Location:
Border Village
Mid-Morning
@Guy0fV4lor
“But there was not even ash left!” Lonan retorted harshly as Reinhardt simply brushed past him and the few soldiers Lonan had brought with him ripping a halberd from the hands of one of the soldiers as well as picking up a chain off the ground, wrapping it around his torso like some sort of makeshift armor. “At least put some clothes or armor on - argh, fine! Let him through!”
With Lonan’s words the gathered soldiers would let Reinhardt approach the smoldering crater that the dragon had fallen into as it fell from the sky. Blacked, charred earth. The air thick with smoke and ash, molten fire having dripped enough from the wound and the dragons body to create a small pooled around it making it hard for most men to approach.
The dragon itself was laying on its side, the wound Reinhardt inflicted jagged and bleeding molten fire as its neck was resting on its good wing. No doubt it wouldn’t be flying any time soon, but even so with the beasts gargantuan size and sturdiness - could the two of them manage to defeat it?
“I believe they went to check on the fort where the cursed knight is being held-” Lonan would reply, gazing down at the dragon’s immobile form as Reinhardt would march down the slope of the crater. “...I would ask any other knight if they’re crazy, but I will reserve judgment until I see results. I’ll defer to the dragon slayer on this. To positions men! DO not engage the dragon! I repeat, do not engage the dragon in Melee unless you want to end up as a burning pile of ash!”
Lonan shouted, mounting Steblas and riding alongside the edge of the crater, barking orders at the gathered militia.
So Reinhardt jumped into the crater.
Halberd raised overhead, the knight
slammed the weapon down onto the oozing gash upon the Wyvern’s shoulder.
Immediately the beast shrieked, loud enough to cause deafness and burst eardrums as it thrashed to wakefulness as the halberd wrenched scale from flesh and flesh from bone. Reinhardt felt the beasts maw wrap around his sides, teeth digging into his flesh as he was tossed away from the creature, slamming into the ground with a fair bit of force as it managed to crawl to its feet.
“Uooooh…You…Live?” Its raspy, aged voice spoke. “Ahhhhh…Confusion. I do not know how you avoided judgment of perdition.” It hissed. “MMmhm, Veeeery well, though. I will slay you as many times as I must for our kiiiing.”
It raised its head, roaring again Its left wing hung limply, uselessly at its side. Its chest bleeding but it seemed unbothered as it lashed out at Elias, it released a torrent of fire towards the dragon slayer which was followed up by a brutal lunge forwards, attempting to crush the human with its remaining good claw.
Location:
Southern Giants Rest
Bandit camp, early morning.
@VitaVitaAR@FrogRFlowR@Pyromania99
A shield of light formed, big enough to encompass the air above her and her men, the arrows harmlessly bouncing off of the construct of light. Luna, at least, effortlessly dispatched the men that were attacking her, their bodies falling to the ground from their wounds. The others that had engaged her men were faring much better, however. Something about these bandits was odd. Though she had effortlessly slain them, even Luna could tell their physical prowess and ability was beyond what was normal for most people.
Unable to assist quite in time, two bandits managed to get the better of one of her soldiers, breaking his guard and impaling his chest on a blade before another beheaded him with a brutal blow of an axe. Another of her men managed to fend off one, using a blade of his own to deflect a blow into a swift stab to a bandits side, before getting clocked in the head with a mace. The other two were fairing similar.
Another hail of arrows was launched towards them, too. It seemed as though these bandits had enough bite to back up their barking. At least now it was four to eight.
The two remaining knights quickly nodded, informing Niall they’d go tell lady Lightsword what was happening and support her as Niall began his own assault. The owl knight swift as wind, deadly as the night. Graceful as a bird, the Owl knight poised himself on the lance, effortlessly rending the bandits asunder before they could even react as he made his proclamation.
Annagan, merely laughed under his cowl, offering no reply as the knight rushed towards him. The hammer missed its first blow - Annagan was certainly strong, but he was by no means swifter than Niall. That was likely the only advantage the owl knight had in this situation. As he made attempts to grab Niall, Annagan whiffed time and time again, grabbing nothing but air as more and more small cuts and gashes were delivered to the mans body until Niall was ready for his finishing blow.
The lance thrust towards Annagan’s heart.
Blood spilled from the wound.
Annagan laughed.
“Ahahahah, you’re that whelp from last night!” He, if nothing else seemed amused with this turn of events. “Come back to be crushed have ye? Don’t run like a coward when I crush your insides, this time!” Niall would watch as the bandits chief wrapped a hand around Niall’s lance and proceeded to lift
him from the ground with his own weapon. “Lets see how far you fly, bird-!” A howl of pain as Niall was blessedly saved by Fio’s magic, the hammer that was aiming to knock Niall clean into the air barely grazed him, sending him instead stumbling to the ground and merely giving him a few bruises and maybe a small fracture as he’d roll onto the ground a fe feet away.
More blades fell upon the bandits, all shouting in surprise and mild anger as their lives were summarily cut short.
“....Gahaha.” Annagan supported himself with his hammer, blood liberally coursing across his body now. “Annoying, but it’ll take more than just these flesh wounds!” Even wounded as he was, it did not seem the bandits leader was going to go down anytime soon be it from pure physical power or something else entirely. He’d rush forwards, intending to slam the hammer onto Niall. “Leave this whelp to me, men. Go play with that lightsword brat!”
The about sixteen or so men left quickly acquiesced, leaving Niall and Annagan to duel while they made their way to Luna’s flank.
Location:
Harzel Border Fort
@Crimson Paladin
Ethelred tied his horse to the nearest tree and followed Grainne to the fort on foot, his lance hefted over his shoulder. He said nothing, silently focusing on observing anything he could regarding the fort and its garrison. This was something that would require improvising and quick thinking, and the more he assessed his surroundings, the better chance of success he had if things went south.. Fortunately, with his eyes hidden beneath his helmet, it’d be difficult for anyone to see exactly what he was eyeing at any moment.
He didn’t think that Grainne would be too difficult to distract when the time came- she seemed to have a bit of a temper on her and probably a bit of insecurity behind it. Ethelred figured it’d be easy enough to set her off with a few well placed words disparaging her stature or her squirehood, but another option was to be more subtle or passive-aggressive in occupying her attention. For now however, he’d follow behind and endure her unpleasant words with silence.
Marduk, in the meanwhile, would use his unhindered sight and enhanced Elven senses to his advantage, taking note of any potential vantage points, as well as the number of guards in any given area. It’s likely that this Fomorian woman Ethelred wished to free is in an area where more guards would be posted than usual. As much as memorizing guard patrols on his own would go, however, Marduk knew he needed to work with more than just his sight if they really wanted to help Elnith out.
“
... Say, Ethelred. Aren’t those the children you saved, from that village attacked by the dragon?” Marduk noted, looking to the direction of where the brats may be settled into. “
Didn’t they drop something of theirs? I think I have it.” Rummaging through Reinhardt’s stuff, Marduk would grab any random object a kid would likely have, handing it over to Ethelred. Before he could protest, Marduk would lean into his ear, or at least where he thought his ear would be.
“
Could be good to ask them about the place. I’ll keep the runt knight busy.”
With a pat of a shoulder and a salute to his chest, Marduk would step away from Ethelred, giving him a knowing wink. He did his best to hide his disgust at being close to such a cursed being.
“
Think they’d like you better than me! You know how bad I am with kids!” Marduk would jest, before catching up to Grainne before she could properly respond.
“
Say, are there any stables for the rest of these horses? Would be annoying if we had to lug them around for the rest of our tour. And how about those ballistas, huh? Could you show me how they work after?”
Marduk would continue to pepper the runt with questions as he did his best to lead the squire away from the icy knight.
Grainne frowned, though didn’t say much to the two, obviously at least in some aspect respecting the sacrifice that Reinhardt had made. At least until Marduk had opened his mouth to respond to her.
“Stables. For yours, sure. Just over there. That creepy ice…creature stays out here.” She’d say, not even bothering to point and merely gesture her head briefly in the general direction of some stables. “I’ll take you to them, but no touching.” She’d only briefly turn her attention to Ethelred. “Don’t wander off too much. Don’t want to be picking ice off the fort, got it?” Assuming the ice knight had nothing else to say to the redhead, she’d proceed to lead Marduk into the stables.
Marduk’s sight would notice there was quite a force of troops here. At least fifty in total. As for the greatest concentration of them…there was what seemed to be a tent setup nearby the entrance to the fort where the soldiers were using as a sort of outside work area, but there was no sign of someone being restrained or otherwise imprisoned on the outside. It was likely the prison was inside the fort itself somewhere…though he’d take note of a small building on the backside that was hidden behind a few large trees and seemingly purposefully made to be somewhat inconspicuous.
With the elf keeping the squire busy, Ethelred walked towards the nearest Harzel soldiers. He needed information, and he needed to occupy their attention. He couldn't introduce himself as a knight of Sorcha, however, nor could he hope to appear inconspicuous. He wasn’t a skilled deceiver, and his armor made it very difficult to be charismatic and persuasive to people. With some thinking, he opted to approach them using an angle that would not require deceit or honeyed words, instead he would address them from the perspective of something that he rarely got a chance to be- as his old self.
"Hail, warriors," he boisterously greeted them.
"Allow me to introduce myself. I am Etheling Ethelred Edmundson, lord of Ceolread Castle. I have come here to lend my resources to assist in felling that vile wyvern before it can harm anyone else. Might one of you direct me to the lord of this castle, that I may more closely cooperate with Harzelslack's warriors to end this threat to Albion?"Despite everything he said being technically true, Ethelred was quite aware of how ridiculous and implausible he must sound to these guards.
The soldiers, understandably as Ethelred assumed, did not take him seriously at all. The group he had spoken too was a small group of about six or seven that were currently near the tent near the entrance of the castle. They were dressed in pretty standard soldier gear, simple but effective armor and weapons.
“You what?” One of them began. “Sorry, never heard of that house. Or castle.”
“Ain't that the name of some ruins or something out by Redwater?”
“Doesn’t this guy look like some sorta weird fomorian?”
“If Grainne let this guy in then he’s probably legitimate right?”
“Since we does that kid know anything?”
“Stop talking you louts and get back to work.” A slightly higher ranking knight, dressed in plate, walked over. “Sorry about them. If you’re looking for the Lord of this Castle, you’ll have to find Sir Lonan.” The armored knight replied, a curt, professional nod to Ethelred. “He’s the one responsible for patrolling the border and he took this castle as a base to operate from. I believe he’s at the nearby village. Said something about wanting to stop the beast before it could destroy the village.”
Ethelred was a bit taken aback that somebody was being
reasonable with him. It would be a welcome surprise if it didn't make it harder to keep the garrison distracted. He had to adapt to the changing situation, however. If his presence wasn't enough of a big deal to keep everyone distracted, it'd nonetheless be quite convenient if he was able to move around the fort freely.
"Yes, I've met Sir Lonan. From what I've seen, he's a model knight, honorable and capable," he replied.
"Since he's not here, however, is there anything that you would have me do to lend my aid here and lessen your load? If my own castle was in better condition I'd offer to shelter some of these refugees, but alas, it has fallen into disrepair."“I can’t just give an outsider the run of the place. I’m sure you understand.” The armored knight frowned under his helmet. “But perhaps...Well, Lady Grainne has asked us not to mention it, but…apparently we have a prisoner that Lonan wants information from. Given the situation its been tossed a bit to the side.” He spoke quietly, constantly glancing in Grainne’s direction. Was he not aware of what Grainne had ordered, or did he simply not care for the squire and her attitude? “I was told this prisoner is exceptionally dangerous and the cause of quite a few tragedies over - the infamous Cursed Knight Elnith. How they managed to capture her I have no idea.”
"I can answer that for you," Ethelred replied, encouraged at the mention of Elnith.
"When I first bumped into Lonan and Grainne, they happened to be discussing that exact matter. It appears that Elnith attempted to fight the dragon by herself. When Lonan found her, she was badly wounded and had lost her sword- which we later found out was still embedded in the dragon."There wasn't much use in trying to convince the knight that Elnith was trying to help. Ethelred was still a bit irritated that Elias had not asked the children to give their account of Elnith's heroism to Lonan when they first encountered the Harzel knights.
"Perhaps, under your supervision, you might allow me to question her," he propositioned.
"If she's fought the dragon and lived, she might some information on its abilities, weaknesses, possibly its motivations- anything that might that might improve Lonan's chances against it. Given her current situation, she might be more forthcoming to an outsider like myself."The knight took a few quiet moments to process what Ethelred had told him, before nodding quietly.
“Alright. If she has fought the dragon and lived then she’ll have useful information. Probably what Sir Lonan wanted.” The knight began walking, motioning for Ethelred to follow. Assuming Ethelred did and had nothing much else to ask the plated Harzel knight, he’d be led towards the fort towards the side building that had been partially hidden in the shade of the fort proper. No doubt then, this was the prison of the fort. Stepping inside, Ethelred would find himself in a small guardpost it seemed. A single guard was stationed here, and after a small exchange with the knight he’d proceed to unlock the heavy metal door that led to the prison proper.
Inside was…well, a prison. What did one expect of such a place? Down a small set of stairs, Ethelred’s feet met dirt floors and cold stone walls. The only light coming in was from the small iron barred windows and a handful of glass lanterns hanging on the walls. The Knight led Ethelred into the room. The place wasn’t big, only enough room for five cells. Four smaller ones near the door and a single larger one near the back, which was conveniently where Elnith seemed to be.
As light from the lantern the knight picked up off the wall filtered into the cell, Ethelred would see the Knight, and considering everything Ethelred had heard up until now…well, it was no surprise he could almost feel the malignant curse in the air hanging around her. It wasn’t anything he could see, but he could
feel it. A thick, stagnant smell that threatened to choke.
Upon hearing them enter, she’d turn her heads towards them, the usual soft voice that Ethelred had grown familiar with replaced with a harsher, more demanding and deliberate tone.
“What is it now?” She’d ask, clear hostility present, expression softening just slightly upon seeing Ethelred. “Now’s not a good time, aha…” She’d bring her left arm up to her mouth, biting on one of her knuckles.
Her physical state, well, at least that could be worse. She was wearing some pretty threadbare clothing, standard prisoner attire. Half of her face was covered in medical cloth and bandages covering one of her eyes. Her right arm was tightly secured to her chest to prevent it from moving, leaving only her left arm free. The worst part was, though, were perhaps the burns covering her body. In the places that weren’t bandaged, severe burns covered her flesh no doubt if she had been a normal human she’d have died from such burns.
“Get started on your questioning then.” The knight stopped a few feet away from the cell. “I’d rather not be here longer than I have to.”
The sight of Elnith was disheartening. Sorcha's powerful berserker knight, wrapped in bandages and rags, locked up in a cell. Equally disturbing was that Ethelred could almost swear he could feel Elnith's curse. Yet despite the dread that gripped the accompanying Harzel Knight, Ethelred's only concern remained Elnith's well-being and what could be done for her.
With just the two knights in the room and only one guard outside to deal with, Ethelred shouldn't have trouble subduing them and springing Elnith out, but there'd still be the matter of what do do with her. She wasn't exactly in a condition to fight the wyvern, and Sorcha would be most displeased if they withdrew without putting it down. Even if he broke her out and stole a horse for her to flee, Ethelred didn't want her to make the journey back to Airedale alone, especially after what happened to Od.
Ethelred walked right up to the cell.
"It looks like you fought the wyvern, Elnith. We saw your handiwork when we fought it." He tried not to let slip that they were working together.
"Unfortunately, it proved a challenge for us too. We fought it with the aid of Sir Lonan, the local Harzelslack commander, but it managed to escape. But Elias..." Ethelred paused, trying to compose himself,
"Elias tried to pull your sword from its chest. It let loose this beam of burning light. Lonan and I were able to withstand it it, but Elias wasn't so lucky. There...there wasn't anything left of him but melted slag."Ethelred turned to the knight. Perhaps it was just condensation from the damp dungeon, but there were beads of water dripping down his helmet.
"What if we were able to use her against the wyvern? She jumped into combat with this thing, and she actually wounded it. Even in her current state, she might be willing to still fight it. I know you want to punish her, but whatever tragedies the inflicted cannot be undone, but we might be able to prevent a tragedy if we make use of her. Besides, we should be able to handle her in her weakened state, and even if she tries to run, there's nowhere to go. We have Harzelslack to the west, frigid snowfields to the north, wastes to the northwest, and Fomorian-infested woods to the east."He turned to Elnith.
"What do you think? If they allowed it, might you be willing to have a rematch with the dragon?"It was a stretch, but Ethelred desired to exhaust all other options before resorting to force or trickery.
“...Oh.” She would quietly reply. It was followed by a quiet, hollow chuckle. “I see…if I was stronger then, maybe-” She’d cut herself off, shaking her head. “No. No, nothing I could have…nnngh…” The warrior got to her feet, wrapping her hands around the bars of the cell as Ethelred turned to the knight that was overseeing the ‘interrogation’.
“...Hm.” The armored knight frowned under his own helmet. “She’s dangerous, and the things she’s been accused of…hm…” The Harzel knight folded his arms, thinking over the offer. “I…suppose if Sir Lonan was here he’d say it’d be be better to die nobly atoning for one's actions instead of merely awaiting execution.” Before he could give an affirmation of the plan, however, there was the sound of shouting from outside. Warning bells rang out. The sound of men running.
“What the-” The knight didn’t finish his thought, instead turning away from Ethelred and the prison, leaving the room…and also Ethelred and Elnith alone in the cell as he went to see what was happening outside.
This was the opportunity he was waiting for. As reasonable as the knight had been, as much as Ethelred had hoped he still had a chance to convince him to let Elnith out, he couldn't pass this chance up. As reasonable and cordial as the knight had been, as close as he had been to possibly letting Elnith out, Lonan had been quite clear about what was in store for Elnith, and Ethelred wasn’t going to leave this to chance.
"Now that he's gone," he began, briefly looking back at the exit before turning back to Elnith,
"Sorcha sent me, Elias, and Od to find you and, if necessary, stop the beast. She hadn't learned that it was a wyvern," He paused for a moment.
”Of the three, I’m the only one left. Od was abducted by Fomorians in Redwater. Elias, while fighting the wyvern, was struck and vaporized by a beam while freeing your sword from its chest. There wasn't anything left of him but his sword and some melted armor." He then raised his lance, grabbing it in both hands.
"I've lost two companions to this mission, but we won't lose you, too!" he announced, before beginning to strike at the cell door's hinges with his lance. His resolve to free her was more than just a knight coming to his fellow’s aid. Elnith, like himself, was cursed by the Unseelie, thus the Frozen Knight thus felt a sort of kinship with her and sympathy for the challenges that her curse posed, and he was not going to let Harzelslack unjustly execute a fellow maledicted soul.
“I…see.” Elnith stepped away from the bars, fingernails digging into the skin of one of her arms as Ethelred bashed away at the hinges with his lance. The low quality iron mixed with the quickly freezing temperatures of the lance would make most of the work easy. If Elnith had thoughts on the loss of Od and Reinhardt, though, her tired somewhat unfocused gaze didn’t show as such.
“I will do what I can.” Elnith replied quietly, averting her gaze from Ethelred, teeth grinding together. Perhaps some anger, but it was at least clear she was trying to keep herself from feeling too emotional, perhaps for fear of losing what little control she seemed to still have about herself.
crackThe metal hinges creaked, the first shattering into icy bits and the door swinging easily open a few seconds later.
“Do you have a blade?”
"We brought your sword here, it's being held onto by an elf warrior who joined us in Redwater," Ethelred answered.
"Last I saw him, he was skulking outside near the stables. Once we’re out of here, we’ll meet up with him and get you your sword back."The Frozen Knight turned around and began making his way out of the castle's dungeon. He didn't know what was happening outside, but judging from the commotion, it sounded like the fort was under attack.
“I see…we better hurry.” Elnith replied, her voice just a tad bit strained as she’d step out of the cell. “Ha…hahah, I’m feeling a little…difficult, Ethelred…and their screams are getting quite annoying…”
Elnith would follow behind Ethelred as the two left, stepping out of the prison and back onto the forts courtyard. Men were scrambling, the knight from earlier was shouting orders, his hefty blade drawn as he’d notice both Ethelred and Elnith. If he thought anything about Elnith being out of her cell he didn’t say.
“If you want to help, Sir Ethelred nows the time! We’ve got-”
A beast, similar to the one that had killed Elias slammed down behind the knight. Its scales were ashen in color and it bore no crest like that on the other one. It was far smaller as well, about the size of an average sized cabin and lacking a clearly distinct, fierce look.
“-Wyverns!” The knight barely managed to avoid having his head bitten clean off, the wyverns fangs sinking into his shoulder as he’d gouge the creature's eye with his sword. The two knights watched as he was lifted from the ground and then slammed into the side of the fort with enough force to crack the armor.
The knight wasn’t moving.
Above, Ethelred could hear shouting, two more wyverns were assaulting the ballistae on the fort. It was difficult to clearly make out, but he could faintly see Marduk leap from the tallest point from the fort, a weapon of light aimed downwards to strike at the wyverns head, impaling its neck, but it wasn’t enough to bring the creature down entirely as Marduk would be grabbed by the second, and seemingly quite literally, tossed a fair distance away.
A shining red blade fell from his grip though, impaling itself into the ground in front of Elnith and Elias.
“...seems we’re unusually lucky today, Ethelred.” she picked up the blade, a dangerous glint appearing in the cursed knights eyes as she’d pull it from the ground. “Say, Ethelred…can you eat Wyvern? They didn’t feed me much in the prison.”
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