Insult to Injury

[Khan]

Khan awoke in a outskirts gutter, face down in a pile of black sludge. He groggily lifted himself to his knees, and surveyed his very alien surroundings. He was in a very dark, and particularly disgusting alleyway. The half-orc wiped the gunk from his face, then spit up what looked like mud mixed with food wrappers. His entire body ached, and with great difficulty he managed to prop his sore back up against the grime encrusted stone wall of the nearest building. "You know, if I had a credit for every time I've woken up face down in a pile of trash," Khan mumbled to himself. "I'd have...5 credits."

As his mind turned to money, he felt a strange urge to check the wallet he kept on his belt. Alas, it was empty, despite the fact that he had just gotten paid for a job. "Damnit!" He growled. "I had to slaughter a small army of trolls to get those credits! That's two minutes of my life I'll never get back." He looked up, and was attempting to remember what, precisely, were the events leading up to him getting dumped in an alleyway when the rain began to fall.

"Fantastic." He muttered as he trudged out of the alley, desperately looking for shelter. The frigid downpour seemed to jog his hazy memory, and he instantly recalled an attempt to get into the city, some trouble with paperwork, a scuffle with security, and what may or may not have been a giant metal fist slamming into his skull.

He looked down again at his empty wallet. "New...Day." He said slowly. "But why the hell did they take my money? Do they charge people for getting beat to a pulp now?" He ripped off his wallet and tossed it into a nearby puddle. "SCREW YOU, YOU FASCIST BASTARDS!" He screamed at the top of his lungs. "ONE DAY, YOU PEOPLE ARE GOING TO GET WHAT'S COMING TO YOU! I SWEAR IT!" He looked around the empty street. Only silence answered his empty threats. He lifted his hand up to his eyes, and continued on. "Well," he mumbled. "That made me feel better."

[Allule]

Kryth stepped out from a dim alley way just in time to hear a "SCREW YOU YOU FASCIST BASTARDS!", as well as a myriad of other things. "Great..." He said to himself, examining the thing in front of him as what had been a drizzle less than a moment ago became a downpour. Frowning to himself, he almost turned to go. Insulting the New Day company, while he completely agreed with the idea, could only bring trouble in this part of town.

It was then, sure enough, that the Steamforged stepped out of the shadows of an alley way fairly near the yelling orc- thing, and stepped menacingly towards the orc. Who was facing away from the now oncoming mechanized thing. Sighing to himself, he began a leisurely stroll towards the orc, saying in a loud tone "There you are friend! Where have you been?"

There was still some chance to salvage the situation... maybe.

[Khan]

"Who the hell are you?" He said to the comparatively short man that approached him. "I've never seen you before in my life."

He continued walking through the rain, then turned back to the man, who appeared to be following him. Normally Khan would have ignored the man, but today he was particularly aggravated and needed to vent. "Can you believe these New Day bastards?" He said to the strange man. "Can you believe it? They took my damn money! Just took it! For what? FOR WHAT?!" He began huffing uncontrollably, until he noticed the man's staff.

"Hey...are you a wizard? You're a wizard, aren't you?" He stormed back into the middle of the street, and again began screaming at nothing "YOU SEE THAT, YOU FASCIST PRICKS? NOW KHAN'S GOT A FREAKIN' WIZARD ON HIS SIDE! YEAH, WE'RE 'GONNA BURN YOUR CRAPPY LITTLE BUILDING TO THE GROUND! I, KHAN, AND THIS GUY--" He turned back to the man and pointed at him. "What was your name, again?"

[Allule]

"I" Kryth replied, "Am Kryth. And I am indeed a wizard. " here he shook the staff a little.
"And, as such, I might say that it might not be such a good idea to insult the company while we have, ah, company." Here, he pushed Khan, as he could only assume his new acquaintance was called, down just enough to avoid the massive hand that came into the air space where Khan's head had been mere moments ago.

"Filthy orcs shouldn't talk about the company like that. This Steamforged might just have to teach you a lesson." The thing that had just talked (At least, Kryth assumed it had talked. It didn't really look capable, but there was no other explanation for the sound.) Was huge, towering over the Orc as the orc practically towered over Kryth.

The wizard put his hand to his forehead, the other still on Khan's back as he said "This can only end poorly."

((Let's keep this going a little longer if we can. lol. Also, don't forget to smack him over the head so he develops his little speech impediment. ))

[Khan]

Khan stared up at the metal giant in silent awe for a moment. "Huh." He grunted. "Don't know how that thing snuck up on me. I must have gotten hit on the head harder than I thought." His silent pondering on the stealth capabilities of a 9 foot tall robot was sadly cut short when the giant's other clenched fist came crashing into Khan's side with lightning speed. He flew across the street and smashed into a road side, bending the metal bar into a distinctly orc-like shape before smacking down into the cold, wet cement.

Khan staggered to his feet and looked at the robot, who seemed to have turned his attention to this "Kryth" person. "Oh, that was good." The orc said, cracking his neck. "But this guy has now officially pissed me off." He drew his beloved blade, Sonja, and swept her in a circular pattern across the ground as he readied himself for the fight. With a bloodcurdling battle cry, Khan dashed into the fray. His fiendish assault didn't turn out quite the way he had planned, however, since as soon as he was in range, the steam forged simply turned around and grabbed the squirming little orc, lifted him into the air, and began squeezing with all its might.

[Allule]

The orc shaped metal sign post, and, more to the point, Khan's direct approach to fighting the steam forged were definitely not what Kryth had expected. However, a piece of obviously new day technology was not going to get away with squishing anyone in his presence. Frowning yet again, as it seemed he was ever more likely to do these days, he began to concentrate. Moments later, the runes on his staff began to glow.

The beam of blue light lanced out of the end of the staff, which was now leveled at the steam powered entity. The blast hit the steamforged flat in the face, the power of the blow obviously staggering him, as well as causing him to drop the Orc. Sighing in relief, Kryth allowed the magic to flow out of him, only realizing that this new source of assault had caused the Steamforged to choose a new target for it's rush. Him.

"Oh f--" was the only thing he managed to say before being hit solidly into the side of the building just next to the sign post Khan had just rammed into. It hurt like hell. Fortunately for me, however Kryth thought to himself, more than a bit smugly, Wizards are a bit more durable than normal humans. He had probably cracked a few ribs. More than enough to deal with. But he had a feeling that the blow should have shattered his ribcage. One doesn't get hit with a set of armor being pumped through with water and typically live to tell the tale.

And with that, thought, he finally smacked face first into the ground, groaning at the pain.

[Khan]

The steamforged's gears whirred ceaselessly as it approached the downed wizard. It stood still for a moment, then lifted its giant foot in the air with the intent of squashing Kryth's head like a grape. Suddenly, a fairly large rock cracked into the giant's grey head, and it turned to glare at it's attacker. Another rock careened towards it, and snapped right in between the robot's "eyes". The metal beast groaned, then staggered from the force of the impact.

Across the street stood Khan, drenched in rain, sword sheathed, and holding two more large stones. "Sorry to ruin your fun, big boy." He said, tossing the rock in his right hand up and down. "But I'm not done with you yet."

The robot, still apparently quite disoriented, staggered towards the orc, a crazed look in its "eyes".

[Allule]

As the Steamforged drifted away from Kryth, it's head now bearing a sizable dent from the rock that had just collided with it, the wizard managed to pull himself back into a standing position. The Steamforged, however, it seemed, was now having difficulty navigating. It staggered around a little before seemingly getting it's bearings.

Mumbling something that sounded vaguely like "Hurt..." to itself, it reached up to touch the dent in its head and then rushed, howling with fury, towards the orc, heedless of the rocks Khan still held.

Kryth watched, slightly amused. It seemed that that first throw hadn't done any wonders for what ever the thing used for a brain.