Fantasy Age of Heroes

[DrBones]

Addai gently lifted Sethos and his cart up and behind him, somehow managing to perfectly place his hand in front of a small dock leading into the shrine.


He waited for Sethos to disembark before returning his hand to a resting position.


"I do hope you have your own supply of hay and bedding. I am not stocked with any accoutrements at all, except for that which was carved into my form."

 

[Zerohex]

(whoops, sorry I didn't reply, been out of sorts)


Garom ate quietly and slowly. Some bread, a bit of fish, some cheese, some water, exactly one sip of wine at the very end. He took only the humblest of the dishes offered, and in quite restrained quantities, making sure to chew everything well and wash it down good with the water. It was just enough to feel sated without running into any kind of...distress in his guts at a critical time. It was good food, much better than what soldiers and sailors were usually offered, so he sat and enjoyed what for him was the best meal he'd had in ages.


He was also rather upset that his questions had gone mostly unanswered beyond an assurance that the spell would get them through the day. He was somewhat used to being disposable, but it'd be nice to be privy to the damned plan more often. He'd make do, he always did, but he found that knowing what he was getting himself into beforehand seemed to dramatically increase his chances of survival. Him and the rest of the group were turned over to a man, an overly eager one, apparently the only help they'd receive. How wonderful.


Finishing his meal and choosing to decline any more questions, mostly to avoid dealing with his human "captain", he simply brushed off any crumbs that might've falled on him and walked outside, remaining as stone-faced as the earthfolk waiting for them. It was an impressive specimen, yes, but his faith did little to impress Garom and it's not like he hadn't seen others of his kind. Not this big or up close, true, but a poker face was a useful skill when serving time under the King's justice. "I will walk. When one spends too much time on a boat, one grows to miss the earth".

 

[Reinhardt]

"Let us begin moving then." ,Sieg said as he turned around. Heading out the first, he was certain that the others would be following. He was walking towards Port Hermalt, which was just a few minutes away.


(This will be time for you to interact with the others in a casual way. I will be posting when we reach the destination.)


Sent from my GT-S5830

 

[MechaGhoul]

Sethos, just stood upon Addai's hand motionless for a good few seconds. I. What? Where are all the towns that we had to pass through to reach the port? How- Why, why would it be so close to this place where the Kings meet? Didn't they realize being so close that they could be easily fired upon by war-ships? Not to mention those sea-monsters, if they existed, would just wreck the place up? This... No, it can't be. Sethos Ras-Tal's face was a rather gloomy expression. He glanced back at his mule, and checked through his cart. He just guided the mule off the hand, while muttering out a rather surprised, "Thank you for your services."


Sethos once off with his mule, just stood there, awestruck at how unfortunate this situation was. Great. Just great...

 

[DrBones]

As they walked, Addai made sure to move carefully and slowly. Not merely because his great strides would result in his outpacing his comrades easily, but because a quickened pace would rapidly turn Sethos and his cargo's trip from a brief respite to a swift and grisly death by rapid concussion. He attempted to speak to Sieg.


"What was it you had said about our trip? A few mere minutes from this meeting place to the contested port we will begin our dangerous quest in? I do not believe you. Such a small distance to the enemies at the gates would be a folly most foul! If you speak the truth, then it is our duty to initiate sweeping reforms in our fair country's tactical decisions. Such a failure of foresight should be punished to the utmost degree!"

 

[Zerohex]

Garom discreetly grinned as he paced towards Port Hermalt. He agreed with the walking armored tree, of course, and had several questions and complaints of his own, such as why bother contacting them outside of the port when summoning them there would've been far more practical, the seeming lack of support or information provided to them, which meant the group was essentially blindly following this man's commands and an echo of Addai's assessment of the situation. But he was used to it, service for King and country was not exactly a most privileged position and on a boat or in land the conditions were more or less the same. Asking reasonable questions that shouldn't have to be asked and voicing reasonable complaints was usually dangerous for one's health in such work. So Garom quietly grinned to himself and marched on.

 

[Reinhardt]

In Sieg's head, he was laughing at all the idiocy of their statements. The port was designed to be close to Cavalle for two purposes, trade and naval army. Have they not been studying their military guides, but then again, most of them were not part of The Sentinel.


As they arrives at the port, it seemed like a ghost town. Merchant stalls were empty, the docks had no sign of life, and the center of the port had nothing but the statue of Cavell in it. This did not seem so good, there was supposed to be a prepared equipment stash, the spell casters, and supplies. But there was nothing.


With this, he signaled the Heroes to be careful. Any kind of danger might show up, any unexpected visitor might start assaulting them.

 

[DrBones]

Addai craned his neck to see. If anything were to come up, Addai would notice them from at a couple blocks away at most. It would be exceptionally difficult to sneak up on the group, with Addai serving as a watchman.

 

[MechaGhoul]

Sethos Ras-Tal eyed the area, cocking his head around glancing from side to side. While he was on Addai's shoulder, he really didn't need to worry about the ground. But instead he had to worry about the skies. First he glanced at his mule, making sure that it was alright. It appeared that the mule was doing fine, and the cart was doing well.


He peered forward as he flicked out his tongue, getting a sense of the air, and the smell of the environment. But more importantly, the pits hidden within the nostrils were sensing the presence of heat, much like how the snakes of the ground sensed infared. Sethos was not about to go blind, whether in the skies, the ground, or in the seas, and for the moment detecting any trace of heat that was un-natural to the air was of vital importance. If it went after him or his supplies of course.

 

[Zerohex]

Thing were already going wrong. Splendid. Why wouldn't things go wrong? Of course, he had no idea what exactly was wrong considering their guide didn't say jack and it made sense to him that a port town would be attacked by creatures coming out of the water. Why this town was here and the capital 5 minutes away instead of just having a sensible, single place for ease of trade and defense was beyond him. Still, that wasn't the issue now, the issue was that he was in danger and so were his allies. Discreetly, he shielded himself behind one of Addai's massive limbs and kept his bow handy, ready to nock and fire an arrow or two at a moment's notice.

 

[Reinhardt]

After a few seconds, bandits appeared! Apparently, they had well done camouflage, allowing them to be unseen or even sensed to be around.


These bandits were armed well, equipped with sharp lethal


weapons and some utility items. It seems that they had prepared for the arrival of the Heroes.


As soon as Sieg unsheathed his sword, the bandits started to assault them, two for each person.


To the Lirak, two men armed with schmitars and some poison tipped knives. To the Earthfolk, men with spears and axes. To the Esken, men with daggers and crooks. To the Fiern, men with swords and shields. To the human, men with maces and halberds. To Sieg, men with bows and projectiles.


@DrBones @MechaGhoul @Zerohex @Spookums @jole875


Sent from my GT-S5830

 

[DrBones]

Addai braced himself as he brought his hand up to defend Sethos Ras-Tal from any potential projectile attacks. The quartet of bandits attempting to target him and Sethos hacked ineffectually at Addai's ankles, being unable to pierce his thick stone armor or his mighty bark. With but a shift of an ankle, Addai could have made asses of them all, but he merely stood still as he waited for Sethos to get to safety.


Looking to his companions, Addai called out.


"Kill only if you must, brothers! My support will be forthcoming!"

 

[Spookums]

Gaston was quite surprised at how quickly they reached the port. While it was at least somewhat sensible for matters of trade, the young knight had been expecting a grand trek across the land, perhaps even taking some time off to rescue a beautiful maiden from the clutches of a horrid beast. Despite this, he was far from displeased, as it made their mission all the simpler. Once they had slain the abomination responsible for this influx of monsters from the sea, Gaston would return triumphant to the manor of his father, where he would receive both his spurs and a fief. All he had to do was ride down into the ocean and kill some monster. Success was guaranteed, for Cavell was with him!


But first, it seemed he had to attend to another matter that had just presented itself. The port city, seemingly abandoned, just so happened to be infested by bandits. Said bandits had decided it would be a most excellent idea to assault them. Only an incredibly brave or foolish man would dare to strike a knight of Cavalle, and Gaston very much doubted they were of the former sort. Lowly bandits knew nothing of valour, or else they would have devoted themselves to a greater cause.


Intent on showing these ruffians the grave error in judgement they had made, the knight decided to demonstrate a smidgen of his capabilities. Offering a silent prayer to the Lord of Creation, a wave of blue light erupted forth from Gaston's person. It washed over his allies, causing a thin layer of translucent blue armour to form over their bodies. "Fear not their blades, comrades. No arm of mortal make can pierce a shield born of faith."


With that, Gaston readied his lance, and urged his horse into a gallop. As his steed built up momentum, the knight braced his lance against his shoulder, in preparation for impact. He targeted the one with the halberd first, as he posed a greater threat to him. At the behest of Addai, Gaston made sure to aim for the man's left shoulder, so as to avoid guaranteeing a mortal strike. If the man was lucky, it would only shatter his upper arm, leaving the limb useless.

 

[Zerohex]

Garom was not quite as grandiose as his allies. In fact, he wasn't grandiose at all. With a foul curse, and wondering just how a bunch of bandits had escaped both the esken and the earthfolk with his massive vantage point, he steeled himself for battle. Thankfully, the bandits had laid a rather obvious ambush and so the group wasn't caught entirely unawares and he had his bow ready and waiting. Finding himself charged at by two men armed with scimitars, he nocked an arrow, drew the string and let loose at the one in front so swiftly that it all appeared a single, effortless motion.


Even more impressive was his ability to repeat the process in the blink of an eye, firing another arrow at the second assailant. In a way, he followed Addai's request, whether out of his own volition or because he'd rather not upset the walking building, none could say. The arrows were both aimed at the men's guts, and even against an unarmored man such a shot wouldn't instantly kill. What happened afterwards depended on how the arrow was removed and how the wound in the stomach, which would bleed and bleed, was treated. The bandits might yet survive. Perhaps.

 

[MechaGhoul]

Sethos Ras-Tal simply pondered as he stood on Addai's shoulder. He turned to his side, as he checked to see if any bandits were there, on the shoulder of Addai with him. No, it looked like he was fine in this event. He was still on the giant, and the bandits would need to climb upwards to get him Sethos began to calculate the potential loss and profits that would be gained from this encounter if he had to use any of his supplies, such as Alchemic Fire.

 

[Reinhardt]

Sieg dodged several projectiles as he charged towards the bandits with bows and arrows. As he reached them, he slashed their weapons, rendering them unable to fight. As he turned towards those who were assaulting Addai, a dagger flew towards him. The dagger was deflected by an invisible force. Sieg then returned to the disarmed bandits as he launched a flurry of slashes, leaving them into nothing but a bunch of corpses.


After finishing the lives of those two bowmen, he proceeded to destroy those wounded by Garom and Gaston, as well as those being held off by Addai. He launched a powerful wave of force towards them, knocking their weapons off. He then, charged towards them. First, he slashed the arms of the men wielding the spears and axes, then the hands of the bandits with swords. As soon as he was about to kill them, a shout was heard. "STOP!!", it said. Looking at where the voice came from, elves, humans and Illieth were there at the center of Port Hermalt near the statue, when earlier the whole Port was empty.


Sieg shouted back, "Have you been hiding the whole time?" As an Illieth with red robes replied, "Hiding? No. Watching you as we casted a spell of stealth? Yes."


"So you were hiding.", Sieg said, "You could have just used a spell to send these bandits off."


"We are mages and scholars, we don't fight like you brutes.", the Illieth said as the wounded bandits retreated and ran away from the Heroes and Sieg.


"I am not a brute, Weiss. Now, let's go back to business. Debrief them about your spell and stuff.", Sieg said to the man. He then, went to a nearby stall full of beverages, and started to try them one by one.


The Illieth looked at the Heroes and bowed to them. Then he said, "Hello, Heroes. Welcome to Port Hermalt. Sorry about the bandits. Now, for the spell... This spell will allow you to breath, speak, eat, hear..... basically, it allows you to live underwater. Now, for your mounts, I am afraid they will have to stay here. Or you could send them back to your respective kingdoms. As for any supplies you may need or want, to my left, where Sieg is currently feasting on some drinks, are the finest. Weapons, armors, clothing, accessories, etc. are all high quality, since they were made to be used by the naval armies, who currently are fighting of the monsters together with the Sentinel." He then turned to the other mages and scholars, and they started to go to their respective positions. "Ah, I forgot. Do you have any questions?", he said as he turned to face them.

 

[DrBones]

Addai looked at the corpses left by Sieg, and the spatters of blood left by Sieg's attempts to finish off the rest. A dull rage boiled up inside him. Clenching his fists and letting loose a burst of steam from his face, he turned to Sieg.


"You have ignored my request and murdered two people. I will have words with you about your heinous immorality. As for you..." he addressed the mages who had mysteriously appeared all around them as soon as the bandits fled, "your inaction and refusal to warn us has caused the deaths of two, and will cause the deaths of several more. I will not allow your apathy to cause deaths. I am going to find these bandits, and I am going to aid them. It would be a heinous crime to allow a lawbreaker to run free, and it is a worse crime to allow a civilized being to die while you celebrate. A fair punishment will be meted out to these criminals, when we find them. Who is with me?"





Addai looked to Sethos. "You have spoken of being a merchant before. Have you any supplies we can use to heal those who have been wounded? I will reimburse you."





Addai looked to Gaston. "You seem like a noble man. On your honor, will you allow eight men to die today?"

 

[MechaGhoul]

Sethos Ras-Tal cocked his head towards Addai and hissed. "Yesss, I have potions which would help in healing the wounded. And as my stock is my livelihood, I would very much appreciate the reimbursement for the potions I shall use to treat the wounded. Such sssssenseless loss of life is intolerable." Especially when you could keep them alive for further profit.


Sethos knew an alive indebted individual tended to be worth more than the dead. And in this matter he'd earn a better reputation with Addai, and he'd be reimbursed for the potion costs. Plus he could scavenge the currently dead for profit. No point in wasting the parts. "I shall tend to the wounded. And once we catch the others we can learn what set them down this path. And we shall find some way for them to achieve atonement..."

 

[Reinhardt]

Sieg was drinking when he heard Addai's complaint on his killing. "Ha. Immorality? You kno-", he said as he was cut off by Weiss, gesturing him to stop. As he returned to the stall full of drinks, he murmured, "Damn peace-loving, ignorant creatures."


"Earthfolk and their peace obsession.", a mage murmured. "Hush.", Weiss said to him. Then he addressed Addai, "Sir Earthfolk, or whatever your name is. If you really think that they are still civilized beings, then we won't stop you from finding them and aiding them. But, you thinking we are 'celebrating' their defeat, then you are wrong. Preparing for a war against the dangers of the depths is far from celebrating."


The bandits who have retreated left a trail of drops of blood, leading further to the north, where their hideout may be located.

 

[Zerohex]

Garom watched, rather surprised, as the Sentinel easily dispatched the bandits all on his lonesome at speeds too absurd to be real, taking note of the shockwave and the invisible shielding. When the mage stepped up asking if they had any questions, he waited until the earthman was done bellowing, mostly because he didn't agree with what he was saying, then adressed the...whoever this Illieth was.


"Yes, hello, I have a question. Why are we even here? Me getting two shots off my bow in such a short amount of time is considered particularly impressive, practically a blessing from the gods, and in the time it takes me to do that this guy", he pointed at Sieg, "turned the bandits into mincemeat. And there's a whole group of them. So, why are we even here, in this quest, when clearly they are so much better prepared for it? Why not let militia like us defend our lands and homes, where we'll fight that much harder, while the people who can slice up a whole gang of bandits with no effort take on the source of the threat?".

 

[Reinhardt]

"Ah yes. Sieg might be that skilled, but you see, he was not chosen by the gods unlike you. There was a reason why the gods chose you, and that is why you must embark on this quest. The Sentinel are busy preventing the monsters from even getting close to you homes. Going back to your homes would only delay the end of this chaos we are in.", Weiss said to Garom.


Then, a few mages and scholars came close to him and whispered something about the mounts of the Heroes. "Hmm. Yes, we should. That may delay them for a while, but it would be worth it.", Weiss replies to them. They went back to their posts after this.


He then returned to the Heroes as he said, "Sorry for this, but the spell will be delayed for a while. Certain modifications will be done. If you are planning to go somewhere before this starts, you should do it. We'll locate you and have Sieg fetch you."


Meanwhile, Sieg is found sleeping on a nearby bench. The drinking of too much drinks had overwhelmed him.


Sent from my GT-S5830


 
After the Illieth had spoken, armored men marched to Sieg's position. They stomped their spears to the ground, making a loud sound. Sieg was woken by the sound. "What the hell is it?", he said. The men replied, "General Eshwald requires you a the borders of Xenos. You are to lead an advance party." Sieg immediately stood and said,"What are we waiting for then." The men and Sieg hurriedly left the port.


Then, a sparrow flew to the port and dropped a scroll. Weiss took it, and started to read it. Calling out to the Heroes, he said "Your quest has been changed, you are to eliminate the threat to Port Hermalt. You will still be going underwater. Orders of the three rulers." He then, returned to the other mages and scholars as they started to do some weird spell modifications.

 

[DrBones]

"We will accept your spell when we finish our business. Come, Sethos; we will find these bandits, we will show our mercy to them, and we will find out who they are, and why they are here. May Cerpus stay our blows, just as He will stay theirs."


With that, Addai gently lifted Sethos up to his shoulder and began following the trail of blood left by the wounded bandits. They would have to hurry, if they wanted to save the bandits. Surely a strike from one such as Sieg would kill a man in minutes.

 

[MechaGhoul]

Sethos gave a nod to Addai as he was lifted back up, alongside his mule and cart. "May Cerpus stay our blows and the blows of the bandits." He said in agreement. After all live indebted bandits were of course more useful than dead ones.


"Consssssidering they are bandits, they are most likely impoverished. However they are not wise as they went after a seemingly empty port, instead of taking an actual trade route." Sethos mused out, "Perhaps they hold a sssentimental value to this place? Perhaps they were former dock workers before the cataclysmic event which drained a port city of all life, yet did not affect the other establishment merely a sssstones throw away from here." He flicked out his tongue smelling and sensing the air around him.


"Either way we shall find out the answers behind these questions."

 

[Zerohex]

Ahah...oh man he was serious wasn't he. Chosen by the gods. It took the entirety of Garom's willpower not to laugh in the mage's face, but he still unwillingly grinned a bit before realizing that he was doing it. Bad idea to make fun of someone who holds your safety in his hands. Garom still had several questions as to the functionality and efficacy of the Sentinel thanks to the time he spent in the regular navy, however.


The number of questions only increased when a group of armed men seemingly ran from the capital to the port in order to take away Sir Drinksalot into some other assignment. And then they got a message that their own assignment had changed. Garom idly missed being in a ship, where things worked smoothly under the control of a competent captain because incompetent ones would sink with their ship before long.


Whatever the case, it seemed they had some free time before they could actually head underwater and two of his companions were dead set on tracking down the wounded and probably already dead bandits for some godforsaken reason. Well...it was worth a shot, maybe he could benefit from it in some way. "Hrm...would there be some manner of reward for bringing the bandits back, dead or alive?".