There was no doubt about it; a short spear would be the best weapon for this excursion. Lighter than a lance but still packing its own heft, the weapon was perfect for quick, deliberate thrusts and had enough ballast that it could be thrown in almost a completely straight line as a last resort.
Nichol let such thoughts occupy his mind as he trudged from the inn to the heart of the grey little town, having left his horse behind at the local stables. His life up until now had been little more than a series of assignment changes: first an enforcer of holy doctrine, then an imperial guardsman, then a common soldier, marching this way and that for seemingly no reason, and now... something else. I'm not expected to come back alive from this. The thought pried its way into his mind as his fingers absentmindedly ran over the hilt of his sidearm, a dagger holstered in his belt that was barely long enough to parry half-reliably. There was no doubt about it; someone had found out that Nichol was Etrurian by birth— never mind that he was a loyal and willing subject of the Empire. His blood itself, apparently, was damning enough that he had been sent to investigate this place in Tuscana (Nichol wasn't sure if it even had a name) that had fallen thrall to a plague of witches, necromancers, sorcerors... Presumably every type of forbidden mage under the sun...
... Gods, this miserable climate really doesn't mix with armour. He adjusted his helmet once again. Like clockwork, the other soldier behind Nichol followed suit and adjusted his own armour as Nichol's motions reminded him of the clamminess of it all. Nichol had been sent here with two others: he hadn't been able to get much information out of them but their names, that they were both from Ostia, and that they had both suddenly been promoted to imperial guardsmen for this mission. He supposed that their purpose was to keep tabs on him, since there was otherwise nothing stopping Nichol from making a quick and easy escape to Sacae to become a mercenary for the rest of his life... but knowing his luck, mercenary work would simply lead him back into the simmering pot that was the Lycian Empire.
"Captain Nichol!" His other ally, a spindly young man barely big enough for his armour, came running up the street with fear in his eyes.
"Get a hold of yourself, Donovan," Nichol barked as he closed the distance. He was technically these boys' superior, but he didn't feel very much like a leader. "What's happened?"
"I found a— a victim," Donovan stammered.
Any description of the spectacle was useless. Nichol and his comrades hurried to the scene of the priest's fall, but it was clearly too late. "Where are the other guardsmen?" Nichol wondered aloud, alarmed to see a crowd of only civilians gathered around the dead man, who bore telltale glowing scars. Before leaving, Nichol had been told that he would be rendezvousing with a larger party of guardsmen, but they were nowhere to be found. "This doesn't bode well..." he muttered. "Jerome, pay a visit to the mayor," he commanded his other comrade. "Find out if this town has a militia. They've got to have something." Jerome saluted his understanding, and Nichol felt his heart sink as his comrade ran off in search of the local authorities. He couldn't shake the feeling that, as usual, something was about to go horribly wrong.
"Nichol Kless, Imperial Guardsman," Nichol introduced himself to the other priest on the scene as if his rank meant anything around these parts. "We've been sent to investigate rumours of sorcerors. What's happened here?" If the Lycian authorities had sent guardsmen, and not valkyries, to deal with these sorcerors, it doubtless meant the valkyries were already preoccupied with something else. Could this plague of sorcery be more deep-seated than just the backwoods of Tuscana? Nichol didn't want to find out, but he was going to have to.
"It's... It's really black magic, isn't it?" Donovan visibly shivered as the words escaped him, his eyes fixed on the corpse.
((Donovan/Jerome are cannon fodder; they're there because it would make no sense for Nichol to be sent here on his own without some sort of investigating party. You can do as you please with them))
Nichol let such thoughts occupy his mind as he trudged from the inn to the heart of the grey little town, having left his horse behind at the local stables. His life up until now had been little more than a series of assignment changes: first an enforcer of holy doctrine, then an imperial guardsman, then a common soldier, marching this way and that for seemingly no reason, and now... something else. I'm not expected to come back alive from this. The thought pried its way into his mind as his fingers absentmindedly ran over the hilt of his sidearm, a dagger holstered in his belt that was barely long enough to parry half-reliably. There was no doubt about it; someone had found out that Nichol was Etrurian by birth— never mind that he was a loyal and willing subject of the Empire. His blood itself, apparently, was damning enough that he had been sent to investigate this place in Tuscana (Nichol wasn't sure if it even had a name) that had fallen thrall to a plague of witches, necromancers, sorcerors... Presumably every type of forbidden mage under the sun...
... Gods, this miserable climate really doesn't mix with armour. He adjusted his helmet once again. Like clockwork, the other soldier behind Nichol followed suit and adjusted his own armour as Nichol's motions reminded him of the clamminess of it all. Nichol had been sent here with two others: he hadn't been able to get much information out of them but their names, that they were both from Ostia, and that they had both suddenly been promoted to imperial guardsmen for this mission. He supposed that their purpose was to keep tabs on him, since there was otherwise nothing stopping Nichol from making a quick and easy escape to Sacae to become a mercenary for the rest of his life... but knowing his luck, mercenary work would simply lead him back into the simmering pot that was the Lycian Empire.
"Captain Nichol!" His other ally, a spindly young man barely big enough for his armour, came running up the street with fear in his eyes.
"Get a hold of yourself, Donovan," Nichol barked as he closed the distance. He was technically these boys' superior, but he didn't feel very much like a leader. "What's happened?"
"I found a— a victim," Donovan stammered.
Any description of the spectacle was useless. Nichol and his comrades hurried to the scene of the priest's fall, but it was clearly too late. "Where are the other guardsmen?" Nichol wondered aloud, alarmed to see a crowd of only civilians gathered around the dead man, who bore telltale glowing scars. Before leaving, Nichol had been told that he would be rendezvousing with a larger party of guardsmen, but they were nowhere to be found. "This doesn't bode well..." he muttered. "Jerome, pay a visit to the mayor," he commanded his other comrade. "Find out if this town has a militia. They've got to have something." Jerome saluted his understanding, and Nichol felt his heart sink as his comrade ran off in search of the local authorities. He couldn't shake the feeling that, as usual, something was about to go horribly wrong.
"Nichol Kless, Imperial Guardsman," Nichol introduced himself to the other priest on the scene as if his rank meant anything around these parts. "We've been sent to investigate rumours of sorcerors. What's happened here?" If the Lycian authorities had sent guardsmen, and not valkyries, to deal with these sorcerors, it doubtless meant the valkyries were already preoccupied with something else. Could this plague of sorcery be more deep-seated than just the backwoods of Tuscana? Nichol didn't want to find out, but he was going to have to.
"It's... It's really black magic, isn't it?" Donovan visibly shivered as the words escaped him, his eyes fixed on the corpse.
((Donovan/Jerome are cannon fodder; they're there because it would make no sense for Nichol to be sent here on his own without some sort of investigating party. You can do as you please with them))
![[Image: iUI30kc.png]](https://i.imgur.com/iUI30kc.png)
![[Image: eZhp16L.png]](https://i.imgur.com/eZhp16L.png)
Nichol · Renata
Fire Emblem: Insurrection