<HTML> * * * Three flashes of the dagger and the charred Lutins are no longer a threat as Jo drops down, skidding a bit on her legs to get to the mage, her herbary bag already off her shoulder. "Okay, I'm here, you're going to be all ri-" Then she recognizes the face. "Er... hello again. I trust Jeremy's all right?" Kevin asks, looking a little worse for his usage from the wounds around his arms and muzzle. Jo nods quickly, getting out a small vial from her bag. "He's in Jono's rooms with Dana and Perry. They should be okay," she says as she opens the vial. "Brace yourself, this is going to hurt," she warns the mouse as she dabs a bit of the vial's contents over the mouse's wounds. Kevin breathes in sharply, clenching his eyes closed and grinding his teeth together with each contact against a wound... then opens an eye again, and tenses up, this time definitely not from pain. "Ummm... Jo..." Joanne looks up to see two more Lutins virtually right on top of them. * * * Jono turns the corner that instant just in time to see Jo pull one of her daggers and send it through the nearest Lutin. But the second is much, much faster than anyone suspected, and so Jo has barely gotten the knife back when it's already swinging at her. She has time enough to catch the sword hand - with both paws - but that's it. "JO!" Jono yells, spotting his whip next to her herbary bag, right behind her. "Kick the whip towards me!" She braces, then thrusts her leg backward, kicking the whip and sending it skidding towards Jono, just before one punch from the Lutin's unoccupied arm stuns her briefly, dropping her to the ground, leaving the Lutin free to swing. But Jono has already leapt forward into a somersault and grabbed the skidding whip. Jono's whip is one of the more curious weapons they own. On first glance, one might think it a relatively normal rope whip, of the type usually used to control unruly beasts (or, in the darker parts of the world, slaves - something neither Jono nor Jo ever condone). But this whip has hundreds of strands of very flexible but immensely strong metal woven into it, making it virtually impossible to cut. That and at the end there isn't one strand of rope, but three six-inch strands, each terminating in a large steel bearing. One stroke with the whip and a loud *crack* comes from the bearings as they meet roughly in the center of the Lutin's skull, crushing it completely. It falls to earth with an equally loud THUD. By this time Jono has already recoiled the whip and is helping Joanne drag Kevin away to safety. *** 12/24 - 8:30pm As Ryuo ran through the courtyard, following the faint sounds of clashing metal, his mind raced with what he had to do. His first thought was to head for the gate into the lower town, and he headed in that general direction, or at least as close as he could follow in the pure white conditions. Ice and snow flew at him, the storm pelting him with debris. Peering through the snow, something seemed to glint in the distance. Ryuo hurried forward and saw that it was a building that seemed to have caught on fire. In a brief moment of clarity through the whipping snows, Ryuo realized it was the Keep's stables; the whinny of panicked horses reached Ryuo's ears from the burning buildings. Realizing that his own steed was trapped in the blazing inferno, Ryuo knew there was not a moment to lose. Running at full tilt towards the orange glow in the night, Ryuo almost tripped over the Lutins who waited outside. The green goblins were just as surprised, and their reactions were sluggish in the blizzard conditions. Ryuo cut down two before they could turn about, and a third was caught with a downward strike as he began to raise a weapon to strike. Hurrying past the bodies, Ryuo ignored the others outside for the moment, rushing into the stables, his attention focused on Kaze, with whom he had crossed half a continent. As he came upon the front of the stables, Ryuo could see several horses lying dead in the snow, having been the victims of Lutin weapons. Though already covered in a thin layer of snow, Ryuo could see that neither of them were his own precious steed. Inside the burning stables, it was a mess. Horses were obviously panicked, and Ryuo could see a band of Keepers, led by a rooster, it appeared, speaking soothing words to some of the panicked animals. So intent was the rooster on calming the great beasts that he did not see the saber-wielding Lutin about to slice into him. The creature had apparently snuck into the burning stables for some inane reason--perhaps a dare, or perhaps just suicidal. Ryuo gave a shout, and the rooster turned, his beak dropping open as his eyes went wide. The Lutin's saber flashed downwards, but it never reached its intended target. Instead, Ryuo's own tanto sprouted from its back, causing it to falter and fall to the ground. Ryuo finished it off with his long sword, and then took up the tanto, wiping it off quickly and resheathing it. The rooster said something that Ryuo could not understand. The rooster pointed to the horse, and then pointed outside, making an image of a house. Ryuo simply nodded, realizing that the horses would need to be evacuated from the burning building. That couldn't happen with the Lutins outside, however. Ryuo ran through the stables, and found his own steed. Patting him on the neck, Ryuo grimaced as he realized that he would probably lose his tack in the blaze, but there was little time. Ryuo opened the paddock where Kaze stood, and led him to the door. "Wait!" Whispered Ryuo to his steed. Kaze stood stock still despite the flames, just has he had been taught. Ryuo grinned and gave Kaze a reassuring pat, and then turned to the rooster. "Ready. After us... go." he said with his broken speech. Suddenly, Ryuo jumped back out into the cold. The Lutins had formed up a half-circle around the stable, but Ryuo's charge broke their formation. Shining steel flashed from the darkness, cutting through a raised spear and into the bony skull below. A sword missed as he stepped back to withdraw the blade, and then a circular, continuous sweep took out four more of the creatures. Turning around he could see that he had made it through the line, and now, all of the green heads turned towards Ryuo. It was exactly as he planned. "Come!" he yelled in his native Yamato tongue. As he cut down another Lutin, a shape resolved itself from the darkness. Like a night-mare of legend, Kaze rushed outside and began attacking the surprised Lutins, many of whom threw up their hands as Kaze's hooves rained down on them, trampling green bodies underfoot. As rider and steed worked together in the snow, both fighting as best they could, Ryuo yelled out again into the storm. "Now!" he cried in vulgar language of Metamor. The hooves were thunderous as horses were rushed from the building, following along the path Ryuo and Kaze had cleared. As the last of the first wave left, Ryuo cleared the attackers from Kaze and made a motion with one hand. Kaze broke from the fighting, following the rest of the horses off to safety. As they disappeared into the white darkness, Ryuo continued his own fight. The white snow was blinding, and the roar of the wind deafening. Ryuo had never before faced such adverse conditions; no opponent before had been so suicidal as to attack in the middle of a blizzard. Ryuo sliced downwards, severing through a Lutin's arm, he then turned and brought the blade up to the creatures face, slicing through the lower half of its jaw and sending it screaming to the winter snow's icy grasp. If Ryuo was having trouble, he could at least consolate himself that the Lutins were just as bad off, if not worse. They had not practiced blind-fighting in light-forsaken caves, nor had they the discipline of his own training. His sword flashed out into the night, and it seemed to catch the Lutins just as they came into view. Two sets of eyes went wide as the sword swung horizontally towards them. Then, the four eyes sailed into the darkness, freed from the headless bodies that slumped to the ground. Ryuo gave little thought to their deaths, but rammed the sword backwards, catching another Lutin in the gut, he then stepped to his left and rose, causing another Lutin to fly past him; Ryuo caught him in the back with the down stroke of his raised sword. Ryuo could not see the blood that he had spilt, but he could smell it faintly from the quickly cooling bodies of the Lutin corpses. If this many Lutins were already inside the walls, they must have made it inside the Keep by now as well, Ryuo figured. That meant the Duke was in danger. Glancing once more to make sure that there were no more Lutins in the immediate area, Ryuo turned back towards the snow-obscured spires of the Keep, racing for the nearest gate, and hoping he was not already too late. ** 12/24 8:45pm The armory was... chaotic, to say the least. The only one who looked to be controlling it in the least was Jack, and he was passing out the weapons. "Okay, who's in charge here?" Rickkter yelled out. A burly woman reached up from one of the larger crowds and waved him over. "Who are you?" "Captain Henrietta Marcusson." The captain had the face of a veteran changed in the original battle of the gates; while having the expected feminine lines, it was still crisscrossed by a fine network of wrinkles and battle scars. At least that gave some indication that she knew what she was doing. "Who are you and do you have any idea what's going on here?" "War mage, Rickkter. Alas I do know what's going on." He reached back to scratch at his head. "It seems that we're going to get a lutin army of undetermined size knocking at the doors to the keep. Kyia told that to Madog who in turn told Misha." The other soldiers began to mutter amongst themselves. The captain held up her hand and silenced most of them. "That's what I was told as well. How reliable is that?" "I was there." Rickkter wiped his face with his paw. "It was serious enough for Misha to scramble all the Long Scouts." The captain cursed. "Tell me about it. So you're in charge of this section?" "Aye. Though you outrank me," she said, noting the rank cluster on Rick's left upper arm. Full wizards like Rickkter wore an insignia with three gold, five silver, and nine platinum stars in a tight circle within the center of the rank cluster. In addition, he carried a field rank of major, designated by crossed swords on a shield with a crown above. Her own of Captain, was two crossed swords on a simple kite shield. Rickkter shook his head and looked off at the outer door. "No, this is your show. I have no experience with winter warfare." The captain nodded and turned to the rest of the troops. "Okay, listen up! This is how the situation now stands: We have an unknown number of Lutins making an attack on the Keep itself. No other warning from any of the towns, villages or outposts further north have been received, and if it weren't for the fact that Kyia herself decided to tell us, I would dismiss it as a hoax. Until now, attacking in the middle of a blizzard would be unthinkable." A few more keepers had trickled into the armory and were listening to what was being said. "The good news is that I see we have a lot of animal morphs with us. From what we all know of that kind, their sense of smell should give us an edge. Though with Lutins I don't know if any of us can help smelling them." There was a collective chuckle, but the tension was still there. "We also have a mage with us, a fully ranked wizard. His skills will enable us to track this attacking 'army' despite the blizzard and eliminate them all the quicker. Now I know this is late notice for all of you, but let's get out there and get this over with!" The wind was like a hard slap in the face as soon as Rickkter stepped through the door. While he would have preferred that it helped to sober him up, all it served to do was remind him how rather underdressed he was and set his teeth chattering. Pulling his tunic tighter about his neck, Rickkter hunched his shoulders and continued onwards through the snow. The light from the door behind him was fading quickly and the large braziers that designated the main gates beyond the stables were hardly more than indistinct orange blotches in the night. At least when they passed through the long archway Rickkter saw other soldiers scrambling to man the walls. Well, that'll help should any Lutins get by, he reflected briefly. The wind outside the walls was worse than inside, and Rickkter made a vain attempt to block it with a paw as he turned his head away from it and hunched over. Fighting in this was going to be a royal bitch. Especially considering they had made their way a good distance into the woods. Well, hopefully his magic would offset that. Reaching out with his mind he began to draw in the manna. No, that wasn't right, thought Rickkter as he pulled the energy to himself. Something else was consuming manna from the whole region and in quantities he could scarcely believe possible. It was also impairing his own ability to draw on that energy. He was about to cast out his probes to determine where it was coming from when the captain snapped him out of it. "Well, mage," she hollered over the wind, "time for you to do your thing. Where the hell are they?!" Nodding, Rickkter closed his eyes and turned his back to the wind in order to concentrate. A small snarl came to his muzzle and he twisted his head more to the side, forcing himself to scan further into the darkness. Marcusson was about to ask if anything was wrong when the raccoon snapped up his head and sucked in a breath through his teeth. His sword was out in a blink and he started backpedaling through the snow, his head whipping around. "Captain, get your men back to the walls now. Before we're all killed." Captain Marcusson turned and peered out into the darkness and snow. "Damn, are you sure it's that bad? How many of them are there out there?" "That's the whole problem," Rickkter hollered at her. "I don't know how many are out there! I can't sense anything six feet in front of my fucking face! And even that's a stretch. This whole blizzard is one gigantic spell designed to inhibit any magic besides its own and probably its casters. That's why we never heard anything of this army from the outposts and watchtowers; they couldn't tell us, even if the wanted to!" He could barely hear the captain curse over the wind. "That's defiantly going to complicate things. We'll need to set ourselves into ambush positions, using the drifts for cover." "What?!" "You heard me! We're staying out here and we're going to meet them. The snow may limit sight and magic, but they're under the same limitations. Now I suggest you find a way around this field of theirs before they show up." Rickkter rounded on her. "Damn it! Listen to me! You've got to pull back now! Fortify the walls, deploy the men along them and make the stand there!" "NO! We've got to make a stand before the walls." "Doing it out here is crazy!" yelled Rickkter as the wind tore through his cheek fur. "They've got the advantage of surprise, no matter the fact that we know they're out there; they've almost certainly got us out numbered; and between the snow and the dampening field that they control, they've effectively blinded us! Turn back now before the men are all killed!" "You said you had no experience with winter warfare, Rickkter, which is why you should let me handle it!" "Even the blindest grunt can see that this is suicide! Now pull the men back now, Captain! Before I make that an order." Marcusson opened her mouth as if to counter, only to have her attention diverted like everyone else by the sudden disappearance of the blinding snow. Left in its place was a line of lutin warriors holding torches and gazing at the bedraggled keepers. Their line was more a mob as they looked into the momentary lull and met the angry stares of the attacking army. In the shadows close at his left Rick could see the walls of the keep, defined by the line of unwavering mage-lights along the crenellations. Among the steady white glow of the magical illuminations Rick could see the dimmer, flickering motes of torches. "Ah, shit," Rickkter muttered. ** End part 11a </XMP> </HTML>