I like him because he isn’t the typical necromancer with skulls all over him. His shoulder pads allude to a beaked skull, but nothing is blatantly,
“I’m a necromancer!”
I wanted to keep him somewhat modest but not plain. The three colors I am using are tea jeans, autumn, and fog. The red is the color of blood, but it is so much more, so I wanted a nice looking shade that was moderated by a cool color that wasn’t bright. I like the tea jeans color generally so I picked that. And the white shoulders, boots, and gloves? Fourth of July (here in the US). Also he is a noble necromancer, so he can have white boots and gloves even though they stain easily because he isn’t supposed to get his hands dirty. “Supposed to” being the key words.
He is using berserker gear. The chest piece was transmuted with the light armor guild skin, and the pants were modified by devout leggings skin I purchased with badges in WvW. The axe skin and the staff are from the guild skin vendor, though the focus is just a berserker focus.
Anyway, I hope to win the contest for the outfit with the best story. I don’t like to start my stories off with a disclaimer but this was rushed as I just found out about this contest and I won’t have time to work on this more before the deadline.
Here is the story of Bradley Fairnix:
Walk steady, be cool.
That’s what Bradley Fairnix told himself as he approached the gathering next to the mystic forge in Lion’s Arch, but since he was putting too much effort into following his own advice he knew his guild members would probably read him like a book. There was one sight that made Brad all the more nervous: the group he was approaching was made up of six people. But maybe looks were deceiving. Maybe they haven’t come to their decision yet. Maybe he wasn’t late. Nervous or not, he walked up and filled in a gap next to his long-time friend Athena Hailey.
“So, how do you like my new look?”
As soon as he said that Brad wanted to punch himself for being so direct. Surely he should have opened up with a more polite, ‘Hi everybody. How are we doing this fine evening?’ But he didn’t. Who knows, maybe it was the right decision to be more direct. Only his guildies’ response will tell.
Old Man Fury (everyone called him Arms of Fury, but Brad always thought of him as an old man) looked at him.
“Oh, nice.”
That’s it. That’s all he said. No recognition of the guild logo Brad now proudly displayed on his vestment. No acknowledgment that his staff, held in his hands, and his axe, at his side, also displayed the guild symbol. Right when Fury was about to continue the conversation Brad decided to speak up.
“It’s our guild logo.”
That only got Brad a second
“Oh, yes. Nice.”
Should Bradley Fairnix expect anything different from his guild leader? Maybe not. After all, he would have been disappointed in himself if he led a guild and was impressed by a member’s cheap gimmick. He would also be disappointed in himself if he would include that member into a five-man team on an important mission based on that gimmick. Brad suddenly became disappointed not in the fact that he tried to make a good impression on his guild, but more so that he expected it to work on a prudent, practical man such as Fury.
Old Man Fury continued with his conversation describing the mission. He described his assault on the Nightmare Court from the previous week, as strike he made with a five man team (that didn’t include Brad). Most of the teams the guild put together for these missions didn’t include Brad. He had been away too long fighting the Mist War, a war in which the Chronicles of Fury guild participated infrequently, save for himself and Athena. But after hearing that Athena had been on so many other missions without him to see that she came back he was relieved that nothing had happened to her sooner. Yet it wasn’t just her she worried about. The whole guild was a place of comfort for Brad, even if he didn’t show himself often.
Fury may look old (and he probably was) but he was a fierce warrior, and Brad knew he was going to be a part of the five men on this mission, just as he was in the last. As Fury talked about the splits in the path he didn’t take last time and wanted to take this second time around he seemed to be speaking with the intent of gathering interest. Maybe the decision hadn’t been made yet. The old man seemed really enthusiastic about going up at the first split (rather than going forward) but he didn’t already take off. Athena, Pluto, and Pain were all here, and it was safe to assume that they were already on board with this mission. If the rotating fifth vacancy had not yet been filled then there was hope he would be included. But Brad felt slightly pessimistic that the other two guild members, who he was not very familiar with, would be picked instead.
“What’s wrong Brad?”
Those words didn’t come from Athena, which would have been typical, but Fury himself. Well, great, now the guild leader noticed him moping. Brad couldn’t worry about it. He had to move forward. And the best course of action to move forward was telling the truth.
“Well, I went through the effort to get the guild symbol on my attire, and… I kind of look out of place with it on. I seem to be the only one wearing it. I really do appreciate being a member of this guild. Even though I joined the Chronicles of Fury because of Athena the truth is that I like you all. With all of the fighting I have been doing in the Mist War I have not been thinking much about you guys, true, but now that I hear about how all of you risk your lives for something greater than yourselves it really struck me that I didn’t have to go away to find a worthy cause to fight for when I have a group of friends already doing just that. I know I haven’t been around a lot, and I just come and go as I please, but that’s what I like about you guys. You don’t seem to mind that I do. You have done nothing but been good friends, and it’s my fault I haven’t seen it earlier. I hope to change that tonight.”
Fury looked at him with doubt.
“You do realize that it’s dangerous, right? You could die on this mission.”
“That’s okay with me. If I were to die it would be right to die fighting beside the right people.”
Fury laughed.
“Brad, you don’t need to put a stupid symbol on your clothing to be a part of us. You already are. And now we have our fifth member for our strike team tonight.”
