Conscripts

Blades of Iron Roses: An Anime-Inspired Knight RP

Steffen Gravinir

---

"As if you Boars have any credence." The tip of the spear was right at his throat, and he made it so easy too. But Steffen saw through this ruse. A pathetic last gasp of a petty lesser child, one that deserved an even pettier response. The tip bearing the two diamond-shaped emblems trailed the reddened skin of the Boar, but not one spill of blood leaked from its scrotum. Not from there. The young former-mercenary, fully-fledged knight stepped on the execution pad, Steffen gladly gave the Boar a taste of his own hammer. The gauntlet thumped the bastard's lousy mouth, hopefully sending some teeth down his throat before the final judgment.

"He's one of us." His last statement whispered in his ears as he stood up, stepped aside and let Gerard have the honors, if there is any honor in taking out the trash. His spear was at rest, but any insidious second thoughts would be swiftly dealt with.

Once the dirty work was carried out, Steffen gave the young knight a firm nod but lifted the spear off the ground.

"Good response." He said, a little bit envious of the lad who was so resolute in shedding off his troublesome past. "Let's catch our breathe for now." His defensive stance were there to ward off any Boars who might attack. A few deep breathe observed the battlefield. The defensive line around Veilena was still holding against these abominations, Fionn and Tyaethe doing their own thing, the knife wielder was fencing with two instead of just Serenity, and Lein off on his own with the hounds. He wasn't sure how his friend was there to begin with, but having an archer at that position fending for himself was a waste of manpower, if not dangerous too.

"Can you help Sir Fionn? I will be bringing back Sir Lein and join you."

With that, Steffen set out towards where Lein was, hounds and Boars in the way be impaled.

@HereComesTheSnow@Raineh Daze@PigeonOfAstora

Avalia

Time: Morning
Location: River
Interactions: Aurora @mole Zora @13org
Mentions: None
Equipment: Longsword and Plate Armor

---

Like a training dummy, he just stood there, not knowing how to leave or even approach the conversation, until the tattooed lady took the conversation to him instead. But it was about the previous encounter he had with the dark elf. Barrock mostly found that annoying to be reminded of. He still harboured some innate urge to take the dark elf to an early grave, but once again he had to remind himself that malarkey like that does not deserve any further attention.

"At one point, you have to say it's not worth it."

He gritted his teeth on the inside, as the anger subsided for good. Now he was left with this lad elf and two ladies, one of whom did not hesitate to compliment his 'gentleness'. From the sound of it, she seemed to be genuine about it. A genuine compliment, that's a first.

He glanced away awkwardly at first before looking back at Aurora. "Thank you." Barrock gave a light bow as he held onto the hilt of his sword. He never really knew how to respond to the compliment. Simplicity was perhaps the easiest and, in his opinion, most genuine. "The name is Barrock. And no, you did not bother me." He returned Zora's greeting with an acknowledging nod. Seeing the weird but pleasant friendliness the two of them gave to him, he was tempted to ask a follow up.

"You two must be Master Rowan's training partner. What training is this?"

Blades of Iron Roses: An Anime-Inspired Knight RP

Steffen Gravinir

---

The kill was not achieved, but his shield bash succeeded in staggering his opponent. However, shocking his opponent meant having to follow it up, especially when his guard was down, having to use his entire active offence and defence tool to keep himself straight. After absorbing the blastback of the charge he himself commenced by letting himself loose and be bounced back a footstep, his spear retracted and cocked back to ready for another thrust.

Steffen moved in, determined to kick the dog (or boar in this case) while he was down. And it was a literal frontal kick too, coming after thrusting his spear at the same throat that he aimed for a few seconds ago, with the sole intent to get the bastard off the hammer.

@Raineh Daze@HereComesTheSnow

🗡 Roses and Daggers 🎕

Time: Late Morning
Location: Sorian Beach
Interactions: Layla/Olivia @Potter Charlotte @princess, Sjan-dehk @Apex Sunburn, Roman @ReusableSword Farim @Lava Alckon
Mentions: Lorenzo @FunnyGuy, Ruby @SausagePat, Kazumin @samreaper, Ariella @Tpartywithzombi, Cassius @PapaOso, and others

---

One after another, more and more people continued pouring into the fray, gradually taking over his senses, creeping around him as he found himself increasingly irritated. He didn't know why so many are willing to bite into granite with this person, and it was getting very clear that Layla had no intentions of playing nice or was unaware of her own rudeness. She was here to make trouble, to vye for attention, and they were just giving it to her like a masochist asking for the belt. At this point, John seriously doubted if this was about hurting Layla's ego than preventing their own from getting hurt. Everyone, and everyone, was ruining his day.

Another girl joined the shouting, and quickly passed out for no god damned reason. The same girl just a few days ago, at it again. He didn't want to bother himself with this. A quick look already gave it away, as he told Olivia to simply take her to a dry, cool spot. The bigger problem here is this crowd, and specifically Layla. She needs to GO, period.

The voices in his head began to dissipate as John zeroed in on his decisions. The stressed breathing began to mild, the posture cold and professional. After spending a moment away from Layla's sight and everyone's attention, he headed back into the thick, calmly standing as closely to Layla that juuusst barely get her guards to toughen up a little. The most quizzical thing now was a newly acquired sunglasses blocking the vision into his eyes.

"I hate to be the diplomat here, but can we not escalate into a full-blown war right on this beach? Thank you." He raised a hand towards the anti-Layla group. Their good intentions were not good enough, but he spared his anger towards them for it.

Now, for the Shehzadi...

"Shehzadi Layla, I assume my lack of elegance did not catch your attention, so here is my attempt." John said, adjusting his sunglasses playfully before returning to his cold professional manners. "You have been...say...unkind." He said, in such a manner that could come off as either sarcastic understatement or unnerving politeness. "Such a contrast to the image of the Shehzadi I met the other day. May I ask what had caused this change of personality? Or at the very least what is the reason for causing such a scene here?"

The boring, overdressed, bug-like doctor is now face to face with one of the most powerful individual in Eromora, but there is a certain lack of both fear and interest in engaging with her game. Whether or not she realized that yet was still up in the air.

Blades of Iron Roses: An Anime-Inspired Knight RP

Steffen Gravinir

---

The smoke cover signalled to him that his enemy was intent on engaging combat with Serenity with a battlefield of his own choosing. With a few steps backward in extra caution, seeing that was excess, Steffen finally turned around for Gerard, giving one last trust to Serenity, now engulfed in the smoke cover. Once this bastard is felled, that rogue will be next. None of them will be spared.

A few strides quickly turned into a sprint, quickly closing distance with the hammer-wielding Boar, his spear raised overhead with very clear intention. A Boar noted for his reckless bravery decided to be the rampart against that, and quickly learned his last lesson of the mortal life: you do not get in the way of a charging Ingvarr. He did not even came close to slowing down the outlander knight. A rock solid boulder in its descent.

Steffen's normally dull amethyst eyes were lit up with energy, as his step landed in the vicinity of the two fighters just as the Boar finished his swing. Once in, his feet only touched the ground two times. At the last second, his shield locked forward, the metallic spear thrust towards the throat area of the armor, the energy of the charge imbuing his strike with equally monstrous strength. If the spear did not find its target, the larger shield would be the collision point.

@Raineh Daze@HereComesTheSnow

Blades of Iron Roses: An Anime-Inspired Knight RP

Steffen Gravinir

---

Steffen received little response from the former mercenary lad, but at least he was causing havoc. He found it a little out of the element having to keep up with Gerard's fury, but the slaughterhouse continued functioning. Boars continued to run headlong into danger, the hounds continued pounding, but their fates, like many that came before it was either a hole in the face, chest or throat, or sidegrade-wise a head severed from its torso but still dangling on their skins.

The slow-roll approach of the Ingvarr knight allowed him some observation. Alarm quickly raised in his head the moment the black-cladded knight of Veilena was split in two, but just as quickly it shifted over to amazement that it continued fighting on somehow. He had been surprised more than enough, and having little time, he looked on to the reinforcement that arrived. Bigger, stronger, uglier, harder they would fall. But he did not see the dagger that curved right at him at his blindspot, not until it was too late anyway. He knew it, but the instinct overloaded with decades of training still snapped his limbs and body into the incoming knife, only to find the lioness inbetween him and the attacker, a shield at hand.

"A thousand thanks." Steffen gave the flaxen-haired knight a nod, quickly glancing over to Gerard, whose rampage were too stopped by an armored Boar. As much as he wished to help Serenity with this more elusive opponent, his worries over Gerard himself and his respect for Serenity's judgment and capabilities made him turn his goal elsewhere, but his attention and body orientation still in the direction of the dagger-armed attacker. Who knows if he would let this 'my kind of opponent' a free pass. But assuming the best, that armored Boar with the cocky hammer - truly Steffen's kind of opponent too.

@HereComesTheSnow@ERode@Krayzikk@VitaVitaAR

Avalia

Time: Morning
Location: River
Interactions: Rowan @GingerBobOh Aurora @mole Zora @13org
Mentions: None
Equipment: Longsword and Plate Armor

---

After a short while of swinging, both him and the elf grew tired of swinging their weapons at each other with very little intentions to hurt the other person, and decided to stop. Despite not really getting the fight he desired, Barrock simply grew to accept this was as good as he could have gotten out of it. The elf's fighting style was indeed distinct from himself, he wasn't sure if it befitted the elf's austere and regal impression but it worked together in tandem.

And he didn't seem to be the only one to come to that conclusion. The orc noticed two ladies approaching him from the clearing, one more talkative than the other. Much much more in fact. While it was in no means as grating as the dark elf earlier, Barrock found himself a little bit perplexed at how much she read into this whole training. They were just swinging swords around. Why is this some sort of sophisticated conversation all of a sudden?

After a moment, he realized the sudden awkwardness it got for him. These two were likely the training partners Rowan was talking about, and now they were just acknowledging his presence like nothing unusual - like they were a group. The orc glanced between the tattoo-covered girl to the hooded one, on the outside remaining stoic, but his slit eye shapes hinted at his massive confusion as well as hesitancy. Dude, he was here for some fish, and now he is being roped into this?!

🗡 Roses and Daggers 🎕

Time: Late Morning
Location: Sorian Beach
Interactions: Charlotte @princess, Sjan-dehk @Apex Sunburn, Roman @ReusableSword Layla/Olivia @Potter Farim @Lava Alckon
Mentions: Lorenzo @FunnyGuy, Ruby @SausagePat, Kazumin @samreaper, Ariella @Tpartywithzombi, Cassius @PapaOso, and others

---

The friendly face was genuine as John was introduced to Charlotte's group after fetching the smoothies with the rest of the group, putting his hand on his chest as he gave a light bow. His gaze towards Olivia was a curious one, having not seen nor heard of the woman before. "Dr. John Harling Williamson of Varian Institute of Science. It's a pleasure to meet you both. Farim, it's great to finally see eye-to-eye with the man himself. Your company helps connect our cultures together. Always enjoyed a good book from Alidasht." John looked over to the Alidasht noble first, giving a brief and frankly a little bit corporate greeting, but soon his tone of voice suddenly grew more excited as the topic of science were on the table, even just for a little bit. "Oh, it's going on fantastic! I work for the royal-affiliated institute, so we get to play with cool things as it came out of the lab, things like seeing how your bones look like, without doing anything to you. Not my work of course, but we're already so excited to play around with that. I can always talk about it more later if you all want." He controlled the urge to digress on the thing that made him excited to turn to Olivia. "And Miss Olivia, I don't believe we have met."

The foreign gentleman gave his introduction as well. Not a blacksmith, a company owner nor a doctor, but a warship captain from Jafi, or Viserjanta? It was a bit confusing with the wording, but John could always ask later. But being a pirate hunter is genuinely a pretty cool job. You get to sail the large intimidating warships while fighting for justice. It is dangerous, but that's what makes the job more noble. "I used to imagine sailing those cool warships with those cannons firing when I was a kid. It must be so nice doing that for real, huh?" He gave Sjan-dehk a smile. "Anyway, if you're here for diplomatic, trading or just here for a good time...well, hope you're enjoying yourself, Sjan-dehk. Caesonia always look great around these times."

He'd say, this group seemed a lot more chilled out and friendly compared to the nobles of the first day. John was enjoying the company when alas, fun was cancelled. Layla, whom he left the first night after the dance having more positive impressions than what she gave off now, arrived to simply spit on everyone's mood. While it had that effect on everyone else, most specially poor Charlotte, it was...more humorous to John than anything. It was so over the top show-off, John questioned the actual motivation behind this whole thing. As she insulted his intelligence when it comes to an overly warm attire, John simply returned her gaze with a sneer colder than the northern tips. He was not taking up any of her taunts, not to him or his friends, but instead his raised eyebrow, crossed arm was firm and shrewd.

Roman signalled to him not to fight, and that was the only time John peeled his gaze away from her. He was not going to intervene out of respect and understanding of the roles they play, but continued to watch the ordeal explode in front of him. Farim disabling the guards, Sjan-dehk getting his weapons ready. It was a mess, but it eventually resolved itself at least somewhat peacefully and Layla began to leave. The Varian doctor only responded to her once before she disappeared.

"You can drop the arrogant act. It doesn't hide anything."

With a roll of an eye, he turned back to Charlotte and the group. "Again, I'm sorry to see that." He offered her his smoothie to compensate for the one being dumped on her. He heard of Roman's invitation, but his mind blanked a bit at the clothing is optional part. What? "I'll try to be there, if nothing comes up." With clothes though. His classy style aside, he wasn't going to go naked anywhere.

Blades of Iron Roses: An Anime-Inspired Knight RP

Steffen Gravinir

---

He was glad the former-mercenary lad had the same idea, though he hoped Gerard would have taken a few companies with him. It is a pretty easy position to be encircled, like he himself said. If he got into a fight, he'd be in trouble.

Steffen took a bit longer to get his own patrol going, calling upon a few other knights to form up before moving. He also took the northern edge, trailing behind Sir Gerard from a distance, being ready to cover for him in case of an attack, but also to cover anything the young knight might have missed.

He could hear bits and pieces of the commotion that was happening with Fanilly: the mercenary mage with Lady Veilena, with the towering Haelstadt behind one of them. Nothing surprising, aside from the two latter individuals being here for some reasons. Worth a deep investigation into it for sure. But soon, the attention was snapped to the treelines. Movements, a lot of them.

Ah, the mystery of yesterday showed up. With new reinforcement this time.

"Behind me." Steffen instructed the knights that accompanied him. They were outnumbered, but the confidence of victory laid with the knights, as they moved slowly in Gerard's direction.

For many years, the Ingvarrs achieved a degree of mysticism that preceded them and accompanied Steffen every step of the way, more often an annoying stigma to shake off, but today, just today, in front of the despicable slavers, the murderers and the abominable, he would gladly embrace that image, to demonstrate the dread that these northern warriors would instill deep into the nightmares of soldiers and combatants across the continent.

One of the charging hounds would immediately find its heads ruptured from a quaking overhead slam of the metallic spear. The aftershock of such a blow allowed him to impale the hound through the forehead for a quick finish. In the time the hound dissipated, another would make its jump on him, only to be bashed in the face with the crescent shield and swiped aside in the same movement. The Ingvarr didn't even bother finishing it off, his comrades would.

Behind the hounds was a Boar's human member - the ones that would actually feel pain and terror. Right now, there wasn't any yet, as he fearlessly bellowed his battle cry and charged. At the same time, a juxtaposing lullaby echoed, which saw Boar's speed slowing down. His movement lacked the same energy and precision as before.

He was going to just stab this Boar with the spear, but no. That would be too kind.

His spear shifted left to his shielded hand, leaving his right hand bare. As the Boar fell and made its swing, its speed and ferocity had been dampened considerably that allowed Steffen to easily intercept and grab hold of the blade's handle, forcefully removing it from the Boar's grip, which in this case was not very strong. The Boar having just realized this, could only register one more thing before the Ingvarr skewered him in the chest with his own sword in an uppercut motion. The force exerted was so powerful it knocked him off his feet and fell on their front, the sword handle impacting the ground first, driving the blade further in his ribcage.

The spear swapped hands again, and the Ingvarr kept moving. His was a silent but disciplined march towards a loud barbaric horde of slavers and monsters. His voice was reserved for the blood-soaked mercenary in the carnage.

"Sir Gerard! You're straying far, get back!"

Looks like his reputation for recklessness was true.

@HereComesTheSnow

🗡 Roses and Daggers 🎕

Time: Late Morning
Location: Sorian Beach
Interactions: Charlotte @princess, Sjan-dehk @Apex Sunburn, THE Roman @ReusableSword
Mentions: Lorenzo @FunnyGuy, Ruby @SausagePat, Kazumin @samreaper, Ariella @Tpartywithzombi

---

"Oh don't worry, we get compared to gods all the time." John burst out in a chuckle as soon as he heard Charlotte's praise. "You know, every time we saved someone's life, they wipe the sweat off their and their relative's foreheads and bowed their head thanking god for saving them. I am very honored to be so revered." The casualness accompanied the snark, but it was more joking than snorting at Charlotte. If that wasn't clear enough...

"For serious though, thank you. Our work is sometimes thankless, so I am glad to know there's someone out there who appreciate what we do."

From his experience, if the patients was not aware of his...more prestigious status, they tended to be more thankful. Jealously and spite are still pretty widespread, even in more humble and progressive societies.

From then on, quite a few more people began to show up. The first being this handsome gentleman with an...intriguing attire. He had never seen this outfit before, not to mention the abnormally large hat, bigger than the ladies hats that he had seen. But it went off well with one another in an exotic way, so it's much less likely some artist and designer having a stroke of wildness, but rather this is a foreigner from neither Alidasht or any of the smaller colonies from the three kingdoms. If the weird phrasing hadn't given it away.

"Don't sweat it." John raised a hand in response. "How may I help you sir?"

The second being Roman, whose greetings, like usual, was short but respectful. John returned the gesture with his own, similar in intensity, similar in regard. Seeing how Charlotte was interested in getting herself a drink, John decided to go back to the food stalls, but not before checking with the two (and maybe three) in the group.

"I can get you one then." He said to Charlotte. "Which flavours would you like? They can mix and match, so the fruits of preference would be fine." Turning over to Roman and the gentleman from afar. "You can let me know too in case you want a drink. It's really good on a hot summer day, I will tell you that."

((Can assume that John gets back after a few minutes. Don't need to wait for another round))