The womanizer’s guide to Axiom is the result of a one on one texted based game between myself and Mark Bell. It takes place on the fantasy world of Axiom and follows a spoiled merchants son as he gets in over his head!
Chapter 6
To say that Titus awoke unhappy would be an understatement. This had not been how he wanted to start his day.
While he was definitely going to have his bruises he was lucky to be alive after a wreck like that, though, in truth, he did not feel lucky. He pulled himself up from the medium sized grass which had stained his shirt. He then pulled a twig out of his hair and sighed.
He looked around him, the thief and driver were nowhere to be found and neither was any sign of the cart or horses, he determined he must have been thrown quite a ways but in which direction? Where was the road? A glint of something caught his eye in the grass a couple of feet from him. He crawled over to it and found the amulet Gael had been wearing laying on the ground. It had a strange eye design to it that made him feel as though it was staring at him
Brushing despondently at his ruined shirt, he sighed. ‘All of this over a little trinket,’ he thought as he picked it up. Titus did notice that the stain on his shirt was small, and one a modestly talented laundress could take out. Where were those two women?
Titus did a little mental math from his navigation training in the company. He decerned his position in relation to the town but with the harrowing action of the cart chase had no way of finding the road again.
To return to the port it would be a long hike though the very dangerous island jungles for who knows how long. Alternatively Titus could see some smoke trails from what was probably a settlement a mile or so to the west.Looking around, Titus weighed his options. Heading back to the port was, honestly, a pretty terrible idea. While the women had probably headed for the village to the west, he had to look around to be sure.
A Sudden Twig snap in the forest behind Titus and the hairs on the back of his neck stood up. He spun just in time to see the last remaining Pirate from the cart chase bringing up his gun and thumbing back the hammer.
Titus dove to the right and the gun fired, he barely felt the lead ball graze his shoulder as the impending danger pumped adrenaline again into his system. He landed in the sandy dirt and sparse grass of the jungle floor. The pirate had spent his shot, Titus knew it was now or never and scrambled to his feet reaching for his rapier.
The pirate also knew this and dropped his pistol pulling his Cutlass as he charged Titus. His first slash was hard and heavy and looking to end the noblemen quickly. Titus nimbly dodged it, ducking low, he then rolled backwards with a perfect tumble coming back up to his feet with his sword ready this time.
The pirate scowled at the fancy tumbling show and rushed forward with one slash after another. A brutal and forceful barrage from the pirate looking to overwhelm his intended target. Titus however was far from ill experienced with a blade. He stayed calm, parrying and diverting the incoming attacks with precision. His heart beating he had to continue to remind himself to stay calm, to look for an opening to remember his training.
The pirate finally took a huge overhand strike at Titus, who was already dancing under the blade and sliding around behind the pirate, a flash of his steel and as he passed his rapier caught the sword arm of his assailant who yowled and dropped the blade.
Titus brought up the point to the back of the pirates neck, “It’s over, mate.”
He allowed himself to smile, having bested this seasoned brigande would..
The pirate’s other hand went towards the spare dagger in his belt, “Don’t! It’s over.”
The pirate chuckled, “Pretty boy don’t have the guts.”
The pirate grabbed his blade and spun, Titus reacted on instinct with an angry yell pushing the tip of the fine blade into the throat of the Pirate. His eyes went wide as he sputtered for air that would not come. He dropped the knife, the fight leaving him as quickly as his life. Titus pulled the blade out and the Pirate uselessly grabbed for the wound trying to stem the flow of blood. He collapsed against a tree and slid down it.
Titus stood in shock as the man ceased to exist in front of him, by his hand. There was a moment of weight for Titus, before he remembered his name and his family and righted himself, flicking the blood off his blade and cleaning the rest of it off on the pirate’s jacket. He had no time for self reflection. He picked up the pirates discarded gun and then checked his belt for ammo, finding a few balls and powder wads he loaded the weapon just to be prepared and set about to his next task, finding the woman he had rode with.
He would have to, he had been driven to everywhere on the island being a VIP guest so even if he could find his way back to the road he would have no idea how to get to the port. No his only chance would be finding the thieves, hoping they were still alive and throwing his lot in with them, at least until he could find civilization again.
Something he was already missing.
The Last Tea Shop. A solo TTRPG playthrough. Written by Ash Alder and narrated by Zachariah Van Sluyters
