Closed Duty of the Order

[Numia]

Spring 53rd, 516

After the events a few days prior, Numia was surprised to be out on the Kabrin road again. Sera Jyness Tiber had come along, and the squire she knew very well known as Alexander Faircroft was also on the trip with them. The manifold clatter of hooves on the dirt clouded her sense as Numia rode upon Banter and played her fiddle, holding the reins secure with her knee spikes. Short, quick tunes spiraled through the local area to keep spirits high, but Numia directed the sounds downward so they would clatter together and cancel out, a song only their group could hear.

There were bandits in the area lately, and Jyness was there to confirm it. It was the duty of the order to get rid of them. Because of this, Sera Jyness had brought two other knights with her that were from her squad; Sera Stryad, a mage-knight who carried a bow in half-plate as well as green and black face paint, and Ser Gwindogar, a man clad in roughed up full plate quite a bit larger than Alex by a little more than a foot and wearing a full helm that had obscured his face since the moment they left. Slung over the massive knight's back was a sword larger than Numia had ever seen, it almost looked as big as Alex when he didn't wear armor. The large knight was also riding a very big and muscled horse with a long mane that was much bigger than the other horses in the group.

Everyone seemed to appreciate Numia's music, or at least nobody had said anything to the contrary. When Jyness spoke, Numia immediately stopped playing. "We will make camp ahead and go over our plan of attack. I suspect the bandits are camped up in the ridge across the road from the ore mines. We will be leaving our horses in camp to go on foot from that point on." Jyness had a tone of conviction and authority in her voice indicative of the leadership qualities she possessed.

After a few chimes, Jyness signaled to the other knights and everyone left the Kabrin road to go on a much more narrow side path into the woods. After a few ticks, they came out into a wide open clearing. "Secure the perimeter!" Jyness ordered, and Numia put away her fiddle, picked up Banter's reins, and gave them a snap as she controlled him to walk along the edge of the clearing. Numia listened to the quiet wilderness, suspiciously quiet. The birds weren't talking here like they were on the road. Then, Numia heard something move in the brush roughly fifty feet into the woods. It took heavy steps, ripping up the foliage as it advanced towards her. Numia knew she had to signal everyone else. From the cracking and clicking noise it madeas it moved, she could tell it wasn't human.

Numia spoke with a firm yell so the squad could hear. "My position! Some kind of monster ... it sounds ..." Numia thought of a way to accurately describe it. "Earthy?"

Jyness immediately knew what to do. "Form a line, we have Yukmen on the perimiter! Stop them at the edge of the wood while their movement is hindered! Numia, number?"

Numia listened to it further, reeling Banter around to run to Jyness. There were a lot of steps in the woods now, they were growing in intensity. Four, or was it five? "Four to five, maybe more!"

"Aim between the stones riddling their flesh!" Jyness called as the first Yukmen began to appear on the edge of the forest. Sera Stryad and Ser Gwindogar both dismounted, Stryad immediately drawing her bow and firing an arrow into the leg of the Yukman on the edge which made it fall over and claw at the ground screaming. One of Jyness' limbs fell limp, and after a few ticks the fallen Yukman was picked up off the ground by an invisible force and thrown back into the dense foliage.

Numia was intimidated by everything going on, but she had to do something. The Pycon dismounted Banter, telling him to "stay" behind everyone else. She ran to the far side of the group and concentrated on nothingness, trying to push the heat of the battle away from her mind. Eventually, a pinprick the size of a needle formed in front of her and she began to feed her energy into it, growing it bigger and bigger. "Stay away from the black portal, everyone!" Numia called. She didn't want anyone to accidentally get voided once the portal was big enough to suck in a Yukman. It didn't take long before the sweet whispers arrived, asking her for more and more energy as it grew, and she had no choice but to give in to them since the portal wasn't big enough yet. She listened for the Yukmen, intending to abort if one of them got too close since she didn't want to void herself. The darkness always reminded her of the nightmarish creature she almost lost her life to in the season prior, so she watched out for and listened for that as well.

[Alexander Faircroft]

In the saddle of his horse, on loan from the knights yet again, the black haired stallion trotted patiently alongside the other knights and Numia’s dog. Alex slumped a little he’d not gotten much sleep the past couple of days. Several bells at the most. Nothing which he could consider a good night. Which even by his standards of just a simple four hours wasn’t much. Still he’d been shoved into going along with Sera Jyness and Numia by his patron Greyheart. Who at present was currently deciding who to take on his own brief mission. The two with them, were an archer knight by the name of Sera Stryad. Clearly a hunter type. Coupled with Ser Gwindogar a mountain of an akalak that Alex minimal experience with having spoken to Archie’s patron Ser Iros. Still the blade he carried coupled with the plate was something of merit. How the horse he rode could carry him let alone all the steel was a mystery to him.

Numia fiddled on as the small group marched to the tune. Alex had brought his usual hidden daggers and openly visible one. His bastard sword and shield, Quiver full of arrows and bow. On his back lay a great-sword and twin-bladed sword. He looked like he was fully prepped to go to war. After all having an impression of preparation was often the key to being truly prepared. Alex just closed his eyes a moment allowing the horse to follow the herd as it were. Slipping out of consciousness for a moment. Thoughts of bandits filled his mind, the events with some of them he’d had this season weren’t too great but were enough to let him know that despite his skill he still needed work. Alex didn’t even realize what was going on until the sound of a screaming yukman roused him from his mild nap.

Just fantastic. He thought to himself slipping his bow from his shoulders. Balancing his weight atop the panicking horse was tricky but with a light touch he calmed it. Notching and drawing he sighed a Yukman closing in on Numia. He loosed, the arrow whistling through the air and finding it’s target Deep within the Yukman’s chest but still it kept coming. Alex slipped his bow back over his shoulders before drawing the great sword. “Heel boy.” Alex spoke to his shores before leaping off of it. Catching his weight mid fall he landed with his knees crouched. He’d be feeling that in the morning. Right now however that wasn’t the worst of his problems. Alex had experience with yukmen. These weren’t fully matured yet. Meant the elders were on their way soon.

“These aren’t our real worry. Hold form and wait. The elder yukmen are on their way!” Alex called out not trying to take control of the situation just showing that he had knowledge that could be helpful. He Knew the Akalak would be fine holding one side. He’d have to brace from the opposite one. Alex raced to the right as the huge knight ran to the left. And both with big swings just sliced a yukman in half each. Alex however lost a little of his footing due to the sheer size of his blade whilst Ser Gwindogar seemed un-phased by the heft and size of his own blade. Whirling it around with the ease one would swing a dagger. Alex braced his weight with his blade and in the same motion pushed himself back into a solid stance. Awaiting the next one to come in close enough for him to turn them into a pile of goop.

[Numia]

One by one the Yukmen fell as screams filled the air. Ser Gwindogar was making short work of them with his hefty blade. One of the Yukmen crept up on him, but it's head was smashed into by some invisible force and thrown to the ground shortly thereafter. Sera Jyness seemed to stand there doing nothing, a fierce and determined look on her face. Sera Stryad continued to impale the Yukmen with arrows as they poured from the woods. There were a lot more than four or five, the group soon found out, which confirmed Alex' suspicions. To make matters worse, Ser Gwindogar himself retreated back a few steps when the long arm of a spear came running out from the forest. It was the elder Yukmen, and they were armed. Some of them even wore leathers, similar to bandits.

The spear was grabbed and shoved down by Jyness' projection, snapping it. Still, the Yukman controlling it waved the wooden staff it now possessed around, whipping it towards Alex' face.

Meanwhile, Numia focused on growing her portal. It was growing slowly, and it was only a few ticks away from the size of a Yukman. Her mind pulsed with euphoric bliss, asking her to continue onward, but she knew her friends were in the line of fire. Up until now the portal had been a slightly angled disc, Numia began to push it more upright to get it to face the wood where the Yukmen poured forth, screaming their namesake for all to hear.

Ser Gwindogar stepped back as three more Yukmen stepped into the grove, and he motioned for Alex to do so as well. Numia watched everyone's feet from a sliver of light underneath her portal, waiting for them to get clear as she began to 'push' the portal forward by leading it with her energy to move it towards the Yukmen and away from her allies. "Get ... get out ... of the way!" Numia growled, loudly for everyone to hear as her voice carried out above the fighting.

Jyness immediately used her projection to drag Alex out of the way if he was still in the path of Numia's void portal as the wind suddenly began to yank forward. Branches swayed and leaves lost their home as Numia funneled her energy into channeling a pull with her portal. It started weak at first, but it grew in intensity. A Yukman with an iron blade of some kind reached Ser Gwindogar but he bashed it back with his blade and Jyness dragged it back further with her magic to keep everyone out of harms way.

Numia could feel herself being drained, but it wasn't something that made her feel ill strangely. The pull grew strong enough that the Yukmen at the edge of the wood fell over and began to be dragged back to the portal. Three in number, they picked up speed until they were dragged into the inky darkness one after another. Branches flew over their heads, and the fragile roots of a dead pine came collapsing down in Numia's rough direction. The roar and quake of it shocked Numia back to reality, and she began to wean the portal of its energy. The pull subsided into nothing, and it began to shrink as she focused. When the portal was gone, two Yukmen were wriggling out of the branches in front of her, one with a broken leg and the other with an arm trapped underneath the trunk.

Dust and debris filled the air, leaves and pine needles still falling to the ground only two feet away. Numia realized she could have died then if luck wasn't on her side. Still, she wasn't confident enough in her abilities to engage the Yukmen in melee so she took a step back only to fall over. In her casting, she'd failed to notice that the void had taken with it a piece of her clay. She focused on regrowing herself, but the remaining two Yukmen were almost free and a third came running around the tree with a warhammer.

[Alexander Faircroft]

Description "Alex Common" Alex thoughts "Myrian" "Fratava" "Others"

Behind him the Akalak was making quick work of the Yukmen that came to him and Jyness was holding still behind Numia. Alex glanced across and spotted she was focusing on something. But what was Sera Jyness doing just standing there? Almost as if giving him a fantastic display of what she was doing a yukman flew through the air from no actual source of impact. A little stunned Alex took a brief moment to register what exactly had happened. Shrugging it off he refocused on the problem at hand.

A large swathing cut of his blade clipped through the air. A yukman rose his hands in defence of his face. With the twist of the full force of alex's body weight behind it, the blade ignored it. In the single motion both hands and the yukman’s head flew through the air. Alex nearly fell over stabbing the tip of the sword into the ground agian to help hold himself upright. On the other hand the body of the Yukman tumbled over, blood stopped spilled and split around a large stone at its collar bone. Alex spotted a small hand signal from Gwindogar and in a singular motion now seeing the large black disc that Numia was working on he didn’t run back he jumped. Catching his weight on his shoulder he rolled through. A practised tumble but still that was going to be sore as heck in the morning. It was now but he had adrenaline pumping through his system nullifying the pain.

As the disc of black nothingness travelled across the expanse. Watching from a distance as three of the monsters just tumbled and skidded across the floor before falling away into the dark doorway of nothing. That. Is some scary crap right there. Alex thought to himself as he slipped his great sword back into it’s sheath. He was ok with it but seeing the elder yukmen tumble out of the forest not only with larger stones limiting the weak and soft points but armed. Alex reached to his side and drew his bastard sword. He paced himself adrenaline was good to keep going but it sapped the energy fast. Alex rolled his blade in his hands whirling the edge around in a practiced motion.

Before anything else could be done Alex jumped in front of Numia as the void closed completely. Shield ahead of him, whilst Numia recovered from the rather fanciful display Alex was acting as a bulwark. As he did so Gwindogar rushed in and took on the yukman with a hammer. Leaving Alex the two basic but rather experienced yukmen. Alex took up a defensive stance and braced himself his shield up. One, two, three, four, five, six slammed resonated against his shield His feet slid back against the soft ground. A lack of form showing but a lot of determination. A brief pause followed. A familiar sound reached his ears, the whistle of an arrow skirted by his head as it found the neck of the yukman to his right. Sera Stryad had loosed an arrow from her bow and lessened the pressure on Alex.

With a hard shunt he pressed into the yukman. Opening him up for a large series of strikes. Alex's push however had left him on uneven and unbalanced footing he only managed in this ange to get off one slice. And even then when he struck out it landed but the blade only breeched from the shoulder down to the right chest muscle. Large rocks blocked the strike and wedged the blade in. He shifted his whole body wrenching the blade out watching a trial of crimson skirt the air. Another solid blow impacted his left arm. He bore the brunt of it and thrust the yukman back again. Using the point of the shield he brought it round and caught the yukman in the jaw, rendering the bones there to broken shards. As it reeled he twisted his hips and followed through with a wide swing. After a brief moment what once stood a five foot tall yukman was now a head shorter as the body slumped and spilled out across the ground.

“Remind me to never piss off the mages.” He spoke as he heaved out a few breaths. Dropping to a knee he stabbed the tip of his blade into the ground helping to keep himself aloft as he panted beneath his armour as the exertion finally hit him. The last few issues which remained as far as he could see was Ser Gwindogar and the Warhammer wielding one. The two who were trapped or crawling had been dispatched by arrows. “Never a dull day with you Numia is it?”

[Numia]

Alexander and the remaining knights managed to intercept the remaining Yukmen, valiantly slaying them. Numia listened around her, tensed up from the ensuing combat. She had never been in anything of this scope before, it was such a pointless loss of lives even if the race to die was monstrous. They seemed intelligent enough, they had weapons. They just had to stay away, why didn't they? Yukmen ... they were tragic.

The Pycon managed to reform herself after several ticks. Her mind was pounding after the expenditure of her inner resources. She walked with a hobble, trying to listen around her for more Yukmen as the other knights were on high alert. More screams never came, it seemed as if the battle had come to an end. "I don't hear anymore Yukmen!" Numia called. "Banter, come!" She said, the dog coming over to her from behind everyone else. "Down." Numia reached into a satchel on his saddle and pulled out some clay, devouring it quietly as she looked to Alex. "Magic is dangerous, Alex. We all pay a price for it. It does things to you, it warps your mind as if it has its own intentions." Numia shook her head solemnly, and then she looked to Jyness for guidance. Her patron was focused on her arm, breathing slowly as she worked some sort of magic. Eventually, she rose it up and flexed her arm and fingers, making sure everything was working right.

Jyness looked up and began to speak in a loud, commanding voice. "The bandits we are hunting might have heard the screams of the Yukmen," Jyness said. "They are going to send scouts to our general area, but it's wise for us to stay here and secure a camp. Cut the branches and we will roll the fallen log into the center to use as a defensive position. I'll have Squire Numia and Sera Stryad keep watch so we don't get surrounded. We will set up the tents, set up camp, and get a few hours of rest. We want the bandits to show up, but more importantly we want to catch their scouts because they are some of the most skilled men the bandits have. Our goal here today is to capture and interrogate or kill the bandit scouts to hinder their group capabilities. Our force is not strong enough to wipe out their entire group, despite the success we had with the Yukmen." Jyness seemed to know what she was doing, as if she had lots of experience in these matters.

Ser Gwindogar didn't ask any questions. He retrieved a hatchet from his horse and set about chopping the branches from the fallen pine. Sera Stryad went off into the woods to keep a look out, and Numia hopped upon Banter and rode him into the path the Yukmen had set up in the woods on the northern edge of the encampment. Jyness retrieved the tents from everyone's horses and tossed them into a pile, beginning to set them up one by one. As Numia snapped the rains, Banter cantered into the woods, stepping over broken sticks and Yukmen corpses as Numia listened to them. They were all dead, not a single one was breathing and they didn't have any infrasonic sounds coming from their hearts. Some of them smelled a bit foul as she passed by them, creatures of filth and the earth.

Numia went out into the woods, settling down with Banter and sitting out there to keep watch. It was a boring activity, but a necessary one. Jyness always seemed to push Numia into doing them because the Pycon was a free spirit at heart.

[Alexander Faircroft]

Description "Alex Common" Alex thoughts "Myrian" "Fratava" "Others"

As the last of the yukmen fell beneath Sera Gwindogar’s sword. When numia gave the all clear alex finally managed to push himself up off of the ground again. Even with the dog meandering over to her Alex caught her trying to chastise him for the comment he made about magic. He sighed again shaking his head.
“Out of the four Pycon’s I’ve met. The only one who seems to have any idea of when I’m joking is Archie.” He wiped the edge of his blade against the palm of his armour. Clearing off the dirt and other nasties. Flicking his hand out into the distance he sheathed his bastard sword. The length of steel hissing as it trailed way into its sheath.

After he’d done as such and Numia was up on her dog again Sera Jyness began to bark out orders one after the other. Numia and Sera Stryad keeping watch and Ser Gwindogar stripping trees with a hatchet. She seemed to have completely forgotten Alex. More for him. Seemed like being unimpressive had it’s perks too. Whilst Sera Jyness started setting up the tents. Alex collected a small amount of fist sized rocks from around the place. Setting them up into a small ring and flattening down the soft ground he stepped off again hunting down some dried leaves and twigs.

A good chime of searching and he came back with a small pile of wood and some leaves. Dumping them into the centre he hung onto the leaves for a moment. In the past he’d had to spend some time out in the wilderness with his father and had learnt how to start a fire. He was doing so here. Balling up and crushing the leaves into a finer form he sprinkled them in a pile atop the twigs. And with his other hand he knapped some flint against the steel of his armour. The plate along the back of his hand a good striking point.

One, two, three strike and finally a small spark. Good. He held the angle and repeated several more times finally a spark caught the edge of the powdered leaves. Alex cupped his hands and breathed gentle life into the smouldering ember. A few strings of thin white smoke and then the first licks of life burst into life. A small flame erupting from beneath the twigs. And then the soft snap and crackle against the still silence of the surroundings. A small smile crept across Alex’s face he’d made a small fire in the centre of the camp.

A slight huff and he headed out to pick up one of the tents and start setting it up. Considering the split of the party and the fast there were only two tents looked like both the women were sleeping in one with Numia and Alex would be splitting open with Gwindogar. A thought he didn’t much relish. Whilst Numia and the other Sera were off Alex was just finishing up stringing up his and Gwindogar’s split tent.

[Numia]

Settling in with her canine companion, Numia wondered how everyone else was doing. The fight had probably been at least slightly hard on Alex, especially given the quip he gave her. Numia knew she couldn't practice her magic since she was already completely tapped from her earlier spell. It would be at least a few hours before she could do so much as change the color of her cloak with Morphing. In the mean time, she kept her ears open and studied the bark on the trees, looking at and feeling the texture as she listened to the sounds of nature around her. The birds had already abandoned the area after the violence, it seemed to her that things were deathly quiet.

Gwindogar meanwhile had finished stripping the tree of branches. Singlehandedly, he threw his shoulder into it and began to push it so it was horizontal in the camp, pulling it by the roots when he wanted to move it to a more neat center. He groaned and roared loudly enough for even Numia to hear as he pulled it into place. Jyness went and began to place the stripped branches over the log to give them some cover to peer through and hide the tents. "Good job, Alex." She'd finished setting up her own tent by now, and Alex already had a fire going. "As I understand it, you've fought Yukmen before?"

Ser Gwindogar made himself comfortable in the dirt next to the campfire Alex had prepared. "You fought well, squire." The man simply said. Gwindogar wasn't one for chatting, but he did appreciate the fighters within the order when they weren't being showboating suspicious bags of shyke to the other races such as Akalak. Sera Stryad was out in the woods to the south. She'd propped herself up against a tree and lit a pipe, the breeze carrying a sweet smell into camp.

[Alexander Faircroft]

Description "Alex Common" Alex thoughts "Myrian" "Fratava" "Others"

The short scout time out in the camp was an easy moment of brief reprieve from the events of madness and violence but it was enough to let them know they were safe. At least temporarily. Out of the silence came the voice of Sera Jyness. Small words of praise and an inquiry. Even with the words from Gwindogar Alex nodded lightly and responded first to the compliments and then with the longer explanation.
“Thank you but I’ve had a fair amount of experience out in the wilds. I know how to do the basics. And Ser Gwindogar, I appreciate the praise by I’m still lacking at least comparatively. You swing your blade like you were handling a short blade. Ease and practiced precision.” Taking a moment to secure the tent finally and toss the two bed rolls out into it.

“As far as the Yukmen go. I was leading a patrol outside of Syliras at night along with two other squires. My first actual taste of leadership when we were ambushed by a group of Yukmen. I was much less skilled with my sword then compared to now so I only just managed to survive but I took note of the tactics. They send in the young first if there are any. And then the more experienced ones come in. Often those wielding weapons are the leaders of the respective packs.” Tossing a glance over at Ser Gwindogar. As he’d been the one to slay the one wielding the Warhammer.

“It’s nothing especially useful but I hoped the information could prep us for a drawn out fight just in case.” He spoke with a small grin. Keeping to himself the fact that he spotted every similarity between the last time this had happened and this one. Waiting for a clearing, a slight rustle in the bushes and then shock attacks. The same thing had happened to him in late winter and he’d thought it just a fluke. Though as he sat there a soft scent floated through the air. One he knew well. Something another squire in his dorm room smoked.

[Numia]

Ser Gwindogar chuckled heartily to himself at Alexander's response. "It just takes time, but what I did is I learned to wield it with one hand." Gwindogar drew his great weapon, angling it over Alexander's head by a few inches and controlling it with his massive hands. "Not for in combat, but for control when I wield it with both hands. It builds the muscle up." Ending his demonstration, he set his sword aside. From the glint in the fire, Alex could see a lot of knocks, nicks, and scratches on the blade. It had seen a lot of battles. Gwindogar fished out a grinding stone from his pocket and began to work on the blade, the scritch of stone to metal filling the air as light sparks showered from it, a show of his tremendous strength.

Jyness nodded as he listened to him. "That was a good observation, and a good call. And you've certainly improved since then.“ She said. "I saw you were surprised when you saw me use Projection. You can think of it as an invisible arm much longer than my own, similar to a ghost manifesting. There's a part of you called the astral body, Projection deals in manipulating it. I know our magic can be a bit scary, but most of us have it under control for the most part so you needn't worry about being caught up in it." Jyness was trying to alleviate his worries, she knew perfectly well that those unfamiliar with magic were often scared of it.

Numia drew patterns in the dirt to pass the time, she drew circles and linked them together, filling the circles with odd creatures such as snakes and some of the Pycon she'd met. It helped to jog her memory of them. The position she'd chosen to watch seemed tactically sound since it was likely the scouts would follow the blatantly obvious Yukmen tracks to where the group was camped.

[Alexander Faircroft]

Description "Alex Common" Alex thoughts "Myrian" "Fratava" "Others"

Watching the Akalak haul that hunk of steel into the air with one hand was impressive. It took a lot of strength for Alex to wield his bastard sword with just one hand. And from the looks of things the Akalak’s weapon was significantly larger than that perhaps almost double the length and thickness. “Makes a lot of sense. I’m not even remotely close to that strong though Ser Gwindogar.” Alex then heard Sera Jyness chime in whilst watching Gwindogar take a sharpening stone to his blade, eating away at the edge and sharpening the blade to a full glory once again.

Apparently the magic she’d used against the yukmen was called “projection”. Near completely glossing over the compliment, as he didn’t believe any of them instead focusing solely on the bad and growing from it. “That’s a scary magic then. You can literally reach out and touch somebody without even moving. And the “Astral Body”? Sounds like you’re talking about using your spirit as a weapon?” Alex wasn’t trying to undercut her but rationalize what she meant with his own interpretive words.

“Forgive me Sera, It’s simply my way of putting two and two together. Of learning how to rationalize certain aspects of a thing to make it make more sense. Also I don’t belive I’ve had a chance to fully apologize for the use of Auristics. I did not mean to use it when I was so exhausted, but it’s how I get a feel for people. At least a basic concept surrounding them. I can’t use it as it’s full purpose is intended.” He gave her a small smile and a nod before taking a place by the fire with Ser Gwindogar and retrieving his own stone. Scraping it along his now drawn bastard sword he didn’t get quite the fireworks display that Gwindogar was getting but in comparison Alex’s blade was nowhere near as dented nicked or chipped. He kept on top of his swords maintenance. As a good blade smith had once told him. look after the sword and it’ll look after you.