A5G

Sovereign's Will: A Fantasy Roleplaying Game. [CONCLUDED]

There was a pregnant pause as Yvonne's strike found its mark, the announcer and the hag's voice a dull echo in a faraway place. Then the mercenary saw the bear regained his (heh) bearings, and for a split second she recognized what a bad spot she's in - attack already fully committed, now within mauling range of a very pissed off bear who just lost his crown jewels. Who's fault was it to land her in this situation? Riiight, it was past Yvonne. What a bitch-

A heavy swipe filled with rage and little sense. The arena spun, the mercenary oddly serene as she reflected over the blow, noting that it's all blunt with no claw involved. Too angry to properly kill her, huh? Though, to be fair, this was normally enough to shatter an average man-

Her thoughts was interrupted again, this time by the sandy gravel of the arena. Bounced once. Twice. Found orientation, didn't matter, bounce a third time. A final fall, and she's still. Ow. That hurts. Okay, let's see. Nothing was stomping over to finish her off. That's good enough for now, either the bear was in too much pain to move or her team managed to occupy it. Yvonne laid on the ground face-up, assessing her own condition for the time being.

Quick version: Not good. Not good at all. In fact, she's feeling fucking terrible. Been a while. Anyway.

Sore was the first thing she felt. Sore and bruised. As for where the bruise was, well, it's probably faster to ask where the bruise wasn't. Yvonne can only be sure that it's her neck - just about everywhere else throbbed with pain. Could taste iron in her mouth, huh. Must've split her lips in the impact. Elsewhere...

Head felt fine. Can think. No pain from within, so brain should be fine. Breathing hurt. More than it should. And more difficult. Fracture there, then. Next, limbs. Right shoulder... didn't felt right. Heh. That's what impacted ground the first time. Probably dislocated. Gotta fix that soon. Left arm was struck by the bear, but no bleeding. Hurt like a motherfucker though, it'll bruise real bad soon enough. Legs were functional, likely with an additional mace-shaped bruise where her own mace was pressed to the flesh by the impact.

First thing first, the shoulder. Boss - of the mercenary company, not Sparky - showed her how. Step one, sit up. Pain. But she sat. Right leg folded up, clasp both hands around it. Lean the head back, roll the shoulder forward-

Click

"Fuckshitbitchdamncocksuckermotherfuckingdirtywhore- that hurts-"

It felt like she blacked out for a split second there. Yvonne very much would like to collapse back into a bruised heap, but the enemies wont wait for her to recover. Wobbling, she slowly and carefully returned to her feet before surveying how's the battle going on. The polearm wasn't around anymore. Didn't matter much, she doubt she can wield it effectively in this state. Sword drawn again, the mercenary glared at the faint trace of bloodstain on it. Tch, cleaning the scabbard will be such a pain. But that's for future Yvonne to worry about, after she survive this whole debacle.

Sovereign's Will: A Fantasy Roleplaying Game. [CONCLUDED]

Aw, fuck. The momentary stagger messed with Yvonne's timing and her strength sapped away by the time the werebear closed in. The sore hadn't set it yet, but the moment she stopped moving it'll all come at once. Bugger, but that's for future her to worry about. Now she had an angry armored bear trying to eat her face and she's running out of options.

So, let's go back to the old adage - when in doubt, go for the nuts.

Utilizing the momentum, the parried poleaxe was spun before sent thrusting into the unarmored crotch. Not like the dangly bits was visible, but it should be there still. Yvonne wasn't actually sure if the bear was male, but fun fact: low blows like this wasn't actually gender-specific.

If this fails, well, she's likely screwed six ways from Sunday. But that's for future Yvonne to worry about.

Sovereign's Will: A Fantasy Roleplaying Game. [CONCLUDED]

[GM Post]

"Why, 'ello there! Never seen y'all round here before." The young man greeted back, patting his hands on his pants to clear out most of the salt. He was momentarily taken aback by Cedar's presence but did nothing beyond a few curious glances afterward. "Whoa, yer' a big fella ain'tcha? You've come at the right time friends! It's been a good year, got good harvest and fat cattles. Say, how much can ya eat big guy? We've got just 'bout everything for cheap."

The stench of blood was rather thick in the stall, where a rather sizeable pig had been recently butchered. It didn't looks like a one-man job, but the rest probably have left the compound to do other things once the heavywork was done. The smell wasn't exactly for everyone, even if the man looked used to it.

"Eh? Ya know our hunter friends!" He glanced a bit worryingly at Cedar again. "They didn't shot one of yer relatives or nothing like that, I hope? Dont think they've bagged a bear in recent times... 'nyway, just walk further down the dirt trail. Their huts are visible from here already, that's all them places. Ain't no one else would live near the tanning stench."

A bit ironic coming from someone working at the farm that raised pigs, but there didn't seems to be any malice in the man. He looked earnest for business, in fact.

Sovereign's Will: A Fantasy Roleplaying Game. [CONCLUDED]

The next wave arrived already. Yvonne glared with narrowed eyes at the opposite portcullis, if they could communicate so quickly there's gotta be some path to the stage from beyond. The only issue was actually getting there after dealing with these latest wave of monstrosities. Where did they found these things?

Standard mace ain't gonna cut it, no. Polearm would be best, and incidentally there's one on the ground nearby, dropped by the butcher taken down by Foxxie and Edgy. The thing was scaled well to the original wielder's height and was heavier than standard issue, that's perfect to deal with a rampaging behemoth like the rapidly approaching werebear.

"Stay behind me, Foxxie. Not too close."

Deep breath. Long, open stance, slightly bent knee, all the weight on the front. On top of it, Yvonne charged her inner strength to near-maximum as she fully commit to the incoming clash. Her muscles burned, pushed far beyond its natural limit, but for a very short period the mercenary likely have eclipsed even the werebear in raw strength.

As her foe arrived, Yvonne greeted him with a violent blur of steel.

Sovereign's Will: A Fantasy Roleplaying Game. [CONCLUDED]

Downed the bastard, and he decided to throw his weapon in a last ditch effort to take down one of them. Yvonne winced at how it impacted the foreign warrior, thankfully not the bladed part. It's so gonna bruise. But anyway, the big guy ain't looking so hot now. It was surprising that he shrugged off the empowered mace blow earlier, but now that he's downed the bruise was very much visible. Well, time to put him out of his misery.

Swapping back to her sword, Yvonne stepped on the giant's back to keep him downed as she half knelt to reach the neck. Then, in a single motion, she ran the blade through and ripped it outward to completely open the throat. A quick death was all the mercy she would spare.

Tch, that commentator really irked her for some reason. Was there any way to reach the upper level? She'll make sure he had the worst death.

Sovereign's Will: A Fantasy Roleplaying Game. [CONCLUDED]

[GM Post]

The blacksmith complied, turning over the ledger though without any other record or prior knowledge to compare with it's nearly impossible to tell if it's accurate. Still, better than nothing. The last shipment was sent three days ago, a veritable wagonload of speartips and basic armor requisitioned by the army. The transaction before that was a number of farm equipment shipped to various villages in the area, two entire months of gap between the two records.

"Birk? There's the hunter that goes by that, live on the outskirt with some other hunters. A bit reclusive, but it's quite a walk from his place to the village. I think he's fancying old Gerhard's daughter? But then again so are half the young men in this village." The blacksmith side-eyed the apprentices, who somehow suddenly found extra vigor to throw at their tasks. "If he haven't moved away he should be living at east side. There's another Birk before, but old fella passed away around... eight years ago? That one's buried in the village's grave."

Sovereign's Will: A Fantasy Roleplaying Game. [CONCLUDED]

What the- bastard just ignored her. The sheer fucking audacity in that. And even worse, that's exactly the right thing to do. Yvonne's not very much blessed in the vertical department, and consequently she had very limited mobility.

Clicking her tongue as her inner strength bled out unused, the mercenary pivot and pursued the slave-knight. Thankfully they're not too far away. In small scale like this, getting flanked was very dangerous and she'd be a fool not to take the chance.

A small prime and a sideway strike on the knee of the big bastard. Let's see how he like that.

Sovereign's Will: A Fantasy Roleplaying Game. [CONCLUDED]

Welp, no plan it is. Tis' fine. The more chaotic, the better. In to the arena the mercenary went, only to be greeted by the most distasteful setup she had ever seen. There's one slave-looking man mauled by tigers there. Her eyes narrowed. That guy couldn't have been in here for long, so who fetched him from the previous room? Was there a secret door in the corridor? Well, the portcullis slammed down and cut off that thought so Yvonne had to switch her focus to the more immediate issue.

"Once we find a way up there there'll be a lot of heads bashed in."

Generally speaking, there's one rule in pitched combat. Your own safety comes first, and actually taking down the enemies was secondary. This group, among other things, was exception. The big lugs had their torso practically naked, showing multitude of scars from previous combat, and attacked with abandon. They're not here to play it safe, they're going with abandon to make a good show and hope to survive.

Fools. Fools, and corpses.

Yvonne angled her sword, partially absorbing the initial blow as she took a few steps back. Sparky was tossed away, but no blood. Good enough. Then foxxie and the adventurer went to town with the guy. Another stomped past to deal with their newcomer - Henri? How did he get here- no matter. Focus on the more immediate issue.

That left the third of these so-called knights. In a flourish Yvonne sheathed her sword, taking out the mace to deal with this man. She charged in at the slave-knight nearly half a fold larger than herself, knowing full well how the reaction will be. He had the reach, so if he's any good he would try strike her down the moment she came in.

Anticipating such blow, Yvonne primed up her inner strength - quite a bit more than the little scuffle with Aaron's henchmen. She'll be quite sore after all this, but that's just Tuesday. The moment the swing comes in she'd strike, not at the wielder but the weapon itself. This would not be advised for most people, for the momentum of a two-handed swing wouldn't so easily be overcome. But Yvonne's strength was nowhere near normal. If it connect, her own blow would've strike with the impact of a veritable battering ram. As for what'll happen to the weapon or the wielder, well, it tend to be not pretty at all.

Her own weapons do suffer from this treatment though. Unfortunate, but it is what it is.

Sovereign's Will: A Fantasy Roleplaying Game. [CONCLUDED]

[GM Post]

The blacksmith was larger than one would've expected for a village of its size, with several apprentices busy with the work. One of them greeted Matilda, and after a short exchange went and fetched the actual master of the place. He's a middle-aged man of average height but with a build twice as broad, his hair still barely touched by the salt of age. He wore long-sleeve woolen tunic with leather apron up front, a thick goggle hanging by the strap around his neck.

"Hail, Dame. Was there problem with the last delivery?" Was what he opened with, though the mention of investigation immediately set the man straighter - if a bit grim, now. News of the king's assassination attempt had already spread all the way here and now came the head of the royal guards in person, and it didn't take much to put two and two together.

"I've seen everyone who live in this village, we dont see many outsiders around. Dont have anything special to warrant traveling all the way here, you see. Well, beside the usual merchant and all. There's a mercenary sort that stops by to get a dented helmet hammered in about three weeks back, but that's it. The inn should know more about people coming and going." He pointed to a large building across the village square, a wide two-story thing that looked suspiciously similar to a barn. "We do keep ledger for the larger purchases, and for joint work with Baldomar in the fletcher. But for smaller work like leaky pots that we see more often, nay. Parchment too expensive."

It looked like the general nature of the questions helped him relax. The blacksmith was very much prepared for the worst development.

Sovereign's Will: A Fantasy Roleplaying Game. [CONCLUDED]

Yvonne saw the slash coming but wasn't in the right position to stop it. Seeing it firsthand she had to reevaluate the threat level of this man, even her would likely be caught unprepared if she's already in striking range. Dangerous. She'll survive any blow that wont kill her outright, but decapitation was not among the list.

He stopped, though. Stabbed his own arm like a maniac. And just like that it's done deal. Yvonne blinked twice and decided to screw it, if Sparky wasn't dealing with that crap she wouldn't either. Didn't sit quite right leaving a potential threat on their back, but with the primary arm injured he should be manageable now.

"Worse come to worst, we can break down the wall from the neighboring chamber. Dont let your anger blind you, boss." Temper can be useful. Can make men and women fight without an ounce of fear. But it also tend to blind them from danger, dragging their foe down with them if they had to. Let's not let it come to pass.

Yvonne saw the outlook and slowed down, remaining out of sight from what she felt like an arena. If Sparky weren't stopping, she'll grab the elf by the shoulder.

"Some plan first, maybe? If our man is elevated it'll be hard to get him. Try see how it looks like?"