Snowy Solace

[Northerner]

The girl had fallen, though not by his blade. In the end, it mattered little the means by which warriors were felled and so she would go ignored for the time being. The other man, he who wanted things to end peacefully, had yet to make his own move while the fellow Northerner now faced the damned knight in single combat. Truly, he had not yet forgotten his heritage, despite his attempt to flee to the soft lands of the Southern kingdom and might provide that momentary spark of what almost felt like life to this ancient warrior.

With his greatsword knocked aside, there was little time to bring it back about for a second swing before his opponents own attack would connect. Instead, the damned knight released one hand from his sword, stepping aside as he swung his own arm to clash against the side of the opposing blade, knocking it askew from its desired course. Instead of a terrible blow to the neck, the blade instead glanced harmlessly off his right pauldron.

Now, with his left hand still gripping the hilt of his sword, the damned knight chose not to try and bring his sword to bear before him, simply lashing out with the arm gripping it instead, aiming smash the man in the face with his sword pommel and gauntleted fist.

[Elyan Herculides]

The former King was thrust into a new battle as soon as he had ended the previous one. Seconds after demanding the first battle cease, a strange warlord out of the North appeared from beyond the pass for seemingly no other reason than to attack the three already present. The man with the strange armor reacted first, engaging the man in single combat while throwing the sorceress aside.

Though the first instinct of a noble warrior is to help an injured woman, and indeed the woman did seem to be in trouble, it was clear to Elyan that this was not a woman at all. It was a witch. Something abhorred that took the guise of an innocent girl but in reality was something that rose from darkness itself.

As such, it could obviously tend to itself. Thus, Elyan turned his attention to the violent warlord. As he was, dressed in full armor but lacking the essential helmet, he couldn't very well go into total combat against the enemy without risk of decapitation. Unless, of course, the enemy lost his sword.

As the Northerner was distracted by the man in strange armor, Elyan came at his enemy's weaker hand, in which he foolishly held his greatsword and forcefully drove home a blow from his sword in an attempt to knock the sword away and give his comrade-through-arms a chance to deliver a stunning blow.

[Northerner]

ooc: warlord, eh? I like it.

The warlord never finished his strike to the northern knight's head, as another sword appeared in the midst of his own attack, aiming to come crashing down upon his hand. Turning his hand slightly, he attempted to block the strike with the hilt of his own sword. While this prevented his hand from being taken off, the awkwardness of the position he already held his sword at resulted in the weapon being knocked from his hand.

It mattered little. He still had his strength and skills in combat. It would have to suffice. Forsaking his weapon for the moment, his armored hand instead lashed out towards the Southerner. Foolishly he had chosen not to wear a helmet into battle, and so the warlord seized him by the throat with his newly freed hand, attempting to crush his windpipe while slowly lifting him off his feet.

At the same time, with his other free hand, that hand which had only moments ago been used to deflect the other Northern knight's sword, he lashed foreword. Catching the man's sword-arm at the wrist in a vice-grip, he attempted to disable his ability to fight long enough to crush the life from the Southerner.

[Anna Marié Terras]

Anna finished her spell, and staggered to her feet. She wasn't quite as adept at restoration spells as she tried to let on, but now wasn't the time to be picky. And rightfully so. It seemed the man that had stopped her mistaken fight was in danger and, though she did not like how he looked at her, she was determined that the beast would not kill him. After all, he wasn't some devil. He was fighting one.

She pulled her sword from its scabbard once more, and once more it glowed red. She then charged the northerner, as unsteady as she was, and thrust her sword at his chest. This wasn't all, however, as immediately after thrusting her sword, she aimed a blast of searing heat at the arm that held the man aloft...

[Northerner]

Effectively having disabled the Northern knight and slowly crushing the life from the Southerner, the nameless warlord seemed nigh unstoppable. Slowly, starting with the small villages, then moving on to larger settlements until he reached the walls of Avaren itself he would cleanse this land of the weaklings who deluded themselves into believing peace could ever exist. There was nothing that could stand against the invincible dark powers that fueled his ancient frame.

Yet, unexpectedly the warlord caught movement out of the corner of his eye. The female, whom he had thought to have fallen already, had somehow risen once again to join the battle, this time siding with the Northern knight who she had so recently attempted to kill. Still, her petty attempt at an attack was ultimately futile, as there was no way her blade could pierce his rune-inscribed armor. He saw in his mind's eye her blade glancing harmlessly off of his armored chest, throwing her off balance. He saw as she stumbled foreword, having overextended herself from her reckless assault. He saw his armored knee coming up to connect with the underside of her chin as she fell foreword. He saw as she collapsed onto the ground, neck broken at an odd angle as she struggled in her last moments to make sense of how she had been defeated.

Yet, his battle sense had failed him. In the very moment her blade struck his armor, his mind's eye was clouded by a brilliant flash of white, skewering his projections of their current battle. In that moment he glanced down and realized what had gone wrong. The girl’s blade had easily pierced his armor, somehow, going straight through his body and protruding from his armored back.

Releasing the other two warriors from his grasp, he took an unsteady step backwards, sliding off the blade that had just run him through. There was no blood upon the blade she held, only a sticky black ichor which now gushed from the horrible wound. The warlord knew that this had been what was generally known as a "mortal blow", even as his vision began to blur. Yet, even as certainly as he knew that his death approached, he knew that the terrible powers of the North were not done with him and the very being that granted him his terrible strength in battle was nowhere near being finished with it's valued minion.

Even as he felt a dark hand grip the soul that resided within his frame which no longer belonged to him, the dark flames which coursed through his veins became tangible. Before the eyes of the onlooking warriors, his body ignited and his armor began to writhe and twist upon itself, warped by chaotic powers beyond the understanding of mortal minds. Within moments, little remained except for the charred, ruined pieces of armor and a few blackened bones.

They had won this day, but it had bought them a moment of respite at best. The warlord would return.

[Anna Marié Terras]

Anna was lucky, it seemed, for her blade had pierced the man's armor. Even luckier still was her timing. As the beast staggered back from her blade, her vision, too, began to blur. It was a stupid move. Most opponents would have had her in their grasp for a stunt like that, but he was occupied. He seemed to think himself invincible, as he let her blade strike. It seemed like she had hit him pretty hard. Her sword hit the ground, splashing a bit of the vile fluid on her boots. Her hand shook unsteadily. Her knees began to give way. Her sword's aura was no more. She dropped to the ground, unable to even see if the beast was truly hurt, or if he had just been taken aback by her bold play. A bold play that she couldn't follow up on. If he was still fighting she couldn't... stop...

[Viggo Nordengard]

It was as if this battle was one of the tales that his father had told him as a young boy, but the proceedings were so farfetched that it seemed like the only possible reason. His opponent had aimed a punch at his head and then the ranger that had told him earlier to lay down his weapon jumped into the fray. Viggo's attacker swiftly changed his manuver, however leaving a grazing blow to his helm that left Viggo dazed, and moved to defend against the ranger.

Everything was a blur to him as he struggled to regain control over his sense, but he did see the dark attacker throttling the life out of the ranger so he attempted to attack him but he landed in the same predicament as the ranger. He felt the gauntlet reaching under his helm and despite his best efforts he couldn't remove the hand that was slowly crushing his throat. And just as swiftly as the situation had changed it took another turn for the unexpected. The woman that he had pushed aside rushed forward, sword in hand, and broke through the Northerner's armor with one thrust. Surely that was impossible for a woman of her build, but then again she had caused his armor to feel like it was in the middle of an inferno.

Now what the means of how she accomplished this, she caused what could only be described as an explosion: bits of black armor and charred bones scattering around those gathered. It was sudden, but these sorts of things marked his very extistence and he had always moved on. Straightening himself to his fullest, Nordengard saluted to the ranger that had aided him and deciding to ignore the woman that had attacked him, he continued on his way down the path.

[Elyan Herculides]

Elyan saw the warlord's sword knocked away, but before the former King could celebrate a victory, he felt his throat gripped and nearly crushed by the powerful gauntlet of the enemy. He slowly felt the life escape from him as he desperately attempted to struggle, but it was to no avail. He hoped within that his sudden ally, the one in strange armor, may perform a blow capable of delivering him from death.

However, it was not the noble warrior's sword that rescued him, but the heathen powers of the witch. Within moments, Elyan was free and the former warlord was in chunks of bone and gore across the ancient path. The former King took a moment to blink and realize the situation before getting to his feet. He touched his wounded neck and felt the large and painful welts that were left in the aftermath of his near-death experience. Then the man in strange armor saluted him and continued on.

"Wait a minute!" he cried after the man in strange armor, "Where are you going?"

[Viggo Nordengard]

Viggo paused as the man asked him where he was headed. At first he was tempted not to reply to the man, as it might be better not to have others get caught up with him, but the ranger came to his side in battle so he was owed an honest answer. Turning around to face him, Viggo raised his visor just enough so that his face could be seen. Black hair with flecks of gray crowned his head and beard, along with a set of piercing blue eyes that were common in the Northlands.

"I head for the City of Avaren. It is rumored where I am from that the greatest warriors in all the realm gather there, and I wish to see if this is true," replied Viggo in a calm manner though there was something untamable about his words. "In the city of Nordengard, where I once served, there was naught but endless war against the surrounding cities and I have grown tired of the same kind of fight. Instead I hunger for new challenges, and Avaren seems like the place to start. Then all the realm shall know that I, Viggo Nordengard, am the greatest warrior in all the land: that is once I defeat their finest in battle."

"So what of you Ranger? Are you too headed in a similar direction?"

[Elyan Herculides]

Elyan was a bit surprised when the man stopped and revealed himself. He had never dealt with a warrior in such armor before in all his years as the King of Avaren's Warriors. For a moment he had almost thought this man some sort of automaton sent from out of the North just like the bloody warlord they had just conquered.

But seeing his face, he knew this man was simply that - a man. But still, Elyan knew men alone to be the noblest of all, and thus he gave good audience to his words. "Avaren is the land I am native to," Elyan responded to the Warrior, "and you speak the truth - there was a time, years ago, when the greatest warriors would come there to compete in glorious battle and the tournament stakes were heavy and the drink was good and life was decent."

The former King continued, "those days are no more. There was a coup of the former King two years ago. I can dare say that Avaren is not the same as it was rumored to be once upon a time..."