A Clash of Swords: LXII
"Honestly? I prefer banana cream." Riu responded, the pastries at 'Hot as hell.' bakery was always a treat she relished in. Herod began to furiously shake his head clutching a peach filled donut with a disappointed look on his face.
"You could not be more wrong, the banana cream tastes like someone left it out for weeks!" Herod protested. "Tell me Andraste what do you like? C'mon you can possible prefer-"
"Banana." Andraste shot back quickly.
"THE TRAGEDY!" Herod cried, Riu held her hand up laughing a little, "Puderis the world has fallen into chaos!! The idea, Banana over pea-" Herod paused his tirad long enough for Riu to start breathing again. He was silly but she'd been going to 'Hot as hell.' since she was a child. "There's a city guard guy running at us." Herod whispered. "Where's Adleth? Did she steal anything?"
"No." Markos chimed in. "but we.. were supposed to go over to the Gralhund villa and instead you insisted we get pastries... also Yeah I agree with Herod."
"How dare you blame me! I'd blame my stomach.."
"Let's focus on the guy hm?" Riu suggested they were directly near the manor since they did leave the yawning portal a while ago it seemed this guard had a purpose. "Excuse me sir?!" Riu cried out, the guard was soaked in sweat, his heavy plate armor shuffling against itself. He huffed and puffed nearly passing them. "Sir, where are you going?!" She reached out and grabbed the cloak, he was most likely exhausted leading to the easy stop.
"S-stop I have to go! TrollSkull manor needs- there's.." The guard gasped for breaths like he was clawing for air. Wait what? What was it he said?
"Sir, we are the owners of TrollSkull, what's the matter with you-" Riu was cut off by the guard jumping at her.
"The Gralhund villa! There's been an attack.. One.. one of your men sent me to find you! Tall.. held a big rifle of sorts, screamed at me to get you all.. They're under attack there's something and-" Riu wasted no time listening any further she snapped her head to Andraste.
"Go!" Riu yelled, the druid nodded jumping at the ground her fingers became claws and her body rippled with muscle, fur coated the skin and her hair became a mane. Riu didn't react to the lion form before Andraste took off down the street towards the manor. "We've got to go." Riu conceded grabbing Markos's little hand the guy looked around in a little panic.
"W-wait!" She took off down the street Herod closed behind her. "Get the guard! Get jalester tell him Mark-" Markos yelped before he was pulled closer to Riu. She silently thanked her crazy friend, he had tried to get them reinforcements but as far as she was sure her friends needed these reinforcements; themselves. Andraste was far off in the distance disappearing in a crowd of confused and frightened people. The three of them ran next to one another Markos wheezing and panting.
"Have you never done cardio Markos?!" Herod exclaimed even though he sounded out of breath. "Fuck I did.. Not expect this much running, my stomach is in knots!" Riu giggled, they all needed more long distance sprinting practice. Markos gave the both of them a weary look, like talking would just use more air. People and stores fronts whizzed by like magic missiles. Murmurs in the streets spoke of a lion pouncing through and other passerbys said they would contact the city guard. Riu pressed on easily out racing Markos even in her heavier plate, though Herod was in simple gilded leather so he was far faster. Riu gripped her mace and held it firm, turning the handle over in her grasp while running, it wasn't much be she had to be careful to not let the damned thing dangle around hitting her as she ran.
"Around this corner!" She barked, the group had to practically hit a slide turning sharply at the intersection. "Four O.. four O.." Riu muttered her eyes snapping from one street sign to the next. The road began to change as did the height of buildings, they got shorter, more refined, the stones under them were more uniform and decorative, they were entering a higher class neighborhood. "Four..." off in the far distance as small villa's began dotting her vision Riu spotted a larger house on the horizon. "Four O seven." Riu pointed up at the far house, a large villa on a medium plot of land with three twinned towers on it. "That's it! Gralhund villa." She prayed silently that Andraste had already found it. The tall iron gate fence lined the perimeter with small spikes atop the center fold a few feet away Riu spotted a pair of large open gates pushed inward. She made a beeline for them. The yard was about what you'd expect for nobility, shrubbery everywhere, long grassy fields, benches and fountains like a traditional upper class family, though the gardens were messy, the shrubs were not properly trimmed and the fountains edges were dirty. Worst of all.. Riu couldn't shake this.. Evil feeling. The air felt hotter here, and it smelled of sulfur.
"Andraste!" Herod cried out, he pointed at the villa's open doorway where Riu could just barely peer inside. The doorway held two distinct figures, standing inside Riu spotted a familiar six foot man wielding two long swords each of them adorned with an insignia she could have sworn she recognized.. The same symbol from his inner sight. Standing next to him however was a large hairy beast of a lion roaring in defence. Riu sprinted to them.
"Oh that's so cute! Little kitty wanna play?" Riu wasn't sure who was talking but she knew there was a voice, she knelt over panting reaching the doorway standing right behind Asher. "You can't intimidate us, soldier boy! You and your lion are hardly frightening."
"I'll play with your severed head!" Asher hurled back.
Riu looked over Asher's shoulder to see a Gralhund guard come in, swinging his large broadsword missed the thug by a foot. The landing of the house was chaos, she spotted several guard's swinging at leather clad men wielding maces, with numerous of these mace wielding guys swinging back.
"What's going on here?!" Riu asked, Asher stood in front of her, his twinned blades sitting slackly in his grasp. The soldier made no movements and no one tried to answer her question. The chaos continued. She guessed Asher had been trying to intimidate these men and even a lion did not work. Lovely.
"So the city guard ain't enough for us huh? They had to go and hire some mercenaries?" one man began walking to the doorway holding his large mace steadily in his hand. "That's fine. I'll have just as much fun with those lovely ladies when I'm through with the back up!" The guy lunged, Riu immediately brought her mace up, little man was going to do what now?
"I believe you are mistaken, common thief!" Alekzandr's voice rang out to Riu's right, Alekzandr charged forth from inside the house slamming the butt of his rifle against the guy's head. The man recoiled, swinging his own weapon blindly around. Riu jumped into the action side stepping Andraste and Asher. The inside of the house was simple and really quite beautiful if not for all the fighting. To the left was a long hallway far from the landing it held some basic desks with pictures and other portraits on it, there were more thugs. To the right was an open room that probably entered to some other location font and center from the entrance was the stair case only a few feet from the front door. Up there Riu could spot probably half a dozen guards and even more thugs hacking and slashing at each other. Inside she spotted another three thugs to the left wielding similar.. As one guard went to protect himself Riu spotted the unmistakable symbol of a winged serpent on a black background tattooed on a thugs arm. 'Shit.' Riu thought, it was Zhentarim. She rushed forward bashing her mace into the back of one's skull he went down without a fight. The guard looked at her with appreciative eyes. She swung her mace around again to attack the second thug but it blindly missed.
"Not so fast, pretty!" The guy turned on his heel bringing his own mace at her. He was dressed in what seemed to be standard studded leather, his tree bark brown eyes gave her an ugly glare Riu wasn't about to be hit by some no life. She raised a gauntlet covered hand and batted the mace off to the side, the force still hit her arm pretty badly. She stepped back the man still swinging, one strike after another after another. She tried to dodge but one swing got a clean hit right into her side.
"ARGH!" Riu cried, she spun on her heel forming a semicircle around the guy trying to dance around his attacks. She brought up her mace clashing the morning stars against one another. "A little help?!" Riu yelled, as another thug moved into attack. The guard she had just saved rushed forward now allowing the two to fight on either side, double fronting the man. Riu kicked the first guy knocking him back long enough to speak. "Magicae cornu telum!" Riu yelled, holding up the holy symbol of Selune in her left hand. Instantly four pigeon white streams of magic carried by blue dove wings shootout racing at the man. The pin's impacted with an explosive force knocking him on his butt for good. The guard in front of her made a grunting noise before he stabbed his own blade down the second thug's throat, blood spurting everywhere the crimson liquid ran down the thug's leather armor, probably running it. Riu turned away quickly.
*VreePoom*
In the chaos of the house she spotted Herod flinging men back with his blade streaks of his blue fox sending shockwaves through the home. Alekzandr was still only hitting people over the head; it seemed he was avoiding spells. With the closed in location and chances of hitting others. She didn't blame him.
"ROAR" Andraste's lion form loudly screamed below throughout the halls; the angry noise shook her body with vibrations. She got a front row seat while the lion pounced one of the many men who had just been calling it a kitty.. He was.. Torn in half. The mess of the room was pure chaos, with Andraste attacking some goons, Adleth was hopping atop their heads slashing her short swords into unsuspecting victims left and right.
*Steehcc*
Honestly she seemed like a one woman army. But.. if Riu was honest, the goons' real problem. Was Asher. He fought like a demon spinning with two blades in either hand longswords for insane reach.
*Evcsseeshnk*
A crimson arc of blood spun around him. The swords making that violent wolf-like howl through the air. Just as she had seen a day earlier clones, no, echos shot from his body carrying similar equipment making short work of Zhentarim men.
"Die!" A man with a sword rushed forward in a large swing, he never had a chance. Asher ducked the first blow and brought his right blade up parrying the second before his left arm shoved a long sword straight through the robber's chest. Blood spurting everywhere. It looked almost like a hurricane of blades cutting those down left and right. He was unstoppable.
"Who.. the hell is that?" The guard she had saved asked behind her his jaw dropped and his sword hand slumped. Riu.. had no idea.
"Fucking halfwits!" Riu was snapped from her daze seeing Alekzandr struggle to push two guards off of him. "I was concerned with noise! But no longer! Razbit' trumm!"
*Chn-flink*
The small soft click of metal could be heard followed by-
*KRABOOM*
The halls of the manor filled with an ear shattering explosion the two guards on Alekzandr were eviscerated on the spot, leftover were two small smoking piles of ash, what on Selune's Toril did he use? Riu jumped to action swinging her own mace around to deal with the remaining guards.
"I got this!" Herod leapt in front of her seemingly out of nowhere. "Vulity ceriorem ventus!" Instantly two guards were slammed into the wall by an eldritch blast emanating from his blade Herod twisted on a heel wrapping one hand around Riu to move about her he simultaneously parried a mace coming from her left. Riu reacted by swinging her mace in response. The two of them worked in tandem to take out numerous Zhentarim snakes. "Get up the steps!" Herod yelled, Riu agreed with him the fight towards the stairs was difficult, at every turn it felt like more and more men were spilling out. A spear caught her armor plate pushing her back.
"Agh!" Riu felt it draw blood. The man in front of her sneered.
*Evcsseeshnk*
A blade came crashing down, slashing the spear pole in half, Asher spun into place splitting the spear down its middle and glancing a blow off the soldier's armor.
"Vulity ceriorem ventus!" Herod shot the Zhentarim plated man backwards with a mystical force, her two friends standing on either side of her.
"Let's get up there." Riu spat a little bit of blood dribbled on her tongue. The three required no further talking, they fought in unison up the stairs Herod shot blast after blast relying on no other spells to supplement him; the crackling echoes of a fox's howl filled the room but it was not the only sound. Missiles of magic flew up the steps targeting innocent zhentarim members who looked like they would rather run then deal with the group on their steps. Asher summersalted over one man and pushed a guard back behind him for safety, his blades acted like a shield slicing morning stars in half and cutting spear poles down like toothpicks.
"Send reinforcements! Our flank is br-" a Zhentarim man screamed in anguish, Riu slammed her mace over his head and he crippled to her feet.
"What the fuck is that?!" Riu didn't even turn when she heard the sounds of a slithering creature, men flew across the room, one even landed a few feet in front of her on the steps, his head bashed in and a clear three pronged stab wound through his chest. The shadows on the walls danced with the light of Markos's tentacle grabbing men and tossing them where he wished. He was a force of nightmares, a being of chaos. Something they knew they had to keep in check. One man started to back away from Riu on a landing; he was holding his spear sideways, shaking in his boots when he saw her.
"I-its the ke-keep-" The man began to shake with fear. "The guard! They sent-" Riu didn't move when Asher's blade stabbed his neck. Sending him to the floor.
"The guard sent no one!" Adleth screamed from behind them all. "Now. We're here for one. God. Damned. Thing. WHO BROKE OUR WINDOWS!" The elf soared above her landing in the square right in front of Riu brandishing her two short swords dripping with scarlet fluid. Above them only two landings away Riu could spot three guards contending with over six Zhentarim members, armed with spears, swords and maces. Two tiefling, one elf that she could see, an orc, and the rest were human. One turned his gaze fixed on the ascending group of heroes; the guards before him were looking really rough, their plate was slashed off in places they were cramped and cornered in a location unable to do anything they held such.. Reserved looks, for men who could die they didn't look very scared in fact as Riu watched them she felt a chill run down her back, like something in the room was wrong.
"Le ili hiine sols nae mit Uheo!" Markos cried in a guttural language from down stairs, instantly the light from the doorway painted an image of an enormous tentacle pulling bodies into its portal. The scream of some unholy thing filled the air and Riu willed herself not to look at it. The sensation around her was stopped as clattering metal hit the ground, the noise ending. The stairs behind her echoed with footsteps.
"Surrender!" Riu screamed at the remaining goons above her. Crackles of energy from Alekzandr's rifle made quick work of whatever was still below her.
"He's a mad man!" One guy screamed.
"What is that gun- what a-" The next yell was cut off by a blast.
*Chn-flink* Alekzandr raised his rifle with a grin.
"Da Belaya Kavir." Asher muttered under his breath. Riu frowned, unsure of what that meant or who it was even directed at. One guard above them cut down a snarl on a tieflings face. The tiefling ran down the stairs to attack them but Asher leapt in front, even cutting off Adleth. He drove his left sword into one side, and the right into another, glancing them against one another Riu felt like she couldn't watch. Asher cleaved his blades splitting the man in half like a butterfly, the blood spluttering across the room. A Zhentarim member was staring the whole time.
"Don't be distracted men! Protect the lady!" A guard exclaimed at the top of his lungs. For the first time Riu noticed the guards were standing on the landing right before the staircases stopping there shaking with a personal guard around her was a woman.. The lady of the house, a figure Riu knew all too well, Yalah Gralhund. The matriarch of the manor.
"Climb the steps!" Markos yelled from behind her. Riu nearly jumped turning to see Markos pushing past her. Holy Selun.. She thought. The half-elf was dripping in blood, from head to toe his trident brandished by his side trickled with the crimson fluid, surprisingly his yellow cloak that sat on him seemed untouched. Markos pushed up the stairs a foot stepping on the tieflings corpse he held his trident up high. Of course the cultist came at the end. "Look, men." Markos's voice sounded almost humorous, whimsical if you wanted. "I just sent like.. Eight of your friends to a fucking elder god! Wait scratch that- OUTER GOD! Their corpses are literally being eaten by a being you could not imagine! I butchered them but still not one of their deaths has made so much as a stroke in my scarlet soaked ledger. I fed them to nightmares. Left them to be devoured by horrid euclidean entities of nameless terror, children of night and ancient starved gods! Ready to bring them back for eternal worship! So ask yourself, really do you want to keep fighting?!" Riu never really saw Markos as a very intimidating individual, but in that moment dripping with blood screaming about archaic deities he looked pretty damn menacing. Ten of them instantly dropped their weapons, maces, spears and sword clattered to the wooden steps with a ring filling the hall. One however still stood standing. His sword was covered in guards' blood.
"You-"
*FRBEERBOOM!*
The Zhentarim soldier was unable to make a move as a ray of frost covered his neck, his eyes went wide before the human collapsed to his knees and slid down the steps. Riu looked over at the smoking barrel from Alekzandr's rifle he was standing at the base of the stairs determined. Riu turned back at the ten men who were standing weaponless; they were shaking violently; the guards behind them stabbed the Zhentarim in the back before she could even get a chance to reason with them. Blood trickled out of their mouths and they fell to their knees and died.