Short bit of fiction

Here is something I decided to write on the spot, for the amusement of all. If writing such random things is not considered expedient by those who can fuck my shit up, then please inform me. And I mean fuck my shit up in the forum-status sense, not physically. There are some who can, but not many, and not including my Special Forces older brother. Heh heh. Yeah, I'm a little concieted.
Just a warning, this story is excessively violent and fairly pointless. The world often is.

The tall, mail-clad orc walked into the tavern. He glanced around, and noted the number of patrons. There were just over a dozen. Just few enough that killing them all wouldn't be terribly awkward. He was only being paid to kill one of them, but he perferred to leave no witnesses. But first, a drink. Sitting down at the bar, he called,
"A pint of stout, barkeeper."
The barkeeper happened to be an young human woman with the face of an angel and the body of a goddess. The orcish bounty hunter speculated that she might overflow the low-cut top of her bodice at the slightest exertion. This beauty handed him a large metal pint mug, which he recieved with a lecherous grin. She took no notice and moved to the next customer. The orc drained the mug in two gulps, and stood up. He drew an odd-looking weapons from a leather case hanging from his belt. It was a metal shaft about two feet long, and tipped with a clawed steel hand. A stocky elf sitting on the stool to his right began to draw his short sword. The orc brought the mace down in a lightning-fast arc, crushing the unfortunate elf's skull and splattering blood all over the bar and the suprised bartender. She opened her mouth to scream, but the orc slammed the steel hand into her temple. He ripped the hand out of her skull with a wet sound, and turned to face the rest of the customers. By this time, everyone with a weapon had it drawn, and were snarling and cursing at the murderous orc. He grinned and ran a blood-soaked hand through his long red hair. A muscular human charged him, thrusting with a broadsword. In one smooth motion, the orc parried the thrust and disemboweled his unarmored opponent with an upward clawing motion of the mace. Kicking the falling body out of the way, he ducked under an axe swing and clubbed the attacking elf twice in quick succesion. Two sisters, also elves, lunged at him from both sides with steel war hooks. He siezed the wrist of one assailant while he dispatched the other, then turned and sliced her throat with her own hook. Four strapping farmhands attempted to wrestle him to the ground, but they were simply clubbed and torn like the others. An old man attempted to slip past him to the door, but he embedded the mace-hand into the back of his neck and slammed him to the ground. After kicking a merchant through a table, the orc came face-to-face with his target. The man was average height, but built like a bear. He wielded a great two-handed sword, and the orc realized too late that it was glowing with the elemental power of Fire. The massive blade hissed downward, trailing flame, and sliced right through the orc's mace shaft, through his mail and helm, and through his flesh and bones, splitting him from brow to groin. The bear-like warrior glanced around the blood-spattered room.
"Just a pity I don't move so fast."

 

Very nice writing Sigurd, do you write a lot or is that your only work? I myself write poetry, though I haven't written any in awhile.

 

Um, Sigurd, have you considered seeking professional help? There are people out there who can alleviate your condition. Sure, the world is violent, cruel, and often absurd, but it doesn't mean you have to fantasize that it were more so.

 

Good piece of writing, Sigurd. Wouldn't you mind making a less violent one, though? Too much violence for that amount of content. Nevertheless, keep it up.

 

Thanks for the compliment. Yes, as a single piece of work, it contains too much violence and little to none plot or character. What I wrote was simply a sample, and will likely make it's way into a chapter of the novel I'm currently working on. I have written huge amounts of text, for this novel and other things, but nothing concise and finished as of yet. I believe this answers DarkTemplar's question:

The actual novel contains plenty of rich, in-depth plot and character development, but I just enjoy writing short, brutal combat sequences every so often. It stimulates my creativity. There was little to no editing on that by the way. Freewriting is my usual method of story creation. The ending line is one of my trademarks. I'll find another combat sequence I wrote recently and post it at some point so you can see what I mean.
By the way, Dark Underlord, in case you were thinking that this was an Arcanum fan-fic piece, I can see why you would, but like I said before, it's part of a much larger body of work that I hope to finish and publish within a year or two.

 

HAHAHAHAHAH! Figlio di putanna! Okay...that was funny. By your logic, any artist who produces violent art or entertainment is therefore a sociopath. Interesting idea, but it won't get you very far. I just happen to find violent storytelling interesting, as do most people. After all, violence is ingrained in the human soul. You can disagree, but then why have we humans been brutally, unspeakeably violent all through the ages? If you are an Arcanum player, how can you complain about violence? That game is rated M for a reason, Labyrinthian. Read my other post for why it contains only violence and no characterazation.

 

Hmm, Dark Underlord, there's a fanfic section here? Mind if I ask where exactly?
I might actually try writing an Arcanum fanfic one day. Mostly for English practice and my own amusement, of course, but if it turns out to make some kind of sense, I might even bring it to your judgement...

 

Nice story, it wasn't that violent.

 

Okay...I just figured I send two posts addressing two different things. I didn't want to reply to the people making legitimate remarks in the same breath as telling Labyrinthian that he was a fool. By the way, would anyone like to see more writing? I could post it in Fanfic on the Terra Arcanum website, but it seems as if all the links there are broken.

 

I'd say yes, go ahead and write some more. Just try to put a bit more plot in it.

That means 'son of a bitch', doesn't it? I suppose you weren't being serious...

 

Well then, just post 'em here. We can check them out easily, comment on the spot, and save ourselves the horrible inconvenience of being forced to move our asses up to the main T-A site with its dreadful broken links.

 

Hey there is a fan fic section on Sierra's Arcanum forum.

I'm currently doing a story there, link http://community.vugames.com/WebX?14@31.gnCvcQDQACQ.5217057@.effa57c

BTW nice story.

 

Yes, it does. Did you just look that up, or did you have prior knowledge of vulgar Italian slang? By the way, figlio is pronounced "Feel-yo", not "Fig-lee-oh," for anyone who doesn't know. The gl makes the lya sound, just like the gn in pignoli makes a nya sound. That's your Italian lesson for the day.

I was being serious, but I wasn't calling Labyrinthian a son of a bitch. I was using it as a simple exlamation, like, "Holy shit!"

 

All right. Guess it's time to reply.

First off, I don't use smileys. I meant the seek help thing as a joke, though I meant the second part seriously. I can see how that didn't come across.

Second, if there had been characterization, or, well, substance of any sort, I probably wouldn't have thought twice about it. When I responded, you hadn't explained why there was none. Even so, don't you think it's a bit telling that an ultraviolent scene (eh, Alex, up for a bit of the ultraviolence, mmm?) is how you brainstorm?

I may be exaggerating, but it would seem that about a fifth of your posts have some reference to a) how tough you are b) how much you like to hurt people you don't like or c) violent in and of itself. I was commenting on those posts, too, not just the writing.

Finally, I'm no priss. I've studied martial arts for years (wu-wei, jeet kun do, aikido). I was a wrestler. I enjoy sparring, and the thrill it gives me. Luckily, I've never had to fight in anger, but I would do so if I had to. I hope I never have to. I like John Woo and Quentin Tarantino (loved kill bill) because the violnce carries with it meaning, commentary upon itself. What you posted was no more than a descriptive pornography of pain. For the same reason, I play RPGs and like them, while I don't enjoy mindless FPSs nearly as much. Violence is at times necessary, but saying it is part of the human condition is moot and empty. Quite a few things have been massively prevalent facets of the human condition, and yet they should not be celebrated. One could argue (and win the argument) that slavery, rape, torture, genocide, racism, inequality, ignorance, famine, and disease are all inherent in the human psyche, and yet I doubt you would support most, if any of those things, revel in them as you revel in descriptions of murder. And revel you do, for you obviously unabashedly take pleasure in pain. That makes you a sadist, even if only in the mind (though your descriptions of your sheer joy in beating people up in real life perhaps betray a more active sadism). You are not holding up to mankind a mirror so that he can see, and perhaps understand the violence in his soul. It would seem, at least, that you are just getting off on it. Yes, violence is part of humanity, but it is not a good part. It should portrayed in art, understood, but not celebrated.

 

That's good that you don't use them, because they are gay. Okay, I can see now what you were saying, and I guessed that maybe you were joking with the first part, and my reply was somewhat sarcastic as well. I didn't mean to be an asshole though, even though I probably came across that way.

Okay, so It's cool that you know that it wasn't supposed to be a standalone piece. I didn't mean that violence helps me brainstorm per say, it's just an easy and quick way to get some content down on the page. I mostly brainstorm by creating characters in my head while at work, school, etc, developing them, and then writing them down when I get home. Obviously none of the characters in the bar fight were developed at all, but they will be. Oh, and good quote from Clockwork Orange. Great movie, but I couldn't take the rape scene. I hate rape.

You may be right. I admit that I have more violent thoughts than perhaps the average person, and here is what I was really talking about with the "violence is in the soul" thing. What I meant was, everybody has violent thoughts of some kind, and most people just supress them. While one should not carry these out in real life, I think it's probably good to bring them to the surface at times in art. The "i'm a tough guy" bit at the beginning of my first post on this thread was more of a joke than anything else, but it ended up making me sound like an asinine, belicose braggart. Sorry about that. I do have good-self esteem, but I don't think I'm "the toughest/greatest person in the world." Sometimes I just come off sounding like that when I'm really just making a joke. I don't actually enjoy hurting people in and of itself, but when that person deserves it richly, it gives me a certain satisfaction. Have you ever been in a fight with your brother (if you have one)? If so, you know what I'm talking about. Your probably also referring to the post I made a day or so ago (I don't remember what thread) about beating up a guy who hurt my sister. Okay...I probably overreacted in that instance, but it's just in my nature to be violently protective over any woman, not just those I love. I can't help that I'm like that.

Don't tell me that Tarentino doesn't revel in violence. The "Showdown at the House of the Blue Flowers" was quite possibly the most violent fight scene I've ever seen, and also perhaps one of the best. But not because of the excessive violence, but because it was amusing, shocking, and well coreagraphed. Like I said before, my post was only so intesely violent because it's part of a bigger picture which I didn't (and probably should have) portrayed because I didn't want to make it too long.

Okay...so I explained that comment earlier, and you are right, it didn't really have alot to do with what you were saying.

I don't take pleasure in pain. I guess you'll just have to trust me on that one. I don't enjoy seeing other people hurt, unless they have earned that pain by causing similar agony to another human. Thus, I support capital punishment. I'm not a sadist, and I already explained about beating people up. I've never injured somebody just because. That's a ridiculous, barbaric thing to do.

Your right, violence is not good in and of itself. But sometimes there can be a cause for violence that is very good indeed, be it protecting those that are weaker or defending yourself and those that you love. The Orc bounty hunter is the bad guy, not the good guy, and he gets his reward at the end.

Sorry this is so long, but you made me really think about what I was writing and how I felt about these things, and so I thank you, Labyrinthian. I can only hope there will be no hard feelings.