"Iron Roses, ch-"

The captains aborted warcry sounded clear as a whistle to the gathered men and women, and as one they charged. Asaikes had barely been initiated into the order before going out on his first expedition, "Barely enough time to get you cloth re-dyed" a dry approximation of his own voice snorted the back of his head.

"Right lads and lasses, time to get stuck in! For the captain!" "shit" If his two comrades had any reservation about his imprompty order they sure didn't show it. It was hard to forget that a mere month ago you had your own men to take care of, and now you were back to being boots following the whistle again. Not that he minded, the heart and mind rested easier not having resposibility for anything more than those to the left and right of you...and the enemy in front lest we forget.

They advanced in unison on the gargantuan...Man? behind the captains foe. A part of him was yelling bloody murder, If it could pulp a bloody fortress door with the ease of a golem then what chance did they have? "in formation? not an orphans chance in the mountains!

"SPREAD OUT, TWO ARMS BETWEEN EACH MAN! KEEP YOUR EYES ABOUT YOU! Hopefully they all made it bruised and alive out of this. His squadmates reflexively took the shouted command.

Let the ginormous hunk of steel try to crush them like ants, even bears knew you did not mess with an angry anthill he thought as he moved to engage with his halberd.

Umbra clicked her tongue, her expression perfectly frozen as she examined the situation. Humans weren't supposed to have those kind of reflexes. This was a veritable monster of the spear, to have dodged her trick shot. It's never easy, isn't it? The elf knight lamented the fact she had this kind of annoying braggart as opponent of the Roses. Tyaethe seemed to be holding back, even, but Umbra's fingers were tense.

Oh, well, she had at least flushed the mercenary's merry band out of cover and into the open. This could be somewhat manageable, still.

And then one of her own knights literally exploded on the man-giant. Only to be in turn set ablaze by an elf. Her gaze sharpened. The golden, aristocratic features, and mannerisms denoted a High Elf. Talk about a high-profile mercenary. She was wondering what kind of band of freaks was that mercenary company. Yet, it was of no concern. This was an opponent she couldn't take lightly, or refuse not to fight. So, she readied her bow once more, and unleashed a supression arrow aimed to knock off the staff of her opponent.

"Sorry friend." She added as she whispered on the stag's ear, jumping swiftly out of it and urging him to flee for his own safety. She couldn't bring such a creature to strife.

<"Hey. Why don't you pick an opponent of your caliber, you High sow."> She allowed herself to mutter in the ethereal language of elves, although her words were crude, as she swifty put away her bow, drawing her swords. Umbra, or rather Gwathneth, readied her body. And then she unleashed her speed, becoming a brown and silver blur that approached her target at inhuman speed, faster than any human eye could hope to follow. The well-crafter twin swords became silver trails as they rained blow after blow on the mage's staff, hoping to suppress any kind of spell and counter whatsoever. Perhaps this was one of the few fights the elven knight could hope to have the physical strength in her favor.

---

Nero looked at Sult. Sult looked at Nero. Both shrugged. There had gone the mission out of the window. Sir Gillian had exploded, and that mercurial weird mercenary leader most certainly didn't help. "Alette. Nasty piece of work she is." Nero allowed herself to mutter her own thoughts, as she drew her sword.

Only to notice Sult had drawn hers in unison. Her eyes narrowed. Both performed a couple of swings. Both swings were the same. "Huh, when was the last time we were this synchronized?"

"Fourteen years ago, I think." Sult voiced her opinion, thinking on what to do. She eyed Nero. Nero once again eyed Sult. Both girls gripped the reins of their steeds, as they called in unison.

"Sir Indraaau, what shall we do? This is looking scaary!!!" The said, to the elder knight. Perhaps, just perhaps, waiting and seeing before launching a second wave would be wise.

@TheFake

"Mayons perky tits, we're surrounded by idiots!"

The knights face became an expression of barely controlled rage. He voiced his anger with a half shouted blasphemy and it wasn't readily apparent that he'd heard the twins. Indrau dismounted, the pain that must have shot through his leg not even showing on his face as he tore the cane from where it was tied to his saddle.

"Knock off the bullshit and think for one damned second!"

This was bellowed like an order as he grabbed a knight whom he hadn't bothered to learn the name of by the back of his armour and threw him to the ground whilst pointing the cane in a menacing manner towards the closest mercenary.

"And you can take a nice long step back before I beat you senseless with your boots and feed them to you."

It might have been something that the blue haired bitch had said. Ordinary bandits wouldn't exactly stick around once a sizable force showed up and anyone intent on an attacking might not have bothered to talk. This whole situation just looked wrong to him.

"Ha, how fascinating~" Klaus muttered nonchalantly at the sight of the massacred soldiers, grabbing another bite at her declined potato, in both quality and literally. "Just in the nick of time~" Klaus let out a smile as she commented sarcastically at the sight of one of the last soldiers of the fort getting killed right in front of the Knights. Squinting her eyes against the evening sun, Klaus placed her hand on her sword, ready to be drawn at any moment. What the spear girl said was rather interesting. So they aren't really soldiers? Strange, tho this sounds like bullshyt~

Klaus felt her fingers twitching on the handle at the sight of that spear girl avoiding two well-aimed arrows fired by a fellow Knight, but then she restrained her primal bloodlust at the last moment, revealing a slight glint of her sword. And seems like somebody can't resist their urge against a fatass~ The scene of a Knight engaging the large Knight feels really off for some reason that she can't explain. In fact, the whole situation gives her a weird vibe, she had expected enemies of the state, but instead is some group of seemingly nameless mercenaries?

Klaus' potato on her mouth dropped at the moment her captain got attacked by the spear girl. Her sword drew out immediately, "Alexander, charge~" Klaus patted & commanded her horse, though that horse is a female with a clearly masculine name. Alexander the Horse charged at the spear girl, and at the last moment, Klaus leapt out of her cavalry as she headed for the main broken gate of the fort. Klaus knew that Alexander wasn't going to survive at a cavalry charge against a skilled spearman like that spear girl, but sending Alexander to her death as a distraction to that spear girl will give an opening for both Fanily & Klaus. After all nobody would complain since Alexander wasn't even Klaus' horse.

"BACK OFF!" Klaus sent herself to the main gate, her sword positioned behind her to hide the length of her blade from the front, ready to swing and cut at any moment. Its a stance more as a deterrent than a stance to kill. First things first, is to get inside the fort to get the clear idea of the situation, and second is to delay the second wave. This isn't as simple as a mere siege, definitely~

Silfern Valenthorn

The two groups seemed destined to clash as the more hot-headed Knights of the order eagerly commenced hostilities without taking heed of their commanding officer, throwing the much preferable option of a peaceful information-exchange straight out of the window.

"Oh boy..."

Silfern muttered in dismay as the battle ensued. She briefly contemplated her next course of action before seeing their young captain under attack by the same crimson-spear armed woman they were just talking to. In a heartbeat, Silfern was already down on the ground, sword drawn, rushing to the Captain's aid.

"Need a hand, Captain?"

She half-glanced towards her commander as she raised her sword in a guard towards the spear-bearer, a calm, gentle smile on her face despite their situation. Truth be told, she had yet to meet this new Captain despite being in the order for more than three years running. This mission being their first sortie together.

Maybe this advance was a bit premature and taking the initiative on his own despite aid from the comrades to his left and right had been ill adviced. No matter, what was done was done but to charge in on his own would be futile and probably end in his own quick but horrible demise.

Stopping halfway, outside the range of the wandering mountain yet a bit in front of his own he planted the butt of his halberd into the ground and switched it over to his left hand allowing him to draw his arming sword with his right. "If i had but a third and a fourth arm..." he mumbled quietly to himself, a tired and overused quip that had become a useless verbal tic that still somehow managed be funny anyhow "...How bout a fourth and i could wipe myself in the arse whilst holding sword, shield and halberd?" drily he smiled underneath the mouthless chainmail.

Asaikes was now in a prime spot, whether they advanced, fell back or observed he could lend his support to their actions.

She would have to convince Fanilly to let her beat the idea of 'listening to your seniors' into some of these knights' heads when they got back to Candaeln; the impetuous idiots had started a completely unnecessary fight and were already going for lethal blows when there was any doubt to the contrary. The mercenary's revealed name raised the possibility of its being truth: though she didn't know of the girl in any detail, there hadn't been reports of her attacking Thaln's soldiers before, even whilst operating in Thaln.

Protecting Fanilly wasn't a high priority right now, since the mercenary was using the blunted end--though most might find that a hard detail to pick up in the heat of battle. It might even work as some good practice for the captain. This freed Tyaethe up to do something that looked like it might be more important in this chaos of a battle: protect the mercenaries from the other knights. And the fastest way to do that would be to shut down the battle entirely.

Now, the two ways to do that would be to either knock out anyone that let their guard slip for a second and wait for everyone to wake up again or to prove that they didn't have a reason to be fighting in the first place.

The paladin dismounted. Walking through the field of battle, she kept away from the places the knights had already engaged the mercenary band and kept heading towards the fort's doors. Short of the half-giant ignoring his attackers to focus all his attention on Tyaethe, she wasn't going to stop even if injured. Then, knowing that they were already open, she shoved them wider as hard as possible.

Though still quite wary of the entire situation, Tiral pulled back on the reins of his horse as the rest of the Roses came to a halt. Though he, just as the rest of his colleagues, had seen what had just transpired, the ice mage had never been one for hotheaded action. So when the Captain drew her sword, Tiral sighed and backed up his horse a bit. If they were lucky, the situation could be defused in short order. They had the numbers, after all, and it wasn't as if anyone would be stupid enough to try and provoke unnecessary conflict.

Until someone did, of course. Always. Something ALWAYS had to make things worse. Luckily, the few arrows fired only seemed to irritate the person in front of them (he had to give her props to nullifying that mess), but the real kicker came when Gillian, smart as he was, decided that exacerbating the situation was the best possible option.

"I swear, if we get out of this mess and find that you two caused some of our colleagues to die, I'm going to freeze your heads in ice for everyone to see..." he cursed under his breath as he dismounted and sized up the situation. It looked as if everyone was fighting, and he'd be damned if he didn't try to stop it now.

Hm. Maybe not their heads, but if things stayed as they were, then they'd certainly sustain some unnecessary losses. Glancing around to make sure nobody on either side was focusing on him (they were mostly focused on the "threat" in front of them, it seemed), Tiral pulled out his dagger and began to chants, slowly creating a magical circle under his feet that began to grow intricately complex the longer he continued. If he announced his intentions now, then surely someone would try to stop him mid-process. Couldn't have that.

It took a while longer than he'd have liked, but by the time he was done, the fighting seemed to show no signs of stopping. Damn.

"Alright! If every one of you fools doesn't calm down and drop the fighting right now, I'm going to turn this place into a world of ice and stopping you myself! That goes for you too, knights! Stand down or I make ALL of you stand down!" he shouted, glaring at anyone still fighting nearby.

It was a threat, yes, and he was indirectly targeting his superiors (which he honestly had no intention of doing from the start), but he'd take a reprimand if it meant not getting wrapped up in a mess and possibly getting more information about the situation at hand.

He could totally back up the claim, though. It'd make him almost pass out, more likely than not, but he could definitely seal everyone in ice for a while and make them cool off a bit.

No pun intended.

"Eeeeeee...." Jarde watched as some of the Iron Rose Knights had a showdown with the warriors occupying the fort and had apparently slaughtered its previous occupants. There seemed to be a misunderstanding going on so he was a little reluctant to join the fight.

However, Fanilly was in trouble and that was enough to get him moving. He noticed, though, that some of the knights had already gone to her aid and he felt he was just going to get in the way if he joined that fight.

Instead, he noticed a deathly pale young woman in leather armor with a multitude of knives her as one of the emerging mercenaries. Before she and her allies could join the fight, Jarde put himself in front of them along with his horse which he then dismounted. "Hey, hey now. If you wanna join in the brawl, you can find one right here." He bravely declared, his tone confident.

"Please don't tell me you wanna join in the brawl." He suddenly begged with a nervous smile.

Nori barely had time to sigh before combat erupted around her. These foreigners (well, she guessed SHE was the foreigner in this instance) were so unnecessarily violent. She draws her katana, red steel bursting flame into life around its edge. She was ill suited to non-lethal combat, but as other knights dog piled to protect their captain she supposed she'd make as good a deterrent as the rest of them. “Please lay down your arms! We do not wish to kill you without mercy.” She yells, noting as a mage of some sort was making a similar call for peace on the other side of the field (and failing entirely to notice how much of a threat that came off as). At least someone was being sensible.

Gill smirked as the blow landed, despite the rattling of his bones and the small aftershock that shot through him. Big as the man was, the knight doubted he'd been struck that hard by someone barely half his size before. His pride was swiftly pulled out beneath him, however, as he felt a pair of legs slam into him, launching him from the giants grasp and knocking the wind from his lungs. He barely has time to recover his breath before slamming into the ground, rolling to face the attackers while coughing. He should have known better than that, letting his guard down.

”Still...it worked...” He thinks, standing up and watching as a group of knights advanced on the half-giant. It would take a few more hits before he broke through, but even as he felt the mana drain from his arm he was confident in his ability to crack the armor open. He draws his sword with his good hand, giving it a small practice swing. A cheap shot like before wasn't likely to happen again, he'd have to get in while the giant was distract. A pair of voices shot up from the fight,that of Tiral and...was that the famed Crippled Lion? Gillian nearly balked as they called for a cease fire, as if the pile of corpses around them wasn't evidence enough to the trio's (maybe more) guilt. However, the ice mage's threat was not to be ignored, so he held off his second charge.

There was some hesitation among the mercenaries. Their boss had already seemed reluctant to start a fight, and now it seemed like some of the knights were trying to defuse the situation even after the battle had already begun.

"You should really have kept a better handle on those guys," commented Alette, simply, as she delivered another sweeping blow. Fanilly once again found herself barely able to deflect it, stepping back as she did. This was unreal. For what in all respects appeared to be a regular human, Alette's speed was incredible, the spear routinely turning into a crimson blur that was nearly impossible to see. Still, Fanilly was desperately managing to keep the spear away, each clash of metal on metal crying out repeatedly... until a horse suddenly came charging into view. Given few options without turning away from her opponent, Alette sprang back to avoid being collided with rather then attempting to turn and face the horse herself.

Fanilly looked to her right and left. Two of the knights, the one who had offered her a potato before and another she had seen only briefly prior to this mission, had rushed to her aid.

"Thank you," Fanilly said, as calmly as she could manage given how difficult it had been simply keeping the blue-haired girl from hitting her, "Stay to my right and left and try to keep her from attacking at the flanks."

Alette sighed, her grip adjusting on her spear. The crimson tip flashed in the light.

"I really didn't want to do this," she complained, raising her weapon as she did, "But I'm running out of options, y'know?"

As the arrow whistled towards her, the elf's staff snapped up in an instant.

"Ahtz!" she shouted, a red-tinted shield almost immediately spreading from the tip, in the form of a spiraling magic circle. The arrow bounced harmlessly off, and instead of reacting to the insults leveled at her in elvish, she swiftly cast a secondary spell moments before the flurry of blows rained down upon her barrier. The instant it shattered, a second barrier appeared and pushed back against the blows, giving the small elven girl some breathing room.

"<Sow, huh?!>" she snapped, raising her staff once more, "Then taste the fire magic of Alrial C-"

Before she could finish, an enormous fist swung down towards Umbra, slamming into empty ground as the wood elf dodged.

"... Borifos!" shouted Alrial, rounding on the steel-clad figure for a moment, placing her hands on her hips, "I had it handled! She wasn't going to touch me!"

"I apologize, Miss Cathelel," replied the deep, rumbling voice, "But her speed had me concerned for your safety."

"Hmph!" huffed the elf, before turning to face her opponent once more.

The deathly pale young woman that Jarde had approached gave him a sweet smile, calmly drawing one of her multitude of knives as she did. She ran her tongue gently along the blade, tilting her head to one side.

"I'm simply watching to see if anyone harms my beloved Alette," she said, simply, "Because if they do, I'll fill them so full of my delicious poison that you won't even recognize them as they die~"

She let out a soft giggle. It was likely the knife she had just licked was poisoned, which raised some questions about how she had licked it with no concern for her own safety. "But if you want to fight, I'll gladly show you what Abigail the Stingray can do~ Boys aren't usually to my taste, but sometimes I make an exception~"

Tyaethe's attack on the door, however, revealed a disturbing sight.

The corpses that lined the walls were not as fresh as those outside, though being shut inside had prevented real decay from setting in. They had been uniformly bound, stripped of all their equipment, and had their throats slit. It was a methodical process, one that perhaps explained why the fresher corpses outside were wearing Thaln's colors.

If one had to guess, the mercenaries had likely attacked before the corpses could be disposed of.

Umbra's swift movements continued, even as she had been blocked by the barrier. A gigantic fist made her alarmed for a second, lamenting that no one had take her cue to suppress the magic spellcaster to be too late. She performed a quick backjump, her swords ready in a combat stance.

And then, the familiar sound of sheathing was heard, as she put away her weapons. "Well, that's about it, hm. I probably should thank Sir Tyaethe for that." She started speaking in common again. "Your mercenary force has been shown in full. Your leader's game has been unmasked as mere posturing and bloodlust. And you're about to be in a bad time, because the people who were holding back all this time, might not chose to do so." She said, as she kept still ready for more attacks coming her way, but with no intention to fight back. Her gaze wandered to Tiral, and the massive spell he was preparing.

"So, sir Borifos, since you're the one with the most common sense, why don't you tell your captain to stop picking on Fanilly? Because if you spill blood of the captain of the Iron Roses, bravado and guts might not be enough to go through this situation." The elf said, as she pointed as the still struggling troopers.

To be fair, I was getting antsy, and my patience was waning, so forcing things a little seemed pretty fair.

---

Sult and Nero looked at eachother, witnessing the blasphemous swearing of Sir Indrau, and couldn't resist making a giggle or two. Even though he was pretty serious, there was something absolutely hilarious on how he waddled with barely contained anger. Both twins nodded to eachother, and dismounted their own steeds, flanking the irate veteran knight. Two sets of arms aided him to stay steady, as if they were two healers aiding a cripple. Which in a sense, it was true.

"My, my. Sir Indrau, don't do that." Sult said.

"Boots are very expensive, sir Indrau!" Nero chided in reply, as she exchanged a sight with Sult. Hopefully, there would be no need of intervention yet, but both began to channel her magic as well as Tiral did. Just in case.

Silfern Valenthorn

Nodding in affirmative to Fannily, Silfern took position on the little captain's left flank. She kept a wary eye at the crimson spear-bearer as the apparent mercenary became increasingly serious. Silfern tightened the grip on her sword as she spread her feet apart for ease of movement. The duelist took a deep breath, her mind entering a state of extreme focus. Her eyes locking firmly on Alette as her senses began to attune solely on the spear-bearer, noting every twitch, every shift in the woman's stance, soaking up every information she can get to read and predict her movements as everything except her opponent and anything between them faded in the background. This was a dangerous gamble that would render her vulnerable to outside attacks, but something told her that she'd pay for it if she didn't commit her all against this woman.

"While I realize that this is all just a misunderstanding, I will not let you hurt our Captain."

Silfern declared calmly, her now widened eyes zeroing steadily on Alette's with a penetrating gaze.

Then, without another word, the Knight sprang into action, and in an almost inhuman burst of speed, stepped in range of the woman with one great lunge and executing a downwards diagonal slash before quickly jumping back, her sword ready to parry.

Tyaethe spun around, taking stock of the battle and realising things were about to get very messy unless she intervened. That was exactly what she had been trained to do in the first place, though... what good was a defending paladin that couldn't break up a fight without striking a single blow? Her sword was big enough to work as a shield for more than one reason.

Alette's view of the captain was obscured by a looming figure in dull plate, and the incoming attacks impacted instead on a shield far more durable than the squashy mercenary would have been. The Shark wasn't being entirely trusted, either: any attempt to get at someone beyond Tyaethe would have to go through her shield, her sword, or the paladin. None of those options were going to present a clear chance of getting someone on the other side.

"STAND DOWN! That man was a traitor!"

How did she know? Simple: the bodies were several days old. They'd only received word of something happening at the fort today and had arrived to find the mercenaries still finishing off its previous occupants. So either more than one person had suddenly gotten away after days of the garrison being slowly decimated... or the mercenaries were telling the truth. But all the corpses were days old, so that wouldn't hold...

Klaus was about to head for the main gate till she heard an order from her captain to guard her flanks. She was a bit surprised that Alexander survived that charge, but backing away seems like a wise choice for that spear girl. She realized that the Knight on her captain's left flank was a bit too aggressive, so she readied with a more defensive stance, making sure that she got her captain well covered on the right flank.

And which man is the traitor? She got confused over that senior's command.

"I'm simply watching to see if anyone harms my beloved Alette. Because if they do, I'll fill them so full of my delicious poison that you won't even recognize them as they die~

But if you want to fight, I'll gladly show you what Abigail the Stingray can do~ Boys aren't usually to my taste, but sometimes I make an exception~"

It was clear to Jarde that this woman was dangerous but at least reasonable. "Well, I don't want to fight. It appears we're at a misunderstanding here."

And with a loud yell from one of the knights calling for a ceasefire, Jarde hoped that would get everyone's attention and get everything straight. He wondered though as to what actually happened in the fort. The reason why the mercenaries are here was also a mystery. If they are indeed here not as the enemy, then why are they taking the fort from the attackers? Jarde hoped all these questions can get answered in a table rather than in a cell.

There was also another question in Jarde's mind. "Oh and, what's a stingray?"

Nori reluctantly lowers her blade, though she fails to put it away completely. She wanted to trust the undead womans words, having heard nothing but good things about her from her mistress. But still, the spear woman was angling a blade at the captain, and she would be derelict in her duties if she allowed someone to kill her current charge. She continues to watch the Shark, moving to Fanlily's side. “Are you uninjured captain?” She asks.

Gillian was less impressed by the claim, failing to lower his weapon entirely. “On what grounds?” He asks angrily, voice carrying across the courtyard as he ignored the looks of concern some of the rank and file knights threw at him. They may have been willing to charge at an unknown enemy, but few in the order were brave (or foolish as the case may be) to ignore an order from the undead sentinel twice.

Tyaethe's presence and handily halted any attacks coming from either side, it seemed.

"..."

Fanilly lowered her sword.

"Iron Roses," she called, "Stand down."

It was perhaps not the decision she would normally have made. However, these circumstances were strange. Even once the fight had begun, Alette had used only the shaft of her spear and not the tip. She had only brandished the tip once further knights had joined the fight. And many of the mercenary force had seemed rather reluctant... it was a curious circumstance, and in good conscience Fanilly could not push the battle forward any longer, not once Tyaethe had stepped in, in a bid to halt the fighting.

She trusted Tyaethe had seen something to make her certain enough that the battle was in error.

Alette raised her spear and rested it on her shoulder, cocking her head to one side.

"You should be glad someone thought to take a look," the blue-haired girl commented, "Things would've gotten a whole lot messier if it had taken any longer, y'know? I definitely didn't want to have to kill such a girl with such a pretty face."

Doing her best to ignore that last comment, Fanilly stepped towards the spear-wielding mercenary, glancing briefly towards the rabbit-eared swordswoman..

"I am fine, Nori" she began, before turning to face Alette once more. "Show us, then."

Alette simply shrugged, and used her spear to point towards the door that Tyaethe had opened.

Fanilly signaled for her knights to follow, and approached.

Within, her vision was filled with corpses lining the walls. Stripped of all their gear entirely, a few days old judging by the way the blood had dried, their throats uniformly slit. Blue eyes wide with horror, she looked to the left and right. Lines of bound, murdered soldiers continued out of sight. It looked like the entire population of the fort...

"... They... were all tied up and slaughtered..."

"See?" interjected Alette, "We're no fools, why would we kill your soldiers? These bastards are the lowest kind of scum-sucking shitbags to do this kind of bullshit."

She gestured to the corpses scattered across the ground.

Borifos sighed.

"You speak as if you have a distinct advantage," he began, "I cannot claim to be as versed in strategy as Lady Alette, but I cannot help but notice we are evenly matched in terms of numbers. I would advise you to quit your posturing with haste, as I believe it can only cause aggravation in your superior officers."

Alrial, on the other hand, simply stuck her tongue out at the other elf, before letting out a huff and looking away.

"Ah, you're lucky," said the deathly pale girl, placing one hand on her cheek, "My lovely Alette seems no longer to be in danger. Hah~"

The sigh that escaped her lips was one of infatuation as her eyes lingered on the blue-haired girl's body from a distance.

"... A... a stingray? A poisonous fish~ A blade tucked against its tail~ It looks rather harmless, but is in fact deadly," she explained, without looking away from Alette. "I believe I have the title because of my apparent charm masking my lethality, but... haaah~ My charm is nothing compared to Alette's, is it?"

Silfern Valenthorn

"Lady Radistirin?" She blinked, her concentration fading as the object of her focus became obscured by the intimidating knight.

Silfern lowered her sword at the immortal's behest, but waited for her Captain's word before sheathing her sword completely.

With the tension finally lifted, Silfern returned to her usual easy-going self as she followed after the captain, her signature slight-smile re-emerging on her face before once again disappearing as they finally saw what they were looking for.

It was a scene of brutality. Judging by their wounds and the way they were bound painted a picture of a ruthless mass-execution. Remembering the wounded messenger that prompted this expedition in the first place, Silfern knelt down near one of the corpses.

"I wonder..." She hummed to herself thoughtfully.

"heh." Umbra just sneered at the comment of the other elf, her hand resting in her hip as she made a motion to pick up her cloak and once again, fasten it. She then began to walk inside the door, in graceful catlike steps. "Sir Borifos, you're also deluded. Do you think that numbers are everything? This little personality-cult you have with that fast mercenary of the spear cannot afford to even lose once, and yet she still acts as if she can defy everyone. Talk about the pot calling the kettle back, it was your leader's refusal to stand down what started this in the first place. We can afford to lose multiple times, as we're the a longstanding order of knights. You simply cannot compete with a knightly order in the long run."

She paused.

"Within a hundred of years this little group of yours will be nothing but bone and ash, and I will be laughing as the Iron Roses will still be standing." She huffed as she went inside, examining the corpses with certain disdain, as if they were just pieces of game meat ready to slaughter. "But go ahead, try to lecture me, try to say you're good enough and puff your chests. Beneath that flippant attitude your dear leader was afraid of getting caught in the middle of something without even wanting it."

Her hands wandered once again, and in a quick gesture, she deftly picked a small critter off the ground. The black puffball of the rat squealed at first, but seemed to settle down as Umbra reached for her pocket, gently offering some bread to the rodent, and scratching the back of its head.

"I'm going to interrogate a witness, don't mind me." She said to her fellow knights, as she stared deep into the squeaking rodent, her mind and senses sharpening.

Tell me what happened here, little one. She conveyed to the rat.