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Under Siege Part 2
The previous night, the team had learned the details of the situation. King Demetrius Fenley had once been a fair but strict ruler. Three years ago, he had acquired a new advisor, a beautiful woman named Diana Wynnthrope, who came from a small nation on the other side of the mountains. The changes were subtle at first, with the king becoming more suspicious of others’ intentions and enacting harsher laws.
Baron Archand had noticed these changes, and had spoken up about the new laws. He had always respected his king. What had happened?
Nasat was located near a mine that produced precious gems and metals for the kingdom. King Demetrius had become convinced somehow that the town was not paying its fair share of taxes, and accused the baron of hoarding said gems and metals to fund an army and take the crown. Archand had done everything in his power to refute the false claims, but to no avail. So, with word that the king was sending an army to seize the rebellious town, he had sent for aid from his friend Baron Raleigh in Pertus. Raleigh had readily agreed, also being uncomfortable with the new laws, and was further seeking the help of the bronze dragons (bronze dragons that looked exactly like Crucible) in the nearby mountains he had his own alliance with. Unfortunately, Raleigh’s troops would not reach Nasat before King Demetrius’s.
It was impossible to find a person in Nasat that wasn't helping to prepare for battle in some way. Even the children were busy, packing food and clothing for evacuation and carrying supplies to and from for the adults.
There was an entire section of the town dedicated to the creation of weapons and armor: women making arrows, blacksmiths forging blades and breastplates, and engineers building siege engines. Oil was being gathered, along with firewood, and a fire brigade was sent out to place buckets of water in strategic locations throughout the town. Mages gathered and shared their spell components with each other.
Nasat was clearly a town where everyone was used to helping their neighbors, and happy to do so.
Baron Archand was not adverse to getting a little dirty and helping out himself, either. While making his rounds, he worked the bellows for the master blacksmith for a few minutes, chatted with a group of older ladies while fletching arrows, and dug one of the holes for a wooden spike with a shovel.
Sentries had reported that King Demetrius's forces would arrive the next day, and there was much more work to be done.
[OOC: Backtagging in the previous post is definitely okay and encouraged! The next post will be going up on November 26th.
Feel free to NPC the townspeople in the first subthread! You can be creative with how your characters help with preparations, too, so have fun with it!
All subthreads are open!]
Baron Archand had noticed these changes, and had spoken up about the new laws. He had always respected his king. What had happened?
Nasat was located near a mine that produced precious gems and metals for the kingdom. King Demetrius had become convinced somehow that the town was not paying its fair share of taxes, and accused the baron of hoarding said gems and metals to fund an army and take the crown. Archand had done everything in his power to refute the false claims, but to no avail. So, with word that the king was sending an army to seize the rebellious town, he had sent for aid from his friend Baron Raleigh in Pertus. Raleigh had readily agreed, also being uncomfortable with the new laws, and was further seeking the help of the bronze dragons (bronze dragons that looked exactly like Crucible) in the nearby mountains he had his own alliance with. Unfortunately, Raleigh’s troops would not reach Nasat before King Demetrius’s.
It was impossible to find a person in Nasat that wasn't helping to prepare for battle in some way. Even the children were busy, packing food and clothing for evacuation and carrying supplies to and from for the adults.
There was an entire section of the town dedicated to the creation of weapons and armor: women making arrows, blacksmiths forging blades and breastplates, and engineers building siege engines. Oil was being gathered, along with firewood, and a fire brigade was sent out to place buckets of water in strategic locations throughout the town. Mages gathered and shared their spell components with each other.
Nasat was clearly a town where everyone was used to helping their neighbors, and happy to do so.
Baron Archand was not adverse to getting a little dirty and helping out himself, either. While making his rounds, he worked the bellows for the master blacksmith for a few minutes, chatted with a group of older ladies while fletching arrows, and dug one of the holes for a wooden spike with a shovel.
Sentries had reported that King Demetrius's forces would arrive the next day, and there was much more work to be done.
[OOC: Backtagging in the previous post is definitely okay and encouraged! The next post will be going up on November 26th.
Feel free to NPC the townspeople in the first subthread! You can be creative with how your characters help with preparations, too, so have fun with it!
All subthreads are open!]
no subject
"Sam!"
Before the other engineers and soldiers in the area could start moving that way as well and avenge their comrade, they were ambushed by another two saboteurs and forced to defend themselves. Two engineers managed to separate themselves, and ran over to Kang and Hiccup with panicked expressions, "We've been betrayed! Quick, the other teams need to be warned!"
The bozak drew his sword and turned to tell Hiccup to go do so, but one of men smiled just a tad too soon, raising his weapon to strike. Immediately, he dropped down and pivoted on one foot, tripping the human with his tail and promptly burying the end of his sword in the saboteur's gut with an angry hiss.
no subject
"I'm guessing this isn't the part where you decide I'm too weak to be a target and walk away--and that's a sword. Now you're trying to hit me with the sword. Okay."
He'd parried just in time, and kept doing so as the man advanced towards him.
"The baron's forces only have a chance at all because you strangers arrived. With your knowledge and your skill at the blade and your magic," said the man, swinging his sword. "All of you contribute to the threat against our king's sovereignty, and for that, you must die--will you stay still already?"
The man had been swinging his sword and trying to stab him, but even though Hiccup couldn't fight back, he wasn't exactly about the stand there and let himself get hit, either. Zuko's training had very much been against standing there and letting yourself get hit by anything.
"Uh, I'd really rather not. Stay still. And die," said Hiccup, continuing to back away. "It just doesn't seem like--" he ducked another blow "--the--the avenue of approach I'd like to take to this situation. See, because to make--" he ducked again "--good life choices, you have to, y'know, be alive and-- aah!"
The edge of a sword-blow had caught his face, recoiling from it had him tripping over his own feet and falling back to hit the stones.
Hiccup tried to crawl away like a crab, bleeding from the cheek. "You don't have to do this. You've been here long enough to know that the baron isn't trying to take over, he's not--"
"He is a threat to our king."
You couldn't talk your way out of everything, Hiccup knew, and the look in the man's eyes showed him he wasn't talking his way out of this one. The traitor had nothing left to say. He lifted his sword overhead and swung it down at the same time Hiccup lifted his left foot.
Clang!
The sword had cut right through the sole of Hiccup's boot, only to hit metal underneath.
"What in the world?" said the traitor mystified. The blow should have chopped right through Hiccup's leg.
"I'm sorry," Hiccup said, looking behind the man.
no subject
"Bastards." His tail lashed in fury as he knelt down and quickly looked the boy over for any serious injury. Seeing nothing more than a cut on the cheek, he looked over towards the engineering team, glad to see that they had managed to take down one of theirs already; the other wasn't doing so well on his own.
"They were a bit overzealous," he remarked, his tone clear that he didn't feel a shred of sympathy for their fates. The last one let out a cry as he was felled, throat cut open.
no subject
"...Thanks, by the way."
If nothing else, this little venture had proven that he was pretty much utterly incapable of putting most of what he'd learned from Zuko to any sort of remotely practical use.
no subject