[AAR] Phoenix Rising
- 主题发起人 Stildawn
- 开始时间
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I approve entirely. Keep up the work and listen not to demands for more, don't let it stress or hurry you. Remember, you are playing a game and writing both for FUN. And yes, I thought the old man was going to be attacked until something brushed his knee, at which point I thought your attacker was an idiot and suspected something else at work.
Stildawn
Squire
killer110 说:
Thanks guys... I was seriously close to finishing last night, but I got real tired (it was 11.30pm and I had work the next day) and a bit burnt out so I decided instead of just pumping out some trash I would pack it in and finish it today... Im working on it now... Hopefully will get it through this evening...
Ogrecorps 说:
Haha cheers... Yeah that was ment to be the give away point... How are you liking the rest of the story so far? I would love to know all your guys best and worst parts lol.
Stildawn
Squire
[size=12pt][/size]
“I hate trade runs” Gilroth cussed as we loaded the pack horses with heavy iron bars he had just purchased moments ago from the metal dealer here in Dhirim.
“A knight should never have to do a merchants work” Gilroth went on as I simply sighed to myself lifting the next bar.
“But it must be done, damn it, it must be done if I am to keep this war band in order” I didn’t understand why he was grumbling, he wasn’t the one doing the heavy lifting I thought to myself as the second stack of iron was wheeled out from the back of the market place.
“If the bloody King paid us more we wouldn’t need to do this mundane work just to support his bloody war” Gilroth was getting heated in his words.
It had been months now since we had been out west to the capital, the smell of the ocean air that I was all too used to, was now just a distant memory. Of late we have come into the employ of the King himself as rather cheap mercenaries for his war against the Khergits in the east, though we hadn’t come into contact with the majority of the enemy as yet, merely a series of small skirmishes against Khergit patrols and caravans.
In the weeks of late we have moved from city to city, town to town and castle to castle in service of Swadia, meeting many Counts and Lords along the way. We have even taken in a few notable companions, Bunduk who we met in Suno prided himself in his tactical ability though I have yet to see the product of his skill, Alayen and Baheshtur both joined us in Dhirim a month ago now, the two men being sound warriors in their own right, a valuable addition to our party. Deshavi and Klethi we found on the road to Uxkhal, they both being excellent trackers and scouts to rival the skills of even Gilroth himself. We stumbled into Jeremus who was busily bandaging up Firentis outside Renidi Castle after some bandits had attacked Firentis party of recruits he was training for the local Lord, Jeremus being the excellent doctor he is patched him up in no time and has since become a very helpful member, even continuing the training of Ymira in the art of medicine and surgery.
Despite these additions our party had actually shrunk over the last few months, as the men became more skilled and better equipped from the experience and loot of our skirmishes. They had demanded more pay from Gilroth, who despite respecting that they did indeed deserve more; he simply hadn’t the funds to keep them all.
And so it was, now fifteen strong that we were forced to resort to doing a trade run down to Reyvadin carrying desperately needed Dhirim iron to the smiths of the Vaegir capital.
“This had better be worthwhile Ymira. We are investing quite a bit into this venture” Gilroth only mildly calmer said as I lifted the last bar and packed it into the saddle bag.
“I assure you Sir. That Reyvadin always has a high demand for iron, and these bars were a bargin, we should make a tidy profit” Ymira who was by far the most skilled in financial and business matters of the group replied confidently in the face of Gilroth’s foul tone.
“Last bar's done Sir” I called across to Gilroth whose face instantly changed to a grin in the knowledge that we could get under way. Gilroth always seemed to enjoy a good ride through the country side, though this journey would be slow due to the heavily burdened packhorses.
“Right, let’s move off” He said as he lifted himself into the saddle.
I did the same moments later, one good thing of the last few months was that we all had mounts now I thought to myself, every single member of the war band had secured themselves a steed during the last few weeks of skirmishing, we could thank the Khergits love of horses for our comfortable travel of late.
Ducking under the gate of Dhirim I said goodbye to the city which was growing on me. Perhaps in later years I could settle down here I thought to myself as we turned north towards the cold lands, towards Reyvadin.
Four days later we sighted Reyvadin, I had never been before but the city was obvious from the smoke of the forge fires that hanged in the cold air above the city. The trip had been uneventful with most of the Khergit forces moving back into their heartland in the face of the main Swadian army under our Marshall Count Klargus which was at the moment marching towards Narra. We had yet to be called to follow the Marshall, perhaps the King deemed our small force to weak to face the main armies of the other Kingdoms, or perhaps he was just ashamed to admit that he had hired vast hordes of mercenaries in order to pursue the war and thus delegated us to petty skirmishes while his esteemed Counts gained all the glory in the more legendary engagements.
“Care to get a drink at the tavern?” Gilroth said as he pulled up beside me interupting my line of thought.
“The others can start unloading the iron, Ymira said she knows a man who will take the whole shipment” Gilroth went on greedily, Ymira had ridden ahead of the group a day before and obviously her idea had paid off for Gilroth was in a happy mood, happy enough to drink anyway.
I nodded my reply.
The tavern was grim I thought to myself as we entered, there was barely anyone here as we moved towards the barman.
“Two of your finest ales” Gilroth said jovially, I hadn’t been told the numbers yet but this trip must have really paid well I thought to myself with a smile as I accepted the glass of warm ale.
“Where to now?” I asked.
“Well this has paid off more than I thought, so we could turn back south to look for some action around Rindyah or Malayurg” He replied before taking a huge pull from his glass.
“What you two in town for?” The barmen said, happy for the conversation on an otherwise dull night.
“We just brought a shipment of iron from Dhirim” I replied while Gilroth wiped the froth from his mouth.
“Dhirim, I don’t know about Dhirim, but I know you can get iron in Curaw for as little as eighty six a bar” The barman replied, Gilroth almost spat out his ale at the statement.
“Eighty six a bar you say?” Gilroth tone was serious, back to business as always I noticed with a grin.
“As low as. Though usually it sits just under a hundred or so I’m told” The barman replied.
“Bloody hell that’s cheap, we were paying one fifty or more in Dhirim and still made a killing at the markets here” Gilroth replied quickly.
The barman just shrugged. And I knew right away that we would be heading straight for Curaw, a profit this large was too good to pass up and could keep the war band in business for many a week.
We could only just make them out at the distance, merely different coloured dots on the white background of the snow covered lands of the north. They had seen us, our silhouettes clear against the sky line high on our horses, and they were moving fast. They must be bandits of some type I thought to myself as Gilroth hastened the pace, he was curious as were the rest of us, but unlike the rest was also cautious as to the danger of running head long into an unknown situation.
They seemed to stall for a moment, Deshavi reported with her excellent sight. But before a moment had passed they were on the move again, and faster than ever evidently quite skilled in crossing snow and ice, they began to pull away expanding the distance between us and them.
“They left something or someone behind” Deshavi called out across the group.
“We won’t catch them now” Klethi chimed in as the foreign group disappeared over a far crest.
“Let’s investigate what they left behind though” Gilroth said as he ordered us to slow down, we couldn’t afford another horse to break a leg in the snow, the last few days travel proving more difficult than we imagined as a slight storm had brought heavy snow to the land.
A little while later we all stood around the wounded man, his side was clearly slashed with a gaping wound roughly bandaged. The man was unconscious and had been left for dead by his friends who had retreated in haste earlier.
“He’ll live” Jeremus said standing back up after inspecting the wound.
“Well do what you can for now Jeremus, then we’ll make up a stretcher to be towed behind one of the pack horses, Hopefully he will be well enough by the time we get to Curaw to look after himself” Gilroth said with sympathy in his voice.
“Why don’t we just kill him here? He’s nothing but a villainous Sea Raider” Baheshtur said with a scornful tone.
“A Sea Raider?” Gilroth asked.
“Bandits Sir, from the northern sea’s, they come in longboats to rape and pillage around the parts just north of here” Baheshtur filled Gilroth in on the local outlaws.
Gilroth’s mood changed swiftly, he had no pity for bandits and was drawing his sword.
“Wait, wait. Don’t kill him, we can sell him to a ransom broker in Curaw” Alayen put in wickedly.
Gilroth stayed his blade as we all turned to Alayen for an explanation, out of all our companions Alayen was the only one I disliked. Something seemed not quite right about him, even though he had proven usefully in the group I thought to myself as I looked at his face, a face of mischief and cunning.
“We can sell him to a broker. They then ransom him back to his clan, it’s a quick way to make coin” Alayen went on as the others listened.
Gilroth returned his blade back into its scabbard, before turning to his horse.
“Well get him ready to move, I hate this cold” He said pushing himself up by the stirrup.
The man struggled as I held him firmly by the chains on his wrists; he had healed well under Jeremus excellent care on our way into Curaw. I now we stood waiting as Gilroth and the ransom broker discussed his future. I knew that he would be sold to the man, whether he would be ransomed back to his clan was a different story, if not he would be sold into slavery a fate no man welcomes.
“I’ll give you one ten for this one, seeing as he is wounded” The slimy broker said clearly above the low hum of the Curaw tavern obviously not ashamed of his profession.
“One fifteen and you have yourself a deal?” Gilroth shot back, always keen for that last extra coin, a trait that has kept us from starving in the past.
The broker nodded his submission in the face of Gilroth’s naturally intimidating presence. The money was exchanged quickly and I held the sea raider firm as the chains were swapped.
“I’ll be staying in Curaw for a couple more weeks, then moving to Rivacheq. Be sure to look me up if you have any more” He said with an evil grin as he pushed the bandit through the front door out into the cold night.
Gilroth nodded as he pushed the coins around in his palm; the look on his face told me that we wouldn’t be returning to the warm south for a while yet. We had a new line of business to attend to up north, one that could prove very profitable.
A spray of snow assaulted my face, abruptly waking me from my sleep. I looked at Bunduk with scorn as he looked back at me with a smile, mumbling his apologies. Stretching I grabbed for my fur coat, wrapping it tightly as I climbed out of my makeshift bed which during the night had become soaked from snow melt.
We had been travelling in circles for days now, since leaving Curaw after being told that most Sea Raiders operate near Bulugha Castle, though we had yet to see a soul aside from peasants from the nearby villages scuttling quickly north towards Rivacheq to sell their wares.
“Time to mount up” Gilroth said to the weary group, if it wasn’t for our equipment many of us would be near mutinous by now I thought to myself as I packed up my things. We had been fortunate in our plunder of the Khergit patrols, each of us now had mail or scale armour, each of us with an armoured horse and each of us with an array of weapons, all taken from our victims. If only my parents could see my now I thought. I missed my family at times and longed to visit them back in Azgad, perhaps I could convince Gilroth to head back west soon, I knew that his conscience was still heavy from the gift’s he had accepted from my father. We moved out shortly after, Gilroth set a course further west and south, thinking that perhaps the raiders were heading to the greener pastures of the south for better pickings, and to avoid the snow I chimed in on the conversation.
The sun was setting as we came over the crest. Gilroth was trying to find a suitable camp site for the night, I was just happy that we had left the snow to the north as we searched in vain for the raiders which had so far proven to be little more than a rumour.
It was then that we saw them. And they saw us. So close there was little time to react. Gilroth turned in his saddle and barked the order to simply ditch the packhorses and prepare for the charge. For in front of us had appeared as if out of nowhere over fifty Raiders, no more than two hundred yards away.
“Form on me. Form on me!” Gilroth called out as we unceremoniously dumped out packs and baggage, drawing our weapons and heaving our horses into formation.
“Stay with me till we engage” The order rang out as we all in unison spurred our steeds into action.
I pressed my knees in tight against the flanks of my horse, its scales jingling as I brought her up to the gallop, my military hammer in my right, my left with my shield holding the reins as I peered though the slit in my helm at the approaching enemy.
The Sea Raiders had spread out and were charging headstrong in our direction as we crested the last rise before them. I had been in many skirmishes since I first tasted blood, but as with each of them before I felt a prang of fear in the eve of contact, before the bloodlust and adrenaline of battle took hold. Gilroth always said that this fear is natural, it is through this fear that we may be called brave, may be called hero’s he said, for we have overcome the fear of death and strived on for glory. I always wondered if the Lord was just begin kind to a frightened child or if he to felt the same as I. It was hard to imagine Gilroth feeling any fear I thought to myself as I looked ahead at him, his sabre in hand, a war cry erupting across the field.
The sound was satisfying, a dull thump as my hammer head pummelled into the raiders skull, his helm serving little purpose against the combined speed of my steep and swing delivering the massive force onto his head. I turned in my saddle as I raced past, seeing the raider fall from my blow as the others too crashed into their individual targets. Content that my enemy was down I pulled my horse into a tight turn while looking for the next target of opportunity.
“Crush them. Crush them all!” Gilroth roared as I watched his sabre flash down slicing a gaping line down the front of a raider the man spewing blood as his legs folded beneath him. His sabre returned to his height soaked in thick dark blood, I watched as he turned it slightly for a overhead swing, the blade sailing down with trained precision cleaving a huge chunk out of another raider’s head instantly killing the man.
I looked around; our party was now in the thick of it, sea raiders swarming our circling horses as we each tended to the enemies around us. A huge man with a gigantic axe came charging towards my left, his axe raised high obviously aimed for my horses head, I turned my horse into him in a fury of hooves bringing my heavy horse straight into the stunned attacker who now found himself being assault by an angry war horse while I lined up my hammer once more.
The blood exploded outwards as my hammer crushed the bones of his face, his blood spraying up violently over my right side leaving my armour red with gore. The man’s axe fell to the trodden ground as his hands moved to his face desperately trying to hold it together, I was already well past him as I noticed he was not out yet, though I smiled as Baheshtur brought down a second strike into the back of his head finally forcing the large warrior to the ground. Baheshtur winked at me as he sped past, I’m sure to be given grief about this later I thought to myself with a smile, my previous fear gone, swallowed up by the excitement of battle.
The field was more dispersed now, I noticed as I looked for my next victim, each of the warriors and raiders caught up in their own entanglements. I saw Gilroth off to the right and I turned my horse to follow him, before long we punched out the side of the battle and moved into a long circle around the engagement. Gilroth grinned at me as he plunged his blood stained sword into his scabbard, before pulling his lance out and turning back towards the fray.
The setting sun blinded me temporarily as I accelerated my horse to follow behind Gilroth; it would be night soon a detached thought in my mind as we charged back towards danger. I rotated the hammer in my hand, my wrists and arms becoming slightly tired during the course of battle with the endless swinging and striking.
We entered the skirmish easily keeping up speed as I swung left and right at enemies while Gilroth carefully picked his target, the enemy commander who was obvious by his excellent armour and shield. I watched with awe as Gilroth hunkered down into this horse and sighted along the extensive lance swaying in great circles which he had to time perfectly.
The commander saw Gilroth zeroing in; he barked some order before turning to flee the menacing figure of Gilroth bearing towards him. I flinched as the lance tore into the small of the commanders back, the momentum of the horse transferred down the shaft ripping through the man with terrible force. The blood a mist in the air as we both stormed past.
His lance spent Gilroth threw it to the ground as I smashed my last skull this evening, we pulled on our reins slowing our horses down for the turn.
“Remind me to teach you the lance, the most prestigious of knightly weapons” Gilroth grinned in satisfaction.
“It looks difficult” I shot back quickly with an equally large grin.
“Nothing to it my boy, nothing to it” We laughed together looking at the scene unfolding, the enemy scattered, simply getting mopped up by our men.
The battle ended quickly after that, the enemy completely crushed with no losses to our side thankfully I thought as I picked my way through the bodies on the field. We had killed over fifteen of them, with over thirty who were now tied in rough twine, unconscious but alive, ready to be dragged back to Rivacheq the next day.
“At say one fifteen a head, with thirty two prisoners” I caught Gilroth mumbling to himself as he watched Alayen make sure the men were securely tied for the night.
“Three thousand six hundred and eighty” I said in an uplifting tone stopping beside him.
“Yes, bloody oath” Gilroth remarked with a sly grin.
“I hate trade runs” Gilroth cussed as we loaded the pack horses with heavy iron bars he had just purchased moments ago from the metal dealer here in Dhirim.
“A knight should never have to do a merchants work” Gilroth went on as I simply sighed to myself lifting the next bar.
“But it must be done, damn it, it must be done if I am to keep this war band in order” I didn’t understand why he was grumbling, he wasn’t the one doing the heavy lifting I thought to myself as the second stack of iron was wheeled out from the back of the market place.
“If the bloody King paid us more we wouldn’t need to do this mundane work just to support his bloody war” Gilroth was getting heated in his words.
It had been months now since we had been out west to the capital, the smell of the ocean air that I was all too used to, was now just a distant memory. Of late we have come into the employ of the King himself as rather cheap mercenaries for his war against the Khergits in the east, though we hadn’t come into contact with the majority of the enemy as yet, merely a series of small skirmishes against Khergit patrols and caravans.
In the weeks of late we have moved from city to city, town to town and castle to castle in service of Swadia, meeting many Counts and Lords along the way. We have even taken in a few notable companions, Bunduk who we met in Suno prided himself in his tactical ability though I have yet to see the product of his skill, Alayen and Baheshtur both joined us in Dhirim a month ago now, the two men being sound warriors in their own right, a valuable addition to our party. Deshavi and Klethi we found on the road to Uxkhal, they both being excellent trackers and scouts to rival the skills of even Gilroth himself. We stumbled into Jeremus who was busily bandaging up Firentis outside Renidi Castle after some bandits had attacked Firentis party of recruits he was training for the local Lord, Jeremus being the excellent doctor he is patched him up in no time and has since become a very helpful member, even continuing the training of Ymira in the art of medicine and surgery.
Despite these additions our party had actually shrunk over the last few months, as the men became more skilled and better equipped from the experience and loot of our skirmishes. They had demanded more pay from Gilroth, who despite respecting that they did indeed deserve more; he simply hadn’t the funds to keep them all.
And so it was, now fifteen strong that we were forced to resort to doing a trade run down to Reyvadin carrying desperately needed Dhirim iron to the smiths of the Vaegir capital.
“This had better be worthwhile Ymira. We are investing quite a bit into this venture” Gilroth only mildly calmer said as I lifted the last bar and packed it into the saddle bag.
“I assure you Sir. That Reyvadin always has a high demand for iron, and these bars were a bargin, we should make a tidy profit” Ymira who was by far the most skilled in financial and business matters of the group replied confidently in the face of Gilroth’s foul tone.
“Last bar's done Sir” I called across to Gilroth whose face instantly changed to a grin in the knowledge that we could get under way. Gilroth always seemed to enjoy a good ride through the country side, though this journey would be slow due to the heavily burdened packhorses.
“Right, let’s move off” He said as he lifted himself into the saddle.
I did the same moments later, one good thing of the last few months was that we all had mounts now I thought to myself, every single member of the war band had secured themselves a steed during the last few weeks of skirmishing, we could thank the Khergits love of horses for our comfortable travel of late.
Ducking under the gate of Dhirim I said goodbye to the city which was growing on me. Perhaps in later years I could settle down here I thought to myself as we turned north towards the cold lands, towards Reyvadin.
Four days later we sighted Reyvadin, I had never been before but the city was obvious from the smoke of the forge fires that hanged in the cold air above the city. The trip had been uneventful with most of the Khergit forces moving back into their heartland in the face of the main Swadian army under our Marshall Count Klargus which was at the moment marching towards Narra. We had yet to be called to follow the Marshall, perhaps the King deemed our small force to weak to face the main armies of the other Kingdoms, or perhaps he was just ashamed to admit that he had hired vast hordes of mercenaries in order to pursue the war and thus delegated us to petty skirmishes while his esteemed Counts gained all the glory in the more legendary engagements.
“Care to get a drink at the tavern?” Gilroth said as he pulled up beside me interupting my line of thought.
“The others can start unloading the iron, Ymira said she knows a man who will take the whole shipment” Gilroth went on greedily, Ymira had ridden ahead of the group a day before and obviously her idea had paid off for Gilroth was in a happy mood, happy enough to drink anyway.
I nodded my reply.
The tavern was grim I thought to myself as we entered, there was barely anyone here as we moved towards the barman.
“Two of your finest ales” Gilroth said jovially, I hadn’t been told the numbers yet but this trip must have really paid well I thought to myself with a smile as I accepted the glass of warm ale.
“Where to now?” I asked.
“Well this has paid off more than I thought, so we could turn back south to look for some action around Rindyah or Malayurg” He replied before taking a huge pull from his glass.
“What you two in town for?” The barmen said, happy for the conversation on an otherwise dull night.
“We just brought a shipment of iron from Dhirim” I replied while Gilroth wiped the froth from his mouth.
“Dhirim, I don’t know about Dhirim, but I know you can get iron in Curaw for as little as eighty six a bar” The barman replied, Gilroth almost spat out his ale at the statement.
“Eighty six a bar you say?” Gilroth tone was serious, back to business as always I noticed with a grin.
“As low as. Though usually it sits just under a hundred or so I’m told” The barman replied.
“Bloody hell that’s cheap, we were paying one fifty or more in Dhirim and still made a killing at the markets here” Gilroth replied quickly.
The barman just shrugged. And I knew right away that we would be heading straight for Curaw, a profit this large was too good to pass up and could keep the war band in business for many a week.
We could only just make them out at the distance, merely different coloured dots on the white background of the snow covered lands of the north. They had seen us, our silhouettes clear against the sky line high on our horses, and they were moving fast. They must be bandits of some type I thought to myself as Gilroth hastened the pace, he was curious as were the rest of us, but unlike the rest was also cautious as to the danger of running head long into an unknown situation.
They seemed to stall for a moment, Deshavi reported with her excellent sight. But before a moment had passed they were on the move again, and faster than ever evidently quite skilled in crossing snow and ice, they began to pull away expanding the distance between us and them.
“They left something or someone behind” Deshavi called out across the group.
“We won’t catch them now” Klethi chimed in as the foreign group disappeared over a far crest.
“Let’s investigate what they left behind though” Gilroth said as he ordered us to slow down, we couldn’t afford another horse to break a leg in the snow, the last few days travel proving more difficult than we imagined as a slight storm had brought heavy snow to the land.
A little while later we all stood around the wounded man, his side was clearly slashed with a gaping wound roughly bandaged. The man was unconscious and had been left for dead by his friends who had retreated in haste earlier.
“He’ll live” Jeremus said standing back up after inspecting the wound.
“Well do what you can for now Jeremus, then we’ll make up a stretcher to be towed behind one of the pack horses, Hopefully he will be well enough by the time we get to Curaw to look after himself” Gilroth said with sympathy in his voice.
“Why don’t we just kill him here? He’s nothing but a villainous Sea Raider” Baheshtur said with a scornful tone.
“A Sea Raider?” Gilroth asked.
“Bandits Sir, from the northern sea’s, they come in longboats to rape and pillage around the parts just north of here” Baheshtur filled Gilroth in on the local outlaws.
Gilroth’s mood changed swiftly, he had no pity for bandits and was drawing his sword.
“Wait, wait. Don’t kill him, we can sell him to a ransom broker in Curaw” Alayen put in wickedly.
Gilroth stayed his blade as we all turned to Alayen for an explanation, out of all our companions Alayen was the only one I disliked. Something seemed not quite right about him, even though he had proven usefully in the group I thought to myself as I looked at his face, a face of mischief and cunning.
“We can sell him to a broker. They then ransom him back to his clan, it’s a quick way to make coin” Alayen went on as the others listened.
Gilroth returned his blade back into its scabbard, before turning to his horse.
“Well get him ready to move, I hate this cold” He said pushing himself up by the stirrup.
The man struggled as I held him firmly by the chains on his wrists; he had healed well under Jeremus excellent care on our way into Curaw. I now we stood waiting as Gilroth and the ransom broker discussed his future. I knew that he would be sold to the man, whether he would be ransomed back to his clan was a different story, if not he would be sold into slavery a fate no man welcomes.
“I’ll give you one ten for this one, seeing as he is wounded” The slimy broker said clearly above the low hum of the Curaw tavern obviously not ashamed of his profession.
“One fifteen and you have yourself a deal?” Gilroth shot back, always keen for that last extra coin, a trait that has kept us from starving in the past.
The broker nodded his submission in the face of Gilroth’s naturally intimidating presence. The money was exchanged quickly and I held the sea raider firm as the chains were swapped.
“I’ll be staying in Curaw for a couple more weeks, then moving to Rivacheq. Be sure to look me up if you have any more” He said with an evil grin as he pushed the bandit through the front door out into the cold night.
Gilroth nodded as he pushed the coins around in his palm; the look on his face told me that we wouldn’t be returning to the warm south for a while yet. We had a new line of business to attend to up north, one that could prove very profitable.
A spray of snow assaulted my face, abruptly waking me from my sleep. I looked at Bunduk with scorn as he looked back at me with a smile, mumbling his apologies. Stretching I grabbed for my fur coat, wrapping it tightly as I climbed out of my makeshift bed which during the night had become soaked from snow melt.
We had been travelling in circles for days now, since leaving Curaw after being told that most Sea Raiders operate near Bulugha Castle, though we had yet to see a soul aside from peasants from the nearby villages scuttling quickly north towards Rivacheq to sell their wares.
“Time to mount up” Gilroth said to the weary group, if it wasn’t for our equipment many of us would be near mutinous by now I thought to myself as I packed up my things. We had been fortunate in our plunder of the Khergit patrols, each of us now had mail or scale armour, each of us with an armoured horse and each of us with an array of weapons, all taken from our victims. If only my parents could see my now I thought. I missed my family at times and longed to visit them back in Azgad, perhaps I could convince Gilroth to head back west soon, I knew that his conscience was still heavy from the gift’s he had accepted from my father. We moved out shortly after, Gilroth set a course further west and south, thinking that perhaps the raiders were heading to the greener pastures of the south for better pickings, and to avoid the snow I chimed in on the conversation.
The sun was setting as we came over the crest. Gilroth was trying to find a suitable camp site for the night, I was just happy that we had left the snow to the north as we searched in vain for the raiders which had so far proven to be little more than a rumour.
It was then that we saw them. And they saw us. So close there was little time to react. Gilroth turned in his saddle and barked the order to simply ditch the packhorses and prepare for the charge. For in front of us had appeared as if out of nowhere over fifty Raiders, no more than two hundred yards away.
“Form on me. Form on me!” Gilroth called out as we unceremoniously dumped out packs and baggage, drawing our weapons and heaving our horses into formation.
“Stay with me till we engage” The order rang out as we all in unison spurred our steeds into action.
I pressed my knees in tight against the flanks of my horse, its scales jingling as I brought her up to the gallop, my military hammer in my right, my left with my shield holding the reins as I peered though the slit in my helm at the approaching enemy.
The Sea Raiders had spread out and were charging headstrong in our direction as we crested the last rise before them. I had been in many skirmishes since I first tasted blood, but as with each of them before I felt a prang of fear in the eve of contact, before the bloodlust and adrenaline of battle took hold. Gilroth always said that this fear is natural, it is through this fear that we may be called brave, may be called hero’s he said, for we have overcome the fear of death and strived on for glory. I always wondered if the Lord was just begin kind to a frightened child or if he to felt the same as I. It was hard to imagine Gilroth feeling any fear I thought to myself as I looked ahead at him, his sabre in hand, a war cry erupting across the field.
The sound was satisfying, a dull thump as my hammer head pummelled into the raiders skull, his helm serving little purpose against the combined speed of my steep and swing delivering the massive force onto his head. I turned in my saddle as I raced past, seeing the raider fall from my blow as the others too crashed into their individual targets. Content that my enemy was down I pulled my horse into a tight turn while looking for the next target of opportunity.
“Crush them. Crush them all!” Gilroth roared as I watched his sabre flash down slicing a gaping line down the front of a raider the man spewing blood as his legs folded beneath him. His sabre returned to his height soaked in thick dark blood, I watched as he turned it slightly for a overhead swing, the blade sailing down with trained precision cleaving a huge chunk out of another raider’s head instantly killing the man.
I looked around; our party was now in the thick of it, sea raiders swarming our circling horses as we each tended to the enemies around us. A huge man with a gigantic axe came charging towards my left, his axe raised high obviously aimed for my horses head, I turned my horse into him in a fury of hooves bringing my heavy horse straight into the stunned attacker who now found himself being assault by an angry war horse while I lined up my hammer once more.
The blood exploded outwards as my hammer crushed the bones of his face, his blood spraying up violently over my right side leaving my armour red with gore. The man’s axe fell to the trodden ground as his hands moved to his face desperately trying to hold it together, I was already well past him as I noticed he was not out yet, though I smiled as Baheshtur brought down a second strike into the back of his head finally forcing the large warrior to the ground. Baheshtur winked at me as he sped past, I’m sure to be given grief about this later I thought to myself with a smile, my previous fear gone, swallowed up by the excitement of battle.
The field was more dispersed now, I noticed as I looked for my next victim, each of the warriors and raiders caught up in their own entanglements. I saw Gilroth off to the right and I turned my horse to follow him, before long we punched out the side of the battle and moved into a long circle around the engagement. Gilroth grinned at me as he plunged his blood stained sword into his scabbard, before pulling his lance out and turning back towards the fray.
The setting sun blinded me temporarily as I accelerated my horse to follow behind Gilroth; it would be night soon a detached thought in my mind as we charged back towards danger. I rotated the hammer in my hand, my wrists and arms becoming slightly tired during the course of battle with the endless swinging and striking.
We entered the skirmish easily keeping up speed as I swung left and right at enemies while Gilroth carefully picked his target, the enemy commander who was obvious by his excellent armour and shield. I watched with awe as Gilroth hunkered down into this horse and sighted along the extensive lance swaying in great circles which he had to time perfectly.
The commander saw Gilroth zeroing in; he barked some order before turning to flee the menacing figure of Gilroth bearing towards him. I flinched as the lance tore into the small of the commanders back, the momentum of the horse transferred down the shaft ripping through the man with terrible force. The blood a mist in the air as we both stormed past.
His lance spent Gilroth threw it to the ground as I smashed my last skull this evening, we pulled on our reins slowing our horses down for the turn.
“Remind me to teach you the lance, the most prestigious of knightly weapons” Gilroth grinned in satisfaction.
“It looks difficult” I shot back quickly with an equally large grin.
“Nothing to it my boy, nothing to it” We laughed together looking at the scene unfolding, the enemy scattered, simply getting mopped up by our men.
The battle ended quickly after that, the enemy completely crushed with no losses to our side thankfully I thought as I picked my way through the bodies on the field. We had killed over fifteen of them, with over thirty who were now tied in rough twine, unconscious but alive, ready to be dragged back to Rivacheq the next day.
“At say one fifteen a head, with thirty two prisoners” I caught Gilroth mumbling to himself as he watched Alayen make sure the men were securely tied for the night.
“Three thousand six hundred and eighty” I said in an uplifting tone stopping beside him.
“Yes, bloody oath” Gilroth remarked with a sly grin.
Mixedpotatoes
Master Knight
This was so amazing that it was amazing. Really great! As you perhaps know, my AAR is ending soon, and I am inspired to do a little less game-focused writing style, somewhat like yours.
Also, are you a professional writer? Really great descriptions of feelings and everything, although sometimes I have to read twice to understand, your vocabulary is enormous
What do you edit your pictures with? Gimp?
Also, are you a professional writer? Really great descriptions of feelings and everything, although sometimes I have to read twice to understand, your vocabulary is enormous
What do you edit your pictures with? Gimp?
Stildawn
Squire
Mixedpotatoes 说:This was so amazing that it was amazing. Really great! As you perhaps know, my AAR is ending soon, and I am inspired to do a little less game-focused writing style, somewhat like yours.
Also, are you a professional writer? Really great descriptions of feelings and everything, although sometimes I have to read twice to understand, your vocabulary is enormous
What do you edit your pictures with? Gimp?
Haha thanks mate. Im glad you liked it...
I am certainly not a professional writer... What I do and I guess it works is I write very slowly, most sentences or paragraphs I read aloud before I confirm the exact wording, I often look over a piece I have just written and if I find too many repeated words or too many repeated styles etc I will re read and try to change them.
With verbs especially in important places where I want to get something across... I will often sit there and say the sentence or group of words over and over, changing the verb until I find one that I like...
I also take a considerable amount of inspiration from books, I generally read alot and most of what I read is historical fiction (manly neopoleonic stuff but yeah)... The feelings around battles, fear, excitement bloodlust etc I have taken from these books, which descripe battles in such an awesome way...
I hope that answers your question...
I use Photoshop for my pics... And I really do suck at it... All I do is crop, resized, add a drawn look filter, maybe highlight or smooth out some bits, wack on the 2 px black outline and thats it... What I do do on purpose though is try to make the pics as wide screen as possible (meaning get them as wide with as little height as possible) this gives the illusion of being a large picture without getting in the way of the text so much as large squarer pics do... I also make sure that each picture is exactly 950px wide so they all look uniform and neat (im a bit of a neat freak lol)
Im a little worried about that part... Why is that? So I can try and fix it... I know my punctuation (or is it grammar?) aint the best lol.
But really thanks for the comments... Much appreciated...
What was you favourite part? What was your least favourite part?
Mixedpotatoes
Master Knight
Stildawn 说:
I said because your vocabulary is enormous, you use words such as: mundane, delegated, scuttling, extensive and so on.
It makes it better to read, but english isnt my main language, and i stall a bit on those words. Your grammar is close to perfect, dont worry. It is nothing bad though, keep writing as always
Stildawn
Squire
Mixedpotatoes 说:Stildawn 说:
I said because your vocabulary is enormous, you use words such as: mundane, delegated, scuttling, extensive and so on.
It makes it better to read, but english isnt my main language, and i stall a bit on those words. Your grammar is close to perfect, dont worry. It is nothing bad though, keep writing as always
Ah ok... Good I can handle that... You want me to put a more literal word in brackets to help? Sorry I dont really know what its like to read a second language... Im just a Kiwi lol English speaking nothing fancy lol.
Mixedpotatoes
Master Knight
Stildawn 说:
DONT change anything
With easier language it would also become more boring, keep it as it is.
Stildawn
Squire
Mixedpotatoes 说:Stildawn 说:
DONT change anything
With easier language it would also become more boring, keep it as it is.
Fair enough will do... So what parts do you like best and least? As I think perhaps I spend too much time on explaining history and not enough in action I would like to get a nice balance...
Mixedpotatoes
Master Knight
Stildawn 说:
I like your way to write conversations, and describe events like when you arrived at Reyvadin. Get less thoughts, and bold out the body-communication a bit more. Put an action in between somewhere always. Try to describe more words with adjectives, although you are very good at doing it. The less enjoyable parts, hmm:
I know you need to let us know what kind of companions you have in your party but dont push it all together, you should've laid it out more evenly through the chapter. When someone say something for an example.
"That was a hell of a fight" Jeremus said (first time mentioning him in the chapter), as he bandaged a shoulder wound of a soldier. We met Jeremus when he was bandaging Firentis... and so on.
I hope you understood what I meant.
Stildawn
Squire
Ah excellent points... I noticed myself how often I use "I thought to myself" though I am struggling on ways to eliminate the phrase... Any ideas? Cause often things that im explaining are in the past tense therefore I need something to bring the reader back to the present... And thus I use thoughts...
Yeah the companions... I knew that was a bit bogus lol should have changed it up a bit oh well lol.
Yeah the companions... I knew that was a bit bogus lol should have changed it up a bit oh well lol.
I say, just write it the way you feel it, and let the rest of us catch on. I'm sure nobody told Shakespeare, "You're concentrating too much on monologues and people speaking their thoughts."
I think its excellent, especially with the amount of detail provided. Loved that, "Form on me". Seemed very real.
Just a small word from me . I had wanted to read and comment quite a bit earlier, but unfortunately I hadn't the time. I regret that, since you are writing an excellent AAR, and I should have made time for it! Well written and a good use of pictures. You put down a very great narrative AAR which asks for more. The only downside I found was that I hate to read such large texts in italic, or in red. But your writing compensates for that.
. I had wanted to read and comment quite a bit earlier, but unfortunately I hadn't the time. I regret that, since you are writing an excellent AAR, and I should have made time for it! Well written and a good use of pictures. You put down a very great narrative AAR which asks for more. The only downside I found was that I hate to read such large texts in italic, or in red. But your writing compensates for that.
