The Otter

Blades of Iron Roses: An Anime-Inspired Knight RP

Fionn MacKerracher

---

Between the moment when he'd managed to finally stifle his laughter at Renar's apparent inability to read his moods—inconceivable, that, given that Fionn had had reason to get just as stern with the man himself a time or two—and when he'd slid from his horse's back ready to search the area, the heir to the Cazt name decided to come in from the shadows herself. "Well, at least she could pick a good crew," he muttered to himself, looking over to where Steffen and Gerard had begun to search the north side of the clearing.

If only he'd been able to visit here when there wasn't something nefarious afoot.

"Clarice, don't just gawk at her. There's bound to be more coming, and I doubt Alette will praise you at all if you get back to her all shocked and bloody like." Unlikely that they'd managed to beat any of the Boars here, unless more of them had managed to expose themselves to the madness of the shard and lost track of their goal—but none of them had seen any such signs on the ride to Cae Mayl.

"Best you come to us now, girl, even if you didn't before," he said to Veilena, looking pointedly at her. "One bodyguard isn't going to be enough against a half-mad patrol of Golden Boars trying to kill everything in sight, and if you're going to be working with us now, I'm sure we'd all feel a lot more comfortable having you further out of harm's way."

The Lion's Banner: A Fire Emblem-Inspired Anime Fantasy RP

Cadmon Demet

---

@Octo@Psyker Landshark@Eisenhorn@HereComesTheSnow

---

The plan was a reasonable one, other than one clear mistake in the order of operations. Something that would be easily rectified, if the assassin and the mercenary would be willing to see it done. First, though, to follow up on what was just being said around him—while most of the time he wouldn't agree so readily with István's proclivity towards violence, in this case, Cadmon found himself all too willing to indulge the large man's impulses. Relative cultural acceptability had no bearing on the abomination that was the Morahti's practice, and if they were willing to set foot on Veltish soil and continue their ways, then they deserved every consequence.

"Mmm. Perhaps, in a moment," he said to Lirrah, after she'd finished speaking. "Might myself and Sir Shilage get some of that acid, say, as a trial run? Repayment, perhaps, for helping you avoid complete embarassment?" He leaned his halberd against the nearest available vertical object not named István Shilage, before lifting his helmet slightly as he looked down towards the Nem still held in one of his arms. "A favour for a friend, even?"

The Lion's Banner: A Fire Emblem-Inspired Anime Fantasy RP

Cadmon Demet

---

@Octo@Psyker Landshark@Eisenhorn@Raineh Daze

---

A talking doll wasn't one of the things he'd expected to run into when first he set out to join Velvetica's father's forces, though by this point, Cadmon didn't have it in him to be entirely surprised anymore. A former assassin, a Nemish merchant, a faulty mage...there was no end to the abnormal among this band of misfits. "Do we, perhaps, have an even smaller doll that this one can carry? I don't think that my cargo has become recursive enough yet." Not that there was much time to really contemplate how much further the act of carrying another person-shaped thing could go before the business at hand reared back.

Cadmon looked down at the coin Urden held out to them, frowning as Lirrah recounted what she knew. Once she got past expounding on the relative values, though, the rest that she spoke of quickly started coming together in his memory. Fancifully braided hair as a rule, decorating their armour in crimson, and as Roger quickly returned to their midst and began reporting to the captain...

"Well, that explains taking the captives," he muttered to the three nearest him, uncharacteristic venom in his voice. "Morahti. Mercenaries from the plains north of Asharaad. The ones who come here are warriors as a rule, but their perverted sense of honour leads slavery to be common among them, usually from those who they capture in battle themselves. Buying these prisoners instead, it seems this lot is more debased than most of their kind."

If it weren't for the bevor in the way, he'd have spat at the gold coin.

"They're worse by far than most I have to deal with at the border. We should slaughter them like the mongrels they are."

Blades of Iron Roses: An Anime-Inspired Knight RP

Fionn MacKerracher

---

@VitaVitaAR @Crimson Paladin

---

"Cut the return flow? Means they didn't want him to go too quickly. More cruel than we'd normally expect." He looked back up, over to Fleuri. "Help me carry him back?"

Blades of Iron Roses: An Anime-Inspired Knight RP

Fionn MacKerracher

---

@VitaVitaAR @Crimson Paladin

---

Turning the corpse over revealed nothing; prying open the fingers, nothing, even prying open the jaw to make sure nobody had tried that foolish old trick again revealed nothing. Nothing to note secreted away beneath pillow or mattress. He'd quickly gone to combing through some of the papers and such strewn about the desk, before Fleuri held an open journal in front of him. He glanced up, skimming quickly over the words. Then he grunted, shaking his head. "Figures they'd at least manage to tear out something important. We'll take that back to the captain. I take it you've found nothing, Abigail?"

The lack of anything out of her beforehand made him think it unlikely.

"Let's make our way back out, do a quick check on any bodies we might pass along the way. I'll get the one back in the hallway." Not that it had really seemed anything worthy of note on the way in, but it wouldn't hurt to give it a look. As the others gathered up anything else they had to take care of, he stepped out into the hall, turning the corpse over.

"Huh. Another clean one." Cleaner even than the dead captain, it looked like. He turned the head and pulled back the collar, eyes narrowing. "Not a boar, either. What do you make of this one, Abigail?"

Blades of Iron Roses: An Anime-Inspired Knight RP

Fionn MacKerracher

---

@VitaVitaAR @Crimson Paladin

---

"Well, Fleuri, Abigail, what do you think?" Fionn asked as they filled into the captain's room, looking over the body. "Not brutalized. Not another body in here. A single wound, quick and clean like. No struggle, at least. Probably before this turned into a massacre. Immediately before, I reckon." He stepped over to the body, turning it over, checking underneath it and in the bed itself to make sure there wasn't anything else to be found right on the corpse.

"One of you, check the desk and those papers thrown all around. Someone else check his closet, make sure there isn't anything left in there, maybe in a uniform. I doubt he commanded the fort in his nightshirt."

The Lion's Banner: A Fire Emblem-Inspired Anime Fantasy RP

Cadmon Demet

---

@Octo@Psyker Landshark@Conscripts

---

Before Lirrah could even give an answer beyond trying to clean her face, some of the others started slipping out from where the fighting had been going on. He'd barely raised a hand at Kayliss before she made her thoughts on Lirrah's presence fairly evident, albeit more tactfully than he might have imagined. Irian didn't waste time coming out to greet them either, and for the proud little merchant, the growing attention at this particular moment—or even the possibility of it—seemed to quickly reach a point of being too much.

He gave a small nod in recognition of what Kayliss was saying, turning on his heel and snatching his halberd from the wall with one hand. In two strides he reached down, catching Lirrah before she was flat on the floor once again. Heaving her up as he continued along, he was quickly carrying her like he would a child of similar size. "We'll meet the rest of you outside," he bade the others just behind.

"Sorry about the armour," he muttered to Lirrah as an afterthought. "Don't worry about this overmuch. István told me once that nobody came out of their first battle unscathed, even if nothing ever touched them. Foolish me didn't realize what he meant. You managed to survive, so you're handling it far better than some ever managed."

Blades of Iron Roses: An Anime-Inspired Knight RP

Fionn MacKerracher

---

@VitaVitaAR @Raineh Daze @Crimson Paladin @Psyker Landshark

---

Fionn had been turning to leave the second Fleuri's question was answered, but between Tyaethe stopping the one who was sent to search with them and Alette's response to him, he had no choice but to remain a moment longer. "I mean it, Alette. Do whatever you want when we aren't around, but keep it quick and clean when we are." At the very least, it would help spare him from any questions as to why she took such time putting Boars or their ilk down.

Amy and Renar both passed without comment from him for the moment, though he couldn't stop a sense of disapproval welling up at both of them in the moment.

"Tyaethe. Perhaps you could accompany us and question her as we go? I'd rather not test any good will we have here, and I'd certainly prefer to refrain from testing the poison on her blades."

The Lion's Banner: A Fire Emblem-Inspired Anime Fantasy RP

Cadmon Demet

---

@Octo

---

He'd barely received an answer before Lirrah was hoisted to her feet and passed back to him; he did have to question the wisdom of that decision, as he wasn't likely to be any more helpful to the merchant in her present state than Gisela would have been. Not that he had much choice, either, as he couldn't just leave her there on the floor to go and see for himself what was happening. Two strikes, that; not only had she pushed the Nem over to him, Gisela had completely ignored his first question.

"Mages," he muttered under his breath, leaning his halberd against the wall and pulling off his gauntlets. With his hands free, he could easily reach into one of the pouches hanging from his belt, pulling out a rag. Usually it would have ended up used for one of two purposes—cleaning his weapon, or to tourniquet a bad wound. "Here. It's not much of a handkerchief, but it's clean." He held it down to the pink-haired merchant, looking back up in the direction Gisela had left in. At least her more relaxed demeanour, and the prompt disappearance of her demon, had made it clear that the fighting was over, rather than simply experiencing a small lull as the sounds of combat ceased.

"Can you walk, or do you need carried?"

The Lion's Banner: A Fire Emblem-Inspired Anime Fantasy RP

Cadmon Demet

---

@Raineh Daze@Octo

---

Life in the rear guard could often be a boring prospect, especially when faced with enemies such as the Lions had just encountered. Not that that was anything much to complain about—had these cultists proven particularly adept, any measure of true threat, then it might have fallen upon the rear to secure the retreat. Heavy cavalry and infantry, routed from shock tactics or guarding the supply lines to instead be the lives that bought the rest of the force time. Something they all knew, but that none of them—nor any full army in history—wished to ever see happen.

All the same, the clean-up duty following behind the main force was never an enviable task either. While the mage's fireworks had simplified the task a fair bit, there were still bodies to gather, ensure that the dead were truly dead, and on the off chance one was recognizably alive, tie them up and drag them away. Tedious work to oversee, but necessary.

"Lord Demet. I believe we're finished here." Cadmon glanced over to the man-at-arms addressing him, giving a short nod. "All accounted for, then? Strip their corpses of anything worth saving and start taking them to their camp, then. I'll go on ahead...see what's taking our Lioness so long." He'd not received any news worthy of worry regarding their main force, yet, but the time they were taking with the camp was longer than he would have expected.

So he did begin to worry, regardless.

At the man's affirmative answer, Cadmon kicked his horse to a gallop, riding into the central camp beneath the rocky outcropping. Destruction like that they'd aimed to cause was seen throughout, but the confused looks on those left to guard outside made it clear this wasn't their doing. The tomb, then. He'd hoped it could be avoided. Apparently, it couldn't, and the splatters of blood around its entrance didn't particularly entice him either. "Gentlemen. Is Lady Velvetica still in there?" he asked the guards still standing at the outermost entrance, who nodded back at him.

"Aye. Her and most of the war council." Eyes narrowed beneath his helmet, Cadmon nodded—and stepped off his horse, short halberd in hand. "Watch her. I'm going to see if there's anything untoward happening."

It wasn't long before entering, progressing through the chambers of the tomb, that he eventually heard the sounds of combat, before stumbling across the few not taking part. Gisela and her demon, and...

Ah. The merchant. Not that he could entirely blame her for her reaction, given that she wasn't a professional fighter like the rest.

"What's happened in there?" he asked the trio, glancing once more down at Lirrah. "Should we, ah, return you to the fresh air, miss Lirrah?"