Sanity not included
As the creatures moved to regroup, Sir Amonyen sheathed her knife and drew herself up to her full height, using the brief respite to stretch her limbs. Raising her visor, she took a full breath to steady herself. She wasn't incredibly tired, but every breather slowed the onset of battle fatigue, and against the undead, who could fight tirelessly, any advantage was to be sought.
Including properly protecting one's self, she berated herself.
Casting her gaze about for her shield, she caught sight of it a short distance away from where she'd been forced to drop it. She couldn't walk to retrieve it... but fortunately, there were other ways.
Reaching out with her power, she grasped the shield and brought it shooting back to her hand. A noise, somewhere between a light thunk and a loud slap could be heard as it met with her left gauntlet. Gripping the edge with her right hand, she slid her arm back into the grips of the shield.
Returning her gaze to her adversaries, she reset herself in her proper combat position and lowered her visor resolutely.
It's kind of funny. Sufficiently advanced stupidity is like sufficiently advanced science; eventually, you find something you can't solve.
OOC - I really badly apologize. Things were worse than expected to get life back to normal. Things should be clear from here on out.
What miserable luck.
Not only was it freezing, but everything was starting to run low. Food, water, money. Nothing seemed to be available. It had been weeks since she could even recall a town that had anything to trade. Not like it would have helped, mind you, since all that was in the depleted backpack was bare essentials. Through all this, the prospect of hiding in the next settlement that'd take her seemed more and more palatable. The life would be really mundane, but at least you'd survive. Possibly.
Through the howling wind, the distant sound of combat could be heard. It likely was another military operation. They've grown more frequent as of late and it's not like the undead are making it easy for them. Weighing the options, Alie unsheathed her blade and hid behind nearby foliage. The fighting would probably approach her at some point and then the best route forward could be determined. Best case scenario - she gets the chance to look for food and shelter. Worst case scenario, she could just run off. Either way, she could also "salvage" some money from the corpses.
Lord Tannas cut down another few with his sword, and noted the presence of more allies than just his troops. He made a note that he would have to thank this one, and personally recommend a good sized reward.
Ser Amonyen was known to him, and she seemed to be participating in more military operations these days. Fitting for a knight. He would have to ask to go a bout with her to see whose blade was keener.
He looked back at the youth behind him in the strange clothes as the boy seized a sword from one of the walking corpses and proved himself capable in cutting down a few of them.
Tannas smirked, "You're good, boy. So, from which far away land do you come from?"
Cole looked down at his clothes and shook his head, "Its pretty far away, across the seas, you've probably never heard of it."
"Well isn't that always the case. You've proven you can defend yourself," He stated as he cut down another few zombies by adopting a sword stance, parrying all of their incoming attacks and then reversing the course of the bout, slashing through each zombie after sending their blades flying back. "Maybe we could compare kill counts after battle?"
Lord Tannas, always the rambunctious battle maniac, even when he was almost thirty two.
edited 7th Sep '13 10:58:24 PM by NickTheSwing
The collapsing of bodies was getting louder. No longer was it a fight between shapeless masses, but distinguishable figures...some dead, or possibly re-dead.
Honestly, it didn't make sense to approach the fighting. There is no point approaching something that's going to end soon enough. But, the matter wasn't settled by logic and personal gain, but by safety. The quicker she's noticed by other humans, the more likely they'd spot her and help. Or something. At any rate, it was a short trudge through thickets before Alie found herself, at least, on the right side of the field. Humans, or at least humanoid figures, had their back to her.
What to do though? The truth would likely work just as well, but she'd likely part with more goods if she sucked up and pretended to be just an innocent traveller. That has no reason to be though...almost everybody is living in towns. The options seemed kind of limited if asked "what are you doing out here" and the question was almost sure to come up. Maybe just spear the problems on dad? Say he was cruel and kicked her out at a young age, now left to fend for her own? Not a far cry from the truth.
The "good guys" seemed to have the fight handled, at least for the most part. Noises from behind caught the brunette's attention. Instinctively standing, she found herself against a couple of creatures. Undead and ghoulish, they fit the bill for disguising abominations of nature. They were separated by a good enough distance, so at least she could handle them.
Darting straight at one of the undead, Alie thrust a great length of her estoc through the chest of her victim. The clean pierce made it easy to extract the blade and swing it at the other target, if it wasn't coming forward at the prone girl. The speed and precision of her opponent was completely unexpected, forcing her to back up instead of taking down both enemies as intended.
It turns out those things do think after all.
edited 12th Sep '13 12:38:37 AM by kirant
And soon, as the walking dead's numbers began to thin, a few commanders became evident. Black Knights, clad in armor black as night and wielding what looked like swords made out of ice. Each seemed to deliver orders through motions or through strikes.
Tannas tried to cut through the waves of the undead to reach these commanders, but as he did, one not so dead zombie rose behind him, only to be slain in turn by Cole.
The younger man smirked and stated, "I've got your back."
Tannas nodded as he cut through yet more of the dead, "I am thankful for that. Seems I often need people watching my back."
As their march continued, the Black Knights - sensing defeat - wheeled about on their black steeds, each of the malevolent, red eyed animals stomping the ground with odd, clawed hooves, manes flowing unnaturally and the beasts carried their owners swiftly from the field.
Tannas breathed a sigh of relief as the last of the walking dead fell on his and his men's blades. "Victory!"
His cry was echoed by the surviving troops, though most sustained some sort of injury, and fifteen of them had perished in the battle, out of a sortie of fifty men.
Cole looked down, considering what was going to happen now.
Having just watched a seemingly brainless being almost lay a beating on her, thoughts started swirling through Alie's head. What would it be able to figure out? What would it do? Where will it attack? But most importantly, how could she end the fight here and without injury?
The question seemingly put to rest as the beast once again tried to attack, attempting to charge its enemy with a feign left, but swinging its left arm. Alie bit on the first move, forcing her to block the left arm's swipe with her blade. There wasn't enough power in either swing, so it just got lodged it the arm, while the unusual weighting of the estoc made it hard to keep control. Having to move quickly, else lose her best weapon, she pulled the blade away from the arm and let the leftover momentum propel the undead away from her before one quick thrust ensured it was down. And then a couple more for good measure.
Alie spent a few seconds to recollect her breath and sheath her blade. After a quick cleaning of it, that is. Fighting wasn't a lot of fun. Who wants to spend their time almost getting killed? Fighting in frigid conditions on a fairly empty stomach...that's torture.
The rest of the killing seemed to have ended. At this point, it was probably time to make herself known. Making one last check that she had everything on her, the woman turned to where she last heard people, moving towards it and presenting as little of a threat as possible.
The Winter Had Come.
The winds seemed to buffet everyone and everything from the proudest noble's manor and palatial estate to the most toiling peasant's hut or home.
Merchant wares spoiled and froze, crops were failing as the winter became more severe.
And nobody - nobody - had heard anything from the King and his court. Perhaps for the better, some might say, given the King's barbaric ways when he was angered.
After a month or so of this, whispers began to spread of black knights traveling out of the Kingston area, smelling of the dead and dying, bringing a message across the states.
"The King is Dead. Long Live The Dark King."
The Hordes of Zombies seemed to halt in their tracks at the Word, and began a trek toward Kingston, where the undead seemed to stay. If anything, it seemed that none of them were affected too badly by the cold.
The nobility would soon discover that their relatives and knights staying in Kingston were not responding to letters or messages. Indeed, none of the Wards or Knights were ever heard from out of the cold, frosted central Kingdom.
Some whispered that the new King had them all put to the sword. Some said he was a Necromancer Lord who had bested Tabarach and Vallegrave, an act so impossibly superhuman that some wondered if this was all he was doing.
Perhaps, some peasants said, the Dark King treated commoner and noble the same under his heel. A manner despotic, but fair-handed.
It was amidst the second month that the cold reached a new low. The nobility grew desperate to know if their relatives and knights were indeed dead or worse.
The third month saw either a miracle or a sign of disaster. Either a magic act performed by the Light Most High or the final declaration of apocalypse by the Dark forces of the Demon Race.
A magnificent blue spell circle formed over the Estolian War Capital of Rievless.
A single man was recorded as descending from this spell circle, along with numerous foreign ghouls.
Cole snapped awake, immediately looking around and seeing the world awash in white. Standing on his feet in a wobbly fashion, it looked like he was somewhere he was not used to.
All he remembered from the thing that got him here was a clash with that man, and then he was descending through space.
He had thought himself dead. As he sat there wobbling and fell backwards, one of the skeletal ghouls loomed over him, wielding a sword.
Only for it to then be impaled from behind and thrown out of the way. A man in red armor, Cole made out through blurred vision.
Light brown hair and blue-green eyes, though it all seemed to blur together until he offered a hand, which Cole took and rose to his feet. The man stated in a commanding tone, "Stand back, you're wounded, most likely in the head. Let us handle this."
Lord Tannas prepared his sword as a few more of the creatures gathered, apparently preferring to attack in a group as opposed to alone when facing potentially two or more foes.
It was another shift that had taken place. The previously dumb hordes of the undead were now acting like actual, trained troops. They showed restraint, and yet used their superior numbers and Zerg Rush capacity in strange tactics in the field and especially within structures and estates.
Feel free to have your characters join this battle. I am sorry for the persistent delays, life is a bitch some times.