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Daerdryn takes a full waterskin, a potion, a bar of soap, a flint and steel, a belt pouch, and a mess kit. As Kieran mentions to the boy pulling his weight, the thought of unloading some of her burden on the youth crosses her mind, but she quickly stifles it. That would be greedy and rude.
"What did you see up ahead?"
"He isn't one of your puppies, Elyana." Idana notes as she helps Oylenna secure the extra gear, "Nor is he one of your dead. Or a dead puppy for that matter. If we wound him he can say he battled us with the rest of his unit and he was the only survivor. He can go home then."
Idana looks further into the caverns.
"He didn't want to fight. To find our storm priestess' children I suspect we will fight quite a bit more. He likely wouldn't do well with us."
Elyana seemed pleased that Daedaelus, son of Albus, asked to travel with them, she'd hoped he would. He was cute, and seemed sweet, and he was cute. It wasn't until Idana pointed somethings out that Elyana pouted, her lovely lips drawing up into a cute little pout. She turned her back on her sister and stomped a foot, obviously not happy, and stood three saying nothing.
Sigurd listened to the others as the elves scouted ahead, a scoff coming from him as the young Imperial explained his situation. It could be interpreted as disgust from his weakness but it wasn't truly that. Not all men were warriors, not all women would stay at home and cook, clean, and secure the home. The Imperials sent their children to foreign lands to die in their name, to bleed out and be forgotten. Yet when he asked to join them, his eyes narrowed and he stood up, clearing his throat and nodding with Idana.
"He did not wish to fight with his men, he would slow us down perhaps or flee when we could use a readied blade." Sigurd moves around till he can see Daedaelus and look him square in the eye. It was a long pause for a moment before he shook his head. "No. He looks frail, too much of his mother's milk." He'd turn away and give a grin to Idana. Sigurd would wait to see how the young man reacted. He'd need to be fierce if he was going to survive with them and he'd need to prove it.
"Well, what will it be? Travelling with us you face certain opposition as we will be hunted by others like your unit seeing to kill us. Is that what you want? Whet you are filling to face?" Olyenna asks
"And staying here I either die on an orc's blade or in one of those beasts' maws," Daedaelus half-snaps. "of course that assumes that I don't have the ill fortune of running into the fat officious bastard that was in charge of this damned expedition."
The young man stands there for a moment, breathing heavily for a moment before calming down.
"No, I don't want any of that, but I cannot have what I truly want," he says, much more quietly. "Have me do what you will. I just want to leave this foul place and try making my life in this land. I'll stay until you feel that my debt is repaid in full. Will that satisfy you," he asks, his eyes growing hard and his voice becoming very cold for just a moment as he looks into Sigurd's.
===
After it is decided what to do with Daedaelus, the sister sketches out the area ahead with a piece of chalk on the stone. The passages lead deeper into the mountain, and it appears that several imperials are trying to prepare for a long trek, and aren't going about it fast enough for the man in charge from the sounds of it.
"So, what do you want to do," Thol asks as Aayeh finishes telling all of you what they had found.
Elyana listened to the discussion ,still perturbed, and found herself approving of the fire the young man displayed. That he cooled it down quickly was interesting and she finally turned back to the group to say, "At least let's take him along until we get out of here. If he proves himself he can stay, if not we can go our separate ways." She looked at her sisters and said, "If nothing else we can understand not getting to have what we truly want," she sounded suddenly sad, "We all want to see daddy and brother again, and we can't, Daedaelus isn't that different from us in that regard, is he?" Her voice was small and she gave the group, and especially her sisters, the "sad kitty eyes".
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"I agree with Elyana," she too saw the fire.
Getting a second chance at life meant nothing if Daedaelus never got the chance to use it. A continued life here, with these people, was not what she'd wish on him. Having a dream and having it dashed, cruelly, it reminded her of younger and harder days. Maybe here she could help someone achieve theirs.
"This is no promise by any means Daedaelus, but if you're really serious about becoming a vintner... I used to own a farm in the Pines. If we all survive this, and I get my life back in order, I could set aside a bit of land for you to grow some grapes. It wouldn't be much, but it could be a good start."
"As for our path the only way seems forward, right?"
A hint of a smile crosses Olyenna's lips at the young man's fierce defiance, getting even larger as Ely turns the gaze that almost always got what she wanted on her and Idana. "That sounds good enough for me." she says glancing over at her older sister.
Idana does not roll her eyes.
Honestly.
She does not.
"Then let us continue. The sooner we find our way out of these caves the better."
Daedaelus gives a genuine chuckle at Daerdryn's offer.
"That is most gracious of you, but I fear the grapes may not like the weather here," he says before pausing and looking more closely at her. "The Pines," he mutters before comprehension lights up his eyes. "That means you must be-- You had a little brother and sister didn't you," he asks, his voice taking on a slight edge of urgency.
"Then it is decided," Kieran says with a smile, as much a statement as a question directed to Sigurd, the last of them who has not yet agreed. "And onward it is."
As the discussion carries on, Olyenna takes the opportunity to remove the chain shirt from the dead leader. Cleaning off the blood as best she can, she removes her leather armor, exchanging it for the better protection, glad that the man was roughly her size.
"You've seen them? Recently?" she asks, hearing the last of the exchange.
Sigurd would grin as the man's irritation became known and those cold eyes meeting Sigurd's. The Norden would lean back for a moment before a wide grin spread across his face, his features lightening up considerably.
"Good, that is very good. I like you, boy. You may come." He said with a laugh, clapping him upon the shoulder before turning away towards the continued hallways. The others seemed interested in bringing him along, outside of the slight irritation that was Idana, and another body that could wield a blade and kill a man or beast was a welcomed thing. "Worst case, we'll just eat your food when you freeze to death. Come, let us get ready to move."
Sigurd would gather his supplies from the dead, whispering in Norden a small prayer in battle. A commemoration to the dead for their valor and for their souls to pass on quickly to their reward or punishment. Not all Imperials were pompous asses, just most of them.
"I will take this extra vial of healing, my strength sacrifices defense and I will be weathered by many blows." He states to the others, slipping them along his hip. The greatsword, now clean of gore, seems to glimmer in the torchlight. He waits for the others by the door the elves went down, awaiting their report as well as listening to Daerdryn and the young man speak.
Olyenna picks up the commander's longsword handing it to Daedaelus. "Make better use of this than he did."
For a moment, Daedaelus looks at Daerdryn with surprise in his eyes. He shakes it away quickly, though, and quickly explains what happened.
"Captain Lomar took them to their father, from what I overheard. He was supposed to help us work with the less scrupulous of the people in Everwatch to help weaken the king there. I'm afraid that I only know who they are because he mentioned taking them from some place in the Iron Pines."
The young man takes Sigurd's slap on the shoulder in stride. He's a sturdy lad. though he's yet to fully fill out his frame. He graciously accepts the offered blade before Aayeh and Thol detail the lay of the path ahead.
===
A few minutes after leaving, you all arrive at the door that the two elves had mentioned. Indeed, you hear it before the light of your torches even touches it. A loud, pompous voice booms through the tunnel, obviously irate even with language barrier.
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The revelation hits like a blow from Sigurd.
"He doesn't deserve to be called their father," she whispers as her eyes go hard, "Dammit."
The lightning is arcing off of her as the frustration builds and she turns from her friends. She has to let it out. Luckily there is a handy substitute nearby.
"Dammit! Dammit! Dammit!" Each is punctuated by a lighting strike aimed at the dead lieutenant, "Gods damn you Mikael!"
...
"Gods... We should hurry..."
===
The particle blade back in her hand, Daerdryn nods to her companions. She's ready. There won't be any bargaining or calls to lay down their arms this time.
Idana knows something of what it means to control the forces of nature itself. She watches, impassively, as Daerdryn unleashes the wrath of the storm upon the hapless corpse.
Only when it is over does she step in, placing her hands on either side of the now younger woman's head. She makes eye contact, that strange lightning bolt iris swirling with the snows of winter outside.
"We are daughters of the storm." Idana says, speaking softly but urgently to Daerdryn. "We are made by our magic and we are set apart by it. We are together in this. Do you understand? We will find your children and we will avenge your hurt. Storms do not know mercy. They do not know compassion. They must be endured or sheltered from. We will shelter those we love and those who oppose us will know our wrath. I swear it."
Sigurd moves with purpose down the hallway, like an avalanche given life and flesh. He grips the massive blade by the hilt and feels that surge for battle pulse through his veins again. That pig of an Imperial was still speaking, still talking, and his shouts made the Norden grit his teeth. He readied himself by the door, looking to the others for a moment to ensure that they were ready. He had fought along spellcasters before, some needed a bit of time to prepare their most potent magic and some took that time to ensure that Sigurd was an avatar of wrath.
"Open the doors quietly, elf. Let me see where they stand and I'll engage the worst of them." Sigurd murmured, the eagerness for violence evident in his tone.
Seeing Daerdyn's reaction to the news of her children, and hearing Idana's statement of support, the quirky woman approached and looked slightly to the side of Daerdryn. She nodded and came closer when the woman was calm and went to throw her arms around her in a hug of support as she said, "Cynthea says not to worry, we'll find them and get them back." She looked a different direction and continued, "and Bob says we'll hunt down that blankity blank Mikael, rip his blankin nuts off and feed them to him. Then we can stuff his blankity soul back into his corpse and make him live in his nlakingblankblankblankityBLANK mutilated shell for a while." She said all of the hair raising things they would do to Mikael pleasantly, as if trying to comfort a friend with reassurance.
As they reached the doors and heard the voices Elyana paused and said quietly, but with delight, "It's fat bastard!" She clapped her hands quietly in excitement, "Let's kill him." She pulled her whip out, ready to enter the room and deal with the pig that caused all of this trouble.
"With pleasure little sister." Olyenna says with a grin, drawing both gladii with an almost feral grin.
"Well," Kieran whispers, barely suppressing a smile, "talk about what goes around comes around."
Elyana's glee when she mentions killing the man does give him pause though, making his smile vanish. "Calm yourselves. I understand wanting to pay the man back, but still." Nevertheless, despite his words, he does not move to stop the others from their course of action; after all, it is hard to convince even himself that the man does not have it coming.
Aayeh nods and carefully cracks the door.
Beyond a few soldiers busily moving crates, barrels, and sacks full of supplies for a journey can be seen. One of them is dressed in a uniform similar to the man that had lead the last group wore.
Moving towards the front Kieran looks through the crack carefully, trying to discern any more details through sight and sound before the group storms in.
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Daerdryn tried to look away, in embarrassment, however Idana's bolt held her transfixed like the words she spoke.
"I know we will. I know that. It's..."
She raised her arms towards the room around them, but meant more about the situation.
"I should have a better handle on myself. Lashing out like this doesn't help. I just can't believe he'd stoop this low or that he actually has these kinds of connections. He was just an addict and a waste when we were together. Barely functional. That he can pull himself together to make this kind of move. I'm worried. I want answers to all of this before we crush him."
---
She moved with Kieran to take a look, but held off on her abilities for now, saving them for the coming fight. A light-show would only give the group away.
After a moment, Daedryn and Kieran are able to make a better count of the numbers. Nine regular troops, two lieutenants, and the fat, officious bastard that had taunted all of you in the cell can be seen, and it seems that all of them are distracted by the preparations to leave.
Sheathing her swords, Olyenna takes the longbow from her back. "I can fire a few shots into the room once the door is thrown open to give time to engage, then join in up close." she says nocking an arrow.
Sigurd, after hearing what numbers they have facing them, frowns for a moment before he looks back at Kairon.
I can move in and close ranks with the men closer to the cart if you take on the men that are nearby the supplies. Or the other way around, if you think it is best."
He looks towards the multiple casters, nodding to them and speaking softly to not alert the guards in the next room.
"What are your plans, ladies? I understand that...well...I don't know a damn thing about what you do. I've learned though that we should plan together though, let you do what you think is best. Us warriors can adapt to the field depending on your success..." The words coming from the barbarian were a bit wiser than one suggested, as he looked towards the elves.
"Whichever is best with a bow, use that to kill their bowmen. Whichever is best with a blade, go with Kairon and cut their numbers down as fast as you can."
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"I can cut off the soldiers to the north of the room. After that I'll just start throwing lightning. I figure Elyana, Idana, and I can hold back closer to the door, with us grouped up it shouldn't be too hard to form a little of a defensive line while the rest of you cause a big ruckus."
She slipped off her backpack and set it too the ground gently. It'd only hold her back and she needed to be able to move in there.
"Sounds like a plan then," Kieran comments, leaning against his quarterstaff. "And if I manage to do a little better than before... well, that will be just swell," he adds with a slightly bitter smile.
Her breathing slow and steady, Olyenna waits for the moment the door is thrown open, picking a target as the guards spin to face the oncoming charge of her companions and putting an arrow in the first enemy in sight (green), even as she waited, a soft glow of magic engulfs her bow, wisps of magical energy trailing from her sister.
"My magic is better suited for the out of doors. In this enclosed space, I will hinder you as much as them. Better to reserve myself for healing."
Idana will stay in the back and wait until an ally is bleeding before acting.
Following Sigurd's plan, Kieran opens the door and quickly makes his way to the men near the supplies as the large warrior suggested. Wasting no time he swings his quarterstaff, looking to drop one of them as soon as possible by aiming for the man's temple.
Sigurd, with a roll of his shoulders, charges into the room after Kairon. The greatsword drawn, he uses it with terrible efficiency as he aims to cleave the first soldier nearby him in half
Manuevering around his bewildered (and likely split in half) foe, Sigurd's eyes land upon the overweight pig that taunted them earlier.
He growls out like the roar of a predator, as a wicked grin grows upon his face.
With the fight commencing Elyana stepped into the room and glared at the fat bastard who tried to force his affections on her, and maybe had while she was out for all she knew. She reached out with the power of unlife and ripped at his vitality and exhaust him. But her anger made her sloppy and she wasn't sure she would actually hit him.
[spoiler=Status]
Soldiers: AC 16/11/15
Green Solid: 3/9
Blue Solid: 1/9
Lieutenants: AC 16/10/16
Fat Aristocrat: AC 18/9/18
In the blink of an eye, two of the soldiers are laid low and another two grievously injured. You rush into the room and attack like demons from a nightmare, stunning the soldiers and the fat man who had only hours ago gleefully pronounced your deaths. Thol and Aayeh do not fare so well against their opponents. Daedaelus, though, proves his worth and nearly lays another soldier low.
Stepping over the fallen soldier Kieran moves to engage the one looking like an officer, striking at him with one end of his quarterstaff and then the other. Going for force over accuracy in order to end the fight quickly, his blows are less than true.