Squires Amongst the Snow

by **Ball** on February 17th, 2015, 8:17 pm

OOC NOTEThis thread is a large group thread, at the end of this post there will be a spoiler stating who is in it. Posting order for this thread and the actual quest will be the same. Please adhere to it. After everyone has posted, the posting order will be finalized and final preparations for what happens if someone doesn’t post after so long will occur afterwards.

If you want to join into this post and are not listed in the Spoiler, please contact Ball or Archialist. Thank you!

"My Speaking"

My Thoughts

34th of Winter, 514AV

Ball had posted up on the bullinten board in the squire dormitories a notice that went something like this

Judging from recent patrols, we are in need of exterminating a large group of Yukmen. Please meet in the training grounds if you are willing to assist in this matter three days henceforth.
-Ball

It was clear from the writing that it wasn’t Ball that wrote it, let alone worded it… He had asked a random page to write it and word it… Luckily he picked some smarty-pants page to do so.

Now, Ball had no right to post this notice, nor did he have the authority to authorize such an attack on a horde of earth based monsters known to kill and tear apart unsuspecting folks that wandered into their paths… But these people weren’t just random bystanders or unprepared civilians… They were squires of the Syliran Knights, they are the ones trained to stepping up and taking on these insanely crazy demands and for what reason? Glory? Honor? Gold?

No. They do it for honor. For Sylir. For the Protection of Syliras. Ball nodded, he felt that these fine squires surrounding him would make a superb team to fight against a horde of Yukmen. Sadly, he had to sneak into the woman’s half of the dorm and post the same notice, and that wasn’t an easy task to do, but he managed… Barely.

---
Three Days Later…

Ball found himself standing in the Training Grounds, his mount Imass was seated behind him acting as the world’s fluffiest wind break. The snow was piled up on all sides but the one he was facing, this acted as both a barrier from the harsh winter winds, but also offered him a mild bit of protection from the few idiots that came to practice and ceased to pay attention to their surroundings. Nestled in Imass’s fur was a lance, a rapier, and a funny looking pole. They were Ball’s physical weapons second to his own body.

It was bloody cold out he was hoping others would show soon enough, today they were going to discuss the situation and how to best go about handling it… Back up plans, contingencies, leaders, diversions…The works.

PCs :

Credit :

by **Nivel** on February 18th, 2015, 7:34 am

Nivel hadn’t ever really noticed the bulletin board in the Squire dormitories mostly because it wasn’t really used very much. Most of the citizens that needed help would post it to the board they had access to and so that was the one the mage squire kept up with. A freshly scribed note from her fellow pycon squire Ball brought this dull decal from the background into the foreground. She looked the note over and locked the important information in her nexus for future reference. Nivel had never witnessed ball do any kind of writing but was impressed with his penmanship and she wished she could write with such grace.

The mage knight quivered in excitement at the prospect of having an knightly adventure with Ball and some of the other squires. That was until she remembered her last encounter with Yukman and she wilted like an unwatered flower. The pycon was still having difficulties with having to kill in order to save lives. She knew it was expected of squires and knights but it didn’t make it any easier. She sulked back to her dorm room knowing she wouldn’t allow herself back out since quitting something was never an option.

When the day came Nivel had started the day early and practiced a bit of her sewing to keep her mind of what was stirring in her nexus. She had attached several buttons and pebbles of varying colours and sizes all over her body by sewing them onto her clay flesh. Nivel adorned herself with a scarf as well, while her corgi mount Patcha wore a small little sweater under her ridding saddle. The sewing needle Nivel had used was sheathed into the pycons hip like a sword would be. Once they were ready they rode out to the rendezvous point but nivel wasn’t really in to much of a rush.

When she got there she was greeted by many familiar faces and even some new exotic ones that caught her fancy. She spotted Arch, Aventis and of course Ball right away but was momentarily distracted by the winged creature covered in fur. She couldn’t help but gawk at him with her expressionless face as she rode closer to him. Its wings were of particular interest to Nivel and she couldn’t believe how big and majestic they were. She waved her ears happily at him as a way of showing winged kinship but it was almost certain to get lost in translation.

“I’m here!” Nivel cheerfully shouted as she joined the group “My name is Nivel for those that don’t know” She added politely.

The mage was doing a good job hiding her uncomfortableness but it was easy for her to forget her worries in social situations being the social butterfly that she was.

by **Garland** on February 18th, 2015, 3:37 pm

Garland never really paid much attention to jobs posted on the bulletin board, in fact, he never actually even looked at the bulletin board ever. The knights already had plenty of work, and if they hogged all the requests on the board, well, there won't be any mercenaries left, and the Fighter's Pit will dry up, and the knights would lose a valuable recruitment site. Most of the skilled fighters come from the Fighter's Pit or were Ex-Mercenaries.

And he didn't know about the bulletin board in the squire dorms, so when he saw that they did have a bulletin board he decided to at least give it a look. He was quite surprised to see that most of the posts were seasons old, it seemed like no one actually uses the board much. Then he saw a rather recent post by Ball no less.

He crossed his arms and furrowed his brow. A group of Yukmen near the city? I knew that there were too many Yukmen attacks recently, this could be nothing or it could mean the start of something big. Garland thought and noted the date when they will be massing.

-Three Days Later-

Garland had a worried look on his face, this was quite uncommon for the young squire. He was off to the side, looking at their forces. He was not happy with these numbers at all, hopefully more will show up to the fight. He had some experience with Yukmen, and he knew how dangerous these things were.

He had barely made it out alive against one, and fought three with the help of Nivel. Some of the squires here were too green to know the danger they were getting themselves into. He wondered why Ball didn't ask any of the knights to help, or maybe he did, but they are too busy or don't think this is a threat and the squires could handle it. For now though, only squires had shown up to their little army.

If things were going bad, he was going to pull them out, despite whatever Ball would order them to do. He wasn't going to go into a slaughter, at best he would try to prevent it by retreating if things got too hairy. Bah! Now's not the time to think about this. I'll burn the bridge when I get to it

He had a shield strapped to arm and his sword had been sharpened, he hand decided to take a hand crossbow from the armory and 10 bolts, He was tempted to get a shortbow, but with his sword in one hand and shield in the other, using a two-handed shortbow seems less than ideal compared to a one-handed hand crossbow. He loaded the weapon and returned it to his holster.

"I hope you have a plan, Ball. We can't rely on your strength alone to help us get through this." He didn't like having a helmet on him, but right now, it would seem like a better trade to go in with a helmet than without. Yukmen don't use weapons or at least the majority don't, so they will most likely try to attack the exposed soft skin. He had a full-plate helmet sitting on his lap, and a dagger on his chest.

Some of the other squires noticed the overly-equipped squire and laughed among themselves. Garland would rather have and not need then need and not have. He had little formal training with daggers but he knows that a good stab through the neck would kill a Yukman, and that's all he needed to know. Besides his dagger was only for emergency purposes only, a Yukman knocking his sword out of his hand, a Yukman getting too close to properly use his sword, that sort of thing. He didn't know if they needed a horse or not, but honestly, he didn't think they would need to go far to find Yukmen.

Garland stood up, put on his helment, and went over to Ball. "I hope you know what you're doing." With that cryptic warning, he went over and helped one of the squires that was having trouble with shield straps. He was going to check everyone's gear to make sure none of them had a loose shield or a worn and weak grip on their swords.

by **Revy Hiroe** on February 19th, 2015, 5:17 pm

It was late at night when Revy returned from a rather tiring practice with her patron. Usually she didn't even notice the notification board, but now that they had hung up a new notice there, she was aware of the thing now. It couldn't hurt to look at it and a rather big smirk appeared on her face. Fighting a group of Yukmen? Surely her goddess would approve of that. The date for them joining up was only the very next day. She had better get her preparations going then.

*The following day*

The squire had packed up all she needed. Her longsword on her hip, shield on her back and instead of her glaive or greatsword, she now had three of her javelins with her. And besides those weapons, she also carried her dagger on her back. The dagger was actually a set of two, but the other one rested with Zandelia and who knew where she was right now.

The woman recognized Nivel, Ball and Archailist, but none of the other people. It seemed best for her to stick a little to the side and just observe for now. There was the guy talking to Ball, carrying a plethora of weapons like her. There were a few squires that seemed to be nervous or so. Well, if they hadn't fought yukmen before, of course they'd be nervous. But that meant you had to hide that feeling.

Revy wasn't really in the mood to help out at the moment. Usually she'd help out, but she hadn't slept very well. She was slightly grumpy today and it kind of showed in her posture as she leaned against the wall. Most of the other squires avoided her. They didn't particularly feel comfortable around her. She didn't mind, especially now.

by **Archailist** on February 20th, 2015, 8:18 pm

My Words | Your Words | My Thoughts

An en-masse attack on an unknown quantity of Yukman was a bad idea. Arch had at least a small amount of good reason to think this.. because he'd already tried his luck against a small horde of them and barely made it through, let alone with the aid of the three other squires fighting at his side. Four squires against a small horde nearly got all of them killed, though it did end with all of them returning to Stormhold with a multitude of scars and other injuries from a good bludgeoning. Nevertheless, Arch rode into the Training Grounds on the back of his trusty Sykanis mount brandishing just about every single weapon he could gather under his arsenal. A Py-Sword at his hip, a Py-Whip at the other side, a Py-Pole strapped diagonally over his back and a Py-String coiled up tight somewhere deep inside his clay in case he had need of it. He'd be lying if he said he intended on using all of it, but that didn't mean he couldn't use most of it.

Even Xarex seemed a little worn out after climbing up all those stairs with such a monumentous weight perched on his back. It was even worse under the rather thick blanket of snow as they trudged towards the little group slowly forming just outside the entrance. "Guessing you're responsible." Ball was the first person he caught sight of.. which was rather funny when he thought about Revy and Garland towering over him. Perhaps being so tiny left the squirrel more interested in the more minute details of a scene. "I agree with Garland. Hope you know what you're doing.. 'cause I have no intention of going through what happened last time I met those things." In fact, he'd come prepared with a plan. A rather expansive plan.

"If you don't know what you're doing and shyke gets bad, I don't care, I'm turning around and I'm coming home." Unlike last time, there was no knight to turn around and bring them all home if shyke went bad. If the squirrel needed to, he'd climb the snow-crusted trees and scurry across them back to the castle with his tail hiked up between his legs. Better return fast and dismiss all involvement with their little adventure than end up being held personally responsible for the death of several squires when this was all done. They could all call him a coward from their deathbeds for the rest of his days.

If he had to be honest with himself, there was some pretty heavy doubt in his nexus that Ball had a plan at all, or one that didn't consist of anything other than 'punch shyke up'. A good fighter when it came to battle, Ball never struck Archailist for a tactical thinker, or an organized person at all. If he'd changed it all by now then good for him, but the squirrel still had his doubts. Whether they'd be proved right all along or whether he'd be forced to concede his errors would be known by the end of the day. For now, he wanted to see who else would answer the call.

by **Treachery** on February 28th, 2015, 8:35 pm

Stood at the edge of the group, Treachery tried not to look nervous. Everyone one around him seemed gear up to the teeth with the more experienced of the rabble anixious and talking in hushed whispers. Whatever these yukmen were, they were serious business. The zith tried to imagine what one would look like. They were obviously vicious and 'men' suggested some form of intelligence; maybe another colony of humans or something different all together. Caressing the hilt of the Kopis strapped to his thigh, the zith exhaled slowly. He hadn't been part of a group hunt like this since... since his betrayal and back then he had had the advantage of the air.

Now grounded, most of his tactics for hunting would be useless. Sure, he still had his ears and wits about him but he was going to be relying on the others to out-think their enemy. A quick glance to their leaders and the zith exhaled again, stomach twisting underneath his borrowed chest plate. Treachery original hadn't bothered to take much notice of the small bulletin board. However a sudden change in the unobserved had caught his attention; a little note scribbled most elegantly, smelling of human and clay. He had passed it off as the brick work at the time, never excepting to see a clay man heading the event. Even now he was wondering what use the man would be in a fight or if he was simply going to be the brains of the operation.

He wasn't the only one worrying it seemed as several of the others gather here expressed their concerns to the clay man. One of which oddly enough was a squirrel also made of clay. Where these clay people common around these parts? It seemed so as another arrived on the back of an odd looking rat. She, he guessed from the voice, was an odd looking thing with what appeared to be wings where her ears should have been. The clay woman appeared to take note of him, smiling broardly and flapping her ears his way. Scoffing in bemusement, he allowed his right wing to push of gust of wing her way as a sign of acknowledgement. Nivel, as she introduced herself also rode over to the clay man. Feeling left out, the Zith carefully approached the clay people and armoured human.

by **Ball** on March 2nd, 2015, 10:20 pm

"My Speaking"

My Thoughts

Ball recalled for a moment what it was like to run into a horde of yukmen without a plan… It was a disaster, he recalled what the one man said: sneak in, get the job done, and leave without alerting too many of them… But that was a covert mission meant to take one into captivity for some bizarre obese man’s odd food fetishes. I hope he choked on that rancid mud meat. Ball also knew he wasn’t one to normally come with a plan, but this was a simple task… he hoped.

“We are going to be exterminating a horde of yukmen, patrolling knights is always about so we shouldn’t have any issue at all alerting them if they are needed… Yet I do have a plan. So if you all will quit whining and pay attention I will explain it to you all and get some input. I am suspect you all are going to have something wrong with my plan. I am not usually one to think things through in truth.” He nodded. A sigh of nerves rumbled from his lips.

The squire took pause, collecting his thoughts and trying to forget the last time he fought against the Yukmen hordes… He recalled the hunter Sid, the green archer, and the guy that was supposed to help carry the captive and left in a massive hurry… The only one that stood by was the henchmen of the man… Don was the man’s name yet Ball couldn’t recall it easily enough. “The plan is a simple one really.” Ball turned to Garland first, “You and I are going to hit the front line, let’s face it we don’t have enough people currently that can keep us covered without stretching ourselves thin. I already plan on meeting with some civilians that may be able to help us a lot with providing cover.” Ball sighed, he knew that statement wasn’t going to work well for him or Garland and it was insanely dangerous for them both.

Ball turned to Nivel without giving Garland a chance to spea , “I am not entirely sure what sort of magics you know… But if you can cast fire things or stone spears, or whatever. We are going to need you to assist in keeping cover… Otherwise, I want you to just give us a look out, possibly join in if we need it.” Revy and a Zith showed up as well and with them he had to ponder thoughts I will come back to them.

A frown etched his face as he looked at Squirrel Pycon. You my friend are going to be the most stubborn to convince I am afraid. Ball nodded to himself before he spoke “You can move the fastest and the quickest… If something goes wrong I want you to get the petch out of there and alert the knights patrolling. Not for our safety, but for the city and the civilians. Any fault of this going bad is all mine, but don’t leave this guys stranded in Hai… Okay?”

Looking back at the Zith and Revy, “I know nothing about the winged man, but you are welcomed to assist in any fashion you can… As for you Lady Squire, do you have any range beyond a swing? Skilled in bow or spear? If so, we could use the cover…”

Ball fell silent, he hadn’t had much of a plan to begin with he knew some of the skills of his fellow squires, but not much to formulate a full plan.

Credit :

by **Nivel** on March 5th, 2015, 7:12 pm

Nivel’s introduction was mostly ignored as most were looking to Ball to find out if he had a plan for dealing with the formidable creatures. Garland and Arch seemed the most concerned and seemed to almost be interrogating the tinniest squire. Ball seemed nervous but still retaliated with the makings of a plan. It didn’t sound well thought out but Ball wasn’t exactly known for making plans.

“You’re referring to Reimancy and no I can’t do that…” Nivel let out a mournful sigh. She desperately wanted accesses to this school of magic after seeing Sera Grey and other mages use it but it would probably be a while before her patron taught her it.
“Although I can maybe use autistics to scout things out….I think.” She wasn’t feeling very confident in her skills since her magic didn’t seem like it would be too useful in this situation.

The furry winged creature approached the group and Nivel’s attention wavered to almost exclusively to it. A greeting didn’t come out of it’s mouth, it only stood there like an ominous obelisk.
“Hey!” The pycon mage happily waved a clay hand in greeting at the horrifying creature. “Are you here to fight Yukman too?” Nivel wanted to ask the creature a ton of questions but restrained herself and only asked one question at a time. The poor fuzzy tall folk already looked to be pretty shy and she didn’t want to scare him away by assaulting him with questions.

In the not to far distance Nivel spotted her brooding roommate Revy, who didn’t seem in the best moods.
“Revy!” Nivel hollered in excitement in the ex-mercenaries direction. The pycon should have let her be but she just couldn’t help herself. She waved her clay hands and fluttered her winged ears in an attempt at gaining the surly looking tall folks attention.

by **Garland** on March 10th, 2015, 1:22 pm

Garland eyed the Zith with a bit of caution and a lot of mistrust, he had no qualms with this particular Zith, but their entire race was just an offense to even the tiniest calm and stability of this world, no matter how small. They already had monsters and random djed storms and djed infused terrain to deal with, they didn't need an intelligent predator hunting merchants on the roads.

He looked at Nivel, a small frown formed under his helm. "I suggest we make a killzone, put archers where they have a clear sight of the enemy, preferably high up, maybe a small hill or if you can, up the trees. Fast runners should attract the Yukmen to the killzone, and those are left should make a shieldwall, and block the incoming Yukmen, while the archers fire from above." He said to Ball and the other squires that were planning with them, Arch, Nivel, the Zith and he could see Revy in the far corner, probably listening in.

Garland glared daggers at Arch, he knew that Arch was a good warrior, great even! Probably one of the greatest here right now, but to hear him talk about leaving the others to die just hit Garland right in the heart, he respected Arch to an extent, he had the skill and combat experience to trump even seasoned knights if given enough time, the respect he had for the squirrel was dashed when he spoke as if he was just a child going to war, and running as soon as the blades were drawn. He hid his contempt under his helm as well as he could. "Right, it would be good for someone to get help, someone fast like Arch, maybe get the wounded back if you can. I would try to hold the front-line as long as I can if that were the case."

He looked over their small army. "I suggest we split up into three groups, a scouting unit, a defensive unit and the ranged unit. We don't need a lot for the scouting unit, just fast runners and probably good hunters." He looked over to squires, which all seemed busy, or at least tried to look busy with their weapons. "We need a leader for the group, a fast runner and a natural hunter!" He called out to their little army, they all seemed to look down and try to avoid Garland's gaze. Garland sighed and looked at the Zith. He didn't want to admit it, but a Zith would be perfect for this role, along with Nivel's auristics we can find them easily and prepare for them. "You, Zith. What's your name? You'll be leading the scouting group. Nivel, you're with the Zith. Anyone who wants to join the scouting group should step up and get to know each other."

A few of the squires reluctantly stepped up, unsure of their Zith leader. "You'll be fine, as soon as you see the Yukmen, try to slip away unnoticed, if they do see you, run like Hai back to where we would set up the killzone." Garland then looked over to Revy and Ball, he was tempted to look at Arch, but after what he said earlier, he wouldn't be cut out for leader material. "Revy, Ball... Hmm... I'll take you later when we set up camp hopefully. I was thinking we could flank them and box them in, cutting off their escape. Though I doubt Yukmen would run."

That leaves the Archers, no one came to mind. Revy might be able to lead them, but he wasn't so sure. Hopefully someone would step up for the Archer leader. "Ball, any suggestions for an archer leader?"

by **Revy Hiroe** on March 12th, 2015, 1:27 pm

There was this winged creature... thingie... whatever he was. She hadn't seen those things before, but Revy didn't feel quite comfortable with them. Then again, he seemed to be male as well and that never sat right with her. If he was going to help, sure fine. She didn't have a problem with that, as long as he didn't expect her to be social towards him.

Though she held more to the side, the woman wasn't just ignoring her surroundings, nor the conversations. In fact she payed heed to them, as it would most likely be of influence of their little... expedition. And she kind of understood where Archailist was coming from. She didn't agree 100% with him, but he brought forth some good arguments. Ball didn't seem like the clever type, though she couldn't really complain about him as she too wasn't the brightest.

What Ball was saying did prove that he hadn't formulated a plan yet. Well, formulating one on the spot was difficult, she knew that from when she was traveling to Syliras. Though she thought that the way she ordered the others around was a good plan, in the end it totally backfired. Even to this day it was still gnawing on her.

While she was still a bit lost in thought, Ball asked her if she was any good with ranged weapons.... and one word in particular stood out, bows. She disliked those weapons. It felt dishonorable if she'd have to use those things. She would only use weapons that had the range of how far she could thrown them and bows could hit targets way beyond that range. "Unfortunately I ain't skilled in any other weapon besides me longsword. And I ain't evah gonna be usin' a coward's weapon. Sorry but I hate bows and any kind of weapon with a reach further then I can throw it.", she said.

Though Nivel spoke so happy to her, she was now in a rather foul mood thanks to that clay thing. "Hey Nivel.", she said rather monotone. Her glare was fixed on that clay thing that had dented her longsword back in winter. She didn't like it when people damaged her stuff. Even moreso when she'd have to get them repaired. It was one thing to spend her money on weapons, but a whole 'nother one when she had to spend it to get them repaired when they had gotten damaged during a spar.

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