Yuto freezes under the appearance of a dozen howling warriors near the river. The katana shakes on his hand "S-sirs... th-this must be a misunderstanding w-we are only peaceful travelers. Could we stand down and talk?"
Still, fearing his words will go unheard, he prepares to strike any enemy coming by.
Not one to be cowed so easily, Andochtuir runs after his friend and stops by his side. "I don't think these are even people, Yuto, and definitely not here to make friends!" he says, drawing his weapon, and...
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Torra jumps to her feet as the blood-curdling noises ring through the mist, fists balled as she scans their immediate surroundings.
"What is that? What is going on?"
She takes a defensive stance, stepping closer to Riftun.
At that moment, Andochtuir quickly downs an extract of giant growth, readying himself against the coming onslaught!
The terrible howling echoes in Riftun's ears and sends shivers of fear through his whole body. "Wh-What in the name of all the gods..." The boy quivers in fear and steps behind Torra who moves to cover the soft boy.
"Speculum imaginum." Riftun intones as he makes the arcane gestures and his form splits into four separate Riftun's each of which looking equally scared.
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Riftun summons his reflections through his magic, keeping himself prepared for any who would try to attack him. As he does so, he speaks to Zaiobe silently.
Andochtuir is swift enough to get another one of his extracts out, drinking deep and expanding in size dramatically.
Yuto, meanwhile, attempts to negotiate with the newcomers, one of whom laughs at his speech. With that in mind, he readies himself to strike at anyone coming by.
Torra steps forwards, prepared for combat, but sticks near Riftun for the moment.
With that, the figures emerge from the mist, launching themselves forwards recklessly. One rushes at Yuto, who slashes swiftly, cutting a nasty wound across his foe's chest. With a bellow, the figure swings an axe at the samurai. The young man is more than able to block the attack.
Another approaches more cautiously, circling around him - just close enough for Yuto to strike with his katana. The fear surging up his spine twists the blow, and the figure is able to evade just enough to flank Yuto, swinging her axe as she does so. Though he's not able to get his weapon or shield up in time, the samurai's armor protects him from the attack, which rings off of him, leaving him bruised but otherwise unharmed.
Five others rush past the heroes towards the camp, whooping and screaming. Hopefully the caravan guards - as well as Shalelu and the others - will be able to handle them.
Yet another pair of the attackers rushes up the sandy shores towards Riftun, axe in hand, but aren't close enough to get off a strike before the others have a chance to react.
Two more Ulfen rush up the shore, joining their fellows in the assault on Yuto. Their battleaxes, though vicious, prove no match for the young man, even surrounded as he is. His skill far outstrips theirs, and he is easily able to deflect their blows, even startled though he is.
The last of the attackers rushes forwards, screaming as he goes for Andochtuir. The half-elf is ready to attack, but the first swing of his fauchard is foiled by the man's shield, while the second is thrown off by the chill mist that obscures his foe.
Cries from the rest of the caravan are joined by the sound of weapon on weapon.
----
The Ulfen men are on Riftun faster than he can react, charging him out of the mist with reckless abandon.
Riftun can't help himself, overwhelmed with fear at the sight of the bloodthirsty men he abandons his sense and goes running for the safety of Andochtuir's halberd. "A-Andy!? Torra!? Somebody!? H-Help!" He cries out.
There were so many! Gathering her power, Torra focuses on pushing away one of the attackers harassing Riftun.
The dwarf is worried about the ones that got past them, and sneaks a glance over the shoulder to try and see what is happening at the caravan, but the mist is too thick.
"Riftun, Torra! Get behind me! Yuto, the one flanking you in two, one-!"
Yuto makes his best to block the incoming attacks, his success appease him, and he sets his feet more solidly on the ground, grasping his katana with strength "Y-you are j-just bandits! It is better you reconsider this and flee" he slashes at purple once more.
And then, hearing Andochtuir, slides to the side with a roll, setting up an entry flank on white.
Riftun tries to desperately get away, his two attackers swing their axes viciously at him. Though one is unpleasantly close, his illusion foils the attack, and the second one is close enough that it destroys another of his images. Nevertheless, the bard makes good his escape, and circles around his larger compatriot to get some distance as he begins sharing his advice.
Andochtuir shouts a recommendation for Yuto to move, but holds his attack back until the samurai does so. Unfortunately, the murk prevents him from being as precise as he might like, and his target blocks the blow with her shield.
Yuto sidesteps away from his foes, slashing at Andochtuir's target himself. He is significantly luckier, and cuts deep into her shoulder. She staggers back with a growl, her axe turning back to him.
Torra gathers her power to unleash a potent blast in the direction of one of the bandits, but he ducks under it, and his partner is just out of the way enough that it doesn't hit him.
The raiders return to the offensive. One rushes Andochtuir. The giant alchemist's fauchard misses him the first time, but strikes home the second, nearly disemboweling his foe. The man's momentum carries him forwards, however, and he lashes out at Andochtuir. The battleaxe is quick and deadly, carving deep into the half-elf's stomach and cracking against his right hip. The warrior gives a whoop, delighted at the blood of his foe.
His comrade takes advantage of the larger man's distraction to circle around him and try to strike at his side - though he stumbles to a halt upon seeing Riftun, and swings reflexively at him instead. Between the man's surprise, the mist, and Riftun's illusion, the bard is able to dodge the attack, but it shatters his last remaining duplicate.
Another of the raiders circles around to attack Yuto from the flank once more. The samurai continues to easily deflect the woman's blows, barely even needing to pay her mind.
His other flanker is injured, but ferocious nonetheless, and counterattacks. This time, Yuto is caught off-guard, but the mist obscures his form enough that it does little more than clatter off his armor.
The final attacker rushes forwards at Andochtuir, whose fauchard is too far out to respond, and leaps at him, swinging his axe with as much efficiency as his wounds afford him. However, the large man's easily able to get his polearm's haft in the way, blocking the attacker's axe.
Andochtuir grits his teeth in surprise as he is hit straight through both his armored and magically enchanted skin for a massive hit. He reluctantly cedes ground to the south and drinks an Elixir of Shield, then readied himself for the next wave...
"Stay behind me! When we get a chance, we do a fighting withdrawal to the others!" he says to those behind him.
Torra grits her teeth as her shot misses, then directs the next one towards one of the raiders menacing Yuto. Her heart is beating loudly in her ears as she tries to concentrate, spikes of fear shooting through her mind at the thought of their friends.
As, one by one each and every image the bard has conjured up is destroyed and the raiders continue their dogged pursuit Riftun can't help but feel the tendrils of fear spread through his body.
With each swing of an axe he cries out in shock and ducks only to realize he has barely escaped death once more and scurries to a new spot.
But when Andy is so horridly wounded the young bard's eyes go wide. It was a horrific blow and the fact that Andy yet stood was only a testiment to how enduring the half-elf was rather than a coment on the savageness of the blow.
"Andy! K-Keep your guard up! It was a lucky hit don't let them fool you into thinking it was anything more!"
"Speculum imaginum!" the bard cries once more as he gestures for his images to recturn to him.
"No!" Yuto suffers, his friends suffering while he is too far away to help defend them. He quickly slashes again on white before stepping closer to the others.
Riftun steps away from his attacker again, keeping well away from the axe as he summons his images again. He continues to advise his friends on the best ways to deal with this threat.
Andochtuir follows suit, backing away from the attackers and keeping them within range of his fauchard as he drinks another of his extracts, summoning a shield of force before him. As he does so, one of his attackers swings their axe, but he is easily able to dodge out of the way.
Yuto slashes again at one of the foes, who catches his katana on her shield, knocking it away without much effort.
Torra hurls a blast at the same attacker, who is distracted enough that the projectile smashes the back of her skull inwards, and she collapses, dead - or near enough to it.
One of her comrades shouts a curse and moves quickly around Yuto to attack him again. The samurai continues to easily block and evade the vicious cutting strikes.
Another raider launches an opportunistic strike, savagely bringing her axe down in vicious crescents. This time the samurai is caught off-guard, but his naturally cautious fighting style and Riftun's insights allow him to catch the axe-haft with a counterstroke and knock it away.
One of the other figures, lunges at Torra, only for Andochtuir to slash him nearly in two with a quick swing of his oversized fauchard.
Andochtuir's attackers shift forwards - one of whom takes the chance to circle around him - this time, his attack is deflected by his foe's shield, leaving him flanked. As all three strike at him, however, his newfound magical defenses keep their weapons away from him.
A few cries come from the caravan, cut short by violence.
Yuto retrieves the katana from the shield of the fallen attacker just in time to block the next one's attack "Hvem er du?! Hvorfor angriper du oss?!" he improvises with the few words he has learnt from Kelda and Ranghildir.
"Wh-who are you?! W-why are you attacking us?! What do you wa-want?!"
Then lunges for the next enemy flanking Andochtuir while stepping back trying to gather the team together.
Fending off three attackers at once, Andochtuir does a giant sweep of his halbard and quickly looks over his shoulder at the caravan behind. As expected, he takes a few hits, but the different layers of protection hold properly. "Confound it! Teruko and Sandru need our help. Riftun, Torra, move with me and stay behind me!"
He takes a risk to resposition himself , trusting Riftun's song and his abilities to keep him safe. Once there, he cleaves deeply into the already injured green-clad foe, then looks northwest to hopefully also cut down the foes surrounding him just prior...
Riftun can feel the tide of the battle starting to shift in their favor as his allies find their footing and yet the screams from the caravan are more than a little disheartening.
"Good work everyone! Lets take out a couple more and they should break off but we need to hurry, t-the caravan is in danger! Torra hit the ones on the eatern flank, we don't want them getting around us!"
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Damn these raiders! They were hurting her friends! And while the sight of the wounds on Andochtuir was squeezing at her heart, even more so was the uncertainty of what was happening back at the camp site. Had they killed anyone? Spurred on by fear for her companions, Torra launches another projectile at the target that Riftun indicates.
Riftun moves away from the threatening combatants, nearing the fire. As he does so, Andochtuir attempts to join him - leaving him open for all three of his foes. Though he manages to block and evade two of them, the third is able to cut deep into his buttock and upper thigh, sending pain searing down his leg and up his flank.
With that, though, he swings his fauchard in a quick arc, beheading his foe and sending the body to the ground with a spray of blood. Another of them growls in anger, enraged at the fallen.
Yuto's question goes unanswered, especially as he swings a powerful blow at his foe. The man cannot get his shield up in time, and ends up getting a nasty gash across his forehead.
Drawing upon the true power of the earth, Torra hurls a projectile at the raider Riftun directs her towards. The heavy attack flies true and shatters his skull, slaying him instantly.
The remaining raiders seem to hesitate a moment looking towards the caravan's campsite before one shouts something.
They begin falling back - two of the ones engaged with the party manage to get all the way back to the river, but the last is unable to escape Andochtuir's reach, and is nearly bisected by his fauchard.
The moment it becomes apparent that their assailants were retreating, Torra begins pumping her short legs towards the campfire, shouting. "Teruko! Ameiko! Shalelu!"
Her fists clenched, she hurls more earthen projectiles at any raider that is not running away in her attempt to defend her friends.
Andochtuir attempts to follow, but he stumbles, watching his leg and stomach bleeding rather profusely. "Damn it!"
Gritting his teeth, he draws the healing wand he carried with him, lamenting his inability to not do better...
At least the worst of it clears and he pats it, testing the blot cloth over the still open area for firmness. "Riftun... could you maybe hold onto this for me?" he then says, holding it out for the bard to use. He pushes himself up fully by the fauchard, takes a deep breath and begins running after Torra!
Yuto assists to the onslaught hiding behind his shield as part members and bones jump to side and side "I-is it over?"
Seeing the others running to the caravan, the Tian looks at the retreating riders, then back to his running friends, and resolves to run towards the caravan as well.
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The raiders beginning to disperse in the face of real losses, as Riftun had suspected, does little to quell the young man's anxiety as his giant friend is still bleeding quite heavily beside him and there are screams coming from the caravan.
"A-Andy slow yourself, y-your bleeding!" Riftun calls out to his friend as the half-elf stumbles towards the caravan with reckless haste.
Riftun takes the wand when offered and attempts to add a little more healing to Andochtuir's wounds before they proceed.
The healing magic seems to channel well through the bard and he watches in amazement as Andy's wound seals before him.
Resolving to try and develope his apparent knack for healing magic, perhaps by seeking lessons from Spivey, the boy nods. "L-Let's get moving! The caravan needs us!"
As they move towards the rest of the caravan, the heroes see that the remaining attackers have already fled towards the water.
Sandru and the guards look to have seen the most combat, in terms of injuries, but Amaya and Ameiko bear blooded weapons. Ameiko looks up at the heroes. "You're safe, thank the gods." Her expression grows slightly worried as she sees Andochtuir's wounds, but Koya requests that everyone injured gather around her, and sends out enough healing waves to cure the injuries of those in need.
Ameiko looks around. "Does anyone know who these people were or why they attacked us? Let's search the bodies to see whether there're any clues as to what they wanted."
Each of the nine fallen warriors wears some armor - a chain shirt - and bears a battleaxe, a shield, and two throwing axes each. Each of them also have a golden arm-ring with the symbol of a lion's head engraved on it.
Also, one of the raiders is still alive - one of the women that the party had dealt with earlier.
Healed by Riftun's skillful use of the wand, Andy is able to pull himself together enough to half-run, half-stumble into view of the others. Once he sees everyone is still all right, he sighs in relief and leans on his enlarged Polearm. He tries for an apologetic grin when Ameiko shows concern. "They got lucky - but not lucky enough," he tells her from above, then strides past to stand with Koya until his injuries were fully gone.
"And thanks, Riftun," he adds to the bard afterwards. Deciding to put his enhanced strength and size to good use while it lasted, he jogs back to the ambush site and picks up all the fallen foes only to deposit them back at the camp. "The woman is still alive," he remarks, and kneels down to stabilize her just in case. "Say, Yuto, you spoke their language just now, didn't you? Do you recognize these folk?" he asks the samurai.
Torra examines one of the armbands after wiping the blood off it. "This is worth a fair bit of coin, 35 gold pieces to an interested buyer." She traces the outline of the lion sigil. "Do lions live this far north? Look, this one has it too, and this one. Were they all part of the same clan? Or an organization?"
Yuto breaths relieved as he spots his foster mother, Teruko, Ameiko and the others still alive "Th-that's a good idea, let's check the bo-bodies"
The Tian blinks surprised "Oh, yes, they talked Skald, m-maybe we should call Kelda and Ranghildr, they were the ones from whom I took a few words..." the young man blushes "M-maybe they know about the lions or w-who the riders are?"
He will help to bring the unconscious woman, stabilize her and imprison her for interrogation.
Amaya peers at the golden arm-rings. "I would guess that these rings mark them as members of a single organization, though I am unsure of the specifics."
Kelda nods silently, while Ragnhildr examines one carefully. "Aye, these look like they're the sorts of gifts a thane might give to his huscarls. Not sure about which one, though. There're plenty across the Kingdoms."
"Maybe they were just looking for people to rob?" Ameiko suggests, though she doesn't sound like she believes it.
"They certainly weren't well trained assailants." Shalelu says, her monochrome eyes narrow. "We should ask our prisoner, then, what they wanted."
"Oh, umm I-I speak Skald, i-it's my native tongue actually." The Ulfen bard pipes in at the inquires as to the language of their attackers.
"If we could rouse her I should be able to speak with the raider."
"Le-let's find out what she has to say" Yuto drags the woman into one of the caravan wagons and throws her there, binding her hands with whatever is at hand.
If Koya heals her to recover he looks at Riftun "A-ask her who is their Thane, m-maybe she also can tell us w-why they attacked us..."
The healing is done swiftly, and the Ulfen woman glares up at her captors in silence.
"I don't suppose anyone possesses magic to make her trust or talk to us, as i'd rather not inflict harm upon a prisoner - even if they just tried to kill us. However, we do need to know what is going on, to protect the caravan."
He adresses the question to all known casters present.
After the healing is done Riftun thanks the healers before returning his attention to the captive Ulfen woman. He kneels down to her level, (assuming she is bound and on her knees).
The young bard smiles gently at their captive.
Yuto offers a prisoner a glass with water "Do-don't worry, we only need to understand wh-what happened, we have nothing against you personally... please answer my friend" he does talk in Skald, unless the prisoner has proven to understand Common.
Andochtuir nodded, seeing his friends wanted to try being nice first. He wasn't sure that would work, what with the violence just brought against them all, but it wouldn't hurt to try.
Noticing only Ameiko's and Amaya's weapons coated in blood, he raises a eyebrow. That a trained guard had stood her ground was to be expected, but... "You took down a few of them yourself? Impressive. I wasn't aware you were such a good swordswoman. They weren't easy to subdue," He nods to the Kaijitsu heiress in respect.
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The woman stares blankly at Riftun, unspeaking for several long moments.
Meanwhile, Ameiko shrugs, a smile lurking about her lips. "I did spend some time adventuring myself, you know."
Amaya she begins cleaning her quarterstaff. "One each." She says. "They were not that threatening. Hellknight armigers are more of a threat." Her tone is slightly dismissive.
Riftun's shoulders sag looking somewhat defeated.
He offers a weak hopeful smile unsure if the hard-as-nails warrior woman would care. Still, Riftun realizes that this would be his last chance at handling this nicely... he would do what he could to ask the others be gentle with their prisoner but... He didn't want to take his push for redeeming the wicked too far like he had before with Yuto and the strange aberration.
"I b-b-beg your collaboration" Yuto almost implores to the woman "Who has sent you and why? Th-there must be someone who pays you t-to make your living... w-we cannot protect you if you do not answer"
The woman shrugs slightly at Riftun, before snorting at Yuto.
Before she finishes her sentence, blood erupts from her nose, eyes, ears, and mouth, and she drops dead.
"What the hell?" Ameiko steps back, eyes wide with shock.
Sandru curses, and the Varisian caravaners make warding gestures, panic lighting their eyes.
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"Oh my gods!" Riftun gasps in horror as the woman dies so horrifically right in front of his very eyes. The bard tries to hold her up but the woman is already gone in his arms.
"Th-This must have been a geas or something of the sort... a-a magical order that w-would kill her upon speaking... Who would do such a horrible thing?!" The boy laments as he gently sets the body down.
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Torra stares open-mouthed at the woman's sudden death, still not quite believing her eyes. "Such powerful magic, to kill someone from a distance! Could they do the same to us?" The dwarf looks at Riftun with almost panic. "These clearly were not just bandits!"
Andochtuir turned to Amaya, eyebrow raised and poised to ask why she'd apparently made a habit of fighting hellknights when tragedy struck.
"Such powerful magic, to kill someone from a distance! Could they do the same to us?"
"As horrible as this sight is, let us try and remain calm and rational," he said, hoping he could convey such a sense to the others. He'd seen much worse deaths during his time, but possessed enough common sense to know that was not what they wanted to hear now. "I don't believe they - whoever that is - can do the same to us. For if they could, they would have already done it. Why risk leaving it to pawns or losing henchmen if it would be as easy as killing us from far away with magic?" He shakes his head and shrinks down to normal size again as his extract fades.
"As for who could be behind this... we do not know enough at this point in time to do more than speculate. Was the attack against us premeditated or an opportunistic robbery? I'd suggest heading to a nearby town and asking if the locals are familiar with these Lion-ringed Ulfen. From there, we could better decide what to do."
Yuto looks without gasp for a couple of minutes as the woman perishes almost on his arms "I-it seems we are g-getting into dangerous area..."
"W-we need be extremely careful..." he nods towards Andochtuir, happy there is someone experienced "Ok, le-let's do that, perhaps we can find someone able to answer us in the name of the dead"
Despite a bit scared, Yuto helps to bury the woman before the caravan moves on.
Still shaken, the young bard gets to his feet and nods his head along in agreement with Andochtuir though his eyes do not leave the body, "I agree... death magic usually requires the user to be quite close... I-It's highly likely that this poor woman was once in close proximity to the one her cursed her... she did seem to know about it after all..." Riftun shakes his head trying to dismiss any thoughts of what he could have done differently to preserve the woman's life.
Eventually the bard solmely says a prayer to Desna and walks away his eyes towards the sky.
Ameiko looks grimly down at the corpse, shaking her head. "I agree. These weren't any old bandits. So then, why'd they attack us? They weren't terribly skilled, if the idea was to kill us."
The caravaners look less than reassured at the idea that a potential enemy is able to kill people for breaking their word, but Koya speaks quietly with them, and they seem at least willing to spend the night at Skalsbrïdge.
Ragnhildr frowns, scratching the back of her head. "Not sure where the closest settlement is to here. Might be a couple days away."
Amaya speak calmly. "They came from the river, too, so they might well be from somewhere as far away as Irrisen. The ice witches there might have access to such power."
Her elder sister eyes her speculatively. "You don't believe that, though."
"No. I merely raise the possibility - it is possible that the locals will have no answers that we seek." She replies.
Yuto trembles as there are words of the Irrisen witches "Oh no, let's hope th-they are just some ri-river bandits..."
Not convinced much about the different explanations, the Tian rests very little, paying a lot of attention to the riverside for as long as the caravan remains in here.
"We sh-should continue forward and see if we can fo-found one of those settlements Ragnhildr talks about... pe-perhaps they can tell us more about these bandits..."