Training Thread - Franz

[Armand]

Franz found himself swimming towards the shore with all his might -- the ship he stowed away upon had wrecked before reaching its destination. As he reached the shore, he noticed there were piers heading out into the water, and felt an odd combination of relief and worry that he managed to end up somewhere inhabited.

He made his way to town, trying to compose himself as much as he could along the way, despite the fact that his clothing had become not much more than tattered rags after months of hiding away. The young Skaven was in awe at what he saw -- it seemed that all races from all the corners of the world could be found here, from Humans to Elves and Dark Elves, and Ogres, even Orcs! Orcs, in a civilized town; Franz had never seen such a sight before!

But, now wasn't the time to stand around and stare in wonder like some human child. No, the more pressing matter was finding some new clothing, or at least somewhere he could get cloth to sew together his own. After some time searching, Franz managed to find a Tilean merchant who happened to have an abundance of cloth for sale, trying to barter his services as an engineer for the merchant's wares.

He hadn't gotten very far before he felt the presence of someone standing behind him... He turned around suddenly, locking his gaze with the very large Saurus before him.

"Skaven filth! Today you die!" the Saurus yelled, his spear raised high, poised to strike.

Franz's face contorted in horror and confusion, finding himself only able to stammer, "Wha-wha-wha-what!?"

The Saurus roared once more as he stabbed his spear towards Franz's stomach, which he easily avoided by jumping back. Despite the gargantuan Saurus' repeated attempts at striking him, Franz managed to keep his distance with measured jumps, doing the same once more as the lizard's tail lashed out at him suddenly. His eyes widened in surprise as he realized that he was well within the reach of the spear, and deftly grabbed his rifle, firing it into the air.

The Saurus' stance faltered, stunned by the sudden gunshot, all the while Franz glaring at him; the end of the rifle pointed directly at his attacker's heart.

"Now that I've got your attention, I ask why you are trying to attack me, yes? I've done nothing to you," he said with a determined look on his face. He watched the Saurus bring the spear back to ready stance, seeming somewhat unsure of the Skaven before him.

"My blood hates your blood, Chaos animal," said the Saurus, to which Franz hesitated for a moment.

"Maybe so, but we are... I mean, I am not like my own blood, as you so succinctly put it." Franz finally responded.

Before he could get a response from the Saurus, a quartet of daggers landed between the two of them. Both looked up in surprise to see two other Skaven, dressed in dark rags with purple belts, which held many a throwing dagger. One of the Skaven held a small black sphere in its hand, passed over it with its other hand, and threw the sphere between Franz and the spear-wielding Saurus.

Franz recognized the sphere to be a Skaven-devised grenade, and he quickly tried to leap away from it, the explosion shaking the ground underneath him. His tattered rags had fallen apart from the force of the blast, the Warpstone he carried with him getting caught in the blast along with them.

The first explosion shook the young Skaven, made his ears ring. The second made it even worse, leaving him dazed, the thick haze obscuring his sight. He climbed to his first, willing himself to stay steady, his body threatening to teeter over from the ringing in his sensitive ears and sickening scent of saltpeter and warpstone.

Despite all of that, though, he felt something else course through him; an odd feeling of ecstasy cutting through the intense urge to vomit. He had felt this before, when he had destroyed the Clan Skryre Warpstone storehouses. It must have been the Chaos energy resonating with him, for despite his denial of it, Franz was a creature formed from Chaos...

As the smoke began to clear, he felt himself completely filled with the energy, renewed as he readied his rifle. Taking aim for the grenadier's head, a smirk appeared on his face as the shot rang out, piercing the assassin's skull.

As the smoke cleared, he found the ringing in his head to subside, the quiet somewhat off-putting now. He surveyed the area to see if any other unwanted guests were lurking around, and seeing none nearby, turned around to face the Sauros once more...

Stat Increases, plus Bonus for word count:

+2 Wp, +1 Ag

[FlyingPinkPony]

Approved. Glad to see you sticking around good sir. Extra Wp for word count and as a bonus for joining =D.