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In the late evening, the Duchess Dianna Lomasa is riding through the outskirts of Lightholder Crossroads, her faithful guard, Arlus, in tow. The pair both look worn and tired but ride forward with eagerness.
Lucius Nepos looks rather refreshed at this hour, busily munching on a piece of bread outside of Lightholder Tavern, his helmet slung at his waist. He's talking to another Blade, this guy in the regular chain armour, before the latter party salutes and moves off.
Riding not far behind Dianna on his trusty jousting steed, Accolade, is one Norran Lomasa. He trails a bit from Arlus and Dianna, trotting along at a leisurely pace as he enjoys the evening air.
It's a dark night, despite the light of two moons above. It's unusually quiet on the road to the Lightholder crossroads from the Forest District, the wildlife seemingly absent. Perhaps because of that eerie quiet, one can hear the desperate pounding of many sets of horse hooves in the night, the plaintive creaking of wood being demanded to do too much, and the pounding of wheels against the cobblestone road. Someone is demanding too much of a carriage.
"You truly did not have to accompany all of the way back to the Castle of the Hours, Norran," Dianna says back to her fellow Lomasa, shifting in her saddle to smile at him. "Arlus is with me and we should be safe enough. I have traveled this route many times." She brushes back a strand of hair falling free from its confines. The noises don't seem to distract the Lomasa, or at least don't mean anything to her.
Now that he's done talking to whatever slack jawed lackey was just in front of him, Lucius is able to relax a little bit. He leans against a wooden column portruding from the tavern's awning, and enjoys his bread.
"Until I get an assignment, this is the closest I'll have to guard duty. I'm sure Arlus appreciates being able to relax once in awhile, doesn't he?" playfully mocks Accolade's rider of Dianna, sitting tall in his saddle as his eyes look idly around. He takes notice of the carriage, raising a brow. "Hm, a broken wheel at this time of night? Unfortunate for them..." he notes to himself.
Norran's observant proves to be prescient rather than immediately accurate, as a few heartbeats after his comment there's a thundering *CRACK* followed by a rather unpleasant sounding crack. But perhaps the more pressing concern are a handful of stifled cheers, and what looks like could be the beginnings of a small brushfire - one of the lanterns of the carriage appears to have lit some nearby foliage.
Dianna Lomasa laughs, "Well I enjoy your company along nevertheless," she replies. There is a pause, her hands wavering against her horse's reins at the continued noises. "What... what was that?" she asks, slowing her horse down a touch. The flames cause her some distress as she turns to Norran with even more bafflement and concern. "Norran, call ahead for assistance," she orders.
"Wonderful," sighs Norran, giving a shake of his head as he kicks Accolade into a light gallop northward. Raising his hand to his mouth, he releases a series of loud, ear-piercing whistles toward the direction of the Lightholder Crossings. He blows them in a specific pattern, one more-or-less classically used to signal a fire breaking out.
"Oh, that's just lovely. I suppose I'm forced to be a bloody good samaritan." Lucius mumbles to himself, stuffing the rest of the hard bread into a little pouch on his waist. He makes his way over to the main well at the double, donning his helmet as he runs. "FIRE, FIRE, FIRE!"
Norran and Diana have been slowly making their way towards Lightholder, while Lucius has just left the tavern. In the distance, from the direction of the Forest District, there appears to be a carriage crash with a small fire starting. Both Norran and Lucius have tried to rouse the locals to respond. Norran's whistles aren't well received, mostly because a blood curling shriek from the direction of the accident makes than rather difficult to make sense of, although Lucius's shouts of 'FIRE' seem to get some people excited, as there's a stirring of people from the village preparing to react. A flurry of arrows, poorly aimed in the dark, causes those brave souls to scatter for the moment. The arrows seem to land closer to Norran and Lucius than anyone else, so whomever fired them was probably trying to use sound as a general idea of their location. While the aggressors are fairly well hidden, Norran might just see the hints of a shadow moving in the distance.
When arrows start to rain down, Dianna draws up her mount and stays where she is on the road outside of the Crossroads. Arlus comes up closer to his lady and stands ready with his blade drawn. For now the pair do their best to stay out of the way and safe.
"Dianna, get the shades out of here! Arlus, protect her! Get to Lightholder and get help!" barks Norran toward Dianna and her escort, doing his best to keep Accolade under control. He gives another round of whistles - this time used as a general call for the guard - as he slips his foot out of his stirrup and dismounts from Accolade. A smack is given to the horse's rear to send it galloping off to the north for safety as Norran seeks to run into the brush toward the shadows.
The whip and snap of arrows travelling by him causes Nepos to stop immediately, drop into a crouch, clench his fists and look around for their source. "Woah!" Exclaims the soldier, reaching a few times clumsily to try and pull the shield off his back. When he realises that it's caught on the back of his belt, he rises a little bit to untangle it, shuffling briefly over to the well to try and use it as cover in the meantime. "SOUND THE WATCH ALARM! TO ARMS!" He hollers this time. Too bad he's got no horn on him, like he used to carry. He grimaces.
"Oy, boys, dere's anuddah shiny peach ovah 'ere!" comes a shout from the darkness, and all of a sudden Diana finds herself being approached by at least four thugs, seemingly wielding clubs, who are doing their best to surround her. This, however, does not go unnoticed by the intrepid Lucius Nepos, who spots them after their shout. As for Norran, he spots something out of the corner of his eye and manages to react with amazing alacrity. A bandit goes flying through the air, perhaps with the goal of tackling Norran. Instead, he manages to simply concuss himself from the sounds of it. However, another bandit is charging at the Lomassa with a spear this time.
"Um..." Dianna says, tightening her fingers on her reins, looking more than a little terrified by the fact that she's now surrounded. Arlus moves forward with a small snarl, blade held out in front of him. "You will not touch the lady," he says sternly.
The bandit that falls on the ground near Norran causes him to stare at him in a bit of confusion, but his attention is drawn away by the charging bandit with the spear. The sabre at his side is drawn at a moment's notice and in a movement that encompasses no more than a second, Norran easily side-steps the spear and lunges at his attacker. The spearman is completely caught off-guard and the saber comes to slash him deeply across his abdomen, a bloody mess pouring over the forest floor as he collapses in a heap.
"Come on. Come on!" Lucius mutters in frustration, finally yanking the shield sling completely out of its buckle and securing it to his arm. "SOMEBODY PUT THE FIRE OUT!" He /could/ go and throw water on a fire. Or he can do what he's good at, and run towards a bunch of ruffians. Of course, he does the latter, unsheathing his short sword as he sprints towards the four thugs. Looks like if he makes it quick enough he's
"There once was a lady from Aerie, and her knickers an' corset matched a fine pair..y.. She said to me, what I'd like to see, is if Lomasa can milk the dairy!" Corriden's lusty baritone singing, hideously offkey and slurred, echoes along the thouroughfare as he staggers out of the Lightholder, swinging a jug of wine as if it were a conductor's baton. That is, until he notices the fracas-- At which point some measure of sobriety is forcibly knocked into him. Is that his sister? "What the shades is going on?" Sure, bellowing is a totally awesome solution, honest it is.
In the distance, a small fire is slowly growing, but not aggressively. There's a lot of shrieking going on as well. Norran has just killed a bandit, and Diana is in the process of being surrounded while Lucius is on his way to rescue her. Success, however, brings it's own rewards. Norran killed one bandit, who has been promptly replaced with three desperate looking fellows. Lucius manages to nearly brain one bandit, knocking him out, only to have the other three simultaneously attack him. As for Corriden, his shouting earns a couple of arrows striking the ground a little too close for comfort. In the distance, the villagers have gotten water buckets ready to put out the fire, but they're still hesitant to go while there's still fighting ongoing - and the bandits seem to be interested in fanning the flames. In fact, from the looks of it those archers are about to start lighting their arrows on fire.
Dianna Lomasa continues to look around with some panic, Arlus swinging his blade a few times to try and ward off the bandits coming in toward the Lomasa.
One down, three more to go. Norran's already staring at their fallen comrade with a bit of a shocked expression, blood dripping from his grandfather's saber before he takes notice of the three others charging at him. The first man is side-stepped, the second man's swing is effortlessly ducked under and the third man's attack goes long as Norran charges for his side. His blade lashes out fluidly, sweeping through the desperate man's shoulder and lopping his arm nearly clear from the bone as it gets caught three-quarters of the way through. Pained cries ring throughout the night as Norran jerks his sword free, making ready to handle the other two.
While three cudgel bearing opponents is certainly better than four, it's still quite a concern. Lucius Nepos manages to turn away two of the blows with his tower shield, but the third one just barely squeaks by and hits him square in the shoulder, at the same time he's trying to pivot a foot to face the opponent better. That sends him tumbling down to the ground, but the Guardian Leader has the presence of mind to fall gracefully, on his back, with his shield and sword still presented towards his assailants. "BLADES, TO ARMS!" He tries yelling again. He tries using the rim of his now horizontal shield to bash at the nearest antagonist's legs, to give himself some space and time to get up.
Ah, arrows. Arrows are what you fire at someone sane. Or someone sober. As it is, the massive-if-somewhat-intoxicated Lomasa interprets them a completely different way, since his sister is being accosted and all. He does wear iron half-plate, which is at least something, but most people might balk about running into a fight armed with a jug of wine-- He might too, if it wasn't his sister, and if he wasn't a former blade who hadn't just heard the call to arms. With a roar the black-haired Lomasa goes after the nearest bandit with a large jug of wine, murder in his gaze and with a berserker's insensibility towards his own wellbeing.
Corriden, in his drunken haze, manages to save Diana from her own bodyguard, smashing the winejug on Arius head. The bodyguard falls unceremoniously to the ground, quite unconscious. This leaves Corriden the problem of two more rapidly approaching bandits. Norran still has two bandits to deal with, and Lucius successfully knocks one of the bandits off his feet, but that leaves two more still attacking. That, and the fact that there are flaming arrows launching at both Norran and Lucius.
Two men remain in his vicinity, and another two men lay in the dirt bleeding out. His clothing covered in crimson that will be just terrible to get out, the Lomasa with a saber dripping with blood easily avoids the two men as they come at him in tandem. The first blow is ducked, and the second man's attack is parried with the flat side of the saber, Norran taking advantage of the amateurish attack by delivering a sideways arc to the bandit's jugular, his face covered in blood and dirt as he grits his teeth in focus. Arteries are severed as the saber finds its target, grinding into the bone with even more blood splattering into the brush while the sword is pulled out of its victim. "Surrender now, you are in over your heads!" he bellows, moving for the next bandit as he tumbles out of the way of incoming arrows.
Dianna Lomasa seems to have regained enough of her wits to at least dismount from her horse, ducking down low to avoid any stray arrows that may have been coming in her direction. As Corriden smashes into Arlus, she lets out a small shriek. "Corri, move out of the way," the little Lomasa shouts, half with worry, half with frustration. Poor Arlus isn't moving for the moment outside of a twitch to show he's still alive.
Having shimmied away on his back, the Guardian Leader is able to get up, taking a flaming arrow into the shield as well as two more cudgel hits. Now it's his turn to go on the offensive. "I suggest," he says as he falls into a low stance, "that you look at your friend's broken ankle!" Instead of striking with his sword, though, he does another shield charge. For some reason the Blade is trying not to go lethal.
How tricky, that one bandit dressing in Lomasa guard colors! Corriden grabs the man's sword, a manic smile plastered across his face as he goes after the next bandit like a rabid ferret, although you know it's all a bit blurry, anyways, it's surely a bandit. His best guess is the other two hacking their way in are on his side, so he goes after what he's (pretty sure) is a bona-fide bandit instead of a bandit disguised in Lomasa house guard colors. Since Norran's got the market cornered on cool catchphrases, he simply bellows with some slurring, "WHAT HE SAID, ya shadin' plonkers!" Also unfortunately, he seems to have shifted his sister into a 'damsel in distress' category and is too squiffy to realize he just coshed her bodyguard.
After Lucius manages to brain the bandit with his shield (oops), the two remaining bandits begin to flee, as do the two by Norran. Corriden manages to run another bandit through, though the second, who looks an awful lot like the bandit with a sword sticking through it, attempts to attack the enormous Lomasa. In the meantime, there's a lot more arrows streaking at Norran and Lucius to cover the bandit retreat.
Dianna Lomasa's fingers grip at her horse's mane as she hunkers down as close as possible to the larger animal. She visibly trembles, and no words seem to be coming to her.
More flaming arrows incoming, and Norran gets the hell out of the barrage, making his way to dash through the brush toward their origin. Hearing a familiar voice, he lets out a groan, "Oh Light's sweet nectar, Corriden." He blinks, then, yelling as he runs, "Err, uh, yes! Corriden! The, er, invincible Corriden Lomasa has arrived! I hear he's 10 feet tall, breathes fire when he's had too many and is a total madman! I hear, he, er, dismembers his victims after he's bashed their skulls in, then skins them alive! And, uh, rapes them! Even the men...no, /especially/ the men! You should flee while you still have your virtue! Even if you're dead, he doesn't care!"
"Get on your bloody horse, friend!" Lucius yells to Norran, whom he obviously doesn't recognize in the heat of things. "Chase 'em down!" Lucius begins to run to catch up with the two fleeing bandits, though the fact that he's holding out his shield defensively slows his speed considerably.
Corriden Lomasa very nearly drops his sword, but by dint of single-mindedness manages, just barely, to not look back at his cousin in absolute horror. No, he totally goes with it. Although nobody could ever accuse him of being an eloquent drunk, his primal roar of "SHITFIRE AND BUGGERY!" certainly takes the cake for volume and conviction as he staggers like a mad bog ape after the fleeing bandits. He's not going to catch them, sure, but since the adrenilane is starting to burn away some of the alcohol, he figures it's better to go towards bandits than back towards his family. The bandits are safer, after all.
The bandits have scattered, except for the one that Corriden manages to trample on his way after the others. The villagers from the Crossholders move to start putting out the fire.
Yep, all of the men go off chasing the retreating bandits, leaving Dianna on her own, still looking absolutely terrified. Arlus groans on the ground, but still hasn't come to. "Norran! Corriden!" the young Duchess calls after both Lomasa men, straightening a bit and taking in a shaking breath.
As the bandits retreat, Norran slows his run to bend over and finally breathe easily, hands on his knees. "Thank the Light, it worked!" he gasps, bellowing a loud, boisterous laugh in victory before he takes notice of the bloody sword in his hand, the laughing subsiding as he stares at it. He reaches to sheath the saber away, making his way back to Dianna and the others. As he nears, he glances over at the unconscious Arlus and then back to the others. "Is everyone alright? ... who got him?"
Lucius Nepos isn't about to sink into the post battle rush of happiness, yet, though he does come to a stop when he realizes there's no way he's going to chase those bandits down. He sheaths his sword and turns to the civilians. "Someone, get some buckets onto those flames!" He points towards the still burning fire from the carriage. "Where is the bloody night's watch? This is Blades territory!" Nepos is raging, and extremely loud, and angry. He storms off towards where he supposes he can find the watch.
Corriden turns around, incidentally stomping right back over the poor bastard he managed to (accidentally) trample and waves cheerily at Dianna. "Hey sis! How ya doing?" He begins heading back, peeking under his half-plate and grimacing as some of the pain finally starts getting past his intoxication, which is fading into a nasty headache with every step he takes. "Er.. Uh.. Oh, right, congrats on being Duchess! I was celebrating your promotion." He notices things are on fire, only just now, and winces a bit at the sight, trying to collect his jumbled thoughts into coherence. Well, that's commoner work, anyways. Where'd his wine go and surely this isn't his sword.. "Cousin Norran! Good thinking, old boy! Although I think they were already running." Seeing Arlus, the dots slowly connect, and he offers his best, most winsome smile to his sister, hiding the purloined sword behind his back far, far too late to be even remotely convincing. "Oh, ah, him.. Yes. Well. Bandits you know."
The fire gets put out, and Dianna is saved, but not all is happily ever after. The smoldering remains of the carriage have been thoroughly looted, the horses stolen, the carriageman slain, and the noblewoman inside raped and murdered.
Seeing nobody in the immediate sight, Lucius returns to the scene of his fight - where he knocked two of his assailants out of the fight. He drags them, one by one, to the closest spot near the carriage while still safe. One of them screams horribly, clutching at his mangled leg. "Shut up, you fool, or it'll be worse than the gallows for you. I'll tell them you were Touched." Apparently Lucius isn't in a friendly mood. He grabs some rope from the carriage's wreckage, whatever can be salvaged, and begins to cut it up with his small dagger. With that, it's wrapped around their hands and feet.
"What? Running already? No, no. I'm pretty confident the ploy is what did it. Pretty confident," assures Norran of Corriden with a nod to himself, glancing over to Arlus. "Bandits? Yes, they're quite...yes..." He grimaces taking note of the decimated carriage, shaking his head slowly. "Got here a little too late, it seems, but we hurt them back. The Blades will have to tend to those who got away. They'll have to identify the dead, the House that suffered this one won't be happy. Hopefully it wasn't one of ours," he notes with a somber tone, the blood-soaked Baron accepting Dianna's hug and returning a comforting one while a hand reaches to pat her head, looking over to Lucius. "Guardian Nepos, wasn't it? Thank you for helping my Cousin, I didn't know there were more ahead. I tried to get them to run to safety while I distracted them, if you weren't there...thank you."
Corriden Lomasa takes the opportunity to dump the incriminating sword by the bodyguard, grinning apologetically to Norran. "Ey, you did better'n me.." He looks pointedly at Dianna in Norran's arms and adds, "Very much better, apparently. Take care of 'er, ol' man. I think I need to go pass out in a ditch somewhere, now."