Longbeard avait pensé qu'il serait le premier à arriver. Il s'était réveillé avec le soleil et s'était tiré dès qu'il avait mis le chapeau sur sa tête. Il n'y avait pas vraiment besoin de se préparer ou de se nettoyer : une simple touche du poignet ôtait toute la poussière et la saleté de ses vêtements. Puis il était parti, glissant sur le paysage déserté avec une grâce indéniable.
Il avait passé les deux jours à Devon, en tirant la brise avec certains habitants, et en utilisant son talent particulier avec la terre pour les aider de diverses façons. Il a purifié un puits pour un couple d'environ son âge, et il a aidé une paire de jeunes hommes soulever des planches lourdes en position par l'utilisation de ce qui équivaut à des ascenseurs de pierre. Les choses fondamentales : il savait que le monde considérait son espèce comme dangereuse et adorant le diable, donc il était toujours dans son esprit de laisser une bonne impression. Astucez votre chapeau à tous ceux que vous rencontrez, et faites-vous mieux de quitter un endroit mieux que vous le trouvez.
Maintenant, il était sur la route--plutôt, il était dehors et se déplaçait, parce qu'il n'y avait plus de routes--en-tête pour le point de rencontre qu'ils avaient décrit deux jours plus tôt. Ça allait être une mission difficile. Il ressentait ce genre de choses dans ses os, et ses os lui disaient de se préparer au pire.
Heureusement pour ses os, Longbeard était toujours préparé pour le pire, surtout quand il se dirigeait vers l'Helscape. Ce n'était donc pas une surprise pour lui quand il passa un oiseau mort en sortant. Juste un autre présage à ce qu'il attendait déjà. Il était déjà en mouvement depuis un moment quand la première tache d'êtres vivants a surgi à l'horizon. Avec eux vint l'Helscape, et Longbeard dut prendre un moment pour reprendre son souffle.
L'Helscape. Même maintenant, après des décennies de surveillance de l'endroit et d'aventure dans ces terres abandonnées, les voyant encore amenait la peur engourdissante dans son cœur. Un endroit si dépourvu de vie que la terre elle-même saignait le feu rouge. La seule bonne chose à propos de l'Helscape était la quantité complètement ridicule d'obsidiens qui gisait juste autour. Pendant qu'il était dans ces parties, il n'aurait pas besoin de balles de pierre régulières, parce qu'il y avait assez de la roche noire ici pour le garder en réserve et tirer jusqu'au jour où il est mort, et puis certains. En outre, les balles obsidiennes étaient beaucoup plus faciles à charmer que les mélanges de pierres hétérogènes comme il était habitué à, et ils étaient fougueusement tranchants et endommageant en outre.
"Chez-vous!" Il a appelé à l'approche. Flynt était là--comment le jeune bâtard est-il allé partout plus vite qu'il ne l'a fait, de toute façon?--avec Essex et, Reginald supposait, les autres dans le groupe des arpenteurs. Un goliath ancien que Longbeard ne connaissait pas, et une très jolie petite femme qu'il aurait aimé apprendre à mieux connaître, n'était-il qu'une décennie ou deux plus jeunes. Aujourd'hui, son intérêt pour les belles femmes était purement optique. Il avait vu assez de gens mourir en s'approchant de Mages pour savoir où tracer la ligne.
"Mornez-vous tous. Essex. Flynt. Content qu'on ne soit pas encore morts. Et qui êtes-vous?" Il demanda poliment, en donnant son chapeau aux étrangers.
"Ludo Greene." Dit l'Ancien. Rien de plus.
"Jane Wrathebone", a dit la jolie naine. Elle a pris sa main fermement et serrée. "Jane à mes amis. Content de ne pas faire connaissance, Longbeard." À son sourcil levé, elle se branla doucement. "Ahhh, ta réputation te précède, Stoneheart! Une relique dans une mer o'nubiles, n'est-ce pas?"
-- Comme vous le dites, madame, dit Longbeard, souriant doucement à la franchise de la femme. "Enchanté de vous rencontrer aussi, Jane. J'espère qu'on travaillera bien ensemble. Je dois m'assurer qu'on revienne tous en un seul morceau, hey?" Il s'est redressé et a regardé autour. "Et où sont nos beaux gars? Ils manquent un beau jour."
Name:
Reginald Dubois
Alias:
Reggie, Stoneheart, Longbeard
Sex:
Male
Age:
61
Date of Birth:
August 3rd
Race:
Human
Appearance:
Longbeard is an old man, and he knows it. His sharply-angled face is lined with wrinkles, his hazel eyes are razor-edged and alert, his hair is gray and thinning, and his posture is sharp and indicative of a long life. He walks with a slight stoop, but he'll be damned to hell before he needs a cane. He walks on his own two feet, and his own two feet alone.
In his youth, Reggie was a big man: easily six feet tall, and broad as an ox. Nowadays Reginald isn't as quite strong as he used to be, but a strict regiment of exercise and diet has kept him at his fighting best. Put him toe-to-toe with any normal man thirty years his younger, and Reginald will put him to the ground easy.
His nickname comes from his beard, of course: Reginald hasn't shaved the bastard in ten years, and it comes down to his sternum in a well-groomed wave. It's as gray as the rest of his hair, but Longbeard takes great pride in his facial hair. He was once heard joking that the bastard who takes his beard is "the bastard who'll kill me dead".
Reginald's brand is on his left bicep.
Biography
Reginald's been a mage his entire life. From the get-go, when he was born to a tough father and doting mother, he had an affinity. His mother told him how a heaping helping of dust pressed up against their little house on all sides when he was born. There was no doubt as to his purpose in life, and as soon as he was old enough, his father shipped him off to train with the mages.
Earth mages are not unique, especially not in the Living Lands, where nearly everything is dirt and dust. In fact, they are some of the most common, with pure-earth mages being a well-known and powerful section of the Mage Order. With an endless supply of bullets and a large collection of well-documented spells, it is easy to train in earth spells exclusively, and never need to branch out at all.
Therefore, it is not Longbeard's magic that makes him unique, but rather his age. Few Mages of the day live to be as old as he, with most dying in battles, duels, or by accident. But Reginald was careful, cunning, and above all else, stubborn. From his earliest days in the order, even as a young boy, his teachers had to urge him to take more risks, to try some of the bigger spells.
Partly due to his stubborn nature, and partly due to a fear of failure, Reginald refused. Instead, he took the basic spells and spent a decade mastering them. While other young Earth mages were creating enormous cavern systems, or branching into fire, air, or electricity, to name a few, Reginald was mastering geokinesis. He learned every possible way to shave time off his reload and his formation of bullets. He practiced creating stalagmites day after day, really just too scared to try anything harder.
And so when he passed the final exams to become a fully-licensed Mage, it was to the surprise of some of his friends and classmates. Reggie had never shown any impressive techniques at his practical display test, but it was his technical prowess which impressed the masters. Reggie quickfired faster than any earth mage in recent memory. His aim was on another level entirely, and clusters of slender, lethal stalagmites all but annihilated the simple targets that had been set up as makeshift enemies.
It could be argued that Longbeard's mastery of the basics is what has kept him alive so long. He knows his limits better than anyone, and he instinctively knows if a bit of magic will be too much for him. After mastering the basics, when Reggie finally mustered up the nerve to try some more interesting techniques, he found them almost trivial, while other mages struggled desperately. In fact, Longbeard even invented a few brand new spells, which belong to him alone.
More than that, his intimate knowledge of geokinesis allowed him to develop a style of fighting as fluid and organic as the demons they fought. He learned to zip around the battlefield, taking shots from upside-down, mid-flip, that most gunslingers would be proud to hit standing up and steady.
For years and years, Reggie patrolled the Living Lands, gaining a reputation as a stone-hearted man unphased by anything. The name stuck, and Stoneheart has been active ever since. Despite his nickname, Stoneheart was a good-natured man with a quiet sense of humor, but he was first-and-foremost known for his deadshot aim, and his skill with the earth and stone.
As he aged, Reggie knew he could no longer fight with such aplomb as he had in his younger years. He began adapting, using his agility spells to aid in movement, instead of amplifying it. He could still move as fast as a man thirty years younger, and jump a good deal higher through his magic. No more flips, of course, but with his aim and his powerful array of spells, Reginald no longer viewed acrobatics to be practical or 'cool'.
A decade back, in XXX6, an old flame of his told Reginald that "he still looked like a baby-faced prattle". Exactly that day, Reginald stopped shaving, in a foolish attempt to win that woman back. It didn't work, of course, but by the time he realized it wasn't working, he'd already gotten too many compliments on the beard to quit.
For ten years, he let his beard grow. Somewhere along the way he picked up the name Longbeard, and since he never told anyone to call him otherwise, Stoneheart gradually became Longbeard instead.
Now Longbeard is one of the oldest mages still active in the field. He is sought after by other mages for his years of experience and his more...tempered outlook on the world. The fiery youths think he has some secret to his success, so it's always amused him to watch their faces fall when he tells them about his own training.
Reginald is also asked along on many important missions into the Helscape, due to his honed senses, mastery of his craft, and the fact that even the Devil himself probably couldn't scare old Longbeard.

Combat Information
Mage Status:
Yes
Equipment:
Paradiso: Longbeard's old revolver, Paradiso has been around longer than most Mages. A special make by an old--and dead--friend, Paradiso has a seven shot barrel, which would make reloading difficult if not for Reggie's magical aptitude. As it happens, that extra shot has led to a few interesting standoffs, where the enemy loses by counting shots, and counting them incorrectly.
Bertha: An ancient weapon of stone and steel, Longbeard won this short, sharp knife off an Ancient fourty years ago. It's balanced for throwing, though Reggie tends to simply control the arc of the blade with magic when he does throw it. Most of the time it's used in close range, bolstered by magic.
Tamarand: In that same game, Longbeard won Tamarand--a spear of middling length, the point is made of steel and the shaft is made of stone, but to Reginald it weighs next to nothing.
Pouch of Stones: A simple pouch carrying a variety of stones and metals, from rubies and sapphires to marble chunks and obsidian flakes. Used in his spellcasting.
Spells - FIREARM:
Stone Bullets: Longbeard's specialty is, and always will be, the earth. His bullets come from the earth, carved from marble, granite, obsidian, or just plain rubble if need be. Gemstones are fair game as well. Certain materials like the aforementioned stone types increase his magic's strength, but any old earth will do. In that sense, Reginald really can never run out of ammunition. A simple flick of the wrist reloads his revolver, and he's ready to go again.
Underspear: By shooting a stone bullet at the ground, Longbeard can aim a quick spear of rock, erupting from the ground to skewer anything above it. This is one of the most basic earth spells one can learn, but Reginald's decades of refinement allow him to fire off bursts of stalagmites faster than the eye can blink. Can be cast with any weapon made of stone.
Chasm: Another common earth spell, a pair of shots opens up a deep canyon below the target, tracing the line between the two bullets. Useful for swallowing enemies whole, as the chasm only lasts for a short time. Or, in Longbeard's case, several chasms can be used to trap a land-based enemy in place.
Wall: A third simple spell, but made immeasurably more powerful through the use of granite, Wall, as it suggests, creates a wall of stone where the bullet hits the ground, protecting it's caster from incoming attacks. Can be cast with any weapon made of stone.
Sinkhole: A common, but complicated spell, Sinkhole creates a never-ending patch of dirt which looks identical to any other patch of dirt, with the slight difference of sucking anyone unlucky enough to be caught in it into an early and wet death. Used mainly as a trap.
Red Death: A specialty shot requiring rubies to function, this spell pulverizes the ruby into trillions of tiny shards, sending a cloud of razor sharp flecks toward enemies. If it breathes, the enemy inhales the shards and is cut to ribbons from the inside.
Guillotine: Requiring Obsidian to function, Guillotine is one of Longbeard's special creations. Upon firing, the bullet forms into a razor sharp disk, whirling at into enemies at bullet-speed. Guillotine returns in a linear path after being fired, often catching enemies unawares. Reginald has yet to find a material that the spell can't cut through.
Anchor: Sandstone based, Anchor is used to freeze enemies in place. Upon making contact with the enemy, a surprising amount of liquid sandstone flows over the target, hardening rapidly and preventing the target from moving. This works best for fast targets or flying enemies.
Boulder: Diamond based, the fired bullet grows to a massive size, steamrolling over anything in its path at ridiculously fast speeds.
Spells - OTHER:
Longbeard also maintains a variety of non-firearm based magic, of which the most prevalent are...
Flow: A movement spell which allows Longbeard to slide around on the ground as if roller-skating. While useful, it can also be dangerous, as if he is struck while Flow is active, Longbeard won't stop when he hits the ground. Instead, he will just keep sliding until the spell ends, after 15 seconds.
Launcher: Another movement spell in which a pair of small circles beneath him launch Longbeard into the air, letting him get a better angle on his opponents. Upon landing, the earth gently catches him to prevent damage. Only works with dirt or stone beneath his feet.
Geokinesis: Low level manipulation of stone, Longbeard can use geokinesis to create his bullets in a fraction of second, or to control his other weapons made of stone at a distance. This, for example, makes Longbeard's knife a deadly throwing weapon.