Thalen lashed his whip again, this time the thorn like blades tearing apart one of its eyes which made it shriek and squeal higher than ever, scuttling away. He heard the black clad fighter’s remark about the thinning herd of lurkers and he did agree. They warriors of Vekia would need to get rid of them soon. He picked up a fallen spear and hurled it at the retreating lurker only to see it glance off its hide and clattered to the floor. “These fowl beasts have an agenda. It is no mere hunt” He said aloud as he turned to face the, unbeknownst to him, vampire.
He looked upon the scantily clad woman with a group of guards nearby confronting a gore covered warrior clad in blackened plate armor and carrying a large tower shield. They seemed to be engaged in their own battle and then another figure approached him and Xavier. Another black clad who Thalen had seen wielding some sort of light magic. He spoke about the wraiths and how he could not wait for them to depart from his rift and then speak about hiding like some craven fool. He felt disgusted. He understood but was still disgusted.
“You may hide in your hole as you wish. These monsters are still running amok and killing honest folk” He said to the other, again unbeknownst to him, vampire. The mask hid his expression so neither would be able to see his expression of stubborn fury at what was happening in the city. The ichor on his weapons dripped onto the stone ground, his head turning slightly when he heard the shrieks of lurkers and the screams of people, one in particular a woman’s scream. “I don’t know about you” He said to the vampire priest “I can’t stand to hear suffering going on when I can do something about it” he said and walked past the priest and walked through a nearby alley.
He walked briskly but surprisingly met up only with a few looters which he knocked out without his weapons. This happened just before he walked in on a pair of people, one a woman dressed in militia gear and a man wounded and in need of a healer. He recognized the woman from chasing the blackened clad man he was fighting with not a few minutes before. He didn’t know the man however.
“Need help?” He asked as he approached them, the thorns on his whips retracting into the leather of the weapon. “I know of a woman called Kwan who might be of help” he said, keeping his distance
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The son of Desol walked at a rather brisk pace to the city center. The guard with the help of the Azure Knight and the Desol honorguard did their finest of dispatching any lurker that decided to come at them. There was only a single instance where Haklo had to raise his hand and that was to kill a lurker by stabbing it right through the hear carapace, his crimsonite blade going cleanly through it while his honorguard had stabbed it on each side with the blades literally scrapping against each other within the beast.
The group past the streets where less and less lurkers had made their way and they were at the city center where the dome roofed building stood. It was closed off too, barred from the inside while archers manned the roof and windows. There were over a dozen dead night lurkers around the building and twice that many militiamen of all three houses, dead or dying. More lurkers were approaching the building from other streets. Honor guards from each house were outside with the guards, the black armored Desol, the white armored Skath guards and the red armored guards of Vintair.
“Make way, Make Way. Open the gates for Lord Haklo Desol” Said one of the Desol guards in Haklo’s entourage as they cleared the street they were in and at the domed building. The milita inside could be heard as they scuffled to unbar the gate. Haklo Desol and the Azure knight were trapped outside while the gates were unbarred but they managed to be opened before they’d be overrun by Lurkers. Inside they were met by guardsmen wielding spears and shields and archers at the end of the gate hall. They were aiming at them for a short moment but seemed to relax when the gate was closed.
“Lord Desol. It is great to see you unharmed” Said a Skath Captain of the guard who was also a dwarf with a fire red beard that was matted with lurker blood, same as his tabard which was also torn up. In his hand he wielded a weapon which was a mix of a battle ax and a mining pick and it was obvious that the pick end was the one used through the day. “Captain Skallagrim, I, myself, am very happy to be unharmed. The militia, my honorguard Sebastian and Jonathan were a great help. But so was this woman, The Azure knight” Haklo said to the Captain and gestured at the entourage and the armored hakedian. “How are the Desol Lords?” He then asked the dwarf. “They are all fine. Lord Vintair is on the roof with the archers while your father and lord Skath are up on the eastern balcony discussing things. I don’t know what. I’ve been here since the blasted lurkers began to attack this building. We have been getting messages from messenger arrows that the lurkers are gradually falling back as if this was some strange hit and run attack.” The dwarf replied. “Thank you, Captain. I won’t keep you any further” Haklo said and turned to face the Azure knight. “I thank you for helping me and my people here. I’ll make sure that your assistance won’t go unrewarded but now is not the time. There is much to do and the people of Vekia are dying” He said to her, unsheathing his blackened blade. “By what I’ve seen you won’t just stop helping just yet so if you wish to continue, the milita is still in need of help here. Report to a commanding officer and he shall give you a task suited to your particular skills which I trust they will much appreciate” He said to her. “Do you have any questions you’d like to ask me in this rare calm?” He asked her.
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High ranking officers of the militia of all three houses were sent out from the barracks with a large squad of guards that were all capable fighters to escort or help barricade families in or from their homes. They escorted them to a safe place, to places of faith that could be turned into fortresses. They also took in looters, thieves and rapists that were taking advantage to the situation to prey upon the weak. They didn’t kill them, those that gave up. Some of them even went in so willingly due to the barracks and holding cells where they would stay until the attack would be over.
The second priority however was to fortify places of healing. The first being to drive off any lurker away, preferably kill them. The mages of the militia also requested any lurker bodies for study and those orders were to be carried out to any and all militia that were capable.