The House Of The Moon Returns

[HappyShackles 886]

The House of the Moon Returns

 

Deep in the forests outside of Kralta, in the lands ruled by the Carrion Kings, a campfire burns.

 

"Ah- He ain't worth 'er own weight in fackin' dirt," one of the outlaws sputters sloppily as another shoves a boy, black of hair with eyes of piercing forest green, to his knees before the rest of the group. The boy looks down at the ground, bruised and cut from the scuffle he'd had on the road when they'd taken him. The outlaws, mostly dawned in chainmail they'd pillaged in the few successful raids on Flotsam and Kralta they'd had. The leader of the group, a relatively short man with filfthy blonde hair and rotted teeth, approaches the boy.

 

"Sa wha's yer name, boy?"

 

The boy does not respond. His eyes remain locked on the ground.

 

"I said wha's yer name!"

 

The boy proceeds to spit on the man's feet, quickly recieving an armored knee to the chin. He cries out, falling flat on his back and spitting blood onto the dirt.

 

Suddenly, from what seemed like out of nowhere, the leader began to gag. He felll to his knees, clawing at his throat, before turning to his men to reveal the arrow that had lodged itself in his throat. He let out one last gargle before collapsing, the outlaws staring in bewilderment and fury at their leader's demise. Then came the voice. Wicked in it's tone, but strong.

 

"Thrash, Mordyn!"

 

One of the outlaws turns to the voice. "**** this! They're hiding in the woods, let's jus' kill the brat and **** em-"

 

Suddenly, two figures charge from behind the group of outlaws facing the source of the voice. One, an orc of immense stature, dawned in full plate armor besides his lack of helm and holding a massive battleaxe. The other, a human also in full plate, his face concealed, holding a sword in one hand and a shield in the other. The bandits, numbering seven with their leader dead, have little time to react before the Orc takes hold of the nearest bandit's head and plunges his viscious tusks into the man's throat, tearing the flesh free. The man screams just a bit louder than the Knight's victim, who finds himself with a sword through his back between his ribs.

 

The bandits, still outnumbering the two with five against them, retaliate. One of them had prepared his sling while his comrades were slaughtered, and launched a stone straight for the Knight. It bounced of the Knight's helm, denting it and causing him to stumble back just in time for one of the bandit's companions to land a heavy blow with his warhammer on the Knight's chest. The Knight lets out a deep breath, the air being knocked out of him, and falls back against a tree, raising his shield to defend against the second bandit's cutlass which rings off harmlessly,

 

Just as the remaining two bandits were about to strike at the Orc, they heard a gutteral scream from behind them. All of the remaining bandits turn foolishly to see their slinger with a blade through his throat, the assailant wearing the same black hair and deep forest green eyes as their captive, though one of this new man's eyes had a viscious scar over it, pale with blindness. Their captive was being freed by another man; this man with dark brown hair and green eyes though of no remarkable resemblence to the other two. Their captive stood up, taking the sword that was offered him by the Housecarl that had freed him and entering an offensive stance.

 

The four remaining bandits, realizing that they were now outnumbered and underarmed, turned back to back to the assailants. One of them, facing the Housecarl, captive and one-eyed man, spoke.

 

"We dan't want na trouble!" He says. "We'll go peaceful-like, ya know, we promise!"

 

"I'm afraid you won't," the one eye'd man responds. The orc laughs a gutteral, ominous, haunting laugh and the Housecarl whom had freed their captive smiles only slightly. Their captive turns his sword and lunges suddenly, his blade clashing with one of the bandit's while the one eyed man strikes at the other. The Knight's blade flurries out towards the third, and the Orc's axe is brought down heavily on the last man.

 

The ground now soaked in blood and littered with corpses, a sixth man, with a woman of amber hair and blue eyes, exit the brush and enter the clearing, both of the newcomers dressed in clearly very noble clothing. The Housecarl pokes one of the corpses with his foot. "That wasn't so hard, Lorethos."

 

The one eyed man wipes the blood on his sword off on one of the bandit's tunics and speaks, "No, they weren't too smart about it. Should've given up right away, right Thrash?"

 

The Orc grunts, his mouth dripping with blood from his previous kill. The orc punches the Knight softly on the shoulder, the Knight grunting behind the helm. He pulls up his visor to reveal a young man's face. Of the entire group, the one-eyed man is the oldest at around fifty. The Knight looks to the captive, who had slid down to the base of a tree trunk, being tended by the woman in noble clothing. "Are you alright, Damien?"

 

"My son has dealt with worse than bandits." Lorethos says, walking over and kneeling beside his son, kissing his wife softly on her cheek.

 

"How were the bushes, Desi?"

 

"Fine as always, dear." She smiles lightly as she tends their bleeding son, who only laughs awkwardly at his parent's affection. The Housecarl, who had been searching the corpses, taking their coin and other valuables, stood finally and looked to the nobly-dressed man. "You alright, uncle Sig?"

 

The nobleman shrugs, poking about with his jeweled sceptre, seeming in his own little world. Sigismund was clearly the closest in age to Lorethos. "I wasn't the one doing the fighting."

 

The Housecarl mumbles, "Well, we know that... What about you, Mordyn?"

 

The Knight had been removing his chestplate, dented from the warhammer, sitting against a tree, and now lifted his shirt to reveal a nasty bruise the size of a fist in the middle of his chest. "I'll be fine..." He murmurs. Sigismund notes the Knight's peril and approaches him, offering a hand. "James, help me." The Housecarl, James, nods and approaches the Knight, helping him to his feet.
 

Thrash stands still, still covered in blood, not bothering to make himself presentable. Lorethos, helping his son to his feet, turns to the group. "Back to Kralta," he says, Sigismund and James proceeding to help guide Mordyn back through the brush to the road. Desiderata and her son exit after them, Thrash picking up Mordyn's chestplate with one hand and clipping his axe back across his back. He pounds his chest with his free fist at Lorethos, who does so back, and the two depart from the bloody scene.
 

Cast: (In Order of Appearance)

 

LemonDropzz as Lord Damien Basileus (The Quiet Heir)

ryanb99 as Thrash (An Orc That Thrashes)

Ghrotto as Ser Mordyn Damaske (A Knightly Knight)

HappyShackles as Lord Lorethos Basileus (The One-Eyed Lord)

thecrazycoes as James Belarus (The Loveable Housecarl)

ImmaHorseRidda as Lady Desiderata Basileus (A Sophisticated Lady)

Torranes as Sigismund of Reuven (The Scholarly Uncle)

 

 

[Haribo 385]

-.- killing the only outlaw roleplayers we have

rude

[ACanadianCraft (Nate) 682]

Lemme get in on this.

[ToenailTickler 290]

"Are they even noble?"asks man.

[Will (TauFirewarrior) 2466]

"I sense a disturbance in my ego...as if an old enemy returns..." says an old Easterner

[Tentoa 3161]

Malineer lifted his head from his notes, softly tapping at the quill with his index fingers. "I should drive a noble house to extinction...That'd be fun." he thinks to himself, before jotting the idea down on a slip of blank paper.

[Aetosion 2062]

Lord Chancellor Edward Winter II adds House Basileus to the records of the Chancery.

[Birdwhisperer 1174]

Moved to the Great Library. It shall be sorted into appropriate category shortly.