IC Scene - The Duke's Wharf

Kharad watched the defenders scurry along the wharf edge toward the narrow gangway that led on to the Duchess's ship. One side of his mouth curled upwards as an amused expression took over his face. He shook his head slightly as he eyed up the gangway.

"By the Gods, these people just make it far too easy these days to be a pirate! Close in around the gangway boys! Dont exert yourselves too greatly though because this will most likely be over quickly!"

Kharad turned his head to bark orders to the Ghilmen, regardless of whether or not they could hear him.

"Ghilmen, or any of you miserable buggers that have bows, get to the rails and fill any that try to climb that gangway with arrows!"

He then took his place directly at the top of the narrow gap in the rails, his blades ready by his sides to cut down any foolish enough to try and board,

Javier lunged at his foe, but to no avail. However, Sir Javier's smile only widened as his opponent successfully parried his blow and launched a successful counterattack on his side. The crazed knight simply stood there as the Griffon retreated toward the Lions. He removed his left gauntlet to feel the fresh blood oozing out of his side. Javier took his bloodied hand and put it in front of his face, watching as the red fluid slowly descend down toward the ground. It was... exhilarating.

The knight then turned his attention toward the fleeing Griffon, continuing his mockery.

"Griffon. Art thou a skillful man, or a fearful one? Or, perhaps, a corpse of thy undoing?

Call upon thy friends. Let them come hither. All shall die in the name of Erida Occisor!"

With that, Javier blindly charged once more at the Griffon, oblivious to his surroundings.

* * *

Four more Ghilmen fell in battle against the Lion Knights. They fought against all odds, their foes had superior equipment and were trained in the art of close combat, both aspects that the Ghilmen lacked. These men were simply lambs to the slaughter, surrounded by lions playing with their prey...

The lone Eventide Knight still stood against the horde. He tried to issue orders to the fading Ghilmen, but decided against wasting his breath. He remained there, in the thick of battle, awaiting his inevitable demise...

* * *

Anton, now mounted on his horse, focused on the single task of escaping this hellhole. In his quick survey of the battlefield, he caught a glimpse of the Radiants fleeing into an alley and thought he heard one of their number call to him.

It didn't matter. Anton found his quarry and spurred his horse to retreat out of the situation as fast as possible. The solution and escape route? The same way they came in, past the intersection and through the East Gate. After the gate, Anton would be free of this accursed city. After the gate, he would head home and try to forget about it all...

Natir watched as the Dragons broke through the lines of the Griffons. The world seemed to move in slow motion, as the two sides clashed. He watched as men fell on both sides, their expressions of pain stunk in his mind and with these faces came the faces of his men.

Natir's men saw his face turn sollumn. They looked to each other as they waited for the order to engage. "Sir, what are your orders." There was no reply. Eventually one of the Outriders, grabbed his spear and was about to charge the melee when Natir reached out and put his hand over the spear, and shook his head. "Here that." Natir indicated behind him. Down the street the horned knights of the Eventide stormed around the corner. Fear filled his outriders, but Natir seemed unaffected, his gazed fixed forward. "The rebel's reinforcements will arrive first and flank us, the Lion will not arrive in time. Outriders follow my lead."

The Outrider turned his horse, closly followed by his men, and rode towards the even tide. When they got close, he got off his horse reached for his bow and arrows...

and dropped them on the ground. Putting his hands behind his head, and watched the Knights waiting for a response.

The Dawn Knights and what remained of the rebels quickly fled down the alley, wary of the burning building beside them. Lucius considered making a final stand, but he realized that such a sacrifice would have accomplished little when the entire battle was falling apart. That wouldn't serve Astraea and so escape was the only option, even if left men to die.

"You should be thankful to Astraea, Captain," he replied to Barbarossa. "She chose to protect you in the heat of battle."

Rayvs shouted, "Shields up!" as his entourage approached Sir Natir.

"Continue marching. Snap his bow, take his arrows. I'll deal with him. Make a perimeter around us, let's keep marching while we talk."

Rayvs strode up to where Natir was standing, ahead of his knights, then drew Dusk. He leveled the sword over his shoulder, then said,

"Three questions. If I don't like your answers, you're dead. Where is Javier? What's happening up front? And why are you surrendering?"

Two of Rayvs' Knights attempted to bind Natir's hands while Rayvs waited for an answer.

Morek's reconnaissance had finally shown the the Radiant Cross had gotten a break. Instead of a horde of angry guardsmen, or worse, another squadron of Lion Knights, coming down the street the empty expanse was very pleasing to the eye after the body choked streets of the melee. The Radiant party spilled out of the alley and began heading in the opposite direction of the keep controlled by the hostile City forces. It may lead deeper into the city, but the ways out of it were numerous.

The group assumed the same formation they had used on their escape into the alley, Morek at the head with the wounded in the middle, the sides and rear protected by those who had not caught an arrow or sword blade in the fighting. As the headed down the street, Morek's helmeted head tilted up slightly to look at the pall of smoke the was rising overhead. He sneered slightly under his helmet, if there was any justice in this world, the fire would spread to the keep and burn the Duchess alive.

Tapping his shield mate with his foot to alert him to the danger of the thane, Klaus then tucked down his head and bull rushed the Dragon, hoping to crash into him and throw him to the ground, partially in wantin the man alive, and partially to get inside the range of the greatsword where he knew the man to be more vulnerable and trusting to his armour for safety.

"No need to break the bow." Natir interjected as the Eventide broke the bow over his knee. Natir rolled his eyes, unlike his lance the bow was not cheap.

Natir did not resist being tied and then walked along with the Eventide. "I do not know this Javier by name, though I did see knights of your order fighting knights of the Lion down High Street, but it is unlikely that that conflict has not been resolved by now, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but the odds were not in his favour.

At the moment the Dragons are currently fighting up ahead against the Griffon and the city's men. down the street I believe the Radiant Cross and Dawn were retreating through the alley ways.

Finally why I'm surrendering, I am surrendering, because I never chose to fight allong side the Duchess. The Clarrion Call believes that the Duchesses actions have proven that they are not in the best interests of Pendor. So by surrendering I wish to declare myself neutral, I sick of my men dying for a cause not worth it. All my fighting I have done to this point has been strictly reactionary, I was trying to leave the city with as any men as I could. The rebels and the other orders seemed hard bent to kill me and the Griffons for no particular reason,  and now my men are all wounded and scattered across high street. Now I have answered your questions, and I have surrendered peacefully, I would like to ask something of you. I want you to give me your word that if you end up victorious you will have my men released and sent back to the Clarion Call head quarters in Janos. That is all I ask and in return I'll be a peaceful prisoner, and know I have nothing against you or the Eventide"

Rayvs stared at Natir for a moment. He hefted Dusk into the air and admired it's blade before bringing his attention back to the outrider.

"Sick of dying for a cause not worth it? You're beginning to learn. After a while, every cause is no longer worth the death of your men. Even as you see them dying around you, as they drop like flies and scream your name, as you can no longer help them, as you have to tell their families they died, as you have to lie to them and tell them the cause was just and worth the death of their only son, as you suffer sleepless nights over what could have happened, at what you could have prevented. War is an ugly thing."

Rayvs walked towards Natir, and untied the restraints.

"Your devotion to your men has impressed me more than you could know. Out of all of the answers, you gave the right one."

Instead of the cold, emotionless face that he usually put on, weathered lines seemed to cross his forehead. Rayvs looked...sad.

"Go. If I meet your men in battle, I will give them a quick death, but today seems to be not your day."

Turning to his knights he shouted, "Double time! We must reach Javier before anything happens. These Lions think they can fight the Eventide and live. Let us show them why they should truly be afraid of the dark."

Slowly, the look of sadness was replaced with a dark insanity as Rayvs smiled, anticipating the coming bloodbath.

Natir nodded in recognition of Ravy's decision.

"You have impressed me as well. Know you have a friend among the Call."

Turning to the side he scanned the streets for alleys, it would not be safe for an unarmed Captain to be standing in the open streets, but first he grabbed his horse and guided it to behind a building and out of sight. From there he looked for ways up the buildings hoping to get a broader view on the situation.

Slightly annoyed at being delayed from his self-appointed mission, Gilaver took back to running again. Two less knights were two enemies less in between him and the target. However, to make matters worse, the leader was already on a heavily armored Mettenheimian. Sword ready for an attack, Gilaver pushed forward to the Thane ready to deliver a fatal blow if given the chance.

OOC: Nothing special really.

William let loose a war cry and swung with full force at the charging Griffon, aiming low at his hip in case he jumped or ducked. His anger and rage only mounted higher and higher as his men began to die.

"TAKE NO PRISONERS!"

If he would die to today he would kill as many of the kings curs as he could.

*Aelos an Alm try to remember all the first-aid lessons of their basic training and try to save Wulven.*

Sir Lucius closed his eyes tightly and coughed violently as he tried to breath through the thick smoke that surrounded him. If he were an ordinary man, this situation would have been a bad omen, but the Dawn Knight knew better. This was a message from the Goddess.

"Goddess!" the Amalan shouted to the sky as the heat intensified. "I am still committed to justice! I ask that you protect me once more and I will see that the injustices suffered today are cleansed!" Although no one was there to witness it, Lucius was clearly engaged in a conversation, or at least he thought he was. "Bestow your strength on me and I will hold to my word, as I've always done!"

With seemingly no regard for the flames, he grasped with gloved hands the piece of wood that trapped him and used all his strength to see if it would budge. In a strange way, the fire only seemed to embolden Lucius, not deter him. As he did so, several of his men tried to help from the other side, even though the effort seemed futile.

The Dragons attempted to power their way through the loyalists, but the weight of numbers began to weigh them down.  Guards and Griffons alike slashed at openings in the Dragon's guards, cutting down two before Lord Wulfred joined the fray.  He and several of his men charged straight in on horseback, swords swings, bringing two more rebel knights down.  The others, unable to maneuver into the melee, began to dismount.

The fighters seemed disinterested in interfering with their commanders, though.  Alatin saw Klaus' charge and stabbed forward to impale the Mettenheimer.  His strike found the Mettenheim armor and cut a deep rut into it, but didn't break through and a moment later, the Thane was sprawled on the ground.  His grip too loose, the dragon almost threw his foe off him, but instead threw himself into a roll as Gilaver joined the fray.  Off balance and at a bad angle, Klaus was on him again, pinning Alatin more firmly.

"Enemies of the Duchess!"  Lord Wulfred's voice rang out over the fighting.  "You are outnumbered and outclassed!  Surrender now and you may yet be shown leniency!"

He had barely finished when Rayvs' force crashed into the rear guard unit at the bend.  Though the guard had been warned by Natir's outrider's swift return, they had not been insufficiently prepared for the ferocity of the strike, which buckled their line.
______

Natir managed to find a perch easily enough.  He could see what the Eventide could not.  Namely, the Lion knights and other city guard forces approaching from up the road.

The scattered remnants of Javier's command, if it could be called that, finally met its end at the same time.  Victor didn't even get to swing again before he was defeated, his helmet slashed off his head by a Lion's sword.  He lay on the ground, gashed and bleeding...but alive.  Javier, his mind, or perhaps his body, still wildly out of control, finally slipped up in a way Sanders could handle.  The Griffon knight met yet another manic charge by sweeping Javier's feet out from under him.  The Eventider's head slammed into the pavement and he went still, out cold.

In the burning side alley, it seemed for a moment that Lucius was doomed to burn, the wood too firmly wedged for him to get free.  Then Barbarossa pushed his way between the tightly packed Dawn Knights and delivered a mighty swing with his cleaver.  The makeshift weapon shattered, but he split the wood at a weak point he had seen and he pulled Lucius from his death trap.
______

With blood coating the deck and gangplank, the remainder of the Duchess' forces fled from Kharad, their new losses in the continued fighting too much to handle.  Taking advantage of the situation, the boarders threw the ramp into the sea, protecting themselves from further attack.  Kharad was free to plunder as he pleased.

Casualties:

"Greatswords, to me!" Klaus bellowed as he struggled with Alatin, trying to find a more sturdy grip to pin him down with.

"Surrender, and I make you and your men live" Klaus said to the thane in a lower voice, it coming out distant and muffled by his helm "We here to make order, he," the griffon continued, nodding towards the oncoming lions "will want vengeance. You dragons treat me dishonour, but I am Mettenheim, I know law of war. Surrender to us, and you are under crown jurisdiction, not duchess."

Kharad was a man most pleased with himself, this victory only fuelling his arrogance. He casually strolled away from where the gangplank was, casually flicking droplets of blood from his scimitars as he went. He held them out to his sides and turned to his crew.

"And to the victors go the spoils, or so the saying goes. The Duchess's quarters are mine. Everything else is yours boys! Happy Looting!"

And as his men let out almighty cheers of glee and began bounding off across the ship in an unorganised mess, Kharad stepped on front of a small group nearby, one blade pointing towards them.

"Not you im afraid. No, I have a more important task for you men. Perform it well and a share of the Duchess's own posessions are yours! Firstly, return to the Maelstrom and prepare our own gangplanks for drop, but do not deploy them just yet. Secondly, gather up all the oil that you can find on both ships and bring it up on deck. Well what are you waiting for? Step to it!"

The men departed quickly, save for one that lingered, who eyed Kharad curiously.

"Aye Captain! But why the gangplanks? And why all the oil, if you dont mind me asking?"

Kharad grinned mischieviously.

"Hah! Glad to see that one of you had the brains to ask! If you must know my friend, ive had a change of heart. It seems a shame that we will only sink this fine vessel, when there is so much more grand kindling all around us for a nice bonfire. Fuel associated with the oppresive whore they call Duchess as well!"

He motioned with his blades toward the buildings surrounding the dockside.

"Tell me, where was the biggest fire you have ever seen?"

Non-threatening and overlooked by the combatants on both sides, Aelos tried desperately to save Wulven. Unfortunately, Aelos' medical training did not cover wounds of the sort Wulven had suffered. He did what he could to remove splinters of wood and clean up the blood, but it only seemed to be making Wulven's passage to the next life easier. Yet, the Dragon continued to hang on somehow.

[OOC: ...I've got nothing for Morek this go around, I'm afraid. Nothing's happening to him but he hasn't reached a new location yet. Next time.]

At last, it was over...

The beast within, unsatisfied with this conduit of flesh, departed from the knight as his head slammed into the cobble streets of Windholm. However, one could not help but wonder, was the beast a simple fabrication of the mind or was that all it had to offer? All that remained of the insane fool was a wreck in the middle of the road. Unconscious, but somehow alive...

The same could not be said of the other lone knight. His helmet removed and blood pooling around him, those who dared to look at the man known only as Victor found that there was no head present. The head was not attached to his shoulders or in his helm, and it didn't go fly off in some random direction. The armor now shattered, mist could be discerned escaping from the caress of steel. All that remained of the knight was his equipment and the mysterious blood that settled around it...

Anton and his exploits remained undocumented after his successful departure of the battlefield. Some say he was cut down during his escape or that he arrived home and went insane. Whatever his outcome, may Eunomia Stabilitis watch over his tortured soul.

(OCC: Javier - Unconscious // Victor - Unknown // Anton - Story Concluded)

Alatin fought and struggled against the Griffon. He summoned all of his energy, tucked his feet in and kicked the griffon in the chest away from him as hard as he could.

Rayvs roared like a majestic lion in anger and frustration as he saw what had become of Victor and his beloved knights. Javier was still nowhere to be seen in the thick of battle.

"Send some men to protect the Ghilmen!" he shouted out to the Vanskerrys with him. He didn't care if they obeyed; his mind was cold and his heart angry. Once again, his Eventide had been slaughtered. Once again, they had surrounded them and asked for surrender. Once again, Rayvs led a charge into the back of the knights. This was like Amala all over again, but this time he could do something. He wasn't powerless anymore.

For a second, the world around Rayvs warped and was replaced by a dusty plain. Horses screamed around him as men in acid green armor crashed into an Eventide phalanax. The horses didn't die, and the men were trampled. The two screams intermingled, a symphony of pain and death. For every knight he killed, two more took their place, a never ending hydra of cultists. His sword dulled, his breathing heavy, he looked up to the sky, wondering if the gods had forsaken him. He made his final plea, a plea repeated by all his men, as he continued to wear away at the horde of snakes. One cultist stood out the most, with blood-red armor instead of the usual green, astride a glorious charger...

Rayvs snapped out of the illusion and refocused on the battle.

Wulfred.

Rayvs began to hack and slash through the lion knights, viewing them as mere obstacles between him and the man who had caused his beloved order so much suffering.

"Wulfred!" Rayvs shouted out, as he charged into the ranks of the knights with his men.

"Find Javier! And kill that bitch Lioness."

The Radiant Cross and the temporarily orphaned wyverns continued down the street, passing by the pall of smoke that rose above the houses as they headed deeper into the city. The Wyverns and plaguewardens that were unijured switched places in the formation, the crossbows now being concentrated more towards the front. A few of the injured plaguewardens had begun trying to tend to what injures they could on the move, though one of them went near the knights with arrows in their back, they trusted Morek himself to take care of that once they reached a halt. The group kept chattering lightly amongst each other, if not for the stink of coppery blood that trailed after them everything would have looked normal. As normal as a band of heavily armed men in Windholm could be that was.

As for Morek his blank faced helm glared down the street the group marched down, the blank black eye holes hiding eyes that shone with a heady mixture of anger and regret. This entire mission had turned into nothing more than a fools errand. He bit the inside of his mouth as he stifled a growl as hindsight began to show him how foolish he had been. He'd deviated greatly from the mission the Grandmaster had set him and Meraxes on and there was nothing to show for it besides the loss of two Order Knights and more injured. Morek stuck his morningstar back onto his belt and reached up under his helm to scratch his jaw and cheek as they marched, hoping they would find friendly forces soon.



[Morek continues his march further down the road]

Natir watched the street, it seemed the duchess's force seem to be turning the battle to their favour, that was inconsequential at the moment to Natir however. He hoped his men would survive that fight, but he had plenty of his other men to tend to at the moment.

Gazing down the street, he saw two giant northerners crouched over the body of an impaled knight. He seemed dead to Natir, but they seemed to be holding on to some hope of revival. The only person in the city probably managing that kind of miracle was down the alley, and out of sight.

Natir descended from the roof top. On reaching the ground he moved towards the edge of the street. On arrival he crouched and observed the Dragons. Once he thought it was safe, he crept out towards the closest of his men and analyzed his condition while leaning over and taking his weapon OOC: (sword? if it is something else replace sword with what ever weapon it its ).

Returning his attention to the 2 Dragons he slowly walked towards them. "Knights of the Dragon! Hear me for a moment." Natir approached slowly holding his sword by the blade loosely far from his body, and making the movements to slowly putting it down, but still prepared for the inevitable Dragon's rage.