Fable - Ask The Baron of Stonewatch

A roleplay which may be open to join but you must ask the creator first
After he finished cleaning his weapons he put them back in their sheaths and came out of the wash room to hang them in their place on the wall by his bed.
Seeing Keia laying their ready and waiting for him further stirred his desire for her, but it wasn't a violent desire, he was too tired for that... He climbed on the bed and tenderly kissed her long and longingly on her lips before he laid down beside her and pulled her half on top of him.

"I am tired, Keia... But I want you. Do not make me put you in your place tonight, just tend to my needs and let us spend the night peacefully."
He kissed her again, short and gentle since he didn't want to lift his head or exert himself too much. His eyes were heavy and half lidded, they were freshly bathed and lightly scented by the water with the smell of freshly cut roses.
He lay there for her to care for as she pleased.
 
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Seeing Keia laying their ready and waiting for him further stirred his desire for her, but it wasn't a violent desire, he was too tired for that... He climbed on the bed and tenderly kissed her long and longingly on her lips before he laid down beside her and pulled her half on top of him.

The tenderness of his kiss was a pleasant surprise. She met the kiss happily and followed his motions.


"I am tired, Keia... But I want you. Do not make me put you in your place tonight, just tend to my needs and let us spend the night peacefully."
He kissed her again, short and gentle since he didn't want to lift his head or exert himself too much. His eyes were heavy and half lidded, they were freshly bathed and lightly scented by the water with the smell of freshly cut roses.
He lay there for her to care for as she pleased.

She smiled and kissed him back, then a second time, "as you want Master."

So she obeyed, giving him gentle, tender love through the course of the evening. Once they were done, she'd lay beside him, curled into his side as she had the night in the tree. Happy.

She'd wake up there, meekly embracing him.
 
After they made love he held her to his chest for the rest of the night and awoke pleasantly tangled with her. When he awoke his mind was in its objective state, but the memory of the night and everything he felt was still fresh, and now he was of the mind to sort through everything rationally.
He had pretended this same scene many times, he knew exactly how to make it look like he felt everything and appear as a normal man making love to a woman... But this was the first time he actually got to feel the real thing and actually KNOW what it was he was mimicking.

It was a feeling of fulfillment, holding Keia possessively in his arms, as if his powerful arms and murderous hands weren't complete unless they could hold and protect a beautiful woman. It was a contentment that outshone the satisfaction he felt whenever he chopped firewood or fixed a roof in the village where they first met, it threatened everything he thought he knew about himself and he was perfectly fine with that.

When Keia awoke he looked into her eyes... And even in his emotionless state it simply felt right that he claim her lips with his once again, almost like a new instinct.
"Good morning. You did well last night, I am pleased."
He brushed some stray locks of hair from her pretty face.
"Next time we get the chance I'll make sure to repay you in the way you hunger for... For now we must be on our way, we've one last obstacle to overcome."
He kissed her again before rolling out of bed and dressing himself.
 
When Keia awoke he looked into her eyes... And even in his emotionless state it simply felt right that he claim her lips with his once again, almost like a new instinct.
"Good morning. You did well last night, I am pleased."

She shifted awake a few moments earlier. His possessive embrace making her feel truly safe. This was the truest and most precedented form of unity between a man and his woman. The woman who gives all that she is to her man, whom she trusts with her very being, and whom she gives her submission. And the man, who controls the family as its head, keeps his family fed, sheltered and safe.

It was this moment of purest love between the two of them that mattered to her most. And what made her meet his kiss obediently and with joy.

"I'm glad I did so well Master." She said happily. "Even when you're not being rough I can't escape being sore."


He brushed some stray locks of hair from her pretty face.
"Next time we get the chance I'll make sure to repay you in the way you hunger for... For now we must be on our way, we've one last obstacle to overcome."
He kissed her again before rolling out of bed and dressing himself.

She kissed him back again, "I'm right behind you Master."
 
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Before long they were once again dressed for battle and riding through the forest at the head of their small army. Spirits were high after the night of rest after a victorious streak, even Christian was feeling optimistic in spite of himself. He knew from scout reports that this was going to be a difficult fight, but he saw how his guardsmen performed and followed orders and he was confident that they would be victorious again... Even as they rode up to the edge of the clearing and took in the sight of the fortified walls.

As far as besieging the fortress he had a plan to do so without sacrificing a majority of their fighting force, they still had to deal with the amazonian camp but they couldn't risk the fortress sending support or backup.
As they began surrounding the ruined fortress and unpacking for the long haul Christian dismounted and examined the scene before him.
 
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A fight, perhaps. But only if the enemy sallied forth to attack them, in which case all they had to do was be ready for it. If they found the postern, sometimes called a sally port, then they could barricade it from the outside, and from there the only exits were the main gates, of which there were two, and they could be monitored from a distance.

All they actually had to do was wait for the enemy's food to run out, then the castle would have to surrender or sally forth with starving, demoralised men, which wouldn't be much of a fight. That and they still had their secret weapons, the necropedes (she called them this for lack of a better word) were definitely the most demoralising weapon at their disposal, and they could be used to find and even monitor the sally port.

"Master. Tell me, do you intend to assault the castle or starve them out? One is more costly the other more time consuming. My creations can help us either way but it depends on what we want to do."
 
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Christian had an idea of a plan, but certain elements had yet to fall into place. Now that he got to see the fortress and its defenses he knew what their battle plan would be.
"We'll starve them out, but we wont be idle. I want campfires and torches set up surrounding the fortress with just enough men to tend to them and keep them going."

He pointed in the direction of the Amazonian camp.
"In either of our two situations we will have to focus our forces on one target or the other. The fort or the women camp. And whichever we decide to focus on, reinforcements are sure to arrive from the other and we'll be caught in the middle.

Essentially we're going to make a gamble, immobilize this fortress with a ghost camp of torches and campfires while we go to take care of the Amazonians. We deal with them and then come back to focus again on ending this bandit threat once and for all. This is where the final battle will take place."

He pulled back his hood and ran a hand through his black hair. He needed it cut, he was starting to look like a bandit himself, in fact he hadn't cut it since he began his role as a noble.

While the guardsmen began setting up the ghost camp Christian rode to the edge of the clearing to study the fort. The bandits certainly knew they were their, the walls showed quite a bit of activity. But by nightfall they won't realize that their enemy was long gone.
 
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Essentially we're going to make a gamble, immobilize this fortress with a ghost camp of torches and campfires while we go to take care of the Amazonians. We deal with them and then come back to focus again on ending this bandit threat once and for all. This is where the final battle will take place."

“I’ll have our pets assure that they stay in the castle while we’re away.” She told him. “That way we are less likely to be attacked from behind by those in the castle. And we might be able to get trebuchets set up. Or we can use ballista winches to get ladders up and keep them there. Whichever is better in your mind.”

She followed him closely, carefully monitoring the undead Shem commanded, to make sure they were kept in the right place and out of sight.
 
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If only they were so equipped as to have such siege hardware. With the bandits being a constant drain on resources it was all they could do to arm and armor their guardsmen, every other effort went into feeding everyone. If Keia had somehow had a trebuchet stashed away somewhere that would be very impressive.
A battering ram and ladders may have to suffice for their assault.
But for now his mind was on the battle ahead that would come after nightfall.

Scouts had already located the females camp and it was a simple matter to reach them. The difficulty lay in the potential hostage situation.
Calling their bluff was an effective strategy but such a tactic wouldn't inspire the survivors to act favorably towards them. He would like to infiltrate the camp and see the situation for himself... But being a man made that task difficult. If he had all of his tools on hand he could make an effective female disguise, but as it stands Keia was his best option for infiltrating the camp of women.

They had a few hours before the sun fell so he chose a tree and sat in its roots as he looked over the clearing, motioning for Keia to join him.
 
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If only they were so equipped as to have such siege hardware. With the bandits being a constant drain on resources it was all they could do to arm and armor their guardsmen, every other effort went into feeding everyone. If Keia had somehow had a trebuchet stashed away somewhere that would be very impressive.
A battering ram and ladders may have to suffice for their assault.
But for now his mind was on the battle ahead that would come after nightfall.

It would be a simple matter of building them. Besides, the usual trebuchets weren't actually all that big, usually standing only slightly taller than four meters, useless against stone walls, but the Amazonian encampment only had a palisade, which could be collapsed with some effort from those small traction trebuchets, but still accomplishable. And it wouldn't take more than three men to build around two of them in a few hours, they could potentially have them up and ready for use by the time they were ready to assault the keep.

Scouts had already located the females camp and it was a simple matter to reach them. The difficulty lay in the potential hostage situation.
Calling their bluff was an effective strategy but such a tactic wouldn't inspire the survivors to act favorably towards them. He would like to infiltrate the camp and see the situation for himself... But being a man made that task difficult. If he had all of his tools on hand he could make an effective female disguise, but as it stands Keia was his best option for infiltrating the camp of women.

They had a few hours before the sun fell so he chose a tree and sat in its roots as he looked over the clearing, motioning for Keia to join him.

Keia had been thinking about this quite a while now, and had a few solutions of her own. This mostly had to do with the usual nature of men. From what she'd been able to understand, in most species humans included, men tended to be more aggressive, and these were former Kinniger men, so it would be even more so in their case. If they could get them to revolt, then they'd likely be able to overpower the Amazonians with even less difficulty.

It was around this time that he motioned for her to join him, and as always, she obeyed, "Yes master?"
 
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He looped his arm around her waist and pulled her to him.
"I have a special mission for you, Keia. When we arrive at the Amazonian camp I need you to go in and investigate, see the situation, infiltrate as deep as you can then return. If you can determine their numbers, who their leaders are, where the captives are held, and what sort of weapons are prominent among them that will allow us to tailor our attack for them."
He caressed her cheek and rested his face in her hair.
"When we get there, can you do that for me?"
 
He looped his arm around her waist and pulled her to him.
"I have a special mission for you, Keia. When we arrive at the Amazonian camp I need you to go in and investigate, see the situation, infiltrate as deep as you can then return. If you can determine their numbers, who their leaders are, where the captives are held, and what sort of weapons are prominent among them that will allow us to tailor our attack for them."
He caressed her cheek and rested his face in her hair.
"When we get there, can you do that for me?"

She listened to his instructions, and nodded. "Of course I can do that Master. I'll see what I can gather."

His hugging her was most welcome and she allowed herself to relax against him.
 
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He tenderly kissed her neck. The role of a ruler was a job, but it wasn't what he was even though he could pretend indefinitely. It was the end goal that was slowly forming in his subconscious that was steadily making all the hard work worth it. Once this bandit problem was finally dealt with then his rule could truly begin.

For the first time in a long time, his killers patience was beginning to run thin.
He slowly slid his hand up to her throat and rested it there.
"Actually... I'm considering a change of plans..."
He kissed up her neck to her ear to whisper, his lips inches from her lobe.
"What do you say, Keia? How about we show these bandits what it means to defy us?"

The fingers tightened around her throat as he whispered in her ear.
"Keia... My slave... My consort... My concubine... My property... My tool... My ally... Mine."
His fingers tightened with every title he listed off, and at "mine" he held the pressure just above her strangulation point.
"You will infiltrate the women camp... And you will bring your creatures with you... You will dominate them... Torture them... If they break, let them join our experiments, if they do not break... Well... Break them."
He kept the pressure on her neck, as if air itself were a privilege for her that he controlled. And he would allow her little sips every now and then to keep her conscious and listening.

"I will stay here with the army... I will kill again, as I once did. I will slaughter all of our enemies from the shadows and by morning our army will ride into this fortress unchallenged."
His voice almost hissed in her ear by now.
"Do you understand me, Keia?"
He released the pressure from her throat, allowing her to respond. She would no doubt appreciate the bruises he gave her as a perfect alibi to enter the female camp.
 
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For the first time in a long time, his killers patience was beginning to run thin.
He slowly slid his hand up to her throat and rested it there.
"Actually... I'm considering a change of plans..."
He kissed up her neck to her ear to whisper, his lips inches from her lobe.
"What do you say, Keia? How about we show these bandits what it means to defy us?"

She tilted her head up as his hand gripped her throat gently. The kiss to her neck was a nice tease. And he spoke of the change to the plans. She was about to reply when he proceeded by squeezing her windpipe, telling her quite clearly to remain silent.

The fingers tightened around her throat as he whispered in her ear.
"Keia... My slave... My consort... My concubine... My property... My tool... My ally... Mine."
His fingers tightened with every title he listed off, and at "mine" he held the pressure just above her strangulation point.
"You will infiltrate the women camp... And you will bring your creatures with you... You will dominate them... Torture them... If they break, let them join our experiments, if they do not break... Well... Break them."
He kept the pressure on her neck, as if air itself were a privilege for her that he controlled. And he would allow her little sips every now and then to keep her conscious and listening.

The tightening of his fingers around her throat made her struggle a little harder to breathe. Each word making even more clear a fact that she already knew. She was an object, property, a belonging, and he controlled every aspect of her life, and she'd have to live with that. His plan was explained, and she listened closely, and she couldn't help but to smile at the idea, she was loving this plan.

"I will stay here with the army... I will kill again, as I once did. I will slaughter all of our enemies from the shadows and by morning our army will ride into this fortress unchallenged."
His voice almost hissed in her ear by now.
"Do you understand me, Keia?"
He released the pressure from her throat, allowing her to respond. She would no doubt appreciate the bruises he gave her as a perfect alibi to enter the female camp.

She sucked in a breath when her throat was released. And she answered panting. "I understand Master. It will be done, you can count on me. You'll have the fort by tomorrow morning. I swear this. Any further orders to give me Master? Or shall I go and carry out your command?"
 
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Christian gently massaged the sides of her throat to help restore circulation.
"Yes. Single out their leader, make her suffering far greater than the others, but do not break her until I'm present to watch."
He tenderly manipulated her neck, working out any soreness he might have caused.
"Do not fail. My necromancy isn't so advanced that you'll be any good to me dead... Other than that, kiss me before you go."

With that he released her and stood up taking in a deep breath of air before he started checking his weapons one final time.
Relying on a trusted consort sat better with him than relying on an army of untested troops.
 
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Christian gently massaged the sides of her throat to help restore circulation.
"Yes. Single out their leader, make her suffering far greater than the others, but do not break her until I'm present to watch."

"Yes Master." She said, grateful for what could only be called a throat massage.

He tenderly manipulated her neck, working out any soreness he might have caused.
"Do not fail. My necromancy isn't so advanced that you'll be any good to me dead... Other than that, kiss me before you go."

"I will not fail Master." She said to him adamantly. As told she kissed him before getting up, it was a short but passionate and loyal.

Then she got up, and kissed him a second time for good measure then left for the forest edge, once inside the canopy she summoned the creatures to her side. They'd be able to handle the upstart women with ease. And they would do so.
 
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After she left on her mission he went to his tent to prepare for his own. He didn't intend for even his own captains to know his plan, all he told them was that they could not be moving out to battle the amazons, that they were taking their chances and staying here for the siege...
Other than that, there wasn't to be any night attack, no backup or distraction... Christian was going to do things his own way now... And nobody even knew that he had left the camp under the cover of darkness.

He crossed the open clearing between him and the fortified walls. He spotted several watchmen on the battlements ready to sound the alarm at the first sign of attack. A single flitting shadow easily escaped their notice as he slipped past their eyes and pressed against the bottom of the wall.
Without hesitation he began skirting around the perimeter, making sure there were not other ways in or out besides what they had spotted from a safe distance, satisfied that the front and back gates was all there was he went to a portion of wall that for the moment was unmonitored.
Slipping on a set of palm spikes he began he silent climb up the rough brick surface.

By the time he reached the top the watchman had walked past his spot twice and now had past again on his return pattern. He slipped over the side of the wall behind him and slipped down the opposite side. He climbed down to the ground again inside the keep and got a good look around.
There were a few actual stone buildings in here besides tents, namely the keep which held his attention.
He remained knelt in the shadows for a long while, watching the windows and timing the patterns of patrolling bandits.
It didn't help that they were on the alert and on edge about an attack, but it also didn't matter much to him either way. This wasn't a challenge.

First he secured a disguise from a sleeping bandit in his tent, dressed in furs and some fairly nice clothing (Probably stolen) he was then able to walk about in the open without fear. He fit into his role well, even altering the way he walked to imitate a swarthy young bandit with a cocky attitude.
First he skirted around the internal campsites and got an idea of the numbers they were dealing with, then he began making his way slowly through the middle of the camp, taking his time to examine everything to leave nothing up to chance.
It would take a while, but he had all night, and he was patient.
 
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The Amazonian camp was a little more relaxed by the looks of it. They had watchful guards but hardly everyone was atop them. There was however the sound of commotion in the camp itself. She thought to herself a moment. Of course the men wouldn't take this lying down! They weren't measly drow men who lacked the right to even call themselves such by the rest of the world's standards. Of course the women there would have trouble keeping their men under control, if they managed to at all.

Honestly how they'd managed to do that to begin with was a serious question. But no matter, it was time for death, and/or capture. Lucky for her she restocks her quartz stashes before every fight, now she had around fifty small quartz crystals she could use to capture souls of women who decided to die. She wondered if she might bury quartz in her creations so that they caught souls for her. Hmm.

She shook her head and focused, fight now, experiment later. She mounted one of the centipedes as though it were a very stout horse, and pulled up her feet to keep them from hitting the ground. Then the creatures crept forward, then their claws dug into the wooden wall that surrounded the camp. This had no castle ruin for a base, this was a simple palisade around tents.

They didn't go entirely unnoticed, about halfway up the wall they were spotted by one of the sentries. Who at the sight of the monstrosities that accompanied the necromancer, shrieked at her companions to get torches. That could prove problematic, but then again, she could just raise their fallen comrades if she needed to. that, and if she released the men, they'd likely be willing to fight with her, so there was no guarantee that fire would be the end of their attack.

They got atop the wall before any real counterattack could come, so they were inside the fort, zero casualties. Dismounting her monster, Keia summoned her circle of swords, which could also be turned into bonds should the opportunity arise. Frankly the thought of enslaving every bandit in there was appealing. She'd have a number of test subjects, and potential rewards for people who served the Baron with exceptional skill or devotion.

She gave her beasts the command, capture, don't kill. So the first thing that two of the four did was dig a deep hole, which they did rather quickly. After that, they started grabbing bandits and tossing them in. A few got a some bruises, maybe a broken bone or two but nothing permanent or life threatening. As for Keia, she sent the swords at any bandit to approach her, and they morphed into chains when they got close, locking the amazonian women in completely immobilizing positions. The plan was working so far.
 
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Christian was beginning to remember what it felt like... The mission, the subterfuge, the clandestine act of being in a place where you would be attacked on sight if they knew who you were. He picked his way through the camp, taking note of any especially dangerous looking individuals.
When he made it to the keep he slipped into the shadows again, looking for a good entrance. He liked to start at the middle and work his way out, get to see exactly what he's dealing with a then kill his way through it.

Using his new disguise he slipped through a side door without anyone batting an eye. Now came the tough part, sneaking through the blind hallways and rooms while avoiding contact with the guards he'd spotted from outside.
 
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Seeing what the creatures were, the men looked uncertain, defensive, but after a good while, after it being clear that they weren't there for them, they took note of what exactly the creatures were doing, and opted to assist them, now with a veritable army against them, backed up by monsters and a swordcasting woman surrounded by magic, the bandit's attempted to flee. Unluckily for them the walls were too high to leap from without injury, and her creatures had taken the southeastern gate, and the former captives had taken control of the western gate, effectively trapping the bandit's inside. Now it was cleanup time.

They closed in like a snake constricting it's prey. The pits were filled, and the brigands were caught. The men were a little cautious of her, but they were eventually convinced that she was on their side, and hearing that she worked, and even belonged to, the Baron, they were more than willing to help. The women bandits were taken out of the pits one at a time and securely bound and put in the cages in which the men had been held not long before, a few of the more vocal ones were gagged.

Now they only needed to wait for the Baron, she sent one of her creatures to observe the castle while the captives stripped their captors of their weapons and armor, leaving them in simple clothes or in many cases less. She watched through the scouting creature's eyes, looking for any sort of sign that Christian needed help of any kind.
 
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Voices in a counsel room.
"We can take them! All we have to do is wait for Holly's band of bitches to arrive and then charge through! It's just the upstart Baron and his band of guardsmen, we have them outmatched!"
A second voice, deeper and with more authority.
"We can't rely on Holly. That whore has her own agenda, we're on our own."
A third voice, cold, dispassionate, emotionless, deadly.
"... Yes, you're on your own..."

A white mask emerged from the shadowy doorway, wreathed in a black robe and hood.
From the shadows of the robe two daggers flashed through the torchlight and struck the two bandits.
They fell dead, but one died with a scream on his lips.
The white mask disappeared back through the doorway into the darkness, but not before leaving the illusory image of a rose on the two bodies.

Through that same doorway came the guards who heard the scream, Christian easily hid from them in the shadows even as their torchlight passed over him.
Once they were in the room they saw their dead leaders.
Again the mask appeared from the shadows, a long bladed dagger was drawn from a well oiled and wrapped sheath, then it was sheathed again in the back of the rear guardsman, two more were ended similarly before they noticed that they were being killed... And when they turned and saw the white mask with the apathetic expression they promptly shat themselves as the reaper drifted like a ghost from one to the other before they all lay dead in pools of their own blood.

Christian wiped down his blade as he left the room... The carnage had only just begun and he had all night... All of this glorious night.
He strode down the hall and reflected... Yes, there was a warmness there in his chest, he hadn't noticed it had grown there and with it a bit of humanity... But he only noticed it now because it was dying, being contrasted by the cold returning, being replaced by the piece of the void that was him.

He deftly stepped into the shadows and didn't have to wait long before one of the guards he so carefully timed and memorized began making his round past this spot. He was like a puff of smoke the way he moved rapidly yet silently. Pulling the man into the shadows and cutting his vocal cords before the man could make a sound, he then died a split second later.
The rest of the guards on patrol in the keep died similarly, their movements perfectly mapped and timed, not a single one came across a body before he got to them and took them out.
It was a quiet night, silent and peaceful for the bandits and almost an hour of this had passed.

An icy blue stare behind a grim faced white mask... and with every kill that icy stare just got colder, and colder... If an assassin weren't an occupation but a race alongside man or mer, this was it.

___________________________​

Two bandits drinking together in the feast hall, one prattling on, the other silent and timidly nodding or chuckling whenever it seemed right.
"-So I say's to her, 'Ye can't breed a goat with a fecken horse!' an she just stares at me an say's, 'then git on top of me an prove it!'"
Christian pushed the doors open on squealing hinges, the two boisterous men paused in their revelry and watched the slow, steady, methodical step of the assassin as he entered the room... His blue eyes dead and seemed only to see the floor in front of him.
"Ey, who the ell are you?!"
The glint of the dagger, the blue eyes slowly slid up to stare at them with an equally monotone voice.
"Just like you said... Hell..."
Dropping their mugs and drawing their weapons both men charged, swinging their swords again and again, Christian was smoke, a vapor, a cloud, he moved with such slight and subtle movements and yet their blades could not reach him. nicking the edges of his cloak as he dodged and weaved around their slashes.
His blade whipped out and took the throat of the quiet one, blood sprayed into the eyes of the boisterous one as a second dagger took him through the underside of his jaw and out the roof of his head.

The screams attracted attention from those remaining in the keep, the body falling from a window on the second floor into the camp below attracted attention there.
Christian remained in the feasting room... only two doors to get in or out, and now everyone was coming here... A whole army to take out one assassin with dead eyes and a blood splattered mask.
Men filed into the hall to their deaths one by one at the edge of his daggers, their armor useless, their weapons finding no flesh to bite, their numbers mere casualties...

_____________________________​

Screams echoed into the night even reaching the Baron's camp.
Christian pushed open the doors of the keep and stepped towards the waiting forces outside, another army... But they made no move forward as Christian descended the steps, his dead gaze listlessly drifting over their terrified faces... The red mask with a grim face, two red blades, a man in black dripping in blood... And a rain of thorny roses falling from the sky.

Like animals trapped in a cage they attacked, trying to surround him, trying to overwhelm him, trying to get anywhere near him without being slaughter in droves! He was like a whirling dervish, his blades slipping past guard and shield, armor and instinct. Fifty became forty, forty to thirty, thirty to twenty, twenty to ten... And ten remained huddled against the gate, in utter terror that a one man army just decimated them in a mere two hours.
Christian was growing tired, but he had calculated their numbers and just how much effort to spend on each one, he economized his energy, never getting excited or flustered, never registering panic or doubt... Ten was enough, they will do...
"You survived to the last. You will be my elites... Eventually."
 
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Keia decided to be a little proactive while she and the newly armed men waited for word from the Terror-Baron.

Keia came to the cages, and she looked around at the women. Behind her were her centipedes, two of them anyway, the others were scouring the forests around them for any stragglers or scouts.

She didn't even say anything at first, but she mentally ordered one of her centipedes to retrieve one of the women from the cage, and bring her to her.

The creature did just that. And a terrified bandit woman was dragged from her cage by a hand of black, charred skin stretched over bones, and thrown to the ground in front of the necromancer.

Keia crouched to more easily look the woman in the eyes. "I want to know who lead you. And you're going to tell me who it was."

Keia removed the woman's gag so that she may speak. And speak she did, "H-Holly. Her name is Holly."

"And where is Holly?"

The bandit looked around desperately, and nodded to a woman with red hair who looked a tad burlier than the rest. So Keia patted the woman's cheek. "Thank you. Now I'll make sure that when I let the men have their fun with your comrades, you'll be left alone."

With this forbidding threat Keia stood and went to speak with Holly. While the woman who pointed her out was taken to Keia's tent.

Keia had Holly removed from the cage and brought out. "You know what the penalty is for banditry?"

Holly spat in Keia's face. "That so-called baron is a blight. We don't answer to him."

Keia calmly wiped the spit from her face, "actually you do. Now whether that's as a public toy or as one of his personal soldiers is up to you. Quite frankly I think a lot of these men would be delighted if you were leashed naked in the town square for anyone to use. But you lead a large group of bandits, and pretty well too. Your skills could be put to good use elsewhere."

"I don't answer to that baron any more than I answer to you, wench."

Keia sighed. "Very well."

One of her creatures took her to Keia's tent also, where she'd await her fate.
 
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"Captain, you're right that was screaming we heard. The walls were abandoned and when the scout made the front gate he heard combat inside. He thinks some infighting among the bandits must have broke out."
The captain of the guard that now led the guardsmen as an army commander looked at the walls of the fortress from the line of torches from their camp.
"And the Baron is still missing?"
The guardsman nodded, "Yes sir. He's not in his tent or around the camp. What are your orders sir?"
The captain grumbled a bit and paced around. He'd been in charge before, heck he was practically running things before the Baron showed up. From what he could tell the Baron was a good man and certainly skilled, but he could never quite tell what the man was actually thinking.

"Rally the guards, we'll take advantage of the chaos and take the walls."

____________________________________​

A clatter on ancient blood stained stone, weapons being dropped, grown men and a couple women begging for their lives at the feet of the red masked assassin.
Christian lowered his blades and stepped forward past the trembling bandits. He removed the boards and pushed open the gates just as the guardsmen were about to raise ladders.
Silhouetted by the campfires and burning tents Christian faced the guardsmen, a blood soaked gloved reached up and removed the blood stained mask.

____________________________________​

It was another couple hours, but within the same night they reached the Amazonian camp with prisoners in tow. The guardsmen and the captain whispered to each other in awe and glanced at their Baron, a newfound respect reflected in their eyes as they watched the dark figure riding ahead of them.
Most of them expected to form a battle line and attack the camp, but they were surprised when Christian simply rode straight for the gated entrance to the palisade. Nervously the guardsmen followed, but at this point they were willing to do so on trust alone.

Christian called out when he reached the gate, "Keia. I trust you were successful?"
 
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