I wake once more, gazing around my room, a tear welling in my eye as I spot my mother’s locket, I grab my father’s blade and open my closet. I grab a new tunic, throwing my old one into a pile for Calista to wash with everyone else’s. I feel my joints pop as my tunic leaves my body, my scars open to my sight. A cut from an orc blade falls right over my heart.
I quickly throw off the the rest of my clothes, pulling on my pants, I pull my belt through the loops and put my sword back in the scabbard. I pull open the door, still seeing small plumes of smoke from the fire yesterday, I check my status, as my feet tread the well-worn cobbles towards the barracks.
Adrian Hawke
HP:425 SP:445 MP:N/A Class: Guard, 10 Subclass: N/A (82%, 0%) STR: 17 CON: 27 AGI:19 DEX:22 END:31 WIL:14 WIS:10 INT:13 Active Skills Combat Skills General Skills Sidestep Dodge:72 Marching:22 Sweep Swordsmanship:64 Climbing:10 Snap Unarmed:42 Swimming:43 Haggle:13 Repair:14
I hear my Captain shout “Get in the yard with me, Adrian!” as I am running up the last stretch of road, I nod, walking into the empty yard, we both grab a practice sword, with him grabbing a shield to go along with his.
We both set our weight onto the balls of our heels, we both burst forward, I bring my sword in for an overhead strike as I charge, and he moves his sword to block, with his sword already above his head, I quickly push his shield with my gloved hand and bring my sword into a thrust, leaving him fully open. I scratch his tunic as he manages to jump back, avoiding a bruise.
We both start circling one another, when he suddenly Charges I jump to the side, as he barrels into me I manage to avoid taking a full hit as I hurtle back, landing on my feet disoriented, and realizing I took twenty-four blunt damage from an attack I managed to somewhat dodge, but not sidestepping to conserve energy.
He moves forward, Sweeping his sword at me, he trips on a rock in the yard, as I step backwards, he manages to recover instantly, making my strike completely miss him, we both rebalance ourselves, I Snap forwards, Sidestepping his sword, I strike at him as he brings his shield over, knocking into his sword, managing to put up a brief resistance against my strike, I feel wood crack on his shoulder, barely diverted from his skull. He instantly moves forward, bashing me straight in the nose with his shield, I feel myself choke on blood as my eyes cloud up.
I leap backwards, landing perfectly on my feet by sheer luck, I spit onto the ground and wipe my eyes, with my eyes still foggy, I see him thrust forward, stepping to the side, I swipe at his left side. He raises his shield, making my blade simply bounce back, sending me reeling as he goes into another Shield Bash, I simply step back, moving into a overhead strike, hoping to exploit his inability to block. He Charges forward, ramming into me and knocking me back.
As I am staggered, he Swipes me, knocking me to the floor, seemingly frustrated that he is unable to land any solid hits on me. I Snap upwards, moving into a quick strike as I hit his temple, stunning him as he tries to swipe my sword out of the way. I Snap once again, moving to thrust under his shield, I twist my wrist hitting his tendon. He drops his shield as I make a lightning-fast grab for it, throwing it in his face as I take the wind out of him with a solid thrust to the stomach.
He shouts, screaming in fury “Symphony Of Steel”, as he moves like a whirlwind, jumping forward and swiping as I simply step back out of the way he moves into a Charge, knocking me down but suddenly stopping, Sweeping me once more, leaving me battered and winded, he ends the match with every other level 10 and 9 watching.
Swordsmanship 64 ---> 65
Dodge 72 ---> 74
Unarmed 42 ---> 43
The head priest quickly runs onto the scene, grumbling under his breath about how me and the captain always take practice out of hand and requiring him to heal us. I feel warmth rush through my body, as bruises disappear my aches and pains of moving fade away, as he does the same to the Captain, the spectators suddenly crowd around me.
“How do you dodge like that?”
“How did you get the Cap to use his level 25 skill?”
“How did you snap into action?”
I quickly try to answer questions, though a tide of other low level guards interrupts as we disperse, with the Captain assigning four patrols lead by level nines to exterminate the woodshadows, ten patrols, one of which being me to patrol the town, and six patrols to search the woods with some hunters.
I set out with two level eights and sevens, and with the same amount in sixes, we set off at a jog throughout the main street. We solemnly jog by, the only noises being grunts and sounds of logs being moved, as people rebuild from the fire. We jog by the decrepit northern gate that faces only barren rock, where veins of ore were plentiful, wagon marks still evident from the ground itself.
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A group of combatants are at the entrance, the warrior bashing the gate with his club as the mage and priest yell for someone to open it, I quickly order the level sixes to pull the lever upwards. As they do so a few chips of wood rain down on the warrior, and with a loud groan the gate secures itself up, and the party of five march forward.
“Where is the guild in this town, we just came from an expedition.” The warrior barks, a mix of angry and exhausted, seemingly wishing to just get to a bed.
“They fucking left.” I spit, still angered about how when opportunity dried up they left like locusts, causing my parents to fucking starve, the bastards.
“What?” The mage seems taken aback at my venomous tone when talking about the guild, as if I personally insulted her or her god.
“Your fucking adventurers, aren’t you,” I quickly realize, the only parties that form like that are ones that have some sort of trifecta of tank, healer, and rogue are the noble brats that join it.
“Yeah, what does it mean to you?” Says the mage, almost accusing me of hating the guild out of jealousy.
“The guild fucking left.” I deliver, without flinching at the warrior who leans forward at the statement, or how the archer moves an arrow from his quiver to his hand, ready to knock and fire at any moment.
“The guild, it… doesn’t, cant even, leave!” The mage yells, desperately hoping for me to not shatter his illusion, of a perfect society dedicated to the removal of monsters.
“Look out that gate, see where the veins of crystal were, twenty fucking seven years ago the guild came in, preparing for a expedition against a leviathan, needing mana crystal to fuel it, they came here on reports of it. They rebuilt the whole town around it. My Pa’s farm became a residence, my parents mined day in and out, building us a better life, as the guild kept on demanding more and more for expeditions the mana well dried up from overuse, and they left like fucking ghosts, leaving tons of boys to join the guard and the fresh meat to deal with incursion after incursion, there is a reason our town has such a nice wall. Because when SEVEN FUCKING THOUSAND PEOPLE DIE, THEY LEAVE BEHIND SHIT, JUST LIKE THE GUILD LEFT US, A TOWN DESTINED TO DIE, A SHIT ON THE ROADSIDE, WHALE RATS FUCKING ATE WOMEN AND CHILDREN WHILE ORCS SLICED UP FATHERS, ANY AID REQUEST DENIED BY THE GUILD ITSELF, NOT EVEN POSTING A FUCKING NOTICE, JUST REMOVING US FROM THE MAP.”
“Hah, stop lying peasant.” He lifts his nose up with a snort, laughter in his eyes.
“Go down the road, the inn should be by the main gate on the other side of the town” I say, with no small amount of satisfaction from their inconvenience of having to travel to the other side of town to reach the shittiest inn in the kingdom, seeing as we have nobody come. Though, the inn usually serves as a warehouse over anything else with people usually hosting travelers in houses, just sending them to the inn if they piss someone off.
We patrol around once more, all of us in silent solidarity, with us being the ones who experienced the pain of the Generation of Collapse. We come into one of the main merchant streets, as we see a carpenter fixing his sign he falls, he manages to change his direction enough to land in my arms as I dive forward, catching him as he falls. I hear his ladder shake slightly as he gets back to his feet, profusely thanking me.
The sun’s light rains down on the street, as it reaches noon alarm bells ring, as we sprint towards the gate I focus, steeling my mind for the fight to come, patrols start to convene as we run towards the gates, hunters slipping in from secret entrances only known to them. My patrol quickly reaches the wall, and start to climb up the sturdy ladders, my eyes crest the wall.
The forest is in flames, as beasts rush towards the walls with some hunters and a patrol of guards at the back, bodies sagging as if the world rests upon their soldiers, they quickly shamble forward, as the wave of weak animals from the outer forest simply veer away from the spiked pits at the bottom of our walls.
The undead rush forward, with a log in the shape of a makeshift battering ram, I hear the head priest and his acolytes incant Holy Smite, quickly stopping the momentum of the log before it started, and the beasts rush back to the forest as if no longer under a spell. The fires quickly burn out themselves, seemingly only meant to scare out beasts into attacking the walls instead of destroying the forest.
All of the towns combatants, now at the wall without any foe hear Captain, along with the Huntsmaster, head wizard and head priest assign that the patrols cut the amount of themselves in half, with high level patrols doubling up with low level ones. The hunters are now supposed to hunt with four men at once, two hunting the target and the other two watching for trouble.
The head priest said that all guard units are now to have a priest or a wizard with them at all times, with the head wizard, priest, guard, and hunter as the only exceptions, as they will hunt down the source of the undead upon the morrow.
As the groups disperse into their new formations, everything resumes as usual, though with everybody on edge, jumping at the slightest movement of a shadow, or a slump in any back. The day ends, as evening dawns over a city, ringing of boots heard perpetually ringing out from the walls as families huddle in their homes, scared for what may come next.
The temple incense alight, an acolyte in vigil to the gods, praying for salvation and luck in the following days of tribulation, as the ritual continues throughout the night he maintains his vigil to the gods.
The mage compound is silent, except for a few noises of incantation, one still practicing his spellwork while all others have fallen asleep due to exhaustion. He forges ahead, honing his mind and magic for the events which have yet to come.