Wall of Aarni

[Tohvelielukka]

Location - GUARDS headquarters, a dimension between the mortal and spiritual planes.

---

In middle of a vast darkness there was a single abundantly ornamented hardwood desk. For anyone who saw the desk, it was clear that whoever was its owned, he or she really loved fine antique. Atop the desk were tall squeaky stacks of very important looking documents, looking like they would fall over from the slightest touch, leaving the owner with one gigantic headache of reorganising their work. Veronica, the current head of an important cross dimensional organization, GUARDS, was currently working on the boring bureaucracy. In state of utter boredom she went through the endless list of candidates who would soon inherit her position within the organisation. Her job description had changed much during the last few hundred years, from intensive field work of chasing down the illegal Gods to just stamping her sign of approval to some documents that had to do with so called "development aid for mentally challenged souls". Sighing, Veronica continued going over the endless mountain of paper.

Suddenly she felt a familiar disturbance in the space around her little room of darkness. Accompanied by a loud noise, a large crack appeared in the darkness before her. The crack spread to both sides. Dark fingers covered by black silk gloves infiltrated from between the cracks. Same dark hands began pulling the crack open, creating a port way that connected two dimensions. For a few moments before stepping to the other side, the dark being was bathing in almost blinding light that came from the other dimension. As soon as after he had crossed the boundary the crack closed up, leaving behind no trail of what had just happened. As the light disappeared, Veronica was now able to identify the man, not that she didn't already know who it was from his original entrance. From head to toe the visitor was covered in black silky robes that completely covered him, preventing anyone from spotting where he hid his limbs. The only apparent feature on his dark appearance was a single white mask which apparently hid his face.

Veronica gave the arrival a feint smile and the being bowed as a response before speaking up. "I am most sorry to disturb your work master Veronica but some urgent news have come into our knowledge. If I may I'll go on. Ehum.. an undead organization you are already no doubt familiar with, the Koei, as they call themselves has found yet another ancinents ruin but unlike the other times, this is actually meaningful. I take it you are aware that the investigation division has just recently found clues on the final location of the Projector." Upon hearing the word, Veronica stood up from her stool and said: "No! Why the hell does this have to happen now! Are you saying the undeads are after it? Mobilize the main division immediately and take them out!" The black being continued: "Well it is not that simple. We do not know the exact location of said ruin nor Projector itself. But in any case we have reasons to believe that the Koei are not after what we fear. This peculiar ruin they are after was a research center for much more than just Projector and we know the undeads are in dire need of firepower with their recent plans. I would say that the fact that Projector happens to also be in the ruin is a mere coincidence and the undeads are just after one of the leftover weapons. If I may, I would suggest that we dispatch a single agent to infiltrate the undeads and retrieve Projector before they realise what it is." [/color]"Ah. Very well then. Cusma, my dearest subordinate, could you go and ensure that we get the Projector?" "My pleasure," replied Cusma as he slip away through the cracks in reality.

Just as the figure had left an another, yet again black hooded and masked figure appeared in Veronicas territory. Though this time the entrance was more crude as he was thrown in front of his masters desk from an unstable portal. Sighing at the new arrivals behavior, Veronica asked him, "And what is it this time Timotheus? Don't tell me you lost your keys again." A little embarrassed of Veronica's reaction, Timotheus rose to his two feet and spoke up, "Actually I had something important to tell you Vera. We've spotted traces the saetyr shapeling in Aarni. Apparently he has lost his memory completely." "You mean you still haven't caught him? Just great.. Well memory or no memory we need to deal with him as soon as possible. Now that you know where he is go kill him while you're at it. I have work to do." "Roger mam," said Timotheus with playfulness in his voice. Clapping his hands, he opened a portal on the floor and jumped through it. Although she would probably still forgive him, Timotheus did not want to let her down anymore than he already had.

---

Location - New Marktown

---

"Hahaa lost them!" Thought Anselm, hiding behind a wall of crates while tightly grabbing onto the spoils of his work. Being finally sure that none of those uptight guards were around, he slightly opened the pouch he had 'found' from a rich looking boys pocket just a few moments earlier. His excitement soon died out as objects rolled out from the pouch. Small greenish pellets, better known as the cultural delicacy of New Marktown apple candies. Cursing his ill luck, the thief threw a candy in his mouth. Even if it could not by him a new sword, sweet sugar at least eased his frustration. Anselm left his hiding place and headed to the streets as he took out another candy. When not looking forward his concentration slipped. The moment he emerged from behind the crates he ran straight into a guard patrol. The panic was clearly visible on his face as a head taller, heavily armoured guards stared at him. Already thinking of escape routes and possible excuses to give to the guards, Anselm was surprised when leader of the patrol asked: "Excuse me lad. You haven't run into an elf girl around here have you? One with long golden hair and blue eyes." Confused and at the same time relieved that he wasn't their target, Anseld told the guards that he hadn't seen such a girl. "... Well we did our best today. Lets look her again tomorrow but now we have to hurry. The Wengord envoy is arriving any moment now," said the a guard to another.

Wendord? Anselm had heard that name before. They were aristocrats who ruled quite a big areas in the north western parts of the colonies and on top of that they were wealthy! A chance to get something a bit more valuable than just a pouch of children' candies. Stealthily, Anselm followed the guards while keeping enough distance so they wouldn't notice him following. Soon they arrived at one of the gates that lead outside of the city to one of the natural bridges that connected the island on which New Marktown was built to the main continent. The place was bustling with guards so Anselm saw fit to hide inside an empty barrel where he could still see everything just fine. The steel gates opened. A large convoy of armed horsemen lead by none other than Samuel Wengord himself who was rumored to be one of the most able fighters in the outer colonies. Although Anselm could not recognise the man, he could see from the mans equipment that this person was not your average citizen. As the final piece of the convoy, a humongous carriage arrived through gates, they were closed again. Anselm saw Samuel hopping off his horse. The knight walked to the aristocrats carriage and opened its door.

---

They were almost there. Samuel had rode a week on horseback, only stopping to eat and sleep when his sister had to pause the travel for herself. While she was comfortably sitting and leisurely drinking tea in the carriage as big as an average merchants house, Samuel and the guards were out there in the mercy of rain. At this time of the year Samuel was supposed to have been honing his sword skills with the castles old sword master but his plans had been ruined because of Sophia receiving an urgent letter from the Crown prince of Luches himself. Samuel had been there when his sister opened the letter that bore the royal hawk seal. Full of enthusiasm, she had explained her brother how great of a chance had opened before them. She had said that after this trip the Wengord family might be given a highest ranking noble title after the royal family itself. It felt like a big deal for his sister so Samuel was glad to accompany her on this trip.

The city that marked freedom for all humans living in the new world was in sight. The mighty island looked like a mountain plucked from Aarni's spine and thrown into the sea. From the cliffs of the Aarni itself it looked like the island reached heavens themselves as it completely covered the sun, leaving the convoy into shade. Samuel encouraged his horse to step on a bridge that led to the city itself. As they approached a gate, guards immediately recognised who were coming from the large flags they were carrying and gave a signal to let them pass. Samuel in front, the convoy entered a huge stone hall that, until recently, had apparently been used as a cargo area. Samuel gave the convoy guards an order to help secure the area with the city guards while he himself jumped off his mount and walked to his sisters carriage to open a door for her. "Ah so we have finally arrived? Brother help me get down from here," demanded Sophia as soon as Samuel had opened the door. As soon as she was standing safely on the ground, Sophia noticed a person approaching the carriage and greeted him: "William? It's great you've come meet me here. I thought I would have to walk all the way to your all alone." The prince approached Sophia and her entourage with a foxy smile and answered: "Yes. How could I've let your cute, frail legs walk all the way. Come you and your brother should be tired from the traveling. Accompany me to the dining halls. We shall discuss business matters tomorrow when you've fully res..." The prince did not have time to finish before a young guard near the screamed: "INTRUDER!"

---

For a long time Conrad had been curious about visiting the New Marktown. Since it was the most defined city in whole of Aarni, many great mages were bound to live there. After weeks of traveling he was now standing on the edge of Aarni's cliffs, beholding New Marktown as he noticed a large entourage of horses and a huge carriage nearing the city. He also noticed mana leaking from couple of undead mages in the forest behind him but chose to ignore it as the gates to New Marktown opened. Getting to the city was much more important than investigating every little detail he'd come across on his journeys.

Conrad followed the convoy to the gate they used to enter and was greeted by guards: "Halt! Please identify yourself. What business do you have in New Marktown?" The mage calmly replied: "I am a traveling mage Conrad, a citizen of the empire. I've come to New Marktown to deepen my knowledge of magic." Thinking that this person belonged to the rear guard of Wegord's convoy, the gate guards opened a small door in the cliff that led to the same space as the big gate but was much more convenient to use is you just traveled on foot. Conrad entered a large hall. The place was literally swarming with guards and other military personnel. In the middle were some horsemen and most notably a humongous house sized carriage that probably belonged to some aristocrats. Standing there His hooded appearance did attract attention of a newly recruited guard with keen eyes. He noticed that Conrad just didn't seem to fit in with the aristocratic entourage that had just arrived and thought of him as an intruder. Everyone in the whole hall heard him yell: "INTRUDER!" Soon dozens of spears were pointing at confused Conrad.

---

Bones was taking a shortish coffee pause from guarding the entrance hall to New Marktown when the aristocrats had to arrive. He was forced to join the merry lines of guards standing idly while their employer, the prince, was receiving his guests. Bones had gotten a pretty sweet deal from the colonies military. They desperately needed able soldiers, whether bandits, murderers, bounty hunters or even undead, it didn't matter as long as they could fight. The job was far better than wandering around Aarni, trying to scrape your living from the forest. They got a free upkeep that included housing, baths and as much food as you could eat once a day. The pay wasn't too bad either. Three gold pieces a month. Life as a guard was boring though. Each day Bones had to watch as kids who had never seen a real fight squabbling amongst themselves. There was pretty much no one sensible to talk with in the whole city guard since all the experienced soldiers had been sent to frontiers of the colonies. Suddenly a yell interrupted Bones from daydreaming about what to do after the reception was over. He noticed that the source of commotion was a hooded person wearing white robes. A mage? The novices were gathering around him, trying to point their spears at the so called intruder but Bones could see from their posture that the kids had no idea what they were doing. If the mage tried anything, the guests would be in danger. Being the only experienced warrior in the room it was Bones's responsibility to take care of the situation.

---

Walking the hallways of New Marktown was Ar'ama, an elven beauty who decided to cover her face with her hooded robe. She was currently looking for something different to buy for dinner. Fish maybe? At the same time she had to keep tight watch in case of the never resting guards her dad had hired to catch her. The best shops were in area that up till recently used to be the loading dock for all caravans which traveled to the forest. While walking through the halls a certain kid caught Ar'ama's attention. Though he had round ears, she immediately recoqnised him as an elf, being herself part of the same race. With cold sweat on his forehead, the kid was talking to some guards.. Ar'ama quickly pulled the hood to cover her face even better and with her magic, moved her hair so that it would not be visible to others. The guards left, talking about some aristocrats. It had been a while since she had seen another elf. This one was also evidently much younger than herself, just a kid, so he could not be working under her father. Ar'ama tried to go talk with him but before she could attract his attention, the kid sprinted after guards who had a moment earlier been pestering him. When he finally stopped, the kid, to her surprise, jumped inside a barrel. As Ar'ama did not want to blow the kids cover, she stood there waiting and watched as events followed another in the entrance hall. An aristocrat carriage arriving and then finally a guard announcing a presence of an intruder.

---

Location - A daiur temple in the northernmost parts of the colonies.

---

The day was sunny and nigh cloudless in a Daiur temple. All around the building complex were nothing but thick pine woods which the forest of Aarni was famous of and few kilometers north from there would begin the actual deep woods that was less known but just as much the trademark of Aarni as was the pine forest. Sitting on a public stone stool, Orelia Verna stared at her last piece of bread. It was already a month old. Scraps from the last time she had gotten enough money to buy actual food but it was yummy nonetheless. Today she would feast on it and the piece of sausage the monks gave her. Just as she was about to sink her teeth into the crust piece of bread a large crow dove from the heights. With skilled precision bird grabbed the bread and the sausage in high speed and flew away with it. Starving, Orelia was now left with nothing to eat. She stared blankly at the ever distancing crow and her last meal. Tears flowed down her cheeks. Just as she was about to fall into the deepest pits of despair, Orelia felt a friendly tap on her shoulder. "Why such a frown lady Orelia?" asked a short but cheery monk from her. The lad was only two or three years younger than her but looked like a little kid with his brown, curly hair flowing untamed on his round and childish face. Among some other monks, this kid had kept company for Orelia during her stay at the temple and quite often given her some of his portion as he felt sorry for seeing her in constant state of hunger. Offering her half of his fresh white bread the boy said: "I saw the birdy take some of your food but don't blame the poor critter. It's in its nature. Here take some of mine." Overtaken by the tears of joy Orelia gladly accepted the offer. Was this person the reincarnation of a saint? Orelia could never get used to the kindness of these monks.

The lad and the elf girl chatted free of the world worries while watching at the wild doves trot around the great temple plaza. Though, their moment was soon disturbed by large public, consisting mostly of the white robed monks, were causing commotion nearby an entrance to the plaza. Hearing angry yells and insults, the two could not help themselves from going over to check what it all was about. As Orelia neared the riot she saw what or who was the cause. Surrounded by a large crowd of strong looking monks who were clearly taking a defensive stance, there stood a single undead who none of the citizens of Aarni could not know. His face was more than familiar from all of the wanted posters the empire of Luches had put up. He was Kil arakmeth the notorious leader of Koei. If Orelia's memory served right his head was currently worth something like a thousand no maybe five thousand gold. Seeing him live for the first time Orelia realised the bounty was not because he had said something the government didn't like. No. Although all the undead man did was making he way through the plaza, towards the main building, just looking at him one could feel the murderous intent in his presence. Kil arakmeth stopped at the door of the temple where many travelers and adventurers had gathered. He climbed on a stone stool and clapped hands above hid head to gather everyone's attention. Not that they didn't already look at the weird looking undead. Obviously ignorant of the monks who glared daggers at him, Kil arakmeth announced: "Hear me adventurers, treasure hunters, seekers of ancient wisdom, brave souls seeking for an adventure! You all might know me as a criminal in the empire but know despite my outer appearance I am a human at heart. A human freedom fighter who wants to claim better rights for much wronged clan of Nosferatu. I bear no ill intent towards you, this temple or the forest and its lands. But I did not come here to claim my pureness. Today I traveled here to gather you who have the courage to uncover the secrets of ancients' ruins to aid me in my quest for knowledge. I need able bodies to help me journey to the deepest depths of ruins not far from here in exchange for a quite decent compensation. After I've done what I came for inside the ruin, each of you will be paid four hundred gold pieces as long as you do not touch anything! A fair deal no? All volunteers come talk to me outside the gates." Kil arakmeth finished. Gave a quick glance to check how many looked like they'd be ready come and began making his way back through the path he came there, accompanied by the same mob of doubtful monks. He offered money! Lots of money! Maybe this guy was an answer to Orelia's prayers.

---

Above the treetops of Aarni, shapeling, in form of a crow was aimlessly flying around. The wind felt kind of nice. Flying was tiring. Shapeling was hungry. It scanned the area for possible sources of things to eat and fixed its gaze on a Daiur temple peeping through the tree tops few kilometers to the south. In couple of minutes the crow was gliding above a plaza of the temple, looking for something that was edible in its current form. Soon it noticed an elf girl with a tasty looking peace of bread in her hands. Whats more she was also holding onto a juicy lump of sausage. Shapeling felt need to get its hands on her food and swooped down from the heights, aiming to steal the elf girls food. It was a perfect crime. If one would like to use the comparison: like stealing candy from a baby. With the bread piece in other claw and sausage in the other, Shapeling rose back to the skies, made a quick evasive move and returned to enjoy the booty on top of a temple roof. From there it had a clear vision of the whole Plaza. By the time Shapeling had finished consuming its exceptionally tasty dinner, something started happening in the plaza.

An undead person whose name Shapeling just couldn't remember, was walking towards the building it was sitting on but even more interesting was the fact that this undead was accompanied by a horde of angry looking Daiur monks. But only when the undead gathered everyone's attention and made an announcement, became Shapeling actually interested in him. Ancients? The name rang a bell in Shapeling's head, though it could not bring itself to remember as to why. Shapeling had a feeling this was an opportunity to find more about who it was. It had to find out more.

---

Tall trees, not only pines but many other, much lusher evergreen trees covered the sky completely and let only some faint greenish light hit the ground level. As there was very little light and the large trees sucked out all nutrients from the ground, there wasn't much foliage on the ground floor beside the moss mat and some forests of overgrown fern bushes. Canopy, walked through the deeper forests of Aarni when he noticed someone ahead of him going in the same direction. It was too far away so that he could have recognised its race though. Based on its way of walking it was clearly more or less an intelligent being. Since it had been a long time since Canopy had seen another one with even half the brains he had, he decided to follow the being. Forest was eager to cover Canopy from the eyes of who he was stalking. Even if the being had turned around and stared him right where his eyes were it would not have noticed that there was actually someone there. As soon as Canopy noticed glimpse of a Daiur temple from between the trees something unexpected happened. The being, who looked like it was a walking corpse, was suddenly tackled by yet another being who came running from the bushes. Quickly Canopy took even deeper cover in the forest as he watched the situation evolve.

The ambusher was wearing some kind of black clothing that covered him from head to toes and a clear, white mask on where his face should have been. For a moment it stood on top of the corpse like being who did not utter a single sound the whole time. It had probably been knocked out the very moment that black being ran into it. Then the corpse began cracking, a granite being hit by steel pickaxes. The cracks grew larger, deeper. Then a moment of silence and the corpse shattered into millions of pieces which again shattered into even smaller size until there wasn't even a single trace of anything ever being there. Then Canopy saw the black being taking out a small vial of greenish liquid. The being opened it and poured all of its contents through the small hole that represented mouth in its mask. Instantly, beings robes began squirming as if somethings wanted to come out through its skin. Without a sound, the being withstood the painful progress which was over as soon as it started. The next second, the black beings robes and mask cracked and shattered, revealing an appearance identical to one of the walking corpse it had just destroyed.

Interested in this black beings, who now looked like the corpse being, plans, Canopy decided to follow it instead. It headed towards the temple. At the gates the corpse being was met by five other similar creatures. One of them, apparently the leader, spoke to the othes: "Well then my loyal men. As you know we cannot make the journey to the research site alone as we have little manpower to use with the situation in New Marktown and all. I'm going inside now to hire us some able fighters. We'll meet here in few minutes." Canopy had no idea what the corpse was talking about or how it could actually talk, being dead and all. These guys seemed interesting though, especially with the black being disguised among the others. When the 'leader' had left the others began talking. "You think the we're gonna find an actual ancients cannon this time?" Asked the shortest one who got an reply from another corpse: "Well dunno. Kil arakmeth said he is absolutely sure this time so we might just get lucky. Anyway, even if we don't find the cannon, those ruins are always full of true steel stuff, money and treasures. We've already got enough money to buy this whole friggin' empire. Its not like we wont win the siege without the cannon." Five, maybe ten minutes after the corpses had moved from conversing about the ruins to bragging with 'who had the coolest sword' the leader returned. "Alright, the volunteers will be soon lining up. You guys separate the actually able from the shit," told Kil arakmeth to his subordinates as he himself took out a map and began inspecting it.

[Unahim]

Ernalia bit her bottom lip for a moment.
Did he -really- say 400 gold pieces? Listening to the same number being repeated around her, she knew he must have.

Quickly she thought this through, the undead, or nosferatu as she believed he called himself, did not seem like a patient man.
The monks obviously did not approve of this being, and they had done so much for her! Given her shelter, and the little guy even gave her food...

Then again, she owed it to them to take this chance. Not taking it would be extending the burden she was on this little boy and this temple, so the only thing for a grateful lady such as herself to do was to take on this opportunity head on, right?
Right!

She looked around to tell the little guy she was going to go away for a while, possibly for quite a -long- while.
It appeared however that they had drifted apart in the crowd, which was just as well. He wouldn't have understood, it'd have been a sad good bye. Orelia hated good byes, she had left home without one too.
She checked if she had everything on her, but stopped checking quite soon after realising she only had the steel naginata strapped to her back left.

She started walking toward the gates, and slowly a smile began spreading over her face.
This was actually quite exciting! Exactly what she came here for: adventure, treasure hunting, mystery, and gold to boot!
And food.... oh she hoped there was some food too!

She increased her pace, eager to beat any other potential applicants to it, even though the guy hadn't really mentioned there being a limited number of spots to fill.
At some point she even started running for a few steps in excitement, before she managed to get herself in check again.
Finally she saw the gates, and the undead standing right there.

"Sir Kil Alameth!", she exclaimed as she approached, "I'm Orelia and interested in taking up the job you mentioned! I can take care of myself...", she said as she took a few steps back, grabbing hold of her naginata which had been strapped to her back and performing some nifty tricks and spins with the weapon, not unlike the fast hand movements users of daggers sometimes use to impress people.
At the end of the series she pointed the naginata towards the distance, demonstrating the full range of the weapon.
"... and as you can see I'm -quite- good at keeping my distance from things... so for 400 gold I'll not touch just about anything you want!"

She smiled at him with the full confidence of the young as she held steady, awaiting his answer.
She really needed this job, and by the Lady she'd get it!

[apo]

Foul play? Most certainly. But meddling in human, or undead, matters was not in Canopy's interest. The whole affair was interesting however. So this was what living in human lands was like. Confusing, dangerous and scheming. Already had there been more foul play than in Canopy's all years with the Forest Spirit. The thought of Spirit gave Canopy a pinch of sadness but enough time had passed so that the thought of Her gave him joy and strength as well. Moss had already covered the most violent wounds on the forest ground.

Canopy was awaken from his thoughts by the undead leader, Kil Akrameth, returning. The name sounded strange in Canopy's ears. He was soon followed by what looked like warriors and adventurers arriving in pairs or alone. They settled some distance away from the group of the undead eyeing them suspiciously. A slender elvish woman caught Canopy's attention. She proved her skill with series of movements of her strange weapon and the exclaimed the reasons all these adventurers had gathered here in front of the undead.

400 gold. Canopy had forgotten the value of money long ago. He had some coins in his pouch but they wouldn't interest a such large group of adventurers. So 400 gold must be alot. And what was this about not touching anything the leader wanted? They hadn't been told what they were looking for? This all sounded strange to Canopy. How could you look for something if one didn't know what to look for? The word 'cannon' the undead had used earlier surfaced back to Canopy's mind. First there was nothing but then few weak pictures surfaced in his mind ...majestic tubes of metal letting out booms to celebrate the king... The memory faded as soon as it had appeared.

His interest piqued Canopy settled to wait in the shadows of the trees for what'd come next. If nothing else he decided to look after the elven woman, such innocence could only lead in trouble in such company.

[Grumph]

Surrounded by a wall of pikes, Conrad made a tight hold of his staff. Guardsmen only doing their duty, yes? Perhaps. But doing dangerous spike duty against a lonely, adventuring mage? They had no reason to perform such threatening actions. He began pushing slightly to the few pikes coming a tad too close. He looked about for that convoy which just entered, they didn't have any problems with silly guards yelling 'intruder about'. Conrad hadn't heard what they'd been saying and talking about with the convoy, but he knew as much as they didn't get this welcome. Conrad lowered his head to protect his face. Taking two steps back, Conrad rose his head and spoke.

"Oi! Whats all this for? I was just let inside by your kind guard over by the gate, and before I know I am surrounded by fifteen pikemen! I intend only to look at your citys vast amounts of knowledge! Why don't we talk, all friendly and nice, instead of standing here prodding to each other with our pointy sticks, hm?"

Lowering his head once more when finished speaking, Conrad kept pushing the pikes away, causing some of the pikes to hit eachother and creating the familiar noise of steel hitting steel. Grumbling something under his breath, Conrad stood there, awaiting the guards further response.

[Amaryl]

God fucking travesty, Bones had planned to stay away from the carriage and the prince. He only met the man once, but that was before. After he escaped at the siege of Hilford. The Medal of commendation still in in sack. But in the rolls of the army, Sergeant Bones was still a traitor. Now It might not have notified to most highest of levels, but He sure wasn´t planning on taking a chance. certainly after being so foolish to claim the name Bones when he was forcefully enrolled in the cities guard with the veteran companies all further into the colonies.

It was a real change of pace this, warm food, sergeants pay, and no armies of the most filthiest and scariests creatures on earth trying to kill you. Well there were still the nobles. pompous pricks everyone of them, but they could hoist you up, torture you in wicked ways you don´t even want imagined, have you resurrected for it all to start again. One of the certain things in life. If a noble has a personal interest in you. you´re fucked. Your´re on your way to a straight ticket to hell and nothing you can do about it. When they look at you. you better look down, make them not notice you, since the moment you do, you´d wish you´re mother never spread her legs to the ruffed up asshole they call Dad.

But a Fucking Mage had to step into view and scare the young shits of his brown hosed company. With a grunt he hoisted himself up, took his helmet under his arm. the plume still cut off, a sign of shame amongst the ranks, it meant you were stripped of your rank, and you were forced to wear the same helmet to depict you´re newcome status.

Sleepy, Lazy, Browny! He Bellowed as he approached the commotion and saw the filthy little wizard standing so smuch. only wizards can stand smuck and confident when a dozen spears are pointed at you. wizards and expert warriors and this man was no warrior so he was a wizard. that's as clear as day and night.

Escort that man through a backdoor into the town, No need to Alert the Richies.

It was a Time honoured tradition that the first sergeant under a greenies command had the pleasure of naming them, until they did something so memorable they were awarded a new one by their comrads in arms. which didn't happen to many of them. In fact, Bones once had a squad, where there were two Barrels, and three Shitty's. Non-descipts soldiers that never outgrew the pet names the sergeants gave them, Its sad that Sergeants just aren't that creative when naming their new green no-gooders.

Bones stared the Man down, as he watches as the soldiers he hadn't named backed of slightly, removing their spears, as the other 3 tried to nudge the wizard to the direction of a side entrance.

[Verret]

Now curious as to what the undead had been talking about, Shapeling observed closely as some rag-tag adventurers approached the newcomers in order to sign up. It sized them up, trying to glean their abilities and guessing at their usefulness to their employer-to-be. It also scouted for conversation among the applicants, paying the utmost attention to which of them were the social type and which weren't. You never knew when it could come in handy to know which members of a group were outsiders. Which individuals tended to keep to themselves. The ones most prone to stay away from the main body of the party, and wouldn't be missed if they disappeared for a brief period. The ones that could change, just a little bit, and not be noticed for doing so...

It cocked its head as an elven girl approached the undead leader himself, and started flailing her strange weapon around. That weapon... Had Shapeling ever seen something similar? It rang a bell in its head, but... So blurry. It was all so blurry...
Shapeling blinked a few times in order to snap out of it. Getting lost in memories was dangerous when you didn't know what you could stumble upon.

As the elven girl finished her little show, Shapeling took a mental note to stay away from her if it was ever to try to infiltrate the undead's group. She was attracting too much attention. It didn't want attention. Attention was bad...

After shaking its head in order not to drift off again, Shapeling returned to silently watching what was unfolding on the plaza below it.

[Replacement]

Staring through the small hole in the barrel, Anselm was able to witness everything happening at the gates. He lightly whispered to himself, "Jackpot! My luck may actually be turning around!"

He watched as the lead Knight hopped of his horse, making his way to the carriage. "This man must be the noble's bodyguard, yikes... Looks like I'm going to have some fun with this one!"
As soon as he said that, the carriage door opened, revealing an elegant woman. This woman, although showing very few feminine qualities, had some sort of aura about her. Anselm couldn't help but stare at her, his jaw gaping. "Oh my! I wasn't expecting this at all!"

As the woman was about to step out of the carriage, she was met by the Knight. Not even moment after the Knight approached her, she started to whine; and to Anselm's surprise, he babied her. "What a brat, I can already tell that I wont like her much. Personality wise that is... Heh, she must be loaded!"

Anselm still, although witnessing her bratty attitude, wanted to get closer to her, closer to her wallet. He started to imagine the amounts of gold she must have piled in her house, and all that he could do with it.

"INTRUDER!"

Startled, Anselm jumped, forgetting about the barrel's lid, going right through it. *BANG*
Anselm toppled over, on the edge of consciousness; seeing a large group of pikemen run past him before he finally blacked out.

"Damn..."

[TGC]

A letter from the prince himself and a chance to rise within the ranks of the nobility. This could only spell more politics and other bureaucratic annoyances for Samuel. More crap, bribes and dirty work for his sister's loyal servant. The smile on the face of his sweet sister and the excitement in her heart could do nothing but bring a smile to the knight's lips, though. He could also get away from the ministers and the castle for a few weeks ; he would be on the road with people he could trust : his dear sister, soldiers he personally supervised during their training and even soldiers he trained with. They were all trained in the art of horseback and foot combat. All were proficient with their short spear, shield and sword. They were specially selected recruits who had been trained, not for war, but for the sole purpose of protecting her noble majesty and only her. The ministers shared bodyguards between themselves, but these soldiers, they were his soldiers, his comrades.

He knew he would not have that much time alone with his loving sibling during the trip, since they would only stop for short rests and sleep. He knew just the way to make these short moments special, however. Before they left, he prepared and packed brioches. He did not put them with the rest of the provisions, neither did he tell his dear sister about them. Whenever it was time for snacks, he brought one to her and the two shared a knowing smile, as if they were back to their more innocent childhood.

Covered in dust and still a bit humid from the rain, Samuel dismounted from his steed to help his sister down from her carriage. He motioned for half the bodyguards to secure the area and for the others to follow him. Before they could go veyr far, they wre greeted by their host. Prince William. Samuel had known him for less than ten seconds and he already disliked him. This whole invitation and warm welcoming had a foul stench to him, the stench of the ever dangerous and corrupting game of politics.

However, he did not have time to reflect on the matter. As soon as the alarming "Intruder" and the familiar sound of steel blades were heard, Samuel took his sword of his scabbard in a flash and let his shield slip from his back and onto his arm. "Form up!", he shouted as he armed himself. The bodyguards immediately moved to form a circle around lady Sophia and took out their shield and swords. The whole thing could very well be a plot to get rid of his sister and Samuel prefered being overly vigilant over not being wary enough.

After a few seconds, it became apparent that the sole intruders were some sort of clerk or scholar and some boy. Samuel released his guard and lowered his shield and blade, his soldiers imitated him, but remained in a circle around the two nobles and the royal servant. When the scholar was finally removed of their sight, Samuel let both he and the unconscious boy fall out of his memories and relaxed. He motioned for the bodyguards to move out of the way, sheathed his weapon and put his shield back in its place before returning to his sister's side.

[Schaefer]

Making sure not to be noticed by any of the guards, Ar'ama pulled her hood over her head tighter. Her heart jumped a bit, when a guard shouted that there was an intruder, and she immediately looked for a way out. Not finding one, she looked back and noticed that the guards were not talking about her. She crouched behind a few barrels close enough to where the elven boy had bumped his head and fallen unconscious. He was sprawled out in what looked like a very uncomfortable way. She wanted to help him. To move him out of sight. It seemed a few guards had noticed him, but didn't really care much seeing as he was passed out.

The mage who seemed to be the big scary 'intruder' was escorted out by a large number of guards, which to Ar'ama seemed unnecessary. But then again the military was all about numbers when they were trying to look impressive. The few guards who had noticed her didn't seem to be looking, and Ar'ama darted out from her hiding place and started dragging the elven boy back behind cover. She had to make sure he hadn't killed himself before she had the chance to talk with him.

She pulled him behind the barrels she had been using for cover and examined his head. He hadn't hit his head hard enough to draw blood, but he was still unconscious. She sat him upright against the barrels, and hoped she hadn't been seen.

[Grumph]

Grunting as Conrad got pushed out, he decided to stand outside at the gate staring. Never had he got kicked out in that manner. Especially not after he just was let in. But whatever - surely there was another entrance. Shaking his head at the gate, Conrad turned and left out to the road he came from.

After walking for ten minutes or so, Conrad turned on his heels again. No, he would definately try again. It was very unpolitely to be kicked out in that manner. Setting a quicker pace, Conrad approached the gates. As soon as he got close enough to see the courtyard and all the guards, Conrad began staring at the gate guard once more.

"Hey, you! I am Wizard y'know, one of those mage types. Its not because I want to sound threatening or anything its just - I really want to see all those books and libraries and wonders and I want to discover all that knowledge and wisdom and books and... magic. And I didn't get a chance to get in. So... Why don't you let me in, like, behind the curtain? No need to tell your silly superiors, just doing it. Heh, maybe I could even pay you for it...?"

Conrad looked questioning on the guard. Normally he didn't imply this form of tactics; it was actually his first time doing so. So bad couldn't it be - surely the guard would let him through. Though Conrad didn't have any money, he could pay him in magic lectures. He just had to make regular visits to the someplace which would Conrads new home.