Mages
The remarkably comfortable beds let the Jackals fall asleep easily. The drinks they had also helped as well. However, each and every one of them dreamed the same dream, as they figured it out in the morning. In the dream they saw themselves walking down the strees of Kaosbund, in it's pristine condition. They were alone in the dream however. Something called to the dreamer, guiding them. Arriving near the palace, there was a large dome-like structure to the left, heavily fortified. However, the city was empty, and the gates to this structure were open. It lead underground to a massive circular room, with another circular room in the middle. It was all chained up, the massive magical and mundane chains connecting at the massive door, all locked and double locked via various means. The dreamers felt the compulsion to open the door, and felt themselves somehow undoing the locks, one by one. As they opened the massive door, the dream ended before them being able to see what's inside.
Waking up, the Jackals grouped up to discuss the rest of trip, and the weird dream they had. It is then they figured out they all had the same dream. Even worse, Misala was missing, majority of her things still near her bed. Without much choice, The Jackals decided to look for her, most likely near the vault in their dreams.
The path towards the palace took the most damage. Corpses increased in number and density, so did the damage to the nearby area and the path itself. When they finally reached the palace, they only found it in ruins. With near literal hill of bones at the entrance. Much more detailed and extravagant armor on the defenders made it clear it was the Royal Guard, making their last stand, literally. They blocked the entrance with their bodies, and slew many attackers. It seemed that their stand ended when siege weapons were used.
As expected, the dome structure was there, still standing strong. It was only then that The Jackals noticed that the main city defense was not focused on the palace, it was focused on this structure. This structure itself was far more sturdy than anything else in Kaosbund. Something extremely important was locked up there. Descending down the stairs, they found Misala there sketching something in her notebook, which she always had on herself. It seemed it was some sort of diary, but she never talked about it. Just like in the dream, the circular room in the middle was constricted with both mundane and magical chains, connecting in the middle to be locked up with various locks. The locks themselves were protected heavily with magic. The door was even sturdier and heavier, one that would need several men to even open or close.
Misala looked nervous, copying the various symbols on the wall in her notebook. Her confidant and calm visage was not there. She seemed anxious, distressed, hardly able to focus.
"You're finally here. Good." she said nervously.
"The goddamn whispers in my head are driving me mad, but I gotta copy down this writing. At the very least, after we are all done with Weisstraugh, I can find out what the hell is this and how to deal with it." Whispers? The rest of the Jackals stayed quiet for a moment. Sure thing, they could hear faint whispers, but you had to focus hard to even hear them. Misala however, was far more heavily affected.
Discussing the place while Misala finishes copying the ancient writing, they finally decide to leave this place alone and continue their task. After leaving Kaosbund, Misala seemed to return to normal. In about two days, they finally reach Weisstraugh. Payday is not far.
Luminous Knights
Trekking through the forest and nearing their destination, Team Aegis came upon a clearing, with a large group of well-armed people guarding it. There were some minor fortifications as well, acting as makeshift walls. In the back was the large cave entrance, as reported. The armed men quickly noticed them and quickly grouped into a formation, with shield bearers in the front, spearmen in the second row, and archers in the back. In the very back was their leader, who coordinated their movements. These people were no bandits holding a weapon for the first time. Their weapons and armor were of high quality, and their stances showed experience and training. They also well as a team, and moved as one. While the mind-controlled bandits were no match for even a fresh paladin, these people will be a significant challenge.
"Time to earn our pay, boys!" their leader said to his men, then switching his gaze to Team Aegis.
"Hmm, seems you're the rookies that kicked Seth's ass. Oh he's going to be so mad when we bring the boss your heads. I can't wait to see the look on his face!" the man, who also appeared to be a mage, taunted them. However, they were not advancing. The mercs stalled for some reason. Moreover, the reports said there should be twice as many of them here. Aela was suspicious. Team Aegis started to notice something odd, the blades of grass near them being stepped on by something, footprints appearing in the dirt. Without warning, Aela unleashed a blast of Luminosity from her, a warm breeze for the team, and fiery burn for the mercs under invisibility trying to flank them. Receiving minor burns from their enchantment being dispelled, they quickly grouped into a formation.
"Plan B, pincer attack!" their captain commanded, and the team found themselves out of formation being advanced towards from front and rear. They needed to break their formation, and Aela did just that. She charged towards the front formation swinging her greatsword horizontally, knocking back the shieldbearers and anyone behind them. A gap in the formation, just what they needed.
As the fight began, both sides quickly dropped their formations. It turned chaotic. Aela was taking on 5 people at the same time and winning, others were outnumbered roughly 2 on 1. Their captain and a mage supported them from afar, imbuing their weapons with fire, frost or lightning. The mercs made sure to block any attempts on reaching their captain, and the captain himself used lightning to intercept Luminosity projectiles used against him.
"That invisibility cloak is Seth's trick. You met him once already. A brat, but a pretty damn skilled brat, and he taught me this as well." the merc captain continued his speech.
"Mimel is quite scary and intimidating, but given what she had to experience, I can't blame her. Watch this paladins, it's gonna be amazing!" he said, as he switched the enchantments on the mercenaries to something shadowlike, just like Mimel's claws. Suddenly, the mercenary weapons became incredibly sharp, easily slicing through the paladin weapons and shields. A few members of Team Aegis already lost their weapons trying to parry with them. And even though the paladins continually burned off the enchantments of their foes, their captain would just put them back on.
"And this is one of the favorites of the Boss Man himself." A faint hum could be heard, as suddenly any attacks made towards the mercs glanced off their path, as if some invisible force surrounded them. While luminosity could pop the protection, it would be quickly reapplied and the mercs themselves didn't just stand there - they tried to push every advantage they've got, however slight. It became a battle of attrition, as each side couldn't really strike anyone down any opponent by themselves.
[This difficult battle forces Team Aegis to improvise and come up with new ways to break the stalemate they will soon lose. Every member of Team Aegis can either learn a new basic spell/technique or improve an existing one.]
The battle was won, finally. Everyone was tired, and only their captain remained. He threw down his weapons, and proclaimed his surrender.
"I surrender, and I will cooperate. On one condition - my men get a proper burial. They died because of me, therefore it is my duty to face the consequences. But they deserve better." It was an unexpectedly reasonable request, to which Aela agreed. Shackling his hands and posting a few recruits to guard him, the rest scoured the hideout for evidence. It wasn't very big, but it contained various documents, maps and plans, as well as a few captive paladins, relatively unharmed. One old map grabbed the attention of Team Aegis, where a place called Weisstraugh was circled over, with "Top priority" written nearby. After taking everything of interest, they buried their opponents, as per deal, and headed back, both with the prisoner and the freed paladins.
Alicia
When they arrived, it was already clear the paladins were expected. They also worked for the mages that attacked them. Unlike the bandits, however, those people were well armed and well trained, and Alicia knew how a proper stance looks like. The mercenaries were stalling for some reason, however, and despite their threats, did not advance. The answer to this mystery was discovered when Captain Aela removed the invisibility from the other half of mercenaries trying to move behind them. Were they always invisible? Were they waiting out of sight just in case? It was not a time to think, but to act, and Alicia prepared to do just that.
With a display of inhuman strength, Aela broke through their front formation in one blow, allowing Team Aegis to rush through, breaking any manner of organized fighting among both sides. Their captain, who was also a mage, supported them from afar, and any attempts made by Alicia or anyone else to hit him with a Luminosity projectile were prevented by a defensive blast of lightning, which he seemed not use offensively.
Upon seeing Alicia's weapons and stance, the mercs in front of her instantly adopted a defensive stance, while trying to flank her.
"Cute, a Sioretto user. Come on, give it your best shot, see if you can get through our shields before your rampage timer runs out." the mercs taunted her. And they were right, to fight a Sioretto user one must weather the brief burst of prowess. After that, Sioretto is far less effective, especially against an experienced fighter. And they knew it well. There is nothing she could do to go through a shield unless her opponent's try to attack, and it was clear that they won't.
The various enchantments on their weapons didn't help either, though thankfully, Alicia, unlike her teammates, wasn't the one being attacked. Fire would heat up and burn anything around the weapon, frost would freeze it, and shock would send a powerful jolt of electricity down the opponent's armor, shield or a weapon. For Alicia, however, it was more like an angry stare contest, as they slowly walked around, trying to get into Alicia's blind spot or otherwise distract her. The first one to make a move loses. The one in front of her with a spear was constantly poking from afar and behind his shield, offering no chance for retaliation, distracting her as his buddies are trying to flank her.
The others on Team Aegis were fighting fiercely, yet unable to take each other down for good. To turn the tides, their captain changed the enchantments on their weapons to something very similar to the magical claws the girl mage used. Almost as deadly as the real deal, it seemed to cut through any metal with ease. It changed nothing about Alicia's standoff. However, she had an advantage - she was learning their movements, however slight. The patterns of the spear-man. There was a potential gap in their defense, she just did not have a certain tool in her arsenal. A distraction. Even a moment of distraction could win her the fight. When he pokes with a spear, his shield moves a bit, obscuring his vision to the side.
But Alicia can't move to his blindside THAT fast. Unless... Luminosity. In a lot of ways, it's just like regular light. It is a light source, it can either warm or burn, or blind. Blind... That's it! Conjuring up a Sword of Light, Alicia points it towards their leader, fooling her opponents. Focus. It was time to focus. The timing has to be precise. The spear-man pokes again, for a slight moment covering up the vision of his left. Alicia dashes to that side, launching the Sword of Light towards the face of the spear-wielder and then detonating it in such a way it emits a blinding flash of light. This gives her a precious second of confusion, allowing her to hit the merc in the neck.
Next up, the two who previously tried to flank her, using the trusty sword and board style. They knew she was on a timer now, and if she does not manage to deal with them until it's up, she's done for. But Alicia already had a tool to circumvent that. The mercs would expect her to use the same trick, trying to attack from the side while they are blinded. They would try to turn slightly to the side, to be able to protect their flanks quickly. This would leave them very slightly vulnerable to a frontal assault, but it was all Alicia needed.
"Let's go!" she said to them, detonating two more Swords to blind them while rushing towards them, they reacted as expected, allowing her to finish off the rest of her opponents. 5 seconds. It took five seconds to accomplish that. Now the remaining 55 seconds were to be used to help the rest of Team Aegis, seeing as the mercs were now protected by some kind of barrier.
...
The battle was over. Their captain, the last surviving member surrendered, only asking to honor the men that served him in return.
"Honor, huh? Never would have expected that." she mumbled quietly. Up next, raiding the hideout, she grabbed anything that looked important. Some paladin prisoners were also found and freed, relatively unharmed but tired. They looked really relieved, as they didn't expect anyone to find them anymore.
Burying your foes felt odd, but it also felt right. Morality aside, both sides were doing their jobs to utmost of their ability. Unlike the various stories of evil outlaws and cutthroat mercenaries, these people were almost like them, just on a different side. After all of that was done, it was time to go back. Their first mission as an official team was a great success. It felt good, and despite being exhausted from the battle, everyone was in high spirits.
[Alicia learns [Blinding Flash]. This ability allows her to detonate a Sword of Light to produce a strong flash of light, temporary blinding opponents. Just like with shatter, this spell has dramatically reduced magic negation capabilities.]
Eddy
Eddy has never ever slept this well in his life. These beds felt divine. However, the dream, which he could remember clearly after waking unnerved him. Gathering up with The Jackals early in the morning, everybody mentioned that wierd dream they had. ALL of them had the same one. And Misala, of all people, was missing, with her things still near her bed. And there was only one place where she could have gone.
"I don't really want to get closer to that vault door, if it is actually there, but I sure as hell don't want to leave Misala near it either. Let's go find her." he suggested to The Jackals.
The closer to the palace they got, the more devastation their saw. This is where the majority of the fighting took place. The palace itself, grand and pristine in the dream, was now totally and utterly destroyed, with what appeared to be the Royal Guard's bones blocking up the now ruined entrance.
"Well they sure were fanatical in defending their Empress. Wonder what she did to inspire such loyalty." Eddy commented. He never bought the stories that every mage that lived back then was utterly evil. Heck, Eddy himself was a mage, and he met plenty others. They were people just like anyone else, with the capability for both good and bad. But history is written by the winners, even if that was a very pyrrhic victory.
As in the dream, the dome-like structure was there. It stood the test of time rather well, however, being much more heavily fortified than even the palace. Taking the stairs down, they found Misala in the chamber, as well as that vault from the dream, exactly as they remember it. She had her notebook or a diary with her, copying the strange writings on the walls. Eddy didn't even bother to ask why. What surprised him, however, was the whispers Misala was hearing. Focusing, he could definitely hear it too, but it was faint and you had to actually try to hear them. But not Misala - she was losing her cool and collected appearance quite fast.
Turning to the rest of Jackals, who also started to explore it,
"So, what do you think is behind that door?" he asked. The Jackals gave their guesses, but no one really wanted to find out. They all uniformly agreed , including Misala, that it should remain closed.
"You know, I don't really like her trying to find out more about it either, but as a hunter, I agree. You are better off knowing something and never using that information rather than the other way around." he defended her.
"I'd like to believe that no one is stupid enough to open a door that was locked up hundreds of years ago, especially with locks like these." Some discussions and arguments ensued, but when Misala was finished, they all were glad to leave. Picking up some supplies from the magical inn, they all left Kaosbund. Weisstraugh was just a few days away now. Leaving also helped Misala return to normal.
Trying to deny it as hard as he could, Eddy felt, in the back of his heart, that they will return here, and sooner or later, those locks will be broken.
