The Black Hand - Meat

Newbie Joined: Mar 05, 2010 Posts: 58

A Day in the Life

In the high mountains of Kinmoku, a large green beast becomes little more than a blur when concealed by the mist that originates from the many waterfalls in the area. This blur bounds about freely, undeterred by the steep pathways or sheer cliff faces that Kinmoku is famous for, heading towards the Tower of The Black Hand.

Entering the tower, he comes to a stop, the figure although humanoid in appearance, is large and hunched over, resting on two massive hands like some abhorrent form of ape.

As some of the members of The Black Hand turn to look towards the entrance, upon recognising the large beast as Meat, a member of their own, they start hastily making their way up the stairs towards the roof of their tower, clubs, kamas and staves in hand.

Meat clambers up the steps, breathing heavily through his nose, snorting like a wild bull as he emerges at the top of the tower, now surrounded by a group of his monks in The Black Hand.

Meat shuns the traditional use of weapons of The Black Hand, preferring to use his massive fists as tools of destruction. He remains hunched over, looking at one of the Monks, wrapped in black, and inching forward with a staff in hand. As Meat lets out a bellowing roar, the stench of death on his breath carries into the group, and signals the beginning of what is destined to be a short fight.

The group spring into action, clubs and staves fly through the air all towards Meat, who's deft footwork and dives allow him to evade most of the blows as he charges to tackle one monk, bringing him down easily with a sickening crunch as they slam into the stone wall.

Six monks still stand, six monks still attacking furiously. One monk, a young looking woman, rather unfortunately lands a blow with her staff against the side of Meat's scarred and weathered face. Meat grins at first, then leaps on top of the woman and holds her down. She holds the staff up against Meat trying to protect herself. Meat only laughs at this, before he bites the staff between her hands, looking into her eyes as the sounds of the staff splintering inside his mouth adds to the terror of the situation she finds herself in.

Meat ignores most of the blows from the other five monks, growling from time to time, still holding the young woman down. With all his weight bearing down on her, he leans his face close to hers and licks her cheek with his massive, slimy tongue. A thick, sticky trail of spit that smells of rotten meats and stale liquids coats the unfortunate woman's face. Meat stands slowly, then starts to laugh as the woman scurries back, gagging from the smell. Although the five other monks have the odds stacked firmly against them, they continue to attack relentlessly. Five remaining monks quickly become four, then three, two and one, as with hard slaps to the chest they one-by-one fall back, the wind knocked from them completely.

The last monk standing is a large framed human, this one carries a kama in one hand, the other kept free to grab or defend himself, should the situation require it, and this situation certainly would require it, as he stares at Meat. The two charge one another, the human swings the kama with precision, it cuts into Meat's shoulder, though little good it does him, as before any other movements can be made Meat has the human in a tight bear hug, squeezing until he nearly passes out.

Dropping the human at his feet, Meat grunts once, victoriously. He then proceeds to pick up each of the seven monks, by ankle, wrist, waist... it makes little difference as he rests them atop each other in a morbid looking pile of near corpses on his back.

As he makes his way back into the tower there is a softly spoken voice...
"Not bad, they lasted three minutes, though I suspect that may have something to do with poor Liana, she's going to need a long bath after that..."

Newbie Joined: Mar 05, 2010 Posts: 58

Part 1.

The tower of The Black Hand is filled with the smells of a large banquet, ranging from traditionally prepared meats to exotic fruits and sweetly spiced desserts. The main hall, where training normally takes place, has been transformed into a scene reminiscent of a Dwarven or Barbarian Clan dining hall. Large barrels are against the walls, each bearing a different label showing the type of alcoholic beverage within, though only the newest members or guests would feel the effects with the more focused monks immune to the toxicity of liquor, able to full enjoy the flavours for the entire course of the night.

Three long oak tables run the length of three walls of the main hall, forming a “U” shape. Meat sits on the floor at the end closest to the front door, his large frame's weight unable to be supported by a chair, and his size too large to fit. The monks that are nearest to him are the newest to join The Black Hand. Whether the higher ranked monks set this design up to put some distance between themselves and Meat, or to help the newly initiated strengthen their fortitude and resolve; the latter would certainly be tested in the coming hours.

Monks of the Grey Hand and White Hand pour into the hall, chattering amongst themselves. They move towards the table, there is not much structure to how they sit, though the three Hands tend to take seats with their own.

Everyone now seated at the table, some food is carried out to the table by a group of smiling plump Gnomes, who quite obviously know the joy to be gained from indulgent over-eating. The first round begin by placing large platters of chilled fresh fruits beside platters of warm grilled vegetables, arranged rather fancily, the display of colour truly something to behold. One of the gnomes carries a platter down towards Meat's end of the table, nervous as Meat licks his lips as he looks, not at the fruits, but at the Gnome. Saliva, thick with mucous and tinged with an inexpressible colour and smell, drips down Meat's chin as he watches the gnome hurry away. Most of the initiates look warily at Meat, to which he retorts with a grin.

The Gnomes start serving the second round of platters, animals. The first Gnome carries two small trays, one with fish and the other with large shark steaks. Both trays placed on the end of the table opposite Meat, now growling at the Gnomes, as they hurry out with more trays of food. The Gnome unlucky enough to be sent to Meat with a tray of charred Mastodon approaches him with knocking knees. Before the tray is set down Meat has grabbed a massive handful and shovelled it into his mouth, almost knocking the Gnome over in the process.

Jürgen, one of the Black Hand initiates unfortunate enough to be sitting on Meat's right, already nauseous at the sight and sound of Meat as he bites into the side of a whole pig, begins to gag as Meat scratches himself under his loin cloth then eats without even wiping his hands. Johan, Jürgen’s younger brother needs to turn away, to stop himself from throwing up, as Meat sucks pig-juice from his thick calloused fingers, caked with bloody grime and fingernails caked with dirt and whatever god-forsaken substance came from scratching himself.

Meat seems pleased with himself as he sprawls out on the floor after having eaten a whole pig leaving nothing, not even bone nor skin, behind. He starts to rub his stomach before letting out a loud, deep burp. It is this that dooms Jürgen, for to be close enough to be subjected to the putrid air that escapes from Meat cannot truly be explained, but a close likeness would be to say that if the bowels of the Abyss had a kitchen, the bin would come a close second to Meat’s belching.

This smell punches Jürgen’s senses as though Meat just jabbed him in the gut. He immediately brings up his dinner, barely digested and soaked with bile and booze, onto his plate. Merin, a small hin woman of the White Hand, springs from her seat, quickly skips across the room to try and distract Meat so that the imminent disaster does not unfurl. Alas, she is too late.

Meat stands up and looks at the vomit on Jürgen’s plate, more accurately notices a particularly large chunk of partly digested Mastodon. He quickly scoops up the entire contents of his plate, letting the liquids sift through his fingers, and then throws the semi-solid remains into his mouth. Johan happened to look back just as Meat slurps down his brother’s pre-chewed meal, almost passing out from the force as he regurgitates his own dinner and slams into the back of his chair.

This sets off a chain reaction, the newer members of the Grey and White hands start to vomit sympathetically. Merin seems to giggle for a moment, as she sees the calm nature of the feast deteriorate into a scramble to buckets for the newest, and grunted and groaned comments of disapproval from the other senior ranks. She eventually settles down herself, and hops onto Meat’s back, telling him to put down Johan, who was almost turned into a meal in the chaos. Meat eventually complies and begins to laugh.

For those that have seen Meat laugh (from a distance) would find it infectious, for he would seem as happy as a pig in mud, a dog with a bone, a cat with yarn, a child with sweets and a raving drunk with a full stein in hand. With this brief advantage, the Gnomes rush about, trying to clean the mess, dessert may have to wait...