Dreadlords Wild Magic

[Alistair Krixus]

Our Deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.
​

Reports had come to the Academy of strange magics causing damage to the surrounding area of a small town known as Bellum. The reports mentioned strange lights, fires appearing randomly, property damage, and living things being killed in horrific ways. The town itself was relatively simple, a gathering of single homes with a town hall located just at the center. Apparently, the village had been in the process of trying to add a simple wooden palisade, but construction had been put to a halt after the magical disturbances.

The non-existent strategic value of the town meant there were only a few likely scenarios. It was unlikely the elves or any other foreign invaders would be this far north with little gain. That left either bandits with some magical capabilities or potentially magical creatures attempting to steal food. However, nothing had been reported stolen.

That left one more possibility. It was for this possibility that the Academy had sent out Alistair and the others to investigate. The Academy worried that a child had recently come into some unstable, yet powerful magical abilities. They would need to be taken in by the Academy for training, or...neutralized if left with no other options.

Instances like this, where more and more individuals had managed to slip through the standardized inspections for magical talent, had become more common since the revolution. The change in leadership led to changes in protocol which led to mistakes like this.

"Should be simple. Go in, try and discover the source of the magic. Get control of it if possible. Get rid of it if not."

Alistair explained as their horses came to a stop on a rise that overlooked the town. It was...pathetic, to put it lightly, more so because of the obvious signs of magical damage.

 

[Silas Artesto]

Silas cupped a hand over his eyes, blocking the light from the sunrise so he could see the rather shabby-looking excuse for a town ahead of them. Didn't help that something had obviously been running roughshod through the place, but Artesto doubted it would have been anything extraordinary either way. Alistair seemed to think this mission would be pretty simple, and Silas wanted to believe the opinion of his upper-classman, but something stunk about this.

"You don't think it's sharpears then?" Silas looked over to Krixus, raising an eyebrow. He'd assumed the Elves probably had something to do with it, but Al seemed unsure about that theory. "Who else would attack a small place like this? What would anybody get out of this?"

Artesto wasn't just asking questions for the sake of asking questions. Missions with older Initiates were an excellent chance to pick some more experienced brains. If Alistair had some idea of what was going on, Silas wanted to know how he'd come to that conclusion. He'd never get smarter if he didn't try to learn from the others. That was common sense.

Another glance to the village, and Silas ran his hand through his hair to brush the wild curls from his face before sliding off of his horse. "Whatever it is, we'd better go in quiet, no? Don't want to get caught off guard."

Not that anything could catch him even if he did get surprised.

 

[Victoria Von Fleet]

Finally, a potentially interesting mission! Victoria had been kept cooped up at home, and it was absolutely, disgustingly boring. It was probably her fault, she didn't exactly follow protocol, didn't even acknowledge it. It was probably a good thing Alistair was there, he was one of the few that sometimes held weight with the unpredictable mentality of the wicked girl that rode with them.

Victoria was humming and playing with her hair as her horse ambled amicably without direction behind her comrades. It stopped as they reached the ridge, and she looked up with a slight pout on her painted lips at being interrupted. The sight below them was nothing special to behold, and she clucked her tongue in disappointment.

"I thought this was going to be fun.  Booooring!" Alistair had crushed her excitement and she sat like a petulant child upon the saddle. She groaned at the additional comment from Silas, going in quiet was not her style. She was chomping at the bit to taste blood, and they were ruining it! "What's the point of being quiet? We're gonna get noticed regardless." She snorted to herself quietly, and yet she waited patiently for Alistair to make the call. She trusted him, so far.

 

[Alistair Krixus]

"No elves. Even they would not waste their time here. It's someone or something without any real strategy."

The town was small, and from what Alistair remembered from the report, dedicated to farming and hunting the rare game that they came across. Even if they wanted to offer up a defense, any organized attack would leave them in ruins.

It was because of that reason that Victoria was correct at the moment. Although, probably not for the reason she wanted.

"No need to be quiet. A place this small is going to notify anyone that doesn't live here. Might as well look to subdue them with the arrival of dreadlord initiates."

He urged his horse down the hill and towards the gates of the town. "Oh Vicki, no hurting anyone. These are the people of the Republic. We are here to help."

That being said, it did not take long for an arrow to be aimed directly at Alistair from atop the hastily constructed palisade. Before he was asked a bunch of dumb questions that he did not feel like asking, he took control of the conversation.

"I am Alistair Krixus, and we have been sent by the Republic of Vel Anir to investigate some troubles in the town of Bellum."

While he did not say anything outright, Alistair had let the symbol of the Dreadlords rest on one of his bags hanging from the horse. It was easily visible for someone that bothered to look.

Alistair wasn't sure if their was someone of actual intelligence in the town, or more likely, someone got a look at Victoria and really did not feel like testing her. He will never know.

Victoria Von Fleet Silas Artesto

 

[Silas Artesto]

Silas cast a sideways glance towards Victoria. Von Fleet was around the same age as the rest of them, but she acted like a toddler sometimes. That was all well and good when they weren't on the job; Silas actually kinda liked her, but her behavior became tiresome quickly when it came to brass tacks.

"Giving them an awful lot of credit, Al.." Silas mumbled, his distaste for the elves never hidden from his peers. Still, he took the rune-mage's word for it. Krixus definitely had the most experience of the three of them with this kind of thing. Silas was, admittedly, still relatively green when it came to field work. "I could get in there before any of them could say anything, you know that."

He didn't argue too much further, following the other two down the hill. Sure enough, it looked to be a human who aimed down at them from on top of a tall wall. Not only that, but it seemed they weren't stupid enough to think they could tell the three Initiates 'no' and get away with it. The gates rolled open slowly, and Silas smirked as he looked over at Victoria.

"Notice how he only said that to you, Von Fleet? It's almost like only one of us has anger-management issues..."

Artesto was poking a bear, but she was cute when she was pissed off.

"Alright, Guess it's time for detective work then, eh?"

Alistair Krixus Victoria Von Fleet

 

[Alistair Krixus]

"You should too, Silas. We don't have to like the elves, but they are just as competent as any human with twice the life experience."

An elven warrior was just as dangerous as any other and could kill you like any other. He had fought elven warriors, assassins, and priests and they had all nearly killed him.

Still, that wasn't the issue here today. He was fairly confident that this was not the work of the elves. This place had no value to the Elves, even supplies here would barely feed a large contingent.

Bellum was barely holding on, but it looked like the people and the buildings had grown accustomed to living that type of lifestyle. It felt like every eye in the entire town was on them as they entered, which wasn't too surprising given the rarity this place likely received visitors from the capital.

"More than she is the only one I might worry about destroying an entire village palisade."

Alistair's eyes trailed over the square that they entered when they stepped into the city. They scanned over every person that Al could lay his eyes on. Many turned away from him under his harsh gaze, but he continued looking.

"Well, let's first find a spot to stay."

Silas Artesto

 

[Victoria Von Fleet]

Victoria followed Alistair readily, she was itching for a fight. She pouted as Alistair pre-reprimanded her, though she still wasn't quite the best at listening to anyone but herself. She merely ignored his direction, but nodded to acknowledge she at least heard him.

Silas happened to open his big mouth, and her pout was quickly replaced by a twisted grin in his direction. "Careful Silage, I know where you sleep." It wasn't an empty threat either, she had gone after another girl in the dorms and nearly pummeled her to death.

Victoria giggled gleefully at Alistair's compliment, well what she took as a compliment. She was dangerous, and she knew it. She enjoyed being chaotic. "You mean we have to sleep in this pig sty of a village? You know, I could just tear it down.
They'd be better off."


Alistair Krixus Silas Artesto