Fable - Ask The Toll

[Alistair Krixus]

Fort Velkath was a valuable stronghold that was one of many in a chain of defenses that boasted not only strong architecture but strong soldiers. That was why their arrival was enough to immediately send a chill up Alistair's spine.

The closer they neared the fort, the more he could feel Feldaris tensing up beneath him. He soothed the horse before coming to a stop at the gates.

"No, no it should not."

Alistair quietly slipped from his horse and unsheathed the Tyrian sword at his hip. If Fort Velkath was abandoned then that meant there was a glaring hole in the chain that protected Vel Anir.

There was no longer any need to ask the soldiers about rumors. Something was very clearly wrong. A Legion up and gone.

"Eyes up. Stay sharp."

He made sure to look to each one of his companions before Alistair took the lead as he stepped further into the fort. Leaving Kristen to keep looking around, since hopefully she had more information on the fort than he did.

Lothar Zinnia Kristen Pirian

 

[Zinnia]

Well...this mission certainly took an unexpected turn. It seemed that perhaps this was going to turn out more like the Falwood incident, only...the scale of this outstripped the ritual killings back then by leaps and bounds. Fort Velkath had been rendered utterly inert. The land almost seemed to howl with its desolation.

"An...an entire Anirian f-fortress, emptied out overn-night?! Th-that...that doesn't happen!" Zinnia cried as she joined the others in dismounting and readying her weapon. Her hammer gave a gentle woosh as it was freed from her belt, then began to glow as she channeled fire from her fingertips into the glass-like sphere embedded in its head.

Zinnia couldn't remember the last time she was this immediately on edge. She stepped after Alistair, hairs on the back of her neck standing stiff beneath the shelter of her hood. Every fiber of her being was telling her to get away from this place, but she shook the feeling as best she could. The distant sound of tumbling rocks disturbed the silence for but a moment, their brief cascade echoing against the walls of the fortress. The wallflower shivered.
"S-something is wr-wrong here...v-very, very, wrong..."

 

[Kristen Pirian]

All efforts in the search produced no sign of life.

There was something indescribably eerie about a place that should be bustling with activity, humming with all the commotion of daily routine, and yet there was nothing at all. Throughout the keep, throughout the barracks, throughout the mess hall and the storerooms, no matter where Kristen and Alistair and Lothar and Zinnia looked, all the men and women garrisoning Fort Velkath could be nowhere found. Some beds in the barracks were made, some looked as if their occupants had woken and simply tossed off their blankets and risen to go somewhere; plates of food in the mess hall, partaken of to various degrees, rested on the tables, and there were some that looked as if they had been dropped suddenly on the ground from soldiers in the process of carrying them to their seats. One thing that did stand out for the observant eye was that the gear of the Guardsmen was also missing. The armory looked as though it only held surplus armors and weapons, or else in the process of being repaired. It seemed evident that, wherever the missing legion went, they had not simply been vanished away, but apparently had time to don all of their equipment.

Kristen met up with everyone in the courtyard. Her expression was one marked by clear anxiety.

"This is a grave portent," she said, and then placed her hands on her hips and lowered her head. "It just...cannot be that an entire unit of Guardsmen abandoned their post, and this with no signs of a struggle." She glanced around at her fellows. "I personally did not discover any signs of magic. Have you, Alistair? Lothar? Zinnia?"

* * * * *​

Struggling, slowly bleeding from an open wound in his side suffered yesterday, a lone and haggard figure trekked the open ground and was approaching Fort Velkath. The loss of blood left him pale and weak. Desperation and a feverish determination to find hope and salvation in the Fort molded his countenance.

His name was Patrick Hunnos, and he was from the village of Mericho, north of both Fort Velkath and Selmack.

"...help..." he breathed, hardly a whisper when in fact he wished for the strength to shout. "...help me..." he said again, trudging slowly toward the open gates of the fort.

Alistair Krixus Lothar Zinnia

 

[Alistair Krixus]

Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Alistair had layered such an in-depth scan spell on this place that he could have noticed a cockroach with a magical fart, but there was nothing. It was like they had all just got up and left, but there was no way that someone would not have noticed an entire legion abandoning their post.

At least he could tell one thing, it had not been too long. That meant they could send a pigeon informing Vel Anir, so that they could get some soldiers out here to man the fort. Leaving such a huge gap in the defenses really was not an option.

"We should send a message as fa..."

Alistair slowly closed his mouth as he caught the movement from outside. A person, and they were limping. They were hurt. More importantly, they had answers.

"Kris, get out the first aid supplies. Zinnia on me. Lothar keep an eye out for anything else in the area."

He took off to run for the man, they could not let this man die. At the moment, he might be the only answer they had.

"It's alright. What happened here?"

Alistair moved to help support the man.

Kristen Pirian Lothar Zinnia

 

[Lothar]

Lothar remained almost entirely silent as they came upon the fortress.

A mixture of dread and stoicism took him over the more they explored the old fort. He was no fool, and despite his relative lack of more...important missions, he could read the room as well as any of his other fellow Initiates.

Guardsmen abandoning their post wasn't anything new. Stories about deserters were common enough, half the time of the Vestigate was spent tracking them down.

Something like this though? An entire Fort abandoned by it's Garrison? More than a hundred men up and leaving all at the same time? Even a complete fool would know there was something wrong. Whether it was dissidents, or another incident was hard to tell, but even Lothar could feel the trouble in the air.

"No magic." Lothar confirmed, breaking his silence. "No blood, nothing, but the supplies and armory are untouched."

His attention flickered to Alistair, and was then immediately seized by the half-stumbling corpse that walked through the gate.

Almost immediately Lothar reached for his sword, hand snapping to hilt out of pure practice. The bandages on his hand shifting ever so slightly as he drew the blade and snapped to attention alongside Alistair. Quickly he moved with the older Dreadlord, his eyes flickering up to watch beyond the gate.

Searching for something, anything that might present a clue.

 

[Zinnia]

"Unsettling" didn't begin to cover the feel of being in this place as it was. Yet, even still, her own search didn't reveal the telltale signs of dark meddling. At least, not yet. Kristen asked as much upon her reunion with the group.

"No...r-ritual magic, especially the dark kind, requires s-spell circles...and those t-tend to burn into their surroundings when th-they get, uh, 'used up.' If this hap-penned recently, they c-could have cleaned the evidence, but you c-can't get rid of the sulfur smell."

Zinnia blinked, then went a bit red. Serious as the situation was, she still couldn't help but realize how that all sounded.

"I, um...d-did a fair bit of r-research on this s-sort of thing after the F-Falwood Border Incident..."

Then came the unfamiliar face...

Alistair barked his orders and Zinnia snapped to attention. She was on his heels in an instant, darting along to aid as well. As Alistair took to the wounded man's side, Zinnia took to the other. She saw--and smelt--the blood on him immediately.

"H-hey! He's bleeding out!"

 

[Kristen Pirian]

Lothar's search produced the same as Kristen's own: nothing. Zinnia offered some insight on what could have happened—she was quite studious and well-read on the subject. Alistair had a mind for the bigger picture, beginning to suggest they send a message out to the next nearest authority.

Then they heard the weak cries of the survivor Patrick, and all of their attention turned to him. Finally, something! Yet this initial thought of Kristen's was curtailed immediately upon seeing his condition, excitement turning more to alarm.

Kris, get out the first aid supplies.

Kristen didn't hesitate. She immediately broke into a sprint back to her horse and secured what medical supplies they had on hand and came running back. By then Patrick, despite Alistair's support in standing, drifted down from exhaustion and weakness to take a seat on the ground. Kristen dropped down to her knees and started to unpack the supplies; she looked to Zinnia and said, "Give me a hand," and then set to work on doing all she could to clean and dress the man's wound.

Lothar's glancing about would note nothing more significant than a small collection of birds perched about the gates. A pigeon, a sparrow, two crows, a robin and a raven. One of the crows briefly looked their way, as curious birds do, mayhap there was something like a tiny flash of teal in them, and then it flew off.

Patrick looked with clear confusion at Alistair. "What happened...here? What do mean what happened here?" He glanced around, only then seeming to notice that the three Initiates and the Dreadlords were, in fact, the only souls within Fort Velkath. "Where...where is everyone? The Guard? We need help."

"From where have you come?" Kristen asked as she worked.

"M-Mericho," Patrick breathed, and then with horror he recalled, "They came...from nowhere. All was peaceful, and then...the night stirred with violence. It was no battle...slaughter...everywhere slaughter. They were...men, but not men...they had been changed...corrupted...this I could see beneath their armor...and the stench. I never ran so hard in my life..."

Kristen eyed her companions warily. "This...Mad Legion of men, what else can you tell of them?"

Patrick's face was so horribly pallid, yet he pressed on through his weakness to speak, "I saw...in the dark of night...even from so far away...their glowing teal eyes...I saw where they were going..."

"Where?"

Patrick struggled for a long time, his eyes glossing over and coming back into focus. He was at the edge of death, teetering back and forth over the precipice, but he mustered what little strength he had left to speak his final word, "...south..."

And there before them all he perished.

Yet with his death, grim and somber, came the startling realization of what village was directly south of Mericho, and Kristen's eyes shot wide open. "...Selmack! Blessed Aionus, they're going to Selmack!"

Alistair Krixus Lothar Zinnia

 

[Alistair Krixus]

Alistair frowned as he stood back a step and watched the two initiates work on the man. This was a lot of information all at once. He needed to compartmentalize to the best of his abilities. They possibly had a runaway legion on their hands, and if not then something else capable of destroying a town.

He remembered to nod respectfully to the fresh corpse before him. The man had used his last remaining life to potentially save others, and that was respectable. Alistair did not waste time in casting a simple spell that created a small hole in the ground. It would make due for a grave.

"Let's give him the closest thing to a proper burial and then we move out. We head to Selmak."

Hopefully, they could cut off the legion before they arrived, but he left the other part unsaid. It was likely too late for them to help Mericho, and if they went there and the legion was already gone then they would just be further behind. In this instance, Alistair had to think about who he could save rather than who had been lost.

Alistair left the body in the care of Kristen and Zinnia, while he moved to begin preparing the horses for travel.

"Lothar, ready to move?"

Kristen Pirian Lothar Zinnia

 

[Zinnia]

Zinnia's gut was rarely mistaken. Something had indeed gone horribly wrong here, and the poor man they'd tried to aid had been witness to it. They were too late for him, it seemed. He was a dead man walking, probably only holding himself together on raw adrenaline. He'd had time enough only to share what little he knew, and then slipped away...poor soul...

At the very least, Zinnia had long since been accustomed to death by the good graces of the Academy. She would aid in getting the man's body into the hole Alistair had created and ensuring he was buried decently enough. A broken spear shaft with a bit of red, Pirian cloth was lodged in the mound to denote the site. Maybe later they could return and give him something a bit...more. With the bare few minutes they had, this would have to do.

"J-just what are we getting into here?" Zinnia asked, apprehensive. "A 'l-legion?' There are f-four of us, and n-not one of us is experienced."

Not only that, but none of their group were among the massively destructive members of their class Zinnia knew of. Someone like Kalix or Vance of Alistair's class would have been apt for fighting an improvised army. Kress, any proctor would have been an incomparable boon. But this group? Would they stand a pebble's chance in the path of a flood?

 

[Lothar]

Lothar kept to his usual stoic silence as the dying man made his final plea.

A frown touched his face as he described the twisted men that had done all of this, his mind flickering through a dozen different things it could be. Undead, Aberrations, corruption, any one of a dozen different types of magics that they'd all been taught about.

The few words of dying man didn't give them much to go off of, and Lothar couldn't help but frown. His thoughts still running even as Alistair called to him. He turned his head, half missing what the Dreadlord had said. "I-"

He swallowed.

"Yes." South, towards Selmack, at least they had a heading and an inclination of something.

What had hours before been a wild goose chase now appeared like it would be a fight against overwhelming odds. Zinnia was right, they were hardly the type to take on a legion. Still, they had a duty, and Lothar couldn't help the slight thrill that flickered through his chest. "We can send a message back to town."

He suggested, there were a few spells they could use. "Get reinforcements while we stall."

 

[Kristen Pirian]

Kristen and Zinnia saw to Patrick's burial. But all the while she felt the crush of time upon her, and it was all she could do to pray silently to Aionus that they might be allowed swiftness enough to stop Selmack's destruction. Gods, and to think they since the early morning were riding out away from the coming Legion; had some delay kept them in Selmack, they could have been there. They...

Zinnia asked her question once the grave had been marked, and Kristen's worry was plain. "We must try. I truly do not know if we can prevail, but we must try."

Kristen would rather retreat from a fight they found to be hopeless than to stand idle whilst another whole village was burned and its people massacred. And, furthermore, she'd a more personal reason as well.

Which is why Lothar's suggestion prompted so sharp a rise out of her, "Stall?? No, we cannot stall! My cousin Redoran may still be there. Even if it were that I must go alone, then I would." Kristen reached her horse and swung herself into the saddle. She sighed, slightly ashamed that she allowed her vexation to scorch Lothar. More calmly she concluded, "For such reinforcements as can be summoned...we shall only have to pray that they move as swiftly as we do."

She glanced toward Alistair. They pulled off a miracle at Ostia Anir. Could the same be done here for Selmack? Gods, she just didn't know.

Alistair Krixus Zinnia Lothar

 

[Alistair Krixus]

Alistair was on his horse and looked to make sure all the others were prepared. Satisfied that they were ready, he took off down the road with the others in pursuit. He used magic to project his voice so they could continue planning.

"When we get to Selmak, we will send for reinforcements on the chance there are some nearby. And while I don't want to put your family in danger Kristen, let's hope Redoran is still there. Most nobles tend to travel with a guard, so we can conscript those forces to assist us. Once we get there, depending on how close the legion is, we will prepare for combat...That will be enough."

He was a freshly made Dreadlord, but he had learned several tricks since his graduation. This would certainly be the time to pull them out...as long as he survived long enough to employ them.

"The mayor's home up on that hill, we will evacuate as many civilians to there as possible. That will leave us the remainder of the town to fight without fear of harming anyone else."

Kristen Pirian Zinnia Lothar

 

[Zinnia]

"Kristen..." the name tumbled from Zinnia's lips as she watched her. Zinnia had judged her, disliked her for the incompetence she displayed, but...in this moment she was more dutiful than Zinnia. Kristen loved her people. Loved Vel Anir. Her family.

In that moment, Zinnia's mind was made up for her.
"You're right. We'll g-give it everything we've g-got."

Zinnia might not have had the tactical know-how that Alistair did, but she had resolve. Hopefully that would be enough.

 

[Lothar]

Lothar frowned for a moment as Kristen rebuked him, choosing her own emotional ties over what made tactical sense.

Maybe that's why they take us as children. Lothar thought to himself, though with not even a hint of bitterness. Unlike some of the others he had no fault towards the Pirian girl. It was not so long ago that his position had not been so different than the one she'd occupied when first arriving at the academy.

Weak, a laughing stock.

She'd never been cruel to him, save for this one instance of flared tension, and even that was understandable. She was no Leander or Scor. As he made his way towards his horse the Initiate looked over at their noble companion."You won't have to go alone."

Lothar assured Kristen, glancing over towards Alistair as he spoke. Listening to the Dreadlord as he laid out a tactical plan and nodding along. His fingers held tightly onto the reins of his horse as they began to head out.

"What if they purposefully go for the civilians?" He called out over the din of the wind.

 

[Kristen Pirian]

Quickly they started out. But would they even make it, going as fast as they were? It took them from morning to afternoon to get to Fort Velkath from Selmack, and surely it would take them from afternoon to evening to get back. All the while since their departure, that Mad Legion had been steadily heading south from Mericho; for all they knew, the Legion could be there now.

And just where had the garrison from Fort Velkath gone? The best hope was that they had somehow caught wind of the events at Mericho and deployed with no haste spared, yet...such a hope seemed far too desperate. Surely Patrick would have seen the Fort Velkath unit if that were so.

Before Kristen could hazard to make the connection, that the unit from Fort Velkath was the Mad Legion, Lothar asked his question, and Kristen gave her grim answer.

"The man from Mericho told us," she almost didn't want to say it, but she did: "'Everywhere slaughter.'"

* * * * *

THE RETURN TO SELMACK
TWO DAYS PRIOR​

The low dark of the evening and the bright blazes of fires greeted them.

Selmack was in dire peril—this much could be ascertained the moment the village had come into view. The last glinting rays of sunlight from the west brought to a shimmer the rising columns of smoke. Tiny silhouettes could be seen passing before the blazes like the moons passing before the sun during an eclipse. These were remnants of the Mad Legion, a gaggle of individual legionnaires who had been separated from the greater whole like locusts who had lost pace with their swarm. These Legionnaires still scoured the village even now, looking for any who might be hiding, thrashing about in outbursts of mad rage in-between their otherwise eerily calm searches.

The mayor's house that Alistair mentioned was currently under siege. As the most defensible structure of the village, with its solid brick walls and all entrances barricaded, there were villagers holed up inside as a mass of Legionnaires were in their bestial way trying to find some method of breaching this impromptu stronghold.

"By the gods," Kristen said, near breathless as they from their vantage looked upon the embattled village. With eyes wracked by worry she looked to Alistair, whose idea it had been to send for reinforcements upon arrival. "If we delay a moment longer, there shall not be anything more than ash and bones to save."

Alistair Krixus Zinnia Lothar

 

[Alistair Krixus]

Their arrival was the worst option possible. They had been too slow. Alistair looked at the fires with an emotionless gaze, but inside he wanted to scream in frustration. The Legion was already running through the city laying waste to everything. There was only one thing left to do.

"We will send for aid after we push the Legion back. Let's secure the mayor's house as a fallback...They don't have much time left."

Alistair could not help but think about the people still in the village, but he had to weigh everything. There was no guarantee they could save all of them, and they were too spread out. At least, with this way, they knew there were a few at the house and they could secure a defensible position.

Nothing left to be said, Alistair took out his runesaber and spurred his horse to its fastest speed.

"Don't hold back."

Diving into battle, Alistair would take out Legion if they crossed his path, but he was heading straight for the Mayor's home.

Kristen Pirian Zinnia Lothar

 

[Zinnia]

Zinnia had donned her full armor in preparation for what was assuredly a coming fight. The sight of Selmack below was indeed mayhem made manifest. From behind the visor of her helmet, Zinnia's eyes were filled with fear. None of them had any real idea of what they were getting into. There was no explanation yet for what had driven these soldiers to their current state, no indication of whether or not it could spread, nor how. Yet here the four of them were, and Zinnia knew in her heart that they couldn't leave these people to their ruination.

Reluctantly, Zinnia withdrew her hammer and began to channel fire into it. The crystalline sphere in the heart of the hammer's head burst into orange light at her will, and with Alistair's order she spurred her horse on behind him. Together with the others she would plunge into the fray.

 

[Lothar]

Lothar set his jaw as they looked down on the embattled down.

Fires raged everywhere, and his eyes flickered between orange glows. He searched along with the rest of his fellow, gaze eventually falling upon the besieged mayor's estate. It's brick walls and impromptu battlements holding surprisingly well against the disturbed Legionnaires assault.

Fingers reached for the sword on the side of his saddle. Blade ripped free with a ring, his other hand falling subtly to the bandage on his palm. He shifted the soft cloth, moving it to reveal an eye sitting centered within the back of his hand. The eye seemed to shift slightly, first looking left, then right. It's pupil seemed to shrink, and then a pulse of odd yellow light ran through it's Iris.

Lothar took in a shape breath, his muscles tightening.

Then the others kicked their horses forward.

Without a moment of hesitation Lothar charged. There wasn't any arguing, any further planning or trepidation. The four of them were intent on saving what little remained of the towns people, and in order to do that they were mounting the smallest cavalry charge ever seen in Anirian Territory. They were Dreadlords, who was he to question the plan.

No battle cry or other sound passing his lips, Lothar gripped his reins tight as they went barreling forward. The rhythmic sound of horse hooves beating into the earth drowned out by shouts and yells from the besiegers until it was almost too late. One of the twisted Guardsmen only noticing the arriving reinforcements when Alistair was already upon them.

Shouts of panic and warning rising up through the legionnaires as the battle truly began.

 

[Kristen Pirian]

It was difficult—nay, impossible—to know what they were up against beforehand. But it was all that they could do enter into the fray regardless.

Into the embattled town of Selmack they rode. The plan of Alistair's making was as straightforward as could be: charge through and secure the mayor's house. A mostly straight shot down the main road cutting through town, but one which did not lack for scattered Legionnaires. Alistair's runesaber cut down the first of these monstrosities, yet not before the creature could give out a ferocious cry. Indeed, creature, for the voices which rang out in reply were of the same character—more bestial than human. Guttural, broken, and possessed with animalistic emotion of all stripes: fury, and surprisingly, fear, and even more surprisingly, sadness.

For Kristen, the sight of them up close as the four of them rode by was disturbing. All over their flesh was bulbous and pulsing with the blues, blacks, and deep purples of a hideous bruise, and it was difficult to discern where their flesh stopped and their armor began, such was the chaotic fusion between body and steel. What faces they had were half recognizable at most, swollen over for the rest.

These Legionnaires that were close by on the main road leaped into their feral attack. They assaulted not the riders, no, but their horses, all in swift and tandem action. All four horses belonging to the Dreadlords were thus assailed.

Kristen's horse gave a wild shriek as a Legionnaire threw itself whole into the animal, causing the horse to fully flip over end and catapult Kristen off and onto the road. She hit the ground hard, rolling, and her horse's hindquarters had barely struck the dirt before the Legionnaire was tearing the beast apart. She gasped, her breath kicking up a small puff of dirt in the road, and then she stood, stumbling back a few steps until her balance was regained.

"Alistair!" she cried out, this purely by instinct, as another Legionnaire pounced at her and she brought up her sword to fight it off.

Alistair Krixus Zinnia Lothar

 

[Alistair Krixus]

Alistair's magical blade lashed out and seared through anything that came into contact with the thing. While the Legionnaires were erratic, their defenses were no match for him. He had originally hoped that their sudden arrival would get them through more of the town before they were spotted, but that was not the case. They still had to push through, it just might be a little harder.

While their opponents were unsettling, the first round of attacks was rather easy and put them in a good position. That all changed when the Legion turned its sights on the horses. This indicated, that behind that animalistic fury, was some level of intelligence.

Alistair also grew worried for his horse, Feldaris had been with him since his 15th birthday. A trusted companion, who was far more intelligent than people gave him credit for. His rider's hand dropped to his neck and soon several runes were glowing along the horse's body. Those runes had taken ages and more than a fair share of carrots to keep Feldaris calm. The runes would make it difficult for the Legion to knock over Feldaris or really sink their teeth into him.

While Alistair was focused on the battle, it was actually his horse that showcased more awareness. For as soon as Kristen called his name, the horse whipped around allowing Alistair to slice at the Legion member while reaching his free hand out to grab Kristen off the ground.

They needed to keep moving.

Kristen Pirian Zinnia Lothar

 

[Zinnia]

Alistair and Kristen blazed the path ahead, but when the latter fell the former had to come to her rescue, and the party's momentum all but ground to a halt. The Legionnaires would assuredly be on them in an instant, and without the speed advantage their horses offered their group wasn't likely to last long.

Zinnia kicked her heels into her horse and gave a "yah!" to spur it onwards. These maddened men were fast; Zinnia had to be faster. With a shout she swung her hammer low as she rode by one of the Legionnaires, burying the flaming head into the man's torso. Armor and bone alike were crushed beneath the impact, flesh and steel burning together as whatever human instincts remained in the man's mind allowed him to scream in pain and rage. His body tumbled a few yards before coming to a silent, smoldering stop.

A quick, wide swing of the hammer both extinguished the energy she was channeling into it and caused a ball of flame to fly into an encroaching trio of the ailing soldiers, bursting on impact with the ground and igniting the men. They dashed onwards, undeterred by the apparently superficial charring of their skin. Zinnia stowed her hammer and rallied her horse back towards the others. On horseback, she could be deadlier at range.

Zinnia pulled a crossbow from a saddlebag and racked a bolt, charging it with energy as she did. She whipped the crossbow over her shoulder, aimed, and fired behind her at the pursuing Legionnaires, striking the leader in a leg. Ice immediately sprung from the impact zone, encasing his lower half in a freezing tomb. The man shrieked his fury, clawing desperately at the ice around him even as his fellows passed him by.

She might've been able to halt another, but they were gaining ground...and who knew how many more were still running to reinforce their kindred. While she racked another bolt, she shouted for aid.
"Lothar! Incoming!"

 

[Lothar]

"Lothar! Incoming!"

The words rang out, and the Initiate twisted in his saddle. He turned to face towards Zinna as she called for aid, but doing so was a near fatal mistake.

Though apparently not within sound mind, the Legionnaires around them still knew how to fight. The moment Lothar drew his eyes away was the moment that one of the creatures struck. It jumped up, and over the Initiate's horse. Moving far faster, and in ways that no ordinary man could.

Lothar half turned, his blade swiping, but the Legionanaire was fast.

The man's fists came pummeling down. Smashing against Lothar's smaller form with an indomitable force. Cracking down again and again as Lothar desperately shifted his shield to fall in the way of the man's blows. The gauze on his left hand shifted, moving as blow after blow came falling down upon him.

Fists came crashing down until finally the scrap of bandage fell away, and a strange yellow eye drew free. It pupil seemed to shrink, the iris around it growing larger as the eye began to look around in almost a panic. A pulse ran through it, and then suddenly Lothar's shield shattered into a thousand pieces.

In an instant, the shards of wood fired forward, tearing through the legionnaire like thousands of pieces of shrapnel.

Lothar's hand shifted almost immediately, the eye on the back of his palm pulsing again as the legionnaire that had been on top of him fell away in a bloody pulp. The shattered pieces of wood flickered through the air, now stained and dulled with crimson.

"I'm! I'm coming!" Lothar shouted as he scrambled to his feet, his hand reaching up to rip free the gauze which covered his arm. Immediately revealing half a dozen eyes all embedded deep within his forearm. Each a different color, each shifting and peering as though they could see.

 

[Kristen Pirian]

The assault in the road was vicious, but though Kristen's horse had perished and Lothar's went galloping away in fear after he had been knocked from it, the good news was that Alistair and Zinnia still had theirs.

Before Kristen, Alistair's runesaber cleanly turned one ferocious Legionnaire into two inert halves. Blood spattered all over Kristen's front, turning much of her white tabard red, but less was she shocked by it and more was she amazed and grateful for Alistair's timing. Without any delay she threw her porcelain hand into Alistair's grasp and jumped up with his help to sit on the saddlebag behind him. She placed that same arm around Alistair's waist to steady herself for the coming ride.

"Zinnia's got Lothar, go!"

Kristen didn't see it. Didn't even need to see it. She trusted in Zinnia's capability, in Lothar's tenacity (though she and he were not very well acquainted, he was nevertheless a Dreadlord Initiate of many years). They would be fine.

To cover their hasty ride toward the Mayor's Manor, Kristen chanted a verse and summoned an Ashen Crucifix behind Feldaris. The Crucifix slammed down after its summoning in the horse's wake, and the Legionnaires who gazed upon it, even with that wild madness driving their minds to a feral nature, were frozen in a brief animalistic fear as they beheld the grim conjuration. It wasn't as effective as it would have been on a normal mortal, but those precious seconds might well keep Alistair's mount, Zinnia's mount, from likewise being killed or driven off.

The siege at the Mayor's Manor awaited, and with it, the bulk of the Legionnaires plaguing Selmack.

Alistair Krixus Zinnia Lothar

 

[Alistair Krixus]

Alistair's eyes were watching the whole thing play out, but Kristen was right. Zinnia was with Lothar, and anything that Alistair could do would just slow the whole team down. Making sure that Kristen was on his horse they rushed towards the manner.

Al shot a few arcane bolts at some of the Legion that he thought were getting to close, stunning them momentarily, but it was Kristen who would do most of the work with her large crucifix.

His focus was forward, as they neared the manor it became clear that most of the legion was here. Time to make a big entrance.

"Push through to the inside and then we can try and sure up the defenses!" He yelled hoping Zinnia and Lothar heard him as well.

As for the entrance, something simple and big would have to do here. Alistair conjured a large ball of fire, something preferred by some of the Elbion types. It would get the most attention. He threw the ball forward and as it made contact with some of the legionnaires in the back of their mob, it exploded with a bright flash, lighting several of them on fire.

Kristen Pirian Lothar Zinnia

 

[Zinnia]

Abandoned by his frightened mount, Lothar, too, went to the ground. In an instant the Legionnaires were upon him.
"Lothar!" she cried out, spurring her steed towards him.

He did not need her aid. In moments the fiend that assailed him was utterly torn apart, and strange eyes pulsed on Lothar's arms where his bandages once were.

Zinnia perhaps should have been given more pause by this development, but the circumstances as well as a thought in the back of her mind--I'm in no place to judge--squelched any hesitation she may have had in that moment.

There were two priorities Zinnia had in her mind now: get Lothar, and catch up to Alistair and Kristen. Even while more straggling Legionnaires closed, Zinnia and her mount powered on. As she approached Lothar she leaned over the side of her saddle, extending an arm for him to catch.

All her physical training had been for a reason. Hopefully she'd be able to snatch Lothar up, and they'd be able to hurry onwards towards the mayor's manor.