Fantasy The Four Horsemen IC

[Gravitational Force]

People speak of The Four Horsemen in hushed whispers. Some say they're a myth. A group of monster hunters who will not start until promised payment and will not stop until their target is permanently dead. Each with their own skills and tools, each deadly in their own right. And they've arrived at their next job.

Pestilence, The White Horseman: Slim Intoxicado Information gathering archer. In charge of keeping the Horsemen informed.
War, The Red Horseman: AEONmeteorite forceful swordsman who meets the foe in melee combat. In charge of the weaponry of the Horsemen.
Famine, The Black Horseman: shadowz1995 ensures the monster cannot escape through traps, battlefield preparation, and other skills. In charge of the supplies of the Horsemen.
Death, The Pale Horseman: The Fluffiest Floof possessor of knowledge on the many kinds of monsters and the one who ensures they stay dead. Can use some magic. Collects the payment for killing monsters.

The messenger collapsed of exhaustion when he reached you, needing to take several minutes to recover enough to tell you where to go. His village is being stalked by...something that strangles its victims to death before leaving them hanging by makeshift nooses from whatever point is highest from the kill. The death toll had reached 9 before the villagers were desperate enough to send for help. Two messengers were sent out to ensure that whatever monster there was couldn't get them both.

You arrive at the village to find the other messenger waiting for you outside. More specifically his corpse hanging from a tree on the outskirts of town. From a cursory inspection the body shows no sign of struggle against the rope around its neck, although there are scratches on the body from whatever killed him. The man clearly choked to death, but it happened after whatever physical trauma he went through.

The messenger collapses to his knees and starts weeping when he sees the body. Nothing you do gets him to do anything more than sob and he won't move.

 

[Slim Intoxicado]

Pesta trotted up to the tree, and stopped in front of it. From off of the horse came a masked man, who slowly walked to the body, lifting up his shirt. Yersin examined the bruises, cuts, and other wounds, before dropping the shirt, kneeling down, and doing the same to the man's pant legs. "Offensive and defensive wounds." He noted. "This one tried to fight back." The doctor shook his head, standing back up. "Everyone wants to be a hero.." Yersin walked back to his horse, looking around at his fellow horsemen. "I can tell quite easily that there is plenty of internal bleeding, by the color of his skin. His bruises are very dark, and the cuts, deep. This man wasn't just beaten, he was thrashed around like some kind of ragdoll." He explained, keeping his hands behind his back.

 

[AEONmeteorite]

Rosen stayed on her horse and lifted one knee close to her chest. She rested her chin on that leg as a way to discreetly cover her mouth that had carved a deep frown. What an awful way to die. Even by her standard, this was cruel and unforgiving. Such should come with some sort of honor, even if you end up losing. This was entirely one sided. At least, from how she saw it, it was.

She peered down at the messenger wailing into his palms, wiping his eyes, letting his face turn an unsightly red in front of the strangers he fetched. Rosen moved her gaze back up to the dead man, then back to the messenger, she did this over and over, she could have almost strained her eyes.

It was peculiar.

This man was entirely destroyed and ripped to shreds emotionally, he hadn't received the physical beating that his friend had, yet she would have assumed him to be injured this badly as well. They had tried countless times to ask questions from the crying man, but, then again, the one who hung there, was never coming back.

Rosen cleared her throat. "Calm down sir!" she belted. "Do you wish us to help you, or not? If you are just going to be blubbering the entire time, then at least gather yourself enough to point us where majority of these attacks occurred, or else, you're not much better at giving information than your lifeless friend there."

The maiden swallowed as she as well collected herself. She felt bad, but how could one just cry when there is so much more than could help?

 

[shadowz1995]

"Ah Rosen. How anyone finds you abrasive, I'll never know. You are the epitome of empathy and sunshine." Soma chimed in from his spot on the carriage. His wrist flourished through the still, overly-sweet smelling rotten air with his words like an actor upon a stage. The words said were obviously said sarcastically but nothing in his tone would suggest it was a joke.

The sand rat's raven hair poked sporadically through the red and blue wraps around his head. His icy blue hues examined the scene with a degree of pity for the poor souls that wound up this way. The thief hopped down from his driver's seat and made his way over to the grieving messenger and his dead compatriots.

He placed an armored hand upon the man's shoulder and gave him a few sympathetic pats, "He's in a better place now. There's only one thing you can do for him now and I'll get you started."

Soma strode up to the tree the man dangled from and with feline grace, clambered up the thick trunk of the tree. His claw gauntlet biting into the wood much like a cat's would. He deftly made his way to the limb which the man hung from and with a swift slice from his dagger, cut the man down.

The lifeless body collapsed in a bruised heap of absent flesh before the group with the sun-tanned thief landing just beside. Barely a sound was heard with Soma's landing in contrast to the mildly disturbing sound of the dead messenger. "When you feel you have the strength, bury him. It's the best thing you could offer."

With that, Soma turned to his fellow horsemen and gave them a solemn shrug.

"We should be on the outskirts of the town. We just need to follow the path in and we'll find our village. I don't think I need to be the one to say we can't stay here and play soothsayer (joke). Others will end up exactly like this if we dont get a move on."

Without looking back, Soma returned to his carriage and gave the reins a sharp Crack! To get his mount in motion.

AEONmeteorite Slim Intoxicado The Fluffiest Floof

 

[The Fluffiest Floof]

During the whole ride, Death had been awefully quiet. She had not exchanged a word with the messenger. Since the man was by foot, the four horses could not exactly hurry. Death used that to her advantage. Despair knew, it had to go where the other three were, unless steered otherwise. Death herself paid no attention to the way. Despair alone cared for that. Despairs rider was reading instead. It was a fairy tale book. Stories of romance, heroism and wonders. The group knew, Death would take them all literal, think they are informations that they can use instead of stories created to enjoy.

When the group reached the messenger, Death put away the book and looked at the corpse. She nodded to everything Pestilence said and noted all of it in her head. Then, War and Famine spoke. She agreed with what the warrior of the group said, not understanding both, the messengers reaction and Famines action. But it wasnt her duty to care for that, anyways.

"For all we know so far, this could have been just a human, who did it. Pestilence noted no claw or fang marks. The injuries, as well as the noose are very well within human ability.", she said and looked at the corpse, that looked a bit dumped on the floor. "That´d make our job a lot easier. Whatever it was, we need more information. If i know what kind of being did this, we can make a plan for how to hunt it. Provided, the payment lives up to the effort we´ll have to make." She said the last part without directly looking at the messenger, but as he had only said they would be payed, she could not tell how much it would be, yet. Death was not a person to work for charity.

 

[Slim Intoxicado]

"All due respect, love..." Yersin turned to Death. "..It's not quite within human ability to pick up another human of that size and swing them around like a plaything.." He climbed back onto his horse, and patted the steed's side, causing her to start trotting forward to the other side of the tree. "There were no serrations in the cuts, but they were rough enough that it was unlikely that they were made by a blade or sharp weapon.. I doubt this was a human's doing." He continued.

 

[Gravitational Force]

As you ride into town you notice that wherever there are people they're traveling in no less than a group of four. They gaze at you in a mixture of hope and fear as you pass, some whispering to each other.

When you reach the Mayor's house you find him and 5 guards looking around nervously. He sees you and looks relieved and disturbed.

"Thank God you're here. You must save us from this monster! 11 people have been murdered and-" the mayor pauses as you hear scrabbling sounds drawing near incredibly fast and the screams of villagers.

He looks behind you, screams, and runs so his guards are between you and him. Turning around you see twelve Zombies with nooses around their necks marching towards you at unnatural speeds. These aren't the slow Zombies you've run into before, they move with unholy vigor far greater than the once-living men they were. One of them is the messenger who you found hanged outside and its hands are covered in blood, which most likely means the other messenger you left at the entrance to the town is no longer among the living.

The Zombies are moaning something and as they reach you you can understand it. One word: "GUILTY!"

 

[AEONmeteorite]

Rosenkilde sat on her horse with her legs crossed in a tailor style. She kept her elbow pinned against her knee and her head rested on the heel of her palm as she listened to the mayor. He was frantic, blabbering words that had hardly any depth to help the group. People have died, they already knew that. He was so glad they were there, well, who wouldn't be happy when people ride in to save a town.

War lifted her hand, ready to cut him off so she could tug him in the right direction, but screams did the job for her. Rosen craned her head and peered behind herself.

Zombies? And none like she had ever seen before. Usually, she'd stay on her horse for such action, keeping her a certain distance away from the demonic beings, but, in this case, she felt far more in control if she were on the ground.

Thus, she leapt of her horse, stomped her foot, whistled and pointed away from her. The horse listened and went on its way to a safer place. There, she took out her rapier and pulled down the back of her hat to get a better look at the beasts.

 

[Slim Intoxicado]

As the group approached the small horde of zombies, Yersin immediately noticed the difference in speed, as well as the fact that they were talking. "I must have a sample.." He mumbled to himself as he readied his bow, sensing a battle in their near future. He joined Rosenkilde on the ground, and Pesta instinctively knew to follow the other horse. Slowly inching his way behind the lady War, he spoke to the rest of the group. "Try not to destroy their bodies too much. I want to examine one..." He requested, his voice slightly muffled by his mask.

The way they were all running together, saying the same thing. Their shared tone and thirst for blood.. "They may work as a hivemind.." He explained to the others. "That explains why that poor man was thrown around so harshly.. They all worked together, at the same time!" Yersin's tone of voice raised slightly towards the end of his last sentence, as if he was getting excited.

(Mentions: AEONmeteorite specifically)

 

[The Fluffiest Floof]

Death examined the scene, while the others were already taking action. But the pale horseman oftenly preferred one, well planned, strike, instead of many ones that would eventually get the job done. And that would be just what Death would be doing here. These creatures were by far her specialty. Undead of any kind stood no real chance against death. Something had failed to keep them dead, but Death would assure just that. This was her job anyways and these creatures just were made to be killed by her, it would seem. Slowly, she got down of her horse. She wouldn´t take out all of them. Her way of killing them would not make Pestilence very happy, therefore she´d leave some to the others. That way, he would still have enough blood to work with.

Death saw a nearby cluster of four zombies that approached. She got out a little dagger, that was way to small to be of use in any combat. She oftenly used it to carve, but she made very sure to clean it properly afterwards, which might seem weird without context. It made far more sense, seeing what she did next. Slowly dragging it across her hand, leaving a cut that was not too deep, but bleeding none the less. Then, she whispered "Memento Mori", before her hand began to glow. One of the Zombies incinerated out of nowhere in green flames, before he burst in a green explosion. When its light had faded, there was left but ashes of the four zombies. Out of the ashes however, a green hue escaped and made its way to Death. She seemed to breathe it in, before the skin on her hand seemed to close again, leaving behind flawless skin, as if there had never been a cut at all. "The rest are yours. So that Pestilence can have some blood left.", she spoke. Then, she whisteled. A raven, that had sat on a nearby roof, landed on her shoulder. Death paid no further attention to the scene and started to pet her companion.

 

[shadowz1995]

"Oooo. These ones are much quicker." the thief said with a smile. Soma always enjoyed a challenge even though the fact that these used to people bothered Famine to no end.

Used to be, being the operative part of that.

Usually, Famine would take the time to set up the battlefield for the day but that was the thing about ambushes. There was no way to prepare the enviroment for ambushes when you're always on the move.

The desert dweller moved to take up the flank of the horseman of war, "I wager that I kill more than you do." It was all he had time to say before the undead were upon them. Soma prided himself in being the most agile person he knew. He moved like liquid lightning, fast and graceful. The moment the first zombie crossed the unseen threshold, Famine's saber lashed out from its scabbard and rended the undead's head from its shoulders, causing it to collapse like a puppet released from its strings beside him.

Another followed close behind and Soma's blade carved bloody ruin across the zombie's open maw, tearing the tissue that gave the mouth its ability to bite down. Its mouth hung useless now but that did not mean its body was. The zombie swung haymakers with unholy speed for someone so rotted. Famine narrowily dodged the first few strikes before freeing the undead of its left arm, just above the bicep. He repeated the process when the next wild swing inevitably came.

Now biteless and armless, Soma could have ended it there but the request of Pestilence still stood. The zombie still tried to rush the sand rat as he danced around him. A quick horizontal slash to the back of the knees robbed the zombie of its ability to stand and down it went. It was writhing on the ground in an anger that only an undead could muster.

Well, that was one intact body and one alive with its brain intact. The doctor would have to make due because it was getting hairy now as the rest closed in.

 

[AEONmeteorite]

Rosen flicked the rapier in her hand and gazed at Pestilence, then at the others who were fighting. They were taking care as to leave some behind for the doctor. Thus, with heavy steps, she prepared to obliterate as much as she could. In war, you didn't just leave things half finished, not unless the other side gave up, but that was still considered a win.

Each movement with her feet was sloppy. Taking awkward strides and dodging by using strange angles, most would despise the way she fought. But her sword was precise. She aimed for the kill every swipe she had the chance to perform. Rosen took every risk, even if it gabbled her own life.

With a long slash, she took off a head of a zombie. Its being swept across her, staining the ends of her dress with a foul colored blood. As Rosen spun her head as she heard Famine give his wager. She didn't have the same type of speed that he had. She was the type that let the enemy draw near her. With that, she gazed back to the enemies, and just in the knick of time. A zombie swiped at her. Rosen uttered an, "Oh, crimney crickets," before ducking, shoving herself between the creatures legs, and popped back up on the other side while she whipped her sword and took off its head.

War gave a sheepish chuckle and continued on her way.

 

[Slim Intoxicado]

Pestilence watched from afar as he usually did, keeping his bow ready to fire. He counted down the zombies throughout the fight. There weren't many left by the time Yersin decided to join in. He took an arrow from his tightly packed quiver, and drew it with all of his strength. He wanted to wait for a clear shot before firing, as to not accidentally hit any of the others.

As he scanned the small battlefield, he noticed one of the 'dead' zombies from earlier getting up from where it lay, and beginning to make its way towards Death. With a quick gasp, Yersin aimed carefully at the monster, leading every so slightly, and released the arrow, which penetrated the zombie's skull, causing it to fall back to the ground.
That's two.. He thought to himself, recalling the first time he'd saved Death.

"Sir," The doctor spoke to the mayor behind him, without turning around. "How long have these beasts been killing your people?" He questioned, drawing another arrow as he spoke.

(Mentions: The Fluffiest Floof )

 

[The Fluffiest Floof]

Death watched the others deal with the undead, while still petting her raven. She had some pieces of meat in a pouch on her belt, that she took bits from and fed it to Hades. She was not really paying a lot of attention, because she knew, others would have her back. She did her part, she wasn´t the biggest fighter of the group. Sure, she was skilled with her blade, very at that, but she was not like war. She was not fast like Famine. No, she was the brain, the walking encyclopedia on monsters that cared for payment and took on a lot more of a supportive role in battle, than one might assume by the aura she gave off.

She heard the zombie rise behind her and would she have been alone, she might´ve even been in trouble. It sounded close, she might´ve not have the time to draw her blade fast enough. But she was not alone and with the steady aim of Pestilence watching over her, she felt as save as in a mothers lap. Not that her mothers lap had been a particularly save place, but that was not the norm. She looked over at Yersin, slightly pushing aside her mask, so he could see her eye, but only him, none of the townspeople. "That one does not count as second.", she muttered at him in a playfully pouting tone and her face formed a smirk, before it returned back to being as expressionless as the mask, that got pushed back into place.
Slim Intoxicado

 

[Gravitational Force]

The Mayor stands there gawping for a moment before glaring at his guards. He's clearly upset with their slow reaction time.
He remembers you're there and tries to compose himself.

"I...I don't know what this is." He points at one of the fallen Zombies.
"He was one of the victims of whatever killed them. You're the experts, you're going to stop it, right? We can't have any more deaths, my reputation is on the line. I mean people need to be kept safe. End this threat and you'll be well-compensated. We'll give whatever cooperation we can."