Heroes of Avalon

[Zamokra41]

Current Group
Vincent ; Xilan ; Arianna ; Alexandra

Special Companion
Brandon Eagleye

Main Mission
Reach the Lizardmen tribe

Secondary Missions
Reduce the Venomfly population from the swamp (Complete)
Find the missing scouts in the swamp (3/4 found)
Gather reagents for an antidote to the Venomfly poison (4 Venomfly stingers 4 Sila Dona 1 Blood Root)

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And like that, victory was achieved. The Swamp Troll lay motionless on the murky ground as Brandon pulled his blade from its skull, swung it once through the air so the thick green blood of the beast would splash out and sheathed on his lower back along with the other while he jumped off the beast's corpse. Brandon was huffing, beads of sweat running down his brow, he was tiered but who wouldn't be after such a battle? Regardless of the exhaustion or the bruises, the group managed to bring down a Swamp Troll, no easy feat. The Senior Hero approached the pair of scouts that just got back to their feet, both were heavily wounded one having a broken hand but both were still able to walk as they took their leave after Brandon gave them directions on how to safely get back to camp. Once the scouts were on their way, Brandon turned to the Juniors, a weary smile on his face. "Well...that was a quite an effort. You know, riding the back of a troll isn't all that's cracked up to be." He chuckled "Anyway, you four did quite the good job on this bloke. Trust me, bringing down a Swamp Troll is quite the feat for a group of Juniors, we've lost some good candidates in past years because of these things. I'l make sure the rest of the order hears of your performance, it's bound to bring some rumors and stories among the rest of the Juniors out there."

Brandon's praises were welcomed by the group, Xilan especially as he wiped the sweat from his brow with the sleeve of his free hand and then turned to Vincent "We just started out as Heroes and already famous? I can certainly live with that." he said with a chuckle at the end leaning on his staff. It was not uncommon for Xilan to feel cocky after a victory, he often used to feel that way back at the Academy after every good grade at his studies. Arianna didn't share on that feeling, "Don't get ahead of yourself. It's not like we did this ourselves, we had a Senior Hero do all the heavy lifting for us." she said clutching her bag where the sealed scroll was inside. Arianna was more grounded to reality than the ever-so-relaxed Xilan, it was true that Brandon's skills and experience made the battle a lot easier than it should have, afterall he did climb on the troll's back and exploited the beast's sensitive points making it thrash around aimlessly and distracting its attention while the Juniors only needed to be cautious and strike at he right moments. "I don't mean to interrupt, but we still have a mission to complete my friends." Alexandra was already behind Brandon, following him through the muck on their way deeper into the swamps when she turned around to call for the rest.

Arianna nodded and soon followed along, "Women...never happy of the small things in life." Xilan whispered to his Anthro friend with a sigh and his signature cheeky smile before he and Vincent caught up with the rest. The group were now heading their way through the heavy foliage and mushy ground of the swamp, Vincent's lizard friend seeming especially happy as it climbed on the Anthro's head and started to catch a few small mosquitoes with his tongue. Apart from the small critters, bugs, birds and the occasional croaking swamp frogs that made Arianna jump everytime they hopped towards her, the swamp no longer seemed as dangerous as it was the first time. Brandon only confirmed "Looks like that troll's roar scared most of the things away. Should be a 'relaxing' trip through the mud from now on." he said while slicing off some overgrown plants that were blocking the way.

[MachineSoul]

With the swamp troll down in the murk and choking in it's last bloody breaths, Vincent's reaction to it's demise were mixed; while he was relieved that this little battle was a success, for him it was a voided one. They had the help from a Senior Hero, so it was an already won fight; not to mention that in the future, they will have to swallow these trolls for breakfast, just like Brandon did. He pulls the bolt of the rifle, which automatically ejects the empty round out, to be swallowed by the black murk beneath. The water sizzles from the bullet's case, gushing out a slight, barely perceivable vapor; Vincent pulls a fresh slug from his tool belt and pushes it down the chamber and with a quick slap, he cocks the bolt back into position. Now, he raises from his right knee and back onto his feet; he returns to their little party, while still keeping the corner of his eyes alert for any other mischievous creatures to pop out at them. He turns his attention to Brandon's approval, listening to everyone's response: Xilan, cheeky as he can ever be, followed by Arianna's modesty, then all tampered down by Alexandra's sense of duty. Vincent had a mixed feeling of everything; although he'd normally keep his mouth shut, this experience definitely changed something inside him. Those moments when he directed everyone in their little squad to work together and bring down the troll... he loved it; he loved the power to work with everyone's abilities, amazed by how well it all worked out. Like a clockwork.

For some reason, he had this push inside him to make his own thoughts heard... very weird. He hated his own voice for being too much of a bass:

"What I like is how we four managed to get together and help take that troll down... if it were for us four only, we'd have injuries, no doubt. This was our first blood, but let's not get drunk over it; there's more to come." With that, he sighs and grips fiercely to his rifle, foreboding for what's to come. Not to mention that water infiltrated into his boots and soaked the fur even in between his toes.

"I hate swamps." he mutters to himself, his teeth grinding from the nasty feeling. Not to mention the damp warmth was driving his skin insane... but he had to keep his cool, show that he's not impressed by what the swamp has got to give.

"Women...never happy of the small things in life."

"Quite understandable, if you ask me." the wolf answers with a smirk, hinting towards the innuendo of his little joke. Xilan, a good bud to have if you've got a mischievous mind... otherwise, Vincent still needs to be convinced of the elf's worth in combat. The same with the gals too; while he still trusted that Arianna knew her stuff in theory, in practice she still needs... initiation. Their advance in the swamps was slow, but clear of surprises... odd... a troll is supposed to scare the critters and all, but with someone with half a mind would realize that a dying troll means an imminent threat, greater than a troll, is approaching.

"Looks like that troll's roar scared most of the things away. Should be a 'relaxing' trip through the mud from now on."

"Quite the contrary. Heads up; if someone heard the troll dying, they know a bigger threat is approaching."

With that, Vincent places himself closer to Brandon in order to use his senses to scout, as the creepy crawly of a salamander makes it's way int Vincent's hair.

[Zamokra41]

"Quite the contrary. Heads up; if someone heard the troll dying, they know a bigger threat is approaching." In response to Vincent's remark, Brandon simply glanced at him and smiled " Maybe, but what kind of creature would be crazy enough to throw itself at something more dangerous than a troll?". Moments after Brandon finished his sentence, the foliage all around them begun to rustle, sensing danger the Juniors and the Senior Hero turned back to back forming a small circle so no threat would surprise them from any direction. The heavy rustle ended with a number of tall creatures jumping out of the bushes, each of them would be as tall as an average human but they stood with a hunched back, their hands end feet had only 4 fingers and toes with short pointy claws at the end of each, their skin were covered in scales, some of them were a dark green, others blue and one of them was brown. The Lizardmen had found them it seemed, each of them wearing some simple tribal clothes, mostly consisting of a plain brown loincloth or a kilt made of leather or cloth, some were also wearing some sort of leather harness on their chests but most of them were bare from the waist up with nothing but red or white war-paint covering their bodies. All of them wore some tribal headdress made of feathers which complimented their charms around their necks, arms and tails. For weapons, most seemed to wield some crudely fashioned curved iron longswords with a jagged blade, some of the Lizardmen carried only one, others carried a shorter version in each hand, tow of them were wielding 2-handed verisons of that weapon, however, all of the Lizardmen without exception had crudely fashioned quivers on their backs or tied to their thighs or lower backs and each had some strong looking bows over their shoulders.

Moments after finding themselves surrounded, Brandon turned his head to Vincent "Forget I said anything..." he muttered to him before he was interrupted by the savage hissing language of the Lizardmen. Before anyone had a chance to do anything, Brandon raised his hands in front of him as if he was surrendering, "Woa now. Let's all just...relax, before things turn ugly." he said in a friendly tone, a message addressed to both the Lizardmen as well as the Juniors. After Brandon said that, the Lizardmen in front of him stepped aside to make room, behind them a menacing looking Lizardman approached. His scales were of a dark blue and they shone in the sunlight, this one was wearing a longer leather kilt that reached to his knees and a few strong leather straps across his torso connecting to a thick collar around his long neck, from the tip of his nose and along his lower jaw there were a few bony spikes poking through, his eyes were of a deep yellow with saurian pupils and there was an ugly scar across the left one reaching all the way down to his neck. This one had a more ornamented headdress and around his neck and waist he wore some simple tribal talismans tied to some thin black strings. Probably the most disturbing feature of his gear was that he had 3 human-sized skulls for a shoulderguard on his left shoulder, the skulls were held in place by several strong leather strings tied around and through the eye-sockets which connected with the collar and the straps around his chest. For weapons he wielded a jagged iron sword in each hand and the bow across his shoulder was distinctly larger than those of the other Lizardmen around.

After getting a good look at the new approaching Lizadrman, Xilan let out a *gulp* and whispered "The big cheese?", the question was answered by Arianna with a 'mhm' and Alexandra with an "Aye...", both seeming just as nervous as the rest. Arianna was clutching her purse strongly while holding her staff in front of her, 'Weren't we supposed to deliver something to them? Why are they attacking us?' she thought, trying not to lose sight of the Lizardmen in front of her. Alexandra was even more tense, she held her shield up and pulled her sword back to hide it from view and be ready to strike at any time. Brandon apparently could sense the tension in each of the Juniors as he repeated his last statement, "Rleax...there's no need for this..... for now..." the last part he muttered aside so only Vincent would hear it. The leader of the Lizardmen approached Brandon and gave him an ugly snarl before spitting on the ground behind him, "You.." he said in a grizzly and hissing tone, it would appear that the Lizardmen are capable of speaking the common tongue. " I prayed to the Great Sssserpeant...that I would not ssssee you again..." the Lizardmen ended the sentence with a menacing hiss at Brandon who smiled and the replied in a cheery tone "Korbac, old friend. How long has it been? 3, 4 years? You certanlly changed. " he finished with a nod.

To that affirmation, the Lizardman leader know as Korbac snarled at Brandon again and raised his jagged blades, "You however, haven't changed at all ! What do you want....Hero? " the last part sounded like a slur coming from him. Before Brandon could answer the question, Korbac turned his saurian gaze at Vincent and the other Juniors, "Do not think of trying anything sssstupid. It would be your lassst missstake.." After he said that, a few more Lizardmen showed themselves from atop the trees around, pointing arrows at the group, the tip of the arrows were covered in some slimy green substance. "Isn't that the same puss from the bugs we squashed earlier? " Xilan muttered aside to the group. The mage had a point, the arrows of the Lizardmen were coated in Venomfly poison, one clear shot and they would end up paralyzed or worse. "Now..." Korbac turned his attention back at Brandon who no longer had a smile on his face, "...ansssswer my quessstion !". Brandon lowered his hands making a sing to Korbac asking him to do the same before saying "We have something for your father, Korbac. Let us get to him, give him what we were sent to deliver and then we will leave. No surprises, no one gets hurt, alright? " to that Korbac once again snapped at Brandon "Liessss ! Whenever the Heroessss are involved, there are alwayss, alwaysss, many who get hurt. I sssshal give you one chance Heroesss, leave now. Your kind isss not welcome here ! " Brandon turned his gaze at the group of Juniors, "A little help, ,please? " to which Alexandra turned to face Korbac "Look at us, we are few in number and are hardly well equipped for an attempted attack. I swear to you, on my honor, we mean you no harm." as a sing of goodwill the Lady-Knight plunged her sword in the ground in front of her and took a step behind, remaining exposed. For a moment there it would seem that the Lizardmen were more-or-less convinced as they started to hiss among themselves, Korbac however didn't seem fully persuaded,"Your....honor...meanssss little here, woman."he said as he turned his gaze at the rest waiting to see if anyone else had something to say.

[MachineSoul]

" Maybe, but what kind of creature would be crazy enough to throw itself at something more dangerous than a troll?"

"The one that's not smart enough for it's own good."

Vincent replied while the foliage rustled around the squad; he rolled his eyes and sighed, knowing what's next. It was a mystery to him how come no one anticipated that such a disturbance would clearly attract attention; he was hoping that Arianna would at least knew something would be fishy. Alas, it was too late now, the bog monsters were already popping out of the marshes and from the trees like mice around a huge Cheddar cheese wheel. Looking hungry enough to actually eat even the squad's leather clothes and boots, the sight of the lizardmen made the wolf feel pity for them. While they were dangerous enough to kill with their poisoned weapons, still, what were they trying to accomplish? Vincent took a strong grip on his rifle and aimed for one of the uglier kind... even though they were all as ugly as the plague.

"Forget I said anything..."

That made Vincent sigh with despair, just before the lizardmen started hissing around; they were surrounded by them, there was no point in trying to fight. It would either kill them all or paralyze them all, THEN killed... or heck, maybe they'd rape them and get eaten alive, like he read once in a very shady history book. Although it seemed like a very bad idea to try to reason with them beasts, it would be the only they'd either get away safely or finish their mission. While diplomacy wasn't Vincent's strongest feat, there were a few notions the wolf was aware of, the most important notion is to know their psychology, their way of thinking and what they want. This, of course, needs a lot of study, in order to know what every race thinks and needs; while Vince didn't really care a lot, he still had an eerie knack at it, even if his choice of words were more crude, compared to a silver-tongued councilor. With his eyes scanning every lizardman around him, he took note of how poorly they are armed and armored, excepting the simply charming human skull decoration affinity; maybe they could str-

" I prayed to the Great Sssserpeant...that I would not ssssee you again..."

"Korbac, old friend. How long has it been? 3, 4 years? You certainly changed."


With that, Vincent lost his trust in Brandon. Managing to piss off lizardmen so much that they start to pray to their gods you won't return MUST be quite an achievement; with that, Brandon goes out of the diplomatic calculus... interesting that these monsters have easy to pronounce names. Soon, the small dispute starts, revealing the invasive style of the Heroes; Brandon could plea as much as he could, they would definitely not allow him out of everyone to deliver the message. And, of course, no knightly pride or honor would do any good here; until now, everyone wasted their breath with these guys, Xilan and Arianna don't look like they'll try to do any better... Vincent takes a deep breath, cooking up something that would at least win them sympathy. He closes his eyes and visualizes in a matter of seconds what must be done, every step, the perfect words... at least he hoped so; you never know until you try

"Might as well smile while at it!"

Vincent opens his eyes and frowns, whispering to Xilan and Arianna:

"Whatever happens, don't loose my stuff."

With that, he lets loose of his rifle and pushes it into Xilan's hands; he still had the pistol hidden under the duster, just in case stuff goes down.


"I just can't believe how you bare-skins treat them." he addresses this to his own squad. "Though, I'm not surprised... after all, you never showed up when MY people needed help. Now LOOK where we stand! Isolated on an island, barely making enough food; and look at Korbac's men, forced to retreat and slither in the marshes like common snakes!"

Without further notice, Vincent walks determinedly towards Arianna and with enough force, he snatches the purse with the scroll, takes out the scroll and throws the purse back into her lap.

"Useless good for nothing, egocentric pink skins... walking around in fancy dresses, snorting tea and sweet rolls while others barely manage to eat a rat a day..." Vincent lifts up the scroll in front of Korbac, taking easy, but very confident steps towards him; these beasts are primordial still and react to a more alpha presence, rather than a woman with a sword or an enemy. The wolf? That must be new to them, if not uncommon in the least. "This here must reach to your father's eyes." he turns around at the squad "You mouth breathers go back to camp and drink your tea." Vincent returns his attention to Korbac.

"With this here, we can strike a good deal. I take this to your man personally and you'll get better weapons; steel swords and axes would do better in your hands, not in the hands of scared man-cubs. And if it's not weapons, then armor. Or both. And as much as you need, but this must reach your father and your father only; and I'm not doing this for the Heroes, oh no..." with a bold move, Vincent pulls the badge away from his left chest and chucks it over his shoulder, straight into Xilan's hands. "The heroes can choke on their honor and pride, I don't need them to trample the forest." Vincent was now not very far from Korbac, with a staunch posture, an indomitable confidence; while this was an act of reckless courage or complete madness, it is certain that Vincent was swearing at himself in his mind by now for being such a dumb little shit.

I'm doing this as kinsman to another. A forgotten kind to another. For the Great Serpent." he finishes with a more honest tone, with a little pinch of a refugee's dismay. Just then, out of the collar of his duster, the little critter popped out and crawled it's way to where the badge used to be; Vincent felt this furious urge to destroy it until there's nothing left of it, it just ruined the impact of his diplomatic act... or did it?

"Your turn."

Uttered Vincent in his mind, still wishing that the salamander would have crept out in a less tense situation... but it's beady little black peppercorns-like eyes knew something. If it had a mouth, it would most probably attempt to support Vincent, but all it could do now is gawp at the lizard men.

[Zamokra41]

"Whatever happens, don't loose my stuff." Xilan barely managed to say a "What?" before Vincent pushed the rifle in his hands while the confused elf simply looked at him with an expression of 'what the heck'. "I just can't believe how you bare-skins treat them.Though, I'm not surprised... after all, you never showed up when MY people needed help. Now LOOK where we stand! Isolated on an island, barely making enough food; and look at Korbac's men, forced to retreat and slither in the marshes like common snakes!" Once he finished that sentence, Vincent snatched Arianna's purse, took the sealed scroll from within and threw the purse back. Needless to say, Arianna was....less than pleased. "What is that mad wolf doing ?!" "What he knows best..." Xilan said in a reassuring tone though he himself was not exactly sure what Vincent would hope to accomplish by making the rest of them look bad, then again if it will bring them away from the Lizardmen's swords and arrows then Xilan was willing to play along, heck he might even start talking like a stuck-up noble just to emphasize Vincent's point. Arianna and Alexandra did not share in Xilan's confidence, "I doubt turning on us is such a good idea..." Alexandra muttered aside to the group, surprisingly however, Brandon was watching the whole scene unfold with much curiosity, "Let's just...wait a minute. He might get somewhere." With that, the rest of the group remained silent and watched Vincent ...'parley' with Korbac who did not do anything hostile to him but his saurian eyes were never leaving Vincent, like the gaze of predator never leaving their prey.

"With this here, we can strike a good deal. I take this to your man personally and you'll get better weapons; steel swords and axes would do better in your hands, not in the hands of scared man-cubs. And if it's not weapons, then armor. Or both. And as much as you need, but this must reach your father and your father only; and I'm not doing this for the Heroes, oh no..." And then the unexpected happened, Vincent plucked the badge from his chest and tossed it over his shoulder. Xilan caught it and looked dismissively at it and then at Vincent. "What the...Oh please, don't tell he just gone rouge before even officially finishing our first mission !" Arianna only seemed to agree though she did not say a word, the girl simply gazed at Vincent with an icy stare 'What in the name of all deities are you THINKING ?!' her mind screamed at Vincent and herself alike because she won't do anything to stop Vincent from whatever dementia possessed him.

"The heroes can choke on their honor and pride, I don't need them to trample the forest." "Ouch..." Brandon said and crossed his hands dismissively. He saw what Vincent was trying to achieve, not such a bad idea like the rest were probably thinking though there was really no need to start putting the rest of them in a bad light. It may, however, work. Brandon himself couldn't pull something like that off since Korbac and most of the other Lizardmen knew and did not thing highly of him, but they only needed to get past Korbac and his hunters, once they reach the shaman diplomacy would be much, much easier.

The Lizardmen were hissig to each other since Vincent started to 'make his move', Korbac himself looking like he would let the Anthro speak....before deciding to kill him or something, yet the blue scaled Lizardman did not make any aggressive move towards him as he did to Brandon, Vincent probably even noticed a tiny, passing flicker of amusement on Korbac's saurian gaze when the wolf tossed away his badge. For some reason, things were going quite smoothly....until Vincent ruined it all with just one line.

"I'm doing this as kinsman to another. A forgotten kind to another. For the Great Serpent." This made Korbac and the rest of the Lizardmen throw low, menacing hisses to Vincent, the attention of all shifting towards the Anthro. "Oh no.." Brandon muttered under his breath while lowering his hands close to the pommels of his sheated swords expecting the worse. Korbac raised one of his jagged blades at Vincent, the tip of the curved sword being very close to the Anthro's neck. " We have no usssse for your weaponsss and armor." he stated followed by a slither of his forked tongue akin to a snake, "And we are not kinssssmen, beats-folk...." Korbac threw Vincent a vicious stare, just then his attention shifted to one of the Lizardmen up on the trees who hissed something and then indicated at Vincent with the tip of its arrow. In response to that, Korbac threw some harsher hissess at the said Lizardman, were they having an argument about something? If so, it would seem that Korbac's hunters were starting to turn on their leader as the one by one each of the Lizardmen were hissing something both among themselves as well as to Korbac. Finally, Korbac dropped his jagged blade from Vincent's neck and gazed at the scroll in the Anthro's grasp before returning his attention at Vincent. " If what you have issss indeed important for my father....then..." Korbac let out a low hiss, akin to a sigh. "...then...he would want to ssssee it for himssself..."

As soon as Korbac finished his sentence the rest of the Lizardmen lowered their weapons and the ones atop the trees dropped down along with the others. " You, beast-folk. This way." Korbac said to Vincent and turned around intending for Vincent to follow him. Before that would happen though, Brandon called his attention with a cough, "Now Korbac, your father won't recognize old Peeves here. Besides, I'm not about to let one of ours go alone on this task". Brandon's request made Korbac snarl but without even turning at him he agreed " Fine ! The ssssooner you finisssh your busssinesss here and leave...the better..." and without further arguments, the Lizardmen escorted the group of Heroes all the way to where their tribe is located. On the way, Brandon patted Vincent on the shoulder "Not bad, not bad at all. But next time.." he pushed Vincent's badge back in his palm "...try to hang to this. Their quite expensive." he finished with a chuckle. Xilan then gave Vincent back his rifle, "You really got me worried there, but I knew you wouldn't go rogue on your old pal. Right?"he finished the sentence with a nervous chuckle as if he wouldn't believe his own words. Alexandra sheathed her sword and gave Vincent a small smile, "Gaining their respect. I must say, you are full of surprises friend.", the Lady-Knight wasn't exactly sure what to think of Vincent at first, back at the Academy she remembered him as being quite distant towards everyone and easily angered, much like a ruffian, but her opinion of the Anthro slowly started to change for the better throughout this whole trek through the swamps, this demonstration of 'rough-negotiation' being no exception. 'A silver-tongue can get tarnished, not always useful' she thought.

Arianna, on the other hand, did not seem to agree with the rest. She lightly smacked Vincent across the head with her staff, "Honestly, sometimes I really believe you lost whatever is left of your mind." while she did not exactly agree with the method Vincent handled things, she couldn't deny the results, 'He did make them agree to bring us to their shaman but...I hope all he said back there was just for show' the girl quickly shook away that thought, surely not even Vincent would spit away and turn his back on the Heores of Avalon like that.


-------------------------SOME TIME LATER------------------------------



The remaining march through the swamps was much easier, the ground started to become less and less murky, the foliage almost seemed to clear a path and with their new 'escorts', nothing in the swamp could present a threat. Eventually the group reached what looked like a large village made of simple buildings worked in the large trees along with many catwalks and bridges connecting many of the buildings with eachother. Light could be visible from the buildings and all around one could see Lizardmen-folk wandering around and attending their duties, females in simple robes with large baskets on their backs full with wood or diverse plants and holding small children by the hand. Men doing heavy lifting or out on small boats on the murky water with fishing rods and nets. Although they probably couldn't see, there were also a few Lizardmen atop the tall trees, with bows and arrows keeping watch.

The group passed through the entrance and all the other Lizardmen, save Korbac, dispersed and went about their own duties. Korbac lead the Heroes through some catwalks and bridges until they reached the center of the village, all the while many of the Lizardmen inhabitants threw strange looks at them and hissed among themselves. One of the small Lizardmen children wandered close to the group and stared at them with awe, Arianna turned her gaze him, smiled and waved a friendly hello at it but as soon as she did that a tall Lizard-woman in a plain grey robe quickly approached, grabbed the child in her arms and wandered off quickly hissing. Arianna put her hand down and suddenly felt very small 'They truly don't seem to like outsiders..' she thought. Soon enough the group reached the center of the village, where a large imperial-style tent was located. The tent was decorated with many, many tribal symbols in red,blue,white and green paint along with a number of large charms and a few human sized skulls on spikes surrounding it ; and on the very top of the tent, a large monstrous skull could be seen, probably belonging to a troll similar to the one the group defeated earlier only even bigger.

The entrance to the tent was guarded by 2 vicious looking Lizardmen with their faces covered by masks made of wood with menacing faces painted in green and white. They held spears but on their sides one could see the same jagged swords the others wielded and the same quivers and bows on their backs. Korbac approached the 2 guards and hissed something at them, making of them both glance behind them at the group of newcomers and then look at eachother for a moment before bowing and taking their leave. Soon enough Korbac entered the tent and moments later emerged back accompanied by another Lizardman. This one dark green scaled one was distinctly older than any of the Lizardmen in the whole village. Dressed in some simple brown robes with leather straps around its arms, chest and waist, each decorated with a number of feathers, leaves and tribal charms. In one hand, this Lizardman grasped gnarled cane decorated with a few necklaces made of teeth and claws and a small skull hanging idly by a thick black string. This Lizardman wore a finely and richly decorated headpiece which made him look like he had grown a great mane made of feathers and foliage, one could barely notice the tips of two black horns pocking from the top. Along its jaw and on its nose he had some thick, short black spikes sticking out similar to Korbac's. The eyes of this one were pure white, the right one having the saurian pupil while the left one was blank. The leathery skin of its neck seemed to hang idly on its bones betraying the Lizardman's age. Judging by this appearance one could only reach the conclusion that this was the shaman they were supposed to find. Brandon only confirmed that when he took a step forward and bowed his head.

"Bre'shen. It is an honor to see you in good health." he said in a respectful tone. "To you asss well Brandon Eagleye..." Bre'shen's voice was low and croaked, like he just recovered from a heavy cold but his mood was most obviously better that that of the other Lizardmen that the Heroes met until now. With a low hiss, Bre'shen threw a few glances at Juniors behind Brandon and slithered his forked tongue. "I assssume thesse young prowlerssss are your....uhhh...what do you call them....mmm....protegessss?" to that, Brandon simply chucked and glanced once behind him, "Not exactly. They are grown enough to hunt alone, I simply keep an eye on them to see what they do on their first task....Which reminds me." Brandon then took the scroll from Vincent and passed it to the shaman. Bre'shen broke the seal and unrolled the small parchment reading it carefully. Once he was done, the shaman let out a low hiss and rolled up the scroll, passing it to Korbac on his right, "My ssson. Go and bring the....item..." to that Korbac slithered his tongue, took the scroll, bowed his head and went inside the tent. While he was away, Bre'shen leaned with both hands on his cane and hissed, "I heard about your encounter with my ssson from one of our hunterssss. I must apologize on hisss behalf. Korbac ssstarted to be very.....misstrussstful of the outsssside folk ever since he reached hissss 20th spring. Though he ssssemed mossssst....dissspleasssed by you, Brandon."

The Senior Hero shrugged to that and crossed his arms, "Can you blame him? Last time I was here I did leave him with a lovely parting gift..." he said indicating on his eye, the same place where Korbac had his ugly scar. Bre'shen nodded, "True. But it wasss hisss own falut. He insssisted you leave and wanted to force the isssue by a trial of arms. I had hopped that a lessson in humility would make him change his oppinion of the outsssidersss..." Bre'shen let out a low, heavy hiss "...evidently, I wassss wrong..." Before long, Korbac returned with a large sealed casket in his arms. The casket was made of oak and decorated with solid silver edges and a heavy looking lock, it clearly was not something that actually belonged to the Lizardmen. Brandon took the casket from Korbac, which seemed very irritated to part with it. The Senior Hero then bowed his head, "The Heroes of Avalon are truly grateful to you and your tribe for keeping this safe." Bre'shen in turn bowed his head and urged his son to do the same who obeyed with an irritated hiss. "I had hoped to ssssee Harlod Azuremyth when you would come for it. Tell me, how isss he? Hassss the Great Sssserpent graced him with a concubine yet?" after hearing that question, Brandon couldn't help but laugh. "I don't know what you saw in your cauldron but the only concubine he has at the moment is his sodding duty as Commander." Bre'shen shared a lazy chuckle, "Perhapsssse sssome thingsss are even beyond the Great Sssserpent's powerssss afterall..."

Brandon and the Juniors were about to take their leave when suddenly, a skinny Lizardman rushed through them and fell on his knees in front of Bre'shen hissing loudly and quickly. The new arrived Lizardmen, Bre'shen and Korbac then exchanged hisses until the new comer bowed his head and took his leave. The shaman turned his attention to Brandon, a look of fear on his aged scaly face. "My friend...sssomething terrible isss about to happen. One of my huntersss sssaid that he ssssaw a vassst troop of walking corpsssesss heading for our village." Hearing that, Brandon nearly dropped the casket from his hands in shock, "Undead?! Here? But...but how is this possible?!" in response, Bre'shen shook his head not having an answer, but Korbac started to point at Brandon and snarl, "It issss your fault outssssidersss! You mussst have lured them here ! I knew it wasss a misstake to trusssst you even for a moment." " What? I swear none of us knew that..." before Brandon could finish his sentence, Bre'shen put himself between him and his son "It doesss not matter how they reached usss. They are heading this way which meansss we are all in danger. Brandon, I know how important the object is for the order, sssso once we bring our women and hatching to ssssafety, I and the resssst of our huntersss will keep the dead busssy...covering your trackssss." Hearing that idea, Korbac loudly hisses at his father, clearly a disapproval.

"I don't know what he just said, but I think I will agree with him. We can't just leave and let your folk face the undead alone." Bre'shen took a step forward and sat his scaly hand on Brandon's shoulder. "You mussst. If the object fallsss in the wrong handsss then our tribe will not be the only one in danger..." Brandon frowned, grinding his teeth and then turned to the Juniors. "What do you think we should do? If we stay and fight with them we might, MIGHT, just have chance to victory but we may lose...this" he indicates at the casket in his hands " If we leave as Bre'shen says, we may well reach them camp and escape the undead....but I doubt many of the Lizardmen will survive." Right now, Brandon was torn between his duty as a Senior Hero which asked that he keep the casket and its contents safe and the duty he has towards his Lizardmen friends. Xilan, Arianna, Vincent and Alexandra turned to themselves to consult and decide what the they should do. "Un...Undead? Actual undead are headed this way?" Arianna sounded frightened, clutching her staff tightly with both hands "I would loathe to leave the Lizardmen to this but...are...are we ready for something like this?" Xilan was not smiling, for once it seemed even HE takes this seriously. "This IS kind of what we were prepared to do right? Defend anyone and everything against a big bad boogeyman. Then again, staying alive DOES sound appealing....though I'd rather not turn tail and run. What would my brothers and sisters think of me then?" he ended with a weak chuckle. "The casket and its contents seem most important here. Sir, why not send one of us, or you or maybe even one of the Lizardmen alone with the casket to camp while the rest of us stay and fight." Brandon shook his head disapprovingly, "That won't work. If there really are that many undead in the swamp and if they are truly after the casket, then sending a lone runner with it to make for the camp would surely get him killed and we would loose the casket. Besides, I'm sure the camp are having the same problem as we do right now."

Alexandra nodded and frowned "So our only choices are fight or flight" she then drew her sword "If need be, I shall stand and fight !" Once they each weighed their options they only needed to come to an agreement, "So...what do you think is best to do? You had good calls until now Vincent. I'l trust that what you decide is probably the best option. So what should it be?" Xilan said while looking at his Anthro friend waiting for a response. The elf wasn't exactly sure why but he felt as if Vincent may take the best course of action, afterall, he did have good calls on the fights until now and the 'negociation' with the Lizardmen.

[MachineSoul]

The moment every lizardman threw their attention towards Vincent, he knew he messed up a line... seems that they don't like to be uplifted among the anthros and prefer to remain just some simple-minded reptilians. Rather odd in Vincent's mind, but it all went down the drain when the tip of Korbac's sword touched Vincent's neck; while the wolf had no visible reaction, other than lifting his eyebrow, his mind was racing desperately, feeling his heart trying to burst out through his neck. And to think that a few days ago he was eating sweet rolls with a cup of diluted mead while reading a good book about anthro wars; now, he was at the wrong end of the sword. Desperate situation he put himself in... but he wasn't going to cower out. Might as well smile while at it. Interesting that after a while, the lizardmen seemed to talk Korbac away from Vincent, to the point where Korbac lowered his sword. It worked... Vincent was in a galactic relief inside, already merging into the sweet waters of victory; his outside remained as cold and calculated as ever.

" If what you have issss indeed important for my father... then ...he would want to ssssee it for himssself..."

That sealed his diplomatic act; Vincent nodded and as soon as every lizard turned it's back, a wild but very satisfied grin took over Vincent's face, followed by a controlled and inaudible sigh. Vincent took a couple of steps before Brandon called out from behind, something that really scared the wolf... he was about to ruin his diplomatic success; luckily, Korbac gave in to his comrade's will and let the rest of the squad follow up. Still, without Vincent's little play, he believed they wouldn't have gotten very far. While he preferred to refrain from talking to the squad, they all approach him, Brandon being first:

"Not bad, not bad at all. But next time.." he pushed Vincent's badge back in his palm "...try to hang to this. Their quite expensive."

Vincent took a glance over the badge... why did it mean so much to him all of a sudden? Still, he couldn't just pretend that what he said before has no more meaning now that they gained access... so, he just tosses it into the duster's pocket. Xilan brought up his rifle, which the wolf quickly grabs and throws it over his shoulder; the wolf felt much more safe now, having his weapon back in his paws. Now he started to enjoy the cold metallic touch of the trigger under the bud of his finger.

"You really got me worried there, but I knew you wouldn't go rogue on your old pal. Right?"

Feeling Xilan's doubt, Vincent simply felt the urge to fuel it more... plus, he just did not feel as comfortable yet to stop his little charade. He gives Xilan a disapproving glance, his eyebrow lifted, only to simply utter:

"... right..."

While he really did not need Alexandra's appreciation, it still meant something; it's not every day a lady knight compliments you for resourcefulness, especially if she was the target of various pranks and jests. Still, good to know that Vincent won't have to worry about being bashed by a she-man with a greatsword; what Vincent should worry was Arianna's reaction, although, it was too late. By the time he tried to think of something to say towards her, Arianna gifts the wolf with an ever-so-warming bash over the head from her loathed staff; Vincent cocks his head in response and grabs the area where she landed the strike.

"Honestly, sometimes I really believe you lost whatever is left of your mind."

Cold... but no time for excuses yet. He simply gives her a spiteful, frowned stare, followed by an annoyed grumble; they should thank him for the intervention, instead, everyone gets all worked about it... it bothered the wolf to the point he actually started questioning the worth of what he accomplished. Then again, it was his own victory, plus, he got to live for another day without suffering paralysis or worse. As their final trek through the marshy lands got easier to clear, Vincent's tenseness finally started to wear off, to the point he started to feel the soaked toes again into his boots weighed down by the infiltrated water; although it didn't mind him as much as before, really. Staying alive already started to feel as something he should be careful about next time they go on an assignment. The scenery really impressed the wolf somewhere inside... it was so outlandish, it didn't seem real. Actually, ever since he got thrashed by the pride demon, everything felt like a feverish dream... odd how he actually managed to keep his calm through the various situation, although he faced for the first time a real enemy threat. And now, they're reaching the lizardmen's nest. What else could go wrong? How weirder can reality go?

The village itself wasn't impressive in it's design, architecture, structure or anything, but it all felt out of this world... almost like stepping into the dream realm of a fairy story. The little lizard child that started tracking them a while caught Vincent's eye towards the end, when Arianna tried to wave at it; the sight of the child made Vincent feel pity for the lizardmen once more, especially when it got plucked up by it's mother and carried away in safety. He couldn't imagine how it feels to watch a superior race parading about in fine clothes and advanced weapons, while your kind still walks around half naked and mate on the streets...

"Since when do I care so much? What gotten into me, religion?" Vincent asked himself under his breath... where does this eerie sympathy come from? Wasn't he supposed to be the cold little jackass everyone hates? All of a sudden, people take his initiative and listen to him as if he's some sort of boss...

Vincent was rather surprised that Korbac's father was a kinder person than his son... and again, Brandon seems to make the most interesting friends. Same goes for Vincent too, though: the salamander has yet to move from where the badge rested ever since he got a sword at his neck. Brandon snatches away the parchment he held, without realizing he was still gripping on that piece of paper. Seeing the casket, Vincent finally felt he could relax and take a breath... maybe even justify his extreme behavior he had in the diplomatic talk; that until the word undead became a chant among the people. That's JUST what they needed. But how? How did the undead reach so far away from the gods-forsaken Wall, fly with a damned gyrocopter? Did the wall fall? Impossible, if that happened, they would have attacked everything else BUT this place; they must really need that casket for some reason. What a way to start a career...

"So...what do you think is best to do? You had good calls until now Vincent. I'l trust that what you decide is probably the best option. So what should it be?"

"Fuck." said Vincent's mind.

Their priority was to keep the casket on good hands... they could attempt to get away with it. But would he really? Vincent didn't stay too much to think before he started weighing his options... loudly.

"First of all, I apologize if my actions were... extreme. But extreme situations call for extreme measures; it's safe to say that it was better than ending up paralyzed from the waist down... just imagine trying to learn to walk on your hands. We needed their trust... I could have gone in, get the casket and return." he took a short break and turns around to look at the lizard men. He sighs slowly. "Although, I admit there were a few parts of my speech that I still support. I promised these blokes weapons and armors, but they denied it; we can't just take our toys and scurry off to leave them to deal with everything else. We could at least give them a hand. We lower the undead numbers until we make an escape window large enough so we can retreat safely; this way, we help our friends here and leave with the casket too. Though I admit, someone must guard it while we're down there dealing with whatever's going to come."

Vincent takes a deep breath and returns to the squad to give the final verdict:

"We help them deal with the bulk of the undead forces; it will buy us space to escape safely and help our friends here. Once we're clear to retreat, we do it quickly, no looking back."

[Zamokra41]

"First of all, I apologize if my actions were... extreme. But extreme situations call for extreme measures; it's safe to say that it was better than ending up paralyzed from the waist down... just imagine trying to learn to walk on your hands. We needed their trust... I could have gone in, get the casket and return." he took a short break and turns around to look at the lizard men. He sighs slowly. "Although, I admit there were a few parts of my speech that I still support. I promised these blokes weapons and armors, but they denied it; we can't just take our toys and scurry off to leave them to deal with everything else. We could at least give them a hand. We lower the undead numbers until we make an escape window large enough so we can retreat safely; this way, we help our friends here and leave with the casket too. Though I admit, someone must guard it while we're down there dealing with whatever's going to come."

Xilan, Arianna and Alexandra nodded approvingly. They all knew how important it was to reach the Lizardmen and although they don't know what is inside the casket it seemed very important to both Brandon and Bre'shen, not to mention that if something that important were to land in the wrong hands, who knows what would happen? 'If the object fallsss in the wrong handsss then our tribe will not be the only one in danger...' the old Lizardman's words rang through Xilan's mind, he simply couldn't fathom what could possibly be so valuable as to lure a host of undead all the way here?

"We help them deal with the bulk of the undead forces; it will buy us space to escape safely and help our friends here. Once we're clear to retreat, we do it quickly, no looking back." Alexandra smiled and nodded with approval. 'In spite of everything, he keeps a sense of honor and duty', Arianna and Xilan as well approved, a devious smile creeping on the elf mage's face as he ushered the words "Wonderful..." in a sarcastic tone. Once the decision has been made, Brandon nodded and gave the casket back to Bre'shen. "Sorry, but I'l have to ask that you hold on to it for a little while longer. Keep it safe and...-" before Brandon could finish his sentence, Bre'shen interrupted with by passing the casket to Korbac and patting the Senior Hero on the shoulder "You truly expect me to hide while the young prowlers of my kin and our guessstsss risssk their lives?" Bre'shen hissed loudly and slithered his tongue "Forget it... There issss sssstill ssssstrength in thessse old bonesss. I will ssssstand and fight" hearing that, Korbac hissed at his father, the shaman nodding at him "And my ssssson assss well".

--------------------------------------------Minutes Later------------------------------------------

Current Group
Vincent ; Xilan ; Arianna ; Alexandra

Special Companions
Brandon Eagleye ; Korbac ; Bre'shen

Main Mission
Reach the Lizardmen tribe (Complete)
Defeat the Undead troops

__________________________________________________ ______________________________

The preparations for the coming battle were all set. The women and children of the Lizardmen village were brought to safety while the men were all armed to the teeth. A dozen Lizardmen wielding their jagged swords stood at the village entrance ready to welcome any uninvited guests. Atop the trees surrounding the village, the Lizardmen climbed up and readied their bows and arrows coated with Venomfly poison though Brandon doubt the poison would be of any use, 'They're dead. Nothing to infect that isn't infected and rooting already.' he said though the arrows may still prove useful against them, poisoned or no. The village center, where Bre'shen's great tent lie, was the place where they would hold their stand. The casket was hidden inside the tent, guarded by 4 of Bre'shen's masked Lizardmen wielding spears. On the wooden platform in front of the tent, 5 more such Lizardmen stood, holding their spears ready and 2 of them switching to long-bows. Along with them was Korbac wielding a jagged sword in each hand, Brandon with his own shortswords, Bre'shen leaning on his cane and with some strange, large talisman in the other hand. The Juniors were also there, looking combat ready.

Xilan flexed the fingers of his free hand, faint glows of magic energy running across his palm with each flex. He could feel his heart beating faster, his elbows and knees shaking giddy with anticipation and a bit of fear mixed in with it. He never faced an actual undead before, but his magic should still be effective against them. Shouldn't it? He tried his best to keep an optimistic demeanor, an attempt to calm his nerves if nothing else. "Hey Vincent. Ever beat down a walking corpse before? How about a little contest? Whoever beats the most undead wins a kiss from Ari." he muttered to Vincent with a cheeky smile on his face. Arianna was doing her best to remain calm, if anything she appeared to be much more in grip than Xilan but inside she was frightened. She never even SEEN an undead before, only the stories she heard told about them and the little vague things they read back at the Academy. She looked around, at Brandon, at the Lizardmen, at Xilan, at Alexandra and at Vincent, she couldn't loose heart, not here. She took a deep breath and stared forward, with determination in her eyes, whatever may emerge from the foliage of the swamp she would face it head-on.

Alexandra was standing stoic in front of the group, side by side with Brandon, Korbac and the other 3 masked Lizardmen with spears while Xilan, Arianna, Vincent, Bre'shen and the 2 other masked Lizardmen with bows stood behind them. The platform where they held their formation could only be accessed by a wide wooden bridge in front of them, 12 Lizardmen wielding swords being on the other side. Alexandra suggested they took this formation, this way the Lizardmen wouldn't be taken by surprise as they had a clear view on all sides of the village. Furthermore, if the undead were truly after the casket then they would have no other choice but to cross the bridge and reach the tent through them. The Lizardmen and the Heroes would be welcoming them and should they find themselves overwhelmed they may, as a last resort, cut off the bridge and prevent the undead from reaching them....unless they could fly and they couldn't. 'Undead can NOT fly. Could they?' Alexandra realized she had no more experience in fighting undead than her comrades, in fact the only one who can say otherwise was Brandon and he agreed with the formation so that brought a bit of peace on her mind. The Lady-Knight glanced at the badge on attached to her belt and then at the crest on her shield, she was a Paladin Knight-turned-Hero of Avalon, regardless of the outcome of this battle she would prove worthy of these honors bestowed upon her. "...I will be brave against the strong. I will fight all whom do wrong. I will fight for those who cannot. I will help those who call for my aid. I will be true to my friends and comrades..." she recited part of her Knight's Oath under her breath and raised her shield, standing ready for whatever fate may throw at her.

The whole marsh felt silent for a few minutes...it was the silence before the storm, they all knew. Some of the Lizardmen were tightening their grip on their weapons, others hissed shortly and glanced around them. The tension was strong in the air, one could almost feel it, akin to a cold wet blanket which covered the whole area. This situation held out for a few more minutes until the silence was broken by the sound of a horn in the distance. Bre'shen hissed loudly, "Here they come my friendssss. May the Great Sssserpent watch over ussss all ! " And almost immediately, the foliage from the marshes in front were cut aside making place for a vast number of the most horrendous creatures to walk this world. Undead. All of them skeletons, their bones dirty from the muck and rot of their old resting places from where they were brought. Some of the warriors had bits of rooting flesh on them, making them look like severely famished humans with hollow eyes and skins the color of dark clay. All of them were clad in rusted armor, most leather with bits of plate scattered here and there, occasionally a few were wearing ring-mail with simple iron caps. Some were wielding rusted longswords, others also had chipped metal shields or wooden bucklers, some were wielding either spears or spiked maces in place of swords and there were even some among them which had bows or crossbows. As soon as the lifeless warriors of the damned marched upon the village, swinging their weapons in all directions, the Lizardmen charged forward fighting with a ferocity rarely seen among other warriors.

It was clear in the first moments of battle that the Lizardmen outmatched the undead when it come skill and strength of arms, each Lizardmen easily felling an undead warrior with just a few quick and hard hits before going to the next. Unfortunately, the undead had the larger number. The hollow warriors fell but more kept charging from the swamp, soon enough the first loud crying hiss of a dying Lizardman could be heard and it was followed by a few more soon after. The Lizardmen on the sides of the village were still holding their ground but out of the 12 warriors ,who guarded the bridge leading to the center, there only 5 left and the most undead charged past them heading straight for the platform where the main group held their last stand. Brandon and Korbac were the first to jump in the battle as soon as the first undead past the bridge, in spite of their differences their fighting styles were quite similar, both swinging their blades quickly and surely in many directions, sometimes even striking multiple undead in one swing. When Brandon reached for a high slash, Korbac ducked and jabbed his sword in the undead behind Brandon ; when Korbac crossed blades with 3 undead, Brandon quickly stepped behind them slicing off the heads of 2 and breaking the skull of the 3rd with a high kick. When catching their breath for a moment, the 2 stood back-to-back, "Not bad. You improved since last time" Brandon said with a smile, Korbac hissed at him and changed in a more aggressive stance "You have no idea..." he answered before the two were back in the heat of battle.

As if the combat skills of the 2 had inspired them, the 3 masked Lizardmen hissed loudly and joined in the battle, followed by the Junior Heroes. Alexandra charged forward like a mad bull, shield held up in front of her and crashing in 2 undead warriors which were thrown from the platform. Quickly she turned on her heel and with a swing of her sword she cut off the arm of an attacking undead before she thrust her sword through its rib-cage killing it for good. "Duck !" she heard being yelled at her and she immediately complied only to see a wave of many small blue lights flying above her head and crashing in a few undead behind her. Turning her gaze to the source, Xilan was stretching his palm in her direction and once his Arcane Volley had been fired he winked at Alexandra "You're welcome" he said and then turned to the side throwing Arcane Bolts while Alexandra stood up and returned to the battle. Arianna whispered a few chants and then raised her staff to the sky, the diamond from the staff was well as her eyes began to shine in a faint blue-ish light and the bridge ,were the undead were storming from, started to be surrounded by a pale purple-and-blue smoke clouding the feet of the undead which began to walk instead of run. Two undead were about to charge at the girl from the side while she focused on maintaining her Force Field but their attack was put to a definite halt by a loud *BANG* and a bullet blasting through the skull of one and crashing in the skull of the next. Looking to her right, Arianna saw Vincent on one knee quickly putting a new bullet in his rifle while looking through the attached telescopic sight.

With a swing of his staff, Xilan fell an undead and then moved a few steps to the left standing back to back with Vincent. "I think I'm winning the bet!" he said while he stretched his palm in the air and his Homming-Bird spell flew straight up before it made a narrow turn and crashed in an undead in front of him which literary fell in a mess of bones.

The battle kept going on this pace for a few more brief moments, it was going pretty well for them. The Undead forces started to dwindle in number and although some of them seemed a bit tiered, none of the Lizardmen or Heroes on the platform had been killed, some of the masked Lizardmen had a few cuts and bruises but nothing they couldn't handle. "Keep up the fight !" Brandon yelled as he overlapped his 2 shortswords and violently swung to the right, breaking the shied of an undead to splinters and sending the creature flying from the platform. In the moment when Brandon regained his stance he immediately had a bad feeling running down his spine. Among the hisses and clash of weapons from the battle, he heard something akin to croaked voice saying something ineligible. Brandon's eyes widen as he heard the sound of multiple bolts being loaded in crossbows in tandem, the next few seconds were like time moved slowly for Brandon as he shouted a "Watch out !" and threw himself in front of Korbac, a volley of bolts being fired at him. The Senior Hero managed to somehow parry 2 of them by holding his swords across the upper part of his body but one of them hit him in the knee, another got him in the thigh of his other leg and 2 more burrowed themselves in his lower abdomen.

Brandon came crashing down at Korbac's feet, one of his shortswords sliding from his hand as he moved to grasp his wound with a low grunt of pain gritting his teeth. The remaining few undead on the platform were defeated and the Juniors turned their gazes to see the Senior Hero being quickly dragged away by Korbac to his father. Brandon ditched out a little strength to once again yell out through his pain "Watch out ! Take cover !" but all to late as almost immediately another volley of blots were fired hitting the masked Lizardmen, all of them falling to the ground either dead or dying. Another salvo was fired soon after at the rest of the group. Bre'shen quickly stomped his cane creating a ghostly wall in front of him, his son and the wounded Brandon, deflecting the bolts. Alexandra quickly fell in her Shield Cover, the few bolts flying her way being deflected by her metal kite shield. Arianna immediately moved in front of Xilan and Vincent erecting a Barrier which broke the bolts to splinters as soon as they crashed in the transparent wall. Raising their gazes, once the assault of bolts were over, the group could see near half a dozen undead clad in some small, plain, rusty chest-plates with a tattered brown tunic underneath, a pair of black ripped trousers, some of them had a broken rusty iron boot on one foot, most of them also had a thick and dirty leather glove as well as rusty iron kettle-helms and all of them were brandishing some strong looking crossbows made of black wood and bits of metal.

These new arriving undead behaved distinctly different than the others, they quickly crossed the bridge and assumed a formation along the edge of the platform connecting to the bridge. Moments later heavy footsteps, iron on wood, could be heard nearby. This newest of undead who crossed the bridge brought fear and silence on everyone looking at him. This undead was as big as an Orc, wearing a plain, steel armor with bits of rust along the edges of the breast-plate and shoulderguards, its gauntlets and greaves actually seeming to be in a good condition. On its head it wore a solid knight's helm with it's visor held up revealing the face of a long dead, dried up, husk of a man with hollow eyes and a grim expression. On his back he wore a flowing, tattered and old crimson red cloak with the crest of a snarling wolf's head atop a pair of crossed morning-stars, its short loincloth being of the same color and condition. In one hand he had a longsword with, though rusty it seemed freshly sharpened, its hilt and guard being decorated with a bit of old, dirty gold. In the other hand he brandished a large black metal kite-shield with a gold trim and the same tarnished crest as the one on his cape. This menacing undead took a step forward and stretched its sword pointing at the group of Junior Heroes the raised it pointing at the sky, all the while he croaked some ineligible words which made the undead marksmen behind him load bolts in their crossbows in tandem. As soon as the undead would drop his sword giving the command, the undead behind would fire at their targets.

"That musssst be their leader. Young Heroessss, your ssssenior is badly injured. I sssshall tend to hisss woundssss but it may take time. You musssst defeat him alone. We are all counting on you ! " Bre'shen said as he let his cane slip from his grasp which floated by itself making the ghostly barrier he erected earlier stand all the while the shaman dropped in one knee and began to chant in his hissing tongue while holding his talisman above Brandon who squirmed and grunted in pain. With Bre'shen tending to the wounded Brandon, Korbac standing close them and the tent for protection, all the other Lizardmen either dead or fighting off the remaining undead in the rest of the village, it was up to the 4 Junior Heroes to defeat this leader of the undead troops and those left in his command.

BOSS BATTLE

Undead Vanguard

Theme

The Vanguard croaked a loud roar and slashed the air in front of him with the sword. As soon as it did that, the skeletons behind him fired a salvo of bolts all headed to the Junior Heroes. With Arianna's barrier and Alexandra's shield they managed to block the bolts like before but the Vanguard started to move with slow and steady steps, heading towards Bre'shen, Brandon and Korbac. Rising from her cover, Alexandra dashed towards it "He must not reach them !" she yelled and slashed at the Vanguard who immediately blocked her attack with its shield and retaliated with a side slash which the Lady-Knight barely managed to block, the strength behind the blow actually moving her a few inches in her defensive stance. "Hold on !" Xilan stepped out from the barrier and launched an Arcane Volley at the Vanguard who apparently noticed it and pushed Alexandra aside with a strong shield-bash and then crouched behind his black shield which covered him from Xilan's spell. Using the occasion, Alexandra crouched and ran her sword over her shield while whispering a few short chants, causing the blade to shine in a faint golden light. Armed with her Holy Weapon, the Lady-Knight charged in an attempt to flank the large undead, she was close but only just as the Vanguard quickly shifted his stance in her direction while under the cover of its large shield. As soon as Alexandra holy-coated weapon stroke against the shield, Vanguard grunted and stood back on his feet, swinging its shield it brushed Alexandra's sword to the side and then delivered a heavy forward kick which hit the Lady-Knight right in the belly pushing her a few paces away and dropping on one knee coughing. With this occasion the Vanguard jumped backwards and once again croaked his orders making the marksmen reload the crossbows and take aim.

This time, Alexandra barely managed to raise her shield in time to avoid being hit by any of the bolts and Xilan quickly dashed back behind Arianna's barrier. "Not good...I can't hold this forever.." Arianna muttered. "We need to find a way past his defense !" Alexandra announced to the group as she prepared herself for another encounter with the Vanguard which once again took slow, steady steps towards her. Xilan threw a Homing-Bird spell in the air which flew in a zing-zag before crashing in one of the skeleton marksmen blowing its skull to splinters. "Taking out those guys behind also seems like a good idea." He suggested. This was not going to be an easy battle. The Vanguard proved that in spite of his size and gear he can swing his sword just as fast as anyone all the while his black kite-shield seemed to guard him from any attacks, to top it off he could order the remaining 5 marksmen behind him to fire at anytime. The Heroes needed a plan.

[MachineSoul]

The whole village rallied up and preparing for what's worse, Vincent was leaning against a wooden pillar sustaining one of the tents, brooding over what's going to come next; he was trying to keep his wits about and not to panic at the thought of battle, a real battle where he could easily get injured or worse. This time it was for real, no more dull swords or blank bullets. To take these worrying thoughts off the top of his furry head and hide, the wolf started to count the bullets in his pouches, checking their condition and size; the large ones with dangerous pointy tips go with the rifle, so he stores them in a pouch on his right hip, just after the leaden pipe he carried. The smaller, bulkier slugs are his revolving pistol's ammunition, which he stores on the left-side pouch, making it easier to reload the pistol with his free hand, the left hand. Vincent's weapons are made by himself, preferring to add his own vicious touch to the firearms: they both shoot larger rounds than the ones universally used by the anthro Rangers. The design of the bullets, thought out by both he and his mentor, are designed to roll in mid air to gain more power for a debilitating impact, pierce through organic tissue and form a larger exit wound to make more damage. Gruesome and savagely brutal, but just as his professor said:

"Gotta make sure whatever you're shooting at will have a miserable day."

Once he finished counting, quality check and sort his bullets, the wolf drew attention to his rifle; he pulled the bolt lever and slammed it back several times to make sure there are no loose components. He also checked if the scope was well aligned and locked in tight on it's two supports. With one quick gave trough it, he checked if the lenses were still in place and properly aligned. Then, he turns his attention to his pistol, to check if it's revolving barrel worked well; he gave it one twist, the barrel rolled for about 5 cycles then locked properly, aligning one of it's six chambers with the exit barrel. All was good. Before he could join the rest, there was one more matter to attend to: the wolf starts searching a small bulge in his duster, to pull out the little critter he carried with him to this point. The salamander gazed at the wolf, unable to move it's eyeballs.

"Listen, champ, I don't want you to end up crushed or squished. So you go and defend that locket at all costs, you her me? It's an order."

The tiny being gazed with it's beady eyes for a few moments, attempting to transmit a message, a feeling of sorts; shortly enough, the critter scurries off Vincent's hand and reaches the ground with the help of his right boot. Once on the ground, the critter adopted it's normal behavior: it stood there for a couple of seconds, scurried around five steps, stopped again to gawp at something, scurries a few more steps, until it vanishes inside the tent. Knowing that his new friend was in a safe place, the wolf pulls out a rifle round, loads it into the chamber and slams the bolt shut to finally join the rest of the defense initiative. While the exterior once again looked like a man that has been through worse than this, he still felt galactically unprepared.

Lining up next to Xilan, the wolf looks around him to analyze the defense troops. Clearly, this would be a success, given that these lizardmen fight as ferociously as it's written in history books.

"Hey Vincent."

"Hm."

"Ever beat down a walking corpse before?"

"That dark elf kid back in year three."

"How about a little contest? Whoever beats the most undead wins a kiss from Ari."

"It's on, smoothskin."

Arianna... the witch of the west, as Xilan loves to call her. Such a nice girl, targeted so many times by the wolf with his naughty innuendos; he wasn't sure what kept him drawing towards her with these jokes... he wasn't really sure why would he care so much for a kiss from her, it's not like she'll do it anyway. The wolf adopts a higher position, so he can gaze over the crowd to have a clear shot when the troops would arrive; the eerie silence before the march made Vincent somewhat nervous, expecting a flood of enemies to merge from the swamps. The undead would most likely attack in a swarm, if those fantasy books had any accuracy. He flexes the fingers of his right hand into a fist several times, the leather fingerless gloves uttering a stretching moan. Just as grabbed the rifle back, the swarm made it's appearance; Vincent immediately lifted the rifle to eye-level and scanned the horrendous army of husks. The sight was something one could hardly forget, especially because there were so many, on uglier than the other. All of them were corpses, just imagining that somewhere in time they used to be a living being, with feelings, thoughts, aspirations...

And all of those thoughts flew out the window when the lizardmen started hacking through the front line with a gross ease. Vincent then point and isolated himself from the rest of the defending force, so that he has enough space to operate his weapons; he crouches down on his right knee and takes aim. While he knew that there was no use to try to shoot them all down, he could at least pick the more dangerous targets... such as that undead there with a morning star. With a loud combustion, the slug flies off and finds it's target, severing the hand holding the menacing weapon clear off the shoulder.

"That was supposed to go through your head..." he uttered. For a second, he panicked. What went wrong? The shot was clear, the target just stood there gawping at something, on wind, distance under 200 meters... "... humidity. That makes things suck." he finished. He pulls the bolt, releasing the empty round; he catches it before it fell on the ground, so that he can keep count on how many undead he brought down by making marks on his duster. The next round in, Vincent picks off another undead attempting to race towards a lizardman's back; the undead lost it's right leg from the knee down, but the bullet traveled a bit more until it found a second target, whose tibia got shattered and rendered useless. Two more added to the count. The next undead gets shot off the bridge; another one down. The next shot was an exemplary miss, as the volley Xilan threw distracted his sight. Raising his sight from the scope, he notices two undead reaching for Arianna; Vincent quickly clears the chamber, loads another round and fires at the two, just after they bonked headfirst into her barrier. Their heads were wiped off clean due to being so close to each other, one of the undead lost his mandible too, which gently booped against the barrier. Two more targets. He pulled the bolt and slotted in another. Xilan was yelling his joy about winning the debt, something that made Vincent angry, rather than competitive; they were fighting undead spawns, not eating lemon cakes!

But then, they finally took down much of the bulk of the invasion, they could start preparing to retreat to the camp with the casket; that until disaster struck. With bolts flying everywhere, Vincent's first reaction was to turn his back towards the projectiles... good thing Arianna caught them quickly. But the sight of Brandon being shot down by various bolts and took away by the shaman made Vincent worry about their own situation. The four of them against six marksmen... and that undead knight; Vincent's eyes narrow and lets his rifle down, taking a good look at their situation... the field was pretty clear, the lizardmen were doing well with the rest of the remaining horde. Enough space behind the six marskmen... now five... and Alexandra standing up to the armored undead; boy, that monster's fast. Arianna can't hold her shield...

"We need to find a way past his defense !" yelled Alexandra.




"Correct."



Vincent raised to his feet swiftly and dashed through Arianna's barrier and let himself slide not far from Alexandra, by her left. Vincent pulled brought the rifle to his eyesight and shot a round at the undead knight to get his attention... maybe next time the marksmen will shoot bolts at him, rather than the whole group, since he's putting up a ranged threat... he hoped. Since he did not have just enough time to reload and fire at the marksmen with his rifle, he pulls out his trusty revolver and lines down the sights to aim at a reloading marksman; the shot fired and shattered it's skull through the inside of his head, resulting into a medium sized hole into it's forehead. The second round hits the next marksman's right palm, turning it into a mass of distorted rotten muscle tissue and bits of bones; the third marksman also gets his in the head, but the fourth one simply refused to die even after two shots at it's head, only the third one finishing it for good. Going through a time crisis, the wolf stands back up on his feet and tries to reload his revolver as quick as he can, though the tense situation really made his fingers act like spaghetti; there was no more time, he had to give tee call. He remembered those times when Xilan would magically warp from the end of the corridor right in front of Vincent's nose to steal a bagel from the wolf... it just gave him an idea, but he wanted to make sure Xilan would be safe behind the knight. But there was no more time:

"XILAN! Blink behind the knight, next to the marksmen! Help me take 'em out, we need to blindside attack this monster!"

He made his intentions clear to the Junior Heroes.

"Ari, lay down the barrier and attack the marksmen, then concentrate on the knight! Alexandra, keep'im busy!"

He managed to load only two shots in the revolver, but it was enough; he fired one of them at a marksman, hitting it's arm. Though it was still functional, it slowed down the reloading process. With a sudden might in his heart, Vincent pulls out the leaden pipe from the right hip and grips it ferociously. He throws the rifle on his back and the pistol on his belt and dashes towards the knight; he was extremely aware to the point he was screaming at himself in his mind that what he's doing is outright crazy, but he realized the knight gave orders to the marksmen to fire... maybe if he was busy enough, he wouldn't have the time to do so anymore. If Xilan makes it behind and marksmen are taken out before the next shot, they could attempt to hit the monster from both sides; he may be fast, but not fast enough to parry out attacks from multiple directions. Just as Alexandra was down on her knee, Vincent took a sprint of faith towards the Vanguard... if Alexandra would hold her shield for him, he'd might just make a jump over the knight and land behind him.

"ALEX, SHIELD UP, GIMME A BOOST!"

Their boot camp trainer had a name for this tactic... what was it again? He learnt it in the second year, something he had a lot of fun with back then; it just struck him right now, as he needed two men behind him and two in front. He can't send anyone else behind the knight at the moment... so if not Vincent, then who will?

He remembered:

"SHIELD JUMP!"

He growled as he approached her with speed, preparing for the jump.

[Zamokra41]

[ABILITY UNLOCKED = Combination - Shield Jump]

With some carefully placed shots, Vincent takes out 3 more marksmen, an act which did not agree with the Vanguard. The great undead glanced behind him for a moment to see a marksman fall to his final death then turned his attention to the Anthro responsible for that, letting out a croaked grunt of anger as it started to pick up the pace sword in the air ready to hack at Vincent while he was down reloading his weapon. Luckily the Vanguard was intercepted by Alexandra who halted his attack with her shield, keeping the Vanguard away from Vincent. With a grunt, Alexandra brushed aside the Vanguard's sword and then delivered a quick Shield Bash making the undead stagger and take a step backwards, using the occasion the Lady-Knight slashed at him, finally landing a blow on the monster, leaving a long crack on the Vanguar's breastplate.

"XILAN! Blink behind the knight, next to the marksmen! Help me take 'em out, we need to blindside attack this monster!"

"On it !" Xilan responded and immediately did as he was told, vanishing in a small flash of light and reappearing nigh a second later behind the Vanguard, next to a marksman which just finished reloading his crossbow. "Surprise, bitch!" Xilan said with a smile as he gripped his staff with both hands and delivered a heavy upward smack on the marksman, making the undead's lower jaw fly through the air the rest falling off the platform.

"Ari, lay down the barrier and attack the marksmen, then concentrate on the knight! Alexandra, keep'im busy!"

The transparent wall vanished in a flash and Arianna started to throw Arcane Bolts at the last marksman which was incapacitated by Vincent. The bolts landed on their target, first breaking the marksman's crossbow and then pushing it off the platform. With the marksmen gone, the Vanguard no longer had the ranged support and was alone against the 4 Juniors. That, however, did not seem to affect him in the least. The Vanguard roared and then, surprisingly, dashed forward shield in front. Alexandra was ready for him, meeting the Vanguard with her own shield in a crouched stance to ensure stability. The clash of shield on shield let out a loud clang of metal as the Vanguard slowly pushed forward and Alexandra trying to hold her position with all her might. In an instant she took the chance to thrust her sword upwards from behind her shield cover, she missed but the tip of the blade was close enough to reach the Vanguard's exposed upper area that it made the undead knight jump backwards reassuming his stance. Just then, Alexandra raised her gaze when she heard "ALEX, SHIELD UP, GIMME A BOOST!". Glancing behind, she saw Vincent with his leaden pipe in hand dashing towards her, she remembered back at the Academy, 'Of course! Good idea' she thought as a small smile appeared on her face.

The Lady-Knight responded with an "Aye!" as she raised her shield so the surface would face the sky, Vincent then jumped and landed on the shield. As soon as she felt the Anthro's weight, Alexandra used all of her strength to push upwards.

"SHIELD JUMP!"
"SHIELD JUMP!"

They both growled in tandem as Vincent launched in the air, flipping once and above the head of the Vanguard landing on his feet right behind the knight and next to Xilan. This was it ! The Vanguard was surrounded and no matter how good his defense may be, the monster cannot defend itself from more than one direction at once. All 4 Juniors started to attack at the knight, Xilan once again cast his Arcane Volley, Arianna threw Arcane Bolts aiming at the Vanguard's head, Alexandra and Vincent dashed to it attacking the knight from front and rear. The Vanguard brought its black shield forward to defend against Arianna's bolts which either hit the shield or missed, Alexandra's sword clashed on the shield but she continued to strike away forcing the undead to keep his shield up. The Arcane Volley from Xilan hit the Vanguard in his exposed back, making the monster roar and grunt as his already tattered cape was being ripped apart and the back of his armor ended up full of dents. Vincent immediately took aim at the Vanguard's most exposed parts, striking hard and fast one the back of the knees with his leaden pipe, the sound of cracking bone bringing a wicked grin on the Anthro's face.

With Vincent's Brutal Take-Down, the Vanguard dropped on one knee as the said knee was now splinters of bone and strips of rooting flesh. With a side swipe, he managed to hit Vincent in the snout with the pommel of his sword. However, by turning his attention to the Anthro, the Vanguard forgot about Alexandra which immediately took advantage of the occasion and jabbed her holy-coated sword in the undead's armored chest, the tip of the blade poking through the other side as thin, faint strips of smoke started to rise from the place were the blade struck. The touch of holy magic burned at the Vanguard which let louse to a loud roar and swung its shield bashing in Alexandra making her fall on her back pulling the sword out from the undead. The Vanguard turned behind him just as he saw Xilan stretching out his palm at it, a bright blue-ish light forming and slowly growing till it enveloped the whole of his open palm. In the next moment Xilan launched his Arcane Blast which struck hard and true against the Vanguard's raised shield sending it flying, dented and with the undead's forearm still attached to the grips. With his shield lost, incapacitated by a shattered knee, wounded and weakened by a holy sword, the Vanguard was leaning on his sword just as Vincent came to deliver the killing blow.

The Anthro kicked the sword, making the Vanguard loose his balance and fall forward, his head meeting with the leaden pipe as Vincent delivered a heavy uppercut gripping his pipe with both hands. The sound of cracking bone and metal clashing onto metal was most satisfactory especially after seeing how the Vanguard's head was torn from his bony armored shoulders, flew through the air before landing in the muck beneath the platform. The remains of the big undead fell motionlessly with a crash on the wooden ground and there it lay, finally and utterly dead.

Moments after the Vanguard was defeated, loud hissing cheers could be heard from all around the last of the undead horde fell to the jagged blade of a Lizarman, without the Vanguard to lead and direct them, the remaining undead were easily dispatched. "We did it !" Xilan approached Vincent putting his hand on the Anthro's shoulder, "We did it, we won !" Xilan then cheered raising his staff, Alexandra following his example. Arianna came to them, staring at whatever was left of the Vanguard, "We truly did it...We..we won !" she said with a smile and great relief in her tone. Bre'shen and Brandon, leaning on Korbac for support, approached them, "That was truly something. I've been through more battles with these things than I care to remember, but what you just did here...that was something different." the Senior Hero said with a smile on his bearded face. With the undead defeated and the casket safe and sound, victory has been fully achieved.

-----------------------------Minutes Later----------------------------------

Main Missions
Reach the Lizardmen tribe (Complete)
Defeat the Undead troops (Complete)
Return to camp and then depart to Sunholme Fortress

ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED = First Kill
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The village had almost reentered in its normal state. During the battle, some of the Lizardmen died fighting the undead, those fallen were given simple graves and mourned by their loved ones. The rest of the Lizardmen-folk were already busy with repairs and cleaning the village off the remains of the defeated undead. Gazing in the distance at those who were in mourning, Bre'shen closed his eyes for a moment and turned to the group. "Ssssome of our best huntersss have fallen...but they are now by the Great Sssserpent's ssside for they fought to defend what wassss preciousss to them. Not to mention that it could have ended far worssse. I dare not imagine what would have have happened without your aid Heroessss...." Bre'shen then slithered his tongue and bowed his head "My tribe and I are forever in your debt young prowlersss. I pressssent each of you with thissss gift..." the old shaman then gives Vincent, Xilan, Arianna and Alexandra each an odd looking talisman made of pointy teeth and feathers "...a mere token of our gratitude. You are friendsss to ussss now and assss ssssuch, you are also friendsss of the marssssh. Thankyou...thankyou Heroes."

[ITEM RECEIVED = Marsh Talisman]

"I admit...the ssstrength of the outsssiderss isss....not to be underesssstimated." Korbac said in a less than enthusiastic tone followed by a low hiss akin to a sigh, "Maybe I wassss to....agresssive in our firsssst meeting. If sssso, I apologize. From now on, you are friendsss of my tribe" Hearing that, Brandon who now had his wounds bandaged and was already standing tall on his feet with the casket in his arms, chuckled "Apologies accepted old pal. Be sure to let me know when you want a re-mach." in response Korbac snarled at Brandon "I was not ssspeaking about YOU....though a re-mach does ssssound....pleassssant. Maybe once your woundssss are fully recovered." While Brandon and Korbac exchanged ...'pleasantries, a little Lizardman child approached the group and caught Arianna's attention. The child stood on his toes stretching his arm up holding a strange small plant with many tiny reed roots. The child's speech of the common tongue was very brief and bad though among the hisses he did manage to mutter the words "..For....you.." to Arianna who knelt down and took the plant from the child's hand "Blood Root? For me? Oh, how very kind of you. Thankyou." she said in a sweet tone with a smile while putting the Blood Root in her pack and tapping the child on his scaly head with a giggle. The child then ran off to play with the rest of children, not before he stopped in his tracks and turned around to wave a goodbye at Arianna who waved back in returned with a big smile.
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Secondary Missions
Gather reagents for an antidote to the Venomfly poison (Complete)
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"With your village now safe and the undead defeated, I believe it's high time we took this back to headquarters and bring this incident to the Commander's attention" Brandon said then turned his gaze at the Juniors "And he will also hear of your stunning performance in this mission. Trust me when I tell you that what you did toady was something beyond the expectations of all Seniors involved in this trip." Hearing the praise, Xilan couldn't help it but feel a 'little' bashful, "Impress and astonish, that's what we live for" he said with a smile while brushing his badge with his sleeve. "I'm just glad we were able to help. It all ended well enough" Arianna said with a smile and a faint blush on her cheeks. Alexandra simply agreed with a nod and a smile not uttering a word.

"I saw the whole thing.." from behind the last remaining scout lost in the marshes said, "Bloody amazing is what it was. I am terribly sorry I couldn't help at all, I was still in the shaman's tent recovering from the Venomfly poison. My sword-arm still feels stiff..." the scout said apologetically. "Important thing is that you're fine and able to wander aimlessly again. Cheer up" Brandon said with a smile, making the scout feel...confused at the last part. "Right...yes, sir." he said. "Well then. Time to go" Brandon said to the Juniors then turned to Bre'shen and Korbac "Farewell my old friends, let's hope when next we meet it will be under more...pleasant circumstances." the old shaman then chuckled and responded "Indeed, I hope sssso asss well. Farewell my friendssss, may the Great Sssserpent watch over you allwaysss."

---------------------------------------------
Secondary Missions
Find the missing scouts in the swamp (Complete)
---------------------------------------------

The whole village was now looking at the Heroes as they passed through, their hisses sounding welcoming and friendly. One could see many of the people waving at them as they passed and the children were pointing at them and stared with awe in their eyes. While walking with the casket in his hands, Brandon glanced back at the Juniors "Fighting against impossible odds on the side of strangers you just met, winning in spite of everything and being hailed a Hero. What you experienced today is just a taste of what it means to be a Hero of Avalon....well, that and a lot of walking, still part of the order."

The march back to the camp was much, much easier. Korbac even allowed a few hunters to escort the group until they past the most dangerous parts of the swamp, just in case. Luckily they met with no threats on the way and even the whole trek through the muck felt a little lighter on their feet. Once they were relatively close to the camp, the Lizardmen hunters bowed respectfully and wandered back in the thick of the swamp wishing to not be seen by anyone else.

As soon as the group reached the camp, one could clearly tell that everyone was well aware of the undead that just attacked the Lizardmen tribe. The whole camp was in a poor condition, broken corpses of the undead were scattered everywhere, it would seem that the number of undead that attacked the camp may have been even larger than the ones that charged at the village. The few Wall Guards and scouts were all tending to their wounds and catching their breaths, the 3 Senior Heroes Janos, Korag and Caterina were the first to welcome the group back at camp. "We feared the worst..." Caterina said holding her hands togheter over her chest, "Aye...Them blasted undead jumped at us from all directions. While we were busy sending the buggers back to the Void, a whole lot of them slipped past us and got in the swamp." Korag continued gripping his axe strongly and popping his neck. "It is good to see you return in one piece. Judging by your wounds, Brandon, I can only assume that you encountered the Vanguard and his troops." Janos said as he slipped down from the saddle of his Raptor. "Tell me.." the Dark Elf continued in a low tone, his voice muffled by his mask. "Do you think the Vanguard was after..." he pointed at the casket in Brandon's hands.

Brandon nodded, "I must be. Why else would a Necromancer send its minions all the way here?" The word 'Necromancer' brought a stiff silence in the air for a few moments as if everyone was afraid to say something after it. Finally, Caterina mustered the courage to ask "You think a Necromancer may be involved?" Janos took the liberty to answer that question "How else could this many undead AND a Vanguard know that the casket would be here? Which worries me.." Janos took a pause and stroke his mask once "What Necromancer would know what is inside the casket? " This question was met with no answer only silence from everyone....and a lot of curiosity from the Juniors. 'What exactly IS inside the casket?' was the question on their minds but none dared to ask though they didn't know why, perhaps this was not the time or maybe it was something that didn't concern them...yet. Before anything, Janos took the casket from Brandon and saddled up on his Raptor "I shall ride to the fortress ahead and send this straight to the Commander. I will also inform him of what happened here today." and with that the Raptor marched away, faster than any horse ever seen, the beast was striding though the landscape until it and its rider were lost in the horizon.

Remembering the contents of her purse, Arianna presented the purse to Caterina "Miss Goldentail, here are the reagents you asked for. Now you can brew the antidote for the Venomfly poison" she said and gave the purse. The Senior Heroine took the purse, opened it and peeked inside. "Oh, thankyou. With this recent incident I had almost lost hope of curing the wounded of the poison. I shall start treating them right away. Thankyou all." and Caterina eagerly ran with the purse in the great tent where the wounded lay. Korag then stepped forward "Speaking of gratitude, you greenhorns have mine as well. All of my scouts lost in the swamp came back, a little worse for wear but still alive and kicking. My thanks. Once Caterina takes care of their injuries we will get back to work." the Orc then bowed his head and walked away, pulling out his telescope and looking in the distance with a toothy smile on his face.

"Well I guess that settles it." Brandon turned to the Juniors and crossed his arms "I think your first mission is just about completed, all that's left now is to deliver the report of your success to Sunholme Fortress. I can arrange for a carriage to take you there right now, if you want. I will stay here and leave with rest once we strip the camp." Brandon then went inside a tent, leaving the Juniors to have a few minutes for themselves.

Xilan was stretching his bones and popped his fingers "What a day...If this how it's going to be everyday with the Heroes, I'd say we will NEVER get bored" he said with smile and a chuckle as he brushed off the dust from his purple robe. Arianna didn't seem to share in the eagerness and confidence "Only you could find amusement in things like this...oaf..." the last part she muttered to herself though Arianna knew all to well that Xilan had a point, being a Hero of Avalon was about going through such battles as many times as it would be necessary, for the greater good. 'For the greater good' she repeated in her mind. Xilan then snapped his fingers "Oh right!" he turned to Vincent "I almost forgot about our bet. Let's see..." the elf started to count on his fingers and then widen his eyes, his smile palling from his face "Oh come on, I can't believe this! You outmatched me by 1 ! " Xilan said to Vincent, that one undead he was talking about being the Vanguard on which Vincent delivered the killing blow. "What are you two talking about?" Alexandra asked to which Xilan smiled and responded "Me and Vincent made a bet at the start of battle. Whoever kills more undead gets a kiss from Arianna." on the exact second when Xilan finished his sentence, Arianna whacked him on the head with her staff "What?! No one told ME about that. Forget it !" Xilan rubbed the back of his head and continued to smile "Well, a deal is a deal. You have to give Vincent some sugar now" he finished with a cheeky chuckle. Arianna crossed her arms and gave Xilan a death-stare, after which Alexandra interrupted "No to...ruin your mood, but I believe out of the 4 of us I am the one who defeated most undead" Xilan gave the Lady-Knight a dismissive look and then he and Vincent re-counted...only to reach the conclusion that "Well...damn. She's right." Xilan said out loud.

As a kind of 'punishment', Arianna smiled and gave Alexandra a quick kiss on the cheek. "There, a deal is a deal." she said defiantly, making Xilan look confused at Vincent and mutter "I think we've just been cheated...". After the Juniors had enough time to catch their breaths and stretch their bones, Brandon emerged from his tent and approached the group. "Alright, I've send word to headquarters about your arrival. The carriage will be taking you there right now. The ride will be pretty long considering that the fortress is very far away from here so I suggest you get ready right now." he said and pointed to a carriage that was waiting just outside of camp. Once they would embark, the Juniors will be taken to one of the 2 main headquarters of the Heroes of Avalon, Sunholme Fortress, where all their luggage from the Academy was brought and a room for each must have already been prepared. "Ready?" Brandon asked while walking with the Juniors to the carriage.

[MachineSoul]

Vincent's crazy dash towards Alexandra paid off after all; with the shield ready for the jump, Vincent forces his legs for a quicker approach, the first step towards the jump procedure. Once at ground zero, Vincent leaps with his left leg first on the shield, driven by the momentum he gained during the sprint; the moment he felt Alexandra's indubitable strength pushing against his own weight, he flexed both of his legs and sprang against her hoist, giving the wolf quite some air. Quickly calculating where he would land - somewhere next to Xilan - he had enough time to do a flip roll, just like rogues do when they jump over their target so they can quickly retaliate. Without much elegance he lands rather roughly, being forced to crouch down to disperse all of the momentum he took as he jumped over the Vanguard. With the marksmen dead again, they could all concentrate on the Vanguard, not to mention that he's got a world of problems with the Junior Heroes divided to attack him from both sides. While Vincent prepared his strike, the Vanguard gets hit both by Arianna and Xilan's arcane attacks, the wolf already growing a grin on his face; he couldn't believe his own eyes how well this all worked, so to reward himself, Vincent took full momentum with his right hand and crouched just slightly to deliver a powerful blow into the knee joint of the Vanguard with a slingshot effect. Quick and crushing. The blow itself recoiled hard into his own arm, as he could feel the leaden end crack and splinter the rotten bone of the vanguard, giving the wolf a satisfied, fiendish grin on his snout. Although his grin would soon disappear, as he wasn't ready for the Vanguard to turn around and slash at him; with a reflex formed after so many bonks he received from Arianna, he somehow dodges the blade, though his tail got in the way this time. The pommel of the sword struck him hard, forcing him to take a couple of steps back; while the injury itself wasn't really serious, he could swear he felt a dent in his snout where the pommel hit him. The real problem was that he was rendered him a little dizzy, his brain being shaken by the impact. He had to stay put for a little while before he could attempt to strike again, but it was a pleasure to him to watch his comrades work together to bring this sorry ass down.

Alexandra impaled the Vanguard with her holy sword magic, but it did not put him to rest; Xilan struck him with another arcane blast that relieved the Vanguard of it's shield, yet, it stood there defiant, leaning on it's sword. That's when Vincent decided to intervene and end this game; he pulled himself together and charged at the Vanguard to deliver the killing blow. He kicked away the sword with the full momentum of his body and with a pivot, he grabbed the lead pipe with both of his hands and delivered an upwards strike of the Vanguard as it was falling down to the ground; the wolf grunted loudly as he delivered this blow, feeling the head of the undead mash together into a bony soup of rotten flesh, brains and skull. The surge of adrenaline wearing off quickly after the Vanguard landed on the ground, Vincent started to gain awareness of his surroundings again... they brought him down. He blinked a few good times, trying to make himself believe that they just won a battle; a small one, but it was their first. He marks another scratch on the leather belt holding the tools just before Xilan puts his hand on Vincent's shoulder; normally, he'd shove the elf's hand off and reply with a "Don't touch me", but right now, he had this eerie feeling of accomplishment.

"We did it, we won !"

Vincent turned his gaze towards Xilan, which lifted his staff above his head in celebration, followed by Alexandra. Arianna was smiling, the lizardmen hissing with passion... it made him smile to. Not grin... smile. All of a sudden, his distinctive frown seemed to have lifted as he raised his pipe in celebration. He chuckled under his breath:

"That, we did."

While everyone back at the village was already repairing the damage and mourning the lost, the wolf started to count his stock again, also giving him an occasion to reload his weapons in peace. That's when he noticed that his wound actually bled a few droplets; he frowned, licked the tip of his fingers and washed away the already dried blood on his snout. When he reached for his pocket again, instead of pulling out a bullet, he pulled out something small, slightly warm and a tad slippery: his friend salamander. The wolf sighed in annoyance, as he met the gaze of the critter.

"You just don't give up, do you?"

The reptile gazed up at the wolf, not uttering a sound... until it gently plucked Vincent's left cheek, just under his distinctive mole with it's long, sticky tongue. He snorted, amused by it's reaction, so, he started petting it's tiny head with his fingers.

"S'pose you need a name now, do you, buddy? You'll be..." the wolf narrowed his eyes, as his mind was looking for a suitable name for the critter. Something that would represent the salamander... Toungy? No, no... Butterfinger? No, no, no... Reaper? No way... but finally observing the color pattern of the reptile, it struck him.

"... Freckles."



The reptile plucked Vincent's nose.

On their way out of the camp, the lizard men cheered the group of Heroes, making Vincent feel rather awkward than anything else really; teh children pointed fingers in awe, some of them running along with the squad. He even saw a group of kids imitating the Heroes' fight against the Vanguard, as they were trying very hard to reconstruct the shield jump, but the lizard child that tried to jump crashed into the "Vanguard" again. The wolf chuckled and left the squad so to approach the playing children:

"Nononono, let me show you how it's done..."

With a couple of gestures, he teaches the kids how to approach the shield, how to hold the shield and boost the jumper; helping the lizard child hold the shield, they launch the "Vincent" over the "Vanguard", the group hissing cheerful when the little one landed. Though the only one not so cheerful was the little "Vanguard", forced to dress in tatters and take everyone's blows; to cheer him up, Vincent raised his right finger and pulled out one of his bullets and handled it to the Vanguard. Awestruck, the little one gawped and the projectile, up at the wolf, then back at the projectile; as soon as his playmates tried to put their hands on it, the "Vanguard" stuck his reptilian tongue out and ran with his new trophy. When the wolf returned to formation, Brandon gave his little speech:

"Fighting against impossible odds on the side of strangers you just met, winning in spite of everything and being hailed a Hero. What you experienced today is just a taste of what it means to be a Hero of Avalon....well, that and a lot of walking, still part of the order."

"Not to mention blood and death..." he replied, although he still couldn't pull the image of the happy lizard kid out of his mind. "... and smiles."

The journey back to the camp seemed shorter, compared to when they entered the swamp; all of a sudden, the water in his boots didn't matter that much anymore. The camp was obviously ravaged by the undead, but it seemed that they held out pretty well against the invasion. Everyone was happy, miss Goldentail received the reagents for her cure, Bludvein got his scouts back in one piece, the Venomfly population got lowered by a considerable amount...But then, the whole camp fell silent when the word "Necromancer" got spilled out. Vincent raised his eyebrow at the word and the whole reaction; why would a necromancer be so interested in a casket like that, lost in the swamps? Shouldn't they be brooding over how to take over the world instead of playing roughhouse with the Heroes? But WHAT hides in that gods-forsaken casket? Hopefully the commander will sort that one detail out. It really mattered to Vincent what were they fighting for, as Junior heroes aren't your common Wall Guard. Xilan was right, at this pace, they would never get bored. Or a chance to breathe.

"At this rate, we won't be able to find time even to piss... but what concerns me is the fact that we're driving attention to smaller problems instead of dealing with political situations. Such as, I don't know, the presence of a necromancer? Or the 'Inquisition' ?"

"Only you could find amusement in things like this...oaf..."

"Watching plants grow is an amusement for our Xilan here."

When he and Xilan compared their kills, Vincent won by one... the Vanguard! Although he didn't have too much interest to get a kiss from the redhead, after leading the squad to victory and killing so many foes, the wolf's instinct called for a nice mating act; though, he couldn't pick someone around the camp, as they were leaving now... Alexandra just wasn't Vincent's speed, but as for Arianna...

"What?! No one told ME about that. Forget it !"

The wolf strikes a face of dismay and takes Arianna's hand into his paws, as he declares with an overly chivalrous tone: "Arianna... but... I t-thought w-we..."

"Well, a deal is a deal. You have to give Vincent some sugar now"

Vincent lets a very dumb grin take over his snout.

"Not to...ruin your mood, but I believe out of the 4 of us I am the one who defeated most undead"

Vincent lets go of Arianna's hand and scoffs

"And that you just did!"

After re-counting their kills, well, it was obvious Alexandra took most undead out... after all, she hacked and slashed everything that stood on two rotten legs on the front line.

"Well...damn. She's right." said Xilan, scratching his head, to which Vincent grumbled under his breath as Arianna kissed Alexandra's cheek.

"I think we've just been cheated..."

But Vincent had an idea: "And I've got JUST the thing for cheaters..." replied the wolf in a whisper. With a wicked smile, he reached for a bulge in his duster, only to pull out his new secret weapon and friend: Freckles. He walks up to Ari, hiding his friend in the palm of his hand. "Well... guess that the leader is always disregarded for his efforts and accused for his mistakes. But I have a gift for you... This is..." he lifts his hand and opens his palm, revealing Freckles; the reptile promptly extended it's dark blue tongue and plucked at Arianna's nose, delivering a wet, cold kiss. The wolf got bonked pretty hard for that, but he still thought it was worth it.

Before they could embark on the carriage, Vincent took a few moments to try to swallow down the reality: he marked real kills. There were no dummies, no second tries, yet, he scored kills. Venomflies... undead... the troll... the Vanguard... all of them were as real as his tail, yet, nothing went wrong and they managed to defeat all of their foes. What's more surprising to himself was how he managed to make plans during combat and efficiently apply them; but he's only an engineer, not a tactician! While his grades were always remarkable at Tactics, he was never really interested in them; history also helped a lot, learning the mistakes and victories of other tactical leaders... could he himself be a leader? The leader of their little squad? He didn't see himself as fit for it, people loathed his personality, yet he managed to pull everyone together and work as a team. Vincent reaches for the inside pocket of his duster, to pull out the Junior Hero badge he threw over his shoulder earlier today; now, it wasn't as ugly and useless to him as before. He already felt a personal attachment to the metal piece itself; although he dreamed to become an engineer and live in Freedom Island, today's events really changed the wolf's perspectives. He will have to take lead for now and when the day he will screw up arrives, he will give up his post and live the life he wants but for now...

"Think I'd might enjoy this whole Heroes affair... seeing you guys work together against all odds and succeed. You did great." he excluded himself from the equation... after all, he was just a marksman, he didn't throw arcane bolts or hacked at undead. Yes, he did pick a few down and finish off the Vanguard, but "... neither of us could have done this for ourselves. But quoting the Heroes of Avalon... 'Divided, we fall. United, we prevail'. So, since I'll be joining the fun-fair..." He pins the badge, strangely, on his right chest; like many other Junior Heroes, he decided to become the leader by positioning the badge on the right-side of his chest. Just like scout leaders put the badge on the right shoulder instead of the left one. He raises his view towards his team and towards Brandon, giving a confident smirk:



"Might as well smile while I'm at it."