"There are limits to what I'll do, of course." Gabriel adds, not to let Heff get the better of him in a deal. "But within the limits of my code I'll be more then happy to repay what I owe. For now though I'll help the others see to arranging some defenses. Thank you again."
Gabriel gives a nod to Heff, and then moves on to Raul and the Whitecloaks, specifically the one that had saved his life. Raul seemed busy speaking to Bjorkus so Gabe spoke to him instead. "When this is over, I would like it if you told me their names. Right now though, may I have yours?" The tieflings tail twitched. He trusted this man, and to a lesser extent the whitecloaks as a whole, but he was still nervous around them.
"Ah, you're learning! Well at least a little." He smirks and strolls off to the east, hands in his pockets as he whistles a tune to himself.
"Nathaniel, call me Nate." He shrugs. "I knew how to help, I did what I could."
Edward leans on his longsword hilt, looking around the battlefield. He swears and strikes the wall next to him. "I was bloody useless that whole fight. Couldn't even hold the line."
"You battle cries inspired us to fight better, to strike harder, your efforts saved lives. Now stop whining and come help with these rocks."
"You battle cries inspired us to fight better, to strike harder, your efforts saved lives. Now stop whining and come help with these rocks."
Edward looks up for a moment, then nods. "Of course."
"And you saved my life. And you helped your comrade's life back at your base. You have a knack for it, it seems." Gabriel glances over to Edward and frowns a little. So much had happened. He turns back to the whitecloak beside him. "If you will join me, Nate, we have work to do. In fact..."
"Those who can still move, begin gathering as much rubble as you can. We need to create a path of our choosing through these ruins. I'll be moving forward to cover the entrance to this place with half of you and we're going to make that our staging ground. The other half will remain here, shoring this forward entrance with as much rubble as you can. I want that entrance there," Gabriel speaks loudly to those remaining, including the Gladiators and his friend Edward. He points toward the entrance leading deeper into the ruins, "To be impassable, and the others to have defenses ready to be set."
"We're going to work our way back. Don't worry about perfect defenses, just make them strong enough to last against a few strikes. The point is to be able to make an ordered retreat. We don't need to win this next battle, just to hold for Dalton's ritual to finish, and end whatever plans Acera has."
Gabriel waits to see if they heard, or if Raul would give his assent for the plan, then moves toward Edward, who he saw was speaking to Toramin. "Come, friend, I need your help once more."
"Thanks. Hold this rock here will I prop it up with these smaller ones. Now, Edward, you haven't asked for my advice, but I think I should give it. Glory is a trap. Duty is the true virtue. You were willing to lay down your life for a righteous cause in a land far from your own. There is nobility in that. Like I said, your efforts saved lives. Not just ours, but many others who will never know your name. Your efforts are a small part of the salvation of Akropash. Simply because you did not throw down an enemy champion doesn't negate the value you added. Many small deeds add up to great doings."
Dalton couldn't deviate from the ritual to speak, lest he give away its true nature, but it seemed the others had the right of the idea. Just long enough to finish this - then finish her.
The wizard just hoped they weren't finished as well by the end of this.
Gladiators
Edward nods at Toramin's words. "Right. Gotta think about the big picture." All of the able bodies men start working on building up fortifications.
Toramin wants the dead stripped of valuables useful for a fight: weapons, tools, consumables if any. He would then like the white cloaks to remove the dead so their bodies aren't easy fodder for the necromancer.
He wants each of the four ways into the chamber blocked off. Then behind each of those four barricades he would like to create a choke point for melee.
As Toramin directs the men on how to fortify this room, he turns to Heff.
"Heff, will you tell me any properties this weapon possesses?"
Return to directing the men, "We want to funnel her undead through the northern passage. Make it the obviously weakest access point."
Raul nods at Toramin's requests, having his men do just that.
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"Come now, you have a perfectly capable wizard of doing just that!" He laughs, picking up the weapon and taking a look at it, using two hands when the full weight drops into his hands. "Shit, that's heavy." He whispers a spell and looks at it for a moment, then whistles. "Quite the fancy weapon there. This is a..."
"That perfectly capable wizard is in the middle of a ritual, you lug," Toramin says with a smile. "Thank you, Heff."
Talev you will live on in every blow this weapon makes.
Gabriel walks over to Toramin, seeing that the Dwarf had his own ideas for how to defend Dalton, and then huddles with his fellow paladin to collaborate for several long seconds. At first Gabriel thought the dwarfs plan was too narrow, but he quickly realized his own had the opposite problem. Thankfully during the time they were hashing it out, the Whitecloaks are already working on a critical part of the plan on Toramin's orders. It doesn't take them more then a minute or two to come up with something and then Gabriel is walking toward the others again.
"Alright, here's the plan." Gabriel explains what he and Toramin worked out, leaving room for the Dwarf to step in and speak up as well if he wanted too. If no one objected, Gabriel would join in the efforts to help build defenses, and would wait until Toramin found the Ritual Staging area good enough that the ones staying with him could finish it. He would then take Raul, Edward, and three others with him toward the doorway Acera would come out of.
The gauntlet would be much less then the Ritual staging point, out of necessity. Each barrier they erected was only meant to serve as cover for a short time while fighting, and create small choke points that didn't hinder the small group.
Thanks for the healing Bjorkus. Is it alright if the ghost salts coat 25 whitecloak arrows and 5 bullets for Rilka?[/ooc]
Staring at the number of dead allies, Rilka sighs. She touches the forehead of each one, offering a prayer in gratitude. Once they start building the barricades, with a stone as a fulcrum, she uses her sling-staff to help lift stones for others to get better grips on them.
”How do we prevent these whitecloaks from rising as zombies? she asks.
"We have those who have bravely fallen removed. So that she will not defile them."
Pausing to reconsider, Toramin says, No, that will not suffice. Strip the bodies and light them a fire. That should keep those who fell from rising as zombies."
"I hate to interfere with a corpse of the honored dead. Heff, what do you know of necromancy? Would removing their head suffice to prevent them from returning as undead?"
While he waits for Heff to respond, Toramin speaks to Ymmir.
"आगे स्काउट करें। इस तरह से आना चाहिए मरे या जादूगार के सहयोगी दलों के किसी भी अगर हमें चेतावनी दी है। संलग्न नहीं है।"
They will never see him as he is one with the stone.
Heff shrugs. "Not a lot of things can survive being decapitated. It will probably work."
Ymir slides into the ground.
"They've returned to the mud. A corpse is a corpse. Remember the dead, fight for the living. If we need to burn or decapitiate them, so be it. I'll even do it myself."
"Then lets decapitate them."
Gabriel is too busy working to participate in the conversation, offering his not inconsiderable strength behind the trained soldiers discipline. Between one bee line from a pie of rubble to one of the defense points, Gabriel spots the stick of darkwood in the ground where the Lich had fallen... well exploded, at least. He eyes it warily, coming to a halt, and his eyes flash with prismatic light as he tries to tell if the thing is evil.
Gabriel detects faint evil from the stick.
Gabriel looks at it warily, then returns to the debris pile, grabbing another large armful despite his almost hungry looking lean features. On the way to where they were setting it up he moves by Heff, stopping long enough to say, "I'm not very good with magic. Mind making sure that thing isn't a trap? Can't tell if it's got dark magic or just a bit of the shade's evil rubbing off on it."
Gabe pauses a step later and then adds with a small grin, showing his teeth, "Please." And with that Gabe was back to work, eager to get this area's defenses up so the men he was taking with him could start on their gauntlet.
Rilka sees that the whitecloaks will be decapitated and bows in appreciation. It’s for the best. Now let’s see about that wood -- Heff has it?
"Excuse me Heff, do you mind if I inspect that?" She takes it by her fingertips and inspects it closly, her mind running what she knows of undead, specifically liches.
”This is a voidstick,” Rilka says. ”It can create zombies, flood a small area with negative energy, and can turn the living into undead as well.” She glances at Toramin and Gabriel. ”Have you heard of these? Know of the best way to destroy it?”
"I see no value in such a wicked magic, and it would be unethical to sell. Though can you tell if it is sacred to a particular deity?"
Rilka looks at the voidstick again then shakes her head. ”No, I can’t tell. Perhaps someone else could.”
"I have my suspicions, but I prefer certainty."
"We know who she serves Toramin. Destroy it and then come help us build our defense. Not to be rude, my friend, but your skills would be of great use in our task."
The horned tiefling turns to help the whitecloaks once more and then... Gabriel pauses as he looks at them, the whitecloaks. Even the ones standing had taken a beating. Bjorkus' magic had saved them a great deal of trouble but all the same... "Your customs differ from mine." Gabriel says, addressing not just the ones who are going with him, but all the Whitecloaks. "Where I come from, a grave serves to mark a persons death, and a song or poem attesting to their life. I suppose the sands would not be suitable for that. They would wear away markers and oft times reveal that which was buried... Raul says that you take the names of your heroes in your heart and let the rest pass into the void. When this battle is over, I will do just that. For each man who fell, Gladiator, Slave or Whitecloak. And for those that survive as well."
Gabriel pauses to look look over each and every whitecloak for a moment. "For all of you, this day, are heroes. Your names may not pass down in song, as they might where I am from, but they will be in the hearts of those you fought beside today, and your example here will serve as the foundation for what it is to come. Duty. Honor. Sacrifice. For Akropesh and the people that reside within." Gabriel meets their eyes, or tries to, and ends looking at Raul. "It has been an honor fighting beside all of you."
It was not the call to arms that Gabriel would normally have spoken. He did not seek cheers for well spoken words or to lighten their hearts. He remembered well the words of the Whitecloak they had captured. These were a harsh land, and such cheerful thoughts would only serve to widen the gap between them. No, to appeal to that sort of thing might be detrimental. He instead tried to appeal to what seemed to drive them. Not a need to be heroic, not exactly, but to be dutiful, and perhaps to reclaim honor they might have lost serving Targ and Acera. There was a baser, darker side to that. A need for revenge. But if they were to change for the better Gabriel could not focus on that, nor let them.
Gabriel breathes, then shouts, "Alright, everyone get ready! Raul, pick your three hardiest, they're with us. Edward, get ready, we're going to start building our gauntlet. Nate, I'm trusting you to take care of any that fall, so I'm leaving you some things you'll find useful in that regard." The thought that all this effort might be worthless depending on whatever Acera did had crossed Gabriels mind, but something was coming, he was certain of that.
Rather then start the gauntlet right at the door, Gabriel would give them room, backing it up five paces. He didn't want any surprises taking them just as something came out of the darkness.
Toramin shoots Gabriel a wry look from where he was fitting rubble tightly together. It was just like the boy to talk about working and then give a speech while lolly-gagging. Had he never heard of multi-tasking?
He means well. The boy is often rude. And his words are not stone. However, his failings were not from malice, but rather impatience and a very narrow perspective. He often saw exactly what he wanted to see and not what was actually there. It was a shame he could not bear the weight of trust Toramin wanted to place upon him.
The dwarf paused a moment to examine his handiwork.
It was not perfect. It was not seamless. But, like the boy: it would have to do.
How much of it is youth? Is he made from poor metal? Or his he simply unrefined? One does not blame a metal while it is being smelted for impurities. That was the point of the refining process to make a materiel into something worth greatness, worth the effort to hammer it into something beautiful.
Not for the first time Toramin reflected on how different Gabriel seemed to him despite as far as he could tell from the standards of their people they were of a similar age.
After some time Toramin and Gabriel, with much help from the other able-bodied men, build a significant defensible point around Dalton.
Heff and half the remaining whitecloaks take up high defensive positions at the top of the ruins. Raul, Edward, and the other half of the whitecloaks stay inside, peering out.
"She knows." Heff's voice breaks the silence as he turns, facing everybody. "She just scryed on us. Protect Dalton at all costs, we have to make sure he completes the ritual!"
"Wait a minute." Bjorkus grumbles to Toramin. He walks over to look at the voidstick, taking it and examining it. "Hmm, that's odd..." He starts walking north. "I'll be back in a minute." Bjorkus steps out of the northern choke point and turns to the right, walking out of view.
Bjorkus had walked out of view of those within the checkpoint but those without, such as Gabriel in his small team, could see him just fine. "Have an idea, Bjorkus?"
Gabriel looks at the bull over his shoulder, concern and anxious energy filling him. Another battle was on it's way and this might be the toughest one yet. Considering the battles they had fought today, that was a terrifying thought. At the moment, Bjorkus' actions was more confusing then distressing.
They're working hard.
Dalton felt a bit miffed he couldn't aid them - it was as if he was being coddled. Yet he knew absolute focus on the ritual was necessary. A mental tug signified Heff wasn't bluffing. I hope she likes what she sees. The sooner this is over, the better.
Don't break formation! Rilka, don't let him take that. What's going on? Bjorkus return to your post."
Bjorkus flashes Toramin an annoyed look, then suddenly bolts to the north.
"Stay here and watch that entrance!" The tielfing shouts to Edward in Raul, fearing the worst in the bulls odd actions. Toramin's shout gives him an idea of what to do. Gabriel will draw the longsword from his belt and move quickly toward the bull, intercepting him as he ran out of the choke point in the defenses.
With a flash, the tiefling sword slaps the stick out of the bulls hands and to the ground between them. Before another moment past Gabriel was wrapping his tail around the stick and picking it up. "Bjorkus, I have no idea whats going on with you, but you need to calm down. If you have an idea we can work with it but you can't just run off moments before the fight. Acera is coming and we can't fend her off without you!"
Bjrokus shakes his horned head and stares at Gabe in confusion. "What's goin' on?"
Gabriel's face twists in rage. He grabs the voidstick and throws it to the north, then swings his longsword at Bjorkus!
"We must be under attack. Someone or something must be controlling them. It's either the puppet witch or the necromancer, but in either case the battle has begun!"
There was no way that Gabriel would just turn on Bjorkus, and between Heff warning of scrying and our own previous encounters with the puppet witch it's to be expected. If only we had the magic to guard everyone's minds.
"Raul, do you know anything about this creature?"
Bjorkus's confusions turns to pain and anger as Gabriel's sword digs into the meat of his arm.
"Get your asses over here!" he bellows. "There's a bodysnatcher nearby!"
Raul balks at Gabriel suddenly attacking Bjorkus. "Wha-I have no bloody idea, restrain them!"
Heff slides down the wall, heading over to the fight.
Heff
Toramin
Rilka
Dalton
Bjorkus
Gabriel