Midnight: A Lost Faith's Shadow. Book 1, The Awakening. Chapter 1, The Charge

[elapse]

Through the Woods

Reznik
Reznik continues through the woods, always on the lookout for an orc patrol. As he ran, he kept thinking of Aislinn's mother. It was going to be hard to tell the girl that he had no intention of bringing her mother. He would kill Lorne, but that is all the aid he would give the woman. Only a fool would take a blind girl and her aging mother into the frontier.

If worse came to worse, Reznik would kill the woman himself. He would be damned if he'd leave her to the orcs. Quick and painless, she'd never know she was dead. Reznik kept running, his focus having gone internal as he prepared himself for the worst.

 

[Hrothgar]

The orcs seem content ravaging Caft in the valley below, the fires from burning buildings and homes piercing the dark forest where the heroes have gathered. Kaela is swift in her recovery of her precious items, although Aislinn is shaken at Kaela's brief departure. She seems to shrink in on herself as she waits for the heroes and accidently backs into the woodsman Stahrl. Oh! she exclaims in surprise, her hand covered in wet, warm blood. So much pain. Only the goddess can take it away. she whispers, her hand faintly touching Starhl's chest. A faint green luminescence, centered on Starhl's chest, breaks the darkness of the forest. Starhl feels a warmth, a comfort, a goodness he has never felt before. Intoxicating. Invigorating. (Starhl is healed 5 points of damage).

Suddenly, the cursing in Uriel's home further up the slope rises in a fevered pitch. A man's pent-up rage is being unleashed. The piercing scream of a woman follows. Aislinn gasps and sobs quietly...

 

[Krug]

Starhl, feeling the healing magic wash over him, becomes afraid. Magic... it still lives? The barbarian is unused to this, and both startled and frightened at her saviour. He looks at the wound again, expecting it to open and bleed again, but it remains closed. He bows awkwardly to Ailsinn. "I...I thank you," he says. "If need be, I will lay down my life to protect you, for in you is the hope of our dark world."

 

[Toric_Arthendain]

Hearing the piercing scream, Valurel growls low in his throat. Glancing at Aislinn, the sadness comes flooding back. The poor girl has had enough pain for one horrible night.

His face contorted into a snarl, Valurel turns to Starhl. "Mother needs help. Time running out." That said, he turns and sprints up the slope, relying on the screams and yelling coming from the house to mask his arrival. Heedless of his own safety and giving in to his feral urges, Valurel will enter the house by the quickest means, whether through a window or a door, planning on dealing death to whoever is menacing Aislinn's mother.

 

[Bobitron]

Kaela rushes after the snarling warrior, wide-eyed with fear but not letting it stand in the way of saving the young girl's mother.

 

[Hrothgar]

Valurel and Kaela are the first to crest the hill, the light from Uriel's stone cottage spilling from a window and illuminating grass and dirt yard. Aislinn follows more slowly, needing help from the Outlanders that have agreed to help her.

Bounding over a small porch and through an open heavy oak door, Valurel and Kaela are greeted by a gut-wrenching scene. The light from a stone fireplace illuminates the horrid scene in a flickering light. Lying on the wooden floor is a Dorn woman wearing a worn and frayed gray dress. She is tall and strong like most of her kind, beautiful in a rugged way. Her red hair is plastered to her face and head, her locks drenched in blood. Standing over her, a thick stump of firewood in his hand, its end coated in blood is Lorne. His thin frame strains as he attempts to drag the woman into an adjoining room. Come, Melin! Tonight is our wedding night. Uriel is no longer your master. Time to give yourself to me!

 

[Toric_Arthendain]

The thin man's words are gibberish to Valurel but it is painfully obvious that his intentions are less than honorable and that he has already caused a great deal of suffering. With a deep-throated growl, Val leaps into the room and races to confront the man wielding the log. He lashes out with his claws without mercy or hesitation.

OOC: +4 to hit, 1d4+3 damage

 

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Spilling Blood

Reznik
"Aislinn, stay here", Reznik said with his grinding voice. He raced towards the screams with the rest of his companions. He prayed to whatever dark power would hear him that Lorne is the cause of the screams, a prelude to the traitor's own death song.

Reznik softly pushed from behind Valurel and Kaela, hurrying them into the cottage so that the rest may get room to maneuver in.

OOC:
Initiative: +8
Move Action towards Lorne, trying to leave room around him for the others.
Draw shortsword as part of move action.
Attack: +3; Damage: 1d6+3 (+1d6 if flatfooted/flanked)

 

[Bobitron]

A single tear slides down Kael's cheek as she surveys the scene, but she doesn't hestiate. As the warriors rush to stop the man, she grabs Melin by the arm and brings her outside to meet her daughter.

ooc: I'll delay any action until Lorne is dealth with. Initiative is +2.

 

[Krug]

Starhl guards the young girl, though his first instinct is to rush in to join the melee.