The hunt for loathed Lorien

The AmranKai assemble in the dining hall of the Royal barracks. They had each received word from Iskrin to come armed for a manhunt and had responded dutifully. They sit around the long table awaiting the First Estril. There is little small talk among such serious men and women, so they sit in silence for the most part. Sitting with his back to the door is Bolan Tale, a great bear of a man who works in the undercity as a blacksmith and sword - or rather axe - for hire. He sits with his great axe to his side, one meaty hand resting on its haft. To his right is Tensa, a wiry elf in the Royal Guard dressed in the work-a-day garb, sword and shield the guard wear when their duties are more than ceremonial. To her right is Venish, another Royal Guard wearing the same attire and carrying the same ornate longsword at his hip. He is unusually tall for a human, but his posture is slumped, as though his height embarrasses him. Opposite them sits Ezran Durak. The gray-skinned fae is well-known to all three of the others. Even were he not AmranKai, his whispered reputation as an assassin would have reached their ears. He is an unusual choice for a manhunt given his preference to work in the shadows and kill without being seen. But he can fly, and that might prove useful. He wears two curved daggers strapped to his back and a smile that speaks of cruelty.

As the sun moves past its zenith and starts sinking into the afternoon, the sound of footsteps approaching the outer door of the barracks cause Bolan to turn. It is Iskrin, First Estril of the AmranKai. He is dressed in what Bolan always thinks of as his ‘killing garb’. Iskrin wears cloth trousers tucked into laced-up boots, a leather jerkin, light mail over his shoulders and arms, a great sword on his back, strapped to a leather harness around his chest, and the belt dagger that he always wears. He moves over to the table and stands at its head, looking around at the assembled men and women.

"AmranKai, has anyone seen the King?” he asks without greeting them. “I sent word to him at the palace that we are assembling." After a moment’s thought he adds: "Bolan, thank you for coming. Ezran, you too."

Venish looks up. "The King still has not completely regained his strength and asked that you carry on without him. He fears he will only get in your way. He sends his best wishes." 

Tensa nods "Will this be enough do you think?" she asks.

"Very well,” Iskrin says. “I confess to some relief that His Majesty will not accompany us." He looks around at the assembled men and women. "We've taken bigger prey with fewer. I believe we will suffice. Our mark is called Lorien, though he is currently calling himself Ben. He has killed two palace guards and he or his associates managed to poison the King. He is not to be underestimated. We will go in hard and we will take him alive. Anyone with him can die as quick as you like. But Lorien must live. I hope we will not regret the absence of a wizard, but we are short on them of late."

The men and women salute and begin to prepare their things for departure. Venish is finished first and is standing closest to Iskrin when he speaks: "The target was last seen in the Undercity, but whispers say he did not linger long... he headed into the forest and is believed to be traveling south. It’s unsure how much distance they have covered if any, but we can probably cut them off if they're traveling slower in attempts to cover their trail."

Iskrin nods to Venish. "OK, then let us make our way to the docks. Everyone behind me. Ezran, take the sky but do not go too far ahead of us."

The assembled AmranKai slam their shields and rattle their weapons once before heading out in orderly fashion towards the docks. Their destination is Moon Willow Forest, an ancient and mystical place beyond the city walls.

The AmranKai step out of the boat one at a time onto the dock and begin to move towards the land, weapons drawn. Iskrin looks around at them. "My friends,” he says, “you know the drill. Usual formation, eyes peeled. Only speak if you see something life-threatening, otherwise hand signals and animal calls."

Eyes forward they start moving out into the forest with a slight spread to cover more ground, but not too far to ever be out of one another’s vision. The sun is setting in the distance and it is getting darker.

Iskrin signals to Bolan to take the lead, moving to the left flank himself, sword drawn, and indicating Tensa should take the right. She complies quickly while Ezran flies low above the treetops and Venish brings up the party’s rear. 

As they walk, the elves among them notice that far off in the distance a light from what is possibly a camp can be seen. While it’s not unheard of for people to set up camp in the forest outside the city, it is nevertheless unusual. Moreover, the fire is fairly dim and looks to be about to go out. That or purposefully made to be that way.

Iskrin signals to the others, indicating the light ahead of them. The hunters fan out, closing in slowly and silently on the point ahead. As they approach, Iskrin has them sink low behind rocks and bushes, then holds up his hands to pause them, while he inches ahead for a better view. As he nears the dim fire, he notices that there is only one person settled around it, nice and close, wearing a cloak over his head. To the side, tied to a tree, Iskrin notes three horses. It’s quiet... 

As they all focus their eyes ahead on the fire, from behind Tensa something comes out of the trees dropping near her. An ambush!

Bolan reacts first. He is not far from Tensa and he sees the figure appear from out of the trees. The great bear of a man whirls and charges. He is surprisingly fast for his size and he brings his axe crashing down towards the figure. The mercenary was about to shove his shiv into the back of Tensa when Bolan makes the attack. The merc attempts to dodge but his arm takes a hard blow, the axe cutting deep into him and rendering his arm useless. He growls and attempts to counter with his dagger.

Bolan feels the axe connect with a satisfying crunch on the man's arm. Moments later the hot familiar sting of a blade in his flesh burns brightly on his flank. The little fucker has stabbed him through his leather.

As these three engage in combat, a second mercenary drops out of another tree, this time behind Iskrin. The elf-like woman has her dual daggers drawn and she attempts to shank the First Estril.

Iskrin hears the elf drop behind him and turns, but too late. He feels the slash of her blade across his ribs. His mail and leather do a valiant job of blocking the depth of the blow, but a great gash opens up on his right hand side.

The figure at the fire was already in the middle of standing when the ambush began. He held in his hand a crossbow and aimed it for Tensa, pulling the trigger.

Tensa looks down and notices her cuirass isn't quite secured. She bends to fix the small leather buckle and is surprised to hear a crossbow bolt whistle through the air where her head had been a moment before. She looks up and recognises Lorien standing on the beach from her shifts in the dungeon.

Iskrin staggers for a moment from the blow and shifts his sword to his left hand. He turns fully now to face the elf woman and in one smooth movement brings the sword around aiming for her neck. She leans backward at an inhuman speed causing his sword to slice the air inches from her throat.

Venish, who until this point has been watching his two comrades taking blows, now moves towards Iskrin. He comes in swinging at the elf-like woman with his sword. Again the mercenary bends with inhuman flexibility and Venish’s blade tastes only fresh forest air.

Tensa turns from watching Lorien. Much though she would like to take the traitor herself, she has more immediate concerns. She faces the male mercenary, brings up her sword and lunges towards his chest. Her blade bites into the flesh beneath his clothing and the man howls in anger and pain.

Ezran has been watching from his airborne vantage point and swoops down towards Lorien. As he alights on the sand behind the traitor he draws his long daggers and lunges at Lorien's back. He feels his blades connect with skin and bone, despite the traitor’s use of his cloak to try to lessen the blow.

Bolan, bleeding beneath his jerkin, punches his side a few times where the dagger has been and roars in rage. He swings his axe again towards the male mercenary’s head. The man ducks the slow blow easily and Bolan misses.

Nevertheless, the man doesn’t look to be in good health from his arm. But he's still up and fighting! He dodges to the side and attempts to stab Bolan again with his dagger. The great man steps into the attack, slapping the merc’s hand away from him so that the dagger bites harmlessly into the air. 

The woman mercenary, who has dodged Iskrin's attack with a great deal of grace and finesse, spots Lorien being attacked and aborts her attack on Iskrin, moving towards Lorien to assist while pulling small throwing daggers from her belt and tossing them at Ezran. Though they fly fast, they do not fly true and the gray fae is able to avoid them easily.

Lorien, who managed to bring his cloak up in time to stop Ezran’s blades from hitting anything too vital, nevertheless feels the weapon dig deep into his skin through a gap in his armor. He tumbles to the side and draws his sword in his right hand. "Bastard!" He quickly lunges at Ezran and slashes his sword down at him. The blade strikes true and blood pours from the fae’s unprotected chest.

As for Iskrin, he turns to follow the elf mercenary as she heads to the beach. As she runs he draws his dagger and throws it ahead of him at her back. The blade makes a satisfying thud as it connects with her shoulder blade, slowing her down slightly as she curses and pulls it free.

Meanwhile, Venish has waited for Bolan to dodge the male mercenary’s knife blow and then comes in at the merc with his own weapon. A longsword at such close quarters is not ideal and the man is able to turn the blade away from him so that it does no harm.

Tensa watches her comrade join their little three-way party and notices Iskrin heading to the beach. She takes the opportunity to head to the beach after him rather than continue to engage the male mercenary. She watches Iskrin’s dagger connect with the female merc and sees Ezran take a blow from Lorien. She charges at the woman with her blade point ahead of her. But the attack is made with too much haste and the elf-life woman easily knocks Tensa’s blade aside, causing the elf AmranKai to lose her footing and stumble.

Ezran reels from Lorien's slash, the blade drawing a red ribbon down his chest. He snarls and somersaults over the traitor, his delicate wings aiding the manoeuvre. As he turns above Lorien's head, he stabs downwards at the man's neck with his daggers and connects. Lorien seems to be taken off guard as Ezran leaps over him and though he attempts to bring his weapon up to block, he is too slow and the slash hits him across the face, cutting his face open across his eye!

Bolan watches Venish come charging in and miss. He grunts and heaves his axe for yet another swing. This time swearing to the gods for contact. The gods hear and his massive axe connects into the side of the neck of the merc almost cutting through. The Merc goes limp, dropping his dagger to the ground and slumps to the dirt, dead.

The woman mercenary looks back to see her colleague go down and her eyes widen, she lets out a scream of anger and seems to fight every urge in her to go back but she continues on towards Lorien to assist him. She is in range of Ezran now and stabs towards him with both her blades! The fae assassin anticipates her lunge and dances out of the way, safe from harm.

Lorien meanwhile limps back from Ezran’s cut and then swings his sword wildly at the fae himself while dropping the crossbow. His strike, though wild, is true.

Iskrin watches Tensa go for the merc ahead of him, so he carries on running, heading for Lorien who is doing more damage to Ezran than expected. As the man makes a connecting blow on the fae, Iskrin heaves his sword in a two-handed blow at Lorien's exposed flank. Lorien makes an attempt to dodge but he is not fast enough, his wounds from Ezran slowing him down. The AmranKai’s sword connects, slashing down his back and slicing him open from shoulder to waist. Lorien goes down!

Venish watches Iskrin fell Lorien and Tensa bungle her attempt at the other merc. He moves from the fallen merc at his feet, sword drawn and running. He is too far to strike. Or at least he would be too far to strike if he hadn't been training for the Ansa'fel marathon. His fleet feet carry him over the ground and he comes in swinging at the merc, who is looking pretty pissed off by now. Just like Tensa before him, his blow is too eager and the seasoned merc bats his blade aside.

Tensa grins as Iskrin takes down Lorien and watches Venish miss yet another blow. She smiles coldly and brings up her own sword in an attempted strike between the woman's legs.

The female merc watches as her payload goes down and she shakes her head. She isn’t getting paid anymore and this is not looking good. She dodges Venish with grace and leaps over the sword of Tensa. She begins heading towards the forest to make her escape into the dark!

Ezran has taken a glancing but dangerous blow from Lorien before the traitor fell at Iskrin's hand, but the fae is still on his feet and still committed to the hunt. He looks up, his vision blurred by pain, to see the two Royal Guard failing miserably to stop the woman mercenary. Rather, the merc defends their blows and moves towards the forest. Ezran looks to Iskrin, who nods. Ezran leaps up into the air. He aims himself at the departing merc's back, his blades glinting in the sunlight. As he swoops in, he holds them ahead of himself like a very large and angry dart… and misses completely, tumbling into the undergrowth in a mess of blood and filament wings.

Bolan has seen the elf merc attempting her escape and moves to intercept her. He watches Ezran practically fall out of the sky, bounce off the woman's back and land on his ass in the bushes. He sighs and picks up the pace, coming in at the woman's side with a huge swing of his axe. He too misses her. She moves like smoke, easily dodging the great man’s strike. She is nearly gone by now and quickly makes for some thick brush!

Iskrin takes off after the Merc, watching his two comrades fail to waylay her. He catches up with her just as Bolan misses her with his axe and aims the point of his own sword at the centre of her back. He too misses, his blade lightly touching her jerkin and turning aside. This woman is remarkable!

Venish moves after Iskrin, coming in with his own blade the moment after Iskrin's sword skitters off the woman's protective clothing. Finally he connects. The woman had felt she was already clean and clear and had probably let her guard down when the second blade came in and scored her in the side. She falls to the ground. Getting up slowly and cursing, holding her side in pain. She drops her daggers and puts her hands up into the air: "I submit!" she says in a tired, angry voice.

Tensa is so shocked to see Venish connect a blow that she lets out a joyous cry. Rather than joining the fight, however, she moves to secure Lorien's unconscious body on the beach. Iskrin signals to Bolan, who moves towards the remaining merc to tie leather thongs around her wrists behind her back.

The merc allows herself to be tied up for transport. Bolan takes her hood in one meaty fist and pulls it from her face. She is Drow and was probably hired while Lorien was in the Undercity. "I was not told we would be fighting against the Royal Guards!” she spits. “He just told us he needed safe escort out of the realm!". 

Her employer, meanwhile, lay hurt but not dead: minor medical aid would stabilize him for transport back to the city. 

Sheathing his sword, Iskrin stands for a moment to catch his breath. "Keep her tightly bound, Bolan," he says, watching the big man secure the merc. "She can make her excuses to the King. Venish, help Ezran, he's taken quite a beating. I'll help Tensa with Lorien and check he's still alive."

Bolan nods and removes all of the drow's various weapons before heaving her over his shoulder to carry her unceremoniously to the boat. Venish helps Ezran get up off the ground and guides the man back towards the dock as well. Iskrin moves to Lorien's side and applies simple field medications to keep the man breathing, then he and Tensa drag him beneath his armpits back to the boat.

No one seeks to do anything with the body of the other merc. The forest will claim it tonight.

The woman merc does not make any attempt to fight or argue as Bolan heaves her up. She can feel the man breathing heavily and feel his shoulder pressing painfully into her wound. But she lies still, watching the other dead merc with sadness in her eyes. The party get back to the dock and the city without any trouble, securing their prisoners when they return. Iskrin sends a note to King Malekith reporting on the events before taking himself, Bolan and Ezran to the House of Healing.

As night falls, the forest is pleased with their sacrifice....