[IRP] The First of Many

[WyvernSlayer]

Just as Satsume was preparing to intercept one of the brigands with a spear thrust, he caught a figure advancing out of the corner of his eye. A young woman had advanced from the cutthroats' side and plunged a spear of her own into the ribs of Satsume's attacker.

Whoa... Satsume paused to look at his ally as the remaining bandits halted themselves. She was... tall, almost as tall as he was. And she looked like the type who would break your heart, and then maybe break your arms, too.

She never returned the look. Instead, she slammed her spear on the ground and bellowed at the enemy, prompting Satsume to physically take half a step away from her. Glad she's on my side. Wow.

His attention focused on the opponent once more at the sound of multiple skulls getting cracked with the blunt end of a rod. The pegasus rider had taken the second of opportunity and swooped in, sending three of the five remaining foes to the ground clutching their heads and writhing in pain. Their attention now fractured between the pegasus, the large woman, and Satsume, he turned away and dashed back towards the red-haired girl from earlier.

"Thanks for the help!" He yelled as he flashed an appreciative wave at the mighty blond girl. There was no need to involve himself in further bloodshed, and besides - the two girls looked like they could do worse to the thugs than he could ever hope to.

He quickly located the red-haired girl, who had been joined by a young man who was shouting something at the panicked crowd. Oddly enough, though he was right next to her, he seemed oblivious to the fact that she was doing battle with one of the thugs.

"Hey!" Satsume yelled, trying to get their attention. That was about all that he managed before a gust of wind came and a winged horse came swooping in to deliver a vicious hoof to the back of the poor fool's head.

"FALCON KIIIIIICK!"

Satsume didn't hesitate. He ran up to the fallen thug and seized him by the collar, yanking him off the red-haired girl.

"Everyone, listen here!" It was the man next to them. "I want everyone to head to the school and take shelter inside! We can't take any chances that there might be more of these scoundrels roaming the perimeter of the town!" Satsume reached over and clasped the man on the shoulder.

"My name is Satsume," he said, as he helped the girl to her feet. "I will help you get these people to safety." He thumbed the button on his spear and it collapsed back into a short rod. "There's a girl behind me who will aid us, as well. Now let's move."

He turned his back on the pair and looked back in the spear-toting blonde's direction.

"Hey! We're moving to the schoolhouse! Leave them for now, let's get out of here!" Satsume grimaced and drew his throwing spear. He would likely need to cover her if the remaining thugs pursued.

[Toogee]

“FALCON KIIIIICK!”

That was the last thing the bandit heard before a sharp blow landed behind his head. The force behind his axe relaxed and his grip around Paige’s neck loosened as he fell into in unconscious slump. Unfortunately, he fell into Paige, his face buried in her chest. She would have pushed him off in disgust had she not been trying to catch her breath. Fortunately, the red-haired knight approached, pulling the fallen foe off of her. With a helpful hand, she was back on her feet.

“Paige,” she managed to respond to Satsume with her own intro out between coughs. “And thank you.”

Paige grabbed her cloak and walked with Satsume towards the schoolhouse. The young woman looked to the sky to find the peg knight that saved her life. She waved to her, but Paige had no idea if she could see her.

[Cevian]

The bandit's numbers were declining fast as Orica looked out over the crowd. Someone else had shouted against her order and to flee to safety. If the weak must flee, then they must but it is at the risk of admitting their weakness. She wouldn't give such exceptions to the Bandits if they fled as they had decided to take the offensive. The price for attacking this town was the price of having their display of strength tested. They didn't deserve to flee in hindsight.

The Pegasus Knight would have been a bit harder to hit, and their attention was on Orica who had addressed them. The two remaining ones charged at her together, hoping that even if one was attacked she could only spear one of them. That was true. Lunging forward and then pulling out the spear would take up enough time to allow one of them to attack her, but she wasn't going to let that happen.

Looking between the two of them running she waited for the right moment before tossing her spear into her other hand and thrusting it forward at the bandit on that side. This left her main hand open to reach behind her and grab her axe, pulling it from where it was kept and bringing it out past her cape and swinging at the other bandit.

The two bandits didn't see this coming. The attacks hit them almost simultaneously. The stopped, dropped their axes, and fell down to meet the others. Shaking the blood off her weapons she put the axe back up and turned towards the group heading to the school to follow them.

[Breadophile]

"Grass is probably running for it. Let's see if we can't find the bandit hideout by following him.”

Fortunately for her it was easy to rationalize stealing from some cult leader bandit amalgamation. Wow, she didn't even know she knew that word. She was impressed with herself.

"Yeah. We’ll follow him and steal his stuff. That's a perfect plan."

The pegasus snorted a snort most certainly implying that it was not, in fact, a perfect plan.

"W-Well, I guess I can’t do it alone, no. But we still need to find out where it is before they get out of sight."

"I still have that guy’s magic sword of awesomeness too. Hah, what a loser. Can't even keep track of his own weapon. I bet Ray will be jealous when we get back. I can picture it now."

*flash forward*

"I have a legendary weeeeaaapon, and yoooouuuu dooon't."

"Sob sob. I wish I had a legendary weapon too. Oh Kalin, how can I be as awesome as you?"

*back to present time*

"Yeah, that's how it'll go."

The pegasus rolled it eyes in a way only a pegasus could.

"Now, to get t-hey, where did everyone go?"

She hadn’t looked around again until now. While the world's best vision wasn't required to be a Pegasus Knight, it sure helped in this situation.

"Oh, there they are, running towards that boarded up school. I think they’ll be alright. Though, I wonder what they're running from. Aren't all the bandits fleeing?"

The closer bandits that were fleeing had turned around to fight a towering blonde woman. Seeing the woman pulling out two weapons in some extremely flashy maneuver, Kalin noticed that one of them was now missing a distinctly important body part and the other had a new nosehole.

Kalin shivered. Not even the cold could make her do that.

Kalin could barely see another group of the bandits on the horizon. That must be Grass’s group, she thought to herself. She could make out that odd haircut from a mile away. As she flew closer to them (and away from the boarded up school) she passed over the remains of the other bandit group and the blonde woman. Her pegasus sort of hopped between buildings to remain hidden from the far away group. Getting closer, she noticed that the far away group was no longer running… and that they had turned around… and that they could see her.

“Eh? I figured they’d be in a panic.”

*snort*

“Not done? What else could they d-oooooooh shit! How many people is that?”

*snort*

“You’re probably right. I don’t wanna know. But sweet Iote, this guy is persistent. I just wanna steal his stuff but noooo, he’s just goootttttaaaa have a small army under his control.”

===

Glass talked to the other bandits.

“What’s she saying?”

“Dunno, Sir Glass, she’s too far away.”

“Sir I think she’s taunting us.”

“Ha, this’ll learn her. Wedge, you know what to do.”

“Right on it, boss. Get ready, men.”

===

She noticed two things in particular from the small army. One, that this Grass guy had a really big mouth. Seriously, it was just colossal when he opened it. The other thing was not nearly as funny. Or rather, maybe she should say other things. From her angle she saw a bunch of little shining circles tapered to points. She had some more shivers down the back of her spine.

“NEEEIIIGH!”
“Hit the deck!”

They crash landed hard as a barrage of arrows whizzed past the rooftop above them, barely missing them.

“nnnrggh. Ow, my head. Are you okay?”

Some sort of grunt signifying still being alive came from the pegasus.

“Okay great, let’s get out of here. God dammit, since when did they have snipers? I didn’t see those earlier. Well, as long as we stay on the ground we should be able to stay hidden behind the buildings, though it’ll be slower.”

Doing an effective 180, she turned around and started riding in the opposite direction.

“So uh, it looks like they’re not fleeing. If that barrage means anything they’re definitely coming back. Oooooooh, so that's why the villagers all went to the school. Giving chase can wait. I'll have plenty of time later. Let’s warn the others.”

The pegasus agreed in a way only a pegasus could as they rode towards the boarded up school.

[Lavi]

The townspeople didn't require any persuasion to go to the schoolhouse, which worked out well for Neil. Although the people were hurrying one way, he had to go the other. Mina was still at the stables and it would be completely awful if someone tried to flee the town with her.

"Well, I might as well grab the rest of my stuff while I'm here..." Neil muttered as he jogged down the abandoned street.

As he approached the stables, he could hear Mina neighing, presumably in protest against something. Coming around the corner, he found a brigand trying to put a saddle onto Mina's back. There is a reason why Neil doesn't do so on Mina: she hates saddles. He learned that the painful, agonizing way (involving two hooves).

"Hey, back off!" he shouted at the man, shoving the potential thief away from Mina.

"Blasted..." the thief scowled at Neil and took off without a fight.

"Did he do anything to you, Mina?" Neil asked his horse, to which Mina gave a grumbley response.

Nope.

After collecting his bow and arrows, Neil took off back towards the schoolhouse, wrapping his scarf around his neck as he rode. The fighting seemed to have mostly died down as he made his way to the abandoned building, though he kept an eye out for any of Glass' men along the way.

He ran into Kalin and Paige, the latter getting to her feet after the defeat of the latest bandit to attack her.

"I suppose the two of you are all right?" Neil said, half-questioningly.

[Toogee]

“It was close, but I’ll live,” Paige replied to Neil, “I probably couldn’t say that if you hadn’t jumped that bandit back there. I’m Paige. May I ask your name?”

The danger had seemingly passed (most weren’t aware of the forces gathering around the village), but people were still eager to seek shelter in the abandoned schoolhouse. The local blacksmith was pulling down the boards in order for the townspeople to gain entrance.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was quite clear that the school hadn’t seen students for some time. A layer of dust covered the rows of desks. The chalkboards still had basic math formulas etched upon them. A couple of storybooks were around to help entertain the children inside. Though the schoolhouse was only one classroom, there was enough room for the townspeople to feel cozy.

Paige was sitting at one of the little desks, being treated by a cleric. The bruise around her neck was fading away with the healing magic. She decided to take a break and recover while everyone shuffled inside. Despite all the changes from the empire, there were still those who would stand and help instead of hide and cower. Paige had the pleasure to talk to one of those people: Neil.

“Those clothes,” Paige observed Neil’s garb, “I’ve seen the style from illustrations of Sacaen people. Would you happen to be from the plains? I’m sure there is some story as to why you’ve come from so far.”

Though she was currently in a conversation with Neil, the young woman watched for others she recognized, eager to give her thanks to those that saved the people as well as herself.

[Swift_Assassin]

Shadrach slipped into school after it was opened up. He was rubbing the mark on his chin from the rock that was thrown on him. The Etrurian plopped down in the chair at the teachers desk, dropping the sword into a corner, and leaned back in the chair and put his feet on the desk. Shad sighed at the situation. I think I just alerted the Empire to my presence and Marcus is going to have my head for this. He looked at his right hand and looked back up. "Did anyone find a gold ring earlier? Amethyst stone?"

He looked back down, apologizing internally to his mother for losing her ring and his father for making his sword useless. Suddenly his legs were swung right off the desk. Wide-eyed, he looked at the person responsible. A red-haired woman, the girl from before? He turned towards the door to see the Paige coming in the room. He turned back to the girl who was now sitting on the teacher's desk, just to Shad's left. "W-who..?"

The dark red-haired woman cut him off holding out her closed hand. Shad's eyes darted from her blue eyes to back to her nimble hand. She smiled and opened her hand, revealing a ring. The ring! His signet ring! "Sorry about that. I meant to return it, but I just wanted to see if I can do it. Name's Alice. I hope you and the others can help the town. I'll see you around," Alice apologized. Shad took the ring and slipped it back on his finger. Before he could reply, Alice slipped into the crowd.

Shad lifted his sword up and grabbed the hilt with his right hand. And then the magic seal released and Shad unsheathed his schiavona and placed the blade on the desk. Shad sighed in relief that he didn't have to worry about this. Now he doesn't have to do some of that painful maneuvers his cousin taught him.

He got back up to his feet and approached Paige. She was talking to that man from before, the Sacaen. "Excuse my intrusion. I'm Shadrach Hyperion...a Etrurian noble, if you didn't already hear me yell it at these people. I'm the one who broke that Glass bust and threw the stone at that poor deluded simpleton's face."

[WyvernSlayer]

The schoolhouse was dank and musty from the months of non-use. And now, suddenly, it was crowded, more so than if a class were in session. Townspeople were talking among themselves, voicing concerns, savoring their good fortune, and things of that nature.

"Thank Elimine these kind people were here to protect us, I don't know how we would have made it."

"That Glass fellow was quite a trip."

"What if the bandits are in our homes right now, stealing our valuables?"

Satsume stood in a corner, arms folded, back against the wall, listening to the villagers rather absentmindedly. He was a bit conflicted at this point, as he had no obligation to protect these people whatsoever. Moreover, he had a destination he was hoping to get to. And yet, he stayed. Maybe it was the good karma he was after. Maybe he was expecting some kind of reward. Sighing, Satsume peered across the room, picking out some of the people who had engaged Glass' crew just minutes earlier.

The red-haired girl, Paige, was seated at a desk, being treated by whom he assumed was the town healer. Up at the head of the classroom, a young man, who had identified himself as Shadrach, was reclining in the teacher's chair. Satsume noted the sword he carried - it looked magnificent. He was always appreciative of good smith work.

Paige was speaking with a young man in Sacaen clothing whom Satsume only barely recognized. He was probably in the thick of things outside, too. Satsume never got his name, but he decided it wasn't too important.

Then there were the two other girls - the pegasus rider who seemed juuuust a tad off-kilter, and the large blonde woman, whom Satsume wanted absolutely no part of. He was afraid if he made eye contact with her, she'd sprint across the room and slap him across the face.

Satsume shifted his feet a bit and went back to spacing out. Something had better happen soon, he thought. Or I'm prepared to get the hell out of here.

[Lavi]

"I'm Neil," the Sacaean introduced himself to Paige. "As for earlier, it's nothing."

He looked away to hide his embarrassment. Although he wasn't ashamed of helping, the fact that he originally acted out of self-interest is awkward, to say the least.

"Let's get to the schoolhouse to check on the others," he said instead.

----------------------------------------

While there, Neil simply idled as the people got their bearings after the rather violent attacks in the town. There was a lot of anxiety, for good reason of course, which did little to ease Neil's mood.

"Would you happen to be from the plains? I’m sure there is some story as to why you've come from so far," he heard someone ask him. He recognized Paige from before.

"Hm? Yeah, I am from the Kutolah tribe," Neil answered. "I'm actually here to deliver items for a friend. It was important that his things made it to Bern as soon as possible, which is why I went ahead by myself."

The Sacaean gestured to his bag beside him as he spoke.

He didn't flinch from lying to Paige; although it is true that he was born and raised in the Sacae plains, it would be bad if people found out that he was also a mage that researched magic in Etruria. Also, Neil had no idea if Paige's view of him would differ in the case that she actually knew his secret. If the circumstances forced Neil to reveal his true colors, he could only hope that she understood his intentions.

Shadrach's introduction to the two threw Neil off-guard: it's fairly bold to toss around "Etrurian" and "noble" in the same sentence. Technically speaking, Etruria doesn't exist anymore.

"Hello, I suppose," Neil greeted the man. "You can call me Neil."

[Breadophile]

Sometime in the past:

"I suppose the two of you are all right?" Neil said, half-questioningly.

"Yeah I'm fine kthnxbai" Kalin said as she quickly flew away from the momentum she already had.

===

Currently:

Kalin passed that tall blonde woman on the way and stopped for a moment.

"Hey, you should watch behind you. There are arrows that way. Arrows are scary."

"Btw, chasing down fleeing opponents and mercilessly killing them is bad for your complexion. It's also against the Elibe Convention of Proper Conduct and Rules of War, or however it's said."

She continued on.

She road up the school house and started shouting in the window. It may have been boarded up but it certainly wasn't soundproof or even completely covered. It was hard not to notice her either way, though. Most of the town sure did.

"Hey hey hey guys, there are arrows out there. Don't go out there, arrows. There are arrows. Lots of arrows. So many arrows I thought I was gonna die. Arrows are so scary. By the way did I mention there were arrows? One time in basic training we had to-

The pegasus neighed! She regained her composure.

"Also there's a huge force on the other side of town a little ways outside the gate."

Kalin pointed in the direction of the legion.

"I don't know if they've started to move yet but they weren't when I last looked."

Kalin felt partially responsible for this mess. Normally the bandits wouldn't have done anything quite so dangerous as slaughter if the villagers had just handed over their stuff, but since she and the others had set the Grass guy off, she was certain they were out for blood.

Her guilt didn't do much to affect whether or not she helped, but she wouldn't have bothered if they weren't out for blood. She just wanted a legendary sword. Was that so wrong?

Speaking of which, she still had it. What would she do with it?

"So... Uh... I'm certain at this point, that after all the crap we've done to that Grass guy and his posse of schmucks, they are going for uh... more than just your valuables now. Um, sorrrrry."

She scratched the back of her head while awkwardly smiling. She was sort of glad she couldn't see some of the townsmen's reactions through the darkness on the inside of the schoolhouse.

She got serious again.

"In any case, we can't do anything about it now. Anybody who can't fight should probably start running. We're quite a distance away from them so I wouldn't knock the idea."

"I'm gonna stick behind the schoolhouse for now."

She started contemplating how she would deal with the small group of archers. As she moved towards the back the light shined on the two redheads from earlier.

"Oh hey it's you guys. Uh... got a plan? The only thing I can think of is making Grass so angry he bursts a blood vessel and dies. That's uh... probably not gonna work though."

"Maybe his mouth will open so wide the top of his head will just rip and fall off." She started talking to herself.

"Oh! If one of you wants a lift to the roof lemme know."

[Cevian]

On the way to the schoolhouse, a girl riding a pegasus flew past her and said something about archers being on the way. Her fear was warrented. Archers were bad news for someone in the air that depended on a winged beast for combat.

Making the rest of the way to the schoolhouse she stepped inside. If a force like the one the pegasus implied was truly on the way she would need the combat abilities of the other people she had seen fighting before. Still, she could give them a moments rest. Not everyone had the determination and stamina to keep moving forward like she did.

Listening to the room she heard something again that felt like she needed to address it. Walking up behind Shadrach she tapped her spear's hilt on the ground next to him to get his attention. "Shadrach Hyperion, you said?" Orica asked, interrupting him as he attempted to talk to Paige. What she was going to say was a bit more important. "I am Orica of the House of Tania here in Lycia. Due to your assistance, and I assume your immediate future assistance in dealing with this threat against the peoples of Lycia, I will vouch for you if anyone else in the Empire take offense to your allegiance to the former country."

[Toogee]

Paige was amazed that Neil would come all the way down from Sacae to take a package from Lycia to Bern. It must have been an important item in tow. Before she could inquire further, Shad introduced himself as an Etrurian noble, something the librarian didn’t think was wise.

“Um, I would be careful about saying such things aloud, Lord Hyperion,” Paige replied. “The empire has ears all over. Nobility or not, you have my thanks for helping us out.”

Paige bowed her head out of respect, despite not knowing much about Etrurian nobility. That was when Orica introduced herself to Shad as a member of House Tania. Lycian nobility was something Paige was more familiar with. She recalled reading of a Lady Orica: she was the daughter of the marquess. Of course, there were no pictures in those books, so she didn’t recognize her at first. Paige was most curious about Orica’s offer to Shad. Paige was glad she wasn’t the only Lycian that was skeptical in the emperor’s actions of late. However, given Orica’s position, she wondered if such openly shared views would get the lordling and her family in trouble.

Then, the peg knight had announced the gathering of bandit reinforcements outside of the village. With her suggestion to start running, the villagers were beginning to get very nervous. Paige stood from her desk to calm their nerves.

“Before we take any action, let me see what exactly we’re dealing with.”

Paige then exited the school and approached Kalin.

“I-I would like to take you up on that offer. To the…roof.”

Paige was a little hesitant in doing this. Her nerves showed with her indirect eye contact. She was not one for heights. For the good of the village, she would conquer her fears just this once.

[Breadophile]

It didn't take a genius to realize Kalin was a bit oblivious, but even if she could see the fear in Paige's eyes, it wouldn't have made a difference.

"Oh good, it's you. This'll be a lot easier."

Kalin leaned over and grabbed each of the woman's arms with one of her own. She tried to hook them around the bottom for better leverage.

"Upsidaisy. Hnnnnnggggh!"

Kalin hoisted her up about 4 feet to the top of the pegasus and onto the saddle. She was thankfully not any heavier than she looked. It would have been nearly impossible to get the red-haired stocky fellow up. Doubly so since he couldn't actually sit on the pegasus' saddle without getting thrown off.

Kalin and Paige flew up about 20 feet to the top of the building. Kalin then picked up Paige and chucked her onto the roof. had a clincher thought about the weight of a pegasus on an effectively condemned building, and decided to fly over the top for an air drop.

"The pegasus' wings can't get any closer to the ground or we'll have to land and crash through the roof. You're gonna have to jump from here. Sorrrrryyy!"

"If it's any consolation you can grab the sides of the saddle all you want if you wanna get a bit closer before dropping. Ol' whitey here is strong enough to resist a little unbalance. It's probably a good idea anyway. With the condition of the building dropping about 6 feet to the bottom isn't the smartest idea."

"Or we can do a side-landing instead but that's a little... uh... I'm not good at those."

[Swift_Assassin]

"I'm already at risk being this far in Lycian territory," Shad replied. "Nice to meet the both of..."Shad's attention was drawn away from the duo of Niel and Paige towards the sound of something hitting the ground next to him. He looked down at the butt of the lance, then looked back at the wielder. It was that woman from before. "..you. You can call me Shad. I haven't exactly grown well into the honorifics just yet," He replied. "House of Tania?...House of Tania...House of Tania...," he struggled to recall. "Wolfram, brief...hist...ory...,"he called out to no one. He even looked to his right, where his uncle Wolfram would usually stand...to see only air. The lord sighed, "Sorry. I'm a little behind on my Lycian lords. And unfortunately, my mentor/advisor, who usually gets me up to date in matters like this...is currently a refugee with my sister in Bern."

"I humbly offer my gratitude, Lady Orica. I harbor no ill will towards the Lycian people. I saw first hand how the situation in Ostia has worsened over the past decade. The only problems I have with Lycia is their annexation of Etruria and the Church of the Preservation of Sanctity," He explained to the blond warrior.

[Toogee]

“Oh, I should introduce myself. My name is Paige- ah!”

Paige was taken off guard as Kalin hoisted her up onto the Pegasus. The young woman found herself behind the rider. There were two things she learned from this experience. One, Kalin was much stronger than she looked. Two, had she expected to run into this action, Paige would have worn pants instead of her skirt.

Wait, three things. Her fear of heights translated quite well into a fear of flying.

Paige’s arms found themselves wrapped tightly around Kalin’s stomach as they soared upward. Her face pressed against the rider’s back, trying to hide the height they were climbing. She held back the urge to scream, though that became harder the higher they were. This was Paige’s first time flying. If she had anything to say about it, it would also be her last.

As soon as they reached the top of the schoolhouse, Kalin suggested that Paige jump off. Was she nuts?!

“I’m quite fine here thanks!” Paige rapidly replied, almost screaming out the request. She chose to remain on the pegasus while forcing herself to look beyond the village. The woman slowly turned her head away from Kalin and looked at the gathering beyond the borders.

They appeared as small figurines from her height (“I might be ill…”), but the bandits were there. Paige counted a dozen of them, including the leader Glass himself. Unless they had more warriors show up, Paige and the other would be outmanned. They had to come up with a plan and fast.

“So many of them,” Paige commented, still holding onto Kalin like a teddy bear. “We need to tell the others. Just…take it easy with the landing please.”

[Breadophile]

Kalin was a little surprised to meet a woman who was afraid of heights. It was basically unheard of in Ilia, and this was the first time she had been out of the country.

"Fine fine, we'll go down. But I guess I can't say much. I wasn't any better in the face of those archers. If the pegasus gets shot all of the pain gets transferred to me in one painful rush."

"But back on topic: it looks like there's 12 or so from first glance. Hey, I can still make out Grass's big mouth from here!"

"Anyway, back down we go!"

They flew back down much more gently, the pegasus having taken note of all of the words the red-haired woman screamed out.

"Pay-eej, was it? I'm not good with names."

After they hit the ground, Kalin motioned for Paige to let go of her. She jumped down from the saddle and landed on the ground in one swoop. She then attempted to help Paige get down.

"I'm not sure how you could be on a pegasus and not enjoy the wind through your hair or the thrill of traveling at mach speed 100 feet above ground. You're weird, you know that? Just like Ray. Except he'd be reading his book while being scared stiff. It's weird even by weirdo standards."

"That sniper though... I can't believe I'm saying this but I really wish bro was here right now; and with his Meteor tome. That would teach that mofo. But home is too far from here."

[Toogee]

Though Paige appreciated Kalin’s efforts to make this a smooth ride, she simply felt they were falling in slow motion, waiting for the inevitable crash that would never come. Her arms remained wrapped around Kalin even after they landed; Kalin had to signal her to let go. Paige took Kalin’s help to dismount; otherwise, she would have landed face first into the ground.

“There is nothing weird about preferring normal walking speed at ground level. We were made to do just that, not soar to our doom at mach speeds.”

As Paige attempted to justify her fears, she took a moment to regain her composure before entering the schoolhouse. They had bigger issues.

Immediately after entering the school, Paige grabbed a piece of chalk and started drawing on the chalk board. Several villagers looked over to see the woman drawing a square with a notch on the side, followed by a dozen x’s outside of the notched side.

“Glass is leading a dozen men outside of this village to do who knows what,” Paige began, getting pretty much everyone’s attention. “They’re probably headed this way. Is there any way to close off the village?”

“We were in the process of building a gate,” the blacksmith replied, “but our carpenter was drafted into the Imperial army some time ago. Not sure when or if he’s coming back.”

“OK, that will need to be guarded,” Paige remarked, drawing two circles at the notch. “Are there any other ways out?”

“There’s a broken part of the fence in the north back corner. We can use that to escape.”

“Only as a last resort,” Paige commented. “Running would only give the bandits full access to the village, giving them enough supplies to go after another. We could use that broken fence to sneak some fighters around the corner and ambush the group.”

Paige drew another notch in the upper back corner along with more circles around that area. She drew an arrow circling around the village and behind the group of x’s.

“I read this maneuver in an old tactics manual, but I am no tactician, nor have I ever gone into battle. I could use some help in improving on this.”

[Cevian]

"You can repay my gratitude by continuing the actions that gained my support of you in the first place." Orica said to Shadrach, nodding at him. "It takes great strength to announce yourself as being a citizen, and yet more a noble, of a country that was recently conquered, and inside of the one that conquered it, and to do so by assisting the peoples of that country by acting against a threat to them. It shows that you have a great inner strength and the focus to use it for the betterment of others, unlike those bandits who are trying to show off their strength by attacking this village."

"As for Tania, do not worry yourself on not knowing too much of it. The Tania of yesteryear that was an initial target of Bern's invasion was not strong enough to be so readily remembered. I only hope you learn of it now, reforged from that hardship into a House worthy of remembrance."

By the time Orica had finished effectively giving a speech at Shad, Paige returned and began writing a few things down on the chalkboard. She walked over to it and looked it over. "It is a solid plan, conceptually, but there are other factors that need to be addressed to improve it," She siad, picking up a piece of chalk for herself.

Pointing at the gate with the few circles she began. "First, the leader is that man calling named Glass. He would know of most of us from the earlier encounter and, given what happened to chase him off, he would expect there to be more of us waiting to stop him at the gate. Simply 2 people that don't look like what this town's absent guard force should look like would scream 'ambush' or 'trap'. There should be several more people here, not guarding but advancing at them, to distract them from the flank."

She stopped for a moment before turning towards Kalin. "A few things for you, Pegasus Rider. First off, I seem to remember that you took off with the supposed sword during the commotion. I would like to see it. I assume it is of little value. If the bandits actually had a sword of that merit, which I doubt, they would first try and sell it for more then this town would give them for their lie. Secondly you mentioned that the approaching bandits had archers as you passed me earlier. Did your survey figure out their number? That would be useful information."

She waited for a response from her talk of tactics and questions before waiting anything else.

[Swift_Assassin]

"As bad as things are, I haven't given up on the common man yet," Shad remarked. He looked back at the people in the school room before looking back at Orica. "But thanks for the compliment." He sighed, in relief. I just hope it never gets that bad. If this place was Ostia...I don't know if I could still do it.

As he listened to Orica tell of Tania, one thought came into his mind. War is on the horizon again. The careful balance has been disturbed and needs to be reestablished. I hope that if Bern fights for Etruria's sovereignty or against the Emperors tyrannical rule that Tania won't just be another target. Rather, the first in a group of Lycian cities rebelling against their corrupt government. "As I'm sure you'll endeavor to make it worthy, just like I'll endeavor to never forget it."

He turned his attention to the chalkboard as Paige started assembling plans for a counterattack. Apparently, she and the pegasus knight surveyed the surrounding area and noticed an approaching force.

"I don't know much about breaking a seige, as the only large scale battle I've fought it was taking back my own keep, but I do agree with Orica's assessment. Unless the duo that were being used as bait were you and the pegasus rider, I really doubt they would seriously attack," Shad chipped in. He thought about it some. "But we can't do that. I would think you would want the two of you to be part of the ambush, with the maneuverability you get from a winged horse."

"The two of you wouldn't be a sufficient enough ambush. If anything, all the two of you would be able to do, if the archers don't get an eye on you, is whittle away at their numbers in hit and run sweeps," the lord replied. "If I had a horse, I'd be able to help in the ambush, but I came here on foot. If we had a person I could ride with, the ambush would be more effective," He suggested, leaving Orica to work on the frontline planning as he tried to finalize the ambush. This was no civil conflict like when he took back his home, but it's no less dangerous. They can't risk anybody.

[WyvernSlayer]

Satsume listened absent-mindedly as the villagers continued to talk amongst themselves. Eventually, the talk led to Paige moving to the blackboard at the head of the room. Hearing the sound of scratching chalk, Satsume picked his head up and eyed the blackboard intently. Apparently, the con group from earlier were a bunch of sore losers, and were waiting just outside of the village, preparing for some revenge. Or maybe they just want their display piece back, thought Satsume, grinning faintly at the false blade, which was now in the pegasus rider’s possession.

Paige chalked up a few diagrams, which Satsume soon figured out were meant to represent the village and the looming bandit force. The large blonde woman, Orica, stepped forward after a bit and weighed in with her opinions. Intrigued, Satsume picked himself up from against the back wall and walked toward the front of the room.

“…you mentioned that the approaching bandits had archers as you passed me earlier. Did your survey figure out their number? That would be useful information.”

“The two of you wouldn't be a sufficient enough ambush. If anything, all the two of you would be able to do, if the archers don't get an eye on you, is whittle away at their numbers in hit and run sweeps…”

Satsume said nothing at first. He walked straight into the middle of the conversation and grabbed the chalk from the sill. He added some more circles to the group that represented the ambush force, then smeared his hand across one of the two circles at the village opening.

“Then commit to the ambush,” he said. “Bring as many as you can. I will hold the gate.” He could feel everyone else’s faces contort into skeptical glares behind him, so he kept talking. “You want them to commit to a frontal attack so you can strike at the flank, right? So give the illusion of weakness.” Satsume turned around and faced the group.

"Bandits are cowardly. They make attacks of opportunity and little else. Putting the two people at the gate gives the notion that we’re willing to fight. They’ll hesitate, and be more likely to anticipate the attack from the side. However…” Satsume drew a couple more lines on the diagram and set the chalk down. He slapped his hands clean and folded his arms.

“If we get them to commit, they’ll fall right in our lap.”