Of dragons and skunks - RPLOG
Participants
Date
7/5/479
Log
The two royal guards are waiting for the freeswords at the foot of some hills, a female leopard and a male magpie. They are clad in matching uniforms with navy blue pants and coats, as well as steel chestplates and gauntlets, the only difference is that the avian has a hood pulled over his head. They are sitting around a fire and seem to be talking to each other.
William makes his way toward the guards, leisurely strolling up before pulling back his own hood, giving each guard a nod. He raises a hand in greeting, the other resting on his cane as he lets out a sigh. "Hello," he says, flicking his soul gem to indicate his freesword-ness before waiting for the arrival of the others.
Lyas saunters up to the guards, hands tucked into his pockets. His casual demeanor is offset by the obviously businesslike equipment he is carrying: a well cared-for sword, a new leather jacket, and a notched but high-quality knife. Odds and ends are stored in a pouch on his belt.
The cat tilts his head towards the guards, tail waving slightly in anticipation. "Got a job you can't handle yourselves?" he teases, addressing the guards with a wicked grin. William's presence attracts no more than a flick of his ear. A flick that nevertheless manages to convey a significant degree of disgust.
zez walks up with an enerjetic bounce to his step, and intraduses him self with a solid and resonding "hi"
A large rabbit walks up to the guards, shield on his arm, helmet on his head. He slings the shield onto his back before drawing off his helmet. Crux offers a friend smile and nod to the others, then looks to the guards. "I understand you guys are looking for some help?" He holds up the gemmed guantlet on his hand and clenches a fist. "I'm more than happy to lend a hand to a member of the Blackback family."
Thelergramor is around, lazily making his way up to the guards waiting around for them. The Fox is all concealed and such, with his masked hood and sandcat-hide clothing. Armed with more than enough weapons today, probably. Also in basilisk form, the only indication of such being the greenscaled lizard tail hanging behind him. He doesn't say anything for now, letting the others do the questioning.
Robin approaches the flames of the fire and the group, eyes wandering over to the multiple figures that had already arrived. "Well isin't this a great little turn out," he chuckles, standing off a few paces from the large bunny, eyes glancing between the leopard and magpie.
Hartford is already here, dressed in his Blackback regalia and pacing agitatedly back and forth. "I don't know how this could happen!" the skunk striped, blue reindeer moans, "I was only gone for a minute! We have to get her back!" The big lug looks hopefully around at the gathering freeswords, but is disappointed. "I. . . I was sort of hoping for some more experienced Freeswords," he says, "I don't know any of you."
The leopard gives a nod to the arriving party, but stays seated. The magpie however gets up and talks, addressing Hartford first. "Well there are plenty of them, so there is that." He turns to the arriving mercenaries. "Its good that you all have come, the situation is indeed dire. Whatever this dragon people reported is, they have reported seeing it take to a ruined keep not far east from here. It is really more a tower with some walls by now, but we suspect the Lady to be there."
William glances back at Lyas and grinds his teeth for a moment, before turning to face the guardsmen again. "William," he says, lifting a hand up in greeting to Hartford before setting both down on his cane. "Well then. Anything to know before we get moving?" He looks around to the rest of his crew, staring at Lyas for a few long moments. "A pleasure to see you here too. I only wish our elephant friend was joining us."
Lyas raises his eyebrows at Hartford. "Who were you expecting, Angus Solacious? Got to give the newer folk a go sometime...." He nods along to the guards' explanation, though the twisted look on his face clearly indicates he finds the story bizarre. "Best get goin' and see what happens," he grins cavalierly, not bothering with further questions. As far as he's concerned anything that needs explaining should explain itself, in time.
He tries to avoid William's eye, but it's hard to ignore being addressed directly. "An absolute pleasure!" he agrees heartily, sarcasm lying close beneath the surface of his words. "Pity about the elephant, yeah. Could go for another sand-bath just now."
Zez looks between Lyas and William a few times before shaking his head and stepping forward. "Hey. I am new to this, but always happy to lend a hand. What can i do to help?" he says.
Crux puts back on his helmet before slinging the shield and spear off his back. "Well, if we know where she might be then we shouldn't keep the lady waiting, should we? Would be most ungentleman like conduct!" He grips at his spear and turns, finding a familiar face near by. He gently taps at Robin with his tower shield and nods. "Don't be afraid to use my large behind for cover if you need. Don't need anyone getting hurt here."
Thelergramor idly checks over his weapons, crossbow, dagger, sword-rapier... Garrote wire he never gets to use... "Dragons haven't been able to kill me before, I-er, we'll- get your Lady back." The basilisk hopes she's pretty, at least. "Shouldn't be difficult."
Robin looks to the two felines, an amused chuckle escaping his mouth, though his attentions go to Crux with a grin upon his features. "I feel safer already," he says. With rapt attention he listens to the magpie, eyes lighting up as they describe the situation. Ruined keep? What things could probably lie within there? Gold perhaps?! With a simple bow slung across his back, the mouse says with excitement, "Well i'm sure we should be able to handle it!"
Hartford looks only slightly abashed at the comment about Angus. "Well, yeah," he says, "Or Miss Cassidy or maybe Mister Fenris. But I'll take what we can get! Let's go!" The heavily armored reindeer heads off impatiently, then hesitates. "Or was it this way?" He turns desperately to the two royal guards. "Maybe you oughtta lead?"
The magpie nods. "Was about to say that we should head out, its not too far from here. If you squint over the hills there you can see the tip of the tower." He eyes the assorted bunch of mercenaries. "And leave the talking to us, if there is any talking at all. I assume you all know how to respect and follow orders." It is clear that this is a statement and not a question by the tone of his voice. The leopard jumps up and picks up her twin swords from the ground and the group heads for the tower. Its an uneventful trip, but it takes nearly an hour thanks to the terrain. They stop about 200 meters from the keep. It is as the bird said, mostly just a tower and some walls, most of which have crumbled by now.
William nods in agreement with Lyas. "Let's stay professional," he advises, before setting off after the guards. Odds are he slows the trip a bit, with his pace, but he does his best to keep up despite any pain it may cause him.
Lyas stays near the middle of the group throughout the journey, but when the tower comes into sight he inches round those ahead of him to stand at the front. He wants to get a good look at their destination. His first concern is an entry point; no use assaulting the place head-on if they can be in and out quietly. He scans the terrain, checking for any covert entry points that the crumbling nature of the place might provide.
After taking a moment to realise that the group was moving, Zez takes a few hurried steps to catch up with the group. He spends most of the trip looking around at the scenery, then quietly stares at the tower up when the Freeswords arrive.
Crux salutes to the magpie. "Spent most of my adult life in the military, sir. I just wouldn't advise telling me to jump, I haven't quite gotten the hang of that yet and getting back up in this armor is quite hard," he said. He's a little slow following the group towards the tower, the weight of his equipment slowing him a bit, but he keeps up due in large part to his long lapine legs. He walks towards the front of the group, keeping his large shield in front of him to offer protection not only to himself, but any that might stick close as well, baring the Reindeer and their towering height.
Thelergramor is good with following orders... most of the time. Follows the leopard and magpie, fights the urge to flirt with either of them on the way. Arriving at the keep, though, Thel again makes sure his crossbow is loaded, keeps a hand on his blade and waits patiently. "I should've brought my cannon..." As he eyes the walls, standing next to the leopard. Because of course he does. "So, what now?"
Robin happily takes up toward the front of the group, ahead of even Crux perhaps despite the bunny's much larger stature, looking about the landscape with undying curiosity and eagerness. For a moment, the thought of the party behind him even left his mind, trailing ahead a bit far for comfort, but reeling himself back closer when he notices. The thought of what could possibly be awaiting them there drove his every motion, and if hopes of reward were involved, that was a place he'd want to be. As the tower comes into view, he says, "This is great! I bet there will be tons of stuff inside!" and quickly adds, "a-and the girl as well..!"
Hartford is overjoyed to let the token royal guards take command. He is good at following orders! The blue reindeer tromps along obediently, his heavy armor rattling and clanking. He carries a gigantic halberd across his back which he removes and holds in one hand with a heavy shield in the other when the party comes to the tower. He stands at attention, waiting for further orders, dispite the anxiety written on his face.
A group as large as this is certainly a sight in these lonesome hills, and they were spotted from the tower once they got closer. A dull "Clonk" is heard as a bolt impacts with Crux's shield. The leopard notices that something is attached to the bolt and picks it up. "A message, Sir." She unrolls it and reads. "They are giving us a chance to leave, no mention of a ransom or anything." The magpie rubs his chin. "Obviously we are not going to do that. We sho-" He is cut off by a loud rumbling as the lose pieces of wall that lay across the ground near the tower pull themselves together and form several stone elementals. Whoever is in that tower must have really good hearing. Before the group can even react, three of the elementals sling rocks of them, while the other five charge.
William opens his eyes wide at the sudden rumbling, barely stumbling out of the way of the rock as it comes flying over. "Fuck off!" he calls out in response to the rocks being thrown, stumbling over to hide behind Crux. He searches around for a fighter to assist, and settles on the large rabbit, sending swirls of cloying darkness around him to help defend him should he go to fight the charging elementals.
Lyas snorts at William's outburst. Not being in the way of any rocks himself at the moment, he keeps his position near the front of the group, eyes trained forwards. "So. Did we have plans or is it just goin' to be a dead-on charge after all?" he inquires, one hand around the hilt of his sword. "I mean, if that's what we're doing, fine, my sword might not be great against rocks but I can run around in circles and distract those things if you like..."
Startled by the sudden action Zez exclaims, "Wait..what..." he draws his pistol and starts to aim, but is unsure if he is meant to fire or not, so he waits.
Crux chuckles at Robin's remarks and shakes his head. His ears perk as he feels the impact of a bolt against his shield, the metal thankfully holding and his sure grip keeping it in place. He promptly plants his shield into the ground and lifts up his shield, head dipping behind the tall bulwark-like sheet of metal. His head turns slightly to look at the cat taking shelter behind him and fans a hand out behind him. "Fall behind me if you need! I'll try to raise up some more protection!" His feet planted firmly against the ground, he motions up with his free hand, dirt stirring as he tries to raise a wall of earth.
Thelergramor dodges the thrown rock, diving out of the way and rolling back to his feet. Both of them. He has two. The fox glares at the elementals, bringing up the crossbow mounted on his wrist as he ducks behind Crux. "I -really- should've brought that cannon!" And then fires, the dark magic imbued bolt flying off towards the nearest elemental.
Robin stops dead in his tracks at the sight of the stone creatures forming, letting out a surprised yelp as he turns tail to scurry back to the defense of the rabbit and his allies. And here he thought thing were going to be easy. Unstrapping his bow, he loads an arrow into it once he was beside Crux, targeting the nearest golem and releasing it it's way. Leave the fighting to the big fellows, at least he could say he was productive, despite his poor handling with the weapon and the fact they were hulking stone monsters... Robin sighs at the whole predicament.
Hartford raises his shield and looks to the guards for commands, but when none are forthcoming, he charges into the fray bellowing a battle cry. His great halberd swinging in great sweeps at the elementals. "For the Lady Blackback!" he roars!
The wall of earth never comes, instead the ground under Crux shakes, absorbing an equation gone wrong and knocking the bunny to his knees. The various arrows and bolts the group sent at the elementals are little more than a distraction and 4 of the charging elementals crash into the mercenaries, the fifth turns back into a pile of rubble as Hartford strikes it. One of them knocks William off his feet, another misses Thelergramor and the last one crashes into the fallen Crux, but he seems fine. The leopard is quick to react and slices at the elemental that attacked her with her two swords and it collapses as well. Meanwhile the Raven is throwing balls of molten rock, magma from his hands and at one of the rock throwers.
William is swept around, clutching his cane as he finds himself on the ground in a daze. He does nothing but get to his feet and do his best to avoid being hit again, not having much to do toward the elementals.
Lyas manages to avoid being the target of this next round of attacks, but that can't last forever. Grumbling a half-hearted stream of curses under his breath, he draws his sword and moves around, trying to get behind the elementals whose opponents are on the ground. His weaponry might not do much damage to opponents of this caliber, but he might be able to annoy them a bit, enough to distract them and open them up someone else's finishing blow. With a practiced movement, he unhooks a bolas from his belt, slinging it at the feet of the elemental by William. That's as much attention as he intends to spare that way, however - his sword is aimed at the back of Crux's opponent.
"Ok, I am going to just take it that we're attacking the stone things," says Zez as he pulls the trigger and fires at the golem on William.
"Ok, I am going to just take it that we're attacking the stone things," says Zez as he pulls the trigger and fires at the golem on William.
"Motherfu-" Crux starts to holler as the ground collapses underneath him, his free hand coming to the ground for support as he keeps his shield raised. He grunts as the shield takes the brunt of an attack from an elemental. He glares up at his attacker and snsers. "Attacking an enemy when he's down? Where's the honor in that?" He pulls his free hand from the ground, palm turning up as his fingers slowly curl inward, head dipping behind his shield as he concentrates on creating a cover of fog admits the chaos.
Thelergramor simply sidesteps the elemental's attack, smirking at the imprecise creature. He calls back to Crux: "Honor's overrated!" He draws his rapier, and, as the blade would probably not do much to the stone, leaps towards it and attempts to slam the hilt down onto it's... stones. Preferably in a weak part of the stone. Like a crack or something... Needs to start carrying a club...
Robin lowers his bow, the arrow not only ineffective to the blunt surface, but missing entirely! Save the fighting for the bigger guys, all he'd end up doing was wasting his arrows, and with that the bow returns to his shoulder. Despite the lumbering elementals, he held his ground beside William and Crux, and a hand outstretched to them to assist them back to their feet, standing between them and the other elemental instinctively.
Hartford does not slow his charge as he crashes through the line of attackers. The huge reindeer continues to thunder toward the rock throwers, putting all of his impressive momentum and sizeable bulk into his attack!
Both Lyas and Thelergramor down their targets, while fog rises to protect the group from further incoming rocks, the elemental that was attacked by the magpie is down as well, as is the one next to it, which was destroyed by Hartford. The last two that still stand are quickly depatched by the two royal guards, much in the same manner they took on their earlier foes. As the last of the elementals falls, the leopard is panting and the magpie rubbing his temples, before once more addressing the group. "Good job. Seems the way is clear now, everyone alright?"
William brushes off his cloaks after getting up to his feet, steadying himself on his cane and looking around through the fog. He pushes the bridge of his glasses up his muzzle with a finger, and then nods. "A bit winded," he says with a shrug. "Shall we?"
Lyas blinks in confusion as his opponent breaks apart. "Well then," he mutters, surprised by his success. Jamming his blade into a crack in the rock and twisting it had worked unexpectedly well, and it takes him a moment to mentally adjust and move on. Shaking his head, he fumbles in the fog to recover his bolas. "Dusty, but alright," he answers the magpie, grinning as William staggers upright. He flicks his gaze at the rest of the group as well - no-one appears to be dead. "If anyone's bleeding, well, I don't have bandages but I do have whiskey, which is close enough, right?"
Zez looks at his pistol, mutters something about needing to practice more, then says clearly, "I am all good, and you guys were amazing...."
Crux sighs and pushes himself up to the feet. "Thank the creators that one didn't backfire," he mutters, squinting in the fog. He catches a faing glimpse of the nearby feline and nods his head to Lyas. "Thanks for the assist." He fans his hand through the air and sighs. "Might have been a tad too effective. I can barely see two feet in front of me." His long ears raise a top his head, catching the magpie's words as he pulls his spear from the ground and begins to slowly move through the fog. "Pride is a bit bruised, but all in all I'm okay."
Thelergramor nods to the guards. "I'm good, let's get in there." He cackles, kicks the downed elemental. Which may or may not just be rocks now. He then starts walking off towards the tower. He nods to William then; "We shall. Been a while since I've fought a dragon... And hold onto that whiskey! I might need it later."
Robin grumbles a few words, lost under his breath as he trudges through the fog, though a quick shake of his head dismisses it, returning a smile back to is face. "All is well! The greater the risk, the greater the reward!" the mouse muses, his attitude returning once more. "Let's not burn daylight, greatness awaits!" and trots off toward the tower.
The chain of command has broken down! Well, for Hartford it has. The reindeer is panting and covered in chalky dust from the elementals he has destroyed. "I'm coming, Lady Blackback!" he bellows, charging toward the tower and whatever might lurk within, "I will save you!"
Hartford charges! He runs towards the yard between the two walls that frame the tower. He is so filled with his urge to save the Lady Blackback that he does not notice how weird the ground feels... the ground being the cheapest trick in the trap making book, some twigs and leaves over a hole into which he falls. The magpie facepalms as reindeer charges off and the leopard shakes her head. "There is always one, isn't there?" Without giving an answer, the magpie motions to the group to follow him as he heads towards the yard. A lot more careful than someone else did before.
William waves a hand around his face in an attempt to clear some fog, walking to the edge to observe Hartford's charge. An amused grin spreads over his face as the reindeer falls right into the hole. "You alright?" he asks, walking along with the magpie, poking ahead with his cane to avoid an earthy fate.
Carefully clipping the bolas back to his belt, Lyas follows cautiously after the two guards. Made alert by Hartford's fall, he makes sure to scan the vicinity for more traps or hidden assailants. "Should we throw a rope down there or just leave him to it?" he asks casually, making no attempt to go to the reindeer's rescue.
"Errr should we, I dont know, go after him.....?" says Zez, then proceeds to carefully follow the guards.
