Avalon/Roleplay Section/Hector/Attacks on the Capital

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Attacks on the Capital, part I

Hector rides into town, he and his horse are both exhausted and wounded. Hectors horse is bleeding from his hind quarters and both front legs. He drops the horse at the local smith and asks for re-shoeing and if he could fetch the doctor to look over his horse. Hector makes his way to the palace and to the local corpsman. The corpsman treats his wounds and sends him on his way.

Hector goes to his manor, where he sees a battered carriage, partially burned and bashes along the sides. An unharmed horse grazes near by.

Hector makes his way to the front door and starts to enter. He feels something behind him and wheels around, drawing his sword. “Arian!”

Arian smiles, “Your senses are improving, Lord Hector, I am impressed. You are one of two people to have ever heard me coming.”

“I didn’t hear you, I felt you.” Hector says, as he returns the smile. But, then realizes he is distrustful of the man, and returns to a frown.

“Hector, please, why do you hold back from me? We could learn a great deal from each other if you just allow it to happen.”

Hector turns, and opens the door to enter his manor. He sees Jessica reading by the fire. Body guards are on the second story banister watching over her. Hector turns back to Arian, “Nicely done. I think you could be a good general some day, sir.”

Arian nods, his face mostly hidden by his cloak. “Hector, Jessica is going to be a bit disconnected as the path she must walk is slowly revealed to her. You must not take it as disconnection from you, but disconnection from herself. She is still very much in love with you, and that love will give her the strength to do what must be done. She will save Avalon as well as the rest of this continent from destruction, and you will love her for it!”

“I know the fate is sealed now, Arian. I just hope she’s not harmed. I fear for her safety.”

“As do I, and I will, without a doubt, give my life to save her. You would too, right?”

“Without a doubt, Arian. I would give my life to keep her from even getting hurt, let alone saving her.”

Arian smiles, he feels quite comforted in Hector’s comments. “Hector, she feels the same. She will save Avalon from destruction, but not unless your love can show her how. It’s complicated, but you will see.”

Hector turns away, starring at Jessica. “She’s so innocent and young. She really should not have been exposed to such dangers. I should have let her stay at Kain’s or Xaero’s and gone on to safety.”

“But then, she would have died, because the chosen would not have been selected and she would have been consumed along with every other living creature on this planet! So, you actually did the right thing, Hector.” Arian says. He can see the confusion on Hectors face.

“You’re right. As long as I can keep her alive, then I’ll be happy.” Hector says, looking down.

“We will both keep her alive, for the sake of all man-kind.” Arian says as he turns towards Hector, light from the fire place flickering of his hood and face.

Hector looks up at Arian, sensing sincerity in him. He smiles, finally comfortable in the fact that Jessica is involved now. He will just have to protect her and allow her to do what she must. Jessica glances up from her book, she turns to Hector and smiles, then, looks back down to her book to continue where she left off.

Hector walks upstairs to retire for the evening. He doesn’t notice, the book she reads is titled, “The Whispering Grove”.

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Attacks on the Capital, part II

The next day, Hector is awakened by a scribe. “Sir, sir, wake up! You must wake up sir!”

Hector is groggy, very tired and soar and looks at the scribe. “I know this is important, because no man enters my chambers and touches me without a VERY GOOD reason, right scribe?”

“Of course, sir, of course. Monsters! They gather at the gates of Cteduul. And no one is here to defend her, except you, Minsc and Eriamar!!!”

As Hector pops out of bed, he hears commotion in the streets. He hears a large, low-tone booming through the street of Cteduul. “What is the count of soldiers and those horrible creatures…?”

“Well sir, I think Minsc has about 40 soldiers, you only have 2 soldiers who recovered and Eriamar has 4 soldiers healthy enough for battle.” The scribe says, as he reads over a parchment.

“Well then, sounds like ol’ Minsc is going to save the day then!” Hector says with a smile.

“Well, sir, not really. See, there are about 70 or more Creatures breaking through the city gates right now.”

Hector, jaw and eyes stretched wide open looks up from lacing his boots. “What?!”

Hector rushes out onto the lawn, two of his men, suited and ready for battle!

“Sir, shall we move out? Minsc’s men gather in the courtyard at the opening of the city.”

Hector runs towards the city gates. They follow. Hector is still donning his helmet when he catches up with Eriamar running with his 4 men towards the gates as well. He gives a look at Hector. “Lord Hector, welcome home! I see you’ve just about settled in.” A large grin crossing his face.

“Yes, one can never be too comfortable!” Hector says, returning the smile. Minsc is just ahead, and Eriamar’s men dart forward and charge as Minsc charges. Hector is in the rear.

The Monsters crash the gate and poor into the courtyard. Minsc charges for the left flank as Eriamar hits the right flank. Hector charges the center with his two men. Hector slashes and attacks. Eriamar’s men attack from the left flank, cutting down about 20 Monsters. Hector is still standing with both his men as 4 Creatures fall at his feet. Arian is there, flinging bags over their heads. Flashes of light consume the Wraith, barely visible above their heads. The Monsters scatter. But, retaliate. With no guidance from a wraith, they’ve appeared to form up again… on their own.

Hector glances at Arian, who returns his concerned look. They charge, the Monsters charge. A loud crash is heard as the masses of men and beasts collide.

Hector sees one of his brave soldiers fall, he’s not dead, but has taken a huge gash to the side of the face. One of Minsc’s men pulls him to safety.

Hector looks over and suddenly, only about 14 of Minsc’s men are left. Hector’s down to one man and so is Eriamar. The Monsters are still at 40 strong. “Damn this horde!”

Hector strikes out, he runs beneath the legs of one monster, slashing his artery in his leg, causing it to go crashing down. Minsc leaps in the air, slicing a monsters arm clean off. Arian is there, throwing another mystical bag of powder. A huge explosion deafens everyone, including Hector, who is stunned by the blast. Several monsters lean forward and cover their ears. Hector, Eriamar and Minsc begin to slice them down. Hector, grabs his sword and stabs one Monster through the heart. Minsc and Eriamar take turns beating another down. They look and are suddenly surrounded by 30 or more Monsters. Minsc has about 9 men left and Hector has lost his last one. Eriamar stands near Hector. The two look and realize they had better make their way out of there. Arian throws a powder bag to the ground. Hector and Eriamr shield their eyes. As they look back up, the Monsetrs are staggering, and a hole has opened for them to run through. They break through the lines, and dart off between several buildings. Minsc is right behind them, with several wounded men hobbling after.

Hector turns to the Troop Leaders. “Well, that was interesting.”

Minsc nods and looks at Eriamar. “Your head, sir.” Eriamar reaches up to feel blood over his ear.

“That’s just a scratch. Where’s the nearest pub, I can take care of it there?” He says with a large smile.

The men laugh and limp off down an ally. The Monsters are disoriented, and head back out into the woods to regroup. “No doubt they’ll be back tomorrow, guys. Someone better send word to our General and tell them the peril we are in. We narrowly avoided Cteduul being taken by these goons.”

The men nod in unison as a scribe is sent off to warn Michael of the battle results.

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Attack on the Capital, part IV

The demon glares at the men, but seems especially interested in Jessica. There are two of them, and they look quite efficient at killing.

Hector glances over at Revan. “Can you and Arian distract the back one? I’ll take my 3 men against the first one.”

Revan nods. He thinks to himself this would be a find way to die, rescuing a lady. Better than dieing on some battlefield somewhere. He strikes out, with Arian. Arian has drawn an odd shaped sword, but appears to be quite efficient with it. They two men strike, just as Hector and his 3 men attack the front one.

Jessica is completely terrified. She hobbles to a tree and hides behind it. Hector, Revan and Arian continue to fight the demons, but they are quick, and they are strong. Two of Hector’s men go flying leaving Hector with one soldier and himself against this demon. Arian pulls a bag from his belt, but the demon is there, striking Arian and sending him flying. A bag explodes off in the distance has it is knocked from Arian’s hand. It reels around and slices with it’s claws towards Revan. He Parry’s them back quite well, but not fact enough, as the demon catches his arm and sends him spinning.

Hector is blocking the demons attacks as well, and attempts to stab at the creature, but it is too fast, dodging his shots. Arian is back up, attacking with his sword, keeping the Demon from attacking Revan any more, allowing him to regroup and get his sword in position to attack.

Hector thinks to himself, This will not work. These are not normal creatures, only an army, or magic can stop them now! Hector laughs out loud at what he just said. A week ago, Magic was a children’s tale to him.

The men fight valiantly, but are all knocked backwards. Sprawled out, Hector desperately tries to regain his footing on the loose rocks. It is too late. The creatures turn and charge Jessica who is defenseless. Hector watches in horror as they close in on her.

Jessica feels something warm inside. She suddenly does not fear them. She smiles, and relaxes, coming out from behind the tree to face them. They get closer, she feels warmer. They close in, she grows even warmer. Suddenly, a large fire bursts from her and consumes the demons. They burn a bright blue flame, then poof, the fire is out, and the demons drop to the ground. Jessica screams out and falls to the ground.

Hector looks over at Arian. “What the hell just happened?”

Arian stares on in disbelief. “The seed. It will protect itself until it can be rebirthed.”

Hector looks over at Arian. OK, OK, that makes sense, right? What else could have explained that?

The men get to their feet and look over at Revan, who is staring at Jessica. “Revan, are you OK?... Revan?”

“Oh, yeah, yeah, I’m fine. I just am having trouble with fire bursting out of a seed and killing demon. I’ve never seen a seed do that before, that’s all.”

Hector picks up Jessica and places her on his horse. “I’ll lead this horse, someone grab her horse please.”

They wonder up the path, then down the mountain. They walk for 4 hours, into the wee hours of the morning to Hector’s place. Hector invites Revan to sleep there to regain his rest. Revan accepts. Arian takes a guest room, and Hector places Jessica in his room. He sleeps on the floor, sword drawn, and across his chest.

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