontrollably. He stunned the bandit with his light view of the situation. The man climbed off of Jayce, utterly puzzled with his reaction. Jayce had to support himself against a tree to stop him doubling over in hysterics. It was the funniest moment of his entire life - He'd killed a Pycon accidentally, killed! The thing was only a couple of feet tall, probably young, and Jayce had mashed its head into his boot unintentionally! As if he wasn't laughing enough already, his mind was racing with funny thoughts when he remembered it shouting, "Hey!" in the squeaky, harmless voice that it had. Suddenly, passion exploded in the rival from the tree. He had a good reason to, as well - his pottery friend had just been made into a china plate by a blundering passer-by. He unsheathed a dagger and dived on Jayce, who moved enough for it to only catch his shield and knock him aside. "Stop... ahah... fighting! It's not fair... I'm laughing! Pfft!" Jayce couldn't contain his laughter for more than a few seconds, the more he thought about it, the clearer the memory of his foot sinking into the Pycon's head became. He did however, realise that there was a fight coming along, so he unsheathed his sword. Every chuckle that escaped him caused his sword arm to shake, and he tried his best to steady himself. OOC-INFO : Jayce's opponent is a forest dweller, his skills would probably be something like, 'Acrobatics - 20, Dagger - 10'. Another attack came from the dark hooded thug, and Jayce giggled as he put up his shield in counteraction. The enraged opponent fell swiftly into his defensive plate, cutting his chest somewhat on the shield's teeth. Jayce then moved to the right, allowing him to fall forward (though he quickly regained balance). The battle had begun, and fortunately for him, Jayce had recent practice.

[Jayce Asher]

If it wasn't for the sudden outbursts of laughter, Jayce would be too busy being afraid of the bandit to actually fight it - as far as Jayce could see, it wasn't his fault that the Pycon became a sentient pancake. The silly little thing shouldn't have been standing there! 'I'm large enough comparatively for it to have seen me coming, right?' 'Oh well', he thought once again, redirecting the bandit to his right with a simple flourish of his broadsword. The bandit winced, and Jayce knew that he must have at least nicked his hand a little bit with the technique. The fight was well and truly started as soon as Jayce started to apply his acrobatics to it. He'd hop around, shifting from foot to foot and constantly changing his centre of gravity accordingly, he'd curled out of the way of the bandit's dagger on more than a few occasions. "Watch where you stick that thing", he hadn't tried taunting his enemy before, "You might hurt yourself," he laughed. Jayce was having too much fun with the rogue, weaving his blade in a manner that would only tire his opponent, causing the odd scratch every now and again. He simply couldn't see the bandit as an opponent, it felt like he was toying around in another friendly battle. "Is that a dagger, or a sword for a Pycon?" Was the remark that pushed his enemy over the edge, though the retaliation only brought more pain for the bandit. The forest dweller lunged, madly. The dagger actually almost hit Jayce, but instead it merely sliced the fabric of his shirt (he would have probably preferred to be cut by it). While the dagger was beneath his arm, he took the opportunity to thrust his sword into the bandit's leg. Jayce didn't fancy killing a person, and this was the first time he'd fought anyone that wasn't a sparring partner. It was actually quite a worrying experience for him, he'd fought his first monster only yesterday, and now he was forced into attacking a person - Jayce wasn't built for this. His sword cut deep into the quads, barely missing the femoral artery: Jayce didn't know this. The bandit dropped his own blade in the pain, and writhed with convulsion after convulsion, grasping at his torn leg with every fabric he owned. Jayce felt extremely bad for the bandit, he was only avenging the death of his friend. He knelt down and ripped at his gauze tunic, wrapping the wound in cloth to create the most expensive bandage he'd ever seen, it was the only thing he could think to do in the situation. He pointed a sword to the bandit's neck afterwards, and trying to seem tough, he managed, "And you stay away from my friends and I - all the way to Syliras!" The bandit didn't acknowledge him, but Jayce felt that he could hear him. It surprised Jayce that the man didn't even scream once - maybe forest folk were tougher than himself. The artisan's son's initial thought was to rob the bandit's money once he'd killed him, but seeing how he'd probably need it for first aid after Jayce's change of heart, he decided he'd let him at least keep his purse. "I'll be going now, and you'll do good not to follow me." Jayce hadn't done this before, ever. He assumed that the bandit would heed his warning. Turning around, Jayce set a foot away from this place in the forest, and headed back to his camp as he followed the marks on the trees. He accidentally kicked the Pycon's body, but didn't realised until the most remarkable thing happened. From behind him came a haunting cry! It was the Pycon, shouting after Jayce. "What have you done to his leg?!" Echoed the squeaky and unsettling scream of the short, clay man. Jayce was comfortable in the notion that the Pycon was still alive - it meant he could laugh about it without feeling like a monster. The little guy must have repaired himself, meaning that Jayce hadn't smushed him as much as he thought. Today was an interesting day, and although the fight wasn't as tense as he thought it would be, he learned something about himself. Jayce wasn't a killer, but he wasn't too deeply interested in caring for people he'd killed, either. He wandered down out of the forest, with his tunic ripped and his doublet half torn. He figured that to the rest of the camp it would look like he'd just fallen into some thorns or something - he remained silent about the Pycon to his friends. It troubled Jayce that he didn't have the nerve to take a life - he just guessed that it was something he'd have to work on. He definitely knew that he would want to protect people in the future, and it might be the only way to do that.