Elendor
Battle and Blood
A final battle on the banks of the River Poros and the Haradrim retreat, while afterwards Gondor tries to heal her many wounded.
Sort Date: no date set
Location: Harondor
Game Date: February 3046
Description: Crossing of Poros River, Narakshi Camps
Along the sparsely wooded south bank are a series of tribal camps which extend some distance to either side of the Harad Road. Many pale colored tents and pavillions are grouped in circular clusters. Before most of the pavillions are poles set deeply into the dry earth and upon these are impaled dried up human and orc heads, scalps, and various other kinds of grizly trophies of war.
The Harad road here has become almost impassiable with the herds of loose livestock. They are carefully tended by mounted and armed Narakshi Outriders who watch alertly. Long legged dogs also roam the camps individually or in packs and are quick to give alarm.
To the north the Poros spreads out in its wide banks, forming what looks to be an easy ford. The remains of several wagons jut up out of the water, suggesting otherwise. To the south the thin grassland gives way to desert.
(To pass through ICly, please +mail Umbarlords and Hyn.)
[Slik'koo(#29779)] This time, their is not haughty entrance from the Assassin of Farside. He growls and runs his fingers at the edges of the once shiny Gondor mail. Pulling forth a large sword he braces it on his shoulder and looks around. There are no snide comments from the assassin, only determination.
Amgad nods "So it seems we were correct to think as we did." he says almost to himself. He shifts slightly listening to the talk of the plans laid in place. The black guard looks to each in turn.
[Mystery_Knight(#28406)]
Alphros nods his head as he listens, but then he notes the approach of Slik'koo. He gestures to the three -- Azradi, Su'ad, and Slik'koo, and Amgad also... an impromptu council of captains. Behind him gather a few other trusted Corsairs, bearing weapons and banners. All the arms of present Umbar are displayed, including the White Tree and the Raven. There is one final one, unfurled.
"Our task his done here," he says simply. "Our anti-crusade now a crusade of its own... to regain what is rightfully ours. The land of Stone. I have promised you all reward for your loyalty and for your deeds, and you shall have it. You as well, Amgad of Black," he notes to the Black Guard, "who have remained here till the end for Umbar's good, even when others of your Tower have fled back to the city in haste."
[Slik'koo(#29779)] Still the assassin says nothing, but nods to Alphros as he listens in. Back at the assassin's tent the small group arms themselves after certain fortifications are in place.
[Azradi(#20135)]
Glancing to the assassin, Azradi gives the man a silent nod of her head. Her attention is drawn back to her brother as he speaks. Occasionally, her curious gaze travels to the unfurled banner.
[Bor(#30834)]
There have been many dawns upon the Poros and there will be many thereafter this one passes but as the light filters across the river and its banks for this day, it picks up a mighty glitter. The glitter of steel.
For assembled to the north is a mighty force: mounted Knights, cloaked Rangers, and armored Hostsmen alike. And at the break of this dawn, they stand together without stealth or pretense, with war writ upon their faces.
On horseback at the fore of the Order of the Swan is the Knight-Captain Bor, horn in hand. Not a day ago, the horns of the Corsairs were heard in the camps of Gondor, now the horns of Gondor answer that challenge.
"DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!"
[Su'ad(#20109)]
Su'ad listens and bows to Alphros' words in gratitude. "I thank you, my Lord. There is much to do..." She glances back to the battlefield. "Even after today." The horns of Gondor sound their challenge. "Not a moment too soon." she mutters. Her hand goes to the hilt of her sword, but it stays where it is for now. "If I may take my leave, Your Highness." She bows low, and her mouth pulls to a tight, unreadable smile.
[Thingalad(#32030)]
Thingalad comes across the river with his fellows, his two-handed warhammer resting on his shoulder as he marches along.
[Mystery_Knight(#28406)]
Alphros stirs as the dawn sheds its light upon the assembled foes for a moment he seems to forget then all else.
But the camps of Umbar are quick enough to respond. Marshals grab their horns and let ring cries in answer workers and labourers scurry away from the fortifications and their toils, fleeing to the south or to where the trains of Southron folk are departing into the west. Crusaders and Corsairs and tribesmen and warriors from other Towers rush to the barricade battlements. Weapons are made ready.
"Gondor comes! Be ready, men and women of the South!"
[Faramir(#28937)]
Amongst the Rangers, Faramir establishes his company in a supporting role, and several men of Ithilien are readying their longbows in response to their captain. Others among them have swords drawn, ready to engage the enemy.
[Slik'koo(#29779)] As the horn sounds, Slik'koo waits for everyone to leave before he too is gone. To the dark tent he goes, as a sharp whistle calls forth the Assassins of Haradrim. Most wield a short sword or a pair daggers, together the group leaves for the battle field.
Ceredir is among the men in the Company of Ithilien, and though he has his sword drawn, there is a longbow at his back should that prove the better strategy at first. He looks to the Lord Captain for guidance in the battle.
Amgad nods. "For Harad and the darklord. Good captain." the black guard speaks, his hand to his side bringing with a ring his scimitar is unsheethed and held at ready. He moves to form up with the others.
[Azradi(#20135)]
With narrowed eyes, Azradi notes the coming forces of Gondor. Lipes pressed in a grim line, the Corsair reaches behind her to retrieve her shield, hefting it firmly on her left arm. With a soft hiss of steel, she draws her scimitar. "It appears we must delay our homecoming a bit longer, brother."
[Arathis(#30050)]
Among the requian of Amroth rides the Lord Isilrim. Blade rising in horn's echo towards the Southrons, he follows its point.
[Su'ad(#20109)]
Su'ad hops down off the platform now, and hurries to get her shield, strapping it on. Then she draws her sword, and finds a place among the ranks of the Southrons. She has to run to make it.
[Bor(#30834)]
The Gondorian charge does not come with any great immmediacy.
First, from behind the lines of the Hosts and their skilled counterparts in the Company of Ithilien come a barrage of arrows, some lit with fire to burn away at the newly-constructed wooden fortifications of Harad.
[Faramir(#28937)]
"Rangers! Make your bowshot count, and waste them not upon the defences." Faramir smoothly draws an arrow and sends it arcing across the sky, seeking a gap in the fortifications with deadly speed. Several other veteran Rangers do the same, while the rest of the Company of Ithilien draw their swords to join in the charge.
[Bor(#30834)]
As Bor's horncall dies upon the wind, he draws forth his blade.
He turns his head back briefly and says, "For Elphir."
And then the Knight-Captain charges and with him goes his Order too.
[Daerien(#21777)]
Daerien still has said nothing. Staying close by the other men of the Garden of Ithilien. Loosening his blade in the scabbard and crouching down, prepared for a fight if need be. His blade drawn with a ragged hiss, the second hand blade catching ont he leather before being wrenched free and clad firmly in his fist he joins in the charge without once uttering a word or call to battle.
[Mystery_Knight(#28406)]
There are a few cries as unready Corsairs or fleeing workmen are caught by the arrows of Gondor others duck behind the barricades, erected to protect the Southrons from just this, even as a few lesser fires begin to brood amongst the heavy wood and sand of the Umbarean defenses.
An attendant Crusader brings Alphros his war-helm. The would-be King of Gondor dons it, looking to the north and drawing his curved Numenorean blade.
...then Faramir's arrow finds that attendant Crusader. He topples from the palisades with a death scream.
Letting his sword hang by a cord on his belt, unscabbarded, Ceredir pulls his bow in front and strings it. An arrow is set to the string, and the Master Scout aims, shooting high into the air so as to try to avoid the men of Gondor. He does not rush forward with the charge yet.
[Arathis(#30050)]
"For Elphir!"
The cries resound from the Swansmen, Arathis among them, ere giving way to the thunder of their hooves.
[Thingalad(#32030)]
Thingalad hefts his warhammer and moves along in the front ranks of the Company of Ithilien, his mask left aside so that all might see his war face and be afraid of him as he surges forward in grim silence.
[Su'ad(#20109)] Su'ad raises her shield above her like an umbrella, to fend off the Gondorian rain of wood and steel. "Put out the fires!" she says, but only knocks out the nearest one to her with her sword. Then she peeks beyond the battlements, peering out across the river. Her lips move constantly now, perhaps in prayer.
[Mystery_Knight(#28406)]
As the warriors of Gondor -- the Swan-knights of Dol Amroth at their fore -- charge upon the fortifications and the Southrons defending them, a dark shadow descends.
From a source unmeasured by any, the dark silhouette of a Black Numenorean clad from head to toe in midnight armour approaches. A challenge issues forth from behind his raven-winged helm:
The Crow-knight cries: "Meet your doom, Men of Gondor!"
[Azradi(#20135)]
Offering her brother a long, silent unreadable look, Azradi breaks away to follow Su'ad, leaping the last few steps of the platform. Holding her shield protectively against the rain of arrows, she runs and comes to a skidding halt beside the other Corsair woman takeing her place at the barricade.
[Slik'koo(#29779)] Hefting his greatsword, Slik'koo growls and lets loose a howl. "Come out come out, O' Dagger Wielder." The Harad Assassin calls looking for revenge on the Ceredir. As arrows come, Slik'koo loses his cloak having been pinned down by a few of the swan-feather shafts. In all it's unholy glory, Slik'koo searches around him for the dagger wielding Gondorian.
Amgad shifts slightly weapon held at ready. He raises the calls and moves forward towards the bericade ready to defend it against the oncoming attacks. He holds his eyes dart here and there a face still steady though.
[Amrundirn(#29212)]
The Ranger Amrundirn eyes the great-hammer in the grasp of the man next to him an eyebrow raised above his mask. He edges away sideways slightly, shield and sword both raised at the ready.
[Arathis(#30050)]
Tumult heralds the Lord Isilrim into the fray: his sable warhorse, glossed by the waters below, crashes its hooves in dash for the Southron foe.
His bass launches a crooked laugh at the emergence of the Crow-Knight, warping his words to follow: "Fly, fiend! For these waters belong to the Swan."
And thereafter, a passing strike glitters, attempting to employ the destrier's momentum against the breast of the Numenorean.
[Faramir(#28937)]
Faramir and a small group of Rangers remain aloof from the melee, and have instead tasked themselves with picking out the enemy defenders amongst the fortifications. A number of arrows lie quivering amongst the wooden fortifications as the group of Ithilien skirmishers come to the flank of the melee. Faramir turns, espying the black-clad enemy Knight, and another arrow is sent speeding forth from the bow of the captain.
Arathis attacks Mystery_Knight with his Longsword and lightly wounds him!
Another arrow nocked against his bow string, Ceredir is in the back ranks of the men of Ithilien, his face masked, shooting arrows into the sky and toward those arrayed at the barricades. One last arrow he has now, and this he looses before the men of Gondor reach the barricades, arcing it high.
[Bor(#30834)]
As the Order of the Swan flies across the Poros at breakneck pace, there is little to warrant the trap that descends upon the first of their lines. They are almost upon the south bank when their Captain's horse descends into a deep pit and the man himself is flung forth. A spear flies up into the rider behind him!
"Trap!" yells Bor as he hits the ground.
[Thingalad(#32030)]
Thingalad swats here and there at any Southron that comes near him with his hammer. He waits for someone to give him battle.
[Mystery_Knight(#28406)]
As the trap takes the Swan-knights by surprise, the Black Numenorean warrior still finds himself face to face with his foe: Arathis, who has made it through by chance alone. The Isilrim blow buffets him back, but the dark knight holds fast, and he answers with only:
"No longer!"
His dark mace is swung for Arathis's chest.
Mystery_Knight attacks Arathis with his Mace and mildly wounds him!
[Mystery_Knight(#28406)]
"Fight, men of Umbar!" cries Alphros from atop the battlements, arrows whizzing about.
In the south, beyond the fortifications, the camp of Umbar is fleeing to the west with greater speed, the steady and carefully-planned preparations abandoned. Now the camp followers and labourers simply retreat as quickly as they can, leaving tents and other things behind to fall victim to growing fires.
[Daerien(#21777)]
As silent as a smelly bout of flatus, as implaccable as pickled pork, as skilled at battle as a butterfly, still Daerien advances to fight, or to die, or to do both. His blade doesn't reflect the light, it barely even absorbs what little glimmer of faint light that exists. Charging hard upon the heels of his comrades he runs hard unto the fray attacking at the nearest target.
As the fight is brought to the men of Gondor, Ceredir slings his bow to his back and unsheaths a long dagger. He is soon in the thick of it, slitting the bellies of the assasins.
[Arathis(#30050)]
A war bark escapes Arathis at the call of his Captain, albeit its wind cut short from a blow upon his chest. Some few links about his breast are lost, crimson emerging from beneath, ere the Swan-Knight tightens within his saddle.
Rearing his destrier forwards with a hard pull of his reins, the Swan-Knight bends towards the Crow, attempting to employ the mild gain in height for a downward thrust upon his opponent's belly.
Arathis attacks Mystery_Knight with his Longsword and mildly wounds him!
[Mystery_Knight(#28406)]
The Crow-knight is buffeted once again by Arathis's blow, though it scarcely buffets his formidable armour. "Turn back, Knight of the false Lords," answers the faceless Black Numenorean, lifting his mace above his helmed head in both hands. "Turn back or fall as those before you!"
The black mace crashes down towards Arathis's shoulder.
Mystery_Knight attacks Arathis with his Mace and moderately wounds him!
[Su'ad(#20109)]
Su'ad is encouraged by the success of the trap, and as the men of Gondor struggle to be free of it, she lets out a war cry and charges forward, prepared to put an end to as many as possible before they recover. She slices the neck of one, cutting nearly all the way through. Thus bathed red in blood, the Harad War Captain continues looking for new victims.
[Slik'koo(#29779)] One of the eight assassins fall, and Slik'koo hears his dying screams. Looking towards the falling Assassin, he notices his the Masked Gondorian. "Hmm, I know that dagger," He growls and looks onwards to Ceredir cutting a path towards him.
Amgad rushing forward the man of black tower fights his through the crowed. He looks forward to his new opponant as he rushes forwards his scimitar gleeming in the soft light as he swings it.
Amgad attacks Thingalad with his Scimitar, but he misses by a mile.
[Faramir(#28937)]
As the battle lines engage, armoured Hostmen fight alongside the Knight and the Ranger. Still many are freeing themselves from the trap, though some fortunate few rush forward to support their comrades who have made it through the gauntlet of spears. And while this continues, Faramir and his hand-picked band of Rangers are filling the sky with a dozen fire-arrows as some of the defenders evacuate.
[Thingalad(#32030)]
Thingalad attacks another Southron and does not notice Amgad's attack until it's right on top of him. The Man of Gondor ducks though he doesn't really need to and then cuts back again with his hammer to strike a blow to Amgad's midsection to get the Southron off!
Thingalad attacks Amgad with his Maul Hammer and severely wounds him!
[Arathis(#30050)]
"Fell! You speak none your own--." The words of the Isilrim Knight suddenly silence his shield arm falls limp before the might of his opponent's blow, and his sword scurries to defend the limb.
Thus he cuts diagonally for the Crow-Knight, beginning at the struck shoulder, so as to fend off any other blow towards the same.
Shaking yet, his shield rises meekly in recovery.
Arathis attacks Mystery_Knight with his Longsword, but he misses by a handspan.
[Azradi(#20135)]
"Farside! Salkathorim!" Azradi bellows, holding her scimitar aloft, glimmering in the light of the breaking day. She too jumps over the barricade and rushes into the lines of Gondorians. Her flashing eyes fall upon the noisy scout Darien and his un-shiny blade.
She wastes no time with words, but goes immediately to action, swinging her curved blade in from the right, aimed towards his neck.
One opponent is like another, and Ceredir steadily and patiently works his way through the Assasins until at last Slik'koo is before him. Rushing the man, he dodges sideways at the last minute--first left, then right, to try to avoid his sword, a slash of the dagger toward the throat given as he races by.
You attack Slik'koo with your Dagger...
[Combat(#13388)->Ceredir]
Your attack against Slik'koo moderately wounds him!
Azradi attacks Daerien with her Scimitar and moderately wounds him!
[Amrundirn(#29212)]
Amrundirn is next in line to Su'ad's welcome -- he comes presently, unscathed from the maws of the hidden trap: out of the ash and into the fire as it would seem. He pauses thus steadying himself.
[Slik'koo(#29779)] As the dagger slashes open along his collar bone, Slik'koo howls and swings the greatsword taken from one of the fallen Gondor. Using his lithe form he throws his meager weight with the swing aimed at maming Ceredir's leg.
Slik'koo attacks you with his Greatsword!...
...and he misses!
[Mystery_Knight(#28406)]
The impact of the Crow-knight's blow is enough that this time, the dread figure avoids Arathis's swing. "Laermon," he states. "Arendil." The Black Numenorean warrior prepares to strike again. "Phazganun." And he swings from his right, this time for Arathis's midsection. "Who is the one who shall fall to my Doom, now?"
Mystery_Knight attacks Arathis with his Mace, but he misses by a mile.
[Su'ad(#20109)]
Overhead, it seems to Su'ad like a heavenly meteor shower passes to the south, only the stars all fall on the pallisaides behind her, slowly catching portions of the battlements on fire. With each new fire though, she can see the enemy more clearly. She swipes at the sword arm of one opponent, cleaving it deeply to the bone, but moving on to the next man...who is unaffected by the trap. She curses, and swings her sword in a hacking motion, downward toward his torso.
Su'ad attacks Amrundirn with her Scimitar, but Amrundirn parries the attack with his shield!
Though his weapon is meager compared to the Assasin's, Ceredir is quick on his feet, and he sidesteps, the greatsword swooshing through the air as the Master Scout now comes up behind Slik'koo. The dagger is thrust again, into the kidney area if he can manage it.
[Daerien(#21777)]
Daerien is hurt, the blade of a Haradrim impacting along the reinforced leather bands that form a semi rigid shell across the more vital or organs. Impacting with a sickening crunch, something beneath either breaking or giving way but the leather holds at least enough to prevent the injury from causing a gushing of blood from along his shoulder blade but even so, his shield drops slightly, elevation becoming impossible, as, at least for the moment, the muscles refuse to respond to their call. As the chaos envelopes him he lashes out, without anger, or skill, but just attempting to stave off another blow such as the one he just recieved as grey eyes attempt to find out from which direction the last attack came. The sword stabbed forward, the hook bent tip probing for flesh at belly level as it jabs forward and then slashes back to attempt a guard.
You attack Slik'koo with your Dagger...
[Combat(#13388)->Ceredir]
Your attack against Slik'koo lightly wounds him!
Daerien attacks Azradi with his Longsword, but he misses by a hair.
[Naureen(#30298)] What looks like a battle in the favor of Gondor's huge numbers, despite the Haradrim forces having the advantage of fighting on home turf, is just about to see some change. From the east, behind the lines of Southron soldiers, is a monstrous creature who comes lumbering towards the battle. On the back of this tusked beast are dozens of arches with bows and arrows in hand, ready to take aim upon being given the signal. And the signal comes as soon as they are within range. Shots fly into the air, in unison, and are aimed at the pale-faced enemy.
[Slik'koo(#29779)] As another score is gained by Ceredir as Slik'koo's back is bruised by the dagger, his new ring mail taking most of the blow. Hefting his sword, Slik'koo makes an overhanded cleave hoping to score a hit on Ceredir's shoulder.
Slik'koo attacks you with his Greatsword!...
...and he misses!
[Arathis(#30050)]
Steeling himself, the Lord Isilrim retreats within his saddle, deftly skirting the incoming blow of the Black Numenorean. In retort, he thrusts his blade for the gut of his opponent, launching from the bottom corner of his shield.
Thus he answers: "You challenge now a Knight sworn to Ulmo, fiend."
Arathis attacks Mystery_Knight with his Longsword, but he misses by a handspan.
[Amrundirn(#29212)]
But lo! The Ranger Amrundirn isn't as unstable as he would perhaps appear: the curved sword makes a light thumping noise scarce overheard in the din of the battle, as it is deflected by his quickly raised round-shield. He hews quickly at Su'ad's side in turn though the blow seems weak -- restrained?
Amrundirn attacks Su'ad with his Longsword and moderately wounds her!
Ceredir ducks down and out of the way again of the blade, slashing out widly with his dagger, aiming for the Assasin's mid-section. He does not back up from the fight, as staying close keeps him out of the way of his enemy's sword.
You attack Slik'koo with your Dagger...
[Combat(#13388)->Ceredir]
Your attack against Slik'koo moderately wounds him!
[Mystery_Knight(#28406)]
"You would not be the first pawn of the false gods to fall to me," answers the Crow-knight with a swiftness defied by the bulk of his armour. "You face now a Knight sworn to the Great Lord himself, Mulkher, who you call Morgoth in your lesser tongue."
"Name yourself if you dare, coward!" he challenges and swings in answer, for Arathis's helmed head.
Mystery_Knight attacks Arathis with his Mace, but he misses by a mile.
[Azradi(#20135)]
But the blade's point finds no soft flesh to rend. Azradi of Aglarrama leaps back, bending away from thrust. Even as she does so, she brings her scimitar in from high, slashing at Darien's right shoulder, "Is that the best you can do!?" she taunts, grinning wickedly at the Gondorian.
Azradi attacks Daerien with her Scimitar, but Daerien parries the attack with his Longsword!
[Bor(#30834)]
Blades swing and blood soaks the banks of the Poros, and into the river too. Finding a respite from the close quarters, Bor looks to the battlements.
Espying the Captain, he calls, "Come, Alphros. Let us settle this affair."
[Slik'koo(#29779)] A bruised rib, perhaps two or three, from Ceredir's newest score. Taking a deep breath, the Assassin seems to settle himself down and spreads his hands against the haft of the blade before slicing at Ceredir's torso.
Slik'koo attacks you with his Greatsword!...
...and he misses!
Amgad misses in his attempt, and moves to step back but it's no good the hammer slams into his chest cracks of ribs and a sharp out-take of break. The man of harad is lifted off his feet and back clearing a barrier and landing sprawled on the ground out cold. There is blood from his mouth and he looks rather worse for wear.
[Su'ad(#20109)]
The sword of Amrundirn sinks into Su'ad's side, and she cries out in pain before knocking it away. Her armor absorbed some of the blow, but the gash that remains flows a red trickle down her side. More carefully now, she thrusts the scimitar in a stabbing motion, starting low but aiming upwards toward Amrndirn's navel.
Su'ad attacks Amrundirn with her Scimitar, but Amrundirn parries the attack with his shield!
[Faramir(#28937)]
Nearing the fortifications which they have begun to set alight, the Rangers give a wide berth to the entrance of the mumakil. Some, including Faramir, arch their bows upward and return the volley, seeking out the riders upon the great beast's back.
[Mystery_Knight(#28406)]
Alphros gazes down at Bor from the battlements on high. Already a glow more ghastly than the dawn rises behind him the camps of Umbar are beginning to burn. But all the would-be King of Gondor says is, "Let us," more softly for anyone save himself to hear.
He descends from above, with his honour guard who rush to meet the Gondorians in battle. "Make good on your claims, Bragollach," he dares Bor as he charges for the Knight-Captain.
[Thingalad(#32030)]
Thingalad clears Amgad out of the way and lifts his hammer up as he calls out, "DENETHOR!" He sheds his grim silence as his hammer sings with each swing.
[Daerien(#21777)]
With the blade so quickly returned to the defensive, Daerien is able to let the scimitar clash against the flat, barely gouging another reft in the antique metal, but at least, this time it doesn't strike flesh or cause injury, though the vibrations down the length are enough to set his hand to stinging tingles. Still the scout speaks not a word, his eyes having at last located the one who assaults his body and still without skill he attempts to drive the individual away, the tip of his sword once more lashing out quickly like the tongue of the serpent which adorns so many of the battle banners of the Lords of Umbar, towards the belly, the core of the foe.
Daerien attacks Azradi with his Longsword, but he misses by a mile.
Instead of backing away from Slik'koo's swing, Ceredir rushes forward, closing with the man and staying clear of his blade. His own dagger is now thrust with the weight of his momentum toward the Assasin's throat. He is deadly silent as he fights--no words, no song, no expression other than clear, cold eyes.
You attack Slik'koo with your Dagger...
[Combat(#13388)->Ceredir]
Slik'koo parries your attack with his Greatsword!
[Amrundirn(#29212)]
Up first, now down Amrundirn's shieldarm works swiftly, but his posture is broken by the force of the blow landed on his wooden ward: he is pushed back a step, and takes one more backwards to regain his footing.
[Arathis(#30050)]
Even as he shifts his helm away, a great laugh buds from the Dunadan Knight, carried upon song's lilt. The same tempers his tongue above the din of steel: "Heed, foe! The name of my blade is Inalantadil, forged from a star fallen west of Numenor for the Heavens battle here with Gondor.
"May the Windlord carry my name: Arathis, Lord of the Isilrim. Speak, enemy!"
With this, the same sword thunders for the sword-arm of the Black Numenorean, borne atop a new strength.
Arathis attacks Mystery_Knight with his Longsword, but Mystery_Knight parries the attack with his Mace!
[Su'ad(#20109)] Su'ad's attack is thwarted once again, much to her frustration, but she keeps at it, slicing now low toward his Amrndirn's thigh. "For Farside!" she cries!, dancing to the side afterwards to avoid retribution.
[Azradi(#20135)]
The Corsair Azradi is not where the Scout hoped her to be. For even as her blow is parried, she is dancing to the left and thrusting, point first towards Darien's flank - seeking a gap between his armor. She smiles. "Surrender, Gondorian. Come give homage to your rightful King."
Su'ad attacks Amrundirn with her Scimitar, but she misses by a mile.
Azradi attacks Daerien with her Scimitar, but she misses by a hair.
[Slik'koo(#29779)] As the dagger comes in for the sweet kiss of death, Slik'koo's blade comes up as well. An eerie ring of steel on steel comes as the greatsword blocks the dagger. Ready for his counter attack, Slik'koo punches at Ceredir with both hands still gripping his sword.
Slik'koo attacks you with his Bare Hands!...
...and he misses!
[Bor(#30834)]
Amidst fire and flame does the Knight-Captain, Bor Bragollach, circle the would-be King, Alphros anAzulada. His longsword shines in his hand menacingly.
"This," he intones, sweeping his blade to indicate the fortifications, "Is what a King constructs to defend himself from his enemy?"
The Swansman laughs.
[Mystery_Knight(#28406)]
The Crow-knight laughs, and darkly. "And so may another false Lord of Gondor fall to me. Perish by my hand, Arathis of Isilrim, and know that your false realm's time is at an end!"
The Black Numenorean turns aside Inalantadil with his mace, and then strikes again for Arathis's armoured chest.
Mystery_Knight attacks Arathis with his Mace and moderately wounds him!
[Daerien(#21777)]
Without his attempt to cause serious injury, Daerien is easily out of the range of the scimitar. Not even having to dodge, he is just easily standing there, grey eyes wide watching the blade pass him by. But still without speaking, there is merriment for a change in his gaze as he looks upon his foe, and there is an insult in the salute he offers the woman. The blade held up over his head, and then stepping forward one pace he swings downward, as if to cleave Azradi in twain, though again, at the last moment he turns the blade as if, before even attempting to make contact he is pulling it back on the defensive.
Daerien attacks Azradi with his Longsword, but Azradi parries the attack with her shield!
[Naureen(#30298)]
The mumak is big. The mumak is tall. And the arrows of Gondor Rangers? Well, they are really just a tickle to the beast. Archers of Harad again notch the arrows and take another aim at the enemy, as the beast is lead closer to the battle by a dark-eyed and maniacal rider who sits right behind the creature's head. This willy mumak rider is careful as he edges close, but he is cognizant of the trap that is set and stays a safe distance away from it.
Amgad's shout of pain is heard by a keen ear on the beast, who makes it his personal mission in life to help his fellowman. With deadly intent, he targets the Black Tower man's opponent and sends arrows his way.
Ceredir half turns, the blow, if anything, glancing off his upper arm harmlessly. At the same time, his right hand slams out, seeking to thrust his dagger between his enemy's armor and into the flesh of the man's gut.
You attack Slik'koo with your Dagger...
[Combat(#13388)->Ceredir]
Your attack against Slik'koo lightly wounds him!
[Thingalad(#32030)]
Thingalad drops and rolls out of the way at oncoming arrows, the darts landing in the dirt where he stood moments before. The scout keeps his wits about him and keeps moving to present a target uneasy to hit.
[Mystery_Knight(#28406)]
"One does not build a great wall overnight, Bragollach. Or are all your insults but empty barbs that defy logic grasped by other common men? Is that how far your empty nobility has fallen?"
"Strike at me while you still can," the veiled Alphros hisses in answer. "Then flee back to the lost wilderness that is all that remains of your land."
[Slik'koo(#29779)] The dagger is indeed shoved home, as one of the bruised ribs is spilt by the dagger. Howling with pain, Slik'koo swings the greatsword around trying to cleave off Ceredir's head.
Slik'koo attacks you with his Greatsword!...
...and he misses!
[Amrundirn(#29212)]
As luck would have it, the Ranger Amrundirn's foot looses its hold upon the very edge of the trapworks from whence he just came-- the scimitar passes by his leg in that moment, slicing naught but the air. He lounges forward to avoid falling down and succeeds only narrowly.
He gathers himself thus, swiftly, limping slightly as he turns to face Su'ad again.
[Arathis(#30050)]
A crack, whether of steel or bone, emanates from the breast of the Isilrim Knight at the blow. A grunt of hard ilk follows yet his resolve remains, bidding his blade in dart for the Crow-Knight's breast. Yet his elbow suddenly snaps outwards and towards his shield: the blade swings downwards in a diagonal path for his opponent's neck.
To accompany, he grates: "Herald yourself, foe!"
[Mystery_Knight(#28406)]
Flames lick at the twilit sky. As the train of retreating Southrons turns into a more disorganised hurry to get away from the battle, a pair of warriors limping away from the battlefront stop to gather up the terribly wounded Amgad and bear him away.
Arathis attacks Mystery_Knight with his Longsword, but he misses by a handspan.
[Faramir(#28937)]
The fortifications begin to glow a dull red as the work of the Rangers comes to fruition. Still there are portions of the fort that are yet unscathed. Some of Faramir's men have now turned to swords as they encounter defenders amongst the fires, and the clash of steel steadily rises, just as pockets of smoke begin to envelope parts of the fort.
[Azradi(#20135)]
*Clunk!* The Gondorian's blade slams into Azradi's shield. She twists even as it strikes and deflects it elsewhere. Coming in from waist-level, point first, she thrusts her curved blade towards the man's belly --- already beginning to rock back on her left foot to be somewhere else when the next blow comes at her.
Azradi attacks Daerien with her Scimitar, but she misses by a handspan.
[Mystery_Knight(#28406)]
The Crow-knight says nothing in answer, this time. As he once more evades Arathis's blow, he merely turns in unspeaking silence towards the Lord Isilrim.
And then, as malice somehow broods on the lifeless iron of his visage, he strikes for Arathis's hip.
Mystery_Knight attacks Arathis with his Mace, but he misses by an arm's length.
[Su'ad(#20109)]
Su'ad's blow once again proves useless, except to press her opponent backwards into the chaos of limb and sand and void that was the trap. But she keeps on, swinging about now and ducking to put greater force into her blow, aiming at the gut of the Gondorian, Amrndirn.
Su'ad attacks Amrundirn with her Scimitar and lightly wounds him!
[Bor(#30834)]
"Remember my blade, Alphros, as it bites at you and the name Earnil, for it heralds the true succession of the crown of this realm. Earnil!"
And thus does the Swansman dives out with his sword at Alphros' crown.
[Daerien(#21777)]
He might do no more this night then give Azradi a cramp, a good bout of exercise and some fragrant sweat. But Daerien is, as silent as ever, determined to fight on, no matter the fact that his shield still swings nearly useless on his right arm, forced more to the front by the twisting of his torso then any coherent muscle response. But enough remains that it is not discarded as the longer blade of his weapon allows him to maintain a certain distance from the heavier curved edge of his opponent. So it is that Daerien, balanced upon the balls of his feet, strikes again, blade high and cleaving downards again as if to sever the skull but twisting at the last moment to pull back, diagonally across his chest, rising and falling, heaving with great lungs filled with smoky air.
Daerien attacks Azradi with his Longsword and badly wounds her!
It takes quick movement for Ceredir to get out of the way of the greatsword, but somehow he manages to do so, stumbling and backing up a few paces, the knife slashed toward Slik'koo's sword arm as he does so to try to forestall any attacks as he stumbles back.
You attack Slik'koo with your Dagger...
[Combat(#13388)->Ceredir]
Slik'koo parries your attack with his Greatsword!
[Slik'koo(#29779)] Tilting his greatsword up, Slik'koo harmlessly deflects the blade away. Follwing up with an overpowering backswing, Slik'koo attacks at the arm's of Ceredir using his speed and momentum to cause more of a bite.
Slik'koo attacks you with his Greatsword!...
...and he hits! Ouch!
[Mystery_Knight(#28406)]
"Where is Earnil now, Bragollach?" Alphros laughs, suddenly fey. "Where are your Kings? Gone for so long, fallen into weakness and corruption. They are gone. And so you would follow a ghost?"
The Umbarean Lord turns aside Bor's blade with his own. "Such desperation, Bragollach. A pity!" And he strikes in answer at Bor, aiming for the Bragollach's left shoulder.
[Arathis(#30050)]
Sharply pulling his reins, the destrier of the Isilrim Lord carries its rider away from the Black Numenorean's blow. His brows crimp then below his Swan helm, steeled gaze meeting that of his opponent: "Alas, slave of the Enemy! For the unfree are nameless."
Again, as if to reassure his words, the blade of the Swan-Knight flurries in claim for the Crow, attempting to pierce his shoulder.
Arathis attacks Mystery_Knight with his Longsword and lightly wounds him!
Blood stains Ceredir's tunic and cloak as the Master Scout twists to avoid having his arm cut off and instead the sword slides through his armor by his shoulder. Weakened by this, he slashes out again wiht his dagger, once more aiming for the Assasin's sword arm.
You attack Slik'koo with your Dagger...
[Combat(#13388)->Ceredir]
Slik'koo parries your attack with his Greatsword!
[Amrundirn(#29212)]
"Farside," Amrundirn grunts as he twists away from the woman's bite -- rending his shirt and the armor underneath a nigh well insignifficant trickle of blood spied in the folds of leather and cloth. "Umbar is far. Go back. You need not die here for a false king!"
He hews overhandedly at Su'ad's shoulder at that moment, acts contrary to his words.
Amrundirn attacks Su'ad with his Longsword, but Su'ad parries the attack with her shield!
[Slik'koo(#29779)] Once more, the assassin's blade is deflects the blade of Ceredir away. His victory is shortlived as determination sets upon his face again and he tries the same slash again, this time expecting the twist from his opponent. Mid slash he thrusts into Ceredir's gut.
[Azradi(#20135)]
Ready to move even as her last blow was delivered, the Northerner's blade strikes not her head, but her left shoulder - and it does more than cramp. Azradi cries out, but does not lose her discipline, using her pain and anger as a driving force, she bring her scimitar in from the right once more, seeking to slash at the man's sword arm."Die!" she roars!
Slik'koo attacks you with his Greatsword!...
...and he misses!
[Mystery_Knight(#28406)]
"No slave am I," is all the Crow-knight says at first in answer as he stumbles back slightly, caught off-guard by the enemy's blow which strikes at his shoulder, though not deep enough to truly pierce his shoulder. "No less than you, servant of Ulmo. For I have been consecrated in the name of Bauglir, the Lord of Power. Fear his return!"
The Crow-knight swings in answer for Arathis's neck.
Azradi attacks Daerien with her Scimitar, but Daerien parries the attack with his shield!
Mystery_Knight attacks Arathis with his Mace, but he misses by an arm's length.
[Yildirim(#24191)]
Slow to come on the battlefield, Yildirim comes late to the battle. He gazes across the field of war, a blur of steel and flesh and blood, and sees naught familiar to him, save one! He moves through throngs, scimitar in hand as he moves close to Su'ad.
As Su'ad makes her strike, he is there with another to aid her. "And yet there is need for your blood to be spilts, Gondorian." He swings towards the ranger as he makes his attack on the woman Corsair.
Yildirim attacks Amrundirn with his Scimitar, but Amrundirn parries the attack with his shield!
The scout does not twist this time, though, but ducks and lunges forward, dagger aimed for Slik'koo's throat once more and, with his weight, trying to push the man forward and off balance.
You attack Slik'koo with your Dagger...
[Combat(#13388)->Ceredir]
Slik'koo parries your attack with his Greatsword!
[Agladar(#32295)] Amongst the field of bodies moving about, the giant blade of a greatsword is visible above the heads of the Gondorian line. It soon begins to move towards the front where the bearier of the blade is then revealed, the freshly healed Agladar. Gripping Estel in both hands, the White Squire has adorned a fresh White uniform but it does not take long at the front before it is covered in gore from the sprays of blood that hit him as he moves through the field.
Looking for a target, he suddenly spots the Crow-Knight engaging Hir Arathis. His legs are soon moving with speed as he pushes though the chaos to give aid to his fellow Order member. "For Gondor and Dol Amroth!"
[Bor(#30834)]
"Rather a ghost than a charlatan!" counters the Swansman. "For though long-dead, his claim to the Winged Crown is more true than yours."
"No blood of the Southron line shall filter into the Lords of Gondor."
And darting aside the claimant's blow, the Bragollach Knight answers in kind, aiming a strike for the anAnzulada's shoulder. "Nor does a man who seeks alliance with the great Evil of the Eastern marches command my sword's loyalty."
[Su'ad(#20109)]
"I do not fight for the new King of Gondor," Su'ad replies as she parries the man's attack with her shield. It rings woodenly and makes her arm a little numb. "...though I wish him well in his endeavors. I fight for me!" She takes another low swing now, trying to cut his feet out from under him.
Su'ad attacks Amrundirn with her Scimitar and moderately wounds him!
[Daerien(#21777)]
The shield is held, and thankfully so, for as the Umbarian attacks Daerien in anger, he manages to deflect the brunt of the attack so it slides useless from the scarred leather and wooden surface and stepping forward into the attack he thrusts, jabbing the blade again towards the belly of his enemy. Still without speaking, though with the struggling breath through the veil of his mask. The blade lashes forward towards Azradi's belly but very quickly pulled back on the defensive.
Daerien attacks Azradi with his Longsword, but he misses by a mile.
[Mystery_Knight(#28406)]
"So you claim, Bragollach, so you insist, yet you have naught but a centuries-long litany of lies to tell you that. Did not Tarannon Falastur wed his Queen of the South? So deceived have your people become..."
Again the would-be King parries Bor's blow. "This one last chance I give you, to bear your word to your Prince so that he might be saved from the terrible retribution that will fall upon the rest of your folk. Bring me his allegiance and the hand of his daughter, and you shall be spared... nay, rewarded!"
[Agladar(#32295)] Rasing his Greatsword above his head, Agladar approaches the dueling pair and enters the fray swing his blade down from his high guard stance in an attempt to bring it against the shoulder of the Crow-Knight. "For House Aedmithrsuc!" The strength of the man has definately returned as his blade is swung with power and his breathing is steady despite the heavy weight he bears.
[Arathis(#30050)]
"Power belongs to no Lord wherever there are hands, there is power. And yet you have bound your own, slave!" A queer sadness riddles the words of the Isilrim Knight, albeit shared none by his steel.--Twisting within his saddle to avoid the incoming strike, he shoots out for another thrust, poised for the heart of the Black Numenorean.
Arathis attacks Mystery_Knight with his Longsword and lightly wounds him!
Agladar attacks Mystery_Knight with his Greatsword and mildly wounds him!
[Naureen(#30298)] On being prodded behind the ear by the mumak rider, the creature waves his long trunk about madly, knocking soldier around him left, right and center. Then, upon better direction by the kohl-eyed rider, he picks up a Gondorian soldier and decides to play with it. The thick trunk encircles the man's waist, and as powerful muscles squeeze the soldier's rib-cage his shrieks of pure pain and unadultrated terror would put the fright of Moses in all those who hear him.
[Mystery_Knight(#28406)]
Once-- nay, twice! Is the Crow-knight struck. But he stands firm, shrugging them off through the fortitude of his dark mantle. For the moment he does not turn to Agladar instead, a sudden fury consumes the mailed Black Numenorean as he again swings for Arathis's shoulder with his mace.
Mystery_Knight attacks Arathis with his Mace and lightly wounds him!
[Slik'koo(#29779)] Another slice, another block, as Slik'koo runs the length of his blade up the dagger, the greatsword almost as long as the blades length. Turning the blade on the assassin tries to slice the forearm of Ceredir, trying tactics to brawling with the heavy blade.
Slik'koo attacks you with his Greatsword!...
...and he misses!
[Amrundirn(#29212)]
In the nick of time, Amrundirn's faithful, if by now rather ragged-looking shield is lifted to deflect Yildirim's swing the ranger stepping backwards and sideways, even as Su'ad's blade finds it second mark slashing across the front of his lower front leg, midstride. It is sent off course by a handspan, set down unsteadily -- a red substance forming quickly on the soil underneath it.
At that time, he makes his move nudging the curved sword of Su'ad's compatriot away as he hacks at the swordhand that bit his leg.
Amrundirn attacks Su'ad with his Longsword and moderately wounds her!
[Azradi(#20135)]
No belly can be found, at least where Darien's sword seeks. Azradi is to his right, gritting through the pain of her much abused left shoulder. Her temper under control, she makes a feinting motion with her shield and brings her sword in, aiming another slashing blow at the Scout's neck.
Azradi attacks Daerien with her Scimitar and badly wounds him!
[Faramir(#28937)]
The razing of the fortifications is blazing away in earnest fierce hand-to-hand fighting between the Rangers and the last remaining defenders is punctuated by the cracks and heaves of falling timber.
[Bor(#30834)]
"Have I not answered this errand before? Do you not take my word as bond? I am, if naught else, a man of my oaths. Tarannon sent away that shrieking wench, and you too will be sailed from Gondor by the force of its arm!" laughs Bor.
"Fear the burning embers of the Stonesmen's wrath!"
[Agladar(#32295)] The young man of seventeen years is amazed at the fact that he has finally managed to inflict a wound upon an enemy of Gondor, but he soon focuses himself once more to the task at hand. Gazing up at the mounted man, he rases his blade once more and slashes out at the Dark Numenorean's ribs. "Berfilas will be avenged!" The blade is swung with the same strength as before, his limbs driven by the energy one receives when revenge is close.
Agladar attacks Mystery_Knight with his Greatsword and mildly wounds him!
[Su'ad(#20109)]
Su'ad screams out as her opponent catches her forearm with his long, accursed sword. Blood flows freely down her armor from her arm, and she steps back for a moment, trying to stauch the blood and collect her wits.
A twist, this time to the opposite direction, and the nimble scout has once more cheated the greatsword of its blood price. With a quick flick of his wrist, Ceredir tries a slashing movement with his blade, aiming this time to slice right aross his opponent's eyes.
You attack Slik'koo with your Dagger...
[Combat(#13388)->Ceredir]
Slik'koo dodges your attack.
[Slik'koo(#29779)] Ducking the blade, it has no target to strike. A wide sweeping arc from the greatsword comes as the assassin tries to make a bit of room between Ceredir and himself, to use the length of the greatsword to his advantage.
Slik'koo attacks you with his Greatsword!...
...and he hits! Ouch!
[Mystery_Knight(#28406)]
"I trust little about you Men of Gondor," Alphros answers, holding his blade at ready. "For all you claim of oaths and honour, I have already witnessed the weakness lying beneath." He makes a dismissive gesture. "Never again will Harondor be yours."
The Lord seems to be hanging back from his foe for a reason behind the veil his attention darts here and there, taking a hasty summary of the turns on the battlefield.
[Arathis(#30050)]
Heeding only then Agladar's approach, the Swan-Knight suddenly darkens.
"Be weary, young Squire! Be weary!"
Nimbly avoiding again the blow of the Black Numenorean, Arathis answers with his own: a hard blow for the Crow's head, so as to draw any attention away from the Squire.
[Yildirim(#24191)]
"You have lost your words, archer?" Yildirim says, stepping in to protect Su'ad. His blade curves back around to the Ranger, "Is it difficult for you to do two things at the same time?" he laughs, as he swings.
Yildirim attacks Amrundirn with his Scimitar and lightly wounds him!
More blood flies, this time from Ceredir as the sword finally finds a target and his tunic soaks more so. Still, the wound may not be deep, for the scout fights on, lunging into Slik'koo, pushing forward with one hand, the other hand, thrusting knife toward the thigh level.
Arathis attacks Mystery_Knight with his Longsword and mildly wounds him!
You attack Slik'koo with your Dagger...
[Combat(#13388)->Ceredir]
Your attack against Slik'koo lightly wounds him!
[Mystery_Knight(#28406)]
It is the words more than the blow of the Squire that gets the Crow-knight's attention. Turning upon his heels, he scarcely pays heed to the strike of the Swan-knight as it skirts off one of the raven-wings of his armoured helm.
"Flee whilst you can, whelp," is all the mysterious Black Numenorean knight utters, before he strikes at Agladar's middle.
[Daerien(#21777)]
With his blade back at his side, thankfully Daerien is able at least to deflect the descending death of the curved edge of Azradi's attack from his throat, but the weapon will not be stayed by steel alone, and along the toughened leather of his armor it scrapes, cutting a deep rent in leather and wooden supports before catching in the flesh just beneath the left armpit, a gush of blood, spraying a crimson flow to paint his shield, exsanguination crimson hued. The artery not severed, though the arm hangs useless, and were the straps around his wrist not tightened, surely the wood and leather would clatter to the earth leaving his entire left side unprotected. Though as it stands now, only his left hand and hip are offered any guardianship by the small circle and the pain shown on his face as he staggers backwards, attempting to stave off another attack, he lashes out though more to keep his opponent at bay then any attempt to strike, falling back to the second ranks to catch his breath and deal with the wrenching agony each time his bruised, battered, bloodied shoulder is jostled.
[Slik'koo(#29779)] As the dagger strikes home, Slik'koo growls and tries again to punch the scout, Ceredir, in the head hoping to daze him and allow him to get away.
Mystery_Knight attacks Agladar with his Mace and badly wounds him!
Slik'koo attacks you with his Bare Hands!...
...and he hits! Ouch!
[Thingalad(#32030)]
Thingalad comes through the chaos of battle and has ended up behind the mystery knight, though as of yet, the Black Numenorean is unnoticed as the Man of Gondor attacks Southrons around him.
A punch to his helmeted head makes Ceredir's ears ring and that, combined with the two wounds he has taken makes him stagger backwards. His dagger is held defensively despite his momentary loss of balance, so that if Slik'koo chooses to attack, he will not be unopposed. But the young fighter has to stand for a moment and regain his balance.
[Arathis(#30050)]
"Dammit, Squire!" the cry flies from the lips of the Isilrim Knight. He suddenly leaps then from his steed, attempting to pull down the Black Numenorean from his own!
[Slik'koo(#29779)] As the Scout is struk a horrible whistle is heard and there are several figures seen falling back out of the immediate battle.
Slik'koo is among them.
[Amrundirn(#29212)]
Yildirim's scimitar nicks the shieldarm just above its upper edge, 'ere the edge is carried from Amrundirn's skin by the movements of his shield.
"Two I can manage," He answers the mockery, his glance leaving the woman for a time focusing on Yildirim now. "Three, however, not so much." He hews then, at the swordarm.
Amrundirn attacks Yildirim with his Longsword, but he misses by an arm's length.
[Bor(#30834)]
Even hidden by the veil, Bor is no stranger to a foe distracted. He closes the distance between himself and Alphros with his blade at ready.
"And we, in turn, shall never trust a word from the mouth of a man who makes such claims as you! Nary a relationship shall exist between Gondor and you, save the bite of her sword upon your brow and those who follow you."
Thus the Bragollach strikes out at the Lord anAnzulada's neck.
[Azradi(#20135)]
Laughing wickedly, Azradi advances on her stricken opponent, raising her blade for a killing blow. But it is stopped suddenly by one of Darien's companion-in-arms. Growling, she twists and sweeps her blade to throw his off and come in with a low, fast jab towards his stomach.
Arathis attacks Mystery_Knight with his Bare Hands, but he misses by a long shot.
[Agladar(#32295)] Unable to escape the devilish speed of the Dark Numenorean knight, Agladar gasps for air as the heavy blow strikes the Squire in the gut. His leather armour only able to absorb so much he stumbles back a few paces, taking gulping breaths of air trying to replenish his air supply. No speech leaves him this time but his blade is raised once more, striking out at the Crow-Knight mid driff in return.
Agladar attacks Mystery_Knight with his Greatsword, but he misses by a long shot.
[Mystery_Knight(#28406)]
Alphros snaps back to attention as Bor suddenly comes back at him, only just turning the Knight-Captain's blade aside.
"Insist all you will, Bragollach. You have chosen your fate this day." And then, much louder, the would-be King of Gondor calls: "Retreat!"
And so the cry goes up, and horns too. The Lord's honour guard fall in about Alphros as he turns away from Bor and flees into the flames in the south.
[Su'ad(#20109)] Su'ad blinks, surprised and relieved that Yildirim has come to her aid just in time. She pulls off her sash and crams it into the breach of her armor at her side, to stop the bleeding there. But there's little to be done for her arm, so she just bears the pain. "What amazes me, Man of Gondor, is that you will not entertain the claim of King Alphros, not because of his bloodline, but where he was raised." Finished, she grips her sword tightly (but with less strength) and jumps into the fray once more, cutting toward his upper torso but aiming for his upper arm.
Su'ad attacks Amrundirn with her Scimitar, but she misses by a handspan.
[Yildirim(#24191)]
Amrundirn's blade swings wide of Yildirim's midsection. He steps in, closing the distance, "And while you think of what blood means to you, Gondorian, I will give more to think on. Think on your family, your friends and how they will grieve when you do not return from these lands and all they have to remember of you is pictures in their mind, fading day after day. Su'ad! Move to his rear!" He shouts, his blade leaping out to skewer Amrundairn.
Yildirim attacks Amrundirn with his Scimitar, but he misses by an arm's length.
[Mystery_Knight(#28406)]
The Crow-knight turns on his steed as his blow strikes Agladar Arathis, leaping from his saddle, sails past him, as does the Squire's answering blow. The mysterious knight lifts his mace to strike again-- but the calls of retreat sound into the air.
"Farewell," he says, darkly, and then he rides off into the east. And just like that, as his namesake crow, he is gone.
[Naureen(#30298)] As the body of the screaming Gondorian is tossed away to the side, a sharp arrow from the enemy hits the creature right in the center of the eye. Blinded by the attack and struggling in agony, the huge monster is no longer under the control of its rider. Head tossing from side to side, the beast is driven into a mad rage and it is with dire urgency that the mumakil rider tries to bring his beast under contol. His struggles in vain, the reins held tightly in his hand are yanked by the creature and the man falls from the back. Trampled under the feet of his own animal,who then goes on a crazy rampage of killing while running blindly into the battling forces of both Harad and Gondor. And are the ants in front of him his friends?
[Daerien(#21777)]
Daerien continues to fall back, his entire left side covered in oozing blood, the bent tip of his blade dragging in the dust as he forms a trail of red mud back to the rear ranks.
[Thingalad(#32030)]
With broken Southrons around him, Thingalad lowers his hammer and wipes at his brow before falling back towards the river as the battle winds down.
[Amrundirn(#29212)]
Twisting sideways limping sideways further, Amrundirn avoids one scimitar that brushes past his shoulder, and another that pushes past his side tearing through the fabric of his cloak that billows behind him with his movements.
The ranger steps in closer still to Yildirim swinging for his chin from the side -- Hilts first.
[Azradi(#20135)] he nameless Gondorian inherits Darien's fate as the Corsair woman's blade sinks deep into his belly. She pulls it out, letting the scout fall to the ground. Her gray eyes seek once more the man she had in her grasp - and espies him. Gripping the heft of her blade firmly, she stalks off towards him, eyes narrowed.
The call for retreat is sounded and the woman hesitates - a look of pure frustration infusing her features. But she obeys in the end and begins backing away, sword held defensively as she makes her way towards the burning fortification.
[Mystery_Knight(#28406)]
As the horn of retreat sounds the forces of the South begin to fall back the fortifications and the camps are now truly burning, dark flames licking at the skies. And at the fore, the rampage of the Mumak causes even more chaos. No orderly retreat is this.
Many, the banners of the would-be King of Gondor among them, flee westwards, joining the remnants of the long Umbarean trains that have made their way thither towards the coast.
Others -- half of the Crusaders of Farside, and the Narakshi -- retreat southwards, fighting bitterly as they go.
A ruin of charred wood and burning palisade is left in their wake as they go.
[Agladar(#32295)] Still gasping for air, the White Squire gazes after the Crow-Knight as he rides off. Not horsed himself, he is unable to pursue and thus turns to try and find another Haradrim who has yet to fall back. Suddenly taking notice of the massive beast, Agladar gulps and makes sure that the keeps the mumakil within his gaze as he looks for a familiar enemy....Yildirim...or the woman..."
[Faramir(#28937)]
Their work done, many of the Rangers retreat and disengage, led by their captain. Not all are unscathed some have notched blades and blackened faces, but as the company retreats back northward, the burning fort is a symbol of their success.
[Bor(#30834)]
"Let this day be a sign of what is to come, Pretender!" shouts Bor.
The fire burns around him and in his eyes too as he watches the Corsair Lord go. "At every turn, you shall find my sword-brothers and I!"
The battle rages. The Tempest watches.
Amrundirn attacks Yildirim with his Longsword and moderately wounds him!
Wits recovered, Ceredir looks about and then regroups with the Rangers and others of the Company of Ithilien now heading north. The speed with which he moved during the fight has been replaced by a sudden weariness as the full weight of his injuries begin to settle in.
[Amrundirn(#29212)]
The Ranger eyes the pair warily -- suspecting perhaps some subterfuge and with reason. But he holds there and does not pursue.
As enough yards pass between them he sets his sword to the soil, tip first, and raises the hand that gripped it to his chin, eyes held firm on Yildirim, "Think on this."
With that, he snatches up his sword and slides down into the trench so cleverly hidden, and is removed from their view.
*****************
Men start to come in from the battle now...first a trickle, and soon enough it will be a flood. But one scout now entering the pavilion, though quite bloodied, shakes his head to novice healers who tell him to sit.
"I can walk enough on my own for the moment, and others there will be soon enough that I will be waiting in any case. Where is Captain Gurtir?" Ceredir demands. With the Captain's location thus pointed out to him by a nervous young novice, the Master Scout strides determinedly across the pavilion to the man's sickbed or deathbed--whatever it may be.
[Gurtir(#30678)]
Gurtir is not aware of Ceredir's arrival, nor of the battle's end. There he lies, gazing up at the canvas above. It's only when the Master Scout is nearly looming on him already that the Captain notices him.
No words welcome the man. There is but a somber stare.
"Captain!" It's said softly, though a gasp and full of surprise and also joy unsuppressed. "I had not known if you lived or not when we pulled you out of the water. And then the Southrons were too soon upon us, sir, and...."
The words of the Master Scout drift off uselessly, and he tempers his joy at this reunion. "Sir?" It's asked quietly.
[Gurtir(#30678)]
It is not joy the spirit that flares within Gurtir curiousity and awareness instead fill him up as he tries to sit back up... painfully.
"Carry on, what of the Southrons, what of the battle?"
"Their fortifications are burned, they flee south and west," Ceredir replies. "I believe we have won the day, though..."
Hesitation makes the young man pause for a moment. "No, I believe we have won the day, though with our blood." His tunic, bloodied, is proof of that.
[Morwenn(#24368)]
"Are you injured?" Morwen asks Ceredir, stopping beside him as she goes about her duties. "Here, let's have that tunic off. You can take the cot next to Gurtir, if you like."
[Gurtir(#30678)]
A deep frown recieves the news, yet Gurtir nods.
"So they fled. The day is won for the Steward. And our losses?", he asks, glancing but briefly at Morwen as she speaks to the Master Scout.
"Of that I am not certain. I saw only those around me, and many injured. Whether it was more or less than other battles, it is hard to say. I...injured?"
"I...well, I suppose yes," Ceredir frowns as Morwen's interruption brings to mind his own state. Blood runs down from a slash on his upper arm and a deeper cut is on one shoulder. "You'll have to help me with the tunic. Not sure I can raise my arm over my head..."
Maybe the pain of both wounds has not fully hit, because Ceredir pays the most of his attention to Gurtir, even though he dutifully sits on the next cot. "What happened? After we left?"
[Morwenn(#24368)]
Morwen helps him as bid, easing the tunic off his unhurt arm and over his head, then more carefully over his wounded arm. She drops the soiled garment at the end of the cot, where a novice will pick it up in due course.
"Nasty does it sting at all?" she asks, taking up a cloth and dipping it in redwort to begin cleaning his cuts.
[Gurtir(#30678)]
The darkness that had briefly lifted from Gurtir returns with full power. Stronger than before. The fell eyes meet Ceredir's for but a momment before the Captain painfully raises his left arm, revealing his hand... from which the ring finger has been severed.
No words explain the ominous silence is the only answer.
"Ow! No..yes! Ow!" Ceredir twitches, answering Morwen, distracted from Gurtir by his own pain now. And then all thoughts of his own wounds fade in an instant and he jumps to his feet, pushing the healer aside if he has to.
"What is the meaning of that?! For what reason are you missing that finger now as well?"
[Morwenn(#24368)]
Push her aside he does, and Morwen fetches up against a small table with a pained whimper. "Gurtir!" she cries in shock when she finally sees what made Ceredir act so precipitously. She comes at him with the same cloth, then tosses it down and presses a clean and dry one to the bleeding. "Why did you not say!"
[Gurtir(#30678)]
"I shall not speak of it."
Grim and raspy comes the reply before Gurtir blinks at his cousin, recieving the tending with a grunt of pain still, the wound is not fresh, it bleeds as a wound already tended that is open anew by lack of care or added damage against it.
"I had other things in my mind."
[Amrundirn(#29212)]
Leaned on a slender but sturdy staff splintered in one end and a broken steel tip on the other, of a height like his shoulder, a man enters over yonder. His attire is torn and slashed, and his right -- the limping side -- foot leaves reddish prints where the left leaves none the substance running down his lower leg into the boot from a soaked piece of cloth tied about it the wound underneath yet bleeds. Amrundirn, unmasked and weary but not broken.
For the most part.
A frown settles on his slightly pale face, as he approaches the gathering 'round the riverfaring captain Gurtir.
"What happened after we left, Gurtir? You did not kill Alphros--this much is not new to me, for I saw him at the battle, along with his cursed sister. But this is no shame--we all knew it was a thin hope only that you could achieve this. And greater good was done by our finding out about their plans and the arrival of the enemy's priestess."
"So." Ceredir frowns, and he has spoken rapidly, his voice low but with intensity.
"Pray tell what passed. For something..." he gazes at the missing finger..."surely did. Is this an echo of my own deed? For breaking an oath?"
[Morwenn(#24368)]
"I will have to ask a Master Healer to see to this," Morwen says, wrapping the stump tightly. "I do not know how to... I mean, I just don't know how to treat it. I am sorry. Ceredir, sit down."
Another healer rushes to lend an arm to Amrundirn, taking him to the coton the other side of Gurtir. "Trousers off now," she says in a homey sort of voice that will nevertheless brook no refusals. "And boots and all, tunic too."
[+POLL] Announcement: Morwenn(#24368) has changed the poll to: Healers: We get the nudie-boys.
[Gurtir(#30678)]
"Who did you report it to, Ceredir? And what was the reaction?"
Gurtir simply ignores the question that was made at him, instead focusing his own stare upon the Master Scout intensely, an ill will empowering it...
Yet relief is soon given: he glances at Morwen, nodding... "The cruelty of the southrons made the bleeding stop so I would not die of this.", he comments sourly, Amrundirn getting into his field of vision just now.
[Amrundirn(#29212)]
An arched brow.
"Far be it from me to question my healer..." A pause. "As you wish," The Ranger says, undoing a shredded cloak 'ere easing himself up on the cot, hands busy about the left boot. Thump. The right. Squish.
Torn breeches and shirt join them soon enough and for all the cuts and bruises he carry, all are old saves three and of those, the slashed leg is the most severe. The rent skin on his upper arm and the cut in his side do not even bleed.
Sitting thus, smallclothes his only privacy the ranger's frown deepens. "You are fortunate to breathe at all," he says in reply to the overheard sentence.
Sit Ceredir does, seceding to the healer's command without thinking, though it does nothing to lessen his agitation.
"By the Valar, Gurtir!" he cries, resorting to a rare use of the Captain's first name. "Will you not speak of it? Or did the emissary of the enemy bewitch you to this? Thingalad and I surely thought you dead, and then your body ...it was by fate only that we saw it and fished you out, and yes this now...you say nothing of it, nothing of what we must face or avenge, nothing of the outcome of the oaths we had all sworn!"
"As for our messages...the Ranger Endaerion and several of the Knights...Endaerion spread the word to the Knights and Rangers, and the outcome and reactin was that we fought. Fought tonight and the enemy has fled. And the eagles have helped us as well..."
[Morwenn(#24368)]
"Yes. They kept Mama alive, too. She said it was... unspeakable." Morwen gives Gurtir a ghost of a smile, then sets about stitching Ceredir up. When she has done so, she smoothes a soothing salve over the wounds and bandages them lightly. "There you are," she says to Ceredir when he's finished speaking. "And keep your voice down."
On the other side of Gurtir, the motherly healer clucks her tongue and sets about cleaning and stitching Amrundirn's leg. "You will have to stay in bed for a day or three," she says, shaking her head. "This is right nasty, it is."
[Agladar(#32295)] Loud shouting then is heard from outside the healing tent. "Help! Help! Here please! Someone help! This Squire is dying!" Several Scouts then appear explaining the source of the noise. Two of them bear a stretcher upon which a man soaked in his own blood lays still. Laying on his stomach on the stretcher a scimitar is sticking out of the back of it still. All his clothes have been removed to check for wounds and a few make shift bandages have already been applied. The scimitar has not been touched however, the Scouts desiring to leave such things to the Masters rather than risk killing the White Squire.
The Greatsword Estel is still gripped firmly in Agladar's hand despite it all. His body unwillingly to give up Hope.
[Gurtir(#30678)]
Even though absolutely unwilling to speak, with a snort Gurtir parts his lips and prepares his words for Ceredir
"What happened, Ceredir, is that"--- the cries of help cut him in the middle of his speech. Yet the sight of Agladar soon makes his interest wane and, instead, he glances again at Morwen.
"Ah... I remember having heard of it... She has summed it up nicely. Unspeakable."
[Morwenn(#24368)]
Morwen gasps when they carry in Agladar, but she soon finds herself at his side, having been towed there by a harried Master Healer. "Sit at his head he knows you, and he looks like he is barely clinging to life," the woman says to Morwen, not unkindly.
So Morwen sits on the floor at the cot's head, and she speaks to Agladar in a low voice as the healers work feverishly to remove the blade and staunch the flow of blood. Sadly, it is the cautery irons that come into play now, red hot and bright enough to make Morwen grab Agladar's hand as it dangles off the cot. "Be brave..."
"Unspeakable...I am..I am sorry." The apology, softly given, is to Morwen and Gurtir, seemingly, and Ceredir lowers his voice--more so when Agladar is brought in. Flinching, he deliberately turns back to Gurtir.
"What can I do?"
[Amrundirn(#29212)]
"As you say," Amrundirn sighs, with a lingering -- considering, one might say -- glance on his healer's face. "A day." He settles, leaning back hands with whitening knuckles gripping the sides of his seat, but his mien is unchanged even with the gruesome appearance of Agladar. The frown remains, as he does submitted to his caregiver.
[<#30678>]
"Our ways are parted, Ceredir do not ask me this again, for I cannot give your answer.", Gurtir murmurs at the Master Scout, a fell look accompaning the words before the Captain's silence returns.
[Agladar(#32295)] The healers now work at lightning speed knowing that each second wasted is one more step closer Agladar is to death's door. Now having been laid down on the cot, the Squire is still as they prepare to remove the blade. One stands ready with the cautery irons glowing hot while the others work to examine the depth of the blade into him before they withdraw it. The head healer with the irons then nods to the others and in one quick motion the scimitar is withdrawn. Dark blood now erupts forth from the gap in the man's back. Mopping up what can be done in a moment, two healers then push the two sides of the wounded together while the Master now moves in with the cauteriser.
Hisssssssssssssss
Having been still do to blood loss up until, the Squire suddenly wakes up to lets forth a great cry. It is one filled with wailing, sorrow and pain. Much pain. His grip now solid upon the woman's hand. A cough however cuts short his noise making, as blood now attempts to leave his mouth. His body now overwhelmed by the sensory stimulas, shuts off his mind and thus the Squire then goes silent once more. His breathing is barely noticeable.
[Morwenn(#24368)]
Morwen wipes the blood from Agladar's face and continues holding his hand until the healers have done all they can. "Not much hope there," one of them says sadly, before moving on to the next injured man.
But Morwen sits there on the floor a while longer. "You will be all right now," she murmurs to the squire. "Just be brave and still, and I will come back when I can." She rises then and leaves him there, moving on to the next man who requires her skills.
The Captain's words do not settle Ceredir at all. He stares long and hard at Gurtir, a series of emotions flickering behind his grey eyes. At last he gives up, settling back carefully onto his cot and flinching at the screams of the Squire. But exhaustion takes over soon enough, and despite the horror of the wounded filling the pavilions, he slips off to fretful sleep.
[Gurtir(#30678)]
After Ceredir, it's Gurtir's time to pass out into sleep.
Along the sparsely wooded south bank are a series of tribal camps which extend some distance to either side of the Harad Road. Many pale colored tents and pavillions are grouped in circular clusters. Before most of the pavillions are poles set deeply into the dry earth and upon these are impaled dried up human and orc heads, scalps, and various other kinds of grizly trophies of war.
The Harad road here has become almost impassiable with the herds of loose livestock. They are carefully tended by mounted and armed Narakshi Outriders who watch alertly. Long legged dogs also roam the camps individually or in packs and are quick to give alarm.
To the north the Poros spreads out in its wide banks, forming what looks to be an easy ford. The remains of several wagons jut up out of the water, suggesting otherwise. To the south the thin grassland gives way to desert.
(To pass through ICly, please +mail Umbarlords and Hyn.)
[Slik'koo(#29779)] This time, their is not haughty entrance from the Assassin of Farside. He growls and runs his fingers at the edges of the once shiny Gondor mail. Pulling forth a large sword he braces it on his shoulder and looks around. There are no snide comments from the assassin, only determination.
Amgad nods "So it seems we were correct to think as we did." he says almost to himself. He shifts slightly listening to the talk of the plans laid in place. The black guard looks to each in turn.
[Mystery_Knight(#28406)]
Alphros nods his head as he listens, but then he notes the approach of Slik'koo. He gestures to the three -- Azradi, Su'ad, and Slik'koo, and Amgad also... an impromptu council of captains. Behind him gather a few other trusted Corsairs, bearing weapons and banners. All the arms of present Umbar are displayed, including the White Tree and the Raven. There is one final one, unfurled.
"Our task his done here," he says simply. "Our anti-crusade now a crusade of its own... to regain what is rightfully ours. The land of Stone. I have promised you all reward for your loyalty and for your deeds, and you shall have it. You as well, Amgad of Black," he notes to the Black Guard, "who have remained here till the end for Umbar's good, even when others of your Tower have fled back to the city in haste."
[Slik'koo(#29779)] Still the assassin says nothing, but nods to Alphros as he listens in. Back at the assassin's tent the small group arms themselves after certain fortifications are in place.
[Azradi(#20135)]
Glancing to the assassin, Azradi gives the man a silent nod of her head. Her attention is drawn back to her brother as he speaks. Occasionally, her curious gaze travels to the unfurled banner.
[Bor(#30834)]
There have been many dawns upon the Poros and there will be many thereafter this one passes but as the light filters across the river and its banks for this day, it picks up a mighty glitter. The glitter of steel.
For assembled to the north is a mighty force: mounted Knights, cloaked Rangers, and armored Hostsmen alike. And at the break of this dawn, they stand together without stealth or pretense, with war writ upon their faces.
On horseback at the fore of the Order of the Swan is the Knight-Captain Bor, horn in hand. Not a day ago, the horns of the Corsairs were heard in the camps of Gondor, now the horns of Gondor answer that challenge.
"DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!"
[Su'ad(#20109)]
Su'ad listens and bows to Alphros' words in gratitude. "I thank you, my Lord. There is much to do..." She glances back to the battlefield. "Even after today." The horns of Gondor sound their challenge. "Not a moment too soon." she mutters. Her hand goes to the hilt of her sword, but it stays where it is for now. "If I may take my leave, Your Highness." She bows low, and her mouth pulls to a tight, unreadable smile.
[Thingalad(#32030)]
Thingalad comes across the river with his fellows, his two-handed warhammer resting on his shoulder as he marches along.
[Mystery_Knight(#28406)]
Alphros stirs as the dawn sheds its light upon the assembled foes for a moment he seems to forget then all else.
But the camps of Umbar are quick enough to respond. Marshals grab their horns and let ring cries in answer workers and labourers scurry away from the fortifications and their toils, fleeing to the south or to where the trains of Southron folk are departing into the west. Crusaders and Corsairs and tribesmen and warriors from other Towers rush to the barricade battlements. Weapons are made ready.
"Gondor comes! Be ready, men and women of the South!"
[Faramir(#28937)]
Amongst the Rangers, Faramir establishes his company in a supporting role, and several men of Ithilien are readying their longbows in response to their captain. Others among them have swords drawn, ready to engage the enemy.
[Slik'koo(#29779)] As the horn sounds, Slik'koo waits for everyone to leave before he too is gone. To the dark tent he goes, as a sharp whistle calls forth the Assassins of Haradrim. Most wield a short sword or a pair daggers, together the group leaves for the battle field.
Ceredir is among the men in the Company of Ithilien, and though he has his sword drawn, there is a longbow at his back should that prove the better strategy at first. He looks to the Lord Captain for guidance in the battle.
Amgad nods. "For Harad and the darklord. Good captain." the black guard speaks, his hand to his side bringing with a ring his scimitar is unsheethed and held at ready. He moves to form up with the others.
[Azradi(#20135)]
With narrowed eyes, Azradi notes the coming forces of Gondor. Lipes pressed in a grim line, the Corsair reaches behind her to retrieve her shield, hefting it firmly on her left arm. With a soft hiss of steel, she draws her scimitar. "It appears we must delay our homecoming a bit longer, brother."
[Arathis(#30050)]
Among the requian of Amroth rides the Lord Isilrim. Blade rising in horn's echo towards the Southrons, he follows its point.
[Su'ad(#20109)]
Su'ad hops down off the platform now, and hurries to get her shield, strapping it on. Then she draws her sword, and finds a place among the ranks of the Southrons. She has to run to make it.
[Bor(#30834)]
The Gondorian charge does not come with any great immmediacy.
First, from behind the lines of the Hosts and their skilled counterparts in the Company of Ithilien come a barrage of arrows, some lit with fire to burn away at the newly-constructed wooden fortifications of Harad.
[Faramir(#28937)]
"Rangers! Make your bowshot count, and waste them not upon the defences." Faramir smoothly draws an arrow and sends it arcing across the sky, seeking a gap in the fortifications with deadly speed. Several other veteran Rangers do the same, while the rest of the Company of Ithilien draw their swords to join in the charge.
[Bor(#30834)]
As Bor's horncall dies upon the wind, he draws forth his blade.
He turns his head back briefly and says, "For Elphir."
And then the Knight-Captain charges and with him goes his Order too.
[Daerien(#21777)]
Daerien still has said nothing. Staying close by the other men of the Garden of Ithilien. Loosening his blade in the scabbard and crouching down, prepared for a fight if need be. His blade drawn with a ragged hiss, the second hand blade catching ont he leather before being wrenched free and clad firmly in his fist he joins in the charge without once uttering a word or call to battle.
[Mystery_Knight(#28406)]
There are a few cries as unready Corsairs or fleeing workmen are caught by the arrows of Gondor others duck behind the barricades, erected to protect the Southrons from just this, even as a few lesser fires begin to brood amongst the heavy wood and sand of the Umbarean defenses.
An attendant Crusader brings Alphros his war-helm. The would-be King of Gondor dons it, looking to the north and drawing his curved Numenorean blade.
...then Faramir's arrow finds that attendant Crusader. He topples from the palisades with a death scream.
Letting his sword hang by a cord on his belt, unscabbarded, Ceredir pulls his bow in front and strings it. An arrow is set to the string, and the Master Scout aims, shooting high into the air so as to try to avoid the men of Gondor. He does not rush forward with the charge yet.
[Arathis(#30050)]
"For Elphir!"
The cries resound from the Swansmen, Arathis among them, ere giving way to the thunder of their hooves.
[Thingalad(#32030)]
Thingalad hefts his warhammer and moves along in the front ranks of the Company of Ithilien, his mask left aside so that all might see his war face and be afraid of him as he surges forward in grim silence.
[Su'ad(#20109)] Su'ad raises her shield above her like an umbrella, to fend off the Gondorian rain of wood and steel. "Put out the fires!" she says, but only knocks out the nearest one to her with her sword. Then she peeks beyond the battlements, peering out across the river. Her lips move constantly now, perhaps in prayer.
[Mystery_Knight(#28406)]
As the warriors of Gondor -- the Swan-knights of Dol Amroth at their fore -- charge upon the fortifications and the Southrons defending them, a dark shadow descends.
From a source unmeasured by any, the dark silhouette of a Black Numenorean clad from head to toe in midnight armour approaches. A challenge issues forth from behind his raven-winged helm:
The Crow-knight cries: "Meet your doom, Men of Gondor!"
[Azradi(#20135)]
Offering her brother a long, silent unreadable look, Azradi breaks away to follow Su'ad, leaping the last few steps of the platform. Holding her shield protectively against the rain of arrows, she runs and comes to a skidding halt beside the other Corsair woman takeing her place at the barricade.
[Slik'koo(#29779)] Hefting his greatsword, Slik'koo growls and lets loose a howl. "Come out come out, O' Dagger Wielder." The Harad Assassin calls looking for revenge on the Ceredir. As arrows come, Slik'koo loses his cloak having been pinned down by a few of the swan-feather shafts. In all it's unholy glory, Slik'koo searches around him for the dagger wielding Gondorian.
Amgad shifts slightly weapon held at ready. He raises the calls and moves forward towards the bericade ready to defend it against the oncoming attacks. He holds his eyes dart here and there a face still steady though.
[Amrundirn(#29212)]
The Ranger Amrundirn eyes the great-hammer in the grasp of the man next to him an eyebrow raised above his mask. He edges away sideways slightly, shield and sword both raised at the ready.
[Arathis(#30050)]
Tumult heralds the Lord Isilrim into the fray: his sable warhorse, glossed by the waters below, crashes its hooves in dash for the Southron foe.
His bass launches a crooked laugh at the emergence of the Crow-Knight, warping his words to follow: "Fly, fiend! For these waters belong to the Swan."
And thereafter, a passing strike glitters, attempting to employ the destrier's momentum against the breast of the Numenorean.
[Faramir(#28937)]
Faramir and a small group of Rangers remain aloof from the melee, and have instead tasked themselves with picking out the enemy defenders amongst the fortifications. A number of arrows lie quivering amongst the wooden fortifications as the group of Ithilien skirmishers come to the flank of the melee. Faramir turns, espying the black-clad enemy Knight, and another arrow is sent speeding forth from the bow of the captain.
Arathis attacks Mystery_Knight with his Longsword and lightly wounds him!
Another arrow nocked against his bow string, Ceredir is in the back ranks of the men of Ithilien, his face masked, shooting arrows into the sky and toward those arrayed at the barricades. One last arrow he has now, and this he looses before the men of Gondor reach the barricades, arcing it high.
[Bor(#30834)]
As the Order of the Swan flies across the Poros at breakneck pace, there is little to warrant the trap that descends upon the first of their lines. They are almost upon the south bank when their Captain's horse descends into a deep pit and the man himself is flung forth. A spear flies up into the rider behind him!
"Trap!" yells Bor as he hits the ground.
[Thingalad(#32030)]
Thingalad swats here and there at any Southron that comes near him with his hammer. He waits for someone to give him battle.
[Mystery_Knight(#28406)]
As the trap takes the Swan-knights by surprise, the Black Numenorean warrior still finds himself face to face with his foe: Arathis, who has made it through by chance alone. The Isilrim blow buffets him back, but the dark knight holds fast, and he answers with only:
"No longer!"
His dark mace is swung for Arathis's chest.
Mystery_Knight attacks Arathis with his Mace and mildly wounds him!
[Mystery_Knight(#28406)]
"Fight, men of Umbar!" cries Alphros from atop the battlements, arrows whizzing about.
In the south, beyond the fortifications, the camp of Umbar is fleeing to the west with greater speed, the steady and carefully-planned preparations abandoned. Now the camp followers and labourers simply retreat as quickly as they can, leaving tents and other things behind to fall victim to growing fires.
[Daerien(#21777)]
As silent as a smelly bout of flatus, as implaccable as pickled pork, as skilled at battle as a butterfly, still Daerien advances to fight, or to die, or to do both. His blade doesn't reflect the light, it barely even absorbs what little glimmer of faint light that exists. Charging hard upon the heels of his comrades he runs hard unto the fray attacking at the nearest target.
As the fight is brought to the men of Gondor, Ceredir slings his bow to his back and unsheaths a long dagger. He is soon in the thick of it, slitting the bellies of the assasins.
[Arathis(#30050)]
A war bark escapes Arathis at the call of his Captain, albeit its wind cut short from a blow upon his chest. Some few links about his breast are lost, crimson emerging from beneath, ere the Swan-Knight tightens within his saddle.
Rearing his destrier forwards with a hard pull of his reins, the Swan-Knight bends towards the Crow, attempting to employ the mild gain in height for a downward thrust upon his opponent's belly.
Arathis attacks Mystery_Knight with his Longsword and mildly wounds him!
[Mystery_Knight(#28406)]
The Crow-knight is buffeted once again by Arathis's blow, though it scarcely buffets his formidable armour. "Turn back, Knight of the false Lords," answers the faceless Black Numenorean, lifting his mace above his helmed head in both hands. "Turn back or fall as those before you!"
The black mace crashes down towards Arathis's shoulder.
Mystery_Knight attacks Arathis with his Mace and moderately wounds him!
[Su'ad(#20109)]
Su'ad is encouraged by the success of the trap, and as the men of Gondor struggle to be free of it, she lets out a war cry and charges forward, prepared to put an end to as many as possible before they recover. She slices the neck of one, cutting nearly all the way through. Thus bathed red in blood, the Harad War Captain continues looking for new victims.
[Slik'koo(#29779)] One of the eight assassins fall, and Slik'koo hears his dying screams. Looking towards the falling Assassin, he notices his the Masked Gondorian. "Hmm, I know that dagger," He growls and looks onwards to Ceredir cutting a path towards him.
Amgad rushing forward the man of black tower fights his through the crowed. He looks forward to his new opponant as he rushes forwards his scimitar gleeming in the soft light as he swings it.
Amgad attacks Thingalad with his Scimitar, but he misses by a mile.
[Faramir(#28937)]
As the battle lines engage, armoured Hostmen fight alongside the Knight and the Ranger. Still many are freeing themselves from the trap, though some fortunate few rush forward to support their comrades who have made it through the gauntlet of spears. And while this continues, Faramir and his hand-picked band of Rangers are filling the sky with a dozen fire-arrows as some of the defenders evacuate.
[Thingalad(#32030)]
Thingalad attacks another Southron and does not notice Amgad's attack until it's right on top of him. The Man of Gondor ducks though he doesn't really need to and then cuts back again with his hammer to strike a blow to Amgad's midsection to get the Southron off!
Thingalad attacks Amgad with his Maul Hammer and severely wounds him!
[Arathis(#30050)]
"Fell! You speak none your own--." The words of the Isilrim Knight suddenly silence his shield arm falls limp before the might of his opponent's blow, and his sword scurries to defend the limb.
Thus he cuts diagonally for the Crow-Knight, beginning at the struck shoulder, so as to fend off any other blow towards the same.
Shaking yet, his shield rises meekly in recovery.
Arathis attacks Mystery_Knight with his Longsword, but he misses by a handspan.
[Azradi(#20135)]
"Farside! Salkathorim!" Azradi bellows, holding her scimitar aloft, glimmering in the light of the breaking day. She too jumps over the barricade and rushes into the lines of Gondorians. Her flashing eyes fall upon the noisy scout Darien and his un-shiny blade.
She wastes no time with words, but goes immediately to action, swinging her curved blade in from the right, aimed towards his neck.
One opponent is like another, and Ceredir steadily and patiently works his way through the Assasins until at last Slik'koo is before him. Rushing the man, he dodges sideways at the last minute--first left, then right, to try to avoid his sword, a slash of the dagger toward the throat given as he races by.
You attack Slik'koo with your Dagger...
[Combat(#13388)->Ceredir]
Your attack against Slik'koo moderately wounds him!
Azradi attacks Daerien with her Scimitar and moderately wounds him!
[Amrundirn(#29212)]
Amrundirn is next in line to Su'ad's welcome -- he comes presently, unscathed from the maws of the hidden trap: out of the ash and into the fire as it would seem. He pauses thus steadying himself.
[Slik'koo(#29779)] As the dagger slashes open along his collar bone, Slik'koo howls and swings the greatsword taken from one of the fallen Gondor. Using his lithe form he throws his meager weight with the swing aimed at maming Ceredir's leg.
Slik'koo attacks you with his Greatsword!...
...and he misses!
[Mystery_Knight(#28406)]
The impact of the Crow-knight's blow is enough that this time, the dread figure avoids Arathis's swing. "Laermon," he states. "Arendil." The Black Numenorean warrior prepares to strike again. "Phazganun." And he swings from his right, this time for Arathis's midsection. "Who is the one who shall fall to my Doom, now?"
Mystery_Knight attacks Arathis with his Mace, but he misses by a mile.
[Su'ad(#20109)]
Overhead, it seems to Su'ad like a heavenly meteor shower passes to the south, only the stars all fall on the pallisaides behind her, slowly catching portions of the battlements on fire. With each new fire though, she can see the enemy more clearly. She swipes at the sword arm of one opponent, cleaving it deeply to the bone, but moving on to the next man...who is unaffected by the trap. She curses, and swings her sword in a hacking motion, downward toward his torso.
Su'ad attacks Amrundirn with her Scimitar, but Amrundirn parries the attack with his shield!
Though his weapon is meager compared to the Assasin's, Ceredir is quick on his feet, and he sidesteps, the greatsword swooshing through the air as the Master Scout now comes up behind Slik'koo. The dagger is thrust again, into the kidney area if he can manage it.
[Daerien(#21777)]
Daerien is hurt, the blade of a Haradrim impacting along the reinforced leather bands that form a semi rigid shell across the more vital or organs. Impacting with a sickening crunch, something beneath either breaking or giving way but the leather holds at least enough to prevent the injury from causing a gushing of blood from along his shoulder blade but even so, his shield drops slightly, elevation becoming impossible, as, at least for the moment, the muscles refuse to respond to their call. As the chaos envelopes him he lashes out, without anger, or skill, but just attempting to stave off another blow such as the one he just recieved as grey eyes attempt to find out from which direction the last attack came. The sword stabbed forward, the hook bent tip probing for flesh at belly level as it jabs forward and then slashes back to attempt a guard.
You attack Slik'koo with your Dagger...
[Combat(#13388)->Ceredir]
Your attack against Slik'koo lightly wounds him!
Daerien attacks Azradi with his Longsword, but he misses by a hair.
[Naureen(#30298)] What looks like a battle in the favor of Gondor's huge numbers, despite the Haradrim forces having the advantage of fighting on home turf, is just about to see some change. From the east, behind the lines of Southron soldiers, is a monstrous creature who comes lumbering towards the battle. On the back of this tusked beast are dozens of arches with bows and arrows in hand, ready to take aim upon being given the signal. And the signal comes as soon as they are within range. Shots fly into the air, in unison, and are aimed at the pale-faced enemy.
[Slik'koo(#29779)] As another score is gained by Ceredir as Slik'koo's back is bruised by the dagger, his new ring mail taking most of the blow. Hefting his sword, Slik'koo makes an overhanded cleave hoping to score a hit on Ceredir's shoulder.
Slik'koo attacks you with his Greatsword!...
...and he misses!
[Arathis(#30050)]
Steeling himself, the Lord Isilrim retreats within his saddle, deftly skirting the incoming blow of the Black Numenorean. In retort, he thrusts his blade for the gut of his opponent, launching from the bottom corner of his shield.
Thus he answers: "You challenge now a Knight sworn to Ulmo, fiend."
Arathis attacks Mystery_Knight with his Longsword, but he misses by a handspan.
[Amrundirn(#29212)]
But lo! The Ranger Amrundirn isn't as unstable as he would perhaps appear: the curved sword makes a light thumping noise scarce overheard in the din of the battle, as it is deflected by his quickly raised round-shield. He hews quickly at Su'ad's side in turn though the blow seems weak -- restrained?
Amrundirn attacks Su'ad with his Longsword and moderately wounds her!
Ceredir ducks down and out of the way again of the blade, slashing out widly with his dagger, aiming for the Assasin's mid-section. He does not back up from the fight, as staying close keeps him out of the way of his enemy's sword.
You attack Slik'koo with your Dagger...
[Combat(#13388)->Ceredir]
Your attack against Slik'koo moderately wounds him!
[Mystery_Knight(#28406)]
"You would not be the first pawn of the false gods to fall to me," answers the Crow-knight with a swiftness defied by the bulk of his armour. "You face now a Knight sworn to the Great Lord himself, Mulkher, who you call Morgoth in your lesser tongue."
"Name yourself if you dare, coward!" he challenges and swings in answer, for Arathis's helmed head.
Mystery_Knight attacks Arathis with his Mace, but he misses by a mile.
[Azradi(#20135)]
But the blade's point finds no soft flesh to rend. Azradi of Aglarrama leaps back, bending away from thrust. Even as she does so, she brings her scimitar in from high, slashing at Darien's right shoulder, "Is that the best you can do!?" she taunts, grinning wickedly at the Gondorian.
Azradi attacks Daerien with her Scimitar, but Daerien parries the attack with his Longsword!
[Bor(#30834)]
Blades swing and blood soaks the banks of the Poros, and into the river too. Finding a respite from the close quarters, Bor looks to the battlements.
Espying the Captain, he calls, "Come, Alphros. Let us settle this affair."
[Slik'koo(#29779)] A bruised rib, perhaps two or three, from Ceredir's newest score. Taking a deep breath, the Assassin seems to settle himself down and spreads his hands against the haft of the blade before slicing at Ceredir's torso.
Slik'koo attacks you with his Greatsword!...
...and he misses!
Amgad misses in his attempt, and moves to step back but it's no good the hammer slams into his chest cracks of ribs and a sharp out-take of break. The man of harad is lifted off his feet and back clearing a barrier and landing sprawled on the ground out cold. There is blood from his mouth and he looks rather worse for wear.
[Su'ad(#20109)]
The sword of Amrundirn sinks into Su'ad's side, and she cries out in pain before knocking it away. Her armor absorbed some of the blow, but the gash that remains flows a red trickle down her side. More carefully now, she thrusts the scimitar in a stabbing motion, starting low but aiming upwards toward Amrndirn's navel.
Su'ad attacks Amrundirn with her Scimitar, but Amrundirn parries the attack with his shield!
[Faramir(#28937)]
Nearing the fortifications which they have begun to set alight, the Rangers give a wide berth to the entrance of the mumakil. Some, including Faramir, arch their bows upward and return the volley, seeking out the riders upon the great beast's back.
[Mystery_Knight(#28406)]
Alphros gazes down at Bor from the battlements on high. Already a glow more ghastly than the dawn rises behind him the camps of Umbar are beginning to burn. But all the would-be King of Gondor says is, "Let us," more softly for anyone save himself to hear.
He descends from above, with his honour guard who rush to meet the Gondorians in battle. "Make good on your claims, Bragollach," he dares Bor as he charges for the Knight-Captain.
[Thingalad(#32030)]
Thingalad clears Amgad out of the way and lifts his hammer up as he calls out, "DENETHOR!" He sheds his grim silence as his hammer sings with each swing.
[Daerien(#21777)]
With the blade so quickly returned to the defensive, Daerien is able to let the scimitar clash against the flat, barely gouging another reft in the antique metal, but at least, this time it doesn't strike flesh or cause injury, though the vibrations down the length are enough to set his hand to stinging tingles. Still the scout speaks not a word, his eyes having at last located the one who assaults his body and still without skill he attempts to drive the individual away, the tip of his sword once more lashing out quickly like the tongue of the serpent which adorns so many of the battle banners of the Lords of Umbar, towards the belly, the core of the foe.
Daerien attacks Azradi with his Longsword, but he misses by a mile.
Instead of backing away from Slik'koo's swing, Ceredir rushes forward, closing with the man and staying clear of his blade. His own dagger is now thrust with the weight of his momentum toward the Assasin's throat. He is deadly silent as he fights--no words, no song, no expression other than clear, cold eyes.
You attack Slik'koo with your Dagger...
[Combat(#13388)->Ceredir]
Slik'koo parries your attack with his Greatsword!
[Amrundirn(#29212)]
Up first, now down Amrundirn's shieldarm works swiftly, but his posture is broken by the force of the blow landed on his wooden ward: he is pushed back a step, and takes one more backwards to regain his footing.
[Arathis(#30050)]
Even as he shifts his helm away, a great laugh buds from the Dunadan Knight, carried upon song's lilt. The same tempers his tongue above the din of steel: "Heed, foe! The name of my blade is Inalantadil, forged from a star fallen west of Numenor for the Heavens battle here with Gondor.
"May the Windlord carry my name: Arathis, Lord of the Isilrim. Speak, enemy!"
With this, the same sword thunders for the sword-arm of the Black Numenorean, borne atop a new strength.
Arathis attacks Mystery_Knight with his Longsword, but Mystery_Knight parries the attack with his Mace!
[Su'ad(#20109)] Su'ad's attack is thwarted once again, much to her frustration, but she keeps at it, slicing now low toward his Amrndirn's thigh. "For Farside!" she cries!, dancing to the side afterwards to avoid retribution.
[Azradi(#20135)]
The Corsair Azradi is not where the Scout hoped her to be. For even as her blow is parried, she is dancing to the left and thrusting, point first towards Darien's flank - seeking a gap between his armor. She smiles. "Surrender, Gondorian. Come give homage to your rightful King."
Su'ad attacks Amrundirn with her Scimitar, but she misses by a mile.
Azradi attacks Daerien with her Scimitar, but she misses by a hair.
[Slik'koo(#29779)] As the dagger comes in for the sweet kiss of death, Slik'koo's blade comes up as well. An eerie ring of steel on steel comes as the greatsword blocks the dagger. Ready for his counter attack, Slik'koo punches at Ceredir with both hands still gripping his sword.
Slik'koo attacks you with his Bare Hands!...
...and he misses!
[Bor(#30834)]
Amidst fire and flame does the Knight-Captain, Bor Bragollach, circle the would-be King, Alphros anAzulada. His longsword shines in his hand menacingly.
"This," he intones, sweeping his blade to indicate the fortifications, "Is what a King constructs to defend himself from his enemy?"
The Swansman laughs.
[Mystery_Knight(#28406)]
The Crow-knight laughs, and darkly. "And so may another false Lord of Gondor fall to me. Perish by my hand, Arathis of Isilrim, and know that your false realm's time is at an end!"
The Black Numenorean turns aside Inalantadil with his mace, and then strikes again for Arathis's armoured chest.
Mystery_Knight attacks Arathis with his Mace and moderately wounds him!
[Daerien(#21777)]
Without his attempt to cause serious injury, Daerien is easily out of the range of the scimitar. Not even having to dodge, he is just easily standing there, grey eyes wide watching the blade pass him by. But still without speaking, there is merriment for a change in his gaze as he looks upon his foe, and there is an insult in the salute he offers the woman. The blade held up over his head, and then stepping forward one pace he swings downward, as if to cleave Azradi in twain, though again, at the last moment he turns the blade as if, before even attempting to make contact he is pulling it back on the defensive.
Daerien attacks Azradi with his Longsword, but Azradi parries the attack with her shield!
[Naureen(#30298)]
The mumak is big. The mumak is tall. And the arrows of Gondor Rangers? Well, they are really just a tickle to the beast. Archers of Harad again notch the arrows and take another aim at the enemy, as the beast is lead closer to the battle by a dark-eyed and maniacal rider who sits right behind the creature's head. This willy mumak rider is careful as he edges close, but he is cognizant of the trap that is set and stays a safe distance away from it.
Amgad's shout of pain is heard by a keen ear on the beast, who makes it his personal mission in life to help his fellowman. With deadly intent, he targets the Black Tower man's opponent and sends arrows his way.
Ceredir half turns, the blow, if anything, glancing off his upper arm harmlessly. At the same time, his right hand slams out, seeking to thrust his dagger between his enemy's armor and into the flesh of the man's gut.
You attack Slik'koo with your Dagger...
[Combat(#13388)->Ceredir]
Your attack against Slik'koo lightly wounds him!
[Thingalad(#32030)]
Thingalad drops and rolls out of the way at oncoming arrows, the darts landing in the dirt where he stood moments before. The scout keeps his wits about him and keeps moving to present a target uneasy to hit.
[Mystery_Knight(#28406)]
"One does not build a great wall overnight, Bragollach. Or are all your insults but empty barbs that defy logic grasped by other common men? Is that how far your empty nobility has fallen?"
"Strike at me while you still can," the veiled Alphros hisses in answer. "Then flee back to the lost wilderness that is all that remains of your land."
[Slik'koo(#29779)] The dagger is indeed shoved home, as one of the bruised ribs is spilt by the dagger. Howling with pain, Slik'koo swings the greatsword around trying to cleave off Ceredir's head.
Slik'koo attacks you with his Greatsword!...
...and he misses!
[Amrundirn(#29212)]
As luck would have it, the Ranger Amrundirn's foot looses its hold upon the very edge of the trapworks from whence he just came-- the scimitar passes by his leg in that moment, slicing naught but the air. He lounges forward to avoid falling down and succeeds only narrowly.
He gathers himself thus, swiftly, limping slightly as he turns to face Su'ad again.
[Arathis(#30050)]
A crack, whether of steel or bone, emanates from the breast of the Isilrim Knight at the blow. A grunt of hard ilk follows yet his resolve remains, bidding his blade in dart for the Crow-Knight's breast. Yet his elbow suddenly snaps outwards and towards his shield: the blade swings downwards in a diagonal path for his opponent's neck.
To accompany, he grates: "Herald yourself, foe!"
[Mystery_Knight(#28406)]
Flames lick at the twilit sky. As the train of retreating Southrons turns into a more disorganised hurry to get away from the battle, a pair of warriors limping away from the battlefront stop to gather up the terribly wounded Amgad and bear him away.
Arathis attacks Mystery_Knight with his Longsword, but he misses by a handspan.
[Faramir(#28937)]
The fortifications begin to glow a dull red as the work of the Rangers comes to fruition. Still there are portions of the fort that are yet unscathed. Some of Faramir's men have now turned to swords as they encounter defenders amongst the fires, and the clash of steel steadily rises, just as pockets of smoke begin to envelope parts of the fort.
[Azradi(#20135)]
*Clunk!* The Gondorian's blade slams into Azradi's shield. She twists even as it strikes and deflects it elsewhere. Coming in from waist-level, point first, she thrusts her curved blade towards the man's belly --- already beginning to rock back on her left foot to be somewhere else when the next blow comes at her.
Azradi attacks Daerien with her Scimitar, but she misses by a handspan.
[Mystery_Knight(#28406)]
The Crow-knight says nothing in answer, this time. As he once more evades Arathis's blow, he merely turns in unspeaking silence towards the Lord Isilrim.
And then, as malice somehow broods on the lifeless iron of his visage, he strikes for Arathis's hip.
Mystery_Knight attacks Arathis with his Mace, but he misses by an arm's length.
[Su'ad(#20109)]
Su'ad's blow once again proves useless, except to press her opponent backwards into the chaos of limb and sand and void that was the trap. But she keeps on, swinging about now and ducking to put greater force into her blow, aiming at the gut of the Gondorian, Amrndirn.
Su'ad attacks Amrundirn with her Scimitar and lightly wounds him!
[Bor(#30834)]
"Remember my blade, Alphros, as it bites at you and the name Earnil, for it heralds the true succession of the crown of this realm. Earnil!"
And thus does the Swansman dives out with his sword at Alphros' crown.
[Daerien(#21777)]
He might do no more this night then give Azradi a cramp, a good bout of exercise and some fragrant sweat. But Daerien is, as silent as ever, determined to fight on, no matter the fact that his shield still swings nearly useless on his right arm, forced more to the front by the twisting of his torso then any coherent muscle response. But enough remains that it is not discarded as the longer blade of his weapon allows him to maintain a certain distance from the heavier curved edge of his opponent. So it is that Daerien, balanced upon the balls of his feet, strikes again, blade high and cleaving downards again as if to sever the skull but twisting at the last moment to pull back, diagonally across his chest, rising and falling, heaving with great lungs filled with smoky air.
Daerien attacks Azradi with his Longsword and badly wounds her!
It takes quick movement for Ceredir to get out of the way of the greatsword, but somehow he manages to do so, stumbling and backing up a few paces, the knife slashed toward Slik'koo's sword arm as he does so to try to forestall any attacks as he stumbles back.
You attack Slik'koo with your Dagger...
[Combat(#13388)->Ceredir]
Slik'koo parries your attack with his Greatsword!
[Slik'koo(#29779)] Tilting his greatsword up, Slik'koo harmlessly deflects the blade away. Follwing up with an overpowering backswing, Slik'koo attacks at the arm's of Ceredir using his speed and momentum to cause more of a bite.
Slik'koo attacks you with his Greatsword!...
...and he hits! Ouch!
[Mystery_Knight(#28406)]
"Where is Earnil now, Bragollach?" Alphros laughs, suddenly fey. "Where are your Kings? Gone for so long, fallen into weakness and corruption. They are gone. And so you would follow a ghost?"
The Umbarean Lord turns aside Bor's blade with his own. "Such desperation, Bragollach. A pity!" And he strikes in answer at Bor, aiming for the Bragollach's left shoulder.
[Arathis(#30050)]
Sharply pulling his reins, the destrier of the Isilrim Lord carries its rider away from the Black Numenorean's blow. His brows crimp then below his Swan helm, steeled gaze meeting that of his opponent: "Alas, slave of the Enemy! For the unfree are nameless."
Again, as if to reassure his words, the blade of the Swan-Knight flurries in claim for the Crow, attempting to pierce his shoulder.
Arathis attacks Mystery_Knight with his Longsword and lightly wounds him!
Blood stains Ceredir's tunic and cloak as the Master Scout twists to avoid having his arm cut off and instead the sword slides through his armor by his shoulder. Weakened by this, he slashes out again wiht his dagger, once more aiming for the Assasin's sword arm.
You attack Slik'koo with your Dagger...
[Combat(#13388)->Ceredir]
Slik'koo parries your attack with his Greatsword!
[Amrundirn(#29212)]
"Farside," Amrundirn grunts as he twists away from the woman's bite -- rending his shirt and the armor underneath a nigh well insignifficant trickle of blood spied in the folds of leather and cloth. "Umbar is far. Go back. You need not die here for a false king!"
He hews overhandedly at Su'ad's shoulder at that moment, acts contrary to his words.
Amrundirn attacks Su'ad with his Longsword, but Su'ad parries the attack with her shield!
[Slik'koo(#29779)] Once more, the assassin's blade is deflects the blade of Ceredir away. His victory is shortlived as determination sets upon his face again and he tries the same slash again, this time expecting the twist from his opponent. Mid slash he thrusts into Ceredir's gut.
[Azradi(#20135)]
Ready to move even as her last blow was delivered, the Northerner's blade strikes not her head, but her left shoulder - and it does more than cramp. Azradi cries out, but does not lose her discipline, using her pain and anger as a driving force, she bring her scimitar in from the right once more, seeking to slash at the man's sword arm."Die!" she roars!
Slik'koo attacks you with his Greatsword!...
...and he misses!
[Mystery_Knight(#28406)]
"No slave am I," is all the Crow-knight says at first in answer as he stumbles back slightly, caught off-guard by the enemy's blow which strikes at his shoulder, though not deep enough to truly pierce his shoulder. "No less than you, servant of Ulmo. For I have been consecrated in the name of Bauglir, the Lord of Power. Fear his return!"
The Crow-knight swings in answer for Arathis's neck.
Azradi attacks Daerien with her Scimitar, but Daerien parries the attack with his shield!
Mystery_Knight attacks Arathis with his Mace, but he misses by an arm's length.
[Yildirim(#24191)]
Slow to come on the battlefield, Yildirim comes late to the battle. He gazes across the field of war, a blur of steel and flesh and blood, and sees naught familiar to him, save one! He moves through throngs, scimitar in hand as he moves close to Su'ad.
As Su'ad makes her strike, he is there with another to aid her. "And yet there is need for your blood to be spilts, Gondorian." He swings towards the ranger as he makes his attack on the woman Corsair.
Yildirim attacks Amrundirn with his Scimitar, but Amrundirn parries the attack with his shield!
The scout does not twist this time, though, but ducks and lunges forward, dagger aimed for Slik'koo's throat once more and, with his weight, trying to push the man forward and off balance.
You attack Slik'koo with your Dagger...
[Combat(#13388)->Ceredir]
Slik'koo parries your attack with his Greatsword!
[Agladar(#32295)] Amongst the field of bodies moving about, the giant blade of a greatsword is visible above the heads of the Gondorian line. It soon begins to move towards the front where the bearier of the blade is then revealed, the freshly healed Agladar. Gripping Estel in both hands, the White Squire has adorned a fresh White uniform but it does not take long at the front before it is covered in gore from the sprays of blood that hit him as he moves through the field.
Looking for a target, he suddenly spots the Crow-Knight engaging Hir Arathis. His legs are soon moving with speed as he pushes though the chaos to give aid to his fellow Order member. "For Gondor and Dol Amroth!"
[Bor(#30834)]
"Rather a ghost than a charlatan!" counters the Swansman. "For though long-dead, his claim to the Winged Crown is more true than yours."
"No blood of the Southron line shall filter into the Lords of Gondor."
And darting aside the claimant's blow, the Bragollach Knight answers in kind, aiming a strike for the anAnzulada's shoulder. "Nor does a man who seeks alliance with the great Evil of the Eastern marches command my sword's loyalty."
[Su'ad(#20109)]
"I do not fight for the new King of Gondor," Su'ad replies as she parries the man's attack with her shield. It rings woodenly and makes her arm a little numb. "...though I wish him well in his endeavors. I fight for me!" She takes another low swing now, trying to cut his feet out from under him.
Su'ad attacks Amrundirn with her Scimitar and moderately wounds him!
[Daerien(#21777)]
The shield is held, and thankfully so, for as the Umbarian attacks Daerien in anger, he manages to deflect the brunt of the attack so it slides useless from the scarred leather and wooden surface and stepping forward into the attack he thrusts, jabbing the blade again towards the belly of his enemy. Still without speaking, though with the struggling breath through the veil of his mask. The blade lashes forward towards Azradi's belly but very quickly pulled back on the defensive.
Daerien attacks Azradi with his Longsword, but he misses by a mile.
[Mystery_Knight(#28406)]
"So you claim, Bragollach, so you insist, yet you have naught but a centuries-long litany of lies to tell you that. Did not Tarannon Falastur wed his Queen of the South? So deceived have your people become..."
Again the would-be King parries Bor's blow. "This one last chance I give you, to bear your word to your Prince so that he might be saved from the terrible retribution that will fall upon the rest of your folk. Bring me his allegiance and the hand of his daughter, and you shall be spared... nay, rewarded!"
[Agladar(#32295)] Rasing his Greatsword above his head, Agladar approaches the dueling pair and enters the fray swing his blade down from his high guard stance in an attempt to bring it against the shoulder of the Crow-Knight. "For House Aedmithrsuc!" The strength of the man has definately returned as his blade is swung with power and his breathing is steady despite the heavy weight he bears.
[Arathis(#30050)]
"Power belongs to no Lord wherever there are hands, there is power. And yet you have bound your own, slave!" A queer sadness riddles the words of the Isilrim Knight, albeit shared none by his steel.--Twisting within his saddle to avoid the incoming strike, he shoots out for another thrust, poised for the heart of the Black Numenorean.
Arathis attacks Mystery_Knight with his Longsword and lightly wounds him!
Agladar attacks Mystery_Knight with his Greatsword and mildly wounds him!
[Naureen(#30298)] On being prodded behind the ear by the mumak rider, the creature waves his long trunk about madly, knocking soldier around him left, right and center. Then, upon better direction by the kohl-eyed rider, he picks up a Gondorian soldier and decides to play with it. The thick trunk encircles the man's waist, and as powerful muscles squeeze the soldier's rib-cage his shrieks of pure pain and unadultrated terror would put the fright of Moses in all those who hear him.
[Mystery_Knight(#28406)]
Once-- nay, twice! Is the Crow-knight struck. But he stands firm, shrugging them off through the fortitude of his dark mantle. For the moment he does not turn to Agladar instead, a sudden fury consumes the mailed Black Numenorean as he again swings for Arathis's shoulder with his mace.
Mystery_Knight attacks Arathis with his Mace and lightly wounds him!
[Slik'koo(#29779)] Another slice, another block, as Slik'koo runs the length of his blade up the dagger, the greatsword almost as long as the blades length. Turning the blade on the assassin tries to slice the forearm of Ceredir, trying tactics to brawling with the heavy blade.
Slik'koo attacks you with his Greatsword!...
...and he misses!
[Amrundirn(#29212)]
In the nick of time, Amrundirn's faithful, if by now rather ragged-looking shield is lifted to deflect Yildirim's swing the ranger stepping backwards and sideways, even as Su'ad's blade finds it second mark slashing across the front of his lower front leg, midstride. It is sent off course by a handspan, set down unsteadily -- a red substance forming quickly on the soil underneath it.
At that time, he makes his move nudging the curved sword of Su'ad's compatriot away as he hacks at the swordhand that bit his leg.
Amrundirn attacks Su'ad with his Longsword and moderately wounds her!
[Azradi(#20135)]
No belly can be found, at least where Darien's sword seeks. Azradi is to his right, gritting through the pain of her much abused left shoulder. Her temper under control, she makes a feinting motion with her shield and brings her sword in, aiming another slashing blow at the Scout's neck.
Azradi attacks Daerien with her Scimitar and badly wounds him!
[Faramir(#28937)]
The razing of the fortifications is blazing away in earnest fierce hand-to-hand fighting between the Rangers and the last remaining defenders is punctuated by the cracks and heaves of falling timber.
[Bor(#30834)]
"Have I not answered this errand before? Do you not take my word as bond? I am, if naught else, a man of my oaths. Tarannon sent away that shrieking wench, and you too will be sailed from Gondor by the force of its arm!" laughs Bor.
"Fear the burning embers of the Stonesmen's wrath!"
[Agladar(#32295)] The young man of seventeen years is amazed at the fact that he has finally managed to inflict a wound upon an enemy of Gondor, but he soon focuses himself once more to the task at hand. Gazing up at the mounted man, he rases his blade once more and slashes out at the Dark Numenorean's ribs. "Berfilas will be avenged!" The blade is swung with the same strength as before, his limbs driven by the energy one receives when revenge is close.
Agladar attacks Mystery_Knight with his Greatsword and mildly wounds him!
[Su'ad(#20109)]
Su'ad screams out as her opponent catches her forearm with his long, accursed sword. Blood flows freely down her armor from her arm, and she steps back for a moment, trying to stauch the blood and collect her wits.
A twist, this time to the opposite direction, and the nimble scout has once more cheated the greatsword of its blood price. With a quick flick of his wrist, Ceredir tries a slashing movement with his blade, aiming this time to slice right aross his opponent's eyes.
You attack Slik'koo with your Dagger...
[Combat(#13388)->Ceredir]
Slik'koo dodges your attack.
[Slik'koo(#29779)] Ducking the blade, it has no target to strike. A wide sweeping arc from the greatsword comes as the assassin tries to make a bit of room between Ceredir and himself, to use the length of the greatsword to his advantage.
Slik'koo attacks you with his Greatsword!...
...and he hits! Ouch!
[Mystery_Knight(#28406)]
"I trust little about you Men of Gondor," Alphros answers, holding his blade at ready. "For all you claim of oaths and honour, I have already witnessed the weakness lying beneath." He makes a dismissive gesture. "Never again will Harondor be yours."
The Lord seems to be hanging back from his foe for a reason behind the veil his attention darts here and there, taking a hasty summary of the turns on the battlefield.
[Arathis(#30050)]
Heeding only then Agladar's approach, the Swan-Knight suddenly darkens.
"Be weary, young Squire! Be weary!"
Nimbly avoiding again the blow of the Black Numenorean, Arathis answers with his own: a hard blow for the Crow's head, so as to draw any attention away from the Squire.
[Yildirim(#24191)]
"You have lost your words, archer?" Yildirim says, stepping in to protect Su'ad. His blade curves back around to the Ranger, "Is it difficult for you to do two things at the same time?" he laughs, as he swings.
Yildirim attacks Amrundirn with his Scimitar and lightly wounds him!
More blood flies, this time from Ceredir as the sword finally finds a target and his tunic soaks more so. Still, the wound may not be deep, for the scout fights on, lunging into Slik'koo, pushing forward with one hand, the other hand, thrusting knife toward the thigh level.
Arathis attacks Mystery_Knight with his Longsword and mildly wounds him!
You attack Slik'koo with your Dagger...
[Combat(#13388)->Ceredir]
Your attack against Slik'koo lightly wounds him!
[Mystery_Knight(#28406)]
It is the words more than the blow of the Squire that gets the Crow-knight's attention. Turning upon his heels, he scarcely pays heed to the strike of the Swan-knight as it skirts off one of the raven-wings of his armoured helm.
"Flee whilst you can, whelp," is all the mysterious Black Numenorean knight utters, before he strikes at Agladar's middle.
[Daerien(#21777)]
With his blade back at his side, thankfully Daerien is able at least to deflect the descending death of the curved edge of Azradi's attack from his throat, but the weapon will not be stayed by steel alone, and along the toughened leather of his armor it scrapes, cutting a deep rent in leather and wooden supports before catching in the flesh just beneath the left armpit, a gush of blood, spraying a crimson flow to paint his shield, exsanguination crimson hued. The artery not severed, though the arm hangs useless, and were the straps around his wrist not tightened, surely the wood and leather would clatter to the earth leaving his entire left side unprotected. Though as it stands now, only his left hand and hip are offered any guardianship by the small circle and the pain shown on his face as he staggers backwards, attempting to stave off another attack, he lashes out though more to keep his opponent at bay then any attempt to strike, falling back to the second ranks to catch his breath and deal with the wrenching agony each time his bruised, battered, bloodied shoulder is jostled.
[Slik'koo(#29779)] As the dagger strikes home, Slik'koo growls and tries again to punch the scout, Ceredir, in the head hoping to daze him and allow him to get away.
Mystery_Knight attacks Agladar with his Mace and badly wounds him!
Slik'koo attacks you with his Bare Hands!...
...and he hits! Ouch!
[Thingalad(#32030)]
Thingalad comes through the chaos of battle and has ended up behind the mystery knight, though as of yet, the Black Numenorean is unnoticed as the Man of Gondor attacks Southrons around him.
A punch to his helmeted head makes Ceredir's ears ring and that, combined with the two wounds he has taken makes him stagger backwards. His dagger is held defensively despite his momentary loss of balance, so that if Slik'koo chooses to attack, he will not be unopposed. But the young fighter has to stand for a moment and regain his balance.
[Arathis(#30050)]
"Dammit, Squire!" the cry flies from the lips of the Isilrim Knight. He suddenly leaps then from his steed, attempting to pull down the Black Numenorean from his own!
[Slik'koo(#29779)] As the Scout is struk a horrible whistle is heard and there are several figures seen falling back out of the immediate battle.
Slik'koo is among them.
[Amrundirn(#29212)]
Yildirim's scimitar nicks the shieldarm just above its upper edge, 'ere the edge is carried from Amrundirn's skin by the movements of his shield.
"Two I can manage," He answers the mockery, his glance leaving the woman for a time focusing on Yildirim now. "Three, however, not so much." He hews then, at the swordarm.
Amrundirn attacks Yildirim with his Longsword, but he misses by an arm's length.
[Bor(#30834)]
Even hidden by the veil, Bor is no stranger to a foe distracted. He closes the distance between himself and Alphros with his blade at ready.
"And we, in turn, shall never trust a word from the mouth of a man who makes such claims as you! Nary a relationship shall exist between Gondor and you, save the bite of her sword upon your brow and those who follow you."
Thus the Bragollach strikes out at the Lord anAnzulada's neck.
[Azradi(#20135)]
Laughing wickedly, Azradi advances on her stricken opponent, raising her blade for a killing blow. But it is stopped suddenly by one of Darien's companion-in-arms. Growling, she twists and sweeps her blade to throw his off and come in with a low, fast jab towards his stomach.
Arathis attacks Mystery_Knight with his Bare Hands, but he misses by a long shot.
[Agladar(#32295)] Unable to escape the devilish speed of the Dark Numenorean knight, Agladar gasps for air as the heavy blow strikes the Squire in the gut. His leather armour only able to absorb so much he stumbles back a few paces, taking gulping breaths of air trying to replenish his air supply. No speech leaves him this time but his blade is raised once more, striking out at the Crow-Knight mid driff in return.
Agladar attacks Mystery_Knight with his Greatsword, but he misses by a long shot.
[Mystery_Knight(#28406)]
Alphros snaps back to attention as Bor suddenly comes back at him, only just turning the Knight-Captain's blade aside.
"Insist all you will, Bragollach. You have chosen your fate this day." And then, much louder, the would-be King of Gondor calls: "Retreat!"
And so the cry goes up, and horns too. The Lord's honour guard fall in about Alphros as he turns away from Bor and flees into the flames in the south.
[Su'ad(#20109)] Su'ad blinks, surprised and relieved that Yildirim has come to her aid just in time. She pulls off her sash and crams it into the breach of her armor at her side, to stop the bleeding there. But there's little to be done for her arm, so she just bears the pain. "What amazes me, Man of Gondor, is that you will not entertain the claim of King Alphros, not because of his bloodline, but where he was raised." Finished, she grips her sword tightly (but with less strength) and jumps into the fray once more, cutting toward his upper torso but aiming for his upper arm.
Su'ad attacks Amrundirn with her Scimitar, but she misses by a handspan.
[Yildirim(#24191)]
Amrundirn's blade swings wide of Yildirim's midsection. He steps in, closing the distance, "And while you think of what blood means to you, Gondorian, I will give more to think on. Think on your family, your friends and how they will grieve when you do not return from these lands and all they have to remember of you is pictures in their mind, fading day after day. Su'ad! Move to his rear!" He shouts, his blade leaping out to skewer Amrundairn.
Yildirim attacks Amrundirn with his Scimitar, but he misses by an arm's length.
[Mystery_Knight(#28406)]
The Crow-knight turns on his steed as his blow strikes Agladar Arathis, leaping from his saddle, sails past him, as does the Squire's answering blow. The mysterious knight lifts his mace to strike again-- but the calls of retreat sound into the air.
"Farewell," he says, darkly, and then he rides off into the east. And just like that, as his namesake crow, he is gone.
[Naureen(#30298)] As the body of the screaming Gondorian is tossed away to the side, a sharp arrow from the enemy hits the creature right in the center of the eye. Blinded by the attack and struggling in agony, the huge monster is no longer under the control of its rider. Head tossing from side to side, the beast is driven into a mad rage and it is with dire urgency that the mumakil rider tries to bring his beast under contol. His struggles in vain, the reins held tightly in his hand are yanked by the creature and the man falls from the back. Trampled under the feet of his own animal,who then goes on a crazy rampage of killing while running blindly into the battling forces of both Harad and Gondor. And are the ants in front of him his friends?
[Daerien(#21777)]
Daerien continues to fall back, his entire left side covered in oozing blood, the bent tip of his blade dragging in the dust as he forms a trail of red mud back to the rear ranks.
[Thingalad(#32030)]
With broken Southrons around him, Thingalad lowers his hammer and wipes at his brow before falling back towards the river as the battle winds down.
[Amrundirn(#29212)]
Twisting sideways limping sideways further, Amrundirn avoids one scimitar that brushes past his shoulder, and another that pushes past his side tearing through the fabric of his cloak that billows behind him with his movements.
The ranger steps in closer still to Yildirim swinging for his chin from the side -- Hilts first.
[Azradi(#20135)] he nameless Gondorian inherits Darien's fate as the Corsair woman's blade sinks deep into his belly. She pulls it out, letting the scout fall to the ground. Her gray eyes seek once more the man she had in her grasp - and espies him. Gripping the heft of her blade firmly, she stalks off towards him, eyes narrowed.
The call for retreat is sounded and the woman hesitates - a look of pure frustration infusing her features. But she obeys in the end and begins backing away, sword held defensively as she makes her way towards the burning fortification.
[Mystery_Knight(#28406)]
As the horn of retreat sounds the forces of the South begin to fall back the fortifications and the camps are now truly burning, dark flames licking at the skies. And at the fore, the rampage of the Mumak causes even more chaos. No orderly retreat is this.
Many, the banners of the would-be King of Gondor among them, flee westwards, joining the remnants of the long Umbarean trains that have made their way thither towards the coast.
Others -- half of the Crusaders of Farside, and the Narakshi -- retreat southwards, fighting bitterly as they go.
A ruin of charred wood and burning palisade is left in their wake as they go.
[Agladar(#32295)] Still gasping for air, the White Squire gazes after the Crow-Knight as he rides off. Not horsed himself, he is unable to pursue and thus turns to try and find another Haradrim who has yet to fall back. Suddenly taking notice of the massive beast, Agladar gulps and makes sure that the keeps the mumakil within his gaze as he looks for a familiar enemy....Yildirim...or the woman..."
[Faramir(#28937)]
Their work done, many of the Rangers retreat and disengage, led by their captain. Not all are unscathed some have notched blades and blackened faces, but as the company retreats back northward, the burning fort is a symbol of their success.
[Bor(#30834)]
"Let this day be a sign of what is to come, Pretender!" shouts Bor.
The fire burns around him and in his eyes too as he watches the Corsair Lord go. "At every turn, you shall find my sword-brothers and I!"
The battle rages. The Tempest watches.
Amrundirn attacks Yildirim with his Longsword and moderately wounds him!
Wits recovered, Ceredir looks about and then regroups with the Rangers and others of the Company of Ithilien now heading north. The speed with which he moved during the fight has been replaced by a sudden weariness as the full weight of his injuries begin to settle in.
[Amrundirn(#29212)]
The Ranger eyes the pair warily -- suspecting perhaps some subterfuge and with reason. But he holds there and does not pursue.
As enough yards pass between them he sets his sword to the soil, tip first, and raises the hand that gripped it to his chin, eyes held firm on Yildirim, "Think on this."
With that, he snatches up his sword and slides down into the trench so cleverly hidden, and is removed from their view.
*****************
Men start to come in from the battle now...first a trickle, and soon enough it will be a flood. But one scout now entering the pavilion, though quite bloodied, shakes his head to novice healers who tell him to sit.
"I can walk enough on my own for the moment, and others there will be soon enough that I will be waiting in any case. Where is Captain Gurtir?" Ceredir demands. With the Captain's location thus pointed out to him by a nervous young novice, the Master Scout strides determinedly across the pavilion to the man's sickbed or deathbed--whatever it may be.
[Gurtir(#30678)]
Gurtir is not aware of Ceredir's arrival, nor of the battle's end. There he lies, gazing up at the canvas above. It's only when the Master Scout is nearly looming on him already that the Captain notices him.
No words welcome the man. There is but a somber stare.
"Captain!" It's said softly, though a gasp and full of surprise and also joy unsuppressed. "I had not known if you lived or not when we pulled you out of the water. And then the Southrons were too soon upon us, sir, and...."
The words of the Master Scout drift off uselessly, and he tempers his joy at this reunion. "Sir?" It's asked quietly.
[Gurtir(#30678)]
It is not joy the spirit that flares within Gurtir curiousity and awareness instead fill him up as he tries to sit back up... painfully.
"Carry on, what of the Southrons, what of the battle?"
"Their fortifications are burned, they flee south and west," Ceredir replies. "I believe we have won the day, though..."
Hesitation makes the young man pause for a moment. "No, I believe we have won the day, though with our blood." His tunic, bloodied, is proof of that.
[Morwenn(#24368)]
"Are you injured?" Morwen asks Ceredir, stopping beside him as she goes about her duties. "Here, let's have that tunic off. You can take the cot next to Gurtir, if you like."
[Gurtir(#30678)]
A deep frown recieves the news, yet Gurtir nods.
"So they fled. The day is won for the Steward. And our losses?", he asks, glancing but briefly at Morwen as she speaks to the Master Scout.
"Of that I am not certain. I saw only those around me, and many injured. Whether it was more or less than other battles, it is hard to say. I...injured?"
"I...well, I suppose yes," Ceredir frowns as Morwen's interruption brings to mind his own state. Blood runs down from a slash on his upper arm and a deeper cut is on one shoulder. "You'll have to help me with the tunic. Not sure I can raise my arm over my head..."
Maybe the pain of both wounds has not fully hit, because Ceredir pays the most of his attention to Gurtir, even though he dutifully sits on the next cot. "What happened? After we left?"
[Morwenn(#24368)]
Morwen helps him as bid, easing the tunic off his unhurt arm and over his head, then more carefully over his wounded arm. She drops the soiled garment at the end of the cot, where a novice will pick it up in due course.
"Nasty does it sting at all?" she asks, taking up a cloth and dipping it in redwort to begin cleaning his cuts.
[Gurtir(#30678)]
The darkness that had briefly lifted from Gurtir returns with full power. Stronger than before. The fell eyes meet Ceredir's for but a momment before the Captain painfully raises his left arm, revealing his hand... from which the ring finger has been severed.
No words explain the ominous silence is the only answer.
"Ow! No..yes! Ow!" Ceredir twitches, answering Morwen, distracted from Gurtir by his own pain now. And then all thoughts of his own wounds fade in an instant and he jumps to his feet, pushing the healer aside if he has to.
"What is the meaning of that?! For what reason are you missing that finger now as well?"
[Morwenn(#24368)]
Push her aside he does, and Morwen fetches up against a small table with a pained whimper. "Gurtir!" she cries in shock when she finally sees what made Ceredir act so precipitously. She comes at him with the same cloth, then tosses it down and presses a clean and dry one to the bleeding. "Why did you not say!"
[Gurtir(#30678)]
"I shall not speak of it."
Grim and raspy comes the reply before Gurtir blinks at his cousin, recieving the tending with a grunt of pain still, the wound is not fresh, it bleeds as a wound already tended that is open anew by lack of care or added damage against it.
"I had other things in my mind."
[Amrundirn(#29212)]
Leaned on a slender but sturdy staff splintered in one end and a broken steel tip on the other, of a height like his shoulder, a man enters over yonder. His attire is torn and slashed, and his right -- the limping side -- foot leaves reddish prints where the left leaves none the substance running down his lower leg into the boot from a soaked piece of cloth tied about it the wound underneath yet bleeds. Amrundirn, unmasked and weary but not broken.
For the most part.
A frown settles on his slightly pale face, as he approaches the gathering 'round the riverfaring captain Gurtir.
"What happened after we left, Gurtir? You did not kill Alphros--this much is not new to me, for I saw him at the battle, along with his cursed sister. But this is no shame--we all knew it was a thin hope only that you could achieve this. And greater good was done by our finding out about their plans and the arrival of the enemy's priestess."
"So." Ceredir frowns, and he has spoken rapidly, his voice low but with intensity.
"Pray tell what passed. For something..." he gazes at the missing finger..."surely did. Is this an echo of my own deed? For breaking an oath?"
[Morwenn(#24368)]
"I will have to ask a Master Healer to see to this," Morwen says, wrapping the stump tightly. "I do not know how to... I mean, I just don't know how to treat it. I am sorry. Ceredir, sit down."
Another healer rushes to lend an arm to Amrundirn, taking him to the coton the other side of Gurtir. "Trousers off now," she says in a homey sort of voice that will nevertheless brook no refusals. "And boots and all, tunic too."
[+POLL] Announcement: Morwenn(#24368) has changed the poll to: Healers: We get the nudie-boys.
[Gurtir(#30678)]
"Who did you report it to, Ceredir? And what was the reaction?"
Gurtir simply ignores the question that was made at him, instead focusing his own stare upon the Master Scout intensely, an ill will empowering it...
Yet relief is soon given: he glances at Morwen, nodding... "The cruelty of the southrons made the bleeding stop so I would not die of this.", he comments sourly, Amrundirn getting into his field of vision just now.
[Amrundirn(#29212)]
An arched brow.
"Far be it from me to question my healer..." A pause. "As you wish," The Ranger says, undoing a shredded cloak 'ere easing himself up on the cot, hands busy about the left boot. Thump. The right. Squish.
Torn breeches and shirt join them soon enough and for all the cuts and bruises he carry, all are old saves three and of those, the slashed leg is the most severe. The rent skin on his upper arm and the cut in his side do not even bleed.
Sitting thus, smallclothes his only privacy the ranger's frown deepens. "You are fortunate to breathe at all," he says in reply to the overheard sentence.
Sit Ceredir does, seceding to the healer's command without thinking, though it does nothing to lessen his agitation.
"By the Valar, Gurtir!" he cries, resorting to a rare use of the Captain's first name. "Will you not speak of it? Or did the emissary of the enemy bewitch you to this? Thingalad and I surely thought you dead, and then your body ...it was by fate only that we saw it and fished you out, and yes this now...you say nothing of it, nothing of what we must face or avenge, nothing of the outcome of the oaths we had all sworn!"
"As for our messages...the Ranger Endaerion and several of the Knights...Endaerion spread the word to the Knights and Rangers, and the outcome and reactin was that we fought. Fought tonight and the enemy has fled. And the eagles have helped us as well..."
[Morwenn(#24368)]
"Yes. They kept Mama alive, too. She said it was... unspeakable." Morwen gives Gurtir a ghost of a smile, then sets about stitching Ceredir up. When she has done so, she smoothes a soothing salve over the wounds and bandages them lightly. "There you are," she says to Ceredir when he's finished speaking. "And keep your voice down."
On the other side of Gurtir, the motherly healer clucks her tongue and sets about cleaning and stitching Amrundirn's leg. "You will have to stay in bed for a day or three," she says, shaking her head. "This is right nasty, it is."
[Agladar(#32295)] Loud shouting then is heard from outside the healing tent. "Help! Help! Here please! Someone help! This Squire is dying!" Several Scouts then appear explaining the source of the noise. Two of them bear a stretcher upon which a man soaked in his own blood lays still. Laying on his stomach on the stretcher a scimitar is sticking out of the back of it still. All his clothes have been removed to check for wounds and a few make shift bandages have already been applied. The scimitar has not been touched however, the Scouts desiring to leave such things to the Masters rather than risk killing the White Squire.
The Greatsword Estel is still gripped firmly in Agladar's hand despite it all. His body unwillingly to give up Hope.
[Gurtir(#30678)]
Even though absolutely unwilling to speak, with a snort Gurtir parts his lips and prepares his words for Ceredir
"What happened, Ceredir, is that"--- the cries of help cut him in the middle of his speech. Yet the sight of Agladar soon makes his interest wane and, instead, he glances again at Morwen.
"Ah... I remember having heard of it... She has summed it up nicely. Unspeakable."
[Morwenn(#24368)]
Morwen gasps when they carry in Agladar, but she soon finds herself at his side, having been towed there by a harried Master Healer. "Sit at his head he knows you, and he looks like he is barely clinging to life," the woman says to Morwen, not unkindly.
So Morwen sits on the floor at the cot's head, and she speaks to Agladar in a low voice as the healers work feverishly to remove the blade and staunch the flow of blood. Sadly, it is the cautery irons that come into play now, red hot and bright enough to make Morwen grab Agladar's hand as it dangles off the cot. "Be brave..."
"Unspeakable...I am..I am sorry." The apology, softly given, is to Morwen and Gurtir, seemingly, and Ceredir lowers his voice--more so when Agladar is brought in. Flinching, he deliberately turns back to Gurtir.
"What can I do?"
[Amrundirn(#29212)]
"As you say," Amrundirn sighs, with a lingering -- considering, one might say -- glance on his healer's face. "A day." He settles, leaning back hands with whitening knuckles gripping the sides of his seat, but his mien is unchanged even with the gruesome appearance of Agladar. The frown remains, as he does submitted to his caregiver.
[<#30678>]
"Our ways are parted, Ceredir do not ask me this again, for I cannot give your answer.", Gurtir murmurs at the Master Scout, a fell look accompaning the words before the Captain's silence returns.
[Agladar(#32295)] The healers now work at lightning speed knowing that each second wasted is one more step closer Agladar is to death's door. Now having been laid down on the cot, the Squire is still as they prepare to remove the blade. One stands ready with the cautery irons glowing hot while the others work to examine the depth of the blade into him before they withdraw it. The head healer with the irons then nods to the others and in one quick motion the scimitar is withdrawn. Dark blood now erupts forth from the gap in the man's back. Mopping up what can be done in a moment, two healers then push the two sides of the wounded together while the Master now moves in with the cauteriser.
Hisssssssssssssss
Having been still do to blood loss up until, the Squire suddenly wakes up to lets forth a great cry. It is one filled with wailing, sorrow and pain. Much pain. His grip now solid upon the woman's hand. A cough however cuts short his noise making, as blood now attempts to leave his mouth. His body now overwhelmed by the sensory stimulas, shuts off his mind and thus the Squire then goes silent once more. His breathing is barely noticeable.
[Morwenn(#24368)]
Morwen wipes the blood from Agladar's face and continues holding his hand until the healers have done all they can. "Not much hope there," one of them says sadly, before moving on to the next injured man.
But Morwen sits there on the floor a while longer. "You will be all right now," she murmurs to the squire. "Just be brave and still, and I will come back when I can." She rises then and leaves him there, moving on to the next man who requires her skills.
The Captain's words do not settle Ceredir at all. He stares long and hard at Gurtir, a series of emotions flickering behind his grey eyes. At last he gives up, settling back carefully onto his cot and flinching at the screams of the Squire. But exhaustion takes over soon enough, and despite the horror of the wounded filling the pavilions, he slips off to fretful sleep.
[Gurtir(#30678)]
After Ceredir, it's Gurtir's time to pass out into sleep.
Players: Bor,Amrundirn,Thingalad,Faramir,Ceredir,Slik'koo,Amgad,Alprhos,Azradi,Naureen,Daerien,Su'ad,Arathis,Yildirim,Agaladar,Gurtir,Morwenn
