Legendary Exploits of Three Not Viking Brothers

“Hold fast to the ladders and hold fast to your Faith!” rumbles Robillard. “These heretics above us seek to wipe us out! They will not rest until they see our holdings razed, our homes and villages burned before their unholy torch. They seek to ravage our lands and take our wealth as their spoils of war. And after they have wiped out every remaining holdfast, they shall spew their seed across our ground and claim it as theirs. Well I say NO! I will not allow their foul spawn to continue, not while I still draw breath, not while my veins still run with Griswald blood and my lips still speak the prayers of Themis. Now, charge, men! Charge, you men of Griswald, you hearty retainers! Charge and dispense your greatest gift to the heretic! DEATH! DEATH! DEATH!!!”

Seeing the miserable state of the enemy, Gwain cannot help but feel pity for the poor souls that will be slaughtered tonight.

"Guard! Don't waist your fire on the archers, their arrows won't get through our shields. Aim for anyone you see trying to cut down our ladders or pour burning oil."

As he finishes barking the command, Gwain knocks two arrows and simultaneously dispatches two enemy conscripts as they struggled to toss a man-sized boulder into the sea of steel below.

Biting her tongue at Rob's speech, Thistle opts to help position the laddermen and points out more spots on the walls that will likely have oil pots or other nasties lying in wait. The castle is old and in disrepair, but it has its defenses. Seek to ravage *our* lands?

She pokes her head briefly out from the shields and yells up at the walls in whatever language Blasted Landers use. "You'd better run, the big one is real mad." She jerks her head back under just in time to dodge an arrow.

Thistle helps hoist up a ladder onto the side of the wall and one by one a dozen others go up alongside it. Robillard grabs onto the ladder and breaks from the shield wall with a roar. As he begins to surge up the wall Robillard hears a distinctive twang from behind him and two arrows fly from Gwains bow into a par who were about to knock Robillard right off with a hefty boulder. Smiling to himself in satisfaction at the strength of brotherhood, Robillard draws his blade and half leaps half climbs up the ladder the rest of the way yelling encouragement to fellow soldiers climbing nearby ladders.

Looking around the wall Leewan can see from his safeish viewing point that several of the poorly illuminated figures defending the fort are trying to push the ladders off the wall. Still others try to bring what look to be boxes full of nails, rocks, or buckets carrying some fluid to toss down at the attackers. Few of these individuals or pairs succeed in dumping their items over the walls due to the deadly covering fire of the Griswald archers which is further supplemented by Gwains Guard who do what they can to cover those climbing the ladders.

Leewan furthermore quickly spots his brother Robillard upon the ladder as the Righteous Dawn and his enormous armour glistens against the torchlight. Practically jumping off of the ladder Robillard finds himself face to face upon the battlements with a pair of scrawny bow carrying defenders who look absolutely terrified at Robillard. Further along the ramparts Robillard can see dozens more of these bow-wielding defenders while dozens more lie dead or dying in pools of blood on the ground with arrow shafts sticking from torsos. Satisfyingly, Robillard cannot see any dedicated melee infantry defending the walls alongside the archers in the vicinity.

Leewan directs his archers to spread their fire to the two ends of the battlements now that the executioner of Griswald has taken to the wall. He beckons elite guard to form up around him as he closes distance towards the walls. Leewan's stride is silent and graceful amidst the rancor and orchestrated violence unfolding around him. Anticipation builds in his veins, he knows what comes next.

The lord of Griswald makes way to 100 paces from the wall. He looks about and takes in the glorious thrill of battle and victory. Every clash of steel and final cry of pain fuels his pleasure. Death is everywhere in this place. This is what he lives for and it is but a fraction of what is to come. For a brief moment he steps 2 paces from the turtle formation cover of his elites, he smiles and delivers an order:

"RUN THOU BLADES THROUGH THEIR SKULLS, MAKE THEIR FINAL REST FROM BROKEN SINEW AND GUSHING CRIMSON!"

Firing off another two shots, Gwain turns to Treachery with a look of unease on his face. "Things are going smoothly. Nothing we do ever goes smoothly. Find a vantage point and scan the horizon with your spyglass for any signs of danger."

Hewing through the scattered peasants like cordwood, Robillard raises the Rising Dawn to point at the sky, catching the actual dawn in a shining reflection. He takes advantage of the visibility this signal grants him to yell an order to his vanguard.

"Veterans of Frey, hold this wall with your lives. Gwain's Guard, follow me. We shall dive into the heart of this tumour and cleanse its corruption with fire and sword."

With the order given, Rob barely waits for his men to follow. He trusts that they will be able to see his trail of blood and broken bodies. He is searching for any way to get inside the castle so that he can begin searching for the king's corpse, and more importantly, his crown.

Once Robillard's bloody charge has cleared a path of relative safety through the carnage, Gwain and his guard make their way up a ladder in pursuit lest the Knight of Griswald overextend himself too far. Gwain waits at the base of the wall and continues to provide covering fire until all the others (minus Treachery) have ascended in one piece.

Treachery looks around before responding to Gwains order "Where am I to find a vantage point around here? The only high point is on the palisades!" Before Gwain can answer Treachery's expression turns to one of epiphany and he looks up at the wall. Gwain, not wasting time, begins rushing up the ladder with the rest of Gwains Guard while Treachery shouts up after him "If I get run through cover the hole at my funeral so the girls still think I'm handsome!"

Once on the wall, Gwain looks quickly for his brother whom he spots striding confidently towards a set of stairs on the interior of the wall. Every couple of steps Robillard cuts a poor soul down where they stand as their attacks pitifully glance off his shield. Off towards the gate of the castle Gwain is able to spot many more soldiers fighting Frey's forces as others begin to maneuver to repel the Griswald forces on the walls. Suddenly, a thud of boots on stone comes from behind Gwain. Turning in half startle, Gwain sees Thistle has snuck up the wall alongside him. Tracing her gaze Gwain sees she is staring at the horrid work being enacted by Frey's mercenaries on the defenders of the wall as pools of blood run along the stonework while those still alive have blades driven through their hearts or heads smashed in by hammers and maces.

Robillard, continuing his advance heedless of any help from Gwain and his men, strides down the set of stone stairs half saddened by the fact he is not charging towards the dozens of heretics moving towards him from the courtyard. Finally reaching the heavy wooden door midway down the flight of stone stairs Robillard grabs at the handle only to find it is locked. Mildly annoyed, Robillard takes a second to look for Gwain and his men whom he sees are still lagging by the ladders dealing with some mud peasants trying to stab them with rusty spears.

Meanwhile, Leewan takes his time surveying the soldiers moving up the ladder. He spies Gwains "lieutenant" Treachery climbing up with one arm while the other holds a long rope with a heavy grapnel attached to the end. With dawn now arriving, Leewan looks towards the gate of the castle and notices the shadows of arrows flying up above the walls as Frey's archers overshoot some of their shots. One of Leewans personal guard clears his throat from behind him and says "Shall, we escort you atop the wall sir?"

Leewan nods to his guard and proceeds to the walls.

Peering through the blood-red haze settled upon his vision, Rob can see the helpless struggles of Gwain’s Guard. Perhaps a younger Rob would have left them to handle themselves. However, now he finds he cannot, and with a grunt of frustration, he turns and beats his way back to the wall.

“Hurry, Gwain!” he roars. “We have corruption to root out. If you cannot move past these pitiful excuses of men, we shall be hard-pressed indeed once we enter their halls.”

Thistle directs a few of the other men at arms to start climbing then ascends the ladder herself, helping out Nibbs as she goes up. As she reaches the top of the walls, she takes a moment to peek over the walls to suss out the situation in the castle courtyard below, looking for anything important or out of the ordinary for a lich castle.

After that, she looks up and sees Rob and company struggling with the door. Spotting a rusty keyring on the body of one fallen but slightly important looking wall guard, she yanks  it off his belt and chucks it at Rob, shouting "catch!"

Rob grabs the key as it flies through the air. This is certainly easier than bashing my way through the door, he thinks as he uses it unlock his blocked way.

While Thistle takes the moment to look down in the courtyard she sees the dozens of defenders rushing her way from the direction of the gate. Armed with nothing but sharpened sticks and rusty knives Thistle immediately dismisses the force coming her way as nothing to fear. Before looking away, Thistle spots a much better-dressed man walking among the oncoming peasant force. Wearing a black fur cloak with the monstrous head of one of the beasts that attacked the army hanging over one shoulder the man exudes an air of dread much the same as Leewan.

Almost transfixed, Thistle tears herself away at the sound of Robillards heavy boots and tosses him the keys. Almost as quick as he came, Robillard then immediately begins storming off to open whatever door he was shouting about. Why go into the castle when all the defenders are on the walls?

Leewan makes his way up to the wall with his guard and takes note of how few of his soldiers are dead at its base. Satisfied that his valuable resources aren't being wasted unnecessarily, Leewan begins climbing up the wall almost giddy at the blood and gore that coats the wooden ladder and ramparts.

Thistle takes one good look at this dangerous new enemy and springs into action. She pokes her head over the other side of the wall, sees Leewan, and shouts "We have company!" at him. "You'd better hurry." She waves at him to come up, then turns back to the situation at hand.

Turning back to the other men at arms on the wall, she starts yelling. "Form up! Never mind those others," she says, waving a hand at the peasants with their sharpened sticks, "*That's* the one we need to worry about." She jabs a finger in the direction of the maybe lich officer. Spotting a straggler coming up the ladder, she offers him a hand and pulls him up and into position.

She looks around for Gwain and spots him. "Lich officer! Down in the courtyard! Archers would probably be good."

Finally, Thistle reaches out with her mind to assess this new enemy and see if he's actually more than he appears.

As Thistle reaches out she finds herself suddenly out of breath. Opening her eyes she finds herself with hands on the ground gasping for breaths of air. Looking about in a sudden panic Thistle finds herself standing amongst a twisted frozen battle upon the fort walls with rapid gusts of winds seemingly peeling the colour off the frozen statues of Griswald forces around her. A glowing red light looms down upon her as Thistle is left staring at the horrific visage of a giant shadowy snake.

As if coming from within her head a voice hisses to Thistle "I see you girl. Your mother will not protect you from me." As suddenly as it came, Thistle finds the gusts of wind blowing the other way and suddenly all colour returns to the world around her. Finally finding air to breathe, all around her can see Thistle has suddenly collapsed to the ground choking for air.