Fleuri Jodeau

Fleuri's gambit had worked. He would no doubt be paying for it later, but for now he was free of both the children and Lilianna. Of course, he would still need to find something productive to do. If anything, his little stunt made it all the more urgent that he dispel the impression that he was intentionally slacking off. No doubt Lilianna was planning suitable payback right now.

Before he could depart, however, another child appeared, one who appeared to be a bit more distraught.

"... Hello! Sir Knights?" she said, a little awkwardly. It seemed like she knew the knights had duties to attend to. But, then again, from her perspective it did look as if the knights were spending their time entertaining a bunch of children... "My friend Mae, she can't find her puppy, so... if you're not busy... she didn't want to ask herself..."

Fleuri's heart sank. He wanted to help. Really, he did. But with Dame Belwiss nearby and already no doubt incensed by having been swarmed by children, it would be wise to not would prioritize finding a lost puppy over ensuring the city's safety. On the other hand, he wasn't sure how to contribute to the city's defense now that the orcs were routed. The only thing calling to him at the moment was this child.

Wait a minute, he thought as he looked at the child. Perhaps it was just the cute pointed hat she wore, but he remembered his concerns from earlier. Specifically, concerns about the siege.

"If I can help, I can, but first I have business with Dame Belwiss," he reassured her, kneeling down to her level. He then stood back up and turned back to Lilianna.

"When you have a moment, Lilianna, I urgently need to speak with you," he spoke, suddenly becoming far more serious. "I'll meet you at the front gate." He was no doubt amplifying his punishment, basically giving her a free opportunity to chew him out, but for the moment, that no longer mattered. With any luck, she'd be convinced by the sincerity of his tone to hear him out.

He turned back to the lone girl, his grim countenance disappearing as quickly as it had appeared, "If we get a chance, or in case we see anything, Where might we find your friend?"

@Raineh Daze
@VitaVitaAR

Tiral simply nodded at the division of teams before walking back to the Captain's side. A two-pronged assault was simple enough to execute, at least, and he had already planned on interfering with the orcs' ability to move the moment he had seen their positions. Casting such magic over the entire battlefield, even if it was on the enemy's domain, though, was a bit of a worrisome job to him. He had initially planned to act a bit more conservatively, deliberately interfering with any enemies that charged at them from crucial locations, but in the end this probably worked out just as well. The only problem, of course, was if the enemy would adapt in turn and, if so, how quickly they would.

"If it's a flanking attack, then something quick and simple should work fine to notify the other party. Silent, visible but not to the point of being obvious..." he pondered for a moment before sighing. "I can use my ice to reflect some light towards the other side of the forest once we arrive. That should suffice as a signal from our end."

He would leave with the Captain once everything was set and done, but any more than this really wasn't necessary on his part in terms of preparations.

Klaus wasn't sure what to feel about this situation, two of those knights getting along with childrens... She bit her lips to restrain a long breath of swearings, not especially when there're so many kids around.

Right when she'd mentioned about childrens, the green-eyed girl that she had felt suspicious of had appeared right in front of the Knights again. That same girl from the Earl's court, who happened to slip away when Klaus tried to pursue her. Just when she was concerned on whether there're any open breaches or tunnels on the City, goblins aren't known for their miners and extended siege, but still she just wanted to make su-- Wait... what if they could? If magic's involved... Magic was something she'd rarely encountered before she became a Knight. Klaus, a complete fool in magic, couldn't even wrap her head around such an idea. She sworn to herself that she would read up a book on the Theory of Magic somedays.

Her blue eyes glinted towards the girl with pointed hat, there must be something to do on how that girl disappeared without a trace earlier on. And she have a feeling that the city defense has to be reorganised in one way or another. "Perhaps I could be of some help, young lady." Klaus decided to play along and approached the green-eyed girl, purposefully keeping a safe distance away from her. Since the white haired knight was precautious about being caught in a spell, and she suspects the green-eyed girl to be the witch that the faeries have talked about.

The old knight nodded solemnly. He had little doubt in himself of his weapon. The only point of concern was the exact number of orcs they would be facing. With Tiral on one side though and himself on the other they had little to fear from magic and none of the group should have any trouble at all with orcs.

He crept quietly ahead of Tyeathe, grateful for the silence that his mostly leather armour granted him. He would leave the signalling for Tyeathe to do but idly wondered if his craft could make such a thing possible for non magic users.

Indrau glanced back at the other knight and nodded that he was ready.

"A light reflected off of Tiral's ice will do nicely," Fanilly responded. With that in order, the remaining knights split themselves among the two teams, and it was time to move in. The short blonde knight took a deep breath as she carefully made her way down the side of the hill, after having made her way a less steep area to the east. The foliage helped to mask their approach from the orc guards, and it seemed as if the brutes had failed to even scent them. The fairies had elected not to come any closer, likely due to the heavy magic in the air making them nervous. Even Fanilly, with no sensitivity to magic, could feel something of a weight in the air. It was almost like it was exceptionally humid. There was no doubt that the enemy was an extremely powerful mage, perhaps performing some sort of magic as they made there way to their positions.

At the east entrance, there were three large orcs, each with that crude black armor and their thick, jagged swords. Orcish smithing was not exactly elegant, but it could be deadly. Fanilly took a deep breath. From what she could see, there were only orcs guarding the ruins. No matter how much self-doubt she may have felt, she felt confident in her ability to lead the knights in battle in order destroy an orcish defense force like this, especially when Tiral was going to coat the ground in ice to make it so their enemies would be unable to stand and fight properly.

Slowly, carefully, Fanilly drew her sword.

"On my mark, Sir Tiral," she began, blue eyes glancing back towards the mage, "Freeze the earth, and then we'll begin our charge. One..."

"Two..."

"Three..."

"Now!"

---

The gaggle of children was a chorus of nods and declarations that they'd be the best knights ever. It seemed, at least for the moment, Liliana's bid for a moral lesson worked perfectly. For now. Children were easily swayed by whatever caught their attention for the moment, but it was likely that the sight of such strong, impressive knights would remain in their thoughts for a long time to come. Who knows? Perhaps a few of them would indeed grow up to become proud defenders of the realm and join the Iron Rose Knights. It wasn't as if it hadn't happened before, after all.

The little girl seemed to droop, slightly, in disappointment, when Fleuri told her he couldn't help, but she managed to regain her composure quickly enough.

"Mae is in the town center, near, um..." she trailed off for a moment, "Beldrigan's Barrel!"

It was the name of the town's rather large, impressive inn. Positioned right near the center of Brennan, it was an easy location to remember.

When Klaus offered to help, the little girl brightened even more.

"Really?!" she exclaimed, "Mae was really sad, so I wanted to find her puppy as soon as possible! Her name is Ennifer, like from the stories!"

Ennifer was the name of one of the heroes who had assisted in the defeat of the Witch-Queen of Orodagor, seven hundred years ago. It was a little bit of a grand name for a puppy, but at the same time, Ennifer herself would likely have approved. She loved dogs, after all.

@TheFake@PKMNB0Y@Raineh Daze@Noodles@Crimson Paladin

The second that the Captain made the call, Tiral quickly began to shine the light off his ice towards the other side of the forest before stepping into action. Drawing his dagger and quickly casting an incantation, the mage-knight took a deep breath and extended his free hand towards the enemy encampment. It'd take a moment for the orcs to mount a defense, all things considered, but he would have preferred if his own ploy could have been done with less noise... So to speak.

It didn't take long for the ice to snake its way through the enemy encampment, causing the ground to become slippery and the orcs to begin to fumble and trip over one another. Of course, this meant that their cover was all but gone, and Tiral assumed that whatever was being shouted in their tongue right now was some sort of warning to everyone else. In other words, it was now or never to charge in.

"I've given the signal, Captain. Lead the way," he stated, tucking away his dagger and drawing his sword in preparation for the charge. "It'll only take so long for their forces to recover, but it's not the orcs that we should be worrying about, after all..."

The paladin shifted her grip, watching for the signal--she'd given hers to no response, so she and Indrau had gotten into position early. Nothing to do but steady her breath, wait for the light... and then move fast. It should be easy, their way in wasn't even guarded. But the magic was so heavy here, so thick that it was like breathing soup. Their foe was doing something big and her guts were telling he to forget the plan and just rush in because this was going to be exciting. To forget the orcs entirely.

There were only four of them, though. She couldn't just leave the captain with these sorts of numbers even against mere orcs. Wait for the signal--there, a flash of light. Count to three, signal to Indrau to follow, and thenrush in. As she'd already noted, there were no orcs on the western approach. Which meant getting straight into the ruins and getting straight to the hacking.

Anyone that might have thought frozen ground would slow her down or cause stumbling was obviously underestimating Tyaethe. This wasn't the first ice-using magic user she'd fought with. The first few orcs were probably quite surprised when someone slid past them--right before their legs were separated from the rest of their bodies.

---

Urgently? What was so urgent about this girl's lost puppy? Regardless... she had to extricate herself from the children and get away--mostly by pointing out that if they wanted to be knights themselves, they needed to let other knights do their jobs. Everyone needed to work together.

Then she made her way to the gate, waiting. If this wasn't important or if Fleuri didn't show...

Fleuri Jodeau

Fleuri approached Lilianna at the gates. He glanced around, not wanting to be eavesdropped on, but unsure as to what to look for. In all likelihood, he was probably being needlessly cautious.

"I apologize for dragging you here like this," Fleuri began, speaking softly as to not draw attention, "but I need to ask you something. Does this whole situation with the orcs and this dark lady with seem...suspicious to you? If the Dark Lady wanted the orcs to get into the city, why didn't she charmed a guard to open the gates, or simply blast the gates apart with magic? Instead, as far as we know, she clouds the earl's mind to ensure he can't lead a defense, then waits as the orcs try to smash their way in for several days, and then ambushes us when the orcs are on the brink of defeat. An ambush that, if I have my facts straight, was aimed at the Knight-Captain, fired from a vantage point that had been scouted out before the siege began."

Fleuri wasn't a mage or a strategist, and it was always possible that his limited understanding of magic failed to take into account the limitations of what magic could or could not do, or perhaps he did not understand the strategic implications of clouding the Earl's mind, but he knew better than to underestimate a foe, especially a magic user, or overestimate one's success.

"Don't get me wrong, we had no choice but to stop these orcs before they broke through into the city, because they certainly would have eventually done so if we had not intervened, but I fear that up until that ambush, everything was going exactly as our enemy intended it, and," he said, looking concerned, "that raiding the city may not have been this dark lady's goal."

Marianne Delacroix

Soft murmurs. Gentle clacking of heeled shoes. Like ephemeral specters, beings swift and graceful moved about the room. Slowly coming to and finally returning to the realm of the wake and living, Marianne's eyes fluttered open. Vision blurry and hazy, thin shafts of sunlight broke into the dark calm of her bedroom.

"Ma dere! She's awake!" a hushed voice exclaimed to the others.

With her meager strength, Marianne pushed herself upwards to rise.
As she adjusted herself into a seated position, her currently messy curtains of night-black hair cascaded about her haphazardly.
Blinking away her residual grogginess, she rubbed at her slightly sleep-crusted eyes as someone walked over to the curtains of her room and slid them open. Allowing the full force of the day's sunlight into the chambers. Marianne winced, groaning slightly in displeasure as the rays forcibly accelerated her into a more alert state.

"Bonjour, Lady Marianne." Seven voices said in unison as they bowed their heads low to their fair lady.

All of them surrounding the foot of the Delacroix woman's bed.
With a pleasant and warm smile, Marianne softly chuckled.

"Bonjour, everyone."
Looking around, she was at a loss as to why she could hardly recollect her memories.
Why was she in bed? What events had transpired?
Before the question could even be asked, the senior-most and head of her Seven Lovely Maids spoke up.
Detailing everything that had happened during that point.
In short, the orcs had been successfully repelled.
She, Marianne, had overexerted herself once again and sustained non-life threatening injuries.
She had been in recovery at Brennan ever since.
Half of the Iron Rose forces had been deployed following a lead as to the culprit behind the orc attack.
To this, Marianne almost darted out of bed but two of her maids had quickly stopped her and set her back down.
Might as well as the sudden burst of energy made her feel ill and queasy.
She had not yet fully recovered her strength, sadly enough.
Whilst the remaining half remained behind to reinforce and patrol the garrison in the event of a secondary wave of attackers in the defense of the general populace.

"Captain Fanilly has explicitly relayed to us that upon your recovery, Lady Marianne, you are to only join the patrolling Iron Roses in their duties. She demanded that you not attempt to regroup with the others in their attempts to uncover more information on the enemy."
Marianne's brows furrowed in discontent, frowning.
Ultimately, she accepted her orders with a sigh and nod of her head.
A maid with a brush in hand sat next to her, beginning to straighten out and smooth her long hair.
"And what of- ..."
Marianne looked around and realized that her vassal, Sir Ricard, was not present. Was he with the patrols? It would not be within his character to leave her side during such a time.
As if reading the Delacroix Duchess' mind, the head maid continued.
"Sir Ricard has returned home to care for political matters that have arisen from his time away from the tribes."
Marianne was slightly saddened by this as she was unable to bid him a farewell, but alas.
"Very well. I suppose I shall resume my duties?"
The senior maid bowed her head once again.
"Of course, Lady Marianne. The bathhouses are being prepared along with your breakfast."
Out of the maids, it had appeared some of them left Marianne's chambers without a sign or sound.
One of the more energetic and rambunctious maids then suddenly stepped forward and wrapped her arms around Marianne in an embrace, having held back tears of joy.
"We missed you, Lady Marianne! We were so worried!"
With another warm smile, Lady Marianne returned the hug.



Freshly bathed, fed, and dressed, Marianne was feeling far better than she had been. According to her maids, she had been out for quite some time. She made note in her mind that she must be more careful in the future. After all during her trials in her youth, she wasn't this presumably frail. Was she? In any case she made it a point to continue training and further honing if not her physical aptitude, her magical abilities. In any case, she had hoped to meet with some familiar faces to assure them of her well-being. No longer attended by Sir Ricard, two of her Lovely Maids took it upon themselves to be with her as she made her rounds of Brennan's streets. Though they bore no visible armor or weaponry, they remained in their eerily identical maid attire and make-up. They were simply there to ensure that Lady Marianne was 100% in good health. To which Marianne could only shake her head and shrug her shoulders. Sometimes they worried about her far too much. She was tougher than she looked. Not many could withstand channeling and casting lightning magic after all, at least to her knowledge.

As she dutifully scanned the streets and crowds of Brennan's citizens, she was happy that the environment appeared to be just as normal as always thus far. The people were energetic and bustling as usual. The sun was warm and inviting. Nothing out of the ordinary. Just simple folk going about their business day in, day out. Nothing to worry about.

Continuing her patrol, it was then she noticed a small gathering of knights that could only be Iron Roses. However, to her dismay, they were no knights that she could recall the names of. Their faces unrecognizable to her memory. She really needed to work on that, as well. How? She had no clue. Thankfully, two of them had walked away whilst one remained to aide a troubled civilian. She had only caught part of what was going on as she neared. Something about a lost canine companion? A soft subject in the Delacroix woman's heart, as she had grown up with Sir Ricard after all.

"Bonjour!-"
Marianne started to go off in her native tongue, but quickly reminded herself that this was not Ithillin.
"Greetings, comrade! What seems to be the problem here?"
How hard was she knocked around in the previous incursion?
Marianne struggled with her accent in her attempts to somewhat 'control' it.
Clearing her throat, her maids left her side temporarily as the nearby children gathered around them in a frenzy.
Amazed and curious as to how two people can look so 'alike' and with their rather unique and foreign clothing.
Of course, the women adored the children, lowering themselves to children's level and cheerfully maintaining their attention as they answered questions. Sociable as ever, Marianne thought, glancing at them sidelong.

Pate had been patrolling with the city watch for most of the day. He liked spending time with people like that, they didn't try to make much small talk, they had good senses of humour, and they do their job better when a Knight is around. Come to think of it, maybe he'd put in a good word for a few of them... After such a day though, one is inclined to relax a little, so he found himself wandering the streets with a sourdough roll in hand.

The city is rather picturesque when the shadows grow longer, he thought. He wasn't wrong, either. Brilliant light poured from the sun to wash everything a lovely gold colour so impressive that Reon herself would be proud. The only thing he could find to complain about were the crowds, but even then there was nobody to fault for that, so it wasn't really a valid complaint.

He turned right, into a less populated alley. He wanted to talk with Sir Morgan, but would look like a nutcase if he conversed with a spirit in the middle of a crowd. "Morgan, come talk.", Pate said. Shortly after, Pate saw a light blue man walk into view, as if he had been concealed by thick fog.
"What is it, Pate my boy?", Sir Morgan asked.
"Just wanted to talk. Looking at this city has got me thinking...", he paused to make sure Morgan was listening, "When one owns a city, does one own the beauty cast onto it by the likes of Reon?"
"Oh, good question! There's no answer that comes to mind, but it does lead me to ask if one can own beauty...", Morgan replied.
"Surely by the rules of ownership one could own a particularly beautiful necklace.", Pate retorted.
"A good point, but does one own the beauty that is caused by the gleam of it?"
"Surely that's owned by Reon alone..."

There was a break in conversation as they walked in silent contemplation, an amiable silence thickening the air. Pate had a good number of questions circling in his mind, and not half enough answers. Although, unanswered questions aren't exactly a bad thing.

Up ahead he saw a small gathering of people, so he quickly told Morgan to stay quiet as he walked past, but instead, Morgan let out a mighty roar. The people didn't look up. "My boy, they just cannot hear me. You forget, spirits are imperceptible by regular people.", Morgan laughed
Pate waited until he was out of earshot again before saying "I forget you're a spirit sometimes.".
"Well obviously", Morgan said, giving Pate a sideways look. "Pate my boy, I must go now. Although this conversation has been a joy, my strength is limited. 'Til later."
"'Til later, Morgan"

And so Pate was left alone again. He started on his way to the barracks, those chaps he was with today deserved a good word. They're the leading types.

Klaus
Ennifer was a name that sounded awfully familiar, Klaus was sure that it was from one of those gleeman tales she'd heard time and time again before she joined the Knights. But which story was that? She pondered as she reached to the town square, glancing at the sign of the Belgrigan's Barrel inn for a moment. She was supposed to find a missing puppy, but she'd figured that would be a better place to start searching.

There she remembered the tales of Orodagor, the stories of the heroes and the Witch Queen. The Queen of the Dark Fortress that controls goblins, it was too much of a coincidence, one of them after another since the getting to Brennan, what was supposed to be just legends resurfacing. Some bards says that the queen is still alive, but Klaus dismissed that as mere tales to frighten kids.

And about kids, the girl's friend was supposed to be here, the name was Mae if she did not forget. Perhaps she should look for that Mae first, so to have at least an idea of where the puppy had headed to, or maybe I should ask about the inn...

Indrau strode into the fight alongside Tyaethe, his footing sure on the sheer surface. One of the first sigils he had put into use had been to give himself greater traction on most surfaces. With his bad leg even something as routine as a walk up a flight up steps could be a dangerous and treacherous endeavour.

Even so, he was unable to muster the leverage and momentum to outright dismember his foes so he employed precision and finesse, striking through tendons at wrists, elbows and hamstrings. Few blows he struck were outright lethal but their victims were no less out of the fight.





Salt remained on the wall, looking out towards the tree line with occasional glances at the interior of the courtyard. She would have liked to help search for what appeared to be a girls missing dog but the furry creatures always seemed wary of the half giant. Truth be told, she wasn’t exactly fond of them either. Now cats were her kind of pet and they simply seemed to regard her as a part of the furniture so long as she didn’t move.

The orc's ability to respond was hindered rather greatly by the ice. Indeed, as they attempted to draw their weapons and respond to the attack of the knights, they suddenly slid on the ice and fell to the ground, grunting and growling, cursing in their tongue as they attempted to quickly rise. As Fanilly came up to one of the downed orcs, her blade flashed and sliced through the gape between its armor and chestplate, spilling the creature's dark blood on the white ice as it hit the ground with a dull clunk. The next orc she encountered was more able to get to its feet, but it still wasn't prepared for the following blow that pierced its cheaply-made dark armor and sent it to the ground. So far... this was going just as she had hoped! The orcs were unable to adequately defend themselves, let alone stop their advance. When the two groups of knights came to the center of the ruins, there was a crumbling staircase that lead upwards. If Fanilly had to guess, the 'dark lady' was likely further up the stairway, on the next level of the ruins.

The guards lay dead, scattered across the icy ground. Unfortunately, the plan to make the charge right to the 'dark lady' had been foiled by the stairway, which seemed to be the only avenue of advancement.

That made this a great deal more difficult. There was likely no way that the dark lady had failed to notice their attack, and even if she had, well... it was unlikely that the stairs were not trapped.

And she'd thought her plan would really work...

"... This..." Fanilly hesitated for a moment, "We have to advance as quickly as possible, but this stairway..."

Before she could try and construct a plan, something enormous came barreling down the stairway. After a moment, Fanilly realized just what it was. A stone golem?!

What was more unexpected was the figure on top of the golem.

Driders were a rare sight in Thaln, but one so well-dressed was equally unexpected.

"I... I don't like the orcs! S-so it's not like I'm angry you killed them!" declared the drider as the golem came to a halt. It was a towering construct of solid rock, "But I won't let you hurt my mentor, regardless of what you think she's done!"

She pointed down at all of them, and the golem raised back one of those fists...

---

"Oh! Oh! Do you want to help too?" said the little girl with the wide-brimmed travelling hat, excitedly waving her hands in the air as she did, turning to face Marianne, "Um, my friend, Mae... she lost her puppy, she can't find her at all. She's looking for her in the town square, and I thought since the knights are really good at all kinds of things, you could help!"

The girl smiled. It looked like she was really beginning to leave her friend's little puppy could be located.

"The puppy's name is Ennifer, like from the old stories! And, um, Mae is by Beldrigan's Barrel!"

And indeed, Klaus would see a little blonde girl, who looked rather despondent, both hands to the sides of her mouth as she tried to call for her pet.

"Ennifer!" she called, "Ennifer! Where are you?"

@PKMNB0Y@Raineh Daze@Crimson Paladin@harinezumikouken@Strange Rodent@Noodles@TheFake

Most people would probably have been suitably awed by the looming rock golem, fearing they could never fight against one of those things. Others would work out some sort of complicated plan to take out the drider clearly in control of the construct. Some brave souls might even try to change her mind whilst avoiding being flattened like an insect. Tyaethe, though, was confident in the strength of her blade and failing that its regenerative properties. So her attitude was by far the most straightforward: trust the others to avoid the damage and go in for the kill.

For once, there was at least slightly more thought put into it, with the paladin looking down at Indrau's sword and stating: "Aim for the same area as me" before pushing forward under where the behemoth would have an easy swing, her own blade coming in for the first blow... to no serious damage. Even with the force behind it, it was still solid rock--but a blade like hers was as much a hammer as a cutting tool, and even this monstrosity couldn't avoid cracks radiating from its ankle.

If they were lucky, it would throw off its attack.

---

"Yes, you're right that with that access the orc raid wouldn't be the goal..." the white-haired knight answered, looking thoughtful. Of course, it wasn't like someone would partner up with the vermin for those ends, it was simply a waste, "But it's possible that this might be a condition of getting assistance. Providing them with an easy source of fresh meat and worked metal to use to their own ends. Brennan might not be our foe's target but I feel that whatever ploy they might have tried is safe. Not all the knights have left the capital and their attempt to strike down the captain was foiled."

"Was there some reason this came to mind?"

Once the charge had began in full force, Tiral shifted his focus towards keeping the Captain safe—at least until they could rendezvous with the other half of the force. The battle itself was rather swift, and considering how easy it was for their side to simply cut through the enemies the ogres themselves were clearly not used to tactics like these.

Granted, the battlefields they took part in usually didn't involve the landscape suddenly shifting anyhow, so it wasn't as if their faltering ability to fight wasn't justified. Not like he cared much for their plight, after all; enemies, regardless of who they were, would have to be cut down one way or another.

Most of Tiral's attacks during the initial onslaught this time were focused on debilitating any of the orcs that managed to steady themselves to any degree, if only to allow him to both conserve his power and to let people who were more apt in cleaving through flesh do the job in his stead. In other words, most of his energy was focused towards attacking the eyes and reshaping the ground ever so slightly to cause the enemies to slip and fall again.

Once the larger brutes had been eliminated and both teams met up once more, the mage-knight let out a sigh of relief. The assault had gone off without a hitch, but now that the group was attempting to strike at the heart of their enemy's base, well...

The fight would only get more troublesome from here on out.

The arrival of a giant golem and a drider caused Tiral to pause for a moment and scratch his head in confusion, unsure of what direction to give in dealing with either of the threats in their way. Luckily enough, though, it seemed that Tyaethe already had a solution in mind... The usual 'attack with brute force and hope for the best', it seemed.

"Captain, leave this one to us," he stated simply, sending out another ice slick to target the leg of the golem that Tyaethe hadn't gone for as he backed out of his enemy's effective range. In the end, a golem could be treated similarly to any other large enemy.

In other words, topple them to the ground like trees and end them while they were down. Simple.

Klaus was rather surprised to be able to find the girl Mae too easily. A girl with an even shorter height than the green-eyed girl, calling up the name of the dog Ennifer.

"Your friend told me to search for your puppy," Klaus approached Mae, towering the girl's petite height, she felt more at ease approaching her than the one of the pointy hat, "If I may ask, where is the last place you've seen lady Ennifer?"

Klaus snorted upon calling a dog too formally. She couldn't help it but that was how she hears the name from the stories, what of a habit throughout a lifetime couldn't be changed so easily.

He nodded to Tyaethe, readying his blade. Any construct so large could hardly be made up of a single piece of stone. All they had to do was take it apart a little at a time. As the other knight struck her blow he followed in less than a heartbeat behind with a powerful lunge that had his whole body behind it. Indrau drove the point of his blade into the damaged stone and twisted it violently to widen any cracks. Any animating force in the area around the damage would have ceased.

He followed through with a step that dragged the blade free, moving away from the swinging limb.

@PKMNB0Y@Raineh Daze@VitaVitaAR

Fleuri Jodeau

I suppose I wanted to know what our order's tactician thought, and whether or not I am seeing shadows where there are none, so to speak. Fleuri paused. There was more he wanted to say.

"I suppose there's more to it," he continued after a brief hesitation. "It's the thought that someone wants to kill the captain. And it's the realization that they want to do it by taking advantage of the fact that when a town was in danger, she'd personally lead the charge to break the siege. I guess it finally hit me that we're dealing with those who would try to exploit our duty, and our captain's valor, that if they're willing to do that this time, they'll put innocents at risk again if it means another shot at decapitating our order, if given the opportunity. And the more I think about it, the more it makes my blood boil." Fleuri's heartbeat increased as he grew angrier at the thought. He quickly composed himself, however, not wishing to make too much of a spectacle to a superior.

"Sorry," he said, shaking his head as he calmed down. "I guess it's my Reonite upbringing, and all that about going out and hunting down evil rather than reacting. Best defense being a strong offense, that sort of thing. I know I wouldn't be much use where the Captain has gone, I'm not really trained to fight witches or sorcerers. I suppose the most I can do right now is help with that lost puppy, unless you have something in mind."

As he finished, it occurred to him that it may not have been the wisest thing to do, effectively volunteering himself to someone whom he so recently slighted.

Pate turned a few corners, finishing his bread. He'd become hopelessly lost on his way to the barracks. He had never been good at pathfinding, or asking for directions. He had exited the small maze of alleyways to resume passage on the main street again, and he immediately wished he hadn't. The people surged like a current, pulling and tugging at those who refused to move. He had shortly given in and followed the hot and crowded flow to its end, spending less energy in those fifteen minutes than he had the five minutes he was trying to walk upstream.

He took a moment to gather himself. Crowds like that did not mix with him, they were too hurried. Never allowing themselves to stop and look. Books and swords are more his speed...

The crowd had let him out by the gates, where he saw an unexpected, but welcome pair of faces. Fleuri and Lillianna, standing and talking across the street from him. They seemed to be talking, so he walked over and hovered a brief moment, smiled a quick "Hello", and waited for them to resume conversation. He hoped to not seem rude, but who knows. These things are always a gamble.

Once upon a time, a knight despaired. He pondered the problem of how to make better a world where evil brought profit and virtue none at all; where fraud and deceit were mingled with truth and sincerity. He brooded and brooded and brooded, until finally he tired. He laid down the melancholy burden of sanity and conceived the strangest project - to become a perpetual errant, sally forth into the world in search of adventures; to mount a lone crusade; to raise up the weak and those in need.

He would treat the world as he would have it be, as if the ideal were real.

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"Fear not, maiden! Salvation is at hand!" Roared a plated knight with utmost certainty, banner-lance stabbed into the earth beside him, muscles clicking into place beneath his armor, breath rising, heartbeat increasing.

The very picture of a true and utter knight, fitting to be imagined in front of an army of righteous fellows in defiance of an incoming darkness-

-only slightly lessened by the fact that the 'incoming darkness' was an ordinary tree, the 'maiden' a scared kitten stuck on one of said tree's branches and the 'righteous fellows' said feline's worried owner, a girl no older than ten, to be precise.

Little did that do to slighten the hulking knight's vigour as he charged the tree, heroically grabbing hold of the bark and climbing the greenery, slowly but steadily, with only a very few dozen failed attempts, before retrieving the cat with care befitting a righteous hero rescuing the frightened damsel from the very jaws of danger.

Unfortunately, the twig formerly capable of holding the kitten's weight showed itself to be quite incapable of holding the weight of a fully armored and tall-growing knight.

Crashing down in a shower of foliage, the knight's back came to a painful impact upon the earth, the cat's owner giving a worried cry as she hastily ran towards the downed hero. The knight, not bothering to rise from his prone position, simply raised his hand, holding high the unblemished kitten, to be accepted with tears and incessant thanks by the girl who herself appeared to have gotten caught up in her own passion for the pseudo-tale.

Seeing the girl off with a friendly wave, Pryonn felt his heart grow a little lighter, perhaps having brightened the world by just a little bit. "Another victory for the shining light of goodness! Don't you think so too, Kaatl?" he exulted as he raised up his iron torso, the fairy's dainty feet coming to a stand first upon his shoulder-plate, balanced by the flapping of her wings, before seating herself. Looking at the knight with a raised eye-brow, the fairy patted his helmeted head in answer.

"Thought so too!" the knight laughed with self-certainty.

Standing up, dusting himself off, he retrieved his marred banner. With fairy on his shoulder, the knight resumed his march around town, searching for more goodness to be done.