[IRP] Retreat to Nowhere

[Amoltamiss]

Cinia winced as she felt some sort of stinging sensation in her shoulder where she'd been grazed by a blade. It was most likely bleeding by now. Gasping for breath, she fidgeted and panicked a little inside when she saw a towering, imposing Lycian armorknight literally charging up the dune most likely towards her, and almost simultaneously, she felt the whiz of an arrow dart right by her side, and she turned her head a bit to realize that an allied archer had shot another soldier about to attack from behind her right squarely in the neck. She quickly spotted Lantis doing reasonably well on the offensive, attacking with his short-ranged weaponry, though soon she stood in place for a moment in a daze when she realized Lantis had literally charged over to her and carried her.

Cinia was speechless for that moment, not being entirely used to being carried up like that, but regardless, the man did save her life, so all she could really do is be grateful. As Lantis set her down, Cinia saw how tenacious the Lycian forces were. Taking some deep breaths and trying to regulate her breathing, she looked about and saw the commanding force, at the front lines. We can't... let them. Cinia thought, and it seemed Lantis echoed her sentiments.

"Thank you for saving me," Cinia said, looking at Lantis for a moment before turning back to observe the enemy forces. "The Lycian forces want to assert their dominance. We cannot push them back with our dwindling forces. It's tough for me to be out there alone, too. I'm not that tough like you are, evidently." Cinia sighed as she winced, feeling the sting from that wound.

[Val Ritz]

Yves was fairly flabbergasted. In the two minutes it had taken him to scale the modest rise toward these two, the swordsman had taken out a cavalier, bolted back over to the dark mage, and bodily carted her off to the next dune over, where the archer from before was standing. Yves frowned slightly, his rush toward them wasted for the time being. He would have felt insulted had he had the time. As it stood, the bulk of the remaining attackers were scattering toward the Bernese border; if they managed to cross, he doubted even their foolhardy commander would order his troops to pursue.

Speaking of foolhardy commanders. "A cavalry charge? In this terrain? I hope he knows what he's doing..." Yves muttered. The horses began to rush down the road between the sandy hills, and Yves quickly realized that the rear guard atop said hills didn't seem to be retreating. His eyes widened. "Oh, no."

Casting his eyes about hurriedly, he spied the man in charge of his unit just coming up onto the hill beside him and waved him over. "Sir, I think I should warn you. There are still insurgents placed on those hills. If the commander takes the cavalry down that road, they'll be slaughtered."

The captain looked up and furrowed his brow. "Then we'd best get some men up and make sure that doesn't happen," he replied, nodding and clapping Yves on the shoulder. "Alright you louts! No time to form up! Make for the hills, and make sure our lord and master doesn't get pulled apart by some half-wit dark mage!"

The armorknights and assorted footsoldiers gave a roaring cry, and once more found themselves fighting the sand and uneven ground at full-tilt. Yves was no different, though this time half of the journey was downhill. He slowed just enough to keep from falling on his face, then once more stamped his way up the sandy ground, coming up quickly on the swordsman in black. Yves wound up and thrust his greatspear at the man, shouting "Carry this!"

[thenoun]

Morgan watched as the black-clad fellow, having downed a cavalier, scooped up his mage companion and brought her up near Morgan's position. Morgan lowered her bow, keeping the arrow nocked, and closed the short distance between herself and the pair, stopping just behind the cloaked man. From what Morgan heard as she approached, they seemed to be thinking up a plan to hold off the Lycians- something that they'd almost certainly be unable to do by themselves.

She was about to speak up and advise they just flee, when a rather violent interruption made itself known. A heavily armored Lycian knight charged up the sand dune, spear at the ready, and thrust it in the swordsman's direction. Morgan swiftly leapt to the side and swiftly fired at the knight's torso, realizing a second too late that this would almost certainly fail to injure him, and possibly just draw his attention to her.

[[v]]

Lantis understood what Cinia said, that she was not as well-train in stamina as himself, and let go of the paladin for now. He was not sure she will be alright if he just run off and leave her alone. He also noticed that more enemies were approaching the dune they were standing, abandoning her there was like murdering her. They will need to run before all of them arrived there.

"Aye, milady. Let's not pursue them, for now." the cloaked swordsman turned to the grove wood nearby, where he planned to use it as their escape route. With his familiarity with the terrain, they should be able to escape. "We're retreating, let's go to the wood over the--

Suddenly, one of the armored knight ran up the hill and opened the attack to Lantis with a huge lance. Lantis grabbed Cinia's shoulder and pulled her in before he was about to dodge the attack, however, an arrow came to his rescue. It hit the knight's armor somewhere that didn't do much damage apparently, but was at least good enough as distraction.

"Sorry, Mr.knight, but we freelancers gotta run as well."

Lantis concentrated the mana in his left hand and threw it to the ground, that caused a smoke bomb that the smoke was darker than ordinary one. The masked fencer quickly used this chance to pull the girl away. He also beckoned the archer to come together.

"Thanks for your sharp shots, Ms sniper." said Lantis, as was still moved quick to his destination because there was no time to rest. The faster they arrive the wood, the more chance they got away from the enemy's main group. "We're on the run to Bern's wall, would you join us?"

Though he hoped the archer will join him so he could return her a favor.

[Amoltamiss]

Cinia squealed a little as she was grabbed by Lantis and pulled in, and it turned out there was in fact a rather large armoured knight running up the hill. But, fortunately, the archer had managed to shoot a distracting arrow to make sure that he would be sufficiently annoyed by that. Of course, it probably just tinked, but a distraction was all that was needed, right? Eventually, Lantis had decided it was a good idea to create a magic smoke bomb and then threw it to the ground, kicking up an inhumanely dark smoke. Cinia had to close her eyes for that one, as she felt herself get pulled away.

Fortunately for her, it was being pulled to safety. "Please, please, please. That was really scary!" Cinia sighed and shuddered a little bit. "I mean, thank you for saving me again, but... Um, that was still really scary. And my shoulder stings a little, so that doesn't really help... Regardless, yes, let's all get out of here. I don't like our chances."

[Val Ritz]

Yves cursed and spluttered as the smoke and arrow made him stumble back. "Oi! I'm not doing this for fun, you know! Get back here so I can kill you!" he growled, waving his shield about to disperse the smoke bomb. As it dissipated, the state of the battlefield quickly became apparent. Most of the rebels were either on the run or dead, and most of the the soldiers began to regroup and pull back to the keep instead of following them across the Bernese border. Yves, however, was by now too gods-damned mad to care. Looking down at his feet, he had to resist the urge to roll his eyes and laugh.

The ground on the hill was sandy. Very sandy. One might even call the entire thing a sand dune. And leading away from where Yves stood were two or three sets of footprints, headed straight for a wooded area. "Great job. Grade-A escape plan there, bud. Really," Yves snorted, before once more jogging his way along the path to follow them.

[thenoun]

The sudden burst of unnatural black smog caught Morgan off guard. She was just outside the blast, but still briefly stumbled back in surprise. It seemed the swordsman had created the distraction this time; he was dragging his companion away from their assailant and into the woods. As he fled, he beckoned for Morgan to join them, stating their destination was Bern. Morgan sprinted to catch up with the pair before slowing to keep pace with them.

"Nice job on the smoke bomb diversion" Morgan said to the cloaked man. "I might've been skewered back there without it. I'd give you a proper thanks, but I don't think we've had much time for introductions just yet."

[Alusq]

Nichol finally reached the wall separating Lycia from Bern; this was no doubt the boundary of the Lycians' pursuit. The heavy spear was getting heavier and heavier with each step, but the sand, grass, and shrubs everywhere weren't exactly prime terrain for finding weapons laying on the ground, so Nichol decided that he would have to deal with it.

"Wait!" An ally soldier, younger than Nichol, tried to stop him. "Y-You shouldn't go past the wall! Anything beyond that's Bernese land. And there might be guards, or..."
"As far as I know, we were ordered not to pass the border," Nichol replied, eying the stocky lad whose armor was more charred than not. "Long as we don't do that or get any other orders, we're fine. Now let's see if we can block that gate." He was already hustling toward the gaping entrance in the wall through which most of the Etrurians had already passed. How many would they be able to stop, and what number would make a meaningful difference?

Several arrows shocking his armor or whizzing by him, Nichol knew immediately that this idea was not the smartest. A mystic ran by him, and he barred the mage's path with the heavy spear and began wrestling him to submission, but for every mage he and the other soldier stopped, five more escaped. The cover-fire provided by the irregulars already behind the gate was relentless as well, a few hooded heads even appearing atop the wall. Must not be many guards then, Nichol thought as he imagined that the Bernese would not consent to their wall being used by either of the warring parties here.

Maybe if a sizable amount of Lycian soldiers had chosen to remain at the border's edge, plugging the gate could have been viable, but with only several stragglers left it was suicidal. The other soldier with Nichol seemed to realise this as well, but he abandoned the gate too late as the rest of his armor was burned to a crisp. Nichol found himself reduced to crawling and rolling in the long grass, hoping that the fireballs homing in on him would lose their target soon. Aware of his armor catching fire along with the grass, he stumbled to his feet and abandoned hiding to attempt to run again.

As he reached some woods, Nichol dusted off the tiny smouldering embers that remained on his armor, not worrying about the fact that they would likely start a brush fire, since fires were a foregone conclusion when mages were involved anywhere. Adrenaline was the only thing keeping him moving, he guessed as he eyed an armored knight— Yves— jogging from a smoky hill toward the wood along a path... no, it wasn't a path. It was several sets of footprints, barely visible in the transition from sand to grass to leaves. "Hey! Knight!" he called as the armored knight, who probably outranked Nichol easily, began to reach the area. "How many?" He glanced at the footprints leading deeper into the woods, not having to finish the question. He could count the sets of footprints, yes, but there could be rebels who'd entered the wood from another direction, or carrying one another, or some other thing that would not contribute to the footprints here.

(("on the run to Bern's wall" = reference for there being a wall. If there's not a big enough wall, I'll just delete the wall bit))

[[v]]

"My bad, sorry, anyway, please take this." As he apologized the lady, Lantis took out a bottle of salve for fresh wound. It should be able to help Cinia a bit. He hoped that she can tend to herself while he carries her. Talking about carrying, the cloaked man raised another question. "Oh yeah, as we need to move fast, would you like a piggy back ride or the princess carry?"

He could do whichever she will choose, or not at all if she insists to walk by her own. He turned to the archer while preparing to move and talked with her pleasantly. "No need, we just watch each other's back. Let's get going."

Lantis then led the ladies into the wood. Although the wood got thicker as they moved in, the local swordsman took them to the fastest route as he already observed this path earlier. He wondered about the Lycian knights he met a while back as they seemed determined enough to follow. Taking that into account, he figured his group would still be a distance away from them.

"There they are." From a bit of distance to the wall, Lantis took the girls to some kind of shelter made of bushes, on a small hill, he pointed them to the destination. If he was carrying Cinia, he would put her down gently about now.

The wood did not serve them as escape route only, but it was also a shortcut to Bern's checkpoint, or the country wall. As they saw it, the resistance militias were gathering in front of the wall while waiting for the gate to open. Their leader was at front, as though he was asking for assistance.

"It won't open though." He commented as if he already knew. "They just can't."

On the other hand, the Lycian cavaliers stopped their pursue close by even though they actually caught up with their enemies. The paladin commander stood at front on his own feet, gazing at the wall gate as though he was waiting it to open as well. It was obvious he was waiting for Bern's reaction of sort. His troop was small in number at the time, but reinforcement was grouping up slowing from behind.

[Amoltamiss]

Cinia took the salve for the fresh wound she had received earlier. Cinia silently allowed Lantis to do the princess carry, she wasn't in a state to rush forth on her own and a piggyback ride made it difficult for her to apply the salve onto her wound. The cloaked man was surprisingly strong for his stature, given he could carry her almost effortlessly in her robes. Still, she was thankful as this relative stranger (she only knew him by name) was so... chivalrous, one would suppose. They rushed through the wood, they got thicker as they went. The route was quite short it seemed, compared to what Cinia initially thought. Efficient travel, huh. she thought as eventually Lantis pointed them out to the destination. "Them" being Cinia and the archer girl who accompanied the man and her.

It was a shelter made of bushes on a small hill. Lantis put down Cinia and soon the sorceress recognized the area as a shortcut to the country wall. "Well, that's no good. Why are the Lycian forces still attempting to pursue? They're already at the wall. This is ridiculous." she sighed, still tending to her wound with the salve she was given.

[thenoun]

Morgan found the man's refusal to give his name a bit odd, but followed the pair further into the woods. The cloaked man carried the mage as he led them through the forest, moving at surprising speed despite the weight of his companion. Eventually he led them to a small bush-covered hilltop and set the mage down. The hilltop offered adequate cover while providing a view of a wall that blocked the path at the point where it crossed the Bern-Lycia border. The rebels had amassed here, seemingly intent on escaping through it, but it looked like they were being turned away.

I've come all this way, and now there's no getting into Bern from here. Morgan was crestfallen; her entire reason for even traveling through Lycia had been dashed. Maybe I should have made a run for it, tried to beat them to the border...

Morgan shook her head, attempting to clear her thoughts. She heard the sorceress point out the continuing pursuit of the Lycian forces, who'd stopped some distance away from the border. They weren't attacking, not yet, merely waiting for Bern's reaction. "If Bern doesn't let these rebels through, the Lycians are going to tear them apart. There's no way they're letting them get away if they can help it."

A knot formed in her stomach as she said this. It was becoming apparent to her than joining this battle had been a mistake. No amount of information would be worth the potential arrest of death she could meet here at Lycia's hands; she'd been such an idiot to think firing at Lycians was anything but a bad idea. She sighed unhappily, quietly turning her gaze away from the ground below to the mage beside her. The girl was applying salve to a wound she'd received earlier. "Need any bandages for that? I don't know how deep the wound is, but I have some with me if you want them."

[Val Ritz]

Yves blinked and looked around him. One of the footsoldiers, or at the very least a sooty wreck in the vague shape of one of the footsoldiers, was approaching him. He raised a hand in an absentminded salute and looked behind the man to the wall. They would most likely not be missed; if the Bernese let the rebels through, then the operation would be over in about five minutes, since they were under strict orders not to pursue. If they didn't... the ensuing carnage would take maybe seven minutes, maximum. True, the mages had their backs literally to the wall, but they were exhausted, and even with all the fighting, the Lycian forces outnumbered them fifteen to one. Yves didn't want to be present for that.

It took him a few seconds to realize the soldier had asked him a question. "Hey, Knight! How many?"

He looked up, reflexively trying to run a hand through his hair before he realized he was still wearing a helmet. "Three, a dark mage, an archer, and a swordsman. The swordsman in black is fast, probably too fast for me, especially in this terrain, but the mage is... somewhat injured, and the archer won't like these close quarters. Also, last I saw, the sword guy was carrying the mage, so hey. Maybe we'll get lucky and catch them flat-footed." Somehow Yves didn't think it would be that easy, but he shrugged it off. He ducked into the shade of the trees and discarded the battered tower shield he had picked up. It would be more of a liability in here. He started into the small wood.

"So, you got a name?" he asked the soldier idly. "You look just a hair too old to be caught up in the waves of Lisannas and Lysanders who were born during Unification."

[Alusq]

Nichol returned Yves's salute before chuckling softly. "Yeah, that's about right." Important to keep your morale up, after all. He walked alongside the knight as he caught his breath, an easy task given his lack of armor in comparison to the knight, though the knight kept an impressive pace all the same. "Name's Nichol. And yours?" He glanced from place to place, trying to keep track of each possible place for an ambush he passed as the two men forged deeper into the woods. And do we have a plan? He considered voicing the thought out loud, but the plan was already clear and simple: pursue and eliminate... and failing that, retreat.

[[v]]

Lantis focused at the Lycian commander who had been focused at the Bern's gate, that didn't open yet, and there was no sign to it. The only movement he saw was Bern's archer on the wall talking to the resistance leader with no result. That was when he raised a hand to command a part of his army to march forward to pressure the resistance. However, the paladin himself turned his horse around and head back to the fortress.

"Oh, he finally gave up, that's good." Lantis commented, as he turned to the Cinia and the archer whom he didn't learn of her name yet. He then said to the mage as he eyed her wound, hoping that it will get tended to properly as soon as possible. "They had been waiting to see whether Bern will open the gate for the magicians. If the gate actually go up, they'd have a good reason to invade Bern...like what they did to Etruria."

The black swordsman turned to the gate again just to see that the resistance also gave up waiting and fled to the wood, the opposite side that he was hiding. Although the Lycian pursuing cavaliers were approaching them, they won't be able to catch up for the most part.

Lantis sighed with relief that nothing worse happened. This was already enough for meaningless loss for the resistance, but it would be a good lesson for them. Hopefully they won't risk Bern's safety with their vengeful thoughts ever again, at least not until the tactic seems possible to achieve victory.

"So, unless you want to follow someone in that group, I guess this is about over. However, it isn't like we can pass the gate, we may need to wait for a while after that ruckus. Would your wound be alright, lady Cinia?"

He paused and then looked at the archer.

"Also, I think this is a good time for proper introduction. This lady is Cinia, we just met abruptly here on battlefield, and myself is called Lantis, from Bern. Your help earlier is much appreciated, may I know your name as well, Ms.?"

Although Lantis appeared to be relaxed now, he didn't put down his guard just yet. At least, he recalled there were some knights who followed them into the wood. He hoped they would give up already, but he couldn't just assume that as reality.

[thenoun]

Before the mage responded, the swordsman drew Morgan's attention back to the gate. As predicted, Bern refused the rebels entry, and the Lycian commander gave the order to continue the pursuit. However, the man himself quit the field, and the rebels fled into the woods opposite to their hiding spot, where the cavalry would have difficulty pursuing them.

I'm rarely so glad to be wrong, Morgan thought, a bit relieved. She had no real reason to care for the fate of these rebels, but somehow watching them be cut down would have left a bad taste in her mouth.

Morgan brought her gaze back up to her two companions while the man gave their names. He thanked her for the aid she'd provided earlier before asking for her own name. Morgan smiled a bit as she said "The name's Morgan, from Etruria, or what's left of it now I suppose. The pleasure's all mine Lantis, Cinia."

She glanced back at the wound on Cinia's arm before saying "The offer I made still stands if you want, Cinia. It should be easier to treat that wound now that we aren't being pursued."

[Amoltamiss]

Cinia shrugged and sighed. "I'm fine. I'll be okay. 'Tis just a flesh wound," Cinia said softly, seated on the ground and wincing ever so subtly. "Pleasure's mine to meet you, Morgan. I'm also from Etruria." she continued, clutching her black book tightly. For the most part, her wound wasn't bleeding so much. It still looked unsightly and in need of attention. "I think I would be fine with a way to cover the wound. I wouldn't want it to be exposed to the air like this. Could get tainted with some terrible toxins or something. I don't really want to risk that. If you might have some cloth or some other material I could use..." Cinia continued, before listening intently.

"...I would not be satisfied with tarrying here too long, though. I believe a unit or two may be looking for us here. They will take a while, but we should consider where we're off to next since most of the action's died down here." she finally said, looking to how Bern did not open the gate and the pursuers had given up, with the diminished resistance force going the other way.

[Val Ritz]

As if bidden by Cinia's words, Yves, paragon of Lycian grace, majesty, and awe that he was, tripped over a root. Now, this fact may come as a shock, but it is generally very hard to stop yourself from falling forward and onto your face when you trip wearing incredibly thick plate armor, more so when one of your hands is trying to hold onto a spear.

As such, Yves' entrance into the clearing where the three rebels had decided to hide was less "ambush" and more "massive screw-up."

As he looked up from the ground at Morgan, Cinia, and Lantis, he silently prayed that his fellow soldier had not been seen, and instead said the first thing that came to mind: "Oh, shit."

[Alusq]

It's Ohshit? Got it, Nichol thought jokingly as the knight next to him unceremoniously tripped.

Then he realised that Yves had tripped into the clearing where the irregulars that had fled into the woods were waiting.
... Oh, SHIT.
Virtually gluing his back to the large tree that conveniently concealed him from the clearing, Nichol thought as furiously as a charred and tired schmuck with a lance could possibly think.

The question is whether they'll run or attack... Am I stupid? With better numbers, of course they'll attack... Or they'll run because an armor knight on his belly can't possibly catch up. Whatever the case was, the two Lycians were outnumbered for now, and that was disadvantageous no matter what course of action their adversaries chose.
There must be some way to trick them... Make them think a whole platoon's got them surrounded.
Or at least make them think that there are more than two soldiers chasing them.
Leaning his spear on the large tree with one hand, Nichol soon found himself picking up a rock from the forest floor with the other, wincing as his free hand pushed aside a few leaves. It had only been a few seconds, but it still felt painfully slow.

Nichol threw the rock as far as he could— which admittedly wasn't that far, given the fact that he was trying to be quiet and had to stay behind the tree. But it still made a satisfying sound as it landed on the forest floor. Nichol immediately began skirting around the clearing in the opposite direction, again slower than he would have liked because he had to be quiet... and the question of whether or not this ridiculous charade would work was still unanswered.
He wondered if he should have thrown another rock first. Or if he was still even remotely hidden at all.

[[v]]

So her name was Morgan, from Etruria, which happened to be the same with Cinia. Lantis couldn't help wondering what their next action would be. At least, it was good to know they weren't with the hot headed resistance group there.

"I think I have some first aid kit for you, milady." The black swordsman searched for something in his pocket and presented the ladies a small container, and a piece of a cleaner cloth than his cloak. He smiled. "This salve will help you for the time being, and this handkerchief is far less dirty than other clothes of mine."

Lantis turned to the wood, as though he heard of something with his well-trained ears, but wasn't sure what it was yet. At first, he heard a voice, a very quiet one that a normal ear wouldn't notice. Then, not for long, it was a sound of dropping object, of which he guessed was rock or something. It could be an attempt to distract himself and the team. However, what really gave out was a sound of grazing armors.

He stood up with ease and said to the ladies. "I think the gentlemen has arrived. Let's see if we can negotiate. Please stay calm but careful." He walked over to the origin of the voice he heard firstly.

"Good evening, gentlemen." He spoke, loud enough for anyone in the nearby area would hear. He was quite certain that he was facing to the right direction. "Would you mind coming out?"

"With the skirmish is over, I no longer have intention to harm anyone. You see, despite the fact that the girls are from Etruria, none of us here is part of that army, as we're just helping hands." With that, Lantis unequipped his curved sword and tossed it aside to show his sincerity. Though in fact he still had a few spells up his sleeve if the negotiation fails. "Well?"

[Amoltamiss]

Cinia eyed the swordsman as he procured what appeared to be some medical supplies. Well, crude ones anyway, aside from the salve that Cinia idly wondered about its origins. Considering that he managed to keep all that stuff in there, it was a wonder how any of it got lost. Regardless, Cinia tensed up for a moment when Lantis turned to the wood. Armor was grazing eventually, it was loud enough that even Cinia could hear, despite the prior sounds being inaudible to her at first. As she predicted, people had chased them here.

Lantis had the bright idea to negotiate. "Negotiate? Are you crazy? Do you think they will take us seriously? They know what I did to their troop. They will want my head on a silver platter." she whispered into Lantis' ear out of earshot of the two fellows who had made their presence known in the grove, one of them had fallen out and cursed himself, most likely his idiocy.

Then someone who was obviously threw a rock. "That rock isn't going to fool us. Reveal yourself." Cinia said, rolling her eyes and turning her head away from the gaze of the armor knight who had fallen.