Eisenhorn

The Lion's Banner: A Fire Emblem-Inspired Anime Fantasy RP

"That's a drink owed to you then, Spooky. Several tents down, plenty to go!"

Urden had been wrenching his axe out of the rib cage of one of the now dead enemy mercenaries, having been focused on butchering his way through as many of them as he could, when he spotted the one flanking him get jerked backwards into the shadows. Probably wishes he had just taken an axe to the face and had an honest death, but the Lion's mercenary wasn't going to go looking a gift assassination in the mouth in this case. Rather, he started moving towards the next of the Morahti in reach, catching the curved blade's strike on his axe haft, turning it away and smashing the slaver's jaw sideways with the butt end of his axe. Whether he attempted to say anything or not was irrelevant, talking with a broken jaw was a bitch, and a heavy handed upwards swing decapitated the Morahti. At this rate, as the other Lions involved in the combat kept getting stuck in, they would be through the enemies in no time.

Sure enough, as Boss shouted out about the archers did one of the arrows find a home in his thigh, failing to come out the other side but being firmly embedded in his leg now. A hiss of pain, but more importantly, now he was pissed. Mending clothing was expensive, and arrow holes meant needing mending. Yeah, and his leg was injured now as well, but what was one more scar? He knew better than to rip it loose, instead launching himself forward with aggressive swings, aiming to smash aside spears and create openings for the converging allies to make moves on the archers, as his own ability to move was at least hobbled, though he wasn't immobile, not by a long shot. Maybe he'd invest in some light armor, something to cover the meaty bits to deflect projectiles without slowing him down. Maybe, that was for later, for now, he focused on doing his part in putting the defense on the backfoot and keeping it from forming properly, and make them pay in blood for the tailoring he was going to have to pay for now.

@Psyker Landshark

The Lion's Banner: A Fire Emblem-Inspired Anime Fantasy RP

Urden flexed his grip slowly on the axe, watching as first the horses were turned loose and, secondly, the griffon came down and sent them panicking into the night. Couldn't really blame the beasts, even among men seeing such a beast come hurtling down from above would send most fleeing in a panic. The chaos trampled a tent already, though given the lack of screaming indicated there hadn't been prisoners in there, after all, most folks would panic when the structure of a holding area came down on them. Especially when it was from stampeding horses, and the flashing gleam of that fancy magic sword that Boss wielded, alongside the orders. Find the prisoners, butcher those too stupid to throw down their arms, and let those who yield live. Some days he wouldn't mind Boss being a bit more harsh towards certain folks, but he wasn't paid to offer advice right now, oh no, right now it was quite simple what to do.

"This time I get to be doing the ambushing, hell of a busy night." The mercenary launched off from his hidden position, aiming his charge towards the nearest Morahti mercenary, not bothering with war cries or any real warning for the Morahti who were currently reeling from the sudden loosing of their horses, and utter lack of any idea what was happening. Urden would be aiming to kill as many as he could before they got their wits about them, aiming axe strikes for vitals. Be it instant, like the head, or taking out deep enough gouges in the torso that they couldn't readily keep fighting. Any of the Morahti that moved to surrender would be bypassed, as easy as it would be to just swing and feign ignorance later, but he planned to maximize the advantage of the assault before the enemy could organize themselves.

The Lion's Banner: A Fire Emblem-Inspired Anime Fantasy RP

"I'll pass on the acid this time, don't need that particular plan flying back in my face." The glance from the Crowsnguard, who he had christened as Spooky as half joke, half proof of her ability to just crop up without warning, said enough. Having not been told off, it would probably stick for the foreseeable future. It was an attempt to be friendlier with the assassin, at least overtly, to help make up for the fact that he really wasn't supposed to know about her profession. Still, that was consideration for later, Boss had given the marching orders. Spooky and Hector would loose the horses and scare them off, and once the horses were turned loose, the vanguard would run down the rest of the slaver mercenaries before they could wrangle their horses or organize properly. Odds were in their favor, surprise should be on their side since it was unlikely anyone would be around to attack, so he suspected the mercenaries would not be exactly ready for a fight, beyond lookouts if they were sufficiently disciplined.

Kneeling behind the cover of the rocky outcropping, Urden kept his axe low, out of sight to keep any sort of moonlight from reflecting off the blade. Not that he was certain it would, he kept his weapons and attire clean, but not polished to a reflective sheen. Once again, Urden found himself in the waiting portion of the life of a soldier, which was the part that he knew more than a few didn't particularly enjoy. He didn't mind it, it let him gather his thoughts, get things tidy before getting stuck into another fight. Back to back raids made for a long night, sure, but other than the exertion of putting down the slaughter doll, the cultists hadn't proven too taxing on them, so he was confident in referring to the group as relatively fresh. So Urden mostly let his brain meander, waiting for the order to attack so he could focus again and launch headlong into the fight again.

The Lion's Banner: A Fire Emblem-Inspired Anime Fantasy RP

@Octo @Psyker Landshark @The Otter @VitaVitaAR

Turned out, between the Nem merchant's recognition of the currency, being slightly worse than normal Librans that he preferred to deal in, but there was enough information in the description to get Cadmon talking. Mercenary foreigners, which took slaving as a part of their culture rather than just purely for profit. Well, justified by culture for profit might be a better indication of the matter. The very concept of selling one's skills to the highest bidder hardly invited any sense of honor, it was a case of working for the next payout of coin, and for whatever the employer saw fit. Urden shifted his stance, glancing towards where their illustrious flying scout had gone towards. "There's no honor in slaving, justification be damned. And that's coming from a mercenary. Good to know that it's better to die fighting, or fighting to safety, than ever ask for any quarter from these bastards. Oh, you can keep that coin Lirrah, for the trouble of figuring it out."

Urden had never seriously considered surrender or being taken prisoner as a good option, mercenaries are not great prisoners. If you can pay them to swap sides, well you can't trust them anymore frankly, because if they will turn coat at the first sign of trouble, well, who's to say they won't turn again the moment a better prospect comes along. Even loyal mercenaries with a sense of business savvy knew that, by their nature, they were expendable. No kingdom, company, or employer would go out of their way to negotiate or try and free the mercenary from captivity. It was better to fight to safety or go down swinging, and that was when dealing with local forces that would either execute a prisoner, or just let them languish in captivity until whatever conflict was over. Assuming they bothered to remember that the mercenary existed. Dealing with 'warriors bound by honor to enslave the defeated' only cemented that outlook. No quarter asked then, he wouldn't be made a slave. As for whether or not quarter would be given, well, that wasn't his call. That was the Boss' decision.

"Right, musings be damned, Spooky there is right. Let's get the Boss filled in." Urden didn't like that Kayliss just up and appeared like a damned phantom, a reminder that, frankly, even if he slept with an eye open he would still probably wake up with a knife between his ribs should the order be given. Knowing her true profession didn't help either, it made him a loose end, something that very few people were fond of having just flapping about, waiting to be tugged on and cause a mass unraveling of the main fabric. But, that was for later concern, for now, with the griffon rider being back, that meant it was time for a brief. Surround the camp, set the horses free, and slaughter them all. If they surrender, spare them, and while he mentally disapproved, he didn't let it show. Didn't matter what he thought, Boss paid his bills, so Boss got to decide what his stance was in a fight. Granted, she couldn't pay him enough to surrender to slavers, but he suspected that wouldn't be a problem.

"I reckon Spooky will handle the sneaky bit of cutting loose the horses. Where do you want the rest of us Boss? I'd prefer to be in the thickest of it, slavers playing at mercenaries is bad for business. Justification by culture is a shit excuse, regardless of skill."

The Lion's Banner: A Fire Emblem-Inspired Anime Fantasy RP

@Octo @The Otter

Urden had been picking through the dead well before Boss said they should take some time to look for clues or the like. Yeah, clues, coin was coin, could always have it melted down if being foreign coin ended up being a problem. It was quickly turning out the dead didn't have much more than a few coins that was probably theirs before the untimely ends. Lucky him, he was quick to pocket any coin that didn't stand out from usual fair, and his search carried him into the camp itself, making a beeline for the second largest tent. Any group worth their effort never kept the treasury in largest tent with the command, condensing that much importance in one spot was a fool's errand. No, you kept the treasury coin in a separate place from the command, and sure enough his suspicions had paid off, literally in this case. The tent was littered and had been lived in, sure, but he took pride in knowing where it was most likely the less reputable kept their coin. The reputable were predictable, so that wasn't terribly impressive in comparison if it came up.

The mercenary took one of the coins out of the pouch, tying the rest to his belt to be added to his personal stash once they returned to camp. Two things stood out to Urden as he turned the coin over in his hand, furrowing his brow as he tried to place the currency. It was absolutely foreign and he could at least tell who it wasn't from. It didn't match Asharaadi minting, beyond that he was at a loss. He hadn't sold his services abroad yet, so while he wasn't surprised that he didn't recognize the origin, it was annoying. He would have to compare to the Librans he was used to, make sure they were at least equivalent to what he was used to dealing in. If they happened to be worth more? All the better, but he wasn't about to go using coins that could be worth less than standard currency. He wasn't a fool, and he had a feeling if anyone present knew, besides the Boss he suspected, where these coins came from it would be the Nem merchant.

Tracking her down led him to find Cadmon was carrying the Nem after she apparently had a complete breakdown. Poor thing, not everyone was cut out to be in a fight with regular goons and soldiers, let alone the Doll Witch's creations. Not everyone was a soldier, or a warrior, but it didn't stop Urden from cracking a joke as he approached. Humor was a good way to cope, least as far as the mercenary was concerned, though he would turn to business soon enough.

"Already trying to adopt the merchant, are we now? I don't think that's going to get you any discounts anytime soon. Found a modest pouch of coins, though I don't recognize them, though I could tell you where they aren't from. Any chance either of you might recognize them?"

Urden would offer the foreign gold coin he had been holding for further investigation, though notably the pouch that contained the rest remained firmly tied to his belt. Better in his coffers than funding nefarious affairs like these cultists had been up to. Part of him was curious to see what either of them knew, though he was inclined to assume the merchant was the better odds for figuring out the origin of the coins. Though he wouldn't be making bets there, gambling was a damn stupid way to lose coin, and he would rather not waste hard earned coin on those kind of gambles.

The Lion's Banner: A Fire Emblem-Inspired Anime Fantasy RP

Urden walked over to where he had discarded his torch, picking it up while Boss issued orders. They were waiting for Hector to go and find where the slavers have wandered off to with the prisoners, on the information from the Witch at least. Meant most of them were waiting, which meant it was time to collect his bonus the old fashioned way. By rifling through the pockets of the dead and stealing anything that wasn't nailed down. Well, not from the hallowed dead, that was begging for trouble, but the recently dead, cultists and such, they might just line his pockets. Especially if they had just sold off a bunch of prisoners, better in his pockets than gathering dust in here. He remarked casually as he walked over to the first of the dead cultists, kneeling down to start rifling through the pockets of the dead. Good news with how cleanly they had died, was that it wouldn't be a case of looking around the corpse nearly as much.

"Tell you what, while we wait on our illustrious scouting efforts, it's high time I pick through the recently dead. See if I can't find anything interesting about their apparent business dealings prior to getting what they deserved. At least until its time to depart."

More importantly it kept his mind off recent events. Overseas slavers, Witches, brushes with death that were all a part of his line of work. The merchant, from the sounds of it, was sobbing and trying to recover from a near death experience from the sounds of it. Why had she come down here, again? Not like she'd be cutting deals with anyone, and cut throat business only worked in a literal sense in these sort of situations. As for the others they kept their heads on straight, typical of professional warriors and assassin. He could consider the ramifications of events later, over a strong drink, for now he focused on making sure he didn't miss anything important, or more critically, valuable to the right pair of hands.

The Lion's Banner: A Fire Emblem-Inspired Anime Fantasy RP

"Of course its going to...."

Urden was ready to start swinging again when the strange needle blades blossomed out of the slaughter doll's head, the exasperation was apparent in his tone before Boss decided to finally split the thing cleanly down the middle, finally sending it to the ground in a mess of bits and pieces. Urden prodded the pieces with the tip of his boot, half expecting another weapon to pop out of the rubble and try to skewer his foot. Nothing though, seemed the damned thing was finally and properly broken. The applause brought his attention back to the Witch who had decided that she was going to reward them. Reward them, for breaking her stuff? Hell he wished all jobs were 'Break my stuff for a reward', he'd be filthy rich if that was the case. Granted the reward proved to be fairly peculiar in the best sense of the word. A...doll. The reward for smashing a bunch of dolls was a nicer doll. Smaller than the Nem, like the merchant who had, albeit understandably given the circumstances, ran for help and then stayed the hell out of the way. Who was also currently sobbing up a storm, not the worst response he'd seen to the first time thrown into the deep end of a fight.

The second reward was at least much more overtly useful. Turned out their missing people had, in fact, been sold off after all. Strangers from across the sea had purchased them. That...was not terribly helpful in identifying them, but that didn't matter much either. They go out, Boss does the talking, and if need be, strongarm the strangers into giving the prisoners back. And if that meant cracking even more skulls, well what else was he paid for really? Besides, it would be easier to deal with even seasoned warriors again instead of more slaughter dolls. While thinking, the Doll Witch went and faded in a blue glow, and was gone just like that. To say the mercenary was befuddled was an understatement, but it wasn't like he was going to understand most wielders of magic, let alone a Witch who didn't even play by any rulebook most folks knew. They now had a...friendlier doll? Hopefully one of the other Lions could puzzle that one out, though he wasn't keen on having a Doll that, knowing their luck, the Witch could use to track their general movements. Could maybe even listen in on them, not like he knew whether or not it was possible, but it was a thought. He still should watch his words around the small Doll for the foreseeable future.

"Never a dull moment for you, is it Boss? I reckon this is the part where we hurry off into the night, ready to play the big damn heroes? Especially now that we're done playing with dolls, at least for the moment."

The mercenary cast his gaze around the cave one more time, looking for any last minute surprises before he shouldered his axe. Seemed to be all quiet, which meant it was up to the Boss to decide what to do next.

The Lion's Banner: A Fire Emblem-Inspired Anime Fantasy RP

Urden knew damn well that if the others hadn't followed in turning the attack back on the doll he'd probably be in fairly dire straits and adding a number of new scars to his collection, but fortunately it seemed his allies understood the need to make sure that the slaughter doll wasn't given the chance to start building up momentum. The others kept the smaller dolls off them, which was necessary to let the handful engaged with the slaughter doll to remain doing so, meeting the limbs it was trying to use to overwhelm any one of them alone. Sure enough, Boss lunged in again, that fancy sword of her flaring up once more before unleashing a blast that tore out a chunk of the slaughter doll. Having battered aside the attack, he shifted his grip again, eying up the situation as the Boss barked orders once again. Simple too, bring the thing down, and he stepped in at the side of the doll's waist still loosely intact, shards and cracks aside.

"You got it, Boss!"

With that, the mercenary aimed the axe squarely for its side, aiming to finally shatter the damned doll in one more good swing. It's what he did best, really, crashing and smashing through defenses, his own be damned. And with it off balanced and barely holding together, he was inclined to suspect that it should only take one more arm shuddering swing to finally break the thing into a bunch of broken shards and finally stop coming after them. Then the Witch could go on about some cryptic nonsense and wander off, and as far as he was concerned that would suit him fine. Still, that remained to be seen, for now, focus on the task at hand. Finally putting this damned slaughter doll down once and for all.

The Lion's Banner: A Fire Emblem-Inspired Anime Fantasy RP

Urden watched the slaughter doll recoil under the barrage of attacks, its main means of offense apparently disabled. About damn time, as he watched the enchanted arrow strike true and put some serious hurt on the damned doll. It had been blown up and back briefly, revealing the black void inside of the thing. If he were a learned man he might be able to give some thought to what all that meant, but he wasn't, so he was just going to accept it worked, because it clearly did, but the clapping interrupted his train of thought. He was still closest to the thing, having wrenched his axe clear in time for the aforementioned arrow to have done its notable work. Apparently the test wasn't done yet, and of course the slaughter doll and its creator had more tricks up their sleeves. Stealing weapons off the small dolls that were left, Urden made ready to keep up the attack when the thing lashed out in all directions, forcing his hand sooner rather than later.

Too close to evade, he wasn't that quick, and Urden very obviously lacked heavy armor to simply ignore the attacks. Rather than make some effort to dodge, Urden made an attack of his own, aiming to intercept the incoming attack with his own. He would pit his own axe and strength against this desperation attack by the slaughter doll, he wasn't going to be put on the back foot without a damn good reason. And if this worked he could keep up the initiative of attacking the doll rather than letting it create any sort of breathing room for itself. Orders were to aim for the damaged torso, and that wouldn't happen by letting it turn the momentum against them.

The Lion's Banner: A Fire Emblem-Inspired Anime Fantasy RP

Urden wrenched the axe back from the joint with a grin, hefting and resetting his position as his allies beset the slaughter doll from all several sides. 'Hector' landed another spear strike, which created the opening for him to get himself situated for another heavy handed, aggressive strike, the doll's seemingly single minded efforts to change targets based on whoever hit it last meant he could have the rare luxury to ready himself for another braced, charged swing. Sure enough, the Crownsblade made good on her own talents, lashing out at the weak points that had not been targeted yet and doubled up. Given she favored two weapons instead of one, it made sense, though the slaughter doll seemed to very much not appreciate the fact that it was being assailed so heavily.

Boss jumped in before the slaughter doll could really focus its assault on the Crownsblade, and put that fancy sword of hers to real good use. The thrust practically disintegrated the afflicted limb and ended up causing the slaughter doll to stagger and create a significant opening. The damage to the torso, and the sight of some of the smaller dolls having been destroyed in a similar manner, meant he had an opening to confirm that the others could finish the thing off. With it staggered, he hefted the axe and eyed where he had first struck with the blade half of the weapon. If a crack had formed from there, and the repeated blows to the limbs could have softened it up, so with a grunt he aimed a downwards slam with all the force he could muster, aiming to smash the thing down and pin it in place long enough to let the others get killing blows in once and for all. With the amount of limb damage already, Urden favored his odds to hold it in place long enough to let the others finish the thing off.