Fable - Ask Please Do Not Resist

[Fennec]

Initiates @Silas Artesto and @Rowley Stone,

You are to accompany Dreadlord Ygris Magantir on a mission to retrieve a stolen beast. You will meet her at Briarthorn Hall in the town of Vel Angbar. Take your full kit, you will be facing a rogue Dreadlord and its retinue and the beast will not come willingly.

Dreadlord Ygris will fill you in on the remaining details.

~ Proctor Harkenov

Vel Angbar
Briarthorn Hall

Dreadlord Ygris Magantir sat surrounded by a massive collection of books and tomes in the library of Briarthorn Hall. To her left, books on rare magic principals, practices, artefacts, and the histories therein. To her right, books on Vel Anirs vast territories, with several on those of the city itself. Spread before her: maps of the capital from various stages of its own history. At her immediate front: reams of parchment containing notations, tracings of the maps, and - of course - an apple alongside a half eaten sandwich.

Across from her sat Dreadlord Aloref Gantri, a man of silence and action. He, himself, was busy writing in a journal.

"They should be here by now..." Ygris remarked after a short glance to a nearby window where she marked the slant of the light coming in. Patience was ever a virtue, or so she was told, but this was a mission that had been in the planning for months and their target would finally, finally be making its way to the necessary location. She was eager to get moving.

 

[Rowley Stone]

"By Aionus glowing nutsack, Silas you are so slow!"

Rowley jokingly jabbed at his compatriot as their horses were finally making the final bend in the road to Briarthorn Hall. The assignment of this mission had come pretty suddenly, but Rowley was more than happy to accept and get some much-needed time away from the Academy for gifted and depressing teenagers.

In reality, it was probably Ro's fault that they were a little behind schedule. He liked to take his time when he could. It also did not help that they had come across that merchant and his daughter on the road. He had insisted on trying to impress her by shooting an apple off of her father's head. She had found the idea charming. Her dad? Not so much.

A well-built long bow rested in his hand, but as he finally laid sight on their destination, the bow warped and twisted around his arm to form a somehow still flexible wooden bracer.

"How are you ever going to explain yourself this time?" He asked with a shit-eating grin at his friend.

Silas Artesto Fennec

 

[Silas Artesto]

"Slow? I could be there in thirty seconds flat if you didn't get whiplash every time a pretty skirt flared up in the wind, Stone."

Silas didn't dislike Rowley, but gods if he wasn't the most distractable Initiate that Silas had ever teamed with, save for maybe Thraah. Granted, Artesto had garnered himself a reputation as a bit of a ladies man himself, but at least he turned off the charm when it came to work.

"But if you must know, I'm going to say we stopped to help clear an upturned wagon from the road, because the look on that merchant's face was about the best thing I've seen all week, and because I don't want to get on the bad side of two Dreadlords." He cast Rowley a smirking glance from the corner of his vision, kicking at his horse to speed them along. "I just hope you don't try wooing Dreadlord Magantir. I hear she's a looker."

Briarthorn Hall was hard to miss; it was one of the biggest buildings in Vel Angbar, and that wasn't a tight competition. Despite his orders, Silas had packed relatively light for the job, bringing only a small sack with him as he slid from his horse and slung it over a shoulder.

"Come on, let's get this chewing out over with."

Fennec Rowley Stone

 

[Rowley Stone]

"Good idea. I always enjoy playing the dashing heroes."

He whipped his hair about in an exaggerated manner, before pulling it back into a ball so that it did not slide in front of his face.

"Might have to save that challenge for later. Turns out, Dreadlords don't really like it when you flirt with them on missions."

Rowley quipped back, obviously speaking from experience. They made it to the large doors and Rowley slid off his mount before bounding over to and tapping a three-knock beat on the door.

Knowing what was likely coming, Rowley then took a step back far enough to be settled behind Silas when the doors were open.

Silas Artesto

 

[Fennec]

Time passed. The library remained quiet. Ygris paged through her notes one last time before stopping abruptly and looking up at nothing in particular. Sharp intrigue colored the lines of her face as she hummed in alert, "They are here. Greet them, won't you."

Gantri closed his journal and returned the feather quill to its ink pot on the table. He quickly tucked the journal away in a leather pouch and made his way out of library chamber to the main hall. It was his surly, dour face that greeted them as requested after the quick knock. Pulling the doors open inward, he glowered at the pair and lifted his hands as if he were about to do a quick knock on both their heads.

[You are late.] his hands signed instead.

"Look sharp, boys," Ygris' voice sounded from the hall as she swept with a purposeful stride across the tile floor, fastening her cloak about her shoulders as she went, "you've delayed our departure." Arriving shortly beside her taller compatriot, she held up a hand to stifle any rebuttal or stories, "All the usual excuses apply, I'm sure. Mount up, we'll make introductions on the way."

 

[Rowley Stone]

Rowley was quick to nod and not look a gift horse in the mouth. Better to forget them being late and move right along. He shot Silas a look before quickly turning back to his horse and mounting.

As he mounted, he offered a polite head nod to Ygris followed by a "Right away."

He quickly checked his own back, while he had packed heavy, the equipment certainly looked strange. There were various pieces of wood sticking out from his bag and a strange-looking set of what looked like chain mail, but on closer inspection revealed that it was made of wooden rings.

Once he was satisfied with preparations he turned back Gantri and began to speak but stopped himself. Rowley had remembered the man did not speak, but used sign language. And for some reason, that registered in Ro's brain as he could not talk to him, so he simply waved back at him.

[Hi.]

Fennec Silas Artesto

 

[Silas Artesto]

Somehow, they'd managed to be so late that there wasn't even time to scold them. Silas wasn't sure whether he should be thankful or fearful over that, so he chose to put the thought out of his mind. Gantri's signing as they arrived threw him off guard a bit, and he looked up at the man for perhaps a second longer than he should have, before quickly signing back, [Apologies, Sir.]

Looking over at Rowley, he furrowed his brow and nudged him "He's mute, not deaf, man." Silas was beginning to wonder if he was one of the only Initiates who'd bothered to learn sign when it was offered to them. Behind the intimidating figure of Gantri, Dreadlord Ygris's voice echoed off of the walls as she strode almost gracefully towards them. The rumors had been true, she was pretty. Shame she was almost definitely the 'killing you' type.

"Yes, Ma'am. Right away." Without waiting for further urging, Silas spun on his heel and walked back out of Biarthorn Hall, tossing his bag back onto his horse and quickly tying it down. There would be time to change into his suit later, he couldn't wear it comfortably on a horse anyways. He did, however, take the extra moment to pull his shortwsord from where it was tied at the mouth of he bag, and fastened it to his hip before he pulled himself up. "They said full kits like I ever have a lot of gear." He grumbled to Rowley. "Now it makes me look like I'm not listening. Gonna get an earful about that when I get home too."

Rowley Stone Fennec

 

[Fennec]

The pair of them moved to their horses at another hitching post and mounted up. A full battle armor complement gave off a dull, war-battered gleam from Gantri's larger, stout charger while Ygris' smaller brown destrier featured lighter leather coverings. In comparison to the two seasoned Dreadlords, the Initiates looked like they were out for daycamp, a fact that did not escape Dreadlord Magantir's notice as she eyed the pair up.

"Well I see the Academy's wardrobe budget has taken a hit since the Revolution..." she frowned, shared an uncertain glance with Dreadlord Gantri and then shook her head. There was nothing to be done for their lack of gear. If they returned to the Academy full of arrows she refused to be blamed for the slipping inadequacies.

"Dreadlord Gantri, Dreadlord Magantir," Ygris gestured to each of them in turn, "what are your names and proficiencies?"

 

[Rowley Stone]

Rowley nodded at Silas' rebuke and he quickly nodded like the realization just hit him. "Oh right, sorry bout that."

He reached back and grabbed the wooden chain mail, the wooden rings warped and melted like a form of liquid before climbing up his body and reforming as perfectly fitted armor all along his body. With a satisfied wiggle, he motioned to a quiver secured in his pack.

"Initiate Stone, ranged specialty, but I can get in close if I need to fill a tactical hole. When I'm close, I prefer my staff or a spear."

He smiled at his description, but it wasn't making it all the way up to his eyes. Bold of one to assume they weren't ready even though looked a little different. He looked to Silas to round off their descriptions.

Silas Artesto Fennec

 

[Silas Artesto]

"All due respect, Ma'am..." Silas called from his horse, only a little terrified of daring to correct a Dreadlord. "My gear isn't suited for wearing while I'm mounted up. My magic makes horses a little bit redundant, you see." He was getting a new suit for his final year at the Academy, he'd been told. This one was going to be capable of hooking up to a saddle, along with a slew of other improvements to complement the progress he'd made with his abilities.

Not in any hurry to be chewed out, he quickly continued with his introduction, "Silas Artesto. I specialize in reconnaissance and scouting. Pretty good with knives and traps too." Trying to think of a simple way of explaining his magical talents, he bites on his lip for a second. "I can outrun a thoroughbred horse and walk through thin walls too, if that counts for anything?" He was learning new tricks all the time, but some of them weren't nailed down yet. Artesto wasn't about to promise what he couldn't guarantee.

It made him wonder, though, why they needed to ask him and Rowley for their details. Wouldn't that normally be something that factored into them being chosen? It didn't seem like the Dreadlords to pick Initiates out of a hat for a mission, especially one like this.

Fennec Rowley Stone

 

[Fennec]

She'd pressed on to lead them out of Vel Angbar, listening as they went while Gantri took up the rear. Ygris remained quiet, ruminative, but not overall displeased with their answers.

"That's a trick," Ygris remarked on the wall comment, "but no walls today. We're dealing with a band of Dreadlord Exiles who have stolen something. They're moving north through Blueridge Pass where we mean to head them off and take it back."

Her horse picked up the pace, stepping into a clipped trot as the road they followed wound itself down along the slopes of the Angbar Mountains. It was not a safe speed to travel this particular path at, but it was the speed they needed to keep in order to make up for lost time.

"Speed will be useful," Ygris called back to them over her shoulder, "as will ranged weapons, but the real trick will be getting to the narrowing of the Pass before the caravan does - such is the consequence of failed timeliness. Have either of you dealt with a Magic Nullifier before?"

 

[Rowley Stone]

"No, at the Academy they use to use nullifying bands to force us to train without magic, but that is about it."

Honestly, Rowley wasn't too worried about such an opponent. Abilities like that tended to have a limited range, so he would just pepper the person with arrows until they looked like a porcupine, and then he would call it a day.

As they picked up the pace, Ro felt his horse slip for a minute, but it steadied themselves. He cursed under his breath for just focusing on the path ahead.

"If I can get to a good spot, I'll kill the nullifier before they even know we are here."

Fennec Silas Artesto

 

[Silas Artesto]

Silas also shook his head. All of them had dealt with the bands, but against a real opponent who probably wanted him dead? He'd been lucky enough to avoid that nightmare scenario, at least until today, apparently. "Are we expected? Do they know we're coming?" Silas called up to Ygris. It might have seemed a stupid question, but if the last batch of exiles he'd encountered taught him anything, it was that the element of surprise was a valuable ally.

They were moving at a blistering pace, and Silas honestly wondered if maybe he should have forgone a horse and relied on his magic to move around instead. Though he supposed if they were dealing with a nullified, that might have been a bad move. Still, as inexperienced with horse riding as he was, he was beginning to struggle a bit.

"I could try and circle to the other side of the pass, move in from the front while you three come at them from the back, but that's a risky move..." And probably only one they'd let him try if they were absolutely out of time. Still, one couldn't fault him for trying to contribute. "Is the nullifier a tool, or a person?" Rowley's plan to take them out was moot if they could fight back.

 

[Fennec]

"We are not - the nullifier," Ygris called back with a backward glance over her shoulder to show she was grinning, "is our bounty. He must be taken alive and, preferably, unharmed. Everyone else is fair game... in fact!"

Her horse scrambled along a narrowing of the trail before popping over a a small stream and crossing into the upswing of a trail that lead through the trees. They'd have to take a short cut if they were going to make it in enough time to get situated.

"Bonus kudos for every exile you take down today, boys. We'll bring their heads back to the Republic and get you some gold stars for your effort."

The path they took now was a deer trail that wound tightly through the slowly thickening forest of the mountainside. Ygris flattened herself down atop her horse's neck as it wove between the trees and ducked under branches until finally it clambered up a steep incline of dirt and loose rocks onto another road. She pulled her horse to the side and stopped, looking back as each of the others made their way up next. Her eyes locked in on Silas Artesto.

"Blue Ridge pass is there," she said, motioning with a nod of her head to a dip between two mountain peaks, "we can make it there in less than an hour if we gallop nonstop... but we may not have enough time to coordinate. We need intel on their caravan and the position of the target. How many are guarding it and what position their leader has taken. Think you can move ahead of us and gather that before we arrive to the pass?"

 

[Rowley Stone]

Alive? Well, that was inconvenient, maybe they could just give this nullifier a really decisive bonk on the head to keep him out of the fight. For the first time, he seriously turned to look back at the two quivers packed on his horse. He quickly counted them, trying to decide if that would be enough if his powers were taken away from him...They would do.

Ro glanced at Silas with a hint of worry but quickly covered it up with confidence. If his friend was spotted alone, then he could be in some real trouble. There was nothing to worry about. It was Silas, so he would be fine.

"Do we know any more about the nullifier? Can they nullify one person, or is it more like the whole field?"

Either way, his archery may prove to be even more important if neither side had their abilities.

Silas Artesto Fennec

 

[Silas Artesto]

It wouldn't be a dreadlord mission if it was easy, but Silas couldn't hold back his exasperated sigh at learning the person who could nullify their magic was the one they weren't allowed to kill. It made things a few degrees more difficult, and Silas wasn't sure how much of a match he'd be for any exile without his powers.

Luckily, he wasn't alone. Ygris and Gantri were capable Dreadlords, and Artesto didn't feel quite as worried about their chances with them around. Ygris did, however, opt to accept Silas' offer to go ahead of the group to scout.

If he was being honest, that had been somewhat of a bluff; he didn't think for a second that they'd actually listen to him. A brief wave of panic washed over him as his horse weaved and clambered up to where Ygris was leading them, but by the time he made it up to where she waited he'd put on his bravest face and nodded toward her, "Position, formation, and number... Yeah. I can do it."

It was an excuse to get off of the horse at least. Silas slid off of his mount's back and quickly threw his hand around to the pack containing his gear, untying the flap and pulling out the sleek black bodysuit that suited his needs perfectly. "Give me a second to get changed, yeah?" Silas turned and slid back down into the brush, pulling off most of his normal clothes to give him enough room to comfortably squeeze into his suit.

"Soon as I've taken a look, I'll loop around and try to link back up with you." He climbed back up with a grunt, now wrapped in the flexible material that allowed him to move quickly without much resistance. "If I don't, assume I've run into trouble and get ready for a fight."

He takes a moment to smirk over at Rowley.

"Try not to get distracted by any particularly curvaceous trees, Stone."

Artesto drops down into a lunging position and focuses his energy into his muscles, slowly building up a thrumming vibration that grows to a violent buzz. As soon as he hits the right threshold, Silas launches forward, using the vibrations he'd built up to run ahead at a blistering speed.

Fennec Rowley Stone