Fire Emblem: A Quest for Glory

Archron

"Alright, well, get some sleep everyone. I'll go ahead and take my post."

With that, he climbed up what was left of the watchtower and looked out over the landscape. Mostly planes, but some wooded areas. He would have to keep an eye on those. As he kept watch, his mind wandered. Who had the travelers been who were here? Would they be friendly? Would they simply keep their distance until Archron and his group left? He hoped so.

After the time had passed, the prince realized he had grown sleepy. After almost nodding off, he realized that it was time for Alexander's watch. Groggily climbing down the stairs, he made his way to the swordsman and bent down to shake him.

"Your watch."

After saying this, he left for his own place. He was ready for some sleep.

~~~~~~~~~
???

Two pairs of eyes looked out from some heavy brush on the rim of a wooded area. One was strong and calculating, the other squinty and constantly shifting.

"Yer sure these 'er the ones?"

"I am. I saw the leader on top of the watchtower."

"Well, I've learn't to trust yer eyes, so ah'll take yer word fer it. When did the cap'n say were were attacking?"

"Soon. Very soon."

Alexander jolted awake when Archeron touched him, then nodded blearily. He gathered his sword and vulnerarys before made his way up the spiral staircase to the most intact of the remaining tower. By the time he reached the top Alexander had managed to wake himself up and prepare for a few boring hours.

The view was good at least, commanding the surrounding countryside. Alexander would have liked less trees though, that was dangerous. He began a very slow pace around the circumference of the tower. He'd stop to rest his legs now and then, but he didn't want to sit for too long and risk falling asleep. That'd been a problem for Alexander in his early mercenary days, and one he'd learned to deal with.

Besides his slow walk, Alexander tried to imagine enemy forces attacking from different points on the horizon, and how he would defend. He always won of course, because in these imaginary battles his ideas were brilliant. The attackers and defenders would have different compositions depending on what sparked his interest, so it was not exactly a helpful simulation. Still, it kept his mind working and was at least a bit entertaining. Odds are this would be a long, slow night.

???

Two men knelt in the dirt before their leader. One, the shifty eyed one from earlier, was dressed in a long cloak that his daggers from onlookers. The other was a tall, proud man, one who bore a bow at his side. The man they stood before, however, was the one that demanded attention. His shirtless body was covered in bulging muscles, and the image was completed by wild blond hair. An iron war axe feted at his side, and a hand axe was in his belt. However, he sid not wear the look of a dumb brute as one might expect. His eyes were of the brooding sort, and his countenance demanded fear. He nodded to the two men kneeling before him, pleased with their report.

"Very good. You both know what to do."

With a nod, they quickly rose and went to their tasks. It was to be a good night.

The first man strode to the edge of the forest, watching the tower. He looked around at the various patches of greenery, and saw each of his five men in position. Perfect. He gave the signal to his captain, and men began to creep from the tree line, blending in with the shadows. The group was made up of most fighters, besides his own five archers, although there were a few pirates and ex-soldiers among them. When he was close enough, the man drew back his bow, and fired at the lone figure on the watchtower. If he could take that man out, the other's would be easy prey.

Erik and Auria watched the camp, eyeing the sleeping people. "Maybe we can get in, get our stuff, and get out?" he suggested.
Auria snorted."Right. Your loud as a storm, especially with that armor...no, we're better off waiting for them to leave." She said, eyeing the old walls.

The second it took his mind to register what was coming at him through the dark nearly cost him his life. Alexander threw himself flat just in time, as the arrow buzzed over his head.

"By Grima!" He swore, and bounced back to his feet and set off sprinting down the stairs.

"Wake up, wake up! We got company! Everyone up! Bandits!"

Tycho & Leon

Life as a soldier had made Tycho a light sleeper, a combination of trying to beat the surprise inspections and training hours of his old sergeant and the possibility of having to deal with an ambush had left him a quick to respond to alarms. He jumped to his feet once Alexander started yelling, rousing Drasil from his own sleep, the wyvern shaking himself from head to tail to wake up. Once he was sure his wyvern was properly awake, he pulled himself up into his saddle, Drasil roaring his challenge to their foes and to help wake up their comrades as he maneuvered himself out of the building.

At the sound of Alexander's yelling and the wyverns own roar, Leon quickly got to his feet, grabbing his sword as he ran to where Alexander had been previously standing, noting the fallen arrow not too far away, to try see if he could catch a glimpse of their attackers. Despite the dark working to their advantage, he could see a number of human like shapes moving through the darkness towards them. "We're going to have to move fast! They'll know that we are awake now so they have no reason to sneak up on us!"

Esria
She jerked awake, fumbling for her Dragonstone, then found it. So she had been right to gather some protection. the big question now was whether these people could stand up to an organise assault, rather than just jumping into a fight like yesterday. She made sure to keep herself hidden...she would act as a heavy weight backup should thing start to go badly.

Lucas and Farore

Lucas jumped too his feet at the sound of Alexander shouting. He could hear movement but couldn't see a thing. He thought of random casting off spells hoping to hits something or someone but quickly discarded the idea as it would give a his position.  "I'm a sitting duck out here. What would I do?"

Farore took the attack as an opportunity to sneak past everyone and retrieve her gear from the ruins. After all this has nothing to do with me so why should I get involved, she thought to herself. He main objective was to get her equipment and find her two companions. "Hopefully they aren't caught up in this mess. Should I really help these guys out?"

Alexander was of two minds. On the one hand, going out to meet the attackers would give him room to maneuver, which would suit his fighting style, but abandoning a chokepoint like the manor they were in, which while decrepit was still sturdy, was against every principle of defense, especially against a foe with superior numbers. It was a difficult decision.

"Watch yourself!" he yelled to Leon as the young tactician went dashing up the watchtower where he had just been. Odds are the archer was still watching it. Alexander shook his head. The boy was liable to get himself killed.

Deciding to take the middle ground as far as cover, Alexander stepped outside of the mostly intact doorway in the structure they'd been sleeping in. The room was one of the more intact one's in the manor, with only one slightly collapsed corner providing any other entryway to the outside, but it was connected to several other rooms in the manor via two hallways that the attackers would be able to use if they so desired. Ultimately, it would be hard to defend with the numbers they had. Still, Alexander only ventured a few paces beyond the doorway, so he stood on the edge of the gentle slope atop which the keep sat. If the battle turned against them, Alexander wouldn't mind having the doorway to fall back on.

He nodded in approval when he saw Tycho and his Wyvern sally forth. He'd be most helpful striking from the sky. Drawing his blade and bouncing lightly on his toes, Alexander waited as the smudges in the darkness coming for him began to take shape.

Archron

The young man jolted awake, having just fallen asleep. He stumbled to his feet and grabbed his sword, shouting orders.

"To arms, to arms! Use the ruins for cover!"

~~~~~~~~~~
Balon

The archer captain signaled for his five archers to stand back as the six fighters and four barbarians moved forward to attack, each wielding an iron axe. Balon raised his bow, as did each of his men, and aimed at the ruins. Anyone who poked their head up would be targeted quickly.

~~~~~~~~~~
Gorian

The shifty man smiled with crooked teeth at the two men beside him, all three wearing a cloak that concealed knives and lock picks.

"Alright boys, there be treasure beneath these here ruins. Yew know what to do."

They began to moved towards the ruins under the cover of darkness, and would be very difficult to spot. Their target was three chests deep in the dungeons, the most intact section of the ruins.

An arrow missed his shoulder by a fraction of an inch, and he quickly slid behind the nearest pile of rubble. This was bad. The bandits, or whoever they were, had there little band painfully outnumbered. There looked to be about ten men rushing them now, and who knows how many archers taking potshots from the woods. As if to prove this point, two of the fighters had peeled off and were headed straight for Alexander, while the rest seemed more intent to flush out the rest of the group. Alexander considered falling back to the doorway, but he wasn't equip to hold the breach. Instead, he readied himself, and once the two fighters were close to his cover Alexander lunged out. He had been a bit overeager though, and they had been ready. The fighter he aimed for deftly side-stepped, then swing at Alexander's head. The Myrmidon ducked, then danced backwards as the two fighters came after him. They tried one or two swings, but Alexander was much more mobile then the muscle bound fighters, and he stayed out of reach. Desperate for an advantage before they worked him into a corner, Alexander grabbed a fist sized rock of a small pile of rubble and threw it at one of the fighters heads. The man moved his head, but while he was monetarily distracted Alexander landed a slash on his shoulder, then immediately somersaulted under his partners slow, powerful swing.

By now the three of them had put a good deal of distance between themselves and the rest of the party, but Alexander was already panting. He needed to find and opening, and quick.

Tycho

As he and Drasil rose from the ruins, Tycho almost immediately found himself struck in the chest by an arrow. Apparently at least one of the archers out there in the darkness paid enough attention to the wyvern roar to consider the possibility that it would rise from the ruins instead of charging out with the rest. Unfortunately he made the mistake of firing too early and hitting Tycho instead. Had he waited another second, he might have hit Drasil, but instead all he did was inconvenience Tycho for the time being.

"Cursed archers," he muttered under his breath as he tore the arrow out, urging Drasil forward into the fray. His target was a pair of barbarians, knowing all too well the fighting style of these warriors and trusting in Drasil's thick scales to hold under their assault. The wyvern slammed into one of the barbarians, knocking him back several feet while Tycho traded blows with the other. They proved evenly matched for the first few blows, but the barbarian was the faster of the two and not having a wyvern to work around, deflecting one of Tycho's blows to the side and pressing the advantage, leaping up at the rider with an overhead swing at the ready.

But Tycho was accustomed to fighting men like this, Plegia was the source of most bandit problems these days and there was never a shortage of them to kill or train with during Gangrel's time as king. He brought his axe back around and knocked his opponent off course, Drasil snapping at him with his jaws and catching the man by his leg. He brought the barbarian down hard, a blow to the wyverns head forcing him to release the barbarian before Tycho could do any real damage.

He quickly limped back to his comrade and turned to face the rider. Tycho would have preferred to get back in the air as soon as possible, dive back and strike hard once again, but unless he could find those archers and get to them first, he wasn't going any higher than a few feet off the ground.

Leon

He could barely see anything in this darkness outside of the ten men currently rushing towards the ruins, although he could tell there were archers somewhere out there in what should be the forest judging by the arrows currently flying at them, like the one coming right at him. His eyes widened with shock as he ducked out of the way, the arrow still managing to cut his cheek as it flew past him.

Ignoring the cut, he went after Archron and the others, coming upon the battlefield to find Alexander and Tycho having already engaged with these marauders. "Lucas! Provide support for Alexander and Tycho! Archron-" he found himself interrupted by one of the fighters, bringing his blade up in time to parry the blow. This man was more powerful, that was evident, but Leon was faster, able to match this man when he could manage it, but he would prefer to burn this man at the moment, unfortunately that would require him trading his sword for his tome, which would give the fighter more than enough time to kill him.

He was tiring, and while his opponents were too, the fact remained that they had two to one odds. Alexander tried to get a glimpse of how his allies were doing, but it was hard in the dark. For all intents and purposes, he was on an island. Which meant this fight had to end.

Gathering his energy, Alexander struck. The wounded man was moving a bit slower than his companion, so when he lagged behind one of their rushes, Alexander ducked low and spun behind the unscratched man. He felt the axe whiz a few inched over his head, and then he struck with his scimitar, slicing through the man's left hamstring. With a strangled scream the thug went down.

Alexander tried to get back to his feet before the second fighter got on top of him, but he'd underestimated the man's speed. Alexander shot a leg out to brace himself, and tried to catch the fighters axe on his blade. For a fraction of a second, he thought he was too late. He barely blocked the powerful overhead strike, but he the shock ran through his entire body, and he doubted his relatively thin sword could survive another blow like that. Alexander tried to get back on his feet and gain some space, but the man came at him again, this time with a horizontal blow. Alexander got his sword there again, but this time it was sent flying from his hands, landing a good 5 or 10 yards away. He turned and tried to run for it, the fighter close on his heels.

Esria
She saw The man knwon as Alexander fleeing, and stomped forward, roaring furiously at the men pursuing then ,and swung her tail at the,, intending to at least sweep them away. They came in greater force than expected, and it worried her.

Lucas

In the middle of a mild panic attack, Lucas could hear Leon giving him orders to act as support for Alexander and Tycho. He was perfectly fine with that, only problem was he could barely see his allies or the enemies which posed a even bigger problem. He makes a dash for the ruins hoping to make it to the top and use the moonlight to help his vision. halfway to the top, an arrow flies through one of holes in the walls and nails him in the arm. Grunting under the pain, Lucas continues to make his climb to top of the ruins.

From the top he had a better view of the ground below. Ignoring the arrow still in his arm, Lucas opens his tome ready to cast his spells. Targeting the archer, he began his chanting.

Alexander dove for his blade, but he knew he would be too slow. He panicked for a moment, sure that he was moments away from feeling an axe dig into his spine.

Instead there was a great whump, and whoosh of air. Out of the corner of his eye he saw something go flying. Alexander turned around, to see one of the fighters sprawled 30 feet away, unmoving, and Esria standing over him.

Alexander grabbed his blade and, after giving a nod towards the manakete, rammed his sword through the neck of the other, hamstrung fighter, who was only just gathering himself. He didn't like hitting men who were down, but he couldn't afford to leave this man on his back.

He then turned to Esria. "Tell the others I'm going to clear out those archers." Esria and Tycho wouldn't be at full effectiveness while there were still archers filling the skies with arrows. With that in mind, Alexander set off towards the treeline, coming in from an angle and moving between piles of rubble.

Tycho

Despite their brutish nature, these barbarians weren't completely stupid it seemed. Despite one of them having an injured leg, they used their numbers to their advantage, one attacking him head on in an attempt to break through his defenses while the other flanked him. It was times like this that he grateful for the power of a wyvern, not only did the extra eyes give him some respite when it came to dealing with his enemies, they were the greatest ally one could ask for. Every attempt on him was met with a roaring maw of teeth sharp as any sword.

One of those attempts caught both their attention, Tycho forcing the barbarian that had been attacking him away, swinging his axe into the side of the other who had believed he was just fighting a wyvern. He removed his axe just as Drasil took him into his jaws and threw him into his comrade. Finally having a moment to breathe, Tycho turned to Sebastian, "yeah, took an arrow just below the ribs I think."

Archron

The young lord quickly grabbed his swords and turned to help the others, when two men appeared before him. A fighter and barbarian, by the looks of it. The two men laughed cruelly as they began to circle him, weapons raised, but Archron merely drew his bronze sword, watching them. Before hey could make the first move, Archron dashed forward and gave the fighter a nasty slash through the chest. The man gasped, and couldn't resist when Archron grabbed him and swung him around, right in the path of the barbarians axe. The man fell lifeless to the ground, and the barbarian gasped in surprise. That surprise quickly turned to anger, however, and he charged at the young lord, who raised his sword in reply.

~~~~~~~~~~
Balon

The archer captain and one of his men noticed Alexander, and took aim at him. The rest of the archers would continue firing at anyone who came into view.

Alexander slid to the ground behind what he guessed used to be the wall of a stable just as two arrows zipped over his head. Damn. Maybe if he had a suit of chainmail he would risk the run to the woods, but he still had a good 50 or 60 yards to travel. He peeked over the edge. Alexander still couldn't them, but he knew they would keep at least one archer watching where he had gone to ground. He wouldn't make it. Alexander was fast, but not that fast. Frustrated, he looked up to the tower. If that spellcaster could get the archers to keep their heads down...

He tried to wave and point, sure that he wouldn't be noticed in the darkness, but needing to make some effort to get the pressure off of himself.

Lucas

In the middle of his chant, he noticed Alexander trying to wave and point in the direction of the archers. Way ahead of you my friend. Casting spell after spell, he focused his attention on nothing but the archers determined to provide actual assistance to his comrades even if his injured arm began to hurt even more. No matter what he told himself he could not let up and give the archers the chance to target him.

Farore
The thief had snuck her way past everyone and made it to the ruins. It might have took long than she had like but she had made it. She rummaged through her things making sure everything was still there. "Good, everything is still here. looks like those were just finding shelter here after all." Wanting to asses what she is dealing with, Farore headed back to the entrance and gazed upon the battlefield. she caught sight of the wyvern rider and a smile slowly crept across her face. "Now he seems interesting."

Tycho and Leon

He couldn't help but give a short chuckle at how Sebastian had to all but force his horse close enough to him and Drasil to heal him. A little mean spirited of him perhaps, but it was always humorous to see someone have to force a mount into a task. Well, at least when it wasn't happening to himself.

"My thanks Sebastian," he replied to the troubadour, "now, lets finish this partner!" Drasil roared his acknowledgement as they turned to find the two barbarians charging them together, the wyvern surging forward in response to meet them. One jumped while the other went to meet the wyvern head on, believing that if they managed to take the attention of both rider and mount they could succeed.

Axe met axe, claws, and teeth as sparks flashed from the clash of weapons, the roar of a wyvern the only thing to drown out the clash as he sank his teeth into the arm that the barbarian held his axe in, refusing to let go despite the blows he received from his fists as raked his claws across his stomach and chest. Tycho matched the barbarian blow for blow this time, a mistake on his part allowing the rider to bury his axe in his shoulder. He barely had time to let loose a howl of pain before he was beheaded, his headless body joining the mangled corpse of his friend as Tycho brought his attention back to the battle before them.

He pulled hard on the reins to force Drasil to the side, barely avoiding an arrow that would have assuredly hit the wyvern this time. He ordered him to get lower to the ground, but if those archers weren't taken care of soon they'd be shot out of the sky.

Leon saw this as he traded blows with the fighter he was currently dueling. He was no myrmidon, but he was still fast enough to avoid most of his strikes, something he used greatly to get in close and slash the man from shoulder to hip. The fighter raised his axe in a last ditch attempt to take him down with him, but was swiftly impaled through the chest before he could bring it down. Finally able to focus on the battlefield again, Leon saw the plight of the rider and proceeded to swap his sword out for his fire tome.

Joining Lucas, he began to start firing off his own bolts of fire at the archers currently giving their comrades pause, firing off a bolt at an incoming fighter to keep him at bay for the time being while hoping that their combined fire could get the archers to stop firing long enough for the others to be able to really let loose.

Esria
She was using her teeth and claws as an excellent deterrent to keep the enemy at bay, slashing and snarling and just being generally menacing. With those archers firing, she was unable to move forward into the open where she could REALLY do some damage, however, now that Tycho and leon was dealing with them, She gave the men who had been chasing Alexander a menacing smile as she stomped forwards, claws slashing at them yet again.