[IC] Blades of Iron Roses: A fantasy Knight RP

[Raineh Daze]

"We should take the bodies down, then get going. If we send someone back to contact the crown and clergy, we can arrange for proper burials and for a new garrison to take over the fort," Tyaethe stated. As much as they deserved to not be left out to the elements any longer, they weren't equipped for respectfully sending the dead along and the city wasn't that far away. It would give their quarry less time to get away than the hours or longer that burying the deceased would take.

Much like her captain, Tyaethe ignored Alette's question about her appearance. Someone had given the only important information that mattered, she wasn't going to go and explain why this was the case. it was an embarrassing story.

[AtomicNut]

Sult stood silent, her hands gently letting the corpses lie in the ground, methodically but without pause. Even though the stench was nauseating, she had steeled herself to the best of her ability. Her gaze rested on the exchange between several people, as she kept doing her gristly task. She sighed, as she heard Tiral's answer. "Worth a shot." She shrugged, as she eyed Gillian, and then Tyaethe exchange words about the shards of Angroron.

"My, You know how to put that head of yours to use sometimes, sir Gillian." Sult jeered slightly as she looked at the exchange between the two knights. "I can begin to understand why sister dearest-"

"Shut it." Nero's words were curt, her gaze meeting with her own mirror reflection. "This is no time for this." Nero added, as she began walking towards the corpses. "So politics wasn't the answer, but something outright forbidden. Which might or might not be a shard of a forgotten entity." The elder sister added, as she begun to help pile corpses, satisfied with the way Tyaethe had yanked an answer from the mercenary.

"Sult, you still have contact with the Reonites?" She added.

"Hm. I could try." The younger sister added, a hint of seriousness in her voice. "This could be too big for us unaided."

"Indeed". Nero added. "These recent events have been nothing short of suspicious. Black Knights with swords are up to no good. And It wouldn't surprise me that this...henchman was hired by the same person who contacted Damon Cal. We can't discard those two events being related. It would've been quite the feint. Set up a conspiracy to trigger and keep the public eye occupied." Nero Sunfield added as she began to set apart the corpses.

"We seem to think..."

"...the same."

"...And finish..."

"...eachother's sentences." Both seemed to exchange in seemingly fluid switches, offering a small smile. And then two voices as one.

"A bath after this would be welcome." Both Sunfields said in unison.

---

Meanwhile, Umbra furrowed her brow. That little... human knight, she had been manhandled easily with her coy words. It took a while to coax a raven to come to her aid, and it was the exact time that Umbra realized that she had been had. Call for help without a concrete message. It had been a distraction. The wood elf stomped then again inside with brisk steps, intending to call the filthy human in her mind. But the echoes of conversation made her curb her anger. Shards of Argroron... even if it was true, that signified very bad news.

"This little one." Umbra added, as she gave a scratch to the crow under the beak. "Could probably send a message to the crown really fast." The elf somberly added.

[VitaVitaAR]

Alette narrowed her eyes.

"This rotten scumbags aren't mine, and as far as I'm concerned I'd like to gut the person in charge of them," Alette said, before glancing over the corpses. "At least if I haven't done so already."

After all, the leader could have been among the bodies.

"Anyway, I've told you everything I know," Alette continued, resting the spear across her shoulders. "If you want me to do anything else you're gonna have to pay me. ... Or..."

The blue-haired girl gave a look towards Fanilly, and grinned. The blonde wasn't sure she liked that expression from the pigtailed spear-wielder.

From there, Fanilly consented to sending the raven back with a message to the capital. The bodies, as terrible as it was, would need to wait. They had to set out as quickly as they possibly could, after all. However, one more search of the fort was conducted. Unfortunately it didn't turn up anything but death. There was little more reference to... well, anything of note. It was rather mundane notes and journals by the previous occupants of the fort. The most recent date on any of them was from a couple of days ago, falling in line with the age of the bodies. It revealed nothing particularly interesting. Indeed, the only item of note had been the note Tiral discovered earlier. Alette had hung around a bit and poked around, surprisingly pointing out anything unusual to the knights, but overall there was nothing. She'd also kept staring in confusion at Tyaethe, however.

Indeed, soon enough it had become simply too much time spent at the fort. They had to get moving, and they had to move quickly. If there was any chance of catching the people carrying the shard, they had to take it.

And so the Iron Roses set out, as soon as possible.

It was less then an hour of riding, however, before they ran into another unusual sight.

"Ahead... what's that?" Fanilly halted their advance. It was growing somewhat dimmer, so it wasn't entirely easy to tell... but there. In the distance, a carriage was under siege. Figures on horseback had surrounded it, killed its escorts, and were now intent on taking whatever was within it. There was at least twenty of them, and several of them were now approaching the carriage door.

There was no way that Fanilly could ignore this.

"Iron Roses, prepare to charge," she ordered, glancing back over her shoulder towards her knights. There wasn't any time to lose, and they had their best shot if they took the attackers quickly and by surprise. After a moment's delay, in order to let her knights prepare...

"Charge!"

It was little planning, but she wouldn't risk the lives of those inside the carriage. They had to act quickly.

[Raineh Daze]

The paladin took note of the looks the captain was getting from the mercenary leader and... ignored them entirely. It was none of her business what happened in personal relations, so long as it didn't get in the way of the order's stated purpose or let politics get into their operation. A mercenary that operated in multiple nations with no backing? That was far better than many alternatives.

Her response to even seeing a random carriage under threat was entirely predictable: charge her horse at the carriage and then, realising that the horse was entirely inadequate for this sort of attack, sliding off of it and catching herself only to resume a full run, at about the same point Fanilly gave her order. The most important difference was that when everyone got there, Tyaethe would be at knee height.

A dozen horses and broken limbs would be fine until they worked out what to do with them.

[Noodles]

Klaus

All that digging for nothing... Klaus sighed as she climbed out of the pit that she dug, after hearing the order to move out. Apparently she had taken that previous order a bit too literally. Throwing the shovel down the side in slight frustration, she mounted on her horse, following the group from the back.

"Not bandits again...?" Klaus hissed at the sight of the carriage raid. Its funny to think that those horsemen have the bad luck to stumble upon the Iron Rose Knights.

At her captain's orders, Klaus positioned herself at the left side. As the order to charge have been issued, Klaus charged straight forward to her opponents, drawing out her sword. Upon reaching into cutting range, she made a diagonal slash towards one of those horsemen.

[FujiwaraPhoenix]

The decision of the Captain to move out again after sending a messenger back to inform the capital of the situation was to be expected, all things considered. If they lingered as they were now, with no more information to pry from neither the living mercenaries nor the dead soldiers, then it would be nothing more than a waste of effort. With that in mind, Tiral folded the note back up and slipped tossed it into a bag after wrapping it in other, more disposable paper. It wouldn't do to have blood staining everything if he could help it, after all.

Following behind the rest of the knights, Tiral moved himself closer to the front of the squadron just in case anyone else was stupid enough to start a fight without trying to handle things peacefully.

Fittingly enough, though, there happened to be people en route to their next location that had no such qualms. But...

"More bandits again? Really?" Tiral asked, unamused at the situation as he looked at the scene unfolding in front of him. Their group likely had enough power with the knights as they were, but now that he was being told to charge, well...

"Rather than that, Captain, I would prefer to supply some rearguard support. I don't believe it to be all that necessary, though," he said, chanting quietly as a few icicles formed in the air behind him. "After all, sending the cavalry in to deal with the rearguard without flanking is a bit of a chore, but I have enough faith in the Knights to not worry about something as simple as roadside thieves."

With that said, Tiral looked around for any warier bandits and fired at those instead, rather than charging into the fray himself. When he ran out of icicles, he simply created more and continued to fire, taking care to handle anything out of range of those rushing into battle before anything else. Handling the rear last meant that they might escape, after all; that would be rather... Annoying.

[TheFake]

— Roadside Ambush —

At the order to charge, his blade came out of its sheath in a flash. He picked a target that had their back turned and spurred his mount into a gallop. The horse had been his for a long time and was brilliantly trained for it. As he took his other hand off of the reigns to grip his sword with both it stayed the course.

As he passed by the blade lashed out. Such a long and slender blade was far too light to be used from horse back, but his was both abnormally sharp and durable for all the enchantments worked into it. The tip plunged into the mans back before flexing as Indrau passed and tearing free.

He resumed the one handed grip and cut down another man with a chop to the back of the neck. The momentum of his charge led him past the melee, where he dismounted in a fashion less graceful than that of Tyeathe. His leg did not permit him the range of motion needed for prolonged mounted combat.

Sword once again in both hands, he turned back towards the fight.

[AtomicNut]

Both Sult and Nero looked eachother, their eyes rolling in unison. The scene was getting tiresome. After a mysterious slaughter and a short-lived skirmish with some brigands (and a mercenary leader insinuating she wanted the cute captain all to herself, which was a no no, by Sult's book.) Both of them unsheathed their blades, and spurred their horses, looking at eachother before lazily following in the charge. Let the others do the work this time. Both sisters had already done what they could, even offering a small token ceremony for the fallen souls of the fortress. They had even found some lilies to burn in a small token fire.

In the meantime, both looked at Umbra, who was biting her lip as she steadied herself in the back of the cart. Having dismissed her mount earlier, because of its unsuitability for battle, she was now hitching a ride on the cart other knights were. Her elven eyes focused on the group, and the incoming knights. It looked that all they did was to use haste and no finesse. Tyaethe, the abomination knight, was particulary eager to go into the fray.

She could not allow her to proceed as she wished though. Umbra was a creature that respected life. Those horses had no right to be caught in the middle and injuried. So she whipped her bow, once more, and took aim. She however, did care very little for the humans, as she aimed at the assailants necks' swiftly and methodically, seeking to incapacitate them before the clash with her fellow knights was apparent, and thus sparing the mounts a grisly injury (specially those who were in Tyaethe's path). There was a reason why no one entered the elven forests of Thaln uninvited. However, Umbra also curbed her bloodlust at some point. She really needed to spare a couple of them for questioning.

"Wow... look at that tight..." Nero started a sentence, stopping for a moment to gawk at the show of archery from one of the Knight's best archers.

"...butt!" Sult added mischievously, causing the elven veteran to fumble and shoot the cart's planks instead of a target. Her eyes darted to the offender as she gave a venomous stare, before resuming her task.

Nero sighed. "...no, Sult. I meant tight aim. Get your head out of the gutter!" Nero chided as she finally sped up alongside her sister. Maybe they weren't as synchronized as she initially thought...

[AtomicNut]

(Double post due to guild being wonky, please ignore)

[ghastlyInc]

Gillian leapt from the carriage, grunting as his knees absorbed the sudden shock. In all honesty, he'd not expected them to run into trouble so soon, though part of him wondered if this attack was related to the fort at all. He didnt have much time to mull the possibility over before the captain called for a charge, Klien retreating (and somewhat cowering) behind Umbra for cover as she shot from his wagon. He'd leave the wagon in the elf woman's care, if only for the chance to talk to her later under the pretense of helping his old friend. Klien, for his part, probably wouldn't object to the minor exploitation.

He watches the twined Sunfields for a moment before realizing they did not intend to charge into the fray. It was a fair enough choice, though has he charged the bandits on foot he somewhat wished someone had atleast offered a horse. Oh well, he wasn't unaccustomed to fighting mounted opponents. He gripped his spear tightly as the bandits began to mount a return attack, one charging at Gillian swinging wildly.

Gillian would wager the man was probably a rookie (most trained soldiers wouldn't swing with such vigor at the air) in the bandits ranks, an almost felt sorry for him as he braced himself. The bandit locked eyes with him, glaring with the hatred of a thousand suns. 'Spirited lad...' Gill thinks, gently side stepping the charge, the offending sword of the cutthroat missing its mark. Gill spun the spear around, shaft planting itself firmly in the side of the younger man, carrying all the weight of the strike and the charge with it. 'Could work on his aim a bit though' Gill thinks as the impact reverberated through his arms, smirking slightly as he watched the unconscious body fall to the ground. If the kid was lucky, he'd probably wake up with just a broken rib or two.

He was about to carry the boy off to the side of the road, atleast to get him out from under foot while they tried to deal with the rest of his comrades, when he saw a flash of grayish white and red streak past him in a blur. He turned, raising his spear to block what he assumed to be an attacker.

It was, thankfully, a somewhat unnecessary act. He watched in somewhat disgusted awe as the rabbit person the Captain had brought along embed her now blazing curved sword into the neck of an oncoming rider's steed. The smell of burning horse hair and animal fat hit his nostrils quickly, the now removed head of the beast landing with a wet crunch near his feet. The horse (or what remained of it) crumbled mid stride, its heavy body tumbling over itself and taking its rider with it, both bodys sending out a symphony of crunching noises as they came to a stop.

The rabbit woman fixes Gillian with a harsh glare before rasping a command at him. "You're in my way. Leave." She said, flicking the blade casually. Gillian backs off, leaving the possibly unconscious person behind. The rabbit calmly walked over, casually jabbing the boys throat before turning back towards the whole of the bandits, looking for a new target with an almost hungry gaze.

[VitaVitaAR]

Unlike previous combatants, the bandits were quite unwilling to fight when they realized just who had come for them.

"Kill the ones inside and go!" shouted one of them, even as many of his comrades fell dead from the Iron Roses' defense of the carriage. The bandits at the door of the carriage were rather quick to open the door, one hand coming to the handle.

He was answered by a blade going through his chest, piercing the wood from inside the carriage. It was a long, heavy sword, and it withdrew from the bandit's body only after impaling him entirely. He fell to the ground limply, and the men behind him looked on in fear.

Fanilly, who had now met the bandits in combat herself and dismounted one of them with a sword through the chest, looked up in time to see the carriage door open.

The figure that stepped out was a striking one. Tall, the characteristic shape of of the normally two-handed sword known as a Zweihander gripped in one hand. They were clad entirely in pitch-black body concealing armor, their head too covered by a helmet. Perhaps some among the knights would realize they had heard a similar description recently, and acknowledge what a strange coincidence this was. But at the moment the tall black knight simply descended on the panicked bandits near the carriage with a vengeance, cleaving one of them entirely in two.

The rest were rather quick to flee, or die at the hands of either the Iron Roses or the Black Knight.

Once the short skirmish was over, Fanilly dismounted, allowing herself to think and focus beyond the short battle. Such a tall, black knight, they reminded her of Tyaethe in a way. Though Tyaethe was an even more striking(and in a way confusing) figure. They said nothing, and did not move from a position near the carriage, their Zweihander resting on their shoulder now.

[PaulHaynek]

---The Road---

Fanilly had ordered her order to ride out in pursuit of the missing shard. Jarde and the others had to put aside burying the dead Thaln soldiers for the more important matter.

On the road, the Iron Rose Knights had chanced upon a carriage beset by some unruly bandits. Fanilly gave the command to engage the hostiles and while Jarde was more than ready to participate in battle, the others went ahead and made mincemeat of the bandits, metaphorically speaking. He only managed to fight a couple stray ones but did not engage in the main battle, if it could be called that. It was all right for him, he was not meant for the frontlines anyway.

The attacked carriage, however, had a special surprise when a tall, dark-armored individual emerged and laid waste to the brigands with his two-handed sword which, despite its name, was held in one hand. He joined the fray and the combined might of the Iron Rose Knights and the carriage guard, the bandits were routed if not decimated.

Jarde rode his horse near Fanilly, both of whom looked at the black knight. "Uhh, isn't he the guy we're looking for?" He asked referring to the black-armored warrior.

[Noodles]

Klaus

Klaus went spending her evening eliminating those bandits here and there. She was expecting it to be way harder than this. And they're now at the verge of retreating, what a disappointment... Letting out a sigh, Klaus sent her horse for another charge, giving pursuit to those routing bandits.

"There's free food here, want some? I've potatoes,---"

Klaus let out a mischievous smirk. She raised her sword and went cutting & stabbing the remaining bandits one by one in various ways. She didn't get to see the scene at the carriage due to that.

"Liver, offal, intestines, the freshest produce you can find~"

[Raineh Daze]

Sir Tyaethe Radistirin

The oldest of the knights hadn't done much to directly fight the bandits, having mostly made a mess of their mounts and left them as easy prey for those following behind, but had trapped one of them. "Trapped" was a strong word, considering that she had mostly forced the horse off the girl's broken leg, but the foot on her chest and the sword by her neck left no illusions as to exactly what her current status was.

On the plus side for the bandit, Tyaethe had no interest in her right now and was trying to do something that was difficult, if not nigh impossible, to achieve: a staring contest through two visors.

It was a bit odd to be shorter in armour for once, even though the difference wasn't so great.

"I must request that you reveal your identity, as recent events make it unwise for the Iron Roses to trust anyone so hidden," the paladin stated, still trying to meet eyes with their strange counterpart. They definitely matched Alette's description for her employer's contact... yet they were also after the shard, from the way they were going? To be beset by bandits as well made any idea of "coincidence" farcical.

[ghastlyInc]

Nori sighed as her blade made its home (albeit temporarily) in the chest of another downed bandit. She suppressed a pleased shudder as she felt the life on the other end of the sword slowly slip away. While it wasn't very becoming of a lords retainer to enjoy slaughter so much, she'd be the first to admit that she'd missed the ruthlessness of combat while living with Merilia. It took a moment for the bloodlust to subside enough for her to register the presence of the black knight. She bows politely as Sir Tyaethe begins speaking to the new comer.

Gillian, for his part, was visibly not too happy about the new interloper. "That..." He says, swaggering beside Tyaethe, "and your choice in equipment just screams, 'please stab me, for I worship dark powers under new moons while drinking the blood of virgin geese'." He pauses, folding his arms. "No offense, of course. Optimistically, I'm hoping you're just a noble with 'impassioned' taste in wardrobe." he adds after a moment. He waves back at the group who lagged behind during the bandit attack. "You all can join us now!" He calls, watching as Klien visibly relaxes behind the lovely elven woman who so kindly defended his cart. "Pretty sure everyone is dead. So two for two out of things we've done today!"

[TheFake]

— Roadside Ambush —

The fight was over before it had started. Waylaying a carriage might be easy but it takes a stronger individual to engage in a stand up fight. He limped his way the rest of the fortunately short distance to the carriage and leaned on his sword. The blood ran down the blade like water, not sticking to it at all as it pooled on the ground.

"I think that there are a lot of questions to be answered. The sooner we start, the sooner we can all be on our way."

It might be noticed that he was putting only the slightest amount of weight on the sword, as if making ready to put it to use at a moments notice.

[VitaVitaAR]

The black knight did not respond. They remained tall, imposing, and quiet, positioning themselves in a manner that made it difficult to see into the carriage. They did not respond, no matter what was asked of them, and at this point Fanilly was growing more and more concerned about that matter. The black knight was absolutely the one they were looking for, or so she could assume. It wasn't as if huge black knights were a particularly common sight, was it? What was especially coincidental was their location, as if they had been in pursuit of the shard as well and the bandit attack had delayed them. Though why they had appeared in addition to the mercenaries, if these assumptions were true, was a far more confusing matter. In the end, Fanilly couldn't be certain what was going on, but she could be certain something was going on.

And so, sword sheathed at her side for now, Fanilly approached the carriage and the tall knight. The knight looked down at her for only a moment in acknowledgement before refusing to budge.

"As Captain of the Iron Roses, I must request that you answer the questions we ask of you," the short blonde girl began, doing her best to sound authoritative. "We mean you no harm, but there is something strange going on and I think we would all appreciate some answers."

The knight continued to be quite unresponsive, simply regarding all those before them with the same cold-feeling stare. Although it was impossible to tell exactly what emotion was behind it, to be truthful, when the black knight's face was totally obscured by a face-concealing helmet.

Fanilly thought she saw something move behind them, in the carriage, and took a step forward. As if in response to someone becoming too close, the knight swiftly lifted their Zweihander from their shoulder and brought the bloodstained blade to bare. Fanilly's hand flew to her own sword.

"We mean you no harm," Fanilly restated, narrowing her blue eyes, "But if you start a fight we will defeat you, there's no question of it."

Fanilly wasn't used to attempting to be threatening in order to defuse a situation that was rapidly spiraling into a rather worrying territory, but she was going to try her hardest. There was no need to fight now.

"Haelstadt, stand down," said a girlish voice from inside the carriage. The speaker huffed. "You're being a fool and it's frustrating just sitting here and watching. Step aside and let me talk to them."

For a few moments, the black knight remained, as if in hesitation, before finally stepping aside and turning to face the step leading down from the carriage door.

The person who emerged from the carriage was fairly recognizable to anyone who had any real knowledge of her family. Black hair, pale purple eyes, light and delicate skin... she looked to be no older then thirteen, perhaps slightly younger.

Veileena Cal folded her arms and let out another huff as she did. "It's not as if I'm not thankful for your help, but did you have to start antagonizing my knight? Haelstadt's not likely to answer your questions."

Her hands transferred from being folded across her chest to resting on her hips, tilting her head to one side and making her pigtails bob. She seemed to be trying her best not to look at any of the bodies.

"What are your questions, exactly? And why are you asking these questions? Do the victims of a bandit attack really seem like people who would be in the mood to answer questions?"

She seemed rather irritable. In fairness, being attacked by bandits is likely to make emotions run high.

[Raineh Daze]

What was it with members of the nobility and getting defensive before anybody had accused them of wrongdoing? It would be one thing if they were completely breaching all forms of decorum but here they had a little girl getting offended simply by asking who it was. Fortunately, there was no need to ask her who she was: they'd met once before. After all, someone had to pass on the news of her father's demise and there had been nobody of higher rank alive at the time to do it.

"Lady Cal, we have been travelling from a nearby fort after it sent word of being under attack. Would it be correct to assume that it was you who contracted Alette the Shark to hunt down some item or another?" the knight said, cutting to the chase immediately. If anyone else wanted to deal with the bandits or interrogate the one that she was standing on, it was fine by Tyaethe.

[Noodles]

Klaus

Klaus was at the far end of the scene, with dead bodies of those bandits around her. Wiping the blood off her sword, she galloped her horse back to the group of Knights. She had eliminated the bandits, except for some lucky ones that escaped her field of sight.

A Black Knight...? Was it the one the spear girl's been referring to? Klaus was surprised to see the one in the carriage to be the Black Knight, and not to mention a young girl inside. Looking at how the other Knights went ahead with the questioning, no doubt that was the guy they were looking for. She stood down the the moment, crunching on the same old potatoes that she had been eating the whole day. Its better to let the senior do the talking for now. Now to think about it, the word 'senior' doesn't really fit for someone with the face of a 10 year old girl. She found the whole situation unnaturally peaceful, despite the fall of a fort and bandits. Probably just my imagination, sigh...

[ghastlyInc]

Nori gawks slightly at the small figure which stepped out from the shadow of the behemoth of a man (well, comparatively. She some how doubted The giant gentlemen of the mercenaries they'd taken charge of would be so inclined to agree.) "This dainty human waif is our prospective evilly inclined noble?" she asks with no small hint of disbelief, an ear dropping to one side in uncertainty. "It does not sit well with me that we are accusing a child of such an act." she rasps bluntly. "The little one is barely big enough to sit in my lap, much less conjure dark forces...."

Gillian eyes the large armored hulk currently hovering near said 'dainty human waif' with an inordinately healthy amount of skepticism. "Looks can be deceiving. Lady Ittsybittsy here is one of the crotch spawn of one of the most infamous traitors in Thaln's recent history." He says, matter of factly. He stretches a little, his back cracking quietly. "Got to say didn't figure it'd be a Cal though. So whats the story short stack? After all the temper tantrums you've thrown about how much you hate your daddy-dearest seems rather out of character for you to go hiring mercs and skulk around the backwoods looking for possibly ancient evil shards.....provided of course that is what you're doing."

Gillian turns his gaze towards the young girl, fixing it into a harsh glare. He didnt hold any particular ire towards her, but she was a suspect for the moment. And with Tyaethe acting ever tactful (to those of us fortunate to be born nobles anyway), it was good to have a foil for her. 'nice knight, bad knight' was a popular interrogation trick back in Candaeln, if not for results then at least amusement.