The Cyclops Contract

Aberham wrote:Mission Name: The Cyclops Contract
Mission Rank: Experienced.
Location: Hyrule field.
Description: A cyclops of war, only ever used by foreign army's has been spotted in Hyrule. Kill it and let bards sing songs of your heroism! He will be armed with a ball and chain, in addition to wearing a suit of armor and a helmet. He will not be easy to beat.
Requirements: Kill the Cyclops.
Player Count: 1
Reward: 300k rupees and 500 xp.
Word Count: seven five hundred word posts.
Mission Boss: Yes, a staff member is needed for the role.

Aberham was sick of fighting men.

He longed to fight more creatures like the Drake! That was perhaps the only challenging battle he had ever been in. He wanted more excitement, more action. He pushed his way through armfuls of potential jobs and contracts. "Get four million shiny rocks for me." "HELP I'M BEING EATEN ALIVE RIGHT NO-" "Gather me ten rare rat pelts" "Hey want another job from me?" "More bandits to kill friend!" "Want to give me another escort?" "Let bards sing of your triumph!" Aberham picked up that last one and took a good long look at it.

" Hello sir knight! Good day to you sir!

I am lord Montague, hunter, doctor, collector and poet. I have a challenge for you friend! A Cyclops of war has escaped from one of our neighboring kingdoms, normally I would dispatch some of my own men to deal with such a problem and be done with it. But I want to observe a genuine battle of epic proportions! So I put a challenge forth sir knight. If you can kill this beast before the sun sets TODAY. I will pay you three thousand rupees and hire half the bards in the land to write an epic tale of this exploit! May you go down in history as the man who single handedly store down a mighty Cyclops of war and killed it. To make things more interesting Sir knight, my rangers have tracked down the beasts exact location. I will be watching from a secure location far away from it's cave lair. Oh did I give something away? You certainly should not start with the southern trade route out of the kingdom, where it's last victim reported being attacked. ( ;

With Respect and Honor
Lord Montague.
To the inn room of a black knight. "

Why the man had drawn the weirdest, most disturbing, tiniest smiley face he had ever seen on the end he did not know. It was like he was halfway through drawing the eyes with his quill and then his hand slipped and he messed it up! Was it winking? Oh well, it was way more information then he was accustomed to. He saddled up and made his way south, following the most secure trade route in all of Hyrule. It stretched several miles down and he spent most of the day traveling. Eventually he found a road that people were steering clear of for some reason. He followed it as the terrain shifted from a gigantic grassy field to a more rocky landscape, the path got thinner and thinner.

Eventually he saw skid marks, followed by the smashed remenents of a trade caravan. It had only taken one strike from the beasts massive weapon to topple it. He turned to face a wall of stone, it was a cliff going up. He stared extra hard at it for a few moments before he saw a well hidden but large cave opening that had shown some signs of wear. He looked around more and more and eventually he found a man wearing the royal colors of Hyrule, he was sipping something from a flask and had two guards and three horses behind him. He saw him sitting on a miniature throne with a rapier on his side. The man winked at Aberham, and he turned back around to face the cave.

He heard sounds coming from within, what great warrior could be within. How tall could this one eyed giant possible be, how many men had it killed? Aberham hopped off his horse and yelled into the cave. "Face me you beast! I am out here waiting for you!" For he knew the Cyclops could speak.

Aberham watched with great pleasure as his opponent came out to face him. He was a giant! At least two and a half times taller than him and possibly much more. He did not even draw his weapon like he would have so many times before. For it was a smooth blade in a smooth sheath, his blade of night could surly penetrate the armor of the beast so in his unrelenting confidence he waited to draw it. His shield was not at his side but rather strapped to his back, it was of weaker metal and could not hope to block a strike from this monster!

Then he saw the one eyed warrior reach for a rock that what bigger than the black knight was entirely. As soon as the stone left the ground a shot of adrenalin caused his perception of time to go down to a crawl. He relished in this moment, when his reactions and senses where pushed to their limit after over a year of hard battle. He was left with enough time to decide how he wanted to dodge it, as stones where hardly the fastest and deadliest projectile. He put his upgraded significantly lighter armor to the test, and his superior agility.

He nimbly cartwheeled to the side of where the rock should have hit him, only to glance at that area out of curiosity and see the stone sail right past where it would have needed to hit him. He could have stood stock still and he would have been fine, that was when he realized what the substantial differences in their biology would mean. He would be far stronger and more swift when climbing, (Cyclopes habitats are in the mountains and their feet and hands are made for nimbly climbing like a mountain goat of great size. Their fingers can hook into the smallest of handholds and hold them up for hours on end.) and Aberham would be far more agile on a flat surface and he would have much better depth perception.

That was what had caused the monster of war to miss, no matter how hard they trained him they would never be able to overcome the flaw right in his name. There was a reason why almost all the animals with eyes on this world developed two, (excluding a surprising number of monsters) being able to perceive depth was a massive assistance on a day to day life. without even getting into fight or flight, or even combat. It was one of the reasons the monster near the peak of this small mountain in front how him was given a weapon of such short range, where they could not hope to miss due to not being able to see as well as their prey.

He leaned against the very rock meant to kill him. "Oh come on, at least speak to me!" He yelled up the rocky cliff face. "Even monsters lesser than you can speak, don't tell me your captors where so cruel as to not allow you to learn any language. You would have to know something for the commands! Tell me your name at least..." That was when Aberham shredded his cocky demeanor in favor of making a break for the cliff face. If he was allowed to go up the path without any interruption then he would start climbing the series of vertical walls to get to the cave and fight the monster like a real man! He did so with great swiftness, swinging from handhold to handhold and scrambling up. He was forced to climb mountains in this very area in armor twice as heavy as this for his mercenary training, he was an excellent climber as well!

Once Aberham saw the monsters next attack, he was a bit ready for it. He hardly expected to get up the small mountain without a fight! He had been taking a slightly safer path then he probably could have. Just after the blow to the mountain had been made, he conjured a basic shield rune just over his head like a solid rock umbrella made of magic. It was ageled, that way it never tried to stop to much stone, that way it never fizzled.

Still, he had just given away a big part of his toolkit to this monster, magic. He had shown that he was capable and even the Cyclops's eye would be able to see that. The shield disappeared and he pulled himself up to a ledge, he actually had broken a sweat on the climb up here! But he looked around for his opponent for a few seconds before seeing in dismay that he might as well have just had a seat next to the heavy boulder he had just dodged. He let out a sound something like "GWALL!" His thick manly voice also echoed through the mountains.

Hand over had he descended back down the mountain, it was better for him anyway. To fight the agile monster on flat ground rather than attempt to do battle with it hopping around in it's own domain. But like the dragon he had fought high up in the air on the side of a cliff, it was fun to fight his foe at their best! To see who at the barest most simple level, was the better warrior out of the two of them. Eventually when he got low enough, he released his handholds and slid down to the ground on his armor, landing nimbly and not even scratching it.

His armor made it a comfortable experience getting back on the ground. It wasn't like he was sliding without a shirt on above bare, cold hard rock. Or around here it would be cold hot rock. His feet gracefully touched the ground and he drew his sword. He bent his knee's he would have to be on the top of his evasion game here, the Cyclops was most deadly up close. If he could just land one critical spell in that eye the victory would be assured.

He briefly wondered if he could jump high enough to stab it with his sword. In the eye, the most unprotected part of any Cyclops. What were the makers of his armor going to do? Put a glass window over it so when he was attacked he was guaranteed to be blind? He approached, while rotation his position on his much larger enemy, he constantly shifted the direction he was circling, that way he would not be an easy target for his ball and chain to crush. Speaking of being crushed, he stepped into a pile of blood and bones that was once a human. Oh my.

Well, now he had to be a smart ass after that last and only comment he got.


ooc: For Ganondorfs mission what are my rewards? Would it be the same as an amatuer mission?

Aberham saw the Cyclops grab his morning star, he had expected a more traditional attack with such a weapon, such as attempting to crush him with it. But he knew to anticipate anything, for such beast to escape it's captors it would have to be extremely lucky, or unfortunate depending on the situation. Or have cunning beyond there was absolutely no shortage of rocks in the mountain for the attack that his opponent did decide on however. He took out his shield and started batting the projectiles to the side. With his armor his increased strength made this more effective than you might imagine. But even the best warriors are not perfect.

Even when he started to use his shield to cleave the monstrous stones in twain he was still getting overwhelmed, several medium sized rocks that a laborer would normally strain to lift made glancing blows all over his body. His improved armor showed a few signs of damage and he would definitely be bruised after this encounter. The largest rocks would begin to fall towards the end and he could see them coming just long enough to realize he had to get away. He whistled for his horse and started to do a sort of dance to avoid the last remaining and slowest boulders. If one caught him in the head he would most certainly suffer some brain damage, armor or no armor.

So he twirled around, his cape making his movements difficult to predict, he nimbly sidestepped some stones some stones got batted away with his shield like medicine balls. Just when he was breathing deepest and it looked like the stones of the small avalanche were getting too large to avoid any longer his horse swooped in and he flung himself on the top of it. It galloped in between growing boulders and peeled right, Joey the warhorse had got him out of that situation like a champ! It seemed the Cyclops's attack had caused a chain reaction which knocked almost every single loose boulder on the side of the small rocky cliff! Half the battleground was littered with boulders to the point of being impassable and the other half had no such rocky hill to summon more rocks down on him. It was made of boring dirt.

The lord seated on the steep almost vertical from their perspective hill leaned in close, he was really getting a battle out of these two!

Aberham sheathed his sword at his side and re secured his shield back onto his back. Unless the Cyclops would want to chuck boulders for the entire rest of the battle it would be a melee game from here on in. He drew a lance from the side of his horse, it's length and range meant that he could compete with the long chain of the giants morning star. His horse slowed to a trot before stopping behind the Cyclops from where he was originally facing. He had no such insults for his foe now! That was a very effective attack and lesser monster would have struggled to land some of the wounds he now had.

*Clap *Clap But with his new weapon he hoped that he could go on the offensive for his next move, he got his horse ready to close in and pressed his body close to the saddle, his spear went out to the side. For it could be used to cut and stab...

Ooc: Yes, it was accepted but not moved. https://lozsop.forumotion.com/t181-the-lance-of-aberham

Aberham could feel the anger in his opponent as he narrowly escaped being crushed by a series of boulders. He must have thought he was trapped, like a rat in a corner. But anyone would know the cornered mouse will bite the cat!

He tapped his horse hard with the side of his right boot, a signal to dodge to the right. The horse nimbly jumped to the side and he brought his lance away from the mighty strike of the armored war beasts great flail.

The ground shook, and he urged his horse to dash forward. He knew that it would be pointless to attempt to attack his armor. So instead he aimed for a gap in the side, he slashed once as soon as the gap was in range, then he spun around and delivered a much mightier attack with greater momentum. He was looking to draw blood, and cause a great gash in his foes side.

He path of his steed curved around, there was still plenty of room to work with. Even with the boulders blocking the way he came from. If there was blood on his lance, he spun it in the air and shook it off.

A blow landed next to Aberham's horse, it was moving so fast that it fell down with it's rider still onto of it. Aberham dropped his Lance, but through willpower alone he stood up almost immediately and drew his sword to protect himself and his horse from certain death. He fought off blackness on the edge of his vision, it wasn't that he had so much confidence in his pure strength, skill, and other attribute's that he knew he would no die. It was the simple fact that he knew he would never give up.

He gathered up all of his internal courage while the Cyclops was still freaking out and attacking everything. He had to front load all of his power into his next attack, or else he simply would not be able to win. Or else Aberham would run around the battlefield for a few minutes more before he got tired, or unlucky, or his horse was a second to slow. No, he knew exactly what he was going to do.

He sprinted forward, a magical shield appeared in front of him and he preyed to the goddess of magic that it would not falter. He sprinted forward with everything he had, he preyed to the goddess of courage that his heart would be strong. Once he had closed about half the distance he summoned a magical ax to fly out of the air next to him and go directly into the eye of his foe.

Then Aberham could feel time slow as a last rush of adrenalin was shot through him. If he had to make it, he was going to have to run at his foe flawlessly. If he looked up to anticipate an attack or looked anywhere else besides directly at his target he knew for sure he would miss.

He preyed to the very goddess of his lord Ganondorf Din and dashed forward. Everything in his mind faded to black besides, him, his sword, and his target. Even his armor in his minds eye disappeared, for he could only focus on what was important. He was targeting the knee of his opponent, it was about as tall as the knights waist went and one of the most heavily armored places on it's body because that would be the first place men with short spears and long swords would attack.

His own experience with armor helped him substantially. He knew which part of the metal would be the thinnest from his training and combat experience. The only things that were moving was Aberham's heart and feet. He did not even take a breath despite the fact that his body cried out for it. There was no time to address such pains. One missed step and he could not have enough momentum to pierce his target, one missed step could mean an attack kills him and his story ends here.

With his body silent but hit clanking armor not he reached the Cyclops and thrust ed his sword with all the strength he had into the Giants knee. The sword of night was an experienced weapon, and was capable of piercing the armor.

ooc: Thanks for Rping with me Drayglez. I had a really fun time and you were a challenging opponent. I am posting in accordance with the twenty four hour rule, which states that if during battle you wait for twenty four hours in between posts then the other members can declare that their attacks where successfull and continue to post without you until you catch up. Because this is my last post, my final two attacks killed you. I hope to do this again!

Just like that, the black knights desperate gamble paid off. His sword sunk deep into the bone of the Cyclops and the ax hit him directly in the pupil. This caused the monster to scream in pain and drop his weapon. Aberham pulled the sword out of his knee with an expression of joy on his face. The heavily armored monster fell on it's right side and tore out the ax from his eye, which unfortunately took most of the eye out with it. It cried on the floor begging for the knight to just end it already, for he had clearly won.

In the end he would die a pathetic death, just like any monster deserved. Aberham causally strolled over to his fallen foe who was begging for death, kicked aside his massive ball and chain, stripped off a big piece of armor by cutting the straps, positioned himself loosely by the big beating heart of his foe as he could hear it slow. He took his sword in both hands and drove it through, causing a huge amount of blood to gush every which way. It coated him head to toe and even some of the putrid liquid made its way past his helm. If only good glass had been invented yet....

He could feel the pulse slowly wain in his sword thump by thump until it died completely, Much like the mutilated creature before him. The lord clapped mightily as he wiped off a bit of very expensive wine away with a handkerchief. "What an excellent show my good knight! A remarkable battle! Bards will sing songs of your bravery and strength!" He looked passed him at the fallen Cyclops. Well so much as taking something for his wall.... "That cyclops has slain many men sir knight! I commend you on your courage to serve the throne of Hyrule!"

Aberham choked back a gag outstretched his hand. "The payment, a bank note of the six figure sum we agree'd on?" He said. This really killed the nobleman's buzz, he reached into his jacket and took a piece of paper with a royal Hylian seal. Aberham took off his bloody glove to accept it and his horse walked up next to him with his saddlebag. He placed it into a special compartment then took out a big knife.

"What are you doing?" Said the nobleman as Aberham stalked over to the corpse of his vanquished enemy. "Little known fact, Cyclops skin is actually a prized ingredient in armor." He said as he did more to cover himself in blood and took a great amount of Cyclops skin from the hardest part of the body. He tied it up and placed it on a neat big bundle on the back of his horse. "I will be going now." Abe looked as if he was walking to his horse but before he got on it and galloped away he pulled the nobleman close to him with his collar. He told him:

APPROVED! Your rewards will be given shortly!