- Joined
- Jun 29, 2012
- Messages
- 4,429
- Reaction score
- 34,414
- Points
- 663
- Age
- 33
Pre-IntroductionThis Progression post is the first in years that is written by multiple Lore Staff. The Lore staff involved were @MonMarty @LumosJared @Shayin @Aespair, while @Nastynick provided irritating commentary while we were writing. Because all segments were written by different authors, the style and writing may differ from segment to segment, as well as the length and detail. Do tell us how you feel about the whole piece though, and feel free to provide a roleplay post about your character's thoughts or feelings during or after the post!
- Pre-Introduction, Introduction, Marked Segment Cedric, Marked Segment Einarr, Mid Section Freya and Eric, Mid Section Rosalyne and Ending written by MonMarty
- Marked Segment Alistair and Marked Segment Reinhardt and Lommin written by Aespair.
- Marked Segment Brandt and Rorak, Marked Segment Azrael written by LumosJared.
- Marked Segment Rhovanion written by Shayin.
With Tristan Keppkuula captured at Rothburg, it was only a matter of time before the Marked and their thralls would sally to attempt to save him. The Alpha and Beta Marked led a host of thralls and Marked to Rothburg in an attempt to release their master to destroy the loyalists once and for all. The Emperor and the leaders of the various resistance movements that had joined them banked all their resources on this one attempt to disable the Marked once and for all, but also gather all their forces to strike at Freya Lo. It was either do or die here. If the Marked were allowed to release Tristan, it would spell the end of the resistance, but if the Marked were allowed to escape it would only spell further instability for the resistance. Orders were issued to capture all of them alive, especially the high ranking ones, but the thralls were issued for death. The resistance leaders divided their notable men and women over various groups, each between six to ten strong with several in support to ensure limited casualties. Many had snuck in from the countryside and Regalia as well, though some made errors in showing up. Most notably Nicolo Celso and Frederick Speziale were immediately arrested by the Imperial guard on order of the men robed in black, hauled off to prison on some auspice of high treason against the Empire. After the initial interruptions were out of the way, the groups all split off into the town of Rothburg below as the Marked and their thralls had just smashed a way through the Deathling army stationed in the siege camp, starting the three way battle for Rothburg.
Marked Segment Cedric
With the Marked thrall assault underway, the Imperial Loyalists engaged their plans to cut off the leadership of the Marked assault before it could come in full force. With the various groups splitting off to take a Marked individual on, William Coen, Percy Ravenstad and Ania Santorski led their close allies to the Erholdt square, a small square on the east side of Rothburg that has been evacuated as a precaution for the battle. The group had banked on the hopes that the Alpha of the Marked, Cedric, would hunt for his husband, Percy Ravenstad, first and foremost. The battle raged far in the distance, the group heard howls and shouts alike, and even the screams of the Deathlings beyond the barricades became more obvious, yet no Marked Alpha appeared. Percy pondered how to react in his eventual reunification with his husband. He had never seen him in this supposed monster form. Would he even recognize him? Thoughts continued to circle his mind as the time just ticked away. The group grew restless, sauntering about the square until Percy eventually called off the plan when ten minutes had passed. He signalled the others that he was tired of waiting and that they should join themselves with the others to win the battle, turning around to pass through the narrow street at the end of the square. As Percy started walking off, the rest of the group packed up their stuff, dragging the nets and crossbows they had prepared with them. As Veridan was lifting his own crossbow on his back, something felt off. He had the strange feeling like they were being watched, waited out themselves. The others seemed blissfully unaware of it, Selwynn Crassian even cracking a few jokes with Philip Kade as they moved on. Then all of a sudden, Veridan spotted a shifting shadow from the peripheral of his view. It dawned him that they were not fighting just any monster or foe, this was the Grand Marshal who had been in charge of armies before, strategizing and making tactical decisions. He abruptly dropped his crossbow on the ground and started sprinting towards Percy who was just about to enter the gateway, shouting as he went, but it was already too late to alert the ginger at this point.
As Percy passed through the gateway, sword over his shoulder, he tried to turn his head to see why Veridan was making such a fuss. Then his body came to a full halt as a fleshy thud was heard, and his body refused to move forward. His head turned, Percy realizing he stood face to face with the Alpha Marked, two bright icy eyes staring at him. He tried to say something, but instead gasped for air as no words would come out. Angling his head downwards instead, he saw two long claws imbedded in his chest, straight through his plate armor, as small trickles of blood started flowing out. A faint stammer escaped his lips as the Alpha drew closer, growling and speaking with its guttural voice: "I've got you now fireman, I warned you not to get in my way". The others were frozen in horror as this occurred, both the savagery and the surprise of it was so unexpected, yet Veridan had not halted his sprint. He kept going and going, before finally leaping and throwing a sucker punch for the Alpha's nose with all the force he could muster as it was just about to open its jaws.
The hit landed square on the nose, causing the Alpha to recoil with a howl, pulling its claws away. Percy promptly dropped to the ground like a sack of potatoes, gasping for air while the other group had gathered their wits and sprung into action. Veridan pulled out his sword, positioning himself between the Alpha and Percy, while Pellegrino Venezani and Jannik Sinclair had timely arrived to pull Percy out of harm's way. The Alpha growled at Veridan before abruptly leaping and climbing up the building that stood next to the gateway. The Alpha disappeared out of sight just as Elizabeth Black came running in with a bag of medical supplies under her shoulder, almost stumbling over the cobblestone roads. She had tears welling in her eyes, no doubt of just barely avoiding a first-person encounter with another Marked that was fighting another group a few streets away, though she quickly shook them off and went to work providing first aid to Percy.
The Alpha reappeared on the roof on the opposite side of square, causing William to command the group to go in pursuit. The group charged ahead, Stephen Valor at the head as they ran through a tight alleyway. Here it became more obvious that the Alpha wasn't going to be as easily captured as the last time. Stéphan Valeur ran straight into a thin cord that had been strung across two buildings at ground level, stumbling over it and falling face forward into the stonework beneath him. His sword fell out of his hands, the weapon delicately clattering on until the Alpha dove down, snatching it up and jumping back up again. The embarrassment didn't do much to deter Stéphan, though without his personal weapon, William tossed him a backup crossbow from Ania and instructed him to go back and keep Elizabeth Black safe from harm while she was tending to Percy in case the Alpha would veer around and attack them instead. William and his allies regrouped before they set out to find the Alpha in the next street, finding a barricade of carts and wooden planks blocking the road. Assuming it was one of the resistance made barricades, the group charged ahead intent on climbing over the barricade, but just as Jannik Sinclair set foot on the main cart that sat on top of the barricade, a loud roar could be heard and the cart was flung into the air with Jannik Sinclair still on top. The Alpha had cleverly hidden under the barricade and now revealed himself with enough force to launch Jannik Sinclair flying into the river that flowed next to the street. As his armor hit the water it produced a large splash, dragging him down to the bottom by the weight. The others were knocked back by the flying planks and debris, climbing back to a standing position just in time to see the Alpha speed off at the end of the street again. Selwynn Crassian and Nathan Devolt quickly tossed off their heavy equipment and dove into the water to rescue the now drowning Jannik Sinclair who was weighed down by his armor. They quickly hoisted him back to water level, Jannik Sinclair gasping for air as Selwynn shouted for William and the others to press on, as he and Nathan would ensure Jannik would survive.
The group pressed on, just William Coen, Ania Santorski, Elros the Bladesman, Philip Kade and Pellegrino Venezani remaining. As they passed through another corridor, the Alpha could be heard chuckling at them from nowhere in particular with a low guttural noise. It raised the adrenaline for the group, the thought that the hunters had suddenly been turned into the hunted, until Ania yelled for everyone to stop. William reprimanded her, saying there wasn't enough time to slow down, but Ania quickly explained that the group was doing exactly what the Alpha wanted. "Don't you see William!" she shouted, "He is behaving exactly like the snow wolves of Drixagh. He cannot take on his prey all by himself so he has laid traps to ensure we are separated. And yet, he did not go back to Percy as we assumed, as you assumed." The group paused at the thought before Philip Kade interjected: "What if he wasn't after Percy all along, but rather wanted to kill William for escaping him. Didn't one of you tell me he came back at Dressau to exact revenge for escaping him the first time?" William contemplated the thought for a moment before changing the plan, explaining to what remained of the group to instead run in the opposite direction, hoping the Alpha would instead follow to capture William. Sure enough, when William feigned being alone in the adjacent street away from the path laid out by the Alpha, the Alpha returned in clear sight. Now that the Alpha wasn't leaping about or mauling William as he had done in the past, William was able to take a closer look at the Alpha. He wasn't actually that big compared to the others, certainly the Einarr Norrvakt Marked was a lot larger. The Alpha's fur color and facial patterns were still reminiscing of his Human form, but he looked relatively unimposing. Pellegrino eventually yelled out: "No wonder this one is the Alpha, speed and wits will always conquer brute strength." Sure enough, the Alpha leapt forward with surprising speed, brandishing claws out by the sides, ready to strike at William. He quickly raised his shield to intercept, adapting his stance to resist in the impact, while Veridan braced him from behind to prevent him from falling over. As the Alpha landed, claws imbedded themselves into the shield, landing but mere inches from William's shoulder before Veridan slid his sword through underneath the shield to jab at the Alpha's lower body. As the Alpha was still stuck in William's shield, Ania and Philip charged at him from both sides while Pellegrino and Elros prepared the capturing nets. Ania's charge was quickly interrupted with a wild kick from the Alpha to her legs that made her fall over, just barely shielding herself from the momentum charged impact, but not without dropping her weapons out of her hands. The Alpha then turned its head to Philip, where all of a sudden the expression turned into a fearful, almost puppy like look. The eyes enlarged, the eyebrows raised and the ears tilted backwards. The sudden change caused Philip pause, his momentum slowed and doubt filled his mind, doubt that the Alpha would instantly misuse. Just as Philip made his next step, he misplaced his foot, causing the Alpha to swoop up his arm at his other leg and throwing him sideways with a complete salto. As he landed on the floor, the reminder dawned on him that he was fighting his superior, a Turall instructor, who especially while in possessed Marked form, was not above using dirty fighting tactics.
Elros and Pellegrino had just prepared the capture nets as Pellegrino yelled at Elros to help the fighters who seemed to be getting overwhelmed. The nets were to be fired from a stationary crossbow, but it required the Alpha to be stationary also. The risk was now presented that the Alpha moved around too much and could avoid the nets, after which a second reload would take too much time. Elros pulled out his blades, while William yelled for Philip to distract the Alpha while he tried to help Ania back up to a standing. The Alpha had meanwhile rid himself of the shield that was stuck to his claws before, and started growling as Philip and Elros circled him in opposite positions. While Philip and Elros distracted the Alpha, taunting him to make the first move, Ania against better judgement from William, entered her Skagger berserker mode, rushing at the Alpha. With Ania's assault, Elros and Philip dove in also while William ran to Pellegrino to help aim the device. The Skagger expert and two Turall Bladesmen were too much for the Alpha as he tried to shield himself from the blows with his forearms. Blood splattered everywhere and clearly the Alpha was being worn out, so Pellegrino took the shot at the Alpha just as Veridan threw a lasso around his neck to hold him in place. The nets wrapped around the Alpha, circling the chains with weights on each side until the arms were tightly wrapped, causing him to fall to the ground squirming. Ania, still in berserker state however, started hammering her axes down at the incapacitated Alpha who was yelping in response to the attacks. Elros yelled for her to calm down as she was now unnecessarily injuring the Alpha, though she did not stop. Eventually Veridan marched up to Ania and once again sucker punched, this time Ania on the temple. She was knocked out cold effectively instantly, dropping to the side of the Alpha, not getting back up. Philip simply sat down next to the Alpha, panting from the exertion while he looked the Alpha in the eye. He stared back at him, but there was no telling what he was thinking at that moment. Perhaps somewhere inside there, his old uncle was still present, Philip thought to himself, droning out William's yelling and reprimanding Veridan in the background.
Marked Segment Alistair
The ragtag party of Imperial loyalists, consisting of Edmure Coen, Amar Tellsam, Oscar de Santigo, Tyrok Ulfurtonn, Salvador de Santigo, Ulfjot Vikarsson, Guthrum Wulfbahn, Warren Coen, Kovic Joromir, and Grayson Prejaun, searched all through Rothburg for Marked Alistair to no avail for the most part. Tyrok, familiar with finding tracks in the snow because of his upbringing in Nordskag, came upon the tracks of a Marked individual, although unidentified at that point. The group followed the tracks, almost as easily lead by the trail of rubble that was left in the wake of the Marked. Eventually, the group tracked the Marked down to the Western section of Rothburg, where they finally witnessed for themselves the form of Marked Alistair Coen, sure of themselves that they had cornered their prey. It never occurred to them that they had been lead into a trap by the very creature they had been hunting.
Raising his war axes into the air with a violent warcry, Tyrok charged toward the fray, swinging at Alistair wildly, missing every hit until he was easily batted to the side, the wind completely knocked out of him. The rest of the group, shocked at the ease with which Alistair dispatched Tyrok, was frozen for a moment until Alistair's evil gaze sought out what he perceived as the weak link-- Edmure Coen. Edmure looked the most concerned by Tyrok's wound. Edmure regained his senses once Alistair started sauntering toward him, but it was far too late. The Marked Alistair impaled Edmure in the stomach with his claws just as Edmure unsheathed his longsword and attempted to attack him. Unfortunately, the Coen lost grip of his weapon mid-swing, and the sword clattered harmlessly on the cold, snowy cobble meters away. As blood seeped down from Edmure's wound, he gasped for air before he was thrown at one of the nearby houses. He was immediately put out of commission and was soon whisked away by Dianne Black.
By this time, the rest of the group was ready for action and pursued the now-fleeing Alistair, who grunted and growled at them as they followed him. It was only at this point that they were able to observe their surroundings: all around them were plaster houses with thatched roofs, the ground was covered in snow and cobbled roads where the snow had melted. The road they were chasing Alistair on was long and wide, one of the main roads, in fact. Once they crested a slight hill in the road, an inkling of where Alistair was leading them was finally inferred: Westroth Theater, a tented amphitheater where Anglian plays were held for the enjoyment of the citizens of Rothburg. It was very large, though it was rather unimpressive in its presentation; it resembled a circus tent, but without any of the interesting colors that usually accompany such a tent. It was a dull green color, weather stained and beaten due to years of age. Alistair, rather than circling the tent and entering through the front entrance, simply tore a hole in the side of it, walking onto what was assumed to be the stage, though the group couldn't tell from the outside. The opening was only small enough for two men to walk abreast, so Grayson and Ulfljot both headed in through that entrance, and the rest of the group circled the tent in search for a different entrance that would allow them to flank Alistair. The stage, Grayson noted, was built out of a warm colored wood that seemed very hard-- as if it was chosen because of the loud noise that is created each time you step on it. In front of the stage was a patch of dirt, which was where the poor sat to watch a play. There were no seats in that spot, but about fifteen feet away from the stage, rows of seats appeared, each row elevated slightly above the last. This went on for quite some distance until the seats were about twenty feet off the ground. To the left and right of him, Grayson saw that there were entrances for actors to enter the stage from the right and left, and both these entrances were concealed by a set of red curtains that were withdrawn as if a play was ongoing.
Grayson and Ulfljot turned their attention to Alistair, and offered a brief olive branch to him, "Alistair!" Grayson called, "Stop this madness. Come with us and we'll try to make your imprisonment as comfortable as possible."
Alistair bared his sharp, yellowed teeth at the pair, then began speaking gutturally, as if speaking Common was now an effort for him, "You will not imprison me," he croaked, "Your mercy is honorable, but you will die!" And with that, he charged toward the pair.
Grayson was able to jump out of the way and roll to his full height, but Ulfljot unfortunately took the brunt of the attack and was flung several meters out of the tent, where his head was unfortunately injured and he was knocked unconscious, leaving Grayson to survive against Alistair until the others arrived. As he unsheathed his short sword, he had a sense of how utterly unprepared he was to defeat Alistair, and he never thought in his life that he would be fighting a humanoid wolf creature to defend the Empire. He yelled a warcry, spurred by Ulfljot's sudden wound, and engaged in mortal combat with Alistair. Where Grayson attempted to slash, Alistair would parry clumsily with his claws. Where Grayson tried to stab, Alistair sidestepped too quickly for Grayson's sword to make contact. Grayson was holding his own, but it was becoming rapidly obvious that he was going to lose energy.
Outside of the tent, Madeleine d'Eluise witnessed Ulfljot being sent out of the tent and quickly rushed to his aid. She saw he had a concussion, so she quickly wrapped a bandage around his bleeding forehead and dragged him to safety. She quickly glanced inside the tent and saw Grayson dueling with Alistair and was tempted to go help him, but she feared Ulfljot would die if she didn't get him to a clinic fast enough.
Alistair batted Grayson's sword into the seats when Grayson made an attempt to block the Marked's attack, but Grayson had run out of the energy necessary to hold up a fight. The Marked beast then kicked Grayson into the other side of the side of the stage. As Grayson gasped for breath heavily, he realized he had lost the battle, even though he had fought better than most men would. It was only then that Grayson realized how much of a monster he was battling: Alistair was long, lanky, and incredibly agile. His gray fur covered his extremely muscled body, and his long black claws threatened Grayson even as they were idle. The sharp, yellowed teeth reminded Grayson of what was going to happen to him next, and he laid exhausted on the floor as he waited for Alistair to eat him alive.
Enter Amar Tellsam stage right.
Amar, who had defected from the original group once he saw the side entrance that the actor's usually used, came running from the side of the stage, flailing his short sword threateningly as he attempted to kill or otherwise incapacitate Alistair, but he unfortunately made too much noise in his entrance. Alistair whipped around, slashing Amar across the face severely, and then he impaled the man with his other set of claws, leaving four ominous holes in Amar's chest. Alistair had inevitably moved a few paces toward Amar, and this gave Grayson his chance. He picked up Amar's shortsword, then lifted it above his head, screaming, "For the Empire!"
Grayson brought the weapon down in a frighteningly fast stroke, impaling Alistair through the midsection and knocking the Marked unconscious from loss of blood and shock from pain. Pulling the weapon out from Alistair, he dropped it on the stage and hurried his way over to Amar, who now had blood dripping from four identical lacerations on his face, and four identical punctures in his chest. It was obvious that he was not going to survive the night, but Grayson humored him anyway. "Hang in there, buddy," he said, "We're gonna get you to a healer."
But Amar shook his head, "No, I've done my duty. My wounds are too fatal," he said with a large amount of effort as he choked up blood, then he died. Grayson would later recall that it seemed Amar was looking at some object in the far distance in the moments before his death, and he silently thanked the man who had saved him from certain death, at the cost of Amar's own life. The group soon came in the front entrance, but they stayed silent as they saw Grayson standing over Amar's body, letting the man mourn his newfound friend. Kovic Joromir soon dragged a wounded Alistair back to camp, where he was imprisoned with the other captured Marked.
Marked Segment Einarr
The group sent to track down Einarr and take him captive was very mixed in culture. The group was informally led by Milahme Coen, but the group largely ignored her commands on account of being a woman, listening mostly to the directives of Edward Dertycia and Eirik Valdemarr instead. The group made their way through Döler street where the Einarr Marked was seen or heard last. The street seemed relatively quiet, there were a few dead loyalists lying about, ripped apart in some gruesome manner. Just as Olivier Beauveau went to bend down to inspect one of the corpses, he perked up at the house in front of him as he heard some woodwork creak. In a span of mere seconds, he tried to dive for safety as he saw the Marked inside, which was already in mid charge. Olivier just dove out of the way as the Einarr Marked burst through the front of the building, shattering the stone and woodwork and breaking the glass as he descended on the surprised fighters. Olivier managed to escape the rubble, though his legs got pinned under a wooden beam, blocking him from further participation in the battle. Shae Wren and Javier Enriquéz were less fortunate. Javier was hit square in the face by a large brick that had been catapulted at him, being immediately knocked out and bleeding profusely. Shae was hit by several glass and wood splinters, recoiling and retreating back to base camp as she was now bleeding profusely with glass imbedded in her skin.
Eikik Valdemarr was the first to recover and the first to make the foolish mistake to think he could be the first to land a hit on the Marked beast. Of all the marked, Einarr was the largest and colloquially called "The Silverback" among the thralls on account of the streaks of silver hair running over his head and back. The beast growled at him and almost effortlessly smashed its arm into him, flinging him away. Milahme then activated the plan and shot her first arrow into the beast's shoulder. The beast roared out, snarling in the direction of Milahme as she whistled for her horse to pick her up. Behind the Marked, Nathaniel Bigge, Rick O'shae and Trevor Gray formed up a shield wall with swords at the ready to deter the Marked from charging the opposite direction. Edward Dertycia had meanwhile also mounted a horse and stood behind them, ordering them to move forward while Eirik also worked himself to his feet. The Marked beast decided instead to charge at Milahme, proceeding towards the trap area exactly as planned. As the group moved on and the battle raged elsewhere in the city, Ztril Merrit peeked his head from around the corner, Allar tongue rapidly going in and out of his mouth, eyes scanning the road as he was scouting for danger. Deciding that there was no Marked near, he cautiously glided amongst the rubble towards Javier and quickly went to work. Just in time perhaps even, as Javier had lost so much blood he could have died without the timely intervention of Ztril. Peggy Bigge arrived just moments later to assist Ztril in bandaging Javier up who was just left among the rubble by the others along with Olivier Beauveau. As soon as they had taken care of Javier, they helped Olivier out from under the beam that was holding him down, only to find that he had sustained no real injuries, the beam had just impeded his movement. The three then put Javier on a stretcher and carefully carried him back to the base for further medical attention.
The pursuit was a tense one for Milahme. The beast gathered great speed as it charged after her, she all the while urging her horse to ride faster while occasionally shooting some arrows at the beast behind her. They passed the old toy factory on the left just as they were about to enter the ring road around the lake. Milahme quickly raced past the building on her horse, while the Marked beast couldn't elegantly curve the road, instead crashing halfway through the pillars and causing the entire building to tilt over and collapse as he just kept storming on. Milahme's task was to keep the beast occupied while the others mounted their horses each and ran for the next trap area. With the next area in sight, the group opened their shield formation on the road to allow Milahme through, and then closed with spears to deny the Marked beast passage. Einarr slowed down his pace before simply leaping to the side path and going around the barricade past the wall. Edward entirely anticipated this and quickly instructed the others to take up positions by the net crossbows. The detour given to the Marked beast gave Milahme enough time to dismount her horse and run for the waterfall. She slapped her horse to run off, quickly shooting off a last arrow before disappearing through the waterfall. The water was icy cold, but Milahme was required to do this if the plan was to work. The other side of the waterfall offered not much shelter, only just bare cold and slippery rock. She held herself strongly up against the rock wall, anticipating the beast to come as all she could hear was the crashing water in front of her. Then a nose peeked through the water, a silhouette forming behind it. The nose drew closer, sniffing, before the entire muzzle peeked through, rows of sharp teeth exposed. The beast licked its lips as the whole head now started peeking through. In a low guttural voice it muttered: "You're not going to get away now little pet". He slowly opened his jaws before his entire body jolted. And again, and again. He gnarled as Edward, Rick, Nathaniel and Eirik were using crossbows to shoot bolts attached to ropes into his back. One after the other they shot, blood flowing into the waterfall's downpour and coloring the river below red. The beast tried to retaliate at Milahme in pain, sending its massive claw hand straight for her face. Milahme already closed her eyes, accepting her fate as the hand was just inches away from her face until all of a sudden a blade pierced through the waterfall, piercing into the beast's hand and stopping its momentum as it veered off to the side, only scratching Milahme's arm. She screamed out in pain, but was still alive. Following the blade was Trevor Gray, jumping onto the Marked beast's back with a dagger in his mouth before he started strangling the beast's neck. The movements caused the two to stumble away from Milahme, out of the waterfall and into the river below.
With Trevor on its back and the ropes attached to its back, the creature tried to roar and jump out of the water, but just as it did this, Trevor finished the last latch of the chain, sending the signal to Edward. Edward then signalled on to Rick, who pulled the lever sending the weights down and pulling the chains and ropes up just as Trevor backflipped off the beast's back. The complex contraption of ropes pulled Einarr in before tying the ropes together. The marked trashed back and forth, but could not escape. Then finally, Eirik attached a chain in the front to keep its arms restrained as the beast surrendered and was effectively captured. Juliette le Seur just arrived at that moment to carry news of the capture of the Alpha and Beta, as well as bandages to assist Milahme with her bleeding badly forearm. The beast had been captured, Edward finally giving that final message to Agari Sulfina, who was a message runner in Rothburg.
Agari quickly mounted one of the horses left by the group, charging down the ring road and up towards the hill roads in an attempt to reach the base camp. As she charged past the apple orchards, she could just see the city beyond, hear the screams and yells of the loyalists, deathlings and marked thralls alike. Some houses were set ablaze, while elsewhere cannon shots were heard from the Deathling camp. She finally reached the mountain road at the very top from where the Emperor and the marshals were overlooking Rothburg. After the Imperial guards were signalled to let her through, she made reports to William Coen who was resting after his battle with the Alpha about the capture of the main Marked. With these smaller victories and some more hoped to come, things were looking positively for the loyalists. Agari just barely caught a glimpse of some mages seemingly working on some sort of mechanical device in the distance, Tristan being chained down and some other men chanting or reciting some sort of magical verses. She couldn't make out much of what was being said or done, but it looked ominous to say the least.
Marked Segment Brandt and Rorak
The barricade shook. With every passing moment the small army behind it gripped their weapons or focused on their plan. Bravery was in short supply in this blocked off section of Rothburg. On the other side of a large wooden barricade, two marked, Rorak smashing his great big fists into the wall, Brandt slashing at it with his claws, were desperately trying to get past the barricade. Niantha piped up as she fiddled with her polearm. "Steady everyone. We can do this."
The company wasn't convinced. They stood in a small square, the shaking barricade the only thing between them and their enemies. Finally, the shaking ceased. On the other side of the wall, Rorak lifted Brandt (no easy task), and hurled him up and -over- the barricade, sending him crashing atop poor Jaime Rosendahl, who had the life squashed out of him as his ribs snapped, lying below the fearsome marked. Brandt didn't stop, tearing his claws into the nearest defender with a scary speed. Jopa had managed to use his axe to protect himself, but was certainly dazed. He had little more time to react as Rorak finally barrelled through the barricade, sending him flying off into a pile of timber and rubble, knocked unconscious but quite safe.
Niantha served as a director in the ensuring battle, smacking people out of harm's way with her staff, but not able to make full use of her magical abilities given the environment. She could not save Zaos however, who was lifted up by Rorak and thrown across the pavement, dazed and confused for the remainder of the battle. These marked were proving quite the challenge. Finally Sinaht had an answer in the form of her hunting bow, firing from a few feet away and piercing Brandt's back. He howled, as Sinaht knocked another arrow. Niantha smacked Brandt with her staff to distract him, and then fled away, claws missing her by inches. The two yanar continued this game, slowly sticking Brandt full of arrows, as the others dealt with Rorak. Sasha braved Rorak's claws, her tower shield being slashed to ribbons as her sword went soaring in time and time again. The two fought at a stalemate for a few moments, while Vlu'xilkik and Aiden readied their attacks. Moving in tandem, Vlu'xilkik charged Rorak bravely with it's spear, managing to stick the tusked brute in the back at the same time Aiden's ethereal blade sunk into Rorak's left thigh. The marked fell to his knees from the flurry of wounds, but not before grabbing Sasha and lifting his mouth, as if intending to take a -bite- out of the armored soldier. As he did, an arrow flew by and struck the marked in the side, and after a low whimper, Rorak fell over, defeated. Vlu-xilkik and Aiden wasted no time in wrapping the wounded marked in capture nets, looking over in disbelief at Sinaht.
Niantha and the archer-yanar had filled Brandt with a good 10 arrows. Niantha was trying to wrap the defeated marked in nets without killing it. Sinaht shuffled uncomfortably at the attention, simply suggesting they take their captured foes back to base. So they did, along with the injured, singing praises of the archer-yanar and her fearsome bow.
Mid Segment Freya and Eric
Back at home base, Freya Heinrich and Eric Touth were leading the base's medical facility. Soldiers came streaming in, many with serious claw wounds, others with simple stab wounds inflicted by Deathlings who rushed into Rothburg while the Marked assault was ongoing. The most troublesome patients that came in were the Marked. The Marked that were captured were heavily restrained, but very much still awake and alive, and in some cases violently resisting any attempts to get close. Freya had to use Alchemical concoctions provided by Ztril before, to knock out the Marked. The healers found that as soon as the Marked had been knocked unconscious, they would revert back to their non-Marked form. Only then did it really become clear how profound all the damage was on them. The Alpha in particular was badly cut on his back from Ania Santorski's savage rage, while Einarr had several crossbow bolts embedded in his back. Eric Touth instructed the nurses around the Marked while Freya continued to care for the regular soldiers. Occasionally the Grand Marshal or the Emperor would walk in to console the soldiers in pain or dying, while elsewhere Unionist curates provided rites for the deceased. The healers were informed beforehand that this was going to be an arduous day for them all, as the battle itself was far from over, and far more wounded were expected to flow in as the day progressed.
Marked Segment Rhovanion
The wind pelted the trees as a ragtag group of rebels and volunteers alike joined together to hunt the Marked. The circle was comprised of: Daenalia Orthamann, an Ellon mage; Lothon Taervacion, an Altalar lance-wielder; Morgan Avery, a gung-ho sailor; and members of the Silevon family: Calcifer Silevon, a Lightning Mage, and the sword-fighters Larasviel and Darius Silevon. The group trudged through the snow into the thick forest around the village of Rothburg, searching for any signs of a Marked beast to bring to justice. The trees obscured any sense of direction, and most of the snow had collected on their canopies; it was nearly impossible to find any footprints, despite the mud on the ground. Still, the group trudged on until they heard the distant howl of a wolf in the distance.
Excited, Morgan Avery took point, rushing ahead of the others. The sailor stopped at a fork in the forest's path, both roads leading towards darker portions of the wood. Looking to the ground, Avery spotted a rather large pile of bear dung. "Oi!" he said to the others. "Reckon this is his here droppings?" He turned his head to the group to encourage them to come forward and take a look, completely blinding himself from seeing the Marked Rhovanion approaching from the shadows. The great beast was tall, thin, and had much more elongated ears, perhaps due to Rhovanion being an Elf. Daenalia Orthamann hurried forward, squealing, "Look out!" as the great beast strode forward on its hind legs and grabbed Avery's head with one of his big paws. Rhovanion lifted the sailor up off the ground and turned his prey to face him. He let out a low, guttural rumble in his throat, before clawing viciously at the man's chest with his other hand, doing a massive amount of damage. The beast then lifted Avery up into the air, grumbling, "Eat shat," before throwing him into the pile of bear dung. The first of five were disposed of. Who would be next?
The Marked Beast focused his attention on the quickly approaching Daenalia, who had turned into her Ellon fox form. The small animal bounded towards Marked Rhovanion, intent on biting the great Ulvmen in the leg to distract him from Avery. Her little teeth latched on, but Rhovanion simply bent down and threw the harmless animal to the side, looking on to the rest of the group who was already beginning to fan out to surround him. Seeing Calcifer Silevon begin to charge up her Lightning Magic, Rhovanion charged forward and plowed her down, landing his muzzle in a forceful bite on her left arm, breaking it on impact and successfully disrupting her focus all the while pinning her to the ground. Darius Silevon, who was near her, immediately rushed forward to help, but were too late, for Calcifer had realized her mistake. Having Daemonophobia, Calcifer held an intense fear of demons, the Void, and being possessed, and began to have a mental breakdown with Rhovanion on top of her, barking in her face. "Make it stop, make it stop! Don't take me to that place, don't take me!" she kept repeating in utter torment. This incident would be one that would haunt Calcifer, and perhaps those around her, for many sleepless nights to come.
Before Rhovanion could do any further damage to his family member, Daniel had reached the two, and began hacking away at the beast with his sword. Unfortunately, blindly rushing a Marked beast simply invited danger, and danger it did invite: in one fell sweep, the beast knocked Daniel off his feet, breaking his left leg, making him the third to be forced from the fight. The fourth would soon come, as Rhovanion then turned to Katte Djilla, who had been busy using her Beast Magic to call forth several small woodland animals to the edge of the path. Unfortunately, this tactic fell through; not even the most talented Beast Mages could inspire animals to rally against such a dangerous and superior predator. Completely defenseless, Katte was thrown from the edge of the clearing to the center by Rhovanion, her predator in pursuit. Katte had never known as much fear and terror as she did then; Rhovanion had the same lustful glance as a fat burgher did when his Winter Festival's turkey dinner was placed in front of him; Marked beasts could go three days without hungering, and Rhovanion was on his fourth.
Joppa Engeram, the undead rider, had received word too late that the Emperor was rallying war parties to hunt the Marked Beasts. He rode down the dark paths leading to Rothburg quickly, hoping he wasn't too late, when he suddenly heard a howl in the distant road before him. He spurred his war-horse, galloping ever faster towards the clearing where he found Rhovanion going in to finish off Katte. He leant off the side of his horse, scooping Katte up in one hand and pulling her up onto the horse all at the last second, before depositing her off to the side. That was the fifth and last victim of Rhovanion. Joppa then swung around, his horse rearing up in the air as he charged forward towards Rhovanion, giving a wide swing with his horseman's axe. This attack hit Rhovanion directly in the chest, and stunned him for a moment before he realized that this new intruder was a great threat. While Rhovanion was preoccupied with the horse, Larasviel Silevon and Lothon Taervacion tried to sneak up towards him. Unfortunately, he heard their footsteps crunch some leaves on the ground. Still, the two were ready for a fight; Larasviel swung forth with her sword, trying to hit the beast's arm, while Lothon simultaneously aimed a hardy stab for Rhovanion's abdomen. The two fought the man while Joppa rode around, aiming the occasional swing. The group worked in perfect harmony, and fought bravely, but it still wasn't enough. Joppa's old horse was getting tired, and Larasviel and Lothon had sustained minor injuries of themselves. Morale was lowering, and if something didn't happen soon, the battle would be lost.
Mirau Hialiel sauntered back and forth, analyzing the situation. She knew she couldn't contribute to the fight in head-on combat. She was such a petite and frail thing, and could absolutely not risk harming her beautiful natural skin, even though she could cancel out any scars with her magic. The woman finally stopped, watching Larasviel and Lothon fight Rhovanion. She saw that they were struggling, but… Did she want to intervene before the beast was tired out enough? She hid back until it was obvious that it was now or never, then began to sneak up on Rhovanion from behind. She had absolutely no skill in remaining undetected, nor in slaying great beasts, but sneak she did anyway. Besides, she reasoned. These warriors were slow of mind anyway, and would likely swear some honor debt to her in payment for her saving their lives. She slowly crept towards where the group was fighting; Joppa had dismounted his horse to pursue Rhovanion on foot, but the beast still had the upper hand. If Rhovanion somehow detected Mirau, it would all be over; they would undoubtedly be killed. At the last moment, she even looked down to carefully avoid the root of a tree that would have otherwise tripped her and ruined the attempt. Fortunately, against all odds, Mirau had managed to get right behind Rhovanion. Seeing the sneaky Shendar, the three warriors began to play into her plan, knowing that she was their only hope. Mirau slipped both of her daggers from her hips, and shanking them into Rhovanion's abdomen from behind. Seeing the opportunity, the other three abandoned their weapons and simply tackled Rhovanion to the ground.
Mirau escaped from being laid on by the weakened Rhovanion, and fetched the long rope from the group's knapsack. She cheerfully yet thoroughly tied Rhovanion up with it as Freya Heinrich, who heard all of the action, rushed to the scene to take care of the wounded. Eventually, she found Morgan Avery, who was on the brink of death, and pulled him from the pile of bear dung to begin patching him up. In spite of his tremendous injuries, Avery's life was saved by Freya Heinrich, and would recover after a week of being confined to a bed. Mirau would lead the group in their trudge back to Rothburg, as they exchanged names with the mysterious Undead Mortdei, Joppa. While some of the members of the group may have previously held some prejudices against that of the dead, especially with the appearance of the Deathlings, Joppa's actions held a profusely positive impact over those present. Joppa re-mounted his horse and rode off, content that he did his part while also avoiding a probable imprisonment if he were to join the group back at Rothburg. The rest of the group returned to the town successfully.
Mid Segment Rosalyne
Rosalyne d'Eluise was strolling down the road with her walking cane, moving as fast as humanly possible to deliver much needed bandages. Her recovery was remarkable given the time that had passed, but duty found this woman in the hour of need of many, including her ex-fiancé and her current fiancé. Thoughts flashed through her head as she was trying to balance her cane in one hand and bandages under the other. What would she do if her fiancé died? Was she to be thrown back into the pool of bachelors, waiting until her mother would deem to ship her off to some other family once more? The thought of being single was so profound that she wasn't looking where she was going, accidently landing her cane into a ditch in the road. The misjudgement caused her to stumble and fall, hearing some audible crack before she finally came to a halt by some rose bushes. The force with which she smashed into them snapped some of the stems. She looked up at them as some drops of snow planted on her head, the irony of the broken stems of the Rose bush perhaps escaping her as she was trying to move her legs but feeling too much pain to do anything. All she could murmur out was "Mèrde", as the aggravation over breaking her left leg again was a bit more profound than the pain it produced.
Marked Segment Azryael
A small group of Imperial Loyalists stood atop the shabby, recently constructed walls on the west side of Rothburg. The inner portions of the city had been fought over so recently that blood still stained the stones beneath the group. Ordered to man the small wall and await any marked that made their way through the blockade, the group fiddled with their respective weapons as they waited. The cries of Deathlings and sounds of war within Rothburg itself affected all of them differently, but unease settled in as the moments stretched on. Daniel Silveon had seen countless battles in his eight decades of life, but he still gripped his arming sword with a shaking hand. Ra'kashiin clutched her daggers close, peering out from behind Daniel's imposing form. The sounds of battle were getting closer, cries that didn't quite sound mortal flowing over them all. Poor Ra'kashiin trembled beside Daniel, oddly enough calming the Isldar as he stood protectively over her. Meanwhile, Lucas was eyeing the rubble of the stone tower to their right intently, waiting to use his magics to sweep aside any opposition that came their way. He alone had no fear of the coming battle. Cecil stood apprehensively beside Ekusupurora, a wulong. They were behind the makeshift wooden wall, watching the other's backs as they scoured for enemies. Lastly stood Zaheer upon the wall, fiddling with his trusty dagger as he stood on the rightmost side of the wall, eyeing the 10 foot fall in front of him warily. He would have to get close, if the enemy rushed forward.
Suddenly, Ra'kashiin's ears caught a scramble to her left. Suddenly going stock-still, the tiny fighter lifted her gaze and threw one of her daggers in terror, striking the horn of a large, white-furred terror that had emerged over the wall. The marked begin had snuck up on the group!
At once, Lucas ducked away and began a drastic change to his original plan, muttering as he turned his back on the battle and studied the stone tower intently. Daniel's first instinct was to plant himself between the white terror, known as Azryael, and his Rashaq compatriot. While brave, he was bowled over and sent falling over the wall, landing hard in a pile of rubble. Poor Daniel's ribs were broken at once as he landed. The sounds of battle above him spurred the Isldar on, as he tried to pull himself up to little avail. Ra'kashiin was actually distracting the beast rather well, Azryael unable to grab the pesky fighter. Zaheer grumbled in his low tone, a hand over his scarred neck. He glared at Lucas as he seemingly did nothing, just staring at the tower. Growling at the beast, Zaheer sprinted past Lucas with a determined glare. He raised his knife and actually sent it straight into Azryael's shoulder, drawing a terrified howl. It didn't last long however, as Azryael grabbed Zaheer and lifted him up and over her, sending him back first into the wooden wall's base. There he lay uninjured but dazed for a long while. Finally, Lucas stood tall in front of the seething Azryael. He directed both hands behind him, at the ruined tower that served as the edge of their wall. And then, Lucas swung his hands forward. The top layer of the stone tower broke off from the rest, and was sent flying over Lucas's raised hands. Poor Ra'kashiin yelped and flung herself from the wall, landing comfortably on Daniel's back. The stones fell in a great hail upon Azryael, half-burying the marked in a pile of stone rubble. Fully unconscious and battered, Azryael was wrapped up in capture nets by the calm and steady Lucas. Lucas instructed Zaheer and Ra'kashiin to take the captured marked back to base. Before they could do so however, Azryael lashed out from the rubble, smacking Ra'kashiin in the face and sending her flying off the wall, again. Zaheer could not get there in time, and it looked as if Azryael was going to tear Lucas in half, the marked sprinting at the stone mage.
Then, a strange sound rolled over Azryael and they were stopped in their tracks, hands over her head as a severe pain rolled over her. Lucas didn't hesitate, retreating away from the stunned marked. Ekusupurora finally scaled the wall to attempt to shoulder-barrel Azryael off the wall. This failed utterly when Azryael swatted it away and sent the poor wulong tumbling into a pile of rubble. Cecil stood farther away, her deafening lyre magic not able to stun Azryael for very long. Lucas had finally regained his wits, and hurled boulder after boulder at the marked. After the eighth or so hit, Azryael, battered and bruised, fell over in a heap, finally defeated. The group hastily wrapped the marked in capture nets and limped back to base, leaving behind a few battered rebels to guard the worn wooden wall.
Marked Segment Reinhardt and Lommin
The group that was assigned to find Reinhardt and Lommin had no trouble doing so; the pair of Marked found them and quickly engaged in battle with the group. Reinhardt had a brilliant coat of brown fur, and he was much like Alistair in that he was very agile, but he was more heavily muscled than Alistair was. Lommin, fast because of his smaller size, ran on all fours to the person closest to him. Unfortunately, this happened to be Mance Blackwater. Lommin jumped onto him, gripping the man's shoulders with his painfully long claws and took a huge bite out of Mance's right shoulder. Mance let out a cry of pain before falling unconscious. Dietrich was somehow spurred into performing at a skill level he never had before, unsheathing his arming sword and slicing at a rapid speed at Lommin. He quickly carved an 'X' in the chest of Lommin, and the Marked soon tipped over, unconscious. Wary to not disturb Dietrich from his skillful focus, the group backed away and dragged Mance to safety and Lommin to imprisonment with the other Marked.
Reinhardt backed away uncertainly at the sight of Dietrich, as the man walked forward to Reinhardt with fury in his eyes. Dietrich twirled and spun his sword wildly but not without a degree of precision, which served to discomfort Reinhardt even more. The spectating citizens would remark later that it was the first time they had witnessed fear in a Marked. Then, the battle really started. Reinhardt and Dietrich battled quickly and with very precise strikes, each proving to be a fair opponent for the other. As the fateful duel progressed, Reinhardt realized that he was the inferior in this duel, as he had taken several painful wounds during it. In a last throw of the dice, Reinhardt backhanded Dietrich's arming sword out of his hand when he tried to strike Reinhardt, and the Marked let out a thick, toothy grin as he realized his prey was his for the taking, defenseless. Dietrich, however, was not to be swayed. He simply started laying blow after blow on the Marked with his bare hands until Reinhardt was eventually being beaten senseless without any attempt at defense, too exhausted to even move. Then, Reinhardt tipped over into the rubble, unconscious. Reinhardt would not wake up until several hours later, severely wounded by the extreme beatdown that Dietrich had dished out to him.
Ending Segment
With all the Marked captured, the chanting mages around Tristan who was hooked up to the machine with a series of tubes and metal plugs started powering up the machine. To some who had knowledge of the machine around, it was a actually a massive Evocarorum machine, using Tristan Keppkuula and whatever posession energy had taken hold of him as a battery source. The Emperor walked forward, peering at Tristan for a moment. Imprisonment had not been kind to him, he looked battered and bruised with cuts everywhere on his body and dried blood stains in his clothing. The Emperor removed his glove from his hand before promptly slapping it across Tristan's face. He exclaimed "Wake up, tool, it's time for you to see what you are meant to really be." With that, the Emperor nodded to the Scholars to commence the procedure, after which they put a series of white yellowish Foci Crystals in the machine and kickstarted the process.
Immediately, Tristan appeared to be in a great deal of pain, screaming, as magical smoke-like essences appeared to flow away from him and into the Foci Crystals, the Scholars all the while aiming the device in the direction of the Deathling siege camp. With the machine primed, an officer of the Azure Order approached and manually pulled the fire lever. Base camp was then filled with an intense light, a loud bang noise could be heard as the Foci Crystals in the machine shattered. As they did so however, a large beam of presumably Starlight Magic formed in the machine, shooting straight for the Deathling base. As the white beam hit the ground in the Deathling camp, the beam disintegrated flooding the entire area with intense light. The light vaporized any of the Deathlings and Marked thralls still in the area, wiping out nearly the entire army. In fact the beam was so strong that it toppled the trees in the near area and also disintegrated a roof of a tower that was in its trajectory.
With the first fire round a success, the Ithanian ambassadors, Scholars and even the Emperor started clapping and congratulating the Evocar Scholar that had designed the machine. The Emperor then gave the signal for the machine to be taken away before he returned himself to the resistance loyalists who had gathered at the foot of the hill, watching the spectacle somewhat further down. The Emperor spoke with a final speech: "You have all bled and fought for the Empire today, good faithful Unionists and Loyalists. For some of you it was exceptionally hard, fighting your loved ones, your compatriots, your allies even, twisted into a state of ill-recognition. Both the Empire and the Imperial Spirit will not forget your hard labor, and we /will/ grant you back your loved ones in due time. The weapon we have created is an astounding success, as you have seen, and the Battle for Rothburg is finally over! We will now take rest and courage, for tomorrow, we march out to face the vile usurper Lo! True Unionists will always prevail, the Imperial Spirit wills it!"
OOC Notes:
- Knowledge will spread to Regalia faster than the army can move, but information should be vague at best. No mentions of the Evocarorum or the fate of the Marked, just that the Loyalists have defeated the Deathlings and the Marked and that they are coming to Regalia soon.
- The Marked Characters will remain unplayable until a message is sent to them over Skype.
- The people imprisoned during this post remain unplayable untill the post-diet stats. For those who do not know what this means, you will soon.
- Those wounded during this progression will likely be barred from an active role in the next progression. These wounds were dictated by performance rolls, which in some cases simply were bad luck.
