Valkon

Defiance

Jack looked back at Dani as he insisted that he had no idea who he was. His usual blank expression broken by a single raised eyebrow, he responds, "No, of course you don't know who I am. But that doesn't change the fact that the same set of people that had been in the tavern not long ago has ended up here." He turns, crossing his arms as he continues, "Who I am isn't important at the moment, in any case. As for survivors..." He briefly glances over his shoulder at the town before looking back at Dani. "There were two others who were in the tavern earlier- a hooded woman and a mute man with a flute- and a forest golem. I believe they were heading this way. Aside from them though... whatever stragglers aren't already on their way here, well, today may be their last."

Jack takes a seat on the ground, legs crossed, elbows resting upon his thighs and hands folded together as he thinks. "The undead legion has completely overwhelmed this place. I don't expect a siege like this would have taken place unless the town held something important... but I don't know what it could have that would justify such a force. The church seemed to be a target, so perhaps there was something there..." He tilts his head forward, resting his forehead on his hands for a few seconds before swinging them out sideways, forcing them into the ground to push himself up into the air and landing on his feet. "Regardless of their reason for attacking, nothing can change the fact that whatever battle may have been fought here has already been lost." Looking down at the girl who was now hiding behind the elf, he continued, "Afraid there's not much we can do other than wait for whoever may be left."

Defiance

As Jack made his way to the western gate, he caught up with Ren and Devlin, who both appeared to be distracted by their own matters; Devlin producing some sort of electrical barrier around a forest golem- when had that arrived? Was it attracted to the town by the siege?- while Ren was occupied fighting the undead around them. It seemed that the golem, whether by choice or coincidence, had been fighting the undead, and they were trying to convince it to retreat to safety with the rest of them.

He left them to their efforts, be they successful or futile- he had heard of the forest golems before, but had never encountered any himself prior to today, and those few stories he knew of them had conflicting details of their intellect- and continued to the west gate, glancing back. It seemed Gabriel had ended up behind him, though he hadn't lagged too far behind. A good thing, too- there had been enough death in this forsaken little town as it was without Jack's circumstantial allies falling in battle.

Jack arrived at the gate in time to see Fauve disappear into the forest outside of town, wearing a mix of new clothing and the same clothes as before but in far worse condition than the last time he had seen her. Seemed that she had seen battle as well. Amidst whatever straggling civillians were still fleeing the city out through the gate, Jack noted a group of familiar individuals, plus one new face; the Myti, Elf, and... little girl? that had been at another table in the tavern and had taken to a small hill outside of it earlier were grouped up at the gate, along with an orc wielding an impressive-looking mace.

He approached the group, starting, "Seems fate has drawn us all together again. If you believe in such things, in any case." He turned to look at the orc, looking up to him- something he hadn't had to do in a long time- and continuing, "Well, looks like we've been joined by an Orc. Been years since I've seen one of your kind." He turned again to look back towards the town, partly to survey the damage and partly to check if Gabriel had fallen behind. "Rest in peace, small town of Nadaska. Damned monsters are getting too organized for my tastes..."

Defiance

Though the attack struck the beast, it took a moment for Jack to realize it had little or no effect on it, aside from attracting its attention; it swung theleg he had assaulted into him, delivering a swift kick. From his position, Jack only had time to raise his makeshift shield so that it would absorb most of the impact. Even then, the strike from the beast launched Jack back, tumbling through the air and skidding to a halt across the ground. "Damn...." Jack cursed as he got up, winded but otherwise mostly unharmed.

The attack had been futile. The flail- which he had lost his grip on, along with the tavern door, mid-flight- had been completely ineffective against the beast, and Jack doubted his fists would do any better. "Dammit..." Jack cursed again as he glanced back at the others nearby, who were insiting on retreat. As much as Jack hated running from a fight, he could tell when a situation was hopeless, and fleeing was better than death- especially since he had no reason to die for this forsaken town. He looked at the boar one more time before turning and regrouping with Gabriel, Ren, and Devlin, punching his way through any skeletons that got in his path.

Defiance

It didn't take long before Jack had made his way to the horde of skeletons assaulting the town of Nadaska, meeting their front as they reached the library and had begun heading north. Fighting his way into it, volleys of arrows absorbed by the thick wood of the tavern door secured to his left arm while he carved a path of shattered bone and torn cartilidge with the flail in his right hand. More skeletons moved to fill in the gaps, but despite their numbers he steadily made his way through the chaos towards what had become his primary target: the armored boar-like monstrosity.

From the path the beast was taking, Jack surmised that it was most likely making its way towards the church. For what purpose it had targeted the holy building was neither something that was clear to Jack nor something he cared about. All that mattered to Jack was that it was a monster that had to be put down. The skeletons had left the path in front of it open, creating a clearing that Jack had managed to fight his way into. Standing between the beast and the church, he takes a second to position himself before sprinting towards the beast's front right leg, twisting as he reaches it to slam the spiked head of the flail into it with as much speed and force as he can muster.

Defiance

"Well, one thing is clear," Jack says, stuffing the crudely drawn map into his pants pocket, "It certainly means something. As for chasing the man down..." His statement was interrupted by the sound of several roars emerging from the forest outside of town; roars that Jack couldn't place as being that of any kind of beast he had encountered. "Well," he continued, "There's also that. Anyways... I don't expect there's much to gain by chasing him down, though I am curious what the meaning of the map is."

It was then that he picked up the sound of the crashes from the boar-like beast, and the ensuing commotion its attack caused. "The hell...?" He stepped away from the tree, moving to see what was going on. His confusion was answered as a skeleton attacked the elf on the hill nearby, who quickly dispatched the undead creature. Jack turned to Fauve and Gabriel, stating, "Well, it would seem conflict has decided to come to us."

A skeleton wielding a flail covered with rusted spikes approached behind Jack, moving to attack; before the strike could connect, however, Jack spun around, slamming his spiked gauntlet into the skeleton's ribcage and shattering its torso. Whether it belonged to the living or undead, bone broke all the same. Holding down the monster's flail-wielding arm with his foot, he ripped the weapon out of its hand before stomping on its skull to finish it off.

"A bit shabby, but it'll do," he stated, inspecting the weapon he had obtained before looking back to the two nearby. "You two can do what you like, but I'll be joining this fight now." He removed the map, tossing it to Gabriel. "I'm beginning to think I might know what the town being crossed out was supposed to mean..." With that, he walked back to the tavern, grabbing the handle and ripping the door off of its hinges. With stolen weapon and makeshift shield in hands, he moved east to engage the main horde of monsters.

Defiance

When the Elf and the Myti noticed Jack looking in their direction- evident by the former's nod and the latter's brief eye contact- he gave them a quick salute before returning his focus back to the tavern. Fauve had emerged from it; as she jerked her head back in acknowledgement to him, he returned it with the same sort of nod he had given Gabriel. Jack watched her as she approached, but as she pulled down her trousers and it became evident what she had come over to do, he returned his eyes to the rest of the town.

After her introduction, Jack looked down at her hand, giving it a shake. As he was about to answer, Gabriel approached, commenting on the looting that the two of them had engaged in before introducing himself and asking their names. Jack took the opportunity to answer both of them, replying, "Name's Jack. I'd shake your hand as well, Gabriel, but the gauntlets don't typically agree with magic users."

Whether or not he intended to shake Gabriel's hand soon became irrelevant, as the book-reading stranger collided with the enchanter. As soon as he had arrived, however, he had already left, collecting all of his things that had spilled to the floor before continuing on his way; or, rather, almost all of his things. Kneeling down, Jack picked up the paper that had been left behind, looking at the map on it.

It only took a few seconds for him to recognize the area as being Nadaska and its surroundings, the small town crossed off and a location nearby marked with a circle. "Well now... I wonder what this is all about?" As he spoke, he held the paper such that Fauve and Gabriel could see the map as well, glancing in the direction the stranger had ran off in.

Defiance

Jack simply watched as Fauve shoved the body of the late barkeep into a cupboard and hastily covered up the blood, stating, "Yeah, that looks like it'll work." Out of sight, out of mind, after alltt. Granted, the scent of the carcass would probably still attract some attention, but the smell of filth inherent to the place would probably manage to cover it up for at least a short time. He glanced at Gabriel as the enchanter seemed to misunderstand the hero of the story idea, considering whether to correct him or not, but eventually deciding against it.

Instead, he chose to follow in suit with Fauve; the drinks wouldn't do anyone any good just sitting on a shelf, after all, and the barkeep certainly didn't need them anymore. He shoveled as much of the remaining alcohol as could fit into his pack, taking an extra bottle in hand for good measure, and exited the tavern, walking out as if nothing had happened. Jack acknowledged Gabriel's presence nearby with a nod and made his way over to a nearby tree, leaning against it and finishing off the last of his venison, washing it down with the contents of the extra bottle.

Taking a brief look around, he caught sight of the group from earlier situated on a small hill a short distance away. It seemed they were discussing something.

Defiance

Jack's attention was brought back to the two in front of him when Gabriel began to answer Fauve's question. Though he had missed what that question actually was due to his shift in focus, he was more or less able to surmise what it had been from Gabriel's answer. From it, it seemed he was a specialist in enchantments and research; though Jack didn't visibly react to it, that did catch his attention. His former master had specialized in the same sort of thing, after all. Of course, this stranger didn't strike Jack as being anything like Jacques had been, but then again his master had always seemed to take on an alternate persona when he was dealing with customers, visitors, and other such individuals. Perhaps this man was the same.

Jack would have to kill him if he was.

Through his peripheral vision, Jack watched the other group depart the tavern one-by-one, leaving the two in front of him, the hooded woman- who got up and left shortly afterwards anyways- and the horsem- Jack paused eating as he realized that the stranger at the bar had already disappeared. The fact that such a large individual had managed to make his way out of the tavern without him noticing took Jack by surprise, though he decided to attribute it to his focus being drawn to those directly in front of him. Misdirection and sleight of hand worked on similar principles, after all.

In his surprise, he missed the proposal Fauve had made to Gabriel.

It was around then that the hooded woman exited from the kitchen, knife coated with blood in her hand, and headed upstairs. At this point, Jack realized that the bartender had also disappeared- an indication to the source of the blood on the knife, perhaps. As Fauve commented on the situation, Jack nodded, still eating as he got up from his seat and followed her and Gabriel into the kitchen. As he had suspected, the bartender was on the floor, clothes stained red by the pool of his own blood that had been forming around him. Swallowing the bite of meat he had been chewing, Jack crosses his right arm over his chest, half-eaten venison still in hand, and gives a short bow in mock-respect. "And so ends the tale of the fat little barkeep," standing back up and turning to look at Gabriel as the sounds from upstairs cease, he adds "And it would seem someone else's story has ended as well. Any guesses who its hero might've been, merchant?"

Defiance

Jack merely watched Fauve as she laughed at the heavily simplified story of how he had obtained his gauntlets. Not surprising in the least; Jack was well aware of how it sounded. Drinking from the moonshine she had previously slid towards him as she continued, followed by Gabriel's own assessment of his story, Jack set down the drink as he responded, "Believe what you want, but that's what happened... more or less." Jack turned to Gabriel as he continued, "There is indeed more to the story, but I don't expect either of you intend to listen to some stranger's history."

He shifted the moonshine to the side, thinking for a moment before adding, "As for the traveler, eccentric is one way to put it. He was, however, responsible for my freedom, and as such I choose not to question him or his reasons." Jack lifts the moonshine, drinking from it once more. Finishing it off, he slid the now-empty mug over to the side of the table again. "Now. If that's all, I'd like to return to my meal." Of course, given how these sorts of encounters usually went, he didn't expect that it would be, but he would take the chance that it might.

However, before either of them had the chance to answer- or he had the chance to continue his meal without letting them answer- Jack's focus was drawn from the two at his table by the entrance of another unusual individual. He was tall, tall enough to strike his head on the way in- the sound of which being what caught his attention in the first place. Taller even than Jack was, something that he hadn't seen in anyone even roughly human-like since his childhood. Looked fairly strong as well, and appeared to belong to a race of some sort that Jack didn't recognize. Something he'd have to ask about, should a conversation between them occur.

It was only then, with his focus drawn away from Fauve and Gabriel, that Jack noticed that the hooded woman had returned from the upstairs; in addition, another person had joined the Myti and the Elf at their table. A bored teenager that had wandered off to the tavern, perhaps? Unlikely, given the time. Like with Gabriel, something about this person struck Jack as being odd, but from where he was he couldn't tell what. Perhaps time would tell; with the way things seemed to be shaping up, it was only a matter of time before some event occurred that would bring all the unusual and interesting patrons of the tavern together.

Or perhaps it was just coincidence and such things don't happen outside of books and fables. Still, it was an entertaining train of thought.

Defiance

Jack's observation of the others was interrupted by the sudden entrance of another individual; this one, a young woman. As she went about her business, he returned the majority of his focus to observing the others, but she once again interrupted this- this time by taking a seat at his table. It seemed, more or less, that she had taken an interest in his gloves- she wasn't the first individual who had, and she certainly wouldn't be the last.

Jack, ignoring the moonshine for the moment, responds, "About as much any other tavern. As for the gloves, they're not for sale." As he finishes his brief answer, another individual- the first man Jack had noticed enter the tavern- had taken a seat at the table as well, also inquiring about the gloves. It seemed indirect observation was out of the question now. "Hm. Fourteen years ago," Jack answers, "I met a traveler. He gave them to me. I can't say I have any idea why he did, but I'm sure had his reasons."