Cedar thanked the man, then shoved a fist full of the raw bacon into his mouth like a greedy child eating sweets. It was smokey and salty, but the fat was amazing. His dad had told him that he REALLY SHOULD cook pork first, to avoid getting real sick with achy muscles, but right now he did not care, and was beyond hungry. Really, if the bacon was cured right, the salt and smoke should have solved the issue on their own. He followed it up with one of the whole cauliflower, enjoying the satisfying crunchiness.

It was by no means "A meal", but it would have to do. Solomon was clearly very eager to get on the trail, and spending a few hours cooking did not seem like his idea of a good time (No matter how much Cedar felt differently-- It was bad manners to upset the person that just paid for dinner, after all.). Instead, he grabbed the large cast iron cauldron the man heaved and rolled out of the door, stuffed the majority of his swag inside it, then tottered off toward the far edge of the farmer's field, where it abutted the treerow, near the path they had walked up. It would make a decent spot to cook up dinner later, with ready access to deadfalls for the fire, and wood to work with to make bowls and spoons with. He snatched out some carrots, before putting the large water barrel down next to it, happy to get it off his back for awhile, then sat the smaller half-barrel of salted bacon down beside both, then laid the hood of his robe over the top to keep dogs and bugs out. He really should have asked for a canvas to put down, but he was so fixated on dinner, the idea of "Not Stopping" did not occur to him until the transaction was completed.

He would just have to go around with his head uncovered for the time being.

Crunching on 3 carrots at once, he tottered up behind Solomon, and wandered further up the path to go interview the locals.

[GM Post]

"Whoa! Aww shucks ser, that's very generous of ya. Ah'll be right back, kind sers!" He weighted and then bit into the coins and ascertained that they were, in fact, gold coinage. With a significant pep to his steps the farmhand disappeared further into the compound, before came lugging back a sizeable rendering vat at record's time. He watched with a hint of confusion as Cedar moved the stuff to somewhere else before the idea came to him and he naturally blurted it out without reserve.

"Oh, ya 'ave business with Birk innit? Ya can leave me ta' stew these if ya wish." Well, he'd ask Hilda because he had no idea how to cook but really. With the amount of tip the entire farm crew wouldn't mind sparing a couple hours to help with this.

"Thankya kindly mister!" Was the real cheerful reply. "Muh friend here seems ta be in a right hurry--- I'm much abliged! Be back later, fo sho!"

As Cedar trundled further and further away, the young farmhand rolled his sleeve and set to prepare enough meal for twenty.

“Before we left, I will do a quick search for any more clues. There may have been a clue you may have missed.” Matilda wanted to search for any clues that she could relay to the others. Hoping that she would finally make some progress, even though meeting Reinhold was a good discovery. The large knight started searching through every cupboard, drawer and container in the house. Returning a few moments later to the three men, keeping her findings on her person. And unknown to others.

“Okay, I am ready to go. Lead on.” She eyed Reinhold, making sure he does not do anything rash. She did not want to harm a potential lead.

[GM Post]

There's really nothing special in the house. It looked like it's lived by two people, looking at the simple bed at the cutlery. A part of the ceiling was leaking and had been left leaking for days end, looking at the puddle accumulating underneath of it. All in all, it was practically destitute. Not an uncommon sight among the peasantry, unfortunately.

"Uh, ma'am. He fell asleep." Pointed out one of the two tag-alongs. Reinhold was seated on a chair by the table, but he's quite obviously out of it if the light snoring was any indication. "He was rubbing him eyes, said gonna rest it for a sec. Then he's out like a baby. Man prolly 'aven't slept for damn near a week." The other added helpfully.

" If I may be so bold as to suggest-- we should take some of these fools alive, so they can sing about their keeper to the inquisitor."

"If you can do that, be my guest..."

Despite saying that, the prospect was laughable at best, but she didn't fancy explaining that the alignment of these soldiers couldn't be determined by the action of their captain alone. Sure they might be crooked, but the best answer you can get from them would be a defense that they were just following orders, and they were here to exterminate bandits and traitors. And here right now we were the bandits and the traitors.

Jazdia peeked from her cover and saw them reloading. Taking a stance to aim her bow, she downed two musketeers before ducking back into her cover. At that time, suddenly there was a thick fog covering their side of the hall.

Two muzzle reports echoed, but their shots failed to find any target and punched the walls, ricocheting, and eventually landing in a loud clang. With her eyes, Jazdia saw a soldier on their side of the platform rolling on the floor, groaning in pain, the ricocheted bullet struck him. It seemed to the other two also had been dealt with by Chonan and Kaito.

"Heya boss. Quite deep up in shit creek we are today."

Indeed, but it surely couldn't get any worse than that, right?

Regulating her breath to be more steady, Jazdia tried her best to ignore the foul stench and stayed focused. The haze had been dispersed, but the darkness remained, and she started to feel a burning sensation in her eyes.

To prevent the situation of having to choose between ultravision or enchanted arrows, Jazdia blinked and downgraded her vision. The perfect see-through view was replaced by a more mana-efficient vision that could still show general terrain and people, but not through the walls. And once again, she jumped from that pillar, shooting an enchanted arrow at the wooden railings that protect Aaron and his men.

The arrow exploded, but it did not shatter the barrier. There was a faint light spreading in that area, and Aaron was standing there unmoving with a sword drawn. At the tip of the blade, a brilliant light manifested and then spreads into a protective dome made of light that grows slowly.

This kind of barrier was the worst. Every attack directed at it would strengthen and prolong the duration. And now those musketeers were retreating inside it. Where they could aim their shot without fearing retaliation.

Jazdia canceled the enchantment and shot her regular arrow toward the running musketeer. It hit the side of his torso, but the man kept going and reached the barrier. Who would have thought he brought the weapons of his fallen comrades with him?

"If you can do that, be my guest..."

"Heya boss. Quite deep up in shit creek we are today."

Henri positively beamed.

" My lady, I would be positively delighted to."

The fog began lifting as he sacrificed some of the metal surrounding him, mostly from his back (which he presumed would not need as much protection for this plan), to fashion a long metal rod, which he poked into the water from above, producing an audible hiss, and lengthening it until he had determined the depth of the river.

" Goodness, That is quite deep, --with a deep current too. Try not to fall in, kids." he mused, as he continued working, withdrawing the length of iron rod, then altering it to have alternating triangular flanges along its length where one could step or climb, and a long 90 degree flattened hook on the end, before leveling it over a shoulder, and dropping into the inky black filth with a sploosh.

Undaunted, and weighing several hundred kilograms, he could feel the current tugging on him, but could resist its flow. He marched as close to straight forward as the combination of features allowed, until he could detect the metal of Delving's uniform, and his men's weapons, altering his course to correct for the flow of the water, and the otherwise complete lack of landmarks to navigate by.

As he got in range, he reached out with his will, and willed the musket from the remaining mook's hands, toward the back of Delving's head, as hard as he could.

Something-- he could not really see what, due to the turbidity of the water, prevented the attempt. Irritated, and undaunted, he lifted the hooked pole up, and swept it along the edge of the canal, aiming to snare a foot.

Up above, Aaron Delving was completely unfazed by the spectacular show. "What a dork!"
Indeed, there were several unexpected things happened. He looked at the other side of the platform and glanced at Gerrald's mangled body with a certain amount of condolences. His father will not like it, but at least one potential witness was 'out of the picture' and that was what mattered.

Now, for the optional one; he needed to clear out the trashes.

His only regret was he didn't bring enough archers to keep them pinned. But his men had redistributed the musket and regrouped around him. Inside his barrier. Sadly the time was insufficient to salvage the spare gunpowder and bullets. But this would do for now. They just needed to dig in. His reinforcement will arrive soon.

"Steady! Don't shoot unless you have them in your sight."

Yes, Go ahead and try it! Once they ran for the tunnel, they would have nowhere to hide and no space to dodge.

Deep below, Henri the golem trudged to the other side of the canal, walking slowly toward the other end of the bridge where Delving and his men are making their stand. After a long and tedious journey of swimming in filth, he arrived at his destination. Using his telekinetic power he tried to snatch their metal weapons, but something negated that attempt. Not giving up, the golem launched his hook and had it swept along the edge of the canal, aiming to snare a foot.

Something repelled the metal thing and tossed it sideways, yet, it caused the hook to snag something that wasn't a human foot, rather, it was a metal pole that held the wooden railings near Aaron's company.



Jazdia retreated back to the pillar. Biting her lips as she realized that the only hope was through the south tunnel, but Aaron's men seemed to have marked it as the only place to spend their bullet.

"Miss Rosenving. Would you kindly move to that pillar?" She pointed at the middle pillar closer to the mouth of the south tunnel. "Go! While they are still reloading their weapon!"

Henri swept with the pole, and collided with an invisible force, that slightly moved the pole further away. He felt the wall, but found that it did not extend through it-- only the stone of the wall.

This was curious. Either the barrier was spherical, or some other shape that was confined to its radius. A cylinder with a hemispherical top, or some other form. The simplest would be a sphere, and would be the most likely. Curious.

He moved further down the ledge of the canal, then deployed the hook to climb up just enough to peek above the water.

@A5G

The orc nodded her head, she understood that Reinhold was quite tired from being up for six days straight. But she needed any kind of information she could. Turning towards the two men, she pointed an armoured finger at them. "I assume you two are Bertolf and Ingmar? What were you doing hunting on the royal grounds? Did you see any suspicious character's while you were out there?" She ignored the fact they broke the law for now, she wanted to know what Reinhold and Bertolf were doing there. And if they had seen anything that could help with the case.

Kaito’s strike to the neck of the soldier landed and the man collapsed unconscious on the ground. The fox quickly disarmed him and collected the weapons of the two soldiers that Chounan had slain and tossed them into the canal. For now that threat was neutralized however on the other side there was still an Aaron Delving with some remaining men.

And with the bridge destroyed, reaching him would be difficult. They could try to swim across but just the idea of diving into the with feces infested sewer water made the kitsune sick. Not to mention that cleaning his brush tail afterwards would be a drag. It might smell for a week. Only the golem didn’t seem to care about the risk of attracting unwanted odors. But the rest seemed stuck at the other side of the canal.

To make matters worse, that prick of a constable had raised some kind of barrier that made him and his last few men save from their attacks. The Golem tried to sweep underneath it but by the looks of it the barrier covered all their angles while the two soldiers with muskets could still fire potshots at them.

Kaito could feel the fatigue setting in. He had been covering the entire room into an illusionary mist for quite some time now and it started to drain his mana. The fox wasn’t sure if his illusion was still affecting the enemies inside Delving’s barrier. There was a magic barrier in the underground arena that had been messing with his abilities and the constable’s one looked somewhat similar.

Quickly he assessed the situation. Delving and his men were waiting at the other side. Clearly they were waiting for them to make a move. Kaito and his companions could try to retreat but then the musketeers would most likely open fire on them when they would enter the narrow pathway that they had used to enter the canal room. If they would try to cross the feces canal they would be exposed to the same musket fire. And as long as Delving has his barrier up, there was nothing they could do about it.

Kaito quickly took cover behind the rear pillar and gestured to Chounan to do the same. For now the fox did not see any options to either advance or to retreat. The only thing to do was to wait for an opening. It would be unlikely that constable Delving could hold up his barrier of an indefinite amount of time. With everyone having taken cover, it would be best to conserve his mana so the kitsune ended his illusion.

Speaking from behind the rear pillar, Kaito decided to taunt the constable. Maybe Delving would make a mistake if the fox could manage to get under his skin. ” Hey Delving, I always knew you were a crook but you turned out to be also a coward. Hiding like a scared little baby behind a barrier isn’t exactly knightly. Why don’t you come over to our side and fight like a real man?”

Yvonne took a glance around as Sparky left cover and traded some shots. Oh boy, a barrier? That ain't looking good. With how Aaron being completely and utterly eclipsed by his brother in every single way possible, it's easy to forget that he's not actually a complete waste of oxygen and had House Delving's extensive resource to improve himself with. The barrier looked simple, but for such things it didn't need to be complicated.

The boss returned to cover soon after. There's the order to move, Yvonne didn't question and sprint toward the directed pillar, keeping her stance low in a zig-zag to minimize chance to hit. Were the enemies reloading? Probably. Would she make it easy for them to shoot at her? Hell nah.

Henri could barely peek above the rim of the ledge from his current position.

He could see Delving and his men taking shelter inside the glowing dome-like barrier he was projecting from his sword. He was using some kind of gaudy looking claymore. The men under his wing were all wearing metal breastplates, but inside the barrier, they were beyond his reach. One of them appeared to be having a hard time breathing, and another was leveling his musket to fire at the group cross the waterway.

If the swing with the hook earlier had been indication, the barrier is what had arrested his prior attempt to smack Delving in the back of his damn head. Cowardly prig was cowering behind that glowing curtain like a smug little bastard. Well, There was more than one way to deal with somebody like him--- Like trapping him over here, and forcing his pansy ass to get his hands dirty himself to get loose. And he knew JUST the way to make him do it.

Timidly and very slowly, he rose from the water enough to hang over the side of the canal ledge, first the left side, to get access to the iron covering his hip and torso on that side. The heating would make a bright light, and that is unfortunate, but it may also distract Delving's goons for a moment. The heat conduction through his body would begin to boil the water still surrounding his right arm and right leg, still submerged where he was clinging to the side of the canal. This was risky shit, but it was necessary.

Work was slow and difficult, due to trying to equalize the draw of material from that side of his body to avoid having a total and complete hole in the reinforcement, and due to the heat losses from partial submersion, but he commenced work on construction of a melon or large pumpkin sized "sphereoid", with a complex dimpled and form-stiffened surface from the sacrificed metal.

Aaoron counted that it had been ten minutes of grueling stalemate. Stalemate, the word itself felt exaggerated. Those imbeciles barely held their ground; they were helpless, desperately hiding behind the pillar like a cornered rat.

Even then, he thought about an alternative plan. Something his brother had taught him but he kept forgetting. But that day in the office had given him a valuable lesson, to always come prepared, and be introspective. And that had served him well today. That elven woman was no ordinary archer and the amount of destruction she could dish out in a single spell was staggering. But again, he had come prepared, this protection spell will not fail him. This was his signature, one that he had honed over the years. While his father always had a bias toward the old adage that the best defense is the good defense, his brother had told him everyone was born with different gifts, and he should just be himself and improve what he was good at.

In the middle of his self-admiring, the constable saw something was steaming in the murky water below. He stepped forward to peer at it and found that pesky tutor hanging for dear life on the rim not far from him and his men. He was holding a glowing metal sphere. Whatever it was, it revealed his figure rather clearly

"You! Sailor," he commanded, and the best shooter in the group responded. He lowered his musket, and Aaron only needed to point at the hanging nuisance below. "Put one between his eyes! The rest of you stay on your targets"

And he fired.

Henri's head jerked backward, indicating a bullet hitting its mark. Smiling, Aaron expected the tutor to slip down and lost in the filthy stream, but he was not dead yet. He glanced at them with one eye missing and full of vengeance.

"So, my brother was correct." He gripped his sword tightly and with his left hand, spread some of the light onto his breastplate. His heart raced, but not in fear. Anticipation! He was ready to pay back the humiliation he suffered that afternoon. "Come here if you dare, you renegade!"

"I think not, Lord Constable Dickweed. So far, I count about 5 shots. How many do you have left? Why don't you drop that shiny little dome you are cowering behind, and come join me for a swim? Surely, one more piece of shit could not possibly pollute the river further."

Henri smiled viciously in the warm amber glow of the metal sphere, and continued his work. He positively SEETHED inside, thinking he had unintentionally tipped off the investigation to this sniveling little dog of a man, who cowered like a frightened puppy, practically wetting himself in his brother's presence. His opinion of who's head he would like to liberate from their shoulders changed identity. He would very much like to make this little shit squeal like the pig he was. To think, this little oaf of a man was one of the "Geniuses" behind the abduction of his ward, the erstwhile prince he had grown so fond of for his pluck and wit.

"Or are you afraid that you might get grime and dirt underneath those perfectly manicured little nails of yours? Clearly, never seen an honest day's work in their lives--Oh-- Or perhaps, since you're so salty, that you might melt? Hmm? Funny, how little rats like you always come for the cheese, isn't it Lord Delving? What's the matter, your big brother too busy to do his own dirty work today? Or does he not know where you are right now? Quite the pity."

He dunked the sphere into the water, where it hissed and sizzled, then filled it most of the way full with the fouled river water, then heated only the top part to seal it closed.

"I even went so far as to make you a little present. SOME of us pay attention when we read things in the library, and got promoted to the royal court on MERIT, instead of who their daddy fucked. Oh, I am quite sure you paid a lot of money for that gaudy little pig-sticker you have, but I MADE my shell-- ALL. BY. MY. SELF. Now, I feel I must part company, Lord Dipshit. I have a tunnel to collapse."

Henri then spread his core into the metal of the sphere, then willed it to soar into the air and nestle into the masonry above, seeking a stony overhang to tuck it behind, before slipping back into the water with a sploosh, leaving just his hand exposed through the water.

He began heating the canister.

He rather hoped delving would become so furious that he would drop the barrier and storm at him-- He'd pull that little prig into the drink with him and drown him right then and there.

[GM Post]

"Wh-what'dya mean ther' lady! We know nuffin' bout no hunting ground, ain't that right Ingmar?" The first man stammered very suspiciously as his eyes darted to the exit of the room behind Matilda, before back to the orc knight.

"Very much so! It's against the law, yennow? We're all law abiding citizens 'ere! Long live the king and all, aye!" The second man nodded a tad too vigorously, already inching backward so that he's a bit further to Matilda compared to the first.

If the situation wasn't so urgent, these two probably could've make some hilarious comical duo.

Despite the wrinkles on his face becoming more apparent, Aaron remained unflinching. Sure his pride was bruised from the south and from the west. Coward, crooked, traitor. Some were warranted and some were not, he didn't care, he swallowed them all whole because this tactic was his own tactic, and he knew its strength and weakness.

His decision to hold the line seemed to pay off when he saw four of his men arrive from the northwest tunnel. That elf peeked from her cover to shoot at the regrouping soldier but his sergeant's shield deflected the arrow and thus allowed his part to safely enter the barrier.

Deep down, Aaron was relieved it wasn't an explosive one.

"So what now?" He shouted. "What now you dipshit! I will have you all buried! And you can hide or face your judgment! Go on and make my day! Useless piece of filth! Do your worst!"

"Oh, you bet I will! I even went so far as to make you a little present." Barked the inhuman tutor mockingly, still hanging on the edge of the floor. "SOME of us pay attention when we read things in the library, and got promoted to the royal court on MERIT, instead of who their daddy fucked. Oh, I am quite sure you paid a lot of money for that gaudy little pig-sticker you have, but I MADE my shell-- ALL. BY. MY. SELF. Now, I feel I must part company, Lord Dipshit. I have a tunnel to collapse."

Looking up, Aaron glanced at the red, spherical metal things hovering near the ceiling closer to the entrance, right above their head. How that thing could have gotten there and since when?

Whatever it was, it didn't matter. He had his barrier.

Still focused on the lingering danger, the navy shooter reloaded and aimed his weapon at Henri, but the Royal Tutor let go of his grip and splooshed back into the water with one hand still erected at the surface.

Aaron watched how that metal sphere glows brighter, but then, another unexpected thing came; a fletched shaft with a glowing tip flew from the south and hit the sphere.

Violent explosion shook that tunnel, shattering the wooden frame that supports the middle entrance and its surrounding masonry. Pieces of concrete and other debris started to fall from the collapsing ceiling, filling the passage until it was completely shut. But it wasn't all. A splash of warm and rancid mud befell them, the barrier might have eased up the temperature, but it was still crap, and he was full of it, now inside out and Aaron was wide awake when that humiliation occurred.

The constable coughed, swiping blood and a handful of black mud from his nose. The barrier remained undaunted however, in fact, it glowed even brighter... only for a few moments after. That instant strengthening had cost him a great deal of energy and imposed a heavy strain on his body.

When the barrier began to shrink, Aaron knew he was in deep trouble. A bit too late for that, really.

"Men! Retreat now!"

It was the sentence he never imagined he would say.

Chounan was still on crouching ready to fire position between Kaito's and Jazdia's pillar, having a blind spot from Delving's musketeers and could peek the right side if he is ready to shoot his arrow. He quickly covered his ears when Henri made an explosion. The area began darker as the lits got weaken. When Delving's group began to retreat he quickly drawn his yumi again. Unfortunately, he can't make a call for a shot since everyone from the other side became a silhouette figures and his Ki is out of the range. Sighed and stood up with his feet. He checked the condition of the rest of the party. He kept cautious and kept his awareness active from the party's surroundings. Still with his yumi but will change to melee when it's clear.

@A5G

“You know it is a crime to lie to a guard, especially the head of the guards. If you do not want your head removed from your shoulder, I would suggest you start telling the truth.” She walked closer toward the two men, making sure to close the distance. Being able to grab them by their shirts, if they could stupidly think they could outrun her.

“What did you see when you were out hunting? Did you see anything strange or any OTHER criminal activities going on?” Towering over the two, she had quite a menacing presence to her.

[GM Post]

Matilda's sheer bulk alone was intimidating enough close-up, the two idiots very unsubtly had their eyes on her teeth the entire time as they shrunk and shrunk like a pair of shriveled testicles. The claim of being the head of guards and beheading threat simply pushed them past the panic point as their eyes widened, near-synchroniously trying to step back only for her grip to be ironclad and they just rebounded back to the original place. If there's fight or flight instinct raging in their mind, well, it was summarily and handily defeated by the "give up and beg for mercy" instinct. If that's even a real thing.

"L-l-lady- I mean, ma'am- ahmean, Sire-"

"Sire is for men ya dork! Dame, yes? Dame Hilda, ah've heard of yer name, yer' the bestest and strongest knight-"

"Ah saw a fight! Ain't got nothin' ta do with me, I swaer on me mum!"

"Yer mum's dead! B-birk an' Reinhold went for closer look! I ain't dealin' with that shit, I went straight home! Ne'er shot even a rabbit, for real!"

If they're not held tight by Matilda's iron fist, they probably would've ended up fighting each other to toss the other to the chopping block to save their own skin.