Tylan Hallaw

A shout. Tylan’s eyes snapped open. Good that they had; he was beginning to feel his skin baking beneath the beating of the sun. He unfolded his arms from behind his head and sat up, in his hammock of ropes and riggings. He looked down, bewildered, at the wooden expanse of deck, now crawling with men shouting. How long had he slept? And why was the city’s battleship alive with people? The ship was almost never touched; it was a convenient place to lie as a cat does in the sun, and nap away the hours after noon. Tylan grasped the thick cord overhead, and pulled himself to his feet. From where the ship sat anchored, he could see a ripple running through the market, consciousness combing through their ranks that something was amiss.

Tylan’s eyes perused the waters, one hand shielding his gaze from the sun’s glare. He craned his neck, and froze. It was a picture of a dance shared between Frin and Wyrim. A ship that had caught aflame was a torch upon the sea, rolling with the waves and steadily falling apart. The mast had been burnt – to a matchstick, it seemed, from this distance. “It will never see land,” Tylan said, wondering if the clouds of ash that cascaded around the ship were people abandoning ship and hope. He heard his words echoed below him, and he peered down at two men below him who had not noticed his presence.

“Aye,” one of them said to the other, their eyes never leaving the sea and its gravity. “But that one just might.”

Tylan startled at the appearance of a second ship in the sea, its ram pointed straight for the shoreline. It bore no name, waved no sign of friend of foe. Yet a foreboding chord was struck as it streaked straight for the city. “This is the royal guard.” Tylan said in dawning realisation, seeing the knights and soldiers that had poured forth from the crowd of leather and patched cloth, in their telling armour and mail. “They’ve assembled for battle.”

Squires presented honoured fighters with their swords, gleaming from the whetstone. Soldiers squirmed in their chain. Tylan scanned their faces all. There wasn’t a half-decent shipmaster among them, not even the scarred, spotty man stationed at the wheel. For a port city, their pirate population behaved arguably well, and the knights preferred to look the other way where treasure was looted without casualty. Many were unseasoned on the waves. “They’ll dash themselves on the rocks once they leave port,” he whispered as boys who had yet to draw blood on the field slammed their helmets onto each other’s heads. “They’ll rock on the sea and lose their feet beneath them.” The city didn’t need heavy knights in armour who would drown at the first leak protecting their waters. This was madness. Folly.

“Oi!” Tylan had been discovered, and thank the gods. He was not keen to stay aboard this ship riding for disaster. He looked down at a squire, freckled and pasty, and thought perhaps there hadn't been a face quite as welcome as his. “What are you doing up there?”

Knights and soldiers looked over at the shout. Tylan gave a grin, and hopped expertly from rope to rope, swinging himself until he was on deck. “A mistake, you see,” he said to the squire, passing him by, fully intent on jumping ship before the chance was whisked away. To stay would be to die. He was stopped abruptly however by his own startled reflection in a chest-plate that gleamed in the sun. His eyes skittered upwards, to find the head connected to the broad shoulders in lobstered steel. “Ser Bareon!” he exclaimed familiarly. The knight was a well-known face from the market: stern, old, but honourable. “As you see, there’s been a complication, one that shan’t happen again. On my word. Allow me to wish you the best of luck as you ride to battle, before I depart.” He waved to the onlooking soldiers surrounding him. “May Wyrim watch over you all!” Tylan turned back to Ser Bareon. “I’ll be on my way now.”

A gloved hand caught his shoulder. “Stay, Tylan. You are one-and-twenty, no? You are not too young to see a battle, and tales of your prowess on the ship are not unknown.”

Tylan hid a grimace as Ser Bareon removed his hand. Of course the man would choose now to acknowledge any prowess, before the eyes of men who surrendered their attention easily. Their gazes pinned Tylan to the accursed deck. “Really, now, Ser Bareon. All this fair talk will make a man blush – ”

“Bareon, you jest!” Another man came swaggering suddenly from the milling crowd. “This boy?”

“I do not jest,” Ser Bareon said evenly to the knight. “Ser Gerard, you do not know Tylan Hallaw from the Annals. He is the best sailor in these ports, and the time we waste counts direly against us. We ride out now, with Tylan.” Tylan started. Had Ser Bareon decided the matter? For him?

“Now hold – ” Tylan tried to protest, but Ser Gerard had his own words to add. “This boy’s a menace!" he sputtered, indignance colouring his cheeks. "A peasant boy from the market! You’d welcome him to our ranks of honour?” Tylan threw the man a burning glare. He had no desire to linger on the deck, but that was simply uncalled for. But Ser Gerard only sneered at him.

“I’d invite him to save our lives and fight beside us,” Ser Bareon corrected, firmness seeping into his tone and giving each word backbone. “Kern doesn’t know starboard from port.” He nodded gruffly to the scarred man behind the wheel. “Would you have him steer us into battle?”

“I would rather him, or anyone else, than this whoreson!” Ser Gerard roared. “The Order has standards!”

“I’m not suggesting we knight him and bestow him the title of lord of the bloody Nightfort on the morrow,” Ser Bareon growled back, his patience wearing thin. “This is not a discussion, Ser Gerard. I have made my decision, and I’m leading this battle. Tylan stays onboard, and serves with us. Now to your stations!”

Everyone scrambled to obey as Ser Bareon walked away, save Ser Gerard, who scowled down at Tylan, clearly finding him lacking. “You look like you should be scrubbing decks instead,” he barked with course laughter. “You’re a scrawny thing.”

“I couldn’t think of anything more tasteless than serving on the same deck as you, ser, scrubbed or not,” Tylan said, his head high, not missing the knight’s narrowed squint. Ser Gerard had pointed him in the direction of the shore, and he would be damned if he ran the same way. “But I believe we were ordered to our stations, so if you would excuse me...”

He stepped around the knight, and began to walk away. But Tylan had walked on decks as long as he had on land, and he knew intimately the way it felt beneath the soles of his feet. Tylan could tell Ser Gerard had pursued him even before he felt the hand clap him on his shoulder to spin him around. “See here, boy...” he heard, but Tylan never learnt what he was meant to see.

Tylan grabbed the wooden rod that had been leaning against the mast beside him and knocked Ser Gerard aside the head with it. The knight stumbled backwards, and blinked at Tylan, focusing belatedly on him. His brow furrowed dangerously at Tylan, reminding Tylan of the piglet he had seen in the market, staring balefully at his butcher seconds before its head had rolled in a spray of blood and guts. “Please keep your distance, ser. We will both be happier for it.” Ser Gerard reached for him again, and Tylan knocked his outstretched wrist away with an admonishing look. “Do I have to repeat myself, ser?”

With a bestial snarl, Gerard lunged for Tylan, diving for his midriff. But Tylan dodged the tackle, and rapped the knight sharply over the head for that. As the man skidded on the deck, Tylan thwacked him smartly on the small of the back, and drove the end of the rod between his shoulder blades for emphasis. Satisfied, Tylan loped away, whistling and twirling the pole on his fingertips with the eyes of knights and soldiers on him as he made his way to his post. He stood himself behind the wheel, felt his fingers curl around the curved ridge of wood, and breathed in the salt in the air. He could stay a while, he supposed.

Lady Xephos

She did her best to observe the 'Shadows' as she slid down the slope towards them. At first glance they seemed to wander aimlessly through the burning town but she noticed that none of them were within arm's distance of any of the raging fires. Since these shadows are the absense of light it makes sense that strong light sources would disrupt these formless creatures in some negative way, useful information indeed. Suddenly all of them detected her at once. A shared consciousness? Or perhaps someone is controlling them? Thoughts sped by as she continued to streak down the slope and the Shadows suddenly charged forward. Saha took note of their movement, they seemed to be unhindered by the terrain.

In less than a moment they were upon her. The first thrusting it's ghostly blade straight for her heart. Saha was curious as to the effectiveness of their weapons but not so keen on testing them out. Instead, she dropped down underneath the malicious form, falling off of her makeshift sled, and tumbled a few feet before springing up into a sprint. She began to wonder if her haste to alleviate the situation had landed her in an unfortunate position as the Shadows quickly surrounded her. They didn't hesitate to attack as soon as they were close enough. Saha did her best to evade them but with so many surrounding her it was impossible to avoid damage completely. Every time Saha tried to counter she ended up striking clear through the enemy's ethereal body. It was difficult to compensate for the lack of actually impacting a solid object. It was clear that fighting them the usual way was not working and so she tried something different.

"LUX!" Saha thrust her hand palm up to the sky and a ball of light emerged. To her satisfaction the Shadows started to back off for a moment in what she assumed must have been surprise. Once they realized what she was doing they seemed to be much more wary of her. Saha increased the intensity of the light to be almost blinding to look at. They started to circle around her to see what she would do, Saha had recieved several cuts from the Shadow's blades though luckily none of them were life-threatening. Then after a moment one of the Shadows attempted to attack from behind. She moved quickly and landed an elbow in what she assumed was it's face and, to her surprise, she had actually felt the impact as the Shadow fell back and landed on the gorund slowly fading away as it lay there. It had taken far less hits than any of the previous Shadows to take down. It seemed as if strong enough light sources were indeed detrimental to these creatures. Saha was absolutely giddy at the discovery and satisfaction that her plan was working.

|

As Chase was nearing the burning cabins, the ever perpetual smell of bitter burnt wood and ash grew stronger. Chase unintentionally winced as the smell permeated around and placed his arm infront of his nose to try and filter the stench. Noting that two of the individuals who were at the mountain already arrived before him, noting that both might could handle themselves well enough, I mean they accurately fit the descriptions of the legends after all. Eyeing the dancing shadows, he had particularly raised an eyebrow at how they seemed to become smaller after being hit by a fatal blow. Fortunately, Chase was turned around when the 'magician' cast the blinding spell- Lux.

Also noticing that three were coming, one infront and two behind, he unsheathed one of his beautifully ornate swords, Should be enough against enemies like these, I believe. Silently whispering 'Stutter Step' and having steeply increasing his speed. He dug his feet, jumping to the side and charging towards the two shadows that were behind him, baring his swords towards them. The swift strike had made the two shadows dissipate and reform, becoming smaller than before. So it was true. he thought while smirking, jumping back towards the smaller shadows, striking horizontally and hitting the nape of their lessened forms. They seemed to dissipate, permanently.

Due to his negligence and excitedness towards meeting the figures, he had forgotten the third shadow who was infront of him, it struck a jab with its shadow like weapon. Chase had barely managed to dodge out of the way, thanks to his reflexes, but the cut on his left cheek was still somewhat deep. That was so uncool, in-front of these legendary figures too. he thought while clicking his tongue and spinning backwards with his weapon after reflexively dodging the attack. The shadow dissipated and appeared again, only to be struck down by an annoyed Chase who was profusely bleeding after barely managing to dodge the blow. "Uh, do any of you have some remedy or something?" he asked outloud through the smoke and flames, prepping his sword towards the marching shadows. "I might need it."

"You wouldn't happen to have any idea what in Jergal's name is going on, would you?"

Cornelia's charge didn't slow down as she plowed like a raging elephant through a low fence, tower shield battering aside several shadows as she took her position in the street, pale eyes flicking back to Aiden.

"Yes. Things are attacking. We are defending. That's what is going on right now."

Cornelia slammed her sword against the shield again, the sound ringing out through the burning village, drawing the attention of several shadows. Aiden was at her back and seemed to be keeping it clear. Good, that left-

*FWIT*

An arrow sped by, dangerously close to Cornelia's head. A ways away, the Stalwart saw the ranger near the hill, the one who had lead the charge. A shadow to her left dissipated as the shaft pierced it's heart. Well...where it's heart WOULD have been. That made two people who weren't total fools, at least attempting to work together. In that case...

A shadow charged the Stalwart, who gave no ground as her longsword flashed into the beast. Tendrils broke apart, splitting aside before reforming as a smaller version of the nightmare. Cornelia stepped forward. More beasts, rushing her, hoping to push her back. Claws reached through the metal of her shield, raking across her armor as her sword flew in a glittering arc, cutting them down. Another step forward. The shield seemed to slow them down, but not stop them. That was fine. Her tireless advance forced the beasts back, the longsword blazing around the shield as pale eyes surveyed the scene. They could probably-

"LUX!"

A blinding light caused Cornelia to shift her shield, expecting an attack. A vicious rake across her chest from the opposing side of the light left her staggering back slightly, almost stumbling into Aiden as she glared forward, bracing her legs again and giving an annoyed huff. She spun her shield outwards, forcing an opening against the onslaught. She leaned back for a moment, still wincing from the blinding light someone had decided to put into the sky. It seemed to work against the shadow creatures. Unfortunately, it was pushing the beasts towards Cornelia and Aiden. She glanced over her shoulder at the boy, making sure he wasn't being overwhelmed.

"Keep the stragglers off my back, I'll keep them occupied up here! You're doing great, now try to move with me, we're going to push towards the center of the village! Don't worry about speed, just keep it steady! Use me as a bulwark against your flanks. Ready?"

Shoulders tense, Cornelia lowered herself into a braced stance, and began the tried and true method of the Stalwart advance. Her sword glittered in deadly patterns around the shield as she stepped forward. Slash, thrust, cut, slash, step.

A creature split in two, then took three more cuts before it had reformed. Step.
Wisps of a dark blade sparked against her armor. Step.
The shield clanged, shuddered, and echoed with every blow. Step.
Thrust, parry, stab, gouge, step.

The Fire Blood Woman kept pushing, unrelenting, towards the village square. If she could get between the buildings, her flanks would be secure, and she wouldn't need the boy behind her to prevent ambushes. Urban combat was her specialty, and this particular village had done a nice job of making narrow alleys and tight turns.

Perfect.

As worried as she was about these Shadow creatures, Mari was much more currently worried about her footing in running down the mountain. Those other worries came right to her though, with a shadowy figure appearing in front of her. Taking the beings as no good, Mari swiftly brought her knee up and hit it. . . Where a human's stomach would be, slightly knocking it up in the air and flowed into hammering into its head with her hands joined together, spiking it right into the ground.

Seeing potential, she hopped on it and rode the body down like a sled, with a lot more bumbs going down than if there were snow, to be sure. Eventually sliding to an immediate stop. . . Very abruptly into a building. Braced against the building, it took a second and then Mari stepped off the now-not-moving shadow creature. About ready to rush off, she gave it a last good kick to make sure it wouldn't do anything. At least her hope was these things had a similar point breaking down due to damage as a human did. If so, she'd have likely utterly decimated the thing.

After turning her back on the thing she was greeted with the nice warming embrace of a giant blinding light. Closing her eyes quickly was the best thing she could do to reply quickly to the bright stimulus. "Not that I don't like the light or anything. . ." Something made a sound behind her, it didn't sound entirely human. . . Somehow. Going with her judgement, and possibly self preservation, she spun around and kicked high. It connected, and whatever it was smashed right into the stone structure practically right behind her. Able to see again, there was a second of the shadow creatures almost flat as a pancake against the wall. "Glad I'm as strong as an ogre." The woman said, quickly making a move to the rest of her current allies.

Fires raged around as Mari continued forward. There were quite a few of her allies seemingly working together. The one that caught her eye the most was the short haired woman with the shield that seemed to be asking for help. Perhaps she was just giving orders like one would do to soldiers. At the least it seemed to work for now.

Still, these shadow creatures seemed to not stop whatsoever with three of them showing up around her. "Really now. . . Tell me what you all are doing here. I might even relent." No answer from the shadows of course, still she thought it was worth a try. "That's ummm, expected I suppose." One of the shadows slashed at her with it's dark blade. She quickly grabbed the beings arm and watched as another one thrusted at her. She pulled the shadow she had a grip on into the strike, letting it be a practical shield for her as the dark blade pierced the body. She kicked the two shadows away with one hit then turned to the last one. It wasn't waiting for her though as it was already charging her and very close to striking her. She ducked into the shadow and rammed into it with her shoulder. The being was knocked back slightly and seemingly slightly dazed giving Mari a small enough amount of time to bring her fist in a great blow against. . . What would be it's jaw. It flew up into the air and the came back down right into the extending fist of Mari sending it flying horizonatally a little before rolling out and stopping quickly.

The other two returned soon after striking at her again. She of course dodged both blows, "You guys are tenacious. Just take a rest for me." Quickly she stuck one of them into the ground and turned to the other giving a quick succession of blow after blow before delivering one last blow against the creature. It simply collapsed and all of the shadows she fought were now gone. "I suppose I should help the others now."

She made her way up to where the shieldmaiden woman was and the few others with her. It took a bit more than usually to take out these shadows, perhaps it was best to stay with the others. "Greetings fellows. I'm here to help."

Eamon couldn't help himself as he raced down the slope, weapon in hand and shield at the ready, it all felt somewhat right in a way so he smiled. Beneath his helm he broke into a huge grin as he raced with the others towards the scene of destruction, towards the shadows. As he reached the end of the hill Eamon picked one of the Shadows out from the crowd and launched himself at it, using the momentum of his charge to add to the thrust of his Guisarme's point deep into the thing. As it split Eamon angled the hook portion of the weapon and swept it up and into the smaller breakaway's chest area, causing it to break down. As he did this he instinctively raised his shield to block the blow from the other breakaway. Pushing against it's own strike he knocked the smaller thing off balance, and as he continued to drive against it, knocked it to the ground quickly shortening his grip to drive the Guisarme's tip into where the crown of it's skull would be to finish it off.

Looking up the Knight noticed that all of the others were engaging the shadows as they saw fit, but as they did more were coming towards him. "Really? Only three of you? I had hoped for a touch more, the day is still early after all!" The statement rolled out almost instinctively from the grinning knight, and though the shadows showed no emotion Eamon chose to believe that they had heard him. Lengthening his grip once more, he charged the trio, who met him half way. The three struck with practiced accuracy, one high, one mid, and one going low. Making a snap Guisarme Eamon used the hook of the Guisarme to twist the low blade away, and his shield to reflect the mid blade, and hoped that his armor could stop the high blade.

As the blades impacted on Eamon's defense he continued forward, turning the reflect into a shield bash and quickly flipping the hook up and into the low shadow's side, the force causing the shadow that struck high to jump back. As the low one dissipated and prepared to split Eamon turned his attentions fully to the medium one and based it again and again with his shield as he curled the pole arm under his arm and lashed out, the tip cutting deep into the thing. As it too began to split the third of the trio (the low shadow) finished it's own. The first of the pair was met with a hook to the brain, and the second was quickly introduced to the point of the a kite shield. As the secoind shadow finished (the medium one) the first re-joined the fight. The now three drove forward towards the knight with unnatural tenacity. But they charged recklessly, and one breakaway was quickly impaled, its own momentum carrying it onto the pole-arm. Dropping low Eamon turned and swept the pole arm and a wide twisting ark, it's blade cutting the air in a dull *whoosh* before taking out the legs of the other breakaway.

With those two out of the picture there was only one left, and as Eamon rose to meet it he noticed something, his shield arm felt odd, like he couldn't raise it completely. Dismissing the thought Eamon joined the thing in battle, but this was unlike the others. Instead of attacking him with a blade, it flailed at him with empty hands. Noting the odd change, it was a simple matter for Eamon to cut the unarmed thing down to size. But for the breakaways he saved something special. Tracing a shimmering symbol in the air, he grind as whispers filled his ears and a small firebolt erupted, bursting on one of the breakaways, setting it to flame and smolder. The other was hit with the same magic, and both began to flame.

With that out of the way Eamon began drive towards the others, hitting the shadows wherever possible without getting into a full engagement "Sorry i'm late, got held up by some of these things." he apologized as he joined the defense, until he heard a voice call out.

"Uh, do any of you have some remedy or something? I might need it."

Eamon pulled slightly back, "If its bad I can help." as he turned to call out he had to chuckle as he found the source of his shoulder troubles. The blade of one of the shadows poked out from where it had partially slipped between the plates, a slow drip of blood welling around it.

"I'll take that as a no then," Aiden chuckled as he swung his Naginata at two shadows that came at him from the right. The first one blocked the strike while the second slip underneath his guard and attempted to stab him in his guy. However, the blade was stopped as Aiden caught it with his bare hands, having released his weapon the moment he saw what his foes would do. Holding the blade with one hand, he pulled the shadow forward as he launched a punch to it's head, knocking it back some way. His hands suffered minor damage from the blade, enough to make them bleed but little more than that. As he knocked the second shadow away, the first came at him with a slash of it's blade, which he blocked directly with his arm. However, instead of slicing right through the limb, it barely got through the skin, again only drawing blood but little else.

"Icenfire." As Aiden spoke, a ball of blue fire would appear in the palm of his hand, which he quickly shoved into the face of the Shadow in front of him, the ethereal flames spreading quickly over the being. He quickly kicked it away, watching with a grin as it slammed into the second shadow, causing both to go up in a brilliant display before they disperse, and the fires with them. But he had little time to celebrate his victory, however, as a bright light flashed behind him and with it, more of these shadow creatures. On the bright side, however, so did more of the others as well. Aiden quickly healed his hands so that the blood would cause is grip to become slippery from the crimson liquids, then picked up his weapon just in time to block an attack from another shadow, quickly pushing the creature back before he swung his hand in an arc in front of him.

"Wind Blade."

As he spoke, the air around him seemed to gust violently around him, then burst outward in front of him. The beast tried to raise an arm to defend it's self, only to have it's arm and some of i's shoulder cut of by an invisible blade of air. Before it could begin reforming, Aiden swung in and slashed through it's torso diagonally, ending it right then and there. He quickly turned around to deal with a second creature, keeping this one at a distance for a little with a flurry of swinging attacks, before slashing the creature straight down the middle, then casting Icenfire to finish it off. After that, he took his place back with the group, facing the onslaught of shadow beasts with a bit of a grin, giving a nod to the other heroes that he could see out of the corner of his eyes.