[center] [h1][b][u]Carn[/u][/b][/h1] & [h1][b][u]Aurielle[/u][/b][/h1] [/center] [hr] Carn had just finished arming and armouring himself when there was a knock at his door. He opened it, expecting to see Ruvar, or Arika, or perhaps even Aurielle, but he found himself staring face to face with two of the village guardsmen. The guards stared at him impassively. “You are required to come with us,” one of them said. “The chieftain demands your presence.” Carn swallowed. Well… this wasn’t good. He had feared that the priest’s ‘prophecy’ would get back to the chief, and now it had. Some part of him had shared Aurielle’s suspicion that this was a mere powerplay, but he had hoped he and his ragtag host would be well away from the village before that happened. No such luck, unfortunately. He saw Arika being marched down the hall by two other guards. With a frown, he decided to follow his own escort. They had knocked, and they had neither drawn their weapons nor made any threats, which Carn took as a good sign. He was marched down the stairs, through the inn’s common room, and out into the village’s main street. There, a crowd had formed. The village chieftain stood upon a raised platform. The priest stood next to him, flanked by a pair of guards and with his hands bound. Oh, great. Carn and Arika were brought up to the platform, their weapons taken from them. “People of Evenstar,” the Chieftain declared in a gruff authoritative voice. “There has been a plot to usurp my authority. A plot to use this bandit threat as an excuse to depose me, and replace me with an outsider! The culprit of this plot stands beside me, our very own priest!” The crowd began to whisper amongst themselves, with a wide variety of emotions. “The priest may be a man of the gods,” the Chieftain continued. “But in this village, my word is law. He claims that Cadien sent him a message, but let me ask you this: when have the gods ever spoken to anyone? Such a thing has never been known to occur, and for a mortal to deem themselves worthy of a divine’s attention would be the height of arrogance!” Auriëlle sat atop a nearby house’s roof, enjoying an apple she did in fact pay for. Though she only just arrived there. If she had seen the guards march, she would’ve warned Carn. Sadly, the gods were once more cruel. Or uncaring. As the chieftain said, claiming to have the attention of a god is just hubris. She couldn’t save them now. Maybe she could kill two of the guards but then she would die too. It was a shame, really. She had grown to like Carn. At least he gave her some excitement. “Been good knowing you, Carn.” She whispered to herself so she wouldn’t get caught atop the roof. “Please,” the priest interjected. “I speak the truth!” “I repeat, to claim the attention of a divine is the height of arrogance! It was you yourself who told us this!” the chieftain declared with an accusatory finger. “Yet now, you claim that Cadien himself spoke to you and decided I was unfit for leadership! So what do you plea? Madness, or treachery?” The priest frowned. “That isn’t what He said. He said…” “What [i]you[/i] said,” the chieftain corrected. “And though you didn’t outright call for my removal, the implication was clear enough.” His gaze rounded on Carn. “You. Outsider. You could not have known what our priest was planning, and I’m sure you know as well as I do that a mercenary isn’t fit to lead a village. Call these lies what they are, and I give you my word that no harm will come to you or your comrades.” Carn frowned, his gaze shifting away from the chieftain, away from the crowd, and off to some distant point on the horizon. “The chieftain asked you a question, boy,” one of the guards growled. “Sorry,” Carn apologized. “I’m just trying to see if I can spot any bandits out there.” The chieftain’s eyes narrowed. “No bandit would dare attack us in broad daylight.” Carn shrugged. “I didn’t say attack. But I’m sure they’re out there. Laughing at us. Must be amusing to them, watching two men fight over who owns a hut even as it burns down around him.” The chieftain’s face tightened further. “Indeed,” he said through grit teeth. “Now denounce these lies for what they are. Unless you intend to stoke the fires even further?” Carn shook his head. “I intend no such thing. To the priest’s claims: I don’t know. No god ever spoke to me, but I can’t say for sure that a god never spoke to him. It is the height of arrogance to claim to understand a god’s motives, is it not?” The neutral response caught chieftain off guard, and Carn took the opportunity to continue speaking. “The way I see it, you have two options. First option: you can punish me, the priest, and whoever stands with us. But then you’ll have to deal with these bandits yourself, with fewer hands to help you. Then, there’s the second option: give me my volunteers, let us head out to the forest, and I will deal with the bandits myself. If we fail, you’ll never have to worry about us. If we succeed…” Carn shrugged. “I just want my employer’s cart back. I’ll be on my way soon after.” There was a tense silence, as the entire village hung on the chieftain’s next word. He looked to the crowd, and saw that indeed, most seemed taken in by Carn’s argument. If he were to try anything now, he would risk losing the favour of the bulk of the village. He cleared his throat. “Very well. You, and anyone who wishes to follow you may go out and fight these bandits. I will… I will assign you some of my own personal guard as well.” Carn looked up to the roof where Aurielle sat and gave her a victorious grin. A few among the crowd - those who had volunteered to join him the previous night - let out cheers. Carn turned back to the small mass of people. “So, who is still interested?” Most of those who had offered to join him the previous night stepped forward, their numbers bolstered by three or four new faces. “One more condition,” the chieftain added, in a tone that made Carn pause. “The priest must go with you.” [hr] Carn’s recruits were assembled before him; a ragtag militia armed with whatever they had on hand. Only one or two had a full set of hide or leather armour, while the rest had bits and pieces. Their arms were an assortment of spears, swords, hatches… a few even held farm tools and quarterstaffs. There were thirteen men and women in total. The priest arrived in that moment, an old oaken staff in his hand. Fourteen, not counting Carn, Arika, or Aurielle. Ruvar had wanted to join, but Carn turned him away, and Rollo was still unfit for combat. The chieftain’s men had still yet to arrive, but Carn felt confident in his force, under-equipped as it was. “So,” he whispered to Aurielle and Arika, “what do you think?” “They’ll do.” She answered. Though any close inspection told her half would die before they got into the fight. Alas, they just had to get her close enough so she could use her magic. That’s why she was there for, after all. The bounty and the killing. Then her eyes turned towards the priest. She still didn’t trust him. In fact right now she found him pathetic, with a weapon in his hands that couldn’t even pierce skin. Gods she wished she could have convinced the chief to just send in all six guards. They would be better armored and would have a lot more experience with the weapons they held. Arika shrugged. “They’re not much, but… neither are the bandits, I suppose.” Brigands were, after all, not known for being particularly brave or courageous. The experienced ones only lived as long as they did by never picking hard fights. Carn nodded. “My thoughts exactly.” In the distance, the chieftain’s guard began to approach - three in total, clad in hardened animal hide while wielding spears and shields. The sight of them pleased Auriëlle. These were proper warriors. Those shields would come in handy. She leaned in to Carn’s ear and whispered, making sure nobody else would hear it: “They’re going to try to get you and the priest killed.” She turned around to look into the open plains and the forest beyond. Where the bandits were. “It’s what I would do.” Maybe they would try to kill her and Arika as well. Carn smirked at the comment. He leaned in more closely to Aurielle, perhaps slightly closer than necessary. “That’s why I’ll be sending them in first,” he whispered, before pulling back. “They have shields, after all.” With that, he turned and waved to the guards. “Good of you to join us! We’ll be setting out soon.” The guards took position in the line, looking on the rest of the militia with disapproval. Meanwhile, Carn turned to address a villager who held a bow. “You there. What’s your name?” “Edgar, sir,” the bowman answered. “What is your profession?” “Hunter, sir.” “Good. We don’t know where their camp is, so we’ll need a tracker. Stick close to me, Edgar.” He looked to the rest of his force. Twenty in total. “We’ll follow the road,” he decided. “Find where the wagon was attacked. See if we can pick up any trails. Assuming the bastards don’t find us first. Now, let’s head out.” [hr] The three guards had been placed at the head of their makeshift column. Carn had positioned himself in the middle, alongside Arika and Aurielle. The few who had bows were at the rear. The rest were in between. “Remember,” Carn declared as they walked down the road. “They might see us before we see them. In that case, they might attack first. Some of you might want to run.” A few nodded subconsciously, betraying their fear. “Don’t,” Carn advised them. “That’s how they get you. If you run, they’ll just shoot you in the back, and more of you will die. But if you keep your nerve, stand tall, and stay together, you can rush them before they get their next arrow off. They won’t stand a chance.” “Now,” Carn turned to Aurielle. “How do you think your talents can help us?” “By letting me kill them from a distance.” Auriëlle said as she kept scanning the trees. “It will be arrows against-“ She stopped herself there. Mocking them and taunting them in the safety of the village was one thing but here she needed them to stay and fight. Or rather stay and distract the enemy for long enough so she could kill them. If she was going to break their already shaking moral it would prove to be disastrous. “Let’s just focus on finding them.” Her tone was miles more serious than the tone she used in the village. And focus, they did. For three hours, the rest of the journey passed in silence. The makeshift warband, once vigilant and tense, became increasingly relaxed. Only a handful of the party were used to remaining attentive for hours on end without anything interesting happening. Although Carn would remind them from time to time to maintain their focus, there was nothing to stop sheer boredom from setting in. Then, they were attacked. A dozen arrows flew from the woods. One struck Carn in the face, the arrowhead passing through one cheek and going out the other. He spun and fell to the ground with a howl of pain. Three more soon joined him, one dead and two dying. Two other men staggered, struck by wounds which were considerably less fatal but caught them off-guard nonetheless. The warband let out cries of panic and alarm, as they were gripped with indecision: they wanted to flee but remembered Carn’s words. It happened before her eyes. Blood splattered around. The arrow went straight through. Auriëlle was stunned for a moment. One moment she was talking with Carn, the next he fell down and bled like some beast. Then she rushed over. She raised one arm like she was upper-cutting the sky. Rocks and earth flowed. Creating a makeshift mound to protect Carn. Then she rand and slid across the ground to get near him. “Stay down!” She screamed in Carn’s face, before looking up. The band was in chaos. “Get behind the trees! Find the bastards!” The band fell back, taking cover behind trees and foliage, while the arrows continued to fly. An arrow landed far too close to her. She let out a yelp of surprise. Her heart was pounding now. Something had to be done. She had to retaliate. Carefully she looked from behind her makeshift barrier. She caught a glimpse of the bastard that was shooting at her. “Die.” She whispered with a venomous tongue. The man was nocking his next arrow when suddenly his clothes just lit up on fire. He dropped his bow, screamed and began to roll around on the ground. The flames never went out though. No matter how much he screamed. Then another arrow fell far too close to Auriëlle, forcing her back behind her barricade. “Shit.” Next to her, Carn stirred. A gloved hand rose up to clutch the arrow which had pierced his face. With a wince, he snapped the arrowhead off. Then his other hand reached for the fletching. The white-haired mercenary took a deep breath, then pulled it out with an agonized groan. He was left with a hole in each cheek, both of which began to gush blood. But then, to Aurielle’s surprise, the bleeding stopped, and the flesh began to knit itself back together again. But before it had even finished mending, Carn spat out fragments of a tooth, and rose to his feet. With a feral roar, he unsheathed his blade and vaulted over the barricade. Another arrow flew at him, but he brought his shield up to block it, and began to advance. Five more arrows followed in quick succession; two going wide and three embedding in his shield with a series of loud [i]thunks.[/i] A sixth arrow grazed his shield, before taking out one of his ears. That stopped Carn’s advance for only a moment, for just as his face had mended itself, so too did his ear. The remaining militia, who had taken cover in the trees on the opposite end of the forest, stared at him in pure awe as he continued his advance. Edgar loosed an arrow in an attempt to support him, and was rewarded by a cry of pain as one of the bandits fell. Then Carn reached the treeline, and eleven bandits emerged, attempting to encircle him with a rusty assortment of axes and swords. A face healing that fast wasn’t normal. Hell, that didn’t even feel like magic. It was too fast, too effortless. Auriëlle kept her eye on the man she thought lost just a second ago as he jumped over the barricade and charged the bandits. “Oh gods damn it.” She said, then she looked at the others just hiding behind the tree or slowly advancing. “Well!? Are you going to let him do all the work you cowards!?” She screamed at her companions, before jumping over the barricade as well. Lightning arced across her right arm. With two fingers she pointed at two of the brigands pulling their axes. A clap of thunder echoed through the trees as lighting arced from her fingers and hit the two. The first one collapsed entirely. His body was still smoking and looked thoroughly burned. The other one was thrown backwards into a tree, suffering burns but he was still breathing. The remaining bandits recoiled at the flash of light and the smell of burnt flesh. They had expected a loose mob led by a core of experienced fighters. A well-time ambushed and a few volleys should have surely been enough to send such a force into a retreat. What they had not expected was a sorceress, or a silver-haired warrior who seemed impervious to all attacks. Already, Carn was capitalizing on their shock, swinging his sword across one brigand’s throat, and spilling the guts of another with a stroke across the stomach. A third bandit brought his weapon up in time to block, but that attack had merely been a feint; Carn pulled his blade back at the last moment and thrust it into the bandit’s heart. “Go! Charge!” Arika’s voice could be heard over the fighting, and the Evenstar militia who still remained leapt from cover and began closing the distance. That was enough to break the bandits, who turned and fled into the woods, just as Carn twisted his blade and pulled it free from the bandit’s ribs. “After them!” he shouted, taking off in pursuit, with his men on his heels. A bolt of fire flew in between the trees. It hit one of the bandits in the back. He screamed and rolled until the fire was out. As he tried to get up, Auriëlle reached him. Flames flew from her open hand and engulfed her victim. He screamed and rolled but the flames kept flowing over him. Until he stopped moving entirely. She was smiling the whole time. The power, it was beyond anything she had ever felt. It was so much more than just intoxicating. The rest was already too far out for her magic. Which was a shame. She was now at the rear of the warband. Inspired by Carn, the most fervent of the group were ahead with him. The guards, on the other hand, kept in the middle of the group. That soon began to change, as the forest became increasingly dense, and the pursuit turned out to be a protracted one. Men were forced to leap and climb over bushes, duck under branches, and sidestep around trees. Some bumped into each other. Others tripped. Carn did not wait for them, for fear of losing those sight of those he pursued, and some fell behind as a result. Luckily, Carn was able to remain within sight of them. “They’re coming!” one of the bandits shouted in an accent that Carn found strangely familiar. Ahead, he could just make out the telltale sights of a camp: tents, shelters, and a cooking fire. “Camp ahead!” Carn shouted as he quickened the pace. Only Aurielle, Arika, Edgar, the three guards, and two villagers were still with him. They burst out from the trees, and it soon became apparent that the dozen bandits who had ambushed them were not [i]all[/i] of the bandits. Only about four or so had made it back to camp, but another dozen had awaited them, guarding their ill-gotten spoils. Carn could see crates and barrels stockpiled at the center, some of which had been taken from the cart. The bandits turned to face them. It was sixteen against nine, but the sixteen were scattered and disorganized. Only a handful were grouped together, and among their leader was a man Carn recognized. The leader recognized Carn too. “Carn!?” Bellowed Yorn, with both surprise and outrage in his voice. He pointed his sword forward. “Kill him first!” And with those words, the sixteen bandits came charging at them from all sides. “With me! Charge!” Carn shouted, rushing forward to meet them. A loud bang traveled through the camp. Lighting lashed at one of the bandits, burning him completely and hurling him through the air until he hit a tree. Auriëlle was completely possessed now. She even missed Carn and the bandit leader recognizing each other, or the order to kill Carn first. Her ears were still ringing from the thunder clap. Her eyes were wide open though, taking in everything around her. Another bandit managed to shoot an arrow at her. It grazed her arm. Auriëlle dropped down to a knee and grasped her arm. It was just a small cut but it hurt and bled. She pushed the pain down, got up and raised her hand as if she was squeezing some invisible fruit. As she tightened her fingers, the bandit began to violently cough. He dropped down on his own knees and spat out some blood. Auriëlle squeezed just a little bit harder, causing him to violently vomit and then collapse. Beside her, Edgar loosed another arrow, pausing to give her a wide-eyed stare before he pulled another one from his quiver. The others followed Carn, and the melee began in earnest. Arika and the three guards had spears, while the bandits did not, so they were each able to kill one as they closed. But then they drew their shortswords, and thus began the clashing of metal. Carn beat a bandit’s blade aside, then ducked under a swing and body-checked another. The momentum carried him past the bandits’ makeshift line, so he spun, swung, and opened the guts of a bandit who had turned to engage him while deflecting an attack from a second. He took a moment to kick dirt into the eyes of a brigand he had knocked over. Then Yorn’s axe struck him in the back of the shoulder. His hard leather armour absorbed most of the blow, but the shock of it made him drop his shield. Carn turned and swung his blade low, scoring a cut along the old man’s shin. Yorn fell to one knee, and Carn brought the pommel of his weapon down on the older man’s head. Six bandits remained on their feet, but Carn’s militia was in rough shape. Only Carn, Edgar, Aurielle, and two of the guards still stood. Arika was on her knees, a shortsword embedded in the left side of her stomach. Two broke free from the melee and attempted to charge Edgar and Aurielle directly. A cold shiver ran through Auriëlle’s spine as the two bandits charged her. She had been barely aware of them until they’ve gotten far too close. Suddenly she was back in Acadia. Chased by specters. She fell on her back as one of the bandits took a slash at her. “No!” She screamed, as she held her arms in front of her, trying to protect her. Her eyes closed. A wave of pure heat erupted from her. The two bandits caught in the blast weren’t just burned or burning. Their very flesh got completely incinerated. The attackers got completely disintegrated. Auriëlle opened her eyes again and saw the ash and bones before her. She scrambled up, kicked one of the skulls away and screamed her lungs out. By the time she had finished screaming, the fight was over. All remaining bandits were dead. Edgar had backed up against a tree, his hands shaking as he looked upon her with horror. Carn slumped to his knees, exhaustion finally setting in. A nearby bandit, wounded but not dead, stirred, and it seemed to take all the strength Carn possessed to pull out a belt knife and shove it into the man’s throat. Elsewhere, Arika began to cough up blood. The two guards exchanged solemn looks with one another. Auriëlle hadn’t felt this tired in...ever. She couldn’t even muster the strength to get up and inspect the gold. She just wanted to scarf down half a pig, take a scalding bath and sleep for half a day. That wasn’t going to happen anytime soon though. Victory was tasting quite bitter now that everyone, bandit or militia, was laying or sitting on the ground. “We won.” She told Carn with a feeble smile as she dragged her body towards him. “That was something.” Right in front of him she fell down on her knees. Her body was winding down from the excitement. Her arm was still bleeding and her legs were cramping horribly. Then she inspected her right arm. It wasn’t feeling right. It was tingling. The arcs of lightning that travelled over her arm had been far more unstable than she’d wished them to be. They left lines of slightly burned skin all over her, forming a web. “Damn.” Was all she could say. Then she turned to Carn. “You good?” Carn looked at her and opened his mouth to reply, when he caught movement in the corner of his eye. Yorn attempted to stand. Carn threw himself at the older man and pinned him to the ground, pressing a knife against his throat. “So, Yorn…” Carn breathed… “explain to me… what you’re doing… out here?” “Carn…” Yorn rasped. “You killed the last of your people… you stupid bastard…” Carn’s grip on Yorn’s greying hair tightened. “What do you mean?” “Open your eyes. These are the same people we left Thyma with…” Carn looked around, his eyes widening ever so slightly. Then he pressed Yorn’s face deeper into the dirt. “There weren’t this many back then.” “We picked up… new members… over the years. But the core… we were all that was left.” “You cast me out,” Carn growled. “Then you became murderers and brigands. No better than the men who destroyed our home. Yet you judge [i]me?[/i]” “We had no choice… your stupidity made us outlaws.” “I was a boy,” he growled. “You were the blood of Cadien and the son of a chieftain… you should have known better. You still don’t. You killed us.” “You’re right,” Carn seethed. “I did.” A sharp tug, then the blade opened flesh, and more blood spilled onto the grass to mix with the rest. She listened as attentive as she could. Blood of Cadien and son of a chieftain? Thyma? She couldn’t care if they were ‘his’ people. That was a fight for him. One he clearly decided to finish when the ended the miserable bandit’s life. What interested Auriëlle far more was someone else confirming him to be of the blood of Cadien. Which explained a lot. “So you really are blessed by a god.” She managed to say. “That’s why you heals so fast. You could’ve told me.” Then again she hadn’t been particularly forthcoming either. Carn offered a weary shrug. “I don’t know if I was blessed directly. All I know is that my father had some sort of… bond, with Cadien, and I suppose I inherited something out of that. It… it doesn’t matter much, anymore. My home is destroyed, and if I ever had Cadien’s favour… I never heard his voice.” He cast his gaze down at Yorn’s body. “I just… try to get by…” A shadow passed over them. Carn looked up just in time to see one of the guards raise his spear, ready to drive it through Aurielle’s back. Instinctively he shoved her aside, then raised his small knife as if it would somehow protect him against the much larger weapon. It didn’t have to. Carn’s swift reaction gave the treacherous guard pause, long enough for another spear to pierce the guard’s back instead. The tip punched all the way through his chest, and his eyes widened, as blood began to well up in his mouth. He slunk to his knees, to reveal the second guard behind him, with an exhausted and regretful expression. Auriëlle was about to yell at Carn when she noticed the guard that had loomed over her just a minute ago. Suddenly every bit of pain in her muscle became but a distant sensation. She shot up and raised her hand towards the second guard. An orb of fire formed in her hand, which was trembling at this point. Her eyes were staring at her target, yet her ragged breaths betrayed her exhaustion. Both physically and emotionally. “Give me one reason not to burn you alive!” She yelled at the second guard with a mixture of rage and desperation. The sole remaining guard’s eyes widened, but fortunately he was a quick thinker. “B-because I just saved you!” he said, taking a step back. “And… and you need someone to vouch for you.” The situation began to clear up in her rather addled mind. Especially considering the first guard laid dead with the second guard’s spear through him. She took a deep breath and let the orb of fire vanish. “Speak quickly. Why did you kill him and why did he try to kill me?” “The chieftain ordered us to make sure Carn and the priest didn’t come back alive.” He then gestured to his fallen comrade. “He wanted to carry that order out. I didn’t. I thought it was bloody stupid, and I didn’t want to die.” “Good idea.” She said, though she didn’t sit down again. Even though every bit of pain and aching returned to her. “So what are we going to do now?” She asked Carn. Yes, she did anticipate this. Yet now that it happened, it felt a lot more personal. She had thought she could walk away from it. Not now. Well the chieftain made a new enemy now. Her eyes betrayed that bloodlust. Carn surveyed the carnage. Arika had died at some point during their conversation. A pity. Edgar was gone, probably fled. Carn, Aurielle, and the guard seemed to be the only ones left. “The way I see it, only one more person needs to die today,” He said. “But we need to think about our next move. If…” before he could continue, the snapping of twigs betrayed the sound of people approaching. Carn tensed. Yet the figures who appeared from the brush were not hostile, only strays. Those in the militia who had either fallen behind or deliberately held back. There were only three of them, but two more followed over the course of the next few minutes, both limping from wounds. After that came the priest, who was clutching his side. Carn explained the situation to them all, and they all became enraged. “I truly had nothing against the chieftain before today,” the priest breathed. “He was strict, he was harsh, he was rude, even paranoid… but I thought those were just the burdens of his post. Now though… now I see that he must be deposed. He is cruel. Mad, even.” His eyes found Carn’s. “Cadien’s prediction must come true. You must replace him.” Auriëlle kept her eyes on Carn now. Would he accept the responsibility or just kill the chieftain? She knew what choice she would make. The way she saw it, prophecy or not Carn had no real responsibility towards the village. He just lumbered in with some wounded and took some volunteers to get the gold back. “He’s a dead man walking.” Auriëlle casually said about the chieftain. She meant the words though. “We can worry about replacing him later,” Carn muttered, rising to his feet. “That’s not supposed to happen until tomorrow, isn’t it?” He stepped over to the crates and boxes stacked neatly in the center of the camp. He picked a sword from a bandit’s corpse and used it to pry a lid off, to reveal glittering gold underneath. “Tomorrow can wait.” He pulled a golden amulet from the crate, with a small blood red ruby set in the center. “Right now, we divide the spoils.” He tossed the amulet toward Aurielle, and his eyes met hers. “Tonight, we take revenge.” She caught the amulet. It looked beautiful. Perhaps even more important, it looked expensive. Like something she would’ve worn if her parents hadn’t been deadly ashamed of her existence. Without hesitation she put it on and then walked up the box. Jewels were nice but people on the road needed cold hard coins. Gold coins were always taken. [hr] [hider=Post Summary] Carn wakes up and is escorted by some guards to the middle of the village. Turns out the chieftain found out about the priest’s prophecy and wasn’t happy about it. He is basically accusing the priest of plotting to depose him and replace him with a stranger. Carn then tells the crowd he doesn’t know if the priest is correct or not, but the bandits still need to be dealt with. He assures them he has no plans to take over the village, but asks for a team of volunteers so he can deal with the brigands anyway. He makes a convincing speech and the chieftain grudgingly agrees, even loaning him three of his personal guards. They set out later that day, and eventually walk into an ambush. The impact is devastating at first, but Carn and Aurielle are able to rally the survivors and pursue the ambushers all the way back to their camp, where a brutal melee ensues, with Carn’s forces eventually emerging victorious. The survivors are exhausted. Arika is dead. One of the guards attempts to kill Aurielle only for another guard to kill him first, explaining that the chieftain gave them orders to ensure Carn didn’t come back alive. Carn and Aurielle are pissed off at this development, so they decide it’s time to head back to the village and deal with the chieftain. But first, Carn decides to redistribute some of the loot at the village camp among the surviving militia. [/hider] [hider=Prestige Summary] [u]Carn[/u] [b]Beginning:[/b] 9 +5 for 10k characters [b]Ending:[/b] 14 [u]Aurielle[/u] [b]Beginning:[/b] 13 +5 for 10K characters -10 to upgrade Hekatiah I to II -3 to for impressive feat: complete disintegration sorcery [b]Ending:[/b] 5 [/hider]