A5G

Sovereign's Will: The Edge of War [Looking for new players]

Well... these things were definitely a bunch of mini-Ragnar. The corner of her eyes found how they had even less skill than the towering brute, but the sheer durability was the exact same kind of annoyance. Change of plans, she'll need to-

-Jonas, the old motherfucker, was here. It's like the old man took a few leisurly steps but suddenly went across the entire distance they're apart, culminating into a straightforward stab at her direction. The bardiche was stuck in whatever unnaturally hard bones and crystalline scab, the second it'll take to free it was a second she did not have.

Instinct took over, her body moving as thought the world demanded it as everything seemingly slowed. Pivot on one foot, the body follows, in a smooth sequence letting go of the weapon in favor of drawing her sword. Her off-hand near the tip, Yvonne pushed the flat of the blade against the incoming partisan to deflect it harmlessly to the side.

Then the adrenaline-driven lapse ended, the heat of the battle caught up with conscious thought. The pivot smoothly switched into leverage, a powerful step that sent her charging toward the Delving patriarch, attempting to enter into the range where the partisan would be more of a hindrance than a weapon. Dull amber burned within her eyes, feral rictus twisting her face into a violent mask.

She's getting into the zone.

Sovereign's Will: The Edge of War [Looking for new players]

All said and done, Yvonne let the body drops as she regulated her breathing. That's a nice warmup, but surely it couldn't be all?

Just as she finished the thought, the next wave arrived. Delving and his personal guards weren't really notable, all things considered she had seen enough of their ilk across her career. But the five unusual additions... they reminded her of Ragnar way too much for comfort. From the way they're underdressed to the insane head-on charges, well, it brought up some really annoying memories.

And they had the audacity to try round around her too! Not even Ragnar was that rude.

Lunging to the left, Yvonne sweep the bardiche low to clip the nearest berserker at the knees. From experience, fatal blows weren't as effective as maiming ones. They can still swing and take you down with them even when fully disemboweled, much like how a boar will plunge deeper into the spear in order to gore a hunter. But no amount of anger or willpower can compensate for a missing limb.

Sovereign's Will: The Edge of War [Looking for new players]

The distance wasn't ideal for maximum effect, but Yvonne had gotten to where she needed to be. Sparky's sniping even spared her the need to personally cut down the bastard, leaving only one aiming at her. Not great to get shot, but she had her own countermeasures to that.

As the man with an arrow in his neck gurgled, Yvonne slammed at him and carried him forward by his clothing with barely any lost momentum. Quite literally using a human shield, she rapidly approached before cleaving the last crossbowman with the frozen bardiche. It was light enough to be easily swung one-handed, but she tapped into a little extra strength just to be sure.

Sovereign's Will: The Edge of War [Looking for new players]

Oh yeah, nice and flashy. A few of the defenders were taken down within the first few seconds, though the rest rallied rather quickly. And apparently combat-ready? One of them tossed their torch a surprising distance, just about enough to shed light on the group. And then they fired - they sleep with their crossbows strung up, apparently - real accurately, though thankfully not quite deadeye. Not wanting to miss the action Yvonne too sprung forth as she tapped into her inner strength, bounding a significant distance forward with every step.

Inhale, deep. Feel the spark of flame within. Grab at it, and... unleash.

"HAH! I'LL TEAR YOU LIMB FROM LIMB!"

The sound was almost physical, a terrorizing wave that grip at the heart and cloud the mind. Not the best effect at their distance, but should disrupt their reloading long enough for her to reach into melee. And once she do, well, it'll be time to keep her words and tear them limb from limb.

Sovereign's Will: The Edge of War [Looking for new players]

"Right, before we go." Yvonne reached to her belt, fingering the shape on the flasks' rim before taking off a pair of them. She squinted at the infiltration team under the sparse moonlight, pondering... before handing over the stuff to Veronica. "Our bear's in a bad shape, isn't he? Use these if necessary. The one with rounded rim heal wounds quickly. The one with rope pattern numbs pain and allows someone to press on despite injuries."

The alchemist that made it calls it fleshknit draught and iron will tonic, but she ain't saying that out loud. Dumb as hell names. It's rather pretentiously inscribed on the flask anyway, if anyone's curious, because of course it was. That said, the effect was a real deal so she had no options but to accept the dumb names.

That left her with four. A pair of fleshknit and second wind, respectively. Hopefully she wouldn't need them, damned thing were expensive.

Sovereign's Will: The Edge of War [Looking for new players]

"Yvonne." Said the mercenary back to the pale man. She had the travelling cloak on, but underneath she's dressed for war with her full set of equipment and the pale bardiche at hand. Not quite the most subtle weapon, but turned out the defense was even sloppier than she expected. What's the point of walls if there's no one to man it? This was beyond even skeleton crew, more like a single fingerbone crew. Three men with a sturdy tree limb as long as the wall was tall will bypass it within half a minute without anyone to stop them.

"Assault team get through the walls and start the killing as loud as we can, yeah? Simple enough." Simple plan was the best plan. There's no need to overcomplicate stuff. And Yvonne knew exactly how to be loud.

Sovereign's Will: The Edge of War [Looking for new players]

"Huh?" It was the pale man that asked the unusually philosophical question... or perhaps it was just curiosity. He certainly looked young enough to have no experience in the matter. But anyway, he was asking about bardiches? Yvonne barked out a harsh laugh, grinning at the unusual addition to their merry little murder troupe.

Where did Freddy pull out all these colorful individuals from?

"Ah, I didn't actually need to borrow one! It's just a reminder of the last encounter with our dear old Stritzel. But to answer your question, it's a type of poleaxe with long but narrow... blade?" Her words trailed into a moment of confusion as the man started shaping his ice, a pale bluish white construct dully reflecting the moonlight. It first took the shape of a standard poleaxe, but as she spoke the blade lengthened and narrowed accordingly. Huh, that's interesting. "Even longer, about twice as long as that. Without the speartip or back-blade. The bottom of the bearding connects back to the handle to facilitate better heft just by shifting the grip. Yeah, juuust like that."

Yvonne whistled as he passed the finished construct to her, the ice surprisingly... neutral. Much closer to room temperature than what she expected of a block of ice. The balance was different from regular polearm on account of the entire thing comprised of the same material, feeling more like a wooden weapon, but the edge was razor-sharp. As for the durability, she tapped into a small amount of her inner strength before trying to bend the pole.

No give at all. Interesting...

"Do you mind if I knock it around a bit?" She asked, the man shaking his head in acquiescence. Her grin wider, Yvonne knelt on the ground with the ice weapon before her as she took out her dagger and strike it at the flat of the axehead.

First, with the pointed end. A soft clink echoed before the daggerpoint scraped sideways, barely leaving any mark in the process. Flipping the weapon, she tried a pommel strike only to get a dull thunk for her trouble. Another whistled escaped as she stood back up, patting some dirt off her knee before sheathing the dagger back.

"Awesome! Wouldn't need to worry about replacement weapons with you around, yeah?" No one had introduced their strength and weakness, so it's a nice discovery to find out that one of the newcomers had a fun magic to play around. There's so many applications she could think of... "I'll be sure to make a good use of it tomorrow. Thanks, bud!"

All she got in reply was a mild nod before the man departed, but she chalked it to his personality being quiet. It certainly suited his appearance, as generalizing as it were. Still, she doubt Frosty would mind the opinion at all.

Moving a bit away, Yvonne spend a couple minutes getting used to the weapon's reach and weight before eventually getting ready to call it a day.

Sovereign's Will: The Edge of War [Looking for new players]

"Once we control the mansion and smash whatever is making that barrier there's nowhere they can hide to." The ember of the lantern flickered on crimson eyes, gazing down on the simple map as if trying to peer within the mansion just from the piece of parchment. "Magical scrying will flush them out soon enough. But regardless, there's merit in preventing them from wasting our time. And to that end..."

A small bronze coin was added to the map, what design visible between old bloodstain and green oxidation was foreign to Kindeance. It represented the third token on the frontal assault team, Yvonne flashing a grin that was more teeth and snarl than anything resembling a smile.

"I'm sure she remembers who castrated her beloved pet, yeah? Anyone got a bardiche I could borrow?"

Sovereign's Will: The Edge of War [Looking for new players]

She'd be damned, it's Veronica! Edgy there was a good team member to have, considering the past experience. Yvonne certainly knew some companies that'll offer a fortune for such a perfect scout, not to mention how good a fighter the black-clad woman was. Yvonne waved back as the group gather, explaining the condition of the fortified mansion. It's a rather sizeable compound, so either they'll be up against a small army or the security was more porous than a leaky sieve. Considering that Edgy there managed to scout all the way through the inner wall, it's probably the latter.

Sparky will make short work of those people. But that's not the biggest problem they had...

"We probably should be prepared for another mage fight, yeah? Whoever set up that scrying barrier probably have relation to Asevor, unless such things are commonly traded between wizards." She shrugged, not really in the know about arcane matter. She knew enough to work with friendly ones, and how to best kill hostile ones. Anything else wasn't important.

"Killing people? Ain't got any special feeling to it. Do the deed and move on. But getting to that point is either exciting or excruciating with little inbetween." A proper fight with one's life on the line was exciting, but on the other hand there'll be skirmishes and/or assaulting entrenched position where it was plain miserable the entire time. Yvonne didn't kill for fun, it's a bit of the other way around - what she finds fun tend to ends up with people dying. Small distinction, but an important one.

Sovereign's Will: The Edge of War [Looking for new players]

Their camp tonight was within a forest sparse enough that a decent clearings could be found just a stone's throw away from the edge. Issue was the very quality that made it a decent camping spot also meant it's very much still possible to be spotted from the road. Especially if they were to lit some fire. Just a small inconvenience, the worst of winter's chill have passed with only some lingering touches left, but they had a rather important old man coming along...

...well, Thernous wasn't complaining so she wouldn't offer.

Still having her travelling cloak on to avoid the last light of the day glinting off her metallic guards, Yvonne slowly made her way around the perimeter of their camp and fiddled with the young saplings growing around. When tied with the right knot, they'll whip in a sharp crisp rustle should anyone trip through the makeshift alarm. And best of all, they'll untangle over time as the sapling grew and within a week there'll be no more trace of it. Pretty handy when one's traversing into potentially hostile territory with minimum resources and manpower.

She returned back to the camp right in time for Smurfy's news, her eyes flickering to the hilltop where the unmistakable glow of Sparky's magic momentarily lit up. Well, so much for being subtle. Hope it wouldn't come back to bite them in the ass later.

"About time we meet these forward scouts. Look lively, ladies and gentlemen, but keep your weapons close just in case."

They've already ran into an eldritch creature playing merchant just yesterday. Wouldn't put it past their luck that the newcomers were somehow out to screw their little group over too.