Graffiti of Wrath<br/><br/>As you approach the firsts of the busts, one of the men, surprisingly quick-witted at this time of night, points you out, and the men array. They appear to be members of the Hooded Executioners, from their outfits. The leader, a rather more seasoned man, calls out to you. 'Halt, and state your business here!' All are rather on edge from the inexplicable butchering that happened earlier this night.<br/><br/>Son of Wrath actually chuckles as he approaches the group, momentarily ignoring his coadjutator's bellowing for blood.  He doesn't reach for his weapon just yet, but he doesn't slow to a stop either.  "Easy, there!  I'm just here to deliver a message."<br/><br/>The man at the forefront raises an eyebrow. 'Rather large for a messenger, aren't you?' he asks, though the weapons are not held at quite such an aggressive angle anymore.<br/><br/>The Slayer smiles, a horrible grin that looks only marginally less scary without the blood staining it.  Good thing it's dark out.  "No, I don't think so.  I'm just the man for this sort of message."  He continues approaching slowly, gauging the distance.<br/><br/>The men raise their weapons. 'That's about far enough to give your message, I'd say.' You're approximately ten yards away from the men. The moon is empty tonight, and the night is quite dark. It would be darker, were it not for the lights reflecting off of low clouds from Nexus.<br/><br/>"What are you talking about?  I never said the message was for you."  Even as he's finished speaking, Wrath explodes forward, suddenly faster than any mortal could manage as he hurtles toward the man in the lead. Laughing, Wrath bolts toward the man in front, seizing the handle of his great axe and swinging in a broad, sweeping arc, aiming to bisect the leader as he runs past, already whirling mid-step to meet the counterattacks of his subordinates.<br/><br/>The man lets out a cry, but by some miracle, your blow glances off of his sword, just missing him, the men turning in a furor, staring, before one of them, suicidally brave, runs towards you, followed by another, both of them chopping at you with the iron swords they carry.<br/><br/>Wrath twists his grimcleaver, flicking it left and right, deflecting both blades with casual indifference.  Half-spinning to deliver a brutal roundhouse kick to the head of the nearest man, he comes out of the spin shoving past the soldier, focusing his Essence as he aims a brutal downward chop to splatter the leader all over the road.<br/><br/>The nearest man lets out a grunt as your foot collides with his skull, knocking him, out, nose a bloody mess, and the leader has just enough time to lift his sword and see it snap in half like tinfoil as your blade slices him in half, sending blood spraying across the road. The other men stare, horrified, for a moment, before springing into action.<br/><br/>The three remaining men stare, seeing how quickly you've splattered their leader, and two charge at you, one backing away, and running in terror towards the city. The two men attack you, but their wild swings are barely worth the time of parrying.<br/><br/>Wrath sidesteps the inept soldiers' attacks, and whirls his axe in a low, backhand swing, aiming to chop them both down in one blow.  If he succeeds, he saunters after the fleeing soldier, in no hurry just yet and happy to let the man think he's safe.<br/><br/>Your axe cuts through both men with the noise of wet fabric being torn, bisecting them, their torsos spraying blood across the grass of the plains. The man, running as hard as he can, looks back, and even as you move at your own relaxed pace, it's clear he's only barely gaining distance on you.<br/><br/>Once Wrath regains his balance properly, he re-straps his axe to his back, before breaking into a full run, closing in on the soldier with a manic grin on his face.<br/><br/>The man looks behind him again. A terrible idea, even at the best of times. And now, he notices you're catching up. He pushes himself, but his body refuses to move faster, even as it strains itself to try to keep distance from you- In four seconds, you're upon him.<br/><br/>With a laugh, Wrath lunges, aiming to seize the man in a vicious chokehold from behind.  (Either 15 or 12 dice to clinch, depending on whether I have to flurry a dash to stay in range.  Base crush damage is 4B piercing.)<br/><br/>The man lets out a strangled cry as your arms close around his throat, choking and kicking helplessly in your grip.<br/><br/>Son of Wrath sighs as his grip tightens on the man's throat, yanking him back.  "Pathetic.  I suppose I can't fault you for wanting to live, pathetic as you are, but you could at least face the inevitability with an ounce of dignity."<br/><br/>There's a sound, rather like a plastic cup being crushed, as the man's legs kick, and then stop, the body going limp. That's four down, just the still-unconcious man to go.<br/><br/>Cheerfully, Wrath hauls the man back to the others, before moving to examine the Stone of Exile, and tests its hardness carefully with the edge of his grimcleaver.<br/><br/>It appears to be hard, but nothing more than standard stone. Certainly, it will not last long against the blade of your Grimcleaver.<br/><br/>After slaking his bloody thirst with gusto, Son of Wrath hefts his axe and smashes it into the Stone, slowly rending most of it into rubble.  He leaves only a chunk intact at the bottom, a few feet tall, which he tears free of the ground, before hacking up the landscape so as to obfuscate where the city's boundary actually is. The rubble, he strews at random.  The displaced chunk of the Stone, he sets up nearly a mile too close to the city, with the formerly-unconscious soldier's head and shoulders propped up in macabre imitation of the Emissary's bust; the original bust, he hacks into too many pieces to properly recognize. And what's left of the soldiers, he buries in an unmarked grave, leaving them no grave goods except for a hunk of dried yeddim feces found on the road. After Wrath finishes writing insults to the city and the Emissary in blood on the remaining chunk of the Stone, he heads north, eager to repeat the process.<br/><br/>The work is long, taking nearly half an hour to finish, but finish you do, leaving you ready to make your way on to the next statue, to leave it in the same state as this one.<br/><br/>Reward: 8 experience for Son of Wrath, and Backing 2.