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Post by Noven on May 23, 2011 22:16:37 GMT -5
-Kaane spoke, "I originate from an elven city, hidden deep in a grand and thick forest. My family has long been that of fighters, groomed from birth for that purpose, of both physical force and that of the magical realm. I defended the city from any who would destroy it, ranging from bandits that wished to pillage, to other elves that saw us as disrespectful in our treatment of nature, a disgrace to our race, though in the end we are too well fortified and bolstered with well trained men to fall to such meager attempts of attack. I... choose to leave, travel about the world, which I have been doing for some time now, going from one place to another, however never establishing a trade anywhere, other than that of a mercenary, in a way I do suppose." Kaane did tell a fair summary of his past, however, he neglected to give the details in full of why he'd left, or why he searched for power and wealth, not quite his lone curiosity of the world.
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Post by lukuz13 on May 23, 2011 23:58:30 GMT -5
Eliana bowed to the king in her own little curtsy way, turning to Captain Marcel quirking a brow.
"I see... so this was their way of making a 'final push' if you will? They will indeed likely be weakened... it would be best to take the fight to them, to ensure no further loss of life." Eliana frowned softly, clutching her necklace in her hand just so before turning to face Marcel once more, her gaze a bit softer this time with a small smile.
"Oh? Curious about us are we? Well I can certainly say I am as well... but I suppose I can tell a little..." She smiled softly, giving Caterina a glance as she spoke her piece. "A wondrous tale of thieving exploits, followed by a rich upbringing by a Queen no less? Oh dear... you are a clash of high and low class I believe." Eliana smiled "That is good, it means you take from a wide background, it is not something I see often..." Eliana sighed almost happily. "A relief, when I heard you were a princess I had feared the worst." She shook her head "But you are easily one of the most level-headed nobles I have met Cat." Eliana seemed to shiver as she recalled 'other' nobles she had contact with.
Letting Caterina continue, Eliana took notice again.
"A respect for battle too? You really are a person of contradictions." Eliana giggled almost. "I know a fair bit of those classes of weapons... it is part of the Paladin code to learn from all weapon trades." She smiled, turning to think of her next words.
"Adapt as a roaring fire, ready to shift the way the breeze takes you, and strike at any moment." Eliana made a dramatic movement with her arms then chuckled softly after. Watching as Caterina gave her a look, Eliana smirked "Aww... is magic the only reason you like me Cat?" Eliana made a pouting gesture. "That sucks." she grumbled as if angry before grinning again. "Though if you are curious I suppose I don't mind showing off, hanging out with others that can do the same thing as you isn't as much fun as you'd think." She sighed almost.
Before Eliana could begin, she watched as Kaane surprising spoke up. "Oh my, did you find your voice too Ken?" Eliana giggled a bit. "I see... I could ask many things about why you left or what happened...however I will spare you." Eliana nodded softly, turning to the side. "Though perhaps you will share some day...just for me?" She taunted, looking off to the large crowd of soldiers before turning back to the King.
"Ah, and now me yes? Well... I use to live in a quaint little suburb not too far from where Cat grew up actually... " Eliana seemed to think for a moment, then smiling "Coincidence of the day no doubt." she chuckled. "I have been traveling for...a long time, half elves live long you no doubt know?" Eliana gestured with her hand "Well... at least half my life." She seemed to laugh it off. "Things... came up and I had to leave my home early, though that is where I got much of my training." She turned to Captain Marcel. "My father taught me much of my skill with weapons...though the paladins taught me the oh so useful holy magic you have seen." Eliana then struck a thoughtful pose. "Annnnd... that's all I can think of right now, though I wouldn't mind knowing a bit about you Captain, call me nosy if you will, most others already have beaten you to it." She giggled.
After sharing, Eliana gathered the group once more, along with Captain Marcel.
"I had an idea... these orcs will no doubt attack once they have properly repopulated yes? Well... I say we take the fight to them and end this needless cycle of war and hate." Eliana spoke strongly, her normal joking tone not present for now.
"I have confidence in my abilities, and no matter how weak they may have become, I don't think I could take them by myself...I need your assistance." Eliana turned her green gaze from Caterina, to Nate, over to Kaane, then to Barnabus, then to Captain Marcel.
"Do I have your assistance?"
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Post by thatfallout3guy on May 24, 2011 1:24:08 GMT -5
"Allow me to formally introduce myself. The name's Nathaniel Wrathgar, of Hillspar! I was raised in the Wrathgar tribe until I left for reasons I'd prefer to keep to myself. I became the arena Grand Champion shortly after leaving my tribe and I currently reside in Wrathgar Manor. Aside from that there's not much to tell."
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Post by ballerscuba on May 24, 2011 5:02:51 GMT -5
Marcel listened to the stories that the others had told him. "That is all very interesting. You see, I have been here my entire life, in the land of Bana, serving under the King. I'm afraid there's not much of a story to tell. I was raised since a child to become a fighter. I trained as a squire under Sir Jean-Marc before finally earning the right to bear sword and shield myself. As I worked my way through the ranks, the King began to notice my effort, eventually making me Captain of the Guard, in charge of all the army in Bana. I have only ever left the safety of the walls to go on missions for the King into the realm of the Orcs. I truly know nothing of the places you come from. That is why I ask. The others that have come here in the past have not been as forthcoming as some of you have been, and I thank you for that."
Marcel finished eating his meal, standing up slowly. He scanned around the pit, noticing that the men had begun to go back to their homes. "It seems that it is time to retire for the evening. The King has asked me to remind you of our meeting with him in the morning where we will discuss our strategy from here. I am going to recommend that we attack, just like you said, Eliana. However, it is the King's decision and his decision alone." Marcel then turned around, seeing that the courtyard was empty save for the travelers and himself. "It seems that we have closed the celebration down. I will see you all in the morning. Hopefully, tomorrow will be a much more joyous day than the melancholy satisfaction that today has given us." With that, he walked back in the castle to his room, and fell asleep for the night, without a further word.
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Post by Noven on May 24, 2011 22:51:59 GMT -5
-Kaane, feeling the crisp air against his skin, moved through the courtyard, taking a leisurely stroll, relaxed and to himself, not really approaching anyone but he wouldn't have been bothered if anyone had wished to talk to him. He walked on for a while more before aiming to retire to his quarters for the night, getting a fair deal of sleep still after the long day, relaxing and loosening his tense body from the day's battle earlier. He drifted off quickly after lying down, finding an easy sleep.
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Post by lukuz13 on May 25, 2011 3:27:32 GMT -5
Eliana nodded as Captain Marcel dismissed them all, turning to see the group go their separate ways, likely to their rooms or whatever they keep busy with. Eliana sighed a bit, exhausted from her work earlier, making her way to her room to rest for the night. If the King listened to her request tomorrow would be a busy one indeed.
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Post by FinlandiaWhiteEyes on May 25, 2011 15:01:42 GMT -5
-Caterina walked to her room, deep in thought, eyes soft and sad. One inside, she looked at her belongings for a long moment. Then, she extracted one of the dragon scales from her bag. She ran her fingers over the smooth surface, the iridescent red surface shimmering in the candlelight. The beauty of the scale was truly mesmorising. Without really knowing how she had got there, she found herself in the stables, in Torrado's stall. The beautiful Andaluz stallion was laying amongst the straw, and he nickered as she entered. She sat in his stall, singing old Castellunian lullabyes and staring into the rippling crimson of the scale, until eventually she fell asleep.
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Post by ballerscuba on May 26, 2011 3:07:19 GMT -5
The night passed uneventfully and quietly. Everyone in the land of Bana was exhausted from the day's events and the stress of the war. Captain Marcel spent the night in his quarters inside the castle with his wife and young son.
As the sun began to rise in the morning, Marcel was the first to wake up yet again. He got out of his bed, kissing his wife. "May today be better than the last." His wife murmured something, still fast asleep, turning over in her bed. His young son, a boy not older than five, ran up and gave Marcel a big hug around his left leg. "Daddy, you made it back," the boy said.
Marcel smiled at his son, patting him on the head, then dressed in his finest clothing for the royal court, a long purple tunic with brown pants and a brown belt with a holster for his ornate sword. As he walked out into the hallway, he knocked on each of the doors of the adventurers. "The King of Bana formally requests your presence to discuss strategy in regards to the orc invaders." After reaching all the doors, he waited at the end of the hall to meet the adventurers, bringing them all into the Throne Room.
The Throne Room was large, split into three sections separated by a row of stone pillars on either side of the main hall. The King sat on his throne, his hand covering his chin as he eyed the empty throne to his left longingly. Captain Marcel walked up to the King formally. "King Manau of Bana. I present to you the esteemed warriors from the South that have fought bravely and victoriously for the glory and dignity of Bana."
The King stood up, straightening his long beard as he greeted the adventurers. "I thank you for your service. You have served your societies well. You will surely do well amongst their ranks. Please, follow me."
The King walked over to his right to a large table. There was a large map there. He walked up to it, motioning everyone to stand around the table. He pointed to the choke point to the North of Namora. "This, as you know, is the Land of Bana." He then moved his hand north, where there were a couple mountains and nothing more, not even a coastline. "This is the land of the orc. I'm afraid we know very little about it, other than the inhabitants. Any and all scouts we have sent deep within the land have not returned. However, the orcs have never sent such a devastating force as they did yesterday. We must believe that their force is weak and low in number. If there was any time to retaliate, it would be now. You are our best warriors at the moment, I would like your input on the situation before I make my decision. Would you attack when you believe the enemy is wounded or would you abandon the kill for fear of spreading our own forces too thin?"
Captain Marcel stood with the adventurers at the side of the table. He remained silent, awaiting the response of the adventurers before he made his case. He had his hand on the handle of his sword, though it remained fully sheathed.
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Post by FinlandiaWhiteEyes on May 26, 2011 11:51:22 GMT -5
-Caterina considered for a long moment. Syrio's words came back to her. 'Never do what they expect'. They would not expect an attack from the people of Bana, for they had never attacked the orc-lands before. However, only a fool would expect an enemy not to press the advantage. Surely, then, the orcs had left behind a force to protect their people, if not a larger force to sweep through the pass if Bana launched a full-scale invasion.
-"Attacking now would seem the best thing to do...but it is risky. If we have no idea of the true numbers of the orc nation, there is no telling what we shall face. We could, like your scouts, never return."
-She eyed the mountains on the map. "It is a pity we do not have dragons of our own. Aerial reconnaissance would be a good vanguard to an invasion, especially in such a risky mountainous territory. This looks to be a wonderful place to set traps and ambushes. From the air, you could gather good information with less risk of losing the scout. However, I feel that we cannot risk leaving the choke point into the rest of Namora anything less than strongly defended, lest the attack yesterday was a diversion, to lure us in. I propose, thus, that we send a smaller, faster force into the land of the orc, to assess their numbers, positions, territory, and such, leaving behind a series of messengers to swiftly transmit their findings about the remaining orcs, in order to call up the rest of the forces should it be the best option. Perhaps this force could take on some ambassadorial role-can the orcs be negotiated with? Maybe a peace could be engineered for the benefits of both peoples."
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Post by lukuz13 on May 26, 2011 13:03:23 GMT -5
-Eliana stepped around the table with her comrades, rubbing a bit of sleep from her eye having just awoken, rather roughly it would seem, and attempted to gather her senses as they spoke. Eliana eyed Caterina with a small smile, seeming to like the detail with which she had thought this through. After a moment, Eliana spoke up herself.
"As Cat was saying... it would do us well to know the intelligence of our foe, are they mindless beings similar to trolls? Or be they sentient creatures with some goal that drives them to attack us." Eliana ran her small hand over the map just so, her finger tip tracing the orc territory. "From what I have seen they have knowledge of war...I would like to see why they attack you so, and in that, perhaps finding a compromise as Cat suggested." She nodded a bit to Caterina as she spoke before taking a moment, drawing her dagger and using the tip, traced the edge of the territory once more, light enough to not tear the map. "In the mean time however..." Eliana's voice grew a bit more serious, flashing a look to Marcel, to the King. "I suggest that we leave the main force behind...they would move slowly in the mountains, and, even if there was a force left behind, it would likely be far more mobile then a large invading group." Eliana chuckled softly "We might as well paint big red arrows on our heads saying 'shoot here!'" Eliana sighed before continuing. "We need only to take a small excursion, I suggest us, the band of..." She took a moment to think "Warriors that was sent to assist you in the first place." Eliana turned to Marcel "Also, I would be honored to have you as well as any men you deem worthy along with us sir, if you so wish." She smiled to the man, before turning her green gaze back to the map, staring intently between a set of mountains. "We could work as a Guerrilla force if necessary, weakening any forces that remain." Eliana then flipped the dagger in her hand. "However... if there is only stragglers well..." She motioned, stabbing the map in the center of the orc territory leaving the dagger standing without her hand to guild it, the hilt a soft mix of silver and a bluish material, the hand guard had a bit of embroidering along with an indention up the side of it to a sharp curved tip that sliced cleanly through the spot and wood evenly . "We can handle them." She said, turning her gaze to the King, her eyes very serious "I will not allow your people to live in fear of Death's shadow needlessly." As she said this, Eliana reached and ripped the dagger from the spot, and returned it to it's sheath, leaving a small indention in the map. "If worse comes to worse we can always take out their leaders... if the orcs are disorganized then they can be that much more swiftly taken apart." She spoke softly now, encouraging one to listen, as she turned to her comrades, curious now if any of them had a suggestion.
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Post by Noven on May 26, 2011 16:02:57 GMT -5
-"I am but a simple warrior, not a grand tactician, still now I can say that attacking the enemy in a blind fashion will lead to great peril, as my home city taught many invaders upon their attempts to attack." Kaane here thought of the bare map, implying only the most basic knowledge of enemy terrain. "We must learn of their lands before me march, if we march on them. As well, I do not intend to play the political game for anyone either, that is for you, the king, to decide. I can only reinforce my, as well as their, position... we must be cautious in any advance, and to leave the stronghold here undefended, or with a small defense force, would be a very dangerous risk." Kaane spoke on, sure of himself, not stumbling over his own stiff words. "As one final suggestion, I would support Eliana on the point of a small force going ahead. I say all the society members, and a small band of support that you would deem well to come with us, numbering no more than forty, if that." The entire time Kaane spoke, it was fairly stiff in manner, but he felt he got his point across well enough, knowing some of war when it came to his upbringing, and his homeland, though he felt he could only fairly give his opinion as a common warrior, using logic and sense the best he could as to how they should advance.
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Post by thatfallout3guy on May 26, 2011 17:31:53 GMT -5
-Nathan looked over to Barnabus, "Why not send him and a few other men to do some recon?"
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Post by ballerscuba on May 27, 2011 2:13:40 GMT -5
Captain Marcel studied everyone carefully as they spoke. "I believe, King Manau, that the adventurers have raised several good points." Marcel took his hand off his sword's handle. "Perhaps it is not best to rush blindly into the orc's territory. Perhaps a more cautious strategy is the wisest. We do not know what the orcs truly possess in their arsenal. We may not be as ready as we once believed we once were."
King Manau sighed as he looked over at Captain Marcel. "It seems you have convinced Captain Marcel some caution. Yes, it is best not to be rash and move in with our full force into unknown territory. We may very well awaken a giant by countering the attack. It is best to investigate before a formal attack, get a bearing for our surroundings and a full and complete picture of what we are actually dealing with." King Manau eyed the map carefully. "I think it is still a little hasty to put all our faith in those that arrived here not even a fortnight. Captain Marcel, you should guide them, keep an eye on them. It will do you some good."
Captain Marcel gulped deeply, before falling to one knee, his head down in his chest. "If you would have me lead the expeditionary force deep into the enemy's territory, I shall do it without question."
King Manau sighed again. "You would not lead this expedition, you would simply be a part of it. You have already proven your leadership to me through the years. It would be best if you would show that you can still be an effective member of a group." Captain Marcel gulped deeply, still keeping his chin against his chest. King Manau then looked over to the adventurers. "The expedition shall leave at high noon, immediately after the midday meal. If you wish to go, Marcel will meet you at the northern gate. The expedition shall move forth from there. Your overall mission shall be to gain information that may be vital to a potential retaliation by our entire army. However, crippling their forces is not out of the question. Caution will be your greatest asset in this mission."
Captain Marcel stood up slowly. "I beg your leave to prepare, sire." King Manau nodded slightly. Marcel then walked slowly out of the throne room, his head down.
Marcel went back to his quarters, gathering his things. His son looked up at him. "Are you leaving again, daddy?" he asked, hugging his leg.
"Yes, son," Marcel said, continuing to pack his things into a large pack. "I am heading out for exploration." Marcel's wife's eyes began to tear up. She covered her face and turned away.
"Can I come, too, daddy?" the son asked with a pout on his face.
"Not this time, son. You need to stay here and protect your mother." The son pouted again.
"You never let me do anything," he said as he sat on the floor in anger, crossing his arms as his pout slowly turned to anger.
Marcel finished packing, ate the midday meal with his wife and son, where the conversation attempted to turn to lighter topics several times, but always went back to deafening silence. Marcel took his family back to their quarters. He changed into lighter clothes, brown cloth from head to toe. He flung his pack over his shoulder and headed for the door. He kissed his wife, who was crying despite her best efforts. His son was blocking the door as best as he could, his arms outstretched to either side. Marcel got down on one knee, running his hand through his son's hair before kissing him on his forehead. He moved him out of the way, opened the door, and walked out. "I'll be back," he said, not willing to turn around for fear of letting his family see him cry. Marcel then made his way to the northern gate and awaited the adventurers.
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Post by lukuz13 on May 27, 2011 2:58:12 GMT -5
-Eliana nodded
"That sounds perfect." She smiled, turning to her comrades. "I trust to see you all there, that is if you aren't afraid of a little mountain air." She teased a bit before making a thoughtful expression "And Orc pike come to think of it..." Afterwards she sighed softly and shook her head. "Regardless..." She trailed off, quickly vanishing into a puff of black smoke before their very eyes, transporting her out of the room.
-The sun was rising a bit higher in the sky now, setting many shadows to a thing crescent, standing on the end of a marketplace rooftop with a small smile, as she gazed up at the sun, taking a seat on the tiled roof. A few of the shop keeps spoke to her, but after a bit of taunting, they went about their business, as Eliana eyed her pendent just so.
"Eliana, Paladin of the Circle of Celestial Fire, member of the Firmaments and all that jazz." She seemed to sigh, partially happy, playfully letting the bit of metal slip from her fingers, before catching it with no real effort. "Heh, I sure hope you would be proud of that..." She smirked softly, standing up slowly as she turned to face the sun, then the gate they were to meet at. "Right...time to put my game face on." She grumbled, leaping off the roof only to vanish in another puff of smoke.
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Post by FinlandiaWhiteEyes on May 27, 2011 20:50:46 GMT -5
-Caterina led Torrado to the gates. She wore her winter cloak, which was a dark gray colour and swathed her whole body. She had rested, prepared, meditated. In short, she was as ready as she was ever going to be. She had procured a drawsting bag to hang around her neck, in which she had put the smallest (thought still rather large) of the dragon scales.
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