Feeling both hungry to eat the food from dinner that he had concealed and ready to get some sleep after a long day, Zander agrees to the plan to turn in for the night. Once the beds are set up, he removes his armor, puts it in his pack, and lays down as if to sleep, but after laying still for sufficient time to believe the others have dozed off, he gathers up his things and sneaks out of the guest house heading for the wall to make camp alone.
If he makes it out without being stopped, he heads up to a place near one of the catapults and lays out his bedroll. After removing his mask to eat his dinner, Zander allows himself to relax for the first time since his arrival. As he eats, he gazes up at the night sky and thinks back on the day's events. He surprised himself with his passion debating the Lebeda woman, but felt proud for standing up for his beliefs so firmly. With a stifled grin he allows himself to admit that though she is nobility, the woman is quite easy to look at...
His finger running a familiar line across his scarred forehead, he muses that if things had been different he probably would have ended up betrothed to a woman like her - who knows, maybe even her if his house had wanted an alliance with the Lebeda family. 'Perhaps,' he considers with a grin as he dons his armor to be ready for the morning, 'it's a good thing things ended up as they did after all!' Laughing despite himself, Zander lays down on his bedroll and drifts off to sleep.
The night is quiet, peaceful even. So far removed from civilization, there isn't much around to cause noise. Poet and Svetlana sleep peacefully in their room, glad for the protection the expedition represents.
A few twigs snap outside, inaudible from inside the houses. Some quiet voices murmur instructions and questions. Zander, sleeping outside, stirs a little, but does not wake up.
Until the fire starts.
With a whump sound, half a dozen fiery arrows land in the trading post from over the palisade. Fires break out where they land, lighting the wooden structure on fire. A voice calls out over the wall, "Wakey, wakey! We made breakfast!" The male voice sounds like it is taking a sadistic pleasure at the possibility of a fiery death for everyone inside. A few cackles and laughed from the other bandits shows that the others enjoy it as well.
As the arrows fly down, everyone is roused from their sleep. The guest house is suddenly a den of frenetic movement as everyone tries to get up. One of the fiery arrows crashes through the south window, landing in Zander's empty bed.
The bandits open fire with a second round of arrows. Almost a dozen spots have caught fire, including the guest house and Oleg and Svetlana's house. She shrieks in terror at the rude, fiery awakening.
The bandit leader laughes, almost hysterically. "Don't make me come in there!"
Zander wakes with a start, the first sight he sees as he opens his eyes, a stream of flaming arrows flying overheard. His scar tingles and he goes stiff for a second as old fears kick in, but he quickly remembers where he is and hears the words of the bandits from outside the trading post. Grabbing his longbow from beside his bedroll he scrambles up to the edge of the wall to see what's going on, but does his best to conceal his presence in the process.
The five bandits are along the south wall, about 25 feet out. Their leader points at the trading post, directing the other four where to fire. (No pun intended.) A flaming log sits in front of them, which they use to light their arrows before firing. Their leader, a tall human with dark hair and a goatee, doesn't seem to notice Zander over the fire's lights, while the bandits are too busy shooting to notice.
Taisper awakens to the sounds of shouting, fire, and screaming. Though to be fair the screaming is brief. "Boy they weren't kidding about the dawn wake-up call." he says to himself as he hastily dons his armor.
Jemini responds first to the assault; her eyes springing open wide the second before the fiery arrows hit home. She's sweating with cold fear and her eyes are slightly glazed, to a keen observer it might appear as if she's seeing the scene unfold twice - similar but different each time. "No no no no no," she whimpers barely audibly.
She gets up grabbing her pillow as she does so and makes towards where she believes she can most effectively fight the fire.
ROUND 1, Initiative 11
Tandlara shoots up in her bed with a foul curse. It is as if a different person arises from the bed than the one who went to sleep. A hissing snarling rage-filled avatar gets to its feet, face distorted with anger.
She leaves he fetishes behind and races out into the courtyard without an shoes. She utters a curse picked from a pidgin of several different colorful languages as she goes.
Berrin took a bath before going to sleep, his hair still wet when it his head hit the pillow. Not bothering to stip his clothing exept for his boots he props his sword by his head and dumps his armor on the floor.
Waking up with a start at the sound of breaking glass, frantic cryes and the smell of fire does not do good things for Berrins mood. "Frak! With a rush of adrenalin he jumps from his bed grabbing his sword . Scooping up his chainmail he rushes out of the house. Looking around as he gets to the doorstep he makes his way down to the corner of the house, pressing his back to the wall.
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Verik splutters at his rude awakening, but takes a deep breath and a second to access the situation. He springs into action snatching up his shield and glancing about.
"Taisper you don't have time to put your bloody armor on while Oleg's and Svetlana's home is burning down around them! Come on!"
"Hold your fire, we are coming out!" He bellows at the bandits.
"Taisper you don't have time to put your bloody armor on while Oleg's and Svetlana's home is burning down around them! Come on!"
"You sure about that cousin?" Taisper says calmly "You can rebuild a house, but resurrection's hard." Nonetheless, Taisper drops his armor. Then, seeing Jemini's state, he immediately rushes over to her to assist, yanking blankets and pillows and whatever else he can grab to help with putting out the fire.
"Jemini; you lead us, captain, I'll worry about the fire. You've got better things to do."
A new set of arrows flies down, seemingly at random. The leader's voice floats across the walls. "Hold our fire? I think you don't understand the painful death you all are about to have! Fire is the point!"
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"Very well, I suppose I could hardly expect that from the kind of craven that needs a posse to pick on one man and his wife. Sniveling cowards are not renowned for their fair dealing. You aren't repentant right?" Verik yells back hotly, as he snatches up his morningstar and hurries out of the guest house coming to a halt just before the corner of the building.
As he moves out he gestures vigorously for Taisper and Jemini to follow. Putting out fires is not going to do much good if we let them keep on starting them, let Oleg and Svetlana handle them for the time being.
The leader's sneer is audible through his voice. "I'm not picking on sweet Svetlana and her idiot husband. I'd love to keep them alive: her to amuse me, him to have to watch!"
Eager to put an end to this rain of fire, Zander fires off two arrows in rapid succession at the leader. Trusting his aim to be true, he yells out, "Your days of tormenting the Levetons and the good people of these lands are finished! Throw down your weapons and surrender or face the consequences!"
ROUND 2, Initiative 11
Tandlara, still cursing a snarling turns and runs for the wall, ready to curse the bandits until they beg for mercy. Anyone who saw Tandlara as she ran for the wall would be sure that she was all out of mercy.
Looking up to follow the tracectory off the arrow Berrin realizes the general direction of the bandits. Glancing around the corner he sees the closed gate, pausing a moment to glance at his chainmail he quickly assesses that the post will be burnt to the ground before he can don it propperly.
Chucking his armor away he sprint to the gate, scaning it to work out the pulley system.
"How do you open this bloody gate! I'm gona give those basterd a fracking thrashing!" he shouts in frustration.
The bandit leader shouts in pain as Zander's arrows pierce his armor. He shouts to his men. "Get inside and kill them all. You know the orders: no survivors!"
Jemini snaps out of it, the fires in her mind recede to be replaced by a new fire, a fury that demands justice. She rushes out and around the building
The archers launch a volley at Zander, who has the benefit of the wall as cover. After firing, they drop their bows and run to the gate, tugging it open by force. It groans as it begins to open.
The arrows bounce off the wall, unable to hit the mumble Zander, who falls to a knee as he pulls out another deadly arrow of his own.
Jemini steps forward to the edge of the palisade, her eyes glow with a fiery fury and her hair is swept back and waving slightly - even though no breeze stirs the morning air. She emanates an aura of violent intent as she lifts her longsword. The air around it seems somehow more vibrant, more full, saturated to the point of bursting; and as she descends it downwards to the leader of the bandits her voice carries like a haunting ember that whispers to the very soul of those who hear: "Your days of villainy end now!"
The bandits freeze for a moment, quaking in fear. Their leader's face betrays his fear and his words sound hollow despite their bravado. "You don't scare us, little girl." His arm trembles as he draws an arrow and fires it in her direction.
His quaking arm doesn't pull the drawstring back all the way, causing the arrow to fall embarassingly short. He snarls in frustration and dashes to use one of the other bandits as cover, not quite making it the whole distance.
Taisper watches as Jemini suddenly bolts out the door, longsword in hand. Having batted down the fire, he picks up his shield and morningstar and starts to head out the door.
Honestly amused at this turn of events, Taisper chuckles. "Heh. Well, so much for the plan I guess. I hope they don't all turn out like this."
Tandlara moves along the rampart and comes to a stop near one of the flaming pathces, she pauses only to rock back then point her arm suddenly at the nearest bandit uttering a bonechilling curse, which the bandit can hear over all of the battle noises, seeping into him, seeking to mark him.
Every sence seems stretched making every detail stand out in Berrins mind, the smell of burning wood, the twang of bowstrings, the quivering in the bandit leaders voice, the grunts of the bandits outside the gate as they heave and pull to open it.
As if in a daze Berrin strides purposefully forward and launchies himself bodily at the gate and pushes with all his might.
Standing there in his breaches and shirt, his hear wild and uncempt, he grins with murder in his eyes as he raises his swoard in a two-handed grip tensing for the bandits approch. "Come on boys! Let's dance basterds!" ,
Glad for the end to the flaming arrows, but hoping to bring this conflict to a swift finish, Zander pops up over the palisade and fires another two arrows of his own at the bandit leader before ducking back below cover. Seeing that Tandlara and Jemini have joined him on the wall, he smiles and nods a greeting in their direction as he nocks his next arrow.
Distracted by the battle raging around him, Zander forgets that he isn't wearing his mask and that his face is fully exposed. This being the first time either of the women have seen him unmasked, they are greeted with a grisly sight. His left side which bore the brunt of the flames in his youth is the most badly deformed; the skin possesses a leathery texture and is twisted mostly around the eye socket and the mouth, but is wrought with unnatural looking folds and lines all across the surface. He is fully missing his left ear and his face is completely hairless, as is his head, which appears to have been shaved in places. His right side appears more or less normal aside from several areas mostly around the jawline and forehead where the skin is darker and holds a similar leathery texture. In the center of his face, his nose proves to have been among the greatest casualties of the fire, having been charred down to little more than a lump and two nostrils. When he smiles his greeting, only the right side of his lips fully turn upwards, giving the expression a melancholy cast.
The bandit leader, not quite behind cover, takes another arrow from Zander's bow. Blood trails from his wounds. As he makes it to cover, he is in obvious terror, but seems willing to press the assault.
The bandits are surprised as Berrin launches the doors wide open. For a brief moment, they hesitate in shock, then launch forward inside the walls. They are disorganized and not a proper fighting force, barely using any tactics.
The first bandit, feeling the effects of Tandlara's curse, rushes towards her to shut the voices out of his head. With a cry, he rushes past Berrin, who takes a swing at him with his sword. Intent on not making a target of his unarmored self, Berrin keeps his eyes on the other three and misses. As the bandit comes close to Tandlara, his eyes come to rest on Jemini. Fearful of her display, he slashes halfheartedly at Tandlara, who doesn't even need to move to avoid being struck.
The second of the bandits takes a step forward and swings at Berrin, who comes up to parry the thrust. Berrin is able to counter by the smallest of margins, likely because he kept his eyes on the bandit rather than exposing himself attacking the one who rashly rushed past.
Berrin's blade can't be everywhere at once. One of the bandits slashes his chest with a downward slash. Blood sprays to the ground, dripping down his chest. The bandit lets out a cruel laugh, obviously enjoying the delivery of pain.
The last of the four bandits simply walks past Berrin, busy fighting off two enemies. He loudly says to the others (and likely his intended target), "Excuse me, I'm gonna go get that slut and bring her out here." A few steps in, he sees Verik and moves towards him with his sword out, saying, "What are you looking at, chubby boy?"
Jemini sees the form of a bandit climb up to threaten Tandlara. She doesn't stay ahead of her anger but rushes towards him, appearing before him almost as if carried by the flames he created. Her sword gleams with a cold certainty as it arcs through the chilly morning air, followed by the death of the bandit - his last thoughts as darkness descends upon him are a few words on the edge of his hearing "Iomedae, to your scales I commend this soul, may he find the peace he deserves."
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Verik bellows, "Fall to your belly transgressor!" as one of the bandits rushes up to him. He is filled with a heady mix of excitement, fear, and nausea. For a second he wishes fervently for his armor, after mile upon mile of hard slog bearing the heavy metal breastplate of course his first earnest combat occurs without it typical.
The queasy exhilaration is like nothing he has experienced before, this being the first real combat he has been involved in since his mentors death. Thinking of Knesh firms his resolve, it is because of examples of lawless scum like this that a good man, that thousand of good men and women, have died or have to live in fear. Leeches who do not know the meaning of honest toil, but steal the products of others hard work.
"I'll give you the choice ugly, rope or sword. Probably a touch of Morningstar either way." He growls.
Hearing the taunts of the enemy and his allies' own enraged replies, Taisper continues to remain completely calm as he utters a prayer to himself, invoking his connection to the divine for shielding:
"Keeper of the Vault
protect me
as now I am your hands
and now I send you souls
to be locked away
screaming."
Now it's down to business. Surrounded by a faint nimbus of glowing golden light, Taisper steps out from the guest house and around Verik, positioning himself to cut off the bandit there from going any further.
Taisper yells to Berrin: "Berrin! Hey friend, fall back by me and Verik! We have to fight as a team, let us help you. Zander can you cover?" Taisper is careful to simply yell to Zander and not look in his direction so as not to give away his position.
He then fixes an uncharacteristically icy glare at the bandit in front of him. "And you. Walking dead man. NOBODY calls my cousin chubby while I'm around and lives." He raises his shield and morningstar, preparing to stove the bandit's head in.
The bandit threatening Verik is, typical of most bandits, a weak-willed individual. Unfortunately for Verik, his greed and cruelty overpower his common sense, pushing him onwards as he threatens the young cleric.
The leader, shot with several arrows, finally stops his useless taunts and fires back at Zander, who still enjoys a position of cover.
Like the previous shots, it hits the wall rather than its intended target. With an extremely vulgar curse, the bandit's leader takes cover behind the gates of the fort.
Around the trading post, the fires begin to spread. One of the two courtyard benches near Verik and Taisper is completely engulfed in flames. The western wall is dotted with a few large fires, which are slowly growing. Near Jemini and Tandlara, the fallen bandit's arm catches fire, which quickly creeps over his unmoving body. Svetlana and Oleg's house has smoke coming from its windows and the flicker of flame is visible from the inside.
Nearly tangling himself in his loose shirt Berrin, by some remarkable feat, manages to stay on his feat and follow through with the blow. The blow connects with such force it sends the bandit spinning to the ground. Seeing a clear path to the leader Berrin steps around the other bandit to get with in reach of him. "Your next shorty!
Landing on his feet, he makes his way along the peak of the roof towards the center of the courtyard.