A Spirited Day in Shrewsbury - Prison Break - RPLOG
Participants
Date
24/3/482
Log
It's a quiet, relatively chilling morning. The sun is only barely on the horizon, bathing the land in an eerie, red glow. The road stretches far ahead, leading further from firmament, and closer to Cliffside's territory's borders...
The road is winding, and it takes a while to get the cart up to speed...
All in all, the mission-statement's been really vague for the amount of money offered... Tales of bandits near the border, a request to investigate them, and any other disturbances, and little more... Still, the beings should be getting close, now.
Bandits? That isn't anything that Aleera can't handle. She was one at one point, even, so she knows very well that not every single bandit is neither as talented nor as scary as she is. No, if they've just got bandits to deal with, this whole mission should be a walk in the park....
...But unfortunately it seems like they don't /just/ have bandits to deal with. Simple as the siamese may be, she has decent instincts, and something about this whole expedition is... off. Still, she doesn't seem particularly nervous about the whole situation, and as the sun rises, she's simply lounging in the back of one of their little convoy's carts, with her arms wrapped around Lyas's back so that she can lazily hug him against her chest. She idly watches the surroundings pass them by, and as they finally draw closer to their destination, she just kind of tosses out the general question of, "What do you reckon is goin' on 'ere? They must be dealin' with some pretty tough bandits er somethin'."
Lucasiel had spent most of the trip being relatively quiet, but now that they are nearing their destination the panther speaks up as she starts strapping her heavy plates on. "If we come to blows with the bandits, it's imperative that we do not kill the leader. Capture, sure, but do not kill." She props herself up and brushes her hair back before sliding the helmet on.
Zalthar had remained fairly quiet during the days it's taken to get out this far, spending many of the daylight hours with a cloth wrapped around her eyes, sleeping lightly in a corner. During the nights, she volunteered for watch duty, more comfortable in the quiet air. But as the cart nears its destination, she can be found sitting up, head bowed to keep the light out of her face, but ears twitching and taking in the surroundings with calculating care.
"That sounds doable. Sounds somewhat fun, if I'm honest." The lynx rolls her neck, back, and tails about, slowly patting herself down to make sure her stuff is all where it's supposed to be.
Lyas is grinning as he lounges back against Aleera. It's been a few weeks since he took any Freesword work - time for a good fight. Bandits or whatever else is going on - it doesn't matter to him. Humming faintly, he takes out a knife and a half-carved block of wood, one he's been working on most of the trip. Starting to carve strips off the little block, he tips his head back to speak to Aleera. "Guess we'll find out. So long as you don't get too feisty - " he nods along to Lucasiel's recommendation - "Aim for kneecaps, love, not heads."
The Cat throws a look Zalthar's way as she speaks. The cloth so frequently over her eyes has attracted his curiosity, but he's avoided talking with her aside from where necessary. He keeps looking her way, though... to the point where he winces as he slices his thumb with the knife. SHould've been paying attentin.
IF they come to blows. So far, it's been far, far too quiet, with nary a bandit in sight. It'd be another day's travel to get to Shrewsbury, the first town along their route... But by now, they should be in the bandits' territory... The only question is... Where they should go to try and find them.
And still, the road swerves ahead, disappearing between the hills, as a third fort is barely visible upon the horizon whenever the cart carries them to the top of a hill...
The comment about capturing the leader earns Lucasiel a curious look from Aleera at first, but... seeing as how everyone other than her seems to be in agreement about it, she simply offers a little shrug of her shoulders. "Aye, I can manage that, I guess," she murmurs, releasing her lover from her embrace so that she can instead pick up one of her own weapons -- specifically, her blunderbuss -- and examine it while she speaks, "If'n we're lucky, they might just give up when they see a gun trained on 'em anyways. Most bandits ain't willin' to give up their lives fer loot, 'n guns ain't known fer leaving people standin' if they hit."
But, again, it doesn't exactly sound like they're dealing with common bandits here. As she catches that next fort out of the corner of her eye, that draws the siamese's attention away from her weapon, and she takes up peering at that instead. "We're s'posed ta be investigating, ain't we? Should we stop there, er...?" Hopefully there are people in the group who know more about searches like this than she does.
"It'll be fine," Lucasiel says, looking over the horizon. "If I could get to the leader myself I am fairly certain I could get him to stand down." Her eyes settle on the fort, and she nods. "I think stopping there would be a good start."
"That would be a wise decision. If nothing else, we can get a feel for the surrounding areas." Zalthar's gems seem to have turned from an inky violet to a pepper-speckled gray and a translucent milky white. Her shoulders also seem to have relaxed a little, moving with apparently a bit more confidence?
"My skills would also be good at disabling them. But we're getting close, are we all ready?" She's pulled one leg up, the other hanging off of her seat and swaying.
Lyas grimaces as he inspects the cut on his thumb, popping his carving work away in his belt pouch. He speaks under his breath, ostly to himself. "Mayhap this ain't the best time for this, anyhow..." His bloodied knife is wiped off on his breeches, given a showy twirl, and dropped into its sheath. Giving Aleera a brief pat on the shoulder, he uses the opportunity presented by her releasing him to jump to his feet, knees slightly bent to compensate for the rocking of the cart.
"What'll you do to 'em?" The Cat asks Lucasiel, as he props one foot on the side of the cart, surveying the fort. "Don't know if chattin'll be enough to have them stand down. I mean, I 'm all for talking things through with folk but if they're already swingin' a blade your way it gets tricky."
Slowly but surely, the cart comes closer and closer to the hill atop which the fort lies... Curiously, there are signs of some kind of struggle... A pretty large struggle, given the fact that the fort's doors are open, and there's a pillar of black smoke rising from inside, visible, now that the cart carries the beings closer and closer...
As muttered of a comment as it may be, it does still draw Aleera's attention to the cut on Lyas's finger, and as he tucks his knife away she simply leans in to give him a little kiss behind one of his ears. She does, of course, realize how tense he can get around Zal, and she's been pretty insistent about sticking close to him throughout their journey because of that. In any case, with the tabby up and on his feet, the siamese moves to a sitting position, using the opportunity to swing her musket and blunderbuss over her shoulder where they belong.
...And it seems like she's done that just in time too, because as the fort comes into view, it's immediately clear things aren't quite as peaceful as they appeared to be! "Stop the cart," she commands to... whoever is driving exactly, and she moves from a sitting position to a kneel. Not that it... really helps her keep her balance while the cart is moving, but they won't be moving for much longer anyways.... Regardless, she quickly pulls out her musket, bracing the butt of it against her shoulder, but rather than turning her full attention to the fort, she takes a moment to survey the land around it first. Keeping an eye out for any shadowy or hidden areas where someone could reasonably hide for an ambush.
"I am very persuasive," Lucasiel replies with a grin hidden by her helmet, patting the large battleaxe's haft. "I don't know about the rest of the bandits, though. Just the leader. I think I can convince that one." She starts to stand as they draw nearer and leaps out of the cart and onto the back of a steed that certainly was not there earlier, drawing her sword and bracing her shield.
As the pillar of smoke comes into view, nimble hands swap back the lynx's original gems, ears straight up in alert. There aren't any quips, no banter, or advice. Just slowly quieting breath as the hunter prepares to do what they do best. Cloak drawn tight around her figure, hood pulled forward, the feline seems to dissappear into her own clothes.
Off of her back comes a shortbow, far too small for any normal sized being to be able to use, save for a child, and an arrow is pulled from her left sleeve, knocked and ready as the lynx starts reading off under her breath some kind of script, or mantra, from memory.
Lyas looks out over the scene of devastation, noting the smoke and the bodies. Wonderful - it's going to be one of those missions, the ones that come back to haunt you thinking what might have been if you were just a little earlier... Ah, well - that's a thought for 3am, not this moment. The Cat tips his nose to the air, taking in the scent of calm countryside with its sour overtones of burning. "Smells like cooked meat," he exclaims to the group. He tosses his arms in the air in mock disgust. "Great. Now I'm hungry."
It looks like whatever happened here finished a while ago, but there's no point continuing to make a target of himself. The Cat puts a hand on the side of the cart and slings himself over, dropping to the ground. He'll still move with the cart, but now he has it as a protective barrier between himself and anyone who might try taking a pot shot. Speaking of pot shots... the tabby pulls a pistol from its holster at his hip. His preference is for the basket-hilted backsword on his other hip, of course... but that's only effective once your opponent is in range.
All in all, the battlefield must've been over for a couple of hours, at least. That pillar of smoke is still rising, and, as lucasiel rides ahead, the true scale of what happened here comes into view... Strewn across the far side of the hills are hundreds of bodies, many of them -clearly- not dressed for battle.
Above the fort sways a flag, tattered and torn, likely damaged in the struggle.
Even now, amidst destruction and potential danger, Lyas's joking manages to make Aleera laugh. She even chimes in with, "Maybe we can put this meet in 'at one kitchen's ice box? I'm sure we could make it look... /kinda/ like fish." With her own end up that joking done, however, the siamese hunkers down and prepares herself for combat. Unlike her companions, she doesn't leave the cart quite yet, instead opting to lower herself a bit and use the side of the vehicle for what little cover it's able to provide.
The sounds of muttering mantra does get her attention, though. The siamese glances back at the lynx, thinks for a moment, then simply calls out, "'Ey, little cat. Yer real sneaky, right? Think you can take a look aorund 'n see if these bandits are still about?"
"How... Curious." Lucasiel's phantasmal steed carries her over towards the corpses. She stares down, regarding the equipment of the Beings. "Clubs of bone. Clubes of bone... I've only seen two groups use something like that, and one of them tends to stick to the underground and creator ruins." She narrows her eyes and turns the horse back about, trotting back towards the road. "I want to see what's going on in the town."
The hood turns slightly towards Aleera, nodding twice. The arrow gets sheathed once more, and the bow returned to her back. For a moment, she climbs up on top of the cart, crouched low and still, guaging the most likely places a bandit could hide nearby. Not seeing anything, Zalthar leaps forward and starts running towards the fortress. As she moves, she presses her palms together, and her image twists briefly in impossible ways, settling into a distorted, mostly transparent shape that mostly looks like road.
Hidden from view, but still being cautious, Zalthar peers into the open gate, and starts to wander the streets just inside. Slowly, her curiosity settles into something resembling apathy, and she shakes her head, starting her return back to the group.
"Don't know about fitting the lot, but I'd say one corpse in the ice box'd be fair payback for the trevally," Lyas shrugs, unbothered by the blackness of their humour. He gazes after Lucasiel as she rides ahead, one ear flicking gently. She's very exposed, riding up on her own. However, she seems to be alright... for the moment. He turns his attention back to the cart in time to catch Aleera speaking to Zalthar. "I can't believe you asked her over me," He complains, briefly popping his head up over the side of the cart to mock-glare at Aleera. "In any case, though, it's a fair open road. Don't think we'll be sneakin' up unless they're sleepin' or drunk." The feline peers pointedly at the fort, easily defensible even with its door open. If the bandits are still around, surely they'll be smart enough to have left a watcher on the ramparts... Then Zalthar darts past, and his eyes follow her instead - right up until her image twists, and almost disappears. "...Oh. Well, I can't do that, I suppose."
All in all, the place is pretty desolate... Desolate, and thoroughly ransacked, with not a soul seemingly left alive. There are no tracks leading in, or out of the hillside fort, apart from those of Lucasiel's spectral mount, and the ones made by the cart's horse.
Now, it's a question of whether to follow Lucasiel's wishes, or to examine these beings in more detail...
As Zal and Lucasiel both move forward to perform their respective investigations, Aleera simply raises her weapon up, keeping it at the ready just in case there does happen to be an ambush. But... that seems less and less likely with every moment that ticks by, and evidently talking to Lyas is a much more effective use of her time, because as his head pops up, she glances to the tabby out of the corner of her eye and flashes him a wide grin. "I've gotta have someone around to watch my back, don't I? 'Sides, fightin' alone just ain't as fun." The comment about the road earns a shrug, "I doubt we'll sneak up on 'em, but we might as well try ta figure out where they are if they're even still about." As Zal disappears completey from sight, the siamese simply blinks in surprise... and then chuckles a bit. "Creators, that little cat is /strange/," she murmurs to no one in particular, but her tone seems... more amused than malicious, really.
The next thing to grab her attention, however, is Lucasiel turning around and calling out to them. The siamese perks up and lowers her rifle once more, calling right back, "Nothin' worth lookin' at there, 'en? We can start headin' to the town when the little cat gets back from... er... wherever she ran off to...." She peers around for a moment, searching for the now transparent figure before simply shrugging.
"There might be," Lucasiel answers. "But the corpses aren't going anywhere. The lack of tracks is concerning..." She casts one more look over the corpses to see if there are any visible wounds before she starts forward towards the fort's gates.
"I'm right here. What are we waiting for?" Zalthar asks, sitting on the cart's bench, as though she's been there the entire time. With a shake of her head, she looks at Lyas, Aleera, and Lucasiel if she's still there "Whatever happened, I think they're all dead. I suspect there was no respect in whatever happened here." She says that last comment with venom in her voice, clearly disgusted, but also with a tinge of.... something else tapering off at the end. After that, she goes extremely quiet, looking towards the fort again.
Lounging with his arms over the edge of the cart, head tipped up to speak with Aleera, Lyas jumps a little as Zalthar reappears. "That was quick," he comments. He throws a glance towards the fort. Too quick for his liking. Did she go through all the doors or just poke about in the dirt? The feline stuffs his pistol away and switches to his blade, hefting its comfortable weight in his hand. "Hang about," He murmurs to Aleera. "I reckon we should take a look ourselves 'fore we go haring off." He holds outhis spare hand to Aleera, inviting her to take it as she steps down from the cart. Motioning for the pirate to follow behind him, he darts over to the open door of the fort, peering through. "Quiet enough," he notes, then his tail is disappearing through the entrance.
The Cat is thorough in his search. He turns over a couple of bodies, checking their wounds and frisking their pockets. He's looking for anything out of the ordinary at all - it's... far too strange that such a large-scale battle was fought here, with no word of war on the borders. Once he's satisfied he's learnt all he can from the bodies, he moves on to the barracks, testing the door. He's already got a long, thin lockpick pulled halfway out from his arm bracer, ready to deal with any pesky locks.
Plenty of visible wounds on both beings. Bruises, stab-wounds, cuts. Plenty of blood, too. It's quite surprising that these poorly armed beings seem to have been able to storm a well-armed fortress, since most of the beings -inside- seem to have been of the armored variety. Curious indeed.
Really sneaking up on a pirate is unwise at even the best of times, and that goes doubly so for one who's as well armed as Aleera. Suddenly hearing a voice in the cart with her makes the cat jump and whirl around, training her rifle on the sneaky lynx for a second or two... before simply lowering her weapon and starting to laugh. Or, well... she laughs right up until the point that Zal delivers her news, anyways. "I ain't quite sure what you mean by 'no respect', little cat," she starts, "But that was a nice trick."
Lyas, however, seems to have a different plan than Aleera. She gives a little shrug of her shoulders, then accepts his hand and hops down from the cart to stand at his side. "I s'pose that's a good idea. A couple'a thieves might spot somethin' others'd miss," she says, although before they wander too far, she glances back over her shoulder to quickly comment to Za, "You can come if'n ya want, little cat. We prolly won't be long."
For her part, Aleera is more concerned with checking to see exactly how thoroughly the fort was ransacked by whoever attacked it. She's familiar with what pillaging looks like, after all, so she's more concerned with searching for anything that was either left untouched or seemed to be particularly targeted.... That likely means that she'll be spending most of her time in the barracks, really. Still, as she sees the massacre that seems to have happened here, even she can't help but murmur, "What the fuck happened in 'ere? I ain't ever seen a raid look this bad...."
Lucasiel pauses at the gate, her horse coming to an abrupt stop. Half a second goes by and she dismounts, going back on her intentions to check out the fort. Instead, she goes towards the beings once again to get a closer look at something she glimpsed. "Bite marks. On the armored ones... But not on the others. Now that is unusual..."
Zalthar doesn't look up at Aleera, but stands and follows along, tails held close to her body. "The attack seems to have happened in the middle of the night. I think Shrewsbury was attacked as well. We shouldn't linger." She looks toward Lucasiel, and goes to investigate the bite marks for herself, scanning through her eidetic memory and trying to recall anything that would have caused those kinds of wounds. As she does this, it's clear her focus is taken away from her surroundings, entirely devoted to her current task.
Lyas completes his check of the fort, going through every doorway and stopping to check a few more bodies after the first two revealed some... interesting marks. "What's with the clubs?" he mutters, riffling through a dead Being's belt-pouch. There's a heavy sheet of parchment inside, which he unfolds to find neat, looping handwriting on. Unusual to find a fine document like this one out in the countryside. The Cat squints at it for a while, reading slowly. "He was a... Spyguard? I think..." He nudges Aleera with his elbow, showing the note to her.
"Yeah, I saw the bites too," the tabby calls to Lucasiel, adding slyly, "These folk look like they spent the night with Aleera." He prods the nearest corpse with the tip of his sword, lost in thought. "If this lot with the raggedy armour are our bandits, an' they were workin' from this fort... did the villagers from down the way come an' take them out? Seems strange they'd go to this length and not call for help... stranger yet to have Spyguard amongst 'em. Were they keeping tabs on the area?"
"A late-night attack? That ain't surprisin'. If yer goin' up again someone with better weapons 'en you, then yer gonna need to surprise 'em. 'N there ain't exactly anywhere to hide 'round 'ere durin' the day...," Aleera murmurs, surveying the various corpses around the fort once more. There is... one part of her own search that particularly grabs her attention, though.... "Well, I figured out why this don't look like a raid. It wasn't one," the siamese proclaims as she steps out of the barracks, holding out a pouch that sounds like it's filled with coins, judging by the way it jingles, "The attackers didn't bother takin' anything other 'en the bandits' weapons. Unless the bandits were the ones usin' these clubs, anyway"
With her revelation given, she tosses that sack of coins off to the side and steps forward to investigate Lyas's letter instead. Then, her attention goes down to a few of the corpses, noting the bite marks... and her lover's comment makes her snicker a bit. "Nah. Those marks ain't nearly deep enough for me to have left 'em," she says with a cheeky grin, but with that, she stoops down idly bump a corpse with the butt of her rifle, "Somethin' ain't right with these villagers. Seein' as how the weapons are gone, if'n I had to take a guess, they're gearin' up fer somethin'. So if'n the bandits are gone... maybe there's another threat? Or maybe they're planning a revolt! Who knows." She simply shrugs and stands back up.
"Can I see that?" Lucasiel asks, holding out a gauntleted hand for the parchment. "Maybe the Lost Ones are in the area? Surely not, I don't recall hearing of them being out this far, or on the surface, but they're not the easiest to keep tabs on... I would prefer it to Corrupt Court worshippers, though. All the more reason I want to speak with this leader of theirs."
"These are bite marks from a being, or beings. Someone was trying to eat these bodies." Zalthar stands up and thinks. "There was a commotion in the middle of the night, and a lot of rabble. We know that there was a spyguard among the bandits. We know that someone wanted to eat the bandit's, but seems to have avoided the attackers. The attackers were clearly not mounted, as there are no tracks from heavy creatures in the grasses or soil." She wanders over to another building.
"What would my prey be.... The spyguard? The bandits? How would I get into the fort.... Without decent armor or weapons.... It would be easiest to have the gate opened from the inside.... It would be easiest to ambush them, by the time they realize, I'd be on top of them. But who would have let them in...."
Pacing about, she starts wandering back to the cart aimlessly. "It was definately the locals. And I think you're right, Lucasiel. I can't say for certain, but I think that it would be most likely the work of the Corrupt Court. There is also no reasonable way that, without some kind of advantage, our attackers should have been able to win as definitively as they did. Look around, each bandit seems to have been able to fight off only half again as many villagers. Equipped with superior armor, weapons, and training, the commoners managed to almost hold their own each against these fighters."
Lyas quirks his brow at Lucasiel, offering her the parchment. "Lost Ones? If they're who did this... I think I'd rather they'd stayed lost." With that he turns his attention to Aleera - and the pouch of coins she's just thrown down. "Hey, Firework, what're you playin' at? We'll take that, seeing as no-one else looks likely to claim it..." He saunters over to pick up the little pouch, tying it onto his belt to hang beside his dagger. No sense being precious about it coming from a fort full of corpses. Money is money...
A thought hitting him, Lyas eyes the nearest commoner corpse. He crouches in the muck, one finger delicately lifting the Being's cold lip. He's searching for bloodstains on the teeth, evidence of where the bitemarks on the armoured ones came from... if it's not from these folk, then that means they've still a set of dangerous lunatics at large. "We should move on to the village..." he grins a little. "Keep an eye out for more spare sacks a' coin on the way, though, alright?"
As it turns out, that particular being does not have any such signs... Neither does the second, nor the third... And yet, the fourth, a tusked shrew, -does-. There's blood, even a small chunk of flesh hanging from his tusk. Not exactly the greatest of sights.
The ride to the village is relatively peaceful, and, curiously enough, the place seems almost normal, the mood almost... Festive, as beings are putting up decorations for a local, late-winter celebration.
"...Who're the Lost Ones?" Aleera asks, as oblivious as ever to the various going-ons of Sweetweater. She glances between Lyas and Lucasiel for a moment, an eyebrow quirked, but then her attention is drawn to the tabby snatching up the coins she tossed aside. Her smile turns toothy once more, and she even laughs a bit. "I just wasn't sure if we were still in the business a' lootin' while on missions after what happened last time, luv," she replies while he gets to work on investigating some of the corpses more closely, "I'll keep an eye out, 'en. Yer right though, it'd prolly be good to move on to the village soon. After seein' all a' this, there ain't no tellin' what coulda happened there."
And... thankfully for them, the cart ride to the village was fairly uneventful. That doesn't really make Aleera any less confused about the whole situation though, and so it's no wonder that she spends a good portion of the ride with her musket in her hands, keeping it at the ready just in case.... She doesn't drop it when the town comes into view and she sees that they seem to be preparing festivities, even. In fact, that makes her grip the weapon a little tighter. "...Somethin' ain't right 'ere. Do you folk normally have a party er somethin' 'round this time a' year?"
"Old... Beings. Not like us, though," Lucasiel explains as she looks over the Spyguard parchment with a creased brow. "They reside largely beneath the ground, in old creator ruins and tunnels. If you go wandering down there you'll come across their scouts from time to time." She's got no interest in looting this time, but nor will she admonish it. "I don't usually hear about them coming up here, but... I think I'm inclined to agree. This is probably the work of corrupt court dedicants. Bone weapons are almost a sure sign of it, in my experience."
