The raid
Your head feels like it's swimming away from your body, but eventually, you manage to get a grip. You try to swallow the rock that ha become your throat, and tape a deep breath. You feel like you're calming down again, although you honestly cannot say what you just decided to do. You put the helmet back on, and march with certainty again. Not that you ARE certain about anything, but hey, fake it 'till you make it. The local banditry keep their distance, even after you managed to relax your posture. The only man who is still close is Thorgal, who looks a little concerned, and Laiko, who has not stopped looking smug. You feel disgust boiling up inside you look at his smile. What everbody here is about to do is nothing worth smiling about.
Nothing at all.
Eventually, you see the thing you dreaded. In the distance, you see a church-tower. The bells are already ringing, signalling to the town that the army of bandits is drawing close. You feel like you can even hear the screams of the villagers as you come closer. Vvulf begins to run, and the army follows. The buildings grow ever taller, and the bell ever louder. It seems to reverb through your very bones! The sun shines in defiance for the depravity that is about to happen. Vvulf bellows the order to spread out to you, and you spread it to the other groups, using your legs to the best of your ability. Soon enough, the other lieutenants do the same, and you return to your group, turning the group to the right as Vvulf's group goes to the left. The bandits begin to scatter, and soon you are left with nothing but your squad around you. They take on the practiced positions, and you wait just outside of the town. You see the guards have begun to form up. They are with far more than your own village, they must have upped the security...
Theme...The area has turned quiet. Even nature itself seems to shy away from what is going to happen next. No bird is singing, no wind is whispering. Just nothing but the hard breathing of men, and that damnable sun shining down. Then, you hear the bellow of Vvulf, and the army descends upon the guards. You go forward, hardly thinking as you draw your sword. Laiko has moved to the front, and is pointing for the squad to go inside a house. When you arrive, Nakir kicks the door into splinters, and horrible shrieks fill the air. You enter the home, and more screams are heard. Three children and their mother stand in the corner, Fear visible in their eyes. most of your squad begins to loot, as Harahkilaka comes closer to the children. Your head feels foggy, and it takes a while for the hare-man's words to register.
These will make a fine trophy...He draws his blades as he steps forward towards the family. The mother, terrified, grabs a stool and tries to hit him away. The hare grabs the weapon, and rips it from her hands. Then he smashes it against her head, knocking her down. He hits her again as the children scream in terror. The rest of your men are too busy overturning the house to care, leaving only you... Frozen in place. You're too scared. You don't know what the hell you should do! You need to..
Have to.
Going to.You jump forward, and sting Harahkilaka in the back with your stinger. He screams in agony as your venom penetrates him. You strike him with the flat of your blade and screech in anger! No human could make the sound you have made as you tell Harahkilaka to get up. He groans in pain, so you shout again, before rougly grabbing him by the arm and keeping his filthy little maggot face to your eye level.
You won't do anything without my permission, you little worm!The children are frozen in fear as your eyes fall upon them. The mother is crawling over to them, intent on using her body as a shield for whatever you have planned. These
things are your prey. And they shall know it!
Beg for me, mortal.. Your voice, reverbing through the helmet is cold and tinged with sadistic pleasure. The mother gets on her knees, and obediantly begs for the lives of her children. A pleasure unlike any other swells in you as you look at them, crawling for your honor. A smile dawns on your face, and you tell them to leave. You order Nakir to escort these people into the forest. You must take care of your pets, after all... you laugh to yourself.
Then, a torch flies through the window, setting the cheap straw aflame! You order everybody out, and so they do. Nakir, Laiko, Robbie and Bobbie quickly leave, but Harahkilaka is still writhing on the floor in pain. You are a merciful god, of course.
You pick him up again, and put your teeth to his throat. You tear away a solid piece of meat, leaving his last words a tortured gurgle. Nobody saw your mercy, of course. Or more accurately, nobody cared. Your little pets are so caught up in stealing they hardly even noticed your disciplining. You quickly leave, before the fire cuts off your escape route. When you go outside, you see that you squad has already engaged a group of guards. They look to be lead by a man with a battered iron shield and a mace, and are rapidly gaining ground through your followers. You won't stand for this disrespect. You gather up your scattered followers, and create an organized counter-attack. The guards, few in number and fewer in worth, quickly fall to the onslaught of bolas, daggers and the crushing blows of your goons. You laugh as two insects attempt to attack you! Their teamwork is excellent, of course, but as you counter and disembowel the one before you, you jump backwards, piercing him with your stinger! The venom does its work, and while he writhes in pain from your gift, you tell him to crawl. When he fails to do even that, you grab him by the hair and open his throat.
Soon enough, only the commander and two of the guards remain. Their helmet hides their fear, but you know better. those shaking knees, that unsure stance... Those two guards look ready to flee.
You give them the opportunity.
Flee! See how far you can get!Despite the protest of their leader, they try. True to your expectations, Laiko and Thorgal chase them down and slay them. Laiko takes them down with quick strikes to the legs, and thorgal finishes them off very quick and very cleanly. Spoilsport...
That just leaves the leader. You wander closer, but he is unshaken. This insult...
You charge forward, trying to pierce his mangy hide with the tip of your sword, but he successfully reflects it with his iron shield, and begins taking steps back. He is careful to look behind him, for what, you don't know. You have just ordered your own dogs to leave this heretic be. It's just you, and him. You try another attack, this time trying to throw in a hit from your stinger, but he effortlessly reflects your attacks, and manages to his your sides. The burning in your ribs only serves to anger you even more. You stomp in anger and yell. In that time, he has actually managed to reach the largest group of guards, which have all gathered around the church. You see no civilians around, meaning that they must be in the church, most likely escaping! You screech again, causing the local bandits, and even your own pets, to back off in fear. Soon enough, an all to familiar cirkle has formed around the men defending the church. Vvulf is at the forefront again, telling everyone to halt! That maggot has no right to give orders to you! You are about to go forward anyway, until a large collection of hands grab your human half and pull you back. They remove your helmet, and put their hands over your mouth. You turn to them with a look of pure rage until two strong hands shake you.
That's enough, Sydney!As you hear your name, you feel like something just... clicked back into place. You feel sick...
Vvulf is giving his ultimatum to the town guard, which has been reduced to just two dozen men. Everything that happened before this just seems like a haze to you, and you have to resist the urge to retch.
What... just happened?You don't have time to think again, as you hear the town leader shout his answer. You can't quite register what he just said, but you turn around in time for Vvulf's answer.
So be it!A blinding light, and a horrible bilge of smoke erupts from the middle of the group as they are blasted apart! Whoe-ever isn't dead or dying, is dazed. Vvulf throws even more bombs, with enough force that some die from the impact alone! Soon, nothing remains of the guards but smoke, gore and blood.
That horrid smell of blood.
Vvulf enter the ruined church, and you hear a shout, followed by a roar and a slam. After a short moment, Vvulf steps out again, carrying an aritfact shaped like a gilded, full moon. His shield is covered in blood.
He begins to laugh, and starts a speech to his bandits. You feel too sick to care, and wander off behind the bandits. You vomit on the ground, clutching your stomach. The vomit is blood-red. What did you DO?
What follows is another haze. You refuse any take of the haul, and just think. Or,more accurately, you just stare at the ruined church as more disgusting bandits go in and out, prancing around with artifacts and fancying themselves gods. You look away in disgust.
Eventually, Thorgal joins you, who is nursing a wound on his shoulder. He has already bound it up.
...I can't say I'm happy about how you dealt with this. But I'm glad you spared the civilians. Even if it was pointlessly cruel. If this is how you deal with it, then so be it. Harahkilaka was a damned swine, anyways.What did I DO, Thorgal?He looks at you in disbelief. Then, something seems to dawn on him
You are trying to cope right now. Whatever it was that you did, it doesn't matter now. Most civilians managed to flee. The guard may be destroyed, but it was not by your hands. It was all Vvulf. Remember that.
Don't let it haunt you for too long.He turns and leaves, meaning you are alone in a field. You scratch your arms absentmindedly, hardly even noticing when you draw blood.
Join the looting.It's horrible to do. But, you need to keep up appearances?Talk.You need to have a chat with somebody. Something to try and get your mind off things.Try to leaveIt will be nearly impossible to leave, but you can try. Not that it will end well...Preserve the townIt will be hard enough for the people to rebuild without their valuables. Try to save the buildings.Quiet time.Find a quiet spot, and just try to relaxOther...Anything is available. But it should probably be something to keep your mind off of things. Be it through work, or some other way to prevent thinking too hard about this raid.Level: 3
HP: 14/20
Mana: 10/10
Stress: 80/100
Equipment:
Sharp studded leather armor
Leather harness
Steel sword
Wooden shield(Well-made)
Items:
Poison-box (in your tent)
Around 100 coins and five rubies.
Skills:
Poison Stinger (Potentially lethal)
Major experience in blocking and swords.
Climber
Crafty: Bolas
Cooking skill: excellent
Corpse Cutting: Awful.
This one was a fucking bitch to write. jesus christ.