The sound of fighting was again heard at the southern gate of Dormont. A lone swordsman was fighting a band of soldiers for him to obey the missives of his leaders. The scene was almost a replay of what have happened during the times when Astorea and Dormont was invaded by the soldiers of Falderen: A youthful lone swordsman, his blond hair tied up by a long ponytail, his body half clad in a flowery kimono so that his bare right hand could draw his katana with ease, with a sudden kick of his right foot, dove towards a platoon of Falderen soldiers. Even when arrows rained all around him and struck every part of his body, he was scarcely stopped, and with every slash of his katana, the enemy soldiers who tried to retaliate fell down with their body mangled along with their armor and bled to death. The soldiers of the kingdom of Astorea cheered him on as he did his bloody routine. But the swordsman thought that he was only doing his job to protect the kingdom. Some things have already changed since that but some still did not. The figure of the Eastern-style swordsman from before was not the same, although the face and the stance still did not change. The long ponytail was replaced with a much shorter one, and the flowery kimono was replaced with a short furry hood and coat and tie of pure white color. The enemy still wears armor, but this time they were emblazoned with the emblems of Astorea. The people who he had once protected, even at the cost of his own life, was now turning on him and was cursing him just because of that resolve of the swordsman to protect the kingdom and its dignity. The reason was what was in the prison carriages near him: people clad with armor emblazoned with the emblems of Falderen. The war had claimed many lives of both the kingdoms' citizens, and some of the soldiers and citizens of Astorea, still hurting from the loss of their loved ones, wanted to take revenge on the Falderen soldiers who had already surrendered. And even when the king issued orders on Astorean solders not to lay a hand on those who had already surrendered, they were even willing to disobey the rule; and sometimes on the extreme, as the swordsman had already experienced, they were even thinking to rebel against the king due to his order, reasoning to themselves that the king had dragged them and their loved ones into a war but would never let them take revenge on whoever they killed their loved ones. Should the war continue to devour more lives even when it is now peacetime? The swordsman, agreeing with the king, thought it is time to stop. It was the most logical thing to do, as well as the most moral. The swordsman's platform boots kicking the ground for another time, he dove towards the soldiers with his right hand on his katana, this time not to kill but to incapacitate, or when should be needed, maim without giving any chance for the maimed person to regenerate. As he moved towards the soldiers, he was chanting a Hebrew phrase, and then his body became violet, as what the soldiers would see. But that was only a magic clone of his likeness; his real self would just reappear somewhere dangerously near them. Mal'akh Art: Lilith
Valdrada didn't fully understand what was going on, which sucked. But it looked like things were busy, with people running around this way and that, going to and from the city, obviously not having the time to stop and explain to her what was happening now that the war looked to be over. From what she overheard and pieced together, a lot of the soldiers from the enemy country were controlled during the fight. Something about their eyes, which glowed? Valdrada hadn't seen much of that, since she arrived at the walls mostly when the giant stone angel was there, but if that was the case, then she guessed it made sense that the soldiers had surrendered. Something about the king being dead? And that made all the soldiers fall out of the control? Well, whatever it was that happened, the fighting was officially over. When there were calls for some people to help escort the enemy soldiers back to special carriages that would bring them out of the country, Valdrada volunteered. Mostly out of the lack of anything better to do. Anyway, Val was now walking back to the place where she was directed, walking ahead of 2 soldiers. They had been disarmed, and seemed to be trying to keep a low profile. Which was understandable. It couldn't be a good experience to walk through a city that you had attacked, with people that you terrorized staring at you the whole time. Even though they couldn't help it, because of being controlled. Val couldn't deny that the hostile stares were getting pretty extreme, though. And now some of them were targeted at her, probably for escorting them. A sudden movement was all the warning had. Someone from the crowd of people by the street ducked, and suddenly there was a quick-moving shadow hurtling towards her. Out of reflex, Valdrada raised her shield arm, and the sound of a rock bouncing off metal cut through the muttering. The two Falderen soldiers flinched. "Hey!" Valdrada lowered her shield briefly and glared at the people in the sidelines, in the vague direction where the rock had been thrown. "When your opponent concedes, it's done! You don't keep fighting!" Nobody else tried anything after that, though the dark muttering and angry stares didn't stop. Still, they made it to the south gates without much trouble. ...Nope, looked like Valdrada spoke too soon. This close to the walls, there were still a few of the soldiers who had taken part in the defense remaining nearby. The resentment must have been stronger there, because what Val saw as she approached the scene was a group of Astorean soldiers running to the carriages with their weapons drawn, and one person fighting against them. Eyes widening, Val turned to the two soldiers. "Stay here!" she told them. "I'll take care of this!" With her sword and shield ready, Val tried using her teleport spell to quickly jump into the fray. Why were people still fighting over this? The Falderen soldiers couldn't help it if they were controlled, so there wasn't any point to picking on them now. Gritting her teeth, Valdrada appeared next to the blond guy in the flowy clothes, ready to get the aggressive soldiers to stand down.
He sighed heavily. The number of displaced troops still beggared belief, well into the restoration effort. By the thousands, the King had issued them clemency and safe passage back to Falderen on the condition that they do no further harm to the people of Astorea. It was a deal they were willing to make, and yet, the wounds were still fresh. While the broken Falderen Host was all too eager to put the nightmare of war behind them, the Astorean people were of a mind that they had far from atoned for their sins. It was a common mindset among those who lost family and friends in a conflict. Rocks and rotten vegetables flew through the gap between the Falderen men and the people of Astorea. Kijin ignored the smell as he pushed alongside the soldiers and muttered low, "keep your eyes down," he urged, "and stay clear of the barricade. No one will be allowed to do you any harm." He stopped short when he came open the open melee, and the wandering swordsman folded his arms. His face twisted into a grimace. "You there," he called to the Astorean guards, "is a royal decree to cease conflict not enough to convince you to stand down, or shall I enact necessary punishment to make an example of you to your peers?" The guardsman matched Kijin's crimson gaze and shuddered. "Ah, erm, see, they-" "Insubordination of any kind is inexcusable," the enigmatic sellsword reminded him. "If the next words out of your mouth are anything other than "yes, sir," I will mount your head on a pike right here. Am I clear?" The guard stiffened. "Yes, sir." Save for several green recruits and hotheaded infantrymen, the Astorean military was well-trained. The percentage who would openly disobey a direct order from the King was almost non-existent. It was the common folk out for blood. Pitchforks, shovels, rakes, scythes- anything that they could use to draw blood came to hand. They demanded recompense. Justice for those who fell. Kijin sighed again. "You seek sense where there is none," he told the girl as he walked up on the pair from behind. "These are undisciplined townspeople, fresh from the throes of an ugly war." Kijin glanced around and let one hand rest on the tsuka of his weapon. He would not draw without good reason. "Are there any casualties?"
The war left bitter taste in the mouth of those who have lost something in it, but she can't blame the Falderen soldiers entirely; they were a mind-controlled zombie, bound with orders from the Mad King. But not all people can accept that. In fact, the scene unfolding right in front of her looked like something pulled out from medieval Hollywood movies. Local people throwing rocks at the war prisoners, while some Astorean soldiers tried to get to the prisoner carriage. Luckily, a player was there to stop them. With the situations now fairly under control, Corvella approached the angry crowd. The presence of a heavily-armored individual standing before them was able to stop them from doing further harm, unfortunately not for long. The crowd of people turned on her while letting out insults, some openly mocks her for being a Falderen lapdog. Rocks and rocks bounced on her armors. She tried her best not to enforce violence to the townsfolk; they have suffered enough from the war. Letting out a long exhale, Corvella called one of the calmed Astorean soldier "You there. Get your subordinate and usher the crowd away from the carriage, please." After the war, it seems that most Astorean soldier regards the adventurer highly for their effort. The guard quickly nodded, and went into the crowd to push them away. Something like this often happened in real life; people planning attacks prisoner bus or SWAT trucks on their way to the court. When people feel the need to take justice to their own hands, many innocent lives would be risked. Corvella looked at the prisoner carriage; the people inside it are probably as frightened as the townsfolk. At this kind of situation, some individual might provoke the people to attack it on their way back to Falderen. She approached the group who was defending the carriage, offering her help to escort. "Do you need help guarding them back out of the city? I presume there would be planned attacks on the way."
Sensitive Felis ears folded themselves against the back of her skull as a riot brewed in the war torn streets of Astorea. Rotten vegetables caused the feline to recoil more than the rocks did. While the rocks could be deflected by her shield, as trashy as it was, the vegetables assaulted her heightened senses. This is what she had signed up for, though. History books and even television had prepared her for this. She couldn't leave her post simply because it felt as if someone tied a garbage back to her head, slowly suffocating her. Things were much worse for the townspeople who hurled their words and debris with distraught in their eyes. Conditions were even worse for the Falderen soldiers whom reeked of fear. How long ago had she been hurling herself at these same soldiers, putting her digital life on the line to block their attempts to cull more helpless NPCs? The memories of the crumbling towers and the blood stained grass were still fresh in her mind. For a video game the war had been so vivid, so real. Lives that could not be respawned had been lost. Be it real life or virtual reality, war was always a sickening sight. However, both sides believed they were right. Soldiers were pawns to their kings. In this case it was even more evident. Telling that to grieving people, citizens who actually lived in the city, was neigh impossible. All she could do was help pave a threshold for peace. A sigh escaped her mouth as she two players dart into a needless fight: the crowd seethed at the sight. Nemean was hesitant to leave her post but she entrusted her spot with what appeared to be a veteran soldier. Within moments she found herself standing besides another player (@Kijin Shihaku) just in time to hear him speak. She had to agree with his sentiments. "Our task is to protect the caravan; sheathe your swords unless absolutely necessary." Nemean gestured to her shield. "There are other ways to defend the soldiers than lethal force. We shouldn't be provoking the citizens further. They need time to recover." Although some losses would never be able to be forgotten. Time would soften the sting but that reminders would always be there; whether Astorea and Dormont could ever learn to accept what happened would need to be seen. Nemean was thankful to see the armor-plaid woman (@Corvella) step up to the group. She offered her a weary, half-smile. "The more help the better." She was more inclined to trust the players thrust into the world, able to see more than one point of the narrative, than the characters blinded by their emotions with such an important task. If they failed this unsteady relationships could falter even further. Thinking about this caused her skin to crawl and urged her to pivot back to look at the caravan, all too eager to return to her position by the soldiers.
Bradwynne was about to incapacitate one soldier with the blunt part of his sword when he noticed another person going to their direction, and then signaled for one soldier that he was battling with to go to his direction. The soldiers seemed to try to reason out to the man but got rebuffed by the person that the soldier and everyone with him had no choice but to obey the person and started to take guard of the carriage again. He then squinted to see who was that person, and he saw that it was one of the sub-commanders who oversaw the defenses of the south, his name was @Kijin Shihaku. Maybe that was the reason that the soldiers obeyed his words, also including the feat he performed defending the south. As he sheathed his sword and looked around, he saw a blue-haired felis who he thought was about to help out in driving the soldiers from the carriage. He then said to the felis, "Thanks for trying to help me out with this mess." He then moved towards Kijin, and then said, "Thank you very much for defusing the situation there. I was shorthanded back then, and even the soldiers who I have trusted defending the caravan turned on me. Well maybe I was a poor commander after all." He then scratched his nape, as he turned over the sigil of command to Kijin. "Maybe you could make much more use of that than I do." Two other people moved forward, one who ordered some of the soldiers to quell the populace that were throwing stones and rotten things on them, and the other imploring them not to use excessive force except when needed. Bradwynne took the later's suggestion to mind, as he then whipped the horses which were drawing the carriage, and then the caravan moved forward and out of the village. When they had left the village at a sufficient distance from it, Bradwynne then took a container that was slung on his body, and from there, took a scroll and unrolled it at the sight of the four other players. The scroll seemed to be a map of the roads and trade routes from Dormont to the border of Falderen, towards the city of Stokbon. He then pointed at a drawing of a village, and then said, "This is where we are now." He then pointed at the cross marks on the map, and then said, "These are the places where there are reported ambushes by a group of disgruntled people. Certainly we do not want to be in there or else we would not know what will happen to us." He then pointed at a road that had a few forests and mountains surrounding it, and quite free from cross marks. "This road is what we would take, as we would move towards the third fork, but we need to be careful here, here, and here." He then pointed at the areas where there could be an obstruction of view from a short distance, which should be where an ambuscade could be placed. He then pointed at the villages along the road, and then said, "We would need to also be careful while passing these villages." He then pointed at an area quite near the border of Astorea and Falderen. "We would be met by Falderen soldiers here, and here should we take over the custody of the Falderen soldiers in the caravan."
Val glared at the people. A few others arriving look like they've calmed the situation down, but she was still alert. She didn't expect people to throw rocks or rotten fruits, so she wasn't letting her guard down in case they continued to try something else. She looked towards some of the other people that had just arrived. She could vaguely remember seeing one of them about, but she didn't know the others. She bristled at the other cat-eared woman's reprimand. "It wasn't lethal! And they're the ones who are trying to hurt other people after they've already conceded." She didn't come out here intending to hurt anyone, but she had no patience for bullies. And from her perspective, there were an awful lot of them standing around with stones in hand. Still, it appeared as though things weren't quite so dire now. She looked towards the blond man who thanked her, and he looked like he was discussing something with the dark-haired man. Well, fine. Val had left the two Falderen soldiers to the side, so she quickly walked over to them and started bringing them back to the carriages. As she passed the angry crowd, she kept her head high and shield ready. Looks like plans were being made to travel as escorts. Fine with Val. She didn't know the area, so she'd leave the navigation to people more familiar with the way between here, and wherever it was that the soldiers needed to get to.
Kijin took the bauble in hand when Bradwynne offered it, turning the sigil over his palm idly as he examined it. The other man spoke briefly about his failure in command, which prompted the red-eyed man's attention. "The hearts of men often lose to their hearts during war," he said delicately as he pressed the symbol of command back toward the blonde man. "But those same men respect action, whether or not they agree with words. Lead by example, and with conviction, and your men will follow." Kijin pressed the sigil against the man's chest as he turned his head to regard Nemean with a nod. "As the lady says, place yourselves between the citizenry and the refugees. Focus on suppression, and refrain from lethal force." His gaze found Corvella next, and he nodded once more. "Your cooperation in this matter is greatly appreciated." Valdrada spoke up again, hotter than before with a passionate retort that passed blame toward the soldiers. Kijin held up a warding hand. "Let's not split hairs about the cause," he cautioned. "Here," he motioned toward the map as Bradwynne explained their best course of action. Nothing more need be said as the younger swordsman fell instantly into the mould of leader, and the mercenary backed off.
The matter was settled, that's the important thing for now. The prisoners still need to be escorted until the rendezvous point with the Falderen faction though. Corvella looked at the other four, some of which she have recognized from the defense of the Astorea. The dark-haired one was Kijin, the field commander of Southwatch company. After the south wall fell, he came to aid the east wall. She spotted the blonde swordsman on the eastwatch, but his appearance wasn't the same as before (he did look more like a girl on previous occasion). The felis was also participated in defending eastwatch, but she hasn't encountered the Yladian until this moment. Before the caravan took off from the city, Corvella took an opportunity to acquaint herself with the others. She introduced herself to the others "Although this might be a short trip, I don't think we've been properly acquainted yet. Name's Corvella" smiling, she extended her hand, expecting some small returning shake from @Kijin Shihaku, @Bradwynne, @Valdrada, and @Nemean. Regardless how they react to the introduction, she proceeded to the outside of the village with the caravan, occasionally keeping eye on the passing groups of townsfolk. After a while, the blond swordsman who's in the charge of the caravan discussed his plan with the group. After listening step by step, she would volunteer to take the front "Right here, the road narrows." she pointed at the place where there would be difficulties in sighting, as the swordsman previously noted "Should I take point to scout there first to make sure ambush weren't set in place?" she asked.
